Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("List of Prohibited Books")
The question of a Nicaean origin c.325 CE
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Index Librorum Prohibitorum ("List of Prohibited Books")

Introduction

What do Giordano Bruno, Edward Gibbon, Johannes Kepler, Jean Paul Sartre, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Rene Descartes, Francis Bacon, John Milton, John Locke, Galileo Galilei and Blaise Pascal, to name only a few, have in common? Their books were at some stage essentially banned by the Roman Catholic Church. The good news is that the publication of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the list of "Prohibited Books", ceased with effect from June 14, 1966 by Pope Paul VI.

Most historical sources cite the sixteenth century as the century of origin for the publication of such an index of "Forbidden Books". One source reports that "The principle of a list of forbidden books was adopted at the Fifth Lateran Council in 1515, then confirmed by the Council of Trent in 1546. The first edition of the Index Librorum Prohibitorum, dated 1557 was published by Pope Paul IV. The 32nd edition, published in 1948 included 4000 titles." On the surface of things we might think that the Index Librorum Prohibitorum was published from Pope Paul IV to Pope Paul VI, a period of 404 years only.

Before the advent of the printing press (c.1439) such early indexes of forbidden books and/or authors would simply have been preserved by scribes and copyists in the old technology of codices. This brief article will gather together a number of citations which themselves suggested that it is perfectly reasonable to think that such an index of forbidden books was in operation as early as the fourth century and the Council of Nicaea. That an Index Librorum Prohibitorum was maintained from Constantine I to Pope Paul IV a period of 1641 years.

The Decretum Gelasianum c.491 CE

A separate article provides details on the Decretum Gelasianum, thought to have been first drafted at the close of the fifth century, under the Pope Gelasius. It consists of five chapters, the last of which, chapter 5, provides a List of Apocryphal ["Hidden"] Books which were deemed to be heretical. In some cases the names of the author is listed, for example "all the books which Leucius the disciple of the devil made. In other cases the names of the books, are listed, for example: "the Acts in the name of the apostle Andrew, the Acts in the name of the apostle Thomas, the Acts in the name of the apostle Peter, the Acts in the name of the apostle Philip", etc. The dating of the Decretum Gelasianum to the end of the 5th century is not without its own variations. Some opinion has early sixth century, while some early opinion thought parts of this document belonged to Damasius, towards the end of the fourth century.

Eusebius, Historia Ecclesiastica (Book 3, 25, 6-7), c.325 CE

Eusebius states that he is compelled to advise that a catalogue of "Banned Books" was extant at the time he was writing his "Ecclesiatical History". While the bulk of this work was written c.312-324 CE, many scholars note that multiple revisions are apparent in the work, perhaps until the death of Constantine c.337 CE. In the following extract, Eusebius classifies the "Banned Books" in the following terms:

(1) Fictions which have been authored by "heretics",
(2) Completely out of accord with true orthodoxy,
(3) Absurd and impious creations to be cast aside.

We have felt compelled to give this catalogue in order that we might be able to know
[..] those works that are cited by the heretics under the name of the apostles,
including, for instance, such books as


   * the Gospels of Peter,
   *             of Thomas,
   *             of Matthias,
   *             or of any others besides them, and
   * the Acts of Andrew and John and
   *             (John) and
   *             the other apostles, 

which no one belonging to the succession of ecclesiastical writers
has deemed worthy of mention in his writings.
And further, the character of the style is at variance with apostolic usage,
and both the thoughts and the purpose of the things that are related in them
are so completely out of accord with true orthodoxy that they
clearly show themselves to be the fictions of heretics.
Wherefore they are not to be placed even among the rejected writings,
but are all of them to be cast aside as absurd and impious. "

The Emperor Constantine, c.325 CE

Preserved in Socrates Scholasticus’ Ecclesiastical History 1:9 and elsewhere the following letter of Constantine contains explicit references to the banning and burning of books written by Porphry, and that Porphyrian Arius of Alexandria immediately following the council of Nicaea, c.325 CE. In his following letter to "Everybody", Constantine classifies the "Banned Books" as:

(1) Evil, wicked, rebukable, rejectable, unlawful, and anti-christian
(2) To be the subject of righteous destruction, along with their memory
(3) to attract the death penalty: if found in possession of any "banned books"
(4) The banned books and the heretics were to be dealt with by fire.

Constantine the King,
to the Bishops and nations everywhere

"Inasmuch as Arius imitates the evil and the wicked,
it is right that, like them, he should be rebuked and rejected.
As therefore Porphyry, who was an enemy of the fear of God,
and wrote wicked and unlawful writings
against the religion of Christians,
found the reward which befitted him,
that he might be a reproach to all generations after,
because he fully and insatiably used base fame;
so that on this account his writings were righteously destroyed;

thus also now it seems good that Arius
and the holders of his opinion
should all be called Porphyrians,
that he may be named by the name
of those whose evil ways he imitates:

And not only this, but also
that all the writings of Arius,
wherever they be found,
shall be delivered to be burned with fire,
in order that not only
his wicked and evil doctrine may be destroyed,
but also that the memory of himself
and of his doctrine may be blotted out,
that there may not by any means
remain to him remembrance in the world.

Now this also I ordain,
that if any one shall be found secreting
any writing composed by Arius,
and shall not forthwith deliver up
and burn it with fire,
his punishment shall be death;
for as soon as he is caught in this
he shall suffer capital punishment
by beheading without delay."







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