About this work
Written as an answer to an interested outsider, the Letter to Diognetus is a short early Christian defense of the faith, often read with the Apostolic Fathers. It explains that Christians do not belong to a separate nation or strange culture; they live among their neighbors while belonging first to God. The work centers Christian life on the Father’s love revealed through his Son and calls believers to imitate that divine goodness. Its picture of Christians as citizens of heaven living faithfully within earthly societies continues to speak strongly within Orthodox teaching and pastoral life.
Historical context
The work names Diognetus as its recipient but gives no author’s name, and neither person can be securely identified. It is usually placed in the second century, though its exact date and place of writing remain uncertain. The text survives with several gaps, and many scholars question whether chapters 11–12 originally belonged to the same composition. No ancient Father is known to quote it, so its early reception is difficult to trace. Today it is commonly printed with the Apostolic Fathers and is received by Orthodox writers as a valuable witness to early Christian faith and life.
Contents
The letter begins with Diognetus’s questions about Christian worship, then rejects pagan idols and criticizes certain Jewish sacrifices and observances as the author understands them. Chapters 5–6 offer its famous picture of Christians living in ordinary cities while remaining strangers to the world, comparing them to the soul within the body. The argument then turns to God’s revelation through the Word, the sending of the Son, human sin, divine mercy, and salvation. The closing chapters urge the reader toward faith, love, imitation of God, true knowledge, and life in the Word.
Text & source details
Editions
- Edition
- Original Greek
- Reader label
- Ancient Greek
- Publication
- Open Apostolic Fathers corrected Lake-based Greek text, edited by James Tauber and Seumas Macdonald.
- Date
- Digital edition accessed 2026
- Rights
- Open Apostolic Fathers digital Greek is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Attribution, indication of changes, ShareAlike, and the license’s no-additional-restrictions terms apply to this Greek layer.
- Edition
- Voices of the Fathers Modern English
- Reader label
- Modern English — VOTF
- Translator
- Voices of the Fathers editorial project
- Publication
- Voices of the Fathers
- Date
- 2026
- Rights
- Voices of the Fathers Modern English is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), to the extent copyright and related rights subsist in the translation and associated editorial material. Commercial reuse requires separate permission from Voices of the Fathers. The underlying ancient text and identified public-domain source editions retain their respective status.
- Edition
- J. B. Lightfoot
- Reader label
- English — Lightfoot (Historical translation; CCEL digital witness)
- Translator
- J. B. Lightfoot
- Publication
- Historical J. B. Lightfoot translation via the CCEL digital transcription; CCEL reports a Baker Book House 1956 print basis.
- Date
- Historical translation; CCEL digital witness
- Rights
- The historical Lightfoot translation is public domain in the United States by historical publication date. CCEL marks the embedded digital witness “Public Domain.”
Text and edition sources
Open Apostolic Fathers, corrected Lake-based Greek text of the Letter to Diognetus; edited by James Tauber and Seumas Macdonald.
Applies to: Ancient Greek CC BY-SA 4.0. Source websiteKirsopp Lake, The Apostolic Fathers, Volume II (historical Greek/English edition; publication metadata varies between 1912 and 1913 in consulted repositories).
Applies to: Ancient Greek Public domain in the United States. Source websiteLetter to Diognetus, Voices of the Fathers Modern English, Voices of the Fathers, 2026, CC BY-NC 4.0.
Applies to: Modern English — VOTF Source websiteJ. B. Lightfoot, The Apostolic Fathers, CCEL plain-text digital derivative; provider-reported print basis: Baker Book House, 1956.
Applies to: English — Lightfoot (Historical translation; CCEL digital witness) CCEL states “Public Domain”; historical Lightfoot translation is public domain in the United States by historical publication date. Source websiteOverview research
Michael F. Bird and Kirsten H. Mackerras, “The Epistle to Diognetus and the Fragment of Quadratus,” in The Cambridge Companion to the Apostolic Fathers, ed. Michael F. Bird and Scott Harrower (Cambridge University Press, 2021), 309–331.
Source websiteClayton N. Jefford, The Epistle to Diognetus (with the Fragment of Quadratus): Introduction, Text, and Commentary, Oxford Apostolic Fathers (Oxford University Press, 2013).
Source websiteHoly Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America, “Statement on the Occasion of the 250th Anniversary of the United States of America,” April 30, 2026.
Source websiteGreek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, “Writings of the Apostolic Fathers.”
Source website