Quadratus of Athens

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For other uses, see Saint Quadratus.

Quadratus of Athens
Saint, Apologist
Born	Late First Century
Died	Second Century
Canonized	pre-congregation
Feast
Saints Portal

Saint Quadratus of Athens (Greek: Άγιος Κοδράτος)is said to have been the first of the Christian apologists. He is said by Eusebius of Caesarea (Chronicon "ad annum Abrahamum 2041" (AD 124) to have been a disciple of the Apostles (auditor apostolorum). He is counted among the Seventy Apostles in the tradition of the Eastern Churches.

He addressed a discourse to the Roman Emperor Hadrian containing a defense, or apology, of the Christian religion, when the latter was visiting Athens in AD 124 or 125. With the exception of a short passage quoted by Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica, 4.3), this work has entirely disappeared. The passage quoted notes that many of those healed or raised from the dead by Christ were still living; this seems to be part of an argument that Christ was no mere wonder-worker whose effects were transitory. Eusebius states incorrectly, however, that the appeal of Quadratus moved the emperor to issue a favourable edict.

Because of the similarity of name some scholars have concluded (e.g. Otto Bardenhewer, Patrology, p. 40) that Quadratus the Apologist is the same person as Quadratus, a prophet mentioned elsewhere by Eusebius (Historia Ecclesiastica, 3.37). The evidence, however, is too slight to be convincing. The later references to Quadratus in Jerome and the martyrologies are all based on Eusebius, or are arbitrary enlargements of his account.

Another apologist, Aristides, presented a similar work. Eusebius had copies of both essays. Because he was bishop of Athens after Publius, Quadratus is sometimes figured among the Apostolic Fathers. Eusebius called him a "man of understanding and of Apostolic faith." and Jerome in Viri illustrissimi intensified the apostolic connection, calling him "disciple of the apostles," though no claim is made in the brief surviving fragment of the Apology that he was personally in touch with any of the Apostles.

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.