Curated playlist
Church Fathers
- IrenaeusWhy did a bishop in Gaul insist on exactly four gospels? Irenaeus is the earliest witness to that claim.
- TertullianTertullian distrusted philosophy yet gave Latin Christianity its word "trinity."
- EusebiusMany lost ancient books survive only because Eusebius of Caesarea quoted them. Some fragments exist nowhere else.
- OrigenIn 543, Emperor Justinian I declared Origen a heretic and ordered his writings burned.
- Augustine of HippoAugustine of Hippo once prayed, "Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet."
- Clement of AlexandriaClement of Alexandria argued that Greek philosophy prepared the way for the Gospel.
- John ChrysostomThree places claim to hold the skull of John Chrysostom. Vatopedi, Florence and Pisa all say they have it.
- Basil of CaesareaBasil of Caesarea told an emperor's official, "Perhaps you have never yet had to deal with a bishop."
- Gregory of NyssaGregory of Nyssa, a fourth-century bishop, argued that slavery itself was sinful.
- Gregory of NazianzusGregory of Nazianzus offered to be thrown overboard like Jonah. He told a council of 150 bishops in 381 to seize him.
- Church FathersMaximus the Confessor left a court job for a monastery. He was later tortured and exiled, then vindicated by a council.
- LactantiusLactantius, a North African writer, ended up tutoring the son of the Roman emperor Constantine.
- JeromeJerome translated the Old Testament from Hebrew, against most Christians' advice. He finished the project by 405.
- Pope Gregory IPope Gregory I, later honored as Saint Gregory the Great, once forced a dying monk to die alone because the man had hidden three gold pieces. After the death, Gregory had the body and the coins thrown onto a manure heap, with the words…