Acts of Andrew and Matthias (Matthew)
From "The Apocryphal New Testament"
M.R. James-Translation and Notes
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1924
It was long thought that this must be an episode from the old Acts of Andrew: but
Flamion's study of that book has finally made it clear that there is no place for the tale
in those Acts: and that our story is an early member of that which we call the Egyptian
cycle: it is a tale of wonder with no doctrinal purpose.
Text
1 At that time all the apostles were gathered together and divided the countries among
themselves, casting lots. And it fell to Matthias to go to the land of the anthropophagi.
Now the men of that city ate no bread nor drank wine, but ate the flesh and drank the
blood of men; and every stranger who landed there they took, and put out his eyes, and
gave him a magic drink which took away his understanding. 2 So when Matthias arrived he
was so treated; but the drink had no effect on him, and he remained praying for help in
the prison. 3 And a light came and a voice: Matthias, my beloved, receive sight. And he
saw. And the voice continued: I will not forsake thee: abide twenty-seven days, and I will
send Andrew to deliver thee and all the rest. And the Saviour went up into heaven.
Matthias remained singing praises; when the executioners came to take victims, he kept his
eyes closed. They came and looked at the ticket on his hand and said: Three days more and
we will slay him. For every victim had a ticket tied on his hand to show the date when his
thirty days would be fulfilled.
4 When twenty-seven days had elapsed, the Lord appeared to Andrew in the country where
he was teaching and said: In three days Matthias is to be slain by the man-eaters; go and
deliver him. 'How i s it possible for me to get there in time?' Early to-morrow go to the
shore and you will find a ship.' And he left him. 5 They went, Andrew and his disciples,
and found a little boat and three men. The pilot was the Lord, and the other two were
angels. Andrew asked whither they were going. 'To the land of the man-eaters.' 'I would go
there too.' 'Every man avoids that place; why will you go?' 'I have an errand to do; and
if you can, take us.' He said: 'Come on board.' 6 Andrew said: 'I must tell you we have
neither money nor victuals.' 'How then do you travel?' 'Our master forbade us to take
money and provisions. If you will do us this kindness, tell us: if not, we will look for
another ship.' 'If these are your orders, come on board and welcome, I desire truly to
have disciples of Jesus on my ship.' So they embarked. 7 Jesus ordered three loaves to be
brought and Andrew summoned his disciples to partake; but they could not answer him, for
they were disturbed with the sea. So Andrew explained to the pilot, and he offered to set
them ashore: but they refused to leave Andrew. 8 Jesus said: Tell your disciples some of
the wonders your master did, to encourage them, for we are going to set sail: so they did,
and Jesus steered. And Andrew told the disciples about the stilling of the storm, and
prayed in himself that they might sleep: and they fell asleep. 9 Andrew said to Jesus:
Tell me your art, sixteen years did I sail the sea, and this is the seventeenth, and I
never saw such steering: the ship is as if on land. Jesus said: I, too, have often sailed
the sea and been in danger; but because you are a disciple of Jesus, the sea knows you and
is still. Andrew praised God that he had met such a man. 10 Jesus said: Tell me why the
Jews did not believe on your master. Andrew enumerated the miracles: yet, he said, the
Jews did not believe. 'Perhaps he did not do these signs before the high priests?' 11
'Yes, he did, both openly and privately, and they would not believe.' 'What were the signs
he did in secret?' ' O man with the spirit of questioning, why do you tempt me thus?' 'I
do not tempt you but my soul rejoices to hear his wonderful works.' ' I will tell you,
then. 12 Once when we the twelve went with our Lord to a heathen temple that he might show
us the ignorance of the devil, the high priests saw us and said: Why do you follow this
man who says he is the Son of God? has God a son? Is not this Joseph and Mary's son, and
his brothers are James and Simon? and our hearts were weakened. And Jesus perceived it,
and took us apart into the wilderness and did mighty signs and strengthened our faith. And
we said to the priests: Come and see; for he has convinced us.
13 'And the priests came to the heathen temple, and Jesus showed us the form of the
heavens, "that we might learn whether it were true or no." Thirty men of the
people and four priests were with us. On the right and left of the temple Jesus saw two
sphinxes carved, and turned to us and said: Behold the form of the heaven: these are like
the cherubim and seraphim in heaven. And he said to the sphinx on the right: You semblance
of that which is in heaven, made by craftsmen, come down and convince these priests
whether I be God or man. 14 It came down and spoke and said: O foolish sons of Israel.
This is God who made man . . . . Tell me not that I am a stone image: better are the
temples than your synagogue. Our priests purify themselves seven days from women, and
approach not the temple but you come straight from defilement. The temples will abolish
your synagogues, and become churches of the only-begotten Son of God. 15 The priests said:
It speaks by magic, ye heard it say that this man spake with Abraham. How is that
possible? . . . Jesus said to the sphinx: Go to the cave of Mambre and call Abraham; bid
him rise with Isaac and Jacob and come to the temples of the Jebusaeans to convict the
priests. It went and called, and the twelve patriarchs rose and came out. "To which
of us wast thou sent? " "Not to you, but to the three patriarchs: go back and
rest." They went back, and the three patriarchs came and convicted the priests. Jesus
bade them return, and sent the sphinx back to its place. But the priests did not believe.
And many other wonders he did.'
16 Jesus seeing that they were near land, leaned his head on one of the angels and
ceased speaking to Andrew: and Andrew went to sleep. Then Jesus bade the angels take the
men and lay them outside the city of the man-eaters and return: and then all departed to
heaven.
17 Andrew awoke and looked about him and realized what had happened, and roused his
disciples. They told him their dream: eagles came and bore therm into paradise, and they
saw the Lord on his throne, and angels, and the three patriarchs and David singing,
"and you the twelve apostles and twelve angels by you, whom the Lord bade to obey you
in everything."
18 Andrew rejoiced and prayed the Lord to show himself: and Jesus appeared in the form
of a beautiful young child. Andrew asked pardon for his boldness on the ship. Jesus
reassured him and told him what trials awaited him in the city, and encouraged him to
endure them, and departed. 19 They entered the city, unseen, and went to the prison. The
seven guards fell dead at his prayer: at the sign of the cross the doors opened. He found
Matthias and they greeted each other. 20 Andrew looked at the victims, who were naked and
eating grass, and smote his breast and reproached the devil: How long warrest thou with
men? thou didst cause Adam to be cast out of paradise: thou didst cause his bread that was
on the table to be turned to stones. Again, thou didst enter into the mind of the angels
and cause them to be defiled with women and madest their savage sons the giants to devour
men on the earth, so that God sent the flood . . . . 21 Then they both prayed, and they
laid their hands on the prisoners and restored first their sight and then their sense, and
Andrew bade them go out of the city and remain under a fig-tree and await him: there were
270 men and 49 women. And Andrew commanded a cloud, and it took Matthias and the disciples
and brethren to the mount where Peter was teaching and there they remained.
22 Andrew went out and walked in the city, and sat down by a brazen pillar with a
statue on it, to see what would happen. The executioners came and found the prison empty
and the guards dead, and reported to the rulers. They said: Go and fetch the seven dead
men for us to eat to-day, and assemble to-morrow, the old men, and we will cast lots for
seven a day and eat them, till we can fit out ships and send and collect people to eat. So
they fetched the seven corpses; there was a furnace in the midst of the city and a great
vat for the blood: they put the men on the vat. A voice came: Andrew, look at this. Andrew
prayed, and the men's swords fell and their hands turned to stone. The rulers cried: There
are wizards in the city: go and gather the old men, for we are hungry. 23 They found 215,
and lots were cast for 7. One of these said: Take my young son and kill him instead of me.
They asked leave of the rulers, and it was granted, and the old man said: I have a
daughter, take her too, and spare me. So the children were brought to the vat begging for
their lives, but there was no pity. Andrew prayed, and again the swords fell from the
men's hands, and there was much alarm. 24 Then came the devil in the guise of an old man,
and said: Woe to you, you will all die of hunger; but search now and look for a stranger
named Andrew: he is the cause of your trouble. Andrew was looking at the devil, but the
devil could not see him. And Andrew said: O Beliar, my lord will humble thee to the abyss.
The devil said: I hear your voice and know it; but where you stand I see not. Andrew said:
Art thou not called Amael because thou art blind? The devil said: Look for the man who
spake to me, for it is he. And they shut the gates and looked everywhere, but could not
find him. The Lord appeared and said to Andrew: Show thyself to them. 25 He rose and said
I am Andrew whom ye seek. And they ran and took him, and debated how to kill him: If we
cut off his head, it will not pain him enough; Let us put a rope round his neck and drag
him through the streets every day till he dies, and divide his body and eat it. They did
so, and his flesh was torn and his blood flowed, and they cast him into prison with his
hands bound behind him. 26 And so they did next day, and he wept and cried to the Lord:
and the devil told the people to smite his mouth that he might not speak; and they bound
his hands behind him and left him in the prison. The devil took seven other devils, whom
Andrew had driven out from places in the neighbourhood (this seems like a reference to the
older Acts), and they came to Andrew, and the devil said: Now we will kill you like your
master whom Herod slew. 27 And he said: Now my children, kill him. But they saw the seal
on his forehead and were afraid, and said: Do you kill him, for we cannot. And one of them
said: If we cannot kill him, let us mock him; and they stood before him and taunted him
with his helplessness, and he wept. And a voice -the devil's voice disguised-said: Why
weep? Andrew said: Because of our Lord's word: Have patience with them; otherwise I would
have shown you! . . . But if the Lord grant me a visitation in this city, I will chastise
you as you deserve. And they fled. 28 Next day the people dragged him again, and he cried
out to the Lord: here are thy words: A hair of your heads shall not perish? lo, my flesh
is torn from me. And a voice said in Hebrew: My words shall not pass away: look behind
thee. And he saw great fruit-bearing trees growing up where his flesh and blood had
fallen. And they took him back to prison, and said: Perhaps he will die to-morrow. 29 And
the Lord came and took his hand and he rose up whole. And in the prison was a pillar, and
on it a statue. Andrew went to it and spread out his hands seven times and said: Fear thou
the sign of the cross, and let this statue pour forth water as a flood. And say not, I am
but a stone for God made us of earth, but ye are clean, and therefore God gave his people
the law on tables of stone. And the statue poured water out of its mouth as from a canal,
and it was bitter and corroded men's flesh. 30 In the morning all the people began to
flee. The water killed their cattle and their children. Andrew said: Let Michael wall the
city about with fire. A cloud of fire came and surrounded it, and they could not escape.
The water came up to their necks and consumed their flesh. They cried and lamented till he
saw their spirit was crushed, and told the alabaster statue to cease. And Andrew went out
of the prison, the water parting before him, and the people prayed for mercy. 31 The old
man who had given up his children came and besought. But Andrew said: I wonder at you; you
and the fourteen executioners shall be swallowed up and see the places of torment and of
peace. And he went as far as the great vat, and prayed, and the earth opened and swallowed
the water and the old man and the executioners. And all feared greatly, but he consoled
them. 32 Then he bade them bring all who had been killed by the water, but there were too
many, so he prayed and revived them. Then he drew out the plan of a church and baptized
them and gave them the Lord's precepts. And they begged him to stay with them a little;
but he refused, saying I must first go to my disciples; and he set forth, and they
lamented grievously. 33 And Jesus appeared in the form of a beautiful child and reproved
him for leaving them, and told him to stay seven days; and then he should go with his
disciples to the country of the barbarians, and then return and bring the men out of the
abyss. And he returned and they all rejoiced greatly.
[See Acts of Peter and Adrew for the conclusion of the story]
Scanned and Edited by
Joshua Williams
Northwest Nazarene College, 1995
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