Fragments of the Letters · §1 · Dionysius of Corinth

Rome's inherited custom of aid, kept and increased by Soter

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

Dionysius of Corinth is praising the Roman church, in a passage quoted by Eusebius, for its long-standing custom of sending aid to needy brethren and churches.

From the beginning you have had this custom: to benefit all the brethren in various ways, and to send aid to many churches in every city. In some places you refresh the poverty of those in need; in others you supply the brethren who are in the mines. By the aid you have sent from the beginning, you Romans preserve a custom handed down from the fathers of the Romans. Your blessed bishop Soter has not only kept this custom, but has increased it, supplying the abundance that is sent to the saints, and exhorting the brethren who come to him with blessed words, as a father who loves his children.

Greek

Εξ ἀρχῆς γὰρ ὑμῖν ἔθος ἐστὶ τοῦτο, πάντας μὲν ἀδελφοὺς ποικίλως εὐεργετεῖν, ἐκκλησίαις τε πολλαῖς ταῖς κατὰ πᾶσαν πόλιν ἐφόδια πέμπειν· ὧδε μὲν τὴν τῶν δεομένων πενίαν ἀναψύχοντας· ἐν μετάλλοις δὲ ἀδελφοῖς ὑπάρχουσιν ἐπιχορηγοῦντας· δἰ ὧν πέμπετε ἀρχῆθεν ἐφοδίων, πατροπαράδοτον ἔθος Ῥωμαίων Ῥωμαῖοι διαφυλάττοντες· ὃ οὐ μόνον διατετήρηκεν ὁ μακάριος ὑμῶν ἐπίσκοπος Σωτὴρ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐπηύξηκεν· ἐπιχορηγῶν μὲν τὴν διαπεμπομένην δαψίλειαν τὴν εἰς τοὺς ἁγίους· λόγοις δὲ μακαρίοις τοὺς ἀνιόντας ἀδελφοὺς ὡς τέκνα πατὴρ φιλόστοργος παρακαλῶν. Hæc attulit Eusebius lib. iv. Hist. c. 23.

About this text

Fragments of letters from Dionysius, bishop of Corinth, to churches across the Greek world, quoted by Eusebius.

Dionysius was bishop of Corinth in the mid-second century. He wrote pastoral letters to churches and individuals across the Greek-speaking world, including Rome, Sparta, Athens, Nicomedia, Gortyn in Crete, Amastris in Pontus, Cnossus, and a Christian woman named Chrysophora. He wrote to address local needs, encourage sound teaching, and respond to requests from fellow believers.

The letters survive only in fragments quoted by the church historian Eusebius. Dionysius wrote in a period when his letters carried enough authority that heretical groups tried to alter them by adding or removing material. He himself warns that his writings had been corrupted by agents of the devil. The fragments show his wide pastoral concern for orthodoxy, peace, and moral discipline across many churches.

A reader will meet Soter, bishop of Rome, praised for his generosity in sending aid to needy churches and to Christians condemned to forced labor in the mines. Dionysius recalls reading the Romans' letter publicly on the Lord's day and says the Corinthians will keep reading it, just as they do the earlier letter written through Clement. He praises the Romans and Corinthians for blending together the planting made by the apostles Peter and Paul, who taught together in Italy and were martyred at the same time. He also mentions Publius, a leader of the Athenian church who was martyred, and Quadratus, bishop of Athens after him. Dionysius the Areopagite, a member of the Athenian council converted by Paul according to the Acts of the Apostles, appears as the first bishop of Athens. Other figures include Philip, bishop of Gortyn, and Pinytus, bishop of Cnossus, whom Dionysius urged not to impose too heavy a burden of purity on the brethren. Bacchylides and Elpistus are two men who urged Dionysius to write to the church at Amastris. The fragments also refer to the heresy of Marcion, a false teaching judged by the standard of truth.

New English from the Greek base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Reliquiae sacrae Martin Joseph Routh Dionysius Corinthius Oxford University Press Oxford 1846 (Greek)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.