in the Primitive Church, was an appellation given to all such churches as were founded by the apostles; and even to the bishops of those churches, as being the reputed successors of the apostles. These were confined to four, viz., Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. In after times other churches assumed the same quality, on account, principally, of the conformity of their doctrine with that of the churches which were apostolical by foundation, and because all bishops held themselves successors of the apostles, or acted in their dioceses with the authority of apostles.

APOSTOLICAL Fathers is an appellation usually given to the writers of the first century who employed their pens in the cause of Christianity. Of these writers, Cotelius, and after him Leclerc, have published a collection in two volumes, accompanied with their own annotations and the remarks of other learned men.