TO THE FELLOW PRESBYTER TIMOTHY, DIONYSIUS

 being illuminated super-cosmically by them for the hymns of the Godhead and being conformed to the sacred hymnologies, so as to see the divine lights

 For all knowledges are of things that are and have their limit in things that are, but It is beyond all essence and is removed from all knowledge. <5>

 <7> Thus, therefore, to the Cause of all and which is above all, both the nameless will apply and all the names of the things that are, so that it may

 the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will, and that It is the Spirit that gives life? That the ent

 to the one-principled Trinity also is common the super-essential existence, the super-divine divinity, the super-good goodness, the identity beyond al

 has partaken of the Word, unless someone might say according to the good-pleasing and man-loving common will and according to all the transcendent and

 Jesus, he says in his compiled Theological Outlines: <10> The all-causing and fulfilling Godhead of the Son, which preserves the parts in harmony with

 <III.> <1> And first, if you please, let us investigate the name Good, which reveals the whole procession of God's emanations, invoking the Good-Pri

 to the hierarchs, when we too, as you know, both yourself and many of our sacred brethren, had gathered for the sight of the life-originating and God-

 communions, the unconfused distinctions, the powers of the subordinate that lead up to the superior, the providences of the senior for the secondary,

 moves and nourishes and increases and perfects and purifies and renews. And light is the measure and number of hours, of days, and of all our time. Fo

 impartations and as calling all things to itself, whence it is also called Beauty, and as gathering all in all into one, and Beautiful as being All-Be

 the beautiful and the good is that which is beyond all rest and motion. Wherefore every rest and motion and that from which and in which and to which

 <12> And yet it has seemed to some of our sacred writers that the name 'eros' is even more divine than that of 'agape'. And the divine Ignatius also w

 an eternal circle through the Good, from the Good and in the Good and to the Good, moving about in an unerring convolution and in the same and accordi

 Whence then is evil? one might say. For if evil does not exist, virtue and vice are the same thing, and the whole is the same as the whole, and the pa

 irrational desire, in this it neither exists nor desires existing things, but it nevertheless partakes of the good by virtue of the faint echo itself

 simply nor in respect to time. <22> But neither is evil in angels. For if the good-like angel proclaims the divine goodness, being secondarily by part

 <24> But would someone say that souls are evil? If, because they associate with evil things providentially and for salvation, this is not evil, but go

 <30> To speak concisely The good is from one and the whole cause, but the evil from many and partial deficiencies. God knows evil, insofar as it is g

 goodnesses. <34> Therefore evil is not a being, nor is evil in beings. For evil, as evil, is nowhere. And the coming-to-be of evil is not according to

 manifestation of the all-perfect providence of the one God, and those of the more universal and the more particular things of the same. <3> And yet on

 <6> Therefore, the Essential Super-Goodness, putting forth the first gift, that of being itself, is praised by the first and most ancient of participa

 For if our sun, although the substances and qualities of sensible things are many and various, yet it, being one and shining a uniform light, renews a

 godlike and unchangeable immortality and the unwavering and unswerving perpetual motion, extending through an abundance of goodness even to the life o

 and is the cause of being of Wisdom itself, both of the whole and of each particular. <2> From it the intelligible and intellectual powers of the ange

 the cause of all things. Therefore God is known both in all things and apart from all things. And God is known through knowledge and through unknowing

 to be power-in-itself, both by being beyond-power and by bringing forth other powers, infinitely many times the infinite number of existing powers, an

 of the age, as having fallen away from none of the things that are, but rather both surpassing and pre-eminent over all beings according to a supra-es

 is defined and all inequality, which is a privation of the equality in each of them, is banished. For if anyone were to take inequality to mean the di

 We said the neck was opinion, as between the rational and irrational the breast, spirit the belly, desire the legs and feet, nature, using the name

 the return to him of those who have proceeded from him. <10> But if one should take the divine name 'Same' from the Oracles, or 'Justice,' in the sens

 beings, inasmuch as He is both before eternity and above eternity and His kingdom is a kingdom of all the ages. Amen. <ΧI.> <1> Come now, let us c

 and would never willingly wish to be at rest. And if he who says these things says that otherness and distinction are the particularity of each of the

 self-deification, of which beings, partaking according to their own nature, both are and live and are divine, and are and are called, and the others l

 It is therefore Perfect not only as being self-complete and defined in itself by itself in a single form and most perfect whole through whole, but als

 And not even the name of Goodness do we offer to It as being applicable, but from a yearning to conceive and speak something about that ineffable Natu

<12> And yet it has seemed to some of our sacred writers that the name 'eros' is even more divine than that of 'agape'. And the divine Ignatius also writes: "My eros has been crucified." And in the introductions of the scriptures you will find someone saying concerning the divine wisdom: "I became a lover of her beauty." Therefore let us not fear this very name of 'eros', nor let any argument disturb us, frightening us concerning this. For to me the theologians seem to consider the name of 'agape' and 'eros' as interchangeable, but for this reason to have attributed to divine things rather the 'true eros' on account of the improper preconception of such men. For since the true eros is celebrated in a manner befitting God not only by us, but also by the scriptures themselves, the multitudes, not having grasped the singular sense of the divine name of eros, have slipped down in a manner suited to themselves to that which is divided, corporeal, and partitioned, which is not true eros, but an image or rather a falling-away from the true eros. For the unified nature of the divine and single eros is incomprehensible to the multitude. For which reason also, as a name seeming more difficult to the many, it is applied to the divine wisdom for their uplifting and elevation to the knowledge of the true eros and so that they might be freed from the difficulty concerning it. But again in our case, where it was often improper for the groveling to suppose something, according to what seems more auspicious: Your love, one says, has fallen upon me as the love of women. For those who rightly hear of divine things, the name of 'agape' and 'eros' is applied by the sacred theologians with the same force, according to the divine revelations. And this is of a unifying and connective and especially cohesive power, pre-existing in the beautiful and the good for the sake of the beautiful and the good, and being given forth from the beautiful and the good for the sake of the beautiful and the good, and holding together things of the same order according to their communal coherence, and moving the first things to the providence for those below them, and establishing the inferior things in their turning toward the superior things. <13> And divine eros is also ecstatic, not allowing lovers to belong to themselves, but to the beloved. And the superior things demonstrate this by becoming provident for the inferior, and those of equal rank by their cohesion with one another, and the subordinate things by their more divine turning toward the first things. For which reason also Paul the great, having come under the possession of the divine eros and having partaken of its ecstatic power, says with inspired mouth: "I live no longer, but Christ lives in me." As a true lover and having gone out of himself, as he himself says, to God, and not living his own life, but the life of the beloved as exceedingly desirable. And one must dare to say this for the sake of truth, that the Cause of all things Himself, through the beautiful and good eros for all things, through an excess of erotic goodness, goes out of Himself in His providences for all existing things, and is, as it were, charmed by goodness and agape and eros, and from His state above all and removed from all is drawn down to a state within all things by an ecstatic, superessential power that does not depart from Himself. For which reason also those skilled in divine things call Him 'jealous', as having great good eros for existing things and as arousing to jealousy the erotic longing for Him, and as showing Himself zealous, for whom the things longed for are objects of zeal and the objects of his providence are objects of his zeal. And in short, the beloved and eros belong to the beautiful and the good, and it is pre-established in the beautiful and the good, and for the sake of the beautiful and the good it is and comes to be. <14> Why in general do the theologians mean, when sometimes they call Him 'eros' and 'agape', and at other times 'beloved' and 'desired'? For of the one He is the cause and as it were the producer and begetter, but the other He is Himself. And by the one He is moved, but by the other He moves, or is it that He Himself of Himself and for Himself is productive and motive? In this way then, they call Him 'desired' and 'beloved' as being beautiful and good, but again 'eros' and 'agape' as being at the same time a motive and uplifting power toward Himself, the only truly beautiful and good for its own sake, and as being a sort of self-revelation through Himself and the good procession of the transcendent union and a simple, self-moving, self-acting erotic motion, proceeding in the good and from the good gushing forth to existing things and again returning to the good. In which also the divine eros especially shows its endless and beginningless nature, like some

<12> Καίτοι ἔδοξέ τισι τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ἱερολόγων καὶ θειότερον εἶναι τὸ τοῦ ἔρωτος ὄνομα τοῦ τῆς ἀγάπης. Γράφει δὲ καὶ ὁ θεῖος Ἰγνάτιος· «Ὁ ἐμὸς ἔρως ἐσταύρωται». Καὶ ἐν ταῖς προεισαγωγαῖς τῶν λογίων εὑρήσεις τινὰ λέγοντα περὶ τῆς θείας σοφίας· «Ἐραστὴς ἐγενόμην τοῦ κάλλους αὐτῆς». Ὥστε τοῦτο δὴ τὸ τοῦ ἔρωτος ὄνομα μὴ φοβηθῶμεν μηδέ τις ἡμᾶς θορυβείτω λόγος περὶ τούτου δεδιττόμενος. Ἐμοὶ γὰρ δοκοῦσιν οἱ θεολόγοι κοινὸν μὲν ἡγεῖσθαι τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης καὶ τοῦ ἔρωτος ὄνομα, διὰ τοῦτο δὲ τοῖς θείοις μᾶλλον ἀναθεῖναι τὸν ὄντως ἔρωτα διὰ τὴν ἄτοπον τῶν τοιούτων ἀνδρῶν πρόληψιν. Θεοπρεπῶς γὰρ τοῦ ὄντως ἔρωτος οὐχ ὑφ' ἡμῶν μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πρὸς τῶν λογίων αὐτῶν ὑμνουμένου τὰ πλήθη μὴ χωρήσαντα τὸ ἑνοειδὲς τῆς ἐρωτικῆς θεωνυμίας οἰκείως ἑαυτοῖς ἐπὶ τὸν μεριστὸν καὶ σωματοπρεπῆ καὶ διῃρημένον ἐξωλίσθησαν, ὃς οὐκ ἔστιν ἀληθὴς ἔρως, ἀλλ' εἴδωλον ἢ μᾶλλον ἔκπτωσις τοῦ ὄντως ἔρωτος. Ἀχώρητον γάρ ἐστι τῷ πλήθει τὸ ἑνιαῖον τοῦ θείου καὶ ἑνὸς ἔρωτος. ∆ιὸ καὶ ὡς δυσχερέστερον ὄνομα τοῖς πολλοῖς δοκοῦν ἐπὶ τῆς θείας σοφίας τάττεται πρὸς ἀναγωγὴν αὐτῶν καὶ ἀνάτασιν εἰς τὴν τοῦ ὄντως ἔρωτος γνῶσιν καὶ ὥστε ἀπολυθῆναι τῆς ἐπ' αὐτῷ δυσχερείας. Ἐφ' ἡμῶν δὲ αὖθις, ἔνθα καὶ ἄτοπόν τι πολλάκις ἦν οἰηθῆναι τοὺς χαμαιζήλους, κατὰ τὸ δοκοῦν εὐφημότερον· Ἐπέπεσε, τίς φησιν, ἡ ἀγάπησίς σου ἐπ' ἐμὲ ὡς ἡ ἀγάπησις τῶν γυναικῶν. Ἐπὶ τοῖς ὀρθῶς τῶν θείων ἀκροωμένοις ἐπὶ τῆς αὐτῆς δυνάμεως τάττεται πρὸς τῶν ἱερῶν θεολόγων τὸ τῆς ἀγάπης καὶ τοῦ ἔρωτος ὄνομα κατὰ τὰς θείας ἐκφαντορίας. Καὶ ἔστι τοῦτο δυνάμεως ἑνοποιοῦ καὶ συνδετικῆς καὶ διαφερόντως συγκρατικῆς ἐν τῷ καλῷ καὶ ἀγαθῷ διὰ τὸ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν προϋφεστώσης καὶ ἐκ τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ διὰ τὸ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἐκδιδομένης καὶ συνεχούσης μὲν τὰ ὁμοταγῆ κατὰ τὴν κοινωνικὴν ἀλληλουχίαν, κινούσης δὲ τὰ πρῶτα πρὸς τὴν τῶν ὑφειμένων πρόνοιαν καὶ ἐνιδρυούσης τὰ καταδεέστερα τῇ ἐπιστροφῇ τοῖς ὑπερτέροις. <13> Ἔστι δὲ καὶ ἐκστατικὸς ὁ θεῖος ἔρως οὐκ ἐῶν ἑαυτῶν εἶναι τοὺς ἐραστάς, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐρωμένων. Καὶ δηλοῦσι τὰ μὲν ὑπέρτερα τῆς προνοίας γιγνόμενα τῶν καταδεεστέρων καὶ τὰ ὁμόστοιχα τῆς ἀλλήλων συνοχῆς καὶ τὰ ὑφειμένα τῆς πρὸς τὰ πρῶτα θειοτέρας ἐπιστροφῆς. ∆ιὸ καὶ Παῦλος ὁ μέγας ἐν κατοχῇ τοῦ θείου γεγονὼς ἔρωτος καὶ τῆς ἐκστατικῆς αὐτοῦ δυνάμεως μετειληφὼς ἐνθέῳ στόματι· «Ζῶ ἐγώ», φησίν, «οὐκ ἔτι, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός». Ὡς ἀληθὴς ἐραστὴς καὶ ἐξεστηκώς, ὡς αὐτός φησι, τῷ θεῷ καὶ οὐ τὴν ἑαυτοῦ ζῶν, ἀλλὰ τὴν τοῦ ἐραστοῦ ζωὴν ὡς σφόδρα ἀγαπητήν. Τολμητέον δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας εἰπεῖν, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς ὁ πάντων αἴτιος τῷ καλῷ καὶ ἀγαθῷ τῶν πάντων ἔρωτι δι' ὑπερβολὴν τῆς ἐρωτικῆς ἀγαθότητος ἔξω ἑαυτοῦ γίνεται ταῖς εἰς τὰ ὄντα πάντα προνοίαις καὶ οἷον ἀγαθότητι καὶ ἀγαπήσει καὶ ἔρωτι θέλγεται καὶ ἐκ τοῦ ὑπὲρ πάντα καὶ πάντων ἐξῃρημένου πρὸς τὸ ἐν πᾶσι κατάγεται κατ' ἐκστατικὴν ὑπερούσιον δύναμιν ἀνεκφοίτητον ἑαυτοῦ. ∆ιὸ καὶ ζηλωτὴν αὐτὸν οἱ τὰ θεῖα δεινοὶ προσαγορεύουσιν ὡς πολὺν τὸν εἰς τὰ ὄντα ἀγαθὸν ἔρωτα καὶ ὡς πρὸς ζῆλον ἐγερτικὸν τῆς ἐφέσεως αὐτοῦ τῆς ἐρωτικῆς καὶ ὡς ζηλωτὴν αὐτὸν ἀποδεικνύντα, ᾧ καὶ τὰ ἐφιέμενα ζηλωτὰ καὶ ὡς τῶν προνοουμένων ὄντων αὐτῷ ζηλωτῶν. Καὶ ὅλως τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ ἐστι τὸ ἐραστὸν καὶ ὁ ἔρως καὶ ἐν τῷ καλῷ καὶ ἀγαθῷ προΐδρυται καὶ διὰ τὸ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἔστι καὶ γίνεται. <14> Τί δὲ ὅλως οἱ θεολόγοι βουλόμενοι ποτὲ μὲν ἔρωτα καὶ «ἀγάπην» αὐτόν φασι, ποτὲ δὲ ἐραστὸν καὶ ἀγαπητόν; Τοῦ μὲν γὰρ αἴτιος καὶ ὥσπερ προβολεὺς καὶ ἀπογεννήτωρ, τὸ δὲ αὐτός ἐστι. Καὶ τῷ μὲν κινεῖται, τῷ δὲ κινεῖ, ἦ ὅτι αὐτὸς ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἑαυτῷ ἐστι προαγωγικὸς καὶ κινητικός. Ταύτῃ δὲ ἀγαπητὸν μὲν καὶ ἐραστὸν αὐτὸν καλοῦσιν ὡς καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθόν, ἔρωτα δὲ αὖθις καὶ ἀγάπην ὡς κινητικὴν ἅμα καὶ ὡς ἀναγωγὸν δύναμιν ὄντα ἐφ' ἑαυτόν, τὸ μόνον αὐτὸ δι' ἑαυτὸ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν καὶ ὥσπερ ἔκφανσιν ὄντα ἑαυτοῦ δι' ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τῆς ἐξῃρημένης ἑνώσεως ἀγαθὴν πρόοδον καὶ ἐρωτικὴν κίνησιν ἁπλῆν, αὐτοκίνητον, αὐτενέργητον, προοῦσαν ἐν τἀγαθῷ καὶ ἐκ τἀγαθοῦ τοῖς οὖσιν ἐκβλυζομένην καὶ αὖθις εἰς τἀγαθὸν ἐπιστρεφομένην. Ἐν ᾧ καὶ τὸ ἀτελεύτητον ἑαυτοῦ καὶ ἄναρχον ὁ θεῖος ἔρως ἐνδείκνυται διαφερόντως ὥσπερ τις