Penitent Thief - Wikipedia

Thief pardoned by Jesus on the cross "Dysmas" and "Dismas" redirect here. For other uses, see Dysmas (name). "Good thief" redirects here. For other uses, see The Good Thief.

SaintDismas
15th-century Arab Christian Icon of Saint Dismas from the Berlin State Museum, reading "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom".
The Penitent Thief
Born	Galilee, Herodian Kingdom of Judea, Roman Empire
Died	c. 30–33 ADGolgotha Hill outside Jerusalem, Judea, Roman Empire
Cause of death	Crucifixion
Venerated in	Eastern Orthodox ChurchCatholic ChurchOriental Orthodox Church[1]
Canonized	c. 30–33 AD, Golgotha Hill outside Jerusalem, Judaea, Roman Empire by Jesus Christ[2]
Major shrine	Chapel of Saint Helena, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem
Feast	25 March (Roman Catholic), 26 March (Poland) Good Friday (Eastern Orthodox)
Attributes	Wearing a loincloth and either holding his cross or being crucified; sometimes depicted in Paradise
Patronage	Prisoners (especially condemned) Funeral directors Repentant thieves Merizo, Guam San Dimas, Mexico Church of Saint Dismas, Dannemora, New York

The penitent thief, also known as the good thief, wise thief, grateful thief, or thief on the cross, is one of two unnamed thieves in Luke the Evangelist's account of the crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke describes him asking Jesus to "remember him" when Jesus comes into his kingdom. The other, as the impenitent thief, challenges Jesus to save himself and both of them to prove that he is the Messiah.

He is officially venerated as a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Catholic Church and Oriental Orthodox church. The Roman Martyrology places his commemoration on 25 March, together with the Feast of the Annunciation, because of the ancient Christian tradition[3] that Christ (and the penitent thief) were crucified and died exactly on the anniversary of Christ's incarnation.

Name

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He is given the name Dismas in the Gospel of Nicodemus and is traditionally known in Catholicism as Saint Dismas[4] (sometimes Dysmas; in Spanish and Portuguese, Dimas). Other traditions have bestowed other names:

• In Coptic Orthodox tradition and the Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea, he is named Demas.[5][6]
• In the Codex Colbertinus, he is named Zoatham or Zoathan.[7]
• In the Arabic Infancy Gospel, he is named Titus.[8]
• In Russian Orthodox tradition, he is named Rakh (Russian: Рах).[9]

Gospels

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Narratives

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Two men were crucified at the same time as Jesus, one on his right and one on his left,[10] which the Gospel of Mark interprets as fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 53:12 ("And he was numbered with the transgressors").[11] According to the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, both of the thieves mocked Jesus;[12] Luke 23, however, relates:

39 Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us."

40 The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, "Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? 41 And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal." 42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom."

43 He replied to him, "Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."[13]

The Gospel of John account of Jesus' death merely names both of these criminals as "....and two others", without naming their crimes.

Harmonizations

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Various attempts have been made to reconcile the apparent contradiction between the account in Luke and the overlapping account in Mark and Matthew. Tatian omitted/rejected the Markan/Matthean tradition in his Diatessaron, and Ephrem the Syrian apparently followed suit. Origen of Alexandria, Eustathius of Antioch, and Epiphanius of Salamis described the differences as reflections of different, yet complementary authorial intent. Origen and his many heirs promoted a chronological harmonization, wherein both thieves at first reviled Jesus, only for one thief to repent on the spot. Epiphanius, followed by Ambrose of Milan and Augustine of Hippo, contended that Mark and Matthew, for the sake of concision, employed a figure of speech called syllepsis whereby the plural was used to indicate the singular.[14] Later commentators, such as Frederic Farrar, have drawn attention to the difference between the Greek words used: "The two first Synoptists tell us that both the robbers during an early part of the hours of crucifixion reproached Jesus (ὠνείδιζον), but we learn from St Luke that only one of them used injurious and insulting language to Him (ἐβλασφήμει)."[15]

"Amen ... today ... in paradise"

[edit] Main article: Paradise

The phrase translated "Amen, I say to you, today you will be in paradise" in Luke 23:43 ("Ἀμήν σοι λέγω σήμερον μετ’ ἐμοῦ ἔσῃ ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ."[16] Amén soi légo sémeron met' emoû ése en tôi paradeísoi) is disputed in a minority of versions and commentaries. The Greek manuscripts are without punctuation, so attribution of the adverb "today" to the verb "be", as "Amen I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise" (the majority view), or the verb "say", as "Amen I say to you today, you will be with me in paradise" (the minority view), is dependent on analysis of word order conventions in Koine Greek. The majority of ancient Bible translations also follow the majority view, with only the Aramaic language Curetonian Gospels offering significant testimony to the minority view.[17] As a result, some prayers recognize the good thief as the only person confirmed as a saint—that is, a person known to be in Paradise after death—by the Bible, and by Jesus himself. Thomas Aquinas wrote:

The words of The Lord (This day ... in paradise) must therefore be understood not of an earthly or corporeal paradise, but of that spiritual paradise in which all may be said to be, who are in the enjoyment of the divine glory. Hence to place, the thief went up with Christ to heaven, that he might be with Christ, as it was said to him: "Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise"; but as to reward, he was in Paradise, for he there tasted and enjoyed the divinity of Christ, together with the other saints.[18][19][20]

Unnamed

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Only the Gospel of Luke describes one of the criminals as penitent, and that gospel does not name him.

Augustine of Hippo does not name the thief, but wonders if he might not have been baptized at some point.[21]

According to tradition on the Scripture,[22] the good thief was crucified to Jesus's right and the other thief was crucified to his left. For this reason, depictions of the crucifixion of Jesus often show Jesus's head inclined to his right, showing his acceptance of the good thief. In the Russian Orthodox Church, both crucifixes and crosses are usually made with three bars: the top one, representing the titulus (the inscription that Pontius Pilate wrote and was nailed above Jesus' head); the longer crossbar on which Jesus' hands were nailed; and a slanted bar at the bottom representing the footrest to which Jesus' feet were nailed. The footrest is slanted, pointing up towards the good thief, and pointing down towards the other.

According to John Chrysostom, the thief dwelt in the desert and robbed or murdered anyone unlucky enough to cross his path. According to Pope Gregory I, he "was guilty of blood, even his brother's blood" (fratricide).[18][19][20]

Thief or revolutionary

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According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops commentary on John 18:40, the term commonly translated as thief – léstés[23] – can also mean "a guerrilla warrior fighting for nationalistic aims."[24]

Named

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"Dismas"

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Luke's unnamed penitent thief was later assigned the name Dismas in an early Greek recension of the Acta Pilati and the Latin Gospel of Nicodemus, portions of which may be dated to the late fourth century. The name "Dismas" may have been adapted from a Greek word meaning "dying".[4] The other thief's name is given as Gestas. In the Syriac Infancy Gospel's Life of the Good Thief (Histoire Du Bon Larron French 1868, English 1882), Augustine of Hippo said, the thief said to Jesus, the child: "O most blessed of children, if ever a time should come when I shall crave Thy Mercy, remember me and forget not what has passed this day."[18][19][20]

Anne Catherine Emmerich saw the Holy Family "exhausted and helpless"; according to Augustine of Hippo and Peter Damian, the Holy Family met Dismas, in these circumstances.[25] Pope Theophilus of Alexandria (385–412) wrote a Homily on the Crucifixion and the Good Thief, which is a classic of Coptic literature.

"Demas"

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In Coptic Orthodoxy, he is named Demas.[5] This is the name given to him in the Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea.[6]

"Titus"

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The apocryphal Syriac Infancy Gospel calls the two thieves Titus and Dumachus, and adds a tale about how Titus (the good one) prevented the other thieves in his company from robbing Mary and Joseph during their flight into Egypt.

"Rakh"

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In the Russian tradition, the Good Thief's name is "Rakh" (Russian: Рах).[citation needed]

Sainthood

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The Catholic Church remembers the Good Thief on 25 March. In the Roman Martyrology, the following entry is given: "Commemoration of the holy thief in Jerusalem who confessed to Christ and canonized him by Jesus himself[26] on the cross at that moment and merited to hear from him: 'Today you will be with me in Paradise.'" A number of towns, including San Dimas, California, are named after him. Also, parish churches are named after him, such as the Church of the Good Thief in Kingston, Ontario, Canada—built by convicts at nearby Kingston Penitentiary, Saint Dismas Church in Waukegan, Illinois, the Old Catholic Parish of St Dismas in Coseley and the Church of St. Dismas, the Good Thief, a Catholic church at the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora, New York.

The Eastern Orthodox Church remembers him on Good Friday, along with the crucifixion. The Synaxarion offers this couplet in his honor:

Eden's locked gates the Thief has opened wide, By putting in the key, "Remember me."

Prayer and music

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He is commemorated in a traditional Eastern Orthodox prayer (the troparion tou deipnou) said before receiving the Eucharist: "I will not speak of Thy Mystery to Thine enemies, neither like Judas will I give Thee a kiss; but like the thief will I confess Thee: Remember me, O Lord in Thy Kingdom."[27] According to the liturgical scholar Robert Taft, this hymn was inserted into the Holy Thursday liturgy in Constantinople in the late 6th century.[28] In the Eastern Orthodox Church, one of the hymns of Good Friday is entitled, "The Good Thief" (or "The Wise Thief", Church Slavonic: "Razboinika blagorazumnago"), and speaks of how Christ granted Dismas Paradise.[29] Several compositions of this hymn[30] are used in the Russian Orthodox Church and form one of the highlights of the Matins service on Good Friday.

Art

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The earliest depiction of the thief may be the wooden relief of the doors of Saint Sabine in Rome. Here the good thief is apparently located to the right side of Jesus, similar to the famous late sixth-century depiction of the crucifixion in the Rabbula Gospels.[31]

In medieval art, St Dismas is often depicted as accompanying Jesus in the Harrowing of Hell as related in 1 Peter 3:19–20 and the Apostles' Creed (though neither text mentions the thief). Notable books that explore the place of the good thief in art include monographs by Mitchell Merback (The Thief, the Cross, and the Wheel), Mikeal Parsons and Heidi Hornik (Illuminating Luke, vol. 3), and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber (Le voleur de paradis).[citation needed]

Drama

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In Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, the main characters Vladimir and Estragon briefly discuss the inconsistencies between the Four Evangelists' accounts of the penitent and impenitent thieves. Vladimir concludes that since only Luke says that one of the two was saved, "then the two of them must have been damned [...] why believe him rather than the others?"[32]

Missionary work

[edit] Main article: Religion in United States prisons

Dismas Ministry is a US based national Catholic prison outreach that provides faith, prayer and scripture resources to prisoners and those who minister to them in all 50 US states.

In popular culture

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Literature

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This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

In Poul Anderson's Technic History (a science fiction story cycle), Nicholas van Rijn (2376 to c. 2500), CEO of Solar Spice and Liquors keeps a Martian sandroot statue of Saint Dismas, to whom he frequently burns candles. At one point he runs out of candles and stuffs a large number of IOUs under the statue. He also comments "... Ho! Saint Dismas will think he was martyred in a grease fire."

Dismas Hardy is the main protagonist in a series of legal and crime thriller novels by John Lescroart.

Rob Seabrook's 2021 novel Beneath the Tamarisk Tree, tells the story of St Dismas, imagining his background that led him to the point of crucifixion and what his arrival in heaven may have looked like.

Music

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The thief features in Christian popular music, as in Christian rock band Third Day's 1995 song "Thief", and the name of the Christian rock band Dizmas. The thief is the narrator in Sydney Carter's controversial song "Friday Morning".[33]

In "Vida Loka, Pt. 2", the Brazilian rap group Racionais MC's, refer to Dismas as a "first thug life of all time".[34]

Christian metal band Holyname’s last song on their self titled album is called “St. Dismas” and is about his and Jesus Christ's crucifixions.

The rapper Ka’s final album prior to his death was titled The Thief Next to Jesus.

Film

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Dismas is prominently mentioned throughout the 1946 film The Hoodlum Saint starring William Powell, Esther Williams and Angela Lansbury.

In the 1967 romantic comedy caper film Fitzwilly, butler mastermind Claude Fitzwilliam (Dick Van Dyke) and his larcenous staff operate St. Dismas Thrift Shoppe in Philadelphia, a fictional charity where they send and store their stolen loot.

San Dimas, California and San Dimas High School are featured in the Bill & Ted media franchise.

He is portrayed by Stelio Savante in the award-winning Good Friday film Once We Were Slaves directed by Dallas Jenkins[35]

In the 2022 film Clerks III, Elias mentions the Good Thief multiple times, quoting him as saying "Jesus did no wrong, whereas we are but thieves". In a running gag, everybody hears "but thieves" as "butt thieves" and wonders out loud what that means.

Games

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Saint Dismas acts as the inspiration for the Highwayman character in Darkest Dungeon and its sequel Darkest Dungeon II. The primary inspiration for this character comes from the title "Penitent Thief" that was given to Saint Dismas.

Saint Dismas also appears in the Naughty Dog game Uncharted 4: A Thief's End, as a major story point for protagonist Nathan Drake to travel to his cathedral in Scotland.

See also

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• Impenitent thief – Gestas, the other thief crucified alongside Jesus
• Life of Jesus in the New Testament
• Passion (Christianity)
• List of names for the biblical nameless
• San Dimas, California, a city named after Dismas
• Saint Dismas, patron saint archive

References

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1. ^ "How was the Penitent Thief saved without baptism? - Comparative Theology | St-Takla.org". st-takla.org.
2. ^ "Saint Dismas – Saint Dismas".
3. ^ Holweck, Frederick George (1907). "Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary" . In Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
4. ^ a b Lawrence Cunningham, A brief history of saints (2005), page 32.
5. ^ a b Gabra, Gawdat (2009). The A to Z of the Coptic Church. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 120. ISBN 9780810870574.
6. ^ a b Ehrman, Bart; Plese, Zlatko (2011). The Apocryphal Gospels: Texts and Translations. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 582. ISBN 9780199732104. a man named demas.
7. ^ Metzger, Bruce M.; Ehrman, Bart D. (2005). The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 270. ISBN 978-019-516667-5.
8. ^ "Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Apocrypha of the New Testament/The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of the Saviour". Wikisource. 19 April 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
9. ^ Renate Gerstenlauer, The Rakh Icon: Discovery of its True Identity, Legat Verlag, 2009 (ISBN 978-3932942358). Cited at "The Repentant Thief Who?". Icons and their interpretation. 17 December 2011. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
10. ^ Matthew 27:38; Mark 15:27–28,32; Luke 23:33; John 19:18
11. ^ Isaiah 53:12
12. ^ Matthew 27:44; Mark 15:32
13. ^ 23:39–43
14. ^ Dods, Marcus, ed. (1873). "The Harmony of the Evangelists". The Works of Aurelius Augustine, Vol. 8. Translated by Salmond, S. D. S. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. pp. 430–1.
15. ^ Ferrar, F. W. (1891). The Gospel According to St. Luke. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. London: C. J. Clay and Sons. p. 351.
16. ^ SBL Greek New Testament. Cited according to https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+23%3A43&version=SBLGNT
17. ^ Metzger, Bruce M. (2006). A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. Hendrickson Publishers Marketing, LLC. ISBN 978-1-59856-164-7.
18. ^ a b c The Life of The Good Thief, Msgr. Gaume, Loreto Publications, 1868 2003.
19. ^ a b c Catholic Family News, April 2006.
20. ^ a b c Christian Order, April 2007.
21. ^ Stanley E. Porter, Anthony R. Cross Dimensions of baptism: biblical and theological studies 2002 Page 264 "It is interesting to notice, in this connection, that in his Retractions, Augustine wondered whether the thief might not in fact have been baptized at some earlier point (2.18)."
22. ^ Luke 23:32-33.
23. ^ "Strong's Greek: 3027. λῃστής (léstés) -- a robber". biblehub.com.
24. ^ "John, CHAPTER 18 | USCCB". bible.usccb.org.
25. ^ The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the Visions of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich, TAN Books, 1970.(No.2229)/(No.0107).
26. ^ Clark, John (3 April 2015). "Canonized from the Cross: How St Dismas Shows it's Never Too Late..." Seton Magazine. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
27. ^ "Common Prayers – Before and after Holy Communion". oca.org.
28. ^ "The Great Entrance".
29. ^ The text of the hymn (translated into English): "The Wise Thief didst Thou make worthy of Paradise in a single moment, O Lord. By the wood of thy Cross illumine me as well, and save me"
30. ^ One of the most notable versions of the hymn is Pavel Chesnokov's Razboinika blagorazumnago (The Wise Thief)
31. ^ Sheckler, Allyson Everingham; Leith, Mary Joan Winn (January 2010). "The Crucifixion Conundrum and the Santa Sabina Doors". Harvard Theological Review. 103 (1): 67–88. doi:10.1017/S0017816009990319. ISSN 1475-4517.
32. ^ Beckett, Samuel. The Complete Dramatic Works. Faber & Faber. p. 15.
33. ^ Sydney Carter, obituary Daily Telegraph, 16 March 2004
34. ^ Paviotti, Joel (16 October 2020). "Quem foi Dimas? O primeiro "Vida Loka" da história". Iconografia da História (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 27 June 2024.
35. ^ "Stelio Savante Receives Award of Merit for ONCE WE WERE SLAVES".

External links

[edit] Wikiquote has quotations related to Penitent thief. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dismas.

• The Wise Thief hymn from Eastern Orthodox Good Friday service (in English)
• Saint Dismas – Freebase

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Disciples	Apollos Barnabas Mary Magdalene Phoebe the Deaconess Philemon Priscilla and Aquila Silvanus Stephen Timothy Titus Seventy disciples
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Martyrs	21 Martyrs of Libya Abāmūn Abāmūn Abanoub Abaskhiron Alexandrian Martyrs Arianus Apollonia Barbara Bashnouna Basilides and Potamiana Catherine Chrysanthus and Daria Chiaffredo Colluthus Cosmas and Damian Cyprian and Justina Cyrus and John Dasya Demiana Dismas the Good Thief Dorothea Elias and Companions Epimachus Faustus, Abibus and Dionysius Felix and Regula Gabriel Abdel El-Metgaly Gallicanus George George Bishop of Assiut George El Mozahem Gereon Hor, Besoy, and Daydara Holy Innocents Imbaba Martyrs Isaac of Dafra John of Senhout Kosheh Martyrs Malati Marina the Martyr Maspero Martyrs Maurice Memnon Menas Mohrael Moura Nag Hammadi Otimus Philomena Philotheos Rais Sarah Sidhom Bishay Theban Legion Thecla Theoclia Theodora and Didymus Theodore Stratelates Varus Veronica Wadamoun Wanas
Church Fathers	Clement of Rome Ignatius of Antioch Polycarp Papias of Hierapolis Justin Martyr Irenaeus Clement of Alexandria Athanasius of Alexandria Basil of Caesarea Gregory of Nyssa Gregory of Nazianzus John Chrysostom Cyprian Hilary of Poitiers Ambrose Jerome Augustine of Hippo Aphrahat Ephrem the Syrian Isaac of Antioch Paul of Thebes Anthony the Great Pachomius the Great Arsenius the Great Poemen Macarius of Egypt Syncletica of Alexandria John Cassian Alexander of Jerusalem Porphyrius of Gaza Alexander I of Alexandria Dionysius of Alexandria Epiphanius of Salamis Nichola of Myra
Popes	Mark I Anianus Avilius Kedron Justus Eumenes Markianos Celadion Agrippinus Julian Demetrius I Heraclas Dionysius Theonas Felix of Rome Peter I Alexander I Athanasius I Peter II Timothy I Theophilus I Cyril I Dioscorus I Timothy II Peter III Dioscorus II Timothy III Theodosius I Peter IV Damian Anastasius Andronicus Benjamin I Agathon Simeon I Alexander II Theodore I Michael I John IV Mark II James Simeon II Joseph I Michael II Cosmas II Michael III Gabriel I Cosmas III Abraham Zacharias Cyril II Macarius II Matthew I Gabriel VII John XIV Cyril V Macarius III Cyril VI
Patriarchs and Bishops	Abadiu of Antinoe Abraam of Faiyum Alexander of Jerusalem Amun of Scetis Basil of Caesarea Bar Hebraeus Cyril of Jerusalem Epiphanius of Cyprus Eusebius of Caesarea Gregory of Nazianzus Gregory of Nyssa Gregory of Neocaesarea Ignatius of Antioch Jacob of Nisibis James of Jerusalem John of Nikiû John of Jerusalem Karas of California Mikhaeil of Asyut Narcissus of Jerusalem Nicholas of Myra Paphnutius of Scetis Paphnutius of Thebes Polycarp of Smyrna Porphyrius of Gaza Psote of Ebsay Serapion of Thmuis Severus of Antioch Severian of Gabala Yousab el-Abah of Girga
Monks and nuns	Abdel Messih El-Makari Abib and Apollo Abraham of Farshut Abraham of Scetis Amun Anthony the Great Awgin Bashnouna Hilarion Horsiesius Hospitius Mother Irini Isaac of Nineveh Isidore of Pelusium John Climacus John the Dwarf Macarius of Alexandria Macarius of Egypt Marina the Monk Moses the Black Nilus of Sinai Pachomius the Great Pambo Parsoma Patapios Paul of Thebes Paul of Tammah Paul the Simple Petronius Pishoy Poemen Samuel the Confessor Sisoes the Great Tekle Haymanot Theodorus of Tabennese Theodora of Alexandria
Anchorites	Karas Mary Misael Onuphrius Paphnutius Paul Pijimi Shenouda Thomas Zosimas
Missionaries	Gregory the Illuminator Maurice Nino Frumentius Nine Saints
Other saints	Ambrose Clement of Alexandria Didymus the Blind Euphrosyne Habib Girgis Candidus Simon the Tanner Three Holy Children Maximus and Domatius Verena
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