The First Apology

What rational person, then, will not acknowledge that we are not atheists, since we worship the Maker of this universe and declare, as we have been taught, that He does not need streams of blood, libations, or incense? We praise Him to the best of our ability through prayer and thanksgiving for all the things we are given, having been taught that the only honor worthy of Him is not to burn what He has created for our sustenance, but to use it for ourselves and those in need, while expressing gratitude to Him with thanks through invocations and hymns for our creation, for all the means of health, for the diverse qualities of different things, and for the changing seasons. We present petitions to Him for our existence in incorruption through faith in Him. Our teacher of these things is Jesus Christ, who was born for this purpose and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, the procurator of Judea, during the time of Tiberius Caesar. We reasonably worship Him, having learned that He is the Son of the true God, placing Him second, and the prophetic Spirit third, which we will prove. They claim our madness lies in giving a crucified man a position second to the unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of all; for they do not understand the mystery within this, and as we explain it to you, we ask you to pay attention.