can have no absolute knowledge of God in thought ; all his knowledge is relative ; but man can be united to God, " lost in God" in the devotion of supreme love. In the Celestial Hierarchy the angels are divided into three classes, and each class into three orders {rayiia- ra), thus: 1. 1. Qpdvoi, thrones; 2. Xtpov^ifA, cherif bim; 8. ^a^fA, seraphim; II. 4. m/pionjreC) domm- ions; 5. IKovaieUf authorities ; Q.SwdfAtiQ, powers; III. 7. apxat»i>H«!^paiW«#; 8. dpxdyysXoi, archangels; 9. dyyiXoty angels. He nevertheless observed that the last term, as well as dwufuig ovpdvtai, was common to all (Hagenbech, Hist, of Doctrines, § 131). Gross and sensuous ideas as to angels are discarded. As to the aim of the Psendo-Dionysios as a whole, we con^ dense the views of Vogt, m Herzog's Real-EncyVit^ die, iii, 418, as follows : The Pseudo-Dionysian writ- ings are an attempt to incorporate NeopliUtonism into Christianity. Their author must have been penetrar ted with the spirit of both systems. He probably as- sumed the venerable name of Dionysius the Areopa- gite with a view, on the one hand, to gain the ear of the educated and philosophical Athenians, and, on the other, to secure the sympathy of the Christian Church. These philosophers hated Christianity, and charged those Christians who adopted Neoplatonic ideas with the crime of first stealing these ideas, and then using them as a weapon of offence against their proper own- ers. The Pseudo- Dionysius sought to refute this charge by maintaining that these ideas were properly and truly Christian, springing from an Athenian Chris- tian school, and belonging to the very nature of the Christian institutions. The fact that the heathen phi- losophy of his time had adopted many Christian ideas, probably justified, to his mind, this mode of argument '* Why stay among the shadows of the heathen mys- teries, when all the true and noble ideas of heathen- dom are to be found, glorified and transfigured, in the Christian Church?" As to the Christian Church, on the other hand, the author sought to bring into it a mode of thought which, in his judgment, would give it a profounder insight into real Christian truth, and elevate it above mere strifes of dogma, and above the bar of politico-ecclesiastical passions (comp. Epist. 6, 7, 8). He certainly succeeded in planting mystic philos- ophy strongly in the Church, and it has never since been completely uprooted. Moreover, as the Church had already, to some extent, paganized its form of wor- ship, and borrowed heathen forms also for its specula- tion, as well as for its hierarchial government, it is not to be wondered at that a book which professed to jus- tify all these things, by the authority of one who was converted by St. Paul himself, should find willing au- ditors.
Literature. — ^The best edition of the Pseudo-Diony- sius is that of Balthazar Corderius (Paris, 1615, 1684, and 1644 ; and Venice, 1755, 2 vols. fol.). It is given in Migne,Pa^o2o^ Grteca (vols, iii, iv),with Le Nour- ry's Introduction, the scholia of Maximas and Pachy- meres, biographies of Dionysius by Halloix and oth- ers, and Delrio's Vindicia Areopagiticce. Numerous editions of some of the single writings have been is- sued, of which accounts may be found in Hofilinann, BibUographisches Lexikon, 1, 577 sq. ; and in Fabridus, BtbHotheca Grmca, ed. Harles, vii, 7 sq. Of transla- tions, Engelhardt's (German : Sulzbach, 1823, 2 vols.) has already been cited ; in French, Darboys, (Euvres de St. Denys trad, du Grec. (Paris, 1844, 8vo) ; and a trans- lation by the abb6 Dulac, announced in 1866, which we have not seen. An English version of the MysU^ cat Theology is given in Everard's Go^ Treasures (Lond. 1658, sm. 8vo). See, besides the works on Di- onysius already cited. Usher, Dissert II de Pseudo- DionysU Seriptis, ed. Wharton, in Usher's Works (16 vols. 8vo), xii,497 ; Hakewill, Dissertation on the Writ- ings of Dion. Areop., in his Apology of Providence (8d edit. Lond. 1685, 8vo); Neander, Chwrch History (Tat- rey's), Hi, 169, 466; Lardner, Works (Kippis's ed.), v,72
DIONTSIUS ALEXANDRENUS 810 DIONTSIUS ALEXANDRKTS 1
•q. ; Bitter, Ge$chichte d. ch'istl Pkilosophie, ii, 515 sq. ; Montet, Det Uvrti du Pseudo-Denys (Paris, 1848, 8vo) ; CeUlier, Mitt, GmhaU d caUetirt eecUt, (Paris, 1861- 1865), X, 584 sq. 751, where an abstract of Darboys's plea is given ; Milman, Latin Christtamttfj bk. xiv, ch. iL There is a good essay on the Dionysian writings, with a brief analysis of them, by B. F. Westcott, in the Contemporary Eemeic, May, 1867.
Dionysiiui AlezandrinuB, snmamed the Great, was bom a heathen, but was converted early to Chris- tianity by the teaching of Origen. He became a cate- chist about A.D. 233, and succeeded Heraclas in the bishopric of Alexandria about A.D. 247. His episco- pate was full of troubles, as it continued during the per- secutions of Decius and Valerian, and in it a pestilence ravaged the whole Roman empire, to say nothing of the disputes and controversies which at the same time greatly disturbed the peace of the Church. He was driven, with many of his flock, by the Decian persecu- tion, into the deserts of Libya. In about a year's time, the persecution being abated, he returned to Al- exandria, A.D. 251. In 257 the Valerian persecution began, and Dion^'sius was banished by ^milian, pne- fect of Egypt, to Cephro, in Libya, where he continued at least three years. Valerian having been taken prisoner by tiie Persians, the persecution was again stayed, and Dionysius returned to his flock at Alex- andria, where he died about A.D. 265. Dionysius was a man of learning and piety. He took an active part in the controversies of the time ; and from what remains of his Episiies, his moderation and spirit of conciliation are sufficiently apparent. A few fhig- ments only remain of his works.