The Ancient Witnesses

Chapter 1: A Journey to Nicaea • 41

pointed him to the Bible. In the teachings of Jesus, Justin testified, he found peace and power, contentment and a new sense of calling as a philosopher. In time, Justin became famous among Gentile Christians as a great apologist , able to explain and defend the Christian faith against its critics and heretics. He traveled and taught widely, visiting Rome during an era of severe persecution and the spread of many false teachings. The Apostle Paul had appealed for justice to the Emperor Nero a century earlier (Acts 25:10-11), and Justin authored his Apology as an appeal to Caesar Antoninus Pius, the emperor of his times, to intervene on behalf of persecuted Christians. To be known as a follower of Christ in Justin’s time was dangerous: even a false accusation was enough to get you killed. Many believers kept their faith secret, and most churches met in secret. It’s not that Christians were afraid to confess Christ, but they could not take a chance on revealing the identities of children and other family members. Also, many rumors were spread about Christians being blood thirsty (“they drink the blood of Christ!”) and cannibals (“they eat the body of Christ!”). Just as the Jews were hated by Romans in the early centuries after Christ, the Christians were more so. They were the targets of violence and oppression with none to defend them in society. In publishing his Apology and later his Dialogue with Trypho , Justin was a voice crying out for justice on behalf of Christians, and for challenging false teachers within the Church. His writings and public debates made him a target, and his open witness to Christ cost him his life when he was publicly executed, just a few years after Polycarp. After a while, I sat up. My forehead, I realized, had been resting between the History and the Dialogue , which