The Patristic Fathers are those perported champions of the faith post the Apostles or Apostolic Era. The first among the Patristic Fathers are the alleged disciples of the 12 Disciples: Ignatius of Antioch (35-108 A.D.), Polycarp Smyrna (69-155 A.D.), Ireneaus of Lyons (120-202 A.D.), Clement of Alexandria (150-215 A.D.), Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.), and Pope Clement (circa 1st century to 101 A.D.). Orthodox Scholars claim that Polycarp was a disciple of John the Apostle or the Theologian, and that Pope Clement was one of the disciples of Peter. However, this is impossible to verify. There is no Biblical evidence of the Early Patristic Fathers being disciples of the Twelve. The disciple of the Apostle Paul was Timothy (1 Timothy 1:2), Titus (Galatians 2:3), and this long list of people, "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is a deaconess in the church in Cenchrea. Welcome her in the Lord as one who is worthy of honor among God’s people. Help her in whatever she needs, for she has been helpful to many, and especially to me. Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home. Greet my dear friend Epenetus. He was the first person from the province of Asia to become a follower of Christ. Give my greetings to Mary, who has worked so hard for your benefit. Greet Andronicus and Junia, my fellow Jews, who were in prison with me. They are highly respected among the apostles and became followers of Christ before I did. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my dear friend in the Lord. Greet Urbanus, our co-worker in Christ, and my dear friend Stachys. Greet Apelles, a good man whom Christ approves. And give my greetings to the believers from the household of Aristobulus. Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew. Greet the Lord’s people from the household of Narcissus. Give my greetings to Tryphena and Tryphosa, the Lord’s workers, and to dear Persis, who has worked so hard for the Lord. Greet Rufus, whom the Lord picked out to be his very own; and also his dear mother, who has been a mother to me. Give my greetings to Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers and sisters who meet with them. 15 Give my greetings to Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and to Olympas and all the believerswho meet with them. Greet each other with a sacred kiss. All the churches of Christ send you their greetings," (Romans 16:1-16) and "Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brothers, but it was not at all his will to come now. He will come when he has opportunity. Now I urge you, brothers—you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints— be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people." (1 Corinthians 16:12, 15-18). Why then is none of the Patristic Fathers bearing any of these names? Like Apollos or Hermas? It would be easier to believe the Early Patristic Fathers were disciples if they even bore names similar to these, but they do not. As for Polycarp being a disciple of the Apostle John, wouldn't John have mentioned him in either 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John as Paul does in his Epistles and Peter in His 1 and 2 Peter Epistles? Therefore the Early Patristic Fathers are either a forgery or simply church men from 2nd to 7th centuries. The Apostle Luke wrote a history of the Church, it is called ACTS and it is book after The Gospel According to John. Luke never mentions anyone near these name save for Barnabas, who worked with Paul (Acts 15:3- Acts 16:10), and Clement who was exstolled by Paul (Philippians 4:3); but Barnabas in Bible was not disciple of Paul, rather Barnabas sought out Paul and already was disciple of Christ (Acts 11:25), and Clement was common Roman name, hence why there are two Patristic Fathers named Pope Clement and Clement of Alexandria. Mind you Clement is believed by the Patristic Fathers to be Peter's heir and successor, but the Bible states Paul was the one working with Clement (Phillippians 4:3). The Early Patristic Fathers being disciples is another misconception like the Gnostic gospels of Mary, Judas, Thomas, and other writings being true books when they are from later centuries after Christ's Ascension and the Apostles and the gnostic texts contradict the canonized 66 Books of the Holy Bible which are God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16).
The later Patristic fathers are, Tertullian (160-255 A.D.), Origin (185-254 A.D.), Capyrian of Carthage (France, d. 258 A.D.), Athanasius (296-373 A.D.), Gregory Nazarianzus (329-389 A.D.) and Basil Cesarea (330-379 A.D.). Tertullian did the Church a service, he was first one to put a name to union and unique nature of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Tertullian called this Trinity, which was first time the word was used to describe One God in Three Persons. Origin on the other hand was severe, he burned his literature books, castrated himself (cut his gentiles off), and adopted a false doctrine of the Father God being greatest, Jesus second greatest, and Holy Spirit being least in the Trinity, this was confronted at the Council of Nicea as heresy (325 A.D.) and Scripture (Philippians 2:4-11, John 5:18, John 17:19-21, John 10:30, John 14:9-20, John 14:26, John 20:21-22, Hebrews 1:1-14, Genesis 1:27). Athanasius helped form the first Monastic orders, and the problem with this is monasticism is antichrist, it claims that holy life lived in the seclusion of cloister can save a soul; when it is confessing Jesus Chrsit and believing in Him in your heart that one is saved (Romans 10:9-10, John 6:40, John 3:16, Acts 4:10-12). In the 4th Century the theologians emerged who had to counter heresies like Arianism, Nestorianism, Copticism, and more. Among those was Gregory Nazianzus who helped further develop Trinitarian theology and understanding, he was one of frist theologians. Basil of Cesarea advocated for Nicene Creed, and fought Arianism head on in his dispatches. The next major Patristic father who is honored in both the Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic Churches is Jerome (347-430 A.D.), who is famous for translating the Holy Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, this is known as the Latin Vulgate. The problem is Jerome mistranslated one single word that has plagued the Roman Catholic Church for a millennium plus, he put "do pennace" where in Greek it read "repent of your sins." Pennace is a striving and doing merit based works to be forgiven, repentance is to turn from and stop doing something bad. Jerome also mistranslated other areas of the Bible, in particular a ridiculous depiction of Moses with horns like the devil.
The next major Patristic Father is one we all know in West, Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D). St. Augustine is known for his dalliances of sin, he had woman he made love to and had a son from out of wedlock, never married, he was Manchiee heretic for a time. It is at this period that Augustine says, "LORD give me chastity and constancy, but do not give it to me yet." Augustine would waver in his opinions until his final baptism, when he left his common law wife and become a priest. Augustine would go on to right his Confessio or Confessions which is a very honest testimonial of Augustine's battle with sin and conversion. Contained in the Confessions is a brilliant refutation of Astrology, and proof that children are born a sinners and wicked not innocent cherubs, we are born in sin (Psalm 51:5, Psalm 58:3) and all have sinned and fallen short (Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:8-10). The problem is Augustine was deceived, a spirit of light appeared to him and said it was God, but never mentioned it was Jesus; when similar situation happened in Bible the light said it was Jesus, " As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.[a] It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 9:3-5). In the case of Augustine's spirit of light, it never called itself Lord or Jesus, This concerns me because Paul writes that Satan does disguise himself as an angel of light, "But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." (2 Corinthians 11:14) and the Apostle John says any spirit that does not confess Jesus is antichrist, "and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already." (1 John 4:3). What made Paul's Damascus experience true is the Light shining said it was Jesus and lead Him to count all things lost but knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8). Augustine's light called itself God, but never confessed Christ, and Satan wants to be god (Isaiah 14:11-14), but the devil will burn in hell (Revelation 20:10). Paul also checked if the Gospel he received from Jesus on the Road to Damascus was in harmony with what the Disciples received and it checked out (Galatians 1:18-19, Galatians 2:1-2, Acts 15:1-15).
Augustine witnessed one of the most traumatic moments in antiquity, the fall of Western Roman Empire to Visigoth barbarians, and he records rightly in His mammoth work "City of God" that it was because Romans kept their paganisms and idols, and did not turn to One True God, that they were smitten by the wrath of God Almighty.
Other Patristic Fathers like Cyril of Alexandria fought Nestorius and his companion with holy zeal, trying to stop Nestorianism, a cult that said there were two christs, one flesh and evil, and one spirit and good (very Zoroastrian, in fact Nestorians probably borrowed Zoroastrian beliefs), and that all flesh and physical matter is evil, and all supernatural unseen is pure. This contradicts the True of the Trinity and Bible, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten (came forth, not made) from the Father, full of grace and truth. John *testified about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.’” For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." (John 1:1-5, 14-17), "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already" (1 John 4:1-3), "I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist," (2 John 1:7), "That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God, "You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings. But you have given me a body to offer," (Hebrews 10:5), "During the days of Jesus' earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears..," (Hebrews 5:7), "He himself bore our sins" in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; "by his wounds you have been healed," (1 Peter 2:24), "The fullness of the Godhead was in him," (Colossians 2:9), and "while we wait for the blessed hope--the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ," (Titus 2:13). Jesus is both God and Man, Spirit and Flesh. God made flesh and all physical matter (Genesis 1:1-27, Genesis 1:1-Genesis 3:1). Cyril fought valiantly against Nestorius and John of Antioch (not the Apostle, remember this is in the 5th Century A.D., 400yrs after John the Apostle died). For truly Jesus lookin into future saw Nestorians and other heresies coming, for Christ said, "And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ," (Matthew 24:4-5), and "Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or 'There He is,’ do not believe him. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you in advance. 26 So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather [all eyes will see Jesus coming on clouds Revelation 1:7, Revelation 19:11-16, Matthew 24:29-31]." (Matthew 24:23-28).
There are many other Patristic Fathers, but I have mentioned the ones who contributed most to the Church either in a positive way like Cyril and Tertullian, and those who contributed in a negative way like Origin, Jerome, and Augustine. The problem with Patristics is there is a mixture, some good contributions that have actually been adopted as Christian truth, and other contributions that have contradicted the Holy Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. I am not condemning outright the Patristic Fathers, but I offer a stern warning. Their words are not the Truth of God written down. They are theologians, doctors, and scholars who wrote down some revelatory ideas and some ridiculous ideas. Their books should never be compared to the Scriptures which are God Breathed (2 Timothy 3:16), and whom the Holy Spirit reminded the eyewitnesses, the Apostles of everything needed to be remembered (John 14:26). Patristic Tradition is very much a game of Russian Roulette, seven out of eight times you may not be shot by the gun you pass around, but on eighth you will be shot; or lets use Biblical example, the Roman centurions played bones, and who ever one was king for a day, but then was crucified at the end of the day. At some point the Patristics deviates from the purity of knowing Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 11:2-3), and counting all things lost but knowing Christ (Philippians 3:8-9). The Church Fathers of the 2nd to 8th Centuries were contending with numerous heretical and cultic groups, and for that we may show our thanks, but they also produced teachings and texts contrary to Scripture, The Gospels, and the words the Holy Trinity gave to the Apostles. For this reason I urge major caution when studying the Patristic Fathers. Their books should be considered Deuterocanonical, and akin to the Apocrypha, histories and unverified texts that should not be considered in harmony or even close to 66 perfect Books of the Bible. Amen.
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