OF SAINT JUSTIN PHILOSOPHER AND MARTYR, RESPONSES TO THE ORTHODOX CONCERNING CERTAIN
a prediction having come to pass? Answer. All these things are of the same God, both the prediction of the words and the outcome of the deeds, who als
is it unjust to subject to punishments those who have been led astray from the truth? Response. The heretics have so little sought the truth with all
for example from joy we are not turned to sorrow, nor do we rejoice in the same good thing sometimes more, sometimes less, even if we rejoice more in
That which is ours and that which is in our power differ from each other. We are male and female, but it is in our power to be chaste or fornicato
But God does not exist because of the universe. Therefore God is greater than the universe, just as in substance, so also in worth. Question 12. *) If
the destruction of that day. But if he was not heard, why must it not be said that being a sinner he was unheard? For God will do the will of those wh
we sometimes think. The Son of the Father is therefore the Son of God according to essence. And to say Son of the Father is the same as to say Son of
to abstain, and, if it is necessary to approach them, either having washed or having used some other such thing, so as not to be purified in a Jewish
of it both growing and declining, it is clear that the account concerning it has been proven false but if from the beginning of the preaching until t
did not need matter, but events followed and do follow his commands and prophecies. And the charms wrought by Apollonius, since they were made accordi
their cattle also. From this water drawn from the wells the magicians made the blood, and in no way is the account falsified. And the miracles perform
held the daughter of Jairus by the hand? For even if both were raised from the dead, yet the dead bodies received the touch. Response. The dead bodies
the divine scripture says, but men sometimes endured increase, and sometimes decrease, as in the case of the flood and the other calamities, on accoun
Response. But that the time of each one's life is not fixed is shown from the words of Scripture thus: If, it says, a man finds a betrothed young w
except for the pig they were deifying, for this reason he named some animals clean, and others unclean and he permitted them to sacrifice the clean o
another besides him? Response. Since different reports were circulating about the wonders Jesus performed, some saying, It is Elijah who is doing the
chains, but the demon himself shattered and broke the bonds and the chains, even if the divine scripture attributed the works of the demon to the one
...praising the holy and co-honorable Trinity for the greatness of the divine gifts, in whose name they were baptized and justified, having received t
takes from Jesus that which is honored by creation in obedience to the command, so also Ezekiel takes the name of the son of man and through the visio
Question 48. Why did the Lord say to Mary after the resurrection: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father? If, therefore, before the
Question 51. If the divine is unchangeable, how, when blasphemed and praised, has it often rendered to both parties the rewards worthy of their respec
Response. Although the generative parts are not useful for procreation after the resurrection, yet they are useful for the remembrance that it was thr
51. How then do they not say things contrary to themselves, and yet in both respects they speak the truth? Response. Moses himself spoke of heavens, b
of heaven and earth that the heaven and the earth stand, concerning the first heaven and the earth it is possible to conjecture this because they came
How is the saying, We shall not all sleep, true according to him? Answer. God is said to be the only one who has immortality, because he does not ha
to have died. But if in truth the Lord tasted of death, how is the example of Jonah not proven false? Response. He did not compare death with death, b
offspring for of man, they say, is not a feminine but a masculine name. By what arguments then shall we refute such slander, spoken in vain? Respon
why is it created and invisible? Response. Having the words of the creator of creation that distinguish soul from body, they ought not to demand more
as productive of pride, while humility and gentleness are handed down by the divine scripture to those who have received these things, how are the gif
by argument: The eye is beautiful and more honorable than the feet but if God is ungrudging, why did He not make the feet eyes? For this argument als
it recovered it, how does it not now vainly expect the restoration of its ancient dominion? For what reason does Hellenism expect the restoration of i
If the soul receives perception of perceptible things through the cooperation of the bodily senses, and both good and bad things happen to be percepti
Scripture, having caused the people to fulfill, and he violently laid down his life by a Hellenic sword, but his children were led away captive to Bab
he flogged the parents of the children, so that they might learn not to dishonor the prophets and, through them, God. Question 81. If all deception wa
Response. None of those who sacrificed irrational animals as a sacrifice to God before the law sacrificed according to the divine ordinance, even if G
of those who are rising, it is clear that all, both those who have risen and those who are about to rise, have risen perfect by the Lord for it is im
by the Savior after the execution of John for they would not have said this, if they had heard the miracles performed by the Savior before the execut
I have eaten anything common or unclean how through such words is it not shown that he forbids all the irrational animals as unclean, and blames the
being ashamed at the stripping, yet having been stripped he was ashamed, having within himself the name and the concept of shame, so he had within him
and that the extreme cold from them is sent downwards, from which, when mixed with the extreme heat of the sun, the good temperament of the airs is pr
we ourselves needing them, on account of the lack of need of the body, as I said? Answer. If according to the apostle Paul, God is causing the fashion
Response. For such offenses the law gives remission through baptism and sacrifice, for those that contribute nothing to the harm of society and human
to happen, so that by these things men might show the honor concerning him, how, because they sacrifice men, are the Greeks shown to be more impious t
of the vow. But God permitted her to be offered as a sacrifice, not as delighting in human blood, but for the instruction of future men never to vow i
of a sophism but to the question itself we answer thus, that we too are not taught inconsistently, but as the apostles learned, first the things of t
Having not done the things that are beyond his power, since they are impossible, he is not accountable. How then does God, by commanding things beyond
The law was placed before grace, so that one is readier and more benevolent for the remission of sins for those who sin, whom he absolves from blame e
If the flesh of all men has one substance and the soul one substance, how is one person slow, and another quicker in understanding? But if the soul is
Paul calls this of the spirit, by which he arms the soldiers of piety against the invisible enemies for it is a word of God, which when remembered an
...failure dissolves the involuntary ignorance of the Jews concerning Christ? But the saying, You, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
having brought His own promise to completion through them? ries of the holy ancient men, nor of the Lord Christ
sia, it does not have the form of an affirmation from those who asked in their ignorant supposition, but rather a questioning of both, of the supposit
...do those who pray? And whence did such a custom enter into the churches? Response. Since it was necessary for us always to remember both our fall i
Response. Just as the Lord did not walk upon the sea by a transformation of the body into spirit, but by his divine power made the impassable sea pass
to look to the creation, for this reason, looking to the one part of creation, we make our worship, not as the only work of God nor as a dwelling plac
a resurrection of judgment. The resurrection, therefore, is divided into life and judgment, according to the differences between the just and the unju
has been made wretched. Response. If the other things that were named exist for the sake of man, and things that exist for the sake of something are l
to look to another life, in which the distinction between the just and the unjust occurs according to glory and dishonor. Question 125. If the apostle
ty, with the master God making the provision and the removal of such things for the benefit of all men but the piety of the superior beings is judged
and to be instructed through them, good therefore is their coming into being and irreproachable in respect to the inferiority of their nature and thei
sence, without any division or distinction in this respect, just as the pi is one with the unity of the line without any division or distinction in th
to name the progenitors of Christ, is he found naming more? But if in the genealogy they say things that are at war with themselves and with each othe
of the one begotten from his own body. For just as the one begotten from such a union is named for the deceased, so also his wife is called wife. Ques
word, to show whose the discourse is, as in 'The eunuch was sitting on the chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah,' and again, 'The abomination,'
the care of the wine that had run out yet out of much love, if you wish, so that they will not lack wine, tell the servants to do what I tell them, a
being foolish, how is God just, who killed so many people for the offenses of others? I mean the offenses of Jonathan and David: the one who out of ig
Understand these things in the manner of the existence of the persons. Question 140. If Christ calls himself the heir, and according to the parable th
to have begotten. Question 142. If the angel is superior to man, and scripture calls men gods, how is it not fitting for angels also to be called gods
So that also in this God may separate us from the likeness of beasts, which, along with the eating of the flesh, also lap the blood of those whose fle
their land from my hands, because the Lord will deliver Jerusalem from my hand? But according to the oracles which the Assyrian received from the soot
we sometimes think. The Son of the Father is therefore the Son of God according to essence. And to say Son of the Father is the same as to say Son of God, since if something belongs to the person, this also belongs to the essence of the person. Question 19. If the observation of twitches is among the things forbidden by the pious, why are the pious, wanting to push this away with all their power, not able to, when it indicates something either cheerful or gloomy? And if this is a bad thing, how does it occur against our intention? But if it is a good thing, which I do not think, for what reason is it forbidden? Response. The foreknowledge of future things belongs to the soul when it is enlightened by the divine Spirit for the knowledge of things hitherto unknown, and not by the involuntary movement of the body; but a twitch is a bodily affection arising from the course of the natural spirit existing in the body of all animals. Therefore the saints judged such a bodily movement to be an unworthy criterion of future things. And just as sneezes and ringing in the ears occur against our intention, so also does a twitch. Furthermore, for those who have received the hope of the future state, and who have the one goal of looking toward it, always prepared, it is superfluous to foreknow here through twitches whether something is cheerful or gloomy. And if the same twitch that foretells wealth happens to the worldly man and to the ascetic, how is the foretelling of wealth by a twitch not proven false by the choice of the ascetic, which chooses not only not to acquire things not present but not even to possess things that are present? Question 20. If fishermen take fish from the waters for death and destruction, how did the Lord Christ, being about to bring men into eternal life through the apostles, promise to make them fishers of men? Response. Since it was necessary for the men caught by the apostles in the net of the kingdom to die to their former life in sins, for this reason the Lord compared the catching of men to the catching of fish; and he added “for life,” supplying to the thing signified what was lacking in the sign. Question 21. If monks, possessed by a temperate mind, have turned away from marital pleasures, why in their fantasies during sleep do they suffer involuntary things, and not only with random women, but sometimes they even think in their fantasy that they are having intercourse with mothers and sisters? What then must one use for deliverance from such a war? And if he who has been warred against must [be kept away from?] the mysteries
ποτε νοοῦμεν. Υἱὸς οὖν ἐστι τοῦ πατρὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ κατ' οὐ σίαν θεοῦ. Ταὐτὸν δὲ τὸ λέγειν υἱὸν τοῦ πατρὸς τῷ λέγειν υἱὸν τοῦ
θεοῦ, ἐπειδή, εἴ τί ἐστι τοῦ προσώπου, τοῦτό ἐστι καὶ τῆς τοῦ προσώπου οὐσίας. Ἐρώτησις ιθ. Eἰ ἐν τοῖς ἀπηγορευμένοις ὑπὸ
τῶν εὐσεβῶν ἡ τῶν παλ μῶν ἐστι παρατήρησις, διὰ τί οἱ εὐσεβεῖς πάσῃ δυνάμει ταύ την ἀπωθεῖν βουλόμενοι οὐκ ἰσχύουσιν, ἢ φαιδρὸν
ἢ σκυθρω πὸν μηνυούσης ταύτης; Καὶ εἰ μὲν φαῦλον τοῦτο, πῶς παρὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἐπιγίνεται πρόθεσιν; Eἰ δὲ ἀγαθόν, ὅπερ οὐκ
οἶμαι, τίνος ἕνεκεν ἀπηγόρευται; Ἀπόκρισις. Ἡ μὲν πρόγνωσις τῶν μελλόντων τῆς ψυχῆς ἐστιν ὑπὸ τοῦ θείου πνεύματος φωτιζομένης
πρὸς τὴν εἴδησιν τῶν τέως ἀδήλων, καὶ οὐχ ὑπὸ τῆς ἀβουλήτου κινήσεως τοῦ σώματος· ὁ δὲ παλμὸς πάθος ἐστὶ σωματικὸν ἐκ τῆς
διαδρομῆς τοῦ φυσικοῦ πνεύματος ἐν τῷ σώματι ὑφισταμένου πάντων τῶν ζώων. ∆ιὸ ἀνάξιον ἔκρινον οἱ ἅγιοι εἶναι κριτήριον τῶν
μελ λόντων τὸ τοιοῦτον σωματικὸν κίνημα. Καὶ καθάπερ οἱ πταρμοὶ ·ινῶν καὶ οἱ ἦχοι ὤτων παρὰ τὴν ἡμετέραν ἐπιγίνον ται πρόθεσιν,
οὕτως καὶ ὁ παλμός. Ἔτι δὲ τοῖς εἰληφόσι τῆς μελλούσης καταστάσεως τὴν ἐλπίδα, καὶ ἕνα ἔχουσι τὸν σκο πὸν τὸ πρὸς ἐκείνην
διὰ παντὸς παρεσκευασμένως ἀποβλέ πειν, περιττόν ἐστι τὸ φαιδρὸν ἢ σκυθρωπὸν ἐνταῦθα διὰ παλμῶν προγινώσκειν. Καὶ εἰ ὁ αὐτὸς
παλμὸς ὁ προμηνύων πλοῦτον προσγίνεται τῷ βιωτικῷ ἀνθρώπῳ καὶ τῷ ἀσκητῇ, πῶς οὐ διέψευσται ἡ διὰ παλμοῦ προμήνυσις τοῦ πλούτου
τῆς προαιρέσεως τοῦ ἀσκητοῦ, οὐ μόνον τὴν ἐπίκτησιν τῶν οὐ παρόντων οὐχ αἱρουμένης ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὴν κτῆσιν τῶν παρ όντων; Ἐρώτησις
κ. Eἰ πρὸς θάνατον καὶ φθορὰν οἱ ἁλιεῖς τοὺς ἰχθύας ἀπὸ τῶν ὑδάτων λαμβάνουσι, πῶς εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον ὁ δεσπότης Χριστὸς μέλλων
διὰ τῶν ἀποστόλων τοὺς ἀνθρώπους εἰσαγα γεῖν ἁλιέας αὐτοὺς ποιεῖν ἀνθρώπων ἐπηγγείλατο; Ἀπόκρισις. Ἐπειδὴ ἐχρῆν τοὺς ὑπὸ τῶν
ἀποστόλων ἀγρευομένους ἀνθρώπους τῇ σαγήνῃ τῆς βασιλείας ἀποθανεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς προ τέρας αὐτῶν ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ζωῆς, διὰ τοῦτο τῇ
ἄγρᾳ τῶν ἰχθύων παρείκασεν ὁ κύριος τὴν ἄγραν τῶν ἀνθρώπων· προσέθηκε δὲ τὸ εἰς ζωήν, τὸ ἐλλεῖπον τοῦ ὑποδείγματος τῷ ὑποδεικνυμένῳ
προσθέμενος. Ἐρώτησις κα. Eἰ σώφρονι λογισμῷ κατεχόμενοι οἱ μοναχοὶ τὰς γαμικὰς ἡδονὰς ἀπεστράφησαν, διὰ τί ἐν ταῖς καθ' ὕπνον
φαντασίαις τὰ ἀβούλητα πάσχουσι, καὶ οὐ μόνον εἰς τὰς τυχούσας, ἀλλ' ἔστιν ὅτε καὶ μητράσι καὶ ἀδελφαῖς ὁμιλεῖν ἐν τῇ φαντασίᾳ
νομίζουσι; Τίσιν οὖν χρηστέον πρὸς τὴν ἀπαλλαγὴν τοῦ τοιού του πολέμου; Καὶ εἰ τὸν πολεμηθέντα δεῖ τῶν μυστηρίων
