Observations placeholder
Dionysius the Areopagite - Celestial Hierarchy - The Great Work
Identifier
004012
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The 'Celestial Hierarchies' of Dionysius the Areopagite is based on passages from the Old and New Testaments and also embodies the essential principles of Neoplatonic teaching. Dionysius believed there was a 'Divine Plan whereby all beings and things, from the smallest to the largest participated according to what they were capable of’. As such no one was excluded and everyone had a part to play in the Great Work however apparently small that part.
A description of the experience
The superessential Deity, having through His Goodness established the essential subsistence of all, brought all things into being. For it is the very nature of that God which is the supreme cause of all to call all things to participation in itself in proportion to the capacity and nature of each.