Paulus
4. APOSTOLUS.
Works
The life of the Apostle and his genuine works do not come within our plan, but the following indisputably spurious works require notice.
of which citatons or notices are found in Origen (
Tom. XXI. in Joan., De Principiis, 1.2), Eusebius (
Euseb. Hist. Eccl. 3.3,
25), and Philastrius (
Haeres. lxxxvii.).
This work, which is lost, must not be confounded with No. 2.
This work is mentioned by Tertullian (
De Baptismo, c. 17), and by Jerome (
De Viris Illustr. 100.7).
It was written, according to the former (
l.c.), by a certain presbyter of Asia, who, when convicted of the forgery, acknowledged the act, and said that he had done it out of love to the Apostle.
He was deposed from his office. Jerome (
l.c.), citing this passage from Tertullian, adds, as if upon his authority, that the presbyter was convicted of the forgery before John (whether the Evangelist or the Elder, is not clear), which carries back the forgery almost, if not quite, to the Apostolic age.
The work has perished. Whether there was such a person as Thecla, and whether she was connected with the Apostle Paul, has been disputed. Baronius and Grabe contend that there was; Stilling, in the
Acta Sanctorumn, Sept. vol. vi. p. 550, thinks that there is some truth in what is said of her; but Ittigius (
De Biblioth. Patrum, p. 702) regards the whole story as a fable.
She is mentioned by several of the principal fathers of the fourth century, Epiphanius, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory Nyssen, Chrysostom, Isidore of Pelusium, &c.
In the fifth century, Basil of Seleuceia [BASILIUS, No. 4] wrote a metrical history of Thecla (Phot.
Bibl. Cod. 168), and Symeon Metaphrastes, at a later period, wrote her life.
This latter biography, with another to which the name of Basil of Seleuceia was prefixed, (but with very doubtful propriety, for it was not written in metre,like the one mentioned by Photius), were published in the original Greek, with a Latin version by Petrus Pantinus, 4to. Antwerp, 1608. G(rabe inserted in the first volume of his
Spicilegium SS Patrum, pp. 95, &c., a history of Thecla, entitled
Μαρτύριον τῆς ἁγίας καὶ ἐνδύξου πρωτομάρτυρος καὶ ἀποστόλου Θέκλας,
Martytrium sanctae et gloriosae Proto-Martyris et Apostolatu defunctae Virginis Theclae, and which he regarded as the very work to which the presbyter of Asia had prefixed the name of Paul. Grabe, however, was probably mistaken : the narrative makes no profession of being written by Paul, and there is no trace of an absurd story of the baptism of a lion ("baptismi leonis fabulam"), which. Jerome expressly mentions as contained in tihe presl yter's narrative.
The work is, however, of conasitlrable antiquity, and probably furnished materials for the two biographies published by Pantitinus. The
Martyrium, as publishled by Grabe, was incomplete, having been taken from a mutilated MS., and a considerable supplementary passage was published by ilearne, in his appendix to Leland's Collectanzea. The
Martyrium, thus completed, was reprinted by Galland, in the first volume of his
Bibliotheca Patrum, p. 167, &c. (Grabe,
Spicilegium, vol. i. p. 8], &c.
Acta Sanctor. I. c.）
perhaps referred to by Clement of Alexandria (
Strom. lib. vi.), certainly mentioned by the anonymous author of an ancient tract,
De non ulerando Baptismo Haeretieorum (Fabric.
Cod. Apocryph. N.T. vol. ii.p. 799).
It is not extant.
This epistle, the forgery of which is ascribed by some ancient writers to the Manichaeans his been printed several timas in the Polyglot Bible of Elias Hutter, fol. Nuremberg, 1599; in the
Philologns Hebraeo-Graecus of Leusden, 4to. Utrecht, 1670; in the
Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti of Fabricius, and elsewhere.
mentioned by Jerome (
De Viris Illustr. c. 12) and Augustin (
Epistol. ad Macedonium, 54, editt. vett., 153, edit. Benedictin.).
These letters (five from Paul and eight from Seneca) are given in various editions of the works of Seneca; also by Sixtus Senensis, in his
Bibliotheca Sancta, and by Fabricius, in his
Codex Apocryphus N. T.
forged by the heretics whom Epiphanius calls Caiani, but used also by the Gnostics (Epiphan.
Haeres. 18.100.38).
The book was founded on a passage in the genuine writings of the Apostle (2
Cor. 12.4), in which he speaks of being caught up into the third heaven.
It is now lost.
apparently different from No. 5; mentioned by Augustin (
Tractat. XCIIl. in Joan.), Sozomen (
H. E. 7.19), Theophylact, and Oecumenius (
Not. ad 2 Cor. 12.4).
It was said to have been found in Paul's house in Tarsus: but Sozomen found, on inquiry, that this story was untrue.
7. Other epistles in Armenian, Arabic etc.
An
Epistola Pauli ad Corinthios, different from the genuine epistles, and an
Epistola Corinthiorum ad Paulum, are said to be extant in the Armenian language; and other epistles ascribed to the same Apostle are said to be extant in the Arabic. The Marcionites are said to have ascribed to Paul the gospel (formed from that of Luke) which was received among them.
Further Information
Cave,
Hist. Litt. vol. i. p. 12, ed. Oxford. 1740-43; Fabric.
Cod. Apocryphus N. T.; Vossius,
De Historicis Graecis, lib. 2. c.9.
