Sophia Scriptura

To Diognetus 7.1

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: Christian faith is not a human discovery.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:362

Οὐ γὰρ ἐπίγειον, ὡς ἔφην, εὕρημα τοῦτʼ αὐτοῖς παρεδόθη, οὐδὲ θνητὴν ἐπίνοιαν φυλάσσειν οὕτως ἀξιοῦσιν ἐπιμελῶς, οὐδὲ ἀνθρωπίνων οἰκονομίαν μυστηρίων πεπίστευνται.

English · Claude translation

For it is not, as I said, an earthly discovery that was handed down to them, nor is it a mortal idea that they think it right to guard so carefully, nor have they been entrusted with the administration of human mysteries.

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:362 · 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)

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Lake's printed text (missing accent)): ἐπιγειον → ἐπίγειον.

Cite this passage

Diogn. 7.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/7/1/).

Plain text
Diogn. 7.1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/7/1/).

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