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

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 grew to manhood, which also came to pass, hear what was foretold regarding this. These things are as follows: A child has been born to us, and a young man has been given to us, whose government is upon His shoulders; signifying the power of the cross, to which He offered his shoulders when he was crucified, as in the progress of the discourse will be shown more clearly. And again the same prophet Isaiah, inspired by the prophetic spirit, said: I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people, to those who walk in a way that is not good. They ask of me now a judgment and dare to draw near to God. And again in other words through another prophet he says: They pierced my feet and hands, and they cast a lot for my garment. And David the king and prophet, who said these things, suffered none of them; but Jesus Christ stretched out His hands, being crucified by the Jews who contradicted him and said that he was not the Christ. For, as the prophet said, deriding him they set him on a judgment seat and said: Judge for us. And the ‘They pierced my hands and feet’ was an explanation of the nails fixed in his hands and feet on the cross. And after crucifying him, they cast a lot for his garment, and those who crucified him divided it among themselves. And that these things happened, you can learn from the Acts made under Pontius Pilate. And that he was prophesied to be seated on an ass’s colt and to enter into Jerusalem, we will speak the prophetic words of another prophet, Zephaniah. And they are these: Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion; proclaim, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king comes to you, meek, riding upon a donkey’s colt, the foal of a beast of burden. But when you hear the words of the prophets spoken as if from a person, do not suppose them to be spoken by the inspired men themselves, but by the divine Word who moves them. For sometimes he speaks in a predictive manner of things that will happen, sometimes he speaks from the person of the Lord of all and Father God, sometimes from the person of Christ, sometimes from the person of the people answering the Lord or His Father; just as it is also possible to see with your own writers, one who writes all things

γραφῶν τῶν γενομένων ἐπὶ Κυρηνίου, τοῦ ὑμετέρου ἐν Ἰουδαίᾳ πρώτου γενομένου ἐπιτρόπου. Ὡς δὲ καὶ λήσειν ἔμελλε τοὺς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους γεννηθεὶς ὁ Χριστὸς ἄχρις ἀνδρωθῇ, ὅπερ καὶ γέγονεν, ἀκού σατε τῶν προειρημένων εἰς τοῦτο. ἔστι δὲ ταῦτα· Παι δίον ἐγεννήθη ἡμῖν, καὶ νεανίσκος ἡμῖν ἀπεδόθη, οὗ ἡ ἀρχὴ ἐπὶ τῶν ὤμων· μηνυτικὸν τῆς δυνάμεως τοῦ σταυροῦ, ᾧ προ σέθηκε τοὺς ὤμους σταυρωθείς, ὡς προϊόντος τοῦ λόγου σα φέστερον δειχθήσεται. καὶ πάλιν ὁ αὐτὸς προφήτης Ἠσαίας θεοφορούμενος τῷ πνεύματι τῷ προφητικῷ ἔφη· Ἐγὼ ἐξεπέ τασα τὰς χεῖράς μου ἐπὶ λαὸν ἀπειθοῦντα καὶ ἀντιλέγοντα, ἐπὶ τοὺς πορευομένους ἐν ὁδῷ οὐ καλῇ. αἰτοῦσί με νῦν κρίσιν καὶ ἐγγίζειν θεῷ τολμῶσιν. καὶ πάλιν ἐν ἄλλοις λόγοις δι' ἑτέρου προφήτου λέγει· Aὐτοὶ ὤρυξάν μου πόδας καὶ χεῖρας, καὶ ἔβαλον κλῆρον ἐπὶ τὸν ἱματισμόν μου. καὶ ὁ μὲν ∆αυεὶδ ὁ βασιλεὺς καὶ προφήτης, ὁ εἰπὼν ταῦτα, οὐδὲν τούτων ἔπαθεν· Ἰησοῦς δὲ Χριστὸς ἐξετάθη τὰς χεῖρας, σταυ ρωθεὶς ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἀντιλεγόντων αὐτῷ καὶ φασκόντων μὴ εἶναι αὐτὸν Χριστόν· καὶ γάρ, ὡς εἶπεν ὁ προφήτης, δια σύροντες αὐτὸν ἐκάθισαν ἐπὶ βήματος καὶ εἶπον· Κρῖνον ἡμῖν. τὸ δὲ Ὤρυξάν μου χεῖρας καὶ πόδας ἐξήγησις τῶν ἐν τῷ σταυρῷ παγέντων ἐν ταῖς χερσὶ καὶ τοῖς ποσὶν αὐτοῦ ἥλων ἦν. καὶ μετὰ τὸ σταυρῶσαι αὐτὸν ἔβαλον κλῆρον ἐπὶ τὸν ἱμα τισμὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐμερίσαντο ἑαυτοῖς οἱ σταυρώσαντες αὐτόν. καὶ ταῦτα ὅτι γέγονε, δύνασθε μαθεῖν ἐκ τῶν ἐπὶ Ποντίου Πιλάτου γενομένων ἄκτων. καὶ ὅτι ·ητῶς καθεσθησόμενος ἐπὶ πῶλον ὄνου καὶ εἰσελευσόμενος εἰς τὰ Ἰεροσόλυμα προε φητεύετο, ἑτέρου προφήτου τοῦ Σοφονίου τὰς τῆς προφητείας λέξεις ἐροῦμεν. εἰσὶ δὲ αὗται· Χαῖρε σφόδρα, θύγατερ Σιών, κήρυσσε, θύγατερ Ἰερουσαλήμ· ἰδοὺ ὁ βασιλεύς σου ἔρχεταί σοι πρᾶος, ἐπιβεβηκὼς ἐπὶ πῶλον ὄνον υἱὸν ὑπο ζυγίου. Ὅταν δὲ τὰς λέξεις τῶν προφητῶν λεγομένας ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου ἀκούητε, μὴ ἀπ' αὐτῶν τῶν ἐμπεπνευσμένων λέγεσθαι νομίσητε, ἀλλ' ἀπὸ τοῦ κινοῦντος αὐτοὺς θείου λόγου. ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ ὡς προαγγελτικὸς τὰ μέλλοντα γενή σεσθαι λέγει, ποτὲ δ' ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ δεσπό του πάντων καὶ πατρὸς θεοῦ φθέγγεται, ποτὲ δὲ ὡς ἀπὸ προσ ώπου τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ποτὲ δὲ ὡς ἀπὸ προσώπου λαῶν ἀποκρι νομένων τῷ κυρίῳ ἢ τῷ πατρὶ αὐτοῦ· ὁποῖον καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν παρ' ὑμῖν συγγραφέων ἰδεῖν ἔστιν, ἕνα μὲν τὸν τὰ πάντα συγγρά