The so-called Decretum Gelasianum
In the so-called Decretum Gelasianum de libris
recipiendis et non recipiendis, which upon the whole is probably of South
Gallic origin (6th century) but which in several parts can be traced back to
Pope Damasus and reflects Roman tradition, we have in the second part a canon
catalogue, in the fourth part an enumeration of recognised synods and
ecclesiastical writers, and in the fifth part a catalogue of the ‘apocrypha’
and other writings which are to be rejected. The canon catalogue gives all
twenty-seven books of the NT, the canon being therefore settled definitely in
this form. The list, already outwardly and sharply separated from it, of the
‘apocrypha’, i.e. of the writings to be rejected, as given here in
identification of the several writings that are cited is dispensed with (cf. on
this Dobschütz in his edition). (Wilhelm Schneemelcher, “General
Introduction,” in New Testament Apocrypha, ed. Wilhelm Schneemelcher, 2
vols. [trans. R. McL. Wilson; Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox Press,
1991], 1:38)
