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To: LurkingSince'98

I read (and continue as such) most of the church fathers. None ever claimed to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.

I asked if you had an evidence of the NT apostles discussing the intercessory roles of Mary.

Again I will accept you circuitous “no” again.


272 posted on 03/14/2014 1:12:38 PM PDT by redleghunter
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To: redleghunter

“None ever claimed to be an apostle of Jesus Christ.”

so you are saying that ALL Divine Revelation stopped with the death of the last apostle, even the men who studied at the feet of the apostles and were ordained where never inspired by the Holy Spirit.

If so then that means that everyone who came after the apostles including the Apostolic fathers were frauds, including: Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp of Smyrna, the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas.

Apostolic authority
St. Polycarp, depicted with a book as a symbol of his writings.

The “Apostolic Fathers” are distinguished from other Christian authors of this same period in that their practices and theology largely fell within those developing traditions of Pauline Christianity or Proto-orthodox Christianity that became the mainstream. They represent a tradition of early Christianity shared by many different churches across cultural, ethnic, and linguistic differences. The tradition they represent holds the Jewish Scriptures to be inspired by God (against Marcionism) and holds that the Jewish prophets point to the actual flesh and blood of Jesus through which both Jew and Gentile are saved. Furthermore, they present the picture of an organized church made up of many different cross-cultural, sister churches sharing one apostolic tradition. Their ecclesiology, rejection of some Judaic values, and emphasis upon the historical nature of Jesus Christ stand in stark contrast to the various ideologies of more paganized Christianities, on the one hand, and more Jewish Christianities on the other.[22] They speak of certain other views as heterodoxy or heresy.[23]

Other texts written much later are not considered apostolic writings. They were actively denounced from the very beginning by men such as Ignatius, Bishop of Antioch, and the writer of the canonical First Epistle of John as being “anti-christ” and contrary to the tradition received from the apostles and eyewitnesses of Jesus Christ. The texts presenting alternative Christianities were then actively suppressed in the following centuries and many are now “lost” works, the contents of which can only be speculated.

The writings of the Apostolic Fathers are in a number of genres, some, e.g. the writings of Clement of Rome are letters (also called epistles), others relate historical events, e.g. the Martyrdom of Polycarp, and one (the Didache) is a guide for ethical and liturgical practice.
Apostolic connection

The early church relied on apostolic authority in separating orthodox from unorthodox works, teachings, and practices. The four Gospels were each assigned, directly or indirectly to an apostle,[24] as were certain other New Testament books. Earlier church fathers were also associated with apostles: Clement with Peter (associated closely with Rome) and with Paul (as the Clement Paul wrote about in Philippians 4:3), Papias and Polycarp with John (associated with Asia Minor). Due to various overlaps between the writings that later were included into the New Testament and the writings of the Apostolic Fathers, the latter ones have drawn an increasing attention of the New Testament scholarship.[25]

AMDG


274 posted on 03/14/2014 1:24:35 PM PDT by LurkingSince'98 (Catholics=John 6:53-58 Everyone else=John 6:60-66)
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