APOCRYPHA, BOOKS. - Jewish and Christian writings that present themselves as biblical books, composed between the 2nd century B.C. and the 4th-6th centuries A.D.
The origin of the term (ἀπόκρυφος) is disputed, some deriving it from the pagan world, others from the Jewish one. In the pagan sects it was customary to call a book "apocryphal" if it contained doctrines that were meant to be kept hidden from the uninitiated. Thus Clement of Alexandria (Stromata, I, 15, 69; CB, ed. O. Stählin, II, p. 44) speaks of books "hidden" or "apocryphal," reserved for those who wished to know the esoteric doctrine of Zarathustra. In this case the term distinguishes an inaccessible book, "hidden" from the profane, from an ordinary, public writing (φανερός, κοινός). This concept seems to have been widespread in the Jewish world as well, since IV Esd. 14, 46-47 speaks of books in which "est vena intellectus et sapientiae fons et scientiae flumen," destined to remain secret with the obligation of making them known only to the "wise of the people." Flavius Josephus too (Bell. Iud., II, 142), treating of the Essenes, speaks of books to be kept secret, because they contained an esoteric doctrine. But it does not appear that the Jews called these books "apocryphal" or "hidden." With an equivalent adjective they rather designated those sacred scrolls unusable for liturgical use, either because deteriorated or because judged unsuitable for synagogal reading due to other defects; given their original sacred character, they were "deposited" or "hidden" (גניזה) in the storeroom (גניז) attached to the building of worship (Sabbath, IX, 6; Sanhedrin, X, 6).
In Christianity the term apocryphal took on a particular meaning, designating those books which, by their title and the subject treated and the intention of their author, generally unknown and concealed under the name of some ancient patriarch or prophet, or apostle, claimed to be equated with the Bible, while the Church denied them any divine character. The canon of books accepted as inspired thus also comes to delimit, by contrast, the apocryphal books excluded from public reading in the churches ("Ceteras vero Scripturas apocryphas nominarunt [Patres], quas in ecclesiis legi noluerunt," Rufinus, Expositio symboli Apostolorum: PL 21, 374). Among the Fathers, only St. Jerome (Prologus galeatus: PL 28, 601) applies the term apocryphal also to that small group of books on whose canonicity not all agreed, the ἀντιλεγόμενα or "disputed" of the Greeks, today called "deuterocanonical" (v. BIBBIA).
However, despite this categorical affirmation, Jerome in his exegetical works distinguishes clearly between these "disputed" books, which not rarely (particularly Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom) he cites like any other biblical book, and those writings about whose extracanonical character there were no serious doubts. The latter would be works of delirious persons (In Is. 64, 4: PL 24, 646; In Ez. 44, 29-30: PL 25, 443) or dreamers (In Mt. 23, 35: PL 26, 180).
Protestants, following in this case the opinion of Jerome of the Prologus galeatus, use the word apocryphal to designate the deuterocanonical books, reserving the term "pseudepigraphon" for the Catholics' apocrypha; this holds for the Old Testament, for the New Testament there is no difference in the use of the term.
The apocrypha go back in large part to the first three centuries of the Christian era. Some, at least in their first draft, belong to the 2nd or 1st centuries B.C.; but often it is difficult to determine the date of each because of subsequent recensions or reworkings. The original language of many of them was Greek, which is almost the only one for the apocrypha of the New Testament. Not a few of those of the Old Testament must have been written in a Semitic language (Hebrew and, more commonly, Aramaic). But except in very rare cases, of the latter we know only the translations, particularly in Ethiopic, Coptic, Syriac, Armenian or Greek.
THE APOCRYPHA OF THE OLD TESTAMENT are generally of Jewish origin; but not a few of them have undergone interpolations more or less significant by Christian hands.
The desire to highlight the glories of the chosen people, the sorrow for its present fate, the hopes for the future, determined the composition of these works, of scant literary value, although pages of beautiful poetry and sincere religiosity are not lacking. Thus the two fundamental elements of postbiblical rabbinic literature surface, in varying proportions, in these writings: at times the juridical element predominates
(Int. Alinari)
(hālahhāh) which specifies and multiplies the legal prescriptions, now the narrative element which adorns the biblical material with often fantastic tales, with parenetic intent (haggādāh). Numerous, finally, are the works with an apocalyptic background (v. APOCALYPTIC), which seek to lift up the misery and sorrow of the oppressed people with resolute future prospects.
Since all these apocrypha have their particular treatment here, it suffices now to list them, dividing them according to the predominant subject:
1. - HISTORICAL APOCRYPHA: Book of Jubilees, III Esdras, III Maccabees, Life of Adam and Eve (Apocalypse of Moses, Testament of Adam, Armenian Writings of Adam), Ascension of Isaiah, Story of the Rechabites, Paralipomena of Jeremiah (or of the words of Baruch), Prayer of Aseneth, Testament of Job, Testament of Solomon.
2. - MORAL OR DIDACTIC APOCRYPHA: Testaments of the XII Patriarchs, Idiosyncratic Psalm of David, Psalms of Solomon, Odes of Solomon, Prayer of Manasseh, IV Maccabees.
3. - PROPHETIC APOCRYPHA OR APOCALYPSES: Book of Enoch (Ethiopic), Book of Enoch (Slavonic), Book of Enoch (Hebrew), Assumption of Moses, IV Esdras, Apoc. of Baruch (Syriac), Apoc. of Baruch (Greek), Apoc. of Abraham, Apoc. of Elijah (Apoc. of Zephaniah), Apoc. of Ezekiel, Sibylline Oracles.
THE APOCRYPHA OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, as is natural, are all of Christian origin. They reflect the desire to complete the few notices handed down by the canonical writings concerning the life of Jesus and the Apostles. Therefore the preferred theme is the infancy of Jesus, the story of the Virgin Mary and the missionary deeds of the various Apostles. Nor are there lacking more or less fantastic representations of the eschatological events.
The curiosity of the faithful, mixed with great veneration for the protagonists, drove the obscure authors to stitch together their more or less serious tales. Already Tertullian (De Baptismo, 17) informs us that the Acts of Paul were composed by a priest of Asia, who, called to answer for it, confessed that he had acted out of love for Paul.
Not a few apocrypha, however, bear the mark of heretical ideas (encratism, gnosticism) proper to their authors; indeed, according to the declarations of many Fathers, some of them were composed with the precise intent of endorsing and spreading heretical opinions.
According to literary genre, the apocrypha of the New Testament are divided, like the canonical writings, into Gospels, Acts, Letters, Apocalypses.
1. APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS: Gospel of the Hebrews, G. of the Egyptians, G. of the Ebionites, G. of the XII Apostles, G. of Peter, Protoevangelium of James, G. of Thomas, G. of the infancy of the Savior (Arabic), G. of Pseudo-Matthew, Story of Joseph the Carpenter, G. of Nicodemus (comprising: Acts of Pilate, The Descent into Hell), Transitus of Mary, G. of Bartholomew, G. of Philip, etc.
2. APOCRYPHAL ACTS: Acts of Peter, Preaching of Peter, Acts of Paul, Acts of Peter and Paul, Acts of John, Acts of Andrew, Acts of Thomas, Acts of Philip, Acts of Matthew, Acts of Barnabas.
3. APOCRYPHAL LETTERS: Letters of Jesus and of Abgar king of Edessa, Letter of the Apostles, Letter of Paul to the Laodiceans, to the Alexandrians, to the Corinthians, Letter of the Corinthians to Paul, Letters of Paul to Seneca and of Seneca to Paul.
4. APOCRYPHAL APOCALYPSES: Apocalypse of Peter, Apoc. of Paul, Apoc. of Thomas, Apoc. of Stephen, Apoc. of John, Apoc. of the Virgin Mary, Apoc. of Bartholomew, Apoc. of Zechariah.
It is difficult, however, to fix a precise list of the apocrypha, particularly of those of the New Testament, given the vagueness of the criteria to be followed. Anyone wishing to register as apocrypha all the writings held to be inspired by some ancient ecclesiastical writer would have to lengthen the above list by several units. Not rarely, for example, works of the Apostolic Fathers are counted among the apocrypha, such as the letter of Clement, that of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas, which some ancients regarded as inspired (for the last two cf. Origen, De principiis, III, 2nd ed. of P. Koetschau: CB, V, p. 251 and PG 11, 309). Various catalogues of the apocrypha can be read in ancient works: Apostolic Constitutions, VI, 16: PG 1, 949-56, Decretum Gelasianum: PL 59, 159-80, Synopsis Scripturae Sacrae of Pseudo-Athanasius: PG 28, 432, stichometric index of Nicephorus of Constantinople: PG 100, 1055-60.
Many apocrypha are known only by title, others have come down to us in fragments or in translations; while few can still be read in their original text. Not a few fragments have been discovered recently in papyri or in libraries of ancient Eastern monasteries. Also recent is the discovery of the apocryphal Gospel of John in an Arabic codex of the Ambrosiana (cf. Biblica, 24 [1943], pp. 194-95).
Literarily the apocrypha do not deserve particular consideration: they are popular tales, in unadorned language. The mania for the marvelous, the desire to specify down to the smallest details the implausibility of many narratives distance these works considerably from the simplicity and freshness that make the Gospels and the canonical books so attractive, even from the literary side.
As appears from the titles alone, the apocrypha of the Old Testament, like those of the New, show the claim of forming part of the sacred books, whether Jewish or Christian. Indeed for some apocrypha of the Old Testament it has been maintained that they were used as canonical books by the New Testament authors. Now very few give weight to the assertion of Origen (Comm. series 117 in Mt., 27, 9, ed. Klostermann: CB, XI, p. 250) that Paul cited (I Cor. 2, 9) the Apocalypse of Elijah (in secretis Eliae) as an inspired writing and that he drew the detail of Jamne and Mambre (II Tim. 3, 8) from an apocryphon (Liber Jamnes et Mambres). Already St. Jerome judged the passage of the letter to the Corinthians a free citation from Is. and spoke with contempt of the "deliriums of the apocrypha" ("apocryphorum deliramenta conticant, quae ex occasione huius testimonii ingeruntur ecclesiis Christi", In Is. 64, 4: PL 24, 646). Nor does a citation from the Book of Enoch in Iud. 9 and 14 appear certain. Perhaps such passages derive from oral Jewish tradition; in any case they do not legitimize the deduction that the two Apostles regarded the aforesaid apocrypha as inspired.
Some Fathers and some particular churches paid undue honor to writings of this kind, subsequently repudiated in an absolute manner by the Church. In the works of the Apostolic Fathers there are found, introduced as biblical citations, expressions whose provenance is unknown or which are found only in apocryphal writings (for example: Clement, Ad Cor. 17, 5; 23, 5; 46, 2; Barnabas 4, 3; 16, 5 [cf. Enoch 89, 56, 66]; 12, 1 [cf. IV Esd. 5, 5]. The same fact is found in other writers, such as Justin, Irenaeus, Origen. More delicate is the question for III Esd. (v.) which formed part of the Greek Bible, at least until the 5th century.
In the Clementine edition of the Bible it was thought opportune to place some apocrypha as an appendix (Prayer of Manasseh; III and IV Esd.), so that they might not disappear: "ne prorsus interirent, quippe qui a nonnullis sanctis Patribus interdum citantur, et in aliquibus Bibliis latinis tam manuscriptis quam impressis reperiuntur".
Nevertheless the official Church, despite the different attitude of particular scholars, always showed itself justly hostile to such works. Already in the Muratorian Fragment one can note a disdainful repudiation, in which the apocrypha are compared to gall with respect to the honey of the canonical books ("Fel enim cum melle miscere non congruit"). Innocent I, writing to the bishop Exuperius of Toulouse, qualified them not only as to be "rejected", but as to be "condemned" ("non solum repudianda, verum etiam noveris esse damnanda", Euchir. Bibl. 17). An identical judgment is found in the Gelasian Decree (v.) and in other ancient documents.
Nowadays the texts of the apocrypha are gladly sought out, and their content is studied in order to derive from it notions regarding the milieu in which they were composed. From them, in fact, one can often discern what religious ideas were favored in particular circles, or the fortunes of certain institutions.
More arduous, by contrast, is their use as historical documents. A natural sense of skepticism accompanies the reader through this labyrinth of minute information and apocalyptic descriptions. Today an attempt is made to revalue at least the historical core of some apocrypha, but the undertaking is exceedingly uncertain. In the absence of other documents, one cannot trust the fanciful accounts written for purposes of edification, or of more or less heretical propaganda. Even more reckless is the attempt to trace, through the apocrypha, the existence of a simple Christianity, quite different from the doctrinal and juridical one that already manifests itself in the earliest writings of the Fathers. It is undeniable, however, although perhaps to a lesser degree than one might expect, that the study of the apocrypha is useful for knowledge of the religious mentality at the time that shortly preceded or followed the beginning of the common era. The apocrypha are especially useful to us for knowing Palestinian Judaism of those years. Thus, for example, for angelology the Book of Enoch is exceedingly precious; in 4 Ezra (8:46-49) one reads one of the most explicit statements concerning original sin. The history of Jewish messianism, finally, receives from the apocrypha certain fundamental testimonies, which explain the slow and gradual misunderstanding of the prophetic declarations.
The study of the apocryphal books of the New Testament is helpful for knowing, besides certain sectarian tendencies, some aspects of ancient Christian piety, all the more so since they in turn influenced later works, the liturgical life of the Church, and particularly art.
In the liturgical life of the Church, the Protoevangelium of James (v.) acted in a special way, from which comes the institution of particular feasts, such as the Presentation of Mary in the Temple (Nov. 21). In the liturgical books, finally, there is no lack of texts taken literally from the apocrypha. The very common invocation for the dead, Requiem aeternam, is the adaptation of a passage from 4 Ezra (2:34-35). From 4 Ezra 16:53 is drawn the well-known liturgical verse for Christmas Eve. Of analogous provenance are other brief prayers of the Roman missal or breviary.
Greater was the influence of the apocrypha in art. From the simple depictions of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple or of the bathing of the Infant Jesus, which can be admired in very ancient frescoes, down to the paintings of the best modern artists, the detailed accounts of the apocrypha and their lively choreography have abundantly inspired art. So that certain pictorial scenes cannot be fully understood unless one has recourse, as to a source of inspiration, to the distant apocrypha, inexhaustible feeders of popular legends.
No lesser influence did these writings exert in literature, particularly Italian. The Divine Comedy, and even more works of the type of the Golden Legend of James of Varazze, are considerably indebted to the ancient fantastic tales fixed in the apocrypha. This can be observed in other literatures as well, and not only European ones, for there are sure traces of the apocrypha in the Quran, explicable by the very ancient existence of Arabic translations or reworkings.
Bibliography15 works
General treatments: M.-J. Lagrange, Le Messianisme chez les Juifs, Paris 1909; E. Schürer, Geschichte der jüdischen Völkes, III, 4th ed., Leipzig 1909, pp. 268-468, 524-92; G. Felten, Storia dei tempi del Nuovo Testamento, Italian trans., II, Turin 1913, pp. 289-404; St. Székely, Bibliotheca apocrypha, I, Freiburg im Br. 1913; W. Ferrar, The uncanonical Jewish books: a short introduction to the Apocrypha, London 1918; J. B. Frey, Apocryphes de l'Ancien Testament, in DBs, I, coll. 354-460; id., De libris apocryphis, in Institutions biblicae, I, 5th ed. Rome 1937, pp. 158-210; E. Amann, Apocryphes du Nouveau Testament, in DBs, I, coll. 460-535; P. Volz, Die Eschatologie der jüdischen Gemeinde im Westestamentlichen Zeitalter nach den Quellen der rabbinischen, apokalyptischen und apocryphen Literatur dargestellt, Tübingen 1934; R. H. Malden, The Apocrypha, London 1936; A. Oepke, Bibliae anaequo, in G. Kittel, Theologisches Wörterbuch zum N. T., III, Stuttgart 1938, pp. 987-99.
Angelo Penna