Cyprian here writes of the martyrdom of St. Fabian who was elected bishop of the Church of Rome in 236. In 250, at the beginning of the persecution of the Emperor Decius, Pope Fabian was captured, martyred, and buried in the catacombs, in cemetery...
[dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']I[/dropcaps]gnatius, who is also called Theophorus, to the Church which is at Ephesus, in Asia, deservedly most happy, being blessed in the greatness and fulness of God the Father, and predestinated before the beginning of time, that it should be...
Cyprian, who himself was martyred a few years after writing this, here speaks of the invincible faith of the martyrs. [dropcaps type='normal' font_size='100' color='' background_color='' border_color='']H[/dropcaps]ow can I find the words to praise you, most courageous brethren? How can I compose a speech worthy of the...
This excerpt from St. Irenaeus shows that the Blessed Virgin Mary is truly a new Eve, just as her son Jesus Christ is a new Adam. He contrasts Eve's disobedience with Mary's obedience....
The beginning of Cyprian's treatise on the Lord's Prayer, the Our Father. He emphasizes how complete yet concise this prayer is, and how it represents a participation in the intimate relationship of unity between the Father and God the Son....
St. Cyprian, a pagan convert who went on to become bishop of Carthage in the 3rd Century, gives us one of the earliest and most extensive commentaries on the Lord's Prayer, aka the "Our Father." Here is the complete text of his treatise....
Cyprian, a third century bishop, explains the meaning of two of the petitions of the Lord's prayer - give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us....
Origen sees the fall of Jericho in the book of Joshua as a figure of the End of the world, the trumpets of the Israelites as foreshadowing the last trumpet of the angels, Rahab & her scarlet cord the Church saved by the blood of...
Origen, commenting on the book of Joshua, shows that the early Church saw the sacrament of baptism not only as the crossing of the Red Sea, but also as the crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land....
This excerpt from the 2nd century Letter to Diognetus explains to pagan readers how the Church is in the world and not of it, and why this is a cause of persecution. Christians, he explains, are to the world as the soul is to the...