Opening the library…

Search the Bible

Theophilus to Autolycus

Theophilus of Antioch

Book 1 · Chapter 1

About this work

Three books addressed to a pagan friend defending the invisible God, creation, resurrection, Christian morality, and the antiquity of the Hebrew Scriptures against Greco-Roman religion and literature.

Author: Theophilus of Antioch
Date: c. AD 180–185
Origin: Antioch
Genre: Apology

Chapter I.—Autolycus an Idolater and Scorner of Christians.

A fluent tongue and an elegant style afford

Book 1 · Chapter 2 ›

pleasure

and

such

praise

as

vainglory

delights

in

,

to

wretched

men

who

have

been

corrupted

in

mind

;

the

lover

of

truth

does

not

give

heed

to

ornamented

speeches

,

but

examines

the

real

matter

of

the

speech

,

what

it

is

,

and

what

kind

it

is

.

Since

,

then

,

my

friend

,

you

have

assailed

me

with

empty

words

,

boasting

of

your

gods

of

wood

and

stone

,

hammered

and

cast

,

carved

and

graven

,

which

neither

see

nor

hear

,

for

they

are

idols

,

and

the

works

of

men’s

hands

;

and

since

,

besides

,

you

call

me

a

Christian

,

as

if

this

were

a

damning

name

to

bear

,

I

,

for

my

part

,

avow

that

I

am

a

Christian

,

and

bear

this

name

beloved

of

God

,

hoping

to

be

serviceable

to

God

.

For

it

is

not

the

case

,

as

you

suppose

,

that

the

name

of

God

is

hard

to

bear

;

but

possibly

you

entertain

this

opinion

of

God

,

because

you

are

yourself

yet

unserviceable

to

Him

.

Notes

1
[Acts xi. 26. Note this as from an Antiochian, glorying in the name of Christian.]
2
Εὔχρηστος, punning on the name Christian. [Comp cap xii., infra. So Justin, p. 164, vol. i., this series. But he also puns on his own name, “beloved of God,” in the text φορῶ τὸ Θεοφιλὲς ὄνομα τοῦτὀ κ.τ.λ.]