In retrospect, this lecture was very similar to the first Pre-Nicene lesson. However, this is more focused on the actual writings and not on the author’s themselves.
Links to selected Pre-Nicene writings below.
In no sense is this chart exhaustive. It seemed like a good exercise to go over some of this material to know what Orthodoxy isn’t.
Pre-Nicene WS -These are the notes I hand out blank
Ignatius of Antioch
Pre-Nicene Church - This is what it should look like once we’re done
Links to Early Church Writings:
Epistle of St. Clement of Rome to the Corinthians
First Apology of Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho
image from kosovo.net
51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”
52 The Jews therefore quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
54 Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
55 For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.
56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.
57 As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me.
58 This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more.
-John 6
For those of us who question whether, at the Last Supper, Jesus meant that the bread and wine were only symbolically or allegorically His Body and Blood, we can see in this passage above the seriousness of Christ’s identification of His Flesh with bread. His emphasis on His Body being food and His Blood being drink is so strong that many of his disciples leave Him. Now the Liturgical form of worship can be elaborated on further later, however, we must reference now how the disciples commemorated the Last Supper, that is celebrated the Eucharist, in their lives after the Ascension of Christ and the subsequent Pentecost.
42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.- Acts 2:42
We know that the original Greek form of “prayers” can be rendered “the prayers” as in the traditional Jewish cycle of daily prayers. However the terminology of “breaking of bread” is still used. Why, if the bread and wine are truly Body and Blood of Christ is the term “bread” still used? Notice how Christ, in the passage from St. John says that He Himself is indeed Bread. We know certainly that, at the last Supper (Luke 22: 14-23), he switches and says that the bread is truly His flesh. The idea is that His flesh may be bread and the bread may be His flesh without ceasing to be either. That is why the New Testament uses the terminology of “breaking of bread.”
Continuing on to St. Pauls First letter to the Corinthians (11)
27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
Notice once again the serious and severity towards the Eucharist. The bread and wine are truly Body and Blood of our Lord; so much so that they may bring condemnation down on those who partake of them unworthily.
James 5:
13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms.
14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
Who are the elders? The word is most closely identified with presbyter, or priest. Notice that they pray over the sick and anoint them with oil. The work of healing, while not limited, is worked within the use of oil.
15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Notice here the early use of Confession in the Church. Here the Confession is open and to “one another.” We confess to priests as well, as the priest is given the authority to forgive sins through their ordination as Christ gave such authority to the Apostles (the priests being ordained by the Bishop who is in the succession of the Apostles).
21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”
John 20: 21-23
St. Paul the Apostle
The Church in Samaria
Cornelius and the Gentiles; Disciples of John the Baptism
An Overview of Events
Introduction-
Why do we believe what we believe? Where does our worship come from? If we made Christianity up on our own, using just the Bible and our brains, would we would come anywhere near something resembling the Orthodox Church we stand in today? In fact, many Christians in the West today find Orthodox Christian spirituality and practice very strange indeed. Every facet of our unique Faith, from our theology and Sacraments down to our Church art seems utterly foreign to many who have grown up in the American context.
However, our Faith has roots deeper and more ancient than any other Christian denomination. In fact, we do not even consider ourselves a “denomination” in the usual sense. To say that we belong to a denomination implies that our Church was founded by someone other than Christ, Himself. Rather, we simply are “The Church” and by referring to ourselves as “Orthodox,” we are simply referring to the truest meaning of the word “orthodox.” That is to say, we believe we belong to the Christian Church as it was founded; as it was intended to be.
Of course, we are not saying that we belong to the Church as it was meant to be based on our own individual merits. Nor did we consciously decide to follow the practices of the original Church at some point in history. We believe that we have inherited the Church as it is from Christ; Who founded the Church and entrusted it to His Apostles who then faithfully handed down the Faith to their followers and them to their successors from generation to generation. In this way, the Church has been able to grow organically while maintaining the continuity of the doctrines and practices of the original Apostolic Church. In being Orthodox, we seek to abide in fidelity with our forefathers in the Faith rather than in our own conception of what that Faith should be. For this reason, St. Paul exhorts the Thessalonians, “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle” (2 Thess. 2: 15).
(image from www.sacred-destinations.com)