IV. The History of Joseph the Carpenter.--The original language of this history is Coptic. From the Coptic it was translated into Arabic. The Arabic was published by Wallin in 1722, with a Latin translation and copious notes. Wallin's version has been republished by Fabricius, and later in a somewhat amended form by Thilo. This amended form of Wallin's version is the text adopted by Tischendorf. Chapters xiv.-xxiii. have been published in the Sahidic text by Zoega in 1810 with a Latin translation, and more correctly by Dulaurier in 1835 with a French translation.
Tischendorf employs various arguments in support of his opinion that the work belongs to the fourth century. It is found, he says, in both dialects of the Coptic: the eschatology of it is not inconsistent with an early date: the feast of the thousand years of chapter xxvi. had become part of heretical opinion after the third century. The death of the Virgin Mary in chapter v. is consistent with the doctrine of the assumption, which began to prevail in the fifth century.
V., VI., VII. The Gospel of Thomas.--Like the Protevangelium of James, the Gospel of Thomas is of undoubted antiquity. It is mentioned by name by Origen, quoted by Irenæus and the author of the Philosophumena, who says that it was used by the Nachashenes, a Gnostic sect of the second century. Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386) attributes the authorship not to the apostle, but to a Thomas who was one of the three disciples of Manes. This fact, of course, indicates that Cyril knew nothing of the antiquity of the book he was speaking of. This Manichæan origin has been adopted by many writers, of whom the best known are in recent times R. Simon and Mingarelli.
The text of the first Greek form is obtained from a Bologna ms. published by Mingarelli with a Latin translation in 1764, a Dresden ms. of the sixteenth century edited by Thilo, a Viennese fragment edited by Lambecius, and a Parisian fragment first brought to light by Coteler in his, edition of the Apostolical Constitutions, and translated into English by Jones.
The second Greek form is published for the first time by Tischendorf, who got the ms., which is on paper, of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, from one of the monasteries on Mount Sinai.
The Latin form is also published for the first time, from a Vatican ms. There is another Latin text existing in a palimpsest, which Tischendorf assigns to the fifth century, and asserts to be much nearer the ancient Greek copy than any of the other mss.
It seems pretty clear, from the contents of the book, that its author was a Gnostic, a Docetist, and a Marcosian; and it was held in estimation by the Nachashenes and the Manichæans. Its bearing upon Christian art, and to some extent Christian dogma, is well known.
The Greek of the original is by no means good, and the Latin translator has in many cases mistaken the meaning of common Greek words
VIII. Arabic Gospel of the Saviour's Infancy.--Chapters i.-ix. are founded on the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, and on the Protevangelium of James; chapters xxxvi. to the end are compiled from the Gospel of Thomas; the rest of the book, chapters x. to xxxv., is thoroughly Oriental in its character, reminding one of the tales of the Arabian Nights, or of the episodes in the Golden Ass of Apuleius.
It is evident that the work is a compilation, and that the compiler was an Oriental. Various arguments are adduced to prove that the original language of it was Syriac.
It was first published, with a Latin translation and copious notes, by Professor Sike of Cambridge in 1697, afterwards by Fabricius, Jones, Schmid, and Thilo. Tischendorf's text is Sike's Latin version amended by Fleischer.
There are not sufficient data for fixing with any accuracy the time at which it was composed or compiled.
IX.-XIV. The Gospel of Nicodemus. [1551] --The six documents inserted under this name are various forms of two books--two in Greek and one in Latin of the Acts of Pilate; one in Greek and two in Latin of the Descent of Christ to the world below. Of twelve mss., only two or three give the second part consecutively with the first, nor does it so appear in the Coptic translation. The title of Gospel of Nicodemus does not appear before the thirteenth century.
Justin Martyr mentions a book called the Acts of Pilate, and Eusebius informs us that the Emperor Maximim allowed or ordered a book, composed by the pagans under this title, to be published in a certain portion of the empire, and even to be taught in the schools; but neither of these could have been the work under consideration.
Tischendorf attributes it to the second century, which is probably too early, though without doubt the legend was formed by the end of the second century. Maury (Mém. de la Société des Antiq. de France, t. xx.) places it in the beginning of the fifth century, from 405 to 420; and Renan (Études d'Hist. Relig., p. 177) concurs in this opinion. An able writer in the Quarterly Review (vol. cxvi.) assigns it to 439; the author of the article Pilate, in Smith's Bible Dictionary, gives the end of the third century as the probable date.
The author was probably a Hellenistic Jew converted to Christianity, or, as Tischendorf and Maury conclude, a Christian imbued with Judaic and Gnostic beliefs. The original language was most probably Greek, though, as in the case of Pseudo-Matthew, the History of Joseph the Carpenter, etc., the original language is, in many of the prefaces, stated to have been Hebrew. Some think that Latin was the original language, on the ground that Pilate would make his report to the Emperor in that, the official, language. The Latin text we have, however, is obviously a translation, made, moreover, by a man to whom Greek was not very familiar, as is obvious from several instances specified in our notes to the text.
The editio princeps of the Latin text is without place or date, and it has been re-edited by Jones, Birch, Fabricius, Thilo, and others. The Greek text of Part I., and of a portion of Part II., was first published by Birch, and afterwards in a much improved form, with the addition of copious notes and prolegomena, by Thilo. The latter part of his prolegomena contains a full account of the English, French, Italian, and German translations. For his edition Tischendorf consulted thirty-nine ancient documents, of which a full account is given in his Prolegomena, pp. lxxi.-lxxvi.
For an interesting account of these documents, see the introduction to Mr. B. H. Cowper's translation of the Apocryphal Gospels, pp. lxxxv.-cii.
XV. The Letter of Pontius Pilate.--The text is formed from four authorities, none of them ancient. A translation of the Greek text of the same letter will be found at p. 480.
XVI., XVII. The Report of Pilate.--The first of these documents was first published by Fabricius with a Latin translation; the second by Birch, and then by Thilo. Tischendorf has made use of five mss., the earliest of the twelfth century. It does not seem possible to assign the date.
XVIII. The Paradosis of Pilate.--It has been well remarked by the author of the article in the Quarterly Review above referred to, that the early Church looked on Pilate with no unfavourable eye; that he is favourably shown in the catacombs; that the early Fathers interpreted him as a figure of the early Church, and held him to be guiltless of Christ's death; that the creeds do not condemn him, and the Coptic Church has even made him a saint. He remarks also that Dante finds punishments for Caiaphas and Annas, but not for Pilate.
The text was first edited by Birch, and afterwards by Thilo. Tischendorf makes use of five mss., of which the earliest belongs to the twelfth century.
XIX. The Death of Pilate.--This is published for the first time by Tischendorf from a Latin ms. of the fourteenth century. The language shows it to be of a late date. It appears almost entire in the Legenda Aurea.
XX. The Narrative of Joseph.--This history seems to have been popular in the middle ages, if we may judge from the number of the Greek mss. of it which remain.
It was first published by Birch, and after him by Thilo. For his edition Tischendorf made use of three mss., of which the oldest belongs to the twelfth century.
XXI. The Avenging of the Saviour.--This version of the Legend of Veronica is written in very barbarous Latin, probably of the seventh or eighth century. An Anglo-Saxon version, which Tischendorf concludes to be derived from the Latin, was edited and translated for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, by C. W. Goodwin, in 1851. The Anglo-Saxon text is from a ms. in the Cambridge Library, one of a number presented to the Cathedral of Exeter by Bishop Leofric in the beginning of the eleventh century.
The reader will observe that there are in this document two distinct legends, somewhat clumsily joined together--that of Nathan's embassy, and that of Veronica. [1552]
[1550] [James the Lord's brother, in the earliest Christian literature, is not identified with James the son of Alphæus, one of the twelve. On the titles, see footnote on first page of text.--R.]
[1551] [The numbers here correspond with those of Tischendorf in his prolegomena. In his table of contents, however, he gives a separate number to the letter of Pilate, which closes XIII. Hence the enumeration differs from that point.--R.]
[1552] [For a full list of fragments and titles of other Apocryphal Gospels, see Schaff-Herzog, i. p. 106. Twenty-nine are given, but in some cases the same work probably appears under two titles.--R.]
Part II.--The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles.
This portion of the volume, extending from page 477 to page 564, presents us with documents written in a style considerably different from that of the Apocryphal Gospels properly so called. There we have without stint the signs that the Jews desired; here we begin to have some glimpses of the wisdom which the Greeks sought after, along with a considerable share of
Quidquid Græcia mendax
Audet in historia.
We have less of miracle, more of elaborate discourse. The Apocryphal Gospels were suited to the vilis plebecula, from which, as Jerome said, the Church originated; the Apocryphal Acts appeal more to the Academia.
We have in ancient literature, especially Greek literature, a long series of fabulous histories attached to the names of men who made themselves famous either in arts or arms. This taste for the marvellous became general after the expedition of Alexander; and from that time down we have numerous examples of it in the lives of Alexander, of Pythagoras, of Apollonius of Tyana, of Homer, of Virgil, and others without number; and we all know how much fabulous matter is apt to gather round the names of popular heroes even in modern times.
It is not to be wondered at, then, that round the names of Christ and His apostles, who had brought about social changes greater than those effected by the exploits of any hero of old, there should gather, as the result of the wondering awe of simple-minded men, a growth of the romantic and the fabulous.
These stories came at length to form a sort of apostolic cycle, of which the documents following are portions. They exist also in a Latin form in the ten books of the Acts of the Apostles, compiled probably in the sixth century, and falsely attributed to Abdias, the first bishop of Babylon, by whom it was, of course, written in Hebrew. [1553]
We shall now give a brief account of each of the thirteen documents which make up this part of the volume.
I. The Acts of Peter and Paul.--This book was first published in a complete form by Thilo in 1837 and 1838. A portion of it had already been translated into Latin by the famous Greek scholar Constantine Lascaris in 1490, and had been made use of in the celebrated controversy as to the situation of the island Melita, upon which St. Paul was shipwrecked. For his edition Tischendorf collated six mss., the oldest of the end of the ninth century.
Some portions at least of the book are of an early date. The Domine quo vadis story, p. 485, is referred to by Origen, and others after him. A book called the Acts of Peter is condemned in the decree of Pope Gelasius.
II. Acts of Paul and Thecla.--This book is of undoubted antiquity. There seems reason to accept the account of it given by Tertullian, that it was written by an Asiatic presbyter in glorification of St. Paul (who, however, unquestionably occupies only a secondary place in it), and in support of the heretical opinion that women may teach and baptize. It is expressly mentioned and quoted by a long line of Latin and Greek Fathers. The quotations are inserted in Tischendorf's Prolegomena, p. xxiv.
The text was first edited in 1698 by Grabe from a Bodleian ms., republished by Jones in 1726. A blank in the Bodleian ms. was supplied in 1715 by Thomas Hearne from another Oxford ms. Tischendorf's text is from a recension of three Paris mss., each of the eleventh century.