apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

352 EPISTLES OF S. IGNATIUS.
Again the Shepherd of Hermas is
quoted as in some sense Scripture by
Irenaeus and others, and was treated as such in some churches (see
Harnack Proleg. p. xlv sq). So likewise we have it on the authority
of Jerome {Vir. III. 17), that Polycarp's Epistle was read even in his
time 'in conventu Asiae,' whatever this may mean. All these writings
therefore are excluded by name from the Canon in this Stichometria.
Of Ignatius no similar record is preserved. The only ecclesiastical use
of his epistles which I have observed is the selection of lessons from
them for Ignatius' own festival and for one particular Sunday, as noted
above {p. no). But probably the notice in this Stichometria refers to
some wider use, known to him either directly or indirectly. It is
indeed plain that a-KOKpvf^a here cannot mean 'spurious'; for in this
case the classification would not be exhaustive.
There would then be
no place in it for writings which, though written by the authors whose
names they bore, did not deserve a place in the Scriptural Canon.
Nor is
any violence done by this interpretation to the history and
usage of the term. For
(iv)
The word dTroKpvcfja does not necessarily imply spuriousness,
though it frequently connotes this idea. Hence our author himself in
the Old Testament as list, quoted already (p. 350), when he wants to
describe certain writings as forgeries, uses another word, if/evdiTrcypacfia.
The term ctTroxpve^a, as applied to sacred writings, denotes in the first
instance secret, esoteric works, which would probably be magical or
mystical. In this sense it is pre-Christian. Thus Callimachus says
ypdfjifxaTa S' ovf(^ ciAio-crav d-TTQKpvc^a (Ammon. s.v. ypdfxjxa). As referring
to Christian books, the word passes through the following stages of
meaning, (i) In its earliest usage it signifies those books which were
held in reserve and studied privately, as opposed to those which were
publicly recognized and read in the churches ; Orig. Epist. ad Afric. 9
{Op. I. p. 19 sq) iiiv TWO. crw^erat kv a7roKpv^ois...ei/ oiuSevt t(3v (ftavep^v
l3L(3\L(iiv ycypaja/AeVa...ev tlvl aTTOKpixfua tovto (^eperat (of Isaiah's
being sawn asunder), Comm. in Matt. x. § 18 (Op. iii. p. 465) o o-oiTrip
eStSa^e fiaprvp^v, cos oT/xat, ypac^Tj fit] ^epo/Aev; eV rots Kotrois Kal SeSr]-
p.i.vjxivoi'i /SijSXtots, ciKos 8e oti Iv air 0Kpv(fi0L