Athanasius of Alexandria on Canon of the Old Testament
66 books — Apocrypha useful but not Scripture
Festal Letter 39.7 — "not indeed included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read"
THE POSITION
Festal Letter 39 (367) draws an explicit line. Twenty-two Old Testament books are "included in the Canon"; Wisdom, Sirach, Esther, Judith and Tobit are outside it — "not indeed included in the Canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us." The Didache and the Shepherd join that second tier. Apocrypha proper he rejects outright as "an invention of heretics." His New Testament list is exactly the modern 27, including Revelation.
3 I am afraid, however, that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent’s cunning, your minds may be led astray from your simple and pure devotion to Christ.
13 OTHERS HOLD THIS
ABOUT THIS FIGURE
Defender of Nicene orthodoxy against Arianism through repeated exiles. On the Incarnation is his central work on why God became man.
Cite this page
"Athanasius of Alexandria on Canon of the Old Testament", Examined Doctrine, July 2026 edition, https://examineddoctrine.com/position/athanasius/ot-canon (archived at https://examineddoctrine.com/editions/2026-07/position/athanasius/ot-canon).