good works, faith, fear of the Lord, chastity, simplicity, patience,
temperance, truthfulness, and the discernment of true and false prophets.
Hermas was not a man of great culture or depth of learning, but possessed
the qualities of an excellent moralist with a deep sense of divine mercy. St.
Irenaeus, Tertullian (while a Catholic), St. Clement of Alexandria and
Origen considered The Shepherd to be an inspired work of a true prophet,
though not a canonical work. Eusebius and St. Athanasius approved it for
use by Catechumens; in contrast, St. Jerome ridiculed parts of it. It was
often appended to New Testament manuscripts and achieved a great deal of
good in the early centuries, however, it dwindled in popularity both in the
East and West from the fourth century onwards. The decree of Pope
Gelasius (496) listed it among the apocryphal books.
St. Justin Martyr was the first of the outstanding apologists of the Church
and the greatest of the second century. He was born of Roman pagan
parents in Flavia Neapolis (ancient Sichem in Palestine) some time after
100 AD. St. Justin in his youth was attracted to and studied all the major
systems of philosophy, and at one stage or another was a Stoic, Peripatetic,
Pythagorean and Platonist. However, none of these philosophies gave
peace to his soul. Encountering an aged Christian in a lonely place (perhaps
in Ephesus), St. Justin was advised to study Christianity and pray for light
to know Christ and true wisdom. He took the advice and embraced
Christianity around the year 130: “This Christian philosophy alone was
sure and profitable.”
We know of St. Justin’s life mostly through his own writings. He always
wore the mantle of a philosopher, and in his prolific writing and itinerant
preaching defended the teaching of Christ as the highest and most perfect
philosophy against both Jews and Pagans. He was the first to study the
relation between faith and reason and introduced Greek philosophical
terminology into his expositions.
He was admired for his earnest convictions, noble character and perfect
loyalty in his dealings. He was an apostle and saint in the true sense of the
words. After spending time teaching in Ephesus, St. Justin moved to Rome
and there set up a successful Christian school, having Tatian the Syrian as
one of his students.
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