Epistle to Diognetus

Just Who Are We Catholic Christians?

In the Epistle to Diognetus, by a now unknown writer is one of the finest writings on this subject that has come down to us from that distant age and was quoted in the book titled Why We Believe by Msgr. Leon Cristiani, Hawthorn Books. As Msgr. Cristaini explains, Diognetus is supposed to have asked the author of the Epistle why the Christians did not worship the gods of the whole world, or at least did not practise the religion of he Jews, and why Christianity had appeared so late.

"The author answers these questions in order: the Christians do not worship the gods because they are but wood, stone or metal. They do not share any longer in the religion of the Jews because this religion, though having the true God as its object, is childish and unworthy of him.

The author of the Epistle then goes on to describe Christian conduct.

Christians are not distinguishedfrom the rest of mankind either by country, speech, or customs; the fact is, they nowhere settle in cities of their own; they use no particular language; they cultivate no eccentric mode of life. Certainly, this creed of theirs is no discovery due to some fancy or speculation of inquisitive men, nor do they as some do, champion a doctrine of human origin. Yet while they dwell in both Greek and non-Greek cities, as each one's lot was cast, and conform to the custom of the country in dress, food, and mode of life in general, the whole tenour of their way of living stamps it as worthy of admiration and admittedly extraordinary. They reside in their respective countries, but only as aliens. They take part in everything as citizens, and put up with everything as foreigners. Every foreign land is their home, and every home a foreign land. They marry like all others, and beget children; but they do not expose their offspring. Their board they spread for all, but not their bed. They find themselves in the flesh but do not live according to the flesh. They spend their days on earth, but hold citizenship in heaven. They love all men but are persecuted by all. They are unknown, yet are condemned....They are poor, and enrich many....Doing good they are penalized as evildoers....Those who hate them are at a loss to explain their hatred. In a word: what the soul is in the body, that the Christians are in the world. The soul is spread through all the members of the body, and the Christians throughout the cities of the world. The Christians dwell in the world, but are not part and parcel of the world....The flesh hates the soul and makes war on it; the world hates Christians. The soul is locked up in the body, yet is the very thing that holds the body together; so, too, Christians are shut up in the world as in a prison, yet it is precisely they that hold the world together. The soul, when stinting itself in food and drink, fares the better for it; so, too, Christians, when penalized, show a daily increase in numbers on that account. Such is the important post to which God has assigned them, and they are not at liberty to desert it.

Msgr. Cristiani concludes, "Whoever he may be, the unknown author who wrote these lines deserves our respect and gratitude. That thought alone, 'what the soul is in the body, that the Christians are in the worl', is one of the most profound and truest that have ever been uttered on the subject of Christianity. Without Christianity the world has no soul! All apologetics is summed up in this."