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Patrology — General

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Patrology — General

General news and announcements

Course Plan :

Course title: Patrology – Study of Church Fathers .

Course audience: The course is intended for individuals engaged or about to engage in Church ministry in dioceses of the Orthodox Church, as well as those interested in the Orthodox Christian theology and the teaching of the Fathers of the Orthodox Church concerning Christ, Bible and Christian life.

Model of teaching: Distance learning course.

Course Purpose and Objectives: The course is designed to give a general idea of the teaching of the Fathers of Orthodox Church concerning Christ, Bible and Christian life. At the end of the course students should understand and be able to read and comment on different authors of Ancient Christian Literature, know their interdependency and biographies. The course is essential for ministers of the Church to understand the teachings of the Fathers in order to be able to apply them in modern life and preaching.

Course structure: 16 lessons.

Introduction

Lesson 1. General concepts of Patrology/Patristics

1.1 The importance of studying the works of the Holy Fathers

1.2 The Concept of the “Fathers of the Church”

1.3 Periodization

A. Ante-Nicene Period (2nd - early 4th cent.)

Lesson 2. Ante-Nicene Period. Apostolic Fathers

2.1 Ante-Nicene Period (late 1st and early 4th centuries)

2.2 Clement of Rome

2.3 Ignatius of Antioch

2.4 Polycarp of Smyrna

Lesson 3. Liturgico-Canonical Texts. Christian Apocalyptical Texts

3.1 The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles (Didache)

3.2 The Epistle of Barnabas.

3.3 The Shepherd of Hermas

Lesson 4. Early Christian Apologists (1)

4.1 Early Christian Apologists

4.2 Aristides of Athens

4.3 Athenagoras of Athens

4.4 Tatian the Syrian

Lesson 5. Ante-Nicene Period. Early Christian Apologists (2)

5.1 Theophilus of Antioch

5.2 Justin the Philosopher

5.3 Melito of Sardis

5.4 “Letter to Diognetus”

Lesson 6. Church Authors against Gnostics. Irenaeus of Lyon

6.1 Gnostics

6.2. St. Irenaeus of Lyon

Lesson 7. Beginnings of the Alexandrian theological school. Clement of Alexandria, Origen

7.1. Alexandrian catechetical and theological school.

7.2 Clement of Alexandria

7.3 Origen of Alexandria

Lesson 8. Early Latin Christian Literature

8.1 Minucius Felix

8.2 Tertullian

8.3 Cyprian of Carthage

8.4 Novatianus

B. The Golden age of Patristic literature. Great trinitarian and christological debates: mid-4th - mid-5th cent.

Lesson 9. Nicene Fathers. Cappadocian Fathers.

9.1 Nicene Fathers. Athanasius of Alexandria.

9.2 Cappadocian Fathers. Basil the Great

9.3 Gregory the Theologian

9.4 Gregory of Nyssa

Lesson 10. Syriac Fathers. Antiochian theological tradition and its Constantinople and Jerusalem branches

10.1 Epraim the Syrian.

10.2 Biblical Exegesis: Diodore of Tarsus. Theodore of Mopsuestia.

10.3 Catechetical preachers: Cyril of Jerusalem

10.4 John of Constantinople (Chrysostom)

Lesson 11. Beginnings of the monastic literature

11.1 Antony the Great

11.2 Pachomius and his disciples

11.3 Macarius of Egypt

11.4 Evagrius Ponticus

11.5 Mark the Monk

11.6 Shenute of Atripe

11.7 Apophthegms

Lesson 12. Western Fathers

12.1 Ambrose of Milan

12.2 Jerome and Rufin

12.3 St. Augustine of Hippo

12.4 Leo the Great

C. Late Antiquity. “After Chalcedon”: late 5th - late 8th cent.

Lesson 13. Chalcedon and after

13.1 Cyril of Alexandria

13.2 Corpus of Ps.-Dionysius the Areopagite

13.3 Leontius of Byzantium

13.4 John Philoponus

Lesson 14. Fathers After Chalcedon

14.2 Sophronius of Jerusalem

14.3 Maximus the Confessor

14.4 Anastasius of Sinai

14.5 John of Damascus

Lesson 15. Ascetic writings

15.1 St. Barsanuphius and St. John

15.2 Dorotheus of Gaza

15.3 John Moschus

15.4 John the Climacus

15.5 Isaac the Syrian.

D. Fathers of the High and Late Middle Ages, 9th - 15th centuries.

Lesson 16. Byzantine ascetic literature. Hesychast controversies. Contacts with Christian West

16.1 Theodore the Studite

16.2 Simeon the New Theologian

16.3 Gregory of Sinai

16.4 Gregory Palamas

16.5 Marcus of Ephesus

Bibliography:

_The course is designed to give a general idea of the teaching of the Fathers of Orthodox Church concerning Christ, Bible and Christian life. At the end of the course students should understand and be able to read and comment on different authors of Ancient Christian Literature, know their interdependency and biographies. The course is essential for ministers of the Church to understand the teachings of the Fathers in order to be able to apply them in modern life and preaching. _

Lesson media

Video lesson available in the offline course archive (not hosted online).

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