APOCRYPHA
612
APOCRYPHA
•worthy as emphasizing the close concord between the
Apostolic founders of the Roman Church. The date
(a. d. 55) of composition is involved in obscurity.
Lipsius finds traces of our Acts as early as Hippolytus
(c. 235), but it is not clear that the Fathers adduced
empldvod any written source for their references to
the victory over Simon Magus and the work of the
Apostles at Rome. Lipsius assigns the kernel of
the Martyrdom to the second century; Bardenhewer
refers the whole to the first half of the third. The
Acts of Peter and Paul undoubtedly embody some
genuine traditions. (See Peter, St., Apostle; Paul,
St.. .\postle; Simon M.\gus). — Acts of St. Paul.
Origen and Eusebius expressly name the Trpdfeis
Ilafxou; Tertullian speaks of writings falsely at-
tributed to Paul: "Qitod fii Pauli perperam inscripta
legunt." He is cautioning his readers against
the tale of Thecla preaching and baptizing her-
self Hitherto it was supposed that he referred
to the "Acts of Paul and Thecla". The "Acta
Pauli ", presumed to be a distinct composition, were
deemed to have perished; but recently (1899) a
Coptic papyrus MS., torn to shreds, was found in
Egypt, and proves to contain approximately com-
plete the identical Acts of Paul alluded to by a few
ecclesiastical writers. This find ha.s established the
fact that the long-known .Acts of Paul and Thecla
and the apocryphal correspondence of St. Paul with
the Corinthian Church, as well a.s the Martyrdom of
St. Paul, are really only excerpts from the original
Pauline .\cts. The newly-discovered document con-
tains material hitherto vmknown as well as the above-
noted sections, long extant. It begins with a pre-
tended flight of St. Paul from Antioch of Pisidia, and
ends with his martyrdom at Rome. The narrative
rests on data in the canonical books of the New
Testament, but it abounds in marvels and personages
unhinted at there, and it disfigures traits of some of
tho.se actually mentioned in the Sacred Writings.
The .\cts of Paul, therefore, adds nothing trust-
worthy to our knowledge of the .\postle of the
Gentiles. Fortunately the above-cited passage of
Tertullian (De Baptismo, xvii) informs us of its
authorship and aim. The African writer observes
that the pseudo-history was the work of a priest of
Asia Minor, who on the discovery of the fraud, was
deposed from an ecclesia.stical charge, and confessed
that he forged the book out of love for St. Paul.
Experts ascribe its composition to the second cen-
tury. It was already known when Tertulhan wrote,
and during the first centuries enjoyed a considerable
popularity, both East and West. In fact Eusebius
cla.sses it among the antilegomeiia, or works having
locally quasi-canonical authority. — Acts of Paul and
Thecla. The early detachment of these as well as
the Martyrdom from the Acts of St. Paul may be
accoimted for by ecclesiastical use as festal lections.
Despite Tertullian's remark regarding this pseudo-
graph, it enjoyed an immense and persistent popu-
larity through the patristic period antl the Uliddle
Ages. This favour is to be explained mainly by the
romantic and spirited flavour of the narrative.
Exceptional among the apocryphists, the author
kept a curb upon his fertile imagination, and his
production is distinguished by its simplicity, clear-
ness, and vigour. It deals with the adventures of
Thecla, a young woman of Iconium, who upon being
converted by St. Paul's preaching, left her bride-
grooin and lived a life of virginity and missionary
activity, becoming a companion of St. Paul, and
preaclung the Gospel. She is persecuted, but
miraculously escapes from the fire and the savage
beasts of the arena. The relief into which abstention
froiT the marriage-bed is brought in these Acts
makes it difficult to escape from the conclusion that
they have been coloured by Encratite ideas. Never-
theless the thesis of Lijisius, sup|)orted by Cor.ssen,
that a Gnostic Grundschrift untlerlies our present
document, is not accepted by Harnack, Zahn, Bard-
enhewer, and others. The apocrj-phon follows the
New Testament data of St. Paul's missions very
loosely and is full of unhistorical characters and
events. For instance, the writer introduces a journey
of the .Apostles, to which there is nothing analogous
in the Sacred Books. However, there are grains of
historical material in the Thecla story. A Christian
virgin of that name may well have been converted
by St. Paul at Iconium, and suffered persecution.
Gutschmid has discovered that a certain Queen Trj--
phena was an historical personage (Rheinisches Mu-
seum fiir Philologie, X, 1864). (See Thecla.)—
Acts of St. Philip. The extant Greek fragments
supply us with all but five (10-14) of the fifteen
Acts composing the work. Of these 1-7 are a farrago
of various legends, each, it would seem, with an in-
dependent history; S-14 is a unit, which forms a
parasitic growth on the ancient but somewhat con-
fused traditions of the missionary activity of an
Apostle Philip in Hierapolis of Phrygia. Zahn's view,
that this document is the work of an ill-informed
Catholic monk of the fourth century, is a satisfactory'
hy]5othesis. The largest fragment was first pub-
lislied by Batifi'ol in " Analecta Bollandiana", IX
(Paris, 1890). A Coptic "Acts of Phihp"is also to
be noted. (See Philip, St., Apo.stle.)
There are Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Armenian histories of the missions and death of St. James the Greater, the son of Zebedee. Lipsius assigns the Latin to about the third century. Coptic and Armenian Acts and Martyrdom of St. James the Less depend mostly on the Hegesippus tradition, preserved by Eusebius (Hist. EccL, IV, xxii).— .4ds of St. Mat- thew. The Apostolic Acts of the Pseudo-Abdias con- tain a Latin " Passio Sancti Mattha?i ", which preserves an Abyssinian legend of St. Matthew, later than the Coptic Martyrdom noticed in connection with the Gnostic Acts of that saint. The correct historical setting indicates that the recension was the work of an Abyssinian of the sixth century, who wished to date the establishment of the Abyssinian Church (fourth century) back to the .Apostolic times. How- ever, the kernel of the narrative is drawn from older sources. The Abdias Passio places St. Matthew's mar- tyrdom in Abyssinia. (See M.\tthew, St., Apostle.) — Teaching of Addai (Thaddcus). In 1876 an ancient Syriac document, entitled "The Teaching of Addai, the Apostle", was published for the first time. It proved to closely parallel the Abgar material de- rived by Eusebius from the Edessa archives, and indeed purports to have been entrusted to those arcliives by its author, who gives his name as Labubna, the son of Senaak. It is full of legendary but in- teresting material describing the relations between Jesus and King .Abgar of Edessa. Thaddeus, or Addai, one of the seventy disciples, is sent, after the Resurrection, in compliance with Christ's ]iromise. to Abg.ar, heals the ruler and Christianizes ICdcssa with the most prompt and brilliant success. Notable is the story of the painting of ,Jesus made at the in- stance of Abgar's envoy to the former. Since the narrative of a Gaulish pilgrim who visited Edessa about 390 contains no allusion to such a picture, we may reasonably conclude that the Teaching of Addai is of later origin. Critics accept the period between 399-430. The Thaddeus legend ha.s many ramifications and has undergone a number of varia- tions. There is a Greek ".Acts of Thaddeus", which identifies Addai with Thaddeus or Lebbivus, one of the Twelve. (See .Aboau; ICdessa). — .4c/s of Simoti and Judc. .\ Latin Pansio, whidi Lipsius attributes to the fourth or fiftli century, narrates the miracles, conver.sions. and martyrdoins of these .Apostles. It it found in the .Vbclias collect ion. The scene is Persia and Babylonia. It has been recognized th.at tha