Nicephorus Callistus, Vita S. Dionysii Areopagitae

And Paul journeyed as far as Athens. And seeing the city exceedingly given over to idols, he conversed both with those from the synagogue and with the philosophers there, those from Epicurus and the Stoa. By whom also he was reviled as a babbler and a proclaimer of strange demons; and having laid hands upon him, they lead him to the greatest court of justice among them, which is named the Areopagus, and having set him before the council of the judges (and these were nine, seeming to surpass all the others in wisdom and birth and wealth), chosen according to merit, they sat in front upon the judicial seats. Standing in the midst of them, he declared their superstition, and of the temple among them which was dedicated To an Unknown God he persuaded them that he was the apostle of that One; Whom he also called Lord and Creator of earth and heaven, through Whom is the universe; and he set Him forth as in need of nothing and unlike all matter. Nor is He worshipped by anything else than by the works of good things and the knowledge of the truth; and he says that the ignorances committed by us until now He overlooks, but that henceforth we are to repent and yield to the words of faith; inasmuch as He has also received the power to judge from thence. This is Jesus the Christ, Who through divinely fitting works having been manifested as perfect God and perfect man, apart from sin, was crucified on behalf of all, and rose from the dead, and while all beheld, was taken up to His own Father, the God of all things. And to some when they heard of a resurrection the matter seemed a mockery; but certain being persuaded followed him, among whom was also Dionysius the Areopagite, being one of those wise and select men.

And the things of his faith came to such a pitch that he was not only counted worthy of the divine laver, but was also appointed bishop of Athens by the hands of Paul, and was counted worthy of surpassing gifts of grace, and kept company with the divine Hierotheus, to both of whom Paul entrusted all that he had come to know when caught up to the third heaven and into Paradise, both concerning theology and concerning the heavenly hierarchy and ordering, which things afterwards were also handed down in writing. And Dionysius, having brilliantly spoken forth the word of godliness with boldness, having glorified Christ for many years in the west, coming to a deep old age, was also adorned with martyrdom on His behalf. And they say that having taken into his hands his head, cut off by the sword, he walked for two miles; and having met a woman there, he committed it to her. Moreover, whatever things he composed in contemplation and thoughts

and in diction altogether pre-eminent, and unmixed with such as have appeared among men, stand in this manner: First indeed he composes the treatise On the Divine Names, in which other chapters are subjoined proceeding up to a hundred, full of divine wisdom. Second there is composed by him that having the title On the Celestial Hierarchy, putting forward fifteen chapters; third after these is that On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy in seven chapters; fourth is that On Mystical Theology in five chapters. And ten Epistles, of which the last was sent to John, who leaned on the bosom and was the Evangelist. These indeed are the works extant among us up to this time. The same man also makes mention of other treatises of his, of which one is the Theological Outlines so named by him, and the Symbolic Theology; another is that On the Angelic Properties and Orders, and his treatise On the Soul; another is that On the Just and Divine Judgement, and another On the Divine Hymns; and another On Intelligible and Sensible Things. Which treatises indeed are altogether unseen, having been made known at all neither to us nor to those before us.