Impenitent thief

This article is about the thief crucified alongside Jesus. For the French commune, see Gestas, Pyrénées-Atlantiques.

Dismas the Good Thief is on the left with an angel, Christ is in the middle, while Gestas is on the right with a devil

Gestas is the apocryphal name (first appearing in the Gospel of Nicodemus) given to one of the two thieves who was crucified alongside Jesus. According to the Gospels, Gestas taunted Jesus about not saving himself, while Dismas asked for mercy. Dismas was saved, and Gestas was not. Gestas was on the cross to the left of Jesus and Dismas was on the cross to the right of Jesus. In Jacobus de Voragine's "Golden Legend" his name given as Gesmas.

The apocryphal Arabic Infancy Gospel refers to Gestas and Dismas as Dumachus and Titus, respectively. According to tradition, Dumachus was one of a band of robbers who attacked Saint Joseph and the Holy Family on their Flight into Egypt as recorded in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's The Golden Legend.

See also

• List of names for the Biblical nameless

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.