| AB | Analecta Bollandiana (Brussels) |
| ACO | Acta conciliorum oecumenicorum, ed. E. Schwartz. (Berlin 1914–26) |
| Casiniensis | Collectio Casiniensis = ACO I.3–4 |
| CCG | Corpus Christianorum series Graeca (Turnhout) |
| CCL | Corpus Christianorum series Latina (Turnhout) |
| CPG | Clavis patrum Graecorum. 5 vols. ed. M. Geerard (Turnhout,1974–1996) |
| CPL | Clavis patrum Latinorum. ed. E. Dekkers and E. Gaar (Turnhout, 1995) |
| CSCO SS | Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium, scriptores Syri (Louvain) |
| CSEL | Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (Vindobona) |
| CVatGr 1431 | Codex Vaticanus gr. 1431. ed. E. Schwartz (Munich, 1927) |
| FC | Fontes Christiani (Rome) |
| Flemming | Akten der ephesinischen Synod vom Jahre 449, Syrisch. ed. J.Flemming (Berlin, 1917) |
| Fonti | Joannou, P. P., ed., Fonti, Discipline générale antique (Rome, 1962–63) |
| GCS | Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten drei Jahrhunderte (New series) |
| JECS | Journal of Early Christian Studies |
| JLA | Journal of Late Antiquity |
| JTS | Journal of Theological Studies |
| LCL | Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA) |
| LRE | Jones, A. H. M. The Later Roman Empire: A Social, Economic and Administrative Survey. 2 vols. (Baltimore, 1986) |
| NPNFI | A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series (Grand Rapids, MI) |
| NPNFII | A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, Second Series (Grand Rapids, MI) |
| NRSV | New Revised Standard Version Bible (New York, 1989) |
| Overbeck | S. Ephraemi Syri, Rabulae episcopi Edesseni Balaei aliorumque opera selecta, ed. J. Overbeck (Oxford, 1865) |
| Perry | The Second Synod of Ephesus, English Version. tr. S. G. F. Perry (Dartford, 1881) |
| PG | Patrologiae cursus completus, series Graeca. ed. J. Migne(Paris, 1857–) |
| PL | Patrologiae cursus completus, series Latina. ed. J. Migne (Paris, 1844–) |
| PO | Patrologia Orientalis (Rome) |
| PLRE II | Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, vol. 2, 395–527. ed. J. R. Martindale (Cambridge, 1980) |
| SC | Sources chrétiennes (Paris) |
| ST | Studi e testi (Rome) |
| TU | Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristliche Literatur |
For additional clarity, references to Theodoret's letters use this new shorthand:
P = Collectio Patmensis (SC 40, formerly numbered inconsistently by
Roman numerals) S = Collectio Sirmondiana (SC 98, 111, formerly numbered by simple Arabic numerals)
C = Collectio conciliaris (SC 429, formerly numbered according to several systems) titled and numbered in this book according to CPG
References to Libanius's letters follow R. Foerster's numbering (= F). References to Synesius of Cyrene's letters follow A. Garzya's numbering. References to Ambrose of Milan's letters follow M. Zelzer's numbering (CSEL).
References to Firmus of Caesarea's letters follow M. Calvet-Sebasti's numbering (SC).
References to John Chrysostom's letters follow the numbering in PG 52.
References to all other letters and conciliar documents use titles and numbers from CPG and CPL.
Sessions at the Council of Chalcedon are numbered according to the Greek acta. (Note that Price and Gaddis, Acts of Chalcedon, number according to the Latin acta).
Except where otherwise indicated, all translations of source passages are my own.