32. This is the living faith. ‘For faith without works is dead,’ says
another of the heralds of the faith. And what is dead is not acceptable to
them, whose faith is dead through not accomplishing goods works is himself
dead, since he does not live in God and have his being in God, who along is the
provider of true and undefeated life. He is dead until, like the returned
prodigal, he becomes cognizant of the privation he has suffered through
distancing himself from the works of life, he returns to God through the works
of repentance and hears from him, as the returned prodigal did, ‘this son of
mine was dead and is alive again; he was lot and is found!’ For thus he will
also have true faith. Faith to which the works of salvation do not bear witness
it not so much faith as unbelief and not so much profession as denial. And this
is what is presented by him who says about such things: ‘They profess to know
God, but they deny him by their actions. They are detestable, unfit for any
good work.’ And another of the fellow apostles says: ‘Show me your faith by
your works.’ And who is faithful, Let him show his works by his good life. What
good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save
him? By no means. You believe that Christ is one God with the Father and the
Spirit. You do well. But even the demons believe and shudder says: ‘We know who
you are, the Son of God most high.’ They are demons, however, and enemies of
God, through their opposition to God by their works. (Gregory of Palamas,
“Letter to his Church,” in Gregory Palamas: The Hesychast Controversy and
the Debate with Islam Documents Relating to Gregory Palamas [trans. Normal
Russell; Translated Texts for Byzantinists 8; Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 2022], 399-400)
