Primary source · Koine Greek
The Apology Against the Arians
Athanasius of Alexandria · c. AD 349

What this text is
Athanasius's documentary self-defence — the acquittals of Rome and Sardica, Julius's great letter to the Easterns, and the unravelling of the Arsenius 'murder' with the living man produced in court.
Profile of Athanasius of Alexandria →
Public-domain translations
A. Robertson (NPNF, 1892)
Are you ignorant that the custom has been for word to be written first to us, and then for a just decision to be passed from this place?… What we have received from the blessed Apostle Peter, that I signify to you. (Julius of Rome, Letter to the Easterns.)
Manuscript witnesses
Athanasian corpus manuscripts
10th c. onwardThe Apologia contra Arianos with its dossier of synodal letters — the archive of the Arian struggle.
Patrologia Graeca, vol. 25 (Migne)
1857Standard pre-critical text of the corpus.
Provenance
Alexandria, c. AD 349 — the documentary self-defence
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Athanasius Werke II: Die ApologienHans-Georg Opitz, 1935–1941The critical edition.
- Athanasius and ConstantiusTimothy D. Barnes, 1993The documents weighed historically.
