The Library
1693 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
1–100
1 work
c. 96
Greek
Clement of Rome · d. c. 99
A letter from the church at Rome to the church at Corinth, which had deposed its presbyters. Clement argues from creation, from Israel's history, and from the apostles that the Christian community is ordered rather than improvised, and pleads with the ringleaders to step aside for the sake of peace.
101–200
3 works
c. 108
Greek
Ignatius of Antioch · c. 35–c. 108
Written under armed guard on the road to execution in Rome. Ignatius urges the churches he passes to hold to their bishops and to the reality of Christ's flesh, and begs the Roman Christians not to intervene to save him.
c. 110–135
Greek
Polycarp of Smyrna · c. 69–c. 155
A pastoral letter accompanying a collection of Ignatius's correspondence, urging perseverance, warning a presbyter who had mishandled money, and quoting the New Testament almost continuously.
c. 170; survives in fragments
Greek
Dionysius of Corinth
Seven letters to churches across the Mediterranean, quoted by Eusebius. One thanks Rome for the money it has sent to poorer congregations since Clement's day; another complains that his own letters are already being tampered with by people who add and subtract at will.
201–300
5 works
c. 215; authorship disputed
Greek
Attributed to Hippolytus of Rome · c. 170–c. 235
A manual of ordination prayers, the three-year catechumenate, the baptismal rite with its questions and anointings, and the eucharistic prayer that follows.
c. 230
Syriac
Didascalia Apostolorum
Anonymous
A Syrian church order on the duties of bishops, the seating of the congregation, the reconciliation of penitents, the care of widows, and the ministry of deaconesses to women.
251
Latin
De Unitate Ecclesiae
Cyprian of Carthage · c. 210–258
Written during a schism over how to receive Christians who had lapsed under persecution. Cyprian argues that the church's unity is not an aspiration but a given, and that a bishop who breaks from it takes nothing with him.
249–258
Latin
Cyprian of Carthage · c. 210–258
Eighty-one letters to and from Cyprian covering a persecution, a plague, two schisms, and a running quarrel with Rome over whether heretical baptism counts.
1 September 256
Latin
Sententiae Episcoporum
The Council of Carthage
The minutes of a council on whether converts baptised by heretics must be baptised again. Each bishop speaks in turn and is recorded by name and see, and Cyprian opens by saying that no one sets himself up as a bishop of bishops or compels his colleagues by terror.
301–400
3 works
c. 375–380
Greek
Anonymous
Eighty-five short rules on ordination, clerical conduct, excommunication, and the church calendar, transmitted as the eighth book of the Apostolic Constitutions.
c. 375–380
Greek
Anonymous
Eight books compiling and expanding the earlier church orders, covering clergy, worship, widows, martyrs, and closing with a full liturgy and a set of canons.
c. 300–400
Greek
Anonymous
A short Egyptian order in which the apostles are made to speak in turn about bishops, presbyters, readers, and widows, with a debate over whether women may offer the eucharist.
401–500
1 work
c. 5th century
Greek, surviving in Syriac
Testamentum Domini
Anonymous
A church order framed as the risen Christ's own instructions to the apostles before the ascension, prescribing the shape of the building, the ordination prayers, the conduct of widows, and a full eucharistic rite.
13 of 1693 works