Bøger i Christian Roman Empire serien

The fourth and fifth centuries AD were an era of intense political and spiritual turmoil in the Roman world, when ancient institutions suddenly crumbled and brilliant new edifices emerged from the rubble. Covering the momentous years between AD 324 and 425, the Ecclesiastical History of Sozomen is one of the most important primary histories of this period of upheaval and transition.A religious historian sympathetic to orthodoxy, Sozomen's focus is on the various quarrels, councils, schisms and reconciliations which roiled the Church at the time when Christians exited the catacombs and entered directly into the imperial administration. He provides exceptionally detailed descriptions of the heresy of Arius and the resulting religious controversies which followed the Council of Nicaea, including the recurring depositions and reinstatements of Saint Athanasius as bishop of Alexandria. With an obvious personal interest in monasticism, Sozomen provides some of the best contemporary accounts of the lives and deeds of famous monks from across the Roman world. Chronicling occurrences over the course of a century, Sozomen's History is an invaluable source on the fateful reigns of emperors such as Constantine the Great, Constantius II, Julian the Apostate, Valens, Theodosius the Great, and the empress Pulcheria. He provides anecdotes about Popes like Julius I, Liberius, and Innocent I, and great saints such as Anthony of Egypt, Ambrose of Milan, and John Chrysostom. He also includes verbatim reproductions of various ancient letters and edicts which circulated among saints, heretics and emperors as they debated the momentous religious and political questions of the age. Drawn from the elegant Bohn Ecclesiastical Library translation of 1855, this edition of Sozomen's History has been completely re-typeset for the modern reader. Obvious typographical errors in the original text have been corrected, and punctuation has been modernized to aid with text flow. To help make the text more accessible for students and general readers, this edition also includes numerous updated explanatory notes, a current bibliography, and an index of people, places and key terms.

Born about the year AD 200, Thascus Caecillius Cyprianus was the scion of an ancient and noble Roman family living in North Africa. A convert to Christianity in mid-life, Cyprian was acclaimed bishop of Carthage during a time of intense Empire-wide persecution by the Roman imperial authorities under the emperor Decius. In the twelve year span between his conversion and his martyrdom in AD 258 during the reign of Valerian, Cyprian wrote some of the most important foundational documents of the ante-Nicene Church.This volume contains the entirety of Saint Cyprian's writing--13 treatises and all of his correspondence, 82 letters in all. It also includes "The Life and Passion of Saint Cyprian" by his companion, Pontius the Deacon, as well as the minutes of the Seventh Council of Carthage over which Cyprian presided. His writings encompass the major issues of his day including the Roman persecutions, the unity of the Church, dealing with those who renounced the faith under threat from the state (the lapsi), the Novatian heresy and the rebaptism controversy. His correspondents included the most illustrious men of the early Latin Church, including three Popes--Cornelius, Stephen I, and Sixtus II.Read and cited frequently by theologians down through the ages, Saint Cyprian's writings are of surpassing authority and were considered works of genius "brighter than the sun" by Saint Jerome. Aside from their obvious ecclesiastical import, the works of Cyprian also offer a detailed and unique glimpse into Roman society at the height of the anti-Christian persecutions and demonstrate the growth and struggles of the early Church during a time of intense external political pressure.Based on the translation originally published as part of The Ante-Nicene Fathers [1885], this new edition includes a new introduction, updated commentary, an updated bibliography, and several new appendices including "The Quotable Cyprian".