Last words of the faithful
Justin Martyr
Died about AD 165 · beheaded in Rome
Justin, the philosopher who became a Christian and argued for the faith before emperors, was tried in Rome under the prefect Rusticus and beheaded around AD 165. The Acts of Justin preserves the interrogation, including the prefect asking whether he really believed he would ascend to heaven if he were scourged and beheaded, and Justin's answer.
The last words
The story behind them
He had been a philosopher first, working through the schools one at a time and finding none of them sufficient, and he never stopped dressing like one after he became a Christian. He wrote the earliest description we have of what Christians actually did when they gathered on a Sunday, which is why historians who do not share his faith still read him.
The record of his trial survives, and it is unusually plain. Rusticus asks what doctrines he practises. Justin tells him. Rusticus asks where the Christians meet, clearly hoping for names and an address, and Justin gives him his own lodging and nothing more.
The prefect asked a sneering question and got a straight answer.
Then the question that gives us the sentence. Rusticus asks: if you are scourged and beheaded, do you suppose you will ascend into heaven? It is asked as a taunt. Justin answers that he hopes he will enter God's house if he suffers in that way. Not that he is certain and not that he is owed it. He hopes. Then, on the record, he says the thing that got him killed: we have hoped and suffered to be saved by our Lord Jesus Christ. They were scourged and beheaded.
What they died for, you can meet
None of these people died for an idea. They died holding onto a Person, convinced that death was not the end because he had already walked out of a tomb. The Living Bread is a quiet place to meet that same Jesus, read the Gospels for yourself, and ask your honest questions.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- What were Justin Martyr's last words?
- From the court record, the Acts of Justin: asked by the prefect Rusticus whether he supposed he would ascend to heaven if scourged and beheaded, Justin answered, 'I hope that I shall enter God's house if I suffer in that way.'
- Why is the source unusual?
- Most ancient last words come through a friend writing afterwards. The Acts of Justin preserves the trial proceedings, so the prefect's questions survive alongside Justin's answers.
- Who was Justin Martyr?
- A second century philosopher who converted to Christianity and became its most important early defender in writing, leaving the earliest surviving description of Christian worship. He was beheaded in Rome around AD 165.
