A Source Book for Ancient Church History - Mirrors

614 A Source Book for Ancient Church Historymysteries and sacramental system. But he brings to it Neo-Platonic thought to such a degree as to color completely hispresentation of Christian truth. The effect of the book was onlygradual, but eventually very great. In the East it gave authority,which seemed to be that of the apostolic age, for its highly developedsystem of mysteries, which had grown up in the Church.In the West it served as a philosophical basis for scholastic mysticism.On account of the connection between Dionysius and thelater Greek philosophy and the mediæval philosophy, Dionysiusthe Areopagite occupies a place in the histories of philosophyquite out of proportion to the intrinsic merit of the writer.Additional source material: English translations of Dionysiusthe Areopagite, Dean Colet, ed. by J. H. Lupton, London,1869, and J. Parker, Oxford, 1897 (not complete); a newtranslation into German appeared in the new edition of theKempten Bibliothek der Kirchenväter, 1912.(a) Dionysius Areopagita, De Cælesti Hierarchia, III, 2. (MSG,3:165.)Dionysius thus defines “Hierarchy”:He who speaks of a hierarchy indicates thereby a holy order… which in a holy manner works the mysteries of illuminationwhich is appropriate to each one. The order of the hierarchyconsists in this, that some are purified and others purify; someare illuminated and others illuminate; some are completed andothers complete.(b) De Cælesti Hierarchia, VI, 2. (MSG, 3:200.)The heavenly hierarchy.