Two of the founding fathers of patrician literature in the Church from the first Council of Nicaea in 325 AD onward until 451 AD were Pope Gregory the Great (Latin writer) and St. John of Damascene, founding fathers in Antiochia.

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Christianity’s victory over the heathen Roman state, which manifested itself with the Tolerance Edict (§ 13) of Milan, set positive conditions for the blossoming of  religious literature and science.  This is the beginning of the time of great founding fathers of the Church.  Within the state Church, which hereby came into being, the emperors since Constantine had taken over the protectorate.  This merely meant, however, that the foundations were laid for a state Church (Caesaro-papism).  Free from external pressures, the Church could now unfold its new thinking and forces for the benefit of the world through proselytizing in countries that were not linked to the Roman Empire and beyond through reformation of laws and in providing welfare for the poor and oppressed.  This new freedom and the many doctrinal battles religious science (outstanding orators, very high standard of education in many places) and literary production served to greatly increase productivity.  At the same time there ensued a degeneration of religious life and bitter conflicts which manifested themselves in diverse forms of heresy.  However, both the emperor and the Church, in order to save the endangered unity of the Church, resorted to calling of general councils which had been unknown in earlier times; the decision reached by these Councils were from then on considered the unshakable foundation of all later theology.