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The Ante-Nicene Fathers, subtitled "The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325", is a collection of books in 10 volumes (one volume is indexes) containing English translations of the majority of Early Christian writings. The period covers the beginning of Christianity until before the promulgation of the Nicene Creed
Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christianity liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Iznik by the first ecumenical council, which met there in 325....
 at the First Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea

The First Council of Nicea was convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperors Constantine I in 325 CE. The Council was historically significant as the first effort to attain consensus decision-making in the church through an legislature representing all of Christendom....
. The translations are very faithful, but sometimes rather old-fashioned.

Publication
The series was originally created by the presbyterian publishing house of T.






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The Ante-Nicene Fathers, subtitled "The Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325", is a collection of books in 10 volumes (one volume is indexes) containing English translations of the majority of Early Christian writings. The period covers the beginning of Christianity until before the promulgation of the Nicene Creed
Nicene Creed

The Nicene Creed is the creed or profession of faith that is most widely used in Christianity liturgy. It is called Nicene because, in its original form, it was adopted in the city of Iznik by the first ecumenical council, which met there in 325....
 at the First Council of Nicaea
First Council of Nicaea

The First Council of Nicea was convened in Nicaea in Bithynia by the Roman Emperors Constantine I in 325 CE. The Council was historically significant as the first effort to attain consensus decision-making in the church through an legislature representing all of Christendom....
. The translations are very faithful, but sometimes rather old-fashioned.

Publication


The series was originally created by the presbyterian publishing house of T. & T. Clark in Edinburgh as the Ante-Nicene Christian Library and published in the 1860's. The volumes were edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson
James Donaldson

Sir James Donaldson , was a Scottish people classical scholar, and educational and theological writer.He was educated at Aberdeen Grammar School, Marischal College Aberdeen and New College, London, London....
. This series was published by subscription, and the editors were unable to interest enough subscribers to commission a translation of the homilies of Origen.

In 1885 a US firm, the Christian Literature Company, first of Buffalo, then New York, began to issue the volumes in a reorganised form, edited by the episcopalian bishop of New York, A. Cleveland Coxe
Arthur Cleveland Coxe

Arthur Cleveland Coxe, D.D., LL.D. , was the second Episcopal Church in the United States of America bishop of New York....
. This was, in fact, a reissue of the ANCL. Coxe gave his series the title, The Ante-Nicene Fathers.

The contents are entirely derived from the ANCL, but in a more logical order. However Coxe took the liberty of adding his own introductions and notes, which were criticised by Roman Catholic reviewers. One approved the faithfulness of the translations, but wrote that Coxe:

"...deemed it his duty to distort the sense and purpose of the text by the addition of prefatory notices and footnotes, and to indulge in sectarian bigotry by endeavoring to explain away the evidence of Catholic doctrine taught by the Fathers... the notes of Dr Coxe abound in similar falsehoods and vile insinuations, and that no open-minded and honest student, Catholic or non-Catholic, of the Fathers, can profit by such interpretations of the Patristic books."

Contents


The volumes include the following:

Volume I. Apostolic Fathers
Apostolic Fathers

The Apostolic Fathers are a small number of Early Christianity authors who lived and wrote in the second half of the 1st century and the first half of the 2nd century....
 with Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr

Saint Justin Martyr was an early Christian apologetics and saint. His works represent the earliest surviving Christian "apologies" of notable size....
 and Irenaeus
Irenaeus

Saint Irenaeus , was a Catholic Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology....
  • Apostolic Fathers: Clement
    Epistles of Clement

    The Epistles of Clement are two letters ascribed to Pope Clement I, an Apostolic Father, and the fourth Pope and Bishop of Rome.First Clement is one of the oldest Christian documents outside the New Testament canon....
    , Ignatius
    Ignatius of Antioch

    Ignatius of Antioch was among the Apostolic Fathers, was the third Bishop and Patriarch of Antioch, and was possibly a student of John the Apostle....
    , Polycarp
    Polycarp

    Polycarp was a second century bishop of Smyrna. He died a martyr when he was stabbed after an attempt to burn him at the stake failed. Polycarp is recognized as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Anglican, and Lutheran Churches....
    , Barnabas
    Epistle of Barnabas

    The Epistle of Barnabas is a Greek treatise with some features of an epistle containing twenty-one chapters, preserved complete in the 4th century Codex Sinaiticus where it appears at the end of the New Testament....
    , Hermas
    The Shepherd of Hermas

    The Shepherd of Hermas is a Christian work of the second century, considered a valuable book by many Christians, and occasionally considered biblical canon by some of the early Church fathers....
    , Epistle to Diognetus
    Epistle to Diognetus

    The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus is probably the earliest example of apologetics, writings defending Christianity from its accusers. The Greek writer and recipient are not otherwise known, but the language and other textual evidence dates the work to the late 2nd century; some assume an even earlier date and count it among the Apostol...
    , Papias
    Papias

    Papias was one of the early leaders of the Christianity church, canonization as a saint. Eusebius of Caesarea calls him "Bishop of Hierapolis" which is 22km from Denizli and near Colossae , in the Lycus river valley in Phrygia, Asia Minor, not to be confused with the Manbij....
  • Justin Martyr
    Justin Martyr

    Saint Justin Martyr was an early Christian apologetics and saint. His works represent the earliest surviving Christian "apologies" of notable size....
    , Irenaeus
    Irenaeus

    Saint Irenaeus , was a Catholic Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology....
Writings. Didache
Didache

The Didache is the common name of a brief Early Christianity treatise . It is an anonymous work not belonging to any single individual, and a pastoral manual "that reveals more about how Jewish Christianity saw themselves and how they adapted their Judaism for gentiles than any other book in the Christian Scriptures." The text, parts of whic...


Volume II. Fathers of the Second Century
  • Tatian
    Tatian

    Tatian the Assyrian was an early Christianity writer and theologian of the second century.Tatian's most influential work is the Diatessaron, a harmony of the four gospels that became the standard text of the four gospels in the Syriac-speaking churches until the 5th-century, when it gave way to the four separate gospels in the Peshitta ve...
    , Theophilus of Antioch
    Theophilus of Antioch

    Theophilus, Patriarch of Antioch, succeeded Eros of Antioch c. 169, and was succeeded by Maximus of Antioch c.183, according to Henry Fynes Clinton, but these dates are only approximations....
    , Athenagoras of Athens
    Athenagoras of Athens

    Athenagoras was a Christian apologist who lived during the second half of the 2nd century of whom little is known for certain, besides that he was Athens , a philosopher, and a convert to Christianity....
    , Clement of Alexandria
    Clement of Alexandria

    Clement of Alexandria , was the first notable member of the Christianity of Alexandria, and one of its most distinguished teachers. He was born about the middle of the 2nd century, and died between 211 and 216....


Volume III. Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian
Tertullian

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian, was a prolific and controversial early Christian author, and the first to write Christian Latin literature....
  • I. Apologetic
  • II. Anti-Marcion
  • III. Ethical


Volume IV. The Fathers of the Third Century
  • Tertullian IV. More Ethical writings; Minucius Felix; Commodian; Origen
    Origen

    Origen was an Early Christianity scholar, theology, and one of the most distinguished of the early Church father of the Christian Church. According to tradition, he is held to have been an Ancient Egypt who taught in Alexandria, reviving the Catechetical School of Alexandria where Clement of Alexandria had taught....


Volume V. The Fathers of the Third Century
  • Hippolytus
    Hippolytus (writer)

    For places named after the saint, see Saint-HippolyteSaint Hippolytus of Rome was one of the most prolific writers of the early Christian Church....
    ; Cyprian
    Cyprian

    Saint Cyprian was bishop of Carthage and an important early Christianity writer. He was born around the beginning of the 3rd century in North Africa during the Classical Period, perhaps at Carthage, where he received an excellent classical education....
    ; Caius
    Caius

    Caius is an alternate spelling of the Roman name Gaius. It can refer to:...
    ; Novatian; Appendix


Volume VI. The Fathers of the Third Century
  • Gregory Thaumaturgus
    Gregory Thaumaturgus

    Saint Gregory of Neocaesarea, also known as Gregory Thaumaturgus or Gregory the Wonderworker, was a Christian bishop of the 3rd century....
    ; Dionysius the Great
    Dionysius of Alexandria

    File:Dionisii alek.jpgPope Dionysius of Alexandria, named 'the Great', was the Pope of Alexandria from 248 until his death on November 17, 265 after seventeen years as a bishop....
    ; Sextus Julius Africanus
    Sextus Julius Africanus

    Sextus Julius Africanus, was a Christian traveller and historian of the early 3rd century AD. He was possibly born in Libya, though he calls himself a native of Jerusalem, which some scholars take as his hometown....
    ; Anatolius
    Anatolius

    Anatolius may refer to:*Patriarch Anatolius of Constantinople -- Patriarch of Constantinople * Anatolius of Laodicea -- Bishop of Laodicea in Syria, also known as Anatolius of Alexandria...
     and Minor Writers; Methodius of Olympus
    Methodius of Olympus

    The Church Fathers and Saint Methodius of Olympus was a Christian bishop, ecclesiastical author, and martyr....
    ; Arnobius
    Arnobius

    Arnobius of Sicca was an Early Christian apologetics, during the reign of Diocletian . According to Jerome's Chronicle, Arnobius, before his conversion, was a distinguished rhetorician at Sicca Veneria , a major Christian center in Proconsular Africa , and owed his conversion to a premonitory dream....


Volume VII. Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries
  • Lactantius
    Lactantius

    Lucius Caelius Firmianus Lactantius was an early Christian author ....
    , Venantius
    Venantius

    Venantius may refer to:* Venantius Fortunatus , Latin poet, bishop, and saint* Venantius of Camerino , aka Saint Venanzio, martyr, patron saint of Camerino...
    , Asterius
    Asterius

    The name "Asterius" may refetr to:* Asterion, name of two sacred kings of Crete.* Asterius of Amasia, bishop of Amasia, later in the 4th century....
    , Victorinus of Pettau, Dionysius of Corinth, Apostolic Constitutions
    Apostolic Constitutions

    The Apostolic Constitutions is a late 4th century collection, in 8 books, of independent, though closely related, treatises on Early Christian discipline, worship, and doctrine, intended to serve as a manual of guidance for the clergy, and to some extent for the laity....
    , Homily, Liturgies, Liturgy of St James
    Liturgy of St James

    The Liturgy of Saint James is the oldest complete form of the Divine Liturgy still in use among the Christian churches.It is based on the traditions of the ancient rite of the Early Christian Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem#Bishops of Jerusalem, as the Mystagogic Catecheses of St Cyril of Jerusalem imply....
    ,


Volume VIII. Fathers of the Third and Fourth Centuries
  • Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs
    Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

    The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is a constituent of the apocryphal scriptures connected with the Torah. It is a Pseudepigrapha comprising the dying commands of the twelve sons of Jacob....
    , The Clementia
    Clementine literature

    Clementine literature is the name given to the religious romance which purports to contain a record made by one Clement of discourses involving the Saint Peter, together with an account of the circumstances under which Clement came to be Peter's travelling companion, and of other details of Clement's family history....
     , Memoirs of Edessa
    Edessa, Mesopotamia

    Edessa is the historical name of a Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac people town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator....
     and Syriac
    Syriac Christianity

    Syriac Christianity is a culturally and linguistically distinctive community within Eastern Christianity. It has its roots in the Near East, and is represented by a number of Christian denominations today, mainly in the Middle East and in Kerala, India....
     Documents, Remains of the First Ages, Decretals,
  • Apocrypha
    Apocrypha

    Apocrypha are texts of uncertain authenticity, or writings where the authorship is questioned.When used in the specific context of Judeo-Christian theology, the term apocrypha refers to any collection of scriptural texts that falls outside the Biblical canon....
    • Gospel of Thomas
      Gospel of Thomas

      The Gospel According to Thomas , also known as The Gospel of Thomas, is a New Testament-era apocryphon, nearly completely preserved in a Coptic papyrus manuscript discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt....
      ,


Volume IX. Recently Discovered Additions to Early Christian Literature; Commentaries of Origen
Origen

Origen was an Early Christianity scholar, theology, and one of the most distinguished of the early Church father of the Christian Church. According to tradition, he is held to have been an Ancient Egypt who taught in Alexandria, reviving the Catechetical School of Alexandria where Clement of Alexandria had taught....
  • The Gospel of Peter
    Gospel of Peter

    The Gospel of Peter was a prominent Passion narrative in the early history of Christianity, but over time it passed out of common usage. Only fragments survive....
    , The Diatessaron
    Diatessaron

    The Diatessaron is the most prominent Gospel harmony created by Tatian, an early Christian apologist and ascetic,. Tatian combined Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke, and Gospel of John into a single narrative....
     of Tatian
    Tatian

    Tatian the Assyrian was an early Christianity writer and theologian of the second century.Tatian's most influential work is the Diatessaron, a harmony of the four gospels that became the standard text of the four gospels in the Syriac-speaking churches until the 5th-century, when it gave way to the four separate gospels in the Peshitta ve...
    , The Apocalypse of Peter
    Apocalypse of Peter

    The recovered Apocalypse of Saint Peter or Revelation of Peter is an example of a simple, popular Early Christianity text of the second century; it is an example of Apocalyptic literature with Hellenistic civilization overtones....
    , The Visio Pauli, The Apocalypses of the Virgin and Sedrach, The Testament of Abraham
    Testament of Abraham

    The Testament of Abraham a pseudepigraphic text of the Old Testament. Probably composed in the first or second century CE, it is of Jewish origin and is usually considered to be part of the Apocalyptic literature....
    , The Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena, The Narrative of Zosimus, The Apology of Aristides
    Apology of Aristides

    The Apology of Aristides was written by the early Christian writer Aristides . Until 1878, our knowledge of Aristides was confined to some references in works by Eusebius of Caesarea and Saint Jerome....
    , The Epistles of Clement
    Pope Clement I

    Pope Saint Clement I, , also known as Saint Clement of Rome , is listed from an early date as one of the first Bishops of Rome. He was the first Apostolic Father of the early Christian church....
     (Complete Text), Origen's Commentary on John, Books I-X, Origen's Commentary on Mathew, Books I, II, and X-XIV


See also

  • Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers
    Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers

    The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers is a set of books containing translations of early Christianity writings into English. It was published in 1885....
  • Jacques Paul Migne
    Jacques Paul Migne

    Jacques Paul Migne was a France priest who published inexpensive and widely-distributed editions of theological works, encyclopedias and the texts of the Church Fathers, with the goal of providing a universal library for the Catholic priesthood....


External links

  • The full text of the Ante-Nicene Fathers is freely available at the