What is apocrypha and what is its significance in Orthodoxy?

The word apocrypha comes from the ancient Greek ἀπόκρῠφος, which means secret, hidden . The fact is that initially this was the name given exclusively to works of Gnosticism, which were kept secret. Today, texts that are not included in the Biblical Canon are called apocrypha. The Apocrypha, like the texts of the Holy Scriptures, tells about sacred persons and events. The apocryphal literature that has come down to us is wide and varied.

Go to the list of apocrypha.

Old Testament Apocrypha.

Apocrypha of the New Testament.

• Apocryphal Gospels.
• Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles.
• Apocryphal Apostolic Epistles.
• Apocalypses.
• Other apocrypha.

Differences between apocryphal literature and canonical literature.

There are several principles that distinguish apocryphal literature from canonical literature.

Apocryphal literature arose long before the spread of Christianity. It is known that Ezra, after returning from Babylonian captivity, tried to collect and categorize all the sacred tests known at that time. Ezra, and not only he, was particularly selective about texts that were written under the obvious influence of occult practices or pagan myths. Such texts, which contradict traditional traditions, were often deliberately destroyed. However, it is worth emphasizing that most of the Old Testament apocrypha was included in the Talmud; Kabbalah also abounds in them.

By the way, Ezra considered 39 sacred texts traditional (canonical), which still form the basis of the Old Testament canon. Alexandrian theologians added 11 more books to these books, which today in the Orthodox tradition are considered deuterocanonical. Unlike apocryphal texts, the texts of the deuterocanonical books are used in worship.

The issue of separating apocryphal literature from canonical literature was also very relevant for early Christianity. A new wave of apocryphal texts appeared in which authors of different backgrounds and varying degrees of literacy, based on different goals, tried to supplement the Holy Scriptures. We should not forget that this was the time of the spread of various early Christian sects and speculation on religious themes. Many authors tried to add authority to their texts by signing the names of the apostles revered at that time. Many authors of early Christian apocrypha believed that the official Church was hiding the true teaching from Christians and tried to correct this “error.”

In response to the wave of appearance of a large number of new apocrypha, the official church began to defend the purity of the Holy Scriptures and made attempts to combat apocryphal literature by:

• compiling lists of prohibited heretical texts,
• destruction of apocryphal texts;
• refuting false teachings and criticizing the actions of false teachers.

The pinnacle of the struggle against apocryphal literature was the approval of the New Testament canon of 27 books. The composition of the New Testament canon was fixed by the 85th Apostolic Canon.

For a long time, the status of one or another apocryphal book was decided at numerous councils.

General definitions

According to the definition of the “Church Dictionary” by P. A. Alekseev (St. Petersburg, 1817), these are “hidden, that is, books published unknown from whom, or that are not publicly read in the church, as the Holy Scripture is usually read. Such books are all those that are not in the Bible.” That is, apocryphal books for the most part distort the principles of revealed teaching, and they cannot generally be recognized as divinely inspired (for example, due to the too strong element of human wisdom). Therefore, these books were mercilessly persecuted by the Fathers of the Church and were not included in the canon of revealed books of the Old and New Testaments (the Bible).

There are apocrypha that slightly diverge from Christian doctrine and, in general, confirm the Holy Tradition of the ancient Church, for example in iconography and worship: there is an apocrypha called the “Proto-Gospel of James” - it is not recognized by the Church as inspired scripture, but is accepted as evidence of Church Tradition. And most of the feasts of the Mother of God - the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the Entry into the Temple, and partly the Annunciation (this was reflected in the iconography) are confirmed by the Proto-Gospel of James. This text is called apocrypha not in the sense that it contains something contrary to Holy Scripture. In many ways, it is simply a fixation of Church Tradition.

Old Testament Apocrypha.

The Old Testament apocrypha includes:

• Book of Enoch,
• Book of Jubilees,
• Testaments of the twelve patriarchs,
• Psalms of Solomon,
• Ascension of Moses;
• Apocalypses of Baruch;
• Third Book of Ezra
• Slavic Book of Enoch;
• Vision of Isaiah;
• Martyrdom of Isaiah;
• Abrahamic Covenant
• Job's Testament
• Melchizedek.

The first Old Testament apocrypha dates back to 190-170 BC. The texts of many Old Testament apocrypha have not reached us; many have reached us only partially. Most of the Old Testament apocrypha have reached our time only in later translations. The authorship of the Old Testament apocrypha is either not established or is highly controversial.

The creation of the Old Testament apocrypha dates back to the Hellenistic era. After the collapse of the empire of Alexander the Great, power was concentrated in the hands of Alexander's generals. During the struggle for power, the Hellenistic states of the Ptolemies and Seleucids arose, between which Palestine was located, which became the subject of special attention from its neighbors. The rulers of the Hellenistic states constantly made political, territorial and religious claims to Palestine. This was the time of the revolts led by the Maccabees and the time of the origin of most of the apocrypha of the Old Testament.

Synonyms and antonyms

Among the synonyms (words that are close in meaning) there are the following:

• unreliable,
• counterfeit;
• fake;
• doubtful;
• fictional;
• false;
• falsified.

Antonyms (words with opposite meanings) include:

• true;
• truthful;
• real;
• reliable;
• authentic;
• real;
• original.

New Testament Apocrypha.

Most of the New Testament apocrypha were written from the 2nd to the 4th centuries - much later than the canonical ones. The New Testament apocrypha is divided into:

Apocryphal Gospels:

• Gospel of Childhood
• The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew or, as it is also called, the Book of the origin of blessed Mary and the childhood of the Savior;
• Gospel of James
• Book of Joseph the Carpenter
• Tibetan Gospel
• Jesus in the temple
• Gospel of Apelles
• Gospel of the Essenes
• The Secret Gospel of Mark
• Gospel of Apelles
• Gospel of Andrew
• Gospel of Mary
• Gospel of Nicodemus
• Gospel of the 12 Apostles
• Gospel of the Jews
• Gospel of Peter
• Gospel of Judas
• Gospel of Philip
• Gospel of Thomas
• Gospel of Barnabas
• Gospel of the Egyptians

As you know, the biblical canon includes 4 gospels. There are many times more apocryphal gospels - more than 50 apocryphal gospels have reached us to one degree or another. The apocryphal gospels tend to develop themes that are lightly touched upon in the canonical gospels.

Naturally, such a genre as the gospel - the biography of Jesus - was very popular. There were a large number of oral traditions, which became the basis of more and more apocryphal gospels.

Today, many Bible students are increasingly interested in such gospels, trying to separate truth from fiction and speculation. Interest in the apocryphal gospels, and indeed in all apocryphal literature, began in the 19th century.

The Church to this day rejects the value of the apocryphal gospels for two reasons:

1. The authors of the apocryphal gospels were not of apostolic origin,
2. The stories of the gospels, according to the church, were deliberately distorted.

Nevertheless, reading the apocryphal gospels is interesting from the point of view of getting to know them as literary monuments of the era.

All apocryphal gospels can be divided into 2 groups:

• Folklore-oriented (unthinkable folklore-fantastic descriptions of events from the life of Christ).
• Ideological orientation (as a way of presenting various religious and philosophical views).

Apocryphal gospels of folklore origin appeared due to the fact that it is inherent in human nature to imagine what does not exist. So, for example, the absence of any information about the childhood of Christ in the canonical gospels led to the appearance of a large number of so-called childhood gospels - apocryphal gospels describing the childhood and youth of Jesus.

Apocryphal gospels with an ideological orientation arose from the desire of many to reinterpret Christian ideas, to make them somehow convenient for achieving a certain goal. Many authors reinterpreted the gospel from the point of view of fitting Christian ideas into the pagan worldview.

Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles

• Acts of Peter and Paul
• Acts of Paul
• Martyrdom of St. Paul the Apostle
• Acts of Paul and Thecla
• Acts of Philip in Hellas
• Martyrdom of the Holy and Glorious Chief Apostle Andrew
• Acts of Barnabas
• Acts of Philip
• Acts of John
• Acts of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John the Theologian
• Act of Thomas
• Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Acts and martyrdom of the Apostle Matthias
• Acts of the Holy Apostle Thaddeus, One of the Twelve
• Teachings of Addai the Apostle

The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles describes the preaching activities of one or more apostles. These Acts are classified as apocrypha due to the fact that the texts are not inspired, and the events described are not considered reliable.

Most of the apocryphal Acts were written in Greek in large centers of early Christianity (Alexandria, Syria, Rome), but came to us in translations due to the negative attitude of the early Christian church towards such literature.

Compositionally, most apocryphal acts are built according to the following scheme:

Distribution of lots between the apostles in Jerusalem => departure to the place => apostolic journey => gospel => miracles => martyrdom.

Most of the apocryphal acts were undoubtedly written under the influence of the canonical Acts of the Holy Apostles. Most apocryphal Acts are characterized by a large number of edits and editions, which makes it almost impossible to judge the original texts of these acts. Only the Acts of Thomas remained virtually unchanged.

The Apocryphal Acts are usually divided into

• Large (5 oldest (II century) and largest texts: “Acts of Peter”, “Acts of Paul”, “Acts of John”, “Acts of Andrew” and “Acts of Thomas”.)
• Small (written after 300, smaller in volume, less significant.)

Some of the apocryphal acts enjoyed authority in the early Church (Martyrdom of Paul, Lives of the Apostles).

Apocryphal Apostolic Epistles:

• Abgar's Message to Christ
• Epistle of Christ to Abgar
• Correspondence of the Apostle Paul with Seneca
• Epistle to the Laodiceans
• Messages of Clement the Bishop
• Epistle of Dionysius the Areopagite
• Message of the Apostle Barnabas
• Epistle of the Apostle Peter to the Apostle James
• Message of the Twelve Apostles
• Word of St. John the Evangelist
• Third Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians

I would like to draw your attention to an interesting fact. In the New Testament, 21 books are epistle in nature - 7 conciliar epistles and 14 epistles of the Apostle Paul. If we remember that there are 27 books in the New Testament, we will understand that the genre of the message is represented very widely in the New Testament. However, if we are talking about apocryphal literature, we must admit that there are not so many apocryphal messages.

Apocalypses:

• Apocalypse of Peter
• Apocalypse of Paul
• Revelation of Bartholomew
• Apocalypse of John
• Another Apocalypse of John

The Revelation of John the Theologian, which concludes the Christian Bible, attracts special attention. Apocryphal apocalypses are also of no less interest. We are accustomed to identifying the word apocalypse with the end of the world, but this word is originally translated from Greek as “disclosure,” and in particular the disclosure of the future hidden from people.

Speaking about apocryphal apocalypses, an interesting feature should be noted. The apocryphal gospels are mostly written as imitations of the canonical gospels, and the situation is similar with the apocryphal epistles, acts, etc. While most apocryphal apocalypses do not imitate the canonical Apocalypse of John. The reason lies in the fact that the genre of apocalypse, in contrast to the gospel, acts and messages, developed long before Christianity. The New Testament apocryphal apocalypses only continue the long tradition of the apocalyptic genre.

With some reservations (the absence of an eschatological element), the prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel can easily be classified as apocalyptic texts. In its pure form, chapters 24-27 in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, as well as the Book of the Prophet Joel, can be called apocalyptic. It is these texts that are considered the beginning of the Jewish apocalypse. The Book of the Prophet Daniel also belongs to the apocalyptic. Thus, we can conclude that the apocalyptic genre is represented more widely in the Old Testament than in the New Testament.

However, the genre continued to develop and we know of several apocryphal New Testament apocalypses. Apocryphal apocalypses have come to us in translations, not in the original.

Other apocrypha:

• The Secret Book of John
• Apostle Paul's journey through torment
• The Secret Book of Jacob
• Book of Thomas
• Dialogue of the Savior
• The Dream of the Mother of God and the legend of the veneration of 12 Fridays
• Conversation of the Three Saints
• The Legend of the Exploits of Fyodor Tirinin
• The Legend of Aphroditian
• The Legend of Macarius of Rome
• The Tale of Twelve Fridays

Today, some apocrypha are no less popular than canonical books. In any case, reading the Apocrypha means delving into near-biblical creativity.

Deuterocanonical books

After the death of Ezra, his followers (zealots of piety) continued their search, and those books that were found were relevant and those that were written in subsequent centuries (for example, the Maccabees) were selected by them as inspired. But the rigor and meticulousness of the selection, as well as the indisputable authority and traditions of Ezra, did not allow innovations to be introduced into the established canon of the Holy Books. And only in the fairly free and enlightened city of Alexandria, where there was a rich library of antiquity, when translating the Old Testament books into Greek, 72 Jewish interpreters and translators, after deep study, diligent prayers and debates, added (in the Greek text) to the previous 39 books 11 books. It was this version (Septuagint) that became the main one for Christians who spoke predominantly Greek in the first centuries of Christianity.

When Protestants, using ancient handwritten originals, began to translate the Bible into modern national languages, they discovered the absence of these 11 books in all Jewish texts and hastened to declare these books apocrypha (although they did not prohibit them, but only declared them of little importance). It should be noted that even some canonical books (which do not confirm their views) raise doubts among Protestants.

These 11 non-canonical (deuterocanonical) books, that is, books not included in the original canon of Ezra, are revered in Orthodoxy in the same way as all other books of the Bible; they are also used during public worship (read in proverbs), along with the canonical ones. Nowadays, thanks to the successes of biblical archeology, Jewish texts previously considered lost have also become known for some books.

The Apocrypha was written out of revenge, for fame and to convey their ideas to the masses.

There is no single answer to the question why the apocrypha was written. Everything depends greatly on the topic of a particular text and the era of its creation. For example, the following motives are known:

Revenge . Christians and Jews had many opponents, and therefore this is a rather sophisticated way of taking revenge - to write a biblical text that could undermine the foundations of a creed, or confirm its secondary nature in relation to another religion. A striking example is the apocryphal Gospel of Barnabas. Its author describes New Testament events in a context favorable to Islam.

Sermon . How to convey your religious ideas to the masses? It is clear that an anonymous text or manuscript by an unknown person will not be of interest to the public. But if you include your teaching in the hitherto unknown Epistle of the Apostle Paul, for example, then interest in the text will increase significantly. And the critical attitude towards the text will disappear. This method was especially popular among the Gnostics. The same Gospel of Mary is a Gnostic sermon, but in the mouth of Christ it acquires great meaning for the reader.

In the apocrypha of the Gospel of Mary, Mary Magdalene appears as the best disciple of Christ

Thirst for fame . “If I don’t become famous myself, then at least my text will go down in history,” the falsifiers reasoned and composed texts of biblical content, completely devoid of any spiritual meaning. Usually these are just fictional plots that expand on well-known Jewish and Christian plots. The Childhood Gospel of Thomas is an example of this type of writing.

This text is full of stories about the supernatural abilities of Jesus Christ, which carry no moral, spiritual, or sacred meaning. This makes the text similar to myths about the childhood of gods and heroes (for example, Krishna and Hercules), but does not add anything to Christian teaching.