05 — The Gospel and Apocrypha
The body of apocryphal literature that grew up under the apostle’s name — chiefly the Questions of Bartholomew (the so-called Gospel of Bartholomew) and the Greek and Latin Martyrdom of Bartholomew. These files describe that literature, locate it in the wider apocryphal world, and assess its worth as evidence, naming it but not endorsing it.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Apostle)
As with several of the apostles, texts circulated in antiquity claiming Bartholomew’s authority. Jerome and the so-called Gelasian Decree know of a “Gospel of Bartholomew,” and there survives a curious apocryphon, the Questions of Bartholomew, in which the apostle interrogates the risen Lord and the Theotokos about the mysteries of the descent into Hades and the fall of the angels. A separate Martyrdom of Bartholomew, surviving in Greek and Latin, supplies the narrative of his preaching in “India,” the conversion of a king, and his death. These works are apocryphal: they are not received into the canon, and the Church does not rest doctrine upon them. This section describes them and weighs, soberly, how much of the traditional Bartholomew biography is owed to them — which is to say, a great deal.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Bartholomew Apocrypha | The Questions of Bartholomew / Gospel of Bartholomew (its contents, manuscripts, and date); the notices of a “Gospel of Bartholomew” in Jerome and the Gelasian Decree; and the Martyrdom of Bartholomew, the source of the king-conversion and flaying narratives — all described, named, and dated. |
| Assessing the Tradition | How an Orthodox reader holds the apocrypha: not as Scripture, not as history, but as witnesses to early devotion and to the shape of the legend; the dependence of the standard Bartholomew biography on these late texts; and the methodological discipline of pinning each claim to its earliest attestation. |
See Also
- The Martyrdom — the flaying narrative drawn largely from the Martyrdom of Bartholomew
- The Missions — the “India” tradition the apocrypha elaborate
- The Identification Debate — the critical handling of the whole tradition
- The Church Fathers — the patristic frame for judging apocrypha
References
- James, M. R. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924. (Translations and descriptions of the Questions of Bartholomew and the Martyrdom of Bartholomew.)
- Elliott, J. K. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. (Updated edition and introductions.)
- Jerome. Commentary on Matthew, prologue (notice of a “Gospel of Bartholomew”). Trans. in Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament.