“Calling upon the name of the Lord” is taken up by a number of church fathers, usually in the context of prayer, worship, and especially baptism and martyrdom, with strong continuity to the biblical phrase in Joel 2:32 / Acts 2:21 / Rom 10:13. The fathers tend to treat it not as a bare verbal formula, but as a life of worshipful invocation of Christ as Lord and God, above all in the sacraments and in martyrdom.[1][2][3]
## Basic patristic themes
– **Invocation as worship of Christ**
Early writers treat “calling upon the name of the Lord” as directed to Jesus, thereby evidencing his full divinity and the legitimacy of praying to him. Stephen’s prayer “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (Acts 7:59) is a key locus for them as an instance of such calling on the Lord in martyrdom.[2][1]
– **Invocation as ongoing Christian life**
For the fathers, “calling on the name of the Lord” is not a one‑time act but a continual stance of adoration, confession, and obedience; they often connect it with the life of prayer and Eucharistic worship.[4][1]
## Examples in specific fathers
– **Tertullian (c. 160–225)**
In *On Prayer*, Tertullian expounds the Lord’s Prayer and notes that Christ “manifested” and “glorified” the Father’s name, so that Christians now dare to address God as Father and pray for his name to be hallowed. This assumes that Christian prayer is characterized by calling on the revealed Name in and through Christ, which he sees as the distinctive mark of Christian worship.[3]
– **John Chrysostom (c. 349–407)**
Chrysostom repeatedly highlights prayer “in the name of Jesus” and links Philippians 2 (“at the name of Jesus every knee should bow”) with the early Christian practice of invoking the Name in liturgy and personal prayer. Later summaries of his preaching stress that he saw the short invocation “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” as arising from Pauline and early Christian patterns of calling on the Lord’s name.[2]
– **John Climacus (7th c.) and emerging Jesus‑Prayer tradition**
Climacus alludes to the constant repetition of the name “Jesus” as the heart of monastic prayer, which later Eastern tradition explicitly interprets as “unceasing calling upon the name of the Lord.” Patristic and post‑patristic writers thus see the Jesus Prayer as the concentrated form of the biblical command to call on the Lord’s name.[2]
## Baptism, sacraments, and the Name
– **Baptism “in the name of the Lord”**
Patristic sacramental theology reads texts such as Acts 2:38 and James 5:14 (“anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord”) as evidence that Christian rites are performed by invoking the Lord’s name. One patristically‑oriented study of anointing notes that the sacrament “bears the name of the Lord Jesus” and is an act of prayer “in the name of the Lord,” uniting Christ the Head and the Church his Body.[5]
– **Eucharistic and liturgical invocation**
Early Christian liturgies, developing out of biblical language like “our help is in the name of the Lord” (Ps 124:8), begin their services with an invocation of the Name as an epiclesis of divine help. This is understood as a continuation of the biblical and patristic pattern of calling upon the Lord in the assembly.[6]
## “Name” in early Christian theology
– **Revealed name “Father” and “Jesus”**
A patristically informed treatment of early Christian prayer emphasizes that Jesus reveals the divine name “Father” (Jn 17:6), and that Christians now call upon God as Father in the Lord’s Prayer. At the same time, they also call upon the name “Jesus,” which means “God saves,” and the Acts narratives show disciples suffering and dying for invoking this name.[4][2]
– **Calling and obedience**
Patristic‑style reflection (echoed in later theological summaries) insists that to “call upon the name of the Lord” implies obedience and submission to the Lord whose name is invoked, not mere verbal repetition. This matches the fathers’ frequent insistence that right invocation must be joined to right faith and a holy life.[7][1]
If you would like, a next step could be:
– a curated list of specific patristic passages (with Latin/Greek references) that use Joel 2:32 / Rom 10:13, or
– a thematic comparison between patristic “invocation of the Name” and later Jesus‑Prayer or sacramental invocations.
Sources
[1] Calling on the Name of the Lord – Leipers Fork church of Christ https://www.
[2] Calling on the Name of Jesus: How Prayer Began in the Early Church https://catholicexchange.com/
[3] CHURCH FATHERS: On Prayer (Tertullian) – New Advent https://www.newadvent.org/
[4] The Orthodox Faith – Volume IV – Spirituality – The Lord’s Prayer https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/
[5] The Anointing of the Sick in Patristic Sources – Catholic Journal https://catholicjournal.us/
[6] Psalm 124.8 Our Help is in the Name of the Lord – Cardiphonia https://cardiphonia.wordpress.
[7] What Is Calling on the Name of the Lord? | Truth For The World https://truthfortheworld.org/
[8] To Call or Not Call on the Name of the LORD https://www.
[9] Calling upon the Name of the Lord – OceanSide church of Christ https://
[10] Why “calling upon the name of the Lord” to be saved refutes … https://catholicnick.blogspot.
[11] Calling on the name of the Lord Jesus – Andrew Perriman https://www.postost.net/2017/
[12] Ei To Onoma Kyriou (Blessed Be the Name of the Lord) – Spotify https://open.spotify.com/
[13] The Real Presence – Church Fathers https://www.churchfathers.org/
[14] Look at this correlation! What is “calling on the name of the Lord?” It … https://www.facebook.com/
[15] “None Other Name” Invoking The Name Of The Lord https://www.apostolic.edu/
