Abstract

Dionysius claims that the divine attributes ‘can be fashioned from material things to symbolise what is intelligible and intellectual’. As a matter of fact, sense perceptions are ‘echoes of wisdom’, because they manifest the intelligible. God’s majesty is intermingled in sensible things, which help the human mind to ascend to the ineffable divinity. Thus, sensible things are a concession to human nature, and serve as the mind’s vehicle in its ascent to God. Dionysius constructs an aesthetic soteriology, which centres around deification and union with God, that cannot be completed without the aid of sensible things. This chapter explores these ideas and puts them in the context of Dionysian thought, in addition to offering some insights into Dionysius’ influence on the doctrine of icons.