Ebook: Synodicon Vetus

The Synodicon Vetus is a short anonymous account, based on Greek sources, of local synods and Ecumenical Councils from the time of the Apostles to A.D. 886. It made its printed debut in 1601, thanks to the money and labor of the Strasbourg theologian Johannes Pappus, who reproduced the truncated version sold to him several years earlier by the copyist and bookdealer Andreas Darmarios.

The work, known only in that form until now, has frequently raised readers' eyebrows; to some scholars it appeared to offer items of information not attested elsewhere, to others it betrayed itself as a mass of misunderstanding. The editors of the first critical edition believe that, having carefully sifted through the extant manuscripts and the literary sources, they have restored the text to near its original state and have succeeded in removing some of the mystery associated with an unusual document which continues to have an interest for historians of heresies, church councils, and literature.