Of Saint Justin, Philosopher and Martyr, with Trypho

 And he, with a courteous smile: 'But how,' he said, 'do you think about these things, and what opinion do you have concerning God, and what is your ph

 I was spending my time especially with a man prominent among the Platonists, and I was making progress and was advancing as much as possible each day.

 the cause of all other things, this indeed is God. Thus I answered him and he was delighted to hear me, and so he asked me again. Is not knowledge a

 God? No, I said for not even the majority of men, unless one has lived justly, having purified himself with righteousness and all other virtue. There

 Or do you say that the world is unbegotten? There are those who say so, but I do not agree with them. You are right to do so. For what reason does it

 being, it lives, but by partaking of life and that which partakes of something is different from that of which it partakes. And the soul partakes of

 and becomes a most pleasant cessation for those who practice them. If, therefore, you have any care for yourself, and if you seek salvation, and if yo

 of the present war, they were conversing. And when they had rested, I thus began again to them: Is there anything else for which you blame us, my frie

 but having been established according to law stopped the one before it, and a covenant having been made afterwards likewise stopped the former. And Ch

 was commanded and if you eat unleavened bread, you say you have fulfilled the will of God. The Lord our God is not pleased with these things. If anyo

 of my people has come to death. And I will give the wicked for his burial, and the rich for his death, because he committed no iniquity, nor was decei

 of you, and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the holy and faithful things of David. Behold, I have given him as a witness to the nations,

 I have not chosen this fast, nor a day for a man to humble his soul. Not even if you bend your neck like a ring and spread sackcloth and ashes under y

 as far as it is in your power, you dishonor, cursing in your synagogues those who believe in Christ. For you do not have the power to lay hands on us

 but within are full of dead men's bones. and to the scribes: Woe to you, scribes, because you have the keys, and you yourselves do not enter and you h

 was not a people and the nation was not a nation, as Hosea, one of the twelve prophets, says. For all the aforementioned righteous men, though they di

 His words can make the proof for you. And they are spoken through Ezekiel thus: I am the Lord your God walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, an

 To Zion and to those who trust in the mountain of Samaria. The named ones over the leaders were culled, the firstfruits of the nations the house of I

 you ran with him, and you placed your portion with an adulterer. Your mouth abounded in malice, and your tongue wove deceits. Sitting down, you spoke

 virtues all likewise, and that God made females able to keep them. But we see that the form of the flesh of the male and of the female has been made d

 you do glorious things, trembling will seize the mountains from you. From of old we have not heard, nor have our eyes seen a God besides you and your

 the year of redemption is at hand. And I looked and there was no helper, and I considered and no one took hold and my arm rescued, and my wrath came

 And Trypho said: We have heard you bring this up before and we paid attention to it for it is, to speak truly, worthy of attention. and it does not s

 the words are not embellished by human art, but David sang them, Isaiah evangelized them, Zechariah preached them, Moses wrote them down. Do you recog

 And these are the words: I beheld until thrones were set, and the ancient of days was seated, having a garment white as snow, and the hair of his head

 will be given into his hands for a time and times and half a time. And the judgment sat, and they shall take away his dominion to consume and to destr

 being now at length persuaded by that which was spoken against you by God, that 'You are sons without understanding,' and by 'Therefore, behold, I wil

 you explain, when God proclaims that He will make a new law and a new covenant. And where it is said, O God, give Your judgment to the king, since S

 And I know that Solomon was great, under whom the house called Jerusalem was rebuilt. But it is apparent that none of the things spoken in the psalm h

 Saturnilians, and others by other names, each named from the originator of their opinion, in the same way that each of those who think they are philos

 eternal, and the king of glory shall come in. Who is this king of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the king of glory. It has been shown, therefore, tha

 of them. Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain, for the Lord our God is holy. And Trypho said: O man, it were good for us to have o

 Her companions shall be brought to you. They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing, they shall be led into the temple of the king. Instead of y

 is preached in the scriptures, and that He is to come again with glory, and that He is to receive the eternal kingdom of all the nations, with every k

 in remembrance of the passion which He suffered for the sake of those men whose souls are cleansed from all wickedness, Jesus Christ our Lord delivere

 and it is a body for both a people and a church, being many men in number, as being one thing are called by one name and are addressed. And all the o

 the land which you find so grievous shall be taken from before the face of the two kings. But God will bring upon you and upon your people and upon th

 And I: Examine as many things as you wish, as it occurs to you for I will try to take up and fulfill the arguments even after the examinations and an

 And I said: Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Noah and Job, and if any others have been similarly righteous before these or after these, I mean also Sar

 you also did at the beginning of the discussion, declaring that I would not be saved unless I keep these things. And he [said]: Why then did you say:

 seems to me to be not only paradoxical but also foolish. And I said to this: I know that the argument seems paradoxical, and especially to those of yo

 Of whose first manifestation also the Spirit of God which was in Elias went forth as a herald, in John, who became a prophet in your race, after whom

 to have taken place with many concerning all the things being sought, and for this reason to be ready to answer all that you might be asked. Answer me

 the prophets were in your race, O Trypho, after this John, perhaps you consider what is said to be doubtful. But if John came beforehand crying to men

 and observing the other laws, and of prophets having been born in succession up to John, just as when your people were led away to Babylon, the land h

 you have. But also through the prophet Zechariah, that this very Christ would be struck and His disciples would be scattered, was foretold which also

 I said, O Trypho, not those things through which I know that those who worship these and such things are to be condemned, but such things against whic

 he would have, for which he had been sent, and having completed it, he would have departed. How then, I said, did the one of the three who was in the

 we suppose you to say. And I said: The scripture, therefore, that was previously mentioned by me will make this plain to you. And it is this: The sun

 the men came from there to Sodom. But Abraham was standing before the Lord, and Abraham drew near and said: Will you destroy the righteous with the wi

 prepared and set before by Abraham, and you would conf- to say it is worthy concerning what is said, that he ate the things from the

 The things of God concerning Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, he says thus: And it came to pass when the flocks were conceiving, I saw them with my eye

 And when they had all nodded their heads, I said: And the words which declare how He appeared to him, when he was fleeing his brother Esau, He being b

 spoke to him, this one himself, being God, signifies to Moses that he himself is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob? And Trypho said: We do not un

 I will give from the scriptures, that before all creatures God begot a certain rational power from Himself, which is also called the glory of the Lord

 and female he made them. And God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it.' And so that you might not, alteri

 O men, in the previously narrated words of the prophecies, which for your sake I again recall and explain, I will try also to bring you to agreement c

 If I were contentious and vain, I would no longer continue discussing with you, who are not prepared to understand what is said, but only incite yours

 So be it, so be it. And from the other words which I have said were similarly spoken through David, that He was to come forth from the ends of the hea

 those who are bound and from the house of bondage sitting in darkness. I am the Lord God, this is my name, I will not give my glory to another, nor my

 Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, but 'Behold, the young woman shall conceive and bear a son,' and the rest that follows, as you said.

 God promised, besides the one on Mount Horeb, as the scriptures likewise foretold? And he answered that this was foretold. And I again: But the old c

 we made the inquiry? And I again: It is necessary to ask you these things also, so that I may know: do you perhaps think something different beside Go

 Know well then, O Trypho, I continued, that the things which the so-called devil has counterfeited and caused to be told among the Greeks, just as he

 to recognize Him. But some, seeing these things happening, said that it was a magical illusion for they even dared to call Him a magician and a decei

 I understand that the deceiving serpent imitated this. But I do not believe your teachers, who do not agree in properly interpreting the works of the

 of those who have fallen asleep in the dust of the earth, and went down to them to preach to them his salvation. And from the ninety-fifth psalm they

 Finally you said from the words of David, it does not seem to me to have been spoken of any other but of the Father, who made both the heavens and the

 That a mighty and great prophet has come to be, the one who was named with the name of Jesus, is manifest to all. If then we know that that God has be

 evil spirits, exorcising them, we have them subject to us. For if through the prophets it was preached veiledly that Christ would be subject to suffer

 For this king Herod, having learned from the elders of your people, when the magi from Arabia came to him then, and said that from a star that appeare

 And this was prophesied to happen through Jeremiah, who spoke thus through the Holy Spirit himself: A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mour

 of days is brought, and to him is given all dominion for ever and ever. But that you may know, I said, O man, that we have not made this explanation,

 I confess, I will write. For I choose to follow not men or human teachings, but God and the teachings from him. For if you have met with some who are

 it was said, that on whatever day he eats from the tree, on that he will die, we have known him not to have completed a thousand years. we understood

 to be saved, when the king of the Assyrians sent to him threatening, and it was signified to him through Isaiah not to fear him. And that the things s

 But you dare even in these things to corrupt the interpretations which your elders made in the time of Ptolemy, king of the Egyptians, saying that the

 I will again make mention for the sake of those who were not with us yesterday, on whose account I also state in summary many of the things that were

 righteous, listen. Moses with a rod was sent for the redemption of the people, and holding this in his hands in the presence of the people, he divided

 to learn about these very things that I ask. Tell me, therefore, since the word spoken through Isaiah says: A rod shall come forth from the root of Je

 that what was to come should not be delayed. Let this also be a testimony to you, which I told you was done by the magi from Arabia, who, as soon as t

 life, the Holy Spirit, therefore, also for the sake of men, as I said before, flew to him in the form of a dove, and a voice came from heaven at the s

 and Aaron supported them all day long, so that they might not be let down when he grew weary. For if he gave way at all from this figure which imitate

 but to those who are bitten by him and flee for refuge to the one who sent his crucified son into the world. For the prophetic spirit did not teach us

 Since the word is true, and God always wills you not to be such foolish and self-loving people, so that you may be saved with Christ, who is well-plea

 supposing, you discuss what befalls you, and you yourselves are at a loss for words, whenever you encounter some steadfast Christian. For tell me, was

 You did this in ignorance for neither when you killed the prophets did you perform an act of piety. And let none of you say: If the Father wished him

 was to be, thus: I have spread out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people, to those who walk in a way that is not good. And that He was to ri

 my tongue has cleaved to my throat, and you have brought me down to the dust of death for many dogs have surrounded me, an assembly of evildoers has

 no one knows the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father and those to whom the Son should reveal him. He has revealed to us, therefore, a

 those who hoped in God and were saved by him, who were also fathers of the virgin, through whom he was born, having become man, revealing that he hims

 of whom he knew it was good for them to have free will and because he likewise knew it was good, he made both universal and particular judgments, yet

 we know that calves are the cause. As, therefore, the bulls are the fathers of the calves, so your teachers were the cause for their children to go ou

 For in the memoirs, which I say were composed by His apostles and those who followed them, it is written that His sweat fell down like drops of blood,

 should take possession of his soul was a request, so that, when we are at the departure from life, we might ask the same things of God, who is able to

 and that He was to rise like a star through the race of Abraham, Moses revealed by speaking thus: A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a leader out of

 ...to God, so that both your nation and your city might not be taken and destroyed, as it was destroyed, and not only did you not repent, when you lea

 That they say he has not yet come, I also know but if they do say he has come, it is not known who he is, but when he becomes manifest and glorious,

 the just man perished, and no one takes it to heart and just men are taken away, and no one understands. And that two advents of this Christ would sy

 Will the serpent then be understood to have saved the people at that time, whom, as I said before, God cursed in the beginning, and will destroy by th

 brought the remaining people into the holy land and just as he brought the people into the holy land, not Moses, and as he distributed it by lot to t

 and contradicting, and when he says: Lord, who has believed our report

 I said: First wait and hear what I say. For I am not about to make the explanation which you suppose, as if some priest named Jesus had not existed in

 For in the way that that Jesus, the one called a priest by the prophet, appeared wearing filthy garments because he was said to have taken a harlot as

 is your race, but there are the nations among whom not one of your race has yet dwelt. For there is not one single race of men at all, whether of barb

 And I in turn said: Do you think, O men, that we could ever have been able to understand these things in the Scriptures, if we had not, by the will of

 again, and to that which was preached to us through the prophets, having believed even unto death, we have renounced all things in the world. Therefor

 of Isaiah, whom you sawed with a wooden saw, a mystery also of Christ, who was to cut your race in two, and who was to count the worthy, with the holy

 and to be saved through this Christ and to know all the things of the Father. For this reason He said to him: It is a great thing for you to be called

 of those who are circumcised there being an established law, concerning them the scripture speaks thus: And the proselyte shall be added to them, and

 we have been made, although I doubted lest you ask this not understanding but since we have also deduced this question with proof and agreement, I do

 kick at his commandments, having been begotten, and accounted worthy by Him to be called His sons, and these, being made like to Adam and Eve, work de

 you are the children of the carnal seed of Jacob, you expect to be saved in every way. But that in these things also you deceive yourselves, has been

 And did I not say in the preceding [discourse]? So also, when the people desired to eat meat, and Moses disbelieved what was said there by the angel,

 to my Lord: Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet. And that Christ, being Lord, and existing as God, Son of God, a

 And again when the Word says that God spoke in the beginning: 'Behold, Adam has become as one of Us,' this phrase 'as one of Us,' also a numb as the s

 He bestows on them the same inheritance, and gives them the same name but calling them Gentiles and those rejoicing with His people, He speaks to the

 were proclamations of all things concerning him, that the demons were about to be destroyed and to fear his name, and that all the principalities and

 to you, having received mercy from God and His Christ, to be saved. For God, foreknowing through the prophet Isaiah that you would do these things, cu

 teachings and his own, it is better for you to follow God than your senseless and blind teachers, who even to this day permit each of you to have four

 And for this reason the scripture, again explaining to us who it means by king Jacob and Israel, spoke thus: Jacob my servant, I will help him and Is

 ...in his mountain. But these are they whom He said to sow and to beget for you neither endure Him when He calls, nor do you hear Him when He speaks,

 of the flood of Noah I saved you. And this is what God said, that the mystery of the men who are saved happened at the time of the flood. For the righ

 ...er. And he said: Cursed be Canaan, a servant he shall be to his brothers. And he said: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and Canaan shall be hi

 of the master of all things, he would not have said: They will come from west and east, and will recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingd

 Having said these things, O dearest Marcus Pompeius, I ceased. And Trypho, having paused for a little while: You see, he said, that it was not by d

And he, with a courteous smile: 'But how,' he said, 'do you think about these things, and what opinion do you have concerning God, and what is your philosophy? Tell us.' 'I,' I said, 'will tell you what appears to me. For philosophy is in reality the greatest possession and most precious to God, to whom it alone leads and commends us, and truly holy are those who have applied their mind to philosophy. But what philosophy is, and for what reason it was sent down to men, has escaped the notice of the many; for there would not be Platonists, nor Stoics, nor Peripatetics, nor Theoretics, nor Pythagoreans, since this knowledge is one. But for what reason it has become many-headed, I wish to say. It happened that those who came after the first ones who engaged in it and for this reason became famous, followed without examining anything about the truth, but being struck only by their endurance and their self-control and the strangeness of their doctrines, they considered true those things which each learned from his teacher; and then they themselves, having handed down to those after them such things and others like them, were called by that name which the father of the doctrine was called. And I myself, at first, desiring in this way to meet with one of these, gave myself to a certain Stoic; and having spent a considerable time with him, since I learned nothing more about God (for neither did he himself know, nor did he say this knowledge was necessary), I departed from him, and came to another, called a Peripatetic, a sharp fellow, as he thought himself. And this man, having put up with me for the first few days, then required me to set a fee, so that our association would not be unprofitable for us. And for this reason I left him, not considering him a philosopher at all. But as my soul was still swelling to hear the peculiar and excellent part of philosophy, I went to a most renowned Pythagorean, a man who thought much of his own wisdom. And then when I spoke with him, wishing to become his hearer and associate: 'What then? Have you studied,' he said, 'music and astronomy and geometry? Or do you think you will behold any of the things that contribute to happiness, if you have not first been taught these things, which will draw the soul away from sensible things and prepare it to be useful for intelligible things, so as to see the beautiful itself and the good itself?' And having praised these studies at length and calling them necessary, he sent me away, since I confessed to him that I did not know them. I was disheartened therefore, as was natural, having failed in my hope, and the more so because I had thought he knew something. And considering again the time that I was to spend on those studies, I could not endure putting it off for long. And while I was in a state of perplexity, it seemed good to me to meet with the Platonists also; for their fame was also great. And so to an intelligent man who had recently arrived in our city

Καὶ ὃς ἀστεῖον ὑπομειδιάσας· Σὺ δὲ πῶς, ἔφη, περὶ τούτων φρονεῖς καὶ τίνα γνώμην περὶ θεοῦ ἔχεις καὶ τίς ἡ σὴ φιλοσοφία, εἰπὲ ἡμῖν. Ἐγώ σοι, ἔφην, ἐρῶ ὅ γέ μοι καταφαίνεται. ἔστι γὰρ τῷ ὄντι φιλοσοφία μέγιστον κτῆμα καὶ τιμιώτατον θεῷ, ᾧ τε προσάγει καὶ συνίστησιν ἡμᾶς μόνη, καὶ ὅσιοι ὡς ἀληθῶς οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ φιλοσοφίᾳ τὸν νοῦν προσεσχηκότες. τί ποτε δέ ἐστι φιλοσοφία καὶ οὗ χάριν κατεπέμφθη εἰς τοὺς ἀνθρώ πους, τοὺς πολλοὺς λέληθεν; οὐ γὰρ ἂν Πλατωνικοὶ ἦσαν οὐδὲ Στωϊκοὶ οὐδὲ Περιπατητικοὶ οὐδὲ Θεωρητικοὶ οὐδὲ Πυθαγορικοί, μιᾶς οὔσης ταύτης ἐπιστήμης. οὗ δὲ χάριν πολύκρανος ἐγε νήθη, θέλω εἰπεῖν. συνέβη τοῖς πρώτοις ἁψαμένοις αὐτῆς καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐνδόξοις γενομένοις ἀκολουθῆσαι τοὺς ἔπειτα μηδὲν ἐξετάσαντας ἀληθείας πέρι, καταπλαγέντας δὲ μόνον τὴν καρ τερίαν αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐγκράτειαν καὶ τὸ ξένον τῶν λόγων ταῦτα ἀληθῆ νομίσαι ἃ παρὰ τοῦ διδασκάλου ἕκαστος ἔμαθεν, εἶτα καὶ αὐτούς, τοῖς ἔπειτα παραδόντας τοιαῦτα ἄττα καὶ ἄλλα τούτοις προσεοικότα, τοῦτο κληθῆναι τοὔνομα, ὅπερ ἐκαλεῖτο ὁ πατὴρ τοῦ λόγου. ἐγώ τε κατ' ἀρχὰς οὕτω ποθῶν καὶ αὐτὸς συμβαλεῖν τούτων ἑνί, ἐπέδωκα ἐμαυτὸν Στωϊκῷ τινι· καὶ δια τρίψας ἱκανὸν μετ' αὐτοῦ χρόνον, ἐπεὶ οὐδὲν πλέον ἐγίνετό μοι περὶ θεοῦ (οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτὸς ἠπίστατο, οὐδὲ ἀναγκαίαν ἔλεγε ταύτην εἶναι τὴν μάθησιν), τούτου μὲν ἀπηλλάγην, ἐπ' ἄλλον δὲ ἧκα, Περιπατητικὸν καλούμενον, δριμύν, ὡς ᾤετο. καί μου ἀνασχόμενος οὗτος τὰς πρώτας ἡμέρας ἠξίου με ἔπειτα μισθὸν ὁρίσαι, ὡς μὴ ἀνωφελὴς ἡ συνουσία γίνοιτο ἡμῖν. καὶ αὐτὸν ἐγὼ διὰ ταύτην τὴν αἰτίαν κατέλιπον, μηδὲ φιλόσο φον οἰηθεὶς ὅλως. τῆς δὲ ψυχῆς ἔτι μου σπαργώσης ἀκοῦσαι τὸ ἴδιον καὶ τὸ ἐξαίρετον τῆς φιλοσοφίας, προσῆλθον εὐδοκι μοῦντι μάλιστα Πυθαγορείῳ, ἀνδρὶ πολὺ ἐπὶ τῇ σοφίᾳ φρο νοῦντι. κἄπειτα ὡς διελέχθην αὐτῷ, βουλόμενος ἀκροατὴς αὐτοῦ καὶ συνουσιαστὴς γενέσθαι· Τί δαί; ὡμίλησας, ἔφη, μουσικῇ καὶ ἀστρονομίᾳ καὶ γεωμετρίᾳ; ἢ δοκεῖς κατόψεσθαί τι τῶν εἰς εὐδαιμονίαν συντελούντων, εἰ μὴ ταῦτα πρῶτον διδαχθείης, ἃ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀπὸ τῶν αἰσθητῶν περισπάσει καὶ τοῖς νοητοῖς αὐτὴν παρασκευάσει χρησίμην, ὥστε αὐτὸ κατιδεῖν τὸ καλὸν καὶ αὐτὸ ὅ ἐστιν ἀγαθόν; πολλά τε ἐπαινέσας ταῦτα τὰ μαθήματα καὶ ἀναγκαῖα εἰπὼν ἀπέπεμπέ με, ἐπεὶ αὐτῷ ὡμολόγησα μὴ εἰδέναι. ἐδυσφόρουν οὖν, ὡς τὸ εἰκός, ἀποτυχὼν τῆς ἐλπίδος, καὶ μᾶλλον ᾗ ἐπίστασθαί τι αὐτὸν ᾠόμην· πάλιν τε τὸν χρόνον σκοπῶν, ὃν ἔμελλον ἐκτρίβειν περὶ ἐκεῖνα τὰ μαθήματα, οὐκ ἠνειχόμην εἰς μακρὰν ἀποτιθέμενος. ἐν ἀμηχανίᾳ δέ μου ὄντος ἔδοξέ μοι καὶ τοῖς Πλατωνικοῖς ἐντυχεῖν· πολὺ γὰρ καὶ τούτων ἦν κλέος. καὶ δὴ νεωστὶ ἐπιδημήσαντι τῇ ἡμετέρᾳ πόλει συνετῷ