Marcellino D’Ambrosio - When the Church Was Young: Voices of the Early Fathers

advance praise for

When the Church Was Young

Too many Catholics take their ancient roots for granted and fail to study the Fathers of the Church, whose writings are essential bricks in the house of our faith. This book is wonderful in making accessible the building blocks of Catholic doctrine, and it holds them together with clear depictions of the lives and histories of the saints, scholars, and scoundrels who lived in the young days of the Church. What a great study guide for the individual, study group or classroom!

Fr. Mitch Pacwa, S.J., author of The Holy Land: An Armchair Pilgrimage

Dr. DAmbrosio has for years held pilgrims spellbound as he speaks about the Fathers. How good it is to have his spell bound between the covers of a book. His love for our Fathers is true, deep, and beautiful. In these pages he shares that love as only a master teacher can.

Mike Aquilina, author of Good Pope, Bad Pope

The dawn of the Church is an absolutely fascinating time, but most people dont know much about it, and many myths have been woven around it. Marcellino DAmbrosio has done us all a favor by providing a clear, readable, and eye-opening look at what really happened in this crucial part of the Churchs life.

Jimmy Akin, author of The Fathers Know Best

Marcellino DAmbrosio brings ecclesiastical history to life with a clarity and vitality seldom achieved in this field. Ive read many books on early Church history and can affirm without hesitation that, for a popular audience, this one ranks at the top of the list because of its straightforward prose, rich yet accessible content, thoroughness, and honest presentation of the facts.

Patrick Madrid, radio host and author of Envoy for Christ

When the Church Was Young is gripping, compelling, and fast-moving. Honestly, its hard to believe its about a bunch of old dead guysI found myself wanting to learn more in the three-hundred-page adventure with this book than I have since college. Homeschooling moms, converts, people who like to read: Take note. Youll want to buy this book (because, no, Im not letting you borrow mine).

Sarah Reinhard, author of A Catholic Mothers Companion to Pregnancy

In providing such an accessible and engaging account of the Church Fathersthe frontiersmen of ChristianityDr. DAmbrosio has accomplished the rare feat of combining scholarship with readability. Christians of all traditions can trace their faith to these pioneers; their story is our story.

Professor David Alton, House of Lords

When the Church Was Young

Voices of the Early Fathers

Marcellino D Ambrosio

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture passages have been taken from the Revised Standard Version , Catholic edition. Copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Quotes are taken from the English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America (indicated as CCC ), 2nd ed. Copyright 1997 by United States Catholic ConferenceLibreria Editrice Vaticana.

Cover and book design by Mark SullivanCover image: St Apollinaris, St Sebastian, St Demetrius, St Polycarp and St Vincent, detail from the Saints Procession, mosaic, south wall, lower level, Basilica of SantApollinare Nuovo (UNESCO World Heritage List, 1996), Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna. Italy, 6th century. / De Agostini Picture Library / A. Dagli Orti / The Bridgeman Art Library

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data DAmbrosio, Marcellino.

When the church was young : voices of the early fathers / Marcellino DAmbrosio.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-61636-777-0 (alk. paper)

1. Fathers of the church. I. Title.

BR67.D325 2014

270.1dc23

2014016012

ISBN 978-1-61636-777-0

Copyright 2014, Marcellino DAmbrosio. All rights reserved.

Published by Servant Books, an imprint ofFranciscan Media28 W. Liberty St.Cincinnati, OH 45202www.FranciscanMedia.org

Printed in the United States of America.Printed on acid-free paper.14 15 16 17 18 5 4 3 2 1

W hen a new star appeared over Bethlehem, the sleepy little town was occupied territory. Sixty years earlier, a foreign army had marched through the region claiming Palestine as a Roman province.

Romes engineers were busy building new buildings, and its legions were conquering new territories. But Rome herself was no longer new. She had grown old and decrepit. The republic of Cicero had degenerated into the despotism of Caesar. Tyrant after tyrant had seized power at the price of much bloodshed. Devotion to family, hard work, and frugality had been replaced by an addiction to pleasure and power. A welfare state based on conquest and slave labor bought the loyalty of the mob with free bread and gladiator games. The people were all too ready to trade their liberty for creature comforts.

Into this depressing situation, the Gospel of Jesus Christ introduced a quiet excitement and a new hope that continued to grow, despite all the efforts to stamp it out. It began as a spark in Galilee, was fanned into flame on Pentecost, and within a decade or two reached the very gates of Caesars capital, which then became the new center of Christian life and mission.

The story didnt end with the apostles. Paul and most of the twelve had been executed by the corrupt old empire, which saw them as an alarming threat. When the last apostle died, probably around A.D. 100, the new way of life, the new hope of the Christians, had barely penetrated society.

So much was left undone. There was no New Testament yet. True, there were some letters by Peter, Paul, and John written to one community or another. Also, by this time, there existed some collections of words and stories from the life of Jesus and the Church of the first generation. And there were other writings too, including one with some rather disturbing visions. But which of all these writings truly represent the teaching of Jesus and the apostles? If authentic, how authoritative are they? Should they be regarded as inspired Scripture, on the same level as Moses and Isaiah? And, by the way, was Jesus truly God, or was he just the greatest of the prophets? Was he fully human, or did he just appear in human form? Some of Pauls writings are hard to understand. What did Paul intend? What did Jesus himself intend?

The leaders who answered these questions picked up the ball from the apostles and carried it all the way through the years of the Churchs infancy. They came to be called the Church Fathers much as the creators of the new American republic came to be known as the Founding Fathers.

Fathers are those who beget life. And while physical life is a marvel, spiritual life, which comes from intimate knowledge of God, is a yet more wonderful thing. The Fathers begat this life primarily through their teaching. The Word of God, the teaching of Christ and the apostles, was likened by them to seed, which bestows life. But they also likened it to bread, which sustains life. Like good fathers, they were not only begetters, but providers. They not only sowed the apostolic seed, they provided nourishment, counsel, and discipline with an eye toward bringing the infant Church to maturity.

There were many teachers in the early Church whose teaching perished with them and whose names have been forgotten. The early Christian teachers who came to be called the Fathers are those who put their teaching into writing and so are able to teach us still. And we urgently need their teaching. The cynical, tired world today is remarkably like the worn-out Roman society of their day. The questions they responded to are our questions, and their problems are our problems. Their voices, resonating with the youthful energy of the early Church, need to be heard again today.