The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1807 page)

Patriarchs and matriarchs
.

The ancestors of the Jewish people. The
rabbis
designated
Abraham
,
Isaac
, and
Jacob
and their wives Sarah, Rebekah, Leah, and Rachel as the patriarchs and matriarchs of Israel. Their stories are told in
Genesis
.

 
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(
c.
390–
c.
460)
. Christian missionary bishop of Ireland.
The only certain information about St Patrick's life comes from his one surviving letter and from his autobiographical
Confession
. His authorship of the ancient Irish hymn ‘The Breastplate of St Patrick’ is unlikely. In later legends, he becomes a miracle-worker who drove the snakes out of Ireland. The same legends, concerned to make him the sole ‘apostle of the Irish’, exaggerate the scope of his missionary work. His place of burial was not known, allowing
Glastonbury
to claim possession of his relics. Feast day, 17 Mar.

 
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(Lat.,
pater
, ‘father’, +
passus
, ‘suffered’). The Christian doctrine, usually held to be heretical, that God the Father was the subject of Jesus’ sufferings. See also
IMPASSIBILITY OF GOD
.

 
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Patristics
.

The study of Christian writers, specifically the
Church
Fathers, in the period from the end of New Testament times to
Isidore
of Seville (d. 636) in the W. and
John
of Damascus (d.
c.
749) in the E. The term ‘patrology’, synonymous in older books, now usually refers to a handbook on the patristic literature.

 
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Patrology
:

see
PATRISTICS
.

 
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see
ADVOWSON
.

 
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