Praedicatio Petri (arabice)
Standard abbreviation: Pre. Pet. (Arab.)
Other titles: Martyrdom of Peter
Clavis numbers: ECCA 614; CANT 202
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Acts of Peter, Acts of Peter by Clement, Book of the Rolls
Compiled by Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Preaching of Peter (Arabic).” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/preaching-of-peter-arabic/.
Created April 2020. Current as of January 2024.
1. SUMMARY
Pre. Pet. (Arab.) has been published in two forms: a shorter text under the title “Preaching of Peter” by Margaret Dunlop Gibson, and a longer version under the title “Martyrdom of Peter” by Agnes Smith Lewis. The first story in the text, about the girl cured of leprosy, appears also in Acts Pet. Clem. ch. 5 and Book of the Rolls bk. 8.
The text begins with God/Jesus commissioning Peter to preach in Rome. Peter is reluctant since he is aged and has nothing but rags; he worries he will die there and wishes instead to die in Jerusalem. The Lord tells Peter he must go there to heal and preach, but promises he will watch over him. In Gibson’s text, Peter announces to the brethren that he must go, asks them to pray for him, and then crosses the sea to Rome. Lewis’s text is more detailed and explicit about how Peter gets to Rome: the Lord tells Peter to walk on the sea, as he had done before. When he arrives, the demons inhabiting the idols harangue him and he turns back to the sea. He asks Thomas, Andrew, and John (whose presence is not explained) to pray for him and then he goes into the city.
The people of Rome are shocked by how weak and ragged Peter looks; he falls—hungry, thirsty, and cold— upon the dung heap of a rich man, who is identified as a gatekeeper of the city. The man’s daughter sees Peter and asks her father to take him in. Peter notices that the girl has leprosy, brought on, she says, on the night she went to the home of her husband for their wedding. For six months she has prayed to her gods for relief but without success. Peter prays over a water pot and tells the girl to wash her hand in it. Her hand is healed and she shows her father, who tells Peter he will give him gold and silver to cure her entire body. Peter asks only that the man believe in Jesus and forsake his gods. He agrees and Peter cleanses the girl in a fountain and baptizes her.
The next day, Peter goes out into the city. It is a feast day and Peter, still dressed in rags, is stopped by troops and priests who ask him about his attire. He responds that his rags come from his Lord, the one and only god. Incensed, the officials want to stone him. The scene changes to the temple, where the emperor stands with his troops and priests and 100 women who are to be sacrificed to the gods. Peter is grieved and calls upon Jesus. A great cloud overshadows the temple and from it comes a wind that blows down and shatters the idols; the demons inhabiting them are released and they run to the mountains. In Lewis’s text, fire (lightning?) strikes the celebrants.
A messenger arrives to tell the emperor that his son has died. The gatekeeper’s daughter steps forward and tells him that Peter can raise his son back to life. As in the first tale, Peter is promised riches for his services but he asks only for belief. When the boy is restored, he blesses Peter and pronounces woes on his father, calling on him to believe in Peter’s god. Gibson’s text continues with the emperor asking his son where he has been. He reveals that he was in heaven before the throne of God. There God/Jesus said, “Let the desire of Peter, the captain of My church, be fulfilled,” and then the young man’s soul returned to his body.
The story ends with Peter baptizing the emperor, his son, and the troops and priests in a fountain and then sprinkling the rest of the people with the water. Peter remains in the city, preaching and baptizing.
Named historical figures and characters: Andrew (apostle), Claudius (emperor), Jesus Christ, John (son of Zebedee), Peter (apostle), Thomas (apostle).
Geographical locations: Jerusalem, Rome.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Arabic (BHO 938, 943)
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, arab. 405, fols. 223r–227r (1334/1335)
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, arab. 406, fols. 243r–245r (1258–1259) ~ LOC
Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, arab. 445, fols. 106v–115v (1233) ~ LOC
Gotha, Universitätsbibliothek Erfurt, ar. 2882, fols. 135r–139v (14th cent.)
Gibson, Margaret Dunlop. Apocrypha Siniatica. Studia Sinaitica 5. London: C. J. Clay and Sons, 1896 (text from Sinai ar. 445, pp. 56–62; translation, pp. 52–59).
Graf, Georg. Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur. 5 vols. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944 (manuscripts listed, vol. 1, p. 262).
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 Sinai ar. 405, pp. 178–84).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Gibson, Margaret Dunlop. Apocrypha Siniatica. Studia Sinaitica 5. London: C. J. Clay and Sons, 1896 (text from Sinai ar. 445, pp. 56–62; translation, pp. 52–59).
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 Sinai ar. 405, pp. 210–16).
3.3 General Works
Baumstark, Anton. Die Petrus- und Paulusacten in der literarischen Überlieferung der syrischen Kirche. Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1902 (pp. 27–30).
, Paul. “Notes sur la légende des apôtres S. Pierre et S. Paul dans la littérature syrienne.” AnBoll 21 (1902): 121–40 (see pp. 139–40 on possible Coptic origins).