At the time of Christ, two versions of the Old Testament (or
Tanakh) were in circulation: a Hebrew version and a Greek version.
The Greek version is known as the "Septuagint" (or "LXX" for
short), after the legend that 72 translators working independently
came up with identical Greek translations.
Several books appear in the Septuagint that do not appear in the
Hebrew version, most of which were written during the
"intertestamental period" between Nehemiah (c. 432 BC) and Christ
(c. 5 BC). These books were regarded by Jewish sages as Sefarim
hizonim, extraneous books, and were not part of the Hebrew canon.
Collectively these writings are known to both Jews and Christians
as the "Apocrypha." The books of the Apocrypha are:
[u]The early
Christians, most of whom spoke Greek, used the Septuagint, which
included the Apocrypha. [/u]The Apocrypha continued
in common use among Christians until the Reformation, when the
Hebrew canon was chosen as the Protestant Old Testament. Catholic
and Orthodox Churches continue to use the Septuagint. The Catholic
Church officially declared its choice at both the Council of Trent
(1546) and the First Vatican Council (1869-70).
The only theological significance of the acceptance or
nonacceptance of the Apocrypha is that the Books of the Maccabees
support prayer for the dead, which Protestants do not accept.