The School of the Early Church
Not a survey of the Fathers but a course in what they actually taught — arranged the way a catechumen would have met it. Five weeks: the Way of life and death; the worship they kept (baptism, the Eucharist, the Sunday assembly, Pascha); the rule of faith they handed on; the answers they gave the empire that mocked them; and the witness of those who died rather than recant. Every reading is a real chapter from this library's own shelves, in public-domain translations.
0 of 30 days complete
- Day 1Didache 1–6
- Day 2Didache 7–16
- Day 3To Diognetus 1–6
- Day 4To Diognetus 7–10
- Day 5Polycarp to the Philippians 1–14
- Day 6Tertullian, Of Patience 1–8
- Day 7Tertullian, Of Patience 9–16
- Day 8Justin, First Apology 61–68
- Day 9Tertullian, On Baptism 1–10
- Day 10Tertullian, On Baptism 11–19
- Day 11Tertullian, On Prayer 1–15
- Day 12Tertullian, On Prayer 16–29
- Day 13Cyprian, On the Lord's Prayer 1–2
- Day 14Melito, On the Passover 1–6
- Day 15Irenaeus, The Demonstration 1–8
- Day 16Irenaeus, The Demonstration 9–16
- Day 17Against Heresies III 1–9
- Day 18Against Heresies III 10–17
- Day 19Ignatius to the Ephesians 1–22
- Day 20Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans 1–12
- Day 211 Clement 1–20
- Day 221 Clement 21–40
- Day 23Justin, First Apology 1–20
- Day 24Justin, First Apology 21–40
- Day 25Justin, Second Apology 1–15
- Day 26Athenagoras, A Plea 1–18
- Day 27Athenagoras, A Plea 19–37
- Day 28Theophilus to Autolycus I 1–15
- Day 29Ignatius to the Romans 1–10
- Day 30The Martyrdom of Polycarp 1–22Perpetua and Felicity 1–2