John of Scythopolis and the Dionysian Corpus (review)

The first half of this work begins with a lengthy introduction that treats of the earliest reception of the Dionysian corpus, and then John of Scythopolis’s life, theological and philosophical sources, and doctrinal convictions, and Dionysius’ orthodoxy and authenticity. The second section offers an English translation of John’s Prologue and most of his marginal annotations to the works of the Pseudo-Dionysius. Since Beate Regina Suchla’s discovery of a Syriac and a Greek manuscript with only John of Scythopolis’ comments, scholars are now able to determine which of the Dionysian scholia contained in Migne belong to John. Following this lead, Rorem and Lamoreaux have also drawn upon other manuscripts in the same tradition to translate the Prologue and the most significant scholia present in Dionysius’ works. While up to now Suchla has published only the scholia for the Divine Names, Rorem and Lamoreaux are confident that the “extreme stability” found in the earliest recensions make their own wider translation reliable until such time as Suchla publishes her definitive critical text.

The present work is rather significant for Dionysian scholarship. Its importance is due to the fact that John of Scytholpolis was the first and perhaps the most influential early commentator of Dionysius. It was his annotated version that later generations read. Little is known of John’s life other than that he was a Neo-Chalcedonian who wrote in the first half of the sixth century, so it seems, to counter the Monophysite attempt to use Dionysius for their own theological advantage. John’s defense of Dionysius’ orthodoxy helped to make Dionysius’s statements regarding the Trinity, Christology, creation, and eschatology acceptable to Orthodox thinking. Another crucial role John played was to defend the authenticity of Dionysius’ works against those who questioned why both Eusebius and Origen made no mention of Dionysius’ works. John weakly proposed that neither had Dionysius’ works at hand. As regards Origen, John reacted in a very ambiguous way, affirming but more often condemning him.

Rorem and Lamoreaux argue persuasively that John’s Prologue foreshadows the principal points that are later elaborated upon in the scholia. They demonstrate that when these have been linked together and then compared or contrasted one is in a position to appreciate the full weight of what John of Scythopolis has accomplished. Their examination reveals John to be a creative theologian in his own right. They also provide an insightful glimpse into the Greek intellectual thought in the sixth century as well as into John’s other concerns, especially in regard to Dionysius’ mystical and spiritual teaching. Finally they maintain that about 600 of the scholia present in Migne should be assigned to John of Scythopolis rather than to Maximus the Confessor and that these constitute about 70 percent of the total length of all the scholia. Of these, Rorem and Lamoreaux have translated about two-thirds, omitting those merely philological, non-substantive, and simply repetitious.

This is a very clear, extremely well written, balanced and, at least for me, highly informative work. I found that the introductory material can be likened to a descending kind of a spiral where each chapter not only fits in with what preceded but enlarged and deepened its overall content. I was aware in the past that John of Scythopolis was one of the first commentators of Dionysius and somehow responsible for the scholia found in Migne. My knowledge grew from the two essays by Suchla and Rorem that I recently read in Denys L’Aréopagite et sa Postérité en Orient et en Occident. I now believe I can speak in a well-informed way about John. While the likely readership for this work is doubtless limited, principally to those interested in Dionysius the Areopagite and sixth century Greek thought, I recommend it for major theological libraries. For it not only provides an English translation of a classical theological work but has also now opened the door for further research into...