Story of Peter and Paul in Rome

Acta Petri et Pauli (arabice, aethiopice)

Standard abbreviation: Pet. Paul Rome

Other titles: History of Peter and Paul

Clavis numbers: ECCA 139; CANT 203

Category: Apocryphal Acts

Compiled by Tony Burke, York University ([email protected]).

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Story of Peter and Paul in Rome.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/story-of-peter-and-paul-in-rome/.

Created October 2020. Current as of July 2023.

1. SUMMARY

Pet. Paul Rome is found in two forms: as a story incorporated into the Book of Mary’s Repose (chs. 105–31) and as a stand-alone text in Arabic. The story begins with a recounting of Paul’s road to Damascus story. After his sight is restored, the Lord tells him he must go to Rome with Peter. Then Gabriel brings the other apostles to Jesus on a cloud and they rejoice to see that Paul is no longer a persecutor. Jesus tells Peter to go with Paul to Rome where they will fight the devil. A cloud drops the two apostles in the middle of the palace of the emperor (named Bar‘amûs; Aramaic: Paragmos; Garšūnī: Nero). Peter tells the emperor they are slaves of Christ and recount some of the events from his life (birth, miracles, death and resurrection). They say also that they have come to Rome to bring an end to paganism in the city.

The emperor wants proof of the power of their God and presents the apostles with his daughter Lûhîth (Aramaic: Lapita), whose right eye had been plucked out by a bird. Peter asks the emperor what sin he has committed to incur God’s wrath against his daughter. The emperor is offended at the accusation but secretly worried that he will be shamed in front of his wife and the court. Paul suggests that they call the bird and ask it about the emperor’s sins. When the bird arrives Peter commands it to rebuke the emperor. It reveals that on the emperor’s birthday, the emperor became drunk and tried to sleep with a beautiful girl; she refused his advances, so he locked her up in the stable and commanded that no bread or water be given her. Twelve days went by and the emperor’s daughter took pity on the girl and brought her bread and water. The bird says something came over him and he plucked out the girl’s eye. As he flew away, his own right eye became blind and he fell, landing beneath a tree where he remained for 13 days (later the text says 13 years, as in the Garšūnī version).

The emperor is ashamed by the bird’s account and he asks the apostles again to heal his daughter. Peter puts his hand on her eye and she is cured. After a short gap in the Arabic manuscript, the story continues with the people calling for another display of power. Paul commands them to bring the sick and the dead to the theatre; together he and Peter cure the people by sprinkling them with blessed water. The people worship the apostles but Peter and Paul say that they are just human.

After a six-month stay in Rome, the apostles follow the command of the Lord to go to Philippi, where they preach and perform healings. Angry at their success, Satan disguises himself as an Indian king and tells the emperor that the apostles visited him in his kingdom and converted everyone but the four men who remain in the king’s company. The emperor dispatches soldiers to bring the apostles back to Rome. The Philippians pledge to defend the apostles but Peter and Paul surrender themselves (the Ethiopic version is longer here with the Philippians deliberating over what to do; an old man, healed of blindness by the apostles, comes to the apostles’ defence). Peter prays for a sign to show the Philippians that their God is true; in response, an angel descends and cuts down the horses of the soldiers. The soldiers fall down and the horses trample them; then the horses pray and do obeisance to the apostles (in the Ethiopic, one of the houses is named Legion and speaks, declaring that the two apostles are not wizards and telling the soldiers that they see Jesus on a white horse with the apostles. Then the soldiers witness Jesus rising up to heaven). The captain asks the apostles for mercy and Peter tells them to go back to the emperor, throw their weapons down, and swear to follow the heavenly king. When they do so, the emperor throws them all in prison.

The emperor sends a force to destroy Philippi led by a captain named Patroclus. The Holy Spirit warns the apostles of their approach, and a cloud comes and brings them to the emperor. The apostles are brought into the midst of the city where two helmets of heated iron are placed on their heads and fat is smeared below them (in Ethiopic the helmets are not heated but have nails inside, and they are crucified upside down; in Garšūnī they are crucified upside down and hot nails are applied to their heads). In response to their prayers for help, an angel arrives and frees them and suspends the emperor and his men in the air. The emperor begs for mercy and Peter tells him to release the imprisoned soldiers. The emperor calls for his daughter to free them and renounces the king of India for leading him astray. Peter tells the emperor he cannot be released until he believes with his mouth and writes a declaration of belief with his hand. The emperor writes the declaration and adds that anyone who denies Jesus will be cast into the sea along with his household. Peter and Paul call on Jesus to forgive the emperor and the angel sets the emperor and his men on the ground.

Peter and Paul stay in Rome for three years and six months. They build a church and appoint clergy. On their way out of the city, they once again encounter Satan, disguised still as the Indian king but now naked as he has renounced the emperor. The Arabic is obscure in this section (he asks the apostles for clothing but his identity is not revealed), but in the other witnesses, the Holy Spirit reveals to Peter that the man is the devil and Peter sends him away with a promise not to pursue or disturb them. But when he’s a little way off, Satan transforms into a black bull and rushes at Paul. The apostles each grab one of the bull’s horns and pull in opposite directions. Satan cries for mercy, arguing that both Peter and Paul were forgiven for what they did. So they let Satan go, again telling him to swear not to oppose them. As they depart he vows to continue fighting them and their fellow apostles, and then vanishes at Peter’s command. Here the Arabic text concludes.

Named historical figures and characters: Adam (patriarch), Ananias (disciple), Bar‘amûs (Paragmos), Dôrôtheus, Gabriel (angel), Jesus Christ, Lûhîth (Lapita), Mary (Virgin), Nero, Patroclus, Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle), Satan.

Geographical locations: Bethsaida, Egypt, Galilee, Iraq, Philippi, Rome, Syria, Tarsus.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Arabic (BHO 965)

3.1.1 Arabic Script

Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, ar. O, fols. 1^r–26^v (12th/13th cent.)

Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Christ. Arab. 84, fols. 67^v–82^r (ca. 1780) ~ copied from Mingana Christ. Arab. 87b

Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Christ. Arab. 87b, fols. 98^r–119^r (ca. 1600 and 1700)

Bausi, Alessandro. “Alcune osservazioni sul Gadla ḥawāryāt.” Annali dell’Istituto Orientale di Napoli 60–61 (2001–2002): 77–114 (description of Sinai ar. O, p. 101).

Graf, Georg. Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur. 5 vols. Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1944 (manuscripts listed, vol. 1, p. 260, 263).

Lewis, Agnes Smith, ed. Acta Mythologica Apostolorum, Transcribed from an Arabic Ms. in the Convent of Deyr-es-Suriani, Egypt, and from Mss. in the Convent of St Catherine, on Mount Sinai. Horae Semiticae 3. London: C.J. Clay and Sons, 1904. (Arabic text based on Sinai arab. O, pp. 150–64).

3.1.1.2 Garšūnī Script (BHO 964)

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. sir. 199, fols. 201^v–207^v (1545)

Lantschoot, Arnold van. “Contribution aux Actes de S. Pierre et de S. Paul II – Recension Karšuni des Actes de S. Pierre et S. Paul.” Mus 68 (1955): 219–33 (text based on Vat. sir. 199, pp. 219–27; French translation, pp. 227–33).

3.1.2 Ethiopic (as part of the Book of Mary’s Repose)

Arras, V. De Transitu Mariae Aethiopice. 1. CSCO 342–43. Leuven: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, 1973 (CSCO 342 Ethiopic text, pp. 72–73, 75–76; CSCO 343 Latin trans., pp. 47, 49)

Lantschoot, A. van. “Contribution aux Actes de S. Pierre et de S. Paul.” Mus 68 (1955): 17–46 (text and translation based on a manuscript comprising only the portion related to Peter and Paul).

3.1.4 Palestinian Aramaic (as part of the Book of Mary’s Repose)

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Lewis, Agnes Smith. The Mythological Acts of the Apostles, Translated from an Arabic Ms. in the Convent of Deyr-es-Suriani, Egypt, and from Mss. in the Convent of St Catherine on Mount Sinai and in the Vatican Library. Horae Semiticae 4. London: C.J. Clay and Sons, 1904 (English translation, pp. 175–92).

3.2.2 French

3.3 General Works

Baumstark, Anton. Die Petrus- und Paulusacten in der literarischen Überlieferung der syrischen Kirche. Leipzig: Harrassowitz, 1902 (pp. 51–55).

Guidi, Ignazio. “Bemerkungen zum ersten Bande der syrischen Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum.” ZDMG 46 (1892): 744–58 (discussion of Vat. sir. 199, pp. 745–46 n. 3).

Haase, Felix. Apostel und Evangelisten in den orientalischen Überlieferungen. Neutestamentliche Abhandlungen 9. Münster: Aschendorff, 1922 (p. 207).

Lipsius, Richard A. Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden. 2 vols. Braunschweig: Schwetschke, 1883–1887. (See vol. 2.1, p. 174)

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 pp. 442–43).

Poupon, Gérard. “Les ‘Actes de Pierre’ et leur remaniement.” ANRW II.25.6 (1988): 4363–83 (p. 4366).

Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 (pp. 347–48 n. 167).