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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CAPUT IX. De magno, parvo, eodem, alio, simili, dissimili, statu, motu, aequalitate.

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Ἐπειδὴ δὲ καὶ τὸ μέγα καὶ τὸ μικρὸν ἀνατέθειται τῷ πάντων αἰτίῳ, καὶ τὸ ταὐτὸν καὶ τὸ ἕτερον, καὶ τὸ ὅμοιον καὶ τὸ ἀνόμοιον, καὶ ἡ στάσις καὶ ἡ κίνησις, φέρε καὶ τούτων τῶν θεωνυμίων ἀγάλμάτων, ὅσα ἡμῖν ἐμφανῆ, θεωρήσωμεν. Μέγας μὲν οὖν ὁ Θεὸς ἐν τοῖς λογίοις ὑμνεῖται, καὶ ἐν μεγέθει, καὶ ἐν αὔρᾳ λεπτῇ τὴν θείαν ἐμφαινούσῃ σμικρότητα· καὶ ταὐτὸς, ὅταν φῇ τὰ λόγια, Σὺ δὲ ὁ αὐτὸς εἶ· καὶ ἕτερος, ἡνίκα ὡς πολύσχημος καὶ πολυειδὴς ὑπὸ τῶν αὐτῶν λογίων διαπλάττεται· καὶ ὅμοιος, ὡς ὁμοίων καὶ ὁμοιότητος ὑποστάτης· καὶ ἀνόμοιος πᾶσιν, ὡς οὐκ ὄντος αὐτῷ τοῦ ὁμοίου· καὶ ἑστὼς, καὶ ἀκίνητος, καὶ καθήμενος εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, καὶ κινούμενος, ὡς ἐπὶ πάντα πορευόμενος· καὶ ὅσαι ἄλλαι ταύταις ὁμοδύναμοι θεωνυμίαι πρὸς τῶν λογίων ὑμνοῦνται.

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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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