Justin the Philosopher

Justin was born to a pagan family at Flavia Neapolis in Palestine and sought truth through the philosophical schools of his day, Stoic, Peripatetic, Pythagorean, and Platonist, until a mysterious elder by the sea pointed him to the prophets and to Christ. Finding in Christianity 'the only sure and worthy philosophy,' he continued to wear the philosopher's cloak while teaching the faith, founding a school in Rome. His two Apologies, addressed to the emperors, defended Christians against slander and contain a precious early description of Baptism and the Sunday Eucharist; his Dialogue with Trypho engages Judaism in extended debate over the Messiah. Denounced, according to tradition, after disputes with the Cynic philosopher Crescens, he was tried with six companions before the prefect Rusticus, refused to sacrifice, and was beheaded around 165. He is the greatest of the second-century apologists.