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‘Visual Thinking’ and the Influence of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the Homilies and Hymns of Andrew of Crete

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Pseudo-Dionysius and Christian Visual Culture, c.500–900

Part of the book series: New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture ((NABHC))

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Abstract

This chapter examines the reception of Dionysius the Areopagite’s ideas about images, as reflections of divine reality in the material world, in the liturgical writings of the early eighth-century preacher and hymnographer, Andrew of Crete. The paper also attempts, on the basis of Andrew’s writings as well as some external evidence, to determine whether this liturgical writer sympathised openly with the iconophile cause. This eighth-century archbishop, like (Pseudo-)Dionysius, understood the ‘visual’ metaphor as enabling the ascent of Christians towards divine reality, whether this occurred in sacramental or mystical terms.

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Acknowledgements

I am very grateful to Fr Maximos Constas, Francesca Dell’Acqua, and anonymous readers for reading earlier drafts of this article and offering valuable suggestions and criticisms. I take full responsibility for the argument that is presented here, as well as for any errors that remain.

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  1. University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

    Mary B. Cunningham

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  1. Mary B. Cunningham
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  1. Dipartimento di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale, Università degli studi di Salerno, Fisciano (Salerno), Italy

    Francesca Dell’Acqua

  2. Centro interdipartimentale di Filosofia tardoantica, medievale e umanistica (FiTMU), Università degli studi di Salerno, Fisciano (Salerno), Italy

    Ernesto Sergio Mainoldi

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Cunningham, M.B. (2020). ‘Visual Thinking’ and the Influence of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite in the Homilies and Hymns of Andrew of Crete. In: Dell’Acqua, F., Mainoldi, E. (eds) Pseudo-Dionysius and Christian Visual Culture, c.500–900. New Approaches to Byzantine History and Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24769-0_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-24769-0_7

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