The Apostolic History of Abdias and Notices of Minor Acts
The Apostolic History of Abdias and Notices of Minor Acts
Translated by M. R. James
6th–7th century AD
James’s summaries of the Latin Apostolic History of Abdias, with his notices of the minor acts of the apostles, as a guide to the late medieval Acts of the apostles.
1 us the offering that is above, on the third day after he rose. So it was done, and the chanter went up on a great stone and sang: Precious in the sight of the Lord.... I slept and rose up again.... And they answered: Shall not the sleeper awake?... Now will I arise, saith the Lord. Alleluia. They read the gospel and made the offering. 26 It was about the sixth hour, and Plato looked out to sea seven stadia away, and lo. Matthew standing on the sea between two men in bright apparel, and the beautiful child before them. And they said Amen, Alleluia. And the sea was to look upon like a crystal stone, and before the Child a cross came up out of the deep, and at the lower end of it the coffin of Matthew: and in a moment it was set on the land where they were.
2 27 The king beheld all from a window, and came down and fell at their feet and confessed his sin and his belief. He would give them the palace for a sanctuary, and the coffin should be laid on his golden couch in the great hall. Plato baptized and communicated him. 28 The apostle appeared and said: Thy name shall no more be Bulphamnus but Matthew; thy son not Bulphandrus but also Matthew; thy wife Ziphagia, Sophia; and his wife Orba, Synesis. He ordained the king a priest, being 37, his son a deacon, being 17: his wife a priestess (presbytis) and his son's wife a deaconess, being 17. [29 (in one recension only): The king destroyed his idols, and issued a decree establishing the new faith.] 30 Matthew bade them offer the offering daily for forty-nine days and repeat it yearly, and told Plato he should join him in three years, and be succeeded by the king, and he by his son. Then with two angels he departed to heaven. 31 And a voice came, promising peace and safety to the city.
3 His day is the 14th of Gorgiaeus (al. 16 November; Lat. 11 October). The most effective part of these Acts is the vision after Matthew's death: the interest in liturgy is quite prominent here. We will now take a review of the Latin Acts as contained in the of which something has already been said. It is in ten books. Book I treats of St. Peter. Chapters i-v are drawn from the Gospels and Acts; vi-xiv extracted from the Clementine literature; xv, the ordination of Clement; xvi, Paul arrives, and from this to the end (xx) is the contest with Simon and the Martyrdom from the Pseudo-Hegesippus de excidio Hierosolymae, lib. iii. Book II, of Paul: i-vi from the canonical Acts; vii, viii from the Martyrdom. Book III, of Andrew, is Gregory's book of miracles, and the Passion. Book IV, of James the Great, gives us new matter, only found here, though doubtless there was a Greek original. i. Describes James's preaching. ii. In the course of it he was opposed by Hermogenes and Philetus. Philetus was converted by James, and told Hermogenes he should leave him. Hermogenes in anger bound him by magical incantations and said: We will see if James can free you. Philetus found means to send a servant to James, who sent back his kerchief, and by it Philetus was freed and came to James.
5 iii. Hermogenes in anger sent devils to fetch both James and Philetus to him: but when they got there they began to howl in the air and complain that an angel had bound them with fiery chains. James sent them to bring Hermogenes bound. They tied his arms with ropes and brought him, mocking him. You are a foolish man, said James, but they shall not hurt you. The devils clamoured for leave to avenge themselves on him. Why do you not seize Philetus? said James. We dare not touch so much as an ant in your chamber, they said. James bade Philetus loose Hermogenes, and he stood confounded. Go free, said James, for we do not render evil for evil. I fear the demons, he said. And James gave him his staff to protect him. iv. Armed with this, he went home and filled baskets with magical books and began to burn them. Not so, said James, lest the smoke vex the unwary; cast them into the sea. He did so, and returned and begged for pardon. James sent him to undo his former work on those he had deceived, and spend in charity what he had gained by his art. He obeyed, and so grew in faith that he even performed miracles.
6 v. The Jews bribed two centurions, Lysias and Theocritus, to seize James. And while he was being taken away, there was a dispute between him and the Pharisees. He spoke to them first of Abraham, (vi.) and went on to cite prophecies. Isaiah: Behold a virgin... Jeremiah: Behold, thy redeemer shall come, O Jerusalem, and this shall be the sign of him: he shall open the eyes of the blind, restore hearing to the deaf, and raise the dead with his voice. Ezekiel: Thy king shall come, O Zion, he shall come humbly, and restore thee. Daniel: As the son of man, so shall he come and receive princedoms and powers. David: The Lord said unto my Lord... Again: He shall call me, thou art my Father... I will make him my first-born. Of the fruit of thy body... Isaiah again: Like a sheep to the slaughter. David: They pierced my hands... They gave me gall... My flesh shall rest... I will arise and be with thee... For the comfortless trouble's sake... He is gone up on high... God is gone up. He rode on the cherubim... The Lord shall come, and shall not keep silence,... vii. Isaiah: The dead shall rise. David: God spake once... They rewarded me evil for good... He that did eat my bread... The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan. viii. The people cried out: We have sinned. Abiathar the high priest stirred up a tumult, and a scribe cast a rope about James's neck and dragged him before Herod, who sentenced him to be beheaded. On the way he healed a paralytic.
7 ix. The scribe, named Josias, was convinced, and prayed for pardon. And Abiathar procured that he should be beheaded with James. Water was brought, James baptized him, they exchanged the kiss of peace, and were beheaded. (The tale of James forgiving his accuser is as old as Clement of Alexandria, who quotes it.) Book V, of St. John. i. From the Gospels and Acts. ii. The caldron of oil at Ephesus, exile to Patmos, and recall. iii. The story of the robber (Clement of Alexandria the ultimate source). iv—xiii. Drusiana. xiv—xviii. Atticus and Eugenius (see above). xix. Destruction of temple of Artemis. xx, xxi. The poison (see above). Assumption of John. Book VI, of St. James the Less. i—vi. from the Gospels and Acts and from Hegesippus as quoted by Eusebius (Rufinus). vii sqq. SS. Simon and Jude, going to Persia, found there two magicians, Zaroës and Arfaxat, whom Matthew had driven out of Ethiopia (see the next book). Their doctrines were that the God of the Old Testament was the god of darkness, Moses and the Prophets deceivers, the soul the work of the good God, the body the work of the god of darkness, so that soul and body are contrary to each other: that the sun and moon are gods, and also water: that the incarnation of Christ was in appearance only (in fact, Manichaean doctrine).
8 viii. On entering the country they met Varardach, the general of King Xerxes, with an army preparing to repel an invasion of India. He had many priests and diviners with him: their gods explained that they could give no answers because of the presence of Simon and Jude. Varardach sent for them and they offered to expound their teaching: he said he would hear them after the campaign. Jude urged him to hear now. He asked them to foretell his success or failure. 9 ix. Simon said: We will allow your gods to answer your diviners. So they prayed, and the prophets said: There will be a great battle, and many will fall on either side. The apostles laughed, though Varardach was impressed; and they said: The truth is that to-morrow the Indians will send and offer you peace and become tributaries to Persia. After some dispute with the priests it was agreed (x. that both parties should be kept in custody till the morrow; (xi. when the apostles' prediction was fulfilled. But they interceded for the priests, whom Varardach would have killed. At least, said he, you will receive their goods. Their pay was reckoned up: 120 talents in all, besides the chief priest's, who had 4 pounds of gold a month: and much raiment, &c. (The apostles' refusal to take this has dropped out, it seems. xii. On his return, Varardach reported all this to the king; but Zaroës and Arfaxat made light of it, and proposed a test before the apostles came. The lawyers of the land were to be summoned to dispute with them. And first they made them unable to speak, then restored their speech but took away their power of motion, and then made them unable to see. The lawyers retired in confusion. xiv. Varardach told the apostles, and they asked him to send for the lawyers, and proposed a second trial. If the lawyers would believe on their God, they would sign them with the cross and enable them to overcome the wizards.
10 The lawyers were at first inclined to despise them for their mean appearance; but, convinced by Simon's words, believed. xv. The apostles prayed over them: O God of Israel, who didst do away with the magic illusions of Jannes and Mambres and give them over to confusion and sores and cause them to perish: let thine hand be also on these magicians Zaroës and Arfaxat, &c. The contest took place and the magicians were powerless. One of the lawyers, Zebeus, explained to the king how they were the instruments of the evil angel; and defied them to do as they had done the day before. xvi. They were enraged and called in a host of snakes. The apostles were hastily summoned, and made the snakes all turn on the magicians and bite them: they howled like wolves. Kill them outright, said the king; but the apostles refused, and instead made the serpents suck out all their venom, which hurt still more. xvii. And for three days, in the hospital, the wizards continued screaming. When they were on the point of death, the apostles healed them, saying: Our God does not ask for forced service; if you will not believe, you may go free. They wandered about Persia, slandering the apostles and telling the people to kill them when they came.
11 xviii. The apostles stayed in Babylon, healing the sick, and ordaining clergy. A deacon was accused of incontinence by the daughter of a satrap who had been seduced by another. The parents clamoured against the deacon Euphrosinus. The apostles sent for the infant who had been born that day, and on their bidding it spoke and cleared Euphrosinus: but the apostles refused to question it about the guilty man. xix. Two fierce tigers had escaped from their cages and were devouring everybody they met. The apostles, appealed to, made the beasts follow them home, where they stayed three days. Then the apostles called the people together, and announced that they were going to leave them to visit the rest of Persia. On the urgent prayer of the people they stayed fifteen months longer, baptized 60,000 people, (xx) ordained Abdias bishop, and set out, accompanied by many disciples. For thirteen years they travelled, and Craton their disciple recorded their acts in ten books, which Africanus the historian translated into Latin, and from which we have here made extracts.
12 Zaroës and Arfaxat always went before the apostles and warned people against them, but were as regularly confuted. At Suanir there were seventy priests who received a pound of gold II h apiece from the king at each of the feasts of the sun (at the beginning of each of the four seasons). The magicians warned these men that two Hebrews were coming, who would deprive them of all their gains: they should be compelled to sacrifice immediately on their arrival. 13 xxi. After travelling through all the twelve provinces, the apostles came to Suanir and lodged with a chief citizen, Sennes. The priests and mob flocked thither, crying out: Bring out the enemies of our gods. So they were taken to the temple of the sun; and as they entered the devils began to cry out that they were being burned. In the east, in the temple, was a four-horse chariot of the sun in silver, and on the other side a four-oxed chariot of the moon, also silver. xxii. The priests would now compel the apostles to sacrifice. Jude said to Simon: I see the Lord calling us. Simon: I see him also among the angels; moreover, an angel has said to me: Go out hence and the temple shall fall, but I said: No, for some here may be converted. As they spoke (in Hebrew) an angel came and said: Choose either the death of all here or the palm of martyrdom. They chose the palm. As the priests pressed on them, they demanded silence. After a few words Simon commanded the devil to leave the chariot of the sun and break it, and Jude spoke likewise of the moon. Two hideous black men appeared and fled howling. The priests and people attacked the apostles and slew them. xxiii. This was on the first of July. Sennes suffered with them. Lightning struck the temple and split it into three pieces and burnt Zaroës and Arfaxat to coal. After three months Xerxes sent and confiscated the priests' goods and translated the bodies to his city, and built a marble basilica, octagonal, and 8 times 80 feet in circumference and 120 feet high, plated with gold inside, and the sarcophagus of silver in the middle. It took three years to build.
14 Book VII, of St. Matthew. i. He came to Naddaver in Ethiopia, where King Aegippus reigned. There were two magicians, Zaroës and Arfaxat, who could make men immovable, blind, or deaf as they pleased, and also charmed serpents, like the Marsi. ii. Matthew counteracted all these acts, sent the snakes to sleep, and cured their bites with the cross. A eunuch named Candacis, whom Philip had baptized, took the apostle in, and he did many cures. iii. Candacis asked him how he, a Hebrew, could speak other tongues. Matthew told him the story of Babel and of Pentecost. iv. One came and announced that the magicians were coming with two crested dragons breathing fire and brimstone. Matthew crossed himself and rose to meet them. 'Speak from the window,' said Candacis. 'You can be at the window; I will go out.' When the dragons approached, both fell asleep at Matthew's feet, and he challenged the magicians to rouse them. They could not. Then he adjured them to go quietly and hurt no man, and so they did. v. The apostle then spoke, describing Paradise at length, and (vi) the Fall (the description of Paradise is rather interesting). vii. It was now announced that Euphranor the king's son was dead. The magicians, who could not raise him, said he had been taken up among the gods, and an image and temple ought to be built. Candacis said: Keep these men till Matthew comes. He came: the queen Euphenissa fell at his feet. He consoled her and raised Euphranor. viii.
15 The people came to sacrifice to him as a god. He persuaded them to build a church: 11,000 men did it in thirty days: it was called the Resurrection. Matthew presided there twenty-three years, ordained clergy and founded churches; baptized the king, queen, prince, and princess Ephigenia, who vowed chastity. Zaroës and Arfaxat fled the country. It would be long to tell of all Matthew's cures and miracles: I will proceed to his martyrdom. ix. Aeglippus was succeeded by his brother Hyrtacus, who wished to marry Ephigenia, now presiding over more than 200 sacred virgins. He offered Matthew half his kingdom to persuade her. Matthew said: Assemble all the virgins tomorrow, and you shall hear what good things I will speak of marriage. x. His address on the divine institution and merits of matrimony. xi. Loudly applauded by Hyrtacus and his followers; he then pointed out that it would be sacrilege to marry Ephigenia. Hyrtacus went away in a rage. xii. But Matthew exhorted them not to fear man. xiii. Ephigenia prayed him to consecrate her and the other virgins. And he veiled them (with a long prayer). xiv. And as he stood at the altar praying, a soldier sent by Hyrtacus pierced him in the back and he died. The people threatened to burn the palace, but the clergy restrained them. xv. Ephigenia gave all her wealth to the church. Hyrtacus sent the nobles' wives to her, then tried to send demons to carry her off, then surrounded her house with fire.
16 But an angel, and Matthew, appeared and encouraged her. And a great wind rose and drove all the fire on the palace, and only Hyrtacus and his son escaped. The son was seized by a devil, and rushed to Matthew's tomb and confessed his father's crimes. Hyrtacus was attacked with elephantiasis, and stabbed himself. Beor, the brother of Ephigenia, a Christian, succeeded and reigned twenty-five years, dying at 88, and appointing successors in his lifetime, and he had peace with the Romans and Persians, and all Ethiopia was filled with churches, unto this day. 17 This and the last book are linked together by the figures of Zaroës and Arfaxat, and strictly Matthew should, we see, precede Simon and Jude. The discourses in Matthew are much longer than in the other; and a certain consciousness of the existence of the Abyssinian church is shown. Book VIII, of St. Bartholomew. This, as Bonnet has shown, is the original of the Greek Passion, edited by Tischendorf, of which there is but one manuscript, dated 1279. The Latin MSS. go back to the eighth or ninth century.
18 India is divided into three parts: Bartholomew came thither to a temple of Astaroth, who ceased to answer his worshippers. So they went to another city; and inquired of Beireth (Berith), who said Bartholomew was the cause. What is he like? they asked. 'He has black curly hair, white skin, large eyes, straight nose, his hair covers his ears, his beard long and grizzled, middle height: he wears a white colobium with a purple stripe, and a white cloak with four purple gems' at the corners: for twenty-six years he has worn these and they never grow old: his shoes have lasted twenty-six years: he prays 100 times a day and 100 times a night: his voice is like a trumpet: angels wait on him: he is always cheerful and knows all languages.' For two days they could not find him, but then he cast a devil out of a man. King Polymius heard of it and sent for him to heal his lunatic daughter who bit every one. She was loosed—the apostle having reassured her keepers—and cured. The king sent camels laden with riches, but the apostle could not be found. Next day, however, he came to the king and expounded the Christian faith, and offered to show him the devil who inhabited his idol. There was a dialogue, in which the demon explained his doings. Bartholomew made the people try to pull the statue down, but they could not. The ropes were removed and he bade the demon leave the statue, which was instantly broken.
19 After a prayer of the apostle, an angel appeared and signed the four corners of the temple with the cross; and then showed them the devil: black, sharp-faced, with long beard, hair to the feet, fiery eyes, breathing flame, spiky wings like a hedgehog, bound with fiery chains; and then the angel sent him away howling. The king and the rest were baptized. But the heathen priests went and complained to his brother Astriges (Astyages), who had Bartholomew brought bound, and questioned him. It was told him that his idol Vualdath had fallen and was broken to pieces, and in anger he had Bartholomew beaten with clubs and beheaded (the Greek puts in 'flayed', in accordance with the late tradition). And the people buried him honourably, and built a basilica over him. After twenty days Astriges was seized by a devil, and he and all the priests died. And there was great fear, and all believed: the king (Polymius) became bishop and presided twenty years.
20 Book IX, of Thomas. i.... I remember to have read a book in which his journey to India and acts there are set forth; but as it is by many not received because of its wordiness, I will omit what is superfluous and record what is plainly true, agreeable to the reader, and can edify the church. ii-iv. The sale to Abbanes and the marriage feast. v, vi. The palace. vii. Cure of possessed woman. The youth who killed the woman. viii, ix. Siphor's wife and daughter. ix-xi. Mygdonia and Charisius. xii. Tertia (Treptia) and Zuzanes (who goes with his mother to Mygdonia and is converted with her). xiii. Thomas before Misdaeus. xiv. The iron plates. Thomas is put into the bath-furnace for a night: it cannot be heated: he is brought to the temple of the sun, with its gold four-horsed chariot. xv. Virgins enter, singing and playing. Thomas speaks with the demon in the image. The image is melted. Thomas and the rest are imprisoned. (These chapters are an interpolation.) xvi–xxv, epitomize the old Acts. The great prayer of Thomas immediately precedes his death.
21 Book X of St. Philip, is quite short. i. He goes to Scythia twenty years after the Ascension. ii. Before a statue of Mars: a great dragon comes out from beneath the statue and kills the priest's son and two tribunes, and makes many ill with its venomous breath. Philip banishes the dragon and raises and heals the dead and sick. iii. He teaches them for a year: they break the image, and many thousands are baptized. After ordaining bishop and clergy he returns to Asia, to Hierapolis, where he extinguishes the malignant heresy of the Ebionites, who said that the Son of God was not born as a man, but took his humanity from the Virgin. iv. And he had two daughters who converted many. Seven days before his death he calls the clergy together, exhorts them, and dies, aged 87, and is buried at Hierapolis, and his two daughters after a few years are laid at his right and left. Where many miracles are done by his intercession.
22 This is wholly divergent from the Greek accounts. Yet some Western texts, notably those current in Ireland, are aware of the story of his crucifixion at Hierapolis, and blend it awkwardly with the Latin legend.
Notices of Minor Acts
23 Besides the Acts we have dealt with, there are others which demand a brief notice. The Acts of John by Prochorus the deacon is a Greek romance of considerable length: it has been edited in full by Zahn (Acta Joannis). By far the greater part of it is taken up with miracles wrought by John on Patmos. It is not supposed to be earlier than the fifth century at most. Some of the manuscripts have been found to contain large excerpts from the Leucian Acts: the great episodes of Lycomedes, the temple of Artemis, and Drusiana—in fact almost all that we have of the Acts, except the discourse on our Lord's life and passion, and the death of John—have been thus preserved. Prochorus's own stories are not very interesting. Wright has edited a Syriac history of John, attributed to Eusebius, 'who found it in a Greek book'. The scene is mainly at Ephesus. John takes service at a bath (as he does also in Prochorus), and there is a tale of the death and raising of a young man, Menelaus, which has attracted the attention of a recent anonymous writer on the resurrection—I do not quite know why. There is also a general baptism and a destruction of idols, in consequence of which Nero banishes John, and under stress of a rising recalls him. Finally, at the request of Peter and Paul, John writes his Gospel in one hour. He died at the age of 120. This text exists also in Arabic.
24 There are also Greek Acts of Barnabas, edited last by Bonnet, of which the interest is strictly local; they describe his travels and death in Cyprus—where they were doubtless written (not earlier than the fifth century). With them must be classed the lives of other Cypriote saints of the apostolic age, Heraclides of Tannasus and Auxibius of Soli. Acts of James the Great in Greek (ed. Ebersolt, Paris, 1902) are without interest. Acts of Thomas in Greek, edited by me from a British Museum MS. (in Apocr. Anecd. ii), are a version (probably) of the Acts in the Egyptian cycle, which we have in Ethiopic. More important, because more widely diffused, are the various late Acts and Passions of Peter and Paul. These occupy a large space in Lipsius's edition, where the following texts are printed: 1. The Passion of Peter, attributed to Linus, Peter's successor in the see of Rome, addressed to the churches of East and West: in Latin. It follows the course of the original Martyrdom, adding some details, e. g. the names of Processus and Martinian, Peter's gaolers, and a vision, when Peter is crucified, of 'angels standing with crowns of the flowers of roses and lilies, and upon the top of the upright cross Peter standing and receiving a book from Christ, and reading from it the words which he was speaking'.
25 2. The Passion of Paul, by Linus, in Latin. This, again, is the original Martyrdom with a few additions. On the way to execution Paul meets Plautilla, a noble matron, and borrows the kerchief from her head to bind his eyes: she is to wait for him and he will give it back. Returning, the soldiers met Plautilla rejoicing; and when they taunted her, she told them that Paul, with a celestial company, had come to her, and returned the blood-stained kerchief, which she showed them. There is a passage about Seneca, too: see below, p. 480. In both, the speeches are variously altered and amplified. The remaining texts all represent Peter and Paul as joining in the contest with Simon, and being martyred at the same time: the older legends making a year intervene between their deaths. We have first: 3. The Passion of Peter and Paul under the name of Marcellus. The Latin text is the better known: there is one manuscript of a Greek form of it. The opening words are Cum venisset Paulus Romam.
26 As in all these texts, there is a good deal about Simon's magic arts. When confronted with the apostles before Nero, he makes large dogs appear and attack the apostles: but Peter has foreseen this, and has some barley bread, which he has blessed, concealed in his sleeve, and, producing it, makes the dogs vanish. Pilate's letter to Claudius (see p. 146) is produced and read before Nero. When Simon flies in the air, Peter adjures the demons who are carrying him to let him fall; and his body is broken into four pieces. The death of Nero is mentioned, and an attempt of some devout men from the East to carry off the bodies of the apostles. 4. The Greek Acts of Peter and Paul. This text begins with Paul's journey from the island of Gaudomelete to Rome. Dioscorus the shipmaster, who was bald like Paul, was arrested in mistake for him at Puteoli and beheaded, and his head sent to Caesar (for the Jews had induced the emperor to forbid Paul's landing in Italy). There are other local legends in this portion of the book. But after the arrival at Rome the story takes the same course as Pseudo-Marcellus.
27 5. A Latin Passion of Peter and Paul, largely borrowed from Pseudo-Hegesippus, has this peculiarity, that the apostles lodge in Rome with a believer who is a relation of Pontius Pilate. This person is called in by Nero to testify whether Simon is, as he asserts, Christ: and denies it, and further suggests that Peter and Paul should be called in to give their witness also. The dispute follows. The apostles are sentenced to death by Clement, not Agrippa, prefect of the city. Hardly anything is said of the Martyrdom. The Greek Acts of Thaddaeus centre round the Edessene legend of the mission of King Abgarus to Christ, the miraculous portrait of him procured by Ananias, Abgarus's messenger, and the preaching of Thaddaeus at Edessa. The Syriac doctrine of Addai tells the same story. These are strictly local legends. Acts and Passions of disciples of the apostles are sometimes interesting: such are those of Nereus and Achilleus which tell the story of Petronilla, Peter's daughter; and of Xanthippe and Polyxena which borrow matter and language from the Acts of Paul, Peter, Andrew, and Thomas. Those of Zenas and Philonilla—disciples of St. Paul—may prove to be interesting, and those of Hermione. The Acts of Titus by Zenas have already been shown to throw light on the Acts of Paul. The Acts of Mark, Luke, Timothy, Longinus, Cornelius, Aquila, Ananias are not of much interest, either as history or legend.
28 The Oriental Acts—mainly Coptic, Arabic, and Ethiopic—form a large mass of matter which it is not practicable to analyse. They may be read conveniently in the English versions of S. C. Malan, Conflicts of the Holy Apostles; Budge, Contendings of the Apostles; A. S. Lewis, Mythological Acts of the Apostles. The two first are from Ethiopic, the third from Arabic. They usually consist, in the case of each apostle, of his Preaching and his Martyrdom, related in separate chapters. Of the Martyrdoms, some (Peter, Paul, John, Thomas, James the Less) are the familiar stories: James ultimately from Hegesippus, the rest versions of the old Acts. The Ethiopic has a version of the first six episodes of the Acts of Thomas, and (in Budge) a long life of St. Paul which does not seem to have many points of contact with the old Acts: besides some stories which are loose and fabulous versions of the Clementine romance. The Acts of John are partly from Prochorus. The tales of the Preachings of the apostles vary greatly in interest. Those which make some impression are Andrew and Philemon in Scythia, where a dove is sent as a messenger by Philemon to Andrew; Andrew and Bartholomew, where a whale transports the party in their sleep, a ship with our Lord as captain (cf. Andrew and Matthias) conveys them, and a dog-headed man of hideous aspect is made to become their ally; Bartholomew in the Oasis practising vine-dressing; Matthew telling of his visit to the Land of Promise where the Lost Tribes dwell; Thaddaeus, identical with Peter and Andrew, but shorter. Andrew and Matthias figure here also.
29 One Arabic text is a wild story of Peter and Paul and an emperor of Rome called Bar'amus, which does not attach itself to any other legend of those apostles. It is as grotesque as the Slavonic Acts of Peter, of which a word has yet to be said. There is also a Preaching of Peter in which he heals a leprous girl. Both Ethiopic and Arabic collections may be regarded as versions made from Coptic; but the Coptic texts themselves are for the most part very fragmentary. We have some of the older martyrdoms fairly complete, and some representative pieces of the other stories. But we have also pieces of stories which are not, so far, known to exist save in Coptic: for example, part of a Martyrdom of Simon Zelotes, and two tales about Andrew which are so curious as to deserve description.
The Acts of Andrew and Paul
30 is the name commonly given to the first. The beginning is gone. We find the captain of a ship which has brought Andrew and Paul to some city. Andrew has gone towards the city; Paul has plunged into the sea to visit the underworld, and leaves a message for Andrew to bring him up again. The shipman's mother—dim of sight—comes to meet her son, and he, having Paul's cloak to bring to Andrew, accidentally touches her eyes with it, and she sees clearly. Andrew takes the cloak and goes to the city with the multitude: a man meets him and begs him to visit and cure his only son, twelve years old, who is dying. But the Jews oppose his entrance; he tells the father to return home: his boy will die, but he must not bury him till the morrow. The father goes home and finds him dead. Andrew returns to the ship and makes the shipman point out the place where Paul dived into the sea. He takes a cup of fresh water, prays, and pours it into the sea, bidding the salt water retreat and the dry land appear. The abyss cleaves, and Paul leaps up, bearing a fragment of wood in his hand.
31 He has visited Amente and seen Judas and heard his story. Judas had repented and given back the money, and seen Jesus and pleaded for forgiveness. Jesus sent him to the desert to repent, bidding him fear no one but God. The prince of destruction came to him and threatened to swallow him up, and Judas was afraid and worshipped him. Then in despair he thought to go and ask Jesus again for pardon: but he had been taken away to the praetorium. So he resolved to hang himself and meet Jesus in Amente. Jesus came and took all the souls but his. The powers of Amente came and wept before Satan, who said: After all, we are stronger than Jesus; he has had to leave a soul with us. Jesus ordered Michael to take away Judas's soul also, that Satan's boast might be proved vain, and told Judas how he had destroyed his own hopes by worshipping Satan and killing himself. Judas was sent back till the day of judgement. Paul tells also how he saw the streets of Amente desolate, and brought away a fragment of the broken gates in his hand. There were still some souls in punishment—the murderers, sorcerers, and those who cast little children into the water.
32 The apostles land, and with Apollonius the shipman go up to the city. The Jews refuse to let them in. They see 'a bird which is called True' digging in a wall. This is really a scarabaeus, in Greek, which word has been mistaken for. Andrew says, 'Thou bird, go into the city to where the dead boy is, and tell them that we are at the gate and cannot enter; let them open to us.' The scarab gives the message and the people threaten to stone the Jews. At this point the governor comes out; the matter is explained to him by the people and by the Jews, who add, 'if they are the disciples of the living God, why does he not open the gate for them?' The governor is impressed by this and calls on the apostles to open for themselves. They consult, and Paul, suddenly inspired, strikes the gates with the fragment of wood from Amente, and they are swallowed up in the earth.
33 Here two leaves are lost. We gather that the Jews had practised some fraud about a dead, or supposedly dead, man, and had tied up his face with grave clothes, 'so that he could not breathe'. One guesses that the apostles bade the dead rise, but he was so tightly bound that nothing happened. We find a dispute going on: the apostles say that the only thing is to order the dead to be loosed. The Jews seek to flee, but they are held by the soldiers till the grave clothes are loosed. The apostles pray: the dead rises and falls at the apostles' feet, saying, 'Forgive me for my folly,' and tells 'everything that had happened'. Andrew says to the Jews, 'Who is now the deceiver of the people? We or you?' It appears from this that the dead man in question has been an accomplice of the Jews in their trick, and is not the dead child whom the apostles were to raise, and doubtless did raise when they first entered the city. This is confirmed by the next words of the Jews (fragmentary): they fall at the apostles' feet and say... ' (we) killed him in folly, thinking that he would not rise'. They ask for baptism. And the act concludes with a general conversion—apparently of 27,000 Jews.
34 The other story, yet more fragmentary, tells of a woman who bore a child in the desert, killed it, cut it in pieces, and gave it to a dog to eat, to conceal her crime. At this moment Andrew and his companions came up. The woman fled, and the dog came to Andrew and spoke, and called him to come and see what had been done. Andrew consulted with Philemon (who figures as his companion in the Ethiopic Acts) and prayed. In his prayer he alludes to a miracle wrought by Christ on Mount Gebal, 'when, a great multitude being gathered, thou didst command that all the scattered stones and grains of sand should be gathered together, and we marvelled'. Evidently upon this the disiecta membra of the child are joined together, and, from words of Andrew which follow, it seems that it was made to weep and laugh. But we have no more of the story.
35 So much for the Oriental Acts of the fabulous cycle. With them I class a text which has only survived in Slavonic—certain Acts of Peter translated by Franko (Zeitschr. f. Ntl. Wiss., 1902). It is imperfect at the beginning. A Child (Jesus) comes to Peter and bids him go to the sea where a ship waits to take him to Rome. The captain of the ship (Michael) feigns reluctance to take Peter on board, because he is a disciple of the crucified. There is a storm which Peter stills; he then baptizes Michael, and Michael sells him the Child. When they arrived at Rome, Peter told the Child to catch some fish. 'Make me some hooks,' he said. And in an hour he caught 12,000 fish, which followed him about on dry land. A Roman noble, Aravistus, bought the Child from Peter for 50 pieces of gold; and took him to a teacher, whom he speedily put to silence (a motif from the Infancy Gospels). In the night the house was wakened by angels singing the thrice-holy hymn over the Child. All in the house were baptized by him.
36 Nero arrested Peter, and the Child went and rebuked him; his counsellor Cato smote the Child behind the ear, and was withered up (Infancy Gospel again). The city shook, and the dead rose, but the Child bade them go back till Michael should raise them. Peter was crucified, head downwards. The Child was with him, and at the last revealed himself: the nails fell from Peter's head, breast, hands, and knees, and after praying for forgiveness for his murderers, he gave up the ghost. Such are the main points of a rhapsody which serves to show how little the late story-teller cared about not merely history but older legend. Not even now have all the texts been enumerated which could be classed as Apocryphal Acts: but the reader has before him a general view of the extent and character of the literature which I hope may be reckoned adequate. Put very broadly, the development is from rather dim historical reminiscences used as a framework for doctrinal teaching, to thaumaturgy plus doctrine, to pure thaumaturgy without any doctrine of significance.
37 John embodies some traditional memories of the residence of John at Ephesus. Paul, perhaps, in the Thecla-story uses an existing tale, true or fabulous. Peter has the crucifixion at Rome, the memory of Simon Magus, and little else. Andrew is a succession of miracles, and so is Thomas: but in all these the discourses of the apostles are the real raison d'être of the books. Not so with Philip, Andrew and Matthias, and the oriental cycle. In these the teaching is of a conventional kind, and becomes more and more perfunctory as we go on, while the miracles grow more and more sensational, until we perhaps reach the climax in the conversion and baptizing of an archangel. The extent to which these Acts have been influenced by the sophistic romances of the pagan world has been much discussed, and probably exaggerated. The Canonical Acts at first served as the model of the genre: of that there can be no doubt. It is with Andrew that I begin to perceive the possibility that the author writes with an eye on his pagan colleagues in the art of fiction, just as Flamion has shown that he has also an eye on the philosophy that was popular in his day. Xanthippe and Polyxena seem to me more nearly related to the novels than any of the apostolic romances proper; the Clementine romance is another example of the borrowing of motifs from secular fiction. But on the whole it seems safer to say that these fables were intended rather to rival than to imitate the pagan novels—to supply Christians with a substitute and an antidote.