Further and more accurately concerning divine names197    This chapter is not found in the oldest copies, but only in a few of the latest date. In Cod. Reg. 3109 it comes in after bk. iv. c. 9, and in Cod. Reg. 3451, after bk. ii. c. 2.

The Deity being incomprehensible is also assuredly nameless. Therefore since we know not His essence, let us not seek for a name for His essence. For names are explanations of actual things198    Greg. Naz., Orat. 36.. But God, Who is good and brought us out of nothing into being that we might share in His goodness, and Who gave us the faculty of knowledge, not only did not impart to us His essence, but did not even grant us the knowledge of His essence. For it is impossible for nature to understand fully the supernatural199    Dioyns., De div. nom., c. 1.. Moreover, if knowledge is of things that are200    Text, εἰ δὲ καὶ τῶν ὄντων αἱ γνωσεις, τὸ ὑπερούσιον πῶς γνωθήσεται; a variant, εἰ δὲ αἱ φύσεις ἄγνωστοι, αὐτὸ ὑπερούσιον πῶς γνωθήσεται. If the natures are unknown how can the superessential itself be known?, how can there be knowledge of the super-essential? Through His unspeakable goodness, then, it pleased Him to be called by names that we could understand, that we might not be altogether cut off from the knowledge of Him but should have some notion of Him, however vague. Inasmuch, then, as He is incomprehensible, He is also unnameable. But inasmuch as He is the cause of all and contains in Himself the reasons and causes of all that is, He receives names drawn from all that is, even from opposites: for example, He is called light and darkness, water and fire: in order that we may know that these are not of His essence but that He is super-essential and unnameable: but inasmuch as He is the cause of all, He receives names from all His effects.

Wherefore, of the divine names, some have a negative signification, and indicate that He is super-essential201    Or, super-substantial, ὑπερούσιος.: such are “non-essential202    ἀνούσιος, non-substantial, without substance.,” “timeless,” “without beginning,” “invisible”: not that God is inferior to anything or lacking in anything (for all things are His and have become from Him and through Him and endure in Him203    Coloss. i. 17.), but that He is pre-eminently separated from all that is. For He is not one of the things that are, but over all things. Some again have an affirmative signification, as indicating that He is the cause of all things. For as the cause of all that is and of all essence, He is called both Ens and Essence. And as the cause of all reason and wisdom, of the rational and the wise, He is called both reason and rational, and wisdom and wise. Similarly He is spoken of as Intellect and Intellectual, Life and Living, Power and Powerful, and so on with all the rest. Or rather those names are most appropriate to Him which are derived from what is most precious and most akin to Himself. That which is immaterial is more precious and more akin to Himself than that which is material, and the pure than the impure, and the holy than the unholy: for they have greater part in Him. So then, sun and light will be more apt names for Him than darkness, and day than night, and life than death, and fire and spirit and water, as having life, than earth, and above all, goodness than wickedness: which is just to say, being more than not being. For goodness is existence and the cause of existence, but wickedness is the negation of goodness, that is, of existence. These, then, are the affirmations and the negations, but the sweetest names are a combination of both: for example, the super-essential essence, the Godhead that is more than God, the beginning that is above beginning and such like. Further there are some affirmations about God which have in a pre-eminent degree the force of denial: for example, darkness: for this does not imply that God is darkness but that He is not light, but above light.

God then is called Mind and Reason and Spirit and Wisdom and Power, as the cause of these, and as immaterial, and maker of all, and omnipotent204    Dionys., De div. nom., c. 5.. And these names are common to the whole Godhead, whether affirmative or negative. And they are also used of each of the subsistences of the Holy Trinity in the very same and identical way and with their full significance205    Text, ἀπαραλείπτως: variant, ἀπαραλλάκτως, unchangeably, an adverb used by the Greeks in connection with the equality of the divine persons.. For when I think of one of the subsistences, I recognise it to be perfect God and perfect essence: but when I combine and reckon the three together, I know one perfect God. For the Godhead is not compound but in three perfect subsistences, one perfect indivisible and uncompound God. And when I think of the relation of the three subsistences to each other, I perceive that the Father is super-essential Sun, source of goodness, fathomless sea of essence, reason, wisdom, power, light, divinity: the generating and productive source of good hidden in it. He Himself then is mind, the depth of reason, begetter of the Word, and through the Word the Producer206    προβολεύς, Lat. productor, Emitter. of the revealing Spirit. And to put it shortly, the Father has no reason207    Or, Word; λόγος., wisdom, power, will208    θέλησις, cf. Cyril, Th., assert. 7; Athan., Contr. Arian. 4; Greg. Nyss., Contr. Eunom., p. 345., save the Son Who is the only power of the Father, the immediate209    ἡ μονὴ δύναμις του Πατρὸς, ἠ προκαταρτικὴ τῆς τῶν πάντων ποιήσεως. The ἡ προκαταρτική is understood by some to mean the primordial or immediate Cause, by others to be better rendered as the primordial Power or Energy. Basil in his De Spiritu Sancto speaks of the Father as the primordial Cause (προκαταρτικὴ αἰτία) in the creation of the world. cause of the creation of the universe: as perfect subsistence begotten of perfect subsistence in a manner known to Himself, Who is and is named the Son. And the Holy Spirit is the power of the Father revealing the hidden mysteries of His Divinity, proceeding from the Father through the Son in a manner known to Himself, but different from that of generation. Wherefore the Holy Spirit is the perfecter of the creation of the universe. All the terms, then, that are appropriate to the Father, as cause, source, begetter, are to be ascribed to the Father alone: while those that are appropriate to the caused, begotten Son, Word, immediate power, will, wisdom, are to be ascribed to the Son: and those that are appropriate to the caused, processional, manifesting, perfecting power, are to be ascribed to the Holy Spirit. The Father is the source and cause of the Son and the Holy Spirit: Father of the Son alone and producer of the Holy Spirit. The Son is Son, Word, Wisdom, Power, Image, Effulgence, Impress of the Father and derived from the Father. But the Holy Spirit is not the Son of the Father but the Spirit of the Father as proceeding from the Father. For there is no impulse without Spirit. And we speak also of the Spirit of the Son, not as through proceeding from Him, but as proceeding through Him from the Father. For the Father alone is cause.

Ἔτι περὶ θείων ὀνομάτων ἀκριβέστερον

Τὸ θεῖον ἀκατάληπτον ὂν πάντως καὶ ἀνώνυμον ἔσται. Ἀγνοοῦντες οὖν τὴν οὐσίαν αὐτοῦ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ μὴ ἐκζητήσωμεν ὄνομα: δηλωτικὰ γὰρ τῶν πραγμάτων ἐστὶ τὰ ὀνόματα. Ἀλλ' ἀγαθὸς ὢν ὁ θεὸς καὶ ἐπὶ μεθέξει τῆς ἀγαθότητος αὐτοῦ παραγαγὼν ἡμᾶς ἐκ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος εἰς τὸ εἶναι καὶ γνωστικοὺς ποιήσας ἡμᾶς ὥσπερ οὐ τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ μετέδωκεν, οὕτως οὐδὲ τῆς γνώσεως τῆς οὐσίας αὐτοῦ: ἀδύνατον γὰρ φύσιν τελείως γνῶναι τὴν ὑπερκειμένην φύσιν. Εἰ δὲ καὶ τῶν ὄντων αἱ γνώσεις, τὸ ὑπερούσιον πῶς γνωσθήσεται; Δι' ἄφατον οὖν ἀγαθότητα ηὐδόκησεν ἐκ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς ὀνομάζεσθαι, ἵνα μὴ ἀμέτοχοι παντελῶς ὦμεν τῆς αὐτοῦ ἐπιγνώσεως, ἀλλ' ἔχωμεν κἂν ἀμυδρὰν αὐτοῦ ἔννοιαν. Καθὸ μὲν οὖν ἀκατάληπτός ἐστι, καὶ ἀκατονόμαστος: ὡς δὲ πάντων αἴτιος καὶ πάντων τῶν ὄντων τοὺς λόγους καὶ τὰς αἰτίας ἐν ἑαυτῷ προέχων, ἐκ πάντων τῶν ὄντων κατονομάζεται, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἐναντίων οἷον φωτὸς καὶ σκότους, ὕδατος καὶ πυρός, ἵνα γνῶμεν, ὅτι οὐ ταῦτα κατ' οὐσίαν ἐστίν: ἀλλ' ἔστι μὲν ὑπερούσιος, διὸ καὶ ἀκατονόμαστος, ὡς δὲ πάντων τῶν ὄντων αἴτιος ἐκ πάντων τῶν αἰτιατῶν ὀνομάζεται. _Διὸ τῶν θείων ὀνομάτων τὰ μὲν ἀποφατικῶς λέγεται δηλοῦντα τὸ ὑπερούσιον οἷον ἀνούσιος, ἄχρονος, ἄναρχος, ἀόρατος, οὐχ ὅτι τινὸς ἥττων ἐστὶν ἤ τινος ἐστέρηται (αὐτοῦ γάρ ἐστι τὰ πάντα καὶ ἐξ αὐτοῦ καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ γέγονε καὶ ἐν αὐτῷ συνέστηκεν), ἀλλ' ὅτι πάντων ὑπεροχικῶς τῶν ὄντων ἐξῄρηται (οὐδὲν γὰρ τῶν ὄντων, ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ πάντα ἐστί). Τὰ δὲ καταφατικῶς λεγόμενα ὡς αἰτίου τῶν πάντων κατηγορεῖται: ὡς γὰρ αἴτιος πάσης οὐσίας καὶ πάντων τῶν ὄντων λέγεται καὶ ὢν καὶ οὐσία, καὶ ὡς αἴτιος λόγου παντὸς καὶ σοφίας λογικοῦ τε καὶ σοφοῦ λέγεται λόγος καὶ λογικός, σοφία καὶ σοφός, ὁμοίως καὶ νοῦς καὶ νοερός, ζωὴ καὶ ζῶν, δύναμις καὶ δυνατός, καὶ ἐπὶ πάντων τῶν λοιπῶν ὁμοίως, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐκ τῶν τιμιωτέρων καὶ πλησιαζόντων αὐτῷ οἰκειοτέρως ὀνομασθήσεται. Τιμιώτερα δὲ τὰ ἄυλα τῶν ὑλικῶν καὶ τὰ καθαρὰ τῶν ῥυπαρῶν καὶ τὰ ἅγια τῶν ἐναγῶν, καὶ μᾶλλον αὐτῷ πλησιάζοντα, ἐπεὶ καὶ πλέον μετέχουσιν αὐτοῦ. Οἰκειότερον οὖν μᾶλλον ὀνομασθήσεται ἥλιος καὶ φῶς ἤπερ σκότος, καὶ ἡμέρα ἤπερ νύξ, καὶ ζωὴ ἤπερ θάνατος, καὶ πῦρ καὶ πνεῦμα καὶ ὕδωρ ὡς ζωτικὰ ἤπερ γῆ, καὶ πρὸ πάντων καὶ πλέον ἀγαθότης ἤπερ κακία, _ταὐτὸν δὲ εἰπεῖν_ὢν ἤπερ μὴ ὤν: τὸ γὰρ ἀγαθὸν ὕπαρξις καὶ ὑπάρξεως αἴτιον, τὸ δὲ κακὸν ἀγαθοῦ ἤτοι ὑπάρξεως στέρησις. Καὶ αὗται μὲν αἱ ἀποφάσεις: γλυκυτάτη δὲ καὶ ἡ ἐξ ἀμφοῖν συνάφεια οἷον ἡ ὑπερούσιος οὐσία, ἡ ὑπέρθεος θεότης, ἡ ὑπεράρχιος ἀρχὴ καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα. Εἰσὶ δὲ καί τινα καταφατικῶς ἐπὶ θεοῦ λεγόμενα δύναμιν ὑπεροχικῆς ἀποφάσεως ἔχοντα οἷον σκότος: οὐχ ὅτι ὁ θεὸς σκότος ἐστίν, ἀλλ' ὅτι οὐκ ἔστι φῶς ἀλλ' ὑπὲρ τὸ φῶς. _Λέγεται μὲν οὖν ὁ θεὸς νοῦς καὶ λόγος καὶ πνεῦμα σοφία τε καὶ δύναμις ὡς τούτων αἴτιος καὶ ὡς ἄυλος καὶ ὡς παντουργὸς καὶ παντοδύναμος. Καὶ ταῦτα κοινῶς ἐπὶ πάσης λέγεται τῆς θεότητος τά τε ἀποφατικῶς καὶ καταφατικῶς λεγόμενα. Καὶ ἐφ' ἑκάστης τῶν τῆς ἁγίας τριάδος ὑποστάσεων ὁμοίως καὶ ὡσαύτως καὶ ἀπαραλείπτως: ὅταν γὰρ ἐννοήσω μίαν τῶν ὑποστάσεων, τέλειον θεὸν αὐτὴν οἶδα, τελείαν οὐσίαν. Ὅταν δὲ συνάψω καὶ συναριθμήσω τὰ τρία, ἕνα θεὸν οἶδα τέλειον: οὐ σύνθετόν ἐστιν ἡ θεότης, ἀλλ' ἐν τρισὶ τελείοις ἓν τέλειον ἀμερὲς καὶ ἀσύνθετον. Ὅταν δὲ τὴν πρὸς ἄλληλα σχέσιν τῶν ὑποστάσεων ἐννοήσω, οἶδα, ὅτι ἐστὶν ὁ πατὴρ ὑπερούσιος ἥλιος, πηγὴ ἀγαθότητος, ἄβυσσος οὐσίας, λόγου, σοφίας, δυνάμεως, φωτός, θεότητος, πηγὴ γεννητικὴ καὶ προβλητικὴ τοῦ ἐν αὐτῇ κρυφίου ἀγαθοῦ. Αὐτὸς μὲν οὖν ἐστι νοῦς, λόγου ἄβυσσος, λόγου γεννήτωρ καὶ διὰ λόγου προβολεὺς ἐκφαντορικοῦ πνεύματος, καὶ ἵνα μὴ πολλὰ λέγω: οὐκ ἔστι τῷ πατρὶ λόγος, σοφία, δύναμις, θέλησις, εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός, ὅς ἐστιν ἡ μόνη δύναμις τοῦ πατρὸς ἡ προκαταρκτικὴ τῆς τῶν πάντων ποιήσεως. Οὗτος ὡς τελεία ὑπόστασις γεννωμένη, ὡς οἶδεν αὐτός, υἱός ἐστι τε καὶ λέγεται. Τὸ δὲ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἐκφαντορικὴ τοῦ κρυφίου τῆς θεότητος δύναμις τοῦ πατρός, ἐκ πατρὸς μὲν δι' υἱοῦ ἐκπορευομένη, ὡς οἶδεν, οὐ γεννητῶς: διὸ καὶ πνεῦμα ἅγιον τὸ τελεσιουργὸν τῆς τῶν ἁπάντων ποιήσεως. Ὅσα οὖν ἁρμόζει αἰτίῳ πατρί, πηγῇ, γεννήτορι, τῷ πατρὶ μόνῳ προσαρμοστέον: ὅσα δὲ αἰτιατῷ, γεννητῷ υἱῷ, λόγῳ, δυνάμει προκαταρκτικῇ, θελήσει, σοφίᾳ, τῷ υἱῷ: ὅσα δὲ αἰτιατῷ, ἐκπορευτῷ, ἐκφαντορικῷ, τελεσιουργικῇ δυνάμει, τῷ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι. Ὁ πατὴρ πηγὴ καὶ αἰτία υἱοῦ καὶ πνεύματος, πατὴρ δὲ μόνου υἱοῦ καὶ προβολεὺς πνεύματος: ὁ υἱὸς υἱός, λόγος, σοφία καὶ δύναμις, εἰκών, ἀπαύγασμα, χαρακτὴρ τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ ἐκ τοῦ πατρός, οὐχ υἱὸς δὲ τοῦ πνεύματος. Τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα τοῦ πατρὸς ὡς ἐκ πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον (οὐδεμία γὰρ ὁρμὴ ἄνευ πνεύματος) καὶ υἱοῦ δὲ πνεῦμα οὐχ ὡς ἐξ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ὡς δι' αὐτοῦ ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐκπορευόμενον: μόνος γὰρ αἴτιος ὁ πατήρ.