TY - THES ID - 136433514 TI - On the Role and Significance of the Sacraments in the Theology of Pseudo-Dionysius AU - Gatward, Tobias William AU - Faesen, Robertus AU - KU Leuven. Faculteit Theologie en Religiewetenschappen. Opleiding Master of Theology and Religious Studies (Leuven) PY - 2020 PB - Leuven KU Leuven. Faculteit Theologie en Religiewetenschappen DB - UniCat UR - https://www.unicat.be/uniCat?func=search&query=sysid:136433514 AB - In this essay, I analyse the role of the sacraments according the Pseudo-Dionysius. I begin by situating the sacraments within his wider cosmogony – namely, that the sacraments are the outcome of the radically transcendent God who desires a unity with an other. Moved by this yearning for unity, God descends into the created realm whereby He reveals Himself through the symbols of the sacraments. These sacraments originate from God in order to effect our anagogic ascent towards the Good. Next, I look at the motion of ascent towards divine unity. For Dionysius, mystical ascent consists of an ecstatic apophaticism – the successive denial of all knowledge, finitude, plurality, and ultimately of being itself, until one stands unmediated in the ‘brilliant darkness’ of mystical contemplation before the God who transcends everything. I argue that the sacraments have an indispensable role in this ascent, evident in Dionysius’s theology of baptism and the Eucharist which enact this ecstatic apophaticism through ritual and liturgy. However, Dionysius’s apophatic method means that one must ultimately negate the sacraments if one desires to attain mystical union. As a result, the sacraments are significant for Dionysius only to an extent. They cannot move move soul into direct contemplation of divinity, and consequently, must be negated at the point of divine union. I conclude the essay by discussing the role of the hierarch in the sacraments, especially regarding the sacrament as theomimetic or ‘God-imitating’, which can be seen to re-enact the divine motion of ecstatic extension into plurality followed by a gathering into unity. I finally Consider whether Dionysius is unique insofar as he advocates a mysticism which is inherently communal and interpersonal as opposed to individual. ER -