Abstract

e nature of the Church was expressed in Dogmatic Constitution on the Church
“Lumen gentium” by numerous pictures and new expressions. ey refer to the
Bible and patristics. It is necessary to place special attention on two expressions.
ese are: the mystery of the Church and the new people of God. e Second
Vatican Council used these expressions to name two of titles of chapters of Lumen
gentium.
In this article, the speeches of the Greek Fathers of the Church are detailed
analysed. e Council document refers to them in glosses only. ` numbers –
4 in each chapter – contain references to Greek patristics. Totally, in +7 glosses
to chapter I and II the Constitution refers to +5 Greek Fathers of the Church and
to the anonymous patristic text of Didache. In the final part of this work the
development of the patristic period was summarized in a chronological aspect.
It began with Didache, then Irenaeus and John Chrysostom, and finally John
of Damascus. In comparison to the whole Constitution with reference to the
nature of the Church (as the mystery and new people of God) there is very little
patristic inspiration.
In this article, speeches of the Fathers of the Church were not only analysed,
but also compared to council texts. anks to this, we see it as a short
anthology of patristic ideas.