TRYON, N.C. — How and why was the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Holy Mother of God anticipated by St. Gregory Palamas centuries before Pope Pius IX defined it in his papal bull in 1854? That was the core topic of the 11th annual East Meets West Retreat, held June 22 in Tryon.
The retreat was led by Father Christiaan Kappes of the Byzantine Catholic Seminary of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Pittsburgh, Pa. The East Meets West retreat is the signature event of Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke Ukrainian Catholic Mission, based in Tryon.
In three 45-minute talks, Father Kappes spoke about the homilies of St. Gregory Palamas on the Most Holy Mother of God, and how the saint presents her as all holy and immaculate, purified before she was greeted by the angel at the Annunciation.
One important way the saint does this, he said, is by drawing attention to how Mary is a descendant of Noah. St. Gregory’s homilies draw attention to how the phrase “full of grace” is used only twice in the Bible: in relation to Noah in Sirach, and then to Mary by St. Luke, who quotes the phrase from Sirach.
Just as Noah and his family were purified and Noah is immaculate, Mary’s parents, Sts. Joachim and Anne, were purified and Mary was conceived immaculate. Noah’s children eventually fall to worldly corruption, while the Blessed Mother does not.
St. Gregory expresses how Mary was chosen to give birth to the Savior from the most pious and well-pleasing to God from every age.
Father Kappes also noted that St. Gregory believed that Mary was the first to greet her son after the Resurrection, a view also expressed by St. John Paul II. The first two Gospels downplay Mary’s role so as to avoid the possibility that those hearing the Gospel would think that the story of Our Lord’s Resurrection was just a family tale. St. Luke was not hampered by this when he writes his Gospel.
St. Gregory Palamas was born in Constantinople in 1296 and died in 1359. In his 20s he became a monk on Mount Athos. He is best known for his book “The Triads,” a defense of the monks of Mount Athos and their practice of silence and the reciting the Jesus Prayer. He was canonized in 1368.
Father Kappes is academic dean, director of intellectual formation and professor of liturgical and dogmatic theology at Byzantine Catholic Seminary. He is the author of several books, including “The Immaculate Conception,” published by the Academy of the Immaculate.
Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke Ukrainian Catholic Mission is a mission of St. Josaphat Eparchy in Parma, Ohio. The mission, now in its 11th year, serves the Western North Carolina mountain region, which borders Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia.
— Father Kevin Bezner, Special to the Catholic News Herald