ON ST. THADDAEUS THE DISCIPLE, ONE OF THE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST,
MORE PROBABLY IN THE YEAR 44.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Thaddaeus, disciple of Christ (S.)
BY J. V. H.
§ I. The Saint is also called Addaeus; his cult in the East; he preaches the Gospel at Edessa before King Abgar, whose letter to Christ, and the latter's reply, are recited.
Besides the Apostle Jude Thaddaeus, of whom we have treated, there is another herald of the Gospel of the same name, St. Thaddaeus, who is also Addaeus, Thaddaeus, who is also called Addaeus, one of the LXXII disciples of Christ. In the Latin Church indeed the Apostle and the Disciple of Christ have been commonly confused into one person. Occasion for the confusion was perhaps given by St. Jerome, who writes in the Commentary on Matthew, book I, chapter X Migne, Patrol. volume XXVI, column 61.: Thaddaeus the Apostle, Ecclesiastical History relates, was sent to Edessa to Abgar, king of Osroene, who by the Evangelist Luke is called Jude of James; and elsewhere he is called Lebbaeus, which is interpreted Little Heart: and it is to be believed that he had three names, just as Simon Peter and the sons of Zebedee Boanerges were named from the firmness and greatness of their faith. And indeed no mention is made in the Latin Martyrologies of St. Thaddaeus, disciple of the Lord: except that it occurs in the Martyrology of Florentinius, in which at the 5th day before the ides (the 11th) of May one reads: In Asia, the natal day of Demetrius and Thaddaeus: from which however you learn nothing beyond the bare name. And surely if there it had been a question of one of the LXXII disciples of Christ, Thaddaeus would have come at once in the first place: indeed among the variant readings alleged by Florentinius there is also placed in the middle Atticus, by which reckoning this Thaddaeus occupies only the third bench, of whom moreover the Florentinius mentioned says nothing at all in the Notes set beneath the text.
[2] from his namesake the Apostle But among the Orientals his cult is celebrated, since they hold this Saint as their special Apostle, from whom they received the light of faith. The Syrians indeed keep his feast on the 14th day of May Assemani. Biblioth. Orient. volume III, page 635., on which he is said to have died Ibid. volume II, page 392.. At the same time also the Syriac calendars which exist in the royal library under numbers 11,322 and 11,323 announce the feast of St. Jude Thaddaeus at the 18th day of December or at the 19th of May, in nearly these words: Labi (Lebbaeus?) who is surnamed Thaddaeus of the XII. Whence the distinction of the two Saints shines forth manifestly. Among the Armenians the feast of Jude Thaddaeus, brother of James, occurs in the calendars on the 16th of February Ibid. volume III, page 645., the 23rd of October Ibid. page 648., and the 25th of December Ibid. pages 649 and 654.. Nowhere, that is, does the name of Thaddaeus occur for Jude the brother of the Lord. But under the 23rd day of December Thaddaeus the Apostle is celebrated Ibid. loc. cit.: whom I judge to be the very Saint of whom we are treating, of the LXII Disciples. For, as Stephen Morcelli opines Kalendar. CP. volume II, page 216 and following., Jude has always been held by the Greeks as one person, Thaddaeus as another. And indeed, omitting the Apostle, whose Relics the people of Constantinople had not obtained, their calendar treats of the Disciple alone Ibid. loc. cit.. But in the Basilian Menology, says the Morcelli mentioned, mention of St. Thaddaeus the Disciple is made on the 19th of June, and of St. Thaddaeus or Jude on the 22nd of May. In which matter he has wrongly interpreted the Menology. For at the 22nd day one reads the elogium of Jude the Apostle, by which name indeed our Thaddaeus does not generally go, and in it nothing is said which would not suit any Apostle; namely that after the Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, inflamed with divine zeal, he traversed all cities and regions (without even one being specially indicated), preaching Christ with a loud voice; then the principal mysteries of the life, death and resurrection of Christ are recited, and finally the encomium ends with these words: He passed in peace to the Lord.
From an announcement of this kind nothing can be drawn by which St. Thaddaeus the Disciple might be marked.
[3] is to be distinguished, Wherefore I judge that in the Basilian Menology an uncertain mention is made of St. Thaddaeus the Disciple; especially since at the 19th day of June it announces that Jude, the Brother of the Lord, when he had come into Mesopotamia and had promulgated the Gospel… set out for the city of Edessa and relieved the toparch Abgar of his disease. From which words I infer that the Apostle and the Disciple have coalesced into one person for the Menologist. The Slavic or Graeco-Muscovite Calendar published by Joseph Simeon Assemani distinguishes the two persons more openly, in which at the 19th day of June is announced Jude the Apostle, Brother of the Lord; and at the 21st of August simply Thaddaeus the Apostle, namely one of the LXXII. The Slavic Year recently published by our John Martinov has the same, except that the Disciple is celebrated under the 20th day of August. The Menaea report the same, when at the 19th of June they treat in the abridgment of the life of Jude's kinship with Christ the Lord, and at the 21st of August of Thaddaeus, baptized by John, and then adhering to Christ the Lord, without however its being in any way indicated that he was of the number of the twelve Apostles. Indeed the Horologion of the Greeks, which also belongs to their liturgy, distinguishes entirely between the two namesakes, and alleges the authority of Eusebius, as we shall presently indicate more broadly.
[4] as Eusebius rightly teaches: For Eusebius, book I of the Eccles. Hist. chapters XII and XIII Migne, Patrol. Græc. volume XX, column 119 and following., most evidently shows the distinction between the Apostle and the Disciple. And since what Eusebius narrates of our St. Thaddaeus is to be held as the foundation of what we shall set forth below, I judge it opportune to report it in our Acts. In chapter XII, then, after he had said that the names of the Apostles of our Saviour are very well known from the books of the Gospels, he adds: But as regards the seventy Disciples, a list of them is said nowhere to have been written down. He names some however from tradition, such as Barnabas, Sosthenes, Matthias and Thaddaeus, of whom, says Eusebius, I am presently about to narrate the history which has come down to us: and all these, after the manner of the twelve, were called Apostles. The history of Thaddaeus, of whom we made mention above, is of this kind, chapter XIII. The divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, when on account of his wonderful works it was already celebrated everywhere, had drawn innumerable persons from foreign regions most remote from Judaea, afflicted with diseases and pains of every kind, by the hope of recovering health. And so King Agbar, who ruled not without praise over the nations placed beyond the Euphrates, being consumed by a grave disease, and one that could not be cured by human aid, as soon as he heard of the name of Jesus spread everywhere and of his stupendous miracles, which were confirmed by the testimony of all, sent a letter by a courier, and suppliantly asked him to free him from the disease.
[5] sent to King Abgar, But he at that time did not at all comply with the one who called him. He did not, however, refuse to write a letter to him, in which he promised that he would send one of his Disciples to heal him; and to bestow salvation not on him alone, but on all his kin and household. Nor long afterwards was everything brought to fulfilment that had been promised him. For after the Resurrection of Christ, and his ascent into heaven, Thomas, one of the twelve Apostles, impelled by a certain divine impulse, sent Thaddaeus, one of the number of the seventy Disciples of Christ, to Edessa, to announce the doctrine of Christ to those peoples; and through his work the promises of our Saviour attained fulfilment. Of which matter indeed we have testimony drawn from the archives of Edessa itself, in which Agbar then reigned: since in the public monuments, in which the antiquities of the city and the deeds of Agbar are contained, we have found these things also preserved down to our age. It will be worth while, then, to hear the letters themselves, which, drawn from the archives, we have faithfully translated from the language of the Syrians in this manner.
[6] who had written to Christ and in turn Agbar, prince of Edessa, to Jesus, the good Saviour, who has appeared in the borders of Jerusalem, greeting. It has been announced to me concerning you and concerning the cures which you work without herbs and medicines. For there is a report that sight is restored by you to the blind, walking to the lame, that lepers are cleansed, demons and unclean spirits expelled, those oppressed by long diseases healed, and finally the dead raised. And when I heard all these things of you, I so brought my mind to it, that you are in truth God, who, having descended from heaven, do these things, or certainly the son of God. Therefore I have written to you, begging you not to be reluctant to visit us and heal our disease. For I hear that the Jews disparage you and lay plots against your head. I have a city, small indeed, but adorned, which may suffice for each of us. And these things indeed Agbar thus wrote, when a ray of the divine light had at that time moderately illumined him. Now let us hear the letter which Jesus wrote back to him through the same courier, brief indeed, but most full of power and efficacy; which runs thus: Blessed are you, Agbar, who have believed in me, whom you have not seen. For it is written of me that those who have seen me will not believe in me, so that those who have not seen, believing, may receive life. But as to what you write to me, that I should come to you, I must here fulfill all the things for which I was sent, and when these are finally completed, return to him who sent me. But as soon as I shall have withdrawn to him, I will send to you one of my disciples, who will both cure your disease and bestow life on you and all yours.
[7] he had received a reply: To these letters the following also had been joined in the Syriac language. After the ascent of Jesus Christ, Jude, who was also called Thomas, sent Thaddaeus the Apostle, one of the seventy, to Agbar. When he had arrived there, he lodged with Tobias, son of Tobias. And after the report of his arrival and of the miracles done by him began to spread, it was announced to Agbar that an Apostle of Jesus had arrived there, as he had promised by letter. Thaddaeus then began to heal any diseases and sicknesses by divine power, so that all were seized with wonder. Accordingly when Agbar had heard of the miracles wrought by him, and in what way he put diseases to flight through the name and power of Jesus Christ, he was brought to suspect that this was the very one of whom Jesus had formerly written to him in these words: "As soon as I shall have withdrawn to him, I will send to you one of my disciples, who will both cure your disease and bestow life on you and all yours." Having summoned Tobias, then, whose hospitality he was using, "I have learned, he said, that a certain powerful man, setting out from Jerusalem, is lodging with you, and that very many cures of diseases are done by him in the name of Jesus." To this Tobias: "Certainly, he said, lord, a certain stranger is with me, who performs very many miracles." Then Agbar: "I wish that you would bring him to me." Tobias therefore, having returned home, addressed Thaddaeus thus: "Agbar, the ruler (τοπαρχης) of this city, has summoned me, and has ordered that I bring you to him, that you may cure his sickness." To whom Thaddaeus: "Let us go, he said, since it was chiefly for his sake that I was sent."
[8] at Edessa he is called to the king, On the next day in the morning, then, taking Thaddaeus, he proceeded to Agbar. And when he had entered, Agbar, surrounded by his nobles, seemed to himself to see something divine in the very face of Thaddaeus as he entered; and having beheld this, he at once adored Thaddaeus. All who were present marvelled, inasmuch as they had seen none of the things which had appeared to Agbar. Then Agbar questioned Thaddaeus: "Are you, he said, the disciple of Jesus, the Son of God, who wrote these things to me: "I will send to you one of my disciples, who will both cure your disease and bestow life on you and all yours."" To whom Thaddaeus: "Since, he said, you have placed the greatest trust in Jesus the Saviour, who sent me, for this reason I have been sent to you. And if henceforth you believe in him more and more, all the things you ask shall be done, according as you shall have faith." And Agbar: "I have so believed in him, he said, that I would have wished to attack with war and destroy to the point of slaughter the Jews who put him on the cross, had not fear of the empire of the Romans called me back from this design." Then Thaddaeus: "Our Lord, he said, and God Jesus Christ carried out whatever had been commanded by the Father, and, all things having been accomplished, returned to his Father." To whom Agbar: "I too, he said, have believed in him and in his Father." Then Thaddaeus: "Therefore, he said, I lay my hand on you in the name of our Lord Jesus."
[9] and he preaches Christ to the nobles When this was done, Agbar was at once freed from the disease and sickness from which he suffered; and great wonder held him, because just as he had heard by report of Jesus, he saw it in reality fulfilled through Thaddaeus, his disciple and Apostle, who without any medicines and herbs had restored him to his former health: and not him alone, but also a certain Abdus, son of Abdus, suffering from gout, who, when he had thrown himself suppliant at the feet of Thaddaeus, receiving a blessing from him through the imposition of the hand, was healed. Many others too from the same city were cured by the same Apostle, and many miracles were wrought, while he preached the word of God there. After these things Agbar thus addressed Thaddaeus: "Whatever things you do, he said, Thaddaeus, we believe are done by you with the aid of divine power, and for that reason we admire you. But, I beg you, explain to us next concerning the coming of Jesus himself, of what kind and sort it was, and concerning his power, by what force and virtue, in short, he accomplished such great things, which we have received by hearing." And Thaddaeus: "Now indeed I will forbear to speak; since I have been sent to preach the word. But tomorrow gather for me all your citizens, and I will preach the word of God before them, and will sow the discourse of life in their minds, explaining concerning the coming of Jesus Christ, of what kind it was, and concerning his mission, for what cause he was sent by the Father: concerning his power and the hidden things which he spoke among men, and by what force and virtue he accomplished so many miracles: concerning his new preaching: concerning the lowliness and abjection of his outward humanity: in what way he lowered himself, and underwent death and himself diminished his divinity: how many and how great things he suffered from the Jews, how he was crucified and descended into hell, and burst the barrier untouched from all ages: in what way he rose, and raised up with him the dead who had lain buried for many past ages: and how he descended indeed alone from heaven, but ascended to the Father with a very great retinue, and sits honorably at his right hand in heaven: in what way he is to come again with glory, to pass judgment on the living and the dead."
[10] and to the people. Agbar therefore commanded his citizens to gather together at first light and to listen to the preaching of Thaddaeus. And a little later he ordered gold and silver to be given to Thaddaeus. But he refused to accept it, adding this: "Since we have given up our own, why should we take what belongs to others?" All these things were done in the year three hundred and forty. Which, translated not without profit, as I think, from the language of the Syrians, have been opportunely placed here. Then the same Eusebius, book II, chapter I Migne, Patrol. Græc. volume XX, column 135.: In the same times, he says, whatever our Saviour had promised to the king of the Osroenians was brought to effect. For Thomas, moved by a certain divine inspiration, sent Thaddaeus, a herald and messenger of Christian doctrine, to Edessa, as we have shown a little above from the monuments found there. He, when he had reached those places, both healed Agbar in the name of Christ, and struck all the inhabitants of that region with the novelty of his miracles. And when he had sufficiently prepared them by wonderful works of this kind, and had brought them to the worship and veneration of the divine power of Christ, he at length made them disciples of the saving doctrine. From that time the whole city of the Edessenes, as possessing no common token of our Saviour's benevolence toward itself, has remained dedicated to his name to this day. And these things indeed have been drawn from the monuments of the ancients. Thus far the words of Eusebius, which come to be illustrated and vindicated in the following §.
§ II. Inquiry is made into the ΑὙΘΕΝΤΙΑΝ of the letters of Abgar to Christ the Lord, and of Christ to Abgar.
The name of Abgar common to the rulers of Edessa. It is manifest enough that the narrative of Eusebius rests chiefly on the mutual letters of Christ and of the ruler of the Edessenes: for if these are spurious, the foundation of the whole history is at once shaken. It will be worth while, then, to examine the reasons that are brought forward on both sides concerning their genuineness. Before all else, however, it pleases me to say a few things by way of preface about the very name of the ruler, which for Eusebius is Agbarus, Ἀγβαρος; but commonly and especially among the Syrians it is Abgar. It seems to be a name common to all the rulers of Edessa, no otherwise, says W. Cureton [Ancient Syriac documents relative to the earliest establissement of Christianity in Edessa, page 73.], than the Roman emperors were called "Caesars," the kings of Egypt "Pharaohs" or "Ptolemies," and the kings of Syria "Antiochi." Theophilus Siegfried Bayer has more on this name in the Osrhoene History [Bayer, Histor. Osrhoena et Edessena ex nummis illustrata, Petropoli 1734, page 73.], which he drew from Assemani Biblioth. Orient. volume I, page 261.; which indeed is variously written, Augarus, Abagarus, Abbarus, Agbarus and Achbarus, and according to Assemani signifies Lame, although others interpret it Great. Since, further, this name is common to all the rulers of Edessa, Rufinus in his version of Eusebius, book I, chapter XV Hist. Eccles. volume I, page 150. Edit. Roman. 1741., adds after the name of Abgar son of Uchamia, and this latter name is variously written, as is noted in Eusebius in a Note Migne, Patrol. Græc. volume XX, column 121; compare Bayer, page 93., namely Vohania, Vohame, and even Euchame, or son of Uchomo. Some have said that in it is expressed the name of the mother, others on the contrary that of the father; but both seem to have erred, since this surname signifies Black, given to this Abgar either because the color of his face was blackening, or also because the disease with which he was afflicted was, as is commonly said, Black Leprosy. Now let us call the genuineness of the letters to the balance.
[12] All the ancients stand for the ἀυθεντια of the letters: For their genuineness stand, so far as I know, all the ancient writers, if however you except the decree of Pope Gelasius, of which we shall speak below. For besides the most ancient testimony of Eusebius of Caesarea, we have a domestic witness, St. Ephrem, deacon of the Church of Edessa, in his Testament, in which he writes S. Ephrem. Oper. Græce et latine, volume II, page 235.: Blessed be your city and mother Edessa, which indeed was openly and manifestly blessed from the mouth of the Lord through his disciples, our apostles. For when King Abgar, who built this city, asked to receive him who had appeared as a stranger, the Saviour, I say, and Lord of all, Christ, saying: "I have heard all the things that have been done by you and whatever you have suffered from the scorning Jews. Come therefore here, and dwell with me: for I have for myself this small city, which may suffice for you and me." The Lord, marvelling at his faith, sending thither through the eternal Angels, blessed that city, strengthening its foundation. To a writer of the fourth century, such as St. Ephrem was, we add a witness coming forth from Africa, namely Count Darius, who writes to St. Augustine, epistle 230, otherwise 263 Migne, Patrol. volume XXXIII, column 1022., that there is a report, it is said, he says, that a Satrap, or a certain king, wrote to Christ and received a reply from him. The same is attested in the sixth century by Procopius on the Persian War, book II, chapter XII Corpus Scriptt. Byzant. Procopius, page 302. Edit. Venet.. And Theodore the Studite, writing in the ninth century to Pope Paschal I, modestly asks for a reply, alleging the example of Christ the Lord, who deigned to write back to Abgar: And if, he says in epistle XXXIII Migne, Patrol. Græc. volume XCIX, column 1019., by documents (you should deign to confirm), this would be of your divine benignity; since Christ too wrote to Abgar.
[13] but there is objected 1° the silence of the Evangelists; In this way speak with one voice all the more ancient writers who have written of these letters. But more recent criticism attacks this unanimity and then objects the decree of Pope Gelasius. Let us examine, then, both reasons. And first of all what is brought forward against the genuineness of the letters is set out excellently, clearly and lucidly by Remi Ceillier in his work on Ecclesiastical Writers D. Ceillier. Auteurs sacres et ecclésiastiques, volume I, page 474.. When therefore we have weighed the force of his reasons, we shall be able to pass judgment: 1° There is objected, then, the silence of the Evangelists, who, narrating the life of Christ the Lord, say nothing at all of Abgar and of his exchange of letters with Christ, although they not rarely make mention of the more honorable persons who approached the Lord. But this is an argument, as it is commonly called, negative, which unless it be supported from elsewhere is feeble; especially since we know that very few things were written of Christ. John says, XXI, 25: There are also many other things which Jesus did; which if they were written one by one, I think that the world itself could not contain the books that should be written. Further, may not the healing promised to Abgar be presumed in some measure, when we read in Matth. IV, 24: And his fame went into all Syria (in which was the city of Edessa), and they offered to him all who were ill, seized by various sicknesses and torments? among whom in all likelihood were certain more honorable persons.
[15] 2° the silence through the first three centuries: 2° It is difficult to admit, says Dom Ceillier, that a writing of this kind lay hidden for three entire centuries, while meanwhile there were carried throughout the wide world writings not only Apostolic but also spurious, fabricated by impious men and heretics. But this too is a negative argument. Even today ancient documents become known for the first time, lying hidden in some pigeonhole of a library. Thus nearly forty years ago the work of Cicero on the Republic first came to light, which Cardinal Angelo Mai published in the year 1822. Thus too various little works or fragments of the first centuries have been discovered. Let us not wonder, then, that the Abgarian writings lay in hiding for three centuries. But whether they did in fact lie hidden for three centuries is indeed called into doubt by Grabe in his Spicilegium, vol. I, p. 317, which I allege from the Sacred Relics of Martin Routh Routh. Reliquiæ sacræ, volume II, page 351.. George Syncellus in his Chronography under the year of Christ 215 Corp. Scriptt. Byzant. Georg. Syncellus, page 286. Edit. Venet. reports that Julius Africanus, a writer of the middle of the third century, wrote of Abgar, not indeed of the one who was a contemporary of Christ, but of some other ruler of the Edessenes, of whom when he makes mention, Africanus, he says, says that Abgar, a holy man, of the same name as the earlier Abgar, reigned in these times Ἀφρικανος Ἀβγαρον, φησιν, ἱερον ἀνδρα, του πρωην Αβγαρου ὁμωνυμον, βασιλευειν Ἐδεσσης κατα τουτους τους χρονους. But Moses of Chorene, flourishing in the fifth century, shows this more clearly, book II, chapter IX Mosis Chorenens. Histor. Armeniaca, page 101. Edit. Londin. 1786.: for being about to treat of the history of the kings of Armenia, he says that he draws it from the fifth book of Africanus, a writer of chronicle, to whom Josephus and Hippolytus and many others of the Greeks give testimony. For whatever he narrates of the kings, all this he drew from the archive of Edessa… And that no one may have no faith in this matter, since we ourselves have been eyewitnesses of this library, there is indeed close at hand as witness the Ecclesiastical History of Eusebius of Caesarea. Whence it follows that Eusebius pressed in the footsteps of Africanus Cureton. Ancient Syriac docum. page 142.: and therefore that the often-mentioned letters did not lie unknown for three centuries.
[15] 3° chiefly of St. Jerome: 3° There is opposed the silence of St. Jerome, writing on Illustrious Men or on Ecclesiastical Writers, who makes no mention of letters of this kind, and would certainly not have omitted them had he believed them genuine, especially since he professes to have received great assistance from the ten books of the ecclesiastical History of Eusebius Pamphili. But again we have a negative argument, which is however in some measure supported by the words of the same Jerome, writing in the Commentary on Ezekiel, book XIII, chapter XLIV, v. 29 Migne, Patrol. volume XXV, column 443.: The Saviour left behind no volume of his own doctrine, which in most of the apocrypha ravings feign. Certainly the little letter of Christ to Abgar can in no way be called a volume, nor does it contain anything which could be called even a compendium of his doctrine. Next the Holy Doctor treats there of the whole of Christian doctrine, as much as there is of it; as one who adds without a pause: But by the Spirit of the Father and his own he speaks daily in the heart of believers. Admitting the little letter of Christ, then, the words of Jerome remain most true. But greater difficulty can be raised by the words of St. Augustine, book XXVIII, chapter IV Migne, Patrol. volume XLII, column 486.: For if there should be brought forward some letters which, no one else narrating it, are said to be properly those of Christ himself; how could it happen that, if they were truly his, they should not be read, should not be received, should not stand out by the chief summit of authority in his Church, which, propagated by him through the Apostles, with bishops succeeding one another, is spread abroad down to these times … because those letters too, if they were brought forward, it would certainly have to be considered by whom they were brought forward. If by himself, without doubt they ought to have been brought forward at the first to those
who were then cleaving to him, and through them also to reach others. And if this had been done, they would shine forth with most confirmed authority through those successions of prelates and peoples which I have mentioned. In my opinion indeed the reasoning of St. Augustine is most powerful, and furnishes a solid argument against the genuineness of both letters. Nevertheless it can be refuted.
[16] 4° Christ himself wrote nothing; For first of all the Holy Doctor in no way speaks of our letters; but of certain writings, as composed by Christ the Lord himself, in which the human nativity of Christ from a mother is denied: a denial of this kind, confirmed as if by writings of Christ himself, Faustus the Manichaean was objecting. For he says that it must be asked what HE HIMSELF preached OF HIMSELF, or what his Apostles preached of him Ibid. loc. cit.. There were carried about, then, at that time certain writings of Christ, which denied that he was born. Of fabulous writings of this kind St. Augustine treats, when he says that no letters properly of Christ had been brought forward which might treat, as it were, of his nativity from a human being. In epistle 230, otherwise 263, Count Darius makes mention of both letters and of the prodigious healing, but as of some rumor spread among the crowd; It is said, he says; and he is altogether silent both about the name of the ruler or Satrap, and of the city which he inhabited Ibid. volume XXXIII, column 1022.: to which St. Augustine in the following epistle answered nothing, though he would have answered, as it seems to me, had he held it as spurious. For the rest that St. Augustine made much of the authority of Eusebius in historical matters is shown by his treatise on Heresies, number 83 Ibid. volume XLII, column 46.: When I had examined, he says, the history of Eusebius, to which Rufinus, having translated it into the Latin language, added two books, I did not find any heresy which I have not found among these, except that which Eusebius sets in the sixth book, narrating that it existed in Arabia. And so these heretics, since he sets down no author of them, we can call Arabians. Since on the sole authority of Eusebius St. Augustine carries the Arabian heresy into his Catalogue of Heresies, it is altogether established that he made very much of his credit, authority and accuracy.
[17] 5° Nor did he cite a text afterwards to be written: Another difficulty too is brought forward, in that Christ says in his letter: For it is written of me that those who have seen me will not believe in me, so that those who have not seen, believing, may receive life. The allusion is open enough to John XX, 29: Because you have seen me, Thomas, you have believed: blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. But while the Lord lived no book of the New Testament had been written: and therefore the text must be sought in the Old Testament, where however it is not found in one tenor. Yet the sense of Christ occurs in two places of the Prophet Isaiah; namely in chapter VI, 9 it is said: Hearing, hear and do not understand: and see the vision and do not know; and in chapter L, 15: Those to whom it was not told of him have seen: and those who have not heard have contemplated. Which words it is established were altogether true while Christ preached, as the same Isaiah, LXV, 2: I have stretched out my hands all the day to an unbelieving people. Nor is another objection to be neglected, as though the Gospel had begun to be preached to the gentiles rather late, after it had been revealed to Blessed Peter through the vision, Acts X, that the gentiles too would be sharers of the heavenly doctrine: whence it is concluded that already in the first year from the Passion of the Lord the people of Edessa did not receive the Gospel light. What cause there was for Peter's hesitating is hidden from us: for certainly he had heard and rightly understood the voice of his master saying, Matth. XXVIII, 19: Going, teach ALL NATIONS, baptizing them, and Mark XVI, 15: Going into the WHOLE WORLD preach the Gospel to EVERY CREATURE. Nevertheless Peter could doubt whether the calling of the gentiles ought to begin in the midst of Judaea. Next for the most part the Apostles began from the Jews, as is clear from the words of Paul, Acts XIII, 46: To you it behoved us first to speak the word of God: but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold we turn to the gentiles. For thus the Lord commanded us: I have set you for a light of the gentiles, that you may be for salvation, even to the end of the earth. And the gentiles hearing it rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord. Our Thaddaeus, then, carried out the mission received from Christ.
[18] 6° a Chronological error Further, that both letters may be weakened, a chronological reason too is alleged. Namely Eusebius wrote: These things were done in the year three hundred and forty, according to the era of the Seleucids. Ἐπραχθη ταυτα τεσσακοστῳ και τριακοσιοστῳ ἐτει. There was formerly a fault in the codices, so that some read in the forty-third year, others in the fortieth and thirtieth year. Rufinus had already to some extent corrected the error in his Latin version of Eusebius, book 1, chapter XV, of which Greek copies also were afterwards found, which had τεσσακοστῳ και τρίακοσιστῳ ἐτει. So the mission of St. Thaddaeus to Abgar, and therefore the death, resurrection and ascension of Christ, fall in the three hundred and fortieth year of the Seleucids. Now the task is to reconcile that era with our common era: in which matter we have a most splendid helper in Eusebius himself in his Chronicles. For he sets the beginning of the Seleucid era at olympiad CXVII: From this year, he says Ibid. volume XIX, column 494., the Edessenes reckon the times of their city: then at olympiad CCII he has this Ibid. column 535.: Jesus Christ, according to the prophecies which had been foretold of him, came to his passion in the XVIIIth year of Tiberius; at which time we find also in other commentaries of the heathen these things written word for word: there occurred an eclipse of the sun; Bithynia was shaken by an earthquake and in the city of Nicaea very many buildings collapsed, all of which agree with what happened at the passion of the Lord.
[19] around the beginning of the Edessene era; Phlegon too, who is a computer of the olympiads, writes of these things in his thirteenth book, speaking thus: In the fourth year of the CCIInd olympiad, there occurred a great eclipse of the sun, excelling among all that had happened before it: the day, at the sixth hour, was so turned into dark night that stars were seen in the sky, and an earthquake in Bithynia overthrew many buildings of the city of Nicaea. Thus the aforesaid man. And the proof of this matter, that the Saviour suffered in that year, is brought by the Gospel of John; in which it is written that after the XVth year of Tiberius Caesar the Lord preached for three years. Josephus too, the native writer of the Jews, testifies that around these times on the day of Pentecost the priests first perceived a shaking of the places and certain sounds: then that there burst forth from the hidden part of the temple a sudden voice of persons saying: Let us pass from these abodes. Now all these things concur excellently in the year of Christ's death: for from olympiad CXVII, in which the Edessene era began, to Olympiad CCII there are in all LXXXV olympiads, which multiplied by four make 340 years. The chronological reckoning, then, agrees most aptly with the mission of St. Thaddaeus. For the rest we know that in ancient writers σφαλματα often occur in the expression of numbers; so that even if there were some error, the history would suffer no detriment from this head.
[20] 7° the decree of Pope Gelasius Finally the greatest difficulty that emerges in this question is that both letters are listed among the Apocrypha in the Decree of Gelasius I, issued in the Roman Council of the year 494. This decree is rejected as spurious by some, especially Protestants, because, says Pagi, Critic. Baronii at the year 494, § II, who shows the decree to be genuine, by it he presses the heterodox, who reject tradition, and mutilate the number of the canonical books at pleasure and for the convenience of their sects. Now in the Notice of apocryphal books, which are not received Labbe, volume IV, Councils, column 1264., there are numbered also both the Letter of Jesus to Abagarus and the Letter of Abagarus to Jesus, and both are called apocryphal. But, as Honoratus a S. Maria rightly observes in his Animadversions on the Rules of Criticism, book IV, Dissert. II, §§3 and following Volume II, page 147 and following., the books which Pope Gelasius with seventy bishops marked universally with the general word apocryphal can be divided into several kinds, chiefly three. Of the first kind may be those which have been individually foisted on some writer, and those which lack an author's name. Books of this kind were held as apocryphal not only because their authors are unknown, but because they also consist of fables. Such as are in the Decree the Acts under the name of the Apostles Andrew and Philip, the book on the Nativity of Christ, etc. The second kind comprises books which are filled with excellent examples, but are of uncertain authors or have perhaps been corrupted by the heterodox, for example the book of Penance of Cyprian, the passion of Cyricus and Julitta, etc. The third place, finally, may be held by those which were truly written by those whose names they bear at their head; yet they are called apocryphal, as not worthy to be read publicly in the Church.
[21] concerning apocryphal books, To the third kind of apocrypha, further, there can be no doubt that both letters belong, inasmuch as they bear on their face nothing fabulous, depraved, of pernicious example, useless, superstitious, or abhorrent to the faith, which would have compelled the synod to withdraw them from the eyes of Christians: on the contrary they breathe all piety and holiness. Why then is it judged apocryphal by the Council? Because, namely, it was not at all ascertained that Christ the Lord wrote it. For in the Decree of Gratian, distinction XV, chapter III, there is no treatment of both letters, but of the letter of Christ alone, because it is not canonical or to be listed among the Scriptures of the New Testament. And this perhaps is the reason why the letter sent by Abgar to Christ is not reckoned among the apocrypha by Gratian. In the same way, namely, in which in the said decree there is consigned among the apocrypha the book of the Shepherd, which is commonly attributed to Hermas, and which, on the witness of St. Jerome, De Viris Illustribus, chapter X Migne, Patrol. volume XXIII, column 626., is in fact a useful book, and many of the ancient writers have taken testimonies from it; but among the Latins it is almost unknown. Since then it is listed among the apocrypha, this judgment is not to be taken as though it were a work of noxious doctrine or of false name; but because, placed by the Church outside the canon, it is not numbered among the canonical scriptures. In which sense certainly no one today will admit the letter of Christ to Abgar: especially since it has come to the knowledge of the Church only by a human road, namely through Eusebius, and other men liable to error, through the Archive of Edessa, into which some false document could have crept; but in no way by the guidance of a perpetual tradition, derived from the Apostles down to us.
[22] by which historical credit is in no way denied to apocryphal books. Since however we deny divine faith to the letters; yet no cause occurs to us for refusing them merely human credit.
Eusebius indeed protests that he drew the whole narrative from the archives of Edessa. And therefore the historical truth can claim for itself as much authority as the archive itself displays. Now the archive of Edessa was famous throughout the whole East, inasmuch as, on the witness of Moses of Chorene Moses, Choron. page 101., it contained books of History brought from the temples at Nisibis and Sipontis in Pontus: whence Moses himself too, who had been an eyewitness of the library of Edessa, copied from that Archive all the Acts of the ancient kings down to Abgar, and, as he opines, the tablets still exist, preserved in the same city Ibid. loc. cit.. Thus too in book II, chapter XXVI Ibid. page 128.: In the reign of Tiberius, Abgar, contemplating defection from the Romans, founded or restored a city, which should be a bulwark for the Armenians, and called it Edessa; and transferred there his palace from Nisibis, and his images and the libraries of the temples, and at the same time the archives of the kings. Unless then an insuperable difficulty be objected, such as, as appears from what has been said, we do not find, historical credit must be given to the tablets of Edessa, which at least from the middle of the second century, as we showed above at number 14, preserved the letters both of Christ and of Abgar. But if credit is to be denied to Acts which deserve to be called authentic, it will be an easy step to then dismiss and reject as fables historical documents, however weighty in antiquity and authority.
§ III. The Saint's preaching at Edessa; the manner of his death and his burial.
At Edessa, a most ancient city, What we have brought forward thus far shows sufficiently that St. Thaddaeus, one of the LXXII Disciples of Christ, was sent especially to the Syrians, to announce the evangelical truth to the people established in Mesopotamia, and especially to the Edessenes, and to found Churches, of which certainly the first was Edessa itself. This city, formerly called Rhoa, Justinopolis, Orfa, Er-Roha and Rakka, certain persons fable to have been founded by Nimrod Theoph. Bayer, Hist. Osrhoena nummis illustrata, page 3.. From the fable, however, one thing emerges, namely that the origin of the city is most ancient, and therefore, as often as among other writers there is talk of the foundation of the city of Edessa, their words are to be understood of its restoration, when it had been destroyed by war, fires or other misfortunes. Thus Seleucus Nicanor, king of Syria, is said in the Chronicle of Eusebius Patrol. Græc. volume XIX, column 494. to have founded the cities of Antioch, Laodicea, Seleucia, Apamea, Edessa, Beroea and Pella. King Abgar too is reported to have been the founder of the city of Edessa, under the emperor Tiberius; according to Moses of Chorene, book II, chapter XXVI Moses, page 128., he founded Edessa. The origin of the city is therefore uncertain, as it was restored at various times, and perhaps obtained various names in the course of time. Edessa was, further, the civil and at the same time ecclesiastical metropolis of the province of Osrhoene under the patriarchate of Antioch Le Quien, Oriens Christ. volume III, page 954 and following.; wherefore Etilaus, to others Aitholaus, signed first among the bishops of Mesopotamia in the great Council of Nicaea of the year 325 Labble, volume II, Councils, column 52.. Procopius on the Persian War, book II, chapter XII, writing in compendious form of the letter of Christ to Abgar, appends this Page 302. Edit. Venet.: It is reported that he also added this, that the city would always be impregnable to the barbarians. Which last head of the letter was hidden from those who wrote the history of that time: for they nowhere made mention of it. But the Edessenes declare that this is contained in the letter that was found: so much so that they placed the letter, thus copied, in the gates of the city in place of any fortification.
[24] which is said never to be surrendered I believe that the opinion of the Edessenes arose from the last words of Christ, namely that there would be the coming of the Disciple to be sent, who would both cure the disease of Abgar and bestow life on Abgar and his subjects: which life, and so liberty and immunity, to be bestowed on them forever, the Edessenes interpreted broadly. To which too the testament of St. Ephrem could rightly add its weight, in which he blesses the Edessenes, as we reported above at number 12, and the testimony of Joshua the Stylite, a Syrian, famous at the decline of the fifth century Assemani, Biblioth. Orient. volume I, page 260., who reports that Christ said to Abgar that an enemy would not lord it over the town of Edessa forever Ibid. page 261.. Nevertheless it is established from History that Edessa was often besieged and taken. But that the discourse may not run out into a longer speech, I will allege what Theophilus Bayer says in his History of Osrhoene Page 270.: In the Edessene year, he says, 914 (of the Christian era 603) Narses, commander of the Persian army, attacked and occupied Roha (Edessa) and seized Severus the bishop of that city and overwhelmed him with stones until he died. Two years later Edessa is again taken by Leontius, general of the emperor Phocas, and in the first year of Heraclius, who, after expelling and slaughtering Phocas, gained the kingdom, the Persians again occupied Edessa. Whence it is manifest enough that the opinion of the Edessenes was vain, by which they judged that their city would remain impregnable forever.
[25] to enemies, Of the city of Edessa, then, blessed by God, the first bishop was he who first brought the words of salvation to the people, St. Thaddaeus, one of the LXXII Disciples of Christ. For this has been for ages the constant tradition of the Church of Edessa. Thus St. James of Sarug, who flourished in the sixth century Ibid. page 290., and delivered a sermon on Addaeus the Apostle and King Abgar Ibid. page 318.: King Abgar, he says, worthy of the divine beatitudes, asked the Son of God through envoys to betake himself to his town. He opened his city, inviting him, that, having entered there as a friend, he might become both physician and teacher of truth for his people. To the Only-begotten, who had come to earth, he betrothed his city. And the bridegroom promised the king that he would indeed marry her, an agreement being made that when he should have been taken up to his Begetter, he would then be joined to the bride now grown, and would sanctify her. He promised that he would send one of his Disciples, who would bring salvation to his whole house and all the people. When therefore the glorious bridegroom had ascended to his sublime region, he resolved to send to Abgar the promised Disciple: and he chose from the number of the brothers Addaeus, through whom he might fulfill the unchangeable promise attested by letter.
[26] the Holy Apostle preaches and builds a sacred house; In the little work to be published below, which is called the Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle, and the antiquity of which we shall shortly call to the balance, one reads that St. Thaddaeus, or as the Syrians prefer, St. Addaeus, frequently held discourses to the people on Christ and the Gospel, built churches, ordained presbyters and ministers, in short did everything so that the Church of Edessa might be rightly and stably established and might extend its branches into the neighboring regions. In the little work mentioned, at number 9, Abgar said to Thaddaeus: You shall build a church wherever you wish, a place in which may be gathered those who have now believed and shall hereafter believe your words, and according to the precept of your Lord rule it at all times with full security. And when the sacred house was completed, a great multitude of the people, as is narrated at number 13, gathered and flocked daily to the prayer of the ministry and to the reading of the Testament and of the New: they believed also the raising of the dead and buried the deceased in the hope of the resurrection: they also celebrated at fixed times the festivals of the Church, and kept its vigils also according to the instruction of Addaeus, and distributed alms both to the sick and to those in good health. Moreover in suburban places churches were built and many received the priesthood from him. In these words we find all the lineaments of a rightly established Church.
[27] and to neighboring Churches If credit is to be given to Ebedjesus, metropolitan of Soba or Nisibis, who flourished around the beginning of the fourteenth century Assemani, Biblioth. Orient. volume III, page 325., St. Thaddaeus or Addaeus, as though he had a certain supreme jurisdiction over the Churches of Syria, declared the church of Sciahargard to be exempt; Ebedjesus therefore, in order to make ratified and approved the exemption of the monastery of the Holy One and companion of the Angels Mar Michael, enumerated various monasteries that had enjoyed this privilege, beginning from the very founder of the Syrian Church, St. Thaddaeus. Now the privilege of exemption, in the time of Ebedjesus, consisted in this, that the Church should belong properly and exclusively to the patriarch, and that the name of the patriarch only should be proclaimed in it: and that it should not be lawful for any of the metropolitans and bishops of that province or of other provinces to meddle in any way in its affairs; nor likewise for any of the presbyters, deacons, monks and laymen frequenting that monastery on feast days or any other day to recite the name of any of the metropolitans or bishops, nor should it be lawful for these to ask that their name be proclaimed in the church of the exempt monasteries, but only the name of the patriarch.
[28] he grants privileges; But when necessity is pressing on the brother monks of the aforesaid monastery of consecrating a new altar with oil, or of carrying out an ordination of presbyters or deacons, it is granted to them to invite whatever metropolitan or bishop they shall choose. And when he has come who is to carry out functions of this kind, it is granted to the directors, presidents and elders of the monastery to offer him the pontifical dress and the pallium and amice; let him also bear the pastoral staff or crozier, and let his name be recited after ours, while he stands in the order of the fathers at the head of the ecclesiastical assembly. But to permit that any of the metropolitans or bishops be received in this monastery is forbidden by a definitive canon. And if it should happen that any of the metropolitans and bishops for some cause abdicates the primacy of a Church, by no means shall it be lawful for him to buy for himself a chamber and cell in that monastery, whether he has been a monk of the place or some outsider. But when it happens that he comes to the monastery, let him be received as a stranger and guest. And to the prelate or director of the monastery it is granted to consecrate an altar in the monastery, if by chance it should happen to be profaned, and it should not need consecration by Chrism. But if the prelate himself should be unable to do this by himself, he can commit and delegate it to any of his fellow presbyters, that he may duly perform that function Ibid. page 344.. I have thought it worth while to set down here the form of exemption as it was in Syria, because it can be compared with the formulas both of the Latin Church, and with the Stauropegia of the Greeks, the rite of which Goar sets forth in the Notes on the Euchologion of the Greeks Goar. Euchologium, page 612 and following..
[29] he dies a holy death In the little work, the Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle, at number 15 and following we read: Some years after the Apostle Addaeus had built a church, and had furnished it with suitable equipment, and had converted a great multitude of the people, he also built churches in other places, near or distant, and when they were completed he adorned them, and established in them deacons and presbyters, and also taught persons, both those who should read the Scriptures, and those who should hold to the rule of the ministry both internal and external. After all these things he was overcome by a disease which brought death. He therefore chose as leader and ruler or bishop Aggaeus, who should succeed him: and leaving, as a testament, his last commands, he left this world:
and that day was the fifth of the week and the fourteenth of the month Jyar, that is, the 14th day of May. Bar-Hebraeus, also called Abulpharagius, primate of the East, easily the prince of the Jacobite Writers Assemani, Biblioth. Orient. volume II, page 244., treating of our Thaddaeus, teaches that he died after Abgar and was killed by his heathen son and buried in the church which he had himself built at Edessa Ibid. page 392.. In which words, although very brief, there are four things which conflict on every side with the little work to be published below. And first Bar-Hebraeus says that Abgar died before Thaddaeus; next that he was killed by the sword of persecution; and thirdly that he suffered on the 30th day of July; and finally that he found burial in the church built by himself; all of which openly contradict what is read in the little work.
[30] before Abgar. First of all, then, that Abgar remained surviving St. Thaddaeus is shown by the little work at number 18; namely that Abgar was present at the last discourse of the Apostle, and was greatly saddened by his death. And with the whole city weeping he was composed in a tomb, not indeed in a pit in the church, which is the third error of Bar-Hebraeus, but, as the little work just cited has it, in a spacious sepulchre, adorned with carvings, in which the ancestors of Abgar of the house of Ariu were composed. For the rest, the one who is seen to have stirred up war against the Christians, on the witness of Procopius on the Persian War, book I, chapter XII Hist. Byzant. page 302., was one of his sons, who succeeded to the kingdom, of all mortals the most wicked, who, fearing punishment from the Romans for the many crimes which he had committed against his subjects, surrendered himself to the Persians. Who, however, the successor of Abgar was can be examined in Bayer, in the Osrhoene History. Finally Bar-Hebraeus says that St. Thaddaeus died on the 30th of July, but the little work places the day of the saint's death on the 14th of May, Thursday. Now this controversy depends in part on the year in which he died. St. Thaddaeus is said to have presided over the Church of Edessa for twelve years from the Ascension of the Lord, and so he died in the year 45 of the common era Assemani, Biblioth. Orient. volume II, page 392.. But in that year, marked by the dominical letter C, the fifth day of the week fell on the 15th day of May. There is therefore some error in the number either of the week or of the month. But if we assume that St. Thaddaeus did not hold his chair for twelve entire years, but left it vacant in the twelfth year, we at once go back one year, that is to the year of Christ 44, in which the fifth day of the week coincides with the 14th day of the month of May. I will not conceal that some Syriac calendars, such as a ms. codex of the Royal Library of Brussels has under number 11,325, announce the feast of St. Thaddaeus under the 13th day of May, which in the year of Christ 43 coincides with the sixth day of the week.
[31] and he was composed in the royal tomb. And this the more probably because the death of Abgar is assigned to the year 45 Assemani, Biblioth. Orient. volume I, page 420.. Nevertheless, since it is altogether established that St. Thaddaeus died before Abgar, and the latter ended his life in the year of Christ 45, the more probable opinion to me is that the death of the Holy Apostle is to be assigned to the year of Christ 44. To which opinion weight is added by the words of Jos. Assemani, who, treating of the Patriarchs of the Chaldeans, says that St. Thaddaeus, having returned from Adiabene, Bagerma and Assyria, died there, namely at Edessa, in the year of his preaching, and likewise of the Ascension, the TWELFTH, Abgar being still alive Ibid. volume III, page 611.. From which words it follows that the year of the Saint's death is to be brought back to the year of Christ 44; for that reason we have assigned the same at the head of this commentary. The Assemani mentioned adds that he was laid with pomp at Edessa in the greater church of that city. We have seen a little above that the holy body was carried into the royal tomb, by order, that is, of Abgar. We shall not deny, however, that afterwards it was placed in a church; for in the course of time a sacred building was erected in honor of St. Addaeus, or Thaddaeus, into which perhaps the remains of the Holy Apostle were carried, which also, carried off afterwards to Europe, could give rise to confusion: so that those who held Relics of the Disciple of the LXXII thereafter boasted that they held those of the Apostle of the same name of the XII: especially since the memory of St. Thaddaeus, Disciple of Christ, is celebrated with no sacred cult in the Western Church.
[32] The little work on St. Thaddaeus. The little work which we publish below, which is entitled the Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle Cureton, Ancient Syriac Documents page 6., is elsewhere however called the Letter or Treatise of Addaeus Ibid. pages 109 and 147.. Assemani seems to have found a similar codex in Scete Biblioth. Orient. volume III, page 19., and calls it very old and scarcely later than the fifth century Cureton, page 147.. William Cureton, editor of this fragment, says that he drew it from the Syriac Nitrian codices: namely the earlier part up to nearly the end of our number 3 from the codex of the British Museum under number 14,654, and from number 4 to the end from a codex likewise Nitrian of the same Museum under number 14,644. Because of its antiquity, then, it has great authority, by which it ought to prevail over more recent writings, such as that of Bar-Hebraeus, a writer of the thirteenth century, of whom we made mention above at number 29. A sign of antiquity to me is also this, that nowhere does there occur any text of the Holy Gospels; indeed number 12 seems to indicate only the Diatessaron of Tatian, which was in use in Syria down to the fourth century Ibid. page 153.. The Latin text which we present we have turned from the English language, being ignorant of the Syriac tongue; nevertheless we have caused the same to be compared with the Syriac, so that if our lucubration has less of elegance, yet the fidelity of the text may suffer no detriment.
THE DOCTRINE OF ADDAEUS THE APOSTLE
Or the letter of Addaeus, from the Syriac rendered into English by W. Cureton, an Englishman.
Thaddaeus, disciple of Christ (S.)
FROM MANUSCRIPTS.
CHAPTER ONE.
St. Thaddaeus or Addaeus preaches and expounds the Gospel to Abgar, king of the Edessenes, and to his people.
St. Addaeus cures Abgar of his disease; Addaeus said to him a: Because you have believed, I lay my hand on you in the name of him in whom you have believed. And in the same moment in which he laid on his hand, he was healed of the disease of the infirmity by which he had long been held b. And Abgar, astonished, marvelled, that just as Jesus himself acted and cured the sick, so too Addaeus without any medicine cured in the name of Jesus. And Abdu, son of Abdu, suffered from gout c, and he presented his feet; placing his hand on them, he also healed him, and the gout disappeared. In the whole city too he worked great cures, and showed most stupendous signs. And Abgar said: Since now all know that you work these miracles by the power of Jesus Christ, and we truly marvel at your deeds, I beg therefore that you narrate to us the history and manner of the coming of Christ, his glorious power and the miracles which we have heard that he did, and which you saw together with your fellow disciples.
[2] and to him and the whole court of Christ Addaeus answered: I do not wish to abstain from narrating these things, because I have been sent for this, to speak and instruct everyone who is willing, like you, to believe. Gather tomorrow the whole city and I will sow by preaching the word of life. I will explain before you his coming, and the manner in which it took place, (I will speak) of him who sent him, how and in what way he sent him, of the power of Christ and his miracles, of the glorious mysteries of his coming, which he revealed to the world, of the truth of his preaching, how and why he humbled himself and lowered his divinity by assuming humanity, how he was also crucified, and descended to the place of death and broke through the wall of separation d, which had never been breached, and by his death gave life to the dead; alone indeed he descended, and ascended with many to his glorious Father, with whom he was through all eternity in one exalted divinity. And Abgar ordered silver and gold to be given to Addaeus. But Addaeus answered: How can we receive what is not ours? For behold we have renounced our own, as the Lord commanded, that without purse or wallet, carrying the cross on our shoulders, we must preach the Gospel to all creation e, which, when he was crucified for us and for the redemption of all men, was affected and suffered with him.
[3] he expounds the doctrine: And he narrated before King Abgar, his nobles, his mother Augustina and Shalmath, daughter of Meherdath, his wife, the signs and miracles of our Lord, and the stupendous great works which he did, also his divine triumphs and his ascent to the Father. Then (he explained) how they themselves received power and authority at the time when he ascended into heaven, by which power he had healed Abgar and Abu, son of Abu, second from the king: how he taught them that he would at some time reveal himself at the end of times, and at the consummation of all creation: also that there would at some time be a raising and resurrection for all men and a separation to be made between the sheep and the goats, between the faithful and the unbelieving. And he said to them: Because narrow is the gate of life and strait is the way of truth, therefore few are those who believe, and unbelief is pleasure to satan, therefore many are the liars who lead away believers. For unless it were well for believers, our Lord would not have descended from heaven, would not have been born and would not have undergone death … f the faith which we preach. That God was crucified for all men.
[4] especially of the Jews And if anyone is unwilling to be persuaded by these words, let him approach us, and open his mind, as if it were a disease; for we can heal his mind as if it were a wound. For although you were not present at the time of the passion of Christ, nevertheless from the eclipse of the sun, which you saw, you learned and understood how great was the terror at the time of the crucifixion of him whose Gospel is spread throughout the whole world by the miracles done by his disciples, my colleagues. And these who were Hebrews, and knew only the Hebrew language, their native one, today all speak tongues g, so that both those who are far and those who are placed near may hear and believe that he who once confounded the tongues of the rebels in this region which is before you h, today teaches the right faith of truth through humble and simple men of Galilee of Palestine. For I, whom you see before you, came from Paneas i, where is the source of the Jordan, and was chosen with my colleagues to be a preacher… For according to the precept of my master I preach and publicly announce the Gospel: and behold I set his money at the table k, and I sow in the ear of all the seed of his word, which he who shall receive will have a great reward of his confession: but against the unbelieving I shake off the dust
of my feet, as he commanded me. Repent therefore, dearly beloved, of evil ways and abominable deeds, turn to him with a good and honest will, as he himself has turned to us with the promise of a rich reward. Do not imitate past generations, which, because they had hardened their heart against the fear of God, were openly punished, that they themselves might undergo the penalty and those who came after might revere and fear.
[5] the obstinacy For the end for which our Lord came into the world was this, that he might teach and show us that at the consummation of creation there will be the resurrection of all men, and then their deeds will be displayed in their own person, and their bodies will be books in which justice will write: and no one will be ignorant of writing of this kind, because each one will read in his own book… You who have eyes, if you see nothing, are like those who neither see nor hear, and in vain raise a voice which achieves nothing with a deaf ear. Whereas they are outside blame in not hearing, because they are deaf by nature; the blame is deservedly yours, because you are unwilling to perceive even what you see before you. For the dense cloud of error which surrounds your mind hinders the heavenly light, which is the understanding of doctrine. Flee therefore created and handmade things, which, as I have said to you, are called gods by a bare name, but are not truly gods, but are far distant from him who is by his own nature God eternal: and he is not a made thing, like your idols, nor a creature or figment, like the images in which you glory. For although he assumed a body, yet he is God with his Father. For the creatures, which trembled while he was being killed, and were terrified at his death, bear witness that he is God the Creator: for it was not on account of an earthly man, but on account of him who established the earth upon the waters, nor was the sun darkened in the heavens on account of a man, but on account of him who made the great lights; nor by a man was the just and upright raised, but by him who from the beginning had power over death; nor by a man was the veil of the temple of the Jews l torn from top to bottom, but by him who said: Behold your house is left desolate.
[6] of those rejecting the words of Christ, For unless those who crucified him had known that he was the Son of God, they would not have made manifest the desolation of their city, nor have published the affliction of their soul, crying Woe m. And even if they had wished to avoid a confession of this kind, yet the tremendous commotion which then arose would have prevented them. For the very sons of those who crucified him have now become, together with my companion Apostles, preachers and evangelists in all Palestine, among the Samaritans and in the region of the Philistines. The idols of the Gentiles have been despised, and the cross of Christ is honored, and peoples and creatures confess God who was made man. If therefore, when Christ our Lord was dwelling on earth, you would have believed in him that he is God, now after he has ascended to his Father, and you have seen the signs and prodigies which have been done in his name, and with your ears have heard the word of the Gospel: and let no one doubt in his heart that the blessing sent to you is to be established in you. Blessed are you who have believed in me, not seeing me, and because you have so believed, the city which you inhabit will be blessed, and an enemy will never prevail against it n. Do not then be turned away from this faith: for you have seen and heard the things which bear testimony to this faith, that he is the Son to be adored and the glorious God, the invincible king, who has almighty power. By faith in him a man can acquire the eyes of a sincere mind o, and perceive that whoever worships creatures will be overwhelmed by the wrath of justice.
[7] which ought to be sincerely received by all For what we say to you we speak, teach and show according to the gift given by our Lord, that you may obtain your eternal salvation and may not lose your soul through the error of heathenism; because the heavenly light has arisen over every creature, he himself chose the ancient patriarchs, and just men and prophets and spoke with them through the revelation of the spirit of holiness. For he is the God of the Jews, who crucified him: the wandering gentiles themselves too worship him, though unknown, because there is no other God in heaven and on earth, and behold confession rises to him from the four parts of the earth. Your ears, then, have heard what before you did not hear, and your eyes too have seen what before you never saw. Do not resist, then, the things which you have seen and heard. Reject the rebellious heart of your fathers, and shake off the yoke of sin, which lords it over you by libations and sacrifices before images: do not be anxious for your life, which is perishable, and for the state of your head, which is weak; and let there be in you a mind which worships the Maker and not the things made, in which is represented the image of truth and of faith in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, because you believe, you are baptized in this threefold and glorious name. This is our doctrine and preaching; because the faith of the truth of Christ does not consist in many things.
[8] they ought to be received. And those among you who wish to obey Christ, you know that I have repeated the same words, that you may be able to learn and understand what you hear. And we shall rejoice in these things, as a farmer rejoices in his prosperous field: God too in your penance toward him. And if you procure your salvation in this way, we too who give you such counsel will not be defrauded of the blessed reward. And because I trust that your region is blessed according to the will of Christ the Lord, therefore in place of my shaking off the dust of my feet, as he commanded us, against the city which does not receive our words, behold I have shaken out today at the door of your ears the words of my lips, which explain both the coming which has already taken place and that which is to come, and the resurrection and raising of all men, and the separation to come between the faithful and the unbelieving and the horrible punishments for those who have not known God, and the great promise of the joy to come, which those will receive who have believed in Christ, and have worshipped him with the Father most high and have confessed him with the spirit of his divinity. And now it is time for me to conclude the present discourse. Those therefore who receive the word of Christ and desire to be joined with us in prayer, let them remain with us, and let the others return to their homes. And Addaeus himself rejoiced, because very many of the city had remained with him: for few then did not remain; but after a few days they too received his words and believed the Gospel of the preaching of Christ.
ANNOTATIONS.
of giving the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Matth. XVI, 17.
CHAPTER TWO.
Abgar, having compared the doctrine of the Apostle with the letter of Christ, is converted with his family and a great multitude of the people; he also institutes a clergy.
Abgar and his family are converted to Christ; When Addaeus the Apostle had spoken these things in the city of Edessa, King Abgar too saw the whole city rejoicing in the doctrine of the Apostle: men and women alike, saying to the king, True and faithful is Christ, who sent you to us. And the king himself too rejoiced greatly and blessed God, because as he had heard from his archivist Hanan concerning Christ, he had also seen the wonderful works which Addaeus the Apostle did in his name. King Abgar said: As I wrote to Christ and he answered me, and from you today I have heard the same, I will believe all the days of my life, and in the same words I will continue and exult, because I know that there is no other power, in whose name these signs and miracles have been done by the power of Christ, whom you have announced in truth and sincerity. Henceforth therefore I will worship him together with Maanu my son, and Augustina and Queen Shalmath a. And now build, wherever you wish, a church; a place in which may be gathered those who have now believed and shall hereafter believe your words, and according to the precept of your Lord, rule it at all times with full security. Moreover to those who shall be with you as ministers of the Gospel, I have resolved to give great gifts, that they may have nothing to care for besides the sacred ministry. Whatever also of expense is necessary for constructing buildings, I will give without accounts, in place of which your word will be for me, which will suffice in the whole city. Further, let entry before me and into the royal palace be free for you, no one being asked.
[10] and to the nobles When Abgar was returning to the palace, together with the princes Abdu, son of Abdu, and Garmai and Shemasgram and Abubai and Meherdath b, and the rest of their companions, he rejoiced over all the things which they had seen with their eyes and heard with their ears; and in the gladness of their heart they praised God, who had turned their mind to himself, and they renounced the heathenism in which they had lived, and confessed the Gospel of Christ. And after Addaeus had built a church, they made vows and offerings, they and the people of the city, and there they offered prayers all the days of their life. Further Avida and Barcalba, prefects and ministers, wearing the royal fillet c, came to Addaeus and questioned him concerning Christ, that he would explain to them how, being God, he had appeared like a man: how truly one could look upon him. And he explained to them whatever their eyes had seen, and what their ears had heard: whatever also the Prophets had foretold, he repeated to them. And they received these words gladly and faithfully. Nor was there any adversary; for the splendid works which he did suffered no adversary.
[11] the priests of the idols also; But Shavida and Ebednebu, chiefs of the priests of the city, together with Piroz and Diku their companions, seeing the signs which he did, ran and destroyed the altars on which they had formerly sacrificed to their gods Nebu and Bel d, except the greatest altar in the middle of the city; and crying out they said: Truly this is the disciple of that supreme man and excellent and glorious master, whose deeds we have heard in the region of the Palestinians. And Addaeus received all who believed in Christ, and baptized them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Spirit of Holiness. And those who had been accustomed to worship stones and wood sat at his feet and were healed of the plague of the folly of heathenism. Even Jews, versed in the law and the Prophets, who carried on commerce in silks e, were converted and became disciples, confessing Christ to be the son of the living God. Yet neither King Abgar nor the Apostle forced anyone by violence to believe in Christ, because without human force the force of the signs compelled to belief in him. And all Mesopotamia and the adjacent regions received the doctrine with love.
[12] the Saint establishes a clergy But also Aggaeus, who made the chains and royal diadems f, and Palut, and Barshelama and Barsamya together with the rest of their companions adhered to the Apostle, who both received them and associated them in the ministry, because they read the Old and New Testament, and the Prophets and the Acts of the Apostles, on which they meditated daily g. He ordered them to guard solicitously their pure body and their holy persons, as is fitting for men who stand before the altar of God. Be, he said, far removed from false swearing, from evil homicide, from false testimony, which is mixed with adultery, from magic arts, which do not deserve pardon, from soothsayings, divination and prognostications, from fate and genealogies, in which the Chaldeans vainly glory, from the planets and signs of the Zodiac, in which fools trust. Reject wicked hypocrisy, little gifts and presents, by which the innocent are condemned. Apart from the ministry which has been committed to you, do not have any other service; for the Lord himself is, all the days of your life, the service of your ministry. Be also accurate in conferring the seal of baptism, and do not seek the vain things of this world. Judge with justice and truth: be not a scandal to the blind, let not the name of him be blasphemed through you, who, as we have seen, opens the eyes of the blind. Thus then whoever sees you will understand that you do what you prescribe to be done by others. And they ministered with him in the church which Addaeus had constructed by the order and will of King Abgar; and there were supplied to them, from what belonged to the king and his nobles, all things that were suitable both for the house of God and for the needs of the poor.
[13] and a church, to which the people flocked. Meanwhile a great multitude of the people gathered daily, and flocked to the prayers of the ministry and to the reading of the Old and New Testament from the Diotaron h: they believed also the raising of the dead and buried the deceased in the hope of the resurrection: they also celebrated at fixed times the festivals of the Church, and kept its vigils: they also visited the sick according to the instruction of Addaeus, and distributed alms both to them and to those in good health. Moreover in suburban places churches were built, and many received the priesthood from him. On this account the peoples of the East, feigning trade, crossed into the region of the Romans, to see the signs which Addaeus did. And those who became his disciples received the priesthood from him, and in their own region of the Assyrians taught the sons of their people, and secretly built houses of prayer for fear of the worshippers of fire and water i. And Narses, king of the Assyrians, hearing what Addaeus the Apostle was doing, sent a messenger to King Abgar saying: Either send to me the man who does these signs before you, that I may see and hear him; or write to me a letter of what you have seen him do in your city. Abgar therefore wrote to Narses, reporting the history of the things done by Addaeus from the beginning
to the end and omitted nothing in his writing. And Narses indeed, hearing what had been written to him, marvelled and was astounded k.
[14] [the letter of Tiberius, in which the punishment to be inflicted on the Jews is promised.] But King Abgar, since he could not cross through the region of the Romans into Palestine and punish the Jews who had crucified Christ, wrote and sent a letter to Tiberius Caesar of the following tenor l: King Abgar to our lord Tiberius Caesar. Knowing that nothing is hidden from your majesty, I write and inform your great and tremendous power that the Jews, who are subject to you and inhabit the region of Palestine, have assembled together and crucified Christ, innocent of every capital crime, after he had done before their eyes signs and prodigies and great works, so that he even raised the dead. And at the time when they were crucifying him, the sun was darkened and the earth trembled, all creation was moved and convulsed, whereby as if of its own accord the whole creation and all its inhabitants were terrified. And now your majesty knows what it is suitable to command concerning the people of the Jews, who have done these things. Tiberius Caesar wrote and sent to King Abgar the following letter: I have received the letter of your fidelity and it has been read before me. As regards the Jews, who dared the crucifixion, the governor Pilate also wrote and made known m to my proconsul Aulbinus n the same things that you have written. But because I am now involved in the war with Spain which has rebelled against me o, I have not been able to avenge the deed: but as soon as it shall be permitted, I will bring suit against the Jews, because they did not act according to the law. Therefore I have also put another in place of Pilate, whom I had established as governor, and he has fallen from my favor, because he transgressed the law [p] and, complying with the Jews, crucified Christ to gain their favor; who indeed, as I hear, instead of the cross of death deserved to be worshipped and adored by them, especially because they had seen with their own eyes whatever things were done by him [q]. And you, in your fidelity toward me and in the pact both of yourself and of your fathers, have done well in writing the letter to me.
ANNOTATIONS.
however are carried about today as the Acts of Pilate, says Francis Xavier Patrizi in his excellent work on the Gospels Page 420, volume III., are a fiction of men with idle time on their hands, concerning which there may be consulted Cardinal Baronius at the year of Christ 34, §§ CCXXIII and following, and John Albert Fabricius, Apocryphal Codex of the New Testament Volume I, page 214 and volume III, page 455., where Acts of this kind are reported Ibid. volume I, page 972..
p. By a Senatus Consultum, as one reads in Suetonius on Tiberius, chapter LXXV, it had been provided that the punishment of the condemned should always be deferred to the tenth day: and so Pilate, who permitted the sentence passed by himself against Christ to be carried out at once, transgressed the law.
q. Tertullian, whom Eusebius too cites, Hist. book II, chapter II Migne, Patrol. græc. volume XX, column 139., in his Apologeticum, chapter V Patrol. lat. volume I, column 290., says: Tiberius, in whose time the Christian name entered the world, having been informed from Syria Palestine of what had there revealed the truth of that divinity, laid it before the Senate with the prerogative of his vote. The Senate, because it had not itself approved, rejected it; Caesar remained in his opinion, threatening danger to the accusers of the Christians. Certain more recent writers accuse Tertullian of falsehood. Their arguments, and at the same time the replies, are presented at the said text, which may be consulted at pleasure Ibid. loc. cit..
CHAPTER THREE.
Tiberius takes action against the Jews; the Holy Apostle, being ill, provides for the Church; his last words; he dies, and his body is laid in a royal tomb: the son of Abgar kills St. Aggaeus the bishop.
Tiberius punishes the Jews: And King Abgar received Aristides, sent by Tiberius Caesar, and replied to the letter and sent him back with gifts worthy of him who had sent him. And from Edessa he went to Ticuntha, where Claudius was, second from the emperor, from where he betook himself to the next place, Artica, where Tiberius Caesar was staying a. Whose watches, however, he was keeping in the regions neighboring on Caesar. Aristides reported to Tiberius the history of the immense miracles which Addaeus had worked before Abgar. And when the war was finished, he condemned to death certain chiefs of the Jews who were in Palestine. And King Abgar, hearing these things, rejoiced, because the Jews had paid a just penalty. Some years after the Apostle Addaeus had built a church, and had furnished it with suitable equipment, and had converted a great multitude of the people, he also built churches in other places, near or distant, and when they were completed he adorned them, and established in them deacons and presbyters, and also taught persons, both those who should read the Scriptures, and those who should hold to the rule of the ministry both internal and external.
[16] St. Addaeus, ill unto death, After all these things he was overcome by a disease which brought death. And he called Aggaeus near him before all the people, and established him as leader and ruler in his place b, and ordained Palut the deacon a presbyter, and Abshelama the scribe a deacon. And when the nobles and princes had gathered and were standing around, Bar Calba, son of Zaiti, and Maryhab, son of Barshemash, and Senac, son of Avida, and Piroz, son of Patric c, together with their other companions, Addaeus the Apostle said to them: You know and can bear witness, you who have heard me, that whatever I have preached and taught, and what you have heard from me, I have so done and practiced. For our Lord commanded us that whatever we should preach to others, we should also practice by acts before the people. And according to the precepts and laws established by the Disciples in Jerusalem, the Apostles my companions also acted accordingly; so do you also not depart from them, nor neglect even the least. As I myself have acted among you in these precepts, and have not declined to the right or the left, lest I be made to have no share in the promised salvation, kept for those who abide in the precepts. Attend therefore to the ministry which you hold; continue always to exercise it with fear and trembling. Do not exercise the ministry in neglected garments, but in the discretion of faith; let it not irk you to offer the praises of Christ, nor let weariness take you of praying at fixed times.
[17] he gives final instructions, Attend to the truth which you hold, and to the doctrine of the faith which you have learned, and to the inheritance of salvation which I have committed to you, because it will be required of you before the tribunal of Christ, when he shall settle the account with shepherds and overseers, when he shall demand the money from the traders with the increase of gain. For he is the son of the king and has entered on his inheritance; but he will return, and coming will raise all, and will sit on the throne of justice to judge the living and the dead, as he himself said to us. Let not the secret eye of your mind grow blind concerning heavenly things, so that your sins abound in those ways in which there is no sin, for there is abominable error in his ways. Seek the lost, direct the erring, keep watch for the rich, because the sheep of Christ will be required from your hands. Neglect transitory honor, because the shepherd who hunts honors from the flock behaves badly, very badly toward his flock. Take greatest care of the younger lambs, because their Angels see the invisible Father. Be not a scandal to the blind, but prepare a way and a path in an arduous region between the Jews who crucify him and the wandering pagans: for on both sides there is a fight, that you may show the truth of the faith which you hold: when you shall also be at rest, your modest and honorable countenance will fight for you against those who hate the truth and delight in error. Do not accuse a poor man in the presence of a rich man, for the affliction of poverty is already great enough. Do not be led astray by the abominable arts of Satan, lest you be stripped of that faith which you have put on… Let us not be mingled with the Jews who crucified him, nor forsake the inheritance which we have received from you, but with it we shall leave this world: and in the day of our Lord before the tribunal of his just judgment, he will restore to us the inheritance, as he taught us.
[18] he dies, a successor to himself After these things had been said, Abgar rose with his princes and nobles and returned to his palace, and all were sad on account of his imminent death. And he sent an honorable and noble array, that he might be buried in it. When Addaeus the Apostle had seen this, he sent one to say: In life I received nothing from you, nor now, with death at hand, will I receive anything from you: nor will I myself break faith with Christ, who says: Receive nothing from anyone and possess nothing in this world d. And three days after Addaeus the Apostle had said these things, he heard and received before all the nobles the testimony of the doctrine of their preaching from those who were of the ministry, and he left this world; and that day was the fifth of the week, and the fourteenth of the month Iyar e. And the whole city was in great grief and bitter weeping: not only the Christians, but Jews too and gentiles sorrowed. But greatest was the grief of Abgar and of the princes of the kingdom; and in the contrition of his heart he made little of and laid aside on that day the royal ornaments, and with tears and groans he bewailed him with all his people. And all marvelled at the immense grief of the king for Addaeus: with great and excessive honor too, as one of the princes when they die, he conducted his funeral, and in a spacious sepulchre, adorned with carvings, in which the ancestors of Abgar of the house of Ariu were composed, he composed him with great sadness and grief f. And the Christian people visited the tomb, offered prayers, and celebrated his memory every year according to the doctrine and institution which the Apostle Addaeus himself had handed down and according to the precept of Aggaeus, who himself too became leader, ruler and successor in the chair by the power of the priesthood which he had received from him before all the people.
[19] he is buried. And he too, by the power of the priesthood which he had received, ordained presbyters and leaders in every region of Mesopotamia. For they, like the Apostle Addaeus, adhered inviolably to his word, which they faithfully obeyed as good and faithful heirs of the Apostles of the adorable Christ. But he received silver and gold from no one, nor did he admit the gifts of princes: but in place of silver and gold he enriched the Church of Christ with the souls of the faithful. And the condition of the men and women g was modest and seemly, and they were holy and chaste, because they walked in charity without stain, in
the keeping of the ministry with seemliness, in the care of the poor and the visiting of the sick: for their ways were praiseworthy to those who saw them and their manner of life commendable to strangers; so that the priests of Nebu and Bel always shared their honors with them, on account of their honorable bearing, the sincerity of their words, the free simplicity in their conduct, which never served greed or lay open to calumny. There was no one seeing them who did not delight to meet with them and reverently to greet them, because peaceful words were stretched out like a net, that the rebellious might be taken, whom they brought into the sheepfold of truth and fidelity. For no one who saw them was ashamed of them, inasmuch as they never did anything but what was just and seemly. For to whatever action they exhorted others, the same they themselves also did; and the hearers, considering the concord of words and deeds, by easy persuasion joined themselves to them as disciples, and confessed Christ the king, praising God on account of their conversion.
[20] the son of Abgar a persecutor of the Church. Some years after the death of King Abgar there arose one rebellious son of his, who spurned peace h. And he sent to Aggaeus, when he was on his seat in the church, one to say: Make me a golden diadem, as you were accustomed to make formerly for my fathers i. Aggaeus answered: I will not abandon the ministry committed to me by the disciple of Christ, to make the diadems of the impious. And since he did not have him obedient to his orders, he sent one to break his legs as he sat in the church, while he expounded the Scriptures. And dying he adjured Palut and Abshelama to commit him to the earth in this house, because, he said, I die for the sake of truth. And as he had adjured them, they placed him in the middle door, in the midst between the men and the women. And there was a great and bitter lament through the whole Church and city, besides the sadness of the households, as there had been when Addaeus the Apostle died. And because Aggaeus died suddenly by the breaking of his legs, he could not lay hands on Palut; and Palut went away to Antioch, and received the hands of the priesthood from Serapion, bishop of Antioch, who himself had received hands from Zephyrinus, bishop of the city of Rome k, himself ordained by the successors of Simon Cephas, who received the priesthood from our Lord, and for twenty-five years was bishop at Rome in the times of Caesar, who reigned there for thirteen years. And as it was the established custom in the kingdom of King Abgar and in all kingdoms, that whatever kings should say or whatever should be said before them should be entered in the records, therefore Labubna, son of Senac, son of Ebedshadai, the royal scribe l, wrote these things from beginning to end concerning the Apostle Addaeus. And Hanan the archivist set his hand to it and laid it up in the tablets of the kingdom, in which are accurately and diligently preserved decrees and laws, also pacts of buying and selling. Here ends the doctrine of the Apostle Addaeus, which he preached at Edessa, in the city of the faithful King Abgar.