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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Ἐπεὶ δὲ καὶ περὶ τούτων εἴπομεν, φέρε τἀγαθὸν ὡς ὄντως ὃν, καὶ τῶν ὄντων ἁπάντων οὐσιοποιὸν ἀνυμνήσωμεν. Ὁ ὢν ὅλου τοῦ εἶναι κατὰ δύναμιν ὑπερούσιός ἐστι, ὑποστάτις αἰτία, καὶ δημιουργὸς ὄντος, ὑπάρξεως, ὑποστάσεως, οὐσίας, φύσεως· ἀρχὴ καὶ μέτρον αἰώνων· καὶ χρόνων ὀντότης, καὶ αἰὼν τῶν ὄντων· χρόνος τῶν γινομένων, τὸ εἶναι τοῖς ὁπωσοῦν οὖσι, γένεσις τοῖς ὁπωσοῦν γινομένοις. Ἐκ τοῦ ὄντος, αἰὼν, καὶ οὐσία, καὶ ὄν, καὶ χρόνος, καὶ γένεσις, καὶ γινόμενον· τὰ ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ὄντα, καὶ τὰ ὁπωσοῦν ὑπάρχοντα, καὶ ὑφεστῶτα. Καὶ γὰρ, ὁ Θεὸς οὐ πώς ἐστιν ὢν, ἀλλ' ἁπλῶς καὶ ἀπεριορίστως, ὅλον ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὸ εἶναι συνειληφὼς καὶ προειληφώς· διὸ καὶ βασιλεὺς λέγεται τῶν αἰώνων, ὡς ἐν αὐτῷ καὶ περὶ αὐτὸν παντὸς τοῦ εἶναι καὶ ὄντος καὶ ὑφεστηκότος, καὶ οὔτε ἦν, οὔτε ἔσται, οὔτε ἐγένετο, οὔτε γίνεται, οὔτε γενήσεται, μᾶλλον δὲ οὔτε ἔστιν· ἀλλ' αὐτός ἐστι τὸ εἶναι τοῖς οὖσι· καὶ οὐ τὰ ὄντα μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι τῶν ὄντων, ἐκ τοῦ προαιωνίως ὄντος· αὐτὸς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ αἰὼν τῶν αἰώνων, ὁ ὑπάρχων πρὸ τῶν αἰώνων.

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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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