Saint Justin Martyr

c. 100–165 · 2nd c. · 9 works

Justin Martyr was a second-century Christian philosopher and apologist, the most important of the Greek Apologists, whose writings mark one of the first sustained encounters between Christian revelation and Greek philosophy. Known as Justin the Philosopher and Martyr, he defended the faith before pagan and Jewish audiences alike, arguing that Christianity was the true philosophy toward which earlier thinkers had only partially groped.

Born at Flavia Neapolis (modern Nablus) in Samaria to pagan parents, he searched through the schools of Greek philosophy — Stoic, Peripatetic, Pythagorean, and Platonist — before converting to Christianity, finding in Scripture the truth the schools had failed to give. Settling for a time at Rome, he opened a school of Christian philosophy and continued to wear the philosopher's cloak.

His principal surviving works are the First and Second Apology, addressed to the Roman authorities in defense of unjustly persecuted Christians, and the Dialogue with Trypho, a debate with a learned Jew over Christ as the fulfillment of the prophets. His accounts of the rites make him an important early witness to baptism and the Eucharist.

Denounced after disputing with the Cynic Crescens, Justin was condemned and put to death at Rome about 165, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, suffering with several companions. He is venerated as a saint, and the Orthodox Church commemorates him on 1 June.

Sources: Orthodox Church in America — Martyr Justin the Philosopher · Encyclopædia Britannica — St. Justin Martyr