This paper explores the relatively few anecdotes from the lore of Diogenes of Sinope that are narrated, referred to, and possibly revised in Patristic authors, especially Tertullian, Clement, Jerome, Theodoret, and John Chrysostom, as well as Philo of Alexandria before them. In distinction from these authors’ generalized praise of Cynics, including Diogenes, for their lifestyle of poverty or their pursuit of virtue in preference to reputation or wealth, and their generalized condemnation of shameless behavior, the citation of particular anecdotes and apophthegmata can operate as a more precise index for comparing the Christian reception of Cynicism to reception elsewhere. Some of the anecdotes transmitted by Clement and Theodoret are uniquely preserved, and some standard episodes, such as Diogenes’ interactions with the Macedonian kings and his scene of death, appear in John Chrysostom and Jerome in one of several competing versions. In this paper, we note the differences and overlaps between these anecdotes and those in Diogenes Laertius, for example, then focus at greater length on one story, in which Diogenes lights a torch in the light of day to seek a true human being. This story is taken by Philo, Tertullian, and ps-John Chrysostom in relation to theological doctrine and hence presents the most interesting case of Jewish and Christian receptions of the anecdote, different from each other.