Apocrypha Discordia

"Apocrypha Discordia" is a collection of various works on Discordianism, compiled by Rev. DrJon Swabey from various non-copyrighted (or Kopylefted) sources, including fragments from both on line and printed sources. It includes illuminations from the Melbourne small press zine artist Pope Phil Wlodarczyk III.

The concept for the book came as Steve Jackson Games was preparing its 1994 edition of "Principia Discordia". According to that edition's introduction, someone on the net (Russel Dalenberg on the usenet group rec.games.board) suggested they publish an "Apocrypha Discordia" if they got enough material in the true Discordian spirit. Several people sent submissions, but the company never published the book.

Probably the first appearance of writings that claimed to be part of "Apocrypha Discordia", or sometimes the "non-existent Apocrypha Discordia", were posted online in 1995 by Reverend Loveshade. Some of the material from that Apocrypha eventually became part of . One of these stories, "Five Blind Men and an Elephant," was also included in Swabey's collection when it was published in 2001.

Although some Discordian cabals consider the work to be canonical, others deny the existence of any canonical document of Discordianism. It may be considered a sequel to the "Principia Discordia", or it may be a complete joke. This dichotomy of religion vs. joke is a fundamental part of the book, and indeed of Discordianism itself.

Much of the core of the work centers on contemporary textural fragments from the source material from which the "Principia Discordia" was drawn, but which were omitted from the published version. Examples include apocryphal passages from "The Honest Book of Truth", "The Dishonest Book of Lies", and "Liber 555". Significant original contributors to the collection include Prince Mu-Chao ("The Discordian Manifesto #3", etc.), Reverend Doctor Hexar le Saipe ("Chaosophy"), The Beatus Ffungo (selections from "Summa Discordia"), Reverend Loveshade ("Five Blind Men and an Elephant" from ), and St. Pesher the Gardener ("Novus Ordo Discordia").

The work is available on line, and has also been published in a print on demand edition by Synaptyclypse Generator, a Discordian sect, affiliated to POEE UK and dedicated to the preservation of important Discordian works. Persistent rumour states that a samizdat copy of the Apocrypha Discordia has been smuggled onto the shelves of the American Library of Congress. Fact|date=October 2008

See also

Discordianism

Discordian Works

Principia Discordia

External links

* [http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.board/msg/f65bfbc530fb3f1d First mention of the title "Apocrypha Discordia", on the rec.games.board newsgroup on March 16, 1994]
* [http://appendix.23ae.com/apocrypha/ Homepage of the "Apocrypha Discordia" with download mirrors]
* [http://discordia.loveshade.org/apocrypha Excerpts from Reverend Loveshade's 1995 online "Non-existent Apocrypha Discordia"]
* [http://www.geocities.com/bloodstar84/pd_links.html BloodStar's original site of the 1990s "non-existent" "Apocrypha Discordia"]
* [http://weird.gmxhome.de/principia/apocrypha2de.html "Die Apocrypha Diskordia" (German Version)]
* [http://www.poee.co.uk/ POEE UK, spiritual home of Synaptyclypse Generator Sect]
* [http://www.syngen.co.uk/ Home of Synaptyclypse Generator Publishing]