I just started reading the ECFs.
If someone has one or more that they gleaned some helpful insight on something new or something that helped them understand something better and would like to post it, please do.
I just started reading the ECFs.
If someone has one or more that they gleaned some helpful insight on something new or something that helped them understand something better and would like to post it, please do.
Origen (185-254) was the first great Christian theologian. I am a convinced Origenist.
Korah
I just started reading the ECFs.
If someone has one or more that they gleaned some helpful insight on something new or something that helped them understand something better and would like to post it, please do.
First I want to say what a worthwhile endeavor I think you are undertaking.
I like Clement's letter to the Corinthians (ca 90 AD) and Irenaeus' Against Heresies (ca 170 AD) (especially Book III, chap 3) both of which speak of the Apostolic Succession of bishops that carried on the true faith of Jesus Christ. I am also quite fond of Vincent of Lerins' Commonitory (ca 420 AD) in which is discussed the nature of the transmission of divine revelation, including Tradition and the development of doctrine. Of course, it's hard to go wrong with Augustine, 4th-5th century---one of my favorite little stories of his is how he describes the conversion of the man Victorinus in Confessions, book VII, chapt 2.4. God bless you. It's hard to summarize only a few!
I haven't read one that hasn't moved, inspired or corrected/deepened my understanding and faith.
Those I've read most of and about include Maximus the Confessor, Gregory of Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa, Cyril of Alexandria, Irenaeus of Lyon, Athanasius and Augustine.
Now the one thing truly blessed is the Divinity Itself. Whatever else we may suppose It to be, this pure life, the ineffable and incomprehensible good, is beatitude. It is beatitude, this inexpressible beauty which is very grace, wisdom, and power; this true light that is the fount of all goodness, mighty above all else; the one thing loveable which is always the same, rejoicing without end in infinite happiness. Even if one has said about It all one can, yet one has said nothing worthy of It. For the mind cannot reach that which IS; even if we continue to think ever more sublime thoughts about It, yet no word can express what is meant.
But as He who fashioned man made him in the image of God; in a derived sense that which is called by this name should also be held blessed, inasmuch as he participates in the true beatitude. St Gregory of Nyssa – The Beatitudes – Sermon 1 [Ancient Christian Writers, 1956 Graef, Hilda C. trans. p. 87-88]
It's so hard to choose! The early ( I guess that would depend on how you classify "early" though?) Father who made the biggest impact on my life would have to be Saint Isaac of Syria though. His writings pour forth the love and endless compassion of our Lord.
My favorite modern Church Father would be Saint Seraphim of Sarov who is also my names Saint.
Saint Seraphim of Sarov:
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"Only love overcomes the fragmentation of human nature."
St Maximus the Confessor
"For one who loves transforms all that he loves into himself, while one who hates loses even what he has. One who loves belongs to the loved one while one who hates does not even belong to himself. "
The Martyr Fr Paul Florensky
Last edited by Christos Anesti; 2nd November 2009 at 12:39 AM.
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