ASPECTE MISIONARE ÎN EPISTOLA CĂTRE DIOGNET
MISSIONARY ASPECTS IN THE EPISTLE TO DIOGNETUS

Summary/Abstract: Missionary Aspects in The Epistle to Diognetus. The Epistle to Diognetus is preserved in a single manuscript, contained in Codex Argentoratensis 9, from the XIII or the XIV century, and edited by Henri Estienne, in Paris, in 1592, who gave it the actual title, too. The Epistle has twelve chapters, but no proper prologue or epilogue. In the first chapter, three questions are formulated by the pagan Diognetus, and these are the debated theme of this epistle: Who is God in whom Christians put their faith and why Christians despise the gods of the Greeks and do not adopt the faith of the Jews? What means Christian love and why Christians despise the world and death? Why Christian religion appeared in this moment and not earlier? The author brings solid arguments to refute idolatry, he refers to the spiritual condition of the Jews, to the description of the Christians, to the superiority of the Christian faith, which is observable in its morals, Christianity being nothing else than the revelation of the Word of God. Likewise, he discusses the issue of love in three aspects: the love of God for humans, the love of man for God and the love of man for his neighbour, and then tries to clarify the problem of the divine hypostases. God is a Trinity of absolute and supreme Persons, through whom His love and infinity irradiates. The Epistle to Diognetus presents a way of life, totally new and superior, from the perspective of a Christian experience, which will contribute to the edification of the future theology.

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