The Apology of Saint Justin on behalf of the Christians

 to remain. It is therefore our task to provide to all the examination both of our life and of our teachings, so that on behalf of those who think to b

 to do no wrong nor to hold these godless opinions, you do not examine the charges, but driven by irrational passion and the scourge of wicked demons,

 not as a Christian but if anyone is found to be unconvicted, let him be acquitted as a Christian who has done no wrong. For we will not ask you to pu

 and to think or say that men are guardians of gods. But we have been taught that God has no need of material offerings from men, seeing that He Himsel

 For they do not try to escape notice when doing wrong because of the laws and punishments laid down by you, but knowing that it is possible to escape

 of all resources for health, of the qualities of kinds of things and changes of seasons, and of being again in incorruption through faith in him, send

 to enter into the kingdom of heaven, than with two to be sent into the eternal fire. And: He who marries a woman divorced from another man commits adu

 and evil. Do not be anxious about what you shall eat or what you shall wear. Are you not more valuable than the birds and the beasts? And God feeds th

 he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. For whoever hears me and does what I say, hears the one who sent me. And many will say to me: Lord

 and the men who are seized by the souls of the dead and are thrown about, whom all call possessed by demons and mad, and the oracles spoken of among y

 And Sibyl and Hystaspes said that there would be a destruction of corruptible things by fire. And the so-called Stoic philosophers dogmatically assert

 to have come to Ganymede and the many women with whom he committed adultery, and to have accepted his children for doing the same things. But, as we s

 and rivers and mice and cats and crocodiles and most of the irrational animals, and not the same ones being honored by all, but different ones in diff

 saying. And a certain Marcion of Pontus, who is even now still teaching those who are persuaded by him to believe in some other god greater than the C

 Christ foretold. For indeed, God's persistence in not yet doing this has been for the sake of the human race for He foreknows some who are going to b

 sent to Herod, who was then ruling the Jews, asking that the books of the prophecies be sent to him. And King Herod sent them, written in their aforem

 his manifestation occurred, and you ruled the Jews and took possession of all their land. And He shall be the expectation of the nations was an indi

 was prophesied through Isaiah, listen. And it was spoken thus: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they will speak

 of the registrations made under Cyrenius, your first procurator in Judaea. And how Christ after His birth was to be concealed from other men until He

 a being, but introducing the persons who are speaking. Not understanding this, the Jews who have the books of the prophets did not recognize Christ ev

 I arose, because the Lord helped me. And again when he says: They spoke with their lips, they shook their head, saying: Let him deliver himself. That

 In addition to these things, we have also considered it well and fitting to recall other words prophesied through this same David, from which you can

 to him with trembling. Lay hold of instruction, lest at any time the Lord be angry, and you perish from the righteous way, when his wrath is kindled q

 the human race has the power to choose what is good, it is not responsible for what is done in any way. But that by free choice it both does right and

 So that even Plato, when he said, 'The fault is of the one who chooses God is blameless,' said this, having taken it from Moses the prophet for Mose

 Jerusalem a prediction of the mighty Word, which His apostles, going forth from Jerusalem, preached everywhere, and, although death has been decreed a

 You bore these things and were silent and humbled us exceedingly. And that Jerusalem was made desolate, as it was foretold would happen, you are persu

 they gave, being filled with joy and faith, they renounced the idols and dedicated themselves to the unbegotten God through Christ. And that it was fo

 having been given to them to study also the prophecies, in which all these things were foretold as going to happen, having taught them, and when they

 He will clothe the worthy with incorruption, but the unjust he will send into the eternal fire with the evil demons in eternal sensation. And that the

 The Jewish and Samaritan tribe are called Israel and the house of Jacob. And as it was prophesied that those from the nations who believe would be mor

 accurately, but how, being deceived, they have imitated the things concerning our Christ, we shall make clear. Moses, then, the prophet, as we have sa

 The human form differs from that of the other irrational animals in nothing else than in its being erect and having the hands extended, and in its bea

 and of nothing else new, but of the same things being in this administration of which if even a year's satiety should seize those who have partaken,

 And what is physically described in Plato's Timaeus concerning the son of God, when he says, He placed him crosswise in the universe, he similarly s

 Then they are led by us to where there is water, and are born again in the manner of rebirth by which we ourselves were also born again for in the na

 And the demons, having learned from the things that happened to Moses, the aforementioned prophet, that those who worship are commanded the same thing

 he endured to suffer all that the demons worked against him, to be treated so by the foolish Jews. who, although it was plainly spoken in the writings

 not from intercourse, but, since they knew that God, having conceived it, made the world by the Word, they said that Athena was the first thought whi

 which the wicked demons have imitated and delivered to be performed in the mysteries of Mithras for that bread and a cup of water are set forth in th

 of Caesar Adrian, your father, having the right to demand of you as we thought fit to command that the judgments be made, not so much from the fact th

was prophesied through Isaiah, listen. And it was spoken thus: Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they will speak of his name, 'God with us.' For those things which were unbelievable and considered impossible among men to happen, these things God foretold through the prophetic Spirit were about to happen, so that when they might happen, they would not be disbelieved, but from having been foretold, they might be believed. But lest some, not understanding the declared prophecy, should accuse us of the very things we have accused the poets of, who say that Zeus came to women for the sake of sexual pleasure, we will try to make the words clear. Therefore, 'Behold, the virgin shall be with child' signifies that the virgin conceived without intercourse; for if she had had intercourse with anyone, she would no longer have been a virgin; but the power of God coming upon the virgin overshadowed her, and made her, while being a virgin, to conceive. And the angel of God sent to the virgin herself at that time brought her good news, saying: Behold, you shall conceive in your womb by the Holy Spirit and shall bear a son, and he shall be called the son of the Most High, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he himself will save his people from their sins, as those who have recorded all things concerning our savior Jesus Christ have taught, whom we have believed, since also through Isaiah, who was mentioned before, the prophetic Spirit said that this one would be born, as we foretold. Therefore it is not lawful to think of the Spirit and the power from God as anything else than the Word, who is also the firstborn of God, as the aforementioned prophet Moses revealed; and this, coming upon the virgin and overshadowing her, made her pregnant not through intercourse but through power. And the name Jesus, in the Hebrew tongue, means savior in the Greek dialect. Wherefore also the angel said to the virgin: And you shall call his name Jesus, for he himself will save his people from their sins. And that the prophets are inspired by nothing else than the divine Word, you also, as I suppose, will affirm. And where on earth he was to be born, as another prophet, Micah, foretold, listen. And he spoke thus: And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you shall come a ruler, who will shepherd my people. And it is a certain village in the country of the Jews, thirty-five stades distant from Jerusalem, in which Jesus Christ was born, as you can also learn from the cen

θησόμενος διὰ τοῦ Ἠσαίου προεφητεύθη, ἀκούσατε. Ἐλέχθη δὲ οὕτως· Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει καὶ τέξεται υἱόν, καὶ ἐροῦσιν ἐπὶ τῷ ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ Μεθ' ἡμῶν ὁ θεός. ἃ γὰρ ἦν ἄπιστα καὶ ἀδύνατα νομιζόμενα παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις γενή σεσθαι, ταῦτα ὁ θεὸς προεμήνυσε διὰ τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύ ματος μέλλειν γίνεσθαι, ἵν' ὅταν γένηται μὴ ἀπιστηθῇ, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ προειρῆσθαι πιστευθῇ. ὅπως δέ τινες μὴ νοήσαντες τὴν δεδηλωμένην προφητείαν, ἐγκαλέσωσιν ἡμῖν ἅπερ ἐνεκαλέσαμεν τοῖς ποιηταῖς, εἰποῦσιν ἀφροδισίων χάριν ἐληλυ θέναι ἐπὶ γυναῖκας τὸν ∆ία, διασαφῆσαι τοὺς λόγους πειρασό μεθα. τὸ οὖν Ἰδοὺ ἡ παρθένος ἐν γαστρὶ ἕξει σημαίνει οὐ συνουσιασθεῖσαν τὴν παρθένον συλλαβεῖν· εἰ γὰρ ἐσυνουσιάσθη ὑπὸ ὁτουοῦν, οὐκ ἔτι ἦν παρθένος· ἀλλὰ δύναμις θεοῦ ἐπελ θοῦσα τῇ παρθένῳ ἐπεσκίασεν αὐτήν, καὶ κυοφορῆσαι παρθένον οὖσαν πεποίηκε. καὶ ὁ ἀποσταλεὶς δὲ πρὸς αὐτὴν τὴν παρ θένον κατ' ἐκεῖνο τοῦ καιροῦ ἄγγελος θεοῦ εὐηγγελίσατο αὐτὴν εἰπών· Ἰδοὺ συλλήψῃ ἐν γαστρὶ ἐκ πνεύματος ἁγίου καὶ τέξῃ υἱόν, καὶ υἱὸς ὑψίστου κληθήσεται, καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν, αὐτὸς γὰρ σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρ τιῶν αὐτῶν, ὡς οἱ ἀπομνημονεύσαντες πάντα τὰ περὶ τοῦ σω τῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐδίδαξαν, οἷς ἐπιστεύσαμεν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ διὰ Ἠσαίου τοῦ προδεδηλωμένου τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα τοῦτον γεννησόμενον, ὡς προεμηνύομεν, ἔφη. τὸ πνεῦμα οὖν καὶ τὴν δύναμιν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐδὲν ἄλλο νοῆσαι θέμις ἢ τὸν λόγον, ὃς καὶ πρωτότοκος τῷ θεῷ ἐστι Μωυσῆς ὁ προδεδηλωμένος προφήτης ἐμήνυσε· καὶ τοῦτο ἐλθὸν ἐπὶ τὴν παρθένον καὶ ἐπισκιάσαν οὐ διὰ συνουσίας ἀλλὰ διὰ δυνά μεως ἐγκύμονα κατέστησε. τὸ δὲ Ἰησοῦς, ὄνομα τῇ Ἑβραΐδι φωνῇ, σωτὴρ τῇ Ἑλληνίδι διαλέκτῳ δηλοῖ. ὅθεν καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος πρὸς τὴν παρθένον εἶπε· Καὶ καλέσεις τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ Ἰησοῦν· αὐτὸς γὰρ σώσει τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τῶν ἁμαρ τιῶν αὐτῶν. ὅτι δὲ οὐδενὶ ἄλλῳ θεοφοροῦνται οἱ προφη τεύοντες εἰ μὴ λόγῳ θείῳ, καὶ ὑμεῖς, ὡς ὑπολαμβάνω, φήσετε. Ὅπου δὲ καὶ τῆς γῆς γεννᾶσθαι ἔμελλεν, ὡς προ εῖπεν ἕτερος προφήτης ὁ Μιχαίας, ἀκούσατε. ἔφη δὲ οὕτως· Καὶ σὺ Βηθλεέμ, γῆ Ἰούδα, οὐδαμῶς ἐλαχίστη εἶ ἐν τοῖς ἡγε μόσιν Ἰούδα· ἐκ σοῦ γὰρ ἐξελεύσεται ἡγούμενος, ὅστις ποι μανεῖ τὸν λαόν μου. κώμη δέ τίς ἐστιν ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ Ἰου δαίων, ἀπέχουσα σταδίους τριάκοντα πέντε Ἰεροσολύμων, ἐν ᾗ ἐγεννήθη Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, ὡς καὶ μαθεῖν δύνασθε ἐκ τῶν ἀπο