Apostolic Fathers

Christian writers intermediate between the apostles and the later apologists (see apologetics).

Strictly, the name belongs only to those believed to have had actual contact with the apostles, for example SS Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna; but in common usage it includes others who, in the 2nd century, carried on the traditional teaching of the primitive church, for example Hermas, Papias, and the authors of the letters to Barnabas and Diognetus, and of 2 Clement and the Didache. See also Father of the Church.