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Fake Apostles and Real Christianity: Exploring the ‘Pseudo-’ in the Pseudo-Dionysios
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In this special episode we explore the long, long discussion – starting in the early sixth century, and still a going debate today – over who wrote the corpus dionysiacum. Theories are discussed, esoteric lineages dissected, and, right at the end, I solve the mystery in an exclusive SHWEP exposé.
Works Cited in this Episode:
Our special episode on the various possible Origens, Ammonii, etc. can be found here.
Primary:
The anathemas from the 5th Ecumenical Council survive in Vienna Nationalbibliothek MS historicus græcus 7, fols. 84v.-86r. Edited by J. Straub in ACO 4.1 (Berlin, 1971), pp. 248-49.
The scholion on how the Platonists stole everything from the Christians: provisional text with translation at Henri-Dominique Saffrey. Recherches sur le néoplatonisme après Plotin. Number 14 in Histoire des doctrines de l’Antiquité classique. Vrin, Paris, 1990., p. 240.
Evagrios of Pontos: Epistula fidei (Pseudo-Basil, Epistula 8.7.35-37 Courtonne).
Hypatius’ attacks on the authenticity of the Corpus Dionysiacum: Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum 4/2: 173, 12–18. Cited P. Rorem and J. Lamoreaux. John of Scythopolis and the Dionysian Corpus: Annotating the Areopagite. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998, p. 18.
On John of Skythopolis’ scholia: see Beate Regina Suchla. Die sogenannten Maximus-Scholien des Corpus Dionysiacum Areopagiticum. Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, (3):31–66, 1980; Idem. Die Überlieferung des Prologs des Johannes von Skythopolis zum griechischen Corpus Dionysiacum Aeropagiticum: ein weiterer Beitrag zur Überlieferungsgeschichte des CD. Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Philologisch-Historische Klasse, 4:177–88, 1984. His attribution of an esoteric, oral teaching from Paul to Dionysios: SchCH 64.10.
George Pachymeres on Proclus’ plagiarism of Dionysios: Georgius Pachymeres, Paraphrasis in opera S. Dionysii Areopagitae, Proemium (PG 3- II6A): ‘It must be understood that certain philosophers outside [the Church], especially Proclus, often used the general theorems (theōrēmata) of the blessed Dionysius.’
Secondary:
Orthodox Christianity Then and Now argues for the first-century authenticity of the Areopagite e.g. here and here.
Ronald F. Hathaway. Hierarchy and the Definition of Order in the Letters of Pseudo-Dionysius: A Study in the Form and Meaning of the Pseudo-Dionysian Writings. Martinus Nijhoff, Den Haag, 1969; we quote p. 27; list to be found pp. 31–5. Later we quote pp. 25-6 on the reasons Damascius is a likely candidate.
H. Koch. Proklus als Quelle des Dionysius Areopagita in der Lehre vom Bösen. Philologus, 54:438-54, 1895.
Tuomo Lankila. The corpus areopagiticum as a crypto-pagan project. Journal for Late Antique Religion and Culture, 5:14-40, 2011; we quote pp. 15 and 31.
C.M. Mazzucchi. Damascio, autore del Corpus Dionysiacum, e el dialogo Peri politikês epistêmês. Aevum, 80:299-334, 2006; we cite pp. 738-47.
István Perczel. Le pseudo-Denys, lecteur d’Origène. In W. Bienert, editor, Origeniana Septima, pages 673-710. Peeters, Louvain, 1999a.
Idem. Une théologie de lumière: Denys l’Aréopagite et Évagre le Pontique. Revue des études augustiniennes, pages 79-120, 1999b.
Idem. Pseudo-Dionysius and Palestinian Origenism. In Joseph Patrich, editor, The Sabaite Heritage in the Orthodox Church from the Fifth Century to the Present, pages 261-82. Peeters, Leuven, 2001.
Ilaria L. E. Ramelli. Origen, Evagrius, and Dionysius. In Mark Edwards, Dimitrios Pallis, and Georgios Steiris, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Dionysius the Areopagite, pages 94-108. The University Press, Oxford, 2022.
Charles M. Stang. Apophasis and Pseudonymity in Dionysius the Areopagite: “No Longer I”. Oxford Early Christian Studies. The University Press, Oxford, 2012; we cite p. 14.
Beate Regina Suchla, editor. Corpus Dionysiacum IV/1: Ioannis Scythopolitani prologus et scholia in Dionysii Areopagitae librum De divinis nominibus cum additamentis interpretum aliorum, volume 62 of Patristische Texte und Studien. de Gruyter, Berlin/Boston, MA, 2011 [this edition summarises Suchla’s earlier work sifting through the prologue(s) and scholia which travel in the Dionysian corpus].
J. Stiglmayr. Der Neuplatoniker Proclus als Vorlage des sogen. Dionysius Areopagita in der Lehre vom Übel. Historisches Jahrbuch, 16:253-73 and 17:72-148, 1895.
Thomas Kiefer
March 6, 2025
These types of episodes are so good! A similar type episode, your “Ammonius, Origen, and Plotinus” is if not the best of all episodes, at least in the top five, in my opinion.
The philosopher you mention, whose name’s pronunciation you were unsure about, Alexandre Kojève–it’s proncounced “koh-ZHEHV”. It’s a French mod of a longer Russian name. If my memory serves me right, he’s best known as an interepreter of Hegel, and his “Introduction to the Reading of Hegel” is his best known/most influential. He thought the key to Hegel’s Phenomenology (and all of Hegel?) was the master-slave dialectic (if memory is right).
Earl Fontainelle
March 6, 2025
Thanks for the kind words and extra info, Thomas.