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Early Church Fathers Collection
After the authors of the New Testament, no group has had a more profound influence on the prayer, theology, and life of Christians than the Fathers of the Church, who lived and wrote in the first several centuries after Christ. Among the Fathers, perhaps the most pivotal were those of the first two hundred years. Including figures such as St. Clement of Rome, St. Ignatius of Antioch, and St. Irenaeus of Lyons, these giants of the faith lived just decades after the Apostles—some even knew the Apostles themselves—and their writings witness to what life was like in the early Church.
The Early Church Fathers Collection from Word on Fire Classics provides the perfect entry point to these early writers. In this volume, you’ll find selections from the best works by the early Fathers: the letters of St. Clement, St. Ignatius, and St. Polycarp; the anonymous literary works The Martyrdom of Polycarp, The Didache, The Shepherd of Hermas, and The Letter to Diognetus; and the apologetic writings of St. Justin Martyr, St. Irenaeus, and Tertullian.
Accompanied by helpful introductions and explanatory footnotes, these works speak as powerfully today as they did in their own time and, approached in a spirit of faith, serve the same purpose: to enkindle in their readers the love of Jesus Christ.
Foreword by Bishop Robert Barron
Introduction by David Augustine
St. Clement of Rome
The Letter to the Corinthians
St. Ignatius of Antioch
The Letter to the Ephesians
The Letter to the Magnesians
The Letter to the Trallians
The Letter to the Romans
The Letter to the Philadelphians
The Letter to the Smyrnaeans
The Letter to Polycarp
St. Polycarp of Smyrna
The Letter to the Philippians
The Martyrdom of Polycarp
The Didache
The Shepherd of Hermas
The Letter to Diognetus
St. Justin Martyr
The First Apology
The Second Apology
Dialogue with Trypho
St. Irenaeus of Lyons
Against the Heresies
Tertullian
Prescriptions Against the Heretics
On Baptism
