Apostolic Fathers

The Apostolic Fathers are a group of early Christian authors and Christian leaders who are believed to have had contact with Jesus' twelve disciples, and whose writings date back to the middle of the first century. They include St. Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, St. Polycarp of Smyrna, Didache, Barnabas of Alexandria, The Shepherd of Hermas, and Diognetus.

The writings themselves are called "The Apostolic Fathers".

List of The Apostolic Fathers[edit]

The Epistle to Diognetus

The First Epistle of Clement

The Second Epistle of Clement (not actually written by Clement)

The Didache

The Epistle of Barnabas

Seven Epistles of Ignatius

The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians

The Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians

The Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians

The Epistle of Ignatius to the Romans

The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians

The Epistle of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans

The Epistle of Ignatius to Polycarp

(the longer forms of these Epistles, and those beyond the seven, are widely considered later emendations and forgeries —see Introduction to Ignatius of Antioch)

The Epistle of Polycarp

The Martyrdom of Polycarp

The Shepherd of Hermas

Fragments of the writings of Papias, which have survived as quotations in later writers

One short fragment of a writing by Quadratus of Athens

Most or all of these works were originally written in Greek.

Published English translations have been made by various scholars of early Christianity, such as J.B. Lightfoot, Kirsopp Lake, Bart D. Ehrman and Michael W. Holmes.

Greek text editions[edit]

The Apostolic Fathers. Vol. 1. I Clement. II Clement. Ignatius. Polycarp. Didache. Barnabas. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1912 Kirsopp Lake

The Apostolic Fathers. Vol. 2. Shepherd of Hermas. Martyrdom of Polycarp. Epistle to Diogentus. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1913 Kirsopp Lake

The Apostolic Fathers. Vol. 1. I Clement. II Clement. Ignatius. Polycarp. Didache. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2003 Bart Ehrman (replaced Kirsopp Lake)

The Apostolic Fathers. Vol. 2. Epistle of Barnabas. Papias and Quadratus. Epistle to Diognetus. The Shepherd of Hermas. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005 Bart Ehrman (replaced Kirsopp Lake)

The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations. 3rd Edition. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007 Michael Holmes

Die Apostolischen Väter. Germany: Mohr Siebeck, 1992 Andreas Lindemann and Henning Paulsen (German)

External links[edit]

• The Writing of the Apostolic Fathers (goarch.org)
• The Apostolic Fathers, edited and translated by Michael W. Holmes: Greek Texts and English Translations, 3rd edition, after the earlier work of J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer; Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan © 2007 (bakerpublishinggroup.com)
• Early Christian Writings A.D. 30 through 380 (earlychristianwritings.com)