Progress and Proportion: An Impossible (but Actual) Affinity between Origen and Dionysius

The Pseudo-Dionysian Corpus displays a remarkable discourse on progress, marked as it is by the ascending itinerary of purification, illumination, perfection (i.e. deification), and by the concept that the engine of this itinerary are eros, tension, and desire. The way many of these ideas are tackled by Dionysius is strikingly reminiscent of Origen's, up to one significant case of literal overlapping. Previously unnoticed similarities between Origen's and Dionysius' theory of biblical interpretation will also be investigated. Wherever these similarities surface, however, Dionysius consistently tones them down through the key concept of his system: analogia, proportion (...) whereas fo Origen the progress of the soul is more important than the means to achieve it, for Dionysius the ontological system that controls and permits the advancement towards deification has the priority, with a conscious reversal of Origen's perspective.