Concerning "Holy of Holies," "King of Kings," "Lord of Lords," "God of Gods."
1. It seems to me that I have now said what was needed in regard to 969A
those themes. And we must all offer up a hymn of praise to the God of infinite names, and we must call him "Holy of Holies" 253. and "King of Kings," 254. "who rules for all eternity, to the very end of eternity and beyond," 255. and who is "Lord of lords" 256. and "God of gods." 257.
But, first, I had better say what I mean by "holiness itself," "king 969B
ship," "lordship," "deity," and by the scriptural sense of the duplication of these titles.
2. In my way of speaking, holiness is freedom from all defilement. 258. It is a purity that is total and is utterly untainted. Kingship is the power to arrange every border, realm, law, and order. Lordship is not simply a matter of being superior with respect to inferiors but a complete possession of all that is beautiful and good, and is further
more a true and unshakable stability. The word is derived from the 969C
idea of "lording," "having the capacity to lord" and "actually lording." And as for deity, this is the
Providence which sees all things 259. and which in its utter goodness makes the round of all things, holding them together, filling them with itself, transcending all the things that enjoy the benefit of its providence. 3. The names must be praised in the absolute sense of that cause which transcends everything. In addition, we must say that this cause is a preeminent holiness and lordship, a supreme kingship and a totally simple divinity. From out of this cause there has emerged as something to be spread about, as a unity and as a collectivity, the unmixed perfection of utter purity. From it has come every law and ranking of all things which gets rid of all disharmony, inequality, and dispro
portion, which rejoices in well-ordered consistency and rightness, and 972A
which embraces everything worthy of sharing in it. From it too comes ____________________ 253.Dn 9:24 (LXX).
254.1 Tm 6:15; Rv 17:14, 19:16. 255.Ex 15:18 (LXX); cf. Ps 10:16.
257.Dt 10:17; Ps 136:2; Ps 50:1 (LXX).
258.The author acknowledges his fondness for puns, such as this one: "Holiness is hole-less." 259.The word play on divinity (theos) and sight (thea) was standard, e.g., Plato Cratylus 293.
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the complete possession of every beauty, every good providence which contemplates and preserves what in providence it has fashioned, and that generous giving of self for the divinization of whatever is being returned to it.
4. Since the Cause of all things is himself overflowing with them in one transcendent excess of all, he is called "Holy of Holies" and all those other names. For he is, you might say, brimming causality and supreme transcendence. Just as there are things which are surpassed 972B
by being, holiness, divinity, lordship, and kingship, just as the things sharing in these attributes are inferior to the attributes themselves, so it is that the things which have being are surpassed by the One who is beyond them all. Those sharing in the attributes, together with the attributes themselves, are far
outstripped by their unshared Cause. Scripture gives the name of "holy ones," "kings," "lords," and "gods"
260. to the primary ranks in themselves, through whom the secondary ones receive from God the gifts they
possess, pluralizing the simplicity of their portion in terms of their differentiations. And the very first ranks in their providential godlike activity draw this variegation into the unity of their own being.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Concerning "Perfect" and "One."
1. So much, then, for these names; and, if you will, let us proceed 977B
now to the most enduring of them all. 261. Theology, attributing every ____________________
260.Lv 11:44; Nm 11:28; Ps 82:6; see CH 12 293B.
261.While the names "Perfect" and "One" are here considered the most steadfast or enduring, the name "Good" is given preeminence even in this chapter ("most revered," 981A 10-14; see also DN 3 680B 5- 7, DN 4 693B 4-6). As a whole, The Divine Names considers designations that come from the domain of ideas rather than that of sense perception (see note 269 below). But its internal sequence of names, chapter by chapter, has been variously interpreted. Thomas Aquinas discerned the pattern of
"procession and return" (see CH 1, note 4) in that the treatise began with the primary name "Good," descended to consider less exalted names, and here returns to the lofty names "Perfect" and "One" (In de divinis nominibus IV, 1, 261-65; W. Hankey, "Aquinas' First Principle: Being or Unity?," Dionysius 4 [1980]: 158). Hans Urs von Balthasar carries this pattern further: introduction (DN 1-3), procession (DN 4-7a), return (DN 7b-11), and names of unity and transcendence (DN 12-13) (Herrlichkeit. Eine theologische Ästhetik II [Einsiedeln: Johannes Verlag, 1962], pp. 192f.). E. Corsini's argument for DN 5-7 has already been noted (DN 5, note 172). E. von Ivanka considers the same question, noting the possible connection to the three Constantinian churches in Constantinople: Hagia Sophia (wisdom, DN 7), Hagia Dynamis (power, DN 8), and Hagia Eirene (peace, DN 11) ("Der Aufbau der Schrift 'De divinis nominibus' des Ps.-Dionysios," Scholastik 15 [1940]: 386-99).
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quality to the cause of everything, calls him "Perfect" and "One." He is perfect 262. not only insofar as he is absolute perfection, defining perfection in himself and from his singular existence and total perfection, but also because he is far beyond being so. He sets a boundary to the boundless and in his total unity he rises above all limitation. He is neither contained nor comprehended by anything. He reaches out to everything and beyond everything and does so with unfailing generosity and unstinted activity.
To speak of perfection is to proclaim that it cannot be increased or diminished, for it is eternally perfect, that it contains all things beforehand in itself, that it overflows in one unceasing, identical, over977C flowing, and undiminished supply, thereby perfecting the perfect and filling all things with its own perfection.
2. The name "One" means that God is uniquely all things through the transcendence of one unity and that he is the cause of all without ever departing from that oneness. Nothing in the world lacks its share of the One. Just as every number participates in unity—for we refer to one couple, one dozen, one-half, one- third, one-tenth-so everything, and every part of everything, participates in the One. By being the One, it is all things. The One cause of all things is not one of the many things in the world but actually precedes oneness and
multiplicity and indeed defines oneness and multiplicity. For multi 977D
plicity cannot exist without some participation in the One. That 980A
which is many in its parts is one in its entirety. That which is many in its accidental qualities is one in its subject. That which is many in number or capabilities is one in species. That which is numerous in species is one in genus. That which is numerous in its processions is one in its source. For there is nothing at all lacking a share in that One which in its utterly comprehensive unity uniquely contains all and every thing beforehand, even opposites. Without the One there is no multiplicity, but there can still be the One when there is no multiplicity, just as one precedes all multiplied number. And, then, if one thinks of all things as united in all things, the totality of things must be presumed to be one.
3. There is something else to remember also. When things are 980B
said to be unified, this is in accordance with the preconceived form of the one proper to each. In this way the One may be called the underlying element of all things. And if you take away the One, there will ____________________
262.Mt 5:48; Heb 2:10, 5:9, 7:28.
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survive neither whole nor part nor anything else in creation. The reality is that all things are contained beforehand in and are embraced by the One in its capacity as an inherent unity. Hence scripture describes the entire thearchy, the Cause of everything, as the One. Furthermore, "there is one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ" 263. and "one and the same Spirit," 264. and this is so in the overwhelming
indivisibility of that oneness of God within which all things are banded together as one in the possession of a transcendent unity and in the transcendence of their preexistence. So all things are rightly ascribed to God since it is by him and in him and for him that all things exist, are co-ordered, remain, hold together, are completed, and are re
turned. You will find nothing in the world which is not in the One, 980C
by which the transcendent Godhead is named. Everything owes to the One its individual existence and the process whereby it is perfected and preserved. Given this power of God's unity, we must be returned from the many to the One and our unique song of praise must be for the single complete deity which is the one cause of all things and which is there before every oneness amid multiplicity, before every part and whole, before the definite and indefinite, before the limited and the unlimited. It is there defining all things that have being, defining being itself. It is the cause of things and of the sum total of things. It is
simultaneously there with them and before them and beyond them. It is there beyond the one itself, defining this one. Unity among creatures is a unity of number, and number has its own share of being.
But the transcendent unity defines the one itself and every num 980D
ber. For it is the source, and the cause, the number and the order of the one, of number, and of all being. And the fact that the transcendent Godhead is one and triune must not be understood in any of our
own typical senses. No. There is the transcendent unity of God and 981A
the fruitfulness of God, and as we prepare to sing this truth we use the names Trinity and Unity for that which is in fact beyond every name, calling it the transcendent being above every being. But no unity or trinity, no number or oneness, no fruitfulness, indeed, nothing that is or is known can proclaim that hiddenness beyond every mind and reason of the transcendent Godhead which transcends every being. There is no name for it nor expression. We cannot follow it into ____________________
263.1 Cor 8:6; see also Eph 4:4-6 and 1 Tm 2:5. 264.1 Cor 12:11.
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its inaccessible dwelling place so far above us 265. and we cannot even call it by the name of goodness. In our urge to find some notion and some language appropriate to that ineffable nature, we reserve for it first the name which is most revered. Here, of course, I am in agreement with the scripture writers. But the real truth of these matters is
in fact far beyond us. That is why their preference is for the way up 981B
through negations, since this stands the soul outside everything which is correlative with its own finite nature. 266. Such a way guides the soul through all the divine notions, notions which are themselves transcended by that which is far beyond every name, all reason and all knowledge. Beyond the outermost boundaries of the world, the soul is brought into union with God himself to the extent that every one of us is capable of it.
4. These, then, are the divine names. They are conceptual 981C
names, and I have explained them as well as I can. But of course I have fallen well short of what they actually mean. Even the angels would have to admit such a failure and I could scarcely speak praises as they do. Even the greatest of our theologians are inferior to the least of the angels. But in this I have fallen wretchedly short not only of the theologians, their hearers and their followers but even of my own peers. So if what I have said is right and if, somehow, I have correctly understood and explicated something of the names of God, the work must be ascribed to the cause of all good things for having given me the words to speak and the power to use them well. It may be that I have omitted some [name] of similar power, and if so this should be explained using the same methods. 267. And perhaps there is something incorrect or imperfect about what I have done. Perhaps I have com 981D
pletely or partly strayed from the truth. If so I ask you to be chari- ____________________ 265.Cf. Proclus, in Alc. 319C; DN 1 588C 37, Ep. 9 1104B 15.
266.Ultimately, affirmative theology falls short. Even the most revered name of "Good" fails to express what God is. Thus, as discussed in MT and CH 2, the scriptures prefer negations since they render the soul "ecstatic," that is, they place it outside itself. For Dionysius, the term "ecstasy" can carry the literal meaning of standing outside oneself, as in being drunkenly out of one's wits. This (inebriated) ecstasy, as applied to God, signifies the divine transcendence (Ep. 9 1112C) and the procession "downward" in a loving and creative excess of goodness (DN 4 712A). Human ecstasy has to do with rightly
interpreting the divine manifestations (DN 7 865D and 872D 45 to 873A 3), specifically interpreting them "up through negations," as stated in the text here annotated. Thus procession and return describe, respectively, divine and human ecstasy. See R. Roques, "Symbolisme et théologie negative,"
Structures, p. 179, and Völker, Kontemplation und Ekstase, pp. 200-17.
267.See also the comments concluding other treatises: CH 15 340B and EH 7 568D 46 to 569A 5 (note 225).
table, to correct my unwished-for ignorance, to offer an argument to one needing to be taught, to help my faltering strength and to heal my unwanted frailty. I beg that you pass on to me whatever you have discovered by yourself or from others, all received from the Good.
Please, let not this kindness to a friend be a burden to you. 268. I have 984A
not kept to myself any of the hierarchical words which were handed down to me. I have passed them on unchanged to you and to other sacred men, and I will continue to do so as long as I have the power of words and you have the power to listen. I do an injustice to the tradition only when the strength to conceive and to utter these truths leaves me. May what I do and what I speak be pleasing to God.
So here I finish my treatise on the conceptual names of God, and, with God's guidance, I will move on to The Symbolic Theology. 269.
____________________ 268.2 Thes 3:13.
269.
The Symbolical Theology is next in the sequence as the argument follows God's descent from names in the realm of concepts down to names drawn from perceptible symbols (DN 1 597B, note 89; DN 9 913B 19-23).
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This small essay is the key to the Dionysian method and to the structure of the entire corpus. It exerted a vast influence on the theology and mysticism of later centuries, especially in the West (Völker,
Kontemplation, pp. 218-63). J. Vanneste (Le Mystère de Dieu, pp. 30-36) has argued for a major division within the corpus between this work and The Divine Names, on the one hand, and The Celestial Hierarchy and The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, on the other hand. In the alternative argument suggested below
(especially in MT 3, note 17), The Mystical Theology first summarizes the preceding Divine Names and then previews the method of interpreting the perceptible symbols of the Bible and of the liturgy which is put into practice in the two subsequent hierarchical treatises.
On the general question of treatise headings and titles in the corpus, see DN 1, note 2 and EH 1, note 2. Regarding this title in particular, the term "mystical" is considered in the following note. In the Pseudo- Dionysian vocabulary, "theology" usually carried the literal sense of the "Word of God," namely, in the scriptures. See R. Roques, "Note sur la notion de THEOLOGIA selon le Pseudo-Denys l'Aréopagite," Revue d'Ascétique et de Mystique 25 (1949): 200-12. This essay is reprinted in Roques, Structures, pp. 135-45. For examples of "theology" as the scriptural "Word of God," see CH 4 180B 20, CH 9 261C 38, CH 12 293AB 7-15, EH 3 437B 22f., EH 5 501C 39f., DN 5 824D 49, DN 10 937D 45, and the unusual usage in EH 3 432B 22f. (note 82). The term can also mean discourse about God, such as Simon Peter's confession (EH 7 564C 38), St. John's revelation (Ep. 10 1120A 2), or the subsequent tradition, including the author's own "theology" (DN 2 640D 41-46, DN 3 681A 4f.).
The Mystical Theology 1. ____________________
1.This small essay is the key to the Dionysian method and to the structure of the entire corpus. It exerted a vast influence on the theology and mysticism of later centuries, especially in the West (Völker, Kontemplation, pp. 218-63). J. Vanneste (Le Mystère de Dieu, pp. 30-36) has argued for a major division within the corpus between this work and The Divine Names, on the one hand, and The Celestial Hierarchy and The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, on the other hand. In the alternative argument suggested below (especially in MT 3, note 17), The Mystical Theology first summarizes the preceding
Divine Names and then previews the method of interpreting the perceptible symbols of the Bible and of the liturgy which is put into practice in the two subsequent hierarchical treatises.
On the general question of treatise headings and titles in the corpus, see DN 1, note 2 and EH 1, note 2. Regarding this title in particular, the term "mystical" is considered in the following note. In the Pseudo- Dionysian vocabulary, "theology" usually carried the literal sense of the "Word of God," namely, in the scriptures. See R. Roques, "Note sur la notion de THEOLOGIA selon le Pseudo-Denys l'Aréopagite," Revue d'Ascétique et de Mystique 25 (1949): 200-12. This essay is reprinted in Roques, Structures, pp. 135-45. For examples of "theology" as the scriptural "Word of God," see CH 4 180B 20, CH 9 261C 38, CH 12 293AB 7-15, EH 3 437B 22f., EH 5 501C 39f., DN 5 824D 49, DN 10 937D 45, and the unusual usage in EH 3 432B 22f. (note 82). The term can also mean discourse about God, such as Simon Peter's confession (EH 7 564C 38), St. John's revelation (Ep. 10 1120A 2), or the subsequent tradition, including the author's own "theology" (DN 2 640D 41-46, DN 3 681A 4f.).
CHAPTER ONE