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FOREWORD ~ T JUSTIN MARTYR is known as the outstanding apologist1 of the second century. While the Apostolic Fathers2 like St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. Polycarp had addressed their letters and admonitions to communities and members within the Christian fold, St. Justin is considered to be the first prominent defender of the Christian faith against non-Christians:! and the enemies· of the Church. The chief sources for the uncertain and meager chronological data of Justin's life are his own writings, the two Apologies and the Dialogue with Trypho. The circumstances leading up to his conversion are recorded in the first eight chapters of the Dialogue, and the events surrounding his death are reported in the Acta SS. Justini et Sociorum, an authentic source of the latter part of the second century. Historians place his birth in the beginning of the second century (ca. 100-110 A.D.) at Flavia Neapolis5 (today NablCis ) in Samaria. Although St. Epiphanius6 calls him a 1 For Christian Apologists. cf. R. Arbesmann in Foreword to Vol. of The Writings of Tertullian in this series. 2 The A.postolic Fathers is a collective name. in use since the seventeenth century. for a group of Christian writers who either were or were believed to be discip,les of the Apostles. Cf. K. Bihlmeyer. Die apostolischen Vater (Tuhingen 1924) VIIf. A translation of The Apostolic Fathers by F. X. Climm. J.-F. Marique and C.C. Walsh is found in the first volume of this series. 11 Cf. his Dialogue with Trypho pp. 147-~ below. 4 Cf. his two Apologies pp. 1111-135 below. S Cf. 1 Apol. 1. It was called Flavia in honor of Flavius Vespasian who had built this city on the ruins of Sichem. formerly the capital of Samaria. 6 Cf. Haereses 46. 9 10 FOREWORD Samaritan, and he himself refers to his people as Samarians,7 Justin was not a Jew either by race or religion.s His family was rather of pagan and Greco-Roman9 ancestry. They had come as colonists to Flavia Neapolis during the reign of Titus (79-81 A.D.), the son of Flavius Vespasian (69-79), who had built this city and had granted its inhabitants the privileges of Roman citizens. Obviously, the parents of Justin had considerable means and could afford to give their son an excellent education in the pagan culture of the day. Young Justin had a keen mind, was inquisitive by nature and endowed with a burning thirst for learning. He tried to broaden his knowledge further by extensive travels. Driven by an inner urge and a profound inclination for philosophy,lO he subsequently frequented the schools of the Stoics, the Peripatetics, the Pythagoreans,11 and the Platonists. He set out to reach the truth; to gain a perfect knowledge of God was his greatest and only ambition. Dissatisfied with the Stoics and Peripatetics, he tells us of finding temporary peace in the philosophy of the Platonists: 'the perception of incorporeal things quite overwhelmed me and 7 Cf. Dial. with Tr. 120. 8 According to Dial. with Tr. 29. he was not circumcised. 9 F. Cayre. Patrologie et Histoire de Theologie (3rd ed. Paris 1938) 110. states that Justin 'probably' was of Roman origin only: B. Altaner. Patr%gia (Roma 1940) 69. that he was a Greek. The Latin name of his father and the Greek name of his grandfather suggest a mixed ancestry. Cf. Smith and Wace. Diet. of Christ. Biog. 10 Cf. Dial. with Tr. 2f.: 'Philosophy is indeed one's greatest possession. It is most precious in the sight of God. to whom it. alone. leads us and to whom it unites us. They are really holy men who have devoted themselves to philosophy.' For Justin. philosophy comprises both the search for the truth and Truth itself which is God: since 'God is the Being having the same nature in the same manner and is the cause of existence of all else. . . . therefore it is philosophy that alone produces happiness.' II The extensive acquaintance with music. astronomy. and geometry. required as a preliminary step. as well as personal reasons. made him quit this school after a very short time. FOREWORD 11 the Platonic theory of ideas added wings to my mind, so that in a short time I imagined myself a wise man. So great was my folly that I fully expected immediately to gaze upon God.'12 One day, being in such frame of. mind...

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