Names of the Twelve Apostles and of Their Parents

De apostolorum parentibus

Standard abbreviation: List Apos. Par.

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 454

Category: Lists of Apostles and Disciples

Related literature: Homily on the Life and Passion of Christ by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem, Homily on the Resurrection and the Apostles (attributed to John Chrysostom), Homily on New Sunday, and a list of the apostles on three Coptic ostraca (see below Crum, Coptic Ostraca)

Compiled by Tony Burke, York University

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Names of the Apostles and of Their Parents.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/names-of-the-twelve-apostles-and-of-their-parents/.

Created February 2019. Current as of January 2024.

1. SUMMARY

List Apos. Par. is a Byzantine apostolic list created around the eighth or ninth century. It occurs alone in a number of Greek manuscripts, and is incorporated in two Coptic homilies and an Arabic composition by Ibn Kabar. The text lists the twelve apostles and gives their careers, the names of their parents, and where they were from. The Greek text includes Thaddaeus (from Mark and Matthew; contra Luke, who has Judas, son of James) and includes both Simon the Canaanite (from Mark and Matthew) and Simon the Zealot (from Luke). It finishes prematurely before giving the name of Simon the Zealot’s mother and some manuscripts add the name of Judas Iscariot, apparently for the sake of completeness, but without mention of the names of his parents or his career. Ps.-Cyril lacks some details and omits Simon the Zealot. Ps.-John Chrysostom lacks Thaddaeus, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and adds James the brother of the Lord. Ibn Kabar lacks Simon the Zealot. The Greek version sometimes omits mention of a career or place of origin, but such information is supplied by the other witnesses. Thomas is said to be called Didymus because he had a twin sister named Lysia. The text may have originated in Egypt as the career listed for Bartholomew (“fruiterer”) is attested only in Greek papyri from Egypt.

Named historical figures and characters: Andrew (apostle), Andron (father of James, son of Alphaeus), Bartholomew (apostle), Chaerotheia (mother of Matthew), Diaphanes (father of Thomas), Ehoa (mother of Thomas), Eutychia (father of James, son of Alphaeus), Hierokleia (mother of James and John), James (son of Alphaeus), James (son of Zebedee), Jesus Christ, Joanna (mother of Peter and Andrew), John (father of Peter and Andrew), John (son of Zebedee), Judas Iscariot, Kallion (father of Simon the Canaanite), Kamia (mother of Simon the Canaanite), Lysia (sister of Thomas), Matthew (apostle), Necrophanes (father of Thaddaeus), Ourania (mother of Bartholomew), Peter (apostle), Philip (apostle), Philisaneos (father of Philip), Rhoukos (father of Matthew), Selene (mother of Thaddaeus), Simon (the Canaanite/Zealot), Sophia (mother of Philip), Sosthenes (father of Bartholomew), Thaddaeus (apostle), Thomas (apostle), Zebedee, Zeno (father of Simon the Zealot).

Geographical locations: Antioch, Bethsaida, Galilee, Hierapolis, Italy, Salim.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Arabic (incorporated into Abu ʾI-Barakat, also known as Ibn Kabar, Lamp of Darkness 14)

Haase, Felix. Apostel und Evangelisten in den orientalischen Überlieferungen. NTAbh 9.1–3. Münster in Westfalen: Asschendforffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1922 (German translation by George Graf based on Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. ar. 623, pp. 295–300).

Ibn Kabar. The Lamp that Light the Darkness in Clarifying the Service. Translated by William A. Hanna. St. Louis: St. Mary and St. Abraam Coptic Orthodox Church, 2000 (English translation, pp. 67–73).

3.1.2 Greek (BHG 157)

A Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 1085 (Reg. 1789), fol. 272 (1001)

B Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, 1115 (Reg. 1026), fol. 235 (1276) ~ Pinakes; Gallica

C Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Coislin 296, fols. 31^v–32^r(12th cent.)

D Oxford, Bodleian Library, Barocci 206, fol. 130^v (13th cent.) ~ Pinakes; IMAGES

E Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Ott. gr. 268, fol. 45 (16th cent.)

Athens, Ethnikē Bibliothēkē tēs Hellados, gr. 74, fols. 218^v–219^v(11th cent.)

Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, E 16 sup. (Martini-Bassi 273), fols. 54^r–54^v (13th cent.)

Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, S 23 sup. (Martini-Bassi 732), fol. 164 (12th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Mount Athos, Monē Philotheou, 21 (Lampros 1784), fol. 26 (12th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, gr. 976, fol. 60 (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes; LOC

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. T. 1. 1 (Misc. 179), p. 419 (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Oxford, Bodleian Library, Auct. E. 4. 11 (Misc. 56), fols. 21^v–22^r (15th cent.) ~ Pinakes; catalog

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 53, p. 398 (10th/11th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Gallica

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Barb. gr. 352, fol. 54^v (10th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. gr. 2165, fol. 45 (12th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Venice, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, gr. II.85, fols. 184^v–186^r (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes

Cotelier, Jean Baptiste. SS. Patrum qui temporibus apostolicis floruerunt. 2 vols. 2nd ed. Antwerp: Huguetanorum sumtibus, 1724 (Greek text and Latin translation, vol. 2, p. 274; manuscript is identified as Paris Reg. 1007).

Dindorf, Ludwig A. Chronicon Paschale ad exemplar Vaticanum recensuit Ludovicus Dindorfus. Vol. 2. Corpus scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae 12. Bonn: E. Weber, 1832 (Greek text with Latin translation, pp. 142–43).

Fabricius, Johann Albert. Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti. 32 vols. Hamburg: Schiller, 1703–1719 (reprint of Cotelier’s Greek and Latin text, vol. 3: 590–593).

Migne, Jacques Paul. Patrologiae cursus completus: Series graeca. Vol. 1. Paris: Cerf, 1857 (Greek text and Latin translation based on A and B, p. 755).

Schermann, Theodor. Prophetarum Vitae fabulosae. Indices apostolorum discipulorumque Domini Dorotheo, Epiphanio, Hippolyto aliisque vindicita. Leipzig: Teubner, 1907 (edition based on A–E and utilizing the editions of Dindorf, Fabricius, and Cotelier, pp. 202–204; manuscripts listed pp. lxiii–lxiv).

Broek, Roelof van den. Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem, On the Life and the Passion of Christ. A Coptic Apocryphon. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 118. Leiden: Brill, 2013 (reprint of Schermann’s edition with English translation, pp. 183–84).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

3.3 General Works

Bieddenkopf-Ziehner, Anneliese. Koptische Ostraka, I: Ostraka aus dem Britischen Museum in London. Mit Einführung in das Formular der vorgelegten Urkunden. Wiesbaden: Harassowitz, 2000 (pp. 303–306).

Crum, Walter E. Coptic Ostraca from the Collections of the Egypt Exploration Fund, the Cairo Museum and Others. London: The Egypt Exploration Fund, 1902 (text p. 72, trans. p. 74).

Delattre, Alain. “Un nouveau témoin des listes d’apôtres apocryphes en copte.” Orientalia 79 (2010): 74–79.

Dolbeau, François. “Listes d’apôtres et de disciples.” Pages 455–80 in vol. 2 of Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Edited by P. Geoltrain and J.-D. Kaestli. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 516. Paris: Gallimard, 2005.

Haase, Felix. Apostel und Evangelisten in den orientalischen Überlieferungen. NTAbh 9.1–3. Münster in Westfalen: Asschendforffsche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1922.

Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2nd ed. 2 vols. Braunschweig: Schwetschke, 1890 (see vol. 1: 206–207).

Pleše, Zlatko, ed. “Pseudo-John Chrysostom, A Homily on the Resurrection and the Apostles.” Pages 83–84 in Homiletica From the Pierpont Morgan Library. Edited by Leo Depuydt. CSCO 524. Leuven: Peeters, 1993 (reprinted with English translation in van den Roelof, Pseudo-Cyril, 184–85).

Schermann, Theodor. Propheten- und Apostollegenden nebst Jüngerkatalogen des Dorotheus und verwandter Texte. TU 31.3. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrich, 1907 (p. 168).