"One of the first great events in Christian history was the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, convened to organize Christian sects and beliefs into a unified doctrine. The great Christian clergymen who wrote before this famous event are referred to as the Ante-Nicenes and the Apostolic Fathers, and their writings are collected here in a ten-volume set. The Ante-Nicenes lived so close to the time of Christ that their interpretations of the New Testament are considered more authentic than modern voices. But they are also real and flawed men, who are more like their fellow Christians than they are like the Apostles, making their words echo in the ears of spiritual seekers. In Volume VIII of the 10-volume collected works of the Ante-Nicenes first published between 1885 and 1896, readers will find a collection of ancient writings, including The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs, Excerpts of Theodotus, Two Epistles Concerning Virginity, the writings of Pseudo-Clement, the Apocryphal books of the New Testament, The Decretals, the memoirs of Edessa, and various fragments of writings from the second and third centuries. Many of the authors of these works are unknown, but the works themselves have been greatly influential."