The Gelasian Decree ( la, Decretum Gelasianum) is a Latin text traditionally thought to be a
Decretal
Decretals ( la, litterae decretales) are letters of a pope that formulate decisions in ecclesiastical law of the Catholic Church.McGurk. ''Dictionary of Medieval Terms''. p. 10
They are generally given in answer to consultations but are sometimes ...
of the prolific
Pope Gelasius I, bishop of Rome from 492–496. The work reached its final form in a five-chapter text written by an anonymous scholar between 519 and 553, the second chapter of which is a list of books of Scripture presented as having been made part of the
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 the Bible.
The English word ''canon'' comes from the Greek , meaning " rule" or " measuring stick". The us ...
by a
Council of Rome under
Pope Damasus I
Pope Damasus I (; c. 305 – 11 December 384) was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death. He presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. He spoke out against major heresies ( ...
, the bishop of Rome from 366–383. This list, known as the Damasine List,
[ Burkitt](_blank)
represents the same canon as shown in the
Council of Carthage
The Councils of Carthage were church synods held during the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries in the city of Carthage in Africa. The most important of these are described below.
Synod of 251
In May 251 a synod, assembled under the presidency of Cyprian ...
Canon 24 in 419. The fifth segment of the work includes a list of distrusted and rejected works not encouraged for church use.
Little is known of the compiler of the decree, other than perhaps he was of
Southern Gallic (modern
Southern France) origin.
Content
Canon
The ''Decretum'' has five parts. The second part is a canon catalogue. The
Deuterocanonical Books
The deuterocanonical books (from the Greek meaning "belonging to the second canon") are books and passages considered by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East to be ...
(other than
Baruch and the
Letter of Jeremiah
The Letter of Jeremiah, also known as the Epistle of Jeremiah, is a deuterocanonical book of the Old Testament; this letter is attributed to Jeremiah to the Jews who were about to be carried away as captives to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. It is inc ...
) are accepted by the catalogue, and are still found in the Roman Catholic Bible, though not in the Protestant canon. The canon catalogue gives 27 books of the New Testament. In the list of gospels, the order is given as
Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
,
Mark
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* F ...
,
Luke
People
*Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...
,
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
. Fourteen epistles are credited to Paul including
Philemon and
Hebrews
The terms ''Hebrews'' (Hebrew: / , Modern: ' / ', Tiberian: ' / '; ISO 259-3: ' / ') and ''Hebrew people'' are mostly considered synonymous with the Semitic-speaking Israelites, especially in the pre-monarchic period when they were still ...
. Of the
General Epistles seven are accepted: two of
Peter
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a sur ...
(
First Epistle of Peter,
Second Epistle of Peter), one of James (
Epistle of James
The Epistle of James). is a general epistle and one of the 21 epistles ( didactic letters) in the New Testament.
James 1:1 identifies the author as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" who is writing to "the twelve tribes ...
), one of the
apostle John
John the Apostle ( grc, Ἰωάννης; la, Ioannes ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ;) or Saint John the Beloved was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee ...
(
First Epistle of John
The First Epistle of John is the first of the Johannine epistles of the New Testament, and the fourth of the catholic epistles. There is no scholarly consensus as to the authorship of the Johannine works. The author of the First Epistle is ter ...
), two of "
the other John the elder" (presbyter) (
Second Epistle of John
The Second Epistle of John is a book of the New Testament attributed to John the Evangelist, traditionally thought to be the author of the other two epistles of John, and the Gospel of John (though this is disputed). Most modern scholars believ ...
,
Third Epistle of John), and one of "
Judas the Zealot
The name Judas the Zealot (Judas Zelotes) is mentioned in the '' Epistle of the Apostles'' (Epistula Apostolorum), written in the 2nd century. He is usually identified with the Apostle Simon the Zealot, with whom he shares a surname, or with the ...
" (
Epistle of Jude).
[ Decretum Gelasianum](_blank)
The fifth part is a catalogue of the "apocryphal books" and other writings which are to be rejected, presented as adjudged
apocrypha
Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered ...
l "by Pope Gelasius and seventy most erudite bishops". Though the ascription is generally agreed to be apocryphal itself, except among the most traditional of apologists, it perhaps makes allusion to the seventy translators of the
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...
and the
seventy disciples
The seventy disciples or seventy-two disciples, known in the Eastern Christian traditions as the seventy apostles or seventy-two apostles, were early emissaries of Jesus mentioned in the Gospel of Luke. The correct Greek terminology is evdomik ...
sent out in the Gospel of Luke. This list ''de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis'' ("of books to be admitted and not to be admitted"), probably originating in the 6th century, represents a tradition that can be traced back to
Pope Damasus I
Pope Damasus I (; c. 305 – 11 December 384) was the bishop of Rome from October 366 to his death. He presided over the Council of Rome of 382 that determined the canon or official list of sacred scripture. He spoke out against major heresies ( ...
and reflects Roman practice in the development of the
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 the Bible.
The English word ''canon'' comes from the Greek , meaning " rule" or " measuring stick". The us ...
. These apocrypha are not the same as the deuterocanonical books (which would acquire the label "apocrypha" in the Protestant tradition only a millennia later, in the 1500s), but rather are other writings that parts of the early Church revered, but declared invalid during the doctrinal debates of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries. It includes works such as the
Acts of Andrew
The Acts of Andrew (), is the earliest testimony of the acts and miracles of the Apostle Andrew. The surviving version is alluded to in a 3rd-century work, the Coptic ''Manichaean Psalter'', providing a , according to its editors, M. R. James ...
, the
Acts of Paul and Thecla
The ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'' (''Acta Pauli et Theclae'') is an apocryphal story– Edgar J. Goodspeed called it a " religious romance"–of Paul the Apostle's influence on a young virgin named Thecla. It is one of the writings of the New Test ...
, the
Gospel of James
The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James) is a second-century infancy gospel telling of the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary, her upbringing and marriage to Joseph, the journey of the couple to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, a ...
, and others.
Other
The other parts are generally of less interest to modern audiences and historians. Part 1 is a poem to the many facets of God. Part 3 is a short endorsement of the supremacy of the
Bishop of Rome
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or offic ...
over the other bishops as "first among equals", citing the authority of Peter. Part 4 is a description of accepted
synods that includes the
Council of Nicea, the
Council of Ephesus, and the
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bi ...
. It then lists accepted
Church Father
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical pe ...
s. It also enumerates lesser recognized ecclesiastical writers varying from famous to obscure (for example
Sedulius and
Juvencus
Gaius Vettius Aquilinus Juvencus (fl. c. 330) was a Roman Christian poet from Hispania who wrote in Latin.
Life
Of his life we know only what St. Jerome tells us. De viris, chapter 84; Chron., ad an. 2345; Epist. lxx, 5; In Matt., I, ii, 11. He w ...
). Notably, it suggests that while
Origen of Alexandria
Origen of Alexandria, ''Ōrigénēs''; Origen's Greek name ''Ōrigénēs'' () probably means "child of Horus" (from , "Horus", and , "born"). ( 185 – 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theo ...
's work can be read, he personally should be rejected as a "schismatic".
Biblical canon
Accepted as canonical
Old Testament
*
Book of Genesis
The Book of Genesis (from Greek ; Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית ''Bəreʾšīt'', "In hebeginning") is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its first word, ( "In the beginning" ...
;
*
Book of Exodus
The Book of Exodus (from grc, Ἔξοδος, translit=Éxodos; he, שְׁמוֹת ''Šəmōṯ'', "Names") is the second book of the Bible. It narrates the story of the Exodus, in which the Israelites leave slavery in Biblical Egypt through ...
;
*
Book of Leviticus
The book of Leviticus (, from grc, Λευιτικόν, ; he, וַיִּקְרָא, , "And He called") is the third book of the Torah (the Pentateuch) and of the Old Testament, also known as the Third Book of Moses. Scholars generally agree ...
;
*
Book of Numbers
The book of Numbers (from Greek Ἀριθμοί, ''Arithmoi''; he, בְּמִדְבַּר, ''Bəmīḏbar'', "In the desert f) is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible, and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and c ...
;
*
Book of Deuteronomy;
*
Book of Joshua;
*
Book of Judges
The Book of Judges (, ') is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom ...
;
*
Book of Ruth;
* Books of Kings (
first, second,
third and fourth);
*
Books of Chronicles
The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sec ...
(first and second);
*
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...
;
* Three books of
Solomon:
**
Book of Proverbs;
**
Ecclesiastes;
**
Song of Songs;
*
Book of Wisdom
The Book of Wisdom, or the Wisdom of Solomon, is a Jewish work written in Greek and most likely composed in Alexandria, Egypt. Generally dated to the mid-first century BCE, the central theme of the work is "wisdom" itself, appearing under two ...
;
*
Ecclesiasticus
The Book of Sirach () or Ecclesiasticus (; abbreviated Ecclus.) is a Jewish work, originally in Hebrew, of ethical teachings, from approximately 200 to 175 BC, written by the Judahite scribe Ben Sira of Jerusalem, on the inspiration of his fa ...
;
Prophets
*
Book of Isaiah;
*
Book of Jeremiah;
**
Book of Lamentations
The Book of Lamentations ( he, אֵיכָה, , from its incipit meaning "how") is a collection of poetic laments for the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BCE. In the Hebrew Bible it appears in the Ketuvim ("Writings") as one of the Five Megill ...
;
*
Book of Ezechiel;
*
Book of Daniel
The Book of Daniel is a 2nd-century BC biblical apocalypse with a 6th century BC setting. Ostensibly "an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, a noble Jew exiled at Babylon", it combines a prophecy of history with an eschatology ...
;
*
Book of Hosea
The Book of Hosea ( hbo, , Sēfer Hōšēaʿ) is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Tanakh, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament. According to the traditional order of most Heb ...
;
*
Book of Amos
The Book of Amos is the third of the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament (Tanakh) and the second in the Greek Septuagint tradition. Amos, an older contemporary of Hosea and Isaiah, Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alt ...
;
*
Book of Micah
The Book of Micah is the sixth of the twelve minor prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Ostensibly, it records the sayings of Micah, whose name is ''Mikayahu'' ( he, מִיכָיָ֫הוּ), meaning "Who is like Yahweh?", an 8th-century BCE prophet fro ...
;
*
Book of Joel
The Book of Joel is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament.
Content
After a superscription ascribing the prophecy to Joel (s ...
;
*
Book of Obadiah;
*
Book of Jonah
The Book of Jonah is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament. The book tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah, son of Amittai, wh ...
;
*
Book of Nahum
The Book of Nahum is the seventh book of the 12 minor prophets of the Hebrew Bible. It is attributed to the prophet Nahum, and was probably written in Jerusalem in the 7th century BC.
Background
Josephus places Nahum during the reign of Jotham ...
;
*
Book of Habakkuk
The Book of Habakkuk is the eighth book of the 12 minor prophets of the Bible. It is attributed to the prophet Habakkuk, and was probably composed in the late 7th century BC.
Of the three chapters in the book, the first two are a dialogue betwe ...
;
*
Book of Zephaniah
The Book of Zephaniah ( he, צְפַנְיָה, ''Ṣəfanyā''; sometimes Latinized as ''Sophonias'') is the ninth of the Twelve Minor Prophets, preceded by the Book of Habakkuk and followed by the Book of Haggai. Zephaniah means "Yahweh has ...
;
*
Book of Haggai
The Book of Haggai (; he, ספר חגי, Sefer Ḥaggay) is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, and is the third-to-last of the Twelve Minor Prophets. It is a short book, consisting of only two chapters. The historical setting dates around 52 ...
;
*
Book of Zechariah
The Book of Zechariah, attributed to the Hebrew prophet Zechariah, is included in the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Hebrew Bible.
Historical context
Zechariah's prophecies took place during the reign of Darius the Great and were contemporary ...
;
*
Book of Malachi
The Book of Malachi (Hebrew: , ') is the last book of the Neviim contained in the Tanakh, canonically the last of the Twelve Minor Prophets. In the Christian ordering, the grouping of the prophetic books is the last section of the Old Testament, ...
;
Histories
*
Book of Job;
*
Book of Tobit;
* Books of Esdras (
first
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
second);
*
Book of Esther;
*
Book of Judith;
* Books of Maccabees (
first
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
second);
New Testament
* Four canonical Gospels:
**
Gospel of Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew), or simply Matthew. It is most commonly abbreviated as "Matt." is the first book of the New Testament of the Bible and one of the three synoptic Gospels. It tells how Israel's Messiah, Jesus, comes to his people and form ...
;
**
Gospel of Mark;
**
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...
;
**
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
;
*
Acts of the Apostles;
*
Pauline Epistles:
**
Epistle to the Romans;
** Epistles to the Corinthians (
first
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
second);
**
Epistle to the Ephesians;
** Epistles to the Thessalonians (
first
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
second);
**
Epistle to the Galatians;
**
Epistle to the Philippians
The Epistle to the Philippians is a Pauline epistle of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and Timothy is named with him as co-author or co-sender. The letter is addressed to the Christia ...
;
**
Epistle to the Colossians
The Epistle to the Colossians is the twelfth book of the New Testament. It was written, according to the text, by Paul the Apostle and Timothy, and addressed to the church in Colossae, a small Phrygian city near Laodicea and approximately f ...
;
** Epistles to Timothy (
first
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
second);
**
Epistle to Titus;
**
Epistle to Philemon
The Epistle to Philemon is one of the books of the Christian New Testament. It is a prison letter, co-authored by Paul the Apostle with Timothy, to Philemon, a leader in the Colossian church. It deals with the themes of forgiveness and recon ...
;
**
Epistle to the Hebrews
The Epistle to the Hebrews ( grc, Πρὸς Ἑβραίους, Pros Hebraious, to the Hebrews) is one of the books of the New Testament.
The text does not mention the name of its author, but was traditionally attributed to Paul the Apostle. Most ...
;
*
Apocalypse of John
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...
;
*
Catholic Epistles:
** Epistles of Peter (
first
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
second);
**
Epistle of James
The Epistle of James). is a general epistle and one of the 21 epistles ( didactic letters) in the New Testament.
James 1:1 identifies the author as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" who is writing to "the twelve tribes ...
;
**
Epistle of John the Apostle;
** Epistles of
John the Elder
John the Presbyter was an obscure figure of the early Church who is either distinguished from or identified with the Apostle John and/or John of Patmos. He appears in fragments from the church father Papias of Hierapolis as one of the author's ...
(
first
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
second);
**
Epistle of Judas the Zealot;
Rejected as apochryphal
*
Acts of Andrew
The Acts of Andrew (), is the earliest testimony of the acts and miracles of the Apostle Andrew. The surviving version is alluded to in a 3rd-century work, the Coptic ''Manichaean Psalter'', providing a , according to its editors, M. R. James ...
;
*
Acts of Thomas
''Acts of Thomas'' is an early 3rd-century text, one of the New Testament apocrypha within the Acts of the Apostles subgenre. References to the work by Epiphanius of Salamis show that it was in circulation in the 4th century. The complete ve ...
;
*
Acts of Peter
The Acts of Peter is one of the earliest of the apocryphal Acts of the Apostles in Christianity, dating to the late 2nd century AD. The majority of the text has survived only in the Latin translation of the Codex Vercellensis, under the title ...
;
*
Acts of Philip
The Greek ''Acts of Philip'' (''Acta Philippi'') is an episodic gnostic apocryphal book of acts from the mid-to-late fourth century, originally in fifteen separate ''acta'', that gives an accounting of the miraculous acts performed by the Apostle ...
;
*
Gospel of Matthias
The Gospel of Matthias is a lost text from the New Testament apocrypha, ascribed to Matthias, the apostle chosen by lots to replace Judas Iscariot (Acts 1:15–26). The content has been surmised from various descriptions of it in ancient works by ...
;
* Gospel of Barnabas (not to be confused with the c. 15th-century
Gospel of Barnabas
The Gospel of Barnabas is a non-canonical, pseudepigraphical gospel reportedly written by the early Christian disciple Barnabas, who (in this work) is one of the apostles of Jesus. It is about the same length as the four canonical gospels comb ...
);
*
Gospel of James
The Gospel of James (or the Protoevangelium of James) is a second-century infancy gospel telling of the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary, her upbringing and marriage to Joseph, the journey of the couple to Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus, a ...
;
*
Gospel of Peter
The Gospel of Peter ( grc, κατά Πέτρον ευαγγέλιον, kata Petron euangelion), or the Gospel according to Peter, is an ancient text concerning Jesus Christ, only partially known today. It is considered a non-canonical gospel and ...
;
*
Gospel of Thomas
The Gospel of Thomas (also known as the Coptic Gospel of Thomas) is an extra-canonical sayings gospel. It was discovered near Nag Hammadi, Egypt, in December 1945 among a group of books known as the Nag Hammadi library. Scholars speculate ...
;
*
Gospel of Bartholomew;
*
Gospel of Andrew;
*
Syriac Infancy Gospel;
*
Acts of Paul and Thecla
The ''Acts of Paul and Thecla'' (''Acta Pauli et Theclae'') is an apocryphal story– Edgar J. Goodspeed called it a " religious romance"–of Paul the Apostle's influence on a young virgin named Thecla. It is one of the writings of the New Test ...
;
*
Apocalypse of Paul
The Apocalypse of Paul (''Apocalypsis Pauli'', more commonly known in the Latin tradition as the or ) is a fourth-century non-canonical apocalypse and part of the New Testament apocrypha. The full original Greek version of the ''Apocalypse'' is ...
;
*
Apocalypse of Thomas
The Apocalypse of Thomas is a work from the New Testament apocrypha, apparently composed originally in Greek. It concerns the end of the world, and appears to be influenced by the Apocalypse of John (better known later as the Book of Revelation), ...
;
*
Apocalypse of Stephen;
*
Testament of Job
The ''Testament of Job'' is a book written in the 1st century BC or the 1st century AD (thus part of a tradition often called " intertestamental literature" by Christian scholars). The earliest surviving manuscript is in Coptic, of the 5th centur ...
;
*
Apocryphon of Jannes and Jambres;
*
Lots of the Apostles;
*
Letters from Jesus to Abgar and from Abgar to Jesus;
* other minor spurious works;
Textual history
The complete text is preserved in the mid-eighth-century
Ragyndrudis Codex
The Ragyndrudis Codex (''Codex Bonifatianus II'') is an early medieval codex of religious texts, now in Fulda in Germany, which is closely associated with Saint Boniface, who, according to tradition, used it at the time of his martyrdom to ward ...
, fols. 57r-61v,
which is the earliest manuscript copy containing the complete text. The earliest manuscript copy was produced c. 700, ''Brussels 9850-2''.
Versions of the work appear in multiple surviving manuscripts, some of which are titled as a Decretal of Pope Gelasius, others as a work of a Roman Council under the earlier Pope Damasus. However, all versions show signs of being derived from the full five-part text, which contains a quotation from
Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North A ...
, writing about 416 after Damasus, which is evidence for the document being later than that.
References
External links
The Development of the Canon" ''Decretum Gelasianum'' gives the full list, including the apocrypha "which are to be avoided by Catholics."
at
The Latin Library
The Latin Library is a website that collects public domain Latin texts. It is run by William L. Carey, adjunct professor of Latin and Roman Law at George Mason University. The texts have been drawn from different sources, are not intended for rese ...
.
''Decretum Gelasianum'':in English.
Leipzig, 1912:
F. C. Burkitt in ''Journal of Theological Studies'' 14 (1913) pp. 469–471.
{{Authority control
Works by the Church Fathers
New Testament apocrypha
6th-century Christian texts
Development of the Christian biblical canon