He was born at the beginning of the second century in Nablus in Samaria. He was an earnest seeker after truth, and studied many systems of philosophy, before being led through Platonism to Christianity. While remaining a layman, he accepted the duty of making the truth known, and travelled from place to place proclaiming the Gospel. In 151 he travelled from Ephesus to Rome where he opened a school of philosophy and wrote defences and expositions of Christianity, which have survived to this day and are the earliest known writings of their kind.
In the persecution of 165 in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius he was denounced as a Christian, arrested and beheaded . The transcript of his trial by the Prefect of Rome, Rusticus, has also survived.
Justin treats the Greek philosophy that he studied as mostly true, but incomplete. In contrast to the Hebrew tendency to view God as making revelations to them and to no one else, he follows the parable of the sower and sees God as sowing the seed of wisdom throughout the world to grow where ever the soil would receive it.
He wrote: “When we dispute with people who disagree with us, we would do well to assume that they too are seeking wisdom and have found truth of a kind. Since there is only one God and one truth, it is our task not to contradict or belittle their achievement, but to show them how their strivings and searches are ultimately fulfilled in Christ.”
In the first chapters of Justin’s Dialogue with Tryphon, a mysterious figure, an old man he met on the seashore, initially led him into a crisis by showing him that it is impossible for the human being to satisfy his aspiration to the divine solely with his own forces.
He then pointed out to him the ancient prophets as the people, to whom to turn in order to find the way to God and “true philosophy”.
In taking his leave, the old man urged him to pray that the gates of light would be opened to him. The story foretells the crucial episode in Justin’s life: at the end of a long philosophical journey, a quest for the truth, he arrived at the Christian faith.
In his book, Church Fathers, Pope Benedict wrote:
“these two realities, the Old Testament and Greek philosophy, are like two paths that lead to Christ, to the Logos. This is why Greek philosophy cannot be opposed to Gospel truth, and Christians can draw from it confidently as from a good of their own. Therefore, my venerable predecessor, Pope John Paul II, described Saint Justin as a “pioneer of positive engagement with philosophical thinking—albeit with cautious discernment. . . . Although he continued to hold Greek philosophy in high esteem after his conversion, Justin claimed with power and clarity that he had found in Christianity ‘the only sure and profitable philosophy’”
However he also indicates, as St. Augustine would later, regarding the “true religion” that predated Christianity, that the “seeds of Christianity” (manifestations of the Logos acting in history) actually predated Christ’s incarnation. This notion allows him to claim many historical Greek philosophers (including Socrates and Plato), in whose works he was as well studied, as unknowing Christians.
Overall Justin opted for philosophy, for reason, rather than for the religion of the pagans. Hubertus Drobner writes; ‘He searched for answers on various issues, with the Stoics, Peripatetics and Pythagoras and finally found contentment in Platonic philosophy. From then he wore the philosopher’s cloak to indicate that he was an itinerant Christian preacher.”
Especially in his first Apology, he mercilessly criticized the pagan religion and its myths, which he considered to be diabolically misleading on the path of truth. Philosophy, on the other hand, represented the privileged area of the encounter between paganism, Judaism, and Christianity, precisely at the level of the criticism of pagan religion and its false myths.
In fact, the pagan religion did not follow the ways of the Logos but clung to myth. Therefore, the decline of the pagan religion was inevitable: it was a logical consequence of the detachment of religion—reduced to an artificial collection of ceremonies, conventions, and customs—from the truth of being.
Pope Benedict adds: ‘In a time like ours, marked by relativism in the discussion on values and on religion — as well as in interreligious dialogue — this is a lesson that should not be forgotten. To this end, I suggest to you once again—and thus I conclude—the last words of the mysterious old man whom Justin the Philosopher met on the seashore: “Pray that, above all things, the gates of light may be opened to you; for these things cannot be perceived or understood by all, but only by the man to whom God and his Christ have imparted wisdom”
Moved by Tryphon’s argument, Justin renounced both his former religious faith and his philosophical background, choosing instead to re-dedicate his life to the service of the Divine. His newfound convictions were only bolstered by the ascetic lives of the early Christians and the heroic example of the martyrs, whose piety convinced him of the moral and spiritual superiority of Christian doctrine.
As a result, he thenceforth decided that the only option for him was to travel throughout the land, spreading the knowledge of Christianity as the “true philosophy.” His conversion is commonly assumed to have taken place at Ephesus, though it may have occurred anywhere on the road from Syria Palestina to Rome.
He then adopted the dress of a philosopher himself and traveled about teaching. During the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161), he arrived in Rome and started his own school.
In the reign of Marcus Aurelius, after disputing with the cynic philosopher Crescens, who jealous of his success and publically convicted by him of ignorance, denounced him to the Imperial police. (Christians were not sought out but if they were reported they were sentenced).
According to Tatian (Address to the Greeks 19) and Eusebius, Justin was tried, together with six friends (two of them slaves), by the urban prefect Junius Rusticus, and was beheaded.
In the First Apology, Justin discusses the principal criticisms of contemporary Christians; namely, atheism, immorality, and disloyalty to the Empire. He argues that “the name” of Christianity by itself is not reason enough to persecute, and he urges the Empire instead to only punish evil actions. He argues that they are “atheists” toward Roman gods, but not to the “most true God.” He acknowledges that some Christians have performed immoral acts, but urges officials to punish these individuals as evildoers rather than Christians.
The First Apology provides one of the most detailed accounts of contemporary Christian practice. Those that are baptized are “brought by us where there is water,” where they are “born again in the same manner of rebirth by which we ourselves were born again.”
Justin also describes the practice of the Eucharist, by his teachings of transubstantiation, “we have been taught that the food over which thanks have been given by a word of prayer that is from Him, from which our blood and flesh are nourished by transformation, is the flesh and blood of Jesus who became incarnate.”
He wrote: “We all assemble on the day of the Sun (Sunday) because that is the first day on which God drew matter out of darkness and created the world. It is also the day on which Christ our Saviour rose from the dead.”
The Catholic Catechism quotes him:
“I bless you for having judged me worthy from this day and this hour to be counted among your martyrs….
You have kept your promise, God of faithfulness and truth.
For this reason and for everything, I praise you, I bless you, I glorify you through the eternal and heavenly High Priest, Jesus Christ, your beloved Son.
Through him, who is with you and the Holy Spirit, may glory be given to you, now and in the ages to come. Amen.