Acta Andreae et Philemonis
Standard abbreviation: Acts Andr. Phlm.
Other titles: Preaching of Andrew, Preaching of Andrew in the City of the Kurds
Clavis numbers: ECCA 161; CANT 240
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Acts of Andrew and Matthias, Dialogue between Jesus and Andrew, Encomium on Mary Magdalene, Martyrdom of Andrew
Compiled by Ivan Miroshnikov, Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study and Centre for Egyptological Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences ([email protected])
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Miroshnikov, Ivan. “Acts of Andrew and Philemon.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/acts-of-andrew-and-philemon.
Created November 2018. Current as of March 2023.
1. SUMMARY
Acts Andr. Phlm. is a sequel to the Acts of Andrew and Matthias (CANT 236), comprising three sections. In section 1, Jesus appears to Andrew, Peter, Matthias, and Andrew’s disciples Rufus, Alexander, and Philemon, commanding Andrew to take Philemon and go to Lydda. After their arrival, Philemon sings sweetly in church, so that the pagan priests who had come to kill him and Andrew are instead converted. The section concludes with Andrew baptizing all the heathens of Lydda, including the priests.
In section 2, Satan comes to another city and causes the son of John, the city’s priest, to kill the son of the first citizen. John comes to Lydda and asks Andrew to resurrect the child, but Andrew sends Philemon in his stead. Satan causes Rufus, the governor, to arrest Philemon as the child’s murderer. Philemon then summons some birds, seeking a messenger to send to Lydda. Having witnessed the conversation between Philemon and a dove, Rufus converts. Satan then sends a demon to cause Rufus’s wife to kill their son. At last, Andrew arrives in the city and—together with Philemon—resurrects the sons of the first citizen and Rufus, heals Rufus’s wife, and sends the demon back to Gehenna. Rufus resigns his office and the emperor sends him a letter, informing him that all his possessions are to be confiscated. The messengers come to Rufus, witness Andrew perform a miracle, and immediately convert to Christianity. The section concludes with Jesus appearing to Andrew, now in danger because of the messengers he converted, telling him to flee to another city.
In section 3, Satan enters a pregnant young girl who then goes into the desert, gives birth to a boy, and kills him, dismembering the boy’s body and throwing the pieces of the corpse to her dog. The dog, however, refuses to eat the corpse. The girl sees a crowd on their way to meet Andrew and flees the scene. The dog approaches Andrew and brings him to the dismembered child. Andrew and Philemon resurrect the child, hide him in a secret place in heaven, then come to a city. The dog ascends the column on top of the city gate and summons the citizens. Immediately, thunder is heard, lightning strikes the houses, and the horrified people run to Andrew, asking him to spare them from death. Andrew rebukes them as sinners, they repent, then start building a church. When the girl who killed her child places a stone at the foundation of the church, the dog swallows the stone and bites her in her breast. Andrew urges the girl to confess her sin, but she claims to be innocent. The dog then exposes her lie and she dies. Andrew asks the girl’s master to send her servants to fetch the child and place him beside his dead mother. Then the infant asks Andrew to take him away from his mother and to give him to someone else. The ending of section 3 is missing.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: Adam (patriarch), Alexander (Andrew’s disciple), Andrew (apostle), Eve (matriarch), Jesus Christ, John (priest), Mājānā (demon), Matthias (apostle), Noah (patriarch), Philemon (Andrew’s disciple), Peter (apostle), Rufus (Andrew’s disciple), Rufus (governor), Satan, Seleucus (wazīr).
Geographical Locations: City of the Cannibals, Gehenna, Mount Ebal, Lycaonia, Lydda, Lydia, Paradise, Tintarān.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Arabic (BHO 48)
3.1.1.1 Arabic Script
Beirut, Bibliothèque Orientale de l’Université Saint Joseph, 1426 (1855) ~ contents not provided
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Graf 472 (18th cent.)
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 1 (13th/14th cent.)
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 2 (14th cent.)
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 3 (1626)
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 6 (not dated) ~ no descript.
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 7 (14th cent.)
Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 16 (15th cent.)
Cairo, Coptic Museum, 59, fols. 182r–189r (19th cent.)
Cairo, Coptic Museum, 60, fols. 86v–101r (19th cent.)
Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Magl. III 29, fols. 26v–39v (ante 1664)
Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, Or. 1067 (Tischendorf 32) (15th cent.)
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, ar. 539, fols. 63v–72v (12th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 81, fols. 1r–4r (16th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 4770, fols. 68v–82v (19th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 4771, fols. 189r–200r (19th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Borg. Ar. 223 (1729)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sbath 500, fols. 29r–41r (15th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 694, fols. 18r–30v (14th cent.)
Wadi El-Natrun, Monastery of the Syrians (Dayr al-Suryān), no shelf number, fols. 18v–27v (14th cent.)
Bausi, Alessandro. “Alcune osservazioni sul Gadla ḥawāryāt.” Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli 60–61 (2001–2002): 77–114 (list of 31 Arabic manuscripts of the Arabic acts collection, pp. 97–101).
Graf, Georg. Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur. 5 vols. Studi e testi 118, 133, 146–147, 172. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944–1953 (survey of Arabic manuscripts comprising Acts Andr. Phlm., vol. 1, pp. 259–63).
Lewis, Agnes Smith. Acta mythologica apostolorum. Horae semiticae 3. London: Clay, 1904 (Arabic text from the Dayr al-Suryān manuscript, pp. 3–11).
3.1.1.2 Garšūnī
Diyarbakir, Library of the Chaldean Archdiocese, 146 (17th cent.) ~ History of Andrew (catalog)
Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 40, fols. 42v–52v (ca. 1750)
Mardin, Chaldean Cathedral, 500, fol. 1r–17r (18th cent.) ~ “Acts of Andrew” (HMML)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Syr. 232, fols. 220v–226v (17th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sbath 124, fols. 21r–31r (16th cent.)
3.1.2 Coptic
3.1.2.1 Acts of Andrew and Philemon (CPC 0560; PAThs entry; see individual links for editions)
MONB.DN (10th–12th cent.), pp. 50–110
MONB.DM, pages uncertain (10th–12th cent.)
MONB.QY, pp. 4[7]–4[8] (ca. 900–950 CE)
CLM 1245 (=Codex X), pp. 19–20 (10th–12th cent.)
Codex Y: Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. copt. 103, fol. 1 (prior to 14th cent.)
Codex Z: Helsinki, Ilves Collection (7th cent.) ~ images in Miroshnikov, pls. 3–4
Miroshnikov, Ivan. “The Acts of Andrew and Philemon in Sahidic Coptic.” Apocrypha 28 (2017): 9–83 (edition and translation of the Coptic fragments of Acts Andr. Phlm.); plates in Apocrypha 29 (2018): 29–33.
3.1.2.2 Copto-Arabic Synaxarion
The Copto-Arabic Synaxarion includes a summary of section 1 of Acts Andr. Phlm. for Nov. 30.
Basset, René. “Le Synaxaire arabe jacobite (rédaction copte) II: les mois de Hatour et de Kihak.” Patrologia orientalis 3 (1909): 243–545 (edition and translation of the summary of Acts Andr. Phlm. 1 in the Copto-Arabic Synaxarion, pp. 376–77).
Forget, Jacques. Synaxarium alexandrinum: pars prior. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 78. Leuven: Secrétariat du Corpus SCO, 1921 (translation of the summary of Acts Andr. Phlm. 1 in the Copto-Arabic Synaxarion, pp. 174–75).
Forget, Jacques. Synaxarium alexandrinum: tomus I. Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium 47–49. Leuven: Secrétariat du Corpus SCO, 1963 (edition of the summary of Acts Andr. Phlm. 1 in the Copto-Arabic Synaxarion, pp. 133–34).
3.1.3 Ethiopic (BHO 49)
3.1.3.1 Acts of Andrew and Philemon
London, British Library, Or. 678, fols. 119r–129v (15th cent.)
London, British Library, Or. 683, fols. 231v–241v (17th cent.)
London, British Library, Or. 685, fols. 71r–78r (18th cent.)
Manchester, John Rylands University Library, Eth. 6, fols. 76r–76v, 94r–102v (19th cent.)
Bausi, Alessandro. “Alcune osservazioni sul Gadla ḥawāryāt.” Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli 60–61 (2001–2002): 77–114 (list of 31 manuscripts of the Ethiopic acts collection, pp. 93–97).
Budge, E. A. Wallis. Gadla Ḥawâryât: The Contendings of the Apostles, Being the Lives and Martyrdoms and Deaths of the Twelve Apostles and Evangelists. 2 vols. London: Frowde, 1899–1901 (Ethiopic text based on British Library, Or. 678 and 683, vol. 1, pp. 140–56).
Pisani, Vitagrazia. “The apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: unknown witnesses from East Tәgray.” Pages 75–93 in Essays in Ethiopian Manuscript Studies. Proceedings of the International Conference Manuscripts and Texts, Languages and Contexts: the Transmission of Knowledge in the Horn of Africa. Hamburg, 17–19 July 2014. Edited by Alessandro Bausi, Alessandro Gori, and Denis Nosnitsin. Supplements to Aethiopica 4. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2015 (descriptions of ten Ethiopic manuscripts cataloged for the Ethio-SPaRe project).
3.1.3.2 Ethiopic Synaxarion
The Ethiopian Synaxarion (first recension) includes a summary of section 1 of Acts Andr. Phlm. for Nov. 30; the second recension also includes a summary of section 2.
Grébaut, Sylvain. “Le Synaxaire éthiopien IV: le mois de Tâḥschâsch.” Patrologia orientalis 15 (1927): 545–798 (edition and translation of the summary of Acts Andr. Phlm. 1 in the first recension of the Ethiopian Synaxarion, pp. 577–79; edition and translation of the summary of Acts Andr. Phlm. 1–5 in the second recension of the Ethiopian Synaxarion, pp. 583–87).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Contendings of the Apostles. 2 vols. London: Frowde, 1899–1901 (translation of the Ethiopic version of Acts Andr. Phlm., vol. 2, pp. 163–82).
Malan, Solomon C. The Conflicts of the Holy Apostles: An Apocryphal Book of the Early Eastern Churches. London: Nutt, 1871 (translation of the Ethiopic version of Acts Andr. Phlm. based on Rylands Eth. 6, pp. 99–112).
Miroshnikov, Ivan. “The Acts of Andrew and Philemon in Sahidic Coptic.” Apocrypha 28 (2017): 9–83.
__________. “The Acts of Andrew and Philemon: A Translation and Introduction.” Pages 196–230 in vol. 3 of New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. 3 vols. Edited by Tony Burke with Brent Landau. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016–2023 (translation of the Coptic manuscripts in parallel with an updated translation of Lewis’s Arabic text).
Lewis, Agnes Smith. The Mythological Acts of the Apostles. Horae semiticae 4. London: Clay, London, 1904 (translation of the Arabic version of Acts Andr. Phlm. from the Dayr al-Suryān manuscript, pp. 1–10).
3.2.2 Italian
Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (summary, pp. 537–38).
Guidi, Ignazio. “Gli Atti apocrifi degli Apostoli nei testi copti, arabi ed etiopici.” Giornale della Società asiatica italiana 2 (1888): 1–66 (translation of MONB.DN, pp. 53–60 and MONB.DM [n+2]–[n+3], pp. 22–26.)
3.3 General Works
Otero, Aurelio de Santos. “Later Acts of Apostles.” Pages 426–82 in New Testament Apocrypha. Vol. 2: Writings Relating to the Apostles; Apocalypses and Related Subjects. Edited by Wilhem Schneemelcher. Translated by R. McLachlan Wilson. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1992 (see p. 451).
Peterson, Peter M. Andrew, Brother of Simon Peter, his History and his Legends. NovT Sup 1. Leiden: Brill, 1958; repr. 1963 (pp. 36–37).