Oldal 192 [192]
MIKLÓS VASSÁNYI
angelology, the Areopagite actually begins a full induction here in order to
prove systematically that God can be called good because absolutely every
class of being is good: angels, souls, animals, plants, down to simple matter
(in contrast to Plotinus" doctrine). Even the ordered character of celestial
mechanics proves that the planetary orbits also derive from the Good” Thus,
Goodness has a cosmic presence—it is a cosmic Good, overarching and
pervading the corporeal universe from one end to the other.
On a deeper level, however, not only are the existing species and genera
good in themselves, considered as pure essences, but all conditions of their
being—such as identity and difference—are likewise good. Then again,
the Good is also benign in a spiritual sense insofar as it is the source of
sublime cognition and saving elevation. By virtue of its beneficial irradiation,
human souls are systematically upwardly mobile in the frame of a sacred
guidance (hierarchy). Their ever growing degree of cognition, which is
an enlightenment by the intellectual light of the Good, is just ontological
elevation. Denys’ anagogically structured text itself is certainly designed to
2 This passage in On the Divine Names 4, 4 might go back to Plato’s thesis in the Timaeus where
he postulates that the heavens revolve along a circular path (34 A 1-5) and planetary orbits
are perfect circles (38 D 1-E 1) because the structure of the universe is a changing image of an
eternally unchanging archetype (obtw ôn yeyevnuévos npds Tù Adyw Kai PPOVNOEL TEPLÄNTTTOV
kai Kata rabrä Exov deönobpynrar tovtwv dé bnapxdvtwv ad Naoa avayKn TÖVÖE TOV KÖOLOV
eixovativoceivat, 29 A 6-B 2). Buta passage in the Philebus (28 E 2-5) and Book 10 of the Laws may
have been inspiring for Denys too. Plotinus, then, in the natural philosophical investigations
that make up the first three treatises of the second Ennead, treats of the indestructibility
of the cosmos (2, 1: De coelo), reduces the circumvolution of the heavens to the circular
self-motion of the Soul as he interprets Plato’s Timaeus (2, 2: De motu caeli), and discusses
astrology as irrational belief in the causal powers of the stars and planets (2, 3: Utrum stellae
aliquid agant). In so doing, however, he never really emphasizes the perfection of the celestial
motions—and Denys as a Christian would have had difficulty accepting the existence of a
Mind-hypostasis and a Soul-hypostasis anyway (on Plotinus’ cosmology in general, see James
Wilberding’s Plotinus’ Cosmology: A Study of Ennead II.1 (40), Oxford, OUP, 2006, 41-70;
and Gary M. Gurtler’s Plotinus Ennead IV.4.30-45 & IV.5: Problems Concerning the Soul,
Las Vegas, Parmenides Publishing, 2015, 22-24). Next, Proclus examines the regularity of
planetary motions in the introductory part of his Hypotyposis astronomicarum positionum
(Yrotunwoets Tov dotpovoutKk@v bno8écewv), though in the bulk of his account he is clearly
more interested in the technical explanation of the irregularities. On the other hand, his
Elementatio physica (Xtoixewwotc pvouxi)) is an axiomatic and geometrical deduction of the
indivisibility, immateriality and infinite power of the First Unmoved Mover, ultimately from
the concepts of spatial continuity and contiguity, on the basis of Aristotle’s Physics and On the
Heavens. This refined but terse reasoning could hardly render Denys enthusiastic. Hence
rather than Plotinus or Proclus, Plato himself could inspire Denys here, at least as far as
Platonism is concerned. As for Christian cosmic theology, the following long passage in St
Gregory of Nyssa’s seminal dialogue De anima et resurrectione (TIepi yuxñc Kai àvaoräoewc)
could serve as a model for our author: thv Te 6ËvTérnv Tod nöAov nepıpopäv Kal Twv Evrög
KÚKAWwV TÍJV érti TO Éunaliv Kivnoiv, T&ç Te Ünoöpouäg Kai Tag ovvödovs, Kal TÄg Evapuoviovg
anootkoels THVv Korpwv- Ó TKÜTK BAÉNTWV TŐ ÖLXVONTIKÓ TÍjJG wuxiis 6pOaduG, &pa ovyl yavepüc
ÉK TOV paivouévwv dıökokerau, Örı Hein Öuvauıg EvTEXVÖG TE Kal 00PN ToIs 00oıv Eupaıvouevn, Kai
dı& navrwv HKovoa Ta uepn ovvapudleı To ÖAw...; (PG 46, 26 C 8-28 A 6. Tangentially, see also
St Gregory of Nazianzus’ Oratio 20: De dogmate et institutione episcoporum, 11.)
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