I shared in the last issue how Athanasius tried described the relationship between the Father and the Son as the relationship that exists between the son and its own light. Athanasius’ point is that just as the sun is inseparable … Continue reading
Category Archives: Learning Our Faith from the Church Fathers
In the last issue I began sharing with my readers Athanasius’ response to the contentions of Arius whose beliefs, eventually, were branded as a heretical. I also started sharing Athanasius’ idea about the relationship between the Father and the son … Continue reading
I have been presenting Arius’ ideas about Jesus and his relationship to God and, of course, Athanasius’ response to Arius. Arius seemed to picture the Father and Son as bottles or decanters that are filled by each other’s contents. In … Continue reading
In the last issue I shared more about Arius, whose teachings were anathematized, in order that my readers might have an accurate idea of what drove the Fathers of the Church to develop the particular belief we hold about the … Continue reading
As I shared in the last issue of this article, the Arian heresy began when Arius refused to accept Alexander’s formulations about Jesus. If the Son, Arius exclaimed, possesses the same divine nature as the Father – is “consubstantial” with … Continue reading
In this article I have tried to express the thoughts of the Greek Fathers of the Church and, in doing so, I have, of course, mentioned the struggles that the Church encountered during the first seven/eight centuries. The struggles were … Continue reading
In this particular article I have been presenting thoughts of the Greek Fathers of Our Church. I have been trying to highlight the struggle that the Church has had over the centuries to come to a true understanding of Who … Continue reading
Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria in the fourth century, says much the same thing as Tertullian about heresy in his critique of his Arian adversaries. “How,” Athanasius asks, “can they deny that this heresy is foreign, and not from our fathers? … Continue reading
Irenaeus (icon above), a gifted father writing in the second century, also emphasized the importance of apostolic teaching and tradition in the propagation of the Gospel and particularly stressed the important role bishops played in preserving and protecting apostolic truth. … Continue reading
In thinking about what the Fathers of the Church have contributed to our understanding of the Christian faith, it is obvious that error or heresy can often spur one to seek the truth. Heresy has often performed this troubling function … Continue reading