apocrypha

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“
What softens the heart of a man, shipwrecked in storms dire, Tried, like another Ulysses, Pericles, prince of Tyre Head, redconecapped, buffeted, brineblinded A child, a girl, placed in his arms, Marina The leaning of sophists towards the bypaths of apocrypha is a constant quantity, John Eglinton detected.

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Definitions (5)

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  1. A writing or statement of doubtful authorship or authenticity: formerly used, in the predicate, as a quasi-adjective. The writynge is Apocripha whanne the auctor therof is unknowe. Trevisa, tr. of Higden's Polychron., V. 105. (N. E. D.) That … Kings enjoy'd their Crowns by Right descending to them from Adam, that we think not only Apocrypha, but also utterly impossible. Locke, Government, II. i. 11. (N. E. D.)
  2. Specifically— Eccles.: A name given in the early church to various writings of uncertain origin and authority, regarded by some as inspired, but rejected by most authorities or believers. Such books were either works acknowledged to be useful and edifying, but not established as canonical, or else heretical writings absolutely rejected by the church.
  3. [capitalized] A collection of fourteen books subjoined to the canonical books of the Old Testament in the authorized version of the Bible, as originally issued, but now generally omitted. They do not exist in the Hebrew Bible, but are found with others of the same character scattered through the Septuagint and Vulgate versions of the Old Testament. They are: First and Second Esdras (otherwise Third and Fourth Esdras or Ezra, reckoning Nehemiah as Second Ezra or Esdras), Tobit or Tobias, Judith, the Rest of Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Eeclesiasticus, Baruch (as joined to Jeremiah), parts of Daniel (namely, Song of the Three Children, the History of Susanna, the Destruction of Bel and the Dragon), the Prayer of Manasses, and First and Second Maccabees. Most of these are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as fully canonical, though theologians of that church often distinguish them as deuterocanonical, on the ground that their place in the canon was decided later than that of the other books, limiting the name Apocrypha to the two (last) books of Esdras and the Prayer of Manasses, and other books not in the above collection, namely, Third and Fourth Maccabees, a book of Enoch, an additional or 151st Psalm of David, and eighteen Psalms of Solomon. With these sometimes are included certain pseudepigraphic books, such as the Apocalypse of Baruch and the Assumption of Moses. The name Apocrypha is also occasionally made to embrace the Antilegomena of the New Testament. The Greek Church makes no distinction among the books contained in the Septuagint. In the Anglican and Lutheran churches, the Apocrypha are read for example of life and instruction of manners, but not for the establishing of any doctrine. See antilegomena and deu-terocanonical.

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Examples (44)

  • In order to challenge the blasphemous apocrypha, the minister repeated some stories being told and retold about town. —  SON OF A WITCH
  • On hearing the words "canon addition," we are likely to think of the addition of books, such as the apocrypha, to the Bible. —  The Thirsty Theologian
  • Newsweek article, detailing the legacy that Dick Cheney is leaving for the incoming Obama administration, contains a description of a scene that I think may be steeped in apocrypha: —  The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
  • A Newsweek article, detailing the legacy that Dick Cheney is leaving for the incoming Obama administration, contains a description of a scene that I think may be steeped in apocrypha: At a retirement ... —  The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
  • The idea of apocrypha soon became central to this project: Robert Creeley's 1952 poem —  The Chicago Blog
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Etymologies (1)

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  1. In Middle English as a quasi-adjective, in literally sense; from Late Latin apo-crypha, neuter plural (sc. scripta) of apocryphus, from Greek ἀπόκρυφος (neuter plural ἀπόκρυφα, sc. γράμματα or βιβλία), hidden, concealed, obscure, recondite, hard to understand; in ecclesiastical use, of writings, anonymous, of unknown or undetermined authorship or authority, unrecognized, uncanonical, spurious, pseudo-; from ἀποκρύπτειν, hide away, conceal, obscure, from ἀπό away, + κρύπτειν, hide, conceal: see apo-and crypt.
 

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