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Georgian · Apocrypha ·

Nicodemus, Acta Pilati

Anonymous · titus

BothSourceEnglish
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machine-draft · no human review 1 passages · 88 words

Work dossier · summary and historical context

Summary

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.

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.

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.

Apparatus · what the pipeline recorded

Annotation and terms

6 commentary units 1 structure1 term1 transmission1 background1 reception1 caution 0 derived notes 2 open questions 1 narrative
What the kinds mean

Pipeline notes

  • limitThe 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.
  • registerRegister: apocryphon in Old Georgian; the English keeps the liturgical formulae and the vocatives rather than normalising them.
  • structurePassages: 1 narrative.
  • sourceSource 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.

Term index

CopticRenderingCountFirst
no glossary terms recorded
actap:1 · narrativehigh
Source
დიდსა პარასკევსა, საკითხავი ვნებისათჳს და სიკუდილისა, მოსაჴსენებელი მაცხოვრისა ჩუენისა იესუ ქრისტესი, თქუმული ანანია ებრაელისაჲ, დასისაგან შჯულის-მეცნიერისა რამეთუ 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. For 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.
Citation. Tergwame, “Nicodemus, Acta Pilati”, actap:1, machine-draft, 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/works/actap#s1
Colophon. Source: titus · licence: 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. · model: deepseek/deepseek-v4-flash:floor · provider: Relace · cost: $0.0010 · generated 2026-11-15.