Finding Patristic and Medieval Biblical Exegesis Summary The fastest reliable system is not to begin with an author or a giant set like Migne, but with four linked questions: Which verse? which textual form? which work? which edition? In practice, that means starting with a verse index such as BiblIndex / Biblia Patristica for patristic references, using Clavis Clavium with CPL and CPG numbers to identify the exact work and its authenticity, and then moving into text databases such as TLG, LLT, or the Vetus Latina Database to verify the wording and context before settling on a critical edition such as CCSL, CCSG, CSEL, Sources Chrétiennes, or GCS. The core methodological point is simple: a verse hit is not yet a source identification, and a source identification is not yet a usable text. Patristic exegesis appears in many genres beyond formal commentaries, including homilies, scholia, catenae, doctrinal treatises, and later medieval glossed Bibles; a researcher therefore has to distinguish primary exegesis from excerpt collections, later anthologies, translations, and modern reading tools such as the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. For personal Bible study, public-domain scans and free translation sites are often enough to locate a passage and get a first reading. For teaching, publication, textual criticism, manuscript work, authorship questions, pseudepigrapha, and any place where the exact wording matters, one normally needs a modern critical edition with apparatus and a description of the manuscript tradition. Source types and how to tell them apart Patristic and medieval exegesis is spread across more literary forms than formal commentaries alone. Cambridge’s overview of patristic exegetical genres notes that Christian exegesis circulated in commentaries, running homilies, scholia, and later catenae, while recent scholarship on patristic exegesis stresses that biblical interpretation also appears outside the formal commentary genre. A scholium is usually a short explanatory note on a difficult point. A catena is a chain of excerpts from earlier authorities. The Glossa Ordinaria is a medieval glossed Bible, mostly built from patristic materials but arranged in a school and manuscript format of its own. The ACCS is a modern anthology of ancient excerpts arranged by biblical book, not a primary-source edition. The Philokalia is an ascetical and mystical anthology, highly relevant for spiritual reception of Scripture, but not a verse-by-verse Bible commentary corpus. Source type What it usually lookslike How to recognize it Main research value Original patristic commentary Continuous exposition on one biblical book or section Title often includes in + biblical book, and the work has its own authorial identity in CPL or CPG Best primary witness for an author’s exegesis 1 2 3 4 5 1