Justin Martyr

Justin was born around 100 at Flavia Neapolis, the modern Nablus, in Samaria, to a pagan family of Greek culture. As he tells in his Dialogue with Trypho, he studied with Stoic, Peripatetic, Pythagorean and Platonist teachers in search of the truth about God, until an old man he met by the sea directed him to the Hebrew prophets and to Christ. He continued to wear the philosopher's cloak and taught Christianity as the true philosophy, opening a school in Rome. Around 155 he addressed his First Apology to the emperor Antoninus Pius, defending Christians against charges of atheism and immorality and describing baptism and the weekly Sunday gathering for readings, prayer and the Eucharist. He also wrote a Second Apology and the Dialogue with Trypho, a debate with a Jewish teacher. He taught that the divine Word had sown seeds of truth among philosophers. Around 165, under Marcus Aurelius, he and several companions were beheaded in Rome after refusing to sacrifice to the gods. The church honours him as a martyr and early apologist.

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Faith: Early Christian apologist; venerated as a saint. Source: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)