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Pope Benedict XVI- General Audiences |
General
Audience
On St. Justin Martyr
He Considered Christianity the "True Philosophy"
H.H. Benedict XVI
March 21, 2007
www.zenit.org
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
With these catecheses we are reflecting on the great figures of the
early Church. Today, we will talk about St. Justin, philosopher and
martyr, the most important among the apologist fathers of the second
century.
The term "apologist" refers to those ancient Christian writers who
wanted to defend the new religion from the weighty accusations of the
pagans and the Jews, and to spread Christian doctrine in terms
understandable for the times.
Thus, the apologists have a twofold objective: the properly apologetic
one, that is, to defend newborn Christianity (in fact, the Greek word "apologhía"
means defend); and the "missionary" objective, which seeks to explain
the faith using language and ideas which were understandable to their
contemporaries.
Justin was born around the year 100, near the ancient city of Sichem, in
Samaria, in the Holy Land. For a long time he searched for truth,
passing through the various schools of traditional Greek philosophy.
Finally -- as he himself tells in the first chapters of his "Dialogue
with Trypho" -- a mysterious person, an old man he met on the beach,
initially unsettles Justin by showing him that it is impossible for the
human person to satisfy the desire for the divine with human strengths
alone.
Then, this man pointed to the ancient prophets as the ones who could
show Justin the path to God and "true philosophy." Before leaving, the
old man exhorts him to pray so that the doors of light would be opened
to him.
The story symbolizes a crucial moment in Justin's life: At the end of a
long philosophical journey in search of truth, he comes to find
Christianity. He then founded a school in Rome, where, for free, he
initiated his students into the new religion, which he considered the
true philosophy.
In this religion, in fact, he had found the truth and, therefore, the
way to live uprightly. Because of this he was denounced and decapitated
around the year 165, under the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the
emperor-philosopher to whom Justin had dedicated an "Apologia."
His two "Apologies" and the "Dialogue with Trypho" are the only works of
his still in existence. In them, Justin aims above all to show the
divine projects of creation and of salvation brought about by Christ,
the "Logos," that is, the eternal Word, eternal Reason, creative Reason.
Every person, as a rational creature, participates in the "Logos,"
carrying within himself a "seed," and can perceive glimmers of truth. In
this way, the same "Logos," who had revealed himself as a prophetic
image to the Jews in the Old Covenant, had also partially revealed
himself, as with "seeds of truth," in Greek philosophy.
Thus, Justin concludes, given that Christianity is a historical and
personal manifestation of the "Logos" in its entirety, "all that is
beautiful which has been expressed by anyone, belongs to us Christians"
(II Apologia 13,4). In this way, Justin, even while contesting Greek
philosophy for its contradictions, decidedly directs any philosophical
truth toward the "Logos," justifying from a rational viewpoint the
unusual "pretension" of truth and the universality of the Christian
religion.
If the Old Testament tends toward Christ in the same way that a figure
tends toward the reality which it represents, Greek philosophy also
tends toward Christ and the Gospel, just as a part tends toward union
with the whole.
And he says that these two realities, the Old Testament and Greek
philosophy, are like two roads leading to Christ, to the "Logos." This
is why Greek philosophy cannot be opposed to evangelical truth, and
Christians may confidently draw from it, as if it was their own
possession. This is why my venerable predecessor, Pope John Paul II,
defined Justin as a "pioneer of a positive engagement with philosophical
thinking -- albeit with cautious discernment. Although he continued to
hold Greek philosophy in high esteem after his conversion, Justin
claimed with power and clarity that he had found in Christianity 'the
only sure and profitable philosophy,' ("Dialogue with Trypho" 8,1)"
("Fides et Ratio," No. 38).
On the whole, the person and the work of Justin mark the ancient
Church's decisive option for philosophy, because of reason, instead of
pagan religions. In fact, the first Christians refused any compromise
with the pagan religion. They considered it idolatry, even at the cost
of being accused as "impious" and "atheists." In particular and
especially in his first "Apology," Justin harshly criticized the pagan
religion and its myths, which he considered diabolical "disorientations"
on the path to truth.
Instead, philosophy represented the privileged meeting place for
paganism, Judaism and Christianity, precisely at the level of critiquing
the pagan religion and its false myths.
Another apologist, Justin's contemporary, Bishop Melito of Sardis,
defined the new religion as "our philosophy …" ("Hist. Eccl." 4,26,7).
In fact, the pagan religion did not walk along the path of the "Logos,"
but insisted on following its myths even if recognized by Greek
philosophy as inconsistent with the truth. Therefore, the fall of the
pagan religion was inevitable: It was the logical consequence of
detaching religion from the truth of things, reducing it to a fake
collection of ceremonies, traditions and customs.
Justin, and with him other apologists, took the position of the
Christian faith as the God of the philosophers instead of the false gods
of the pagan religion. It was a choice for the truth of being versus the
myth of traditions. Some decades after Justin, Tertullian defined the
same option of the Christians with a perennially valid phrase: "Dominus
noster Christus veritatem se, non consuetudinem, cognominavit -- Christ
said he was the truth, not the tradition" ("De virgin. vel." 1,1).
Note that the term "consuetudo," used here by Tertullian with reference
to the pagan religion, may be translated in modern languages with
expressions like "cultural fashions" or "fads."
In an era such as ours, marked by relativism in the debate on values and
on religion -- as well as in interreligious dialogue -- this is a lesson
that should not be forgotten. With this objective, and here I'll
conclude, I again present to you the words of the mysterious old man
that Justin found by the sea: "You, above all, pray that the doors of
light will be opened for you. For, no one can see nor understand if God
and his Christ do not give him understanding" ("Dial." 7,3).
[Translation by ZENIT]
[After the audience, Benedict XVI greeted visitors in various languages.
In English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Continuing our catechesis on the Fathers of the Early Church, we
consider today St. Justin, Philosopher and Martyr. St. Justin was born
in Samaria, Palestine, around the year 100 (one hundred). During his
youth he ardently sought the truth. After a meeting with an old man, who
directed him to prayer and the study of the prophets, the St. converted
to Christianity. He eventually established a school in Rome where he
taught the new religion; he was denounced as a Christian and decapitated
in the year 165 (one sixty five). Of his written works only his two
Apologies and his Dialogue with Trypho remain. These emphasize God's
project of Creation and Salvation which find fulfillment in Jesus
Christ, who is the Logos or Word of God. Before the birth of Christ the
Logos allowed men and women to come to know part of the truth about God
and man. The full truth, however, has been given to Christians with the
Incarnation of the Word of God. Our dialogue with philosophy and other
religions, inspired by St. Justin, must remain firmly rooted in Truth,
while always avoiding that which is merely fashionable.
I offer a warm welcome to all the English-speaking visitors present at
today's audience. I extend particular greetings to the students from the
American Taipei School, to the members of the Shinto religious
delegation from Japan and to the pilgrims from St. Vincent Archabbey in
Latrobe. May this Lenten season purify your hearts and fill you with
joy, and may God bless you all!
© Copyright 2007 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
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