Sunday, October 31, 2021

Some Notes on Athanasius' 39th Festal Letter (AD 367)

 39th Festal Letter

 

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. (NPNF2 4:552)

 

Note:

 

Athanasius excludes the book of Esther

Athanasius includes the book of Baruch

 

 

Athanasius’s exclusion of Esther and inclusion of Baruch in the canonical category may reflect Jewish practice. For example, Melito of Sardis omitted Esther from the books accepted by the Jews in Palestine, and Epiphanius of Salamis states that Baruch was still read in the synagogues of his day. (Gary Michuta, Why Catholic Bibles are Bigger [rev ed.; El Cajon, Calif.: Catholic Answers Press, 2017], 345 n. 193)

 

Melito of Sardis (d. c. 170), Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 4, 26, 12-14

 

“Melito to his brother Onesimus, greeting: since you have often, in your zeal for the word, expressed a wish to have extracts made from the law and the prophets concerning the Saviour and concerning our entire Faith, and have also desired to have an accurate statement of the ancient books, as regards their numbers and their order, I have endeavoured to perform the task, knowing your zeal for the Faith, and your desire to gain information in regard to the word, and knowing that you, in your yearning after God, esteem these things above all else, struggling to attain eternal salvation. Accordingly when I went east and came to the place where these things were preached and done, I learned accurately the books of the Old Testament, and send them to you as written below. Their names are as follows: of Moses, five books: Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy; Jesus Nave, Judges, Ruth; of Kings, four books; of Chronicles, two; the Psalms of David, the Proverbs of Solomon, Wisdom also, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Job; of Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah; of the twelve prophets, one book; Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras. From which also I have made extracts, dividing them into six books.”

 

Such as the words of Melito.

 

Melito’s list omits the book of Lamentations, Nehemiah and Esther—it is possibly even includes the book of Wisdom. Even if Lamentations and Nehemiah are present (being included in other books), as some have argued, the omission of Esther remains unaccountable. Later Christian lists of the rabbinic canon will also point to doubts concerning Esther. (Michuta, Why Catholic Bibles are Bigger, 336 n. 126)

 

Some argue that Melito could not have had contact with the synagogue because dialogue between Jews and Christians had all but ceased due to tensions between the two groups. Antagonism indeed existed, but dialogue did nevertheless continue, as we saw in Justin’s Dialogue with Trypho the Jew written only a few years earlier. Moreover, Melito’s inquiry would be for information, not debate, and there is no reason to expect the rabbis to be antagonistic. When the two prospects of either inquiring as the synagogue in Sardis or making the arduous trek to Palestine to receive essentially the same answer are considered, Melito certainly would have chosen the former. If the Jews in Sardis were so antagonistic as not to answer Melito’s inquiry, what hope would there be of an answer being secured among the rabbis in Palestine? We do know that Jewish/Christian dialogues, as evidenced in the writings of the early Fathers, continued unabated throughout the first several centuries of the Church. They were pointed, but they continued. (Ibid., 336-37 n. 127)

 

Epiphanius of Salamis, “Judaism,” 6:1

 

6,1 By the time of the captives’ return from Babylon these Jews had gotten the following books and prophets, and the following books of the prophets: (2) 1. Genesis. 2. Exodus. 3. Leviticus. 4. Numbers. 5. Deuteronomy. 6. The Book of Joshua the son of Nun. 7. The Book of the Judges. 8. Ruth. 9. Job. 10. The Psalter. 11. The Proverbs of Solomon. 12. Ecclesiastes. 13. The Song of Songs. 14. The First Book of Kingdoms 15. The Second Book of Kingdoms. 16. The Third Book of Kingdoms. 17. The Fourth Book of Kingdoms. 18. The First Book of Chronicles. 19. The Second Book of Chronicles. 20. The Book of the Twelve Prophets. 21. The Prophet Isaiah. 22. The Prophet Jeremiah, with the Lamentations and the Epistles of Jeremiah and Baruch. 23. The Prophet Ezekiel. 24. The Prophet Daniel. 25. I Ezra. 26. II Ezra. 27. Esther. (3) These are the 27 books given the Jews by God. They are counted as 22, however, like the letters of their Hebrew alphabet, because ten books are doubled and reckoned as five. But I have explained this clearly elsewhere. (4) And they have two more books of disputed canonicity, the Wisdom of Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, apart from certain other apocrypha. (The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: Book I (Sects 1-46) [trans. Frank Williams; Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 63; Leiden: Brill, 2009], 28-29)

 

Athanasius’ Use of the Apocrypha to Support “Primary” Doctrines: Divinity of Jesus and the Consubstantiality of the Father and the Son

 

Again, when the Bishops said that the Word must be described as the True Power and Image of the Father, in all things exact4 and like the Father, and as unalterable, and as always, and as in Him without division (for never was the Word not, but He was always, existing everlastingly with the Father, as the radiance of light). . . (Defense of the Nicene Definition, 5, 20 [NPNF2 4:163])

 

For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. (Wisdom 7:26 NRSV)

 

Thus they have called the Father the Fount of Wisdom [Baruch 3:12] and Life, and the Son the Radiance of the Eternal Light, and the Offspring from the Fountain, as He says, ‘I am the Life,' and, ‘I Wisdom dwell with Prudence' (John xiv. 6; Prov. viii. 12). But the Radiance from the Light [Wisdom 7:26], and Offspring from Fountain, and Son from Father, how can these be so fitly expressed as by ‘Coessential?' And is there any cause of fear, lest, because the offspring from men are coessential, the Son, by being called Coessential, be Himself considered as a human offspring too? perish the thought! not so; but the explanation is easy. For the Son is the Father's Word and Wisdom; whence we learn the impassibility and indivisibility of such a generation from the Father . For not even man's word is part of him, nor proceeds from him according to passion; much less God's Word; whom the Father has declared to be His own Son, lest, on the other hand, if we merely heard of ‘Word,' we should suppose Him, such as is the word of man, impersonal; but that, hearing that He is Son, we may acknowledge Him to be living Word and substantive Wisdom. (De Synodis, Part III, 41 [NPNF2 4:472)

 

For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. (Wisdom 7:26 NRSV)

 

You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom. (Baruch 3:12 NRSV)