Patres ecclesiae; church fathers

Japanese: 教父 - きょうふ（英語表記）patres ecclesiae; church fathers

The term means "father of the church." It is a title that likens the relationship between disciple and teacher in faith to that of a father and son, and is used to refer to Christian thinkers and writers from ancient and early medieval times whose faith, thought, and life served as models and models for the entire church. In strict ecclesiastical terms, it refers to church writers who meet the following four conditions: (1) antiquity (2nd to 8th centuries) in church history, (2) orthodoxy (doctrina orthodoxa), (3) holiness (sanctitas vitae) in life, and (4) approbatio ecclesiae (approbatio ecclesiae) in official church proclamations. Writers who do not meet these criteria are simply called "ecclesiastical writers" (scriptores ecclesiae). Originally, pater (plural patres) was a word referring to a bishop, but as Augustine cited Jerome, who was not a bishop, as an authority on orthodox doctrine, and as seen in the Memoirs of Vincentius of Lerins, the concept of a church father in a broader sense was established around the 5th century. The definition of a church father was subsequently narrowed further, and the above four conditions were established in early modern Catholic patristic studies. The Church Fathers are classified into (1) categories based on era (Apostolic Fathers, Apologetic Fathers, and Speculative Fathers), and (2) categories based on the terminology used (Greek Fathers, Latin Fathers, Syrian Fathers, Coptic Fathers, etc.), regardless of country of origin. The period of the Speculative Fathers, that is, the period when Greek Fathers such as Origen and the three Cappadocian Fathers represented by Gregory of Nyssa, and Latin Fathers such as Ambrose and Augustine, was the heyday of the Church Fathers. The study of Church Fathers is called patristic studies.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

「教会の父」の意。信仰上の師弟の関係を父子の関係にたとえた呼称で，古代および中世初期のキリスト教思想家，著作家のうち，その信仰，思想，生活が全教会の模範，規範となるような人々について用いられる名称である。厳密な教会用語としては，(1) 教会史の古代 (2～8世紀頃) に属すること antiquitas ecclesiae，(2) 教義の正統性 doctrina orthodoxa，(3) 生活の聖性 sanctitas vitae，(4) 教会の正式布告に信仰の証言としての引証があること approbatio ecclesiaeの4条件を満たす教会の著述家をいい，この基準にあてはまらない著述家は単に「教会的著述者」 scriptores ecclesiaeといわれる。もともと pater (父，複数 patres) は司教をさす語であったが，アウグスチヌスが司教でないヒエロニムスを正統教理の権威として引用したように，またレランのウィンケンチウスの『備忘録』にみられるように，5世紀頃より広義の教父の概念が確立した。その後さらに教父の定義がせばめられ，近世のカトリック教父学で以上の4条件が定まった。教父の区別には，(1) 時代別 (使徒的教父，護教的教父，思索的教父) ，(2) 使用語 (ギリシア教父，ラテン教父，シリア教父，コプト教父など) による区別 (生国にはよらない) などがあり，思索的教父の時代，すなわちギリシア教父としてはオリゲネスや，ニッサのグレゴリウスに代表されるカッパドキアの3教父，ラテン教父としてはアンブロシウスやアウグスチヌスらの輩出した時代が教父時代の最盛期であったといってよい。教父についての研究は教父学と呼ばれる。

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