Aristides the Athenian
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Aristides the Athenian (also Saint Aristides or Marcianus Aristides) was a 2nd century Greek Christian author, believed to have died in approximately the year 134. He is primarily known as the author of the Apology of Aristides.
He and his work were known until the 19th century only through references in the works of Eusebius of Caesarea and Saint Jerome. Eusebius wrote that Aristides and another apologist, Quadratus, delivered their Apologies in person before the Emperor Hadrian. Aristides is said to have remained a philosopher in Athens after his conversion to Christianity. He is also credited with a sermon on Luke 23:43.
In 1878, the Armenian monks of the Mechitarite convent in Venice published the first two chapters of the Apology, which they had found in a manuscript in their collection. They accompanied the text with a Latin translation. Opinion as to the authenticity of the fragment was disputed, with Ernest Renan particularly vocal in opposition.
However in 1889 Rendell Harris found a complete Syriac translation of the Apology at the monastery at St. Catherine's in the Sinai. This not only proved the authenticity of the Armenian manuscript, but also led to the realisation that the Greek had long been extant, as a passage of the 6th century novel, The Life of Barlaam and Josaphat. A further Armenian fragment was discovered in the library at Edschmiazin by F.C.Conybeare in a manuscript of the 11th century.
In his Apology, he argues that there must be a single God as creator and that Christians apprehend, understand, and practice God's commands better than either the Jews, Greeks, Barbarians, or Pagans.
