I want to start reading Church Fathers but don't how!

It's increasingly common for people to ask "I want to read the Church Fathers, where do I start?" or
some variation of this. This question already betrays somewhat of a misunderstanding of what the
writings of the Church Fathers actually are. There is not a collection of them that people are
referencing. In fact many (most) of them have never been translated into a modern language. Nor
are they one genre of work. They consist mostly of personal letters about every conceivable topic.
Or large treatise on various subjects. There even exist a dog-breeding manual written by a Church
Father.

It is fitting that people are unsure on what to read. If one disabuses themselves of the notion that
they are some collective work, they will be better apt to locate readings they are interested in. It is
often useful to first figure out what subject you are interested in. If you have no such particularities,
the best place to start is probably between personal letters or homilies they wrote. Some wrote
things like catechial lectures, which were meant to be consumed by people new to the faith.

This is in contrast with what text people normally recommend. Which will either be great
tomes or very advanced spiritual writings, neither of which are useful or should even be read by a
someone so novice. This whole selection was inspired by seeing yet another recommendation for
City of God. If you do not know what this writing is like, the absurdity and the humor of it as an
introduction to the Church Fathers is lost (City of God is an enormous twenty-two book work that,
even when read, isn't likely to help the person in the way they were looking for).

My ultimate goal is to provide a selection of short text that can give a sort of introduction and
overview as to how patristics normally go. Most writings by a Church Father are, just by their
nature, very short. So developing the habit of thinking only long works are important, or only long
works are worth reading, is a terrible (and modern) conception of publications.

Since this is the second version of this I've made, I included the original text with some
modifications below under the header "ver 1" at the end of the list. I was always unsatisfied with the
original version since it was me hastily listing writings that were short and early, with no concern
for variety or other criteria. But with more reflection, I have prepared a better survey of materials.

If you are interested in a physical collection of short and interesting text, there is simply no better
collection than Faith of the Early Fathers by William A. Jurgens. It's a three volume set of relatively
short books, that touches on every major father and even many of the minor ones. You can read it
cover to cover, and he provides useful notes about translations and historical context.

For online resources, there are several when looking for specific writings. I link to New Advent
most of the time but it mostly just pulls translations from the Nicene and Post-Nicene Father
collection, which is pretty much where everyone pulls it from.

http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/
https://www.ccel.org/fathers.html
http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/


The listed writings have a general, but not exact, chronological ordering to them.


The Epistle of Barnabas
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0124.htm

The Seven Epistles of Ignatius of Antiochhttp://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0104.htm Ephesians
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0105.htm Magnesians
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0106.htm Trallians
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0107.htm Romans
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0108.htm Philadelphians
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0109.htm Smyrnaeans
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0110.htm to Polycarp

The Martyrdom of Ignatius
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0123.htm

Polycarp's letter to the Philippians
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/polycarp.html
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0136.htm

The Martyrdom of Polycarp
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ante-Nicene_Christian_Library/The_Martyrdom_of_Polycarp
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0102.htm

Epistle to Diognetus
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01.iii.i.html
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0101.htm

The Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1010.htm

St. Justin Martyr
First Apology
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0126.htm
Clement of Alexandria
Who is the Rich Man that Shall be saved?
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/clement-richman.html

St. Ireanaeus
Against Heresies
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103.htm (directory to each part)
(A long entry to read in it's entirety, which is why I prepared select readings below)
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103103.htm On scripture
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103110.htm Unity of the faith of the Church
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103201.htm Defense of Monotheism
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103303.htm On the necessity of apostolic succession and Rome
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103304.htm The Truth is found alone in the Catholic Church
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103322.htm On the Incarnation, conceived and born of the Virgin

Tertullian
Prescription Against Heretics
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0311.htm
On Baptism
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0321.htm
Antidote to the Scorpians Stinghttp://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0318.htm
Against Praxeas
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0317.htm
On Idoltry
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0302.htm

St. Cyprian of Carthage
On the Unity of the Church
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050701.htm
Against the Heretics (Letter to Pope Cornelius)
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050654.htm
Cyprian's Answer to Cornelius, Concerning the Crimes of Novatus
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050648.htm
To Cornelius in Exile, Concerning His Confession
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050656.htm
On Baptism of Infants
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/050658.htm

St. Ephrem the Syrian
http://a.co/1MQOuis for his hymns
Homily on Our Lord
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3706.htm
On the Sinful Woman
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3708.htm
Homily on Admonition and Repentance
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3707.htm
The Virgin Mother to Her Child
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf213.iii.v.xii.html

St. Athanasius of Alexandria
On the Incarnation of the Word
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2802.htm
Against the Arians (Part 1)
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/28081.htm

St. Basil the Great of Caesarea
Of the Holy Spirit
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3203.htm
The Hexaemeron
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3201.htm (looks long but isn't)

St. Gregory of Nazianzus
On the Theophany (Birthday of Christ)
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310238.htm

St. Gregory of Nyssa
On Infant's Early Deaths
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/2912.htm

St. Ambrose
Concerning Repentance
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3406.htm (not as long as it looks)Exposition of the Christian Faith
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3404.htm (directory, long)

St. Augustine
Against the Fundamental Epistle of Manichaeus
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1405.htm
Letter to Generosus
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1102053.htm
Of Faith and the Creed
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1304.htm
On Baptism, Against the Donatist
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1408.htm

St. John Chrysostom
Homily on St. Ignatius
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1905.htm
Homily on John
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/240188.htm
Correspondence with Pope Innocent I
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1918.htm
(This is another of the fathers who were so prolific it's almost impossible to pick something short
from them, to the point it might be more prudent to just leave such fathers out of a list like this)

St. Cyril of Jerusalem
On Heresies
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310106.htm
On the Holy Ghost
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310116.htm
The Catechetical Lectures
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3101.htm

Pope St. Leo I
To the Bishops of the Province of Vienne. In the matter of Hilary, Bishop of Arles.
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3604010.htm
Leo, bishop of the City of Rome, to Anastasius, bishop of Thessalonica.
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3604014.htm
On Clerical Celibacy
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3604014.htm

St. Optatus of Mileviso
http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/optatus_01_book1.htm Book 1
http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/optatus_02_book2.htm Book 2

St. Jerome
The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3007.htm
The Dialogue Against the Luciferians
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3005.htm
The Life of Malchus, the Captive Monk
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3006.htm
The Life of Paulus the First Hermit
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3008.htm
To Pope Damasushttp://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3001015.htm


If you have any questions or want any more recommendations, you know where to find me.
~tutor


ver 1
Some time ago I noticed a fascinating trend: people want to get into patristics but they never know
where to start. All too often, they look for recommendations and are directed to large, imposing,
conspicuous text. The most (dare I use this word?) notorious of these has to be City of God, by St.
Augustine. One of the largest tomes I've seen, yet an astonishing amount of people think this is the
perfect work to start off with. It's great breadth, predictably, leads to a fast burn-out. The reader no
longer has interest in the Church Father text, or they may claim they do, but now viewing them all
in the same light, they find the time necessary to read them in to be too great(with the idea that the
greater the length, the greater the importance, and more destructively, the shorter the text, the less
relevant they must be).
Granted, virtually everything a Church Father has written will be edifying at least to some degree,
even seemingly irrelevant personal letters written between friends. This list is not intended to be the
end-all-be-all of text that must read, but writings that can be read more easily because of their
length, but with the great and subtle thought that characterizes patristic thought.