early 2nd c. – 165

Justin Martyr – apologist and teacher of the Logos

A Greek from Palestine, Justin sought the truth among the Stoics, Peripatetics, Pythagoreans and Platonists and came to Christianity as the "true philosophy." In Rome he opened a school where he taught in a philosopher's cloak. He wrote two Apologies addressed to emperors and the Dialogue with Trypho the Jew; his teaching on the "seeds of the Logos" became central to his theology.

Justin left valuable descriptions of early baptism and the Eucharist. He was executed in Rome for refusing to offer sacrifice to the gods, probably after being denounced by a rival philosopher, Crescens.