RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Apocrypha
paid to the difference between the Hebrew and the Greek canon. Wherever the purpose was to fix theoretically, the range of the canon, recourse was had to the Hebrew canon as to something settled over against the fluctuations of the Greek canon. Thus there are a number of lists of the canonical books from the fourth century which confine themselves to the Hebrew canon and either do not mention the other writings or assign to them a lower value. Athanasius is most instructive in this respect. In his Epistola festalis, xxxix (NPNF, 2d ser. iv, 552), after men- 4. The Be- tioning the canonical writings of the
^^fo^ 01d and NeW Testaments> he adds xc usion. ^jgcjom 0£ Solomon, Ecclesiasticus,
Esther, Judith, Tobit, Teaching of the Apostles, and the Shepherd of Hernias as " not included in the canon, but appointed by the Fathers to be read by those who newly join us and wish for instruction in the word of godliness." The specified writings were to be read in the Church, and are expressly differentiated by Athanasius from the "Apocrypha"; they are not mentioned at all in the lists of Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory Nazianzen, and Amphilochius (cf. T. Zahn, Geschichte, II, i, 172-180, 212-219). The usage of Epiphanius varies: in one place he gives only the Hebrew canon; in another he mentions also Tobit and Judith as in the canon, while Ecclesiasticus and Wisdom of Solomon seem to him " doubtful." That he expresses only his own opinion is proved by still a third passage (Hcer., lxxvi), where after the canonical writings, which are not named individually, he mentions Wisdom of Solomon and Ecclesiasticus as " Holy Scripture." His wavering was due to the fact that, on the one hand, he used the canon of the Jews as the norm, while, on the other hand, he was unwilling to give up his Greek Bible (cf. T. Zahn, Geschichte, II, i, 219-226). The only one who in the ancient Church opposed the Apocrypha was Jerome; and this was no doubt due to his Hebrew studies and his zeal for the "body of truth in the Hebrew." The principal passage is in the Prologus galeatus (NPNF, 2d ser. vi, 489), in which he says that the books not on the list he gives must be reckoned among the Apocrypha.
All these declarations, more or less unfavorable to the Apocrypha, lose much of their importance from the fact that the men who excluded the Apocrypha from the canon use them in an impartial manner as though canonical; so Athanasius, Cyril, Epiphanius, and even Jerome, who in spite of his theory is not afraid to quote Ecclesiasticus as "Sacred Scripture." Roman theologians have rightly laid great stress upon this fact; for it proves that, notwithstanding opposite theories, ecclesiastical practise on the whole was to use the Apocryphal like the canonical writings. Moreover, the West decided in their favor. Augustine (De doctrina Christiana, ii, 8) counted the Apocrypha as canonical, and the same was the case with the synods at Hippo (393) and Carthage (397), held under his influence (cf. T. Zahn, Geschichte, II, i, •£16-259). This position was prevalent down to the time of the Reformation, though in the Middle Ages
there were not lacking voices which sided with Jerome (cf. De Wette-Schrader, Einleitung, pp. 64 sqq.). In the Greek Church of the Middle Ages the Apocrypha were as a rule included in the canon. i In the Church of Rome the question concerning 'the Apocrypha was definitively settled by the Council of Trent;, which in its fourth session fixed the extent of the canon in such a manner that it included the Apocrypha. Hence the official edition of the Vulgate (that of 1592) includes the Apocrypha
U
Aecept-
with the other writings, and in the following order: Nehemiah (numbered
Roman as ll Ezra) is followed by Tobit, Catholic Judith, Esther (with the additions), Church. Job; Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch with the Epistle of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel with the additions, the Twelve Minor Prophets, I and II Maccabees. As an appendix (in smaller type and with the explicit statement that they stand " outside the series of canonical books "), the Old Testament is followed by the Prayer of Manasses, III and IV Ezra. From this official canon of the Church of Rome the manuscripts and editions of the Greek Bible differ mainly in this, that in them III Ezra (which, however, is here always numbered as I Ezra) is put on a par with the other writings, IV Ezra (as a rule also the Prayer of Manasses) is wanting, III Maccabees being substituted for it; some few manuscripts and editions contain also IV Maccabees. The arrangement is generally this: I Ezra stands before the canonical Ezra; Judith and Tobit stand together with Esther; Wisdom, and Ecclesiasticus with the Solomonic writings; Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremiah with Jeremiah. The position of the books of the Maccabees is the most uncertain; in the (printed) editions they generally stand at the end of the Old Testament.
In the Protestant Church, Carlstadt (De canonicis scripturis, Wittenberg, 1520r~was the first to pay special attention to the theory of the canon. He sided with Jerome in designating the writings in question as " apocrypha," that is, as non-canonical writings (cf . Credner, Zur Geschichte des Kanons, p. 364). Yet he distinguished within them two classes. On Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Judith, Tobit, I and II Maccabees, he remarked: " These are apocrypha, i.e., outsMe*of the Hebrew canon, nevertheless they are holy writings." The others, however, were for him " plainly apocrypha, deservedly exposed to the strictures of the censor (Credner, 389) ." Though this discrimination has found no favor, Carlstadt's position is on the whole that of the Protestant Church. In the first complete original edition of Luther's translation (1534) the Apocrypha formed a supplement to the Old Testament with the heading "Apocrypha; that is, books which, although not estimated equal to the Holy Scriptures, are yet useful and good to read." As to the number of received writings, Luther's Bible agreed with the Vulgate, with the modification, however, that of the three books
6. Rejected by Protestants.
Apocrypha