Fathership

State of paternity. Fathers, (The.) ( Eccl. Hist.) A name applied to the early writers of the Christian Church-those writers who have given us accounts of the traditions, practices, ., that prevailed in the early Church. The term is mostly confined to those who lived during the first six Fat'iscence, n. [Lat. faticere, to gape.] The state of being chinky; having apertures; a gaping or opening. Fat'ling, n. A young animal, as a lamb, kid, ., fattened for slaughter; a fat animal. Fat'lute, n. Linseed-oil and pipe-clay mixed together for the purpose of filling crevices, joints, or apertures. Fat'ly, adv . Greasily; gro ly. Fat'ner, n. He who, or that which, gives fatne or fertility. centuries of the Christian æra, and no writer is dignified with the title of father who wrote later than the 12th century. They are frequently divided into the Greek and Latin F.; and those who flourished before the Council of Nice, in 325, are called the ante-Nicene F. The chief F. of the first six centuries were as follows: In the 1st century flourished Clement, bishop of Rome, and Ignatius, bishop of Antioch; in the 2d century we have Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, Justin Martyr, Hermias, Dionysius of Corinth, Hegesippus, Tatian, A the nagor as, Theophilus, bishop of Antioch, Irenæus, bishop of Lyons, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian; in the 3d century, Minucius Felix, Hippolytus, Origen, Cyprian, Dionysius, bishop of Alexandria, Gregory (Thaumaturgus); in the 4th century, Arnobius, Lac tanti us, Eusebius, Julius Firmicus, Maternus, Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, A than as i us, Basil, Ephraim the Syrian, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nazianzen, Gregory of Ny a, Ambrose, -v. n. To grow corpulent, thick, plump or fleshy; to be archbishop of Milan, Epiphanus, bishop of Salamis,