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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Πρόεισι δὲ τὰ τῆς ἀνεκλείπτου δυνάμεως καὶ εἰς ἀνθρώπους, καὶ ζῷα, καὶ φυτὰ, καὶ τὴν ὅλην τοῦ παντὸς φύσιν· καὶ δυναμοῖ τὰ ἡνωμένα πρὸς τὴν ἀλλήλων φιλίαν καὶ κοινωνίαν, καὶ τὰ διακεκριμένα πρὸς τὸ εἶναι κατὰ τὸν οἰκεῖον ἕκαστα λόγον καὶ ὅρον ἀσύγχυτα καὶ ἀσύμφυρτα· καὶ τὰς τοῦ παντὸς τάξεις καὶ εὐθμωσύνᾳς εἰς τὸ οἰκεῖον ἀγαθὸν διασώζει, καὶ τὰς ἀθανάτους τῶν ἀγγελικῶν ἑνάδων ζωὰς ἀλυθήτους διαφυλάττει, καὶ τὰς οὐρανίας, καὶ φωστηρικὰς, καὶ ἀστρίφους οὐσίας, καὶ τάξεις ἀναλλοιώτους, καὶ τὸν αἰῶνα δύνασθαι εἶναι ποιεῖ· καὶ τὰς τοῦ χρόνου περιελίξεις διακρίνει μὲν ταῖς προόδοις, συνάγει δὲ ταῖς ἀποκαταστάσεσι· καὶ τὰς τοῦ πυρὸς δυνάμεις ἀσβέστους ποιεῖ, καὶ τὰς τοῦ ὕδατος ἐπιρροὰς ἀνεκλείπτους, καὶ τὴν ἀέριαν χύσιν ὁρίζει, καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐπ᾽ οὐδενὸς ἱδρύει, καὶ τὰς ζωογόνους αὐτῆς ὠδῖνας ἀδιαφθόρους φυλάττει· καὶ τὴν ἐν ἀλλήλοις τῶν στοιχείων ἁρμονίαν καὶ κρᾶσιν ἀσύγχυτον καὶ ἀδιαίρετον ἀποσώζει, καὶ τὴν ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος σύνθεσιν συνέχει, καὶ τὰς τῶν φυτῶν θρεπτικὰς καὶ αὐξητικὰς δυνάμεις ἀνακινεῖ· καὶ διακρατεῖ τὰς οὐσιώδεις τῶν ὅλων δυνάμεις, καὶ τὴν τοῦ παντὸς ἀδιάλυτον μονὴν ἀσφαλίζεται, καὶ τὴν θέωσιν αὐτὴν δωρεῖται, δύναμιν εἰς τοῦτο τοῖς ἐκθεουμένοις παρέχουσα· καὶ ὅλως οὐδέν ἐστι καθόλου τῶν ὄντων, τὴν παγκρατορικὴν ἀσφάλειαν καὶ περιοχὴν τῆς θείας δυνάμεως ἀφῃρημένον. Τὸ γὰρ καθόλου μηδεμίαν δύναμιν ἔχον οὔτε ἔστιν, οὔτε τί ἐστιν, οὔτε ἐστὶ τις αὐτοῦ παντελῶς θέσις.

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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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