Odd you should disagree with Athanasius on this. As I just pointed out to stpio, Of the canonical Scriptures Athanasius said “these are the wells of salvation, so that he who thirsts may be satisfied with the sayings in these. Let no one add to these. Let nothing be taken away.”
See http://www.bible-researcher.com/athanasius.html
Same canon we use today. But by your theory well of the Bible becomes a dry well, a closed book, hidden behind your own fallible interpreters, who interpose themselves between the pages of sacred text and the thirsty hearts of believers in Christ. Trust God. He will sort out the heretics. Let God’s people drink freely of his word.
From the thirty-ninth Letter of Holy Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, on the Paschal festival; wherein he defines canonically what are the divine books which are accepted by the Church.If you read the Festal Letter, where this quote occurs, the point *is* what is canonical - instructing his churches on what could and could not be read in Church as approved Holy Scripture. It is not about doctrine, especially not sola scriptura.
"Let no one add to these. Let nothing be taken away” applies to the list of approved books, the list he writes just above your selected quote.
To correct your use, which is a major error of context, read the beginning, before your quote, where he talks about heretical writing that could be confused because of the similarity of names. (This was quite a problem.) Then goes through the list of what he approves of as scripture.
The context of your quote is clear - Athanasius was giving liturgical directive concerning what was approved as scripture. Your quote refers to the canon and is not teaching sola scriptura.
If you wish to call Athanasius a teacher of Protestant sola scriptura, you'd need to do more than pull one quote, out of context, and avoid others of his, such as:
"The very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning was preached by the apostles and preserved by the Fathers. On this the Church was founded; and if anyone departs from this, he neither is nor any longer ought to be celled a Christian." [Athanasius, Ad Serapion 1:28]
"The very tradition, teaching, and faith of the Catholic Church from the beginning was preached by the apostles and preserved by the Fathers. On this the Church was founded; and if anyone departs from this, he neither is nor any longer ought to be called a Christian."Must... sleep...now..
Blessings.