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In ancient Europeancosmologies inspired byAristotle, theEmpyrean heaven,Empyreal or simply theEmpyrean, was the place in thehighest heaven which was supposed to be occupied by the element offire (oraether in Aristotle's natural philosophy). Later early and medieval Christian cosmology incorporated the concept in descriptions of the Christian notion ofheaven.
The word derives from theMedieval Latinempyreus, an adaptation of theAncient Greekempyros (ἔμπυρος), meaning "in or on the fire (pyr)".[1]
The word is used both as a noun and as an adjective, butempyreal is an alternate adjective form. The scientific wordsempyreuma andempyreumatic, applied to the characteristic smell of the burning or charring of vegetable or animal matter, have the same Greek origin.[1]
Early Christians took inspiration from Aristotle's cosmology in their reckoning of heaven.[2] From the 7th century onwards, the idea of the Empyrean gained traction in the faith because of writers likeIsidore of Seville andBede.[2]
In later Christian religious cosmologies, the Empyrean was "the source of light" and where God and saved souls resided.[1] In medieval Christianity, the Empyrean was the third heaven and beyond "the heaven of the air and the heaven of the stars."[2] The Empyrean was thus used as a name for the incorporeal "heaven of the first day".[3]
InChristian literature, the Empyrean was described as the dwelling-place of God, the blessed, celestial beings so divine they are made of pure light, and the source of light and creation.[1] Notably, at the very end ofDante'sParadiso, Dante visits God in the Empyrean.
According to Saint Basil, the First Heaven (which in the Middle Ages came to be called the Empyrean), has existed already before the Creation in the form of incorporeal light. There was, declared Saint Basil, a certain condition, older than the birth of the world and proper to the supramundane powers, one beyond time, everlasting, without beginning or end. In it the Creator and Producer of all things perfect the works of His art, a spriritual light befitting the blessedness of those who love the Lord...
Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Empyrean".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 362.
