the same way when addressing those who partake in God’s Fatherhood
through preaching the Gospel and sanctifying the faithful as “other
Christs.”
The Fathers
St. Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Trallians 3, 1 (c. 110 AD)
“Reverence them [the deacons] as Christ Jesus, of whose place they are the
keepers, even as the bishop is the representative of the Father of all things,
and the presbyters are the council of God, and assembly of the apostles of
Christ.”
St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies 4, 41, 2 (c. 180 AD)
“He who has received the teaching from another’s mouth is called the son
of his instructor, and he is called his father.”
St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the First Epistle to Timothy 6
(inter 392-397 AD)
“...priests are the Fathers of all, it is their duty to attend to all their spiritual
children, edifying them first by a holy life, and afterwards by salutary
instructions.”
St. Gregory the Great, Homilies on the Gospels 17 (c. 590-593 AD)
“Priests are Patres Christianorum (the Fathers of Christians).”
Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566)
Pt. III, Ch. V: In the first place, the prelates of the Church, her pastors
and priests are called fathers, as is evident from the Apostle, who, writing
to the Corinthians, says: I write not these things to confound you; but I
admonish you as my dearest children. For if you have ten thousand
instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers ... It is written in Ecclesiasticus:
Let us praise men of renown, and our fathers in their generation ... Those
who govern the State, to whom are entrusted power, magistracy, or
command, are also called fathers; thus Naaman was called father by his
servants ... The name father is also applied to those to whose care, fidelity,
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