Filip Ivanovic

This book contributes to the study of the notions of symbol and icon by examining two phenomena that greatly contributed to their development: the thought of Dionysius the Areopagite and the iconoclastic controversy. Different historical and philosophical-theological contexts are examined within the framework of the influence that Dionysius exerted on main protagonists in the controversy and the theology of icon. The reader will find a discussion of the main points of Dionysius' doctrine, the features of the iconoclastic controversy, and an elaboration of the Areopagite's aesthetic and symbolic theory with special reference to the theology of icon. Throughout the work Ivanovic seeks to offer broad insight relevant to many different disciplines, such as theology, philosophy, history, and art. Dionysian theory of symbols and apophatic theology, his concepts of light, icon, and visible things as "images of the invisible things" were the basis of the further development of the Orthodox theology of the icon, which constitutes one of the fundamental values of Christian theology. The analysis offered in this book incites further study of the doctrinal dimension of Christian iconology, as well as of Christian and Neoplatonic mysticism, Byzantine aesthetics, and of theological and cultural studies.

The contribution considers three themes, Hesiod as the precursor of scientific philosophy and ethics, Plato’s political thought and its importance in our days, and the continuity of Greek thought in Byzantine philosophy. It deals with Hesiod’s works Theogony and Works and Days, Plato’s Republic, and it examines the formation of main formulations of Byzantine-Christian doctrines (God’s essence and nature, iconoclastic debate, etc.), through the use of methods and terms of ancient Greek philosophy.

This paper challenges the widespread Enlightenment view of Byzantium as a monster of human spirit showing that much of this bias is due to the generalizations drawn from unfounded analogies between the religious anti-intellectualism in the Latin West and its supposed counterpart in the Byzantine orthodoxy. It points to the first university that was founded in Constantinople and others that soon followed in other cities of Byzantium. Paideia represented the main thread of continuity with ancient antiquity, and it played a central role in the shaping character and it contributed to understandings across a diversity of peoples; its cultivation in open schools and research centers (providing a channel for upward mobility) was unequalled until modern times.

The famous and mysterious fifth century author, who wrote his works known as the Corpus Dionysiacum under the pseudonym of Dionysius the Areopagite, is one of the most controversial characters in the history of philosophy. His thought is well known for the concepts of apophatic and cataphatic theologies and hierarchy, as well as for his understanding of eros, beauty, and deification, which all greatly influenced the Areopagite’s posterity. His system is a successful amalgam of ancient philosophy and Christian doctrines. The aim of this article is to examine one of these concepts, namely beauty, which will help in understanding Dionysius ’ aesthetics in its original terms, as well as in its connections to Neoplatonism. Concretely, the article focuses on the conception of the divine beauty, and is therefore articulated through two sections, which deal with beauty as an attribute of God, and the famous pair of good and beautiful.