Dialogue with Trypho 5.4
Summary: Only God is uncreated and imperishable; everything else exists by his will, as Plato hints in the Timaeus.
Greek text · Archambault 1:30–32
Ἆρα τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν ὅ λέγεις, οἷον καὶ Πλάτων ἐν Τιμαίῳ αἰνίσσεται περὶ τοῦ κόσμου, λέγων ὅτι αὐτὸς μὲν καὶ φθαρτός ἐστιν ᾗ γέγονεν, οὐ λυθήσεται δὲ οὐδὲ τεύξεται θανάτου μοίρας διὰ τὴν βούλησιν τοῦ θεοῦ; Τοῦτʼ αὐτό σοι δοκεῖ καὶ περὶ ψυχῆς καὶ ἀπλῶς πάντων πέρι λέγεσθαι; Ὅσα γάρ ἐστι μετὰ τὸν θεὸν ἢ ἔσται ποτέ, ταῦτα φύσιν φθαρτὴν ἔχειν, καὶ οἷά τε ἐξαφανισθῆναι καὶ μὴ εἶναι ἔτι· μόνος γὰρ ἀγέννητος καὶ ἄφθαρτος ὁ θεὸς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο θεός ἐστι, τὰ δὲ λοιπὰ πάντα μετὰ τοῦτον γεννητὰ καὶ φθαρτά.
English · Claude translation
“Is what you say something like what Plato hints in the Timaeus about the world, saying that it is indeed perishable insofar as it came into being, but that it will not be dissolved or meet the lot of death because of the will of God? Does the same seem to you to be said about the soul, and in a word about all things? For whatever exists after God, or will ever exist, has a perishable nature, and can be blotted out and exist no more; for God alone is unbegotten and incorruptible, and for this reason he is God, while all other things after him are begotten and perishable.”
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Notes
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (damaged spot in the digital text; restored from the sense; digitization slip against Archambault's printed text (wrong accent); digitization slip against Archambault's printed text (wrong breathing); digitization slip against Archambault's printed text (wrong diacritic)): οἶον καὶ Πλάτων → οἷον καὶ Πλάτων; λέγων ὃτι → λέγων ὅτι; ἧ γέγονεν → ᾗ γέγονεν; τοῦ θεο(??) → τοῦ θεοῦ; καὶ οἶά τε → καὶ οἷά τε.
Cite this passage
Justin, Dial. 5.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/5/4/).
Plain text
Justin, Dial. 5.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-dialogue/5/4/).
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