Mathetes to Diognetus

(Date: Unknown) Mathetes is not the name of a real person. The author is unknown and the name “Mathetes” was given by a translator which means “disciple.” This document has been difficult to date and it has been dated by scholars anywhere from 130 A.D. to the third century. God Himself, who is Almighty, the […]
Praxeas

Praxeas was from Asia Minor and lived in the end of the 2nd century/beginning of the 3rd century. He was opposed by Tertullian in his tract, Against Praxeas (Adversus Praxean). He taught Monarchian doctrine in Carthage, or at least doctrine which Tertullian regarded as Monarchian.
Clement of Alexandria

(ca. 200 A.D.) Titus Flavius Clemens was probably born about 150 and died about 215 A.D. He was probably born in Greece and found his way to Alexandria. Clement was an early Greek theologian and the head of the catechetical school in Alexandria. “He became a convert to the Faith and travelled from place to […]
Sabellius

(ca. 215) Sabellius was a third century priest and theologian who most likely taught in Rome, but may have been an African from Libya. Basil and others call him a Libyan from Pentapolis, but this seems to rest on the fact that Pentapolis was a place where the teachings of Sabellius thrived, according to Dionysius […]
Tertullian

(ca. 190-220 A.D.) The following quotations are roughly chronological. On Repentance Repentance, men understand, so far as nature is able, to be an emotion of the mind arising from disgust at some previously cherished worse sentiment: that kind of men I mean which even we ourselves were in days gone by— blind, without the Lord’s […]
Noetus

(ca. A.D. 230) Noetus, a presbyter of the church of Asia Minor about AD 230, was a native of Smyrna, where (or perhaps in Ephesus) he became a prominent representative of the particular type of Christology now called modalistic monarchianism or patripassianism. What is known of Noetus is drawn mostly from the polemical writings of […]
Hippolytus

(ca. 220) Against All Heresies The first and only (one God), both Creator and Lord of all, had nothing coeval with Himself; not infinite chaos, nor measureless water, nor solid earth, nor dense air, not warm fire, nor refined spirit, nor the azure canopy of the stupendous firmament. But He was One, alone in Himself. […]
Origen of Alexandria

Origen on John 1:1 In the following teaching, Origen explains that John is telling us that the Word was divine by nature at John 1:1 and is not telling us that the Word was that personal being known as “God.” “We next notice John’s use of the article [“the”] in these sentences. He does not […]
Cyprian

Letters We have an advocate and an intercessor for our sins, Jesus Christ the Lord and our God. (Letter 7). The Lord, when, after His resurrection, He sent forth His apostles, charges them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the […]
Novatian

ca. 250 A.D. On the Trinity The rule of truth requires that we should first of all things believe on God the Father and Lord Almighty (I). And over all these things He Himself, containing all things, having nothing vacant beyond Himself, has left room for no superior God, such as some people conceive. (II). […]
Dionysius of Alexandria

Epistle 6. To Sixtus, Bishop For since of the doctrine, which lately has been set on foot at Ptolemais, a city of Pentapolis, implores and full of blasphemy against Almighty God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; full of unbelief and perfidy towards His only begotten Son and the first-born of every creature, […]
Dionysius of Rome

Against the Sabellians 1. Now truly it would be just to dispute against those who, by dividing and rending the monarchy, which is the most august announcement of the Church of God, into, as it were, three powers, and distinct substances (hypostases), and three deities, destroy it. For I have heard that some who preach […]
Gregory Thaumaturgus

ca. 270 A.D. A Declaration of Faith There is one God, the Father of the living Word, who is His subsistent Wisdom and Power and Eternal Image: perfect Begetter of the perfect Begotten, Father of the only-begotten Son. There is one Lord, only of the Only, deity of Deity, image and likeness of Deity, efficient Word, Wisdom comprehensive […]
Lactantius

Divine Institutes God, therefore, the contriver and founder of all things, as we have said in the second book, before He commenced this excellent work of the world, begot a pure and incorruptible Spirit, whom He called His Son. And although He had afterwards created by Himself innumerable other beings, whom we call angels, this […]
Ignatius of Antioch

(ca. 110 A.D.) Ignatius also refers to himself in his letters as “Theophorus.” A church legend says he was the little child taken up in Jesus’ arms (Mk 9:35). He was bishop of Antioch, friend of Polycarp who was a disciple of John, and may have known the Apostle John. Ignatius was martyred under Trajan. […]
Papias

(ca. 125 A.D.) The presbyters, the disciples of the apostles, say that this is the gradation and arrangement of those who are saved, and that they advance through steps of this nature, and that, moreover, they ascend through the Spirit to the Son, and through the Son to the Father, and that in due time the […]
Aristides

Apology(ca. 125 A.D.) Aristides was a Christian apologist living in Athens. His Apology seems to have been written around 125 A.D. and presented to Emperor Hadrian after a Christian persecution occasioned by Hadrian’s initiation into the Eleusinian Mysteries. Jerome considered him to be an “eloquent philosopher.” Now the Christians trace their origin from the Lord […]
Barnabas

(ca. 80-130 A.D.) The letter of Barnabas is attested by some early fathers as being written by the Biblical Barnabas. However, the letter itself contains no indication who wrote it. It was definitely known in Alexandria around the year 190 A.D. Internal evidence indicates it was certainly written after 70 A.D. since it alludes to […]
Shepherd of Hermas

(ca. 140 A.D.) The Shepherd of Hermas was widely read and accepted in the early church. Irenaeus and Tertullian cite the Shepherd as Scripture. Clement and Origen also quote from it with reverence. Hermas may be the individual mentioned at Romans 16:14 (Origen). The date of the book is contested and may have been written […]
Polycarp

Letter to the Phillipians(ca. 110-140 A.D.) Although Polycarp is a celebrated early Christian, very little is known about him. Irenaeus tells us that Polycarp was a disciple of John and the Bishop of Smyrna. He was also a correspondent of Ignatius. Polycarp is also known for his famous statment to Marcion in Rome, “I recognize […]