Volume 2, Slice 2 Part 37 (1/2)

827-828; Chase, in Hastings' _Bible Dict._ iv. 776.

_Acts of Thomas._--This is one of the earliest and most famous of the Gnostic Acts. It has been but slightly tampered with by orthodox hands.

These Acts were used by the Encrat.i.tes (Epiphanius, _Haer._ xlvii. 1), the Manichaeans (Augustine, _Contra Faust_. xxii. 79), the Apostolici (Epiphanius lxi. 1) and Priscillianists. The work is divided into thirteen Acts, to which the Martyrdom of Thomas attaches as the fourteenth. It was originally written in Syriac, as Burkitt (_Journ. of Theol. Studies_, i. 278 sqq.) has finally proved, though Macke and Noldeke had previously advanced grounds for this view. The Greek and Latin texts were edited by Bonnet in 1883 and again in 1903, ii. 2; the Greek also by James, _Apoc. Anec._ ii. 28-45, and the Syriac by Wright (_Apocr. Acts of the Gospels_, 1871, i. 172-333). Photius ascribes their composition to Leucius Charinus--therefore to the 2nd century, but Lipsius a.s.signs it to the early decades of the 3rd. (See Lipsius, _Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten_, i. 225-347; Hennecke, _N.T.

Apokryphen_, 473-480.)

_Teaching of the Twelve Apostles_ (Didache).--This important work was discovered by Philotheos Bryennios in Constantinople and published in 1883. Since that date it has been frequently edited. The bibliography can be found in Schaff's and in Harnack's editions. The book divides itself into three parts. The first (i.-vi.) contains a body of ethical instruction which is founded on a Jewish and probably pre-Christian doc.u.ment, which forms the basis also of the _Epistle of Barnabas_. The second part consists of vii.-xv., and treats of church ritual and discipline; and the third part is eschatological and deals with the second Advent. The book is variously dated by different scholars: Zahn a.s.signs it to the years A.D. 80-120; Harnack to 120-165; Lightfoot and Funk to 80-100; Salmon to 120. (See Salmon in _Dict. of Christ. Biog._ iv. 806-815, also article DIDACHE.)

_Apostolical Const.i.tutions._--For the various collections of these ecclesiastical regulations--the Syriac _Didascalia, Ecclesiastical Canons of the Holy Apostles_, &c.--see separate article.

(c) EPISTLES.--_The Abgar Epistles._--These epistles are found in Eusebius (_H.E._ i. 3), who translated them from the Syriac. They are two in number, and purport to be a pet.i.tion of Abgar Uch.o.m.o, king of Edessa, to Christ to visit Edessa, and Christ's answer, promising after his ascension to send one of his disciples, who should ”cure thee of thy disease, and give eternal life and peace to thee and all thy people.”

Lipsius thinks that these letters were manufactured about the year 200.

(See _Dict. Christ. Biog._ iv. 878-881, with the literature there mentioned.) The above correspondence, which appears also in Syriac, is inwoven with the legend of Addai or Thaddaeus. The best critical edition of the Greek text will be found in Lipsius, _Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha_, 1891, pp. 279-283. (See also ABGAR.)

_Epistle of Barnabas._--The special object of this epistle was to guard its readers against the danger of relapsing into Judaism. The date is placed by some scholars as early as 70-79, by others as late as the early years of the emperor Hadrian, 117. The text has been edited by Hilgenfeld in 1877, Gebhardt and Harnack in 1878, and Funk in 1887 and 1901. In these works will be found full bibliographies. (See further BARNABAS.)

_Epistle of Clement._--The object of this epistle is the restoration of harmony to the church of Corinth, which had been vexed by internal discussions. The epistle may be safely ascribed to the years 95-96. The writer was in all probability the bishop of Rome of that name. He is named an apostle and his work was reckoned as canonical by Clement of Alexandria (_Strom._ iv. 17. 105), and as late as the time of Eusebius (_H.E._ iii. 16) it was still read in some of the churches. Critical editions have been published by Gebhardt and Harnack, _Patr. Apost.

Op._, 1876, and in the smaller form in 1900, Lightfoot, 1890, Funk, 1901. The Syriac version has been edited by Kennet, _Epp. of St Clement to the Corinthians in Syriac_, 1899, and the Old Latin version by Morin, _S. Clementis Romani ad Corinthios epistulae versio Latina antiquissima_, 1894.

”_Clement's_” _2nd Ep. to the Corinthians._--This so-called letter of Clement is not mentioned by any writer before Eusebius (_H. E_. iii. 38.

4). It is not a letter but really a homily written in Rome about the middle of the 2nd century. The writer is a Gentile. Some of his citations are derived from the Gospel to the Egyptians.

_Clement's Epistles on Virginity._--These two letters are preserved only in Syriac which is a translation from the Greek. They are first referred to by Epiphanius and next by Jerome. Critics have a.s.signed them to the middle of the 2nd century. They have been edited by Beelen, Louvain, 1856.

_Clement's Epistles to James._--On these two letters which are found in the Clementine Homilies, see Smith's _Dict. of Christian Biography_, i.

559, 570, and Lehmann's monograph, _Die Clementischen Schriften_, Gotha, 1867, in which references will be found to other sources of information.

_Epistles of Ignatius._--There are two collections of letters bearing the name of Ignatius, who was martyred between 105 and 117. The first consists of seven letters addressed by Ignatius to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallians, Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans and to Polycarp. The second collection consists of the preceding extensively interpolated, and six others of Mary to Ignatius, of Ignatius to Mary, to the Tarsians, Antiochians, Philippians and Hero, a deacon of Antioch.

The latter collection is a pseudepigraph written in the 4th century or the beginning of the 5th. The authenticity of the first collection also has been denied, but the evidence appears to be against this contention.

The literature is overwhelming in its extent. See Zahn, _Patr. Apost.

Op_., 1876; Funk, _Die apostol. Vater_, 1901; Lightfoot, _Apostolic Fathers_, 1889.

_Epistle of Polycarp._--The genuineness of this epistle stands or falls with that of the Ignatian epistles. See article in Smith's _Dictionary of Christian Biography_, iv. 423-431; Lightfoot, _Apostolic Fathers_, i.

629-702; also POLYCARP.

_Pauline Epistles to the Laodiceans and the Alexandrians_.--The first of these is found only in Latin. This, according to Lightfoot (see _Colossians_, 272-298) and Zahn, is a translation from the Greek. Such an epistle is mentioned in the Muratorian canon. See Zahn, _op. cit_.

ii. 566-585. The Epistle to the Alexandrians is mentioned only in the Muratorian canon (see Zahn ii. 586-592).

For the _Third Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians_, and _Epistle from the Corinthians to Paul_, see under ”Acts of Paul” above.