The Oriental Orthodox Library is preparing to publish its next, thirteenth, volume.

Vol I - The Selected Letters of St Severus

This collection of selected letters of Severus, Patriarch of Antioch, between 512 and 518, and perhaps the greatest theologian of the Oriental Orthodox communion, are presented here to promote the mutual understanding of all Orthodox Christians and to further the efforts towards reconciliation between the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches. (pp 281)

Vol II - The Council of Chalcedon Re-Examined

This work by the late Father V.C. Samuel of the Indian Orthodox Church is the fruit of an entire life devoted to the study of the Orthodox faith. It is perhaps the most important study of Christology and the Council of Chalcedon to be published in the 20th century.

It is an entirely eirenic study of these deeply controversial times and deserves to be read by every Orthodox Christian concerned to see the reconciliation of the Oriental and Eastern Orthodox communions. (pp 374)

Vol III - The Lausiac History of Palladius

Palladius was a monk from Galatia, who spent many years in the Egyptian deserts compiling the history of Christian monasticism. He went to Egypt in A.D. 388, spending three years around Alexandria visiting the countless hermitages. He went inland to the Nitrian Desert where he stayed for another three years.

As the settlement at Nitria continued to grow, some of the more serious ascetics found they needed more solitude and moved nine miles away into a desolate area of the desert later called Cellia. Palladius spent nine years with the hermits there and recorded many stories about them. This volume is of inestimable value since it is an eye-witness account of the desert monastic life and spirituality of the 4th century. (pp 147)

Vol IV - St Cyril of Alexandria's Commentary on the Gospel of St John - Part I

St Cyril is one of the most important of Oriental Orthodox theologians, yet until recently he had been rather neglected by Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic scholars. Nevertheless, in the 19th century a translation in two parts was made of his Commentary on the Gospel of St John.

This first volume was translated by E.P. Pusey, and although the language is rather formal and requires a little attention, the subject matter is of such great value and importance that it is worth the effort of study. (pp 616)

Vol V - St Cyril of Alexandria's Commentary on the Gospel of St John - Part II

This is the second part of the important translation of the Commentary on St John's Gospel by St Cyril of Alexandria.

This volume was translated by H.P. Liddon. The style is rather easier than that of the first part of the Commentary. (pp 614)

Vol VI - The Ascetic Discourses and Three Letters of St Philoxenus of Mabbugh

Philoxenus of Mabbugh was one of the best of Syriac prose writers, and a vehement champion of the Anti-Chalcedonian movement in the end of the 5th and beginning of the 6th centuries.

It was probably during the earlier years of his episcopate that Philoxenus composed his thirteen discourses on the Christian life. His works were widely distributed in earlier centuries as an indication of his importance and popularity. (pp 587)

Vol VII - The Syriac Chronicle of Zachariah of Mitylene

The Syriac Chronicle of Zachariah of Mitylene is a very important source of information about the anti- Chalcedonian communion to the middle of the 6th century. It contains letters by many of the patriarchs and leading figures of the resistance to Chalcedon, as well as documentary evidence of the basis of the long standing and principled objection to the Chalcedonian position. This translation of the Syriac Chronicle of Zachariah of Mitylene was produced by F.J. Hamilton and E.W. Brooks in 1899. (pp 326)

Vol VIII - The History of the Coptic Patriarchs to 849 AD

The History of the Patriarchs of Alexandria is the Liber Pontificalis of the Coptic church. This history of the first centuries of the Coptic church is based above all on Eusebius and some primitive Acts, But from the seventh century on, and above all from the era of the Arab conquest, the history of the patriarchs becomes much more complete and more interesting. Here we have a series of real biographies written by contemporary authors, such as John the Deacon, in the time of the patriarch Michael I, and George, archdeacon and syncellus of the patriarch Simon. (pp 365)

Vol IX - Selected Writings of St Cyril of Alexandria

St Cyril of Alexandria is one of the greatest Fathers of the 5th century, well known for his contributions to the Christological debates concerning Nestorius. This collection of some of his important Christological and controversial works contains some of his most well known texts, such as 'That Christ is One', his writings against Nestorius, and his Scholia on the Incarnation. This volume also contains fragments fron his writings against Theodore, Diodore and the Synousiasts. This translation of these writings by St Cyril of Alexandria was first published in 1881 and was translated by P.E. and E.B. Pusey. (pp 465)

Vol X - The Kebra Nagast or Book of Kings

The Kebra Nagast, or the Book of the Glory of Kings, is an account written in Ge'ez of the origins of the Solomonic line of the Emperors of Ethiopia. The text, in its existing form, is at least seven hundred years old, and is considered by Ethiopian Christians to be an inspired and reliable account. Not only does it contain an account of how the Queen of Sheba met Solomon, and about how the Ark of the Covenant came to Ethiopia with Menelik I, but contains an account of the conversion of the Ethiopians to the worship of the "Lord God of Israel". (pp 374)

Vol XI - The Bazaar of Heracleides

The Bazaar of Heracleides is the apology written by Nestorius, the bishop of Constantinople after his deposition and exile as a result of the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD. The work appears to have been produced in 451 or 452, and is valuable because it allows the student of the Christological controversies of the 5th century, and especially those interested in the Oriental Orthodox response to those controversies, to come to an understanding of the considered theological position of one of the main opponents of St Cyril and his Christology.

This translation was produced in 1925 by G.R. Driver and Leonard Hodgson. (pp 403)


Vol XII - St Cyril of Alexandria's Commentary on the Gospel of St Luke - Part I

St Cyril of Alexandria is one of the greatest Fathers of the 5th century, well known for his contributions to the Christological debates concerning Nestorius, but his scriptural commentaries are less well known, and are harder to obtain in English translation. This commentary is especially important because it allows us to gain an insight into St Cyril’s theology through the medium of his writing about the Gospel of St Luke. This translation of the Commentary on the Gospel of St Luke by St Cyril of Alexandria was first published in 1859 and was translated by R. Payne Smith. (pp 296)

Vol XIII - An Introduction to Ethiopic Christian Literature

This brief work by J.M. Harden is not intended to be more than an introduction to Ethiopic Christian literature. Its purpose is to give as simple an account as possible of the Literature with which it deals. It seemed necessary to say something, first of all, of the language and the general history of the Church and country, which, to say the least, are not at all well known. Then follows a brief sketch of the literature as a whole. The concluding chapters deal each with one department of the literature, commencing with the Bible. (pp 108)

Vol XIV - Patristic Study

This is an excellent introduction to the writings of the Fathers of the first Christian centuries. Professor H.B. Swete describes and catalogues all the important authors of the East and West, and though this volume does not cover the Fathers of the Oriental Orthodox communion after Chalcedon, nevertheless since it concentrates almost exclusively on the univeral Fathers of the centuries before Chalcedon it is of great value and use to students of the Oriental Orthodox churches. (pp 160)

Vol XV - Philocalia of Origen

The Philocalia or Philokalia of Origen is a compilation of selected passages from the writings of Origen made by St. Gregory Nazianzus and St Basil of Caesarea. Though he was controversial even in his own life time, and some of his teachings came to be condemned by the Church, nevertheless Origen was an inspiration to many of the greatest Fathers and his writings deserve to be widely known, if studied with discretion. This translation of the Philocalia by Origen of Alexandria was first published in 1911 and was translated by George Lewis. (pp 248)

Vol XVI - The Letters and Life of Simon Stylites

These translations of the Letters and Life of Simon the Stylites are found in a Syriac manuscript in the context of the Syrian non-Chalcedonian community. Simon was therefore considered a figure of some importance within the Syrian Church. He was also apparently considered to have rejected Chalcedon and therefore have been aligned with the anti-Chalcedonian movement. Torrey considers these anti-Chalcedonian letters of Simon to be forgeries, but are they? Further investigation of this interesting topic is required. (pp 146)

Occasional Paper I - The Vision of Theophilus

In this first paper in the Occasional Paper series, A. Mingana provides the text and translation, accompanied by a critical apparatus, of an apocryphal story dealing with the flight of the holy family into Egypt and the life which it led in that country. The story is cast in the mould of a vision of the Virgin Mary and entitled the Vision of Theophilus, who was Patriarch of Alexandria in A.D. 385-412. Of all the Patriarchs of that great city he is probably the one who showed more zeal in the destruction of pagan temples and monuments. (pp 67)

Occasional Paper II - The Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite

This is the second publication in the Occasioal Papers series. We owe the preservation of the short Chronicle of Joshua the Stylite to the care of a later historian, Dionysius of Tell-Mahre, patriarch of the Jacobites (ob. A. Gr. 1156, A.D. 845), who incorporated it with his own larger work, which deserves to be made accessible to students of history without further delay. Of Joshua we know little more than what he has himself thought fit to tell us. He wrote his Chronicle at the request of one Sergius, the abbot of a convent in the district of Edessa. The last date which occurs in it is 28th November A.D. 506 (pp 73)

Vol XVII -Three Encomiums on the Archangel Michael,

trans. E.A. Wallis Budge.

Publication - Nov 2007

These three Encomiums were written about the beginning of the VIIth century, and in them we see some of the earliest specimens of this class of Coptic literature in existence. They were written by Abba Theodosius, Archbishop of Alexandria, Severus of Antioch, and Eustathius, Bishop of Trake,

The lives of Coptic saints and the Encomiums upon them are generally too full of miracles and somewhat monotonous exhortations to the listener and reader, but these Encomiums now published for the first time are interesting exceptions to the rule, for they contain narratives which are full of importance, not only for the philologist and antiquary, but also for the student of comparative folk-lore and demonology.