Quadratus of Athens

Saint Quadratus of Athens (Greek: Άγιος Κοδράτος) is said to have been the first of the Christian apologists. He is said by Eusebius of Caesarea to have been a disciple of the Apostles (auditor apostolorum). Dionysius of Corinth, in a letter summarized by Eusebius, records that Quadratus became bishop of Athens after the martyrdom of Publius, invigorating the faith of the congregation in that city and keeping them together. He is counted among the Seventy Apostles in the tradition of the Eastern Churches.

He addressed a discourse to the Roman Emperor Hadrian containing a defense, or apology, of the Christian religion, when the latter was visiting Athens in AD 124 or 125, which Eusebius states incorrectly moved the emperor to issue a favourable edict. With the exception of a short passage quoted by Eusebius (H. E., 4.3), this work has entirely disappeared. The passage quoted notes that many of those healed or raised from the dead by Christ were still living; this seems to be part of an argument that Christ was no mere wonder-worker whose effects were transitory. P. Andriessen has suggested that Quadratus' Apology is the work known as Epistle to Diognetus, a suggestion Michael W. Holmes finds "intriguing". While admitting that Epistle to Diognetus does not contain the only quotation known from Quadratus' address, Holmes defends this identification by noting "there is a gap between 7.6 and 7.7 into which it would fit very well."

Because of the similarity of name some scholars have concluded that Quadratus the Apologist is the same person as Quadratus, a prophet mentioned elsewhere by Eusebius (H. E., 3.37). The evidence, however, is too slight to be convincing. The later references to Quadratus in Jerome and the martyrologies are all based on Eusebius, or are arbitrary enlargements of his account.

Another apologist, Aristides, presented a similar work. Eusebius had copies of both essays. Because he was bishop of Athens after Publius, Quadratus is sometimes figured among the Apostolic Fathers. Eusebius called him a "man of understanding and of Apostolic faith." and Jerome in Viri illustrissimi intensified the apostolic connection, calling him "disciple of the apostles," though no claim is made in the brief surviving fragment of the Apology that he was personally in touch with any of the Apostles.