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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Καίτοι φαίη τις· Ἀνθ’ ὅτου, τοῦ ὄντος τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τῆς ζωῆς τὴν σοφίαν ὑπερακτεινομένην, τῶν ὄντων μὲν τὰ ζῶντα, τῶν δὲ ὅσα ζῇ τὰ αἰσθητικὰ, καὶ τούτων τὰ λογικὰ, καὶ τῶν λογικῶν οἱ νόες ὑπερέχουσι, καὶ περὶ θεὸν εἰσι, καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτῷ πλησιάζουσι· Καίτοι ἔδει τὰ τῶν μειζόνων ἐκ Θεοῦ δωρεῶν μετέχοντα καὶ κρείττονα εἶναι, καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ὑπερέχειν. Ἀλλ’ εἰ μὲν ἀνούσια καὶ ἄζωά τις ὑπετίθετο τὰ νοερὰ, καλῶς ἂν εἶχεν ὁ λόγος· εἰ δὲ καὶ εἰσιν οἱ θεῖοι νόες ὑπὲρ τὰ λοιπὰ ὄντα, καὶ ζῶσιν ὑπὲρ τὰ ἄλλα ζῶντα, καὶ νοοῦσι, καὶ γινώσκουσιν ὑπὲρ αἴσθησιν καὶ λόγον, καὶ παρὰ πάντα τὰ ὄντα τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ ἐφίενται καὶ μετέχουσιν, αὐτοὶ μᾶλλόν εἰσι περὶ τἀγαθὸν, οἱ περισσῶς αὐτοῦ μετέχοντες, καὶ πλείους καὶ μείζους ἐξ αὐτοῦ δωρεὰς εἰληφότες· ὥσπερ καὶ τὰ λογικὰ τῶν αἰσθητικῶν ὑπερέχει, πλεονεκτοῦντα τῇ περισσείᾳ τοῦ λόγου, καὶ ταῦτα τῇ αἰσθήσει, καὶ ἄλλα τῇ ζωῇ. Καὶ ἔστιν, ὡς οἶμαι, τοῦτο ἀληθές, ὅτι τὰ μᾶλλον τοῦ ἑνὸς καὶ ἀπειροδώρου Θεοῦ μετέχοντα μᾶλλον εἰσὶν αὐτῷ πλησιαίτερα καὶ θειότερα τῶν ἀπολειπομένων.

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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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