Oldal 192 [192]
OCR
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.) + 190 + Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 190 6 2020.06.15. 11:04:20
