Aristides (Apologist) - Definition

Note: This article is about the Christian author. For the Athenian ruler, see Aristides.

Aristides (fl. 2nd century) of Athens was a Christian philosopher and apologist. For centuries all that was known of him came from references in Eusebius and Saint Jerome, but part of his Apology was discovered in 1878, with the rest of it found in 1891. Eusebius says that Aristides and another apologist, Quadratus, gave their Apologies directly to the Emperor Hadrian. Aristides is also credited with a sermon on Luke 23:43.

Aristides remained a philosopher after his conversion to Christianity, and he continued to work as a philosopher in Athens. 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.