Apocryphal Writings

According to the Pocket Catholic Dictionary, apocryphal writings were "originally writings that claimed a sacred origin and were supposed to have been hidden for generations; later, they came to be regarded as a well-defined class of literature with scriptural or quasi-scriptural pretensions, but lacking genuineness and canonicity, composed during the two centuries before Christ and the early centuries of our (Christian) era."

Apocryphal writings fall into one of three categories: 1) writings of Jewish origin, 2) writings that are Jewish in origin but incorporate Christian elements, and 3) writings that are of Christian origin. Here is a list of major apocryphal writings:

• I. Apocrypha of Jewish Origin:
  
  • Apocalyptic writings: Book of Henoch; Assumption of Moses; Fourth Book of Esdras; Apocalypse of Baruch; Apocalypse of Abraham
    
  • Legendary Apocrypha: Book of Jubilees (Little Genesis); Third Book of Esdras; Third Book of Maccabees; Histories of Maxims of Ahikar the Assyrian
    
  • Psalms and Prayers: Psalms of Solomon; Prayer of Manasses
    
  • Philosophical: Fourth Book of Maccabees
• II. Apocrypha of Jewish Origin with Christian Accretions:
  Sibylline Oracles; Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs; Ascension of Isaias
• III. Apocrypha of Christian Origin:
  
  • Gospels of Catholic Origin: Protoevangelium Jacobi (Infancy Gospel of James, on the early life of the Blessed Virgin); Gospel of the Pseudo-Matthew; Arabic Gospel of the Infancy; History of Joseph the Carpenter; Transitus Mariae (Evangelium Joannis, on the death and assumption of the Blessed Virgin)
    
  • Judaistic and Heretical Gospels: Gospel according to the Hebrews; Gospel according to the Egyptians; Gospel of Peter; Gospel of Philip; Gospel of Thomas; Gospel of Marcion; Gospel of Bartholomew; Gospel of Matthias; Gospel of Nicodemus; Gospel of the Twelve Apostles; Gospel of Andrew; Gospel of Barnabas; Gospel of Thaddeus; Gospel of Eve; Gospel of Judas Iscariot
    
  • Literature Concerning Pontius Pilate and Christ: Report of Pilate to the Emperor; Narrative of Joseph of Aramithea; Pseudo-Correspondence of Jesus and Abgar, King of Edessa
    
  • Gnostic Acts of the Apostles: Acts of Peter; Acts of John; Acts of Andrew; Acts and Martyrdom of Matthew; Acts of Thomas; Acts of Bartholomew
  • Catholic Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: Acts of Peter and Paul; Acts of Paul; Acts of Paul and Thecla; Acts of Philip; Acts of Matthew; Acts of Simon and Jude; Acts of Barnabas; Acts of James the Greater
    
  • Doctrinal Works: Testamentum Domini Nostri Jesu; Preaching of Peter (Kerygma Petri)
    
  • Apocryphal Epistles: Pseudo-Epistles of Paul; Pseudo-Epistles to the Laodiceans; Pseudo-Correspondence of Paul and Seneca
    
  • Christian Apocalypses: Apocalypse of Peter; Apocalypse of Paul

Until the latter part of the 2nd century AD, this list also included the deuterocanonical texts of the Old Testament (Tobit, Judith, Baruch, Sirach, Wisdom, 1-2 Maccabees, and parts of Esther and Daniel) and the New Testament (Hebrews, James, Jude, II Peter, II and III John, Revelation, and the last 12 verses of the Gospel of Mark), and the controversy over the inclusion of these books seems to have persisted until the Roman synod of 382 defined the canon of the Bible as we know it today. Protestants, however, still regard the deuterocanonical texts of the Old Testament and the last 12 verses of Mark as apocryphal, deleting these texts from their Bibles in the aftermath of the Protestant Reformation.

Many of the apocryphal texts are regarded as such because of their Gnostic origins. Gnosticism was a movement that arose during the early days of the Church in response to the growing Christian movement. The main tenet of Gnosticism is the concept of salvation through knowledge. This ideology not only rejects the importance of Christ's death on the cross; it denies the idea that Christ left us a deposit of faith through His revelations to the Apostles, and also denies that Christ gave His Church teaching authority to interpret the meaning of the revealed word of God. (Although Gnosticism is no longer an organized religion, its emphasis on knowledge over faith is the basis for many Modernist schools of thought, and is the main reason that the Catholic Church has repeatedly denounced many Modernist doctrines as irreconcilable with Christianity.) Thus many apocryphal writings - despite borrowing extensively from the Gospels and quoting Christ repeatedly - convey messages that are hard to reconcile with Christian belief.

Doubts over the authorship of some writings have also led to their exclusion from the Bible. But this isn't the only criteria. The Epistle to the Hebrews, for example, is included in the New Testament and is grouped with Paul's other writings, but scholars are fairly certain that it was written by someone else. That doesn't change the fact, however, that Hebrews conveys messages similar to the ones conveyed by Paul in his other Epistles, and that Hebrews does not contradict Christian belief in any way. Whoever wrote it probably identified himself as Paul in order to gain wide acceptance for his work (the trick seems to have worked), but that doesn't mean it wasn't inspired. The early Church accepted it as an inspired work written by a follower of Paul and conveying the word of God; therefore it was included in the New Testament canon (and the Protestants followed suit). In contrast to Hebrews we have the Gospel of Thomas, a collection of 114 sayings that the author attributed to Jesus and which are related only because each saying begins with the words "Jesus said…" Some of the sayings attributed to Jesus by this "gospel" include:

• "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away."
• When asked who would be leader after Jesus left, he replied, "No matter where you are you are to go to James the Just, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being."
• "I am not your teacher. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring that I have tended."

The idea that heaven would pass away, and the statement that Jesus was not their teacher, are both indicative of the Gnostic belief that Christ did not impart the word of God to the Christian Church, and that the pursuit of knowledge, rather than the pursuit of Christ's will for His Church, was the key to salvation. And the rather exalted opinion of James the Just notwithstanding, it was Peter who was chosen to lead the Church after Christ's ascension, as evidence by Christ's own words in Matthew 16:18: "You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church."

The Gospel of Thomas, then, is like the book of Hebrews in that it was written by someone claiming to be a figure of importance in the Church. However, it differs greatly in that the author is not as devoted to the teachings of the person they claim to be, and its subject matter is not consistent with the teachings of Christ or the beliefs of the early Church.

Among the best-known apocryphal writings are:

• The Assumption of Moses - Said to be a series of directives and prophecies given by Moses to Joshua when the former became aware of his impending death. Another famous part of this work is a dispute between Satan and the St. Michael the Archangel over who would take the dead body of Moses. Because of its extensive knowledge of the reign of Herod the Great but its lack of knowledge of the later years of the reign of his children, this work has been dated at around the time of Christ's birth and early childhood (4 BC - 10 AD).
• The Apocalypse of Abraham - Tells of Abraham's conversion and of the revelations to him by the angelic being Jael, and explains man's free will as the source of evil. The date it was written is unknown.
• The Infancy Gospel of St. James - Attributed erroneously to "James the brother of Jesus," (the author of the book of James and probably a cousin of Jesus) this book describes the early years of the Blessed Virgin Mary, how she was born miraculously, was dedicated to the Temple by her parents at the age of three, and that a miraculous sign led to Joseph being selected as her husband when she was 12 years old. Although apocryphal, this work shows that Marian devotion has been a constant since the early days of the Church.
• Evangelium Joannis - Notable mainly because it addresses the death and bodily assumption of Mary into heaven, showing that this too was an early belief of the Church.
• Gospel of St. Peter - Attributed erroneously to St. Peter, it borrows heavily from the 4 Gospels, and concerns itself chiefly with Christ's Passion, Burial, and Resurrection. Although not Gnostic or otherwise heretical in nature, in contradicts the Gospels in too many instances to be considered canonical.
• Gospel of St. Thomas - A 2nd work attributed to Thomas, this one deals with Christ's childhood, particularly focusing on Jesus's early miracles. However, many of the "miracles" performed by Jesus seem to be done on childish whims or out of a sense of vindictiveness, a portrayal of the young Christ that is offensive and not consistent with the loving, sinless Son of God.
• Gospel of Judas Iscariot - Glorifies the man who betrayed Christ. Enough said.
• Report of Pilate to the Emperor - In this narrative, Pontius Pilate relates to the Roman Emperor Claudius how he handed Christ over to the Jews to be executed and how word later spread of the disappearance of the body, and ends with a warning from Pilate to the Emperor about the "mendacity of the Jews," which might imply that Pontius thought the Jews had stolen the body in order to further desecrate it.
• Gospel of Nicodemus - Relates the story of the Passion and Resurrection, along with an account of the intervening time during which Christ descended into hell, and Satan's fear and outrage upon hearing of Christ's crucifixion since he knew that that meant Christ was going to pay him a visit.

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