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.

In 1878, the Armenian monks of the Mechitarite convent in Venice published the first two chapters, which they had found in a manuscript in their collection in Armenian translation. This they accompanied with a Latin translation. Opinion as to the authenticity of the fragment was disputed, with Ernest Renan particularly vocal in opposition.

But in 1889 Rendell Harris found a complete Syriac translation of the Apology at the monastery at St. Catherine's in Sinai. This showed that the Armenian was genuine; but also led to the realisation that the Greek had long been extant, as a section 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.

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.

External links

• The Apology of Aristides English translation of the Greek, two translations of the Syriac, and of one of the Armenian fragments, with a detailed preface.