Who Was Justin Martyr? Justin Martyr Biography 

The accounts of the Saints is really inspiring.

You should take time to read his First Apology. Take a look at Paragraphs 65-67, in which he describes the Christian worship service that is celebrated every Sunday.

Thanks much for this video.

I love this channel! May the Lord bless everyone involved in this ministry. ❤

Apology is a polemic that explains or defends the Christian faith. St. Martyr used his philosophical training to argue for the legitimacy of christian thought as supreme to Judaism and the philosophies of his period . Stoic -> Peripatetic -> Pythagorean -> Platonic

Thank you for this informative video! Great intro to Justin Martyr

Gosto muito das descrições feitas pelo Justino acerca de como eram as missas nos tempos antigos. Eu amo a Igreja Católica

At around the 3 minute mark, you stated there was no centralized leader in Rome. At the time, the bishop of Rome was Pope Anicetus, the 10th successor of the Apostle Peter.

Is there a youtube channel that covers the content these men made? I'd like a good book / collection of these early Christian thinkers.

Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia (not Elder) wrote to Trajan, we don't know if Trajan wrote back. Pliny the Elder died in 79

This article is written by Ahn Cheolmin, who is studying Reformed Theology at Sudo International University in Korea. 2023. 9. 14. Author : Ahn Cheol Min "Hello? Today, I'd like to share some thoughts on what to consider when reading Volumes 1 and 2 of the Apology of Justin Martyr, who was both a defender of the early Church and a martyr. As far as I know, Justin Martyr mentioned in his writings that people like Plato and Socrates were atheists, yet Christians. This part sometimes gets featured in publications, and he is often introduced as a figure who opened the path to universal religion. However, I have a different perspective, and I will now explain why I think this way. First of all, Christians of the early Church in Justin Martyr's time were executed on charges of 'atheism.' I believe this was because they(Romans of that time) did not concede Christianity as a religion. Socrates appears in Plato's books, so what Socrates says in these books is often equated with Plato's ideas. As we all know, both Socrates and Plato discussed gods. But Socrates was considered a 'gadfly' in his time, annoying people, and ultimately faced execution. Now we can understand why Justin Martyr called Socrates and Plato atheists, yet Christians. As the writings progress, he also says that demons distorted the prophecies. He includes poets as culprits, and we are all too aware of the impact these poets like Homer, Hesiod, and Virgil have had. Exaggerating a bit, I think that the footnotes of their works can be seen as the source of all philosophies and religious thoughts of the time. He criticizes these poets. Would someone who studied much philosophy, especially a Platonist, do this? His writings also mention that even Plato misunderstood the prophecies and was expelled from the land of poets. In other words, Justin Martyr used Plato and Socrates as examples to defend Christianity and later clarified that even Plato was not a Christian. The even more astonishing part comes from his description of baptism in his writtings. According to the teachings of the apostles, he says humans are not born with the ability to choose or knowledge but learn these from their parents. This vividly contrasts with Plato's Theory of Innate Ideas. Some say that Justin Martyr emphasized free will. But considering the criticisms against predestination and grace-only theology today, this is easy to understand. They insist that the focus on predestination and grace led to moral decay in the church. I think, they continue to try to turn Christianity into ethics with ideas inherited from Hellenistic philosophy. In Hellenistic philosophy, fate is called 'inevitability,' and chance is termed 'coincidence.' Thinkers like Aristotle believed that the concept of coincidence must exist to motivate moral efforts in people. Today's criticisms were once used to falsely charge Christians with atheism and adherence to harmful religions. Justin Martyr emphasized free will in his defense against these allegations. Augustine also opposed the idea of lacking free will. The idea of free will that he rejected was the idea of free will in Hellenism. It's strange to me that Augustine is sometimes said to have denied free will entirely just because he emphasized grace during his debates with Pelagius. Augustine talked about committing evil with one's own free will, without force or coercion. Calvin said that will follows reason(understanding), and Jonathan Edwards also spoke of what the will ultimately follows, and I assert that it is knowledge. A regenerated believer comes to possess two laws, as described in Romans chapter 7. To borrow Justin's expression, one is the rational Christ which all philosophers have, and the other is the Word as the perfect knowledge held by the regenerated believer. I think Hellenistic philosophy and Christian theology have different perspectives on human will and knowledge. In Hellenistic thought, knowledge is not considered corrupt, and the will is seen as having the ability to choose between good and evil. In contrast, Christian theology asserts that the will follows knowledge, and that actions are performed freely without any force or coercion. In the chapter on baptism, Justin Martyr clearly mentions that when one becomes a Christian, they move from being children of inevitability and ignorance to children of choice and knowledge. It means that the world's knowledge is not true knowledge; the Gospel that Christians possess is true knowledge and the will comes from knowledge. I think that's why he said that the reason of all philosophers was Christ. All knowledge comes from God. In contrast, the Gospel, the knowledge that Christians have, is complete reason. Just as poets had heard the prophecies but distorted them, everyone received their knowledge from their parents and ultimately from God but distorted and falsified it. Yet faint traces of moral and intellectual knowledge indicate God's grace, though they are not complete knowledge. Also, when he talks about angels originally governing the world and humanity but falling into corruption, he mentions that these angels, out of desire, interacted with humans and gave birth to demons. This is easy to understand when considering Greek and Roman mythology or animistic thoughts that people had. They thought that every phenomenon had a spiritual being behind it, a principle. Some still say that such animistic thoughts are Christian teachings. But Justin Martyr argues that these principles are incorrect, like how poets and all humans originally experienced the Word and knowledge but distorted them. This false knowledge gave birth to desire, demons, and more people with wrong knowledge. In Greek and Roman mythology, talented individuals were considered children of certain gods, or even referred to as such gods. For example, Achilles was considered the son of a goddess, and many heroes in the Iliad had similar origins. Justin argued for Christianity. He clearly asserted that all knowledge possessed by humanity was a distorted and falsified version of the knowledge given by Jesus, and that one could not possess complete knowledge without the Word obtained through being a Christian. So I insist that he bravely, even in the face of death, boldly stated that the contemporary ideologies of his time were false. Though insufficient, this concludes my sharing on points to consider when reading Volumes 1 and 2 of Justinus' apologetics today. Thank you. See you next time.

THANK YOU

Kinda interesting that he petitioned the Emperor for religious liberty.

Amazing siory 👍🏻

Waawoo interesting history

Author also important to some exponents of the Liturgical Movement 😉

Sounds like ChatGPT script with a video editor?

I stand corrected; we do know how Trajan responded.

Are the first and second apologies available in english?

What an incredible coincidence that he died for his faith and that he was also called ‘Martyr’! 😂

No centralized leader in Rome in the second century???? You mention presbyters and deacons but not Bishops, every major city had a Bishop.

Justin Martyr was a pagan who became a Christian around 132. In his First Apology, Justin used the concept of the "Logos" as a way of arguing for Christianity to non-Jews. These references demonstrate that Justin's knowledge of Stoicism was the knowledge of an ordinary man of his time in ordinary conversation, and that it is unlikely he ever studied Stoicism.[143] However, he calls himself a Platonist, his references to Plato are much more detailed, and parallels to Plato's writings can be found in Justin's, though they do not suggest direct influence.[143]: 62  Since a Greek audience would accept references to Greek philosophy, his argument could concentrate on identifying the Logos with Jesus.[144][145] Scholars generally recognize that Clement went much farther, perhaps the farthest "any Orthodox Christian ever did in his appropriation and use of Hellenistic philosophical and ethical concepts for the expression of his Christian faith".[146] Just a 'philosopher' at heart, not a true Christian!

By the days of Socrates, selling knowledge with this self swollen idea of knowing all things, or selling prayer, magic, etc.. became known as Sophism, or Sophists.

Hello

JUSTIN, was made a 'bishop' after only two years of conversion, having spent most of his life as a trained philosopher! Did he abandon his worldy ideas for thr 'Good new about the Christ'? Just read this from Google; Further, he also indicates, as St. Augustine would later, regarding the "true religion" that predated Christianity,[5] 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 well studied, as unknowing Christians. Paul's words at Col 2:8 about such philosophy is applicable!

In his first apology, the guy actually attempts to make the point that we might consider the idea of resurrection from the dead impossible because we simply have no way of procesing it intellectually. He argues that it is no more strange than the conception/birth process would be to somone who hadn't gone through it. That is, the process of human seed actually becoming a full-grown person. The man argues that the idea of the resurrection from the dead is akin to the "miracle" of the reproductive process..... think about that, before you cast praise at this guy's feet. He thinks the idea of the resurrection can be conpared to the reproductive process which is clearly visible in every species around the globe on a daily basis..... Sweet God in heaven, save us from Christian apologists.

😂😂😂😂

Nablus is not a city in “Israel”, it is a Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Justin martyr was a good man, but short on knowledge , his attack on Marcion was unwarranted.

Paul clearly warned AGAINST worldy philosophy at Col 2:8. So who was this 'church father'? he WAS a philosopher. Note the comment in 'The early church Fathers' page 9 ( Oxford university press1956) "JUSTIN; He had a passion for philosophy.he betook himself a stoic teacher who showed no interest in religion. The he put himself under Platonist and found his doctrines more congenial. Then in mature life he converted to Christianity. But he still thought of himself as a philosopher, still wearing his philosophers robe! which was the accepted academic dress of the professor of philosophy. Thus like the majority of these 'church Fathers' their influence of the greek philosophy of the hellenistic world greatly dictated their writings!. I dont rely on these church father writings but only on the Holy bible, which they so often twisted & ignored in their 'orthodox' dogmas!

He rejected science and went in to a fairy story. A christian apologist for certain.