church father

church father or Church Father

n.

Any of the authoritative early writers in the Christian church who formulated doctrines and codified religious observances.

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

Church Father - (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 Father of the Church, Father Christian religion, Christianity - a monotheistic system of beliefs and practices based on the Old Testament and the teachings of Jesus as embodied in the New Testament and emphasizing the role of Jesus as savior theologian, theologiser, theologist, theologizer - someone who is learned in theology or who speculates about theology