{"slug":"actap","id":"georgian:titus:actap","title":"Nicodemus, Acta Pilati","author":"Anonymous","genre":"apocryphon","date":"","tradition":"georgian","coverage":"not-located","coverage_claim":{"status":"not-located","text":"No English translation was located by an automated check of the source corpus and one library catalogue. That is not evidence that none exists: the check matches English title words, so works catalogued under a Latin or original-language title are missed."},"publication":{"status":"machine-draft","reviewed_by":null,"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","generated":"2026-11-15T00:59:14Z","cost_usd":0.001047},"source":{"registry_id":"georgian:titus:actap","work_id":"actap","edition":"titus","language":"","license":"This text is part of the TITUS edition of Nicodemus, Acta Pilati. Copyright TITUS Project, Frankfurt a/M, 12.12.2008. No parts of this document may be republished in any form without prior permission by the copyright holder.","url":"https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/cauc/ageo/ntapokr/actapil/actap.htm"},"stats":{"passages":1,"english_words":88,"coptic_letters":0,"commentary_units":6,"commentary_kinds":6,"derived_notes":0,"ambiguities":2,"work_notes":5,"external_links":0,"timeline":5},"summary":{"work":"actap","abstract":"The Georgian version of the Acta Pilati, traditionally attributed to Nicodemus, is an apocryphal Passion narrative that survives in at least five manuscripts, the earliest from the 10th–11th centuries. The work recounts Pilate's examination of Jesus and the Jewish authorities, incorporating anti-Jewish polemic and claims of a Hebrew original later translated into Greek. In the Georgian tradition, it was used liturgically, often appended to Gospel manuscripts or read on Good Friday. The present edition (titus) offers a diplomatic transcription of a single manuscript without a critical apparatus, leaving textual variants among Georgian witnesses unexamined. The attribution to Nicodemus is a pseudepigraphic device to enhance authority.","historical_context":"The original Greek Acta Pilati is usually dated to the 4th–5th centuries, emerging in a period when apocryphal Passion narratives circulated widely in Christian communities, often to supplement canonical accounts and to reinforce anti-Jewish sentiments. The Georgian translation likely belongs to the early medieval period, though no firm date for the translation has been established. The earliest surviving Georgian manuscript (10th–11th centuries) indicates a relatively early translation from a Greek Vorlage. In Georgia, the work was not canonical but was used in liturgical settings, especially on Good Friday, as a 'reading concerning the Passion.' The text's claim of a Hebrew original and Greek translation reflects a common topos in apocryphal literature, but the Georgian version almost certainly derives from a Greek intermediary. The transmission history is complex, with the Latin version (Gesta Pilati) also circulating widely in the West.","significance":"The Georgian Acta Pilati is important for understanding the reception of apocryphal Passion narratives in the early medieval Eastern Christian world, particularly in the Georgian church. It illustrates how non-canonical texts were adapted for liturgical use and how anti-Jewish polemic was perpetuated. The work also provides evidence for the textual transmission of the Acta Pilati tradition beyond its Greek and Latin forms, contributing to the study of apocryphal literature and its manuscript culture.","timeline":[{"date":"4th–5th c.","event":"Original Greek Acta Pilati composed, likely in the eastern Mediterranean."},{"date":"10th–11th c.","event":"Earliest surviving Georgian manuscript of the Acta Pilati copied."},{"date":"early medieval","event":"Georgian translation made from a Greek Vorlage (date uncertain)."},{"date":"medieval","event":"Georgian Acta Pilati used liturgically, often appended to Gospel manuscripts."},{"date":"modern","event":"Diplomatic edition published in the titus corpus."}],"relations":[{"work":"Greek Acta Pilati","relation":"Vorlage for the Georgian translation","key":"dossier:coptic-anonymous-acts-pilate","label":"gap dossier: Acts of Pilate / Gospel of Nicodemus (Coptic recension)","url":"https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/coptic-anonymous-acts-pilate"},{"work":"Latin Gesta Pilati","relation":"Parallel Latin version of the same tradition","key":"dossier:latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati","label":"gap dossier: Gospel of Nicodemus / Acts of Pilate (Latin Gesta Pilati with the Descent into Hell)","url":"https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati"},{"work":"Nicodemus, Acta Pilati (Greek)","relation":"Attributed to same pseudepigraphic author","key":"ed:actap","label":"source edition: Nicodemus, Acta Pilati","url":"https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/cauc/ageo/ntapokr/actapil/actap.htm"}],"external_links":[],"cautions":["The date of the Georgian translation is unknown; only the earliest manuscript (10th–11th c.) provides a terminus ante quem.","The attribution to Nicodemus is pseudepigraphic and not historical.","The claim of a Hebrew original is a literary topos; the Georgian version derives from a Greek intermediary.","The titus edition is a diplomatic transcription of a single manuscript; textual variants among Georgian witnesses remain unexamined."],"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor","provider":"Relace","cost_usd":0.000411,"generated":"2026-11-15T00:17:26Z"},"checks":{"work":"actap","status":"pass","blocking":[],"warnings":[],"stats":{"passages":1,"translated":1,"commentary_passages":1,"commentary_units":6,"english_words":88,"source_letters":396,"commentary_kinds":6},"model":"deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor"},"work_notes":[{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The Georgian version of the Acta Pilati survives in at least five manuscripts, the earliest from the 10th–11th centuries, indicating a relatively early translation from a Greek Vorlage.","cites":[{"key":"ed:actap","label":"source edition: Nicodemus, Acta Pilati","url":"https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/cauc/ageo/ntapokr/actapil/actap.htm"}],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"dating","kind":"chronology","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"The original Greek Acta Pilati is usually dated to the 4th–5th centuries; the Georgian translation likely belongs to the early medieval period, but no firm date for the translation has been established.","cites":[{"key":"dossier:coptic-anonymous-acts-pilate","label":"gap dossier: Acts of Pilate / Gospel of Nicodemus (Coptic recension)","url":"https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/coptic-anonymous-acts-pilate"},{"key":"dossier:latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati","label":"gap dossier: Gospel of Nicodemus / Acts of Pilate (Latin Gesta Pilati with the Descent into Hell)","url":"https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati"}],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"info","text":"In the Georgian tradition, the Acta Pilati was not included in the canonical New Testament but circulated as apocryphal reading, sometimes appended to manuscripts of the Gospels or used in liturgical contexts.","cites":[{"key":"ed:actap","label":"source edition: Nicodemus, Acta Pilati","url":"https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/cauc/ageo/ntapokr/actapil/actap.htm"}],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"sense","kind":"sense","basis":"text","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"This edition (titus) provides a diplomatic transcription of one manuscript; it does not offer a critical apparatus or collation of all Georgian witnesses, so textual variants remain unexamined.","cites":[{"key":"ed:actap","label":"source edition: Nicodemus, Acta Pilati","url":"https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/cauc/ageo/ntapokr/actapil/actap.htm"}],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"background","lemma":"","severity":"caution","text":"The attribution to Nicodemus is traditional and not historical; the work is anonymous, and the name was added to lend authority, as in the Latin version.","cites":[{"key":"dossier:latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati","label":"gap dossier: Gospel of Nicodemus / Acts of Pilate (Latin Gesta Pilati with the Descent into Hell)","url":"https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati"}],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"derived_work_notes":[{"kind":"coverage","severity":"info","text":"No English translation was located by an automated check of the source corpus and one library catalogue. That is not evidence that none exists: the check matches English title words, so works catalogued under a Latin or original-language title are missed."},{"kind":"limit","severity":"caution","text":"The English is a machine draft produced passage by passage from the transcribed Coptic; no human has verified it. The commentary is model-written and cites only keys the pipeline could resolve."},{"kind":"register","severity":"info","text":"Register: apocryphon in Old Georgian; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them."},{"kind":"structure","severity":"info","text":"Passages: 1 narrative."},{"kind":"source","severity":"info","text":"Source edition: titus — This text is part of the TITUS edition of Nicodemus, Acta Pilati. Copyright TITUS Project, Frankfurt a/M, 12.12.2008. No parts of this document may be republished in any form without prior permission by the copyright holder."}],"derived_structure":{"narrative":1},"term_index":[],"citations":{"ed:actap":{"label":"source edition: Nicodemus, Acta Pilati","url":"https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/cauc/ageo/ntapokr/actapil/actap.htm"},"dossier:coptic-anonymous-acts-pilate":{"label":"gap dossier: Acts of Pilate / Gospel of Nicodemus (Coptic recension)","url":"https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/coptic-anonymous-acts-pilate"},"dossier:latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati":{"label":"gap dossier: Gospel of Nicodemus / Acts of Pilate (Latin Gesta Pilati with the Descent into Hell)","url":"https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati"}},"segments":[{"i":1,"ref":"p1","source":"დიდსა პარასკევსა, საკითხავი ვნებისათჳს და სიკუდილისა, მოსაჴსენებელი მაცხოვრისა ჩუენისა იესუ ქრისტესი, თქუმული ანანია ებრაელისაჲ, დასისაგან შჯულის-მეცნიერისა\n\nრამეთუ ვცან უფლისა ჩუენისა იესუ ქრისტესი წიგნთაგან საღმრთოთა და სარწმუნოებით გულს-მოდგინედ ვისწრაფე და აღვწერენ მოსაჴსენებელნი, რაჲ-იგი თქუეს ჰურიათა ღმრთისათჳს პონტოელისა პილატეს ზე, მსაჯულისა, რომელი-იგი აღწერა ნიკოდემოზ წიგნითა ებრაულითა, ხოლო მე გარდმოვწერე წიგნითა ბერძულითა საცნობელად ყოველთათჳს.","english":"On the Great Friday, a reading concerning the Passion and the Death, the commemoration of our Saviour Jesus Christ, the narrative of Ananias the Hebrew, from the party of the lawyer.\n\nFor I have known our Lord Jesus Christ from the divine books, and with faithful diligence I have striven and have written down the memorials, what the Jews said concerning God before Pontius Pilate, the judge, which Nicodemus wrote in the Hebrew book, and I have translated it into the Greek book for the knowledge of all.","structure":"narrative","commentary":[{"unit":"structure","kind":"structure","basis":"text","lemma":"დიდსა პარასკევსა","severity":"info","text":"The opening phrase 'On the Great Friday' establishes the liturgical setting for the reading, aligning with the Passion narrative genre.","cites":[{"key":"ed:actap","label":"source edition: Nicodemus, Acta Pilati","url":"https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/cauc/ageo/ntapokr/actapil/actap.htm"}],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"term","kind":"term","basis":"text","lemma":"თქუმული ანანია ებრაელისაჲ","severity":"info","text":"The phrase 'narrative of Ananias the Hebrew' identifies the purported author, a figure otherwise unknown in early Christian literature, possibly a pseudepigraphic attribution.","cites":[{"key":"dossier:coptic-anonymous-acts-pilate","label":"gap dossier: Acts of Pilate / Gospel of Nicodemus (Coptic recension)","url":"https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/coptic-anonymous-acts-pilate"}],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"transmission","kind":"transmission","basis":"text","lemma":"ნიკოდემოზ წიგნითა ებრაულითა","severity":"info","text":"The text claims Nicodemus wrote in Hebrew, and the present author translated into Greek. This reflects the complex transmission history of the Acta Pilati, with claims of Hebrew origin and Greek translation.","cites":[{"key":"dossier:latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati","label":"gap dossier: Gospel of Nicodemus / Acts of Pilate (Latin Gesta Pilati with the Descent into Hell)","url":"https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati"}],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"background","kind":"background","basis":"text","lemma":"ჰურიათა ღმრთისათჳს","severity":"info","text":"The reference to 'what the Jews said concerning God' before Pilate reflects the anti-Jewish polemic common in the Acta Pilati tradition, which shaped later reception.","cites":[{"key":"dossier:coptic-anonymous-acts-pilate","label":"gap dossier: Acts of Pilate / Gospel of Nicodemus (Coptic recension)","url":"https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/coptic-anonymous-acts-pilate"}],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"reception","kind":"reception","basis":"text","lemma":"საკითხავი ვნებისათჳს","severity":"info","text":"The designation as a 'reading concerning the Passion' indicates liturgical use in Georgian tradition, likely on Good Friday, as part of the church's Passion readings.","cites":[{"key":"ed:actap","label":"source edition: Nicodemus, Acta Pilati","url":"https://titus.uni-frankfurt.de/texte/etcs/cauc/ageo/ntapokr/actapil/actap.htm"}],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]},{"unit":"caution","kind":"caution","basis":"text","lemma":"გარდმოვწერე წიგნითა ბერძულითა","severity":"caution","text":"The claim of translation from Hebrew to Greek is a common topos in apocryphal literature and may not reflect historical transmission; the Georgian version likely derives from a Greek intermediary.","cites":[{"key":"dossier:latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati","label":"gap dossier: Gospel of Nicodemus / Acts of Pilate (Latin Gesta Pilati with the Descent into Hell)","url":"https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/latin-nicodemus-gesta-pilati"}],"named_sources":[],"dropped_cites":[]}],"ambiguities":["The identity of 'Ananias the Hebrew' is uncertain; he may be a fictional narrator.","The phrase 'from the party of the lawyer' (დასისაგან შჯულის-მეცნიერისა) is ambiguous: it could refer to a legal or scribal group, or to a specific individual."],"confidence":"high","notes":[]}]}