Fathers of the Church

In a strict sense and ecclesiastic of the term, one calls Pères of the Church the personalities, generally of the bishops, whose writings and example of the life contributed to establish and defend the Doctrine Christian. They are thus characters whose orthodoxy makes authority and whose holiness was recognized. The heretics authors like Arius or schismatics as Novatien thus does not form part of the Fathers of the Church, just as certain poets (like Prudence) or historians (like Gregoire de Tours), Christian authors of works which are not dogmatic. The bases of the faith were established thanks to trainings of these Fathers in theological schools (theological school of Antioche, theological school of Alexandria).

Contrary to the list of the Doctorss of the Church, that of the Fathers of the Church is not officially not established by the Churches. The Catholic church tends to assign a term at a “patristic period” and to regard Jean Damascène and Isidore of Seville as the last fathers. However, the tradition considers that there are four Fathers of the Church of Occident:

  • Holy Ambroise,
  • Holy Augustin,
  • Holy Gregoire,
  • Holy Jerome.

The orthodoxe Church does not see the things in the same way and estimates that paternity does not suppose obligatorily antiquity; it estimates moreover than one father is not inevitably a writer. It tends to regard as Pères of the Church the Fathers of the deserts and the large teachers of the monastic life because their work of asceticism of spiritual direction is eminently doctrinal.

One frequently arranges with the Fathers of the Church certain important authors as Origène whose study is essential to the specialists in the Fathers of the Church. This broad direction of the expression, which defines a field of study, can be a known as scientist or academic; it governed the establishment of the list below.

One can classify the Fathers of the Church according to their time (apostolic), the nature of their writings (apologists), the style of their thought (Eastern or Western, of the school of Alexandria or that of Antioche), their language (Latin, Greek or syriaque), their medium of life (of the Christian empire), etc

The knowledge of the Fathers of the Church and their writings is called patristics or patrology.

The Fathers anténicéens (until in 325)

Apostolic Fathers

Fathers of the 2nd century

the apologètes

the literature holy anti-heretic

Fathers of the 3rd century

Greek Fathers

Latin Fathers

The patristic golden age (325 - 451)

The Fathers who fought the arianism

The Fathers cappadocians and holy Jean Chrysostome

Other Fathers having lived at the time of 2nd, 3rd and 4th councils (5th century)

Greek Fathers

Latin Fathers

Syrian Fathers

Fathers of tradition chalcédonienne (after 451)

Greek Fathers former to the crisis iconoclast

Greek Fathers defenders of the holy images

Latin Fathers

Fathers suitable for only one Christian confession

Fathers specific to the orthodoxe Church

  • holy Photius of Constantinople (+ 891).
  • holy Théophylacte d' Ochrid (12th century)
  • holy Gregoire Palamas (14th century).
  • holy Marc d' Éphèse (15th century).

theologists of the Middle Ages specific to the Catholic church

  • Jean Scot Erigène - theologist and Latin philosopher of origin Irish - (v. 810 - v. 870), according to some, the holy last of the Fathers of the Church
  • Bernard de Clairvaux - Doctors of the Church; according to some, the last of the Fathers of the Church (1090 - 1153)

Fathers specific to the Church non-chalcédonienne

See too

  • Patristic and patrology

Random links:Moisdon-the-river | Triduum | Canton of Libourne | $the Hague (Seine-Maritime) | Brassia | Rouge-figure_poterie