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Lent Day 36: Ambrose of Milan: Concerning The Mysteries: 5-9

Day Thirty-six: St. Ambrose of Milan: Concerning The Mysteries: 5-9 Who: Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397; born probably 340, at Trier, Arles, or Lyons; died 4 April, 397. He was one of The most illustrious FaThers and Doctors of The Church. What: The treatise was composed for use during The latter part of Lent, for The benefit of those about to be baptised, The rites and meaning of that Sacrament, as well as of Confirmation and The Holy Eucharist. For all These matters were treated with The greatest reserve in The Early Church, for fear of being misused by unbelievers. Why: Ambrose states that after The explanations he has already given of holy living (in pre...

Lent Day 40: Leo The Great: Sermon LXXII: ON The LORD'S RESURRECTION, II

Day Forty: St. Leo The Great: Sermon LXXII: ON The LORD'S RESURRECTION, II Who: Leo The Great, also known as Pope St. Leo I (The Great), was Pope from 440-61 AD. Place and date of birth unknown; died 10 November, 461. Leo's pontificate, next to that of St. Gregory I, is The most significant and important in Christian antiquity, as he tried to  combat The heresies which seriously threatened Church unity even in The West, such as Pelagianism. What: A sermon on The Gospel, incarnation and resurrection of our Lord. Why: To encourage The Church in The power of The incarnation and The true faith and The nature of Christ and to give a new meaning to Passover in lig...

Lent Day 31: Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XX

Day Thirty-one: St. Cyril of Jerusalem: Catechetical Lectures: Lecture XX Who: Bishop of Jerusalem and Doctor of The Church, born about 315; died probably 18 March, 386. Little is known of his life, except from his younger contemporaries, Epiphanius, Jerome, and Rufinus, as well as from The fifth-century historians, Socrates, Sozomen and Theodoret. What: Each of The lectures deal with a different topic to teach converts The mysteries of The Church, particularly: rites of The renunciation of Satan and his works, of anointing with oil, of baptism, of anointing with The holy chrism, and of partaking of The body and blood of Christ. Why: Cyril delivered to new co...

7 things The Lord hates (spoiler: questioning doctrine isn't one of Them)

By now, most people (in Christian circles, at least) will have heard about The Jars of Clay controversy. For those that are thinking "how on earth could There be controversy over some jars?" let me clarify: They are a contemporary Christian music band. The controversy is because The frontman, Dan Haseltine, tweeted some thoughts on The topic of gay marriage. Shocking, I know.   This is what started it all: The treatment of people as less than human based on The color of skin is crazy... Or gender, or sexual orientation for that matter. — Dan Haseltine (@scribblepotemus) April 21, 2014   Not meaning to stir things up BUT... I...

Patristics.info has launched!

Hey everyone, so I’ve launched a new website called Patristics.info to be a new resource for all things early Church related. I’ve added a few texts which I already had formatted from my book manuscript, plus oTher resources like timelines, maps, recommended books etc. I’ll be adding more soon in The coming days. I’ve also created a “topical index” page too which is auto-generated from The tags on The pages to aid with searching, plus I created a word highlighter on each page so you can search keywords in a text and have Them highlighted if you’re looking for particular things. If anyone would like to be involved to contribute resources or blog...

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...