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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§ XXXI

Τῶν ἀγαθῶν τὸ αἴτιον ἕν. Εἰ τῷ ἀγαθῷ τὸ κακὸν ἐναντίον, τοῦ κακοῦ τὰ αἴτια πολλά· οὐ μὴν τὰ ποιητικὰ τῶν κακῶν, λόγοι καὶ δυνάμεις, ἀλλ' ἀδυναμία, καὶ ἀσθένεια, καὶ μῖξις τῶν ἀνομοίων ἀσύμμετρος. Οὔτε ἀκίνητα καὶ ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχοντα τὰ κακά, ἀλλ' ἄπειρα, καὶ ἀόριστα, καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις φερόμενα, καὶ τούτοις ἀπείροις. Πάντων καὶ τῶν κακῶν ἀρχὴ καὶ τέλος ἔσται τὸ ἀγαθόν· τοῦ γὰρ ἀγαθοῦ ἕνεκα πάντα καὶ ὅσα ἀγαθὰ, καὶ ὅσα ἐναντία· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα πράττομεν τὸ ἀγαθὸν ποθοῦντες· (οὐδεὶς γὰρ εἰς τὸ κακὸν ἀποβλέπων ποιεῖ ἃ ποιεῖ·) διὸ οὔτε ὑπόστασιν ἔχει τὸ κακὸν, ἀλλὰ παρυπόστασιν, οὗ ἀγαθοῦ ἕνεκα καὶ οὐχ ἑαυτοῦ γινόμενον.

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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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