Editing Epistle to Diognetus (section)

== Manuscripts ==
The epistle survived only in one [[manuscript]], initially discovered in 1436 being used as wrapping paper in a fish market in [[Constantinople]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Geoffrey S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G06qEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA137&dq=letter+to+diognetus+fish+wrap&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&ovdme=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi7zK3YnbKKAxWUI0QIHZZcIGgQ6AF6BAgJEAM#v=onepage&q=letter%20to%20diognetus%20fish%20wrap&f=false |title=The Secret Gospel of Mark: A Controversial Scholar, a Scandalous Gospel of Jesus, and the Fierce Debate over Its Authenticity |last2=Landau |first2=Brent C. |date=2023-03-21 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-27181-2 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Jefford |first=Clayton N. |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Reading_the_Apostolic_Fathers.html?id=8ss2H4ujjrIC#v=onepage&q=Letter%20to%20Diognetus%20fish%20wrap&f=false |title=Reading the Apostolic Fathers: A Student's Introduction |date=2012-12-01 |publisher=Baker Books |isbn=978-1-4412-4037-8 |language=en}}</ref> It was part of a 13th-century [[codex]] that included writings ascribed to [[Justin Martyr]].<ref name=":0" /> The manuscript was mostly intact, exhibiting damage only in one place, several lines in the middle of the text. 

It was first published in 1592, and attributed to Justin Martyr because of the context of its discovery. Unfortunately the original was subsequently destroyed in a fire during the [[Franco-Prussian War]] in 1870,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Foster|first=Paul|date=2007|title=The Epistle to Diognetus|journal=The Expository Times|volume=118|issue=4 |pages=162–168|doi=10.1177/0014524606074317 }}</ref> but numerous transcriptions of the letter survive today. 

Oddly, there is no evidence that any [[Apostolic Fathers|Apostolic Father]] or [[Church Fathers|Church Father]] knew of its existence, even though it has been esteemed by many modern readers as a gem of early Christian apologetics. It has been suggested that the Epistle should be identified  with the ''Apology'' of [[Quadratus of Athens]], mentioned by [[Eusebius]] in his ''[[Church History (Eusebius)|Church History]]'',<ref name=":1" /> but this is disputed among scholars (see below).