THE WORDS OF THE EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
on Christian beliefs
http://staycatholic.com/early_church_fathers.htm
(on many issues)
www.catholic.com/tracts/apostolic-succession
Apostolic Succession of
Bishops
www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/3543/euchristfrs.htm
(Real Presence)
www.catholic.com/tracts/peters-primacy (Peter’s Primacy)
www.catholic.com/tracts/peters-roman-residency (Peter’s Roman Residency)
http://www.catholic.com/tracts/peters-successors (Peter’s Successors)
http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-intercession-of-the-saints
(Intercession of the Saints)
www.catholic.com/tracts/mary-ever-virgin (Mary Ever Virgin)
www.catholic.com/tracts/do-miracles-still-occur (Miracles Still Occur)
www.catholic.com/tracts/the-real-presence (The Real Presence)
http://www.catholic.com/tracts/baptismal-grace (Baptismal Grace)
www.catholic.com/tracts/confession (Confession)
www.catholic.com/tracts/confirmation (Confirmation)
www.catholic.com/tracts/the-sacrifice-of-the-mass (Sacrifice of the Mass)
www.catholic.com/tracts/mortal-sin (Mortal Sin)
www.catholic.com/tracts/reward-and-merit (Reward & Merit)
www.catholic.com/tracts/contraception-and-sterilization (Contraception)
www.catholic.com/tracts/mary-full-of-grace (Mary, Full of Grace)
www.catholic.com/tracts/the-intercession-of-the-saints (Intercession of Saints)
BELOW ARE SOME QUOTES BY CHURCH FATHERS
WHICH SHED LIGHT ON HOW THE EARLY CHRISTIANS
VIEWED THE CHURCH
ST. CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE….A.D. 251 ON THE
CHAIR OF PETER
"The Lord says to Peter: ‘I say to
you,’ He says, ‘that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church,
and the gates of hell will not overcome it. And to you I will give the keys to
the kingdom of heaven: and whatever things you shall bind on earth shall be
bound also in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth, they shall be loosed
also in heaven.’ | first edition | And again He says
to him after His resurrection: ‘Feed my sheep.’ On him He builds the Church,
and to him He gives the command to feed the sheep; and although He assigns a
like power to all the Apostles, yet He founded a single chair, and He
established by His Own Authority a source and an intrinsic reason for that
unity. Indeed, the others were that also which Peter was; but a primacy is
given to Peter, whereby it is made clear that there is but one Church and one
chair.’" [The Unity of the Catholic Church, qtd
in Jurgens 555-556]
ST CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE....A.D. 251 on HOLDING TO THE
UNITY OF PETER:
"If someone does not hold fast to this unity of Peter, can he imagine
that he still holds the faith? If he [should] desert the chair of Peter upon whom the Church
was built, can he still be confident that he is in the Church?" (The Unity of the Catholic Church 4; 1st edition [A.D. 251]).
ST. IRENAEUS (C. 200 A.D.) ON AN
AUTHORITATIVE CHURCH
“….the Church, having received this
preaching and this faith, although she is disseminated throughout the whole
world, yet guarded it, as if she occupied but one house. She likewise believes
these things just as if she had but one soul and one and the same heart; and
harmoniously she proclaims them and teaches them and hands them down, as if she
possessed but one mouth.” (St. Irenaeus….”Against Heresies 1, 10, 2)
EUSEBIUS OF CAESAREA (4th c) ON AN AUTHORITATIVE CHURCH
“But the brightness of the Catholic Church
proceeded to increase in greatness, for it ever held to the same points in the
same way, and radiated forth to all the race of Greeks and barbarians the
reverent, sincere, and free nature, and sobriety and purity of the divine
teaching as to conduct and though.” (Eusebius…”Eccesiastical
History 4, 7, 13…)
ST. HILLARY (4th c)
“In the Scriptures our people are shown to
be made one; so that just as many grains collected into one and ground and
mingled together, make one loaf, so in Christ, who is the heavenly Bread, we
know there is one body, in which our whole company is joined and united.”
(Treatise 62, 13)
“We are a society with a single religious feeling , a single unity of discipline, a single bond of
hope.” (“Apology 39,1 )
ST. CYPRIAN (c. 250 A.D.) : CHURCH IS ONE BODY, CANNOT BE DIVIDED
“God is one and Christ is one, and one is
His Church, and the faith is one, and His people welded together by the glue of
concord into a solid unity of body. Unity cannot be rent asunder, nor can the
one body of the Church, through the division of its structure, be divided into
separate pieces.” (“On the Unity of the Church”)
ST. IGNATIUS (110 A.D.) ON
THE REAL PRESENCE IN THE EUCHARIST
“[heretics]
abstain from Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the
Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ….” (St. Ignatius….“Letter to Smyrnaeans” 6, 2)
ST. JUSTIN MARTYR (150 A.D.) ON THE
EUCHARIST
“….not as common bread nor common drink do
we receive these, but…as we have been taught, the food which has been made into
the Eucharist by the Eucharistic prayer set down by him, and bythe change of which our blood and flesh is nourished, is
both the Flesh and Blood of that incarnated Jesus.” ( St.
Justin Martyr…“First Apology” 66, 20)
ST. IRENAEUS OF LYONS (195 A.D.)
“He [Jesus] has declared the cup, a part
of his creation, to be His own blood, from which he causes our blood to flow; and
the bread, a part of creation, He has established as His own Body, from which
He gives increase to our bodies.” (“Against Heresies” 5, 2, 2)
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM
(350 A.D.)
“He himself, therefore, having declared
and said of the Bread, ‘This is My Body,’ who will dare any longer to doubt?
And when He Himself has affirmed and said, “This is My Blood,’ who can ever
hesitate and say it is not His Blood?” (St. Cyril….“Catechetical
Lectures: Mystagogic 4, 22, 1)
ST. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM ON THE EUCHARIST
“Do not therefore regard the bread and
wine as simply that, for they are, according to the Master’s declaration, the
Body and Blood of Christ. Even though the senses suggest to you the other, let
faith make you firm. Do not judge in this matter by taste, but be fully assured
by faith, not doubting that you have been deemed worthy of the Body and Blood
of Christ.” (Catechetical Lectures: Mystagogic 4, 22,
1)
ST. ATHANASIUS (360 A.D.) ON APOSTOLIC
TRADITION
“let us note that
the very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the
beginning, which the Lord gave, was preached by the Apostles, and was preserved
by the Fathers. On this was the Church founded; and if anyone departs from
this, he neither is nor any longer ought to be called a Christian…..” (“Four
Letters to Serapion of Thmius
1, 28)
ORIGEN (c. 230 A.D.) ON
APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION AND TRADITION
“The teaching of the Church has indeed
been handed down through an order of succession from the Apostles and remains in
the Churches even to the present time. That alone is to be believed as the
truth which is in no way at variance with ecclesiastical and apostolic
tradition.” (Origen….“Fundamental Doctrines” 1,
preface 2)
ST. HIPPOLYTUS OF ROME (C
215 A.D.) ON INFANT BAPTISM
“Baptize first the children; and if they
can speak for themselves, let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other
relatives speak for them.” (St. Hippolytus….“The
Apostolic Tradition” 21)
ORIGEN….ON INFANT BAPTISM
AS APOSTOLIC TRADITION
“the Church
received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism also to infants.”
(Origen….”Commentary on Romans” 5, 9)
In 252 A.D., the council of Carthage
condemned the opinion that infants must wait until the eighth day after birth
to be baptized, as was the case with circumcision. (St. Cyprian of Carthage, in
his Epistle 64, 59, 2, wrote: "that
baptism of children need not be deferred until the eighth day after birth as
some maintained, but might be administered as soon as possible" (Cyprian,
Epistle 64 (59) 2).
St. Clement of Alexandria
ON PETER (between A.D. 190 and 210)
"Nor does the kingdom of heaven
belong to the sleeping and the lazy; rather, the violent take it by force. On hearing
these words, the blessed Peter, the chosen, the pre-eminent, the first among
the disciples, for whom alone with Himself the Savior paid the tribute, quickly
grasped and understood their meaning." [Who is the Rich Man That is Saved?
qtd in Jurgens 436]
"Look at the great foundation of
the Church, that most solid of rocks, upon whom Christ built the Church! And
what does the Lord say to him? ‘O you of little faith,’ He says, ‘why did you
doubt!’ (Matt. 14:31)" [Homilies on Exodus, qtd
in Jurgens 489]
ST. CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE….A.D. 254…CHURCH
BUILT ON PETER
"You have written also that on my
account the Church now has a portion of itself in a state of dispersion. In
truth, the whole people of the Church are collected together and made one and
joined to each other in an indivisible harmony. They alone have remained
outside who, were they within, would have to be
ejected. And the Lord too, in the Gospel, when the disciples abandoned Him
while He was speaking, turned to the twelve and said, ‘And do you too wish to
go away?’ Peter answered
Him saying, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the word of eternal life: and
we believe that you are the Son of the Living God.’
There speaks Peter, upon whom the Church would be built, teaching in the name
of the Church and showing that even if a stubborn and proud multitude withdraws
because it does not wish to obey, yet the Church does not withdraw from Christ.
The people joined to the priest and the flock clinging to their
shepherd are the Church.’" [Letter of Cyprian to Florentius Pupianus, qtd in Jurgens
587
St. Ephraim….A.D. 306 / 373…….CHURCH
BUILT ON PETER
"Simon, My follower, I have made
you the foundation of the holy Church. I betimes called you Peter, because on
you will support all its buildings. You are the inspector of those who will
build on earth a Church for Me. If they should wish to build what is false, you
the foundation, will condemn them. You are the head of
the fountain from which My teaching flows, you are the
chief of My disciples. Through you will I give drink to all peoples.
Yours is that life-giving sweetness which I dispense. I have chosen you to be,
as it were, the first-born in My Institution, and so
that, as the heir, you may be executor of my treasures. I have given you the
keys of My kingdom. Behold, I have given you authority
over all My treasures!" [Homilies, qtd in Jurgens 706]
"Peter, upon whom
is built the Church of Christ, against which the gates of hell shall not
prevail, left only one Epistle of acknowledged genuinity.
Let us concede also a second which, however, is doubtful." [Commentaries
on John, qtd in Jurgens 479a
(According to Catholic author Scott
Windsor, “This was a comment on the epistles of St. Peter, which later were
both confirmed as genuine. As a side note, this discredits those who adhere to sola scriptura as
well, since here, two centuries after Christ, they are
still debating which books belong to the Canon of Sacred Scripture).
"…that the power of binding and loosing
has thereby been handed on to you, that is to every
church akin to Peter? What kind of man are you, subverting and changing what
was the manifest intent of the Lord when He conferred this personally upon
Peter? On you, He says, I will build my Church; and I will give to you the
keys, not to the Church; and whatever you shall have bound or you shall have
loosed, not what they shall have bound or they shall have loosed. " [Modesty, qtd in Jurgens 387]
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