Origin and Canon of the New Testament Sacred Books

By Prof. Dr. Hristo N. Gyaurov

The questions regarding the origin and canon of the New Testament sacred books are of particular importance in the field of the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. Because of this importance, they have been studied intensively and extensively by scholars since the early times of Christianity and up to the present time. A vast literature has been created on them.

The Greek word canon comes from the word ὁ κανών -όνος comes from the word ἡ κάννη (reed), which is not of Greek, but of Semitic origin. The word canon has numerous and diverse meanings, which can be divided into the following four groups: first – rod, line, instrument for determining straight lines in carpentry and masonry; second – rule (regula), pattern, example; third – tablet or board with an inscription, table, list, catalog, collection; and fourth – share, tax (civil or ecclesiastical). Because of its many meanings, it is used in various sciences – philosophy, church law, liturgy and Holy Scripture. In the expression “canon of Holy Scripture” it is used with the meaning “collection”. The canon of Holy Scripture of the New Testament includes 27 books: four gospels – from Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the book of Acts of the Holy Apostles; 7 conciliar epistles – one to the Apostle James, two to the Apostle Peter, three to the Apostle John and one to the Apostle Jude; 14 epistles of the Apostle Paul – to the Romans, two to the Corinthians, to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, to the Philippians, to the Colossians, two to the Thessalonians, two to Timothy, to Titus, to Philemon and to the Hebrews, as well as the Apocalypse – the Revelation of the Apostle John.

The earliest, in time, book in the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament is the Gospel of St. Matthew. It was written in Hebrew. This is attested to by the apostolic man St. Papias of Hierapolis, who lived and worked at the end of the first century and the first half of the second. “Matthew,” says St. Papias, according to a tradition from St. John the Apostle, “wrote down the discourses — τα λόγια (of the Lord, p. n.), and each interpreted them as he could” (in Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History III, 39). By τα λόγια here should be understood the Holy Gospel of Matthew. St. Papias had written a work in five books under the title “Explanations of the Lord’s Sayings (λογίων)”. And in this title the word τα λόγια is used with the meaning of “gospel”. There is every reason to assume that in his aforementioned work St. Papias interpreted the four canonical Gospels. The fact that the Evangelist Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew is also attested to by many ancient church writers: St. Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies, 3, 1, 1), Origen (in Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, 6, 25), Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History, 3, 24), and others. According to some scholars, the Gospel was written in ancient Hebrew, and according to others, in Aramaic, the language spoken by the Jews in Palestine during the time of Jesus Christ. The opinion of the latter scholars is well-founded. There is reason to assume that the Evangelist Matthew himself translated his Gospel into Greek, in which language it has been preserved to the present day.

The Gospel of Matthew was written in Palestine (probably in Jerusalem) in 41 AD. “Matthew,” says the ancient church historian Eusebius of Caesarea (340 AD), “having preached first among the Jews, and then, intending to go to others, composed in his native language the gospel now known under his name, in order that this Scripture might make up for the Christians from whom he was moving away, the lack of his presence” (Church History, 3, 24). Evangelist Matthew left Palestine in 42 AD, in which year many of the apostles left Palestine, due to the persecution against Christians raised by King Herod Agrippa I. That Evangelist Matthew wrote his Gospel during the time of King Herod Agrippa I is evident from the fact that in his Gospel he included at length the speeches of Jesus Christ against the scribes and Pharisees, since they were patronized by this king. In listing the apostles of Jesus Christ, the evangelist Matthew calls himself, out of modesty, a publican (Matt. 10:3), which he is not called in the lists of the holy apostles given by the evangelists Mark and Luke (Mark 3:18; Acts 1:13).

In addition to St. Papias of Hierapolis and Eusebius of Caesarea, there is evidence in many other ancient church writers that the first canonical gospel was written by the evangelist Matthew. Such evidence is found in St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 202) – Against Heresies, 3, 1, 1; 5, 8; in Origen (254) – in the Church History of Eusebius of Caesarea 6, 25; in Tertullian (first half of the 3rd century) – Against Marcion, 4, 2, etc.

The second, in time, New Testament holy book is the Gospel of St. Apostle Mark, who, according to ancient tradition, was one of the 70 apostles of Christ. He wrote his Gospel in 44 AD in Rome. That St. Evangelist Mark was in Rome and wrote his Gospel there can be seen from the following circumstances. On the night when St. Apostle Peter was miraculously brought out of the dungeon in which he was imprisoned by King Herod Agrippa I, he went to the house of Mary, mother of the Evangelist Mark and from there that very night he went “to another place,” as the historian St. Apostle Luke narrates (Acts 12:17). The other place to which the Apostle Peter went is Rome. Having left Palestine, the Apostle Peter passed through the countries of Asia Minor, Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia (see 1 Pet. 1:1); from these countries he passed into Macedonia, from there into Greece — the city of Corinth, and from there he went to Rome. When the Apostle Peter left the house of Mary, the mother of the Evangelist Mark, he took the Evangelist Mark with him. That this is so can be concluded from the fact that in his first epistle (1 Pet. 5:13) he sends greetings to the Christians in the aforementioned countries of Asia Minor from Mark, as an acquaintance of them.

St. Apostle Peter went to Rome, as reported by Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History 2, 14, 15), in 42 AD, at the beginning of the reign of Emperor Claudius. In Rome, the evangelist Mark listened to the speeches of Apostle Peter about the life and work of Jesus Christ and recorded them, at the request of the Roman Christians, in his Gospel. By interpreting 1 Pet. 5:13, Clement of Alexandria (c. 215) says: «Mark, the companion of Peter, when Peter was openly preaching the gospel in Rome before some of the emperor’s horsemen and bringing many testimonies about Christ, having been asked by them to preserve for memory what was said, composed from what was preached by Peter, a gospel, called the Gospel of Mark» (see Th. Zahn, Einleitung in das Neue Testament, 2. Auflage, Bd. II, 1924, S. 218).

St. Papias of Hierapolis also testifies to the writing of the second canonical gospel by Mark. Speaking of the writing of the gospel by Mark, he, according to a tradition from St. John the Apostle, says: “Mark, the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately everything that he remembered” (Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, 3, 39).

Describing the taking of Jesus Christ from the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was betrayed by Judas Iscariot, the Evangelist Mark says: “A certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body, followed Him; and the soldiers laid hold of him. But he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked” (Mark 14:51-52). This young man, as is acknowledged by many eminent exegetes of ancient and modern times, is the Evangelist Mark himself, who, out of modesty, hides his name. That the Gospel of Mark was written in Rome is also evident from the fact that it contains Latinisms (Mark 12:42; Mark 15:16). The writing of the second canonical gospel by the evangelist Mark is attested to by, in addition to St. Papias of Hierapolis, Clement of Alexandria and Eusebius of Caesarea, many other ancient church writers: St. Justin Martyr (c. 165) in “Conversation with Tryphon the Jew”, 106; St. Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies, 3, 1, 1); Tertullian (Against Marcion, 4, 5); Origen (in the Church History of Eusebius of Caesarea, 6, 25), etc.

St. Evangelist Luke wrote two New Testament sacred books: the Gospel and the book of the Acts of the Apostles. At the end of his book of the Acts of the Apostles, speaking of the first, two-year, Roman imprisonment of the St. Paul, the Evangelist Luke says: “Paul lived for two whole years in a private rented house and received all who came to him, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness, unhindered” (Acts 28:30-31). With these words, the Evangelist Luke concludes this book of his. St. Apostle Paul went to Rome to be tried by Caesar as a Roman citizen, as will be pointed out later, in the first half of the year 61. He remained there in chains for two years — from the middle of the year 61 to the middle of the year 63. The Evangelist Luke was not in Rome when the Apostle Paul was tried by Caesar (see 2 Tim. 4:16-17). From this it can be concluded that the Evangelist Luke wrote his book Acts of the Holy Apostles in the first half of the year 63, or around the middle of that year, in Rome, before the trial of the Apostle began. Paul of Caesarea. St. Hippolytus of Rome, in the Muratorian Canon compiled by him around 190, clearly and definitely testifies that the book of the Acts of the Apostles was written by the Evangelist Luke. Many ancient church writers also testify to the writing of this book by the Evangelist Luke: St. Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies 3, 14, 1; 3, 13, 3); Clement of Alexandria (Stromati, 5, 12), Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History, 3, 4, 6–8), Blessed Jerome (On Illustrious Men, 7), etc.

From the place where the Evangelist Luke wrote his book of the Acts of the Apostles and from the year in which he wrote it, one can judge the place and year of the writing of his Gospel. At the beginning of his book Acts of the Apostles, the evangelist Luke says: “The first book, O Theophilus, I have written about all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day he was taken up from him” (Acts 1:1–2). It is clear that the “first book” here should be understood as the Gospel of Luke and that this Gospel was written before the book Acts of the Apostles. Since the book Acts of the Apostles was written in Rome in the first half of the year 63 or around the middle of that year, there are reasons to assume that the Gospel of Luke was also written in Rome a little earlier – at the beginning of 63 or at the end of 62.

That the Gospel of Luke was written in Rome can also be judged from the fact that there are some Latinisms in its language (Luke 7:4; Luke 14:18).

Like the evangelist Mark, the evangelist Luke does not, out of modesty, state his name in his Gospel. In his account of the appearance of the risen Jesus Christ to two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-32), the evangelist Luke gives the name of only one disciple, Cleopas; he does not give the name of the other disciple, who is himself.

The place and time of the writing of the five New Testament sacred books of St. Apostle and Evangelist John can be judged on the basis of his life. According to an ancient church tradition, witnessed It is stated in many ancient church writers – St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Tertullian. Eusebius of Caesarea, etc. – that the Apostle John spent the last years of his life in the Asia Minor city of Ephesus, where, according to the message of Symeon Metaphrastus, he had moved during the Nero persecution of Christians. In this city the Apostle John died and was buried there. In his letter to Pope Victor (189-199 AD) the Bishop of Ephesus Polycrates wrote: “in Asia great leaders are buried. . . also John, who had leaned on the breast of the Lord, … was buried in the city of Ephesus” (in Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, 5, 24). A church was built in the name of the Apostle John in Ephesus, which was rebuilt by Emperor Justinian and later destroyed. During the excavations that were recently carried out in Ephesus, five underground rooms were found under the church dedicated to St. John the Apostle, arranged in a cross. “There is no doubt,” says the scholar Joseph Keil, “that one of these rooms is the tomb of John the Theologian, or even the entire system of rooms” (Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien, Vol. XXIV, 1928, Beiblatt, p. 59).

In the 14th year of the reign of Emperor Domitian (81–96), that is, in 95, St. John the Apostle was exiled to the island of Patmos, located in the Mediterranean Sea not far from the coast of Asia Minor. He returned from this exile after the death of Emperor Domitian, during the reign of Emperor Nero (96–98). The return of St. John from the island of Patmos to Ephesus probably occurred in 97. The ancient church writers testify to his exile to the island of Patmos and his return to Ephesus: St. Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies 5, 30, 3), Origen (Interpretation of Matthew, 16, 6), Blessed Jerome (“On Illustrious Men,” 9), Eusebius of Caesarea (Church History, 18, 20, 23).

During his exile on the island of Patmos, in 95 or 96, the Apostle John wrote his book Apocalypse – Revelation, as he himself reports in it (Rev. 1:9). The writing of the Apocalypse by the Evangelist John is attested by many ancient church writers — St. Justin Martyr (Conversation with Tryphon the Jew, 81), St. Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies, 4, 20; 5, 26, 30), Tertullian (De praescr., 33; Against Marcian, 3, 14, 24; 4, 5), and others. St. Justin Martyr says: “In addition, among us, someone named John, one of the apostles of Christ, in the Revelation given to him (ἐν ἀποκαλύψει)” – Conversation with Tryphon the Jew, 81.

After returning from his exile on the island of Patmos to Ephesus in 97, in the following year 98, St. John the Apostle wrote his Gospel in this city. The question of the writing of the fourth canonical Gospel by the Apostle John has been examined intensively and extensively in theological literature for two centuries. It is known under the name “John’s question”. Studies on it appear almost every year. A large literature has been created on this issue. Some theologians, mainly Protestant rationalists, unreasonably find that this Gospel was not written by the Evangelist John.

In ancient Christian writing there is solid evidence for the writing of the fourth canonical Gospel by St. John the Apostle. In the Muratorian Canon, compiled by St. Hippolytus of Rome around 190 AD, it is explicitly stated that this Gospel was written by the Apostle John. After reporting that the first canonical Gospel was written by the Evangelist Matthew, the second by the Evangelist Mark, and the third by the Evangelist Luke, St. Irenaeus of Lyons says of the fourth Gospel: “Then John, the disciple of the Lord, on whose breast he had leaned, also wrote a Gospel during his stay in the city of Ephesus” (Against Heresies, 3, 1, 1). Clear and solid evidence for the writing of the fourth canonical Gospel by the Apostle John is found in Origen (in the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea, 6, 25) and in many other ancient church writers. Speaking of the Apostle John, according to the testimony of Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius of Caesarea says: “Let us also see the writings that undoubtedly belong to this apostle himself. First of all, the Gospel marked with his name, known to the churches under heaven, must be recognized” (Church History. 3, 24).

And in the content of the fourth canonical gospel there is clear and convincing evidence that it was written by St. Evangelist John. Like the holy evangelists Mark and Luke, St. Evangelist John does not mention, out of modesty, his name in his gospel. He does not mention not only his name, but also the names of his father Zebedee, his mother Salome and his brother James. No one else would have done this, except for the Evangelist John himself. In telling about the going of two disciples of St. John the Forerunner to Jesus Christ, the Apostle John gives the name of only one disciple — the Apostle Andrew; he does not mention the name of the other disciple, because this disciple is himself. About the Apostle Andrew, the Apostle John says: “he first found his brother Simon” (John 1:41). From these words of his, it can be concluded that he found his “second” brother James. In his Gospel, the Apostle John calls himself the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ. When telling about the Last Supper, the Apostle John writes: “one of the disciples whom Jesus loved was leaning on Jesus’ breast” (John 13:23; cf. 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20). In several places in the Canon of the New Testament it is reported that the Apostle Peter and the Apostle John acted together on many occasions (Acts 3 and 4; Acts 3:14–17). If in such cases one of them is indicated, it can be known with certainty who the other is. Speaking of the Apostle Peter and a disciple who was with him, the Apostle John calls this disciple “the other disciple” (John 18:15, 16; John 20:2–3, 4, 8). This other disciple could be none other than the apostle John himself.

After writing his Gospel in Ephesus in 98 AD, he wrote all three of his epistles in the same city and in the same year. This is indicated by the fact that his first epistle is, in its content, excerpts from the content of his Gospel.

The author of the first synodal epistle is St. James, the brother of the Lord. He was appointed by the holy apostles as the head of the Jerusalem church (Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, 7, 19; 2, 23). As such, he was the chairman of the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem, which took place in the first half of the year 51. In his speech delivered at this council, St. James expressed an opinion, later adopted as the decision of the council, that Christians should be freed from the fulfillment of the Old Testament ritual law. St. James died in the year 62, having, according to the testimonies of Clement of Alexandria and Egesippus (Eusebius of Caesarea, Church History, 2, 23), been thrown by the scribes and Pharisees from the roof of the Jerusalem temple, where they had placed him to speak to the people against Jesus Christ; However, he did not do this, but confessed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world. From the places in the Epistle of the Apostle James, where he speaks of the “law of freedom” — the law of Jesus Christ (1:25; 2:12), and from the fact that the Apostle Paul had the Epistle of the Apostle James at hand when he wrote his Epistle to the Romans in 58 AD (Pac. James 1:4=Rom. 5:3; James 2:23=Rom. 4:3; James 4:4=Rom. 8:7) it can be established that the Apostle James wrote his Epistle in 52-53 AD in Jerusalem.

St. the Apostle Peter wrote two conciliar Epistles. As noted earlier, after his miraculous release from prison, in which he was imprisoned by King Herod Agrippa I, he went in 42 AD, at the beginning of the reign of Emperor Claudius, to Rome. In this city, during Nero’s persecution of Christians, he was crucified on a cross, head down, at his own request, in 67 AD. Not all the time from 42 to 67 AD was the Apostle Peter in Rome. In 51 AD he participated in the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem, at which he delivered a speech. He addressed both of his epistles to the Christians in the countries of Asia Minor: Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, through which he had passed after his miraculous release from prison. The Apostle Peter wrote his epistles from Rome, which city he calls Babylon (1 Pet. 5:13). And the Apostle John in several places in his book of Revelation calls Rome Babylon (Rev. 16:19; Rev. 17:5; Rev. 18:2; Rev. 10:21). Since from several places in the first epistle of the apostle Peter (1 Pet. 2:13–14; 1 Pet. 3:13) it can be concluded that when he wrote this epistle, there was no persecution against Christians, it will have to be assumed that he wrote this epistle at the end of 63 or at the beginning of 64, in which year, from July 18 to 24, the fire in Rome caused by Emperor Nero occurred, and after which fire he unleashed a fierce persecution against Christians. The apostle Peter wrote his second epistle in Rome in 66, one year before his death.

St. Apostle Jude, the author of the last – seventh – conciliar epistle, calls himself “brother of James”, the brother of the Lord. There are reasons to assume that this ap. Jude, also brother of the Lord, is the same person as ap. Jude, also called Levi or Thaddaeus, or Judas of James (Matt. 10:3; Mark 3:18; Acts 1:13), who is one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ. Ap. Jude is called Judas of James not by the name of his father, but by the name of his brother ap. James, who held a prominent place in the Jerusalem church, was its head. And Mary Cleophas, the mother of the Lord’s brothers – James, Josiah, Judas and Simon (Mark 6:3) is called Jacob’s (Mark 16:1) or Josiah’s (Mark 15:47) by the name of her sons James and Josiah. Between the epistle of ap. Jude and the second epistle of the apostle Peter have many similar places: Jude 4 = 2 Pet. 2:1–3; Jude 6 = 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 7 = 2 Pet. 2:6; Jude 8–10 = 2 Pet. 2:10–12, etc. Based on these similar names, it can be assumed that when writing his second epistle, the apostle Peter had the epistle of the apostle Jude at hand and used it. And many prominent Western theologians, Catholics and Protestants — I. Belzer, M. Meinertz, I. Zickenberger, R. Knopf, etc., express such an opinion. Taking this circumstance into account, it will have to be assumed that the apostle Jude wrote his epistle before 66 AD in Palestine.

Before considering the question of the time and place of writing the epistles of St. Apostle Paul, it will be necessary to determine the dates of some important events in his life and work.

The murder of St. Archdeacon Stephen by the Jews, at which the apostle Paul was present (Acts 7:58), took place in 36 AD, since in that year Palestine was left without a Roman procurator and the Jews could carry out a death sentence themselves, without having permission from the Roman authorities. In the following year 37, after the miracle on the road to Damascus, the apostle Paul turned to Jesus Christ. From a cruel persecutor of Christians, he became a zealous preacher of the teachings of Christ, so zealous that he sacrificed his life for his faith in Jesus Christ. In his epistle to the Galatians, speaking of his going to Jerusalem for the Apostolic Council, the apostle Paul says: “Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus with me” (Gal. 2:1). The fourteen years here he counts from the year of his conversion to Jesus Christ. So, the Apostolic Council took place in 51 AD, and precisely in the first half of that year. During his preaching activity, Paul undertook four major journeys. His first journey, which took place in some countries of Asia Minor, he began in the city of Antioch and ended it again in that city. His second journey, which took place in some countries of Asia Minor and Europe, he also began in Antioch and also ended it in that city. His third journey, which took place in some countries of Asia Minor and Europe, he also began in Antioch, but ended it in Jerusalem. After his release from the first Roman chains, the apostle Paul began his fourth journey from Rome, which also took him to some countries of Asia Minor and Europe, and ended it in Rome, where he suffered martyrdom during the Nero persecution in 67 AD.

During his first journey, the Apostle Paul was on the island of Cyprus, when Sergius Paulus was proconsul there. Proconsuls in the Roman Empire were appointed for one year — from June 1 or July 1, to June 1 or July 1 of the following year. The inscription on a preserved Roman boundary stone says that a certain Sergius Paulus was praetor in 47–48 AD. The prominent historian T. Mommsen (1817–1903) expressed the opinion that this same Sergius Paulus was proconsul on the island of Cyprus in 46–47 AD. So, the first journey of the Apostle Paul lasted from the middle of 46 to the end of 49 AD.

On his second journey, the Apostle Paul set out after the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem, in the second half of the year 51. Having passed through some countries of Asia Minor, the city of Troas and the city of Philippi in Macedonia, where he left his companion the evangelist Luke, through Thessalonica and Athens he went to Corinth, where he preached for about a year and a half. In this city the proconsul was Gallio, brother of the philosopher Seneca. In a letter sent by Emperor Claudius to the municipality of Delphi in Greece, preserved on the walls of this city, discovered at the end of the last century and published by Fr. Bourguet in 1905, it is mentioned about Gallio as proconsul of Greece and about the 26th acclamation of Claudia, which took place about the middle of the year 52. On the basis of this letter it can be concluded that the second journey of the Apostle Paul lasted from the second half of the year 51 to the middle of the year 53. During this journey the Apostle Paul wrote his two letters to the Thessalonians in Corinth – the first at the end of 52 and the second at the beginning of 53.

Having spent the winter of 53–54 in the city of Antioch, the apostle Paul undertook his third journey in the first half of 54. He preached for more than three years in the city of Ephesus. At the beginning of his preaching in this city, in the first half of 55, he wrote his letter to the Galatians. Towards the end of this preaching, in the first half of 57, before the feast of Pentecost, the apostle Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians (see 1 Cor. 16:8). After the rebellion against him, instigated by the goldsmith Demetrius, he left Ephesus, passed through Troas and went to the Macedonian city of Philippi. In this city, in the second half of 57, the apostle Paul wrote the second letter to the Corinthians, which he sent through Titus and the evangelist Luke (see 2 Cor. 8:1-8-23). ​​From Philippi, the apostle Paul went to the city of Corinth, where in early 58 he wrote his letter to the Romans, which he sent through Phoebe, a deaconess of the church in the city of Cenchreae, a port of Corinth on the Aegean Sea (see Rom. 16:1–2).

On his way back from his third journey, the apostle Paul passed through the Macedonian city of Philippi, just at the time when the Jewish Passover feast was being celebrated. From Philippi he went to Troas. “And we,” writes the Evangelist Luke about himself and the Apostle Paul, “sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we came to them at Troas (the other companions of the Apostle Paul, who had gone to Troas earlier — see Acts 20:4-5; note), where we spent seven days. And on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, intending to depart the next day, spoke to them, and continued his speech until midnight” (Acts 20:6-7). From these words of the Evangelist Luke it is clear that the twelfth (according to the Jewish reckoning, the eleventh) day after the feast of Unleavened Bread-Passover (i.e., after the 24th day of the month of Pisan) fell on Sunday. The scholar F. H. Kugler calculated that the twelfth (i.e., the eleventh, according to (the Jewish reckoning) day fell on Sunday in the year 58. The astronomer Gerhardt, taking into account the interpretation of Prof. Th. Zahn on Acts 20:6–7, calculated that the fourteenth day of the month of Nisan, on which the Jewish Passover was celebrated in the city of Philippi, at the time of the return of the apostle Paul from his third journey, fell on Tuesday. Such a coincidence could have occurred in the year 58. From the city of Philippi, the apostle Paul went to Jerusalem before the feast of Pentecost (see Acts 20:16). From the above it is clear that the third journey of the apostle Paul lasted from the first half of the year 54 to the middle of the year 58.

After returning from his third journey to Jerusalem, the apostle Paul was seized by the Jews, who took him outside the city and wanted to kill him there. The tribune Claudius Lysias rescued him and sent him to Caesarea to the procurator Felix. Having heard the accusations of the Jews against the apostle Paul and the speech of the latter, Felix put the apostle Paul in chains, in which he remained for two years, and which are known as the “Caesarean chains”. In these chains, the apostle Paul was not kept strictly; he enjoyed a certain freedom (Acts 24:23). After two years had passed since the apostle Paul was put in chains, the procurator Felix was replaced by the procurator Festus (Acts 24:27). According to the message of Josephus (Antiquities of the Jews, XX, 8, 10–11), Festus was procurator for about two years. In 62 he was replaced by Albinus. Based on this, it will have to be assumed that the replacement of Felix by Festus took place in 60, as many scholars — Schürrer, Th. Zahn, and others — accept. So, the Apostle Paul was in Caesarean chains from the middle of 58 to the middle of 60.

St. Apostle Paul asked Festus, when he was considering his case, to send him to Rome for trial by Caesar, since he, as a Roman citizen, had the right to do so (Acts 25:12; Acts 26:32). In the second half of 60, the Apostle Paul was sent to Rome for trial by Caesar. Having wintered on the island of Malta, in the spring of 61 he arrived in the city of Rome. There he was put in chains, known as the “first Roman chains,” in which he remained for two years — from the middle of 61 to the middle of 63. And in these chains he was not kept strictly, but enjoyed a certain freedom (see Acts 28:30 – 31). During these chains, the Apostle Paul wrote four letters—in late 62 C.E. his letters to Philemon, the Colossians, and the Ephesians—and in early 63 C.E. his letter to the Philippians. In all four letters he mentions his chains; in his letter to the Philippians he expresses his hope for a speedy release from chains (2:24).

After his release from his first Roman chains, the apostle Paul wrote his letter to the Hebrews from Italy in late 63 C.E. or early 64 C.E. In this letter he speaks of his chains as a thing of the past (10:34) and sends greetings from “those who are in Italy” (Heb. 13:24).

In the first half of 64 C.E., before the fire in Rome, the apostle Paul set out from Rome on his fourth journey. On this journey he passed through the following places: the island of Crete (there he left the apostle Titus as bishop), Ephesus (there he left the apostle Timothy as bishop), Troas, Philippi in Macedonia, Corinth, Nicopolis on the southwestern coast of Epirus (now Paleopreveza). From Nicopolis, at the beginning of 66 AD, the apostle Paul traveled to Rome, where he arrived during Nero’s persecution of Christians. Here he was captured and put in chains, known as the “second Roman chains”. In 67 AD, the apostle Paul ended his life as a martyr; because he was a Roman citizen, he was sentenced to death by beheading with the sword. During his fourth journey, the apostle Paul wrote three epistles: First to Timothy – in 65 AD from Philippi; to Titus – in 65 AD from Corinth; second to Timothy – in 66 AD from Rome. The second epistle to Timothy was the last of the epistles of the apostle Paul.

In this epistle he writes to the apostle Timothy: “I am now being offered a sacrifice, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all who have loved his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:6–8).

There is solid evidence in ancient Christian writing for the conciliar epistles and for the epistles of the Apostle Paul, both regarding their content and their origin.

From what has been stated so far, it can be seen that 22 New Testament sacred books were written before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. After this destruction, only the five books of the Apostle John were written. Based on this, as well as on the fact that the Roman Empire had well-organized travel routes and communication between individual places and countries in it was rapid, it must be assumed that the formation of the New Testament canon-collection took place already in apostolic times – towards the end of the first century. According to a message from the Patriarch of Constantinople Photius (Bibliotheka, cod. 254), the Apostle John, having collected the New Testament sacred books written up to his time, added his five to them. The Apostle Peter writes to the readers of his second epistle, written in 66 AD: “Consider the longsuffering of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him, as he speaks about this in all his epistles, in which there are some things hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist, as they do the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Pet. 3:15-16). From these words of the apostle Peter it is clear that when he wrote his second epistle in 66 AD, he had at hand not only the epistles of the apostle Paul, but also other New Testament sacred books written up to that year.

There is historical evidence that the New Testament sacred books, after being collected into one collection-canon, were already divided into two sections at the beginning of the first century — the Gospel and the Apostle, into which sections they are still divided for liturgical use at the present time. St. Ignatius the God-Bearer (107 AD), who was an apostolic man — a disciple of the apostles, wrote in his letter to the Philadelphians: “let us resort to the Gospel (τὰ εὐαγγελίῳ) and to the apostles (τοῖς ἀποστόλοις), as to the church presbytery” (5, 1-2). From these words of St. Ignatius, one can draw the conclusion that during his time the New Testament sacred books were divided into two sections — the Gospel and the Apostle, for reading during divine services.

It is known that the Gnostic Marcion came out in 140 with his own New Testament canon, because he had separated from the Church, which by that time already had a definitively established New Testament canon.

As noted above, in ancient Christian writing there are testimonies for all the New Testament sacred books. Some church writers mention and use some New Testament sacred books, while other writers mention others.

In the ancient, especially valuable Christian written monument, known as the Muratorian Canon or the Muratorian Fragment, discovered by L. A. Muratorius in 1738 in a manuscript of the Milan library, originating from the 8th century, not only is the New Testament sacred books spoken of, but these books are arranged in such sections as they are now in the Bible used in the West — the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, the Council Epistles, the Apocalypse of the Apostle John. Until recently, the author of the Muratorian Canon was unknown. The English scholar Lightfoot was the first to express the opinion, now accepted by many prominent scholars, that this canon is part of the work of St. Hippolytus of Rome (1-236) “Ωιδαι: σ πάσας τὰς γραφάς” (Songs in which the books of Holy Scripture are considered), noted, among other works of St. Hippolytus, on his statue, found in 1551 in his tomb on the “via tiburtina”. The Muratorian Canon was written around 190 in Rome in Greek, but has survived to us in a Latin translation, a Romance dialect. Some places in the manuscript, when it was copied, were damaged; there are also some omissions. By restoring the damaged places and omissions, it is established that the Muratorian Canon speaks of all twenty-seven New Testament sacred books (see Prof. Hr. N. Gyaurov, Muratorian Canon, Yearbook of the Faculty of Theology, vol. IX, Sofia, pp. 54, 62 – 66, 70 – 74).

In ancient Christian writing there are many other testimonies about the history and state of the New Testament canon. It is not possible here, due to the small space, to cite these testimonies. There are solid grounds to assume that the canon-collection of the New Testament sacred books was compiled towards the end of the apostolic age – the 1st century. It was compiled by the Church, which, as “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), is the guardian of both the number of the New Testament sacred books and their text.

First publication in Bulgarian: “Duhovna Kultura” (Spiritual Culture), vol. 2, February 1960, pp. 2 – 10.

Illustration: Orthodox icon of Saint Lucas.