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Klijn.Qxd 5/27/2003 4:00 PM Page I 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. Proef 4. 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. Proef 4. 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, L e i d e n 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,Oxford1993 , 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. Proef 4. 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,Freiburg1993 , 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. Proef 4. 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-
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