Acts of Philip
The longer form of the Acts of Philip is a text discovered in 1974 by François Bovon and Bertrand Bouvier in the library of Xenophontos Monastery on Mount Athos in Greece.[1] The manuscript dates from the fourteenth century but it is thought to be a copy of a fourth century original.[1] Many of the stories in the manuscript were already known from other sources, but some were hitherto unknown.[2] The narrative claims that Jesus sent out his disciples to spread his message. Among Jesus' followers were Philip, Bartholomew, and a woman named Mariamne who is identified as Philip's sister. Bovon claims that the Mariamne of the Acts of Philip could be identical to Mary Magdalene[1]. However, Bovon himself denies that the Mariamne of the Talpiot tomb (as discussed in The Lost Tomb of Jesus) is the same person[citation needed], writing in an open letter to the Society of Biblical Literature[3]:
Among the accomplishments of the group was the conversion of a talking leopard and a talking goat,[1] as well as the slaying of a dragon.[4] The text discovered by Bovon also described a community that practised vegetarianism and celibacy.[1] Women in the community wore men's clothes and held positions of authority comparable to men, serving as priests and deacons.[1] The community used a form of the eucharist where vegetables and water were consumed in place of bread and wine.[5]
The manuscript discovered by Bovon has been published in a French translation. An English translation was planned "within a few years" (as of 2000).[1] Other English translations are based on collections of fragments known from before Bovon's discovery.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g http://www.harvardmagazine.com/on-line/0500113.html
- ^ http://www.magdalene.org/em_actsphilip.php "A complete collection of several already-known single Acts, Bovon's discovery filled in the blanks existing in previously-published translations of the Acts of Philip"
- ^ http://www.sbl-site.org/Article.aspx?ArticleId=656
- ^ http://www.gnosis.org/library/actphil.htm
- ^ http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2000/02.03/apocrypha.html
External links
- Text of the Acts of Philip (based on sources available before the Mount Athos discovery)
- Encyclopedia Magdalena: The Acts of Philip
- Fourth-Century Church Tales -- article from Harvard magazine
- Women Priests, Vegetarianism - An Early Christian Manuscript Holds Some Surprises -- from the Harvard University Gazette.
- Bovon's letter to the Society of Biblical Literature
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