The Complete Works of the First Fathers of the Church gathers a formative body of early Christian writing: pastoral epistles, martyrial exhortations, apologies, theological treatises, biblical interpretation, ecclesiastical histories, and visionary instruction. Spanning the generations from the apostolic age to late antiquity, it records Christianity's emergence within Jewish, Greek, and Roman intellectual worlds. Particularly compelling are its defenses of Christian belief before pagan cr...

Ante-Nicene Church Fathers gathers the formative writings of Christianity before the Council of Nicaea into a capacious nine-volume archive of doctrine, pastoral counsel, apology, biblical interpretation, martyrial witness, and ecclesial debate. Its range extends from terse epistles and visionary allegory to philosophical dialogue and sustained theological treatise. Standout texts include early defenses of Christian belief, reflections on apostolic succession, and imaginative accounts of r...

[a.d. 130.] The anonymous author of this Epistle gives himself the title (Mathetes) “a disciple of the Apostles,” and I venture to adopt it as his name. It is about all we know of him, and it serves a useful end. I place his letter here, as a sequel to the Clementine Epistle, for several reasons, which I think scholars will approve: (1) It is full of the Pauline spirit, and exhales the same pure and primitive fragrance which is characteristic of Clement. (2) No theory as to its da...

The Nicene Creed gathers a capacious patristic witness to Christian confession, tracing the theological pressures, exegetical habits, and devotional languages through which Nicene faith was articulated. Its materials range from apostolic-era exhortation and apology to conciliar theology, biblical commentary, polemic, homily, ecclesiastical history, and liturgical reflection. Particularly compelling are the recurring treatments of the Son's relation to the Father, the Holy Spirit's divinity...

Spanning the formative centuries of Christianity, Ante-Nicene, Nicene & Post-Nicene Church Fathers assembles apologetic treatises, theological disputations, biblical exegesis, sermons, letters, ecclesiastical histories, spiritual manuals, and conciliar-era reflections. Its range extends from the defensive prose of persecuted communities to the doctrinal precision of Trinitarian and Christological controversy, preserving landmark meditations on martyrdom, baptism, scriptural interpretation,...

his is the full set of early Christian writings covering the first 4 centuries after Christ, as edited by Philip Schaff.A total of 64 authors, and over 2,500 works are included in this collection. Everything has been cataloged in an organized fashion to make it easy to reference with the Kindle format.The following authors are included in this collection:Alexander of AlexandriaAlexander of LycopolisAmbroseAphrahatArchelausAristides...

St. John Chrysostom was born in the year 349 AD in Antioch. His father died soon after his birth and he was raised by his deeply pious mother. Under her influence St. John became devout as well, and took to studying scripture under the guidance of the bishop of Antioch who would later be the one to baptize him.St. John was drawn to become a monk, and when he mother died he withdrew to the wilderness. There he wrote a number of works on the ascetic life. After a number of years he w...

The Philokalia is a collection of texts written between the fourth and the fifteenth centuries by spiritual masters of the Orthodox Christian tradition.First published in Greek in 1782, then translated into Slavonic and later into Russian, The Philokalia has exercised an influence in the recent history of the Orthodox Church far greater than that of any book apart from the Bible. It is concerned with themes of universal importance: how man may develop his...

Athanasius was born in Egypt to a Christian family sometime around 295 AD. He was given a good education by his parents, and in his youth, the local bishop, recognizing his talents, took him on as his aide. As a result he would get the chance to be present at Nicaea for the first Ecumenical council of the church.These works cover the full span of his life, beginning before 319 AD, when he wrote his famous, 'On the Incarnation of the Word'. At the time there were a number of differe...

The Ante-Nicene Period (literally meaning "before Nicaea") in the history of early Christianity was the era following the Apostolic Age of the first century to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. During this period the orthodoxy (right belief) of the faith developed. The authors of the faith are known as the church fathers. They not only defined the faith but wrote against various heresies.Some of the unorthodox beliefs were:Gnosticism (2nd to 4th centuries) – reliance on r...

The Didache was possibly written around 65 - 80 A.D. and is supposed to be what the twelve apostles taught to the Gentiles concerning life and death, church order, fasting, baptism, prayer, etc. There is debate as to its authenticity.In the Babel of conflicting opinions, it is best to notice first the obvious internal phenomena. The first part of the Teaching (now distinguished as chaps. i.-vi.) sets forth the duty of the Christian; in chaps. vii.-x., xiv., we find a directory for ...

Saint Isaac the Syrian (613 - 700 AD) was a Christian bishop in the Syrian Church of the East and theologian best remembered for his written works on Christian asceticism. He is regarded as a saint in almost all Orthodox churches.St. Isaac is remembered for his homilies on the interior life, which are favorite among Christian monks. They survive in Syriac manuscripts and in later Greek, Arabic, and Georgian translations.Isaac's writings offer an example of ascetical texts w...