In the ancient Latin stichometry in Cotelerius (Apostolic Fathers), the Apocalypse of Peter is said to contain 207o stichs, and that of John 1200. It is cited as an apocryphal book in the Indkulus Scripturarum after the Quastiones of Anastasius of Nicma, together with the Apocalypse of Ezar and that of Paul. There is in the Bodleian Lib rary- a MS. of an Arabic Apocalypse of Peter, of which Nicoll has furnished an extract in his cata logue, and which may possibly be a translation of the Greek Apocalypse.
The Apocalypse of St. Pend is mentioned by Augustine (Tract. 98 in Ev. 7oan.), who asserts that it abounds in fables, and was an invention to which occasion was furnished by 2 Cor. xii. 2-4. This appears from Epiphanius (Hares. xxxviii. 2) to have been an anti-Jewish Gnostic production, and to be identical with the bal3a 71K61, of Paul, used only by the anti-Jewish sect of Gnostics called Cainites. It is said by Sozo Men (Hist. Eccles., vii. 19) to have been held in great esteem. It was also known to Theophylact and CEcumenius (on Cor. xii. 4), and to Nice phorus in the 9th century (Can. 3, 4). Whether this is the same work which Du Pin (Proleg. and Canon) says is still extant among the Copts is rendered more than doubtful by Fabricius (Cod. Apoc., p. 954) and Grabe (Spicileg.,
p. 85). The Revelation of S4 Paul, contained in an Oxford MS., is shown by Grube (/. c.) to be a much later work. Theodosius of Alexandria (Taco-ham-a Teal rpoarootav) says that the Apo calypse of St. Paul is not a work of the apostle, but of Paul of Samosata, from whom the Pauli cians derived their name. The Revelation of Penel is one of the spurious works condemned by Pope Gelasius, together with the Revelations of St. Thomas and St. Stephen.
The Apocalypse of Cerinthus is mentioned by Eusebius (Hirt. Ecdes., 28), and by Theodoret (Fab. Har-et., ii. 3). Eusebius describes it as a revelation of an earthly and sensual kingdom of Christ, according to the heresy of the Chiliasts.
Of the Revelations of St. Thomas and St. Stephen we know nothing beyond their condem nation by Pope Gelasius, except that Sixtus of Sienna observes, that according to Serapion they were held in great repute by the Manichees ; but in the works of Serapion which we now possess there is no allusion to this. There is, however, an unpublished MS. of Serapion in the Hamburg Library, which is supposed to contain a more com plete copy of his work.
II. We now proceed to treat of the extant spu rious Revelations.