ACTS OF B. — An apocryphal book, composed at the end of the 5th century.
In 1698 D. Papebroch published for the first time, from Vat. Greek Cod. 1667, Acta et passio Barnabae in Cypro, together with the corresponding Latin version by Cardinal Guglielmo Sirieto (Acta SS. Junii, II, Antwerp edition, 1698, pp. 431–36). The Greek edition by C. von Tischendorf, Acta apostolorum apocrypha, Leipzig 1851, pp. XXVI–XXXI, 64–74, also made use of Cod. Parisien. 1470. But the merit of the critical edition, based on another four codices as well,
belongs to M. Bonnet, Acto apostolorum apocrypha, II, there 1903, pp. xxvii ff., 292–302.
The author of these Περὶδαι καὶ μαρτύριον τοῦ ἁγίου Βαρυάδα τοῦ ἀποστόλου presents himself as Giovanni Marco, cousin of B., at first assistant to Cirillo, high priest of Jupiter, and, after his Baptism at Iconium, attached to the service of Paolo, B. and Sila. After reporting the lively dispute between Paolo and B. (cf. Act. 15, 37–39), he proceeds to exalt B.’s activity in Cyprus. There he was cruelly persecuted by the Jews of the island and then burned alive. Marco managed to gather and conceal his relics «together with the Gospel received from Matteo», and then fled to Egypt, where he continued his work of evangelization. Baronio (Annales, ad annum 51, n. 51) sternly called him a «nebulo». The very precise topographical information might perhaps suggest a Cypriot origin for these Acts, toward the end of the 5th century.
511. Content
It sets out (1, 4-5) to lead the faithful to a perfect knowledge of Christianity. Besides the introduction (chap. 1) and the conclusion (chap. 21), it comprises two unequal parts, clearly distinguished by the author himself. The first (chaps. 2-17) is didactic and polemical in character. It urges the practice of the virtues, contrasting it with the sacrifices (chap. 2) and fasts of the Old Testament, now abrogated (chap. 3), since judgment is near (chap. 4). It then illustrates the redemption accomplished by Christ through his Passion (chap. 5), foretold by the prophets (chap. 6) and prefigured by the symbols (sayings, deeds, rites, and various prescriptions) of the Mosaic law, which the Jews have wrongly understood literally (chaps. 7-17). A moral section follows: the doctrine of the two ways (chap. 18), very similar to that of the Didachè (v. chaps. 1-5); the way of light, that is, of virtue (chap. 19), and the way of darkness, that is, of vices (chap. 20). In the concluding exhortation, it recalls that the day of the Lord is near (chap. 21).512. Author
It is attributed to B. by the manuscript tradition (principally the Sinaitic codex of the Bible, 4th century, and the Jerusalem codex of the Didachè, 11th century) and by the ancient ecclesiastical writers: Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Serapion of Tmuis, and Eusebius of Caesarea (with reservations). Today this attribution is generally rejected (it is defended by J. D. Burger, in Museum Helveticum 1946, pp. 180-93, who dates it to 70-75), because the work was not included in the canon of the New Testament, because it gives the Old Testament an exclusively allegorical interpretation contrary to the teaching of S. Paolo, whose companion B. was, and because it is later than B., who probably died no later than 70. It was probably written by a Christian converted from Judaism who lived in the Alexandrian milieu, where biblical allegorism flourished. It was composed after 70, since it alludes to the destruction of the Temple, and before 170, when Celsus implicitly cited it (Origen, Contra Celsum, I, 63). The interpretation of a prophecy of Daniel referring to the Roman Empire (4, 3-10) leads the majority of modern critics to place the work under the reign of Nerva (18 September 96–25 January 98). According to L. Williams in Journal of Theol. Stud., 1933, p. 337 ff., it was composed before the year 100. Others (thus Stählin), on the basis of an allusion, understood literally, to the rebuilding of the Temple (16, 4), date it to 130. Cf. also Schoeps in Conject. Neotestamentica, VI, pp. 3, 18 (shortly after the revolt of Bar Kocheba).513. Doctrine
As has been said, the pseudo-B. professes allegorism in biblical exegesis, not only discerning throughout the Old Testament types of Christ and the Church, but altogether denying the literal sense (especially 47, 9-12). The divinity of Christ is clearly affirmed (4, 12; 5, 5, 10; 6, 12; 7, 2; 12, 10 ff.). It dwells throughout the first part on the redemption accomplished through Christ’s sacrifice in order to obtain for us the forgiveness of sins and new life. It speaks at length of Baptism. In eschatology, it asserts that the world will last six thousand years, that the end is near, that in the seventh millennium God will rest, and that in the eighth another world will begin (4, 3; 15; 21, 3).The so-called Decretum Gelasianum de libris recipiendis et non recipiendis cites the Evangelium secundum Barnabam (Pl. 59, 162, 175 ff.; E. von Dobschütz [Texte und Untersuchungen, 38, IV], Leipzig 1912); the other mention is in a Greek list of 60 canonical books (T. Zahn, Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, II, Erlangen 1890, p. 292). The common view is that no trace of it has survived; but some authors claim to have identified two brief texts from it (e.g., E. Hennecke, Neutestamentliche Apokryphen, 2nd ed., Tübingen 1924, p. 64, note 2).
From the 14th–16th centuries we have Italian manuscripts (in the libraries of The Hague and Vienna) containing a Gospel of B., not to be confused with the ancient Gnostic one. The author was an Italian who, having converted from Christianity to Islam, sought, in opposition to the doctrine of S. Paolo, to prove by the authority of B. that Jesus was a prophet and precursor, not the son of God, and that the true Messiah was Muhammad. “C'est un curieux monument d'un étrange état d'âme” (Rev. bibl., new series, 5 [1908], p. 300).