St. Gregory Palamas was born in 1296 in Asia Minor. During the Turkish invasion, his family moved to Constantinople and received the patronage of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos. After his father's death, the emperor took part in the boy's upbringing and provided him with a brilliant education. Gregory showed great abilities and easily mastered the full course of medieval sciences. However, contrary to the expectations of the emperor, who was preparing him for public service, the young man chose the monastic path. Around 1316, he went to the Holy Mount Athos and entered the monastery of Vatopedi as a novice, where he took monastic vows under the guidance of Elder Nicodemus of Vatopedi.
After the death of his mentor, Gregory continued his spiritual labors under the guidance of Elder Nikephoros the Hesychast, and then spent some time in the Monastery of St. Athanasius of Mount Athos. Striving for a more austere life, he retired to the small monastery of Glossiya, where he became acquainted with the tradition of intelligent prayer, the spiritual practice of concentrated inner prayer. This tradition, rooted in the ancient ascetics of the Christian East, was called hesychasm (from Greek. "peace", "silence"). It was here that the future saint finally accepted the hesychast way as the basis of his spiritual life.
In 1326, due to the threat of Turkish attacks, he moved to Solun, where he was ordained to the priesthood. The saint combined pastoral ministry with an ascetic life: he spent most of the week in solitary prayer, and on Saturdays and Sundays he performed divine services and preached sermons. His words often made a deep impression on listeners. For a while he also led a small community of hermits near Berea.
In the 1330s, a theological dispute broke out over the teachings of the Hesychasts. The reason for it was the activity of the learned monk Barlaam of Calabria, who arrived in Constantinople. He criticized the spiritual practice of the Athos monks and argued that the light revealed to the disciples of Christ on Mount Tabor is created. At the request of the Athonite ascetics, Gregory Palamas defended their spiritual experience and wrote the theological work "Triads in Defense of the Holy Hesychasts." In it, he explained the Orthodox teaching about God, distinguishing between the Divine essence, incomprehensible to man, and the Divine energies through which God reveals himself to the world.
At the Council of Constantinople in 1341, the teachings of the saint were recognized as Orthodox, and the views of Barlaam were condemned. However, the arguments continued. Palamas' opponents succeeded in having him excommunicated and imprisoned, where he spent about three years. After the change of the patriarch in 1347, the saint was released and appointed Archbishop of Thessalonica. In 1351, the Council of Blachernae finally confirmed the Orthodoxy of his theology.
The last years of the saint's life were not easy. The inhabitants of Soluni did not immediately accept the new archbishop, so for some time he was forced to live outside the city. During one of his trips, he was even captured by the Turks, but there he continued to preach the Christian faith.
St. Gregory Palamas died peacefully on November 14, 1357. According to legend, St. John Chrysostom appeared to him on the eve of his death. In 1368, he was canonized at the Council of Constantinople, and Patriarch Philotheos compiled his life and liturgical service. The teaching of St. Gregory Palamas has become an important part of the Orthodox theological tradition and is primarily associated with the protection of the spiritual experience of hesychasm.