Apocrypha definition

Apocrypha means “secret” or “hidden”. They are among the books of the Old Testament that were written after Ezra. They were written in the Jewish Synagogues. They were regarded of the Holy Books according to the Church tradition and the decisions of the Councils. Some chapters of them are read in the Church especially in Lent and the Holy week. These are Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Jesus the Son of Sirach, and First and Second Maccabees. Then some passages were added to the books such as: The song of the three young men, the prayer of Manassas, and the prophecies of Daniel.
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Apocrypha means hidden. It is a word used by Jewish Rabbis in the Talmud to describe works that were not part of inspired Scripture. It is commonly used today to refer to the books included in the Catholic Bible that are not typically found in other Bibles. The Catholics call these books “Deuterocononical”. Of the 12 additional writings that are sometimes included in the Catholic Bible this much can be said:
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Apocrypha means "hidden, spurious". The term is applied to books of doubtful authorship or authority, and in early times referred to books hidden from public view and which might be of harmful effect. Jerome said, "All apocryphal books should be avoided; . . . they, are not the works of the authors by whose names they are distinguished, . . . they contain much that is faulty, . . . it is a task requiring great prudence to find gold in the midst of clay." There are a number of apocryphal writings associated with the Hebrew and the Greek Scriptures, but the only ones to be considered herein are those that have been added to the Hebrew-Scripture canon by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy. Hereinafter, when the term apocrypha or apocryphal is used it is to designate such spurious books, called "deutero-canonical" by Catholics.
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Examples of Apocrypha in a sentence

  • The new Oxford annotated Bible: new revised standard version with the Apocrypha; an ecumenical study Bible (Fully rev.

  • Seven books, known as the Apocrypha, were rejected by this council.

  • Old Testament are the books which were written in Hebrew and Aramaic (the Apocrypha accepted in the Catholic Bible in Greek) The Old Testament, as accepted by the Catholic Church has 45 books (in Protestant churches, has a collection of 39 books; the other books are called apocrypha).

  • Cf. D.S. ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇, ‘The use of the Apocrypha by Moslem writers’, ▇▇▇▇▇▇ ▇▇▇▇▇, vol.

  • Many biblical scholars even Protestant recognize the value of the Deuterocannonical books or Apocrypha for an understanding of the late Old Testament period.

  • Read the fifteen books of the Apocrypha to get an understanding of the events both of the exile and of Israel’s early history.

  • Catholics accept an additional twelve books among the Old Testament writings, the Apocrypha.

  • Review of Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, by E.A.W. Budge.” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 68: 176-84.

  • There are seven deuterocanonical (second listed) Old Testament books included in the Catholic Bible that are not included in Protestant Bibles and are considered by them as Apocrypha are: Tobit, ▇▇▇▇▇▇, Sirah (called also The Wisdom of Solomon), ▇▇▇▇▇▇, ▇▇▇▇▇▇, and also Story of ▇▇▇▇▇▇▇ & Bel and the Dragon included as 13 & 14 chapters of the Book of ▇▇▇▇▇▇.


More Definitions of Apocrypha

Apocrypha. – which means “hidden” (i.e. not to be read as Scripture)
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