Page:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas.djvu/25

 his life, but he goes about his work with the other prisoners as usual. On the third day Phrontina, lamented by her parents and soldiers, is carried forth on a bier to meet her death. . . . Paul raises Phrontina from the dead, and leads her through the city to the house of her father. The result is that the God who restored to life Phrontina, is now acknowledged by the multitude as the only God, the creator of heaven and earth. Paul goes to Philippi.

Here, as presently appears, Paul was put in prison because of Stratonike, the wife of Apollophanes. While at Philippi, messengers came to Paul with a letter from Corinth complaining of the teaching of Simon and Cleobius (Here follows the correspondence).

Another fragment contains a farewell scene, which reminds us of a like one, at Miletus, mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, chap. xx. Paul says : " The grace of the Lord shall go with me, that I may finish in patience all administration, which shall come to me." When they heard this, they became sad and fasted. And Cleobius rose up, and speaking through the spirit said to them : " Brethren, the [Almighty?] will permit Paul to accomplish all and allow him to go up [to Jerusalem?] ; thence he shall teach . . . in great instruction and knowledge and sowing of the word, that he will be envied, that he departs from this world." When the brethren and Paul heard this, they lifted up their voice, saying:. . . But the spirit came upon Myrte, and she said: "Brethren, . . . and look at this sign, by ( ?) . . . Paul namely, the servant of the Lord, shall save many at Rome, and nourish many by the word, that they shall be without number, and he reveals himself more than all believers. Then shall . . . come of the Lord Jesus Christ and a great mercy shall be . . . in Rome." And this is the manner in which the Spirit spoke to Myrte. All partake then of the bread, are filled with joy and celebrate the Lord's Supper, singing psalms. — This is the substance of the Coptic fragments.

Who was the author of the Acts of Paul? Tertullian (between 220 and 240) writes in his treatise De Baptismo, ch. XVII : " But if any defend those things which have been rashly ascribed to Paul, under the example of Thecla,