To Diognetus 11.5

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.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:374–376

οὗτος ὁ ἀεί, ὁ σήμερον υἱὸς λογισθείς, διʼ οὗ πλουτίζεται ἡ ἐκκλησία καὶ χάρις ἁπλουμένη ἐν ἁγίοις πληθύνεται, παρέχουσα νοῦν, φανεροῦσα μυστήρια, διαγγέλλουσα καιρούς, χαίρουσα ἐπὶ πιστοῖς, ἐπιζητοῦσι δωρουμένη, οἷς ὅρκια πίστεως οὐ θραύεται οὐδὲ ὅρια πατέρων παρορίζεται.

English · Claude translation

This is he who is eternal, who today is reckoned Son, through whom the church is enriched and grace, unfolded, is multiplied among the saints, giving understanding, revealing mysteries, announcing seasons, rejoicing over the faithful, given to those who seek, by whom the pledges of faith are not broken nor the boundaries of the fathers overstepped.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:374–376 · 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

Ps 2:7 · allusion, medium confidence
Prov 22:28 · echo, low confidence

Topics

Christology

Notes

Translation notes

“Today is reckoned Son”: an echo of Ps 2:7 (“You are my Son; today I have begotten you”).

Cite this passage

Diogn. 11.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/11/5/).

Plain text

Diogn. 11.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/11/5/).