Theologian · Patristic
Dionysius the Areopagite
fl. c. 500 · Christian Neoplatonism (apophatic theology)
The anonymous author wrote under the name of St. Paul's Athenian convert (Acts 17:34); his works were received as authoritative by Maximus, Gregory the Great, Aquinas and the whole tradition.
An unknown Syrian monk, probably writing around 500, whose Divine Names, Mystical Theology, Celestial Hierarchy and Ecclesiastical Hierarchy set out how God is named from creatures and yet surpasses every name, how the nine choirs of angels and the orders of the Church mediate illumination, and how the soul enters the “brilliant darkness” beyond knowing. He is the source of the words “hierarchy” and “mystical theology.”
Why he matters: St. Thomas cited him some 1,700 times; the liturgical theology of the East, the Rhineland mystics, the Cloud of Unknowing and St. John of the Cross all drink from him. He is the common inheritance of both lungs of the Church.
Where to be careful
His Neoplatonic language of procession can sound emanationist and his hierarchies must not be read as making angels or clergy the source of grace rather than its ministers; the Church reads him through Maximus and Thomas.
Documented positions
Where this thinker stands on each dispute the test covers.