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Although widespread agreement on most details was manifest, a final (i.e. closed) definition of the Apostolic Tradition proved impossible to achieve in the period before AD 200. Although widespread agreement did develop among the churches as to which parts of the written tradition were more important and which parts were to be rejected, there were unresolved questions about certain written works. Modern students of this period, especially those of us who put so much emphasis on the authority of the New Testament, must remember that the orally transmitted part of the Tradition remained far more authoritative and influential in the second century than the written record. It was the oral tradition that served as the standard or canon by which to evaluate and authenticate the written records. See the discussion of the "rule of faith", regula fidei, or "canon", kanon, of Christian truth later in this lecture / essay. The parts of the Apostolic Tradition preserved in written form were two: the writings we refer to as the New Testament and those that came to be called the Apostolic Fathers.
Before c. 150 AD books were written on scrolls; the adoption of codex binding at about that time did not result in the immediate disappearance of scrolls. Many local churches seem to have had a small collection of books. Not every church possessed the same group of books. Private collections may also have been made. It is likely that some congregations were formed without benefit of any books at all!
The basic problem facing second century Christians was identifying those written works truly deriving from the Apostolic generation of witnesses and containing material in harmony with the Tradition. To do this the works truly deriving from later authors (the Apostolic Fathers such as the Epistles of Ignatius of Antioch) must be identified. More importantly, the works that were written after the Apostolic generation as deliberate forgeries claiming Apostolic authorship (i.e. pseudepigraphic works) must also be identified and excluded from the Apostolic Tradition. For example, the latter category included The Letter of Paul to the Laodiceans, The Gospel of Peter, The Epistle of Barnabas, The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary, etc. This did not mean they were immediately excluded from the Christian tradition.
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While there are evidences of discernment, there are also evidences of disagreement, even the radical assertion of a literary standard against which to measure the broader oral tradition. Marcion was a very articulate leader of Christians from Pontus who was living and teaching in Rome (c 140) and who was identified later as a heretic (**). Marcion took the position that only ten letters of Paul (excluding 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus) and an abbreviated text of Luke's Gospel (less the nativity account) could be accepted as truly authoritative. He taught that all Christian doctrine and practice should be measured against that textual standard or canon. Other Christians, about the same time and more or less in response to Marcion, began to insist that all four gospels (complete) together with all Paul's letters should constitute the written standard or canon.
Another example is, perhaps, the portion of a letter describing the books accepted and rejected allegedly by the church in Rome (the so-called Muratorian canon) has survived. The fragment, discovered in 1740, has been dated to about 190 AD. Recent scholarship has challenged this dating conclusion, however, and demonstrates impressive reasons why the document should be understood as originating in Syria rather than in Rome and dated in the fourth century rather than the second. (G. M. Hahneman, The Muratorian Fragment and the Development of the Canon, 1992) The document does list all the New Testament books except James, Hebrews, 1 & 2 Peter and 3 John. It also considers the Apocalypse of Peter acceptable, and recommended the Shepherd of Hermas, but not for public reading before the congregation. The same document excludes a number of works by name identifying some as forgeries and some as written by recognized heretics.
By about 250 we have the testimony of Origen indicating that all the books of our New Testament with the exception of Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John and Jude were received without hesitation. In addition, although disputed, many would apparently include The Shepherd of Hermas, Barnabas' Epistle, Didaché, and the Gospel of the Hebrews as suitable reading for new converts.
Around 300 we have the testimony of Eusebius of Caesarea showing that by his day The Shepherd, The Epistle of Barnabas, Didaché (i.e. The Teachings of Lord through the Twelve Apostles), and the Gospel of the Hebrews were usually but not always to be excluded along with The Acts of Peter and the Apocalypse of Peter. He also recognizes that the Epistle to the Hebrews, James, 2 Peter, 2 & 3 John, Jude, and The Apocalypse of John were widely known and appreciated, but many resisted their inclusion.
A regional council held at Laodicea (Syria) sometime between 343 and 381 seems to have recognized all the 27 books of the canon with the exception of The Apocalypse. By 367 Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, would include The Apocalypse without question in his list. He would still allow new converts to read the Shepherd of Hermas and the Didaché.
Usage of the name "New Testament" [Latin, Novum testamentum] can first be found in the writings of Tertullian. He also used an alternate name for these important Christian documents, Novum instrumentum. Both "testament" and "instrument" were legal terminology for a valid, authoritative document. Since most Christians in this period were still Greek-speaking, Tertullian's Latin usage did not immediately become widely accepted since Novum Foedum is a more literal translation of the Greek, hé kainé diathéké, "The New Covenant".
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Marcion and several second century Gnostic teachers who completely rejected the Old Testament and its teachings also stimulated the emergence of the Old Testament canon. The majority of Greek-speaking Christians essentially accepted what had come to be called the Septuagint canon that included the books commonly referred to today as the Apocrypha. This also included works composed originally in Greek such as the Wisdom of Solomon (**).
Since the Christians laid claim to the LXX, i.e., the Septuagint, the Greek rendering of the Old Testament record, the Jews rejected the LXX text in favor of the Hebrew canon consisting of the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. This Hebrew canon is traditionally reported to have been confirmed by the Jewish Council of elders at Jamnia, c. AD 90. Thereafter, the Hebrew text read in the synagogues would be translated verse at a time for the Greek speaking worshipers rather than re-reading the whole passage from the LXX. The precedent for this verse by verse translation had been long established in the Aramaic speaking synagogues. Eventually Aquila of Sinope in Pontus published a new written Greek translation about AD 130. Even though this latter translation was very literal and awkward it was widely used. Also in the second century the traditional Aramaic translations began to be published in written form.
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The Apostolic Tradition also included those writings believed to elaborate and clarify the tradition in a form consistent with orthodoxy. Today this group of writings is defined to include works of authors who were closest to the members of the first century Apostolic generation. These authors are called the Apostolic Fathers. The problem in the second century was evaluating the works of these more contemporary authors to determine whether they were consistent with the Apostolic teachings, i.e. orthodox, or inconsistent, i.e. heresy. For example, according to the Muratorian fragment, mentioned above, the church at Rome considered the book, Apocalypse of Peter, to be orthodox and truly Apostolic while the book, Epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans, was rejected both as a forgery and as heresy. However, other pseudepigraphic works along with those that made no claim to Apostolic authorship were judged by many to be orthodox and usable.
Among the most important works of the period of the Apostolic Fathers I would list the following:
A large number of other anonymous and/or pseudepigraphic works also appeared and circulated among the churches in this period. Although some had value as devotional and/or inspirational material, their contribution to the Christian Tradition was negligible. They remain a fascinating source of anecdotal material of dubious validity. Some are listed below. (Note: these are not to be confused with the Gnostic publications--some with the same names.)
That part of the Christian oral tradition that served as the standard or canon by which to evaluate, identify and authenticate the major concepts and doctrines of orthodox Apostolic Christianity and the authoritative writings came to be summarized in a relatively standard form by the latter quarter of the second century. Although there is no hint of a standardized text for such a document surviving from this early period numerous writers list off topics in their own words obviously referring to a collection of doctrines essential to original Christianity. It is obvious that many of these doctrines have an undeniable connection to the practices we today refer to as "ordinances". As time passed it became customary to refer to this list as the regula fidei, rule of faith, in the increasingly Latin speaking western regions and the kanôn, canon [of truth], throughout the remainder of the Greek speaking church in both east and west.
The textual tradition of this development as it emerges by the end of the century is presently understood by scholars to have been attached principally, but not exclusively, to the city of Rome where early in the third century it was employed liturgically as a baptismal formula eventually later to be known as the "Apostles' Symbol". This title was first mentioned by Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, in the last quarter of the fourth century. The text of this statement, known from both Greek and Latin sources, was based on the second and third century baptismal confession reported by Hippolytus and others. While the baptismal confession reported by Hippolytus had been in the form of questions to which the baptismal candidate answered either pisteuô or credo, depending on the language of the congregation: "I believe". The late fourth century baptismal Symbol at Rome was worded in declaratory statements. Thereafter, the content, organization, and wording of the Symbol rapidly acquired a relatively noticeable degree of uniformity in the west.
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Provincial synods (meetings of assembled clergy) of an ad hoc nature were reported even before the provinces were formally organized. In Asia Minor they were being held annually during most of the third century, but the west was slower getting started. Divisive differences of opinion on issues of doctrine or practice could be submitted to a synod or council for a rule or decision. The official action of a council on a given issue came to be referred to as a canon, kanôn, or rule, regula. These decisions were understood to be in complete harmony with the kanôn of truth or the regula fidei thus extending the definition of orthodoxy.
Regional or diocesan synods bringing the clergy of several adjacent provinces together begin to be held by the fourth century. The synod of Elvira in Spain in 300, the synod of Arles in Gaul (called by Emperor Constantine) in 314, and the synod of Sardica (Sofia) in the Balkans (called by Emperors Constans and Constantius) in 343 were each important regional councils. There were councils of equal veneration held at uncertain dates during this period at Ancyra, and NeoCaesarea in what is now Turkey, and at Antioch, Laodicea and Gangra in Syria.
General or Ecumenical synods take their origin from the action of the Roman Emperors beginning with Constantine the Great. He called the first such council in AD 325 at Nicaea. In addition to responding to the Arian controversy, the Council of Nicaea did issue a number of canons, for example:
The Christian Tradition continued to be elaborated and refined through the actions of synods and councils in the period after 200. These were preserved by compilations or summaries of rules and guidelines like the Didaché from the earlier period. There are several known works that seem to fall in this category in the period between AD 200 and 363.
The Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus was written probably just prior the time of his exile and martyrdom in AD 236. Hippolytus has been discussed above in the section on the Church Fathers. This work survives because it was so extensively quoted in later compilations that scholars have been able to reconstruct most of it.
An unknown churchman probably of Jewish ancestry wrote the Didascalia Apostolorum, The Teachings of the Apostles, in Eastern Roman Syria during the first half of the third century. It is structured around a fictitious scenario based on Acts 15, a gathering of the apostles to prepare guidelines for churches. It has been described as the oldest Church Manual and was used both in Roman Syria and by the Church of the East beyond the Roman frontier. It reveals, surprisingly, that Christian women in this area regularly wore veils in public (this is long before Islam)! We also learn that the congregations often included an elite group of members dedicated to total asceticism and called the "Sons and Daughters of the Covenant". This work is believed by some to have been written originally in Greek. If so it was immediately and often translated and quoted. The text survives in Syriac, Ethiopic and later in Arabic as well as Latin facsimiles. A translation of Didascalia Apostolorum has recently appeared online.
The Apostolic Canons seems to have been compiled from earlier sources in Egypt about AD 300. The fictitious scenario used as the organizational structure of the work is a meeting of the apostles with Martha and Mary. Each Apostle in turn delivers his kanôn with the approval of the whole. This work was also originally in Greek but it also survives in Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic and Arabic (which did not begin to develop as a written language until the seventh century).
In the third through the fifth centuries every region seems to have preserved items of special concern to them. The regional compilations included not only the acts of synods but letters or short treatises written by bishops like Cyprian of Carthage, and Bishop Damasus I (366-383) of Rome. Such brief authoritative responses to inquiry came to be known in the West as decretals.
The canons of fourth century included those generated by regional councils such as Elvira in Spain (c. 300), Arles in Gaul (c. 314), Sardica (343) in the Balkans, Ankara and Cappadocian Caesarea in Turkey, Antioch, Laodicea and Gangra in Syria. Most important were the canons of the ecumenical councils at Nicaea (325), and Constantinople (381).
Finally, beginning with the decrees of Constantine effecting Christianity, such imperial actions were frequently included among the canons and decretals.
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