Part Two -APOCRYPHAL TRADITIONS ON ST. THOMAS THE APOSTLE
Chapter 1 -What do the Apocryphal Books tell?
In this section we shall satisfy our curiosity as to the contents of the apocryphal books which have come up in the Church in the name of St. Thomas the Apostle. In the first chapter we shall discuss the first four of these books which contain a general doctrine which in a way corroborates the truth contained in the New Testament. In the second chapter we shall look into one particular apocryphal book known as the Acts of Thomas and one that is most relevant for our purpose as it contains some important insights about the mission of the Apostle in India. And in the third we shall also search for some issues which make these apocryphal writings relevant for us in our study of Thomas.
We have a fair idea of St. Thomas and his character from the writings of the Gospel traditions of the New Testament, particularly from the last written Gospel of St. John. What happened to this exceptionally brave and nonetheless stubborn Thomas is not referred to in the only officially recognized history of the early Church, “the Acts of the Apostles”. The Acts apparently wishes to speak of the ministry of the apostles, but ends up speaking only of just a few of them and that too a ministry carried out in the vicinity of Palestine, that is Asia Minor and then Rome. Luke the author of the Acts is modest about the area covered by his historic account of the early Church namely the mission of the apostles exercised in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). His notion of the ends of the earth did not go beyond Rome, the then centre of the civilized world. It is only Peter, Paul and to some extent John whose ministry is mentioned in the Acts. What about the other apostles? Did they not also take the mandate of Jesus Christ to “go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation”? (Mk 16:15). And where are we to find records of their missionary activities? In the absence of any records of such missionary ventures of the rest of the apostles in the canonically accepted books of the Bible, we have to look for them in the literature termed as apocryphal which also arose in the early Church.
What is the apocryphal literature and how does it throw light on the missionary ventures of St. Thomas the Apostle? The Greek word apocryphos simply means ‘hidden’, A literature whose authenticity is doubtful and whose authorship is apparently of a doubtful nature, has been termed as apocryphal, or of a hidden or veiled character.
But there has been an abundance of such literature particularly surrounding some biblical personalities like Adam and Eve, Moses, Solomon, Isaiah, Enoch and Ezra of the Old Testament, as well as of Peter, Paul, James, Thomas, John, Andrew, Bartholomew, and
Philip of the New Testament. There are interesting accounts of the life and activities of these personalities not found in the so called authentic canonical literature officially accepted by the Church.
Do the books of the apocryphal literature have any value? Certainly they do. We cannot discard them totally as arising from the whims and fancies of whoever authored them. There could have been several of them. The authors do have some points to make for the people of their time. These writings also do have some historical facts about them, but perhaps somewhat exaggerated with the additions of folklore for the purpose of impressing upon the readers.
The apocryphal writings are embellished with stories and legendary details to the extent that often the main event having a historical foundation gets lost. It is to be noted that the apocryphal literature does help us in our search to know more about the life and ministry of several biblical personalities.
It is quite interesting to note that Thomas the apostle is one of those heroes of the early Church who is credited with the apocryphal literature, a sign that he was quite a popular figure in the early Church. He is particularly associated with the Syrian-Churches.
Eusebius quotes Origin as saying that Thomas preached in the eastern parts of Syria and his body was venerated at Edessa since the 4th century (Hist. Eccl. 3.1.1).
The following apocryphal books are associated with Thomas the Apostle and do throw some light on the stature he held in early Church. A short comment on each of them and how they give us a notion on the Apostle Thomas will not be out of place here.
i. The Book of Thomas the Contender
ii. The Gospel of Thomas
iii. Infancy Gospel of Thomas
iv. Apocalypse of Thomas
v. Acts of Thomas
i. The Book of Thomas the Contender2
This book could have been composed in the first half of the 3rd century A.D. Thomas is mentioned here as Jude surnamed Thomas. Probably Jude was the original name of the apostle. The Greek name Didymus, the twin, which is a translation of Thomas as mentioned earlier, could have been added later to suit the Greek audiences. This book, as also the other apocryphal books on Thomas rose out of traditions native to Edessa in Syria. The character of Thomas is presented in the book as a valiant person who contends against the temptations of the flesh.
This writing has a long dialogue between Jesus and Jude Thomas in the form of questions and answers almost like a book of Catechism. It looks as if Jesus after his resurrection, and just before his ascension to heaven had decided to give a summary of his teaching and add also some insights to his doctrine to a few of his select disciples. Among them was also Thomas. And it looks as if Thomas had some special claim to such a special revelation for his being a “twin” of Jesus, by reason of his external appearance as mentioned earlier. The new insights to Jesus’ teaching in this book mostly pertain to the ascetical aspects of a Christian life.
There is a strong insistence that the passions of the body may drag a person away from his real Christian character and drive him to the fires of hell. Our body needs to be controlled by discipline. And hence various pieces of advice are given by Jesus through Thomas towards a Christian regulation.
What is of great interest for us is that whoever authored a work of this kind to help the early Christian community with disciplinary measures chose Thomas to be an instrument of such a revelation. This only enhances his status in the community.
ii. The Gospel of Thomas3
This Gospel could have been composed sometime between the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. It was discovered at Nag Hammidi in Egypt in 1945 and published in 1958. The Gospel contains a series of proverbs, parables and sayings of Jesus and exhibits certain Gnostic ideas popular in the early Church. Jesus is presented as the speaker with Thomas writing down what he hears from Jesus. It is quite evident that this book too had its origin in the traditions of Syriac speaking Churches where Thomas had been revered.
The Gospel of Thomas differs from the canonical Gospels of the New Testament. The canonical Gospels present Jesus with an active ministry which consisted of his physical movement from place to place and his active involvement with people. His proclamations and miracles were part of his ministry. But the Gospel of Thomas has a different approach. It offers salvation through an encounter with the sayings of “living Jesus”. The readers of the Gospel of Thomas are invited to drink deep of the wisdom of Jesus contained in his sayings and thus spiritually enrich themselves. People would discover the Kingdom of God only within the sayings of Jesus and not outside of them since they make us the “children of the living Father”. We become fully identified with Jesus through accepting his sayings. Saying 108 of the Gospel of Thomas makes this idea clear: “Jesus said, ‘Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me: I myself will become that person, and hidden things will be revealed to them”.
The main issue of the Gospel of Thomas seems to be to project Jesus as the teacher of wisdom. A distinctive community of Jesus’ followers was formed to propagate that wisdom. Thomas was the spokesperson of that community. It is a great honour conferred on our Apostle by an early Christian community.
Most scholars are of the opinion that the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas has had its influence from the Gnostic teachings of the time which propagated the importance of knowledge as the source of salvation, as against involvement in activities.
Our concern with regard to the Gospel of Thomas is again more on the person of Thomas rather than on the content of the Gospel. He had been chosen as the channel of a deep wisdom which in fact corroborates on several aspects of the message already contained in the canonical gospels which embrace the day to day life. Why was Thomas chosen to be the agent of Jesus to convey such a corroborative message? What made the followers of Jesus in the flourishing Christian community to make Thomas the hero of their writings? As presented in the fourth Gospel written in the nineties of the Christian era, Thomas had emerged as a popular figure in the early Church. He was considered as a firm follower of Jesus enhancing the faith of the Christians of the time.
iii. The “Infancy Gospel” of Thomas4
This is another writing from the middle of the 2nd century A.D., containing many a miracle attributed to Jesus in his infant or boyhood stage. It is simply part of the folklore of the time. The boy Jesus between the age of five and twelve is presented as one who performs such miracles. While the Gospel of Thomas presents a sage-like Jesus with attributes of wisdom, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas depicts the boy-Jesus with a playful temperament and the stories attributed to him at this stage of his life do have a frivolous character about them. This apocryphal work too has a Syrian tradition behind it and the fact that Thomas was a great hero in the early Syrian Christian community gave rise to this account too under this spurious authorship. The story line is as follows:
1. There is a prologue in which Thomas speaks in the first person.
2. When Jesus is five years old he cleans the pools of water and brings twelve clay sparrows to life.
3. Jesus strikes dead the son of Annas the Scribe
4. Jesus strikes dead a young boy who bumps into him.
5. Joseph rebukes Jesus for his playfulness and he then strikes
his detractors blind.
6. Zacchaeus attempts to teach Jesus the alphabets, but Jesus confounds his teacher.
7. Zacchaeus speaks to the people and praises the powers of Jesus.
8. Jesus laughs, speaks as a heavenly redeemer and then heals those whom he struck blind.
9. Jesus’ playmate Zenon dies from a fall and Jesus raises him from the dead.
10. A young man cuts his foot with an axe and Jesus heals him.
11. At six years of age Jesus saves the water spilt from a broken jug.
12. When Jesus is eight years old he sows a single seed and harvests hundred measures.
13. Jesus stretches a piece of wood which Joseph cut too short.
14. Joseph takes Jesus to another teacher, but again Jesus responds in such a way that the teacher becomes unconscious.
15. A third teacher tries to teach him, but Jesus teaches him Law and then heals the other teacher.
16. Joseph’s son James is bitten by a viper and Jesus heals him.
17. A child dies and Jesus raises him from death
18. A workman dies and Jesus raises him from death.
19. At twelve years of age Jesus and his parents go to the temple of Jerusalem for the Passover festival.
What strikes us most about the Infancy Gospel of Thomas is that it seems to be answering the question of how Jesus spent his infancy or his boyhood, that is, from the age five to the age of twelve, when he went to the temple of Jerusalem with his parents.
Since the canonical Gospels give a very scanty information (Mt 1-2; Lk 1-2), the early Christians did need some more insights and they are provided with some exciting events pertaining to the boyhood of Jesus. Many of these events are certainly folkloristic and somewhat frivolous in nature but they did serve to help the faith of the people in the divine character of Jesus. There are scholars who also attribute some of these miracle stories of the boyhood of Jesus as possibly belonging to the later “hidden years” of Jesus as a young man, that is from twelve to thirty, about which too the Gospels are silent. The term ‘infancy’ could refer to the whole period of Jesus’ ‘hidden years’.
Our more important question is how Thomas could be associated with the infancy stories pertaining to Jesus. He was certainly not associated with the infancy or the boyhood of Jesus as a playmate at Nazareth or elsewhere. But the community or the individual who compiled these stories made use of the name of Thomas, for his popularity in the community would have been quite great. Such tactics of pseudonymous adoptions were quite common in those days. And our attitude of esteem and regard for St. Thomas only increases that his stature in the early Church of Syria was remarkable.
iv. The Apocalypse of Thomas 5
This is yet another book attributed to Thomas, and it describes the events that were to occur before the end of the world. This could have been composed in the 5th century A.D or even earlier. The content of this book is as follows:
It begins with a revelation of Jesus to Thomas. Jesus identifies himself as “the Son of God the Father” and “Father of all spirits” and makes Thomas aware of the “signs which will be at the end of the world”. These will take place over a period of seven days.
- On the first day it will rain blood on the earth
- On the second day smoke will cover the whole earth.
- On the third day pillars of smoke and stench of sulfur will fill the earth.
- On the fourth day an earthquake will topple all the pagan idols.
- On the fifth day darkness will cover the whole earth.
- On the sixth day people will hide from the angels of justice and the bodies of the saints will arise.
- On the seventh day the angels will make a war and deliver the elect who have believed in Jesus. They will rejoice over the destruction of the world.
This book has quite some similarities with the Book of Revelation in the Bible, where John the Apostle is the recipient of a divine revelation regarding the persecution of Christians in Rome and the end of the world. Here in a later apocalyptic literature the recipient is another apostle, Thomas. Once again the stature of Thomas is enhanced in the sense that he was considered with respect in the early Church.In this section we shall satisfy our curiosity as to the contents of the apocryphal books which have come up in the Church in the name of St. Thomas the Apostle. In the first chapter we shall discuss the first four of these books which contain a general doctrine which in a way corroborates the truth contained in the New Testament. In the second chapter we shall look into one particular apocryphal book known as theActs of Thomas and one that is most relevant for our purpose as it contains some important insights about the mission of the Apostle in India. And in the third we shall also search for some issues which make these apocryphal writings relevant for us in our study of Thomas.
We have a fair idea of St. Thomas and his character from the writings of the Gospel traditions of the New Testament, particularly from the last written Gospel of St. John. What happened to this exceptionally brave and nonetheless stubborn Thomas is not referred to in the only officially recognized history of the early
Church, “the Acts of the Apostles”. The Acts apparently wishes to speak of the ministry of the apostles, but ends up speaking only of just a few of them and that too a ministry carried out in the vicinity of Palestine, that is Asia Minor and then Rome. Luke the author of the Acts is modest about the area covered by his historic account of the early Church namely the mission of the apostles exercised in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). His notion of the ends of the earth did not go beyond Rome, the then centre of the civilized world. It is only Peter,
Paul and to some extent John whose ministry is mentioned in the Acts. What about the other apostles? Did they not also take the mandate of Jesus Christ to “go into the whole world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation”? (Mk 16:15). And where are we to find records of their missionary activities? In the absence of any records of such missionary ventures of the rest of the apostles in the canonically accepted books of the Bible, we have to look for them in the literature termed as apocryphal which also arose in the early Church.
What is the apocryphal literature and how does it throw light on the missionary ventures of St. Thomas the Apostle? The Greek word apocryphos simply means ‘hidden’, A literature whose authenticity is doubtful and whose authorship is apparently of a doubtful nature, has been termed as apocryphal, or of a hidden or veiled character.
But there has been an abundance of such literature particularly surrounding some biblical personalities like Adam and Eve, Moses, Solomon, Isaiah, Enoch and Ezra of the Old Testament, as well as of Peter, Paul, James, Thomas, John, Andrew, Bartholomew, and Philip of the New Testament. There are interesting accounts of the life and activities of these personalities not found in the so called authentic canonical literature officially accepted by the Church.
Do the books of the apocryphal literature have any value? Certainly they do. We cannot discard them totally as arising from the whims and fancies of whoever authored them. There could have been several of them. The authors do have some points to make for the people of their time. These writings also do have some historical facts about them, but perhaps somewhat exaggerated with the additions of folklore for the purpose of impressing upon the readers.
The apocryphal writings are embellished with stories and legendary details to the extent that often the main event having a historical foundation gets lost. It is to be noted that the apocryphal literature does help us in our search to know more about the life and ministry of several biblical personalities.
It is quite interesting to note that Thomas the apostle is one of those heroes of the early Church who is credited with the apocryphal literature, a sign that he was quite a popular figure in the early Church. He is particularly associated with the Syrian-Churches.
Eusebius quotes Origin as saying that Thomas preached in the eastern parts of Syria and his body was venerated at Edessa since the 4th century (Hist. Eccl. 3.1.1).
The following apocryphal books are associated with Thomas the Apostle and do throw some light on the stature he held in early Church. A short comment on each of them and how they give us a notion on the Apostle Thomas will not be out of place here.
i. The Book of Thomas the Contender
ii. The Gospel of Thomas
iii. Infancy Gospel of Thomas
iv. Apocalypse of Thomas
v. Acts of Thomas
i. The Book of Thomas the Contender2
This book could have been composed in the first half of the 3rd century A.D. Thomas is mentioned here as Jude surnamed Thomas. Probably Jude was the original name of the apostle. The Greek name Didymus, the twin, which is a translation of Thomas as mentioned earlier, could have been added later to suit the Greek audiences. This book, as also the other apocryphal books on Thomas rose out of traditions native to Edessa in Syria. The character of Thomas is presented in the book as a valiant person who contends against the temptations of the flesh.
This writing has a long dialogue between Jesus and Jude Thomas in the form of questions and answers almost like a book of Catechism. It looks as if Jesus after his resurrection, and just before his ascension to heaven had decided to give a summary of his teaching and add also some insights to his doctrine to a few of his select disciples. Among them was also Thomas. And it looks as if Thomas had some special claim to such a special revelation for his being a “twin” of Jesus, by reason of his external appearance as mentioned earlier. The new insights to Jesus’ teaching in this book mostly pertain to the ascetical aspects of a Christian life.
There is a strong insistence that the passions of the body may drag a person away from his real Christian character and drive him to the fires of hell. Our body needs to be controlled by discipline. And hence various pieces of advice are given by Jesus through Thomas towards a Christian regulation.
What is of great interest for us is that whoever authored a work of this kind to help the early Christian community with disciplinary measures chose Thomas to be an instrument of such a revelation. This only enhances his status in the community.
ii. The Gospel of Thomas3
This Gospel could have been composed sometime between the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D. It was discovered at Nag Hammidi in Egypt in 1945 and published in 1958. The Gospel contains a series of proverbs, parables and sayings of Jesus and exhibits certain Gnostic ideas popular in the early Church. Jesus is presented as the speaker with Thomas writing down what he hears from Jesus. It is quite evident that this book too had its origin in the traditions of Syriac speaking Churches where Thomas had been revered.
The Gospel of Thomas differs from the canonical Gospels of the New Testament. The canonical Gospels present Jesus with an active ministry which consisted of his physical movement from place to place and his active involvement with people. His proclamations and miracles were part of his ministry. But the Gospel of Thomas has a different approach. It offers salvation through an encounter with the sayings of “living Jesus”. The readers of the Gospel of Thomas are invited to drink deep of the wisdom of Jesus contained in his sayings and thus spiritually enrich themselves. People would discover the Kingdom of God only within the sayings of Jesus and not outside of them since they make us the “children of the living Father”. We become fully identified with Jesus through accepting his sayings. Saying 108 of the Gospel of Thomas makes this idea clear: “Jesus said, ‘Whoever drinks from my mouth will become like me: I myself will become that person, and hidden things will be revealed to them”.
The main issue of the Gospel of Thomas seems to be to project Jesus as the teacher of wisdom. A distinctive community of Jesus’ followers was formed to propagate that wisdom. Thomas was the spokesperson of that community. It is a great honour conferred on our Apostle by an early Christian community.
Most scholars are of the opinion that the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas has had its influence from the Gnostic teachings of the time which propagated the importance of knowledge as the source of salvation, as against involvement in activities.
Our concern with regard to the Gospel of Thomas is again more on the person of Thomas rather than on the content of the Gospel. He had been chosen as the channel of a deep wisdom which in fact corroborates on several aspects of the message already contained in the canonical gospels which embrace the day to day life. Why was Thomas chosen to be the agent of Jesus to convey such a corroborative message? What made the followers of Jesus in the flourishing Christian community to make Thomas the hero of their writings? As presented in the fourth Gospel written in the nineties of the Christian era, Thomas had emerged as a popular figure in the early Church. He was considered as a firm follower of Jesus enhancing the faith of the Christians of the time.
iii. The “Infancy Gospel” of Thomas4
This is another writing from the middle of the 2nd century A.D., containing many a miracle attributed to Jesus in his infant or boyhood stage. It is simply part of the folklore of the time. The boy Jesus between the age of five and twelve is presented as one who performs such miracles. While the Gospel of Thomas presents a sage-like Jesus with attributes of wisdom, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas depicts the boy-Jesus with a playful temperament and the stories attributed to him at this stage of his life do have a frivolous character about them. This apocryphal work too has a Syrian tradition behind it and the fact that Thomas was a great hero in the early Syrian Christian community gave rise to this account too under this spurious authorship. The story line is as follows:
1. There is a prologue in which Thomas speaks in the first person.
2. When Jesus is five years old he cleans the pools of water and brings twelve clay sparrows to life.
3. Jesus strikes dead the son of Annas the Scribe
4. Jesus strikes dead a young boy who bumps into him.
5. Joseph rebukes Jesus for his playfulness and he then strikes his detractors blind.
6. Zacchaeus attempts to teach Jesus the alphabets, but Jesus confounds his teacher.
7. Zacchaeus speaks to the people and praises the powers of Jesus.
8. Jesus laughs, speaks as a heavenly redeemer and then heals those whom he struck blind.
9. Jesus’ playmate Zenon dies from a fall and Jesus raises him from the dead.
10. A young man cuts his foot with an axe and Jesus heals him.
11. At six years of age Jesus saves the water spilt from a broken jug.
12. When Jesus is eight years old he sows a single seed and harvests hundred measures.
13. Jesus stretches a piece of wood which Joseph cut too short.
14. Joseph takes Jesus to another teacher, but again Jesus responds in such a way that the teacher becomes unconscious.
15. A third teacher tries to teach him, but Jesus teaches him Law and then heals the other teacher.
16. Joseph’s son James is bitten by a viper and Jesus heals him.
17. A child dies and Jesus raises him from death
18. A workman dies and Jesus raises him from death.
19. At twelve years of age Jesus and his parents go to the temple of Jerusalem for the Passover festival.
20. A brief editorial conclusion.
Thomas and Jesus’ Infancy
What strikes us most about the Infancy Gospel of Thomas is that it seems to be answering the question of how Jesus spent his infancy or his boyhood, that is, from the age five to the age of twelve, when he went to the temple of Jerusalem with his parents.
Since the canonical Gospels give a very scanty information (Mt 1-2; Lk 1-2), the early Christians did need some more insights and they are provided with some exciting events pertaining to the boyhood of Jesus. Many of these events are certainly folkloristic and somewhat frivolous in nature but they did serve to help the faith of the people in the divine character of Jesus. There are scholars who also attribute some of these miracle stories of the boyhood of Jesus as possibly belonging to the later “hidden years” of Jesus as a young man, that is from twelve to thirty, about which too the Gospels are silent. The term ‘infancy’ could refer to the whole period of Jesus’ ‘hidden years’.
Our more important question is how Thomas could be associated with the infancy stories pertaining to Jesus. He was certainly not associated with the infancy or the boyhood of Jesus as a playmate at Nazareth or elsewhere. But the community or the individual who compiled these stories made use of the name of Thomas, for his popularity in the community would have been quite great. Such tactics of pseudonymous adoptions were quite common in those days. And our attitude of esteem and regard for St. Thomas only increases that his stature in the early Church of Syria was remarkable.
iv. The Apocalypse of Thomas 5
This is yet another book attributed to Thomas, and it describes the events that were to occur before the end of the world. This could have been composed in the 5th century A.D or even earlier. The content of this book is as follows:
It begins with a revelation of Jesus to Thomas. Jesus identifies himself as “the Son of God the Father” and “Father of all spirits” and makes Thomas aware of the “signs which will be at the end of the world”. These will take place over a period of seven days.
- On the first day it will rain blood on the earth
- On the second day smoke will cover the whole earth.
- On the third day pillars of smoke and stench of sulfur will fill the earth.
- On the fourth day an earthquake will topple all the pagan idols.
- On the fifth day darkness will cover the whole earth.
- On the sixth day people will hide from the angels of justice and the bodies of the saints will arise.
- On the seventh day the angels will make a war and deliver the elect who have believed in Jesus. They will rejoice over the destruction of the world.
This book has quite some similarities with the Book of Revelation in the Bible, where John the Apostle is the recipient of a divine revelation regarding the persecution of Christians in Rome and the end of the world. Here in a later apocalyptic literature the recipient is another apostle, Thomas. Once again the stature of Thomas is enhanced in the sense that he was considered with respect in the early Church.
