In Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, Hypertheos means “more than God,” “beyond God.” It does not designate another god, but God beyond everything that the name “God” can express. It points to the absolute Transcendence of the Principle, beyond being, beyond all names, attributes, and conceptual determinations.

More precisely,

the term indicates that the cataphatic (positive) names of God — Good, Wise, Creator, Trinity, etc. — are true, yet inadequate, because they name God as manifested, as self-revealing. Hypertheos, instead, refers to God in His own depth, before manifestation, beyond predication; this is the heart of apophatic theology, which proceeds by negation (aphairesis) and finally by silence.

Thus, one must distinguish:
— God (Theos): relational, manifested, revealed, speaking, creating
— Hypertheos: non-manifest, ineffable, beyond determination, principle “prior” to God-as-known

There are not two absolutes, but two modes of apprehending the same Principle:
— in manifestation: God
— in His unmanifest depth: Hypertheos

This is closely related to Meister Eckhart’s distinction between God (Gott) and the Deity (Gottheit): God is personal manifestation, while the Deity is the undifferentiated Absolute, the groundless ground (Abgrunt), prior to all names. The Eckhartian Gottheit and the Dionysian Hypertheos converge: both point to God beyond God, the divine beyond every image, word, or concept.

From the experiential point of view, the movement toward Hypertheos is a path of purification, illumination, and union within the luminous darkness: the intellect, stripped of forms, does not comprehend God as object but participates in Him. True knowledge is thus un-knowing, a passage into the beyond-being (hyperousios) where the Principle is experienced as presence, not concept.

For further reading

  • Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite, The Divine Names & Mystical Theology, trans. M. de Gandillac, Aubier, 1943 — On hyperousios (beyond-being) and the logic of apophasis.
  • Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Divine Names (Super Librum De Divinis Nominibus), Leonine ed. — On the interplay of cataphatic and apophatic theology.
  • Gregory of Nyssa, The Life of Moses, trans. J. Daniélou, Cerf, 1955 — On ascent into the luminous darkness.
  • Nicholas of Cusa, De docta ignorantia, ed. H. Pasqua, Cerf, 2009 — On learned ignorance and the excess of the Principle.
  • Meister Eckhart, Sermons and Treatises, ed. A. de Libera, Gallimard, 2023 — On God / Deity (Gott / Gottheit) and the Abgrunt (“groundless ground”).
  • Jean Borella, Lumières de la théologie mystique (L’Âge d’Homme, 2002) — On hyper-theology, the God / Deity distinction, and the logic of the via negativa.
  • Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church, Cerf, 1944 — On apophaticism, the uncreated energies, and knowledge by participation.
  • Denys Turner, The Darkness of God: Negativity in Christian Mysticism, Cambridge UP, 1995 — On divine darkness and Christian apophatic tradition.
  • Bruno Bérard, Metaphysics for Everyone (Angelico Press); trad. of Métaphysique pour tous (Paris, L’Harmattan, 2022); it. Sui sentieri della metafisica ; sp. ¿Qué es la metafísica? ; ger. Was ist Metaphysik? — On Hypertheos as the designation of transcendence beyond God, and its relation to Gottheit / Deity within a participatory metaphysics.