Ἀββᾶ

The ancients called God "Father" from a feeling of relationship. Moses said, "You have forsaken God who begot you."¹ And Malachi: "One God begot us and is our father."² They were in a state of grace, moved by the force of the Spirit. Just as there is the Spirit of wisdom by which fools have become wise (for this is clear from the teachings), and the Spirit of power by which they raised both the weak and the dead, and the Spirit of prophecy, and the Spirit of tongues, so also there is the Spirit of adoption.³ And just as we know the Spirit of prophecy, through which one who has it is moved by grace to tell the future, so also the Spirit of adoption, through which one moved by the Spirit calls God "Father." One who wishes to show that this is most legitimate even used a Hebrew word. For he did not say "Father" but "Abba the Father." This is the word used especially by legitimate children for their father.⁴