Church Father

Meanings

nounChurch Father (plural Church Fathers)

plural Church Fathers · alternative church father

ChristianityOne of a number of male Christian writers from Antiquity whose doctrinal work is considered authoritative by the later church.

Synonyms & antonyms

noun(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

Similar

Father of the ChurchFather

Broader

theologian theologist theologizer

Also see

father

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

LatinPater Ecclēsiae
EnglishChurch Father

Calque of Latin Pater Ecclēsiae.

More words from Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans kerkvader

kerkvaderauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Chinese Mandarin 教父

教父 (jiàofù)authoritative ancient male Christian author

Danish kirkefader

kirkefaderauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Dutch kerkvader

kerkvaderauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Finnish kirkkoisä

kirkkoisäauthoritative ancient male Christian author

French père de l'Église

père de l'Égliseauthoritative ancient male Christian author

German Kirchenvater

Kirchenvaterauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Greek εκκλησιαστικός Πατέρας, Πατέρας της Εκκλησίας

εκκλησιαστικός Πατέρας (ekklisiastikós Patéras)authoritative ancient male Christian author
Πατέρας της Εκκλησίας (Patéras tis Ekklisías)authoritative ancient male Christian author

Hebrew אבי הכנסייה

אבי הכנסייהauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Italian padre della Chiesa

padre della Chiesaauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Korean 교부

교부 (gyobu)authoritative ancient male Christian author

Latin Pater Ecclēsiae

Pater Ecclēsiaeauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Norwegian Bokmål kirkefar

kirkefarauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Polish Ojciec Kościoła

Ojciec Kościołaauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Portuguese Padre da Igreja, Pai da Igreja

Padre da Igrejaauthoritative ancient male Christian author
Pai da Igrejaauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Russian Отцы́ Це́ркви, Святы́е Отцы́

Отцы́ Це́ркви (Otcý Cérkvi)authoritative ancient male Christian author
Святы́е Отцы́ (Svjatýje Otcý)authoritative ancient male Christian author

Spanish Padre de la Iglesia

Padre de la Iglesiaauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Swedish kyrkofader

kyrkofaderauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Vietnamese giáo phụ

giáo phụauthoritative ancient male Christian author

Cite this entry

APA

Church Father. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Church%20Father

MLA

“Church Father.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Church%20Father. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Church Father,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Church%20Father.

Source: Church Father on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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