Hi all
I have two questions, do you personally consider god's energies distinct from his essence, I read that opinions differ on that matter, some say it is a real distinction some say it isn't?
Yes, according to St. Gregory Palamas (the man who's credited with defining the Essence-Energies distinction as we know it today), they are!
This was one of his biggest points, and the way in which we Orthodox Christians can say that God is both transcendant and immanent; God is transcendant and wholly unknowable in His Essence, but is immanent and capable of being experienced and known in His Energies. Both God's Essence and Energies are a "part" of Him (if we can speak of God having "parts").
Can we say that creation consists of God's energies or is creation entirely separate from God's energies?
Creation is entirely separate God's energies, but God's energies completely penetrate and fill creation. As it says in Acts 17:28, "
for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets
have said, ‘For
we are also His offspring.’"
My second question is concerned with Panen-theism? What exactly is the difference to Pan-Entheism as understood in Eastern religions like Hinduism etc?
Panentheism literally means "God in all." God is IN all of creation, i.e. His Energies fill all of creation. But, contrary to what some people have been saying lately, creation is not a "part" of God. Hinduism teaches
pantheism, the idea that all things ARE God, and vice-versa. We Orthodox very strongly deny this. Creation and God are two completely different, separate things. We Orthodox would very strongly reject the idea that creation was created from parts or emanations of God; God created the world out of nothing, as is stated clearly in 2 Maccabees 17:28 "I beseech thee, my son, look upon the heaven and the earth, and all that is therein,
and consider that God made them of things that were not; and so was mankind made likewise." In our Vespers and Liturgy, when the priest pronounces a blessing over the congregation, he says this:
"We give You thanks, O invisible King, Who by Your immeasurable power has fashioned all things,
and in the greatness of Your mercy has brought all things out of non-existence into being."
And in another place,
"It is proper and just to sing hymns to You, to bless You, to praise You, to thank You, to worship You in every place of Your kingdom; for You are God ineffable inconceivable, invisible, incomprehensible, ever existing, yet ever the same, You, and Your only-begotten Son, and Your Holy Spirit;
You brought us forth from non-existence into being, and raised us up again when we had fallen, and left nothing undone, until You brought us to heaven and bestowed upon us Your future kingdom."
Thanks a lot !! Other questions regarding that topic might follow
Alright, I'd be glad to answer them!
Peace and God bless!
