1. Normally, foreign children must be baptized when they reach a certain age, and the priest responsible for baptizing the child is called the child's godfather.
The so-called church fathers are those apologists who both preached and wrote. They contributed to the formulation and demonstration of Christian doctrine, and were therefore respectfully called "the fathers of the church", or "godfathers" for short.
Also in the tradition of the Italian Mafia, the Mafia boss is also called the godfather, and is the godfather of everyone in the entire gang
2. We often see some non-Christians When religious newspapers, magazines and books use the word "godfather", generally speaking, they do not refer to the people considered by the church to be godfathers. They often interpret the word literally or misrepresent it, thus confusing the original meaning of the term. For the time being, we can extend the word 'godfather' to mean 'father of the church'. The term father, in a narrow sense, means a man who gives birth to children, but in a broad sense, it means ancestor, source, foundation, and primitive. In Chinese, it is rare to use father to describe ancestors or origins, but in Western languages, this usage is common. In the West, there is often the expression 'the father of our faith'. In fact, the father mentioned here refers to the ancestors. There is also the saying of 'Father of the Country' or 'Father of the Republic of China'. The father here refers to the founder, which is what the Chinese call the 'Father of the Nation'. In a narrow sense, a father is not only a man who gives birth to children, but also an elder who raises and cultivates his children, passing on his wisdom to them so that they can reach maturity. Matthew Chapter 23 Verses 8 to 11 Jesus said: “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi’, for you have but one Master and you are all brothers; neither are you to be called ‘Rabbis’ on earth. Call him your Father, for you have one Father, your Father in heaven. Neither shall you be called a teacher, for you have but one Teacher, the Messiah. ". Although Jesus advised his disciples not to be called Father, the church still widely honors the writers of the first century church as the church fathers. The Apostle St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:15: “For although you have ten thousand teachers in Christ, but not many fathers, for I am the one who was born in Christ Jesus through the gospel. Got you." St. Irene, Bishop of Lyon, France, also said: “When a person receives instruction from another person, he is called the child of the person who taught him, and the person who taught him is called his father. ".
In the past, when we talked about the beginning of monastic life in the church, we mentioned the habit of the monastic abbot being addressed as father (padre or abate). The reason was because he was the monastic abbot. The elder must take great care of the hermits in the courtyard, just like a father. This custom still exists today. In the first century, the person responsible for teaching in the church was the bishop, who also had the right to entrust another person to perform the duties of teaching. Therefore, bishops are respectfully called father, sometimes even called 'papa'. Today, the honorific title 'papa' is only used to refer to the Pope of Rome in Catholicism. In addition to monastery abbots and bishops being called fathers, gradually, all those who shoulder the supernatural duties of teaching and preaching, not necessarily bishops, are also called fathers. Today, Western countries generally call the clergy of the church "fathers", while the Chinese call them "priests" because their duty is to teach and teach ethics, morals and religious beliefs, which are spiritual matters. Whether it is father or priest, these two nouns more or less imply a relationship of security and trust between the person addressed and the person addressed.
As a father, his most basic mission and task is to inherit the past and open up the future. Therefore, he is a person who fully shoulders the tradition. He must pass on the precious and correct things of the past. For those who come after you, you should also tell your children about the mistakes and failures of your predecessors, so as to prevent them from making the same mistakes again. After explaining these various meanings related to the term "father", we can understand to some extent the status of "godfather" in the church.
We have said before that the "Church Fathers" honored by the church are the writers of the church in the first century. The works of these writers lead us back to the source and back to the root of our faith, "Jesus", because they Far closer in time to Jesus Christ than we are. People today attach great importance to the work of searching for their roots. Searching for their roots does not mean regressing, regressing, or being nostalgic, but to learn from the past and understand the present, and to truly know why they live the way they do and why they believe the way they do. We all want to know the thoughts and faith life of the early Christian believers before they were tested and shaped by the times, because from there we can discover and find the most primitive and pure faith life, which purifies us Faith helps a lot.
The so-called church fathers, we can say that they were the earliest readers of the New Testament. After they studied the New Testament, they applied what they understood to the church, which was not very systematic, standardized, and rigorous in their thinking at that time. Written in the clear language of the times, it serves as food and nourishment for the faith life of Christians. In addition to first reading the New Testament, the church fathers also read the Old Testament from the perspective of Jesus Christ, and then invited Christian believers to fully use a Christological perspective and under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to explore the entire Bible of the Old and New Testaments. message conveyed.
For this reason, when we explore the origins and go back to the Church Fathers, we do not mean to abandon or underestimate the church history and experience of more than 1,500 years between the era of the Church Fathers and today, but in order to be more thorough. To understand and absorb the pure message of Christ that has not been worn away by time or covered up by the dross of history.
A person who gives a Christian name to an infant or young child when he is baptized and promises to undertake his religious education;
Catholic, Orthodox and some Protestant denominations (Anglican, etc.) perform baptisms The male guardian and protector appointed for the baptized person.
Each baptized boy should have two godfathers and one godmother.
In the area where the Italian Mafia operates, the big bosses of the Mafia families are called godfathers, because these boss-level figures provide protection to civilians and become their protectors.
Then the godfather developed from describing gangsters to describing boss-level figures in various industries.
3. No