The Martyrdom of Justin and His Companions · §1 · Acts of the Martyrs

Justin's first confession before Rusticus

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The martyrdom account opens with the arrest of Justin and his companions in Rome and their first interrogation before the prefect Rusticus.

In the time of the lawless champions of idol-worship, impious decrees against the worshipping Christians were posted in every city and countryside, so that they were forced to offer sacrifice to the vain idols. So the holy men were arrested and brought before the prefect of Rome, named Rusticus. When they had been brought before the tribunal, Rusticus the prefect said to Justin: "First obey the gods, and submit to the emperors." Justin said: "To obey what has been commanded by our Savior Jesus Christ is blameless and beyond reproach." Rusticus the prefect said: "What teachings do you follow?" Justin said: "I tried to learn all teachings, but I have committed myself to the true teachings, those of the Christians, even if they do not please those of false opinion." Rusticus the prefect said: "Those teachings please you, you wretch?" Justin said: "Yes, because I follow them with right teaching." Rusticus the prefect said: "What is this teaching?" Justin said: "It is that we worship the God of the Christians, whom we hold to be the one maker and creator of all creation from the beginning, visible and invisible; and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Child of God, who was proclaimed beforehand by the prophets as the one who was to come to the human race as a herald of salvation and a teacher of noble disciples. And I, being a mere man, consider that I say little in comparison with his infinite divinity, and I confess a certain prophetic power, since it was proclaimed beforehand about this one, whom I have just said is the Son of God. For I know that from of old the prophets foretold his coming among human beings."

Greek

ΜΑΡΤΥΡΙΟΝ ΤΩΝ ΑΓΙΩΝ ΜΑΡΤΥΡΩΝ ΙΟΥΣΤΙΝΟΥ ΧΑΡΙΤΩΝΟΣ, ΧΑΡΙΤΟΥΣ, ΠΑΙΩΝΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΛΙΒΕΡΙΑΝΟΥ ΜΑΡΤΥΡΗΣΑΝΤΩΝ ΕΝ ῬΩΜΗ. Ἐν τῷ καιρῷ τῶν ἀνόμων ὑπερμάχων τῆς εἰδωλολατρείας προστάγματα ἀσεβῆ κατὰ τῶν εὐσεβούντων Χριστιανῶν κατὰ πόλιν καὶ χώραν ἐξετίθετο, ὥστε αὐτοὺς ἀναγκάζεσθαι σπένδειν τοῖς ματαίοις εἰδώλοις· συλληφθέντες οὖν οἱ ἅγιοι ἄνδρες εἰσήχθησαν πρὸς τὸν τῆς Ῥώμης ἔπαρχον ὀνόματι Ῥουστικόν. Ὧν εἰσαχθέντων πρὸ τοῦ βήματος, Ῥουστικὸς ὁ ἔπαρχος εἶπε πρὸς Ἰουστῖνον· Πρῶτον πείσθητι τοῖς θεοῖς, καὶ ὑπάκουσον τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν. Ἰουστῖνος εἶπεν· Ἄμεμπτον καὶ ἀκατάγνωστον τὸ πείθεσθαι τοῖς προσταχθεῖσιν ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. Ῥουστικὸς ἔπαρχος εἶπε· Ποίους λόγους μεταχειρίζεις; Ἰουστῖνος εἶπε· Πάντας μὲν λόγους ἐπειράθην μαθεῖν· συνεθέμην δὲ τοῖς ἀληθέσι λόγοις, τοῖς τῶν Χριστιανῶν, κἂν μὴ ἀρέσκωσι τοῖς ψευδοδόξοις. Ῥουστικὸς ἔπαρχος εἶπεν· Ἐκεῖνοί σε ἀρέσκουσιν οἱ λόγοι, πανάθλιε; Ἰουστῖνος εἶπε· Ναὶ, ἐπειδὴ μετὰ δόγματος ὀρθοῦ ἕπομαι αὐτούς. Ῥουστικὸς ἔπαρχος εἶπε· Ποῖόν ἐστι δόγμα; Ἰουστῖνος εἶπεν· Ὅπερ εὐσεβοῦμεν εἰς τὸν τῶν Χριστιανῶν Θεὸν, ὃν ἡγούμεθα ἕνα τοῦτον ἐξ ἀρχῆς ποιητὴν καὶ δημιουργὸν τῆς πάσης κτίσεως, ὁρατῆς τε καὶ ἀοράτου· καὶ Κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν, Παῖδα Θεοῦ, ὃς καὶ προκεκήρυκται ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν μέλλων παραγίνεσθαι τῷ γένει τῶν ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίας κῆρυξ καὶ διδάσκαλος καλῶν μαθητῶν. Κἀγὼ, ἄνθρωπος ὢν, μικρὰ νομίζω λέγειν πρὸς τὴν αὐτοῦ ἄπειρον θεότητα, προφητικήν τινα δύναμιν ὁμολογῶν. Ἐπὶ προκεκήρυκται περὶ τούτου, ὃν ἔφην νῦν Θεοῦ Υἱὸν ὄντα. Ἴσημι γὰρ, ὅτι ἄνωθεν προεῖπον οἱ προφῆται περὶ τῆς τούτου παρουσίας γενομένης ἐν ἀνθρώποις.

About this text

How Justin and five companions were questioned by the prefect Rusticus in Rome, condemned, and beheaded for their faith.

The author of this account is unknown. It belongs to the early Christian genre of martyr acts, written to preserve the record of how Justin and five companions were arrested, questioned, and executed in Rome under the prefect Rusticus.

The occasion is a persecution in which Christians were compelled by decree to offer libations to idols. Justin, a Christian teacher and philosopher, is brought with his companions before Rusticus. The prefect demands that they obey the decrees and sacrifice to the gods. Justin explains that he follows the true teaching of the Christians, worshipping the one God who made all creation, and his Child Jesus Christ, whose coming the prophets foretold.

A reader will meet Justin, the principal defendant, and Rusticus, the prefect who interrogates and condemns them. Paeon and Euelpistus say they received the faith from their parents. When threatened with scourging and beheading, they refuse to sacrifice, declaring their hope of salvation and boldness before the judgment seat of Christ. Rusticus condemns them, and they are executed. Believers secretly bury their bodies.

New English from the Greek base text. No published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Assembled reading text (Migne PG 6 print, checked against the witnesses below) (Greek)
Also checked Migne, Patrologia Graeca 6 (1857), cols. 1565-1572, archive.org scan A (machine-read text excerpt) (Greek · witness M1: same print as M2, independent scan and machine-read text)
Also checked Migne, Patrologia Graeca 6 (1857), cols. 1565-1572, archive.org scan B (machine-read text excerpt) (Greek · witness M2: same print as M1, independent scan and machine-read text)
Also checked Gebhardt, Acta martyrum selecta (Berlin 1902), no. III, pp. 18-21 (machine-read text excerpt) (Greek · witness G: independent print of the same recension (B), with Gebhardt's own conjectures and apparatus)
Also checked Knopf, Ausgewaehlte Maertyrerakten (3rd ed. 1913), no. 4, pp. 16-19, text after Otto CAC III (1879) (machine-read text excerpt) (Greek · witness K: independent print of the same recension (B); machine-read text lost accents and breathings, used for letters only)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.