Dismas (the Penitent Thief)

d. AD 33 (crucified with Christ) · The good thief · Promised paradise · Golgotha

The Apostolic Age

Who Dismas (the Penitent Thief) was

The condemned criminal of Luke 23:39-43 who rebuked his fellow and asked to be remembered, and to whom Christ answered, 'today shalt thou be with me in paradise.' Anonymous in the Gospel, he is named Dismas in the apocryphal Acts of Pilate (Gospel of Nicodemus), the text that carried him into the liturgy as the one soul the tradition held to be canonized by the Lord Himself.

Common questions

When did Dismas die?

Dismas (the Penitent Thief) is dated d. AD 33 (crucified with Christ) in the archive, which places Dismas in the Apostolic Age (AD 4–70).

Which early sources mention Dismas?

Dismas (the Penitent Thief) is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from Acts of Pilate and Luke. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Dismas from?

The archive associates Dismas (the Penitent Thief) with Golgotha.

Who were Dismas’ contemporaries?

The archive links Dismas (the Penitent Thief) to 2 other figures, including The Centurion at the Cross and Simon of Cyrene. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

Primary-source mentions (2)

Every passage below is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Acts of Pilate (Gospel of Nicodemus) IX–X (apocryphal acta, c. 4th century; original Greek, working translation)

c. AD 33

[The apocryphon that supplies his traditional name, some three centuries after the Gospels.] And they crucified with him also the two malefactors, Dysmas on the right hand and Gestas on the left.

Acts of Pilate · source text