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Apocrypha are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity , the word apocryphal (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to writings that were to be read privately rather than in the public context of church services. Apocrypha were edifying Christian works that were not always initially included as canonical scripture .

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146-413: The adjective "apocryphal", meaning of doubtful authenticity, mythical, fictional, is recorded from the late 16th century, then taking on the popular meaning of "false," "spurious," "bad," or "heretical." It may be used for any book which might have scriptural claims but which does not appear in the canon accepted by the author. A related term for non-canonical apocryphal texts whose authorship seems incorrect

292-488: A James, brother of Jesus . However, most modern scholars tend to reject this line of reasoning, since the author himself does not indicate any familial relationship with Jesus . A similar problem presents itself with the Epistle of Jude (Ἰούδας Ioudas ): the writer names himself a brother of James (ἀδελφὸς δὲ Ἰακώβου adelphos de Iakóbou ), but it is not clear which James is meant. According to some Christian traditions, this

438-782: A 14th-century Christian Humanist, had declared in his biblical translation that "whatever book is in the Old Testament besides these twenty-five shall be set among the apocrypha, that is, without authority or belief." Nevertheless, his translation of the Bible included the apocrypha and the Epistle of the Laodiceans . Martin Luther did not class apocryphal books as being scripture, but in the German Luther Bible (1534)

584-549: A detailed introduction presenting the supposed actual author, with Burroughs himself pretending to be no more than the literary editor. J.R.R. Tolkien in The Lord of the Rings presents that story and The Hobbit as translated from the fictional Red Book of Westmarch written by characters within the novels. The twelve books of The Flashman Papers series by George MacDonald Fraser similarly pretend to be transcriptions of

730-526: A faster pace. It is characterised by greater use of prepositions, and word order that is closer to modern Romance languages, for example, while grammatically retaining more or less the same formal rules as Classical Latin. Ultimately, Latin diverged into a distinct written form, where the commonly spoken form was perceived as a separate language, for instance early French or Italian dialects, that could be transcribed differently. It took some time for these to be viewed as wholly different from Latin however. After

876-743: A few in German , Dutch , Norwegian , Danish and Swedish . Latin is still spoken in Vatican City, a city-state situated in Rome that is the seat of the Catholic Church . The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part, in substantial works or in fragments to be analyzed in philology . They are in part the subject matter of the field of classics . Their works were published in manuscript form before

1022-404: A few. Famous and well regarded writers included Petrarch, Erasmus, Salutati , Celtis , George Buchanan and Thomas More . Non fiction works were long produced in many subjects, including the sciences, law, philosophy, historiography and theology. Famous examples include Isaac Newton 's Principia . Latin was also used as a convenient medium for translations of important works first written in

1168-627: A later author's predictions of the coming fall of the Seleucid Empire . Christian scholars traditionally maintain that nothing known to be pseudepigraphical was admitted to the New Testament canon. The Catholic Encyclopedia notes, The first four historical books of the New Testament are supplied with titles, which however ancient, do not go back to the respective authors of those sacred texts. The Canon of Muratori , Clement of Alexandria , and St. Irenaeus bear distinct witness to

1314-571: A maioribus tradita non placuit iis dari locum nec admitti ad auctoritatem. "Concerning these scriptures, which are called apocryphal, for the reason that many things are found in them corrupt and against the true faith handed down by the elders, it has pleased them that they not be given a place nor be admitted to authority." The Gelasian Decree (generally held now as being the work of an anonymous scholar between 519 and 553) refers to religious works by church fathers Eusebius , Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria as apocrypha. Augustine defined

1460-560: A native language, Medieval Latin was used across Western and Catholic Europe during the Middle Ages as a working and literary language from the 9th century to the Renaissance , which then developed a classicizing form, called Renaissance Latin . This was the basis for Neo-Latin which evolved during the early modern period . In these periods Latin was used productively and generally taught to be written and spoken, at least until

1606-687: A noted German humanist scholar and poet of the German Renaissance , collected numerous Greek and Latin manuscripts in his function as librarian of the Imperial Library in Vienna. In a 1504 letter to the Venetian publisher Aldus Manutius Celtes claimed to have discovered the missing books of Ovid 's Fasti . However, it turned out that the purported Ovid verses had actually been composed by an 11th-century monk and were known to

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1752-567: A result, the list has variants, as well as alternative names. In addition to the historical phases, Ecclesiastical Latin refers to the styles used by the writers of the Roman Catholic Church from late antiquity onward, as well as by Protestant scholars. The earliest known form of Latin is Old Latin, also called Archaic or Early Latin, which was spoken from the Roman Kingdom , traditionally founded in 753 BC, through

1898-407: A separate language, existing more or less in parallel with the literary or educated Latin, but this is now widely dismissed. The term 'Vulgar Latin' remains difficult to define, referring both to informal speech at any time within the history of Latin, and the kind of informal Latin that had begun to move away from the written language significantly in the post-Imperial period, that led ultimately to

2044-600: A separate section. Luther did not include the deuterocanonical books in his Old Testament, terming them "Apocrypha, that are books which are not considered equal to the Holy Scriptures, but are useful and good to read." The Eastern Orthodox Church accepts four other books into its canon than what are contained in the Catholic canon: Psalm 151 , the Prayer of Manasseh , 3 Maccabees , and 1 Esdras . The status of

2190-709: A small number of Latin services held in the Anglican church. These include an annual service in Oxford, delivered with a Latin sermon; a relic from the period when Latin was the normal spoken language of the university. In the Western world, many organizations, governments and schools use Latin for their mottos due to its association with formality, tradition, and the roots of Western culture . Canada's motto A mari usque ad mare ("from sea to sea") and most provincial mottos are also in Latin. The Canadian Victoria Cross

2336-429: A sort of informal language academy dedicated to maintaining and perpetuating educated speech. Philological analysis of Archaic Latin works, such as those of Plautus , which contain fragments of everyday speech, gives evidence of an informal register of the language, Vulgar Latin (termed sermo vulgi , "the speech of the masses", by Cicero ). Some linguists, particularly in the nineteenth century, believed this to be

2482-572: A spoken and written language by the scholarship by the Renaissance humanists . Petrarch and others began to change their usage of Latin as they explored the texts of the Classical Latin world. Skills of textual criticism evolved to create much more accurate versions of extant texts through the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and some important texts were rediscovered. Comprehensive versions of authors' works were published by Isaac Casaubon , Joseph Scaliger and others. Nevertheless, despite

2628-636: A spread of canonical texts similar to the Ethiopian Orthodox Christians . During the Apostolic Age many Jewish texts of Hellenistic origin existed within Judaism and were frequently used by Christians. Patristic authorities frequently recognized these books as important to the emergence of Christianity, but the inspired authority and value of the apocrypha remained widely disputed. Christians included several of these books in

2774-432: A strictly left-to-right script. During the late republic and into the first years of the empire, from about 75 BC to AD 200, a new Classical Latin arose, a conscious creation of the orators, poets, historians and other literate men, who wrote the great works of classical literature , which were taught in grammar and rhetoric schools. Today's instructional grammars trace their roots to such schools , which served as

2920-693: A vernacular, such as those of Descartes . Latin education underwent a process of reform to classicise written and spoken Latin. Schooling remained largely Latin medium until approximately 1700. Until the end of the 17th century, the majority of books and almost all diplomatic documents were written in Latin. Afterwards, most diplomatic documents were written in French (a Romance language ) and later native or other languages. Education methods gradually shifted towards written Latin, and eventually concentrating solely on reading skills. The decline of Latin education took several centuries and proceeded much more slowly than

3066-411: Is Veritas ("truth"). Veritas was the goddess of truth, a daughter of Saturn, and the mother of Virtue. Switzerland has adopted the country's Latin short name Helvetia on coins and stamps, since there is no room to use all of the nation's four official languages . For a similar reason, it adopted the international vehicle and internet code CH , which stands for Confoederatio Helvetica ,

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3212-521: Is pseudepigrapha , a term that means " false attribution ". In Christianity, the name " the Apocrypha " is applied to a particular set of books which, when they appear in a Bible, are sometimes placed between the Old and New Testaments in a section called "Apocrypha." The canonicity of such books took longer to determine. Various of these books are accepted by the Catholic Church , Orthodox Churches and

3358-897: Is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages . Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio ), the lower Tiber area around Rome , Italy. Through the expansion of the Roman Republic it became the dominant language in the Italian Peninsula and subsequently throughout the Roman Empire . By the late Roman Republic , Old Latin had evolved into standardized Classical Latin . Vulgar Latin refers to

3504-640: Is a reversal of the original phrase Non terrae plus ultra ("No land further beyond", "No further!"). According to legend , this phrase was inscribed as a warning on the Pillars of Hercules , the rocks on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar and the western end of the known, Mediterranean world. Charles adopted the motto following the discovery of the New World by Columbus, and it also has metaphorical suggestions of taking risks and striving for excellence. In

3650-872: Is also a category of modern pseudepigrapha . Examples of books labeled Old Testament pseudepigrapha from the Protestant point of view are the Book of Enoch , the Book of Jubilees (both of which are canonical in Orthodox Tewahedo Christianity and the Beta Israel branch of Judaism); the Life of Adam and Eve and " Pseudo-Philo ". The term pseudepigrapha is also commonly used to describe numerous works of Jewish religious literature written from about 300 BCE to 300 CE. Not all of these works are actually pseudepigraphical. It also refers to books of

3796-411: Is formed from the combination of apo (away) and kryptein (hide or conceal). The word apocrypha has undergone a major change in meaning throughout the centuries. The word apocrypha in its ancient Christian usage originally meant a text read in private, rather than in public church settings. In English, it later came to have a sense of the esoteric, suspicious, or heretical, largely because of

3942-552: Is found in any widespread language, the languages of Spain, France, Portugal, and Italy have retained a remarkable unity in phonological forms and developments, bolstered by the stabilising influence of their common Christian (Roman Catholic) culture. It was not until the Muslim conquest of Spain in 711, cutting off communications between the major Romance regions, that the languages began to diverge seriously. The spoken Latin that would later become Romanian diverged somewhat more from

4088-637: Is here practically equivalent to "excluded from the public use of the church" and prepares the way for an even less favourable use of the word. In general use, the word apocrypha came to mean "of doubtful authenticity". This meaning also appears in Origen 's prologue to his commentary on the Song of Songs , of which only the Latin translation survives: De scripturis his, quae appellantur apocriphae, pro eo quod multa in iis corrupta et contra fidem veram inveniuntur

4234-689: Is modelled after the British Victoria Cross which has the inscription "For Valour". Because Canada is officially bilingual, the Canadian medal has replaced the English inscription with the Latin Pro Valore . Spain's motto Plus ultra , meaning "even further", or figuratively "Further!", is also Latin in origin. It is taken from the personal motto of Charles V , Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain (as Charles I), and

4380-692: Is not John the Apostle, but there is no scholarly consensus for any particular historical figure. (see: Authorship of the Johannine works ). Two of the letters claim to have been written or issued by Simon Peter , one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Therefore, they have traditionally been called the Petrine epistles . However, most modern scholars agree the second epistle was probably not written by Peter, because it appears to have been written in

4526-405: Is pseudepigraphically attributed to a famous gourmet, Apicius , even though it is not clear who actually assembled the recipes. In secular literary studies, when works of antiquity have been demonstrated not to have been written by the authors to whom they have traditionally been ascribed, some writers apply the prefix pseudo- to their names. Thus the encyclopedic compilation of Greek myth called

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4672-1011: Is taught at many high schools, especially in Europe and the Americas. It is most common in British public schools and grammar schools, the Italian liceo classico and liceo scientifico , the German Humanistisches Gymnasium and the Dutch gymnasium . Occasionally, some media outlets, targeting enthusiasts, broadcast in Latin. Notable examples include Radio Bremen in Germany, YLE radio in Finland (the Nuntii Latini broadcast from 1989 until it

4818-559: Is the same James as the author of the Epistle of James, who was allegedly a brother of Jesus; and so, this Jude should also be a brother of Jesus, despite the fact he does not indicate any such thing in his text. The Gospel of Peter and the attribution to Paul of the Epistle to the Laodiceans are both examples of pseudepigrapha that were not included in the New Testament canon. They are often referred to as New Testament apocrypha . Further examples of New Testament pseudepigrapha include

4964-543: The Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum (CIL). Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same: volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance and relevant information. The reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy . About 270,000 inscriptions are known. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. In

5110-616: The Bibliotheca is often now attributed, not to Apollodorus of Athens , but to "pseudo-Apollodorus" and the Catasterismi , recounting the translations of mythic figure into asterisms and constellations, not to the serious astronomer Eratosthenes , but to a "pseudo-Eratosthenes". The prefix may be abbreviated, as in "ps-Apollodorus" or "ps-Eratosthenes". In biblical studies , pseudepigrapha refers particularly to works which purport to be written by noted authorities in either

5256-562: The Pseudo-Apuleius (author of a fifth-century herbal ascribed to Apuleius), and the author traditionally referred to as the " Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite ", are classic examples of pseudepigraphy. In the fifth century the moralist Salvian published Contra avaritiam ("Against avarice") under the name of Timothy; the letter in which he explained to his former pupil, Bishop Salonius, his motives for so doing survives. There

5402-700: The Assumption of Moses and the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs , which are included in no biblical canon. The establishment of a largely settled uniform canon was a process of centuries, and what the term canon (as well as apocrypha ) precisely meant also saw development. The canonical process took place with believers recognizing writings as being inspired by God from known or accepted origins, subsequently being followed by official affirmation of what had become largely established through

5548-928: The Christian Bible and are foundational for the Christian Church. Therefore, those letters which some think to be pseudepigraphic are not considered any less valuable to Christians. Some of these epistles are termed as "disputed" or "pseudepigraphical" letters because they do not appear to have been written by Paul. They instead appear to have come from followers writing in Paul's name, often using material from his surviving letters. Some choose to believe that these followers may have had access to letters written by Paul that no longer survive, although this theory still depends on someone other than Paul writing these books. Some theologians prefer to simply distinguish between "undisputed" and "disputed" letters, thus avoiding

5694-656: The Church of the East , as deuterocanonical . Some Protestant traditions reject them outright; others regard the Apocrypha as non-canonical books that are useful for instruction. The word's origin is the Medieval Latin adjective apocryphus (secret, or non-canonical) from the Greek adjective ἀπόκρυφος , apokryphos , (private) from the verb ἀποκρύπτειν , apokryptein (to hide away). It comes from Greek and

5840-543: The Empire of Nicaea according to William of Rubruck . Even so, many contemporary scholars believed Celtes and continued to write about the existence of the missing books until well into the 17th century. Pseudepigraphy has been employed as a metafictional technique. Authors who have made notable use of this device include James Hogg ( The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner ), Thomas Carlyle ( Sartor Resartus ), Jorge Luis Borges (" An Examination of

5986-803: The Gnostics (see Acts of Thomas , pp. 10, 27, 44). Sinologist Anna Seidel refers to texts and even items produced by ancient Chinese sages as apocryphal and studied their uses during Six Dynasties China (AD 220–589). These artifacts were used as symbols legitimizing and guaranteeing the Emperor's Heavenly Mandate . Examples of these include talismans, charts, writs, tallies, and registers. The first examples were stones, jade pieces, bronze vessels and weapons, but came to include talismans and magic diagrams. From their roots in Zhou era China (1066–256 BC), these items came to be surpassed in value by texts by

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6132-537: The Gospel of Barnabas and the Gospel of Judas , which begins by presenting itself as "the secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot". The Vision of Ezra is an ancient apocryphal text purportedly written by the biblical scribe Ezra . The earliest surviving manuscripts, composed in Latin , date to the 11th century CE, although textual peculiarities strongly suggest that

6278-511: The Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220). Most of these texts have been destroyed as Emperors, particularly during the Han dynasty, collected these legitimizing objects and proscribed, forbade and burnt nearly all of them to prevent them from falling into the hands of political rivals. Apocrypha was also applied to writings that were hidden not because of their divinity but because of their questionable value to

6424-583: The Holy See , the primary language of its public journal , the Acta Apostolicae Sedis , and the working language of the Roman Rota . Vatican City is also home to the world's only automatic teller machine that gives instructions in Latin. In the pontifical universities postgraduate courses of Canon law are taught in Latin, and papers are written in the same language. There are

6570-450: The Middle Ages , borrowing from Latin occurred from ecclesiastical usage established by Saint Augustine of Canterbury in the 6th century or indirectly after the Norman Conquest , through the Anglo-Norman language . From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed " inkhorn terms ", as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by

6716-404: The Roman Rite of the Catholic Church at the Vatican City . The church continues to adapt concepts from modern languages to Ecclesiastical Latin of the Latin language. Contemporary Latin is more often studied to be read rather than spoken or actively used. Latin has greatly influenced the English language , along with a large number of others, and historically contributed many words to

6862-400: The Romance languages . During the Classical period, informal language was rarely written, so philologists have been left with only individual words and phrases cited by classical authors, inscriptions such as Curse tablets and those found as graffiti . In the Late Latin period, language changes reflecting spoken (non-classical) norms tend to be found in greater quantities in texts. As it

7008-453: The Second Temple period , not accepted as sacred manuscripts when the Hebrew Bible was canonized . Some of these books are considered sacred by some Christians , and are included in their versions of the Old Testament . The Jewish apocrypha is distinctive from the New Testament apocrypha and biblical apocrypha as it is the only one of these collections that works within a Jewish theological framework. Although Orthodox Jews believe in

7154-478: The Septuagint in the fourth century or later and the Vulgate , but not in the Hebrew Bible or in Protestant Bibles . The Catholic Church distinguishes only between the deuterocanonical and all other books; the latter are called biblical apocrypha , which in Catholic usage includes the pseudepigrapha. In addition, two books considered canonical in the Orthodox Tewahedo churches, the Book of Enoch and Book of Jubilees , are categorized as pseudepigrapha from

7300-510: The Western Roman Empire fell in 476 and Germanic kingdoms took its place, the Germanic people adopted Latin as a language more suitable for legal and other, more formal uses. While the written form of Latin was increasingly standardized into a fixed form, the spoken forms began to diverge more greatly. Currently, the five most widely spoken Romance languages by number of native speakers are Spanish , Portuguese , French , Italian , and Romanian . Despite dialectal variation, which

7446-441: The liturgy . An example of a text that is both apocryphal and pseudepigraphical is the Odes of Solomon . It is considered pseudepigraphical because it was not actually written by Solomon but instead is a collection of early Christian (first to second century) hymns and poems, originally written not in Hebrew, and apocryphal because they were not accepted in either the Tanakh or the New Testament . Protestants have also applied

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7592-497: The western part of the Roman Empire to the Pope . Composed probably in the 8th century, it was used, especially in the 13th century, in support of claims of political authority by the papacy . Lorenzo Valla , an Italian Catholic priest and Renaissance humanist , is credited with first exposing the forgery with solid philological arguments in 1439–1440, although the document's authenticity had been repeatedly contested since 1001. The Privilegium maius ('greater privilege')

7738-482: The 19th century) are treated as a separate category of literature from the "official" Jataka stories that have been more-or-less formally canonized from at least the 5th century—as attested to in ample epigraphic and archaeological evidence, such as extant illustrations in bas relief from ancient temple walls. The Jewish apocrypha, known in Hebrew as הספרים החיצונים ( Sefarim Hachizonim: "the external books"), are books written in large part by Jews , especially during

7884-484: The 8th and 9th century CE, and falsely attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad (see Quranism ). The word pseudepigrapha (from the Greek : ψευδής , pseudḗs , "false" and ἐπιγραφή , epigraphḗ , "name" or "inscription" or "ascription"; thus when taken together it means "false superscription or title"; see the related epigraphy ) is the plural of "pseudepigraphon" (sometimes Latinized as "pseudepigraphum"). There have probably been pseudepigrapha almost from

8030-469: The Anglican Churches. Anabaptists use the Luther Bible , which contains the intertestamental books; Amish wedding ceremonies include "the retelling of the marriage of Tobias and Sarah in the Apocrypha". The Anglican Communion accepts the Protestant Apocrypha "for instruction in life and manners, but not for the establishment of doctrine (Article VI in the Thirty-Nine Articles )", and many "lectionary readings in The Book of Common Prayer are taken from

8176-401: The Apocrypha are regularly appointed to be read in the daily, Sunday, and special services of Morning and Evening Prayer. There are altogether 111 such lessons in the latest revised American Prayer Book Lectionary [The books used are: II Esdras, Tobit, Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, Three Holy Children, and I Maccabees.] The position of the Church is best summarized in the words of Article Six of

8322-479: The Apocrypha", with these lessons being "read in the same ways as those from the Old Testament". The first Methodist liturgical book, The Sunday Service of the Methodists , employs verses from the Apocrypha, such as in the Eucharistic liturgy. The Protestant Apocrypha contains three books (1 Esdras, 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh) that are accepted by many Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches as canonical, but are regarded as non-canonical by

8468-404: The Apocryphal books, the Book of Enoch was never referenced by Jesus. The genuineness and inspiration of Enoch were believed in by the writer of the Epistle of Barnabas , Irenaeus , Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria and many others of the early church . The Epistles of Paul and the Gospels also show influences from the Book of Jubilees , which is part of the Ethiopian canon, as well as

8614-405: The Apostle , and Jesus's brothers James and Jude . Three of the seven letters are anonymous. These three have traditionally been attributed to John the Apostle , the son of Zebedee and one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. Consequently, these letters have been labelled the Johannine epistles , despite the fact that none of the epistles mentions any author. Most modern scholars believe the author

8760-496: The Book of Tobit in services of Holy Matrimony. According to the Orthodox Anglican Church : On the other hand, the Anglican Communion emphatically maintains that the Apocrypha is part of the Bible and is to be read with respect by her members. Two of the hymns used in the American Prayer Book office of Morning Prayer, the Benedictus es and Benedicite, are taken from the Apocrypha. One of the offertory sentences in Holy Communion comes from an apocryphal book (Tob. 4: 8–9). Lessons from

8906-451: The British Crown. The motto is featured on all presently minted coinage and has been featured in most coinage throughout the nation's history. Several states of the United States have Latin mottos , such as: Many military organizations today have Latin mottos, such as: Some law governing bodies in the Philippines have Latin mottos, such as: Some colleges and universities have adopted Latin mottos, for example Harvard University 's motto

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9052-402: The Catholic Council of Trent reconfirmed the canon of Augustine, dating to the second and third centuries, declaring "He is also to be anathema who does not receive these entire books, with all their parts, as they have been accustomed to be read in the Catholic Church, and are found in the ancient editions of the Latin Vulgate , as sacred and canonical." The whole of the books in question, with

9198-493: The Catholic Church and are therefore not included in modern Catholic Bibles. In the 1800s, the British and Foreign Bible Society did not regularly publish the intertestamental section in its Bibles, citing the cost of printing the Apocrypha in addition to the Old Testament and New Testament as a major factor; this legacy came to characterize English-language Bibles in Great Britain and the Americas, unlike in Europe where Protestant Bibles are printed with 80 books in three sections:

9344-482: The Catholic Church include Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Sirach, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom and additions to Esther, Daniel, and Baruch. The Book of Enoch is included in the biblical canon of the Oriental Orthodox churches of Ethiopia and Eritrea. The Epistle of Jude alludes to a story in the book of Enoch, and some believe the use of this book also appears in the four gospels and 1 Peter . While Jesus and his disciples sometimes used phrases also featured in some of

9490-420: The Catholic Church, affirmed by the Council of Rome (AD 382) and later reaffirmed by the Council of Trent (1545–63); all of the books of the Protestant Apocrypha are considered canonical by the Eastern Orthodox Church and are referred to as anagignoskomena per the Synod of Jerusalem (1672). To this date, scripture readings from the Apocrypha are included in the lectionaries of the Lutheran Churches and

9636-486: The English lexicon , particularly after the Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons and the Norman Conquest . Latin and Ancient Greek roots are heavily used in English vocabulary in theology , the sciences , medicine , and law . A number of phases of the language have been recognized, each distinguished by subtle differences in vocabulary, usage, spelling, and syntax. There are no hard and fast rules of classification; different scholars emphasize different features. As

9782-458: The Fathers had appointed to be read to catechumens for edification and instruction; these are the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Esther, Judith, Tobias, the Didache, or Doctrine of the Apostles, and the Shepherd of Hermas. All others are apocrypha and the inventions of heretics (Festal Epistle for 367)". Nevertheless, none of these constituted indisputable definitions, and significant scholarly doubts and disagreements about

9928-416: The Grinch Stole Christmas! , The Cat in the Hat , and a book of fairy tales, " fabulae mirabiles ", are intended to garner popular interest in the language. Additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissner's Latin Phrasebook . Some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series,

10074-508: The Hebrew canon (the protocanon ) excluded from the canon all of the Old Testament not found there. This view is reflected in the canon of Melito of Sardis , and in the prefaces and letters of Jerome. A third view was that the books were not as valuable as the canonical scriptures of the Hebrew collection, but were of value for moral uses, as introductory texts for new converts from paganism , and to be read in congregations. They were referred to as " ecclesiastical " works by Rufinus . In 1546,

10220-411: The Jews as part of the Hebrew Bible canon and the Apocrypha is not part of the historical Jewish canon. Early church fathers such as Athanasius , Melito , Origen , and Cyril of Jerusalem , spoke against the canonicity of much or all of the apocrypha, but the most weighty opposition was the fourth century Catholic scholar Jerome who preferred the Hebrew canon, whereas Augustine and others preferred

10366-483: The KJV bible until 1947). Pseudepigrapha Pseudepigrapha (also anglicized as "pseudepigraph" or "pseudepigraphs") are falsely attributed works, texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past. The name of the author to whom the work is falsely attributed is often prefixed with the particle " pseudo- ", such as for example " pseudo-Aristotle " or " pseudo-Dionysius ": these terms refer to

10512-462: The New Testament canon whose authorship is misrepresented. Such works include the following: Various canonical works accepted as scripture have since been reexamined and considered by modern scholars in the 19th century onward as likely cases of pseudepigraphica. The Book of Daniel directly claims to be written by the prophet Daniel , yet there are strong reasons to believe it was not written until centuries after Daniel's death, such as references to

10658-442: The Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament. In the present-day, "English Bibles with the Apocrypha are becoming more popular again", usually being printed as intertestamental books . The Revised Common Lectionary , in use by most mainline Protestants including Methodists and Moravians, lists readings from the Apocrypha in the liturgical calendar , although alternate Old Testament scripture lessons are provided. The status of

10804-720: The Old Testament, Apocrypha, and New Testament; examples include the " Matthew's Bible (1537), the Great Bible (1539), the Geneva Bible (1560), the Bishop's Bible (1568), and the King James Bible (1611)". Fourteen out of eighty biblical books comprise the Protestant Apocrypha, first published as such in Luther's Bible (1534). Many of these texts are considered canonical Old Testament books by

10950-828: The Old and New Testaments or by persons involved in Jewish or Christian religious study or history. These works can also be written about biblical matters, often in such a way that they appear to be as authoritative as works which have been included in the many versions of the Judeo-Christian scriptures. Eusebius indicates this usage dates back at least to Serapion of Antioch , whom Eusebius records as having said: "But those writings which are falsely inscribed with their name ( ta pseudepigrapha ), we as experienced persons reject...." Many such works were also referred to as Apocrypha , which originally connoted "private" or "non-public": those that were not endorsed for public reading in

11096-484: The Old and New Testaments. They are also sometimes called "intertestamental" by religious groups who do not recognize Hellenistic Judaism as belonging with either Jewish or Christian testaments. Slightly varying collections of apocryphal, deuterocanonical or intertestamental books of the Bible form part of the Catholic , Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox canons. The deuterocanonical or intertestamental books of

11242-544: The Protestant canon (such as listed in the Westminster Confession of 1646), which has been well established for centuries, with many today supporting the use of the Apocrypha and others contending against the Apocrypha using various arguments. The adjective apocryphal is commonly used in modern English to refer to any text or story considered to be of dubious veracity or authority, although it may contain some moral truth. In this broader metaphorical sense,

11388-558: The Protestant interpretation of the usefulness of non-canonical texts. The word apocryphal ( ἀπόκρυφος ) was first applied to writings that were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered too profound or too sacred to be disclosed to anyone other than the initiated. For example, the disciples of the Gnostic Prodicus boasted that they possessed the secret ( ἀπόκρυφα ) books of Zoroaster . The term in general enjoyed high consideration among

11534-567: The Thirty-nine Articles: "In the name of Holy Scripture we do understand those canonical Books of the Old and New Testament, of whose authority there was never any doubt in the Church... And the other Books (as Hierome [St. Jerome] saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine. Though Protestant Bibles historically include 80 books , 66 of these form

11680-530: The United States the unofficial national motto until 1956 was E pluribus unum meaning "Out of many, one". The motto continues to be featured on the Great Seal . It also appears on the flags and seals of both houses of congress and the flags of the states of Michigan, North Dakota, New York, and Wisconsin. The motto's 13 letters symbolically represent the original Thirteen Colonies which revolted from

11826-563: The University of Kentucky, the University of Oxford and also Princeton University. There are many websites and forums maintained in Latin by enthusiasts. The Latin Misplaced Pages has more than 130,000 articles. Italian , French , Portuguese , Spanish , Romanian , Catalan , Romansh , Sardinian and other Romance languages are direct descendants of Latin. There are also many Latin borrowings in English and Albanian , as well as

11972-582: The Works of Herbert Quain "; " Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote "), Vladimir Nabokov ( Pale Fire ), Stanislaw Lem ( A Perfect Vacuum ; Imaginary Magnitude ) Roberto Bolaño ( Nazi Literature in the Americas ) and Stefan Heym ( The Lenz Papers ). Edgar Rice Burroughs also presented many of his works – including the most well-known, the Tarzan books – as pseudepigrapha, prefacing each book with

12118-595: The Zohar. This accords with the traditional claim by adherents that Kabbalah is the concealed part of the Oral Torah . Modern academic analysis of the Zohar, such as that by the 20th century religious historian Gershom Scholem , has theorized that de León was the actual author, as textual analysis points to a Medieval Spanish Jewish writer rather than one living in Roman-ruled Palestine. Conrad Celtes ,

12264-440: The anonymous authors of works falsely attributed to Aristotle and Dionysius the Areopagite , respectively. In biblical studies , the term pseudepigrapha can refer to an assorted collection of Jewish religious works thought to be written c. 300 BCE to 300 CE. They are distinguished by Protestants from the deuterocanonical books (Catholic and Orthodox) or Apocrypha (Protestant), the books that appear in extant copies of

12410-601: The apocrypha are published in a separate section from the other books, although the Lutheran and Anglican lists are different. Anabaptists use the Luther Bible , which contains the intertestamental books; Amish wedding ceremonies include "the retelling of the marriage of Tobias and Sarah in the Apocrypha". The fathers of Anabaptism, such as Menno Simons , quoted "them [the Apocrypha] with the same authority and nearly

12556-634: The apocryphal writings in dispute, with little distinction made between them and the rest of the Old Testament . Others argue that the Septuagint of the first century did not contain these books but they were added later by Christians. The earliest extant manuscripts of the Septuagint are from the fourth century, and suffer greatly from a lack of uniformity as regards containing apocryphal books, and some also contain books classed as pseudepigrapha , from which texts were cited by some early writers in

12702-416: The authorship ascribed to them, but which stood outside both the biblical canons recognized by Protestants and Catholics. These works were also outside the particular set of books that Roman Catholics called deuterocanonical and to which Protestants had generally applied the term Apocryphal. Accordingly, the term pseudepigraphical , as now used often among both Protestants and Roman Catholics (allegedly for

12848-425: The benefit of those who do not understand Latin. There are also songs written with Latin lyrics . The libretto for the opera-oratorio Oedipus rex by Igor Stravinsky is in Latin. Parts of Carl Orff 's Carmina Burana are written in Latin. Enya has recorded several tracks with Latin lyrics. The continued instruction of Latin is seen by some as a highly valuable component of a liberal arts education. Latin

12994-551: The book only appearing in the 2nd century BCE and onward. The book is an apocalypse wherein Daniel offers a series of predictions of the future, and is meant to reassure the Jews of the period that the tyrant Antiochus IV Epiphanes would soon be overthrown. By backdating the book to the 6th century BCE and providing a series of correct prophecies as to the history of the past 400 years, the authorship claim of Daniel would have strengthened

13140-414: The books that Roman Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants accept. The same is true of some Jewish religious movements . Many works that are "apocryphal" are otherwise considered genuine. There is a tendency not to use the word pseudepigrapha when describing works later than about 300 CE when referring to biblical matters. But the late-appearing Gospel of Barnabas , Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius ,

13286-656: The books that the Catholic Church terms Deuterocanonicals (second canon) and Protestantism refers to as Apocrypha has been an issue of disagreement that preceded the Reformation. Many believe that the pre-Christian-era Jewish translation (into Greek) of holy scriptures known as the Septuagint , a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures originally compiled around 280 BC, originally included

13432-595: The canons of the Christian Bibles , calling them the "apocrypha" or the "hidden books". In the sixteenth century, during the Protestant Reformation , the canonical validity of the intertestamental books was challenged and fourteen books were classed in 80 book Protestant Bibles as an intertestamental section called the Apocrypha, which straddles the Old Testament and New Testament. Prior to 1629, all English-language Protestant Bibles included

13578-409: The careful work of Petrarch, Politian and others, first the demand for manuscripts, and then the rush to bring works into print, led to the circulation of inaccurate copies for several centuries following. Neo-Latin literature was extensive and prolific, but less well known or understood today. Works covered poetry, prose stories and early novels, occasional pieces and collections of letters, to name

13724-428: The church. The early Christian theologian Origen , in his Commentaries on Matthew , distinguishes between writings that were read by the churches and apocryphal writings: γραφὴ μὴ φερομένη μέν ἒν τοῖς κοινοῖς καὶ δεδημοσιευμένοις βιβλίοις εἰκὸς δ' ὅτι ἒν ἀποκρύφοις φερομένη ( writing not found in the common and published books on one hand [and] actually found in the secret ones on the other ). The meaning of αποκρυφος

13870-422: The clarity it brings to the discussion), may make it difficult to discuss questions of pseudepigraphical authorship of canonical books dispassionately with a lay audience. To confuse the matter even more, Eastern Orthodox Christians accept books as canonical that Roman Catholics and most Protestant denominations consider pseudepigraphical or at best of much less authority. There exist also churches that reject some of

14016-415: The classicised Latin that followed through to the present are often grouped together as Neo-Latin , or New Latin, which have in recent decades become a focus of renewed study , given their importance for the development of European culture, religion and science. The vast majority of written Latin belongs to this period, but its full extent is unknown. The Renaissance reinforced the position of Latin as

14162-435: The collection of the four Gospels was actually made. Besides as well pointed out by Prof. Bacon, "the historical books of the New Testament differ from its apocalyptic and epistolary literature, as those of the Old Testament differ from its prophecy, in being invariably anonymous, and for the same reason. Prophecies, whether in the earlier or in the later sense, and letters, to have authority, must be referable to some individual;

14308-469: The corpus of Paul's writings. They internally claim to have been written by Paul, but some biblical scholars present strong evidence that they could not have been written by Paul. Those known as the "Pastoral Epistles" (Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus) are all so similar that they are thought to be written by the same unknown author in Paul's name. There are seven letters in the New Testament which are attributed to several apostles, such as Saint Peter , John

14454-465: The country's full Latin name. Some film and television in ancient settings, such as Sebastiane , The Passion of the Christ and Barbarians (2020 TV series) , have been made with dialogue in Latin. Occasionally, Latin dialogue is used because of its association with religion or philosophy, in such film/television series as The Exorcist and Lost (" Jughead "). Subtitles are usually shown for

14600-503: The decline in written Latin output. Despite having no native speakers, Latin is still used for a variety of purposes in the contemporary world. The largest organisation that retains Latin in official and quasi-official contexts is the Catholic Church . The Catholic Church required that Mass be carried out in Latin until the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965 , which permitted the use of the vernacular . Latin remains

14746-434: The deuterocanonicals remains unchanged in Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, though there is a difference in number of these books between these two branches of Christianity. Some authorities began using term deuterocanonical to refer to this traditional intertestamental collection as books of "the second canon". These books are often seen as helping to explain the theological and cultural transitions that took place between

14892-487: The early 2nd century, long after Peter had died. Yet, opinions on the first epistle are more divided; many scholars do think this letter is authentic. (see: Authorship of the Petrine epistles ) In one epistle, the author only calls himself James (Ἰάκωβος Iákobos ). It is not known which James this is supposed to be. There are several different traditional Christian interpretations of other New Testament texts which mention

15038-686: The ecumenical Council of Trent officially ("infallibly") declared these books (called "deuterocanonical" by Catholics) to be part of the canon in April, 1546 A.D. While the Protestant Reformers rejected the parts of the canon that were not part of the Hebrew Bible , they included the four New Testament books Luther considered of doubtful canonicity along with the Apocrypha in his non-binding Luther's canon (although most were separately included in his Bible, as they were in some editions of

15184-589: The educated and official world, Latin continued without its natural spoken base. Moreover, this Latin spread into lands that had never spoken Latin, such as the Germanic and Slavic nations. It became useful for international communication between the member states of the Holy Roman Empire and its allies. Without the institutions of the Roman Empire that had supported its uniformity, Medieval Latin

15330-461: The exception of 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras and the Prayer of Manasseh , were declared canonical at Trent. The Protestants, in comparison, were diverse in their opinion of the deuterocanon early on. Some considered them divinely inspired, others rejected them. Lutherans and Anglicans retained the books as Christian intertestamental readings and a part of the Bible (in a section called "Apocrypha"), but no doctrine should be based on them. John Wycliffe ,

15476-707: The exclusive canonization of the current 24 books in the Hebrew Bible , they also consider the Oral Torah , which they believe was handed down from Moses , to be authoritative. Some argue that the Sadducees , unlike the Pharisees but like the Samaritans , seem to have maintained an earlier and smaller number of texts as canonical, preferring to hold to only what was written in the Law of Moses (the Torah ), making most of

15622-402: The existence of those headings in the latter part of the second century of our era. Indeed, the manner in which Clement (Strom. I, xxi), and St. Irenaeus (Adv. Haer. III, xi, 7) employ them implies that, at that early date, our present titles to the gospels had been in current use for some considerable time. Hence, it may be inferred that they were prefixed to the evangelical narratives as early as

15768-490: The first part of that same century. That however, they do not go back to the first century of the Christian era, or at least that they are not original, is a position generally held at the present day. It is felt that since they are similar for the four Gospels, although the same Gospels were composed at some interval from each other, those titles were not framed and consequently not prefixed to each individual narrative, before

15914-547: The fourteen books of the Apocrypha as being non-canonical, but useful for reading "for example of life and instruction of manners": a view that continues today throughout the Lutheran Church , the worldwide Anglican Communion , among many other denominations, such as the Methodist Churches and Quaker Yearly Meetings . Liturgically, the Catholic, Methodist and Anglican churches have a scripture reading from

16060-406: The greater his name, the better. But history was regarded as common possession. Its facts spoke for themselves. Only as the springs of common recollection began to dwindle, and marked differences to appear between the well-informed and accurate Gospels and the untrustworthy ... become worth while for the Christian teacher or apologist to specify whether the given representation of the current tradition

16206-457: The invention of full writing . For example, ancient Greek authors often refer to texts which claimed to be by Orpheus or his pupil Musaeus of Athens but which attributions were generally disregarded. Already in Antiquity the collection known as the " Homeric Hymns " was recognized as pseudepigraphical, that is, not actually written by Homer. The only surviving Ancient Roman book on cooking

16352-703: The invention of printing and are now published in carefully annotated printed editions, such as the Loeb Classical Library , published by Harvard University Press , or the Oxford Classical Texts , published by Oxford University Press . Latin translations of modern literature such as: The Hobbit , Treasure Island , Robinson Crusoe , Paddington Bear , Winnie the Pooh , The Adventures of Tintin , Asterix , Harry Potter , Le Petit Prince , Max and Moritz , How

16498-762: The language of the Roman Rite . The Tridentine Mass (also known as the Extraordinary Form or Traditional Latin Mass) is celebrated in Latin. Although the Mass of Paul VI (also known as the Ordinary Form or the Novus Ordo) is usually celebrated in the local vernacular language, it can be and often is said in Latin, in part or in whole, especially at multilingual gatherings. It is the official language of

16644-440: The large areas where it had come to be natively spoken. However, even after the fall of Western Rome , Latin remained the common language of international communication , science, scholarship and academia in Europe until well into the early 19th century, by which time modern languages had supplanted it in common academic and political usage. Late Latin is the literary language from the 3rd century AD onward. No longer spoken as

16790-467: The late seventeenth century, when spoken skills began to erode. It then became increasingly taught only to be read. Latin grammar is highly fusional , with classes of inflections for case , number , person , gender , tense , mood , voice , and aspect . The Latin alphabet is directly derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets . Latin remains the official language of the Holy See and

16936-431: The later part of the Roman Republic , up to 75 BC, i.e. before the age of Classical Latin . It is attested both in inscriptions and in some of the earliest extant Latin literary works, such as the comedies of Plautus and Terence . The Latin alphabet was devised from the Etruscan alphabet . The writing later changed from what was initially either a right-to-left or a boustrophedon script to what ultimately became

17082-421: The less prestigious colloquial registers , attested in inscriptions and some literary works such as those of the comic playwrights Plautus and Terence and the author Petronius . While often called a "dead language" , Latin did not undergo language death . By the 6th to 9th centuries, natural language change eventually resulted in Latin as a vernacular language evolving into distinct Romance languages in

17228-647: The literature of Jewish mystical thought known as Kabbalah , first appeared in Spain in the 13th century, and was published by a Jewish writer named Moses de León . De León ascribed the work to Shimon bar Yochai ("Rashbi"), a rabbi of the 2nd century during the Roman persecution who, according to Jewish legend, hid in a cave for thirteen years studying the Torah and was inspired by the Prophet Elijah to write

17374-468: The nature of the Apocrypha continued for centuries and even into Trent, which provided the first infallible definition of the Catholic canon in 1546. In the 16th century, the Protestant reformers challenged the canonicity of the books and partial-books found in the surviving Septuagint but not in the Masoretic Text . In response to this challenge, after the death of Martin Luther (February 8, 1546)

17520-466: The other varieties, as it was largely separated from the unifying influences in the western part of the Empire. Spoken Latin began to diverge into distinct languages by the 9th century at the latest, when the earliest extant Romance writings begin to appear. They were, throughout the period, confined to everyday speech, as Medieval Latin was used for writing. For many Italians using Latin, though, there

17666-600: The papers left by an "illustrious Victorian soldier", each volume prefaced by a long semi-scholarly Explanatory Note stating that "additional packets of Flashman's papers have been found and are here presented to the public". A similar device was used by Ian Fleming in The Spy Who Loved Me and by various other writers of popular fiction. Latin Latin ( lingua Latina , pronounced [ˈlɪŋɡʷa ɫaˈtiːna] , or Latinum [ɫaˈtiːnʊ̃] )

17812-401: The point of view of Chalcedonian Christianity . In addition to the sets of generally agreed to be non-canonical works, scholars will also apply the term to canonical works who make a direct claim of authorship, yet this authorship is doubted. For example, the Book of Daniel is considered by some to have been written in the 2nd century BCE, 400 years after the prophet Daniel lived, and thus

17958-663: The presently accepted canon, both Jewish and Christian, apocryphal in their eyes. Others believe that it is often mistakenly asserted that the Sadducees only accepted the Pentateuch (Torah). The Essenes in Judea and the Therapeutae in Egypt were said to have a secret literature (see Dead Sea scrolls ). Other traditions maintained different customs regarding canonicity. The Ethiopian Jews , for instance, seem to have retained

18104-595: The same frequency as books of the Hebrew Bible" and the texts regarding the martyrdoms under Antiochus IV in 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees are held in high esteem by the Anabaptists, who faced persecution in their history. In Reformed editions (like the Westminster), readers were warned that these books were not "to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other human writings". A milder distinction

18250-464: The second and later centuries as being scripture. While a few scholars conclude that the Jewish canon was the achievement of the Hasmonean dynasty, it is generally considered not to have been finalized until about 100 AD or somewhat later, at which time considerations of Greek language and beginnings of Christian acceptance of the Septuagint weighed against some of the texts. Some were not accepted by

18396-608: The study and debate of the writings. The first ecclesiastical decree on the Catholic Church's canonical books of the Sacred Scriptures is attributed to the Council of Rome (382), and is correspondent to that of Trent. Martin Luther , like Jerome , favored the Masoretic canon for the Old Testament, excluding apocryphal books in the Luther Bible as unworthy to be properly called scripture, but included most of them in

18542-693: The supposed approval by the Patriarch added weight. The Anaphorae of Mar Nestorius , employed in the Eastern Churches , is attributed to Nestorius but its earliest manuscripts are in Syriac which question its Greek-authorship. Scholars have identified seven levels of authenticity which they have organized in a hierarchy ranging from literal authorship, meaning written in the author's own hand, to outright forgery: The Zohar ( Hebrew : זֹהַר , lit. Splendor or Radiance), foundational work in

18688-633: The term "pseudepigraphical". Authorship of 6 out of the 13 canonical epistles of Paul has been questioned by both Christian and non-Christian biblical scholars. These include the Epistle to the Ephesians , Epistle to the Colossians , Second Epistle to the Thessalonians , First Epistle to Timothy , Second Epistle to Timothy , and Epistle to Titus . These six books are referred to as "deutero-Pauline letters", meaning "secondary" standing in

18834-576: The text was originally written in Greek . Like the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra , the work is clearly Christian, and features several apostles being seen in heaven . However, the text is significantly shorter than the Apocalypse. The Donation of Constantine is a forged Roman imperial decree by which the 4th-century emperor Constantine the Great supposedly transferred authority over Rome and

18980-584: The title of Tsar . This, too, turned out to be false. While earlier Russian Monarchs had on some occasions used the title "Tsar", Ivan the Terrible previously known as "Grand Prince of all the Russias" was the first to be formally crowned as Tsar of All Rus ( Russian : Царь Всея Руси ). This was related to Russia's growing ambitions to become an Orthodox " Third Rome ", after the Fall of Constantinople – for which

19126-475: The two are a number of writers whose veneration for these books is tempered by some perplexity as to their exact standing, and among those we note St. Thomas Aquinas. Few are found to unequivocally acknowledge their canonicity. The prevailing attitude of Western medieval authors is substantially that of the Greek Fathers. The wider Christian canon accepted by Augustine became the more established canon in

19272-535: The well-known biblical figures to whom the early Christian leaders originally attributed authorship. The earliest and best manuscripts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were all written anonymously. Furthermore, the books of Acts, Hebrews, 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John were also written anonymously. There are thirteen letters in the New Testament which are attributed to Paul and are still considered by Christians to carry Paul's authority. These letters are part of

19418-554: The western Church after being promulgated for use in the Easter Letter of Athanasius (circa 372 A.D.), the Synod of Rome (382 A.D., but its Decretum Gelasianum is generally considered to be a much later addition) and the local councils of Carthage and Hippo in north Africa (391 and 393 A.D). Athanasius called canonical all books of the Hebrew Bible including Baruch, while excluding Esther. He adds that "there are certain books which

19564-564: The wider (Greek) canon, with both having followers in the generations that followed. The Catholic Encyclopedia states as regards the Middle Ages, In the Latin Church, all through the Middle Ages [5th century to the 15th century] we find evidence of hesitation about the character of the deuterocanonicals. There is a current friendly to them, another one distinctly unfavourable to their authority and sacredness, while wavering between

19710-429: The word Apocrypha to texts found in Catholic and Eastern Orthodox scriptures which were found in the Septuagint but not found in the Masoretic Text Hebrew manuscripts. Catholics call those " deuterocanonical books ". Furthermore, there arose in some Protestant biblical scholarship an extended use of the term pseudepigrapha for works that appeared as though they ought to be part of the biblical canon, because of

19856-436: The word as meaning simply "obscurity of origin", implying that any book of unknown authorship or questionable authenticity would be considered apocryphal. Jerome in Prologus Galeatus declared that all books outside the Hebrew canon were apocryphal. In practice, Jerome treated some books outside the Hebrew canon as if they were canonical, and the Western Church did not accept Jerome's definition of apocrypha, instead retaining

20002-448: The word suggests a claim that is in the nature of folklore , factoid or urban legend . Apocryphal Jatakas of the Pāli Canon , such as those belonging to the Paññāsajātaka collection, have been adapted to fit local culture in certain Southeast Asian countries and have been retold with amendments to the plots to better reflect Buddhist morals. Within the Pali tradition, the apocryphal Jatakas of later composition (some dated even to

20148-413: The word's prior meaning. As a result, various church authorities labeled different books as apocrypha, treating them with varying levels of regard. Origen stated that "the canonical books, as the Hebrews have handed them down, are twenty-two". Clement and others cited some apocryphal books as "scripture", "divine scripture", "inspired", and the like. Teachers connected with Palestine and familiar with

20294-401: The work is pseudepigraphic. A New Testament example might be the book of 2 Peter , considered by some to be written approximately 80 years after Saint Peter 's death. Early Christians, such as Origen , harbored doubts as to the authenticity of the book's authorship. The term has also been used by some Muslims to describe hadiths ; who claim that most hadiths are fabrications created in

20440-416: Was 'according to' this or that special compiler, and to state his qualifications". It thus appears that the present titles of the Gospels are not traceable to the Evangelists themselves. However, agnostic biblical scholar Bart D. Ehrman holds that only seven of Paul's epistles are convincingly genuine, and that all of the other 20 books in the New Testament appear to be written by unknown people who were not

20586-414: Was a document composed in 1358 or 1359 – but purporting to be much older. Its text elevated the Duchy of Austria into an Archduchy of Austria , thus greatly increasing the prestige of Rudolf IV of Austria (1358–65) of the House of Habsburg . In Russian history, in 1561 Muscovites supposedly received a letter from the Patriarch of Constantinople which asserted the right of Ivan the Terrible to claim

20732-616: Was expressed elsewhere, such as in the "argument" introducing them in the Geneva Bible , and in the Sixth Article of the Church of England , where it is said that "the other books the church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners," though not to establish doctrine. Among some Nonconformists , the term apocryphal began to take on extra or altered connotations: not just of dubious authenticity, but having spurious or false content, Protestants, being diverse in theological views, were not unanimous in adopting those meanings. Generally, Anabaptists and magisterial Protestants recognize

20878-413: Was free to develop on its own, there is no reason to suppose that the speech was uniform either diachronically or geographically. On the contrary, Romanised European populations developed their own dialects of the language, which eventually led to the differentiation of Romance languages . Late Latin is a kind of written Latin used in the 3rd to 6th centuries. This began to diverge from Classical forms at

21024-496: Was much more liberal in its linguistic cohesion: for example, in classical Latin sum and eram are used as auxiliary verbs in the perfect and pluperfect passive, which are compound tenses. Medieval Latin might use fui and fueram instead. Furthermore, the meanings of many words were changed and new words were introduced, often under influence from the vernacular. Identifiable individual styles of classically incorrect Latin prevail. Renaissance Latin, 1300 to 1500, and

21170-441: Was no complete separation between Italian and Latin, even into the beginning of the Renaissance . Petrarch for example saw Latin as a literary version of the spoken language. Medieval Latin is the written Latin in use during that portion of the post-classical period when no corresponding Latin vernacular existed, that is from around 700 to 1500 AD. The spoken language had developed into the various Romance languages; however, in

21316-431: Was shut down in June 2019), and Vatican Radio & Television, all of which broadcast news segments and other material in Latin. A variety of organisations, as well as informal Latin 'circuli' ('circles'), have been founded in more recent times to support the use of spoken Latin. Moreover, a number of university classics departments have begun incorporating communicative pedagogies in their Latin courses. These include

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