Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite) was a Greek[1] author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the Corpus Areopagiticum or Corpus Dionysiacum.
Not to be confused with Dionysius the Areopagite.
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
(5th–6th century AD)
(5th–6th century AD)
- "Dionysius"
- "Denys"
- "(Saint) Dionysius the Areopagite" (mistaken identification)
The author pseudepigraphically identifies himself in the corpus as "Dionysios", portraying himself as Dionysius the Areopagite, the Athenian convert of Paul the Apostle mentioned in Acts 17:34.[2][3][note 1]
Historic confusions[edit]
In the early sixth century, a series of writings of a mystical nature, employing Neoplatonic language to elucidate Christian theological and mystical ideas, was ascribed to the Areopagite.[4] They have long been recognized as pseudepigrapha, and their author is now called "Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite".
Influence[edit]
Eastern Christianity[edit]
His thought was initially used by Miaphysites to back up parts of their arguments but his writings were eventually adopted by other church theologians, primarily due to the work of John of Scythopolis and Maximus the Confessor in producing an orthodox interpretation.[31] Writing a single generation at most after Dionysius, perhaps between 537 and 543,[32] John of Scythopolis composed an extensive set (c. 600)[33] of scholia (that is, marginal annotations) to the works of Dionysius.
These were in turn prefaced by a long prologue in which John set out his reasons for commenting on the corpus. All Greek manuscripts of the Corpus Areopagiticum surviving today stem from an early sixth-century manuscript containing John's Scholia and Prologue — so John of Scythopolis had an enormous influence on how Dionysius was read in the Greek-speaking world.[34]
Theologians such as John of Damascus and Germanus I of Constantinople also made ample use of Dionysius' writing.
The Dionysian writings and their mystical teaching were universally accepted throughout the East, amongst both Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians. Gregory Palamas, for example, in referring to these writings, calls the author, "an unerring beholder of divine things".
The Corpus is also present in Syriac and Armenian versions, the former of which, by Sergius of Reshaina in the early sixth century, serves as a terminus ante quem for the dating of the original Greek.
