First Apology 1 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Rauschen, 8

Αὐτοκράτορι Τίτῳ Αἰλίῳ Ἀδριανῷ Ἀντωνίνῳ Εὐσεβεῖ Καίσαρι Σεβαστῷ καὶ Οὐηρισσίμῳ υἱῷ Φιλοσόφῳ, καὶ Λουκίῳ Φιλοσόφου Καίσαρος φύσει υἱῷ καὶ Εὐσεβοῦς εἰσποιητῷ, ἐραστῇ παιδείας, ἱερᾷ τε Συγκλήτῳ καὶ Δήμῳ παντὶ Ῥωμαίων, ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐκ παντὸς γένους ἀνθρώπων ἀδίκως μισουμένων καὶ ἐπηρεαζομένων, Ἰουστῖνος Πρίσκου τοῦ Βακχείου, τῶν ἀπὸ Φλαουΐας Νέας πόλεως τῆς Συρίας Παλαιστίνης, εἷς αὐτῶν ὤν, τὴν προσφώνησιν καὶ ἔντευξιν πεποίημαι.

English · Claude translation

To the Emperor Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Pius Augustus Caesar, and to his son Verissimus the Philosopher, and to Lucius the Philosopher, the son of Caesar by nature and of Pius by adoption, a lover of learning, and to the sacred Senate and the whole Roman people: on behalf of those of every race of people who are unjustly hated and abused, I, Justin, son of Priscus, son of Bacchius, of Flavia Neapolis in Syria Palestine, myself one of them, have made this address and petition.

About this passage

Source

Rauschen, 8 · Gerhard Rauschen, ed., S. Iustini Apologiae duae, Florilegium Patristicum 2 (Bonn: Hanstein, 1911), 8–114 · Greek text: G. Rauschen, S. Iustini Apologiae duae (Florilegium Patristicum 2, 1911), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-26 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Rauschen (Florilegium Patristicum 2, 1911); made independently of existing English translations.

Topics

Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

The emperor is Antoninus Pius (reigned 138–161); “Verissimus the Philosopher” is the future Marcus Aurelius; “Lucius” is Lucius Verus. The Apology is usually dated ca. 150–155.
Flavia Neapolis is modern Nablus, in Samaria.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Rauschen's printed text (wrong vowel)): υἱῷ Φιλισόφῳ → υἱῷ Φιλοσόφῳ.

Cite this passage

Justin, 1 Apol. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/1/).

Plain text

Justin, 1 Apol. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/1/).