Pseudo-Dionysius: The Celestial Hierarchy, chs 1-3

Our next work up, The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, was probably Pseudo-Dionysius’ final complete work, aside from some of the”letters”.  It is a companion to his previous book, The Celestial Hierarchy, in which he describes the ranks of angels and treats them allegorically.

The first chapters of The Celestial Hierarchy serve to introduce both works, so I will briefly summarize that material here.

Chapter 1 begins with the overarching theme of both works, procession to God and recession back to God.  This was one of the themes of Mystical Theology, but here the theme is given more content.  It is “the Light” which proceeds from the Father and lifts us back to the Father.  By the context in which the author uses “the Light”, it is clear that the Light= the Word= the Son.

 This Light, itself a procession from the Father (=the Source), enlightens intermediaries such as the Bible (read allegorically) and the heavenly and earthly hierarchies.  It is through contemplation of these intermediaries that we can, as much as we are able, be raised up by the Light into unity with the Light. But the following should be noted regarding The Light.

“Even though it works itself outward to multiplicity and it proceeds outside itself as befits its generosity [charis?], doing so to lift upward and to unify those beings for which it has a providential responsibility, nevertheless it remains inherently stable and it is forever one with its own unchanging identity” (146).

The word charisis important because it is usually translated as “grace” in the New Testament (116/152 times in the NRSV) and appears mostly in the letters of Paul.  There are other possibilities for the word behind “generosity”, but the reader has no way of knowing what the word is without a footnote, or making a field trip to the nearest top-tier theological library to examine a critical edition of the Greek text.  To be fair to Lubheid and Rorem, the decision to keep Greek words out of the footnotes may have been a decision made by the publisher or by the series editors.  And to his credit, Rorem does a good job noting Biblical quotations and explaining thorny concepts in the texts.  Still, a few key terms given in Greek would have been enormously helpful.

All this matters because charis has clear connections to Pauline theology and could go a long way in enabling Ps-D to live down his reputation as being barely Christian and promoting a way of salvation outside of God’s grace. 

At any rate chapter two begins with the question of why scripture uses images and allagory when it speaks of divine intelligences (i.e. God and the angels).  Pseudo-Dionysius cautions that, “We cannot, as mad people do, profanely visualize these heavenly and godlike intelligences as actually having numerous feet and faces.  They are not shaped to resemble the brutishness of oxen or to display the wildness of lions.”  Scriptural depictions of heavenly creatures are to be read allegorically, in good Alexandrine fashion (147-148). 

The scriptures compare the simple divine things to complex material things because we are unable to have direct access to the divine things, so we need “upliftings” that come natuarally to material beings and are easier for us to understand.  Hence the oxen, lions, et al.  Second, echoing 1 Corinthians 8.4-7, Matthew 13.10-17, and Luke 8.9-18, knowledge of the divine is not for everybody, so when the scriptures use allegorical language it is to keep that knowledge out of the grasp of those who are not holy (149).

These images do double duty as “positive” and “negative” images.  For instance, angels are like lions and oxen in that they are powerful.  They are unlike lions and oxen in that they are immaterial, and they are not used to plow fields nor do they eat gazelles.  But the positives can be dangerous, especially if one uses exalted language, as one may become deluded into thinking the divine things are truly things like light or reason when in fact they are beyond those things.  But ultimately, both positive and negative statements can be useful, as long as one keeps in mind that the realms of the intelligence and the senses are very different (150-151).

Chapter three describes the nature and function of hierarchies. According to the author, a hierarchy is a sacred order, activity and state of understanding that approximates the divine (153).  The goal of a hierarchy is to lift beings up to unity (as much as is possible) with God (154).  To do anything counter to hierarchy, would, then, be a sort of rebellion against God, the head of the hierarchy.  The three-fold work of hierarchy: purification, illumination and perfection are a participation in the work of God. 

“By grace and a God-given power, it does things which belong naturally and supernaturally to God, things performed by him transcendently and revealed in the hierarchy for the permitted imitation of God-loving minds” (155).

~ by Josh on June 1, 2007.