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VII. The Acts of Paul and the western text of Luke's Acts: Paul between canon and apocrypha There must have been an exciting discussion about the person and life of the apostle Paul in the Early Church. W. Bauer quotes some characteristic reflections on Paul in two groups.' On the one hand, in the Jewish Christian tradition he is designated as a pagan who converted to Judaism so that he could many the high priest's daughter. He is claimed not to have seen the Lord, and is ident- ified with Simon the magician, who was rebuked by Peter and John in Acts 8. On the other hand, Jerome argues that Paul was born in Galilee. In other sources the resurrected Jesus himself explains Paul's future role to the disciples, the apostle's name ap- pears among the twelve, and he is given the 'divine' epithet. Finally, the apocryphal Acts of Paul (AP) itself presents a tradition in which the apostle seems to have stood in high esteem.' In this study I will read the AP against the backdrop of three other documents in order to understand better how the canonical and orthodox image of the apostle is related to the apocryphal and legendary traditions about him. The first of these texts is the commentary of Ephrem Syrus on Acts. I find this collation prom- ising because Ephrem's commentary on the letters of Paul is an 1 W. Bauer, 'Das Apostelbild in der altchristlichen iiberliefemng: Nachrichten', in E. Hennecke and W. Schneemelcher (eds), Neutes- tamentliche Apokryphen I1 (Tiibingen, 1964') 1 1-4 1. 2 I intend to talk about 'popular tradition' following W. Schneemel- cher and K. Schaferdiek, 'Apostelgeschichten des 2. und 3. Jahrhunderts: Einleitung', in NeuTA 11, 11 1; see also Karasszon, this volume, Ch. 12. 108 ISWAN CZACHESZ important witness of the Corinthian correspondence of the AP.' Another text is provided by the peculiar readings of the Lukan Acts in Codex Bezae (D). Ephrem seems to have known the text of D, or at least there is a common tradition behind them. Finally, I will use the Armenian catena which contains mainly comments by Chrysostom and Ephrem on the same book.4 Since the Bezae- ~ an version of Acts differs considerably from the text in other manuscripts, I intend to regard it as a writing between the biblical canon and the apocrypha.' C.K. Barrett seems to support this view, and his essay will be dealt with in more detail later.6 First I will seek the signs of direct textual interdependence between the A P and the other sources, then the possible theolog- ical similarities will be examined, and finally I will attempt to schematize the relations between the sources. i Textual evidence Now I turn to the analysis of the textual evidence of the connect- 3 F.C. Conybeare, 'The commentary of Ephrem on Acts', in J.H. Ropes, The Text of Acts, Vol. 111 of F.J. Foakes Jackson and K. Lake (eds), The Beginnings of Christianity (London, 1926) 373-453. The com- mentary survived in an Armenian translation, which Conybeare rendered into Latin. Witness: Schneemelcher, 'Paulusakten ', in NeuTA 11, 217. 4 Trans. by Conybeare, 'The commentary'. 5 However, I will not touch most traditional problems of Codex D., e.g. the question of the priority of the Bezaean version over the 'Alexandrian ', or the ever renewed theory of a double edition of Acts by Luke. A classical survey is in B. M. Metzger, A textual commentary on the Greek New Testament (London, 1975) 259-72. For a recent summary see P.M. Head, 'Acts and the problem of its texts', in B.W. Winter and A.D. Clarke (eds), The Book of Acts in its Ancient Literary Setting (Grand Rapids and Carlisle, 1993) 415-44. 6 C.K. Barrett, 'Is there a theological tendency in Codex Bezae? ', in E. Best and R.McL. Wilson (eds), Text and Interpretation (Cambridge, 1979) 15-27. Also Head, 'Acts', 438 writes: 'the western text might stand part-way along the road to the non-canonical Acts.' PAUL BETWEEN CANON AND APOCRYPHA 109 ion between the AP and the other three sources. I will follow the conduct of the story as reconstructed by W. Schneemelcher, and seek textual parallels with the peculiar readings of either Ephrem, the catena, or D. A. Paul's conversion The story of Paul's conversion seems a key feature of his biogra- phy in the canonical Acts. As is superfluous to say, the episode is narrated in detail three times within the book, which is unparal- leled in the Bible. The entire passage is not preserved either in D or in the AP. But we do have some fragments of the latter, on which basis C. Schmidt has reconstructed the scene, and ample material in Ephrem, which allow us to make some observations. First, we learn from the AP is that Paul received a command after his conversion to go to Damascus and Jerusalem. Acts 9:6 indeed is a command: 'but rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you must do'. But neither is the command preceded by Paul's conversion, nor is a specific place like Damascus or Jerusalem mentioned. The problem is partially solved if we look at the two other accounts in Acts 22 and 26. In Acts 22.10 Paul is sent into Damascus - which is also obvious from the context -, and in 26.16-8 he is commissioned to 'open the eyes of the nations'. The commentary of Ephrem combines and amplifies these pas- sages resourcefully, setting up a lengthy conversation between Paul and Jesus: Jesus asks: 'Why do you persecute me?' Paul faints in his mind, and thinks: 'I for the sake of the heavens persecute, can it be that I persecute him whose dwelling is in the heavens?' He says: 'Who are you, my Lord, who in the heavens from per- secution suffer? For I persecute Jesus, who is among the dead, along with his disciples.' The Lord answers: 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.' Then Ephrem minutely describes Saul's fear that he would receive great punishment. Finally he says: 'What do you want me to do? For whatever I have done until now, I did ignorantly. Therefore, I have accepted your messenger together with the message, so that I pay the penalty for my persecution, 110 ISWAN CZACHESZ which my persecution accumulated for me.' Paul's last sentence sounds quite obscure. Nevertheless there are three main emphases in the dialogue: (1) Paul acted out of ignorance; (2) He confessed his sins; (3) He accepted Jesus' message, and perhaps the task of proclaiming it. Whether the last sentence contains the act of commissioning, cannot be decided with certainty here. I will discuss this issue later. Then Ephrem argues that the reason why Paul was not healed on the spot was that all Damascus might gather and see 'the threatening sign which was put on him, because he dared to persecute the perfect and immaculate body of the Church.' He also explains why the other men did not see the light and were not blinded: (1) Because God had mercy on them; (2) Because it was Saul, who had asked for the letter of the priests; (3) Because it was he that was elected for the preaching and the apostleship. So far we can conclude that in Ephrem's text the events on the Damascus road contain Paul's confession, atonement, and apostolic calling. This process is accomplished, and there is no need for the mediation of Ananias. In Ephrem, Ananias is men- tioned briefly as the 'physician'. In its basic ideas Ephrem's ac- count corresponds to the brief summary Schmidt reconstructed in the AP. In other words, Ephrem offers an expanded version of the latter. Earlier I pondered over the meaning of Paul's obscure words in Ephrem about the 'messenger' and the 'message' which he accepted in his confession. Paul's account of his conversion in the appendix of the A P provides an interesting solution to the problem. There the apostle talks about the Spirit, which fell upon him and preached to him the Gospel of hisSon. This episode may explain what Paul meant in Ephrem: the 'messenger' is no one else than the Spirit, and the 'message' is the Gospel of God's Son. More- over, in the Coptic papyrus the word 'Gospel' is expressed by the infinitive ~\iayy~hf<atv,' which corresponds to the words praeco- num and praeconiatio in the Latin translation of Ephrem. That is, in both cases what is communicated to Paul is not only the con- 7 See Kasser's footnote, in NeuTA 11, 269 n. 1. PAUL BETWEEN CANON AND APOCRYPHA 11 1 tent, but also the action of the proclamation. When he is taught about the Gospel, at the same time he is charged with the Gospel. This seems an important connotation of the word in both Ephrem's commentary and the AP. Further evidence is supplied by Ephrem's paraphrase of Acts 20.26-7. There he writes about Paul's bearing tribulations for 'the gospel which he gospels' (we will discuss the passage below). The question could be settled with more clarity by consulting the original Armenian and Coptic texts. Then, according to the AP, Paul went 'with great joy' to Damascus, where he found the congregation fasting. Although fast is equally important for Luke, he does not speak about 'great joy', and makes Paul stay in the street called 'Straight' for several days before joining the disciples. What is the case in Ephrem? Here we find the interesting claim that while Saul was brought to Damas- cus, he was proceeding with 'great pride'. No textual witness allows this reading in the biblical text. There are only two pos- sibilities: either Ephrem knew the AP, or there was a common tradition on which both the author of the AP and Ephrem drew. Considering the textual evidence in Paul's conversion story, I suggest that there is a definite link between the text of the AP and Ephrem's commentary on Acts. If we had the entire passage in the AP and the readings of D in Acts 9, they would certainly provide further surprising details. My hypothesis is that Ephrem's text, especially the curious dialogue between Paul and Jesus, supplies information about the contents of the lost chapter in the AP and D. B. Paul in Sidon Skipping several episodes in the AP, we come to Paul's sojourn in Sidon. In Acts 27.3 we read about a short visit of Paul to Sidon on his journey to Rome, but that hardly provided the basis for the present narrative.' Unfortunately the text of the AP again survived here only fragmentarily, as was the case with the conversion story. Still we find some interesting matches between this passage and the readings of Ephrem and D in Acts 15.36-16.40, that is, the beginning of Paul's second missionary journey and his stay in 8 Schneemelcher, 'Paulusakten ', 224. 112 ISTVAN CZACHESZ Philippi. It stands out quite clearly that Paul's and Silas' miraculous rescue from the prison in Philippi served as a model for the miracle in the Apollo temple. In Philippi, Paul and Silas are thrown into prison; in Sidon, Paul and his companions are thrown into the temple of Apollo. In both cases, their intensive prayers cause the building to partially cave in around midnight. Now I will examine whether the relevant sections in Ephrem and D reveal likeness to the Sidon episode in the AP. According to the AP, Paul delivered a sermon in Sidon in which he tried to retain the people of the city from doing some- thing evil. Only a short fragment of this sermon survives, in which Paul brings up the example of Sodom and Gomorrah: 'Have you not heard of that which happened, which God brought upon Sodom and Gomorrah?' The phrase 'Sodom and Gomorrah' appears in rebukes in a few instances in apocryphal texts,9 and probably draws on Rom 9.29, where in turn Paul quotes Isaiah 1.9. Nevertheless, Rom 9.29 is the only place where Paul quotes the phrase in the Bible, and it does not occur at all in Acts. It is the more surprising that Ephrem, when he comments on Paul and Barnabas setting out on their second missionary journey, and dividing on the issue of John Mark's participation, refers to the very example of Sodom and Gomorrah. Ephrem reads: 'There is a cause why they separated to go and preach in different regions, following the example of Abraham parting from Lot, so that he become a teacher among the Canaan- ites, and Lot be found among the Sodomites following this exam- ple.' Although Ephrem does not mention Gomorrah, he writes about 'Barnabas, who parted from Paul', which implies that the former is going to the Canaanites like Abraham, and that the latter is going to Sodom like Lot. It is also clear that in Gen 13 Abraham and Lot separated simply because 'the land could not support both of them living together.' So when Ephrem calls Lot the teacher of 9 The Ascension of Isaiah 3.10; 5Ezra 2.8; The Apocalypse of Paul 39. PAUL BETWEEN CANON AND APOCRYPHA 113 the Sodomites, he refers to his righteousness against the wicked- ness of the city. Further, in Gen 13.9 the sinful city is Sodom alone, and Gomorrah appears only as Sodom's political ally. In sum, Ephrem interprets the departing of Abraham and Lot in the light of the 'Sodom and Gomorrah' tradition. At the beginning of his second missionary journey he presents Paul as Lot, the right- eous one, going to sinful Sodom, which recalls the example of Sodom and Gomorrah. It was hardly possible for Ephrem to evoke the image of Lot in Sodom independently from the entire story of Sodom and Gomorrah. Since this argument never occurs in the Lukan Acts, and since in the AP it appears in a missionary context similar to Acts 15, right before the temple episode, which is analogous with the prison story, I conclude that Ephrem depends on the tradition of the AP. The climax of both the Sidon and Philippi narratives comes when the intensive prayer of Paul and his companions causes the building to collapse partially around midnight. In Acts 16 the con- version of the jailer follows, while in the morning the magistrates appear on the scene in both stories. In addition to this, the AP gives a detailed account of people's reaction to the event. This element is lacking in the Bible, but not so in Ephrem and D. Ephrem comments on Acts 16: 'The magis- trates of the city were appalled and terrified by the earthquake, and learning the truth they knew that this earthquake was really on their account, but they did not choose to admit that.' D even knows that the magistrates 'gathered on the marketplace and recalled the earthquake'. Especially the latter version is similar to the AP: 'They went away and proclaimed in the city. And all the inhabitants of the city ran to the temple, and saw Paul and those who were with him.' It is clear that Ephrem and especially D intend to show that the accident was not simply a private exchange between the jailer, the magistrates, and the apostles, but that its effects reached the public life and caused an upheaval in the city. And this is argued also in the AP. 114 ISTVAN CZACHESZ C. Paul in Ephesus The next parallels worth consideration occur in the versions of the Ephesus scene. The outline of the story is similar in the AP and Acts 19: In his sermon Paul attacks the paganism of the city, which brings about an uproar against him, and he almost ends up lynched by the mob. Again we are looking for readings which reveal a connection between the AP and either Ephrem or D. In Acts 19, before the conflict with paganism is told, Paul preaches to John's disciples, who are then baptized. D explains that they were baptized 'for the forgiveness of sins' (CIS &.4~otv apap~tQv) . The expression occurs altogether five times in Acts; in only two cases it is connected with Paul's ministry. The word 'sins' itself occurs three more times. Although the insertion of the termcan be explained from the biblical context, I wish to point out a parallel in the sermon of the AP: 'the Lord wishes us to live in God ... and not to die in sins' (PHamburg 1.16). In Acts 19.24 we read that the controversy in Ephesus was initiated by a certain Demetrius, who was a silversmith making silver shrines of Artemis. Interestingly, when Ephrem comments on the scene, he follows the biblical text almost word for word: 'In that time great persecution was made because of the way, which came from Demetrius, the goldsmith who was dealing with silver.' The catena takes over Ephrem's reading. Why did Ephrem, who cited the biblical passage otherwise faithfully, call Demetrius a goldsmith? No biblical manuscript, not even D, sup- ports his text. There is a solution at hand in the AP. There the crowd wants to bum Paul, but then it is the 'goldsmiths' who shout: 'To the beasts with the man!' (PHamburg 1.28). This nuance must be taken seriously if we want to decide about the relation of Ephrem and the AP. Since Ephrem generally seems to draw on the readings of D, it is important that this time the text of D is extant, and it does not support Ephrem. We cannot even maintain that he quotes a Christian 'topos', or commonplace, which would probably be arguable in the case of 'Sodom and Gomorrah' or the 'baptism for the forgiveness of sins'. The only possible solution is that Ephrem was influenced by the tradition of the AP. PAUL BETWEEN CANON AND APOCRYPHA 115 One more detail is worth mentioning. This time it is a sen- tence in the catena attributed to Chrysostom which says that Demetrius 'set forth the pains of indigence, and disturbed the whole city'.'' Although this is a legitimate interpretation of the events, we cannot exclude its dependence on D, which reads: 'and the whole city was upset by shame'. It can be excluded that the word 'shame' resulted from a scribal error. The words can be perceived as a gloss, but even then this kind of emotional response is quite unlikely on the basis of the biblical text, where anger dominates the scene. The description applies much better to the situation after the animal fight in the AP. The inhabitants of Ephesus fled from the hail-storm, praying to the God of Paul that he would rescue (oq<siv) them (PHamburg 5.12). As in many other cases, it is difficult to explain the reading of D. Even if we regard it as a commentary to the text, D proves quite inconsistent with the content of the passage. In turn, the AP describes a situation which offers a suitable background for such a gloss. Altogether I do not argue that there is a direct interdepen- dence between the two texts, but I suggest that there is a common tradition behind them. D. Paul's martyrdom In the final part of our analysis of direct textual evidence we will examine three more passages. They are found in the last chapters of the AP, and relate to the martyrdom of Paul in Rome. With Paul's stay in Corinth the author of the AP is already steering towards the conclusion of the work." Therefore, the scene provides a transition to the martyrdom in Rome. The situat- ion is very similar to the farewell from the Ephesian elders in Miletus (Acts 20.17-38). However, there is a definite move beyond the content of Paul's testimony in the Lukan Acts. While in the Lukan episode Paul talks about his journey to Jerusalem and the persecutions waiting for him there (Acts 20.220, in the AP Cleo- bius speaks directly of Paul's 'death' and 'depart out of this 10 Conybeare, 'The commentary', 441. 1 1 Schneemelcher, 'Paulusakten ', 229. 116 ISTVAN CZACHESZ world' (PHamburg 6.32). Commenting on Acts 20.26-7, Ephrem paraphrases Paul's words: 'Up to this day I am clean from the blood of you all, for all tribulations I have borne for the sake of the gospel which I gospel unto you. For I am not sent to disturb you, neither I came with any other plan, but only for the reason that in death and life I would preach to you indicating your advantage. ' The introductory words 'up to this day' are clearly taken from D ( & ~ p t oljv zqq ( ~ f i p ~ p o v qpepaq). However, the further addi- tions are not supported by the codex. This is Ephrem's interpret- ation of Paul's journey, an interpretation very similar to what we read in the AP. It is not only the word 'death' which connects the two texts. In Ephrem Paul talks about God's 'plan' or 'design' (consilium), and also in the AP we read twice about God's 'dis- pensation' (oiuovopla, PHamburg 6.26 and 29) concerning Paul. What both wordings mean is that Paul has an important part in God's plan ('plan of salvation' or Heilsplan), and that his death and life serve to the advantage of the brethren. While Luke is reluctant to say anything about Paul's death, Ephrem interprets it as a contribution to the salvation of the Ephesians. We can assume that in this interpretation the Ephesian elders stand for the whole of Gentile Christianity. Finally, the idea is very similar to the Corinthian Cleobius' interpretation of Paul's death in the AP. In both cases Paul appears as the tool of the salvation of the Gentiles. Another interesting episode occurs in the section narrating Paul's journey from Corinth to Italy. The name of the apostle Peter appears in the story, and the narrative contains allusions to the Acts of Peter (Apt). After landing in Italy, Paul preaches in the house of a certain Claudius. In the final part of the text, which is extant in the Coptic PHeid, Paul relates a dialogue between Jesus and Peter. In this dialogue Jesus teaches about 'the work' which is greater than 'the raising of the dead and the feeding of a crowd'. Peter and later Philip ask Jesus about this work. Unfortunately Jesus' answer is missing. Although we cannot reconstruct what Paul actually said about Peter in that sermon, it is evident that the AP compared his calling, PAUL BETWEEN CANON AND APOCRYPHA 117 ministry and death to that of Peter.'' Schneemelcher's hint that this composition may draw on Paul's farewell speech in Acts 20 directed my attention again to Ephrem's commentary on the Miletus scene.I3 And indeed there I found an interesting allusion to Peter. Ephrem says: 'And he (Paul) called them shepherds or- dained by the Spirit, like the Lord Peter.' Although such comparison is not totally unexpected in a (fourth century) commentary, it is still a fact that Peter literally disappears from the Lukan Acts after ch. 12, except for delivering a short address at the 'apostolic council' in ch. 15. Luke himself seems to follow the Pauline tradition of the 'gentlemen's agreem- ent' in Gal 2, carefully marking off the domains of the two apostles. Conflating the traditions about Paul and Peter is charac- teristic of the AAA. Therefore, it is likely that Ephrem was influen- ced by this apocryphal tradition when justifying Paul's testimony to the Ephesian elders with Jesus' testimony to Peter. Finally, R.I. Pervo finds examples in D for 'intensifying the parallelism of Paul and Peter'.14 Two readings in Acts 15-6 may demonstrate his argumentation: In the letter of the apostles D stresses Bamabas and Paul' merits of risking their lives adding 'in every temptation' (EIS n 6 v ~ a nstpaop6v, Acts 15.26). Somewhat later Bamabas and Paul set out on their second missionary jour- ney, and instead of simply 'delivering the decisions of the apostles', D claims they 'proclaimed and delivered to them with full boldness the Lord Jesus Christ, and also the orders of the apostles and elders' (16.4). Altogether the parallel characterization of Peter and Paul is perhaps 'intensified' by D; it is an inevitable tendency in the AP; and finally Ephrem emphasizes such parallelism quoting the name of Peter directly in the context of Paul'sfarewell speech, to which the Corinthian episode of the A P may have given him occasion. 12 R.McL. Wilson, 'Apokryphen 11', TRE 3 (1978) 316-62, esp. 343. 13 Schneemelcher, 'Paulusakten ', 230. 14 R.I. Pewo, 'Social and religious aspects of the 'western' text', in D.E. Groh and R. Jewett (eds), The Living Text (Lanham MD, 1985) 229-41, esp. 234. The first surviving sentence of the actual 'martyrdom' in the AP claims 'there were awaiting Paul at Rome Luke from Gaul and Titus from Dalmatia'. This is surprising if we consider that Luke is traditionally identified with the 'we source' of act^,'^ ap- pearing first in 16.10, and returning also in the journey narrative in 27.1-28.16. Interestingly there is some ambiguity about the identification of this 'we' in each of D, Ephrem, and the AP. D makes the 'we source' appear as early as in 11.28, inserting a lengthy clause: 'and there was great joy, and when we gathered ... ' (fjv 62 7cohhr) &yaAAiaoy' ovv~orpappEvov 66 qpQv ...). This suggests that the voice of 'we' was affiliated with the Antiochene church, but its absence in 13.1-3, 14.26-8, and 15.30-5 seems to contradict this. Commenting on Acts 12.25, Ephrem clearly identifies Luke with Lucius of Cyrene (13.1), talking about 'Lucas Cyrenaicus' accompanying Barnabas, Saul and John Mark from Jerusalem to Antioch. Another 'we' passage has been considered less problematic. Hitherto, the text of Acts 20.13 seemed unchallenged: 'but after going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos'. It is the more surprising what we read in Ephrem: 'I, Luke, and those with me, having entered a ship, bore up to Assos'. Perhaps the commen- tator wanted to stress that this time 'we' does not mean 'Paul and 1', because Paul was waiting is Assos.I6 The catena, however, reads 'Luke and those with me', separating Luke from the voice of 'we'. Altogether I assume that in these readings 'Luke' is handled as an actual hero of Acts, rather than an eyewitness in the background. This suggestion is supported by one more passage in the catena which is attributed to Ephrem. Commenting on Paul's activity in Rome, it says 'Luke in turn recorded also about the work and labour of his hands.' Who is 'we', who is '1', and who is 'Luke'? It seems that in the tradition the identification of the voice of 'we' with Luke stimulated a growing interest for his person and what he actually 15 I.H. Marshall, The Acts of the Apostles (Sheffield, 1992) 38. 16 See Conybeare, 'The commentary ', 443 n. 1. PAUL BETWEEN CANON AND APOCRYPHA 119 did as an agent in Acts. This is expressed by the mentions of his name in Ephrem as well as in the Martyrdom. Luke even speaks in the first person singular, and is eventually separated from the voice of 'we'. Interestingly, his name is cited at Paul's arrival in Rome in both sources, and his appearance is connected with Paul's hiring a house and teaching there. MP: 'When Paul saw them he was glad, so that he hired a barn outside Rome, where with the brethren he taught the word of truth' (1). Ephrem: 'Luke in turn recorded also about the works and labor of his hands, which he gave as the hire of his house for a two year's space; and how he ceased not to converse about Christ with Jews and gentiles, who came out from and went in to him.' The question of theological tendency After examining some textual parallels between the AP, Ephrem's commentary, and D, we will discuss whether our sources also exhibit theological similarities. Although there have been attempts to associate the AP with theological tendencies like Spirit-christology, encratism, 'esoteric symbolism', Montanism, and gnosticism,I7 we have to consider also the warnings against such categorization. For example, encr- atic tendencies were 'widespread in the Early Church', and gen- erally speaking the 'boundaries between 'orthodoxy' and 'heresy' were still flexible7.'* Further, 'the AP is not a theological treat- ise, but a religious tract', which was 'intended in the first instance for the edifying and entertainment of the comrn~nity ' . '~ Interestingly enough, opinions concerning Codex Bezae seem to develop in a very similar direction. After considering theologi- cal tendencies like Montanism, universalism, anti-feminism, or anti-Judaism, many scholars find that neither of them gives an 17 Cf. Schneemelcher, 'Paulusakten', 233f., and Wilson, 'Apokry- phen', 345. 18 Wilson, 'Apokryphen ', 345. 19 Schneemelcher, 'Paulusakten ', 233. 120 ISTVAN CZACHESZ adequate explanation of the Bezaean readings.*' Barrett argues that 'the author of Acts undoubtedly manifests a number of ten- dencies', including those that are usually attributed to D. The ten- dency in D is 'to emphasize whatever is to be found in the und- 1 erlying text'. D is fond of increasing interest, heightening tension, I I and making descriptions more vivid. There is a general tendency I in D 'to explain and simplify, to emphasize and often to exag- I gerate, what is already to be found in other forms of the text'. Finally, Barrett finds that the Western text of Luke's Acts does 'in a relatively innocent and undeveloped way' the same as the early apocryphal Acts (AAA), which present us with 'brighter and better accounts of the apostle^'.^' Is it relevant after all to seek theological tendencies in the AP? Even if no single theological tendency is to be attributed to the AP, the author 'certainly binds up with it certain definite ec- clesiastical and theological purposes'.22 I will briefly discuss three theological issues that seem characteristic of each of our texts. A. Paul the champion 'It has been a well recognized feature of the Western textual I tradition that it tends to emphasize the wisdom, authority, and 1 power of the apostolic figures.'23 We have already referred to Bezaean readings in Acts 15-6 which tend to describe Paul as the champion of faith. This section is especially rich in long arnplific- ations in both D and Ephrem. Already the first sentence is used to present Paul as God's righteous one. D remarks that the teachers from Judea were 'from the party of the pharisees', thus evoking their attacks against and condemnation of Jesus and later Stephen. 20 Cf. Barrett, 'Tendency '; E. Grasser, 'Acta-Forschung seit 1960', ThRundschau 41 (1976) 141-94, or J. Bolyki, 'A D szovegknek sdndeka (tendencihja)', in idem (ed), Az Apostofok Cselekedetei a D-kbdexben (Budapest, 1995) 159-70. 21 Barrett, 'Tendency ', 19ff. 22 Schneemelcher, 'Paulusakten ', 233. 23 Head, 'Acts', 436. PAUL BETWEEN CANON AND APOCRYPHA 121 In 15.2 D goes on defending Paul's position: 'For Paul argued strongly (611o~uptt;6p~voq) that everyone should remain in what one believed'. Ephrem is not content with this and adds that 'those from Judea saw that those belonging to Paul were in great grief, and they agreed neither to observe the law nor to reject itY. The catena in turn, quoting Chrysostom, claims 'Paul was a better expert in the law than they, but did not suffer this in himself .24 That Paul is the champion of faith in the AP needs no special verification. We have already discussed Barrett's thesis that D tends to intensify the similarities between Paul and Peter, which is also evident in the AP, and is supported by textual evidence in Ephrem. We have to notice however that Luke's Acts itself displays exaggerating tendencies in describing the activity of the apostles. The story of Ananias and Sapphira, Peter and John's healing with his shadow (ch. 4), or Paul's healing with handkerchiefs (19.12) would fit excellently into any of the AAA. Although this tendency can be regarded as an accommodation to Hellenistic culture,25 it is also to be noted that in the Jewish tradition similar miraclesare told about the prophets (e.g. the Elisha-Elijah narratives). B. The working of the Spirit We have seen already that the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit is emphasized throughout the text of the AP and the Bezaean readings. Again, this is a feature well known from old in connection with Luke's Acts. If there is such tendency in our sources it means nothing else than applying this Lukan idea much like quoting a commonplace. P e ~ o gives a list of western referen- ces to the Spirit in Acts, and concludes that they 'like to link the Spirit to baptism, see it as a charisma of officials, and tone down any tendency towards charismatic display'.26 In the AP an interesting reference to the Spirit is made in 24 Cf. Conybeare, 'The commentary ', 421 n. 2. 25 So Schneemelcher, 'Zur Entstehung pseudoapostolischer Literatur ', in NeuTA 11, 8. 26 Pervo, 'Social and religious aspects', 233. 122 ISTVAN CZACHESZ Kasser's appendix, in which Paul relates that the Spirit fell upon him on the Damascus road. I have already discussed the possible connection of this with the conversion story in Ephrem's text. On the one hand this may mean that Paul was baptized already on the Damascus road. On the other hand it falls in line with the Pen- tecost experience of the disciples in Acts 2, and further verifies the apostleship of Paul. The reference to the Spirit does not contradict the Lukan usage, but relying on it and utilizing it validates the position of Pad2' C. The role of women The role of women both in D and the AP has been widely dis- cussed in previous scholarship. Without entering the ongoing discussion I would like to remark that the position of women, notwithstanding the previously handled issues, seems to be most different in D and the AP. While the latter displays an extreme interest in the role of women in the Pauline ministry and in the life of Paul himself, embracing also the probably independent Thecla- tradition, the former seems to eliminate the role of women in Luke's Acts. Pervo argues that D and others 'wished to obliterate the notion that Jesus had women disciples and remove them from the chain of '~itnesses".~' For example, in Acts 17.4 instead of 'among the leading women' (yuvat~f iv zs zQv npbzov), D reads 'women of the leading citizens' ( y u v a i ~ s ~ zQv xp6zov). If Pewo is right, then 'this posture is the mirror image of that found in the AAA, where leading women are featured convert^':^ and displays a basic difference between the two contemporary documents. Conclusion After examining a number of textual and theological parallels in 27 See NeuTA 11, 268-70. 28 Ibidem, 235. 29 Ibidem, 238. PAUL BETWEEN CANON AND APOCRYPHA 123 the four sources, I am left with the task of briefly characterizing the relation of these sources to each other, especially the relation between the AP and the other three texts. The most interesting aspect of the Bezaean Acts and the AP is that they are contemporaries. Although there is much controversy about the origin of D, we can assume that both texts date back to the second century, the Bezaean version being somewhat older than the AP." The relatively small number of places where we found signs of textual interdependence between Bezaean readings and the AP is due to three factors: (1) Being contemporaries, it is likely that the author (reviser) of neither one knew the other text. (2) the AP was not written as a correction or substitute to Luke's Acts, but rather as a supplement to it:' while the primary goal of D was to correct the canonical Acts, although it also added some supplementary material to it. (3) As a consequence of the supple- mentary character of the AP, the scenes of Luke's Acts play relatively little role in it, and in the few places where they do (conversion story, journey to Rome) D has lacunae. I will have to come back to the latter phenomenon. Still in a couple of instances we have been able to find similar pieces of tradition worked into similar episodes of the two writ- ings: (1) lively public reaction when the prisonltemple of Apollo collapses at Paul's prayer; (2) the mention of the 'forgiveness of sins' in Paul's mission in Ephesus; (3) some kind of guilty conscience of the people in Ephesus. In addition we also found peculiar tendencies in common: (1) the emphasis on the similarity between Paul and Peter; (2) special interest in the identity of the voice of 'we', i.e., the person and role of Luke; (3) attention paid to the role of the Spirit; (4) tackling the problem of the role of 30 Opinions about the exact dates of origin of both texts differ widely. Grasser, ' Acta-Forschung ', 179, proposes AD 140-1 60 for D, Schnee- melcher, 'Paulusakten', 235, AD 185-195 for AP; see also Bremmer, this volume, 57. 31 Schneemelcher & Schaferdiek, NeuTA 11, 11 1; see now also R. Bauckham, 'The Acts of Paul as a Sequel to Acts', in Winter and Clarke. Book of Acts, 105-52, esp. 1 1 1. 124 ISWAN CZACHESZ women in the Church. On the latter issue the two texts seem to be sharply divided. I find it interesting that it is precisely the beginning and final chapters of Paul's missionary biography which are missing from D. Is it possible that these chapters contained more of the tradition worked into the AP at about the same time when the D revision of Acts was made? If so, is it not imaginable that these chapters were removed from the manuscript for the very reason that they con- tained such apocryphal supplements? The extant textual evidence certainly does not allow a final decision on this issue. Another circle of problems concerns the relation of Ephrem's commentary to the AP. The textual parallels we have found here include: (1) references to preaching the gospel as the content of Paul's 'catechism' on the Damascus road; (2) Paul's 'great joy' when he was led to Damascus; (3) reference to Sodom (and Gomorrah) as an analogy to Paul's mission; (4) appearance of the goldsmith(s) opposing Paul in Ephesus; (5) interpretation of Paul's death as the part of God's plan of salvation in the farewell-scene; (6) quoting the example of Peter in the farewell episode; (7) mention of Luke at Paul's arrival at Rome. Other parallel interests include Paul's heroic persistence, and the person of Luke. Ephrem, writing at the end of the fourth century, is in the position to select material frorn multiple written sources. Evidently he relies on Bezaean readings as well as apocryphal traditions. He makes however a clear distinction between the two kinds of sources. While readings of D are abundant in the commentary, the apocryphal material occurs more sporadically, and is 'demytholog- ized'. For example, 'Sodom and Gomorrah' is quoted as a paral- lel, and not as the actual content of Paul's preaching. The same thing happens to Peter in the farewell speech: instead of Paul preaching about him, he is evoked by Ephrem as an example. On the other hand Ephrem seems to have known the apocryphal trad- ition very well. Expressions like 'Paul's joy' or 'the goldsmith' in his commentary look like internalized readings frorn the apocry- phal text. Altogether Ephrem displays substantial knowledge of non-canonical traditions, out of which readings of D prevail against the AP. PAUL BETWEEN CANON AND APOCRYPHA 125 A special problem regards Paul's conversion story, where neither D or the A P is extant. Excluding the possibility that Ephrem used a totally different source, his version of this intrig- uing dialogue probably reflects the lost content of both texts. I prefer D as the immediate source of the episode in Ephrem for three reasons. (1) Ephrem does not use excessive passages of the AP. He rather picks up single words or ideas from the apocryphal tradition,and inserts them into his own conduct of thought. (2) Al- though the surviving parts of D never supply additions as long as the dialogue between Jesus and Paul in Ephrem, the material in the Bezaean Acts may have been divided among the three accounts in chs. 9, 22 and 26. (3) The first and the last accounts are missing from D, and the second has a lacuna just in the middle of the conversion story. If these lacunae originally contained the dialogue in question, then my hypothesis about the parts of D displaying excessively apocryphal character having been intentionally removed from the codex applies excellently. The missing verses in Acts 22.10-20 are especially interesting, since Paul had two visions in this version of the story. However, papyrological inves- tigations may provide more certainty in this issue. c7_Page_01.jpg c7_Page_02.jpg c7_Page_03.jpg c7_Page_04.jpg c7_Page_05.jpg c7_Page_06.jpg c7_Page_07.jpg c7_Page_08.jpg c7_Page_09.jpg c7_Page_10.jpg c7_Page_11.jpg c7_Page_12.jpg c7_Page_13.jpg c7_Page_14.jpg c7_Page_15.jpg c7_Page_16.jpg c7_Page_17.jpg c7_Page_18.jpg c7_Page_19.jpg
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