Martyrium Matthaei
Standard abbreviation: Mart. Matt.
Other titles: Martyrdom of Matthew in Parthia
Clavis numbers: ECCA 623; CANT 269
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Acts of Matthew, Acts of Matthew in the City of the Priests
Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Martyrdom of Matthew.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/martyrdom-of-matthew/
Created October 2021. Current as of January 2024.
1. SUMMARY
The only published portion of the Coptic text opens with a commissioning account with Matthew appointed Naein in Parthia; then follows a brief account of what follows in the Arabic and Ethiopic. These two versions begin with a short history of the apostle’s evangelizing efforts in Parthia (as in the Breviarum apostolorum and the Greek Acts of Matthew). Mentioned also is that Matthew wrote his Gospel in Hebrew while in Jerusalem. Matthew went into the city’s prison to preach to and heal the sick. While there he meets a man who was the slave of a certain Festus. He is imprisoned because he lost his master’s money at sea. The slave says that he will believe in Matthew’s god if the apostle helps him regain his freedom. Matthew tells him that he will be given an opportunity to repay his former master. The next day, Festus comes to torture his slave but the man begs for compassion and is allowed to go to where the boat sank. There he finds a bag of money and brings it to Festus. Festus thinks the money stolen, and when accused, the slave said he did everything at Matthew’s bidding. At the same time, a man warms Festus that a foreigner preaching about Jesus has come and will bring ruin to the city. Festus tells the king, who instructs the guards to behead Matthew and throw his body on the ground where the birds can devour it. God sends two men to gather the head and corpse and put them in a tomb. The slave mourns for Matthew for three days (the Ethiopic text adds that he died 15 days later). The text gives the date of Matthew’s martyrdom as 12 Paopi (Arabic: Bābah; Eth: Tikimt).
Named Historical Figures and Characters: Festus (of Parthia), Jesus Christ, Mary (Virgin), Matthew (apostle).
Geographical Locations: Berinat (’Apâyangê), Jerusalem, Naein, Parthia.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Arabic (BHO 723)
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. 208r–212r (19th cent.)
Florence, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Magl. III 29, fols. 163v–167v (ante 1664)
Leipzig, Universitätsbibliothek, Or. 1067 (Tischendorf 32) (15th cent.)
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, ar. 539, fols. 181r–184r (12th cent.)
Oxford, Bodleian Library, Bodl. Ar. 541 (Nicoll 49), fols. 64v–66r (18th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 81, fols. 114v–127r (16th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arabe 4770, fols. 286v–291v (19th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Borg. ar. 223 (1729)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sbath 500, fols. 144v–148r (15th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 171, fols. 49v–51v (17th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 694, fols. 118r–121v (14th cent.)
Wadi El-Natrun, Monastery of the Syrians (Dayr al-Suryān), no shelf number, fols. 116v–119r (14th cent.)
3.1.1.2 Garšūnī Script
Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 40, fols. 164r–167v (ca. 1750)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, syr. 232, fols. 279v–285v (17th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, syr. 237, fols. 143v–150v (1553)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sbath 124, fols. 143v–147r (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. Studi e testi 118, 133, 146–147, 172. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944–1953 (survey of Arabic manuscripts, vol. 1, 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 Dayr al-Suryān MS, pp. 91–94).
3.1.2 Coptic
3.1.2.1 Martyrdom of Matthew (BHO 722; CPC 0585; PaThs entry; see links for editions)
New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M635 (=MICH.CG), fols. 14v–15r (ca. 10th cent.)
MONB.BY, pp. ?–? (ca. 10th cent.)
MONB.GQ, pp. ?–? (ca. 10th cent.)
MONB.QY, pp. ?–203 (10th cent.)
3.1.2.2 Copto-Arabic Synaxarion
The Copto-Arabic Synaxarion includes various elements of the text for Oct. 9.
Basset, René. “Le Synaxaire arabe jacobite (rédaction copte) I: les mois de Tout de Babeh.” Patrologia orientalis 1 (1904): 223–379 (pp. 330–32).
3.1.3 Ethiopic
3.1.3.1 Martyrdom of Matthew (BHO 724)
London, British Library, Or. 678, fols. 49r–51v (15th cent.)
London, British Library, Or. 683, fols. 155v–157v (17th cent.)
London, British Library, Or. 685, fols. 59v–61r (18th cent.)
Manchester, John Rylands University Library, Eth. 6, fols. 49r–51r (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, E. A. Wallis. Gadla Ḥawâryât: The Contendings of the Apostles, Being the Lives and Martyrdoms and Deaths of the Twelve Apostles and Evangelists. 2 vols. London: Frowde, 1899–1901 (Ethiopic text based on British Library, Or. 678 and 683, vol. 1, pp. 114–18).
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 Ethiopic Synaxarion
The Ethiopian Synaxarion includes a summary of Mart. Matt. for Oct. 9 (Julian).
Budge, Ernest A. W. The Book of the Saints of the Ethiopian Church: A Translation of the Ethiopic Synaxarium: Made from the Manuscripts Oriental 660 and 661 in the British Museum. 4 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1928 (English translation from the entry for 12 Tikimt, vol. 1, pp. 140–41).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Budge, E. A. Wallis. The Contendings of the Apostles. 2 vols. London: Frowde, 1899–1901 (translation of the Ethiopic version, vol. 2, pp. 130–36).
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. 110–12).
Malan, Solomon C. The Conflicts of the Holy Apostles: An Apocryphal Book of the Early Eastern Churches. London: Nutt, 1871 (translation of the Ethiopic version based on Rylands Eth. 6, pp. 56–60).
3.2.2 French
Pérès, Jacques-Noël. “Actes de Matthieu dans la ville de Kahnat et Martyre de Matthieu en Parthie.” Pages 903–32 in Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Vol. 2. Edited by Pierre Geoltrain and Jean-Daniel Kaestli. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 443. Paris: Gallimard, 2005 (translation of Budge’s Ethiopic text, pp. 927–32).
3.2.3 Italian
Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (summary in vol. 2, pp. 508–509).
3.3 General Works
Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2 vols. in 3. Braunschweig: Schwetschke und Sohn, 1883–1887 (see vol. 2.2:128–29).
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. 223–30).
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 Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by R. McLachlan Wilson. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1992 (see pp. 460–61).
Pérès, Jacques-Noël. “Procès au tribunal de Festus, ou comment le Martyre de Matthieu en Parthie éthiopen récrit l’histoire.” Pages 301–10 in Histoire et hermeneutique. Mélanges pour Gottfried Hammann. Histoire et société 45. Edited by Martin Rose. Geneva: Labor et Fides, 2002.