The Divine Names

Dionysius the Presbyter, to his fellow-Presbyter Timothy.^[45]

What is the purpose of the discourse, and what the tradition concerning the Divine Names.

1. Now, Blessed Timothy, the Outlines of Divinity^[46] being ended, I will proceed, so far as in me lies, to an Exposition of the Divine Names. And here also let us set before our minds the scriptural rule that in speaking about God we should declare the Truth, not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the power which the Spirit^[47] stirred up in the Sacred Writers, whereby, in a manner surpassing speech and knowledge,^[48] we embrace those truths which, in like manner, surpass them, in that Union which exceeds our faculty, and exercise of discursive, and of intuitive reason.^[49] We must not then dare to speak, or indeed to form any conception, of the hidden super-essential^[50] Godhead, except those things that are revealed to us from the Holy Scriptures.^[51] For a super-essential understanding of It is proper to Unknowing, which lieth in the Super-Essence Thereof surpassing Discourse, Intuition and Being; acknowledging which truth let us lift up our eyes towards the steep height, so far as the effluent light of the Divine Scriptures grants its aid, and, as we strive to ascend unto those Supernal Rays, let us gird ourselves for the task with holiness and the reverent fear of God. For, if we may safely trust the wise and infallible Scriptures, Divine things are revealed unto each created spirit in proportion to its powers, and in this measure is perception granted through the workings of the Divine goodness, the which in just care for our preservation divinely tempereth unto finite measure the infinitude of things which pass man’s understanding. For even as things which are intellectually discerned ^[52] cannot be comprehended or perceived by means of those things which belong to the senses, nor simple and imageless things by means of types and images, nor the formless and intangible essence of unembodied things by means of those which have bodily form,^[53] by the same law of truth the boundless^[54] Super-Essence surpasses Essences, the Super-Intellectual Unity surpasses Intelligences, the One which is beyond thought surpasses the apprehension of thought, and the Good which is beyond utterance surpasses the reach of words.^[55] Yea, it is an Unity which is the unifying Source of all unity and a Super-Essential Essence,^[56] a Mind beyond the reach of mind^[57] and a Word beyond utterance, eluding Discourse, Intuition, Name, and every kind of being. It is the Universal Cause of existence while Itself existing not, for It is beyond all Being and such that It alone could give, with proper understanding thereof, a revelation of Itself.

2. Now concerning this hidden Super-Essential Godhead we must not dare, as I have said, to speak, or even to form any conception Thereof, except those things which are divinely revealed to us from the Holy Scriptures. For as It hath lovingly taught us in the Scriptures concerning Itself^[58] the understanding and contemplation of Its actual nature is not accessible to any being; for such knowledge is superessentially exalted above them all. And many of the Sacred Writers thou wilt find who have declared that It is not only invisible and incomprehensible, but also unsearchable and past finding out, since there is no trace of any that have penetrated the hidden depths of Its infinitude.^[59] Not that the Good is wholly incommunicable to anything; nay, rather, while dwelling alone by Itself, and having there firmly fixed Its super-essential Ray, It lovingly reveals Itself by illuminations corresponding to each separate creature’s powers, and thus draws upwards holy minds into such contemplation, participation and resemblance^[60] of Itself as they can attain—even them that holily and duly strive thereafter and do not seek with impotent presumption the Mystery beyond that heavenly revelation which is so granted as to fit their powers, nor yet through their lower propensity slip down the steep descent,^[61] but with unwavering constancy press onwards toward the ray that casts its light upon them and, through the love responsive to these gracious illuminations, speed their temperate and holy flight on the wings of a godly reverence.

3. In obedience to these divine behests which guide all the holy dispositions^[62] of the heavenly hosts, we worship with reverent silence the unutterable Truths and, with the unfathomable^[63] and holy veneration of our mind, approach that Mystery of Godhead which exceeds all Mind and Being. And we press upwards to those beams which in the Holy Scripture shine upon us; wherefrom we gain the light which leads us unto the Divine praises^[64] being supernaturally enlightened by them and conformed unto that sacred hymnody, even so as to behold the Divine enlightenments the which through them are given in such wise as fits our powers, and so as to praise the bounteous Origin of all holy illumination in accordance with that Doctrine, as concerning Itself, wherewith It hath instructed us in the Holy Scriptures. Thus do we learn^[65] that It is the Cause and Origin and Being and Life of all creation.^[66] And It is unto them that fall away from It a Voice that doth recall them and a Power by which they rise; and to them that have stumbled into a corruption of the Divine image within them, It is a Power of Renewal and Reform; and It is a sacred Grounding to them that feel the shock of unholy assault, and a Security to them that stand: an upward Guidance to them that are being drawn unto It, and a Principle of Illumination^[67] to them that are being enlightened: a Principle of Perfection to them that are being perfected;^[68] a principle of Deity to them that are being deified;^[69] and of Simplicity to them that are being brought unto simplicity;^[70] and of Unity to them that are being brought unto unity. Yea, in a super-essential manner, above the category of origin, It is the Origin of all origin, and the good and bounteous Communication (so far as such may be^[71]) of hidden mysteries; and, in a word, It is the life of all things that live and the Being of all that are, the Origin and Cause of all life and being through Its bounty which both brings them into existence and maintains them.

[45] The name of St. Paul’s companion is intended to give colour to the writer’s pseudonym. See Introduction, p. 1; cf. iii. 2.

[46] This work is lost

[47] 1 Cor. ii. 4.

[48] τοῖς ἀφθέγκτοις καὶ ἀγνώστοις ἀφθέγκτως καὶ ἀγνώστως συναπτόμεθα. See Intr. on “Unknowing,” p. 32.

[50] See Intr., p. 4.

[51] D. is here contrasting the Affirmative Path of Knowing with the Negative Path of Unknowing. The former has a value as leading up to the latter; but it is only safe so far as we keep within the bounds of Scripture. Unscriptural conceptions of God are false; Scriptural conceptions are true as far as they go; but their literal meaning must be transcended. See Intr., p. 41 f.

[53] Apparently this is the same thought repeated in three different ways. The formless essence (ἀμορφία) of a thing is simple and imageless—a Platonic idea—perceived by the mind; things which have bodily form are, as it were, types and symbols perceived by the senses.

[54] Or “indeterminate.”

[55] Thus the three grades are: (1) the material world; (2) the spiritual world of truths, personality, etc.; (3) the Godhead which is, so to speak, supra-spiritual.

[56] i. e. A Supra-Personal Personality. See Intr., p. 4 f.

[57] νοῦς ἀνοητός. Probably not ” Irrational Mind” (as Dr. Inge translates it). Maximus takes it passively, as translated above.

[58] Ps. cxlv. 3; Matt. xi 27; Rom. xi. 33; I Cor. ii. 11; Eph. iii. 8.

[59] ὡς οὐκ ὄντος ἴχνους τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν κρυφίαν αὐτῆς ἀπειρίαν διεληλυθότων. Two interpretations of this passage are possible: (1) Those who have penetrated the hidden Depths cannot describe the Vision (cf. Dante, Par. xxxiii. 55–66); (2) Nobody has ever penetrated into the ultimate Depths of Deity.

[60] θεωριά, κοινωνία, δμοίωσις. These are three elements of one process. Resemblance is the final goal, cf. I John iii. 2. D. defines Deification as “a process whereby we are made like unto God (ἀφομοίωσις) and are united unto Him (ἕνωσις) so far as these things may be.” (Eccl. Hier. I. 4. Migne, p. 376, A.)

[61] Two kinds of danger: (1) spiritual presumption; (2) the temptations of our earthly nature. In dealing with the first D. warns us against leaving the Affirmative Path until we are ready. The Negative Path goes on where the Affirmative Path stops. St. John of the Cross and other spiritual writers insist that, though contemplation is a higher activity than meditation through images, yet not all are called to it, and that it is disastrous prematurely to abandon meditation. S. John of the Cross, in the Dark Night of the Soul, explains the signs which will show when the time has come for the transition. Note the spiritual sanity of D. His Unknowing is not a blank.

[62] τὰς ὅλας... τῶν ὑπερουρανίων τάξεων ἁγίας διακοσμήσεις.

[63] A depth opens up in the heart of man corresponding to the depth of the Godhead. Deep answers unto deep. Cf. I Cor. ii. 10, 11.

[64] πρὸς τοὺς θεαρχικοὺς ὕμνους. Either (1) “leads us to declare the Divine praises”; or (2) “leads us to apprehend the Divine praises as sung by angels,” etc.

[65] In the whole of this passage God is spoken of as at the same time Efficient, Formal and Final Cause of the soul’s activity. D. teaches that God is present in all things, but not equally in all. Cf. Intr., p. 14

[66] Gen. i.

[67] Three stages may be traced here corresponding to Purgation, Illumination and Union. I have tried to indicate the transitions from one stage to the next by the punctuation.

[68] τῶν τελουμένων τελεταρχία. “Perfect” (τέλειος) and the words connected with it were technical terms in the Greek Mysteries. Possibly there are traces of this technical use in St. Paul’s Epistles (e.g. I Cor. ii. 6; Phil. iii. 15).

[69] τῶν θεουμένων θεαρχιά. See Intr., p. 39.

[70] The soul must turn away from the complex world of sense and have only one desire—the desire for God. Thus it becomes concentrated as it were, and so is in a simple and unified state. Cf. Matt. vi. 22. See Intr., p. 25

[71] i. e. So far as we are capable of receiving this communication.