The Emperor Constantine converted the Roman Empire to Christianity in 312 and consolidated it with the First Council of Nicaea in 325 in which the Nicene Creed was drafted.
However, as the temples of gods went out along with their mythologies, a certain degree of Christian shrines came in with their heros and their miracle stories.
I’ve noticed that many pseudepigrapha writings have certain elements in common:
- A Biblical figure is identified by where they came from, where they went to and where they lived. There is a historical framework. They are also idenified by who they were related to.
- Dialogue is used to dramatize the story, but the dialogue is ficticious. Playwrites use diaglogue to make events come to life for the audience. Pseudepigrapha books often read like scripts of plays for popular audiences.
- The story always includes the performance of an amazing miracle.
- There is usually a moral to be drawn out of the narration of events. Heroic virtues bring blessings.
The style of writing in pseudepigrapha works makes it likely that they were actually written as scripts for mystery plays to be performed for entertainment within the context of sacred liturgy. They were a means to faith, more than a desire to be well-informed.
Gospel of James
Content: Joaquin and Anna are childless and then conceive Mary miraculously without intercourse. They make a promise like Hannah (or Anna) the mother of the prophet Samuel to take Mary to the Temple aged three.
Mary lives at the Temple until aged 12. At puberty she could not stay at the Temple any longer so a priest is chosen to marry her. Joseph is a widower with children and old, but he is chosen to marry Mary. He takes her to his house. She conceives Jesus miraculously. Salome a midwife finds that Mary is still a virgin after giving birth to Jesus.
It reads like a play script, and not like the letter of James in the Bible.
earlychristianwritings.com
Infancy Gospel of James
The Apocryphal New Testament Translation and notes by M. R. James Oxford Clarendon Press 1924
Book of Mary’s Repose
Content: There is a dialogue between the apostles Paul and Peter. The apostle John says you must be a virgin or you will not see God. John is proud to be a virgin. Andrew says you must preach that you must leave everything you have. Paul says let people marry and fast. The apostles debated Paul’s words.
The apostles were sitting at the entrance to Mary’s tomb. Jesus appears with an angel saying that Paul is right and the mysteries have been revealed to him. Jesus’ greeting is:
“Greetings Peter, the bishop, and greetings John, the virgin, you who are my heirs. Greetings Paul, the advisor of good things.”
It was translated by Stephen Shoemaker from Syriac 1865.
Although the dialogue is invented in the same way a playwright invents dialogue, it shows that the apostle John was identified as a virgin. This relates to the stories of the virgin at Ephesus.
The Passing of Mary
By Joseph of Arimathea
Story line: The apostles gather because Mary is dying in Jerusalem, but Thomas is not there. Thomas is in India on mission. He is brought from India to Mount Olivet miraculously. He sees Mary being assumed into heaven out of her tomb. He calls out to her and she threw down her girdle or belt as a testimony for him to take.
Thomas tells the other apostles that Mary has been taken up to heaven. After three days they go and open her tomb, and find it to be empty. There is no body in the tomb, only a shroud showing that Thomas was right and she had been assumed into heaven.
The manuscript is signed off by “Joseph of Arimathea who laid the Lord’s body in my sepulchre”, as if he wrote this testimony.
Clerus.org Text of manuscript in html
Mystery Plays, Miracle Plays and Passion Plays
As early as the 5th century living tableaux were introduced into sacred services as liturgical dramas. Local people dressed up as Biblical figures and stood in front as songs were sung and a story told.
At first Mystery Plays were written by monks and priests who participated in the performance of them. Later this was forbidden by the Pope and so the craft guilds took on the plays.
Mystery Plays about Biblical characters led on to Miracle Plays about the lives of saints and the miracles performed by them. Another form was and still is Passion Plays performed on Good Friday.
I think that pseudepigrapha writings were the forerunners of Medieval mystery plays as the style of dialogue is clearly a playwright method of portraying a story.
Merry and True 