Biblical canon

===Eastern Church===

====Alexandrian Fathers====
[[Origen of Alexandria]] (184/85–253/54), an early scholar involved in the codification of the biblical canon, had a thorough education both in Christian theology and in pagan philosophy, but was posthumously condemned at the [[Second Council of Constantinople]] in 553 since some of his teachings were considered to be heresy. Origen's canon included all of the books in the current New Testament canon except for four books: [[Epistle of James|James]], [[Second Epistle of Peter|2nd Peter]], and the [[Second Epistle of John|2nd]] and [[Third Epistle of John|3rd epistles of John]].<ref>Prat, Ferdinand (1911). [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11306b.htm "Origen and Origenism"]. ''The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 11''. New York: Robert Appleton Company. According to Eusebius' Church History [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf201.iii.xi.xxv.html 6.25]: a 22 book OT [though Eusebius does not name Minor Prophets, presumably just an oversight?] plus 1 deuterocanon ["And outside these are the [[Books of the Maccabees|Maccabees]], which are entitled S<ph?>ar beth sabanai el."] and 4 Gospels but on the Apostle "Paul ... did not so much as write to all the churches that he taught; and even to those to which he wrote he sent but a few lines."
</ref>

He also included the [[Shepherd of Hermas]] which was later rejected. The religious scholar [[Bruce Metzger]] described Origen's efforts, saying "The process of canonization represented by Origen proceeded by way of selection, moving from many candidates for inclusion to fewer."{{sfnp|Metzger|1997|p=141}}

In his Easter letter of 367, Patriarch [[Athanasius of Alexandria]] gave a list of exactly the same books that would become the [[New Testament]]–27 book–proto-canon,<ref name="Lindberg 2006 15">{{cite book|title=A Brief History of Christianity |url=https://archive.org/details/briefhistorychri00lind |url-access=limited |author-first=Carter |author-last=Lindberg |page=[https://archive.org/details/briefhistorychri00lind/page/n26 15] |year=2006 |publisher=[[Blackwell Publishing]] |isbn=1-4051-1078-3}}
</ref> and used the phrase "being canonized" (''kanonizomena'') in regard to them.<ref>
{{cite journal |author-last=Brakke |author-first=David |title=Canon Formation and Social Conflict in Fourth Century Egypt: Athanasius of Alexandria's Thirty Ninth Festal Letter |journal=[[Harvard Theological Review]] |volume=87 |issue=4 |date=1994 |pages=395–419 |doi=10.1017/s0017816000030200|s2cid=161779697 }}
</ref>

====Fifty Bibles of Constantine====
{{main|Fifty Bibles of Constantine}}
In 331, [[Constantine I and Christianity|Constantine I]] commissioned [[Eusebius]] to deliver fifty Bibles for the [[Church of Constantinople]]. [[Athanasius]]<ref>''Apol. Const. 4''</ref> recorded [[Early centers of Christianity#Alexandria|Alexandrian]] scribes around 340 preparing Bibles for [[Constans]]. Little else is known, though there is plenty of speculation. For example, it is speculated that this may have provided motivation for canon lists, and that [[Codex Vaticanus]] and [[Codex Sinaiticus]] are examples of these Bibles. Those codices contain almost a full version of the [[Septuagint]]; Vaticanus lacks only 1–3 [[Books of the Maccabees|Maccabees]] and Sinaiticus lacks 2–3 Maccabees, [[1 Esdras]], [[Book of Baruch|Baruch]] and [[Letter of Jeremiah]].<ref>{{citation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LUmGZ0NiweAC |title=Septuagint As Christian Scripture |author-first=Martin |author-last=Hengel |publisher=A&C Black |year=2004 |isbn=978-0567082879 |page=57}}</ref> Together with the [[Peshitta]] and [[Codex Alexandrinus]], these are the earliest extant Christian Bibles.<ref>''The Canon Debate'', pp. 414–415, for the entire paragraph</ref>

There is no evidence among the [[First Council of Nicaea#Biblical canon|canons of the First Council of Nicaea]] of any determination on the canon; however, [[Jerome]] (347–420), in his ''Prologue to Judith'', makes the claim that the [[Book of Judith]] was "found by the Nicene Council to have been counted among the number of the Sacred Scriptures".<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Book of Judith}}: Canonicity: "..."the Synod of Nicaea is said to have accounted it as Sacred Scripture" (Praef. in Lib.). It is true that no such declaration is to be found in the Canons of Nicaea, and it is uncertain whether St. Jerome is referring to the use made of the book in the discussions of the council, or whether he was misled by some spurious canons attributed to that council"</ref>

====Eastern canons====
The Eastern Churches had, in general, a weaker feeling than those in the West for the necessity of making sharp delineations with regard to the canon. They were more conscious of the gradation of spiritual quality among the books that they accepted (for example, the classification of Eusebius, see also [[Antilegomena]]) and were less often disposed to assert that the books which they rejected possessed no spiritual quality at all. For example, the [[Quinisext Council|Trullan Synod of 691–692]], which [[Pope Sergius I]] (in office 687–701) rejected<ref>{{cite book |author-last=Ekonomou |author-first= Andrew J. |year=2007 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zomZk6DbFTIC&pg=PA222 |title=Byzantine Rome and the Greek Popes |publisher=Lexington Books |isbn=978-0-73911977-8 |page=222}}</ref> (see also [[Pentarchy]]), endorsed the following lists of canonical writings: the [[Canons of the Apostles|Apostolic Canons]] (c. 385), the [[Synod of Laodicea]] (c. 363), the [[Council of Carthage (397)|Third Synod of Carthage]] (c. 397), and the [[Easter letter|39th Festal Letter of Athanasius]] (367).<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3814.htm |chapter=Council in Trullo |title=Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 14 |editor-last1=Schaff |editor-first1=Philip |editor-last2=Wace |editor-first2=Henry }}</ref> And yet, these lists do not agree. Similarly, the New Testament canons of the [[Syriac Orthodox Church|Syriac]], [[Armenian Apostolic Church|Armenian]], [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Egyptian Coptic]] and [[Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church|Ethiopian]] Churches all have minor differences, yet five of these Churches are part of the [[Oriental Orthodoxy|same communion]] and hold the same theological beliefs.{{sfnp|Metzger|1997}}

====Peshitta====
{{main|Peshitta}}
The [[Peshitta]] is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the [[Syriac Christianity|Syriac tradition]]. Most of the [[deuterocanonical books]] of the Old Testament are found in the Syriac, and the [[Wisdom of Sirach]] is held to have been translated from the [[Hebrew]] and not from the [[Septuagint]].<ref>[http://www.bible-researcher.com/syriac-isbe.html Syriac Versions of the Bible by Thomas Nicol]</ref> This New Testament, originally excluding certain [[Antilegomena|disputed books]] (2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation), had become a standard by the early 5th century. The five excluded books were added in the [[Harklean Version]] (616 AD) of [[Thomas of Harqel]].<ref>Geoffrey W. Bromiley ''The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: Q–Z'' 1995. p. 976 "Printed editions of the Peshitta frequently contain these books in order to fill the gaps. D. Harklean Version. The Harklean version is connected with the labors of Thomas of Harqel. When thousands were fleeing Khosrou's invading armies, ..."</ref>

The standard [[United Bible Societies]] 1905 edition of the New Testament of the Peshitta was based on editions prepared by Syriacists [[Philip E. Pusey]] (d. 1880), [[George Gwilliam]] (d. 1914) and [[John Gwynn (professor)|John Gwyn]].<ref>''Corpus scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium: Subsidia'' Catholic University of America, 1987 "37 ff. The project was founded by Philip E. Pusey who started the collation work in 1872. However, he could not see it to completion since he died in 1880. Gwilliam,</ref> All twenty seven books of the common western [[#New Testament|New Testament]] are included in this British & Foreign Bible Society's 1905 Peshitta edition.