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FORGED GOSPELS, ACTS, EPISTLES

Half a hundred of false and forged Apostolic “Gospels of Jesus Christ,” together with more numerous other “Scripture” forgeries, was the output, so far as known now, of the lying pens of the pious Christians of the first two centuries of the Christian “Age of Apocryphal Literature”; all going to swell the “very large number of apocryphal writings of distinctly Christian origin which were produced from the second century onward, to satisfy an unhealthy craving for the occult and marvelous or to embellish the stories of the saints.” (NIE., i, 746.) These N.T. apocrypha include “numerous works purporting to have been written by apostles or their associates, but not able to secure a general or permanent recognition. These may be classified thus: (a) Gospels; (b) Acts of Apostles; (c) Epistles; (d) Apocalypses; (e) Didactic Works; (f) Hymns. (Ib. p. 748.) “The name Gospel,” says CE. (vi, 656), “as indicating a written account of Christ's words and deeds, has been, and still is, applied to a large number of narratives of Christ's life, which circulated both before and after the composition of our Third Gospel (cf. Luke i, 1-4). The titles of some fifty such works have come down to us. ... It is only, however, in connection with some twenty of these ‘Gospels' that some information has been preserved. ... Most of them, as far as can be made out, are late ⁹⁶ productions, the apocryphal character of which is generally admitted by contemporary [i.e., present day] scholars.” Naming first as Nos. 1-4 “The Canonical Gospels,” now falsely labelled with the names of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the twenty best known ones are listed as follows; viz: The Gospels according to the Hebrews; of Peter; According to the Egyptians; of Matthias; of Philip; of Thomas; the Proto-Evangelium of James, Gospel of Nicodemus (Acta Pilati); of the Twelve Apostles; of Basilides; of Valentius; of Marcion; of Eve; of Judas; the Writing Genna Marias; the Gospel Teleioseos. (CE. vi, 656.)

 Individual Gospels were forged in the names of each of the Twelve Apostles, severally, and a joint fabrication under the name of “The Gospel of the Twelve,” was put into the mouths of the twelve Apostles, using the first person to give the ear-marks of authenticity to their forged utterances; and separately, “Almost every one of the Apostles had a Gospel fathered upon him by one early sect or another.” (EB. i, 259.) Several seem to have been fathered upon Matthew besides the one that wrongly heads the list of the “canonical Four,” such as the Gospel of Matthias, Traditions of Matthias, also a supposed and probably non-existent writing in Hebrew hypothesized as the basic document of the Four; probably, also the so-called Logia, a papyrus scrap of one sheet discovered at Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, and containing alleged sayings of Jesus which in part correspond with, in part radically differ from the sayings attributed to him in the Four. He was also made responsible for a so-called Gospel of St. Matthew, dating from the 4^th or 5th century, which “purports to have been written by Matthew and translated by St. Jerome.” (CE.. i, 608,)

 This authority also lists the famous Protevangetium Jacobi, or Infancy Gospel of James, the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy, that of Gamaliel, the Gospel according to the Hebrews, also According to the Egyptians; of the Nazarenes; Gospels of St. Peter, of St. Philip, of St. Thomas, of St. Bartholomew, of St. Andrew, of Barnabas, of Thaddeus, even notable forged Gospels of Judas Iscariot, and of Mother Eve; also the Gospel by Jesus Christ. We have the Gospel of Nicodemus, the History of Joseph the Carpenter, the Descent into Hades, the Descent of Mary, the Ascents of James, the Prophecy of Hystaspes, the Didache or Teachings of the Apostles; the Gospel of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, the Transitum Mariae or Evangelium Joannin. This last named pious Christian work, as described by CE. (i, 607-8) is forged in the name of St. John the Apostle, and is “prefaced with a spurious Letter of the Bishop of Sardis, Melito”; it records how “the Apostles are preternaturally transported from different quarters of the globe to the Virgin's deathbed, those who have died being resurrected for the purpose”; a Jew who dares touch the sacred body instantly loses both hands, which are restored through the mediation of the Apostles. Christ, accompanied by a band of angels, comes down to receive his mother's soul, “the Apostles bear the body to Gethsemane and deposit it in a tomb, whence it is taken up alive to heaven”; this being an extraordinary miracle, for the body was dead and the soul carried to heaven from her home and the dead body laid in the grave, where it comes to life again for the Heaven-trip. This clumsy fable, says CE., considerably “influenced the Fathers” (Ib. i, 608), who were notoriously childish-minded. A ⁹⁷ very noted and notorious forgery was the Gospel of Paul and Thecla, of which Father Tertullian relates, that this story wag fabricated by an Elder of Asia Minor, who, when convicted of the fraud—[this being the only known instance of such action],—confessed that he had perpetrated it “for the love of St. Paul.” (Reinach, Orpheus, p. 235.) The Protevangelium Jacobi was “an Apocryphal work by a fanciful fabulist, unhampered by knowledge of Jewish affairs, composed before the end of the second century with a view to removing the glaring contradictions between Matthew and Mark,” regarding the birth and life of Jesus Christ. (EB. iii, 3343.) An “Epistle on the Martyrdom of the Apostles Peter and Paul was at a later period attributed to St. Linus. ... It is apocryphal, and of later date than the history of the Martyrdom of the two Apostles, by some attributed to Marcellus, which is also apocryphal.” (CE. ix, 273; see Acta Apostolorum, Apocrypha, xiv.) Other noted Fatherly fabrications were the celebrated Epistles I and II of Clement to the Corinthians, and the Pseudo-Clementine Recognitions and Homilies, purporting to be written by the very doubtful Bishop of Rome of that name; very voluminous, and written about 140 A.D., not a line of New Testament “scriptures” do they quote, but they quote freely from the O.T. and from various Jewish, Christian and Pagan works. (EB. iii, 3486.)

Besides the above complete “Gospel” forgeries, there are several more, and fragments of others, which purport to contain “sayings” attributed to Jesus which are not contained in the Four Gospels; and which are known as Agrapha, that is, things not written. Among these are the Logia of Oxyrhynchus above mentioned; the Fayum gospel-fragment, a papyrus purporting to give words of Christ to Peter at the Last Supper, “in a form which diverges largely by omissions from any in the canonical gospels.” (EB. i, 258.) These Agrapha “do not embrace the lengthy sections ascribed to Jesus in the ‘Didiscalin' and the ‘Pistis Sophia'; these works also contain some brief quotations of alleged words of Jesus; ... nor the Sayings contained in religious romances, such as we find in the apocryphal Gospels, the apocryphal Acts, or the Letter of Christ to Abgar. ... In patristic citations ... Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria, Origen, make false quotations,”—citing instances. (CE. i, 225, 226.) In the class of Agrapha are also “words in the Gospels not regarded as genuine, as Mt. vi, 13b; xvii, 21; Mk. xvi, 9-20; John vii, 53; viii, 2; also alleged quotations from the Old Testament in the New Testament not found in the Old Testament.” (NIE. 1, 240.)

Of apocryphal Acts of Apostles we are edified by the Acts, or Travels, (Greek, Pereodui) of Peter, (and separately) of John, of Thomas, of Andrew, and of Paul; another Acts of Philip, Acts of Matthew, of Bartholomew, of John, of judas Thomas. There is a whole collection of Martyrdoms of the several Apostles. Of apocryphal Epistles, the most famous is the Correspondence between the Abgar of Edessa, and Jesus; between the Roman Philosopher Seneca and Paul; apocryphal Epistles of Paul, to the Laodiceans, to the Alexandrians, the Third Epistle to the Corinthians. Forged Apocalypses abound, of which that of Peter, the Vision of Hermas, the Vision of Paul, the Apocalypse of Paul, the Apocalypse of the Virgin Mary. The didactic Preaching of Peter, the Teaching of the Apostles, or Didache, containing warnings against Judaism and ⁹⁸ polytheism, and words of Jesus to the Apostles; another set containing a lament of Peter for his denial of Jesus, and various ethical maxims a Syriac Preaching of Simon Cephas; a collection of Hymns or Odes of Solomon. As if these were not enough for Christian edification, “many heretical or Gnostic works of the same apocryphal kind were changed into orthodox by expurgation of objectionable matter or by rewriting, using the same outlines; thus a series of Catholic Acts was produced, written from an orthodox standpoint.” (NIE. i, 748.) A very celebrated forgery was the Shepherd of Hermas, forged by Hermas,' supposed brother of Pius, Bishop of Rome, about 150 A.D. See the vast catalogue (CE. i, 601-615).

A whole literature of Christian forgery grew up and had immense vogue under the designation of Acts Pilati, or Acts of Pilate. One of the most popular of these was called the Gospel of Nicodemus, of which CE. says: “The alleged Hebrew original is attributed to Nicodemius [sic]; the title is of medieval origin. The apocryphon gained wide credit in the Middle Ages. ... The ‘Acta' are of orthodox composition. The book aimed at gratifying the desire for extra-evangelical details concerning oar Lord, and at the same time, to strengthen faith in the Resurrection of Christ, and at general edification.” (i, 3.) The Descent into Hades is an enlargement of the reputed official acts or repots of Pilate to the Roman Emperor. Speaking of the Pilate Literature as a whole, the Catholic Encyclopedia, in a paragraph which pointedly admits the falsifying frauds of three luminous liars and forgers of the Faith, Justin Martyr, the great Bishop Eusebius, and Father Tertullian, explains that these Acta “dwell upon the part which a representative [Pilate] of the Roman Empire played in the supreme events of our Lord's life, and to shape the testimony of Pontius Pilate, even at the cost of exaggeration and amplification—[hear the soft-pedaling note], into a weapon of apologetic defense, making the official bear witness to the miracles, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. ... It is characterized by exaggerating Pilate's weak defense of Jesus into a strong sympathy and practical belief in his Divinity.” (CE. i, 609.) Father Tertullian, in his Apologia (xxi), relates the Report of Pilate to the Emperor, sketching the miracles and death of Jesus Christ, and says, “All these things Pilate announced to Tiberius Caesar.” Bishop Eusebius thus relates the fable as taken from the Apologia of Father Tertullian: “The fame of Our Lord's remarkable resurrection and ascension being now spread abroad, ... Pontius Pilate transmits to Tiberius an account of the circumstances concerning the resurrection of our Lord from the dead. ... In this account, he also intimated that he had ascertained other miracles respecting him, and that having now risen from the dead, he was believed to be a God by the great mass of the people. Tiberius referred the matter to the Senate, ... being obviously pleased with the doctrine; but the Senate, as they had not proposed the matter, [rejected it]. But he continued in his opinion, threatening death to the accusers of the Christians; a divine providence infusing this into his mind, that the Gospel having freer scope in its commencement, might spread everywhere over the world.” (Eusebius, HE. II, 2.) Father Justin Martyr, in his Apologia, “appeals confidently as a proof of them to the ‘Acta' or records of Pilate, existing in the imperial archives.” Eusebius, relates spurious ⁹⁹ anti-Christian Acts of Pilate composed in the fourth century, the Acta Pilati or Gospel of Nicodemus, Anphora Pilati, Paradoseis; a still later fabrication is the Latin Epistola Pilati ad Tiberium, Also the Letter of Herod to Pilate and Letter of Pilate to Herod; the Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea. The pseudo-Correspondence of Jesus with Abgar, King of Edessa, is found in Eusebius (Hist. Eccles., I, xiii), “who vouches that he himself translated it from the Syriac documents in the archives of Edessa, the metropolis, of Eastern Syria. ... ‘This,' adds Eusebius, ‘happened in the year 340 of the Seleucid era, corresponding to A.D. 28-29.'” (CE. i, 609, 610.) More monumental lies to the glory of God than those of the distinguished Church Fathers are not “A collection of apocryphal Acts of the Apostles was formed in the Frankish Church in the sixth century, probably by a monk.” (Ib. p. 610.) There were also “the works accredited to Dionysius the Areopagite, who was not the author of the works bearing his name.” (Ib. p. 638.)

Of highest importance because “these Acts are the chief source for details of the martyrdom of the two great Apostles,” as admits the CE., special notice is made of the “Catholic” Acts of Sts. Peter and Paul, of which many MSS of “the legend” existed, the material import of which is thus not quite honestly summarized: “The Jews have been aroused by the news of Paul's intended visit (to Rome), and induce Nero to forbid it. Nevertheless the Apostle secretly enters Italy; his companion is mistaken for himself at Puteoli and beheaded. In retribution that city is swallowed up by the sea. Peter receives Paul at Rome with joy. The preaching of the Apostles converts multitudes and even the Empress. Simon Magus traduces the Christian teachers, and there is a test of strength in miracles between that magician and the Apostles, which takes place in the presence of Nero. Simon essays a flight to heaven but falls in the Via Sacra and is dashed to pieces, Nevertheless, Nero is bent on the destruction of Peter and, Paul. The latter is beheaded on the Ostian Way, and Peter is crucified at his request head downward. Before his death he relates to the people the ‘Quo Vadis?' story. Three men from the East carry off the Apostles' bodies but are overtaken. St. Peter is buried at ‘the place called the Vatican,' and Paul on the Ostian Way. These Acts are the chief source for details of the martyrdom of the two great Apostles. They are also noteworthy as emphasizing the close concord between the Apostolic founders of the Roman Church.” (CE. i, 611-12.)

The reader is desired to bear well in mind the foregoing paragraph, and particularly the last two sentences, the former of immense significance when we come to review the falsified fiction of the foundation of the Roman Church by Peter,—the “chief source” of which portentous claim is confessedly founded on the crude and fantastic “legend”' of an admittedly forged document. Another admission of forgery by the Fathers, before introducing them formally, may be noted:, “Such known works as the Shepherd of Hermas, the Epistle of Barnabas, the Didache or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, and the Apostolic Canons and Constitutions, though formally apocryphal, really belong to patristic literature” (CE. i, 601),—that is, they are forged writings of the Fathers. ¹⁰⁰

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