LAODICEANS, Epistle to the. - An apocryphal writing that has been placed under the name of St. Paul by virtue of Col. 4:16. As a basis for attributing to the Apostle a letter to the community of Laodicea, this passage is not probative, since the words ἐκ Λαοδικείας can be understood in various ways, for example, of a letter that comes from Laodicea. In the Epistle to the Laodiceans the hand of the forger is manifest. The opening has a solemn and polemical tone, indeed the phrases of Gal. 1:1, 3, but the style of the body is far more subdued. It is a fabric of reminiscences from various Pauline letters, especially those of the captivity and the pastoral letters, with particular regard to Phil. The writer, having nothing of his own to say, borrows generic phrases poorly connected among themselves.

After the initial greeting and good wish (v. 1 f.), the pseudo-Paul expresses his own joy at the faithful perseverance of the community, which he nevertheless warns against false doctrines not further identified (v. 3 ff.). An allusion to his own imprisonment and to the sufferings endured for the progress of the Gospel precedes the recommendation of union among the faithful, of fidelity to the doctrine received, of the fear of God, of joy in Christ and of the practice of every virtue (vv. 9-17). With the greetings there could not be missing, by analogy with Col. 4:16, the recommendation of the exchange of letters between the Colossians and the Laodiceans (v. 18 ff.).

The original language is uncertain; but it is probable that the apocryphon was composed in Latin; and one perhaps does not stray far from the truth in thinking of an African author, given certain affinities with the Latin of Tertullian and of other writers of Africa. It must not be confused with the problematic Marcionite writing of which the Muratorian Fragment speaks, since this contains nothing in support of the heresy and does not seem earlier than A.D. 300 or 250. It is contained in several manuscripts of the Vulgate, among which the Fulda manuscript (6th century), and in the versions that depend on the Vulgate.

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: The text is found in various editions of E. Nestle; L. Vouaux, Les Actes de Paul et ses lettres apocryphes, Paris 1913, pp. 315-26; M. R. James, The apocryphal New Testament, Oxford 1924, reprint 1930, p. 478 f.; K. Pink, Die pseudopaulischen Briefe, II, in Biblica, 6 (1925), p. 188 ff. Cf. also R. Anger, Über den Laodicenerbrief (Beiträge zur historisch-britischen Einleitung in das Alte und Neue Test., I, Leipzig 1843; Th. Zahn, Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons, II, part 1, Erlangen-Leipzig 1890, pp. 566-85; A. Harnack, Der apohyphe Brief des Apostels Paulus an die Laodicener, eine Marcionistische Fälschung aus der r. Hälfte des 2. Jahrhunderts, in Sitzungsberichte Preuss. Abad., 24 (1923), pp. 235-45; E. Amann, in DBs. I, col. 519 f.

Teodorico da Castel San Pietro

@incollection{ec7_laodicesi_epistola_ai, author = {Teodorico da Castel S. Pietro}, title = {Laodicesi, epistola ai}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {902}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/laodicesi-epistola-ai} }

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Laodiceans, Epistle to the

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