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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Πρώτην οὖν τὴν τοῦ αὐτὸ εἶναι δωρεὰν ἡ αὐτοϋπεραγαθότης προβαλλομένη, τῇ πρεσβυτέρᾳ πρώτη τῶν μετοχῶν ὑμνεῖται, καὶ ἐστιν ἐξ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐν αὐτῇ, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ εἶναι, καὶ αἱ τῶν ὄντων ἀρχαὶ, καὶ τὰ ὄντα πάντα, καὶ τὰ ὁπωσοῦν τῷ εἶναι διακρατούμενα· καὶ τοῦτο ἀσχέτως, καὶ συνειλημμένως, καὶ ἑνιαίως. Καὶ γὰρ ἐν μονάδι πᾶς ἀριθμὸς ἐνιαιοῦς προϋφέστηκε, καὶ ἔχει πάντα ἀριθμὸν ἡ μονὰς ἐν ἑαυτῇ μοναχῶς· καὶ πᾶς ἀριθμὸς ἥνωται μὲν ἐν τῇ μονάδι· καθ' ὅσον δὲ τῆς μονάδος πρόεισι, κατὰ τοσοῦ- των διακρίνεται, καὶ πληθύνεται. Καὶ ἐν κέντρῳ μὲν πάσαι αἱ τοῦ κύκλου γραμμαὶ κατὰ μίαν ἕνωσιν συνυφεστήκασι· καὶ πάσας ἔχει τὸ σημεῖον ἐν ἑαυτῷ τὰς εὐθείας ἑνοειδῶς ἡνωμένας πρός τε ἀλλήλας, καὶ πρὸς τὴν μίαν ἀρχὴν ἀφ' ἧς προῆλθον, καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ μὲν τῷ κέντρῳ παντελῶς ἥνωνται· βραχὺ δὲ αὐτοῦ διαστᾶσαι, βραχὺ καὶ διακρίνονται· μᾶλλον δὲ ἀποστᾶσαι, μᾶλλον· καὶ ἁπλῶς, καθ' ὅσον τῷ κέντρῳ πλησιαιτέραι εἰσι, κατὰ τοσοῦτον καὶ αὐτῷ καὶ ἀλλήλαις ἥνωνται, καὶ καθ' ὅσον αὐτοῦ, κατὰ τοσοῦτον καὶ ἀλλήλων διεστήκασιν.

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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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