Acta Petri et Pauli
Standard abbreviation: Acts Pet. Paul (Copt.)
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 242; CANT 201
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Story of Peter and Paul in Rome
Compiled by Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Acts of Peter and Paul (Coptic).” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/acts-of-peter-and-paul-coptic/
Created February 2024.
1. SUMMARY
Acts Pet. Paul (Copt.) has been published from three folios of a fragmentary manuscript; other possible witnesses have yet to be evaluated. In the first folio (numbered 37/38), Peter is brought to Damascus on a cloud to meet Paul who is with his disciples, teaching to the crowds. Peter tells Paul to leave the city because the people there are already in the faith; instead, he must come to Rome with him as Jesus had commanded. They walk for 110 days and three nights and reach Rome where they begin healing. Before long the entire city is following them. This angers the devil (here named Mastema). He appears in the city disguised as a venerable man from a distant land and attended by four demons: one in the appearance of a blind man, another with paralyzed feet, another suffering from madness, and the last mute, deaf, paralytic and leprous. A disguised devil attended by four men appears also in the Story of Peter and Paul in Rome.
On the second folio (numbered 45/46), Mastema promises golden statues to whoever heals his “sons.” Peter tests Mastema by asking how long he had known about him; Mastema says a month and twenty days but Peter counters that he has only been in Rome for three days. Mastema counters that he has been following news of the apostles’ travels from Tarsus, to Ephesus, Caesarea, Joppa, the Forum Appii, Nekletes, Ptolemais, and Cappadocia.
In the final folio (59/60) a commotion has occurred and the emperor seeks Peter and Paul, promising to make whoever finds them the ruler of ten cities. A cloud whisks Peter and Paul to Rome and sets them down on the edge of the palace. Mastema points them out and they are seized by soldiers.
Named historical figures and characters: Mastema, Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle).
Geographical locations: Caesarea, Cappadocia, Ephesus, Forum of Appius, Joppa, Nekletes, Ptolemais, Rome, Tarsus.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Coptic (CC 568; PAThs entry)
London, British Library, Or. 8802 (10th cent.) ~ PAThs
Uncertain witnesses:
Heidelberg, Papyrussammlung der Universität Heidelberg, Kopt. 286 (PAThs)
London, British Library, Or. 7561, pp. 111–113, 128 (PATHs)
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, P. Monac. Kopt. 152
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Copte 1317, fol. 7 ~ Gallica
Strasbourg, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, Copte 7a, 8, 9 (Paths); perhaps also 10–14
Strasbourg, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, Copte 532 (PAths)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. Borg. copt. 109, cass. xxvi, fasc. 130, pp. 101–108 (PAThs) ~ BAV
Lantschoot, Arnold van. “Les textes palimpsestes de B. M. Or. 8802.” Mus 41 (1928): 225–47 (text, pp. 230–35, and translation, pp. 242–44, of BL Or. 8802).
Layton, Bentley. Catalogue of Coptic Literary Manuscripts in the British Library Acquired Since the Year 1906. London: British Library, 1987 (description of BL Or. 8802, 215–16).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 French
Lantschoot, Arnold van. “Les textes palimpsestes de B. M. Or. 8802.” Mus 41 (1928): 225–47 (text, pp. 230–35, and translation, pp. 242–44, of BL Or. 8802).
3.3 General Works