“There was no universal canon in the early church.”
I didn’t say universally church-accepted canon, I said universally accepted Hebrew canon, meaning the books which all Jews recognized as inspired Scripture.
“Then why doesn’t Eastern Orthodoxy exclude them? The motivation for their removal was a protestant novelty.”
You could say the decision to exclude them was a Protestant one, but the motivation certainly wasn’t, since the books were clearly in question for many centuries before Luther lived. Jerome tried to exclude them, was he a Protestant?
“since the books were clearly in question for many centuries”
No, they were not. Jerome lived in the 4th century. That was 12 centuries prior to Luther.
“Jerome tried to exclude them, was he a Protestant?”
Jerome did not do that. Jerome’s job was to prepare the Latin Vulgate translation. To prepare the Vulgate, he had to get the best Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. For some books he had Hebrew manuscripts - for others he had Greek Manuscripts. Some of the books in the Old Testament were originally written in Greek - but Jerome didn’t know this. What he did know is that some had Greek manuscripts and others had Hebrew manuscripts.
He expressed his concern that he only had Greek and not Hebrew manuscripts for some and expressed that concern to Pope Damasus. Damasus included them in the canon, where they remained for 12 centuries prior to Luther.
Let me put it another way. Jerome was closer to the founding of the City, than Luther was to Jerome.