The Living Tradition An Orthodox Archive of the Church Fathers and Early Church

Apparatus

Source register

20 sources, each with its authority tier, document type, rights status and an account of how this project obtained its working copy.

Tiers are explained in the methodology. A tier is a statement about what a source can establish, not about how respectable it is: a synodal declaration and a critical edition do different jobs, and neither substitutes for the other.

About the links below. The ccel.org addresses identify each edition; they are not a record of a visit. This project could not reach ccel.org from the environment in which it was built, so every working copy came either from a GitHub mirror that records the CCEL page it was taken from, or from a PDF of the edition. Each entry says which. Two volumes are cited but were never obtained at all, and say so.

Tier A — normative and official

No sources at this tier in the current build. The official Orthodox sources this project is built to cite could not be reached from the environment in which it was assembled. See the methodology for what that means for every page here.

Tier B — official catechetical and jurisdictional

No sources at this tier in the current build. The official Orthodox sources this project is built to cite could not be reached from the environment in which it was assembled. See the methodology for what that means for every page here.

Tier C — primary historical and patristic

  1. Tier C The Apostolic Fathers with Justin Martyr and Irenaeus Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (eds.); A. Cleveland Coxe (American ed.) translated edition of primary texts, 1885 Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. I Rights: public domain (United States: published 1885). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. Prints the Ignatian letters in both the shorter and the longer recension, in parallel. Every Ignatian citation on this site must therefore state which recension is in view. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf01
  2. Tier C Fathers of the Second Century Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (eds.) translated edition of primary texts, 1885 Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. II Rights: public domain (United States: published 1885). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. Contains Hermas, Tatian, Athenagoras, Theophilus and Clement of Alexandria. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02
  3. Tier C Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (eds.) translated edition of primary texts, 1885 Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. III Rights: public domain (United States: published 1885). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. Tertullian's apologetic and doctrinal works. Tertullian's later Montanist writings are printed alongside his earlier ones; the collection does not itself mark the division. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03
  4. Tier C Fathers of the Third Century: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (eds.) translated edition of primary texts, 1886 Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. V Rights: public domain (United States: published 1886). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. Appends the Muratorian Fragment to the fragments of Caius on a nineteenth-century conjecture about its authorship. That attribution is not accepted; the fragment is anonymous. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf05
  5. Tier C Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VII Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (eds.) translated edition of primary texts Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VII Rights: public domain (United States: Ante-Nicene Fathers published 1885-1887, before 1929). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. Carries the Didache (The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles). The Ante-Nicene Fathers place it in this volume rather than in Vol. I with the other Apostolic Fathers. The volume identity is evidenced by the provenance comment in the archived file: "Mirrored from www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-07/anf07-36.htm". This volume's own title page was never seen by this project, so its descriptive subtitle and year of publication are deliberately left unrecorded rather than supplied from memory. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf07
  6. Tier C Living Tradition archive manifests This project provenance and rights record, 2026 archive/manifests/ Rights: project documentation. Working copy: generated by this project. Records the SHA-256 checksum, edition, rights basis and accession date of every archived file, together with the CCEL path each transcription came from. https://github.com/msgetsonmynervez/patristics/tree/main/archive/manifests
  7. Tier C The Confessions and Letters of St. Augustine Philip Schaff (ed.) translated edition of primary texts, 1886 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. I Rights: public domain (United States: published 1886). Working copy: not obtained; no text from this volume is archived here. Also carries the Prolegomena to Augustine used for the outline of his life. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf101
  8. Tier C St. Chrysostom: On the Priesthood; Ascetic Treatises; Homilies Philip Schaff (ed.) translated edition of primary texts, 1889 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. IX Rights: public domain (United States: published 1889). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf109
  9. Tier C Eusebius: Church History, Life of Constantine, Oration in Praise of Constantine Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.); Arthur Cushman McGiffert (trans.) translated edition of primary texts, 1890 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. I Rights: public domain (United States: published 1890). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. Eusebius is the single most important narrative source for the pre-Nicene Church and is also an interested party in fourth-century disputes. Both facts matter when using him. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201
  10. Tier C Socrates and Sozomenus: Ecclesiastical Histories Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.) translated edition of primary texts, 1890 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. II Rights: public domain (United States: published 1890). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf202
  11. Tier C Theodoret, Jerome, Gennadius, Rufinus: Historical Writings Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.) translated edition of primary texts, 1892 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. III Rights: public domain (United States: published 1892). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf203
  12. Tier C Athanasius: Select Works and Letters Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.); Archibald Robertson (trans.) translated edition of primary texts, 1892 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. IV Rights: public domain (United States: published 1892). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. Prints only extracts of Festal Letter 39. Fuller Greek, Coptic and Syriac witnesses to that letter exist and are not in this archive. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf204
  13. Tier C Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic Treatises Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.) translated edition of primary texts, 1893 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. V Rights: public domain (United States: published 1893). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf205
  14. Tier C Cyril of Jerusalem and Gregory Nazianzen Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.) translated edition of primary texts, 1894 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. VII Rights: public domain (United States: published 1894). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf207
  15. Tier C Basil: Letters and Select Works Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.); Blomfield Jackson (trans.) translated edition of primary texts, 1895 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. VIII Rights: public domain (United States: published 1895). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf208
  16. Tier C Ambrose: Select Works and Letters Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.) translated edition of primary texts, 1896 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. X Rights: public domain (United States: published 1896). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf210
  17. Tier C Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lérins, John Cassian Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.) translated edition of primary texts, 1894 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. XI Rights: public domain (United States: published 1894). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf211
  18. Tier C Leo the Great and Gregory the Great Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.); Charles Lett Feltoe (trans.) translated edition of primary texts, 1895 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. XII Rights: public domain (United States: published 1895). Working copy: GitHub mirror of the CCEL edition (HistoricalChristianFaith/writings-database), accessioned 2026-08-29. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf212
  19. Tier C Gregory the Great (Part II), Ephraim Syrus, Aphrahat Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (eds.) translated edition of primary texts, 1898 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. XIII Rights: public domain (United States: published 1898). Working copy: not obtained; no text from this volume is archived here. Carries selections from Ephrem in English. Not archived on this site; the selections could not be extracted with verifiable provenance from the working corpus, so pages citing Ephrem record that as a gap. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf213
  20. Tier C The Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Undivided Church Henry R. Percival (ed.); Philip Schaff and Henry Wace (series eds.) annotated edition of conciliar texts, 1900 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. XIV Rights: public domain (United States: published 1900). Working copy: PDF of the edition, SHA-256 ca9ae14a887441c7b014c83bf2e9b9c3ec29549d849bdf6879e286cdf8da4635, accessioned 2026-08-29. The primary edition behind every conciliar text and canon archived here. Percival's own commentary is nineteenth-century Anglican scholarship and is separated from the conciliar text in the archive; where the site uses it, it is labelled as commentary. His notes also carry the Byzantine canonists Balsamon, Zonaras and Aristenus, and Hefele's history, in English. https://ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214

Tier D — historical scholarship

No sources at this tier in the current build. Nothing yet.

Tier E — another communion's own authoritative texts

No sources at this tier in the current build. No Catholic or Protestant confessional text has been obtained. This is why the comparative pages state where a question arises without putting words in another Church’s mouth: each names the document that must be cited before its side of the comparison can be written.