Sophia Scriptura

To Autolycus 2.33

Theophilus of Antioch · To Autolycus · ca. 180–185 · Antioch · Read in context

Summary: The Greek poets and historians came too late to know the truth about the beginnings; only Christians, taught by the Holy Spirit through the prophets, have the truth.

Greek text · Otto 8:154–156

Τίς οὖν πρὸς ταῦτα ἴσχυσεν τῶν καλουμένων σοφῶν καὶ ποιητῶν καὶ ἱστοριογράφων τὸ ἀληθὲς εἰπεῖν, πολὺ μεταγενεστέρων αὐτῶν γεγενημένων καὶ πληθὺν θεῶν εἰσαγαγόντων, οἵτινες μετὰ τοσαῦτα ἔτη αὐτοὶ ἐγεννήθησαν τῶν πόλεων, ἔσχατοι καὶ τῶν βασιλέων καὶ ἐθνῶν καὶ πολέμων; Ἐχρῆν γὰρ αὐτοὺς μεμνῆσθαι πάντων καὶ τῶν πρὸ κατακλυσμοῦ γεγονότων, περί τε κτίσεως κόσμου καὶ ποιήσεως ἀνθρώπου, τά τε ἑξῆς συμβάντα ἀκριβῶς ἐξειπεῖν τοὺς παρʼ Αἰγυπτίοις προφήτας ἢ Χαλδαίους τούς τε ἄλλους συγγραφεῖς, εἴπερ θείῳ καὶ καθαρῷ πνεύματι ἐλάλησαν καὶ τὰ διʼ αὐτῶν ῥηθέντα ἀληθῆ ἀνήγγειλαν· καὶ οὐ μόνον τὰ προγενόμενα ἢ ἐνεστῶτα ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰ ἐπερχόμενα τῷ κόσμῳ ἐχρῆν αὐτοὺς προκαταγγεῖλαι. Διὸ δείκνυται πάντας τοὺς λοιποὺς πεπλανῆσθαι, μόνους δὲ Χριστιανοὺς τὴν ἀλήθειαν κεχωρηκέναι, οἵτινες ὑπὸ πνεύματος ἁγίου διδασκόμεθα, τοῦ λαλήσαντος ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις προφήταις καὶ τὰ πάντα προκαταγγελόντος.

English · Claude translation

Which of the so-called wise men, poets, and historians, then, was able to tell the truth about these things? They were born much later and brought in a multitude of gods; they were born so many years after the cities, later than the kings and the nations and the wars. They should have recalled all things, including what happened before the flood, about the creation of the world and the making of the human being; and the prophets of the Egyptians or the Chaldeans, and the other writers, should have told precisely what happened afterward, if indeed they spoke by a divine and pure spirit and proclaimed truly what was spoken through them. And they should have foretold not only what was past or present but also what is coming upon the world. This shows that all the others have gone astray, and that only the Christians have taken hold of the truth, since we are taught by the Holy Spirit, who spoke in the holy prophets and foretold all things.

About this passage

Source
Otto 8:154–156 · 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)
Topics
Scripture and canon

Notes

Notes on the original text

  • Digital text corrected (missing accent): δείκνυται παντας τοὺς λοιποὺς → δείκνυται πάντας τοὺς λοιποὺς.

Cite this passage

Theophilus, Autol. 2.33 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/33/).

Plain text
Theophilus, Autol. 2.33 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/theophilus-autolycus/2/33/).

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