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    Apocrypha

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    Metchdr
    The document discusses the term "Apocrypha" used by Protestants to refer to 17 books found in the Greek Old Testament but not the Hebrew one. These books are considered deuterocanonical by Catholics, forming a second canon. Orthodox Christians view them as part of Holy Scripture but distinguish their divine inspiration from the 24 book Hebrew canon. While some Church Fathers saw them as inferior, most Orthodox and Catholics consider them part of Scripture. The books provide valuable witness to God and salvation in Christ.

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    Apocrypha

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    Metchdr
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    The document discusses the term "Apocrypha" used by Protestants to refer to 17 books found in the Greek Old Testament but not the Hebrew one. These books are considered deuterocanonical by Catholics, forming a second canon. Orthodox Christians view them as part of Holy Scripture but distinguish their divine inspiration from the 24 book Hebrew canon. While some Church Fathers saw them as inferior, most Orthodox and Catholics consider them part of Scripture. The books provide valuable witness to God and salvation in Christ.

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    The document discusses the term "Apocrypha" used by Protestants to refer to 17 books found in the Greek Old Testament but not the Hebrew one. These books are considered deuterocanonical by Catholics, forming a second canon. Orthodox Christians view them as part of Holy Scripture but distinguish their divine inspiration from the 24 book Hebrew canon. While some Church Fathers saw them as inferior, most Orthodox and Catholics consider them part of Scripture. The books provide valuable witness to God and salvation in Christ.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    68 views1 page

    Apocrypha

    Uploaded by

    Metchdr
    The document discusses the term "Apocrypha" used by Protestants to refer to 17 books found in the Greek Old Testament but not the Hebrew one. These books are considered deuterocanonical by Catholics, forming a second canon. Orthodox Christians view them as part of Holy Scripture but distinguish their divine inspiration from the 24 book Hebrew canon. While some Church Fathers saw them as inferior, most Orthodox and Catholics consider them part of Scripture. The books provide valuable witness to God and salvation in Christ.

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    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    of 1

    A BRIEF NOTE ON THE EXPRESSION “THE APOCRYPHA”

    Protestants use the expression “The Apocrypha” to refer to 17 books currently preserved in
    the Greek Old Testament but not in the Hebrew Old Testament. These books are: Tobit,
    Judith, Esther (additions), Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, the Letter of Jeremiah, the
    Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, 3
    Maccabees, 4 Maccabees, 3 Ezra, 4 Ezra, The Prayer of Manasseh. Although many of these
    books were originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic, the Jews of the Dispersion seem to have
    valued them more than the Jews of Palestine. Hence they especially preserved them in their
    Greek Bible, the Septuagint.

    However, in this century, a Hebrew copy of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus) unexpectedly turned up
    in the lumber-room of a synagogue in Cairo.

    In current English, “apocryphal” usually means “not genuine”. In Greek, it means “hidden”.
    From an Orthodox viewpoint, neither meaning of the word helps us much in understanding
    the books in question.

    The Roman Catholic approach is a bit more helpful to our understanding. They refer to
    these books not as apocryphal but as “deutero-canonical”. In other words, for them the first
    canon is the Hebrew Bible and these 17 books form the second canon. Traditionally the Jews
    held their Bible to be made up of 24 books, more or less as in the current Protestant version
    of the Old Testament but e.g. counting all the 12 minor prophets as only one book. Christians
    arguing with Jews usually could not quote the 17 books as authorities. Some Church Fathers
    such as St Jerome regarded the 17 books as so far inferior to the 24 books that they could
    not form part of any canon of Scripture. Protestants still hold this view and print these books
    separately from the Hebrew Old Testament – either at the end or in a separate cover.

    Nonetheless the majority view of Orthodox and Catholics came to be that of St Augustine –
    these books are part of Holy Scripture and should be printed alongside the other books as
    occurs in the Septuagint and the Vulgate.

    For the Greek Orthodox Church, the Septuagint is itself Holy Scripture. However, it seems
    that they distinguish these 17 books from the 24 books of the Hebrew canon as regards the
    authority of their divine inspiration but nevertheless consider them as part of Holy Scripture
    and as useful and profitable reading for the faithful.

    It seems clear too that the usefulness of Scripture is not limited by its value in controversy
    with the Jews. Indeed, these books are valuable witnesses to the truth of God and to the
    salvation that is to be found in Jesus Christ.

    For example, Wisdom of Solomon develops the Hebrew Old Testament idea of personal
    immortality, e.g. 2:23ff – “For God created man for incorruption and made him in the image of
    his own eternity…The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever
    touch them ”. This book also discusses the role of Wisdom in Creation, e.g. 7:26 - “She is a
    reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his
    goodness.” Sirach provides a valuable summary of the salvation history of Israel. 1
    Maccabees describes the second century struggle against Antiochus Epiphanes, which had
    an important influence on the Jews. It includes stories of martyrdoms that foreshadow later
    Christian martyrdoms. Susanna is read through in the Coptic Liturgy of Bright Saturday.

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