Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings: Lectionary Cycle C
Overview
By allowing us to read holy writings with ancient eyes, the church fathers help us drink deeply from the only water that can give us true life. A follow-up to the previous Ancient Christian Devotional, this devotional guide follows lectionary cycle C. This guide to prayer and reflection combines excerpts from the writings of the church fathers as found in the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture with a simple structure for daily or weekly reading and prayer. There are 52 weeks of readings following the weekly lectionary cycle C, which you can read through in order or by thematic interest. Each day you will also find a simple opening and closing prayer drawn from the prayers and hymns of the ancient church.
The Ancient Christian Devotional can serve as a good introduction for those with no exposure to these earliest teachers of the faith. And for those who have been using devotionals written more recently, this one will provide a distinct enough change that you will likely find yourself reading more slowly, refelcting more deeply, and wondering more fully.
—Critique, Issue 3, 2009
Top Highlights
“Ephrem the Syrian: Satan studied only those passages from Scriptures that were convenient to him and omitted those which were harmful to him. The heretics are like this too. They appropriate from Scripture those passages that suit their erroneous teaching and omit those that refute their errors, thereby demonstrating that they are disciples of this master. Commentary on Tatian’s Diatessaron 4.8B–C.” (Page 75)
“The Analogy of the Bad Haircut. Augustine: Aren’t the hairs of your head certainly of less value than your other members? What is cheaper, more despicable, more lowly in your body than the hairs of your head? Yet if the barber trims your hair unskillfully, you become angry at him because he does not cut your hair evenly. Yet you do not maintain that same concern for unity of the members in the church. The Usefulness of Fasting 6.” (Page 53)
“If, therefore, it is possible to live without bread, why should I make the stone bread? He purposely does not say, ‘I cannot,’ that he may not deny his own power. Nor does he say, ‘I can,’ lest the devil, knowing that he is God, for whom alone such things are possible, should depart from him. Observe, I beg you, how the nature of man in Christ casts off the faults of Adam’s gluttony. By eating we were conquered in Adam, by abstinence we conquered in Christ.” (Page 74)
“The Holy Spirit Vital to Jesus’ Ministry. Gregory of Nazianzus: Christ is born; the Spirit is his forerunner. Christ is baptized; the Spirit bears him witness. Christ is tempted. The Spirit leads him up. Christ performs miracles. The Spirit accompanies him. Christ ascends. The Spirit fills his place. Oration 31.29, On the Holy Spirit.” (Page 44)
- Title: Ancient Christian Devotional: A Year of Weekly Readings: Lectionary Cycle C
- Authors: Thomas C. Oden, Cindy Crosby
- Series: Ancient Christian Devotional
- Publisher: IVP
- Print Publication Date: 2009
- Logos Release Date: 2017
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
- Subject: Bible › Devotional literature
- ISBNs: 9780830878444, 9780830835287, 9780830834310, 0830878440, 0830835288, 0830834311
- Resource ID: LLS:ANCHRDEVLECTC
- Resource Type: Calendar Devotional
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-29T21:52:43Z
Cindy Crosby is the author, contributor to, or compiler of more than twenty books, including By Willoway Brook: Exploring the Landscape of Prayer. Her writing has appeared in numerous publications including Publishers Weekly, Books & Culture, Christian Century, and Christianity Today. She speaks and teaches in the Chicago region.
