To Diognetus 11.2

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: The Word revealed the Father's mysteries to faithful disciples.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:374

τίς γὰρ ὀρθῶς διδαχθεὶς καὶ λόγῳ προσφιλὴς γενηθεὶς οὐκ ἐπιζητεῖ σαφῶς μαθεῖν τὰ διὰ λόγου δειχθέντα φανερῶς μαθηταῖς, οἷς ἐφανέρωσεν ὁ λόγος φανείς, παρρησίᾳ λαλῶν, ὑπὸ ἀπίστων μὴ νοούμενος, μαθηταῖς δὲ διηγούμενος, οἳ πιστοὶ λογισθέντες ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ ἔγνωσαν πατρὸς μυστήρια;

English · Claude translation

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?

About this passage

Source

Lake, LCL 25:374 · 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)

Topics

Christology

Cite this passage

Diogn. 11.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/11/2/).

Plain text

Diogn. 11.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/11/2/).