Introduction to This Volume

How this book is arranged

This is the twenty-seventh volume of a series that gathers the writings of the early Church in order of date, from the generation after the apostles down to the eighth century. This volume holds Cyril of Jerusalem, Optatus, Pacian and the Pilgrimage of Egeria, from the period about AD 350 – 385.

Within each work the text is divided into chapters and numbered sections, so that any passage can be found again and cited. The small bold figures in the text are the section numbers.

The translations

The text is in English only. Wherever a modern English version has been prepared for SermonIndex it is used here; otherwise the book prints an older public-domain translation. In both cases the wording is the translator’s own: older translations have not been altered beyond dividing them into sections. The sources for every work are listed at the back of the book, together with the licence under which each text is released. All the works in this volume are printed in older public-domain translations.

In this volume

Cyril was bishop of Jerusalem from about AD 350 until his death in AD 386, and was driven from his city more than once during the Arian disputes. His Catechetical Lectures were given to candidates for baptism about AD 350.

Optatus was bishop of Milevis in Numidia. About AD 366 he wrote a reply to the Donatist bishop Parmenian, and the work was later enlarged with a seventh book. It is the main source for the early history of the Donatist schism.

Pacian was bishop of Barcelona in the later fourth century and died about AD 390. His letters to Sympronian, a follower of Novatian, and his writings on penance and baptism are among the few Latin works from Spain in his time.

Egeria, also called Etheria, was a woman from the far west of the Roman world, probably from Spain or Gaul, who travelled to Egypt, Jerusalem, Sinai and Asia Minor about AD 381 to 384 and wrote an account of her journey for the women of her community at home. It is an important early witness to the worship of Jerusalem.

The journal of Egeria survives in a single manuscript that has lost its beginning and its end, so the account of her journey opens in the middle of her visit to Sinai and breaks off before its close.

Dates and authorship

Dates are approximate and are debated by scholars. Each work begins with a short introduction that states what is known about its author and its date, and what is uncertain.