Martyrdom of Bartholomew

Martyrium Bartholomaei

Standard abbreviation: Mart. Bart.

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 306; CANT 260

Category: Apocryphal Acts

Related literature: Preaching of Bartholomew, Preaching of Peter to Faustus

Compiled by Tony Burke, York University ([email protected]).

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Martyrdom of Bartholomew.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/martyrdom-of-bartholomew/.

Created October 2020. Current as of April 2023.

1. SUMMARY

The martyrdom of Bartholomew takes place on the first day of Tūt (Julian 29 August). At the end of Bartholomew’s missionary journeys, he visits the great cities (named in the Ethiopic text as Nasmêfin and Naidas) built upon the shore of the sea. When he enters each city, he preaches a combination of beatitudes that has an overlap in the Preaching of Peter to Faustus: “Blessed are the poor . . .” (Matt 5:3), “the merciful . . .” (Matt 5:7), “the peacemakers . . .” (Matt 5:9), “those who hunger . . .” (Matt 5:6), “those who give to the poor, for unto them shall God give in return” (cf. Prov 19:17), and “those who have wives, and who are as if they had them not, for they shall become the children of life, and inherit everlasting life” (Acts Paul 3:5; 1 Cor 7:29). Those who hear Bartholomew become believers, forsake their idols, and remit the debts of their neighbors.

Word of Bartholomew’s success reaches king Agrippus (Ethiopic: Acarpus). When his wife Iphia hears of the apostle’s ascetic teachings, she withdraws from the king. Agrippus calls Bartholomew to appear before him and he asks him if he is a wizard and friend of Jesus. Bartholomew affirms his association with Jesus but denies the charge of sorcery. The apostle is dismissed but Agrippus is undeterred. Bartholomew then heals a man with a withered hand who is blind in his right eye. The man becomes a believer and goes out preaching about the apostle and his healing abilities.

In consultation with the nobles, Agrippus suggests killing Bartholomew and destroying his body; having witnessed the apostle’s marvels, the nobles prefer to drive him out of the city. Agrippus’s soldiers bring Bartholomew before the king. He asks him if he has been troubling the city and telling women to separate from their husbands; Bartholomew responds that it is not he but God who compels people to live in purity. Agrippus is angered and commands the soldiers to fill a sack with sand, put Bartholomew in it, and throw it in the sea. But the body is not lost. A day later, the water casts Bartholomew on the shore and the people wrap him in a shroud and bury him in a “good place.”

Named historical figures and characters: Agrippus (king of Naidas), Bartholomew (apostle), Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Peter (apostle), Satan.

Geographical locations: Nasmêfin, Nindos (Naidas/Andinûs).

2. RESOURCES

2.1 Online Resources

“Bartholomew the Apostle.” Wikipedia.

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Arabic (BHO 157)

3.1.1.1 Arabic Script

Beirut, Bibliothèque Orientale de l’Université Saint Joseph, 1426 (1855)  ~ contents unconfirmed

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) ~ contents unconfirmed

Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 7 (14th  cent.)

Cairo, Coptic Catholic Patriarchate Library, Hist. 16 (15th cent.)

Cairo, Coptic Museum, 60, fols. 171r175r (19th cent.)

Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Christ. Arab. 84, fols. 15r–19v (ca. 1780) ~ pagination includes Preaching of Bartholomew)

Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Christ Arab. 87b, fols. 26r–33r (ca. 1600 and 1700) ~ pagination includes Preaching of Bartholomew)

Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Magl. III 29, fols. 124r127v (ante 1664)

Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, Or. 1067 (Tischendorf 32) (15th cent.)

Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, ar. 539, fols. 126v129r (12th cent.)

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodl. Ar. 541 (Nicoll 49), fols. 48r–50r (18th cent.)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 81, fols. 86r89v (16th cent.)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 4770, fols. 214r218v (19th cent.)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Borg. ar. 223 (1729)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sbath 500, fols. 105r–108v (15th cent.)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 171, fols. 31v33r (17th cent.)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 536, fols. 64v67v (15th cent.)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 694, fols. 85r88r (14th cent.)

Wadi El-Natrun, Monastery of the Syrians (Dayr al-Suryān), no shelf number, fols. 86r89r (14th cent.)

3.1.1.2 Garšūnī Script

Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 40, fols. 84v–88r (ca. 1750)

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, syr. 232, fols. 266r–286r (17th cent.)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sbath 124, fols. 105r–109r (16th 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).

online-bulletGraf, Georg. Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur. 5 vols. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944 (discussion and manuscript listing, pp. 260–64).

Lewis, Agnes Smith, ed. Acta Mythologica Apostolorum, Transcribed from an Arabic Ms. in the Convent of Deyr-es-Suriani, Egypt, and from Mss. in the Convent of St Catherine, on Mount Sinai. Horae Semiticae 3. London: C.J. Clay and Sons, 1904. (Arabic text based on unidentified Deir al-Suryān MS, pp. 64–66).

3.1.2 Coptic

3.1.2.1 Martyrdom of Bartholomew (BHO 158; CPC 0564; PAThs entry; see links for editions)

MONB.GQ, pp. ?–? (ca. 10th cent.)

New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M635 (=MICH.CG), fols. 4r–5v (ca. 10th cent.)

3.1.2.2 Copto-Arabic Synaxarion

The Copto-Arabic Synaxarion includes a summary of the martyrdom in the entry on Bartholomew for August 29.

Basset, René. “Le Synaxaire arabe jacobite: Mois de Tout et de Babeh.” Patrologia orientalis 1 (1904): 224–545 (edition and translation of the summary of a portion of Acts Andr. Bart. in the Copto-Arabic Synaxarion, pp. 224–26).

3.1.3 Ethiopic

3.1.3.1 Martyrdom of Bartholomew

A  Karan (Eritrea), Monstery of Abbā (or Abuna) Sayfa Mikā’ēl, EMML 1482, fols. 48r50r (15th cent.) ~ catalog

B  Ambāssal (Wallo), Monastery of Hayq Estifānos, EMML 1767, fols. 38r42r (13th cent.) ~ catalog

C  Ambāssal (Wallo), Monastery of Hayq Estifānos, EMML 1825, fols. 27r29v, 53v (14th/15th cent.) ~ catalog

F  EMML 6839, fols. 29r35r (14th cent.) ~ pagination includes Preaching of Bartholomew)

EMML 7604, fols. 129r137v (14th cent.) ~ pagination includes Preaching of Bartholomew)

H  Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Éth. 52, fols. 42r46v (14th cent.) ~ Gallica

J  Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Éthiopien d’Abbadie 58, fols. 25r29r (15t/16th cent.) ~ Gallica

K  Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Éthiopien d’Abbadie 64, fols. 31r33v (16th cent.) ~ Gallica

L  London, British Library, Or. 678, fols. 38r42r  (15th cent.) (=Budge A)

M  London, British Library, Or. 683, fols. 136v139r (17th cent.) (=Budge B)

Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Tānāsee 173 (Kebrān 62), fols. 31v42v (14th/15th cent.)

W  Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Magl. III 4, fols. 1v17v (17th cent.) ~ ~ pagination includes Preaching of Bartholomew)

London, British Library, Or. 685, fols. 51r53r (18th cent.)

Manchester, John Rylands University Library, Eth. 6, fols. 39r–41v (19th cent.)

Bausi, Alessandro. “Alcune osservazioni sul Gadla ḥawāryāt.” Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli 60–61 (2001–2002): 77–114 (list of 31 Ethiopic manuscripts of the collection, pp. 93–97).

Budge, Ernest A. W. Gadla Ḥawâryât: The Contendings of the Apostles, Being the Lives and Martyrdoms and Deaths of the Twelve Apostles and Evangelists. Vol. 1. London: Henry Frowde, 1899 (Ethiopic text based on British Library, Or. 678 and 683, pp. 93–100).

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 Ethiopian Synaxarion (summary for 1 Meskerem)

Budge, Ernest A. W. The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1928 (English translation of summary of the text from the Ethiopic Synaxarion, vol. 1, pp. 1–4).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Budge, E. Wallis. Gadla Ḥawâryât: The Contendings of the Apostles, Being the Lives and Martyrdoms and Deaths of the Twelve Apostles and Evangelists. Vol. 2 (English translations). London: Henry Frowde, 1901 (English translation, pp. 104–10).

Lewis, Agnes Smith. The Mythological Acts of the Apostles, Translated from an Arabic Ms. in the Convent of Deyr-es-Suriani, Egypt, and from Mss. in the Convent of St Catherine on Mount Sinai and in the Vatican Library. Horae Semiticae 4. London: C.J. Clay and Sons, 1904 (English translation, pp. 76–79).

Malan, Solomon C. The Conflicts of the Holy Apostles, An Apocryphal Book of the Early Eastern Church. London: D. Nutt, 1871 (English translation of the Ethiopic texts based on Rylands Eth. 6, pp. 39–43).

3.2.2 French

Bausi, Alessandro. “Prédication de Barthélemy dans la ville de l’Oasis et Martyre de Actes de Barthélemy.” Pages 875–99 in Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Vol. 2. Edited by Pierre Geoltrain and Jean-Daniel Kaestli. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 443. Paris: Gallimard, 2005 (translation based on Ethiopic text manuscripts A–M, pp. 894–99).

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 pp. 452–53).

Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2 vols. in 3 parts. Braunschweig, 1883–1890 (see vol. 2.2:54–76).

McDowell, Sean. The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus. Abindgon: Ashgate, 2008. Repr. London and New York: Routledge, 2015 (pp. 211–22).