Primary source · Koine Greek verse
The Iambics to Seleucus
Amphilochius of Iconium · c. AD 380
What this text is
A bishop's advice-poem to a young kinsman — ending in a canon-list of the scriptures that pauses honestly over the books 'some accept': Hebrews, the lesser Catholic epistles, the Apocalypse.
Profile of Amphilochius of Iconium →
Public-domain translations
Literal gloss of the Greek (closing lines)
Of the New Testament: four evangelists — Matthew, then Mark, adding Luke the third, and John in time the fourth… Some say the Apocalypse of John again is genuine; the most call it spurious. This would be the truest canon of the God-inspired scriptures.
Manuscript witnesses
Transmitted among Gregory of Nazianzus's poems
medieval copiesThe Iambics for Seleucus traveled under the Theologian's name — their canon-list the prize.
Provenance
Iconium, c. AD 380 — a bishop's verse syllabus for a young kinsman
Editions & scholarship
Critical editions and standard translations behind the text above.
- Amphilochii Iconiensis Iambi ad SeleucumEberhard Oberg, 1969The critical edition.
- The Biblical Canon Lists from Early ChristianityEdmon L. Gallagher & John D. Meade, 2017The canon list edited and translated with parallels.