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Church Fathers

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.

"Ante-Nicene Fathers" redirects here. For the book, see Ante-Nicene Fathers (book).

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] 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.

Desert Fathers[edit]

The Desert Fathers were early monastics living in the Egyptian desert. Although they did not write as much as other Church Fathers, their influence was also great, and they are credited with beginning the practice of monasticism, and codifying many of its features. Among them are Paul of Thebes, Anthony the Great and Pachomius. Many of their, usually short, sayings are collected in the Apophthegmata Patrum ("Sayings of the Desert Fathers").

Modern positions[edit]

In the Catholic Church, the patristic era is believed to have passed, and John of Damascus is most commonly considered to be the last of the Fathers, although occasionally St. Bernard of Clairvaux has been named; however, the Church does grant the similar title of Doctor of the Church to notable post-patristic saints who made significant contributions to Catholic theology or doctrine.[61] [62]


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.[63]


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 Nicaea.


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. 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."[64] 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 VII. 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.

Christian apologetics

Confessor of the Faith

Great Church

Historiography of early Christianity

List of Church Fathers

List of Christian women of the patristic age

List of Eastern Orthodox saint titles

Patron Saints of Europe

Sacred tradition

Clavis Patrum Graecorum

– All of the Church Fathers' writings broken down by topic. Find writings by the Fathers on everything from the Eucharist, to baptism, to the Virgin Mary, to the Pope

ChurchFathers.org

edited by Philip Schaff, at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library

Church Fathers' works in English

Church Fathers at the Patristics In English Project Site

Part of the Tertullian corpus.

Early Church Fathers Additional Texts

Excerpts from Defensor Grammaticus

Excerpts from the Church Fathers

The Fathers, the Scholastics, and Ourselves by von Balthasar

A growing collection of English translations of patristic texts and high-resolution scans from the comprehensive Patrologia compiled by J. P. Migne.

Faulkner University Patristics Project

Ante Nicene, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers

Early Church Fathers Writings

Archived 2008-09-22 at the Wayback Machine

Writings from the church fathers at www.goarch.com.

by Dr. Roy Joseph Deferrari (1890–1969) and Dr. Ludwig Schopp (d. June 16, 1949) [1] [2], founder and editorial director. Works hosted at the Internet Archive

The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation

Migne Patrologia and Graeca: a free digital edition of almost all the original texts.

Latina

Catholic Encyclopedia: The Fathers of the Church