Natural
Originally a philosopher of Athens, Athenagoras probably became a Christian after reading the works of the apostles in an attempt to refute them. Athenagoras was among those great apologists of the early church who presented a written plea for toleration of Christians to the Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus around AD 177.
Details
Athenagoras (c. 133 – c. 190 AD) was a Father of the Church, an Ante-Nicene Christian apologist who lived during the second half of the 2nd century. Lttle is known about him for certain, besides that he was Athenian, a philosopher, and a convert to Christianity.
Although his work appears to have been well-known and influential, mention of him by other early Christian apologists, notably in the extensive writings of Eusebius, is strangely absent. It may be that his treatises, circulating anonymously, were for a time considered as the work of another apologist, or there may have been other circumstances now lost. There are only two mentions of him in early Christian literature: several accredited quotations from his Apology in a fragment of Methodius of Olympus (died 312) and some untrustworthy biographical details in the fragments of the Christian History of Philip of Side (c. 425).