Passio Iacobi minoris, fratres domini
Standard abbreviation: Pass. John
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 944; CANT 220
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Acts of John, Acts of John (Latin), Acts of John in Rome, Golden Legend 9
Compiled by Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Passion of John by Pseudo-Melito.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/passion-of-john-by-pseudo-melito/.
Created February 2024.
1. SUMMARY
The Passion of John attributed to Melito of Sardis is an account of the acts of John related to the Acts of John (Latin)—likely drawing upon a common source. It begins with an introductory letter addressed to “all the churches of the Catholics” in which the author, claiming to be Melito, tells his audience to be wary of acts of apostles written by a certain Leucius. In these acts Leucius depicts the apostles as teaching two principles: good and evil. This is contrary to the Gospel of John which testifies that there is only one principle (the Word) through which all things were created. Leucius also teaches, through the apostles, that humans are a combination of a soul created by the good God and flesh by the evil one. The author objects to the notion that humans are created as either good or evil; instead he argues that all people sin and are able to forgiven if they ask for mercy. Pseudo-Melito then moves on to present the, presumably “true,” account of the passion (and several acts) of John.
Along with the Acts of John (Latin), Pass. John narrates John’s exile by Domitian to Patmos, where he writes the Apocalypse (for further details about what follows, see the entry for Acts John [Lat.]). With Domitian’s death, John returns to Ephesus. His first act in the city is to raise Drusiana from death (there is no account of her encounters with Callimachus). Then follows John’s conflict with the philosopher Craton and the story of the two converted nobles, Atticus and Eugenius, who regret the loss of their wealth. After John delivers a lengthy sermon on the temptations of riches, he restores life to the young man Stacteus. Hearing Stacteus’ account of seeing angels weeping about Atticus and Eugenius’s doubts, the two men beg John for forgiveness. Pass. John continues with the destruction of the temple of Diana/Artemis and John’s consumption of poison as a test of the power of his God. The text concludes with a brief account of John’s metastasis.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: Abraham, Aristodemus, Artemis/Diana, Atticus, Craton, Domitian, Drusiana, Eugenius, John (son of Zebedee), Lazarus (poor man), Leucius, Mammon, Melito, Moses (patriarch), Nero, Stacteus.
Geographical Locations: Asia, Ephesus, Laodicea, Patmos, temple of Artemis/Diana.
2. RESOURCES
Cycle of John, Basilica of San Marco (11th/12th cent.): a series of frescoes depicting five scenes from Acts of John (Latin) (chs. 11, 17, 19–20) and paralleled in Pass. John.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Latin (BHL 4320; 127 manuscripts listed by the Bollandists, including the following)
Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 5327, fols. 171r–177v (10th cent.)
Montpellier, Bibliothèque de la Faculté de médicine, 55, fols. 12r–17v (ca. 800)
Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek Weissenburg, 48, fols. 8v–9r (9th cent.)
Würzburg, Universitätsbibliothek, M.p.th.f. 78, fols. 1r–3r (8th cent.)
Florentinius, Franciscus Maria. Vetustius occidentalis ecclesiae martyrologium. Lucca: Hiacynthi Pacii, 1668 (pp. 130–37).
Fabricius, Johann Albert. Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti. 3 vols. 2nd ed. Hamburg: Schiller, 1719 (a reprint of Florentinius’s edition in vol. 3, pp. 604–23).
Heine, Gotthold. Bibliotheca anecdotorum. Leipzig: T. O. Weigel, 1848 (vol. 1, pp. 109–17).
Giles, J. A. Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti: The Uncanonical Gospels and Other Writings. London: D. Nutt, 1852 (reproduction of Fabricius, pp. 467–82).
Migne, Jacques Paul. Patrologiae cursus completus: Series graeca. Paris: Cerf, 1857 (reprint of Florentinius’s edition, vol. 5, cols. 1239–50).
Grau, Ángel Fábrega. Pasionario hispánico, siglos VII–XI. 2 vols. Monumenta Hispaniae Sacra, Serie litúrgica 6. Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Clientificas, 1955 (repr. of Lipsius-Bonnet’s Latin text, vol. 2, pp. 101–10).
Yarza Urquiola, Valeriano. Passionarium Hispanicum. CCSA 171. Turnhout: Brepols, 2020 (pp. 509–23).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.1 French
Migne, Jacques-Paul. Dictionnaire des Apocryphes. 2 vols. 1856. Repr., Turnhout: Brepols, 1989 (vol. 2, cols. 597–610).
3.2 Italian
Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. in 4. Turin: Marietti, 1966–1981 (vol. 1.2, pp. 635–42).
3.3 General Works
Bremmer, Rolf H. “The Reception of the Acts of John in Anglo Saxon England.” Pages 183–96 in The Apocryphal Acts of John. Edited by Jan. N. Bremmer. SAAA 1. Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1995 (with discussion of the use of Ps.-Melito in the homiliary of Pembroke 25 item 9, the Cotton-Corpus Legendary, and Aelfric; includes English translation of Aelfric’s Homily on the Assumption of John, pp. 188–96).
Junod, Eric, and Jean-Daniel Kaestli. Acta Iohannis. CCSA 1–2. Turnhout: Brepols, 1983 (vol. 2, pp. 750–98).
Lipsius, Richard A. Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. Ein Beitrag zur altchristlichen Literaturgeschichte. 2 vols. Braunschweig: Schwetschke, 1883–1887 (see vol. 1, pp. 408–33).
Schäferdiek, Knut. “Die ‘Passio Johannis’ des Melito von Laodikeia und die ‘Virtutes Johannis.’” AnBoll 103 (1985): 367–82.