Justin Martyr (Greek: Ἰουστῖνος ὁ Μάρτυς, romanized: Ioustînos ho Mártys; c. 90–100 AD – 165 AD), also known as Justin the Philosopher, was an early Christian apologist and philosopher. The First Apology, his most well-known text, passionately defends the morality of the Christian life and provides various arguments to convince the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius to abandon persecution of the Church. Justin also indicates that historical manifestations of the Logos predated Christ's incarnation, and that many historical Greek philosophers (including Socrates and Plato) were unknowing Christians.
Justin was martyred, along with some of his students, during the reign of Marcus Aurelius around the year 165, and is venerated as a saint by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, Lutheran Churches, and in Anglicanism.
Justin was born c. AD 90–100, into a Greek family, at Flavia Neapolis (today Nablus) near the ancient biblical city of Shechem, in Samaria. He knew little or no Hebrew and Aramaic, and had only a passing acquaintance with Judaism. He was uncircumcised, and defined himself as a Gentile. His grandfather, Bacchius, had a Greek name, while his father, Priscus, bore a Latin name, which has led to speculations that his ancestors may have settled in Neapolis soon after its establishment or that they were descended from a Roman "diplomatic" community that had been sent there.
In the opening of the Dialogue, Justin describes his early education, stating that his initial studies left him unsatisfied due to their failure to provide a belief system that would afford theological and metaphysical inspiration to their young pupil. He says he tried first the school of a Stoic philosopher, who was unable to explain God's being to him. He then attended a Peripatetic philosopher but was put off because the philosopher was too eager for his fee. Then he went to hear a Pythagorean philosopher who demanded that he first learn music, astronomy, and geometry, which he did not wish to do. Subsequently, he adopted Platonism after encountering a Platonist thinker who had recently settled in his city.
Some time afterwards, he chanced upon an old man, possibly a Syrian Christian, in the vicinity of the seashore, who engaged him in a dialogue about God and spoke of the testimony of the prophets as being more reliable than the reasoning of philosophers.
There existed, long before this time, certain men more ancient than all those who are esteemed philosophers, both righteous and beloved by God, who spoke by the Divine Spirit, and foretold events which would take place, and which are now taking place. They are called prophets. These alone both saw and announced the truth to men, neither reverencing nor fearing any man, not influenced by a desire for glory, but speaking those things alone which they saw and which they heard, being filled with the Holy Spirit. Their writings are still extant, and he who has read them is very much helped in his knowledge of the beginning and end of things, and of those matters which the philosopher ought to know, provided he has believed them... But pray that, above all things, the gates of light may be opened to you; for these things cannot be perceived or understood by all, but only by the man to whom God and His Christ have imparted wisdom.
Moved by the aged man's argument, Justin renounced both his former religious faith and his philosophical background, choosing instead to rededicate his life to the service of the Divine. His newfound convictions were bolstered by the ascetic lives of the early Christians and the heroic example of the martyrs, whose piety convinced him of the moral and spiritual superiority of Christian doctrine. As a result, he thenceforth decided that the only option for him was to travel throughout the land, spreading the knowledge of Christianity as the "true philosophy." His conversion is commonly assumed to have taken place at Ephesus though it may have occurred anywhere on the road from Syria Palestina to Rome.
He then adopted the dress of a philosopher himself and traveled about teaching. During the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161), he arrived in Rome and started his own school. Tatian was one of his pupils. In the reign of Marcus Aurelius, after disputing with the cynic philosopher Crescens, he was denounced by the latter to the authorities, according to Tatian (Address to the Greeks 19) and Eusebius (HE IV 16.7–8). Justin was tried, together with six friends (two of them, Euelpistus and Hierax, slaves educated by him), by the urban prefect Junius Rusticus, and was beheaded. Though the precise year of his death is uncertain, it can reasonably be dated by the prefectural term of Rusticus (who governed from 162 to 168). The Christian "Martyrdom of Justin" reports a record of the trial.
The Prefect Rusticus says: Approach and sacrifice, all of you, to the gods.Justin says: No one in his right mind gives up piety 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 Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and so to be saved, for that will give us salvation and firm confidence at the more terrible universal tribunal of Our Lord and Saviour.And all the martyrs said: Do as you wish; for we are Christians, 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 laws.The holy martyrs glorifying God betook themselves to the customary place, where they were beheaded and consummated their martyrdom confessing their Saviour.
The earliest mention of Justin is found in the Oratio ad Graecos by his student Tatian who, after calling him "the most admirable Justin", quotes a saying of his and says that the Cynic Crescens laid snares for him. Irenaeus speaks of Justin's martyrdom and of Tatian as his disciple. Irenaeus quotes Justin twice and shows his influence in other places. Tertullian, in his Adversus Valentinianos, calls Justin a philosopher and a martyr and the earliest antagonist of heretics. Hippolytus and Methodius of Olympus also mention or quote him. Eusebius of Caesarea deals with him at some length, and names the following works:
The First Apology, addressed to Antoninus Pius, his sons, and the Roman Senate;
A Second Apology of Justin Martyr, addressed to the Roman Senate;
The Discourse to the Greeks (thought now not to have been written by Justin), a discussion with Greek philosophers on the character of their gods;
An Hortatory Address to the Greeks (known now not to have been written by Justin);
A treatise On the Sovereignty of God, in which he makes use of pagan authorities as well as Christian;
A treatise in scholastic form On the Soul; and
Eusebius implies that other works were in circulation; from St Irenaeus he knows of the apology "Against Marcion," and from Justin's "Apology" of a "Refutation of all Heresies". St Epiphanius and St Jerome mention Justin.
Rufinus borrows from his Latin original of Hadrian's letter.