DIONYSIUS
14
DIONYSIUS
and Mark, xv, 33; the latter refers to apocryphal de-
scriptions of the "Domiitio Mariie". For the same
purpose, i. e. to create the impression that the author
belonged to the times of the Apostles and that he
was identical with the Areopagite mentioned in the
Acts, different persons, such as John the Evangelist,
Paul, Timothy, Titus, Justus, and Carpus, with whom
he is supposed to be on intimate terms, figure in his
writings.
The doctrinal attitude of the Pseudo-Areopagite is not clearly defined. A certain vagueness, which was perhaps intended, is characteristic of his Ohristology, especially in the question concerning the two natures in Christ. We may well surmise that he was not a stranger to the later, and rather modified, form of Monophysitism and that he belonged to that con- ciliatory group which sought, on the basis of the Henoticon issued in 482 by the Emperor Zeno (Eva- grius. Hist. Eccl., Ill, xiv), to reconcile the extremes of orthodoxy and heresy. This reserved, indefinite attitude of the author explains the remarkaljle fact that opposite factions claimed him as an adherent. As to his social rank, a carefid comparison of certain details scattered through his works shows that he be- longed to the class of scholars who were known at the time as o-xoXocttikoi.
The writings themselves form a collection of four treatises and ten letters. The first treatise, which is also the most important in scope and content, presents in thirteen chapters an explanation of the Divine names. Setting out from the principle that the names of God are to be learned from Scripture only, and that they afford us but an imperfect knowledge of God, Dionysius discusses, among other topics, God's good- ness, being, life, wisdom, power, and justice. The one underlying thought of the work, recurring again and again under dilTerent forms and phrases, is: God, the One Being (t6 Iv), transcending all quality and predi- cation, all affirmation and negation, and all intellectual conception, by the very force of His love and good- ness gives to beings outside Himself their countless gradations, unites them in the closest bonds (7rpo65os), keeps each by His care and direction in its appointed sphere, and draws them again in an ascending order to Himself (iwt<TTpo(f>ri). While he illustrates the inner life of the Trinity by metaphors of blossom and light applied to the Second and Third Persons (D. D- N., ii, 7 in P. G., Ill, 645 B), Dionysius represents the procession of all created things from God by the exuberance of being in the Godhead (rd v-n-epirXTipis), its outpouring and overflowing (D. D. N., ix, 9 in P. G., Ill, 909 C; cf. ii, 10 in P. G., Ill, 648 C; xiii, 1 in P. G., Ill, 977 B), and as a flashing forth from the sun of the Deity (D. D. N., iv, 6 in P. G., Ill, 701 A; iv, 1 in P. G., Ill, 693 B). Exactly according to their physical nature created things absorb more or less of the radiated light, which, however, grows weaker the farther it descends (D. D. N., xi, 2 in P. G., Ill, 952 A; i, 2 in P. G., Ill, 588 C). As the mighty root sends forth a multitude of plants which it sustains and controls, so created things owe their origin and conservation to the All- Ruling Deity (D. D. N., x, 1 in P. G., Ill, 936 D). Patterned upon the original of Divine love, righteous- ness, and peace, is the harmony that pervades the uni- verse (D. D. N., chapters iv, viii, xi). All things tend to God, and in Him all are merged and completed, just as the circle returns into itself (D. D. N., iv, 14 in P. G., Ill, 712 D), as the radii are joined in the centre, or as the numbers are contained in unity (D. D. N., v, 6 in P. G., Ill, 820 sq.). These and many similar ex- pressions have given rise to frequent charges of Pan- theism against the author. He does not, however, as.sert a neces.sary emanation of things from God, but admits a free creative act on the part of God (D. D. N., iv, 10 in P. G., Ill, 708 B; cf. C. H., iv, 1 in P. G., Ill, 177 C); still theechoof neo-Platonism is unmistakable.
The same thoughts, or their applications to certain
orders of being, recur in his other writings The sec-
ond treatise develops in fifteen chapters the doctrine
of the celestial hierarchy, comprising nine angelic
choirs which are divided into closer groupings of three
choirs each (triads). The names of the nine choirs
are taken from the canonical books and are arranged
in the following order. First triad: seraphim, cheru-
bim, thrones; second triad: virtues, dominations,
powers; third triad: principalities, archangels, angels
(G. H., vi, 2 in P. G., Ill, 200 D). The grouping of
the second triad exliibits some variations. Fromthe
etymology of each choir-name the author labours to
evolve a wealth of description, and, as a residt, lapses
frequently into tautology. Quite characteristic is the
dominant idea that the different choirs of angels are
less intense in their love and knowledge of God the
farther they are removed from Him, just as a ray of
light or of heat grows weaker the farther it travels
from its source. To this must be added another
fundamental idea peculiar to the Pseudo-Areopagite,
namely, that the highest choirs transmit the light re-
ceived from the Divine Source only to the intermediate
choirs, and these in turn transmit it to the lowest.
The third treatise is but a continuation of the other
two, inasmuch as it is based on the same leading
ideas. It deals with the nature and grades of the
"ecclesiastical hierarchy" in seven chapters, each of
which is subdivided into three parts {irpdXoyos, iivaT-fj-
piov, Ofupta). After an introduction which discusses
God's purpose in establishing the hierarchy of
the Church, and which pictures Christ as its Head,
holy and supreme, Dionysius treats of three sacra-
ments (baptism, the Eucharist, extreme unction), of
the three grades of the Teaching Church (bishops,
priests, deacons), of three grades of the "Learning
Church" (monks, people, and the class composed of
catechiunens, energumens, and penitents), and, lastly,
of the burial of the dead [C. H., iii, (3), 6 in P. G., Ill,
432 sq.; vi in P. G., Ill, 529 sq.]. The main purpose
of the author is to disclose and turn to the uses of con-
templation the deeper mystical meaning which under-
lies the sacred rites, ceremonies, institutions, and sym-
bols. The fourth treatise is entitled "Mystical Theol-
ogy", and presents in five chapters guiding principles
concerning the mystical imion with God, which is en-
tirely beyond the compass of sensuous or intellectual
perception (^7rc?rTe(a). The ten letters, four addressed
to a monk, Caius, and one each to a deacon, Dorotheus,
to a priest, Sopater, to the bishop Polycarp, to a monk,
Demophilus, to the bishop Titus, and to the Apostle
John, contain, in part, additional or supplementary
remarks on the above-mentioned principal works, and
in part, practical hints for dealing with sinners and
unbelievers. Since in all these writings the same
salient thoughts on philosophy and theology recur
with the same striking peculiarities of expression and
with manifold references, in both form and matter,
from one work to another, the assumption is justified
that they are all to be ascribed to one and the same
author. In fact, at its first appearance in the literary
world the entire corpus of these writings was combined
as it is now. An eleventh letter to Apollophanes,
given in Migne, P. G., Ill, 1 119, is a medieval forgery
based on the seventh letter. Apocryphal, also, are a
letter to Timothy and a second letter to Titus.
Dionysius would lead us to infer that he is the au- thor of still other learned treatises, namely: "Theo- logical Outlines" (D. D. N., ii, 3 in P. G., Ill, 640 B); "Sacred Hymns" (C. H., vii, 4 in P. G., Ill, 212 B); "Symbolic Theologj'" (C. H., xv, 6 in P. G., Ill, 336 A), and treatises on "The Righteous Judgment of God" (D. D. N., iv, 35 in P. G., Ill, 736 B), on "The Soul" (D. D. N., iv, 2 in P. G., Ill, 696 C), and on "The Objects of Intellect and Sense" (E.H., i, 2 in P. G., Ill, 373 B). No reliable trace, however, of anv of these writings has ever been tliscoveied, and in his references to them Dionysius is as uncontrollable as in
