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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Ἀλλ' οὔτε ἐν ἀγγέλοις ἐστὶ τὸ κακόν. Εἰ γὰρ ἐξαγγέλλει τὴν ἀγαθότητα τὴν θείαν ὁ ἀγαθοειδὴς ἄγγελος, ἐκεῖνο ὢν κατὰ μέθεξιν δευτέρως, ὅπερ κατ' αἰτίαν τὸ ἀγγελλόμενον πρώτως, εἰκὼν ἔστι τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ ἄγγελος, φανέρωσις τοῦ ἀφανοῦς φωτὸς, ἔσοπτρον ἀκραίφνες, διειδέστατον, ἀμώμητον, ἀχραντον, ἀκηλίδωτον, εἰσδεχόμενον ὅλην (εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν), τὴν ὡραιότητα τῆς ἀγαθοτύπου θεοειδείας, καὶ ἀμυγῶς ἀναλάμπον ἐν ἑαυτῷ (καθάπερ οἷόν τέ ἐστι), τὴν ἀγαθότητα τῆς ἐν ἀδύτοις σιγῆς· οὐκ ἄρα οὐδὲ ἐν ἀγγέλοις ἐστὶ τὸ κακὸν, ἀλλὰ τῷ κολάζειν τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας εἰσι κακοί. Τούτῳ γοῦν τῷ λόγῳ καὶ οἱ σωφρονισταὶ τῶν πλημμελούντων κακοὶ, καὶ τῶν ἱερέων οἱ τὸν βέβηλον τῶν θείων μυστηρίων ἀπείργοντες. Καίτοι οὐδὲ τὸ κολάζεσθαι κακὸν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἄξιον γενέσθαι κολάσεως, οὐδὲ τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν ἀπείργεσθαι τῶν ἱερῶν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐναγῆ καὶ ἀνέρον γενέσθαι, καὶ τῶν ἀχράντων ἀνεπιτηδείων.

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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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