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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Καίτοι φαίη τις· Εἰ πᾶσιν ἐστὶ τὸ καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν ἐραστὸν καὶ ἐφετὸν καὶ ἀγαπητὸν (ἐφίεται γὰρ αὐτῷ καὶ τὸ μὴ ὂν, ὡς εἴρηται, καὶ φυλάσσει πᾶς ἐν αὐτῷ εἶναι· καὶ αὐτό ἐστι τὸ εἰδοποιὸν καὶ τῶν ἀνειδέων, καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ μὴ ὂν ὑπερουσίως λέγεται καὶ ἔστιν·) πῶς ἡ δαιμονία πληθὺς οὐκ ἐφίεται τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ, πρὸςυλος δὲ οὖσα, καὶ τῆς ἀγγελικῆς περὶ τὴν ἔφεσιν τἀγαθοῦ ταὐτότητος ἐκπεπτωκυῖα, κακῶν ἀπάντων αἰτία καὶ ἑαυτῇ καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις γίνεται, ὅσα κακυνεσθαι λέγεται; πῶς δὲ ὅλως ἐκ τἀγαθοῦ παραχθὲν τὸ δαιμόνιον φῦλον, οὐκ ἔστιν ἀγαθοειδές; ἢ πῶς, ἀγαθὸν ἐκ τἀγαθοῦ γεγονὸς, ἠλλοιώθη; καὶ τί τὸ κακύναν αὐτὸ, καὶ ὅλως τί τὸ κακὸν ἐστι; καὶ ἐκ τίνος ἀρχῆς ὑπέστη, καὶ ἐν τίνι τῶν ὄντων ἐστί; καὶ πῶς ὁ ἀγαθὸς αὐτὸ παραγαγεῖν ἠβουλήθη; πῶς δὲ βουληθεὶς ἠδυνήθη; Καὶ εἰ ἐξ ἄλλης αἰτίας τὸ κακὸν, τίς ἑτέρα τοῖς οὖσι παρὰ τἀγαθὸν αἰτία; πῶς δὲ, καὶ Προνοίας οὔσης, ἔστι τὸ κακὸν, ἢ γινόμενον ὅλως, ἢ μὴ ἀναιρούμενον; καὶ πῶς ἐφίεται τι τῶν ὄντων αὐτοῦ παρὰ τἀγαθόν;

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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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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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