''Acta Andreae et Matthiae apud Anthropophagos'' ("The Acts of Andrew and Matthias among the

Anthropophagi An anthropophage or ''anthropophagus'' (from el, ανθρωποφάγος , translit=anthrōpophagos, "human-eater", plural el, ανθρωποφάγοι , translit=anthropophagi) was a member of a mythical race of cannibals described first by ...

") which exists in several

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

manuscript traditions, is the dramatic

romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

featuring the Apostles

Andrew Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

and Matthias among the

cannibal Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, bo ...

s, a thriller featuring gory details that was written for a Christian audience in the 2nd century CE. Constantin von Tischendorf published an edited text following

Johann Karl Thilo Johann Karl Thilo (Langensalza, near Erfurt, 28 November 1794 — Halle 17 May 1853) was a German theologian and biblical scholar. He studied theology at the University of Leipzig and a final semester at the University of Halle, where he was appoin ...

, 1846. ''Acta Andreae et Matthiae in urbe anthropophagarum'', according to

Richard Adelbert Lipsius Richard Adelbert Lipsius (14 February 1830 in Gera, Thuringia – 19 August 1892 in Jena, Thuringia) was a German Protestant theologian. Biography Richard Adelbert Lipsius was the son of K. H. A. Lipsius (d. 1861), who was rector of the school ...

, belonged to the middle of the 2nd century. This apocryphal text relates that Matthias went among the cannibals and, being cast into prison, was delivered by Andrew. The narrative is considered to be a

Romance Romance (from Vulgar Latin , "in the Roman language", i.e., "Latin") may refer to: Common meanings * Romance (love), emotional attraction towards another person and the courtship behaviors undertaken to express the feelings * Romance languages, ...

and is understood to have no historical value. Heinz Hofmann classes it "secondary apocrypha", that is, one derived from apocryphal sources; the ghoulish man-eaters remind Hofmann of the killing of Socrates by the witch Meroë in

Apuleius Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern- ...

' ''Metamorphoses'', better known as ''The Golden Ass''. Among the Latin texts of the ''Acta Andreae et Mattiae'', F. BlattBlatt, ed. ''Die lateinischen Bearbeitungen der Acta Andreae et Matthiae apud Anthropophagos.'' (Giessen) 1930 notes how the mss in Codex Casanatensis 1104 particularly expands upon the horror to describe the instruments and vessels the cannibals use for the slaughter.

References

Apocryphal Acts {{NewTestament-apocrypha-stub