Akhmim Fragment

A portion of the Gospel of Peter found at Akhmîm in Upper Egypt in 1886-87 in the grave of a Christian monk. It is clear from the ornamentation of the manuscript that the scribe possessed no more of it than has now been discovered. Some scholars unite this incomplete fragment with the Apocalypse of Peter because a Greek text of part of the latter was discovered in the same grave. The earliest witness to the Gospel of Peter is Serapion, bishop at Antioch at the end of the second century, who agreed to the reading of this book in the church at Rhossus until he discovered its Docetic* teaching. From this it may be deduced that the Gospel of Peter probably came from Gnostic circles in Syria, but the Akhmîm fragment is evidence that it enjoyed circulation over a much wider area. Origen refers to such a gospel, but may not have been acquainted with its contents.