AGRAPHA

AGRAPHA. The term means literally “things not written.” In Scripture (q.v.) studies it has the technical sense of sayings ascribed to Jesus, but not recorded in the canonical Gospels. These include sayings in other New Testament writings (e.g., Acts 20:35), various New Testament manuscripts, apocryphal gospels, early liturgies, rabbinical writings, and notably writings of the Church Fathers (q.v.). The first systematic study of agrapha was done by A. Resch in 1889, and had as its purpose the same goal as subsequent scholarship on the topic-to compile all agrapha and evaluate their authenticity. Among the Church Fathers, e.g., in Basil the Great’s (q.v.) treatise On the Holy Spirit and in succeeding writers, the term connotes the liturgical practice of the Church, especially as a source of authority, together with the Scriptures (he graphe), for the articulation of Christian doctrine.