Armando Maese Jr.’s Reviews > The Complete Works > Status Update

Completed "The Celestial Hierarchy." I didn't understand the significance of 'hierarch' in eastern theology before. I now have a better idea. Why *most* interpret Pseudo-Dionysius as a monarchical trinitarian and *some* interpret his christology as miaphysite, I can better understand. They are not explicit (here), but they fit. His 'neoplatonic synthesis' worked in procession and return is masterfully creative.

Completed "The Celestial Hierarchy." I didn't understand the significance of 'hierarch' in eastern theology before. I now have a better idea. Why *most* interpret Psuedo-Dionysius as a monarchical trinitarian and *some* interpret his christology as miaphysite, I can better understand. They are not explicit (here), but they fit. His 'neoplatonic synthesis' worked in procession and return is masterfully creative.

theology has transmitted to the men of earth those hymns sung by the first ranks of the angels whose gloriously transcendent enlightenment is thereby made manifest.

Finished 'The Divine Names.' Surprised by the allusions to Acts. The author certainly takes up the mantle of the Areopagite.

The movement of the soul: Affirmation → Negation → Union. God condescends to us through creation and revelation, where we derive the knowledge of God conceptualized in the divine names; he lifts us beyond this knowledge through negation; and he brings us into union with himself in unknowing.

… evil lies in the inability of things to reach their natural peak or perfection.

‘The divine longing is Good seeking good for the sake of the Good.’