Missing Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament

[kaczmar01]

Hello,

1st post, be gentle

Why doesn’t the church accept all the books in the Septuagint as scriptural?

Books in the Greek and Slavonic bibles (but not in the RC bible):

1 Esdras and 2 Esdras
Prayer of Manaseh
Psalm 151
3 Maccabees and 4 Maccabees

I am confused. Why are 1 and 2 Maccabees scriptural but not 3 and 4 Maccabees?

Thanks in advance.

 

[theMutant]

To put it simply and as gently as possible; because the Church says so. The Septuagint was a collection of Jewish writings compiled and translated into Greek around 100 years or so BC. It was commonly used during Jesus’ time. With the establishment of the Church, the authority for determining what writings are and are not scripture passed from the Jewish tradition to the Catholic magisterium. I believe that there is supposed to have been a Jewish council sometime around 80 AD (or maybe it was around 180) in which the Jews closed their canon, but, from the Catholic perspective, authority to determine the canon had already passed to the Church.

 

[dcmac]

The Deuterocanonical Books and additions to Esther and Daniel that are in the Roman Catholic, Greek, and Slavonic Bibles:

• Tobit
• Judith
• The additions to the book of Esther
• Wisdom of Solomon
• Ecclesiasticus
• Baruch
• The Letter of Jeremiah (Baruch; Chapter 6)
• The additions to the Book of Daniel (The prayer of Azariah and the Song of the Three Jews; Susanna; Bel and the Dragon)
• 1 Maccabees
• 2 Maccabees

Those in the Greek and Slavonic Bible; not in the Roman Catholic Canon, but a couple of which are in the Appendix to the Vulgate, which is the official Bible of the Catholic Church:

• 1 Esdras (2 Esdras in Slavonic; 3 Esdras in Appendix to Vulgate)
• Prayer of Manasseh (Appendix to Vulgate)
• Psalm 151, following psalm 150 in the Greek Bible
• 3 Maccabees

Those in the Slavonic Bible and Latin Vulgate Appendix:

• 2 Esdras (3 Esdras in Slavonic; 4 Esdras in Appendix to Vulgate)
• (In Latin Vulgate, Ezra & Nehemia is 1 and 2 Esdras)

Those in appendix to Greek Bible:

• 4 Maccabees

So, while they may not be in the canon regular, a significant number of them were deemed worthy enough to include in the Appendix to the official Bible of the Roman Church.

Your unworthy brother in Christ and by the Grace of God a future priest,

Donnchadh