Wednesday, January 7, 2026

It is the 7th of January 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Just this past weekend, I answered a mailbag question about the differences in the Bibles used by the Greek Orthodox and Protestants. I won’t rehash that here, but it was fun to find today’s event, which is one of the foundational events in the history of the Bible, in the history of the church.

Let me give you the whole thing, and then we will break down any tricky ideas or words.

It was on this, the 7th of January in 367, that Athanasius sent his 39th Festal Episcopal Epistle that helped settle the New Testament Canon.

There is so much there!

First- yes, it is that Athanasius (of the creed fame) and the great defender of the doctrine of the two natures in Christ. He could be irascible and was often exiled, but such was the case in fighting for orthodoxy. By the time of 367, he was the Bishop of Alexandria. So, his voice matters as one of the heads of the five major churches. It’s an “Episcopal Epistle” or letter because it comes from the Episcopos, “the Bishop”.

It is a “Festal” letter, and sometimes people will substitute “Easter” because the “feast” about which this letter was being written was Easter. It was sent early in the year, in January, because it was to let everyone know exactly when Easter would be celebrated, and it would include any pressing decisions from the Bishop himself.

And besides the dating of Easter, this “festal” letter was concerned with the “Canon” of Scripture. That is Canon with one “n”. It comes from the word Kane and reed- it is a straight stick used to measure. And like with our rulers that have markings, these “canons” would have a series of markings, and thus a “canon” would be a collection, or series, of acceptable works from which you could make rulings. The question of “Canon” for Christians, then, is: what books belong in the Bible and which don’t.

At the time of Athanasius, the Old Testament was largely agreed upon because the Jewish people had created their own canon, which Christians would then employ. But what about the New Testament? There had long been a consensus, but it was troubled by some who wanted to either radically reduce the number of books in the New Testament (one famous heretic, Marcion, wanted one gospel and a handful of Paul’s letters). Others included spurious gospels or apocalyptic texts, and others were wondering what to do with helpful, but perhaps not inspired texts like the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas.

The creation of the Canon of Scripture took place over time, and it was done by consensus and it was imperfect (because there is no one single agreed upon Canon today) but if we were to say- historically- what books would be most trustworthy as Scripture there are few more important documents in the history of the church than that Festal Episcopal Epistle sent on this day in 367. It remains the oldest surviving document in which the 27 common books of the New Testament are recorded. Interestingly, the order is different than what you are used to. After the Gospels and Acts, he lists the general epistles, then Paul’s epistles (where he lists Hebrews), and then writes “and besides, the Revelation of John”.

Of works like the Didache and the Shepherd of Hermas, Athanasius takes the same advice as he does with texts like Tobit and Ecclesiasticus- they aren’t authoritative in the same way, but can be of use to the Christian, unlike the spurious gospels and apocalypses that he doesn’t mention.

It didn’t settle the issue once and for all, and subsequent decades will see councils building on his work of setting a canon- but today is a red letter day when it comes to the history of Scripture and the development of the canon- with Athanasius’ Festal Episcopal Epistle sent to his churches in 367.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Ephesians 3:

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 7th of January 2026, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man with visions of Marvin the Martian and his cannon with two “n’s”- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who knows homophones are always fun for audio casts… I’m Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.