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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"> <head> <title>CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Justin Martyr</title><script src="https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/js/cmp/cleanmediacmp.js?ver=0104" async="true"></script><script defer data-domain="newadvent.org" src="https://plausible.io/js/script.js"></script><link rel="canonical" href="https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08580c.htm"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="description" content="Lengthy article on the life and teachings of the apologist"> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://feeds.newadvent.org/bestoftheweb?format=xml"><link rel="icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><link rel="shortcut icon" href="../images/icon1.ico" type="image/x-icon"><meta name="robots" content="noodp"><link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="../utility/screen6.css" media="screen"></head> <body class="cathen" id="08580c.htm">  <br/> <div id="capitalcity"><table summary="Logo" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 width="100%"><tr valign="bottom"><td align="left"><a href="../"><img height=36 width=153 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></td><td align="right"> <form id="searchbox_000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0" action="../utility/search.htm">  <input type="hidden" name="safe" value="active"> <input type="hidden" name="cx" value="000299817191393086628:ifmbhlr-8x0"/> <input type="hidden" name="cof" value="FORID:9"/>  <label for="searchQuery" id="searchQueryLabel">Search:</label> <input id="searchQuery" name="q" type="text" size="25" aria-labelledby="searchQueryLabel"/>  <label for="submitButton" id="submitButtonLabel" class="visually-hidden">Submit Search</label> <input id="submitButton" type="submit" name="sa" value="Search" aria-labelledby="submitButtonLabel"/> </form> <table summary="Spacer" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td height="2"></td></tr></table> <table summary="Tabs" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr> <td bgcolor="#ffffff"></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../"> Home </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_white_on_color" href="../cathen/index.html"> Encyclopedia </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../summa/index.html"> Summa </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../fathers/index.html"> Fathers </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../bible/gen001.htm"> Bible </a></td> <td class="tab"><a class="tab_color_on_beige" href="../library/index.html"> Library </a></td> </tr></table> </td> </tr></table><table summary="Alphabetical index" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"> <a href="../cathen/a.htm"> A </a><a href="../cathen/b.htm"> B </a><a href="../cathen/c.htm"> C </a><a href="../cathen/d.htm"> D </a><a href="../cathen/e.htm"> E </a><a href="../cathen/f.htm"> F </a><a href="../cathen/g.htm"> G </a><a href="../cathen/h.htm"> H </a><a href="../cathen/i.htm"> I </a><a href="../cathen/j.htm"> J </a><a href="../cathen/k.htm"> K </a><a href="../cathen/l.htm"> L </a><a href="../cathen/m.htm"> M </a><a href="../cathen/n.htm"> N </a><a href="../cathen/o.htm"> O </a><a href="../cathen/p.htm"> P </a><a href="../cathen/q.htm"> Q </a><a href="../cathen/r.htm"> R </a><a href="../cathen/s.htm"> S </a><a href="../cathen/t.htm"> T </a><a href="../cathen/u.htm"> U </a><a href="../cathen/v.htm"> V </a><a href="../cathen/w.htm"> W </a><a href="../cathen/x.htm"> X </a><a href="../cathen/y.htm"> Y </a><a href="../cathen/z.htm"> Z </a> </td></tr></table></div> <div id="mobilecity" style="text-align: center; "><a href="../"><img height=24 width=102 border="0" alt="New Advent" src="../images/logo.gif"></a></div>  <div id="mi5"><span class="breadcrumbs"><a href="../">Home</a> > <a href="../cathen">Catholic Encyclopedia</a> > <a href="../cathen/j.htm">J</a> > St. Justin Martyr</span></div> <div id="springfield2"> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-top' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <h1>St. Justin Martyr</h1> <p><em><a href="https://gumroad.com/l/na2"><strong>Please help support the mission of New Advent</strong> and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more  all for only $19.99...</a></em></p> <p><a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/01618a.htm">apologist</a>, born at Flavia Neapolis, about A.D. 100, <a href="../cathen/04347a.htm">converted</a> to <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> about A.D. 130, taught and defended the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian religion</a> in <a href="../cathen/01782a.htm">Asia Minor</a> and at <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a>, where he suffered <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> about the year 165. Two "Apologies" bearing his name and his "Dialogue with the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jew</a> Tryphon" have come down to us. <a href="../cathen/09169a.htm">Leo XIII</a> had a Mass and an Office composed in his <a href="../cathen/07462a.htm">honour</a> and set his feast for 14 April.</p> <h2>Life</h2> <p>Among the Fathers of the second century his life is the best known, and from the most authentic documents. In both "Apologies" and in his "Dialogue" he gives many personal details, e.g. about his studies in <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophy</a> and his <a href="../cathen/04347a.htm">conversion</a>; they are not, however, an autobiography, but are partly idealized, and it is <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> to distinguish in them between poetry and <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>; they furnish us however with several precious and reliable clues. For his <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> we have documents of undisputed authority. In the first line of his "Apology" he calls himself "Justin, the son of Priscos, son of Baccheios, of Flavia Neapolis, in Palestinian Syria". Flavia Neapolis, his native town, founded by <a href="../cathen/15379a.htm">Vespasian</a> (A.D. 72), was built on the site of a place called Mabortha, or Mamortha, quite near Sichem (Guérin, "Samarie", I, Paris, 1874, 390-423; Schürer, "History of the Jewish People", tr., I, Edinburgh, 1885). Its inhabitants were all, or for the most part, <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagans</a>. The names of the father and grandfather of Justin suggest a <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> origin, and he speaks of himself as uncircumcised (Dialogue, xxviii). The date of his birth is uncertain, but would seem to fall in the first years of the second century. He received a good <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> in <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophy</a>, an account of which he gives us at the beginning of his "Dialogue with the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jew</a> Tryphon"; he placed himself first under a <a href="../cathen/14299a.htm">Stoic</a>, but after some time found that he had learned nothing about <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and that in fact his master had nothing to teach him on the subject. A Peripatetic whom he then found welcomed him at first but afterwards demanded a fee from him; this <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proved</a> that he was not a <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosopher</a>. A Pythagorean refused to teach him anything until he should have learned music, <a href="../cathen/02025a.htm">astronomy</a>, and geometry. Finally a <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Platonist</a> arrived on the scene and for some time delighted Justin. This account cannot be taken too literally; the facts seem to be arranged with a view to showing the weakness of the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophies</a> and of contrasting them with the teachings of the Prophets and of Christ. The main facts, however, may be accepted; the works of Justin seem to show just such a philosophic development as is here described, Eclectic, but owing much to <a href="../cathen/14299a.htm">Stoicism</a> and more to <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Platonism</a>. He was still under the charm of the <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Platonistic</a> philosophy when, as he walked one day along the seashore, he met a mysterious old man; the conclusion of their long discussion was that the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> could not arrive through <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">human</a> <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> at the <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>, but that it needed to be instructed by the Prophets who, inspired by the Holy Ghost, had known <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and could make Him known ("Dialogue", iii, vii; cf. Zahm, "Dichtung and Wahrheit in Justins Dialog mit dem Jeden Trypho" in "Zeitschr. für Kirchengesch.", VIII, 1885-1886, 37-66).</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>The "Apologies" throw light on another phase of the conversion of Justin: "When I was a disciple of Plato", he writes, "hearing the accusations made against the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> and seeing them intrepid in the face of death and of all that men fear, I said to myself that it was impossible that they should be living in <a href="../cathen/05649a.htm">evil</a> and in the love of pleasure" (II Apol., xviii, 1). Both accounts exhibit the two aspects of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> that most strongly influenced St. Justin; in the "Apologies" he is moved by its moral beauty (I Apol., xiv), in the "Dialogue" by its <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>. His conversion must have taken place at the latest towards A.D. 130, since St. Justin places during the <a href="../cathen/15546c.htm">war</a> of Bar-Cocheba (132-135) the interview with the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jew</a> Tryphon, related in his "Dialogue". This interview is evidently not described exactly as it took place, and yet the account cannot be wholly fictitious. Tryphon, according to <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> (<a href="../fathers/250104.htm"><em>Church History</em> IV.18.6</a>), was "the best known Jew of that time", which description the historian may have borrowed from the introduction to the "Dialogue", now lost. It is possible to identify in a general way this Tryphon with the Rabbi Tarphon often mentioned in the <a href="../cathen/14435b.htm">Talmud</a> (Schürer, "Gesch. d. Jud. Volkes", 3rd ed., II, 377 seq., 555 seq., cf., however, Herford, "Christianity in Talmud and Midrash", London, 1903, 156). The place of the interview is not definitely told, but Ephesus is clearly enough indicated; the literary setting lacks neither probability nor life, the chance meetings under the porticoes, the groups of curious onlookers who stop a while and then disperse during the interviews, offer a vivid picture of such extemporary conferences. St. Justin lived certainly some time at Ephesus; the Acts of his <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> tell us that he went to <a href="../cathen/13164a.htm">Rome</a> twice and lived "near the baths of Timothy with a man named Martin". He taught <a href="../cathen/13554b.htm">school</a> there, and in the aforesaid Acts of his <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> we read of several of his disciples who were condemned with him.</p> <p>In his second "Apology" (iii) Justin says: "I, too, expect to be <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecuted</a> and to be crucified by some of those whom I have named, or by <a href="../cathen/04484b.htm">Crescens</a>, that friend of noise and of ostentation." Indeed <a href="../cathen/14464b.htm">Tatian</a> relates (<a href="../fathers/0202.htm"><em>Address to the Greeks</em> 19</a>) that the Cynic <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosopher</a> Crescens did pursue him and Justin; he does not tell us the result and, moreover, it is not <a href="../cathen/03539b.htm">certain</a> that the <a href="../fathers/0202.htm">"Discourse"</a> of <a href="../cathen/14464b.htm">Tatian</a> was written after the death of Justin. <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> (<a href="../fathers/250104.htm"><em>Church History</em> IV.16.7-8</a>) says that it was the intrigues of Crescens which brought about the death of Justin; this is credible, but not certain; <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> has apparently no other reason for affirming it than the two passages cited above from Justin and <a href="../cathen/14464b.htm">Tatian</a>. St. Justin was condemned to <a href="../cathen/12565a.htm">death</a> by the prefect, Rusticus, towards A.D. 165, with six companions, Chariton, Charito, Evelpostos, Pæon, Hierax, and Liberianos. We still have the authentic account of their <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> ("Acta SS.", April, II, 104-19; Otto, "Corpus Apologetarum", III, Jena, 1879, 266-78; P.G., VI, 1565-72). The examination ends as follows:</p> <blockquote><p>"The Prefect Rusticus says: Approach and sacrifice, all of you, to the gods. Justin says: No one in his right mind gives up <a href="../cathen/12748a.htm">piety</a> for impiety. The Prefect Rusticus says: If you do not obey, you will be tortured without mercy. Justin replies: That is our desire, to be tortured for <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Our Lord, Jesus Christ</a>, and so to be saved, for that will give us <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a> and firm confidence at the more terrible universal tribunal of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Our Lord and Saviour</a>. And all the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> said: Do as you wish; for we are <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>, and we do not sacrifice to idols. The Prefect Rusticus read the sentence: Those who do not wish to sacrifice to the gods and to obey the emperor will be scourged and beheaded according to the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">laws</a>. The <a href="../cathen/07386a.htm">holy</a> <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> glorifying <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> betook themselves to the customary place, where they were beheaded and consummated their <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrdom</a> confessing their Saviour." </p></blockquote> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2>Works</h2> <p>Justin was a voluminous and important writer. He himself mentions a "Treatise against Heresy" (I Apology, xxvi, 8); <a href="../cathen/08130b.htm">St. Irenæus</a> (<a href="../fathers/0103406.htm"><em>Against Heresies</em> IV.6.2</a>) quotes a "Treatise against Marcion" which may have been only a part of the preceding work. <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> mentions both (<a href="../fathers/250104.htm"><em>Church History</em> IV.11.8-10</a>), but does not seem to have read them himself; a little further on (<a href="../fathers/250104.htm">IV.18</a>) he gives the following list of Justin's works: "Discourse in favour of our Faith to Antoninus Pius, to his sons, and to the Roman Senate"; an "Apology" addressed to <a href="../cathen/02109a.htm">Marcus Aurelius</a>; "Discourse to the Greeks"; another discourse called "A Refutation"; "Treatise on the Divine Monarchy"; a book called "The Psalmist"; "Treatise on the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>"; "Dialogue against the Jews", which he had in the city of Ephesus with Tryphon, the most celebrated <a href="../cathen/08193a.htm">Israelite</a> of that time. <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> adds that many more of his books are to be found in the hands of the brethren. Later writers add nothing certain to this list, itself possibly not altogether reliable. There are extant but three works of Justin, of which the authenticity is assured: the two "Apologies" and the "Dialogue". They are to be found in two <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscripts</a>: <a href="../cathen/11480c.htm">Paris</a> gr. 450, finished on 11 September, 1364; and Claromont. 82, written in 1571, actually at Cheltenham, in the possession of M.T.F. Fenwick. The second is only a copy of the first, which is therefore our sole authority; unfortunately this <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a> is very imperfect (Harnack, "Die Ueberlieferung der griech. Apologeten" in "Texte and Untersuchungen", I, Leipzig, 1883, i, 73-89; Archambault, "Justin, Dialogue a vec Tryphon", Paris, 1909, p. xii-xxxviii). There are many large gaps in this <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a>, thus II Apol., ii, is almost entirely wanting, but it has been found possible to restore the <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a> text from a quotation of <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> (<a href="../fathers/250104.htm"><em>Church History</em> IV.17</a>). The "Dialogue" was dedicated to a certain Marcus Pompeius (exli, viii); it must therefore have been preceded by a dedicatory epistle and probably by an introduction or preface; both are lacking. In the seventy-fourth chapter a large part must also be missing, comprising the end of the first book and the beginning of the second (Zahn, "Zeitschr. f. Kirchengesch.", VIII, 1885, 37 sq., Bardenhewer, "Gesch. der altkirchl. Litter.", I, Freiburg im Br., 1902, 210). There are other less important gaps and many faulty transcriptions. There being no other <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a>, the correction of this one is very difficult; conjectures have been often quite unhappy, and Krüger, the latest editor of the "Apology", has scarcely done more than return to the text of the <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a>.</p> <p>In the <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a> the three works are found in the following order: second "Apology", first "Apology", the "Dialogue". Dom Maran (Paris, 1742) re-established the original order, and all other editors have followed him. There could not be as a matter of fact any <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubt</a> as to the proper order of the "Apologies", the first is quoted in the second (iv, 2; vi, 5; viii, 1). The form of these references shows that Justin is referring, not to a different work, but to that which he was then writing (II Apol., ix, 1, cf. vii, 7; I Apol., lxiii, 16, cf. xxxii, 14; lxiii, 4, cf. xxi, 1; lxi, 6, cf. lxiv, 2). Moreover, the second "Apology" is evidently not a complete work independent of the first, but rather an appendix, owing to a new fact that came to the writer's <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a>, and which he wished to utilize without recasting both works. It has been remarked that <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> often alludes to the second "Apology" as the first (<a href="../fathers/250104.htm"><em>Church History</em> IV.8.5</a> and <a href="../fathers/250104.htm">IV.17.1</a>), but the quotations from Justin by <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> are too inexact for us to attach much value to this fact (cf. <a href="../fathers/250104.htm"><em>Church History</em> IV.11.8</a>; Bardenhewer, op. cit., 201). Probably <a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a> also <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">erred</a> in making Justin write one apology under <a href="../cathen/01586a.htm">Antoninus</a> (161) and another under <a href="../cathen/02109a.htm">Marcus Aurelius</a>. The second "Apology", known to no other author, doubtless never existed (Bardenhewer, loc. cit.; Harnack, "Chronologie der christl. Litter.", I, Leipzig, 1897, 275). The date of the "Apology" cannot be determined by its dedication, which is not certain, but can be established with the aid of the following facts: it is 150 years since the birth of Christ (I, xlvi, 1); <a href="../cathen/09645c.htm">Marcion</a> has already spread abroad his <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">error</a> (I, xxvi, 5); now, according to Epiphanius (Hæres., xlii, 1), he did not begin to teach until after the death of Hyginus (A.D. 140). The Prefect of <a href="../cathen/05329b.htm">Egypt</a>, Felix (I, xxix, 2), occupied this charge in September, 151, probably from 150 to about 154 (Grenfell-Hunt, "Oxyrhinchus Papyri", II, London, 1899, 163, 175; cf. Harnack, "Theol. Literaturzeitung", XXII, 1897, 77). From all of this we may conclude that the "Apology" was written somewhere between 153 and 155. The second "Apology", as already said, is an appendix to the first and must have been written shortly afterwards. The Prefect Urbinus mentioned in it was in charge from 144 to 160. The "Dialogue" is certainly later than the "Apology" to which it refers (<a href="../fathers/01288.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 120</a>, cf. "I Apol.", xxvi); it seems, moreover, from this same reference that the emperors to whom the "Apology" was addressed were still living when the "Dialogue" was written. This places it somewhere before A.D. 161, the <a href="../cathen/04636c.htm">date</a> of the death of Antoninus.</p> <p>The "Apology" and the "Dialogue" are difficult to analyse, for Justin's method of composition is free and capricious, and defies our habitual rules of <a href="../cathen/09324a.htm">logic</a>. The content of the first "Apology" (Viel, "Justinus des Phil. Rechtfertigung", <a href="../cathen/14313c.htm">Strasburg</a>, 1894, 58 seq.) is somewhat as follows:</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>i-iii: exordium to the emperors: Justin is about to enlighten them and free himself of responsibility, which will now be wholly theirs.</li><li>iv-xii: first part or introduction:</li> <ul><li>the anti-Christian procedure is iniquitous: they persecute in the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> a name only (iv, v);</li><li><a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> are neither <a href="../cathen/02040a.htm">Atheists</a> nor criminals (vi, vii);</li><li>they allow themselves to be killed rather than deny their <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (viii);</li><li>they refuse to adore idols (ix, xii);</li><li>conclusion (xii).</li> </ul> <li>xiii-lxvii: Second part (exposition and demonstration of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>):</li> <ul><li><a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> adore the crucified Christ, as well as <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (xiii);</li><li><a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> is their Master; moral <a href="../cathen/12372b.htm">precepts</a> (xiv-xvii);</li><li>the future life, judgement, etc. (xviii-xx).</li><li>Christ is the Incarnate Word (xxi-lx);</li><li>comparison with <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> heroes, Hermes, Æsculapius, etc. (xxi-xxii);</li><li>superiority of Christ and of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> before Christ (xlvi).</li><li>The similarities that we find in the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> worship and philosophy come from the devils (liv-lx).</li><li>Description of <a href="../cathen/15710a.htm">Christian worship</a>: <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptism</a> (lxi);</li><li>the Eucharist (lxv-lxvi);</li><li>Sunday-observance (lxvii).</li> </ul> </ul></div> <p>Second "Apology":</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>Recent <a href="../cathen/08010c.htm">injustice</a> of the Prefect Urbinus towards the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> (i-iii).</li><li>Why it is that <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> permits these evils: Providence, human liberty, last judgement (iv-xii).</li></ul></div> <p>The "Dialogue" is much longer than the two apologies taken together ("Apol." I and II in P.G., VI, 328-469; <a href="../fathers/0128.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em></a>), the abundance of <a href="../cathen/05692b.htm">exegetical</a> discussions makes any analysis particularly difficult. The following points are noteworthy:</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>i-ix. Introduction: Justin gives the story of his philosophic <a href="../cathen/05295b.htm">education</a> and of this conversion. One may <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> only through the Holy Ghost; the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> is not <a href="../cathen/07687a.htm">immortal</a> by its nature; to <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a> it is <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> to study the Prophets.</li><li>x-xxx: On the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>. Tryphon reproaches the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> for not observing the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a>. Justin replies that according to the Prophets themselves the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> should be abrogated, it had only been given to the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a> on account of their hardness. Superiority of the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/03777a.htm">circumcision</a>, <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> even for the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>. The eternal law laid down by <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a>.</li><li>xxxi-cviii: On Christ: His two comings (xxxi sqq.); the <a href="../cathen/09053a.htm">law</a> a figure of Christ (xl-xlv); the Divinity and the pre-existence of Christ <a href="../cathen/12454c.htm">proved</a> above all by the <a href="../cathen/14526a.htm">Old Testament</a> apparitions (theophanies) (lvi-lxii); incarnation and virginal conception (lxv sqq.); the death of Christ foretold (lxxxvi sqq.); His <a href="../cathen/12789a.htm">resurrection</a> (cvi sqq.).</li><li>cviii to the end: On the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>. The conversion of the nations foretold by the Prophets (cix sqq.); <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> are a holier people than the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a> (cxix sqq.); the promises were made to them (cxxi); they were prefigured in the <a href="../cathen/14526a.htm">Old Testament</a> (cxxxiv sqq.). The "Dialogue" concludes with wishes for the conversion of the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>.</li></ul></div> <p>Besides these authentic works we possess others under Justin's name that are <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubtful</a> or <a href="../cathen/01601a.htm">apocryphal</a>.</p> <div class="bulletlist"><ul><li>"On the Resurrection" (for its numerous fragments see Otto, "Corpus Apolog.", 2nd ed., III, 210-48 and the "Sacra Parallela", Holl, "Fragmente vornicänischer Kirchenväter aus den Sacra Parallela" in "Texte und Untersuchungen", new series, V, 2, Leipzig, 1899, 36-49). The treatise from which these fragments are taken was attributed to St. Justin by St. Methodius (early fourth century) and was quoted by St. Irenæus and <a href="../cathen/14520c.htm">Tertullian</a>, who do not, however, name the author. The attribution of the fragments to Justin is therefore probable (Harnack, "Chronologie", 508; Bousset, "Die Evangeliencitaten Justins", Göttingen, 1891, 123sq.; archambault, "Le témoignage de l'ancienne littérature Chrétienne sur l'authenticité d'un traité sur la resurrection attribué à Justin l'Apologiste" in "Revuede Philologie", XXIX, 1905, 73-93). The chief interest of these fragments consists in the introduction, where is explained with much force the transcendent nature of <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> and the proper nature of its motives.</li><li>"A Discourse to the Greeks" (Otto, op. cit., III, 1, 2, 18), an <a href="../cathen/01601a.htm">apocryphal</a> tract, dated by Harnack (Sitzungsberichte der k. preuss. Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin, 1896, 627-46), about A.D. 180-240. Later it was altered and enlarged in Syriac: text and English translation by Cureton, "Spicileg. Syr.", London, 1855, 38-42, 61-69.</li><li>"Exhortation to the Greeks" (Otto, op. cit., 18-126). The authenticity of this has been defended without success by Widman ("Die Echtheit der Mahnrede Justins an die Heiden", Mainz, 1902); Puech, "Sur le <em>logos parainetikos</em> attribué à Justin" in "Mélanges Weil", Paris, 1898, 395-406, dates it about 260-300, but most critics say, with more probability, A.D. 180-240 (Gaul, "Die Abfassungsverhältnisse der pseudojustinischen Cohortatio ad Græcos", Potsdam, 1902).</li><li>"On Monarchy" (Otto, op. cit., 126-158), tract of uncertain date, in which are freely quoted Greek poets altered by some <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jew</a>.</li><li>"Exposition of the Faith" (Otto, op. cit., IV, 2-66), a dogmatic treatise on the Trinity and the Incarnation preserved in two copies the longer of which seems the more ancient. It is quoted for the first time by <a href="../cathen/09179b.htm">Leontius of Byzantium</a> (d. 543) and refers to the <a href="../cathen/14597a.htm">Christological</a> discussions of the fifth century; it seems, therefore, to date from the second half of that century.</li><li>"Letter to Zenas and Serenus" (Otto, op. cit., 66-98), attributed by Batiffol in "Revue Biblique", VI, 1896, 114-22, to Sisinnios, the <a href="../cathen/11138a.htm">Novatian</a> <a href="../cathen/02581b.htm">Bishop</a> of Constantinople about A.D. 400.</li><li>"Answers to the Orthodox."</li><li>"The Christian's Questions to the Greeks."</li><li>"The Greek's Questions to the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a>."</li><li>"Refutation of certain Aristotelean theses" (Otto, op. cit., IV, 100-222; V, 4-366).</li></ul></div> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <p>The "Answers to the Orthodox" was re-edited in a different and more primitive form by Papadopoulos-Kerameus (St. Petersburg, 1895), from a Constantinople <a href="../cathen/09614b.htm">manuscript</a> which ascribed the work to Theodoret. Though this ascription was adopted by the editor, it has not been generally accepted. Harnack has studied profoundly these four books and maintains, not without probability, that they are the work of <a href="../cathen/05008a.htm">Diodorus of Tarsus</a> (Harnack, "Diodor von Tarsus., vier pseudojustinische Schriften als Eigentum Diodors nachgewiesen" in "Texte und Untersuch.", XII, 4, Leipzig, 1901).</p> <h2>Doctrine</h2> <h3>Justin and philosophy</h3> <p>The only <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> quotations to be found in Justin's works are from Homer, Euripides, Xenophon, Menander, and especially <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Plato</a> (Otto, II, 593 sq.). His philosophic development has been well estimated by Purves ("The Testimony of Justin Martyr to early Christianity", London, 1882, 132): "He appears to have been a man of moderate culture. He was certainly not a genius nor an original thinker." A <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> eclectic, he draws inspiration from different systems, especially from <a href="../cathen/14299a.htm">Stoicism</a> and <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Platonism</a>. Weizsäcker (Jahrbücher f. Protest. Theol., XII, 1867, 75) thought he recognized a Peripatetic <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a>, or inspiration, in his conception of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> as immovable above the heavens (<a href="../fathers/01289.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 127</a>); it is much more likely an <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> borrowed from Alexandrian <a href="../cathen/08537a.htm">Judaism</a>, and one which furnished a very efficacious argument to Justin in his anti-Jewish polemic. In the <a href="../cathen/14299a.htm">Stoics</a> Justin admires especially their ethics (II Apol., viii, 1); he willingly adopts their theory of a universal conflagration (<em>ekpyrosis</em>). In I Apol., xx, lx; II, vii, he adopts, but at the same time transforms, their concept of the seminal Word (<em>logos spermatikos</em>). However, he condemns their Fatalism (II Apol., vii) and their <a href="../cathen/02040a.htm">Atheism</a> (<a href="../fathers/01281.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 2</a>). His sympathies are above all with <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Platonism</a>. He likes to compare it with Christanity; apropos of the last judgment, he remarks, however (I Apol., viii, 4), that according to <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Plato</a> the punishment will last a thousand years, whereas according to the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> it will be eternal; speaking of creation (I Apol., xx, 4; lix), he says that <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Plato</a> borrowed from Moses his theory of formless matter; similarly he compares <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Plato</a> and <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> apropos of human responsibility (I Apol., xliv, 8) and the Word and the Spirit (I Apol., lx). However, his acquaintance with <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Plato</a> was superficial; like his contemporaries (Philo, Plutarch, <a href="../cathen/07360c.htm">St. Hippolytus</a>), he found his chief inspiration in the Timæus. Some historians have pretended that <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> philosophy entirely dominated Justin's <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> (Aubé, "S. Justin", Paris, 1861), or at least weakened it (Engelhardt, "Das Christentum Justins des Märtyrers", Erlangen, 1878). To appreciate fairly this influence it is <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> to remember that in his "Apology" Justin is seeking above all the points of contact between Hellenism and <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>. It would certainly be wrong to conclude from the first "Apology" (xxii) that Justin actually likens Christ to the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> heroes of semi-heroes, Hermes, Perseus, or Æsculapius; neither can we conclude from his first "Apology" (iv, 8 or vii, 3, 4) that philosophy played among the Greeks the same role that <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> did among the barbarians, but only that their position and their reputation were analogous.</p> <p>In many passages, however, Justin tries to trace a real bond between philosophy and <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>: according to him both the one and the other have a part in the <em>Logos</em>, partially disseminated among men and wholly manifest in <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a> (I, v, 4; I, xlvi; II, viii; II, xiii, 5, 6). The <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> developed in all these passages is given in the <a href="../cathen/14299a.htm">Stoic</a> form, but this gives to its expression a greater worth. For the <a href="../cathen/14299a.htm">Stoics</a> the seminal Word (<em>logos spermatikos</em>) is the form of every being; here it is the reason inasmuch as it partakes of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a>. This theory of the full participation in the Divine Word (<em>Logos</em>) by the sage has its full value only in <a href="../cathen/14299a.htm">Stoicism</a> (see <a href="../cathen/09328a.htm">LOGOS</a>). In Justin thought and expression are antithetic, and this lends a certain incoherence to the theory; the relation established between the integral Word, i.e. <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a>, and the partial Word disseminated in the world, is more specious than profound. Side by side with this theory, and quite different in its origin and scope, we find in Justin, as in most of his contemporaries, the conviction that Greek philosophy borrowed from the <a href="../bible">Bible</a>: it was by stealing from Moses and the Prophets that <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Plato</a> and the other <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophers</a> developed their doctrines (I, xliv, lix, ls). Despite the obscurities and incoherences of this thought, he affirms clearly and positively the transcendent character of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>: "Our <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> surpasses all human <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> because the real Word became Christ who manifested himself for us, body, word and <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a>." (II, Apol., x, 1.) This Divine origin assures <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> an absolute <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a> (II, xiii, 2) and gives to the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> complete confidence; they die for <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ's</a> <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a>; no one died for that of <a href="../cathen/14119a.htm">Socrates</a> (II, x, 8). The first chapters of the "Dialogue" complete and correct these <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a>. In them the rather complaisant <a href="../cathen/14383c.htm">syncretism</a> of the "Apology" disappears, and the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> thought is stronger.</p> <p>Justin's chief reproach to the <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophers</a> is their mutual divisions; he attributes this to the <a href="../cathen/12405a.htm">pride</a> of the heads of <a href="../cathen/13674a.htm">sects</a> and the servile acquiescence of their adherents; he also says a little later on (vi): "I care neither for <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Plato</a> nor for Pythagoras." From it all he concludes that for the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagans</a> philosophy is not a serious or profound thing; life does not depend on it, nor action: "Thou art a friend of discourse", says the old man to him before his <a href="../cathen/04347a.htm">conversion</a>, "but not of action nor of <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>" (iv). For <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Platonism</a> he retained a kindly feeling as for a study dear in childhood or in youth. Yet he attacks it on two essential points: the relation between <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> and man, and the nature of the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> (<a href="../fathers/01281.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 3, 6</a>). Nevertheless he still seems influenced by it in his conception of the Divine transcendency and the interpretation that he gives to the aforesaid theophanies.</p> <h3>Justin and Christian revelation</h3> <p>That which Justin despairs of attaining through philosophy he is now sure of possessing through Jewish and <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> revelation. He admits that the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> can naturally comprehend that <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is, just as it understands that virtue is beautiful (<a href="../fathers/01281.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 4</a>) but he denies that the <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">soul</a> without the assistance of the Holy Ghost can see <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> or contemplate Him directly through <a href="../cathen/05277a.htm">ecstasy</a>, as the <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Platonic</a> <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophers</a> contended. And yet this <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> for us: "We cannot <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> as we <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> music, arithmetic or <a href="../cathen/02025a.htm">astronomy</a>" (iii); it is <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> for us to <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> not with an abstract <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">knowledge</a> but as we <a href="../cathen/08673a.htm">know</a> any <a href="../cathen/11726a.htm">person</a> with whom we have relations. Thr problem which it seems impossible to solve is settled by revelation; <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> has spoken directly to the Prophets, who in their turn have made Him known to us (viii). It is the first time in <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theology</a> that we find so concise an explanation of the difference which separates <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> revelation from human speculation. It does away with the confusion that might arise from the theory, taken from the "Apology", of the partial <em>Logos</em> and the <em>Logos</em> absolute or entire.</p> <h3>The Bible of Justin</h3> <h4 id="i">The Old Testament</h4> <p>For <a href="../cathen/12023a.htm">Philo</a> the <a href="../bible">Bible</a> is very particularly the <a href="../cathen/11646c.htm">Pentateuch</a> (Ryle, "Philo and <a href="../bible">Holy Scripture</a>", XVII, London, 1895, 1-282). In keeping with the difference of his purpose, Justin has other preferences. He quotes the <a href="../cathen/11646c.htm">Pentateuch</a> often and liberally, especially Genesis, Exodus, and Deuteronomy; but he quotes still more frequently and at greater length the Psalms and the Books of Prophecy  above all, Isaias. The Books of Wisdom are seldom quoted, the historical books still less. The books that we never find in his works are <a href="../cathen/08547a.htm">Judges</a>, Esdras (except one passage which is attributed to him by mistake—<a href="../fathers/01286.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 72</a>), Tobias, Judith, Ester, Canticles, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Abdias, Nahum, Habacuc, Sophonias, Aggeus. It has been noticed, too (St. John Thackeray in "Journ. of Theol. Study", IV, 1903, 265, n.3), that he never cites the last chapters of Jeremias (apropos of the first "Apology", xlvii, Otto is wrong in his reference to <a href="../bible/jer050.htm">Jeremiah 50:3</a>). Of these omissions the most noteworthy is that of Wisdom, precisely on account of the similarity of <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a>. It is to be noted, moreover, that this book, surely used in the <a href="../cathen/14530a.htm">New Testament</a>, cited by <a href="../cathen/04012c.htm">St. Clement of Rome</a> (xxvii, 5) and later by St. Irenæus (<a href="../cathen/05617b.htm">Eusebius</a>, <a href="../fathers/250105.htm"><em>Church History</em> V.26</a>), is never met with in the works of the apologists (the reference of Otto to <a href="../fathers/0202.htm">Tatian 7</a> is inexact). On the other hand one finds in Justin some <a href="../cathen/01601a.htm">apocryphal</a> texts: pseudo-Esdras (<a href="../fathers/01286.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 72</a>), pseudo-Jeremias (ibid.), <a href="../bible/psa096.htm#vrs10">Psalm 96:10</a> (<a href="../fathers/01286.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 72</a>; I Apol., xli); sometimes also <a href="../cathen/05525a.htm">errors</a> in ascribing quotations: Zacharias for Malachias (<a href="../fathers/01284.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 49</a>), Osee for Zacharias for Malachias (<a href="../fathers/01282.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 14</a>). For the Biblical text of Justin, see Swete, "Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek", Cambridge, 1902, 417-24.</p> <h4 id="ii">The New Testament</h4> <p>The testimony of Justin is here of still greater importance, especially for the Gospels, and has been more often discussed. The historical side of the question is given by W. Bousset, "Die Evangeliencitaten Justins" (Göttingen, 1891), 1-12, and since then, by Baldus, "Das Verhältniss Justins der Märt. zu unseren synopt. Evangelien" (Münster, 1895); Lippelt, "Quæ fuerint Justini mart. <em>apomnemoneumata</em> quaque ratione cum forma Evangeliorum syro-latina cohæserint" (Halle, 1901). The books quoted by Justin are called by him "Memoirs of the Apostles". This term, otherwise very rare, appears in Justin quite probably as an analogy with the "Memorabilia" of Xenophon (quoted in "II Apol.", xi, 3) and from a desire to accommodate his language to the habits of mind of his readers. At any rate it seems that henceforth the word "gospels" was in current usage; it is in Justin that we find it for the first time used in the plural, "the Apostles in their memoirs that are called gospels" (I Apol., lxvi, 3). These memoirs have authority, not only because they relate the words of <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Our Lord</a> (as <a href="../cathen/02698b.htm">Bossuet</a> contends, op. cit., 16 seq.), but because, even in their narrative parts, they are considered as Scripture (<a href="../fathers/01284.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 49</a>, citing <a href="../bible/mat017.htm#vrs13">Matthew 17:13</a>). This opinion of Justin is upheld, moreover, by the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> who, in her public service reads the memoirs of the Apostles as well as the writings of the <a href="../cathen/12477a.htm">prophets</a> (I Apol., lxvii, 3). These memoirs were composed by the <a href="../cathen/01626c.htm">Apostles</a> and by those who followed them (<a href="../fathers/01287.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 103</a>); he refers in all probability to the four <a href="../cathen/05645a.htm">Evangelists</a>, i.e. to two Apostles and two disciples of Christ (Stanton, "New Testament canon" in Hastings, "Dictionary of the <a href="../bible">Bible</a>", III, 535). The authors, however, are not named: once (<a href="../fathers/01287.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 103</a>) he mentions the "memoirs of Peter", but the text is very obscure and uncertain (Bousset, op. cit., 18).</p> <p>All facts of the life of Christ that Justin takes from these memoirs are found indeed in our Gospels (Baldus, op. cit., 13 sqq.); he adds to them a few other and less important facts (I Apol., xxxii; xxxv; <a href="../fathers/01283.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 35</a>, <a href="../fathers/01283.htm">47</a>, <a href="../fathers/01284.htm">51</a>, <a href="../fathers/01286.htm">78</a>), but he does not assert that he found them in the memoirs. It is quite probable that Justin used a concordance, or harmony, in which were united the three <a href="../cathen/14389b.htm">synoptic Gospels</a> (Lippelt, op. cit., 14, 94) and it seems that the text of this concordance resembled in more than one point the so-called Western text of the Gospels (cf. ibid., 97). Justin's dependence on St. John is indisputably established by the facts which he takes from Him (I Apol., lxi, 4, 5; <a href="../fathers/01286.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 69, 88</a>), still more by the very striking similarity in vocabulary and <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a>. It is <a href="../cathen/03539b.htm">certain</a>, however, that Justin does not use the <a href="../bible/joh000.htm">fourth Gospel</a> as abundantly as he does the others (Purves, op. cit., 233); this may be owing to the aforesaid concordance, or harmony, of the <a href="../cathen/14389b.htm">synoptic Gospels</a>. He seems to use the <a href="../cathen/01601a.htm">apocryphal</a> Gospel of Peter (I Apol., xxxv, 6; cf. <a href="../fathers/01287.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 103</a>; Revue Biblique, III, 1894, 531 sqq.; Harnack, "Bruchstücke des Evang. des Petrus", Leipzig, 1893, 37). His dependence on the <a href="../fathers/0847.htm"><em>Protoevangelium of James</em></a> (<a href="../fathers/01286.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 78</a>) <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubtful</a>.</p> <h3>Apologetical method</h3> <p>Justin's attitude towards philosophy, described above, reveals at once the tendency of his polemics; he never exhibits the indignation of a <a href="../cathen/14464b.htm">Tatian</a> or even of a <a href="../cathen/14520c.htm">Tertullian</a>. To the hideous <a href="../cathen/03190c.htm">calumnies</a> spread abroad against the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> he sometimes answers, as do the other apologists, by taking the offensive and attacking <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> morality (I Apol., xxvii; II, xii, 4, 5), but he dislikes to insist on these <a href="../cathen/03190c.htm">calumnies</a>: the interlocutor in the "Dialogue" (ix) he is careful to ignore those who would trouble him with their loud laughter. He has not the eloquence of <a href="../cathen/14520c.htm">Tertullian</a>, and can obtain a hearing only in a small circle of men capable of understanding reason and of being moved by an <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a>. His chief argument, and one calculated to convert this hearers as it had converted him (II Apol., xii), is the great new fact of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> morality. He speaks of men and <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> who have no fear of death (I Apol., ii, xi, xlv; II, ii; <a href="../fathers/01282.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 30</a>), who prefer <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a> to life (I Apol., ii; II, iv) and are yet ready to await the time allotted by <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (II, iv, 1); he makes known their devotion to their children (I, xxvii), their charity even towards their enemies, and their desire to save them (I Apol., lvii; <a href="../fathers/01289.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 133</a>), their patience and their <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayers</a> in <a href="../cathen/11703a.htm">persecution</a> (<a href="../fathers/01282.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 18</a>), their <a href="../cathen/09397a.htm">love</a> of <a href="../cathen/09580c.htm">mankind</a> (<a href="../fathers/01287.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 93</a>, <a href="../fathers/01288.htm">110</a>). When he contrasts the life that they led in <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">paganism</a> with their <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> life (I Apol., xiv), he expresses the same feeling of deliverance and exaltation as did <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a> (<a href="../bible/1co006.htm#vrs11">1 Corinthians 6:11</a>). He is careful, moreover, to emphasize, especially from the Sermon on the Mount, the moral teaching of Christ so as to show in it the real source of these new virtues (I Apol., xv-xviii). Throughout his exposé of the new religion it is <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> chastity and the <a href="../cathen/06147a.htm">courage</a> of the <a href="../cathen/09736b.htm">martyrs</a> that he most insists upon.</p> <p>The rational evidences of <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> Justin finds especially in the prophecies; he gives to this argument more than a third of his "Apology" (xxx-liii) and almost the entire "Dialogue". When he is disputing with the <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagans</a> he is satisfied with drawing attention to the fact that the books of the Prophets were long anterior to Christ, guaranteed as to their authenticity by the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a> themselves, and says that they contain prophecies concerning the life of Christ and the spread of the <a href="../cathen/03744a.htm">Church</a> that can only be explained by a <a href="../cathen/13001a.htm">Divine revelation</a> (I Apol., xxxi). In the "Dialogue", arguing with <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>, he can assume this revelation which they also recognize, and he can invoke the Scriptures as sacred oracles. These evidences of the prophecies are for him absolutely certain. "Listen to the texts which I am about to cite; it is not <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> for me to comment upon them, but only for you to hear them" (<a href="../fathers/01284.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 53</a>; cf. I Apol., xxx, liii). Nevertheless he recognizes that Christ alone could have given the explanation of them (I Apol., xxxii; <a href="../fathers/01286.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 76</a> and <a href="../fathers/01287.htm">105</a>); to understand them the men and <a href="../cathen/15687b.htm">women</a> of his time must have the interior dispositions that make the <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">true</a> <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> (<a href="../fathers/01288.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 112</a>), i.e., <a href="../cathen/06689a.htm">Divine grace</a> is <a href="../cathen/10733a.htm">necessary</a> (<a href="../fathers/01281.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 7</a>, <a href="../fathers/01285.htm">58</a>, <a href="../fathers/01288.htm">112</a> and <a href="../fathers/01288.htm">119</a>). He also appeals to <a href="../cathen/10338a.htm">miracles</a> (<a href="../fathers/01281.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 7</a>, <a href="../fathers/01283.htm">35</a> and <a href="../fathers/01286.htm">69</a>; cf. II Apol., vi), but with less insistence than to the prophecies.</p> <div class="CMtag_300x250" style="display: flex; height: 300px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; "></div> <h2>Theology</h2> <h3>God</h3> <p>Justin's teaching concerning <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> has been very diversely interpreted, some seeing in it nothing but a philosophic speculation (Engelhardt, 127 sq., 237 sqq.), others a truly <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a> (Flemming, "Zur Beurteilung des Christentums Justins des Märtyrers", Leipzig, 1893, 70 sqq.; Stählin, "Justin der Märtyrer und sein neuester Beurtheiler", 34 sqq., Purves, op. cit., 142 sqq.). In reality it is possible to find in it these two tendencies: on one side the influence of <a href="../cathen/12025c.htm">philosophy</a> betrays itself in his concept of the Divine transcendency, thus <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> is immovable (I Apol., ix; x, 1; lxiii, 1; etc.); He is above the <a href="../cathen/07170a.htm">heaven</a>, can neither be seen nor enclosed within space (<a href="../fathers/01285.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 56</a>, <a href="../fathers/01285.htm">60</a> and <a href="../fathers/01289.htm">127</a>); He is called Father, in a philosophic and <a href="../cathen/12159a.htm">Platonistic</a> sense, inasmuch as He is the Creator of the world (I Apol., xlv, 1; lxi, 3; lxv, 3; II Apol., vi, 1, etc.). On the other hand we see the <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God of the Bible</a> in his all-powerful (<a href="../fathers/01286.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 84</a>; I Apol., xix, 6), and merciful <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (<a href="../fathers/01286.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 84</a>; I Apol., xix, 6); if He <a href="../cathen/11279a.htm">ordained</a> the <a href="../cathen/13287b.htm">Sabbath</a> it was not that He had need of the homage of the <a href="../cathen/08399a.htm">Jews</a>, but that He desired to attach them to Himself (<a href="../fathers/01282.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 22</a>); through His mercy He preserved among them a seed of <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a> (lv); through His <a href="../cathen/12510a.htm">Divine Providence</a> He has rendered the nations worthy of their inheritance (cxviiicxxx); He delays the end of the world on account of the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> (xxxix; I Apol., xxviii, xlv). And the great <a href="../cathen/05215a.htm">duty</a> of man is to <a href="../cathen/09397a.htm">love</a> Him (<a href="../fathers/01287.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 93</a>).</p> <h3>The Logos</h3> <p>The Word is numerically distinct from the Father (<a href="../fathers/01289.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 128-129</a>; cf. <a href="../fathers/01285.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 56, 62</a>). He was born of the very substance of the Father, not that this substance was divided, but He proceeds from it as one fire does from another at which it is lit (cxxviii, lxi); this form of production (procession) is compared also with that of human speech (lxi). The Word (<em>Logos</em>) is therefore the Son: much more, He alone may properly be called Son (II Apol., vi, 3); He is the <em>monogenes</em>, the <em>unigenitus</em> (<a href="../fathers/01287.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 105</a>). Elsewhere, however, Justin, like <a href="../cathen/11567b.htm">St. Paul</a>, calls Him the eldest Son, <em>prototokos</em> (I Apol., xxxiii; xlvi; lxiii; <a href="../fathers/01286.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 84</a>, <a href="../fathers/01286.htm">85</a> and <a href="../fathers/01289.htm">125</a>). The Word is <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> (I Apol., lxiii; <a href="../fathers/01283.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 34</a>, <a href="../fathers/01283.htm">36</a>, <a href="../fathers/01283.htm">37</a>, <a href="../fathers/01285.htm">56</a>, <a href="../fathers/01285.htm">63</a>, <a href="../fathers/01286.htm">76</a>, <a href="../fathers/01286.htm">86</a>, <a href="../fathers/01286.htm">87</a>, <a href="../fathers/01288.htm">113</a>, <a href="../fathers/01288.htm">115</a>, <a href="../fathers/01289.htm">125</a>, <a href="../fathers/01289.htm">126</a> and <a href="../fathers/01289.htm">128</a>). His Divinity, however, seems subordinate, as does the worship which is rendered to Him (I Apol., vi; cf. lxi, 13; Teder, "Justins des Märtyrers Lehre von Jesus Christus", Freiburg im Br., 1906, 103-19). The Father engendered Him by a free and <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> act (<a href="../fathers/01285.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 61</a>, <a href="../fathers/01287.htm">100</a>, <a href="../fathers/01289.htm">127</a> and <a href="../fathers/01289.htm">128</a>; cf. Teder, op. cit., 104), at the beginning of all His works (<a href="../fathers/01285.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 61-62</a>, II Apol., vi, 3); in this last text certain authors thought they distinguished in the Word two states of being, one intimate, the other outspoken, but this distinction, though found in some other apologists, is in Justin very <a href="../cathen/05141a.htm">doubtful</a>. Through the Word <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> has made everything (II Apol., vi; <a href="../fathers/01288.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 114</a>). The Word is diffused through all humanity (I Apol., vi; II, viii; xiii); it was He who appeared to the <a href="../cathen/11549a.htm">patriarchs</a> (I Apol., lxii; lxiii; <a href="../fathers/01285.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 56</a>, <a href="../fathers/01285.htm">59</a>, <a href="../fathers/01285.htm">60</a> etc.). Two influences are plainly discernible in the aforesaid body of <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a>. It is, of course, to <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christian</a> revelation that Justin owes his concept of the distinct <a href="../cathen/11727b.htm">personality</a> of the Word, His Divinity and Incarnation; but philosophic speculation is responsible for his unfortunate concepts of the temporal and <a href="../cathen/15506a.htm">voluntary</a> generation of the Word, and for the subordinationism of Justin's <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theology</a>. It must be recognized, moreover, that the latter <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">ideas</a> stand out more boldly in the "Apology" than in the "Dialogue."</p> <p>The Holy Ghost occupies the third place in the Trinity (I Apol., vi). He inspired the <a href="../cathen/12477a.htm">prophets</a> (I Apol., vi;xxxi; <a href="../fathers/01281.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 7</a>). He gave seven gifts to <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Christ</a> and descended upon Him (<a href="../fathers/01286.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 87-88</a>). For the real distinction between the Son and the Spirit see Teder, op. cit., 119-23. Justin insists constantly on the virgin birth (I Apol., xxii; xxxiii; <a href="../fathers/01283.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 43</a>, <a href="../fathers/01286.htm">76</a>, <a href="../fathers/01286.htm">84</a>, etc.) and the reality of the flesh of Christ (<a href="../fathers/01284.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 48</a>, <a href="../fathers/01287.htm">98</a> and <a href="../fathers/01287.htm">103</a>; cf. II Apol., x, 1). He states that among the <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christians</a> there are some who do not admit the Divinity of Christ but they are a minority; he differs from them because of the authority of the Prophets (<a href="../fathers/01287.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 96</a>); the entire dialogue, moreover, is devoted to proving this thesis. Christ is the Master whose <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> enlightens us (I Apol., xiii, 3; xxiii, 2; xxxii, 2; II, viii, 5; xiii, 2; <a href="../fathers/01281.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 8</a>, <a href="../fathers/01286.htm">77</a>, <a href="../fathers/01286.htm">83</a>, <a href="../fathers/01287.htm">100</a> and <a href="../fathers/01288.htm">113</a>), also the Redeemer whose blood saves us (I Apol., lxiii, 10, 16; <a href="../fathers/01282.htm"><em>Dialogue with Trypho</em> 13</a>, <a href="../fathers/01283.htm">40</a>, <a href="../fathers/01283.htm">41</a>, <a href="../fathers/01287.htm">95</a> and <a href="../fathers/01287.htm">106</a>; cf. Rivière, "Hist. du dogme de la rédemption", Paris, 1905, 115, and tr., London, 1908). The rest of Justin's <a href="../cathen/14580a.htm">theology</a> is less personal, therefore less interesting. As to the Eucharist, the <a href="../cathen/02258b.htm">baptismal</a> Mass and the Sunday Mass are described in the first "Apology" (lxv-lxvii), with a richness of detail unique for that age. Justin here explains the <a href="../cathen/05089a.htm">dogma</a> of the <a href="../cathen/05573a.htm">Real Presence</a> with a wonderful clearness (lxvi, 2): "In the same way that through the power of the Word of <a href="../cathen/06608a.htm">God</a> <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus Christ</a> our Saviour took flesh and blood for our <a href="../cathen/13407a.htm">salvation</a>, so the nourishment <a href="../cathen/04276a.htm">consecrated</a> by the <a href="../cathen/12345b.htm">prayer</a> formed of the words of Christ . . . is the flesh and blood of this incarnate <a href="../cathen/08374c.htm">Jesus</a>." The "Dialogue" (cxvii; cf. xli) completes this <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> by the <a href="../cathen/07630a.htm">idea</a> of a <a href="../cathen/10006a.htm">Eucharistic sacrifice</a> as a memorial of the Passion.</p> <p>The role of St. Justin may be summed up in one word: it is that of a witness. We behold in him one of the highest and purest <a href="../cathen/11388a.htm">pagan</a> <a href="../cathen/14153a.htm">souls</a> of his time in contact with <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a>, compelled to accept its irrefragable <a href="../cathen/15073a.htm">truth</a>, its pure moral teaching, and to admire its superhuman constancy. He is also a witness of the second-century Church which he describes for us in its <a href="../cathen/05752c.htm">faith</a>, its life, its worship, at a time when <a href="../cathen/03712a.htm">Christianity</a> yet lacked the firm organization that it was soon to develop (see <a href="../cathen/08130b.htm">ST. IRENÆUS</a>), but the larger outlines of whose constitution and <a href="../cathen/05075b.htm">doctrine</a> are already luminously drawn by Justin. Finally, Justin was a witness for Christ unto death.</p> <div class='catholicadnet-728x90' id='cathen-728x90-bottom' style='display: flex; height: 100px; align-items: center; justify-content: center; '></div> <div class="cenotes"><h2>Sources</h2><p class="cenotes">PRINCIPAL EDITIONS:-MARAN, S. Patris Nostri Justini philosophi et martyris opera quæ exstant omnia (Paris, 1742), and in P.G., VI; OTTO, Corpus apologetarum christianorum sæculi secundi, I-V (3rd ed., Jena, 1875-81); Krüger, Die Apologien Justins des Märtyrers (3rd ed., ed., Tübingen, 1904); PAUTIGNY, Justin, Apologies (Paris, 1904); ARCHAMBAULT, Justin, Dialogue avec Tryphon, I (Paris, 1909).</p><p class="cenotes">PRINCIPAL STUDIES:-VON ENGELHARDT, Das Christenthum Justins des Märtyrers. Eine Untersuchung über die Anfänge der katholischen Glaubenslehre (Erlangen, 1878); PURVES, The Testimony of Justin Martyr to Early Christianity (lectures delivered on the L.P. Stone Foundation at Princeton Theological Seminary) (London, 1888); TEDER, Justins des Märtyrers Lehre von Jesus Christus, dem Messias und dem menschgewordenen Sohne Gottes (Freiburg im Br., 1906). Works on special points and works of less importance have been mentioned in the course of the article. A more complete bibliography may be found in BARDENHEWER, Gesch. der altkirchl. Litteratur, I (Freiburg im Br., 1902), 240-42.</p></div> <div class="pub"><h2>About this page</h2><p id="apa"><strong>APA citation.</strong> <span id="apaauthor">Lebreton, J.</span> <span id="apayear">(1910).</span> <span id="apaarticle">St. Justin Martyr.</span> In <span id="apawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="apapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company.</span> <span id="apaurl">http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08580c.htm</span></p><p id="mla"><strong>MLA citation.</strong> <span id="mlaauthor">Lebreton, Jules.</span> <span id="mlaarticle">"St. Justin Martyr."</span> <span id="mlawork">The Catholic Encyclopedia.</span> <span id="mlavolume">Vol. 8.</span> <span id="mlapublisher">New York: Robert Appleton Company,</span> <span id="mlayear">1910.</span> <span id="mlaurl"><http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08580c.htm>.</span></p><p id="transcription"><strong>Transcription.</strong> <span id="transcriber">This article was transcribed for New Advent by Stephen William Shackelford.</span> <span id="dedication">Dedicated to my son, Justin William Shackelford.</span></p><p id="approbation"><strong>Ecclesiastical approbation.</strong> <span id="nihil"><em>Nihil Obstat.</em> October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor.</span> <span id="imprimatur"><em>Imprimatur.</em> +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.</span></p><p id="contactus"><strong>Contact information.</strong> The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is webmaster <em>at</em> newadvent.org. Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.</p></div> </div> <div id="ogdenville"><table summary="Bottom bar" width="100%" cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td class="bar_white_on_color"><center><strong>Copyright © 2023 by <a href="../utility/contactus.htm">New Advent LLC</a>. 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