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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Πῶς ὅλως τὰ κακὰ Προνοίας οὔσης; Οὐκ ἔστι τὸ κακὸν, ἢ κακὸν, οὔτε ὄν, οὔτε ἐν τοῖς οὖσι. Καὶ οὐδὲν τῶν ὄντων ἐστὶν ἀπρονόητον· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐστι τὸ κακὸν ὄν, ἀμιγὲς ὑπάρχον τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ. Καὶ εἰ μηδὲν τῶν ὄντων ἀμέτοχον τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, κακὸν δὲ ἡ ἔλλειψις τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, οὐδὲν δὲ τῶν ὄντων ἐστέρηται καθόλου τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς οὖσιν ἡ θεία Πρόνοια, καὶ οὐδὲν τῶν ὄντων ἀπρονόητον· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς γινομένοις κακοῖς ἀγαθοπρεπῶς ἡ Πρόνοια κέχρηται, πρὸς τὴν αὐτῶν, ἢ ἄλλων, ἢ ἰδικὴν ἢ κοινὴν ὠφέλειαν, καὶ οἰκείως ἑκάστου τῶν ὄντων προνοεῖ. Διὸ καὶ τὸν εἱμαρμένον τῶν πολλῶν οὐκ ἀποδεξόμεθα λόγον, οἱ χρῆναι φασὶ τὴν Πρόνοιαν καὶ ἄκοντας ἡμᾶς ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρετὴν ἄγειν· τὸ γὰρ φθεῖραι φύσιν οὐκ ἔστι Προνοίας. Ὅθεν ὡς Πρόνοια τῆς ἑκάστου φύσεως σωστικὴ, τῶν αὐτοκινήτων ὡς αὐτοκινήτων προνοεῖ, καὶ τῶν ὅλων καὶ τῶν καθ' ἕκαστον οἰκείως ὅλῳ καὶ ἑκάστῳ, καθ' ὅσον ἡ τῶν προνοουμένων φύσις ἐπιδέχεται τὰς τῆς ὅλης καὶ παντοδαπῆς προνοίας ἐκδιδομένας ἀναλόγως ἑκάστῳ προνοητικὰς ἀγαθότητας.

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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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