The Ante-Nicene Fathers

One of the first great events in Christian history was the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, convened to organize Christian sects and beliefs into a unified doctrine. The great Christian clergymen who wrote before this famous event are referred to as the Ante-Nicenes and the Apostolic Fathers, and their writings are collected here in a ten-volume set. The Ante-Nicenes lived so close to the time of Christ that their interpretations of the New Testament are considered more authentic than modern voices. But they are also real and flawed men, who are more like their fellow Christians than they are like the Apostles, making their words echo in the ears of spiritual seekers.

In Volume IX of the 10-volume collected works of the Ante-Nicenes first published between 1885 and 1896, the series editors return to a collection that they had thought complete. Archaeological discoveries presented them with new early Christian texts that needed publication. This volume is divided into two parts: newly discovered fragments and writings from a variety of sources, and additional commentaries by Origen. These new fragments include:

. the Gospel of Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter
. the Diatessaron of Tatian and the Vision of Paul
. the Apocalypse of the Virgin and the Apocalypse of Sedrach
. The Testament of Abraham and the Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena
. the Narrative of Zosimus and the Epistles of Clement
. the Apology of Aristides the Philosopher
. the Passion of the Scillitan Martyrs
. epistle to Gregory and Origen's commentary