Uncreated light

1. Uncreated Light

God, being full Godhead in operational essence,is distinct by his essence and his energies, by which [St.Gregory Palamas] distinguishes in the analogy of sun and rays, as does [St.John of Damascus]. By which, in such distinction, with the essence being the sun itself, the eternally active rays are distinguished as the uncreated light. The blessed and divine Palamas states in the Triads,

"First, the example you (Barlaam) bring forward shows that you purposely vilify God and His saints. For one applies the word "sun" to the rays as well as to the source of the rays; yet it does not follow that there are two suns. There is, then, a single God, even though one says that the deifying grace is from God. The light is also one of the things that "surround" the sun, yet it is certainly not the essence of the sun. So how could the light which shines from God upon the saints be the essence of God? Does the light of the sun appear only when one sees it, or does it exist before one has seen it? Much more so is this the case with the light which deifies those who contemplate it." -- The Triads of St.Gregory Palamas, published by Meyendorff, Section F. Essence and energies in God, Chapter XI, Pages 87-88.

2. Heyschasm

The uncreated light is eternally active, yet invisible and incomprehensible to the circumscription of man's sense perception, especially in regards to his fallen state, yet the Saints have contemplated the uncreated light through [Hesychastic Prayer].