Resources on Patristics
Resources on Patristics
*Note: If you have limited time, read the sources highlighted in green.
Didache
Didache
Clement, Polycarp, and Ignatius
Various epistles
Diognetus etc.
The Odes of Solomon
Letter to Diognetus
The Muratorian CanonDidache
The Apostolic Constitutions
Justin Martyr
Dialogue with Trypho, a Jew
First and Second Apology
Exhortation and Discourse to the Greeks
The Monarchy of the Rule of God
Irenaeus
Against Heresies
The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching
Athenagorasz
The Embassy for the Christians
Clement of Alexandria
Exhortation to the Heathen
On Spiritual Perfection
On Marriage
Christ the Educator
Tertullian
An Answer to the Jews
A Treatise on the Soul
On Prescription against Heresy
The Five Books Against Marcion
Against Hermogenes
Against the Valentinians
Against Praxeas
Apology
On the Flesh of Christ
On the Resurrection of the Flesh
On Baptism
Hippolytus
The Refutation of All Heresies
Fragments (e.g.,Dogmatic)
On the Apostolic Tradition
Perpetua
The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicitas
Origen
On First Principles
Against Celsus
Exhortation on Martyrdom
On Prayer
Dialogue with Heraclides
Commentaries (Gen; Lev;Matt; Lk; Jn;Rom)
Cyprian The Unity of the Catholic Church
On the Lapsed
Exhortation to Martyrdom
Against the Jews
The Lord’s Prayer
The Blessing of Patience
Letters (e.g.,To Donatus; To Demetrian; Mortality)
On the Church (select treatises andletters)
Gregory Thaumaturgos
Creed or Exposition of Faith
Dionysius of Rome
Against the Sabellians
Novatian
The Trinity
Lactantius
The Divine Institutes
Arius (256)
Letter to Eusebius of Nicomedia
Letter to Alexander of Alexandria
Letter to the Emperor Constantine
Thalia
Secondary Source: Rowan Williams. Arius: Heresy and Tradition
Eusebius of Caesarea
Against Marcellus
Preparation for the Gospel
Proof of the Gospel
Church History
Life of Constantine
Ecclesiastical Theology
Letters (e.g., Describing the Council of Nicaea)
Athanasius
Against the Arians
On the Incarnation
Against the Heathen
Statement of Faith (Expositio Fidei)
Defence of the Nicene Council
On the Councils of Arminum and
Seleucia
Life of Antony
On the Spirit
Letters (e.g., Marcellinus on the Psalms; Serapion on the Holy Spirit; Festal Letter 39)
Secondary Source: Khaled Anatolios. Athanasius: The Coherence of his Thought 1998().
Macarius-Symeon
50 Spiritual Homilies
Apollinaris of Laodicea
On the Union in Christ of the Body with the Godhead
Cyril of Jerusalem
Lectures on the Christian Sacraments
Didymus
On the Holy Spirit
On the Trinity (this might not be by him)
Hilary of Poitiers
On the Trinity
Commentary Matthew
Gregory of Nazianzus
Theological Orations (Orations 27–31) [read this before anything else]
Anti-Apollinarian Writings
Letters (selections: e.g., Apollinarian Controversy)
Secondary Source: Christopher Beeley. Gregory of Nazianzus on the Trinity and the Knowledge of God: In Your Light We Shall See Light (2008).
Secondary Soirce: John McGuckin. St. Gregory of Nazianzus: An Intellectual Biography (2001).
Basil of Caesarea
On the Holy Spirit
On Social Justice
On Christian Doctrine and Practice
On Fasting and Feasting
Against Eunomius
On the Human Condition
Secondary Source: Andrew Radde-Galwitz. Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and the Transformation of Divine Simplicity (2009).
Gregory of Nyssa
Against Eunomius
An Answer to Ablabius
On the Holy Spirit against Macedonius
On the Holy Trinity
On “Not Three Gods”
Anti-Apollinarian Writings
Life of Macrina
The Great Catechism
An Address on Religious Instruction
On the Soul and Resurrection
Letters (selections)
Homily on Perfection to Olympius
Secondary Source: Hans Boersma. Embodiment and Virtue in Gregory of Nyssa (2013).
Ambrose
On the Christian Faith
On the Holy Spirit
On the Belief in the Resurrection
Letters (selections: e.g., To Marcellina as to the Arian party)
Jerome
Against Vigilantius
The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary
Dialogue against the Pelagians
Commentaries (Pss; Jer; 12 Prophets; Isa; Eccl; Matt; Gal;)
John Chrysostom
Homilies [selections from OT & NT]
On the Incomprehensible Nature of God
On Repentance and Almsgiving
Discourses against Judaizing Christians
On the Priesthood
On Marriage and Family Life
The Cult of the Saints
Theodore of Mopsuestia
On the Nicene Creed
Augustine
Confessions
City of God
On the Trinity
Teaching Christianity (De Doctrina Christiana)
The Arian Sermon and Answer to the Arian Sermon
Debate and Answer to Maximinus the Arian
True Religion
The Advantage of Believing
Faith and the Creed
Faith in the Unseen
Faith and Works
Enchiridion
Answer to Faustus a Manichean
The Catholic Way of Life and the
Manichean Way of Life
Answer to the Letter of Manni (The Foundation)
The Punishment and Forgiveness of
Sins and the Baptism of Little Ones
The Spirit and the Letter
Nature and Grace
The Grace of Christ and Original Sin
The Nature and Origin of the Soul
Answer to the Two Letters of the Pelagians
Answer to Julian
Grace and Free Choice
Rebuke and Grace
The Predestination of the Saints
Letter to Catholics on the Sect of the
Donatists
Baptism
Psalm against the Party of Donatus
Answer to the Writings of Petilian and Parmenian
Homilies (Gen; Pss; Sermon on the Mount; John)
Lewis Ayres. Augustine.
Cyril of Alexandria
Second and Third Letters to Nestorius
On the Unity of Christ
Commentary on John
Secondary Source: John McGuckin. Saint Cyril of Alexandria and the Christological Controversy (1994).
Secondary Source: Paul Gavrilyuk. Suffering of the Impassible God: Dialectics of the Patristic Tradition (1928).
Nestorius
First Sermon against the Theotokos
Second Letter to Cyril
First Letter to Celestine
Isaac of Ninevah
Directions on Spiritual Training
Patrick of Ireland
Confession
Leo
Tome of Leo