401
Latin
On the Good of Marriage
De Bono Coniugali
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
Written to steady a debate that had gone too far toward disparaging marriage, naming its three goods: children, fidelity, and the sacramental bond.
Western · Ethics
401–500
The Fifth Century
57 works
c. 400–401
Latin
On Baptism, Against the Donatists
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
An argument that a sacrament belongs to Christ and not to the minister, so a baptism performed by a traitor or a heretic is still a real baptism.
Western · Polemic
c. 402
Latin
Ecclesiastical History
Rufinus of Aquileia · c. 344–411
A Latin translation of Eusebius with two further books carrying the story to the death of Theodosius, made as the Goths moved into Italy.
Western · History
c. 404
Latin
Commentary on the Apostles' Creed
Rufinus of Aquileia · c. 344–411
A clause-by-clause exposition of the baptismal creed of Aquileia, noting where it differs from Rome's and explaining the descent into hell.
Western · Catechesis
c. 400–410
Greek
The Hymns
Synesius of Cyrene · c. 373–c. 414
Philosophical hymns by a Neoplatonist landowner who accepted a bishopric on the condition that he need not pretend to believe everything expected of him.
Alexandrian · Hymns
c. 388–420
Syriac
Catechetical Homilies
Theodore of Mopsuestia · c. 350–428
Sixteen instructions on the creed, the Lord's Prayer, baptism, and the eucharist, surviving complete only in Syriac after the Greek was destroyed.
Antiochene · Catechesis
c. 405
Latin
Psychomachia
Prudentius · 348–c. 413
An epic in which the virtues and vices fight in single combat for possession of the soul, each duel described with Virgilian relish.
Western · Poetry
c. 405; survives in fragments
Latin
On Nature
De Natura
Pelagius · c. 354–c. 420
An argument that God would not command what cannot be done, so human beings must be able to keep the commandments — known chiefly from Augustine's line-by-line rebuttal.
Contested · Treatise
c. 405
Latin
The Daily Round
Cathemerinon
Prudentius · 348–c. 413
Twelve long hymns for the hours of the day and the seasons of the year, in classical metres of great technical accomplishment.
Western · Hymns
c. 403–405
Latin
On Catechising the Uninstructed
De Catechizandis Rudibus
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
Practical advice to a deacon who found teaching beginners boring: how to tell the story from creation to the church, how long to take, and what to do when the listener looks tired.
Western · Catechesis
c. 405–410
Latin
Commentary on Romans
Pelagius · c. 354–c. 420
A brisk, practical commentary emphasising moral effort and the example of Christ, which circulated widely under other names after its author was condemned.
Contested · CommentaryRomans
c. 391–430
Latin
The Sermons
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
Some nine hundred surviving sermons taken down by stenographers as he preached, ranging from great feasts to ordinary weekdays, and often interrupted by the congregation.
Western · Homilies
412
Latin
On the Spirit and the Letter
De Spiritu et Littera
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
The first sustained answer to Pelagius: the law shows what to do but cannot supply the will to do it, which only grace poured into the heart provides.
Western · TheologyRomans2 Corinthians
c. 406–420
Latin
Homilies on the Gospel of John
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
A hundred and twenty-four sermons through the fourth gospel, including the great treatment of the woman taken in adultery and the repeated call to love and do what you will.
Western · HomiliesJohn
c. 386–430
Latin
The Letters
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
More than three hundred letters on doctrine, discipline, lawsuits, slavery, and the coercion of schismatics, including a long and difficult correspondence with Jerome.
Western · Letters
415
Latin
On Nature and Grace
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
A line-by-line answer to Pelagius's On Nature, conceding that human nature was created good and insisting that it is now wounded and cannot heal itself.
Western · Polemic
392–418
Latin
Expositions on the Psalms
Enarrationes in Psalmos
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
The only complete patristic commentary on all one hundred and fifty psalms, mostly preached, reading them as the voice of the whole Christ — head and body — speaking together.
Western · HomiliesPsalms
417–418
Latin
Seven Books of History Against the Pagans
Orosius · c. 375–c. 420
A world history commissioned by Augustine to prove that the pre-Christian past was at least as full of catastrophe as the present.
Western · History
c. 400–427
Latin
On the Trinity
De Trinitate
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
Fifteen books written over a quarter of a century, arguing the doctrine from scripture and then searching the human mind — memory, understanding, will — for a created trace of the Trinity.
c. 419–420
Greek
The Lausiac History
Palladius of Galatia · c. 363–c. 430
Portraits of the monks and nuns of Egypt and Palestine by someone who lived among them, including a good deal of frank material about failure, madness, and vanity.
Egyptian Monastic · History
c. 410–430; authorship disputed
Latin
On the Christian Life
Attributed to Fastidius
A demanding call to moral seriousness addressed to a widow, insisting that a Christian who lives like everyone else is a Christian in name only.
Contested · Treatise
c. 393–435
Greek
The Letters
Isidore of Pelusium · c. 360–c. 435
Around two thousand very short letters of exegesis, moral advice, and blunt rebuke, addressed to bishops, officials, and monks alike.
Egyptian · Letters
c. 421
Latin
The Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
A short summary of Christian doctrine for a layman who asked for one, organised around the creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the command to love.
Western · Handbook
c. 410–430
Latin
The Marriage of Philology and Mercury
De Nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii
Martianus Capella
An allegorical wedding at which each of the seven liberal arts appears as a bridesmaid and delivers a summary of her discipline.
Late Antique · Allegory
c. 420–425
Latin
The Institutes
De Institutis Coenobiorum
John Cassian · c. 360–435
The customs of Egyptian monasteries adapted for Gaul — dress, the night office, the reception of newcomers — followed by books on each of the eight principal faults.
Western Monastic · Rule
413–426
Latin
The City of God
De Civitate Dei
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
Begun after Rome fell in 410 and pagans blamed the Christians. Augustine answers with a history of two cities founded on two loves — one on love of God to the contempt of self, the other on love of self to the contempt of God — running intermingled to the end of the age.
Early Church · TheologyGenesisRevelationPsalms
397–426
Latin
On Christian Teaching
De Doctrina Christiana
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
How to read the Bible and how to preach it: signs and things, the rule of love as the test of any interpretation, and a final book on using classical rhetoric without being used by it.
Early Church · HermeneuticsMatthew1 Corinthians
426–427
Latin
The Retractations
Retractationes
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
A review of his own ninety-three books in order of composition, correcting what he now thought wrong and explaining what he had meant.
Western · Review
c. 426–429
Latin
The Conferences
Collationes
John Cassian · c. 360–435
Twenty-four conversations with the elders of Egypt on the goal of monastic life, discernment, unceasing prayer, and the way the mind wanders even at prayer.
Western Monastic · Dialogue
c. 425–429
Greek
Commentary on John
Cyril of Alexandria · c. 376–444
A vast doctrinal commentary reading the fourth gospel as a sustained demonstration of the Word made flesh, with heavy emphasis on the eucharist as the flesh that gives life.
Alexandrian · CommentaryJohn
428–429
Latin
On the Predestination of the Saints
Augustine of Hippo · 354–430
A late work written for monks in Gaul, arguing that even the beginning of faith is God's gift and not a human contribution that God then rewards.
c. 425–450
Latin
The Easter Song
Carmen Paschale
Sedulius
The gospel story retold in five books of Virgilian hexameters, with the miracles of Christ set against the wonders of the Old Testament.
Western · Poetry
c. 400–450 in its standard form
Syriac
The Peshitta
Anonymous
The standard Syriac Bible, its Old Testament translated directly from Hebrew and its New Testament settled in the fifth century, replacing the Diatessaron.
Syriac · Translation
430
Greek
The Twelve Anathemas
Cyril of Alexandria · c. 376–444
Twelve propositions appended to a letter to Nestorius, each condemning a way of dividing Christ, and demanding subscription.
Alexandrian · Anathemas
434
Latin
The Commonitory
Vincent of Lérins · d. c. 445
How to tell catholic truth from novelty: hold what has been believed everywhere, always, and by everyone — with a careful account of how doctrine may nevertheless grow.
Western Monastic · Treatise
c. 438
Greek
On the Unity of Christ
Cyril of Alexandria · c. 376–444
A late dialogue restating the case that the one who was born, suffered, and died is the eternal Word himself and not a man joined to him.
Alexandrian · DialogueJohnPhilippians
c. 439
Greek
Ecclesiastical History
Socrates Scholasticus · c. 380–c. 439
A continuation of Eusebius from Constantine to 439 by a Constantinopolitan lawyer, unusually willing to quote documents and to criticise bishops.
Early Church · History
c. 433–450
Latin
The Sermons
Peter Chrysologus · c. 380–c. 450
Around a hundred and eighty very short sermons from Ravenna, built on antithesis and wordplay, and rarely longer than a few minutes to deliver.
Western · Homilies
c. 444
Greek
A History of the Monks of Syria
Theodoret of Cyrus · c. 393–c. 460
Thirty portraits of Syrian ascetics the author knew personally, including Symeon on his pillar, described without embarrassment and with considerable affection.
Antiochene · Biography
c. 440–450
Latin
On the Government of God
De Gubernatione Dei
Salvian of Marseilles · c. 400–c. 490
An argument that the barbarians are overrunning the empire because Roman Christians are more corrupt than the pagans they despise, with the taxes and the arena as evidence.
Western · Treatise