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Athanasius of Alexandria · 350 · Treatise
For readers who want to know why Nicaea used the word "of one essence" with the Father; the best short entry into the controversy.
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Hilary of Poitiers · 350–367 · Other
Hilary of Poitiers emerged as one of the West's most formidable defenders of Nicene orthodoxy during the turbulent decades following the Council of Nicaea. Writing between 350 and 367, his selected works…
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Athanasius of Alexandria · 356 · Letter
For historians and students of the creeds of the 350s; a pastoral warning letter.
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Hilary of Poitiers · 356–367 · Commentary
Hilary of Poitiers composed this commentary on Matthew's Gospel during his exile in Phrygia between 356 and 360, imposed by Emperor Constantius II for his opposition to Arianism. Writing from enforced isolation…
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Hilary of Poitiers · 356–359 · Treatise
Hilary of Poitiers composed this monumental treatise on the Trinity during his exile in Phrygia between 356 and 359, imposed by the Arian emperor Constantius II for his defense of Nicene orthodoxy.…
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Athanasius of Alexandria · 356–361 · Treatise
For students of the Trinity and of Nicaea who want the full case against Arius from Scripture; long and demanding, not a first book.
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Hilary of Poitiers · 356 · Letter
Hilary of Poitiers composed this urgent letter to Emperor Constantius II around 356, while in exile for his defense of Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism. Writing from Phrygia where the emperor had banished…
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Athanasius of Alexandria · 357 · Treatise
For historians of the Arian years: a dossier of letters and council records in his own defence; not devotional reading.
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Athanasius of Alexandria · 357 · Treatise
For readers following his conflict with the emperor; a polished defence speech rather than theology.
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Athanasius of Alexandria · 357 · Treatise
For readers interested in Athanasius himself and in when a pastor may flee persecution; short and personal.
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Athanasius of Alexandria · 357–358 · Treatise
For historians of the Arian crisis and of church and empire; a vivid, partisan narrative, not theology.
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Basil the Great · 357–378 · Letter
For anyone curious about the man rather than the doctrine: a bishop's working correspondence - friends, officials, grieving parents, quarrelling monks, the Pope who would not answer. Read a dozen, not all 366; Letters 2, 14, 22, 70 and 223 first.
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Philocalia The Philocalia of Origen
Basil the Great, Gregory of Nazianzus, Origen of Alexandria · 358–360 · Other
For readers who want the best of Origen chosen by two of his greatest admirers: on Scripture, on free will, and against Celsus.
Read hereFreeOriginal languageHard
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Short Rules Regulae brevius tractatae
Basil the Great · 358–364 · Treatise
For readers interested in how a monastery actually ran: 313 short questions from monks and Basil's answers - on anger, on sleep, on what to do with a brother who will not work. For the monastic historian and the curious; not devotional reading.
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Basil the Great · 358–364 · Treatise
For readers who want to see how Basil built an ethic out of nothing but the New Testament: eighty rules, each a heading and the verses that ground it. A reference text to dip into; the two short prefaces are worth reading whole.
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Cyril of Jerusalem · 359 · Letter
Cyril of Jerusalem's Letter to Emperor Constantius emerged from a critical moment in fourth-century Christianity when imperial politics and theological orthodoxy collided with devastating force. Written in 359 during Cyril's second exile…
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Letters to Serapion Letters to Serapion concerning the Holy Spirit
Athanasius of Alexandria · 359–361 · Letter
For students of the doctrine of the Holy Spirit: the first sustained argument that the Spirit is fully God; not a first book of Athanasius.
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Athanasius of Alexandria · 359 · Treatise
For historians of the fourth-century councils and creeds, and for the conciliatory turn toward the "Semi-Arians"; documentary and dense.
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Hilary of Poitiers · 360 · Treatise
Hilary of Poitiers wrote this fierce polemic against Emperor Constantius II in 360, during the final phase of the Arian crisis that had convulsed the church for decades. The immediate catalyst was…
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Didymus the Blind · 360–398 · Treatise
Didymus the Blind's treatise Against the Manichees emerged from the intellectual ferment of fourth-century Alexandria, where the distinguished head of the catechetical school confronted one of early Christianity's most persistent and sophisticated…
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Didymus the Blind · 360–398 · Commentary
Didymus the Blind's Commentary on Psalms represents one of the most sophisticated patristic engagements with the Psalter, emerging from the scholarly environment of fourth-century Alexandria where Didymus led the catechetical school after…
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Ephrem the Syrian · 360–373 · Poem
Ephrem the Syrian's Hymns on Virginity comprises fifty-two hymns composed between 360 and 373 CE, written in Syriac verse during his final years as a deacon in Edessa. These hymns emerged from…
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Athanasius of Alexandria · 360 · Other
For anyone drawn to prayer, solitude or the desert tradition, and the first saint's life most readers should meet; not a work of doctrine.
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Basil the Great · 360–370 · Treatise
For readers who want a fourth-century bishop's own account of what baptism asks of the baptised: discipleship before doctrine, almost every paragraph built from Scripture. Not for anyone looking for the history of the rite.
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