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Epistle to the Laodiceans

An Epistle to the Laodiceans, consisting of 20 short lines, is found in some editions of the Vulgate, known only in Latin, purporting to be the epistle of Paul to the Laodiceans mentioned in the Epistle to the Colossians. It is almost unanimously believed to be pseudepigraphical, being a pastiche of phrases taken from the genuine Pauline epistles. Adolf von Harnack suggested that it was written by either Marcion or one of his followers, also claimed by the Muratorian_fragment and named as part of Marcion's Bible canon, but despite scholarly examination his suggestion cannot be substantiated or denied. In any case, this little work contains almost no doctrine, teachings or narrative not found elsewhere, and its exclusion from the Biblical canon has little effect. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikisource, The Free Library, is a Wikimedia project to build a free wiki library of primary source texts, along with translations of source-texts into any language and other supporting materials. ... For the Arthurian Vulgate Cycle, see Lancelot-Grail Cycle. ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... An epistle is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of persons, usually a letter and a very formal, often didactic and elegant one. ... An early portrait of the Apostle Paul. ... Denizli is a province of Turkey in Western Anatolia. ... The Epistle to the Colossians is a book of the Bible New Testament. ... Pseudepigrapha (from the Greek words pseudos = lie and epigrapho = write) is a text or a number of texts whose claimed authorship or authenticity is incorrect. ... The word pastiche describes a literary or other artistic genre. ... Adolf von Harnack, German theologian Adolf von Harnack (May 7, 1851 - June 10, 1930), was a German theologian and science administrator. ... Marcion of Sinope (ca. ... Among Christians, the Muratorian fragment is known as a copy of perhaps the oldest known list of New Testament books that were accepted as canonical by the churches known to its anonymous compiler. ... The Biblical canon is an exclusive list of books written during the formative period of the Jewish or Christian faiths; the leaders of these communities believed these books to be inspired by God or to express the authoritative history of the relationship between God and his people (although there may...

The text was almost unanimously considered pseudepigraphal when Biblical canon was decided upon, and does not appear in any Greek copies of the Bible at all, nor is it known in Syriac or other versions. Jerome wrote in the 4th century, "it is rejected by everyone" (Lives of Illustrious Men, Chapter 5). However, it evidently gained a certain degree of respect. It appeared in over 100 surviving early Latin copies of the Bible. According to Biblia Sacra iuxta vulgatum versionem, there are Latin Vulgate manuscripts containing this epistle dating between the 6th and 12th century, including Latin manuscripts F (Fuldensis), M, Q, B, D (Ardmachanus), C, and Lambda. The epistle also appeared in all the early German translations before Martin Luther's, and was thus evidently considered canon by much of the western church for quite some time. , by Albrecht Dürer Jerome (ca. ... Luther at age 46 (Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1529) The Luther seal Martin Luther (November 10, 1483–February 18, 1546) was a German theologian, an Augustinian monk, and an ecclesiastical reformer whose teachings inspired the Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines and culture of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions. ...

In the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul, after instructing them to send an Epistle to Laodicea, adds: "read that which is from the Laodiceans". This most probably regards a circular letter, the canonical "Ephesians"; but it has been held to be a lost letter to the Laodicean Christians. The apocryphal epistle is generally considered a transparent attempt to supply this supposed lost sacred document. The Epistle to the Colossians is a book of the Bible New Testament. ...

Initial text from the Catholic Encyclopedia, 1908, with some modernization. The Catholic Encyclopedia (also referred to as the Old Catholic Encyclopedia today) is an English-language encyclopedia published in 1913 by the The Encyclopedia Press, designed to give authoritative information on the entire cycle of Catholic interests, action and doctrine. // History The writing of the encyclopedia began on January 11...