Page:The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas.djvu/70

 of Asia Minor. Standing on the shoulders of both, Pseudo-Peter wrote this romance. This will explain many things, especially the fact that Pseudo-Peter made use of the Acts of John and Paul, probably also of other sources.

According to Schmidt the Acts of Peter were composed between 200–210 A. D., at Jerusalem and Rome. Zahn pleads for Asia Minor, which would account for the author's ignorance of Roman affairs.

The Acts of Peter are valuable for our knowledge of the Ancient Catholic Church. They bring before us the Christian Church in its religious thinking, feeling and working at the end of the second century. Only a Catholic writer could present such a picture.

We first give the Coptic fragment. We then give Peter's affairs with Simon at Rome, or the Actus Vercellenses, which begin with Paul's abode at Rome and his taking leave of the congregation there (chaps. I–III). The next section (chaps. IV–XXXII) treats of Simon, the Magician, and the struggle which Peter had with him. Simon is overcome and the Roman congregation is re-established at Rome. The last section (chaps. XXXIII–XLI) treats of Peter's death and its causes.

With the exception of the martyrdom of Peter—which is extant in the Greek original—the greater part of the Actus Vercellenses is in Latin. This Latin text, which is found in MS. CVIII, 1 of the chapter library at Vercelli, follows after the Clementine Recognitions. The MS. belongs to the seventh century, but was probably copied from an earlier one, belonging, perhaps, to the fourth century.

(P. 128). But on the first day of the week, i. e., on Sunday, a multitude gathered together, and they