James the Brother of Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls I (116 page)

Chapter 26

Judas Thomas and Theuda the Brother of the Just One

Judas Thomas
and
Thaddaeus
among the Edessenes

According to Syriac sources and Eusebius, ‘Thomas’ or ‘Judas Thomas’ sent out Thaddaeus to evangelize the Edessenes; in the List of the Seventy attributed to Hippolytus, Thaddaeus is sent with ‘the letter to Augarus’. As Eusebius presents this tradition, which he claims to have found in the Royal Archives of Edessa: ‘After the Ascension of Jesus,
Judas
,
who is also called Thomas, sent Thaddaeus the Apostle, one of the Seventy
, to him.’ ‘Him’ is ‘King Abgar the Great, King of the Peoples beyond the Euphrates’ (Abgar
Uchama
– ‘Acbar, King of the Arabs’ in Tacitus); ‘the Seventy’ is clearly a variation on the Jerusalem Assembly (
Seventy
being the traditional number making up such Assemblies in Judaism). In Hippolytus, this ‘Thaddaeus who carried the letter to Augarus’ is clearly this same Judas, who preached the Truth to the Edessenes and to all Mesopotamia and died at Berytus (Beirut).

The story of the conversion of Queen Helen and her son to Judaism, found in Josephus and Talmudic tradition, has become in Eusebius and Syriac sources
the conversion of King Abgar to Christianity
. This is not to say that one can definitively identify Agbar with either Izates or Monobazus. One can’t. But it is to say that Acts has transformed or obliterated
very old
materials, so embarrassing were they felt to have been. We can also say that the form of Judaism to which Queen Helen converted was not completely normative, despite Rabbinic claims and attempts to take it over, but more ‘Zealot’ or ‘Jamesian’. This is implied by the extreme Naziritism associated with it even in Rabbinic sources, which do not really understand it any more than orthodox Christian sources do, because it is so alien to them. In fact, both the former and the latter show extreme hostility to this form of Judaism, particularly after the fall of the Temple.

Judas the Brother of James,
Thaddaeus
, and
Theuda

This brings us to the third brother of Jesus, the individual called Judas of James or Thaddaeus/‘Lebbaeus surnamed Thaddaeus’ in Gospel Apostle lists or the Papias fragment. Regardless of confusions of this ‘Judas of James’ or ‘Thaddaeus’ with Thomas, that is, ‘Judas Thomas’, we would identify this individual with the
third
brother of Jesus, Judas or Jude. The ‘Lebbaeus surnamed Thaddaeus’ in some manuscripts of Matthew and the Apostolic Constitutions most likely represents a garbling of ‘Alphaeus’ (his father) and/or ‘Cleophas’, though one must always keep in mind the linguistic relationship of ‘
Lebbaeus
’ to James’ additional mysterious cognomen
Oblias
.

There can be little doubt that what Matthew and the Syriac sources echoing him are trying to say (or not to say as the case may be) is that Thaddaeus is the son of Alphaeus or the brother of James too, or that he bore the same cognomen
Oblias
as James did (in the end it is the same). We should leave ‘Joseph’ as Jesus’ father out of this equation as a gloss, as Islam does. How puzzling it must have seemed to the author or redactor of some manuscripts of Matthew to have seen a tradition that Thaddaeus, who comes after ‘James the son of Alphaeus’, was also ‘the son of Alphaeus’. He produced ‘Lebbaeus who was surnamed Thaddaeus’, whatever he thought this was supposed to mean.

Thus in two variant manuscripts of the Apostolic Constitutions, following Matthew, ‘Thaddaeus, also called Lebbaeus and surnamed Judas
the Zealot
, preached the truth to the Edessenes and the people of Mesopotamia when Agbarus ruled over Edessa and was buried in Berytus in Phoenicia’. The Apostle list attributed to Hippolytus basically says the same thing, though now he becomes ‘
Judas who is also Lebbaeus
’. For Papias, ‘
Thaddaeus
’ is
one of the four brothers of ‘Jesus
’ whose mother was ‘
Mary the wife of Cleophas
’ or ‘
Alphaeus
’. Again, the conjunction of his name with that of ‘
Judas the Zealot
’ is made clear.

‘Berytus’, as we saw, is the city where Titus continued his birthday celebrations – begun earlier in Caesarea
in honour of his brother Domitian after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE
– where upwards of 2,500 prisoners perished in games with animals and gladiatorial fights! At the time of the burial there of this ‘
Thaddaeus
’ or ‘
Judas the Zealot
’, Berytus was attached to the Kingdom of Herod of Chalcis in Syria; however, we have already implicated this same ‘Herod of Chalcis’ in the beheading of ‘
Theudas’
, c. 45 CE! Apart from the parallel tradition in Syriac sources about the burial of ‘Addai’/‘Thaddaeus’ in Edessa, this is a startling bit of information because it confirms what we have been thinking all along.

Where ‘Thomas’ is concerned, Eusebius, following Origen, would limit his activities to Mesopotamia and Parthia (Persia). However, since the sphere of influence of the latter extended further East, traditions developed which took his activities even as far as India – traditions surviving to this day.
1

As far as Thomas’ death is concerned, there is little information though these Acts of Thomas echo, to some extent, the picture of Stephen’s death in Acts – only now this martydom occurs ‘
outside the city
’ of some far-off
Indian Kingdom
not ‘
outside of Jerusalem
’; and, instead of being beheaded as with ‘Theudas’ or ‘James the brother of John’, ‘Thomas’ is run through by four spearmen (
thus
)! However, like
Addai
/Thaddaeus in Syriac tradition,
his bones
are transferred to Edessa, though Indian traditions contest this.
2
These Acts, plus documents from Nag Hammadi such as the Book of Thomas the Contender, make no bones about the fact that Thomas was not only a brother of Christ, but his twin brother – therefore the appellation.
3

Regardless of the reliability of this ‘twinning’, once we draw the connection between Judas Thomas and Theudas which we have been suggesting, then the individual in these traditions does function as
Jesus redivivus
or, if one prefers, a
Joshua redivivus
. As in the case of John the Baptist and Elijah, but with more cause, Theudas attempts to part the River Jordan as Joshua did, though in the reverse direction, to leave not to enter. But before he could do so, Fadus the Roman Governor, ruling jointly with Herod of Chalcis, slew many of his followers and, taking him prisoner, ultimately beheaded him. Theudas was not the only one of these ‘impostors’ to attempt to re-create the miracles of
Joshua
in this period. Josephus describes someone active during the governorship of Felix (52–59 CE) whom he calls ‘an Egyptian’, who also ‘claimed to be a prophet’.
4
Josephus calls these kind of individuals ‘impostors’, ‘Brigands’, and ‘Deceivers’ as we have seen. These ‘banded together, inciting large numbers to revolt, encouraging them to claim their freedom and threatening to
kill any who submitted to Roman Rule
’, the opposite of ‘Jesus’ in the Gospels. These, ‘under the pretence of Divine inspiration, fostering Innovation and change in government, persuaded the masses to act like madmen and
led them out into the wilderness
in the belief that there God would show them
the signs of their impending Salvation
’.

We have related these ‘signs’ to those Jesus was supposed to have done in the Gospels at ‘
Cana of Galilee
’ or out ‘in the wilderness’, multiplying the loaves and the fishes ‘so that his Disciples believed on him’, or murmur, ‘this is truly the Prophet who is coming into the world’. But for Josephus, these men ‘
plundered the houses of the Rich
… till all Judea was consumed with the effects of their frenzy, the flames of which were fanned ever more fiercely till it came to out-and-out warfare’.
5

Both ‘Theudas’ and this ‘Egyptian’ are Joshua
redivivuses
(revived or reborn); Josephus even calls Theudas ‘an impostor’ or ‘magician’.
6
For Acts 5:36, he ‘claimed to be somebody’, which may be imbued with more significance than at first appears. This may be what was meant by this notion of ‘twinning’ in these various early Church sources so sympathetic to Thomas. None show any hesitation to identify Thomas as ‘Judas
Thomas
’, that is Judas the Twin, alias ‘
Didymus
Thomas’ or ‘Twin Twin’. We get the point.

The final proof of all these propositions comes in the two Apocalypses of James from Nag Hammadi. These not only relate one ‘Theuda’ to James, but to another individual, the ‘Addai’ one finds in Syriac texts (our Thaddaeus again), in both Apocalypses playing parallel roles,
recipients of information from
James. In the Second Apocalypse of James, Theuda is called ‘of the Just One and
a relative
of his’, meaning in this case ‘his brother’. Here is
direct
testimony, which we did not have from any other source previously, linking the name Theuda or Theudas to Jesus, James, or ‘the Just One’ in a familial manner. It was already clear that Thaddaeus alias ‘Lebbaeus’ alias ‘Judas, the brother of James’ was related in a
direct
family manner to James. Now we can see that probably ‘Theudas’ was too.

Where this ‘Judas the brother of James’ or Thaddaeus is concerned, we have various sources that identify him, in the manner of his second brother Simon, as ‘Judas the Zealot’. Again, this places him squarely in the Zealot/
Sicarii
tradition, which accords nicely with Acts’ understanding of James’ followers in Jerusalem as ‘
Zealots for the Law
’. Not only was James himself
exceedingly
zealous, but like the Righteous Teacher of the Scrolls we see him as the axis about which these Messianic and Revolutionary Movements turned in their desire to bring about the kind of
religious and social change
mentioned by Josephus.

That this individual – call him Theudas, call him Thaddaeus, call him Judas of James or Judas the Zealot, or call him Judas
Thomas
– also at some point
went to Edessa
, concentrates all our sources still further. In these, traditions about one ‘Addai’ begin to assert themselves, both in fourth-century documents like the ‘Doctrine of Addai’ or in Syriac sources generally – not to mention the Koran. But all these individuals begin to coalesce, including the individual known as Thomas or Judas
Thomas
, who, in addition to sending out Addai or Thaddaeus to King Agbarus, seems to have gone down to Edessa himself at some point, after which Mesopotamia and Parthia become the spheres of his activities. Since we can now place this ‘Judas the brother of James’ in ‘Mesopotamia and Parthia’, I think we can say he went to Adiabene as well – though probably not as far as India! This perhaps more appertains to Mani.

The Judas Who Taught the Truth to the Edessenes and James’ Brother

If we now return to Acts’ story about James sending down an individual called ‘Judas Barsabas’ with a letter to Antioch (
cum
Edessa or Adiabene) containing directives to overseas communities, particularly as related to
conversion of Gentiles
, while all the time keeping the ‘brother’ theme in mind and all the tricks and turns relating to it, a synthesis of sorts begins to emerge.

Recall how in Acts at the time supposedly of filling Judas’
Office
, Judas Barsabas had an
alter ego
‘Joseph called Barsabas who was surnamed Justus’. If we now identify Judas Thomas/Thaddeaus/Jude the brother of James/Judas Barsabas with Theudas, our problems and redundancies begin to disappear. Not only are Theudas and Thaddaeus homophones, this brings us to a clearer understanding of just who was involved in this evangelization of the Edessenes and, by extension, Adiabene – and events implied by these stories as well.

The individual in Acts 12:2, ‘beheaded by Herod with the sword’, is not actually ‘James the brother of John’ – more of our ‘shell game’ again. Nor is the individual, sent with the letter to Antioch in the ‘Agbarus’ conversion story in Eusebius, sent down by Judas
Thomas
. Rather he is sent down by ‘
James the brother of Jesus’
– though this individual
is James’ brother
. This is ‘Thaddaeus’ whom, as we have been seeing, is basically a double for ‘
Judas the brother of James
’, ‘
Theudas
’, and ‘
Judas the Zealot who preached the truth to the Edessenes
’. He also appears as ‘
Judas Barsabas’
in Acts, that is, James
sent his brother
, ‘
Judas the brother of James
’ down to Northern Syria (Edessa) and Mesopotamia (including Adiabene) for religious and/or revolutionary activity.