Studia Theologica No. II (XXII) / 2026
The Rapture of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Third Heaven (2 Corinthians 12:1-10) in the Byzantine theological tradition
The Most Reverend Archbishop Maximos Constas This article analyses how Byzantine exegetes and theologians, from Origen and Saint Maximus the Confessor to John Geometres, Niketas Stethatos, Michael Psellos and Saint Gregory Palamas, interpreted the rapture of Saint Paul the Apostle to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:1-10), understanding it as a paradigm of mystical ascension and deification, rather than as a cosmological description of the heavens.
