Acta Heraclides
Standard abbreviation: Acts Herac.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 102
Category: Apocryphal Acts
Related literature: Acts of Barnabas, Life of Auxibios of Soloi
Compiled by Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Acts of Heracleides.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/acts-of-heracleides/.
Created June 2024.
1. SUMMARY
Acts Heracl. is attributed to Rhodon (from Acts Barn. 7:7, 8:5, and 9:1), who reveals that he was tasked by Theodore to write everything that Heracleides and Mnason (perhaps from Acts 21:16) have done. He is aided in this with a copy of the hypomnemata of Mnason. When Theodore dies, Heracleides, Mnason, and Chrysippus (the father of Mnason) come to bury him. Heracleides ordains Procliane as deaconess of the church.
Then follows a series of miracles. A widow named Trophime has a son named Gregory who dies of a snake bite. She sends for Heracleides and Mnason. Heracleides prays and the mother dies; he continues to pray and the son is resurrected. The son reports that a young man with a face as bright as the sun touched him and he returned to life. Mnason prays and resurrects the mother. They are baptized by Heracleides along with 400 others. Then a man from Pera is exorcised by Heracleides, sailors report to Heracleides that the name of Jesus calms waves, and another young man possessed by a spirit is cured. Heracleides orders the deacon Clesippos to catechize Gregory and he ordains him as deacon.
Nicholas comes with a letter from Paul and Barnabas. A public reading of the letter by Mnason reveals that Heracleides must go to Paphos, so he leaves Gregory in charge. While in Paphos, Heracleides tells Mnason about his conversion by Barnabas (based on Acts Barn. 7:6, 17). In this version of the story, Barnabas, John Mark, and Heracleides are joined by Mnason in Tamasus, where they live in a cave.
Heracleides returns home and learns that his sister Heracleiana has died. They go to where she is buried (a hill named Karanē) and pray. A man named Timothy arrives from Lampadistus demanding 30 coins that he gave to Heracleiana. Heracleides asks his sister where they are and she answers from her tomb that they are under a stone at the foot of her bed. Astounded by this occurrence, Timothy becomes a Christian.
During Holy Week there is a great rain for three days. Clesipos, Mnason, and Heracleides make the flooded waters part so that the people of Pera can attend the day of baptism. A member of the congregation is confronted by Alexander who demands money owed to him and threatens to strangle the man if he does not receive it. Mnason intervenes but others come to Alexander’s rescue. When Mnason paralyzes Alexander, the other men become believers; Mnason then heals Alexander.
Three days later, Hieros, son of Philotheos and Nympha, dies. Philotheos goes to the priests of the idols for help but their prayers are in vain. Heracleides resurrects Hieros, who is then baptized along with his parents. A demon enters the unbelievers and they come to Heracleides and his companions accusing them of sorcery. Heracleides curses them like Sodom and Gomorrah. A relative of the deacon Aetius tells the unbelievers that anyone who treats the Christians badly are punished by their God. Undeterred, one of the group, Sabinos, strikes the door of the church with a club and it falls, killing him. Heracleides asks God to forgive him for cursing the people. That night Heracleides becomes unwell. Fearing death, he confers his authority on Mnason. After a one page break in the text, Heracleides tells Mnason to deposit his body in the cave where Barnanabas lies. Heracleides dies on 17 September.
Named historical figures and characters: Aetius (of Cyprus), Alexander (of Cyprus), Artemis, Asclepios, Barnabas, Chrysippus (father of Mnason), Clesippos, Gelasios (of Cyprus), Gorgias, Gregory (of Cyprus), Heracleiana, Heracleides, Heracleos, Hieros (of Cyprus), John Mark, Longinus (of Cyprus), Macedonia, Mnason (of Cyprus), Nicholas, Nympha, Paul (apostle), Philotheus, Procliane, Rhodon, Romulus, Sabinos, Theodore, Timothy (of Lampadistus), Trophime.
Geographical locations: Gomorrah, Karanē, Lampadistus, Paphos, Pera, Sodom, Tamasus (Cyprus).
2. RESOURCES
2.1 Web Sites and Other Online Resources
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Greek (BHG 743)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 769, fols. 184, 176v, 170r–175, 185r–192v (13th/14th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Gallica
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, gr. 979, fols. 371, 375r–378v (13th/14th cent.) ~ Pinakes; Gallica
Halkin, François. “Les actes apocryphes de saint Héraclide de Chypre, disciple de l’apôtre Barnabé.” AnBoll 82 (1964): 133–69 (Greek text from the Paris manuscripts, pp. 139–68).
3.1.1 Armenian
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Arm. 117 (1307)
Esbroeck, Michel van. “Les Actes arméniens de saint Héraclide de Chypre.” AnBoll 103 (1985): 115–62 (edition with facing French translation, pp. 128–62).
3.2 Translations
3.2.1 English
Pohlsander, Hans A., ed. Sources for the History of Cyprus. Vol. 7: Greek Texts of the Fourth to Fifteenth Centuries. Altamont, NY: Greece and Cyprus Research Center, 1999 (partial, pp. 35–38).
3.2.2 French
Esbroeck, Michel van. “Les Actes arméniens de saint Héraclide de Chypre.” AnBoll 103 (1985): 115–62 (Armenian edition with facing French translation, pp. 128–62).
3.3 General Works
Delahaye, “Saints de Chypre.” AnBoll 26 (1907): 161–301 (see pp. 238–39).
Furlong, Dean. The John also Called Mark. Reception and Transformation in Christian Tradition. WUNT II 518. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2020 (Life of Auxibius discussed, pp. 62–63).
Maraval, Pierre. Lieux saints et pèlerinages d’Orient. 2004. Repr. Paris: Cerf, 2011 (p. 360).
Nau, François. “La légende des saints évêques Héraclide, Mnason et Rhodon ou l’apostolicité de l’Église de Chypre.” Revue de l’Orient Chrétien 12 (1907): 125–38 (includes summary of the Greek text and edition of the letter from ch. 7, pp. 136–38).
Nicklas, Tobias, with Mari Mamyan. “Paul and Barnabas to Herakleides (and Mnason): An Unknown Apocryphal Letter in the Acts of Herakleides.” Forthcoming.
Noret, Jacques, ed. “Vita Sancti Auxibii.” Pages 139–202 in Hagiographica cypria. Sancti Barnabae laudatio auctore Alexandro monacho. Edited by Peter Van Deun and Jaques Noret. CCSG 26. Turnhout: Brepols; Leuven: University Press, 1993 (see pp. 160–61 for parallels with Acts Herac.).