Victor R. Claveau, MJ
The first Synod at which the books of the Bible were made the subject of a special ordinance was that of Laodicea, but the precise date of this Synod, as well as the integrity of the canon in question, has been warmly debated.
This Synod of Laodicea[i] in Phrygia Pacatiana[ii] held about 363-364, enacted sixty Canons, which are still extant in their original Greek.
The 60th Canon is as follows:
These are all the books of the Old Testament, which may be read aloud: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Esther, First and Second Books of Kings, Third and Fourth Books of Kings, First and Second Books or Chronicles, First and Second Books of Ezra, the Book of the one hundred and fifty Psalms, the Proverbs of Solomon, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, Job, the twelve Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Baruch, the Lamentations and Letters, Ezekiel and Daniel.
The books of the New Testament are these: Four Gospels, according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the Acts of the Apostles; the Seven Catholic Epistles, namely, one of James, two of Peter, three of John, one of Jude ; the fourteen Epistles of Paul, one to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, one to the Galatians, one to the Ephesians, one to the Philippians, one to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, one to the Hebrews, two to Timothy, one to Titus, and one to Philemon.
SYNOD AT HIPPO, A. D. 393.
A Full Council of all Africa. (Also, not an ecumenical Council)
This place, in Africa, was called Hippo Regius. Aurelius, Archbishop of Carthage since 391, presided.
St. Augustine was then a priest at Hippo, and delivered his discourse, “Of the Faith and the Symbol,” which is preserved in his writings.
They enacted forty-one Canons. The thirty-sixth was as follows:
Besides the Canonical Scriptures, nothing shall be read in the Church under the title of “divine writings.” The Canonical books are: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, the four Books of Kings, the two Books of Chronicles, Job, the Psalms of David, the five Books of Solomon, the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Tobias, Judith, Esther, two Books of Esdras, two of Maccabees.
The Books of the New Testament are: The Four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, thirteen Epistles of Paul, one Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, two Epistles of Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude, and the Revelation of John.
Concerning the confirmation of this Canon, the Church on the other side of the sea shall be consulted.
The acts of martyrs shall also be read on their anniversaries.
The reports of discussions at this Synod were all lost, only abridgments of their acts being now extant.
There was a work translated into Latin about the year A. D. 500, by Dionysius the Less, of Rome, which was called “The Apostolical Canons,” an old Greek collection of uncertain date and authorship, but supposed to have been used early in the fourth century. It contained eighty-four Canons. The style of the work is that of the third century. The origin of most of these Canons is unknown. However, they were derived partly from the Synods of the Church. The eighty-fourth Canon says that the books which were held venerable and sacred by all our clergy and laity, are as follows:
Of the Old Testament: The five books of Moses, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, four Books of Kings, two of Chronicles, Esdras, Esther, Judith, three of Maccabees, Job, one hundred and forty Psalms, three books of Solomon, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs, sixteen Prophets, the Wisdom of Sirach.
Of the New Testament: The Four Evangelists, Paul’s fourteen Epistles, two of Peter, three of John, one of James, one of Jude, two of Clement, the Constitutions of the Churches and the Acts of the Apostles.
The book of the Shepherd of Hermas, was so called, because an angel in the form and habit of a shepherd, is the leading character in the drama. The author is unknown. ” If he was indeed sane,” says Mosheim, ” he deemed it proper to forge dialogues held with God and angels, in order to insinuate what he regarded as salutary truths more effectually into the minds of his readers. But his celestial spirits talk more insipidly than our scavengers and porters.”
Clement, who became Bishop of Rome A. D. 101, used the following books of the New Testament: 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, 1 Timothy (?), Titus (?), Hebrews and James.
Ignatius (107) used: 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians (?),
1 Thessalonians (?) and Philemon (?).
Polycarp (160) used Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians (?), 1 Timothy,
2 Timothy, 1 Peter, 1 John.
Barnabas (60) used Matthew, 1 Timothy (?), 2 Timothy (?).
Origen (215), according to Wescott, above quoted, used Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. He adopted most of the books of our present Canon. But he denied that Paul wrote Hebrews, although the thoughts of that epistle were perhaps Paul’s, and written by someone who had been intimate with Paul, either Clement, Bishop of Rome, or Luke, the author of Acts. He also considered some other books true and inspired, of which were the Epistle of Barnabas; the Ascension of Moses, a little treatise mentioned by Jude; the Doctrine of Peter; the Book of Enoch, and the Pastor of Hermas.
Athanasius rejected the book of Esther.
The Council of Carthage, A. D. 397 (Also, not an ecumenical Council) adopted the same rule as that of Hippo; however, ranking Hebrews among Paul’s fourteen Epistles. Pope Innocent I., a few years later, confirmed this catalogue of sacred books by a decree, which finally decided the Canon of the Latin Church.
Non-Catholics will many times point out that the councils of Hippo and Carthage were not ecumenical councils, and therefore claim that they had no authority.
In the year 787 A.D., the 2nd Ecumenical Council of Nicea[iii] ratified the African Code.[iv] In other words at the 2nd Council of Nicea, the entire Bible canon was fully approved and this canon has been in use in the Church ever since. It was the first time an ecumenical council had ratified a canon of Scripture. The council of Florence in 1442, reiterated the same canon, and finally after the Protestant Reformation there was the Council of Trent, which also accepted the canon of the African code.
[i] The Council of Laodicea was a regional Christian synod, not an ecumenical Council, of approximately thirty clerics from Asia Minor.
[ii] Located in central Turkey
[iii] The Second Council at Nice was convened to correct the iconoclastic heretics. The convocation was announced by Pope Hadrian (772-795) in a letter of Constantine VI and Empress Irene in August 784 A.D. The council, which was summoned by an imperial edict was convened on 1 August 786 in the presence of the Emperor and Empress. 263 Church fathers embraced the doctrine of the cult of sacred images and a doctrinal definition was decreed in the seventh session.
[iv] “We joyfully embrace the sacred canons and we maintain complete and unshaken their regulation, both those expounded by those trumpets of the Spirit, the apostles worthy of all praise, and those from the six holy universal synods, and from the synods assembled locally for the promulgation of such decrees, and from our holy fathers. Indeed, all of these, enlightened by one and the same Spirit, decreed what is expedient” (emphasis mine).
Bibliography: History of the Council of Nice: A World’s Christian Convention, A.D. 325, Dean Dudley, Peter Eckler Publishing Co., 1915.
Second Council of Nicea, Canon 1. Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, Norman P. Tanner, S.J. editor, (Sheed & Ward: Georgetown University Press), 1990, p. 139.