Changes

The Historical Books of the First and Second Books of Maccabees were first removed from the Old Testament and placed in the Apocrypha by [[Martin Luther]] in the 16th century. They are regarded as apocryphal books of the Old Testament by less than one-third of Christian believers.<ref name=Prot/> The [[Protestant Reformation|Protestant Reformers]] were apparently unaware of the traditional canon of scripture preserved by the Orthodox East as the Christian Bible, and possibly for this reason dealt only with the canon of the Catholic Bible, which they rejected as corrupted with un-Christian doctrines as being contained in what they declared against tradition as uninspired books and parts of books, books which were also rejected from the canon of [[Judaism]]. Editions of the Protestant Bible do not include the Third and Fourth Books of Maccabees in the Apocrypha.

The Historical Books of the First and Second Books of Maccabees were first removed from the Old Testament and placed in the Apocrypha by [[Martin Luther]] in the 16th century. They are regarded as apocryphal books of the Old Testament by less than one-third of Christian believers.<ref name=Prot/> The [[Protestant Reformation|Protestant Reformers]] were apparently unaware of the traditional canon of scripture preserved by the Orthodox East as the Christian Bible, and possibly for this reason dealt only with the canon of the Catholic Bible, which they rejected as corrupted with un-Christian doctrines as being contained in what they declared against tradition as uninspired books and parts of books, books which were also rejected from the canon of [[Judaism]]. Editions of the Protestant Bible do not include the Third and Fourth Books of Maccabees in the Apocrypha.

The Third Book of Maccabees, an account of the persecution of the Jews under the tyrant Ptolemy Philopater and their divine rescue by the sovereign ruling providence of God, is held to be inspired scripture by Orthodoxy as part of the whole Bible received and handed down to the one, holy, orthodox, catholic and apostolic church from the apostles of the Lord.  

The Third Book of Maccabees, an account of the persecution of the Jews under the tyrant Ptolemy Philopater and their divine rescue by the sovereign ruling providence of God, is held to be inspired scripture by Orthodoxy as part of the whole Bible received and handed down from the apostles of the Lord to the one, holy, orthodox, catholic and apostolic church.  

The Fourth Book of Maccabees, a philosophical treatise on the sovereignty of reason inspiring courage imparted by the invincible truth of wisdom in the law of Moses in defense of religion, which strengthened the Maccabean Martyrs against torture in 2 Maccabees 6:18–7:42 and Hebrews 11:35, is in an appendix to the Old Testament of the Orthodox Bible as a valuable text informing Orthodox spirtuality.

The Fourth Book of Maccabees, a philosophical treatise on the sovereignty of reason inspiring courage imparted by the invincible truth of wisdom in the law of Moses in defense of religion, which strengthened the Maccabean Martyrs against torture in 2 Maccabees 6:18–7:42 and Hebrews 11:35, is in an appendix to the Old Testament of the Orthodox Bible as a valuable text informing Orthodox spirtuality.