Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names

And so, if any one says that Life Itself lives, or that Light Itself is enlightened, he will not (in my opinion) speak aright, unless perchance he say this in another sense, meaning that the qualities belonging to the creatures pre-exist super-essentially in their Creative Originals. 9. Now the most manifest meaning of Theology 208 208 God as He reveals Himself in the world. is that of the Divine Generations 209 209 The received text has here the singular τῆς θεογονίας, but D. means both the eternal Generation of the Son and Procession of the Spirit and also the temporal Nativity of Christ, so I have ventured to read the plural. —viz. Its meaning concerning God’s Existence and the manner of it. But 76 this we cannot describe or fully understand. Still, in so far as spiritual and human intercourse hath, in the manner of Divine Union, been vouchsafed to us super-essentially, we must speak thereof. But we will not utter this Mystery in the terms belonging to God Himself. For we may not with confidence, either in speech or thought, apply human conceptions to the Super-Essential and hidden Godhead beyond that point which the Divine Scriptures divinely reveal. For the Super-Essential Godhead Itself (whether we speak of it as Divine Unity or Trinity) cannot be perceived by us or by any other being: 210 210 The doctrine of the Trinity is only true relatively to our finite apprehension. but we must ascribe to it in a super-essential manner all the attributes of the Divine Generation as we can gather them from the Scriptures. For, as the actual Divine Union is (according to our tradition) a thing surpassing all Unity Whether of an undifferenced or of a differentiated kind, so that Union is Ineffable and Nameless and exalted above all Existence. 211 211 The Super-Essential Godhead exceeds not only the differentiated but even the undifferentiated Unity of the Three Persons. Cf. p. 75, n. 4. And such Undifferenced Unities or Differentiations 212 212 The received text has ὁπόσαι which cannot easily be construed. I read ὁποίας in agreement with ἑνώσεις καὶ διακρίσεις. as belong to the emanant creative and expressive activities of the Godhead we must both express and define in terms which apply to angels or to human souls, apprehending (as we thus employ our minds) the Undifferenced Attributes in a differentiated manner and the Differentiated Attributes in an undifferentiated manner, according to the analogy which our minds must needs employ. 77

The text opens by stating that saying Very Life lives or Very Light is enlightened is erroneous unless the terms are used to mean that qualities of created things pre-exist in a superlative manner within the Creative Originals. An annotation reports that St. Augustine teaches God acts by causing the creature to perform action, explaining God's rest on the Seventh Day as the creation resting in Him, and that Aristotle and St. Thomas teach God moves all things by being desired. Section 9 states that the Incarnation and Birth of Jesus cannot be expressed by language or known by any mind, not even the highest angel; how He was formed from the Virgin's seed and walked on water remains unknown. It refers to the renowned Teacher who declared these matters in his Elements of Divinity, having learned, discovered, or received them by inspiration. Section 10 quotes Hierotheus's Elements of Divinity: the Universal Cause filling all things is the Deity of Jesus, which is neither whole nor part yet both, transcending both. It describes this Deity as perfect, formless yet form-producing, super-essential, the Measure of the Universe, Eternity and beyond Eternity, an Abundance and Super-Abundance. It states the Supra-Divine Being came down, took human substance, and exalted human things above us. Section 11 turns to explaining the Common and Undifferenced Names of God's Differentiated Being, defining Divine Differentiation as the beneficent Emanations of the Godhead, which becomes differentiated without loss of Undifference and multiplied without loss of Unity. It cites that though there be gods many, to us there is one God the Father and one Lord Jesus Christ. Extensive footnotes follow, glossing scriptural references and the doctrine of Deification.

A series of notes: the Godhead is Whole and Partitive; God is in us before we are in Him; Perfection implies distinction, which the Godhead transcends; the Law and Spirit; Eternity as an Emanation and Divine Rest; supernatural possibilities behind Nature; Christ brought His Godhead into His Manhood; Names belonging to all Three Persons; Emanation; God present indivisibly in each deified soul while His Unity transcends them.