The Early Church Collection

The collection begins with two short works on the Trinity by Gregory of Nyssa, followed by two works on Christology by Theodoret and Pope Leo I. Victorinus interprets Genesis 1 allegorically to justify certain early church practices and traces the number 7 through the whole Bible. Hippolytus lists various liturgical practices of the Roman church at the start of the 3rd century with potentially much earlier origins. In "On the Faith", Gregory of Nyssa defends the divinity of the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. The Epistle of Barnabas represents a 2nd or even 1st century example of the "parting of the ways" between early Christianity and Judaism. Commodianus' Instructions are a collection of 80 acrostic poems (not reflected in the translation) on various subjects, not least Christian responses to various Greek gods. The Martyrdom of Polycarp is one of the earliest of the church's martyrdom narratives and proved defining for the genre. The collection ends with Julian the Apostate's efforts to curtain Christianity in the Roman Empire subsequent to Constantine's conversion.