June 1 is the feast of St. Justin Martyr (c. 100-165), the philosopher and Christian apologist who was martyred at Rome under the prefect Junius Rusticus, c. 165. Born at Flavia Neapolis, in Samaria, he studied the Greek philosophical schools — Stoic, Peripatetic, Pythagorean, Platonic — before finding, in a conversation with an old man by the sea, that the Scriptures of the Christians were the only true philosophy. He kept the philosopher's cloak all his life, the first Christian to wear it.
His First Apology, addressed to the Emperor Antoninus Pius, is the earliest Christian defence of the faith to a pagan ruler; it contains, in chapters 66-67, the earliest surviving description of the Eucharistic liturgy and of Sunday baptism. His Dialogue with Trypho, a debate with a rabbi at Ephesus, is the earliest Christian engagement with Judaism after the New Testament. He was denounced by the Cynic philosopher Crescens, tried at Rome, and beheaded with six companions.
Justin is the patron of philosophers and of lay apologists. The Acts of his martyrdom, preserved in the Acta Sanctorum, are the official court record of his trial — one of the few authentic early martyrdom acts. From Ephesus, where he debated Trypho, to Rome, where he died, the June 1 feast is the feast of the philosopher who found in Christ the truth the Greek schools had only glimpsed.
Connected Destinations
Rome
Italy · Europe
Rome holds the tombs of Peter and Paul, the four papal basilicas, the Holy Stairs and the catacombs of the early Church.
Mt. Koressos (Ephesus)
Turkey · Asia
Mount Koressos houses the Virgin Mary's final dwelling, a sacred Catholic pilgrimage site where tradition holds she spent her last years under St. John's care.