The “cloud of ignorance” as an example of the apophatic mysticism of the middle ages

The article examines the medieval English mystical treatise “The Cloud of Ignorance” from the standpoint of apophatic theology. The apophatic way of knowing God is based on the fundamental denial of any definitions of God that limit the true image of the Divine. The “cloud of ignorance” already in the title denotes belonging to this theological tradition: the anonymous author says that knowing God and approaching Him cannot be carried out either with the help of curiosity of wit or with the help of imagination. The analysis of the treatise allows us to inscribe it into the mystical tradition of English medieval prose and, more broadly, into the mystical tradition of European spirituality.