Sarah Mitchell
The Apocrypha refers to a set of books that are sometimes placed between the Old and New Testaments in some Bibles. Various books within the Apocrypha are accepted by the Catholic Church, Orthodox Churches, and the Church of the East as deuterocanonical. The deuterocanonical or intertestamental books of the Catholic Church include Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Sirach, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, and additions to Esther, Daniel, and Baruch. Protestants, following the Hebrew Canon, consider these books non-canonical, but useful for instruction.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Definition | Apocrypha means "hidden" or "secret" |
| Origin | The term "Apocrypha" comes from the Medieval Latin "apocryphus", which in turn comes from the ancient Greek "apokryphos" ("hidden" or "private") |
| Examples | Books of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Tobias, Judith, Baruch, First and Second Maccabees, and portions of Esther and Daniel |
| Other names | Deuterocanonical, Hagiographa, Sacred Writings, Intertestamental |
| Recognition | Recognised by the Catholic Church, Coptic Church, Greek Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox Church, and the Church of the East |
| Use | Liturgically, the Catholic, Methodist, and Anglican churches have a scripture reading from the Book of Tobit in services of Holy Matrimony |
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What You'll Learn
The Catholic Church did not add to the Old Testament
Protestants, following the tradition of the Pharisaic Jews, accept the shorter Hebrew Canon, even though the Jews also reject the New Testament Books. The main problem is that the Bible does not define itself. Nowhere in the Sacred Writings are the divinely inspired Books listed completely. The Bible needs a visible, external authority guided by the Holy Spirit to define both the Old and New Testament Canons. This authority is the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.
The deuterocanonical or intertestamental books of the Catholic Church include Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Sirach, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, and additions to Esther, Daniel, and Baruch. The deuterocanonical books are inspired scripture, perfectly in line with the message of scripture, and were referenced and well known by the Apostles and disciples of Christ as well as the writers of the New Testament.
The term "apocrypha" means "hidden, secret", coming from the late Latin "apocryphus" and, in turn, from the ancient Greek "apokryphos". The term was created by Jerome, a Christian theologian, in the 5th century to designate ancient Jewish documents written in the period between the last book of the Scriptures, Malachi, and the time of Jesus. The deuterocanonical books are also sometimes called "intertestamental" by religious groups who do not recognize Hellenistic Judaism as belonging with either Jewish or Christian traditions.
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Protestants reject the Apocrypha as non-canonical
The Apocrypha is a collection of texts that are often associated with, but not included in, the canonical books of the Bible. The word "apocrypha" means "hidden" or "secret" and is used to describe these texts because they were often kept separate from the rest of the Bible and were not widely circulated. The Apocrypha includes books such as 1 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, and 1 and 2 Maccabees. These books are considered deuterocanonical by the Catholic Church, meaning that they are included in the Canon of the Bible, but are given a secondary status.
While Catholics include these books as part of their Old Testament, Protestants do not consider them to be inspired Scripture and thus do not include them in their Bibles. This rejection of the Apocrypha as non-canonical by Protestants is primarily due to their belief in sola scriptura, or the doctrine that the Bible alone is the ultimate authority for Christian faith and practice. This doctrine, which was formalized during the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, led to a re-evaluation of the texts that were included in the Bible.
One of the key issues that Protestants had with the Apocrypha was the lack of Hebrew originals for many of the books. Unlike the books of the Hebrew Bible, which were primarily written in Hebrew, the books of the Apocrypha were mostly written in Greek or had no known Hebrew original. This raised questions about their authenticity and authority for Protestants, who sought to base their beliefs solely on the Scriptures that could be traced back to the original Hebrew manuscripts.
Another factor in the Protestant rejection of the Apocrypha was the influence of the Jewish canon. The Jewish community had long excluded the Apocrypha from their canon, and this decision was respected by the early Christian church. When the Protestant Reformers sought to return to the roots of the Christian faith, they looked to the Jewish canon as a model and followed their example in rejecting the Apocrypha.
Additionally, some of the theological content of the Apocryphal books conflicted with Protestant beliefs. For example, the Apocrypha includes prayers for the dead and doctrines about purgatory, which are not accepted by Protestants. These discrepancies further reinforced the Protestant view that the Apocrypha was not divinely inspired and should not be included in the Bible.
Finally, the political and religious climate of the 16th century played a role in solidifying the Protestant rejection of the Apocrypha. The Protestant Reformers were often in direct conflict with the Catholic Church, and their desire to distance themselves from Catholic traditions and practices extended to the Bible as well. By rejecting the Apocrypha, the Protestants were able to further distinguish themselves from the Catholic Church and establish their own unique identity.
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The Apocrypha is deuterocanonical
The term "apocrypha" means "hidden, secret", coming from the Medieval or late Latin "apocryphus" and, in turn, from the ancient Greek "apokryphos" ("secret, or non-canonical"), which comes from the Greek adjective "apokryphos" ("private") from the verb "apokryptein" ("to hide away"). The term "apocryphal" was created by Jerome, a Christian theologian, in the 5th century to designate ancient Jewish documents written between the last book of the Scriptures, Malachi, and the time of Jesus.
The Apocrypha is a set of books that are sometimes placed between the Old and New Testaments in a section called "Apocrypha". The canonicity of such books took longer to determine. Various books are accepted by the Catholic Church, Orthodox Churches, and the Church of the East, as deuterocanonical. Some Protestant traditions reject them outright, while others regard the Apocrypha as non-canonical books that are useful for instruction.
The deuterocanonical or intertestamental books of the Catholic Church include Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Sirach, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, and additions to Esther, Daniel, and Baruch. The seven deuterocanonical books were admitted as authentic by the Council of Rome in 382 CE, of Hippo in 393, at the Third Council of Carthage in 397, at the Council of Florence (1431-1439), and at the Council of Trent, begun in 1545.
The Catholic Church did not add to the Old Testament (OT). The Catholic OT Canon came from the ancient Greek Septuagint Bible. Protestants, following the tradition of the Pharisaic Jews, accept the shorter Hebrew Canon, even though the Jews also reject the New Testament (NT) Books. The Bible needs an external authority to define both the OT and NT Canons, and this authority is the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.
The seven additional books in the Catholic Bible are present in the Septuagint, which is a Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. The OT of the most ancient surviving Christian Bible manuscripts—Codex Vaticanus (4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (5th century)—are Greek Septuagint texts. The Codex Alexandrinus contains all the Catholic OT Books plus III and IV Maccabees. These manuscripts show that the Septuagint with its larger and looser canon was the OT "Bible" of the early Church.
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The Apocrypha is found in the Septuagint
The Apocrypha refers to a collection of books placed between the Old and New Testaments in some Bibles. These books are found in Catholic Bibles, as well as in Eastern Orthodox and Assyrian Orthodox churches. The Apocrypha includes writings such as the Books of Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Tobias, Judith, Baruch, First and Second Maccabees, and portions of Esther and Daniel. These books vary in content, from folk stories to historical accounts of the Jewish people between the Old and New Testaments.
The Apocrypha is indeed found in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. The Septuagint is the Bible that Jesus and Paul are believed to have used and quoted from. The Septuagint is also known as the Greek Septuagint Bible, and it is from this text that the Catholic Old Testament Canon is derived. The Septuagint is found in the most ancient surviving Christian Bible manuscripts, including the Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrinus. These manuscripts from the 4th and 5th centuries show that the Septuagint was the Old Testament Bible of the early Church.
The inclusion of the Apocrypha in the Septuagint is important for understanding its presence in Catholic Bibles today. While the complete Apocrypha is not found in any of the various codices containing the Septuagint, several important early manuscripts do include some of the Apocrypha. For example, the Codex Vaticanus includes all the Apocrypha except for 1 and 2 Maccabees, while the Codex Sinaiticus includes Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus. The Codex Alexandrinus, dating to the 5th century, contains all the Apocrypha plus 3 and 4 Maccabees and the Psalms of Solomon.
The Septuagint, with its inclusion of the Apocrypha, was used by Jerome to translate the Bible into the Latin Vulgate, which became the basis for centuries of Catholic Bible translations. By the fourth and fifth centuries, the Apocrypha was used extensively and treated as almost equivalent to the canonical Old Testament. This led to its inclusion in subsequent Catholic Bibles.
It is worth noting that the Septuagint is not a precisely definable text, and there is ambiguity regarding its specific contents. The Jews, for example, used the Septuagint for studying scriptures outside of Synagogue services, but they did not accept the Apocrypha as canonical writings. Instead, they had a different concept of inspiration for Hebrew writings, with some books considered super-inspired (like Genesis and Deuteronomy) and others as definitely inspired (like Isaiah and Psalms).
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The Apocrypha is not owned by any Church
The Apocrypha is a set of books that are sometimes placed between the Old and New Testaments in a section called "Apocrypha". The word "apocrypha" means "hidden away" and is used to refer to texts that are read in private rather than in public church settings. These texts are considered to contain esoteric knowledge that is too profound or sacred to be disclosed to anyone other than the initiated. The Apocrypha is not considered part of the accepted canon of scripture by some Christian denominations, such as Protestant churches, but is accepted by others, including the Catholic Church, Orthodox Churches, and the Church of the East.
The Apocrypha is not owned by any single Church, and its canonicity has been debated throughout history. Early church fathers frequently paraphrased portions of the Apocrypha and even considered the writer of 2 Esdras "another of the prophets". During Origen's day, the Apocrypha became a normal part of the liturgy in church. However, when Augustine and Jerome emerged, two opposing views on these writings surfaced. Augustine argued for the canonicity of the Apocrypha, while Jerome distinguished between canonical and ecclesiastical texts. Despite their differences, both views remained in the church until the Reformation.
The Apocrypha was officially decreed to be canonical at the Council of Trent in 1546, which was called by the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church to address the growing number of Catholics leaving the Church due to the Protestant Reformation. This distinction between Catholics and Protestants regarding the Apocrypha persists today. While Catholics and Orthodox Christians accept most of these texts as canonical, Protestants reject them outright or consider them non-canonical books useful for instruction.
The debate around the Apocrypha also extends beyond Christian denominations. The term "apocrypha" has been used to refer to religious works by non-Christian religious figures such as Zoroaster. Additionally, the Apocrypha is not limited to Christian texts, as there are also Jewish and Islamic apocrypha. The Jewish Apocrypha includes writings such as the Book of Enoch and the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch, while the Islamic Apocrypha consists of texts like the Gospel of Barnabas and the Apocrypha of Muhammad.
In conclusion, the Apocrypha encompasses a diverse range of texts from various religious traditions, and its acceptance varies across different denominations. While some churches include the Apocrypha in their liturgy, others relegate its usefulness to that of any "other human writings". Ultimately, the Apocrypha is not owned or exclusively associated with any one Church, and its interpretation and significance continue to be a subject of discussion among religious scholars and believers.
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Frequently asked questions
The apocryphal books in the Catholic Church include Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Sirach, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, and additions to Esther and Daniel, and Baruch.
The word "apocrypha" means "hidden" or "secret", coming from the Medieval Latin "apocryphus" and, in turn, from the ancient Greek "ἀπόκρυϕος (apokryphos)".
The apocryphal books were written by Jews/Israelites to tell the history of their people. They were admitted as authentic by the Council of Rome in 382 CE, the Council of Hippo in 393 CE, the Third Council of Carthage in 397 CE, the Council of Florence (1431-1439 CE), and the Council of Trent, begun in 1545 CE.
Protestants consider the apocryphal books to be non-divinely inspired and not part of the canon, while Catholics include them in the Bible as deuterocanonical books.
Yes, the Coptic, Greek, and Russian Orthodox churches also recognize the apocryphal books as inspired by God.
