Acts of Peter and Andrew

Acta Petri et Andreae

Standard abbreviation: Acts Pet. Andr.

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 755; CANT 237

Category: Apocryphal Acts

Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Acts of Peter and Andrew.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/acts-of-peter-and-andrew/.

Created October 2020. Current as of January 2024.

1. SUMMARY

The story takes place after the events of the Acts of Andrew and Matthias in the City of the Cannibals. Andrew has departed the city and a cloud takes him up and carries him to a mountain where he joins Peter, Matthew, Alexander, and Rufus. Peter asks Andrew about his journeys and Andrew relates how he was dragged through the streets for three days. Then Jesus appears as a child and tells the group to go to the city of the barbarians.

As they approach the city, Andrew asks Peter if they will endure the same problems as he did in the city of the cannibals. They see an old man ploughing in the fields and Peter says lets ask him for bread and if he gives us some then things should go well for us, if not, then we shall experience suffering. The old man has no bread but asks the apostles to watch his oxen while he fetches some. While he is gone, the apostles work the field and the corn instantly springs up and ripens. When the old man sees the corn, he bows to the apostles, thinking they are gods. Peter denies their divinity and tells the man that he too can perform miracles if he loves God and follows the commandments.

The old man wants to leave everything and follow the apostles, but Peter tells him to return the oxen to their owner and then bring the apostles to his home for dinner. The old man takes an ear of corn with him to the city and the people ask how he has corn before harvest time. The man tells them of his encounter with the apostles. The magistrates of the city think the apostles are sorcerers who will make men leave their wives. Since the apostles avoid women, they take a prostitute, strip her naked, and set her outside the gates so that they will not enter the city. Andrew sees the woman and, at Peter’s consent, prays to Jesus; in response, the angel Michael arrives and suspends the woman in the air by her hair until the apostles have passed. The woman cries out, cursing the men of the city and asking for mercy. Many people believe because of the woman; the apostles heal and cast out demons from the people.

A rich man in the city named Onesiphorus sees the healings and asks the apostles if he will perform miracles if he also believes in God. Andrew tells him to forsake everything, including his wife and children, just as they have. Onesiphorus becomes angry, wraps his scarf around Andrew’s neck, and calls him a sorcerer. Peter intervenes but Onesiphorus asks him if he agrees with Andrew. Peter responds with the saying of Jesus that it is easier for a camel to go through eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven (Mark 10:25 par.). Onesiphorus wants confirmation, so Peter prays to God and Jesus appears as as 12-year-old boy and calls for a needle and a camel to be brought forth.

A certain merchant who had believed in the Lord through Philip heard about this and searched for a needle with a large eye but Peter tells him to bring a small needle. Peter sees a camel and orders her to be brought to him. He sets the needle in the ground and cries out in the name of Jesus for the camel to go through it. The camel does so, and then Peter performs the miracle a second time. Onesiphorus thinks Peter is a sorcerer and says he will not believe unless it can be done with his own needle and camel. He tells one of his servants to being them, along with a “polluted woman.” At Peter’s command, the woman rides the camel through the needle. Onesiphorus believes at last and gives away all of his possessions; like the old man, he asks if he too will now be able to perform miracles. Peter worries that he cannot without first being baptized but a voice from heaven assures him. Onesiphorus orders the camel to go through the needle but it stops half way; Peter tells him that he must be baptized. The apostles go to his home and 1000 people are baptized that night.

The woman, who is still suspended in the air, says she will give all of her possessions to the poor and make her home a monastery for virgins. Peter hears her promise and lets her down. Her house becomes a monastery and the apostles consecrate a church, ordain clergy, and commit the people to God.

Named historical figures and characters: Alexander (son of Simon), Andrew (apostle), Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Matthew (apostle), Michael (angel), Onesiphorus, Peter (apostle), Philip (apostle), Pontius Pilate, Rufus (son of Simon), Satan.

Geographical locations: City of the Barbarians, City of the Cannibals.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Arabic (BHO 1142): see Preaching of Judus Thaddaeus

3.1.2 Church Slavic

St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia (F. 560), Osnovnoe sobranie, Codex F. I. Nr. 286 (Tolstoj I, Nr. 307), fols. 13v–16r (17th cent.) ~ chs. 1–22 only

St. Petersburg, National Library of Russia (F. 573), Pertersbugskaja Duchovnaja Akaedmija (Sofijskaja biblioteka), Codex Nr. 1261, fols. 25r–27r (14th/15th cent.) ~ chs. 12–15 only

Zagreb, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Codex glagoliticus Nr. VII 30, Žgombićev zbornik, fols. 101r-106r (16th cent.)

Grabar, Biserka. “Apokrifna djela apostolska u hrvatskoglagoljskoj literaturi. 1. Djela Andrije i mateja u gradu ljudoždera. 2. Djela apostola Petra i Andrije.” Radovi staroslavenskog institute 6 (1967): 109–208 (edition of Zagreb VII 30 with readings from St. Petersburg 1261, pp. 200–206).

Santos Otero, Aurelio de. Die handscriftliche Überlieferung der altslavischen Apokryphen. 2 vols. PTS 20 and 23. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1977 (discussion of the Slavonic tradition, vol. 1 pp. 67–68).

Tichonravov, Nikolai S. Pamjatniki otrečennoj russkoj literatury. 2 vols. Moscow: Obščestv. Pol’za, 1863 (edition of St. Petersburg 286, vol. 2, pp. 5–10).

3.1.3 Coptic (CPC 0553; PAThs entry)

Cologne, Universität zu Köln, Papyrussammlung inv. 3221 (5th cent.) ~ PAThs entry

MONB.DN (10th–12th cent.), pp. 179–180

Breternitz, Sophie-Elisabeth. “Tintenklassifizierung als Mittel der Zuordnung von Papyrusfragmenten: Eine neue restauratorische Methode, durchgeführt am koptischen Kodex P. Köln Inv. 3221.” ZPE 188 (2014): 81–86.

3.1.4 Ethiopic (BHO 1143): see Preaching of Judus Thaddaeus

3.1.5 Greek (BHG 1489)

B Oxford, Bodleian Library, Barocci 180, fols. 111^v–114^v (12th cent.) ~ lacunae chs. 4, 11, and part of 21

I Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 1192, fols. 68^r–74^v (15th cent.)

Bonnet, Maximilien. “Acta Petri et Andreae.” Pages xxiv and 117–27 in vol. 2.1 of Acta apostolorum apocrypha. 2 vols. in 3 parts. Edited by Richard A. Lipsius and Maximilien Bonnet. Leipzig: Mendelssohn, 1889–1903; reprinted Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1959 (edition based on B and I).

Tischendorf, Constantin. Apocalypses apocryphae Mosis, Esdrae, Pauli, Johannis, item Mariae dormito: additis evangeliorum et actuum apocryphorum supplementis. Maiximam partem nunc primum. Leipzig: H. Mendelssohn, 1866 (edition based on B, pp. 161–67).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Elliott, J. K. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993 (summary pp. 299–301).

James, M. R. The Apocryphal New Testament. 1924. Repr., Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953 (summary, pp. 458–60).

Walker, A. Apocryphal Gospels, Acts and Revelations. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1873. Repr. as vol. 16 of The Ante-Nicene Christian Library. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. 24 vols. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1867–1883 (translation based on Tischendorf’s edition of B, pp. 368–73).

3.2.1 French

Prieur, Jean-Marc. “Actes de Pierre et André.” Pages 523–38 in Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Vol. 2. Edited by Pierre Geoltrain and Jean-Daniel Kaestli. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 443. Paris: Gallimard, 2005.

3.2.2 German

Bonwetsch, Nathanael. “Ein Beitrag zu den Akten des Petrus und Andreas.” ZKG 5 (1882): 506–509 (translation of portion of ch. 4 from the Church Slavonic text published by Tichonravov).

3.2.3 Italian

Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. in 4. Turin: Marietti, 1966–1981 (Italian translation in vol. 2, pp. 529–34).

Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Classici delle religioni, Sezione quarta, La religione cattolica 24. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1971 (discussion in vol. 2, pp. 1618–19).

3.3 General Works

Flamion, Joseph. Les Actes apocryphes de l’apôtre André: Les Actes d’André et de Matthias, de Pierre et d’André et les textes apparentés. Leuven: Bureau du recueil, 1911 (pp. 310–24).

Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2 vols. in 3. Braunschweig, 1883–1890 (see vol. 1:553–57).

Otero, Aurelio de Santos. “Later Acts of the Apostles.” Pages 426–82 in New Testament Apocrypha. Vol. 2: Writings Related to the Apostles, Apocalypses and Related Subjects. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by R. McLachlan Wilson. 6th ed. 2 vols. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1992 (see p. 448).

Peterson, Peter M. Andrew, Brother of Simon Peter, his History and his Legends. NovT Sup 1. Leiden: Brill, 1958; repr. 1963 (pp. 35–36).