Background note about texts                                                        Homepage

The sources used for many of the on-site texts and the off-site texts to which links are made are:-
 

i) The Migne Patrologia series for Greek and Latin texts
Jacques-Paul Migne lived from 1800 to 1875. Information about him from the Catholic Encyclopedia can be found here.
The Wikipedia entry can be found here.
 

ii) Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum for critical editions of Latin texts (where the editions are in the public domain).
The Wikipedia entry can be found here.
 

iii) Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller for critical editions of Greek texts and one or two Latin ones (where editions are in the public domain).
 

For some ‘Apostolic Fathers’ texts the Kirsopp Lake Greek text has been used, as found in the Loeb edition.  It is believed that this now in the public domain.

For Irenaeus texts Harvey's Libros Quinque Adversus Haereses (1857) has also been used.

This list is not exhaustive and some other editions are also used.

For background information to the late 19th century ANF and NPNF translations often used on this site visit Wikipedia here and here.

You can find all of these volumes on the CCEL website here.

Again other editions are sometimes used for translations and in some cases translations are by the webmaster.
 

Public domain versions of the original language texts and translations have been used because they are relatively easily accessible and because there are not copyright restrictions on their use. Clearly there has been much development in textual research and patristic scholarship in recent years.
 

For further study of  original language patristic texts the following links are recommended. They relate to more recent scholarly versions of the texts.
 

Corpus Christianorum - for Latin and Greek works.
 

The catalogue at Brepols (look for Corpus Christianorum and Library of Latin Texts).
 

The Thesaurus Linguae Graecae website, which will give access to a massive library of Greek texts including a very large number of patristic writers. (Consulting the TLG Canon will give information about the versions on which the TLG texts are based).
 

Some university and academic libraries may give access to these important resources.

Look out for CLCLT (CETEDOC Library of Christian Latin Texts) which again may be available at some academic libraries e.g. (just for information - you won't be able to log in) here.
 

For information about the development, since 2002, of CLCLT into the Library of Latin Texts - Series A see here.
 

Another important site to visit is Sources Chrétiennes.
 

See also the Patristic Authors section at De Gruyter and the Oxford Early Christian Texts series at Oxford University Press
 

(The complete scanned Patrologia Graeca can be purchased at the Reltech website. The complete Patrologia Latina is available on subscription through the Chadwyck website.)