Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names · 14 of 16 · tr. C.E. Rolt
Chapter 2, Section 1n
200 Redemption is a work performed by the whole Trinity through the Second Person.
(So, too, is Creation.
Cf.
p.
65, n.
2).
201 i.
e.
We strive to distinguish the two planes of Being in God.
Cf.
Athan.
Creed: “Neither confounding the Persons,” etc.
202 Undifference belongs to the ultimate Godhead, Differentiation to the distinction between the Three Persons of the Trinity.
The former is the sphere of Mystical Theology, the latter is that of Dogmatic Theology.
The former implies the Via Negativa the latter the Via Affirmativa.
203 Even the Differentiations finally lead us up into the Undifferenced Godhead Where they transcend themselves.
(Cf.
p.
70, n.
3 and the passage in ii.
4 about the torches.) Into that region we cannot track them.
But on the other side they flow out into creative activity, and thus are, in some degree, revealed.
204 These terms may be thus classified:— Sphere of Activity.
Nature of Gift.
Form under which Giver is manifested (i) Grace.
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Godhead .
“God” (ii) Nature (1) Material existence.
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Being .
“Being” } “Word.” (2) Vegetable and animal existence.
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Life .
“Life” (3) Human existence.
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Wisdom .
“Light” 205 The doctrine of “Deification” is not a mere speculation.
It embodies an experienced fact.
See Intr., p.
43.
206 The act by which one spirit or soul imparts spiritual life to another is a manifestation in time of a Mystery which is eternally perfect in the Trinity, and would be impossible were it not ultimately rooted in that Mystery.
Just as all life draws its existence from the Divine supra-vitality, so all spiritual paternity draws its existence from the Divine supra-paternity.
207 τὰ αἴτια—i.e.
The Persons of the Godhead.
208 So St.
Augustine constantly teaches that God acts not in the manner which we call activity, but by causing the creature itself to perform the action.
Thus he explains God’s rest on the Seventh Day to mean not that God Himself rested but that the creation now rested in Him.
Aristotle and his disciple, St.
Thomas, teach that God moves all things simply through being desired by them.
So God causes action without Himself acting (somewhat as fire causes warmth without feeling it).
Cf.
p.
87, n.
1.
209 ὑπερφυῶς.
The proper meaning of ὑπερφυής in the Dionysian writings appears to be “supernatural.” 210 οὺ μόνον μαθὼν ἀλλὰ καὶ παθὼν τὰ θεῖα.
211 πρὸς τὴν ὰδιδακτὸν αὐτῶν καὶ μυστικὴν ἀποτελεσθεὶς ἕνωσιν καὶ πίστιν.
212 Being beyond Unity the Godhead is, of course, beyond the categories of whole and part.
The Godhead is not a Whole because it is indivisible, nor a Part because there is nothing, on the ultimate plane, outside It.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The text explicitly contrasts the Via Negativa (Undifference) of the Godhead with the Via Affirmativa of Dogmatic Theology.
All passages →Divine Hiddennesstheology
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The text describes the ultimate Godhead as beyond categories and distinctions that transcend themselves.
All passages →Divine Lighttheology
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The passage links Wisdom to 'Light' and discusses the revelation of God through creative activity.
All passages →Divine Simplicitytheology
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The text emphasizes that the Godhead is indivisible and has no parts or divisions.
All passages →Emanation Hierarchycosmology
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The passage describes how Differentiations flow out into creative activity from the Undifferenced Godhead.
All passages →Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The text states that 'Deification' is not a mere speculation but embodies an experienced fact.
All passages →Living Godtheology
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
The text describes God's rest on the Seventh Day as meaning that the creation rested in Him rather than God Himself resting.
All passages →Mystical Unionsoteriology
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The passage discusses the distinction between the Two planes of Being and the ultimate transcendence of Differentiations into the Undifferenced Godhead.
All passages →Opposites Transcendedanthropology
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
The text notes that Differentiations finally lead us up into the Undifferenced Godhead where they transcend themselves.
All passages →Return To Sourcesoteriology
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The text describes how Differentiations flow out into creative activity but ultimately transcend themselves back to the Godhead.
All passages →Spiritual Ascentpraxis
A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
The passage states that Differentiations finally lead us up into the Undifferenced Godhead.
All passages →Theosis Deificationsoteriology
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The passage explicitly states that 'Deification' is not a mere speculation but embodies an experienced fact.
All passages →Related passages · 15 of 378 parallels
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 611
“Section 4 4. Then consider this god [in man] whom we cannot think to be absent at some point and present at another. All that have insight into the nature of the divine beings hold the omnipresence of this god and of all the gods, and reaso…”
Shared concept: Divine Simplicity — The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 464
“Section 11 11. It is infinite also by right of being a pure unity with nothing towards which to direct any partial content. Absolutely One, it has never known measure and stands outside of number, and so is under no limit either in regard t…”
Shared concept: Divine Simplicity — The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter V
“But why am I prolix about these particulars? For I have abundantly shown, in what has been before said, the transcendency of divine above human divination. It is better, therefore, in compliance with your request, “ to point out to you the…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 4 (part 12)
“They found in this basin, after they had broken the covering of it, the decayed remains of a man, but no treasures, excepting some golden tablets inscribed with characters of a language which nobody could understand.
Each man's share of th…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 4 (part 17)
“will show that about three-fourths of the whole may be found in the monuments of his ancestors.
What principle guided each king in the selection of his texts, or whether the additions in each represent religious developments, it is impossi…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 5 (part 1)
“THE LEGEND OF OSIRIS.
The main features of the Egyptian religion constant.
The chief features of the Egyptian religion remained unchanged from the Vth and VIth dynasties down to the period when the Egyptians embraced Christianity, after t…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 5 (part 3)
“When Isis heard of this she went to Byblos, and, gaining admittance to the palace through the report of the royal maidens, she was made nurse to one of the king's sons, Instead of nursing the child in the ordinary way, Isis gave him her fin…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 6 (part 1)
“THE DOCTRINE OF ETERNAL LIFE.
Egyptian belief in a future life.
The doctrine of eternal life in the VIth dynasty.
The ideas and beliefs which the Egyptians held in reference to a future existence are not readily to be defined, owing to t…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 6 (part 12)
“Every khu and every god stretcheth out his hand unto this Pepi when he cometh forth into heaven by the Ladder of God .
.
.
.
that which he seeth and that which he heareth make him wise, and serve as food for him when he cometh forth int…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 6 (part 15)
“The Egyptians called them " per kheru ," that is to say, " the things which the word or the demand made to appear ," or " per hru kheru ," that is to say, " the things which presented themselves at the word " or " at the demand " of the dec…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 6 (part 18)
“It reapeth the wheat, it cutteth the barley, and it giveth it unto thee.
Now, therefore, O Pepi, he that hath given unto thee life and all power and eternity and the power of speech and thy body is Ra.
Thou hast endued thyself with the fo…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 7 (part 2)
“But side by side with neter , whatever it may mean, we have mentioned in texts of all ages a number of beings called neteru which Egyptologists universally translate by the word "gods." Among these must be included the great cosmic powers a…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 9 (part 3)
“5.
Lanzone, Domicile des Esprits , p.
1; Dizionario , p.
1292.
6.
Maspero, La Mythologie Égyptienne ( Études , I.
ii., p.
207); Jéquier, Le Livre , p.
3 The eastern mountain peak was called Bakhatet, and the western Manu.
7.
I.e.…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 10 (part 2)
“Originally his festival was celebrated in the evening, wherefrom it appears that he represented some form of the night sun; but in later times the ceremony of drawing the image of the god Seker in the hennu boat round the sanctuary was perf…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)
egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 10 (part 5)
“See Lanzone, op.
cit.
, tav.
395.
3.
Recueil de Travaux , t.
v., p.
10 (l.
61).
4 See Lanzone op.
cit.
tav 346.] Ausar or Osiris , the sixth member of the company of the gods of Annu, was the son of Seb and Nut, and the husband o…”
Shared concept: Theosis Deification — The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy. (derived)