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of philosophers) was brought to the Areopagus, and having delivered a public speech, immediately won some over and leads them to the light of truth. And so Paul departed from their midst; but certain men, having joined him, believed, among whom were also Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

I, then, do not hear in vain, among all those who then believed through the divine Paul, that only the most excellent Dionysius was named by the God-bearing writer, with his 14Ε_184 dignity also added; for he says Areopagite. And I rather think that it was on account of his excellence in wisdom and his distinction for an irreproachable life among the Athenians, that he was remembered with his house. It is necessary to know, as I said before, that it was not for every man to serve in the council of the Areopagus, but those pre-eminent among the Athenians in birth, wealth, and good life; and for this reason, the distinguished men constituted deliberated in the council of the Areopagus. For from the nine archons established in Athens, the Areopagites had to be constituted as judges, as Androtion says in the second book of the Atthides, but later the council of the Areopagus was composed of more, that is, of fifty-one most eminent men, but from the eupatrids, as Philochorus relates in the third of the same Atthides. The court of the Areopagus was outside the city, so called (according to what the Athenians mythologize) from the court being established on that very eminence of the mountain near the city between Poseidon and Ares. For Poseidon brought a suit against Ares, according to the ancient myths among the Athenians, in that place, claiming that his own son Halirrhothius had been killed by Ares, and from there, from Ares, that hill was called Areopagus. The Areopagites, therefore, judged concerning almost all errors and transgressions, as Androtion says in his first, and Philochorus in the second and third of the Atthides.

For this reason, then, the lovers of the wisdom made foolish by God drag the most divine Paul to the council of the Areopagus, as a proclaimer of strange divinities, as the truth-loving Luke has recorded. But at that time among the Areopagites, deliberating 14Ε_186, as a most unbending judge, the all-great Dionysius cast an incorruptible vote for the truth according to the Spirit-bearing Paul, and bidding a long farewell to the foolish solemnity of the Areopagites, he immediately held to the light, the true and all-seeing judge of thought, Christ Jesus, the only-begotten Son and Word of God the Father, whom Paul preached. For even if the Romans were then in power, they still left Athens and Lacedaemon autonomous; whence the affairs of the Areopagites were still administered among the Athenians. And all the dogmas of salvation are accomplished through the most excellent Paul, but Dionysius is instructed in a teaching manner by the most great Hierotheus, as he himself says; then, according to what is reported in the seventh book of the Apostolic Constitutions, Dionysius is appointed bishop by the Christ-bearing Paul over those who believed in Athens.

And Dionysius, the ancient bishop of the Corinthians, also mentions the Areopagite, and Polycarp in his epistle to the Athenians. It is possible to marvel at the correctness and great learning of this holy Dionysius, who was truly led through much knowledge of the irreproachable traditions of the Church, and to see the spurious dogmas among the Greek philosophers transferred to the truth. For it is possible rather to pity and to sympathize with the inattentiveness of those who examine good learning with little care, because they measure by their own ignorance also the studious good sense of other men. Such persons, encountering the writings of some, and perhaps not following the thought of what is said, are immediately carried away into indiscriminate slander of the writer, although not at all

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φιλοσόφων) ἀχθῆναί τε κατά τόν Ἄρειον πάγον, καί δημηγορήσαντα, παραχρῆμά τινας ἑλεῖν καί πρός τό τῆς ἀληθείας μεταθεῖναι φῶς ἐπάγει. Καί οὕτως ὁ Παῦλος ἐξῆλθεν ἐκ μέσου αὐτῶν· τινές δέ ἄνδρες, κολληθέντες αὐτῷ, ἐπίστευσαν, ἐν οἶς καί ∆ιονύσιος ὁ Ἀρεοπαγίτης καί γυνή ὀνόματι ∆άμαρις, καί ἕτεροι σύν αὐτοῖς.

Ἐγώ μέν οὖν οὐ μάτην ἀκούω τῶν παρά πάντας τούς πεπιστευκότας τότε διά τοῦ θείου Παύλου, μόνον τόν ἄριστον ∆ιονύσιον ἐξονομασθῆναι παρά τοῦ θεοφόρου συγγραφέως, προστεθείσης 14Ε_184 αὐτοῦ καί τῆς ἀξίας· φησί γάρ Ἀρεοπαγίτης, ἐπιβάλλω δέ μᾶλλον, ὅτι διά τε τό κατα σοφίαν περιττόν καί διά τό ἐν Ἀθηναίοις ἀνεπιλήπτου πολιτείας ἔκκριτον, μνημονευθῆναι μετά τῆς οἰκίας αὐτοῦ. Χρή δέ εἰδέναι, καθά προέφην, ὡς οὐ παντός ἀνδρός ἦν εἰς τήν ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου βουλήν τελεῖν, ἀλλ' οἱ παρ' Ἀθηναίοις πρωτεύοντες ἔν τε γένει καί πλούτῳ καί βίῳ χρηστῶ· καί κατά τοῦθ' οἱ ἐπίσημοι καθεστῶτες ἐβούλευον εἰς τήν ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου βουλήν· ἐκ γάρ των ἐννέα καθίσταμένων ἀρχόντων Ἀθήνησιν, τούς Ἀρεοπαγίτας ἔδει συνεστάναι δικαστάς, ὥς φησιν Ἀνδροτίων ἐν δευτέρᾳ τῶν Ἀτθίδων, ὕστερον δέ πλειόνων γέγονεν ἡ ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου βουλή, τουτέστιν ἡ ἐξ ἀνδρῶν περιφανεστέρων πεντήκοντα καί ἑνός, πλήν ἐξ εὐπατριδῶν, ὡς ἱστορεῖ Φιλόχορος διά τῆς τρίτης τῶν αὐτῶν Ἀτθίδων. Ἔξω δέ τῆς πόλεως ἦν τό κατά Ἄρειον πάγον δικαστήριον, κληθέν οὕτω (καθ' ἅ μυθολογοῦσιν Ἀθηναῖοι) ἐκ τοῦ κατ' αὐτήν τήν ἐξοχήν τοῦ κατά τήν πόλιν ὄρους συστάντος δικαστηρίου μεταξύ Ποσειδῶνος καί Ἄρεως· ὁ γάρ Ποσειδῶν δίκην εἶπε πρός Ἄρεα κατά τούς ἀρχαίους μύθους παρ' Αθηναίοις ἐν τῷ τόπῳ τούτῳ, φάσκων ἀναιρεθῆναι τόν ἴδιον υἱόν Ἁλιρρόθιον ὑπ' Ἄρεως, κἀκεῖθεν ἐξ Ἄρεως ὁ πάγος ἐκεῖνος Ἄρειος ἐκλήθη. Ἐδίκαζον οὖν Ἀρεοπαγῖται περί πάντων σχεδόν τῶν σφαλμάτων καί παρανομιῶν, ὡς ἅπαντά φησιν Ἀνδροτίων ἐν πρώτῃ, καἰ Φιλόχορος ἐν δευτέρᾳ καί τρίτῃ τῶν Ἀτθίδων.

∆ιά δέ τοῦτο ἅτε καινῶν δαιμονίων καταγγελέα τόν θειότατον Παῦλον, ὡς ἱστόρησεν ὁ φιλαλήθης Λουκᾶς, οἱ τῆς ὑπό Θεοῦ μωρανθείσης σοφίας ἐρασταί πρός τήν ἐξ Ἀρείου πάγου βουλήν ἕλκουσιν. Ἀλλ' ἐν τοῖς Ἀρεοπαγίταις τηνικαῦτα χρόνου 14Ε_186 βουλεύων, ἅτε δικαστής ἀκλινέστατος, ὁ πάμμεγας ∆ιονύσιος, ἀδέκαστον ἀπένειμε τῇ κατά τόν πνευματοφόρον Παῦλον ἀληθείᾳ τήν ψῆφον, ἐρρῶσθαι τε πολλά φράσας τῇ τῶν Ἀρεοπαγιτῶν ἀνοήτῳ σεμνότητι, τόν ἀληθῆ καί πανεπίσκοπον κριτήν ἐννοίας Χριστόν Ἰησοῦν, τόν τοῦ Θεοῦ καί Πατρός Υἱόν μονογενῆ καί Λόγον, ὅν ὁ Παῦλος ἐκήρυξεν, εὐθύς εἴχετο τοῦ φωτός· κἄν γάρ οἱ Ρωμαῖοι τότε ἐκράτουν, ἀλλ' οὖν αὐτονόμους ἀφῆκαν Ἀθήνας καί Λακεδαιμονίαν· ὅθεν ἔτι παρά Ἀθηναίοις καί τά κατά τούς Ἀρεοπαγίτας ἐπολιτεύετο. Καί τελεῖται μέν ἅπαντα τῆς σωτηριας τά δόγματα διά Παύλου τοῦ κρατίστου, παιδαγωγεῖται δέ διδασκαλικῶς ὁ ∆ιονύσιος ὑπό Ἱεροθέῳ τῷ μεγίστῳ, καθά φησιν ὁ αὐτός· εἶτα καθίσταται κατά τό φερόμενον ἐν ἑβδόμῳ βιβλίῳ τῶν Ἀποστολικῶν διαταγμάτων ὁ ∆ιονύσιος ἐπίσκοπος ὑπό Παύλου τοῦ χριστοφόρου τῶν ἐν Ἀθήνησι πιστευσάντων.

Μνημονεύει δέ τοῦ Ἀρειοπαγίτου καί ∆ιονύσιος ἀρχαῖος Κορινθίων ἐπίσκοπος, καί Πολύκαρπος ἐν τῇ πρός Ἀθηναίους ἐπιστολῇ αὐτοῦ. Ἔστι δέ τήν ὀρθότητα καί πολυμάθειαν ἀποθαυμάσαι τοῦ ἁγίου τούτου ∆ιονυσίου, τόν ἀληθῶς διά πολλῆς ἠγμένον ἐπιστήμης τῶν ἀνεπιλήπτων τῆς Ἐκκλησίας παραδόσεων, θεάσασθαί τε τά παρά τοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων φιλοσόφοις νόθα δόγματα πρός τήν ἀλήθειαν μετενηνεγμένα. Ἐλεῆσαι γάρ ἔστι μᾶλλον καί συναλγῆσαι τῆς ἀπροσεξίας τούς ὀλιγώρους τῆς εὐπαιδευσίας ἐξεταστάς, ὅτι τῇ σφῶν ἀμαθίᾳ συμμετροῦσι καί τάς τῶν ἑξῆς ἀνθρώπων φολομαθεῖς εὐθημοσύνας. Ἐντυγχάνοντες οἱ τοιοῦτοι συγγράμμασιν ἐνίων, καί τυχόν οὐ παρακολουθοῦντες τῇ τῶν λεγομένων διανοίᾳ, πρός ἀδιάκριτον εὐθύς ἐκφέρονται τοῦ συγγραφέως διαβολήν, καίτοι παντελῶς οὐ