The Complete Works of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite

ON THE CELESTIAL HIERARCHY — CHAPTER II.

Genesis 1:31.

...deprived of [perfection]; The Latin "tione" is the end of a word from the previous page, likely "perfectione" (perfection) or "conditione" (condition). since, as Truth says, all things are very good.

§ 4. Something good is to be gathered from all things.

It is therefore possible to draw holy contemplations from all things; for it is permitted even for intelligent and spiritual men to form the aforementioned "dissimilarities" original: "dissimilitudines." These are the "absurd" or "unlike" symbols Dionysius favors for describing God and angels. from material objects. This is because spiritual things possess these qualities in a different way than they are attributed to sensible things.

How passions are to be understood in Angels.

For example, the emotion of anger in irrational creatures is generated by a burst of passion, and their "irascible movement" original: "irascibilis... motus." In medieval psychology, the "irascible" power was the part of the soul responsible for courage, vigor, and resisting obstacles. is full of irrationality. But in spiritual beings, one must consider the "irascible power" in a different light,
What anger is.

namely, as signifying their masculine reason and their unchangeable state, which is firmly fixed in those deiform God-like in form. and immovable seats.

What desire is.

Similarly, we say that concupiscence concupiscence original: "concupiscentia." Usually meaning "lust" or "strong desire," here Dionysius distinguishes between animal craving and a holy "longing" for the divine. in brute animals is an unconsidered and powerless affection born from an innate tendency or habit toward some material, changeable thing—an irrational dominance of bodily appetite that drives the whole animal toward whatever appears desirable to the senses. Therefore, when we attribute "dissimilar similarities" to spiritual beings by ascribing "desire" to them, it must be understood as divine love. This love is for an immateriality that is superior to intellect and reason; it is a stable and constant longing for a "super-essentially" original: "superessentialiter." This refers to God's state of being "beyond" or "above" the very category of existence as humans understand it. pure and impassible contemplation, and for a true, eternal, and spiritual communion with that most sublime and purest clarity—the infallible and beautifying loveliness.

What impotence is.

And let us take impotence original: "impotentia." Here, Dionysius uses the word "impotence" (literally "inability") paradoxically to mean "steadfastness"—the inability of an angel to be moved or shaken from its focus on God. to mean an unbroken persistence of the mind, which can be shaken by no one, because of its unmixed and unchangeable love for divine beauty, and...