Primary source · Koine Greek
A Plea for the Christians · On the Resurrection
Athenagoras of Athens · c. AD 177, addressed to Marcus Aurelius and Commodus
What this text is
The most polished of the apologists answers the three standing slanders — atheism, Thyestean feasts, Oedipean unions — and argues the resurrection of the body like the philosopher he was.
Profile of Athenagoras of Athens →
Public-domain translations
B. P. Pratten (ANF, 1885)
In your empire, greatest of sovereigns, different nations have different customs and laws… while we, who are called Christians, alone are hated for our very name. Yet what is only a name ought not to be hated: names deserve neither praise nor punishment — only deeds.
Manuscript witnesses
Codex Parisinus gr. 451 (Arethas codex)
AD 914The Plea and On the Resurrection both descend from Arethas's volume.
Patrologia Graeca, vol. 6 (Migne)
1857Standard pre-critical text of the corpus.
Provenance
Athens, c. AD 176–177, to Marcus Aurelius and Commodus
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Athenagoras: Legatio and De Resurrectione (OECT)William R. Schoedel, 1972Critical text with facing translation.
- Athénagore: Supplique au sujet des chrétiens (SC 379)Bernard Pouderon, 1992Critical edition with French translation.