Oct 9, 2024
After the controversies in the mid-third century, in the aftermath of the persecution of the emperor Decius and the schism of Novatian, Pope St. Stephen was instrumental in clarifying the Church’s theology of the sacraments of Baptism and Penance and Reconciliation. What is required for a valid baptism? What is...
Sep 25, 2024
Caius was a priest in Rome, in the third century. He wrote that if one comes to Rome, one can visit the shrines at the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul. These tombs had been known and visited since the apostle’s deaths, and are known to this day - they are in the same place where Caius knew them. The tomb of St. Paul...
Sep 11, 2024
The early Christian apologist Athenagoras may not be as famous as some of the other Church fathers, but he’s a great example of someone who started out as an apologist against Christianity, but when he actually learned what the apostles and the Church taught, he was converted. He teaches us about the doctrines of the...
Aug 28, 2024
In the first episode of an interim series on lesser known fathers, Dr. Papandrea introduces one of the “apostolic fathers,” Papias of Hierapolis. We only have fragments of his writings, but those fragments started a controversy over the authorship of the book of Revelation and the Johannine letters. Papias is a...