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DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITICUS (or " the Are...

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Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 285 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITICUS (or " the Areopagite ")  , named in Acts xvii . 34 as one of those Athenians who believed when they had heard See also:Paul preach on See also:Mars See also:Hill . Beyond this mention our only knowledge of him is the statement of See also:Dionysius, See also:bishop .of See also:Corinth (ft . A.D . 171), recorded by See also:Eusebius (See also:Church Hist. iii . 4; iv . 23), that this same Dionysius the Areopagite was the first " bishop" of See also:Athens . Some hundreds of years after the Areopagite's See also:death, his name was attached by the Pseudo-Areopagite to certain theological writings composed by the latter . These were destined to exert enormous See also:influence upon See also:medieval thought, and their fame led to the See also:extension of the See also:personal See also:legend of the real Dionysius . Hilduin, See also:abbot of St Denys (814--84o), identified him with St Denys, See also:martyr and See also:patron-See also:saint of See also:France . In Hilduin's Areopagitica, the See also:Life and See also:Passion of t'he most See also:holy Dionysius (See also:Migne, See also:Patrol . See also:Lat. tome lob), the Areopagite is sent to France by See also:Clement of See also:Rome, and suffers martyrdom upon the hill where the monastery called St Denys was to rise in his honbur .

There is no earlier trace of this See also:

identification, and See also:Gregory of See also:Tours (d . 594) says (Hist . Francorum, i . 18) that St Denys came to France in the reign of See also:Decius (A.D . 250), which falls about , midway between the presumptive death of the real Areopagite and the probable date of the writings to which he owed his See also:adventitious fame . Traces of the influence of these writings appear in the See also:works of Eastern theologians in the See also:early See also:part of the 6th See also:century . They also were cited at the See also:council held in See also:Constantinople in 533, 'which is the first certain dated reference to them . In the See also:West, Gregory the See also:Great (d . 6o4) refers to them in his See also:thirty-See also:fourth See also:sermon on the gospels (Migne, Pat . Lat. tome 76, See also:col . 1254) . They did not, however, become generally known in the Western church till after the See also:year 827, when the See also:Byzantine See also:emperor See also:Michael the Stammerer sent a copy to See also:Louis the Pious .

It was given over to the care of the above-mentioned abbot Hilduin . In the next See also:

generation the See also:scholar and philosopher Joannes Scotus See also:Erigena (q.v.) translated the Dionysian writings into Latin . This appears to have been the only Latin See also:translation until the 12th century when another was made, followed by several others . Thus, the author, date and See also:place of See also:composition of these writings are unknown . See also:External See also:evidence precludes a date later than the year 500, and the See also:internal evidence from the writings themselves precludes any date See also:prior to 4th-century phases of Neo-See also:platonism . The extant writings of the Pseudo-Areopagite are: (a) Ilepi Tfis obpavias iepapXias, Concerning the See also:Celestial See also:Hierarchy, in fifteen chapters . (b) Heist T9]s ErucXl7veavrucits iepapXias, Concerning the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, in seven chapters . (c) Hepi Oeicov ovoi.arcev, Concerning Divine Names, in thirteen chapters . (d) Hepi µuvTU JS OeoXoyias, Concerning Mystic See also:Theology, in five chapters . (e) Ten letters addressed to various worthies of the apostolic See also:period . Although these writings seem See also:complete, they contain references to others of the same author . But of the latter nothing is known, and they may never have existed .

The writings of the Pseudo-Areopagite are of great See also:

interest, first as a striking presentation of the heterogeneous elements that might unite in the mind of a gifted See also:man in the 5th century, and secondly, because of their enormous influence upon subsequent See also:Christian theology and See also:art . Their ingredients—Christian, See also:Greek, See also:Oriental and Jewish—are not crudely mingled, but are See also:united into an organic See also:system . Perhaps theological philosophic fantasy has never constructed anything more remarkable . The system of Dionysius was a proper product of its See also:time,—lofty, apparently complete, comparable to the Enneads of See also:Plotinus which formed part of its materials . But its materials abounded everywhere, and offered themselves temptingly to the See also:hand strong enough to build with them . There was what had entered into See also:Neoplatonism, both in its See also:dialectic See also:form as established by Plotinus, and in its magic-mystic modes devised by See also:Iamblichus (d. c . 333) . There was Jewish See also:angel See also:lore and Eastern See also:mood and See also:fancy; and there was See also:Christianity so variously understood and heterogeneously constituted among Syro-Judaic Hellenic communities . Such Christianity held materials for See also:formula and creed; also principles of liturgic and sacramental See also:doctrine and priestly See also:function; also a See also:mass of popular beliefs as to intermediate superhuman beings who seemed nearer to men than any member of the Trinity . Out of this vast spiritual See also:conglomerate, Pseudo-Dionysius formed his system . It was not juristic, not See also:Roman, Pauline or Augustinian . Rather he borrowed his constructive principles from See also:Hellenism in its last great creation, Neo-platonism .

Phoenix-squares

That had been able to gather and arrange within itself the various elements of latter-See also:

day paganism . The Neo-platonic categories might be altered in name and import, and yet the See also:scheme remain a scheme; since the See also:general principle of the transmission of life from the ultimate Source downward through orders of mediating beings unto men, might readily be adapted to the Christian See also:God and his ministering angels . Pseudo-Dionysius had lofty thoughts of the See also:sublime transcendence of the ultimate divine Source . That source was not remote or inert; but a veritable Source from which life streamed to all See also:lower orders of existence,—in part directly, and in part indirectly as See also:power and guidance through the higher orders to the lower . Life, creation, every See also:good See also:gift, is from God directly; but his flaming ministers also intervene to See also:guide and aid the life of man; and the life which through love floods forth from God has its counterflow whereby it draws its own creations to itself . God is at once absolutely transcendent and universally immanent . To live is to be united with God; evil is the non-existent, that is, severance from God . Whatever is, is part of the forth-flowing divine life which ever purifies, enlightens and perfects, and so draws all back to the Source . The transcendent Source, as well as the universal See also:immanence, is the Triune God . Between that and men are ranged the three triads of the Celestial Hierarchy: See also:Seraphim, See also:Cherubim and Thrones; Dominations, Virtues, See also:Powers; Principalities, Archangels, Angels . Collectively their general See also:office is to raise mankind to God through See also:purification, See also:illumination and perfection; and to all may be applied the See also:term angel . The highest triad, which is nearest God, contemplates the divine effulgence, and reflects it onward to the second; the third, and more specifically angelic triad, immediately ministers to men .

The See also:

sources of these names are evident: seraphim and cherubim are from the Old Testament; later Jewish writings gave names to archangels and angels, who also fill important functions in the New Testament . The other names are from Paul (Eph. i . 21; Col. i . 16) . Such is the system of Pseudo-Dionysius, as presented mainly in The Celestial Hierarchy . That See also:work is followed by The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, its counterpart on See also:earth . What the primal triune Godhead is to the former, Jesus is to the latter . The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy likewise is composed of Triads . The first includes the symbolic sacraments: See also:Baptism, Communion, See also:Consecration of the Holy See also:Chrism . Baptism signifies purification; Communion signifies enlightening; the Holy Chrism signifies perfecting . The second triad is made up of the three orders of Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons, or rather, as the Areopagite names them: Hierarchs, See also:Light-bearers, Servitors . The third triad consists of monks, who are in a See also:state of perfection, the initiated laity, who are in a state of illumination, and the catechumens, in a state of purification .

All See also:

worship, in this See also:treatise, is a celebration of mysteries, and the See also:pagan mysteries are continually suggested by the terms employed . The work Concerning the Divine Names is a See also:noble discussion of the qualities which may be predicated of God, according to the See also:warrant of the terms applied to him in Scripture . The work Concerning Mystic Theology explains the function of symbols, and shows that he who would know God truly must rise above then and above the conceptions of God See also:drawn from sensible things . The works of Pseudo-Dionysius began to influence theological thought in the West from the time of their translation into Latin by Erigena . Their use may be followed through the writings of scholastic philosophers, e.g . See also:Peter Lombard, Albertus See also:Magnus, See also:Thomas See also:Aquinas and many others . In See also:poetry we find their influence in See also:Dante, See also:Spenser, See also:Milton . The fifteenth See also:chapter of The Celestial Hierarchy constituted the See also:canon of symbolical angelic lore for the literature and art of the See also:middle ages . Therein the author explains in what respect theology ascribes to angels the qualities of See also:fire, why the thrones are said to be fiery (srupieous); why the seraphim are burning (E).rrpno-See also:ras) as their name indicates . The fiery form signifies, with Celestial Intelligences, likeness to God . Dionysius explains the significance of the parts of the human See also:body when given to celestial beings: feet are ascribed to angels to denote their unceasing See also:movement on the divine business, and their feet are winged to denote their celerity . He likewise explains the symbolism of wands and axes, of See also:brass and See also:precious stones, when joined to celestial beings; and what wheels and a See also:chariot denote when furnished to them,—and much more besides .

See also:

Smith's See also:Dictionary of Christian See also:Biography and Hauck's Realencykloadi.e See also:fur protestantische Theologie (See also:Leipzig, 1898) . The bibliography in the latter is very full . Some other references, especially upon the later influence of these works, are given in H . O . See also:Taylor's Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages (See also:Macmillan, 1903) . The works themselves are in Migne's Patrologia Graeca, tomes 3 and 4,with a Latin version . Erigena's version is in Migne, Patrol . Lat. t . 122 . Vita Dionysii by Hilduin is in Migne, Pat . Lat. lob . There is an See also:English version by See also:Parker (See also:London, 1894 and 1899) .

(H . O .

End of Article: DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITICUS (or " the Areopagite ")
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