Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names

Chapter IV opens by announcing its concern with the names "Good," "Light," "Beautiful," "Desire," "Ecstasy," "Jealousy," and the claim that Evil is neither existent nor sprung from existent things. In section 1 the writer considers the name "Good" applied by the Sacred Writers to the Supra-Divine Godhead, likening the Good to the sun, which by its existence gives light; the Good sends rays of Goodness to all according to their receptive powers, giving Spiritual Beings their existence, life, and knowledge, which they pass to kindred spirits. Section 2 describes the celestial orders deriving from the Good, then men's souls, then irrational souls, plants, and lifeless things, all existing because the Good exists. Section 3 states that the Good's Formless Nature produces all-form, and that its Not-Being, Lifelessness, and Mindless state are excesses of Being, Life, and Wisdom, expressed by negative images. Section 4 attributes to the Good the heavens, stars, the two "Great" luminaries, and time's measurement; from the Good comes light, so the Good is named "Light." The Good is called the Measure, Numerical Principle, Order, Cause, and End of the universe. The sun is its visible image, drawing and uniting all things, yet the writer denies the ancient myth that the sun is God, citing that God's invisible things are seen through creation. Section 5 turns to the spiritual meaning of "Light": the Good fills minds with light and drives away ignorance. Section 6 calls the Good a Spiritual Light and Archetype, uniting rational beings. Section 7 treats "Beautiful" and "Beauty," distinguishing quality from participants, naming the Beautiful as Cause, Exemplar, and Goal, identifying it with the Good, in which even the Non-Existent shares.

From the Beautiful and Good, the text states, come the bare existence of all things and their unions, differentiations, identities, differences, similarities, dissimilarities, communions of opposites, and the unconfused distinctions of interpenetrating elements, along with the providences of the Superiors, the interdependence of the Co-ordinates, the responses of the Inferiors, and states of permanence. It then describes the intercommunion, harmonies, and sympathies coordinating the whole universe, grounded in That which is above rest and motion. Section 8 states the Heavenly Minds move circularly, straight forward, and with spiral motion. Section 9 states the soul likewise has circular movement (introversion), spiral motion (enlightenment by discursive reason), and straight-forward movement toward outward things. Section 10 assigns these motions their Efficient, Formal, and Final Cause in the Beautiful and Good, from which all Being, order, and existence come and toward which they turn, citing Scripture: "Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things." It affirms all things desire the Beautiful and Good—inferiors yearn for superiors, peers for peers, superiors for inferiors—and that the Creator Himself yearns after all things through excess of Goodness. Section 11 defends the title "Yearning," citing "Yearn for her and she shall keep thee." Section 12 states some writers hold "Yearning" diviner than "Love"; Ignatius writes "He whom I yearn for is crucified," and Scripture says "I yearned for her beauty." Section 13 states Divine Yearning brings ecstasy; Paul says "I live, and yet not I but Christ liveth in me," and the Creator is transported outside Himself while remaining within. Section 14 explains God is spoken of both as Yearning and as its Object, moving Himself unto Himself.

The Divine Yearning is said to show its beginningless and endless nature, revolving in a circle for, from, in, and to the Good. The author states the renowned Initiator declared this in his Hymns of Yearning and quotes him. In section 15, Hierotheus describes Yearning as a uniting and commingling power moving higher things to care for lower, co-equals to communion, and inferiors to turn toward superiors. In section 16, the same, having set down the manifold yearnings springing from the One, resumes and compacts them into the one concentrated Yearning that is their Father, collecting them into two kinds mastered by the Incomprehensible Causation. In section 17, he declares One Simple Power moving all things to unity, from the Good to the lowest creatures and returning to the Good in an unceasing orbit. In section 18, a questioner asks how the devils desire not the Good, how they became evil though produced from the Good, what evil is, whence it arises, and why God willed to produce it. In section 19, the author bids the questioner look toward truth, answering that evil comes not of the Good, that Good cannot produce non-good things, and that evil cannot wholly exist; an objector asks whence evil comes and about virtue and vice. In section 20, the answer is that evil qua evil causes no existence but only corrupts, becoming productive only through the Good; the Good is present in proportion to each creature's capacity. In section 21, evil does not inhere in creatures, since a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, and no duality can be an origin. In section 22, all things come from the Good, which is One, and being from the Good possess distinctions.

The text states that God cannot be free from pain unless the Good imparts harmony; the Good is called by the Sacred Writers Peace and the Bestower of Peace. All good things display mutual attraction, being offspring of one Life. Evil is not in God nor comes from God, for He works goodness; a series of arguments about change, substance, and participation concludes that no evil is from God and no existence is evil. Section 22: evil does not inhere in the angels, who declare Divine Goodness by participation and are images of God, burnished mirrors. Angels are evil only insofar as they punish sinners; but being worthy of punishment, not suffering it, is evil. Section 23: devils are not naturally evil, since they sprang from the Good. Arguments concerning self-destruction and destruction of Essence, Faculty, or Activity conclude they are called evil insofar as they do not exist. Their evil is warping and declension; it consists of brutish wrath, blind desire, headstrong fancy. Their angelic gifts remain unblemished. Section 24: human souls are not the seat of evil; depravation is deficiency of good, illustrated by air darkened through absence of light. Section 25: evil is not in brute beasts; removing a lion's or dog's passions destroys their nature. Section 26: evil does not inhere in nature as a whole. Section 27: not in bodies, since ugliness and disease are deficiency. Section 28: not in matter, which shares in order and comes from the Good. Section 29: Deprivation does not fight the Good. Section 30: Good comes from the One universal Cause, evil from many partial deficiencies; God knows evil under the form of good. The text questions whether the soul is the cause of evil.

The text states that only one alternative remains: evil is a weakness and deficiency of Good. In section 31 it holds that good things have one cause, while evil, if opposed to Good, would have many causes; the efficient causes of evil are impotence, weakness, and inharmonious mingling of discordant elements. Evil is indeterminate, and the Good is the beginning and end of all things, good and bad. Even in acting amiss one longs for the Good; thus evil has no substantial being. Section 32 attributes to evil only accidental existence, distinguishing purpose from action, and lists evil as lack, deficiency, weakness, disproportion, error, and many other privations. It asks how admixture of Good gives evil power, noting evil things are not entirely bad but bad in partial aspect—in a devil contrary to spiritual goodness, in the soul contrary to reason, in the body contrary to nature. Section 33 asks how evil exists under Providence, answering that evil has no being and that Providence turns evil effects to kindly purpose while preserving each nature and not violating free will. Section 34 restates that evil has no being; devils derive existence from the Good, their evil resulting from a fall. Section 35 interprets Scripture's "men who sin knowingly" as those weak in exercised knowledge, and "them that know the Divine Will and do it not" (Luke) as weak in faith; wilful sin is wilful ignorance. It addresses whether weakness should be pardoned, referencing the lost treatise Concerning Justice and Divine Judgment. The closing paragraph celebrates the Good as Beginning and End of all things, giving form to non-existent things, causing good and no evil, as perfect Providence to be desired and loved.

This span consists of numbered editorial notes (307–363). Note 307 states the Via Negativa starts from something positive and is a transcendence, not mere negation, following an Augustine quotation. Note 309 discusses Ignatius's phrase "my Love is crucified" (Ep. ad Rom. §6), noting Ignatius wrote before his martyrdom in the early second century, that this reference makes the Dionysian writings' authenticity improbable, and that Zahn and Lightfoot support a self-reference while Origen refers it to Jesus; Jacobson's support and Greek commemoration are cited. Notes 310–313 address the term ἔρως, its scriptural references (Wisdom viii.2), and the alternating use of ἔρως and ἀγάπη. Notes 315–321 treat Yearning, the selfless Selfhood of God, citing Aquinas, Spenser, Plato, and Dante, and an emendation of ἐρώτων to ἔρωτες is proposed with a manuscript-line argument. Notes 322–326 explain "Non-Existent" as formless matter, cite Plotinus and Le Bon, and set out three grades of Non-Existence (Transcendent, Actual, Absolute) with a numerical symbol (Infinity, Unity, Zero). Notes 327–341 argue D. is no pantheist but holds Transcendent Immanence, and present metaphysical arguments that evil is non-existent, citing Pascal and the Trinity's emanations. Notes 342–360 argue no created thing is inherently evil, discussing devils, destruction, matter, the timeless self (citing Eckhart, Tauler, Ruysbroeck), and natural laws. Notes 361–363 address sin as ignorance, wilful sin as wilful ignorance (Luke xii.47), and note a lost treatise.