Epistle to Diognetus 12

1When you have read and carefully listened to these things, you shall know what God bestows on such as rightly love Him, being made [as ye are] a paradise of delight, presenting in yourselves a tree bearing all kinds of produce and flourishing well, being adorned with various fruits. For in this place the tree of knowledge and the tree of life have been planted; but it is not the tree of knowledge that destroys—it is disobedience that proves destructive. Nor truly are those words without significance which are written, how God from the beginning planted the tree of life in the midst of paradise, revealing through knowledge the way to life, and when those who were first formed did not use this [knowledge] properly, they were, through the fraud of the serpent, stripped naked. For neither can life exist without knowledge, nor is knowledge secure without life. Wherefore both were planted close together. The apostle, perceiving the force [of this conjunction], and blaming that knowledge which, without true doctrine, is admitted to influence life, declares, “Knowledge puffeth up, but love edifieth.” For he who thinks he knows anything without true knowledge, and such as is witnessed to by life, knows nothing, but is deceived by the serpent, as not loving life. But he who combines knowledge with fear, and seeks after life, plants in hope, looking for fruit. Let your heart be your wisdom; and let your life be true knowledge inwardly received. Bearing this tree and displaying its fruit, thou shalt always gather in those things which are desired by God, which the serpent cannot reach, and to which deception does not approach; nor is Eve then corrupted, but is trusted as a virgin; and salvation is manifested, and the apostles are filled with understanding, and the passover of the Lord advances, and the choirs are gathered together, and are arranged in proper order, and the Word rejoices in teaching the saints,—by whom the Father is glorified: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Οἷς ἐντυχόντες καὶ ἀκούσαντες μετὰ σπουδῆς εἴσεσθε ὅσα παρέχει ὁ Θεὸς τοῖς ἀγαπῶσιν ὀρθῶς, οἱ γενόμενοι παράδεισος τρυφῆς, πάγκαρπον ξύλον, εὐθαλοῦν, ἀνατείλαντες ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, ποικίλοις καρποῖς κεκοσμημένοι. ἐν γὰρ τούτῳ τῷ χωρίῳ ξύλον γνώσεως καὶ ξύλον ζωῆς πεφύτευται' ἀλλ᾽ οὐ τὸ τῆς γνώσεως ἀναιρεῖ, ἀλλ᾽ ἡ παρακοὴ ἀναιρεῖ. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἄσημα τὰ γεγραμμένα, ὡς Θεὸς ἀπ᾽ ἀρχῆς ξύλον | γνώσεως καὶ ξύλον | ζωῆς ἐν μέσῳ παραδείσου ἐφύτευσε, διὰ γνώσεως ζωὴν ἐπιδεικνύς. ἡ μὴ καθαρῶς χρησάμενοι οἱ ax’ ἀρχῆς πλάνῃ τοῦ ὄφεως γεγύμνωνται. οὐδὲ γὰρ ζωὴ ἄνευ γνώσεως, οὐδὲ γνῶσις ἀσφαλὴς ἄνευ ζωῆς ἀληθοῦς διὸ πλησίον ἑκάτερον πεφύτευται. ς. ἣν δύναμιν ἐνιδὼν ὁ ὠπόστολος τήν τε ἄνευ ἀληθείας προστάγματος εἰς ζωὴν ἁσκουμένην γνῶσιν μεμφόμενος λέγει" Ἥ γνῶώοεις φγοιοῖ, ἡ δὲ ἀγάπη οἰκοδομεῖ. ὁ γὰρ νομίζων εἰδέναι τι ἄνευ γνώσεως ἀληθοῦς καὶ μαρτυρουμένης ὑπὸ τῆς ζωῆς, οὐκ ἔγνω ὑπὸ τοῦ ὄφεως πλανᾶται, μὴ ὠγαπήσας τὸ ζῆν. ὁ δὲ μετὰ φόβου ἐπιγνοὺς καὶ ζωὴν ἐπιζητῶν ἐπ᾽ ἐλπίδι φυτεύει, καρπὸν προσδοκῶν. ἥτω σοι καρδία γνῶσις, ζωὴ δὲ λόγος ἀληθής, χωρούμενος. οὗ ξύλον φέρων καὶ καρπὸν αἱρὼν τρυγήσεις ἀεὶ τὰ παρὰ Θεῷ ποθούμενα, ὧν ὄφις οὐχ ἅπτεται οὐδὲ πλάνη συγχρωτίζεται' οὐδὲ Eva φθείρεται, ἀλλὰ παρ- θένος πιστεύεται καὶ σωτήριον δείκννται, καὶ ἀπόστολοι συνετίζονται, καὶ τὸ Κυρίου πάσχα προέρχεται, καὶ κλῆροι συνάγονται καὶ [πάντα] μετὰ κόσμον ἁρμόζεται, καὶ διδάσκων ἁγίους ὁ Λόγος εὐφραίνεται, δὲ οὗ Πατὴρ δοξάζεται" ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας. ἀμήν.