Dionysius

the Areopagite, a convert of St. Paul, Act 17:34. Chrysostom declares Dionysius to have been a citizen of Athens, which is credible, because the judges of the Areopagus generally were so. After his conversion, Dionysius was made the first bishop of Athens; having laboured, and suffered much in the Gospel, he is said to have been burnt at Athens, A.D. 95. The works attributed to Dionysius are generally reputed spurious.

A member of the court of the Areopagus at Athens, converted under the preaching of Paul, Mal 17:34 . Tradition says that he was eminent for learning, that he was ordained by Paul at Athens, and after many labors and trials, suffered martyrdom by fire. The works ascribed to him are spurious, being the product of some unknown writer in the fourth or fifth century.\par

Dionys’ius. (devoted to Dionysus, that is, Bacchus). Dionysius. the Areop’agite, Act 17:34. An eminent Athenian, converted to Christianity by the preaching of St. Paul. (A.D. 52). He is said to have been first bishop of Athens. The writings which were once attributed to him are now confessed to be the production of some neo-Platonists of the sixth century.

bishop of Corinth, A.D. 170, of whom little now is known, appears to have been in considerable repute in the days of Eusebius, for eight epistles which he had written:

1, to the Lacedaemonians;

2, to the Athenians;

3, to the believers of Nicomedia, the capital of Bithynia;

4, to the Church at Gortyna, and the other churches of Crete;

5, to the Church in Amastris, together with those throughout Pontus;

6, to the Gnossians;

7, to the Romans

8; to Chrysophora, an eminent Christian matron.

These are all lost except a few fragments preserved by Eusebius; Hist. Eccl. 4:23, and 2:25. See extracts from these fragments in Lardner, Works (ed. Kippis), 2:144 sq. The Fragmenta are given in Gallandii Bibl. Patr. 1:675, and in Routh, Reliquiae Sacrae (Oxon. 1814), 1:163 sq. See Fabricius, Bibliotheca Graeca, 4:408; 12:175 (ed. Harles); Ceillier, Hist. Gin. d. auteurs sacres (Paris, 1865), 1:461.

Dionysius (dî’o-nîsh’ĭ-ŭs), belonging to Dionysus, or Bacchus. An eminent Athenian, converted by means of Paul’s preaching. Act 17:34. Tradition reports him to have been bishop of Athens, and to have suffered martyrdom there.

[Dionys’ius]

Member of the supreme court at Athens, converted under the preaching of Paul. Act 17:34.

dı̄-ō̇-nish´i-us (Διονύσιος, Dionúsios, surnamed “the Areopagite”): One of the few Athenians converted by Paul (Act 17:34). We know nothing further about him (see AREOPAGUS). According to one account he was the first bishop of the church at Athens; according to another he suffered martyrdom in that city under Domitian. We are even told that he migrated to Rome and was sent to Paris, where he was beheaded on Montmartre (Mount of the Martyr). The patron saint of France is Denys; compare the French “Denys d’Halicarnasse” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus). The mystical writings which were circulated in the Middle Ages and are still extant, are pronounced by the best authorities to be forgeries, and date from a period not earlier than the 5th century.

See Areopagite.