Second Apology 3 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Rauschen, 120

Ὅπως δὲ μή τις εἴπῃ· Πάντες οὖν ἑαυτοὺς φονεύσαντες πορεύεσθε ἤδη παρὰ τὸν θεὸν καὶ ἡμῖν πράγματα μὴ παρέχετε, ἐρῶ διʼ ἣν αἰτίαν τοῦτο οὐ πράττομεν καὶ διʼ ἣν ἐξεταζόμενοι ἀφόβως ὁμολογοῦμεν. Οὐκ εἰκῇ τὸν κόσμον πεποιηκέναι τὸν θεὸν δεδιδάγμεθα, ἀλλʼ ἢ διὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπειον γένος· χαίρειν τε τοῖς τὰ προσόντα αὐτῷ μιμουμένοις προέφημεν ἀπαρέσκεσθαι δὲ τοῖς τὰ φαῦλα ἀσπαζομένοις ἢ λόγῳ ἢ ἔργῳ. Εἰ οὖν πάντες ἑαυτοὺς φονεύσομεν, τοῦ μὴ γεννηθῆναί τινα καὶ μαθητευθῆναι εἰς τὰ θεῖα διδάγματα ἢ καὶ μὴ εἶναι τὸ ἀνθρώπειον γένος, ὅσον ἐφʼ ἡμῖν, αἴτιοι ἐσόμεθα, ἐναντίον τῇ τοῦ θεοῦ βουλῇ καὶ αὐτοὶ ποιοῦντες, ἐὰν τοῦτο πράξωμεν. Ἐξεταζόμενοι δὲ οὐκ ἀρνοίμεθα διὰ τὸ συνεπίστασθαι ἑαυτοῖς μηδὲν φαῦλον, ἀσεβὲς δὲ ἡγούμενοι μὴ κατὰ πάντα ἀληθεύειν, ὃ καὶ φίλον τῷ θεῷ γινώσκομεν, ὑμᾶς δὲ καὶ τῆς ἀδίκου προλήψεως ἀπαλλάξαι νῦν σπεύδοντες.

English · Claude translation

But lest someone should say, “Then kill yourselves, all of you, and go to God at once, and do not give us trouble,” I will say why we do not do this, and why when examined we confess without fear. We have been taught that God did not make the world at random, but for the sake of the human race; and we said before that he takes pleasure in those who imitate his attributes, and is displeased with those who embrace what is evil, in word or in deed. If, then, we all kill ourselves, we shall be the cause, as far as it is in our power, of no one being born and instructed in the divine teachings, or even of the human race not existing; and if we do this, we ourselves shall be acting against the will of God. But when we are examined we do not deny, because we are conscious of nothing evil in ourselves, but consider it ungodly not to speak the truth in everything, which we also know is pleasing to God, and because we are now eager to free you from your unjust prejudice.

About this passage

Source

Rauschen, 120 · Gerhard Rauschen, ed., S. Iustini Apologiae duae, Florilegium Patristicum 2 (Bonn: Hanstein, 1911), 114–136 · 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) · Its chapter order differs: our 3–7 are its 4–8, our 8 is its 3.

Topics

Martyrdom, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

This is chapter 4 in older editions and in ANF; see the work page.

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (digitization slip against Rauschen's printed text (missing accent); digitization slip against Rauschen's printed text (missing iota subscript); digitization slip against Rauschen's printed text (wrong letter)): μή τις εἴπη → μή τις εἴπῃ; ἑαυτους φονεύσαντες → ἑαυτοὺς φονεύσαντες; φροέφημεν → προέφημεν; αἰτιοι ἐσόμεθα → αἴτιοι ἐσόμεθα.

Cite this passage

Justin, 2 Apol. 3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-2-apology/3/).

Plain text

Justin, 2 Apol. 3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/justin-2-apology/3/).