Epistula Apostolorum

The Epistula Apostolorum (Latin for Letter of the Apostles) is a work from the New Testament apocrypha. Probably dating from the 2nd century CE, it was within the canon of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, but not rediscovered in the Western world until the early 20th century. In 51 chapters, it takes the form of a letter from the apostles describing key events of the life of Jesus, followed by a dialogue between Jesus and the apostles.

The work's apparent intent is to uphold orthodox Christian doctrine, refuting Gnosticism - in particular the teachings of Cerinthus - and docetism. Although presented as having been written shortly after the Resurrection, it refers to Paul of Tarsus. It offers predictions of the fall of Jerusalem and of the Second Coming.

The text is commonly dated to the 2nd century, perhaps towards the middle of it. (See New Testament Apocrypha: Gospels and related writings, Volume 1. Wilhelm Schneemelcher, ed., Westminster John Knox Press, 1991 ISBN , p. 251). CE Hill (1999) dates the Epistle to "just before 120, or in the 140s" and places "... the Epistula in Asia Minor in the first half of the second century."

The text was used regularly by the relatively isolated Ethiopian Orthodox Church, and was evidently not considered heretical by that church. The work was lost to the West until a complete version in Ethiopic translation was discovered and published in the early 20th century. A fragmentary Coptic manuscript of the fifth or 4th century, believed to be translated directly from the original Greek, and one leaf of a Latin palimpsest, dating to the 5th century, were then identified as deriving from the same text.

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