Orthodox Forge

The Fathers

Timeline of the Fathers

Six ages, from the disciples of the apostles to the medieval Copts. All 193 of them, each in the age the book places him.

Names marked condemned are figures the Church condemned as heretical, studied here, not venerated.

The Apostolic Age

1st–2nd c.6 Fathers

The disciples of the apostles and the first witnesses after them.

Ante-Nicene

2nd–early 4th c.60 Fathers

Apologists, catechists, and martyrs before the Council of Nicaea.

The Nicene Age

4th c.48 Fathers

The defenders of the faith of Nicaea against Arianism.

Post-Nicene

late 4th–5th c.41 Fathers

The golden age of the Fathers, East and West.

The Age of Councils

5th–6th c.28 Fathers

Ephesus, Chalcedon, and the great Christological debates.

Medieval Coptic

9th–19th c.10 Fathers

The Copto-Arabic fathers and authors of the Middle Ages.