Apocrypha (from the Greek, 'things concealed or spurious') is a term applied in the earliest churches to various sacred or professedly inspired writings, sometimes given to those whose authors were unknown, sometimes to those with a hidden meaning, and sometimes to those considered objectionable. The term is specially applied to the fourteen undermentioned books which were written during the two centuries preceding the birth of Christ. They were written, not in Hebrew, but in Greek, and the Jews never allowed them a place in their sacredcanon. They were incorporated into the Septuagint, and thence passed to the Vulgate. The Greek Church excluded them from the canon in 360 at the Council of Laodicea. The LatinChurch treated them with more favour, but it was not until 1546 that they were formally admitted into the canon of the Church of Rome by a decree of the Council of Trent. The Anglican Church says they may be read for example of life and instruction of manners, but that the church does not apply them to establish any doctrine. All other Protestant churches in Britain and America ignore them. The following fourteen books form the Apocrypha of the English Bible: - The first and second Books of Esdras, Tobit, Judith, the rest of the Book of Esther, the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Jesus the son of Sirach, or Ecclesiasticus, Baruch the Prophet, the Song of the Three Children, Susanna and the Elders, Bel and the Dragon, the Prayer of Manasses, and the first and second Books of Maccabees.
Besides the Apocryphal books of the Old Testament there are many other books composed in the earlier ages of Christianity, and published under the names of Christ and his apostles, or of such immediate followers as from their character or means of intimate knowledge might give an apparent plausibility for such forgeries. These writings comprise: 1st, the Apocryphal Gospels, which treat of the history of Joseph and the Virgin before the birth of Christ, of the infancy of Jesus, and of the acts of Pilate; 2d, the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles; and 3d, the Apocryphal Apocalypses, none of which have obtained canonical recognition by any of the churches. Research Apocrypha
The maccabees are two ancient historical books, which give accounts of Jewish affairs in or about the time of the Maccabean princes. They are received as canonical books in the Roman Catholic Church, but are included in the Apocrypha by Protestants. Research Maccabees
Chasidim or Pietists was the name of a Jewish sect which appeared in the middle of the 18th century. Its adherents were strongly inclined to mysticism, depreciated the Old Testament and its ordinances, believed in extraordinary cures, etc. They were most numerous in Russian Poland, Romania, and some parts of Galicia and Hungary, and were regarded with great antipathy by the orthodox Jews. Chasidim is also the name given to a sect which sprang up about the 2nd century BC. This party is credited with the origin of the revolt of the Maccabees, with combating the erroneous notions bred among the Jews by the study of Grecian philosophy, and with being the parent stock of the Pharisees. Research Chasidim
The Maccabees was a name given to the Asmonaegans, a family of Jewish patriots, who headed a religious revolt in the reign of Antiochus IV from 168 to 161 BC, which led to a period of freedom for Israel. Research Maccabees
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Apocrypha
