The anonymous Letter to Diognetus is an early second-century testimony to the faith and life of Christians in the generation following the Apostles. The real beauty of this letter is its picture of the Christian life, the freshness of its language, and the simplicity of its theology, pointing to the authenticity of the letter as an expression of early Christian faith.
To His Excellency, Diognetus:
I understand, sir, that you are genuinely interested in learning about the religion of the Christians, and that you are making an accurate and careful investigation of the subject. You want to know, for instance, what God they believe in and how they worship him, while at the same time they disregard the world and look down on death, and how it is that they do not treat the divinities of the Greeks as gods at all, although on the other hand they do not follow the superstition of the Jews. You would also like to know the source of the loving affection that they have for each other. You wonder, too, why this new race or way of life has appeared on earth now and not earlier. I certainly welcome this keen interest on your part and I ask God, who gives us the power to speak and the power to listen, to let me speak in such a way that you may derive the greatest possible benefit from listening…
