The apparatus
Reference
The parts of the archive that serve the rest of it: the words the controversies were fought in, the groupings that answer a question rather than a name, and the account of how all of it was built.
30 terms · 10 collections · 455 single attestations
The glossary
30 termsEach term is defined from the sources and linked to the figures who fought over it. They are auto-linked on first use throughout the archive, so a word met in a biography can be read where it is defined.
- Ante-Nicene
- Apologist
- Apostolic Fathers
- Apostolic Succession
- Anathema
- Arianism
- Bishop (Episkopos)
- Canon of Scripture
- Catechumen
- Confessor
- The Didache
- Docetism
- Donatism
- Ecumenical Council
- Gnosticism
- Heresiarch
- Homoousion
- Hypostatic Union
- The Lapsed (Lapsi)
- Libellus
- Marcionism
- Martyr
- Melitian Schism
- Modalism (Sabellianism)
- Montanism (the New Prophecy)
- Novatianism
- Pneumatomachians
- Quartodecimanism
- Septuagint
- Traditor
The collections
10 groupingsRules applied to the same 1,152 records — for when you know the kind of person you are looking for but not the name. Each page states its rule and what the rule leaves out.
- Martyrs Everyone the sources say was killed for the faith.222 figures
- Bishops beyond the great sees Smyrna, Lyon, Nisibis, Milan — the churches that never became patriarchates.282 figures
- Non-Christian witnesses Tacitus, Pliny, Josephus, Celsus — the testimony from outside.157 figures
- Women Deacons, patrons, prophetesses, desert mothers, empresses and slaves.103 figures
- Heretics & schismatics The losing side of every early controversy, named by the winners.75 figures
- Roman emperors Persecutors and patrons, from Claudius to Theodosius.64 figures
- Desert fathers & mothers The abbas and ammas who invented monasticism by leaving the cities.46 figures
- The Great Persecution Ten years, four edicts — the last imperial assault, AD 303–313.45 figures
- Under Marcus Aurelius Justin at Rome, Blandina at Lyon, the twelve of Scillium.32 figures
- The Decian persecution The first edict that reached everyone, AD 249–251.28 figures
Method, and the limits of it
The honest ledger- Method & author What is admitted, what is excluded, and who compiled it.About
- Attested once Every figure resting on a single source, with the basis stated.455 figures
- Succession lists Six sees in order, with the contested claimants marked.Six sees
- Plain-text manifest The whole archive as one text file, for retrieval systems.llms.txt
The people → · The sources → · The chronology → · The atlas →