The Canon of Gregory Nazianzus

 

Gregory Nazianzus did not believe that the Deuterocanonical books were to be considered part of the inspired word of God. Here is the proof:

"Let not your mind be deceived about extraneous books (for many false ascriptions are making the rounds), but you should hold to this legitimate number from me, dear reader. Receive the number and names of the holy books. First the twelve historical books in order: first is Genesis, then Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and the testament of the law repeated again; Joshua, Judges and Ruth the Moabitess follow these; after this the famous deeds of Kings holds the ninth and tenth place; the Chronicles comes in the eleventh place, and Ezra is last. There are also five poetic books, first of which is Job, the one next to it is King David’s, and three of Solomon, namely Ecclesiastes, Proverbs, and his Song. After these come five books of the holy prophets, of which twelve are contained in one volume: Hosea, Amos, and Micah the third, then Joel, next Jonah, Obadiah, Nahum also, Habakkuk also, and Zephaniah, Haggai, next Zechariah, Malachai, these are in the first book; the second contains Isaiah. After these is Jeremiah, called from his mother’s womb, then Ezekiel, strength of the Lord, and Daniel last. These twenty-two books of the Old Testament are counted according to the twenty-two letters of the Jews." (Gregory Nazianzus, Carmina Dogmatica, Book 1, Section 1, Carmen 12)

Greek text: Ὄφρα δὲ μὴ ξείνῃσι νόον κλέπτοιο βίβλοισι, (Πολλαὶ γὰρ τελέθουσι παρέγγραπτοι κακότητες), Δέχνυσο τοῦτον ἐμεῖο τὸν ἔγκριτον, ὦ φίλʼ, ἀριθμόν. Ἱστορικαὶ μὲν ἔασι βίβλοι δυοκαίδεκα πᾶσαι Τῆς ἀρχαιοτέρης Ἑβραϊκῆς σοφίης. 473 Πρωτίστη, Γένεσις, εἶτʼ Ἔξοδος, Λευιτικόν τε. Ἔπειτʼ Ἀριθμοί. Εἶτα Δεύτερος Νόμος. Ἔπειτʼ Ἰησοῦς, καὶ Κριταί. Ῥοὺθ ὀγδόη. Ἡ δ’ ἐνάτη δεκάτη τε βίβλοι, Πράξεις βασιλήων, Καὶ Παραλειπόμεναι. Ἔσχατον Ἔσδραν ἔχεις. Αἱ δὲ στιχηραὶ πέντε, ὧν πρῶτός γ’ Ἰώβ· Ἔπειτα Δαυΐδ· εἶτα τρεῖς Σολομωντίαι· Ἐκκλησιαστὴς, Ἄσμα καὶ Παροιμίαι. Καὶ πένθ’ ὁμοίως Πνεύματος προφητικοῦ. Μίαν μέν εἰσιν ἐς γραφὴν οἱ δώδεκα· Ὠσηὲ κ’ Ἀμὼς, καὶ Μιχαίας ὁ τρίτος· Ἔπειτʼ Ἰωὴλ, εἶτʼ Ἰωνᾶς, Ἀβδίας, Ναούμ τε, Ἀββακούμ τε, καὶ Σοφονίας, Ἀγγαῖος, εἶτα Ζαχαρίας, Μαλαχίας. Μία μὲν οἵδε. Δευτέρα δ’ Ἡσαΐας. Ἔπειθʼ ὁ κληθεὶς Ἱερεμίας ἐκ βρέφους. Εἶτʼ Ἰεζεκιὴλ, καὶ Δανιήλου χάρις. Ἀρχαίας μὲν ἔθηκα δύω καὶ εἴκοσι βίβλους, Τοῖς τῶν Ἑβραίων γράμμασιν ἀντιθέτους.

All of this can be found in PG 37:471-474. 

It may perhaps be replied that Gregory Nazianzus elsewhere cited the deuterocanonical books, and he thus viewed them as Scripture. However, this is not the case. As scholars Edmon L. Gallagher and John D. Meade note:

"Although Gregory does not list the deuterocanonical books, he does use these books throughout his writings. According to Biblia Patristica, Gregory uses some fifty references from Wisdom of Solomon in his works (cf., e.g., 7:26 [Orat. 29.17 (PG 36:96 C,13)]. His writings contain twenty-five references to Sirach or Ecclesiasticus (cf., e.g., 38:16 [Orat. 7.1 (PG 35: 757 A,3)]). He alludes to Judith 10:3 once in Epistle 44.4 (GCS 53, 40 In. 15-16). He alludes to Tobit 5:18 and 10:4 four times, respectively (the examples listed in Biblia Patristica from PG 36: 541, 604, PG 38:63, and SC 270, 130 In. 28 were not clear allusions to Tobi! 5:18 or 10:4). He alludes to 1 Mace, 3:45 and 4:60 in Orat. 22.2 (SC 270, 220 In. 2-3). He uses seventeen references in 2 Mace. (cf., e.g., 6: 18_ (PG 35: 913 C,l). Surprisingly, Gregory only uses gegraptai, 'it has been written', on two occasions to introduce Scripture, once to introduce 1 Cor. 14:21 (Orat. 41.15; PG 36: 449), and once to introduce John 17:12 in Significatio in Ezechielem (PG 36: 668). He does use e (theia) graphe phesi(n), 'The (divine) Scripture says', on nine occasions. Seven times this introductory formula precedes books in Gregory's canon list (Isa. 42:14; Job 3:9; Jer. 5:7, 9:21, 10:19, 15:18; Hos. 8:11; Ps 117:12). The other two instances appear to refer to Scripture generally. In addition to these instances, TLG yielded some 105 occurrences of graphe,~ and its derivatives in Gregory and none of these introduced a deuterocanonical book. However, forms of the noun 'Scripture' introduced readings from the following books: 1 Sam.16:7; Job 5:26, 12:22; Prov. 31:3, 10; Amos 5:8; Hag. 2:6/Heb. 12:26-7; Jer. 4:31, 5:7. 28:34; Isa. 62:1; Ps. 93 (94):17, 143(144):12; Matt. 7:14. Other uses of the word were less clear as to what Gregory might be referring to. Since Gregory cites and alludes to many books without introducing them as Scripture-those in his canon list and those outside of it-the list becomes the key to discerning his canon. Therefore, one cannot conclude, as Norris (1997) does, that Gregory read the canon of the Septuagint 'for he quotes as Scripture passages from Tobit, Judith, l & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Ben Sirach and Baruch' (pp. 151-2)." (Edmon L. Gallagher and John D. Meade, The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity: Texts and Analysis, pg. 142 fn. 354)