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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Τὸ δὲ ταὐτὸν ὑπερουσίως ἀΐδιον, ἄτρεπτον, ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ μένον, ἀεὶ κατὰ τὰ αὐτὰ καὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχον, πᾶσιν ὡσαύτως παρὸν, καὶ αὐτὸ καθ' ἑαυτὸ ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ σταθερῶς καὶ ἀχράντως ἐν τοῖς καλλίστοις πέρασι τῆς ὑπερουσίου ταὐτότητος ἱδρυμένον, ἀμετάβλητον, ἀμετάπτωτον, ἀρρεπές, ἀναλλοίωτον, ἀμιγές, ἄϋλον, ἁπλούστατον, ἀπροσδεές, ἀναυξές, ἀμέιωτον, ἀγένητον, οὐχ ὡς μήπω γενόμενον, ἢ ἀτελείωτον, ἢ ὑπὸ τοῦδε ἢ τόδε μὴ γενόμενον, οὐδ' ὡς μηδαμῆ μηδαμῶς ὄν, ἀλλ' ὥσπερ παναγένητον, καὶ ἀπολύτως ἀγένητον, καὶ ἀεὶ ὂν, καὶ αὐτοτελὲς ὂν, καὶ ταὐτὸν ὃν καθ' ἑαυτὸ, καὶ ὑφ' ἑαυτοῦ μονοειδῶς καὶ ταὐτοειδῶς ἀφοριζόμενον, καὶ τὸ ταὐτὸν ἐξ ἑαυτοῦ πᾶσι τοῖς μετέχειν ἐπιτηδείοις ἐπιλάμπον, καὶ τὰ ἕτερα τοῖς ἑτέροις συντάττον, περιουσία καὶ αἰτία ταὐτότητος, ἐν ἑαυτῷ καὶ τὰ ἐναντία ταύτῶς προέχον κατὰ τὴν μίαν καὶ ἐνικὴν τῆς ὅλης ταὐτότητος ὑπερέχουσαν αἰτίαν.

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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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