church father

American  

noun

1. father.

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Etymology

Origin of church father

First recorded in 1855–60

Example Sentences

This is the common paraphrase of an argument by Tertullian, an early church father.

From Salon • Apr. 5, 2025

They include volumes like a Greek first edition of liturgies of John Chrysostom, an early church father, printed in Rome in 1526.

From New York Times • Jan. 1, 2022

The church father Tertullian insisted that the blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Roman Catholic Church.

From New York Times • Feb. 16, 2021

In one of his works he criticizes another church father, Origen, for holding that the body is a prison.

From Time Magazine Archive

Ever since the days when Willem was studying church history, I had remembered the venerable fourth-century church father, Eusebius.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom