Developed religious institutions with a coherent social structure, a clear hierarchy, a developed cult and well-thought-out doctrine, usually also have a set of authoritative texts that serve as a measure and source of all religious life and philosophy. Such texts are called sacred and often claim the role of divine revelation. Eloquent examples are the holy books of Christians, Muslims, and Jews — the Bible, the Qur'an, and the Torah, respectively. However, before becoming a holy revelation, such texts go through a difficult path from writing through a series of subsequent editions to the finished canon, which is proclaimed the final and inspired scripture. At this stage, another series of texts called apocrypha comes to the forefront. In Greek, “apocrypha” is “secret” or “fake”. According to the translation, there are two types of apocryphal writings.
Apocrypha - fake revelation
To simplify it as much as possible, we can say that the apocrypha is a religious text, the authorship of which is attributed to the founder of religion, his students or other prominent authorities of the tradition. But unlike canonical texts, apocrypha are not recognized as authentic and are not revered as inspired in the official and dominant movement. Therefore, they are called fake, that is, apocrypha.
Secret knowledge
Some experts also distinguish another kind of apocryphal literature, reduced to the second meaning of the Greek term - secret. It is postulated that in most religious systems there is an internal level that is open only to advanced adherents and who are initiated into certain secrets of the cult. In contrast to Scripture for all, apocrypha plays the role of an esoteric companion tradition that interprets Scripture at the highest, mystical level and reveals great truths. These revelations are hidden from the layman, and therefore the books in which they are stated and revealed are secret to him. An example of this kind of literature is the secret gospel of Mark, once stored in the Church of Alexandria, as reported by orthodox teacher Clement.
Apocrypha in Christianity
If we talk about the apocrypha of the Christian tradition, then we can conditionally distinguish four groups of texts:
- Old Testament Apocrypha.
- New Testament Apocrypha.
- Cross Testament Apocrypha.
- Extraordinary Apocrypha.
1. The oldest apocrypha is the Old Testament. They date back to the writing of the main texts of the Old Testament corps . Often attributed to outstanding biblical characters - Adam, Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and other patriarchs and prophets of Tanakh. There are a great many such books. For example, we can recall the apocryphal Book of Jeremiah or the Psalms of Solomon.
2. The New Testament group of apocrypha includes a number of texts that are similar in genre and time to writing compositions that make up the canon of the New Testament. Their nominal authors are among the closest disciples of Christ - the apostles and some of the Savior’s disciples. An example of this kind of apocrypha is the proto-gospel of Jacob.
3. Inter-Testament Apocrypha is another group of texts. The conditional time of their compilation is from 400 BC. for 30-40 years. AD This period is due to the fact that the last book of the Jewish canon was written about 400 years BC, and the first book, belonging to the class of the New Testament, in 30-40. Their authorship is attributed to the Old Testament characters. By their very nature, inter-covenant literature is often apocalyptic. Among other such books, the Book of Enoch can be distinguished.
4. Extra-covenant apocrypha - this is the way to designate a group of works that in terms of scale and significance clearly represent something more than just religious literature. They were also postulated by some preachers as inspired books. But due to its nature and content it cannot be assigned to three other categories. A vivid illustration of such works are the Gnostic scriptures. Among them, one can recall a collection of texts from Nag Hammadi. This is not even a book of apocrypha, but a whole library of esoteric Christian literature.
What characterizes almost any apocrypha? This is what they all at different times claimed to be fully included in the official canon of inspired scriptures. Some even succeeded for a while. Others had a significant influence on the formation of the generally accepted version of the "Word of God." For example, the apocryphal Book of Enoch is cited in the canonical epistle of the apostle Jude. And in the Ethiopian Church, she is still among the sacred, along with the Torah and the four generally recognized Gospels.
Other apocrypha, which almost all stubbornly denied at first, were subsequently universally recognized as canonical. In the New Testament, such books are the Revelation of St. John the Evangelist and a number of apostolic epistles.
Conclusion
At the dawn of the spread of Christianity, when a certain leader had not yet been identified among numerous schools and sects, there were a huge number of texts claiming to be, if not divine revelation, then at least the highest human authority. There were over fifty gospels alone, and in fact each community had its own collection of authoritative writings. Then, in the process of the spread and development of catholic orthodoxy, some texts began to prevail over others, and leaders of large communities began to forbid their adherents from reading unrecognized works. When in the 4th century the party of katholics received the full support of the state, a “heretical” text was declared a real war. By special decrees of the emperor and orders of bishops, all works that were not included in the canon were to be destroyed. Among them were even those scriptures that were previously considered sacred among the adherents of orthodoxy themselves. For example, the gospel of Peter. Therefore, today every newfound apocrypha is a real sensation in the scientific world. This is confirmed by the recent discovery of the gospel of Jude, previously considered lost. Nevertheless, a significant, and probably most of the Christian apocrypha is destroyed and irretrievably lost.