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The Ante-Nicene Fathers contains the English translations of the majority of Early Christian writings. It is a collection of books in 10 volumes (one volume is indexes) – approximately 11.000 pages. The period covers the beginning of Christianity until the early fourth century, where the church began to merge with the state. This unholy union brought foreign teachings into the church, so that it lost its purity and its power. That’s why we don’t recommend reading the Nicene and the Post-Nicene Fathers – at least not for beginners.
Christian Classics Etheral Library has turned these books into an electronic edition that can be read here.
Compared to modern Bible commentators, the writings of the early Christians are by far the best Bible commentary. The writhers lived in the same culture as Jesus and his apostles did. They spoke Koine Greek – the lanuage common language in the Middle Eastern region – and language of the New testament. So they knew what the words meant. Several of the writers had been trained directly by disciples of Christ – people who had had the opportunity to ask what various passages of scripture meant – and how they should be lived out.
If you don’t feel like reading 11,000 pages in Old English, we recommend Scroll Publishing, where David Bercot explains the main points. He has researched the subject “Early Christianity” for four decades. The material can be accessed here.