Apocrypha means "hidden things" in Greek. Apocrypha in Christianity, which is related to the scriptures of the Lord, was not instituted into the Bible at the time it was created. The clergy who put together the Bible had several reasons for not establishing these writings, such as the pure disbelief in what the Apocrypha scriptures said.
             The teachings which were chosen (i.e., the Gospel of Luke), made the most sense. There are two sets of Apocrypha books. The first set are books which are included in some version of the canonical Bible, but which have been excluded at one time or another, for textual or doctrinal issues. These are called 'Deuterocanonical', which means 'books added to the canon'. The second set is other apocryphal texts which have not been canonized, but which shed light on the Bible and its history. The word Canonize means to sanctify or bless.
             The only surviving portion of the Gospel of Peter is within a codex discovered in the grave of a monk at Akhmim, Egypt in 1884, though it has been argued that Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 2949 may contain an earlier redaction. The codex contains a fragmentary passion and resurrection narrative with parallels to all four of the canonical gospels plus the theme of Christ preaching to the dead found in the first letter of Peter. While maintaining the essential framework found in the canon, The gospel of Peter offers significant differences in the smaller details, possibly representing an oral tradition. The gospel contains none of the "special" Matthean or Lukan material that would be expected if those gospels had priority. Actually, Peter's source for the passion narrative may have been the same one used by both Mark and John. The Gospel of Peter was eventually branded as heretical, if for no other reason, because it seemed to deny the suffering of Jesus. The particular passage (4:1) reads, "And they brought two criminals and crucified the Lord between them. But he ...