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
and to be instructed through them, good therefore is their coming into being and irreproachable in respect to the inferiority of their nature and their use. If this is so, it is clear that all the irrational animals are the creations of one good creator. Question 128. If the enemy works the aforesaid inferiority in men through envy of men's salvation, contriving through these things to subject them to future punishments, while the irrational animals are destined to receive neither salvation nor punishment in the future, and for this reason have their inferiority unassailed, how do they not pursue evil things by the inferiority of nature alone? Response. To slander the natures of irrational animals on account of the inferiority of their action is not reasonable. For to act well or poorly belongs to those who partake of reason, not to those without reason. And since the nature of irrational animals came to be for the aforesaid use, for this reason it is clear that, since the use is good, the nature is also good. Question 129. If that which is by itself is simple, as in the case of the elements of letters, such as iota, but that which is with another is composite, such as pi, and because both are of the same substance, both the iota and that which is composed of three iotas, the composite nature of that which is composed of both is not taken away, how is God said to be incomposite, when He has composition from two persons understood to be of one substance, I mean the Father and the Son, and gives the ready supposition of one person of a distinct substance, I mean the Holy Spirit, and is called one and uncircumscribed, when there is so great and such a distinction and division of his hypostases, or rather persons? Response. Iota and pi do not differ at all from one another in substance. For each is a line. And a line, insofar as it is a line, does not differ at all from a line. But iota differs from pi by such a position, according to which this one is an iota, and that one is a pi. And the pi, insofar as it is a line, is one; but insofar as it is a pi, it is a triad, and composite and generated. For it subsisted as a pi part by part and in temporal extension by the one who combined and made it. Therefore it is necessary for one attempting to contemplate the one who is beyond nature according to some natural analogy to take from the analogy only those things that are fitting for the one contemplated by the analogy; for example, the one and the three are present in the pi and in God, but in the pi generably and compositely, while in God ungenerably and incompositely; for he who does not have one who made and composed him is neither generated nor composite. Wherefore in the case of God we speak of eternal coexistence, but no longer of composition, but in the case of the pi, composition, because of its generation part by part. One therefore is God, the triad in the monad of the sub
καὶ παιδεύεσθαι δι' αὐτῶν, ἀγαθὴ ἄρα ἡ εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτῶν πάροδος καὶ ἀδιάβλητος ἐπὶ φαυλότητι φύσεώς τε καὶ τῆς ἐξ αὐτῶν
χρείας. Eἰ δὲ τοῦτο, δῆλον ὅτι ἑνὸς δημιουργοῦ ἀγαθοῦ ἐστι πάντα τὰ ἄλογα ζῶα δημιουργήματα. Ἐρώτησις ρκη. Eἰ τὴν προλεχθεῖσαν
φαυλότητα φθόνῳ τῆς τῶν ἀνθρώ πων σωτηρίας ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις ὁ ἐχθρὸς κατεργάζεται, μη χανώμενος διὰ τούτων ταῖς μελλούσαις
αὐτοὺς ὑποβάλλειν κολάσεσι, τὰ ἄλογα δὲ μήτε σωτηρίαν μήτε τιμωρίαν ἐν τοῖς μέλλουσι κομίζεσθαι μέλλοντα, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἀπολέμητον
ἔχοντα τὴν φαυλότητα, πῶς οὐ μόνῃ φαυλότητι φύσεως τὰ φαῦλα μετέρχονται; Ἀπόκρισις. Τὸ ἐπὶ φαυλότητι πράξεως διαβάλλειν τῶν
ἀλόγων τὰς φύσεις οὐκ ἔστιν εὔλογον. Τῶν γὰρ λόγου μετεχόντων ἐστὶ τὸ ἀγαθῶς ἢ φαύλως διαπράξασθαι, οὐχὶ τῶν λόγου ἀμετόχων.
Καὶ ἐπειδὴ διὰ τὴν προλεχθεῖσαν χρείαν γέγονε τῶν ἀλόγων ἡ φύσις, διὰ τοῦτο δῆλον ὅτι, ἀγαθῆς οὔσης τῆς χρείας, ἀγα θόν ἐστι
καὶ ἡ φύσις. Ἐρώτησις ρκθ. Eἰ ἁπλοῦν μὲν τὸ καθ' ἑαυτό, ὡς ἐπὶ τῶν κατὰ τὰ γράμ ματα στοιχείων, οἷον ἰῶτα, σύνθετον δὲ τὸ
μεθ' ἑτέρου, οἷον πῖ, καὶ τῷ τῆς αὐτῆς εἶναι οὐσίας ἀμφότερα, τό τε ἰῶτα καὶ τὸ ἐκ τριῶν ἰῶτα συγκείμενον, οὐκ ἀφαιρεῖται
τὸ ἐξ ἀμφοτέ ρου συγκειμένου σύνθετον, πῶς ὁ θεὸς ἀσύνθετος λέγεται, τὴν ἐκ δύο προσώπων ὁμοουσίων νοουμένων, πατρὸς λέγω
καὶ υἱοῦ, καὶ ἑνὸς προσώπου ἰδιαζούσης οὐσίας ἐκ τοῦ προχείρου ὑπόνοιαν διδόντος, τοῦ πνεύματός φημι τοῦ ἁγίου, τὴν σύν θεσιν
ἔχων, καὶ εἷς καλεῖται καὶ ἀπερίγραπτος, τοσαύτης καὶ τοιαύτης οὔσης τῆς τῶν ὑποστάσεων αὐτοῦ, εἴτουν τῶν προσ ώπων, διακρίσεως
καὶ διαιρέσεως; Ἀπόκρισις. Τὸ ἰῶτα καὶ τὸ πῖ κατ' οὐσίαν ἀλλήλων οὐδὲν διαφέ ρουσι. Γραμμὴ γὰρ ὑπάρχει ἑκάτερον. Γραμμὴ δὲ
γραμμῆς, ᾗ γραμμή, οὐδὲν διαφέρει. ∆ιαφέρει δὲ τὸ ἰῶτα τοῦ πῖ τῇ τοιᾷδε θέσει, καθ' ἣν τοῦτο μὲν ἰῶτα, τοῦτο δὲ πῖ ὑπάρχει.
Καὶ τὸ μὲν πῖ, ᾗ γραμμή ἐστιν, ἕν ἐστιν· ᾗ δὲ πῖ ἐστι, τριάς ἐστι, καὶ σύνθετον καὶ γενητόν. Κατὰ μέρος γὰρ καὶ χρονικῇ παρατάσει
τὸ εἶναι πῖ ὑπέστη ὑπὸ τοῦ συμβεβληκότος καὶ πεποιηκότος αὐτό. Χρὴ οὖν τὸν κατά τινα φυσικὴν ἀναλο γίαν θεωρεῖν πειρώμενον
τὸν ὑπὲρ φύσιν ὄντα ἐκεῖνα μόνα λαβεῖν ἐκ τῆς ἀναλογίας τὰ ἁρμόττοντα τῷ ἐκ τῆς ἀναλογίας θεωρουμένῳ· οἷον τὸ ἓν καὶ τὸ τρεῖς
πρόσεστι τῷ πῖ καὶ τῷ θεῷ, ἀλλὰ τῷ μὲν πῖ γενητῶς καὶ συνθέτως, τῷ δὲ θεῷ ἀγε νήτως τε καὶ ἀσυνθέτως· ὁ γὰρ μὴ ἔχων τὸν πεποιηκότα
καὶ συντεθεικότα οὔτε γενητός ἐστιν οὔτε σύνθετος. ∆ιὸ ἐπὶ μὲν τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ἀΐδιον λέγομεν συνύπαρξιν, οὐκέτι δὲ καὶ σύν θεσιν,
ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ πῖ τὴν σύνθεσιν, διὰ τὴν κατὰ μέρος αὐτοῦ γένεσιν. Eἷς τοίνυν ἐστὶν ὁ θεός, ἡ τριὰς τῇ μονάδι τῆς οὐ
