Dionysius the Areopagite

Dionysius the Areopagite (Διονύσιος ὁ Ἀρεοπαγίτης Dionysios ho Areopagitēs) was an Athenian judge at the Areopagus Court in Athens, who lived in the first century. A convert to Christianity, he is venerated as a saint by multiple denominations.

Life


As related in the Acts of the Apostles, he was converted to Christianity by the preaching of Paul the Apostle.

After his conversion, Dionysius became the first Bishop of Athens, though he is sometimes counted as the second after Hierotheus. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches. He is the patron saint of Athens and is venerated as the protector of judges and the judiciary. His memory is celebrated on October 3.

Historic confusions
In the early sixth century the so-called Corpus Dionysiacum, a series of writings of a mystical nature, employing Neoplatonic language to elucidate Christian theological and mystical ideas, was ascribed to the Areopagite. Its author is now known as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. A minority of scholars, including Romanian theologian Dumitru Stăniloae, argue in favor of authenticity citing internal historical details and the existence of explicit citations of Dionysius predating Proclus by writers such as Dionysius of Alexandria and Gregory Nazianzus. Even Proclus himself appears to cite an external authority for a euphemism ("flowers and supersubstantial lights") when the said verbiage is found explicitly in the Corpus Dionysiacum.

Dionysius has been misidentified with the martyr Dionysius, the first Bishop of Paris. However, this mistake by a ninth-century writer is ignored and each saint is commemorated on his respective day.

Modern references
In Athens there are two large churches bearing his name, one in Kolonaki on Skoufa Street, while the other is the Catholic Metropolis of Athens, on Panepistimiou Street. The pedestrian walkway around the Acropolis, which passes through the rock of the Areios Pagos, also bears his name.

Dionysius is the patron saint of the Gargaliani of Messenia, as well as in the village of Dionysi in the south of the prefecture of Heraklion. The village was named after him and is the only village of Crete with a church in honor of Saint Dionysios Areopagitis.