Cyril of Jerusalem : For Thou art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Sarah travailed not with us, need we inquire further on this point? And if the Psalmist says, Let them be troubled from His countenance, the Father of the fatherless, and Judge of the widows, is it not manifest to all, that when God is called the Father of orphans who have lately lost their own fathers, He is so named not as begetting them of Himself, but as caring for them and shielding them. But whereas God, as we have said, is in an improper sense the Father of men, of Christ alone He is the Father by nature, not by adoption: and the Father of men in time, but of Christ before all time, as He saith, And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. — ''Catechetical Lectures, Lecture 7'' Jerome : (Verse 16) For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name. LXX: For you are our Father, because Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. But you, Lord our Father, free us: from the beginning your name is upon us. For you are our father, the creator of all, says he. Neither Abraham knows us, nor does Israel recognize us, because we have offended you, nor do they know the children who they understand are not loved by their God. A sudden question arises, why did Abraham and Israel, that is, Jacob, receive their names, while Isaac's name remained silent (Gen. XXXII)? To which we will respond, with the beginning and end stated, even the middle shall be named. Or thus: Abraham, called from the Gentiles to faith, underwent a change in his name according to the quality of the preceding and succeeding condition. Jacob, too, worked hard to be called Israel. Hence Abraham had three wives and Jacob had four. But Isaac, from the beginning to the end, possessed an ancient name, indicating the chastity of the Church, content with one wife. Therefore, those who pray for sinners, assume their semblance, to whom joy followed after sorrow. However, this is everything they request, that because He is their father, and He has dignified them with this name, He does not forget His children; lest through them the name of God be blasphemed among the nations. — Commentary on Isaiah