Andrew and the "Acts" Among the Church Fathers, up to 500

Abstract

This chapter considers the references to the First-Called Apostle in the Church Fathers up to the ninth century. It then discusses the age and origin of the various of The Gospel of Peter is a contamination of the canonic four Gospels and the unknown author's Docetic, if not Gnostic, theology. The Muratorian Fragment, which may date from the end of the second century, credits Andrew in part for the Gospel of John. After Origen's monumental work, especially in Old Testament, Gnostic writings take a more orthodox character. Epiphanios in his Panarion is often wrongly quoted in regard to the concept of a corpus of five apocryphal acts attributed to Leucios among which is the book attributed to Andrew. John Chrysostom seems to have had a most sceptical view of the whole apocryphal literature. The year 500 shows as yet the traditions concerning the Apostle were quite unsettled.Keywords: Acts of Andrew; apocryphal literature; Church father; Epiphanios; gnostic writing; Gospel of John; Gospel of Peter; John Chrysostom; Leucios