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APOCRYPHA

The term “Apocrypha,” from the Greek for “hidden” or “obscure” (apó + krýptein, “to hide away”), refers to a collection of 15 books deemed canonical by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox but not by Jews or Protestants. The reason Jerome (d. 420) and Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386) first applied the name to the collection remains unknown; only 4 Ezra (2 Esdras) suggests a sequestered volume (12:37-38; 14:4-6, 42-46). Perhaps originally the title indicated books kept from public readings because of heretical views; perhaps it referred to writings hidden from those lacking wisdom.

The labels “OT” or “Jewish” are often added to “Apocrypha” to distinguish this collection from the “Christian” or “NT Apocrypha.” The current Roman Catholic term for the collection, “Deuterocanonical,” indicates not secondary status but that the volumes become canonical at a later date compared to the “Protocanonical” (Hebrew) “OT.” The Eastern Church, also using “Deuterocanonical,” reserves “Apocrypha” for those noncanonical works also called “Pseudepigrapha.”

The 15 books most often identified as comprising the Apocrypha include texts attributed to past worthies (Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah usually incorporated within it; Prayer of Manasseh; 1 Esdras/3 Ezra; 2 Esdras/4 Ezra), novels (Judith), folktales (Tobit), histories (1, 2 Maccabees), wisdom literature (Ben Sirach/Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom of Solomon), and supplements to Hebrew biblical texts (Additions to/Rest of the Book of Esther; Additions to Daniel). With the exception of 4 Ezra, the texts exist in their earliest complete forms only in Greek; in copies of the LXX, they are interspersed with the Greek translations of the Hebrew texts rather than gathered separately. Fourth Ezra appears first in the Old Latin translations of the LXX, and through this connection it gains its place in the Apocrypha.

Both Greek and Slavonic Orthodox Churches expand the Apocrypha to include 3 Maccabees and Ps. 151, , although these texts are sometimes seen as having lesser authority. 3 Maccabees appears in various LXX manuscripts as well as in the Peshitta and most Armenian Bibles. Ps. 151 appears in Sinaiticus, most Greek manuscripts of the Psalter, and in the Syriac. Finally, 4 Maccabees, present in some major Greek manuscripts, holds no canonical status although it has influenced Orthodox thought and practices and appears as an appendix in Greek Orthodox Bibles. These three texts, together with the other 15, are today printed in the Apocrypha of the ecumenically targeted RSV and NRSV.

The books themselves are difficult to locate according to date, provenance, and original language. They range from the end of the 3rd century b.c.e. to the 1st century c.e., with 4 Ezra, the only apocalypse in the collection, post-dating the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in 70 c.e. Some scholars insist that save for 2 Maccabees and the Wisdom of Solomon, all were composed in Israel and in either Hebrew or Aramaic; others argue for Greek and Diaspora (especially Alexandrian) origins. The discovery at Masada of fragments of Ben Sirach in Hebrew and at Qumran not only of Ben Sirach but also of Tobit in both Hebrew and Aramaic and the Epistle of Jeremiah in Greek has not resolved the debates on language or provenance.

These books were authored by Jews, but whether Jewish communities ever held them to be divinely inspired remains an open question. Likely the Greek versions and the relatively late date of the works influenced the decision-making process. The NT, itself substantially written by Jews, contains no direct citations from the Apocrypha; however, arguments for the influence of Ben Sirach on Matthew, the Wisdom of Solomon on Paul and the Epistle to the Hebrews, and Maccabees on the Gospel of John are plausible.

Several other early Jewish sources show cognizance of apocryphal works. Josephus knows the Additions to Esther; rabbinic writings cite Ben Sirach 16 times; the celebration of Hanukkah depends on events recounted in 1 and 2 Maccabees, although the books’ militaristic tenor did not commend them to rabbinic interests. The Maccabean martyred mother and her seven sons appear in the Talmud as well as Lamentations Rabbah.

Similar familiarity is displayed by patristic writers: Clement of Rome quotes the Wisdom of Solomon, Judith, and the Additions to Esther; Polycarp cites Tobit; 2 Maccabees appears in the Shepherd of Hermas, and the Apostolic Constitutions further note that Baruch is read in Jewish worship; the Muratorian fragment includes the Wisdom of Solomon as a NT volume.

The Eastern Churches, dependent upon the LXX rather than Hebrew scrolls, recognized the Apocrypha as authoritative. Although the Synod of Constantinople (1642), following earlier proclamations from the Synod of Laodicea (360) and others, regarded the books as noncanonical but worthy of reading, the Synod of Jerusalem (1672), in its self-definition of orthodoxy prompted by Protestant challenges, specifically acknowledged Ben Sirach, the Wisdom of Solomon, Judith, and Tobit as canonical.

Jerome — following the Hebrew rather than the LXX for his Latin version, the Vulgate (382) — translates only the Additions to Esther and Daniel, and, upon the request of two bishops, Tobit and Judith; these works he noted as absent from the Hebrew Scriptures. For Jerome, apocryphal texts had didactic value (e.g., he approved of Judith because it valorized a celibate widow) but not doctrinal significance. As the Western Church copied Bibles, it added the apocryphal texts, such as 4 Ezra, preserved in the Old Latin to the Vulgate, but it dropped Jerome’s notation; thus the Apocrypha became included as sacred Scripture. The Council of Trent (1546) reasserted the canonicity of all the volumes for Roman Catholicism save 1–2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh; even these works appear as an appendix to the 1592 Vulgate. The First Vatican council (1870) confirmed Trent’s decision.

Yet Jerome’s view was never lost. Wycliff’s Bible (1382), translated from the Vulgate, cites Jerome in its decision to list the Apocrypha (minus 4 Ezra) as lacking authority. Luther — influenced by Jerome, the “Treatise on the Difference between Our Version [the Vulgate] and the Hebrew Truth” by the Jewish convert to Christianity Nicholas of Lyra (d. 1340), growing cultural preference for the authority of antiquity, and perhaps by Catholic citations of the Apocrypha in support of purgatory (2 Macc. 12:43–45) and merit earned by works (e.g., 2 Esdr. 8:33) — collected the Apocrypha into a section at the back of his 1534 OT and stated that the books, while edifying, were not sacred. The Geneva Bible (1599) actually omitted them entirely (this may have been unintended; the volumes appear in the Table of Contents); the third article in Calvinism’s Westminster Confession (1646-1648) compares the books to secular works.

The early 17th century also witnessed the printing of the KJV without the Apocrypha. Although the Church of England included the volumes in its Bibles and readings from them in its lectionaries, the Thirty-Nine Articles (1562, 1571) deny use of the works in determining doctrine (Art. 6). In 1827 the British and Foreign Bible Society refused support for sister organizations in Europe which printed Bibles containing the Apocrypha; soon thereafter the American Bible Society began printing Bibles without the Apocrypha. Making this shorter text more popular was its decreased cost.

From the mid-20th century, as ecumenism gained popularity and as scholars recognized the Apocrypha’s value for reconstructing Jewish history both in its own right and as background to Christian origins, the volumes have been reintroduced to Jewish and Protestant readers. Modern translations, such as the RSV, NRSV, and TEV, frequently contain the Apocrypha.

Historically, the Apocrypha provides substantial information about Hellenistic and early Roman Judaism. 1–2 Maccabees offer conflicting comments about the Hasmonean dynasty and the relationship between piety and politics; the Additions to Esther and Daniel as well as 2 Maccabees and Tobit emphasize resistance to assimilation, particularly in the Diaspora, through dietary regulations and endogamy; Ben Sirach reflects Hellenistic-Mediterranean views of honor and shame and the attendant concern for control over women; and the Wisdom of Solomon, influenced by Greek philosophy, develops the concept of Sophia as the manifestation of the divine. Liturgical concerns along with a deepening focus on personal piety are demonstrated not only by Ps. 151 and the invocations of Manasseh, Azariah, and the Three Young Men, but also by the prayers attributed to Tobit and his daughter-in-law Sarah, Judith, and Susanna.

Compared to the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha shows an increasing interest in sustained female characters, folktale motifs (Tobit), and the novel as being entertaining as well as instructive (Judith); Susanna is possibly the first detective story. Compared to the Pseudepigrapha and the latter books of the Hebrew Bible, the Apocrypha is noticeably lacking in apocalyptic and, especially, prophetic materials; this absence may be explained by the view that classical prophecy ended with Ezra or even the sense that the collection of prophets was complete.

Informative about Church and Synagogue concerns, the apocryphal works themselves influenced painting, music, and drama; Chaucer and Shakespeare, Milton and Longfellow, Handel and Anton Rubinstein, Rembrandt and Artemesia Gentileschi all draw upon apocryphal books. Even Columbus argued from 2 Esdr. 6:42 that the passage from Europe westward to Asia should take only a few days.

Bibliography. N. R. M. de Lange, Apocrypha: Jewish Literature of the Hellenistic Age (New York, 1978); B. M. Metzger, An Introduction to the Apocrypha (Oxford, 1977); S. Meurer, ed., The Apocrypha in Ecumenical Perspective. UBS Mon 6 (New York, 1992); H. H. Rowley, The Origin and Significance of the Apocrypha, rev. ed. (London, 1967); M. E. Stone, ed., Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period. CRINT 2/2 (Philadelphia, 1984).

Amy-Jill Levine

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

APOCRYPHA

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)