Leucius, called Leucius Charinus by Photios I of Constantinople in the ninth century, is named by Evodius, bishop of Uzala, as the author of a cycle of what M. R. James termed "Apostolic romances".^[1] These works seem to have had wide currency long before a selection from them was read aloud at the Second Council of Nicaea (787) and then rejected. Leucius is not among the early heretical teachers mentioned by name in Irenaeus' Adversus haereses (ca. 180). Most of the works seem to be products of the mid-third century.^[2][3]

The fullest account of Leucius is that given by Photius (Codex 114). He describes a book, called The Circuits of the Apostles, which contained the Acts of Peter, John, Andrew, Thomas, and Paul, that was purported to have been written by "Leucius Charinus". Photius considers it to be full of folly, self-contradiction, falsehood, and impiety (Wace); Photius is the only source to give his second name, "Charinus". Epiphanius (Haer. 51.427) made Leucius a disciple of John who joined his master in opposing the Ebionites, a characterization that appears unlikely, since other patristic writers agree that the cycle attributed to him was docetic, which denies the humanity of Jesus as Christ. Augustine knew the cycle, which he attributed to "Leutius", which his adversary Faustus of Mileve thought had been wrongly excluded from the New Testament canon by the Catholics. Gregory of Tours found a copy of the Acts of Andrew from the cycle and made an epitome of it, omitting the "tiresome" elaborations of detail he had found within.^[1]

The "Leucian Acts" are as follows:

• The Acts of John
• The Acts of Peter
• The Acts of Paul
• The Acts of Andrew
• The Acts of Thomas

The Leucian Acts were most likely redacted at a later date to express a more orthodox view.^[1] Of the five, the Acts of John and Thomas have the most remaining Gnostic content.

Concerning the crucifixion of Jesus, Photios of Constantinople reports thus what Leucius Charinus wrote:

“He said that Christ was not crucified, but another in his place, while he himself laughed at the mistake of the executioners. »

It is the oldest literary witness to this tradition found in the Muslim tradition and in particular in the Koran. While “the Jews” boasted of having crucified Jesus Isâ, the Quran in fact states: “Now they neither killed nor crucified him; but it was only a pretense! And those who discussed his subject are truly in uncertainty: they have no certain knowledge of it, they are only following conjectures and they certainly did not kill him (Quran, Surah IV, 157). »

This tradition is reported in more detail by Tabarî (839-923) as follows: “The Jews dragged ʿĪsā to a place where they had prepared a cross to crucify him, and a large number of Jews gathered around him. They had a leader named Yesûʿa, who was also among them. When they wanted to attach ʿĪsā to the cross, God removed him from their sight and gave the form and appearance of ʿĪsâ to Yesûʿa, their leader. […] When they looked, they saw Yesûʿa completely resembling Îsâ, and they seized him. He said: “I am Yesûʿa.” They replied: "You lie; you are ʿĪsā, you have hidden yourself from our sight by magic; now the magic has passed and you have become visible." He protested in vain that he was Yesûʿa; they killed him and tied him to the cross. As for ʿĪsā, God raised him to heaven as it is said in the Quran: “They did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it was only a pretense” (Quran IV, 157).”^[4]

• Henry Wace, Biographical Dictionary: Leucius