Possible short works to translate from the Greek Fathers

Posted on by Roger Pearse

I’ve now finished reading all the way through the 3rd volume of Quasten’s Patrology, looking for shortish works that would be interesting to turn into English and post online.  Here’s a digest.  I haven’t yet looked at any of the refs given.

  • Acacius of Beroea.  The literary remains of this contemporary of Cyril of Alexandria comprise 6 letters in all; PG 77, 99-102; PG 84, 647-8 + 658-660; and PG 41, 156 f.  No translations of any sort were listed, but apparently one of the letters is addressed to Cyril, recommending peace.  There are also 5 Syriac hymns which praise Acacius.  A German translation of these was published in the BKV 2nd ed. vol. 6 (1912), p. 71-89.
  • Hesychius mostly wrote long commentaries, but a fragment of his church history exists, in a Latin version, which was printed by Mansi, vol. 9, p. 248f.  This I would definitely like to do.  Mansi seems to be online at the Documenta Catholica Omnia site.
  • A bunch of letters by Nestorius exist, listed on Quasten p.518, including one written towards the end of his life to the people of Constantinople which is described as “interesting”.
  • The fragments of the Church History of Philip of Side, a contemporary of Chrysostom, are very short and definitely deserve attention.
  • Another bit of Mansi, vol. 7, p.187, describes the trials of Theodoret at the time of Chalcedon.  This needs to be looked at.

When I get a chance, I’ll look into all these further.

Share

6 thoughts on “Possible short works to translate from the Greek Fathers”

  2. I think I must have seen it in the past, but then forgotten. Thank you for reminding me of this! What is the copyright status of this translation?

    There are some more fragments, I think. The article of mine that prompted your article refers to a photocopy of something; maybe the list of heads of the catechical school of Alexandria.

  3. It’s lazy to look things up on the TLG, but in case someone wants access to the texts..

    … don’t translate from the TLG alone: still get the source text. But it’ll get people started, perhaps.

    Acacius: the only text by him that the TLG has is:

    Fragmenta in epistulam ad Romanos (in catenis): K. Staab, Pauluskommentar aus der griechischen Kirche aus Katenenhandschriften gesammelt. Münster: Aschendorff, 1933: 53-56. Word Count: 1,109. I’m assuming this is not it. (And it’s numbered work number #2 in the TLG, which may mean work #1 are these letters.)

    Hesychius of Jerusalem: not in the TLG, but you said the text was Latin anyway.

    Nestorius: the TLG has seven letters, from:

    F. Loofs, Nestoriana. Die Fragmente des Nestorius. Halle: Niemeyer, 1905.

    They’re tiny: they are after all fragments. None of them look like a letter to the people: 2 to Cyril of Alexandria, Emperor Theodosius, 2 to the praesides of Thebais, 1 to Alexander of Hierapolis, 1 to Theodoret, and one apologia, but that’s already in Evagrius.

    Philip of Side is in, but only in one fragment:

    G.C. Hansen, Theodoros Anagnostes. Kirchengeschichte [Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller 54. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1995

  4. Thank you very much for this info, Nick! Sadly most of us do not in fact have access to the TLG, but it is useful to know that the electronic text does exist. I need to take some time and find the Mansi material.

  6. Wonderful – thank you.

    What I will do is see what I can do with the other fragments. I’m fairly sure I have another one, not included in the 1905 material.

Leave a Reply