First Apology 6 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Rauschen, 16–18

Ἔνθεν δὲ καὶ ἄθεοι κεκλήμεθα· καὶ ὁμολογοῦμεν τῶν τοιούτων νομιζομένων θεῶν ἄθεοι εἶναι, ἀλλʼ οὐχὶ τοῦ ἀληθεστάτου καὶ πατρὸς δικαιοσύνης καὶ σωφροσύνης καὶ τῶν ἄλλων ἀρετῶν ἀνεπιμίκτου τε κακίας θεοῦ· ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνόν τε καὶ παρʼ αὐτοῦ υἱὸν ἐλθόντα καὶ διδάξαντα ἡμᾶς ταῦτα, καὶ τὸν τῶν ἄλλων ἑπομένων καὶ ἐξομοιουμένων ἀγαθῶν ἀγγέλων στρατόν, πνεῦμά τε τὸ προφητικὸν σεβόμεθα καὶ προσκυνοῦμεν, λόγῳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ τιμῶντες, καὶ παντὶ βουλομένῳ μαθεῖν, ὡς ἐδιδάχθημεν, ἀφθόνως παραδιδόντες.

English · Claude translation

Hence we are also called atheists; and we confess that we are atheists with regard to such so-called gods, but not with regard to the most true God, the Father of righteousness and self-control and the other virtues, who is unmixed with evil. But him, and the Son who came from him and taught us these things, and the host of the other good angels who follow him and are made like him, and the prophetic Spirit, we worship and adore, honoring them in reason and truth, and handing them on without grudging to everyone who wishes to learn, as we have been taught.

About this passage

Source

Rauschen, 16–18 · 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

John 4:23 · echo, medium confidence

Topics

Trinity, Christology

Notes

Translation notes

This much-discussed sentence names the Father, the Son, “the host of the other good angels,” and the prophetic Spirit. Its grammar is disputed: some read the angels as also honored; others take “the host of angels” with “taught us,” i.e. the Son taught us about the angels. Justin elsewhere worships only the Father, Son, and Spirit (1 Apol. 13; 61; 65; 67).
“In reason and truth” (λόγῳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ): compare John 4:23–24, “in spirit and truth.”

Cite this passage

Justin, 1 Apol. 6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/6/).

Plain text

Justin, 1 Apol. 6 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-1-apology/6/).