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The Sources Behind the Study

Resources

Everything we use, everything we cite — made available to you.

The Church Fathers Library


St. Athanasius the Apostolic

20th Pope of Alexandria · c. 296–373 AD

Ep 03

St. Cyril of Alexandria

24th Pope of Alexandria · Pillar of Faith · c. 376–444 AD

Ep 02Ep 03Ep 04Ep 05Ep 06Ep 07Ep 08Ep 09

St. Basil the Great

Archbishop of Caesarea · c. 330–379 AD

Ep 09

St. Gregory the Theologian

Archbishop of Constantinople · c. 329–390 AD

Episode to come

St. John Chrysostom

Archbishop of Constantinople · The Golden-Mouthed · c. 347–407 AD

Ep 01Ep 02Ep 04Ep 05Ep 06Ep 07Ep 08Ep 09Ep 10

St. Ignatius of Antioch

Bishop of Antioch · Martyr · c. 35–108 AD

Episode to come

St. Ephraim the Syrian

Deacon of Edessa · Harp of the Spirit · c. 306–373 AD

Ep 07Ep 08Ep 09Ep 10

St. Gregory of Nyssa

Bishop of Nyssa · c. 335–395 AD

Ep 09

St. Ambrose of Milan

Bishop of Milan · c. 339–397 AD

Ep 03Ep 07Ep 08Ep 09

St. Augustine of Hippo

Bishop of Hippo · 354–430 AD

Ep 01Ep 02Ep 05Ep 06Ep 07Ep 08Ep 09Ep 10

St. Theophilus of Antioch

Bishop of Antioch · Apologist · 2nd century AD

Ep 05Ep 08Ep 09

St. Hilary of Poitiers

Bishop of Poitiers · The Athanasius of the West · c. 310–367 AD

Ep 10

Scripture Index

Every passage we have covered, organized by book.


Matthew

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Recommended Reading


Primary Research Sources

Scripture Study · Patristics

Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture

Edited by Thomas C. Oden · InterVarsity Press

A landmark multi-volume series collecting the commentary of the Church Fathers on every book of Scripture — organized verse by verse. Each volume gathers patristic voices from across the first eight centuries of the Church, making it the essential desk reference for anyone reading the Bible alongside the Church Fathers.

A primary research tool for every episode · Available through IVP Academic and major booksellers

Coptic Liturgical Resources

Treasures of the Fathers of the Church

Saint Paul Brotherhood Press, 2017 · Preface by H.G. Bishop Serapion

Patristic Meditations on the Sunday Gospels of the Coptic Lectionary — organized by Coptic month. These volumes gather the voices of the Church Fathers around the very passages the Coptic Church reads each Sunday, and serve as one of our primary guides for understanding how the Church has always opened the Word.

  • Sunday Gospels of Tute, Babeh, and Hatour ISBN 978-0-9721698-1-3
  • Sunday Gospels of Kiahk, Tubah, and Amshir ISBN 978-0-9800065-8-2

Available through Amazon and select Coptic bookstores

Scripture Study

The Orthodox Study Bible

St. Athanasius Academy

The full text of Scripture with Orthodox commentary, lectionary notes, and patristic cross-references throughout.

The Gospel of John: A Commentary

After the Church Fathers

A reader’s companion to John drawn from Chrysostom, Cyril, and Augustine — the same wells we return to.

Reading the Bible with the Church

On Tradition & Interpretation

Why Scripture is the Church’s book — and how the lectionary teaches us to read it in community.

Patristics

On the Incarnation

St. Athanasius the Apostolic

The cornerstone of Coptic Christology — short, ancient, and astonishing. The place to begin with the Church Fathers.

Homilies on the Gospel of John

St. John Chrysostom

Verse by verse through John from the golden-mouthed preacher — pastoral, exacting, and unhurried.

The Life of Antony

St. Athanasius the Apostolic

The desert father whose life founded monasticism — and the spirituality that still shapes the Coptic Church.

Coptic History

The History of the Coptic Church

From St. Mark Onward

The story of the Church of Alexandria from the Evangelist Mark through the age of the martyrs and councils.

The Coptic Synaxarion

Lives of the Saints

The Church’s daily commemorations — the source for our Saints Episodes and a year-long companion in itself.

The Desert Fathers

Sayings & Lives

The wisdom of the Egyptian desert — terse, demanding, and full of the air the Coptic tradition still breathes.

Glossary

Terms we use in the podcast, defined plainly.

Anaphora

The central prayer of the Coptic Divine Liturgy, in which the bread and wine are offered and consecrated.

Apostles’ Fast

The fast the Coptic Church keeps after Pentecost until the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul — honoring the apostles’ preaching, labor, and martyrdom.

Berakhah

The Jewish blessing of thanksgiving spoken over food. The head of the household lifted his eyes to heaven before breaking bread — the gesture Christ performs at the feeding of the five thousand.

Christology

The study of the person and nature of Jesus Christ — fully God and fully man, united without confusion.

Divine Liturgy

The Church’s central act of worship, in which bread and wine are offered, blessed, broken, and given as the Body and Blood of Christ.

Eremos

Greek for “deserted place” or wilderness — the same word the Septuagint uses for the Exodus desert. When the Gospels use it, the reader is meant to hear Moses, manna, and God feeding His people where nothing grows.

Eucharist

From the Greek for “thanksgiving” — the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. Its four actions (took, blessed, broke, gave) appear at the feeding of the five thousand and at the Last Supper.

Holy Fifty Days

The season from the Resurrection to Pentecost — fifty days of unbroken joy in which the Church neither fasts nor kneels.

Incarnation

The eternal Son of God taking on full humanity — becoming man without ceasing to be God — in the person of Jesus Christ.

Lectionary

The Church’s calendar of appointed Scripture readings — the order in which the Bible is read aloud through the liturgical year.

Patristic

Relating to the Church Fathers — the early bishops, theologians, and teachers whose witness the Church has received.

Pentateuch

The first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy — the Law of Moses. In Augustine’s reading, the “five barley loaves” of the feeding miracle.

Septuagint

The Greek translation of the Old Testament made before Christ, used by the apostles and quoted throughout the New Testament.

Synaxarion

The collection of the lives of the saints, read day by day according to the Coptic calendar.

Tetrarch

A regional ruler under Rome, governing a quarter of a divided kingdom. Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee, beheaded John the Baptist and “sought to see” Jesus.

Theophany

A manifestation of God. In the Coptic calendar, the feast of Christ’s baptism in the Jordan, when the Father’s voice and the Spirit’s descent revealed the Trinity.

Theosis

The process of becoming, by grace, partakers of the divine nature — union with God, the goal of the Christian life.

Theotokos

“The God-bearer” — the Church’s ancient title for the Virgin Mary, guarding the truth that the One she bore is God Himself.

Typology

Reading persons and events of the Old Testament as foreshadowings — types — fulfilled in Christ and the Church.