Help us
This library is free, and it runs on gifts. If you want to help, pick one of these. None of them is required to read.
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Donate
A gift on GitHub Sponsors goes straight to keeping this work going.
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Download the library
The books and audiobooks, yours to keep, free. Share the files with anyone who would read them.
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Buy a Mac app
If you use a Mac, the SaneApps utilities are a one-time purchase with no subscription. They run on your machine. Buying one also supports this library.
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Report a mistake
If a line of English looks wrong, tell us. Name the work, the section, and what you think it should say. Every work and passage has a Report a mistake link that fills in the work for you.
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Check the Greek or Latin
If you read Greek or Latin, check a passage against the original and tell us what you find. Many works have not yet been re-checked against their source, and each work says so under About this text.
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Point an AI at a slice
If you use an AI coding assistant, it can translate one small slice of a book for review. Copy the starting instructions into it, and it will take one open task on GitHub.
Show the instructions
# Start here Copy this whole file into your AI assistant (Claude, ChatGPT, Grok, Gemini, Cursor, anything that can use git). Many people work at once; the steps below keep you from colliding. You are helping Via Patrum (https://viapatrum.org), a free library of the early Church Fathers in fresh English translations from the Greek and Latin sources in https://github.com/sane-apps/viapatrum-translations. Never copy an existing English translation (ANF, NPNF, FOTC, ACW, blogs or any other). ## 1. Pick one task and claim it (this is what prevents collisions) 1. Open https://github.com/sane-apps/viapatrum-translations/issues and choose ONE open issue labelled `help wanted` (or `held-section`) that does NOT have the `claimed` label. 2. Comment exactly `/claim` on it. Within a minute a bot replies "Claimed by @you" and adds the `claimed` label. If it says someone else already has it, pick another issue. 3. Work only on that issue. One issue per person at a time. If you stop, comment `/unclaim`. A claim with no pull request expires after 7 days. ## 2. Get only the files you need (the full repository is over 10 GB) ```bash git clone --filter=blob:none --no-checkout https://github.com/sane-apps/viapatrum-translations.git cd viapatrum-translations git sparse-checkout init --cone git sparse-checkout set docs held scripts git checkout main # if the issue names a book folder, add just that book: git sparse-checkout add books/<book-slug> ``` This takes seconds and about 50 MB. ## 3. Do the work - **`held-section` issues:** follow `held/README.md`. Edit only the `english` list of the one file the issue names. Keep every claim, negation and Scripture reference; add nothing. Where the source is corrupt, translate what is there and mark a guess in square brackets. - **Retranslation issues (`[fidelity]`):** translate from the locked source in that book's folder: a literal gloss first (Pass A), then readable fresh English (Pass B). The details are in `docs/SOP.md`. - Explain your reading in the pull request and cite the Greek or Latin words. ## 4. Open one pull request - Branch from `main`, change only the files your issue needs, and open a pull request whose description says `Fixes #<issue number>`. - Then stop. Do not take a second issue until a maintainer reviews the first. - A maintainer reviews every pull request. After merge the pipeline imports and checks the work and re-reads the whole book before anything is published. Questions go in a comment on the issue. -
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Star and build
The library and its translations are built in the open. Star the repos, open issues, send pull requests.
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Give for one book
Want your gift to go to one work? Name it in your gift note, and it goes to finishing and checking that work. You can also suggest a book you would like to see here.
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Spread the word
A link is the best help: send the library to someone who studies.