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

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 of Moses: And the angel of God spoke to Moses in a flame of fire in a bush and said: I am He Who Is, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, say that He who said these things is the Father and Creator of all things. For which reason the prophetic Spirit also, reproving them, said: But Israel did not know Me, and the people did not understand Me. And again Jesus, as we have shown, being among them, said: No one has known the Father except the Son, nor the Son except the Father and those to whom the Son may reveal Him. The Jews therefore, having supposed that the Father of all things had always spoken to Moses (when the one who spoke to him was the Son of God, who is also called angel and apostle), are justly reproved both through the prophetic Spirit and through Christ Himself, as having known neither the Father nor the Son. For those who assert that the Son is the Father are convicted of neither knowing the Father, nor of knowing that the Father of all things has a Son; who, being also the Word and first-born of God, is also God. And previously he appeared to Moses and the other prophets through the form of fire and an incorporeal image; but now, in the times of your reign, as we said before, having become man through a virgin according to the Father's will for the salvation of those who believe in him, he endured both to be despised and to suffer, so that by dying and rising again he might conquer death. But what was said from the bush to Moses: I am He Who Is, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob and the God of your fathers, was a sign that even after they died they remain, and are men belonging to Christ Himself. For they were the first of all men who busied themselves with the search for God, Abraham being the father of Isaac, and Isaac of Jacob, as Moses also recorded. And from what has been said before, you can understand that the demons brought about the setting up of the image of the so-called Kore at the springs of waters, saying that she was the daughter of Zeus, in imitation of what was said through Moses. For Moses said, as we wrote before: In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. And the earth was unseen and unformed, and the Spirit of God was borne upon the waters. In imitation, therefore, of the Spirit of God which was said to be borne upon the water, they spoke of Kore as the daughter of Zeus. And in like manner, acting wickedly, they said that Athena too was the daughter of Zeus,

μεινε καὶ παθεῖν ὅσα αὐτὸν ἐνήργησαν οἱ δαίμονες διατεθῆναι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀνοήτων Ἰουδαίων. οἵτινες ἔχοντες ·ητῶς εἰρημέ νον ἐν τοῖς Μωυσέως συντάγμασι· Καὶ ἐλάλησεν ἄγγελος τοῦ θεοῦ τῷ Μωυσεῖ ἐν πυρὶ φλογὸς ἐν βάτῳ καὶ εἶπεν· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰακώβ, τὸν τῶν ὅλων πατέρα καὶ δημιουργὸν τὸν ταῦτα εἰπόντα λέγουσιν εἶναι. ὅθεν καὶ τὸ προφητικὸν πνεῦμα ἐλέγχον αὐτοὺς εἶπεν· Ἰσραὴλ δέ με οὐκ ἔγνω, καὶ ὁ λαός με οὐ συνῆκε. καὶ πάλιν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, ὡς ἐδηλώσαμεν, παρ' αὐτοῖς ὢν εἶπεν· Oὐδεὶς ἔγνω τὸν πατέρα εἰ μὴ ὁ υἱός, οὐδὲ τὸν υἱὸν εἰ μὴ ὁ πατὴρ καὶ οἷς ἂν ὁ υἱὸς ἀποκαλύψῃ. Ἰουδαῖοι οὖν ἡγησά μενοι ἀεὶ τὸν πατέρα τῶν ὅλων λελαληκέναι τῷ Μωυσεῖ, τοῦ λαλήσαντος αὐτῷ ὄντος υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ, ὃς καὶ ἄγγελος καὶ ἀπό στολος κέκληται, δικαίως ἐλέγχονται καὶ διὰ τοῦ προφητικοῦ πνεύματος καὶ δι' αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ, ὡς οὔτε τὸν πατέρα οὔτε τὸν υἱὸν ἔγνωσαν. οἱ γὰρ τὸν υἱὸν πατέρα φάσκοντες εἶναι ἐλέγχονται μήτε τὸν πατέρα ἐπιστάμενοι, μηθ' ὅτι ἐστὶν υἱὸς τῷ πατρὶ τῶν ὅλων γινώσκοντες· ὃς καὶ λόγος πρωτότοκος ὢν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ θεὸς ὑπάρχει. καὶ πρότερον διὰ τῆς τοῦ πυρὸς μορφῆς καὶ εἰκόνος ἀσωμάτου τῷ Μωυσεῖ καὶ τοῖς ἑτέροις προ φήταις ἐφάνη· νῦν δ' ἐν χρόνοις τῆς ὑμετέρας ἀρχῆς, ὡς προεί πομεν, διὰ παρθένου ἄνθρωπος γενόμενος κατὰ τὴν τοῦ πατρὸς βουλὴν ὑπὲρ σωτηρίας τῶν πιστευόντων αὐτῷ καὶ ἐξουθενη θῆναι καὶ παθεῖν ὑπέμεινεν, ἵνα ἀποθανὼν καὶ ἀναστὰς νικήσῃ τὸν θάνατον. τὸ δὲ εἰρημένον ἐκ βάτου τῷ Μωυσεῖ· Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν, ὁ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ καὶ ὁ θεὸς Ἰακὼβ καὶ ὁ θεὸς τῶν πατέρων σου, σημαντικὸν τοῦ καὶ ἀποθανόντας ἐκείνους μένειν καὶ εἶναι αὐτοῦ τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἀν θρώπους· καὶ γὰρ πρῶτοι τῶν πάντων ἀνθρώπων ἐκεῖνοι περὶ θεοῦ ζήτησιν ἠσχολήθησαν, Ἀβραὰμ μὲν πατὴρ ὢν τοῦ Ἰσαάκ, Ἰσαὰκ δὲ τοῦ Ἰακώβ, ὡς καὶ Μωυσῆς ἀνέγραψε. Καὶ τὸ ἀνεγείρειν δὲ τὸ εἴδωλον τῆς λεγομένης Κόρης ἐπὶ ταῖς τῶν ὑδάτων πηγαῖς ἐνεργῆσαι τοὺς δαίμονας, λέγοντας θυγατέρα αὐτὴν εἶναι τοῦ ∆ιός, μιμησαμένους τὸ διὰ Μωυσέως εἰρημένον, ἐκ τῶν προειρημένων νοῆσαι δύνασθε. ἔφη γὰρ ὁ Μωυσῆς, ὡς προεγράψαμεν· Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν. ἡ δὲ γῆ ἦν ἀόρατος καὶ ἀκα τασκεύαστος, καὶ πνεῦμα θεοῦ ἐπεφέρετο ἐπάνω τῶν ὑδάτων. εἰς μίμησιν οὖν τοῦ λεχθέντος ἐπιφερομένου τῷ ὕδατι πνεύ ματος θεοῦ τὴν Κόρην θυγατέρα τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἔφασαν. καὶ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν δὲ ὁμοίως πονηρευόμενοι θυγατέρα τοῦ ∆ιὸς ἔφασαν,