To Autolycus 1.12 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Otto 8:36

Περὶ δὲ τοῦ σε καταγελᾶν μου, καλοῦντά με Χριστιανόν, οὐκ οἶδας ὃ λέγεις. Πρῶτον μὲν ὅτι τὸ χριστὸν ἡδὺ καὶ εὔχρηστον καὶ ἀκαταγέλαστόν ἐστιν. Ποῖον γὰρ πλοῖον δύναται εὔχρηστον εἶναι καὶ σώζεσθαι, ἐὰν μὴ πρῶτον χρισθῇ; Ἢ ποῖος πύργος ἢ οἰκία εὔμορφος καὶ εὔχρηστός ἐστιν, ἐπὰν οὐ κέχρισται; Τίς δὲ ἄνθρωπος εἰσελθὼν εἰς τόνδε τὸν βίον ἢ ἀθλῶν οὐ χρίεται ἐλαίῳ; Ποῖον δὲ ἔργον ἢ κόσμιον δύναται εὐμορφίαν ἔχειν, ἐὰν μὴ χρισθῇ καὶ στιλβωθῇ; Εἶτα ἀὴρ μὲν καὶ πᾶσα ἡ ὑπʼ οὐρανὸν τρόπῳ τινὶ χρίεται φωτὶ καὶ πνεύματι. Σὺ δὲ οὐ βούλει χρισθῆναι ἔλαιον θεοῦ; Τοιγαροῦν ἡμεῖς τούτου εἵνεκεν καλούμεθα Χριστιανοὶ ὅτι χριόμεθα ἔλαιον θεοῦ.

English · Claude translation

As for your laughing at me and calling me a Christian, you do not know what you are saying. First, what is anointed is sweet and useful and nothing to laugh at. What ship can be useful and seaworthy unless it is first caulked with oil? What tower or house is handsome and useful unless it has been anointed? What person entering this life, or competing as an athlete, is not anointed with oil? What work or ornament can look beautiful unless it is oiled and polished? And the air and everything under heaven is, in a way, anointed with light and spirit. Will you not, then, be anointed with the oil of God? That is why we are called Christians: because we are anointed with the oil of God.

About this passage

Source

Otto 8:36 · Johann Carl Theodor Otto, ed., Theophili episcopi Antiocheni ad Autolycum libri tres, Corpus apologetarum Christianorum saeculi secundi 8 (Jena: Mauke, 1861) · Greek text: J. C. T. Otto, Theophili episcopi Antiocheni ad Autolycum libri tres (Corpus apologetarum Christianorum saeculi secundi 8, 1861), 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 Otto, CorpApol 8. 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 Otto (1861); made independently of existing English translations.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 2 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

1 John 2:20 · echo, low confidence
2 Cor 1:21 · echo, low confidence

Notes

Translation notes

Theophilus explains “Christian” from χρίω (“anoint”), as the name of the Christ (“Anointed One”) implies. “Anointed with the oil of God” may refer to the Holy Spirit, and perhaps to an anointing at baptism.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (accent: grave on Ἢ before a following word): Ἤ ποῖος πύργος → Ἢ ποῖος πύργος.

Cite this passage

Theophilus, Autol. 1.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/1/12/).

Plain text

Theophilus, Autol. 1.12 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/1/12/).