While western churches regard only early teachers of Christianity as Fathers, the Orthodox Church honors as "Fathers" many saints far beyond the early centuries of church history, even to the present day.
Great Fathers[edit]
In each of
Western and
Eastern Christianity, four Fathers are called the "Great Church Fathers" as follows:
[3][4]
Apostolic Fathers[edit]
The earliest Church Fathers, (within two generations of the
Twelve Apostles of Christ) are usually called the Apostolic Fathers since tradition describes them as having been taught by the twelve. Important Apostolic Fathers include
Clement of Rome,
[5] Ignatius of Antioch and
Polycarp of Smyrna. In addition, the
Didache and
Shepherd of Hermas are usually placed among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers although their authors are unknown; like the works of Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp, they were first written in
Koine Greek.
Clement of Rome[edit]
Ignatius of Antioch[edit]
Polycarp of Smyrna[edit]
Polycarp tried and failed to persuade
Pope Anicetus to have the West
celebrate Passover on 14 Nisan, as in the East. Around 155, the Smyrnans demanded Polycarp's execution as a Christian, and he died a
martyr. The story of his martyrdom describes how the fire built around him would not burn him, and that when he was stabbed to death, so much blood issued from his body that it quenched the flames around him.
[5] Polycarp is recognized as a
saint in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.
Greek Fathers[edit]
Those who wrote in
Greek are called the Greek (Church) Fathers. Famous Greek Fathers include:
Clement of Rome,
Irenaeus of Lyons,
Clement of Alexandria,
Athanasius of Alexandria,
John Chrysostom,
Cyril of Alexandria, the
Cappadocian Fathers (
Basil of Caesarea,
Gregory Nazianzus,
Peter of Sebaste,
Gregory of Nyssa),
Maximus the Confessor, and
John of Damascus.
Irenaeus of Lyons[edit]
Irenaeus was
bishop of Lugdunum in
Gaul, which is now
Lyon(s), France. His writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology, and he is recognized as a saint by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. He was a notable early
Christian apologist. He was also a disciple of Polycarp.
His best-known book,
Against Heresies (c.180) enumerated heresies and attacked them. Irenaeus wrote that the only way for Christians to retain unity was to humbly accept one doctrinal authority—episcopal councils.
[5] Irenaeus proposed that the Gospels of
Matthew,
Mark,
Luke and
John all
be accepted as canonical.
Clement of Alexandria[edit]
Origen of Alexandria[edit]
Origen, or Origen Adamantius (c.185–c.254) was a scholar and theologian. According to tradition, he was an
Egyptian[10] who taught in Alexandria, reviving the Catechetical School where Clement had taught. The patriarch of Alexandria at first supported Origen but later expelled him for being ordained without the patriarch's permission. He relocated to
Caesarea Maritima and died there
[11] after being tortured during a persecution.
Using his knowledge of Hebrew, he produced a corrected
Septuagint.
[5] He wrote commentaries on all the books of the Bible.
[5] In
Peri Archon (
First Principles), he articulated the first philosophical exposition of Christian doctrine.
[5] He interpreted scripture allegorically and showed himself to be a
stoic, a
Neo-Pythagorean, and a
Platonist.
[5] Like
Plotinus, he wrote that the soul passes through successive stages before incarnation as a human and after death, eventually reaching God.
[5] He imagined even demons being reunited with God. For Origen, God was not
Yahweh but the
First Principle, and
Christ, the
Logos, was subordinate to him.
[5] His views of a hierarchical structure in the
Trinity, the temporality of matter, "the fabulous preexistence of souls", and "the monstrous restoration which follows from it" were declared
anathema in the 6th century.
[12][13] Because of his heretical views, Origen is technically not a Church Father by many definitions of that term but instead may simply be referred to as an ecclesiastical writer.
[1]
Athanasius of Alexandria[edit]
St. Athanasius, depicted with a book, an iconographic symbol of the importance of his writings.
Athanasius of Alexandria (c.293–2 May 373) was a theologian,
Pope of Alexandria, and a noted
Egyptian leader of the 4th century. He is remembered for his role in the conflict with
Arianism and for his affirmation of the Trinity. At the
First Council of Nicaea (325), Athanasius argued against the Arian doctrine that Christ is of a distinct substance from the Father.
[5]
Cappadocian Fathers[edit]
The Cappadocians promoted early Christian theology and are highly respected in both Western and Eastern churches as saints. They were a 4th-century
monastic family, led by
Saint Macrina the Younger (324–379) to provide a central place for her brothers to study and meditate, and also to provide a peaceful shelter for their mother. Abbess Macrina fostered the education and development of three men who collectively became designated the Cappadocian Fathers:
Basil the Great (330–379) who was the second oldest of Macrina's brothers and became a bishop;
Gregory of Nyssa (c.335 – after 394) who also became a bishop of the diocese associated thereafter with his name; and
Peter of Sebaste (c.340 – 391) who was the youngest brother and became bishop of Sebaste.
These scholars along with a close friend,
Gregory Nazianzus, set out to demonstrate that Christians could hold their own in conversations with learned Greek-speaking intellectuals. They argued that Christian faith, while it was against many of the ideas of Plato and Aristotle (and other Greek Philosophers), it was an almost scientific and distinctive movement with the healing of the soul of man and his union with God at its center. They made major contributions to the definition of the
Trinity finalized at the
First Council of Constantinople in 381 and the final version of the
Nicene Creed.
Subsequent to the First Council of Nicea, Arianism did not simply disappear. The semi-Arians taught that the Son is of like substance with the Father (
homoiousios), as against the outright Arians who taught that the Son was unlike the Father (
heterousian). So the Son was held to be
like the Father but not of the same essence as the Father. The Cappadocians worked to bring these semi-Arians back to the Orthodox cause. In their writings they made extensive use of the formula "three substances (
hypostases) in one essence (
homoousia)", and thus explicitly acknowledged a distinction between the Father and the Son (a distinction that Nicea had been accused of blurring) but at the same time insisting on their essential unity.
John Chrysostom[edit]
John Chrysostom (c.347–c.407),
archbishop of
Constantinople, is known for his eloquence in
preaching and
public speaking; his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders, recorded sermons and writings making him the most prolific of the eastern fathers, and his
ascetic sensibilities. After his death (or according to some sources, during his life) he was given the Greek epithet
chrysostomos, meaning "golden mouthed", rendered in English as Chrysostom.
[14][15]
Chrysostom is known within Christianity chiefly as a preacher and theologian, particularly in the Eastern Orthodox Church; he is the patron saint of orators in the Roman Catholic Church. Chrysostom is also noted for eight of his sermons that played a considerable part in the history of
Christian antisemitism,
diatribes against
Judaizers composed while a presbyter in Antioch, which were extensively cited by the
Nazis in their ideological campaign against the Jews.
[16][17]
Cyril of Alexandria[edit]
Cyril of Alexandria (c.378–444) was the Bishop of Alexandria when the city was at its height of influence and power within the
Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the
Christological controversies of the late 4th and early 5th centuries. He was a central figure in the
First Council of Ephesus in 431, which led to the deposition of
Nestorius as Archbishop of
Constantinople. Cyril's reputation within the Christian world has resulted in his titles "Pillar of Faith" and "Seal of all the Fathers".
Maximus the Confessor[edit]
Maximus the Confessor (also known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople) (c.580–13 August 662) was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, he was a civil servant and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor
Heraclius. However, he gave up this life in the political sphere to enter into the monastic life.
After moving to
Carthage, Maximus studied several
Neo-Platonist writers and became a prominent author. When one of his friends began espousing the Christological position known as
Monothelitism, Maximus was drawn into the controversy, in which he supported the Chalcedonian position that Jesus had both a human and a divine will. Maximus is venerated in both Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity. His Christological positions eventually resulted in his torture and exile, soon after which he died. However, his theology was vindicated by the
Third Council of Constantinople, and he was venerated as a saint soon after his death. His
feast day is celebrated twice during the year: on 21 January and on 13 August. His title of
Confessor means that he suffered for the faith, but not to the point of death, and thus is distinguished from a martyr. His
Life of the Virgin is thought to be the earliest complete biography of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
John of Damascus[edit]
Saint John of Damascus (Arabic: يوحنا الدمشقي Yuḥannā Al Demashqi; Greek: Ἰωάννης Δαμασκηνός (Iôannês Damaskênos); Latin: Iohannes Damascenus; also known as John Damascene, Χρυσορρόας/Chrysorrhoas, "streaming with gold"—i.e., "the golden speaker") (c.676–4 December 749) was a Syrian Christian monk and priest. Born and raised in
Damascus, he died at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem.
A polymath whose fields of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music, before being ordained, he served as a chief administrator to the Muslim caliph of Damascus, wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns which are still in use in Eastern Christian monasteries. The Catholic Church regards him as a Doctor of the Church, often referred to as the Doctor of the Assumption because of his writings on the Assumption of Mary.
Latin Fathers[edit]
Those fathers who wrote in
Latin are called the Latin (Church) Fathers.
Tertullian[edit]
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (c.155–c.222), who was converted to Christianity before 197, was a prolific writer of apologetic, theological, controversial and ascetic works.
[18] He was born in Carthage, the son of a Roman centurion.
Tertullian denounced Christian doctrines he considered heretical, but later in life adopted
Montanism, regarded as heretical by the mainstream Church, which prevented his canonization. He wrote three books in Greek and was the first great writer of Latin Christianity, thus sometimes known as the "Father of the Latin Church".
[19] He was evidently a lawyer in Rome.
[20] He is said to have introduced the Latin term
trinitas with regard to the Divine (
Trinity) to the Christian vocabulary
[21] (but
Theophilus of Antioch already wrote of "the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom", which is similar but not identical to the Trinitarian wording),
[22] and also probably the formula "three Persons, one Substance" as the Latin "
tres Personae, una Substantia" (itself from the
Koine Greek "τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις, ὁμοούσιος;
treis Hypostases, Homoousios"), and also the terms
vetus testamentum(
Old Testament) and
novum testamentum (
New Testament).
In his
Apologeticus, he was the first Latin author who qualified Christianity as the
vera religio, and systematically relegated the classical Roman Empire religion and other accepted cults to the position of mere "superstitions".
Later in life, Tertullian joined the Montanists, a heretical sect that appealed to his rigorism.
[18] He used the early church's symbol for fish—the Greek word for "fish" being
ΙΧΘΥΣwhich is an acronym for ησοῦς Χριστός, Θεοῦ Υἱός, Σωτήρ (Jesus Christ, God's Son, Saviour)—to explain the meaning of baptism since fish are born in water. He wrote that human beings are like little fish.
Cyprian of Carthage[edit]
Saint Cyprian (Thascius Caecilius Cyprianus) (died September 14, 258) was bishop of Carthage and an important early Christian writer. He was born in
North Africa, probably at the beginning of the 3rd century, perhaps at Carthage, where he received an excellent classical (
pagan) education. After converting to Christianity, he became a bishop and eventually died a martyr at Carthage. He emphasized the necessity of the unity of Christians with their bishops, and also the authority of the Roman See, which he claimed was the source of "priestly unity"'.
Hilary of Poitiers[edit]
Hilary of Poitiers (c.300 – c.368) was Bishop of Poitiers and is a Doctor of the Church. He was sometimes referred to as the "Hammer of the Arians" (Latin: Malleus Arianorum) and the "Athanasius of the West." His name comes from the Greek word for happy or cheerful. His optional memorial in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints is 13 January. In the past, when this date was occupied by the Octave Day of the Epiphany, his feast day was moved to 14 January.
Ambrose of Milan[edit]
Saint Ambrose
[23] was an
archbishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. He is counted as one of the four original doctors of the Church. He offered a new perspective on the
theory of atonement.
Pope Damasus I[edit]
Pope Damasus I (305 – 384) was active in defending the Catholic Church against the threat of schisms. In two Roman synods (368 and 369) he condemned the heresies of Apollinarianism and Macedonianism, and sent legates (papal representatives) to the First Council of Constantinople that was convoked in 381 to address these heresies. He also wrote in defense of the Roman See's authority, and inaugurated use of Latin in the
Mass, instead of the Koine Greek that was still being used throughout the Church in the west in the liturgy.
Jerome of Stridonium[edit]
Jerome (c.347–September 30, 420) is best known as the translator of the
Bible from Greek and
Hebrew into Latin. He also was a Christian apologist. Jerome's edition of the Bible, the
Vulgate, is still an important text of
Catholicism. He is recognised by the Roman Catholic Church as a Doctor of the Church.
Augustine of Hippo[edit]
Augustine (13 November 354–28 August 430), Bishop of Hippo, was a philosopher and theologian. Augustine, a Latin Father and Doctor of the Church, is one of the most important figures in the development of
Western Christianity. Augustine was radically influenced by Platonism.
[24] He framed the concepts of
original sin and
just war as they are understood in the West. When Rome fell and the faith of many Christians was shaken, Augustine wrote
The City of God, in which he defended Christianity from pagan critics and developed the concept of the Church as a spiritual
City of God, distinct from the material City of Man.
[5] Augustine's work defined the start of the
medieval worldview, an outlook that would later be firmly established by
Pope Gregory the Great.
[5]
Augustine was born in present-day
Algeria to a Christian mother,
Saint Monica. He was educated in North Africa and resisted his mother's pleas to become Christian. He took a concubine and became a
Manichean. He later converted to Christianity, became a bishop, and opposed heresies, such as
Pelagianism. His works—including
The Confessions, which is often called the first Western
autobiography—are still read around the world. After his word work to proclaim the word of God, he is now regarded as a father saint to many institutions, and some have been named after him.
Pope Gregory the Great[edit]
Saint Gregory I the Great (c.540–12 March 604) was pope from 3 September 590 until his death. He is also known as Gregorius Dialogus (
Gregory the Dialogist) in Eastern Orthodoxy because of the
Dialogues he wrote. He was the first of the popes from a monastic background. Gregory is a Doctor of the Church and one of the four great Latin Fathers of the Church (the others being Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome). Of all popes, Gregory I had the most influence on the
early medieval church.
[25]
Isidore of Seville[edit]
Saint Isidore of Seville (Spanish: San Isidro or San Isidoro de Sevilla, Latin: Isidorus Hispalensis) (c.560–4 April 636) was Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien" ("the last scholar of the ancient world"). Indeed, all the later medieval history-writing of Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal) was based on his histories.
At a time of disintegration of classical culture and aristocratic violence and illiteracy, he was involved in the conversion of the royal
Visigothic Arians to Catholicism, both assisting his brother Leander of Seville and continuing after his brother's death. He was influential in the inner circle of Sisebut, Visigothic king of Hispania. Like Leander, he played a prominent role in the Councils of Toledo and Seville. The Visigothic legislation which resulted from these councils is regarded by modern historians as exercising an important influence on the beginnings of representative government.
Syriac fathers[edit]
A few Church Fathers wrote in
Syriac; many of their works were also widely translated into Latin and Greek.
Aphrahat[edit]
Aphrahat (c. 270–c. 345) was a
Syriac-Christian author of the 3rd century from the
Adiabene region of Northern
Mesopotamia, which was within the
Persian Empire, who composed a series of twenty-three expositions or homilies on points of Christian doctrine and practice. He was born in Persia around 270, but all his known works, the
Demonstrations, come from later on in his life. He was an
ascetic and
celibate, and was almost definitely a
son of the covenant (an early Syriac form of communal
monasticism). He may have been a
bishop, and later Syriac tradition places him at the head of
Mar Matti monastery near
Mosul, in what is now northern
Iraq. He was a near contemporary to the slightly younger
Ephrem the Syrian, but the latter lived within the sphere of the
Roman Empire. Called the
Persian Sage (
Syriac:
ܚܟܝܡܐ ܦܪܣܝܐ,
ḥakkîmâ p̄ārsāyā), Aphrahat witnesses to the concerns of the early church beyond the eastern boundaries of the Roman Empire.
Ephrem the Syrian[edit]
Ephrem wrote a wide variety of hymns,
poems, and
sermons in verse, as well as
prose biblical exegesis. These were works of practical theology for the edification of the
churchin troubled times. So popular were his works, that, for centuries after his death, Christian authors wrote hundreds of
pseudepigraphal works in his name. Ephrem's works witness to an early form of Christianity in which Western ideas take little part.
[citation needed][clarification needed] He has been called the most significant of all of the fathers of the Syriac-speaking church tradition.
[30]
Isaac of Antioch[edit]
Isaac of Antioch (451–452), one of the stars of
Syriac literature, is the reputed author of a large number of metrical homilies (The fullest list, by
Gustav Bickell, contains 191 which are extant in MSS), many of which are distinguished by an originality and acumen rare among Syriac writers.
Isaac of Nineveh[edit]
Desert fathers[edit]
The
Desert Fathers were early monastics living in the Egyptian desert; although they did not write as much, their influence was also great. Among them are
Anthony the Greatand
Pachomius. Many of their, usually short, sayings are collected in the
Apophthegmata Patrum ("Sayings of the Desert Fathers").
Modern positions[edit]
In the Roman Catholic Church,
John of Damascus, who lived in the 8th century, is generally considered to be a Doctor of the Church but not a Father of the Church and at the same time the first seed of the next period of church writers,
scholasticism.
Bernard of Clairvaux is also at times called the last of the Church Fathers.
The Eastern Orthodox Church does not consider the age of Church Fathers to be over and includes later influential writers up to the present day. The Orthodox view is that men do not have to agree on every detail, much less be infallible, to be considered Church Fathers. Rather, Orthodox doctrine is determined by the
consensus of the Holy Fathers—those points on which they do agree. This consensus guides the church in questions of
dogma, the correct
interpretation of scripture, and to distinguish the authentic
sacred tradition of the Church from false teachings.
[31]
Though much
Protestant religious thought is based on
Sola Scriptura (the principle that the Bible itself is the ultimate authority in doctrinal matters), the first Protestant reformers, like the Catholic and Orthodox churches, used the theological interpretations of scripture set forth by the early Church Fathers. The original
Lutheran Augsburg Confession of 1530, for example, and the later
Formula of Concord of 1576-1584, each begin with the mention of the doctrine professed by the Fathers of the First Council of Nicea.
John Calvin's
French Confession of Faith of 1559 states, "And we confess that which has been established by the ancient councils, and we detest all sects and heresies which were rejected by the holy doctors, such as St. Hilary, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose and St. Cyril."
[32] The
Scots Confession of 1560 deals with general councils in its 20th chapter. The
Thirty-nine Articles of the
Church of England, both the original of 1562-1571 and the American version of 1801, explicitly accept the Nicene Creed in article 7. However, Protestantism generally runs into conflicts with the Church Fathers teachings in many areas, such as the Real Presence, the Sacrifice of the Mass, forgiveness of sin through Baptism, and the divine authority of the Catholic Church.
Even when a particular Protestant confessional formula does not mention the Nicene Council or its creed, its doctrine is nonetheless always asserted, as, for example, in the
Presbyterian Westminster Confession of 1647. Many Protestant
seminaries provide courses on
Patristics as part of their curriculum, and many historic Protestant churches emphasize the importance of tradition and of the fathers in scriptural interpretation. Such an emphasis is even more pronounced in certain streams of Protestant thought, such as
Paleo-Orthodoxy.
Patristics[edit]
The study of the Church Fathers is known as "Patristics".
Transgender portal
