The
Epistola de morte apostolorum Petri et Pauli
(CPG 6631, CANT 197) is addressed to Timothy, the disciple of the apostle Paul, and attributed to Denys the Areopagite. It contains a hymn on St. Paul, the lament for the loss of Paul and Peter and an eyewitness report on St. Paul’s martyrdom in Rome. Its aim is to legitimize Denys as heir of St. Paul’s theology by linking him with Timothy to whom the main tractates of the
Corpus
Dionysiacum
were sent.
There are two recensions of the letter’s text. One recension exists in Syriac and Arminian, the other in Georgian and Latin, both part of hagiographic collections and both translating (lost) Greek exemplars. The two recensions are presented here in first critical editions, provided with philological introductions and a German translation. The oldest witness is a Syriac codex of the 9
th
century; the Georgian version is in a legendary of the 10
century. The Latin version surfaces in the 13
century and was taken up by the
Legenda aurea
. An Early New High German translation is edited as well.
In addition there is an edition and analysis of the homily BHL 2187, a neglected document (end of the 8
century) for the fusion of Denys, the martyr bishop of Paris, with Denys the Areopagite.