Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and Byzantine Art

Abstract

This article discusses the manner in which Pseudo-Dionysius articulates his views about the mystical experience, i.e., the act that leads the faithful to attain glimpses of the divine reality. He sees it as being comparable in particular with the activity of sculpting, which reveals a statue out of the initial material by removing in phases what is superfluous. The text also points out instances of works pertaining to Byzantine art that some researchers claim were either directly or indirectly inspired by the Corpus Dionysiacum. By bringing these into the foreground, we open a discussion about them because, while Pseudo-Dionysius’s influence on particular artistic achievements in the West has already been established, more can be said about it with regard to accomplishments in Eastern Christendom.