One of the earliest examples of Christian apologetic writing is Mathetes’ Epistle to Diognetus. This is an anonymous letter as mathetes is simply Greek for ‘disciple.’ The author calls himself a disciple of the Apostles (ch. 11), and some have thought him to be a disciple of Paul. We do not know when the letter was written, although A. Cleveland Coxe gave it a date of A.D. 130. Nor do we know exactly who Diognetus was. Some have thought the recepient of this letter to be the Diognetus who was the tutor of philosopher and Roman Emeperor Marcus Aurelius. Others have thought that the recepient was Claudius Diogenes, procurator of Alexandria.
The purpose of the letter is to differentiate Christian beliefs and practice from that of the pagans and Jews. The author’s criticism of the Jews can make modern readers uncomfortable but it should be interpreted in the context of the second century when the Romans were having difficulty of differentiating between Jews and Christians.
There is a high Christology in this early letter. The author notes that God did not send a servant or an angel but “the very Creator and Fashioner of all things” (ch. 7). You can find more information about this epistle, including english translations of the text, here.
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Postscript to Noah’s Rainbow « Percyflage // July 17, 2008 at 9:41 am |
[...] In my web travels today, I came upon the Early Christian “Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus,” dated to approximately 130-200 AD. You can read the full letter here. And, nice explanations of it here and here. [...]