SECTION X
Chapter 1. St. Justin Martyr (110-165 A.D.)

   The Christian Father Justin was born around 110 AD, to an affluent family
living in the city of Flavia Neopolis in Samaria.  Having arrived in Rome
to practice pagan philosophy, he was greatly moved as he observed
"Christians... fearless of death"  being tortured and executed in the Roman
amphitheater for refusing to worship the Roman pantheon of gods.

  As a young man, Justin had searched passionately for answers to some of
the great questions of life--"What is true?" "How can a person find happiness?"
"How can one find God?"

   First, he sought out a Stoic philosopher, hoping to elevate himself above
his "human" understanding.   He was taught that he must first study physics--
ie the nature of the world around him--in order to place the circumstances
of his life within a universal, cosmic framework.  Justin grew frustrated as 
his teacher discouraged questions on the subject of God and the divine. 
Indeed, the Stoic philosopher had indicated that the subject matter was 
unknowable-- and thus, irrelevant.  Justin next sought out another philosopher, 
but left shortly in disgust--as he apparently was only interested in obtaining 
his fee.  He tried next a Pythagorean master, who promised to teach Justin
physical and mental disciplines to attune his soul to the divine.  However,
Justin left shortly afterwards, after he was told that he must first master
astronomy, mathematics, and music before he had the foundation for understanding
the secret of happiness.

   Finally, Justin met a wise Platonic philosopher, with whom he felt he
was making progress.  From this teacher, he learned to discriminate between
physical sensations of this world with those of a deeper reality-- which he
believed only the disciplined mind of a philosopher could develop.  Justin
felt that he was, at last, on the road towards enlightenment and looked
forward to the day when he could raise his consciousness to the level of
apprehending the divine.

  All this changed after Justin met an older Christian philosopher while
taking one of his solitary walks in a field near the sea.  At first,
the old man questioned Justin on his philosophical pursuits.  However, 
instead of being impressed, as Justin was expecting, the old man challenged
Justin's Platonic assumption that the human mind could find God on its own
power. Justin found himself unable to prove his position, other than to say
that he believed it because Plato had said it was true.  

  The Christian philosopher then told Justin that the mind was not free to
rationally uncover the divine world behind reality.  Instead, the mind was
infested with evil, demonic powers that weakens and distorts our thinking.
Before Justin could find illumination, he must first receive a greater power
OUTSIDE of himself--the divine spirit of the true God.  A ritual of exorcism 
was necessary in order to rid himself of the demonic powers that held his 
mind and body in its captive, ignorant state.

  After debating vigorously with the old man, and after much internal searching,
Justin came to believe that Christians had tapped into a great power--waiting
to break through the clouds--and to be carried to earth via powerful Christian
rituals, beginning with baptism.  It was this internal power--the true divine 
spirit--that Justin now believed he had seen on the faces of the martyred 
Christians, who were marching bravely towards their deaths in the Roman 
Amphitheaters. 

   The old man had told Justin before he left:

     "pray that, above all things, the gates of light may be opened to
      you; for these things cannot be perceived or understood by everyone,
      but only by the person to whom God and his Christ had given wisdom."
      (Justin Martyr, DIALOGUE WITH TRYPHO 7.)

    After the old man left, Justin later wrote:

    "...immediately a flame was kindled in my soul, and a love...of
    those people who are friends of Christ possessed me; and while
    turning his words over and over in my mind, I found this philosophy
    alone to be safe and profitable."  (Ibid, 8)

  Justin converted shortly afterwards, becoming a Christian himself.  

  During this time, the emperor of Rome was Marcus Aurelius, known by
historians as one of the best political rulers of Rome, and a Stoic
philosopher in his own right.  For example, one night while camped
with his solders on a military expedition, the philosopher-emperor Aurelius
wrote the following moral resolution to himself:

  "Providence is the source from which all things flow; and allied with it
  is a Necessity, and the welfare of the universe.  You yourself are a part
  of that universe...It is time now to realize the nature of the universe
  in which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you
  are... Hour by hour resolve fully, like a Roman and a man, to do what
  comes to hand with correct and natural dignity, and with humanity,
  independence, and justice...the gods will ask nothing more."
  (Marcus Aurelius, MEDITATIONS 2,3-5)

  The "controlling Power whose offspring you are" was a reference by Marcus
Aurelius in the belief that the emperor was an embodiment of the divine
powers in the universe. One hundred years earlier, "mad" emperors such as
Caligula and Nero had demanded that their Roman subjects worship them as
incarnated gods. However, many educated pagans (including those influenced
by the Stoic school of philosophy) believed that it was not the live emperors
that they worshiped in Rome--Instead their images were revered as symbolic
representations of the cosmic forces that lay behind their powers.  In this
way, Roman subjects were expected to demonstrate their proper relationship
to the "powers" of the universe, both of human and divine nature. (Elaine
Pagels, ADAM, EVE, AND THE SERPENT, Random House, New York 1988, p 41)

Justin's Belief in Demonic Forces

  Justin agreed with pious pagans that there were elemental powers within
the universe whose operations influenced the lives of emperors and men.
However, unlike Marcus Aurelius who regarded these forces as his divine
patrons, Justin (along with his other Christian contemporaries) regarded
these forces as DEMONS! As he wrote in his APOLOGY,

  " We--who out of every race of people, used to worship Bacchus the son of
  Semele, and Apollo the son of Latone, who in their love affairs with
  human beings did such things as are shameful to mention, and Persephone
  and Venus, who were driven insane by love of Adonis, and whose mysteries,
  too, you celebrate--we have now, through Jesus Christ. learned to despise
  these gods, although we be threatened with death for it.  We have dedicated
  ourselves to the unbegotten, impassible God, of whom we are persuaded that
  he was never goaded by lust for Antiope, and for Ganymede...we pity those
  who believe such things, and we know that those who invented them are
  demons." (Justin, 1 APOLOGY 25.)

 Justin was shocked at the thought that he himself had innocently worshiped
these demonic gods before his conversion to Christianity. Now as a Christian,
Justin believed he understood the true identity of these divine powers, who
were worshiped under the disguise of the patron gods of Rome.--They were
none other than Fallen Angels who were cast out of Heaven towards the
beginning of time.  These fallen angels mated with human wives, creating
giant offspring on the earth. Justin believed he had support for this view
from the verses in Genesis 6:2-4:

  "The sons of God [angels] saw that the daughters of men were fair; and they
  took to wife such of them as they chose...There were giants on the earth
  in those days...when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and
  they bore children to them, the mighty men of renown."

  According to Justin, some of the angels in Heaven betrayed God's trust by
seducing human women and corrupting boys (note: Justin modified the Genesis
story a little bit here), thus procreating children, who were demons. When
God discovered this, he threw the angels out of heaven.  However these fallen
angels, now joined forces with their demonic offspring to terrify the
people into worshipping them as gods:

  "The truth shall be told; since of old these evil demons, effecting
  apparitions of themselves, both polluted women and corrupted boys, and
  showed such terrifying visions to people that those who did not use their
  reason...were struck by terror; and being carried away by fear, and not
  knowing that these were demons, they called them gods." (Justin, 1 Apology 5)

  In this way, Justin explained that the origin of the Roman gods resulted
from these same demons assisting powerful and ruthless men, in exchange for
being worshiped as gods.  Justin saw all the evil and justice in the world
about him, as the result of these demonic forces. It was these powers that
manipulated judges into condemning to death anyone who stood up to their
powers--from Socrates, to Jesus Christ, to the Christians who were bravely
martyred in the Roman arenas.  Referencing the Greek philosopher Socrates,
whom Justin still admired for his bravery in denouncing the gods, Justin
wrote,

  "And when Socrates attempted by true reason and investigation to ...
  deliver men from the demons, then the demons themselves, using men as their
  instruments, brought upon him death for being an "atheist"; and in our
  case, too, they do the same things." (Ibid)

 Justin's writings stressed the desire of the Christians to live as good
citizens under Roman law--while being allowed the freedom to worship their
true God.  Yet, possibly without realizing it, Justin was also threatening the
authority of the emperor himself--and thus potentially disrupting the
political stability of the empire.  Within the capital of Rome itself,
roughly three quarters of the population were either slaves, or descendants
from slaves.  Thus, it was a nervous Rome that had set up strict penalties for
refusing to worship the pantheon of gods--which included the images of the
emperors.

   As he was an educated man, Justin decided to write directly to the Roman 
emperor--Marcus Aurelius--to assure him that Christians intended to be good, 
loyal citizens of Rome. He was arrested after debating with the Cynic Crescens.
At his trial, Justin's judge was none other than Rusticus, a proud descendant
from a famous Stoic philosopher.  A generation earlier, his father had defied
the tyranny of the emperor Domitian-- and had paid for his principles--by being
executed. The current emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote that he was inspired
by Rusticus' "idea of a state based upon equality and freedom of speech,
and of a monarchy which values above all the liberty of the subject."

  Thus, both men--the accuser and the accused-- were highly principled men,
who were well versed in Stoic philosophy:  To Rusticus, it was imperative that
Justin worship the gods to demonstrate his good citizenship to Rome. However,
to Justin, this offer of "good citizenry" was an outrageous offer that would
betray Jesus Christ, the true King.  Their last exchange was recorded as
follows:

Rusticus:  "Let us come to the point at issue--a necessary and urgent matter.
  Agree together to offer sacrifice to the gods."

Justin: "No one of sound mind turns from piety to sacrilege".

Rusticus: "If you do not obey, you will be punished without mercy."

Justin and companions: "Do what you will: we are Christians, and will not
  sacrifice to idols."

At this point Rusticus passed judgment, saying "Those who have refused to
sacrifice to the gods and yield to the emperor's edict are to be taken
away to be beaten and beheaded, in accordance with the laws."
(ACTS OF THE MARTYR JUSTIN AND HIS COMPANIONS B,5, in ACTS OF THE CHRISTIAN
MARTYRS, 53 as listed in Elaine Pagels ADAM, EVE AND THE SERPANT P 49)

  Justin was in this way martyred. Other pagan skeptics might personally
ridicule a belief in the Roman gods, but would still provide the appropriate
sacrifices as a "patriotic" gesture-- a symbol of their acceptance of the
legitimacy of the emperor's rule. Christians refused, equating this as
idolatry--or even worst, worshiping demonic forces in the world. Thus,
Christians valiantly faced terrible tortures and death before large crowds.

  Just as Justin had been earlier inspired as a pagan by the courage
of martyred Christians, his martyrdom in turn inspired others who came
after him.  Thirty years after Justin and his companions were executed,
another pagan-- Tertullian converted after witnessing other brave Christians
facing death for their religious beliefs. In this way, the executions of
Christians only served to draw in even more new converts into the fold.
As Tertullian boasted to his Roman rulers:

  The more we are mown down by you, the more we multiply: the blood of
  Christians is seed!"

   Tertullian's words would prove prophetic. Indeed, it was the bravery and
determination of men such as Justin that provided the impetus for Christianity
to emerge from a small minority sect-- and spread to become the largest
religion in the world.