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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CAPUT X. De omnitenente, antiquo dierum; in quo etiam de aevo seu aeternitate et tempore.

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Ἡμερῶν δὲ παλαιὸς ὁ Θεὸς ὑμνεῖται διὰ τὸ πάντων αὐτὸν εἶναι καὶ αἰῶνα, καὶ χρόνον, καὶ πρὸ ἡμερῶν, καὶ πρὸ αἰῶνος, καὶ χρόνου. Καίτοι καὶ χρόνον, καὶ ἡμέραν, καὶ καιρὸν, καὶ αἰῶνα θεοπρεπῶς αὐτὸν προσηκτέον, ὡς ὄντα κατὰ πᾶσαν κίνησιν ἀμετάβλητον καὶ ἀκίνητον, καὶ ἐν τῷ ἀεὶ κινεῖσθαι μένοντα ἐφ' ἑαυτοῦ, καὶ ὡς αἰῶνος, καὶ χρόνου, καὶ ἡμερῶν αἴτιον. Διὸ καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς τῶν μυστικῶν ὁράσεων θεοφανείαις καὶ πολιὸς καὶ νέος πλάττεται· τοῦ μὲν προτέρου τὸν ἀρχαῖον καὶ ὄντα ἀπ' ἀρχῆς, τοῦ νεωτέρου δὲ τὸν ἀγήρω σημαίνοντος· ἢ ἀμφοῖν τὸ ἐξ ἀρχῆς διὰ πάντων ἄχρι τέλους αὐτὸν προϊέναι διδασκόντων· ἢ, ὡς ὁ θεῖος ἡμῶν ἱεροτελε- στης φησι, τοῦ ἑκατέρου τὴν ἀρχαιότητα τὴν θείαν ὑποδηλοῦντος, τοῦ μὲν πρεσβυτέρου τὸ πρῶτον ἐν χρόνῳ, τοῦ νεωτέρου δὲ τὸ κατὰ ἀριθμὸν ἀρχαιότερον ἔχοντος· ἐπείπερ ἡ μονὰς καὶ τὰ περὶ μονάδα τῶν ἐπὶ πολὺ προεληλυθότων ἀριθμῶν ἀρχηγικώτερα.

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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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