Another Tale of Thomas: The Acts of Thomas and His Wonderworking Skin

Noncanonical texts relating to the apostle Thomas have certainly received a good deal of attention. Much scholarly ink has been spilled on texts like the Gospel of Thomas and the Acts of Thomas (Acts Thom.).[1] In the relatively recent boom of interest in Christian apocrypha, these texts have even earned a bit of popular exposure. When it comes to narratives about the apostle Thomas, however, the well-known Acts of Thomas is far from the only game in town, so to speak. In our contribution to MNTA 2, Janet Spittler and I had the opportunity to translate for the first time into English the Greek text of another apocryphal narrative about Thomas: the Acts of Thomas and His Wonderworking Skin (Acts Thom. Skin).[2] Rather than provide a comprehensive analysis of this text, or an abbreviated form of the information Dr. Spittler and I present in MNTA 2, this piece will facilitate a first meeting between the reader and the text in the hope that you will want to read and get to know this apocryphal tale for yourself.

When Dr. Spittler and I first approached this text, we knew it as the Minor Acts of Thomas. Previous scholarship called it by this name—Acta Thomae minora, or Acta Thomae abbreviata —in order to distinguish it from the longer and more famous Acts Thom. Such titles carry the unfortunate and inaccurate implication that this text is an adaptation, abbreviation, or otherwise secondary version of Acts Thom. As we began working on this text, however, we saw that Minor Acts of Thomas simply does not fit this marvelous, unique narrative. Though the text shares thematic and narrative similarities with Acts Thom., the stories it tells are largely without parallel in that text. Further, Acts Thom. Skin was not always as obscure as it is to modern scholarship, but saw wide dissemination, not only in Greek but also Coptic, Arabic, Ethiopic, and Church Slavic. Therefore, lest this text be consigned permanently to the footnotes of the “major” Acts Thom., we chose a more descriptive title based on the narrative’s climax: the Acts of Thomas and His Wonderworking Skin.

Acts Thom. Skin narrates Thomas’s missionary activities in India. The story opens with the allotment of missionary territories to the apostles and Thomas’s assignment to India. After initial reluctance, Thomas departs for the land accompanied initially by Peter and Matthew. Once they arrive, Jesus makes an appearance to sell Thomas to the agent of King Condiphorus, and this king assigns the apostle to build a palace. To this point, of course, Acts Thom. Skin contains many parallels with Acts Thom., but from here on the stories it tells are distinct. The text proceeds to narrate the apostle’s founding of two churches, first in the household of Leucius and Arsenoë, and next in the city of Kentera. In the first of these unique episodes, Thomas preaches to Arsenoë and she becomes a Christian. Her husband Leucius discovers Arsenoë’s new beliefs when she rejects his advances—conversion here, as in other early apocryphal acts, entails sexual renunciation. Enraged, Leucius has Thomas flayed alive, and the sight of the apostle’s tortures leads to Arsenoë’s suicide. Thomas—in the moment that gives this text its name—takes his flayed skin, lays it on Arsenoë’s corpse, and brings her back to life. This convinces Leucius to become Christian. In the second episode, Thomas journeys to Kentera and meets an old man whose sons had been killed. An appearance from Jesus had convinced the eldest to end his engagement to the governor’s daughter. The governor had responded murderously. Again the apostle’s skin miraculously raises the six brothers back to life along with others buried with them. This miracle amazes those who witness it, and after a brief confrontation with the local “priest of the idols,” Thomas establishes a church in Kentera. In the end, Thomas’s labors come to a peaceful conclusion when Jesus arrives, glues Thomas’s skin back to his body, and takes him on a cloud to be with the other apostles, Paul, and Jesus’ mother Mary.

This marvelous story presented us with a number of interesting complications, not least of these is the fact that Acts Thom. Skin possesses a remarkably fluid textual tradition that frequently sees it harmonized with the narrative of Acts Thom.[3] In the Coptic, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, this text is paired with the Martyrdom of Thomas, the standalone final act of Acts Thom. We see some harmonization among the Greek manuscripts as well. Two manuscripts contain interpolated episodes from the acts 1, 2, and 13 of Acts Thom., and replace the peaceful ending of Acts Thom. Skin with the martyrdom of Thomas as it was received into the Byzantine liturgical hagiography. One of these harmonized manuscripts was the basis for the first published edition of the Greek text edited by M. R. James in 1897.[4] In 1903, Donato Tamilia published a semi-critical edition based on two additional manuscripts without the harmonizing interpolations.[5] Finally, in 1904, Augusto Mancini published a collation of the other harmonized manuscript.[6]

Dr. Spittler and I faced the difficult choice of which of these texts to translate. Our decision was further complicated by the fact that Tamilia’s text—although it contains the narrative with the original peaceful ending and without interpolations—is not a true critical edition. Though Tamilia provides an apparatus containing select variants from all three manuscripts known to him, his main text follows almost entirely the readings of the most heavily redacted manuscript. Initially, we considered various options that might allow us to represent the fluid tradition without having to make our own textual determinations (and thereby add to the confusion). Our contribution, for example, very nearly took the form of a parallel translation of James and Tamilia. In the end, we decided to simply translate the text of Tamilia, despite its deficiencies. This choice allowed us to present the narrative in a straightforward, easy to digest form.

As by now should be clear, much work remains to be done on Acts Thom. Skin. Work on the manuscripts continues, and our knowledge of the Greek text has not been stagnant in the period since the publication of MNTA 2. Nevertheless, a true critical edition of the Greek text—incorporating readings from at least four additional manuscripts—remains a desideratum. Even so, such a critical edition would be but the first step toward understanding this richly complex textual tradition. The analysis of the content and context of Acts Thom. Skin is still in its infancy as well, but initial study has yielded interesting intersections with some of the exciting work taking place in apocryphal studies. As one small example, Cosmin Pricop recently published a piece in this journal discussing the liturgical reception of Acts Thom. and the way that it defies the boundaries of the apocryphal “canon.”[7] In a recent paper I argue, inter alia, that Acts Thom. Skin has a similar relationship with liturgical hagiography, and that the reception history of this text makes traditional (scholarly) distinctions between apocrypha and hagiography difficult to maintain.[8] In fact, it is through such liturgical reception that the stories of Acts Thom. Skin continue to be told by Christian communities to this day.[9]

Texts like Acts Thom. Skin show the value of the work being done by the MNTA series. The work undertaken by editor Tony Burke and the many contributors to MNTA 2 provides a valuable service by making accessible a wide variety of fascinating texts beyond those typically seen in translated collections of early Christian literature—texts which have often faced undeserved obscurity. Hopefully, however, the collection will do more than provide us with new and interesting reading material, but will prompt us to look beyond the horizons set for us by previous generations of apocrypha scholarship.

Jonathan Holste is a doctoral candidate in Judaism and Christianity in Antiquity at the University of Virginia. His research centers on the New Testament and early Christian literature.

[1] To get a sense of the extensive scholarly output on these texts, please see their extensive bibliographies in Christopher W. Skinner, “Gospel of Thomas,” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha, and Jonathan Henry, “Acts of Thomas,” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha.

[2] Jonathan Holste and Janet E. Spittler, “The Acts of Thomas and His Wonderworking Skin,” in New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures, vol. 2 (ed. Tony Burke; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2020), 316–39.

[3] For more details about the versions and witnesses of Acts Thom. Skin, see Jonathan Holste, “Acts of Thomas and His Wonderworking Skin,” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha.

[4] M. R. James, Apocrypha anecdota 2 (TS 5.1; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1897), xxxii–xliv (introduction), 28–63 (edition based on London, British Library, Add. 10073, fols. 128r–142v and 147r–153v (16th cent).

[5] Donato Tamilia, “Acta Thomae apocrypha,” Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, Classe di scienze morali, storiche e filologiche Serie V, 12 (1903): 387–408. Tamilia brings in Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Chig. R. VI. 39, fols. 106v–115r (12th cent.) and Rome, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele II, Gr. 20, fols. 39r–56v (15th cent.).

[6] Augusto Mancini, “Per la critica degli Acta apocrypha Thomae,” in Atti della Reale Accademia della scienze di Torino 39 (1904): 743–58. Mancini collates Messina, Biblioteca Universitaria, San Salvatoris 30, fols. 63v–70v (1307).

[7] Cosmin Pricop, “Retelling Thomas’ Story: Reception of the Apocryphal Acts of Thomas in the Synaxarion of the Liturgical Thomas-Feast,” Ancient Jew Review, 11, 11, 2020.

[8] “Death by Harmonization: Alternate Endings of the Acts of Thomas and His Wonderworking Skin,” NASSCAL First Fridays Workshops, 5 March 2021. For more on this interesting series, please visit their website.

[9] See, for instance, this contemporary online Coptic synaxarion: “26 Bachans: The Martyrdom of St. Thomas, the Apostle,” Coptic Synaxarium.