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. 

These apocryphal books were not accepted by common consent for public reading and exposition in the Church. Nevertheless, since these books were the work of spiritual fathers, they were accepted to be read for the advancement and development of historical knowledge and for the instruction of moral values and ethics.  

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.