The Apostolic Histories, also known as Pseudo-Abdias, is a collection of

New Testament apocrypha The New Testament apocrypha (singular apocryphon) are a number of writings by early Christians that give accounts of Jesus and his teachings, the nature of God, or the teachings of his apostles and of their lives. Some of these writings were cit ...

in the genre of apostolic Acts popular in medieval Europe and preserved in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

translations. It consists of ten books, each containing several chapters. Each book describes the life of one of the

Apostles An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

.John, the Son of Zebedee: The Life of a Legend R. Alan Culpepper - 2000- Page 202 "The Passion of John, wrongly attributed to Bishop Melitus of Laodicea and thus known as Pseudo-Melitus, and the Virtutes Johannis, otherwise known as Pseudo-Abdias, represent two parallel compilations of accounts of John's marvelous works.45 Both depend on an earlier Greek text which contained accounts drawn from the Acts of John.46 The text of Pseudo-Melitus dates from Ephesus or its environs, late in the fifth century..." The attribution of the collection to "Pseudo-Abdias" is dubious. Swiss scholar Wolfgang Lazius attributed the full collection on the basis of an epilogue to one of the books mentioning "Abdias, Bishop of Babylon" in a 1552 edition. Abdias was presented as a companion of the apostles Simon and Judas Thaddeus on their way to Persia in the Passion of Simon and Jude (BHL H, 7749-7751). As the various stories circulated independently of each other, extending Pseudo-Abdias's authorship to all ten books is not considered likely by contemporary scholars, nor is it even clear that the Passion was claiming to be written by him if the epilogue is ignored.

History

In Lazius' ''

editio princeps In Textual scholarship, textual and classical scholarship, the ''editio princeps'' (plural: ''editiones principes'') of a work is the first printed edition of the work, that previously had existed only in manuscripts. These had to be copied by han ...

'' (W. Lazius, ''Abdiae Babyloniae episcopi et apostolorum discipuli de historia certaminis apostolici libri decem'' Basel, 1552), the introduction to the Pseudo-Abdias is allegedly written by

Sextus Julius Africanus Sextus Julius Africanus ( 160 – c. 240; ) was a Christian traveler and historian of the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries. He influenced fellow historian Eusebius, later writers of Church history among the Church Fathers, and the Greek sch ...

who claimed the originals were written by Abdias of Babylon who was allegedly consecrated by Saint Simon and personally knew some of the

Apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

s. Abdias was supposed to have originally written them in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

and Latin, after which they were translated into

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

by "Eutropius", his assistant. The claims to the documents being genuine works of Abdias have been widely disputed for several centuries. Their original authorship was first brought into question over book six, which was associated with another assistant of Abdias called "Caton". Book six covers the lives of Saint Simon and Saint Jude. It has also been noted that a similar volume called the Pseudo-Crato was allegedly written by a disciple of Simon's called Crato. Pseudo-Abdias was published in 1703 by

Johann Albert Fabricius Johann Albert Fabricius (11 November 1668 – 30 April 1736) was a German classical scholar and bibliographer. Biography Fabricius was born in Leipzig, son of Werner Fabricius, director of music in the church of St. Paul at Leipzig, who was the ...

in the second volume of a collection he had compiled of

apocryphal Apocrypha () are biblical or related writings not forming part of the accepted canon of scripture, some of which might be of doubtful authorship or authenticity. In Christianity, the word ''apocryphal'' (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied to ...

manuscripts. He subtitled it ''"Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, sive, Historia Certaminis Apostolici adscripta Abdiae"'' (English: The Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, or, the History of the Apostolic Struggle ascribed to Abdias). The art historian Otto Demus argued that Pseudo-Abdias was a significant influence upon the designers of the mosaics of

St Mark's Basilica The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark (), commonly known as St Mark's Basilica (; ), is the cathedral church of the Patriarchate of Venice; it became the episcopal seat of the Patriarch of Venice in 1807, replacing the earlier cath ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. Meredith Parsons Lilich sees the same influence of Pseudo-Abdias in the

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

Reims Cathedral Notre-Dame de Reims (; ; meaning "Our Lady of Reims"), known in English as Reims Cathedral, is a Catholic cathedral in the French city of the same name, the seat of the Archdiocese of Reims. The cathedral was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and wa ...

References

External links

* , summaries by

M. R. James Montague Rhodes James (1 August 1862 – 12 June 1936) was an English medievalist scholar and author who served as provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918), and of Eton College (1918–1936) as well as Vice-Chancellor of the Univers ...

in the 1924 book ''The Apocryphal New Testament''
"Apostolic Histories (Virtutes apostolorum)"
overview and bibliography by Tony Burke and Brandon W. Hawk. NASSCAL: ''e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha''. {{Authority control Christian manuscripts New Testament apocrypha Pseudepigraphy