The Lost Chapter Of The Acts Of The Apostles
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The ''Lost Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles'', also known as the Sonnini Manuscript, is a short text purporting to be the translation of a manuscript containing the 29th chapter of the
Acts of the Apostles The Acts of the Apostles ( grc-koi, Πράξεις Ἀποστόλων, ''Práxeis Apostólōn''; la, Actūs Apostolōrum) is the fifth book of the New Testament; it tells of the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its messag ...
, detailing
Paul the Apostle Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
's journey to
Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Great ...
, where he preached to a tribe of Israelites on "Mount Lud" (
Ludgate Hill Ludgate Hill is a street and surrounding area, on a small hill in the City of London. The street passes through the former site of Ludgate, a city gate that was demolished – along with a gaol attached to it – in 1760. The area include ...
), later the site of
St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
, and met with Druids, who proved to him that they were descended from Jews. Thereafter, Paul preached in Gaul and Belgium, and then to Switzerland (Helvetia), where a miraculous earthquake occurred at the site of Pontius Pilate's supposed suicide. The canonical book of Acts ends rather abruptly with Paul kept under house arrest in chapter 28, which has led to various theories about the history of the text. This "Lost Chapter" does not explain how Paul escaped or was released from arrest to take up new travels.


History

The text made its first appearance in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
in 1871. According to the editor, it was translated in the late 18th century by the French naturalist
Sonnini de Manoncourt Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1 February 1751 – 9 May 1812) was a French naturalist. Career Between 1799 and 1808, Sonnini de Manoncourt wrote 127 volumes of the ''Histoire naturelle''. Noteworthy among these, especiall ...
from a "Greek manuscript discovered in the archives at
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
and presented to him by the Sultan Abdoul Achmet". It was found hidden in an English translation of Sonnini's ''Voyage en Grèce et en Turquie'' in the library of Sir John Newport, MP (1756–1843) after his death. However, no trace of any such manuscript has been found, and from internal evidence, mainstream philology considers it to most likely be a fraud, thus it is classed among the
modern pseudepigrapha Modern pseudepigrapha, or modern apocrypha, refer to pseudepigrapha of recent origin – any book written in the style of the books of the Bible or other religious scriptures, and claiming to be of similar age, but written in a much later (mo ...
. It is available in a 1982 edition by E. Raymond Capt () from Artisan Publishers, Muskogee, which is a publisher specializing in
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
fringe subjects.


Purpose and influence

The purpose of the book was likely to support
Anglo-Israelism British Israelism (also called Anglo-Israelism) is the British nationalist, pseudoarchaeological, pseudohistorical and pseudoreligious belief that the people of Great Britain are "genetically, racially, and linguistically the direct descenda ...
. Goodspeed, ''op.cit''. The book has not found attention in recent mainstream publications and is not mentioned on the website of the
British-Israel-World Federation The British-Israel-World Federation (also stylized as the British-Israel World Federation) is a United Kingdom-based organization that promotes British Israelism, a pseudohistorical belief that the people of the British Isles are direct desce ...
. The influence of that movement has declined.


See also

* '' St. Paul in Britain''


References


External links


"Strange New Gospels"
by Edgar Godspeed {{DEFAULTSORT:Lost Chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, The 1871 books 19th-century Christian texts Apocryphal Acts British Israelism Literary forgeries Modern pseudepigrapha English-language books