A Plea for the Christians 3
Summary: The three charges against Christians are atheism, cannibalism, and incest; if true, destroy us; if false, examine our lives and treat us as others are treated.
Greek text · Otto 7:14–18
Τρία ἐπιφημίζουσιν ἡμῖν ἐγκλήματα, ἀθεότητα, Θυέστεια δεῖπνα, Οἰδιποδείους μίξεις. Ἀλλὰ εἰ μὲν ἀληθῆ ταῦτα, μηδενὸς γένους φείσησθε, ἐπεξέλθετε δὲ τοῖς ἀδικήμασι· σὺν γυναιξὶ καὶ παισὶ προῤῥίζους ἡμᾶς ἀποκτείνατε, εἴ γέ τις Χριστιανῶν ζῇ δίκην θηρίων. Καίτοι γε καὶ τὰ θηρία τῶν ὁμογενῶν οὐχ ἅπτεται, καὶ νόμῳ φύσεως καὶ πρὸς ἕνα καιρὸν τὸν τῆς τεκνοποιΐας, οὐκ ἐπʼ ἀδείας μίγνυται, γνωρίζει δὲ καὶ ὑφʼ ὧν ὠφελεῖται. Εἴ τις οὖν καὶ τῶν θηρίων ἀνημερώτερος, τίνα οὗτος πρὸς τὰ τηλικαῦτα ὑποσχὼν δίκην καὶ πρὸς ἀξίαν κεκολάσθαι νομισθήσεται; Εἰ δὲ λογοποιΐαι ταῦτα καὶ διαβολαὶ κεναί, φυσικῷ λόγῳ πρὸς τὴν ἀρετὴν τῆς κακίας ἀντικειμένης καὶ πολεμούντων ἀλλήλοις τῶν ἐναντίων θείῳ νόμῳ, καὶ τοῦ μηδὲν τούτων ἀδικεῖν ὑμεῖς μάρτυρες, κελεύοντες μὴ μηνύειν, πρὸς ὑμῶν λοιπὸν ἐξέτασιν ποιήσασθαι βίου, δογμάτων, τῆς πρὸς ὑμᾶς καὶ τὸν ὑμέτερον οἶκον καὶ τὴν βασιλείαν σπουδῆς καὶ ὑπακοῆς, καὶ οὕτω ποτὲ συγχωρῆσαι ἡμῖν οὐδὲν πλέον τοῖς διώκουσιν ἡμᾶς. Νικήσομεν γὰρ αὐτούς, ὑπὲρ ἀληθείας ἀόκνως καὶ τὰς ψυχὰς ἐπιδιδόντες.
English · Claude translation
Three charges are brought against us: atheism, Thyestean feasts, and Oedipean intercourse. If these are true, spare no class of us; proceed against the crimes; destroy us root and branch, with our wives and children, if indeed any Christian lives like the beasts. And yet even the beasts do not touch their own kind, and they mate by the law of nature, only at one season, for the begetting of offspring, not at will; and they recognize those who do them good. If anyone, then, is more savage than the beasts, what penalty could he suffer for such crimes that would be thought to punish him as he deserves? But if these things are inventions and empty slanders (since by a natural principle vice is opposed to virtue, and opposites war against each other by a divine law), and you yourselves are witnesses that we commit none of these crimes, since you forbid people to inform against us, then it remains for you to examine our life, our teachings, and our loyalty and obedience to you, your house, and your rule, and so at last to grant us no more than you grant to those who persecute us. For we shall overcome them, readily giving even our lives for the truth.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- “Thyestean feasts” (cannibalism, after Thyestes, who was served his own children) and “Oedipean intercourse” (incest) were popular slanders, probably based on garbled reports of the Eucharist and of Christians calling one another brother and sister. Chapters 4–30 answer atheism, 31–36 the other two charges.
- “Since you forbid people to inform against us” renders κελεύοντες μὴ μηνύειν; the reference may be to imperial rulings against anonymous or unsupported accusations.
Cite this passage
Athenagoras, Leg. 3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athenagoras-legatio/3/).
Plain text
Athenagoras, Leg. 3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/athenagoras-legatio/3/).
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