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PETER AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES, ACTS OF

A gnostic tractate, the first 12 pages of the sixth codex discovered at Nag Hammadi. Like the majority of texts in that corpus, it exists only in a Coptic translation, although it was originally written in Greek.

On the basis of internal evidence, this work apparently received its final redaction in the years immediately following the Decian persecution (ca. a.d. 249-251). This is well within the previous estimates of a 2nd- or 3rd-century dating. While the provenance has not received extended analysis, an Alexandrian locale is likely. The text itself is a combination of two previous sources (a narratio fabulosa or heavenly journey and a resurrection appearance) sewn together by a later redactor who added a commissioning scene, creating the effect of a revelation dialogue.

This allegorical text describes the arrival of Peter and the other disciples at the island city of Habitation (earth) where Peter encounters the mysterious figure of Lithargoel, a traveling pearl merchant. After offering his pearls (salvation/knowledge) to the city’s inhabitants (the rich, the poor, and the disciples represent the three classes of people — the fleshly, the psychic, and spiritual), Lithargoel talks with Peter and invites him to come to receive a pearl, a treasure which is only attained by making the hazardous journey (through the hostile realms of the archons) to the merchant’s city of Nine Gates (heaven). Upon their arrival at Nine Gates, the disciples re-encounter Lithargoel (disguised as a physician), who finally reveals himself as Jesus. The commission, both practical and extremely community-oriented, includes commands to teach, care for the poor, heal as “physicians of bodies and souls,” and an absolute rejection of the rich as potential Church members.

Bibliography. A. L. Molinari, The Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (NHC 6.1)(diss., Marquette, 1997); S. J. Patterson, “Sources, Redaction and Tendenz in the Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles (NH VI,1),” VC 45 (1991): 1-17.

Andrea Lorenzo Molinari

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

PETER AND THE TWELVE APOSTLES, ACTS OF

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)