To Diognetus 10.6

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

Summary: Whoever carries others' burdens and gives to the needy imitates God.

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Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:372

ἀλλʼ ὅστις τὸ τοῦ πλησίον ἀναδέχεται βάρος, ὃς ἐν ᾧ κρείσσων ἐστὶν ἕτερον τὸν ἐλαττούμενον εὐεργετεῖν ἐθέλει, ὃς ἃ παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ λαβὼν ἔχει, ταῦτα τοῖς ἐπιδεομένοις χορηγῶν θεὸς γίνεται τῶν λαμβανόντων, οὗτος μιμητής ἐστι θεοῦ.

English · Claude translation

But whoever takes up his neighbor's burden, whoever wishes to benefit another who is worse off in that in which he himself is better off, whoever supplies to those in need what he has received from God, and so becomes a god to those who receive it: this one is an imitator of God.

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:372 · 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

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.

Scripture

Gal 6:2 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

“Becomes a god to those who receive”: a bold phrase meaning that the giver acts toward the needy as God acts; it is not a claim to divinity.

Cite this passage

Diogn. 10.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/10/6/).

Plain text

Diogn. 10.6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/10/6/).

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