The Mystical Theology

Dionysius the Areopagite

The Mystical Theology

Dionysius the Areopagite

Περὶ μυστικῆς θεολογίας

The Mystical Theology (De mystica theologia) is the shortest and densest treatise of the Corpus Dionysiacum, addressed to Timothy. In five brief chapters it teaches the ascent beyond every affirmation and negation to union with God 'in the divine darkness' of unknowing — the theology of negation that Aquinas cites most among Dionysius's works and that anchors the scholastic doctrine of God's incomprehensibility. Moses' ascent of Sinai and the Apache Bartholomew's 'theology of much and least' frame the movement through causes to the Cause itself, Who is beyond every assertion and every removal. Schola presents the Greek text with the Latin translation of Balthasar Corderius (as printed in Migne PG3, 1857) and the English translation of John Parker (1897).

CAPUT I. Quaenam sit divina caligo.

CAPUT II. Quomodo oporteat etiam uniri, ac laudes referre, omnium auctori, qui est supra omnia.

CAPUT III. Quae sint affirmantes de Deo locutiones, quæ negantes.

CAPUT IV. Quod nihil rerum sensibilium sit is, qui omnis rei sensilis secundum excellentiam est auctor.

CAPUT V. Quod nihil rerum intellectilium sit is qui omnis rei intellectilis secundum excellentiam est auctor.

Αὖθις δὲ ἀνιόντες λέγομεν, ὡς οὔτε ψυχή ἐστιν, οὔτε νοῦς· οὔτε φαντασίαν, ἢ δόξαν, ἢ λόγον, ἢ νόησιν ἔχει· οὐδὲ λόγος ἐστὶν, οὔτε νόησις· οὐδὲ λέγεται οὔτε νοεῖται· οὔτε ἀριθμός ἐστιν, οὔτε τάξις, οὔτε μέγεθος, οὔτε σμικρότης, οὔτε ἰσότης, οὔτε ἀνισότης, ὁμοιότης ἢ ἀνομοιότης· οὔτε ἕστηκεν, οὔτε κινεῖται, οὔτε ἡσυχίαν ἄγει, οὔτε ἔχει δύναμιν, οὔτε δύναμίς ἐστιν, οὔτε φῶς· οὔτε ζῇ, οὔτε ζωή ἐστιν· οὐδὲ οὐσία ἐστὶν, οὔτε αἰὼν, οὔτε χρόνος· οὐδὲ ἐπαφή ἐστιν αὐτῆς νοητή· οὔτε ἐπιστήμη, οὔτε ἀλήθειά ἐστιν· οὐδὲ βασιλεία, οὔτε σοφία· οὐδὲ ἓν, οὐδὲ ἑνότης, οὐδὲ θεότης, ἢ ἀγαθότης, οὐδὲ πνεῦμά ἐστιν ὡς ἡμᾶς εἰδέναι· οὔτε υἱότης, οὔτε πατρότης, οὐδὲ ἄλλο τι τῶν ἡμῖν ἢ ἄλλῳ τινὶ τῶν ὄντων συνεγνωσμένων· οὐδέ τι τῶν οὐκ ὄντων, οὐδέ τι τῶν ὄντων ἐστὶν, οὐδὲ τὰ ὄντα αὐτὴν γινώσκει ᾗ αὐτή ἐστιν· οὐδὲ αὐτὴ γινώσκει τὰ ὄντα ᾗ ὄντα ἐστίν· οὐδὲ λόγος αὐτῆς ἐστὶν, οὔτε ὄνομα, οὔτε γνῶσις· οὐδὲ σκότος ἐστὶν, οὐδὲ φῶς· οὔτε πλάνη, οὔτε ἀλήθεια· οὐδὲ ἐστὶν αὐτῆς καθόλου θέσις, οὔτε ἀφαίρεσις· ἀλλὰ τῶν μετ’ αὐτὴν τὰς θέσεις καὶ ἀφαιρέσεις ποιοῦντες αὐτὴν, οὔτε τίθεμεν, οὔτε ἀφαιροῦμεν· ἐπεὶ καὶ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν θέσιν ἐστὶν ἡ παντελὴς καὶ ἑνιαία τῶν πάντων αἰτία, καὶ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν ἀφαίρεσιν ἡ ὑπεροχὴ τοῦ πάντων ἁπλῶς ἀπολελυμένου καὶ ἐπέκεινα τῶν ὅλων.

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