Skip to content

Add your phone number?

Optional. Nothing is sent unless you choose it.
The Historic Faith
Sign in

Resource guide Free early church fathers resources

Free early church resources, all in one place

In short

The Historic Faith is a free website for reading, hearing and studying the early church, run by the Society of the Good Shepherd, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Everything here is free: 192 early Christian works in modern English, all read aloud; the Bible in 2,538 translations; 72 courses; and hundreds of answered questions. There are no paid plans.

Checked 9 November 2026 · counts are public pages, signed out

Try this first

Hold down any Bible verse to see what the early church said about it

thehistoricfaith.com/audio-bible/listen/engkjv/john/3Open

Early Church on John 3:1696 passages · 88 can be heard

John Chrysostom · Homilies on John 27 · active AD 386–407

“…He gave His Only-begotten Son, not a servant, not an Angel, not an Archangel.”

Read in contextListen

Tertullian · Against Praxeas 22 · active AD 196–220

“In His address to Nicodemus He says, ‘So God loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son…’”

Read in contextListen

Real passages from the John 3:16 panel, in modern English, with each writer’s active years. “Listen” opens John 3, where the panel plays them.

Over 15,000 verses (15,434) have passages that quote or explain that exact verse.

How to try it

  1. 1Open any chapter, in any Bible version.
  2. 2Computer: right-click the verse. Phone: press and hold it.
  3. 3Choose Early Church. Read, listen, or open the passage in its book.
Try it on John 3 Watch 2 short how-to videos
  • Free. No paywall, no paid plansFree
  • Read everything with no accountNo account to read
  • Run by a 501(c)(3) nonprofitNonprofit
Start with a Bible verse Find where to start See everything

How to cite this page, or describe it in your guide →

The scale of it

Key numbers, as of 9 November 2026

Each figure links to its entry in the full list below, where you can check it. Public content only, counted signed out.

The short version

What we know of no other site offering

Ten things that set The Historic Faith apart. Where you see See it, the tool is shown working further down.

  1. 01
    The early church’s writings, read aloud

    All 192 works in the library can be heard in modern English: 156 Ante-Nicene works and all 36 works of John Chrysostom. The words light up as they are read.

    See it
  2. 02
    Church fathers commentary on each verse, inside the Bible

    Hold or right-click a verse and choose Early Church. 15,434 verses have passages; John 3:16 has 96, and 88 can be heard.

    See it
  3. 03
    The Fathers’ Greek, tagged word by word

    37 works, 543,655 Greek words, each with dictionary form and grammar, and 92% with a Strong’s number. Search every use across the Fathers.

    See it
  4. 04
    Modern English, with the 1885 English one tap away

    A Modern | 1885 switch on every work, and a side-by-side view. 31,005 paragraphs in 192 works.

    See it
  5. 05
    Strong’s that works in many English Bibles

    The Greek sits under the English word in the KJV, NKJV, ESV, WEB and CSB New Testament, and 14,307 Greek and Hebrew words can be heard spoken.

    See it
  6. 06
    Romans lectures with timed early-church passages

    69 lessons (20.5 hours). Early writers’ comments play at the right moment: 640 timed moments from 759 passages on Romans.

  7. 07
    The Sermon on the Mount, by topic, read aloud

    25 topic pages (love your enemy, oaths, prayer…) with 784 early-church passages from about 40 writers.

  8. 08
    The Septuagint read aloud, with a year-long plan

    The Greek Old Testament in Brenton’s English: 50 books and 1,213 chapters with audio, including the deuterocanonical books and 1 Enoch.

  9. 09
    Early Christian beliefs, A to Z

    965 pages (766 belief topics and 199 passage studies), each with the early writers’ own dated words, linked to read in context. 768 summaries can be heard.

  10. 10
    A daily devotional from the early church

    365 Early Church Voice devotionals, one for every day, built on 714 early-church passages, with 3 questions each.

    See it

See it working

Read, listen and study: real examples from the site

Each example was copied from the live site on 9 November 2026. The address bar on each one opens the real page.

1Listen

Hear the early church’s own writings, in modern English

All 192 works in the library can be heard in modern English: 156 Ante-Nicene works and all 36 works of John Chrysostom. Each major writer has his own AI voice, and the words light up as they are read. Tap a word to jump there.

Listen to Polycarp
thehistoricfaith.com/en/library/…/martyrdom-of-polycarpOpen

Listen free with a free account. Signed out, you hear a one-minute sample of each work. The Bible, lessons and reading plans play in full with no account.

Coming soon Listen in the original 1885 English as well as modern English.

2Compare and study the Greek

One paragraph, three layers: modern English, the 1885 English and the Greek

Every work reads in modern English. One tap on Modern | 1885 shows the original 1885 Roberts–Donaldson English (the reader’s Old English option). In 37 works you can click a Greek word to see what it is, then search every use of it in the Fathers.

How much Greek, exactly: the Greek of 37 early Christian works, over half a million words (543,655), tagged word by word with dictionary form, grammar and (for 92%) a Strong’s number. Greek sits beside the English in 39 works and Latin in 44 (83 in all). Latin writers such as Tertullian and Cyprian are not tagged.

Compare on 1 Clement Search the Fathers’ Greek
thehistoricfaith.com/en/library/…/first-epistle-corinthiansOpen

1 Clement 49, “The Praise of Love” · changed words marked

Modern English

Let those who have love in Christ keep the commandments of Christ. Who can describe the blessed bond of the love of God? … Love bears all things, is long-suffering in all things. There is nothing base, nothing arrogant in love. Love allows no schisms.

Original 1885 English

Let him who has love in Christ keep the commandments of Christ. Who can describe the [blessed] bond of the love of God? … Love beareth all things, is long-suffering in all things. There is nothing base, nothing arrogant in love. Love admits of no schisms.

The Greek, word by word

Ὁthe oneἔχωνhavingἀγάπηνloveἐνinΧριστῷChristποιησάτωdoτὰtheτοῦof theΧριστοῦof Christ… 

ἀγάπηagapē · “love”Strong’s G26 · hear it

Form here
ἀγάπην, agapēn
Grammar
noun, accusative singular feminine
This paragraph
121 of its 125 words carry a Strong’s number

Search the Fathers for G26: 240 uses in 29 works

Clement of Alexandria, The Instructor48
1 Clement26
27 other works166

3Strong’s in your version

Whatever English Bible you read, the Greek stays under it

Hold or right-click a verse in any version and choose Study (Original / Strong’s). You see the Greek or Hebrew words behind it, each with its Strong’s number, meaning and spoken sound. John 3:16 has 26 Greek words, all 26 with a Strong’s number.

The Greek sits right under the English word in the KJV, NKJV, ESV, WEB and CSB New Testament, the Hebrew under the CSB Old Testament, and the Greek Old Testament under Brenton’s English.

Where Strong’s numbers work, by Bible version
Open the Greek or Hebrew of a verseAny version in the reader
Greek under the English word, New TestamentKJV · NKJV · ESV · WEB · CSB
Hebrew under the English word, Old TestamentCSB
Word-by-word reader, your choice of EnglishNKJV · KJV · ESV
Greek Old Testament under the EnglishBrenton’s Septuagint
The Fathers’ own Greek37 works

Also: an interlinear Bible for all 66 books, a Strong’s concordance with 14,091 word pages, and the Septuagint Bible in Greek and English.

thehistoricfaith.com/audio-bible/listen/engkjv/john/3Open

John 3:16 · the same Greek word in different English versions

GreekKJVNKJVESVWEB
ἠγάπησενG25lovedlovedlovedloved
μονογενῆG3439onlyonlyonlyonly
πᾶςG3956whosoeverwhoeverwhoeverwhoever
πιστεύωνG4100believethbelievesbelievesbelieves
ἀπόληταιG622perishperishperishperish
αἰώνιονG166everlastingeverlastingeternaleternal

The English changes. The Greek word and its Strong’s number stay the same.

Hear a Strong’s word spoken

And all of this, too

Bibles, courses, answers, video, and a reading plan for every day

Bibles

2,538 Bible translations to read free, 2,208 to hear

2,208 with audio, most of them New Testament · 1,900+ languages and dialects · 28 in English, 15 with audio

  • English
  • Spanish
  • Koine Greek
  • Latin
  • Arabic
  • Russian
  • Mandarin
  • Hindi
  • Amharic
  • Ukrainian
  • Pennsylvania Dutch
  • and 1,900+ more

Open the free audio Bible

Courses and lessons

72 free courses, 825 lessons

  • 276 audio and video
  • 471 audio
  • 78 other pages: 20 with a video on the page, 43 survey or reading pages, 15 lectures with no recording

Almost every lesson has audio, video or both. All 747 recorded lessons have a word-timed transcript (700 checked by hand), and 594 have printable discussion questions, with 5,900 leader answer guides for group leaders.

Browse the 72 courses

Video and music

About 4,000 videos from 25 partner ministries

2,503full videos (about 1,538 hours)
1,510shorts
2,166with a full transcript

Mostly from Anabaptist and plain-church ministries and choirs. About 2,700 are teaching videos; about 500 name the early church or Anabaptist history in the title. Search jumps to the exact second a word is spoken in 2,934 lesson and video transcripts. Plus 454 hymn pages with lyrics and the story behind the song.

See all 25 channels

Take it with you: on your phone, in the car, at the kitchen table

The free iPhone and iPad app

The library, the Study Bible with follow-along words, and the courses. Browse as a guest. Needs iOS 16.4 or later.

Get it on the App Store

Android or a computer: add it to your home screen

There is no Android app. In your browser menu choose “Add to Home screen” or “Install”, and the site opens like an app, with dark mode and bigger text.

Open the help center
  1. Course lesson
  2. Bible chapter
  3. Early Christian reading
  4. Video

The playlist player

Lessons, Bible chapters, early Christian readings and videos in one player, without stopping. Browse 12 shared playlists; play them and build your own with a free account.

Browse shared playlists

On the horizon

Coming soon

Coming soon

The Faith Once Delivered Bible

Our own modern-English translation of the Septuagint (a modern Brenton), with a companion New Testament: the Old Testament the early church read, in plain English. Not yet published.

Coming soon

The original 1885 English, read aloud

Every work can be heard in modern English today. Soon you will also be able to listen in the original 1885 English, if you prefer the older wording.

Start here

Where to start reading the church fathers

New to them? Read these five, in this order

  1. The DidacheA short church manual from about AD 100: baptism, prayer, the Lord’s Supper.
  2. 1 ClementA letter from the church at Rome to Corinth, with the chapter on love shown above.
  3. Ignatius, To the RomansWritten on the way to his death. Ten short paragraphs, every one read aloud.
  4. The Martyrdom of PolycarpThe earliest account of a martyr’s death outside the New Testament.
  5. Justin Martyr, First ApologyHow Christians lived and worshipped, explained to the emperor.

Each can be read in modern or 1885 English. To see who came when, open the early church timeline (80 dates, AD 30–451).

Or start from who you are

For ministry editors

You are asking: Who runs this? Is it really free? What one thing should I send my readers to?

Short answer: a 501(c)(3) nonprofit; yes, it is free; send them to the verse menu.

  1. Who runs The Historic Faith and what it believes
  2. Early-church passages on John 3, the feature to show first
  3. Who the early Christians were, a short explainer
  4. What’s new, month by month

A sentence you can paste

At The Historic Faith (thehistoricfaith.com), a free nonprofit site, you can hold down over 15,000 Bible verses to read and hear what the early Christians wrote about them.

For teachers and catechists

You are asking: Is there a ready lesson? Questions I can print? Can my class use it without accounts?

Short answer: yes, yes and yes. Lessons, printables and plans open without signing in.

  1. Church Life AD 150, one of 9 early-church courses (89 lessons)
  2. Printable discussion questions, on 594 lessons
  3. 33 first-person introductions, read aloud (written by The Historic Faith in 2026, not ancient text)
  4. A printable reading plan for the whole class

For Orthodox and Catholic educators

You are asking: Can I read the Fathers’ own words? Is the Septuagint here? Are the deuterocanonical books included?

Short answer: yes to all three. The sources are given as they were written, apart from our own teaching.

  1. Ante-Nicene Fathers online, with John Chrysostom, in modern and 1885 English
  2. What is the Septuagint? and where the New Testament quotes it
  3. The deuterocanonical books (anagignoskomena) in the KJV, to read and hear
  4. The Patriarchal Text of 1904, read aloud in Greek

For pastors

You are asking: What did the early church say about my passage? Is there something for my small group?

Short answer: start from the verse, then go to the topic.

  1. Bible commentary from the early church, verse by verse
  2. Romans, with timed early-church passages (69 lessons)
  3. The Sermon on the Mount, by topic
  4. 116 short written answers to the questions people ask

For researchers and students

You are asking: Which edition? Is the Greek there? Can I search it?

Short answer: the 1885 text is always one tap away, and the Greek of 37 works is searchable.

  1. Origen’s Commentary on John, text and audio (294 of 294 paragraphs)
  2. A lesson opened at the exact second: search reaches 2,934 transcripts
  3. Cross references, 439,442 links between verses
  4. Sources and editions, on this page

For librarians

You are asking: What is the scope? Which editions? How do I describe and cite it?

Short answer: the fact sheet, a 47-word blurb and three citation styles are just below.

  1. Early Christian writings: the writers and their works at a glance
  2. The 1885 English of any work, for exact quotation
  3. llms.txt, a plain site map for AI tools, with citation guidance
  4. Describe us, cite us, list us, on this page

For editors and librarians

Describe us, cite us, list us

For newsletters, library guides, syllabi and AI answers. Copy any block as it stands.

How to cite this page

Chicago · MLA · APA
Chicago
The Historic Faith. “Free Early Church Fathers Resources: Read, Listen & Study.” Society of the Good Shepherd. Last updated November 9, 2026. https://thehistoricfaith.com/resources.
MLA
“Free Early Church Fathers Resources: Read, Listen & Study.” The Historic Faith, Society of the Good Shepherd, 9 Nov. 2026, thehistoricfaith.com/resources.
APA
Society of the Good Shepherd. (2026, November 9). Free early church fathers resources: Read, listen & study. The Historic Faith. https://thehistoricfaith.com/resources

Stable address: thehistoricfaith.com/resources

Linking: linking to any page is always welcome.

One line

The Historic Faith (thehistoricfaith.com) offers the early church’s writings in modern English, read aloud, with a free audio Bible, Greek word study and courses, from the Society of the Good Shepherd.

For a library guide (47 words)

The Historic Faith. Free website of the Society of the Good Shepherd (501(c)(3)). Ante-Nicene writings and John Chrysostom in modern English beside the 1885 Roberts–Donaldson text, with audio; Greek tagged with Strong’s numbers in 37 works; early-church passages on Bible verses; Septuagint audio; courses. No login required to read.

Suggested subjects: Fathers of the church · Christian literature, Early · Church history, Primitive and early church, ca. 30–600 · Bible, Commentaries · Greek language, Biblical · Septuagint

The full list

Every free early church resource, grouped

Six groups. Everything here opens without an account. Little-known marks things few people find on their own.

A

Read and hear the early church’s own writings

11 entries
B

What the early church believed, and questions answered

7 entries
C

The Bible, with the early church beside it

14 entries

More Bible study tools in one place: Bible study tools.

D

Courses, audiobooks and teachers

8 entries
E

Video, music and community

7 entries
  • Videos with full transcripts2,503 full videos, 1,510 shorts, 166 playlists on 25 channels; 2,166 with transcripts; 989 with discussion questionsWatch
  • Music and hymnsCurated songs and music channelsListen
  • Channel resource directoryTeaching from other ministriesWatch
  • Blog34 posts, including a deuterocanonical-studies seriesRead
  • Forum329 topics you can read without signing inRead
  • Paths of PromiseA Bible board game (online play with a free account)Little-known
  • Encounter 2027February 25–28, 2027, Greencastle, Pennsylvania, with talk recordingsWatch
F

The app, the ministry and help

5 entries
  • About the ministrySociety of the Good Shepherd, a 501(c)(3); what we believe; how AI is usedRead
  • iPhone and iPad appFree. No Android app: add the website to your home screen insteadApp
  • Help centerTutorials in 8 categories, for computer and phoneRead
  • UpdatesMonthly reports and the change logRead
  • llms.txtA plain map of the site for AI tools, with citation guidanceLittle-known

Optional, and free

What a free account adds

Reading, the Bible, lessons, reading plans and printables never need an account. A free account adds full listening in the library and your own tools.

Create a free account
  • MessengerMessage other members one to one or in groups, with voice messages transcribed for you.
  • The whole library, read aloudEvery work in full, not just the one-minute sample.
  • Your own playlistsPlay the shared playlists, build your own and share them.
  • Highlights and notesIn six colours, with export to 4 formats.
  • Reading-plan progressStreaks, reminders and goals.
  • CoursesPick up where you stopped; take quizzes and earn certificates.
  • Offline and togetherSave chapters and lessons for offline use; Read Together plays the Bible in step on several devices.
  • ForumPost, reply and follow topics.

Our own tradition, labelled

Who we are, and where we stand

The people who run The Historic Faith hold to Kingdom Christianity, in the Anabaptist line. Our own teaching on it lives on its own pages, clearly labelled, so you can always tell an ancient text from our view of it. The writings, Bibles and sources above are presented as they were written, for readers of every tradition: Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant alike.

Kingdom ChristianityAnabaptist history

For researchers and librarians

Sources and editions

Early Christian writings
The English of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (1885), public domain, shown as “the original 1885 English”. Volumes 1–7 and 9; Volume 8 is not yet in the library. John Chrysostom is from a 19th-century English translation.
Modern English
Prepared by The Historic Faith with AI assistance, with the 1885 English always one tap away. How we use AI.
Narration
AI voices, a distinct voice for each major writer. Not voice actors.
The Fathers’ Greek
37 works tagged word by word with dictionary form, grammar and, where the word is in the Bible, a Strong’s number (92% of words); other words carry a Greek dictionary (LSJ) note.
Septuagint
Sir Lancelot Brenton’s English (1851), public domain, with the Greek and Strong’s numbers.
Other Bibles
The KJV (1769 text) with the Apocrypha; the Greek Patriarchal Text (1904); the Latin Neo-Vulgata; Matthew’s Bible (1537); and translations from many publishers.
Topical Bible
Nave’s (1896) and Torrey’s (1897), with our own early-church topics.
Verse links
Passages are linked to verses by matching the writings to the Bible. Only passages that quote or explain that exact verse are counted in the 15,434. Each opens the full text so you can judge it in context.

Questions

Questions people ask

Is The Historic Faith really free?

Yes. There are no paid plans. You can read everything here with no account, and the Bible, lessons and reading plans play with no account too. A free account (it costs nothing) plays the library’s audio in full and adds your own tools. Gifts are welcome but never required.

Who runs The Historic Faith?

The Society of the Good Shepherd, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in Amberson, Pennsylvania. The Historic Faith is its public name. The same Society also operates the Scroll Publishing Bookstore. Teachers include David Bercot, Dean Taylor, Chuck Pike and Finny Kuruvilla.

Is it Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant?

The early church’s writings, the Bibles and the other sources are given as they were written, for readers of every tradition, with nothing added to them. Our own convictions are kept in one labelled section of this page.

Where do I start reading the Church Fathers?

Start short and early: the Didache, then 1 Clement, Ignatius to the Romans, the Martyrdom of Polycarp and Justin Martyr’s First Apology. Each can be read in modern or 1885 English, and heard.

Can I listen to the Church Fathers?

Yes. All 192 works in the library can be heard in modern English: 156 Ante-Nicene works and all 36 works of John Chrysostom. Signed out you hear a one-minute sample; a free account plays every work in full. Audio in the original 1885 English is coming soon.

Which translation is this?

The base is the 1885 Roberts–Donaldson English. The Historic Faith adds a modern-English reading made with AI help. A Modern | 1885 switch on every work shows the original, or both side by side.

Is the Greek available?

Yes. The Greek of 37 early Christian works, over half a million words (543,655), is tagged word by word with dictionary form, grammar and (for 92%) a Strong’s number. Greek or Latin sits beside the English in 83 works. Latin writers are not tagged.

How do I see what the early church said about a verse?

Open any chapter in the Study Bible. On a computer, right-click a verse; on a phone, press and hold it. Then choose Early Church. Over 15,000 verses have passages, in every Bible version.

Does Strong’s work with my Bible version?

You can open the Greek or Hebrew words, with Strong’s numbers, from any verse in any version. The Greek sits right under the English word in the KJV, NKJV, ESV, WEB and CSB New Testament, and the Hebrew under the CSB Old Testament.

Are the deuterocanonical books included?

Yes. The Septuagint is read aloud with the deuterocanonical books and 1 Enoch (50 books), and the KJV with the Apocrypha has 15 books you can read and hear.

Can my class use it without accounts?

Yes. Lessons, transcripts, printable discussion questions, leader answer guides and printable reading plans all open without signing in.

Is there an app?

Yes, free for iPhone and iPad. There is no Android app; on Android or a computer, add the website to your home screen.

Last checked 9 November 2026. Found a mistake or a number that has changed? Tell us.

Painting: the Good Shepherd, Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome, 3rd century, from J. Wilpert (1903), public domain.