St Justin Martyr is known as the outstanding apologist¹ of the second century. While the Apostolic Fathers² like St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. Polycarp had addressed their letters and admonitions to communities and members within the Christian fold, St. Justin is considered to be the first prominent defender of the Christian faith against non-Christians³ and the enemies⁴ of the Church.

The chief sources for the uncertain and meager chronological data of Justin’s life are his own writings, the two Apologies and the Dialogue with Trypho. The circumstances leading up to his conversion are recorded in...

Justin’s First Apology is one of the earliest extant in the annals of Christianity. Right from the start the reader cannot but admire its author’s courage, his firmness of purpose, his love for truth, righteousness, and wisdom.

The petition is addressed to the Emperor, the Emperor’s sons, the sacred Senate and the whole Roman people. The petitioner is ‘Justin, the son of Priscus and grandson of Bacchius of the city of Flavia Neapolis in Syria-Palestine.’¹ He is just ‘one of those men of every race² who are unjustly hated and mistreated.’

He fearlessly states that his discourse contains neither words...

Eusebius in his Ecclesiastical History¹ states that Justin’s Second Apology was addressed to Marcus Aurelius when he was sole emperor (169-180). But modern critics assign both apologies to the latter part of the reign of Antoninus Pius (i.e., 147-161), and some conjecture that its addressees are the same as those of the First Apology.²

The Second Apology came down to us in two manuscripts,³ in which it precedes the First Apology. In the original Greek edition⁴ as well as in the first Latin translation⁵ this sequence is preserved. However, it was pointed out above⁶ that the second followed the first,...

Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho has come down to us through the Codex Paris. gr. 450 (of the year 1364), not, however, without some lacunae: one in the introduction, the other in Chapter 74. The missing part of the introduction would have probably told us of the dedication of this work to Marcus Pompeius, who is addressed in Chapter 141, and alluded to in Chapter 8.

The Dialogue reports a discussion that took place at Ephesus between Justin and the Jew Trypho, shortly after the end of the war (ca. 135) instigated by Bar Kocheba, the Jewish rebel, against the Roman...

The text of the Exhortation to the Greeks is preserved in four Greek manuscripts, the earliest of which is the Arethas-Codex (cod. Paris. 451) of the year 914. These manuscripts as well as the original Greek edition and the first Latin translation list it among the genuine works of Justin.¹ However, not only because of its literary style, but also by reason of its doctrinal content (for example, its criticism of pagan philosophers), this work does not appear to have issued from the pen of St. Justin Martyr. However, since it was ascribed to him by Stephen Gobarus as far...

The Discourse To The Greeks has come down to us in two manuscripts, the first of which, the Greek Codex Argentoratensis (gr. 9, of the thirteenth or fourteenth century), was completely destroyed by fire at Strassburg on August, 24, 1870.¹ The other manuscript, of the seventh century (Cod. Syr. Add. 14658, now preserved in the British Museum), contains a Syriac version of the Discourse under the name of Ambrosius.²

In this short apology of five chapters, the author explains the motives which prompted him to embrace Christianity—motives which were based upon his abhorrence of the immoralities connected with Greek...

The greek text of the De Monarchza is preserved in the Codex Paris. gr. 450, of the year 1364, and in the Codex Claromont. 82, of 1541. It had also been in the Strassburg manuscript (Cod. gr. 9, of the thirteenth century) which was destroyed in the fire of 1870.

The purpose of this short treatise was to prove monotheism from the writings of Greek literature. Consequently, the author quoted the tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides; the comic writers, Philemon, Orpheus, and Menander; and the philosophers, Plato and Pythagoras.

The manuscripts list this treatise with the writings of St. Justin,...