Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names · 1 of 4 · tr. C.E. Rolt
Chapter 10, Section 1a
CHAPTER X Concerning ” Omnipotent ,” ” Ancient of Days “; and also concerning ” Eternity “ and ” Time .” 1.
Now ‘tis time that our Discourse should celebrate God (Whose Names are many) as “Omnipotent” and “Ancient of Days.” The former title is given Him because He is that All-Powerful Foundation of all things which maintains and embraces the Universe, founding and establishing and compacting it; knitting the whole together in Himself without a rift, producing the Universe out of Himself as out of an all-powerful Root, and attracting all things back into Himself as unto an all-powerful Receptacle, holding them all together as their Omnipotent Foundation, and securing them all in this condition with an all-transcendent bond suffering them not to fail away from Himself, nor (by being removed from out of that perfect Resting Place) to come utterly to destruction.
Moreover, the Supreme Godhead is called “Omnipotent” because It is potent over all things, and rules with unalloyed sovranty over the world It governs; and because It is the Object of desire and yearning for all, and casts on all Its voluntary yoke and sweet travail of Divine all-powerful and indestructible Desire for Its Goodness.
2.
And “Ancient of Days” is a title given to God because He is the Eternity 455 455 In the Super-Essence each thing has its ultimate and timeless being, of all things and their 170 Time, 456 456 In the Super-Essence each thing has the limits of its duration predetermined.
Or else D.
means that in the Super-Essence the movement of Time has the impulse which generates it.
and is anterior 457 457 Temporal precedence is metaphorically used to express metaphysical precedence.
God cannot in the literal sense of the words, temporally precede time.
to Days and anterior to Eternity and Time.
And the titles “Time,” “Day,” “Season,” and “Eternity” must be applied to Him in a Divine sense, to mean One Who is utterly incapable of all change and movement and, in His eternal motion, remains at rest; 458 458 He transcends both Rest and Motion.
and Who is the Cause whence Eternity, Time, and Days are derived.
Wherefore in the Sacred Theophanies revealed in mystic Visions He is described as Ancient and yet as Young: the former title signifying that He is the Primal Being, existent from the beginning, and the latter that He grows not old.
Or both titles together teach that He goes forth from the Beginning through the entire process of the world unto the End.
Or, as the Divine Initiator 459 459 Presumably Hierotheus.
tells us, either term implies the Primal Being of God: the term “Ancient” signifying that He is First in point of Time, and the term “Young” that He possesses the Primacy in point of Number, since Unity and the properties of Unity have a primacy over the more advanced numbers.
460 460 He is the Source of all extension both in Time and in Space, Unity underlies all counting (for 2, 3, 4, etc.
= twice 1, three times 1, four times 1, etc.).
Hence it is the Origin, as it were, of all number.
And, being at the beginning of the arithmetical series (as youth is at the beginning of life) it is symbolized (according to D.) by youthfulness.
3.
Need is there, methinks, that we understand the sense in which Scripture speaketh of Time and Eternity.
Themes
◆Apocatastasiscosmology
The doctrine of the periodic restoration or recurrence of all things to their original state after vast cycles.
The text mentions that all things are attracted back into God and secured in a condition of rest, implying a restoration or final unity.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The passage emphasizes God's transcendence of time and change, describing Him as 'utterly incapable of all change' and 'transcends both Rest and Motion'.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
God is described as maintaining and embracing the Universe, holding all things together with an 'all-transcendent bond'.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The text describes God as the 'Omnipotent Foundation' from which the Universe is produced and maintained.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Failure to remain in God's perfect Resting Place leads to utter destruction, implying evil is a lack of divine presence rather than positive existence.
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The passage centrally describes God as the 'Omnipotent Foundation' that attracts all things back into Himself and holds them together in a condition of perfect Resting Place.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
The text warns that if things fail to remain in God's perfect Resting Place, they come utterly to destruction.