Letter of Peter to Philip

Epistula Petri ad Philippum

Standard abbreviation: Ep. Pet. Phil.

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 612; CANT 26

Category: Revelatory Dialogues

Related literature: Acts 2

Compiled by: Pamela Mullins Reaves, Colorado College ([email protected])

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Reaves, Pamela Mullins. “Letter of Peter to Philip.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/letter-of-peter-to-philip/.

Created September 2020.

1. SUMMARY

Ep. Pet. Phil. survives in two Coptic manuscripts, Nag Hammadi Codex VIII and Codex Tchacos; the manuscripts include some intriguing variants, but offer broadly comparable texts. The text depicts a post-resurrection revelatory dialogue between Jesus and his disciples. The “letter” itself appears only at the beginning of the narrative, where it sets the stage for a reunion of the disciples. Specifically, Peter  writes to Philip, who appears to have parted from the other disciples, encouraging him to rejoin them. According to the letter, Peter’s request is based on Jesus’ desire for a unified apostolic enterprise. Ep. Pet. Phil. notes Philip’s positive reception of the letter and his subsequent gathering with the disciples at the Mount of Olives; Philip’s return serves as the transition between the epistolary prologue and the dialogue that follows.

After a pair of prayers to the “Father of the light” (133,22) and the “Son of life” (134,3–4), the disciples experience the resurrected Jesus Christ as a “great light” and “voice” (134,10–13). As the encounter continues, the disciples pose a series of questions; Jesus’ responses clarify and extend what he had previously taught them. The content of this segment recalls typical “gnostic” perspectives, including an interest in the “deficiency of the aeons and their pleroma” (134,21–22), the disciples’ experience in the world, and the related threat of the archons (134,23–135,2). In his initial reply, Jesus references the “disobedience and foolishness of the Mother” as well as an ignorant “arrogant one,” recalling elements of a Sophia myth (135,8–22). He also notes his own descent in “the body” and appearance as “a mortal man” (136,16–22).

As Jesus concludes his instruction, lightning and thunder signal his ascent to heaven. The disciples, in turn, collectively return to Jerusalem and contemplate their prospective suffering. Peter and Jesus’ voice affirm that they will suffer in some way. Once back at the temple, Peter, “filled with holy spirit,” (139,14) preaches that Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected, yet was “a stranger to this suffering” (NHC VIII,139,21–22) or “a stranger to death” (Cod. Tch. 1,8,2–3). These reflections on persecution, suffering, and death mark a key theme in Ep. Pet. Phil., though the nature of the suffering (including that associated with Jesus) and the appropriate response are less clear. The archons, for their part, threaten one’s spiritual state and can be overcome through a united missionary effort. The latter is emphasized at the conclusion of the text, when the disciples receive the Holy Spirit along with a further commission from Jesus to spread the word. This scene, along with Peter’s sermon and Jesus’ ascent, recalls the Pentecost episode in Acts. Like Acts, Ep. Pet. Phil. affirms apostolic cooperation, yet periodically elevates Peter’s position.

Named Historical Figures and Characters: Jesus Christ, Peter (apostle), Philip (apostle).

Geographical Locations: Jerusalem, Mount of Olives, temple (Jerusalem).

2. RESOURCES

2.1 Web Sites

“Letter of Peter to Philip.” Early Christian Writings (with links to online translations and online and print articles).

“Letter of Peter to Philip.” Wikipedia.

“The Letter of Peter to Philip.” The Gnostic Society Library (English translation by Frederik Wisse).

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Coptic (Sahidic; CPC 660)

Cairo, Coptic Museum, Inv. 10550 (Nag Hammadi Codex VIII), pp. 132,10–140,27 (4th cent.)

Basel, Maecenas Foundation for Ancient Art, Codex Tchacos, pp. 1,1–9,17 (4th cent.) ~ IMAGES

Brankaer, Johanna, and Hans-Gebhard Bethge. “Der Brief des Petrus an Philipus.” Pages 7–80 in Codex Tchacos: Texte und Analysen. TU 161. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2007.

Kasser, Rodolphe and Gregor Wurst, eds. “The Letter of Peter to Philip.” Pages 92–109 in The Gospel of Judas Together with the Letter of Peter to Philip, James, and a Book of Allogenes from Codex Tchacos. Critical Edition. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2007.

Ménard, Jacques É. La letter de Pierre à Philippe: Texte établi et présenté. Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section “Textes,” 1. Québec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval, 1977.

Meyer, Marvin W. The Letter of Peter to Philip: Text, Translation, and Commentary. SBLDS 53. Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1981.

Wisse, Frederick. “NHC VIII,2: The Letter of Peter to Philip.” Introduction and Commentary by Marvin W. Meyer. Pages 227–51 in Nag Hammadi Codex VIII. Edited by John H. Sieber. The Coptic Gnostic Library. NHMS 31. Leiden: Brill, 1991.

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Bethge, Hans–Gebhard. “The Letter of Peter to Philip.” Pages 342–53 in New Testament Apocrypha. Vol. 1: Gospels and Related Writings. Revised Edition. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. English translation by R. McL. Wilson. Cambridge: James Clarke; Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1992.

Kasser, Rodolphe and Gregor Wurst, eds. “The Letter of Peter to Philip.” Pages 92–109 in The Gospel of Judas Together with the Letter of Peter to Philip, James, and a Book of Allogenes from Codex Tchacos. Critical Edition. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2007.

Meyer, Marvin W. The Letter of Peter to Philip: Text, Translation, and Commentary. SBLDS 53. Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1981.

_________. “The Letter of Peter to Philip.” Pages 233–38, Chapter 13 in The Gnostic Bible. Edited by Willis Barnstone and Marvin Meyer. Boston: Shambala, 2003.

_________. “The Letter of Peter to Philip.” Pages 585–93 in The Nag Hammadi Scriptures: The International Edition. Edited by Marvin Meyer, et al. New York: HarperOne, 2007.

Wisse, Frederick. “The Letter of Peter to Philip (VIII, 2).” Pages 431–37 in The Nag Hammadi Library in English. Introduction by Marvin W. Meyer. Edited by James M. Robinson and Richard Smith. Third Revised Edition. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1988.

_________. “NHC VIII,2: The Letter of Peter to Philip: Text, Translation, and Notes.” Introduction and Commentary by Marvin W. Meyer. Pages 227–51 in Nag Hammadi Codex VIII. Edited by John H. Sieber. The Coptic Gnostic Library. NHMS 31. Leiden: Brill, 1991.

3.2.2 French

Kasser, Rodolphe. “The Letter of Peter to Philip.” Pages 111–14 in The Gospel of Judas Together with the Letter of Peter to Philip, James, and a Book of Allogenes from Codex Tchacos. Critical Edition. Edited by Rodolphe Kasser and Gregor Wurst. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2007.

Ménard, Jacques É. “La Lettre de Pierre à Philippe.” Pages 457–63 in Gnosis: Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Edited by B. Aland. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1978.

Mahé,Jean-Pierre. “Évangile selon Philippe (NH II, 3).” Pages 1323–43 in Écrits gnostiques: La Bibliothèque de Nag Hammadi. Edited by Jean-Pierre Mahé and Paul-Hubert Poirier. Paris: NRF, 2007.

3.2.3 German

Brankaer, Johanna, and Hans–Gebhard Bethge. “Der Brief des Petrus an Philippus.” Pages 7–80 in Codex Tchacos: Texte und Analysen. TU 161. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2007.

Bethge, Hans-Gebhard. “Der Brief des Petrus an Philippus,” Pages 275–84, VIII,8 in Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung, I. Band: Evangelien. Sixth Edition. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher and Edgar Hennecke. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1990.

_________. Der Brief des Petrus an Philippus: Ein neutestamentliches Apokryphon aus dem Fund von Nag Hammadi (NHC VIII,2): Herausgegeben, übersetzt und kommentiert. TU 141. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 1997.

_________. “Der Brief des Petrus an Philippus (NHC VIII,2).” Pages 466–73 in Nag Hammadi Deutsch. NHC I-XIII, Codex Berolinensis 1 und 4, Codex Tchacos 3 und 4. Edited by Hans–Martin Schenke, Ursala Ulrike Kaiser, and Hans–Gebhard Bethge. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2013.

3.2.4 Polish

Myszor, Wincenty. “List Piotra do Filipa (Epistula Petri ad Philippum, Nag Hammadi Codex VIII,2).” Vox Patrum 17 (1997): 419–23.

3.2.5 Spanish

Piñero, Antonio. “Carta de Pedro a Felipe (NHC VIII,2, 132,10–140,27).” Pages 47–70 in Textos gnósticos, Biblioteca de Nag Hammadi II: Evangelios, hechos, cartas. Colección Paradigmas 23. Edited by Antonio Piñero, et al. Madrid: Trotta, 1999.

3.3 General Works

Aranda Pérez, Gonzalo. “El Apóstel Pedro en la literature gnóstica.” EstBib 47 (1989): 65–92.

Berger, Klaus. “Unfehlbare Offenbarung. Petrus in der gnosticischen und apocalyptischen Offenbarungsliteratur.” Pages 261–326 in Kontinuität und Einheit. Festschrift für F. Mussner. Edited by Paul–Gerhard Müller and Werner Stenger. Freiburg: Basel; Wein: Herder, 1981.

Bethge, Hans–Gebhard. “Der sogenannte ‘Brief des Petrus an Philippus’: Die zweite ‘Schrift’ aus Nag-Hammadi-Codex VIII eingeleitet und übersetzt vom Berliner Arbeitskreis für koptisch-gnostische Schriften.” TLZ 103 (1978): 161–70.

_________. “‘Der Brief des Petrus an Philippus’: Ein neutestamentliches Apokryphon aus dem Funde von Nag Hammadi (NHC VIII,2), herausgegeben, übersetzt und kommentiert, Diss. (B), Berlin, 1985.” TLZ 114 (1989): 396–98.

_________. “Zu einigen literarischen, exegetischen und inhaltlichen Problemen der ‘Epistula Petri ad Philippum’ (NHC VIII,2).” Pages 65–69 in Coptic Studies: Acts of the Third International Congress of Coptic Studies, Warsaw, 20–25 August, 1984. Edited by Wlodzimierz Godlewski. Centre d’archéologie mediterranéenne de l’academie polonaise des sciences. Warsaw: PWN–Éditions Scientifiques de Pologne, 1990.

Foster, Paul. “Peter in Noncanonical Traditions.” Pages 222–62 in Peter in Early Christianity. Edited by Helen K. Bond and Larry W. Hurtado. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2015.

Franzmann, Majella. Jesus in the Nag Hammadi Writings. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1996.

Funk, Wolf–Peter. Concordance des textes de Nag Hammadi: Les Codices VIII et IX. Bibliothèque copte de Nag Hammadi, Section “Concordances” 5. Sainte Foy: Les Presses de l’Université Laval; Louvain-Paris: Peeters, 1997.

Hartenstein, Judith. “Gedanken zur Kohärenz und Absicht des ‘Brief des Petrus an Philippus’ (NHC VIII,2).” Pages 475–82 in Ägypten und Nubien in spätantiker und christlicher Zeit: Akten des 6. Internationalen Koptologenkongresses, Münster, 20.–26. Juli 1996. Band 2: Schrifttum, Sprache und Gedankenwelt. Edited by Stephen Emmel, et al. Sprachen und Kulturen des christlichen Orients 6, 2. Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1999.

_________. Die Zweite Lehre: Erscheinungen des Auferstandenen als Rahmenzählungen frühchristlicher Dialoge. TU 146. Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2000.

_________. “Spekulationen über ein altes Philippusevangelium.” ZAC 13 (2009): 62–75.

_________. “Geschichten von der Erscheinung des Auferstandenen in nichtkanonischen Schriften und die Entwicklung der Ostertradition.” Pages 123–42 in Gelitten—Gestorben—Auferstanden: Passions- und Ostertraditionen im antiken Christentum. Edited by Tobias Nicklas, Andreas Merkt, and Joseph Verheyden. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010.

Kaler, Michael. “The Letter of Peter to Philip and Its Message of Gnostic Revelation and Christian Unity.” VC 63 (2009): 264–95.

King, Karen L. “Martyrdom and Its Discontents in the Tchacos Codex.” Pages 23–42 in Codex Judas Papers: Proceedings of the International Congress on the Tchacos Codex Held at Rice University, Houston, Texas, March 13–16, 2008. Edited by April D. De Conick. NHMS 71. Leiden: Brill, 2009.

_________. “Toward a Discussion of the Category ‘Gnosis/Gnosticism’: The Case of the Epistle of Peter to Philip.” Pages 445–65 in Jesus in apokryphen Evangelienüberlieferungen: Beiträge zu ausserkanonischen Jesusüberlieferungen aus verschiedenen Sprach- und Kulturtraditionen. Edited by Jörg Frey, Jens Schröter, and Jakob Spaeth. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010.

_________. “Theologies and Mission Practices among the So-Called ‘Heretics.’” Pages 441–55 in The Rise and Expansion of Christianity in the First Three Centuries of the Common Era. Edited by Clare K. Rothschild and Jens Schröter. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2013.

_________. “Engaging Diverse Early Christian Responses to Violence in Persecution.” PRSt 42 (2015): 307–17.

Koschorke, Klaus. “Eine gnostische Pfingstpredigt: Zur Auseinandersetzung zwischen gnostischem und kirchlichem christentum am Beispiel der ‘Epistula ad Philippum’ (NHC VIII,2).” ZTK 74 (1977): 323–43.

_________. “Eine gnostische Paraphrase des johanneischen Prologs: Zur Interpretation von ‘Epistula Petri ad Philippum’ (NHC VIII,2) 136, 16–137, 14.” VC 33 (1979): 383–92.

Krause, Martin. “Die Petrusakten in Codex VI von Nag Hammadi.” Pages 36–58 in Essays on the Nag Hammadi Texts in Honour of Alexander Böhlig. Edited by Martin Krause. NHS 3. Leiden: Brill, 1972.

Lapham, Fred. “The Epistle of Peter to Philip.” Pages 172–92 in Peter: The Myth, the Man and the Writings: A Study of Early Petrine Text and Tradition. JSNTSup 239. London: Sheffield Academic Press, 2003.

Lewis, Nicola Denzey. “Apostolic Traditions in Conflict: Letter of Peter to Philip, Acts of Peter and the Twelve Disciples, and the Apocalypse of Peter.” Pages 218–29 in Introduction to “Gnosticism”: Ancient Voices, Christian Worlds. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.

Luttikhuizen, Gerard P. “The Letter of Peter to Philip and the New Testament.” Pages 96–102 in Nag Hammadi and Gnosis: Papers read at the First International Congress of Coptology (Cairo, December 1976). NHS 14. Edited by R. McL. Wilson. Leiden: Brill, 1978.

_________. “The Evaluation of the Teaching of Jesus in Christian Gnostic Revelation Dialogues.” NovT 30 (1988): 158–68.

_________. “The Thought Pattern of Gnostic Mythologies and Their Use of Biblical Traditions.” Pages 89–101 in The Nag Hammadi Library after Fifty Years: Proceedings of the 1997 Society of Biblical Literature Commemoration. Edited by John D. Turner and Anne M. McGuire. NHMS 44. Leiden: Brill, 1997.

_________. “Witnesses and Mediators of Christ’s Gnostic Teachings.” Pages 104–14 in The Apostolic Age in Patristic Thought. Edited by Anthony Hilhorst. VCSup 70. Leiden: Brill, 2004.

Marjanen, Antti. “The Suffering of One Who is a Stranger to Suffering: The Crucifixion of Jesus in the Letter of Peter to Philip.” Pages 487–98 in Fair Play: Diversity and Conflicts in Early Christianity: Essays in Honour of Heikki Raisenen. Edited by Ismo Dunderberg, et al. NovTSup 103. Leiden: Brill, 2001.

_________. “The Figure of Authades in the Nag Hammadi and Related Documents.” Pages 567–81 in Coptic—Gnostica—Manichaica: Mélanges offerts à Wolf-Peter Funk. Edited by Louis Painchaud, Paul–Hubert Poirier, and Marc Pelchat. Quebec: Les Presses de l’Université Laval Éditions; Peeters, 2006.

Markschies, Christoph. “Was wissen wir über den Sitz im Leben der apokryphen Evangelien?” Pages 61–90 in Jesus in apokryphen Evangelienüberlieferungen: Beiträge zu ausserkanonischen Jesusüberlieferungen aus verschiedenen Sprach- und Kulturtraditionen. Edited by Jörg Frey, Jens Schröter, and Jakob Spaeth. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010.

Matthews, Christopher. Philip: Apostle and Evangelist. Configurations of a Tradition. NovTSup 105. Leiden: Brill, 2002.

Ménard, Jacques É. “La Lettre de Pierre à Philippe.” Pages 449–63 in Gnosis: Festschrift für Hans Jonas. Edited by B. Aland. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1978.

_________.  “La Lettre de Pierre à Philippe: sa structure.” Pages 103–107 in Nag Hammadi and Gnosis: Papers read at the First International Congress of Coptology (Cairo, December 1976). NHS 14. Edited by R. McL. Wilson. Leiden: Brill, 1978.

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Molinari, Andrea Lorenzo. “Petrine Traditions in the Acts of Philip: Letter of Peter to Philip, a Variant of a Q Saying Found in Matthew 18:21–22, Act of Peter and the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles.” Pages 1–23 in SBL Seminar Papers 39. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2000.

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Os, Bas van. “The Role of the Apostles in the Letter of Peter to Philip.” Annali di storia dell’esegesi 29 (2012): 155–60.

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_________. Peter: Apostle for the Whole Church. Studies on Personalities of the New Testament. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000.

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Tröger, Karl–Wolfgang. “Doketistische Christologie in Nag-Hammadi-Texten.” Kairos 19 (1977): 45–52.