| church father | (n) (Christianity) any of about 70 theologians in the period from the 2nd to the 7th century whose writing established and confirmed official church doctrine; in the Roman Catholic Church some were later declared saints and became Doctor of the Church; the best known Latin Church Fathers are Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory the Great, and Jerome; those who wrote in Greek include Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and John Chrysostom, Syn. Father of the Church, Father |
| 教父 | [きょうふ, kyoufu] (n, adj-no) (1) godfather; sponsor; (2) church fathers [Add to Longdo] |