''Lots of the Apostles'' () is the name of several texts used in Christian
divination, based on the ''
Acts of the Apostles'' 1:26, which describes how the
Apostles cast lots to select a replacement for
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot (; grc-x-biblical, Ἰούδας Ἰσκαριώτης; syc, ܝܗܘܕܐ ܣܟܪܝܘܛܐ; died AD) was a disciple and one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to all four canonical gospels, Judas betraye ...
.
The earliest reference to the ''Lots of the Apostles'' is found in the 6th-century ''
Gelasian Decree
The Gelasian Decree ( la, Decretum Gelasianum) is a Latin text traditionally thought to be a Decretal of the prolific Pope Gelasius I, bishop of Rome from 492–496. The work reached its final form in a five-chapter text written by an anonymous sc ...
'', a
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 ...
work from southern Gaul or northern Italy. It lists a , 'book which is called lots of the Apostles', among the
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 cite ...
. The identity of this text is uncertain. It may be a reference to the ''
Sortes Sanctorum
''Sortes Sanctorum'' (incipit ''Post solem surgunt stellae'') is a late antique text that was used for divination by means of dice. The oldest version of the text may have been pagan, but the earliest surviving example—a 4th- or 5th-century Gre ...
'', but this work is not otherwise called ''Sortes Apostolorum'' prior to the 13th century. In late antiquity, another text called ''Lots of the Apostles'' circulated in
Syriac Syriac may refer to:
*Syriac language, an ancient dialect of Middle Aramaic
*Sureth, one of the modern dialects of Syriac spoken in the Nineveh Plains region
* Syriac alphabet
** Syriac (Unicode block)
** Syriac Supplement
* Neo-Aramaic languages a ...
. Around 700,
Jacob of Edessa
Jacob of Edessa (or James of Edessa) ( syr, ܝܥܩܘܒ ܐܘܪܗܝܐ, Yaʿqub Urhoyo) (c. 640 – 5 June 708) was Bishop of Edessa and prominent Syriac Christian writer in Classical Syriac language, also known as one of earliest Syriac grammaria ...
in his canons forbade monks "to take answers ... from the Lots called the Apostles." He issued a similar rule in answering a question of Addai the Priest.
The identity of the work condemned by Jacob is also uncertain. It may be the Syriac work of the same title preserved in a 19th-century manuscript now in London,
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
, MS Or. 4434, at folios 41v–46v. This work contains 34 potential answers.
[, calls the text "Lots of the Holy Apostles". The identification is accepted by , who calls it ''The Lot of the Apostles''. It is edited in ] There is also a
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 ...
text entitled ''Lots of the Holy Apostles'' preserved in three manuscripts from the 15th to 17th centuries. It contains 87 answers. Neither of these texts can be securely identified with the ones condemned by the ''Gelasian Decree'' or Jacob.
Notes
Bibliography
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{{Divination
Bibliomancy