100 – 150 AD

100 – Saint John, last of the Apostles, dies

107 – Saint Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch and disciple of the Apostles Peter and John, writes letters to various Christian communities

He writes of Christ’s divinity, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the virginity of Mary, the three-tiered hierarchy of bishops, presbyters, and deacons, and the primacy of the Church of Rome. We also find the first recorded use of the title “Catholic Church”:

Letter to the Ephesians (virginity of Mary):

19:1 “The virginity of Mary, her giving birth, and also the death of the Lord, were hidden from the prince of this world:—three mysteries loudly proclaimed, but wrought in the silence of God.”

Letter to the Smyrnaeans (Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist; hierarchy; first use of title “Catholic Church”):

7:1 “Take note of those [i.e., the Docetists/Gnostics] who hold heterodox opinions on the grace of Jesus Christ which has come to us, and see how contrary their opinions are to the mind of God. … They abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not confess that the Eucharist is the Flesh of our Savior Jesus Christ, Flesh which suffered for our sins and which the Father, in His goodness, raised up again. They who deny the gift of God are perishing in their disputes. It would be better for them to have love, so that they might rise again. …

8:1-2 “Flee from schism as the source of mischief. You should all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ did the Father. Follow, ankaŭ, the presbytery as you would the apostles; and respect the deacons as you would God’s law. Nobody must do anything that has to do with the Church without the bishop’s approval. You should regard that Eucharist as valid which is celebrated either by the bishop or by someone he authorizes [i.e., a presbyter]. Where the bishop is present, there let the congregation gather, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church.”

Letter to the Romans (divinity of Christ; primacy of Church of Rome):

Address: “Ignatius, also called Theophorus, to the Church that has found mercy in the greatness of the Most High Father and in Jesus Christ, His only Son; to the Church beloved and enlightened after the love of Jesus Christ, our God, by the will of Him that has willed everything which is; to the Church also which holds the presidency, in the location of the country of the Romans, worthy of God, worthy of honor, worthy of blessing, worthy of praise, worthy of success, worthy of sanctification, kaj, because you hold the presidency in love, named after Christ and named after the Father.

3:1 “You have envied no one, but others you have taught. I desire only that what you have enjoined in your instructions may remain in force.”

144 – Pope Saint Pius I condemns the teachings of Marcion

150 – Fresco in the Catacomb of Saint Priscilla in Rome depicts the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child with a figure believed to be the prophet Isaiah

150 – Hermas, brother of Pope Pius, writes of baptismal rebirth, Geedzeco, and Penance (The Shepherd)

150 – Saint Justin the Martyr writes of the Holy Trinity, baptismal rebirth, the Eucharistic Sacrifice, and Mary as the New Eve.

First Apology (Holy Trinity; baptismal rebirth):

13 “We will prove that we worship Him reasonably; for we have learned that He is the Son of the true God Himself, that He holds a second place, and the Spirit of prophecy a third. For this they accuse us of madness, saying that we attribute to a crucified man a place second to the unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of all things: but they are ignorant of the mystery which lies therein. …

61 “As many as are persuaded and believe that what we teach and say is true, and undertake to be able to live accordingly, are instructed to pray and to entreat God with fasting, for the remission of their sins that are past, we praying and fasting with them. Then they are brought by us where there is water, and are regenerated in the same manner in which we were ourselves regenerated. Por, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit (kp. Matt. 28:19), they then receive the washing with water. For Christ also said, ‘Unless you are born again, you cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven’ (Johano 3:3).”

Dialogue with Trypho the Jew (Eucharistic Sacrifice; Mary as the New Eve):

41 [Justin:] “‘Also, sirs,’ I said, ‘the offering of fine wheat flour which was prescribed to be offered on behalf of those cleansed of leprosy was a type of the Bread of the Eucharist, the celebration of which our Lord Jesus Christ prescribed in memory of the passion He suffered on behalf of those men who are cleansed in their souls of every evil. … Moreover, as I said before, concerning the sacrifices which you at that time offered, God speaks through Malachias, one of the twelve [lesser prophets], as follows: “I have no pleasure in you, diras la Eternulo; and I will not accept your sacrifices from your hands; for from the rising of the sun until its setting, my name has been glorified among the gentiles; and in every place incense is offered in my name, and a clean offering: for great is my name among the gentiles, diras la Eternulo; but you profane it” (Mal. 1:10-12). It is of the sacrifices offered to Him in every place by us, the gentiles, tio estas, of the Bread of the Eucharist and likewise of the cup of the Eucharist, that He speaks at that time; and He says that we glorify His name, while you profane it. …

100 [Justin:] “‘[Jesus] became Man by the Virgin so that the course which was taken by disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpent, might be also the very course by which it would be put down. For Eve, a virgin and undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent, and bore disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, for which reason the Holy One being born of her is the Son of God. And she replied: “Be it done unto me according to thy word” (Luko 1:38).’”

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