These letters urged all Christians to stay centered on the authentic and sacred teachings of the apostles, highlighting the significance of unity, the necessity of remaining obedient to their bishop, and avoiding the heretical influences that were infiltrating and threatening the Church. Ignatius would not be the final leader to advocate for the necessity of Church unity.

To the community of Smyrna, he penned: “Whenever the bishop is present, let the congregation gather; just as wherever Jesus Christ is, there exists the Catholic Church.” This marked the inaugural instance of the term Catholic Church being utilized in Christian literature.

St. Polycarp (69-155)
St. Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, was baptized by St. John the Apostle and served as the mentor to St. Irenaeus of Lyons. Serving as a bishop for 70 years, he promoted the principles of an ethical life and advised individuals from all walks of life, upholding Jesus’ command to love one another. In his correspondence with the Philippians (135), he stated, “When you have the ability to do good, do not postpone it, for acts of charity save from death.”

He held a prominent position among Christians during his era due to his acquaintance with the apostles, and his doctrines were regarded as orthodox and genuine. His extensive impact did not go unnoticed by pagan Rome. He was apprehended and summoned before the Roman proconsul.

When Polycarp declined to offer a sacrifice, pledge allegiance to the emperor, and renounce Christ, he was threatened with being thrown to wild animals. When he displayed no trepidation, the proconsul subsequently threatened to incinerate him. As he was tied up and ignited, the flames inexplicably did not engulf him. Finally, the Romans pierced his heart with a sword.

St. Justin (110–65)
St. Justin embraced Christianity at the age of 30. Although he viewed himself as a philosopher, he would emerge as the most significant apologist of the second century. Residing in Rome as the leader of a philosophy school, he determined that the pagan Romans misinterpreted Christians and wrongly labeled them (Christians) as adversaries of the state, criminals, and cannibals.

He composed a daring letter named First Apology (A.D. 155) and dispatched it to Emperor Antonius Pius. The letter explicitly clarified that Christians posed no danger to the state but were the emperor’s “assistants and partners in upholding peace; for we hold that it is just as impossible for the wrongdoer, the greedy and the deceitful, to conceal themselves from God, as it is for the righteous: and that each individual will obtain the everlasting punishment or reward that their deeds warrant.”

Christian worship was perceived as a hidden, enigmatic practice associated with cannibalism. Justin responded to this misconception, clarifying what took place during the Christian Sunday gathering or Eucharist. His account bears a striking resemblance to the Mass observed today (see sidebar).
Justin additionally composed a letter to the Roman Senate, portraying the Christian belief as harmless. His statements appeared to have no effect. He was executed as a martyr in 165.

Ante Nicean Fathers

Historians often refer to the next category of Church Fathers as the Ante-Nicean Fathers, those after the Apostolic Fathers and before the fourth-century Council of Nicea. These dedicated philosophers and theologians began to develop and explain the basic doctrines and beliefs of Christianity. In the East, the greatest Father was Origen.

Origen (185-253)

Despite not being a canonized saint and having been condemned by the Second Council of Constantinople, Origen is seen as one of the prominent intellectuals among the early Fathers. He wrote more than 2,000 distinct works during his lifetime, and identifying the most significant piece is challenging, as each had a substantial impact on Christian doctrine in the early Church.

Over a span of 28 years, he developed a project named “Hexapla,” in which he analyzed and aligned the Old Testament Hebrew texts alongside the four Greek versions, including the Septuagint, the translation favored by the Church. He organized the Old Testament Scriptures into six adjacent columns; each column presented a distinct translation of a particular passage. This compilation resulted in a 50-volume work, representing a level of Scriptural analysis that had not been achieved before.

Around 178, he composed a defensive work countering the criticism of Christianity made by a pagan named Celsus. Among other inaccuracies, Celsus asserted that Jesus was not born of a virgin, that the Resurrection did not occur, that Christians were merely a covert pagan sect, that the Scriptures they supported are fabricated, and that, although they might venerate a supreme God, they ought also to honor local gods. Origen utilized the Scriptures to dismiss each of these erroneous assertions, doing so by organizing the matters and, as was his custom, examining them from literal, moral, and allegorical perspectives.

Not all of Origen’s insights were embraced by the Church, although in certain instances, it seems he was bringing up topics for discussion rather than advocating for a specific belief. He asserted that even the devil could attain salvation and held the view of the preexistence of souls, which led to his condemnation by the Church 200 years following his demise.

Despite these limitations, the significant contributions of Origen in both substance and quantity compete with those of St. Augustine and lay the groundwork for numerous teachings of our Catholic faith.

Nicean Fathers

Sts. Athanasius, Cyril of Alexandria and Basil were among the Eastern Church Fathers who, during the era of the Council of Nicea, took on the worst of the idolatrous teachings and heresies of the fourth century.

St. Athanasius (297-373)
Around the year 318, a cleric from Alexandria named Arius started promoting the idea that Jesus was not divine, asserting that he was created and not God. Arius documented his views in a text titled the “Banquet” (A.D. 320): “God was not eternally a Father; indeed, there was a period when God existed alone, and he had not yet taken on the role of Father. … The Son was not eternal; for since all things were formed from what did not exist, the Son of God, too, was created from what did not exist … thus, there was also a time when the Word of God did not exist: and before he was begotten, he was not; instead, he had a starting point of existence.”

This hit to the core of Christianity.

Abruptly, disputes arose among theologians and the general public regarding the divinity of Jesus and whether He was equivalent to God. Recognizing the threat of division within the Church and the empire, Emperor Constantine (272-337) convened an Ecumenical Council in Nicea in 325 aimed at resolving the matter. Under the leadership of Bishop Alexander of Alexandria and his aide Athanasius, the gathered bishops produced the Nicene Creed, explicitly stating that Jesus and God share the same essence (consubstantial).

Arius was stripped of his priestly responsibilities and exiled by Emperor Constantine. Yet, this was not the conclusion of the heretical movement. Arius enjoyed considerable backing from numerous Eastern bishops, and following Constantine’s death, his pro-Arian offspring ascended to the throne and promptly started to impose Arianism on all, eliminating the use of the Creed in the churches. He coerced Athanasius to reinstate Arius into the Church, and when Athanasius declined, he was sent into exile in Egypt. Arius was received back by the bishop in Constantinople, but as he was on his way to regain his position, he suffered a significant seizure, resulting in his immediate death.

Athanasius dedicated his adult years to resisting Arianism. Over the course of 17 years, he faced exile five times; despite being accused of various offenses, including murder, he remained a steadfast opponent of Arianism. Athanasius confronts the heretics, inquiring which of the Church Fathers supported Arianism. He proclaimed that the sole advocate of the Arians was the devil, asserting, “for he alone is your father in such an apostasy. In the beginning he sowed you with the seeds of this impiety, and now he persuades you to slander the ecumenical council, because it committed to writing not your doctrines, but those which from the beginning were handed down by those who were eye-witnesses and ministers of the Word” (Letter Concerning the Decrees of The Council of Nicea, A.D. 350).

It was primarily due to Athanasius that Arianism failed to establish a lasting presence in the Catholic doctrine.

St. Basil (329-379)
When Athanasius passed away in 373, Arianism continued to pose a danger to Christianity; the struggle against the heretics was carried on by Basil of Caesarea. Arianism can be considered the most significant threat to the Catholic faith until the Protestant Reformation of the 15th century.

St. Basil was bestowed with the most esteemed accolades of the Church: canonization, designation as a Father and Doctor of the Church, acknowledgment as the Father of Eastern Monasticism, and the title “Great” for his contributions as a bishop. Hailing from a lineage that included five saints and three bishops (all recognized as Fathers of the Church), he was ideally suited to continue the battle against the numerous expressions of Arianism, including Macedonianism, which rejected the divinity of the Holy Spirit. This rejection had developed since Nicaea, paralleling various unorthodox doctrines held by the Arians.

Basil, in his exceptionally clear and comprehensive treatise “On the Holy Spirit,” disputes the Arian notion that the Holy Spirit is not divine and is not on par with the Father and the Son: “For if our Lord, when commanding the baptism of salvation, instructed his disciples to baptize all nations in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:9), not rejecting association with him, and these individuals [Arians] claim that we should not consider him [Holy Spirit] alongside the Father and the Son, is it not evident that they openly oppose the commandment of God?”

It was the custom then as it is today, that baptism was deemed invalid unless those precise words were uttered. Basil’s argument against Arianism in every manifestation, including the heretical attempts to lessen or altogether overlook the Holy Spirit, was a significant element during the First Council of Constantinople in 381, where Arius was once more denounced, the position of the Holy Spirit articulated, and even elevated in a broadened iteration of the Nicene Creed (the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed).

St. Cyril of Alexandria (376-444)
In approximately 428, Nestorius, who held the position of bishop in Constantinople, started proclaiming that Jesus was comprised of two distinct beings, one human and the other divine. Consequently, Nestorius maintained that Mary gave birth to a human being and could therefore only be recognized as Jesus’s mother, rather than the mother of God. Upon learning of these erroneous beliefs, St. Cyril of Alexandria promptly reminded Nestorius of the established Church doctrine, reaffirmed at the Council of Nicea, which stated that Jesus existed as a single person, equal to the Father, and that Mary was indeed the Mother of God.

Nestorius was unfazed, countered Cyril’s correspondence, and continued to argue that God has always existed and could not be born of a woman. Cyril informed Pope Celestine, who instructed Nestorius to cease his teachings, retract his statements, or face excommunication. Nestorius persuaded Emperor Theodosius to convene an ecumenical council so that he, Nestorius, could present his viewpoint. Ultimately, the Fourth Ecumenical Council took place in Ephesus, Turkey, in June of 431. At this assembly, Nestorius was labeled a heretic and excommunicated, while Mary was declared the Mother of God (Theotokos).

The bishops of the council declared: “If anyone does not acknowledge that God is indeed Emmanuel, and that for this reason the holy virgin is the mother of God (for in a bodily sense she gave birth to the Word of God made flesh through birth), let him be considered anathema.”

Cyril served as the bishop of the renowned and powerful Church of Alexandria for 32 years, consistently holding a leadership position in the East while fostering strong ties with the West. His writings upheld the doctrine of the Holy Trinity in opposition to the extreme views of both Nestorius and Arius. He was recognized for his generosity towards others, founding hospitals, shelters, and lodgings.