Lêxis en Dionisio Areopagita

Abstract

In Commentary on the Phaedo, Damascius states that “a destiny (lêxis) is the position in the universe that has been distributed by Justice to each according to his dignity (kat’axían)” (I, 467). This appears  particularly in the third part of the work dedicated to the interpretation of Plato’s myth. The purpose of this research is to analyze the reception of this Neoplatonic term in Dionysius’s literature. The term appears in chapter 7 of The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, where Dionysius deals with the funeral rites and where the notes of Dionysius eschatology are found. In other words, Dionysius’s use of the word combines a metaphysical perspective and a spiritual one. The first is found within the representation of Dionysius’s universe, in which the angels also are referred to as léxeis and are characterized by their constant motion around the Thearchia. The latter is found in a human context as a calling to imitate the angelic condition. Summing up, this research presents an example of the reception of Neo-Platonism in the work of a thinker that is considered to be Neoplatonic and whose nuclei where his Christianity is evidenced are often shunned.