Apocryphal Epistles

Apocrypha are works, usually written, of unknown authorship or of doubtful origin. The word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered too profound or too sacred to be disclosed to anyone other than the initiated. ''Apocrypha'' was later applied to writings that were hidden not because of their divinity but because of their questionable value to the church. In general use, the word ''apocrypha'' has come to mean "false, spurious, bad, or heretical".

Biblical apocrypha are a set of texts included in the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, but not in the Hebrew Bible. While Catholic tradition considers some of these texts to be deuterocanonical, and the Orthodox Churches consider them all to be canonical, Protestants consider them apocryphal, that is, non-canonical books that are useful for instruction. Luther's Bible placed them in a separate section in between the Old Testament and New Testament called the Apocrypha, a convention followed by subsequent Protestant Bibles. Other non-canonical apocryphal texts are generally called pseudepigrapha, a term that means "false attribution".

Etymology

The word's origin is the Medieval Latin adjective (secret, or non-canonical) from the Greek adjective , , (obscure) from the verb , (to hide away).

''Apocrypha'' is a plural word (singular: ) that originally denoted hidden or secret writings, to be read only by initiates into a given Christian group. It comes from Greek and is formed from the combination of (away) and (hide or conceal).

The word ''apocrypha'' has undergone a major change in meaning throughout the centuries. The word ''apocrypha'' originally meant a text too sacred and secret to be in everyone's hands, and this usage is seen in the title of works such as the Apocryphon of John.

Esoteric writings and objects

The word ''apocryphal'' () was first applied to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered too profound or too sacred to be disclosed to anyone other than the initiated. For example, the disciples of the Gnostic Prodicus boasted that they possessed the secret () books of Zoroaster. The term in general enjoyed high consideration among the Gnostics (see Acts of Thomas, pp. 10, 27, 44).

Sinologist Anna Seidel refers to texts and even items produced by ancient Chinese sages as apocryphal and studied their uses during Six Dynasties China (A.D. 220 to 589). These artifacts were used as symbols legitimizing and guaranteeing the Emperor's Heavenly Mandate. Examples of these include talismans, charts, writs, tallies, and registers. The first examples were stones, jade pieces, bronze vessels and weapons, but came to include talismans and magic diagrams.

From their roots in Zhou era China (1066 to 256 BC), these items came to be surpassed in value by texts by the Han dynasty (206 BC to AD 220). Most of these texts have been destroyed as Emperors, particularly during the Han dynasty, collected these legitimizing objects and proscribed, forbade and burnt nearly all of them to prevent them from falling into the hands of political rivals.

Writings of questionable value

''Apocrypha'' was also applied to writings that were hidden not because of their divinity but because of their questionable value to the church. The early Christian theologian Origen, in his ''Commentaries on Matthew'', distinguishes between writings which were read by the churches and apocryphal writings: (''writing not found in the common and published books on one hand ndactually found in the secret ones on the other''). The meaning of is here practically equivalent to "excluded from the public use of the church" and prepares the way for an even less favourable use of the word.

Spurious writings

In general use, the word ''apocrypha'' came to mean "of doubtful authenticity". This meaning also appears in Origen's prologue to his commentary on the Song of Songs, of which only the Latin translation survives:

Other

The Gelasian Decree (generally held now as being the work of an anonymous scholar between 519 and 553) refers to religious works by church fathers Eusebius, Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria as apocrypha. Augustine defined the word as meaning simply "obscurity of origin", implying that any book of unknown authorship or questionable authenticity would be considered apocryphal. Jerome in ''Prologus Galeatus'' declared that all books outside the Hebrew canon were apocryphal. In practice, Jerome treated some books outside the Hebrew canon as if they were canonical, and the Western Church did not accept Jerome's definition of apocrypha, instead retaining the word's prior meaning. As a result, various church authorities labeled different books as apocrypha, treating them with varying levels of regard.

Origen stated that "the canonical books, as the Hebrews have handed them down, are twenty-two". Clement and others cited some apocryphal books as "scripture," "divine scripture," "inspired," and the like. Teachers connected with Palestine and familiar with the Hebrew canon (the protocanon) excluded from the canon all of the Old Testament not found there. This view is reflected in the canon of Melito of Sardis, and in the prefaces and letters of Jerome. A third view was that the books were not as valuable as the canonical scriptures of the Hebrew collection, but were of value for moral uses, as introductory texts for new converts from paganism, and to be read in congregations. They were referred to as "ecclesiastical