Letter to Diognet

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The so-called letter to Diognet (Greek Πρὸς Διόγνητον Ἐπιστολή ) is an early Christian apologetic writing and probably not a real letter. Author and date are unclear. Similarities exist both to very early writings (around 120: Kerygma Petri , Aristides ) and clearly later (around 210: Hippolytus of Rome , Clement of Alexandria ).

The author calls himself "Mathetes", which is not a proper name, but indicates his quality as a student. The Diognetus which teacher of Marcus Aurelius was, is almost certainly not meant. An identification with Claudius Diogenes , procurator of Alexandria at the turn of the 3rd century, is also unlikely.

The letter has survived in three manuscripts, the third of which, lost in 1870 but printed for the first time in 1592, was preserved in a codex from the 13th century containing writings that were ascribed to Justin the Martyr . The first two are probably copies of this third version, as they also do not survive two lines that were destroyed in the third manuscript version. The tenth chapter breaks off, the last two chapters are often seen as later additions, as expressions like "this word that was from the beginning ..." are typical of this period.

The formalities of an ancient letter are missing. The structure can be sketched as follows:

  • Introduction: Various questions from Diognet: In which God do Christians trust and why do they neither believe the Jews nor the Greeks? What kind of deep love is that (charity)? Why has the Christian faith only now appeared?
  • Cape. 2–4: The pagan gods (images) are material human work; the Jews believe in the right God, but wrongly worship him.
  • Cape. 5–6: Christians tower above the world as the soul towers over the body.
  • Cape. 7–8: About the almighty and good God of Christians.
  • Cape. 9-10: the son first brought justification, but the father created and ordered the cosmos
  • Cape. 11–12: probably spurious additions

Text editions and translations

  • Epistola Barnabae. Ad Diognetum - Letter to Barnabas. To Diognet , Greek - German. Introduced, critically edited and translated by Horacio E. Lona . Herder, Freiburg i.Br. 2018 ( Fontes Christiani , vol. 72), ISBN 978-3-451-30969-4 .
  • Horacio E. Lona : To Diognet , translated and explained. In: Commentary on early Christian apologists (KfA) , Volume 8, ed. Norbert Brox, Kurt Niederwimmer, Horacio E. Lona, Ferdinand R. Prostmeier, Jörg Ulrich. Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 2001, ISBN 978-3-451-27679-8 (German translation with detailed commentary).
  • General introduction. The two apologies of Justin the Martyr. The letter to Diognet. Translated by Gerhard Rauschen . In: Early Christian Apologists (= Library of the Church Fathers 12). Translated from the Greek or Latin. Volume 1. Kösel, Kempten / Munich 1913, pp. VII – VIII, 55–173.
  • Writing to Diognet. Introduced, edited, transferred and explained by Klaus Wengst . In: Ders .: Didache, Barnabas letter, Second Klemens letter, writing to Diognet. Kösel, Munich 1984, ISBN 3-466-20252-3 , pp. 283-348. (Text in Greek and German)

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Marrou, À Diognète, 260.