Council of Laodicea and the canon

[fireproofpoodle]

Hi.

I read that the council of Laodicea (364 A.D.) defined as canonical several books of the OT which Catholics currently don’t accept.

My question is: With what authority did Laodicea, which was a provintial council, speak and why did later councils alter the canon she set forth?

God bless.

 

[Canto]

Found this via google

Since the lists are also omitted in most of the Latin and Syriac versions of the decrees, most scholars consider them to have been added to the report of the Synod of Laodicea sometime after 363. Probably some later editor of the report felt that the books which might be read should be named. In any case, it is clear that the Synod of Laodicea attempted no new legislation. The decree adopted at this gathering merely recognizes the fact that there are already in existence certain books, generally recognized as suitable to be read in the public worship of the churches, which are known as the ‘canonical’ books. If the catalogues are genuine, they simply give the names of these books, already received as authoritative in the churches that were represented at the synod.

B. M. Metzger, The Canon Of The New Testament: Its Origin, Significance & Development, 1997, Clarendon Press, Oxford, pp. 209-210.

The Council was about 363. There were many suggestions from Saints and heretics alike as to the Canon. In 382 at the subsequent Council of Rome Pope Damascus decreed the 73 book Canon we have today and then proceeded to quote Matt 16:18+

 

[MarcoPolo]

The Council of Laodecia was not ecumenical, meaning it was not necessarily representative of what the Church held as a whole, but rather the opinion of those bishops at that council at that time.

The only OT book mentioned in that Council I am aware of which the Catholic Church does not consider Scripture today is an “Epistle of Jeremiah.”

Here is a link to the list at Laodecia (of interest is the inclusion of Baruch and exclusion of Revelation)