_The Scriptures._--There are three opinions as to the origin of the
application of the term "canon" to the writings used by the Christian
Church. According to Semler, Baur and others, the word had originally
the sense of list or catalogue--the books publicly read in Christian
assemblies. Others, as Steiner, suppose that since the Alexandrian
grammarians applied it to collections of old Greek authors as models of
excellence or classics, it meant classical (canonical) writings.
According to a third opinion, the term included from the first the idea
of a regulating principle. This is the more probable, because the same
idea lies in the New Testament use of the noun, and pervades its
applications in the language of the early Fathers down to the time of
Constantine, as Credner has shown.[1] The "[Greek: kanon] of the church"
in the Clementine homilies,[2] the "ecclesiastical [Greek: kanon]"[3]
and the "[Greek: kanon] of the truth" in Clement and Irenaeus,[4] the
[Greek: kanon] of the faith in Polycrates,[5] the _regula fidei_ of
Tertullian,[6] and the _libri regulares_ of Origen[7] imply a _normative
principle_. Credner's view of [Greek: kanon] as an abbreviation of
[Greek: grachai kanonos], equivalent to _Scripturae legis_ in
Diocletian's Act,[8] is too artificial, and is unsanctioned by usage.
The earliest example of its application to a catalogue of the Old or New
Testament books occurs in the Latin translation of Origen's homily on
Joshua, where the original seems to have been [Greek: kanon]. The word
itself is certainly in Amphilochius,[9] as well as in Jerome[10] and
Rufinus.[11] As the Latin translation of Origen has _canonicus_ and
_canonizatus_, we infer that he used [Greek: kanonikos], opposed as it
is to _apocryphus_ or _secretus_. The first occurrence of [Greek:
kanonikos] is in the 59th canon of the council of Laodicea, where it is
contrasted with [Greek: idiotikos] and [Greek: akanonistos]. [Greek:
Kanonixomena], "_canonized_ books," is first used in Athanasius's festal
epistle.[12] The kind of rule which the earliest Fathers thought the
Scriptures to be can only be conjectured; it is certain that they
believed the Old Testament books to be a divine and infallible guide.
But the New Testament was not so considered till towards the close of
the 2nd century, when the conception of a Catholic Church was realized.
The collection of writings was not called _Scripture_, or put on a par
with the Old Testament as sacred and inspired, till the time of
Theophilus of Antioch (about 180 A.D.). Hence Irenaeus applies the
epithets divine and perfect to the Scriptures; and Clement of Alexandria
calls them inspired.
When distinctions were made among the Biblical writings other words were
employed, synonymous with [Greek: kanonixomena] or [Greek:
kekanonismena], such as [Greek: endiathaeka], [Greek: orismena]. The
canon was thus a catalogue of writings, forming a rule of truth, sacred,
divine, revealed by God for the instruction of men. The rule was perfect
for its purpose. (See BIBLE: section _Canon_.)
The term "canonical," i.e. that which is approved or ordered by the
"canon" or rule, is applied to ecclesiastical vestments, "canonicals,"
and to those hours set apart by the Church for prayer and devotion, the
"Canonical Hours" (see BREVIARY). (S. D.)