Closest to the Apostles: Why the Earliest Christian Witnesses Matter

Every Christian today reads the New Testament at a distance: in translation, many centuries later, in cultures the apostles never saw. That raises a fair question. When Christians disagree about what the apostles meant, whose reading should carry weight? Is a modern reader with a good study Bible in the same position as a man who sat at the feet of someone who had heard the apostle John?

The earliest Christian writers outside the New Testament answer that question with their lives. Clement of Rome wrote while people who had known Peter and Paul were still alive. Ignatius of Antioch wrote on the road to his death. Polycarp of Smyrna spoke of what he had heard from John, and died as an old man rather than curse Christ. Justin described the Sunday Eucharist (Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper) to the emperor and was later beheaded. Irenaeus, who had listened to Polycarp as a boy, defended the apostolic faith against the Gnostics.

The Orthodox Church honors them as fathers and teachers. This article asks why they matter, what they show, and where their testimony has limits.

In brief

The New Testament expects the faith to be handed on through people: Paul tells Timothy to commit what he heard "to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). The earliest writers after the apostles stand at the first links of that chain. They wrote in the Greek of the New Testament, lived in its cities, in several cases knew apostles or their disciples, and mostly died as martyrs. Their writings show a recognizable faith: one God the Creator, Christ truly come in the flesh, baptism and the Eucharist, bishops, presbyters and deacons, and a tradition received from the apostles. Their witness is not infallible. Heretics also had martyrs, a pupil of Justin left the Church, and some key facts, such as which John Polycarp knew and when the account of his death was written, are disputed. That is why the Orthodox Church gives authority to what the Fathers teach together, not to every opinion of each one. Taken together, they are our best evidence for how the apostles' own churches understood the faith.

Thesis: The earliest Christian witnesses matter because they stood closest to the apostles in time, language and fellowship and sealed their testimony with their lives, so that their shared faith is our best guide to what the apostles handed on, even though no single one of them is infallible.

A chain of living memory

Jude urged his readers "to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).¹ Delivered once, it was received by people, and people die, so the apostles provided for it to outlive them. Paul and Barnabas "appointed elders in every church" (Acts 14:23). The verse in 2 Timothy 2:2 holds four links in a single sentence: Paul, Timothy, faithful men, and others also.

Hebrews adds a personal note: "Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct" (Hebrews 13:7).

Papias, bishop of Hierapolis, whom Eusebius places in the same generation as Ignatius, put the instinct plainly. He asked visitors what the apostles had said, "For I did not think that what was to be gotten from the books would profit me as much as what came from the living and abiding voice."² The earliest witnesses could still ask.

The first apologists said the same. An "apology" here is not an expression of regret but a reasoned defense of the faith; the Fathers who wrote them are called apologists.³ Quadratus addressed one to Trajan's successor, the emperor Hadrian. Eusebius still had it, and quotes him on the people Christ healed and raised: they "were alive for quite a while, so that some of them lived even to our day." Aristides, Eusebius adds, "left, like Quadratus, an apology for the faith, addressed to Adrian."⁴ The site's guide to the teaching of the Apostolic Fathers surveys their writings; here we look at five witnesses as people.

Five witnesses

Clement of Rome: a letter from the apostles' city

Near the end of the first century the church of Rome wrote to Corinth, where some presbyters had been ousted. The letter does not give its author's name, but early writers attributed it to Clement, and J. B. Lightfoot dated it close to the end of Domitian's persecution in the mid-90s.⁵ That date is an inference; the letter names no year.

It speaks of Peter and Paul as examples "furnished in our own generation." Peter "endured not one or two, but numerous labours; and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him," and Paul "suffered martyrdom under the prefects."⁶ This is the voice of a church that had watched its apostles die.

On the ministry it says: "Christ therefore was sent forth by God, and the apostles by Christ," and the apostles, preaching through countries and cities, "appointed the first fruits [of their labours], having first proved them by the Spirit, to be bishops and deacons of those who should afterwards believe." They "afterwards gave instructions, that when these should fall asleep, other approved men should succeed them in their ministry."⁷ A church that had known Peter and Paul saw succession as the apostles' own arrangement.

In this letter "bishops" and "presbyters" name the same leaders, spoken of in the plural. It shows ordered, succeeding ministry; it does not by itself show one bishop presiding over the presbyters. Irenaeus later lists Clement third in Rome's line of bishops and says that he "had seen the blessed apostles, and had been conversant with them."⁸

Ignatius of Antioch: a bishop on the road to the beasts

Eusebius records that Ignatius was bishop of Antioch, "second in succession to Peter," and that "Report says that he was sent from Syria to Rome, and became food for wild beasts on account of his testimony to Christ."⁹ Seven letters from that journey survive, four written from Smyrna, where Polycarp was bishop, and three from Troas.¹⁰

To the Romans, who might try to rescue him, Ignatius wrote: "I am the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure bread of Christ." Then, with real humility: "I do not, as Peter and Paul, issue commandments unto you. They were apostles."¹¹

For Ignatius, the Church's unity is found at the Eucharist (from the Greek for "thanksgiving"), gathered around its bishop. "Take heed, then, to have but one Eucharist," he told the Philadelphians. "For there is one flesh of our Lord Jesus Christ, and one cup to [show forth] the unity of His blood; one altar; as there is one bishop."¹² He warned the Smyrnaeans against teachers who "confess not the Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which suffered for our sins."

"See that you all follow the bishop, even as Jesus Christ does the Father, and the presbytery as you would the apostles," he told the Smyrnaeans. "Let that be deemed a proper Eucharist, which is [administered] either by the bishop, or by one to whom he has entrusted it." And "wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church."¹³ "Catholic" comes from a Greek word meaning "general" or "universal": the whole Church, not one later branch of it.¹⁴ Of the bishop (overseer), the presbyters (elders, later called priests) and the deacons he told the Trallians, "Apart from these, there is no Church."¹⁵ He led one of the first apostolic churches, Antioch, where "the disciples were first called Christians" (Acts 11:26), and he wrote in the shadow of death; a man expecting the beasts within weeks has little reason to invent a church order for advantage. The site's article on what Ignatius actually taught goes deeper.

Polycarp of Smyrna: the man who remembered John

Our main source for Polycarp's early life is Irenaeus, who knew him. Polycarp, he writes, "was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the Church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth," and he "always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down."¹⁶

In a letter to Florinus, a former fellow hearer who had drifted toward Gnostic ideas, Irenaeus gives a more personal memory. He can describe "the very place in which the blessed Polycarp sat as he discoursed," and "the accounts which he gave of his intercourse with John and with the others who had seen the Lord." Polycarp "related all things in harmony with the Scriptures," and if he had heard Florinus's teaching he would have cried, "O good God, unto what times have you spared me that I should endure these things?"¹⁷ {{very-strong: Irenaeus knew Polycarp personally in his youth, and says so in two separate works.}}

Polycarp's own Letter to the Philippians survives, soaked in the language of the apostolic writings. He says that no one like him "can come up to the wisdom of the blessed and glorified Paul," who had taught at Philippi and written them a letter.¹⁸ Echoing 1 John 4:3, he warns that "whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist," and urges, "let us return to the word which has been handed down to us from the beginning."¹⁹ He sends the Philippians copies of Ignatius's letters.²⁰

The Martyrdom of Polycarp is a letter from the church of Smyrna telling how he died (a "martyrdom," in this sense, is a written account of a martyr's trial and death). When the proconsul urged him to curse Christ and go free, Polycarp answered: "Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?"²¹ His enemies urged the governor not to give up the body, "lest ... they begin to worship this one." The Smyrnaeans replied that they could never "worship any other" than Christ: "For Him indeed, as being the Son of God, we adore; but the martyrs, as disciples and followers of the Lord, we worthily love." So they gathered his bones, "more precious than the most exquisite jewels," and planned to meet "with joy and rejoicing" to keep "the anniversary of his martyrdom."²²

Here, in one of the oldest Christian texts outside the New Testament (its date is discussed below), is the Orthodox practice of honoring the saints. Worship belongs to God alone; the martyrs receive love and honor because they followed Christ. Their relics (bodily remains) are treasured, and the day of their death is kept as a feast. The Seventh Ecumenical Council (Nicaea, 787), a council of the whole Church, later decreed that relics of martyrs be placed in every consecrated church.²³ Christ had told the church of Smyrna: "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10). The infographic Polycarp: The Bishop Who Remembered the Apostles summarizes his life.

Justin Martyr: a philosopher at the Sunday assembly

Justin was not a disciple of an apostle. His First Apology opens, "I, Justin, the son of Priscus and grandson of Bacchius, natives of Flavia Neapolis in Palestine," addressing the emperor Antoninus Pius; the Catholic Encyclopedia dates it to about 153-155.²⁴ He describes ordinary Christian worship for pagan readers who could check it.

"On the day called Sunday," he wrote, "all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits." Then come instruction, prayer, bread and wine and water, the president's "prayers and thanksgivings," the people's Amen, and a portion "sent by the deacons" to the absent.²⁵ Of this food he says: "not as common bread and common drink do we receive these," because they were taught that "the food which is blessed by the prayer of His word ... is the flesh and blood of that Jesus who was made flesh."²⁶ An Orthodox Christian recognizes here the shape of the Divine Liturgy, the Church's Sunday Eucharist to this day: Scripture read and preached, prayers, the offering, and Communion.

Justin was condemned by the prefect Rusticus, around 165 according to the same article. Asked whether he expected to ascend to heaven, he replied, "I do not suppose it, but I know and am fully persuaded." He and his companions "were beheaded, and perfected their testimony in the confession of the Saviour."²⁷

Irenaeus of Lyons: the hearer of Polycarp

Irenaeus grew up in Asia, heard Polycarp, and became bishop of Lyons in Gaul. He wrote Against Heresies against the Gnostics, teachers who claimed that salvation came through secret knowledge (Greek gnosis) handed down privately from the apostles. His answer was public and historical: "It is within the power of all, therefore, in every Church, who may wish to see the truth, to contemplate clearly the tradition of the apostles manifested throughout the whole world." If the apostles had known hidden mysteries, "they would have delivered them especially to those to whom they were also committing the Churches themselves."²⁸ The faith was the same everywhere: "the Churches which have been planted in Germany do not believe or hand down anything different, nor do those in Spain, nor those in Gaul, nor those in the East."²⁹

His famous image for the misuse of Scripture: it was as if someone took "a beautiful image of a king" made "out of precious jewels," rearranged the gems "into the form of a dog or of a fox," and then claimed this was the king's image.³⁰ The jewels are the words of Scripture; the image of the king is the apostolic faith that shows how they fit. (See the site's article on Irenaeus and apostolic Christianity.) The Orthodox Church commemorates him on August 23 as a hieromartyr (a bishop who died as a martyr), following later tradition. Historians cannot confirm how he died; the 1910 Catholic Encyclopedia judged that "it is not very probable that he ended his career with martyrdom."³¹

Their own language, their own world

These men "were not armchair theologians reading English bibles and translations," as the owner of this site puts it. Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp wrote in the same common Greek as the New Testament, and Lightfoot's edition prints their Greek texts.³² Justin wrote in Greek too. Irenaeus wrote in Greek, though his main work survives complete in an early Latin translation, and he apologized that, living among the Celts, he was "accustomed for the most part to use a barbarous dialect."³³ Words like ekklesia ("church," literally the assembly called together) and paradosis ("tradition," what is handed on) were their daily speech, and they wrote to churches that had received apostolic letters: Clement to Corinth, Ignatius to Ephesus, Polycarp to Philippi.

The same faith soon spoke other tongues. In North Africa, Tertullian wrote in Latin, though he "knew Greek as well as Latin." In the fourth century St. Ephrem, deacon of Edessa, "wrote many works [opuscula] in Syriac."³⁴ Whatever their language, the Fathers confessed one faith.

The Orthodox theologian Georges Florovsky drew out what this means. "Tradition was in the Early Church, first of all, an hermeneutical principle and method," he wrote. "Scripture could be rightly and fully assessed and understood only in the light and in the context of the living Apostolic Tradition."³⁵ The earliest witnesses are not a second Bible, and Tradition is not a second source standing beside it. They show how its first readers understood it, inside the one life of the Church.

Speaking Greek did not make anyone a correct interpreter; the Gnostic teachers Irenaeus opposed wrote Greek as well. Language and proximity count most when the witnesses agree with one another and with the apostolic writings.

Martyrdom: the seal of sincerity, not of infallibility

A martyr's death does not prove every opinion he held, but it shows that he believed what he said and did not hold the faith for profit or comfort. Tertullian told the Roman authorities: "The oftener we are mown down by you, the more in number we grow; the blood of Christians is seed."³⁶ The Martyrdom of Polycarp calls his death "a martyrdom becoming the Gospel," because "he waited to be delivered up, even as the Lord had done."³⁷

Yet the early Church refused to treat martyrdom as proof of doctrine. The Montanists, a movement in Phrygia whose followers hailed the new prophecies of Montanus, boasted of their martyrs. An anonymous writer against them, quoted by Eusebius, answered: "some of the heresies have a great many martyrs; but surely we shall not on that account agree with them or confess that they hold the truth." The Marcionites (followers of the teacher Marcion), he adds, "say that they have a multitude of martyrs for Christ; yet they do not confess Christ himself in truth."³⁸ The blood of these martyrs seals their sincerity; the agreement of the apostolic churches identifies the content of the faith they died for.

What can we actually verify?

In short: Irenaeus's personal memory of Polycarp is solid. Which John Polycarp knew, when the account of his death was written, and when Ignatius wrote are honestly debated, and the case does not depend on settling them.

Polycarp and John

The link between Polycarp and the apostle John rests mainly on Irenaeus, in two works. He was in a position to know, and he appealed to things his readers could check: Florinus had also heard Polycarp, and "all the Asiatic Churches" testified to the same.³⁹ In a letter to Bishop Victor of Rome, Irenaeus adds that Anicetus could not persuade Polycarp to give up the Easter practice "he had always observed with John the disciple of our Lord, and the other apostles with whom he had associated."⁴⁰ Tertullian, too, says that the church of Smyrna "records that Polycarp was placed therein by John."⁴¹

There is one real complication. Papias names two Johns: John among the apostles, and "the presbyter John," a disciple of the Lord. Eusebius concluded "that there were two persons in Asia that bore the same name."⁴² So some scholars ask whether Polycarp's John was the apostle or this other John. Irenaeus clearly meant the apostle, the disciple of the Lord who remained at Ephesus "until the times of Trajan."⁴³ Tertullian may depend on Irenaeus or on Smyrna's own records; we cannot tell. {{strong: Polycarp was taught by a John who had known the Lord, and by others who had seen Christ.}} {{debated: That this John was the apostle John, son of Zebedee, rather than another disciple named John.}}

The account of Polycarp's death

Lightfoot judged that the letter "seems to have been written shortly after the martyrdom itself, which happened A.D. 155 or 156."⁴⁴ Eusebius instead places the martyrdom after Marcus Aurelius became emperor in 161.⁴⁵ In 2010 Candida Moss argued that the expanded account is not an eyewitness report and was written long after the events, perhaps only in the mid-third century.⁴⁶ In 2018 Michael Holmes answered that, read in its Greco-Roman setting, the text's claim to have been written about a year after Polycarp's death becomes more persuasive, placing it in the third quarter of the second century.⁴⁷ Even on the latest dating, the fact of his martyrdom does not hang on this one text: Irenaeus, who knew him, says independently that he died "gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom." {{strong: Polycarp died as a martyr at Smyrna in the mid-second century.}}

Ignatius and the "monarchical bishop" debate

Lightfoot defended the seven letters as genuine; their date is less certain. Eusebius places Ignatius under Trajan (98-117), but Timothy Barnes has argued that this dating "cannot be regarded as authoritative" and that the letters were "probably written in the 140s."⁴⁸ A related debate concerns the "monarchical bishop": when a single bishop came to preside over each city's presbyters. Ignatius assumes it in Asia Minor, but his letter to the Romans names no bishop there. Peter Lampe argued that Rome was led by a council of presbyters until late in the second century, when Victor was bishop; his reviewer Robert Grant called this "the reasonable claim that there were no 'monarchical' bishops at Rome before the episcopate of Victor."⁴⁹ The Orthodox reading is that the apostolic ministry and its succession were present from the start, whatever the pace at which titles and the form of presidency settled. The article Did the Early Church Believe in Apostolic Succession? weighs the evidence.

Objections and responses

"The Fathers were fallible men. Only Scripture is the rule."

Many Protestants hold, with the Westminster Confession, that "opinions of ancient writers" are to be examined by "the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture."⁵⁰ Yet John Calvin denied being opposed to "the ancient writers of a purer age" and claimed that, judged by their authority, "the better part of the victory would be ours," while adding that "in some things it has fared with them as with ordinary men."⁵¹

Response. The Orthodox Church agrees that no individual Father is infallible. Fr. Thomas Hopko's catechism for the Orthodox Church in America says plainly that "The writings of the Church Fathers are not infallible," yet "taken as a whole" they "have great authority."⁵² Florovsky was more exact: "it was precisely the consensus patrum which was authoritative and binding, and not their private opinions or views."⁵³ The consensus patrum (Latin, "agreement of the Fathers") is their common mind on the faith.

The question is whose reading of Scripture more likely reflects the apostles' meaning when interpretations conflict: the common reading of the churches the apostles founded, given within living memory of them, or a reading reconstructed centuries later. The Fathers pointed away from themselves to the apostles and the Scriptures, and Orthodox Christians read the Bible with them as its earliest readers. The site's article Guard the Good Deposit sets out both positions on sola scriptura ("Scripture alone," the Protestant principle that Scripture is the only final rule of faith).

"The apostasy had already begun."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that "After the deaths of the Savior and His Apostles, men corrupted the principles of the gospel and made unauthorized changes in Church organization and priesthood ordinances," so that "the Lord withdrew the authority of the priesthood from the earth." Among its supporting texts it lists Acts 20:28-30.⁵⁴

Response. Paul did warn that "from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves" (Acts 20:30). The earliest witnesses show us such men, and show the Church resisting them; Irenaeus's whole work answers teachers who "went out from us" (1 John 2:19). For the apostles' faith to have been lost, it would have had to change everywhere at once, within the lifetimes of people who had known the apostles and were dying to keep it unchanged. The Scriptures on both sides are examined in The Church That Could Not Disappear.

"Being close to the apostles proves nothing."

The early sources themselves supply evidence for this. Irenaeus reports that Tatian "was a hearer of Justin's," but "after his martyrdom he separated from the Church."⁵⁵ Eusebius thought Papias "of very limited understanding" and blamed him for spreading the idea of an earthly thousand-year kingdom, which Irenaeus also adopted.⁵⁶ And Polycarp, who kept Easter "with John," could not persuade Anicetus of Rome, nor Anicetus him.

Response. True, which is why the Orthodox Church treats no single early writer as an oracle. But notice how the Polycarp story ends: "they communed together, and Anicetus conceded the administration of the eucharist in the church to Polycarp." Irenaeus drew the lesson that "the disagreement in regard to the fast confirms the agreement in the faith."⁵⁷ Proximity alone proves little; proximity with agreement across the apostolic churches on central things is strong evidence. This weighing of witnesses together is what St. Vincent of Lérins, writing much later (about 434, "some three years" after the Council of Ephesus), meant by holding "that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all."⁵⁸

What we can say confidently

• The New Testament expects the apostolic faith to be handed on through appointed people (2 Timothy 2:2; Acts 14:23; Hebrews 13:7).
• Irenaeus knew Polycarp personally and says Polycarp spoke of John and of others who had seen the Lord.
• Polycarp and Justin died for refusing to deny Christ, and early report says the same of Ignatius; 1 Clement records the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul.
• They share a recognizable faith: one God the Creator, Christ come in the flesh, the Sunday Eucharist as Christ's flesh and blood, an ordered ministry, and a tradition received from the apostles.
• The early Church held that martyrdom shows sincerity but does not by itself prove doctrine.
• The church of Smyrna distinguished the worship due to Christ from the love and honor given to martyrs, treasured Polycarp's relics and kept the day of his death.

What remains disputed

• Whether Polycarp's John was the apostle, son of Zebedee, or another disciple named John.
• The year of Polycarp's death (155-156, or after 161) and how much of the Martyrdom of Polycarp is eyewitness narrative.
• The date of Ignatius's letters (traditionally under Trajan; some argue for the 140s), and when a single presiding bishop became the norm, especially in Rome.
• The exact date and authorship of 1 Clement, which names neither, and how Irenaeus died.

Conclusion

The earliest witnesses do not replace the Scriptures. They received them in their own language, preached them in the apostles' churches, and handed them on with the faith that shows how they fit: the image of the King made from the jewels.

The Orthodox Church keeps their memory as a family keeps the memory of its elders. It honors them among its saints and keeps their feasts: in the calendar of the Orthodox Church in America, St. Polycarp on February 23, St. Justin on June 1, St. Irenaeus on August 23, St. Clement on November 25, and St. Ignatius "the God-Bearer" on December 20 (he called himself Theophorus, "God-bearer"). It does so as the Smyrnaeans first kept the anniversary of Polycarp's death, "for the exercising and preparation of those yet to walk in their steps."⁵⁹ The faithful ask their prayers and venerate their relics, honoring Christ in them and worshiping God alone. They were not perfect, and the Church has never said they were. But they were close enough to hear "the living and abiding voice," faithful enough to pass it on, and steadfast enough to seal it with their blood.

"Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct." The faith once delivered passed to us through these hands, and to read them is to be invited to carry it in our turn. The site's guide to the Church Fathers is a good place to begin.

Notes

1. Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version (Thomas Nelson, 1982), checked at biblegateway.com: Jude 3; Acts 11:26; 14:23; 20:30; 2 Timothy 2:2; Hebrews 13:7; 1 John 2:19; Revelation 2:10. ↩
2. Eusebius, Church History 3.39.4, quoting Papias, trans. Arthur Cushman McGiffert, NPNF2 vol. 1. On Papias's generation, see 3.36.2. ↩
3. Thomas Hopko, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 1, Doctrine and Scripture, "The Fathers" (Orthodox Church in America), oca.org: "Some of the holy fathers are called apologists because they defended the Christian teachings against those outside the Church." ↩
4. Eusebius, Church History 4.3.1-3, NPNF2 vol. 1. Eusebius places Quadratus's apology under Hadrian, Trajan's successor. ↩
5. J. B. Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers (London: Macmillan, 1891), introduction to S. Clement of Rome: Clement "does not write in his own name," and the letter's date "was nearly simultaneous with the close of Domitian's persecution" (the consulship of Flavius Clemens, A.D. 95). ↩
6. 1 Clement 5, trans. John Keith, ANF vol. 9 (text at newadvent.org). ↩
7. 1 Clement 42 and 44, trans. John Keith, ANF vol. 9. ↩
8. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.3, trans. Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut, ANF vol. 1. ↩
9. Eusebius, Church History 3.36.2-4, NPNF2 vol. 1. ↩
10. Lightfoot and Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers, introduction to the Epistles of S. Ignatius, which also distinguishes the long recension, "the seven genuine Epistles but interpolated throughout." ↩
11. Ignatius, To the Romans 4, trans. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson, ANF vol. 1. ↩
12. Ignatius, To the Philadelphians 4, trans. Roberts and Donaldson, ANF vol. 1. ↩
13. Ignatius, To the Smyrnaeans 7 and 8, ANF vol. 1. ↩
14. Liddell and Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon, rev. Henry Stuart Jones (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940), s.v. καθολικός: "general," "universal"; Perseus Digital Library. ↩
15. Ignatius, To the Trallians 3, ANF vol. 1; compare To the Magnesians 6, where the bishop "presides in the place of God." ↩
16. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.4, ANF vol. 1. ↩
17. Irenaeus, Letter to Florinus, in Eusebius, Church History 5.20.4-7, NPNF2 vol. 1. ↩
18. Polycarp, To the Philippians 3, trans. Roberts and Donaldson, ANF vol. 1. ↩
19. Polycarp, To the Philippians 7, ANF vol. 1. ↩
20. Polycarp, To the Philippians 9 and 13, ANF vol. 1. ↩
21. Martyrdom of Polycarp 9, trans. Roberts and Donaldson, ANF vol. 1. Lightfoot's translation reads: "Fourscore and six years have I been His servant, and He hath done me no wrong." ↩
22. Martyrdom of Polycarp 17-18, ANF vol. 1. ↩
23. Second Council of Nicaea (787), Canon 7, trans. Henry Percival, NPNF2 vol. 14 (1900): "We decree therefore that relics shall be placed with the accustomed service in as many of the sacred temples as have been consecrated without the relics of the Martyrs." For the date, H. Leclercq, "The Second Council of Nicaea," The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11 (New York: Robert Appleton, 1911). ↩
24. Justin Martyr, First Apology 1, trans. Marcus Dods and George Reith, ANF vol. 1; Jules Lebreton, "St. Justin Martyr," The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (New York: Robert Appleton, 1910): the Apology "was written somewhere between 153 and 155." ↩
25. Justin Martyr, First Apology 67, ANF vol. 1. ↩
26. Justin Martyr, First Apology 66, ANF vol. 1. ↩
27. Lebreton, "St. Justin Martyr": he "was condemned to death by the prefect, Rusticus, towards A.D. 165"; The Martyrdom of Justin 4-5, trans. Marcus Dods, ANF vol. 1. ↩
28. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.1 and 3.3.3 (Eleutherus), ANF vol. 1. See also 3.4.1, where the apostles lodged "all things pertaining to the truth" in the Church as in a bank. ↩
29. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.10.2, ANF vol. 1. ↩
30. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.8.1, ANF vol. 1. ↩
31. Albert Poncelet, "St. Irenaeus," The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8 (New York: Robert Appleton, 1910). ↩
32. Lightfoot and Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers, "revised texts" with English translations. ↩
33. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1, preface 3, ANF vol. 1; Poncelet, "St. Irenaeus," on "a very ancient Latin translation." ↩
34. John Chapman, "Tertullian," The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14 (New York: Robert Appleton, 1912); J. Labourt, "St. Ephraem," The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5 (1909), quoting Jerome's catalogue of illustrious men. ↩
35. Georges Florovsky, "The Function of Tradition in the Ancient Church," Greek Orthodox Theological Review 9 (1963-64): 181-200; reprinted in Bible, Church, Tradition: An Eastern Orthodox View (Belmont, MA: Nordland, 1972). Text consulted at fatheralexander.org. ↩
36. Tertullian, Apology 50, trans. S. Thelwall, ANF vol. 3. ↩
37. Martyrdom of Polycarp 1, ANF vol. 1. ↩
38. Eusebius, Church History 5.16.20-21, quoting an anonymous anti-Montanist writer, NPNF2 vol. 1; on Montanus and his followers' claims to prophecy, 5.14 and 5.3.4. ↩
39. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.4; Letter to Florinus, in Eusebius, Church History 5.20.5-6. ↩
40. Irenaeus, Letter to Victor, in Eusebius, Church History 5.24.16, NPNF2 vol. 1. ↩
41. Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics 32, trans. Peter Holmes, ANF vol. 3. ↩
42. Eusebius, Church History 3.39.4-6, NPNF2 vol. 1. ↩
43. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.3.4, ANF vol. 1. ↩
44. Lightfoot and Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers, introduction to The Martyrdom of Polycarp. ↩
45. Eusebius, Church History 4.14.10-4.15.1, NPNF2 vol. 1. The Martyrdom (ch. 21) names the proconsul Statius Quadratus, a detail used in dating it. ↩
46. Candida R. Moss, "On the Dating of Polycarp: Rethinking the Place of the Martyrdom of Polycarp in the History of Christianity," Early Christianity 1, no. 4 (2010): 539-574, doi:10.1628/186870310793597051 (summarized from the published abstract). ↩
47. Michael W. Holmes, "Dating the Martyrdom of Polycarp," Early Christianity 9, no. 2 (2018): 181-200, doi:10.1628/ec-2018-0011 (summarized from the published abstract). ↩
48. Timothy D. Barnes, "The Date of Ignatius," The Expository Times 120, no. 3 (2008): 119-130, abstract. ↩
49. Peter Lampe, From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries, trans. Michael Steinhauser (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003); Robert M. Grant, review in The Christian Century, May 18, 2004. ↩
50. Westminster Confession of Faith 1.10, Orthodox Presbyterian Church edition, opc.org. ↩
51. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Prefatory Address to King Francis, sec. 4, trans. Henry Beveridge (text at ccel.org). ↩
52. Hopko, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 1, "The Fathers." ↩
53. Florovsky, "The Function of Tradition in the Ancient Church" (text at fatheralexander.org). ↩
54. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Apostasy," Topics and Questions (2023), churchofjesuschrist.org. ↩
55. Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.28.1, ANF vol. 1. ↩
56. Eusebius, Church History 3.39.12-13, NPNF2 vol. 1. ↩
57. Irenaeus, Letter to Victor, in Eusebius, Church History 5.24.13 and 5.24.17, NPNF2 vol. 1. ↩
58. Vincent of Lérins, Commonitory 2.6 and 29.78 (paragraphs [6.] and [78.] in this edition), trans. C. A. Heurtley, NPNF2 vol. 11. ↩
59. Martyrdom of Polycarp 18, ANF vol. 1. Feasts: Orthodox Church in America, Lives of the Saints, oca.org, entries "Hieromartyr Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna" (February 23), "Martyr Justin the Philosopher and those with him at Rome" (June 1), "Hieromartyr Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons" (August 23), "Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome" (November 25), "Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer, Bishop of Antioch" (December 20). Ignatius opens each letter "Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus" (ANF vol. 1). ↩

Bibliography

Primary sources

• The Holy Bible, New King James Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982.
• Clement of Rome. First Epistle to the Corinthians. Translated by John Keith. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9. Edited by Allan Menzies. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1896. Revised edition at newadvent.org.
• Ignatius of Antioch. Epistles (to the Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Smyrnaeans). Translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885. Revised edition at newadvent.org.
• Polycarp of Smyrna. Epistle to the Philippians. Translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1. 1885.
• The Martyrdom of Polycarp. Translated by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1. 1885.
• Justin Martyr. First Apology. Translated by Marcus Dods and George Reith. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1. 1885.
• The Martyrdom of Justin. Translated by Marcus Dods. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1. 1885.
• Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies. Translated by Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1. 1885.
• Tertullian. Apology. Translated by S. Thelwall; The Prescription Against Heretics. Translated by Peter Holmes. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 3. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885.
• Eusebius of Caesarea. Church History. Translated by Arthur Cushman McGiffert. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 1. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890. Revised edition at newadvent.org.
• Vincent of Lérins. Commonitory. Translated by C. A. Heurtley. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 11. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1894. Revised edition at newadvent.org.
• Second Council of Nicaea (787). Canons. Translated by Henry Percival. Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, vol. 14. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1900. Revised edition at newadvent.org.
• Lightfoot, J. B., and J. R. Harmer, eds. and trans. The Apostolic Fathers: Revised Texts with Short Introductions and English Translations. London: Macmillan, 1891. Scan at archive.org.

Orthodox and patristic sources

• Florovsky, Georges. "The Function of Tradition in the Ancient Church." Greek Orthodox Theological Review 9 (1963-64): 181-200. Reprinted in Bible, Church, Tradition: An Eastern Orthodox View. Collected Works of Georges Florovsky, vol. 1. Belmont, MA: Nordland, 1972.
• Hopko, Thomas. The Orthodox Faith, vol. 1, Doctrine and Scripture, "The Fathers." Orthodox Church in America, online edition at oca.org.
• Orthodox Church in America. Lives of the Saints: "Hieromartyr Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna" (Feb. 23); "Martyr Justin the Philosopher" (June 1); "Hieromartyr Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons" (Aug. 23); "Hieromartyr Clement, Pope of Rome" (Nov. 25); "Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer" (Dec. 20). oca.org.

Other scholarship (including scholars who disagree)

• Barnes, Timothy D. "The Date of Ignatius." The Expository Times 120, no. 3 (2008): 119-130.
• Chapman, John. "Tertullian." The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton, 1912.
• Grant, Robert M. Review of From Paul to Valentinus, by Peter Lampe. The Christian Century, May 18, 2004.
• Holmes, Michael W. "Dating the Martyrdom of Polycarp." Early Christianity 9, no. 2 (2018): 181-200.
• Labourt, J. "St. Ephraem." The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton, 1909.
• Lampe, Peter. From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries. Translated by Michael Steinhauser. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003.
• Leclercq, H. "The Second Council of Nicaea." The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton, 1911.
• Liddell, Henry George, and Robert Scott. A Greek-English Lexicon. Revised by Henry Stuart Jones. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1940. Perseus Digital Library.
• Lebreton, Jules. "St. Justin Martyr." The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton, 1910.
• Moss, Candida R. "On the Dating of Polycarp: Rethinking the Place of the Martyrdom of Polycarp in the History of Christianity." Early Christianity 1, no. 4 (2010): 539-574.
• Poncelet, Albert. "St. Irenaeus." The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 8. New York: Robert Appleton, 1910.

Sources from the traditions discussed (Latter-day Saint and Protestant)

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "Apostasy." Topics and Questions (2023). churchofjesuschrist.org.
• The Westminster Confession of Faith. Chapter 1. Orthodox Presbyterian Church edition. opc.org.
• Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. Translated by Henry Beveridge. Prefatory Address to King Francis. Text at ccel.org.