This collection documents examples of distinctively Catholic theological beliefs or doctrines in the Eastern Church fathers; that is, ones in harmony with historic Catholic teaching but differing in some way from one or more strains of Protestant theology or Eastern Orthodox views. Quotations will be drawn from the Three Holy Hierarchs of Eastern Christian Tradition: St. Basil the Great (c. 330-379), St. John Chrysostom (c. 345-407), and St. Gregory Nazianzen (c. 330-c. 390). St. Athanasius (c. 297-373) is usually added to this list, and these are the Four Great Eastern Doctors of the Church. Additionally, the following four fathers are included: St. Cyril of Alexandria (c. 376-444), St. Ephraim (c. 306-373), St. Cyril of Jerusalem (c. 315-387), and St. John Damascene (c. 676-749). All eight men are Doctors of the Catholic Church. Quotations are drawn from public domain works and are found online at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library website.

For anyone to be called a Father involves these four conditions. First, he must be an Author, whose works are still extant. The fathers are important because they are quoted as authorities in theology. Obviously, then, they are all people who wrote works that we can quote. St Antony the Hermit, St Lawrence, St Sebastian are not fathers because they have left no writings. Secondly, he must be a Catholic, who lived in the communion of the Church, whose writings are correct and orthodox. Otherwise the writer’s authority is of no value as a witness of the Catholic faith. Apollinaris of Laodicea († c. 390) and Tertullian († 240) were learned and prolific authors; but they are not fathers because they were heretics. Thirdly, a father is a person of eminent sanctity as well as learning. The title is an honourable one given only to saints, or rather it includes and involves the title of saint. So Clement of Alexandria († c. 217) and Origenes († 254) are not strictly fathers, because they are not saints. As a matter of fact, the root of the matter in this case, too, is the want of orthodoxy that prevents them from being either saints or fathers. The fourth criterion is antiquity. This is the most difficult one to determine exactly. Aeterna Press

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