Posted on 06/01/2002 6:24:28 PM PDT by Lady In Blue
ST. JUSTIN MARTYR (100/110 AD - C. 165 AD)
Historical Note
St. Justin Martyr was the first of the outstanding apologists of the Church and the greatest of the second century. He was born of pagan parents in Flavia Neapolis (Palestine) some time after 100 AD. St. Justin embraced Christianity around the year 130 after being a Stoic, Peripatetic, Pythagorean and Platonist.
We know of St. Justins life mostly through his own writings. He was a prolific writer and itinerant Christian philosopher defending the teaching of Christ as the highest and most perfect philosophy. He was the first to study the relation between faith and reason and introduced Greek philosophical terminology into his expositions.
He was admired for his earnest convictions, noble character and perfect loyalty in his dealings. He was an apostle and saint in the true sense of the words. After spending time teaching in Ephesus St. Justin moved to Rome and there set up a successful Christian school, having Tatian the Syrian as one of his students.
Of all his writings only three have survived substantially intact, namely his two Apologies and the Dialogue with Trypho the Jew. St. Justin wrote his apologies to the Emperor Antoninus Pius, his sons and to the Roman Senate explaining and defending Christian faith and practice. In his works we find the first open written account of the Christian mysteries, particularly baptism and the Eucharist, hitherto kept under wraps by the "discipline of the secret."
St. Justin wrote convincingly to dispel the widely spread calumnies that Christians were atheists, cannibals and sexually immoral. The Christians were not only moral but also loyal to all legitimate authority and therefore deserving of tolerance: "And if these things seem to you to be reasonable and true, honor them; but if they seem nonsensical, despise them as nonsense, and do not decree death against those who have done no wrong, as you would enemies" (First Apology 68). Christians were persecuted only out of ignorance and misapprehension, stirred on by the Demons. Unfortunately St. Justins hope of getting the Emperor to repeal the anti-Christian laws had no effect.
The Dialogue with Trypho the Jew is the oldest known apologetical work against Judaism. Trypho was probably a historical person, a learned Rabbi of some note who openly debated with St. Justin at Ephesus between 132-135 AD. The Dialogue was written around 155 AD as a record of the disputation which lasted two days.
There exist also four fragments of another treatise entitled On the Resurrection. Various patristic writers ascribe this work to St. Justin, including St. John Damascene. Whether or not it is an authentic work of St. Justin it is undoubtedly ancient, being alluded to by Methodius of Olympus at the end of the third century.
According to the authentic Martyrdom of Sts. Justin and Sociorum St. Justin and six companions were denounced to the authorities as Christians in the year 165, perhaps by the cynic Crescens. After being tried and condemned by the Prefect Junius Rusticus all seven were scourged and beheaded by sword. Eusebius referred to St. Justin as "an ornament of our Faith soon after the Apostles time" (Ecclesiastical History 2, 13). Extracts First Apology (Inter 148-155 AD): 13
"Our teacher of these things, born for this end, is Jesus Christ, who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, the procurator in Judea in the time of Tiberius Caesar. We will prove that we worship Him reasonably; for we have learned that He is the Son of the True God Himself, that He holds a second place, and the spirit of Prophecy a third. For this they accuse us of madness, saying that we attribute to a crucified man a place second to the unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of all things; but they are ignorant of the mystery which lies therein."
15
"According to our Teacher, just as they are sinners who contract a second marriage, even though it be in accord with human law, so also are they sinners who look with lustful desire at a woman. He repudiates not only one who actually commits adultery, but even one who wishes to do so; for not only our actions are manifest to God, but even our thoughts."
61
"As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are led by us to a place where there is water; and there they are reborn in the same kind of rebirth in which we ourselves were reborn: in the name of God, the Lord and Father of all and of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they receive the washing with water. For Christ said, unless you be reborn, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven... The reason for doing this, we have learned from the Apostles in order that we may not remain the children of necessity and may obtain in the water the remission of sins formerly committed."
66
"And this food is called among us the Eucharist, of which no one is allowed to partake but the man who has been washed in the washing bath that is for the remission of sins, and unto regeneration, and who is so living as Christ has enjoined. For not as common bread nor common drink do we receive these; but since Jesus Christ our Savior was made incarnate by the word of God and had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so too, as we have been taught, the food which has been made into the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by Him, and by the change of which our blood and flesh is nourished is both the flesh and the blood of that incarnated Jesus...The Apostles, in the Memoirs which they produced, which are called Gospels, have thus passed on that which was enjoined upon them: that Jesus took bread and, having given thanks, said, Do this in remembrance of Me; this is My Body. And in like manner, taking the cup, and having given thanks, He said, This is My Blood. And He imparted this to them only." 67
"And on the day called Sunday, all who live in the cities or in the country gather together to one place and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended bread and wine are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying, Amen; and there is a distribution to each and a participation of that over which thanks have been given and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons." Dialogue with Trypho the Jew (C. 155 AD): 10
"Is there any other matter, my friends, in which we are blamed?
Are our lives and customs also slandered by you? And I ask this: have you also believed concerning us, that we eat men, and that after the feast, having extinguished the lights, we engage in promiscuous concubinage?" 23
"If circumcision was not necessary before Abraham, nor before Moses the Sabbath observance and festivals and sacrifices, then, similarly they are not necessary now, when in accordance with the will of God, Jesus Christ the Son of God has been born without sin, of a Virgin of the offspring of Abraham." 41
"Hence God speaks by the mouth of Malachi, one of the twelve prophets, as I said before, about the sacrifices at that time presented by you: I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord, and I will not accept your sacrifices at your hands; for, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same, My Name has been glorified among the Gentiles, and in every place incense is offered to My name, and a pure offering: for My Name is great among the Gentiles says the Lord, but you profane it. He then speaks to those Gentiles, namely us, who in every place offer sacrifices to Him, i.e., the bread of the Eucharist, and also the cup of the Eucharist, affirming both that we glorify His Name and you profane it." 100
"He became Man by the Virgin so that the course which was taken by disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpent, might be also the very course by which it would be put down. For Eve, a virgin and undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent, and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, for which reason the Holy One being born of her is the Son of God. And she replied: Be it done unto me according to thy word." The Resurrection
8
"Indeed, God calls even the body to resurrection, and promises it everlasting life. When He promises to save the man, He thereby makes His promise to the flesh: for what is man but a rational living being composed of soul and body?"
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BTTT on 06-01-04!
St. Justin, martyr BTTT on June 1, 2005
Another person who lived and died for his faith.
June 1, 2005
St. Justin
(d. 165)
Justin never ended his quest for religious truth even when he converted to Christianity after years of studying various pagan philosophies. As a young man, he was principally attracted to the school of Plato. However, he found that the Christian religion answered the great questions about life and existence better than the philosophers. Upon his conversion he continued to wear the philosopher's mantle, and became the first Christian philosopher. He combined the Christian religion with the best elements in Greek philosophy. In his view, philosophy was a pedagogue of Christ, an educator that was to lead one to Christ. Justin is known as an apologist, one who defends in writing the Christian religion against the attacks and misunderstandings of the pagans. Two of his so-called apologies have come down to us; they are addressed to the Roman emperor and to the Senate. For his staunch adherence to the Christian religion, Justin was beheaded in Rome in 165. Quote:
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BTTT on the Memorial of St. Justin, martyr, June 1, 2006!
BTTT on the Memorial of St. Justin Martyr, June 1, 2007!
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