> IV. Evidence for the New Testament CanonII beginningIV centuries
> In the history of the Church of the 2nd and 4th centuries, one can discern a number of circumstances that had a certain influence on the formation of the canon. Now we cannot assert that these circumstances external to the Church served as the reason for the canonization of the text of Holy Scripture. It is quite possible that even without them this canonization would have taken place at one time or another. However, it is significant for us that the Fathers of the Church and authoritative church writers of this era, speaking about the canon of sacred books, as a rule, indicate at least some of these external circumstances.
> The main one among these external motives for canonization is the desire to protect the Church from the harmful influence of numerous heresies, the founders of which tried to substantiate their teachings by including new books in Scripture and excluding from it texts they did not like. Therefore, most of the Fathers of the Church, justifying the very fact that they are forced to list canonical books, say something similar, for example, to the words of St. Athanasius of Alexandria (): “since I write for the sake of need... Let no one add anything to these, nor take anything away from them.”
> The most noticeable influence was the Gnostics, Montanists and Marcionites. The Gnostics usually added their own writings to the Four Gospels and the Epistles. Montanists<..>added their works as the third part of the Bible, new in comparison with the Old and New Testaments (it is characteristic that for Montanism, which arose around 172, the Bible accepted by the Church already includes these two parts). Marcion completely denied the Old Testament, and edited the New in the spirit of pogrom anti-Semitism, as a result of which he included in the Scriptures only the greatly truncated Gospel of Luke and the nine epistles of St. Pavel. The above statement by St. Irenaeus of Lyon about those who “add” to the Four Gospels and “take away” from it is directly directed specifically against the Gnostics and Marcionites. It is necessary in this regard to note that the Church’s doubts regarding certain texts, including, for example, the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Apocalypse of John, are largely related to their popularity among heretics.
> Perhaps it is in the polemic against heresies that the very concept of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament appears. Eusebius (Church history V, 16, 3) quotes from an anonymous author who wrote against Montanus in the early 190s, in which the latter fears that the reader might think that he “inscribed something new in the Gospel of the New Testament and rearranged something there." In the original Greek, the expression "εύαγγελίου καινής διαθήκης λόγω" literally means "the word of the gospel of the New Testament" and implies the New Testament as a text in which no changes should be made.
> Another factor that urgently required certainty in the canon of the Holy Books was the persecution of Christians, in which an important requirement of the authorities was the surrender and destruction of the Holy Books. There are known cases when bishops, instead of Scripture, handed over manuscripts of heretical works (or simply theological works), taking advantage of ignorance, and sometimes even the connivance of local authorities. However, this required a clear understanding of which books belong to Scripture and cannot be handed over, and which books do not belong to it and can be handed over for burning.
> The canonization of the Old Testament by the Jamnite rabbis, which took place at the end of the 1st century, had an undoubted influence on Christians. It not only demanded certainty from the Church regarding the Jamnian Canon, which the Church accepted, but also served as an incentive to clarify the composition of its own Scripture. <Смотри: ЯМНИЙСКАЯ ШКОЛА ; КАНОН СВЯЩ. ПИСАНИЯ в Словаре А.Меня; Канон Ветхого завета в кн. А.В.Лакирева .>
> Below we will consider indirect evidence about the composition of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament from various authors of the first centuries of Christianity. Among these testimonies, the fathers of the Church and church writers of the 2nd century are characterized by quotations and references to certain texts. For the fathers and writers of the 3rd, 4th and subsequent centuries, on the contrary, lists of books that, according to their information, are included in the canon are more typical.<...>
> At the beginning of the history of the Church, the Holy Scriptures meant only the books of the Old Testament. It is fundamentally important that in the 2nd century the attitude towards the Holy Scriptures was determined as an inspired text, similar in this regard to the sayings of the Old Testament prophets. One of the first, if not the first, to express this thought was St. Theophilus of Antioch († c. 180), famous primarily for the fact that he was the first among Christians (and, therefore, in history in general) to use the word “Trinity.” In the 3rd book "To Autolycus" (3.12) St. Theophilus writes: “the words of both the prophets and the evangelists agree with each other, because they all spoke inspired by the same Spirit of God” and further quotes the prophets and the Gospel (in this case Matt.) as equal sacred texts.
> In relation to the composition of the Holy Scriptures for the 2nd century, it is typical, on the one hand, to challenge the authority of most of the Council Epistles (except 1 Peter and 1 John) and the Apocalypse (which is often not discussed at all) and, on the other hand, to mention it as authoritative works that will subsequently be decisively excluded by the Church from the canon of Holy Scripture. The latter include the Gospel of the Jews, popular in the 2nd century, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistles of St. Clement of Rome and St. Barnabas, the Teaching of the 12 Apostles (Didache) and the Apostolic Constitutions (Clementines).
> In the 1st half of the 2nd century St. Papias of Hierapolis uses in texts that have not reached us, but are known to Eusebius, 1 Epistle of Peter and 1 Epistle of John. Quotes Papias and the Gospel of the Jews.
> The largest apologist of the 2nd century, St. Justin the Philosopher (c. 100 c. 165) quotes the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, 1 Peter, the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, incl. and the Epistle to the Hebrews. Justin also highly appreciates the authority of the Apocalypse of John the Theologian. However, the Council Epistles (except for 1 Pet.) remain outside his field of vision. It is significant that speaking about the Gospels, St. Justin typically uses the title "Memoirs of the Apostles" and mentions that they are read during the Sunday Eucharist along with the writings of the prophets.
> In the next generation, St. Clement of Alexandria mentions and quotes all 27 canonical books as part of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. However, along with them, he includes many other texts in Scripture. Among them are the Gospel of the Hebrews, the Didache (Teaching of the 12 Apostles), the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistles of Barnabas and 1 Clement, and the Apocalypse of Peter. It should be noted that St. Clement also uses non-canonical books of the Old Testament, in particular the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach. In general, St. Clement offers perhaps the broadest view of the composition of Holy Scripture in the history of the Church.
> Senior contemporary of St. Clement, St. Irenaeus of Lyons uses a slightly different New Testament canon. In addition to the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and the 13 Epistles of the Apostles, which have never been doubted by anyone. Paul (except for the Epistle to the Hebrews), he includes in the canon 1 Peter, the Epistles and Apocalypse of John, as well as the Shepherd of Hermas. St.'s position Irenea was, it seems, closer to the generally accepted one in the 2nd half of the 2nd century.
> The most important document for the history of the New Testament canon is the “Muratorian Canon” the oldest surviving list of New Testament writings, discovered by L.A. Muratori (1672-1750). The manuscript dates back to the end of the 2nd century (170-180), since its author mentions Pius I, Hermas, Marcion, Basilides and Montanus among his contemporaries. The beginning (and possibly the end) of the manuscript has been lost. The list begins with the final words of the phrase about the Gospel of Mark, then describes the Gospels of Luke and John, numbered 3 and 4. It is obvious that the Gospel of Mark was second in the list and there is no reason to doubt that the Gospel of Matthew came first in the lost beginning of the manuscript. The list also includes all the books of the New Testament except 1 and 2 Peter, Hebrews, and James. In addition to this, the canon includes the Apocalypse of Peter (“Of the revelations we recognize only John and Peter, which some of our people do not want to read in the Church”), as well as the Wisdom of Solomon (sic!), although with warnings. Equally important is the list of books that the Muratorian canon designates as rejected and not included in the canon. Here is the Shepherd of Hermas, about whom it is said that “Hermas wrote the Shepherd already in our days in Rome, when his brother Pius was bishop. Therefore it must be read, but not publicly in church, neither among the writings of the apostles, nor among the prophets.” Also excluded from the canon are the letters of the Apostle Paul to the Laodiceans and Alexandrians, and a number of heretical writings. The Latin text of the Muratorian canon is replete with spelling and grammatical errors, which has given researchers reason to attribute it to a Greek-language author, perhaps St. Hippolyta.
> The Muratorian canon reflects an important trend that strengthened in the Church in the 2nd half of the 2nd century, namely the desire to draw a line between the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament and near-New Testament writing. This is due to the fact that it was in the middle and in the 2nd half of the century that the flow of manuscripts (mostly pseudepigrapha, i.e. inscribed with authoritative apostolic names), read by Christians, but originating from a heretical near-Christian environment, increased. The desire to stop the spread of heretical works is manifested primarily in the fact that the range of books read in the Church during worship is limited. Automatically, but not immediately, this division also extends to the area of home reading for Church members.
> The main criterion for differentiation becomes the correspondence of the text of a particular book to the “teachings we accept,” i.e. that unwritten Revelation, which was transmitted to the Church through the apostles and preserved by it. In addition, church writers of this time (including the author of the Muratorian canon) pay attention to the wide distribution of texts. Other things being equal, preference is given to books that are “read everywhere.” Various authors of this time may draw the boundary of the New Testament Scripture in different ways, but the need to draw it is gradually becoming more and more obvious, and the broad view of St. Cyril of Alexandria looks rather like an exception against this background. At this time, there is still no possibility of adoption and recognition of normative documents, which will subsequently become the rules of the Councils and St. fathers, therefore, 3 categories of books are inevitably distinguished: generally accepted, controversial and spurious.
> One of the first to propose such a division was Origen in the 1st half of the 3rd century. Among the generally accepted books he includes the Four Gospels, Acts, 13 Pauline Epistles, 1 Peter and 1 John, as well as the Apocalypse of John. Origen designates the remaining Council Epistles (2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude and James), as well as the Epistle to the Hebrews, as controversial, although his personal opinion is in favor of these texts. He also considers the Epistle of Barnabas controversial. The rest of the near-New Testament literature is kept silent: it is assumed that it cannot possibly be included in the canon under discussion.
> At the beginning of the 4th century, Eusebius of Caesarea (260 x 340), like Origen, also divided the New Testament Scriptures into generally accepted, controversial, but accepted by many, and forged. He writes (Church ist. III, 25): "... let us list the books of the New Testament already known to us. In the first place we will put, of course, the holy quartet of Gospels, followed by the Acts of the Apostles; then Paul's Epistles, immediately after them First John and the indisputable Peter, and then, if you wish, the Apocalypse of John, which we will talk about in due time. These are the undisputed books, but the majority accepted: the Epistles, one called James, the other Jude, and 2 Peter, also 2 and. 3 John: maybe they belong to the evangelist, or maybe to some of his namesakes. The forged ones include: “The Acts of Paul”, a book called “The Shepherd”, “The Apocalypse of Peter”, “The Epistle”, recognized by Barnavin, the so-called “Teaching of the Apostles” and, as I said, perhaps the Apocalypse of John, which some reject, while others classify as recognized books. Some placed among these books the “Gospel of the Jews”... All these are rejected books, and we considered it necessary to compile them. list, believing that we should know which books are genuine, not fabricated and accepted by church tradition, and which, on the contrary, are excluded from the books of the New Testament, although known to most church writers."
> Despite the clear rejection by Eusebius and many of his contemporaries of a number of “forged” books, they continue to be found in the texts of the New Testament of the next, Conciliar era of the history of the Church (IV-VIII centuries), when the final formation and canonical design of the composition of the Holy Scriptures as the Old, so the New Testament.
> V. Canon of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament inthe era of the Ecumenical Councils
> At the beginning of the conciliar era (IV century), some geographical differences in attitude towards controversial books are clearly evident. Western church writers tend to favor the Apocalypse of John without including Hebrews in the canon of Scripture. In contrast, Eastern Christian authorities generally accept Hebrews while doubting or rejecting the Apocalypse altogether.
> Thus, one of the most important documents on the composition of Scripture, the 60th rule (canon) of the Council of Laodicea (a local council in Laodicea in Phrygia, which met around 363 x 364, at least after the Council of Sardis in 347 and before the Second Ecumenical Council 381), lists the following books as part of Scripture: “These books of the Old Testament should be read: 1. Genesis of the world, 2. Exodus from Egypt, 3. Leviticus, 4. Numbers, 5. Deuteronomy, 6. Joshua, 7 . Judges, Ruth, 8. Esther, 9. Kings, 1st and 2nd, 10. Kings, 3rd and 4th, 11. Chronicles, 1st and 1st, 12. Ezra, first and second, 13. Book of Psalms of the One Hundred and Fifty, 14. Proverbs of Solomon, 15. Ecclesiastes, 16. Song of Songs, 17. Job, 18. Twelve Prophets, 19. Isaiah, 20. Jeremiah, Baruch, Lamentations and the Message, 21. Ezekiel , 22. Daniel. There are four Gospels of the New Testament: from Matthew, from Mark, from Luke, from John, the Acts of the Apostles, these seven epistles: James one, Peter two, John three, Jude one; fourteen: Romans one, Corinthians two, Galatians one, Ephesians one, Philippians one, Colossians one,<Фессалоникийцам>two, to the Hebrews one, to Timothy two, to Titus one and to Philemon one." The canon of the Old Testament is presented here in the traditional volume of 22 books for the East (numbering according to the number of letters of the Hebrew alphabet emphasizes the orientation specifically to the Jewish canon) The New Testament includes all books here except the Apocalypse.
> Similarly, the books of the New Testament are counted by St. Gregory the Theologian and St. Cyril of Jerusalem. List of St. Gregory becomes, thanks to his authority, a church canon and is included in the Book of Rules under the title “The Rule of St. Gregory the Theologian on which books of the Old and New Testaments should be read.” In this rule of St. Gregory says: “So that your mind is not deceived by alien books, for many counterfeit scriptures are found, written incorrectly, then accept, beloved, this is my correct calculation... [here St. Gregory lists the usual 22 books of the Tanakh] I have offered 22 books of the Old Testament, Hebrew letters are equal in number. After this, count the books of the New Sacrament. Matthew wrote about the miracles of Christ for the Jews, Mark for Italy, and for all, John, the great preacher and celestial man. Then follow the Acts of the wise apostles, the fourteen epistles of Paul. Seven Councils, of which one is James, two are Peter’s, then three are John’s, the seventh is Judas, so you have everything, if there are any that are beyond these, they do not belong to the recognized ones.”
> St. Cyril of Jerusalem (IV Catechetical Sermon, 36) lists the same 26 books without the Apocalypse, adding: “and let everything else be placed outside, in second place. What is not read in church, do not read in private...”
> However, other church authorities of the 2nd half of the 4th century still adhere to the division of Scripture into generally accepted and controversial books. Yes, St. Amphilochius of Iconium (c. 340 c. 395), according to some sources, a relative of St. Gregory the Theologian, lists the books of the New Testament differently. In the Book of Rules, the rule of St. Amphilochia is located immediately after the rule of St. Gregory and entitled "St. Amphilochius the Bishop to Seleucus on what books are acceptable." In it St. Amphilochius writes: “It is especially appropriate<знать>and this is that not every book that has acquired the venerable name of Scripture is reliable. For there are sometimes books with false names, others mediocre and,<так сказать>, close to the words of truth, and others are counterfeit and deceptive, like counterfeit and counterfeit coins, which, although they have a royal inscription, but, in their substance, turn out to be false. Therefore, I will name for you each of the inspired books. But so that you may know separately, first, the named books of the Old Testament... [see. above] Time<назвать>to me the books of the New Testament: they accepted only four evangelists: Matthew, then Mark, adding to these the third Luke, John was numbered fourth in time, but first in the height of dogmas, for I righteously call him the son of thunder, who majestically proclaimed God’s Word. We also accepted the second book of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. To these add the vessel of election, the preacher and apostle of the tongues, Paul, who wisely wrote fourteen epistles to the churches: one to the Romans, to which should be numbered two to the Corinthians, Galatians,<Ефесянам>; for this to those living in Philippi, then written to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, one to Titus and Philemon, and one to the Hebrews. Some call this inauthentic<неправильно>, for in him is true grace. What's the last thing?<скажу>about the Council messages? Some say that 7 of them should be accepted, and others 3 only: one of James, one of Peter and one of John. Some accept 3 Johns, and besides these two Peters and the seventh Judas. Others classify the Revelation of John among the sacred books, and many call it inauthentic. Let this be the most unfalse canon of the Inspired Scriptures.” The fact that St. Amphilochius includes a listing of controversial books in the “most unfalse canon” of Scripture is rather characteristic of the Church of the previous, 3rd century.
> A different position is held by an older contemporary of St. Gregory, Cyril and Amphilochius, one of the greatest theologians of the 4th century, St. Athanasius of Alexandria. In the 39th message on the Holidays (367), he gives a list of Holy Books, which was also later included in the Book of Rules and became a normative church document. St. Athanasius writes: “... I also deigned, prompted by the true brothers and having learned first, to set out in a row which books were accepted into the canon, transmitted and believed to be Divine [i.e., according to Tradition, they are revered as Inspired]...” and then gives a complete list of 27 books of the New Testament, adding then: “... in these only the doctrine of piety is preached. Let no one add to this, nor let anyone take away from them anything. About these the Lord, shaming the Sadducees, said: “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God.” (Matt. 22:29) Here, for the first time, with such clarity, St. Athanasius formulates the attitude of the Church to the books of the New Testament as to the Holy Scriptures and applies to them the words spoken by Christ about the Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament. Continuing, St. Athanasius writes: “For the sake of With greater accuracy, since I am writing for the sake of need, I add this, which is, besides these, and other books that are not included in the canon, but appointed by the Fathers for reading by newcomers and those who wish to be proclaimed by the word of piety: Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobias and the so-called Teaching of the Apostles [Didache, or perhaps Clementine], and the Shepherd. However, beloved, in addition to these readable and canonical ones, there is no mention of apocryphal ones anywhere, but this is the intention of the heretics...” So St. Athanasius distinguishes books no longer into generally accepted, controversial and spurious, but into canonical, “readable” (for edification) and apocryphal (i.e. heretical).
> In fact, this rule completes the formation of the canon of Holy Scripture of both the Old and New Testaments, however, the position of St. Athanasia receives conciliar approval and does not immediately become generally recognized. In the East, disagreements about the Apocalypse continue for some time, while in the West, not without the influence of the blessed one. Jerome, position of St. Athanasius, eliminating the difference in the composition of Scripture for the West and the East, is quickly becoming generally accepted. It should be noted, however, that in a number of manuscripts of this era, such as<Синайский кодекс>(Greek manuscript of the Bible from the middle of the 4th century), at the end of the New Testament, without any distinction, the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas are included, and in<Александрийский кодекс>(Greek manuscript of the Bible from the beginning of the 5th century) following the Apocalypse, the 1st and 2nd Epistles of St. are also located without distinction. Clement of Rome.
> Since the displacement of books not included in the canon from church use occurred slowly and not without resistance, conciliar decisions on this were also required. The main thing here is the 33rd rule of the Council of Carthage (419), which reads: “It is also decreed that nothing should be read in the church under the name of the Divine Scriptures, except the canonical Scriptures. The canonical Scriptures are these: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers , Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Kings 4 books, Chronicles 2, Job, Psalms, Solomon 4, Prophetic books 12, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Tobiah, Judith, Esther, Ezra 2 books of the New Testament 4 Gospels, Acts of the Apostles 1 book, Epistles of Paul 14, Peter the Apostle 2, John the Apostle 3, James the Apostle 1, Jude the Apostle 1, Apocalypse of John book one...”
> This, in fact, ends the history of the formation and canonical design of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. The decision of the Council of Carthage and the rule of St. Athanasius ultimately determined the position of the Church in both the East and the West, where it was further confirmed at the Council of Trent in 1546. Even Luther, being unsure of the authority of a number of books (Hebrews, James and Jude, and the Apocalypse), did not go against tradition and placed these books at the end of his Bible. Despite the fact that the replacement of the New Testament copies with versions corresponding to the canons lasted for centuries, the general church discussion about the composition of Scripture after the Council of Carthage subsides.
> But in fact, there is another not entirely clear page in this story, namely the inclusion and exclusion from the canon of documents related to the name of St. Clement of Rome. The Epistles of Clement are mentioned by St. Clement of Alexandria as canonical. Sometimes they are considered among the controversial texts. Many ancient New Testament manuscripts include them. All this does not distinguish them from such non-canonical texts as the Epistle of Barnabas or the Epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans. The 85th Apostolic Canon and the 2nd Canon of the VI Ecumenical Council (Trullo, 681), which corrects it, give a special character to the history of these documents.
> The Apostolic Rules, consisting of 85 canons, constitute the last part of the Apostolic Constitutions and at the same time the first section of the Book of Rules. According to most researchers, they were compiled at the end of the 4th century. This is evidenced by both the themes of most of the canons and the close similarity of many of them with the decrees of the Council of Antioch in 341. At the same time, some sections of the Apostolic Rules (and Decrees) may also be based on a very ancient church tradition. The first 50 of the Apostolic Rules were in the 6th century. translated into Latin by Dionysius the Small (author of the chronology “from the Nativity of Christ”) and entered into the canon law of the Western Church. Dionysius himself did not really believe in the apostolic origin of the document he was translating and entitled it “rules called apostolic” (). In the East, the authority of all 85 rules was confirmed by the VI Ecumenical Council, which simultaneously rejected the Apostolic (Clementine) decrees.
> In form, the Apostolic Rules are a pseudepigrapha falsely attributed to St. Clement of Rome. The last, 85th rule of this collection lists the canonical books of Holy Scripture as follows: “For all of us who belong to the clergy and the laity, let the following books of the Old Testament be revered and holy: Mosaic 5: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy; Joshua son of Nun 1, Judges 1, Ruth 1, Kings 4, Chronicles (ie, remnants of the book of days) 2, Ezra 2, Esther 1, Maccabees 3, Job 1 , Psalms 1, Solomon 3: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs; the books of the prophets 12, Isaiah 1, Jeremiah 1, Ezekiel 1, Daniel 1. Moreover, let this be added to you as a note, so that your young ones study the wisdom of the many-learned Sirach. Ours, i.e. the New Testament, Gospel 4: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John 14, Peter 2 epistles, John 3, James 1, Jude 1, Clement 2 epistles. And the decrees for you, bishops, by me, Clement, spoken in eight books (which should not be made public to everyone because of what is mysterious in them), and our Apostolic Acts." This document excludes the Apocalypse from the New Testament (which indicates its composition, most likely, somewhere in the Eastern part of the Church), but includes both letters of Clement, and the Apostolic Constitutions as a whole, allegedly transmitted through Clement and therefore called Clement's. This addition contrasts sharply with the structure of Holy Scripture generally accepted since the end of the 4th century, which required a special church decision that followed more than 2.5 centuries later.
> By the time of the convening of the VI Ecumenical Council in 681, the question of the canon of the New Testament, generally speaking, had long been resolved. However, the existence of the Apostolic Rules as an authoritative church document introduced confusion, if not contradiction, into it. Therefore, the council, with its 2nd rule, decided the following: “This holy council recognized this as excellent and worthy of extreme diligence, so that from now on, for the healing of the soul and for the healing of the passions, those accepted and approved by the holy and blessed Fathers who were before us should remain firm and inviolable, and also, the 85 rules handed down to us in the name of the holy and glorious Apostles. Since in these rules we are commanded to accept the same decrees of the holy Apostles, handed down through Clement, into which those who once thought differently, to the detriment of the Church, introduced something counterfeit and alien to piety, and which has darkened us. the splendid beauty of the Divine teaching, then we, for the sake of the edification and protection of the most Christian flock, have prudently set aside those Clementine decrees, in no way allowing the creation of heretical falsehood and not interfering with them in the pure and perfect Apostolic teaching...” The status of the Epistles of Clement in this part of the rule, strictly speaking, does not change. However, further in the same rule, the council confirms the authority and effectiveness of many rules of Local and Ecumenical Councils, incl. Laodicea and Carthage, as well as the rules of St. Athanasius, Gregory and Amphilochius concerning the composition of the Holy Scriptures. And this really puts an end to the history of the canon of Holy Books.
> It is characteristic that Origen and other ecclesiastical writers regard as normal the fact that the authority of a number of epistles is controversial among Christians. This is radically different from the attitude of Christians (including Origen) to the Gospels: non-recognition of their authority already at the turn of the 2nd and 3rd centuries was considered a sign of heresy. Yes, St. Irenaeus of Lyon writes: “It is impossible for the Gospels to be more or less in number than they are... vain and ignorant and, moreover, impudent are all those who distort the idea of the Gospel and introduce types of the Gospel more or less than those said, alone for this , to seem as if they had found more than the truth, others to reproach the orders of God" ("Against Heresies", III, 11, 8-9).
The Holy Scriptures of the New Testament consist of 27 books, written mostly in the 40s - 60s of the first century. The New Testament writings have come down to us in thousands of manuscripts, the oldest of which date back to the beginning of the second century. In addition, the books of the New Testament are mentioned and quoted by many authoritative church writers of antiquity. All these materials make it possible to build a fairly substantiated history of the origin and canonization of the New Testament.
In the second half of the first century, a whole literature was formed in the Christian environment, with its own characteristic tasks and genres, themes and techniques. However, within the framework of early Christian writing, the New Testament writings stand out in a more than obvious way. Starting from the turn of the 1st - 2nd centuries, when the later works of the Evangelist John the Theologian were created as part of the New Testament, the authority of most books is not in doubt among any Christians. These works, whose authority has become generally accepted since the end of the 1st century, include 19 books (). Another 8 books remained controversial for several centuries, and their authority was finally recognized only in the 4th century. Finally, at the turn of the 1st - 2nd centuries, a number of works appeared that can be called near-New Testament writing. Some church writers and even canonical conciliar documents consider them authoritative and include them in the New Testament along with other texts. In fact, the separation of near-New Testament writing from the New Testament occurs in the 3rd - 4th centuries, but it is finally formalized only towards the end of the era of the Ecumenical Councils (7th - 8th centuries).
i. Canonical Gospels
The central part of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament are the four Gospels. The works of church writers (see below) from the beginning of the 2nd century agree that the historical authenticity and spiritual authority of the Four Gospels are unconditionally recognized by all Christian churches.
The four Gospels differ from each other in the time of writing, literary and linguistic features. Evangelists write for different readers, and this leaves an imprint on their selection of historical material. The tasks they set for themselves are not entirely identical. At the same time, the first three Gospels are characterized by a number of common features and a similar structure in presentation, and therefore they received the name synoptic (from the Greek σύνοψις, review, brief outline).
In the apostolic environment, along with preaching addressed to the hearts of people, a stable tradition about the events of the earthly life of Christ was preserved and transmitted orally. The accuracy and completeness of the preservation of this tradition were due to the Jewish origin of the apostles: preservation in memory and accurate oral transmission of the words of the teacher were commonplace in the Jewish environment. Clementines (Τά Κλημέντια), a monument of ancient Christian near-New Testament writing associated with the name of St. Clement of Rome, in the section “Meetings” (Άναγνώσεις, Recognitiones), book. II, 1, gives words attributed to the ap. Peter: “I always wake up around midnight, and sleep does not come to me because of the habit of repeating to myself the words of my Lord that I have heard, in order to remember them accurately.” These words are characteristic and truly reflect the attitude of the apostles to what they saw and heard.
The text of the Gospels is replete with Semitisms - phrases and figures of speech that are translations into Greek of Semitic (Aramaic or Hebrew) expressions. This fact, along with a number of content features (the absence of references to the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70; the orientation of Christ’s sermon towards people professing faith in the One God; the use of a number of concepts characteristic of the Jewish environment; the absence of indications of the peculiarities of the life of church communities and much more) another), allows us to believe that the main source of the Gospels was the historical tradition of the Church and the testimonies of the apostles about the events of Christ’s earthly life. This Tradition undoubtedly developed in Palestine and goes back directly to the time of Christ’s earthly life.
Already in the first years of the existence of the Church, attempts were made to record this oral tradition in writing. The Evangelist Luke begins his narrative by pointing out this fact: “As many have already begun to compile narratives about events that are completely known among us, as those who from the very beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the Word handed them down to us...” (Luke 1:1-2). Earlier than others, according to researchers, stories about the Passion, the Resurrection, the Last Supper and the establishment of the Sacrament of the Eucharist could have been written down. In addition, collections of the sayings of Christ (Logia) seem to have been popular among the early Christians. Tradition attributes the compilation of one of these collections to the Evangelist Matthew. The term “Gospel” itself did not arise immediately, and the original name for the creations of the evangelists was, perhaps, precisely the word “Logia”.
Thus, the first three canonical Gospels were compiled from oral tradition between 40 and 70 of the first century. The Evangelist Matthew was the first to write the Gospel: it dates from the first half of the 40s (possibly 42). The Gospel of Matthew was written for Jewish Christians, which is confirmed by the abundance of Semitisms in the surviving Greek text, many references to the Old Testament and Jewish realities that are assumed to be known to the reader. The author strives to systematize the material to some extent. Tradition unanimously asserts that the Gospel of Matthew was written in Hebrew (possibly in Aramaic), but only its Greek translation has survived to our time. Evangelist Mark wrote his Gospel in the 50s for Roman Christians. Therefore, the evangelist makes little mention of the Old Testament, but is forced to explain various Jewish customs. The writing of the Gospel of Luke dates back to the first half of the 60s (possibly 61 - 62). It is quite possible that the Evangelist Luke, among other “narratives of completely known events among us,” was familiar with both the Gospels of Matthew and Mark. He addresses his Gospel primarily to a pagan audience and is especially interested in restoring the chronological sequence of events. Tradition unanimously dates the composition of the Gospel of John to the 90s of the first century. The Gospel of John largely complements the story of the weather forecasters.
ii. Historical evidence about the Four Gospels
Early Christian writing has preserved for us quite a lot of evidence about the composition of the canonical Gospels. These texts attracted attention even in ancient times; they were valued as a source of important information about the time of writing of the Gospels, their authorship and features. In addition to direct evidence, there are also quotes and references to certain New Testament writings in the works of the apostolic men and fathers of the Church of the 2nd - 4th centuries. They make it possible to trace in detail the formation of the New Testament canon. These ancient testimonies are presented in detail in the book “Church History” by Eusebius of Caesarea, one of the most complete and reliable sources on the history of the ancient Church. In this book, in particular, Eusebius writes about the time of Trajan (97-117): “Many of the then disciples, whose souls were struck by the word of God with great wisdom, fulfilled first of all the saving commandment: they distributed their property to the poor, and then set off to travel and carry out the work evangelists, hastening to convey the word of faith to those who have not heard of it at all, and to hand over to them the books of the Divine Gospels.” This message indicates that at the turn of the 1st - 2nd centuries the Gospels already existed and were considered by the new generation, which had not seen the apostles, as an important doctrinal source.
St. saved important information for us. Papias of Hierapolis (c. 60 - c. 130), about whom St. Irenaeus of Lyons reports that he was “a disciple of John and St. Polycarp [Smyrna]." In his work “Five Books of Expositions of the Lord’s Sayings,” Papias writes: “This is what the presbyter [John, the apostolic husband] said: “Mark was the translator of Peter; He accurately wrote down everything that he remembered from what the Lord said and did, but not in order, for he himself did not hear the Lord and did not walk with Him. Later he accompanied Peter, who taught as circumstances required, and did not intend to put the words of Christ in order. Mark made no mistake in writing everything down as he remembered it; He only cared about not missing anything or conveying it incorrectly...Matthew wrote down Jesus’ conversations in Hebrew, and translated them as best he could.” Papias's mention that Matthew recorded the Lord's conversations is the main argument in favor of the hypothesis that the Logiae were compiled before the writing of the Gospel of Matthew. It is characteristic that Papias does not use the term “Gospel”: in his time it might not have yet taken root. At the same time, it is important that the Gospel of Mark, written in Rome at the beginning of the 2nd century, is already well known in Asia Minor, where Papias was a bishop.
St. himself Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130 - c. 202) in the book “Against Heresies”, III, 1.1 describes the history of the creation of the Four Gospels as follows: “...Matthew published the writings of the Gospel among the Jews in their own language, while Peter and Paul They preached the gospel to Rome and founded the Church. After their departure, Mark, the disciple and interpreter of Peter, gave us in writing what was preached by Peter. And Luke, Paul's companion, set forth in a book the Gospel he preached. Then John, the disciple of the Lord, reclining on His chest, also published the Gospel during his stay in Ephesus.” St. Irenaeus was born in Asia Minor (possibly in Smyrna) and was a student of St. Polycarp, student of St. John the Theologian, which gives special value to his testimony about the authorship and place of writing of the fourth Gospel.
Another important testimony was left to us by a contemporary of St. Irenaeus St. Clement of Alexandria (150 - 215), however, the chronology he proposes differs from the majority opinion: “The Gospels, where there are genealogies, were written first. The Gospel of Mark arose under the following circumstances: Peter, being in Rome and preaching the teachings of Christ, expounded, filled with the Spirit, what is contained in the Gospel. Those who listened - and there were many of them - convinced Mark, as Peter’s longtime companion, who remembered everything he said, to write down his words. Mark did so and gave this Gospel to those who asked. Peter, having learned about this, did not forbid Mark, but did not encourage him either. John, the latter, seeing that those Gospels proclaimed the earthly works of Christ, wrote, prompted by his disciples and inspired by the Spirit, a spiritual Gospel.”
At the beginning of the third century, the great Alexandrian theologian Origen (185 - 254) cites in the 1st book of his Commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew a general church tradition about the origin of the Gospels: “This is what I learned from tradition about the four Gospels, the only ones indisputable for the entire Church of God, located under heaven: the first was written by Matthew, a former publican, and then an apostle of Christ, intended for Jewish Christians and written in Hebrew; the second, from Mark, was written according to the instructions of Peter, who called Mark his son in the Catholic Epistle: “The chosen Church in Babylon and Mark my son greet you.” The third Gospel is Luke, which Paul approves, written for Gentile Christians. The last Gospel is from John” (according to Eusebius, Church History, VI, 25.4). Origen emphasizes that, against the background of the biographical works about Christ and the apocryphal Gospels that existed in his time, the only indisputable ones for the entire Church are the four canonical Gospels.
These precious passages indicate that each of the four Gospels, from the moment of its writing, very quickly (in the absence of printing) spread throughout the Church and became the main authoritative document about the events of Christ’s earthly life and His preaching.
Over the course of the 2nd to 5th centuries, in parallel with the Four Gospels, other similar documents were preserved (especially in the Eastern Mediterranean). The most famous of them is the Diatessaron (Διά τεσσάρων, Greek “from four”), compiled at the end of the 1st half of the 2nd century by Tatian († c. 160). In the fourth century, Eusebius writes about him: “...Tatian compiled - I don’t know how - a set of four Gospels, calling it the Gospel of Four”; Some people still have it” (Church History IV, 29:6). The Diatessaron is a sequential account of the Gospel events based on the agreement of the four evangelists. In ancient times, the popularity of this first attempt to harmonize gospel history was quite great; in the Syriac-speaking Churches of the Middle East, the Diatessaron was widespread even after the 5th century. From the point of view of the history of the canon of the New Testament, the fact of compiling such a harmonization in the 30s - 50s of the 2nd century precisely on the basis of the canonical Four Gospels without involving additional sources testifies to the exceptional authority of the Four Gospels a few decades after its writing.
iii. Acts, Epistles and Apocalypse
Unlike the Four Gospels, direct evidence about the Acts and Epistles of the Apostles and the Apocalypse is fragmentary and very incomplete, but early Christian writing is replete with indirect evidence, primarily quotations from these books. The books of the Acts of the Apostles, 1 Epistle of Peter, 1 Epistle of John and 13 Epistles of the Apostle Paul are completely indisputable for the Church of the 2nd - 4th centuries. The authority of the remaining epistles and the Apocalypse of John remains controversial at this time: some local Churches and church writers recognize this authority, but others reject it or do not use these texts.
Of the direct evidence of the messages, the testimony of Origen in the 5th book of the Commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew (according to Eusebius, Church History, VI, 25.7-10) is very characteristic: “Paul, who was given enough to become a minister of the New Testament, did not in letter, but in spirit, having saturated the lands from Jerusalem and all around Illyricum with the Gospel, he did not write to all the Churches that he instructed, and even to those to whom he wrote, he sent several lines. From Peter, on whom the Church of Christ is founded and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, only one Epistle remains, recognized by everyone. Let us, perhaps, accept the second one, although there is some debate about it. What can we say about John, who reclined on the chest of Christ? He left one Gospel, noting that the whole world could not contain what he could write; He also wrote Revelation, but he was ordered to remain silent and not write about what the seven thunders said. What remains of him is a message of a few lines. Let's accept, perhaps, the Second and Third - not everyone recognizes them as genuine; both have no more than a hundred lines.” The information given by Origen reflects the situation characteristic of the 2nd - 4th centuries.
Origen’s testimony about the Epistle to the Hebrews has also been preserved in his conversations about this Epistle (according to Eusebius, Church history, VI, 25:13-14): “If I had to speak openly, I would say: the thoughts in this Epistle belong to the apostle, and the choice of words and manner of speech - to the person who remembers what the apostle said and writes, as if explaining what the teacher said. If any Church accepts this epistle as Paul's, praise be to it for that. It was not for nothing that the ancient men considered this Epistle to be Paul’s. Who was its real author, only God knows. Even before us, some attributed it to Clement, the Bishop of Rome, others to Luke, who wrote the Gospel.” Here Origen gives a view on the authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews, which was also common among other church writers of his era. In particular, St. Clement of Alexandria considers the Apostle Paul as the author, and the Evangelist Luke as the translator of the Epistle to the Hebrews into Greek.
It is characteristic that Origen and other church writers consider both normal the fact that the authority of a number of epistles is controversial among Christians. This is radically different from the attitude of Christians (including Origen) to the Gospels: non-recognition of their authority already at the turn of the 2nd - 3rd centuries was considered a sign of heresy. Yes, St. Irenaeus of Lyons writes: “It is impossible for there to be more or fewer Gospels than they are... vain and ignorant and, moreover, impudent are all those who distort the idea of the Gospel and introduce types of the Gospel more or less than what has been said - alone in order to seem as if they found more than the truth, others to reproach the orders of God” (“Against Heresies”, III, 11:8-9).
iv. Testimonies about the canon of the New Testament 2 - beginning. 4th centuries
In the history of the Church of the 2nd - 4th centuries one can discern a number of circumstances that had a certain influence on the formation of the canon. Now we cannot say that these circumstances external to the Church served reason canonization of the text of Holy Scripture. It is quite possible that even without them this canonization would have taken place at one time or another. However, it is significant for us that the Fathers of the Church and authoritative church writers of this era, speaking about the canon of sacred books, as a rule, indicate at least some of these external circumstances.
The main one among these external motives for canonization is the desire to protect the Church from the harmful influence of numerous heresies, the founders of which tried to substantiate their teachings by including new books in Scripture and excluding from it texts they did not like. Therefore, the majority of the Church Fathers, justifying the very fact that they forced list canonical books, they say something similar, for example, to the words of St. Athanasius of Alexandria (see below): “since I write for the sake of need... Let no one add anything to these, nor take anything away from them.”
The most noticeable influences were the Gnostics, Montanists and Marcionites. The Gnostics usually added their own writings to the Four Gospels and the Epistles. The Montanists, on the contrary, added their works as a third part of the Bible, new in comparison with the Old and New Testaments (it is characteristic that for Montanism, which arose around 172, the Bible accepted by the Church already included these two parts). Marcion completely denied the Old Testament, and edited the New in the spirit of pogrom anti-Semitism, as a result of which he included in the Scriptures only the greatly truncated Gospel of Luke and the nine epistles of St. Pavel. The above statement by St. Irenaeus of Lyon about those who “add” to the Four Gospels and “take away” from it is directly directed specifically against the Gnostics and Marcionites. It is necessary in this regard to note that the Church’s doubts regarding certain texts, including, for example, the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Apocalypse of John, are largely related to their popularity among heretics.
Perhaps it is in the polemic against heresies that the very concept of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament appears. Eusebius (Church history V, 16.3) quotes from an anonymous author who wrote against Montanus in the early 190s, in which the latter fears that the reader might think that he “inscribed something new in the Gospel of the New Testament and rearranged something there.” In the original Greek, the expression "εύαγγελίου καινής διαθήκης λόγω" literally means "the word of the gospel of the New Testament" and implies the New Testament as text, which should not be changed.
Another factor that urgently required certainty in the canon of the Holy Books was the persecution of Christians, in which an important requirement of the authorities was the surrender and destruction of the Holy Books. There are known cases when bishops, instead of Scripture, handed over manuscripts of heretical works (or simply theological works), taking advantage of ignorance, and sometimes even the connivance of local authorities. However, this required a clear understanding of which books belong to Scripture and cannot be handed over, and which books do not belong to it and can be handed over for burning.
The canonization of the Old Testament by the Jamnite rabbis, which took place at the end of the 1st century, had an undoubted influence on Christians. It not only demanded certainty from the Church regarding the Jamnian Canon, which the Church accepted, but also served as an incentive to clarify the composition of its own Scripture.
Below we will consider indirect evidence about the composition of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament from various authors of the first centuries of Christianity. Among these testimonies, the Fathers of the Church and church writers of the 2nd century are characterized by quotations and references to certain texts. For the fathers and writers of the 3rd - 4th and subsequent centuries, on the contrary, lists of books that, according to their information, are included in the canon are more typical. This information is summarized in.
At the beginning of the history of the Church, the Holy Scriptures meant only the books of the Old Testament. It is fundamentally important that in the second century the attitude towards the Holy Scriptures was determined as an inspired text, similar in this regard to the sayings of the Old Testament prophets. One of the first, if not the first, to express this thought was St. Theophilus of Antioch († c. 180), famous primarily for the fact that he was the first among Christians (and, therefore, in history in general) to use the word “Trinity.” In the 3rd book “To Autolycus” (3.12) St. Theophilus writes: “the words of both the prophets and the evangelists agree with each other, because they all spoke inspired by the same Spirit of God” and further quotes the prophets and the Gospel (in this case, Matthew) as equal sacred texts.
In relation to the composition of the Holy Scriptures, it is typical for the second century, on the one hand, to challenge the authority of most of the Council Epistles (except 1 Peter and 1 John) and the Apocalypse (which is often not discussed at all) and, on the other hand, to mention them as authoritative such works that will subsequently be decisively excluded by the Church from the canon of Holy Scripture. The latter include the Gospel of the Jews, popular in the 2nd century, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistles of St. Clement of Rome and St. Barnabas, the Teaching of the 12 Apostles (Didache) and the Apostolic Constitutions (Clementines).
In the first half of the 2nd century, St. Papias of Hierapolis uses in texts that have not reached us, but are known to Eusebius, 1 Epistle of Peter and 1 Epistle of John. Quotes Papias and the Gospel of the Jews.
The largest apologist of the 2nd century, St. Justin the Philosopher (c. 100 - c. 165) quotes the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, 1 Peter, the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, including the Epistle to the Hebrews. Justin also highly appreciates the authority of the Apocalypse of John the Theologian. However, the Council Epistles (except 1 Pet) remain outside his field of vision. It is significant that speaking about the Gospels, St. Justin typically uses the title "Memoirs of the Apostles" and mentions that they are read during the Sunday Eucharist along with the writings of the prophets.
In the next generation, St. Clement of Alexandria mentions and quotes all 27 canonical books as part of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. However, along with them, he includes many other texts in the Scriptures. Among them are the Gospel of the Hebrews, the Didache (Teaching of the 12 Apostles), the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistles of Barnabas and 1 Clement, and the Apocalypse of Peter. It should be noted that St. Clement also uses non-canonical books of the Old Testament, in particular the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Jesus, son of Sirach. In general, St. Clement offers perhaps the broadest view of the composition of Holy Scripture in the history of the Church.
An older contemporary of St. Clement, St. Irenaeus of Lyons uses a slightly different New Testament canon. In addition to the Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles and the 13 Epistles of the Apostles, which have never been in doubt by anyone. Paul (except for the Epistle to the Hebrews), he includes in the canon 1 Peter, the Epistles and Apocalypse of John, as well as the Shepherd of Hermas. St.'s position Irenea was, it seems, closer to the generally accepted one in the second half of the 2nd century.
The most important document for the history of the New Testament canon is the “Muratorian Canon” - the oldest surviving list of New Testament writings, discovered by L.A. Muratori (1672-1750). The manuscript dates back to the end of the 2nd century (170-180), since its author mentions Pius I, Hermas, Marcion, Basilides and Montanus among his contemporaries. The beginning (and possibly the end) of the manuscript has been lost. The list begins with the final words of the phrase about the Gospel of Mark, then describes the Gospels of Luke and John, numbered as the third and fourth. It is obvious that the Gospel of Mark was second on the list and there is no reason to doubt that the Gospel of Matthew came first in the lost beginning of the manuscript. The list also includes all the books of the New Testament except 1 and 2 Peter, Hebrews, and James. In addition to this, the canon includes the Apocalypse of Peter (“Of the revelations we recognize only John and Peter, which some of our people do not want to read in the Church”), as well as the Wisdom of Solomon (sic!), although with warnings. Equally important is the list of books that the Muratorian canon designates as rejected and not included in the canon. Here is Hermas the Shepherd, about whom it is said that “Hermas wrote “The Shepherd” already in our days in Rome, when his brother Pius was bishop. Therefore it must be read, but not publicly in church, neither among the writings of the apostles, nor among the prophets.” Also excluded from the canon are the letters of the Apostle Paul to the Laodiceans and Alexandrians, and a number of heretical writings. The Latin text of the Muratorian canon is replete with spelling and grammatical errors, which has given researchers reason to attribute it to a Greek-speaking author, perhaps St. Hippolyta.
The Muratorian canon reflects an important trend that strengthened in the Church in the second half of the 2nd century, namely the desire to draw a line between the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament and near-New Testament writing. This is due to the fact that it was in the middle and second half of the century that the flow of manuscripts (mostly pseudepigrapha, i.e. inscribed with authoritative apostolic names), read by Christians, but originating from a heretical near-Christian environment, increased. The desire to stop the spread of heretical works is manifested primarily in the fact that the range of books read in the Church during worship is limited. Automatically, but not immediately, this division also extends to the area of home reading for Church members.
The main criterion for differentiation is the correspondence of the text of a particular book to the “accepted teaching”, i.e. that unwritten Revelation, which was transmitted to the Church through the apostles and preserved by it. In addition, church writers of this time (including the author of the Muratorian canon) pay attention to the wide distribution of texts. Other things being equal, preference is given to books that are “read everywhere.” Various authors of this time may draw the boundary of the New Testament Scripture in different ways, but the need to draw it gradually becomes more and more obvious and the broad view of St. Clement of Alexandria looks rather like an exception against this background. At this time, there is still no possibility of adoption and recognition of normative documents, which will subsequently become the rules of the Councils and St. fathers, therefore three categories of books are inevitably distinguished: generally accepted, controversial and spurious.
Origen was one of the first to propose such a division in the first half of the 3rd century. Among the generally accepted books he includes the Four Gospels, Acts, the 13 Epistles of Paul, 1 Peter and 1 John, as well as the Apocalypse of John. Origen designates the remaining Council Epistles (2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, Jude and James), as well as the Epistle to the Hebrews, as controversial, although his personal opinion leans in favor of these texts. He also considers the Epistle of Barnabas controversial. The rest of the near-New Testament literature is kept silent: it is assumed that it cannot possibly be included in the canon under discussion.
At the beginning of the 4th century, Eusebius of Caesarea (260 - 340), like Origen, also divided the New Testament Scriptures into generally accepted, controversial, but accepted by many, and forged. He writes (Church history III, 25): “... let us list the books of the New Testament already known to us. In first place let us, of course, place the holy quartet of Gospels, followed by the Acts of the Apostles; then the Epistles of Paul, immediately after them - First John and the indisputable Peter, and then, if you like, the Apocalypse of John, which we will talk about in due time. These books are undeniable. Among the disputed, but most accepted: Epistles, one called James, the other Judah, and Second Peter, also Second and Third John: perhaps they belong to the evangelist, or perhaps to some of his namesakes. The forged ones include: “The Acts of Paul”, a book called “The Shepherd”, “The Apocalypse of Peter”, “The Epistle” recognized by Barnavin, the so-called “Teaching of the Apostles” and, as I said, perhaps the Apocalypse of John, which some reject, while others classified as recognized books. Some placed among these books the “Gospel of the Jews”... All of these books are rejected, and we considered it necessary to compile a list of them, believing that we should know which books are genuine, not fabricated and accepted by church tradition, and which, on the contrary, are from the books of the New Testament excluded, although known to most church writers.”
Despite the clear rejection by Eusebius and many of his contemporaries of a number of “forged” books, they continue to be found in the texts of the New Testament of the next, Conciliar era of Church history (4th - 8th centuries), when the final formation and canonical design of the composition of the Holy Scriptures, both Old and and the New Testament.
v. The Canon of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament in the era of the Ecumenical Councils
At the beginning of the conciliar era (4th century), some geographical differences in attitude towards controversial books are clearly evident. Western church writers tend to favor the Apocalypse of John without including Hebrews in the canon of Scripture. In contrast, Eastern Christian authorities generally accept Hebrews while doubting or rejecting the Apocalypse altogether.
Thus, one of the most important documents on the composition of Scripture, the 60th rule (canon) of the Council of Laodicea (a local council in Laodicea in Phrygia, which met around 363 - 364, at least after the Council of Sardis in 347 and before the Second Ecumenical Council of 381 g.), lists the following books as part of Scripture: “It is proper to read these books of the Old Testament: 1. Genesis of the world, 2. Exodus from Egypt, 3. Leviticus, 4. Numbers, 5. Deuteronomy, 6. Joshua, 7. Judges, Ruth, 8. Esther, 9. Kings, first and second, 10. Kings, third and fourth, 11. Chronicles, first and second, 12. Esdras, first and second, 13. Book of the hundred and fifty psalms, 14. Proverbs Solomon, 15. Ecclesiastes, 16. Song of Songs, 17. Job, 18. Twelve Prophets, 19. Isaiah, 20. Jeremiah, Baruch, Lamentations and the Message, 21. Ezekiel, 22. Daniel. The New Testament has four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; The Acts of the Apostles, these seven cathedral epistles: James - one, Peter - two, John - three, Jude - one; Paul's epistles are fourteen: Romans - one, Corinthians - two, Galatians - one, Ephesians - one, Philippians - one, Colossians - one, Thessalonians - two, Hebrews - one, Timothy - two, to Titus - one and to Philemon - one.” The canon of the Old Testament is presented here in the traditional Eastern volume of 22 books (numbering according to the number of letters of the Hebrew alphabet emphasizes the focus specifically on the Jewish canon). The New Testament includes here all the books except the Apocalypse.
The books of the New Testament are counted in a similar way by St. Gregory the Theologian and St. Cyril of Jerusalem. List of St. Gregory becomes, thanks to his authority, a church canon and is included in the Book of Rules under the title “The Rule of St. Gregory the Theologian on which books of the Old and New Testaments should be read.” In this rule of St. Gregory says: “So that your mind is not deceived by foreign books, for many counterfeit scriptures are found, written incorrectly, then accept, beloved, this correct calculation of mine... [here St. Gregory lists the usual 22 books of the Tanakh] I proposed twenty-two books of the Old Testament, equal in number to the Hebrew letters. After this, count the books and the New Sacrament. Matthew wrote about the miracles of Christ for the Jews, Mark for Italy, Luke for Achaia. For everyone - John, the great preacher and celestial leader. Then follow the Acts of the Wise Apostles, the fourteen epistles of Paul. Seven Councils, of which one is Jacob’s, two are Peter’s, then three are John’s, and the seventh is Judah’s - so you have everything. If there are any essences beyond these, they do not belong to the recognized ones.”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem (IV Catechetical Sermon, 36) lists the same 26 books without the Apocalypse, adding: “and let everything else be put outside, in second place. What you don’t read in church, don’t read it in private...”
However, other church authorities of the second half of the 4th century still adhered to the division of Scripture into generally accepted and controversial books. Yes, St. Amphilochius of Iconium (c. 340 - c. 395), according to some sources, a relative of St. Gregory the Theologian, lists the books of the New Testament differently. In the Book of Rules, the rule of St. Amphilochia is located immediately after the rule of St. Gregory and entitled “Saint Amphilochius the Bishop to Seleucus on what books are acceptable.” In it St. Amphilochius writes: “It is especially appropriate to know [to know] that not every book that has acquired the venerable name of Scripture is reliable. For sometimes there are books with false names, others - average and, so to say, [so to speak], close to the words of truth, and others - counterfeit and deceptive, like counterfeit and counterfeit coins, which, although they have a royal inscription, but, in their substance, turn out to be false. Therefore, I will name for you each of the inspired books. But so that you may know separately, first, the named books of the Old Testament... [see. above] Time to name [name] me the books of the New Testament: they accepted only four evangelists: Matthew, then Mark, adding the third Luke, John numbered fourth in time, but first in the height of dogmas, for I righteously call him the son of thunder, who majestically proclaimed God Word. We also accepted the second book of Luke - the conciliar Acts of the Apostles. To these add the vessel of election, the preacher and apostle of the tongues, Paul, who wisely wrote fourteen epistles to the churches: one to the Romans, to which should be numbered two to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians [Ephesians]; for this - to those living in Philippi, then written to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, one to Titus and Philemon, and one to the Hebrews. Some call this inauthentic [incorrectly], for in it is true grace. What is my final message about the Council Epistles? Some say that seven of them should be accepted, and others - only three: one of James, one of Peter and one of John. Some accept the three Johns, and besides these, the two Peters and the seventh Judas. Others classify the Revelation of John among the sacred books, and many call it inauthentic. Let this be the most unfalse canon of the Inspired Scriptures.” What St. Amphilochius includes a listing of controversial books in the “most false canon” of Scripture, rather typical of the Church of the previous, 3rd century.
A different position is held by an older contemporary of St. Gregory, Cyril and Amphilochius, one of the greatest theologians of the 4th century, St. Athanasius of Alexandria. In the 39th message on the Holidays (367), he gives a list of Holy Books, which was also later included in the Book of Rules and became a normative church document. St. Athanasius writes: “... I also deigned, prompted by the true brothers and having learned first, to set out in series which books were accepted into the canon, transmitted and believed to be Divine [i.e. according to Tradition, they are revered as God-inspired]..." and then gives a complete list of 27 books of the New Testament, adding then: "... in these only the teaching of piety is preached. Let no one add anything to these, nor take anything away from them. About these the Lord, shaming the Sadducees, said: “You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God” (Matthew 22:29).” Here for the first time with such clarity St. Athanasius formulates the attitude of the Church to the books of the New Testament as Holy Scripture and applies to them the words spoken by Christ about the Holy Scripture of the Old Testament. Continuing, St. Athanasius writes: “For the sake of greater accuracy, since I write for the sake of need, I add this, which is, besides these, other books that are not included in the canon, but appointed by the Fathers for reading by newcomers and those who wish to proclaim themselves in the word of piety: Wisdom of Solomon, Wisdom of Sirach , Esther, Judith, Tobiah and the so-called Teaching of the Apostles [Didache, or perhaps Clementine], and the Shepherd. However, beloved, in addition to these readable and canonical ones, there is no mention of apocryphal ones anywhere, but this is the intention of the heretics...” So St. Athanasius distinguishes books no longer into generally accepted, controversial and spurious, but into canonical, “readable” (for edification) and apocryphal (i.e. heretical).
In fact, this rule completes the formation of the canon of the Holy Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments, however, the position of St. Athanasia receives conciliar approval and does not immediately become generally recognized. In the East, disagreements about the Apocalypse continue for some time, while in the West, not without the influence of the blessed one. Jerome, the position of St. Athanasius, eliminating the difference in the composition of Scripture for the West and the East, is quickly becoming generally accepted. It should be noted, however, that in a number of manuscripts of this era, such as the Codex Sinaiticus (Codex Sinaiticus, a Greek manuscript of the Bible of the mid-4th century), the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas are included at the end of the New Testament without any distinction, and in the Codex Alexandrinus (Codex Alexandria, Α, Greek manuscript of the Bible of the early 5th century) following the Apocalypse, also without distinction, are the 1st and 2nd Epistles of St. Clement of Rome.
Since the displacement of books not included in the canon from church use occurred slowly and not without resistance, conciliar decisions on this were also required. The main thing here is the 33rd rule of the Council of Carthage (419), which reads: “It is also decreed that nothing should be read in the church under the name of Divine Scriptures, except the canonical Scriptures. The canonical Scriptures are these: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Kings - four books, Chronicles - two, Job, Psalms, Solomon's books - four, Prophetic books - twelve, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Tobiah, Judith, Esther, Ezra - two books. The New Testament - four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles - one book, the epistles of Paul - fourteen, Peter the Apostle - two, John the Apostle - three, James the Apostle - one, Jude the Apostle - one, the Apocalypse of John - one book...”
This, in fact, ends the history of the formation and canonical design of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. The decision of the Council of Carthage and the rule of St. Athanasius ultimately determined the position of the Church in both the East and the West, where it was further confirmed at the Council of Trent in 1546. Even Luther, being unsure of the authority of a number of books (the Epistles to the Hebrews, James and Jude, and the Apocalypse), did not go against tradition and placed these books at the end of his Bible. Although replacement lists of the New Testament into versions corresponding to the canons stretched on for centuries, the general church discussion about the composition of Scripture after the Council of Carthage subsided.
But in fact, there is another not entirely clear page in this story, namely the inclusion and exclusion from the canon of documents related to the name of St. Clement of Rome. The Epistles of Clement are mentioned by St. Clement of Alexandria as canonical. Sometimes they are considered among the controversial texts. Many ancient New Testament manuscripts include them. All this does not distinguish them from such non-canonical texts as the Epistle of Barnabas or the Epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans. The 85th Apostolic Canon and the 2nd Canon of the VI Ecumenical Council (Trullo, 681), which corrects it, give a special character to the history of these documents.
The Apostolic Rules, consisting of 85 canons, constitute the last part of the Apostolic Constitutions and at the same time the first section of the Book of Rules. According to most researchers, they were compiled at the end of the 4th century. This is evidenced by both the themes of most of the canons and the close similarity of many of them with the decrees of the Council of Antioch in 341. At the same time, some sections of the Apostolic Rules (and Decrees) may also be based on a very ancient church tradition. The first 50 of the Apostolic Rules were in the 6th century. translated into Latin by Dionysius the Small (author of the chronology “from the Nativity of Christ”) and entered into the canon law of the Western Church. Dionysius himself did not really believe in the apostolic origin of the document he was translating and entitled it “canones qui dicuntur apostolorum”. In the East, the authority of all 85 rules was confirmed by the VI Ecumenical Council, which simultaneously rejected the Apostolic (Clementine) decrees.
In form, the Apostolic Rules are a pseudepigraph falsely attributed to St. Clement of Rome. The last, 85th rule of this collection lists the canonical books of Holy Scripture as follows: “For all of us, belonging to the clergy and laity, let the following books of the Old Testament be revered and holy: Mosaic - five: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy ; Jesus, son of Nun - one, Judges - one, Ruth - one, Kings - four, Chronicles (that is, the remains of the book of days) - two, Ezra - two, Esther - one, Maccabees - three, Job - one, Psalms - one , Solomon - three: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs; books of the prophets - twelve, Isaiah - one, Jeremiah - one, Ezekiel - one, Daniel - one. In addition to this, let it be added to your admonition that your young ones study the wisdom of the many-learned Sirach. Ours, that is, the New Testament, are four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; Paul's epistles - 14, Peter - two epistles, John - three, James - one, Jude - one, Clement - two epistles. And the decrees for you, bishops, by me, Clement, spoken in eight books (which should not be made public to everyone because of what is mysterious in them), and our Apostolic Acts.” This document excludes the Apocalypse from the New Testament (which indicates its composition, most likely, somewhere in the Eastern part of the Church), but includes both letters of Clement, and the Apostolic Constitutions as a whole, allegedly transmitted through Clement and therefore called Clement's. This addition contrasts sharply with the structure of Holy Scripture generally accepted since the late 4th century, which required a special ecclesiastical decision that followed more than two and a half centuries later.
By the time of the convening of the VI Ecumenical Council in 681, the question of the canon of the New Testament, generally speaking, had long been resolved. However, the existence of the Apostolic Rules as an authoritative church document introduced confusion, if not contradiction, into it. Therefore, the council, with its 2nd rule, decided the following: “This holy council recognized this as excellent and worthy of extreme diligence, so that from now on, for the healing of the soul and for the healing of the passions, those accepted and approved by the holy and blessed Fathers who were before us should remain firm and inviolable, and Also, the eighty-five rules handed down to us in the name of the holy and glorious Apostles. Since in these rules we are commanded to accept the same holy Apostles’ decrees, transmitted through Clement, into which those who once thought otherwise, to the detriment of the Church, introduced something counterfeit and alien to piety, and which darkened for us the magnificent beauty of Divine teaching, then we, for the sake of edification and protection most Christian flock, those Clementine decrees were prudently postponed, in no way allowing the creation of heretical falsehood and without interfering with them in the pure and perfect Apostolic teaching...” The status of Clement's Epistles in this part of the rule, strictly speaking, does not change. However, further in the same rule, the council confirms the authority and effectiveness of many rules of Local and Ecumenical Councils, including Laodicea and Carthage, as well as the rules of St. Athanasius, Gregory and Amphilochius concerning the composition of the Holy Scriptures. And this really puts an end to the history of the canon of Holy Books.
This article was written to introduce the average believer to basic facts about the New Testament canon—facts that may be helpful in conversation with a skeptic or seeker. The first of these facts is so fundamental that it is often forgotten: the books of the New Testament are the earliest Christian writings we have.
1. “The books of the New Testament are the earliest Christian writings we have.”
One of the key questions that arises in any discussion of the New Testament canon is what makes these 27 books unique. Why were these texts included in the canon and not others? There are many answers to this question, but in this article we will focus on just one of them. It will concern the time of writing these books. These writings are different from all others in that they are the earliest Christian texts we have, which means they are closest to the historical Jesus and the first church. If we want to find out what original Christianity was like, then we must rely on texts that are closest in time to the period of interest to us.
This principle becomes apparent when it comes to the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Only these four Gospels were written in the first century. True, some scholars tried to date the Gospel of Thomas to the first century, but they did not succeed. After the academic dust cleared, even critical scholars accepted that these four gospels are the earliest accounts of Jesus that we have.
Several caveats must be made. First, there are different opinions about the dating of some New Testament books. Some critical scholars argue that a number of New Testament documents are second-century forgeries. Other scholars insist on their authenticity (and therefore dating back to the first century). You and I cannot consider this scientific discussion now. But even if these controversial books are excluded from consideration, the vast majority of texts remain, including the four gospels, which are the earliest Christian writings in our possession.
Second, one might point out that 1 Clement is a first-century Christian text that is not included in the New Testament canon. This is true, however, this text dates back to about 96 AD, that is, later than all the canonical New Testament books, with the possible exception of the book of Revelation, which dates back to (the latest limit) 95-96 AD. AD, but some scholars admit an earlier date for Revelation. In any case, this detail does not contradict our main idea.
Again, I want to emphasize that I am not saying that books became canonical just because they were written in the first century. There are other Christian texts dating back to the first century that have not become canonical. Perhaps we will discover more such texts in the future. My point is not that all first-century texts must be canonical, but that all canonical texts belong to the first century. And this is a very important statement.
Every Christian should remember this fundamental fact: the books of the New Testament are special because they are, taken as a whole, the earliest Christian writings we have. No earlier documents exist. And if so, then the books included in the canon of the New Testament did not end up there by chance, although someone is trying to convince us otherwise. On the contrary, these are precisely the books that we ourselves would include in the canon if we wanted to obtain information about primitive Christianity.
2. “All apocryphal texts were written either in the second century or later.”
We are talking about texts that are not included in the canon of the New Testament, but are written in the same genres as canonical books: gospels, acts, epistles, apocalypses, etc. In addition, the authorship of these texts is often attributed to famous people. For example, there is the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Thomas, the Acts of John.
We, of course, cannot consider all the characteristics of the various apocrypha, but they are united by one feature that is again often forgotten: all apocryphal texts date either from the second century or from an even later period. Thus, the second fact is closely related to the first. On the one hand, all New Testament books belong to the first century, on the other hand, all apocryphal texts (at least those that have come down to us) belong to the second century or later. Many of them date back to the third and even fourth centuries.
It is important to note that even academic critics agree with this. Although there is debate about the dating of some New Testament books (eg, 2 Peter, the Pastoral Epistles), there is almost complete consensus regarding the late dating of the Apocrypha. There are, of course, marginal attempts to place some apocryphal texts in the first century. For example, Crossan argues that the “Gospel of the Cross,” which is part of the Gospel of Peter, dates back to the first century. However, such hypotheses have not received widespread support.
This simple and clear fact immediately casts doubt on all the sensational claims that these “lost” books (apocrypha) supposedly contain the “authentic” version of Christianity.
Of course, it can be argued that the later texts also reflect a genuine Christian tradition dating back to the first century. After all, a book does not have to be written in the first century in order to contain first-century material. This is true. However, we must have a good reason why we would prefer the later texts to the earlier ones. But in the case of apocrypha there are no such compelling reasons.
We know for sure that some apocrypha are obvious forgeries, that is, their authorship is attributed to a person who certainly could not have written them. This fact alone casts doubt on the authenticity of the contents of these books. In addition, many apocrypha contain obvious embellishments and legends. For example, the Gospel of Peter says that Jesus came out of the tomb in the form of a giant whose head touched the clouds, and that behind him was a cross that also spoke! Finally, many of the apocrypha contain Gnostic theology, which did not emerge until the second century and therefore may not reflect genuine first-century Christianity (such as the Gospel of Philip).
Let me clarify: I am not arguing that the apocrypha, in principle, cannot belong to the first century (however, such apocrypha have not yet been discovered). Nor am I suggesting that the apocryphal texts do not or cannot contain reliable information about Jesus. We know that early Christians sometimes cited the apocryphal gospels as containing reliable information (we'll talk more about this below). But the main point is that the fragments of apocryphal literature that contain reliable information do not represent another version of Christianity that contradicts that which we find in the New Testament canon, much less can they claim to completely replace the Christianity of the New Testament canon.
Thus, the Apocrypha is an interesting and important source for the student of early Christianity. However, mainly due to their late date, they do not present a more convincing version of Christianity than the texts of the New Testament.
3. “The books of the New Testament are unique because they are apostolic books.”
All Christians should know one of the most important facts about the canon of the New Testament, namely, that all canonical texts are directly related to the activities of the apostles.
Jesus called the apostles “to be with Him and to send them out to preach” (Mark 3:14-15). When Jesus sent out the twelve to preach, He told them, “It is not you who will speak, but the Spirit of your Father who will speak in you” (Matthew 10:20). It is on this basis that He warns those who would reject the authority of the apostles: “But if anyone does not receive you and listen to your words, then... it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that city” (Matt. 10:14-15 ).
In a word, the apostles were endowed with the authority of Christ himself. They were His mouthpiece. As such, their teaching, along with the teaching of the prophets, became the foundation of the church. Paul speaks of the church this way: “...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets...” (Eph. 2:20). If the church wants to know the true Christian message, it must turn to the teaching of the apostles.
The apostles taught about Jesus not only orally. At a certain point—quite early—the apostolic message was written down. Sometimes the texts were written by the apostles themselves. Sometimes they were written by the companions of the apostles, who recorded their words. One way or another, the authoritative apostolic witness was presented in the form of books.
For obvious reasons, the church had to value the apostolic writings more than other books. That's exactly what happened. The early Christians mostly read, copied, and used in worship those books that the church considered apostolic. It was these books that eventually became canonical. The canon of the New Testament is the result of the work of the apostles.
Moreover, the church's special relationship to the apostolic writings explains why so much of the apocrypha was attributed to the apostles in the second century and later. We have the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter, the Acts of John, and even the Gospel of the Twelve!
The existence of these texts not only does not call into question the apostolic character of the New Testament, but also confirms it. These texts show that the early church valued the apostolic writings so much that those who created counterfeit books imitated the apostolic texts to give them authority. For the later dating of the apocrypha, see above.
Of course, some modern scholars dispute the apostolic authorship of some New Testament books, arguing that they were created by later authors who were only pretending to be apostles. However, these are just assumptions that have not been proven and many scientists do not agree with them. In addition, it should be remembered that the early church was better able to determine the authorship and origin of a particular book than modern scholars living two thousand years later.
Thus, the New Testament canon exists because the early Christians believed that the apostles spoke for Christ. This belief encouraged Christians to value the apostolic books. And it was these apostolic books that over time shaped the New Testament in the form that we know today.
One of the most heated debates among New Testament scholars is when these books came to be considered Scripture. In other words, when did the books of the New Testament first come to be used as authoritative guidance for the church? Critical scholars argue that these books were not originally written as Scripture and were not even used as Scripture until the late second century.
However, Christians should be aware of an important fact: some New Testament authors quote the books of other New Testament authors as Scripture. This fact proves that the idea of a new body of biblical books did not arise as a result of the later development of the church, but was present in the earliest stages of the birth of Christianity.
The most obvious example of this phenomenon is found in 2 Pet. 3:15-16, where Peter calls Paul's letters Scripture - the same as the Scriptures of the Old Testament. It is also noteworthy that Peter mentions several letters of Paul, indicating that he was familiar with some collection of Paul's letters. Moreover, Peter assumes that his readers also know about this collection. There is no indication that the idea of Paul's epistles as authoritative Scriptures was new or unexpected—no, Peter mentions it casually, as a matter of course.
The meaning of Peter's words is difficult to overestimate. They show that in early Christianity the apostolic letters (in this case Paul's) had the status of Scripture. And if so, it is difficult to imagine that Peter did not consider his letters authoritative. After all, Peter himself already wrote a little higher that he considers the teaching of the apostles to be as authoritative as the Old Testament itself (2 Pet. 3:2).
We find another example of this phenomenon in 1 Tim. 5:18, where it is written: “For the Scripture says, Do not muzzle the ox that is threshing; and: the worker is worthy of his reward.” The first quotation is taken from Deut. 25:4, and the second quotation is exactly the same as Lk. 10:7. Although one might assume that Paul is quoting oral tradition about the words of Jesus, this assumption would be incorrect because Paul prefaces these quotations with the words “Scripture says.”
Also, while one might assume that Paul is quoting some unknown apocryphal gospel (which happens to contain the same words as Luke 10:7), why would we look for some hypothetical source if we have one that is well known to us? We know that the Gospel of Luke was used as Scripture in the early church, which is not the case with the hypothetical apocryphal gospel.
Of course, because these two passages cite other books of the New Testament as Scripture, some scholars argue that these books are spurious and date back to a later period, probably to the very end of the first century (c. 100 AD). .e.). We cannot address these scientific debates now, but it is important to note that the participants in these debates have not reached a final opinion. Moreover, even if we hypothetically assume that these books were actually written late, the dating of the canon still remains very early.
5. “The four gospels were finally accepted towards the end of the second century.”
In connection with the canon, Christians should also be aware of an important statement made by Irenaeus of Lyons c. in 180 AD: “It is impossible for the Gospels to be more or less in number than they are. For, since there are four cardinal points in which we live, and four main winds... Cherubim have four faces...”
In this text, Irenaeus not only declares the canonicity of the four gospels, but also emphasizes that the church recognizes only these four gospels. Moreover, Irenaeus is so confident that the canon regarding the gospels is closed that he believes that the number of gospels is even confirmed by the structure of the world - the four cardinal directions, the four main winds, etc.
Some scholars have attempted to downplay the significance of this passage in Irenaeus's writings, arguing that this view was held only by himself. He is portrayed as a lonely, unchurched innovator who entered uncharted territory. They try to convince us that the idea of the four gospels was invented by Irenaeus.
But does the hypothesis about Irenaeus the Innovator correspond to the facts? No. Here are some considerations against this hypothesis:
1. The works of Irenaeus himself. When Irenaeus writes about the four gospels, he does not present this idea as new and does not ask his readers to accept the new idea. On the contrary, he writes assuming that his readers know and read these gospels. He refers to them naturally, without making excuses. In other words, Irenaeus does not write as if he were proposing for the first time to consider these books as Scriptures.
2. Contemporaries of Irenaeus. The assumption that Irenaeus was supposedly the only one who wrote about the four gospels is not true, since there were other authors at the end of the second century who also asserted the exclusivity of the four gospels: the author of the canon Muratori, Clement of Alexandria, Theophilus of Antioch. Irenaeus was not the only one who believed that the church had four gospels.
In addition, one should take into account Tatian’s Diatesseron, a harmony of the four gospels created c. 170 AD The Diatesseron tells us that the four gospels were not only known, but had authority in the eyes of the church, which necessitated their harmonization. After all, if the books were not authoritative, why would the church need to bring them into compliance? If they were not authoritative, then the contradictions between them would not matter.
3. Predecessors of Irenaeus. Although we have less information about the period before Irenaeus, we do have evidence for the acceptance of the four gospels. For example, Justin Martyr writes ca. 150 AD about many gospels, and at one point hints at what number he has in mind when he says that these gospels were “compiled by his apostles and those who followed them.” Since these words imply at least two gospels written by the apostles, and at least two gospels written by the followers of the apostles, the natural conclusion is that the four canonical gospels are meant.
This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that Justin quotes them from all three synoptic gospels and, perhaps, directly quotes the Gospel of John: “For Christ said: “Unless you are born again, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven”” (cf. John 3:3) . The fact that Justin was the tutor of Tatian (who composed the harmony of the four gospels) gives us additional reason to believe that he had a fourfold gospel.
Thus, there is every reason to reject the hypothesis that Irenaeus invented the idea of four canonical gospels. The idea of the fourfold gospel was known not only to his contemporaries, but also to his predecessors. Therefore we must assume with great confidence that Irenaeus is giving us reliable information when he writes that the fourfold gospel was “transmitted” to him.
6. “The Muratorian canon, dating to the end of the second century, contained 22 of the 27 New Testament books.”
Any discussion concerning canon is not complete without discussion of the Muratorian canon (or Muratorian fragment). This text was named after the Italian scientist who found it, Ludovico Antonio Muratori. It contains a list of the books of the New Testament. The fragment itself dates from the 7th or 8th centuries, but the list it contains was originally written in Greek and dates from the late second century (c. 180). Some believe that it was compiled in the 4th century. (eg Sanderberg and Haneman), but most modern scholars still consider it to be from the second century. Joseph Verheyden sums up the current debate: "None of the arguments put forward by Sanderberg and Haneman for the theory that the list was compiled in the 4th century in the east is convincing."
It is important for us to note that the Muratorian Canon contains 22 of the 27 New Testament books. It includes the four gospels, Acts, all 13 Pauline epistles, Jude, 1 John, 2 John (and possibly 3 John), and also Revelation. This means that very early (late 2nd century) the main part of the New Testament canon was formed.
Of course, we must admit that, apparently, the Muratorian canon contains the Apocalypse of Peter. However, the author of the fragment immediately notes that some are not completely sure of the authority of this book. This hesitation over time grew into certainty: the Apocalypse of Peter was never widely accepted in the early church and ultimately never made it into the canon.
The fact that there was some controversy regarding "peripheral" books during this period should not surprise us. It took some time for the canon issue to be fully resolved. Although there were occasional disputes, early Christians generally agreed on the major New Testament books.
So, we know that the main part of the canon was formed quite early, and from this fact we can draw two important conclusions. Firstly, for the most part, only a few books caused controversy and disagreement - there were very few of them. These are books such as 3 John, James, 2 Peter and others. The early believers did not accept every book or argue about every book in the world. No, there was by and large no debate regarding the main part of the canon.
Secondly, if there was a main part of the canon, it means that the main theological teachings in early Christianity were formulated before the issue of the canonicity of peripheral books was finally resolved. Therefore, no matter what results the discussion of books such as 2 Peter or James, Christian teachings about the person of Christ, about the ministry of Christ, about the means of salvation, etc., lead to. have already formed. Accepting or rejecting books like 2 Peter would have no effect on them.
Thus, the Muratorian canon reminds us of two important facts. First, Christians have occasionally debated the canonicity of certain books. It was inevitable, especially at the beginning. But, on the other hand, the very existence of this list (and this is even more important) indicates that in the church from a very early period there was agreement regarding the main part of the canon.
7. “The early Christians often used non-canonical scriptures.”
For Christians who do not understand the concept of the development of the New Testament canon, a frequent stumbling block is the fact that the early Christian authors often quoted and relied on non-canonical writings. In other words, the first Christians used not only books from our modern New Testament, but also referred, for example, to the Shepherd of Hermas, the Gospel of Peter, the Epistle of Barnabas.
Typically, believers are confronted with this fact when they read an article or book devoted to criticism of the New Testament canon. Critics believe that this fact puts the New Testament writings on a par with all other writings. They argue that the literary preferences of the early believers were quite broad and were not limited only to the New Testament. As one critic writes, the early Christians read “an enormous variety of texts.”
Since this fact is used to criticize the integrity of the New Testament canon, all Christians should be aware of it. But, recognizing this fact as reliable - the first Christians actually read not only the canon - we cannot accept the conclusions that are drawn on its basis, since they do not correspond to reality.
When scholars write that Christians used non-canonical scriptures, they forget to mention two things.
1. Method of citation. It is important to note that although Christians often quoted and relied on non-canonical literature, they very rarely quoted it as Scripture. In most cases, they used material from these books to better explain their point or teach a moral lesson. We are doing the same today. Thus, a preacher may quote Clive Lewis in a sermon, but this does not mean that Lewis’s texts have the same authority for him as Scripture itself.
For example, the church in the city of Rhosus used the Gospel of Peter at the end of the second century. Scholars often use this example to argue that the early Christians did not have a specific canon of gospels. However, we have no reason to believe that the Rhosus church believed that the Gospel of Peter was part of Scripture.
If we ask which books the early Christians cited most often as Scripture, the answer would be that in the vast majority of cases these were books that were part of the New Testament canon.
2. Citation frequency. Another factor that is often neglected is the ratio of the number of times New Testament books are quoted versus non-canonical books. Thus, scholars often recall Clement of Alexandria: his works are considered an example of the fact that Christians in the early period of church history used non-canonical texts on an equal basis with canonical ones. But if we look at the frequency of citations of the first and second, it becomes clear that this is not so.
J. Brooks, for example, drew attention to the fact that Clement quotes canonical books “sixteen times more often than apocryphal or patristic texts”11. The situation is even better with the gospels. Clement quotes the apocryphal gospels only 16 times, while from the Gospel of Matthew alone we find 757 quotations.
In short, Christians must remember one simple fact about the New Testament canon: the early Christians used many other books than those included in our Bible. But this is not surprising, because we are still doing the same thing, even though 1600 years have passed since the New Testament was formed.
8. “The New Testament canon was not adopted at the church council - neither at Nicaea, nor at any other.”
For some reason (thanks to the Internet, popular literature), it is now a very common point of view that the canon of the New Testament was adopted at the Council of Nicea in 325 AD. as a result of a conspiracy between the clergy and Emperor Constantine. The fact that this idea is featured in Dan Brown's bestselling book The Da Vinci Code shows how popular it is. Brown didn't make it up, he simply used an existing point of view.
But this point of view is not true. The Council of Nicea was not involved in the formation of the canon (like Constantine himself). It addressed the question of how believers should express their belief in the divinity of Jesus. As a result of his work, the Nicene Creed came into being.
When people learn that the canon was not adopted at the Council of Nicea, they immediately ask at what council this happened. After all, it cannot be that the canon has not been approved by some authoritative church body and official document! After all, some knowledgeable people should have gathered and voted for him!
Such reasoning is based on the incorrect assumption that the church council approved (or should have approved) the canon. However, we know from church history that there was no such council. Yes, there were local synods that made certain statements regarding the canon (Laodicea, Hippo, Carthage). But the delegates of these councils did not "select" the books they liked - they affirmed that certain books were fundamental documents of the Christian faith. In other words, these councils only recorded the state of affairs, they did not make decisions with the aim of changing the situation at their own discretion.
Thus, these councils did not create, confer authority on, or define a canon. They were simply part of the process of recognizing that the canon already existed.
This is an important fact about the New Testament canon that every Christian should know. The composition of the New Testament canon was not determined by a council vote - it was determined by ancient broad church consensus. And here it is worth agreeing with Bart Ehrman: “The canon of the New Testament was approved by general consensus, not by official statement.”
History serves as a good reminder that the canon is not just a product of human activity. It did not arise as a result of the political struggle of elites and behind-the-scenes agreements of influential people. It came about as a result of God's people reading these books for many years, recognizing their authority.
The Old Testament canon was created in exactly the same way. Jesus Himself used and quoted the Old Testament Scriptures and never once said or implied that He doubted the canon of any particular book. Not only that, but He required His audience to know these books. However, there was no time in the history of the Old Testament church when a meeting of an official council chose which books should be included in the canon (even this was not done at the Council of Jamnia). It was also determined by the ancient and broad consensus of the church.
In conclusion, we must acknowledge that humans played a role in the process of canon formation. But this was not the role that is usually attributed to them. People didn't define the canon, they only reacted to it. In this sense, we can say that the canon chose itself.
9. “Christians have not always agreed on the canonicity of some New Testament books.”
Among the basic facts that all Christians should know about the canon is this: the development of the canon has not always gone smoothly. This is not to say that everyone always agreed on everything.
On the contrary, the history of the formation of the canon has at times been quite complicated. Some Christians accepted books that were later rejected and called apocryphal (we talked about this above). Moreover, sometimes there were disputes even about canonical books.
For example, Origen writes that books such as 2 Peter, 2, 3 John and James were not recognized by some of his contemporaries. Dionysius of Alexandria also says that, according to some, Revelation was not written by the Apostle John and therefore should be rejected.
It is important to be aware of such controversies and debates and not to assume that the process of canon formation was smooth and problem-free. The Canon was not sent down to us on golden tablets, nor was it brought to us by an angel from heaven (like the Book of Mormon). God, for His providential reasons, determined that the canon would be given to the church in the normal course of history. And this process did not always go smoothly.
Unfortunately, these divisions in the early church are today used as an argument against the validity of the modern 27-book canon. Critics, due to controversies throughout history, question the entire idea of canon. Why should we accept this canon when some Christians did not accept it, they ask.
In response to this, here are a few considerations. First, we must not lose sight of the fact that the controversy was only about certain books. Critics often present things as if there was disagreement about every book. It is not true. As we have already seen, most of the books were firmly established in the canon by the end of the second century.
Secondly, the scale of these disputes should not be overestimated. Origen, for example, writes that the authority of these books is questioned by some. But it is quite obvious that Origen himself accepted 2 Peter. Thus, there is no reason to believe that the vast majority of Christians living at that time rejected these books. On the contrary, it seems that church fathers such as Origen were simply recording the opinions of a minority.
Third, we must remember that the church eventually came to a widespread, deeply informed, and lasting consensus regarding those books that some questioned. After the passions according to the canon subsided, almost the entire church adopted a single point of view. Of course, critics will say that this is not important and does not solve anything. For them, the most important thing is that the fact of disputes took place. But why should we think that disagreement among Christians is important, but unity is not? The presence of a common point of view should be given exactly the same importance as the presence of disagreements.
However, having laid out these three considerations, we must understand that there is a deeper reason why some critical scholars insist that disagreement about the canon calls into question the canon itself. This reason lies in the assumption (often unconscious) that if God wanted to give the church a canon, He would do it differently.
In other words, some believe that we could only be confident that our canon contained exactly the books that God intended for us to give us if there were no disagreements about the canon and if the entire canon (all 27 books) ) was immediately accepted by the entire church. But what is this assumption based on? Why should we agree with him?
On the contrary, there are reasons to believe that this assumption is erroneous. First of all, how do critical scholars know how God wants to give us a canon? They make a theological statement about how God may (or may not) act. But how do scientists know how God should act? What is the source of their information? Obviously not the New Testament, because that is what they are criticizing!
Moreover, we have every reason to assume that some disputes between Christians were simply inevitable. Books written in real historical circumstances by different authors, on different continents, at different times were naturally bound to cause controversy.
When someone brings up these canonical disputes and talks about the unreliability of the canon, I simply ask: what do you think the process should have been? Usually people immediately realize that they have overly idealized ideas about how God gave His books - ideas born of their consciousness and in no way connected with Scripture and history.
All of this reminds us that God sometimes uses natural historical processes to bring about His plans. And these processes do not always go smoothly and smoothly. But this does not mean that God does not realize His plan in them.
10. “The first Christians believed that the canonical books themselves confirmed their authenticity.”
How can we know which book is from God and which is not? There are many answers to this question, some of which we have already covered. It is clear that apostolic authorship can help determine that a book is from God (see above). And the church's opinion regarding a particular book is also essential to answering this question (see above).
But it is interesting to note that the church fathers, although they agreed that apostolic authorship and the opinion of the church were of paramount importance, at the same time they noted another important factor that is often overlooked in modern studies. They paid attention to the internal evidence of these books.
In other words, they believed that certain qualities of these books made them considered God-given. They said that they could hear the voice of their Lord in these particular books. To translate this into modern theological language, they believed that the canonical books were self-authenticating. Jesus said in John. 10:27: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them; and they follow Me.”
Origen writes quite clearly that the divine qualities of books confirm their origin: “If we think about the prophetic words ... it will become obvious that when we read them and carefully study our minds and feelings are touched by the divine breath, and we understand that the words we read “These are not the words of man, but of God himself.”
In his other works, Origen repeats the same idea. He believes that the Epistle of Jude is canonical because “it is filled with the healing words of heavenly grace,” and he proves the canonicity of the gospels by the fact that “their content is truly sacred and divine.” He even bases the canonicity of the Epistle to the Hebrews on the fact that “the ideas of the epistle are great.”
Tatian is also clear about the internal evidence of the New Testament books: “I believed in these [Scriptures] because of the genuineness of the language, the naturalness of the authors, the predictions of future events, the perfection of the commandments.”
Jerome defends Philemon on the grounds that “there is so much of the beauty of the Gospel in this document,” and this is “a sign of its inspiration.” Chrysostom claims that in the Gospel of John, “there is nothing counterfeit” because “his voice is sweeter and more euphonious than the sound of a harp or any other music... majestic and perfect.”
Before quoting Matt. 4:17 and Phil. 4:5 Clement of Alexandria says that you can distinguish the words of a person from the words of Scripture by the following sign: “The admonitions of one of the saints will not have the same effect on you as the words of the Lord himself.”
These examples (and others could be given) are sufficient proof that the early church fathers believed that the evidence for the canonicity of the books of the Bible was found in the books themselves. In other words, the canonical books themselves confirm their truth.
Of course, someone here will ask: if the internal evidence of these books is reality, then why do so many people reject them? Why do few people notice this evidence?
The answer lies in the role of the Holy Spirit. His job is to help people see the objective truth about these books. Sin has had such an effect on the mind of man (Rom. 3:10-18) that man cannot recognize the existence of these evidences without the testimonium spiritus sancti internum, the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit.
Needless to say, such an explanation will sound unconvincing to a non-Christian? “It’s somehow suspicious that Christians consider themselves the only ones who can see the truth in these books. What about everyone else who is blind? They think too much of themselves,” he will say.
This objection is quite understandable. But if the Christian teachings about the Fall, original sin, and the depravity of the human heart are true, then it is quite natural that a person without the Spirit cannot recognize the presence of the Spirit (hear Him speak in a book).
This is similar to a situation encountered in life. Some people do not have an ear for music and cannot determine whether the singer is hitting the notes or not. Imagine that such a person would say: “All this talk about falseness is an invention of musicians who claim to have a special ability to hear music.” But despite all his protests, the truth remains the truth: an ear for music exists, regardless of whether the person whose ear the bear stepped on admits it or not.
In conclusion, the church fathers teach us a very important lesson. The New Testament canon that we have was formed not as a result of the machinations of church leadership or the political will of Constantine, but due to the fact that the biblical books, by their internal evidence, convinced the church of their authority.
Harvard professor Arthur Darby Nock said about the formation of the canon: “The most popular European roads are the best roads, which is why so many people drive on them.”
Let us trace the history of the formation of the canon of books of the New Testament. The word itself " canon " means rule, norm, catalog, list. In contrast to the 27 books written by the holy apostles and recognized by the Church as divinely inspired, other books claiming the same dignity, not recognized by the Church, are called apocryphal .
Consideration of the stages or periods during which the books that were included in the canon of the New Testament and received churchwide recognition were created allows us to more clearly imagine the process of its formation. It is customary to distinguish four periods that span four centuries. This:
1. Apostolic - I century.
2. Apostolic men - from the end of the 1st century to the middle of the 2nd century.
3. From 150 to 200 .
4. 3rd and 4th centuries .
1st period. Fulfilling the commandment of their Divine Teacher, the holy apostles preached the Gospel to the whole world, bringing the light of the teachings of Christ to the people. For the first Christians, they were messengers of Christ. That is why every word of the apostles was perceived as a revelation from a heavenly messenger, as the word of Christ Himself.
Christian communities not only listened with reverence, but also read the words of the apostles addressed to them, as evidenced by the very existence of the sacred books, as well as their wide distribution. Christians copied and exchanged the apostolic epistles. The newly received ones were added to those already available in the Church, and thus a collection of apostolic writings was compiled.
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Colossians writes: “ When this epistle has been read among you, order that it be read in the Laodicean church; and the one from the Laodicean church, read it too" In the primal (Jerusalem) Church, it became a practice to read the apostolic writings during divine services, and they read the sacred writings addressed to other Churches.
By the end of the 1st century, the Gospels of the apostles Matthew, Mark and Luke became widespread in Christian communities. As ancient church tradition tells, the Apostle John, having read the first three Gospels at the request of the Ephesian Christians, confirmed their truth with his testimony. By then writing his Gospel, he filled in the gaps that already existed in other Gospels.
If the first three Gospels were not known in the Apostolic Church, or were not respected, then Saint John the Theologian would not have written additions to them, but would have composed a new Gospel repeating the events already set forth by the first three evangelists.
2nd period. According to the testimony of the apostolic men, direct disciples of the apostles, church teachers and writers of the first half of the 2nd century, at that time there were only separate New Testament books that had not yet been compiled into a single set. They cite in their writings passages from the sacred books of both the Old Testament and the New Testament, without at all indicating the names of the books and their authors. In their messages they quote passages from the Gospel and the Apostolic Epistles, but they do this arbitrarily from memory. Do this and that, say the apostolic men, “as the Lord says in the Gospel: if you do not save the little things, who will give you the great things? I tell you: he who is faithful in little will also be faithful in much. This means: keep your flesh pure and your seal undamaged in order to receive eternal life” (Clement of Rome. 2 Cor. 10). At the same time, they do not indicate where they took the quote from, but speak of it as if it had been known for a long time. Having conducted textual studies of the writings of the apostolic men, theologians came to the conclusion that they had all the books of the New Testament at their disposal. They knew the New Testament well and freely quoted from it without making references. Therefore, it can be assumed that the text of the Holy Scriptures was known to the readers of their messages.
In particular, references to the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament are found in the conciliar letter of the Apostle Barnabas, written no later than the 80s; in Clement of Rome in 1 Corinthians, written in 97; from Ignatius the God-Bearer in his epistle to various Churches; in the monument “Teaching of the 12 Apostles”, discovered in the 19th century, written around the year 120; in the "Shepherd" of Hermas (135–140); by Polycarp of Smyrna in the only epistle that has reached us to the Philippians, written immediately after the death of Ignatius the God-Bearer (107-108); Papias of Hieropolis, a disciple of John the Theologian (1st half of the 2nd century), according to the testimony of the historian Eusebius, who wrote an explanation of the speeches of the Lord.
3rd period. The most important source for studying the composition of the sacred New Testament books of this period is the so-called Muratoriancanon , or excerpt. This monument was found in the Milan library by a professor at the University of Vienna, after whom it was named Moratorium. This document, which dates from the second half of the 2nd century, contains a list of the books of the New Testament that were read in the Western Church. These include: 4 Gospels, the book of Acts, 13 epistles of the Apostle Paul (except for the epistles to the Hebrews), the epistle of the Apostle Jude, the first epistle of John the Theologian and the Apocalypse. The epistles of the Apostle John the Theologian and the Apostle Peter are only mentioned, and there is no indication at all of the epistle of the Apostle James.
Another important document from this period is the Syriac translation of the holy books of the New Testament entitled " Pescito "(accessible, folk), widespread in the second half of the 2nd century in the Asia Minor and Syrian Churches. In it, the list of New Testament books of the Moratorium Canon is supplemented by the Epistle to the Hebrews and the Epistle of James, but the 2nd Epistle of the Apostle Peter, the 2nd and 3rd Epistle of the Apostle John, the Epistle of Jude and the Apocalypse are missing.
We find the richest historical information in the works of such remarkable church writers of this period as Irenaeus , bishop Lyonsky , Tertullian And Clement of Alexandria , as well as in the set of four canonical Gospels « Diatessaron» Tatiana , which arranged the texts in chronological order.
4th period. The most important source of this period is the writings of the outstanding student of Clement of Alexandria, teacher of the Church Origen. As a scholar-theologian, he devoted his entire life to the study of the Holy Scriptures, being an exponent of the traditions of the Alexandrian Church. According to the testimony of Origen, which is based on the tradition of the entire Church, all four Gospels, the book of the Acts of the Apostles, and all 14 epistles of the Apostle Paul are recognized as indisputable. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, the apostle, in his opinion, owns the very train of thought, while its expression and the composition of the speech refers to another person, who owns the record of what he heard from Paul. Origen speaks with praise of those Churches where this epistle is received as Paul's. “Because,” he says, “the ancients, not without reason, handed it down to us as Paul’s.”1 Recognizing the truth of the first epistle of Peter and the 1st epistle of John, as well as the Apocalypse, he does not consider other epistles generally accepted, although he recognizes them as divinely inspired. At this time, there were conflicting opinions about their authenticity, and they had not yet become widespread.
The testimony of a church historian is of extreme interest Eusebius of Caesarea , since he specifically studied the question of the authenticity of the New Testament books. He divided all the books he knew into 4 categories:
generally recognized- four Gospels, the book of the Acts of the Apostles, the “epistles of Paul,” 1st Peter, 1st John and, “if you wish,” the Apocalypse of John;
controversial- the epistles of James and Jude, second Peter, second and third epistle of John;
counterfeit- The Acts of Paul, the Apocalypse of Peter and, “if you like,” the Apocalypse of John, “The Shepherd” of Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas;
absurd, profane, heretical- The Gospels of Peter, Thomas, Andrew and other texts.
Eusebius distinguishes between truly apostolic and ecclesiastical books - non-apostolic and heretical.
By the second half of the 4th century, the fathers and teachers of the Church, in the rules of Local Collections, recognized all 27 books of the New Testament as truly apostolic.
A list of books of the New Testament canon is available from Saint Athanasius the Great in his 39th Easter Epistle, in the 60th canon of the Council of Laodicea (364), the definitions of which were approved by the VI Ecumenical Council.
Valuable historical evidence is the heretical writings of Basilides, Ptolemy, Marcion and others, as well as the work of the pagan philosopher Celsus, filled with hatred of Christ, entitled “The True Word”. He borrowed all the material for attacks on Christianity from the texts of the Gospels, and verbatim extracts from them are often found.
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The concept of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament
The sacred books of the New Testament are books written by the holy apostles or their disciples at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They are the main awareness of Christian faith and morality, containing
A Brief History of the Sacred New Testament Text
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The meaning of these parables is this: the Kingdom of God is the highest and most precious gift for a person, for the acquisition of which a person should not spare anything.
Miraculous cessation of a storm at sea
(Matt. 8:23-27; Mark 4:35-41; Luke 8:22-25) Shortly after leaving Capernaum, tired from the day's labors, Jesus fell asleep at the stern of the ship. And at this time
Healing of the Gadarene demoniacs
(Matt. 8, 28-34; Mark 5, 1-20; Luke 8, 26-40) In the land of Gadarene or Gergesin (interpreters believe that the latter name was included in the manuscripts of Origen
Resurrection of the Synagogue Leader's Daughter
(Matt. 9, 26 - 36; Mark 5, 22; Luke 8, 41 - 56) The Lord performed these two miracles, which the weather forecasters talk about, upon his return to Capernaum. The beginning of a miracle
Healing in Galilee
(Matthew 9: 27 - 38) Jesus Christ had just left Jairus’s house when two blind men followed Him, asking to heal them. In response to their request, Christ asks:
Apostleship
(Luke 9, 1 - 6; Mark 6, 7 - 13; Matt. 9, 35 - 38; 10, 1 - 42) Before sending his disciples to preach the Gospel, Christ gave them the power to heal
In this miracle, as in all miracles, God's mercy towards people was demonstrated
Having performed this miracle before His disciples, Christ not only showed His mercy and saved them from destruction, revealed to them His omnipotence, but also showed that by faith in the God-man and Ruler of the world and to them
Discourse on the Bread of Life
In the morning, the people who remained in the place where the blessing, breaking and multiplication of bread had taken place the day before found neither Jesus nor His disciples there. Taking advantage of the boat that came from Tiberias
Reply to the Pharisees
(Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23; John 7:1) The miraculous feeding of the people, according to the testimony of the Evangelist John, took place shortly before Easter. “After this Jesus moved
Healing the demon-possessed daughter of a Canaanite woman
(Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30) Christ was forced to leave Capernaum and retire from Galilee to the borders of Tire and Sidon in order to stop the indignation and murmur that
Healing the deaf and tongue-tied
(Mark 7:31-35) “Coming out of the borders of Tire and Sidon, Jesus again went to the Sea of Galilee through the borders of the Decapolis. A deaf and tongue-tied man was brought to Him
Response to the Pharisees and Sadducees to the demand for a sign
(Matthew 15:9-16; Mark 8:10-12) After the miraculous feeding of 4000 men, which occurred on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, Jesus Christ crosses to
Healing of the blind man in Bethsaida
(Mark 8:22-26) While in Bethsaida - Julia, Christ healed a blind man. After the first laying of the hands of the Savior on him, the blind man, who was not born as such,
Confession of Peter
(Matt. 16, 13-28; Mark 8, 27-38; 9.1; Luke 9, 18-27) Evangelists Matthew and Mark agree in the description of this event, which took place in the vicinity of Caesarea Philippi (so he
His suffering, death and resurrection
(Matt. 16:21-23; Mark 8:31-33; Luke 9:22) From that time on, Jesus spoke openly to His disciples, explaining by what kind of death He must die. He still
Doctrine of the Way of the Cross
(Matt. 16:24-28; Mark 8:34-38; Luke 9:23-26) After these words, the Lord called the people to Himself, and to all those gathered He said: “Whoever wants to come after Me has opened
Transfiguration of the Lord
(Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36) Evangelists testify that this event occurred six days after the confession of the Apostle Peter. Preobra
Conversation with students during the descent from the Mount of Transfiguration
(Matt. 17:9-13; Mark 9:9-13; Luke 9:36) The morning of the next day came, and the Lord, together with the disciples, eyewitnesses of His glorious Transfiguration, returned to the village where they
Healing a demon-possessed lunatic youth
(Matthew 17, 14-21; Mark 9, 14-29; Luke 9, 37-42) Evangelist Matthew describes this event as follows: “When they (that is, Christ and those who accompanied Him to Tabor Pet
About humility, love and mercy
(Matthew 18:1-35; Mark 9:33-50; Luke 9:46-50) The earthly life of Jesus Christ was coming to an end. In a manifestation of spirit and power, His Kingdom was soon to be revealed.
Instructions to the Seventy Apostles
(Luke 10:2-16; Matthew 11:20-24) The instructions given to the Seventy Apostles are very similar to the instructions given to the Twelve Apostles, which is explained
Return of the Seventy Apostles
(Luke 10:17-24) Returning from the sermon, the apostles rushed to the Teacher, to whom they hastened to inform about its successful completion, and also that the demons were obeying them.
Jesus Christ's answers to the lawyer who tempted Him
(Luke 10:25-37) A certain lawyer approached Jesus Christ, having heard the Lord’s conversation about the saving burden. He tried to find out if Jesus X was in this teaching
Jesus Christ in Bethany in the house of Mary and Martha
(Luke 10:38-42) From the narrative of the Evangelist John we learn that the village in which Martha and Mary lived and where Jesus came
Sample prayer and teaching about its power
(Luke 11:1-13; Matt. 6:9-13; 7:7-11) At the request of the disciples, Jesus Christ gives them a second example of prayer (the “Our Father” prayer). Persistent prayer
Refutation of the Pharisees and lawyers at a dinner with a Pharisee
(Luke 11:37-54) A certain Pharisee invited Jesus Christ to his place for dinner. According to Eastern custom, sanctified by legend, one had to wash oneself before and after eating.
Teaching about covetousness and wealth
(Luke 12:13-59) Someone from the crowd of people surrounding Jesus Christ, listening to his denunciation of the Pharisees, turned to Him with a question about how he could share with his brother what he had inherited.
Stay of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem
(John 7:10-53) Jesus Christ came to Jerusalem “not openly, but as if secretly,” that is, not in a solemn atmosphere. If only He had listened to the advice brother
Sinner before the Judgment of Christ
(John 8:1−11) After spending the night in prayer on the Mount of Olives, in the morning the Lord again came to the temple and taught. The scribes and Pharisees, wanting to find a reason to accuse Him, brought women
Conversation of Jesus Christ with the Jews in the Temple
(John 8:12-59) The Savior begins this conversation with the words: “I am the light of the world.” Just as the pillar of fire in the Old Testament showed the Jews the way out of Egypt to a better place.
Jesus Christ healing a man born blind on Saturday
(John 9:1-41) Coming out of the temple, Jesus Christ saw a man blind from birth. The disciples asked him about the reason for this man's blindness: were it his personal sins or
Conversation on the Good Shepherd
(John 10:1-21) Palestine has been a land of cattle breeders since ancient times. The entire way of life of the Jewish people was connected with shepherd life. It is no coincidence that the Lord chooses for
Healing a woman in the synagogue on Saturday
(Luke 13:1-17) One day they told the Lord about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices. Jews often opposed Roman rule and it was probably
Conversation on the holiday of Renewal
(John 10:22-42) This holiday was established by Judas Maccabee 160 years before the Nativity of Christ in memory of the renewal, cleansing and consecration of the Jerusalem Temple, desecrated
And the teaching of Christ in the house of the Pharisee
(Luke 14:1-35) At a dinner with one of the leaders of the Pharisees, a man suffering from water sickness approached Jesus. Then Christ asked the Pharisees if it was possible to heal in dry
About the small number of those being saved
(Luke 13:23-30) On the way back from the Trans-Jordan country to Jerusalem, someone asked Jesus: “Are there really few who are being saved?” He replied: “Strive to enter through the narrow
Trial of the Pharisees
(Luke 13:31-35) When the dinner at the Pharisee's house was drawing to a close, those present reported that Herod Antipas, who reigned in this area, intended to kill Him. But even here from the State
Parables of the Pharisees
(Luke 15:1-32) Among the crowd that followed Jesus Christ were publicans and sinners. The fact that the Lord entered into communication with them tempted the Pharisees, for whom even touching
Advice to Students
(Luke 16:1-13) Having denounced the Pharisees, Christ turns to His followers with the parable of the steward. A certain gentleman had a housekeeper to whom everything was entrusted
Healing of ten lepers
(Luke 17:11-19) The days of the taking of the Son of God from the world were approaching. “He wanted to go to Jerusalem,” says the Evangelist Luke. His path lay through the villages that were found
Answer to the Pharisees about the time of the coming of the Kingdom of God
(Luke 17:20-21) During one of the rest stops, the Pharisees approached Jesus Christ and asked Him when the Kingdom of God would come? According to their concepts, the coming of this kingdom
Marriage and the high dignity of virginity
(Matt. 19:1-12; Mark 10:1-12) Apparently, the teaching of Jesus Christ on marriage, which He sets out as an answer to the tempting question of the Pharisee, should also be attributed to this journey
Blessing of children
(Matt. 19, 13-16; Mark 10, 13-16; Luke 18, 15-17) Believing that God fulfills the prayers of holy people, many mothers brought their children to Jesus Christ so that He would pray for them
Reply to the rich young man
(Matt. 19, 16-26; Mark 10, 17-27; Luke 18-27) On the way to Jerusalem, a rich young man approached Jesus, who led a pious life, fulfilled the commandments of Moses, but did so outwardly
Answer of the Apostle Peter
(Matthew 19:27-20; Mark 10:29-30; Luke 18:28-30) Hearing these words, the disciples were greatly amazed and said: “So who can be saved?” This is impossible for a person, answer
Raising Lazarus
(John 11:1-44) While Jesus was in the Trans-Jordan country, Lazarus, the brother of Martha and Mary, who lived in Bethany, fell ill. Saddened, they sent to Christ so that
Removal of Jesus Christ to Ephraim
(John 11:45-57) The resurrection of Lazarus had such a strong impact, since many eyewitnesses of this miracle spread the news of it to all ends of Judea, that, having learned about it,
Prediction of Jesus Christ about His death and resurrection
(Matthew 20:17-28; Mark 10:32-45; Luke 18:31-34) Jesus Christ walked ahead, and the disciples followed Him in fear and trembling. Having recalled the apostles, He told them that in Jerusalem
Healing two blind men
(Matt. 20, 29-34; Mark 10, 46-52; Luke 18, 35-43) This miracle, according to the testimony of the evangelists Matthew and Mark, took place when leaving the city of Jericho, and, according to the testimony of the Gospel
Visit to Zacchaeus' house
(Luke 19:1-10) Zacchaeus was the chief of the publicans of the Jericho district and had great wealth acquired through unrighteous means; The Jews hated tax collectors, including Zacchaeus.
The Parable of the Mines
(Luke 19, 11-28) Jesus Christ was approaching Jerusalem. Those who accompanied Him expected that in Jerusalem He would declare Himself the King of Israel, and that what the Jews had expected would finally come
Supper at the House of Simon the Leper
(John 12:1-11; Matt. 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-9) Six days before Easter, Jesus Christ arrived in Bethany. Here in the house of Simon the leper a supper was prepared for Him, at which
Path to Jerusalem
(Matthew 21:1-9; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 12:29-44; John 12:12-19) The next day after supper in the house of Simon the leper, Jesus Christ went from Bethany to Jerusalem. Settlement,
Entrance to the Jerusalem Temple
(Matthew 21:10-11; 14-17; Mark 11:11) The Lord’s entry into Jerusalem was accompanied by great celebration. Having entered the city, He goes to the temple and here heals the sick. Frightened Pharisee
The Greeks' Desire to See Jesus
(John 12:20-22) Among those who came to the holiday in Jerusalem were Hellenes (i.e. Greeks). They turned to the disciples of Jesus Christ, expressing a desire to see Him. To faith in Him they would
Barren fig tree. Expulsion of merchants from the temple
(Mark 11:12-29; Matt. 21:12-13; 18-19; Luke 19:45-48) The next morning, Jesus Christ was walking to Jerusalem and got hungry along the way. Not far away He saw fig trees
Disciple about the withered fig tree
(Mark 11:20-26; Matt. 21:20-22) On the third day, Jesus went to Jerusalem with his disciples. And so the disciples, passing by the fig tree cursed by Him, saw that
About His power to do what He does
(Matt. 21, 23-22; Mark 11, 27-12; Luke 20, 1-19) The next day, Tuesday, Jesus Christ was again in the temple, and while He was teaching the people, people came to Him
Parable of the obedient and disobedient son
(Matthew 21:28-32) In it, Jesus Christ condemns the unbelief of the scribes and high priests. The parable is about a man who had two sons. One of them boldly opens
Parable of the Evil Vinegrowers
(Matt. 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19) In this parable, the Lord shows even more clearly the unbelief of the scribes and high priests. From the first parable it follows,
Parable about the marriage of the king's son
(Matthew 22:1-14) In terms of content and edifying thought, this parable is similar to the parable of those invited to the supper and stands in direct connection with the parable of the evil grapes
Reply to the Pharisees and Herodians
(Mark 12:14; 18-21) The high priests and Pharisees were only looking for an excuse to seize and kill Jesus Christ. This time they asked the Savior this question:
Reply to the Sadducees
(Matt. 22, 23-33; Mark 12, 18-27; Luke 20, 27-40) After the Pharisees and Herodians, the Sadducees, who denied the resurrection of the dead, approached Jesus Christ. Based on
Reply to the lawyer
(Matthew 22:34-40; Mark 12:28-34) After this, the Pharisees again tried to tempt Jesus Christ, and asked Him the following question through a lawyer: “what is the most
Defeat of the Pharisees
(Matt. 22, 41-46; 22, 1-39; Mark 12, 35-40; Luke 20, 40-47) Despite three unsuccessful attempts to catch Jesus Christ at his word, the Pharisees did not leave Him. Then
Praise for the Widow's Diligence
(Mark 12:4-44; Luke 21:1-4) After an accusatory speech against the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus Christ left the temple and, stopping at the door of the so-called two
And about the second coming
(Matthew 24:1-25; Mark 13:1-37; Luke 21:5-38) The prophecy of Jesus Christ about the destruction of the Jerusalem temple was incomprehensible to the disciples of the Lord, for they could not
About being awake
(Matt. 24, 42-25, 46; Mark 13, 34; Luke 21, 34-38) Jesus Christ calls His followers to constant vigilance. On this occasion He says three
Last Supper
(Matt. 26, 17-29; Mark 14, 12-25; Luke 22, 7-30; John 13, 1-30) All four evangelists tell about the last Easter Supper of the Lord with His disciples on the eve of His Cross
Farewell conversation of Jesus Christ with his disciples
(Matt. 26, 30-35; Mark 14, 26-31; Luke 22, 31-39; John 13, 31-16, 33) All four evangelists talk about it, and the first three convey only a prediction about
High Priestly Prayer of Jesus Christ
(John 17:1-26) Having finished his farewell conversation with his disciples, Jesus Christ approached the stream of Kidron. To cross this stream ¾ meant to betray oneself into the hands of
Betrayal of Judas
The Lord and his disciples returned to the place where they had left the other disciples. At this time, Judas the traitor entered the garden with soldiers and servants of the Sanhedrin, who walked, lighting the way with lanterns and
Taking Jesus Christ into custody
The unexpectedness of such an answer and the power of the Spirit of the Savior struck the warriors, they retreated and fell to the ground. At this time, students approached the crowd and wanted to protect their Teacher. Someone even asked:
Jesus Christ before the court of the Sanhedrin
(Matthew 26:59-75; Mark 14:53-72; Luke 22:54-71; John 18:13-27) Under guard, Jesus was taken to Jerusalem to the retired high priest Annas, Caiaphas’ father-in-law. From afar
Jesus Christ at the trial of Pilate and Herod
(Matt. 27, 1-2; 11-30; Mark 15, 1-19; Luke 23, 1-25; John 18, 28-19, 16) 1) The first trial of Pilate From the time
Second trial before Pilate
Referring to the fact that Herod did not find anything in Jesus worthy of death, Pilate invites the high priests, scribes and people to release Him after punishment. So he will calculate
Suffering on the cross and death of Jesus Christ
(Matt. 27, 31-56; Mark 15, 20-41; Luke 23, 26-49; John 19, 16-37) “And when they mocked him, they took off the scarlet robe from him and clothed him in his garments , and they led Him
Attaching guards to the tomb
(Matthew 27:62-66) On Friday, the day of the Lord’s death, His enemies could not take care to assign a guard to the tomb, for the burial was too late
Morning of the first Sunday
(Matt. 28:1-15; Mark 16:1-11; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-18) After the Sabbath, on the morning of the first day of the week, the Angel of the Lord descended from heaven and rolled away the stone from
First Sunday evening
(Luke 24, 12-49; Mark 16, 12-18; John 20, 19-25) That same day in the evening, two disciples (one of whom was Cleopas), not included in the group
Second appearance of the risen Christ to the apostles and Thomas
(John 20:24-29) During the first appearance of the Lord to the disciples, the Apostle Thomas was not among them, who experienced the death of the Teacher on the cross more than the other apostles. The decline of his spirit
The appearance of the risen Lord to the disciples in Galilee
(Matt. 28, 16-20; Mark 16, 15-18; Luke 24, 46-49) “The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus commanded them, and when they saw Him, they worshiped Him, and And
Ascension of the Lord
(Luke 24, 49-53 Mark 16, 19-20) The last appearance of the risen Christ the Savior, which ended with His ascension into heaven, is described in more detail by the Evangelist Luke. This is JAV
About the eternal birth and incarnation of the Son of God. Prophecies about the birth of the Messiah: prophets Micah, Isaiah
3. 1.A brief history of the text of the New Testament books. Ancient manuscripts. 2. Events leading up to the Nativity of Christ; Annunciation of Elizabeth, Nativity of John the Baptist. Etc
The canon of the New Testament books was by no means formed by order of the spiritual authorities - it was the result of more than two centuries of self-awareness of the entire Church, led by the Spirit of God, appeared as a certain given, which the hierarchy was only given the power to consolidate in legal order to solve temporary problems in the life of the Church in III century. Therefore, the only basis for classifying a particular book as canon is ultimately the attitude of the believers of that time towards it. Did they regard it as part of the Holy Scriptures along with the books of the Old Testament prophets? Or did they read it as a pious teaching that was left over from a previous generation of Christians? The answer to this question forms the basis of any discussion about the history of the formation of the canon of New Testament books.
It is convenient to imagine the history of the formation of the New Testament canon in the form of four successive stages:
· Apostolic Age – this period covers the period from the middle of the 1st century to the end of the 1st century;
· The period of the apostolic men – from the beginning of the 2nd century to the middle of the 2nd century;
· Period of Church Apologists – from the middle of the 2nd century to the beginning of the 3rd century;
· Canon closing period - from the beginning of the 3rd century to the middle of the 4th century.
Let's look at each of these stages in turn.
The time boundaries of the Apostolic Age are determined by the time of composition of the earliest and latest works.
Eusebius of Caesarea in his “Ecclesiastical History” attributes to Matthew the writing of the Gospel in the 8th year after the Ascension, that is, in 42 AD. Among the estimates of the time of compilation of the New Testament books, this estimate is the earliest.
It is believed that the latest of the works is the letter of the Apostle John. It dates back to 98, 99, sometimes 102 years.
Thus, the apostolic age refers to the period from 42 to 102.
Did the believers of the apostolic age consider the writings of the apostles to be part of the Holy Scriptures along with the books of the Old Testament?
Eusebius of Caesarea writes from the words of Origen that John began to compile his Gospel after becoming familiar with the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. It happened as follows. The clergy of the Ephesian Church turned to the Apostle John with a request to confirm the truth of the three Gospels. The Apostle examined them, recognized their authenticity, and approved their use.
The very fact that the Ephesian Christians doubted the truth of the Synoptic Gospels clearly demonstrates that in Ephesus these Gospels were not considered authoritative until they were approved by the Apostle John the Theologian. Writers of this era refer to the books of the Old Testament, but never refer to the books of the apostles. Means, among the believers of the apostolic age, the apostolic writings were not regarded as part of the Holy Scriptures .
The Apostle John writes his Gospel to make up for the shortcomings of the first three and to close the question of the written reflection of the Gospel history. The Holy Patriarch Photius of Constantinople in the 9th century put forward the hypothesis that John thereby closed the canon regarding the Gospels. The works of Patriarch Photius, based on the latter’s developments, were continued a thousand years later in the 19th century by the outstanding Russian biblical scholar Archpriest Alexander Gorsky. The hypothesis is the assumption that in Ephesus St. Apostle John the Theologian and disciple of St. Apostle Paul Timothy formed a list of books of apostolic origin, that is, they closed the canon of books of the New Testament.
This hypothesis is supported by the fact that the Apostle John was, without a doubt, the greatest authority, the last of the apostles, a witness to the earthly life of the Savior. If he approved the Synoptic Gospels and supplemented them with his own, fourth, then no one would add anything to the Four Gospels thus formed and no one would doubt the authenticity of such a Four Gospels.
However " close canon" And " approve the Four Gospels" - these are different things. Firstly, the canon of the New Testament included not only the Gospels, and no information has reached us about the Apostle John’s approval of any set of Epistles. And, secondly, the list of books of the New Testament approved by the apostle, that is, the canon as such, has not reached us at all.
There is also no indirect evidence of the closure of the canon at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries. None of the later church writers mentions the list of books of the New Testament approved by the apostles. Neither the apostolic men nor the apologists mention him.
The presence of a canon, that is, an approved list of inspired books by the apostles themselves, could easily be used by the Church in polemics against heretics during the heyday of Gnosticism. However, not a single Christian theologian in the fight against the Gnostics refers to such a document. From here the most correct thing to do would be conclusion about the absence of a canon as such at the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries .
The period of the apostolic men opens at the beginning of the 2nd century, when the last eyewitnesses of the Savior’s earthly life departed to the Lord and the immediate successors of the apostles and eyewitnesses of their church service became the highest authority in the Church. The end of this period coincides with their death. The period of the apostolic men thus occupies the first three quarters of the 2nd century.
Among the written monuments of this period, we should first of all mention “ Didache" Now the full title of this book is “ The teaching of the Lord, transmitted through the apostles" In ancient times, books were not given special names. The books were named after their first words. " Didache" is the first word of the book. It was discovered at the end of the 19th century in Constantinople in the library of the Jerusalem Monastery of the Holy Sepulcher by Metropolitan Philotheus of Nicomedia. " Didache"was part of a manuscript that dated back to 1056. After reviewing the text, experts stated that it was compiled between 80 and 165 AD. Currently, most historians point to a narrower interval between 120 and 130 AD.
The letters of these men also occupy a prominent place among the monuments of the period of the apostolic men:
· 7 messages from the Holy Martyr. Ignatius the God-Bearer, Bishop of Antioch
· District letter to the Corinthians by the Holy Martyr. Clement, Bishop of Rome
· Epistle of the Apostle Barnabas (this epistle is also called the Epistle of Pseudo-Barnabas, since Eusebius of Caesarea denies the Apostle Barnabas his authorship)
· Writings of Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis († 165)
The attitude of believers towards the apostolic books at this time is twofold.
On the one side, in the works of church writers there appear episodes that are very reminiscent of quotes from the apostolic books. This is not an exact, but a very arbitrary quotation, preserving the general meaning of the apostolic statement. For example, Ignatius the God-Bearer in his Epistle to the Magnesians calls on the flock not to be deceived by either alien teachings or old useless fables. This passage recalls the words of the Apostle Paul: “ For this reason, rebuke them strictly, so that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to the fables of the Jews and the decrees of people who turn away from the truth.." (Titus 1:13-14) Another example. Clement of Rome writes: “ Have mercy so that you may have mercy; let go, so that it may be released to you; as you do, so will they be done to you; as you judge, so you will be judged; With the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you." This is an arbitrary quotation from the Gospel of Matthew.
On the other hand, exact quoting of the apostolic books is so rare among apostolic men that it is impossible to talk about the authority of the apostolic books along with the books of the Old Testament. Thus, for one hundred exact quotations from the Old Testament, Clement of Rome has only two exact quotations from the New Testament. This demonstrates that Believers did not treat the books of the apostles as unconditionally indisputable writings.
The inaccurate quotation of the apostolic books by the apostolic men at one time gave a number of Western historians reason to doubt that the apostolic men were familiar with the New Testament books. These experts put forward a hypothesis about the existence in the first half of the 2nd century only of certain collections of the sayings of the Lord, but by no means the Gospels in the form in which we use them now.
Three important arguments can be made against this hypothesis.
· The apostolic men addressed people, among whom were many eyewitnesses of the ministry of the apostles and their closest collaborators. The flock itself knew the apostolic teaching and did not need special confirmation of this teaching with references to books
· Many written monuments were created in very cramped circumstances. For example, Ignatius the God-Bearer wrote all his seven epistles on the way to Rome. On the way, he did not have the opportunity to use books. In those days, books were not at all as compact as they are now, and taking them with you on the road was difficult. If Ignatius the God-Bearer quoted books, it was only from memory.
· The 2nd century refers to the era of the spoken word. People were much more willing to convey their teachings orally than in writing. Therefore, the narrator, who once personally received instructions from the apostle, had exceptional authority for the flock. This authority outweighed the authority of any written evidence.
Period of Church Apologists
Beginning in the second half of the 2nd century, the pagan intelligentsia saw Christianity as a serious rival. The pagan writer Celsus, who fiercely hated Christianity, wrote “The True Word.” In this book, Celsus writes about the Church and Christians of all sorts of horrors and absurdities, designed to arouse in readers a deep hostility towards Christianity. The “True Word” has not survived to this day. We learn about this book from Origen’s polemical work “Against Celsus.” The spread of rumors about the fraudulent background of Christian preaching, the slanderous reinterpretation of the meager set of information about Christians that was then available to the average pagan reader, served to inflame anti-Christian hysteria in Roman society. Thus, Celsus and others like him wrote about Christians as civically unreliable swindlers who stooped to systematic participation in incest and cannibalism.
Pressure from slanderers and Gnostics forced the Church to defend its teachings based on the Holy Scriptures. This forced defenders of the faith to pay more attention to Scripture, which, in turn, contributed to the further formation of the canon.
Let us consider separately the most important monuments that represent this period.
1. In 1740, in the Milan library, Professor Muratorium discovered a manuscript without beginning or end, dating back to the end of the 2nd century. Its content did not consist of the texts of the Holy Scriptures themselves, but only a list of canonical books of that time, provided with a brief annotation. This list is called Muratorian canon . The Muratorian canon is written in Latin and apparently reflects the opinion of the Western Church. It contains: four Gospels, Acts, thirteen epistles of the Apostle Paul (except the epistle to the Hebrews), 1st Catholic Epistle of the Apostle Peter, 1st Catholic Epistle of the Apostle John, Catholic Epistle of the Apostle Judas and the Apocalypse. The author of the manuscript briefly mentions the 2nd Council Epistle of the Apostle Peter, as well as the 2nd and 3rd Council Epistles of the Apostle John. The Epistle of James is not mentioned at all.
2. Peshito or Peshitto - translation of the New Testament into Syriac. The title translates as P height , accessible. It dates back no later than the 2nd century.
Pescito contains the letter of the Apostle Paul to the Jews and the Catholic Epistle of the Apostle
Jacob. There is no Apocalypse or Epistle of Jude in Pescito. 2 Peter and 2-3 John are also missing. This canon had strong authority in the Antiochian Church, as well as in the Syrian and Asia Minor Churches in general. Thus, the Antiochian John Chrysostom never did not refer to those books that are not in the Peshitto. Among the 1,100 quotations from Holy Scripture found in his works, there is not a single quotation that is not in the Peshitto.
3. Irenaeus of Lyons, Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria unanimously recognized the inspiration of the thirteen epistles of Paul, the Apocalypse, the four Gospels, Acts, 1 Peter and 1 John. They have some differences and controversial opinions regarding who owns the authorship of some books. For example, Tertullian attributes the authorship of the letter to the Hebrews to the Apostle Barnabas.
4. " Diatessaron » church historian Tatian. The Syrian Tatian, a student of Justin the Philosopher, set out to harmoniously combine all four Gospels into a single consistent narrative. Such a union is called harmonization. Actually, Diatessaron and is translated as Gospel Harmony. The further fate of the work is dramatic - the author fell into heresy and apostatized from the Church, and Diatessaron it was destroyed. What is significant for us in this story is that Tatian took as a basis precisely the four Gospels and no others. This circumstance confirms the tacit recognition of the inspiration of these particular Gospels in the era of Tatian.
CONCLUSION : the following were considered directly apostolic writings: 4 Gospels, Acts, 13 Epistles of Paul (except to the Jews), 1st Epistle of Peter, 1st Epistle of John. The remaining books, although well known, were not widely distributed at that time.
Canon closing period
This period is divided into two sub-periods. The first period was marked by the activities of Origen, and the second by Eusebius of Caesarea.
Origen, a student of Clement of Alexandria and one of the greatest theologians of his time, who influenced even the great Cappadocians, died in 254. He recognizes all 14 of Paul’s epistles as inspired, but does not recognize Paul’s authorship of the Epistle to the Hebrews: “ The epistle entitled to the Hebrews, the speech of the apostle, does not have the features characteristic of the speech of the apostle, who admitted that he was unskilled in speech, that is, in skill ... that epistle, composed in good Greek ... anyone who is able to perceive the difference in style. On the other hand, the thoughts in this message are amazing, and are not inferior to those messages that are recognized as truly Pauline. Anyone who carefully reads the apostolic text will agree with this. If I were to express my opinion, I would be forced to say that these thoughts belonged to the apostles, and the style and composition belonged to someone who remembered the apostolic teachings or wrote, explaining what was said. Therefore, if any Church accepts this epistle as Paul’s, then it is worthy of praise for this, for it was not for nothing that the ancient men attributed this epistle to Paul, but only God knows who actually wrote it. The last ones that came down to us... some attributed it to Clement the Bishop of Rome, and others to Luke, who wrote the gospel.»
Of the 7 Council Epistles, Origen recognizes only 1 Peter and 1 John. About the rest
Origen speaks hesitantly in his conciliar letters. He says that not all Churches use them, and this does not give him the right to be firmly confident in their authenticity. As for the Apocalypse, he recognizes it. In any case, nowhere in Origen’s writings is there even a hint of doubt about his inspiration.
Eusebius of Caesarea identified 4 groups of books:
· Generally recognized
· Controversial
· Fake
· Unholy and absurd.
The first three categories group books with teaching that is generally acceptable, some of which have questionable origins. Thus, the group of generally accepted books included books of undoubtedly apostolic origin. These in the minds of Eusebius include: 4 Gospels, Acts, Epistles of Paul (does not indicate how many), 1 Peter, 1 John. " And, if you like, the Apocalypse».
The second group combines books controversial. Here Eusebius includes the Catholic Epistle of James, the Catholic Epistle of Jude, 2nd and 3rd John, as well as 2nd Peter.
Forged Eusebius of Caesarea names books of obviously non-apostolic origin, but in many ways pious, and therefore read by many teachers and churches on a par with the apostolic ones. These are “The Shepherd of Hermas”, “The Epistle of Pseudobarnabas”, “Didache”. "The Gospel of the Jews" and " if you like, Apocalypse».
To the number of books wicked include any books containing inventions of heretics. These are, in particular, the Gospel of Peter, the Gospel of Thomas, and the Acts of Andrew.