First Apology 56

Justin Martyr · First Apology · ca. 150–155 · Rome · Read in context

Summary: After Christ came, the demons raised up Simon Magus and Menander; Justin asks that Simon's statue in Rome be taken down.

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Greek text · Rauschen, 92–94

Οὐκ ἠρκέσθησαν δὲ οἱ φαῦλοι δαίμονες πρὸ τῆς φανερώσεως τοῦ Χριστοῦ εἰπεῖν τοὺς λεχθέντας υἱοὺς τῷ Διῒ γεγονέναι, ἀλλʼ ἐπειδή, φανερωθέντος αὐτοῦ καὶ γενομένου ἐν ἀνθρώποις, καὶ ὅπως διὰ τῶν προφητῶν προεκεκήρυκτο ἔμαθον καὶ ἐν παντὶ γένει πιστευόμενον καὶ προσδοκώμενον ἔγνωσαν, πάλιν, ὡς προεδηλώσαμεν, προεβάλλοντο ἄλλους, Σίμωνα μὲν καὶ Μένανδρον ἀπὸ Σαμαρείας, οἳ καὶ μαγικὰς δυνάμεις ποιήσαντες πολλοὺς ἐξηπάτησαν καὶ ἔτι ἀπατωμένους ἔχουσι. Καὶ γὰρ παρʼ ὑμῖν, ὡς προέφημεν, ἐν τῇ βασιλίδι Ῥώμῃ ἐπὶ Κλαυδίου Καίσαρος γενόμενος ὁ Σίμων καὶ τὴν ἱερὰν σύγκλητον καὶ τὸν δῆμον Ῥωμαίων εἰς τοσοῦτο κατεπλήξατο, ὡς θεὸν νομισθῆναι καὶ ἀνδριάντι, ὡς τοὺς ἄλλους παρʼ ὑμῖν τιμωμένους θεούς, τιμηθῆναι. Ὅθεν τήν τε ἱερὰν σύγκλητον καὶ τὸν δῆμον τὸν ὑμέτερον συνεπιγνώμονας ταύτης ἡμῶν τῆς ἀξιώσεως παραλαβεῖν αἰτοῦμεν, ἵνʼ, εἴ τις εἴη τοῖς ἀπʼ ἐκείνου διδάγμασι κατεχόμενος, τἀληθὲς μαθὼν τὴν πλάνην φυγεῖν δυνηθῇ. Καὶ τὸν ἀνδριάντα, εἰ βούλεσθε, καθαιρήσατε.

English · Claude translation

The evil demons were not content to say, before Christ's appearing, that the so-called sons of Zeus had been born; but when he had appeared and come among men, and they learned how he had been foretold through the prophets, and knew that he was believed and expected in every race, again, as we showed before, they put forward others: Simon and Menander from Samaria, who by doing works of magic deceived many and still keep them deceived. For among you, as we said before, in the royal city of Rome, under Claudius Caesar, Simon so astonished the sacred senate and the Roman people that he was considered a god and was honored with a statue, like the other gods honored among you. Therefore we ask that you take the sacred senate and your people as fellow judges of this our petition, so that if anyone is held fast by his teachings, he may learn the truth and be able to flee the error. And the statue, if you wish, destroy.

About this passage

Source

Rauschen, 92–94 · 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

Text

As printed in Rauschen, FlorPatr 2. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

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.

Compare

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1 (1885) (an older public-domain English translation, whole volume at CCEL; checked against ours only after ours was made)

Scripture

Acts 8:9 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Heresy

Notes

Translation notes

On Simon's statue, see the note on chapter 26.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Rauschen's printed text (missing breathing)): Ρώμῃ → Ῥώμῃ.

Cite this passage

Justin, 1 Apol. 56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/56/).

Plain text

Justin, 1 Apol. 56 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/56/).

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