Acts of Christ and Peter in Rome

Acta Christi et Petri in Roma

Standard abbreviation: Acts. Chr. Pet.

Other titles: Acta fabulosa of St. Peter, Slavonic Life of Peter, Slavonic Acts of Peter

Clavis numbers: ECCA 956; CANT 198

Category: Apocryphal Acts

Compiled by Julia Snyder, Westcott House, Cambridge

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Snyder, Julia A. “Travels of Christ and Peter to Rome.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/travels-of-christ-and-peter-to-rome/.

Created September 2019. Current as of February 2024.

1. SUMMARY

Acts. Chr. Pet. recounts events at the end of Peter’s life. Versions are extant in Greek and Slavonic, and differ in some respects. This summary is based on the Greek version.

Christ appears to Peter in a mountain hideaway where he has been living, and tells him to go to Rome. Peter boards a ship sailing in that direction, whose skipper is Christ in disguise (or in Slavonic, the archangel Michael). A storm arises at sea. Peter prays and the Lord stills the storm. Peter instructs the skipper (i.e., Christ) about Christ, and baptizes him. The skipper insists on selling Peter a child slave to serve him in his old age. The child is also Christ in disguise.

In the next scenes, the child slave (i.e., Christ) works miracles. He silences unclean spirits, creates a lot of money for Peter to distribute to the poor, and causes fish to walk on land. Peter now sells the child (i.e., Christ) to Aribastos, the owner of the inn where he is staying. Aribastos sends the child to school, where he astounds his teacher with his knowledge. Back at home, Aribastos observes angels reciting the Trisagion hymn over the child, and his wife announces, “This is the god of the Christians.” A crowd of people are baptized.

After some time passes and many people in Rome convert, Nero hears about Peter and has him arrested and crucified. Peter finally realizes that the child slave is Christ. After Peter’s death, the wood of his cross grows into an olive tree and a church is constructed in his honor.

Named historical figures and characters: Aribastos (of Rome), Benjamin (patriarch), Jesus Christ, Judah (patriarch), Michael (angel), Nero, Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle), Pontius Pilate, Satan, Xanthos (of Rome), Zeus .

Geographical locations: Ausitis, Damascus, Jerusalem, Mount Salmonion, Rhegium, Rome.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Church Slavic

Recension 1:

B Belgrade, National Library of Serbia, 196 (828), fols. 41^v–53 (1409) (=Otero 1) ~ destroyed in 1941

U Moscow, State Historical Museum, Uvarova 323 (1056), fols. 334^v–350^v (17th cent.) (=Otero 19)

S Sofia, SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library, 309 (68), fols. 98–107 (16th cent.) (=Otero 22)

W Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. slav. 152, fols. 169–177 (14th cent.) (=Otero 23)

Recension 2:

n St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia (F. 893), 15, fols. 211–214^v (17th cent.)

s Sofia, SS. Cyril and Methodius National Library, 684 (74), fols. 134–145 (17th cent.) (=Otero 26)

z Zagreb, Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences, III.a.10 (Kukuljević 405), fols. 45–49 (16th cent.) (=Otero 24)

Archangel’skji, Aleksandr S. “K istorii južnoslavjanskoj i drevnerusskoj literatury: Dva ljubopytnych sbornika Sofijskoj Narodnoj biblioteki v Bolgarii.” lzvestija ORJAS 4 (1899): 112–18 (edition of S).

Capaldo, Mario. “Tradizione greca e slava degli Acta fabulosa di san Pietro (BHG 1485f).” Rivista di studi bizantini e neoellenici 39 (2002): 93–143 (edition and Italian translation of W, pp. 126–43).

Franko, Ivan. “Beiträge aus dem Kirchenslavischen zu den Apokryphen des Neuen Testamentes: II. Zu den gnostischen Περίοδοι Πέτρου.” ZNW 3 (1902): 315–35 (German translation of S, pp. 316–24).

Javorskij, Julian A. “Karpato-russkoe žitie apostola Petra.” lzvestija ORJAS 19 (1914): 75–98 (edition of n).

Moĉul’skij, Vasilij N. “Žitie apostola Petra.” Pages 298–305 in Trudy 10-go archeologičeskogo s”ezda v Rige. Vol. 1. Moscow, 1896 (edition of z).

Otero, Aurelio de Santos. Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der altslavischen Apokryphen. 2 vols. PTS 20 and 23. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1978–1981 (manuscripts listed under Acta Petri, vol. 1 pp. 52–59).

Radčenko, Konstantin F. Izvestija Otdelenija Russkago Jazyka i Slovesnosti Imp. Akedemii Nauk 8/4. St. Petersburg, 1903 (edition of W, pp. 199–211).

3.1.2 Greek (BHG 1485f)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ferr. 830, fols. 33–50 (16th/17th cent.) ~ Pinakes

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Snyder, Julia A., and Slavomír Čéplö. “Acts of Christ and Peter in Rome.” Pages 435–64 in vol. 3 of New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. 3 vols. Edited by Tony Burke with Brent Landau. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016–2023. (translation of the Greek text based on Capaldo’s edition of Vatican, Ferr. 830 and the Church Slavic text on Vienna Cod. slav. 152).

3.2.2 German

3.2.3 Italian

Capaldo, Mario. “Tradizione greca e slava degli Acta fabulosa di san Pietro (BHG 1485f).” Rivista di studi bizantini e neoellenici 39 (2002): 93–143 (translations of Vatican, Ferr. 830 [pp. 104–25] and Vienna, Cod. slav. 152 [pp. 126–43]).

3.3 General Works

Capaldo, Mario. “Tradizione greca e slava degli Acta fabulosa di san Pietro (BHG 1485f).” Rivista di studi bizantini e neoellenici 39 (2002): 93–143 (introduction, edition, and translation).

Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. in 4. Turin: Marietti, 1966–1981 (brief note, vol. 3:535–36).

Flamion, Joseph. Les Actes Apocryphes de l’Apôtre André. Les Actes d’André et de Mathias, de Pierre et d’André et les textes apparentés. Louvain: Bureaux du Recueil, 1911 (discussion in connection with other texts).

Follieri, Enrica. “L’originale greco di una leggenda in slavo su San Pietro.” AnBoll 74 (1956): 115–30 (discussion of Greek version).

Franko, Ivan. “Beiträge aus dem Kirchenslavischen zu den Apokryphen des Neuen Testamentes: II. Zu den gnostischen Περίοδοι Πέτρου.” ZNW 3 (1902): 315–35 (discussion of Slavonic version).

Haase, Felix. Apostel und Evangelisten in den orientalischen Überlieferungen. Neutestamentliche Abhandlungen 9. Münster: Aschendorff, 1922 (pp. 126–222).

James, Montague Rhodes. The Apocryphal New Testament: Being the Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses, with Other Narratives and Fragments. Corr. ed. Oxford: Clarendon, 1953 (brief note, p. 474).

Otero, Aurelio de Santos. “Jüngere Apostelakten.” In Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung. II. Apostolisches, Apokalypsen und Verwandtes. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. 5th ed. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1989 (brief note, pp. 393–94; pp. 438–39 in English trans.).

Snyder, Julia A. “Rethinking Conventional Genre Categories: How the Acts of Christ and Peter in Rome Breaks the Mold.” Ancient Jew Review. Posted 28 April 2021. Online: https://www.ancientjewreview.com/articles/2021/4/28/rethinking-conventional-genre-categories-how-the-acts-of-christ-and-peter-in-rome-breaks-the-mold.