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68-487: Philo's description of the doctrines and practices of the Therapeutae leaves great ambiguity about what religion they are associated with. The term Therapeutae (plural) is Latin, from Philo's Greek plural Therapeutai (Θεραπευταί). The term therapeutes means one who is attendant to the gods although the term, and the related adjective therapeutikos carry in later texts the meaning of attending to heal, or treating in

136-473: A communicator of a tradition. Others scholars such as Bart D. Ehrman disagree, see for example Forged . While pseudo-Dionysius can be seen as a communicator of tradition, he can also be seen as a polemicist, who tried to alter Neo-Platonic tradition in a novel way for the Christian world that would make notions of complicated Divine Hierarchies more of an emphasis than notions of direct relationship with

204-469: A euphemism ("flowers and supersubstantial lights") when the said verbiage is found explicitly in the Corpus Dionysiacum. Dionysius attributed his inspiration to pseudo-Hierotheus, professing that he was writing to popularize the teachings of his master. Pseudo-Hierotheus was the author of "The book of Hierotheus on the hidden mysteries of the house of God." Pseudo-Hierotheus is believed to be

272-425: A mountain called Tittheion (from τίτθη "wet nurse", τιτθεύω "to suckle, breastfeed"). The child was given milk by one of the goats that pastured about the mountain, and was guarded by the watch-dog of the herd. Aresthanas, the owner of goats and the guard dogs found the child. As he came near, he saw lightning that flashed from the child, and thinking of it to be a sign of the divine, he left the child alone. Asclepius

340-478: A pupil of Proclus, perhaps of Syrian origin, who knew enough of Platonism and the Christian tradition to transform them both. Since Proclus died in 485, and since the first clear citation of Dionysius' works is by Severus of Antioch between 518 and 528, then we can place Dionysius' authorship between 485 and 518-28. Ronald Hathaway provides a table listing most of the major identifications of Dionysius: e.g., Ammonius Saccas , Pope Dionysius of Alexandria , Peter

408-404: A recovery of the huge impact of Dionysian thought in later Christian thought, because of an increasing repudiation of older criticisms that Dionysius's thought represented a fundamentally Neoplatonic approach to theology, and finally because of interest in parallels between aspects of modern linguistic theory and Dionysius's reflections on language and negative theology . Andrew Louth offers

476-572: A snake with a "head of linen" was an incarnation of Asclepius. The Greek language rhetorician and satirist Lucian produced the work Alexander the False Prophet to denounce the swindler for future generations. He described Alexander as having a character "made up of lying, trickery, perjury, and malice; [it was] facile, audacious, venturesome, diligent in the execution of its schemes, plausible, convincing, masking as good, and wearing an appearance absolutely opposite to its purpose." In Rome,

544-538: A son, Aratus , with Aristodeme . Asclepius once started bringing back to life the dead people like Tyndareus, Capaneus, Glaucus, Hymenaeus, Lycurgus and others. Others say he brought Hippolytus back from the dead on Artemis's request, and accepted gold for it. It is the only mention of Asclepius resurrecting the dead. In all other accounts he is said to use his skills simply as a physician. However, Hades accused Asclepius of stealing his subjects and complained to his brother Zeus about it. According to others, Zeus

612-449: A spiritual or medical sense. The Greek feminine plural Therapeutrides (Θεραπευτρίδες) is sometimes encountered for their female members. The term therapeutae may occur in relation to followers of Asclepius at Pergamon, and therapeutai may also occur in relation to worshippers of Sarapis in inscriptions, such as on Delos . Philo described the Therapeutae in De vita contemplativa ("On

680-417: Is a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology . He is the son of Apollo and Coronis , or Arsinoe , or of Apollo alone. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts; his daughters, the "Asclepiades", are: Hygieia ("Health, Healthiness"), Iaso (from ἴασις "healing, recovering, recuperation", the goddess of recuperation from illness), Aceso (from ἄκεσις "healing",

748-764: Is almost unintelligible. About twenty years later, a subsequent Carolingian Emperor, Charles the Bald , requested the Irishman John Scotus Eriugena to make a fresh translation. He finished this in 862. This translation itself did not widely circulate in subsequent centuries. Moreover, although Eriugena's own works, such as the Homily on the Prologue of St John , show the influence of Dionysian ideas, these works were not widely copied or read in subsequent centuries. The Benedictine monasticism that formed

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816-425: Is better characterized and approached by negations than by affirmations . All names and theological representations must be negated. According to pseudo-Dionysius, when all names are negated, "divine silence, darkness, and unknowing" will follow. His thought was initially used by Miaphysites to back up parts of their arguments but his writings were eventually adopted by other church theologians, primarily due to

884-509: Is beyond the Maereotic lake. They lived chastely with utter simplicity; they "first of all laid down temperance as a sort of foundation for the soul to rest upon, proceed to build up other virtues on this foundation" (Philo). They renounced property and followed severe discipline: These men abandon their property without being influenced by any predominant attraction, and flee without even turning their heads back again. They were dedicated to

952-688: Is criticized later in the century, and defended by Theodore of Raithu ; and by the 7th century, it is taken as demonstrated, affirmed by both Maximus the Confessor and the Lateran Council of 649 . From that point until the Renaissance, the authorship was less questioned, though Thomas Aquinas , Peter Abelard and Nicholas of Cusa expressed suspicions about its authenticity; their concerns were generally ignored. The Florentine humanist Lorenzo Valla (d. 1457), in his 1457 commentaries on

1020-579: Is possible that pseudo-Dionysius was himself a member of this group, though debate continues over whether his writings do in fact reveal a miaphysite understanding of Christ. It seems likely that the writer was located in Syria, as revealed, for example, by the accounts of the sacramental rites he gives in The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy , which seem only to bear resemblance to Syriac rites. The author pseudonymously identifies himself in

1088-510: Is seen as possibly a Therapeutae text. The 3rd-century Christian writer Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 263–339), in his Ecclesiastical History , identified Philo's Therapeutae as the first Christian monks, identifying their renunciation of property, chastity, fasting, and solitary lives with the cenobitic ideal of the Christian monks. The 4th-century Christian heresiologist Epiphanius of Salamis (c. 315–403), bishop of Salamis in Cyprus, author of

1156-572: Is undertaken by John of Scythopolis , whose commentary, the Scholia ( c.  540 ), on the Dionysian Corpus constitutes the first defense of its apostolic dating, wherein he specifically argues that the work is neither Apollinarian nor a forgery, probably in response both to monophysites and Hypatius—although even he, given his unattributed citations of Plotinus in interpreting Dionysius, might have known better. Dionysius' authenticity

1224-555: Is with Damascius , the last scholarch of the Neoplatonic Academy of Athens . There is therefore no current scholarly consensus on the question of pseudo-Dionysius' identification. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy claims: It must also be recognized that "forgery" is a modern notion. Like Plotinus and the Cappadocian Fathers before him, Dionysius does not claim to be an innovator, but rather

1292-474: The Aesculapian snake ( Zamenis longissimus ) is named for the god. He was originally called Hepius but received his popular name of Asclepius after he cured Ascles, ruler of Epidaurus who suffered an incurable ailment in his eyes. Asclepius became so proficient as a healer that he surpassed both Chiron and his father, Apollo. Asclepius was therefore able to evade death and to bring others back to life from

1360-586: The College of Aesculapius and Hygia was an association ( collegium ) that served as a burial society and dining club that also participated in the Imperial cult . The botanical genus Asclepias (commonly known as milkweed) is named after him and includes the medicinal plant A. tuberosa or "Pleurisy root". Asclepius was depicted on the reverse of the Greek 10,000 drachmas banknote of 1995–2001. At

1428-636: The Mediterranean around 250 BCE, has led to the hypothesis that Therapeutae might have been a Buddhist sect composed of descendants of Ashoka 's emissaries. Linguist Zacharias P. Thundy suggests that the word "Therapeutae" may represent a Hellenistic corruption of " Theravada ", the Indian Pali word for traditional Buddhists. Asclepius Asclepius ( / æ s ˈ k l iː p i ə s / ; ‹See Tfd› Greek : Ἀσκληπιός Asklēpiós [asklɛːpiós] ; Latin : Aesculapius )

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1496-541: The New Testament , did much to establish that the author of the Corpus Areopagiticum could not have been St. Paul's convert, though he was unable to identify the actual historical author. William Grocyn pursued Valla's lines of textual criticism, and Valla's critical viewpoint of the authorship of the highly influential Corpus was accepted and publicized by Erasmus from 1504 onward, for which he

1564-490: The Panarion, or Medicine Chest against Heresies , misidentified Philo's Therapeuate as "Jessaens" and considered them a Christian group. The 5th-century Christian writer Pseudo-Dionysius , following Philo, interprets that "Some people gave to the ascetics the name 'Therapeutae' or servants while some others gave them the name monks". Pseudo-Dionysius interprets Philo's group as a highly organized Christian ascetic order, and

1632-484: The Therapeutae of Asclepius . The etymology of the name is unknown. In his revised version of Frisk's Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch ( Greek Etymological Dictionary ), R. S. P. Beekes gives this summary of the different attempts: Beekes suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form *(a)-s klap- . His name may mean "to cut open" from a story about his birth. Asclepius was the son of Apollo and, according to

1700-528: The "prince of mystics". It was subsequently in the area of mysticism that Dionysius, especially his portrayal of the via negativa , was particularly influential. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries his fundamental themes were hugely influential on thinkers such as Marguerite Porete , Meister Eckhart , Johannes Tauler , John of Ruusbroec , the author of The Cloud of Unknowing (who made an expanded Middle English translation of Dionysius' Mystical Theology ), Jean Gerson , Nicholas of Cusa , Denis

1768-721: The Apostle mentioned in Acts 17:34 . In the early sixth century, a series of writings of a mystical nature , employing Neoplatonic language to elucidate Christian theological and mystical ideas, was ascribed to the Areopagite. They have long been recognized as pseudepigrapha , and their author is now called "Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite". The surviving corpus comprises: Seven other works are mentioned repeatedly by pseudo-Dionysius in his surviving works, and are presumed either to be lost or to be fictional works mentioned by

1836-544: The Areopagite (or Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite ) was a Greek author, Christian theologian and Neoplatonic philosopher of the late 5th to early 6th century, who wrote a set of works known as the Corpus Areopagiticum or Corpus Dionysiacum . The author pseudepigraphically identifies himself in the corpus as "Dionysios", portraying himself as Dionysius the Areopagite , the Athenian convert of Paul

1904-487: The Areopagite as a literary device to give the impression to his sixth-century readers of engaging with the surviving fragments of a much larger first-century corpus of writings. These seven other works are: In terms of the latest date for the composition of the Corpus , the earliest datable reference to Dionysius' writing comes in 528, the year in which the treatise of Severus of Antioch entitled Adversus apologiam Juliani

1972-554: The Areopagite' only after the philological work of J. Stiglmayr and H. Koch, whose papers, published independently in 1895, demonstrated the thoroughgoing dependence of the Corpus upon Proclus. Both showed that Dionysius had used, in his treatise on evil in Chapter 4 of The Divine Names , the De malorum subsistentia of Proclus. Dionysius' identity is still disputed. Corrigan and Harrington find pseudo-Dionysius to be most probably... ...

2040-677: The Carthusian , Julian of Norwich , Hendrik Herp and Catherine of Genoa ["The Mystical Element of Religion as Studied in Saint Catherine of Genoa and Her Friends (1908)]. His influence can also be traced in the Spanish Carmelite thought of the sixteenth century among Teresa of Ávila and John of the Cross . In recent decades, interest has increased again in the Corpus Areopagiticum , for three main reasons: because of

2108-834: The Dionysian corpus. Soon after, the Dominican Albertus Magnus did likewise. The thirteenth-century Parisian corpus provided an important reference point by combining the "Old Translation" of John Scotus Eriugena with the "New Translation" of John Sarrazin , along with glosses and scholia by Maximus the Confessor , John of Scythopolis and others, as well as the "Extracts" by Thomas Gallus , and several commentaries such as John Scotus Eriugena, John Sarrazin and Hugh of Saint Victor on The Celestial Hierarchy . It quickly became common to make reference to Dionysius. Thomas Aquinas wrote an explanation for several works, and cites him over 1700 times. Bonaventure called him

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2176-528: The East, amongst both Chalcedonians and non-Chalcedonians. Gregory Palamas , for example, in referring to these writings, calls the author, "an unerring beholder of divine things". The Corpus is also present in Syriac and Armenian versions, the former of which, by Sergius of Reshaina in the early sixth century, serves as a terminus ante quem for the dating of the original Greek. The first notice of Dionysius in

2244-544: The Epistle to the Hebrews; according to Eusebius, he was also said to be the first bishop of Athens. It is therefore not surprising that that author of these works would have chosen to adopt the name of this otherwise briefly mentioned figure. The authorship of the Dionysian Corpus was initially disputed; Severus and his party affirmed its apostolic dating, largely because it seemed to agree with their Christology. This dating

2312-604: The Fuller , Dionysius the Scholastic, Severus of Antioch , Sergius of Reshaina , unnamed Christian followers of everyone from Origen to Basil of Caesarea , Eutyches to Proclus . In the past half-century, Alexander Golitzin, Georgian academician Shalva Nutsubidze and Belgian professor Ernest Honigmann have all proposed identifying pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite with Peter the Iberian . A more recent identification

2380-645: The West comes from Pope Gregory I , who probably brought a codex of the Corpus Areopagitum back with him on his return from his mission as papal legate to the Emperor in Constantinople in c.  585 . Gregory refers occasionally in his writings to Dionysius, although Gregory's Greek was probably not adequate to fully engage with Dionysius's work. In the seventh and eighth centuries, Dionysius

2448-642: The active and the contemplative life, exemplifying the active life by the Essenes , another severely ascetic sect, and the contemplative life by the desert-dwelling Therapeutae. According to De Vita Contemplativa , the Therapeutae were widely distributed in the Ancient world, among the Greeks and beyond in the non-Greek world of the " barbarians ", with one of their major gathering points being in Alexandria , in

2516-522: The appropriate therapy by a process of interpretation. Some healing temples also used sacred dogs to lick the wounds of sick petitioners. In honor of Asclepius, a particular type of non-venomous snake was often used in healing rituals, and these snakes—the Aesculapian Snakes —slithered around freely on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. These snakes were introduced at the founding of each new temple of Asclepius throughout

2584-629: The area of the Lake Mareotis : Now this class of persons may be met with in many places, for it was fitting that both Greece and the country of the barbarians should partake of whatever is perfectly good; and there is the greatest number of such men in Egypt, in every one of the districts, or nomes, as they are called, and especially around Alexandria; and from all quarters those who are the best of these therapeutae proceed on their pilgrimage to some most suitable place as if it were their country, which

2652-422: The art of medicine. It is said that in return for some kindness rendered by Asclepius, a snake licked Asclepius's ears clean and taught him secret knowledge (to the Greeks snakes were sacred beings of wisdom, healing, and resurrection). Asclepius bore a rod wreathed with a snake, which became associated with healing. Another version states that when Asclepius (or in another myth Polyidus ) was commanded to restore

2720-617: The brink of death and beyond. This caused an excessive abundance of human beings, and Zeus resorted to killing him to maintain balance in the numbers of the human population. At some point, Asclepius was among those who took part in the Calydonian Boar hunt. Also, he was one of the Argonauts . Asclepius was married to Epione , with whom he had five daughters: Hygieia , Panacea , Aceso , Iaso , and Aegle , and three sons: Machaon , Podaleirios and Telesphoros . He also sired

2788-503: The city of Miletus , archaeologists discovered a cave under the city's theatre which was associated with Asclepius cult. At Hyperteleatum , Hypsi and Hyettus there were temples of Asclepius. Pseudo-Dionysius Autocephaly recognized by some autocephalous Churches de jure : Autocephaly and canonicity recognized by Constantinople and 3 other autocephalous Churches: Spiritual independence recognized by Georgian Orthodox Church: Semi-Autonomous: Pseudo-Dionysius

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2856-481: The classical world. The original Hippocratic Oath began with the invocation "I swear by Apollo the Physician and by Asclepius and by Hygieia and Panacea and by all the gods ...". Epidauria (τὰ Ἐπιδαύρια) was a festival at Athens in honour of Asclepius. Some later religious movements claimed links to Asclepius. In the 2nd century AD the controversial miracle-worker Alexander claimed that his god Glycon ,

2924-474: The contemplative life"), written in the first century CE. The origins of the Therapeutae were unclear, and Philo was even unsure about the etymology of their name, which he explained as meaning either physicians of souls or servants of God. The opening phrases of his essay establish that it followed one that has been lost, on the active life. Philo was employing the familiar polarity in Hellenic philosophy between

2992-455: The contemplative life, and their activities for six days of the week consisted of ascetic practices, fasting, solitary prayers and the study of the scriptures in their isolated cells, each with its separate holy sanctuary, and enclosed courtyard: the entire interval from dawn to evening is given up by them to spiritual exercises. For they read the holy scriptures and draw out in thought and allegory their ancestral philosophy, since they regard

3060-454: The corpus as "Dionysios", portraying himself as the figure of Dionysius the Areopagite , the Athenian convert of Paul the Apostle mentioned in Acts 17:34. Various legends existed surrounding the figure of Dionysius, who became emblematic of the spread of the gospel to the Greek world. A tradition quickly arose that he became the first bishop of Cyprus or of Milan, or that he was the author of

3128-546: The corpus. All Greek manuscripts of the Corpus Areopagiticum surviving today stem from an early sixth-century manuscript containing John's Scholia and Prologue — so John of Scythopolis had an enormous influence on how Dionysius was read in the Greek-speaking world. Theologians such as John of Damascus and Germanus I of Constantinople also made ample use of Dionysius' writing. The Dionysian writings and their mystical teaching were universally accepted throughout

3196-403: The cult of Asclepius grew very popular and pilgrims flocked to his healing temples ( Asclepieia ) to be cured of their ills. Ritual purification would be followed by offerings or sacrifices to the god (according to means), and the supplicant would then spend the night in the holiest part of the sanctuary– the abaton (or adyton). Any dreams or visions would be reported to a priest who would prescribe

3264-524: The earliest accounts, a mortal woman named Koronis (Coronis), who was a princess of Tricca in Thessaly. When she displayed infidelity by sleeping with a mortal named Ischys , Apollo found out with his prophetic powers and killed Ischys. Coronis was killed by Artemis for being unfaithful to Apollo and was laid out on a funeral pyre to be consumed, but Apollo rescued the child by cutting him from Coronis' womb. According to Delphian tradition, Asclepius

3332-465: The fifth century Syrian monk Stephen Bar Sudhaile , a pantheistic writer. The works of Dionysius are mystical , and show strong Neoplatonic influence . For example, he uses Plotinus ' well-known analogy of a sculptor cutting away that which does not enhance the desired image, and shows familiarity with Proclus . He also shows influence from Clement of Alexandria , the Cappadocian Fathers , Origen , and others. According to pseudo-Dionysius, God

3400-410: The figure of Christ as Mediator. A minority of scholars, including Romanian theologian Dumitru Staniloae , argue in favor of the Dionysian corpus being authentic, citing internal historical details and the existence of explicit citations of Dionysius predating Proclus by writers such as Dionysius of Alexandria and Gregory Nazianzus . Even Proclus himself appears to cite an external authority for

3468-532: The first time by Hilduin , abbot of the monastery. It may well have been Hilduin himself who promoted his work (and his abbey) by developing the legend (which would be widely accepted during subsequent centuries), that Denis was the same person as Dionysius the Areopagite of Acts 17.34, and that he had traveled to Rome and then was commissioned by the Pope to preach in Gaul , where he was martyred. Hilduin's translation

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3536-465: The following modern appraisal of the Areopagite; Dionysius/Denys' vision is remarkable because, on the one hand, his understanding of hierarchy makes possible a rich symbolic system in terms of which we can understand God and the cosmos and our place within it, and, on the other, he finds room within this strictly hierarchical society for an escape from it, beyond it, by transcending symbols and realizing directly one's relationship with God as his creature,

3604-656: The goddess of the healing process), Aegle (the goddess of good health) and Panacea (the goddess of universal remedy). He has several sons as well. He was associated with the Roman/Etruscan god Vediovis and the Egyptian Imhotep . He shared with Apollo the epithet Paean ("the Healer"). The rod of Asclepius , a snake-entwined staff similar to the caduceus , remains a symbol of medicine today. Those physicians and attendants who served this god were known as

3672-481: The life of Glaucus, he was confined in a secret prison. While pondering on what he should do, a snake crept near his staff. Lost in his thoughts, Asclepius unknowingly killed it by hitting it again and again with his staff. Later, another snake came there with an herb in its mouth, and placed it on the head of a dead snake, which soon came back to life. Seeing this, Asclepius used the same herb, which brought Glaucus back. A species of non-venomous pan-Mediterranean serpent,

3740-628: The literal meanings as symbols of an inner and hidden nature revealing itself in covert ideas. On the seventh day the Therapeutae met in a meeting house, the men on one side of an open partition, the women modestly on the other, to hear discourses. Once in seven weeks they meet for a night-long vigil after a banquet where they served one another, for "they are not waited on by slaves, because they deem any possession of servants whatever to be contrary to nature. For she has begotten all men alike free" ( De Vita Contemplativa , para.70) and sing antiphonal hymns until dawn. The pseudepigraphic Testament of Job

3808-582: The meaning of the name "Therapeutae" as "servants". Some authors have pointed out similarities between the Therapeutae and early Buddhist monasticism , a tradition that is several centuries older. As described in the 1st century CE text Periplus of the Erythraean Sea , Egypt had intense trade and cultural contacts with India during the period which, combined with evidence in the Indian Edicts of Ashoka of Buddhist missionary activity to

3876-572: The most famous temples of Asclepius was at Epidaurus in north-eastern Peloponnese , dated to the fourth century BC. Another famous asclepeion was built approximately a century later on the island of Kos , where Hippocrates , the legendary "father of medicine", may have begun his career. Other asclepieia were situated in Gortys (in Arcadia), and Pergamum in Asia . From the fifth century BC onwards,

3944-570: The sake of Apollo, put among the stars." Asclepius was killed by Zeus, and by Apollo 's request, was subsequently immortalized as a star. The most ancient and the most prominent asclepeion (or healing temple) according to the geographer of the 1st century BC, Strabo, was situated in Trikala . The 1st century AD Pool of Bethesda , described in the Gospel of John , chapter 5, was found by archaeologists in 1964 to be part of an asclepeion. One of

4012-491: The standard monasticism of the eighth to eleventh centuries, therefore, in general paid little attention to Dionysius. In the twelfth century, greater use gradually began to be made of Dionysius among various traditions of thought: During the thirteenth century, the Franciscan Robert Grosseteste made an important contribution by bringing out between 1240 and 1243 a translation, with commentary, of

4080-427: The work of John of Scythopolis and Maximus the Confessor in producing an orthodox interpretation. Writing a single generation at most after Dionysius, perhaps between 537 and 543, John of Scythopolis composed an extensive set ( c.  600 ) of scholia (that is, marginal annotations) to the works of Dionysius. These were in turn prefaced by a long prologue in which John set out his reasons for commenting on

4148-440: Was afraid that Asclepius would teach the art of resurrection to other humans as well. Concerning the fate of Asclepius, Ovid writes that "the youth [Asclepius] blasted by ancestral bolts [of Zeus] soars from earth [rising as the constellation Ophiuchus] and flings his hands coiled with double snakes." Later accounts read "The Serpent-Holder. Many astronomers have imagined that he is Aesculapius [Asclepius], whom Jupiter [Zeus], for

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4216-535: Was born in the temple of Apollo, with Lachesis acting as a midwife and Apollo relieving the pains of Coronis. Apollo named the child after Coronis' nickname, Aegle. Phoenician tradition maintains that Asclepius was born of Apollo without any woman involved. According to the Roman version, Apollo, having learned about Coronis' betrayal with the mortal Ischys through his raven Lycius , killed her with his arrows. Before breathing her last, she revealed to Apollo that she

4284-696: Was criticized by Catholic theologians. In the Leipzig disputation with Martin Luther , in 1519, Johann Eck used the Corpus , specifically the Angelic Hierarchy , as argument for the apostolic origin of papal supremacy, pressing the Platonist analogy, "as above, so below". During the 19th century modernist Catholics too came generally to accept that the author must have lived after the time of Proclus . The author became known as 'Pseudo-Dionysius

4352-666: Was disputed by Hypatius of Ephesus , who met the monophysite party during the 532 meeting with Emperor Justinian I ; Hypatius denied its authenticity on the ground that none of the Fathers or Councils ever cited or referred to it. Hypatius condemned it along with the Apollinarian texts, distributed during the Nestorian controversy under the names of Pope Julius and Athanasius, which the monophysites entered as evidence supporting their position. The first defense of its authenticity

4420-472: Was later taken by Apollo. According to Strabo and other traditions, the birthplace of Asclepius is considered to be Tricca (modern Trikala city in Thessaly ). Apollo named the rescued baby "Asclepius" and reared him for a while and taught him many things about medicine. However, like his half-brother, Aristaeus , Asclepius had his formal education under the centaur Chiron who instructed him in

4488-628: Was not widely known in the West, aside from a few scattered references. The real influence of Dionysius in the West began with the gift in 827 of a Greek copy of his works by the Byzantine emperor Michael II to the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious . King Louis in turn gave the manuscript to the Abbey of St. Denis near Paris where, in about 838, Dionysius' works were translated into Latin for

4556-408: Was pregnant with his child. He repented his actions and unsuccessfully tried to save her. At last, he removed their son safely from her belly before she was consumed by the fire. In yet another version, Coronis who was already pregnant with Apollo's child, had to accompany her father to Peloponnesos . She had kept her pregnancy hidden from her father. In Epidaurus , she bore a son and exposed him on

4624-502: Was translated into Syriac —though it is possible the treatise may originally have been composed up to nine years earlier. Another widely cited latest date for Dionysius' writing comes in 532, when, in a report on a colloquy held between two groups ( dyophysite and miaphysite ) debating the decrees of the Council of Chalcedon , Severus of Antioch and his miaphysite supporters cited Dionysius' Fourth Letter in defence of their view. It

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