Acta Titi
Standard abbreviation: Acts Titus
Other titles: Vita Titi
Clavis numbers: ECCA 702; CANT 298
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Acts of Paul
Maintained by Julia Snyder, Westcott House, Cambridge
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Snyder, Julia. “Acts of Titus.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/acts-of-titus/.
Created January 2016. Current as of February 2024.
1. SUMMARY
The Acts of Titus has three parts: his early life (chs. 1-3), his time as a companion of Paul, (chs. 4-6), and his time in office as bishop of Gortyna (chs. 7-12). The text is attributed to a certain “Zenas the lawyer” (from Titus 3:13). The text says that Titus grew up in a noble home in Crete. (Indeed, he is said to be of the lineage of Minos, king of Crete.) At the age of 20, a voice tells him that his classical education is of no benefit to him, so he turns to reading Hebrew scripture. His uncle, the proconsul, sends Titus to Jerusalem to investigate the activity of Jesus. There he witnesses the miracles, death, and resurrection of Jesus and becomes a believer. Titus receives ordination from the apostles and becomes Paul’s companion in his missionary endeavours. The two journey to Crete, where Titus encounters his brother-in-law Rustillus, who tells Titus not to preach against the pagan gods, but becomes a believer after Paul restores his deceased son to life. Together with Luke and Timothy, Titus remains with Paul until the apostle’s execution under Nero. Then Titus returns to Crete, where he destroys pagan temples and establishes churches. Titus dies in peace at the age of 94. The former polytheist temple in which he is laid to rest becomes a healing shrine. The text concludes with a brief chronology of Titus’s life.
Named historical figures and characters: Aphphia, Apollo, Artemis, Barnabas, Chrysippus, Dionysius the Aeropagite, Erastus, Euphemia (sister of Titus), Gamaliel, Herod Agrippa, Homer, Isaiah (prophet), Jesus Christ, James (son of Zebedee), John (son of Zebedee), Luke (evangelist), Minos, Onesiphorus, Panchares, Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle), Rustillus, Secundus, sister of Titus, Stephen (martyr), Timothy, Titus, Trajan (emperor), Vespasian, Zenas.
Geographical locations: Antioch, Asia, Caesarea, Cantanus, Chersonesus, Cisamus, Cnossus, Colossae, Corinth, Crete, Cydonia, Cyprus, Damascus, Derbe, Eleutherna, Ephesus, Gortyna, Greece, Hierapytna, Iconium, Jerusalem, Lampa, Lystra, Pamphylia, Paphos, Perga, Philippi, Pisidian Antioch, Rome, Salamis, Seleucia.
2. RESOURCES
2.1 Web Sites and Other Online Resources
“S01204: Titus, disciple of Paul.” The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity.
“Saint Titus.” Wikipedia.
“Saint Titus Cathedral.” Wikipedia. The Hagios Titus in Heraklion was built in the nineteenth century (replacing earlier structures, first in Gortyn and later in Heraklion) and houses the remains of Titus.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Greek (BHG 1850z)
Menology 1 (the earliest recension), represented by two manuscripts:
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 548, fols. 192v–196r (10th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ott. gr. 411, fols. 476v–480r (15th cent.)
Menology 2, represented by two manuscripts:
Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, hist. gr. 45, fols. 260v–263r (11th cent.)
Athens, Benaki Museum, 141, fols. 205r–205v (11th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Halkin, Francois, “La légende crétoise de saint tite.” AnBoll 79 (1961): 241–56.
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Pervo, Richard I. “The Acts of Titus.” Pages 406–15 in New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. Vol. 1. Edited by Tony Burke and Brent Landau. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016.
__________. The Acts of Paul: A New Translation and Commentary. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2014 (chs. 1–7 of Acts Titus reproduced p. 331–34).
__________. “The Acts of Titus: A Preliminary Translation, with an Introduction and Notes.” Pages 455–82 in SBL Seminar Papers, 1996. Atlanta: Scholars Press: 1996.
3.2.2 French
Rordorf, Willy. “Actes de Tite.” Pages 605–15 in volume 2 of Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Edited by Pierre Geoltrain and Jean-Daniel Kaestli. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 516. Paris: Gallimard, 2005.
3.3 General Works
Czachesz, István, Commission Narratives. A Comparative Study of the Canonical and Apocryphal Acts. SECA 8. Leuven: Peeters, 2007 (see pp. 208–23).
Elliott, Neil, and Mark Reasoners, eds. Documents and Images for the Study of Paul. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2011 (see pp. 337–40).
Guignard, Christophe. “Une légende non crétoise de saint Tite?” Ephemerides theologicae Lovanienses 92 (2016): 487–504.
Hartmann, Michael. “Vom Paulusbegleiter zum ‘Kalenderheiligen.’ Rezeptionsgeschichtliche Beobachtungen zu Titus in der apokryphen Literatur.” In Ein Meisterschüler: Titus und sein Brief. Michael Theobald zum 60. Geburtstag, edited by Hans-Ulrich Weidemann and Wilfried Eisele, 175–89. Stuttgarter Bibelstudien 214. Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2008.
James, Montague Rhodes. “The Acts of Titus and the Acts of Paul.” JTS 6 (1905): 549–56.
Krauter, Stefan. “Cretan Memories: Crete in the Letter to Titus and the Acts of Titus.” Early Christianity 13 (2022): 455–67.
Lips, Hermann von. “Die Timotheus- und Titusakten und die Leidensthematik in den Pastoralbriefen: Aspekte zur Entstehungszeit und Intention der Pastoralbriefe.” Early Christianity 2 (2011): 219–41.
__________. Timotheus und Titus: Unterwegs für Paulus. Biblische Gestalten 19. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 2017.
Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden, 2 vols. in 3 parts. Braunschweig, 1883–1890 (see vol. 2.2:401–406).
Nicklas, Tobias. “Die Akten des Titus: Rezeption ‘apostolischer’ Schriften und Entwicklung antik-christlicher ‘Erinnerungslandschaften.’” Early Christianity 8 (2017): 458–80.
__________. “Neutestamentlicher Kanon, christliche Apokryphen und antik-christliche ‘Erinnerungskulturen.’” New Testament Studies 62 (2016): 588–609.
Robertson, Michael Scott. “The Problem of Cretan Myths in the Reception of the Letter to Titus in Jerome, Chrysostom, and the Acts of Titus.” Apocrypha 33 (2022): 247–63.
Rouquette, Maïeul. “Mémoire apostolique et pseudépigraphie. Une comparaison des Actes de Barnabé et des Actes de Tite.” Études théologiques et religieuses 91 (2016): 703–12.
__________. “Étude comparée sur la construction des origins apostoliques des Églises de Crète et de Chypre à travers les figures de Tite et de Barnabé.” PhD thesis. University of Lausanne and University of Aix–Marseille, 2017.
Snyder, Julia A. “Relationships between the Acts of the Apostles and Other Apostle Narratives.” Pages 319–41 in Between Canonical and Apocryphal Texts: Processes of Reception, Rewriting and Interpretation in Early Judaism and Early Christianity. Edited by Jörg Frey, Claire Clivaz, and Tobias Nicklas. WUNT 419. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015.