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82-670: As part of the Septuagint translation, it is now regarded as canonical in the churches of the East , but apocryphal in the West ; either presented in a separate section, or excluded altogether. 1 Esdras is found in Origen 's Hexapla . The Greek Septuagint , the Old Latin bible and related bible versions include both Esdras Αʹ (English title: 1 Esdras) and Esdras Βʹ ( Ezra–Nehemiah ) as separate books. There

164-646: A secondary status . Martin Luther (1483–1546) moved seven Old Testament books (Tobit, Judith, 1–2 Maccabees, Book of Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch) into a section he called the " Apocrypha , that are books which are not considered equal to the Holy Scriptures, but are useful and good to read". All of these apocrypha are called anagignoskomena by the Eastern Orthodox Church per the Synod of Jerusalem . As with

246-504: A Western-style, purely linear narrative, then Artaxerxes seems to be mentioned before Darius , who is mentioned before Cyrus . (Such jumbling of the order of events, however, is also presumed by some readers to exist in the canonical Ezra and Nehemiah .) The Semitic chiasm is corrected in at least one manuscript of Josephus in the Antiquities of the Jews , Book 11, chapter 2 where we find that

328-553: A complete list of the books received by the Catholic Church as inspired, but omits the terms "canon" and "canonical". The Council of Florence therefore taught the inspiration of all the Scriptures, but did not formally pronounce itself on canonicity. Luther proposed that the genuine mark of canonical material was that it preached Christ. This allowed him to relegate books (including ones that may not have supported his theology) to

410-559: A complete literary unit, allowing it to stand independently from the book of Nehemiah . Indeed, some scholars, such as W. F. Albright and Edwin M. Yamauchi , believe that Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem before Ezra. The purpose of the book seems to be retelling the Return to Zion in a way that it revolved around the story of the dispute among the courtiers, the 'Tale of the Three Guardsmen'. Since there are various discrepancies in

492-473: A lesser degree of inspiration, but a later time of final approval. The Sixto-Clementine Vulgate contained in the Appendix several books considered as apocryphal by the council: Prayer of Manasseh , 3 Esdras , and 4 Esdras . Artaxerxes I of Persia Artaxerxes I ( / ˌ ɑːr t ə ˈ z ɜːr k s iː z / , Old Persian : 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 Artaxšaçāʰ ; Ancient Greek : Ἀρταξέρξης )

574-501: A letter ( c. 405) to Exsuperius of Toulouse , a Gallic bishop, Pope Innocent I mentioned the sacred books that were already received in the canon. When bishops and Councils spoke on the matter of the Biblican canon, however, they were not defining something new, but instead "were ratifying what had already become the mind of the Church". Thus from the 4th century there existed unanimity in

656-504: A list of exactly the same books that would become the New Testament –27 book–proto-canon, and used the phrase "being canonized" ( kanonizomena ) in regard to them. In 331, Constantine I commissioned Eusebius to deliver fifty Bibles for the Church of Constantinople . Athanasius recorded Alexandrian scribes around 340 preparing Bibles for Constans . Little else is known, though there

738-468: A number of Jews returned to Jerusalem in 538 BC, and the foundation of this " Second Temple " was laid in 536 BC, in the second year of their return (Ezra 3:8). After a period of strife, the temple was finally completed in the sixth year of Darius, 516 BC (Ezra 6:15). In Artaxerxes' twentieth year, Nehemiah , the king's cup-bearer , apparently was also a friend of the king as in that year Artaxerxes inquired after Nehemiah's sadness. Nehemiah related to him

820-747: A part of the Jewish canon, describes Nehemiah ( c.  400 BC ) as having "founded a library and collected books about the kings and prophets, and the writings of David, and letters of kings about votive offerings" ( 2:13–15 ). The Book of Nehemiah suggests that the priest-scribe Ezra brought the Torah back from Babylon to Jerusalem and the Second Temple ( 8–9 ) around the same time period. Both 1 and 2 Maccabees suggest that Judas Maccabeus ( c.  167 BC ) likewise collected sacred books ( 3:42–50 , 2:13–15 , 15:6–9 ), indeed some scholars argue that

902-525: A place in Origen 's Hexapla . In early Latin traditions, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras were known, respectively, as 1 Esdras, 2 Esdras, 3 Esdras (‘the Greek Esdras’) and 4 Esdras. In the Vulgate, I Esdras is considered to be Ezra, II Esdras to be Nehemiah, III Esdras to be 1 Esdras, and IV Esdras to be 2 Esdras. For Jerome , III Esdras and IV Esdras were apocryphal. As Jerome's Vulgate version of

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984-682: A standard by the early 5th century. The five excluded books were added in the Harklean Version (616 AD) of Thomas of Harqel . 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 Gwyn . All twenty seven books of the common western New Testament are included in this British & Foreign Bible Society's 1905 Peshitta edition. The first Council that accepted

1066-507: Is described in the Bible (Ezra 7) as having commissioned Ezra , a kohen and scribe , by means of a letter of decree to take charge of the ecclesiastical and civil affairs of the Jewish nation. Ezra thereby left Babylon in the first month of the seventh year of Artaxerxes' reign, at the head of a company of Jews that included priests and Levites . They arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of

1148-506: Is likely to have taken place in the second century BC. Many Protestant and Catholic scholars assign no historical value to the sections of the book not duplicated in Ezra–Nehemiah . The citations of the other books of the Bible , however, provide an early alternative to the Septuagint for those texts, which increases its value to scholars. In the current Greek texts, the book breaks off in

1230-492: 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 Maccabees and Sinaiticus lacks 2–3 Maccabees, 1 Esdras , Baruch and Letter of Jeremiah . Together with the Peshitta and Codex Alexandrinus , these are

1312-464: Is presumed that the authors came either from Lower Egypt or Palestine and wrote during the Seleucid period . Assuming this theory is correct, many scholars consider the possibility that the book made use of an Aramaic chronicle. Josephus makes use of the 1 Esdras which he treats as Scripture, while generally disregarding the canonical text of Ezra–Nehemiah . Some scholars believe that the composition

1394-533: Is scope for considerable confusion with references to 1 Esdras. The name refers primarily to translations of the original Greek 'Esdras A'. The Septuagint calls it Esdras A and the Vetus Latina calls it 1 Esdras, while the Vulgate calls it 3 Esdras. It was considered apocryphal by Jerome. 1 Esdras contains the whole of Ezra with the addition of one section; its verses are numbered differently. Just as Ezra begins with

1476-719: Is the Old Testament , which contains, at minimum, the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible divided into 39 ( Protestant ) or 46 ( Catholic [including deuterocanonical works]) books that are ordered differently. The second part is the New Testament , almost always containing 27 books: the four canonical gospels , Acts of the Apostles , 21 Epistles or letters and the Book of Revelation . The Catholic Church and Eastern Christian churches hold that certain deuterocanonical books and passages are part of

1558-418: Is to "prefer those that are received by all Catholic Churches to those which some of them do not receive" (On Christian Doctrines 2.12). In the same passage, Augustine asserted that these dissenting churches should be outweighed by the opinions of "the more numerous and weightier churches", which would include Eastern Churches, the prestige of which Augustine stated moved him to include the Book of Hebrews among

1640-609: Is upon Mount Gerizim that sacrifices to God should be made—not in Jerusalem. Scholars nonetheless consult the Samaritan version when trying to determine the meaning of text of the original Pentateuch, as well as to trace the development of text-families. Some scrolls among the Dead Sea scrolls have been identified as proto-Samaritan Pentateuch text-type. Samaritans consider the Torah to be inspired scripture, but do not accept any other parts of

1722-527: The Bible . The English word canon comes from the Greek κανών kanōn , meaning " rule " or " measuring stick ". The use of the word "canon" to refer to a set of religious scriptures was first used by David Ruhnken , in the 18th century. Various biblical canons have developed through debate and agreement on the part of the religious authorities of their respective faiths and denominations. Some books, such as

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1804-661: The Catholic biblical canon consisting of 46 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament for a total of 73 books. The canons of the Church of England and English Presbyterians were decided definitively by the Thirty-Nine Articles (1563) and the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), respectively. The Synod of Jerusalem (1672) established additional canons that are widely accepted throughout

1886-548: The Council of Florence (1439–1443) took place. With the approval of this ecumenical council , Pope Eugenius IV (in office 1431–1447) issued several papal bulls ( decrees ) with a view to restoring the Eastern churches , which the Catholic Church considered as schismatic bodies, into communion with Rome . Catholic theologians regard these documents as infallible statements of Catholic doctrine . The Decretum pro Jacobitis contains

1968-500: The Eastern Orthodox Church . Various forms of Jewish Christianity persisted until around the fifth century, and canonized very different sets of books, including Jewish–Christian gospels which have been lost to history. These and many other works are classified as New Testament apocrypha by Pauline denominations. The Old and New Testament canons did not develop independently of each other and most primary sources for

2050-717: The Hasmonean dynasty (140 BCE to 37 BCE) fixed the Jewish canon. Another version of the Torah, in the Samaritan alphabet , also exists. This text is associated with the Samaritans ( Hebrew : שומרונים ; Arabic : السامريون ), a people of whom the Jewish Encyclopedia states: "Their history as a distinct community begins with the taking of Samaria by the Assyrians in 722 BC." The Samaritan Pentateuch's relationship to

2132-663: The Jewish–Christian gospels , have been excluded from various canons altogether, but many disputed books are considered to be biblical apocrypha or deuterocanonical by many, while some denominations may consider them fully canonical. Differences exist between the Hebrew Bible and Christian biblical canons, although the majority of manuscripts are shared in common. Different religious groups include different books in their biblical canons, in varying orders, and sometimes divide or combine books. The Jewish Tanakh (sometimes called

2214-625: The King James Version and in most modern English bibles). 3 Esdras continues to be accepted as canonical by Eastern Orthodoxy and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church , with 4 Esdras varying in canonicity between particular denominations within the Eastern churches. Overwhelmingly, citations in early Christian writings claimed from the scriptural 'Book of Ezra' (without any qualification) are taken from 1 Esdras, and never from

2296-621: The Lutheran Churches , the Anglican Communion accepts "the Apocrypha for instruction in life and manners, but not for the establishment of doctrine", and many "lectionary readings in The Book of Common Prayer are taken from the Apocrypha", with these lessons being "read in the same ways as those from the Old Testament". The Protestant Apocrypha contains three books (3 Esdras, 4 Esdras and

2378-571: The New Testament developed over time. Writings attributed to the apostles circulated among the earliest Christian communities. Possible apostolicity was a strong argument used to suggest the canonical status of a book. The Pauline epistles were circulating in collected forms by the end of the 1st century AD. Justin Martyr , in the early 2nd century, mentions the "memoirs of the Apostles", which Christians (Greek: Χριστιανός) called " gospels ", and which were considered to be authoritatively equal to

2460-457: The Old Testament canon . The Eastern Orthodox , Oriental Orthodox , and Assyrian churches may have differences in their lists of accepted books. Some Christian groups have other canonical books (open canon) which are considered holy scripture but not part of the Bible. Rabbinic Judaism ( Hebrew : יהדות רבנית ) recognizes the twenty-four books of the Masoretic Text , commonly called

2542-644: The Tanakh ( תַּנַ"ךְ ) or Hebrew Bible . Evidence suggests that the process of canonization occurred between 200 BC and 200 AD, and a popular position is that the Torah was canonized c.  400 BC , the Prophets c.  200 BC , and the Writings c.  100 AD perhaps at a hypothetical Council of Jamnia —however, this position is increasingly criticised by modern scholars. According to Marc Zvi Brettler ,

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2624-526: The West concerning the New Testament canon as it is today, with the exception of the Book of Revelation . In the 5th century the East too, with a few exceptions, came to accept the Book of Revelation and thus came into harmony on the matter of the New Testament canon. As the primary canon crystallised, non-canonical texts fell into relative disfavour and neglect. Before the Protestant Reformation ,

2706-661: The same communion and hold the same theological beliefs. The Peshitta is the standard version of the Bible for churches in the 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 . This New Testament, originally excluding certain disputed books (2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, Jude, Revelation), had become

2788-478: The " canon " (meaning a measuring line, rule, or principle) of accepted theological thought and those that promoted heresy. This played a major role in finalizing the structure of the collection of works called the Bible. It has been proposed that the initial impetus for the proto-orthodox Christian project of canonization flowed from opposition to the list produced by Marcion. A four-gospel canon (the Tetramorph )

2870-403: The 'Ezra' sections of Ezra–Nehemiah (Septuagint 'Esdras B'), the majority of early citations being taken from the 1 Esdras section containing the ' Tale of the Three Guardsmen ', which is interpreted as Christological prophecy. Biblical canon A biblical canon is a set of texts (also called "books") which a particular Jewish or Christian religious community regards as part of

2952-579: The 13th century, and in what later became the usage of the Clementine Vulgate and the Anglican Articles of Religion , the Book of Ezra is applied to '1 Esdras'; while the Book of Nehemiah corresponds to '2 Esdras'; Esdras 1 (Esdras A in the Septuagint) corresponds to 3 Esdras and finally 2 Esdras, an additional work associated with the name Ezra, is denoted '4 Esdras' (It is called '2 Esdras' in

3034-557: The 4th century or later. The people of the remnants of the Samaritans in modern-day Israel / Palestine retain their version of the Torah as fully and authoritatively canonical. They regard themselves as the true "guardians of the Law". This assertion is only re-enforced by the claim of the Samaritan community in Nablus (an area traditionally associated with the ancient city of Shechem ) to possess

3116-531: The Apocrypha". The fathers of Anabaptism, such as Menno Simons , quoted "them [the Apocrypha] with the same authority and nearly the same frequency as books of the Hebrew Bible" and the texts regarding the martyrdoms under Antiochus IV in 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees are held in high esteem by the Anabaptists, who historically faced persecution. Lutheran and Anglican lectionaries continue to include readings from

3198-564: The Apocrypha. In response to Martin Luther 's demands, the Council of Trent on 8 April 1546 approved the present Catholic Bible canon, which includes the deuterocanonical books , and the decision was confirmed by an anathema by vote (24 yea, 15 nay, 16 abstain). The council confirmed the same list as produced at the Council of Florence in 1442, Augustine's 397–419 Councils of Carthage , and probably Damasus' 382 Council of Rome . The Old Testament books that had been rejected by Luther were later termed "deuterocanonical", not indicating

3280-678: The Bible gradually achieved dominance in Western Christianity, III Esdras no longer circulated. From the 13th century onwards, Vulgate Bibles produced in Paris reintroduced a Latin text of 1 Esdras, in response to commercial demand. However, the use of the book continued in the Eastern Church, and it remains a part of the Eastern Orthodox canon. In the Roman rite liturgy, 1 Esdras is cited once in

3362-572: The Bible. In most editions of the Septuagint , the book is titled in Greek: Ἔσδρας Αʹ and is placed before the single book of Ezra–Nehemiah , which is titled in Greek: Ἔσδρας Βʹ . 1 Esdras is called 3 Esdras in the Latin Vulgate, which was translation from the Greek version of the Septuagint called Esdras A. The Vulgate denoted 1 Esdras (Ezra) and 2 Esdras (Nehemiah) respectively. Vulgate Bible editions of

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3444-660: The Bible—probably a position also held by the Sadducees . They did not expand their canon by adding any Samaritan compositions. There is a Samaritan Book of Joshua ; however, this is a popular chronicle written in Arabic and is not considered to be scripture. Other non-canonical Samaritan religious texts include the Memar Markah ("Teaching of Markah") and the Defter (Prayerbook)—both from

3526-516: The Extraordinary Missal of 1962 in the Offertory of the votive Mass for the election of a Pope. Non participentur sancta, donec exsurgat póntifex in ostensiónem et veritátem ("Let them not take part in the holy things, until there arise a priest unto showing and truth.") (3 Esdras 5, 40). In the Council of Trent only 3 bishops voted for an explicit rejection of the books of Esdras while the overwhelming majority "withheld any explicit decision on these books"... "The question of Esdras' canonical status

3608-508: The Hebrew Bible) contains 24 books divided into three parts: the five books of the Torah ("teaching"); the eight books of the Nevi'im ("prophets"); and the eleven books of Ketuvim ("writings"). It is composed mainly in Biblical Hebrew , with portions in Aramaic . The Septuagint (in Koine Greek ), which closely resembles the Hebrew Bible but includes additional texts, is used as the Christian Greek Old Testament, at least in some liturgical contexts . The first part of Christian Bibles

3690-438: The Jewish scriptures outside the Torah and the Prophets were fluid, with different groups seeing authority in different books. The Book of Deuteronomy includes a prohibition against adding or subtracting ( 4:2 , 12:32 ) which might apply to the book itself (i.e. a "closed book", a prohibition against future scribal editing) or to the instruction received by Moses on Mount Sinai . The book of 2 Maccabees , itself not

3772-408: The Masoretic Text is still disputed. Some differences are minor, such as the ages of different people mentioned in genealogy, while others are major, such as a commandment to be monogamous, which appears only in the Samaritan version. More importantly, the Samaritan text also diverges from the Masoretic in stating that Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Gerizim —not Mount Sinai —and that it

3854-541: The Old Testament. Marcion of Sinope was the first Christian leader in recorded history (though later considered heretical ) to propose and delineate a uniquely Christian canon (c. 140). This included 10 epistles from Paul , as well as an edited version of the Gospel of Luke , which today is known as the Gospel of Marcion . By doing this, he established a particular way of looking at religious texts that persists in Christian thought today. After Marcion, Christians began to divide texts into those that aligned well with

3936-442: The Old and New Testament to support limiting government interference in religious matters. Williams published The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution for Cause of Conscience , arguing for a separation of church and state based on biblical reasoning. Williams believed that Israel was a unique covenant kingdom and not an appropriate model for New Testament Christians who believed that the Old Testament covenant had been fulfilled. Therefore,

4018-461: The Persians with the help of his Athenian allies, and defeated the Persian army commanded by satrap Achaemenes . The Persians retreated to Memphis , and the Athenians were finally defeated in 454 BC, by the Persian army led by Megabyzus , after a two-year siege. Inaros was captured and carried away to Susa . After the Achaemenid Empire had been defeated at the Battle of the Eurymedon (c. 469 BC), military action between Greece and Persia

4100-408: The Prayer of Manasseh) that are accepted by many Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches as canonical, but are regarded as non-canonical by the Catholic Church and are therefore not included in modern Catholic Bibles. Anabaptists use the Luther Bible , which contains the intertestamental books; Amish wedding ceremonies include "the retelling of the marriage of Tobias and Sarah in

4182-494: 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 Trullan Synod of 691–692 , which Pope Sergius I (in office 687–701) rejected (see also Pentarchy ), endorsed

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4264-434: The account, most scholars hold that the work was written by more than one author. However, some scholars believe that this work may have been the original, or at least the more authoritative. Most scholars agree that the original language of the work was Aramaic and Hebrew , with a few arguing for the originality of the Greek . The text contains similarities to the vocabulary in the Book of Daniel and II Maccabees , and it

4346-479: The biblical account is not chronological. The last group of scholars regard "the seventh year" as a scribal error and hold that the two men were contemporaries. However, Ezra appears for the first time in Nehemiah 8, having probably been at the court for twelve years. The rebuilding of the Jewish community in Jerusalem had begun under Cyrus the Great , who had permitted Jews held captive in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and rebuild Solomon's Temple . Consequently,

4428-494: The books that would later be put in the New Testament canon except the Letter to Philemon , II Peter , III John , and the Epistle of Jude in Against Heresies , refers to the Shepherd of Hermas as "scripture" and appears to regard I Clement as authoritative. By the early 3rd century, Christian theologians like Origen of Alexandria may have been using—or at least were familiar with—the same 27 books found in modern New Testament editions, though there were still disputes over

4510-418: The canon specify both Old and New Testament books. For the biblical scripture for both Testaments, canonically accepted in major traditions of Christendom , see § Canons of various traditions . For churches which espouse sola scriptura it is necessary and critical to have a clear and complete list of the canonical books. For churches which espouse sacred Tradition or Magisterium as well as Scripture,

4592-416: The canonical writings, though he had reservation about its authorship. Philip Schaff says that "the council of Hippo in 393, and the third (according to another reckoning the sixth) council of Carthage in 397, under the influence of Augustine, who attended both, fixed the catholic canon of the Holy Scriptures, including the Apocrypha of the Old Testament, ... This decision of the transmarine church however,

4674-439: The canonicity of some of the writings (see also Antilegomena ). Likewise by 200, the Muratorian fragment shows that there existed a set of Christian writings somewhat similar to what is now the New Testament, which included four gospels and argued against objections to them. Thus, while there was a good measure of debate in the Early Church over the New Testament canon, the major writings were accepted by almost all Christians by

4756-471: The current New Testament canon except for four books: James , 2nd Peter , and the 2nd and 3rd epistles of John . 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." In his Easter letter of 367, Patriarch Athanasius of Alexandria gave

4838-442: The debates of scholars, but the spiritual nourishment of the people of God...the factor which ultimately carried the day (for what was in the canon) was actual usage in the Church." The Early Church used the Old Testament , namely the Septuagint (LXX) among Greek speakers, with a canon perhaps as found in the Bryennios List or Melito's canon . The Apostles did not otherwise leave a defined set of new scriptures ; instead,

4920-416: The earliest extant Christian Bibles. There is no evidence among the 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". The Eastern Churches had, in general, a weaker feeling than those in

5002-474: The fifth month of the seventh year according to the Hebrew calendar . The text does not specify whether the king in the passage refers to Artaxerxes I (465–424 BC) or to Artaxerxes II (404–359 BC). Most scholars hold that Ezra lived during the rule of Artaxerxes I, though some have difficulties with this assumption: Nehemiah and Ezra "seem to have no knowledge of each other; their missions do not overlap", however, in Nehemiah 12, both are leading processions on

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5084-410: The following lists of canonical writings: the Apostolic Canons (c. 385), the Synod of Laodicea (c. 363), the Third Synod of Carthage (c. 397), and the 39th Festal Letter of Athanasius (367). And yet, these lists do not agree. Similarly, the New Testament canons of the Syriac , Armenian , Egyptian Coptic and Ethiopian Churches all have minor differences, yet five of these Churches are part of

5166-421: The gospels are in accord with these things ... For the living creatures are quadriform and the gospel is quadriform [...] These things being so, all who destroy the form of the gospel are vain, unlearned, and also audacious; those [I mean] who represent the aspects of the gospel as being either more in number than as aforesaid, or, on the other hand, fewer. Irenaeus additionally quotes from passages of all

5248-401: The influence of Augustine of Hippo , who regarded the canon as already closed. Pope Damasus I 's Council of Rome in 382 (if the Decretum is correctly associated with it) issued a biblical canon identical to that mentioned above. Likewise, Damasus' commissioning of the Latin Vulgate edition of the Bible, c. 383, proved instrumental in the fixation of the canon in the West. In

5330-412: The issue can be more organic, as the Bible is an artifact of the church rather than vice versa . Theologian William J. Abraham has suggested that in the primitive church and patristic period the "primary purpose in canonizing Scripture was to provide an authorized list of books for use in worship. The primary setting envisaged for the use of Scripture was not that of the science of theology, or that of

5412-417: The last two verses of 2 Chronicles , 1 Esdras begins with the last two chapters; this suggests that Chronicles and Esdras may have been read as one book at sometime in the past. Ezra 4:6 includes a reference to a King Ahasuerus . Etymologically, Ahasuerus is the same as Xerxes , who reigned between Darius I and Artaxerxes I. In 1 Esdras, the section is reorganized, leading up to the additional section, and

5494-402: The middle of a sentence; that particular verse thus had to be reconstructed from an early Latin translation. However, it is generally presumed that the original work extended to the Feast of Tabernacles , as described in Nehemiah 8:13–18. An additional difficulty with the text appears to readers who are unfamiliar with chiastic structures common in Semitic literature. If the text is assumed to be

5576-401: The middle of the 3rd century. 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

5658-408: The name of the above-mentioned Artaxerxes is called Cambyses. Some scholars, including Joseph Blenkinsopp in his 1988 commentary on Ezra–Nehemiah, hold that the book is a late 2nd/early 1st century BC revision of Esdras and Esdras β, while others such as L. L. Grabbe believe it to be independent of the Hebrew-language Ezra–Nehemiah. The book was widely quoted by early Christian authors and it found

5740-420: The oldest existing copy of the Torah—one that they believe to have been penned by Abisha, a grandson of Aaron . The canon of the Catholic Church was affirmed by the Council of Rome (AD 382), the Synod of Hippo (AD 393), two of the Councils of Carthage (AD 397 and 419), the Council of Florence (AD 1431–1449) and finally, as an article of faith, by the Council of Trent (AD 1545–1563). Those established

5822-448: The patricide by killing Darius. But according to Aristotle (in Politics 5.1311b), Artabanus killed Darius first and then killed Xerxes. After Artaxerxes discovered the murder, he killed Artabanus and his sons. Artaxerxes had to face a revolt in Egypt in 460–454 BC led by Inaros II , who was the son of a Libyan prince named Psamtik, presumably descended from the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt . In 460 BC, Inaros II revolted against

5904-527: The plight of the Jewish people and that the city of Jerusalem was undefended. The king sent Nehemiah to Jerusalem with letters of safe passage to the governors in Trans-Euphrates, and to Asaph , keeper of the royal forests, to make beams for the citadel by the Temple and to rebuild the city walls. Roger Williams , a 17th-century Christian minister and founder of Rhode Island , interpreted several passages in

5986-549: The present Catholic canon (the Canon of Trent of 1546) may have been the Synod of Hippo Regius , held in North Africa in 393. A brief summary of the acts was read at and accepted by the Council of Carthage (397) and also the Council of Carthage (419) . These Councils took place under the authority of Augustine of Hippo (354–430), who regarded the canon as already closed. Augustine of Hippo declared without qualification that one

6068-1008: The purported Peace of Callias was agreed among Athens , Argos and Persia in 449 BC; however, the existence of a formal treaty between the Greek States and Persia is disputed. Artaxerxes I offered asylum to Themistocles , who was probably his father Xerxes's greatest enemy for his victory at the Battle of Salamis , after Themistocles was ostracized from Athens . Also, Artaxerxes I gave him Magnesia , Myus , and Lampsacus to maintain him in bread, meat, and wine. In addition, Artaxerxes I gave him Skepsis to provide him with clothes, and he also gave him Percote with bedding for his house. Themistocles would go on to learn and adopt Persian customs, Persian language, and traditions. A King Artaxerxes ( Hebrew : אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׂתְּא , אַרְתַּחְשַׁסְתְּא, pronounced [artaχʃast(ǝ)] , or אַרְתַּחְשַׁשְׂתָּא pronounced [artaχʃasta] )

6150-409: The reference to Ahasuerus is removed. The additional section begins with a story variously known as the ' Darius contest ' or 'Tale of the Three Guardsmen' which was interpolated into 1 Esdras 3:4 to 4:4. This section forms the core of 1 Esdras with Ezra 5, which together are arranged in a literary chiasm around the celebration in Jerusalem at the exiles' return. This chiastic core forms 1 Esdras into

6232-414: The wall as part of the wall dedication ceremony. So, they clearly were contemporaries working together in Jerusalem at the time the wall and the city of Jerusalem was rebuilt in contrast to the previously stated viewpoint. These difficulties have led many scholars to assume that Ezra arrived in the seventh year of the rule of Artaxerxes II, i.e. some 50 years after Nehemiah. This assumption would imply that

6314-526: Was asserted by Irenaeus (c. 130 – c. 202 AD) in the following quote: It is not possible that the gospels can be either more or fewer in number than they are. For, since there are four-quarters of the earth in which we live, and four universal winds, while the church is scattered throughout all the world, and the 'pillar and ground' of the church is the gospel and the spirit of life, it is fitting that she should have four pillars breathing out immortality on every side, and vivifying men afresh [...] Therefore

6396-778: Was at a standstill. When Artaxerxes I took power, he introduced a new Persian strategy of weakening the Athenians by funding their enemies in Greece. This indirectly caused the Athenians to move the treasury of the Delian League from the island of Delos to the Athenian acropolis. This funding practice inevitably prompted renewed fighting in 450 BC, where the Greeks attacked at the Battle of Cyprus . After Cimon 's failure to attain much in this expedition, hostilities ceased. Later sources argue that

6478-488: Was left theoretically open.". Catholic theologians and apologists disagree, but some argue that these books could theoretically be added as "tritiocanonical" books by the Roman Catholic Magisterium (or pope) at a later time, most likely related to union with one or more of the churches who already hold these books to be canonical. The book normally called 1 Esdras is numbered differently among various versions of

6560-512: Was murdered by Hazarapat ("commander of thousand") Artabanus , the commander of the royal bodyguard and the most powerful official in the Persian court, with the help of a eunuch , Aspamitres. Greek historians give contradicting accounts of events. According to Ctesias (in Persica 20), Artabanus then accused Crown Prince Darius , Xerxes's eldest son, of the murder, and persuaded Artaxerxes to avenge

6642-563: Was subject to ratification; and the concurrence of the Roman see it received when Innocent I and Gelasius I (414 AD) repeated the same index of biblical books. This canon remained undisturbed till the sixteenth century, and was sanctioned by the council of Trent at its fourth session." According to Lee Martin McDonald, the Revelation was added to the list in 419. These councils were convened under

6724-507: Was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire , from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I . In Greek sources he is also surnamed "Long-handed" ( Ancient Greek : μακρόχειρ Makrókheir ; Latin : Longimanus ), allegedly because his right hand was longer than his left. Artaxerxes was probably born in the reign of his grandfather Darius I , to the emperor's son and heir, Xerxes I . In 465 BC, Xerxes I

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