get_church_fathers

com.trulyrandomverse/bible-study · Verify this server

Fetch quotes from the early church fathers (Augustine, Chrysostom, Origen, Basil, Ephrem, etc.) on a verse or verse range. Returns each quote verbatim: whole up to 4,000 characters; a longer one as an excerpt of the parts that bear most on the verse, marked `excerpt` (search_fathers with its `quote_id` returns it whole). The same writer's identical text filed under two verses of the range comes once, the other in `also_under`. Pass `verse` alone for quotes on that verse. Pass `verse_end` ALSO to sweep a passage; a sweep lists quotes in verse order, each `reference` naming the verse or verses that quote comments on. When more quotes exist than `limit`, each writer gives one before any writer gives a second, the centuries taking turns, so the answer carries as many voices and eras as it can. `total` says how many exist; when that is more than `limit`, `quotes_by_verse` shows where they all fall — never say a verse has no patristic comment until `quotes_by_verse` or a call on that verse alone confirms it. If the requested range produces >200K chars of quotes total, the tool returns `mode: range_too_large` with a focus prompt — ASK THE USER which passage to focus on rather than calling repeatedly. Returns father name, year AD, and the quoted text; a quote whose writer is not a Christian commentator (Philo and Josephus, Jewish writers; a book of the Bible filed as a cross-reference) carries `writer_note` — never call them church fathers. Quote directly with attribution; never paraphrase from training. Call it when the question concerns a passage's meaning, theology, or historical interpretation.