The Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate)

The Gospel of Nicodemus, also known as the Acts of Pilate, an anonymous apocryphal Passion text usually dated to the fourth or fifth century, is the earliest surviving textual witness to the names Longinus, the soldier traditionally identified as having pierced Christ's side, and Bernice or Veronica, later associated with the veil bearing Christ's imprinted face. Its strength is that it is the actual earliest known source for these specific names, giving a real textual anchor for traditions that later became widespread devotional legend, rather than names whose origin cannot be traced at all. Its limit is that it is an apocryphal text composed centuries after the events it narrates and was never accepted into the biblical canon by any major Christian body, so a claim treating its narrative details as historical fact rather than as later devotional tradition, however textually early relative to other apocrypha, overstates its standing.