Francesca BARONE: The Book of Esther in John Chrysostom’s Synopsis Scripturae Sacrae

The reception of the book of Esther, both among Jews as among Christians, is the story of an attempt, ultimately successful, to redeem a difficult and strange text. The difficulties faced by Esther to become canonical in Jewish community found an echo among Christians : Esther is missing in a part of the biblical lists (Athanasius, Festal letter 39; Amphilochius of Iconium, Gregory of Nazianzus, Theodorus of Gaza, Junilius, Leontius and Nicephorus). The book is present in the lists of the Hierosolimytanus 54, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius of Salamis, in the canon 59 of the Council of Laodicea and 85 of the Apostolic Canons. In other texts, the book is considered non canonical, although useful for the catechumens (synopsis Ps. Athanasius). Origen (Letter to Africanus) indicates that the Greek additions must be received by the Church. Esther is canonical for him.The Greek text of Esther is transmitted in two main forms. In addition to these differences, the Greek text presents 6 long additions. This work aims to examine what is the canonical status of the book and what text was read by the author of the Synopsis Scripturae Sacrae.