Church father

//ˈt͡ʃɝt͡ʃ fɑ.ðɚ// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One of a number of male Christian writers from Antiquity whose doctrinal work is considered authoritative by the later church.
  2. 2
    (Christianity) any of about 70 theologians in the period from the 2nd to the 7th century whose writing established and confirmed official church doctrine; in the Roman Catholic Church some were later declared saints and became Doctor of the Church; the best known Latin Church Fathers are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome; those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom wordnet

Etymology

Calque of Latin Pater Ecclēsiae.

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