Early Church Fathers

The Early Church Fathers: An Introduction

• Who were the early Church Fathers and what should we know about them?

•   The Fathers of the Church spread the gospel of Jesus Christ, defended the Church in apologetic writing and fought the many heresies of the first six centuries of Christianity.

•   They were orthodox in doctrine and holy in example.

•   These men, the first generation after the Apostles were called Apostolic Fathers. All gave special witness to the faith, some dying the death of a martyr.

• Like Jesus who referred to Abraham as a spiritual father

(in Luke 16:24) and St. Paul, who referred to himself in the same terms

(in 1 Cor 4: 15), the fathers were zealous for the word of God. As

teachers they helped the Church define the truths Jesus taught.

•   They had a clarity about Jesus Christ which they shared with the

Church. Their writings and sermons and holy example had a major impact

upon the development of doctrine and the propagation or spreading of

the faith.

•   Their writings are a testimony to the faith of the early Church, yet

many Christians are unfamiliar with their work. Their time period spans

the first seven ecumenical Councils and was the same period in which

the canon of Scripture was defined.

•    They wrote about a Church which is hierarchical, liturgical and

Eucharist centered.

•   Former Evangelical and Pentecostal minister Alex Jones said for him

reading the Fathers was an infusion of pure Christianity flowing directly

from the Upper room, the site of the Last Supper and the descent of the

Holy Spirit.

•   The study of their written works is known as patristics. Some are listed

below:

      The Greek Fathers:

                           ▄ St. Athanasius (297-373)

                           ▄ St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386)

                           ▄ St. Basil the Great (329-379)

                           ▄ St. Gregory Nazianzus (329-389)

                           ▄ St. Gregory of Nyssa (330-395)

                           ▄ St. John Chrysostom (347-407)

                             ▄   St. John of Damascus (687-754/787?)

     The Latin Fathers:

                           ▄ Clement of Rome (30?-110)

                           ▄ St. Justin the Martyr (105-165)

                           ▄ St. Ignatius of Antioch (50-110)

                           ▄ St Irenaeus of Lyons (130-202)

                           ▄ St. Jerome (342-420)

                           ▄ St. Ambrose of Milan (333-397)

                           ▄ St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430)

                           ▄ St. Gregory the Great (540-604)

Works: To read their works online, Click Here

Some Conclusions:

1) These men and others like them wrote much of what the Church calls

      its Tradition (with a capital "T"), in areas where they all agree.

2) Many of our popes have urged a return to reading the Fathers and

     Pope Benedict XVI recently gave a series of talks on them.

3)     In Verbum Domini, the pope’s most recent Apostolic Exhortation on

Scripture, he says:

The Church Fathers present a theology that still has great value today

Because at its heart it is the study of sacred Scripture as a whole. Indeed,

the Fathers are primarily and essentially ‘commentators on sacred

Scripture’. Their example can ‘teach modern exegetes a truly religious

approach to sacred Scripture, and likewise an interpretation that is

constantly attuned to the criterion of communion with the experience of

the Church, which journeys through history under the guidance of the

Holy Spirit’.

4)     Their writings are quoted frequently throughout the Divine office as

revised after the Second Vatican Council.