World war II was hardly over before the movement of Christian intellectual reconversion was far on its way. One of the first signs of this new life was the effort of Dr. Ludwig Schopp to interest American scholars in a new translation of the classics of early Christian literature. His general policy and preliminary plans had, in fact, been already formulated before the outbreak of the war.

Dr. Schopp’s dream was of a collaborative effort—both American and Catholic—in which the best available scholarship in theology, patristics, history and classical philology could combine to produce an accurate, readable, moderately...

The reputation of St. Clement, the third successor of St. Peter as Bishop of Rome, was so great that even in antiquity numerous legends grew up about him and apocryphal writings were circulated under his name. We are here concerned only with the few authentic facts about him that are known through ancient authors. It is possible that he is the ‘fellow-worker’ mentioned by St. Paul in the Epistle to the Philippians (4.3), as both Origen and Eusebius assert. The ancient lists of the Popes, including that found in Irenaeus,¹ agree in showing him as the third successor of St....

The work here translated is one that immediately follows the genuine letter of St. Clement of Rome in two Greek manuscripts¹ and in one Syriac manuscript. Like St. Clement’s letter, it carries the heading ‘To the Corinthians.’

The supposed existence of a second letter by this author was known to Eusebius,² who states, however, that he knew of no use of it made by the ‘ancients: Whether or not Eusebius had in mind the text furnished by the manuscripts cited above, it is clear that the document is not a letter, but a homily intended for public reading. Stylistic and...

The seven letters, which are here translated from the Greek text as established by critical researches of modern scholars,¹ are among the most precious treasures of early Christian literature. They reveal a rounded, living, lovable personality—a saint of gigantic spiritual stature; a passionate lover of the Cross and of the Church of Jesus Christ; a man of both ardor and order, with a heart large enough to hold tender human affections along with zealous pastoral solicitude, and a mind broad enough to range from the mysteries of angelo logy to practical matters of ecclesiastical and moral discipline; a genius...

Polycarp was a well-known and venerable figure of the first half of the second century. From Tertullian, Irenaeus, and Eusebius we learn that he had listened at Ephesus to St. John the Apostle, who had appointed him bishop of nearby Smyrna.¹ Here he was host to Ignatius of Antioch, from whom he received at least one letter.² This and other letters of St. Ignatius he forwarded to the Philippians at their request, as well as the letter here translated. At a later time he journeyed to Rome to consult with Pope Anicetus on the matter of the controversy over the...

Among the narratives which have been handed down purporting to describe the passion and death of the Christian martyrs, some have little value either as history or literature; others may be attractively or forcefully written, yet contain so much unauthentic elaboration that their historical worth is small; still others do not suffer in literary merit from being authentic, first-hand accounts of the events they relate. It is in this third class that scholars have generally agreed to place the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, which has, moreover, the added distinction of being among the oldest of the formal Acts of the...

In 1873 Philotheus Bryennios, later Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Nicomedia, discovered at Constantinople a manuscript of A.D. 1056 containing, among other works, the complete text of the Letter of Barnabas and of the two letters attributed to St. Clement, and a small work entitled the Didache (Teaching) of the Twelve Apostles. A second and probably older title in this manuscript, Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles by the Twelve Apostles, indicates that the Didache was intended for Gentile Christians. Because the manuscript is the property of the Patriarch of Jerusalem it is known as the Codex Hierosolymitanus. However, it...

The tract which goes by the name of the Letter of Barnabas is really anonymous. There is no indication that its author intended to pose as the Barnabas who was St. Paul’s companion.¹ How it came by this name is unknown, unless the author’s name might also have been Barnabas.

The Greek text is extant in two manuscripts, the Codex Hierosolymitanus, and the famous Codex Sinaiticus, once in St. Petersburg, now in the British Museum.² An early Latin translation (Imperial Library at Leningrad) and a Syriac version (Library of Cambridge University) are incomplete.

Two dates of composition are possible. The...

The shepherd of hermas is longer than the rest of the Apostolic Fathers and quite distinctive in form and content. The external division into five Visions, twelve Mandates and ten Parables does not rest on valid internal reasons. Both Mandates and Parables are also visionary in character, and the ninth Parable is only a more pointed repetition of the Visions,¹ as the author himself clearly points out in one of the Visions.² In accordance with these directions of the author himself, the more apt division of the work would be: (1) Vision 1 to Vision 4; (2) Vision 5 to...

The document which is here translated consists of two quite disparate parts. The first ten chapters constitute one of the most exquisite pieces of early Christian literature. They were written by an unnamed master of Greek style, a fervent Christian filled with Pauline convictions, a humanist who had achieved a remarkable harmony of supernatural faith and charity, with a highly cultivated intelligence, literary taste, conscience and social sense. The calm and clarity of his thought reveal a master of logic, the deep convicitions of a serious thinker, the eloquence of a trained rhetorician, the breadth of mind and warmth of...

The following tantalizing short Fragments of Papias¹ are all citations from writers, principally from the second to the fourth century. Yet, the interest in them, on the part of both Christian antiquity and modern Scripture scholars, has been intense and sustained.² The reason is that Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, has something to tell us about the authors of three Gospels, especially St. John and St. Mark. St. Luke is not mentioned by name in any of the quotations. St. Matthew is briefly—even with reference to the brevity of the other portions—dismissed.³ What that ‘something’ is which Papias has...