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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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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Quid porro, quando iterum theologi tradunt, eum qui immobilis est ad universa procedere ac moveri, nonne id etiam ratione quadam Deo congrua intelligendum est? Pie siquidem putandum est ipsum moveri, non secundum delationem, vel immutationem, vel alterationem, vel conversionem, aut localem motum, vel rectum, vel orbicularem, vel ex utrisque constantem, vel intellectilem, vel animalem, vel naturalem, sed secundum quod Deus omnia in rerum naturam producit continue, atque omnibus modis rebus omnibus providet, omnibus adest incomprehense omnia complendo, idqne omnibus providentiae viis et operationibus. Quin et immobilis Dei motus ratione quadam Deo convenienti possit praedicari. Ac rectus quidem intelligendus de inflexibilitate et indeclinabili progressu operationum, eoque, qui ex ipso est, rerum omnium ortu; obliquus autem de illarum stabili progressu ac fecundo statu; circularis denique de identitate ac complexione mediorum atque extremorum quae continent atque continentur ipsum conversione.

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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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