Standard abbreviation: Mart. Jas. Alph.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 120
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Passion of James, Son of Alphaeus (Ps.-Abdias)
Compiled by Tony Burke, York University ([email protected]).
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Martyrdom of James, Son of Alphaeus.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/martyrdom-of-james-son-of-alphaeus/.
Created May 2020. Current as of July 2023.
1. SUMMARY
James, the son of Alphaeus, is named in the Gospels (Mark 3:18 par.; Acts 1:13) as one of the Twelve. An Alphaeus is also named as the father of Levi in Mark 2:14 (named Matthew in Matt 9:9 but without mention of Alphaeus). This information is combined in Mart. Jas. Alph. where James is identified as both son of Alphaeus and brother of Matthew. The text begins with James arriving in Jerusalem. He finds a group of Jews gathered there and begins to preach to them. His teaching entails basic points of orthodox doctrine: Jesus’ pre-existence with God, his incarnation and birth, and his death and resurrection. The assembly become angry at James (ignited, the author says, by their father the devil, cf. John 8:44). They seize him and bring him before the emperor Claudius. They bring forward false witnesses who charge James with hindering people from obeying the emperor. Claudius commands that James be stoned to death, and the Jewish antagonists carry out the punishment. His body is buried beside the temple. The day of his martyrdom is given as 10 Amshīr (Ethiopic 10 Yäkatit; February 4 Julian), his feast day in the Coptic and Ethiopian Churches.
Named historical figures and characters: Claudius (emperor), devil, James (son of Alphaeus), Jesus Christ, Mary (Virgin), Matthew (apostle).
Geographical locations: Jerusalem, temple (Jerusalem).
2. RESOURCES
“James, son of Alphaeus.” Wikipedia.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Arabic (BHO 390)
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. 212r–213v (19th cent.)
Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Magl. III 29, fols. 168r–169r (ante 1664)
Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, Or. 1067 (Tischendorf 32) (15th cent.)
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, or. 89, 1 ~ identification uncertain
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, ar. 423, fols. 106r–107r (1626)
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, ar. 539, fols. 184r–184v (12th cent.)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodl. Ar. 541 (Nicoll 49), fols. 66r–66v (18th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 81, fols. 131r–132r (16th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 4770, fols. 291r–292v (19th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 4771, fols. 236r–237v (19th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Borg. ar. 223 (1729)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sbath 500, fols. 148v–149v (15th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 171 (17th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 694, fols. 121v–122r (14th cent.)
Wadi El-Natrun, Monastery of the Syrians (Dayr al-Suryān), no shelf number, fols. 119r–119v (14th cent.)
Yabrud, Dair Mar Yakub, 16, fols. 106–119 (12th/13th cent.) ~ identification uncertain
3.1.1.2 Garšūnī Script
Diyarbakir, Library of the Chaldean Archdiocese, 154, 3 (15th cent.) ~ identification uncertain
Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 40, fols. 167v–168v (ca. 1750)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, syr. 332, fols. 288r–289r (17th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sbath 124, fols. 147v–148v (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).
Graf, Georg. Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur. 5 vols. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944 (manuscripts listed, vol. 1, pp. 258–64).
Gibson, Margaret Dunlop. Apocrypha Sinaitica. Studia Sinaitica 5. London: C. J. Clay & Sons, 1896 (Arabic text from Sinai arab. 539, pp. 63–64 [Arabic numbering]).
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-Surian MS, pp. 94–95).
3.1.2 Coptic
3.1.2.1 Sahidic (CPC 0586; PAThs entry)
New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M635 (=MICH.CG), fols. 15v–16r (ca. 10th cent.)
3.1.2.2 Copto-Arabic Synaxarion
The Copto-Arabic Synaxarion includes a summary of section 1 of Pre. Phil. for February 4 (10 Amshīr).
Basset, René. “Le Synaxaire arabe jacobite (rédaction copte) II: les mois de Toubeh et d’Amchir.” Patrologia orientalis 11 (1915): 505–859 (edition and translation of the summary of Pre. Jas. Alph. in the Copto-Arabic Synaxarion, pp. 812–13).
3.1.4 Ethiopic (BHO 391)
3.1.4.1 Martyrdom of James, Son of Alphaeus
London, British Library, Or. 678, fols. 99v–100r (15th cent.)
London, British Library, Or. 683, fols. 209v–210r (17th cent.)
London, British Library, Or. 685, fols. 108r–110r (18th cent.) ~ (with illumination fol. 109r)
Manchester, John Rylands University Library, Eth. 6, fols. 92*v–93v, repeated fols. 143r–144v (19th 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 Ethiopic acts 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. 223–24).
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).
3.1.4.2 Ethiopic Synaxarion
The Ethiopian Synaxarion includes a summary of the text for February 4 (10 Yäkatit).
Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1928 (vol. 2, pp. 611–12).
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. 264–66).
Gibson, Margaret Dunlop. Apocrypha Sinaitica. Studa Sinaitica 5. London: C. J. Clay & Sons, 1896 (English translation of Sinai arab. 539, pp. 60–61).
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 based on unidentified Dayr al-Suryān manuscript, pp. 113–14).
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 text based on Rylands Eth. 6, pp. 145–46).
3.3 General Works
Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2 vols. in 3. Braunschweig: Schwetschke und Sohn, 1883–1887 (see vol. 2.2:229–38).
McDowell, Sean. The Fate of the Apostles: Examining the Martyrdom Accounts of the Closest Followers of Jesus. Abingdon: Ashgate, 2008. Repr. London and New York: Routledge, 2015 (pp. 231–35).