Sophia Scriptura

Acts of Archelaus

Acta Archelai · Πράξεις Ἀρχελάου

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Contents

  1. 5Mani’s letter to Marcellus attacks belief in one principle and in Christ’s birth from Mary.
  2. 6Marcellus replies, asking Mani to come and explain his letter.
  3. 7Turbo’s summary of Mani’s myth: two gods, the First Man, the creation of the world, the docetic Christ, and the ferrying of souls by sun and moon.
  4. 9Mani’s myth of the alluring Virgin of Light as the cause of rain, plague, and death.
  5. 10Mani’s teaching on transmigration, the elect and catechumens, and the ban on work.
  6. 11Mani’s teaching on paradise, the prophets, the elect’s anointing, and Sabaoth.
  7. 12Mani’s teaching that Adam and Eve were made by evil rulers and that the God of Moses is the ruler of darkness.
  8. 13Mani’s teaching on the end of the world and the mission of his three disciples.

About this work

Author
Hegemonius
Attribution
disputed · The name Hegemonius comes from later writers (Heraclian of Chalcedon, via Photius), not from the work. The original Greek is lost except for the quotations in Epiphanius, Panarion 66; the complete text survives in a Latin translation. Only the Greek chapters (5–7 and 9–13 of the Latin numbering, which include Mani's letter to Marcellus) are in this edition, so this work is incomplete.
Standing
Not honoured as a saint or in a church calendar by the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant traditions. Writer in the church of his time, not venerated by any of the three traditions.
Older English translation
Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 6 (1886): Acts of the Disputation with the Heresiarch Manes (public domain, at CCEL; for comparison: our translation is made from the original first and checked against it afterwards) · Public-domain English translation (from the Latin), at CCEL.
Date
early to mid 4th century (disputed) · Sometimes placed shortly after 300; the work reports a debate said to have taken place about 277.
Written at
Roman East (proposed) (disputed)
Language
Greek
Genre
other
Reference system
chapter (Beeson's chapter numbers; only chapters 5–7 and 9–13 survive in Greek)
SBL abbreviation
Acta Archel.Not yet checked
Clavis
CPG 3570 (not yet checked)
Text from
Charles Henry Beeson, ed., Hegemonius: Acta Archelai, GCS 16 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1906) (Printed edition in the public domain; digital text CC BY-SA 4.0)
CTS URN
urn:cts:greekLit:stoa0146d.stoa001