Welcome to Fourth-Century Christianity, a site promoting and storing research tools and texts for the study of the Church and its environment in the Fourth Century. The site is sponsored by the History Department of Wisconsin Lutheran College and by Asia Lutheran Seminary, under the direction of Dr. Glen L. Thompson.

In remembrance of the 1700th anniversary of Constantine’s victory at the Milvian Bridge (Oct. 28, AD 312) , we have posted the first ever complete listing of the works of Constantine.

The governing principles of this site are:

  1. The site will assist in undergraduate and advanced research by providing reliable reference materials, texts and translations that are not available elsewhere on the net.
  2. Every page will have its authors/contributors identified.
  3. Every text or translation will have its source/translator identified.
  4. We invite participation by the scholarly community in updating, improving or adding to the information provided.
  5. Although the site directors are Christian and Lutheran, every effort is made to present material as objectively as possible.

Please send comments, corrections and suggestions to Dr. Thompson at Glen.Thompson@wlc.edu.

Any questions, comments, or corrections can also be posted on the General Questions page.

We add new material often, and invite you to check the Recent Additions page frequently.

Website Contents:

What’s New
Recent Additions lists the most recent additions and updates to the Fourth-Century Christianity (FCC) website.
Contents contains the contents of the website
Tools
Patristic Abbreviations
Bibliographical Helps
Chronological charts
Early Christian Councils contains a list of early church councils
Early Egyptian Monasticism – A hypothetical map of a Pachomian monastery, listing the positions and areas of a Pachomian monastery, based on the rules of Pachomius.
Imperial Laws and Letters – A list of over 500 Roman imperial letters and laws from the years A.D. 311-431. The list takes three pages.
Writers of the Fourth Century
Primary Texts
Collectio Avellana page gives brief information on the Avellana, a link to download the Avellana from Google Books, and a summary of all the Avellana’s documents dealing with the fourth century.
Conciliar Creeds of the Fourth Century contains a list and translations of several conciliar creeds from the fourth century
Documents Concerning the Meletian Schism contains a chart listing reference numbers, descriptions, ancient sources and English translations of the extant documents of the Meletian Schism from c. A.D. 303-335
Documents of the Early Arian Controversy contains a chart listing reference numbers, descriptions, ancient sources and English translations of the extant documents of the Arian Controversy from c. 318-333. The chart is based on Opitz’s Urkunden (the supplemental volume of early Arian documents in his edition of Athanasius Werke, 1934). Each document is also available in translation with brief notes.
Fourth Century Papacy contains material related to two fourth-century popes:
Marcellus of Ancyra Fragments contains translations of the fragments of Marcellus of Ancyra.
Website Related
Abbreviations lists the abbreviations used in the website with bibliographic information.
Links to other websites with useful information relating to fourth-century Christianity.
Site Contributors lists information about the contributors to this site.

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