Early Church Fathers Study Archive

Exhaustive list of “Early Fathers Compilations” by Roberts-Donaldson, Philip Schaff, Schaff-Wace, and others, including additional texts compiled by Roger Pearse.  Works organized by name below.

This volume contained a brave but lonely attempt to introduce the preterist interpretation of the Book of Revelation to English soil. Hammond laid great stress on the opening words of the Apocalypse in which the book is said to contain ‘things which must shortly come to pass.’ .. But those who argued for the preterist interpretation of the Book of Revelation.. were playing to empty galleries, until at least the fourth decade of the nineteenth century. Their views were anything but popular and those who followed them could soon find themselves branded with the infamous mark of the papal beast. – Daniel Mace

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY
EARLY CHURCH FATHERS
Books, Articles, and Papers on Fulfilled Prophecy

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ANF / NPNF-1 / NPNF-2

Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Alexander Roberts (1826–1901) and James Donaldson (1831–1915) A Collection of the Works of, Prior to 325 A.D., by Drs. A. Roberts and J. Donaldson (24 vols., 1867–72).  To supplement the ‘Ante-Nicene Library,’ Dr. Philip Schaff edited a ‘Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers’ (14 vols., 1888–1908), beginning with Augustine and ending with Chrysostom. This covers some of the most important, and is of great value. A second series of (14 vols., 1890–1903), begins with the historians Eusebius and Socrates, and ends with Ephraem Syrus.

ROBERTS-DONALDSON

(24 vols., 1867–72)

Ante-Nicene Christian Library; Translations Of The Writings Of The Fathers Down To A.D. 325, Volume 1: The Apostolic Fathers, 1867

  • Index to Roberts-Donaldson ANF Series
  • Volume 1: The Apostolic Fathers
  • Volume 2: Justin Martyr and Athenagoras
  • Volume 3: Tatian, Theophilus, And The Clementine Recognitions
  • Volume 4: The Writings Of Clement Of Alexandria, Volume 1
  • Volume 5: Irenaeus, Volume 1
  • Volume 6: Hippolytus, Bishop Of Rome, Volume 1
  • Volume 7: Tertullianus Against Marcion
  • Volume 8: The Writings Of Cyprian, Volume 1
  • Volume 9: The Writings Of Irenaeus, Volume 2; Hippolytus, Bishop Of Rome, Vol. 2 – Fragments Of Third Century
  • Volume 10: The Writings Of Origen
  • Volume 11: The Writings Of Tertullian, Volume 1
  • Volume 12: The Writings Of Clement Of Alexandria, Volume 2
  • Volume 13: The Writings Of Cyprian, Etc., Volume 2
  • Volume 14: The Writings Of Methodius, Alexander of Lycopolis, Peter of Alexandria, and Several Fragments – “That up to the Time of the Destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews Rightly Appointed the Fourteenth Day of the First Lunar Month” (p. 328)
  • Volume 15: The Writings Of Tertullian, Volume 2
  • Volume 16: Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, And Revelations
  • Volume 17: The Clementine Homilies. The Apostolic Constitutions
  • Volume 18: The Writings Of Tertullian, Volume 3, With The Extant Works Of
    Victorinus And Commodianus
  • Volume 19: The Seven Books Of Arnobius Adversus Gentes
  • Volume 20: The Writings Of Gregory Thaumaturgus, Dionysius Of Alexandria, And Archelaus
  • Volume 21: The Works Of Lactantius, Volume 1
  • Volume 22: The Works Of Lactantius, Volume 2, Together With The Testaments Of The Twelve Patriarchs And Fragments Of The Second And
    Third Centuries
  • Volume 23: Origen Contra Celsum
  • Volume 24: Early Liturgies and Other Documents
  • Volume 25: Additional volume, containing early christian works discovered since the completion of the series, and selections from the Commentaries of Origen; ed. by A. Menzies. Edinburgh, 1897. [not online]

SCHAFF NPNF FIRST SERIES

(14 vols., 1888–1908)

To supplement the ‘Ante-Nicene Library,’ Dr. Philip Schaff edited a ‘Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers’ (14 vols., 1888–1908), beginning with Augustine and ending with Chrysostom. This covers some of the most important previously-untranslated works, and is of great value.

  • Volume 1: The confessions and letters of St. Augustin, with a sketch of his life and work.
  • Volume 2: St. Augustin’s City of God and Christian doctrine.
  • Volume 3: St. Augustin: On the Holy Trinity. Doctrinal treatises. Moral treatises.
  • Volume 4: St. Augustin: The writings against the Manichæans, and against the Donatists.
  • Volume 5: Saint Augustin: Anti-Pelagian writings.
  • Volume 6: Saint Augustin: Sermon on the mount. Harmony of the Gospels. Homilies on the Gospels.
  • Volume 7: St. Augustin: Homilies on the Gospel of John. Homilies on the First epistle of John. Soliloquies.
  • Volume 8: St. Augustin: Expositions on the book of Psalms.
  • Volume 9: St. Chrysostom: On the priesthood; Ascetic treatises; Select homilies and letters; Homilies on the statutes.
  • Volume 10: St. Chrysostom: Homilies on the Gospel of St. Matthew.
  • Volume 11: St. Chrysostom: Homilies on the Acts of the apostles and the Epistle to the Romans.
  • Volume 12: St. Chrysostom: Homilies on the Epistles of Paul to the Corinthians.
  • Volume 13: St. Chrysostom: Homilies on Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, Timothy, Titus, and Philemon.
  • Volume 14: St. Chrysostom: Homilies on the Gospel of St. John and the Epistle to the Hebrews

SCHAFF-WACE NPNF SECOND SERIES

(14 vols., 1890–1903)

A second series of (14 vols., 1890–1903), begins with the historians Eusebius and Socrates, and ends with Ephraem Syrus.

  • Volume 1: Eusebius: Church history, Life of Constantine the Great, and Oration in praise of Constantine. 1890
  • Volume 2: Socrates, Sozomenus: Church histories. 1890
  • Volume 3: Theodoret, Jerome, Gennadius, Rufinus: Historical writings, etc. 1892
  • Volume 4: St. Athanasius: Select works and letters. 1892
  • Volume 5: Gregory of Nyssa: Dogmatic treatises, etc. 1893
  • Volume 6: St. Jerome: Letters and select works. 1893
  • Volume 7: S. Cyril of Jerusalem. S. Gregory Nazianzen. 1894
  • Volume 8: St. Basil: Letters and select works. 1895
  • Volume 9: St. Hilary of Poitiers. John of Damascus. 1899
  • Volume 10: St. Ambrose: Select works and letters. 1896
  • Volume 11: Sulpitius Severus. Vincent of Lerins. John Cassian. 1894
  • Volume 12: Leo the Great. Gregory the Great. 1895
  • Volume 13: Part II. Gregory the Great. Ephraim Syrus. Aphrahat. 1898
  • Volume 14: The seven ecumenical councils. 1900

LISTED ALPHABETICALLY BY POPULAR FORENAME

  • Barnabas
  • 0075: The Epistle of Barnabas “Again, it was revealed how the city and the temple and the people of Israel should be betrayed. For the scripture saith; and it shall be in the last days, that the Lord shall deliver up the sheep of the pasture and the fold and the tower thereof to destruction. And it so happened as the Lord had spoken. “
  • 2013: Ed Stevens, Hebrews Corrects Barnabas  (PDF) “the book of Hebrews seems to have been written as a corrective, in response to the epistle of Barnabas, and probably sent to the same churches that the epistle of Barnabas was sent, using John Mark as the courier.”
  • Saint Simeon
    • d.0105: Biography of St. Simeon of Jerusalem (PDF) Tradition says that, like Lot in Sodom, Simeon was supernaturally warned of the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in AD 66, and withdrew with many fellow−Christians to the small city of Pella, where they remained until it was safe for them to return to Jerusalem after its destruction in AD 70.
  • Zenas the Lawyer
  • 2007 PDF:  István Czachesz, The Acts of Titus – We can only roughly dale the text. On the one hand, it presupposes the metropolitan organisation of Crete in the early fifth century. On the other hand, it was used by Andrew of Crete in the seventh.
  • 2014: Tony Burke, More Christian Apocrypha: Acts of Titus
  • 2016: Burke and Landau, New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures | Introduction (PDF) – The Acts of Titus (pp. 406-415, ed. Richard I. Pervo) survives and was composed in Greek. Its current form seems to date from the early seventh century, but this is probably an abbreviation of a longer life of Titus composed in the late fifth century. Pervo regards this work to be more a “hagiographical biography” than an apocryphal acts. It draws on traditions about Titus in the New Testament and the Acts of Paul. It also traces Titus’ lineage to Minos, King of Crete. Showing unusual sympathy for Jews for an early Christian document, it has an influential relative of Titus protect those in Crete from any consequences arising from the Judean revolt against Rome.”

Additional Texts From Roger Pearse

Early Church Fathers – Additional Texts

Edited by Roger Pearse

These English translations are all out of copyright, but were not included in the 38 volume collection of Ante-Nicene, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers.  Please take copies and place online elsewhere.  In some cases I have felt it necessary to add an introduction to the online text.  These are all placed in the public domain also — copy freely.  The texts are listed in chronological order.

Josephus in the Ante-Nicene Fathers: all the citations

By Roger Pearse

“How well did the pre-Eusebian Fathers know Josephus? Not very well, seems to be the answer, contrary to common report. I researched it, so here it is.”

The Testimonium Flavianum is really something I do not have time to write much about.  However there seem to be arguments being made about it’s authenticity based upon absence of evidence.  I expressed my doubts about this approach in a newsgroup, and the following reply was made.  I quote it, as the idea seems to be in common circulation:

However, there are instances where absence of evidence _is_ fairly strong evidence. In my opinion, the case of the Testimonium Flavium is one of those. As I understand it, we have fairly good evidence that church patriarchs from the 2nd to the mid-4th century knew Josephus well and used him extensively in their dialogues with non-Christian and heretical critics. Yet, not a one mentions the glowing report (or any possible positive expurgated version thereof) contained in the TF, until Eusebius. The silence is deafening and damning.

But is this true?  I can’t see why the  Fathers would normally quote Josephus.  So I investigated.

This page is the product of a search for the word ‘Josephus’ in the Ante-Nicene Fathers at http://www.ccel.org/fathers2.  Results from footnotes or Nicene/Post-Nicene Fathers have been ignored, as the latter will know Eusebius, of course.  After this I read Michael E. HARDWICK, Josephus as a historical source in Patristic literature through Eusebius, Brown Judaic Studies 128, Scholars Press, Georgia (1989).  This covers the same ground, but also looks for possible unattributed references.  Finally the references are discussed by Alice WHEALEY, Josephus on Jesus. Studies in Biblical Literature 36. New York: Peter Lang (2003).

Eusebius says Antiquities was available in Roman libraries. (HE 3.9). Porphyry is only pagan writer to quote Josephus, and does so from the Jewish War (Whealey, p.11) Porphyry does name Antiquities in De Abstinentia 4:11, but it is unclear if he read any of it.  The only papyrus of Josephus is a fragment of the Jewish War.

There are 16 results of which 3 are not relevant:

NB: Two further possible parallels are identified by Hardwick, but will be ignored here as too uncertain.

Melito of Sardis: Possible allusion in his Homily on the Passion to Jewish War 6.201-213: although the story of the mother eating her child may be derived from Lamentations 4.10 instead.

Lactantius: Possible parallel use of Genesis 6.2 in Divine Institutes 2.15, but no necessary link to Josephus.

This leaves 13 results.  9 of these are as follows, with the work of Josephus cited.

In these 10 citations, there seems to be no reason why the Testimonium would be cited; it is foreign to the purpose of the works in question.

The remaining 4 citations are all from Origen.

These indicate that he knew a text of Antiquities in which Josephus referred to Christ, but one somewhat different from that given by Eusebius.

On the basis of the data, the argument from absence seems very shaky indeed.  There is little use of Antiquities at all.

Contents

  1. anf01-64.htm:  Fragments from the lost writings of Irenaeus: XXXII.53
  2. anf02-43.htm: Theophilus to Autolycus:Book III:Chapter XXIII.-Prophets More Ancient Than Greek Writers.
  3. anf02-57.htm:Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book I, chapter XXI.
  4. anf03-05.htm: Tertullian:Apologeticum:Chapter XIX.
  5. anf06-50.htm:Book III.-The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus:Chapter XVII.38:On the Fortunes of Hyrcanus and Antigonus, and on Herod, Augustus, Antony, and Cleopatra, in Abstract.
  6. anf04-55.htm: Origen, Against Celsus, Book I, chapter 16
  7. anf04-55.htm: Origen, Against Celsus, Book I, Chapter 47
  8. anf04-58.htm: Origen, Against Celsus, Book IV, Chapter 11
  9. anf10-46.htm: Origen:Commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew, Book X:Chapter 17. The Brethren of Jesus.
  10. anf05-17.htm: The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus: Part I.-Exegetical. Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture.On Jeremiah and Ezekiel.145
  11. anf06-57.htm: The Paschal Canon of Anatolius of Alexandria:Chapter 3.
  12. anf06-122.htm: Methodius, Book II, Chapter 18.

OTHER SELECTIONS:

anf01-64.htm:  Fragments from the lost writings of Irenaeus: XXXII.53

Josephus says, that when Moses had been brought up in the royal palaces, he was chosen as general against the Ethiopians; and having proved victorious, obtained in marriage the daughter of that king, since indeed, out of her affection for him, she delivered the city up to him.

  • Note: Whealey says this is derived from Antiquities 2.238-253.  But Irenaeus can hardly have read book 18 of Antiquities, and in particular Ant. 18:89 which specifies that Pilate was removed in the closing years of Tiberius, as he asserts that Pilate crucified Jesus under Claudius (Proof of the Apostolic Preaching 74).

anf02-43.htm:Theophilus to Autolycus:Book III:Chapter XXIII.-Prophets More Ancient Than Greek Writers.

So then let what has been said suffice for the testimony of the Phoenicians and Egyptians, and for the account of our chronology given by the writers Manetho the Egyptian, and Menander the Ephesian, and also Josephus, who wrote the Jewish war, which they waged with the Romans. For from these very old records it is proved that the writings of the rest are more recent than the writings given to us through Moses, yes, and than the subsequent prophets. For the last of the prophets, who was called Zechariah, was contemporary with the reign of Darius. But even the lawgivers themselves are all found to have legislated subsequently to that period. For if one were to mention Solon the Athenian, he lived in the days of the kings Cyrus and Darius, in the time of the prophet Zechariah first mentioned, who was by many years the last of the prophets. Or if you mention the lawgivers Lycurgus, or Draco, or Minos, Josephus tells us in his writings that the sacred books take precedence of them in antiquity, since even before the reign of Jupiter over the Cretans, and before the Trojan war, the writings of the divine law which has been given to us through Moses were in existence. And that we may give a more accurate exhibition of eras and dates, we will, God helping us, now give an account not only of the dates after the deluge, but also of those before it, so as to reckon the whole number of all the years, as far as possible; tracing up to the very beginning of the creation of the world, which Moses the servant of God recorded through the Holy Spirit. For having first spoken of what concerned the creation and genesis of the world, and of the first man, and all that happened after in the order of events, he signified also the years that elapsed before the deluge. And I pray for favour from the only God, that I may accurately speak the whole truth according to His will, that you and every one who reads this work may be guided by His truth and favour. I will then begin first with the recorded genealogies, and I begin my narration with the first man.

  • Note: Whealey says this is a reference to Against Apion.

anf02-57.htm:Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book I, chapter XXI.

Chapter XXI.-The Jewish Institutions and Laws of Far Higher Antiquity Than the Philosophy of the Greeks.

On the plagiarizing of the dogmas of the philosophers from the Hebrews, we shall treat a little afterwards. But first, as due order demands, we must now speak of the epoch of Moses, by which the philosophy of the Hebrews will be demonstrated beyond all contradiction to be the most ancient of all wisdom. This has been discussed with accuracy by Tatian in his book To the Greeks, and by Cassian in the first book of his Exegetics. Nevertheless our commentary demands that we too should run over what has been said on the point. Apion, then, the grammarian, surnamed Pleistonices, in the fourth book of The Egyptian Histories, although of so hostile a disposition towards the Hebrews, being by race an Egyptian, as to compose a work against the Jews, when referring to Amosis king of the Egyptians, and his exploits, adduces, as a witness, Ptolemy of Mendes.

[…many pages of quotes on dates…]

Flavius Josephus the Jew, who composed the history of the Jews, computing the periods, says that from Moses to David were five hundred and eighty-five years; from David to the second year of Vespasian, a thousand one hundred and seventy-nine; then from that to the tenth year of Antoninus, seventy-seven. So that from Moses to the tenth year of Antoninus there are, in all, two thousand one hundred and thirty-three years.

Of others, counting from Inachus and Moses to the death of Commodus, some say there were three thousand one hundred and forty-two years; and others, two thousand eight hundred and thirty-one years.

  • Note: Hardwick says that this is a composite of Jewish War 6.435 ff. and Antiquities 8.61 ff; 7.389.  Whealey agrees.

anf03-05.htm:Tertullian:Apologeticum:Chapter XIX.

Their high antiquity, first of all, claims authority for these writings. With you, too, it is a kind of religion to demand belief on this very ground. Well, all the substances, all the materials, the origins, classes, contents of your most ancient writings, even most nations and cities illustrious in the records of the past and noted for their antiquity in books of annals,-the very forms of your letters, those revealers and custodiers of events, nay (I think I speak still within the mark), your very gods themselves, your very temples and oracles, and sacred rites, are less ancient than the work of a single prophet, in whom you have the thesaurus of the entire Jewish religion, and therefore too of ours. If you happen to have heard of a certain Moses, I speak first of him: he is as far back as the Argive Inachus; by nearly four hundred years—-only seven less—-he precedes Danaus, your most ancient name; while he antedates by a millennium the death of Priam. I might affirm, too, that he is five hundred years earlier than Homer, and have supporters of that view. The other prophets also, though of later date, are, even the most recent of them, as far back as the first of your philosophers, and legislators, and historians. It is not so much the difficulty of the subject, as its vastness, that stands in the way of a statement of the grounds on which these statements rest; the matter is not so arduous as it would be tedious. It would require the anxious study of many books, and the fingers busy reckoning. The histories of the most ancient nations, such as the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Phoenicians, would need to be ransacked; the men of these various nations who have information to give, would have to be called in as witnesses. Manetho the Egyptian, and Berosus the Chaldean, and Hieromus the Phoenician king of Tyre; their successors too, Ptolemy the Mendesian, and Demetrius Phalereus, and King Juba, and Apion, and Thallus, and their critic the Jew Josephus, the native vindicator of the ancient history of his people, who either authenticates or refutes the others. Also the Greek censors’ lists must be compared, and the dates of events ascertained, that the chronological connections may be opened up, and thus the reckonings of the various annals be made to give forth light. We must go abroad into the histories and literature of all nations. And, in fact, we have already brought the proof in part before you, in giving those hints as to how it is to be effected. But it seems better to delay the full discussion of this, lest in our haste we do not sufficiently carry it out, or lest in its thorough handling we make too lengthened a digression.

  • Note: Whealey says this is a reference to Against Apion.

anf04-34.htm:Minucius Felix, chapter 33.

Chapter XXXIII.-Argument: that Even If God Be Said to Have Nothing Availed the Jews, Certainly the Writers of the Jewish Annals are the Most Sufficient Witnesses that They Forsook God Before They Were Forsaken by Him.

“Neither let us flatter ourselves concerning our multitude. We seem many to ourselves, but to God we are very few. We distinguish peoples and nations; to God this whole world is one family. Kings only know all the matters of their kingdom by the ministrations of their servants: God has no need of information. We not only live in His eyes, but also in His bosom. But it is objected that it availed the Jews nothing that they themselves worshipped the one God with altars and temples, with the greatest superstition. You are guilty of ignorance if you are recalling later events while you are forgetful or unconscious of former ones. For they themselves also, as long as they worshipped our God-and He is the same God of all-with chastity, innocency, and religion, as long as they obeyed His wholesome precepts, from a few became innumerable, from poor became rich, from being servants became kings; a few overwhelmed many; unarmed men overwhelmed armed ones as they fled from them, following them up by God’s command, and with the elements striving on their behalf. Carefully read over their Scriptures, or if you are better pleased with the Roman writings, inquire concerning the Jews in the books (to say nothing of ancient documents) of Flavius Josephus or Antoninus Julianus, and you shall know that by their wickedness they deserved this fortune, and that nothing happened which had not before been predicted to them, if they should persevere in their obstinacy. Therefore you will understand that they forsook before they were forsaken, and that they were not, as you impiously say, taken captive with their God, but they were given up by God as deserters from His discipline.

  • Note: Whealey says this refers back to Tertullian, and the thesis is that of the Jewish War.  Hardwick questions whether Minucius Felix knew more of Josephus than the name, and points out that many writers may only have had a collection of quotes, rather than the whole work.  Whealey is likewise unsure whether Minucius Felix had actually read Josephus, or simply was aware of the book and that it argued thus.

anf06-50.htm:Book III.-The Extant Fragments of the Five Books of the Chronography of Julius Africanus: Chapter XVII.38

At that time also, Josephus, Herod’s brother, died in his command. And Herod coming to Antony …

  • Note: This does not refer to our Josephus.  However passages elsewhere derive from Antiquities 12, 14 and 15.  Whealey says that it is unclear whether Africanus used Josephus, or rather his source for this, Nicolaus of Damascus.

anf04-55.htm:Origen, Against Celsus, Book I, chapter 16

I must express my surprise that Celsus should class the Odrysians, and Samothracians, and Eleusinians, and Hyperboreans among the most ancient and learned nations, and should not deem the Jews worthy of a place among such, either for their learning or their antiquity, although there are many treatises in circulation among the Egyptians, and Phoenicians, and Greeks, which testify to their existence as an ancient people, but which I have considered it unnecessary to quote. For any one who chooses may read what Flavius Josephus has recorded in his two books, On the Antiquity of the Jews, where he brings together a great collection of writers, who bear witness to the antiquity of the Jewish people; and there exists the Discourse to the Greeks of Tatian the younger, in which with very great learning he enumerates those historians who have treated of the antiquity of the Jewish nation and of Moses. It seems, then, to be not from a love of truth, but from a spirit of hatred, that Celsus makes these statements, his object being to asperse the origin of Christianity, which is connected with Judaism. Nay, he styles the Galactophagi of Homer, and the Druids of the Gauls, and the Getae, most learned and ancient tribes, on account of the resemblance between their traditions and those of the Jews, although I know not whether any of their histories survive; but the Hebrews alone, as far as in him lies, he deprives of the honour both of antiquity and learning. And again, when making a list of ancient and learned men who have conferred benefits upon their contemporaries (by their deeds), and upon posterity by their writings, he excluded Moses from the number; while of Linus, to whom Celsus assigns a foremost place in his list, there exists neither laws nor discourses which produced a change for the better among any tribes; whereas a whole nation, dispersed throughout the entire world, obey the laws of Moses. Consider, then, whether it is not from open malevolence that he has expelled Moses from his catalogue of learned men, while asserting that Linus, and Musaeus, and Orpheus, and Pherecydes, and the Persian Zoroaster, and Pythagoras, discussed these topics, and that their opinions were deposited in books, and have thus been preserved down to the present time. And it is intentionally also that he has omitted to take notice of the myth, embellished chiefly by Orpheus, in which the gods are described as affected by human weaknesses and passions.

anf04-55.htm:Origen, Against Celsus, Book I, Chapter 47

I would like to say to Celsus, who represents the Jew as accepting somehow John as a Baptist, who baptized Jesus, that the existence of John the Baptist, baptizing for the remission of sins, is related by one who lived no great length of time after John and Jesus. For in the 18th book of his Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus bears witness to John as having been a Baptist, and as promising purification to those who underwent the rite. Now this writer, although not believing in Jesus as the Christ, in seeking after the cause of the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, whereas he ought to have said that the conspiracy against Jesus was the cause of these calamities befalling the people, since they put to death Christ, who was a prophet, says nevertheless-being, although against his will, not far from the truth-that these disasters happened to the Jews as a punishment for the death of James the Just, who was a brother of Jesus (called Christ),-the Jews having put him to death, although he was a man most distinguished for his justice. Paul, a genuine disciple of Jesus, says that he regarded this James as a brother of the Lord, not so much on account of their relationship by blood, or of their being brought up together, as because of his virtue and doctrine. If, then, he says that it was on account of James that the desolation of Jerusalem was made to overtake the Jews, how should it not be more in accordance with reason to say that it happened on account (of the death) of Jesus Christ, of whose divinity so many Churches are witnesses, composed of those who have been convened from a flood of sins, and who have joined themselves to the Creator, and who refer all their actions to His good pleasure.

anf04-58.htm:Origen, Against Celsus, Book IV, Chapter 11

After this, being desirous to show that it is nothing either wonderful or new which we state regarding floods or conflagrations, but that, from misunderstanding the accounts of these things which are current among Greeks or barbarous nations, we have accorded our belief to our own Scriptures when treating of them, he writes as follows: “The belief has spread among them, from a misunderstanding of the accounts of these occurrences, that after lengthened cycles of time, and the returns and conjunctions of planets, conflagrations and floods are wont to happen, and because after the last flood, which took place in the time of Deucalion, the lapse of time, agreeably to the vicissitude of all things, requires a conflagration and this made them give utterance to the erroneous opinion that God will descend, bringing fire like a torturer.” Now in answer to this we say, that I do not understand how Celsus, who has read a great deal, and who shows that he has perused many histories, had not his attention arrested by the antiquity of Moses, who is related by certain Greek historians to have lived about the time of Inachus the son of Phoroneus, and is acknowledged by the Egyptians to be a man of great antiquity, as well as by those who have studied the history of the Phoenicians. And any one who likes may peruse the two books of Flavius Josephus on the antiquities of the Jews, in order that he may see in what way Moses was more ancient than those who asserted that floods and conflagrations take place in the world after long intervals of time; which statement Celsus alleges the Jews and Christians to have misunderstood, and, not comprehending what was said about a conflagration, to have declared that “God will descend, bringing fire like a torturer.”

anf10-46.htm:Origen:Commentaries on the Gospel of Matthew, Book X:Chapter 17. The Brethren of Jesus.

And the saying, “Whence hath this man this wisdom, ” indicates clearly that there was a great and surpassing wisdom in the words of Jesus worthy of the saying, lo, a greater than Solomon is here.” And He was wont to do greater miracles than those wrought through Elijah and Elisha, and at a still earlier date through Moses and Joshua the son of Nun. And they spoke, wondering, (not knowing that He was the son of a virgin, or not believing it even if it was told to them, but supposing that He was the son of Joseph the carpenter, ) “is not this the carpenter’s son? ” And depreciating the whole of what appeared to be His nearest kindred, they said, “Is not His mother called Mary? And His brethren, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? ” They thought, then, that He was the son of Joseph and Mary. But some say, basing it on a tradition in the Gospel according to Peter, as it is entitled, or “The Book of James,” that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honour of Mary in virginity to the end, so that that body of hers which was appointed to minister to the Word which said, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee,” might not know intercourse with a man after that the Holy Ghost came into her and the power from on high overshadowed her. And I think it in harmony with reason that Jesus was the first-fruit among men of the purity which consists in chastity, and Mary among women; for it were not pious to ascribe to any other than to her the first-fruit of virginity. And James is he whom Paul says in the Epistle to the Galatians that he saw, “But other of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.” And to so great a reputation among the people for righteousness did this James rise, that Flavius Josephus, who wrote the “Antiquities of the Jews” in twenty books, when wishing to exhibit the cause why the people suffered so great misfortunes that even the temple was razed to the ground, said, that these things happened to them in accordance with the wrath of God in consequence of the things which they had dared to do against James the brother of Jesus who is called Christ. And the wonderful thing is, that, though he did not accept Jesus as Christ, he yet gave testimony that the righteousness of James was so great; and he says that the people thought that they had suffered these things because of James. And Jude, who wrote a letter of few lines, it is true, but filled with the healthful words of heavenly grace, said in the preface, “Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James.” With regard to Joseph and Simon we have nothing to tell; but the saying, “And His sisters are they not all with us.” seems to me to signify something of this nature-they mind our things, not those of Jesus, and have no unusual portion of surpassing wisdom as Jesus has. And perhaps by these things is indicated a new doubt concerning Him, that Jesus was not a man but something diviner, inasmuch as He was, as they supposed, the son of Joseph and Mary, and the brother of four, and of the others-the women-as well, and yet had nothing like to any one of His kindred, and had not from education and teaching come to such a height of wisdom and power. For they also say elsewhere, “How knoweth this man letters having never learned? ” which is similar to what is here said. Only, though they say these things and are so perplexed and astonished, they did not believe, but were offended in Him; as if they had been mastered in the eyes of their mind by the powers which, in the time of the passion, He was about to lead in triumph on the cross.

anf05-17.htm: The Extant Works and Fragments of Hippolytus: Part I.-Exegetical. Fragments from Commentaries on Various Books of Scripture.On Jeremiah and Ezekiel.145

What were the dimensions, then, of the temple of Solomon? Its length was sixty cubits, and its breadth twenty. And it was not turned to the east, that the worshippers might not worship the rising sun, but the Lord of the sun. And let no one marvel if, when the Scripture gives the length at forty cubits, I have said sixty. For a little after it mentions the other twenty, in describing the holy of holies, which it also names Dabir. Thus the holy place was forty cubits, and the holy of holies other twenty. And Josephus says that the temple had two storeys, and that the whole height was one hundred and twenty cubits. For so also the book of Chronicles indicates, saying, “And Solomon began to build the house of God. In length its first measure was sixty cubits, and its breadth twenty cubits, and its height one hundred and twenty; and he overlaid it within with pure gold.”

  • Whealey says that Hippolytus parallels Jewish War 2:119-266 in his Refutation of All Heresies.  She does not discuss this passage.

anf06-57.htm:The Paschal Canon of Anatolius of Alexandria:Chapter 3.

Nor is this an opinion confined to ourselves alone. For it was also known to the Jews of old and before Christ, and it was most carefully observed by them. And this may be learned from what Philo, and Josephus, and Musaeus have written; and not only from these, but indeed from others still more ancient, namely, the two Agathobuli, who were surnamed the Masters, and the eminent Aristobulus, who was one of the Seventy who translated the sacred and holy Scriptures of the Hebrews for Ptolemy Philadelphus and his father, and dedicated his exegetical books on the law of Moses to the same kings. These writers, in solving some questions which are raised with respect to Exodus, say that all alike ought to sacrifice the Passover after the vernal equinox in the middle of the first month. And that is found to be when the sun passes through the first segment of the solar, or, as some among them have named it, the zodiacal circle.

anf06-122.htm: Methodius, On the Resurrection, Book II, Chapter 18. (Lost: quote is from Photius, Bibliotheca, cod. 234.)

XVIII. And, when Origen allegorises that which is said by the prophet Ezekiel concerning the resurrection of the dead, and perverts it to the return of the Israelites from their captivity in Babylon, the saint in refuting him, after many other remarks, says this also: For neither did they obtain a perfect liberty, nor did they overcome their enemies by a greater power, and dwell again in Jerusalem; and when they frequently intended to build (the temple), they were prevented by other nations. Whence, also, they were scarce able to build that in forty-six years, which Solomon completed from the foundations in seven years. But what need we say on this subject? For from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and those who after him reigned over Babylon, until the time of the Persian expedition against the Assyrians, and the empire of Alexander, and the war which was stirred up by the Romans against the Jews, Jerusalem was six times overthrown by its enemies. And this is recorded by Josephus, who says: “Jerusalem was taken in the second year of the reign of Vespasian. It had been taken before five times; but now for the second time it was destroyed. For Asochaeus, king of Egypt, and after him Antiochus, next Pompey, and after these Sosius, with Herod, took the city and burnt it; but before these, the king of Babylon conquered and destroyed it.”

CONTENTS

1. Gospels and Related Traditions of New Testament Figures
The Legend of Aphroditianus (Katharina Heyden)
The Revelation of the Magi (Brent Landau)
The Hospitality of Dysmas (Mark Bilby)
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas (Syriac) (Tony Burke)
On the Priesthood of Jesus (Bill Adler)
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 210 (Brent Landau)
Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 5072 (Ross P. Ponder)
The Dialogue of the Paralytic with Christ (Bradley N. Rice)
The Toledot Yeshu (Stanley Jones)
The Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon (Alin Suciu)
The Discourse of the Savior and the Dance of the Savior (Paul C. Dilley)
An Encomium on Mary Magdalene (Christine Luckritz Marquis)
An Encomium on John the Baptist (Philip L. Tite)
The Life of John the Baptist by Serapion (Slavomír Céplö)
Life and Martyrdom of John the Baptist (Andrew Bernhard)
The Legend of the Thirty Silver Pieces (Tony Burke and Slavomír Céplö)
The Death of Judas according to Papias (Geoffrey S. Smith)

2. Apocryphal Acts and Related Traditions
The Acts of Barnabas (Glenn E. Snyder)
The Acts of Cornelius the Centurion (Tony Burke and Witold Witakowski)
John and the Robber (Rick Brannan)
The History of Simon Cephas, the Chief of the Apostles (Stanley Jones)
The Acts of Timothy (Cavan Concannon)
The Acts of Titus (Richard Pervo)
The Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxena (David Eastman)

3. Epistles
The Epistle of Christ from Heaven (Calogero A. Miceli)
The Letter of Ps.-Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy on the Death of Peter and Paul(David Eastman)

4. Apocalypses
The (Latin) Revelation of John about Antichrist (Charles Wright)
The Apocalypse of the Virgin (Stephen Shoemaker)
The Tiburtine Sibyl (Stephen Shoemaker)
The Investiture of Abbaton (Alin Suciu and Ibrahim Saweros)

http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/rak/publics/mrjames/NTParabib.htm

Parabiblical Literature Associated with Early Christian (NT) Names
The Lost Apocrypha of the New Testament Project

(under construction; in imitation of M. R. James’ compilation of “Lost Apocrypha of the OT“)

coordinated by Robert A. Kraft [latest updates 16de03, 11no03, 27oc03, 08oc03, 4au03, 16je03 (begun April 2003)]
[for most recent expansions see conceptualization, Barnabas (also below), Clement (below)]

codes and bibliographic links:
G-G = Goodspeed-Grant, A History of Early Christian Literature (UChicago, 1966)
Gel = Gelasian Decree listing by number (Latin text; another English text)
H-S = Hennecke-Schneemelcher (Wilson), NT Apocrypha, 2 vols (Clarke 1991\2 [1963], 1965)
LX = Catalog of the Sixty Books listing by number
Nic = Stichometry of Nicephorus listing by number
Resch = Alfred Resch, Agrapha: Aussercanonische Schriftfragments (TU 15.3/4, Leipzig 1906\2)

To check:

Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine), 1834-1924.
The lost and hostile gospels : an essay on the Toledoth Jeschu, and the Petrine and Pauline gospels of the first three centuries of which fragments remain / by Rev. S. Baring-Gould, M.A., author of
“The origin and development of religious belief,”
“Legendary lives of the Old Testament characters,” etc. (London ; Edinburgh : Williams and Norgate, 1874) xxxii, 305, [1], 5, [1] p. [225.7 G732] — see 1885 edition of similar materials.

Theodore Bergren and Michael Stone, Biblical Figures outside the Bible

Richard Bauckham, Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels (Eerdmans 2002): Ruth, Matthew’s genealogy, Elizabeth and Mary, Anna, Joanna (= Junia?), Mary of Clopas, Salome (Jesus’ sister, and the disciple), women at the resurrection. For reviews see http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=2868

Made all possible links from Peter Kirby’s Early Christian Writings page (10je2003)

INTRODUCTORY

THE SOURCES. PATRISTIC REFERENCES AND QUOTATIONS [see H-S]

  • Irenaeus
    • 1 Clement ?
    • Shepherd of Hermas ?
    • Gospel of Truth (Valentinian; rejected)
  • Clement of Alexandria
    • Gospel of the Egyptians
    • Gospel of the Hebrews
    • Traditions of Matthias
    • Preaching of Peter
    • 1 Clement
    • Epistle of Barnabas
    • Didache
    • Shepherd of Hermas
    • Apocalypse of Peter
    • Orpheus “the theologian”
    • Plato “under the inspiration of God”
    • Metrodorus the Epicurean uttered certain words “divinely inspired”
  • Origen (Homily on Luke 1.1)
    • Gospel According to the Egyptians
    • Gospel of the Twelve (Apostles)
    • Gospel According to Basilides
    • Gospel According to Thomas
    • Gospel According to Matthias
    • “some/many others”
  • Didymus the Blind
    • 1 Clement
    • Epistle of Barnabas
    • Didache
    • Shepherd of Hermas
  • Eusebius (HE 3.25)
    • Acts of Paul (disputed; see also HE 3.3)
    • Shepherd (of Hermas) (disputed; see also HE 3.3)
    • Apocalypse of Peter (disputed; see also HE 3.3)
    • Epistle of Barnabas (disputed)
    • Teachings of the Apostles (disputed)
    • Gospel According to the Hebrews (disputed)
    • Gospel of Peter (heretical; see also HE 3.3)
    • Gospel of Thomas (heretical)
    • Gospel of Matthias (heretical)
    • Acts of Andrew (heretical)
    • Acts of John (heretical)
    • Acts of “other Apostles” (rejected as heretical)
    • Acts of Peter (rejected, HE 3.3)
    • Preaching of Peter (rejected, HE 3.3)
  • Athanasius
    • Teaching of the Apostles (worth reading)
    • Shepherd (worth reading)
  • Epiphanius
  • Jerome, etc.
    • Paul to the Laodiceans

PRODUCTION OF APOCRYPHA

THE LISTS AND STICHOMETRIES (see also this page):

  • For a convenient comparative chart of the early lists, see “Appendix D: Lists and Catalogues of New Testament Collections” by Lee Martin McDonald, pp. 591-597 in The Canon Debate, edited by Lee Martin McDonald and James A. Sanders (Hendrickson 2002). The following sources are included (any parabiblical materials that are mentioned appear in parentheses here): Irenaeus (Hermas, Wisdom), Clement of Alexandria (Barnabas, Apocalypse of Peter), Origen; Eusebius (Acts of Paul, Hermas, Apocalypse of Peter, Barnabas, Didache, Gospel of the Hebrews[?], Gospel of Peter, Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of “Matt”, Acts of Andrew, Acts of John), Cyril of Jerusalem (Gospel of Thomas), Athanasius (Didache, Hermas), Cheltenham/Mommsen, Epiphanius (Wisdom, Sirach), Apostolic Canons (Apostolic Constitutions), Gregory of Nazianzus, African Canons (Acts of Martyrs), Jerome, Augustine, Amphilochius, Rufinus (Hermas, Two Ways, Preaching of Peter), Innocent (Matthias, James the less, Acts of Peter and of John [by Leucian] and of Andrew [by Xenocharides and Leonidas], Gospel of Thomas), Syrian Catalogue, Muratorian Fragment (see below), Laodicea Synod, Carthage Synod; Eucherius, Gelasius, Junilius, Cassiodorus, Isidore; Vaticanus , Sinaiticus (Barnabas, Hermas), Peshitta, Alexandrinus (1 Clement, 2 Clement, Psalsm of Solomon), Claromontanus (see below).
  • Muratorian Canon (ca 200 CE? from an 8th c Latin Fragment)
    • Paul to the Laodiceans (forged by Marcionites)
    • Paul to the Alexandrians (forged by Marcionites)
    • “several other” extracanonical Pauline letters
    • Apocalypse of Peter (disputed)
    • Shepherd of Hermas (written recently, worth reading privately)
    • Arsinous (rejected)
    • Valentinus (rejected)
    • Miltiades (?) (rejected)
    • Marcionite Psalter (rejected; by Valentinus and Miltiades?)
    • Basilides of Asia Minor, founder of the Cataphrygians (rejected)
  • Catalogue in Codex Claromontanus (6th century)
    • Epistle of Barnabas (=? Hebrews?) 850 stichoi
    • Shepherd of Hermas 4000 stichoi
    • Acts of Paul 3560 stichoi
    • Apocalypse of Peter 270 stichoi
  • Gelasian Decretal (6th c; see below)
  • Stichometry of Nicephorus (ca 9th c ?; see below)
  • Catalogue of the 60 Books (7th c?; see below)

“PARABIBLICAL” Titles from Lists, with a Comprehensive List
[“LX” = the list of 60 Books; “Nic” = Stichometrey of Nicephoros]
The Latin Decretum Gelasianum (also in English)

  • [Gel 02]Itinerary (book of travels) under the name of the apostle Peter, which is called The Nine Books of the holy Clement [or is it “the ninth of the books of Saint Clement?]
    [Itinerarium nomine Petri apostoli, quod appellatur sancti Clementis libri numero novem, apocryphum]
  • +[NicNTA] 2. The Circuit of Peter 2750 lines
  • +[LX] 17.The Circuits and Teachings of the Apostles
  • +[LX] 21.The Teaching of Clement
  • +[NicNTA] 7. The 32 (books) of Clement 2600 lines
  • [Gel 03]Acts under the name of the apostle Andrew [Actus nomine Andreae apostoli, apocryphi]
  • [Gel 04]Acts under the name of the apostle Thomas
  • +[NicNTA] 4. The Circuit of Thomas 1600 lines
  • [Gel 05]Acts under the name of the apostle Peter
  • [Gel 06]Acts under the name of the apostle Philip
  • +[LX] 19.The Acts of Paul
  • +[NicNTA] 1. The Circuit of Paul 3600 lines
  • +[NicNTA] 3. The Circuit of John 2500 lines
  • [Gel 07]Gospel under the name of Matthias [Evangelium nomine Mathiae, apocryphum]
  • =[LX] 25.The Gospel according to Matthias
  • [Gel 08]Gospel under the name of Barnabas
  • =[LX] 24.The Gospel according to Barnabas
  • [Gel 09]Gospel under the name of James the younger [Iacobi minoris]
  • +[LX]15.The History of Jacob/James
  • [Gel 10]Gospel under the name of the apostle Peter [Petri apostoli]
  • [Gel 11]Gospel under the name of Thomas, which the Manicheans use [quibus Manichei utuntur]
  • +[NicNTA]5. The Gospel of Thomas 1300 lines
  • [Gel 12]Gospels under the name of Bartholomaeus [Evangelia nomine Bartholomaei, apocrypha]
  • [Gel 13]Gospels under the name of Andrew
  • [Gel 14]Gospels which Lucian has forged [Evangelia quae falsavit Lucianus]
  • [Gel 15]Gospels which Hesychius has forged [Evangelia quae falsavit Hesychius]
  • +[NicNT]4. The Gospel of the Hebrews 2200 lines
  • [Gel 16]Book about the childhood of the Savior [Liber de infantia salvatoris, apocryphus]
  • [Gel 17]Book about the birth of the Savior and about Mary or the midwife
    [Liber de nativitate salvatoris et de Maria vel obstetrice]
  • [Gel 18]Book which is called Shepherd [Liber qui appellatur Pastoris]
  • +[NicNTA]8. (Writings) of Ignatius, of Polycarp and of Hermas …
  • +[LX]18.The Epistle of Barnabas
  • +[NicNT]3. The Epistle of Barnabas 1360 lines
  • +[LX]22.The Teaching of Ignatius
  • +[LX]23.The Teaching of Polycarp
  • [Gel 19]All books which Leucius, the disciple of the devil, has made
    [Libri omnes quos fecit Leucius disciplulus diabuli, apocryphi]
  • [Gel 20]Book which is called Foundation [Liber qui appellatur Fundamentum, apocryphus]
  • [Gel 21]Book which is called Treasure [Liber qui appellatur Thesaurus]
  • [Gel 23]Cento about Christ, put together in Virgilian lines [see also below, after 55]
    [Centonem de Christo virgilianis conpaginatum versibus, apocryphum]
  • [Gel 24]Book which is called Acts of Thecla and of Paul [Liber qui appellatur Actus Theclae et Pauli, apocryphus]
  • [Gel 25]Book which is called Nepos’ [Liber qui appellatur Nepotis]
  • [Gel 26]Book of Proverbs, compiled by heretics and presented in the name of the Holy Sixtus
    [Liber Proverbiorum ab hereticis conscriptus et sancti Sixti nomine praesignatus]
  • [Gel 27]Revelation which is called Paul’s [Revelatio quae appellatur Pauli, apocrypha]
  • =[LX]20.The Revelation of Paul
  • +[LX]16.The Revelation of Peter
  • +[NicNT]2. The Revelation of Peter 300 lines
  • [Gel 28]Revelation which is called Thomas’
  • [Gel 29]Revelation which is called Stephen’s
  • [Gel 30]Book which is called Translocation of the Holy Mary
    [Liber qui appellatur Transitus sanctae Mariae, apocryphus]
  • [Gel 34]Book which is called Penitence of Origen [Paenitentia Origenis]
  • [Gel 35]Book which is called Penitence of the Holy Cyprian [Paenitentia sancti Cypriani]
  • [Gel 37]Book which is called Prophecies/Destinies(?) of the Apostles [Sortes apostolorum]
  • [Gel 38]Book which is called Amusements(?) of the Apostles [Lusa apostolorum]
  • [Gel 39]Book which is called Canons of the Apostles [Canones apostolorum]
  • +[NicNTA]6. The Teaching (Didache) of the Apostles 200 lines
  • [Gel 40]The book Physiologus, compiled by heretics and called by the name of the blessed Ambrose
    [Liber Physiologus ab hereticis conscriptus et beati Ambrosii nomine praesignatus]
  • [Gel 41]The History of Eusebius Pamphili [Historia Eusebii Pamphili, apocrypha]
  • [Gel 42]Works of Tertullian [opuscula Tertulliani]
  • [Gel 43]Works of Lactantius (later add: or of Firmianus or of the African) [opuscula Lactantii sive Firmiani]
    [opuscula Africani]
  • [Gel 44]Works of Postumianus and of Gallus [opuscula Postumiani et Galli]
  • [Gel 45]Works of Montanus, of Priscilla and of Maximilla [Montani, Priscillae et Maximillae]
  • [Gel 46]Works of Faustus the Manichean [Fausti Manichei]
  • [Gel 47]Works of Commodianus
  • [Gel 48]Works of the other Clement of Alexandria
  • [Gel 49]Works of Thascius Cyprian [Thascii Cypriani]
  • [Gel 50]Works of Arnobius
  • [Gel 51]Works of Tichonius
  • [Gel 52]Works of Cassian, a presbyter in Gaul [Cassiani presbyteri Galliarum]
  • [Gel 53]Works of Victorinus of Pettau [Victorini Petabionensis]
  • [Gel 54]Works of Faustus of Riez in Gaul [Fausti Regiensis Galliarum]
  • [Gel 55]Works of Frumentius Caecus [Frumentii Caeci]
    [Centonem de Christo virgilianis conpaginatum versibus, apocryphum (see above, #23)]
  • [Gel 56]Epistle of Jesus to Abgar [Epistula Iesu ad Abgarum, apocrypha]
  • [Gel 57]Epistle of Abgar to Jesus [Epistula Abgari ad Iesum]
  • [Gel 58]Passion (Martyr Acts) of Cyricus and of Iulitta [Passio Cyrici et Iulittae]
  • [Gel 59]Passion of Georgius [Passio Georgii]
  • These and the like, what [was taught or compiled by] [Haec et his similia quae …]
    • Simon Magus,
    • Nicolaus,
    • Cerinthus,
    • Marcion,
    • Basilides,
    • Ebion,
    • Paul of Samosata [etiam Samosatenus],
    • Photinus and Bonosus, who suffered from similar error [qui simili errore defecerunt],
    • also Montanus with his detestable followers [quoque cum suis obscenissimis sequacibus],
    • Apollinaris,
    • Valentinus the Manichean [sive Manicheus],
    • Faustus the African [Faustus Africanus],
    • Sabellius,
    • Arius [ca 325],
    • Macedonius,
    • Eunomius,
    • Novatus,
    • Sabbatius,
    • Calistu,
    • Donatus,
    • Eustatius,
    • Iovianus,
    • Pelagius [ca 400],
    • Iulianus of Eclanum,
    • Caelestius,
    • Maximian,
    • Priscillian from Spain [Priscillianus ab Hispania],
    • Nestorius of Constantinople,
    • Maximus the Cynic [ca 380],
    • Lampetius [ca 431],
    • Dioscorus [-454],
    • Eutyches [ca 450],
    • Peter [of Alexandria] [ca 451 Chalcedon]
    • and the other Peter [of Antioch, ca 451 Chalcedon], of whom the one besmirched Alexandria and the other Antioch [e quibus unus Alexandriam, alius Antiocham maculavit],
    • Acacius of Constantinople [fl 471-489] with his associates [cum consortibus suis],

THE TEXTS and TRADITIONS (arranged prosopographically)

Problem: How to deal with pre- or non-Christian names that present clearly Christian material? E.g. Ascension of Isaiah 11, Sibylline Oracles, Gospel of Eve, Odes of Solomon, Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs, 5th Ezra and 6th Ezra, Melchizedek [NHL], Seth literature [NHL] ?

20 July is the feast day of Aaron (Orthodox Church) (16th cent. BCE) Brother of Moses and first
Jewish high priest; and Elijah (also Orthodox) (9th cent. BCE)  The prophet. Although the Catholic Church does not usually think in terms of Old Testament saints, there is great veneration for the prophet Elijah among the Calced Carmelites —  the original Carmelites, tracing their origin to hermits found on Mount Carmel by the crusaders, who in turn claimed descent from the disciples of the prophet Elijah.The reformed or Discalced (barefoot) Carmelites were founded by St Teresa of <C1>vila and St John of the Cross. If you visit a house of Discalced Carmelites, you will very likely find pictures or statues of these two saints; but if you visit a Calced house, you will find a picture of the prophet Elijah; an easy way to know which kind of Carmelite you are dealing with, without needing to ask.

31 March: Amos (8th cent. BCE)  Amos was a shepherd near Bethlehem who became one of the minor prophets.  According to the Roman martyrology, he was killed by having an iron bar knocked through his head.

1 August is the feast day of The Maccabean martyrs (d. 160 B.C.E.)  A group of Jews executed for resisting Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ attempts to impose Greek religion on the Jews.  The most famous is Eleazar, a 90-year-old scribe who refused to eat pork and was executed; also famous are seven brothers and their mother Hannah who were killed together.  These are the only Old Testament figures who have official liturgical veneration in the western church; their remains are believed to be in the church of S. Pietro in Vincola in Rome. The account of their deaths played an important role in shaping the Christian concept of martyrdom.  Which makes it sad that their cult was restricted to local calendars in 1969. Maybe this has something to do with the fact that when their supposed relics were examined in the 1930s it was discovered that they were really dog bones.

Zacharias, father of John the Baptist

  • 5 November is the feast day of Elizabeth (1st cent.) Elizabeth was the mother of John the Baptist and a cousin of Mary. Oddly, there doesn’t seem to be any extra-biblical
    tradition about her.
    Zacharias (1st cent.) Zacharias was father of John the Baptist. Luke’s gospel tells that he was a priest, stricken dumb because he doubted when Gabriel told him he was going to beget a son in old age and only recovering when John was born. Luke chapter 1 is the only source of information on him.
  • 24 June is the feast day of: John the Baptist (d. c. 30) Jesus’ cousin and prophet, one of the rare saints whose major feast is on his birthday rather than deathday. John had a miraculous start in life: born to his elderly parents Elizabeth and Zachariah, after Zachariah had been told of his coming birth by an angel
    and had had the audacity to laugh at the idea (for which he was stricken dumb). The site of John’s tomb was believed to be Sebaste in Samaria; certainly Emperor Julian, who had the tomb desecrated, believed it was John’s. [there are three heads of Saint John the Baptist – one in Saint Mark’s in Venice, another in Damascus and a third in Amiens, France]
  • The village of Ein Karim was regarded in Byzantine tradition as the home of the priestly family Elizabeth and Zechariah and as the birthplace of John the Baptist. Graffiti inside the Suba cave include several crosses and at least one drawing inside the cave is believed to be a representation of John the Baptist, which may be the earliest (if not the only one) discovered to date (2001).
  • `This is the tomb of Zachariah, martyr, very pious priest, father of John,” the inscription of 47 Greek letters reads in the “tomb of Absalom” in the Kidron valley. There’s more writing on the monument and it may include a reference to the Simeon who blessed Jesus in the Temple according to Luke 2:25-35. The discoverers, osteologist Joseph Zias and epigrapher Emile Puech, promise an article publishing the inscription in the next issue of Revue Biblique (2003). This inscription provides interesting information about Byzantine Christian traditions.
  • +[NicOTA]10. (Book of) Zacharias, the father of John 500 lines
  • tomb of Zachariah in Kidron Valley traditions (see Murphy-O’Connor, BR [je2003] 34ff)

24 June is the feast day of John the Baptist (1st cent.)  One of the extremely few saints commemorated on his birth day
instead of his death day (or sometimes day of translatio, or more convenient date determined by later calendar emenders; the others who come to mind are Mary, whose birthday is celebrated on 8th September, and Jesus himself, whose birthday is celebrated on 25th December.).  John appears prominently in the gospels as a prophet and forerunner of Jesus. Early tradition placed J’s tomb at Samaria, but it was destroyed in the reign of Julian, leaving the field open for conflicting claims to relics, several medieval churches claiming especially his head. The Beheading of John the Baptist is also celebrated on 29th August. The reason for celebrating his birth is that it is a significant and miraculous event, recorded in the scriptures. Other significant and miraculous events in the lives of saints are also celebrated, for example the “conversion” of Saint Paul, the Visitation of Mary, and indeed several other events in the life of Mary. The birth of John the Baptist also has signficance in that it occurs six months away (more or less) from the birth of Jesus. Since Christmas occurs at the winter solstice, symbolising light coming to a darkened world, so John the Baptist’s birth around the time of the summer solstice reflects John’s Gospel statement that “I must diminish so that he [Jesus] can grow”.
The ‘traditional’ reason for celebrating John’s birth in addition to his death is that a common (patristic?) understanding of the Lucan comment that ‘the babe in her womb leapt with joy’ was that John was cleansed from original sin (‘filled with the Holy Spirit’) while still in the womb. Hence, he was born without sin. (As opposed to Mary, who in RC
tradition was conceived without sin.) [internet thread 2004]. 29 August is the feast day of the beheading of John the Baptist  at the hands of Herod Antipas, after J. had criticized the king’s marital practices.  At first Herod just imprisoned J., but his wife Herodias arranged for the execution by having her daughter dance before the king and win a promise of anything she wanted—which proved to be the head of J. on a platter.

Anne and Joachim: 26. July is the feast day of: Anne and her husband Joachim, the parents of the Virgin Mary, first appear in the Protoevangelium of James, an apocryphal gospel that dates to c. 170. The story is that they were publicly mocked for their childlessness, so Joachim went and fasted forty days in the desert, whereupon an angel appeared
and promised a child.  Anne promised to dedicate the child to God. Anne’s cult appeared in the East in the sixth century, and spread to the west in the eighth, but only became popular from the fourteenth century on. In the late Middle Ages, A’s miraculous conception of Mary was stressed, as well as Anne’s role in educating the little Mary. Joachim (named in other sources as Heli, Cleopis, Eliacim, or Sadoc) only rated a western cult in the sixteenth century.

Mary, mother of Jesus (verify which Mary!)

  • 8 September is the feast day of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary
  • 5 August is the feast day of: the Assumption of the Virgin Mary
  • “Once I had examined the manuscripts, it did not take me long to identify them as fragments from a liturgical book, or hymnary, of the Church of the East (the so-called “Nestorian” Church), most of them belonging to a feast of the Virgin Mary” [ Sebastian Brock; Cairo Geniza 13-14th c Syriac on paper, not palimpsest, but possibly acquired for use in book bindings!]
  • [Gel 30]Book which is called Translocation of the Holy Mary
    [Liber qui appellatur Transitus sanctae Mariae, apocryphus]
  • Questions of Mary
  • Gospel of Mary (Magdalene?)
  • Genna Marias
  • in modern RC:
    Ineffabilis Deus = the Immaculate Conception dogma, Dec. 8, 1854, pope Pius IX.
    Munificentissimus Deus = the Assumption dogma, Nov. 1, 1950, pope Pius XII.
    Note Vatican II confirmation of the Imm. Conc. dogma in Lumen Gentium, pope John XXIII.
    See also pope Pius IX, allowing nomination of Mary as saint patron of the United States of America in 1846.
    See also pope Sixtus IV’s bull The Imm. Conc., 1483.
    Imm. Conc. day (Mary’s birthday) is Sept. 8 , and Ass. day (Mary’s deathday) is Aug. 15; In the Roman Calendar, 8 Sept is Mary’s birthday; IC day, the feast of her conception, is celebrated nine =
    months prior, on 8 Dec.
    CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA :
    <AB> As in other cases of the same kind the feast originated in the monastic
    communities. The monks, who arranged the psalmody and composed the various
    poetical pieces for the office, also selected the date, 9 December, which
    was always retained in the Oriental calendars. [<8A>] The influence of
    Constantinople was consequently strong in the Neapolitan Church, and, as
    early as the ninth century, the Feast of the Conception was doubtlessly kept
    there, as elsewhere in Lower Italy on 9 December, as indeed appears from the
    marble calendar found in 1742 in the Church of S. Giorgio Maggiore at
    Naples.
    [<8A>]
    In the Western Church the feast appeared (8 December), when in the Orient
    its development had come to a standstill.
    [<8A>]
    The “Martyrology of Tallaght” compiled about 790 and the “Feilire” of St.
    Aengus (800) register the Conception of Mary on 3 May. [<8A>] The Scholiast
    adds, in the lower margin of the “Feilire”, that the conception (Inceptio)
    took place in February, since Mary was born after seven months — a singular
    notion found also in some Greek authors. [<8A>] <BB>
  • I believe she is supposed to be reading prophecies about the conception
    of Christ! There are some illustrations at:http://www.relevanthistory.com/courses/docs/annunciation.html
    http://www.abdn.ac.uk/stalbanspsalter/english/commentary/page019.shtmlThe latter site describes very early examples and details the literary
    history of the concept:”The idea of the Virgin reading is found in Pseudo-Matthew where, during
    her youth in the Temple she <91>excelled in devout reading and chanting the
    psalms<92>. In Bible commentaries, both Ambrose and Bede mention that Mary
    had read about the prophecy that a virgin would conceive and bear a son.
    Odo of Cluny (962-1049), in one of his sermons, asks what the Virgin was
    doing when the angel came and suggests that perhaps she was reading the
    prophets. By the 12th century, Ailred of Rievaulx firmly states in a
    sermon that Mary was reading the book of Isaiah at the time.”Judy Shoaf (12/9/03)
  • Gail McMurray Gibson’s essay written at Duke University, now at
    http://www.umilta.net/equal1.html#thread
    written under the aegis of William S. Hecksher, provides good bibliography.
    In Equally in God’s Image we trace the shift in the iconography of the
    Virgin from spinning to reading as coming about at the time women became
    excluded from official learning with the coming of the universities. In
    convents they had both spun and read – see Lioba, Hilda (Rosemary Cramp
    writes about the loom weights at Whitby), etc. The medieval tradition
    certainly accepted the apocryphal account of the Virgin in the Temple,
    seeing her as a kind of proto-nun. The Isaiah passages are frequently used
    in paintings, for instance in Botticelli. The learned prophetic Advent
    Antiphons are supposedly sung by the Virgin to her not-yet-born Child.
    Walter Ong’s article has some nice things on the paradox of the Child as
    Word unable yet to speak a word, ‘infans’. It was likely women patrons who
    commissioned the images of St Anne teaching the Virgin to read, then the
    Virgin teaching Jesus to read. There’s a statue of St Anne teaching the
    Virgin to read in the lower church at Mont St Michel, I particularly
    remember. I’ve come across one Flemish painting where the Child, wearing a
    carefully cross-stitched bib, is trying to read a book and it’s upside
    down! Julian taught the alphabet for her subsistence until Arundel forbade
    women in England to teach. That’s when the Wills start leaving her money so
    she can survive. In the defences written by Adam Easton and Alfonso of Jaen
    of Birgitta of Sweden’s right to write her visionary prophetic book based
    on the Bible, Huldah is cited as the woman who preserved the Torah for
    study when it was discovered in a cupboard in the Temple.
    Julia Bolton Holloway <juliana@TIN.IT> (12/9/03)

Joseph, father of Jesus

  • 19 March is the feast day of Joseph (1st cent.) Husband of the Virgin Mary and foster-father of
    Jesus, Joseph is only known from the gospels of Matthew and Luke, and it is surmised that he died before the crucifixion. J’s cult was popular in the eastern church from an early age, but spread in western Europe only from the fourteenth century on. J. is the patron saint of workers (he has a subsidiary feast on May Day) and was also declared patron of the universal church in 1870.
  • Book/History of Joseph the Carpenter

Simeon “Senex” (8 October) Simeon makes a cameo appearance during the presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:25-35) and it’s thanks to this that we have that most beautiful of hymns, the Nunc Dimittis. He attracted
a later body of legend, but I couldn’t find any details.

23 July is the feast day of The Magi (1st cent.)  This really does seem to be the main feast of the wise men, rather than Epiphany.  My guess is that it’s the day of their relics’ translatio to Cologne in the late twelfth century. Modern scholars think they were astrologers from either Babylonia or Arabia.

Jesus (Savior, Redeemer, Christ)

  • [Gel 16]Book about the childhood of the Savior [Liber de infantia salvatoris, apocryphus]
  • [Gel 17]Book about the birth of the Savior and about Mary or the midwife
    [Liber de nativitate salvatoris et de Maria vel obstetrice]
  • Arabic Infancy Gospel [title?]
  • [Gel 23]Cento about Christ, put together in Virgilian lines [see also below, after 55]
    [Centonem de Christo virgilianis conpaginatum versibus, apocryphum]
  • [Gel 56]Epistle of Jesus to Abgar [Epistula Iesu ad Abgarum, apocrypha]
  • [Gel 57]Epistle of Abgar to Jesus [Epistula Abgari ad Iesum]
    • “A new [fragmentary Coptic] attestation … is preserved in an inscription beneath a window in an interior courtyard (“Cour” 47 [Monastery of Apollo, Bawit, Egypt], pp. 98-100, no. 4) … written in a book hand” — Jean Cle/dat, Le Monaste\re et la ne/cropole de Baouit, ed Dominique Be/nazeth and Marie-He/le\ne Rutschowscaya (= MIFAO 111; Cairo: Institut franc,ais d’Arche/ologie orientale 1999).
  • Didache (Teaching of the Lord through the Apostles) [see under Apostles, below]
  • Dialogue of the Savior (NHL)
  • Gospel of the Savior [fragmentary]
  • Testamentum Domini Nostri Jesu
  • Sophia Jesu Christi [NHL]
  • Pistis Sophia
  • Two Books of Jeu

Jacob/James, brother of Jesus according  to Mark 6.3 = Matt 13.55 [verify which James]

Joses or Joseph brother of Jesus according  to Mark 6.3 = Matt 13.55

Jude/Judah, brother of Jesus according  to Mark 6.3 (listed 3rd) = Matt 13.55 (listed 4th) and thus a brother of Jacob/James [see also Judas Thomas, Judas Thaddeus]

  • see NT Epistle of Jude, brother of Jacob/James?

Simon brother of Jesus according  to Mark 6.3 (listed 4th) = Matt 13.55 (listed 3rd)

Salome, sister of Jesus [? see Bauckham] (Mark 6.3 = Matt 13.56 mention only unnamed “sisters”)

Augustus (Roman ruler)

  • Census of Augustus (Tertullian, Against Marcion 4.7: And yet how could he [Jesus] have been admitted into the synagogue — one so abruptly appearing, so unknown; one, of whom no one had as yet been apprised of his tribe, his nation, his family, and lastly, his enrolment in the census of Augustus — that most faithful witness of the Lord’s nativity, kept in the archives of Rome?)

Nicodemus (Jewish leader): 1 or 3 August is his feast day — Nicodemus was a prominent Jew, probably a member of the Sanhedrin.  He visited Jesus secretly at night (thus, much later, Jean Calvin railed against the “nicodemites” who
practiced the reformed religion in secret);  later tradition says he became a disciple;  he and Joseph of Arimathaea together took Jesus from the cross and buried him. For some reason the apocryphal gospel that tells of Christ’s harrowing of hell was attributed to N. According to tradition he was martyred. His supposed relics were founded along with those of Gamaliel.

Joseph of Arimathea

  • 17 March is the feast day of Joseph of Arimathea (1st cent.) Joseph appears in the gospels as a
    secret disciple of Jesus who, although a member of the Jerusalem Sanhedrin, declared his beliefs by arranging Jesus’ burial. J attracted a lot of later legend. He is commonly credited in legend with catching Jesus’ blood in the “holy grail”—and of course with bringing the hawthorn (about which we all now know so much) to Glastonbury in the form of his staff, which took root there (the “Holy Thorn”).
  • According to a former Glastonbury monk, William Good, 27 July was kept as the feast of Joseph of Arimathea at Glastonbury before the dissolution of the monasteries. This observance seems to have been unique to Glastonbury. Good’s testimony is reproduced by J. Armitage Robinson in his book _Two Glastonbury Legends_. The normal feast day for Joseph of Arimathea in the West was 17 March.
  • Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea

Pilate (Roman governor)

  • Acts of Pilate (Gospel of Nicodemus)
  • Report of Pilate to the Emperor
  • Letters of Pilate [modern]

Gamaliel (Jewish teacher): 3 August is his feast day — Gamaliel (1st cent.) Gamaliel was a Jewish lawyer who appears twice in Acts, teaching Paul and helping Peter & John. Legend makes him a convert to Christianity. His purported relics were found near Jerusalem in 415 [from web site].

  • Gospel of Gamaliel

25 March is the feast day of The Good Thief (d. whichever year the Crucifixion was) This is the repentant thief who was crucified along with Jesus, traditionally given the name “Dismas.” A number of legends grew up about him (and the Bad Thief), including that the pair had tried to rob the holy family on their flight to Egypt.

“The Twelve Apostles/Disciples” [and the seventy?]

  • +[LX]17.The Circuits and Teachings of the Apostles
  • [Gel 37]Book which is called Prophecies/Destinies(?) of the Apostles [Sortes apostolorum]
  • [Gel 38]Book which is called Amusements(?) of the Apostles [Lusa apostolorum]
  • [Gel 39]Book which is called Canons of the Apostles [Canones apostolorum]
  • +[NicNTA]6. The Teaching (Didache) of the Apostles 200 lines
    • Didymus Caecus, Commentarii in Psalmos 29-34. {2102.018} Codex page 227 line 26
      DIA\ TOU=TO KAI\ E)N TH=| *DIDAXH=| TH=| BI/BLW| TH=S KATHXH/SEWS
      LE/GETAI: “EI)RH|NEU/SEIS MAXOME/NOUS”.
    • Didymus Caecus, Commentarii in Ecclesiasten (3-4.12). {2102.047} Codex page 78 line 22 —
      E)N TH=| *DIDAXH=| TH=S K[ATH]X?[H/]SEWS | TW=N A)POS[T]O/LWN
      LE/GETAI: “EI)RHNEU/SEIS MAXOME/NOUS”.
  • Didascalia
  • Epistle of the Apostles
  • Gospel of the Twelve (Apostles) [Origen]
  • (Kukean) Gospel of the Twelve
  • Memoria Apostolorum
  • (Manichean) Gospel of the Twelve Apostles
  • Gospel of the Seventy
  • other Gospels of the Twelve Apostles (H-S)
  • Virtutes Apostolorum = Passiones Apostolorum = Historia Apostolica (ps-Abdias) — attributed to Abdias (in Hebrew!), first bishop of Babylon, in some MSS (then to Greek by Eutropius, then to Latin by Julius Africanus!); different texts in different recensions, but the version published by Fabricius 1 (1719) 402-742 contains 10 books, on Peter, Paul, Andrew, James, John, James the Less + Simon + Jude, Matthew, Bartholomew, Thomas, Philip (other versions have fewer or more apostles, and varying sequences of treatment; some have Barnabas and/or Mark) — see Aideen O’Leary, “By the Bishop of Babylon? The Alleged Origins of the Collected Latin Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles,” Legacy 128-138.

Simon Peter (Cephas) (named first in Mark 3.16, Matt 10.2, Luke 6.14; also Acts 1.13 [simply Peter there])

  • Foxe #9, 29 June (crucified upside down in Rome according to Tertullian); defeated Simon Magus in Rome, etc (no quo vadis story)
  • Peter strikes the rock! (Catacombs of Callixtus and of Commodilla [Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus. 359], Sarcophagus of the Two Brothers in the Vatican Museum [4th c])
  • 15 April is the feast day of Basilissa and Anastasia (d. c. 68?) Legend says that B and A were
    disciples of Peter and Paul in Rome, responsible for burying the bodies of both after they were martyred and then martyred themselves in the reign of Nero.
  • [Gel 02]Itinerary (book of travels) under the name of the apostle Peter, which is called The Nine Books of the holy Clement [or is it “the ninth of the books of Saint Clement?]
    [Itinerarium nomine Petri apostoli, quod appellatur sancti Clementis libri numero novem, apocryphum]
  • +[NicNTA]2. The Circuit of Peter 2750 lines
  • [Gel 05]Acts under the name of the apostle Peter
  • Acts of Peter and Paul
  • Acts of Peter and the Twelve [NHL]
  • [Gel 10]Gospel under the name of the apostle Peter [Petri apostoli]
  • +[LX]16.The Revelation/Apocalypse of Peter
  • +[NicNT]2. The Revelation of Peter 300 lines
  • Coptic Apocalypse of Peter [NHL]
  • Letter of Peter to Philip (NHL)
  • Pseudo-Epistle of Peter [??]
  • Preaching of Peter [Clement of Alex]
  • Kerygma Petrou
  • Kerygmata Petrou
  • Acts of Simon and Jude [??]
  • 31 May is the feast day of Petronilla (?) Petronilla has been venerated in Rome since early days. Legends (all much later) tell that she helped care for St.Peter during his time in Rome, and one account says she was Peter’s daughter (my source huffily says that she can’t have been—but her attribute is a bunch of keys—does that remind you of anyone?).
    The notion that P. was Peter’s daughter is transmitted both in at least one sixth-century list of the Roman martyrs’ tombs and in the legendary Acta of Nereus and Achilles (et socc.; BHL 6058-66; 5th or 6th cent.), where once Peter on the request of Titus cures her of paralysis she becomes his household helper and where later she dies (of her own volition? by divine grace?) before she can be married to a high Roman official, Flaccus comes. From these sources it enters the Carolingian martyrologies and becomes widespread in later accounts.
    A fourth-century painting of P. was discovered in the Roman catacombs during De Rossi’s excavations of what seems to have been a late antique church dedicated to Nereus, Achilleus, and Petronilla. A sketch of this fresco is reproduced here (about halfway down the page): http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy
    /Lazio/Roma/Rome/.Texts/Lanciani/LANPAC/7*.html (watch the wrap!)
    A fifteenth-century Italian interpretation of P. as household helper is here:
    http://www.godecookery.com/afeast/dining/din011.html
    And a fifteenth-century English portrait of her is here (P. is the saint furthest to the right):
    http://www.syllysuffolk.co.uk/img/somerscreen3.jpg
    This latter is from the rood screen of St. Mary’s, Somerleyton (Suffolk), described here:
    http://www.syllysuffolk.co.uk/htm/somerleyton.htm
    Kapelln in Niederoesterreich has a modern statue of Peter and Petronilla (as wind-up toy?). Not medieval, but…
    http://www.kapelln.gv.at/kapelln/Vorstellung/der_hl%20Petrus%20und%20die%20hl%20Petron
    illa.htm
  • 21 March is the feast day of Birillus (d. c. 90?) One of the many legendary figures linked to Peter, Birillus supposedly accompanied Peter from Antioch to Italy, and Peter then ordained B. as first bishop of Catania.

Jacob/James of Zebedee [“the greater”; verify which James] (named 2nd in Mark 3.17, but 3rd in Matt 10.2 = Luke 6.14 [no mention of Zebedee or brothership in Luke],  always before John [his brother in Mark and Matthew — together they are Boanerges, “sons of thunder” in Mark 3.17]; in Acts 1.13 he is named after John and their relationship is not mentioned)

  • Foxe #2, 25 July (beheaded in 44 CE, along with his converted accuser)
  • Acts of James the Greater
  • 25 July is the feast day of James the Greater (d. 44) One of the most important saints of the Middle Ages, thanks to some very interesting legends, James started out as a fisherman, the son of Salome and Zebedee, and brother of John the Evangelist. He has the odd distinction of being the only apostle whose martyrdom appears in the Bible (Acts 12.2). A discredited tradition says he preached in Spain before his martyrdom; an even more discredited tradition says that his body was miraculously conveyed to Spain (in a stone ship) where it was later found at Compostela. James’ shrine at Compostela became one of the greatest pilgrimage centers of the Middle Ages, exceeded in popularity and longevity only by Jerusalem and Rome.  He is the patron saint of Spain.A legend that developed in the ninth century told how, after his decapitation, James went to Spain by ship and his body was buried at a place later named “Compostela” since a visionary was led to J’s relics in a “field of stars.” In an even more surprising twist, James became the warlike Santiago, “slayer of Moors” (Matamoros) and patron saint of the reconquista (and thus of Spain). For the peoples of New Spain, and particularly for the natives of Peru, St. James the Greater, in his office of Santiago Matamoros, provided yet another interesting twist or two to this history. One night when the Incas stormed a Spanish stronghold with spears and torches; at the last possible moment, the fortress gate opened and out thundered the mounted Santiago, instilling fear into the natives, and enabling the Spanish to quash their resistance. Traditional paintings of the princely, strangely impassive Santiago Matamoros astride his fierce white steed, trampling the Moorish infidels, began to appear in greater numbers throughout the Cuzco School, with the Moors transformed into Incas: this depiction became known as Santiago Mataindios: Saint James the Indian Killer. But Santiago the Indian Killer became a particularly attractive saint for the conquered Inca; or, syncretically, it may be that he is associated with the Inca god Illapa, whose temple stood in Cuzco, and whose powers extended to thunder and rain.

John of Zebedee (named 3rd in Mark 3.17, but 4th in Matt 10.2 = Luke 6.14 [no mention of Zebedee or brothership in Luke], always after Jacob/James [his brother in Mark and Matthew — together they are Boanerges, “sons of thunder” in Mark 3.17]; in Acts 1.13 he is named before Jacob/James, and their relationship is not mentioned) [verify which John]

  • Foxe #16 [after Simon Zealotes], 27 Dec (non violent death at 100 years, but sentenced to death under Domitian in 73 CE [boiling oil] but miraculously survived, then banished to Patmos mines); founded the churches of Rev 2-3, did various miracles, inner circle for Jesus’ secrets. [The right arm and head of Saint John are allegedly preserved as relics somewhere.]
  • John the Evangelist (d. c. 100 (unless you credit the medieval legends that he never died at all)) John was the son of Salome and Zebedee and brother of James the Great and one of Jesus’ original apostles. He is credited with writing the fourth gospel and the book of Revelation, as well as three letters. Legend tells that he survived being boiled in oil at Rome before being exiled to Patmos, and ended his life in Ephesus (of natural causes).
  • +[NicNTA]3. The Circuit of John 2500 lines
  • Apocryphon of John (NHL)
  • Dialogue between John and Jesus (NHL)
  • Acts of John

Andrew (named 4th in Mark 3.18 and Acts 1.13, with no relationship mentioned; named second in Matt 10.2 = Luke 6.14 as brother of Simon Peter )

  • Foxe #8, 30 Nov (crucified on X cross, bound with cords, in Edessa)
  • Andrew (1st cent.) Andrew was the first of the apostles to be called. He was Peter’s brother, but doesn’t appear as a prominent figure in the post-pentecost Christian community. Patristic authors
    tell that A. was a missionary in Scythia and Greece before being martyred at Patras (according to a late tradition on an X-shaped cross). Later authors claimed him as the founder not just of the
    Christian community of Byzantium (in other words Constantinople) but also of Kiev, giving both dioceses apostolic authority. A’s relics were in Constantinople until 1210, when they were stolen and taken to Amalfi, all but his head, which was returned in the twentieth century
    to the Greek patriarch. Unless, of course, you believe the odd medieval legend that brought A’s remains to Scotland at a very early age.
  • [Gel 03]Acts under the name of the apostle Andrew [Actus nomine Andreae apostoli, apocryphi]
  • [Gel 13]Gospels under the name of Andrew

Philip (named 5th in all four NT lists) [verify which Philip — apostle or evangelist]

  • Foxe #3, 1 May (crucified in 52 CE in Heliopolis, Phrygia, after killing the serpent-God)
  • Gospel of Philip (NHL)
  • 3 May for Philip the Apostle (d. c. 80) Philip was one of the original twelve, too, but his career after Pentecost is even more obscure than that of James the Less. There are late and conflicting traditions that don’t really seem to get us anywhere.
  • [Gel 06]Acts under the name of the apostle Philip
  • Letter of Peter to Philip [NHL]
  • In Tenga Bithnua [The Evernew Tongue] — see MRJames “Irish Apocrypha” JTS 20 (1920/21) 9-16

Bartholomew (named 5th in the Synoptic Gospel lists, but 6th in Acts 1.13 [after Thomas])

  • Foxe #12, 24 Aug (crucified then beheaded in India); translated G.Matt into Indian language. He is sometimes identified with Nathaniel in John’s gospel (his name is actually a patronymic—“son of Tolomai”). Nothing is known about his career, and traditions only developed late. Eusebius says that Bart went to India, and Roman tradition says he was martyred in Armenia (where the king had him flayed and beheaded). Further legends tell that he also preached in Mesopotamia, Persia, and Egypt. B’s supposed relics are on the Tiber island (Isola Tiberina) in Rome. Legend says that he was flayed alive, so his attribute is a flaying-knife. On his relics at the church of S. Bartolomeo al l’Isola (St. Bart’s on the Island). see:
    http://www.ku.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/churches/S.Bartolomeo_allIsola/home.html with its subsidiary page on the relics:
    http://www.ukans.edu/history/index/europe/ancient_rome/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Italy/Lazio/Roma/Rome/churches/S.Bartolomeo_allIsola/interior/Ottos_basin.html also:
    http://www.romeartlover.it/Vasi92.htm
    http://www.medioevo.roma.it/saggi/chiese/bartolomeo.htm
    and, with an enlargeable jpeg of the Ottonian puteal preserved in this church,:
    http://www.ex-art.com/magazine/mitileggende01.htm
  • [Gel 12]Gospels under the name of Bartholomaeus [Evangelia nomine Bartholomaei, apocrypha]
  • Acts of Bartholomew

Matthew [(named 7th in Mark and Luke, but 8th  in Matthew [called “the tax collector,” listed after Thomas] and Acts [after Thomas and Bartholomew]) [verify identifications]

  • Foxe #4, 21 September (slain by halberd around 60 CE in Nadabar, Ethiopia); wrote his gospel in Hebrew and it was translated to Greek by James the Less; preached in Judea, then Ethiopia and Parthia
  • Matthew, aka Levi, was a tax-collector at Capernaum before he became an apostle. The first gospel is claimed as his work. After Pentecost, there is a variety of legends telling mutually exclusive events of his later life. Legend says that Matt preached in Judea and then further east, eventually being martyred in either Persia or Ethiopia (see next entry). Somehow his relics were reported to have made it from Ethiopia to Finistere (Brittany); Robert Guiscard translated them from Finistere to Salerno. [… Saint Julian himself brought a huge number of relics from Jerusalem, including a part of Saint Matthew’s leg, a tooth from Saint Mark the Evangelist, the skull of Saint James the Less …”]
  • According to his Passion (BHL 5690), today’s well known saint from the
    Regno, the apostle Matthew, was martyred in Ethiopia.  His Translation
    (BHL 5694b) tells us that Breton sailors brought his remains to Armorica
    in the time of Valentinian III (so in the fifth century) during the
    reign there of a fictive king Solomon.  Solomon was murdered, whereupon
    Valentinian sent a mighty fleet to destroy the Breton kingdom.  When ,
    having achieved its ends, the Roman invasion force sailed home it
    brought with it Matthew’s remains.  These, however, were stolen and
    wound up in Lucania, where they were given a pious burial in a newly
    constructed church; over time the latter become ruinous.  In 954 the
    remains were discovered here, near Paestum in what was now Salernitan
    territory.  Housed briefly in the cathedral of Capaccio, they were soon
    moved to Salerno itself on the order of its prince, Gisulf I, and
    reinterred in that city’s cathedral.  As all _regnicoli_ know, Matthew
    has been in Salerno ever since.
  • Unless, of course, they’ve been in Kyrgyzstan all along.  See
    http://www.mirabilis.ca/archives/000157.html
    http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/08/29/35577.html
    and especially
    http://www.ipvnews.com/apostle.html
  • In Salerno, at least, 6. May is celebrated as the feast of M.’s translation.  The aforementioned archbishop Alfanus I is better known in literary contexts as  Alfanus of Salerno; various of his poems for this feast survive among his _carmina_ (ed. Lentini and Avagliano, nos. 58-62).  The tenth-century Translation of St. Matthew is discussed by Baudouin de Gaiffier, “Hagiographie salernitaine: la Translation de S. Matthieu,” _Analecta Bollandiana_ 80 (1962), 82-110. [John Dillon]
  • Pseudo-Matthew
  • Ebionite Hebraic Gospel according to Matthew [Epiphanius]
  • Acts and Martyrdom of Matthew
  • Iphigenia (1st cent.) According to an apocryphal account, Iphigenia was an Ethiopian woman, converted by the apostle Matthew.

Thomas [Judas, Didymos; see also brother of Jesus] (named 8th in Mark and Luke, but 7th in Matthew [before Matthew] and 6th in Acts)

  • Foxe #13, 21 Dec (speared in India); preached in Parthia and India, aka Didymus; also 3 July is the feast day of: Thomas Didymus “the Twin,” one of the twelve apostles. Very early legend reports that after Pentecost Thomas went as a missionary to Keral in southern India and was eventually martyred there.
  • [Gel 04]Acts under the name of the apostle Thomas
  • +[NicNTA]4. The Circuit of Thomas 1600 lines
  • [Gel 11]Gospel under the name of Thomas, which the Manicheans use [quibus Manichei utuntur]
  • +[NicNTA]5. The Gospel of Thomas 1300 lines
  • [Gel 28]Revelation which is called Thomas’
  • Book of Thomas the Contender (NHL)
  • Infancy Gospel of Thomas “the Philosopher”

Jacob/James of Alphaeus [verify which James; see also James the brother of Jesus, James of Zebedee] (named 9th in all four NT lists)

  • [… Saint Julian himself brought a huge number of relics from Jerusalem, including a part of Saint Matthew’s leg, a tooth from Saint Mark the Evangelist, the skull of Saint James the Less …”]
  • [Gel 09]Gospel under the name of James the younger [Iacobi minoris]
  • see Foxe’s Book of Martyrs for basic confusions:
  • 3 May is the feast day (was 1 May until 1955) of James the Less (d. c. 62) Or James “the Just,” which sounds a bit better. James was one of the original twelve apostles. His story seems to be hopeless confused (a clear case of too many people named James. This James was the son of Alphaeus, but is often identified with James the brother of Jesus. So James the Less is often identified as first “bishop” of Jerusalem and author of the epistle of James—one or both of which accomplishments actually belonged to James the brother of JC. He is usually shown in art with a club, because he is supposed to have been beaten to death after he was sentenced by the Sanhedrin.
  • 26 May is the feast day of Alphaeus (1st cent.) Alphaeus was the father of James the Less. There are legends about his later life as a Christian, but they’re apparently all later wishful thinking.

Thaddeus  (named 10th in Mark and Matthew; not in the other lists but a Judas of Jacob/James appears as 11th in Luke and Acts, traditionally conjectured to be the same person through harmonization of the lists. This also may be the “Judas not Iskariot” of John 14.22, or perhaps that is Judas Thomas?) [see also Judas Thomas]

  • see Foxe #11, Jude “commonly called Thaddeus” (crucified in Edessa, 72 CE)
  • 28 October is the feast day of: Jude (Judas Thaddeus); this Jude/Judas was one of the apostles, a brother or son of a certain Jacob/James, which has led to all sorts of conjectured identifications with Jacob/James the Less and with the brothers of  Jesus. Traditions regarding Judas’ life after Pentecost are confused and imaginative. The most popular legend is that he went as a missionary to Persia, where he was martyred along with Simon the Zealot (see below). This mysterious Judas (perhaps inspiring Thomas Hardy with the title *Jude the Obscure* for a novel) is appropriately the patron of difficult or hopeless problems..
  • Acts of Simon and Jude — the apocryphal Passion of Simon and Jude tells of their preaching and martyrdom in Persia.
  • Gospel of Thaddeus
  • Addai [separate entry?] : 5 August is the feast day of: Addai and Mari (2nd cent.) Unfortunately little is
    known about these two, the apostles of Persia. Addai was probably a missionary bishop of Edessa;
    Mari may have founded a church near Ctesiphon, which was the first church in the Persian Empire. The Chaldean liturgy is named after the pair [from web list].

Simon the Cananean or Zealotes (named 11th as “Cananean” in Mark and Matthew, but 10th [as “Zealotes” — a reasonable translation of “Cananean”] in Luke and Acts)

  • 28 October is his feast day: Simon is the most obscure on the lists of apostles in the New Testament. Nothing is known about his life after Pentecost (although there are legends that he  preached in Egypt and then went to
    Persia with his colleague Jude.  Eastern tradition says Simeon died peacefully; western tradition says he was martyred in Persia with Jude). The lack of clear tradition about his martyrdom can be seen in the variety of his iconographic attributes, including a fish (or two), a boat, an oar, or a saw (one legend says he was sawed in half).
  • Simon and Jude (1st cent.)
    Jude may be the same person as Thaddeus in the gospels.  This sounds
    very confusing, but this guy *doesn’t* seem to be the same as the
    author of the epistle of Jude.  Little is known of him (perhaps
    inspiring Thomas Hardy with the title *Jude the Obscure* for a
    novel), except for
  • Acts of Simon and Jude — the apocryphal Passion of Simon and Jude tells of their preaching and martyrdom in Persia.

Judas Iskariot (named last in the Synoptic Gospel lists, called “son of Simon Iskariot” in John 6.71, 13.2 and 13.26 [see also 12.4 var]; story of his replacement in Acts) [verify]

  • Paffenroth, Kim Judas: Images of the Lost Disciple (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press 2001)
    http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=2017
  • Arabic Infancy Gospel (5/6 c) has Judas possessed by Satan as a child, thus destined to betray.
  • Gnostic depictions?
  • Gospel of Judas

Matthias (replacement for Judas Iskariot according to Acts 1.26)

  • Matthias, Judas’ replacement, is Foxe #7, 24 Feb (stoned and beheaded in Jerusalem); one of the 70
  • 14. May is the feast day of: Matthias (1st cent.) A victim of the calendar reform of 1969, Matthias was traditionally celebrated on 24 February. Matthias was the “replacement” apostle, the one chosen by lot to take the place of Judas (Acts 1:21-22). It’s very unclear what he did with himself after Pentecost: various legends place him in Judaea, Cappadocia, the shores of the Caspian Sea, Ethiopia, and the City of the Cannibals. Empress Helena,  the great imperial relic-finder, is said to have taken his relics from Jerusalem to what is now St. Matthias’ monastery at Trier where they appear by the eleventh century. He appears in art with a halberd, with which he was supposedly run through.
  • Vitae Prophetarum, Index apostolorum discipulorumque Domini. {TLG 1750.004[010?]} P. 134 line 4. G#. *MATQI/AS O( A)NAPLHRW/SAS TO\N A)RIQMO\N TW=N IB# A)POSTO/LWN.
  • [Gel 07]Gospel under the name of Matthias [Evangelium nomine Mathiae, apocryphum]
  • =[LX]25.The Gospel according to Matthias
  • Traditions of Matthias (=? Gospel of)
  • Secret Sayings of Matthias (G-G)

Joseph Barsabbas surnamed Justus (canidate to replace Judas Iskariot according to Acts 1.23)

Mary Magdalene

  • 22 July is the feast day of Mary Magdalen. Mary was one of Jesus’ disciples and ministered to Jesus (Luke 8.2). She had made his acquaintance while having “seven devils” driven out of her (Mark 16.9). After being one of the first witnesses of the empty tomb and also the first person to see the resurrected Jesus, things become more confusing. In the Middle Ages, she was equated with the sinful woman of Luke 7.37 and with Mary of Bethany (sister of Martha). So she appears in art as a penitent, carrying a jar of ointment — after sailing to Gaul with her “brother and sister” Lazarus and Mary, she is supposed to have become a hermit to repent her sins. An ancient tradition says that she went with the apostle John to Ephesus and died there; a later western legend tells that she and Martha and Lazarus went to Provence.
  • 8 June is the feast day of Maximinus of Aix-en-Provence (1st cent.??) , claimed to be the first bishop of Aix, and legend declared that he lived in the first century and was involved in the journey of Mary Magdalen to Marseilles; he was also identified with the man born blind described in John 9.

Martha, sister of Mary [which?]

29 July is the feast day of Martha (1st cent.)  The sister of Mary and Lazarus, Martha got rather shown up by her sister in the gospels.  Jesus visited the family home in Bethany—Mary listened while Martha did all the work, and Jesus
wouldn’t even stand up for her.  She did, however, make one of the clear professions of faith in the gospels—that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God (John 11.27), just before Jesus resurrected Lazarus. Martha and Mary have been used for an awful long time as models of the active and contemplative life.

Salome [which? see above, sister of Jesus?]

Mary Clopas

  • 9 April commemoration
  • the wife of Clopas or Alpheus, and mother of James the Less. She appears as one of the three Marys who witnessed the crucifixion. There are apparently lots of legends about her life
    after that, but my annoying saints book just says that they are “worthless” without giving details.
  • 18 February is the feast day of Simon of Jerusalem (d. c. 107) Simon was the son of Clopas and a relative of Jesus. Legend tells that he succeeded James as bishop of Jerusalem and when very old was crucified. His symbol is a fish, for no good reason that I can find. His cult was reduced to local calendars in 1969.

Veronica

12 July is the feast day of Veronica (1st cent.)  A figure of legend, whose name (which means “true image”) seems just a little too convenient to be a coincidence. Legend tells that when Christ was carrying his cross on his way to the crucifixion, a woman in the crowd wiped his face with a cloth—which became miraculously imprinted with Jesus’ face. Various legends tell that she cured Emperor Tiberius with this relic,that she was the wife of Zacchaeus the tax collector and accompanied him to France to convert the locals, or that she was the woman Jesus cured of a 12-year hemorrhage.

20 August: Amadour (date ?)  A cute legend tells that Amadour was a servant in the household of the holy family (!)  He married St. Veronica, was driven from Palestine and went to Gaul, where he missionized the area around Bordeaux.  On a visit to Rome he witnessed the martyrdom of Peter and Paul.  Back in Gaul again, he founded several monasteries (!!) and ended up as a hermit at Quercy, where he built a shrine to the Virgin Mary.

Barnabas [see also] (Joseph; one of the 70; Levite from Cyprus [Acts 4.36f]; sponsor/companion of Paul [Acts 9.27]);  patron saint of Cyprus; legend says he ended up as a martyr on Cyprus (although Milan claimed B. as its first bishop).  His attribute is a pile of stones—a rather ominous hint at his martyrdom.

  • Foxe #17, 11 June (died about 73 CE, no details); Jew from Cyprus [very brief!]
  • Joseph, surnamed Barnabas (“son of encouragement”), a Levite from Cyprus (Acts 4.36f [var Barsabbas])
  • Acts 1.23 var (replacement for Judas): Joseph called Barsabbas (var Barnabas D 1831 it aeth)
  • Sold land and donated proceeds to Jerusalem followers of Jesus (Acts 4.36f)
  • Sponsor/companion of Paul (Acts 9.27, 11.25f, 12.25ff, etc., 1 Cor 9.6)
  • Commended by Paul in 2 Cor 8.18? (Luke or Barnabas according to [ps-?]John of Damascus in Epp Paul {TLG 2934.053} Vol 95.749 line 22)
  • Rebuked by Paul at Antioch for “hypocricy” (Gal 2.11ff)
  • Separated from Paul, associated with “cousin” John called Mark (Acts 15.38f, Col 4.10)
  • Introduced Clement of Rome to Christianity (ps-Clem Rec 1.7-13)
  • One of the seventy sent out by Jesus in Luke 10.1 (Clem Alex Strom 2.20; Hyptyposeis in Eus HE 2.1.5)
  • Preached in Alexandria (ps-Clem Hom 2.5.1; Alexander Laud Barn 381)
    (2.5.1)
  • First preached Christ in Rome, then became bishop of Mediolanos Vitae Prophetarum, Index apostolorum discipulorumque Domini.
  • Biographical notice in Jerome de viris inlustribus 6: “Barnabas the Cyprian, also called Joseph the Levite, ordained apostle to the Gentiles with Paul, wrote one Epistle, valuable for the edification of the Church, which is reckoned among the apocryphal writings. He afterwards separated from Paul on account of John, a disciple also called Mark, none the less exercised the work laid upon him of preaching the Gospel.”
  • Author of NT Epistle to the Hebrews in some traditions: Jerome De viris inlustribus (Concerning Illustrius Men) 5 [on Paul]: “The epistle which is called the Epistle to the Hebrews is not considered his [Paul’s], on account of its difference from the others in style and language, but it is reckoned, either according to Tertullian to be the work of Barnabas, or according to others, to be by Luke the Evangelist or Clement afterwards bishop of the Church at Rome, who, they say, arranged and adorned the ideas of Paul in his own language, though to be sure, since Paul was writing to Hebrews and was in disrepute among them he may have omitted his name from the salutation on this account. He [Paul] being a Hebrew wrote Hebrew, that is his own tongue and most fluently while the things which were eloquently written in Hebrew were more eloquently turned into Greek, and this is the reason why it seems to differ from other epistles of Paul.”
    Tertullian [ca 200 North Africa] De Pudicitia (Concerning Modesty) 20:
    I wish, however, redundantly to superadd the testimony likewise of one particular comrade of the apostles, (a testimony) aptly suited for confirming, by most proximate right, the discipline of his masters. For there is extant withal an Epistle to the Hebrews under the name of Barnabas — a man sufficiently accredited by God, as being one whom Paul has stationed next to himself in the uninterrupted observance of abstinence: “Or else, I alone and Barnabas, have not we the power of working? ” [1 Cor 9] And, of course, the Epistle of Barnabas is more generally received among the Churches than that apocryphal “Shepherd” of adulterers. Warning, accordingly, the disciples to omit all first principles, and strive rather after perfection, and not lay again the foundations of repentance from the works of the dead, he says: “For impossible it is that they who have once been illuminated, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have participated in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the word of God and found it sweet, when they shall-their age already setting-have fallen away, should be again recalled unto repentance, crucifying again for themselves the Son of God, and dishonouring Him. For the earth which hath drunk the rain often descending upon it, and hath borne grass apt for them on whose account it is tilled withal, attaineth God’s blessing; but if it bring forth thorns, it is reprobate, and nighest to cursing, whose end is (doomed) unto utter burning” [Heb 6.4-8]. He who learnt this from apostles, and taught it with apostles, never knew of any “second repentance” promised by apostles to the adulterer and fornicator. [Novatian (ca 250 Rome) follows Tertullian in this identification]
  • Martyred in Cyprus (Acts of Barnabas) –Christophorus Mytilenaeus, Calendaria metrica (stichera et canones). {TLG 3019.001} Month iun stichera-canon can line 37. [Association of a relic of Barnabas on Cyprus with a noteworthy copy of the Gospel of Matthew] Georgius Monachus, Chronicon. {TLG 3043.001}
  • Georgius Monachus, Chronicon breve. {TLG 3043.002} Volume 110 page 761
    Georgius Cedrenus Chronogr., Compendium historiarum. {TLG 3018.001} Volume 1 page 618
  • [Gel 08] Gospel under the name of Barnabas = [LX 24] The Gospel according to Barnabas [no longer extant]
  • (Muslim) Gospel of Barnabas [late medieval, clearly tendentious; any relationship to ancient title?]
  • [LX 18] The Epistle of Barnabas = [NicNT 3] 1360 lines; this text is also found in codex Sinaiticus [4th ce] immediately after Revelation, in the 11th century Bryennios codex with the Didache and some other extracanonical texts, and in mutilated form in several later Greek codices, as well as in a 9th century copy of a Latin translation of chapters 1-17. Clement of Alexandria quotes the Epistle by name several times as by the “apostle,” who was “one of the 70 and a co-worker with Paul” (Str 2.20.116) and apparently commented on it in his lost Hypotyposeis (Eus HE 6.14.1); Origen also knows it as “a general epistle” (Contra Celsum 1.63); Didymus the Blind (4th ce Alexandria) also refers to the Epistle and quotes it (in Zach, in Pss); Eusebius confusingly includes it both among his “disputed writings” (HE 6.13.6-14.1) and among the “illegitimate” (HE 3.25.4); Serapion of Thmuis [ca 350 North Egypt] cites the Epistle as by the “apostle” and apparently as authoritative; Jerome also knows this Epistle (see above), perhaps mainly from Origen; Mkhitar [13th ce, Armenia] lists the Epistle as a “disputed” general epistle.
  • [Claromontanus] Epistle of Barnabas 850 lines [=Hebrews? or EpBarn 1-17 only?]
  • Acts of Barnabas [5th-6th century?] Acta Barnabae
  • Alexander, Laudatio Barnabae apostoli. {TLG 2860.003}

Anathalon (1st cent.??) (24 September) Later legend tells that Barnabas sent Anathalon to become first bishop of Milan.

Gaius of Milan (1st cent.?)(26 September) According to legend, Gaius was the second bishop of Milan, succeeding Barnabas. It should be noted that there is no evidence of a diocese centered on Milan before 200 and G’s existence is doubtful, even if St. Charles Borromeo *did* enshrine Gaius’ relics.

Clement (one of the 70)

    • Sometimes identified with the Clement mentioned by Paul in Phil 4.3 as a co-worker
    • 23 November is the feast day of Clement I (d. c. 101) Clement was bishop of Rome, the third
      successor of St. Peter. His letter to the Corinthians is a very important sub-apostolic source. He is venerated as a martyr, but no details are known.
    • Hermas (Vis 2.4.3) mentions a Clement who wrote letters to non-Roman churches
    • Dionysius of Corinth [ca 170 CE] says Clement wrote 1 Clement (G-G)
    • Irenaeus (AH 3.3.3) says 3rd bishop of Rome was Clement, a disciple of the Apostles
    • Tertullian says Clement of Rome was consecrated by Peter (Praescr Haer 32)
    • Barnabas introduced Clement of Rome to Christianity (ps-Clem Rec 1.7-13)
    • Vitae Prophetarum, Index apostolorum discipulorumque Domini. {TLG 1750.004} Page 142 line 4
    • So Origen (on John, 6.36) and Eusebius (HE 3.4.9, 3.16, 4.23.11), Paul’s Clement wrote 1 Clement
    • 1 Clement included in NT section of Codex Alexandrinus [5th c] and Harclean Syriac MS [12th c]
    • 1 Clement accepted as scriptural by Clement of Alexandria (where?) and Apostolic Canons [ca 400]
    • Abu’l Barakat (1363) includes 1-2 Clement among Arabic NT writings (G-G)
    • Clement as translator/composer of Paul’s Epistle to the Hebrews:
      • Origen according to Eusebius, EH 6.25.13-14: “For not without reason have the men of old time handed it down as Paul’s. But who wrote the epistle [to the Hebrews], in truth, God knows. Yet the account which has reached us has some saying that Clement, who was bishop of the Romans, wrote the epistle, others, that it was Luke, he who wrote the Gospel and the Acts.”
      • Eusebius, EH 3.38.1-3 [on 1 Clement]: “In it he gives many thoughts from the Epistle to the Hebrews, and even quotes verbally when using certain passages from it, thus most clearly establishing the fact that the treatise [to the Hebrews] was no recent thing. For this reason it has seemed right and reasonable to reckon it among the other letters of the apostle [Paul]. For Paul, having communicated in writing with the Hebrews in their native tongue, some say that the evangelist Luke, others that this Clement himself, translated the writing. The latter statement is the more probably true, because both the Epistle of Clement and that to the Hebrews maintain the same character from the point of view of style, and because the thoughts in each of the two treatises are not divergent.”
      • Jerome De viris inlustribus (Concerning Illustrius Men) 5 [on Paul]:”The epistle which is called the Epistle to the Hebrews is not considered his [Paul’s], on account of its difference from the others in style and language, but it is reckoned, either according to Tertullian to be the work of Barnabas, or according to others, to be by Luke the Evangelist or Clementafterwards bishop of the Church at Rome, who, they say, arranged and adorned the ideas of Paul in his own language, though to be sure, since Paul was writing to Hebrews and was in disrepute among them he may have omitted his name from the salutation on this account. He [Paul] being a Hebrew wrote Hebrew, that is his own tongue and most fluently while the things which were eloquently written in Hebrew were more eloquently turned into Greek, and this is the reason why it seems to differ from other epistles of Paul. Some read one also to the Laodiceans but it is rejected by everyone.”
  • [Gel 02]Itinerary (book of travels) under the name of the apostle Peter, which is called The Nine Books of the holy Clement [or is it “the ninth of the books of Saint Clement?] [Itinerarium nomine Petri apostoli, quod appellatur sancti Clementis libri numero novem, apocryphum]
  • [LX]21.The Teaching of Clement
  • +[NicNTA]7. The 32 (books) of Clement 2600 lines
  • Pseudo-Clementine Homilies
  • Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions
  • First Clement (Rome to Corinth)
  • Second Clement (anonymous homily)

Prisc(ill)a, Aquila, Apollos [any ancient literature connections? authorship of Hebrews?]

  • 8 July is the feast day of: Prisca and Aquila (1st cent.) This couple appear in the book of Acts. They were banished from Rome along with other Jews in the reign of Claudius, and settled down as tent-makers in Corinth. Paul stayed with them for a time and may have converted them. They went with Paul to Ephesus—Paul stayed with them there, too.  When they returned to Rome their house was used as a church.  They seem to have
    been martyred, but sources disagree on whether it was in Asia Minor or Rome. Legend says that they returned to Rome in Nero’s reign and were martyred.
  • Aquila and Priscilla: Priscilla (1st cent.) Legend says that Priscilla was a pious widow, the mother of St. Pudens and hostess of St. Peter when he visited Rome. Her villa was near the catacombs that are named after her.

13 July is the feast day of Silas (1st cent.)  Silas was one of the leaders of the early Christian community in Jerusalem.  He ended up accompanying Paul on his second missionary journey.  He may be the same person as the Silvanus who appears in 2 Cor 1.19.  Legend makes Silas the first bishop of Corinth, reporting that he died in Macedonia.

Evodius of Antioch (d. c. 64-7) Tradition names Evodius as one of the 70 disciples.

  • He is credited with succeeding Peter as bishop of Antioch,
  • He is said to have coined the word “Christian.”

Eutychius the Phrygian (1st cent.) 24 August. The apocryphal acts of John tell that Eutychius was a disciple of Paul who then joined John, accompanying the evangelist to Patmos and eventually dying peacefully after being tortured
for his faith. He is identified with the man of Acts 20 who fell from a window at Ephesus.

Ptolemy of Nepi (1st cent.?) 24 August. Allegedly a disciple of St. Peter, Ptolemy was first bishop of Nepi (Tuscany), where he was martyred. It’s also the feast day of Romanus of Nepi, allegedly Ptolemy’s disciple and successor, also martyred.

Onesiphorus & Porphyry (d. c. 80) (6 September). Onesiphorus is mentioned in 2 Timothy (4:19).  In legend, he accompanied Paul to Spain and then back to the eastern Mediterranean. There O. was eventually caught, tied to wild horses, and torn in pieces somewhere around the Hellespont in Domitian’s reign. Porphyry was supposedly his servant, martyred with him.

Rufus and Zosimus (d. c. 107) (18 December) Rufus and Zosimus were citizens of Philippi (Macedonia). They were taken to Rome with St. Ignatius of Antioch where they were martyred two days before I, killed by wild animals in the amphitheater.

Abdias [see under Apostles, Acts/History/Passions]

Domnio of Salona and companions (11 April) An unlikely legend tells that Domnio was one of Jesus’ original 72 disciples, and Peter sent him to evangelize Dalmatia, where he became first bishop of Salona (now a suburb of Split). It is much more likely that he was a martyr of Diocletian’s reign.

Stephen (included in traditions about the 70)

  • Foxe #1, 26th of December Stephen Protomartyr (d. c. 35) Stephen was one of the first seven deacons chosen for the Christian community of Jerusalem, as described in the Acts of the Apostles. After he was questioned by the Sanhedrin about his beliefs, a lynch-mob stoned him to death.
  • [Gel 29]Revelation which is called Stephen’s

Nicanor the Deacon (d. c. 76) Nicanor was a Jew, one of the original seven deacons of Jerusalem (Acts 6:5). Legend tells that he eventually ended up in Cyprus, where he was martyred in Vespasian’s reign.

23 January is the feast day of Parmenas (d. c. 100) Parmenas was one of the seven deacons of Jerusalem whose appointment is described in Acts 6:5. According to legend, he went on to be a missionary in Asia Minor and was martyed at Philippi (Macedonia).

Cornelius of Caesarea (1st cent.) Cornelius was a Roman centurion, baptized by St. Peter at Caesarea (Acts 10). According to tradition, he was the first bishop of the city.

13. February is the feast day of Agabus (1st cent.) Agabus was a prophet, mentioned in Acts 9:28 and
21:10-12. Medieval legend made him a Carmelite monk.

29 June is the feast day of Mary, mother of John Mark (1st cent.)  This Mary appears in Acts 12.12.  Her house in Jerusalem seems to have been a meeting place for the early Christian community.

Mark (included in traditions about the 70)

  • Foxe #5, 25 April (dragged and burned); Jewish (Levite), converted by Peter, with whom he travelled; then to Egypt-Alexandria, then Lybia, back to Alexandria (bones later to Venice). [… Saint Julian himself brought a huge number of relics from Jerusalem, including a part of Saint Matthew’s leg, a tooth from Saint Mark the Evangelist, the skull of Saint James the Less …”]
  • (d. c. 75) The writer of the second gospel (earliest chronologically) has been identified with the young man who had such an unimpressive performance when Jesus was arrested — he ran
    away and got his clothes ripped off in the process (Mark 14:51-2) and with John Mark of Acts 12:25. Tradition says that he was a disciple of Peter, acting as his interpreter in Rome. Egyptian tradition maintains that Mark founded the church at Alexandria and was martyred there. His relics were the subject of one of history’s most famous relic thefts, when in the ninth century Venetian merchants carried them off to Venice.
  • Vitae Prophetarum, Index apostolorum discipulorumque Domini.
  • 25 April is the feast day of: Mark (d. c. 74), usually identified with the young man mentioned in Mark 14:51. He was later companion to both Paul and Peter. Mark is regarded as the first bishop of Alexandria. His relics were stolen in the ninth century and brought to Venice. (According to tradition, Anianus of Alexandria was a shoemaker, converted by Mark — who cured him of an accidental awl injury — and he succeeded Mark as bishop of Alexandria.)
  • 21 June is the feast day of: Dominic of Comacchio (d. after 820); Dominic’s claim to sanctity is that he was a thief—a pious thief of relics. He was a Benedictine monk at Comacchio, near Venice. According to legend, he went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land and while in Alexandria found the opportunity to pilfer away the relics of St. Mark, which of course then became the prized possession of Venice.
    [John Dillon, 21 Jun 2003, comments:] Can anyone identify a source for the legend that makes Dominic of Comacchio such a major figure in the removal of St. Mark from Alexandria? Or, for that matter, does anyone know when he was beatified? (His brief notice at the “For All the Saints” website [http://users.erols.com/saintpat/ss/0621.htm ], which bears a close resemblance to Phyllis’ text, calls him “Blessed”.)
    The usual tradition makes the theft the idea and achievement of two Venetian merchants, B(u)ono of Malamoc(c)o and Rustico of Torcello, and two Alexandrian religious, Theodore the priest and Stauracius the monk, said to have been the guardians of Mark’s relics. This is very clear in the Translation of St. Mark, an early medieval Venetian text generally thought to be the basis for most subsequent accounts. Dominic appears here as someone who happens to board the vessel in which Mark’s body has been secreted; his function in the narrative is to be told by St. Mark in a dream, once they are all well en route to Venice, that the vessel runs the risk of shipwreck and that he (Dominic) should tell the sailors to strike sail. He does, they do, islands are seen close by, and this is taken as proof that the saint’s remains are indeed on board and that Mark is protecting the Venetian trading fleet (some of whose doubting Thomases had previously suggested to the thieves that perhaps they had been given a mummy).
    See Nelson McCleary, “Note storiche ed archeologiche sul testo della ‘Translatio sancti Marci,’” _Memorie storiche forogiuliesi_ 27 (1931), 223-64, with an edition of the Translation at pp. 235-64. McCleary’s dating of this text to the eleventh century is exceptional; it is usually supposed to be of the tenth.
  • Secret Gospel of Mark

Paul (and Thecla)

  • Foxe #10, 29 Jun (also 25 Jan conversion); preached in France and Spain, died in last year of Nero, 72 CE (sic; confused with next entry, Jude?), same time as Peter.
  • 15 April is the feast day of Basilissa and Anastasia (d. c. 68?) Legend says that B and A were
    disciples of Peter and Paul in Rome, responsible for burying the bodies of both after they were martyred and then martyred themselves in the reign of Nero.
  • +[LX]19.The Acts of Paul
  • +[NicNTA]1. The Circuit of Paul — 3600 lines
  • [Gel 27]Revelation which is called Paul’s [Revelatio quae appellatur Pauli, apocrypha]
  • =[LX]20.The Apocalypse/Revelation of Paul
  • Nag Hammadi Apocalypse of Paul
  • Epistle to the Laodiceans (see also Marcion’s “Laodiceans” =? Ephesians)
  • Epistle to the Alexandrians (mentioned in Muratorian Canon)
  • Correspondence with Seneca
  • 23 September is the feast day of Thecla of Iconium (1st cent.)  According to the pseudepigraphic Acts
    of Paul and Thecla, Thecla was a young woman of wealthy family who
    gave up everything to become a disciple of Paul, including her fiance
    (who was angry and denounced her to the governor).  Wild beasts
    failed to martyr her (although to be safe she baptized herself in the
    arena by jumping into a ditch full of water and declaring herself
    baptized), and she ended up following Paul around dressed like a man.
    After that she became a hermit, and the acta suggest that she played
    a preaching and teaching role.  She was already a well-known saint by
    c. 200 (Tertullian wrote about her), and was soon acclaimed as an
    “archmartyr” (she hid in a cleft in the rock that obligingly opened
    for her and then closed again).  From the fourth century on, various
    sites connected with T. were major pilgrimage attractions.
  • [Gel 24]Book which is called Acts of Thecla and of Paul [Liber qui appellatur Actus Theclae et Pauli, apocryphus]
    • See also the site discussed by Arietta Papaconstantinou, Le culte des saints en E/gyptes des Byzantins aux Abbassides: L’apport des sources papyrologiques et e/pigraphiques greques et coptes (Paris: CNRS 2001)

Luke (also one of the 70)

  • Foxe #14, 18 Oct (hanged in an olive tree in Greece); traveled with Paul, wrote Lk-Acts; there is also a reference to him in Colossians 4.14. Nothing historical is known of L. after that, and there’s no evidence that he was martyred. Sixth-century legend made him an artist, who painted a great icon of the Virgin Mary. [The body of Saint Luke is claimed to be in Venice and in Padua.] L’s relics in Padua were tested in 2001; and “found to be probably genuine” — Dr Guido Barbujani, population geneticist at University of Ferrara, has extracted DNA from tooth in coffin; concludes it is characteristic of people living near region of Antioch, on eastern Mediterranean, where Luke is said to have been born; radiocarbon dating of tooth indicates it belonged to someone who died between 72 AD and 416 AD. URL: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50F17F7355B0C758DDDA90994D9404482
  • 18 October is the feast day of Luke the Evangelist (1st cent.) Author of the third gospel and the book of Acts. The latter work tells how Luke, a physician, accompanied Paul on some of his journeys, and there is also a reference to him in the letter to the Colossians (4:14). Nothing historical is known of L. after that, and there’s no evidence that he was martyred. Sixth-century legend made him an artist, who painted a great icon of the Virgin Mary. L’s relics in Padua were DNA-tested in 2001; my source says they were “found to be probably genuine.” Genuine what? Genuinely related to somebody? Genuinely human bones? I really don’t understand this.
    Seems easy enough to me. We know from all those paintings of Luke painting the Virgin’s portrait that L. customarily worked alone. So human hairs embedded in the paint of
    any of the surviving portraits attributed to him (cf., e.g.,
    http://www.travel-wise.com/europe/india/stthomas.html
    [one is housed in the church at St. Thomas Mount] or
    http://www.cosmosnet.net/azias/cyprus/visit9a.htm
    [one is at the Kykko monastery on Cyprus]) would surely be those of the evangelist himself. If the DNA from one or more of these hairs matches DNA extracted from the relics in Padua, the latter would be genuinely those of St. Luke. And we would be secure in our knowledge, thanks to the miracles of modern science. Luke is the patron of painters as well as physicians.
  • Vitae Prophetarum, Index apostolorum discipulorumque Domini.
  • Marcion’s version of the Gospel (begins with Luke 3)
  • association with noncanonical Acts: Jerome, de viris inlustribus 7 [on Luke]: “Therefore the Acts of Paul and Thecla and all the fable about the lion baptized by him we reckon among the apocryphal writings, for how is it possible that the inseparable companion [Luke] of the apostle [Paul] in his other affairs, alone should have been ignorant of this thing. Moreover Tertullian who lived near those times, mentions a certain presbyter in Asia, an adherent of the apostle Paul, who was convicted by John of having been the author of the book, and who, confessing that he did this for love of Paul, resigned his office of presbyter.”
  • as translator of Paul’s Hebrews —
    • Eusebius, EH 6.14.1-2: “In the work called Hypotyposes, to sum up the matter briefly he [Clement of Alexandria] has given us the abridged accounts of all the canonical scriptures. …The Epistle to the Hebrews he asserts was written by Paul, to the Hebrews, in the Hebrew tongue; but that it was carefully translated by Luke, and published among the Greeks. As a resultof this translation, the same type of style is found in the Epistle and in Acts, but the [attribution to] Paul and apostle understandably was not prefixed. For, he [Clement] says, in writing to Hebrews who had conceived a prejudice against him [Paul] and were suspicious of him, he very wisely did not repel them at the beginning by putting his name.”
    • Origen according to Eusebius, EH 6.25.13-14: “For not without reason have the men of old time handed it down as Paul’s. But who wrote the epistle [to the Hebrews], in truth, God knows. Yet the account which has reached us has some saying that Clement, who was bishop of the Romans, wrote the epistle, others, that it was Luke, he who wrote the Gospel and the Acts.”
    • See also EH 3.38.1-3 on 1 Clement: “In it he gives many thoughts from the Epistle to the Hebrews, and even quotes verbally when using certain passages from it, thus most clearly establishing the fact that the treatise [to the Hebrews] was no recent thing. For this reason it has seemed right and reasonable to reckon it among the other letters of the apostle [Paul]. For Paul, having communicated in writing with the Hebrews in their native tongue, some say that the evangelist Luke, others that this Clement himself, translated the writing. The latter statement is the more probably true, because both the Epistle of Clement and that to the Hebrews maintain the same character from the point of view of style, and because the thoughts in each of the two treatises are not divergent.”

Timothy

  • 26 Jan: Timothy (d. c. 97) Timothy appears in Acts 16: 1-3 as Paul’s companion, and two letters traditionally attributed to Paul are addressed to him. Eusebius tells that Tim became bishop of Ephesus, and he is said to have been stoned to death for denouncing the worship of Dionysus.

Titus

  • 26 Jan: Titus (1st cent.) Titus was a disciple of Paul (and I can’t remember if the letter to Titus in the New Testament is regarded as authentic Paul or not). He was sent to Dalmatia, but legend tells that he ended up as a bishop on Crete.
  • Pseudo-Titus Epistle
  • Acts of Titus — Acts of Titus, ch.4:
    “St. Titus was ordained by the apostles and sent with Paul to teach and to ordain whomever Paul might designate. Arriving at Antioch, they found Barnabas, the son of Panchares whom Paul had raised.”
    Richard Pervo, translator. “The ‘Acts of Titus’: A Preliminary Translation With an Introduction, Notes, and Appendices.” SBL Seminar Papers (1996): 455-481.

This has some affinity with the story in the PHeid papyrus (see H/S 2:238) about Paul raising the dead boy in Antioch. In there, the boy is just described as “the son of Anchares.”

22 November is the feast day of Philemon and Apphia (d. c. 70) Philemon was the recipient of one of Paul’s letters — he was a citizen of Colossae and owned the runaway slave Onesimus, about whom Paul wrote. Apphia was apparently his wife. Legend tells that both were stoned to death at their home.

16 February is the feast day of Onesimus (d. c. 90) The runaway slave Onesimus was the reason behind Paul’s letter to Philemon. The old Roman Martyrology reports that O. was Timothy’s successor as bishop of Ephesus, and was martyred.

Ananias (1st cent.) Ananias was one of Jesus’ disciples. He appears in Acts 9 as the baptizer of Paul. According to legend, he preached in Damascus and Eleutheropolis before he was martyred.

Aristarchus: 4 August is the feast day of: Aristarchus of Thessalonika (1st cent.) Aristarchus’ was Paul’s traveling companion for a time. Legend reports that he was first bishop of Thessalonika, and that he was martyred along with Paul at Rome [from web site].

Lydia: 3 August is the feast day of: Lydia of Thyatira (or Lydia Purpuraria) (1st cent.) Lydia was a dealer in purple dye. When Paul visited Philippi in Macedonia, she became his very first convert in Europe.

Erastus: 26 July feast day — Erastus was the city treasurer of Corinth, and appears three times in the New Testament. On the principle that anyone who ever met Paul must be a saint, later tradition made E. a bishop and martyr—eastern tradition says he was at Caesarea Philippi in Palestine; western tradition reports that he was martyred while bishop of Philippi in Macedonia.

Dionysius the Areopagite (d. c. 95)(9 October). Dionysius appears in Acts 17, converted by Paul at Athens. According to legend he became the first bishop of Athens and was martyred there. His name was later connected to the fifth-century writer Pseudo-Dionysius.

Crescentius/Crescens (1st cent.) (27 June). Crescens appears in 2 Tim 4.10 as a disciple/associate of Paul, where it is said that he has gone to Galatia. Tradition makes C the first bishop of the Galatians and tells that he was martyred there in the reign of Trajan. Later legend is divided on whether he was active in Gaul or Galatia. The more venturesome hagiographers made C into a disciple of Paul, who traversed all of Europe, visiting Rome and going on to Gaul, where he founded the church in Vienne (France) and was even in Mainz in Germany; then he made it back to modernday Turkey (Galatia), where he was martyred.

Artemas of Lystra (30 October) Artemas was one of Paul’s first converts; he appears in Titus 3:12). Legend says A. was the first bishop of Lystra in Asia Minor.

Apollinarius of Ravenna (1st cent.) (27 June or 23 July?). Apollinare is now most famous for the two great late antique basilicas dedicated to him in Ravenna. According to tradition, he was the first bishop of Ravenna — later legend has St. Peter commission Apollinarius and send him to northern Italy to preach. His cult spread across the Alps to France and Germany, especially Alsace. Legend tells that Apollinaris was a native of Antioch.  He became a disciple of St. Peter and was “appointed” first bishop of Ravenna.  He is supposed to have converted many people, suffered shipwreck, was exiled three times, fled during Vespasian’s persecution,  was caught and beaten by a mob, but survived the experience.

Cletus (26. April) A rather confused character, who seems to have been duplicated rather a lot. According to Irenaeus, Cletus was the second successor of Peter as bishop of Rome. He made it into the Roman martyrology twice: once as Cletus and once as Anacletus. His cult was suppressed in 1969, but his name still appears in the Roman canon of the mass.

Aphrodisius and companions (28 April) Gregory of Tours tells an exotic legend to the effect that Aphrodisius was an Egyptian who sheltered the Holy Family during the flight to Egypt. He is later supposed to have made his way to Languedoc (doubtless along with Lazarus, Mary, and Martha), where he was martyred.

11 May is feast day for Evellius (d. c. 66?) The subject of what appears to be a later pious myth, Evellius was alleged to be a counsellor of Nero, so impressed by the martyrs Nero created that he himself converted and was martyred.

12 May is the feast day of Flavia Domitilla, Euphrosyna, and Theodora (d. c. 100) Flavia was a great-niece of emperors Titus and Domitian. She was exiled as a Christian. She may also have been martyred with two foster-sisters. Then again, there may be two martyrs of the same name. Her cult was deemed too confusing, and suppressed in 1969.

12 May is the feast day of Nereus and Achilles (d. c. 100) Soldiers in the Praetorian Guard who, according to their unreliable acta, where baptized by Peter and exiled with Flavia Domitilla before they ended up decapitated. *Their* cult hasn’t been suppressed.

29 December is the feast day of Trophimus the Ephesian (d. c. 65) Trophimus accompanied Paul to Jerusalem. One legend says that he was beheaded in Rome in Nero’s reign. He wasn’t actually the first bishop of Arles (see below).
Trophimus of Arles (d. c. 280) One legend says that Trophimus was sent from Rome to be first bishop of Arles. Ever since the 5th century, though, he has been identified with Trophimus the Ephesian (see above).

15 March is the feast day of Longinus (1st cent.) Longinus is the name traditionally given to the soldier who pierced Jesus’ side with a spear to make sure he was dead. Legend tells that L. converted, was cured of blindness, and was eventually martyred in Cappodocia.

15 March is the feast day of Aristobolus (1st cent.) Aristobulus appears in Romans 16:11 and tradition further reports that he was one of the 72 disciples. A later fiction identified A. with Zebedee (father of James and John) and connected him with Britain.

22 June: Flavius Clemens (d. 96)  Flavius was a brother of Emperor Vespasian, uncle of Titus and Domitian.  He shared the consulate with Domitian in 95, who then had F. executed for “atheism” and “Jewish customs”—terms believed to refer to F’s conversion to Christianity.

2 July: Processus and Martinian (1st cent.)  A sixth-century legend tells that Martinian and Processus were Roman prison guards who had charge of either Peter or Paul (or both) when they were in the Mammertine Prison.  Of course M and P were converted — and Peter baptized them using a spring that conveniently (and miraculously) appeared in the prison.  The two were then tortured by their superior for refusing to sacrifice and finally killed.

6 July is the feast day of Romulus of Fiesole (d. c. 90?)  According to legend, Romulus was a Roman converted by  Peter.  He went on to be first bishop of Fiesole and was martyred there with several companions.  An eleventh-century vita that sounds like great fun tells that R. was the illegitimate son of a noblewoman and a slave; R. was abandoned,
suckled by a kindly wolf, and lived wild until captured by Peter (after Nero had tried and failed to do so).  R. then went on to evangelize much of central Italy.

28 July is the feast day of Nazarius and Celsus (d. c. 68)  According to legend, Nazarius was a disciple of St. Peter.  During Nero’s reign he was beheaded in Milan for preaching Christianity, along with his young companion Celsus. While that’s legend, it’s fact that Ambrose discovered the bodies in Milan soon after 395 (this has a legendary element too: that N’s blood was still liquid when the relics were discovered).

3 August: Aspren of Naples (late 1st/early 2d cent.?).  According to uniform local tradition, reaching back at least as far as the anonymous first part (late 8th/very early 9th cent.) of the _Gesta episcoporum neapolitanorum_, A. was Naples’ first bishop.  The 9th century _Vita maior_ of St. Athanasius of Naples (BHL 735) has him consecrated by St. Peter himself.  His _Vita minor_ (late 9th or early 10th cent.; BHL 724) presents the earliest version of the story of Peter’s stopping for a while in Naples on his way to Rome and here first converting and baptizing A. and later, once Naples had accepted Christianity, consecrating A. as its bishop. BHL 724 was further developed by Alberic of Montecassino (BHL 725; late 11th cent.) and others; in its mature form A.’s legend includes the foundation story of Naples’ Benedictine monastery church of San Pietro ad Ara(m), a pious fiction attaching to a particular spot the supposed Petrine origin of Christianity in Naples.  San Pietro ad Ara(m) is built over a paleochristian church with adjacent catacombs; its present structure (seventeenth-century) houses bits and pieces from other churches demolished during Naples’ late ninetee
nth-century “Risanamento”, when parts of the Old City near the port were “cleaned up” following the cholera epidemic of 1884/85. San Pietro ad Ara(m) is near the Piazza Garibaldi end of the Corso Umberto I (the “Rettifilo”); at the Piazza Bovio end is the Palazzo della Borsa, a late nineteenth-century structure incorporating the remains of the early medieval church of Sant’Aspreno al Porto (as well as some fifteenth-century columns removed from the cloister of San Pietro ad Ara[m] when the latter was torn down in the Risanamento).  There is also a chapel dedicated to A. in the Basilica of Santa Restituta (a rebuilt early medieval structure incorporated into Naples’ cathedral) commemorating A.’s traditional burial place in an early Christian oratory beneath it. Needless to say, A. is one of Naples’ patron saints: among those named after him were the nineteenth-century medievalists Gennaro Aspreno Galante (a local archeologist of note) and Gennaro Aspreno Rocco (a literary scholar and Latin poet). [John Dillon]

5 August: Addai and Mari (d. c. 180?)  Legend tells that Jesus promised to send a disciple to King Abgar at Edessa and Addai, one of the 72, was chosen.  He cured Abgar of an incurable disease, converted him (and his people) to Christianity, etc.  Addai’s own disciple Mari went on to be a missionary along the Tigris.  More historically, both seem to have been missionaries in the late second century and both have been venerated since an early date as apostles of Syria and Persia.

7 August: Claudia (1st cent.)  An interesting tradition makes Claudia, the mother of Linus, the daughter of British King Caractacus.  Caractacus had indeed been sent to Rome after his defeat in battle and one of his daughters took the name Claudia (she’s mentioned in 2 Timothy).

10 August: Philomena (date ?)  A set of bones of a young girl were found in the catacomb of Priscilla, with the inscription: “Peace be with you, Philomena.”  Clearly a saint.  The relics were moved to the church of Mugnano del Cardinale near Nola in 1805 and miracles were soon reported.  P’s cult spread widely and was authorized in 1837.  But she was removed from the calendar in 1961 because there’s no evidence at all that she was a saint (posthumous miracles apparently not being enough in this case). http://www.philomena.it/

1 September: Priscus of Capua (d. 68, supposedly, or perhaps 368 or 378).  Today’s less well known saint from the Regno is an early martyr recorded for the today in the pesudo-Hieronymian Martyrology, in the Marble Calendar of
Naples, and in various other early-to-Carolingian sources.  His cult is attested from the early fifth century, the approximate date of the now lost portrait mosaics of Campanian saints that once adorned the church dedicated to him at what is now San Prisco (CE), between Capua and Caserta.  In the Martyrology of Ado he is said to have been one of Jesus’ disciples; local tradition (neither unanimous nor particularly credible) makes him a companion of St. Peter and the first bishop of Capua (who is otherwise said to have been Rufus of Capua [27 August]). P.’s Casssinese Vita (BHL 6927; ?10th cent.) makes him a bishop expelled from Africa during a later fourth-century persecution who settled at Capua, destroyed the temple of Diana on the site of the later Sant’Angelo in Formis, and was martyred for his pains.  The even more legendary eleventh- or twelfth-century _Passio sancti Castrensis_ includes him among the dozen bishops who fled Vandal persecution in Africa and settled down in various parts of Campania.  Real proof of P.’s episcopal dignity is lacking.  Domenico Ambrasi, s.v. “Prisco di Capua, santo, martire,” in the _Bibliotheca Sanctorum_, vol. 10 (1968), cols. 1114-16, suggests he may have been a soldier or an imperial functionary. [John Dillon]

15 September: Nicomedes (d. c. 90?)  According to the Roman Martyrology, Nicomedes refused to sacrifice to the state gods and was flogged to death.  His veneration in Rome goes back to an early date.

Hermas (included among the 70)

  • 9 May is the feast day of: Hermas
  • Hermas is mentioned in Romans 16.14
  • A Greek tradition claims that Hermas became bishop of Philippi, where he was martyred
  • [Gel 18]Book which is called Shepherd [Liber qui appellatur Pastoris]
    • Muratorian Canon: But Hermas wrote the Shepherd quite lately in our time in the city of Rome, when on the throne of the church of the city of Rome the bishop Pius, his brother, was seated. And therefore it ought indeed to be read, but it cannot be read publicly in the Church to the other people either among the prophets, whose number is settled, or among the apostles to the end of time.
    • Codex Sinaiticus (at the end, after Barnabas)

22 February is the feast day of Papias of Hierapolis (d. c. 130) Papias was bishop of Hierapolis (Phrygia). He is known for his *Explanation of the Sayings of the Lord* (unfortunately no longer extant; or maybe not so unfortunately: Eusebius had a very low opinion of it). This work is the source of the traditions that Matthew wrote his gospel in Aramaic and that Mark’s gospel was a summary of Peter’s preaching.

23 February is the feast day of Polycarp of Smyrna and companions (d. c. 155) Polycarp had been a disciple of John the Evangelist (according to Irenaeus) before becoming bishop of Smyrna in c. 96. He and twelve other Christians were burned alive in the amphitheater in the reign of Marcus Aurelius. The account of this is the earliest surviving acta of any Christian martyr.

17 October is the feast day of Ignatius of Antioch (d. c. 107)  Ignatius may have been a disciple of
John the Evangelist.  Legend tells that Peter consecrated him as
bishop of Antioch.  After 40 years in office, I. was arrested in
Trajan’s reign and shipped to Rome, where he was thrown to the lions.
Two of I’s companions on his final journey wrote a description of the
trip, and I himself wrote seven letters of instruction.

Gospels & Writings Associated with Judaistic Christians

  • [NicNT 4] The Gospel of the Hebrews 2200 lines
  • Gospel of the Nazarenes
  • Hebraic Gospel according to Matthew used by the Ebionites [Epiphanius, Panarion 30]
    • Panarion 30.13.1: And they [the Ebionites] receive the Gospel according to Matthew. For this they too, like the followers of Cerinthus and Merinthus, use to the exclusion of others. And they call it according to the Hebrews, as the truth is, that Matthew alone of New Testament writers made his exposition and preaching of the Gospel in Hebrew and in Hebrew letters.
    • Panarion 30.13.2 [Resch Apok 12]: In the Gospel they have, called according to Matthew, but not wholly complete, but falsified and mutilated (they call it Hebraikon), it is contained ….
    • Panarion 30.16.4: …as their Gospel, which is called Gospel according to Matthew, or Gospel According to the Hebrews, reports:
  • Book of Elxai/Elkasai

Other Gospels Associated with “Heretics” (make separate entries by name?)

  • Gospel of Cerinthus
  • Gospel of Basilides
  • Gospel of Marcion
  • Gospel of Apelles
  • Gospel of Bardesanes
  • Gospel of Mani
  • Gospel of the Egyptians (NHL)

Miscellaneous “Gospels”

Other Miscellaneous

  • Authoritative Teaching [NHL]
  • Discourse on the 8th and 9th [NHL]
  • Treatise on the Resurrection [NHL]
  • Trimorphic Protennoia [NHL]
  • Ophite Diagrams [Origen]
  • Naassene Fragment [Hippolytus]
  • [Gel 19]All books which Leucius, the disciple of the devil, has made
    [Libri omnes quos fecit Leucius disciplulus diabuli, apocryphi]
  • [Gel 20]Book which is called Foundation [Liber qui appellatur Fundamentum, apocryphus]
  • [Gel 21]Book which is called Treasure [Liber qui appellatur Thesaurus]
  • [Gel 25]Book which is called Nepos’ [Liber qui appellatur Nepotis]
  • [Gel 26]Book of Proverbs, compiled by heretics and presented in the name of the Holy Sixtus
    [Liber Proverbiorum ab hereticis conscriptus et sancti Sixti nomine praesignatus]

Apostolic Fathers (except Clement, Barnabas, and Hermas — see above)

Later Fathers

  • [Gel 34]Book which is called Penitence of Origen [Paenitentia Origenis]
  • [Gel 35]Book which is called Penitence of the Holy Cyprian [Paenitentia sancti Cypriani]
  • [Gel 40]The book Physiologus, compiled by heretics and called by the name of the blessed Ambrose
    [Liber Physiologus ab hereticis conscriptus et beati Ambrosii nomine praesignatus]
  • [Gel 41]The History of Eusebius Pamphili [Historia Eusebii Pamphili, apocrypha]
  • [Gel 42]Works of Tertullian [opuscula Tertulliani]
  • [Gel 43]Works of Lactantius (later add: or of Firmianus or of the African) [opuscula Lactantii sive Firmiani]
    [opuscula Africani]
  • [Gel 44]Works of Postumianus and of Gallus [opuscula Postumiani et Galli]
  • [Gel 45]Works of Montanus, of Priscilla and of Maximilla [Montani, Priscillae et Maximillae]
  • [Gel 46]Works of Faustus the Manichean [Fausti Manichei]
  • [Gel 47]Works of Commodianus
  • [Gel 48]Works of the other Clement of Alexandria
  • [Gel 49]Works of Thascius Cyprian [Thascii Cypriani]
  • [Gel 50]Works of Arnobius
  • [Gel 51]Works of Tichonius
  • [Gel 52]Works of Cassian, a presbyter in Gaul [Cassiani presbyteri Galliarum]
  • [Gel 53]Works of Victorinus of Pettau [Victorini Petabionensis]
  • [Gel 54]Works of Faustus of Riez in Gaul [Fausti Regiensis Galliarum]
  • [Gel 55]Works of Frumentius Caecus [Frumentii Caeci]
  • [Gel 58]Passion (Martyr Acts) of Cyricus and of Iulitta [Passio Cyrici et Iulittae]
  • [Gel 59]Passion of Georgius [Passio Georgii]

Heretics

  • Simon Magus,
  • Nicolaus,
  • Cerinthus — Gospel of Cerinthus (H-S)
  • Marcion — Gospel of Marcion (H-S)
  • Basilides — Gospel of Basilides (H-S)
  • Ebion — Gospel of the Ebionites
  • Paul of Samosata [etiam Samosatenus],
  • Photinus and Bonosus, who suffered from similar error [qui simili errore defecerunt],
  • also Montanus with his detestable followers [quoque cum suis obscenissimis sequacibus],
  • Apollinaris,
  • Valentinus the Manichean [sive Manicheus],
  • Faustus the African [Faustus Africanus],
  • Sabellius,
  • Arius [ca 325],
  • Macedonius,
  • Eunomius,
  • Novatus,
  • Sabbatius,
  • Calistu,
  • Donatus,
  • Eustatius,
  • Iovianus,
  • Pelagius [ca 400],
  • Iulianus of Eclanum,
  • Caelestius,
  • Maximian,
  • Priscillian from Spain [Priscillianus ab Hispania],
  • Nestorius of Constantinople,
  • Maximus the Cynic [ca 380],
  • Lampetius [ca 431],
  • Dioscorus [-454],
  • Eutyches [ca 450],
  • Peter [of Alexandria] [ca 451 Chalcedon]
  • and the other Peter [of Antioch, ca 451 Chalcedon], of whom the one besmirched Alexandria and the other Antioch [e quibus unus Alexandriam, alius Antiocham maculavit],
  • Acacius of Constantinople [fl 471-489] with his associates [cum consortibus suis],

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