Folia Theologica 17. (2006)

László Perendy: A Christian Platonist

FOLIA THEOLOGICA 17 (2006)

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László PERENDY

A CHRISTIAN PLATONIST Saint Justin's teaching on God's monarchy

In order to understand the philosophical and theological systems of thought of Saintjustin, we have to be acquainted with the most important events of his life and the intellectual milieu of his time.

We can gather information about his life mostly from his own works. As it is widely known, three of his works are extant. We can find biographical data in the 1st and 6th chapters of his Apologia Maior, in the 3rd chapter of his Apologia Minor, and in the 2nd chapter of his Dialogue with Trypho the Jew. An additional source of information is the 11th chapter of the 4th book of Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius of Caesaraea and the 3rd chapter of Acta lustini. From these sources we can gather information about his descent, the chronology of his life, his studies in various schools of philosophy, his conversion to Christianity, his disputes in Ephesus, his teaching career in Rome, and his martyrdom there.

Already Harnack tried to sketch the chronology of his life, which was later more or less accepted by other scholars. He was probably born about 100 AD, so during the reign of Trajan. With all probability he became Christian about 133, i.e. during the reign of Hadrian and at the time of the second Jewish war. He settled down in Rome ten years later, that is during the years when Valentinus and Marcion also appeared in the Eternal City, when Antoninus Pius was Caesar of the Empire. He wrote Apologia Maior one or two years after 150, the Dialogue between 155 and 160, and the Apologia Minor between the two. He suffered martyrdom about 165, i.e. during the first years of the reign of Marcus Aurelius, when Junius Rusticus was the prefect of Rome (162-167).

His family was of Graeco-Roman origin. His father's name was a Latin one: Priscus, but his grandfather's name was Greek: BaKyeiog. It is worth also mentioning that although we often use his name in a Greek form (’Ioucmvos), because in the manuscripts of his works