On the Heavenly Hierarchy
Translation: The Works of Dionysius the Areopagite, Vol. II · Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (late 5th–early 6th c.) · source: sacred-texts.com / chr/dio (mirror of James Parker & Co., London, 1899)
Fifteen caputs on the supercelestial hierarchies — the foundational Western theological source for the threefold-by-three structure of the angelic orders: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones; Dominions, Virtues, Powers; Principalities, Archangels, Angels. Cited by Aquinas and Dante, engaged with extensively by Steiner. Greek title Περὶ τῆς οὐρανίας ἱεραρχίας.
Source context· Greco-Christian stream · Greco-Latin cultural age
- Stream
- Greco-Christian
- Cultural age
- Greco-Latin (4th post-Atlantean cultural age)
- Composed
- c. 500 CE
- 1On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput I — I. Every good gift descends from the Father of Lights
Opens the treatise with James 1:17 — Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights. The fundamental Dionysian axiom: the divine illumination is poured down from on high through the hierarchies.
723 words - 2On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput II — II. The use of dissimilar similitudes for the celestial beings
Why Scripture employs dissimilar images (fire, beasts, animals, even bestial parts) of the celestial beings rather than dignified images. The dissimilar protects against thinking of angels in material likeness; the lowliness of the image preserves the mystery.
2,366 words - 3On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput III — III. What is a hierarchy; the office of hierarchy
Dionysius defines hierarchia — sacred order, sacred knowledge, sacred activity — modelled upon the divine and modelling the assimilation of every member to God. The threefold work: purification, illumination, perfection.
731 words - 4On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput IV — IV. The angelic appearances of the Old Testament
The angelic manifestations in the Old Testament are interpreted as the work of the lower ranks of the celestial hierarchy — accommodated to the spiritual condition of the recipients. Dionysius reads the prophetic visions as veiled communications through angelic order.
1,215 words - 5On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput V — V. Why all the heavenly Beings are commonly called Angels
On the catholic-Greek use of angelos (messenger) as the name for all the heavenly beings. The lowest of the nine orders carries the name proper to its office, but the higher orders also participate in messenger-work and so share the title.
309 words - 6On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput VI — VI. The first order of the heavenly Beings
The nine orders of celestial beings introduced. The number nine: triads of three. The first triad — Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones — closest to the divine and most directly receptive of the divine illumination.
323 words - 7On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput VII — VII. Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones — the highest triad
The first triad expounded. Seraphim — the burning ones, those who burn with the divine love. Cherubim — the abundance of knowledge, the wisdom-pourers. Thrones — the seats upon which the divine majesty is borne; bearers of God's settledness.
1,647 words - 8On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput VIII — VIII. Dominions, Virtues (Mights), Powers — the middle triad
The middle triad. Dominions — the lordships, exemplifying authority freed from servile bondage. Mights (Virtues) — the manly courage and strength which knows no flagging. Powers — the well-ordered governance over those below.
1,068 words - 9On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput IX — IX. Principalities, Archangels, Angels — the lowest triad
The third triad, closest to the human hierarchy. Principalities — the princely ordering of the lower hierarchies. Archangels — the chief messengers, mediating between the upper triads and the angels. Angels — the messengers proper, who touch human affairs.
1,215 words - 10On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput X — X. The order and the hierarchical regularity
On the inviolable order of the hierarchy: each rank receives from the rank immediately above it, transmits to the rank immediately below it. No leaping over levels; the regularity is itself part of the order's divinity.
372 words - 11On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput XI — XI. The common name 'heavenly powers'
Why all nine ranks together are called heavenly powers. The common participation in the divine power, even though distributed in differing measure; the name power attaching to all because all are empowered by the One Power.
353 words - 12On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput XII — XII. Whether sacred-orderly priests are called angels
On whether the priests of the earthly hierarchy can be called angels. Yes — by analogy and participation, since their office is to bear the divine illumination from above to below, which is the proper office of angelos.
402 words - 13On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput XIII — XIII. The Seraph that touched Isaiah's lips
Exegesis of Isaiah 6 — the seraph that takes a coal from the altar and touches the prophet's lips. The seraph in question is interpreted not as one of the highest order acting directly, but as a Seraphic illumination mediated through proper hierarchy.
1,862 words - 14On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput XIV — XIV. The traditional number of the Angels
Daniel 7:10 — 'thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.' On the inexhaustible multiplicity of angelic beings; the number that exceeds counting; the great host of the heavenly liturgy.
141 words - 15On the Heavenly Hierarchy — Caput XV — XV. The symbolic figures of the angels: light, fire, hands, eyes
The closing chapter on the symbolic figures: light, fire, anthropomorphic forms (eye, ear, mouth, hand, foot, shoulder), the various weapons. Each figure explicated as the proper attribute of a particular angelic activity — the symbolic theology of the heavenly beings.
2,845 words
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