The date of this Gospel and of the Lwegetica is probably 130-140, the period when Basilides ap- peared as the founder of a sect.
D. Of the following Apocryphal Gospels little is known but their name. Use has been made of Hofmann’s list, derived from Fabricius (in PRE? i. 661)—
4. ANDREW, GOSPEL OF.— Possibly identical with the Gnostic ‘Acts of Andrew’ (ceploda *Avdpéov). Augustine refers to apocryphal writings of Andrew (c. Adversar. Leg. et Prophet. 20). See Lipsius, Die apokr. Apostelgeschichte, i. 5434. —
2. APELLES, GOSPEL OF.—Probably a muti- lated version of a canonical Gospel by a disciple of Marcion. According to Epiphanius (Har. xliv. 2) this work is the source of the familiar unwritten saying of our Lord: ‘Become approved money- changers’ (ylvecOe Sdkuwor Tparefirac); see AGRAPHA, above, p. 349°. Cf. Harnack, De Apellis gnosi monarchia, 1874, p. 75.
3. BARNABAS, GOSPEL OF.—Mentioned in the Gelasian Decree, but nothing is known of its contents unless fragments of it have been pre- served in the Mohammedan Gospel of Barnabas. See White’s Bampton Lectures, 1784, and Axon’s article in Journal of Theol. Studies, April 1902, p. 441,
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4, BARTHOLOMEW, GOSPEL OF.—Mentioned in the Gelasian Decree, and by Jerome (Pref. m Matt.), in surroundings which suggest that it was a Gnostic work. There is no sufficient reason for identifying this Gospel with the Hebrew Gospel according to Matthew, which Bartholomew is said to have taken to India (Eusebius, HE v. 10).
5. CERINTHUS, GOSPEL OF,— Mentioned by Epiphanius (Her. li. 7). Hofmann thinks that this work was a mutilated version of the Gospel according to Matthew, similar to that which the Carpocratians used,
6. EVE, GOSPEL OF.—Mentioned by Epiphanius as in use among the Borborites, an Ophite sect of Gnostics (Her. xxvi. 2ff.). Harnack is doubtful if it can properly be called a Gospel. Lipsius de- scribes it as a ‘Gnostic doctrinal treatise, though presented, it may be, in an historical form’ (Dict. Christ. Biog. ii. 717). Preuschen prints the ex- tracts quoted by Epiphanius as a fragment of an Ophite Gospel (Antilegomena, p. 80). Jesus is represented as saying in a voice of thunder: ‘I am thou, and thou art I, and wherever thou art there am J, and in all things I am sown. And from whencesoever thou gatherest me, in gathering me thou gatherest thyself’ (cf. Ropes, Die Spriiche Jesu, p. 56).
7. JUDAS ISCARIOT, GOSPEL OF.—According to the testimony of Irenzeus (adv. Her. i. 31), Epiphanius (Her. xxxviii. 1), and Theodoret (Heret. Fab. i. 15), this work was in use among the Cainites, a Gnostic sect. Lipsius says that it represents Judas’s betrayal as ‘a meritorious action, and the traitor himself as the perfect Gnostic who destroyed the dominion of the Demi- urge by bringing about the crucifixion of our Lord.’
8. THADD MUS, GOSPEL OF.—Mentioned in some MSS of the Gelasian Decree, but nothing is cer- tainly known of its contents. The name of the author may be intended for the Apostle, or for one of the Seventy who, according to tradition, was sent to king Abgar (see art. THADDZUS in vol. iv. p. 741f.).
9. VALENTINUS, GOSPEL OF.— Mentioned by Tertullian (de Prescript. Heret. c. 49), and usually identified with the ‘Gospel of Truth’ (Evangeliwm Veritatis) on the authority of Iveneus (adv. Her. ili. 11), who says (1) that the ‘Gospel of Truth’ was used by the Valentinians, and (2) that it de- parted entirely from the canonical Gospels. Zahn holds that the two Gospels were probably separate works (Geschichte des NT Kanons, i. 748).
J. G. TASKER. DIDACHE.—
Discovery in modern times. A. THE PRIMAL DIDACHE. i, The Didache of our MS. (a) Title. (0) Contents and structure. ii. Materials for comparative criticism. (a) Textual witnesses : (1) primary, (2) second-
ary. (b) Historical testimonia. (c) Conclusions, iii, Genesis of the Didache. (a) Genesis of the Two Ways. (0) The witness of Barnabas; date of this wit- ness. (c) Origin of the fuller Didache, (d) Its exact contents. iv. Church conditions implied in the Didache. v. Date. B. TRANSFORMATIONS UNDERGONE BY THE DIDACHE. C, SIGNIFICANCE OF THE DIDACHE FOR EARLY CHRISTIANITY. Literature.
Discovery in modern times.—The publication in 1883 of the early Christian manual popularly
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known as the Didache marks an epoch in the study of primitive Christianity. One might com- pare it to the rediscovery of the genuine Ignatian
pistles in the 17th century. But the comparison would do scant justice to its real significance, which lies in the way in which the Didache bears on a wide range of early writings, and on phenomena in them which it causes to stand out in new and clearer light. Itis needful, then, to do more than consider the actual contents of our MS, written in 1056 by ‘ Leo, notary and sinner,’ and discovered about 1875 in the library of the Jerusalem monas- tery in Phanar, the Greek quarter of Constan- tinople, by Philotheus Bryennios, a scholarly Greek ecclesiastic. One must also try to estimate the various literary and historical relations of the original work which the MS brings to our know- ledge, and of which it remains the prime repre- sentative. In this MS, doubtless Palestinian in origin, it occupies 203 lines, of 53 letters on an average; so that it is about the size of St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians. But in all probability the original work, with which we are mainly con- cerned, was slightly shorter. Accordingly, our in- quiries will fall under three main heads, viz., (A) The primal Didache: its contents, genesis, date ; (B) the transformations which it underwent in various circles ; (C) its significance in the history of Christianity.