Philastrius(331) of Brescia gives some account of the Scriptures and their
contents in his time. The canonical Scriptures, which alone should be read
in the Catholic Church, are said to be the law and the prophets, the
gospels, Acts, thirteen epistles of Paul, and seven others, _i.e._, two of
Peter, three of John, one of Jude, and one of James. Of the Old Testament
apocrypha he asserts that they ought to be read for the sake of morals by
the perfect, but not by all. He speaks of _heretics_ who reject John’s
gospel and the Apocalypse. Respecting the Epistle to the Hebrews which is
omitted in his canon, he speaks at large, but not very decidedly,
affirming that some attributed its authorship to Barnabas, or Clement of
Rome, or Luke. “They wish to read the writings of the blessed apostle, and
not rightly perceiving some things in the epistle, it is not therefore
read by them in the church. Though read by some, it is not read to the
people in the church; nothing but Paul’s thirteen epistles, and that to
the Hebrews sometimes.”(332) The influence of the East upon the West
appears in the statements of this father upon the subject. He had several
canonical lists before him; one at least from an Oriental-Arian source,
which explains some assertions, particularly his omission of the
Apocalypse.
Innocent I. of Rome wrote to Exsuperius (405 A.D.), bishop of Toulouse,
giving a list of the canonical books. Besides the Hebrew canon, he has
Wisdom and Sirach; Tobit, Judith, the two Maccabees. The New Testament
list is identical with the present. He also refers to pseudepigraphical
writings which ought not only to be rejected but condemned.(333)
A canonical list appears in three different forms bearing the names of
Damasus (366-384), Gelasius I. (492-496), and Hormisdas (514-523).
According to the first, the books of the Old Testament are arranged in
three orders. In the first are the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, four
Kings, two Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Canticles, Wisdom,
and Ecclesiasticus; in the second, all the prophets, including Baruch; in
the third, Job, Tobit, Judith, Esther, Esdras, two Maccabees. The New
Testament books are the four gospels, fourteen epistles of Paul, the
Apocalypse, and Acts, with seven Catholic epistles.
That which is called the Decree of Gelasius is almost identical with the
preceding. It wants Baruch and Lamentations. It has also two Esdrases
instead of one. In the New Testament the epistle to the Hebrews is absent.
The Hormisdas-form has the Lamentations of Jeremiah: and in the New
Testament the Epistle to the Hebrews.
The MSS. of these lists present some diversity; and Credner supposes the
Damasus-list a fiction. But Thiel has vindicated its authenticity. It is
possible that some interpolations may exist in the last two; the first,
which is the shortest, may well belong to the time of Damasus.(334)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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