The ''Acts of John in Rome'' is a 4th-century Christian apocryphal text that presents stories about the

Apostle John John the Apostle ( grc, Ἰωάννης; la, Ioannes ; Ge'ez: ዮሐንስ;) or Saint John the Beloved was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he was the son of Zebedee a ...

. The text, written in

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, is believed to be based on orally handed down stories (and in particular collected stories recounted in the writings of

Eusebius of Caesarea Eusebius of Caesarea (; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος ; 260/265 – 30 May 339), also known as Eusebius Pamphilus (from the grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος τοῦ Παμφίλου), was a Greek historian of Christianity, exegete, and Christia ...

) about the works of John in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. The ''Acts of John in Rome'' is not to be confused with the ''

Acts of John The ''Acts of John'' refers to a collection of stories about John the Apostle that began circulating in written form as early as the 2nd-century AD. Translations of the ''Acts of John'' in modern languages have been reconstructed by scholars from ...

,'' of which it is independent, although the final section of the ''Acts of John'' is reproduced in the latter part of the ''Acts of John in Rome''.

Content

The story is divided into two parts: the first contains a series of original episodes from the life of John up until his exile to

Patmos Patmos ( el, Πάτμος, ) is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. It is famous as the location where John of Patmos received the visions found in the Book of Revelation of the New Testament, and where the book was written. One of the northernmos ...

and his subsequent return to

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...

. The second, which reproduces the final section of the text ''Acts of John'', relates the apostle's ministry in Ephesus. The first part of the story centers around John's arrest by

Roman soldiers This is a list of Roman army units and bureaucrats. *'' Accensus'' – Light infantry men in the armies of the early Roman Republic, made up of the poorest men of the army. *''Actuarius ''Actuarius'' or ''actarius'', rendered in Greek as ''aktoua ...

in Ephesus, his transport to Rome, and his (informal) trial before the Roman emperor

Domitian Domitian (; la, Domitianus; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was a Roman emperor who reigned from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavi ...

, during which John miraculously survives the drinking of deadly poison and raises a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

prisoner from the dead.

Manuscript

The

transliterated Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...

title of the Greek manuscript is "Acts of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist

John the Theologian John of Patmos (also called John the Revelator, John the Divine, John the Theologian) is the name traditionally given to the author of the Book of Revelation. The text of Revelation states that John was on Patmos, a Greek island where, according ...

", with the subtitle "Of His Exile and His Passage". The name "Acts of John in Rome" is a modern title given by scholars to distinguish it from the ''Acts of John'', since the major characteristic of these "Acts of John in Rome" differentiating it from the "Acts of John" is that most of the episodes are set in Rome (rather than Ephesus). Note that despite the title transmitted by the manuscripts, the text does not mention the writing of the

Fourth Gospel The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...

. On the other hand, the text mentions the

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...

References

External links

"Christian Apocrypha: The ''Acts of John in Rome''"
''Acts of John in Rome''
''Acts of John in Rome''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acts of John in Rome Apocrypha 4th-century Christian texts

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

John the Apostle Johannine literature Christian saints from the New Testament Four Evangelists Saints from the Holy Land

Content

Manuscript

See also

References

External links