Ideas have consequences. the idea that the council of nicea (325 ad), under the authority of the roman emperor constantine, established the christian biblical canon attempted to show how the bible originated from conspiracy and power play by a few bishops of elite. That this idea persists today can be shown not only by dan brown’s da vinci code, but also by scanning twitter (and even some blogs):
the holy bible: texts of murky origin compiled by competing bishops at the behest of the politically motivated roman emperor constantine to stabilize his empire and since then repeatedly adapted to fit the needs of contemporary rulers and clergy, but never adapted to reality.
You are reading: Council of nicea books of the bible
— positief atheïsme (@positiefatheism) March 9, 2018
the tweet combines several elements. Although he does not mention the Council of Nicaea by name, that is usually the main place where these bishops carried out Constantine’s politically motivated order and where they created the Bible. There is no historical basis for this idea that the Council of Nicaea discussed and established the canon of scripture and thereby created the Bible. As the early Christian canon lists and other evidence show, there were discussions about the canon before and after the Council of Nicaea. Furthermore, none of the earliest records of the council or eyewitnesses (eg, Eusebius or Athanasius) mention any discussion of the canon of scripture. So where did this idea come from?
the origin of the myth of the council
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The source of this idea appears in a late ninth-century Greek manuscript, now called synodicon vetus, which stands as an epitome of the decisions of Greek councils up to that time (see pp. 2-4 here). This manuscript was brought from Morea in the 16th century by Andreas Darmasius and was purchased, edited and published by John Pappus in 1601 in Strasbourg. I give the English translation of the relevant section of the source, linked above:
the council revealed the canonical and apocryphal books in the following way: placing them next to the divine table in the house of god, they prayed, begging the lord that the divinely inspired books be found on the table, and the spurious under; and so it happened.
According to the source, the church has its canon due to a miracle that occurred at the Council of Nicaea in which the Lord caused the canonical books to remain on the table and the apocryphal or spurious ones to be found under it. from pappus’s edition of the synodicon vetus, this quote was circulated and quoted (sometimes even as coming from pappus himself, not the greek ms he edited!), eventually finding its way into promin’s work
thinkers like voltaire (1694-1778). in volume 3 of his philosophical dictionary (english translation here) under advice (sec. i), he says:
It was by an almost similar device that the fathers of the same council distinguished the authentic books of writing from the apocryphal ones. having placed them all together on the altar, the apocryphal books fell to the ground by themselves.
and a little later in sec. iii, add:
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We have already said that in the supplement of the Council of Nice it is related that the fathers, being very perplexed to know which were the authentic books and which were the apocryphal ones of the Old and New Testaments, placed them all on an altar, and the books to be discarded fell to the ground. What a pity that such a good ordeal was lost!
earlier in his article, voltaire had already mentioned that it was constantine who called the council. at the council of nicaea, therefore, the fathers distinguished the canonical books from the apocrypha by prayer and a miracle. the publication of synodicon vetus by the pappus edition in 1601 and the subsequent citation of the miracle of nicaea, especially by voltaire in his dictionary, seems to be the reason why dan brown was able to narrate the events so colorfully and why many others continue to perpetuate this myth.
conclusion
thus, this myth of the role of the council of nicea in the formation of the biblical canon was promulgated over the years. dan brown didn’t invent it but he certainly exploited it and perpetuated it in this generation. Although the history of the canon of scripture is a bit messy at the junctures, there is no evidence that it was established by a few Christian bishops and churches like those that met at Nicaea in 325. Christians discussed the boundaries of the canon much earlier. and after this council .
update(04/26/18): it is possible to read jerome’s words in the preface to judith, “but since the council of nicea is considered (legitur lit. “is read” ) having counted this book among the number of holy scriptures, I have acceded to their request (or should I say demand!)”, as a reference to Nicaea discussing the scriptures, and thus the beginning of the myth. I didn’t include it above because it seems very different from the later myth, and there could have been discussions about the “scriptures”, which differed from a vote on the canonical list and differed even more from the later miracle story. Since adopters of Nicene orthodoxy, such as Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Hilary of Poitiers, do not include Judith in the canon, we must read Jerome as referring not to the canon but to scripture. this interpretation is in line with the biblical theory of the fourth century. How others read Jerome on this point could have been different, and thus Jerome’s statement, misunderstood, could be the starting point for later myth. I still have many questions about this conclusion. For more information on Jerome’s prefaces to Judith and Tobit, see Ed Gallagher’s article on the subject.
about the author
dr. john meade is associate professor of old testament and co-director of text & canon institute at phoenix seminary. He has recently published The Biblical Canon Lists of Early Christianity: Texts and Analysis with Oxford University Press. You can learn more about him on his faculty page and also follow him on twitter at @drjohnmeade.
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