35.  Of these read the two and twenty books, but have nothing to do with the apocryphal writings.  Study earnestly these only which we read openly in the Church.  Far wiser and more pious than thyself were the Apostles, and the bishops of old time, the presidents of the Church who handed down these books.  Being therefore a child of the Church, trench The rendering “trench not” (R.W.C.) agrees well with the etymology of the verb (παραχαράσσω).  Its more usual signification seems to be “counterfeit,” “forge.”  The sense required here, apart from any metaphor, is “transgress” (Heurtley). thou not upon its statutes.  And of the Old Testament, as we have said, study the two and twenty books, which, if thou art desirous of learning, strive to remember by name, as I recite them.  For of the Law the books of Moses are the first five, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.  And next, Joshua the son of Nave The name “Nun” is represented by “Nave” in the Septuagint, which Cyril used., and the book of Judges, including Ruth, counted as seventh.  And of the other historical books, the first and second books of the Kings The two books of Samuel. are among the Hebrews one book; also the third and fourth one book.  And in like manner, the first and second of Chronicles are with them one book; and the first and second of Esdras are counted one.  Esther is the twelfth book; and these are the Historical writings.  But those which are written in verses are five, Job, and the book of Psalms, and Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs, which is the seventeenth book.  And after these come the five Prophetic books:  of the Twelve Prophets one book, of Isaiah one, of Jeremiah one, including Baruch and Lamentations and the Epistle The Epistle of Jeremy, which now appears in the Apocrypha as the last chapter of Baruch.  On the number and arrangement of the Books of the Old and New Testaments the student should consult an interesting Essay by Professor Sanday (Studia Biblica, vol. iii.), who traces the introduction of a fixed order to the time when papyrus rolls were superseded by codices, in which the sheets of skin were folded and bound together, as in printed books.  This change had commenced before the Diocletian persecution, a.d. 303, when among the sacred books taken from the Christians codices were much more numerous than rolls.  On the contents of the Jewish Canon, see Dictionary of the Bible, “Canon.”  B.F.W. “Josephus enumerates 20 books ‘which are justly believed to be divine.’”  One of the earliest attempts by a Christian to ascertain correctly the number and order of the Books of the O.T. was made by Melito, Bishop of Sardis, who travelled for this purpose to Palestine, in the latter part of the 2nd Century.  His list is as follows:—“Of Moses five (books); Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Jesus son of Nave, Judges, Ruth, four Books of Kings, two of Chronicles, Psalms of David, Solomon’s Proverbs, which is also called Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Job, Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Twelve in one Book, Daniel, Ezekiel, Esdras.”  (Eusebius, H.E. III. cap. 10, note I, in this series.)  Cyril’s List agrees with that of Athanasius (Festal Epistle, 373 a.d.), except that Job is placed by Ath. after Canticles instead of before Psalms.; then Ezekiel, and the Book of Daniel, the twenty-second of the Old Testament.