Paraphrasis in Dionysium Areopagitam

communion. These visible things are images of the invisible; and if we hear in the holy Gospel, "And he shall separate them from one another," one should not think that God is the cause of the separation for the sinners, or of their standing on the left side. Rather, the sinners themselves are the cause of these things for themselves, having completely separated themselves from God. Just as we see others who are lovers of good things becoming one with God, who indeed, even from this present life, begin the life to come, conducting themselves in an angelic manner in the midst of other men with all divine-naming and holiness. He speaks of "divine-naming" either as doing everything at all times in the name of God, or as being named after God—that is, after Christ—and living according to Him. I would never say that you suffer, but if you do suffer anything bodily, I say you suffer only insofar as you discern and perceive it, so that you might not remain without a crown. I justly blame those who think they can limit you, the sun of the Gospel. Yet I pray for you to return and hasten to me, so that those who have been enlightened may be saved. For just as he is mad who thinks to enclose this sun in a place, so too are these people mad who think to limit the light of the Gospel together with you on the island of Patmos. But as for us, not even the opposite—that is, being far away—will deprive us of your light. But in your absence, we will read your Gospel, which he aptly calls a remembrance of its true theology. After a short while, when you are recalled, we will meet face to face. As one who has been enlightened by God, I prophesy that within a very short time you will be recalled from exile. For he was banished to Patmos around the final year of the reign of Domitian, after Domitian stirred up a persecution. Then, around the death of that emperor, the [illegible/sudden]...