Hi,
I noticed in tasbeha.org that a lot of those theologically apt individuals amongst us are quoting from the Church fathers.
My question is this:
who are the CHurch fathers? What makes someone a "Church Father".
I know the Greek Orthodox seem to think we follow some fathers, who for them, are heretical.
So, who are the good ones and who are the "not so good ones" ??
Does anyone have a list?
Comments
I would recommend checking out page 2 of this article:
http://www.stmaryscopticorthodox.ca/content/articles/fathers/1007.pdf
Pray for me,
Mansour89
Oh my God!! Hahaha
THat's quite amazing. I just read page 2, and it says "This is what I call the Safe Fathers List". It means, this is well known to be a contentious issue!!
1. Saint Severus
2. Saint Dioscorus
3. Saint Athanasius the Apostolic
4. Saint Peter the martyr among the priests
5. Saint John Chrysostom
6. Saint Cyril the Pillar of the Faith
7. Saint Basil
8. Saint Gregory the Theologian
9. The Fathers of the three ecumenical councils acknowledged by our
Church.
Is there any one here GREEK ORTHODOX (Mixalhs) that could just tell us if this list is OK for them?
Thanks
St. Gregory of Nyssa
St. Clement of Alexandria
are others.
They are branded as "heretics" by those churches and rites.
THanks
None of our holy and God-bearing Fathers are heretics.
About your other question, I hope that I live to see our Coptic Orthodox Church filled with those who love the teachings of our fathers, and know them as well as those who are committed to preserving the heritage of our hymnology. Both are necessary for the wellbeing of our Church.
I am aware of more and more Coptic Orthodox who are becoming theologically literate to a high degree, and there are some priests and bishops who are particularly concerned to see this happen. If we do not understand our faith - I do not mean that everyone needs to be a theologian - then we are more liable to be confused or deceived.
Father Peter
Nestorians (aka, the Assyrian Church of the East) will not call St. Cyril the Great a father. They consider him an "archheretic". Just the mention of
his name makes them cringe. In their rites, they will refer to him in very nasty ways, since he was instrumental in expunging Nestorius from the See of Constaninople.
We (the Coptic Orthodox Church) will take a good number of things from Jerome, or Augustine, but not all things.
Like I said, it depends.
The arch-heretics from the Coptic Orthodox perspective are: Arius and Nestorius.
Amen.
CertifiedOrthodox,
None of our holy and God-bearing Fathers are heretics.
About your other question, I hope that I live to see our Coptic Orthodox Church filled with those who love the teachings of our fathers, and know them as well as those who are committed to preserving the heritage of our hymnology. Both are necessary for the wellbeing of our Church.
I am aware of more and more Coptic Orthodox who are becoming theologically literate to a high degree, and there are some priests and bishops who are particularly concerned to see this happen. If we do not understand our faith - I do not mean that everyone needs to be a theologian - then we are more liable to be confused or deceived.
Father Peter
OK. which Coptic Orthodox Father do we have that the Greek Orthodox do not approve of?
Of course, for us, none of them are heretics. SUre! THat's obvious. But, for the Greeks, or the other orthodox churches, do they have any qualms about our patristics?
Father Peter
Everything and everyone after 451 AD.
Father Peter
451 was what? Chalcedon?
lol... Wasn't John Chrysostom after Chalcedon? or was he before?
451 AD was Chalcedon. Although this was not the end of the controversy, and our Orthodox Church did not separate itself from the Byzantine Church until almost 100 years later, the Byzantines do tend to consider all of our holy Fathers after this date to be heretics.
Father Peter