Divine Names

Divine Names

Author	Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
Original title	Περὶ θείων ὀνομάτων
Illustrator
Country	Byzantine Empire
Language	Greek
Subject	Theology
Published	400s-500s A.D.
Pages

Divine Names (Περὶ θείων ὀνομάτων) by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite

Negative (apophatic) theology, as translated by Jones (1999)

Chapter 1

The indefiniteness beyond being

lies beyond beings.

The unity beyond intellect

lies beyond intellect.

The one beyond thought is

unintelligible to all thinking.

The good beyond logos:

ineffable to all logos

unity unifying every unity

being beyond being

non-intelligible intellect

ineffable logos

non-rationality

non-intelligibility

non-nameability

be-ing according to no being

cause of being to all; but itself: non-be-ing,

as it is beyond every being, and

So that it would properly and knowingly

manifest itself about itself.

---

It is cause of all;

but itself: nothing

as beyond-beingly apart from all:

Chapter 2

Ground beyond being,

Divinity beyond god,

Goodness beyond good,

Sameness beyond all of the whole

individualness which is beyond all,

Unity beyond source of unity,

Ineffable, many named,

Unknowing, completely unintelligible,

Position of all, denial of all,

Beyond all position and denial.

(If one must say:)

The abiding and foundation

of the ruling persons in one another,

wholly beyond every way of unity, and

confused in none of its parts.

---

From the "Theological Elements" of the most holy Hierotheus

The cause and fullness of all is

the divinity of Jesus:

An ordering of consonant parts to wholeness;

it is neither whole nor part.

Whole and part as anticipating, beyond having, and

before-having every whole and part in itself.

A completion to the non-complete as

source of completion,

Non-complete to the complete as

beyond completion and before completion.

Form producing form in those without form as

source of form,

Non-form in those which are formed as

beyond form.

Being undefiledly taking a stand upon the

totality of being;

Beyond-being: apart from every being.

A determining of the totality of principles and orders;

Yet, founded beyond every principle and order.

The measure of what is.

Eternity, before eternity, and beyond eternity.

Fullness in those which lack;

Beyond fullness in those which are full.

Ineffable and unspeakable,

Beyond intellect, beyond life, and beyond being.

That beyond nature: beyond-naturally,

That beyond being: beyond-beingly.

---

It is differenced in a unified way:

being given to all beings

overflowing the participations of the

totality of those that are good,

singly made many,

non-wanderingly multiplied out of the one.

Since God is beyond-beingly be-ing, and as

being is given to beings and

brings forth the totality of beings,

That one be-ing is said to be multiplied by

the bringing forth of all beings out of itself.

It abides

not less than itself,

one in its manifoldness,

unified in its procession,

full in its difference,

By its beyond-beingly apartness from beings,

its single bringing up of the whole, and

the undiminished flowing of its

undiminished gifts.

Be-ing one

it has bestowed unity to every part and whole,

and every unity and multitude;

As beyond-beingly one in the same way, and

not a part of a multitude,

not a whole of parts;

it is not one,

does not partake in the one, and

does not have the one.

Far away from these, a one:

beyond the one in beings,

a partless multitude,

unfilled and beyond full,

completing and binding together

every unity and multiude.

Chapter 4

That, beautiful beyond being, is said to be

Beauty-for

it gives beauty from itself in a manner

appropriate to each,

it causes the consonance and splendor

of all

it flashes forth upon all, after the

manner of light, the beauty producing

gifts of its flowing ray,

it calls all to itself,

whence it is called beauty,

it brings all together

into the same;

Beautiful-as

At once all-beautiful and beyond-beautiful,

always be-ing beautiful

according to the same and in like manner;

thus

not coming to be,

not passing out of being,

not increasing or decreasing,

not beautiful to some and

ugly to others,

not beautiful at one time and

ugly at another,

not beautiful in one relation and

ugly in another.

It is not beautiful to some and

ugly to others, but

itself-always be-ing uniformly beautiful

in virtue of itself and with itself,

preeminently before-having in itself

the flowing beauty of what is beautiful;

before subsisting,

in the simple nature beyond nature of

the whole of what is beautiful and

in its cause:

all beauty and all that is beautful.

From out of the beautiful:

being to all beings, so that each is

beautiful according to its proper logos,

the agreements, friendships, and

communion of an that is,

the unifications of all that is.

Source of all:

the productive cause

which makes and conserves the whole

by its love of the beauty

which is proper for each being.

Limit of all and beloved:

the final cause-for all beings emerge

for the sake of the beautiful.

Paradigmatic cause:

all are determined according to it.

The beautiful and good are the same:

all beings desire the beautiful and the good

with respect to every cause,

no being fails to partake

of the beautiful and good.

(Indeed, we must necessarily dare to say:)

that which is not partakes in the beautiful

and good; it is itself the good when

beyond-beingly celebrated in God in the

denial of all.

The one beautiful and good is the single cause

of all of the many

which are beautiful and good.

From out of the beautiful and good:

the essential constitutions of all beings,

their unities and their differences,

their identities and their otherness,

their similarity and their dissimilarity,

the association of opposites,

the distinction of their unities,

the providences of superiors,

the bonds of equals,

and the reversion of inferiors,

the protection and immutable abiding and

foundation of all among themselves,

the communions, agreements, and unconfused

friendship of all beings in all

which are proper to each,

the commixture of all,

the undissolved constancy of what is,

the uneclipsed sllccessions of what comes to be,

the rest and motion of the intellects,

souls, and bodies.

That beyond all rest and motion is

the rest and motion for all, as

founding each being in its logos, and

moving each being according to its proper motion.

Chapter 5

In a power beyond being

the be-ing of the whole being is

support, cause and creator

of be-ing, constitution,

being, and nature.

source and measure

of what is eternal,

be-ingness of what is temporal,

eternity of what is,

time of what comes to be,

the being of whatsoever is,

genesis of whatsoever comes to be.

From out of be-ing:

eternity, being, be-ing,

time, genesis, becoming,

what is in beings,

whatsoever is constituted and subsisting.

God is

not somehow be-ing,

but simply and unlimitedly be-ing,

comprehending and anticipating

the whole being in itself.

(Thus it is called)

king of what is eternal,

for it has subsisted

alI being and be-ing

in it and about it.

Moreover, God

neither was,

nor will be,

nor has come to be,

nor is come to be

nor will come to be,

nor, indeed, is not;

but is the being for beings.

Not only beings but even

the being itself for beings

is from the be-ing before eternity.

For God is

the eternity of what is eternal,

the one who is begun before what is eternal.

---

Being itself is

from out of the before be-ing.

Being is of it;

it is not of being

Being is in it;

it is not in being.

Being has it;

it does not have being.

It is

eternity, source, and measure of being

be-ing before being, be-ing, and eternity,

being-producing beginning, middle,

and end of all.

Thus in the writings, the really before be-ing

is multiplied according to every

conception of beings;

these are properly celebrated of it:

was, is, will be,

has come to be, is coming to be, and

will come to be.

For those who think in a divinely suitable way

all of these signify

the beyond-beingly being itself, and

cause of all which is everywhere,

according to every conception.

For it is not this

but not that;

it is not in some way

but not in some other way.

It is

cause of all:

co-having and before-having in itself

all the sources and ends of all beings;

beyond all:

beyond be-ing-beyond-beingly-before-all.

Hence all are at once said of it:

it is nothing among all -

all-structure, all-form,

non-form, non-beauty.

It separately and incomprehensibly

anticipates in itself

the beginnings, means, and ends of beings.

It purely illuminates the being for all

in one, more than unified causality.

---

The before be-ing

proceeds to all,

abides in itself,

stands and moves,

neither stands nor moves,

does not have beginning, middle, or end,

is not something in beings,

is not something away from beings, and

neither in general does there pertain to it

any of those which are eternal

or subsist temporally.

But it is the eternity of time

and apart from all those

in eternity and time.

Wherefore, eternity itself and beings

and the measures and what is measured of beings

are through it and by it.

Chapter 7

According to our power,

we attain to that beyond all

by a path and order

in the denial and preeminellce of all, and

in the cause of all,

God is known

in all, and

apart from all.

God is known

through knowledge, and

through unknowing.

Of God there is

intellect, reason, knowledge,

contact, sensation, opinion, imagination, name, and

everything else.

God is

not known, not spoken, not named,

not something among beings, and

not known in something among beings.

God is

all in all,

nothing in none,

known to all in reference to all,

known to no one in reference to nothing.

For we say all of this correctly about God

who is celebrated according

to the analogy of all,

of which it is the cause.

The most divine knowledge of God is

one which knows through unknowing

in the unity beyond intellect

when the intellect stands away from beings

and then stands away from itself,

it is united to the more than resplendent rays,

and is then and there illumined

hy the inscrutahle depths of wisdom.

Nevertheless, as we have said,

it is known from all;

(for according to the writings)

it is

productive of all,

always harmonizing the all,

cause of the indissoluable

concordance and harmony of all,

always joining together

the end of those which are prior to

the beginnings of secondaries, and

beautifying the agreement and harmony of all.

Chapter 8

We say that God is power as

before-having and beyond-having

every power in itself,

cause of every power,

bringing forth all

in an unlimited and undefined power,

be-ing cause of the being itself of power

whether universal or particular,

unlimited power,

for not only does it bring forth every power;

it is beyond every power -

even power itself,

and it prevails over and unlimitedly brings forth

unlimited [powers] which are

other than those which are

such that these powers

It is

even if brought forth to infinity

would not be able to blunt

the more than unlimited production

of its power-producing power.

an unspeakable, unknown,

and inconceivable power,

beyond-having all,

which, through abundance of power,

empowers the weak and

conserves and preserves the last beings

which are echoes of its power.

Chapter 9

God is called the same as

everlasting beyond every manner of being,

incontrovertible,

abiding in itself,

always the same and in the same way,

presencing similarly to all,

steadfastly and purely established

in itself and by itself

in the beautiful limits

of the identity beyond being,

unchanged, inflexible,

unswerving, unalterable,

without mixture, without matter

most simple, without lack,

without increase, undiminished,

ungenerated nor

as not yet generated, nor without completion

nor generated by this or that,

nor as be-ing any manner whatsoever,

but as all-ungenerated and

absolutely ungenerated,

always be-ing, self complete be-ing,

be-ing the same in itself,

uniformly and identically determining itself,

shining the same out of itself

upon all those enabled to participate in it.

coordinating others to others,

abundance and cause of identity,

identically before-having in itself

those which are opposed

in the one single cause

beyond-having the whole identity.

Chapter 13

The one and whole divinity:

the one cause of all,

that before

every unity and multitude,

part and whole,

definition and indefiniteness,

limit and non-limit,

that which determines

all beings and being itself,

and is at once and singularly

cause of all and every totality,

before all,

beyond all,

beyond the one be-ing itself, and

what determines the one be-ing itself;

for the one be-ing

is enumerable in beings,

but number partakes in being.

The one beyond being

determines the one be-ing

and every number, and

is source, cause, number, and order

of unity, number, and all be-ing.

Thus the divinity beyond all is celebrated

as one and trinity;

it is neither unity or trinity,

or what is conceived by us

or any other being.

That we may truly celebrate

its beyond unity and god-genesis,

we name that beyond names

by trinity and a unitary divine name;

we name the beyond being

by beings.

But no unity, or trinity, or number,

or oneness, or fecundity,

or anything among beings,

or anything known among beings,

brings down the hiddenness,

beyond all

and beyond logos and intellect,

of the beyond-divinity beyond be-ing

beyond-beingly beyond all.

There is neither name nor logos of it;

it is apart in inaccessibility.

See also

• Mystical Theology
• Allogenes

References

• Jones, John D. (trans.) (1999). The Divine Names and the Mystical Theology. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Marquette University Press. ISBN 0-87462-221-2.

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