Sophia Scriptura

To Diognetus 12.8

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 fruit of this tree is untouched by the serpent; Eve is restored as a virgin.

Greek text · Lake, LCL 25:378

οὗ ξύλον φέρων καὶ καρπὸν αἱρῶν τρυγήσεις ἀεὶ τὰ παρὰ θεῷ ποθούμενα, ὧν ὄφις οὐχ ἅπτεται οὐδὲ πλάνη συγχρωτίζεται· οὐδὲ Εὔα φθείρεται, ἀλλὰ παρθένος πιστεύεται·

English · Claude translation

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;

About this passage

Source
Lake, LCL 25:378 · 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)
Scripture

Notes

Translation notes

  • “Eve… trusted as a virgin”: probably the church, or Mary as the new Eve; the sense is disputed.

Cite this passage

Diogn. 12.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/12/8/).

Plain text
Diogn. 12.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/diognetus/12/8/).

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