deliberately he should condemn the aforesaid tradition let him be anathema.”2 The same language affirming the Apocrypha is repeated by Vatican II.3 The differences over the canonicity of the Apocrypha are not minor. They are both doctrinal and canonical. Doctrinally, the Apocrypha supports prayers for the dead (which also entails a belief in purgatory). For instance, 2 Maccabees 12:46 reads: “Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.” Canonically, the grounds on which