Eras of the Fathers
Meaning "before the Council of Nicaea," this tumultuous era was marked by regular cycles of state-instituted Roman persecutions under emperors like Decius and Diocletian.
Who are the Ante-Nicene Fathers?
St. Theophilus of Antioch provides church history with the first recorded use of this specific term (in Greek, triados) to describe the three divine Persons.
What is the Trinity?
The practice of quickly perusing a text to extract short passages to prove a point while completely ignoring the original context.
What is proof-texting?
Borrowing heavily from pagan parlance in Acts 17:28, this Apostle established a template for the early Church by favorably quoting Greek poets in Athens.
Who is Saint Paul?
While his pastoral letters were less influential, this Saint's landmark theological work On the Incarnation fundamentally shaped the Church's response to Arianism.
Who is St. Athanasius?
This specific grouping of earliest patristic texts, which includes works by St. Clement of Rome and St. Polycarp of Smyrna, acts as a direct link between the New Testament and the early second century.
Who are the Apostolic Fathers?
In the 14th century, St. Gregory Palamas defended this ancient practice of stillness and prayer, connecting it directly to how God operates within creation.
What is hesychasm?
This tool kit or methodological framework is required to achieve good exegesis and safely draw the true meaning out of a patristic text.
What is a hermeneutic?
Derived from the Greek participle for being (ousia), this foundational term denotes how God exists rather than a substance He is made of, and is unknowable to humans.
What is essence?
This 4th-century Saint's treatise On the Holy Spirit is noted for having a massive impact on the life of the Church, carrying far more weight than his personal correspondence.
Who is St. Basil the Great?
This 4th-century father from Antioch and Constantinople is cited alongside modern elders like St. Sophrony of Essex to prove that the "age of the Fathers" is continuous and has not ended.
Who is St. John Chrysostom?
In the post-conciliar period, St. Photius the Great exposed this western theological insertion into the Nicene Creed, a Latin phrase meaning "and the Son."
What is the filioque?
This error occurs when a modern reader imposes their own contemporary biases, ideologies, or presuppositions onto an ancient text.
What is eisegesis?
This theological approach preserves the infinite grandeur of God by describing Him through privative language—what He is not rather than what He is.
What is apophaticism?
To understand the deep theological roots of St. Maximus the Confessor, the text notes that a thorough comprehension of this specific predecessor is absolutely vital.
Who is St. Gregory the Theologian?
Boasting a unique linguistic milieu, this group of Fathers—including St. Ephrem and St. Isaac of Nineveh—used a dialect of Western Aramaic and utilized a Bible version called the Peshitta.
Who are the Syriac Fathers?
Written by St. Ignatius of Antioch on his way to martyrdom, this collection of seven writings contains the earliest recorded use of the word "catholic" to define the Church.
What are the letters of St. Ignatius?
This rule of thumb states that any text stripped of its surrounding background and setting inevitably turns into this deceptive alternative.
What is a pretext?
Often contrasted with apophaticism, this term refers to positive theology—what we can say positively about God based on His revelation.
What is cataphaticism?
This 19th-century Russian saint is highlighted as a perfect example of a mind immersed in Holy Tradition while remaining conversant with his peers; his account of the spiritual life is called both remarkably ancient and modern.
Who is St. Theophan the Recluse?
In the 20th century, scholars looked back at the era following the fall of Constantinople—when Orthodox scholars borrowed heavily from Catholic and Protestant frameworks—and dubbed it by this two-word captive phrase.
What is the "Western Captivity"?
This monumental 18th-century spiritual anthology, meaning "Love of the Beautiful," was compiled by St. Nicodemus the Athonite and later translated into Russian by St. Paisy Velichkovsky.
What is the Philokalia?
The Russian saint term for the high risk of becoming conceited and spiritually deluded if patristic reading does not inspire repentance.
What is prelest?
Meaning "deification," this Greek term represents the ultimate telos or goal for which God has established the world: eternal life through union with divine grace.
What is theosis?
His 5th-century treatise against Julian the Apostate is less widely read today than his highly influential work On the Unity of Christ.
Who is St. Cyril of Alexandria?