Jesus Christ in Eastern Orthodox tradition. Abstract: Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite and his Corpus Areopagiticum See what “pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite” is in other dictionaries
UKRAINIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
Odessa diocese
Odessa Theological Seminary
Composition
in General Church History
on the topic: “Pseudo-Dionysius and his Corpus Areopagiticum”
Pupil: 3-A class
Drogovoz Igor
Odessa 2003
1. Introduction
2. About Dionysius the Areopagite.
3. History of the “Corpus Areopagiticum”.
5. Treatises:
· “On Mystical Theology.”
· “About Divine Names.”
· “About the heavenly hierarchy.”
· “On the Church Hierarchy.”
6. Letters to different persons.
7. Lost treatises.
8. Composition of the monument:
· Theological teaching of pseudo-Dionysius.
· The doctrine of knowledge of God.
· Cosmology.
· World order.
· Ecclesiology.
· Christology.
9. Conclusion.
List of used literature.
“Collection of works named after Dionysius the Areopagite
is one of the most mysterious monuments
Christian antiquity"
Archpriest Florovsky G.V.
"Byzantine Fathers V – VIII centuries."
The centuries-old history of patristic writing does not know a more mysterious phenomenon than the corpus of works inscribed with the name of Dionysius the Areopagite. The influence of Areopagitica on Christian writing and culture starting from the 6th century. up to the present time has been so unprecedented and widespread that it is difficult to name any literary monument comparable to them in terms of the scale of spiritual impact. Not a single work of Christian writing of the patristic period gave rise to such an extensive scientific literature, such diverse hypotheses about its origin and authorship, than the “Corpus Areopagiticum”. ¹
Dionysius the Areopagite ()4@<ßF4@H UDg@B"(\J0H) жил в I веке. Достоверных известий о его личности очень мало. Обращённый ко Христу проповедью апостола Павла в афинском ареопаге, он был, по свидетельству Дионисия Коринфского у Евсевия Кесарийского, первым епископом в Афинах. Там же принял мученическую кончину, во время гонения Домициана, в 96 году. ²
rice. 1 Dionysius the Areopagite, Bishop of Athens.
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1. Jerome. Hilarion (Alfeev). Eastern Fathers and Teachers of the Church III - V centuries. P. 243.
2. Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary. pp. 480 – 481.
However, none of the Christian theologians and historians of antiquity anywhere says that this apostolic man left any literary works.
There is no doubt about his pseudepigraphic character of the “Corps”. Evidence of this is not only the complete absence of any mention of the works of Dionysius until the beginning of the 6th century, but also the very nature of the monument, which is too far in both language and structure of thought from the artless simplicity of the early Christian era. This was self-evident even as long as not only the ideological, but also the direct literary dependence of the Areopagitica on the last Neoplatonic teacher, Proclus (411-485) was established with indisputable certainty. At the same time, the unknown author, apparently, wanted to give the impression of a man of the apostolic era - a disciple of the Apostle Paul, an eyewitness of the eclipse on the day of the Savior’s death, an eyewitness of the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin, a friend and collaborator of the holy apostles. The claim to ancient authority is quite obvious, and the question of deliberate "forgery" arises. Until the Renaissance, doubts about the antiquity and authenticity of the Areopagitica, however, arose neither in the East nor in the West, except, perhaps, for Patriarch Photius... The Works of the Great Dionysius enjoyed undeniable authority and had an exceptionally strong influence on the development of theological thought in the late patristic era, and in the Byzantine era, and in the West throughout the Middle Ages. ¹
The writings of Dionysius were first mentioned at a meeting of the Orthodox with the Monophysites in 553.
In his church policy, Emperor Justinian used the “carrot and stick” method. In 533, when the next wave of persecution of Monophysites subsided, a Council was held in Chalcedon, at which Orthodox and Monophysites were given the opportunity to calmly discuss Christological issues. At this conference, opponents of the Council of Chalcedon began to refer to an author named Dionysius the Areopagite. And to this day no one knows who was hiding under the name of the disciple of the Apostle Paul (Acts 17:34), who in the 4th century was considered the first bishop of Athens. At the Council of Chalcedon in 533, the Monophysites referred to the expression " united godly energy", used by Dionysius, who became famous as the author of the following writings: “On the heavenly hierarchy”, “On the church hierarchy”, “On the names of God”, “Mystical theology”, letters (numbering 10).
In his writings, the author himself proclaimed himself a disciple of the Apostle Paul, an eyewitness of the eclipse on the day of the Savior’s death and a witness of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. Among its recipients we find Gaius, Timothy, Polycarp of Smyrna (who, as we know, lived in the 2nd century) and St. John the Theologian.
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1. Prot. G. Florovsky. Byzantine Fathers V - VIII centuries. P. 95.
No one doubted the authenticity of the “Areopagitik” (as the works of Dionysius began to be called), and a tradition began to form around pseudo-Dionysius. Thus, in the 9th century, a legend arose that he was the first bishop of Paris and died a martyr’s death in Paris in 110. North of Paris, the Basilica of Saint-Denis was built in his honor, where the relics of early Christian martyrs and, later, the bodies of French kings were placed. It is also known that in 827, the Byzantine Emperor Michael II sent an organ (invented, by the way, in Byzantium) and a manuscript of Dionysius the Areopagite as a gift to the French King Louis the Pious. Gradually, a legend was formed about the holy martyr Dionysius, the patron saint of France, and popular tradition connected this Dionysius with the author of the above-mentioned writings, who posed as a disciple of the Apostle Paul. This manuscript is still kept in the Paris National Library. ¹
Scholium² on the works of Dionysius the Areopagite was written in the 6th century by John of Scythopolis. All Eastern Christian writers after the 6th century know the “Corpus”: Leontius of Byzantium, Anastasius of Sinaite, Sophronius of Jerusalem, Theodore the Studite refer to it. In the 7th century the works were interpreted by St. Maximus the Confessor, later copyists of his scholia were connected with the scholia of John of Scythopolis. The Monk John of Damascus (8th century) refers to Dionysius as a generally recognized authority.
In the 8th century, the scholia to the “Corpus” were translated into Syriac, in the same century Armenian and Arabic translations appeared, by the 9th century - Coptic, by the 11th century - Georgian. In 1371, the Serbian monk Isaiah completed a complete translation of the “Corpus Areopagitikum” together with the scholia of John Maximus into the Slavic language; from that time on, the works of Dionysius the Areopagite became an integral part of Slavic-speaking, primarily Russian, spiritual culture.³
Only with the beginning of new philological criticism in the 16th century was the question of the “Areopagitica” first raised, first by George of Trebizond, Theodore of Gaza, in the West by Lorenzo Vallou and Erasmus, then by Sirmond, Petavius and Tillemon, - the later origin of the “Areopagitian” collection was shown quite clearly. However, not everyone immediately agreed with this conclusion; and even in very recent years there are belated defenders of the “authenticity” and apostolic antiquity of the Areopagitik. In any case, the origin of the monument remains mysterious and unclear to this day; about its actual author, about the place of its composition, about the purposes of this “forgery”, nothing indisputable has so far been able to be said.
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1. Prot. I. Meyendorff. Introduction to Patristic Theology. P.337 – 338.
2. SCHOLIA is an explanation of the text, which can result and spread into a whole theoretical calculation.
3. Jerome. Hilarion (Alfeev). Eastern Fathers and Teachers of the Church III - V centuries. pp. 243 - 244.
Attempts to identify the imaginary Dionysius with any Dionysius known to us from the figures and writers of the 4th-5th centuries or with some other historical figure (in particular, with the famous Monophysite Patriarch Sevirus of Antioch) must be considered decisively unsuccessful and arbitrary.
The meaning of Areopagitik is determined primarily by their historical influence. At the beginning of the 6th century they were already in circulation. They are referred to by the famous Severus of Antioch, at the council of 513 in Tire, by Saint Andrew of Caesarea, in his interpretation of the Apocalypse, written around 515-520. Sergius of Rishainsky, who died in 536, translates the Areopagitica in Syriac - and this translation becomes widespread, especially in Monophysite circles, although Sergius himself, originally a Monophysite presbyter and at the same time a doctor, occupied some kind of position in dogmatic disputes ambiguous position, was close even to the Nestorians. He studied in Alexandria, and was an Aristotelian in philosophical sympathies. In any case, he translated Porphyry’s “Introduction”, Aristotle’s “Categories”, and, in addition, compiled a number of independent books on logic. Particularly characteristic is his translation of the pseudo-Aristotelian book “On the World,” in which he managed to achieve great accuracy and rigor. At the same time, Sergius was a mystic, as can be seen from his preface to the translation of the Areopagitik. The name Sergius is very characteristic, as an indirect indication of the environment in which, first of all, the “Areopagitians” addressed themselves. At the famous interview between the Orthodox and the Sevirians in Constantinople in 531 or 533, the question of their dignity arises - the Sevirians refer to them, and the leader of the Orthodox Hypatius of Ephesus rejects this reference and declares the Areopagitica an apocrypha, which none of the ancients knew or named ... But very soon the Orthodox also begin to use them. The first interpreter of the Areopagitik was John of Scythopolis (about 530-540). Apparently, it was his scholia that are known under the name of Maximus the Confessor. Later scribes brought together the scholia of different interpreters, and diacritics disappeared over time. The set of scholia known under the name of Saint Maximus represents a fairly homogeneous whole. And very few scholia resemble the style of St. Maximus. The scholia of John of Scythopolis were translated into Syriac already in the 8th century by Phocas bar-Sergius of Edessa. Even earlier, in the 7th century, Joseph Gadzaia (“contemplator”), better known under the name Ebed-Iesu, was engaged in the interpretation of the Areopagitik. From the official Syriac text “Areopagitik”, an Arabic translation was made very early, which also received church approval, and an Armenian one, in the 8th century. It is necessary to note also the remains of the Coptic translation. All this testifies to the wide distribution and authority of the monument. Of the Orthodox theologians, Leontius of Byzantium, later Anastasius of Sinaite and Sophronius of Jerusalem, used the Areopagitics. They had a strong influence on the Monk Maximus the Confessor, who was engaged in explaining the “difficult passages” of the imaginary Dionysius and Gregory the Theologian. For St. John of Damascus, the “great Dionysius” is already an indisputable authority. Orthodox defenders of icon veneration, already at the VIIth Ecumenical Council and later, rely on the Areopagitica as a reliable foundation, especially St. Theodore the Studite. The entire metaphysics of icons is connected with the teachings of Dionysius, and he sings of the depth of his theology. Saint Cyril, the first Slovenian teacher, a student of Photius, speaks of them with respect. At the direction of Anastasius the Librarian, Saint Cyril quoted the “great Dionysius” by heart. At a later time in Byzantium, many people were engaged in the interpretation of the Areopagitikum; Corpus Areopagiticum became, as it were, a reference book for Byzantine theologians. These interpretations have not yet been collected and studied. It is necessary to especially note the interpretations of the famous Michael Psellus (1018-1079) and George Pachymer (1242-1310) - the paraphrases of the latter, like the scholia attributed to the Monk Maximus, seem to grow into the text itself in the manuscripts. The popularity of the Areopagitik in the 14th century, during the era of the new mystical revival in Byzantium, in the age of St. Gregory Palamas, is evidenced by the Slavic (Bulgarian) translation made by the Athonite monk Isaiah in 1371, on behalf of Theodosius, Metropolitan of Serres (in southern Macedonia) . From Euthymian Bulgaria it was transferred to Rus' (probably by Metropolitan Cyprian - a copy of his hand has been preserved), along with other monuments of ascetic and mystical literature.
The first doubts about the authenticity of the writings of Dionysius arose in the 15th century with Erasmus of Rotterdam. The reason for doubt was obvious anachronisms¹, especially in the book “On the Church Hierarchy”.
The Areopagitica were brought to the West very early. They are first referred to here by Pope Gregory the Great, then by Pope Martin at the Lateran Council of 649. Pope Agathon refers to the Areopagitica in a letter read at the VI Ecumenical Council. Anastasius the Librarian translates the scholia of John of Scythopolis and St. Maximus. In particular, the Areopagitica gained great respect in France, thanks to the (erroneous) identification of the alleged Dionysius with Dionysius of Paris. In 757, a list of the works of Dionysius was sent by Pope Paul I, among other books, to Pepin the Short. In 827, the Byzantine Emperor Michael I presented a beautiful list to King Louis the Pious. In France at that time, few people knew Greek.
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1. ANACHRONISM (from the Greek ana - back, against and chrónos - time),
1) an error against chronology, attributing an event or phenomenon to another time.
2) The deliberate introduction into the image of any era of features unusual for it.
3) A relic of antiquity.
At the monastery of Saint-Denis, Abbot Gilduin (d. 840) translated the Areopagitica into Latin, but his translation was not widely distributed. It was overshadowed by the translation of the famous Scotus Eriugena. Eriugena, by his own admission, used in his translation the works of St. Maximus, which he also translated. Eriugena's knowledge of the Greek language was not perfect and there were quite a few gross misunderstandings in his translations. But on the own system of Eriugena, one of the most remarkable thinkers of the early Middle Ages, the influence of Dionysius and the Monk Maximus had an extremely strong impact. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Areopagitists enjoyed great influence in the West. This can already be seen in Anselm. Hugo of Saint Victor is engaged in the interpretation of the book “On the Heavenly Hierarchy” - the mystical theories of the Victorians are generally very closely related to the mysticism of the imaginary Dionysius. Peter Lombard looked at the Areopagitica as an undisputed authority. John Saracen in the 12th century, Thomas of Vercel and Robert Grosseteste in the 13th century were engaged in translation and commentary on the Areopagitik. Albertus Magnus comments on all the books of the imaginary Dionysius. Aquinas also treats them with great respect.
In the Summa of Thomas Aquinas there are 1,700 quotations from the Areopagitica - the Areopagitica and Damascus were his main source on Eastern patristics. Aquinas also has a special commentary on the book “On the Divine Names.” Bonaventure also experienced a strong influence from the “Areopagitik” - he composed a special interpretation of the book “On the Church Hierarchy”... In general, in the Middle Ages, Dionysius was the strongest and most respected authority for representatives of all schools and all centuries. They go back to Dionysius in discussions about the existence and properties of God, and in the doctrine of knowledge of God and contemplation, and in matters of asceticism, and in the interpretation of worship - through liturgical literature, the influence of the Areopagitik is reflected in the monuments of medieval art. The results of medieval literature are summed up in his extensive commentaries by the famous Dionysius of Carthusianus, doctor extaticus.
The influence of the Areopagitik is very strongly felt among the German and Flemish mystics of the 14th and 15th centuries, among Ekkegaard, among Ruisbroeck, and among the unknown author of the famous book “On the Imitation of Christ.” In a new mystical and speculative experience, the legends of the mysterious contemplative of ancient times come to life again. Nikolai Kuzansky is associated with the Areopagitics in his philosophical constructions.
The famous Florentine Platonist, Marsilius Ficino, worked on the translation of the Areopagitica... Luther sharply raised the question of the imaginary Dionysius - he considered the Areopagitica to be apocryphal, and saw the author as a dangerous dreamer. At the same time, Erasmus (following L. Vallou) came forward with evidence of the late origin of the monument, but the influence of the Areopagitica did not weaken. Catholic theologians of the 16th and 17th centuries continued to prove the authenticity of the monument (L. Lessius, Card. Baronius, V. Corderius, the famous publisher of the Areopagitik), mystics continued to be inspired by it - Angel Silesius, partly quietists¹... It will not It is an exaggeration to say: without the influence of the Areopagitica, the entire history of medieval mysticism and philosophy will remain incomprehensible. The “Areopagitics” were the living and main (but not the only) source of “Platonism”, i.e. Neoplatonism in the Middle Ages. ²
Attempts to guess the real author of the Corus Areopagitikum were made repeatedly - in particular, the names of Sevirus of Antioch, Dionysius of Alexandria, Peter Mong and other Monophysite figures of the post-Chalcedonian era were mentioned, but none of these hypotheses was confirmed. But most scholars believe that the writings of pseudo-Dionysius come from moderate Monophysite circles in Syria. In recent times, the most serious (though far from proven) hypothesis has been put forward that the Corpus Areopagiticum belongs to the pen of Peter of Iberia, who, as his nickname indicates, was from Georgia, where there has always been an extraordinary interest in pseudo-Dionysius and even in our time there is society named after him. This assumption is confirmed by the similarity of some details of Peter’s biography with the known facts of the life of pseudo-Dionysius. ³
Domestic signs of the later origin of the Areopagitica: 1) The works of the apostolic men and, in general, all works relating to the ancient period of Christian literature, are distinguished by their artlessness of form, the absence of any philosophical influences and the purely biblical nature of the content. Works known by name
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1. QUIETISM , general name for similar religious movements that spread in the 17th century. in Spain, France and Italy. Usually associated with quietism are the names of Miguel de Molinos, Madame Guyon (Jeanne Marie Bouvier de La Motte-Guyon) and Fenelon (François de Salignac de La Motte), Archbishop of Cambrai.
Quietists viewed the church as the primary but insufficient means for the union of the soul with God and put forward the doctrine of the direct knowledge of God inherent in the human soul.
Confidence in the truth of each such direct experience of God is ensured, according to the teaching of the quietists, by a state of “passivity”, i.e. mortification of all desires. Fenelon said that a person who has reached a state of passivity is “like a piece of fluff, subject to the blow of all the winds of grace.” The ideal is the state of “holy indifference” in which a person lives who has lost even the desire to achieve personal salvation and bliss.
2. Prot. G. Florovsky. Byzantine Fathers V - VIII centuries. pp. 96 - 97.
3. Prot. I. Meyendorff. Introduction to Patristic Theology. P.339.
Dionysius the Areopagite, both in external form and in content, is distinguished by a strictly philosophical character and in this respect leaves behind not only apologists, but also the Alexandrians. 2) The New Testament canon is completely complete and strictly defined in them. 3) Completely completed ternary terminology points to the time after 362: the word ßB`FJ"F4H is used here in the sense of individuality and is opposed to @ÛF\" as a set of general or generic properties. 4) The doctrine of nine angelic ranks and their division into three degrees is not found in any of the most ancient writers. On the contrary, since the appearance of the Corpus Areopagitica this doctrine has become common in church literature. 5) The use of Christological terms FL(PbJTH, JDXBJTH,<"88@4fJTH, :gJ"$`8TH, и намеренное устранение терминов:\>4H and iDF4H indicate the origin of the writings after the Council of Chalcedon. 6) The author speaks about monasticism, which arose only in the 4th century, describes the rite of tonsure and sets out the doctrine of the church hierarchy in such detail and definiteness as none of the most ancient monuments. On the contrary, he says nothing about the charismatic ministries characteristic of the apostolic age. 7) The writings are full of references to the disciplina arcane (see arcane disciplina), alien to the first centuries of Christianity and flourishing in the 4th – 5th centuries. 8) The author talks about singing the Creed at the Liturgy. This custom was introduced in 476 by the Monophysites in Antioch and was later adopted by the Orthodox. 9) The description of the rites of baptism, confirmation, anointing the dead with oil, the custom of communion with children - all this is fully consistent with the data extracted from the works of writers of the 4th - 5th centuries, and has no parallels in ancient literature. 10) Detailed scientific research has fully established the fact of the dependence of the “Corpus” on the writings of the Neoplatonist Proclus (died in 485), from which the author provides literal excerpts without indicating the source.
External evidence of the later origin of the Areopagitica: 1) Not a single church writer before the beginning of the 6th century mentions the existence of the Corpus, not a single one quotes them, although there were enough reasons for this. 2) At the beginning of the 6th century, these works suddenly appeared and immediately gained popularity. They are mentioned by Andrew of Caesarea in his interpretations of the Apocalypse, North, the head of the moderate Monophysites, Patriarch of Antioch (512-518), Patriarch Ephraim of Antioch (527-545).
Based on the given data, we will try to determine compilation time Corpus Areopagiticum. We can conclude that these works were compiled no earlier than 476, the year of the introduction of singing the Creed at the Liturgy. The first traces of the Areopagitica point to Syria as the place of their composition. ¹
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1. Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary. pp. 481 - 482.
All surviving treatises of Dionysius the Areopagite are addressed to “ co-priest Timothy ».
Treatise " About mystical theology"consists of 5 chapters, which talks about the Divine darkness surrounding the Trinity, about negative and positive methods of theology.
Treatise " About Divine Names"consists of 13 chapters and is devoted to the consideration of the names of God. Found in the Old and New Testaments, as well as in the ancient philosophical tradition. For example, he considers such Divine names as Light, Beauty, Love, Wisdom, Reason, Meaning, Truth, Justice, Great and Small, Rest and Movement, Identical and Other, Redemption and Inequality, Perfect and One and others.
Treatise " About the heavenly hierarchy"consists of 15 chapters and is a systematic presentation of Christian angelology. This is perhaps his most famous treatise. According to Dionysius, the angelic ranks form a hierarchy, the purpose of which is to become like God: “ Hierarchy, in my opinion, is a sacred order, knowledge and activity, as close as possible to the likeness of divine beauty, and with the illumination imparted to it from above, heading towards possible imitation of God…. Having God as a mentor in all sacred knowledge and activity and constantly looking at His divine beauty, she, if possible, imprints His image on herself and makes her partakers of divine likenesses, the clearest and purest mirrors, receiving the rays of the initial and God-primary light so that, being filled with the sacred With the radiance communicated to them, they themselves, finally... abundantly communicate it to the lower ones.” (Chapter 3, 1 – 2). Dionysius uses the names of the angelic orders found in the Bible - seraphim, cherubim, archangels and angels (in the Old Testament), thrones, dominions, principalities, powers and powers (Col. 1:16 and Eph. 1:21) - and arranges them in a three-level hierarchical order: the highest hierarchy consists of thrones, seraphim and cherubim (chapter 7), the middle - principles, powers and powers (chapter 8), the lowest - principles, archangels and angels (chapter 9). Although the names of the nine angelic orders are revealed to us, their real number is known only to God and themselves (chapter 6). Divine " light lit"is transmitted from the highest angelic ranks to the lower ones, and from them to people. Dionysius, at the end of the treatise, speaks of anthropomorphic images of angels in the Holy Scriptures (chapter 15).
In the treatise " About the church hierarchy"Dionysius speaks about the hierarchical structure of the Christian Church: at the head of all ranks - both heavenly and earthly - stands Jesus, followed by the angelic ranks, transmitting the divine outpouring " our hierarchy ». ¹
"Coropus Areopagitikum" includes 10 letters addressed to different people, in which the author poses as Dionysius of apostolic times. All
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1. Jerome. Hilarion (Alfeev). Eastern Fathers and Teachers of the Church III - V centuries. pp. 247 - 248.
The persons mentioned in his writings, with the exception of those of whom no traces remain in history, belong to the apostolic time. His first four letters are addressed to " therapist Gaius"(Rom. 16, 23 and 1 Cor. 1, 14), sixth letter - " Priest Sosipater"(Rom. 16:21), seventh - " Hierarch Polycarp", the eighth mentions Carp (2 Tim. 4:13), the ninth is directed to Titus, the tenth is preceded by the writing: " John the Theologian, apostle and evangelist in exile on the island of Patmos" The letter says that John's freedom will be returned and that from Patmos he will return to Asia again. In addition, the author mentions Bartholomew, Justus, Simon and Elimas the Magi as his contemporaries. The seventh letter describes a miraculous eclipse of the sun, which the author observed together with Apollophanes (1st century sophist) at Heliopolis. The details of the description leave no doubt that this refers to an eclipse of the sun that accompanied the Lord’s suffering on the cross. ¹
The author of the Areopagist treatises often refers to his writings, which have not reached us. Twice he mentions the treatise " Theological Essays", in which numerous references to the Holy Scriptures spoke about the Trinity and the incarnation of Christ. ABOUT " Symbolic theology"Dionysius mentions four times, in this treatise we were talking about symbolic images of the Deity found in the Bible. In the essay " About Divine Hymns" it was said about angelic singing, and the "highest praises of the most heavenly minds" were explained. Treatise " About the properties and ranks of angels"was, apparently, nothing more than " About the heavenly hierarchy" In the treatise " On the intelligible and the sensible“It was said that sensible things are images of intelligible things. In the essay " About the soul"It was said about the assimilation of the soul to angelic life and accession to divine gifts. Composition " About the Righteous and Divine Judgment"was devoted to moral themes and refutation of false ideas about God. ² In view of the general pseudepigraphic nature of the “Corpus,” doubts have been repeatedly expressed in science regarding the existence of the works mentioned by the author, but which have not reached us. Archpriest G. Florovsky considers them “literary fiction.” ³ The writings of Hierotheus and Hierotheus himself, to whom the Areopagite often refers, may be the same fiction.
The composition of the monument is sufficient, interesting and versatile. The author covers questions of knowledge of God, questions about the names of God, and an explanation of the hierarchical structure of the early Church.
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1. Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary. P. 481.
2. Jerome. Hilarion (Alfeev). Eastern Fathers and Teachers of the Church III - V centuries. pp. 250 - 251.
3. Prot. G. Florovsky. Byzantine Fathers V - VIII centuries. P.100.
Theological teaching of pseudo-Dionysius.
Pursuing mainly apologetic goals, pseudo-Dionysius sought consonance between his theological views and the Neoplatonic ideology of the philosophers of his time. This is the reason for his extraordinary popularity: Pseudo-Dionysius performed the main task of theology, which is to explain the Holy Scriptures in categories and terms that are accessible and familiar to the modern world. Like any theologian, Dionysius faced two dangers on this path: to distort the essence of his teaching to suit the tastes and demands of his contemporaries, or to completely forget about his audience and “begin to repeat favorite quotes.” ¹
The doctrine of knowledge of God
In the doctrine of the knowledge of God, the author of the Areopagitik follows the Cappadocians, Gregory of Nyssa, first of all, in his essential being, " by its own origin or property", God is unknowable and incomprehensible. He is above every concept and name, above all definitions, “above mind, and essence, and knowledge.” He cannot but be touched, nor imagined, nor understood, nor named, nor comprehended... Intradivine life completely hidden from created gaze, exceeding every measure that is contained and accessible to the created mind. But this does not mean that God is far from the world or that He hides Himself from rational spirits. God essentially reveals himself, and acts, and is present in creatures - creation exists , and abides and lives by the power of this Divine omnipresence... God is present in the world not by His being, which always remains inaccessible, unknowable and ineffable, but in His " industries"and the blessings that emanate from the incommunicable God in an abundant current, and in which existing things partake, He abides in peace in His " noun origins" And " charitable industries" , in Your strength and energies. In this self-revelation to the world, God is knowable and understandable. This means that God is understandable only through revelation.
God can be comprehended and described in two ways. Or through a sharp and decisive opposition to the world, i.e. through the denial of all sayings and definitions about Him that are characteristic and appropriate to the creature - and precisely all, each and everyone. Or through the exaltation of all definitions attached to the creature - and again each and everyone. This opens up two paths to the knowledge of God and theology: the path of positive or cataphatic theology, and the path of negative or apophatic theology. And the path of apophatic theology is the highest - only it leads into that Divine darkness, which is the unapproachable Light for creation.
Among the names of God, Dionysius names in first place goodness, J` ("2`<.
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1. Prot. I. Meyendorff. Introduction to Patristic Theology. P.341 – 342.
Because of His goodness, God creates, creates, gives life, and does all kinds of things. Goodness tends to do good. Thus, from the source of light, its life-giving rays spread everywhere, and so the Supreme Good, with its unchanging radiance, illuminates everything that exists, exudes everywhere its super-essential and life-giving rays, “the rays of complete goodness.” ¹
The merit of the author of the Areopagitik lies in the fact that he once and for all went beyond Platonic views. In his system of knowledge of God, the path to God consists of two steps - purification, or catharsis, and "losing one's temper", or ecstasy. After the purification sufficient for Neoplatonists, the second stage follows: it consists in the paradox of “going out of oneself” to meet God, whose knowledge “exceeds the mind.” The idea of ecstasy is connected with the already familiar idea of love, eros, which we encountered in the teachings of Origen and St. Gregory of Nyssa, who saw in the biblical images of erotic love allegories of the soul’s desire for God. Eros cannot be kept to oneself; it always breaks out and is directed at someone else. In the same way, the soul, inspired by the love of God, “loses itself” and rushes towards the unattainable object of its desire - a movement presented by Dionysius as a constant and endless approach to God, whose existence is inexhaustible.
Cosmology
The cosmological system of pseudo-Dionysius, set out in the book " ABOUT celestial hierarchy”, is not nearly as convincing or philosophically strong, but it nevertheless had a great influence on the development of Christian thought. Dionysius’s teaching on world order is directly related to his liturgical mysticism, reflected in the church hierarchy, the views on which are set out in the book “On the Church Hierarchy.” Both of these books about “hierarchies” reflect the so-called Alexandrian worldview, according to which the whole world is organized according to the principle of a hierarchical ladder. The author appears to have been driven by a desire to somehow bridge the gap between absolute God and relative creation, thereby making his cosmology acceptable to Neoplatonists, while at the same time preserving intact the Christian idea of the transcendence of God. The disadvantage of this worldview was the obvious illusory nature of all intermediate stages: in essence, it was the same Hellenistic cosmology dressed up in Christian dress.
The purpose of the heavenly hierarchy, according to Dionysius, is the possibility of assimilating creation to God, a kind of “imitation of God.” The Greek word he uses hierarchy presupposes movement, a certain dynamic striving of creation towards God.
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1. Prot. G. Florovsky. Byzantine Fathers V - VIII centuries. P.101 - 105.
Classifying the ranks of the hierarchy, he uses the trinitarian principle, fashionable among Neoplatonists: Greek thought, which did not distinguish between ontology and aesthetics, loved to see triads everywhere. The Dionysian angelic orders were organized into three triads. At the top of the stairs, as if on the threshold of the Divinity, there are cherubim, seraphim and thrones - this is the first triad. On the second stage there are dominions, powers and authorities, on the third - the principles, archangels and angels. The ranks of each hierarchical level have access to God only through the ranks of a higher level, and thus the heavenly and earthly worlds seem to merge. Each triad transmits down some aspect of the Divine without diminishing the Source.
Mentions of the angelic ranks are found in the book of the prophet Daniel and in other Old Testament books, Saint Gregory of Nazianzus also speaks about them, but only pseudo-Dionysius classified them with the accuracy characteristic of him alone. For the Christian tradition, this classification is a great inconvenience, because the Old Testament angelology is complex and does not fit into the hierarchy of Dionysius. For example, the seraphim in the book of the prophet Isaiah is the direct messenger of God. The Church honors Archangel Michael as the head of the heavenly army (in the Epistle of Jude he fights Satan), and in some apocryphal works he is almost equal to God, but in the system of Dionysius the archangel rank is one of the lowest in the heavenly hierarchy. In general, we can say that Dionysius’ classification of heavenly powers does not correspond to the biblical revelation about them, and his triads must be recognized as a fictitious construction.
As a side note, it is worth noting that there is reason to believe that protoctists(“created in the beginning”), heretics, about whom Saint Sava went to complain to Constantinople, were somehow connected with pseudo-Dionysius. In his view, indeed, the hierarchy of powers of the created world was “created from the beginning”, and is not a consequence of the Fall, as those who were at enmity with them claimed Orngenists-isochrists.
It is amazing that in the structure of the pseudo-Dionysian system there is no place for faith in the Incarnation, even the name of Christ is almost not mentioned. In this regard, the fact that his teachings were assimilated by the Church can be attributed to the realm of rather amazing historical phenomena. Of course, it was accepted into the general conciliar channel of Tradition with the necessary amendments. Thus, Saint Gregory Palamas accepts the classification of Dionysius, but with the only caveat that the Incarnation violated the original order: in violation of all hierarchical ranks, God sent the Archangel Gabriel, that is, one of the lower angels, to announce the good news of the Incarnation to the Virgin Mary. ¹
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1. Prot. I. Meyendorff. Introduction to Patristic Theology. P.344 - 345.
World order
God is the God of the world. Everything in the world is harmonious and consonant, everything is constructed and coordinated with each other; and nothing loses its originality, but is composed into living harmony. This world is the Divine seal in the world. It affects, first of all, hierarchy, the hierarchical nature of the world. Hierarchy, as defined by Dionysius, is " sacred rank, knowledge and activity, as close as possible to assimilation to Divine beauty and, with the illumination imparted to it from above, directed towards possible imitation of God"The purpose of hierarchy is " possible likeness to God and union with him". The rank of hierarchy requires that some enlighten and improve, others enlighten and improve. The higher ones must communicate their illumination and purity to the lower ones. The beginning of the hierarchy is the Holy Trinity, the source of life and unity. The hierarchy is a stepwise structure of the world. In the world there are steps determined by the degree closeness to God. God is everything in everything. But not everything is equal... By nature, everything is not the same close to God. But between these, as if ever receding, concentrations there is a living and continuous connection, and everyone exists for others, so that only the fullness of everything fulfills the goal of the world. Everything strives towards God, but strives through the mediation, through the environment of closer concentrations. Otherwise, as with the assistance of the higher, the lower cannot ascend to God. Dionysius adheres to this ladder principle very strictly. Thus, order turns out to be a way and an action.The purpose of the hierarchy is love of God and communication with him.
Everything was created by God for Himself, i.e. for good and bliss, for peace and beauty - so that everything rushes towards Him and, uniting with Him, communing with Him, is internally united with each other. All over the world, right down to non-existence, one can observe this reciprocity, this attraction, inspired and driven by love and beauty. This affects both the external world and the inner life of the soul.
The purpose of life is in communication with God, in deification... For this purpose, a hierarchy has been established. Deification is likeness and union with God. Assimilation, but not merging - the immutable line of Divine inaccessibility always remains unbroken. This likening extends to the whole world, not only to rational and verbal beings, - for each type of being to an appropriate extent... Only the highest heavenly ranks are accessible " first and predominant deification"... The concept of deification in Dionysius sometimes almost dissolves in the concept of peace and harmony, consonance and unity, almost merges with the concept of the natural God-likeness of everything that exists.¹
Ecclesiology
The heavenly hierarchy, according to Dionysius, corresponds to the church hierarchy - a continuation and reflection of the heavenly one. In this case, the thought
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1. Prot. G. Florovsky. Byzantine Fathers V - VIII centuries. P.110, - 114.
pseudo-Dionysius clearly follows Plato's parallelism between the spiritual and material worlds. The church hierarchy was preceded by the Old Testament " hierarchy from law", in which the realities of the church hierarchy were represented in tangible types and symbols. The structure of the Church is " more perfect initiation"called" our hierarchy ".
Here Dionysius discovers triads. Three hierarchies at three different levels lead to the contemplation of God: the Old Testament hierarchy at the level of symbols, the intermediate, New Testament hierarchy partly at the level of contemplation, but not completely abandoning symbols, and, finally, “our hierarchy”, the church hierarchy - the highest level of contemplation, adjacent to the world of heavenly powers, participating in the “angelic splendor”.
Obviously, in this case, Dionysius’s thought is arbitrary and unclear. Moreover, his theory completely ignores the Incarnation. Unfortunately, despite its artificiality, his system had a huge influence on the ecclesiology not only of that time, but also of subsequent centuries, redefining the entire relationship between God and man. ¹
The church hierarchy, being a continuation of the heavenly one, consists of nine ranks: the highest hierarchical one is made up of three sacraments - Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation, the middle one is made up of hierarchs presbyters and deacons, the lowest one is made up of pherapets (monks), " sacred people", and the catechumens. ²
Episcopacy is depicted not as an element of the internal structure in the church community, but as a state of the individual; the Eucharist in the Areopagite has only a symbolic and moral meaning. The Eucharist is not a means of communion with God - it is only a shadow of that important, real thing, what the Areopagite calls hierarchy and which, in his opinion, first of all, expresses the universal inclination of creation - to strive for its Creator.
It should be noted that Dionysius never uses the word "bishop", but instead introduces the term " hierarch" - a twisted biblical term " bishop", that is, the high priest.
Pseudo-Dionysius had a huge influence on liturgical theology and the theology of the sacraments, and this influence can be seen in the smallest details of worship and the structure of the Church.
Fortunately, despite the fact that the influence of Dionysius was deeply rooted in the church consciousness, the Church never completely succumbed to him, keeping intact the Eucharistic prayers and the concept of the sacramental role of the clergy.
The history of interpretation of the teachings of pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite developed
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1. Prot. I. Meyendorff. Introduction to Patristic Theology. P.345 – 346.
2. Jerome. Hilarion (Alfeev). Eastern Fathers and Teachers of the Church III - V centuries. P. 248.
in two directions, associated with the presence in it of two different ways of communicating with God: the first way is theology - communication at the level of the individual, direct and mystical; the second is theurgy - the activity of the hierarchy and numerous intermediaries. Accordingly, the teachings of the Areopagite were interpreted, firstly, in the direction of charismatic leadership, and secondly, in the legalistic categories of Western ecclesiology, which led to extreme forms of clericalism in the scholastic and post-scholastic periods.
Christology
The Christology of pseudo-Dionysius is also extremely vague. He avoids talking about the Incarnation, about the events of the Savior’s life. Christ of Dionysius is not a Savior, but the highest revelation of the divine nature, an Initiator, a Teacher, like Origen, instructing fallen intellects on the path of return to the Creator. Jesus for him is “the most divine spirit, the beginning, the essence and the most divine power of the entire hierarchy, all holiness and all divine actions” (“On the Heavenly Hierarchy”, 1, 1). The description of the Incarnation is replete with superlatives: “ Jesus Himself, the super-existent cause of super-heavenly beings, who descended to our level without losing His immortality, does not deviate from the beautiful order established and chosen by Him for the sake of human convenience, but obediently submits to the plans of God His Father, communicated to Him by the angels.
("On the Heavenly Hierarchy", 4, 4)
In other words, the Incarnation for the Areopagite represents only a function of a hierarchical structure: the coming of Christ made it possible to project a fixed, once and for all established heavenly order onto our created world.
Despite the obvious vagueness of Dionysius's Christological views, he - as we said earlier - was able to express a truly Christian approach to the knowledge of God, transforming Neoplatonic terminology from within. This is his main merit as a theologian and apologist. However, his teaching on hierarchies, often taken too literally by his contemporaries and commentators, confused rather than clarified Byzantine ideas about the Church and the sacraments. ¹
Apparently, the man who wrote the “Corpus Areopagiticum” at the turn of the 5th – 6th centuries and wished to remain anonymous will never be discovered. The intentionally pseudepigraphic nature of the monument, however, does not in any way detract from its significance as an important source of Christian doctrine and one of the most striking, profound and theologically and philosophically significant works of patristic literature.
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1. Prot. I. Meyendorff. Introduction to Patristic Theology. P.345 – 350.
List of used literature :
1. Bible. Books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Anniversary publication dedicated to the millennium of the Baptism of Rus' - M.: Publication of the Moscow Patriarchate, 1988 - 1371 p.
2. Florovsky G.V., priest. Byzantine Fathers V - VIII centuries. - /Reprint. playback ed., Paris, 1933/ - Publication of the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra, 1999 – 260 p.
3. Anthology. Eastern Fathers and Teachers of the Church III - V centuries, V centuries. Compilation, biographical and bibliographic articles of Hieromonk Hilarion (Alfeev) - M.: MIPT Publishing House, 2000 - 416 p.
4. Meyendorff I., archpriest. Introduction to Patristic Theology. – Klin: Christian Life Foundation, 2001 – 445 p.
5. Christianity. Encyclopedic Dictionary. In 3 volumes, volume 1 – M: Scientific publishing house “Big Russian Encyclopedia”, 1993 – 862 p.
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PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITE
PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITE
(Dionisios Areopagi-tus, i.e. member of the Areopagus, the ancient judicial panel in Athens) - Christian thinker 5 or early. 6th century, representative of late patristics. Treatises and messages of P.-D. A. written on behalf of the character of the New Testament “Acts of the Apostles” - an educated Athenian of the 1st century, converted to the preaching of the Apostle Paul; but the first news of the works of P.-D. A. is associated with a religious conversation between Orthodox and Monophysites in Constantinople in 533. Phraseology and stylistics of P.-D. A., everyday realities mentioned by him in the context of symbolic interpretations, and finally, traces of the direct use of Proclus’s texts, identified in. 19th century G. Koch and J. Stieglmayr - all this together does not allow us to date the “Areopagitic Corpus” (“Corpus Areopagiticum”), as it is commonly called in science, earlier than the Second. floor. 5th century; some additional evidence points to the Syrian environment. Sh.I. Nutsubidze and (independently) E. Honigman proposed to identify P.-D. A. with the Monophysite church leader and thinker Peter Iver, a native of Iveria (eastern Georgia), bishop of Mayuma (near Gaza); Other hypotheses were also expressed (the authorship of Severus of Antioch, the circle of John of Scythopolis, etc.), none of which, however, gained general recognition. The “Corpus” includes 4 treatises (“On the heavenly hierarchy”, “On the ecclesiastical hierarchy”, “On the divine names”, “The Mysterious”) and 10 epistles; developed in them is the highest point of Christian Neoplatonism. Having mastered and developed Neoplatonic ideas about the unconditional indefinability and indescribability of God ( - “Mysterious Theology”) and the conditional possibility of ascending to the knowledge of God along the hierarchical ladder of analogies ( - topic “On Divine Names”), P.-D. A. connected the ontology of Neoplatonism (and the doctrine of symbol generated by this ontology) with social issues; the doctrine of “church hierarchy” is directly adapted from P.-D. A. to the doctrine of the “heavenly hierarchy.” Moreover, in contrast to the mystical historicism of Augustine (as the “city of God”), the church of P.-D. A. as an ideal human community, in agreement with the laws of universal existence, is extremely static: these are people who directly continue the hierarchy of angels, pure light in pure mirrors transmitting a ray to each other, the harmonious order of church “sacraments” (described as “initiations”, using the vocabulary of ancient pagan mysteries); k.-l. drama and contradictions are completely absent. Symbolism in the interpretation of all things, aesthetically experienced as hierarchies of light had a comprehensive influence on all medieval aesthetics (including on Suger’s theory of light and symbol, embodied in the artistic practice of Gothic art, Dante’s poetry - “Paradise”, etc.).
Teachings of P.-D. A. received official recognition in Byzantine Orthodoxy initially thanks to its interpretation by Maximus the Confessor. His influence was experienced by John of Damascus, Gregory Palamas and Palamas' opponent Barlaam of Calabria, later Maximus the Greek and other other Russians. thinkers. In the West, the “Areopagitic Corpus” became known in the 9th century; Many thinkers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance wrote comments on it, incl. Thomas Aquinas and M. Ficino, John Scotus Eriugena and Nicholas of Cusa were strongly influenced by his ideas.
Philosophy: Encyclopedic Dictionary. - M.: Gardariki. Edited by A.A. Ivina. 2004 .
PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITE
(", i.e. member of the Areopagus, an ancient judicial panel in Athens), Christ thinker 5 or beginning 6 V., representative of late patristics. Treatises and messages of P.-D. A. written on behalf of the character of the New Testament “Acts of the Apostles” (17, 34) - an educated Athenian 1 V., converted to Christianity by the preaching of the Apostle Paul; but the first news of Op. P.-D. A. associated with religious an interview between Orthodox and Monophysites in Constantinople in 533. Phraseology and stylistics P.-D. A., everyday realities mentioned by him in a symbolic context. interpretations, and finally, traces of direct use of Proclus’s texts, identified in con. 19 V. G. Koch and I. Stieglmayr - all this together does not allow us to date the “Corpus Areo-pagiticum”, as it is commonly called in science, earlier than the 2nd floor. 5 V.; some will add. the data points to the Syrian environment. Sov. researcher Sh. I. Nutsubidze and (regardless of him) Belgian E. Honigman proposed to identify P.-D. A. with Monophysite church activist and thinker Peter Iver, a native of Iveria (eastern Georgia), Bishop of Mayuma (near Gaza); spoke out and etc. hypotheses (authorship of Severus Antioch, circle of John of Scythopolis and T. P.), none of which, however, gained general recognition. “Areopagitich. corpus" includes 4 treatises (“About the heavenly hierarchy”, “About church hierarchy", "O deities. names", "Sacramental theology") and 10 messages; the doctrine developed in them is the highest point Christ Neoplatonism. Having assimilated and developed Neoplatonic. ideas about the unconditional indefinability and indescribability of God (apophatic - theme of "Sacramental Theology") and about the conditional possibility of ascending to the knowledge of God through the hierarchy, the ladder of analogies (cataphatic theology - topic “On Divine Names”), P.-D. A. connected the ontology of Neoplatonism (and the doctrine of symbol generated by this ontology) with social issues; doctrine of the "church" hierarchy" is directly adapted from P.-D. A. to the doctrine of the “heavenly hierarchy.” Moreover, unlike the mystical. Augustine's historicism (church as “city of God”) image of the church in P.-D. A. as an ideal person. community, in accordance with the laws of the universal. of existence, is extremely static: this is a hierarchy of people, directly continuing the hierarchy of angels, a reflection of pure light in pure mirrors that transmit the beam to each other, a harmonious routine church"sacraments" (described as "initiations", using the vocabulary antique tongue mysteries); k.-l. drama and contradictions are completely absent. Symbolism in the interpretation of all things, the aesthetically experienced picture of the world as a hierarchy of light had a comprehensive influence on the entire Middle-century aesthetics (including Suger’s theory of light and symbol, embodied in the artistic practice of Gothic art, Dante’s poetry - “Paradise”, and etc.) .
Teachings of P.-D. A. received official recognition in Byzantine Orthodoxy initially thanks to its interpretation by Maximus the Confessor. His influence was experienced by John of Damascus, Gregory Palamas and the opponent of Palama Barlaam of Calabria, later Maxim the Greek and other other Russians. thinkers. In the West, “Areopagic” building" became known from 9 V.; people wrote comments about it pl. thinkers cf. centuries and the Renaissance, including Thomas Aquinas and M. Ficino, John Scotus Eriugena and Nicholas of Cusa were strongly influenced by his ideas.
Migne P.G., t. 3; La hierarchie celeste, P., 19702; V rus. trans.-On Divine Names, Buenos Aires, 1957; V book: Anthology of world philosophy, T. 1, part 2, M., 1969, With. 606-20.
Skvortsov K.I., Research on the author Op. known by the name St. Dionysius the Areopagite, K., 1871; Nu-tsubidze Sh., Taina P.-D. A., Tb., 1942; him, Peter Iver and problems, Tb., 1957; Honigman E., Petr Iver and Op. P.-D. A., Tb., 1955; Danelia S, I., On the question of the personality of P.-D. A., in Sat.: Byzantine. temporary T. 8, M.-L., 1956; Rogues R., L "univers dlonysien, P., 1954; Re-pin 3., Univers dionyaien et univers augustinien. Aspects de la dialectique, P., 1956; Vanneste J., Le Mystere de Dieu. Essai sur la structure rationelle de la doctrine mystique du Pseudo-Denys L"AreOpagite, Bruges, 1959; Goltz H., HIERA MESITEIA. Zur Theorie der hierarchischen Sozietat im Corpus Areopagiticura, Erlangen, 1974 (“Oikonoinia”, Bd 4).
Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. editor: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983 .
PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITE
cm. Dionysius the Areopagite.
Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2010 .
PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITE
PSEUDO-DIONISIUS AREOPAGITE (Διονύσιος Αρεοπαγίτης, i.e. member of the Areopagus, the ancient judicial panel in Athens) - Christian thinker 5 or early. 6th century, representative of late patristics. His treatises and epistles on behalf of an educated Athenian of the 1st century, converted to Christianity by the preaching of the Apostle Paul and mentioned in the New Testament “Acts of the Apostles” (17, 34). The first news of the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is associated with a religious conversation between the Orthodox and the Monophysites in Constantinople in 533. Phraseology and stylistics of the writings, everyday realities mentioned in the context of symbolic interpretations, and finally, traces of the direct use of Proclus’s texts, identified at the end of the 19th century. G. Koch and I. Stieglmayr - all this together does not allow us to date the “Corpus Areopagiticum” (“Areopagiticum”), as it is commonly called in science, earlier than the 2nd half. 5th century; some additional evidence points to the Syrian environment. The Georgian researcher Sh. I. Nutsubidze and (independently from him) the Belgian specialist E. Honigman proposed to identify the author of the treatises with the Monophysite church leader and thinker Peter Iver, a native of Iveria (eastern Georgia), bishop of Mayuma (near Gaza); Other hypotheses were also expressed (the authorship of Severus of Antioch, the circle of John of Scythopolis, etc.), none of which, however, gained general recognition.
The “Areopagitic Corpus” includes 4 treatises (“On the heavenly hierarchy”, “On the ecclesiastical hierarchy”, “On the divine names”, “Sacramental theology”) and 10 epistles; the doctrine developed in them is the highest point of Christian Neoplatonism. Having mastered and developed Neoplatonic ideas about the unconditional indefinability and indescribability of God (apophatic theology - the theme of “Sacramental Theology”) and the conditional possibility of ascending to the knowledge of God along the hierarchical ladder of analogies (Kataphatish theology - the theme “On Divine Names”), the author connected the ontology of Neoplatonism (and the doctrine of symbol generated by it) with social issues; the doctrine of the “church hierarchy” is directly adapted to the doctrine of the “heavenly hierarchy.” Moreover, in contrast to the mystical historicism of Augustine (the Church as the “city of God”), the image of the Church as an ideal human community in accordance with the laws of universal existence is extremely static: it is a hierarchy of people, directly continuing the hierarchy of angels, a reflection of pure light in pure mirrors, transmitting the ray to each other, the harmonious order of church “sacraments” (described as “initiations” using the vocabulary of ancient pagan mysteries); any drama and contradictions are completely absent. Symbolism in the interpretation of all things, the aesthetically experienced picture of the world as a hierarchy of light had a comprehensive influence on all medieval aesthetics (including Suger’s theory of light and symbol, embodied in the artistic practice of Gothic art, Dante’s poetry - “Paradise”, etc. ).
The teachings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite received official recognition in Byzantine Orthodoxy initially through its interpretation by Maximus the Confessor. His influence was experienced by John of Damascus, Gregory Palamas and Palamas’ opponent Barlaam of Calabria, and later by Maximus the Greek and other ancient Russian thinkers. In the West, the “Areopagitic Corpus” became known in the 9th century; Many thinkers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance wrote comments on him, including Thomas Aquinas and M. Ficino, and John Scotus Eriugena and Nicholas of Cusa were strongly influenced by his ideas.
Works: MPG, t. 3; La hiérarchie celeste. P., 1970; in Russian Transl.: About divine names. Buenos Aires, 1957; About divine names. About mystical theology. St. Petersburg, 1994; About the heavenly hierarchy. St. Petersburg, 1997; Message to Titus the Hierarch, - In the book: Prokhorov G. M. Monuments of translated and Russian literature of the XIV-XV centuries. L., 1987, p. 179-199; Message 1. Guy Monk. Epistle 5. Dorothy the Deacon - In the book: Historical and Philosophical Yearbook-90. M., 1991, p. 226.
Lit.: Skvortsov K.I. Study of the question of the author of the works known with the name of St. Dionysius the Areopagite. K., 1871; NutsubidzeSh. The Mystery of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Tbilisi, 1942; It's him. Peter Iver and the problems of Areopagitics. Tbilisi, 1957; Honigman E. Peter Iver and the works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Tbilisi, 1955; Danb/wa S.I. On the question of the personality of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. - In the collection: Byzantine Time Book, vol. 8. M.-L., 1956; Roques R. L "univers dionysien. P., 1954, PépinJ. univers dionysien et univers augustinien. Aspects de la dialectique. P., 1956; Vanneste S. Le Mystère de Dieu. Essai sur la structure rationelle de la doctrine mystique du PseudoDenys L'Aréopagite. Bruges, 1959; Goltz H. HIERA MESITEIA. Zur Theorie der hierarchischen Sozietät im Corpus Areopagiticum. Erlangen, 1974 (“Oikonomia”, Bd 4).
S. S. Averintsev
New Philosophical Encyclopedia: In 4 vols. M.: Thought. Edited by V. S. Stepin. 2001 .
See what "PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITE" is in other dictionaries:
- Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite, Creative team of the show “Object 22”. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is the unknown author of a collection of theological works in Greek, called the Areopagitica, and attributed to him who lived in the 1st century AD. e. to the student...audiobook
School/tradition: Patristics Significant ideas: Apophatic theology Influences: Platonism ... Wikipedia
- (i.e., a member of the Areopagus, the ancient judicial panel in Athens), Christian thinker of the 5th or early 6th century, representative of late patristics. The treatises and epistles of P.D.A. were written on behalf of the character of the New Testament “Acts of the Apostles” (17:34) educated ... Encyclopedia of Cultural Studies
- (from the Greek member of the Areopagus, a judicial panel in ancient Athens) Christian Neoplatonist of the 5th or early 6th century, representative of late patristics. The most famous thinkers associated with P.D.A. were: Peter Iver (412,488), North... ... History of Philosophy: Encyclopedia
PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITE- (Dionysios Areopagites) representative of Eastern patristics V or early. VI century, op. to which are written on behalf of D.A., mentioned in the Bible. Real name has not been established. Based on the philosophical and theological doctrines of the previous stage of patristics... ... Aesthetics: Vocabulary
See Pseudo Dionysius the Areopagite. Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. editor: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983. DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITE... Philosophical Encyclopedia
Dionysius the Areopagite, Christian thinker of the 5th century. or the beginning of the 6th century, a representative of late patristics, to whom the so-called Areopagitic Corpus is attributed (see Areopagitics). The authorship of Dionysius the Areopagite has been questioned (hence... ... Modern encyclopedia
Dionysius the Areopagite- DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITE, Christian thinker of the 5th century. or the beginning of the 6th century, a representative of late patristics, to whom the so-called “Areopagitic Corpus” is attributed (see “Areopagitics”). The authorship of Dionysius the Areopagite has been questioned... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary
Dionysius the Areopagite- Pseudo Dionysius the Areopagite Christian thinker 5 or early. 6th century, representative of late patristics. The Areopagic Corpus includes 4 treatises (On the Heavenly Hierarchy, On the Church Hierarchy, On the Divine Names, Sacramental Theology) and 10... ... Dictionary-reference book on philosophy for students of medical, pediatric and dental faculties eBook
Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite (from the Greek member of the Areopagus, a judicial panel in ancient times Athens) - Christian Neoplatonist of the 5th or early 6th century, representative of late patristics. The most famous thinkers associated with Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite were: Peter Iver (412-488), North Antioch and etc.
The main work of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite - "Sophius Areopagiticum" - includes four treatises ("On the Divine Names", "On the Heavenly Hierarchy", "On the Church Hierarchy", "On Mystical Theology") and ten epistles. Works of P.-D.A. (translated into Latin by John Scotus Eriugena) became known in the West from the 9th century. and became the subject of comments Thomas Aquinas, M. Ficino and others. Works by P.-D.A. written on behalf of the character of the New Testament "Acts of the Apostles" (17, 34) - an educated citizen of Athens who converted to Christianity in the 1st century. the sermon of the Apostle Paul, the first Christian bishop of his city. (This point of view existed until the 16th century.)
The first controversy regarding the works of P.-D.A. dates back to 533 (discussion between Orthodox theologians who denied their authenticity and adherents Monophysitism). Subsequently, doubts about the authenticity of the “Corpus Areopagiticum” were expressed by L. Valla, Erasmus of Rotterdam and others: a number of features of the treatises and messages of P.-D.A. (stylistics, cult realities, textual borrowings from Proclus) require dating them to a period no later than the second half of the 5th century. At the basis of the worldview of P.-D.A. lies the Neoplatonic idea of the fundamental indescribability and indefinability of God, along with the idea of the conditional feasibility of knowledge of God through the construction of a hierarchy of analogies. (So, according to the thoughts of P.-D.A., God is ineffable, “Divine darkness” is mysterious, “Divine light” is inaccessible “due to the excess of super-essential luminosity” and invisible “due to excessive clarity.”) The hierarchical ontology inherent in Neoplatonism, applied P.-D.A. on related social issues: the “church hierarchy” is a direct continuation of the “heavenly hierarchy.” So, according to P.-D.A., the world ladder looks like this: “bright darkness”, one God - seraphim, cherubim, thrones; domination, strength, power; beginnings, archangels, angels (this is the structure of the “heavenly hierarchy”). Next - bishops, priests, deacons; monks, members of the Christian community, catechumens. Below the church hierarchy is the rest of the world: rational beings, living non-rational beings, lifeless bodies.
The image of the church in P.-D.A. is emphatically static: the hierarchy of people - a direct continuation of the hierarchy of angels - is a chain of reflections of pure light in unclouded mirrors. This sequence, according to P.-D.A., sets the orderly order of the sacraments of the Holy Church. (P.-D.A.’s aesthetic interpretation of the picture of the world as a hierarchy of light had a significant impact on medieval aesthetics.) The teachings of P.-D.A. as a system of philosophical theology included three types of theology: cataphatic (God, “being All in everything and Nothing in anything, is known by everyone from everything and by no one from anything”), symbolic and mystical (within its framework: apophatic theology and the theology of super-mental ecstasy as the highest form of knowledge of God). To reveal the divine nature of P.-D.A. two ways of theology were proposed: apophatic (in relation to the divine singularity) and cataphatic (in relation to the divine trinity). Thanks to these two methods, the infinite degree of absolutely all conceivable predications of the “divine darkness” of the One is revealed, so that He can be called, for example, the distinguished identity of mobile rest. The superconceivable God, according to P.-D.A., contains the features of Plotinus’s good unit and formless “smart matter.” Christ acts like a Neoplatonic number, “affirming the agreement between the parts and the whole.” With the Neoplatonic category of the simple mathematical singularity of God, words are meaningless and are not needed at all in the noetic cosmos. Therefore, according to P.-D.A., Plotinus’s intellectual ecstasy is a wordless “simplification” to a numerical unit. Only in the Trinity, notes P.-D.A., which at the same time in its divine figure is geometrically equal to one, does any literature that reveals essences acquire active (energetic) meaning. Hence, cataphatic theology, contemplating the Trinity, is called upon to explore any names that capture the essence of objects; hence the divine Names are its main subject. Based on this, P.-D.A. asserted that thanks to the Holy Trinity, “everything born in heaven and on earth receives existence and name.”
God includes all mental potencies and energies, therefore evil does not participate in the actual flow of existence. It is only impoverishment and lack of good: “evil is given existence by chance, and it can only manifest itself in something else, since it does not have its own existence.” Absolute evil cannot exist at all, because... it is the complete absence of divine Good. In the tradition laid down by P.-D.A., the concepts of “transcendent” and “immanent” received a specific interpretation. The ascent from the earthly world to the heavenly world is considered transcendental to human thinking, which is the subject of the apophatic method of theology, while immanent is the descent from the heavenly world to the earthly world, which is the subject of the apophatic method of theology. Teachings of P.-D.A. acquired official status in Orthodoxy of the Byzantine canon thanks to its interpretation by Maximus the Confessor.
A.A. Gritsanov, A.N. Schumann
The latest philosophical dictionary. Comp. Gritsanov A.A. Minsk, 1998.
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (Διονύσιος ’Αρεοπαγίτης, i.e. member of the Areopagus, the ancient judicial panel in Athens) - Christian thinker 5 or early. 6th century, representative of late patristics. His treatises and epistles on behalf of an educated Athenian of the 1st century, converted to Christianity by the preaching of the Apostle Paul and mentioned in the New Testament “Acts of the Apostles” (17, 34). The first news of the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is associated with a religious conversation between the Orthodox and the Monophysites in Constantinople in 533. Phraseology and stylistics of the writings, everyday realities mentioned in the context of symbolic interpretations, and finally, traces of the direct use of Proclus’s texts, identified at the end of the 19th century. G. Koch and I. Stieglmayr - all this together does not allow us to date the “Corpus Areopagiticum” (“Areopagiticum”), as it is commonly called in science, earlier than the 2nd half. 5th century; some additional evidence points to the Syrian environment. The Georgian researcher S.I. Nutsubidze and (independently from him) the Belgian specialist E. Honigman proposed to identify the author of the treatises with the Monophysite church leader and thinker Peter Iver, a native of Iveria (eastern Georgia), bishop of Mayuma (near Gaza); Other hypotheses were also expressed (the authorship of Severus of Antioch, the circle of John of Scythopolis, etc.), none of which, however, gained general recognition.
The “Areopagitic Corpus” includes 4 treatises (“On the Heavenly Hierarchy”, “On the Church Hierarchy”, “On the Divine Names”, “Sacramental Theology”) and 10 epistles; the doctrine developed in them is the highest point of Christian Neoplatonism. Having assimilated and developed Neoplatonic ideas about the unconditional indefinability and indescribability of God (apophatic theology - the topic of “Mysterious Theology”) and the conditional possibility of ascending to the knowledge of God along the hierarchical ladder of analogies (cataphatic theology - the topic “On Divine Names”), the author connected the ontology of Neoplatonism (and the doctrine of symbol generated by it) with social issues; the doctrine of the “church hierarchy” is directly adapted to the doctrine of the “heavenly hierarchy.” Moreover, in contrast to the mystical historicism of Augustine (the Church as the “city of God”), the image of the Church as an ideal human community, in accordance with the laws of universal existence, is extremely static: it is a hierarchy of people, directly continuing the hierarchy of angels, a reflection of pure light in pure mirrors, transmitting the ray to each other, the harmonious order of church “sacraments” (described as “initiations” using the vocabulary of ancient pagan mysteries); any drama and contradictions are completely absent. Symbolism in the interpretation of all things, the aesthetically experienced picture of the world as a hierarchy of light had a comprehensive influence on all medieval aesthetics (including Suger’s theory of light and symbol, embodied in the artistic practice of Gothic art, Dante’s poetry - “Paradise”, etc. ).
The teachings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite received official recognition in Byzantine Orthodoxy initially through its interpretation by Maximus the Confessor. His influence was experienced by John of Damascus, Gregory of Panama and the opponent of Palamas, Barlaam of Calabria, and later by Maxim the Greek and other ancient Russian thinkers. In the West, the “Areopagitic Corpus” became known in the 9th century; Many thinkers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance wrote comments on it, incl. Thomas Aquinas and M. Ficino, John Scotus Eriugena and Nicholas of Cusa were strongly influenced by his ideas.
S.S. Averintsev
New philosophical encyclopedia. In four volumes. / Institute of Philosophy RAS. Scientific ed. advice: V.S. Stepin, A.A. Guseinov, G.Yu. Semigin. M., Mysl, 2010, vol. III, N – S, p. 382-383.
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (Διονύσιος "Αρεοπαγίτης, i.e., member of the Areopagus, an ancient judicial panel in Athens), Christian thinker of the 5th or early 6th century, representative of late patristics. Treatises and epistles of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite were written on behalf of the character novo cherished "Acts of the Apostles" "(17, 34) - an educated Athenian of the 1st century, converted to Christianity by the preaching of the Apostle Paul; but the first news of the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is associated with a religious conversation between Orthodox and Monophysites in Constantinople in 533. Phraseology and stylistics of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, everyday realities mentioned by him in the context of symbolic interpretations, and finally, traces of the direct use of Proclus’s texts, identified at the end of the 19th century by G. Koch and J. Stieglmayr - all this together does not allow us to date the “Corpus Areopagiticum”, as it is commonly called in science , earlier than the 2nd half of the 5th century; some additional data indicate a Syrian environment. The Soviet researcher Sh. I. Nutsubidze and (independently) the Belgian specialist E. Honigman proposed to identify Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite with the Monophysite church leader and thinker Peter Iver, a native of Iveria (eastern Georgia), bishop of Mayuma (near Gaza); Other hypotheses were also expressed (the authorship of Severus of Antioch, the circle of John of Scythopolis, etc.), none of which, however, gained general recognition. The “Areopagitic Corpus” includes 4 treatises (“On the Heavenly Hierarchy”, “On the Church Hierarchy”, “On the Divine Names”, “Sacramental Theology”) and 10 epistles; the doctrine developed in them is the highest point of Christian Neoplatonism. Having mastered and developed Neoplatonic ideas about the unconditional indefinability and indescribability of God (apophatic theology - the theme of “Sacramental Theology”) and the conditional possibility of ascending to the knowledge of God through the hierarchy, the ladder of analogies (cataphatic theology - the theme “On Divine Names”), Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite connected the ontology of Neoplatonism (and the doctrine of symbol generated by this ontology) with social issues; The doctrine of the “church hierarchy” is directly adapted by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite to the doctrine of the “heavenly hierarchy.” Moreover, in contrast to the mystical historicism of Augustine (the church as the “city of God”), the image of the church in Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite as an ideal human community in accordance with the laws of universal existence is extremely static: this is a hierarchy of people, directly continuing the hierarchy of angels, a reflection of pure light in clean mirrors, transmitting the beam to each other, the harmonious order of church “sacraments” (described as “initiations”, using the vocabulary of ancient pagan mysteries); any drama and contradictions are completely absent. Symbolism in the interpretation of all things, the aesthetically experienced picture of the world as a hierarchy of light had a comprehensive influence on all medieval aesthetics (including Suger’s theory of light and symbol, embodied in the artistic practice of Gothic art, Dante’s poetry - “Paradise”, etc.) .
The teachings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite received official recognition in Byzantine Orthodoxy initially through its interpretation by Maximus the Confessor. His influence was experienced by John of Damascus, Gregory Palamas and Palamas’ opponent Barlaam of Calabria, and later by Maximus the Greek and other ancient Russian thinkers. In the West, the "Areopagic Corpus" became known from the 9th century; Many thinkers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance wrote comments on it, including Thomas Aquinas and M. Ficino, and John Scotus Eriugena and Nicholas of Cusa were strongly influenced by his ideas.
Philosophical encyclopedic dictionary. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. Ch. editor: L. F. Ilyichev, P. N. Fedoseev, S. M. Kovalev, V. G. Panov. 1983.
Works: Migne PG, t. 3; La hierarchie celeste, P., 19702; in Russian transl.-On Divine Names, Buenos Aires, 1957; in the book: Anthology of world philosophy, vol. 1, part 2, M., 1969, p. 606-20.
Literature: Skvortsov K.I., Study of the question of the author of the works known with the name of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, K., 1871; Nutsubidze Sh., The Mystery of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Tb., 1942; him, Peter Iver and the problems of Areopagitics, Tb., 1957; Honigman E., Peter Iver and the works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Tb., 1955; Danelia S, I., On the question of the personality of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, in the collection: Byzantine. Vremennik, vol. 8, M.-L., 1956; Rogues R., L "univers dlonysien, P., 1954; Repin 3., Univers dionyaien et univers augustinien. Aspects de la dialectique, P., 1956; Vanneste J., Le Mystere de Dieu. Essai sur la structure rationelle de la doctrine mystique du Pseudo-Denys L"AreOpagite, Bruges, 1959; Goltz H., HIERA MESITEIA. Zur Theorie der hierarchischen Sozietät im Corpus Areopagiticura, Erlangen, 1974 (“Oikonoinia”, Bd 4).
Message 1. Guy Monk. Epistle 5. Dorotheus the deacon. – In the book: Historical and Philosophical Yearbook-90. M., 1991, p. 226.
Literature:
Nutsubidze Sh. The Mystery of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Tbilisi, 1942;
It's him. Peter Iver and the problems of Areopagitics. Tbilisi, 1957;
Honigman E. Peter Iver and the works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Tbilisi, 1955;
Danelia S.I. On the question of the personality of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. – In the collection: Byzantine temporary book, vol. 8. M.–L., 1956;
Roques R. L "univers dionysien. P., 1954,
Pépin J. Univers dionysien et univers augustinien. Aspects de la dialectique. P., 1956;
Vanneste S. Le Mystère de Dieu. Essai sur la structure rationelle de la doctrine mystique du Pseudo-Denys L "Aréopagite. Bruges, 1959;
Goltz H. HIERA MESITEIA. Zur Theorie der hierarchischen Sozietät im Corpus Areopagiticum. Erlangen, 1974 (“Oikonomia”, Bd 4).
Chapter 4. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
In his church policy, Emperor Justinian used the “carrot and stick” method. In 533, when the next wave of persecution of Monophysites subsided, an “ecumenical” conference was held in Chalcedon, where Orthodox and Monophysites were given the opportunity to calmly discuss Christological issues. At this conference, opponents of the Council of Chalcedon began to refer to an author named Dionysius the Areopagite. And to this day no one knows who was hiding under the name of the disciple of the Apostle Paul (Acts 17:34), who in the 4th century was considered the first bishop of Athens. At the Chalcedonian Conference in 533, the Monophysites referred to the expression “single godly energy” used by Dionysius, who became known as the author of the following writings: “On the Heavenly Hierarchy”, “On the Church Hierarchy”, “On the Names of God”, “Mystical Theology”, letters (number 10).
In his writings, the author himself proclaimed himself a disciple of the Apostle Paul, an eyewitness of the eclipse on the day of the Savior’s death and a witness of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary. Among its recipients we find Gaius, Timothy, Polycarp of Smyrna (who, as we know, lived in the 2nd century) and St. John the Theologian. No one doubted the authenticity of the “Areopagitik” (as the works of Dionysius began to be called), and a tradition began to form around pseudo-Dionysius. Thus, in the 9th century, a legend arose that he was the first bishop of Paris and died a martyr’s death in Paris in 110. North of Paris, the Basilica of Saint-Denis was built in his honor, where the relics of early Christian martyrs were placed, and later? bodies of French kings. It is also known that in 827, the Byzantine Emperor Michael II sent an organ (invented, by the way, in Byzantium) and a manuscript of Dionysius the Areopagite as a gift to the French King Louis the Pious. Gradually, a legend was formed about the holy martyr Dionysius, the patron saint of France, and popular tradition connected this Dionysius with the author of the above-mentioned writings, who posed as a disciple of the Apostle Paul. This manuscript is still kept in the Paris National Library.
The first doubts about the authenticity of the writings of Dionysius arose in the 15th century with Erasmus of Rotterdam. Reasons for doubt were obvious anachronisms, especially in the book “On the Church Hierarchy,” which describes liturgical customs characteristic only of the 5th-6th centuries, such as the rite of monastic vows and the reading of the Creed at the Liturgy. Apparently the author of Areopagitik did not intend to mislead people. His writings were an intentional pseudepigrapha, but he underestimated the gullibility of his contemporaries, who overlooked the most obvious contradictions (for example, in a letter to John the Theologian, Dionysius quotes his own writings, John, and refers to him as a major authority). Apparently, the author used the name of Dionysius the Areopagite to give more weight to his apologetics, the purpose of which was to unite the Christian system with the hierarchical world of the Neoplatonists. These latter, especially Proclus, are quoted and retold by Dionysius in entire paragraphs. There are the following hypotheses regarding the identity of the author. Firstly, it was suggested, based on the identity of the names, that Dionysius of Alexandria (III century) was hiding under the name Dionysius. But most scholars believe that the writings of pseudo-Dionysius come from moderate Monophysite circles in Syria. Some even suggest that their author was Sevier himself, others? that Peter Mong. In recent times, the most serious (though far from proven) hypothesis has been put forward that the Corpus Areopagiticum belongs to the pen of Peter of Iberia, who, as his nickname indicates, was from Georgia, where there has always been an extraordinary interest in pseudo-Dionysius and even in our time there is society named after him. This assumption is confirmed by the similarity of some details of Peter’s biography with the known facts of the life of pseudo-Dionysius.
The writings of pseudo-Dionysius soon gained great authority. In the East, a commentary on his works was written by St. Maximus the Confessor. All later Byzantine theologians referred to it. Many liturgical customs arose under the influence of his teachings. In the West, the Areopagitica were translated into Latin by Gilduin (9th century), who knew Greek very poorly, which greatly affected the quality of the translation; in some places completely incomprehensible. In the 10th century, Scotus Erigena made a new translation, but his work was replete with errors and opened up the possibility of such different interpretations that Thomas Aquinas, who used this translation, diametrically differed in conclusions from Eastern theologians.
The main theological ideas of pseudo-Dionysius are set out in his book “On the Names of God” and in the treatise “Mystical Theology”, devoted to issues of knowledge of God. In his doctrine of the knowledge of God, he faithfully follows the Cappadocians and, being at the same time an adherent of Platonism, is very successful? much more successful than Origen? combines Christian and Greek intuition. On the one hand, he follows the path of apophatic theology: like the Neoplatonists, God is unknowable, incomprehensible and does not lend itself to any positive definitions. On the other hand, in two important points Dionysius deviates from Neoplatonic teaching and goes beyond its limits. Firstly, the God of the Neoplatonists (and V. Lossky managed to show this very well) is incomprehensible not in himself, but only because of our fallen nature. His transcendence is relative. Origen also held the same view. According to Platonic teaching, a person has the possibility of purification, that is, deliverance from “fallenness,” and a vision of the very essence of God. Among Christians, even redeemed, purified, deified humanity is incapable of cognizing the essence of God. Knowledge of God is possible only to the extent that God Himself reveals itself to man.
According to Plotinus, the transcendence of God is overcome by emanation, which is nothing more than a kind of “diminution” of God. God appears to be something like a full, overflowing cup. It is these drops that a person gets. Pseudo-Dionysius uses the terminology of Plotinus, but in his understanding the emanations of God communicate to us in its entirety His Divinity, for God is not subject to “diminution”, ? This is the second discrepancy between Dionysius and Neoplatonism:
And this general, united and united property of the whole Divinity is manifested in the fact that it is given to those who partake of Him wholly, and not partially, just as the middle of a circle is common to all the radii emanating from it, or as numerous seal impressions participate in the primitive seal, which at the same time in each imprint it is present in its entirety, but in none of them does it appear partially... But non-participation (of the Divine)? as a universal cause? surpasses all these comparisons; it itself remains intangible and does not enter into any relationship with what is part of it.
(“On Divine Names”, 2, 5)
According to pseudo-Dionysius, the “descent” (or “condescension”) of God presupposes an “exit” from His own essence, just as the “ascent” of man to God is impossible without “ecstasy,” that is, going beyond the limits of the mind and all bodily sensations. This understanding reflects the Christian mystery personal meetings with God.
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PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS AREOPAGITE(Διονύσιος ’Αρεοπαγίτης, i.e. member of the Areopagus, the ancient judicial panel in Athens) - Christian thinker 5 or early. 6th century, representative of late patristics. His treatises and epistles on behalf of an educated Athenian of the 1st century, converted to Christianity by the preaching of the Apostle Paul and mentioned in the New Testament “Acts of the Apostles” (17, 34). The first news of the writings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite is associated with a religious conversation between the Orthodox and the Monophysites in Constantinople in 533. Phraseology and stylistics of the writings, everyday realities mentioned in the context of symbolic interpretations, and finally, traces of the direct use of Proclus’s texts, identified at the end of the 19th century. G. Koch and I. Stieglmayr - all this together does not allow us to date the “Corpus Areopagiticum” (“Areopagiticum”), as it is commonly called in science, earlier than the 2nd half. 5th century; some additional evidence points to the Syrian environment. The Georgian researcher S.I. Nutsubidze and (independently from him) the Belgian specialist E. Honigman proposed to identify the author of the treatises with the Monophysite church leader and thinker Peter Iver, a native of Iveria (eastern Georgia), bishop of Mayuma (near Gaza); Other hypotheses were also expressed (the authorship of Severus of Antioch, the circle of John of Scythopolis, etc.), none of which, however, gained general recognition.
The “Areopagitic Corpus” includes 4 treatises (“On the Heavenly Hierarchy”, “On the Church Hierarchy”, “On the Divine Names”, “Sacramental Theology”) and 10 epistles; the doctrine developed in them is the highest point of Christian Neoplatonism. Having mastered and developed Neoplatonic ideas about the unconditional indefinability and indescribability of God ( apophatic theology - theme of “Mysterious Theology”) and about the conditional possibility of ascending to the knowledge of God along the hierarchical ladder of analogies ( cataphatic theology – topic “On Divine Names”), the author connected the ontology of Neoplatonism (and the doctrine of symbol generated by it) with social issues; the doctrine of the “church hierarchy” is directly adapted to the doctrine of the “heavenly hierarchy.” Moreover, in contrast to the mystical historicism of Augustine (the Church as the “city of God”), the image of the Church as an ideal human community, in accordance with the laws of universal existence, is extremely static: it is a hierarchy of people, directly continuing the hierarchy of angels, a reflection of pure light in pure mirrors, transmitting the ray to each other, the harmonious order of church “sacraments” (described as “initiations” using the vocabulary of ancient pagan mysteries); any drama and contradictions are completely absent. Symbolism in the interpretation of all things, the aesthetically experienced picture of the world as a hierarchy of light had a comprehensive influence on all medieval aesthetics (including Suger’s theory of light and symbol, embodied in the artistic practice of Gothic art, Dante’s poetry - “Paradise”, etc. ).
The teachings of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite received official recognition in Byzantine Orthodoxy initially through its interpretation by Maximus the Confessor. His influence was experienced by John of Damascus, Gregory of Panama and the opponent of Palamas, Barlaam of Calabria, and later by Maxim the Greek and other ancient Russian thinkers. In the West, the “Areopagitic Corpus” became known in the 9th century; Many thinkers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance wrote comments on it, incl. Thomas Aquinas and M. Ficino, John Scotus Eriugena and Nicholas of Cusa were strongly influenced by his ideas.
Essays:
1. MPG, t. 3; La hiérarchie celeste. P., 1970;
2. in Russian Transl.: About divine names. Buenos Aires, 1957;
3. About divine names. About mystical theology. St. Petersburg, 1994;
4. About the heavenly hierarchy. St. Petersburg, 1997;
5. Message to Titus the Hierarch. - In the book: Prokhorov G.M. Monuments of translated and Russian literature of the XIV–XV centuries. L., 1987, p. 179–199;
6. Message 1. To Guy the Monk. Epistle 5. Dorotheus the deacon. – In the book: Historical and Philosophical Yearbook-90. M., 1991, p. 226.
Literature:
1. Skvortsov K.I. Study of the question of the author of the works known with the name of St. Dionysius the Areopagite. K., 1871;
2. Nutsubidze Sh. The Mystery of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Tbilisi, 1942;
3. It's him. Peter Iver and the problems of Areopagitics. Tbilisi, 1957;
4. Honigman E. Peter Iver and the works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. Tbilisi, 1955;
5. Danelia S.I. On the question of the personality of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. – In the collection: Byzantine temporary book, vol. 8. M.–L., 1956;
6. Roques R. L "univers dionysien. P., 1954,
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S.S. Averintsev
