Libri dei Padri della Chiesa, Dottori, Santi, Autori notevoli

Of Sicca; Against the Heathen — late Latin apology from a convert from paganism.

Christian Cicero; Divine Institutes — systematic Latin apology before Nicaea.

Bishop and martyr; Symposium on virginity; critic of Origen’s eschatology.

Bishop of Alexandria; martyr under Diocletian; canons on the lapsed.

Bishop of Thmuis; martyr; letter and apology before the prefect Culcianus.

Victorinus of Pettau — earliest Latin commentary on Revelation; martyr.

Bishop of Alexandria; pastoral letter to Lucianus on clergy and almsgiving.

Ante-Nicene witness preserved among the ANF fragments and notices.

Alexandrian teacher; Hypotyposeis — early systematic outline of Christian doctrine.

Bishop in Mesopotamia; Acts of the Disputation with Manes — anti-Manichaean dialogue.

Alexandrian catechist called “Origen the Younger”; fragments of Easter and Hosea homilies.

Wonder-worker of Neocaesarea; Panegyric on Origen; creed and pastoral letters.

Presbyter of Antioch; epistle against Paul of Samosata at the synod of Antioch.

Dionysius of Alexandria — bishop and correspondent on baptism, schism, and the Trinity.

Bishop of Carthage; On the Unity of the Church; letters and martyrdom under Valerian.

Roman theologian; On the Trinity; later rigorist schism over the lapsed.

Alexandrian exegete; On First Principles, Hexapla, and vast biblical commentaries.

Alexander of Jerusalem — bishop and martyr; friend of Origen; letters and fragments.

Alexander of Cappadocia / Jerusalem — bishop, correspondent of Origen, and martyr.

Latin Christian poet; Instructions in Favour of Christian Discipline against the gods of the heathen.

Early Christian writer; fragments on the Trinity and the true faith (Theodotus).

Chronographer of the early Church; Chronographiai and letters on sacred history.

Roman theologian; Refutation of All Heresies; Apostolic Tradition; martyr.

Carthaginian Latin father; Apology, Against Marcion; coined much Trinitarian vocabulary.

Roman presbyter; fragments against the Montanists and on the Roman church.

Head of the Alexandrian catechetical school; Stromata, Paedagogus, Protrepticus.

Latin apologist; Octavius — dialogue defending the faith against pagan critique.

Bishop of Lyons; Against Heresies — apostolic tradition against Gnosticism.

Athenagoras of Athens — Plea for the Christians and On the Resurrection.

Bishop of Antioch; To Autolycus — early use of the word “Trinity.”

Disciple of Justin; Address to the Greeks; compiler of the Diatessaron.

Philosopher-martyr; First and Second Apology; Dialogue with Trypho.

Bishop of Smyrna; disciple of John; Letter to the Philippians and martyrdom account.

Epistle to Diognetus — anonymous apology on Christian life in the world.

The Shepherd of Hermas — visions, mandates, and similitudes on repentance.

Bishop of Antioch; letters on unity, the Eucharist, and martyrdom en route to Rome.

Epistle of Barnabas — early Christian allegory of the Law and the two ways.

Bishop of Rome; First Clement to Corinth — early papal authority and church order.

Bishop of Rome; First Clement to Corinth — early papal authority and church order.

The Epistles of Clement — apostolic-era letters from the Roman church to Corinth.

The Didache (“Teaching of the Twelve Apostles”) is among the earliest Christian writings outside the New Testament — a short handbook of moral teaching, baptism, fasting, prayer, the Eucharist, and local church order. Most scholars date it to the late first or early second century (often c. 70–100), likely in Syria or Palestine.

The Church has never received the Didache as Sacred Scripture. It stands with the Apostolic Fathers and early “church orders”: historically precious and useful as a window on primitive practice, but not canonical. Catholics may read it with profit as ancient catechesis, while measuring it against Scripture and the later defined faith of the Church.

Its opening “Two Ways” (of life and of death) echoes Jewish moral tradition and the Gospel’s ethical demand. It gives early directions for baptism (preferably in living water; trinitarian formula), Wednesday and Friday fasting, the Lord’s Prayer thrice daily, and thanksgiving prayers over the cup and broken bread — among the oldest extant Eucharistic texts. It also speaks of itinerant prophets, Sunday assembly, and appointing bishops and deacons.

This hosted English text is the public-domain Ante-Nicene Fathers translation (M.B. Riddle, 1886), from the Greek rediscovered in 1873 (Codex Hierosolymitanus). Related material also appears under the Collections dossier “Apostolic Teaching and Constitutions”; the longer Apostolic Constitutions are a later compilation and are not simply identical with the Didache.