St. Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr is one of the earliest Christian apologists and he used his philosophical training to argue for Christianity’s legitimacy over other religions. He was often called “Justin the philosopher”.
Justin faced death in 165 AD. He was born around 100 AD, near the Old Testament town of Shechem and now called Nablus in Israel where he grew up as a pagan with jewish people occupying Judea to south & Galilee north from where they were raised.
Justin was an eager student, but there were no traditional schools in singular locations as today. Students would sit under a single teacher who represented the specific school of thought; and Justin first learned from stoic ones that seemed more focused on ethics than God himself (or at least His importance).
Justin’s next sought to learn from a peripatetic teacher. However Justin found that teacher to be more interested in collecting tuition than educating his students.
Justin’s search for the perfect school took him through many different teachers and styles of learning. He tried out a Pythagorean one who asked his students to study music astronomy before getting into heavier matters like God, but having no patience in longer processes made it hard on Justin who found himself moving onto another type that allowed more freedom: platonism- which was what led him towards metaphysical reality for once! But even though this teacher had amazing insights, Justin found himself wanting.
One day around AD 133 Justin found himself walking in a field not far from the seashore when an anonymous older Christian man entered into a conversation with Justin. The Christian man shook the confidence of the young Justin by pointing out how the hebrew prophets were older and wiser than Justin ’s favorite philosophers and those prophets had personally witnessed God’s interaction with the people of israel in the Old Testament. Justin thought and prayed much about the matter as a result Justin converted to Christianity but continued to wear a philosopher’s clothes. He never took on a position of church leadership but he functioned as a teacher of Christianity much like his rivals from the most prominent philosophical schools. He went on to be a very prominent defender of orthodoxy across the Roman Empire.
Justin’s Martyrdom
One day around AD 165, Justin was in Rome and teaching Christians and debating non-Christian teachers in the city. According to Eusebius, Justin angered an anti-Christian teacher in Rome by the name of Crescens. Justin’s student, Tatian, describes Crescens’ love of money and his hate for Justin, who bested Crescens in debates in Rome. Crescens convinced a local leader by the name of Junius Rusticus to convene a tribunal to hear Justin’s case, along with six other Christians and try them for crimes against the state. Justin and the six refused to renounce Jesus Christ, to worship the Roman emperor, or bend in any other sinful way. The seven Christians were whipped and eventually beheaded. Justin’s last words were,
“We desire nothing more than to suffer for our Lord Jesus Christ, for this gives us salvation and joyfulness before his dreadful judgment seat, at which all the world must appear.”
Justin Martyr’s life and legacy are celebrated by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church every year on June 1.
