The Holy Fathers of the Church
From the deserts of Egypt to the courts of Constantinople and the forests of Russia, the Holy Fathers handed on the faith of the Apostles — by their teaching, their prayer, and their lives.
The Church calls them “Fathers” because they begot us in the faith. They are the great bishops, monks, preachers, and theologians through whom the Holy Spirit guarded and unfolded the Gospel across the centuries. To read their lives is to discover that holiness wears many faces — the fearless preacher and the silent hermit, the brilliant scholar and the gentle wonderworker — and that the same Christ they served is alive and at work still.
Saint John Chrysostom
The greatest preacher of the early Church, whose fearless tongue cost him his throne but earned him the name “Golden-Mouthed.”
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Saint Basil the Great
A bishop who organized monastic life, built the first great hospital, and stood unbroken before an emperor in defense of the faith.
Read his life →_-_Gregory_of_Nyssa.jpg?width=760)
Saint Gregory of Nyssa
The youngest of the Cappadocians, whose vision of the soul’s endless ascent into God remains one of the deepest in all Christian thought.
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Saint John of Damascus
A Christian official under the Caliph who left wealth and rank to defend the icons, write the first great systematic theology, and compose the hymns of Pascha.
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Saint Ignatius Brianchaninov
A nobleman and military engineer who became a monk and translated the wisdom of the ancient desert into guidance for ordinary Christians of our own times.
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Saint Seraphim of Sarov
The radiant hermit who fed a bear from his hand, greeted every visitor as “My joy!”, and taught that the whole aim of life is to acquire the Holy Spirit.
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Saint Symeon the New Theologian
The great mystic who insisted that every Christian can consciously experience the grace of God and behold the uncreated light, here and now.
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Saint Ignatius of Antioch
A bishop taught by the Apostles themselves, who on the road to martyrdom wrote letters that are among the most precious treasures of the early Church.
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Saint Macarius the Great
A humble Egyptian hermit whose patience under false accusation and whose gentle wisdom made him one of the great fathers of the desert.
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Saint Mark of Ephesus
The one Orthodox bishop who refused to sign the union with Rome at Florence, and so preserved the integrity of the Orthodox faith.
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Saint Cyril of Jerusalem
The bishop of the holy city whose Catechetical Lectures still teach the faith, the Creed, and the mysteries exactly as the early Church received them.
Read his life →The Faith of the Fathers, Here in Orlando
The same faith taught by the Holy Fathers is confessed and lived every Sunday at Saint Nina Orthodox Mission.
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