c. 500 (Maximus – 7th century)

Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Maximus the Confessor: God beyond Being and the Negative Way

Around 500, probably in Syria, a corpus appeared bearing the name of Dionysius the Areopagite; for centuries it was regarded as the work of Paul's disciple. Under the influence of Neoplatonism (close to Proclus), Dionysius stresses God's transcendence and unity: God is beyond being, essence and personality; he "is not," yet from him everything receives being. Hence the via negativa: to speak not of what God is but of what he is not; positive names are only analogies. The negative way is also the way to union with God, "to the Ray of the divine Darkness." Maximus the Confessor, a commentator on Dionysius, taught that God is known not in his essence but in the greatness of creation and providence, and anticipated the distinction between essence and energy.