TO THE FELLOW PRESBYTER TIMOTHY, DIONYSIUS

 being illuminated super-cosmically by them for the hymns of the Godhead and being conformed to the sacred hymnologies, so as to see the divine lights

 For all knowledges are of things that are and have their limit in things that are, but It is beyond all essence and is removed from all knowledge. <5>

 <7> Thus, therefore, to the Cause of all and which is above all, both the nameless will apply and all the names of the things that are, so that it may

 the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will, and that It is the Spirit that gives life? That the ent

 to the one-principled Trinity also is common the super-essential existence, the super-divine divinity, the super-good goodness, the identity beyond al

 has partaken of the Word, unless someone might say according to the good-pleasing and man-loving common will and according to all the transcendent and

 Jesus, he says in his compiled Theological Outlines: <10> The all-causing and fulfilling Godhead of the Son, which preserves the parts in harmony with

 <III.> <1> And first, if you please, let us investigate the name Good, which reveals the whole procession of God's emanations, invoking the Good-Pri

 to the hierarchs, when we too, as you know, both yourself and many of our sacred brethren, had gathered for the sight of the life-originating and God-

 communions, the unconfused distinctions, the powers of the subordinate that lead up to the superior, the providences of the senior for the secondary,

 moves and nourishes and increases and perfects and purifies and renews. And light is the measure and number of hours, of days, and of all our time. Fo

 impartations and as calling all things to itself, whence it is also called Beauty, and as gathering all in all into one, and Beautiful as being All-Be

 the beautiful and the good is that which is beyond all rest and motion. Wherefore every rest and motion and that from which and in which and to which

 <12> And yet it has seemed to some of our sacred writers that the name 'eros' is even more divine than that of 'agape'. And the divine Ignatius also w

 an eternal circle through the Good, from the Good and in the Good and to the Good, moving about in an unerring convolution and in the same and accordi

 Whence then is evil? one might say. For if evil does not exist, virtue and vice are the same thing, and the whole is the same as the whole, and the pa

 irrational desire, in this it neither exists nor desires existing things, but it nevertheless partakes of the good by virtue of the faint echo itself

 simply nor in respect to time. <22> But neither is evil in angels. For if the good-like angel proclaims the divine goodness, being secondarily by part

 <24> But would someone say that souls are evil? If, because they associate with evil things providentially and for salvation, this is not evil, but go

 <30> To speak concisely The good is from one and the whole cause, but the evil from many and partial deficiencies. God knows evil, insofar as it is g

 goodnesses. <34> Therefore evil is not a being, nor is evil in beings. For evil, as evil, is nowhere. And the coming-to-be of evil is not according to

 manifestation of the all-perfect providence of the one God, and those of the more universal and the more particular things of the same. <3> And yet on

 <6> Therefore, the Essential Super-Goodness, putting forth the first gift, that of being itself, is praised by the first and most ancient of participa

 For if our sun, although the substances and qualities of sensible things are many and various, yet it, being one and shining a uniform light, renews a

 godlike and unchangeable immortality and the unwavering and unswerving perpetual motion, extending through an abundance of goodness even to the life o

 and is the cause of being of Wisdom itself, both of the whole and of each particular. <2> From it the intelligible and intellectual powers of the ange

 the cause of all things. Therefore God is known both in all things and apart from all things. And God is known through knowledge and through unknowing

 to be power-in-itself, both by being beyond-power and by bringing forth other powers, infinitely many times the infinite number of existing powers, an

 of the age, as having fallen away from none of the things that are, but rather both surpassing and pre-eminent over all beings according to a supra-es

 is defined and all inequality, which is a privation of the equality in each of them, is banished. For if anyone were to take inequality to mean the di

 We said the neck was opinion, as between the rational and irrational the breast, spirit the belly, desire the legs and feet, nature, using the name

 the return to him of those who have proceeded from him. <10> But if one should take the divine name 'Same' from the Oracles, or 'Justice,' in the sens

 beings, inasmuch as He is both before eternity and above eternity and His kingdom is a kingdom of all the ages. Amen. <ΧI.> <1> Come now, let us c

 and would never willingly wish to be at rest. And if he who says these things says that otherness and distinction are the particularity of each of the

 self-deification, of which beings, partaking according to their own nature, both are and live and are divine, and are and are called, and the others l

 It is therefore Perfect not only as being self-complete and defined in itself by itself in a single form and most perfect whole through whole, but als

 And not even the name of Goodness do we offer to It as being applicable, but from a yearning to conceive and speak something about that ineffable Natu

simply nor in respect to time. <22> But neither is evil in angels. For if the good-like angel proclaims the divine goodness, being secondarily by participation that which is proclaimed, which is primarily by causation, the angel is an "image" of God, a manifestation of the unmanifest light, a "mirror" most pure, most transparent, unblemished, undefiled, "spotless," receiving the whole beauty, if it is right to say, of the good-formed divine likeness and unmixedly shining forth in itself, as far as is possible, the goodness of the inmost silence. Therefore, neither is evil in angels. But by punishing sinners they are evil. By this reasoning, at any rate, the correctors of the offenders are evil, and those of the priests who exclude the profane from the divine mysteries. And yet, neither is being punished evil, but becoming worthy of punishment; nor being deservedly excluded from the sacred rites, but becoming polluted and unholy and unfit for the undefiled things. <23> But neither are the demons evil by nature. For if they were evil by nature, they are neither from the Good nor among existing things, nor indeed did they change from good things, being by nature and always evil. Then are they evil to themselves or to others? If to themselves, they also destroy themselves; but if to others, how do they destroy or what do they destroy: substance or power or energy? If substance, first, it is not contrary to nature, for they do not destroy things incorruptible by nature, but things susceptible to corruption. Then, neither is this evil for everyone and in every way. But neither is any existing thing corrupted, in respect to its substance and nature, but through the lack of its natural order, the principle of its harmony and symmetry is too weak to remain in the same state. But the weakness is not complete; for if it were complete, it would have destroyed both the corruption and the subject, and such a corruption would be a corruption of itself. So that such a thing is not evil, but a defective good. For that which is entirely devoid of the good will not be among existing things, and the same reasoning applies to the corruption of power and energy. Then how are the demons, who came to be from God, evil? For the Good produces and establishes good things. And yet they are called evil, one might say, but not in respect to what they are, for they are from the Good and were allotted a good substance, but in respect to what they are not, having become too weak, as the oracles say, to keep "their own domain." For in what, tell me, do we say that the demons become evil, if not in the cessation of the possession and energy of the divine goods? Besides, if demons are evil by nature, they are always evil. And yet, evil is unstable. Therefore, if they are always in the same state, they are not evil, for being always the same is a property of the good. But if they are not always evil, they are not evil by nature, but through a lack of angelic goods. And they are not entirely devoid of the good, insofar as they exist and live and think and there is altogether some movement of desire in them. But they are said to be evil because of their weakness concerning their natural energy. Therefore, for them evil is a deviation and a departure from what is proper to them, and a failure and imperfection and inability, and a weakness and turning away and falling away from the power that preserves the perfection in them. Besides, what is the evil in demons? Irrational anger, mindless desire, rash imagination. But these things, even if they exist in demons, are not entirely nor in all respects nor in and of themselves evil. For in other living beings, not the possession of these things, but their removal is both a destruction for the living being and an evil. But their possession preserves and causes to be the nature of the living being that has them. Therefore, the demonic tribe is not evil, insofar as it exists according to nature, but insofar as it does not exist. And the whole good given to them was not altered, but they themselves have fallen away from the whole good that was given. And as for the angelic gifts given to them, we say that they have never been altered, but they are both complete and all-radiant, even if the demons themselves do not see them, having closed off their own powers for seeing good. So that in what they are, they are both from the Good and are good, and they desire the beautiful and the good, desiring to exist and to live and to think of the things that are. And by the privation and turning away and falling away from the goods proper to them, they are called evil. And they are evil, insofar as they are not. And desiring that which is not, they desire evil.

ἁπλῶς οὔτε κατὰ χρόνον. <22> Ἀλλ' οὔτε ἐν ἀγγέλοις ἐστὶ τὸ κακόν. Eἰ γὰρ ἐξαγγέλλει τὴν ἀγαθότητα τὴν θείαν ὁ ἀγαθοειδὴς ἄγγελος ἐκεῖνο ὢν κατὰ μέθεξιν δευτέρως, ὅπερ κατ' αἰτίαν τὸ ἀγγελλόμενον πρώτως, «εἰκών» ἐστι τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ ἄγγελος, φανέρωσις τοῦ ἀφανοῦς φωτός, «ἔσοπτρον» ἀκραιφνές, διειδέστατον, ἀλώβητον, ἄχραντον, «ἀκηλίδωτον», εἰσδεχόμενον ὅλην, εἰ θέμις εἰπεῖν, τὴν ὡραιότητα τῆς ἀγαθοτύπου θεοειδείας καὶ ἀμιγῶς ἀναλάμπον ἐν ἑαυτῷ, καθάπερ οἷόν τέ ἐστι, τὴν ἀγαθότητα τῆς ἐν ἀδύτοις σιγῆς. Oὐκ ἄρα οὐδὲ ἐν ἀγγέλοις ἐστὶ τὸ κακόν. Ἀλλὰ τῷ κολάζειν τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντάς εἰσι κακοί. Τούτῳ γοῦν τῷ λόγῳ καὶ οἱ σωφρονισταὶ τῶν πλημμελούντων κακοὶ καὶ τῶν ἱερέων οἱ τὸν βέβηλον τῶν θείων μυστηρίων ἀπείργοντες. Καίτοι οὐδὲ τὸ κολάζεσθαι κακόν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἄξιον γενέσθαι κολάσεως, οὐδὲ τὸ κατ' ἀξίαν ἀπείργεσθαι τῶν ἱερῶν, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἐναγῆ καὶ ἀνίερον γενέσθαι καὶ τῶν ἀχράντων ἀνεπιτήδειον. <23> Ἀλλ' οὔτε οἱ δαίμονες φύσει κακοί. Καὶ γὰρ εἰ φύσει κακοί, οὔτε ἐκ τἀγαθοῦ οὔτε ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν οὔτε μὴν ἐξ ἀγαθῶν μετέβαλον φύσει καὶ ἀεὶ κακοὶ ὄντες. Ἔπειτα ἑαυτοῖς εἰσι κακοὶ ἢ ἑτέροις; Eἰ μὲν ἑαυτοῖς, καὶ φθείρουσιν ἑαυτούς, εἰ δὲ ἄλλοις, πῶς φθείροντες ἢ τί φθείροντες· οὐσίαν ἢ δύναμιν ἢ ἐνέργειαν; Eἰ μὲν οὐσίαν, πρῶτον μὲν οὐ παρὰ φύσιν, τὰ γὰρ φύσει ἄφθαρτα οὐ φθείρουσιν, ἀλλὰ τὰ δεκτικὰ φθορᾶς. Ἔπειτα οὐδὲ τοῦτο παντὶ καὶ πάντη κακόν. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ φθείρεταί τι τῶν ὄντων, καθ' ὃ οὐσία καὶ φύσις, ἀλλὰ τῇ ἐλλείψει τῆς κατὰ φύσιν τάξεως ὁ τῆς ἁρμονίας καὶ συμμετρίας λόγος ἀσθενεῖ μένειν ὡσαύτως ἔχων. Ἡ δὲ ἀσθένεια οὐ παντελής, εἰ γὰρ παντελής, καὶ τὴν φθορὰν καὶ τὸ ὑποκείμενον ἀνεῖλε, καὶ ἔσται ἡ τοιαύτη φθορὰ καὶ ἑαυτῆς φθορά. Ὥστε τὸ τοιοῦτον οὐ κακόν, ἀλλ' ἐλλειπὲς ἀγαθόν. Τὸ γὰρ πάντη ἄμοιρον τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ οὔτε ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν ἔσται, καὶ περὶ τῆς εἰς δύναμιν καὶ ἐνέργειαν φθορᾶς ὁ αὐτὸς λόγος. Eἶτα πῶς οἱ ἐκ θεοῦ γενόμενοι δαίμονές εἰσι κακοί; Τὸ γὰρ ἀγαθὸν ἀγαθὰ παράγει καὶ ὑφίστησι. Καίτοι λέγονται κακοί, φαίη τις ἄν, ἀλλ' οὐ, καθ' ὃ εἰσίν, ἐκ τἀγαθοῦ γάρ εἰσι καὶ ἀγαθὴν ἔλαχον οὐσίαν, ἀλλά, καθ' ὃ οὐκ εἰσὶν ἀσθενήσαντες, ὡς τὰ λόγιά φησι, τηρῆσαι «τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀρχήν». Ἐν τίνι γάρ, εἰπέ μοι, κακύνεσθαί φαμεν τοὺς δαίμονας, εἰ μὴ ἐν τῇ παύσει τῆς τῶν θείων ἀγαθῶν ἕξεως καὶ ἐνεργείας; Ἄλλως τε, εἰ φύσει κακοὶ οἱ δαίμονες, ἀεὶ κακοί. Καίτοι τὸ κακὸν ἄστατόν ἐστιν. Oὐκοῦν, εἰ ἀεὶ ὡσαύτως ἔχουσιν, οὐ κακοί, τὸ γὰρ ἀεὶ ταὐτὸν τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἴδιον. Eἰ δὲ οὐκ ἀεὶ κακοί, οὐ φύσει κακοί, ἀλλ' ἐνδείᾳ τῶν ἀγγελικῶν ἀγαθῶν. Καὶ οὐ πάντη ἄμοιροι τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ, καθ' ὃ καὶ εἰσὶ καὶ ζῶσι καὶ νοοῦσι καὶ ὅλως ἐστί τις ἐν αὐτοῖς ἐφέσεως κίνησις. Κακοὶ δὲ εἶναι λέγονται διὰ τὸ ἀσθενεῖν περὶ τὴν κατὰ φύσιν ἐνέργειαν. Παρατροπὴ οὖν ἐστιν αὐτοῖς τὸ κακὸν καὶ τῶν προσηκόντων αὐτοῖς ἔκβασις καὶ ἀτευξία καὶ ἀτέλεια καὶ ἀδυναμία καὶ τῆς σωζούσης τὴν ἐν αὐτοῖς τελειότητα δυνάμεως ἀσθένεια καὶ ἀποφυγὴ καὶ ἀπόπτωσις. Ἄλλως τε τί τὸ ἐν δαίμοσι κακόν; Θυμὸς ἄλογος, ἄνους ἐπιθυμία, φαντασία προπετής. Ἀλλὰ ταῦτα, εἰ καὶ ἔστιν ἐν δαίμοσιν, οὐ πάντη οὐδὲ ἐπὶ πάντων οὐδὲ αὐτὰ καθ' αὑτὰ κακά. Καὶ γὰρ ἐφ' ἑτέρων ζῴων οὐχ ἡ σχέσις τούτων, ἀλλ' ἡ ἀναίρεσίς ἐστι καὶ φθορὰ τῷ ζῴῳ καὶ κακόν. Ἡ δὲ σχέσις σώζει καὶ εἶναι ποιεῖ τὴν ταῦτα ἔχουσαν τοῦ ζῴου φύσιν. Oὐκ ἄρα κακὸν τὸ δαιμόνιον φῦλον, ᾗ ἔστι κατὰ φύσιν, ἀλλ' ᾗ οὐκ ἔστι. Καὶ οὐκ ἠλλοιώθη τὸ δοθὲν αὐτοῖς ὅλον ἀγαθόν, ἀλλ' αὐτοὶ τοῦ δοθέντος ἀποπεπτώκασιν ὅλου ἀγαθοῦ. Καὶ τὰς δοθείσας αὐτοῖς ἀγγελικὰς δωρεάς, οὐ μήποτε αὐτὰς ἠλλοιῶσθαί φαμεν, ἀλλ' εἰσὶ καὶ ὁλόκληροι καὶ παμφαεῖς εἰσι, κἂν αὐτοὶ μὴ ὁρῶσιν ἀπομύσαντες ἑαυτῶν τὰς ἀγαθοπτικὰς δυνάμεις. Ὥστε ὃ εἰσί, καὶ ἐκ τἀγαθοῦ εἰσι καὶ ἀγαθοὶ καὶ τοῦ καλοῦ καὶ ἀγαθοῦ ἐφίενται τοῦ εἶναι καὶ ζῆν καὶ νοεῖν τῶν ὄντων ἐφιέμενοι. Καὶ τῇ στερήσει καὶ ἀποφυγῇ καὶ ἀποπτώσει τῶν προσηκόντων αὐτοῖς ἀγαθῶν λέγονται κακοί. Καὶ εἰσὶ κακοί, καθ' ὃ οὐκ εἰσίν. Καὶ τοῦ μὴ ὄντος ἐφιέμενοι τοῦ κακοῦ ἐφίενται.