Athenagoras of Athens
(+ Post 180 AD)
Historical Note
Most of what we know about Athenagoras of Athens is the little he
mentions of himself in his own writings. A passing reference to him is
made by Methodius of Olympus in his treatise The Resurrection. Philip of
Side in his Christian History (C. 430 AD) mentions that he was born a
heathen and became a Christian after reading the Scriptures. We have no
details of his year of birth and length of life, but we are certain that he was
a contemporary of St. Justin Martyr and Tatian the Syrian. Nor do we know
the manner of his death except that it took place shortly after 180 AD.
Athenagoras was a Christian philosopher skilled in grammar, rhetoric and
logic and possessed with forcible reasoning and a powerful style of Greek
devoid of antagonism and insults. His primary object was to instruct and
demonstrate. He never strays from his subject and is so concise that he
verges at times on dryness.
His Supplication for the Christians, composed around the year 177, was
addressed to the Emperor Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus. It was
an attempt to refute the widespread calumnies circulated by pagans that the
Christians were atheists, cannibals and incestuous. Athenagoras refutes
these calumnies successively: the Christians are not atheists for they
worship one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Christians are not sexually
immoral, rather they fear hell and are condemned to there for even the
thought of evil; and as for cannibalism, Christians hate homicide, avoid the
gladiatorial fights, condemn abortion and infanticide and believe in the
resurrection of the body. Athenagoras concludes with an appeal to Aurelius
and Commodus for justice.
The Resurrection of the Dead is a philosophical work of Athenagoras
written very shortly after the Supplication to prove the fact of a universal
resurrection from natural reason. It was probably originally a lecture
delivered orally and then circulated as a pamphlet.
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