Patristic synonyms

He also published works on the Last Days of the Life of Jesus, on Judaism in the Time of Christ, on John of Damascus (1879) and an Examination of the Vatican Dogma in the Light of Patristic Exegesis of the New Testament.

For ordinary purposes it is best to make the patristic period conterminous with the life 1 See Buxtorf, s.v.

In the West the Church enters the medieval stage of its history with the death of Gregory, while in the East even John of Damascus is rather a compiler of patristic teaching than a true "father."

It is clear that in the circumstances the terms "father," "patristic," "patrology" must be used with much elasticity, since it is now too late to substitute for them any more comprehensive terms.

In these products of the 2nd and 3rd centuries there is much which in its own way was not surpassed by any of the later patristic writings.