Pseudo-Dionysius: A Commentary on the Texts and an Introduction to Their Influence

«The personal identity of the writer is still a mystery, and he is known only and awkwardly as Pseudo-Dionysius, or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite.» — Rorem consigna la atribución como problema abierto y no la resuelve: el autor no tiene identidad conocida y el nombre con que se le llama es el de la atribución negada.

«The Greek name Dionysios and the Latin Dionysius can be translated into English as Dennis; the French also call him Denis or Denys, and the Italians say Dionigi.» — las formas del nombre en las lenguas europeas, que Rorem enumera antes de fijar el suyo.

«We could, therefore, name this unknown author "the false Dennis," but an accepted, slightly negative convention names him Pseudo-Dionysius.» — y la convención que adopta, dicha con su carga: Rorem la llama levemente negativa y aun así la usa.

«The contents of the Dionysian corpus are not as well known as are its titles: The Divine Names, The Mystical Theology, The Celestial Hierarchy, The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and the Letters.» — Rorem enuncia los cinco títulos del corpus y señala que se conocen más los títulos que los contenidos.

«The major task of this commentary is to present the contents of the corpus, both in their details and as a whole.» — la tarea que el libro se fija: presentar el contenido del corpus en detalle y como conjunto.

«For example, this Dionysius invented the word hierarchy, proposing a hierarchy of angels and a hierarchy in the church.» — Rorem le atribuye la invención del término *hierarchy* y sus dos aplicaciones, la de los ángeles y la de la iglesia.

«Other significant areas of influence in the middle ages include the following: a theological aesthetics, especially with regard to Gothic architecture at the abbey church of Saint-Denis near Paris; Scholastic philosophy and theology, specifically that of Thomas Aquinas; the interpretation of the liturgy as a dramatic allegory» — la lista de campos de influencia medieval que el libro se propone recorrer, de la estética de Saint-Denis a la alegoría dramática de la liturgia; el tramo se corta antes del folio impreso que el troceo mete a media plana.

«including the "cloud of unknowing," another phrase coined by Pseudo-Dionysius; and the entire subject of negative, or apophatic, theology.» — continuación de esa misma lista, con la nube del no saber y la teología negativa o apofática.

«Of course, all these topics have been influenced by other authors as well, often more decisively than by the Dionysian texts.» — el límite que Rorem pone a su propia lista: otros autores influyeron en esos mismos temas, a menudo con más peso.

«Still, the Areopagite's treatises have touched an exceptionally broad spectrum of topics crucial to the history of the Christian tradition.» — y la afirmación que sostiene pese al límite.

«Unfortunately, until 1987 there was no twentieth-century English translation available of the entire corpus. Replacing the late-nineteenth-century English rendition by John Parker—who still considered these texts a first-century witness—the new translation by Colm Luibheid and me permits a wider range of English-speaking readers to acquaint themselves with these writings.» — Rorem fecha en 1987 la primera traducción inglesa moderna del corpus entero y nombra la anterior, la de John Parker, que aún tenía estos textos por testimonio del siglo I.

«Except for a few encyclopedia articles, only Andrew Louth's recent volume entitled Denys the Areopagite enables new readers to approach this corpus.» — el estado de la literatura introductoria según Rorem, con el Denys the Areopagite de Andrew Louth como único acceso.

«Although elegant and solid, Louth's book is extremely brief and does not cover certain parts of the corpus.» — y su reserva sobre ese mismo libro.

«My own effort here takes the specific and longer form of a full chapter-by-chapter commentary on all of these writings.» — la forma que Rorem elige frente a esa brevedad: comentario capítulo por capítulo a todo el corpus.

«The present running commentary is intended to complement a thorough reading of the full corpus itself, not to serve as a substitute.» — y el uso que le asigna, que no es reemplazar la lectura del corpus.

«The great challenge of reading the Dionysian materials has little to do with quantity. The English translation of the complete works requires less than 250 pages.» — Rorem mide el corpus y niega que la dificultad esté en su extensión.

«The challenge is rather in the complexity of the vocabulary, the syntax, and especially the concepts involved.» — donde sí la sitúa.

«Ever since the Greek texts attached to the name Dionysius first appeared around A.D. 525 and through the centuries of translations into Syriac, Latin, and many modern languages, everyone who has read them has been perplexed and frustrated at times.» — Rorem fecha hacia el año 525 la aparición de los textos griegos bajo ese nombre y traza la cadena de traducciones, al siríaco, al latín y a las lenguas modernas.

«One must consider that the blessed Dionysius used an obscure style in all his books. He did this not from inexperience but rather from diligence so that the sacred and divine teachings might be hidden from the ridicule of the unbelievers» — Tomás de Aquino, citado por Rorem como testigo de esa dificultad, adjudica el estilo oscuro a la diligencia y no a la impericia: ocultar la enseñanza sagrada de la burla de los incrédulos.

«first, he frequently used a style and manner of speaking which the Platonists used, which is unfamiliar to modern readers» — primera dificultad que Tomás enumera en el mismo pasaje, el estilo de los platónicos.

«The second difficulty in his comments is that he frequently uses effective arguments to make his point but then often refers [back] to them with a few words or even just one word.» — la segunda, la remisión a un argumento entero con una palabra.

«The third difficulty is that he often multiplies words, which may seem superfluous, but nevertheless will be found to contain a great depth of meaning by those who consider them diligently.» — y la tercera, la multiplicación de palabras que solo al lector diligente le rinde profundidad.

«The picture of Thomas Aquinas straining to understand these writings is not intended to discourage the modern reader, but simply to advise patience and diligent consideration.» — Rorem declara para qué trae ese testimonio.

«There is no external indication of which treatise was actually written first, and therefore no historically reliable indication of a place to start reading.» — Rorem niega que haya base histórica para fijar el orden de escritura del corpus.

«The author's apparent intention was that the treatises be encountered together and treated as a discovery from the first century.» — y consigna la intención que el propio corpus declara de sí: leerse junto y como hallazgo del siglo I.

«There are some internal suggestions by the author himself about the intended sequence of treatises and some external factors in the order of the works in the manuscript tradition, but these are not definitive and do not dictate the best plan of introduction for a modern reader.» — el límite que Rorem pone a los indicios internos y a la tradición manuscrita.

«Standing apart from and following the four major treatises, the Letters are presented first, for two reasons.» — la decisión de método del libro: leer primero las diez Cartas, que en el corpus van detrás de los cuatro tratados.

«First, the first six letters are so brief, averaging just half a page each, that the reader can adjust to the rhythm of absorbing brief doses of Dionysius with frequent rereading and ample time for reflection.» — la primera razón, la brevedad de las seis primeras.

«Second, the ten Letters will serve to preview almost all the Dionysian themes to be investigated in the rest of this commentary.» — y la segunda, que las Cartas anticipan casi todos los temas del corpus.

«Even the list of titles of the letters raises questions about the order of the recipients, which moves steadily up an ecclesiastical ladder from a monk to a deacon, to a priest, and to a hierarch (bishop) and even beyond, except for the highly significant disruption of the eighth letter.» — Rorem lee el orden de los destinatarios como escalera eclesiástica —monje, diácono, presbítero, jerarca— y señala la ruptura de la octava carta.

«Of course, the Letters never were actual correspondence sent to historical individuals, despite the impressions given by the titles and announced recipients.» — Rorem niega que las Cartas fueran correspondencia real, pese a lo que sus encabezados dan a entender.

«The effort to present the author's work as a first-century, apostolic, and therefore authoritative witness is evident in the headings to several treatises and letters, including these initial letters addressed "To the monk Gaius.» — y adjudica a los encabezados un propósito: presentar la obra como testimonio apostólico del siglo I.

«Although "Gaius" is not that significant an example, the reader should be alert to the proper names used throughout the corpus.» — la advertencia de método que Rorem da al lector sobre los nombres propios del corpus.

«The special names used for God occupied an entire treatise (The Divine Names) while the technical designations for the angels and for ecclesiastical offices and rites received his consistent attention in The Celestial Hierarchy» — Rorem reparte los nombres por tratado: los divinos en Los nombres divinos, los de los ángeles y los oficios en las dos Jerarquías.

«He delighted in etymologies, puns, and allusions. In particular, the proper personal names, such as Gaius, were all selected carefully as part of an inventive overall program and may occasionally provide overtones and oblique clues to the contents of the corpus.» — y sostiene que los nombres personales del corpus están elegidos como programa, con la reserva de que solo *ocasionalmente* dan pistas.

«Besides the examples in the Letters and other instances (to be noted in their place), we should not overlook the brilliant choice of the name or pseudonym Dionysius the Areopagite for the author himself.» — Rorem lee el pseudónimo mismo como elección deliberada del autor.

«Just as Paul's starting point for his sermon in Athens was the "unknown god" (Acts 17), so also the writings attached to the name of his Athenian convert are especially concerned with God as known and unknown.» — y la razón que le da: el dios desconocido del sermón de Pablo en Atenas y el interés del corpus por Dios conocido y desconocido.

«Considering all the pseudonymous works attached early on to New Testament names, the wonder is that it took so long, some five hundred years, before the name Dionysius was appropriated as a pseudonym and linked to a literary» — Rorem invierte la pregunta de la atribución: lo llamativo no es el pseudónimo sino que tardara quinientos años en usarse.

«Darkness [or shadow] disappears in the light, the more so as there is more light. Knowledge makes unknowing disappear, the more so as there is more knowledge.» — apertura de la Carta 1 en la traducción de Luibheid que Rorem cita, con la referencia interna 1065A, 263.

«In the first letter and throughout these writings, the theme of knowing and un-knowing is cast in terms of light and darkness.» — Rorem fija el tema que la Carta 1 abre para todo el corpus.

«It is a joy to acknowledge the help I have received in the preparation and writ» — apertura de los agradecimientos, firmados por Rorem al cierre del volumen.

«Oliver K. Olson first introduced me, as well as other Lutheran seminarians, to the Pseudo-Dionysian writings, and has been a source of encouragement in this and various other endeavors ever since.» — Rorem adjudica a Oliver K. Olson su primera lectura del corpus.

«Karlfried Froehlich guided my dissertation on the same topic with patience and high standards, challenging me, then and now, to pursue my own interpretations.» — y a Karlfried Froehlich la dirección de la tesis sobre el mismo asunto.

«John Farina invited me to collaborate on the Paulist Press English edition in the Classics of Western Spirituality series; Colm Luibheid liberated me from my own wooden translation of the corpus and graciously welcomed my collaboration.» — la cadena editorial de la que sale la traducción que este comentario usa: John Farina convoca la edición de Paulist Press en la serie Classics of Western Spirituality y Colm Luibheid acoge la colaboración de Rorem.

«David B. Evans is a permanent partner in wide-ranging conversations about all things Dionysian.» — otro de los interlocutores que Rorem nombra en la misma plana.

«Charles G. Woods first encouraged me to apply the commentary format to the entire corpus.» — y de quién sale, según Rorem, la idea del formato de comentario aplicado al corpus entero.

«The most specific debt is owed to my colleagues and students at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, where I was based from 1986 to 1992.» — Rorem sitúa los seis años del libro en la Lutheran School of Theology de Chicago.

«John Lamoreaux is my current collaborator on the Dionysian Scholia, and evidence of his work is previewed here.» — y anuncia el trabajo sobre los Escolios dionisianos que este libro adelanta.

«The Dionysian writings themselves are cited in parentheses within the text of this book according to the column numbers and letters of the Greek text and the page numbers of an English translation.» — la página de abreviaturas fija el sistema de referencia interna del libro, que es la clave para leer sus paréntesis.

«Scholia = Scholia. Edited by B. Corderius. PG 4. [Comments on the Dionysian writings by John of Scythopolis, Maximus the Confessor, and others.» — la entrada de abreviaturas que declara de quiénes son los escolios: Juan de Escitópolis, Máximo el Confesor y otros.

«Dionysiaca = Philippe Chevalier. Dionysiaca: Recueil donnant I'ensemble des traditions latines des ouvrages attribues au Denys de I'Areopage. 2 vols. Paris: Desclee de Brouwer, 1937-50.» — y la que declara el repertorio de las traducciones latinas del corpus, editado por Philippe Chevalier.

«Louth, Denys. Otherwise the introductory material is scarce. Even the Paulist edition's excellent introductory articles (see n. 2) concentrate more on surveying the ways the corpus was viewed by medieval and later authors than on introducing the texts themselves» — la nota 3 mide el estado de la literatura introductoria y objeta a los propios artículos de la edición de Paulist que atiendan más a la recepción que a los textos.

«Italian students now have a fine introduction to the thorough edition of the complete works begun by Piero Scazzoso, who contributed many other excellent studies, and completed by Enzo Bellini, also an accomplished interpreter of these texts.» — y nombra la edición italiana completa de Piero Scazzoso y Enzo Bellini.

«The critical edition of the Greek texts has finally appeared as Corpus Dionysiacum, vol. 1: Pseudo-Dionysius Areopagita: De divinis nominibus, ed. Beate Suchla, Patristische Texte und Studien, vol. 33» — la misma nota fecha en 1990 el primer tomo del Corpus Dionysiacum, la edición crítica griega de Beate Suchla.

«French readers have probably had the least difficulty getting started in Dionysian studies: in addition to Gandillac's translation of the entire corpus (Paris: Aubier, 1943), Roques has contributed a magisterial study, both introductory and scholarly, entitled L'univers dionysien (Paris: Aubier, 1954)» — y adjudica a Rene Roques un estudio magistral, con el grado que Rorem le pone al juicio comparativo, *probably*.

«The Greek text of the Scholia, intermingling comments by John of Scythopolis and Maximus the Confessor, among others, was edited by B. Corderius as a companion volume to the Dionysian text, PG 4 (Paris: J. P.» — la nota 5 declara que el texto griego de los Escolios entremezcla los comentarios de Juan de Escitópolis y de Máximo, y que lo editó B. Corderius; el tramo se corta en el límite de plana.

«Among the others who labored with the Dionysian complexities of style was John Scotus Eriugena, who said of the Areopagite, "In his usual way he expresses himself in an involved and distorted language, and therefore many find him extremely obscure and difficult to understand.» — la nota 6 trae a Juan Escoto Eriúgena como otro lector vencido por el estilo del Areopagita, con su propia frase.

«That very few of the Scholia can be attributed with certainty to Maximus is apparent from a Latin translation in manuscript (Berlin phill 1668)» — y la misma nota da la base de que muy pocos Escolios sean de Máximo: una traducción latina manuscrita.

«Photius reported that Theodore the Presbyter (otherwise unknown) refuted four arguments against the authenticity of the corpus: that none of the fathers cite it, that Eusebius did not mention it, that its liturgical rites are later and well-developed, and that it cites Ignatius.» — la nota 12 enumera los cuatro argumentos antiguos contra la autenticidad del corpus que Focio recoge de Teodoro el Presbítero.

«Photius is rather reserved about Theodore's success in refuting these formidable arguments: "Theodore endeavours to solve these difficulties and does his best to prove the genuineness of the treatises.» — y consigna la reserva de Focio sobre el éxito de esa refutación, con la frase del propio Focio.

«This splendid book, mostly on Suger's building campaigns (discussed below in part II) is also the best English source for the legend of Saint Denis, and the early history of the abbey.» — la nota 13 califica el libro de Sumner McKnight Crosby sobre la abadía de Saint-Denis.

«Adhering to this essentially medieval devotion, which ignores the cogent criticisms of Valla and Erasmus, Rubens has visually duplicated Cordier's polemic by sensitively but unambiguously selecting images that strongly assert the antiquity and authenticity of the Areopagite.» — Erick Wilberding sobre el frontispicio de Rubens para la edición de Cordier, citado en la nota 16.

«Judson and van de Velde note that the engraver omitted Rubens's allusion to Athens in the owl and Minerva, and that he added an angelic head.» — y el cotejo de J. Richard Judson y Carl van de Velde sobre lo que el grabador alteró.

«Rubens had drawn nine such celestial figures, surely no coincidence since the Areopagite's celestial hierarchy has nine types of angels, but the engraver preferred the symmetry of five on each side of the page.» — con la lectura que Rorem propone de esa alteración: las nueve figuras celestes del dibujo responden a los nueve órdenes angélicos.

«There is a convenient tabulation of the hypotheses about authorship in Ronald F. Hathaway, Hierarchy and the Definition of Order in the Letters of Pseudo-Dionysius (The Hague: M. Nijhoff, 1969), pp. 31-35» — la nota 17 remite a Ronald F. Hathaway para el inventario de hipótesis de autoría.

«Is the disputed "Hymnus ad Deum" actually by Dionysius? Martin Sicherl concludes that it is; see "Ein neuplatonischer Hymnus unter den Gedichten Gregors von Nazianz," in Gonimos, Neoplatonic and Byzantine Studies Presented to Leendert G. Westerink at 75, ed. John Duffy and John Peradotto, (Buffalo, New York: Arethusa, 1988), pp. 61-83. But Vassiliki Frangeskou argues for its continued attribution to Gregory of Nazianzus» — y consigna una disputa de atribución abierta, con las dos posiciones nombradas: Martin Sicherl a favor y Vassiliki Frangeskou en contra.

«This insight into the order of the letters is from Hathaway, Hierarchy, pp. 64-65. See also his comments (pp. 92-98) on the enigmatic character named Carpos at the end of Letter 8.» — la nota 18 adjudica a Hathaway la lectura del orden de las cartas que el cuerpo del libro usa.

«Dionysius explains God's sleep much the way Proclus explains the sleep of Zeus.» — la nota 19 empareja la exégesis dionisiana del sueño de Dios con la de Proclo sobre el sueño de Zeus.

«An essential bibliographical tool is Barbara Faes de Mottoni's Il "Corpus Dionysianum" net medioevo; Rassegna di studi: 1900-1972 (Rome: Il Mulino, 1977)» — la nota 20 nombra el repertorio bibliográfico de Barbara Faes de Mottoni sobre el corpus dionisiano en la Edad Media.

«The picturesque phrase "kaleidoscopically varied use" appears on the first page of Luscombe's "The 'Lex Divinitatis' in the Bull 'Unam Sanctam» — la nota 26 devuelve al artículo de David E. Luscombe la fórmula sobre el uso caleidoscópico del corpus que el cuerpo del libro cita.

«with a foreword, notes, and translation collaboration by Paul Rorem, preface by Rene Roques, and introductions by Jaroslav Pelikan, Jean Leclercq, and Karlfried Froehlich, Classics of Western Spirituality» — la nota 2 de la parte I describe entera la edición de Paulist Press de 1987, que es la traducción que este comentario cita y de la que el troceo toma su nombre de archivo: Colm Luibheid traduce, Rorem firma prólogo, notas y colaboración en la traducción, y añaden prefacio e introducciones Rene Roques, Jaroslav Pelikan, Jean Leclercq y Karlfried Froehlich.

«was part of his unpublished address to the Eighth International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford, 4 September 1979, "The Domestication of Dionysius," and now appears» — la nota 11 fecha el juego de palabras de Jaroslav Pelikan, *Maximized Dionysius*, en una conferencia de Oxford de septiembre de 1979; el tramo se corta en el límite de plana.

«Guillaume was probably using Eriugena's translation; cf. Dionysiaca 2: 1333. The Dionysian text is at Ecclesiastical Hierarchy 5, 505B, 236-37.» — la nota 30 conjetura qué traducción latina usaba Guillaume de Pierre Godin y fija el pasaje dionisiano en juego.

«Theodore the Studite used this text to argue in the ninth century that a patriarch can only be corrected by his peers and not by an emperor» — la nota 31 trae a Teodoro Estudita como uso bizantino del mismo pasaje de la Carta 8, en favor del juicio entre pares y contra el emperador.

«Sed quia auctoritas cereum habet nasum, id est in diversum potest flecti sensum, rationibus roborandum est.» — Alano de Lila en latín, en la nota 39: la fuente de la nariz de cera con que el cuerpo del libro cierra la parte I, dicha a propósito de Platón.

«I owe this reference (and other insights) to the kindness of Mark Burrows regarding his 1988 dissertation, published as Jean Gerson and "De consolatione theologiae" (1418): The Consolation of a Biblical and Reforming Theology for a Disordered Age» — la nota 32 acredita a Mark Burrows la referencia de Gerson y remite a su tesis de 1988; entrada de bibliografía releída entera en el crudo, la guarda anticosido salta por el año entre paréntesis del título.

«I have discussed this particular point in "An Influence of Peter Lombard on the Biblical Hermeneutics of Thomas Aquinas," Rivista di Storia e Letteratura Religiosa 16 (1980): 429-34.» — la nota 38 remite al artículo propio de Rorem sobre la deuda de Tomás con Pedro Lombardo; entrada de bibliografía releída entera, la guarda salta por el año entre paréntesis.

«especially the tenth chapter (pp. 223-33) on the Areopagite's Letter 9 and its Latin translation by» — la nota 38 localiza en Jean Pepin el tratamiento de la Carta 9 y de su traducción latina; el tramo se corta en el límite de plana, y sigue *John Scotus Eriugena*.

«In terms of studies available in English, The Celestial Hierarchy has been the least accessible part of the Dionysian corpus, at least until the Paulist Press edition.» — la nota 1 de la parte II mide el acceso en inglés a este tratado.

«The English translation by John Parker still assumed that the author was Paul's disciple; The Celestial and Ecclesiastical Hierarchies (London: 1894; repr. Merrick, N.Y.: Richwood Publishers, 1976)» — y consigna que la traducción de John Parker seguía teniendo al autor por discípulo de Pablo.