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Hidden Gospels (Apocrypha )
First Christians missed the Gospel of Jesus.
For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. (John 12:49)
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogue, and preaching the Gospel of the kingdom .. (Mathew 4:23)
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of kingdom of God (Mark 1:14)
And saying, the time is fulfilled , and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye, and believe the gospel (Mark 1:15)
Here are the ancient New Testament Apocrypha. The Apocrypha are documents that were not accepted into the canon of the New Testament by the orthodox church. The New Testament Apocrypha are those writings that were written by ancient Christians that were not accepted into the New Testament, while the Old Testament Apocrypha consist of Jewish documents that were not accepted into the Old Testament. The Old Testament Apocrypha can be found on the Noncanonical Homepage. Here are the New Testament Apocrypha that are presented on the Early Christian Writings web site.
A Book like The Travels and Teachings of the Apostles were destroyed by the Pauline church , once it had adopted the doctrine of Trinity, in its attempts to eliminate any records which contradicted this dogma
Apocryphal New Testament Writings
An early Christian writings is considered in this survey if it is mentioned by name, or quoted from in a "scriptural" context by one of the Early Christian Authorities. Here is a summary of information on the 19 writings included:
| Writing | Date CE | Place | Manuscripts | English Translation(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gospel of Thomas | ~150 | eastern Syria | Codex II Nag Hammadi (Coptic, Sahidic dialect) Oxyrhynchus Papyri (Greek) |
[Robinson] pp. 126-138 [Elliot] pp. 135-147 The Gnostic Society Library New Advent |
| Gospel of Truth | 140-180 | Rome ? | Codex I Nag Hammadi (Coptic) | [Robinson] pp. 40-51 The Gnostic Society Library |
| Gospel of the Twelve | 2nd century | ? | no surviving fragments | none |
| Gospel of Peter | 100-130 | Syria? | Akhmîm Fragment (Greek) fragment discovered at Oxyrhynchus (Greek) |
[Schneemelcher] v. 1 pp. 223-226 [Elliot] pp. 135-147 New Advent Henry Barclay Swete Christian Classics Ethereal Library The Seraphim Files |
| Gospel of Basilides | 2nd century | ? | no surviving fragments | none |
| Gospel of the Egyptians | first half of 2nd century |
Egypt? | fragments quoted by Clement, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius | [Schneemelcher] v. 1 pp. 209-212 [Elliot] pp. 17-19 |
| Gospel of the Hebrews | middle of 2nd century |
Egypt | fragments quoted by Cyril of Jerusalem, Clement, Origen, and Jerome | [Schneemelcher] v. 1 pp. 177-178 [Elliot] pp. 9-10 |
| Gospel of Matthias | first half of 2nd century |
Alexandria | fragments quoted by Clement | [Schneemelcher] v. 1 p. 383 [Elliot] p. 20 |
| Traditions of Matthias | -do- | -do- | -do- | -do- |
| Preaching of Peter | 100-120 | Egypt | fragments quoted by Clement and Origen | [Schneemelcher] v. 2 pp. 37-40 [Elliot] pp. 21-24 |
| Acts of Andrew | 150-200 | ? | Liber de miraculis by Gregory P. Utrech 1 (Coptic) Armenian Martyrdom 5 Greek recensions of final part Extracts handed down in Greek |
[Schneemelcher] v. 2 pp. 118-151 [Elliot] pp. 245-302 New Advent Christian Classics Ethereal Library |
| Acts of Paul | 185-195 | Asia Minor | P. of the Hamburg ... (Greek) P. No. 1 in Heidelberg (Coptic) Acta Pauli et Theclae Corr. between Corinthians and Paul Martyrium Pauli |
[Schneemelcher] v. 2 pp. 237-265 [Elliot] pp. 364-379 Noncanonical Homepage New Advent Christian Classics Ethereal Library The Seraphim Files |
| Acts of John | 2nd half of 2nd century |
East Syria | large stock of Greek texts Greek P. Oxyrhynchus 850 |
[Schneemelcher] v. 2 pp. 172-212 [Elliot] pp. 310-347 New Advent Christian Classics Ethereal Library |
| Epistle to the Laodiceans | 2nd-4th century | ? | codex Fuldensis (Latin, 546 CE) + 100 other Vulgate manuscripts |
[Schneemelcher] v. 2 pp. 44-45 [Elliot] p. 546 The Seraphim Files |
| I Clement | 95-96 | Rome | Codex Alexandrinus (Greek) Codex Hierosolymitanus (Greek) 11th c. MS (Latin) 12th c. NT MS (Syriac) 4th c. MS (Coptic) 7th c. MS (Coptic) |
[LHH] pp. 28-64 [Richardson] pp. 43-73 New Advent Christian Classics Ethereal Library The Seraphim Files |
| Epistle of Barnabas | 70-135 | Alexandria | Codex Sinaiticus, 4th. c. (Greek) Codex Hierosolymitanus (Greek) 9 late related MSS (Greek) MS of unknown date (Latin) |
[LHH] pp. 162-188 New Advent Christian Classics Ethereal Library The Seraphim Files |
| Didache | 70-200 | ? | Codex Hierosolymitanus (Greek) | [LHH] pp. 149-158 [Richardson] pp. 171-179 Noncanonical Homepage New Advent Christian Classics Ethereal Library The Seraphim Files The Orthodox Christian Foundation |
| Shepherd of Hermas | 90-175 | Rome? | Ccodex Sinaiticus, 4th. c. (Greek) Codex Athous, 14-15th c. (Greek) P. Michigan 129, 3rd c. (Greek) Vulgate translation (Latin) MS (Ethiopic) |
1.[LHH] pp. 194-290 New Advent Christian Classics Ethereal Library The Seraphim Files |
| Apocalypse of Peter | ~135 | Egypt | Akhmîm Fragment (Greek) MS discovered in 1910 (Ethiopic) |
1.[Schneemelcher] v. 2 pp. 625-635 2.[Elliot] pp. 600-612 3.Noncanonical Homepage 4.New Advent 5.Christian Classics Ethereal Library |
Four of the above writings -- I Clement, Epistle of Barnabas, Didache, Shepherd of Hermas -- are part of the collection called the Apostolic Fathers. English translations of them can be found in other books in addition to [LHH]. The other Apostolic Fathers are not in this survey because they were not mentioned in a scriptural context by any of the Early Christian Authorities.
Two of the above writings - Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Truth - are part of the Nag Hammadi library. English translations of all these writings can be found in [Robinson]. The other Nag Hammadi writings are not in this survey because they were not mentioned in a scriptural context by any of the Early Christian Authorities.
There are other apocryphal New Testament writings that are not in the scope of this survey because they were not mentioned by name by an early authority, or because any allusions or quotations were not sufficiently explicit, in my opinion. A writing almost included is The Third Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians. It was considered scripture by the Syrian Fathers - Aphraat (~340 CE) and Ephraem (d. 373 CE). Curiously, it forms part of the composite Acts of Paul, but neither writing was included in the Syrian Church's version of the Bible - the Peshitta. Some other examples are: The Protevangelium of James, The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Nicodemus, The Acts of Peter, The Letters of Christ and Abgar, The Apocalypse of Paul, etc. For a much longer list see [Schneemelcher] , [Elliot] , or the Noncanonical Homepage at the Wesley Center for Applied Theology.
(ICRA)