Introduction

Summary

After brief discussion of the manuscript evidence for the Epistula Apostolorum, the primary focus of the Introduction is on questions of genre and provenance. While the (modern) Latin title presents this text as a letter, its focus on revelation also links it to Christian apocalyptic texts. Yet the Epistula is most fundamentally a gospel, with close thematic connections to other early gospel literature, especially the Gospels of Matthew and John, of which the author makes selective use at a number of points. While a question-and-answer session between Jesus and his disciples on Easter morning occupies the bulk of the text, it also includes a collection of miracle stories and an account of the ascension, confirming its gospel-like character. To describe it as an ‘apocryphal’ gospel is, however, anachronistic given its early date. References to the apostle John and the heretic Cerinthus suggest an Asian provenance, and a date of around 170 CE would account both for Jesus’ announcement of his return after 150 years and for the emphasis on the worldwide plague expected to precede that return, identifiable as the ‘great plague’ spoken of by Galen and later writers.