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Audiobook edition · 3 h 36 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 118 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 118 pagesAbout this book
What if the palace a king pays for is not made of stone?
In The Acts of Thomas, a lot drawn in Jerusalem sends Judas Thomas toward India. He resists the call, but the merchant Abbanes buys him as a skilled builder and takes him to King Gundaphorus. According to this early Christian story, the king expects a palace; Thomas gives the royal wealth to the poor.
The episodes mix travel, preaching, prayer and miracles with conflicts inside royal households. Mygdonia hears Thomas and chooses a life her husband Charisius opposes. King Mizdai wants the apostle's influence stopped. Alongside these struggles stands the Hymn of the Pearl, a poem about a prince who forgets who he is.
What you’ll discover
- A reluctant apostle Follow Thomas from a disputed calling into a journey of service, preaching and danger.
- The palace in heaven Explore a story that sets royal wealth against charity and spiritual treasure.
- Faith inside the household Meet Mygdonia as her response to Thomas brings her into conflict with Charisius.
- The Hymn of the Pearl Enter a poem whose prince forgets his identity, set within Thomas's prison episode.
- Miracles and mounting resistance Encounter the text's healings and talking donkey as Thomas faces growing hostility.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy ancient adventure, talking animals, strange prayers and poems, and the stories early Christians told about their apostles.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Thomas goes where he first refuses
- A wedding opens another kind of life
- Giving to the poor builds a palace
- Miracles make hidden powers answer Thomas
- Mygdonia's faith unsettles the royal household
- Renunciation must be freely chosen
- Prayer and poetry deepen the adventures
- Service matters more than worldly rank
Who’s who
- Judas ThomasThe apostle called the Twin, who dreads the mission to India, is sold as a carpenter slave, and comes to preach with calm courage.
- AbbanA merchant of King Gundaphorus who buys the carpenter in the marketplace and carries him to India by ship.
- GundaphorusThe Indian king who commissions a palace from Thomas and discovers that his reward is stored in heaven.
- MygdoniaThe noblewoman who hears Thomas preach, leaves her marriage bed and clings to her new faith against her husband's anger.
- CharisiusMygdonia's husband, a kinsman of the king, who loves her and will do anything to win her back.
- MisdaeusThe king who sees his household turn to the stranger and seeks a way to stop him.
- IuzanesThe king's young son, who asks Thomas for the seal of baptism and becomes a follower.
- SiphorA captain whose wife and daughter Thomas heals, and who becomes one of the apostle's closest friends.
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The Acts of Thomas
by Anonymous · 225
A reluctant apostle is sold as a slave carpenter and shipped to India, where he builds a palace nobody can see.
Medium level2–5 hours to readEnglish
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“I am not Jesus, but I am his servant.”
In short
Would you travel to the far end of the world if someone told you to go? Judas Thomas, called the Twin, says no. The Savior appears to him in the night and sends him to India, and Thomas answers that he will go anywhere but there.
The Acts of Thomas at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 30 min1 h 55 min fast, 2 h 55 min slow
- Length
- 35,200 words71 chapters
- Pages
- 118 pages180 in large print
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- about AD 225by Anonymous
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
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Listen freeOr hold it in print: paperback, hardcover or large print, at costFrom the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A reluctant apostle is sold into service
The story opens with a refusal. The apostles divide the world by lot, and India falls to Judas Thomas. He says his body is too weak for the journey and that he is a Hebrew who cannot preach to Indians. The Savior appears to him at night and tells him not to be afraid, but Thomas answers that he will go anywhere except there.
Jesus does not argue twice. In the marketplace he meets Abban, a merchant sent by King Gundaphorus to buy a skilled carpenter. Jesus says he has a slave who is a carpenter and points Thomas out from a distance. The price is three pounds of uncoined silver, and Jesus writes the bill of sale himself.
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A reluctant apostle is sold as a slave carpenter and shipped to India, where he builds a palace nobody can see.
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Details
- First published
- 225
- Language
- English
- Listening time
- 3 h 36 min
- Level
- Medium level
- Paperback
- 118 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 118 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 180 pages · 8.5 × 11 in
- Large print hardcover
- 180 pages · 8.5 × 11 in
- Delivery and returns
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For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
The Acts of Thomas. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-acts-of-thomas.
The acts of Thomas. (2026). Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-acts-of-thomas (Original work published ca. 225)
The Acts of Thomas. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-acts-of-thomas.
@book{anonymous2026acts,
title = {The Acts of Thomas},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/loa-acts-of-thomas},
note = {First published ca. 225}
}
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What is the Acts of Thomas about?
It tells how the apostle Judas Thomas is sold as a slave carpenter and sent to India. There he builds a palace through gifts to the poor, heals the afflicted, converts nobles and faces royal opposition.
What is the Hymn of the Pearl?
It is a poem sung by Thomas in prison. A prince is sent from the East to fetch a pearl from Egypt, forgets his mission, and is called back by a letter. Readers interpret it in many ways.
Why is the Acts of Thomas not in the Bible?
Early church authorities such as Epiphanius and the Gelasian Decree condemned it, mainly for its strict teaching against marriage. It was never part of the New Testament canon, though many communities copied and valued it.
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