Notes on Pseudo-Dionysius, The Divine Names (Chs. 1–2, excerpt)
CHAPTER ONE: Dionysius the Elder to Timothy the Fellow-Elder: What the goal of this discourse is, and the tradition regarding the divine names
Purpose and method
After The Theological Representations, the author aims to explicate the divine names, as far as possible.
He insists on a scriptural standard: speak not with the plausible words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the power granted by the Spirit to the scripture writers.
We must not attempt to speak about the hidden transcendent God; speech and concepts about what lies beyond being are limited and often inappropriate.
The ascent toward God should be guided by sacred scriptures; understanding rises in proportion to capacity, and God grants enlightenments suitable to each mind.
The goal is union with the divine splendor, not a grasping of the inconceivable Good by human speech or reason.
We should rely on the scriptures as the revealed source, especially regarding the divine names and their meanings.
The examination proceeds with reverence toward what is divine, honoring the hidden beyond thought and being while using scriptural illumination to approach and praise.
The nature of divine speech and the limits of discourse
The divine is beyond speech, mind, and being; one cannot describe the hidden transcendent God as if it were a knowable object.
The Good is not absolutely incommunicable to all; it reveals a firm beam of light to beings according to their capacity, drawing them toward contemplation and participation.
Humans are raised upward by the ray of illumination, never venturing beyond what is granted, nor descending into baser appetites.
The ascent is toward the light that illumines, with reverence and holiness, guided by sacred scriptures and the hierarchical Church’s teachings.
The role of divine ordinances and the expectation of union
We are commanded by divine ordinances to worship what lies hidden beyond thought and beyond being.
With a wise silence we honor the inexpressible; the end is a blessed union with the divine light, and eventually participation in the divine life.
The faithful are led toward a vision of God that, in this life, uses symbolic language and the forms of sensible creation to point beyond themselves to the transcendent.
Scriptural descriptions and the monad, henad, and Trinity
Scripture presents God as a monad or henad (a simple, indivisible unity) and as a Trinity, because of divine fecundity revealing three persons in a transcendent unity.
All fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named after the divine plenitude; God is the Cause of beings, the source of life, and the unifier of all.
The Divine Names describe God as loving toward humanity, evidenced in the Incarnation where the eternal became human, without altering the divine simplicity.
The simplicity of God is veiled by sensitive imagery and symbols; symbols are used because God’s nature is beyond form and speech.
The “henad unifying every henad” and the Nameless One
The term literally means a henad unifying every henad; this Neoplatonic language signals how unity arises from unity through divine light.
The theologians praise God “Nameless” because, in a revelation of God’s symbolical appearance, a divine name is feared to be inadequate or insufficient to capture the Godhead.
Despite namelessness, many names are used for praise, drawn from the diverse acts of providence and creation; these names do not exhaust the Godhead but reflect its many expressions in creation.
God is “all in all,” the creator, origin, preserver, and home of all things, the source of life, unity, and end. The divine Goodness transcends but sustains all, and all things look to it as their destiny.
The ascent through symbols toward the mind’s vision of God
In the present, we use appropriate symbols to ascend toward Truth; as capacity grows, more of God’s truth can be grasped, yet always within the bounds of what is granted by Revelation.
The ultimate contemplation lies beyond concepts and speech; the believer hopes for a future incorruptible, immortal state where mind dwells with the divine light unfettered by passion or earthly bondage.
Practical and pastoral guardrails
The teacher counsels Timothy to guard these matters faithfully, and to avoid disclosing divine mysteries to the uninitiated.
The speaker prays that God will allow him to praise the divine names in a manner fitting the unutterable Deity and to preserve the truth from being taken from his mouth.
CHAPTER TWO: Concerning the unified and differentiated Word of God, and what the divine unity and differentiation is
The unity of the divine Word and the wholeness of the divine subsistence
The Word is the whole divine subsistence: all of God’s goodness defines and reveals what is praised in scripture.
When the Deity asks, “Why do you ask me about what is good? No one is good but God alone,” this asserts that the divine names refer to the entire Godhead, not merely a part of it.
Earlier works argued that all names—when used in truth—refer to the unity of the entire divinity, not to a portion of Godhead.
To deny this total unity would be blasphemous and contrary to the scriptural witness that God is absolute unity.
The divine names, therefore, should be applied to the whole divinity, since the entire Godhead is life, wisdom, and manifestation of being, and the Father and the Son share in the fullness of God’s essence.
Scriptural phrases such as “all things are from God,” “through him and for him,” and “in him all things hold together” are cited to show the unity of the Father and the Son and the Spirit in the totality of the divine works.
The divine Word asserts its unity with the Father: “I and the Father are one” and “all mine are thine and thine are mine.”
The Father, Son, and Spirit share in the divine works, worship, and gifts; the unity of the Godhead is the ground of all divine actions, not a modular dividedness.
The two-tiered problem: unity and differentiation within the Godhead
The author disputes a simplistic hierarchy of separate hypostases by arguing that there is one God who operates through several divine processes (providence, life, wisdom) without creating a plurality of Godheads.
The unity of the Godhead does not preclude a differentiated outflow of the divine works (providence, creation, salvation, and the governance of beings).
The emphasis is on procession and unity: the divine acts are ordered and unified under one divine Source, even as they appear in diverse influences upon creation.
The role of higher beings (intelligences) in relation to the Godhead
The text hints that divine intelligences (angels) participate in the divine light and acts, by reflection and participation in God’s life, yet they remain beings under the one Godhead.
The richness of these beings’ life is understood as a reflection of the divine unity, not a separate divine essence; their perfections are derived from the one divine Source.
The discussion moves toward a transfinite order where angels, souls, and other beings participate in the divine Life in varying ways, always under the governance of the one God.
Indicative anchors and future topics
The author notes that the fuller treatment of the divine unity and its differentiation will unfold through the Symbolic Theology (perceptible symbols for God) and other related treatises.
The text foreshadows a continuation of the discussion of how language, symbol, and the mind’s ascent converge in understanding the Godhead’s unity and its manifold manifestations.
The author signals that the unity/differentiation question will be developed in subsequent sections, linking the Divine Names to the larger Neoplatonist framework of being, life, and wisdom.
Closing framing
A reminder that the discussion of unity and differentiation is not a hypothetical philosophical puzzle but a sacred exploration grounded in Scripture, tradition, and the ascent of the soul toward God.
Note: The material above covers chapters 1 and 2 of the provided transcript, summarizing key aims, methods, symbols, and the central claim of divine unity through the names, as well as the beginning of the handling of unity and differentiation within the Godhead.