The Implements We Worship

Anonymous, Epistle to Diognetus 2

“Again, couldn’t those things which you worship be reshaped by humans into implements similar to the rest? Aren’t they all deaf? Aren’t they all blind? Aren’t they soulless and without perception? Aren’t they incapable of motion? Aren’t they rotting? Aren’t they decaying?

And you call these things gods. You are slaves to these things. You worship them. In the end, you will be like them.”

οὐ ταῦτα πάλιν, τὰ νῦν ὑφ᾿ ὑμῶν προσκυνούμενα, δύναιτ᾿ ἂν ὑπὸ ἀνθρώπων σκεύη ὅμοια γενέσθαι τοῖς λοιποῖς; οὐ κωφὰ πάντα; οὐ τυφλά; οὐκ ἄψυχα; οὐκ ἀναίσθητα; οὐκ ἀκίνητα; οὐ πάντα σηπόμενα; οὐ πάντα φθειρόμενα;

ταῦτα θεοὺς καλεῖτε, τούτοις δουλεύετε, τούτοις προσκυνεῖτε, τέλεον δ᾿ αὐτοῖς ἐξομοιοῦσθε.