The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite

SECTION II.

Concerning this then, as has been said, the superessential and hidden Deity, it is not permitted to speak or even to think beyond the things divinely revealed to us in the sacred Oracles. For even as Itself has taught (as becomes Its goodness) in the Oracles, the science and contemplation of Itself in Its essential Nature is beyond the reach of all created things, as towering superessentially above all. You will find many of the Theologians who have celebrated It, not only as invisible and incomprehensible, but also as inscrutable and untraceable, since there is no trace of those who have penetrated to Its hidden infinitude. The Good is indeed not entirely uncommunicated to any single created being, but benignly sheds forth its superessential ray—persistently fixed in Itself—by illuminations analogous to each several being. It elevates to Its permitted contemplation, communion, and likeness those holy minds who, as far as is lawful and reverent, strive after It. These are they who are neither impotently boastful toward that which is higher than the harmoniously imparted Divine manifestation, nor, in regard to a lower level, do they lapse downward through an inclination toward the worse. Instead, they elevate themselves determinately and unwaveringly to the ray shining upon them, and, by their proportioned love