Acts of John

A legendary document belonging to the early third century, purporting to give information about the life and work and death of John the Apostle. The original in Greek consisted of 2,500 lines. Large sections of this survive, although the beginning is lost. We also have a Latin version of some otherwise unknown incidents involving John, and several fragmentary MSS. The work probably originated from Ephesus, which is the setting for many of the events and traditionally the place where John died. The work is remarkable as much for the words attributed to John as for the works. It contains also a docetic account of the death of Jesus. The Acta Ioannis came eventually to be regarded as the work of the Valentinian Leucius, a supposed disciple of the apostle. In the fifth century an orthodox revision of the Acts of John was ascribed to one Prochorus.