Brewer's: Ecclesiasticus

is so called, not because the writer was a priest, but because the book (in the opinion of the fathers) was the chief of the apocryphal books, designated by them Ecclesiastici Libri (books to be read in churches), to distinguish them from the canonical Scriptures.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Related Content