The topic of authority was quite common in early Christianity as various Christian communities sought to establish both their legitimacy and their apostolic right to continue tradition. Thus, it is common to find, in various forms, discussions of authority linking apostolic tradition to current forms of legislative, judicial and ecclesiastical power. The anonymous treatise that Franz Cöln publishes here, which claims to cover the topics of festivals and fasts, includes a discussion of the system of ecclesiastical authority and apostolic tradition from the perspective of the Syriac tradition. The title of the manuscript includes attribution to Clement of Rome, but as Cöln notes, this claim is part of the appeal to apostolic authority and does not reflect a genuine link to the Clementine literature. Cöln presents the Arabic text of the anonymous writing, and includes a Latin translation. Cöln also provides an introduction to the text in which he discusses briefly the topic of authority within the churches of the East.

• Eines Anonymus' Abhandlung über Feste und Fasten, Autorität und Gehorsam in der syrischen Kirche (page 5)