The Complete Works of Pseudo-Dionysius: A New Translation

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite stands among the most influential and enigmatic voices of late antique Christian thought. Writing under the name of the Athenian convert of Saint Paul, he forged a synthesis of Christian theology and Neoplatonic philosophy that would shape Eastern and Western theology for more than a millennium.

This volume presents the complete corpus of the Areopagite’s surviving works in a single tome. Included are The Divine Names, Mystical Theology, The Celestial Hierarchy, The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, and the full collection of Epistles traditionally transmitted under his name. Together, these writings articulate a vision of God as at once infinitely knowable through divine self-disclosure and infinitely beyond all human concepts, language, and affirmation.

The hierarchical treatises lay out a symbolic and liturgical ordering of the cosmos, angels, and the Church, while the shorter theological works press beyond all images and names into the “luminous darkness” where God is known precisely by unknowing. The Epistles complement these treatises with a more direct and personal mode of instruction, addressing questions of doctrine, spiritual discipline, and the limits of theological speech.

In addition to the ten Epistles commonly included in the medieval Dionysian corpus, this edition also includes the rarely transmitted Letter to Apollophanes, Philosopher, preserved in early sources but traditionally excluded from the standard enumeration. Its inclusion offers readers a fuller view of the epistolary voice of Pseudo-Dionysius and his engagement with the philosophical culture of his time.

Designed for theologians, philosophers, students of mysticism, and serious readers of the Christian tradition, this newly translated volume brings together all extant Dionysian writings in a unified and carefully presented form, making accessible one of the foundational corpora of Christian metaphysics, mysticism, and symbolic theology.