"Everything is in order, but in a different way": reinterpretation of the Areopagite concept of hierarchy

Abstract

"Order", "subordination", "power", "repression" are the phenomena with which the concept of "hierarchy" is most often associated. As far as we know, the term "hierarchy" is found for the first time in the Areopagite corpus. After a hermeneutic analysis of the definition of hierarchy in its first usage, a number of some new and not so obvious meanings are revealed: hierarchy is not only an order, but also a knowledge, an action (or energy) and an imitation of God, it is associated with a difference in the nature of things, but at the same time it is dynamic, not static. In the basis of the central role the concept of "Divine action (or energy)" plays in describing hierarchy, we argue that in the Areopagitics can be traced the procedural logic of the Arab-Muslim world, rather than the substantial logic of the Greek-Western European world. An explanation of this paradox is proposed based on the commensurability of the Areopagite and Akbari traditions, which is confirmed by historical data.