Suidas, Vita S. Dionysii Areopagitae (Περὶ τοῦ Διονυσίου τοῦ Ἀρειοπαγίτου, ex Lexico)

ON DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE

FROM THE WORKS OF SUIDAS

Dionysius the Areopagite, bishop of Athens, a most notable man and one who had advanced to the summit of Greek education, a hearer of Paul as regards the religion of Christianity, and appointed by him bishop over Athens itself; and in the ancestral pursuit of Greek learning he was preferred above all; for he stood in great experience of each sect, so to speak, that was professed by them. He heard Paul speaking in public in Athens, and preaching Christ and the resurrection with boldness to the Greeks; and having believed in the preaching of Paul, he is appointed by him also to be bishop of the city. In the reign of Tiberius Caesar, therefore, when indeed he was in the prime of his age, he departed into Egypt, longing to converse with the wise men there; and there was with him that sophist Apollophanes, whom Polemon of Laodicea, the teacher of Aristides, heard throughout in Smyrna. At the time of the saving Passion of the Sovereign Lord Christ, therefore, both were in Heliopolis which is in Egypt. And when the solar eclipse took place not according to nature (for it was not the time of conjunction), the sophist Apollophanes is said to have spoken to the blessed Dionysius: These, O good Dionysius, are vicissitudes of divine things. And the same Dionysius makes mention of these things in his letter to Polycarp the great, the bishop of Smyrna; for Apollophanes was railing against Dionysius on account of Christianity. And he says: And you say that the sophist Apollophanes rails at me, and calls me a parricide, as using the things of the Greeks unholily against the Greeks; yet against him it were truer for us to say that Greeks use divine things unholily against divine things, attempting through the wisdom of God to cast out the divine worship; and a little after: Nay, Apollophanes himself also uses divine things unholily against divine things; for by the

knowledge of beings, rightly called philosophy by him, and called wisdom of God by the divine Paul, the true philosophers ought to have been led up to the Author both of beings themselves and of the knowledge of them. And after a little: Apollophanes, being wise, ought to have understood that nothing of the heavenly order and motion could ever otherwise have been turned aside, unless it had Him Who is the sustainer and cause of its being moving it thereto, Who makes all things and transforms them, according to the sacred word. And again after a little: But say to him: What do you say concerning the eclipse that took place at the saving cross? For both of us then, being present together and standing side by side at Heliopolis, saw the moon paradoxically falling upon the sun (for it was not the time of conjunction), and again from the ninth hour until evening supernaturally standing opposite the diameter of the sun. And remind him also of something else: for he knows that we saw the incursion itself also beginning from the east, and coming as far as the solar edge, then stepping back; and again both the incursion and the clearing taking place not from the same side, but from that which was diametrically opposite. Such were the supernatural wonders of that time, possible to Christ alone the Cause of all, Who does great and marvellous things, of which there is no number. Say these things, if it is lawful for you, and if it is possible, O Apollophanes, refute them, even against me who was then present with you and saw them with you, and together examined all things with me and shared my wonder. Indeed, at that time Apollophanes, I know not whence, begins to prophesy, and, as one conjecturing aloud to me what was happening, said: These, O good Dionysius, are vicissitudes of divine things.

So much, so far as in a letter, the great Dionysius spoke to the God-bearing Polycarp. And of his wisdom and eloquence an exact proof is the unsurpassed diction of the books written by him; for both in the education so called among those outside, and in the divine and ours, he had great knowledge in each; for if anyone should look at the beauties of his words and the depths of his thoughts, he will not deem these to be offspring of human nature, but of some undefiled and divine power. And accordingly there have been written by him the following: To Timothy bishop of Ephesus, himself also being a disciple of Paul, On Divine Names, 12 books: On United and Distinguished Theology; on What is the power of prayer, and on the blessed Hierotheus, and on reverence, and theological writing; on the Good, Light, the Beautiful, Love, Ecstasy, Zeal. And that evil is neither a being, nor from a being, nor in beings; on Being, in which also concerning paradigms; on Life, on Wisdom, Mind, Reason, Truth, Faith; on Power, Justice, Salvation, Redemption; on Great and Small, Same, Other, Like, Unlike, Standing, Motion, Equality; on Almighty, Ancient of Days, in which also concerning Eternity,

and Times; and what Being itself means; on Holy of Holies, King of kings, and Lord of lords, and God of gods. Another book to the same Timothy, On the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, containing 15 chapters. Another book to the same Timothy, On the Celestial Hierarchy, itself also containing 15 chapters. Another book to the same Timothy, On Mystical Theology, containing five chapters. And there are also extant letters of his: to Gaius the therapeutic minister, 4; to Dorotheus the minister, 1; to Sopater the priest, 1; to Polycarp the hierarch of Smyrna, 1; to Demophilus the therapeutic minister, 1; to John the Theologian, the apostle and evangelist, 1.

And it must be known that certain of the wise men outside, and especially Proclus, have often used the speculations of the blessed Dionysius, and even his very bare words. And one may form a suspicion from this that the older philosophers in Athens, having appropriated his treatises, of which he himself makes mention when writing to Timothy, hid them away, so that they themselves might appear the fathers of his divine discourses. The revealer of God Dionysius, therefore, having now advanced to a great age, and having become full of days of the Spirit, is perfected by martyrdom on behalf of Christ under Trajan Caesar, when the God-bearing Ignatius also contended the contest of immortality. Note that Michael Syncellus of Jerusalem wrote an encomium on the great Dionysius, in which he says: "Whatever things we have received through unwritten tradition or in writing, we have come to set before you who love to hear. Such a report, therefore, has come down to us, handed down from of old from father to child, that this great Dionysius at the time of the saving Passion, when at midday the sun was hidden, being exceedingly astonished at the marvel, and having transcended human knowledge, perceiving what had come to pass, said: The Unknown God suffers, on Whose account this universe has been darkened and shaken; and straightway having noted down the time at which this world-wide prodigy had been accomplished, he kept it by him, eagerly awaiting what would thence be proclaimed. Moreover, he himself also in his letter to Polycarp makes mention of that most dread solar eclipse. For when Apollophanes, a philosopher and a Greek by religion, was indignant and railed against this thrice-blessed man, as being forsooth his dearest comrade and kinsman, who abominated the ancestral objects of worship, while preferring and embracing the faith of the Christians, and championing it most strenuously, and using the things of the Greeks against the Greeks, attempting to refute the railing and indignation, or rather suggesting to Polycarp, against whom his fellow-soldier was also making his jests,

he says these things: And you say that the sophist Apollophanes rails at me, and calls me a parricide, and the rest.