The Apostolic Fathers

Who Are the Apostolic Fathers?

The “Apostolic Fathers” is a modern scholarly label for the earliest Christian writers after the apostles—roughly AD 70–150—who were believed (traditionally) to have known the apostles or lived close to their generation. They aren’t apostles themselves. They are the “grandchildren generation” of the earliest church.

Main Figures (with approximate dates)

Clement of Rome (c. 35–99)

– Famous work: 1 Clement

– Location: Rome

– Language: Greek

Ignatius of Antioch (d. c. 110)

– Famous works: Letters to various churches

– Location: Antioch → Rome (martyred)

– Language: Greek

Polycarp of Smyrna (c. 69–155)

– Famous work: Letter to the Philippians

– Location: Smyrna (Asia Minor)

– Language: Greek

The Didache (c. 80–120)

– Anonymous community manual

– Language: Greek

The Epistle of Barnabas (c. 80–130)

– Anonymous

– Language: Greek

The Shepherd of Hermas (c. 90–140)

– Author: Hermas

– Location: Rome

– Language: Greek

Papias of Hierapolis (c. 60–130)

– Works mostly lost, known through later quotations

– Language: Greek

The Letter to Diognetus (c. 150)

– Author unknown

– Language: Greek

Nearly all apostolic fathers wrote in Greek, not Latin. Latin Christianity rises more strongly later (Tertullian, c. 200).

What Manuscripts Did They Use?

They used Greek manuscripts of the Old and New Testaments:

Old Testament Source

They overwhelmingly quoted from the Septuagint (LXX)—the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible.

New Testament Source

They used early Greek copies of the Gospels, Paul’s letters, and other apostolic writings.

These manuscripts were:

• hand-copied

• circulating in house-church networks

• not yet standardized

• not yet collected into a fixed “New Testament”

No full New Testament existed yet. They only had scrolls or folded codices circulating between churches.

What Writings Did They Quote? (Examples)

Clement of Rome

Quotes or alludes to:

– Matthew

– Luke

– 1 Corinthians

– Hebrews

– Isaiah, Proverbs, Psalms (LXX)

Ignatius

Alludes to:

– Matthew

– John

– Paul’s letters (Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, etc.)

Polycarp

Quotes:

– Matthew

– Luke

– 1 Peter

– 1 John

– nearly all Paul’s letters

Barnabas

Quotes:

– Matthew

– Ephesians

– The Synoptic tradition in general

– Heavy use of the LXX

Didache

Parallels:

– Matthew (especially the Sermon on the Mount)

– Early church manual traditions

These quotations tend to be close, but not identical to any single New Testament manuscript we possess today—because they were drawing from very early textual forms.

Did They Notice Variants?

Yes, they were aware of textual differences—but they didn’t panic about them.

Examples:

Papias (as quoted by Eusebius) shows awareness that different manuscripts of Mark circulated and that oral tradition supplemented written versions.

The Didache uses a version of the Lord’s Prayer similar to Matthew, but not word-for-word—suggesting either:

– a variant manuscript

– or an early liturgical form

The Shepherd of Hermas uses loose quotations that fit neither the Byzantine nor Alexandrian texts exactly.

Clement quotes the Old Testament from the Septuagint even where it differs sharply from the later Hebrew Masoretic tradition.

These writers lived comfortably with fluidity in their texts.

Was There Uniformity Among the Manuscripts?

Not at all.

Second-century Christianity had:

• regional textual traditions

• manuscript variants

• differences in spelling, wording, and order

• manuscripts copied by ordinary believers, not professional scribes

• no “authorized version”

Uniformity only appears centuries later with:

• the rise of the “Byzantine text” (4th–9th centuries)

• standardized liturgical copying

• professional monastic scriptoria

The apostolic fathers lived before that. Their scriptural world was wide, varied, and full of competing manuscript forms.

As conclusion:

The apostolic fathers show us a Christianity that:

• read Scripture in Greek

• quoted flexible manuscript traditions

• knew variants existed

• did not assume one perfect, preserved text

• did theology without needing absolute word-for-word uniformity

• trusted the message even when the wording differed

Their world looks nothing like modern “perfect translation” movements. It looks far more like a living, growing, multilingual faith wrestling with real manuscripts, real history, and real differences.