Apostolic Fathers

American  

plural noun

1. the fathers of the early Christian church whose lives overlapped those of any of the apostles.

2. the collection of works attributed to them.

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Apostolic Fathers British  

plural noun

1. the Fathers of the early Church who immediately followed the Apostles

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Etymology

Origin of Apostolic Fathers

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

The first volume of the series,* The Apostolic Fathers, is already out.

From Time Magazine Archive

High point of The Apostolic Fathers is the "Letter to Diognetus."

From Time Magazine Archive

Apostolic Fathers, Fathers of the Church who lived the same time as the Apostles: Clemens, Barnabas Polycarp, Ignatius, and Hermas.

From The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by Nuttall, P. Austin

The doctor's serious discourses were a mosaic of old divines and essayists, and Greek and Latin authors, as the writings of the Apostolic Fathers are, in a great measure, a tesselation of holy writ.

From The House by the Church-Yard by Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan

Hermas, one of the Apostolic Fathers of the Church; wrote a work in Greek called the "Shepherd of Hermas," extant in Latin, and treating of Christian duties.

From The Nuttall Encyclopædia Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge by Nuttall, P. Austin