Ante-Nicene Period

The Ante-Nicene Period (literally meaning "before Nicaea") of the history of early Christianity refers to the period following the Apostolic Age of the 1st century down to the First Council of Nicaea in 325. This portion of Christian history is important, having a significant impact on the unity of doctrine across all Christendom and the spreading of Christianity to a greater area of the world. Those seen as prominent figures of this era, referred to as the Ante-Nicene Fathers or Proto-orthodox Christians, generally agreed on most doctrine while the teachings of those early Christian writers which the general majority considered to be heretical, were rejected.