Cabasilas: Bridge between East and West?

Here’s a fascinating scholarly article on the XIV century Byzantine theologian Nicholas Cabasilas (author of The Life in Christ and a Commentary on the Divine Liturgy) as a synthesizer of Greek and Latin theological traditions.

Many scholars have noticed Cabasilas’ dependence not only on the Greek patristic tradition and Gregory Palamas in particular but also on Latin authors such as Augustine, Anselm and Thomas Aquinas (the three villains of much of modern Orthodox theology).

Cabasilas is also well-known for his views on the presence of a kind of consecratory epiclesis in the ancient Roman Canon Missae, as well as for some very interesting meditations on the sacramental and ecclesial significance of the Heart of Jesus (several centuries before Margaret Mary Alacoque and the spread of devotion to the Sacred Heart in the Latin Church).

Thanks to Father John Fenton for the heads-up on this article.