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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Πάντων οὖν ἀρχὴ καὶ τελευτὴ τῶν ὄντων ὁ προών. Ἀρχὴ μὲν ὡς αἴτιος· τέλος δὲ ὡς οὗ ἕνεκα, καὶ πέρας πάντων, καὶ ἀπειρία πάσης ἀπειρίας καὶ πέρατος ὑπεροχικῶς τῶν ὡς ἀντικειμένων. Ἐν ἑνὶ γὰρ, ὡς πολλάκις εἴρηται, τὰ ὄντα πάντα, καὶ προέχει καὶ ὑπέστησε, παρ’ ὧν τοῖς πᾶσι, καὶ πανταχοῦ, καὶ κατὰ τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ, καὶ κατὰ τὸ αὐτὸ πᾶν, καὶ ἐπὶ πάντα προϊὼν, καὶ μένων ἐφ’ ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ ἐστὼς καὶ κινούμενος, καὶ οὔτε ἐστὼς οὔτε κινούμενος, οὔτε ἀρχὴν ἔχων, ἢ μέσον, ἢ τελευτήν· οὔτε ἔν τινι τῶν ὄντων, οὐδέ τι τῶν ὄντων ὤν. Καὶ οὔτε ὅλως αὐτῷ προσήκει τι τῶν αἰωνίως ὄντων, ἢ τῶν χρονικῶς ὑφισταμένων, ἀλλὰ καὶ χρόνου, καὶ αἰῶνος, καὶ τῶν ἐν αἰῶνι, καὶ τῶν ἐν χρόνῳ πάντων ἐξῄρηται· διότι καὶ αὐτοαιὼν, καὶ τὰ ὄντα, καὶ τὰ μέτρα τῶν ὄντων, καὶ τὰ μετρούμενα δι' αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἀπ' αὐτοῦ. Ἀλλὰ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἐν ἄλλοις εὐκαιρότερον εἰρήσθω.

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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