Acta Philippi

I. When he came out of Galilee and raised the dead man.

1 When he was come out of Galilee, a widow was carrying out her only son to burial. Philip asked her about her grief: I have spent in vain much money on the gods, Ares, Apollo, Hermes, Artemis, Zeus, Athena, the Sun and Moon, and I think they are asleep as far as I am concerned. And I consulted a diviner to no purpose.

2 The apostle said: Thou hast suffered nothing strange. mother, for thus doth the devil deceive men. Assuage thy grief and I will raise thy son in the name of Jesus.

3 She said: It seems it were better for me not to marry, and to eat nothing but bread and water. Philip: You are right. Chastity is especially dear to God.

4 She said: I believe in Jesus whom thou preachest. He raised her son, who sat up and said: Whence is this light? and how comes it that an angel came and opened the prison of judgement where I was shut up? where I saw such torments as the tongue of man cannot describe.

5 So all were baptized. And the youth followed the apostle.

II. When he went unto Greece of Athens (!)

6 When he entered into the city of Athens which is called Hellas, 300 philosophers gathered and said: Let us go and see what his wisdom is, for they say of the wise men of Asia that

7 They said: If you have anything new to tell us, let us hear it, for we need nothing else but only to hear some new thing.

8 Philip: Then you must cast away the old man. The Lord said: Ye cannot put new wine into old bottles. I am glad to hear that you desire something new, for my Lord’s teaching is new.

9 The philosophers: Who is thy Lord? Philip: Jesus Christ.

10 They: This is a new name to us. Give us three days to look into it.

11 They consulted, and said: Perhaps it will be best to send for the high priest of the Jews to discuss it with him.

12 So they wrote: The philosophers of Greece to Ananias the great high priest of the Jews at Jerusalem—and stated the case.

13 On reading the letter Ananias rent his clothes and said: Is that deceiver in Athens also? And Mansēmat, Satan, entered into him. (This is another form of Mastema, the name of Satan in Jubilees and elsewhere.) And he consulted with the lawyers and Pharisees, and they said: Arm thyself and take 500 men and go and at all costs destroy Philip.

14 So he came in the high-priestly garments with great pomp, and he and the philosophers went to Philip’s lodging, and he came out, and Ananias said: Thou sorcerer and wizard, I know thee, that thy master the deceiver at Jerusalem called thee son of thunder; did not Judaea suffice you, but must you come here to deceive? Philip said: May the veil of unbelief be taken from thee, and thou learn who is the deceiver, thou or I.

15 Ananias’ address: how Jesus destroyed the law and allowed all meats—was crucified, the disciples stole his body, and did many wonders, and were cast out of Jerusalem, and now go all about the world deceiving every one, like this Philip. But I will take him to Jerusalem, for the king Archelaus seeketh him to kill him.

16 The people were not moved. Philip said: I will appeal to my God.

17 Ananias ran at him to smite him; his hand withered and he was blinded, and so were his 500 men: they cursed him, and prayed Philip for help.

18 Philip’s prayer: O weak nature --- O bitter sea. Come, Jesu, the holy light—thou overlookest us not when we cry to thee. ---

19 Ananias to Philip: Thinkest thou to turn us from the traditions of our fathers, and the God of the manna in the wilderness, and Moses, to follow the Nazarene, Jesus? Philip: 1 will ask my God to manifest himself to thee and to these—perchance

20 The heavens opened and Jesus appeared in glory, his face seven times brighter than the sun, and his raiment whiter than snow. All the idols of Athens fell, and the devils in them fled, crying out. Philip said: Hearest thou not the devils, and believest thou not him that is here? Ananias: I have no God save him that gave the manna in the wilderness.