Theodore the Presbyter on the Genuineness of Dionysius the Areopagite

The treatise of Theodore the presbyter has been read by me, arguing that the book of Saint Dionysius is genuine. Four objections are taken up in the treatise: first, that if it were genuine, some of the later Fathers would have recalled its sayings and usages — yet none did; second, that Eusebius, son of Pamphilus, in compiling a register of the books composed by our blessed Fathers, made no mention of it; third, how this book expounds in detail traditions that grew up in the Church by degrees and over long time — for great Dionysius, as the Acts make plain, lived alongside the Apostles, while what the book contains is for the most part a record of traditions that grew up in the Church by degrees or at a later date; it would be implausible, so the objection runs, indeed a fabrication, to hold that Dionysius set down what grew up in the Church long after great Dionysius's death. Fourth, how the book recalls the epistle of God-inspired Ignatius — for Dionysius was at his height in Apostolic times, whereas Ignatius completed his contest through martyrdom under Trajan, writing the epistle the book recalls a little before his death. Having promised to resolve these four difficulties, he maintains that, so far as rests with him, the book is the genuine work of great Dionysius.