The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite (Divine Names, Celestial Hierarchy, Mystical Theology)

The Greek language is molded in a marvelous manner to express the newly revealed Christian Faith in its most exalted form, in a style which Daillé confesses to be always of the same "color," and Pearson, "always like itself." Jahn has followed Dionysius step by step in order to trace the connection between the language of Plato and Dionysius, for the purpose of exploding the childish supposition that such complex writings as these could have been evolved from the elementary treatises of Proclus and Plotinus. Most probably, some of the lost writings of Dionysius are in part preserved in those writers and in Clement of Alexandria; but Dionysius is the Master, not the Pupil! The works are very distinct and precise regarding the Divinity of Christ and the Hypostatic Union The doctrine of the union of Christ's humanity and divinity in one person.. Like St. Paul, Dionysius affirms that He who made all things is God; and further, that Jesus is God, by using some startling phrasing. He speaks of James, "the Lord's brother" original: 'Αδελφόθεος (Adelphotheos - Brother of God)., as "brother of God." David, from whom was born Christ according to the flesh, is called "father of God" original: Θεοπάτωρ (Theopator - God-father).. When speaking of the burial of the Blessed Virgin, he refers to her body as the "Life-springing" and "God-receptive body," thus testifying that Jesus, born of a pure Virgin, is Life and God. He describes the miracles of Jesus as being, as it were, the new and God-incarnate energy of God become Man.