Editing Church Fathers

The '''Church Fathers''', '''Early Church Fathers''', '''Christian Fathers''', or '''Fathers of the Church''' are ancient and generally influential [[Christian]] [[theology|theologians]], some of whom were eminent teachers and great [[bishop]]s. I Catholicism, the term is used of writers or teachers of the [[Christian Church|Church]] not necessarily ordained and not necessarily "[[saint]]s"—[[#Origen of Alexandria|Origen Adamantius]] and [[#Tertullian|Tertullian]] are often considered Church Fathers but are not saints owing to their views later deemed [[Heresy|heretical]] —although most are honored as saints in the [[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox]], [[Oriental Orthodox Church|Oriental Orthodox]], [[Anglicanism|Anglican]], [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] churches, and other churches and groups.  By 700 A.D. all of these church fathers had died.

While western churches regard only early teachers of Christianity as Fathers, the Orthodox Church honors as "Fathers" many saints far beyond the early centuries of church history, even to the present day.

The importance of the Church Fathers is in inestimable, due to their writings in which they used quotations of the [[New Testament]], [[Old Testament]], and other historical works relating to the bible and Christianity. It is estimated that there are one million early Church Father quotations of the bible in many different languages. The majority or these verses reveal they used the Byzantine type text. 

==Great Fathers==
In each of [[Western Church|Western]] and [[Eastern Church|Eastern]] Christianity, four Fathers are called the "Great Church Fathers" as follows:

* Western Church: [[Ambrose]] (340&ndash;397), [[Jerome]] (347&ndash;420), [[Augustine]] (354&ndash;430) and [[Saint Gregory the Great]] (540&ndash;604)
* Eastern Church: [[Basil the Great|Basil]] (c.&nbsp;329&ndash;379), [[Athanasius of Alexandria|Athanasius]] (c.&nbsp;296&ndash;373), [[Gregory of Nazianzus]] (329&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;c.&nbsp;389) and [[John Chrysostom]] (347&ndash;407)

In the [[Roman Catholic Church]], they are also called the "Eight [[Doctors of the Church]]".

==Apostolic Fathers==
:''See Main Article [[Apostolic Fathers]]''

The earliest Church Fathers, (within two generations of the [[Twelve Apostles]] of Christ) are usually called the Apostolic Fathers since tradition describes them as having been taught by the twelve. Important  Apostolic Fathers include [[Clement of Rome]], [[Ignatius of Antioch]] and [[Polycarp of Smyrna]]. In addition, the [[Didache]] and [[Shepherd of Hermas]] are usually placed among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers although their authors are unknown; like the works of Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp, they were first written in [[Koine Greek]].

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