OF SAINT JUSTIN PHILOSOPHER AND MARTYR, RESPONSES TO THE ORTHODOX CONCERNING CERTAIN
a prediction having come to pass? Answer. All these things are of the same God, both the prediction of the words and the outcome of the deeds, who als
is it unjust to subject to punishments those who have been led astray from the truth? Response. The heretics have so little sought the truth with all
for example from joy we are not turned to sorrow, nor do we rejoice in the same good thing sometimes more, sometimes less, even if we rejoice more in
That which is ours and that which is in our power differ from each other. We are male and female, but it is in our power to be chaste or fornicato
But God does not exist because of the universe. Therefore God is greater than the universe, just as in substance, so also in worth. Question 12. *) If
the destruction of that day. But if he was not heard, why must it not be said that being a sinner he was unheard? For God will do the will of those wh
we sometimes think. The Son of the Father is therefore the Son of God according to essence. And to say Son of the Father is the same as to say Son of
to abstain, and, if it is necessary to approach them, either having washed or having used some other such thing, so as not to be purified in a Jewish
of it both growing and declining, it is clear that the account concerning it has been proven false but if from the beginning of the preaching until t
did not need matter, but events followed and do follow his commands and prophecies. And the charms wrought by Apollonius, since they were made accordi
their cattle also. From this water drawn from the wells the magicians made the blood, and in no way is the account falsified. And the miracles perform
held the daughter of Jairus by the hand? For even if both were raised from the dead, yet the dead bodies received the touch. Response. The dead bodies
the divine scripture says, but men sometimes endured increase, and sometimes decrease, as in the case of the flood and the other calamities, on accoun
Response. But that the time of each one's life is not fixed is shown from the words of Scripture thus: If, it says, a man finds a betrothed young w
except for the pig they were deifying, for this reason he named some animals clean, and others unclean and he permitted them to sacrifice the clean o
another besides him? Response. Since different reports were circulating about the wonders Jesus performed, some saying, It is Elijah who is doing the
chains, but the demon himself shattered and broke the bonds and the chains, even if the divine scripture attributed the works of the demon to the one
...praising the holy and co-honorable Trinity for the greatness of the divine gifts, in whose name they were baptized and justified, having received t
takes from Jesus that which is honored by creation in obedience to the command, so also Ezekiel takes the name of the son of man and through the visio
Question 48. Why did the Lord say to Mary after the resurrection: Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father? If, therefore, before the
Question 51. If the divine is unchangeable, how, when blasphemed and praised, has it often rendered to both parties the rewards worthy of their respec
Response. Although the generative parts are not useful for procreation after the resurrection, yet they are useful for the remembrance that it was thr
51. How then do they not say things contrary to themselves, and yet in both respects they speak the truth? Response. Moses himself spoke of heavens, b
of heaven and earth that the heaven and the earth stand, concerning the first heaven and the earth it is possible to conjecture this because they came
How is the saying, We shall not all sleep, true according to him? Answer. God is said to be the only one who has immortality, because he does not ha
to have died. But if in truth the Lord tasted of death, how is the example of Jonah not proven false? Response. He did not compare death with death, b
offspring for of man, they say, is not a feminine but a masculine name. By what arguments then shall we refute such slander, spoken in vain? Respon
why is it created and invisible? Response. Having the words of the creator of creation that distinguish soul from body, they ought not to demand more
as productive of pride, while humility and gentleness are handed down by the divine scripture to those who have received these things, how are the gif
by argument: The eye is beautiful and more honorable than the feet but if God is ungrudging, why did He not make the feet eyes? For this argument als
it recovered it, how does it not now vainly expect the restoration of its ancient dominion? For what reason does Hellenism expect the restoration of i
If the soul receives perception of perceptible things through the cooperation of the bodily senses, and both good and bad things happen to be percepti
Scripture, having caused the people to fulfill, and he violently laid down his life by a Hellenic sword, but his children were led away captive to Bab
he flogged the parents of the children, so that they might learn not to dishonor the prophets and, through them, God. Question 81. If all deception wa
Response. None of those who sacrificed irrational animals as a sacrifice to God before the law sacrificed according to the divine ordinance, even if G
of those who are rising, it is clear that all, both those who have risen and those who are about to rise, have risen perfect by the Lord for it is im
by the Savior after the execution of John for they would not have said this, if they had heard the miracles performed by the Savior before the execut
I have eaten anything common or unclean how through such words is it not shown that he forbids all the irrational animals as unclean, and blames the
being ashamed at the stripping, yet having been stripped he was ashamed, having within himself the name and the concept of shame, so he had within him
and that the extreme cold from them is sent downwards, from which, when mixed with the extreme heat of the sun, the good temperament of the airs is pr
we ourselves needing them, on account of the lack of need of the body, as I said? Answer. If according to the apostle Paul, God is causing the fashion
Response. For such offenses the law gives remission through baptism and sacrifice, for those that contribute nothing to the harm of society and human
to happen, so that by these things men might show the honor concerning him, how, because they sacrifice men, are the Greeks shown to be more impious t
of the vow. But God permitted her to be offered as a sacrifice, not as delighting in human blood, but for the instruction of future men never to vow i
of a sophism but to the question itself we answer thus, that we too are not taught inconsistently, but as the apostles learned, first the things of t
Having not done the things that are beyond his power, since they are impossible, he is not accountable. How then does God, by commanding things beyond
The law was placed before grace, so that one is readier and more benevolent for the remission of sins for those who sin, whom he absolves from blame e
If the flesh of all men has one substance and the soul one substance, how is one person slow, and another quicker in understanding? But if the soul is
Paul calls this of the spirit, by which he arms the soldiers of piety against the invisible enemies for it is a word of God, which when remembered an
...failure dissolves the involuntary ignorance of the Jews concerning Christ? But the saying, You, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they
having brought His own promise to completion through them? ries of the holy ancient men, nor of the Lord Christ
sia, it does not have the form of an affirmation from those who asked in their ignorant supposition, but rather a questioning of both, of the supposit
...do those who pray? And whence did such a custom enter into the churches? Response. Since it was necessary for us always to remember both our fall i
Response. Just as the Lord did not walk upon the sea by a transformation of the body into spirit, but by his divine power made the impassable sea pass
to look to the creation, for this reason, looking to the one part of creation, we make our worship, not as the only work of God nor as a dwelling plac
a resurrection of judgment. The resurrection, therefore, is divided into life and judgment, according to the differences between the just and the unju
has been made wretched. Response. If the other things that were named exist for the sake of man, and things that exist for the sake of something are l
to look to another life, in which the distinction between the just and the unjust occurs according to glory and dishonor. Question 125. If the apostle
ty, with the master God making the provision and the removal of such things for the benefit of all men but the piety of the superior beings is judged
and to be instructed through them, good therefore is their coming into being and irreproachable in respect to the inferiority of their nature and thei
sence, without any division or distinction in this respect, just as the pi is one with the unity of the line without any division or distinction in th
to name the progenitors of Christ, is he found naming more? But if in the genealogy they say things that are at war with themselves and with each othe
of the one begotten from his own body. For just as the one begotten from such a union is named for the deceased, so also his wife is called wife. Ques
word, to show whose the discourse is, as in 'The eunuch was sitting on the chariot and was reading the prophet Isaiah,' and again, 'The abomination,'
the care of the wine that had run out yet out of much love, if you wish, so that they will not lack wine, tell the servants to do what I tell them, a
being foolish, how is God just, who killed so many people for the offenses of others? I mean the offenses of Jonathan and David: the one who out of ig
Understand these things in the manner of the existence of the persons. Question 140. If Christ calls himself the heir, and according to the parable th
to have begotten. Question 142. If the angel is superior to man, and scripture calls men gods, how is it not fitting for angels also to be called gods
So that also in this God may separate us from the likeness of beasts, which, along with the eating of the flesh, also lap the blood of those whose fle
their land from my hands, because the Lord will deliver Jerusalem from my hand? But according to the oracles which the Assyrian received from the soot
a resurrection of judgment. The resurrection, therefore, is divided into life and judgment, according to the differences between the just and the unjust. For the resurrection is more extensive than the kingdom of God; for the resurrection includes both the just and the unjust, but the kingdom of God includes only the just. Question 121. If the Old and New Testaments only know of anathema for wicked things, how did the blessed Peter, when denying the Master during the passion, begin to anathematize? And what is the difference between the two, that is, between anathema and cursing, and what is signified by each? Response. Anathema is said of that which is set up and dedicated to God and is no longer taken for common use, or that which is alienated from God through wickedness; but a curse is to agree with those who are anathematizing. Question 122. If our affairs are not contained by hours and days, how did the Lord say at the wedding, "My hour has not yet come"? and the evangelist concerning him, "No one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come"? Response. Even if our affairs are not contained by hours and days, nevertheless, of the things done by us or concerning us, some happen at an opportune time, and others at an inopportune one. Therefore, the divine scripture calls the opportune time for a thing to happen the presence of the hour, and the inopportune, the absence of the hour. And since after the making of the wine the Lord considered it an opportune time for his departure from the wedding, for this reason, before the making of the wine, the Lord said: "My hour has not yet come." And again, since it was necessary for the Lord to be arrested and to suffer what he suffered at the time of the Passover of the Jews, for this reason it was said of him before the Passover: "But no one laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come"; not that the necessity of the hour prevented his arrest, but the providence of God had predestined another place for it; for otherwise the Lord's arrest would have been prevented by the necessity of the hour, and the divine scripture would not have attached this to the particularity of the place. "Jesus," it says, "withdrew to Galilee; for he did not want to walk in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him." But neither before this did he withdraw to Egypt, since the necessity of the hour was sufficient to keep him from being arrested. Question 123. If the good is the most beautiful of all things, and that which is corrupted is the worst of beings, and God is good, while man is corrupted, how is man not the worst of all things? For no other of the beings, I mean of heaven and earth, air, luminaries and such powers,
ἀνάστασιν κρίσεως. ∆ιῄρηται οὖν ἡ ἀνάστασις εἰς ζωὴν καὶ κρίσιν, κατὰ τὰς διαφορὰς δικαίων τε καὶ ἀδίκων. Ἐπὶ πλέον γὰρ ἡ
ἀνάστασις τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ θεοῦ· ἡ μὲν γὰρ ἀνάστασις δικαίους τε καὶ ἀδίκους περιέχει, ἡ δὲ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ μόνους τοὺς
δικαίους περιέχει. Ἐρώτησις ρκα. Eἰ ἀναθεματισμὸν μόνον ἐπὶ τῶν ἀτόπων ἡ παλαιά τε καὶ νέα διαθήκη ἐπίσταται, πῶς ὁ μακάριος
Πέτρος, ἐν τῷ πάθει τὸν δεσπότην ἀρνούμενος, ἀναθεματίζειν ἤρξατο; Τίς δὲ ἡ διαφορὰ ἑκατέρων, τουτέστι τοῦ ἀναθεματισμοῦ,
καὶ τοῦ καταθεματισμοῦ, καὶ τί τὸ ὑπὸ θατέρου σημαινόμενον; Ἀπόκρισις. Ἀνάθεμα λέγεται τὸ ἀνακείμενον καὶ ἀφωρισμένον θεῷ
καὶ εἰς κοινὴν χρῆσιν μηκέτι λαμβανόμενον, ἢ τὸ ἀπηλλοτριω μένον θεοῦ διὰ κακίαν· κατάθεμα δέ ἐστι τὸ συνθέσθαι τοῖς ἀναθεματίζουσιν.
Ἐρώτησις ρκβ. Eἰ ὥραις καὶ ἡμέραις τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς οὐ κατέχεται, πῶς ἐν τῷ γάμῳ ὁ κύριος ἔλεγε τὸ Oὔπω ἥκει ἡ ὥρα μου; καὶ ὁ
εὐαγγελιστὴς περὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ Oὐδεὶς ἔβαλε τὰς χεῖρας ἐπ' αὐ τόν, ὅτι οὔπω ἦλθεν ἡ ὥρα αὐτοῦ; Ἀπόκρισις. Eἰ καὶ ὥραις καὶ ἡμέραις
τὰ καθ' ἡμᾶς οὐ κατέχεται, ἀλλ' ὅμως τῶν παρ' ἡμῶν ἢ περὶ ἡμᾶς γιγνομένων τὰ μὲν γίνεται ἐν ἐπιτηδείῳ καιρῷ, τὰ δὲ ἐν ἀνεπιτηδείῳ.
Καλεῖ οὖν ἡ θεία γραφὴ τὸν ἐπιτήδειον πρὸς τὸ γινόμενον πρᾶγμα καιρὸν παρου σίαν τῆς ὥρας, τὸν δὲ ἀνεπιτήδειον ἀπουσίαν τῆς
ὥρας. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ μετὰ τὴν ποίησιν τοῦ οἴνου καιρὸν ἐπιτήδειον ἡγεῖτο ὁ κύριος τῆς ἐκ τοῦ γάμου ἀναχωρήσεως, διὰ τοῦτο πρὸ
τῆς ποιήσεως τοῦ οἴνου εἶπεν ὁ κύριος· Oὔπω ἧκεν ἡ ὥρα μου. Καὶ πάλιν ἐπειδὴ ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τοῦ πάσχα τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐχρῆν τὸν
κύριον συλληφθῆναι καὶ παθεῖν ἃ ἔπαθε, διὰ τοῦτο πρὸ τοῦ πάσχα ἐῤῥήθη περὶ αὐτοῦ τὸ Ἀλλ' οὐδεὶς ἐπέβαλεν ἐπ' αὐτὸν τὰς χεῖρας,
ὅτι οὔπω ἐλήλυθεν ἡ ὥρα αὐτοῦ· οὐ τῆς ἀνάγκης τῆς ὥρας κωλυούσης αὐτοῦ τὴν σύλληψιν, ἀλλ' ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ πρόνοια ἄλλον αὐτῇ τόπον
προωρίσατο· ἄλλως γὰρ τῇ ἀνάγκῃ τῆς ὥρας ἐκωλύετο τοῦ κυρίου ἡ σύλληψις, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ταύτην προσῆψεν ἡ θεία γραφὴ τῷ χωρίῳ
τῷ τοῦ τόπου. Ἀνεχώρησε, φησίν, ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν· οὐ γὰρ ἤθε λεν ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ περιπατεῖν, ὅτι οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι ἐζήτουν
αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι. Ἀλλ' οὐδὲ πρὸ τούτου εἰς Aἴγυπτον ἀνεχώρει, ἱκανῆς οὔσης τῆς ἀνάγκης τῆς ὥρας φυλάττειν αὐτὸν ἀσύλ ληπτον.
Ἐρώτησις ρκγ. Eἰ τὸ ἀγαθὸν ἁπάντων ἐστὶ τὸ κάλλιστον, καὶ τὸ κακυ νόμενον τῶν ὄντων ἐστὶ τὸ χείριστον, καὶ ἀγαθὸς μέν ἐστιν
ὁ θεός, κακυνόμενος δὲ ὁ ἄνθρωπος, πῶς οὐχ ὁ ἄνθρωπος ἁπάντων τὸ κάκιστον; Oὐδὲ γὰρ τῶν ὄντων ἕτερον, οὐρανοῦ λέγω καὶ γῆς,
ἀέρος, φωστήρων καὶ τῶν τοιούτων δυνάμεων,
