ARISTEIDES, APOLOGY OF. Until 1878 our knowledge of the early Christian writer Aristeides was confined to the state ment of Eusebius that he was an Athenian philosopher, who presented an apology "concerning the faith" to the emperor Hadrian. In that year, however, the Mechitharists of S. Lazzaro at Venice published a fragment in Armenian from the beginning of the Apology; and in 1889 Dr. Rendel Harris found the whole of it in a Syriac version on Mt. Sinai. While his edition was passing through the press, it was observed by Dr. J. Armitage Robinson that all the while the work had been extant in Greek, though in a slightly abbreviated form, as it had been em bedded as a speech in a religious novel written about the 6th century, and entitled "The Life of Barlaam and Josaphat." Eusebius and the Armenian version quote its dedication to Antoni nus Pius who reigned 138-161. The Syriac version quotes a dedi cation which confuses the names of Antoninus Pius and his predecessor Hadrian.
The Apology opens thus : "I, 0 king, by the providence of God came into the world; and having beheld the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, the sun and moon, and all besides, I marvelled at their orderly disposition ; and seeing the world and all things in it, that it is moved by compulsion, I understood that He that moveth and governeth it is God. For whatsoever moveth is stronger than that which is moved, and whatsoever governeth is stronger than that which is governed." Having briefly spoken of the divine nature in the terms of Greek philosophy, Aristeides proceeds to ask which of all the races of men have at all partaken of the truth about God. Here we have the first attempt at a systematic comparison of ancient religions. For the purposes of his enquiry he adopts an obvious threefold division into idolaters, Jews, and Christians. Idolaters, or, as he more gently terms them in addressing the emperor, "those who worship what among you are said to be gods," he subdivides into the three great world civilizations—Chaldeans, Greeks, and Egyptians. He chooses this order so as to work up to a climax of error and absurdity in heathen worship. The direct nature worship of the Chaldeans is shown to be false because its objects are works of the Creator, fashioned for the use of men. They obey fixed laws and have no power over themselves. The gods of Olympus are challenged one by one, and shown to he either vile or helpless, or both at once. A heaven of quarrelling divinities cannot inspire a reasonable worship. These gods are not even respectable; how can they be adorable? "The Egyptians have erred worse than all the nations; for they were not content with the worships of the Chaldeans and Greeks, but introduced, moreover, as gods even brute beasts of the dry land and of the waters, and plants and herbs. . . ." Throughout the whole of the argument there is strong common sense and a stern severity unrelieved by conscious humour. Aristeides is engaged in a real contest ; he strikes hard blows, and gives no quarter. He cannot see, as Justin and Clement see, a striving after truth, a feeling after God, in the older religions, or even in the philosophies of Greece. He has no patience with attempts to find a deeper meaning in the stories of the gods. "Do they say that one nature underlies these diverse forms? Then why does god hate god, or god kill god? Do they say that the histories are mythical? Then the gods themselves are myths, and nothing more." The Jews are briefly treated. After a reference to their descent from Abraham and their sojourn in Egypt, Aristeides praises them for their worship of the one God, the Almighty Creator; but blames them as worshipping angels, and observing "sabbaths and new moons, and the unleavened bread, and the great fast, and circumcision, and cleanness of meats." He then proceeds to the description of the Christians. He begins with a statement which, when purged of glosses by a comparison of the three forms in which it survives, reads thus : "Now the Christians reckon their race from the Lord Jesus Christ ; and He is confessed to be the Son of God Most High. Having by the Holy Spirit come down from heaven, and having been born of a Hebrew virgin, He took flesh and appeared unto men, to call them back from their error of many gods ; and having completed His wonderful dispensation, He was pierced by the and after three days He revived and went up to Heaven. And the glory of His coming thou canst learn, 0 king, from that which is called among them the evangelic scripture, if thou wilt read it. He had 12 disciples, who after His ascent into heaven went forth into the provinces of the world and taught His greatness; whence they who at this day believe their preaching are called Christians." This passage contains striking correspondences with the second section of the Apostles' Creed. The attribution of the Crucifixion to the Jews appears in several and century documents; Justin actually uses the words "He was pierced by you" in his dialogue with Trypho the Jew.
"These are they," he proceeds, "who beyond all the nations of the earth have found the truth : for they know God as Creator and Maker of all things, and they worship no other god beside Him; for they have His commandments graven on their hearts, and these they keep in expectation of the world to come. . . . Whatsoever they would not should be done unto them, they do not to another. . . . He that bath supplieth him that hath not without grudging : if they see a stranger they bring him under their roof, and rejoice over him, as over a brother indeed, for they call not one another brethren after the flesh, but after the spirit. They are ready for Christ's sake to give up their own lives; for His commandments they securely keep, living holily and righteously, according as the Lord their God hath commanded them, giving thanks to Him at all hours, over all their food and drink, and the rest of their good things." The style of the Apology is exceedingly simple. It is curiously misdescribed by Jerome, who never can have seen it, as "Apolo geticum pro Christianis contextum philosophorum sententiis." Its merits are its recognition of the helplessness of the old heathenism to satisfy human aspiration after the divine, and the impressive simplicity with which it presents the unfailing argument of the lives of Christians.
See The Apology of Aristides, Syriac text and translation (J. R. Harris), with an appendix containing the Greek text, Texts and Studies, i. I (1891) . There is an English tr. by Walford, 1909.