Aristides

Aristides

Aristides is one of the first Christian apologists, probably an Athenian.

What is apologetics?

A rational defense of the Christian faith concerning God, Christ, the Church, and the common sense of all men. The arguments were usually addressed to Gentiles or Jews. They were also addressed to non-Catholic Christian communities, to the more doubtful members of the Church, or simply to the faithful who wish to deepen their faith consciously, for, as Saint Peter says: “rather, sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts. Always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks you for the reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15).

To defend Christianity, he wrote a work called the Apology, addressed to the Emperors Hadrian (117-138) and Antoninus Pius (138-161).

The work is divided into 17 chapters, in which he defends the reasons for monotheism and explains why one can speak of God as the creator and preserver of the universe.

In this work the author divides humanity into four groups: the Barbarians, the Greeks, the Hebrews, and the Christians. The last are those who have an exact notion of the true God and who offer authentic worship, a higher knowledge, and who stand out for the integrity of their lives.

The Apology aims to criticize polytheism and the magic of the barbarians, and it rejects Greek mythology, regarding it as absurd ad absurdum. With regard to the Jews, it criticizes the externalism of their worship and the superstitious way in which they live, although it respects their conception of God. For Aristides, Christians are a new people who have their origin in Jesus Christ, the divine man, even though the pagans’ divinization of man is criticized.

The Apology has come down to us practically only in the Syriac and Armenian versions; the Greek version has been virtually lost. In this entire work we find one Marian text, in Syriac, which is important both for its antiquity, and therefore as a Mariological testimony of the 2nd century, and for the Mariological originality of its contents, in which Mary is invoked as a Hebrew virgin and daughter of man, and, by contrast, Jesus as Son of God.

Let us briefly listen to the words the author devoted to this:

“Christians trace the beginning of their religion to Jesus Christ, and He is called the Son of God Most High. And it is said that God came down from heaven, and from a Hebrew virgin took and clothed Himself with flesh, and the Son of God dwelt in the daughter of man. This is what comes from that proclamation which a short time ago was spoken among them, which was preached and taught; and you too, should you read it, will understand the power contained in it” (Apology II, 6-7).

To explore more deeply patristic Mariology and the testimony of the Apologists about Mary, consult the encyclical Redemptoris Mater by Saint John Paul II.

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