List of Church Fathers who quote the New Testament

Last updated November 24, 2022

The following list provides an overview of Church Fathers who quoted the New Testament (NT) in their writings. The study of these quotations, also known as patristic quotations, is part of patristics, and provides important secondary source evidence for textual criticism of the New Testament. New Testament patristic quotations include early Christian authors such as Ignatius of Antioch, as well as anonymous works like the Didache. Some anonymous works have traditionally been misattributed to better-known authors, and are now known by the name of that author, but with the prefix pseudo (meaning "false" in Greek), for example Pseudo-Dionysius. The other most substantial component of secondary sources for the text of the NT is its early translations into other languages, such as Vetus Latina manuscripts.

History

Johann Jakob Griesbach stressed the importance of patristic data for New Testament criticism and laid the foundation for their usage.^[1]

Patristic quotations should be cited individually.
Patristic writings should be read in their entirety, using good editions.
Quotations should be derived only from genuine works.
Quotations should be included only from authentic Greek works.
Quotations should be distinguished from allusions.
Everything should be included as recited biblical text.
Alterations to the biblical text should be noted.
Differences between Patristic various quotations should be observed.
All additions, omissions or alterations must be noted.

Gordon Fee suggests that the presentation of a Patristic quotation must be complete, including all known citations and adaptations, but not all allusions.^[2]

Fathers

Criterion for inclusion: quoted or alluded to text of NT in writing, in copies of own work, or cited so by others.^{[lower-alpha 1]}
Name: historically most common form in English.
Location: anglicised name of the city with which they are associated, sometimes a monastery, other times a province if location is imprecise. Name at time of writing, hence Byzantium and Constantinople, but never Istanbul. Some Fathers moved around, noted as: itinerant (Latin) or peripatetic (Greek).
Date of Death (DOD): standard point of reference, differing levels of precision, different scholastic opinions. Where a Father is only known to within a century, the midpoint is given first, to allow sorting on the column, the century follows in Roman numerals within parentheses.
Language: Greek, Latin or Syriac. Typically Western Europe, Italy and North Africa were home to Latin Fathers; Greece, Asia Minor, Palestine and Egypt were home to Greek Fathers. Some Fathers worked with both Greek and Latin.

Church Fathers who quoted the New Testament
Name	Location	DOD	Language
Acacius	Caesarea	366	Greek
Adamantius	Alexandria	300	Greek
Africanus	Jerusalem	240	Greek
Alexander	Alexandria	328	Greek
Ambrose	Milan	397	Latin
Ammonius	Alexandria	250 (III)	Greek
Ammonius	Alexandria	450 (V)	Greek
Amphilochius	Iconium	394	Greek
Anastasius	Sinai Peninsula	750 (VIII?)	Greek
Anastasius	Antioch	700	Greek
Andrew	Caesarea	614	Greek
Andrew	Crete	740	Greek
Ansbert	Rouen	750 (VIII)	Latin
Anthony	Padua	1231	Latin
Antiochus	Mar Saba	614	Greek
Aphraates	Assyria	367	Syriac
Apollinaris	Laodicea	380	Greek
Apringius	Beja	551	Latin
Arethas	Caesarea	914	Greek
Aristides	Athens	150 (II)	Greek
Arius	Alexandria	336	Greek
Arnobius	Gaul	460	Latin
Athanasius	Alexandria	373	Greek
Athenagoras	Athens	150 (II)	Greek
Augustine	Hippo	430	Latin
Basil	Caesarea	379	Greek
Beatus	Liébana	786	Latin
Bede	Northumbria	735	Latin
Caelestinus	Rome	350 (IV)	Latin
Caesarius	Arles	542	Latin
Caesarius	Nazianzus	369	Greek
Carpocrates	Alexandria	150 (II)	Greek
Cassian	Itinerant	435	Latin
Cassiodorus	Scylletium	580	Latin
Chromatius	Aquileia	407	Latin
Claudius	Turin	850 (IX)	Latin
Clement	Rome	99	Greek
Clement	Alexandria	215	Greek
Cyprian	Carthage	258	Latin
Cyril	Alexandria	444	Greek
Cyril	Jerusalem	386	Greek
Diadochus	Photiki	468	Greek
Didymus	Alexandria	398	Greek
Dionysius	Alexandria	265	Greek
Ephraem	Syria	373	Syriac
Epiphanius	Salamis	403	Greek
Eugippus	Naples	533	Latin
Eulogius	Alexandria	607	Greek
Eusebius ^{[lower-alpha 2]}	Caesarea	339	Greek
Eustathius	Antioch	337	Greek
Euthalius	Alexandria	450 (V)	Greek
Faustus	Riez	490	Latin
Faustus	Milevum	400 (IV-V)	Latin
Fulgentius	Ruspe	533	Latin
Gaudentius	Brescia	406	Latin
Gelasius	Cyzicus	475	Greek
Gennadius	Massilia	505	Latin
Gennadius	Constantinople	471	Greek
Gildas	Rhuys	570	Latin
Gregory	Elvira	392	Latin
Gregory	Nazianzus	390	Greek
Gregory	Nyssa	394	Greek
Gregory	Neocaesarea	270	Greek
Hilary	Pictavium	367	Latin
Hippolytus	Rome	235	Latin
Ignatius	Antioch	110	Greek
Irenaeus ^{[lower-alpha 3]}	Lugdunum	202	Latin
Isidore	Pelusium	435	Greek
Jacob	Nisibis	338	Syriac
Jerome	Stridonium	420	Latin
John	Damascus	749	Greek
Julian	Eclanum	454	Latin
Julius I	Rome	352	Latin
Justin	Flavia Neapolis	165	Greek
Juvencus	Hispania	330	Latin
Leo	Tuscany	461	Latin
Leontius	Byzantium	550 (VI)	Greek
Lucifer	Cagliari	370	Latin
Macarius Magnes	Magnesia	400	Greek
Marius Mercator	Itinerant	450 (V)	Latin
Maternus	Cologne	348	Latin
Nestorius	Constantinople	451	Greek
Nonnus	Panopolis	431	Greek
Novatian	Rome	250 (III)	Latin
Oecumenius	Trika	550 (VI)	Greek
Optatus	Milevum	385	Latin
Origen	Alexandria	254	Greek
Orosius	Gallaecia	418	Latin
Orsisius	Tabenna	380	Greek
Pacian	Barcelona	392	Latin
Paulinus	Nola	431	Latin
Pelagius	Itinerant	412	Latin
Palladius	Leinster	431	Latin
Pamphilus	Caesarea	310	Greek
Papias	Hierapolis	150 (II)	Greek
Photius	Constantinople	895	Greek
Pierius	Alexandria	309	Greek
Polycarp	Smyrna	156	Greek
Porphyry	Gaza	250 (III)	Greek
Possidius	Calama	450 (V)	Latin
Primasius	Hadrumetum	552	Latin
Priscillian	Ávila	385	Latin
Proclus	Constantinople	446	Greek
Procopius	Gaza	538	Greek
Ptolemy	Alexandria	150 (II)	Greek
Rufinus	Aquileia	410	Latin
Rupert	Liège	1135	Latin
Salvian	Gaul	480	Latin
Sedulius	Hibernia	850 (IX)	Latin
Serapion	Thmuis	362	Greek
Severian	Jableh	408	Greek
Severus	Antioch	538	Greek
Socrates	Constantinople	439	Greek
Sozomen	Constantinople	450	Greek
Sulpicius	Gaul	420	Latin
Synesius	Cyrene	414	Greek
Tatian	Antioch	150 (II)	Greek
Tertullian	Carthage	220	Latin
Theodore	Mopsuestia	428	Greek
Theodore	Heraclea	358	Greek
Theodore	Constantinople	826	Greek
Theodoret	Antioch	466	Greek
Theodotus	Byzantium	150 (II)	Greek
Theodotus	Ancyra	445	Greek
Theophilus	Antioch	180	Greek
Theophylact	Moesia	1077	Latin
Theotecnus	Caesarea	250 (III)	Greek
Titus	Bostra	378	Greek
Tyconius	Africa	380	Latin
Valentinians	Italy	150 (II)	Latin
Valentinus	Alexandria	160	Greek
Valerian	Cimiez	460	Latin
Victor	Antioch	450 (V)	Greek
Victor	Tunis	566	Latin
Victor-Vita	Africa	489	Latin
Victorinus	Pettau	304	Latin
Victorinus	Rome	362	Latin
Vigilius	Africa/Thrace	484	Latin
Zeno	Verona	372	Latin

Misattributed writings

Misattributed writings quoting the New Testament
Name	Location	DOD	Language
Pseudo-Ambrose	Milan?	VI	Latin
Pseudo-Athanasius	Alexandria?	VI	Greek
Pseudo-Augustine	Carthage?	?	Latin
Pseudo-Chrysostom	Constantinople?	VI	Greek
Pseudo-Clement	Alexandria?	IV	Greek
Pseudo-Cyprian	Carthage?	?	Latin
Pseudo-Dionysius	Athens?	V	Greek
Pseudo-Hippolytus	Antioch?	?	Greek
Pseudo-Ignatius	Antioch?	V	Greek
Pseudo-Jerome	Rome?	V	Latin
Pseudo-Justin		IV/V	Greek
Pseudo-Oecumenius	Archaea?	X	Greek
Pseudo-Theodulus		VI/VII?
Pseudo-Titus		?
Pseudo-Vigilius		?	Latin

Anonymous works

Early anonymous works quoting the NT
Title	Date	Language
Acts of Pilate	IV	Greek
Acts of Thomas	III	Syriac
Ambrosiaster	IV	Latin
Apostolic Canons	IV	Greek
Apostolic Constitutions	380	Greek
De Promissionibus	453	Latin
Diatessaron	II	Syriac
Didache	II	Greek
Didascalia	III	Greek
Doctrine of Addai	400	Syriac
Eusebian Canons	IV	Greek
Gospel of the Ebionites	II	Greek
Gospel of the Nazarenes	II	Aramaic
Paschal Chronicle	630	Greek
P. Oxy. 405	III	Latin
Liber Graduum	320	Syriac
Rebaptismate	III?	Latin
Varimadum	380	Latin

Notes

Related Research Articles

Textual criticism is a branch of textual scholarship, philology, and of literary criticism that is concerned with the identification of textual variants, or different versions, of either manuscripts or of printed books. Such texts may range in dates from the earliest writing in cuneiform, impressed on clay, for example, to multiple unpublished versions of a 21st-century author's work. Historically, scribes who were paid to copy documents may have been literate, but many were simply copyists, mimicking the shapes of letters without necessarily understanding what they meant. This means that unintentional alterations were common when copying manuscripts by hand. Intentional alterations may have been made as well, for example, the censoring of printed work for political, religious or cultural reasons.

In textual criticism of the New Testament, the Alexandrian text-type is one of the main text types. It is the text type favored by the majority of modern textual critics and it is the basis for most modern Bible translations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johann Jakob Griesbach</span>

Johann Jakob Griesbach was a German biblical textual critic. Griesbach's fame rests upon his work in New Testament criticism, in which he inaugurated a new epoch. His solution to the synoptic problem bears his name, but the Griesbach hypothesis has become, in modern times, known as the Two-Gospel hypothesis.

<i>Textus Receptus</i> Greek critical text of the New Testament

Textus Receptus refers to all printed editions of the Greek New Testament from Erasmus' Novum Instrumentum omne (1516) to the 1633 Elzevir edition. It was the most commonly used text type for Protestant denominations.

The Johannine Comma is an interpolated phrase (comma) in verses 5:7–8 of the First Epistle of John.

The Codex Alexandrinus, designated by the siglum A or 02, δ 4, is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, written on parchment. Using the study of comparative writing styles (palaeography), it has been dated to the fifth century. It contains the majority of the Greek Old Testament and the Greek New Testament. It is one of the four Great uncial codices. Along with Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus, it is one of the earliest and most complete manuscripts of the Bible.

Codex Claromontanus, symbolized by D^p, D₂ or 06 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1026 (von Soden), is a Greek-Latin diglot uncial manuscript of the New Testament, written in an uncial hand on vellum. The Greek and Latin texts are on facing pages, thus it is a "diglot" manuscript, like Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis. The Latin text is designated by d (traditional system) or by 75 in Beuron system.

Novum Testamentum Graece is a critical edition of the New Testament in its original Koine Greek, forming the basis of most modern Bible translations and biblical criticism. It is also known as the Nestle–Aland edition after its most influential editors, Eberhard Nestle and Kurt Aland. The text, edited by the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, is currently in its 28th edition, abbreviated NA28.

The New Testament in the Original Greek is a Greek-language version of the New Testament published in 1881. It is also known as the Westcott and Hort text, after its editors Brooke Foss Westcott (1825–1901) and Fenton John Anthony Hort (1828–1892). Textual scholars use the abbreviations "WH" or "WHNU". It is a critical text, compiled from some of the oldest New Testament fragments and texts that had been discovered at the time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biblical manuscript</span> Handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible

A biblical manuscript is any handwritten copy of a portion of the text of the Bible. Biblical manuscripts vary in size from tiny scrolls containing individual verses of the Jewish scriptures to huge polyglot codices containing both the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and the New Testament, as well as extracanonical works.

Codex Laudianus, designated by E^a or 08, α 1001, called Laudianus after the former owner, Archbishop William Laud. It is a diglot Latin — Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, palaeographically assigned to the 6th century. The manuscript contains the Acts of the Apostles.

Codex Augiensis, designated by F^p or 010, α 1029 is a 9th-century diglot uncial manuscript of the Pauline Epistles in double parallel columns of Greek and Latin on the same page.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Institute for New Testament Textual Research</span> Biblical studies organization

The Institute for New Testament Textual Research at the University of Münster, Westphalia, Germany, is to research the textual history of the New Testament and to reconstruct its Greek initial text on the basis of the entire manuscript tradition, the early translations and patristic citations; furthermore the preparation of an Editio Critica Maior based on the entire tradition of the New Testament in Greek manuscripts, early versions and New Testament quotations in ancient Christian literature. Under Kurt Aland's supervision, the INTF collected almost the entire material that was needed. The manuscript count in 1950 was 4250, in 1983, 5460, and in 2017 approximately 5800 manuscripts.

Codex Zacynthius (designated by siglum Ξ or 040 in the Gregory-Aland numbering; A¹ in von Soden) is a Greek New Testament codex, dated paleographically to the 6th century. First thought to have been written in the 8th century, it is a palimpsest—the original (lower) text was washed off its vellum pages and overwritten in the 12th or 13th century. The upper text of the palimpsest contains weekday Gospel lessons (ℓ299); the lower text contains portions of the Gospel of Luke, deciphered by biblical scholar and palaeographer Tregelles in 1861. The lower text is of most interest to scholars.

Codex Basilensis A. N. IV. 2, Minuscule 1, δ 254 and formerly designated by 1^eap to distinguish it from minuscule 1^rK is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, usually dated palaeographically to the 12th century CE. It contains the entire New Testament apart from the Book of Revelation.

Minuscule 33, δ 48 (Soden), before the French Revolution was called Codex Colbertinus 2844. It is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament on parchment, dated palaeographically to the 9th century. The manuscript is lacunose. It has marginalia. According to the textual critics it is one of the best minuscule manuscripts of the New Testament.

Lectionary 22, designated by siglum ℓ22. It is a Greek manuscript of the New Testament, on vellum leaves. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 14th-century.

A Plain Introduction to the Criticism of the New Testament: For the Use of Biblical Students is one of the books of Frederick Henry Ambrose Scrivener (1813–1891), biblical scholar and textual critic. In this book Scrivener listed over 3,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, as well as manuscripts of early versions. It was used by Gregory for further work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Textual criticism of the New Testament</span> Analysis of the manuscripts of the New Testament

Textual criticism of the New Testament is the identification of textual variants, or different versions of the New Testament, whose goals include identification of transcription errors, analysis of versions, and attempts to reconstruct the original text. Its main focus is studying the textual variants in the New Testament.

References

↑ J.J. Griesbach, Curae in historiam textus Graeci epistolarum Paulinarum, Fickelscherr, Jena 1777, pp. 25-28.
↑ Gordon D. Fee, Text of John in Origen and Cyril of Alexandria: A Contribution to Methodology in the Recovery and Analysis of Patristic Citations, Bib 52 (1971), 362.

Bibliography

External links

Citation of Church Fathers in UBS — archived thread from B-Greek (Biblical Greek public email list).

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[3] Currently sourced on UBS4.

[4] In Onomasticon (Eusebius).

[5] In Against Heresies (Irenaeus).

[1] J.J. Griesbach, Curae in historiam textus Graeci epistolarum Paulinarum, Fickelscherr, Jena 1777, pp. 25-28.

[2] Gordon D. Fee, Text of John in Origen and Cyril of Alexandria: A Contribution to Methodology in the Recovery and Analysis of Patristic Citations, Bib 52 (1971), 362.

[1]

[2]

[lower-alpha 1]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 3]