Patristische Texte und Studien

The Book of Steps (Liber Graduum) is a collection of thirty treatises written in Syriac, in which an unknown fourth-century ascetic teacher lays out a summary of Christian life. The new translation aims to open this unique fourth-century source material on Syriac asceticism, piety, and theology up to a broader public.

The vitae of John of Damascus are a crucial document in the reception of the Greek church father. They present novel-like anecdotes and portrayals of marvelous wonders, with some of the texts exhibiting high literary quality. This volume is the first to edit three of the vitae, presenting critical editions of the others based on a thorough review of all known and recently discover text witnesses.

Building on preliminary studies on his biography, the literary composition of his treatises, and their place in history, Zacher provides a systematic overview of the theology of Victorinus. This volume situates his doctrines of the Trinity, of the soul, and of matter and the human body within the broad spectrum of ancient philosophy and Christian theology, and completely reevaluates Victorinus as an original Christian philosopher.

The Epistola de morte apostolorum Petri et Pauli (CPG 6631, CANT 197) is addressed to Timothy, the disciple of the apostle Paul, and attributed to Denys the Areopagite. It contains a hymn on St. Paul, the lament for the loss of Paul and Peter and an eyewitness report on St. Paul’s martyrdom in Rome. Its aim is to legitimize Denys as heir of St. Paul’s theology by linking him with Timothy to whom the main tractates of the Corpus Dionysiacum were sent.

There are two recensions of the letter’s text. One recension exists in Syriac and Arminian, the other in Georgian and Latin, both part of hagiographic collections and both translating (lost) Greek exemplars. The two recensions are presented here in first critical editions, provided with philological introductions and a German translation. The oldest witness is a Syriac codex of the 9^th century; the Georgian version is in a legendary of the 10^th century. The Latin version surfaces in the 13^th century and was taken up by the Legenda aurea. An Early New High German translation is edited as well.

In addition there is an edition and analysis of the homily BHL 2187, a neglected document (end of the 8^th century) for the fusion of Denys, the martyr bishop of Paris, with Denys the Areopagite.

Volume VIII/8 includes three supplements to the text edition, three appendices on the creation and manuscript tradition of Book II of the Sacra, a concordance, two indices, and an index of first lines, which cover the entire set of texts as transmitted in Sacra II.

The second half-volume of the second recension contains the stoicheia zeta to omega.

Volume VIII/6 includes the reconstruction of the second recension of the second book ("On Man") of the Sacra (Parallela). The edition provides a detailed description of the manuscript legacy and a presentation of the source tradition.

The second half-volume of the first recension contains the stoicheia zeta to omega.

Volumes VIII / 4 and 5 include a reconstruction of the first and second version of the second book (On Man) of the Sacra (Paralella), a florilegium compiled by a monk named John at the beginning of the 7^th century, erroneously attributed to John of Damascus. The version includes 2293 texts taken from the Bible, the Church Fathers, Philo of Alexandria, and Flavius Josephus.

Volume VIII/3 includes additional material for the text of the Florilegium Coislinianum and concordances detailing the transmission of the first book of Sacra I, along with two indices and an incipit register, providing a comprehensive overview of all the texts preserved in Sacra I.

Volumes VIII/1–2 contain the editio princeps of the Florilegium Coislinianum, the main witness of the first book ("About God") of the Sacra (Parallela), a florilegium compiled by a monk called John in the early seventh century, which was wrongly attributed to John of Damascus. The edition of the main text contains 1,852 quotes that have been taken from the Bible, the church fathers, Philo of Alexandria, and Flavius Josephus.

Volumes VIII/1–2 contain the editio princeps of the Florilegium Coislinianum, the main witness of the first book ("About God") of the Sacra (Parallela), a florilegium compiled by a monk called John in the early seventh century, which was wrongly attributed to John of Damascus. The edition of the main text contains 1,852 quotes that have been taken from the Bible, the church fathers, Philo of Alexandria, and Flavius Josephus.

The significance of the ascetic ideal in Christianity grew during the 4^th century. It became a critical criterion for evaluating a Christian life. The groups presented in this study especially radicalized the ideal of sexual abstinence. They raised virginity in an exclusive sense to a sole principle for a legitimate Christian way of life, thereby coming into conflict with the greater Church.

This study examines the corpus of preserved manuscripts from the Armenian translations of Athanasius of Alexandria and draws preliminary analytic conclusions from these texts. The book is intended for Armenian scholars and Church historians studying the legacy of the ancient Eastern Church fathers.

For the first time, this book provides a critical edition of the commentary by St. John of Damascus on the epistles of the Apostle Paul. It includes all preserved Greek textual witnesses. The source apparatus allows the reader to follow the principal source, the Pauline Commentary of John Chrysostom. The edition also pays attention to the ongoing impact exerted by the Damascene commentary on several catenas and by a radically foreshortened epitome.

This work is the second part of a critical textual edition that is devoted to an extraordinarily rich collection of manuscripts with equally remarkable historical significance dating from late Christian antiquity.

The development of a Burgundian church with an “Arian”-homoian profile led to disputes, but also to an intensive theological exchange with the predominantly Nicene Gallo-Roman population and with Bishop Avitus of Vienne. For the first time, this monograph provides letters and fragments written by Avitus, with German translation and annotation, which indicate problems of church organization and refer to discourses on religion and theological discussions.

De incarnatione by Theodore of Mopsuestia (350–428), written at the beginning of the Christological controversies, was repeatedly at the centre of debate until Theodore’s condemnation in 553. This study on the transmission of the surviving fragments of this work offers insights into the course the controversies and clarifies the question of the text’s reliability. For the first time both the extent and the order of the fragments are considered critically. The critical Greek and Latin text, forming the basis of the new presentation of Theodore’s Christology, is provided with a translation.

The anonymous author of the Syriac Book of Steps, a contemporary of St. John Chrysostom, is more deliberate than his predecessor, Aphrahat, in portraying the Apostle as the authentic interpreter of Christ. The author is retrospective in his attempt to re-establish the purity of the ideal of the itinerant teacher by appealing to the example of the Apostle, and at the same time forward-looking when he teaches a non-mythological understanding of faith based on the antithesis of the old and the new; he remains a lone voice, who as a preacher sees himself committed to the Apostle’s suffering.

In his History of the Church, Eusebius of Caesarea († approx. 340) presents the first comprehensive history of Christianity from its beginnings. In it, he devotes a great deal of attention to the subject of heresy. Which heresies did Eusebius know? How does he sketch them? Which ones does he suppress?

The study affords an insight into Eusebius' methodology and follows the development of the first centuries of literature on heresy. Eusebius' conception of heresy is presented systematically, and its special features are evaluated against the background of antique historiography.

The Corpus Dionysiacum Areopagiticum is a collection of four treatises and ten letters in Greek by Dionysius Areopagita, a Christian author of the 6th century A.D., with marginalia (so-called scholiae). Following the publication of the treatises and the letters as Corpus Dionysiacum Areopagiticum I and II (= PTS 33 and 36), it is planned to present the marginalia as well as their Latin translation (in four volumes as Corpus Dionysiacum Areopagiticum IV 1, IV 2, V 1 and V 2).
Volume IV 1 contains the introduction and scholiae by Johannes of Skythopolis on Dionysius Areopagita’s De divinis nominibus with additional comments on further marginalia.

An introduction to the text volume of the first critical edition of the Greek monastic novel The Life of Barlaam and Josaphat , available since the end of 2006. It deals with the question of the authorship – which can now be regarded as resolved – the sources of the text and its influence, the contents, the history of the manuscript together with the various illustration cycles, and the direct translations from the Greek. The volume is completed with a characterization of the new edition and a detailed bibliography.

A long occidental tradition has regarded the Greek monastic romance Barlaam and Josaphat as the work of John Damascene, and the first critical edition of the work appears now in the corpus of his writings. In actual fact - as became apparent during the editing - it is a work from the late 10th century, and the author is almost certainly the Georgian Abbot Euthymios from Mount Athos. The story goes back to the life of Buddha and is about the son of an Indian king, who, after instruction by a devout ascetic, himself becomes a hermit; this Greek version is regarded as the most learned treatment of material which has gone through many world religions (Buddhism, Manichaeism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity).

The final volume of the edition of the "older Greek catenae on the Book of Job" contains a number of appendices (including a German translation of the Polychronios Fragments and the argument that Origen is the most likely author of the fragments handed down under the names of Athanasios and Methodios) and the indexes to the volumes I-III, namely indexes of the fragments contained in the edition, ordered according to authors, of the Bible quotations, of the personal names etc., and a general word index listing all the forms of the words occurring.

This interpretation and commentary of the first book of Augustine's earliest extant work Contra Academicos establishes for the first time a close relationship between the topicalisation of various methods for imparting knowledge in the first book of the dialogue (reading, conversation, divination) and the argument with the sceptics. The disputed role of Cicero's protreptic dialogue Hortensius as a reference text is clarified. The commentary furnishes detailed analyses of the argumentative structure and a wealth of information on philological, historical and philosophical issues.

This volume commences a complete edition of the writings of Nilus of Ancyra († ca. 430). It presents the first attempt to reconstruct the lost text of the commentary on the Song of Songs from the catenae sources. The introduction details the principles and methods used in the reconstruction, and comprehensive indexes provide access to the text. The commentary can definitely be attributed to Nilus; the edition is of fundamental importance for this reason too, as this is not the case for various other writings appearing under his name.

The Epistula ad Afros, a letter to the bishops of the diocese of Africa which was probably written approx. 366/367 CE, is an important witness to the theological position of Athanasius in the period after his return from his last exile, a period given little attention up to now. In reference to synodical history as of the middle of the fifties in the fourth century, he expressly puts the Nicene Creed in the foreground of his thoughts as the only orthodox and catholic confession of faith.

The present volume offers a translation and individual commentary on the letter from the viewpoints of philology, the history of dogma, and theology. The introduction deals with the following: the transmission of the letter, addressees, date of writing, genuineness, form and genre, relationship to other writings of Athanasius, language, style, forms of argumentation, and structure of the letter.

The focus of this volume is a detailed commentary on the Dialogue of Adamantius, Books I and II, an important anti-Marcionite text from the 4th century. Since the GCS edition (Bakhuyzen, 1901) is long known to be deficient, this study is based on a new critical reading of the manuscript (codex Venetus gr. 496). The extensive introduction is devoted to the entire work, including, among others, text, source and historical background.

The tractate "On the Resurrection" preserved only in fragments, was attributed in church tradition to Justin. In an extensive introductory section, the present work examines the attestation of the text, which is then critically edited and translated into German. In detailed studies on the content, background, time and site of composition, as well as on the question of its authorship, Heimgartner comes to the conclusion that the tractate is likely to come from the apologist Atheagoras. Extensive appendices on the Vatopedi Florilegium and on prokop of Gaza's "Epitome", as well as concordance of and special bibliography on Pseudo-Justin, complete the volume.

The first Latin translation of a collection of monks’ stories is published here in a text-critical edition. They were originally written in Greek by bishop Palladius ca. 420 CE, who was commissioned by Lausus, a high official at the court of Constantinople under Emperor Theodosius II. The Latin form of the text of the first edition, which is presented with an introduction, is the basis of the version edited by H. Rosweyde as an appendix to the Vitae Pa-trum (printed in Migne, PL 74, 243-342).

It has a text-critical apparatus, an apparatus of biblical passages and similies, as well as several indexes.

Two major texts of Justin Martyr are now available in one volume (reprint of 1994/1997 editions):
Iustini Martyrs’ Apologiae pro Christianis, a critical edition of Justin Martyrs’ Apologia Maior and Apologia Minor (approx. A.D. 150), consisting of an introduction, Greek text (with double apparatus), Appendix, and a complete Index verborum.
Iustini Martyrs’ Dialogus cum Tryphone, a critical edition of Justin Martyr's Dialogue with Trypho, consisting of an introduction, Greek text (with double apparatus), and an Index locorum and Index nominum.

Die Erforschung der Geschichte der biblischen Hermeneutik geht von der Voraussetzung aus, daß menschliches Verstehen immer geschichtliches
Verstehen ist. „Je radikaler die Geschichtlichkeit des Verstehens erkannt wird, desto umfassender weitet sich das hermeneutische Problem. Zur Besinnung auf das Wesen der Hermeneutik gehört darum notwendig die Besinnung auf ihre Geschichte". Da es in Theologie und Verkündigung immer wieder um die Auslegung von biblischen Texten geht, stellt sich für sie das Problem der Hermeneutik und der Erforschung ihrer Geschichte mit besonderer Notwendigkeit. Eine Untersuchung zur altkirchlichen Bibelexegese kann sich in diesem Zusammenhang nicht damit begnügen, die geschichtliche Bedingtheit dieser Exegese herauszustellen. Auch die theologische Beurteilung muß den geschichtlichen Zusammenhang berücksichtigen; sie muß, wenn sie gerecht sein will, danach fragen, welche theologische Bedeutung eine geschichtlich bedingte Methode in ihrem historischen Kontext gehabt hat. Bei der modernen Beurteilung der allegorischen Bibelauslegung der alten Kirche wird dieser Zusammenhang zu wenig berücksichtigt. Wenn man jedoch davon ausgeht, daß die Exegeten der alten Kirche die Methode der Allegorese ihrer heidnischen Umwelt entlehnt haben, diese also keine genuin christliche Form der Auslegung darstellt, dann wird man danach fragen müssen, welche theologische Bedeutung sie für die altkirchlichen Exegeten gehabt hat.