The question of values and the concept of the “person” in the Byzantine thought of the Palaeologan Renaissance

Abstract

In this article we focus on the third chapter of George Pachymeres’ Paraphrasis of Dionysius the Areopagite’s De divinis nominibus, emphasizing the second and third paragraphs. The aim is to highlight the concept of “person” and “personality” in the context of the theological atmosphere of Eastern Christianity and, specifically, of the Dionysian tradition. Taking into account what the Byzantine thinker elaborates on Hierotheus, we shed light on the way whereby the question of values in human beings as “persons” who decide to follow a certain example is defined. This question derives from the degree of participation in the divine mystery and revelations. In any case, it is not a matter of class distinction but of different degrees of understanding divine reality, which is shaped by how divine gifts are assimilated by human “persons”.