Paschal Letter

St. Athanasius, "Against the World", Archbishop of Alexandria

As a followup to my casual conversation and chess match with Sofonyas of Rome, that I invited you all to peek in on as a fly-on-the-wall, I present to you dear readers and watchers the 39th Letter of Athanasius the Great; he who bestowed the bishopry, and thus all the hierarchy (including priests and deacons), to Aksum aka Abyssinia aka Ethiopia.

In this letter, we have the first written evidence of a New Testament biblical canon. The Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, biblical canon of the Masoretes comes a whopping 600 years later, in the arbitrarily vocalized Biblical Hebrew of the Aleppo Codex. The millennium older consonantal (still has vowels w, y, a, and 3) Biblical Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls contain an inconvenient truth, or two, about which books belong in the biblical canon. But, that is a story for another day.

Today, without totally ignoring the OT books, let us make our primary focus the NT books that Sofonyas accepts without any scriptural evidence. Alas, none of these biblical canons are in the bible! If you are a Protestant, that means you have unknowingly submitted to this Paschal Letter of an Early Church hierarch with Apostolic Succession going back to Mark, Peter, and Paul.

There are, then, of the Old Testament, twenty-two books in number; for, as I have heard, it is handed down that this is the number of the letters among the Hebrews; their respective order and names being as follows. The first is Genesis, then Exodus, next Leviticus, after that Numbers, and then Deuteronomy. Following these there is Joshua, the son of Nun, then Judges, then Ruth. And again, after these four books of Kings, the first and second being reckoned as one book, and so likewise the third and fourth as one book. And again, the first and second of the Chronicles are reckoned as one book. Again Ezra, the first and second are similarly one book. After these there is the book of Psalms, then the Proverbs, next Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs. Job follows, then the Prophets, the twelve being reckoned as one book. Then Isaiah, one book, then Jeremiah with Baruch, Lamentations, and the epistle, one book; afterwards, Ezekiel and Daniel, each one book. Thus far constitutes the Old Testament.

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 universal), 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.

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, “You err, not knowing the Scriptures." And He reproved the Jews, saying, “Search the Scriptures, for these are they that testify of Me.”

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. But the former, my brethren, are included in the Canon, the latter being [merely] read

Checkmate. Good game.

Extra credit. Can you tell my day job is as a teacher? At least till enough of you patronize me, in the classic sense of the verb. This letter is found in the EOTC’s canon law book known as fitha negest (the justice of kings).