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Lent: Intro - 40 Day Reading Plan with the Fathers

This year for Lent I'm following a reading plan which comprises of a collection of extracts from various early church fathers writings. Each day I'm going to write a short overview and any thoughts on the text and link back to the source material so you can also follow along with me too, if you'd like. The overview of each day will probably be posted on the day after. The reading should only take 10-15 minutes of your time, and by day 40, you will have read ten different Fathers: Didache, Diognetus, Polycarp, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Cyprian, Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose of Milan, and Leo the Great. I'll be reading from the “Church Fathers Lenten...

Is fasting an expectation for Christians?

...death and resurrection of Jesus which wipes away all those sins. For some consider themselves bound to fast one day, others two days, others still more. In fact, others fast forty days … And this variety among observers [of the fasts] did not have its origin in our time, but long before in that of our predecessors. — Irenaeus (c.180) Evidence for this is well established from the ancient letters that we still have available to us, such as from Irenaeus quoted above. As you can see, the fast varied in the earlier times until it became fixed at forty days across the whole Church in the run up to Easter. Fasting has been a steadfast part of the fait...

Palm Sunday and the End Times

...death and resurrection and the judgement on the nation of Israel. Jesus returned as King, and the Church began to spread the Good News of His Kingdom to the world. This is something we must continue to do until the consummation of the ages and final judgement comes upon the whole world. In the second letter of Peter, the Church then, as well as now, are encouraged in this waiting period before the judgement which will come “like a thief in the night”. The visitation of God for judgement in AD 70 was predicated by signs which Jesus told his disciples to be watchful for (e.g. in Matt. 24), the final judgement will come unexpectedly so we are to live according...

Coffee With Jesus: Luke 22–23

...ness. The resurrection and subsequent Pentecost and Holy Spirit outpouring clearly point towards this new reality of the Kingdom of God, but its fullness and present reality is still to come when the King returns to claim his place of power and rule in the world! Further Reading What is the meaning of the Parable of the Ten Minas? | GotQuestions.org Why did Jesus first refuse, and then drink the vinegar offered at the cross? “They Offered Him Wine-Vinegar”: Reexamining the Gospel Accounts of Jesus’ Last Drink. | The Ancient World  ...

Lent: Day 9 - Ignatius to the Philadelphians

...death and resurrection. The “prophets announced Him, but the Gospel is the perfection of immortality” and so, why would we need anything more? Judaism pointed the way to the Gospel and to the Messiah, but now that his appearance has been made known, the old is superseded by the new. As the writer of Hebrews says; Hebrews 8:13 In speaking of “a new covenant,” he has made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear. This was written whilst the temple still stood and animal sacrifices were still being made, and so the old was still fading and disappearing (Heb 9:8-9). But now in Ignatius's time it has been about...

Melchizedek to Jesus: The Divine Thread of Bread and Wine

...eath, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is also something that was recognised by a number of Early Church Fathers in their commentary and interpretations of John 6. Credit: @DefenseofSanity The Eucharist Today The Eucharist (from the Greek meaning “thanksgiving”), also known as Holy Communion or the Lord’s Supper, is central to Christian worship, or at least, it should be. In partaking of the bread and wine, Christians around the world and throughout history join in a spiritual mystery. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:16–17, “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it no...