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Chapter Six |
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The Church Fathers |
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The Christian Writers of the First Centuries |
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| I. | Patristics--We have looked at the writings of the church's early writers, Eusebius, Tertullian, Origen, Irenaeus, Augustine, Athanasius etc... These authors are often called the "Church Fathers". They are important because they not only tell us about the early church, but help us to understand why and what we believe today. This study of the early fathers is called "Patristics" (fathers). | ||||
| A. | Fathers--synonymous with ancestor. In the early church a master was called father; i.e., someone who passed on a wisdom which was at the same time knowledge and a way of life. In spite of Jesus' hesitation about calling anyone father (Mt. 23:8-11) the early church used the term frequently in its early writings; i.e., Irenaeus said, "When someone has received his teaching from the lips of another, he is called the son of the one who taught him, and the latter is called his father." The abbot of a monastery was called father. In the early church the bishop was called father, sometimes in the form of pope. There is a feeling of trust and security in the word. A father is the upholder of a tradition. | ||||
| B. | Close to the source--we return to the earliest sources we have in writings in order to try and understand what the early Christians thought and did. The early fathers were the readers and teachers of the early scriptures. | ||||
| C. | Witnesses to the meeting of gospel and culture--the early fathers did not just teach about the scriptures--time frame starting sometime after the New Testament scriptures were written until about the 8th century. They not only taught about the scriptures, but out of necessity had to defend Christianity and the use of certain words. Words in Greek meant different things in Latin. | ||||
| 1. | Diversity in language and culture--in Greek and Latin and Syriac, Coptic, Armenian etc...coming to a common understanding of each other's language, as well as their culture, was a tremendous task. It was the patristic fathers who set the standards and understandings about how we could even call an ecumenical council in the twentieth century with thousands of different languages, religions, and customs coming together to discuss the one religion. | ||||
| D. | Guarantors of the faith and sanctity of the church--if the early church demanded orthodoxy (right thinking) it demanded even more that its fathers were someone who lived his life according to the teaching he was giving. | ||||
| See Handout #79 | |||||
| 1. | Sanctity and orthodoxy--orthodoxy signified that there was an agreement amongst the fathers and a consensus of opinion on essential points of doctrine at a given moment. St.Vincent of Lerins 434 A.D., gives us a good summary of how the church understood the role of tradition, and within it that of the Fathers. | ||||
| II. | The Golden Age of the Church Fathers | ||||
| A. | In the history of patristics, the Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) was the beginning of a new period. Peace in the church and the meeting of great Councils enabled Christian literature to blossom. From the Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.) to the Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.) is called the golden age. | ||||
| See Handout #80 | |||||
| See Handout #81 | |||||
| See Handout #82 | |||||
| See Handout #83 | |||||
| 1. | New Arrivals--those of Eastern languages began writing and the most important of these is Ephraem of Nisibis or Edessa (306-373 A.D.), deacon and poet. He lived in Mesopotamia which was in dispute between the Roman and Persian empires. He preached, taught the scriptures, led prayer and wrote over 450 songs that have been translated into several languages. | ||||
| 2. | The main Greek writers | ||||
| a. | Anthanasius--a defender of theology of the Word Incarnate, the equal of the Father written in his treatise On the Incarnation and the Life of St. Antony. He inspire many vocations to the monastic way of life, most notable is St. Augustine. |
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| b. | St. Basil (330-379 A.D.); Gregory of Nyssa (335-394 A.D.); John Chrysostom (345-407A.D.) all came out of the heart of Asia Minor, Cappadocia. | ||||
| 1. | St.Basil was concerned about the organization of charity during a period of frequent famine; a concern for orthodoxy and unity in a period troubled by the Arian disputes; he wrote commentaries on the scriptures and defined the role of the Holy Spirit in his Treatise on the Holy Spirit. He became known as St. Basil the Great. | ||||
| 2. | St. Gregory of Nyssa was a brother of St. Basil's, he wrote the Creation of Man the Treatise on Virginity. He said that man was capable of knowing God and returning to him after long purification. | ||||
| 3. | St. John Chrysostom was the most prolific of the Greek Fathers. He was an eloquent preacher. He preached against the morals of priests and was exiled twice. He was called the "Golden Mouth". "Baptismal Homilies, Priesthood, Marriage, Virginity. | ||||
| B. | The main Latin writers--the Latin Fathers were less original than that of the Greek Fathers, St. Augustine being the exception. | ||||
| See Handout #84 | |||||
| 1. | St. Ambrose(340-397 A.D.) wrote Sermons, baptismal homilies, Treatise on Virginity. He introduced hymn singing in the Western churches writing both the words and music. | ||||
| 2. | St. Jerome (347-397 A.D.) was from Yugoslavia. He was a versatile and difficult man. He was outspoken, but a scholar of the scriptures. He revised the scriptures into Latin from the original Hebrew and Aramaic texts. It was called the Vulgate bible. He is most famous for his commentaries on the scriptures. | ||||
| See Handout #85 | |||||
| 3. | St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.) had the deepest influence on religious thought in the West. Coming from an estranged background from Christianity, which he rejected for years, he finally had a conversion due to St. Ambrose. He was bishop of North Africa and preached against heresies. He was a pastor and a teacher and through sermons and catechism he wrote commentaries on the scriptures, treatises on philosophy and theology. His most famous work Confessions and the City of God give an historical reflection on a troubled Christian life. Theologians over the centuries owe their theological training to St. Augustine. |
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| See Handout #86 | |||||
| See Handout #87 | |||||
Handouts |
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| 79 | Ephraem of Nisibis, refrains from two songs of his. | ||||
| See Full Text | |||||
| 80 | Athanasius, God became man that we might become God. | ||||
| See Full Text | |||||
| 81 | Basil of Caesarea, a homily in a time of famine and drought. | ||||
| See Full Text | |||||
| 82 | Gregory of Nyssa, the image and similitude of God in man. | ||||
| See Full Text | |||||
| 83 | John Chrysostom, every Christian must be concerned for the salvation of his brothers (sisters). | ||||
| See Full Text | |||||
| 84 | Ambrose of Milan, practical advice on prayer. | ||||
| See Full Text | |||||
| 85 | Jerome, advice on the education of a granddaughter. | ||||
| See Full Text | |||||
| 86 | Augustine, Catechizing with joy. | ||||
| See Full Text | |||||
| 87 | Vincent of Lerins, is there a universal criterion for distinguishing religious truth from error? | ||||
| See Full Text | |||||
