View source for Church Fathers

[[Image:Church Fathers 1076.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Church Fathers, a miniature from Svyatoslav's Miscellany (1076 - anonymous author)]]{{Spirituality}}
The '''Church Fathers''' or '''Fathers of the Church''' are influential [[theologian]]s and writers in the Church, particularly those of the first five centuries of Christian history. The term specifically refers to writers and teachers of the Church, not [[saint]]s in general; usually it is not meant to include the [[New Testament]] authors.

==Who are the Fathers?==
Those fathers who wrote in Latin are generally called the Latin Fathers, and those who wrote in Greek the Greek Fathers.  The very earliest Church Fathers, of the first two generations after the [[Apostle]]s of Christ, are usually called the [[Apostolic Fathers]].

Famous Latin Fathers include [[Tertullian]], St. [[Augustine of Hippo]], St. [[Ambrose of Milan]], and St. [[Jerome]], the translator of the [[Vulgate]]; famous Greek Fathers include St. [[Irenaeus of Lyons]] (whose work has survived only in Latin translation), [[Clement of Alexandria]], [[Origen]], St. [[Athanasius of Alexandria]], St. [[John Chrysostom]], and the three [[Cappadocian Fathers]], Ss. [[Basil the Great]], [[Gregory the Theologian]], and [[Gregory of Nyssa]].  There are many more, however.

The [[Desert Fathers]] were early [[monastic]]s living in the Egyptian desert; although they did not write as much, their influence was also great. Among them are Ss. [[Anthony the Great]] and [[Pachomius the Great]]. A great number of their usually short sayings is collected in the ''Apophthegmata Patrum''.

A small number of other Fathers wrote in other languages: [[Ephrem the Syrian]], for example, wrote in Syriac, but his works were widely translated into Latin and Greek.

Though the [[Roman Catholic Church]] regards the 8th century St. [[John of Damascus]] to be the last of the Church Fathers, the [[Orthodox Church]] does not consider the age of Church Fathers to be over at all and it includes later influential writers in the term.

It should be noted that not all of the Fathers are considered to be [[saint]]s, and certainly none of them are regarded as infallible, most especially those who fell into [[heresy]], such as Tertullian and Origen.  

==Further reading==

===Published works===

* Athanasius. ''On the Incarnation''. (ISBN 0913836400, ISBN 0899810659)

The following are published collections of the writings of the Church Fathers, listed by the faith of the editor(s):

'''Catholic'''

*[http://www.fathersofthechurch.com/ Aquilina, Michael J.] ''The Fathers of the Church: An Introduction to the First Christian Teachers''. (ISBN 0879736895)
* Drobner, Hubertus R.; Schatzmann, Siegfried S. (translator). ''Fathers Of The Church: A Comprehensive Introduction''. (ISBN 1565633318)
* [[Wikipedia:Jacques Paul Migne|Migne, Jacques Paul]] ''Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca'' (or Patrologiae Graecae) ([http://rosetta.reltech.org/reltech/PG/ digital version])
* Quasten, Johannes. ''Patrology.'' (ISBN 0870611410)
* Ramsey, Boniface. ''Beginning to Read the Fathers''. (ISBN 0809126915) - topical
* Von Campenhausen, Hans. ''The Fathers of Church''. (ISBN 1565630955)

'''Protestant'''

* [http://www.scrollpublishing.com/contents/en-us/d64.html Bercot, David W.] ''A Dictionary of Early Christian Beliefs''. (ISBN 1565633571) - topical
* Bettenson, Henry, ed. ''Documents of the Christian Church''. (ISBN 0195012933) - topical
* Hudson, Christopher D., ed.; Sharrer, J. Alan, ed.; Vanker, Lindsay, ed. ''Day by Day with the Early Church Fathers''. (ISBN 1565633962) - devotional, topical
* Mason, Steve, ed.; Robinson, Tom, ed. ''Early Christian Reader''. (ISBN 1565630432)
* [http://www.sebts.edu/faculty/faculty_directory/ViewFaculty.cfm?BioID=212 McKinion, Steven A.] ''Life and Practice in the Early Church: A Documentary Reader''. (ISBN 0814756492) - topical
* Roberts, Alexander, ed.; Donaldson, James, ed.; Schaff, Philip, ed.; Wace, Henry, ed. ''The Early Church Fathers''. (ISBN 1565630815)
* [[Wikipedia:Henry_Wace|Wace, Henry]]; Piercy, William C. ''A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography''. (ISBN 1565634608)
* [http://www.ivpress.com/accs/ Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture]

=== External links ===
*[http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/charts/church_fathers.htm Chart of Church Fathers at ReligionFacts.com]
*[http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ Church Fathers at ccel.org]
*[http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/ Church Fathers at Newadvent.org]
*[http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~humm/Resources/Texts/apFat.html Apostolic Fathers] at [http://www.upenn.edu/ University of Pennsylvania]
*[http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/christian-history.html Apostolic Fathers] at [http://www.iclnet.org Internet Christian Library]
*[http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ Early Christian writings] at [http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ earlychristianwritings.com]
*[http://www2.evansville.edu/ecoleweb/documents.html Early Church Documents] compiled by [http://www2.evansville.edu/ecoleweb/ The Ecole Initiative]
*[http://bible.crosswalk.com/History/AD/EarlyChurchFathers/ Early Church Fathers] at [http://www.crosswalk.com/ crosswalk.com]


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[[Category:Church Fathers]]

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