Testimony of the Fathers
Ante-Nicene Fathers
The Writings of the Fathers to circa A.D. 325
The Writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers are a tesimony to the beliefs, practices, world outlook and Spiritual fortitude, of those first to recieve the teachings of Jesus the Christ from the Apostles. Many of the Ante-Nicene Fathers were direct students of the Apostles or the students of those who worked with and studied with the Apostles. Their writings shead envaluable insight upon what was "orthodox" (meaning right doctrine) Christianity and what was not as well as provides the answers to many practicle questions about the New Testament Church of Christ. At a time when the "Bible" had yet to be compiled it was the writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers that provided the orthodox solidarity of the faithful that would eventually prove essential in the determination of the composition of the Christian Scriptures.
The Ante-Nicene Christian Church accepts the Writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers as the "Testimony of the Fathers" and as such view them as instrumental to the further edification of the faithful. Any Study of these Writings will further enlighten the faithful student on the life changing nature of our faith and a clear understanding of the manifestations of that faith within the Christian Community and the world in which the believer lives.
The following is taken from the web site http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ where the reader may also find writings of later Church leaders from the Nicean and Post Nicean periods as well.
