Apostolic Fathers
Americanplural noun
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the fathers of the early Christian church whose lives overlapped those of any of the apostles.
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the collection of works attributed to them.
plural noun
Etymology
Origin of Apostolic Fathers
First recorded in 1820–30
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
High point of The Apostolic Fathers is the "Letter to Diognetus."
From Time Magazine Archive
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The first volume of the series,* The Apostolic Fathers, is already out.
From Time Magazine Archive
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And of this the Apostolic Fathers afford no scrap of evidence.
From Frauds and Follies of the Fathers A Review of the Worth of their Testimony to the Four Gospels by Wheeler, Joseph Mazzini
The result is an octavo of forty-six pages, of pure and unsophisticated doctrines, such as were professed and acted on by the unlettered Apostles, the Apostolic Fathers, and the Christians, of the first century.
From Memoir, Correspondence, And Miscellanies, From The Papers Of Thomas Jefferson, Volume 4 by Randolph, Thomas Jefferson
The Apostolic Fathers are those who lived nearest to the time, and to some extent contemporary with the Apostles, viz.
From The American Church Dictionary and Cyclopedia by Miller, William James
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.