Other Ancient Canons
A few other ancient canonical texts that claim Apostolic origin are described by F. Nau, op. cit., 1620–26; the most interesting of them is a brief collection of nine canons that purport to date from an Apostolic Council of Antioch (see Council of Jerusalem). They may be read in Pitra, Hist. et monumenta Juris eccl. Græcorum (Rome, 1864), I, 88-91; also in Lagarde, Reliquiæ juris eccl. antiquissimæ græce, 18-20, and in Harnack, Mission und Ausbreitung (Leipzig, 1902). They recommend the faithful not to practice circumcision, to admit the Gentiles, to avoid Jewish and pagan customs, the distinction of clean and unclean foods, the worship of idols, the vices of avarice and gluttony, frequentation of theatres, and taking of oaths. The earliest Christian literature offers numerous parallels to the content of these canons, which, in general, recall the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistle of Barnabas, and the Didache. In the 16th century the Jesuit Turrianus (Francisco Torres) defended their authenticity, his chief argument being a reference of Pope Innocent I (401-17) to an Apostolic Council of Antioch (Mansi, III, 1055). A notable literary controversy followed that is not yet quite closed (see Nau, op. cit., 1621–22). Interest centres chiefly in the first canon, which decrees that the Galileans shall henceforth be called Christians (see Acts 11:26), a holy people, a royal priesthood (see 1 Peter 2:9) according to the grace and title of baptism. Some critics see in this canon a defiant reply to the contemptuous use of Galileans by Julian the Apostate (Harnack, Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums, Leipzig, 1902; Paul Lejay, in Revue du clergé français, 15 Oct., 1903, 349-55, with a Fr. tr. of the nine canons). F. Nau is of opinion that they are much older than the latter quarter of the 4th century and calls attention (op. cit., 1624) to Origen of Alexandria - "it seemed good to the Apostles and the elders assembled at Antioch, and in their own words to the Holy Spirit to write a letter to the Gentiles who believed". This statement contradicts Acts, xv, 6, 23, 28, according to which the Apostolic letter was written from the Council of Jerusalem. Nevertheless, it seems that this collection of canons was known to Origen, all the more as it claims (in the title) to come from the library of Origen at Cæsarea and to have been found there by the blessed martyr, Pamphilus.
F. Nau thinks that they may represent a personal rule of conduct drawn up by some 2nd-century Christian (on the basis of Apostolic precepts) who miscopied Acts, xi, 26, into the form of the afore-mentioned canon 1, and then added the other precepts — canon 9 reproduces the decree of Acts, xv, 29. Dallæus (Daillé) charged Turrianus with downright forgery of all these canons, and deliberate corruption of the text of Ps. xvi, 14, "they are full of children" (hyion), making it read hyieon — i. e. "they are filled with pork". This reading of the fifth canon of Antioch is found not only in the oldest Latin Psalters, and in other reliable fourth to 6th century Latin witnesses to the Scripture-text, but also in the best Greek manuscripts (Codex Vaticanus, Sinaiticus, manuscripts dated by scholars to the 4th century). In other words the Scripture-text used by these canons postdates Origen (who lived at the end of the second through the middle of the 3rd century). This is evidence of their great antiquity.
Read more about this topic: Canons Of The Apostles
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