Third and Fourth Century Fathe

This is volume 7 of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, the fathers of the early Christian church who lived before the 4th century.

This volume contains works by the following authors:

1) Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius (250 - 325) was an advisor to the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine I, helping to guide his religious policy as it developed, and a tutor to his son. His most important work is "The Divine Institutes", an apologetic treatise intended to establish the reasonableness and truth of Christianity to critical pagans.

2) Saint Victorinus of Pettau or of Poetovio (died 303 or 304) was a bishop and an Early Christian ecclesiastical writer who flourished about 270, and who was martyred during the persecutions of Emperor Diocletian.

3) Pope Dionysius (d. 268) served as the Bishop of Rome or Pope from 259 until his death in 268. His task was to reorganize the Roman church, after the persecutions of the Emperor Valerian I and the edict of toleration by his successor Gallienus. He also helped rebuild the churches of Cappadocia, devastated by the Goths.

4) Victorinus of Pettau (d. 330) A Gallic bishop and writer of the third century. He wrote commentaries on Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Isaias, Ezechiel, Habacuc, Ecclesiastes, the Canticle of Canticles, the Apoclypse and St. Matthew.

5) Asterius Urbanus and many other authors and works from this time period.