The Roman Custom of Charity
For it is your custom from the beginning to do good to all brothers in various ways, and to send supplies to many churches throughout the whole city; in this way you refresh the poor who are in need, and in this way you provide for brothers who are in wealth.
Through these you send the first supplies, a custom handed down from fathers which Romans preserve among Romans; which not only your blessed bishop Soter maintained, but also increased, providing the abundance sent out to the saints, and with blessed words encouraging the suffering brothers as a fatherly, loving parent does.
In this letter also he mentions the letter of Clement to the Corinthians, declaring from of old that it is the custom to perform the reading of it for the church. He says, therefore: We lead the present Lord's Day, the holy day, in which we read your letter; which we shall always have reading to be admonished, just as we had the former written to us through Clement.
These things also you do through such much admonition, the [...]
Greek
Fragmenta BEATI DIONYSII, CORINTHII EPISCOPI, MEDIO QUI SAECULO SECUNDO FLORUIT, FRAGMENTA. EX EPISTOLA AD ROMANOS QUAM AD SOTEREM EPISCOPUM EORUM SCRIPSIT. Ἐξ 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· δι' 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. ηαεξ αττυλιτ ευσεβιυς λιβ. ιῃ. ηιστ. ξ. 23. 180 εχ εαδεμ επιστολα. Ἐν αὐτῇ δὲ ταύτῃ (επιστολα) καὶ τῆς Κλήμεντος πρὸς Κορινθίους μέμνηται ἐπιστολῆς, (ῃερβα ευσεβιι συντ ιν λοξο μοδο σιγνατο) δηλῶν ἀνέκαθεν ἐξ ἀρχαίου ἔθους ἐπὶ τῆς ἐκκλησίας τὴν ἀνάγνωσιν αὐτῆς ποιεῖσθαι. λέγει γοῦν (διονψσιυς)· Τὴν σήμερον οὖν Κυριακὴν ἁγίαν ἡμέραν διηγάγομεν, ἐν ᾗ ἀνέγνωμεν ὑμῶν τὴν ἐπιστολήν· ἣν ἕξομεν ἀεί ποτε ἀναγινώσκοντες νουθετεῖσθαι, ὡς καὶ τὴν προτέραν ἡμῖν διὰ Κλήμεντος γραφεῖσαν. εχ εαδεμ επιστολα. Ταῦτα (ῃαλεσιυς εμενδατ ταύτῃ) καὶ ὑμεῖς διὰ τῆς τοσαύτης νουθεσίας, τὴν