THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
tinus: Usually identified with the Gosjicl of Truth on the authority of Ireiueus, who says that the Gospel of Truth was used by the Valentinians, and that it was very dissonant from the canonical Gospels.
n. Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: This class of writings originated through the operation of the same causes that produced the apocryphal Gospels, though the heretical tendency in the Acts is generally more prominent. For this reason they were as much feared in the early Church as the apocryphal Gospels; and it appears from references in Eusebius, Epiphanius, and Augustine that they had great influence. Since they were often worked over for dogmatic purposes, criticism has to inquire into the antiquity and originality of the existing codices. Among those who manufactured apocryphal Acts one Lucius (or Leucius) Charinus, a Manichean, is especially mentioned. His collection is said to have comprised the Acts of Peter, John, Andrew, Thomas, and Paul. Of these a few fragments only are preserved in the original form, which were afterward revised to accord with catholic dogma; in an enlarged form the collection became known as the Acts of the Twelve Apostles, which, according to Photius, was used by the Manichean Agapios. It must not be overlooked that some of these revised Acts are of a very high antiquity; thus the Acts of Peter were in use in the second century and the Journeys of Thomas in the third century A collection entitled the Acts of the Holy Apostles is mentioned by Greek chroniclers from the sixth century. Toward the end of the sixth century a Latin collection became known, ascribed to Abdias (q.v.), the supposed bishop of Babylon. In its original form the collection comprised the "passions" of all the twelve apostles (including Paul instead of Matthias), in its revised form the " virtues " or " miracles " of Peter, Paul, John, Andrew, and Thomas, and the " passions " of Matthew, Bartholomew, Philip, the two Jameses, both Simons, and Jude, of the older collection. A third collection was in use in the Coptic Church, and is extant in the Ethiopic language as the Contest of the Apostles [best edition by E.A.W. Budge, The Contendings of the Apostles, 2 vols., London, 1899-1901]. There are also numerous Syriac recensions.
The most notable of these apocryphal Acts are (1) Acts of Peter and Paul, the oldest testimony for which is Eusebius, with possibly Clement of Alexandria; (2) Acts of Paul and Thecla, known to Tertullian, ascribed to a presbyter in Asia, and belonging to the first half of the second century; (3) Acts of Barnabas, Told by John Mark, whichhas another title in some Greek manuscripts, Journeys and Martyrdom of the Holy Barnabas the Apostle; (4i Acts of Philip, possessing high antiquity and having been much used in the literature of both branches of the early Church; (5) Acts of Philip in Greece, later than the last-mentioned; (6) Acts of Andrew, a very early composition; (7) Acts of Andrew and Matthew in the City of the Anthropophagi, much used by the Gnostics and Manicheans; (8) Acts and Martyrdom of Matthew, to be connected with the last-named as its continuation; (9) Acts
of Thomas, also awork of high antiquity; (10) Consummation of Thomas, the completion of the story begun in the foregoing Acts of Thomas; (11) Martyrdom of Bartholomew; (12) Acts of Thaddeus (the Syriac reads " of Addas "), built upon the very old tradition of the exchange of letters between Abgar(q.v.)of Edessa and Christ; (13) Acts of John, likewise very old, and esteemed highly by Gnostics and Manicheans; the " History of Prochor " mentions the Acts of John, but (14) a History of John (in Syriac), and (15) Passion of John have no connection with Prochor; while (16) On the Life of John adds nothing to the last three. Besides the foregoing, there are many fragments of Acts, winch do not call for mention. English translations of these apocryphal Acts will be found in AXF, viii, 477-564.
III. Apocryphal Epistles: Besides the fictitious correspondence between Christ and Abgar (see Abgar), other alleged writings of Christ are known which belong to the realm of mythology (collected by Fabricius, i, 303-321; iii, 439, 511-512). There are letters from the Virgin Mary to Ignatius, and letters to Mary which are of a very late date (given in Fabricius, i, 834, 844, 851)." Two letters of Peter to James are also known. From Col. iv, 16 it is learned that Paul wrote a letter to the Laodiceans which is lost; it is not to be wondered at that this lost letter soon found an apocryphal substitute, which was in circulation fn Jerome's time (De vir. ill., v), and was published in many languages (cf. Zahn, Kanon, ii, 566 sqq., 584-585; Zahn treats also [ii, 612 sqq.] of the spurious correspondence between Paul and Seneca). Since in I Cor. v, 9, Paul speaks of an earlier letter to the Church of Corinth (which has been lost), care was taken to substitute another letter to the Corinthians in place of the lost one. A Latin text recently discovered was published and discussed by Carriere and Berger (La Correspondance apocryphe de St. Paul et des Corinthiens, Paris, 1891); cf. A. Harnack (TLZ, 1892, 2 sqq.),T. Zahn (TLB, 1892, 185 sqq., 193 sqq.), Bratke (TLZ, 1892, 585 sqq.).
IV. Apocryphal Apocalypses : Although the names of a considerable number of apocryphal apocalypses are known, the texts or fragments of texts of only a few are extant (collected by Tischendorf , _ Apocalypses Apocrypha;, Leipsic, 1866), viz.: (1) Apocalypse of John: Differed from the canonical book of the same name. (2) Apocalypse of Peter: Mentioned in the Muratorian Canon and by Clement of Alexandria, Methodius, Eusebius, and others. A fragment of this apocalypse was recently discovered together with the Gospel of Peter (see I [31] above), and published at Paris in 1S92 (cf. ANF, ix, 141 sqq.). (3) Ascension of Paul: Is based on II Cor. xii, 2-4, where Paul tells of being caught up into heaven. (4) Apocalypse of Paul: Spoken of by Augustine and Sozomen (cf. AXF, viii, 149 sqq.). (5) Apocalypse of Bartholomew: Extant only in fragments in a Coptic manuscript in the Paris library. (6) Apocalypse of Mary: Exists only in fragments of late manuscripts. (7) Apocalypse of Thomas: Mentioned in the Decretum Gelasii. (8) Apocalypse of Stephen: