Apocrypha

Apocrypha [Gr.,=hidden things], term signifying a collection of early Jewish writings excluded from the canon of the Hebrew scriptures. It is not clear why the term was chosen. The Apocrypha include the following books and parts of books: First and Second Esdras ; Tobit ; Judith ; the Additions to Esther; Wisdom of Solomon ; Sirach (also called Ecclesiasticus); Baruch ; the Letter of Jeremiah (in Baruch); parts of Daniel (the Prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Young Men ; see also Bel and the Dragon and Susanna 1 ); First and Second Maccabees ; the Prayer of Manasses (see Manasseh ). All are included in the Septuagint , with the exception of 2 Esdras=4 Ezra. However, they were not included in the Hebrew canon (ratified c.AD 100). In 1566 the collection was deemed "deutero-canonical" by the Roman Catholic Church, meaning that their canonicity was recognized only after a period of time. Protestants follow Jewish tradition in regarding all these books as non-canonical. Jewish and Christian works resembling biblical books, but not included among the Apocrypha, are collected in the Pseudepigrapha . The term Apocrypha is sometimes applied to early Christian writings that were once considered canonical by some but are not in the New Testament.

Bibliography: See The Oxford Annotated Apocrypha (1977); G. W. E. Nickelsburg, Jewish Literature Between the Bible and the Mishnah (1981).

Apocrypha biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of Scripture. The Old Testament Apocrypha include writings (dating from around 300 bc to ad 100) which appeared in the Septuagint and Vulgate versions but not in the Hebrew Bible; most are accepted by the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches as the ‘deuterocanonical’ books. The New Testament Apocrypha include texts attributed to Apostles and other biblical figures but not regarded as authentic by the Councils of the Church.

Recorded from late Middle English, the word comes from ecclesiastical Latin apocrypha (scripta) ‘hidden (writings)’, ultimately from Greek apokruptein ‘hide away’. The adjective apocryphal, meaning of doubtful authenticity, mythical, fictional, is recorded from the late 16th century.