Source: ChatGPT was asked about if and how the Church Fathers discussed the Tetragrammaton.
Yes, the early church fathers did discuss the Tetragrammaton (יהוה), though usually indirectly, since most of them relied on the Septuagint (LXX) translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, where the divine name is usually rendered as Κύριος (“Lord”). Their comments are generally shaped by the texts they used and their theological context.
Here’s a summary of how it appears in early Christian writings:
The Greek Old Testament (LXX), the Bible of most early Christians, translated the Tetragrammaton as Kyrios.
Consequently, most church fathers inherited a Bible that did not preserve the four Hebrew letters (YHWH), so their direct contact with it was limited.
Origen (c. 184–253, Commentary on Psalms and Hexapla):
Origen knew Hebrew and preserved the Tetragrammaton in his Hexapla, sometimes noting the four Hebrew letters
(יהוה). In some fragments he even describes it as written in paleo-Hebrew script in the biblical manuscripts.
He notes that Jews avoided pronouncing the name, substituting Adonai or Kyrios.
Jerome (c. 347–420, Prologus Galeatus to the Vulgate, and in his letters):
Jerome explicitly refers to the Tetragrammaton, noting that in some Greek manuscripts it appeared in Hebrew letters. He
says some read it as “PIPI” because the Hebrew letters י-ה-ו-ה looked that way to Greek readers
unfamiliar with Hebrew.
Theodoret of Cyrus (c. 393–458, Quaestiones in Exodus 15):
He wrote that the Samaritans pronounced the divine name as Iabe, while the Jews pronounced it as Aia.
This is one of the earliest patristic references to how the name may have been vocalized.
Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–215, Stromata 5.6.34):
Mentions that God’s “mystical name” is expressed in four letters, but does not provide the exact form.
Eusebius (c. 260–339, Praeparatio Evangelica 11.6):
Quoting Philo and other sources, he notes that the divine name is ineffable, and that Jews refrained from uttering it.
The fathers consistently reflect the Jewish practice of not pronouncing the Tetragrammaton.
Instead, they emphasize God’s transcendence and ineffability.
When discussing the name of God, they usually focus on titles like Kyrios (Lord), Theos (God), or Christological identifications (i.e., connecting Kyrios in the Old Testament to Christ in the New Testament).
Yes—early church fathers such as Origen, Jerome, Theodoret, Clement of Alexandria, and Eusebius discussed the Tetragrammaton. They knew it existed in the Hebrew text, sometimes preserved it in scholarly works, and commented on how Jews treated it. However, in Christian Scripture and worship, it was overwhelmingly replaced by Kyrios (“Lord”), which influenced Christian tradition all the way into the Middle Ages.
Origen, Commentary on Psalm 2:2
Origen says:
“It is no secret that one pronounces the name in Greek as ‘Kyrios,’ but in Hebrew as ‘Adonai’… In the most accurate manuscripts the name occurs in Hebrew Characters, yet not in today’s Hebrew [characters], but in the most ancient ones.” (tetragrammaton.org)
This is cited in Appendix J of Origen’s Hexapla via The Tetragrammaton and the Christian Greek Scriptures (a modern work discussing Origen’s use of the divine name). (tetragrammaton.org)
Link: The relevant quoted section from “Appendix J: Origen’s Hexapla” on tetragrammaton.org. (tetragrammaton.org)
Jerome, Prologus Galeatus (Helmeted Prologue) to the Books of Samuel and Kings
Jerome writes something like: “And the name of the Lord, the Tetragrammaton, we find in certain Greek volumes written,
up to now, in ancient lettering.”
(thetextofthegospels.com)
This is discussed in modern sources discussing Jerome’s prologue, e.g.:
From The Text of the Gospels: March 2015 blog post: “Jerome, in about 390, … said … that the name of the Lord, the Tetragrammaton, we find in certain Greek volumes written, up to now, in ancient lettering.” (thetextofthegospels.com)
Link: The blog where this is quoted. (Not a primary source / critical edition, but indicating the content.) (thetextofthegospels.com)
Theodoret of Cyrus, Quaestiones in Exodum, Cap. XV
Theodoret remarks:
“the name of God is pronounced Iabe” among the Samaritans, while the Jews pronounce it Aïa. (lifes-purpose.info)
This is quoted in The Name of God YeHoWaH. Its Story, by Gérard Gertoux, which draws on Theodoret’s Quaestiones in Exodum. (lifes-purpose.info)
Many of these quotations come via secondary sources (modern scholars or popular presentations) rather than stable critically-edited translations of the original fathers. So sometimes the wording or translation may vary, and the exact wording in Greek or Latin might differ.
Some of the supposed quotations (especially about pronunciations like Iabe) are contested, or the textual basis is weak or ambiguous.
Also, the phrase “in the most accurate manuscripts” is often used by Origen to refer to Hebrew manuscripts or very early Greek ones — which suggests he thought that in some ancient textual witnesses the divine name was preserved in Hebrew characters even in Greek contexts.
Question: Did the Church Father’s ever discuss that any Greek NT manuscripts had ever used the Tetragrammaton and which
were removed in later copies.
Answer: From everything we know from the surviving evidence and what the early church fathers wrote:
No extant Greek New Testament manuscript contains the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew letters (יהוה) or in any transliterated form.
The NT consistently uses Κύριος (Kyrios, “Lord”) or Θεός (Theos, “God”) in places where the Hebrew Scriptures had YHWH.
When church fathers discuss the Tetragrammaton, they are always talking about the Hebrew Scriptures or the Septuagint, not the New Testament:
Origen (Hexapla) notes the Tetragrammaton in Hebrew characters in Old Testament manuscripts, but never in the New Testament.
Jerome (Prologus Galeatus) says that in some Greek Old Testament manuscripts the name appeared in ancient Hebrew characters, but again he is speaking of the OT.
Theodoret comments on how Jews and Samaritans vocalized the divine name, but this too is in the context of the OT.
Other fathers (e.g., Clement, Eusebius) discuss its sacredness or ineffability, but always with reference to the Hebrew Bible, not Christian writings.
None of the church fathers ever say that the New Testament writers or that manuscripts existed which used the Tetragrammaton.
Instead, they consistently interpret “Kyrios” in the NT as referring to Christ or to God, depending on the passage.
This silence is significant: if the Tetragrammaton had appeared in NT manuscripts, we would expect Origen, Jerome, or others (who worked with biblical manuscripts closely) to comment on it. They never do.
The early church fathers acknowledged that some Old Testament Greek manuscripts (LXX) contained the Tetragrammaton
in Hebrew characters.
👉 But they never mention it appearing in New Testament manuscripts — and no surviving manuscript evidence
supports it.
I searched through available sources and found no solid quotations from church fathers that explicitly contrast the New Testament’s use of Kyrios (“Lord”) with the Tetragrammaton by saying “in the NT manuscripts the divine name was used” (or the reverse). In other words, I did not find a quotation where a father states that NT manuscripts originally contained YHWH or the Hebrew divine name and then quote or compare it with the OT.
Here’s what I did find, and what the evidence suggests:
Origen and others talk about the Septuagint and Hebrew scriptures using the Tetragrammaton vs. Kyrios in Greek translations.
In Appendix J: Origen’s Hexapla, Origen notes that in “the more accurate manuscripts” of the LXX, the divine name appears in Hebrew letters, but that in Greek use (i.e. when reading or pronouncing) it is rendered Kyrios. (tetragrammaton.org)
In his Commentary on Psalm 2:2, he says something like:
“It is no secret that one pronounces the name in Greek as ‘Kyrios,’ but in Hebrew as ‘Adonai’.” (tetragrammaton.org)
These concern OT texts and translations, not NT manuscripts or texts.
Various modern works make the claim that there is no evidence of any NT Greek manuscripts containing the Tetragrammaton.
One such is from the website tetragrammaton.org, which states:
“After exhaustive study, we must conclude that there is *not a single trace of evidence in the Greek manuscripts themselves, or in the voluminous writings of the early patristics, to indicate that the Tetragrammaton was ever used in the first century manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures.” (tetragrammaton.org)
These are secondary claims, synthesizing manuscript evidence and patristic silence. (tetragrammaton.org)
I found discussion (in more popular/apologetic or interpretive sources) that points out that the NT writers always use Kyrios (or θεός etc.) when quoting OT passages that in Hebrew use YHWH. But I did not find a quote from a father explicitly saying “I have seen an NT manuscript that used YHWH” or “the apostles used the Tetragrammaton in their Greek writings.”
There is no patristic testimony that the early church fathers knew of any NT manuscripts which contained the Tetragrammaton.
The pattern is: Fathers recognize the divine name in Hebrew / in Hebrew texts (and some Greek OT texts), but when speaking of Christian Greek Scriptures (i.e. NT), they accept Kyrios as the term used.
Silence is notable: if any early Christian writer had seen a NT manuscript with YHWH in it, it seems likely they would have mentioned it, given how much they discuss texts, translations, and pronunciation of the divine name.