The Library
1774 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.
501–600
1 work
c. 500–520
Greek
Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
Five very short chapters stripping away every name given to God, affirmative and negative alike, until the soul is united to the one beyond assertion and denial.
1201–1300
2 works
1274
Latin
The Second Council of Lyon
A statement accepting the filioque and papal primacy, submitted by a Byzantine emperor's envoys to secure Western military protection.
c. 1275–1282
Greek
John Bekkos · c. 1225–1297
A patriarch who had once opposed union argues from the Greek fathers themselves that through the Son and from the Son mean the same thing.
1301–1400
3 works
c. 1335–1340
Middle Dutch
Die geestelike brulocht
Jan van Ruusbroec · 1293–1381
Three lives — active, interior, and contemplative — built on the cry that the bridegroom comes and we must go out to meet him, ending in a union that does not abolish the distinction between God and the soul.
1354–1360s
Greek
Demetrios Kydones · c. 1324–1398
The Summa contra Gentiles and much of the Summa Theologiae rendered into Greek by a statesman who began learning Latin to read them.
c. 1360
Greek
Nicholas Cabasilas · c. 1322–c. 1392
Union with Christ through baptism, chrismation, and the eucharist, written by a layman for laypeople, with no suggestion that the monastic life is required for it.
1401–1500
4 works
22 November 1439
Latin
The Council of Florence
A summary of Catholic teaching for the Armenian church, containing the first conciliar list of exactly seven sacraments with the matter and form of each.
6 July 1439
Latin
The Council of Florence
The decree of union between the Greek and Latin churches, settling the filioque, purgatory, papal primacy, and the eucharistic bread — signed by all the Greek delegates but one.
1439
Greek
Basilios Bessarion · 1403–1472
An argument to the Greek delegation at Florence that the Latin and Greek fathers say the same thing about the Spirit in different words, and that union is therefore honest.
1438–1444
Greek
Mark of Ephesus · 1392–1444
The encyclicals and treatises of the one Greek bishop at Florence who refused to sign the union, on the filioque, purgatory, and the impossibility of agreement by formula.
1501–1600
2 works
c. 1585–1587
Spanish
John of the Cross · 1542–1591
A commentary on his own short poem about the soul transformed in God, written in a fortnight for a laywoman who directed a household.
1595–1596
Latin
The Ruthenian bishops
Thirty-three conditions on which Orthodox bishops of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth entered communion with Rome while keeping the Byzantine rite and married clergy.
1601–1700
1 work
1616
French
Francis de Sales · 1567–1622
A full theology of charity from its natural roots to the highest union, written for people already committed and full of images drawn from beekeeping and gardening.
13 of 1774 works