The Complete Works of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite

CHAPTER II.

How divine and heavenly things are aptly explained even through dissimilar signs.

1. He provides the structure of this work. 2. He warns that the figures used to describe heavenly and spiritual things are dissimilar to the realities themselves; at the same time, he addresses an objection and explains why it was more beneficial for these heavenly things to be depicted through the forms of lowly things rather than noble ones. 3. He shows that there are two modes of sacred? description: one through similar figures, the other through dissimilar ones. Just as certain things are predicated of God through affirmations and others through negations, he states that negations are superior? to affirmations, and that "clashing" similarities are more suited for raising our minds toward the truth. 4. He teaches that something good can be gathered from all things, and explains how passions like anger, desire, and similar traits are to be understood when they are attributed to Angels. 5. He shows how even God himself is sometimes named in the Scriptures after the highest things, sometimes after middle things, and sometimes even after the lowest things.

§ 1. Structure of the Work. In my opinion, we must first explain what we consider to be the goal of every hierarchy, and how it benefits each of its divine contemplators A term for those who seek to see and understand divine truths through prayerful study. Then, the celestial Hierarchies must be celebrated according to their mystical explanation in the Oracles original: "Oraculis," a term Dionysius uses to refer to the Holy Scriptures as the spoken word of God. Finally, we must state in what sacred forms the sacred writings sketch out these celestial orders, and to what kind of simplicity A state of spiritual focus or unity, moving away from complex physical images one ought to be led through those forms, so that we do not—like the common folk—The text cuts off here, but Dionysius is beginning to warn against taking biblical descriptions of angels (like having wings or many eyes) too literally.