The Acts of Thomas: Introduction, Text, and Commentary (Supplements to Novum Testamentum)

276 Pages·2003·2.12 MB·English

by  Albertus Frederik Johannes Klijn

NTS-108-klijn.qxd 5/27/2003 4:00 PM Page i
THE ACTS OF THOMAS
NTS-108-klijn.qxd 5/27/2003 4:00 PM Page ii
SUPPLEMENTS TO

NOVUM TESTAMENTUM

EDITORIAL BOARD
C.K. BARRETT, Durham - P. BORGEN, Trondheim
J.K. ELLIOTT, Leeds - H. J. DE JONGE, Leiden
A. J. MALHERBE, New Haven
M. J. J. MENKEN, Utrecht - J. SMIT SIBINGA, Amsterdam
Executive Editors
M.M. MITCHELL, Chicago & D.P. MOESSNER, Dubuque
VOLUME CVIII
NTS-108-klijn.qxd 5/27/2003 4:00 PM Page iii
THE ACTS OF THOMAS

INTRODUCTION, TEXT,
AND COMMENTARY
SECOND REVISED EDITION
by
A.F.J. KLIJN
BRILL
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2003
NTS-108-klijn.qxd 5/27/2003 4:00 PM Page iv
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
First edition: 1962.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Acts of Thomas. English.
The acts of Thomas : introduction, text, and commentary by A.F.J. Klijn. –
2nd rev. ed.
p. cm. — (Supplements to Novum Testamentum, ISSN 0167-9732 ; v. 108)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 90-04-12937-5 (alk. paper)
I. Klijn, Albertus Frederik Johannes. II. Title. II. Series.
BS2880.T4A3 2003
299'.925–dc21
2003052100
ISSN 0167-9732
ISBN 90 04 12937 5
© Copyright 2003 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written
permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal
use is granted by Brill provided that
the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright
Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910
Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
printed in the netherlands
Klijn.0_Prelim.Proef4.28-5-2003:16.52,page-5.
CONTENTS
Preface .... ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . vii

Abbreviations .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . ix

Introduction . ..... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 1

The Text .. .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 1

The Contents of the Acts of Thomas . .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 4

The Name of Thomas . ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 6

References to the New Testament . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

The Syriac and the Greek Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

The Theological Point of View .. .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 10

Place and Date .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 15

Conclusion .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 15

The Acts of Judas Thomas the Apostle . .... ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 17

The (first) Act of Judas Thomas, the Apostle, when He sold

him to the merchant Habban . .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 17

The second Act, when Thomas the Apostle entered into

India, and built a palace for the King in Heaven . . . . . . . . . . 62

The third Act of Judas, regarding the black Snake .. ... .. ... . 90

The fourth Act, concerning the Colt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

The fifth Act, concerning the Devil that took up his abode

in the Woman . .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 113

The sixth Act: The young man that murdered the Woman 127

The seventh Act, of the Captain . .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 142

The eighth Act, of the wild Asses .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 147

The ninth Act, of Mygdonia and Karish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

The tenth Act: when Mygdonia receives Baptism . . . . . . . . . . . . 204

The eleventh Act: concerning the Wife of Misdaeus . . . . . . . . . 217

The twelfth Act: concerning Ouzanes, the son of Misdaeus 221

The thirteenth Act: wherein Juzanes Vizan receives

baptism with the rest ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 235

The Martyrdom of the holy and famous Apostle Thomas . . . 244

Index .... .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... .. .. ... .. ... . 253
This page intentionally left blank
Klijn.0_Prelim.Proef4.28-5-2003:16.52,page-7.
PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION
This is the second edition of “The Acts of Thomas. Introduction—
Text—Commentary”, in: Supplements to Novum Testamentum V, Leiden
1992. It was about a century prior to that time that a commentary
had last appeared on this work. For that reason I had to go into a great
variety of subjects.
I am grateful that it is possible to edit a second impression of this
work. The reader will notice that the Commentary can be compared
with that in the first impression. It may be that some of the references
to books and articles are of an early date, but they remind us of a period
during which important subjects were intensively dealt with.
However, it appeared necessary to change the contents of the Intro­
duction extensively. In the earlier text we were supposed to examine
a number of subjects which have since become independent fields of
study.1 This means that we are not going into the history of the text.
We limit ourselves to the Syriac and Greek versions in so far as it
is necessary to understand the commentary.2 We have to give up the
idea of going into the beginnings of Christianity in Edessa.3 In the past
1 See, for example, Fr. Bovon e.a., “Les actes apocryphes des apôtres. Christianisme
et monde païen”, in: Publications de la Faculté de Théologie de l’Université de Genève 4, Genève
1981; J.H. Charlesworth, The New Testament Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha, Metuchen,
N.J., and London 1987; Apocrypha, Revue Internationale des Littératures Apocryphes,
Brepols I 1990 etc.; Apocryphes. Collection de poche de l’AELAC, and the Series Corpus
Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum, Brepols. The Acts of Thomas were published by
M. Erbetta, Gli Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento II: Atti e Leggende, Torino 1966 313–374;
L. Moraldi, Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento II, Torino 1971, 1125–1350; A.J. Festugière,
Actes Apocryphes de Jean et de Thomas, Genève 1983; H.J.W. Drijvers, “Thomasakten”,
in: Neutestamentliche Apokryphen II, Tübingen 1989 (5. Auflage), 289–367,cf. TheEnglish
Translation of this work by R.Mcl. Wilson Cambridge and Louisville 1991 and 1993, II,
322–411; J.K. Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament,Oxford 1993, 439–511,and F. Bovon
and P. Geoltrain, Écrits apocryphes chrétiens I, Paris 1997, 1321–1470.
2 In the editions of Apocryphal Acts in Corpus Christianorum, Series Apocryphorum the
textual history of the various Acts are thoroughly dealt with. We expect the same in the
forthcoming volume about the Acts of Thomas.
3 Especially I want to refer to the contributions of H.J.W. Drijvers, of which I
mention East of Antioch,London 1984 and the articles “Syrian Christianity and Judaism”,
in: The Jews among Pagans and Christians in the Roman empire, ed. by Judith Lieu e.a.,
Klijn.0_Prelim.Proef4.28-5-2003:16.52,page-8.
viii preface to second edition
forty years books and articles have appeared on this subject which have
carried the study far beyond the scope of this commentary. It appears
that the relationship between Thomas and India is much more part of
the study of Church History than of apocryphal literature.4 Next we
decided not to go into the relationship between the Acts of Thomas
and the other four ancient Acts. In the first place this would make the
study of all these Acts necessary but it would especially call for a dis­
cussion of the narrative element which is separately studied in some
important books and articles.5 Finally we refrained from examining the
complicated relationship between the contents of the Acts of Thomas
and Manichaeism. Also here we can refer to some interesting studies.6
Nevertheless the Introduction to the commentary consists of a num­
ber of detailed summaries which are meant to elucidate the character
of this work. I assume that they, together with the commentary, can be
used as the basis of studies on, for example, the christology and liturgy
of the Eastern Church.
London and New York 1992, 124–146; “Syriac Culture in Late Antiquity. Hellenism
and Local Traditions”, in: Mediterraneo Antico I 1998, 95–113, and “Thomas, Apostel”,
in: Theologische Realenzyklopädie, Band XIII, 430–433.
4 L.P. van den Bosch, “India and the Apostolate of St. Thomas”, in: The Apocryphal
Acts of Thomas, ed. by J.N. Bremmer, Leuven 2001, 125–148, gives an extremely well-
balanced survey of the research at the moment.
5 We may refer to L. van Kampen, Apostelverhalen, Dissert. Utrecht 1990, and
apart from many other publications to W. Rordorf, “Terra Incognitaa. Recent Research
on Christian Apocryphal Literature, especially on some Acts of Apostles”, in: Lex
Orandi—Lex Credendi,Freiburg 1993, 432–438, and István Czachesz, “Apostolic Commission
Narratives”, in: the Canonical and Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles,Diss. Utrecht 2002.
6 See P. Nagel, “Die apocryphen Apostelakten des 2. und 3. Jahrhunderts in der
manichäischen Literatur”, in: Gnosis und Neues Testament, herausgeg. von K.-W. Tröger,
Gütersloh 1973, 149–182; J.-D. Kaestli, “L’utilisation des Actes Apocryphes des Apôtres
dans le manichéisme”, in: Gnosis and Gnosticism, in: Nag Hammadi Studies VIII, Leiden
1977, 107–116, and P.-H. Poirier, “Les Actes de Thomas et le manichéisme”, in: Apoc­
rypha 9 1998, 263–287.
Klijn.0_Prelim.Proef4.28-5-2003:16.52,page-9.
ABBREVIATIONS
Achilles Tatius, ed. Gaselee, in: Loeb Classical Library 45, London 1917.
Acts of Paul, ed. Schmidt, in: C. Schmidt, Acta Pauli, Glückstadt und
Hamburg 1936.
Agnad Rosnan, ed. M. Boyce, in: M Boyce, “The Manichaean Hymn–
Cycles in Parthian”, in: London Oriental Series 3,Oxford 1954.
Akhmim-fragment, ed. Dieterich, in: A Dieterich, Nekyia, Leipzig–Ber-
lin 1913 (2. Aufl.).
Aphraates, dem., ed. Parisot, in: Aphraatis Sapientis Persiae Demonstrationes,
ed. I. Parisot, in: Patrologia Syriaca I I et II, Parisiis 1894 et 1907.
Arabic. ed. Smith Lewis, in: A. Smith Lewis, Acta Mythologica Apostolo-
rum,in: Horae Semiticae III and IV 1904.
Badger, Nestorians, in: G.P. Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals, London
1852, 2 vols.
Bar Hebr., Book of the Dove and Ethikon, in: “Bar Hebraeus’s Book
of the Dove together with some Chapters from his Ethikon” by
A.J. Wensinck, in: De Goeje Fund IV, Leiden 1919.
W. Bauer, Leben Jesu, in: W. Bauer, Das Leben Jesu im Zeitalter der neutesta­
mentlichen Apokryphen, Tübingen 1909.
Baur, Manich. Religionssystem, in: F.C. Bauer, Das manichäische Religionssys­
tem nach den Quellen neu untersucht und entwickelt, Göttingen 1831 (Neu­
druck 1928).
BKV, in: Bibliothek der Kirchenväter, Kempten.
B.L.: British Library, London, with the Syriac manuscript in the Acts of
Thomas edited by W. Wright, Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, London–
Edinburgh 1871, 2 vols.
Book of the Bee, ed. E.A. Wallis Budge, in: Anecdota Oxoniensia, Sem. Series
I, Pt. II, Oxford 1886.
Bornkamm, Mythos, in: G. Bornkamm, “Mythos und Legende in den
apokryphen Thomas–Akten”, in: Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur
des Alten und Neues Testaments. 40, 1933.
Bonsirven, Le Judaisme, in: J. Bonsirven, Le Judaisme Palestinien au Temps
de Jésus-Christ, Paris 1934 and 1935, 2 vols.
Bovon e.a., Les Actes Apocryphes, in: “Les Actes Apocryphes”, ed. F. Bovon