Acts of the Apostles

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The Acts of the Apostles
a collection of
apocryphal stories of the Apostles

The apocryphal Acts of the Apostles , also called the Acts of the Apostles for short , are a text corpus made up of five apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, which was widely distributed in Manichaean circles and was therefore also referred to as the Manichaean Acts of the Apostles , but which was also widespread in the early Church. The Acts of the Apostles are to be distinguished from the Acts of the Apostles of Luke , which can be found as canonical writing in the Christian Bible.

This compilation was described in detail by Photios in his library . The five originally independent parts are the Acts of St. Andrew (Acta Andreae), the Acts of John (Acta Ioannis), the Acts of Paul (Acta Pauli), the Acts of Peter (Acta Petri) and the Acts of Thomas (Acta Thomae). The original Greek title alternates between Πράξεις τῶν Ἀποστόλων and Περίοδοι τῶν Ἀποστόλων, which translates as deeds of the apostles or journeys of the apostles . Each of these five writings deals with only one of the apostles , which is a common stylistic element for later hagiographic literature .

Author, place and time of creation

This collection is also named as the Acts of the Apostles of Leucius after the alleged author Leucius Charinus . Leucius poses as a pupil of the Apostle John and is considered to be the author of the Acts of John, whose name was later transferred to the entire corpus of the Acts of the Apostles as the author. It is not certain whether this collection goes back to the Manichaeans themselves or whether it was only used by them, but it is certain that the Acts of the Apostles held a high value there and that their content largely corresponds to the Manichaean teachings. The Acts of the Apostles are quoted several times from the Manichaean Book of Psalms . Since this writing was created around the last third of the third century, the date for the creation of the collection is to be settled at this time at the latest, but the individual parts were created earlier at different times and in different places.

Lore

There is no surviving handwriting of the entire work, but its existence is repeatedly attested and cited from it, for example. B. of the former Manichaean Augustine of Hippo and of the Manichaean Faustus of Mileve . In Decretum Gelasianum were Libri omnes quos fecit Leucius discipulus devil that all the books Leucius, the disciple of the devil, has made , thus the Acts of the Apostles of the official Church officially as heretical rejected, later also on the on the ecumenical Second Council of Nicaea .

Of the five parts, only the Thomas Acts have survived in full, the remaining writings are still extant, at least in large parts, some parts only as early translations, so that the character of the writings and the content are at least roughly known. These parts were later incorporated into various stories of passion and martyrdom or other works and have been preserved there. There are also archaeological finds of some.

Although the five parts have very different origins, all five scriptures have strong encratic tendencies, the Acts of John are also documented and hostile to the body, which contributed to their popularity in circles of the Gnostics and the Manicheans, but at the same time the reasons for their rejection by the official church gave. The number five plays a special role with the Manichaeans, so that the number five of the depicted apostles also fits the Manichaean view.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Photios, Bibl. Cod. 114. (after Schneemelcher II, p. 81)
  2. ^ Zahn, LXXII
  3. ↑ Schneemelcher II, p. 92
  4. ↑ Schneemelcher II, pp. 83-86
  5. ↑ Schneemelcher II, p. 73
  6. ↑ Augustine against Faustus XXX 4
  7. ↑ Schneemelcher II, p. 86