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Justin Martyr, Hortatory Address to the Greeks
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Justin’s Hortatory Address to the Greeks
Chapter I.—Reasons for addressing the Greeks.
Chapter II—The poets are unfit to be religious teachers.
Chapter III.—Opinions of the school of Thales.
Chapter IV.—Opinions of Pythagoras and Epicurus.
Chapter V.—Opinions of Plato and Aristotle.
Chapter VI.—Further disagreements between Plato and Aristotle.
Chapter VII.—Inconsistencies of Plato’s doctrine.
Chapter VIII.—Antiquity, inspiration, and harmony of Christian teachers.
Chapter IX.—The antiquity of Moses proved by Greek writers.
Chapter X—Training and inspiration of Moses.
Chapter XI.—Heathen oracles testify of Moses.
Chapter XII.—Antiquity of Moses proved.
Chapter XIII.—History of the Septuagint.
Chapter XIV.—A warning appeal to the Greeks.
Chapter XV.—Testimony of Orpheus to monotheism.
Chapter XVI.—Testimony of the Sibyl.
Chapter XVII.—Testimony of Homer.
Chapter XVIII.—Testimony of Sophocles.
Chapter XIX.—Testimony of Pythagoras.
Chapter XX.—Testimony of Plato.
Chapter XXI.—The namelessness of God.
Chapter XXII.—Studied ambiguity of Plato.
Chapter XXIII.—Plato’s self-contradiction.
Chapter XXIV.—Agreement of Plato and Homer.
Chapter XXV.—Plato’s knowledge of God’s eternity.
Chapter XXVI.—Plato indebted to the prophets.
Chapter XXVII.—Plato’s knowledge of the judgment.
Chapter XXVIII.—Homer’s obligations to the sacred writers.
Chapter XXIX.—Origin of Plato’s doctrine of form.
Chapter XXX.—Homer’s knowledge of man’s origin.
Chapter XXXI.—Further proof of Plato’s acquaintance with Scripture.
Chapter XXXII.—Plato’s doctrine of the heavenly gift.
Chapter XXXIII.—Plato’s idea of the beginning of time drawn from Moses.
Chapter XXXIV.—Whence men attributed to God human form.
Chapter XXXV.—Appeal to the Greeks.
And Pythagoras, son of Mnesarchus, who expounded the doctrines of his own philosophy, mystically by means of symbols, as those who have written his life show, himself seems to have entertained thoughts about the unity of God not unworthy of his foreign residence in Egypt. For when he says that unity is the first principle of all things, and that it is the cause of all good, he teaches by an allegory that God is one, and alone.39 Has no fellow. And that this is so, is evident from his saying that unity and one differ widely from one another. For he says that unity belongs to the class of things perceived by the mind, but that one belongs to numbers. And if you desire to see a clearer proof of the opinion of Pythagoras concerning one God, hear his own opinion, for he spoke as follows: “God is one; and He Himself does not, as some suppose, exist outside the world, but in it, He being wholly present in the whole circle, and beholding all generations; being the regulating ingredient of all the ages, and the administrator of His own powers and works, the first principle of all things, the light of heaven, and Father of all, the intelligence and animating soul of the universe, the movement of all orbits.” Thus, then, Pythagoras.
Ὁ δὲ τοῦ Μνησάρχου Πυθαγόρας, ὁ τὰ δόγματα τῆς ἑαυτοῦ φιλοσοφίας διὰ συμβόλων μυστικῶς ἐκθέμενος, ὡς δηλοῦσιν οἱ τὸν βίον αὐτοῦ γεγραφότες, ἄξια καὶ αὐτὸς τῆς εἰς Αἴγυπτον ἀποδημίας περὶ ἑνὸς θεοῦ φρονῶν φαίνεται. Τὴν γὰρ μονάδα ἀρχὴν ἁπάντων λέγων καὶ ταύτην τῶν ἀγαθῶν ἁπάντων αἰτίαν εἶναι, δι' ἀλληγορίας ἕνα τε καὶ μόνον διδάσκει θεὸν εἶναι. Ὅτι δὲ τοῦθ' οὕτως ἔχει, δῆλον ἀφ' ὧν μονάδα καὶ ἓν πολλῷ διαφέρειν ἀλλήλων ἔφη: τὴν μὲν γὰρ μονάδα ἐν τοῖς νοητοῖς εἶναι λέγει, τὸ δὲ ἓν ἐν τοῖς ἀριθμοῖς. Εἰ δὲ καὶ σαφεστέραν ἀπόδειξιν περὶ ἑνὸς θεοῦ τῆς Πυθαγόρου δόξης ποθεῖτε γνῶναι, ἀκούσατε καὶ τῆς αὐτοῦ δόξης. Οὕτω γὰρ ἔφη: Ὁ μὲν θεὸς εἷς, αὐτὸς δὲ οὐχ, ὥς τινες ὑπονοοῦσιν, ἐκτὸς τᾶς διακοσμήσιος, ἀλλ' ἐν ἑαυτῷ ὅλος ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ κύκλῳ ἐπισκοπῶν πάσας γενέσιάς ἐστιν, κρᾶσις ἐὼν τῶν ὅλων αἰώνων καὶ ἐργάτας τῶν αὐτοῦ δυνάμεων καὶ ἔργων, ἀρχὰ πάντων, ἐν οὐρανῷ φωστὴρ καὶ πάντων πατήρ, νοῦς καὶ ψύχωσις τῶν ὅλων, κύκλων ἁπάντων κίνασις. Οὕτω μὲν οὖν ὁ Πυθαγόρας.