The Late Antique synthesis
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
The author who smuggled a heavily Proclean Neoplatonic structure into Christian theology, under the name of a first-century convert of St Paul.
- Dates
- active c. 500 CE
- Dating
- known by activity
The life
He wrote as Dionysius, the Athenian convert of Acts; scholarship places him around the late fifth or early sixth century.
Place in the tradition
His celestial hierarchy shaped medieval mysticism and the angelic orders later assumed by Western magic.
a note on the record
History and later legend
His identity, birth and death are all unknown. The attribution he wrote under is false, and was believed for a millennium.
the written record
Principal works
-
c. 500
The Divine Names
Explains how divine names express manifestations of a God ultimately beyond all names.
-
c. 500
The Mystical Theology
A foundational text of apophatic mysticism: God is approached by stripping away concepts and affirmations.
-
c. 500
The Celestial Hierarchy
Organises the angels into a systematic hierarchy.
-
c. 500
The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy
Connects earthly liturgy and hierarchy to their celestial counterparts.