books:

	The Greek Fathers: Their Lives and Writings Adrian Fortescue Ignatius Press, 2007 - 284 pages average customer review:based on 1 review view larger image
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The author covers seven Greek Fathers who lived between the years 293 to 754, most of them living in the 200-400's. These are St. Athanasius (293-373), St. Basil (330-379), St. Gregory Nazianzos (330-390), St. John Chrysostom (344-407), St. Cyril of Jerusalem (315-386), St. Cyril of Alexandria (+444) and St. John of Damascus (+754).

This work gives popular sketches of these great saints, focusing more on their lives than on their theology, and is meant for the inspiration and illumination of the layman. These men are important, great figures of history to know about, men who were mighty patriarchs or famous bishops, who lead councils, resisted Caesar and suffered persecution for Christ. Their lives and dramatic witness stand out as a bright beacon of light for us all.

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Savouring Our Eastern Heritage

As ever when approaching one of Adrian Fortescue's works, prepare yourself for a treat. For in these pages we will travel extensively throughout the ancient Christian East, from Alexandria to Caesarea, from Constantinople to Jerusalem, to Alexandria again and thence to Damascus, "the real eternal city" in Fortescue's estimation.

We will be introduced as if in person to the great Greek Fathers of the fourth, fifth and eighth centuries of the Church's history: to the great Father of the Christological debates, St Athanasius; to St Basil, "one of the greatest of that younger generation of Catholic bishops who carried on the fight that Athanasius had fought and finally stamped out the Arian heresy." We will meet St Basil's dear friend, St Gregory Nazianzen, "the patron saint of people who do not want to be bishops," and St John Chrysostom, the "great model and patron of preachers." There are also two Saints Cyril to encounter: the first, of Jerusalem, who spent sixteen of the thirty five years of his episcopate in banishment, and the second, of Alexandria, the champion of the Mother of God against the Nestorian Heresy. Finally we will meet the eighth century St John of Damascus, the first of the Christian Aristotelians who lived his entire life under Muslim rule.

Through Fortescue's introductions we will learn Catholic theology by reliving the gritty events in which it was originally hammered out. We will see its champions suffer and at times take questionable paths. Yet we will also witness their fortitude and perseverance and glimpse in their struggles a tangible sanctity from which any age - not least our own - can learn very much indeed.

When at length we have travelled the East with Fortescue these Fathers will no longer be mere figures of early church history. Yes, we shall have enjoyed Fortescue's style and yes, we shall have grown in wisdom and knowledge from his erudition. But we shall also have gained some new friends, the great Fathers of the early Eastern Church, to whom in this life, as we strive faithfully to live and hand on the faith that was theirs, we can turn in the communion of saints for the benefit of their example and the assistance of their intercession, especially on their liturgical feasts, and with whom we hope to enjoy the next.

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