3. The Epistle of Peter to James is a verj^ ancient forgery. It was first published by Cotelerius, and is supposed to have been a preface to the Preaching of Peter, which was in great esteem among some of the early Christian writers, and is several times cited as a genuine work by Clement of Alexandria, Theodotus of Byzantium, and others. It was also made use of by the heretic Heracleon, in the second centurj-. Origeu observes of it that it is not to be reckoned among the ecclesiastical books, and that it is neither the writing of Peter nor of any other inspired person. Mr. Jones conceives it to be a forgery of some of the Ebionites in the beginning of the second centur}'. It is given in Gr. and Latin by Fabricius, Cod. AjMcr. N. T. ii, 907. See Peter.
4. The Epistles of Paul and Seneca consist of eight extended Latin letters from the philosopher Seneca to the apostle Paul, and six from the latter to Seneca. (See Fabricius, Cod. Apocr. N. T. ii, 872; and the trans- lation in Hone's Apocryphd, N. T. p. 95 sq.) Their antiquity is undoubted. St. Jerome had such an idea of the value of these letters that he was induced to say, "I should not have ranked Seneca in ni}- catalogue of saints, but that I was determined to it by those epis- tles of Paul to Seneca and Seneca to Paul, which are
read b}' many He was slain by Nero two
years before Peter and Paul were honored with mar- tyrdom." St. Augustine also observes {Epistle toMa- cedonius) that "Seneca wrote certain epistles to St. Paul which are now read." The epistles are also re- ferred to in the spurious "Acts" of Linus, the first bishop of Rome after the apostles. But these Acts are a manifest forgery, and were first alluded to by a monk of the eleventh century. The letters do not appear to have been mentioned by any other ancient writer ; but
EPISTOL^
274 EPISTOL^ OBSCUR. VIROR.
it seems certain that those now extant are the same Mhich were known to Jerome and Auyustine. The genuineness of these letters has l)ecn maintained bj' some learned men, but by far the greater number re- ject them as spurious. ]\Ir. Jones conceives them to be a forgery of the fourth century, founded on Philip, iv, 22. Indeed, there are few persons mentioned in tlie New Testament as companions of the apostle who have not had some spurious piece or other fathered on them. See Seneca.
f). Among the apocryphal letters now universally rejected are the well-known Epistle of Lentuhis to the Koman senate, giving a description of the person of Christ {Orthodoxographia, p. 2, Basil. 1555; Fabricii Cod. Epig. 1719), and some pretended epistles of the Virgin Marv. One of these is said to be written in Hebrew, and addressed to the Christians of Messina in Sicil}-, of which a Latin translation has been publish- cd,and its genuineness gravely vindicated (TerjVas Vin- dicata, 1692, fol.). It is dated from Jerusalem, in the
dus IManutius was used as publisher, and Venice as the place of printing, and a pretended papal privi- lege guaranteed it for ten j'cars against counterfeited editions. They were addressed to Ortuinus Gratius, a leading man among the band of literary fanatics at Cologne, who was regarded as the real author of the writings of PfefFerkorn against Eeuchlin. Tliey give a vivid picture of the opinions, the talk, and the writings of the monks and their friends, and expose their ignorance, hypocrisy, arrogance, and licentious- ness. The satire was so skilful, and the imitation of the monkish language and spirit so successful, that, according to the testimony of Erasmus, the Francis- cans and Dominicans of England at first received the epistles witli great applause, and a Dominican prior circulated a number of copies among mcmljcrs of his order, believing them to be written in its honor. AVhen the real character was discovered, the rage of the monks was great, and the pope was prevailed upon to issue against the epistles a brief of condemnation.
42d year " of our Son," nones of Julj^, Luna 17, Feria j PfefFerkorn wrote a book against the epistles in 1516 quinta. The metropolitan cliurch of our Lady of the \ {Defensio Joa. Pepericorni contra famosas et crimincdes Letter at Messina, takes its name from the possession | ohsmrorum viroriim episiolas), and the monks, in 1Q8, of this celebrated epistle, of which some have pretend- 1 published against it a work called Lamentationes ob- edthat even the autograi)h still exists. An epistle of I scurorum virorum; but all these books were so poor the Virgin to the Florentines has been also celebrated, | and insipid that they increased rather than weakened and there is extant a pretended letter from the same to the effect of the epistles. The Lamentationes in par
St. Ignatius, together with his reply. (For three of these spurious letters, see Fabricius, Cod. Apocr. K. T. ii, 8-12.) — Kitto, s. v. See Jesus Christ. For other spurious epistles, see Apocrypha.
Epistolae. "When the ancient Christians were about to travel into a foreign country, they took with them letters of credence from their own bishop, in or- der that they might communicate with another church. These letters were of three kinds : ejrisiohe commenda- torice, given to persons of qualit_v, or persons whose reputation had been called in question, or to the cler- gy who had occasion to travel into foreign countries ; epistola communicatoriii', given to such as were in peace and communion with the Church ; epistolce dimissoria, such as were given bj' the bishops to the clergj' when removing from one diocese to another. All these were called epistolce format(e,heQ.a.\M^ they were written in a peculiar ybr»i, with certain marks, which served to distinguish them from counterfeits. — Farrar, i'ccfes. Lictionary, s. v. ; Bingham, Orig. Eccl. bk. ii, ch. iv.