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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Μετιτέον δὲ νῦν ἐπὶ τὴν ὄντως οὖσαν τοῦ ὄντως ὄντος θεολογικὴν οὐσιωνυμίαν. Τοσοῦτον δὲ ὑπομνήσομεν ὅτι τῷ λόγῳ σκοπὸς οὐ τὴν ὑπερούσιον οὐσίαν, ᾗ ὑπερούσιος, ἐκφαίνειν, (ἄῤῥητον γὰρ τοῦτο καὶ ἄγνωστόν ἐστι, καὶ παντελῶς ἀνέκφαντον, καὶ αὐτὴν ὑπεραίρον τὴν ἕνωσιν·) ἀλλὰ τὴν οὐσιοποιὸν εἰς τὰ ὄντα πάντα τῆς θεαρχικῆς οὐσιαρχίας πρόοδον ὑμνῆσαι. Καὶ γὰρ ἡ τἀγαθοῦ θεωνυμία τὰς ὅλας τοῦ πάντων αἰτίου προόδους ἐκφαίνουσα, καὶ εἰς τὰ ὄντα, καὶ εἰς τὰ οὐκ ὄντα ἐκτείνεται, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὰ ὄντα καὶ ὑπὲρ τὰ οὐκ ὄντα ἐστίν. Ἡ δὲ τοῦ ὄντος, εἰς πάντα τὰ ὄντα ἐκτείνεται, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὰ ὄντα ἐστίν. Ἡ δὲ τῆς ζωῆς εἰς πάντα τὰ ζῶντα ἐκτείνεται, καὶ ὑπὲρ τὰ ζῶντά ἐστιν. Ἡ δὲ τῆς σοφίας, εἰς πάντα τὰ νοερὰ καὶ λογικὰ, καὶ αἰσθητικὰ ἐκτείνεται, καὶ ὑπὲρ πάντα ταῦτά ἐστι.

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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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