Sophia Scriptura

To Diognetus 11.4

Anonymous · To Diognetus · ca. 150–200 (disputed) · place unknown · Read in context

Traditional ascription rejected: The author is unknown. The only manuscript (destroyed in 1870) placed it among works of Justin Martyr, but the style is not Justin's. The name “Mathetes” sometimes used for the author comes from “a disciple of apostles” in 11.1. Chapters 11–12 probably come from a different work.

Summary: The eternal Word is ever new in the hearts of the saints.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:374

οὗτος ὁ ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς, ὁ καινὸς φανεὶς καὶ παλαιὸς εὑρεθεὶς καὶ πάντοτε νέος ἐν ἁγίων καρδίαις γεννώμενος.

English · Claude translation

This is he who was from the beginning, who appeared new and was found to be old, and is ever born young in the hearts of the saints.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:374 · Kirsopp Lake, ed. and trans., The Apostolic Fathers, vol. 2, LCL 25 (London: Heinemann; New York: Macmillan, 1913), 350–379 · Greek text: K. Lake, The Apostolic Fathers (LCL, 1912-1913), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Lake, LCL 25. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Lake (LCL 25, 1913); made independently of existing English translations.
Compare
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)
Scripture
Topics
Christology

Cite this passage

Diogn. 11.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/11/4/).

Plain text
Diogn. 11.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/11/4/).

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