Symbolic aesthetics of Dionysius the Areopagite

The monograph is devoted to the study of the aesthetic ideas of the largest anonymous thinker of early Byzantium (the turn of the 5th-6th centuries), who had a strong influence on medieval theology and aesthetics of the Greek Orthodox world (including Ancient Rus') and Western Europe. In the work, by analyzing the views of the Areopagite himself, his main predecessors and closest commentators, a fairly holistic aesthetic system is revealed, based on the principles of finding hierarchical, liturgical, symbolic intermediaries between the earthly world and the transcendental God. At its center are the concepts of beauty, light, fragrance, image, symbol, dissimilar resemblance, non-rational knowledge, etc. A monographic study on this topic is being undertaken for the first time in world science. “Corpus Areopagiticum”, or “Corpus Dionysiacum”, which has come down to us as part of four treatises (“On the heavenly hierarchy”, “On the church hierarchy”, “On the Divine names”, “On mystical theology”) and 10 letters, written in Greek somewhere at the turn of the 5th-6th centuries. and signed with the name of the legendary disciple of the Apostle Paul, Dionysius the Areopagite, was widely known throughout the medieval world. First of all, in Byzantium, where it was first discussed in the first third of the 6th century, and then it became one of the most authoritative theological texts both among Byzantine authors and in the Latin West, and later in the Slavic world. It was known and used in theological polemics, including on issues of icon veneration, by ancient Russian authors starting from the 14th century, especially actively in the 16th-17th centuries. A large amount of scientific literature is devoted to the search for the name of the real author of these texts that are significant in many respects in the theological and philosophical space, and to the study of their theological and philosophical content 1 . The Areopagitica is interesting to me primarily as one of the most striking and, I would say, enlightened sources and evidence of Byzantine aesthetic consciousness, Byzantine aesthetics. Unfortunately, in the large literature on Dionysius 2 there is, perhaps, only one work in which considerable space is devoted to the aesthetics of the Areopagite. This is a fundamental study in the theological aesthetics of Hans Urs von Balthasar 3 . And although Balthasar understands the subject of aesthetics somewhat differently than the author of this essay, he nevertheless identified a number of interesting aesthetic positions in the texts of the Areopagitica, on which I rely in this study. In addition, Balthasar quite rightly notes that in the theology of Dionysius, “the categories of aesthetics and art play a decisive role: there is hardly another theology so thoroughly permeated with aesthetic categories as the liturgical theology of the Areopagite” 4 . With this he justifies his appeal to the aesthetics of Dionysius and gives a significant impetus to subsequent researchers for further study of the aesthetic consciousness of the Byzantine thinker. In recent years, a number of works have appeared on the theme of beauty in Dionysius the Areopagite, to which I will refer in the appropriate place in my work. It is clear that in my “Byzantine Aesthetics” (1977) 5 I, naturally, could not ignore Dionysius the Areopagite, devoting many pages to him there. Moreover, I was already convinced then that the Areopagitiki played as significant a role in the development of Byzantine aesthetics as the aesthetics of St. Augustine 6 played for Western medieval culture. Since then, I have repeatedly turned to the texts of the Areopagite to study and deepen my ideas about his aesthetic consciousness. The work now offered to the attention of readers is a completely new study of the aesthetics of Dionysius, which most fully represents my understanding of his contribution to the history of aesthetics. Of the many studies, I will name here only a few of the most fundamental works that contribute to the understanding of the spiritual heritage of the Areopagite: Lossky V. Negative theology in the teachings of Dionysius the Areopagite // Lossky V. Theology and vision of God. M., 2000. P. 45–66; Lossky V. Essay on the mystical theology of the Eastern Church // Mystical theology. Kyiv, 1991. P. 95–260; Rogues R. L'Univers Dionysien. Structure hie-rarchique du monde selon le Pseudo-Denys. Paris, 1954; Volker W. Kontempla-tion und Ekstase bei Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita. Wiesbaden, 1958; Ivanka E. PLATO CHRISTIANUS. Uebernahme und Umgestaltung des Platonismus durch die Fater. Einsiedeln, 1964; Brons B. Gott und die Seienden. Untersuchungen zum Verhaltnis von neuplatonischer Metaphysik und Christlicher Tradition bei Dionysius Areopagita. Gottingen, 1976; Louth A. Dionysius the Areopagite. L., 1989; Perl E.D. Theophany: The Neoplatonic Philosophy of Dionysius the Areopagite. Albany, 2007; Copp J.D. Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite: man of darkness/man of light. Lewingston, N.Y., 2007; Suchla B.R. Dionysius Areopagita: Leben, Werk, Wirkung. Freiburg, 2008; Riordan W.K. Divine light: the theology of Denys the Areopagite. San Francisco, 2008; Rhodes M.C. Mystery in philosophy: an invocation of Pseudo-Dionysius. Lanham, 2012. Directly on the aesthetics of “Areopagitik”: Balthasar H.U. von. Herrlich-keit. Eine Theologische Aesthetik. Bd. II, Teil 1. Einsiedeln, 1984. S. 147–214; Triantare-Mara S. He ennoia tou kallous sto Dionysio Areopagites, theoretike prosengise tes Vyzantines technes: symvole sten aisthetike philosophia (The concept of beauty in Dionysius the Areopagite, theoretical rapprochement with Byzantine art: contribution to aesthetic philosophy). Thessalonike, 2002. Despite the fact that science has not yet been able to find out the true name of the author of “Areopagitik”, although there have been some assumptions (see, in particular, Honigman E. Peter Iver and the works of Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagite. Tbilisi, 1955; Nutsubidze Sh.I. Peter Iver and the ancient philosophical heritage (Problems of Areopagitik). Tbilisi, 1963), from the second half. XX century It was established to call him Dionysius without this prefix “Pseudo-”, which reduces the dignity of the great thinker. As I wrote back in the first half. of the last century, Etienne Gilson, “in order to mark his (corpus. - V.B.) apocryphal character, it was customary to call the author Pseudo-Dionysius. However, some weariness with this negative formula has recently appeared, and it has been proposed that he be called Dionysius the Mystic; be that as it may, this author deserves the title of mystic, but, to tell the truth, we do not know whether his name was really Dionysius” (Gilson E. Philosophy in the Middle Ages. M., 2010. P. 61). Since then, the author of the famous Corpus is most often called in science simply Dionysius the Areopagite, believing that all specialists understand who we are talking about. Balthasar H.U. von. Herrlichkeit. Eine Theologische Aesthetik. Bd. II, Teil 1. S. 157. Bychkov V.V. Byzantine aesthetics: Theoretical problems. M., 1977. For more information about his aesthetics, see: Bychkov V.V. Aesthetics of St. Augustine. M.; St. Petersburg, 2014.