andrewcriddle

The Epistula Apostolorum is a 2nd century text in the form of a letter from the Apostles describing what Christ after the Resurrection told them about various issues.

It is important for its Christology and its use of all the four canonical gospels.

It is difficult to date, one relevant passage is At http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/apostolorum.html this is explained as However this idea of two very early redactions both surviving is IMHO unlikely. I have a rather wild alternative. That correctly understood both passages refer to the same length of time the Ethiopic straightforwardly the Coptic in a cryptic numerological way.

The reference to the seven week period between Pentecost and Unleavened Bread refers to fifty days each of which represents fifty years ie 2,500 years in all. One hundredth and one twentieth of this is 25 and 125 years respectively a total of 150 years as in the Ethiopic.

The division of this 150 years into 125 and 25 years is most plausibly explained if the author regarded himself as writing 125 years after the resurrection and expected the end of this age in 25 years, ie a date for the Epistula Apostolorum of c 155 CE, with the end of this age expected in 180.

(This is a very speculative suggestion but I thought it worth putting forward, when creiticising it please distinguish between reasons why it is unlikely and reasons why it is impossible.)

Andrew Criddle

Ben C Smith

I see whence you got the seven weeks, the fifty days, the 2,500, the 25, the 125, and the 150. But I do not see whence came the fifty years each, upon which the last four numbers depend. What clue does the writer offer that each of the 50 days represents 50 years?

Ben.

andrewcriddle

You're quite right that this is the weakest part of the argument.

I can only reply that using the same factor twice is rather common in numerology.

The seven weeks of Pentecost is seven times seven days.

In Revelation chapter 7 the 12 tribes each have 12,000 members.

If the periiod between Pentecost and Unleavened Bread is meant to be divided into 50 days it would be quite plausible that each day is to be divided into 50 somethings. The most arbitrary bit may be making a day represent 50 years as distinct from fifty months or fifty generations.

Andrew Criddle