To Diognetus

Since I see, most excellent Diognetus, that you are exceedingly eager to learn about the religion of the Christians, and are inquiring very clearly and carefully about them: what God they trust in and how they worship him, so that they all disregard the world and despise death, and neither reckon as gods those whom the Greeks consider such nor keep the superstition of the Jews; and what the affection is that they have for one another; and why in the world this new race or way of life has come into the world now and not before: I welcome this zeal of yours, and I ask God, who supplies us with both speaking and hearing, that it may be granted to me to speak in such a way that you may become better by hearing, and to you to hear in such a way that the speaker may not be grieved.

Come, then, clear yourself of all the reasonings that occupy your mind beforehand, and put away the habit that deceives you, and become, as it were, a new man from the beginning, as one who is to hear, as you yourself admitted, a new word. Look not only with your eyes but also with your understanding at what substance or what form those have whom you call and consider gods.

Is not one of them a stone, like the one trodden underfoot; another bronze, no better than the vessels forged for our use; another wood, already rotten; another silver, needing a man to guard it so that it is not stolen; another iron, corroded by rust; another earthenware, no more comely than what is made for the most dishonorable service?

Are not all these of perishable matter? Were they not forged by iron and fire? Did not a stonecutter shape one, a smith another, a silversmith another, a potter another? Before they were molded into their shape by the skills of these men, was not each of them, and is it not still now, capable of being changed into anything else? Could not the vessels now made from the same material become like these, if they met the same craftsmen?

Could not these again, which are now worshiped by you, be made by men into vessels like the rest? Are they not all deaf? Blind? Lifeless? Senseless? Motionless? Are they not all rotting? All decaying?

These you call gods? These you serve? These you worship, and in the end you become like them.

Is it for this that you hate the Christians, because they do not consider these to be gods?

For do not you yourselves, while thinking and supposing that you praise them, despise them far more? Do you not mock and insult them much more, when you worship the stone and earthenware ones unguarded, but lock up the silver and gold ones at night and post guards beside them by day, so that they may not be stolen?

And with the honors you think you offer them, if they have sense, you rather punish them; but if they are senseless, you expose them when you worship them with blood and the smoke of fat.

Let one of you undergo these things; let him endure to have these things done to himself. But not a single man will willingly endure this punishment, for he has sense and reason; but the stone endures it, for it is senseless. Do you not, then, expose its senselessness?

Concerning the Christians not being enslaved to such gods I could say many other things; but if these things do not seem sufficient to anyone, I think it superfluous to say more.

Next, I suppose that you are especially eager to hear why they do not worship God in the same way as the Jews.

The Jews, then, insofar as they abstain from the worship described above, rightly claim to reverence one God of all and to regard him as Master; but insofar as they offer this worship to him in the same way as those already mentioned, they are in error.

For what the Greeks offer to senseless and deaf things, giving a proof of folly, these people, considering that they offer it to God as though he needed it, might reasonably regard as foolishness rather than religion.

For he who made heaven and earth and all that is in them, and who supplies all of us with what we need, would himself need none of the things that he himself provides to those who think they are giving them.

But those who think they perform sacrifices to him with blood and the smoke of fat and burnt offerings, and honor him with these honors, seem to me to differ in no way from those who show the same zeal toward deaf things: the one to things unable to share in the honor, the other thinking to offer to him who needs nothing.

But as for their scrupulousness about foods, and their superstition about sabbaths, and their pride in circumcision, and their pretense about fasting and the new moon, which are ridiculous and not worth any discussion, I do not think you need to learn from me.

For to accept some of the things created by God for human use as well created, and to refuse others as useless and superfluous, how is that not unlawful?

And to lie against God as though he forbade doing anything good on the Sabbath day, how is that not impious?

And to boast of the mutilation of the flesh as a proof of election, as though for this reason they were especially loved by God, how is that not worthy of mockery?

And to watch the stars and the moon closely, observing months and days, and to divide up the arrangements of God and the changes of the seasons according to their own impulses, some for feasts and others for mourning: who would consider this a proof of religion and not much rather of folly?

That the Christians rightly abstain from the general foolishness and deceit, and from the fussiness and pride of the Jews, I think you have learned sufficiently; but do not expect to be able to learn the mystery of their own religion from a man.

For Christians are distinguished from other people neither by country nor by language nor by customs.

For they do not live in cities of their own anywhere, nor use some peculiar dialect, nor practice a conspicuous way of life.

This teaching of theirs was not discovered by some thought or reflection of busy-minded men, nor do they champion a human doctrine, as some do.

But while they live in Greek and barbarian cities, as each one's lot was cast, and follow the local customs in clothing and food and the rest of life, they display the remarkable and admittedly paradoxical character of their own citizenship.

They live in their own homelands, but as sojourners; they share in everything as citizens, and endure everything as foreigners; every foreign land is their homeland, and every homeland a foreign land.

They marry like everyone; they have children; but they do not expose their offspring.

They share a common table, but not a common bed.

They are in the flesh, but they do not live according to the flesh.

They pass their time on earth, but they are citizens of heaven.

They obey the established laws, and in their own lives they surpass the laws.

They love all, and are persecuted by all.

They are unknown, and they are condemned; they are put to death, and they are made alive.

They are poor, and they make many rich; they lack everything, and they abound in everything.

They are dishonored, and in their dishonor they are glorified; they are slandered, and they are vindicated.

They are reviled, and they bless; they are insulted, and they show honor.

Doing good, they are punished as evildoers; being punished, they rejoice as those who are made alive.

They are warred against by the Jews as foreigners, and persecuted by the Greeks; and those who hate them cannot state the cause of their hostility.

To put it simply: what the soul is in the body, that the Christians are in the world.

The soul is scattered through all the members of the body, and Christians through the cities of the world.

The soul dwells in the body, but is not of the body; and Christians dwell in the world, but are not of the world.

The invisible soul is guarded in the visible body; and Christians are known to be in the world, but their religion remains invisible.

The flesh hates the soul and wars against it, though it has suffered no wrong, because it is prevented from indulging in pleasures; the world also hates the Christians, though it has suffered no wrong, because they oppose its pleasures.

The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and the members; and Christians love those who hate them.

The soul is enclosed in the body, but it holds the body together; and Christians are held in the world as in a prison, but they hold the world together.

The immortal soul dwells in a mortal tent; and Christians sojourn among perishable things, awaiting the imperishability that is in heaven.

The soul, when poorly treated in food and drink, becomes better; and Christians, when punished, increase day by day all the more.

God has appointed them to so great a post, which it is not lawful for them to abandon.

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.

But truly the Almighty himself, the Creator of all and invisible God, himself established from heaven among men the truth and the holy and incomprehensible Word, and fixed it firmly in their hearts; not, as one might suppose, by sending to men some servant or angel or ruler, or one of those who manage earthly things, or one of those entrusted with the administration of things in heaven, but the very Craftsman and Maker of all things, by whom he created the heavens, by whom he enclosed the sea within its own bounds, whose mysteries all the elements faithfully keep, from whom the sun has received the measures of the day's courses to keep, whom the moon obeys when he commands it to shine by night, whom the stars obey as they follow the course of the moon; by whom all things have been set in order and bounded and made subject: the heavens and the things in the heavens, the earth and the things in the earth, the sea and the things in the sea, fire, air, abyss, the things in the heights, the things in the depths, the things in between: this one he sent to them.

Was it, as one of mankind might suppose, to rule by tyranny and fear and terror?

Not at all; but in gentleness and meekness, as a king sending his son who is a king, he sent him; as God he sent him; as man to men he sent him; as saving he sent him, as persuading, not compelling; for compulsion is not an attribute of God.

He sent him as calling, not pursuing; he sent him as loving, not judging.

For he will send him as judge; and who will endure his coming? …

… [Do you not see them] thrown to wild beasts so that they may deny the Lord, and not overcome?

Do you not see that the more of them are punished, the more others increase?

These do not seem to be the works of a man; these are the power of God; these are proofs of his presence.

For what man at all knew what God is before he came?

Or do you accept the empty and nonsensical words of those trustworthy philosophers, some of whom said that God is fire (they call God that to which they themselves are going to go), others water, others some other of the elements created by God?

And yet, if any of these words is acceptable, each of the other created things could likewise be declared God.

But these things are the quackery and deceit of sorcerers.

No man has either seen or known him, but he himself has revealed himself.

And he revealed himself through faith, by which alone it is granted to see God.

For God, the Master and Creator of all things, who made all things and arranged them in order, not only loved mankind but was also long-suffering.

But he was always such, and is, and will be: kind and good and without anger and true; and he alone is good.

And having conceived a great and inexpressible plan, he shared it with his Child alone.

So as long as he kept his wise counsel in a mystery and guarded it, he seemed to neglect us and to take no thought for us;

but when he revealed it through his beloved Child and made manifest what had been prepared from the beginning, he granted us everything at once: both to share in his benefits and to see and understand them. Which of us would ever have expected these things?

Having, then, already arranged everything with himself together with his Child, he permitted us during the former time to be carried along by disorderly impulses, as we wished, led astray by pleasures and desires. He did not at all delight in our sins, but bore with them; nor did he approve of that time of unrighteousness, but was creating the present time of righteousness, so that we, who in that former time were convicted by our own works as unworthy of life, might now be made worthy by the kindness of God; and that we, having shown that by ourselves we could not enter the kingdom of God, might be made able by the power of God.

But when our unrighteousness had been fulfilled, and it had been made fully plain that its wages, punishment and death, were to be expected, and the time came that God had appointed to reveal at last his own kindness and power (oh, the surpassing love for mankind and the love of God!), he did not hate us or reject us or bear a grudge against us, but was long-suffering and forbearing; in mercy he himself took up our sins; he himself gave his own Son as a ransom for us: the holy for the lawless, the innocent for the wicked, the righteous for the unrighteous, the incorruptible for the corruptible, the immortal for the mortal.

For what else could have covered our sins except his righteousness?

In whom could we, the lawless and ungodly, be justified, except in the Son of God alone?

O the sweet exchange, O the inscrutable work, O the unexpected benefits: that the lawlessness of many should be hidden in one righteous man, and the righteousness of one should justify many lawless people!

Having, then, in the former time convicted our nature of its inability to obtain life, and now having shown the Savior able to save even what cannot be saved, by both he willed that we should believe in his kindness, and regard him as nourisher, father, teacher, counselor, physician, mind, light, honor, glory, strength, life, and not be anxious about clothing and food.

If you too long for this faith, and first receive knowledge of the Father …

For God loved mankind, for whose sake he made the world, to whom he subjected everything on earth, to whom he gave reason, to whom he gave mind, whom alone he allowed to look up to him, whom he formed from his own image, to whom he sent his only-begotten Son, to whom he promised the kingdom in heaven, and will give it to those who have loved him.

And when you have come to know him, with what joy do you think you will be filled? Or how will you love him who so loved you first?

And by loving him you will be an imitator of his kindness. And do not be surprised that a man can become an imitator of God; he can, if God wills it.

For happiness is not in lording it over one's neighbors, nor in wishing to have more than the weaker, nor in being rich and using force against those who are poorer; nor can anyone imitate God in these things; rather, these things are foreign to his majesty.

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.

Then, while you are on earth, you will see that God rules in heaven; then you will begin to speak the mysteries of God; then you will both love and admire those who are punished because they will not deny God; then you will condemn the deceit and error of the world, when you come to know the true life in heaven, when you despise the apparent death here, when you fear the real death, which is reserved for those who will be condemned to the eternal fire, which will punish those handed over to it to the end.

Then you will admire those who endure the temporary fire for righteousness' sake, and you will call them blessed, when you come to know that fire.

I do not speak of strange things, nor do I inquire unreasonably; but having become a disciple of apostles I am becoming a teacher of the Gentiles; I minister worthily the things handed down to those who are becoming disciples of the truth.

For who that has been rightly taught and has become a friend of the Word does not seek to learn clearly what was plainly shown through the Word to disciples, to whom the Word, when he appeared, revealed them, speaking boldly, not understood by unbelievers, but explaining to disciples, who, being reckoned faithful by him, came to know the mysteries of the Father?

For this reason he sent the Word, that he might appear to the world; he was dishonored by the people, preached by the apostles, believed by the Gentiles.

This is he who was from the beginning, who appeared new and was found to be old, and is ever born young in the hearts of the saints.

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.

Then the fear of the law is sung, and the grace of the prophets is known, and the faith of the gospels is established, and the tradition of the apostles is guarded, and the grace of the church leaps for joy.

If you do not grieve this grace, you will come to know what the Word speaks, through whom he wills, when he wishes.

For all the things that we were moved to speak out with labor by the will of the Word who commands us, we share with you out of love for the things revealed to us.

When you have read and listened to these things with eagerness, you will know what God provides for those who love him rightly, who become a paradise of delight, raising up within themselves a flourishing tree bearing every fruit, adorned with various fruits.

For in this place a tree of knowledge and a tree of life have been planted; but it is not the tree of knowledge that kills; it is disobedience that kills.

For what is written is not without meaning: that God from the beginning planted a tree of knowledge and a tree of life in the midst of paradise, showing life through knowledge; because the first people did not use it purely, they were stripped naked by the deceit of the serpent.

For there is no life without knowledge, nor sure knowledge without true life; therefore each was planted near the other.

Seeing this power, the apostle, finding fault with knowledge that is practiced without the truth of the commandment that leads to life, says, “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.”

For whoever thinks he knows anything without true knowledge that is attested by life does not know; he is led astray by the serpent, not having loved life. But whoever has come to know with fear and seeks life plants in hope, expecting fruit.

Let your heart be knowledge, and your life the true word, received within.

If you bear this tree and pick its fruit, you will always gather the things desired by God, which the serpent does not touch and deceit does not defile; nor is Eve corrupted, but she is trusted as a virgin;

and salvation is shown, and apostles are given understanding, and the Passover of the Lord goes forward, and the seasons are gathered and brought into harmony with the world, and the Word rejoices as he teaches the saints, the Word through whom the Father is glorified; to him be the glory forever. Amen.