2 Quotes & Sayings By St Justin

St. Justin, a monk of the Eastern Orthodox Church, was a native of Mesopotamia, and a martyr. He was born in the year 483 at Edessa, where he at once showed his remarkable aptitude for learning. His parents were kind and generous, but their wealth was small, and when his father died he became guardian to his mother and sister Read more

Around the age of fourteen Justin became a monk in the monastery of Mar Saba in Palestine. He proved to be an outstanding student there, and when he came to be considered for the priesthood he remained in that order until the time of his death a few years later. St.

Justin is said to have been a man of great purity of life and great modesty in general. He was also a man of great strength of character and great tenacity of purpose. In 535 Justin was put on trial before Emperor Justinian I, who had been appointed emperor by Justinian (who was empress Theodora's lover).

The new emperor wished to make an example of him because it seemed that he did not wish to take communion with the church of Rome; he also did not want him to exercise any influence over his people of Balkan origin. The emperor had given orders that Justin should be arrested at once and brought before him; but these orders were not obeyed, and it is said that they remained unheeded even on the day when the emperor had ordered them to be carried out, because these orders were contrary to Justin's religious convictions. Later on, however, on seeing him coming on foot from Jerusalem to Constantinople with several monks who had remained faithful to his teachings on prayer, Emperor Justinian asked them what they thought about this man; but they replied that he was "a saint," and that their master had said: "See if you can find anyone among men more virtuous than St.

Justin." It is said that when he himself heard these words from their lips he wept bitterly and ordered that they should be arrested immediately and brought before him; but then he too wept at their steadfastness in faithfulness to their religious convictions. And so it happened that they were all condemned to be thrown into prison for life or subjected to various punishments which are mentioned below. These three men were then sent into exile together in Thrace where they remained many years without food or drink except for bread at noon once a week.

They spent most of their time