The background of Dionysius was quite limited. He was apparently born into a wealthy pagan family in Athens. He was probably Greek. As a young man he went to a place called Heliopolis and witnessed a most unusual event in the skies above, which he describes in detail, in letter 7. He says that this event occurred on the day of the Crucifixion of Christ. He had a famous teacher named "Hierotheus", whose description sounds a lot like Philo of Alexandria.

The influence of these writings is plainly marked in, The Divine Comedy of Dante and in the works of the English poet John Milton. The Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus was among those who first cast doubt upon the assumption that Dionysius was the author of these writings.

The impact of the Dionysian body has a strange journey. In his essay "The Odyssey of Dionysian Spirituality," Jaroslav Pelikan describes the shaky reception of such a doubtful collection of writings. From their introduction during Monophysite debates by Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, through the glosses of John Scotus (known as Eriugena) to Thomas Aquinas and Meister Eckhart, the survival of these works was anything but sure. Pelikan concludes that the use of a pseudonym and the neo-Platonist unity with Augustine enabled Dionysius to leave a mark upon Christian theology and mysticism for good. Other notable persons influenced by the works of the Dionysian author include: Gregory the Great, Isaac of Stella, Albert the Great and Nicholas of Cusa.

Although it is said that he lacked greater variety on Christology and on the theology of love, these fields may not be the most developed by him but they are not marginal in his theological system. J. Leclercq says that, "Dionysius' ideas were frequently abstract and had little basis in Sacred Scriptures"; however, Dionysius' writings contain not less than 1000 Scriptural quotations or references. For the amount of work we have from him, is not little.

Dionysius is member of the Areopagus in Athens and change to Christianity through the preaching of Saint Paul. Nothing more is definitely known about him. He is supposed to have been the first bishop of Athens and to have been martyred there in the reign of Domitian, emperor of Rome. Dionysius was in Athens around the year 48, when the Apostle Paul preached and disputed daily in the marketplace of Athens. Dionysius is a controversial personality both in respect to his biography and to his thought.

There is no doubt about the spiritual and neoplatonic influences in Dionysius' writings. As the quotation from L. Montet indicates, Dionysius is supposed to have been a friend or disciple of Proclus. The philosophical influences he received from outside the Church are most visible in the general pattern of his understanding of creation and existence as descent and return. However, he was not the only Christian writer influenced by the Greek philosophy. Origen himself was considered to be even a founder of Neoplatonism.

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Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)