Empyrean

The Empyrean or Empyrion ( from Ancient Greek ἔμπυρος émpyros, located in the fire ') was in the cosmology of the Middle Ages, the highest part of the sky above the earth and is referred to as the area of fire or light and the abode of the blessed.

So it says in Godeschalcus and Visio Godeschalci with German translation: " It is said that heaven, the empyrean ', that is, entirely of fire ' hot, alone after his rays bill, not even after the heat; and it was also, as one wants to, the, third heaven, ' to which Paul after his own testimony " [ 2 Kor. 12.2 ] " has been caught; because using as first the airspace, as the second the firmament and this the empyrean was filled with the ether as the third in the series. " According to Aristotle.

In Christianity, the Empyrean was considered whereabouts of God and of the blessed. As such, the Empyrean is mentioned among others in Dante's Divine Comedy. In English there is still the word Empyrean Heaven ( Seventh Heaven ).

In the literature

As a fictional place Empyrion is the scene of two fantasy novels by Stephen Lawhead, Empyrion: The Search ( Empyrion I: The Search for Fierra ) (1985) and Empyrion: The Siege ( Empyrion II: The Siege of Dome) (1986). Empyrion is a fictional colony, which was established in a foreign solar system from terrestrial spacemen. The planet Empyrion houses two completely different civilizations, the dome culture and Fieri. The Fieri describe their world as Empyrion because they believe that they live in constant presence of the Infinite Father.