HistoricalChristian.Faith

Athanasius of Alexandria on the Biblical Canon

Dates: c. 367 (the thirty-ninth Festal [Easter] Letter, issued for the year 367; Athanasius c. 296/298–373) · Wikipedia · his Old Testament canon page
Summary: In the annual Easter letter of 367 the bishop of Alexandria lists the books "included in the Canon, and handed down, and accredited as Divine" — and his New-Testament catalogue is the first on record that matches the present twenty-seven exactly: the four Gospels, Acts, the seven Catholic Epistles, fourteen of Paul (Hebrews counted in), and the Revelation of John. He seals the list — "let no man add to these, neither let him take ought from these" — yet still frames the listing as his own undertaking "of necessity," the canon "handed down" rather than decreed. Alongside it stands a twenty-two-book Hebrew Old Testament, with Wisdom, Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobit and others set in a second rank as "read" but not canonical.

Claims & evidence

The New Testament: the first list identical to the present twenty-seven

Again it is not tedious to speak of the [books] of the New Testament. These are, the four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Afterwards, the Acts of the Apostles and Epistles (called Catholic), seven, viz. of James, one; of Peter, two; of John, three; after these, one of Jude. In addition, there are fourteen Epistles of Paul, written in this order. The first, to the Romans; then two to the Corinthians; after these, to the Galatians; next, to the Ephesians; then to the Philippians; then to the Colossians; after these, two to the Thessalonians, and that to the Hebrews; and again, two to Timothy; one to Titus; and lastly, that to Philemon. And besides, the Revelation of John.

— Festal Letter 39.5, trans. NPNF 2.4, historicalchristian.faith (also at New Advent).¹ This is the first surviving catalogue whose New Testament is neither short nor long of the modern twenty-seven: four Gospels, Acts, seven Catholic Epistles, fourteen Paulines, and the Apocalypse — the whole set, in the order he gives it. Two details mark the moment. His "fourteen Epistles of Paul" fold the Epistle to the Hebrews into the Pauline corpus — the same count given by Origen and Cyril, who likewise reckon Hebrews to Paul (its authorship in fact uncertain). And, unlike his fellow Easterner Cyril a generation earlier — who stopped at twenty-six, omitting Revelation — Athanasius closes the list with "the Revelation of John," settling on the inclusion side the one book the Greek churches longest doubted.

"Let no man add to these, neither let him take ought from these"

These are fountains of salvation, that they who thirst may be satisfied with the living words they contain. In these alone is proclaimed the doctrine of godliness. Let no man add to these, neither let him take ought from these. For concerning these the Lord put to shame the Sadducees, and said, `Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures.' And He reproved the Jews, saying, `Search the Scriptures, for these are they that testify of Me.'

— Festal Letter 39.6, historicalchristian.faith (also at New Advent).² Where earlier witnesses listed and sorted, Athanasius seals: the canon is closed at both ends, nothing to be added and nothing taken away. It is the strongest closure-language on the timeline before the conciliar ratifications, and it is what makes this letter the conventional terminus for the New-Testament canon's formation — even though, as the note below stresses, Athanasius does not claim to be promulgating a list so much as commending one already "handed down."

The frame: a list "handed down," set out "of necessity"

… it seemed good to me also, having been urged thereto by true brethren, and having learned from the beginning, to set before you the books included in the Canon, and handed down, and accredited as Divine …

— Festal Letter 39.3, historicalchristian.faith.³ Taking up "the pattern of Luke the Evangelist" against those who "have taken in hand … to reduce into order for themselves the books termed apocryphal, and to mix them up with the divinely inspired Scripture," Athanasius presents the catalogue as his own undertaking — written "of necessity" (39.7), urged by "true brethren," recording the books "handed down" from the eyewitnesses to the fathers. The verb matters for the chronology of the legend: a bishop who was present at Nicaea (325) still treats the listing of the canon, forty-two years later, as something he must do himself because it had never been formally settled — the canon received and "handed down," not voted or decreed (see the note below).

The Old Testament: twenty-two books, with a "read but not canonical" second rank

But for greater exactness I add this also, writing of necessity; that there are other books besides these not indeed included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us, and who wish for instruction in the word of godliness. The Wisdom of Solomon, and the Wisdom of Sirach, and Esther, and Judith, and Tobit, and that which is called the Teaching of the Apostles, and the Shepherd.

— Festal Letter 39.7, historicalchristian.faith.⁴ Athanasius's Old Testament is the twenty-two-book Hebrew reckoning (39.4) — the same count Cyril gives — and he expressly files the deuterocanonical books in a middle class: not "included in the Canon," but "appointed by the Fathers to be read" by catechumens. (Notably he places even Esther here, among the read-but-not-canonical, while folding Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah into Jeremiah within the canon.) This threefold scheme — canonical, ecclesiastically-read, and the "apocryphal" that are "an invention of heretics" — is the hinge datum for the later Old-Testament canon dispute: a generation before the African councils list the deuterocanon among the Scriptures, the most influential Eastern voice ranks the same books below the canon. The present page weighs the New-Testament list; the Old-Testament tier is noted here only as it bears on that later, separate story.

Notes

• The conventional terminus — with a caveat. Letter 39 is routinely called the first witness to the exact twenty-seven-book New Testament, and on the inclusion side it is the timeline's high-water mark: the full set, Revelation included, sealed against addition or subtraction. But it is one bishop's Paschal letter, not a council's decree, and it did not end the disputes — the East went on hesitating over Revelation for centuries, and the West and East stayed divided over the Old-Testament deuterocanon down to the Reformation. The letter fixes the contents the later councils would ratify; it does not by itself close the question.
• A witness against the Nicaea-fixed-the-canon legend. Athanasius sat at Nicaea (325) as the young deacon and aide of bishop Alexander. That he should still, in 367, frame the listing of the canon as his own task — undertaken "of necessity," the books "handed down" rather than enacted — tells directly against the popular claim that the council of 325 settled the canon by vote: had Nicaea promulgated a catalogue, its most famous champion would have had only to cite it. This is why his letter recurs among the Nicene-canon arguments, where A. E. Breen reads exactly this framing as proof that no Nicene list was ever issued; it also bears on whether Nicaea counted Judith, since Athanasius here ranks Judith below the canon.
• Inclusion, not destruction. Like the other Eastern witnesses, Athanasius draws the boundary by reception: the canonical books are "handed down and accredited as Divine," the second rank "appointed by the Fathers to be read," and the apocrypha proper are repudiated as "an invention of heretics" — left unread, not gathered and burned. His register is the documented one of the timeline, not the "banned and burned" of the popular legend.

Sources