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The Acta Thomae

The Acta Thomae, a Christian document that was declared heretical in the year 495 C.E. by a decree of Gelasius, records the account of the attendance of Jesus Christ in Taxila at a marriage ceremony, long after the crucifixion, in the year 49 CE. Taxilla was located in what is now called the Punjab province of Pakistan.

The Acta Thomae records an account showing that Jesus Christ was in Taxila at a marriage ceremony, along with Thomas, in the year 49 CE, a good number of years after the crucifixion. Taxila was located in what is now called the Punjab Province of Pakistan. This account appears to verify an account mentioned in St. Irenaeus’s work, Against Heresies, that says that Jesus was seen alive in Asia long after the event of the cross. The Acta Thomae is believed to have been compiled sometime before 220 CE

In the following account, the bridegroom saw whom he thought was Thomas talking to his new bride, but it was not Thomas. Both Thomas and Jesus attended this wedding, and one of them was often mistaken for the other:

“Thomas after the ceremonies left the palace. The bridegroom (Abdagases) lifted the curtain that separated him from his bride. He saw Thomas, as he supposed, conversing with her. Then he asked in surprise: ‘How Canst though be found here? Did I not see thee go out before all?’ And the Lord answered: ‘I am not Thomas, but his brother.’”

(Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Edinburgh, T&T Clark, 25 Vols. 1869, Vol. 20:46)

Here is another translation of this account:

“And the king desired the groomsmen to depart out of the bride-chamber; and when all were gone out and the doors were shut, the bridegroom lifted up the curtain of the bride-chamber to fetch the bride unto him. And he saw the Lord Jesus bearing the likeness of Judas Thomas and speaking with the bride; even of him that but now had blessed them and gone out from them, the apostle; and he saith unto him: ‘Wentest thou not out in the sight of all? How then art thou found here?’ But the Lord said to him: ‘I am not Judas which is also called Thomas but I am his brother.’”

The words of advice later given by Jesus to the young newlywed couple regarding marriage and conjugal relations are so absurd and outrageous that it would seem to call into question the above account (assuming that what is recorded is what he actually said).

Also, all throughout the Acta Thomae, Thomas refers to Jesus as the “Lord, God.” Certainly if Jesus was traveling with Thomas as a human being, he would not refer to him as God. But we include this account from the Acta Thomae because despite the standard Christology that flows throughout the Acta Thomae, and the absurd advice supposedly given by Jesus to the newlyweds, it is extremely difficult to ignore the fact that the Acta Thomae records an appearance of Jesus in India.

Was the appearance mystical? Is the Acta Thomae a total and complete fraud?

The answers to these questions are difficult, yet the Acta Thomae made a point to mention that a living and walking and talking Jesus was in India with Thomas at a wedding ceremony after the Crucifixion.