Which means absolutely nothing even if it were true. Long before Jerome there were many others who rejected those books such as Melito, Cyril of Jerusalem, Athanasius of Alexandria (who was patriarch of Alexandria birth place of the LXX), Gregory of Nazianzus, Amphilochius of Iconium, and Epiphanius of Salamis (all by the Greek writers\speakers).
The facts are Rufinus and Jerome had a falling out. They were no longer friends. Nevertheless Rufinus canon list (dated to after their falling out) names the same books as those found in Jerome. Rufinus also goes on to make it clear that the apocrypha is not canonical. Since they were no longer friends there is no reason to think that Rufinus is following Jerome's on this matter. Your claims amount to nothing more than fallacious accusations.
Apocrypha books aren't allowed to be read in church.
True.
The only reason they created a 2nd canon was because the 1rst canon includes books that preceded the second canon, otherwise it could have been reversed, but they are both canon, Jews in Alexandria had a longer list of books, the Samaritan Jews only held the five books of Moses.. Palestinian Jews included books from both so they became the rule, however their text is not so ancient, but this was Jerome's duty so be it.
Apocrypha to the according to Rufinus and included in the Church Encyclopedia are books forbidden to enter the churches. I've been reading the letters of the church fathers, one of which included a short history of the church and according to (forget his name) this has always been Christian tradition due to a sect of Christians who were deceived by false apostles who brought in false gospels into the church, and adhering to Paul's warning were anathema. These were the Gnostics, also philosophers were preaching heresies in the church.
So to systematically rid the church of false doctrines they listed the heretical books brought in as Apocrypha books, which included a lot of Apocalyptic literature as well.
This is why when Jerome declared some Alexandrian Jewish books as "Apocrypha" this made it appear as though they were written before hand to deceive.. Why would any Jews deceive fellow Jews before Christ?
Makes no sense.
Rufinus agrees, his list however is not his personal opinionated list but according to Jerome's work and the churches that honored the results albeit they never accepted the term apocrypha, just non canonical. He never states any other reason than this what the church regards as church scripture.
He goes to explain the difference between Canon, Ecclesiastical writings and Apocrypha.. the Ecclesiastical books include the protestant "Apocrypha" which he claims ARE okayed by the Church to be read IN the church but not used for doctrine!
The Apocrypha according to church tradition and Rufinus are books NOT to be read in church, these include gnostic writings, heretical doctrines and even books written by local bishops.
This was how they weeded out any threats of false teachings entering the church.
My question is, if protestants really considered them the 2nd canon as Apocrypha then why do they claim them to be GOOD for Christians to read if they are considered that it may lead to heresy?
Seems like this was never an issue until the PURGATORY debate with Luther. He knew the Catholic order of things and that's why he labeled it so, all one mans opinion, yes purgatory is a lie and I know that Josiah as attempted to persuade me that Luther did not do it in retaliation but I am not convinced.
Over and over in these writings of the church fathers I read
"For the Lord says *quotes apocrypha*"
"For Holy Scripture tells us *quotes apocrypha*"...
Its sickening that they all now seem like idiots in their writings.
Point is, Canon is not JUST a simple agreement, depending on whether its OT or NT its a rule of finding the consistency, the Jews however had no canon nor consistency, the latest books were still wet behind the ears, Samaritans and Pharisees hated each other, its chaos. and I agree with Rufinus that it was as if Jerome was under the inspiration of Barabbas for tossing out traditional scriptures and giving the church a new canon based on what the unbelieving Jews hold as Scripture and calling the other ecclesiastical scripture "apocrypha" which is a word used for heretical books namely the Gnostics and the Apocalyptics writings
