Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
15 Church Fathers You Need to Read Before You Die
15
items All members of the Orthodox Church can have their faith deepened and supercharged by reading these Church Fathers.
He was the great hero of the First Ecumenical Council in AD 325. His great work, the Incarnation of the Word of God, made clear that Jesus Christ is the Creator rather than a mere creature.
Saint Athanasius the Great, Patriarch of Alexandria
One of the three Great Hierarchs, St. Basil the Great made clear on his work, On the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit is, in fact, God Himself and not some mere created energy.
Saint Basil the Great
One of the three Great Hierarchs, St. Gregory the Theologian's five Theological Orations defined the classic doctrine of the Trinity.
Saint Gregory the Theologian, Archbishop of Constantinople
The younger brother of St. Basil the Great, St. Gregory of Nyssa, in his major works (including on The Making of Man, on The Soul and the Resurrection and The Great Catechism), provided the Church with the profound philosophical framework for the tea...
Saint Gregory of Nyssa
One of the three Great Hierarchs, St. John Chrysostom (meaning the Golden-Mouthed) wrote explanations of virtually every book in the New Testament.
Saint John Chrysostom
The hero of the third Ecumenical Council in AD 431, St. Cyril of Alexandria defended the dogma of the unity of Christ's person. St. Cyril is famous for the formulation, “one incarnate nature of God the Word”.
Saint Cyril of Alexandria
A friend and companion of the Apostles themselves, St. Clement served as the fourth bishop of Rome. His first epistle is famous for explaining the doctrine of apostolic succession.
St. Clement of Rome
A disciple of St. John the Apostle, his seven epistles sent in AD 110, contain almost the whole of Orthodox theology.
St. Ignatius of Antioch
St. Hermas of the Seventy, a friend and companion of the Apostles, received extraordinary visions of which he wrote down in his work, the Shepherd of Hermas. So highly esteemed was this work, some church authorities held it to be part of the Holy Scriptures.
St. Hermas of the Seventy
In the 8th century, St. John Damascus fully explained the Church's teachings in his An Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith. He is also renowned for his strong defense of icons.
Saint John of Damascus
Perhaps the most philosophically profound of all the Church Fathers, this humble monk was tortured for the faith, yet he remained unyielding. His teachings triumphed at the 6th Ecumenical Council in AD 680-681.
St. Maximus the Confessor
Living at the turn of the first Christian millennium, St. Symeon the New Theologian reproached the clergy of his day for trying to turn the Holy Faith into nothing more than empty rituals. He often wrote about his experiences of God as Divine Light.
Venerable Simeon the New Theologian
In the 9th century, St. Photius defended the Church's doctrine of the Trinity against the filioque heresy, such as in his The Mystagogy of the Holy Spirit.
Saint Photius the Great of Constantinople
In the 14th century, St. Gregory Palamas defended the Church's teaching that salvation is accomplished by God Himself rather than through created intermediaries.
Saint Gregory Palamas, Archbishop of Thessalonica
In the 15th century, St. Mark of Ephesus was the most significant figure who prevented the Orthodox Church from being subordinated to Rome.
Saint Mark of Ephesus