Gregory of Nazianzus and Amphilochius of Iconium Canon Lists
Gregory of Nazianzus and Amphilochius of Iconium Canon Lists
380 AD: Gregory of Nazianzus;[1] and
380 AD: Amphilochius of Iconium[2]
Gregory and Amphilochius were cousins, and both left poems on the canon (it was once thought that Gregory had written them both). They are similar in that they include Baruch and Susanna (implicitly), and either exclude Esther (Gregory) or say that only “some include” it (Amphilochius).
As for the other Apocrypha, they are not mentioned. Gregory cites the Books a lot (Wisdom 50 times, Sirach 25, etc.), and there is enough ambiguity in his wording (the poem is distinguishing between genuine and spurious works, and the Apocrypha are not really “spurious”) that one could read him as having them in a third category, but it is not certain either way. Personally, I think he meant that they are Books, period. Plato is neither spurious nor third category—he simply is not canon or Scripture. On that basis, I just treat them as excluded by Gregory for purposes of my own listings.
Amphilochius definitely has intermediate categories, but we do not know what exactly they are and what is included in them. Gallagher and Meade go through the Greek/Syriac linguistics of his citations to Sirach, Tobit, and Wisdom and think they may be in the third category based on his use of them; but still, we do not have express inclusion of them as a third category Book (or which type of category: Amphilochius’ wording is itself ambiguous; he may have six or seven categories, actually). I view everything as uncertain enough to, again, just treat them as excluded for purposes of my own listings.
