The Apocrypha

The Greek word "apokrypha" is derived from the verb kryptein which means "to hide". This word originally meant "hidden things", and was more precisely applied to books that were "hidden" or "secret" because of their content. For the Jews, the adjective "hidden" attributed to the holy books was not a derogatory term. The apocryphal books originated between the 1st and 3rd centuries B.C. and were added to the Septuagint, which was a Greek translation of the Old Testament written at that time. 

Martin Luther was a German theologian and a key figure in the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. He was instrumental in translating the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek texts into German, making it more accessible to German speakers. Luther's Bible was one of the first translations of the Bible into a modern European language, and played an important role in the spread of Protestantism in Germany and beyond.

It's important to understand that Luther was not a Saint in the true sense of the word, and there were many instances where he misquoted and misinterpreted Scripture and taught heresies. He separated the Deuterocanonical books from the rest of the Old Testament and called them Apocrypha, presenting them as worthy of contemplation but not to be considered the “Word of God”. Indeed, these apocryphal books were not received by common consent for public reading and exposition in the Church. Nevertheless, as books originating from the spiritual Fathers, they were accepted as to be read for the advancement and development of knowledge of history, and for the instruction of good conduct and moral values.  

The apocryphal books fall into three categories:

• Texts which at some point were canonized in a version of the Bible (such as the Book of Enoch which remains in the Ethiopian Bible or the Book of Ezra which is found in modern biblical versions but from which several chapters have been removed)

• Other texts of an evangelical nature that have never been canonized.

• Texts of questionable origin

We will mainly publish those of the first 2 categories.