Page:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas.djvu/242

 936) and translated by W. Wright (Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, London, 1871, I, p. 172-333; II, p. 146 f., the text reprinted, 1892, by Bedjan, Acta martyrum et sanctorum, III (1892), p. 3 ff.) are of importance, although they have been revised already in a Catholic manner. A free Ethiopic rendering of our Acts has been made into English by J. C. Malan, in The Conflicts of the Holy Apostles, London, 1871, p. 187 ff.; E. W. Budge, The Contendings of the Apostles, I (Ethiopic text, London, 1899); II (Engl, transl., 1901), p. 319 ff., 404 ff. A short Greek version closely following the Ethiopic was published by James in Text and Studies, V. I (1897), P- 27 ff.

In Latin are extent a Passio and the Miracula beati Thomæ ("the Miracles of Blessed Thomas") but in a revised form. There is also extant an Armenian translation of our Acts; but the hymn to the soul is wanting.

In the Greek MSS. the matter is divided into thirteen "deeds," to which may be added as fourteenth the martyrdom of Thomas. The Acts of Thomas, whose Gnostic character is beyond mistake, include some hymns, copied in all simplicity by orthodox transcribers, who, being ignorant of Gnostic mythology, did not understand what was meant, but which betray their heretical origin at once to those who are acquainted with Gnostic speculations.

It is mainly for the light they throw on Gnostic ideas that the Acts of Thomas deserve to be studied; for they are a mere romance without any historic value. The object of the Acts seems to have been to delineate a Christian ideal as presented in Thomas, whose "acts of compassion, and the cures done by him as a free gift, and still more, his single-mindedness, and gentleness, and fidelity, show that he is a just man, or an apostle of the new God whom he preaches; for he continually fasts and prays, and eats only bread with salt, and his drink is water, and he wears one coat, whether in warm weather or in cold, and he takes nothing from anyone, but gives to others even what he has" (c. 20).

From the Acts we learn some interesting details about the Gnostic rites, and the agreement of the ritual with that described by Cyril of Jerusalem shows that, though most of the words of the prayers put into the apostle's mouth may be