http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acts_of_Andrew

The Acts of Andrew (Acta Andreae), is the earliest testimony of the acts and miracles of the Apostle Andrew. The surviving version is alluded to in a 3rd century work, the Coptic Manichaean Psalter, providing a terminus ante quem, according to its editors, M.R. James (1924)<1>

By the 4th century, the Acta Andreae were relegated to the New Testament apocrypha.

Traditionally the text is said to have been based on the Acts of John and the Acts of Peter, and even to have had the same author, the "Leucius Charinus" who is credited with all the 2nd-century romances.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leucius_Charinus

Leucius, called Leucius Charinus by the Patriarch Photios I of Constantinople in the ninth century, is the name applied to a cycle of what M. R. James termed "Apostolic romances"<1> that seem to have had wide currency long before a selection were read aloud at the Second Council of Nicaea (787) and rejected. Leucius is not among the early heretical teachers mentioned by name in Irenaeus' Adversus haereses (ca. 180). Most of the works seem to have come into existence in the mid-third century.<2>

The fullest account of Leucius is that given by Photius (Codex 114), who describes a book, called The Circuits of the Apostles, which contained the Acts of Peter, John, Andrew, Thomas, and Paul, that was purported to have been written by "Leucius Charinus" which he judged full of folly, self-contradiction, falsehood, and impiety (Wace); Photius is the only source to give his second name, "Charinus". Epiphanius (Haer. 51.427) made Leucius a disciple of John who joined his master in opposing the Ebionites, a characterization that appears unlikely, since other patristic writers agree that the cycle attributed to him was Docetist, denying the humanity of Christ. Augustine knew the cycle, which he attributed to "Leutius", which his adversary Faustus of Mileve thought had been wrongly excluded from the New Testament canon by the Catholics. Gregory of Tours found a copy of the Acts of Andrew from the cycle and made an epitome of it, omitting the "tiresome" elaborations of detail he found in it

The Leucian Acts were most likely redacted at a later date to express a more orthodox view.



In a separate text known by the name of the Acts of Andrew and Matthias, which was edited by Max Bonnet in 1898<5> and translated by M.R. James,<6> Matthias is portrayed as a captive in a country of anthropophagi (literally man-eaters, i.e. cannibals) and is rescued by Andrew and Jesus; it is no longer considered to be a portion of the text of Acta Andreae.

Like those in the two books of Acts on which it appears based, the miracles are extremely supernatural, and highly extravagant. For example, aside from the usual miracles of raising the dead, healing the blind, and so forth, he survives being placed amongst fierce animals, calms storms, and defeats armies simply by crossing himself. There is also a great deal of moralising - Andrew causes an embryo which was illegitimate to die, and also rescues a boy from his incestuous mother, an act resulting in her laying false charges against them, requiring God to send an earthquake to free Andrew and the boy. So much does the text venture into the realm of extreme supernatural events, that, while being crucified, Andrew is still able to give sermons for three days. The writings in these codices, dating back to the 2nd century AD,<2> comprised 52 mostly Gnostic tractates (treatises), believed to be a library hidden by monks from the nearby monastery of St Pachomius when the possession of such banned writings, denounced as heresy, was made an offence.

The contents of the Coptic-bound codices were written in Coptic, though the works were probably all translations from Greek. Most famous of these works must be the Gospel of Thomas, of which the Nag Hammadi codices contain the only complete copy.

All the texts have been public since 1975, and are available online.

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D0%B3-%D0%A5%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%B4%D0%B8

Библиотека Наг-Хаммади

Больше всего Наг-Хаммади известен тем, что здесь в декабре 1945 местные крестьяне обнаружили запечатанный глиняный кувшин, содержавший тринадцать старинных папирусов в кожаном переплёте, а также страницы, вырванные из другой книги. Крестьяне сожгли одну из книг и частично ещё одну (включая обложку). Таким образом, до наших дней дошли десять книг (одна без обложки). Свитки датируются II веком нашей эры и содержат тексты гностического христианства в его «позднем варианте». Предположительно, кодексы принадлежали монахам из первого христианского монастыря, основанного св. Пахомием. На это указывают письма сподвижников Пахомия, из которых были изготовлены обложки кодексов.