Acts of Thomas: the Chrestos and the Agathos

[Peter Kirby]

I took a look at the Acts of Thomas today. On the technicals:

* The printed editions of the text look regular enough. I don't know whether "Christ" is always abbreviated in manuscripts.
* The word "Christian" (i-spelling) is in the editions twice. I gave up trying to cross-reference the 12th century manuscripts there.

In terms the themes we've been exploring lately, and trying to be more specific on what "messianic" themes are, in broad strokes:

* The "offspring of Abraham or David" theme is absent
* The "fulfillment of scripture" theme is absent
* The "king Jesus" theme is absent
* The word Messiah and by-definition approaches are absent unless "Christ"/"Christian" counts here

I might be corrected, but that's on a first reading.

Meanwhile, this text is considered to have been important to Manichaeans (who are remarked upon for their "Chrestos" emphasis by Alexander of Lycopolis), and what the text says about who Jesus is centers on the themes of his compassion.

The text is here in translation: https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ ... homas.html

The first reference to Christos/Chrestos is "Jesus Chr_st, Son of compassion" (ὁ τῆς εὐσπλαγχνίας υἱὸς) or "son of mercy."

At one high note in the narrative, a number of addresses are given to the person of Jesus and to the holy spirit:

Come, thou holy name of the Chr_st (τὸ ἅγιον ὄνομα τοῦ Χρ_στοῦ) that is above every name.
Come, thou power of the Most High, and the compassion that is perfect (ἡ εὐσπλαγχνία ἡ τελεία).
Come, gift (charism) of the Most High (τὸ χάρισμα τὸ ὕψιστον).

Come, compassionate mother.
Come, communion of the male.
Come, she that revealeth the hidden mysteries.
Come, mother of the seven houses, that thy rest may be in the eighth house.
Come, elder of the five members, mind, thought, reflection, consideration, reason; communicate with these young men.
Come, holy spirit, and cleanse their reins and their heart, and give them the added seal, in the name of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost.

The same author who calls him "the compassion" (εὐσπλαγχνία) that is "perfect" (τελεία) and "a gift-of-grace" (χάρισμα) could have been speaking of Χριστοῦ as the holy name that is above every name. Really, he could have. I don't know. But this is the thought world of those who would have called him Chrestos, like the Manichaeans did. Maybe the author of this text swam in that thought world but still used the iota (because that's the only thing I can do towards getting the Acts of Thomas to 'talk about' the Christ - just refer to the word and its spelling).

The word compassion shows up 15 times in translation. Mercy 9 times. "Kind," maybe just once? I'm not quoting all of them.

One passage of interest here is this (and it's the "kind" passage that I am thinking about):

Fear not, Mygdonia: Jesus will not leave thee, neither will the Lord unto whom thou hast committed thy soul overlook thee. His compassionate rest will not forsake thee: he that is kind will not forsake thee, for his kindness' sake, nor he that is good for his goodness' sake.

Which could be interpreted as having two parallel phrases, built around and supporting the "His compassionate rest will not forsake thee" claim, with two by-definition points of persuasion:

(1) "Jesus will not leave thee" // "he that is kind will not forsake thee, for his kindness' sake"
(2) "neither will the Lord unto whom thou hast committed thy soul overlook thee" // "nor he that is good for his goodness' sake"

The neither-nor in each phrase is interesting, as is the parallelism. The argument could be made by referring to either quality. The decision to refer to both qualities, as separate points, in this neither-nor construction, suggests an interpretation where they refer to separate divine persons.

So what is naturally so interesting about this for us, is the wording here:

Μὴ φοβοῦ Μυγδονία·
οὐκ ἐάσει σε Ἰησοῦς, οὐδὲ παρόψεταί σε ὁ κύριός σου ᾧ τὴν ἑαυτῆς ψυχὴν ἀνέθηκας. οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψει σε ἡ πολύσπλαγχνος αὐτοῦ ἀνάπαυσις· οὐκ ἐγκαταλείψει σε ὁ χρηστὸς διὰ τὴν πολλὴν αὐτοῦ χρηστότητα καὶ ὁ ἀγαθὸς διὰ τὴν ἀγαθωσύνην.

He-that-is-kind (ὁ χρηστὸς) will not forsake thee, for his kindness' sake,
nor he-that-is-good (ὁ ἀγαθὸς) for his goodness' sake

Interpreted, then: Jesus is ὁ χρηστὸς, and God the Father is ὁ ἀγαθὸς.

This is the language that I suggest Origen was hearing from the third century Marcionites, or from those who interacted with the third century Marcionites, who named God the Father ὁ ἀγαθὸς.

When it's printed by the church fathers, with a very simple "no change needed whatsoever" game of telephone, the Marcionite "Chreestos" becomes the patristic "Christos" (because they sound the same). The weird thing to them is this emphasis on a different God who is ὁ ἀγαθὸς and "a different Christ" (ὁ χρηστὸς) besides the "Hebrew Christ" (Χριστος).

[Peter Kirby]

And just to bring in the Origen reference I have in mind here:

Origen says that Marcionites believed that there was much content that was concerned with "compassion and piety" (which should be familiar to all of us), they lay very special emphasis on the verse "no one is good save God the Father only" (as also quoted by Epiphanius), and they choose to "style" (nominare) God the Father "Good" (bonum), which when translated back into the Greek of this verse, the name of God the Father is Ἀγαθός.

Whereas from the New Testament they gather together words of compassion and piety, through which the disciples are trained by the Saviour, and by which it seems to be declared that no one is good save God the Father only; and by this means they have ventured to style the Father of the Saviour Jesus Christ a good God, but to say that the God of the world is a different one, whom they are pleased to term just, but not also good.
Origen, On First Things 2.5.1: De novo autem testamento misericordiae ac pietatis congregant verba, quibus a salvatore discipuli informantur, et quibus pronuntiari videtur quia 'nemo bonus praeter unum sit deum patrem'; et per hoc ausi sunt bonum quidem deum nominare patrem salvatoris Iesu Christi, alium autem esse dicunt mundi deum, quem iustum eis, non etiam bonum placuit appellare.

We can still argue about whether the Marcionites were calling him "Christos" instead of "Chreestos" anyway (and you'd need them to write it down, in full, to check! the words would sound the same). We can also argue about whether the author of the gospel text they used had any inkling of the "Chreestos" sense, instead of just "Christos."

[Leucius Charinus]

Acts of Thomas and "The [Gnostic] Hymn of the Pearl"
https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/actsthomas.html
200-225 CE - Early Christian Writings
The following background is provided by Geoff Trowbridge's Introduction

Aside from the section of the Acts of John known as the "Preaching of the Gospel," the Acts of Thomas are probably the most overtly Gnostic of the apocryphal Acts, portraying Christ as the "Heavenly Redeemer" who can free souls from the darkness of the physical world.

Surprisingly, Thomas is the only one of the five primary Acts to have survived in its entirety—in a Syriac text from the seventh century and a Greek text from the eleventh, as well as scores of fragments. While the Syriac texts are earlier and likely represent the original language of the work, they appear to have been purged of the unorthodox passages. Thus the Greek, though often poorly translated, represents the earlier tradition. Thomas is also the only book of Acts claiming apostolic authorship, though it is difficult to fathom how Thomas could have recorded his own martyrdom.

Most believe the author wrote in the early third century, though links to the Gospel of Thomas may place it earlier. The book tells how the apostles drew lots to divide up the world for their missionary work, and India fell to Thomas. He gains Indian followers by performing exorcisms and ressurections, but is eventually sentenced to death after converting the wives of King Misdaeus and his kinsman Charisius. While in prison, Thomas sings the "Hymn of the Pearl," a poem that gained a great deal of popularity in orthodox circles.

[from an archive copy: link defunct at ECW. my formatting]

Some scholarship has formed the view that the author of the Acts of Thomas inserted this pre-existing tract "The Hymn of the Pearl" into the mouth of Thomas. If true then it has a separate transmission history.

The Hymn of the Pearl (also Hymn of the Soul, Hymn of the Robe of Glory or Hymn of Judas Thomas the Apostle) is a passage of the apocryphal Acts of Thomas. In that work, originally written in Syriac, the Apostle Thomas sings the hymn while praying for himself and fellow prisoners. Some scholars believe the hymn predates the Acts, as it only appears in one Syriac manuscript and one Greek manuscript of the Acts of Thomas. The author of the Hymn is unknown, though there is a belief that it was composed by the Syriac gnostic Bardaisan from Edessa due to some parallels between his life and that of the hymn.[1] It is believed to have been written in the 2nd century[2] or even possibly the 1st century,[3] and shows influences from heroic folk epics from the region.[1]


Synopsis

The hymn tells the story of a boy, "the son of the king of kings", who is sent to Egypt to retrieve a pearl from a serpent. During the quest, he is seduced by Egyptians and forgets his origin and his family. However, a letter is sent from the king of kings to remind him of his past. When the boy receives the letter, he remembers his mission, retrieves the pearl and returns. That the boy is implicitly Thomas rather than Jesus is indicated by the eventual assertion that he is next in line to his elder brother, this unnamed brother not otherwise mentioned in the text.


Interpretation

The hymn is commonly interpreted as a Gnostic view of the human condition, that we are spirits lost in a world of matter and forgetful of our true origin. This state of affairs may be ameliorated by a revelatory message delivered by a messenger, a role generally ascribed to Jesus. The letter thus takes on a symbolic representation of gnosis.

The hymn has been preserved and especially treasured in Manichaeism – a version of it appears as part of a Coptic Manichaean psalm book and is called the Psalms of Thomas.

Extract

When I was a little child,
and dwelling in my kingdom of my father's house,
and in the riches and luxuries of my teachers,
I was living at ease.

[Then] from our home in the East,
after they had made preparations,
my parents sent me forth.

[...]

Then they made with me an agreement,
and they inscribed it in my heart so that it would not be forgotten:
"If [you would go] down into Egypt
and bring [back] the one pearl,
which is in the middle of the sea
surrounded by the hissing serpent,
then you will put on your glorious garment
and your toga which rests (is laid) over it.
And with your brother, our second in command,
you will be heir in our kingdom."

[...]

I went straight to the serpent,
around its lodging I settled
until it was going to slumber and sleep,
that I might snatch my pearl from it.
Then I became single and alone,
to my fellow-lodgers I became a stranger.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymn_of_the_Pearl

In terms of "messianic-like" themes the Hymn of the Pearl
introduces the theme of the "King" and the "Kingdom".
It looks like an ascetic allegory.

Here are three separate translations:
William Wright (1871)
G.R.S. Mead (1900)
Hans Jonas (1958)
http://mountainman.com.au/essenes/Hymn% ... 0Pearl.htm

[Peter Kirby]

New Testament Apocrypha, vol. 2, p. 323:

the ATh came into being at the beginning of the 3rd century in East Syria, and were originally composed in Syriac This original version, which was probably at once translated into Greek, as was the case with other writings in this bilingual area, has not survived.

On the Hymn of the Pearl (pp. 330-331):

Although the text of the ATh is handed down in six Syriac and nineteen Greek manuscripts, the Hymn of the Pearl appears only in one Syriac (BM Add. 14645) and one Greek MS (B 35 of dw BibUoteca VaUkelliana in Rome) (cf. P.-H. Ptxrio, 'L'Hymne de la Perle des Actes de Thomas: Etude de la tradition manuscrite', OrChrAn 205, Rome 1978. 19-29). In the Syriac MS BM Add. 14645 a long doxology of the Father and the Son follows the Hymn of the Pearl; it also appears in two other Syriac MSS of the ATh, but is completely lacking in the Greek tradition. In contrast to the Greek MS, the Hymn in BM Add. 14645 is rounded off by a colophon and bears a title of its own. This discovery indicates that the Hymn of the Pearl and also the doxology is an interpolation into the ATh.

[Peter Kirby]

When it's printed by the church fathers, with a very simple "no change needed whatsoever" game of telephone, the Marcionite "Chreestos" becomes the patristic "Christos" (because they sound the same).

I should add here: this is the oral vector of transmission.

The written vector of transmission would be even more misleading because, I assume, the Marcionites had the same abbreviations for the names as the rest of their contemporaries. If, say, someone read the Antitheses of Marcion, I assume they read them referring to χς or χρς, which was the Marcionite "Chreestos" (ὁ χρηστὸς). But since these abbreviations meant something different to the likes of Origen (or Tertullian etc.), they would have a certitude that the Marcionites were writing about "Christos" (Χριστος), even if that were wrong.

[Secret Alias]

Great stuff

[Peter Kirby]

Come, thou holy name of the Chr_st (τὸ ἅγιον ὄνομα τοῦ Χρ_στοῦ) that is above every name.

Worth noting here that this third century (by general consensus) author most likely interprets "the name that is above every name" of Philippians 2:9 to be τὸ ἅγιον ὄνομα τοῦ Χρ_στοῦ (i.e., Christ/Chrest, not Jesus or Lord).