Message to Diognetus

“The Epistle to Diognetus” is not quoted or mentioned by any of the ancient Church Fathers or church writers, and modern patrolologists question the authorship of this work by the martyr. Justin the Philosopher. The question of the dating of the work remains controversial. According to most pathologists, it was written between 120 and 210 BC. The message consists of 12 chapters and is an answer to three questions from one high-ranking pagan Diognetus, whose attention to Christians was aroused by their courageous death for their faith. These questions concerned why Christians reject the worship of pagans and Jews, what their own worship and life consist of, and why Christianity came to the world so late. Answering the questions posed, St. Justin criticizes paganism and Judaism. Christians reject paganism because its objects of worship are material. To honor them is to contradict common sense. Why do Christians have different reverence for God than Jews? True, they honor the one God and recognize Him as the Ruler of the Universe, and as a monotheistic faith, Judaism is true, but the whole spirit of Jewish worship makes it unacceptable for Christians. Jews believe that God needs human offerings. The vain appearance of the Jews in observing the ritual law is meaningless and ridiculous. Consequently, Christians act justly, moving away from superstition and the deception of the pagans, and from Jewish vain care and vanity. Next martyr. Justin describes the holy life of Christians, proving the sublimity of their religion. This picture of the life of Christians is followed by a brief teaching about the Christian religion as given by God Himself. According to the author, Christianity came to the world so late not because God was amused by the sins of people, but because He waited for the measure of untruths to overflow and so that they themselves would realize that due to their deeds they were unworthy of life, and when the time was fulfilled, He sent His Son to atone for their untruths. The publication presents a pre-revolutionary translation made by Archpriest Peter Preobrazhensky. *The title of the work in Greek is Πρὸς Ϫιόϒνητον. *The title of the work in Latin is Epistula ad Diognetum. Contents About the message to Diognetus Archpriest Peter Preobrazhensky Message to Diognetus The works that undoubtedly belong to St. Justin, such as: two apologies and a conversation with Tryphon the Jew, in handwritten codes and printed publications are followed by works also of apologetic content, which are attributed to Justin, but the authenticity of which is subject to doubt and controversy. Among them, the first place in terms of its antiquity, as well as its high literary merit, is occupied by the Epistle to Diognetus. This essay is a response letter to Diognetus, who, as can be seen from the letter itself, was a pagan and, moreover, an educated man who occupied a high social position. 1 The fearlessness with which Christians were subjected to torture and death for their faith, and their mutual brotherly love aroused in him a desire to find out about the source of this moral phenomenon, mysterious to him. He turned to his Christian friend - the writer of the epistle - with questions about the essence of Christianity, its differences from paganism and Judaism, and the reason for its so late appearance in the world. Answering these questions, the writer of the letter approves of Diognetus’ desire to know the truth (chapter 1), and inviting him to an impartial and unprejudiced discussion of the matter, first of all he shows why Christians do not honor the pagan gods: these gods, he says, are the creations of people themselves, made of the same perishable substance as the vessels used in ordinary life; they are deaf, blind, without soul, without feeling, without movement (chapter 2). The worship of the Jews is more reasonable than paganism, since they recognize one God, Creator and Ruler of the universe, but in their sensual and vain service to Him with blood and sacrifices, as if the All-Satisfied One needed it, they are similar to the pagans (chap. 3, 4). Then, moving on to Christianity, the mysteries of which no person can explain, as the author notes, he paints a wonderful picture of the life of Christians and compares their position and significance in the world with the human soul in relation to the body (chapter 5.6). To explain the extraordinary power of Christianity, the writer (chap. 7, 8) says that it was not established by people, like other religions, but was revealed by God himself, and, moreover, not through any higher spiritual creature, but through His own Son, to whom the Father from the beginning communicated the eternal advice of His love regarding the salvation of the human race. Before Christ, there was no true knowledge of God, even among philosophers: through Christ, God revealed Himself and gave people by faith to contemplate God and be participants in His benefits. Why did Christianity come to the world so late? God left people who lived before Christianity to their own lusts and passions, not because He took pleasure in their errors, but so that this would expose humanity’s powerlessness to its own salvation. When the measure of human sins was fulfilled, God showed His infinite love, giving His Son made man for our redemption, the Innocent for the guilty, the Holy for the wicked (chapter 9). Having answered Diognetus’s questions, the writer of the letter convinces him to accept the Christian faith, presenting to him the benefits that will come from it: he will know God, through love he will become His imitator and, having risen above the world and the fear of death, he will know the mysteries on earth and anticipate the bliss of heaven (chapter 10). Thus the main subject of the message is revealed, and here it ends very naturally: apparently, only the final formula is missing. But in the manuscripts there are then two more chapters (11 and 12). In them, the author says about himself that he is an “apostolic disciple” and a teacher of the pagans, teaching a teaching that is not alien, but apostolic, which was revealed by God through His Word to the disciples: through this Word, truth and grace are poured out on the sin of believers who do not transgress the limits of faith and traditions of the fathers (chapter 11). Further, the writer invites to true knowledge and defends its rights, pointing out that both the tree of life and the tree of knowledge were planted in paradise, and that it was not knowledge, but disobedience that introduced condemnation into the world (chapter 12). At first glance, it is clear that these chapters do not go to the content of the previous ten chapters and are not in any internal connection with them. The author accidentally changes the tone of speech and the very image of expression: instead of a clear, harmonious, logically coherent speech addressed to one person - Diognetus and busy solving his questions, which we see in the first 10 chapters - here we encounter a general, rather vague, sometimes allegorical speech, having the character of a conversation addressed to Christians, and not to a pagan. Added to this difference in the style and content of the last two chapters is the fact that in the oldest manuscript of the epistle to Diognetus, the scribe made a note in front of them, from which doubt about the authenticity of these chapters is evident, which may have come from deep Christian antiquity. 2 Therefore, the scientists Böhl, Semisch, Otto and Hefele (the last two previously recognized these chapters as authentic), Gollenberg and others recognize them as a separate addition by an outside writer, the origin of which dates back to a later time, namely, not earlier than the 3rd century. 3 The Epistle to Diognetus was first published in 1592 by the French scholar Henry Stephen, who used the handwritten Greek codex now in Leiden, and in his edition added his notes and a Latin translation to it. In it, as well as in the Strasbourg manuscript; carefully examined by the learned publisher of the apologists Otto, this letter bears the name of St. Justin the Martyr. It was attributed to this writer by scientists following Stephen for a whole century. At the end of the 17th century, Tillemon, the author of notes on church history, rebelled against the established opinion, and most of the researchers of patristic literature, such as Nurri, Hollandi, Lumper, etc., joined his view. In modern times, against Otto’s learned efforts to defend the opinion about the origin of the letter from St. Justina, Belle, especially Semisch and Gollenberg presented new reasons, and it is now recognized by almost all patrolologists that the letter to Diognetus does not belong to St. Justin. The main evidence for this opinion is the following: 1) the language and presentation of the epistle to Diognetus represents such a difference from the original writings of Justin, which cannot be satisfactorily explained either by Justin’s earlier age or by the nature of the content. Exposition of St. Justina bears that mixed character that the Greek language acquired during its gradual spread everywhere since the era of Alexander the Great; it is not distinguished by thoroughness and strict correctness, it approaches the ordinary, common way of speech and is replete with deviations from the subject revealed by the author. Something completely different is visible in the letter to Diognetus: its style is processed and approaches the purity of expression of classical examples; clarity and conciseness of speech, vividness of antitheses, harmony in the combination of sentences, and logical consistency, together with sincere animation of feeling, constitute the distinctive properties of the presentation of the message. In addition, Justin’s favorite expressions are not found in it, and on the contrary, words and phrases that Justin does not use are used. 4 2) The difference between St. Justin and the author of the letter to Diognetus in their judgment regarding the most important points of the case they present. a) Justin recognizes the pagan gods as evil spiritual beings-demons who live in their idols to accept their victims from people; in the epistle, on the contrary, the gods of paganism are identified with their idols, which are soulless products of human hands, no different from simple stone, gold, etc. b) Justin recognizes Judaism with its circumcision, sacrifices, Sabbath laws and other ritual regulations as a Divine institution, given for the sake of the weakness of the Jews, but still in connection with the new covenant of Christ. On the contrary, the message denies all the highest meaning of Jewish worship, excluding its dogma about the One God, and it is reduced to almost the same level as paganism. c) There is not a trace of that basic thought of the St. in the message. Justin about the action of the Supreme Reason or Word (λογος) in the pre-Christian world, according to which the time before Christ through the Old Testament law and prophecies among the Jews and through the activities of the best people in paganism served as a preparation for the full and general revelation of the Word in Christ the Savior. According to the view of the writer of the Epistle to Diognetus, Christianity seems to suddenly appear in the world, and it was not the need for the gradual revelation of the Divine economy for the salvation of mankind that was the reason for its recent appearance, but the divine intention, through the depth of the moral fall of people, to lead them to the consciousness of the need for saving grace. Thus, it is unfair to attribute to St. Justin such a work, which, despite the few similar thoughts common to all ancient Christian apologetics, is in clear contradiction with his characteristic views. Given the silence of ancient church historians about this message, its writer remains unknown to us, and various assumptions about him do not have a solid historical basis. 5 There is also no data to accurately determine the time to which the origin of the message dates back to. Attempts to elevate it to the apostolic age are unfounded. The words in chapter 11, where the unknown author calls himself “a disciple of the apostles,” do not refer to the writer of the epistle, and, moreover, can be taken in a broader, improper sense. The Jewish rituals and sacrifices that the author speaks of (chapters 3.4) do not necessarily imply the existence of Jerusalem and the church. The expression about Christianity, as a recent phenomenon that has now (νυν) arisen, also does not prevent us from attributing this message to the time of the later apostolic age. With greater thoroughness, scientists (Möhler, Semisch, Tschirner) believe the time of its origin in the first half of the 2nd century, when Christians, who had already separated from the Jews, constituted a significant and widespread society and were subjected to repeated bloody persecution for precisely the fact that they did not want to renounce God (Chapter 10). After the first edition by G. Stephen in 1592, the epistle to Diognetus was published in editions of the works of St. Justin by Silburg, Prudentius Maranus, and in a manuscript-corrected form by Otto in his edition of the apologists. Hefele placed it in his edition of the works of the apostolic men, and the publisher of the Cursus Completus Patrologiae in volume II. In addition to the previous critical works of Böhl (opuscula patrr. select. 1), worthy of attention are the articles of Möhler (Patrol. I.), Samisch (in his work on St. Justin) and the monograph by Otto: Epistola ad Diognetum, 1852, and Gollenberg (der Brief an Diognet, 1853), who strengthened the evidence against the attribution of the epistle to St. Justin. 6 1. I see, most excellent Diognetus, your strong desire to know Christian worship. Do you carefully and with lively participation ask about Christians, in what God do they trust and what service do they render to Him? What inspires them all to despise the world itself and not fear death? Why do they not recognize the gods revered by the Hellenes, 7 nor observe Jewish worship? Where does the love they have for each other come from, and why, finally, this new kind of worship, this institution, has appeared at the present time, and not before? I approve of your desire and ask God, who gives us the ability to both speak and hear, to grant me to speak in such a way that the one who hears becomes better, and for you to listen in such a way that the speaker is not saddened. 2. When you have cleansed yourself of all the prejudices that dominate your mind, and you have rejected the habitual opinion that seduces you, when you have become new, as if you were just born, since the teaching that you will listen to, even by your own admission, is new: then consider not only with your eyes, but also with your mind, from what substance and what form are those whom you call and honor as gods. Is not one of them a stone like those which you trample underfoot, the other is copper, which is no better than the vessels made of it for your use? one is wood, and already rotten, the other is silver, which requires a guard so that it is not stolen, the other is iron, corroded by rust, and the other is clay, which is in no way superior to the clay used for products for the most base needs. Isn't all this made from a substance subject to decay? Is it not through iron weapons and fire? Was not one made by a stonecutter, another by a coppersmith, another by a silversmith, another by a potter? Was not each of these substances remade by one artist or another, as is the case now, before it received the image of the gods through their art? Could not present-day vessels made of the same substance be converted into images of gods if they fell into the hands of those artists? And conversely, the gods whom you worship today, cannot be remade by people into vessels similar to others? Aren't they all deaf, blind, without soul, without feeling, without movement? Don't they all rot, don't they all get damaged? This is what you call gods, what you serve, what you worship; and you yourself, of course, become like them. This is why you hate Christians because they do not recognize these gods. But you, who now regard them as gods, do not you show them more disdain than Christians? Do you not laugh at them and insult them more when, honoring the gods of stone and clay, you leave them without guards, and the gods of silver or gold are locked up at night and put watchmen over them during the day so that they are not kidnapped? The very honors that you bestow on them serve more as a punishment for them, if they only feel it; if they are deprived of feelings, then you convict them of this, serving them with blood and the smell of sacrifices. Let one of you experience this! Let someone allow this to happen to them! But not a single person will voluntarily endure such punishment, because he has feeling and meaning; The stone endures this because it is devoid of feeling. And you certainly don’t prove his sensitivity. 8 That Christians did not give themselves up as slaves to such gods, I could say a lot more about this; but even if what I said seemed insufficient to someone, I consider it unnecessary to say more. 3. Now, I think, you really want to hear why Christians do not have the same reverence for God as Jews. The Jews, however, are alien to the service of the gods, which we just spoke about; they honor God alone and recognize Him as the ruler of the universe: but if, like the pagans, they perform the same service to Him, then they are mistaken. For the Greeks, making sacrifices to insensitive and deaf creatures, show a sign of foolishness, and the Jews, thinking to honor God with the same sacrifices, as if He had a need for it, perhaps show greater stupidity than piety. The One who created heaven and earth and everything that is in them, and gives us all everything we need, cannot, of course, have a need for anything that He Himself gives to those who think of giving something to Him. 9 And if they, offering sacrifices to God through blood, incense and burnt offerings, think with such honors to glorify Him and to provide something to Him who needs nothing, then, it seems to me, they are no different from those who show the same respect to insensitive gods who cannot accept that honor. 4. As for the excessive pickiness of the Jews in food, their superstition in observing the Sabbath, their vanity in their circumcision, their hypocrisy in fasting and new moons - all this is so ridiculous and not worth a word that, I think, there is no need for you to learn about it from me. For of all the things that God has created for the benefit of man, is it proper to accept some as being created well, and reject others as useless and superfluous? Is it not wicked to slander God, as if he forbids doing anything good on the Sabbath day? Also, is it not worthy of ridicule to boast of the diminution of the flesh, 10 as evidence of a special election, as if for this they were especially loved by God? In the same way, the fact that they observe the course of the stars 11 and the moon, notice the months and days, and the orders of God, distribute the changes of times according to their own desires, turning some into holidays, others into days of mourning, who will consider this a sign of Godly reverence, and not much more - madness? So, I think you now quite understand that Christians act justly by moving away both from general 12 superstition and deception, and from Jewish vain care and vanity. And as for the sacrament of their own worship of God, do not hope to learn it from a person. 5. Christians do not differ from other people either by country, or by language, or by everyday customs. They do not inhabit special cities anywhere, do not use any unusual dialect, and lead a life no different from others. Only their teaching is not a fruit of thought or an invention of people seeking novelty; they are not committed to any human teaching like others. But living in Hellenic and barbarian cities, where they had their share, and following the customs of those inhabitants in clothing, in food and in everything else, they represent an amazing and truly incredible way of life. They live in their own country, but like strangers; have a share in everything as citizens, and tolerate everything as strangers. For them, every foreign country is a fatherland, and every fatherland is a foreign country. They get married like everyone else, have children, but don’t abandon them. They have a common meal, but not a simple one. 13 They are in the flesh, but they do not live according to the flesh. 14 They are on earth, but they are citizens of heaven. 15 They obey the established laws, but by their lives they surpass the laws themselves. 16 They love everyone and are persecuted by everyone. They are not known, but they condemn them; they kill them, but they are given life; They are poor, but they enrich many. They are deprived of everything, and they abound in everything. 17 They dishonor them, but thereby they are glorified; 18 They slander them, and they are found to be righteous; they curse and they bless; 19 They are insulted, but they repay with respect; they do good, but they are punished as evildoers; being punished, they rejoice, 20 as if they had been given life. The Jews arm themselves against them as against foreigners, and the Greeks persecute them, but their enemies cannot say why they hate them. 6. In a word: what is the soul in the body, so are Christians in the world. The soul is spread throughout all members of the body, and Christians are spread throughout all the cities of the world. The soul, although it dwells in the body, is not corporeal, and Christians live in the world, but are not of the world. 21 The soul, being invisible, is placed in a visible body; Likewise, Christians, being in the world, are visible, but their worship of God remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul and fights against it, without being offended by anything, because the soul forbids it to indulge in pleasures: so the world hates Christians, from whom it does not tolerate any offense, because they arm themselves against its pleasures. The soul loves its flesh and members despite the fact that they hate it, and Christians love those who hate them. The soul is enclosed in the body, but itself contains the body; so Christians, imprisoned in the world, as if in prison, themselves preserve the peace. The immortal soul dwells in a mortal abode; so Christians live like strangers in a corruptible world, awaiting incorruption in heaven. The soul, enduring hunger and thirst, becomes better, and Christians, being punished, multiply more every day. 22 So glorious is their position, into which God has appointed them and from which they cannot refuse. 7. For, as I said, it is not an earthly invention that is entrusted to them, it is not the invention of any mortal that they so carefully try to preserve, and it is not the disposal of human secrets that they are entrusted with. But in truth the Almighty and Creator of everything, the invisible God, himself infused into people and imprinted on their hearts the heavenly truth and his holy and incomprehensible Word. He did not send to people, as anyone might have supposed, any of his servants, or an angel or a prince - the ruler of the earthly or the one entrusted with the administration of the heavenly - no; but the very Artist and Creator of all things, by Whom He made the heavens, By Whom He enclosed the sea within His bounds, Whose secrets 23 faithfully preserve all the heavenly bodies, 24 From Whom the sun received the certain measures of its daily courses, Whose command the moon obeys, illuminating the night, Whom the stars obey, following the course of the moon, By Whom all things are ordered, distributed, and To Whom all things are subjugated: heaven and everything that is in the heavens, the earth and everything that is on the earth, the sea and everything that is in the sea, fire, air, the abyss, everything that is high and deep and in the middle. This is who He sent to the people. Is it really for this purpose, someone will think, to show them His power, to bring them into fear and horror? No way, but He sent Him with kindness and meekness. He sent as a king sending a son as a king, sent as God, sent to men, sent as one who saves, as one who persuades, and not one who compels, for coercion is not characteristic of God; He sent as one who calls, and not as one who pursues; He sent as one who loves, and not one who judges. 25 Will one day send Him as a judge, and who will endure His coming?.... 26 Don’t you see that Christians throw themselves to be devoured by wild beasts so that they will reject the Lord, and they remain invincible. Don't you see that the more of them are executed, the more the number of others increases. 27 This is not the work of man, this is the power of God, this is the proof of His coming. 8. Which people knew what God was before His coming? Or will you approve of the empty and absurd sayings of those supposedly reliable philosophers, some of whom called fire God - whatever they want, they call God - others water, others something else, something from the elements created by God? But if any of these opinions is worthy of approval, then every other created thing could similarly be called God. But all this is a lie and deception of deceivers; none of the people saw or showed God; He revealed Himself. He revealed Himself through faith, which alone is granted to see God. For the Lord and Creator of all things, God, Who created everything and put everything in order, showed people not only His love, but also His long-suffering. He has always been, is and will be merciful, good, kind and true, and He alone is good. 28 He accepted a great and ineffable purpose, which He communicated to His only Son. As long as He kept and kept His wise advice secret, it seemed that He had abandoned us and had no care for us. But after He revealed through His beloved Son and declared what had been prepared from eternity, He gave us everything together: to be participants in His benefits, and to see Him and act. Who ever expected this? - So, He Himself knew all this together with the Son, according to His economy. 9 . However, if in the past He allowed us to follow our own disorderly passions, to be carried away by pleasures and lusts, it was not because He was amused by our sins; He just tolerated it; and did not take pleasure in that unrighteous time, but prepared the present time of righteousness, so that having been convinced in the past from our own deeds that we were not worthy of life, we would now be rewarded with it by the goodness of God, and having shown that we ourselves cannot enter the kingdom of God, 29 we would receive this opportunity from the power of God. When the measure of our unrighteousness was fulfilled and it was completely revealed that punishment and death should be expected as a reward for it, when the time came in which God, out of boundless love for mankind and out of His only love, proposed to finally reveal His goodness and power: then He did not hate us, did not reject us, did not remember our evil, but with patience endured it and Himself took our sins upon Himself. He gave His Son as a ransom for us, 30 Holy for the wicked, Innocent for the guilty, Just for the unjust, Incorruptible for the corruptible, Immortal for the mortal. For what else could cover our sins, 31 but His righteousness? Through whom could we, the lawless and the wicked, be justified, except the Son of God? O sweet change! O incomprehensible construction! O unexpected blessing! The iniquity of many is covered by one Righteous One, and the righteousness of one justifies many wicked people. So, having previously discovered the powerlessness of our nature to receive life, and now having revealed to us the Savior, who can save even that which could not be saved, God wanted to dispose us in both ways so that we would believe in His goodness, honor Him as Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Mentor, Physician, Wisdom, Light, Honor, Glory, Life, without worrying about clothing and food. 32 10. If you desire this faith, you will immediately receive knowledge of the Father. God loved people, for whom He created the world, to whom He subjugated everything on earth, and gave them intelligence and understanding; He allowed them only to turn their gaze to Himself; He created them in His own image; He sent His only begotten Son to them; 33 He promised them the kingdom of heaven and would give it to those who loved Him. Oh, what joy will you be filled with when you know the Father? How will you love the One who loved you so much in advance? When you love, you will become an imitator of His goodness. Do not be surprised that a person can be an imitator of God. Maybe if He wants. For bliss does not consist in having power over others, or being stronger than the weakest, or being rich and oppressing the inferior, thus no one can imitate God; it is not worthy of His greatness. But the one who takes upon himself the burden of his neighbor, who, having superiority in something, benefits another inferior to himself, who distributes the gifts he receives from God to those in need and becomes, so to speak, God for those who receive from his hand; he is an imitator of God. Then, while you are on earth, you will see that there is a God living in heaven, then you will begin to tell the secrets of God; then you will love and marvel at those who suffer torment because they do not want to renounce God; then you will know the deception and delusion of the world, when you actually learn to live in heaven, when you despise the imaginary death here, and fear the real death prepared for those who are condemned to eternal fire, which will forever torment those cast into it. Then you will be surprised at those who endure temporary fire for the sake of truth, and you will consider them blessed when you recognize that fire. 34 11. I am not saying something new, and it is not in vain that I seek to convince others, but having been an apostolic disciple, I also became a teacher of the pagans. What I have been devoted to, I try to convey to students who are worthy of the truth. For who, having been rightly taught and born of the beloved Word, 35 will not carefully study what the Word clearly taught to His disciples? To them the Word itself, which appeared, revealed and freely spoke what was incomprehensible to unbelievers and what it explained to the disciples, and those whom It found faithful came to know the mysteries of the Father. For this very reason He sent the Word, so that It would appear to the world, and rejected by the Jewish people, it was preached by the apostles and the pagans believed in Him. It was there from the beginning, but has appeared recently; turned out to be ancient and is always born again in the hearts of the Saints. The Eternal One is now recognized as the Son; Through Him the church is enriched, and grace, spreading, multiplies in the Saints, bestows understanding, reveals secrets, announces the times, rejoices over the faithful, is given to those who seek those who do not violate the limits of faith and do not transgress the traditions of the fathers. In this way, the fear of the law is praised, and the grace given to the prophets is recognized, and the faith of the gospels is confirmed, and the apostolic tradition is observed, and the grace of the church triumphs. Without offending this grace, you will know what the Word says, through whom and when He pleases. For everything to which the Divine Word excites us, we communicate to you out of love for the truths revealed to us. 12. By listening to this and listening diligently, you will understand everything that God gives to those who truly love Him, you will become a paradise of consolations, a fruitful green tree, growing within yourself and adorned with various fruits. For here in paradise the tree of knowledge and the tree of life were planted. But it is not the tree of knowledge that destroys, but disobedience. For it is clear what is written, that is, that from the beginning God planted the tree of life in the midst of paradise, pointing to knowledge as the way to life; but the first people did not use it cleanly, and exposed it to the cunning of the serpent. For neither life without knowledge, nor knowledge without true life is durable. That is why both trees were planted next to each other. The Apostle saw the power of this connection and therefore reproaches knowledge that is turned into life without the true commandment, saying: “reason boasts, love creates. 36 Whoever thinks to know anything without true knowledge, not attested by life, knows nothing, is deceived by the serpent, because he has not loved life. But he who received knowledge with fear, and seeks life, plants with hope, expecting fruit. Let your heart be guided; life is the true word, acceptable to you. Having planted this tree and bearing fruit, you will always receive from God what you desire, which neither the serpent touches nor deception penetrates; then Eve is not corrupted, but remains a virgin, and salvation appears, and the apostles are filled with understanding, the Passover of the Lord is accomplished and the faces 37 converge and are established in orderly order, the Word teaches the Saints and triumphs, and the Father is glorified through Him. Glory to Him forever. Amen. Otto suggests that Diognetus, to whom this letter was written, is the same person as Diognetus, the Stoic philosopher, teacher of the emperor. Marcus Aurelius. But this assumption is without basis. This mark reads: καί ωόε έγκοπην έικε τό αντιγραθον. This is indicated by expressions about the boundaries of faith (ορια πίοτεως), about the definitions of the fathers (i.e., the church), etc. (Zemish, lust. d. Mart. part 1 p. 175 note). According to Bunsen (Hippolytus und. seine Zeit. 1) these chapters are the conclusion of the recently discovered work of St. Hippolyta is against heresies, but this is a completely unfounded assumption. Zemisha Iust. d. Mart. 1. pp. 177. 178. So Hollandi attributed this message to Apollos, Dorner and our Eminence Philaret (in the historical teaching about the Fathers of the Church) - to Square. In Russian, the epistle to Diognetus is placed in a translation, not quite correct, in Christ. reading for 1825, vol. 4. That is, pagans in general, of which the Hellenes were the most educated representatives. Those. by your actions - sprinkling blood, etc., you do not prove that a stone or an idol made from it has feeling. This indicates that the Jews, beginning the day in the broad sense understood in the evening, determine the beginning of the Sabbath and other holidays by the appearance of the stars; thus, when three stars of medium size appear, they say that night has come; when there are two, they call it the time between the suns, and when there is one star, then the day in the proper sense has not yet ended. Therefore, the Jews had the following law: whoever worked on Friday evening, when the three middle stars had not yet appeared, had sinned and must bring a cleansing sacrifice; whoever had one star was free from sacrifice - Belle. Those. one that is sanctified by prayers and thanksgiving to God. Otto. - Maran and Hefele instead of: ού χοινήν (not the simple one read: ού χοίτην - and not the common bed). Wed. 2 Cor. X, 3. Rom. VIII. 12. Here we understand the height of Christian morality and especially love, which the author speaks about in further words: with a life full of love, Christians surpass the very laws that do not command perfect love for everyone, even enemies. Wed. John XVII, 11. 14. 16. Those. in number. However, Otto, based on the previous thought, thinks that the word “πλεοναςουσί” should be understood about the internal growth and spiritual strengthening of Christians. ) That is laws and plans according to which the Creator rules the universe: they are called secrets (μυστήμα) because they are hidden from the minds of people and are known to them only from their actions. Belle. Τα στοιχέια Here we do not mean the elements or elements, but the celestial bodies or those that are listed later - the sun, the moon and other stars, or the twelve signs of the zodiac, as this word is often used in this sense by Alexandrian and other church writers. Wed. Theophilus Antiochus. ad Autol. I; 4. Hefele and Otto. There is an obvious omission here, noticed by the oldest copyist of the letter to Diognetus. – Scientists (Silburg, Belle, Maran and Otto) guess about the content of the missing words, the main meaning of which can be presented in this way: this future coming of the Savior (which the author has just mentioned), so terrible for the evil and unbelievers, awaits the believing Christ with undoubted hope, so that no disasters, no executions can force them to renounce Christ. Don't you see... and so on. Otto, as above in ch. 6., here means the strengthening and encouragement of other Christians who take as an example to follow the courage of their executed brethren. Wed. John III, 16 and 1. John. IV, 9. Those. eternal, which faithful Christians have avoided. Maranus, instead of λόγω προσφιλέι γεννηδεις, reads: λόγω προσφιλησ γενηδέις (made friends with the Word).