arly Christian romances are
described as Gnostical in origin, with something of the germs of
Manichaean dualism which were held in the rich and complex matrix
of Gnosticism, while the spirit of these romances is also largely
Montanist, with the combined chastity and ardor, the pronounced
feminine tone due to its origin in Asia Minor, which marked
Montanism. It cannot be denied, however, that they largely passed
into the main stream of Christian tradition, and form an
essential and important part of that tradition. (Renan, in his
_Marc-Aurele_, Chs. IX and XV, insists on the immense debt of
Christianity to Gnostic and Montanist contributions). A
characteristic example is the story of "The Betrothed of India"
in _Judas Thomas's Acts_ (Wright's _Apocryphal Acts_). Judas
Thomas was sold by his master Jesus to an Indian merchant who
required a carpenter to go with him to India. On disembarking at
the city of Sandaruk they heard the sounds of music and singing,
and learnt that it was the wedding-feast of the King's daughter,
which all must attend, rich and poor, slaves and freemen,
strangers and citizens. Judas Thomas went, with his new master,
to the banquet and reclined with a garland of myrtle placed on
his head. When a Hebrew flute-player came and stood over him and
played, he sang the songs of Christ, and it was seen that he was
more beautiful than all that were there and the King sent for him
to bless the young couple in the bridal chamber. And when all
were gone out and the door of the bridal chamber closed, the
bridegroom approached the bride, and saw, as it were, Judas
Thomas still talking with her. But it was our Lord who said to
him, "I am not Judas, but his brother." And our Lord sat down on
the bed beside the young people and began to say to them:
"Remember, my children, what my brother spake with you, and know
to whom he committed you, and know that if ye preserve yourselves
from this filthy intercourse ye become pure temples, and are
saved from afflictions manifest and hidden, and from the heavy
care of children, the end whereof is bitter sorrow. For their
sakes ye will become oppressors and robbers, and ye will be
grievously tortured for their injuries. For children are the
cause of many pains; either the King falls upon them or a demon
lays hold of them, or paraly