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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...

Lent: Day 8 - Ignatius to the Romans

Day Eight: St. Ignatius of Antioch: Letter to the Romans (full text) Who: Ignatius converted at a young age and later became Bishop of Antioch. A friend of Polycarp and fellow disciple of John, there is a long standing tradition that Ignatius was the child that Jesus held in his arms and blessed in Mark 10:13-16 What: A challenging letter in which Ignatius pours himself out to the Roman church about his impending martyrdom. Why: Ignatius wrote a series of letters to the churches in Asia Minor whilst en route to Rome to face martyrdom by wild beasts in the Colosseum around 108 AD. When: Around 107-108 AD On reading the introduction to this letter my first th...

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

...any other early church writers, Cyril views baptism as a way in which our sins are washed away, probably due to passages like Acts 2:38 (“...so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”) and 2 Peter 3:21 (“And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience…). So Cyril writes that baptism “purges our sins, and ministers to us the gift of the Holy Ghost” and is our part in the sufferings of Christ, recalling what Paul says in Romans 6:3 that we are “baptised into his death”. But he makes a point of emphasis that whilst...

Did a Roman Catholic priest perform 'invalid' baptisms for years?

...ed by the early church, as Donatism was more about the moral standing of the ordained bishop or priest (and whether they recanted their faith during harsh persecution), rather than whether they recited liturgy correctly. But the similarities are there, I think we can agree. Augustine argued that a sacrament was from God and ex opere operato, Latin for “from the work carried out”, or “by the very fact of the actions being performed” — meaning that it is the act itself that makes it effective, not the person doing the act. For example, a priest or bishop in a state of sin could continue to administer valid sacraments and have them be effective becau...

Lent: Day 17 - Justin Martyr: First Apology: Chaps. 60-68

...t how the early church took Communion together and what it meant for them. Only baptised believers were allowed to partake. Prayers of “considerable length” were then first offered to bless the bread and wine, which upon conclusion, everyone would “salute one another with a kiss” (Romans 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12; 1 Thess 5:26) before the “bread and a cup of wine mixed with water” was handed out to everyone present by the deacons. Even if some were absent, a portion was kept and hand-delivered to those who were away! It would seem that Justin is teaching either an early form of transubstantiation, or the doctrine of the Real Presence here, in...

The Eighth Day

...nt in the early church, and not so much as a symbolic act of faith, and definitely not an optional choice if you wanted to be part of the Body of Christ! The waters of baptism is where we see the new creation really taking place; this is where we become “in Christ” and are raised new in our spiritually resurrected bodies. Colossians 2:12 When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. Colossians 3:1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Ephesians 2:5-6 …[God,] even when...