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The feast day of Saint Helena, the mother of Constantine, is commemorated by Catholics on August 18. Aside from her role as matriarch of the Constantinian dynasty, Helena is most remembered today for her finding of the True Cross of Jesus Christ. This discovery took place during Helena's celebrated pilgrimage to the Holy Land near the end of her life, during which time she undertook the task of uncovering the sites associated with Christ's life and passion and the building of commemorative shrines. Eusebius Pamphilus, Helena's contemporary and bishop of Caesarea Maritima, records many of Helena's deeds during this trek....

This order of worship was adopted and practiced by the early church: The Greeting – a more formal, biblical greeting or salutation. A Response – the attendees would respond, often with a Scripture that was recited in unison or chanted. Readings and Psalmody – Several passages of Scriptures would be read or chanted, interspersed with a responsive singing or chanting of a Psalm. Psalms – the Psalms, considered God’s hymnal, were sung or chanted, most of the time without instruments. Message – an elder, rabbi or teacher would interpret and explain the relevant meaning of the Scripture(s) that were read....

Immediately prior to a Papal Conclave seems like the absolute best time to break out the Liber Pontificalis – that fascinating, frustrating, and enigmatic work of Late Antiquity that purports to provide a brief biographical sketch of each of the first 65 Popes of Rome. This is perhaps the fourth or fifth time I have read the Liber cover to cover, not including the dozens of times I’ve referenced individual accounts for research purposes, posts, comments, etc. Admittedly, the text is littered with errors: some obvious, others requiring a PhD in Patristics to spot. Thankfully, the version I most commonly...

Among the martyrs of Rome during the Great Persecution under Diocletian and Maximian (early 4th century AD), the name of Saint Agnes is certainly one of the most famous. A young girl of perhaps 12 or 13 at the time of her martyrdom, Agnes would later be commemorated in the Roman Canon of the Mass as well as numerous works of art both ancient and modern. Though no authentic account of her trial has survived antiquity, the passion of Saint Agnes is known from three near contemporary ancient sources. The first is an epitaph which was affixed to her tomb...

One of the more enigmatic figures from early Christian history is Saint Veronica—the woman known to Catholics from the Sixth Station of the Cross, who is said to have wiped the face of Jesus while He carried His cross on the road to Calvary. There is a memorable and beautifully presented sequence of scenes featuring Veronica in Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. But nowhere is the woman or the incident described mentioned in Sacred Scripture. To learn about Veronica, we must turn to extra-biblical sources. The first mention of a woman named Veronica associated with Our Lord may be...

When reading the Ecclesiastical History of Hermias Sozomen—a work written immediately before the Council of Chalcedon when the universal Church was roiled by a variety of heresies—one picks up the venerable author’s animus for innovation. Indeed, Book IV, Chapter 27 begins with the following passage: When the spirit of innovation becomes regarded with popular favor, it is scarcely possible to arrest its progress. Inflated as it always is with arrogance, it contemns the institutions of the Fathers, and enacts laws of its own. It even despises the theological doctrines of antiquity, and seeks out zealously a new form of religion...

In my ongoing studies in the early-church fathers, I have discovered a number of pretribulation-rapture passages in Ephraim the Syrian that I haven’t seen referenced in books, magazines, or online. I offer ten of the clearest here. Perhaps “undiscovered” is an overstatement, but unless my radar needs to be significantly upgraded, these passages do seem to have largely escaped notice in prophecy-loving circles. I found them in his 150-plus Greek works which not only aren’t included in the standard English-translation church-father collections, but the vast majority of them have never been translated into English, at least not with any semblance...

In the years following the victory of Constantine the Great over Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge outside Rome in AD 312, something unprecedented in human history happened. A religion embraced by a small, despised, unwarlike minority cult became the dominant faith of the mighty Roman Empire. How this happened has been the subject of endless scholarly debate ever after. Did the ascendant Christians impose their faith on the multitude of pagans by brute force? Did examples of miraculous events or prophecies play a role? Or did the Christian emperors simply make it so advantageous to become a...

If you follow Roman history interest groups on various social media platforms, you are guaranteed to encounter posts bemoaning the supposed destruction of Classical Greco-Roman civilization by Christians. These posts are normally as sensationalistic as they are lacking in any kind of historical context. They nearly always feature shout-outs to journalist Catherine Nixey’s 2017 polemic entitled The Darkening Age: The Christian Destruction of the Classical World. The comments following such posts are predictable—semi-literate laments about the vast unknown knowledge lost when Christians [sic] burned the Library at Alexandria; bitter tears for all the wonderful art that was destroyed by barbaric...

As Christmas approaches, it is well to remember that many of the traditional Nativity practices of the Church were instituted deep in antiquity. One such is the celebration of Mass at midnight on Christmas eve. There is evidence that this tradition began as early as about AD 130 and was instituted by Pope Saint Telesphoros. We find the following passage in the Liber Pontificalis which was likely first compiled in the 5th or 6th century: "[Telesphoros] appointed that at the season of the nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, masses should be celebrated during the night, for in general no...

Constantine's great victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place on October 28, AD 312. The day before — October 27 — is the date traditionally given for the miraculous vision and dream which Constantine experienced prior to the battle. This vision has been the subject of debate in both scholarly and popular imagination for hundreds of years. But what really happened on that day 1,705 years ago that changed forever the course of human history? As a prelude to the famous accounts of this vision, it should be noted that Constantine also seems to have had pagan...

Saint Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna in Asia Minor in the second century AD. A disciple of Saint John the Evangelist, Polycarp died martyr in AD 155 or 156 for refusing to renounce Christianity. His martyrdom was marked by various miraculous prodigies, but foremost among them, perhaps, is the incredible fortitude of the man--who was at least 86 at the time of his trial--and his willingness to speak the truth to power even with the threat of immediate death hanging over his head. Here is an excerpt from the account of his martyrdom, recorded by Saint Irenaeus, in which Polycarp...

Hi everyone! I usually post these on Wednesdays but in the holiday rush I haven't had much time so either film a video or write a new blog. So I decided to just make the last Why the New Testament Was Written video as a substitute for my usual Saturday blogs.I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! This week's concluding video is on why Revelation was written. Rather than delve into the divisive theological issues of eschatology, I decided to focus solely on the historical context of John's vision and the book's authorship.Why John...

Hi everyone! It's Wednesday night Bible study!For this week's Why the New Testament was Written video, we're talking about why Paul wrote the second letter to Timothy. I consider it to be the saddest book of the New Testament, as Paul's farewell letter to the church and to the world in general. This is part 15 of the series (should be three more to go...next week is II Peter, then Jude, then finally Revelation).Why Paul Wrote II TimothyVideo clocks in at 9:29.

Hi everyone! I can't believe I've already made 14 of these!This week's "Why the New Testament Was Written" vlog focuses on Peter's first epistle (if you couldn't tell by the title). We'll talk about when it was written, why it was written, and to whom it was written (and I say this knowing full well someone's going to comment "Because the Spirit told him to").Why I Peter Was WrittenVideo clocks in at 10:05.

The Origins of Gnosticism By Philip Cottraux At the end of last week’s blog I mentioned the “Christian supernova,” a period roughly between 100-200 AD when Christianity exploded rapidly across the Roman Empire. The movement became more diverse as it grew. Orthodox and Coptic Christians divided into more and more complex subgroups. Unfortunately, some got more radicalized until they became isolated cults with teachings directly contradicting the gospel. Perhaps the most infamous of these were the Gnostics. Gnosis is Greek for “received knowledge” or “secret wisdom.” However, “Gnostic” is a modern term; there was no actual group that called themselves...

The historical evidence I have presented in this book shows that Jesus was born in the year 3 B.C.E. It appears most probable that a late summer birth in 3 B.C.E. has the best credentials. I need not rehearse my reasons for this, but they are very strong. Indeed, the evidence from the priestly courses alone suggests that a September nativity is the most likely. This gives a pretty close approximation that most scholars would probably accept as reasonable. But now, we come to the nitty-gritty! To propose an early evening birth on September 11, 3 B.C.E. appears almost impossible...

Aphrahat (Greek: Ἀφραάτης; Latin: Aphraates) (c. 270 – c. 345 C.E.) was an Assyrian author of the fourth century from Persia, who composed a series of twenty-three expositions or homilies on points of Christian doctrine and practice. He was born in Persia around 270, but all his known works, the Demonstrations, come from later in his life. He was an ascetic and celibate, and was almost definitely a "son of the covenant" (an early Syriac form of communal monasticism). He may have been a bishop, and later Syriac tradition places him at the head of Mar Matti monastery near Mosul,...

One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic, and Organized! A Biblical Picture of the Early Church in Miniature Msgr. Charles Pope • September 19, 2016 • I’d like to return to a brief Gospel that was read last week at daily Mass (Friday of the 24th Week of the Year). Though terse to the point of leaving a preacher wondering what to say, it actually paints a beautiful picture of the Church. Here is that short passage, followed by some commentary.And it came to pass that Jesus journeyed throughout the towns and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom...

A Look at the Early Catholic Church from the Acts of the Apostles Msgr. Charles Pope • April 26, 2016 • The second reading from last Sunday’s Mass (5th Sunday of Easter) is very Catholic, and too informative to merely pass up. It presents the Church as rather highly organized and possessed of some of the structures we know today in full form. Granted, some of these structures are in seminal form, but they are there.We will also notice qualities of the original kerygma that are at variance with what some modern thinkers declare should be the methodology of...