RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Apocrypha
Clement of Alexandria, and mentioned by Origen, Epiphanius, and Jerome. It was used by the Encratites and Sabellians [and composed either at Antioch (Zahn) or in Egypt (Harnack) in the middle of the second century]. (9) The Eternal Gospel: The work of a Minorite of the thirteenth century, based upon Rev. xiv, 6. It was condemned by Pope Alexander IV It is mentioned here solely because of its name and is not properly reckoned among the apocryphal Gospels (see Joachim of Fiore). (10) The Gospel of Andrew: Perhaps the same as the Acts of Andrew (see below II, 6). (ID The Gospel of Apelles; Possibly a mutilated version of a canonical Gospel like that of Marcion (cf. A. Harnack, De Apellis gnosi monorchia, Leipsic, 1874, p. 75). (12) The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles: Jerome identified this with what he calls the Gospel among the Hebrews. (13) The Gospel of Barnabas. (14) The Gospel of Bartholomew: On the tradition that Bartholomew brought the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew to India, where it was found by Pantaenus, cf. Fabricius, i, 341. (15) The Gospel of Basilldes. (16) The Gospel of Cerinthus: Mentioned by Epiphanius (Hcer., li, 7); perhaps a mutilated version of the Gospel according to Matthew, similar to that used by the Carpocratians. (17) The Gospel of the Ebionites: Epiphanius (Hcer., xxx, 13, 16, 21) has preserved fragments of this Gospel which he says was a mutilated Gospel of Matthew called by the Ebionites The Hebrew Gospel. It is not identical with the Gospel of the Nazarenes . ( 1 8) The Gospel of Eve: Mentioned by Epiphanius as in use among certain Gnostics (Hcer., xxvi, 2, 3, and 5). [Preuschen prints the extracts quoted by Epiphanius as a fragment of an Ophite Gospel (Antilegomena, Giessen, 1901, 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 I, and in all things I am sown. And from whencesoever thou gatherest me, in gathering me thou gatherest thyself." Cf. J. H. Ropes, Die Spriiche Jesu, Leipsic, 1896, p. 56.] (19) The Gospel according to the Hebrews: According to the testimony of Jerome, this book was identical with the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles and the Gospel of the Nazarenes, and was written in Aramaic in Hebrew characters, used among the Nazarenes, and translated by himself into Greek and Latin. (20) The Gospel of James the Elder: Said to have been discovered in 1595 in Spain, where, according to tradition, James labored. (21) John's Account of the Departure of Mary: It exists in Greek, in two Latin versions (all three translated into English by Walker, ANF, viii, 587-598), also in Syriac, Sahidic, and Arabic versions. (22) The Gospel of Judas Iscariot: According to Irenseus, Epiphanius, and Theodoret, used among the Cainites, a Gnostic sect. (23) The Gospel of Leucine. (24) The Gospel of Lucian and Hesychius: Mentioned as forgeries by the Decretum Gelasii (VI, xiv, 15). Jerome (" Prologue to the Gospels") believes that they were only the first recensions of the Gospel text, though he also charges the two men with unauthorized tampering With the text. Lucian was a presbyter at Antioch;
Hesychius was a bishop in Egypt toward the end of the third century. (25) The Gospels of the Manicheans: These were four in number, (a) The Gospel of Thomas, a disciple of Manes (this Gospel must be distinguished from the other Gospel of Thomas, see 5 above); (o) The Living Gospel; (c) The Gospel of Philip; (d) TheGospel of Abdas. (26) The Gospel of Marcion : Marcion (q .v .) , the founder of the famous anti-Jewish sect known as Marcionites, admitted only Pauline writings into his canon. He lived in the first half of the second century. The passages in which Paul speaks of his Gospel (Rom. ii, 16; Gal. i, 8; II Tim. ii, 9) obviously suggested the attribution to him of a special Gospel. Marcion regarded the Gospel of Luke as Paul's, but he obtained this Gospel only by eliminating from Luke all Jewish elements, as is attested by Irenseus, Origen, and Tertullian. The latter two quote the corrupted passages. (27) The Questions, Greater and Lesser, of Mary: Two works of obscene contents, used by some Gnostics, according to Epiphanius (Hwr., xxvi, 8). (28) The Apocryphal Gospel of Matthew. (29) The Narrative of the Legal Priesthood of Christ. (30) The Gospel of Perfection: Used by the Basilidians and other Gnostics, not the same as the Gospel of Philip or the Gospel of Eve (cf. Fabricius, i, 373; ii, 550). (31) The Gospel of Peter: Mentioned by Origen, Eusebius, and Jerome, and used by the congregation at Rhossus in Cilicia toward the end of the second century. Serapion, bishop of Antioch, found it there (c. 191 a.d.) and after examination condemned it (Eusebius, Hist . eccl., vi, 12). An important fragment of the Gospel of Peter was discovered in 1886 'in a grave, supposed to be that of a monk, in an ancient cemetery at Akhmim, the ancient Panopolis in Upper Egypt. It was published in 1892 (Memoirs of the French Archeological Mission at Cairo, IX, i). The Gospel of Peter was edited by Harnack (2d ed., 1893), Zahn (1893), Von Schubert (1893), and Von Gebhardt (1893). [For English translation cf. ANF, ix, 7-8. It has been the subject of numerous able articles in the theological journals since its publication in 1892.] (32) The Gospel of Philip: Mentioned and quoted by Epiphanius (Hcer., xxvi, 13) as being in use among the Gnostics. Possibly it is the same as was in use among the Manicheans (see above 25, c). (33) The Gospel of the Simonites, or, as it was also called by themselves, The Book of the Four Corners and Hinges of the World: Mentioned in the Arabic Preface to the Council of Nicwa. (34) The Gospel according to the Syrians: Possibly identical with the Gospel according to the Hebrews. (35) The Gospel of Tatian: Mentioned by Epiphanius (Hcer., XL VI, i, 47, 4) as being used by the Encratites and by Catholic Christians in Syria. Being a compilation from the four Gospels, it was called also " The Diatessaron "; see Harmony of the Gospels; Tatian. (36) TheGospel of Thaddseus: Mentioned in the Gelasian Decree. The name may have been intended for that of the apostle Judas Thaddseus, or for that of one ot the Seventy who, according to tradition, was sent to King Abgar of Edessa (see Abgar; and cf. Eusebius, Hist, eccl., i, iii). (37) The Gospel of Valen-
Apocrypha Apollinaris of Laodicea