The Grotesque Body in Early Christian Discourse by Czachesz Istvan

Author:Czachesz, Istvan
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-317-54404-3
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Crossing the Boundaries

From the examples discussed in this chapter, we can conclude that the main thrust of previous scholarship, focusing on the “polymorphy of Christ,” did not do justice to the textual evidence, which does not restrict the phenomenon of polymorphy to the figure of the Savior.28 Scholars have pointed out in particular parallels between the Apocryphal Acts, Origen, and the Gospel of Philip, all of which claim that Christ appeared to people according to their capacities.29 Peter, for example, teaches in Acts of Peter 20–21:

When deceit was spread, the Lord was moved by compassion to show himself in another form [in alia figura ostendere] and to appear in the image of man… For each of us saw him as his capacity permitted… He will also comfort you, so that you may love him, this Great and Small One, this Beautiful and Ugly One, this Young Man and Old Man, appearing in time, yet utterly invisible in eternity.

The particular forms mentioned by Peter in this passage clearly correspond to the ones used by the Acts of John. In Acts of Thomas 153, the apostle speaks about the “polymorphous Jesus” who appears “according to the measure of our manhood” (ὁ φαινόμενος κατὰ τὴν μετρίαν ἡμῶν ἀνθρωπότητα). In the Gospel of Philip we read,30

He [Jesus] did not appear as he was, but in the manner in which they would be able to see him … He appeared to the great as great. He appeared to the small as small. He appeared to the angels as an angel, and to men as men.

Origen repeatedly states this view in connection with the synoptic transfiguration narrative.31 In Against Celsus 2.64, he writes,

He did not admit all His apostles [to this sight], but only Peter, and James, and John, because they alone were capable of beholding His glory on that occasion… He did not appear the same person to the sick, and to those who needed His healing aid, as to those who were able by reason of their strength to go up the mountain along with Him.32

In his Commentary on Matthew 12.37, Origen writes, “And according to this, indeed, you will say that it is possible for Jesus to be transfigured before some with this transfiguration, but before others at the same time not to be transfigured.”33 These parallels are indeed impressive, yet they do not provide an explanation of polymorphy in the Apocryphal Acts. One problem is posed by the dating of the texts: it is more possible that Origen and the Gospel of Philip were influenced by the Apocryphal Acts than the other way around.34 But even if we permitted that some of the traditions mentioned in those authors predated the Apocryphal Acts, they would shed little light on the problem. First, Origen’s works and the Gospel of Philip do not contain the word “polymorphy” or “polymorphous.” In the Apocryphal Acts, in contrast, the word is used several times. Second, polymorphy in the Apocryphal Acts means Jesus’ appearances in many different forms. He

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