ANTILEGOMENA (ἀντιλεγόμενα, contradicted or disputed), an epithet applied by the early Christian writers to denote those books of the New Testament which, although sometimes publicly read in the churches, were not for a considerable time admitted to be genuine, or received into the canon of Scripture. These books are so denominated in contradistinction to the Homologoumena, or universally acknowledged writings. The following is a catalogue of the Antilegomena:—The Second Epistle of St Peter; the Epistle of St James; the Epistle of St Jude; the Second and Third Epistles of St John; the Apocalypse, or Revelation of St John; the Epistle to the Hebrews.
The earliest notice which we have of this distinction is that contained in the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius, who flourished A.D. 270-340.