Editing New Testament apocrypha (section)

==Definition==
The word ''[[apocrypha]]'' means 'things put away' or 'things hidden', originating from the [[Medieval Latin]] adjective {{Lang|la|apocryphus}}, 'secret' or 'non-canonical', which in turn originated from the [[Ancient Greek language|Greek]] adjective {{lang|grc|ἀπόκρυφος}} ({{transliteration|grc|apokryphos}}), 'obscure', from the verb {{lang|grc|ἀποκρύπτειν}} ({{transliteration|grc|apokryptein}}), 'to hide away'.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apocrypha|title=Apocrypha – Definition |work=merriam-webster.com|date=23 September 2024 }}</ref> {{transliteration|grc|Apokryptein}} in turn comes from the Greek prefix {{transliteration|grc|apo-}}, meaning 'away', and the Greek verb {{transliteration|grc|kryptein}}, meaning 'to hide'.<ref>{{cite web |title=apocrypha {{!}} Search Online Etymology Dictionary |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=apocrypha |website=www.etymonline.com |access-date=7 March 2021}}</ref>

The general term is usually applied to the books that were considered by the church as useful, but not divinely inspired. As such, to refer to [[Gnostic]] writings as "apocryphal" is misleading since they would not be classified in the same category by orthodox believers. Often used by the Greek Fathers was the term [[antilegomena]], or 'spoken against', although some canonical books were also spoken against, such as the [[Apocalypse of John]] in the East. Often used by scholars is the term [[pseudepigrapha]], meaning 'falsely inscribed' or 'falsely attributed', in the sense that the writings were written by an anonymous author who appended the name of an apostle to his work, such as in the [[Gospel of Peter]] or the [[1 Enoch|Ethiopic Apocalypse of Enoch]]: almost all books, in both Old and New Testaments, called "apocrypha" in the Protestant tradition are pseudepigrapha. In the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, what are called the apocrypha by Protestants include the [[deuterocanonical]] books: in the Catholic tradition, the term ''apocrypha'' is synonymous with what Protestants would call the pseudepigrapha, the latter term of which is almost exclusively used by scholars.<ref>{{cite book|last=Charlesworth|first=James H|title=Old Testament Pseudepigrapha|year=1985|publisher=Hendrickson|location=Peabody, MA|isbn=978-1-59856-489-1|page=2257}}</ref>