APRIL: THE SUCCESSORS

The post-apostolic era was that of the Fathers of the Church who “formulated” the teaching of the Lord’s Apostles widely broadcast and accepted by peoples of different languages, cultures, traditions and customs...

The Apostles had done what the Lord Jesus commanded them to do. Among the first converts to Christianity there were all sorts: simple people with little education, plebeians, slaves, but also freemen, Roman nobles, men distinguished in the arts and in education, magistrates.

The new communities needed holy pastors who were wise and prudent, able to appreciate the challenges and to resolve the problems that began to arise within and outside the communities. The situation was becoming ever more complicated and there was need for a more solid structure that was able to support, protect and foster the development of the society.

` While the Apostles were still living, questions regarding authority, identity and authenticity could be answered, as can be seen from the first council of Jerusalem (Acts. 15) and the letters of Paul. The problem of the inculturation of the Gospel and the need to respond to the needs of the community and its organisation, the administration of the sacraments, the doctrinal teaching and charitable work led to the creation of offices and ministries, for which men were sought who were competent and with a sound reputation: deacons, proclaimers of the Word, catechists. The spread of the communities into constantly more diverse contexts did not damage the sense of unity, of communion and of belonging to the one Church that Paul has described as the mystical body of Christ. The first Christians celebrated and strengthened this unity in the breaking of Bread, in their sharing in the same faith and in their communion with the Bishop. The faithful in their turn took part in the life of the community, and until the V and VI centuries the Bishops were elected by the people from among those who were outstanding for their knowledge and interpretation of the Sacred Scriptures, showed prudence and wisdom in government, coherence in their personal lives, ability in the discernment of the various currents of philosophy and culture that were arising in society and within the Church itself. For their acknowledged holiness and for the orthodoxy and excellence of their teaching, a group of these pastors are considered the Fathers of the Church.

` After the Council of Nicea (325), a crossroads in the history of the early Church, Basil is an outstanding representative of the IV century. Captivated by Christ he gives up an academic career and devotes himself to the search for God in solitude. Nominated bishop he becomes an incomparable preacher and a learned writer who deals with the great questions and controversies of his time. Ambrose was governor of Milan and a catecumen when he was chosen by the crowd as Bishop. He accepted this as the will of God and showed himself a man who was free and courageous in confronting the civil authorities demanding honesty from them and public penance when their errors were public. He enriched the Church with works of exegesis and the first treatise on Christian morality: “De Officiis ministrorum”. Jerome, an impassioned student of Sacred Scripture and of Eastern Christian literature, was responsible for the translation of several works, so that they might become known in the West. To him we owe the “Vulgate”, the Latin translation of the Bible. Augustine is perhaps the best known. After a troubled adolescence and a youth spent in searching he found what he was looking for while listening to a sermon by Ambrose. Discussions with him, his reading of the Bible, the constant and tireless prayer of his Mother, Monica, led him to a total conversion in 386. Ten years later he was Bishop of Hippo. For 34 years he dedicated himself to teaching the people of God through his constant, matchless preaching. Witness and defender of the faith in the face of the heresies of the time, he was an educator and model of pastors called to be ready to nourish their flocks and to give their lives for them.

` I have mentioned only a few illustrious names, but many more could be added, as for example in the East John Chrysostom, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory Nazianzen. And then in the West Cyprian of Carthage, Leo, Gregory the Great… Their writings are still sources of nourishment for the people of God.