PHANTASIA AND THE THEOLOGICAL VISION OF THE UNCREATED LIGHT: BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND CONTEMPLATION
PHANTASIA AND THE THEOLOGICAL VISION OF THE UNCREATED LIGHT: BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND CONTEMPLATION

Summary/Abstract: The study examines the relationship between phantasia and the theological vision of the uncreated light in the Orthodox tradition, tracing the transition from the classical meanings of the notion, as shaped within Greek anthropology, to its patristic reinterpretation in an ascetic and noetic context. The research shows that, although phantasia has a legitimate role within the economy of natural knowledge, it cannot serve as an adequate organ for the knowledge of God. Patristic and Philokalic literature insists on the purification of the mind, pure prayer, and the transcendence of imaginative representations as prerequisites for contemplation. Palamite theology articulates the distinction between the imaginative operation of thought and the vision of the uncreated light, understood as a gift of the Holy Spirit and a real participation in the divine energies. Thus, the fundamental opposition is not between knowledge and contemplation, but between psychic representation and authentic theological experience, grounded in communion, discernment, and deification.

• Details
• Contents