Our Seven Fathers

St. Joseph is the Perfect Illustration of Christian Fatherhood,
Denying Himself and Pouring Out His Life for His Adopted Son

By Bp. Joseph Boyd (Ancient Church of the West)

This Father's Day, let us celebrate the mystery of Christian Fatherhood and its importance to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. Only with good Fathers in the home can we have good priests in the Church and spiritually healthy generations to faithfully guard the Apostolic Deposit in the future. The physical icon of fatherhood, which children need to imprint upon and boys love to imitate, is central to our psychological understanding of God, and many times young people reject God because they have had a bad or absent physical father. It is imperative in a Christian family to have strong, godly, self-denying fathers, who are active in the Church and who teach their children as God commanded Moses in Dueteronomy 6:7 - "You shall teach [God’s laws] diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." Christian Fatherhood, along with Christian Motherhood, is at the foundation of the Church itself and provide the paradigms through which Christian ministry is achieved and Orthodoxy is maintained. 

1) The Father in Heaven – God, the Creator of the Universe, made the world as an expression of His Fatherhood, and created the world with many fathers to represent His plan on earth. God is our Father, Who created us and sustains us. (Psalms 68:5, Matthew 6:9-13, 24:9, I Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:6, Galatians 4:6, James 1:17)

2) The Father of Lies – The origin of evil desires to be the substitute father of mankind, a kind of abusive, sinful, deceitful dysfunctional "sugar daddy," stealing away the affections of the children and hurting them. Satan is our father by right of the Fall. (John 8:44, 2 Corinthians 4:4, 2 Timothy 2:26, 1 John 5:19)

3) The Father of Mankind – Adam, who was made the father of all living, was given the purpose of protecting, obeying, and loving... as a picture of the Father in Heaven. Adam is our father genetically and spiritually, who turned us over to Satan’s kingdom through his wrong decision. (Genesis 2:7, Romans 5:12, 18-19, I Corinthian 15:22, I Timothy 2:13-14)

4) The Father of Faith – Abraham was the father of faith, and God says that he was the first that saw Him after the flood, and trust in Him for salvation. We make Abraham our father and his covenant with God becomes our covenant when we put our trust in God and follow Him. (Romans 4:12, 16, Hebrews 11:8-12)

5) The Father of Salvation – Jesus Christ is the author and the finisher of our faith, the “Last Adam,” and the king and father of the Heavenly Kingdom. (Romans 5:12-21, I Corinthians 15:45,47, Hebrews 12:2)

6) The Physical Father – The father that God gave us as a physical father to protect, help, and guide us into physical and spiritual maturity. (Genesis 18:19, Psalm 103:13, Proverbs 3:11-12, 4:1-9, 20:7, 13:24, 22:6, 78:5-8, Luke 15:20-24, Ephesians 6:4, Colossians 3:21)

7) The Spiritual Father - This is what St. Paul talked about when he says that he was “Timothy’s father in the faith”. This is the one who disciples and builds you up in the faith, and helps you “follow me as I follow Christ”. This is our local priest, who fathers us in the Christian Faith. (Romans 4:1-12, I Corinthians 4:14-15, 11:1, 3 John 1:4)