Patristics is a department of ecclesiastical history, and more particularly of doctrinal historj\ It is an account of the lives, writings, and theological opinions of the Christian authors of the ancient Gr;\>co - Latin Church before the separation into two antagonistic bodies. The terms are sometimes so distinguished that Patrology is defined to be biographical and lit- erarj-, Patristics doctrinal and ethical. A complete work must cover both. There is a difference of opin- ion concerning the precise boundaries. Patristics be- gins with the apostolic fathers, and closes with Gregory I in the West, and with John of Damascus in the East. John of Damascus cannot be omitted, since he is the last authoritative divine of the Greek Church who sums up the labors of the earlier Greek fathers. But it is improper to carry patristics down to the IMiddle Ages, so as to comprehend Anselm, Peter the Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, and other schoolmen. It must be strictly' confined to the fathers, i. e. to those writers who produced the Catholic dogmas, as distinguished from the schoolmen who digested, analj'zed, and sj's- tematized these dogmas. The t\i\a father. Church fa- ther (pater ecclesiee corresponding to the lleb. l^X), is relative. Every Church has its fathers and founders. But it is usually applied to those divines of the earl}^ Christian centuries who excelled in learning, judg- ment, piety, and orthodox}'. Some of them were not only luminaries (luminaria^, but also princes (primates') and saints of the Church (sancti patres). In a wider sense it is extended to other ecclesiastical writers of merit and distinction. The line of the Greek fathers
is usually closed with John of Damascus (d. 754), the line of the Latin fathers with Gregory I (d. 604).
The Roman Church makes a distinction between pater ecclesim, doctor ecclesice, and auctor ecclesiasticus. (1.) Patres ecclesice are all ancient teachers who com- bine antiqidtas, doctrina orthodoxa, sanctitas vitce, and approbatio ecclesice (which may be expressed or silent). These requisites, however, are onlj' imperfectly com- bined even in the most eminent of the fathers ; some excel in learning (Origen, Jerome), some in piety (Pol- ycarp), some in orthodoxy (Irenaaus, Athanasius, Leo I), some in vigor and depth (TertuUian, Augustine), some in eloquence (Chrysostom), but none could stand the test of Roman orthodoxj^ of the Tridentine or Vat- ican stamp, and many of them would have to be con- demned as heretics. This is especially the case with the fathers of the ante-Nicene age (see Schaff, Church Hist, i, 455). (2.) Doctores ecclesice are the most au- thoritative of the Church fathers, who, in addition to the above requisites, excel in learning (eminens erudi- tio), and have the express approbation of the Church (expressa ecclesice declaratio). The recognised Greek Church doctors are: Athanasius, Basil the Great, Greg- ory of Nazianzum, Chrj'sostom, Cj-ril of Alexandria, John of Damascus. The Latin Church doctors are : Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, Leo the Great, Gregory the Great, also Hilary of Poitiers, to whom are added the leading medieval divines, Bernard of Clairvaux, Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventura. (Among more recent divines, Bellarmine, Bossuet, and Perrone would de- serve a place among the doctors of the Roman Catholic Church.) (3.) Auctores ecclesiasiici : those ancient Christian writers who are less important for didactic theology, or held questionable or heterodox opinions, as TertuUian, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Euse- bius, Arnobius, Lactantius, Theodoret.
Patristics may be divided into three periods : (1.) The Ajwstolic fathers, i. e. the immediate disciples of the apostles, who flourished at the end of the 1st and the beginning of the 2d century, and represent a faint echo of the age of inspiration. These are Clement of Rome, Polycarp, Ignatius (and Pseudo-Ignatius), Pseu- do-Barnabas, Papias, Hernias, and the anom'mous au- thor of the beautiful Epistle to Dioguetus. Important literary discoveries, which throw some light on doubtful questions of the sub-apostolic age, have recently been made, viz. the Syriac Ignatius, the Greek Hernias, the Greek of the first five chapters of Barnabas, and a new MS. of the Clementine Epistles, edited by Bryennios (1876). The best edition, now in course of publication, is Patrum Apostolicorum Opera (ed. P. de Gebhardt, Ad. Harnack, Th. Zahn, Leips. 1876 sq.). (2.) The ante- Nicene fathers, i. e. the apologists and theologians of the 2d and 3d centuries, who were chief!}' engaged in the defence of Christianity against Jews and Gentiles, and the refutation of the Ebionitish and Gnostic here- sies (see Otto, Corpus Apologetarum Christianontm [2d ed. Leips. 1876 sq.] ; and the Ante-Nicene Librarv pub- lished by Clark [Edinb. 1867-72, 25 vols.]). («) Greek fathers:' Justin Martyr (d. 166), Irenreus (d. 202), Hip- polytus (d. 236), Clenientof Alexandria (d. 220), Origen (d. 254), and others of less importance. Of these Ire- nreus is the soundest divine, Origen the greatest scholar. Qi) Latin fiithers : TertuUian (d. about 220), Cyprian (d. 2.58), Minucius Felix, Arnobius. (3.) The Nicene fathers of the 4th ccntur}', who chieflj' developed and defended the doctrines of the Trinitv and Incarnation in the Arian conflict from 325 to 381. (a) Greek fa- thers : Eusebius (the historian, d. 340), Atlianasius (the father of orthodoxy, d. 373), Gregory of Nazianzum (the theologian, d. 391), Gregorj' of Nyssa (d. 395), Basil the Great (d. 379), Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386), Chrysostom (the prince of pulpit orators, d. 407), Epi- phanius (the orthodox zealot, d. 403), and others. (6) Latin fathers : Hilarv of Poitiers (" the Athanasius of the West," d. 368), Ambrose of Milan (d. 397). (4.) The post-Nicene fathers, who developed the orthodox