A certain bishop and a certain diocese in Egypt at the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries: The testimony of the Canons of Athanasius
A certain bishop and a certain diocese in Egypt at the turn of the fourth and fifth centuries: The testimony of the Canons of Athanasius

Summary/Abstract: The Canons of Athanasius, a homiletic work written at the beginning of the fifth centuryin one of the cities of the Egyptian chora, provide us with many important anddetailed pieces of information about the Church hierarchy. Information gleaned fromthis text can be found in studies devoted to the history of Christianity of the fourthand fifth centuries, but rarely are they the subject of reflection as an autonomous subject.To date, no one has endeavoured to determine how the author of the Canonssought to establish the parameters of his work: why he included certain things in thiswork, and why left other aspects out despite them being within the boundaries of thesubject which he had wished to write upon. This article looks to explore two thematicareas: firstly, what we learn about the hierarchical Church from the Canons, and secondly,what we know about the hierarchical Church from period sources other thanthe Canons. This article presents new arguments which exclude the authorship ofAthanasius and date the creation of the Canons to the first three decades of the fifthcentury.

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