Laudatio Thomae, auctore Niceta Paphlagone
Standard abbreviation: Encom. Thom.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 294
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Acts of Thomas
Compiled by Tony Burke, York University ([email protected]).
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Encomium on Thomas by Nicetas the Paphlagonian.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/encomium-on-thomas-by-nicetas-of-paphlagonia/.
Created May 2024.
1. SUMMARY
As with Nicetas’s other encomia on the apostles, Encom. Thom. is more a praise of Thomas than it is a report of his missionary activities. After a discussion of Thomas’s name (he is the “twin” because he was born with another, but the identity of this twin is not revealed), his calling (in vague terms), and his doubt in the resurrection (justified since “even angels can assume other forms”), Nicetas finally turns to Thomas’s journeys to the Parthians, Medes, and Ethiopians (later he specifies that Thomas was in India, as well as Hyrcania and Bactria). He mentions Thomas’s reluctance to go to these lands (“wearied by the burden of those nations”) and being “welcomed by Jesus as a servant” (a much gentler description of events from Acts Thom. 1). Jesus also accompanied Thomas on his journeys, freeing him from danger, and conversing with him in secrecy, adding to his mind divine and mysterious preaching. But Nicetas does not go into much detail about these matters, saying that this is the role of a historian. He does mention that Thomas built a royal (spiritual) palace for the king of India and goes into a lengthy comparison of Thomas’s martyrdom by the spear and the piercing of Jesus’ side on the cross. After Thomas’s death, Nicetas writes, demons of Tartarus recoiled at his wound, and the heavenly powers revered it as the image and example of Jesus’ side.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: Andrew (apostle), Gundaphorus/Condiphorus, James (son of Zebedee), John (son of Zebedee), Peter (apostle), Thomas (apostle).
Geographical Locations: Bactria, Ethiopia, Hyrkania, India, Jerusalem, Media, Parthia, Tartarus.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Greek (BHG 1842)
Athens, Ethnikē Bibliothēkē tēs Hellados, 217, fols. 139v–145r (16th/17th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Athens, Ethnikē Bibliothēkē tēs Hellados, 260, fols. 67r–74r (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Istanbul, Patriarchikē Bibliothēkē, Panaghias 1, fols. 128r–131v (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Istanbul, Patriarchikē Bibliothēkē, Theologikē scholē 33, fols. 141v–149v (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Mount Athos, Monē Dionusiou, 168 (Lambros 3702) (17th cent.) ~ Pinakes; LOC
Mount Athos, Monē Iberon, 426 (Lambros 4546) (17th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Mount Athos, Monē Koutloumousiou, 624 (Polites 84), pp. 352–368 (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Mount Athos, Monē Megistes Lauras, Β 112 (Eustratiades 232), fols. 229–232 (11th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Mount Athos, Monē Megistes Lauras, Δ 78 (Eustratiades 454), fols. 124–129 (13th/14th cent.) ~ Pinakes; LOC
Mount Athos, Monē Megistes Lauras, Ε 160 (Eustratiades 622), fols. 138–144 (18th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Mount Athos, Monē Xēropotamou, 149 (Lambros 2482), fols. 190–200 (17th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Mount Athos, Monē Simōnopetras, 44 (Lambros 1312), pp. 319–334 (17th cent.) ~ Pinakes; destroyed
Meteora, Monē Barlaam, 136, fols. 91–96 (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Moscow, Gosudarstvennyj Istoričeskij Musej, Sinod. gr. 176, fols. 288v–295v (11th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Moscow, Rossiyskaya Gosudarstvennaya Biblioteka, Φ. 270 (P. I. Sevast’janov) 66 (gr. 128), fols. 109r–114v (12th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Moscow
Mutilene, Monē Leimōnos, 123, fols. 131v–143v (17th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Oxford, New College, 149, fols. 40r–97v (11th cent.) ~ Pinakes
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 755, fols. 134r–143v (11th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Gallica
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1180, fols. 27r–31v (10th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Gallica
Combefis, François. Bibliothecae graecorum patrum auctarium novissimum. 2 vols. Paris: Aegidii Hotot, 1672 (Greek text from Paris gr. 1180 with Latin translation, vol. 1, pp. 364–86).
Latyšev, Vasilij V. “Ad Nicetae David Paphlagonis laudationes ss. apostolorum.” Bulletin de l’Académie impériale des sciences de St. Pétersbourg Ser. 6 vol. 10 (1916): 1505–1522 (variant readings from Moscow, Sinod. gr. 176, pp. 1514–16).
Migne, Jacques-Paul. Patrologiae cursus completus: Series graeca. Vol. 105. Paris: Cerf, 1862 (reproduction of Greek text and Latin translation by Combefis, cols. 127–46).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.3 General Works