Table Of ContentTHE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION
VOLUME 6
THE FATHERS
OF THE CHURCH
A NEW TRANSLATION
EDITORIAL BOARD
lliRMIGILD DRESSLER, O.F.M.
Quincy College
Editorial Director
ROBERT P. RUSSELL, O.S.A. THOMAS P. HALTON
Villanova University The Catholic University of America
WILLIAM R. TONGUE SISTER M. JOSEPHINE BRENNAN, I.H.M.
The Catholic University of America Marywood College
FORMER EDITORIAL DIRECTORS
LUDWIG SCHOPP, ROY J. DEFERRARI, BERNARD M. PEEBLES
WRITINGS
OF
SAINT JUSTIN MARTYR
SAINT JUSTIN MARTYR
THE FIRST APOLOGY
THE SECOND APOLOGY
DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO
EXHORTATION TO THE GREEKS
DISCOURSE TO THE GREEKS
THE MONARCHY
or
THE RULE OF GOD
by
THOMAS B. FALLS, D.D., Ph.D.
St. Charles Seminary
Overbrook, Pennsylvania
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS
Washington, D.C.
NIHIL OBSTAT:
JOSEPH A. M. QUIGLEY
Censor Librorum
IMPRIMATUR:
+
D. CARDINAL DOUGHERTY
Archiepiscopus Philadelphiensis
October 5, 1948
The nihil obstat and imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet
is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those
who have granted the nihil obstat and imprimatur agree with the content,
opinions, or statements expressed.
Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 65-183 I 7
ISBN 8132-0006-7
ISBN: 978-0-8 132-1552-5 (pbk)
Copyright © 1948 by
THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA PRESS, INC.
All rights reserved
Second Printing 1965
Third Printing 1977
First paperback reprint 2008
CONTENTS
FOREWORD 9
THE FIRST APOLOGY
In trod uction · 23
Text. · 33
THE SECOND APOLOGY
Introduction · 115
Text. · 119
DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO
Introduction · 139
Text. · 147
EXHORTATION TO THE GREEKS
Introduction · 369
Text. · 373
DISCOURSE TO THE GREEKS
Introduction .427
Text. · 431
THE MONARCHY or THE RULE OF GOD
Introduction .439
Text. .443
INDEX . .457
FOREWORD
g]T JUSTIN MARTYR is known as the outstanding apo
logist1 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 Chris
tian fold, St. Justin is considered to be the first prominent
defender of the Christian faith against non-Christians a and
the enemies4 of the Church.
The chief sources for the uncertain and meager chronolo
gical 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 the first eight
chapters of the Dialogue, and the events surrounding his
death are reported in the Acta SSt Justini et SocioTum, an
authentic source of the latter part of the second century.
Historians place his birth in the beginning of the second
century (ca. 100-110 A.D.) at Flavia Neapolis5 (today Na
bIus) in Samaria. Although St. Epiphanius6 calls him a
1 For Christian Apologists, cf. R. Arbesmann in Foreword to Vol. 1
of The Writings of Tertullian in this series.
2 The A postolic Fathers is a collective name, in use since the seventeenth
century, for a group of Christian writers who either were or were
believed to be discip,les of the Apostles. Cf. K. Bihlmeyer, Die apo
stolischm Viiter (Tubingen 1924) VIIf. A translation of The Aposto
lic Fathers by F. X. Glimm, J.-F. Marique and G.G. Walsh is found
in the first volume of this series.
!J Cf. his Dialogue with Trypho pp. 147-~ below.
4 Cf. his two Apologies pp. 33-135 below.
5 Cf. 1 Apol. l. It was called Flavia in honor of Flavius Vespasian
who had built this city on the ruins of Sichem, formerly the capital
of Samaria.
6 Cf. Haereses 46.
9
10 FOREWORD
Samaritan, and he himself refers to his people as Samarians,1
Justin was not a Jew either by race or religion.8 His family
was rather of pagan and Greco-Roman9 ancestry. They had
come as colonists to Flavia Neapolis during the reign of
Titus (79-81 A.D.), the son of Flavius Vespasian (69-79),
who had built this city and had granted its inhabitants the
privileges of Roman citizens.
Obviously, the parents of Justin had considerable means
and could afford to give their son an excellent education in
the pagan culture of the day . Young Justin had a keen mind,
was inquisitive by nature and endowed with a burning thirst
for learning. He tried to broaden his knowledge further by
extensive travels. Driven by an inner urge and a profound
inclination for philosophy,IO he subsequently frequented the
schools of the Stoics, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans, and
II
the Platonists. He set out to reach the truth; to gain a perfect
knowledge of God was his greatest and only ambition. Dis
satisfied with the Stoics and Peripatetics, he tells us of finding
temporary peace in the philosophy of the Platonists: 'the
perception of incorporeal things quite overwhelmed me and
7 Cf. Dial. with Tr. 120.
8 According to Dial. with Tr. 29. he was not circumcised.
9 F. Cayre. Patrologie et Histoire de Theologie (3rd ed. Paris 1938)
110. states that Justin 'probably' was of Roman origin only; B.
Altaner. Patrologia (Rom a 1940) 69. that he was a Greek. The Latin
name of his father and the Greek name of his grandfather suggest
a mixed ancestry. Cf. Smith and Wace, Diet. of Christ. Biog.
10 Cf. Dial. with Tr. 2f.: 'Philosophy is indeed one's greatest possession.
It is most precious in the sight of God. to whom it, alone, leads us
and to whom it unites us. They are really holy men who have devoted
themselves to philosophy: For Justin, philosophy comprises both the
search for the truth and Truth itself which is God; since 'God is
the Being having the same nature in the same manner and is the
cause of existence of all else, . . . therefore it is philosophy that
alone produces happiness:
11 The extensive acquaintance with music. astronomy, and geometry,
required as a preliminary step, as well as personal reasons, made him
quit this school after a very short time.
FOREWORD 11
the Platonic theory of ideas added wings to my mind, so that
in a short time I imagined myself a wise man. So great was my
folly that I fully expected immediately to gaze upon God.'12
One day, being in such frame of. mind and desiring ab
solute solitude for contemplation, he took a walk to an iso
lated spot near the seashore. Here, he was accosted by a
'respectable old man of meek and venerable mien' who had
noticed his occupied and pensive 100k.13 When Justin told
him that he was trying to form a perfect idea of God and
praised the excellency of the philosophy of the Platonists,
the stranger answered: 'a long time ago, long before the
time of those reputed philosophers, there lived blessed men,
just and loved by God, men who spoke through the inspira
tion of the Holy Spirit and predicted events that would come
to pass in the future, which events are now taking place. We
call those men Prophets. Their writings are still extant, and
whoever reads them with proper faith will profit greatly and
his knowledge of the origin and the end of things, and of any
other matter that a philosopher should know. Thus, above
all, you should beseech God to open to you the gates of light,
for no one can perceive or understand these truths unless
he has been enlightened by God and His Christ.'
After the venerable man had left, 'my spirit was immedi
ately set on fire, and an affection for the Prophets and for
those who are friends of Christ took hold of me; while ponder
ing on his words, I discovered that his was the only sure and
useful philosophy.'14
Justin relates another, practical reason for becoming a
Christian. For quite some time he had observed and admired
the steadfastness and heroism of the Christians in the face of
12 Dial. with Tr. 2.
13 Dial with Tr. 3.
14 Dial. with Tr. 7£.
