Gregory Palamas’ Cosmology in the Context of Ancient Greek Philosophy

Wojciech Micał

doi:10.18290/rf26741.2

Published : 2026-03-25

Vol. 74 No. 1 (2026)

Gregory Palamas’ Cosmology in the Context of Ancient Greek Philosophy

Wojciech Micał

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3786-2483

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rf26741.2

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to methodically present the cosmological views found in the corpus of Gregory Palamas’ extant works, and second, to situate them in the context of ancient Greek philosophy. Palamas’ cosmology is shown to be ordered and hierarchical, aligning with the fundamental principles of the ancient Greek worldview and Christian doctrine. The Palamite universe comprises two distinct worlds: the intelligible and the material. The former encompasses the realm of angels, while the latter extends from the heavens to the earth, passing through the intermediate elemental spheres of fire, air, and water. The human being, as the preeminent inhabitant of the universe, is regarded as a microcosm reflecting the diverse aspects of the world through its natural constitution. In most of his views, Palamas is portrayed as a faithful follower of the ancient Greek cosmological tradition originating with Aristotle.

Keywords:

Gregory Palamas, cosmology, ancient philosophy, Greek philosophy, Orthodox theology, microcosm

Details

References

Statistics

Authors

Download files

pdf

Citation rules

Micał, W. (2026). Gregory Palamas’ Cosmology in the Context of Ancient Greek Philosophy. Roczniki Filozoficzne, 74(1), 37–53. https://doi.org/10.18290/rf26741.2

Altmetric indicators

Cited by / Share

Licence

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

References

Algra, Keimpe. 2003. “Stoic Theology.” In Inwood 2003, 153–78.

Allers, Rudolf. 1944. “Microcosmus: From Anaximandros to Paracelsus.” Traditio, (2): 319–407.

Bartoš, Hynek. 2021. “Hippocratic Holisms.” In Holism in Ancient Medicine and Its Reception, edited by Charles Thumiger, 113–32. Leiden.

Brunschwig, Jacques. 2003. “Stoic Metaphysics.” In Inwood 2003, 206–32.

Calian, Florin G. 2021. “Numbers, Ontologically Speaking: Plato on Numerosity.” In Numbers and Numeracy in the Greek Polis, edited by Robert Sing, Terry van de Beek, and Hilmar Kasten, 219–36. Leiden: Brill.

Conger, George P. 1967. Theories of Macrocosms and Microcosms. Russell & Russell.

D’Hoine, Pieter. 2016. “Platonic Forms and the Triad of Being, Life, and Intellect.” In All From One, edited by Pieter d’Hoine and Marije Martjin, 98–121. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Feke, Jacqueline. 2009. “Ptolemy in Philosophical Context: A Study of the Relationships between Physics, Mathematics, and Theology.” PhD diss., Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto.

Fraser, Craig G. 2006. The Cosmos. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Guerrero van der Meijden, Jadwiga. 2019. Person and Dignity in Edith Stein’s Writings: Investigated in Comparison to the Writings of the Doctors of the Church and the Magisterial Documents of the Catholic Church. Boston: De Gruyter.

Inwood, Brad, ed. 2003. The Cambridge Companion to the Stoics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Judson, Lindsay. 2015. “Aristotle’s Astrophysics.” In Oxford Studies in Ancient Philosophy, edited by Brad Inwood, 49:151–92. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sambursky, Samuel. 1958. “Philoponus’ Interpretation of Aristotle’s Theory of Light.” Osiris 13:114–26.

Sanderson, Marie. 1999. “The Classification of Climates from Pythagoras to Koeppen.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 80 (4): 669–74.

Torrijos-Castrillejo, David. 2019. “An Alternative Model for Understanding Anaxagoras’ Mixture.” Philosophisches Jahrbuch 126 (1): 7–26. https://doi.org/10.5771/0031-8183-2019-1-7.

White, Michael J. 2003. “Stoic Natural Philosophy (Physics and Cosmology).” In Inwood 2003, 124–52.