Governments evicting God – from inside the Christian Chalice?

New Hampshire’s Attorney General bans the Orthodox Church’s traditional distribution of Holy Communion

Translate from Greek A.N.

Due to the recent event in the Orthodox Diocese of Boston, with the intervention of the Attorney General of New Hampshire Mr. Gordon J. MacDonald - regarding the use of the common Holy Spoon for the distribution of Holy Communion - we, as Orthodox Christians of Greece wish to share with you the experience of our people (and all orthodox Christian peoples) for over a thousand years, that no virus, infection or disease is ever transmitted through the Holy Communion of the Orthodox Church.

First of all, albeit not acquainted with him personally, we stand in solidarity with the Metropolitan of Boston Methodius, and we wish to congratulate him for his steadfastness in what is self-evident - that is, that the distribution of Holy Communion using the common Spoon is absolutely safe. Metropolitan Methodius did what was self evident as an Orthodox, and the American authorities did what was self evident for them (as non-Orthodox).

The issue here is what we - the Orthodox Christians of Greece – have acknowledged as self evident for entire centuries and why it is impossible for us to agree that “at least six parishioners” of Portsmouth, who reportedly contracted the corona virus, were (undoubtedly?) infected while receiving Holy Communion.

The reason for this reaction is that (a) they could have contracted any kind of virus, in any part of the city, in any manner, just as many other people could have.  Are we to believe that there are no other recorded cases in that entire city – only those who received Holy Communion?  (b) If the corona virus - and any virus for that matter – could be transmitted when receiving Holy Communion, then EVERY ORTHODOX CLERGYMAN (worldwide) would have been infected. We would like to ask: how many Orthodox clergymen in the U.S. are among the recorded cases?  Obviously, clergymen can also become infected – with anything and anywhere, like all people – except through Holy Communion. If they could become infected by anything through Holy Communion, then EVERY priest would have succumbed to various sicknesses, given that priests consume the remaining content of the Holy Chalice after each Service, using the same common Spoon as all the faithful who received Holy Communion during that Service: young and old, healthy and sick.  It would be of interest to learn exactly how many Orthodox priests have been diagnosed with Covid-19 since its initial spread – with Holy Communion as the proven culprit – not only in Boston, but also anywhere in the world....

As such, the praxis of the Metropolitan of Boston was appropriate, and it would be good, to say the least, for him to have the support of all Orthodox Christians in the world; hopefully the Archdiocese of America and the Ecumenical Patriarchate as well as all the Orthodox Churches worldwide will “dare” to stand by him, and not abandon him to his critics.

Is Holy Communion safe to consume?

A compilation dedicated to answers provided by medical specialists

Sources: Rethemnos.gr // Ευχή  (with interspersed supplementary comments)

Below are several excerpts which we believe substantiate scientifically that which all orthodox Christians are steadfastly familiar with: that diseases are NOT transmitted through Holy Communion – that is, through the use of the common Spoon and Chalice. The reason we persist in reminding this fact is because it has been proven through experience for entire centuries.  If any evidence of transmission of serious diseases had ever come to the attention of the faithful, the Church Herself would have changed the method of distributing Holy Communion, ages ago.

Obviously, those who are afraid of contracting diseases or infections through Holy Communion are afraid because of their personal - religious or ideological – convictions, without actually having seen it happen. Therefore the more valid viewpoint - scientifically speaking (i.e., based on evidence) - is that Holy Communion is proven to be absolutely safe. 

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1. Excerpt from the letter sent to the President of the Republic of Cyprus by 152 health professionals (among whom 100+ are doctors), with their request that churches be opened:

«…In bibliography there is not a single scientific article, study or research evidencing that germs and viruses are transmitted through Holy Communion. The only scientific proof that can exist and can be accepted by the scientific community wherever there is no specific research, is a retrospective clinical experience, which – in the case of Holy Communion – would be a retrospective clinical experience of 2000 years (for example, of Priests and not only them, who daily consume the remnant of Holy Communion in Hospitals, including Hospitals for Infectious Diseases, and who have never contracted anything)».

The full article in Greek here.

2. Excerpt from the reply by the Medical Society of Athens in 1988, sent to Senator at the time Vasilis Agorastis, who had vehemently claimed that AIDS could be transmitted through Holy Communion:

«...At any rate, there is not a single verified case of an ordinary faithful person having contracted a disease through Holy Communion. Not even of any priest, who, as a matter of fact, after distributing Holy Communion to the faithful and completing the ritual, swallows all the remnants of Holy Communion down to the last trace, together with whatever had come from the mouth of every person who had partaken with the same Holy Spoon and had ended up inside the Holy Chalice. Not even during the years that tuberculosis was raging, syphilis was rampant and leprosy was widespread! Obviously the same would have applied for AIDS.  Data that could lead Medicine to intervene does not exist».  

The full article in Greek at: here.

3. Excerpt from the article by Ioannis Kountouras, Professor Emeritus of Thessaloniki’s Aristotelian University’s School of Medicine, titled «Incomplete scientific corona virus data conflicts with Holy Communion»:

«...A preliminary study that took place at the Hepatological Health Centre of the 2^nd Pathological Clinic of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, titled “EXPERIENCE OF ADMINISTERING ENTECAVIR IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC ACTIVE HEPATITIS Β” by Kountouras and assoc., at the 30^th Pan-Hellenic Convention of Gastroenterology, Athens 2010 and was published in the magazine Annals of Gastroenterology 2010; 23 (Suppl.): p.128. The study involved 71 patients with chronic active hepatitis Β [52 men, 19 women, of average age 53,4 yrs (analogy 31-79 yrs) who received a personal therapeutic regimen of Nucleos(t)ide Analog Entecavir, which is administered to this day (Nguyen MH, et al. Clin. Microbiol. Review 2020; 33:e00046-19). On taking into account the occupations of the patients, the study showed that only 1 out of the total 52 male patients was a priest with active pastoral duty, i.e., a percentage of 1,92%. (…)  The statistical analysis showed that laypeople had a significantly higher possibility of an HBV infection compared to clergymen – as regards HBV or possibly other viruses of an analogous epidemiological profile, including nCov.

To summarize, these findings indicate that clergymen not only do not comprise a “high risk” group for the transmission of the HBV virus, but rather appear to represent a safe group, compared to other occupations (...).

Given: a) the reported detection of HBV and of nCoV in the excretions of the host – which also include saliva, b) the consumption of the usually large quantity of the remnant of Holy Communion after its distribution to the faithful by the ministering priest and c) the expected high degree of HBV virulence or an analogous degree of nCov in priests seen as an infectious reservoir on account of Holy Communion, have proven statistically that this “accusation” is not valid.

The specific excerpt in Greek here, titled «Scientific conclusions regarding the transmission of diseases through Holy Communion: the case of Hepatitis B (HBV)».

The entire Greek text by the professor here.

4. Helen Yamarellou, Professor of Infection Pathology of the Athens National Kapodistrian University:

«Holy Communion is a Sacrament; when you go to receive Holy Communion, you do not receive it out of habit, you receive it because it is the Body and the Blood of Christ. Either you believe this and you receive it normally, or you don’t believe it.  There are no half-baked solutions – individual spoons etc..  I am totally against them.  If we believe, we don’t provoke our luck.  If I believe it can infect me, then I don’t believe in the greatest Mystery. Those who want to receive Holy Communion should not fear that it could ever transmit any microbe».

Source : here.

Mrs Yamarellou is a university professor specialized in infectious diseases, and would not have expressed herself in this manner unless there was data evidencing the transmission of diseases through Holy Communion. Furthermore, even a number of harsh accusers did not present any evidence to support their accusations!

5. Apostolis Hadjitolios, professor of the Medical School of the University of Thessaloniki and Director of the 1^st Preliminary Pathological Clinic of ΑΧΕΠΑ (Greek initials for “American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association”) commented as follows:

«But, if one could contract something through Holy Communion, did we have to wait for the corona virus to become infected by it?  Wouldn’t the fact that fifty people can receive Holy Communion with the priest drinking the remnant of the Body and Blood of Christ from the Holy Chalice have led to incidents of infection – which would most certainly have been made public? (...) If transmissions during Holy Communion did take place through the years – not just through the years, but over entire CENTURIES – of extremely infectious diseases, then they would certainly have come to light and would have been “utilized” appropriately by due research; however - on the contrary - there are scientific publications with reviews, which state that there have been NO instances of diseases transmitted through Holy Communion!!».

The entire interview (Greek) here.

6. Official announcement by the Sacred Monastery of Saint John the Younger in Suceava of Romania (translated from Romanian):

«We would like you to bear in mind that our Hierarch, the Very Reverend Poemen officiated during the Paschal Divine Liturgy just like any other day, together with all the Fathers of the Monastery of Saint John the Younger.  All of them received Holy Communion from the same holy Chalice, as is the practice in every Divine Liturgy, except for one person – the Deacon who had been given the chores of sacristan, tending to the order of the Service.

Now, following many discussions and negative comments that were heard on television, the laboratory results of all the fathers and the lay assistants of our holy monastery have arrived.  Of all those who had been subjected to testing, only one person was found positive, and he is the Deacon who DID NOT receive Holy Communion from the holy Chalice that was held by the Bishop.

Source: Ecclesiastic News Agency ROMFEA»: here.

Attention: This is not an imaginary story («fake news»). The announcement in Romanian, with references to the findings of the regional Department of Public Health that performed the tests here.

7. Excerpt from the article by University Dr. of Theology Fr. Nikolaos Loudovikos, «Holy Communion during times of a pandemic»:

«The global epidemic of deaths and its accompanying phobic aura imposed not only psychological but also spiritual questioning on a section of the population, as is natural. There was a lot of talk about the Eucharist, about the possibility of the disease transmitted through it: that is, through the way it is offered with a shared Spoon. The issue has developed into a theological and even an international controversy.

In reality of course, the question posed is chiefly theological: how can the conviction be supported, that the Eucharist does not transmit diseases in the manner that it is distributed in the Orthodox Church? The question certainly seems to be conducive to an empirical answer at first, inasmuch as a vast number of priests, including the one writing these lines, have continuously associated innumerable times with people suffering with very serious and sometimes incurable diseases, and of course, as imposed by liturgical rules, consumed the remnant of Holy Communion that was shared with them, without ever contracting anything.

However a theological answer is also needed. The reason for this, among other things, is a recent article by Stavros Zoumboulakis in Lifo magazine, where it is argued that the essential properties of consecrated bread are not transformed: that it is naturally subject to all kinds of deterioration and pollution and can consequently transmit viruses and diseases, and that the only hope lies in changing the manner by which it is distributed. If this claim were correct, then there would be no priest over the age of 35 or 40, while the congregation, by sharing Holy Communion en masse during the major feasts, would be sick constantly and severely.

Nevertheless, there is a deeper theological issue here. [...] This means that the Precious Gifts, even if they have undergone external deterioration (by mold for example) or were mixed inadvertently (or, hypothetically, maliciously) with viruses and germs, the presence of Grace does not allow them to become harmful to the health of the faithful, precisely because - as Saint Simeon the New theologian had insisted – “they are already a reality and a presence of the Realm of God” (cmp. the words of Christ: “even if they drink something deadly, it will not harm them” (Mark 16:18). [...] ».

The entire article (Greek) here.

8. Comments by an Orthodox theologian, published here.

«…In this way, all those who oppose the Church and are unable to suffer the inexplicable fact that for 20 consecutive centuries the Orthodox observe without fear the tradition of the common Spoon or the common Chalice by basing themselves on their faith, will have the opportunity to attack, by hiding behind evidence called “objective scientific criteria”. They will say: “you have the right to be religious”, but “dangerous practices will be forbidden” - despite the fact that there has never been an issue of any kind of disease being transmitted through Holy Communion.  This demand will be imposed at some point, either soon or in a few years, and the religious intolerance of the few will strive with satisfaction to abolish a tradition that has never been described as “dangerous”, even though 2000 years have passed, because we are very much aware from within the ecclesiastical way of life that Holy Communion does not transmit germs. If things were differently, both the priests and us and the congregation in general would constantly fall sick and at some point we would have noticed that it was attributed to Holy Communion. In fact, during recent years our country has been afflicted quite a lot - by the common flu, the “swine flu”, the “avian flu”... but the Church had continued with absolute safety the Tradition of the common Spoon.

Assuredly, there is no logic in the argument that for 20 centuries “no one observed” that Holy Communion transmits germs, or that it is a source of epidemics. If this were the case, then the time would come when everyone would have noticed, because people learn through observation and life experience; just as people have eventually learnt so many things, likewise they would have eventually observed that the common Spoon causes epidemics.  And it is certain that if such a thing had been observed, then the common Spoon would have been banned even by the emperor in the past and made its use subject to a death penalty, because an epidemic could mean an economic, social, and military catastrophe. No one would have allowed the Church to be the cause of such disasters. Consequently, it is obvious that there has never been the slightest suspicion that Holy Communion transmits diseases. If such a thing had been observed, the means of distributing Holy Communion would have changed, since the Christians themselves would have been in fear of it…».

9. Priest-Monk Fr. Chrysanthos Katsouloyannakis (1893 – 1972) served as priest on Spinalonga - the “island of lepers” – for 10 years, and it is common knowledge that – to everyone’s surprise – after each Divine Liturgy, when all the attending lepers had received Holy Communion, he always consumed the remnant inside the holy Chalice.

The detailed description of his life here. 

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Comments on the above are not necessary.  Let us remember that with His inference to Holy Communion, Jesus Christ had said: "I am the bread of life. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world". (John 6:50-58).

The stance of Christians of the 3^rd century during a deadly epidemic

As a postscript – not relevant specifically to Holy Communion but relative to the manner that Christians had confronted a deadly epidemic (but also death per se) – we should be reminded of the self-denial with which they had helped during a deadly epidemic of the 3^rd century in Alexandria of Egypt. We can find it written in the descriptions of the ecclesiastic historian of the 4^th century, Eusebius (ref. Eusebius, Ecclesiastic History, 7, 22), which we believe it has something to say about our time:

«Then that disease barged in...  

So, most of our brothers, out of excessive and brotherly love, devoted to each other, without caring about themselves, fearlessly visited the sick, offered their services, cared for them “in Christ” and very happily died with them, having previously become infected through their contact with the others, contracting the disease from those near them and, of their own free will, also experiencing their pains.

And many, after caring for others in their illness and giving them strength, themselves died, somehow transferring the others’ deaths to themselves. And the popular saying - which always resembles a simple compliment - they had rendered a reality, by making their departure a propitiatory substitute for the others.

So, the best of our brothers, some elders and deacons and laypeople had left this life in this way, highly praised, so that this kind of death - the result of great piety and strong faith - does not seem in the least inferior to martyrdom. And, having lifted the bodies of the saints with outstretched arms, they held them in their embrace, closed their eyes and mouths, placed them on their shoulders and carried them out, hugged them, bathed them, and adorned them with their funeral garment. After a while, the same thing happened to them, because those who remained alive always followed to the death those who had died previously.

The gentiles (idolaters) however, did the exact opposite. They even sent away those who had just begun to be sick; they avoided their loved ones and they threw the sick onto the streets half-dead, and the dead they threw on the garbage heap without a burial, in an attempt to avert the spread and the touch of death – a thing that is not easy to avoid, in spite of their many precautions».

The full article in Greek here.

The Dionysian Authorship of the "Corpus Areopagiticum" According to Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae

Το παρακάτω κείμενο του μεγάλου Ρουμάνου θεολόγου π. Δημ. Στανιολάε (1903-1993) αναφέρεται στη μελέτη του John Parker (1899) που υποστηρίζει την αυθεντικότητα των συγγραμμάτων του αγ. Διονυσίου του Αρεοπαγίτη ("αρεοπαγιτικών" έργων). Συγχρόνως εξετάζει τη γλώσσα τους και τη σχέση τους με το νεοπλατωνισμό και κάνει μια ανασκόπηση της θεολογίας τους. Για μια περίληψη των βασικών ιδεών δες εδώ.

MYSTAGOGY

[On October 3rd I posted (& here) a few texts by the Rev. John Parker in which he set out to prove, against most scholarly opinions of the late 19th century, that the writings of St. Dionysius the Areopagite are authentic 1st or early 2nd century writings written by the author they are ascribed to. The only Orthodox scholar I was aware of that defended this patristic thesis was Fr. John Romanides, who even though he wrote nothing to my knowledge on the subject, nevertheless defended it in passing in an audio lecture I have in which he comments sarcastically: "Modern theologians call St. Dionysius a 'pseudo' as if he is a liar or deceiver, which they make him out to be". It was brought to my attention at that time by Vlad Protopopescu that the eminent Romanian Orthodox theologian Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae also defended this thesis in his last writing before his falling asleep in the Lord, which happened to be his translation of the entire Corpus Areopagiticum. According to Vlad, this was a thesis he defended in the academia but it was quickly dismissed without consideration. Since one of my many goals is to liberate St. Dionysius from the fetters of the academics who dismiss him as a neoplatonic wannabe, I asked Vlad to translate the "Introduction" to Fr. Dumitru's translation in which Fr. Dumitru defends the apostolic dating of the Corpus Areopagiticum. To put the "Introduction" in its proper context, Vlad has informed me of the following:

"It should be mentioned that Fr. Staniloae answered to very specific issues, namely to the translations made in Romania of The Celestial Hierarchy, The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, The Divine Names, and The Mystical Theology made by Fr. Cicerone Iordachescu, who was a Professor and on the Faculties of Theology at Chisinau and Cernauti, and in collaboration with Theofil Simensky, a Professor of Classical Languages at the University of Iasi (both before the WWII); also to a French translation by Maurice de Gandillac in 1943. My view is that Fr. Staniloae held these opinions since that time (which he expressed in his various courses at the Theological Academy of Sibiu, where he was a professor until 1947 and subsequently on the Faculty of Theology in Bucharest where he offered a course on 'Ascetics and Mystics' until 1949 when the chair of 'Ascetics and Mystics' was abolished). It is very likely that the 'Introduction' to the translation was compiled mainly from notes and last talks, which will account for the apparent "outdatedness" that his critics made much about."

He also says concerning the only passage in the "Introduction" which he did not translate, since it answers a particular theory of one of Fr. Staniloae's students:

"In the 'Introduction' Fr. Staniloae addresses also a recent theory emitted by a Romanian doctor Fr. George Dragulin. According to Fr. Dragulin the real Dionysius was Dionysius Exiguus. Fr. Staniloae, who was the director of the thesis, dismisses it gently, although shows some 'sentimental' sympathy. Dionysius Exiguus was born in Scythia Minor (Dobrogea of today) and the thesis was rather an exercise in national pride. In fact Fr. Staniloae sticks to his guns. Fr. Staniloae's purpose was to combat the idea that one can affirm that Dionysius shows a pantheistic philosophy, as the learned Professors asserted. He quotes the thesis of Fr. Dragulin only to show that he affirms the perfect Orthodoxy of Dionysius who combatted Neoplatonism. Fr. Staniloae's argument is precisely the challenge of Dionysius to the philosophies of his day, which were 'Platonic'."

I am grateful to Vlad and I pray this translation serves to enlighten doubters and faithful alike concerning the apostolic or post-apostolic authorship of these highly revered texts of Orthodox patristics. - J.S.]

Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae (1903 – 1993) was undoubtedly a great contemporary Orthodox theologian and a Christian thinker of “truly ecumenical proportions” (Charles Miller, The Gift of the World: An Introduction to the Theology of Dumitru Staniloae). Olivier Clement, the French Orthodox, declared that the 20th century has known only three true theologians: Vladimir Losski, Fr. Justin Popovic and Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae. He was a pioneer in the return of theological thinking to the Fathers of the Church which occurred in the first part of the 20th century. He translated into Romanian a great number of the writings of the Fathers, being a pioneer also in the revival of St. Gregory Palamas, being the first to publish unknown manuscripts of the saint that he discovered in Paris. His Life and Teaching of St. Gregory Palamas, was published in Romanian in 1938 and therefore unfortunately remained virtually unknown for a long time. His translation of the Philokalia of St. Nicodemus (to which he added a great number of other writings, so that now people speak of the "Philokalia of Stăniloae"), of Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Gregory of Nyssa is the proof of his complete mastery of the mystical/ascetical tradition of Orthodoxy in which he was immersed, not only in the “academic” mode, but living it as well. He was in permanent contact with the monastic life, very rich at all times in Romania, where the hesychast tradition is still alive and great spiritual fathers and mothers still talk to the people. His very last work, published posthumously (1996), was a translation into Romanian of the Complete Works of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, together with the Scholia of St. Maximus the Confessor and a number of his own commentaries. Fr. Stăniloae was definitely a defender of the traditional attribution of the Areopagitica to the disciple of St. Paul. In his "Introduction" he offers a series of arguments which point to the validity of the traditional attribution. Needless, but sadly, to say that a new generation of “patrologists” with doctorates at “the most prestigious Western Universities” poured scorn and ridicule on his “gaffes” and “obstinacy” in trying to demonstrate “against all scientific common sense the identity of the author of the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy with the disciple of the Apostle Paul, for the sole reason that the thesis ‘accepted by all specialists was… occidental’”. Here are a few excerpts from the "Introduction" to demonstrate where the common sense was.

Vlad Protopopescu - Sydney

Fr. Dumitru Stăniloae, Complete Works of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, "Introduction":

I. The Alleged Neoplatonic Pantheism of the Areopagitic Writings

We can say that the presentation of Dionysius as a pantheist has encouraged in the western Christian world a separatist and secularist vision of the world in relation to God, which in turn reinforced the philosophies of the world as the unique reality… This understanding was the reason why in the West, Dionysius was suspected as encouraging pantheism, whereas in the East he always enjoyed a great authority as a source of Christian spirituality.

In regards to the alleged pantheistic mark of the areopagitic writings, which would therefore have them written after Plotinus and Proclus, we deem necessary to prove their Christian character. That will allow us to show the uncertainty of a date after Proclus for the writings, and as unfounded the exclusion of the possibility that they have been authored by Dionysius from the Areopagus of Athens who was converted by the Holy Apostle Paul to the Christian faith. This possible conclusion will be enhanced by some other facts, no less conclusive than those adduced by the deniers of the authorship of Dionysius of the Areopagus.

II. The General Christian Content of the Areopagitic Writings and Their Principal Components as a Basis for Their Attribution to Dionysius the Areopagite

We cannot notice in all the areopagitic writings any concern with the defense of the Holy Trinity, any concern with the defense of the teaching about the Christ as hypostasis in two natures, any concern with nestorianism or monophyisitism. This suggests that they had been written neither after the First Ecumenical Synod, nor after the Second, the Third or the Fourth, i.e. between the end of the fifth century and the beginning of the sixth. Of course one cannot say that there is no teaching about the Trinity or about Jesus Christ. Also lacking are the developments about the Holy Trinity from the writings of St. Athanasius the Great, St. Basil the Great or St. Gregory Nazianzen. There is no concern with the union of the two natures in the unique hypostasis of the Word from the writings of St. Cyril of Alexandria…

The theme of the Dionysian writings is the defense of the teaching about God in Trinity as different from the world, in other words a defense of the Christian faith in general against the philosophical thinking of the time, but using its vocabulary. Was a rejection of the pantheistic philosophies at the end of the fifth century still necessary? Who could have been keener to win the intellectuals, formed in the mould of the pantheistic philosophies than a philosopher himself? Could he have remained idle since becoming a Christian and not use his gifts in an activity for which he was qualified? He could have put together those writings around the year 100 AD, when the opposition against the Christian teachings was taking shape.

One can raise today the same objection raised by an Orthodox theologian in 533 during his polemic with a Severian Monophysite: How can we be sure that these writings belong to Dionysius of Areopagus, when we cannot see them used by the Fathers since? To this objection one can answer: The writings were not offering any arguments for the defence of the Holy Trinity or of the teachings about Christ. They must have been, perhaps, less copied and they were used in more restricted circles. In general, the Fathers were not perusing too much the writings of the preceding Fathers, but almost exclusively the Holy Scriptures.

But how does the author of the Areopagitica defend the Christian Faith, using the philosophical language of the time?

a. He makes a clear distinction between the being (trans. n. – in Romanian fiinţa) of all things among which we live and the One above being. In Greek being is derived, like in Romanian, from the verb to be: it is actually the participle of the verb to be (trans. n. – a fi, fiinţă). That is, that being is the same as existence. The author of the Areopagitica uses for God the term the one above being, not in the sense of the highest being, but in the sense of beyond existence. He is not simply existence, but is beyond existence, because all things that exist, as we know them, must have a cause. God is beyond existence because He has no cause, but is the cause of everything. That points to a total difference between God and the world. The author makes an “existential” difference between everything that exists and Him – this gives Him the power to be the sole cause of everything. Dionysius defends the idea of God as totally different from the world, in contrast with pre-Christian philosophies.

b. The author borrows from Plato the idea of the identity of existence with good. Existence itself is a good. The highest existence is the highest good. But Plato does not draw the conclusion that the good implies an eternal relation between Person and Person, as the author of the Areopagitica does.

But God is not simply goodness, but is above goodness. It is goodness caused by nothing and the cause of all goodness .This is a different kind of goodness than the one known by us. The goodness of God is from itself, and is one with perfect freedom.

The stages of existence, dependent of one another, the higher ones obliged to sustain and raise the inferior ones in existence, therefore in goodness, and the inferior ones attracted by the superior ones, are all in a state of dependence between themselves, but also of God who is above all goodness, good in itself, the perfect good. This is the foundation of the celestial and world hierarchies and of their relations. The obligation (of the superior hierarchies) towards the inferior and the attraction of the inferior (ones) towards the higher give an internal basis to the relations between the members of the hierarchies. Dionysius asserts thus not only the existence of a God different from the visible world, but also the existence of a hierarchical order superior to this world, a thing rejected by ancient philosophy.

According to Dionysius, the hierarchy of the entire creation links not only the angelic world with the earthly one, but also all the orders of the angelic world with those of the earthly world. In this hierarchical vision, all the inferior steps receive divine illumination from those above and the superior ones have the duty to communicate these illuminations to the inferior ones. Only the supreme angelic order receives illumination exclusively from God. But that does not mean that God is in direct relations only with the hosts of the supreme order (Thrones, Cherubims, Seraphims), nor that He is separated from the hosts under them. The orders that follow the first one live also in God, but as united with the first. The first order communicates their knowledge of God to the inferior ones. Not even men can feel the relation with God without a relation with other people, and therefore, albeit unconsciously, with the angels.

Everything that exists in the world is a unit. But there are different degrees of unity between them and an overall unity between all. But these units are composed and dependent on one another and of the One who has nothing composed and is not united involuntarily with others, but is the One by itself and independent of all. He is the Uncaused Cause of all units in the world and of the unity between themselves. The things of the world show that they are dependent on the One who is above everything - that we know as units.

This One, who is also the supreme good by itself, is not opposed to love. His Unity is a living unity, not opposed to the Trinity. His Unity is a unity of love. He is a living One or the One full of love in Himself. Through love He goes eternally out of Himself, remaining eternally in Himself. God remains in Himself and goes out of Himself in Himself eternally, but when He so desires, He goes out of Himself into other things, producing them by creation and wanting to draw them close to Him.

His procession out of Himself does not oblige Him to proceed into the things that are different from Himself. He does not go out of Himself in Himself, as Trinity, in order to create things, as Fr. Cicerone Iordachescu said. Therefore proodoi cannot be translated as “emanations” as was done by Fr. Iordachescu.

c. All these attributes of the divinity places Him above understanding. God cannot be characterized by the characters proper to the world. He is neither existence, nor goodness, nor unity, nor understanding… But negation of these attributes has not the meaning of nothingness, but the superior meaning of things above what is proper to the world. The author of the writings stresses very often this fact.

The man attaining sainthood lives in God, rather than explaining Him through rational concepts.

d. Another “existential” difference between God and the world is asserted by the author of the Areopagitica when he considers God as non-passive, not exposed to relations and passions, whereas the world, by its very dependence of God, is passive and subject to relations and possibilities of passions. But the passivity of world components has different degrees. The angels are passive, because they are dependent in their being on God, but at the same time they have a responsibility towards Him. But responsibility unites in itself dependence and freedom. They can, therefore, contend against their dependence or responsibility towards God, as some of them have done. An inferior degree of creatures, humans, have not only the dependence from God united with the responsibility towards Him, but also a purely passive part, the body, with its processes and passions. But man can, through his responsibility towards God, fill his body with the divine powers [energies] and make it participate in the freedom of the spirit. An even inferior degree of creatures has only the passivity of the senses, deprived of consciousness - these are the animals, and the plants. But they have as their reason to exist the sustaining of the physical life of man. At the very bottom of this category is the simple matter of the earth and the minerals, which are purely passive, but also necessary for the life of man.

In pantheism, everything is dependent on everything. There is nothing independent above the whole and everything, because the essence from which everything is emanated is itself subject to a law.

The author of the Areopagitica makes therefore a categorical distinction between God and the world. But he also links firmly the world to God. This can be seen from the fact that, on the one hand, God goes out of Himself conferring being upon the things different from Him, and on the other hand He goes out through “processions” (proodoi) to the things in order to “bring” them back to Him, to fill them with the gifts of His goodness. Those who saw a pantheistic character in the writings have confused these two kind of acts or “processions” of God. But, if there is no difference between them, why would God continue to raise to Him and in Him the things brought into existence by Him? The author uses different terms for the bringing into existence of the things of the world, of the angels and man, which he calls paragein (to give existence) and for the gifts which he bestows subsequently to the created things in order to rise them to Him, which he calls proodoi. It is wrong to confuse the terms.

But the creative act, as well as the acts of enrichment of the creatures through ever increasing gifts, show the creatures inseparably united with God. Although the author speaks of distinctions or separations between the creatures, and between the creatures and God, he does not exclude a certain inseparability between Him and creatures, even when they close themselves to the waves of goodness and superior life which come from Him; because things could not exist if they were not maintained in existence by the Cause who is above all existence. It is impossible to think of a total separation of the world from its Cause.

A very important component of the theme of the relation of God with the world, which is central to the Dionysian writings, is the fact that all things different from God are brought into existence to serve as symbols through which we see the works of God. They have thus a certain capacity to receive in themselves and to transmit through themselves the works of God. Actualizing the things and the human gestures as symbols, they are sanctified and made the means of sanctification of ones through the others. That confers a liturgical character to their existence.

In the earliest Christian times the liturgical life – hymns, sanctifications, blessings - was extremely rich. From its rich extension in the Apostolic Constitutions or the Liturgy of St. James, the Liturgy became shorter until it crystallized in the shape of the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom. The fact that the areopagitic writings point to a very rich liturgical life of the Christian communities is another proof of their antiquity. The Orthodox East, the faithful keeper of the apostolic tradition, persists to this day the practice of multiple acts of sanctification, along with the conscience that God is present in all His sanctifying works. Dionysius has influenced the theological explanation of this active presence of God in everything by His works or by His uncreated energies, which are different from his being. We see this in the works of St. Maximus the Confessor and St. Gregory Palamas. The West, rejecting this distinction, as we can see in the opposition Barlaam made to St. Gregory Palamas, and unable to admit a union of men and the world with the essence of God – because that would confound everything with God - has persisted in the conscience of a God distant from the world and people, with a church led by a vicar (a deputy of the absent Christ) and/or has fallen into the extremes of a pantheist mysticism (Eckhart, Jacob Bohme), or in the philosophies that affirm that this world is the only reality.

St Maximus the Confessor

In the East, as in the areopagitic writings, the Son of God took on human nature in order to make it the medium of our divinization, of our sanctification, which sustain us on the path of a more controlled and holier life. That is why all Fathers, including Dionysius, use the bold terms ‘divinization’, ‘gods’, and of course ‘by grace’… St. Gregory Palamas has found in the writings of Dionysius most of the arguments in his defense of the assertion of the hesychast monks that through the incessant prayer of Jesus they see in their hearts Jesus in light. One can see this in the multiple quotations from Dionysius. Generally speaking the writings of Dionysius have been in the Orthodox world the grounds for the affirmation of the active presence of God in the life of the Church and in the world.

III. Other Indications That Seem to Point to the Post-Apostolic, even Apostolic Age of the Dionysian Writings

In The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, Dionysius said that Baptism and the Liturgy were performed by the bishop assisted by a few priests but many deacons. In general older people were baptized, but not children. This situation was proper to the early Church, when churches were founded in cities, where bishoprics were founded and the first faithful were older people.

The bishop is also shown performing the burials. Another sign that the writings belong to the early Christian times, when Christians were persecuted, is the mention of the ‘therapeutes’ (doorkeepers or porters), sort of sextons, usually not married, who were guarding the doors of the places of assembly. This service was no longer required in the 5th-6th centuries when the time of persecutions had passed.

Another objection against the antiquity of the areopagitic writings is that in the sixth chapter of The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, Dionysius described the consecration of monks, which appeared only in the fourth century. But we know that St. Anthony the Great became a monk in the third (he was born in 255). Was he following an older tradition? It is not unlikely that there were a few Christians who chose the purity of a life of solitude… Maybe they were the therapeutes of the Dionysian Epistles, a term that St. Maximus the Confessor translates plainly as “monachos”. (f.n. The linking of the therapeutes of Philo of Alexandria with the first Christian community in Alexandria was made already by Eusebius of Cesareea. St. Jerome affirmed that the monks of his time were perpetuating the life of the therapeutes. John Cassian made the same affirmation ascribing an apostolic origin to the institution. That means that the monastic institution is as old as Christianity itself!)

This is a very poor and general summary of the richness and profundity of the areopagitic writings that our translation is far from rendering it faithfully. Because the language itself is so subtle and complex that nobody can render it satisfactorily. In French they have been translated eleven times… This is the reason that we undertook to offer a new translation (f.n. In Romanian, besides those of Fr. Cicerone Iordachescu and Theofil Simensky.) striving to express it in Romanian terms more traditional and spiritual, avoiding as much as we have been able the neologisms of French origin (f.n. Much too current in modern Romanian). This is the reason why we disagree with Fr. Cicerone Iordachescu, when he says: ‘The writing of Dionysius reminds us of the dialectic of Plato and Hegel, without possessing the genius of those great masters of human thought.' We deem that the thinking of Dionysius is far more satisfactory than Plato’s or Hegel’s.

In conclusion, in view of all the arguments offered, we want to keep the name of Dionysius the Areopagite as the author of these writings. Even if the author was someone living at a later time but he took the name, we respect his will and declare him worthy of the appellation of Saint, as all the Church Fathers did.

As a contribution to the understanding of the Areopagitic writings, we have also translated the Scholia of St. Maximus the Confessor. Hans Urs von Balthasar thought that the Scholia did not belong to Maximus, but to John, bishop of Scythopolis in Galilee in the first half of the sixth century. But Otto Bardenhewer believed that they belonged to St. Maximus. I think that his opinion is far more probable. 

 

The Authenticity of Dionysius the Areopagite's Writings

ΠΕΡΙΛΗΨΗ ΣΤΑ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ: Η αυθεντικότητα των αρεοπαγιτικών συγγραφών

Ο συγγραφέας, μελετητής του 19ου αιώνα, υποστηρίζει ότι οι λεγόμενες "αρεοπαγιτικές συγγραφές" (τα σπουδαία πατερικά έργα που έγιναν γνωστά από τον 6ο αι. μ.Χ.) είναι αυθεντικά έργα του αγ. Διονυσίου του Αρεοπαγίτη, μαθητή του αποστόλου Παύλου του 1ου αι. μ.Χ., και όχι έργα κάποιου Σύριου μοναχού του 5ου αι., που χρησιμοποίησε ως ψευδώνυμο το όνομα "Διονύσιος Αρεοπαγίτης" και μάλιστα είχε και επιρροές από το νεοπλατωνισμό. Την τελευταία μάλιστα υπόθεση, κυρίαρχη στη νεότερη φιλολογία, τη θεωρεί εξωπραγματική.

Εντοπίζει επιρροές της θεολογίας των αρεοπαγιτικών στους Αλεξανδρινούς θεολόγους του 2ου & 3ου αι. Πάνταινο, Αμμώνιο Σακκά, Κλήμη Αλεξανδρέα και Ωριγένη, καθώς και στον Πλωτίνο, τον Πρόκλο και γενικά στο νεοπλατωνισμό και πιστεύει ότι οι νεοπλατωνικοί επηρεάστηκαν από τον άγιο Διονύσιο και όχι το αντίθετο. Επισημαίνει εξάλλου μια αναφορά στον άγ. Διονύσιο ως μέγα και βαθύ θεολόγο, σε επιστολή του αγίου Διονυσίου Αλεξανδρείας, γύρω στο 250 μ.Χ., δηλ. αιώνες πριν τη γνωστή διάδοση των αρεοπαγιτικών.

Το κείμενο συμπληρώνεται με ένα κεφάλαιο του μεγάλου Ρουμάνου θεολόγου π. Δημητρίου Στανιλοάε (1903-1993), στο επόμενο post, που επισημαίνει ότι από τα αρεοπαγιτικά λείπει κάθε αναφορά στα μεγάλα ζητήματα που απασχόλησαν τη θεολογία των αγίων Πατέρων του 4ου & 5ου αιώνα, όπως η θεότητα του Χριστού και η σχέση θεότητας και ανθρωπότητας (των δύο φύσεων) στο πρόσωπό Του.

St. Dionysius the Areopagite (Feast Day - October 3)

MYSTAGOGY

[Below are two classic writings by the Rev. John Parker who defended the authenticity of the Areopagite corpus as first century texts with apostolic authority. Though written a little over a hundred years ago, the arguments have yet to be refuted by his many critics who delight in deriding him. The interesting question he asks is whether St. Dionysius was influenced by the Alexandrian School and the Neoplatonists or was it in fact the other way around. The Rev. Parker translated St. Dionysius in the late 19th century into English both very accurately and literally which means that it is often unintelligable, but the benefit of this translation is that it maintains first century terminology that all later translations ignore. This is curious, because even if the writings are the work of "Pseudo-Dionysius", these terms must have been stylistically important as archaisms meant to enhance the feeling of authenticity, and thus worth noting. Though his arguments need to be a bit refined and expanded upon to suit contemporay scholarship, I consider it to still be a credible argument at least worth considering, as it also defends the majority of the opinions of the Church Fathers. - J.S.]

DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE AND THE ALEXANDRINE SCHOOL

ALEXANDRIA became the home of Christian Philosophy, but Athens was its birthplace. Pantaenus and Ammonius-Saccus were chief founders of the Alexandrine School. They were both Christian. They both drew their teaching from the Word of God, “the Fountain of Wisdom,” and from the writings of Hierotheus, and Dionysius the Areopagite—Bishops of Athens. For several centuries there had been a Greek preparation for the Alexandrine School. As the Old Testament was a Schoolmaster, leading to Christ, so the Septuagint, Pythagoras, Plato, Aristobulus, Philo, and Apollos were heralds who prepared the minds of men for that fulness of light and truth in Jesus Christ, which, in Alexandria, clothed itself in the bright robes of Divine Philosophy.

Pantaenus was born in Athens, 120 AD, and died in Alexandria, 213 AD. He was Greek by nationality, and Presbyter of the Church in Alexandria by vocation. First Stoic then Pythagorean, he became Christian some time before 186 AD, at which date he was appointed chief instructor in the Didaskeleion of Demetrius, Bishop of Alexandria. Pantaenus recognised the preparation for the Christian Faith in Greek Philosophy. Anastasius of Sinai describes him as “one of the early expositors who agreed with each other in treating the first six days of Creation as prophetic of Christ and the whole Church.”

Eusebius says that “Pantaenus expounded the treasures of the Divine dogmas preserved direct, as from father to son, from St. Paul and other Apostles. Photius records that Pantaenus was pupil of those who had seen the Apostles, but that he certainly had not listened to any of them themselves. Now, if Pantaenus was pupil of those who had seen the Apostles, and yet had not listened to their oral teaching, it is natural to infer that he was pupil through their writings. I am a pupil of Dr. Pusey, but I never listened to his oral teaching; I am pupil through his writings. Now, there exist, to this day, the writings of two Presbyters who had seen the Apostles—both, converts to the faith through St. Paul,—-whose writings contain the treasures of the Divine dogmas, received from St. Paul and the other Apostles. Those two Presbyters are Hierotheus and Dionysius the Areopagite, both ordained Bishop of Athens by St. Paul. Dionysius the Areopagite expressly calls St. Paul his “chief initiator,” and as such, gives his teaching on the holy Angels, in the sixth chapter of the Heavenly Hierarchy; and frequently describes St. Paul as his “chief instructor.”

If, then, we can prove that the writings of Dionysius existed before and were known in Alexandria, when Pantaenus delivered his lectures in that city, we may fairly infer that Pantaenus would know, and knowing, would use, the writings penned by the Chief of his own Areopagus, and Bishop of his own Athens.

Historical criticism does not permit us to reject probabilities, merely because they confirm the Christian Faith.

Dexter, in his Chronicle, collected from the Archives of Toledo and other churches in Spain, gives this testimony: “U.C. 851 (98 AD). Dionysius Areopagita dicat Eugenio Marcello, dicto, propter ingenii excellentiam, Timotheo, libros de Divinis Nominibus.”

Dionysius of Alexandria, writing to Pope Sixtus II, c. 250, respecting the writings of Dionysius the Areopagite, affirms “that no one can intelligently dispute their paternity—that no one penetrated more profoundly than Dionysius into the mysterious depths of Holy Scripture—that Dionysius was disciple of St. Paul, and piously governed the Church of Athens.” If, then, the Bishops of Alexandria and Rome exchanged letters only a few years after the death of Pantaenus, and only seven years after the death of Ammonius, and in those letters affirmed the writings to be undoubtedly written by Dionysius the Areopagite, it would be the height of absurdity to affirm that such writings were unknown to Pantaenus and Ammonius.

But we do not need to base our proof on mere supposition. Routh gives two fragments of Pantaenus. The second is a distinct echo of Dionysius. In Divine Names (c. 7), Dionysius discusses how Almighty God knows existing things, and explains the text; “He, knowing all things before their birth” as proving that “not as learning existing things from existing things, but from Himself, and in Himself, as Cause, the Divine Being pre-holds and pre-comprehends the notions and essence of all things, not approaching each several thing according to its kind, but knowing and containing all things within one grasp of the cause. Thus Almighty God knows existing things, not by a knowledge of existing things, but by that of Himself.” Dionysius (c. V. s. 8) speaking of creation, declares that the Divine and good volitions of Almighty God define and produce existing things.

Pantaenus teaches the same: “Neither does He know things sensible sensibly (αἰσθητῶς), nor things intelligible intellectually. For it is not possible that He, Who is above all things, should comprehend things being, after things being (κατὰ τα ὄντα), but we affirm that He knows things being” as His own volitions . . . yea, as His own volitions, Almighty God knows things being, since by willing (θέλων), He made all things being.”

In Mystic Theology (c. V.) Dionysius says, “Almighty God does not know existing things, qua existing.” The teaching of Ammonius-Saccus is the same; Ammonius uses the word βούλημα, Dionysius and Pantaenus θελήματα, of God, as Source of Creation.

But, though the known fragments of Pantaenus are few, we possess abundant writings of two pupils, Clement of Alexandria and Origen, from which we may gather the teaching of their master. Clement speaks of Pantaenus as his “great instructor and collaborator.” Such is the similarity between the writings of Clement and Dionysius, that some have hazarded the conjecture that Clement the Philosopher, mentioned by Dionysius, was Clement of Alexandria! I give only one familiar illustration. Clement writes: “As then, those riding at anchor at sea, drag the anchor, but do not drag it to themselves, but themselves to the anchor, thus those who are drawn to God in the gnostic life, find themselves unconsciously led to God.” Dionysius in the Divine Names (c. III. s. 1) says, “Or, as if after we have embarked on ship, and are holding on to the cable, attached to some rock, we do not draw the rock to us, but ourselves, and the ship, to the rock. Wherefore, before everything, and especially theology, we must begin with prayer; not as though we ourselves were drawing the power, which is everywhere, and nowhere present, but as, by our godly reminiscences and invocations, conducting ourselves to, and making ourselves one with It.”

Origen confessed that Pantaenus was his superior in the philosophy of the schools, and that he moulded his teaching upon the model of Pantaenus. Do the writings of Origen bear the stamp of Dionysius and Hierotheus? Origen, on the resurrection of the body, says, “For how does it not seem absurd that this body which has endured scars for Christ, and, equally with the soul, has borne the savage torments of persecutions, and has also endured the suffering of chains, and rods, and has been tortured with fire, beaten with the sword, and has further suffered the cruel teeth of wild beasts, the gallows of the cross, and diverse kinds of punishments, that this should be deprived of the prizes of such contests. If forsooth, the soul alone, which not alone contended, should receive the crown, and its companion the body, which served it with much labour, should attain no recompense, for its agony and victory, how does it not seem contrary to all reason, that the flesh, resisting for Christ its natural vices, and its innate lust, and guarding its virginity with immense labour, that one, when the time for rewards has come, should be rejected as unworthy and the other should receive its crown? Such a fact would undoubtedly argue on the part of God, either a lack of justice or a lack of power.” Dionysius (E. H., c. VII.) says, “Now the pure bodies of the holy souls, enrolled together as yoke-fellows, and fellow travellers, which together strove during the divine contests, throughout the Divine Life, in the unmoved steadfastness of the souls, will together receive their own resurrection. For, having been made one with the holy souls, to which they were united during this present life, by having become members of Christ, they will receive in return the godlike and incorruptible immortality and blessed inheritance.” Dionysius (D. N., c. VI. s. 2) says, “What is still more divine, it promises to transfer our whole selves (I mean souls and bodies, their yoke-fellows), to a perfect life and immortality. Others again do this injustice to bodies, that, after having toiled with the holy souls, they unjustly deprive them of the holy retributions, when they have come to the goal of their most divine course.” And “For if the man have passed a life dear to God in soul and body, the body which has contended throughout the Divine struggles will be honoured together with the devout soul.”

To show that Origen knew the works of Hierotheus, we give an extract from his letter to Gregory: “Would that you might both participate in and continually augment this part, so that you may not only say, ‘we are partakers of Christ,’ but also partakers of God.” Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis (fragment V.), c. 140, says, “The Presbyters, the disciples of the Apostles, say that this is the gradation and method of those who are saved, and that they advance through steps of this nature, and that, moreover, they ascend through the Spirit to the Son, and through the Son to the Father; and that, in due time, the Son will yield up His work to the Father.” Who the Presbyters, the disciples of the Apostles were, we may gather from the three last chapters of the “Book of Hierotheus" Br. Mus. (Ad. Rich. 7189), in which the very same doctrine is taught. Is it not, then, a legitimate inference, that when Photius says “ that Pantaenus was a pupil of the Presbyters who had seen the Apostles,” he designated Hierotheus and Dionysius the Areopagite, generally known under that title?

Ammonius Saccus was born of Christian parents in Alexandria, and died in that city, 242 AD. Anastasius of Sinai calls him “the Wise,” and Hierocles “the taught of God.” Besides being famous for his expositions of Holy Scripture, he wrote the Diatesseron, or Harmony of the Gospels, contained in the Bib. Patrum. In 236 he wrote the agreement between Moses and Jesus. He was the great conciliator, who sought the good in every system, and to make all one in Christ. Pressensé beautifully describes him as a man who wished to believe and to know, to adore and to comprehend, to conciliate the Greek Philosophy with the Mysteries of the East. He wrote a commentary on the golden verses of Pythagoras, which Hierocles published, as well as reproduced his other works. The titles of his books, mentioned by Photius, such as Providence and Free Will, recall those of the lost books of Dionysius, of which we have only a summary in his known works. (Cod. 251-214.)

Ammonius was surnamed Saccus from having been a corn carrier. Virgil, Shakespere, Milton, were great geniuses in themselves, but when we know the sources from which they drew, we can better understand their achievements.

Dionysius was indebted to Hierotheus—Ammonius drew from Dionysius. This we shall show, not as we might by his works as described by Photius, but from Plotinus, his disciple, in order that we may have the prevailing proof, to some minds, of testimony not necessarily Christian.

Plotinus was born in Lycopolis, 205 AD, and died in Campagna, 270 AD. At the age of 29, he began to search for truth in the schools of Alexandria. He wandered from teacher to teacher, but could find no rest until he was persuaded to go and hear Ammonius-Saccus. After listening to him, he exclaimed, “This is what I sought.”

Plotinus remained under him eleven years, until the death of Ammonius, 242 AD. In 244 AD, Plotinus began to teach in Rome. Plotinus was not a refined scholar. Porphyry, therefore, committed his teaching to writing. Porphyry was regarded as the greatest enemy to the Christian Faith in the early centuries. Persecutors burned the bodies of Christians, but Porphyry sought to undermine their faith in the Holy Scriptures, by quibbles of unbelief, which have been revived to-day as “New Criticism.” Porphyry wrote against the Holy Scriptures with a bitterness engendered by a conviction of their truth. Now, it is a startling fact, that though the teaching of Plotinus comes to us through Porphyry, there is not a word in the Enneades, in which the teaching of Plotinus is given against the Christian Faith. It is true that Eutochius published another version of the teaching of Plotinus, on the ground that his teaching was coloured by Porphyry, but we prefer to rest our proof on Porphyry, as not being prejudiced in favour of the truth.

Let us then first see what Plotinus teaches respecting the Holy Trinity. He says, “We need not go beyond the three Hypostaseis” (Persons). It is true that Plotinus presents that Trinity as “One,” “Mind,” and “Soul,” whereas Dionysius gives the formula “Father, Son, and Spirit.” Occasionally Plotinus uses “Logos” instead of “Mind.” But even this substitution of “One” for “Father” may be traced to Dionysius, who speaks of the Triad, ἐναρχικὴ and even ἐναρχικῶν ὑποστὰσεων, “One springing”. The “One” represents the Father. Plotinus says, “We may represent the first principle, ‘One,’ as source, which has no other origin than Itself, and which pours Itself in a multitude of streams without being diminished by what it gives.” Dionysius speaks of the “Father” as sole source of Godhead, and says that “the Godhead is undiminished by the gifts imparted.” In Chap. XII of Divine Names, Dionysius treats of “One” and “Perfect” as applied to Almighty God.

Let Us now hear Plotinus on the “Beautiful” Enneades (I. 6-7). Plotinus says, “The soul advances in its ascent towards God, until being raised above everything alien, it sees face to face, in His simplicity, and in all His purity, Him upon Whom all hangs, to Whom all aspire; from Whom all hold existence, life and thought. What transport of love must not he feel who sees Him! With what ardour ought he not to desire to be united to Him! He, who has not seen Him, desires Him as the Good; he who has seen Him, admires Him as the sovereign Beauty; and struck at once with astonishment and pleasure, disdains the things which heretofore he called by the name of Beauty. This is what happens to those to whom have appeared the forms of gods and demons; they no longer care For the beauty of other bodies. What think you, then, should he experience who has seen the Beautiful Himself—the Beautiful surpassing earth and heaven! The miserable is not he, Who has neither fresh colour nor comely form, nor power, nor royalty; it is alone he, Who sees himself excluded from the possession of Beauty—a possession in comparison with which he ought to disdain royalty, rule of the whole earth, of the sea, and heaven itself, if he should be able, by abandoning, by despising all these, to rise to the contemplation of the Beautiful, face to face.” Plotinus also recognised, “that the eye soiled with impurity could never bear the sight, or attain to the vision of that Beauty. We must render the organs of vision analogous and like to the object that they would contemplate. Every man ought to begin by rendering himself beautiful and divine to obtain a Vision of the Beautiful and the Deity.” Well might St. Augustine say, that “with the change of a few words, Plotinus became concordant with Christ’s religion.” No wonder that Gregory and Basil quoted so largely from Plotinus. Let us now hear what Dionysius says of the “Good and Beautiful”: “Goodness turns all things to Itself; all things aspire to It, as source and bond and end. From this Beautiful comes being to all existing things. All things aspire to the Beautiful and Good, and there is no existing thing which does not participate in the Beautiful and Good.” Read the Fourth Chapter of the Divine Names.

Porphyry records that Plotinus attained to that vision of the Beautiful three times during his life. How that vision of the Beautiful is to be attained, Dionysius describes in the Mystic Theology:“But thou, O dear Timothy, by thy persistent commerce with the mystic visions, leave behind both sensible perceptions and intellectual efforts, and all objects of sense and intelligence, and all things not being and being, and be raised aloft agnostically to the union, as attainable, with Him Who is above every essence and knowledge. For by unchecked and absolute ecstasy, in all purity, from thyself, and all, thou wilt be carried on high to the superessential Ray of the Divine Darkness, when thou hast cast away all and become free from all.” Ammonius had such ecstasy during his lectures, in which he seemed to have Divine visions.

Plotinus differs from Dionysius in regarding creation as an act of necessity, whereas Dionysius regards it as an act of love. Plotinus treats evil as “an elongation from God.” Dionysius speaks of Almighty God as immanent in matter the most elongated from spirit. Plotinus traces evil to matter; Dionysius to the fallacious choice of a free agent. May it not be that the pagan colouring of Porphyry in these respects led Eutochius to give a more faithful and consistent account of the teaching of Plotinus.

But the crowning proof that Dionysius was the source from which the Alexandrine School drew much of its wisdom, is Proclus (450-485). Suidas affirmed long ago that Proclus cribbed whole passages from Dionysius. Professor Stiglmayr fills seven pages with parallel passages.

Vachérot describes certain chapters of the Divine Names as extracts from Proclus, word for word, and says the whole doctrine of Dionysius seems to be a commentary upon the Theology of Alexandria. Barthélémy St. Hilaire says that Dionysius and Scotus Erigena almost entirely implanted, in the Middle Ages, the doctrine of Neo-Platonism. Matter is more profound; Professor Langen finds in Dionysius the “characteristics of Neo-Platonic speculation.” The similarity of doctrine is denied by none. Which writings appeared first? That is the question.

Dexter commemorates the Divine Names from Tabularia of Toledo, 98 AD. Polycarp quotes Dionysius verbatim as “a certain one.” Jerome quotes him as “quidam Graecorum.” Dionysius of Alexandria (250 AD), writing to Sixtus II, declares that no one can intelligently doubt that the writings are those of Dionysius, the convert of St. Paul, Bishop of Athens. Tertullian expresses the Agnosia “nihil scire omnia scire,” and Origen quotes him by name. Theodore (420 AD) answers objections, whom Photius approved. Gregory calls Dionysius “an ancient and venerable Father.” The Second Council of Nicea quotes the very words, contained in the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy (c. I. s. 4) as those of the great Dionysius. Bishop Pearson proves that the best judges in the sixth, fifth, fourth and third centuries regarded the writings as written by Dionysius the Areopagite. German scholars today admit that the external testimony is in favour of their genuineness.

Yet eccentric critics, on account of the precise theology, cannot believe that the works were written by a learned Greek,—Chief of the Areopagus, who forsook all to follow Christ, the convert and disciple of St. Paul, the familiar friend of St. John and other Apostles, to whom our Saviour revealed the mysteries of the Father; but those critics can believe that an unknown man, whose century no one can fix, and possibly a Syrian, may have gleaned from writers of the first four centuries these theological pearls expressed in Greek in a style unique and always like itself. They can believe that the Author of these Divine writings would incorporate fictitious allusions to persons and events of the apostolic age, to add lustre to incomparable works, and to impute them to another. They can believe that writings, so composed, were foisted upon a credulous Christendom, so that Dionysius of Alexandria, Maximus, St. John Damascene, and the Council of Nicea, accepted them as the genuine works of Dionysius. I do not belong to that school. Only unbelief could believe anything so incredible. Rational men will not hazard the surmise that works known in the first century were gleaned from writings composed four hundred years afterwards.

The tone of the Alexandrine School may be further illustrated from Amelius and Dionysius the Sublime. Amelius attended Plotinus twenty-four years as companion and pupil. Eusebius gives an extract from his writings, in which Amelius says, “This plainly was the Word, by Whom, being Eternal, things becoming became, as Heraclitus would say.” It was probably he who said, “The Prologue of St. John’s Gospel ought to be written in gold, and placed in the most conspicuous place in every church” (De Civ. Dei, LX. c. 29). Dionysius, the famous secretary of Zenobia, attended the lectures of Ammonius-Saccus. He was the “arbiter” of all literary questions. He expresses his admiration (De sub. L. 9) of the diction of Moses in the description of the six days’ creation, and numbers St. Paul amongst the most brilliant Greek orators, as a man who propounded a “dogma beyond demonstration.”

We claim that the testimony of these illustrious men, and the extracts from Pantaenus, Ammonius, and their disciples, justify the conclusion that the Alexandrine School was Biblical, Christian, and Philosophical, that its Philosophy was a Divine Philosophy of the Faith, not a pagan philosophy against the Faith, and that the main sources of its Divine Philosophy were the writings of Hierotheus and Dionysius, Bishops of Athens.

JOHN PARKER
Cannes,
Epiphany, 1899.

For a sketch of the Life, Internal Evidence of Date, and External Testimony to Genuineness during the first nine centuries, see Celestial and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy (Skeffington, 2s. 6d.).

St. Hierotheos of Athens (Feast Day - October 4)

OBJECTIONS TO GENUINENESS

THE most plausible objection to the genuineness of these [Areopagite] writings is thus expressed by Dupin: "Eusebius and Jerome wrote an accurate catalogue of each author known to them, with a few obscure exceptions, and yet never mention the writings of the Areopagite." Great is the rejoicing in the House of the Anti-Areopagites over this PROOF; but what are the facts?

Eusebius acknowledges that innumerable works have not come to him; Jerome disclaims either to know or to give an accurate catalogue either of authors or works. The Library of Caesarea contained three hundred thousand volumes, according to the modest computation of Doublet, and according to Schneider, and many more. Jerome says there are some writings, so illustrious in themselves, that they will not suffer from not being mentioned by him. Jerome follows Dionysius on the Heavenly Hierarchy. Jerome's Catalogue of Illustrious Men contains one hundred and thirty-five names.

Josephus is mentioned for his testimony to Christ. Seneca for his correspondence with St. Paul. Philo for his description of the Therapeutse of Alexandria. Yet Dupin would have the unwary infer that Jerome gives a full catalogue of each Author known to him, with a few obscure exceptions.

The Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius treats of the nature of Christ, the companions of the Apostles, the Martyrdoms, the succession of Bishops, the persecutions, and the folk-lore of the Church to the fourth Century. The book would fill about 125 pages, yet Dupin would have us believe that he gives a complete catalogue. He does not give the writings of Hymenseus and Narcissus, of Athenagoras, and Pantaenus, nor a complete list of Clement, Origen, and Dionysius of Alexandria. His silence, in my opinion, is owing to "odium theologicum." According to Eusebius, Jesus is διττός; according to Dionysius, Jesus is ἁπλοῦς; both true when properly understood, but when misunderstood, "Hinc lachrymae illae". Dupin formed his premise for his conclusion, not from facts.(1)

Fallacy of Names

Pearson, Daillé, Blundellum, Erasmus, Valla, Westcott, Lupton, pronounce against the genuineness. Who are you? But Pearson demolishes Daillé; Vossius pulverises Blundellum; Erasmus repudiates Valla. Dr. Westcott, following Dupin, assumes the non-genuineness, but his literary instinct places his Article on Dionysius before that on Origen. Dean Colet bumps the scale against Mr. Lupton.

Pearson, in the 10th Chapter of Ignatii Vindiciae, gives the shortest and best summary in favour of the genuineness. Speaking of the scholars of his own day, he says, "No one is so ignorant as not to know that these writings were recognised as genuine by the best judges in the sixth, fifth, fourth, and third centuries." Unhappily, he also said, every erudite person regarded them in his day as written in the fourth century, and he assumed the date of Eusebius' death, as the date of the works, to account for his silence. Hence every inerudite persons, who wished to pass for erudite, maintained that opinion for his own reputation. But when Pearson had re-surveyed the evidence, he confessed, with shame, that though he had given, what seemed to him a true opinion, he left the decision of the whole matter to the judgment of a more learned person.

Erasmus, in his Institutio of a Christian Prince, writes thus: "Divus ille Dionysius qui fecit tres Hierarchias." In his prime work, Ratio Verae Religionis, Erasmus not only enumerates the Divine Names and the Mystical and Symbolic Theology, but calls them, not Stoic, not Platonic, not Aristotelian, but "celestial" philosophy. He so moulds Dionysius into his book, that it becomes Dionysius writing elegant Latin. The only reason which outweighed with him all external testimony was that Erasmus could not imagine that any man, living in apostolic times, and so far removed from the age of Erasmus, could possibly have penned such a mirror of apostolic doctrine. How could the Areopagite, though disciple of Paul, and familiar friend of John the Theologian, possibly be so learned as the author of these writings? Such is the testimony of the two Theologians who have been permitted to be doubtful of the genuineness.

Gregory of Tours (2)

Gregory is the great authority of those who think that the St. Denis of France is not identical with Dionysius the Areopagite. The authority is worthy of their critical acumen. Gregory collects the more obscure martyrdoms, in Gaul, under Nero, and subsequent Emperors. He gives several martyrdoms under Nero, and thus proves the Apostolic Evangelization of Gaul. Gregory quotes, and misquotes, and misunderstands the ancient document (3), "Concerning seven men sent by St. Peter into Gaul, to preach."(4) "Under Claudius-sub CLDIO-Peter the Apostle sent certain disciples into Gaul to preach, they were Trophimus, Paulus, Martial, Austremonius, Gatianus, Saturninus, Valerius, and many companions." These men were sent 42-43 AD. Gregory omits Valerius, and inserts Dionysius, who was not converted to the Christian Faith till 44 or 49 AD. Then Gregory misreads "Claudio" for "consulibus Decio", and adds "Grato" as the fellow-consul. Thus a disciple of the Apostles, sent by Clement, successor of Peter, arrives in Gaul in 250, and the identical names of his companions recur miraculously in the third century. At the very time that Trophimus (5) is thus supposed to have arrived at Aries, we have a letter from Cyprian, 254 AD, urging Pope Stephen to depose Marcion, 15th or 18th Bishop of Aries from Trophimus. Such is the basis upon which our critical friends build their house upon the sand.

The Pères Bolandistes

The Pères Bolandistes are a wonder in Christendom. They are critical, and yet follow the gross blunder of Gregory of Tours. They belong to the papal obedience, and yet prefer Gregory of Tours when wrong to Gregory XIII when right. They pronounce the solemn declaration of Pope John XIXth, "that Martial of Limoges was an apostolic man (6)," as of no historic value. They think that St. John Damascene did not possess the same critical apparatus for proving the authenticity of the writings of Dionysius that we possess in the 19th Century. Their "actes authentiques"(7) of Dionysius acknowledge that he was sent to Gaul by Clement, successor of Peter; and yet they affirm that he arrived in Gaul in 250. After Clement I, who succeeded Peter and Paul, there was not another Clement Bishop of Rome for a thousand years (8). Happily, Les petits Bolandistes are more rational and critical than their Pères.

General Objection

"The style, the theological learning, the language and allusions, prove the writings written after the apostolic age."

Is the Epistolary style the proof? St. Paul, St. John, St. Peter, St. Luke, and nearly the whole of the New Testament is written under the form of Epistles. The Epistle of St. James, the first written in the Canon of the New Testament, will bear comparison with the book of Job for ornate diction. Consult the marginal references to the Epistle of St. Peter to see the scriptural knowledge of the Apostles. Men use the testimony of the High Priests, that the Apostles were unlearned and ignorant men, but omit their testimony that they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus; and the further testimony that Jesus opened their understanding, that they should understand the testimony of the Scriptures respecting Himself; and further, that the Holy Spirit should recall to them whatever He had said to them. Those who would rather assume twenty miracles, than acknowledge one natural fact, surmise that a Syrian, in the fourth century may have written Greek permeated with technical expressions of Plato and Aristotle. There is not a single allusion to persons or events after the first century, unless it be supposed that the Epistle of Ignatius, 108 AD, is quoted. The works abound in names recorded in the New Testament. The Apostolic Epistles allude to the leaven of heresy already working. The Antwerp edition gives about five hundred references to Holy Scripture in the Writings of Dionysius. He quotes every book in the Bible, except the two last particular Epistles of St. John, or John the Presbyter. Dionysius writes four letters to Gaius, to whom St. John wrote his third Epistle. We have, therefore, in the writings of this Apostolic man, a proof that the Canonical Scriptures were quoted as the Oracles of God, in the first century, and a triumphant testimony that Faith is more trustworthy than criticism.

Thanks be to God!

Printed by James Parker and Co., Crown Yard, Oxford.

-----------------------------

1. Vidieu, page 107.

2. L'Abbé Darras. St. Denys 1'Areopagite, p. 34.

3. Ibid., p. 51.

4. See Monuments inédits de M. Faillon, t. ii. p. 375.

5. Darras, p. 14.

6. See Surius.

7. Darras, 293-300.

8. Clement I., A.D. 67, Cl. II. 1046.

Life of St. Dionysius the Areopagite (October 3rd)

This Saint was from Athens, a learned man, and a member of the famous judicial court of Mars Hill (in Greek Aeros Pagos, hence the name Areopagite (see Acts 17:19-34). When Saint Paul preached in Athens, he was one of the first there to believe in Christ, and, according to some, became the first bishop of that city. Others say -- and this may be more probable--that he was the second Bishop of Athens, after Saint Hierotheus, whom Dionysius calls his friend and teacher "after Paul" (On the Divine Names, 3:2). With Saint Hierotheus he was also present at the Dormition of the most holy Theotokos; the Doxasticon of the Aposticha for the service of the Dormition is partly taken from a passage in Chapter III of On the Divine Names. According to ancient tradition, he received a martyr's end (according to some, in Athens itself) about the year 96.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone

Since thou hadst been instructed in uprightness thoroughly and wast vigilant in all things, thou wast clothed with a good conscience as befitteth one holy. Thou didst draw from the Chosen Vessel ineffable mysteries; and having kept the Faith, thou didst finish a like course, O Hieromartyr Dionysios. Intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

In spirit, thou dist pass through Heaven's gates, instructed by the great Apostle who attained to the third Heaven's heights, and wast made rich in all knowledge of things beyond speech; and then thou, O Dionysius, didst illuminate them that slumbered in the darkness of their ignorance. Hence we all cry out: Rejoice, O universal Father.

Life of St. Hierotheus of Athens (October 4th)

According to some, Hierotheus, like Saint Dionysius, was a member of the court of Mars Hill. Having first been instructed in the Faith of Christ by Paul, he became Bishop of Athens. He, in turn, initiated the divine Dionysius more perfectly into the mysteries of Christ; the latter, on his part, elaborated more clearly and distinctly Hierotheus' concise and summary teachings concerning the Faith. He too was brought miraculously by the power of the Holy Spirit to be present at the Dormition of the Theotokos, when, together with the sacred Apostles, he became a leader of the divine hymnody. "He was wholly transported, wholly outside himself and was so deeply absorbed in communion with the sacred things he celebrated in hymnology, that to all who heard him and saw him and knew him, and yet knew him not, he seemed to be inspired of God, a divine hymnographer," as Dionysius says (On the Divine Names, 3:2). Having lived in a manner pleasing to God, he reposed in the Lord.

Apolytikion in the Fourth Tone

Since thou hadst been instructed in uprightness thoroughly and wast vigilant in all things, thou wast clothed with a good conscience as befitteth one holy. Thou didst draw from the Chosen Vessel ineffable mysteries; and having kept the Faith, thou didst finish a like course, O Hieromartyr Hierotheos. Intercede with Christ God that our souls be saved.

Kontakion in the Plagal of the Fourth Tone

As Athens' Hierarch, we acclaim thee, since through thee we have received instruction in things awesome and ineffable; for thou wast a God-inspired writer of divine hymns. O Hierotheus all-blessed, do thou pray to God, so that we may be redeemed from all calamities, that thus we may cry: Rejoice, O Father wise in things divine.

[Note: In citing all the connections above between Sts. Hierotheus and Dionysius with the Alexandrian School, I find it interesting that the Church Calendar honors all the Saints who form this connection within days of each other. Beginning with St. Dionysius (Oct. 3) and St. Hierotheus (Oct. 4), we also honor St. Dionysius the Great the Archbishop of Alexandria (Oct. 5), St. Demetrius the Archbishop of Alexandria (Oct. 9) and St. Denys of Paris (Oct. 9). Could this be more than a mere coincidence?]