St. Justin Martyr
quotes from Justin Martyr: →
Justin Martyr was an early Christian apologist and philosopher who lived c. 100-160. He was Greek but self-identified as Samaritan. The Assyrian Christian writer and theologian, Tatian the Syrian, was one of his pupils. During the reign of Marcus Aurelius, Justin was tried, together with six of his students, by the urban prefect Junius Rusticus, and was beheaded (Tatian, Address to the Greeks 19). Justin authored several letters including his First Apology, his Second Apology, and his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew.
Quotes & Excerpts:
“For not as common bread and drink do we receive these; but in like manner as Jesus Christ our Savior, having been made flesh by the word of God, had both flesh and blood for our salvation, so likewise we have been taught that the food which is blessed by the prayer of his word, and from which our blood and flesh by transmutation are nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh.”
-First Apology, 66 (Written 148 A.D.)
“As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach is true, and undertake to live accordingly, to pray and to entreat God with fasting for the remission of their past sins… they are brought to water and are regenerated in the same manner in which we ourselves were regenerated.. in the name of God, the Father, our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water.
For Christ said:
‘Unless you are born again, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven’ (John 3:3).”
-First Apology 61 (Written 148 A.D.)
“We testify that the very Baptism which He announced is alone able to purify those who have repented.
It is the water of life…
the cisterns you have dug for yourselves are of no benefit to you.
For what is the use of a Baptism that cleanses the flesh and body alone?”
– First Apology (ca 148 A.D.)
“Eve, a virgin and undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, for which reason the Holy One being born of her is the Son of God. And she replied, ‘Be it done unto me according to your word [Luke 1:38].’”
-Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 100 (155 A.D.)
“Jesus became man by the Virgin so that the course which was taken by Eve’s disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpent might be also the very course by which it would be put down.”
-Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 100 (155 A.D.)
“For the apostles, in the memoirs composed by them, which are called Gospels, have thus delivered unto us what was enjoined upon them; that Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, said, ‘This is my body;
Do this in remembrance of me’ and that, after the same manner, having taken the cup and given thanks, said,
‘This is my blood’, and gave it to them alone.”
-First Apology, 66 (Written 148 A.D.)
“On the day called Sunday, all who live in town or country gather together in one place and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the prophets are read.. then we all rise together and pray, and when our prayer has ended bread and wine and water are brought… We call this food Eucharist, and no one else is permitted to partake of it, except one who believes our teaching to be true and who has received the washing for the remission of sins and for regeneration (baptism).”
-First Apology 65-66 (Written in 148 A.D.)
“But Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness and matter, made the world, and Jesus Christ our Savior on the same day rose from the dead.”
-First Apology 67 (Written 155 A.D.)
“‘There are some who have been made eunuchs by men, and some who were born eunuchs, and some who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake.’ (Matt. 19:12, 11). . .
Many, both men and women, who have been Christ’s disciples from childhood, remain pure at the age of sixty or seventy years; and I could produce such from every race of men”
– First Apology 15 (Written 148 A.D.)
“We have been taught that God, in the beginning, in His goodness and for the sake of men, created all things out of formless matter. And if men, by their works, show themselves worthy of His design, they are deemed worthy, so we are told, to make their abode with Him and to reign with Him, being freed of all corruption and passion.. it is our position.. that every man will receive the eternal punishment or reward which his actions deserve.”
-First Apology 10, 12 (Written 148 A.D.)
“We have learned from the prophets and we hold it as true that punishments and chastisements and good rewards are distributed according to
the merit of each man’s actions.
Were this not the case, and were all things to happen according to the decree of fate, there would be nothing at all in our power.”
-First Apology 43
(Written in 148 A.D.)
We who delighted in fornication, now cleave to chastity… We who valued the acquisition of wealth and property, now share our common funds with those in need. We who hated and killed one another and refused to share fireside with those of another race or country, now, because of Christ, we live together and pray for our enemies.”
-First Apology 14 (Written ca 148 A.D.)