Group of ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers
"Ante-Nicene Fathers" redirects here. For the book, see Ante-Nicene Fathers (book).
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Church Fathers" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(November 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)
The Church Fathers, an 11th-century Kievan Rus' miniature from Svyatoslav's miscellany
Part of a series on
Christianity
Jesus
Christ
Nativity
Baptism
Ministry
Crucifixion
Resurrection
Ascension
Bible
Foundations
Old Testament
New Testament
Gospel
Canon
Church
Creed
New Covenant
Theology
God
Trinity
Father
Son
Holy Spirit
Apologetics
Baptism
Christology
History of theology
Mission
Salvation
Universalism
History
Tradition
Apostles
Peter
Paul
Mary
Early Christianity
Church Fathers
Constantine
Councils
Augustine
Ignatius
East–West Schism
Crusades
Aquinas
Reformation
Luther
Denominations
(full list)
Nicene
Catholic
Latin
Eastern
Old Catholic
Independent Catholic
Eastern Orthodox
Oriental Orthodox
Church of the East
Protestant
Adventist
Anabaptist
Anglican
Baptist
Free Evangelical
Lutheran
Methodist
Moravian [Hussite]
Pentecostal
Plymouth Brethren
Quaker
Reformed
United Protestant
Waldensian
Nondenominational Christianity
Restorationist
Christadelphians
Iglesia ni Cristo
Irvingians
Jehovah's Witness
Latter Day Saints
Members Church of God International
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The New Church (Swedenborgian)
Unitarians and Universalists
Related topics
Civilization
Criticism
Culture
Ecumenism
Glossary
Index
Liturgy
Other religions
Outline
Prayer
Sermon
Symbolism
Worship
Glossary
Index
Outline
Christianity portal
v
t
e
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical period in which they worked became known as the Patristic Era and spans approximately from the late 1st to mid-8th centuries,[a] flourishing in particular during the 4th and 5th centuries, when Christianity was in the process of establishing itself as the state church of the Roman Empire.
For many denominations of Christianity, the writings of the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Nicene Fathers and Post-Nicene Fathers are included in Sacred Tradition.[1] As such, in traditional dogmatic theology, authors considered Church Fathers are treated as authoritative for the establishment of doctrine.[2][3] The academic field of patristics, the study of the Church Fathers, has extended the scope of the term, and there is no definitive list.[4][5][better source needed] Some, such as Origen and Tertullian, made major contributions to the development of later Christian theology, but certain elements of their teaching were later condemned.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
^Plekon, Michael (2003). Tradition Alive: On the Church and the Christian Life in Our Time : Readings from the Eastern Church. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 70. ISBN 978-0-7425-3163-5.
^Brown, Stephen F. (2011). Church Fathers. Encyclopedia of Medieval Philosophy. pp. 209–216. doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9729-4_125. These teachers, both in the East and the West, manifested the strength of Christian truth and the power of Christian life in their writings that marked this period as the Golden Age of the Fathers. The end of the Patristic era is generally marked in the West with the death of St. Isidore of Seville (d. c. 636) and in the East with the death of St. John of Damascus (d. c. 750). The writings of the Fathers have been given great respect both in their role of establishing the Christian tradition of beliefs and patterns of living and also as works that provide a deeper grasp of the meaning of Christian truths or provoke questions that lead Christians to a deeper understanding of their beliefs.
^Preus, J.A.O. (1984). "The Use of the Church Fathers in the Formula of Concord". Concordia Theological Quarterly. 48 (2–3): 97—112.
^Kelly, John N. D. "Patristic literature". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
^Rasmussen, Adam (10 June 2011). "Who are the Fathers of the Church? A chronological list". Catholic Theology. Retrieved 11 May 2018.
The ChurchFathers, Early ChurchFathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who...
The Apostolic Fathers, also known as the Ante-Nicene Fathers, were core Christian theologians among the ChurchFathers who lived in the 1st and 2nd centuries...
two tables. Ante-Nicene Fathers (book) Apostolic Fathers Cappadocian FathersChurchFathers Desert Fathers Doctors of the Church List of early Christian...
Apophthegmata Patrum (Sayings of the Desert Fathers). The small communities founded by the Desert Fathers were the beginning of Christian monasticism...
whether the earliest ChurchFathers in Christian history believed in the doctrine of the Trinity – the Christian doctrine that God the Father, the Son (Jesus...
designated ChurchFathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin pater and Greek πᾰτήρ (father). The period of the ChurchFathers, commonly...
Catholic theology, the writings of the ChurchFathers are considered to be sacred tradition. While many ChurchFathers taught that eternal hellfire awaits...
Pilgrim Fathers knelt down in prayer on the quay near the church. Much later, American visitors gave the church its third name, Pilgrim Fathers' Church. The...
Ante-Nicene Fathers Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers Ancient Christian Writers Ludwig Schopp, ed. (1947). The Apostolic Fathers. The Fathers of the Church 1. Washington...
for the sacrament") Wilson, Douglas; Fischer, Ty (2005). Omnibus II: ChurchFathers Through the Reformation. Veritas Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-1-932168-44-0...
their dominion. It is a model of the atonement that is dated to the ChurchFathers, and it was the dominant theory of atonement for a thousand years, until...
contain some historical kernel; the writing of the Apostolic Fathers and the ChurchFathers, such as Papias of Hierapolis, Pope Clement I, Polycarp, Ignatius...
earliest ChurchFathers (within two generations of the Apostles of Christ) are usually called the Apostolic Fathers. Important Apostolic Fathers include...
Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant churches for the majority of their history. Many early ChurchFathers—including Justin Martyr and Augustine of...
councils, and the teaching of the ChurchFathers. The church teaches that it is the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church established by Jesus Christ in...
Luigi Gambero, "Mary and the fathers of the church: the Blessed Virgin Mary in patristic thought" pp. 35–41 CHURCHFATHERS: The History of Joseph the Carpenter...
is necessary that it be attested by the liturgy, and the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Guéranger maintained that these conditions were met and that...
Fathers, Early ChurchFathers, or Fathers of the Church are the early and influential theologians and writers in the Christian Church, particularly those...
Spirit. Other ChurchFathers, such as Gregory Nazianzen, argued in his Orations that the revelation was gradual, claiming that the Father was proclaimed...
with a cloth veil was the practice of the early Church, being universally taught by the ChurchFathers and practiced by Christian women throughout history...
teaching of the churchfathers and the councils." As such, the Lutheran Churches traditionally hold that theirs represents the true visible Church. This mark...
the fathers", not a council's addition that could be shown to be in line with the intentions of the Fathers and the faith of the ancient Church. Actions...
represents Israel or the Church. In St. Thomas Aquinas' Catena Aurea, he compiles the comments of some of the ChurchFathers on this passage, who point...
traditions of the apostolic church, apostolic succession ("historic episcopate"), and the writings of the ChurchFathers, as well as historically, the...
years of Christianity, the ChurchFathers commented extensively on numerology. Influenced mainly by Biblical precepts, the Fathers down to the time of Bede...
their heel." The churchfather Irenaeus of Lyons in his Against Heresies (5.21.1), followed by several other fathers of the church, interpreted the verse...
and notable churchfathers, such as Clement, Origen, and Athanasius;[better source needed] also noteworthy were the nearby Desert Fathers. By the end...
Global Information
