History of Paul

Historia Pauli (syriace)

Abbreviations: Hist. Paul

Other Titles: History of the Holy Apostle Mār Paul, History of the Holy Apostle My Lord Paul

Clavis Numbers: ECCA 857

Category: Apocryphal Acts

Compiled by Jacob A. Lollar, Abilene Christian University ([email protected])

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Lollar, Jacob A. “History of Paul.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/history-of-paul/.

Created July 2019. Current as of June 2022.

1. SUMMARY

The History of Paul is a short Syriac narrative that provides an account of the Apostle Paul’s life and career as a former persecutor of the church, as a convert to Christianity, and as an apostle, culminating in his martyrdom under Nero. The text can be divided into two parts. The first part (chs. 1–7) cover Paul’s early life and persecution of the church (ch. 1), followed by his conversion (ch. 2), and his mission among the gentiles (chs. 3–7). The second half (chs. 8–15) is an account of Paul’s martyrdom that is unique in some respects from other accounts of the martyrium Pauli. We hear of Paul traveling to Spain and then returning to Rome upon hearing of Peter’s martyrdom (ch. 10). Paul is put on trial before Nero and ultimately beheaded for converting members of Nero’s court, as in the other martyrium Pauli narratives (chs. 11–12).

The rest of the story is unique. Paul is beheaded in the same place where Peter was executed, so that the blood of the two apostles is mixed together. From the mingled blood sprout two trees “different from all others in their leaves and their fruit” which are the cause of many healings and miracles (ch. 14). At Easter, when the deacon “issued the order to give the peace to one another, those trees bent down and embraced each other for about an hour.” We are told that this miracle was a sign of the Concordia apostolorum. People would make pilgrimage to see the trees and benefit from their miraculous healings. That is, until the local Jews, in their jealousy, cut the trees down one night. We are told: “because the world did not deserve the gift of healing which came from them, those trees did not spring up again.”

Hist. Paul contains many allusions to and quotations of the NT, especially Acts and Romans. Notably, the opening section is a translation of part of the prologue to the Euthalian apparatus (editorial material, such as divisions of text, lists, and summaries, added to Acts, the letters of Paul, and the Catholic epistles). Euthalian testimonia survive in several Syriac manuscripts and it is likely that Hist. Paul relied on a such a source for its information on Paul’s life and possibly even for its quotations of Acts and the Epistles. Additionally, Hist. Paul is directly related to the Syriac History of Simon Cephas, the Chief of the Apostles, after which it follows in the manuscripts. The prologue of Hist. Sim. Ceph. hints that it will cover the history of the “friends of Christ,” but Paul hardly features in Hist. Sim. Ceph. and Peter hardly features in Hist. Paul.

Named Historical Figures: Ananias (disciple), Aristarchus, Barnabas, Eutychus, Felix, Festus, Gamaliel, Jesus Christ, Linus (bishop), Luke (evangelist), Marcellus (senator), Moses (patriarch), Nero, Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle), Stephen (martyr), Tertullus, Timothy (apostle), Titus (apostle).

Geographical Locations: Antioch, Arabia, Caesarea Palaestina, Cilicia, Crete, Damascus, Ephesus, Illyricum, Jerusalem, Judea, Palestine, Rome, Spain, Syria, Tarsus.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Syriac (BHO 889; BHS 1115)

A Karkūk, Chaldean Archdiocese of Karkūk, 213, fols. 93^v–101^r (1723)

B Trichur, Chaldean Syrian Church, Syr. 9, fols. 163^v–168^r (1615)

C London, British Library, Or. 9391, fols. 367^r–379^r (1890)

D Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. sir. 597, fols. 59^v–63^v (17th cent.) ~ fragmentary

Urmia, Oroomia Mission Library, 103, item 10 (1715) ~ now lost

Bedjan, Paul. Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum. 7 vols. Paris: Otto Harrassowitz, 1890–1897 (editio princeps based on a copy of a manuscript from Karkūk in the possession of Ignazio Guidi—possibly Karkūk 213—in vol. 1, pp. 36–44).

Eastman, David L. The Ancient Martyrdom Accounts of Peter and Paul. WGRW 39. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015 (partial text and translation of chaps. 8–15, pp. 189–201).

Guidi, Ignazio. “Bemerkungen zum ersten Bande der syrischen Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum.” ZDMG 46 (1892): 744–58 (corrections of Bedjan’s edition).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Eastman, David L. The Ancient Martyrdom Accounts of Peter and Paul. WGRW 39. Atlanta: SBL Press, 2015 (partial text and translation of chaps. 8–15, pp. 189–201).

Lollar, Jacob A. “The History of Paul.” Pages 393–407 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 (English translation based primarily on Karkūk 213).

3.2.2 Italian

De Stefani, Luigi. “Storia del Beato Apostolo S. Paulo.” Giornale della Società asiatica Italiana 14 (1901): 201–16.

3.3 General Works

Baumstark, Anton. Die Petrus- und Paulusacten in der literarischen Überlieferung der syrischen Kirche. Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1902 (pp. 40–44).

Lollar, Jacob A. “‘The History that Should be Placed at the Beginning of the Book of Paul the Apostle.’ New Evidence for the Syriac Euthalian Apparatus in Apocryphal Texts.” Hugoye 24 (2021): 187–216. Online: https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv24n1lollar.

Peeters, Paul. “Notes sur la légende de apôtres S. Pierre et S. Paul dans la littérature syrienne.” AnBoll 21 (1902): 121–40.

Stefani, Luigi de. “Storia del Beato Apostolo S. Paulo.” Giornale della Società asiatica Italiana 14 (1901): 201–16.