Acts of Bartholomew

Introduction

There is a particular kind of silence that surrounds certain figures from antiquity — not the silence of insignificance, but the silence of suppression, of deliberate omission, of stories too strange or too powerful to be easily accommodated within the tidy boundaries of official history. Bartholomew the Apostle lives in exactly that kind of silence. He is one of the Twelve, named in three of the four Gospels, present at the resurrection appearances, counted among the foundational pillars of the early Christian movement — and yet, compared to Peter, Paul, John, or even Thomas, he remains almost entirely unknown to the modern reader. No Gospel bears his name. No canonical epistle carries his signature. The New Testament mentions him exactly four times, and in each instance, he appears as little more than a name on a list.

This absence is, in itself, a kind of mystery. Why would one of the original twelve apostles leave so faint a trace in the canonical record? The answer, as scholars of early Christianity have long suspected, is not that Bartholomew did nothing worth recording. It is that the records which were kept about him — the vivid, dramatic, theologically rich accounts of his ministry, his miracles, his confrontations with dark forces, and his eventual martyrdom — were excluded from the canon that became the New Testament, suppressed by ecclesiastical authorities, copied in fragments by devoted scribes working at the margins of orthodoxy, and ultimately scattered across languages and centuries like seeds blown into distant soil. What you hold in your hands is an attempt to gather those seeds, to reconstruct and illuminate a tradition that has waited far too long for its proper audience.

The texts that form the basis of this book belong to a category scholars call the New Testament Apocrypha — writings about Jesus, his apostles, and the earliest Christian communities that circulated widely in the ancient world but were not included in the canonical scriptures that the major Christian churches eventually ratified. The word 'apocrypha' comes from the Greek for 'hidden things,' and while it has sometimes been used dismissively, as though these texts were hidden because they were shameful or false, the reality is considerably more nuanced and more interesting. Many of these writings were hidden because they were precious — preserved by communities who treasured them, copied in secret during periods of persecution or doctrinal purging, and transmitted across generations precisely because ordinary believers found in them something that the official texts did not fully provide: intimacy, drama, wonder, and the vivid human presence of the apostles as living, breathing, struggling, miracle-working individuals.

The apocryphal traditions surrounding Bartholomew are particularly rich in all of these qualities. They place him at the far edges of the known world, in territories that the canonical texts never mention. They show him wrestling — sometimes literally — with demonic forces of extraordinary power. They record miracles of healing, resurrection, and transformation that rival anything in the canonical Acts of the Apostles. They give him a voice, a personality, a theological vision, and a courage that the bare name on a list could never convey. And they situate his ministry within a geographical and cultural context — particularly the Indian subcontinent and the ancient Near East — that raises profound questions about the actual reach of the earliest Christian mission and the diversity of communities that considered themselves heirs to the apostolic tradition.

To read these texts is to enter a world that is simultaneously ancient and urgently alive. It is a world in which the boundary between the visible and invisible is permeable, in which prayer is a form of combat, in which the apostle is not merely a teacher or an administrator of sacraments but a warrior of the spirit, a healer of bodies and souls, a figure who walks into the courts of pagan kings and the temples of false gods with a confidence that his contemporaries found either inspiring or deeply threatening — sometimes both at once. It is a world that the sanitized, institutional version of early Christianity has often tried to forget, but that refuses, with remarkable persistence, to stay forgotten.

This book is written for readers who are curious about that world — whether they come to it as Christians seeking a deeper understanding of their own tradition's roots, as historians interested in the religious landscape of the ancient Mediterranean and South Asia, as students of mythology and comparative religion, or simply as lovers of great stories who sense that the ancient world has not yet given up all of its secrets. No specialized academic background is required. What is required is a willingness to sit with complexity, to hold open questions without demanding premature closure, and to approach these extraordinary narratives with the same combination of critical intelligence and imaginative sympathy that the best historical reading always demands.

Chapter 1

Historians tell us that India is divided into three parts: the first is said to border on Ethiopia, the second on Media, and the third completes the country, one portion of which ends in darkness and the other in the ocean. To this India the holy Bartholomew, apostle of Christ, came, and took up his lodging in the temple of Astaruth, living there as one of the pilgrims and the poor. In this temple stood an idol called Astaruth, which was supposed to heal the sick, but in truth only made them worse. The people were in complete ignorance of the true God, and for want of knowledge — or rather because they had nowhere else to turn — they all fled for refuge to this false god. He brought upon them troubles, sicknesses, harm, violence, and great suffering; and whenever anyone sacrificed to him, the demon would withdraw and appear to cure the afflicted person, and the foolish people, seeing this, believed in him. But the demons withdrew not because they wished to heal anyone, but so that they might attack them more effectively and gain complete power over them; for while those who sacrificed to them imagined they were cured in body, they were all the more diseased in soul.

Now it came to pass that while the holy apostle of Christ, Bartholomew, remained there, Astaruth gave no response and was unable to cure anyone. The temple was full of sick people who sacrificed to him daily, yet Astaruth could give no answer, and the sick who had come from distant countries lay there helpless. When not one of the idols in that temple was able to give any response, and none was of any benefit either to those who sacrificed or to those who were dying on their account, the people were compelled to go to another city, where there was a temple of idols whose great and most eminent god was called Becher. Having sacrificed there, they demanded to know why their god Astaruth had not responded to them. The demon Becher answered and said: From the day and hour that the true God, who dwells in the heavens, sent his apostle Bartholomew into this region, your god Astaruth has been held fast in chains of fire and can no longer speak or breathe. They said to him: And who is this Bartholomew? He answered: He is the friend of Almighty God, and has just come into these parts to take away all the worship of idols in the name of his God. The servants of the Greeks said to him: Tell us what he looks like, so that we may be able to find him.

The demon answered and said: He has black hair, a shaggy head, a fair complexion, large eyes, beautiful nostrils, ears hidden by the hair of his head, a yellow beard with a few grey hairs, and is of middle height — neither tall nor short, but middling. He is clothed in a white undergarment bordered with purple, and over his shoulders a very white cloak; his clothes have been worn for twenty-six years, yet they are neither dirty nor worn out. Seven times a day he bends the knee to the Lord, and seven times a night he prays to God. His voice is like the sound of a great trumpet; angels of God go with him, who allow him neither to grow weary, nor to hunger, nor to thirst. His face, his soul, and his heart are always glad and rejoicing; he foresees all things, and knows and speaks every tongue of every nation. And know this: the moment you ask me about him and I answer you, he already knows, for the angels of the Lord tell him. If you wish to seek him, he will appear to you if he is willing, but if he is not willing, you will not be able to find him. I beg you, therefore, if you do find him, entreat him not to come here, lest his angels do to me what they have done to my brother Astaruth.

When the demon had said this, he fell silent. They returned and set about examining the face of every pilgrim and poor man, but for two days they could find him nowhere. Then it happened that a man possessed by a demon began to cry out: Apostle of the Lord, Bartholomew, your prayers are burning me up! The apostle said to him: Be silent, and come out of him. And that very hour the man who had suffered from the demon for many years was set free.

Polymius, the king of that country, happened to be standing nearby and witnessed this. He had a daughter who was possessed by a demon — that is to say, she was a lunatic. When he heard about the demoniac who had been healed, he sent messengers to the apostle, saying: My daughter is grievously tormented; I implore you, as you have delivered the man who suffered for many years, to command my daughter to be set free as well. The apostle rose and went with them. He saw the king's daughter bound with chains, for she used to tear at her own limbs, and if anyone came near her she would bite them, so that no one dared approach her. The servants said to him: Who would dare to touch her? The apostle answered them: Loose her and let her go. They said to him again: We can barely restrain her even when she is bound with all our strength — and you tell us to loose her? The apostle said to them: I am keeping her enemy bound; why then are you still afraid of her? Go and loose her, and when she has eaten and rested, bring her to me early tomorrow morning. They went and did as the apostle had commanded, and from that time the demon was not able to come near her.

Then the king loaded camels with gold and silver, precious stones, pearls, and clothing, and went to seek the apostle; but though he searched long and hard, he could not find him, and brought everything back to his palace.

When the night had passed and the following day was dawning, the sun having risen, the apostle appeared alone with the king in his bedchamber and said to him: Why did you spend the whole of yesterday seeking me with gold and silver, precious stones, pearls, and fine clothing? Such gifts are desired by those who seek earthly things; but I seek nothing earthly, nothing of the flesh. Therefore I wish to teach you that the Son of God deigned to be born as a man from a virgin's womb. He was conceived in the womb of the virgin; He took to himself one who was always a virgin, bearing within herself the one who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them. Born of a virgin as a human being, He who has no beginning of times or days took upon himself a beginning in time; yet He himself made every beginning, and everything created, whether visible or invisible. And as this virgin had not known a man, so she, preserving her virginity, made a vow to the Lord God — and she was the first who ever did so. For from the beginning of the world, no woman had ever made a vow of this manner of life; but she, being the first among women to love this in her heart, said: I offer you, O Lord, my virginity. As I have said, none of mankind had ever dared to speak such a word; but she, being called for the salvation of many, kept this resolve — to remain a virgin through the love of God, pure and undefiled. And suddenly, while she was shut in her chamber, the archangel Gabriel appeared, shining like the sun; and when she was terrified at the sight, the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for you have found favor in the sight of the Lord, and you shall conceive. She put aside her fear, stood up, and said: How can this be, since I have not known a man? The angel answered her: The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow you; therefore the holy one who is born of you shall be called the Son of God. So when the angel had departed from her, she escaped the temptation of the devil, who had deceived the first man when he was at rest. For when the woman said to him, Eat of the tree of disobedience, he ate; and thus the first man was cast out of paradise and banished to this life. From him the whole human race has been born. Then the Son of God, having been born of the virgin and become perfect man, and having been baptized, fasted forty days after his baptism; and the tempter came and said to him: If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread. And he answered: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. Thus the devil, who had conquered the first man through eating, was conquered through the fasting of the second man; and as he had overcome the first man, the son of the virgin earth, through lack of self-restraint, so we shall conquer through the fasting of the second Adam, the Son of the Virgin Mary.

The king said to him: But how is it that you said just now that she was the first virgin from whom God and man was born? The apostle answered: I give thanks to the Lord that you hear me gladly. The first man was called Adam; he was formed out of the earth. And the earth, his mother from which he came, was virgin, because it had never been stained by the blood of man nor opened for the burial of anyone. The earth, then, was like a virgin, so that he who conquered the son of the virgin earth might himself be conquered by the Son of the Virgin Mary. And behold, he was conquered; for the devil's wicked craft had kept paradise shut through the eating of the fruit of the tree, by which man was deceived and driven out of paradise. But then the Son of the Virgin conquered all the craft of the devil. And the devil's craft was such that when he saw the Son of the Virgin fasting forty days, he knew in truth that He was the true God. The true God and man, therefore, has not made Himself known except to those who are pure in heart and who serve Him by good works. The devil himself, therefore, when he saw that after the forty days He was hungry again, was deceived into thinking He was not God, and said to Him: Why have you been hungry? Tell these stones to become loaves of bread, and eat. And the Lord answered him: Listen, devil — although you may lord it over man, because man did not keep the commandment of God, I have fulfilled the righteousness of God by fasting, and I shall destroy your power, so that you shall no longer lord it over man. And when the devil saw himself conquered, he took Jesus again to an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, saying: All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me. The Lord said to him: Get behind me, Satan; for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. And there was a third temptation; for the devil took Him to the pinnacle of the temple and said: If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down. The Lord said to him: You shall not tempt the Lord your God. And the devil disappeared. And so he who had once conquered Adam, the son of the virgin earth, was three times conquered by Christ, the Son of the Virgin Mary.

And when the Lord had conquered the tyrant, He sent His apostles into all the world to redeem His people from the deception of the devil; and I am one of these, an apostle of Christ. For this reason we do not seek gold and silver but rather despise them, because we labor to be rich in that place where the kingdom of God alone endures forever, where there is no trouble, no grief, no groaning, no death — where there is eternal blessedness and unspeakable joy and everlasting exultation and perpetual rest. This is also why the demon sitting in your temple, who gives you his responses, is held in chains by the angel of the Lord who sent me. For if you will be baptized and wish to be enlightened, I will let you behold him, and you will learn from how great evils you have been redeemed. Hear also at the same time by what means he harms all those who lie sick in the temple. The devil himself by his own art causes men to fall sick, and then causes them to be healed again, so that they may believe all the more in the idols, and so that he may have all the greater hold upon their souls, and so that they may say to wood and stone: You are our gods. But that demon who dwells in the idol is held in subjection, conquered by me, and is able to give no response to those who sacrifice and pray there. And if you wish to prove that this is so, I will order him to return into the idol, and I will make him confess with his own mouth that he is bound and unable to give any response.

The king said to him: Tomorrow, at the first hour of the day, the priests will be ready to sacrifice in the temple, and I shall come there and see this wonderful thing for myself.

And it came to pass on the following day, as they were sacrificing, the demon began to cry out: Stop, you wretched ones — stop sacrificing to me, lest you suffer something worse on my account; for I am bound in fiery chains and held in subjection by an angel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whom the Jews crucified. Being afraid of Him, they condemned Him to death. But He put Death itself to death — our king — and He bound our prince in chains of fire; and on the third day, having conquered death and the devil, He rose in glory and gave the sign of the cross to His apostles and sent them out to the four corners of the world. One of them is here right now, and he has bound me and holds me in subjection. I beg you, therefore — plead with him on my behalf, that he may set me free to go into other habitations.

Then the apostle said: Confess, unclean demon — who is it that has afflicted all those who lie here with their heavy diseases? The demon answered: The devil, our ruler — he who is bound — sends us against men so that, having first injured their bodies, we may then make an assault upon their souls when they sacrifice to us. For we have complete power over them when they believe in us and sacrifice to us. And when, on account of the harm we have done them, we withdraw, we appear to cure them and are worshipped by them as gods; but in truth we are demons, and the servants of Him who was crucified, the Son of the Virgin, have bound us. For from the very day on which the Apostle Bartholomew came, I have been punished and kept bound in chains of fire. I speak now only because he has commanded me to. I dare not say more while the apostle is present — neither I nor any of our rulers.

The apostle said to him: Why do you not save all who have come to you? The demon said: When we afflict their bodies, we do not release them unless we have first injured their souls. The apostle said: And how do you injure their souls? The demon answered: When they believe that we are gods and sacrifice to us, God withdraws from those who sacrifice, and we do not take away the sufferings of their bodies but instead enter into their souls.

Then the apostle said to the people: See — the god you thought would cure you does even greater harm to your souls and bodies. Hear now your Maker who dwells in the heavens, and do not put your trust in lifeless stones and wood. If you wish me to pray for you, and for all these people to be healed, take down this idol and break it to pieces. When you have done this, I will consecrate this temple in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and having baptized all of you here in the baptism of the Lord and sanctified you, I will save you all.

Then the king gave orders, and all the people brought ropes and crowbars, but they were utterly unable to pull the idol down. Then the apostle said to them: Unfasten the ropes. When they had done so, he said to the demon dwelling in the idol: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, come out of this idol and go into a desert place where no winged creature utters a cry and no human voice has ever been heard. At once the demon rose at the apostle's word and lifted the idol from its foundations, and in that same hour all the idols that stood in that place were shattered to pieces.

Then everyone cried out with one voice: He alone is God Almighty, the one whom Bartholomew the apostle proclaims! Then the holy Bartholomew stretched out his hands toward heaven and said: God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob — you who for the salvation of humanity sent forth your only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so that he might redeem by his own blood all of us who were enslaved by sin, and declare us to be your sons, that we might know you, the true God, who exists always and forever, God without end: one God, the Father, acknowledged in the Son and the Holy Spirit; one God, the Son, glorified in the Father and the Holy Spirit; one God, the Holy Spirit, worshipped in the Father and the Son; and truly acknowledged as one — the Father unbegotten, the Son begotten, the Holy Spirit proceeding. In you the Father, and in the Holy Spirit, dwells your only begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name you have given us power to heal the sick, to cure paralytics, to cast out demons, and to raise the dead — for he said to us, Truly I tell you, whatever you ask in my name you will receive. I pray, then, that in his name all this multitude may be saved, that all may know that you alone are God in heaven and on earth and in the sea, who seeks the salvation of humanity through that same Jesus Christ our Lord, with whom you live and reign in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever.

When all responded with the Amen, suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, shining more brightly than the sun, with wings, and four other angels holding up the four corners of the temple. With his finger the first angel sealed the temple and the people, and said: Thus says the Lord who has sent me — as you have all been cleansed of every infirmity, so also this temple shall be purified of all uncleanness and of the demons who dwelt in it, whom the apostle of God has commanded to go into a desert place, for so God has commanded me, that I might reveal him to you. When you behold him, do not be afraid; but when I make the sign of the cross, seal your faces with your finger in the same way, and these evil things will flee from you. Then he showed them the demon who had dwelt in the temple — a figure like an Ethiopian, black as soot, with a sharp face like a dog's, hollow-cheeked, with hair hanging down to his feet, eyes like fire, sparks flying from his mouth, and from his nostrils smoke like sulfur; his wings were spined like a porcupine's, his hands were bound with fiery chains, and he was held fast. The angel of the Lord said to him: As the apostle has commanded, I now release you — go where no human voice is heard, and remain there until the great day of judgment. When the angel released him, the demon flew away groaning and wailing and vanished from sight. Then the angel of the Lord ascended into heaven before the eyes of all.

Then the king and the queen, with their two sons, and all his people, and all the multitude of the city, and every city and country and land within his kingdom, were saved and believed and were baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And the king laid aside his crown and followed Bartholomew the apostle of Christ.

After these things, the unbelieving Greeks came together to King Astreges, the elder brother of the king who had been baptized, and said to him: O king, your brother Polymius has become the disciple of a certain magician who has torn down our temples and smashed our gods to pieces. While they were speaking and weeping, more people arrived from the surrounding cities — priests and laypeople alike — and they too set about weeping and bringing accusations before the king. Then King Astreges, in a rage, sent a thousand armed soldiers together with those priests, with orders to find the apostle wherever he might be and bring him back in chains. They did so, found him, and brought him before the king. The king said to him: Are you the one who has turned my brother away from the gods? The apostle answered: I have not turned him away — I have turned him toward God. The king said: Are you the one who caused our gods to be smashed to pieces? The apostle said: I gave power to the demons who were in them, and they broke apart the dumb and senseless idols, so that all people might believe in God Almighty, who dwells in the heavens. The king said: Just as you made my brother deny his gods and believe in your God, so I will make you renounce your God and believe in my gods. The apostle said: If I have bound and held in subjection the god your brother once worshipped, and if at my command the idols were broken to pieces, then if you are likewise able to do the same to my God, you may persuade me to sacrifice to your gods. But if you can do nothing against my God, I will break all your gods to pieces — so believe in my God.

When he had finished speaking, the king received word that the god Baldad and all the other idols had fallen down and been smashed to pieces. At this, the king tore the purple robe he was wearing and ordered the holy apostle Bartholomew to be beaten with rods and then beheaded.

Innumerable multitudes came from all the cities — twelve thousand in all, those who had believed through him together with the king. They took up the apostle's remains with hymns of praise and great honor, laid them in the royal tomb, and glorified God. But when King Astreges heard of this, he ordered the remains to be thrown into the sea; and so they were carried to the island of Liparis.

On the thirtieth day after the apostle was taken away, King Astreges was seized by a demon and wretchedly strangled. All the priests likewise were strangled by demons and perished, punished for their uprising against the apostle, and so they died a wretched death.

Great fear and trembling fell upon everyone, and all came to the Lord and were baptized by the presbyters whom the holy apostle Bartholomew had ordained. Following the apostle's command, all the clergy of the people made King Polymius their bishop. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ he received the grace of healing and began to work signs. He served in the bishopric for twenty years, and having prospered in all things, governed the church well, and guided it in sound doctrine, he fell asleep in peace and went to the Lord — to whom be glory and strength for ever and ever. Amen.