Standard abbreviation: List Anon. I
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 848
Category: Lists of Apostles and Disciples
Related literature: various apocryphal acts
Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “List of the Apostles (Anonymous I).” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/list-of-the-apostles-anonymous-i/.
Created January 2022. Current as of January 2024.
1. TRANSLATION
Provisional translation based on V12 (Vat. gr. 1506) with notable variants from other Greek manuscripts, the Latin Verona manuscript, and the Ethiopic text.
On the twelve apostles: the places they preached and where they died (Ethiopic: History of the apostles, where they preached, who translated the words of each, how they died, and where they are buried; AV3 and B2 lack title; SP2 incomplete up to middle of entry on Andrew)
1. Simon Peter, after preaching the gospel in the province of Pontus, in Galatia, Cappadocia, Bithynia, [AV3 adds: Italy] and Asia, was crucified under Nero [AV3 and Ethiopic add: upside down, as he wished. This is where he is buried].
2. Andrew preached to the Scythians, to the Sogdians and to the Sacae [all other Greek MSS and Ethiopic add: He died in Patras of Achaea].
3. James, son of Zebedee, perished by the sword under Herod the tetrarch, and died at Akeim (all other Greek MSS: Akeim; perhaps Acha/Achaia) of Marmarica.
4. John preached in Asia; exiled to Patmos because of the word of God, he wrote there the gospel [Ethiopic has only: John, whom Jesus loved, the evangelist; all other Greek MSS and Ethiopic add: He died in Ephesus.]
5. Philip preached in Phrygia and was crucified upside down [all other Greek MSS and Ethiopic lack “and was crucified upside down”]; he was laid to rest in Hierapolis of Asia [AV3 and Ethiopic add: with his four daughters].
6. Bartholomew preached to the Indians and gave them the Gospel according to Matthew. Skinned alive before his execution like a suckling animal, he was then beheaded like Paul. [For this last sentence all other Greek MSS and Ethiopic have instead: He died in Albanopolis of Armenia Major.]
7. Thomas preached to the Parthians, to the Medes, [all other Greek MSS and Ethiopic add: to the Persians], to the peoples of Carmania, Hyrkania, Bactria, and Margiana. [other Greek MSS and Ethiopic add: He died in the Indian town of Calamine (Ethiopic: Hellat).]
8. Matthew, after having written the Gospel in the Hebrew language, placed [it] in Sion [all other Greek MSS and Ethiopic lack “in Sion” and with Ethiopic they add: he died in hierei/reei of Parthia; SP2 has “Hierapolis of Syria”].
[AV3 and Ethiopic add: 8a. Mark preached to the Egyptians and to the inhabitants of Alexandria; the gospel he wrote in Rome was dictated to him by Peter. He died in Egypt, while he lived in the Capiton district; he was buried in Alexandria, in the Boukolou, inside a martyrium, with Victor, protomartyr of Lycopolis, who was moved by Alexander and deposited where all the bishops before Theonas rest.]
9. James, son of Alphaeus, called the Just, was stoned by the Jews in Jerusalem and is buried there near the temple.
10. Thaddaeus, also called Lebbaeus and Jude, preached [all other Greek MSS and Ethiopic add: the gospel] in Edesssa and throughout Mesopotamia; he died [all other Greek MSS lack “he died”] under Abgar, king of Edessa, and is buried in Beirut.
11. Simon the Canaanite [all other Greek MSS and Ethiopic lack “the Canaanite”], son of Cleophas, also called Jude, succeeded James the Just as bishop of Jerusalem; after living a hundred and twenty years, he suffered the martyrdom of the cross under Trajan.
12. Matthias [AV3 has: Matthew], one of the seventy disciples, is numbered with the eleven apostles in place of Judas Iscariot. [Ethiopic adds: He died and was buried in the city of Jerusalem.]
13. Paul began to preach from Jerusalem and continued until Illyria, in Italy and Spain; under Nero he was beheaded in Rome and is buried there.
[B2 C1 and SP2 add the account of Mark from 8a here.]
14–16. Titus preached in Crete and the surrounding islands [Ethiopic adds: and died on that island]; Crescens, in Gaul; the Eunuch of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia, in Arabia Felix and in the island of Ceylon, which is in the Red Sea, and it is reported that he was martyred there.
[B2 C1 and SP2 add: John the Baptist preached in Sebaste of Samaria. Their text ends here.]
17–24. Among the Savior’s apostles, the Seventy, were, according to what Clement relates in the fifth book of the Hypotyposes, Barnabas, Sosthenes, Cephas the namesake of Peter, Matthias who was reckoned with the Eleven, [V12 adds: Eubulus, Pudens, Crescens in the second (epistle to Timothy)] Barsabbas and Linus, who Paul mentions when writing to Timothy, Thaddaeus, Cleopas, and his companions.
25. The Gospel according to Matthew, written in the Hebrew language, was published by him in Jerusalem; it was translated by John.
26. The Gospel according to Mark was translated [AV3: dictated] in Rome by Peter.
27. The Gospel according to John, in the time of Trajan, was dictated by John himself, who wrote it under Commodus on the island of Patmos [AV3 lacks “on the island of Patmos”; John follows Luke in the Ethiopic, which has only: “The Gospel of John was translated by John into the Greek language”].
28. The Gospel according to Luke by Luke, a disciple of the apostle Paul, who the same apostle evokes in an epistle writing: “Luke the physician, my beloved brother, I greet you.” And the same evangelist also wrote the Acts of the Holy Apostles.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Ethiopic (incorporated in the Sinodos)
Υ Qobbo (Ankobar), Church of Gweguf Mikā’ēl, EMML 3515, fols. 93r–94r (15th cent.) ~ catalog
Π Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Éthiopen 19, fols. 125v–127r (19th cent.) ~ Gallica
Σ Ethiopia, private collection, fols. 39r–40v (13th/14th cent.)
Bausi, Alessandro. “Una ‘lista’ etiopica di apostoli e discepoli.” Pages 43–67 in vol. 1 of Æthiopica et Orientalia: studi in onore di Yaqob Beyene. Edited by Allesandro Bausi, et al. 2 vols. Studi Africanistici, Serie Etiopica 9. Naples: Napoli Univ. degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale,” 2012 (Ethiopic text and facing Italian translation, pp. 54–67).
3.1.2 Greek (BHG 153c)
V12 Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 1506, fols. 78r–78v (1024)
AV3 Mount Athos, Monē Batopediou, 853, fols. 7r–10v (10th cent.)
B2 Berlin, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin (Preussischer Kulturbesitz), Hamilton 625 (413), fols. 5v–7r (11th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Gregory-Aland 113; Acts and Pauline Epistles
C1 Cambridge, Trinity College, B.10.16, fols. 333v–334r (1316) ~ Gospels manuscript; Anonymous I followed by list of disciples by Pseudo-Dorotheus (=BHG 152n); Pinakes; images
SP2 St. Petersburg, Russian National Library/Rossijskaja Nacional’naja biblioteka (RNB), Ф. № 906 (Gr.), 211 (308), fols. 240v–241v (13th cent.) ~ Gregory-Aland 2143; Acts and Pauline Epistles; New Testament without Apocalypse; Gregory-Aland 449; Pinakes
Guignard, Christophe. “La tradition grecque de la liste d’apôtres ‘Anonyme I’ (BHG 153c), avec un appendice sur la liste BHG 152n.” Apocrypha 26 (2015): 171–209 (includes synoptic chart with readings from the published and unpublished manuscripts, pp. 187–91).
Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2 vols. in 3. Braunschweig, 1883–1890 (title and order of names in AV3 given in Ergängzungsheft, p. 3; see also readings from the manuscript on pp. 15, 16, 25, 26, 31, 44–45, 72–73, 77–78, 81–82, 87).
Schermann, Theodor. Prophetarum vitae fabulosae, indices apostolorum discipulorumque Domini, Dorotheo, Epiphanio, Hippolyto aliisque vindicata. Leipzig: B. G. Teubneri, 1907 (readings from V12 employed in the appendix to the list by Ps.-Epiphanius, pp. 126–28; and to the list by Ps.-Hippolytus, pp. 164–67; discussion of manuscript, p. lvi).
Turner, C. H. “A Primitive Edition of the Apostolic Constitutions and Canons: an Early List of Apostles and Disciples.” JTS 15 (1913–1914): 53–65 (synopsis of the Verona Latin manuscript with V12, pp. 63–65).
3.1.3 Latin
3.1.3.1 Verona Manuscript (BHL 652f)
Verona, Biblioteca capitolare, LI (49), fols. 156v–157v (ca. 500)
Dolbeau, François. “Listes latines d’apôtres et de disciples, traduites du grec.” Apocrypha 3 (1992): 259–78. Reprinted as pages 199–225 in Prophètes, apôtres et disciples dans les traditions chrétiennes d’Occident: Vies brèves et listes en latin. Subsidia Hagiographica 92. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 2012 (expanded to include a reprint of Turner’s Latin text, pp. 216–17).
Turner, C. H. “A Primitive Edition of the Apostolic Constitutions and Canons: an Early List of Apostles and Disciples.” JTS 15 (1913–1914): 53–65 (synopsis of the Verona manuscript with Vat. gr. 1506, pp. 63–65).
3.1.3.2 Libellus sancti Epiphanii
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Lat. 4886, fols. 66v–67v (11th cent.) ~ Gallica
Dolbeau, François. “Deux opuscules latins, relatifs aux personnages de la Bible et antérieurs à Isidore de Séville.” Revue d’Histoire des Textes 16 (1986): 83–139 (discussion, pp. 86–95; Latin text, pp. 127–30). Reprinted as pages 5–59 in Prophètes, apôtres et disciples dans les traditions chrétiennes d’Occident: Vies brèves et listes en latin. Subsidia Hagiographica 92. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 2012.
3.1.3.3 Laterculus apostolorum (BHL 653)
Includes a portion of a list perhaps dependent on Libellus sancti Epiphanii. See discussion in Dolbeau 1992: 264.
A Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Lat. 9562, fol. 142v (12th/13th cent.) ~ Gallica
B Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, lat. class. 21 cod. 10 (13th cent.)
Schermann, Theodor. Prophetarum vitae fabulosae, indices apostolorum discipulorumque Domini, Dorotheo, Epiphanio, Hippolyto aliisque vindicata. Leipzig: B. G. Teubneri, 1907 (Latin text based on A and Zahn’s excerpt from B, p. 213).
Zahn, Theodor von. Forschungen zur Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons und der altkirchlichen Literatur. Teil 3: Supplementum Clementium. Erlangen: Andreas Deichert, 1884 (excerpt from B, p. 70).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 French
Dolbeau, François. “Listes d’apôtres et de disciples.” Pages 171–98 in Prophètes, apôtres et disciples dans les traditions chrétiennes d’Occident: Vies brèves et listes en latin. Subsidia Hagiographica 92. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 2012 (includes translation of Anonymous I, based on V12 and AV3, pp. 184–86).
3.3.3 Italian
Bausi, Alessandro. “Una ‘lista’ etiopica di apostoli e discepoli.” Pages 43–67 in vol. 1 of Æthiopica et Orientalia: studi in onore di Yaqob Beyene. Edited by Allesandro Bausi, et al. 2 vols. Studi Africanistici, Serie Etiopica 9. Naples: Napoli Univ. degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale,” 2012 (Ethiopic text and facing Italian translation, pp. 54–67).
3.3 General Works
Dolbeau, François. “Listes latines d’apôtres et de disciples, traduites du grec.” Apocrypha 3 (1992): 259–78 (see pp. 263–66). Reprinted as pages 199–225 in Prophètes, apôtres et disciples dans les traditions chrétiennes d’Occident: Vies brèves et listes en latin. Subsidia Hagiographica 92. Brussels: Société des Bollandistes, 2012.
Guignard, Christophe. “Greek Lists of the Apostles: New Findings and Open Questions.” ZAC 20 (2016): 469–95 (pp. 480–87).
———. “Les listes grecques d’apôtres et de disciples du Christ: présentation d’un projet de recherche.” Bulletin de l’AELAC 22–23 (2012–2013): 29–34.
Leloir, Louis. Écrits apocryphes sur les apôtres. CCSA 3–4. 2 vols. Turnhout: Brepols, 1986–1992 (introduction, vol. 2, pp. 711–22).
Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2 vols. in 3 parts. Braunschweig: Schwetschke, 1883–1890; reprinted Amsterdam: APA-philo, 1976 (see vol. 1, pp. 179–224).
Schermann, Theodor. Propheten- und Apostellegenden nebst Jüngerkatalogen des Dorotheus und verwandter Texte. TUGAL 31/3. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1907.
Vinogradov, Andrey. “Апостольские списки – «забытая» страница христианской литературы [Apostolic Lists: A “Forgotten” Page of Christian Literature].” Богословские труды 40 (2005): 128–47 (esp. pp. 135–36).
———. “Апостольские списки [Apostle Lists].” Pages 121–24 in vol. 3 of Православная энциклопедия [Orthodox Encyclopaedia]. Edited by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Moscow, 2000–.