I co-authored recently a chapter on a future project on digitising the so-called Apostolic Fathers, “Digitizing the Ancient Versions of the Apostolic Fathers: Preliminary Considerations” (Open Access, if you’re interested). There is, however, already a very interesting online platform devoted to the AF, briefly presented below (initially a twitter post, this one).

Quick shoutout to a nice resource on the manuscripts, editions, and translations, of the so-called Apostolic Fathers: The Apostolic Fathers: Editions and Translations.

Built up as a library guide at Helsinki University by Matti Myllykoski, it contains far more info than usual in the available critical editions.

It features an impressive list of printed collection that include in some way AF, all with hyperlinks to http://archive.org, with several items pre-dating the (slightly) better known Cotelier. Truly an excellent resource for anyone interested in the history of the corpus.

Then, for individual AF, you’ll find again links to all printed editions and translations (old and new) that can be found online in repositories like archive org or google books. These are only rarely even listed even in critical editions; have a feel, those links are mint!

The manuscripts found online (from microfilm, from scanned publications, recent photographs, editions) are then also listed.

For the Shepherd of Hermas there are links to the main Greek witnesses, 21 (out of some 28!) Latin witnesses, 20 papyri, the edition of some Coptic fragments and an edition the Middle Persian in the public domain.

Also great is the fact that for Ignatius of Antioch it also lists the online editions, translations, and witnesses of the “long recension” or with “extra” letters which are usually discarded, but which form the context in which the seven “authentic” letters are virtually always transmitted in mss.

Interestingly, there is also an online critical edition of the Epistle of Polycarp, on which I’ll write more when I’ve read Matti Myllykoski’s article describing this venture, “The Textual History of Epistula Polycarpi: From the History of Editions to the Benefits of the Digitized Manuscripts“, also Open Access.

All in all, an excellent resource!

Could not recommend it more for AF mss and collections peeps.

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