Act of Peter

Act Petri fragmentum copticum

Standard abbreviation: Act. Pet.

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 177; CANT 190.I

VIAF: 179912906; 293919818

Category: Apocryphal Acts

Compiled by Luke Drake, Brigham Young University ([email protected])

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Drake, Luke. “Act of Peter.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/act-of-peter/.

Created October 2021. Last updated June 2023.

1. SUMMARY

The Coptic Act of Peter is a short, controversial account that narrates the healing and un-healing of a paralytic young woman at the hand of her father, Peter. While Peter heals a multitude of people who are sick, he is accused of neglecting his own half-paralyzed daughter. To demonstrate God’s power, Peter heals her. Once the spectators are persuaded, however, Peter re-paralyzes his daughter, stating that “this thing is profitable for you and me.” Peter elaborates on this cryptic saying by recounting two stories from the girl’s infancy and childhood. First, he describes a vision that he received on the day of his daughter’s birth, in which the Lord warned him that the girl would harm many souls if her body remained healthy. Ten years later, the meaning of the vision became apparent, when a wealthy man named Ptolemy saw the girl at a public bath and insisted continually to have her as a wife despite her mother’s refusals. After a two-page lacuna in the sole-surviving manuscript, the narrative resumes: Ptolemy’s slaves carry the girl back to her home, place her on the doorstep, and flee the scene. The body of Peter’s daughter has been paralyzed on one side. Based on secondary witnesses (e.g. Augustine, Contra Adimantum, the Acts of Philip) it appears that Ptolemy abducted Peter’s daughter, that Peter has offered a prayer on her behalf, and that she has been “saved” from defilement by means of divine paralysis. Meanwhile, Ptolemy goes blind from crying tears of grief over his actions and resolves to hang himself. At the ninth hour, however, he is commanded in a vision to go to Peter’s home where he is healed of his blindness, to the edification of many. Shortly thereafter, Ptolemy dies and wills his land to Peter’s daughter; her father sells and distributes entirely to the poor. The narrative returns to the present. Peter exhorts the interlocutor/reader, distributes bread to the crowd, and enters his home.

Note: since its discovery at the end of the nineteenth century, the Coptic Act of Peter has almost always been understood to be a fragment of the (now-lost) Greek Acts of Peter For this reason, modern translations of the Act Pet. are usually published alongside other texts believed to be part of the early Acts of Peter. Recent studies have called this relationship into question. Finally, scholars are almost entirely in agreement that Act Pet. is the Coptic translation of a Greek original. Michel Tardieu, however, contends that Act Pet. was originally composed in Syriac.

Named historical figures and characters: Jesus Christ, Peter (apostle), Petronilla (daughter of Peter), Ptolemy.

Geographical locations: none.

2. RESOURCES

2.1 Web Sites and Other Online Resources

Librivox audio recording of Bernard Pick’s English translation of the Act of Peter (referred to here as the “Deed of Peter”) (0:00–8:44).

“The Act of Peter.” Transcription of translation by James Brashler and Douglas M. Parrott.

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Coptic

Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum and Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen, P. 8502, pp. 128–141 (5th cent.)

Brashler, James, and Douglas M. Parrott. “The Act of Peter, BG, 4: 128,1–141,7.” Pages 473–93 in Nag Hammadi Codices V, 2-5 and VI, with Papyrus Berolinensis 8502, 1 and 4. Edited by Douglas M. Parrott. NHS 11. Coptic Gnostic Library. Leiden: Brill, 1979 (pp. 478–93).

Roy, Louise. L’Acte de Pierre (BG 4). Bibliotheque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section “Textes” 18. Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval; Leuven: Peeters, 1987.

Schmidt, Carl. Die alten Petrusakten im Zusammenhang der apokryphen Apostelliteratur, nebst einem neuentdeckten fragment, untersucht. TUGAL 24/1. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1903 (editio princeps, pp. 3–7).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Brashler, James, and Douglas M. Parrott. Pages 478–93 in Nag Hammadi Codices V, 2-5 and VI, with Papyrus Berolinensis 8502, 1 and 4. Edited by Douglas M. Parrott. NHS 11. Coptic Gnostic Library. Leiden: Brill, 1979.

__________. “The Act of Peter (BG 8502,4).” Pages 528–31 in The Nag Hammadi Library in English. Edited by James M. Robinson. 3rd rev. ed. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1990.

Elliott, J. K. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993 (pp. 397–98).

Meyer, Marvin. “The Act of Peter (BG 8502,4).” Pages 749–54 in The Nag Hammadi Scriptures. Edited by Marvin W. Meyer. New York: HarperOne, 2007.

Schneemelcher, Wilhelm. “The Acts of Peter.” Pages 271–321 in New Testament Apocrypha, vol. 2: Writings Related to the Apostles, Apocalypses and Related Subjects. Edited by Edgar Hennecke and Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by Robert McL. Wilson. English translation of the 3rd German edition. London: Luttersworth Press, 1963 (see pp. 285–87).

Stoops Jr., Robert F. The Acts of Peter. Early Christian Apocrypha 4. Salem, OR: Polebridge Press, 2012 (pp. 41–44).

3.2.2 French

Roy, Louise. “Acte de Pierre (BG 4).” Pages 1673–35 in Écrits gnostiques: La Bibliothèque de Nag Hammadi. Edited by Jean-Pierre Mahé and Paul-Hubert Poirier. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 538. Paris: Gallimard, 2007.

__________. L’Acte de Pierre (BG 4). Bibliotheque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section “Textes” 18. Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval; Leuven: Peeters, 1987.

Michel Tardieu, Écrits gnostiques: Codex de Berlin. Sources gnostiques et manichéennes 1. Paris: Cerf, 1984 (pp. 218–21).

Vouaux, Léon. Les actes de Pierre: Introduction, textes, traduction et commentaire. Les apocryphes du Nouveau Testament; Documents pour servir a l’étude des origines chretiennes. Paris: Letouzey et Ane, 1922 (pp. 221–27).

3.2.3 German

Nagel, Peter. Codex Apocryphus Gnosticus Novi Testamenti. Band 1: Evangelien und Apostelgeschichten aus den Schriften von Nag Hammadi und verwandten Kodizes. Koptisch und deutsch. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014 (ee pp. 328–34).

Schenke, Hans-Martin. Pages 845–53 in vol. 2 of Nag Hammadi Deutsch. Edited by Hans-Martin Schenke, Ursula Ulrike Kaiser, and Hans-Gebhard Bethge. 2 vols. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2001–2003.

Schmidt, Carl. Die alten Petrusakten im Zusammenhang der apokryphen Apostelliteratur, nebst einem neuentdeckten fragment, untersucht. TUGAL 24/1. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1903 (pp. 7–10).

Till, Walter C., and Hans-Martin Schenke. Die gnostischen Schriften des koptischen Papyrus Berolinensis 8502. 2d ed. TU 2: Berlin: De Gruyter, 1963.

3.2.4 Italian

Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (vol. 2, pp. 140–42).

Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrifi Del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Torino: Unione tipografico-editrice torinese, 1971 (vol. 2, pp. 1037–39).

3.2.5 Spanish

Piñero, Antonio, and Gonzalo del Cerro. Hechos apócrifos de los Apóstoles. 3 vols. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 2004–2011 (Spanish translation, vol. 1, pp. 540–45).

3.3 General Works

Baldwin, Matthew. Whose Acts of Peter? Text and Historical Context of the Actus Vercellenses. WUNT 2/196. Tiibingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2005.

Berno, Francesco. “L’ Atto Copto Di Pietro (P. Berol. 8502.4): Una Allegoria Anti-Eretica Romana? Tra Figlia Di Pietro / Grande Chiesa e Tolomeo / Simon Mago, per Una Nuova Collocazione d’un Frammento Petrino.” Annali Di Storia Dell’Esegesi 38.2 (2021): 301–25.

Dochhorn, Jan, “Peter’s Daughter: A Case Study from Late Antiquity.” In Trauma and Traumatization: In and Beyond Biblical Literature, edited by Eve-Marie Becker, Jan Dochhorn, and Else Kragelund Holt, pp. 85–99. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014.

Drake, Luke. “The Coptic Act of Peter in Late Antiquity: Virginity, Disability, Intertextuality.” JECS 31.4 (2023): 493–521.

Eurell, John-Christian, Peter’s Legacy in Early Christianity: The Appropriation and Use of Peter’s Authority in the First Three Centuries. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2021 (see pp. 182–84).

Ficker, Gerhard. Die Petrusakten: Beiträge zu ehrem Verständnis. Leipzig: J. A. Barth, 1903 (see pp. 47–51).

Henning, Meghan. “Chreia Elaboration and the Un-healing of Peter’s Daughter: Rhetorical Analysis as a Clue to Understanding the Development of a Petrine tradition.” JECS 24.2 (2016): 145–71.

———. “Paralysis and Sexuality in Medical Literature and the Acts of Peter.” Journal of Late Antiquity 8.2 (2015): 306–21.

Horn, Cornelia. “Suffering Children, Parental Authority and the Quest for Liberation? A Tale of Three Girls in the Acts of Paul (and Thecla), the Act(s) of Peter, the Acts of Nerseus and Achilleus and the Epistle of Pseudo-Titus.” Pages 118–45 in A Feminist Companion to the New Testament Apocrypha. Edited by Amy-Jill Levine and Maria Mayo Robbins. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2006.

Krutzsch, Miriam, and Günter Poethke. “Der Einband des koptisch-gnostischen Kodex Papyrus Berolinensis 8502.” FuB 24 (1984): 37–40 and tables T5–T6.

Lapham, Fred. Peter: The Myth, the Man and the Writings :A Study of Early Petrine Text and Tradition. London: T & T Clark International, 2004 (see pp. 36–46).

Misset-Van de Weg, Magda. “‘For the Lord always Takes Care of His Own.’ The Purpose of the Wondrous Works and Deeds in the Acts of Peter.” Pages 97–110 in The Apocryphal Acts of Peter: Magic, Miracles and Gnosticism. Edited by Jan N. Bremmer. Studies on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 3. Leuven: Peeters, 1998 (see pp. 102–104).

Misset-Van de Weg, Magda. “‘For the Lord always Takes Care of His Own.’ The Purpose of the Wondrous Works and Deeds in the Acts of Peter.” Pages 97–110 in The Apocryphal Acts of Peter: Magic, Miracles and Gnosticism. Edited by Jan N. Bremmer. Studies on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles 3. Leuven: Peeters, 1998 (see pp. 102–104).

Molinari, Andrea L. “I Never Knew the Man”: The Coptic Act of Peter (Papyrus Berolinensis 8204,4), Its Independence from the Apocryphal Acts of Peter, Genre and Legendary Origins. Bibliothèque Copte de Nag Hammadi, Section Études 5. Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 2000.

———. “Augustine, Contra Adimantum, Pseudo-Titus, BG 8502.4 and the Acts of Peter: Attacking Calr Schmidt’s Theory of an Original Unity Between the Act of Peter and the Acts of Peter.” SBLSP 38. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 1999.

Moss, Candida R., and Joel S. Baden. Reconceiving Infertility: Biblical Perspectives on Procreation and Childlessness. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015 (see pp. 193–96).

Poupon, Gérard. “Les ‘Actes de Pierre’ et leur remaniement.” ANRW II.25.6 (1988): 4363–83.

Schmidt, Carl. “Ein vorirenaeisches gnostisches Originalwerk in koptischer Sprache.” SPAW 36 (1896): 839–46.

Solevåg, Anna Rebecca. “Disabling Women in the Acts of Peter.” Pages 75–93 in Anna Rebecca Solevåg, Negotiating the Disabled Body: Representations of Disability in Early Christian Texts. Atlanta, GA: SBL Press, 2018 (pp. 75–93).

Tardieu, Michel. “Pourquoi L’Acte de Pierre a-t-il été inseré dans le Papyrus de Berlin 8502?” Pages 140–44 in Écritures et traditions dans la littérature copte. Journée d’études coptes, Strasbourg, 28 mai 1982. Cahiers de la bibliothèque copte 1. Leuven: Peeters, 1983.

Thomas, Christine M. The Acts of Peter, Gospel Literature, and the Ancient Novel: Rewriting the Past. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003 (see pp. 18–20, 45–46).

———. “Word and Deed: The Acts of Peter and Orality.” Apocrypha 3 (1992): 125–64 (see pp. 151–52).

———. “The Acts of Peter, the Ancient Novel, and Early Christian History.” PhD diss., Harvard University, 1995.