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

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, in order that they might always be both impassible and without want, they must pay attention to our teachings. But if they disbelieve that there is anything after death, but declare that the dead pass into insensibility, they do us good by saving us from the passions and needs here, but they show themselves to be vile and misanthropic and lovers of opinion; for they do not kill us as if to deliver us, but they murder us as if depriving us of life and pleasure. And Marcion of Pontus, as we said before, the evil demons put forward, who now teaches to deny God the maker of all things heavenly and earthly and the Christ, his Son, who was proclaimed beforehand by the prophets, and proclaims some other god besides the Creator of all, and likewise another son; many, persuaded by him as the only one who knows the truth, laugh at us, having no proof for what they say, but irrationally, like lambs snatched by a wolf, they become prey for godless doctrines and demons. For the so-called demons strive for nothing else than to lead men away from God the creator and from his first-born Christ. And those who are not able to rise from the earth they have nailed and are nailing to earthly and man-made things, and those who are striving toward the contemplation of divine things they lead astray, if they do not have a sound mind and a pure and passionless life, they cast them into impiety. But that you may learn that Plato, having taken it from our teachers—we mean, from the word spoken through the prophets—said that God, by changing formless matter, made the world, hear the very words spoken through Moses, the first prophet who has been mentioned and older than the writers among the Greeks, through whom the prophetic spirit, revealing how and from what things God in the beginning created the world, spoke thus: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And the earth was invisible and unformed, and darkness was upon the deep. And the Spirit of God was borne over the waters. And God said: Let there be light. And it was so. So that by the word of God the whole world came into being out of the things which were underlying and previously declared through Moses, both Plato and those who say the same things and we have learned, and you can be persuaded. And we know that what is called Erebus by the poets was spoken of previously by Moses.

καὶ μηδενὸς ἄλλου καινοῦ ἀλλ' ἢ τῶν αὐτῶν ἐν τῇδε τῇ διοι κήσει ὄντων· ὧν εἰ μὲν κόρος τοὺς μετασχόντας κἂν ἐνιαυτοῦ ἔχῃ, ἵνα ἀεὶ ὦσι καὶ ἀπαθεῖς καὶ ἀνενδεεῖς, τοῖς ἡμετέροις δι δάγμασι προσέχειν δεῖ. εἰ δ' ἀπιστοῦσι μηδὲν εἶναι μετὰ θάνατον, ἀλλ' εἰς ἀναισθησίαν χωρεῖν τοὺς ἀποθνήσκοντας ἀπο φαίνονται, παθῶν τῶν ἐνταῦθα καὶ χρειῶν ἡμᾶς ·υόμενοι εὐερ γετοῦσιν, ἑαυτοὺς δὲ φαύλους καὶ μισανθρώπους καὶ φιλοδόξους δεικνύουσιν· οὐ γὰρ ὡς ἀπαλλάξοντες ἡμᾶς ἀναιροῦσιν, ἀλλ' ὡς ἀποστεροῦντες ζωῆς καὶ ἡδονῆς φονεύουσι. Καὶ Μαρκίωνα δὲ τὸν ἀπὸ Πόντου, ὡς προέφημεν, προεβάλλοντο οἱ φαῦλοι δαίμονες, ὃς ἀρνεῖσθαι μὲν τὸν ποιητὴν τῶν οὐρανίων καὶ γηΐνων ἁπάντων θεὸν καὶ τὸν προκηρυχθέντα διὰ τῶν προφητῶν Χριστὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ καὶ νῦν διδάσκει, ἄλλον δέ τινα καταγγέλλει παρὰ τὸν δημιουργὸν τὸν πάντων θεὸν καὶ ὁμοίως ἕτερον υἱόν· ᾧ πολλοὶ πεισθέντες ὡς μόνῳ τἀληθῆ ἐπισταμένῳ, ἡμῶν καταγελῶσιν, ἀπόδειξιν μηδεμίαν περὶ ὧν λέγουσιν ἔχοντες, ἀλλὰ ἀλόγως ὡς ὑπὸ λύκου ἄρνες συνηρπασ μένοι βορὰ τῶν ἀθέων δογμάτων καὶ δαιμόνων γίνονται. οὐ γὰρ ἄλλο τι ἀγωνίζονται οἱ λεγόμενοι δαίμονες, ἢ ἀπάγειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους ἀπὸ τοῦ ποιήσαντος θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ πρωτογόνου αὐτοῦ Χριστοῦ· καὶ τοὺς μὲν τῆς γῆς μὴ ἐπαίρεσθαι δυναμένους τοῖς γηΐνοις καὶ χειροποιήτοις προσήλωσαν καὶ προσηλοῦσι, τοὺς δὲ ἐπὶ θεωρίαν θείων ὁρμῶντας ὑπεκκρούοντες, ἢν μὴ λογισμὸν σώφρονα καὶ καθαρὸν καὶ ἀπαθῆ βίον ἔχωσιν, εἰς ἀσέβειαν ἐμβάλλουσιν. Ἵνα δὲ καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἡμετέρων διδασκάλων, λέγο μεν δὲ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ διὰ τῶν προφητῶν, λαβόντα τὸν Πλά τωνα μάθητε τὸ εἰπεῖν, ὕλην ἄμορφον οὖσαν στρέψαντα τὸν θεὸν κόσμον ποιῆσαι, ἀκούσατε τῶν αὐτολεξεὶ εἰρημένων διὰ Μωυσέως, τοῦ προδεδηλωμένου πρώτου προφήτου καὶ πρεσβυτέρου τῶν ἐν Ἕλλησι συγγραφέων, δι' οὗ μηνύον τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα, πῶς τὴν ἀρχὴν καὶ ἐκ τίνων ἐδημιούργησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν κόσμον, ἔφη οὕτως· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκα τασκεύαστος, καὶ σκότος ἐπάνω τῆς ἀβύσσου· καὶ πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τῶν ὑδάτων. καὶ εἶπεν ὁ θεός· Γενηθήτω φῶς. καὶ ἐγένετο οὕτως. ὥστε λόγῳ θεοῦ ἐκ τῶν ὑποκει μένων καὶ προδηλωθέντων διὰ Μωυσέως γεγενῆσθαι τὸν πάντα κόσμον, καὶ Πλάτων καὶ οἱ ταὐτὰ λέγοντες καὶ ἡμεῖς ἐμάθομεν, καὶ ὑμεῖς πεισθῆναι δύνασθε. καὶ τὸ καλούμενον Ἔρεβος παρὰ τοῖς ποιηταῖς εἰρῆσθαι πρότερον ὑπὸ Μωυσέως οἴδαμεν.