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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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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Λέγομεν τοίνυν, ὅτι δύναμίς ἐστιν ὁ Θεὸς, ὡς πᾶσαν δύναμιν ἐν ἑαυτῷ προέχων καὶ ὑπερέχων, καὶ ὡς πάσης δυνάμεως αἴτιος, καὶ πάντα κατὰ δύναμιν ἄκλιτον καὶ ἀπεριόριστον παράγων, καὶ ὡς αὐτοῦ τοῦ εἶναι δύναμιν, ἢ τὴν ὅλην ἢ τὴν καθ' ἕκαστον αἴτιος ὤν· καὶ ὡς ἀπειροδύναμος, οὐ μόνον τῷ πᾶσαν δύναμιν παράγειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ ὑπὲρ πᾶσαν καὶ τὴν αὐτοδύναμιν εἶναι, καὶ τῷ ὑπερδύνασθαι, καὶ ἀπειράκις ἀπείρους τῶν οὐσῶν δυνάμεων ἑτέρας παραγαγεῖν· καὶ τῷ μὴ ἂν ποτε δυνηθῆναι τὰς ἀπείρους καὶ ἐπ' ἄπειρον παραγομένας δυνάμεις τὴν ὑπεράπειρον αὐτοῦ τῆς δυναμοποιοῦ δυνάμεως ἀμβλῦναι ποίησιν· καὶ τῷ ἀφθέγκτῳ καὶ ἀγνώστῳ καὶ ἀνεπινοήτῳ τῆς πάντα ὑπεχούσης αὐτοῦ δυνάμεως, ἡ διὰ περιουσίαν τοῦ δυνατοῦ καὶ τὴν ἀσθένειαν δυναμοῦ, καὶ τὰ ἔσχατα τῶν ἀπηχημάτων ἐν αὐτῆς συνέχει καὶ διακρατεῖ, καθάπερ καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κατ' αἴσθησιν δυνατῶν ὁρῶμεν, ὅτι τὰ ὑπέρλαμπρα φῶτα καὶ μέχρι τῶν ἀμβλειῶν ὁράσεων φθάνει· καὶ τοὺς μεγάλους φασι τῶν ψόφων καὶ εἰς τὰς μὴ λίαν εὐκόλως τῶν ἤχων ἀντιλαμβανομένας ἀκοὰς εἰσδύεσθαι. Τὸ γὰρ πάντῃ ἀνήκοον οὐδὲ ἀκοή· καὶ τὸ καθόλου μὴ βλέπον οὐδὲ ὅρασις.

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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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