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Evagrius Ponticus · 380–399 · Treatise
Ad Monachos (To the Monks) stands as one of Evagrius of Pontus's most concentrated works on the spiritual life, composed during his years in the Egyptian desert between 380 and 399. Written…
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Gregory of Nyssa · 381 · Sermon
For readers of the Council of Constantinople and of the art of the Christian funeral speech; a short oration for the bishop who presided over the council and died during it.
FreeAudioOriginal languageModerate
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John Chrysostom · 381–386 · Treatise
John Chrysostom's "On Virginity" emerged from the vibrant ascetical debates of fourth-century Christianity, when the Church was wrestling with how to understand and promote the celibate life amid a rapidly Christianizing empire.…
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Gregory of Nazianzus · 381 · Sermon
For readers of the feast of Epiphany and of baptism: the meaning of Christ's baptism and of ours, with a sharp survey of pagan mysteries for contrast; short.
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Gregory of Nazianzus · 381 · Sermon
For anyone preparing for baptism or teaching it, and for readers interested in why fourth-century Christians put baptism off; the fullest early sermon on the sacrament.
FreeAudioModerate
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Gregory of Nazianzus · 381 · Sermon
For readers following the story of his resignation from Constantinople in 381; a defence of his two years there and a farewell, personal and bitter by turns.
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Gregory of Nazianzus · 381–382 · Sermon
For any reader: the best single piece of Gregory to start with, a portrait of Basil and of their friendship from student days in Athens to Basil's death; long, but it reads like a memoir.
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Gregory of Nazianzus · 381–390 · Poem
For readers of Greek and of early Christian poetry; a reader without Greek will find only selections in English, none of them free.
Original languageHard
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Gregory of Nyssa · 381 · Treatise
For readers who want the classic Cappadocian answer to 'if Father, Son and Spirit are each God, why not three gods?'; short and dense, for those already at home with Trinitarian terms.
FreeAudioOriginal languageHard
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John Chrysostom · 381 · Letter
John Chrysostom wrote this pastoral letter around 381 to his friend Theodore, who had abandoned his monastic vows to marry and pursue a secular career. Theodore had been Chrysostom's companion in their…
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Gregory of Nazianzus · 382 · Poem
For anyone curious how a bishop of Constantinople came to resign, told in his own verse — a story first and theology second; English translations exist but none is free.
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Jerome · 383 · Treatise
For readers interested in Mary's perpetual virginity and in how the fourth century argued from the Gospel texts about 'the brothers of the Lord'; short, sharp and often rude.
FreeAudioOriginal languageDemanding
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Gregory of Nyssa · 383–390 · Treatise
For anyone who wants one book that lays out the whole faith as the Cappadocians held it, Trinity, Incarnation, baptism and eucharist; the best first serious work of his to read, after the Life of Macrina.
Read hereFreeOriginal languageDemanding
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Gregory of Nyssa · 383–390 · Treatise
For students of the hope of universal restoration and of the Arian controversy over 1 Corinthians 15:28; a short, close reading, technical in places.
FreeOriginal languageHard
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Gregory of Nyssa · 383 · Sermon
For readers interested in early baptismal theology and Epiphany preaching; a sermon for the feast of Christ's baptism that explains what water, oil and the Spirit do.
FreeOriginal languageModerate
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Gregory of Nazianzus · 383 · Sermon
For readers of Easter and of the atonement: why the Son became man and what his death did, including the famous refusal to say a ransom was paid to the devil; read it after Oration 38, which it reuses.
FreeDemanding
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Jerome · 383–406 · Essay
For anyone interested in how the Latin Bible was made: Jerome's own prefaces to each book or group of books, defending the Hebrew text against the Septuagint and answering his critics; short, and the best record of his method.
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Ambrose of Milan · 384–390 · Treatise
Ambrose of Milan's treatise on penance emerged from the practical challenges he faced as bishop during the 380s, when questions about forgiveness, restoration, and the church's disciplinary authority pressed urgently on Christian…
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Gregory of Nyssa · 385 · Treatise
For students of the Christological debates between Nicaea and Chalcedon: his long reply to Apollinaris's denial that Christ had a human mind; technical and polemical, not devotional reading.
FreeOriginal languageHard
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Gregory of Nyssa · 385–390 · Treatise
For anyone who has lost a child or asked why infants die; a serious, humane answer from the fourth century, written for a grieving official.
FreeOriginal languageDemanding
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Augustine of Hippo · 386 · Treatise
Written during Augustine's momentous retreat at Cassiciacum in 386, Against the Academicians represents the newly converted theologian's first sustained philosophical work and his initial attempt to clear intellectual ground for Christian faith.…
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John Chrysostom · 386 · Sermon
Adversus Judaeos comprises eight homilies delivered by John Chrysostom in Antioch during 386-387, responding to what he perceived as a crisis within his Christian congregation. Many of his parishioners were participating in…
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Jerome · 386 · Commentary
For students of Jerome on the pastoral epistles: two short commentaries written with the Galatians and Ephesians ones, the Titus commentary his fullest statement on the clergy's duties; Latin only.
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Jerome · 386 · Commentary
For students of the Origenist controversy as much as of Ephesians: Rufinus later quoted this commentary to show Jerome had once followed Origen on the pre-existence of souls; Latin only.
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