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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Τί δὲ, καὶ ὅταν αὖθις οἱ θεολόγοι καὶ ἐπὶ πάντα προϊόντα, καὶ κινουμένων φασὶ τὸν ἀκίνητον, οὐ θεοπρεπῶς καὶ τοῦτο νοητέον; Κινεῖσθαι γὰρ αὐτὸν εὐσεβῶς οἰητέον, οὐ κατὰ φορὰν, ἢ ἀλλοίωσιν, ἢ ἑτεροίωσιν, ἢ τροπὴν, ἢ τοπικὴν κίνησιν, οὐ τὴν εὐθεῖαν, οὐ τὴν κυκλοφορικὴν, οὐ τὴν ἐξ ἀμφοῖν, οὐ τὴν νοητὴν, οὐ τὴν ψυχικὴν, οὐ τὴν φυσικὴν, ἀλλὰ τὸ εἰς οὐσίαν ἄγειν τὰ ὄντα καὶ συνέχειν τὰ πάντα καὶ παντοίως πάντων προνοεῖν, καὶ τὸ παρεῖναι πᾶσι τῇ πάντων ἀσχέτῳ περιοχῇ, καὶ ταῖς ἐπὶ τὰ ὄντα πάντα προνοητικαῖς προόδοις καὶ ἐνεργείαις. Ἀλλὰ καὶ κινήσεις Θεοῦ τοῦ ἀκινήτου, θεοπρεπῶς τῷ λόγῳ συγχωρητέον ὑμνῆσαι. Καὶ τὸ μὲν εὐθὺ τὸ ἀκλινὲς νοητέον, καὶ τὴν ἀπαρέγκλιτον πρόοδον τῶν ἐνεργειῶν, καὶ τὴν ἐξ αὐτοῦ τῶν ὅλων γένεσιν· τὸ δὲ ἑλικοειδὲς τὴν σταθερὰν πρόοδον καὶ τὴν γόνιμον στάσιν· τὸ δὲ κατὰ κύκλον τὸ ταὐτὸν, καὶ τὸ τὰ μέσα καὶ ἄκρα περιέχοντα καὶ περιεχόμενα συνέχειν, καὶ τὴν εἰς αὐτὸν τῶν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ προεληλυθότων ἐπιστροφὴν.

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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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