Apocryphal

“Hidden” — an ancient book not included in the official canon.

The Greek term means “concealed” and originally referred to texts reserved for the initiated. It came to designate works that circulated among ancient Jews and Christians without entering the Hebrew or Protestant canon — many of them, however, accepted by Catholics and Orthodox as deuterocanonical. Being apocryphal does not mean being false: it means standing outside the official list of a particular tradition.