Pseudo-John

Pseudo-John is the name given to pseudepigraphical authors who wrote in the name of various early Christian church leaders named John to give their own works greater legitimacy. They include:

• Works written in the name of John the Apostle or John the Evangelist:
  • Apocalypse of Pseudo-John, a pseudo-prophetic text based on the Book of Daniel 10.1-12.13,45 concerning the end of time.^[1]
  • Liber de Dormitione Mariae, an apocryphal narrative of the death of Mary^[2] (5th^[3] or 6th^[2] century)
  • Apocryphon of John, a 2nd-century Sethian text

• Works written in the name of John of Damascus, called the Pseudo-Damascene, Pseudo–John of Damascus, or Pseudo–John Damascene:
  • Epistula ad Theophilum imperatorem de sanctis et venerandis imaginibus
  • Sacra parallela
  • De iis qui in fide dormierunt (Concerning those who have died in the faith).^[4] Rejected as spurious by Francisco Suárez, Bellarmine, and Le Quien, on account of its doctrinal discrepancies and its fabulous character.^[5]

• Works written in the name of John Chrysostom, called Pseudo-Chrysostom:
  • Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, comments on the Gospel of Matthew ostensibly collected from secondary manuscripts.
  • The Encomium of John the Baptist, an apocryphal hagiography of John the Baptist.

The name 'Pseudo-John' is not used for the authors of the Johannine works (the Gospel of John, the Epistles of John, and the Book of Revelation). The authors of some of these texts give their name as John, but did not write in the name of someone else.

References

1. Thomas, David Richard, ed. (2007), The Bible in Arab Christianity, Leiden: Brill, p. 78, ISBN 978-90-04-15558-9
2. Tischendorf, Constantin, ed. (1866), "Iohannis, Liber de dormitione Mariae", Apocalypses Apocryphae, Leipzig: Mendelssohn (repr. 1966, Hildesheim: Olms).
3. John Haldane, Faithful Reason: Essays Catholic and Philosophical, p.97, 2004, Routledge, ISBN 9780415207034
4. (Pseudo)-John of Damascus (1712) [756]. "De iis qui in fide dormierunt". Opera omnia quae exstant. Vol. 2. Translated by Michel Le Quien. Reprinted in J. P. Migne, ed. (1864). Patrologia Graeca. Vol. 95. p. 247–278.
5.  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. John Damascene". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.