Zone1 Earnestly Contend for the Faith Which Was Once Delivered Unto the Saints

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What the early writers teach us about the apostles and the early Church in Jerusalem.
Many thanks to Craig Wescoe for compiling this information

"For as the fish and the fowls are of one nature, — some indeed abide in their natural state, and do no harm to those weaker than themselves, but keep the law of God, and eat of the seeds of the earth; others of them, again, transgress the law of God, and eat flesh, and injure those weaker than themselves: thus, too, the righteous, keeping the law of God, bite and injure none, but live holily and righteously. But robbers, and murderers, and godless persons are like monsters of the deep, and wild beasts, and birds of prey; for they virtually devour those weaker than themselves." (Theophilus, To Autolycus 2.16)

Speaking of the Church in Jerusalem:
any sensible person would be inclined to consider them worthy of all confidence; they were admittedly poor men without eloquence, they fell in love with holy and philosophic instruction, they embraced and persevered in a strenuous and a laborious life, with fasting and abstinence from wine and meat
Eusebius, Demonstratio Evangelica 3.5 (Tr. W.J. Ferrar, 1920)


Judas Thomas:
Judas Thomas, likely the twin brother of James the Just, “goes round the cities and the districts, and if he has anything he gives all to the poor, and teaches one new God, and heals the diseased, and drives out demons, and does many other extraordinary things; and we think that he is a magician. But his acts of compassion, and the cures done by him as a free gift, and still more, his single-mindedness, and gentleness, and fidelity, show that he is a just man, or an apostle of the new God whom he preaches; for he continually fasts and prays, and eats only bread with salt, and his drink is water, and he carries one coat, whether in warm weather or in cold, and he takes nothing from anyone, but gives to others even what he has.” (Acts of Thomas)[1]

The Acts of Thomas. Translated by Alexander Walker. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 8. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <CHURCH FATHERS: Acts of the Holy Apostle Thomas>

 

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Matthew
“It is far better to be happy than to have a demon dwelling with us. And happiness is found in the practice of virtue. Accordingly, the apostle Matthew partook of seeds, and nuts, and vegetables, without flesh” (Clement of Alexandria. The Paedagogus 2.1.16. T.r. by William Wilson. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2. Edited by Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1885).


James
Jesus’ brother James never ate animal flesh, nor did he wear wool
“He was holy from his mother's womb; and he drank no wine nor strong drink, nor did he eat flesh… He alone was permitted to enter into the holy place; for he wore not woolen but linen garments” (Hegesippus, quoted in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 2.23.5-6)[1].

[1] Eusebius. Ecclesiastical History, Book II. T.r. by Arthur Cushman McGiffert. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 1. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1890.

 

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Essenes did not sacrifice animals
“they are above all men devoted to the service of God, not sacrificing living animals, but studying rather to preserve their own minds in a state of holiness and purity” (Philo, Every Good Man is Free, 12.75).

“they do not offer sacrifices” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 18.1.5).
Essenes rejected animal slaughter and flesh-eating
The Essene community “bans burnt offerings and sacrifices, as something foreign to God and never offered to Him on the authority of the fathers and Law,” and “rejects the Jewish custom of eating meat and the rest, and the altar, and fire as something foreign to God” (Epiphanius, Panarion 19.3.6).


Nazarenes rejected animal slaughter and flesh-eating
The Nazarenes “would not offer sacrifice or eat meat; in their eyes it was unlawful to eat meat or make sacrifices with it. They claimed that… none of these customs were instituted by the fathers” (Epiphanius, Panarion 18.1.4).

 

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Peter:
'I eat naught but bread and olives,' he says, 'and less often a few vegetables. For vesture I have but the tunic and mantle which thou seest upon me.

Saint Peter