Greco-Christian stream·Dionysius the Areopagite·Letters·Letters — Letter III — To the same Gaius
III. To Gaius — the suddenly (ἐξαίφνης)
On the suddenly (ἐξαίφνης) of the Incarnation — Christ's appearance among us as a sudden phenomenon that breaks through the regular orders. The Greek exaiphnēs as the Dionysian name for the temporal singularity of the divine descent.
Source context
- Theme
- personal correspondence as vehicle of spiritual and communal bond between teacher and disciple
Steiner
not engaged in the GA corpus
Cross-tradition
- Pauline epistolary traditionThe Pauline letters to named individuals (e.g., Philemon, Timothy) establish a cross-tradition congruence in which the addressed letter functions as a portable locus of apostolic authority and personal spiritual guidance.
- Sufi maktubat literatureIn traditions such as the Maktubat of Ahmad Sirhindi, letters to named disciples serve as vehicles for transmitting initiatory instruction across distance, paralleling the structural function of Pseudo-Dionysian correspondence.
Letters — Letter III — To the same Gaius
LETTER III. To the same Gaius.
"Sudden" is that which, contrary to expectation, and out of the, as yet, unmanifest, is brought into the manifest. But with regard to Christ’s love of man, I think that the Word of God suggests even this, that the Superessential proceeded forth out of the hidden, into the manifestation amongst us, by having taken substance as man. But, He is hidden, even after the manifestation, or to speak more divinely, even in the manifestation, for in truth this of Jesus has been kept hidden, and the mystery with respect to Him has been reached by no word nor mind, but even when spoken, remains unsaid, and when conceived unknown. p. 143
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