On the Divine Names

Dionysius the Areopagite

On the Divine Names

Dionysius the Areopagite

Περὶ θείων ὀνομάτων

On the Divine Names (De divinis nominibus) is the chief theological treatise of the Christian Neoplatonist writing under the name Dionysius the Areopagite, probably in the late fifth or early sixth century. Addressed to Timothy, it unfolds the names predicated of God — Good, Light, Beauty, Love, Being, Life, Wisdom, Power, Justice, and the rest — through thirteen chapters, grounding each name in Scripture and in the tradition of Hierotheus. Its account of divine procession, participation, and the beautiful-and-good became foundational for Byzantine and medieval Latin theology, and it is among the authorities Aquinas cites most. Schola presents the Greek text with the Latin translation of Balthasar Corderius and the English translation of John Parker (1897).


CAPUT I. Quis libri finis, et quae e divinis nominibus prodita tandem esse, et ex rebus sensibilibus non posse cognosci

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CAPUT II. unio et distinctio.

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CAPUT III. Quae sit vis orationis, et de beato Hierotheo, de religione et conscriptione theologica.

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CAPUT IV. De bono, luce, pulchro, amore, exstasi, zelo; et quod malum neque ens sit, neque ex entibus, neque in entibus.

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CAPUT V. De ente, in quo etiam de exemplaribus.

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Ino et in tota natura universi rationes uniuscujusque naturae una copulatione non confusa collectae sunt, et in anima copulatae sunt uniformiter virtutes, quae omnibus partibus corporis provident; non est igitur absurdum, ex parvis et minutis imaginibus et exemplis ad causam omnium ascendentes, supermundanis oculis contemplari omnia in causa omnium, et quae sunt inter se contraria, uniformiter et copulate; siquidem principium est rerum, a quo tam ipsummet esse, quam omnia quae quomodocunque sunt, omne principium, omnis finis, omnis vita, omnis immortalitas, omnis sapientia, omnis ordo, omnis congruentia, omnis potentia, omnis custodia, omne firmamentum, omnis permansio, omnis intelligentia, omnis ratio, omnis sensus, omnis habitus, omnis status, omnis motus, omnis unio, omnis complexus, omnis amicitia, omnis discrepantia, omnis distinctio, omnis definitio, et caetera quaecunque essendo sunt entia, universa insignit.

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CAPUT VI. De vita.

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CAPUT VII. De sapientia, mente, ratione, veritate, fide.

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CAPUT VIII. De potentia, justitia, salute, redemptione; ubi etiam de inaequalitate.

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CAPUT IX. De magno, parvo, eodem, alio, simili, dissimili, statu, motu, aequalitate.

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CAPUT X. De omnitenente, antiquo dierum; in quo etiam de aevo seu aeternitate et tempore.

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CAPUT XI. De pace, quidque sibi velit ipsum per se esse, quae sit per se vita, quae vis ipsa per se, et quae illa coordinat atque conciliat, et quinam sint ejus effectus.

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CAPUT XII. De Sancto sanctorum, Rege regum, Domino dominantium, Deo deorum.

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CAPUT XIII. De perfecto et uno.

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