First Apology

Justin introduces himself in the first chapter as a native of Flavia Neapolis in Palestine. He taught as a Christian philosopher at Rome and was put to death there under Marcus Aurelius. The Apology is a petition to Antoninus Pius, his adopted sons, the Senate and the Roman people, asking that Christians be judged for what they do and not condemned for the name alone. Justin says in passing that Christ was born a hundred and fifty years earlier (46), which is the main ground for the date.

Chapters 61–67 describe what Christians at Rome did when they baptized and when they met on “the day called Sunday”: readings from “the memoirs of the apostles” or the prophets, an address by the one presiding, prayers, the bread and the cup, and a collection for those in need. Justin writes as a member of the community he describes, and he writes to persuade outsiders, so he presents its practice in the most favourable light. He twice tells his readers that they can confirm what he says about Jesus from the “Acts of Pontius Pilate” (35, 48); no official record of that kind survives.