+

 

FRAGMENTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

 

*

 

Compiled and Edited by

Horace H. Bradley

 

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Online/Internet Version

 

Original technology and language (VOLKSWRITER) provided by

Mr. John Staley

Instruction in WORD provided to the Editor/Compiler by

Mr. Joshua Klyber

Proofreading by

Mr. Henry H. Dryer IV

Produced by

Mr. Joseph A. Walker IV

 

*

 

Other technical assistance provided by

Mr. Ryan Witte, Mr. Carlos L. Marques, Mr. T. J. Brunett, Mr. Nicholas Paternostro, Mr. Daniel Miskell, Mr. Damon Gomez,

and the Staff of the CIT Help Desk, Public Computing Section, State University of New York at Geneseo; and later by

Mr. Andrew Brundage and Mr. Steven E. Call, Jr.

 

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Original website and CD-ROM designed by

Mr. David Ghidiu and Mr. John Ghidiu

 

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This website redone by

Mr. Brandon “Theatre X” Smith

of the Nova Componere Project, using GNU Emacs

 

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Copyright 1990, 1998, 2013 Horace H. Bradley

 

*

 

DEDICATION

 

Dr. Harry Beck and Dr. Harry Welshofer,

Professors of History at State University of New York at Geneseo during the undergraduate attendance there of the Editor/Compiler, and from which institution he earned his first academic degree (Bachelor of Arts, 1970); in memory of their perseverance with the reform of his inadequacies, their judgment of his abilities, and their encouragement of his potential. I hope this effort of mine in some way repays the energy and time which both of you expended on my future.

 

Mr. Matthew Cupp,

without whose steady, life-long friendship, critical guidance and virtuous example this work and others might never have been brought to fruition.

 

Mr. Henry M. Schurr and Mr. Ernie Danforth

whose timely aid and assistance proved invaluable.

 

*

 

INTRODUCTION

 

[A]

 

     Before one examines the parts of a whole, it is invariably useful to acquaint oneself with the entirety of that which one proposes to discuss by basic units: such information further illuminates the character of both the generality being examined (in this case, the Christian New Testament, in its hypothetical entirety) and that of the enveloping entity (Christianity), which both served to generate it, and serves to continue to generate controversy about it.

 

     The 538 books whose titles lie before you—and whose remains, in whole or in part, have survived the destruction of the antique world (the Graeco-Roman socio/political state, in which, for the greatest part, these books were originally written)—represent an attempt by the speakers of some 50 different languages to define the nature of the earliest Christian experiences; the importance to them of the Founder of the religion, its leading personalities and contingent celebrities; and the relationship of the individual Christian to all of these, and to the corporate visible nature of Christian worship and confession—the Christian Church—which emerged and evolved quite soon after the crucifixion (c.33AD) of Jesus the Christ.

 

     It should be emphasized at once that we are here talking about nothing less than an all-embracing historical and literary evaluation about the text of the book considered sacred to the faith of slightly more than one third of the world’s people (or 1,927,953,000 souls out of 5,716,425,000). This figure comes from the United Nations (World Population Prospects: The 1994 Revision, New York, 1995, 298). The precise figure is 33.7% and is meant to embrace followers of Jesus the Christ affiliated to churches (church members, including children, making up 1,791,227,000 of this total), plus persons professing Christianity by census or poll, though not church-goers as such. Five broad groups may be distinguished: 968,025,000 Roman Catholics, 395,867,000 Protestants; 217,948,000 Orthodox; 275,583,000 “Other” Christians (Non-Roman Catholics, marginal Protestants, crypto-Christians, and adherents of African, Asian, Black, and Latin American indigenous churches); and 70,530,000 Anglicans.

 

     According to the same compilation, adherents of the four other monotheisms active in the world were represented as follows: 1,099,634,000 Muslims, 19,161,000 Sikhs, 14,117,000 Jews, and 6,104,000 Bahais; for a total of 3,066,969,000 adherents of Monotheism, or 53.5% of the population of the world of 1995.

 

     In contrast, some 841,549,000 people considered themselves Non-religious, a group including people professing no religion, non-believers, agnostics, freethinkers, and dereligionized secularists indifferent to all religion (14.7% of the total); and 219,925,000 people stated that they were Atheists—persons professing atheism, skepticism, disbelief, and the irreligious, including the anti-religious, i.e. those opposed to all religion (3.8% of the total). The Non-religious and Atheists together represented 18.5% of the population in 1995.

 

     Of the remaining 28% of the world, 13.7% (780,547,000) were Hindus; 5.7% (323,894,000) were Buddhists; 4% (230,391,000) were adherents of some form of Chinese Folk Religion (Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese Buddhism, universism, divination, local deities or the worship of ancestors); and 2.1% (121,297,000) were so-called New-religionists (i.e., followers of Asian 20th-century New Religions, New Religious movements, radical new crisis religions, and non-Christian syncretistic mass religions, all founded since 1800, and most since 1945).

 

     In the United States of 1995, 85.3% (224,457,000) professed some form of Christianity; 2.3% (6,500,000) thought they were Muslims; 1.9% (5,602,000) believed they were Jews; 8.7% (22,928,000) referred to themselves as Non-religious; and some 870,000 people (0.3%) said they were Atheists.

 

     It should also be emphasized that the existence of an hypothetical ­New Testament­ greater than 27 books is a fact, independent in its own right—irrespective of individual prejudice as to the number of books to be considered as acceptable testimony for the truths of Jesus’ claims; irrespective of the claims of His followers; irrespective of the claims of the enemies of Christendom. The creation of a ­New Testament­ of 538 titles is a fact however one conceives of that social or corporate entity known as The Church; the collective beliefs of entities spawned by it; or any of the numerous confessions of faith adhered to by any of its parts. The possibility that a New Testament­ of only 27 titles is an insufficient witness to the entirety of the glory and majesty of Jesus the Christ and His teachings is a fact irrespective of the attacks made upon Christianity by unbelievers, just as much as it is a fact in spite of the opinions of the most vigilant and vigorous of Christian defenders. It is a fact no matter how long or short the extant literary remains—and this varies from a few words to some 200 pages of modern printed text; or whatever their literary form (gospel, acta, letter, apocalypse, poem, or dogmatic treatise); or whether or not the entire work or merely a portion thereof is to be considered of Divine inspiration. And it is a fact even insofar as it can be demonstrated that any of its constituent parts may occupy, within the shared community of religious ideas, even the slightest verbal or conceptual parallel in thought to any or all of the infinite number of human philosophical complexities that have helped to deliver mankind from the terrors and insecurities of this miserable material existence since the dawn of Time itself.

 

[B]

 

     Vacuums may be assumed—a writer may deliberately cut himself off from the sound or material invasion of his culture—but his mental baggage is another matter. Excepting the rarity of the truly unique idea, every written text—indeed, every spoken text—presupposes some form of written or spoken tradition already in existence, and upon which it is designed to act in some way. This is what we do as individuals: with our spoken and written presence, we seek to modify the cultural environment previously erected by other individuals to suit our own unique ideas about what that environment (in this case, the literary/religious environment) should contain.

 

     For, indeed, it really matters nothing, after all, whether one group of men believe a particular work holy, and another group believe the same work unholy, provided activity undertaken in that work’s name is generous, loving and compassionate in its execution. The author, for example, personally believes that the purest literary form of the Christian message consists of the (very brief) remains of the book known as Q (item 91 in the Table of Contents below): but what of that?

 

     The truth about belief is that it is always by definition at bottom individualistic, and probably fundamentally the product of a personal, mystical union between God and the individual, over which no other individual really has (or should attempt to have) any control at all. In any event, before confronting this most basic question, it only makes common sense for the individual—particularly the Christian individual—to consider what it is exactly that we are dealing with (in the Christian understanding of belief) when we consider what is meant by The New Testament­: and it is to a solution of this question that we may now turn.

 

[C]

 

     There exist in the world today the remains of at least 538 written works, the contents of which, in whole or in part, point to their having at one time in their lives been considered sacred scripture to human beings who called themselves at least in part adherents of Christianity; or which, irrespective of their religious point of origin, contain elements of a sacred nature which are ­in some manner in definite verbal or conceptual parallel­ with recognizably Christian belief.

 

     Among them may be included certain portions of eleven works culled from the manuscript deposit known as the Dead Sea Scrolls­. These manuscripts were written in an intellectual climate of associations and ideals held by people who believed themselves indisputably non-Christian—here, Jewish—but whose religious mind-set is nevertheless alleged by six authorities of international reputation (on whom see under I, below) to hold verbal or conceptual thought parallels to some 3,800 separate instances held by scholars to lie within any of the 27 books of the Received New Testament­ (by which title is meant throughout this volume to refer to ­the New Testament­ as its length is commonly understood to be, a specific 27 books whose identification by title a matter of common knowledge the world over).

 

     Among the 538 may be included certain portions of thirty-four works gathered from the manuscript deposit known as the ­Nag Hammadi Gnostic-Christian Library­. They were written in an intellectual climate of associations and ideals held by people who believed no less fervently in God and individual salvation than their Orthodox-Christian brothers—and whose religious mind-set is alleged by five authorities of international reputation (on whom see under II, below), to hold verbal or conceptual thought parallels to some 5,800 separate instances held to lie within any of the 27 books of the ­Received New Testament­.

 

     Among the 538 may even included one tractate taken from the deposit known to scholars as the Hermetica­—a document from popular Greek eclectic Hellenism of the 1st-2nd century AD, in which scholarship has discovered verbal or conceptual thought parallels with ­the Received books of John­, ­Ephesians­, ­and Revelation­; and also ­II Clement­ and Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654­ (to mention five works treated in this catalogue); and perhaps many other such parallels as well might be discovered by those willing to peruse the matter to a greater fullness (for it is scarcely the business of even this considerable exploration to reach anything more than an approximation of the total number of possible entries held to extend between any literary type, and that embraced by the concept of the New Testament­.)

 

[D]

 

     The present universal set of titles, therefore, which could be incorporated into the literary concept known as the New Testament­ may include at least 538 works divided into 43 separate subsets contained in nine general categories, all of which were written or revised (except for the first eleven items) by people whose concept of Christianity ran the gamut from those who were completely Orthodox in their approach, to those who embraced Christianity as only one of a number of philosophical alternatives competing for their attention, but found by them in some manner attractive, and so incorporated into an inevitably individualized eclectic belief structure. Within their 43 separate subsets, these 538 titles are sorted out by proper name; and where possible into gospels, ­acta­, letters, apocalypses, and important additional materials. (The tractates almost universally recognized as belonging to the Received New Testament are identified as such by the word “Received;” some of their more familiar short-titles (I Peter, III John, etc.) have been modified to more accurately describe their contents.) They are discussed as

 

THE HYPOTHETICAL NEW TESTAMENT OF 538 GOSPELS, ACTS, LETTERS, APOCALYPSES, AND IMPORTANT ADDITIONAL MATERIALS—

A TABLE OF CONTENTS

OF THE ENTIRE* MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHY IN THE FIELD OF NEW TESTAMENT-FORM-LITERATURE—

(*there are statements here and there in the following discussions that more works yet remain to be edited)

I.E., OF WORKS BEARING

 (1) SOME DEMONSTRABLE PROTO-CHRISTIAN AFFINITY WITH OSTENSIBLY NON-CHRISTIAN WRITINGS (I,II: 1-16);

(2) AUTHORSHIP BY THE PROGENITORS OF THE HUMAN RACE (III: 17-31);

(3) THE NAMES OF HISTORICAL JEWISH FORERUNNERS OF JESUS THE CHRIST (IV-XIII: 32-71);

(4) JEWISH-CHRISTIAN WORKS AND MATERIALS CONNECTED WITH JOHN THE BAPTIZER (XIV-XV: 72-80);

(5) JESUS HIMSELF (XVI: 81-122);

(6) THE IMMEDIATE FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF JESUS (XVII-XX: 123-161);

(7) THE TRADITIONAL APOSTOLIC DESIGNATES AND DISCIPLES ASSOCIATED WITH THEM, IN GENERAL AND SPECIFICALLY (XXI-XXXVII & XXXIX: 162-493, 498-499);

(8) THE NAMES OF SUCH NON-TRADITIONAL APOSTOLIC INDIVIDUALS NOT INCLUDED IN (7)

WHO CLAIMED A SPECIAL DISPENSATION FROM JESUS EQUAL TO THAT GRANTED TO THE TRADITIONAL APOSTLES (XXXVIII & XL-XLI: 494-497, 500-512); AND

(9) THE NAMES OF VARIOUS JEWISH AND PAGAN OFFICIALS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND ITS CLIENT STATES (XLII: 513-535).

 

*

 

I: PROTO-CHRISTIAN MATERIAL

 

  1. The Manual of Discipline

  2. The Book of Hymns

  3. The Zadokite Document

  4. The War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness

  5. Supplication

  6. The Hymn of the Initiates

  7. The New Covenant

  8. The Commentary on Habakkuk

  9. The Wondrous Child

10. The Manual of the Future Congregation of Israel

11. The Coming Doom

 

II: SEMI-DIVINE BEINGS

 

12. Poimandres

13. Trimorphic Protennoia

14. The Hypostasis of the Archons

15. The Concept of Our Great Power

16. The Christian Sibyllines

 

III: ADAM AND EVE

 

17. The Gospel of Eve

18. The Aramaic Life of Adam and Eve

19. The Greek Life of Adam and Eve

20. The Latin ­Vita Adae et Evae­

21. The Greek Testament of Adam

22. The Syriac Testament of Adam

23. The Arabic Testament of Adam

24. The Syriac Book of the Cave of Treasures

25. The Armenian Book of Adam

26. The Book of Adam, after Harnack

27. The Ethiopic Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan

28. The Arabic Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan

29. The Slavonic Adam-Book

30. The Georgian Adam-Book

31. The Coptic Apocalypse of Adam

 

IV: THE PATRIARCHS IN GENERAL

 

32. The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs

 

V: ENOCH

 

33. The First Book of Enoch

34. The Second Book of Enoch

 

VI: ABRAHAM, MELCHIZEDEK, ISAAC, JACOB, JOSEPH

 

35. The Apocalypse of Abraham

36. The Testament of Abraham

37. The Slavonic Tale of the Just Man, Abraham

38. Melchizedek

39. The Testament of Isaac

40. The Testament of Jacob

41. The Romance of Joseph and Asenath

 

VII: JOB, SOLOMON

 

42. The Testament of Job

43. The Testament of Solomon

44. The Apocryphon of Solomon, after Harnack

45. The Odes of Solomon

 

VIII: ELIJAH

 

46. The Oracle of the Potter

47. The Greek Apocalypse of Elijah

48. The Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah

 

IX: ISAIAH, ZEPHANIAH

 

49. The Ascension of Isaiah

50. The Apocalypse of Zephaniah

51. The Anonymous Apocalypse, after Steindorff

 

X: JEREMIAH, BARUCH, EZEKIEL

 

52. The Paraleipomena of Jeremiah

53. The Life of Jeremiah, after Torrey

54. The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch

55. The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch

56. The Ethiopic Apocalypse of Baruch

57. The Apocryphon of Ezekiel

 

XI: DANIEL, SEDRACH

 

58. The Revelation of the Prophet Daniel

59. The Seventh Vision of Daniel

60. The First Apocalypse of Daniel

61. The Second Apocalypse of Daniel

62. The Third Apocalypse of Daniel

63. The Fourth Apocalypse of Daniel

64. The Fifth Apocalypse of Daniel

65. The Apocalypse of Sedrach

 

XII: EZRA

 

66. The Fourth Book of Ezra

67. The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra

68. The Latin ­Visio Beati Esdrae­

69. The Syriac Revelation of Ezra

70. The Armenian Questions of Ezra

 

XIII: ZACHARIAH

 

71. The Apocalypse of Zachariah

 

XIV: JEWISH-CHRISTIANITY

 

72. The Gospel of the Ebionites

73. The Gospel of the Hebrews

74. The Gospel of the Nazarenes

75. The Gospel of the Egyptians

76. The AJ-II Source

 

XV: JOHN THE BAPTIZER

 

77. The Life of John the Baptizer, after Serapion of Thumis

78. The Life of John the Baptizer, after Mark the Evangelist

79. The Life of John the Baptizer, after Manuscript Sachau 329

80. An Ecomium on John the Baptizer, after John Chrysostom.

 

XVI: JESUS THE CHRIST

 

81. The Testimonies of Josephus

82. Signs and Wonders at the Persian Court Upon the Birth of Jesus.

83. The Gospel of the Boyhood of Our Lord, Jesus

84. The Boy in the Tower

85. The Unknown Infancy Gospel in the Arundel and Hereford Manuscripts

86. The Infancy Gospel of Matthew

87. The Infancy Gospel of James

88. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas

89. The Armenian Infancy Gospel

90. The Arabic Infancy Gospel

*

91. ­Q­

92. The Priesthood of Jesus

93. A Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Hebrew Prophets

94. The Books of the Savior

95. The Revelation of Aheramentho

96. The Miracles of Jesus

97. The Wisdom of Jesus Christ

*

98. The Gospel of Gamaliel

99. The Descent of Christ Into Hell

100. The Dispute of the Devil with Christ

101. A Coptic Fragment of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, after Schmidt.

102. The Dialogue of the Redeemer

103. The Avenging of the Savior, after ­Cura Sanitatis Tiberii

104. The Avenging of the Savior, after ­Mors Pilati­

105. The Avenging of the Savior, after ­Vindicta Salvatoris­

106. The Story of Joseph of Arimathaea

*

107. Isolated Sayings of Jesus Christ

108. The Letter of Abgar V to Jesus Christ

109. The Letter of Jesus Christ to Abgar V

110. The Letter of Jesus Christ to the Apostles

111. The ­Testamentum Domini­ Apocalypse

112. The Three Steles of Seth

113. The Second Treatise of the Great Seth

*

114. A Latin Apocalyptic Fragment, after Robinson

115. The Apocalyptic Fragments of the ­Received New Testament­

116. The Questions of John to Jesus About the Last Things

117. The ­Didache­ Apocalypse

118. The Revelation of Jesus to the Apostles Concerning Abbaton, the Angel of Death.

*

119. The Naassene Psalm

120. The Christ, after Cynewulf of Northumbria

121. The Dream of the Rood, after Cynewulf of Northumbria

122. ­Elene­, after Cynewulf of Northumbria

 

XVII: JESUS’ MOTHER, MARY

 

123. The ­Genna Marias­

124. The Gospel of the Birth of Mary

125. Stories About the Birth of Mary, after Evodius of Antioch, Cyril of Jerusalem, Demetrius of Antioch, Epiphanius of Salamis, and Cyril of Alexandria

*

126. Stories About the Death and Assumption of Mary, after Melito of Sardis, Joseph of Arimathaea, John the Apostle, John of Thessalonica, Theodosius of Alexandria, Evodius of Rome, Modestus of Jerusalem, James of Serug, and James of Birta

127. The Departure of My Lady, Mary, from This World

128. The History of the Blessed Virgin Mary

129. The Obsequies of the Holy Virgin

130. The Simplest (Syriac) Form of the Assumption

131. A Coptic Fragment of the Assumption, after Revillout

*

132. The Letter of Mary to the Messinaeans

133. The Letter of Mary to the Florentines

*

134. The Greek Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus

135. The Latin Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus

136. The Ethiopic Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus

137. The Coptic Vision of Theophilus.

 

XVIII: JESUS’ FATHER, JOSEPH

 

138. The History of Joseph the Carpenter

139. A Possible Joseph Apocryphon in the ­Infancy Gospel of James.­

 

XIX: JESUS’ BROTHERS, JAMES AND JUDE

 

140. The Questions of James

141. The ­Apocryphon Jacobi­

142. The Fragments of a ­Life of James­, after Revillout

143. The Gospel of James the Elder, after Santos

144. The Secret Teaching of James, the brother of Jesus, to Mariamme

145. The Ascents of James

146. The Arabic Preaching of James, the Brother of Jesus

147. The Arabic Martyrdom of James, the Brother of Jesus

148. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint James the Just

149. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint James the Just

*

150. The Received Letter of James to the Exiles of the Dispersion

151. The Received Letter of Jude to Those Who Have Been Called

*

152. The Greek Apocalypse of James, the Brother of Jesus

153. The Syriac Apocalypse of James, the Brother of Jesus, in the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­

154. The First Coptic Apocalypse of James, the Brother of Jesus

155. The Second Coptic Apocalypse of James, the Brother of Jesus

156. The Third Coptic Apocalypse of James, the Brother of Jesus

 

XX: JESUS’ FRIENDS

 

157. The Coptic Gospel of Mary Magdalene

158. The Great Questions of Mary Magdalene

159. The Little Questions of Mary Magdalene

160. The Life of Mary Magdalene

*

161. The Revelation of Lazarus

 

XXI: THE APOSTLES IN GENERAL

 

162. The Gospel of the Seventy

163. The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, after Revillout

164. The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, after Harris

165. The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, after the Quqaje

166. The Jewish-Christian Gospel of the Twelve Apostles

167. The Manichean Gospel of the Twelve Apostles

168. The Memoirs of the Apostles

169. The Gospel of the Four Heavenly Regions of the World

*

170. The Received Acts of the Apostles

171. The Ebionite Acts of the Twelve Apostles

172. The Manichean Acts of the Twelve Apostles

173. The Latin History of the Apostles, after Abdias of Babylon

174. The Coptic Tripartite Tractate

175. The Coptic On the Origin of the World

176. The Coptic Exegesis on the Soul

177. The Coptic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth

178. The Coptic Testimony of Truth

179. The Coptic Marsanes

180. The Coptic Interpretation of Knowledge

181. The Arabic Acts of the Apostles

182. The Ethiopic Contending of the Apostles

*

183. The Received Letter of the First Council of Jerusalem

184. The Letter of the Apostles to the Christians of the World

*

185. The Revelation of Stephen the Deacon

186. The Fate of the Apostles, after Cynewulf of Northumbria

 

XXII: PETER

 

187. The Preaching of Peter

188. The Teaching of Peter

189. The Doctrine of Peter

190. The Circuits of Peter

191. The Preaching of Simon Cephas in the City of Rome

192. The Journeys of Peter

193. The Gospel of Peter

194. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840

*

195. The Acts of Peter

196. The Latin ­Martyrium Beati Petri Apostoli­, after Linus of Rome

197. The Syriac History of Simon Cephas, the Chief of the Apostles

198. The Coptic Act of Peter

199. The First Slavonic Life of Peter

200. The Second Slavonic Life of Peter

201. The Third Slavonic Life of Peter

202. The ­Slavic Vita Petri­

203. The Arabic Preaching of Peter

204. The Arabic Martyrdom of Peter

205. The Ethiopic Acts of Saint Peter

206. The Ethiopic History of Saint Peter

207. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Peter

208. The Ukrainian Life of Peter

209. A Doctrine of Peter

*

210. The Coptic Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles

*

211. The Greek Acts of Peter and Paul

212. The Greek ­Passio Apostolorum Petri et Pauli­

213. The Latin ­Passio Apostolorum Petri et Pauli­

214. The Latin Martyrdom of Peter and Paul, after Pseudo-Hegisippus

215. The Arabic Story of Peter and Paul

216. The Arabic Martyrdom of Peter and Paul

217. The Ethiopic Acts of Peter and Paul

218. A Preaching of Peter and Paul

219. The Greek Acts of Peter and Andrew

*

220. The Greek ­Martyrium Colbertinum­ of Ignatius of Antioch

221. The Greek ­Martyrium Vaticanum­ of Ignatius of Antioch

222. The Latin Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch

223. The Greek Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch, after Simeon Metaphrastes

224. The Armenian Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch

225. The Greek Martyrdom of Polycarp

*

226. The Received Letter of Peter to the Exiles of the Dispersion

227. The Received Letter of Peter to Those Who Have Obtained a Faith of Understanding Equal to That of Christianity.

228. The Letter of Peter to Philip

229. The Letter of Peter to James

230. A Fragment of a Letter of Peter

*

231. The Letter of Ignatius to the Ephesians

232. The Letter of Ignatius to the Philadelphians

233. The Letter of Ignatius to the Magnesians

234. The Letter of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans

235. The Letter of Ignatius to the Antiochenes

236. The Letter of Ignatius to the Philippians

237. The Letter of Ignatius to the Trallians

238. The Letter of Ignatius to the Tarsians

239. The Letter of Ignatius to the Romans

*

240. The Letter of Ignatius to Hero

241. The Prayer of Hero

242. The Letter of Ignatius to Polycarp

243. The Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians

244. Fragments of Various Letters of Polycarp

245. The Letter of Ignatius to Mary, the Mother of Jesus

246. The Letter of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to Ignatius

247. The First Letter of Ignatius to John

248. The Second Letter of Ignatius to John

249. The Letter of Mary of Cassobelae to Ignatius

250. The Letter of Ignatius to Mary of Cassobelae

251. A Fragment of a Letter of Ignatius

*

252. The Greek Apocalypse of Peter

253. The Unknown Latin Apocalypse in the ­Vision of Adamnan­

254. The Syriac Revelation of Peter in the ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­

255. The Coptic Apocalypse of Peter

256. The Arabic Apocalypse of Peter

257. The Ethiopic Apocalypse of Peter

 

XXIII: PAUL

 

258. The Acts of Paul

259. The Greek Preaching of Paul

260. The Latin ­Praedicatio Pauli­

261. The Latin ­Martyrium Beati Pauli Apostoli­, after Linus of Rome.

262. The Syriac History of the Holy Apostle Paul

263. The Slavonic Wanderings of the Apostle Paul Through the Countries

264. The Coptic Prayer of the Apostle Paul

265. The Arabic ­Praedicatio Apostoli Pauli Electi­

266. The Arabic Martyrdom of the Blessed Paul

267. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Paul

268. The Ethiopic History of the Contending of Saint Paul

*

269. The Greek Acts of Clement

270. The Greek Homilies of Clement

271. The Greek Recognitions of Clement

272. The Greek Acts of Paul and Thecla

273. The Greek Acts of Ananias

274. The Greek Acts of Aquila

275. The Greek Acts of Timothy

276. The Greek Acts of Titus, after Zenas

277. The Greek Acts of Xanthippe, Polyxena and Rebecca

278. The Greek Acts of Zenais and Philonilla

279. The Coptic Teachings of Silvanus

*

280. The Received Letter of Paul to the Romans

281. The Received Letter of Paul to the Galatians

282. The Received Letter of Paul to the Ephesians

283. The Received Letter of Paul and Timothy to the Philippians

284. The Received Letter of Paul and Timothy to the Colossians

285. The Letter of Paul to the Colossians

286. The First Received Letter of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the Thessalonians.

287. The Second Received Letter of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the Thessalonians

288. The Received Letter of Paul and Sosthenes to the Corinthians

289. The Received Letter of Paul and Timothy to the Corinthians

290. The Letter of the Corinthians to Paul

291. The Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

292. The Letter of Paul to the Macedonians

293. The Letter of Paul to the Alexandrians

294. The Letter of Paul to the Laodiceans

295. The Received Letter of (Paul? Barnabas? Apollos? Silvanus? Aquila? Priscilla?) to Certain Christian Coverts from Judaism

296. The First Received Letter of Paul to Timothy

297. The Second Received Letter of Paul to Timothy

298. The Received Letter of Paul to Titus

299. The Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates

300. The Letters of Paul to Seneca and of Seneca to Paul (a-l)

301. The Letters of Paul to Seneca and of Seneca to Paul (m-n)

302. The Received Letter of Paul and Timothy to Philemon

303. The Letter of Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy

304. The Letter of His Father to Rheginos

305. The Letter of Pelagia

*

306. The First Letter of Clement to the Corinthians

307. The Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians

308. The First Letter of Clement on Virginity

309. The Second Letter of Clement on Virginity

310. The Letter of Appion to Clement

311. The Letter of Clement to Appion

312. The Letter of Clement to James

*

313. The Greek Apocalypse of Paul

314. The Coptic Apocalypse of Paul

315. The Latin Apocalypse of Saint Paul

316. The Shepherd of Hermas

 

XXIV: JOHN

 

317. The Received Gospel of John

318. The Repose of Saint John the Evangelist and Apostle

319. Fragments of a Dialogue Between John and Jesus

320. A Fragment of an Unknown Gospel with Johannine Elements

321. The Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians

322. The Book of John the Evangelist

323. The Apocryphon of John

324. A Gospel Fragment From the Strasbourg Coptic Papyrus

*

325. The Acts of John

326. The Greek Acts of John, after Prochorus the Deacon

327. The Preaching of John

328. The Latin ­Virtutes Joannis­, after Abdias of Babylon

329. The Latin ­Passio Joannis­, after Mellitus of Laodicea

330. The Latin ­Liber Sancta Joannis­

331. The Syriac History of John, after Eusebius of Caesarea

332. The Syriac Decease of Saint John

333. The Greek Decease of Saint John

334. The Coptic Martyrdom of John

335. The Arabic Story of John, the Son of Zebedee

336. The Arabic Travels of John, the Son of Zebedee

337. The Arabic Death of John, the Son of Zebedee

338. The Arabic Death of Saint John

339. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint John the Evangelist

340. The Ethiopic History of the Death of Saint John the Evangelist

*

341. The Received Letter of John to an Unspecified Number of His Fellow Christians

342. The Received Letter of John to an Unspecified Church in Asia Minor

343. The Received Letter of John to Gaius

344. A Fragment of a Letter of John

*

345. The Received Apocalypse of John

346. The Greek Apocalypse of John the Theologian

347. The Syriac Revelation of John in the ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­

348. The Coptic Apocalypse of John

349. The Audian Revelation of John

350. The Apocalypse of John, after Nau

351. The Mysteries of Saint John the Apostle and Holy Virgin

 

XXV: THOMAS

 

352. The Egyptian Gospel of Thomas

353. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1, 654, 655

354. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1224

355. The Fayuum Fragment

356. Lost Material in Sanskrit About Thomas the Apostle

*

357. The Acts of Thomas

358. The Syriac Acts of Thomas

359. The Armenian Acts of Thomas

360. The Arabic Acts of Thomas

361. The Arabic Martyrdom of Thomas

362. The Greek Acts of Thomas, after James

363. The Greek Consummation of Thomas

364. The Latin Martyrdom of Thomas, after Abdias of Babylon

365. The Latin Martyrdom of Thomas, after Gregory of Tours

366. The Ethiopic Acts of Saint Thomas in India

367. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint Thomas in India

368. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Thomas in India

*

369. The Apocalypse of Thomas

370. The Book of Thomas the Contender

371. The ­Saltair Na Rann­

372. The Fifteen Signs of the Last Days

 

XXVI: ANDREW­

 

373. The Acts of Andrew

374. The Greek ­Martyrium Andreae Prius­

375. The Greek ­Martyrium Sancti Apostoli Andreae

376. The Greek ­Martyrium Andreae Alterum­

377. The Greek ­Vita Andreae­, after Epiphanius of Salamis

378. The Greek ­Vita Andreae Apostoli cum Laudatione Contexta­

379. The Greek Codex Vaticanus Graecae 808

380. The Coptic ­Acts of Andrew­

381. The Latin ­Passio Sancti Andreae Apostoli­

382. The Greek ­Passio Sancti Andreae Apostoli­

383. The Latin Martyrdom of Andrew, after Abdias of Babylon

384. The Latin ­Liber de Miraculis Beati Andreae Apostoli­, after Gregory of Tours.

385. The Arabic Martyrdom of Saint Andrew

386. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Andrew in Scythia

*

387. The Arabic Acts of Andrew and Bartholomew

388. The Ethiopic Acts of Saints Andrew and Bartholomew Among the Parthians

389. The Arabic Acts of Andrew and Philemon in Scythia

390. The Ethiopic Preaching of Andrew and Philemon Among the Kurds

391. The Greek Acts of Andrew and Matthias

392. The Syriac Martyrdom of Matthew and Andrew

393. The Ethiopic Acts of Andrew and Matthias

394. The Coptic Acts of Andrew and Paul

*

395. ­Andreas­, after Cynewulf of Northumbria

 

XXVII: PHILIP

 

396. The Gospel of Philip

397. A Fragment of an Unknown Gospel with Philippine Elements

*

398. The Acts of Philip

399. The Greek Journeyings of Philip the Apostle

400. The Greek Acts of Philip in Hellas

401. The Greek ­Translatio Philippi­

402. The Latin ­Passio Philippi­

403. The ­Evangelium­ of Philip

404. The Syriac Acts of Philip

405. The Coptic Acts of Philip

406. The Armenian Acts of Philip

407. The Arabic Preaching of Philip

408. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint Philip and Saint Peter

409. The Arabic Martyrdom of Philip

410. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Philip in Phrygia

411. The Irish Martyrdom of Philip

412. The Greek Acts of Hermione

413. The Martyrdom of Julitta and Quiricus

*

414. The Irish Apocalypse of Philip

 

XXVIII: BARTHOLOMEW

 

415. The Gospel of Bartholomew

*

416. The Questions of Bartholomew

417. The Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Bartholomew the Apostle

418. The Life of Saint Bartholomew, after the Ethiopian Synaxarion

419. The Greek Martyrdom of Bartholomew

420. The Latin Martyrdom of Bartholomew

421. The Coptic Preaching of Bartholomew

422. The Armenian Martyrdom of Bartholomew

423. The Arabic Preaching of Bartholomew

424. The Arabic Martyrdom of Bartholomew

425. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint Bartholomew in the Oasis

426. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew in Naidas

 

XXIX: MATTHEW

 

427. The Received Gospel of Matthew

*

428. The Greek Martyrdom of Matthew

429. The Latin Martyrdom of Matthew

430. The Coptic Acts and Martyrdom of Matthew

431. The Arabic Martyrdom of Matthew

432. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Matthew in Parthia

433. The Latin ­Passio Sancti Matthaei­

434. The Arabic Acts of Matthew

435. The Ethiopic Acts of Saint Matthew in the City of Kahenat.

436. The Arabic Martyrdom of James, the Brother of Matthew

 

XXX: MATTHIAS

 

437. The Gospel of Matthias

*

438. The Traditions of Matthias

439. The Greek Preaching of Matthias

440. The Syriac Preaching of Matthias

441. The Arabic Preaching of Saint Matthias

442. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint Matthias

443. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint Matthias in the City of the Cannibals

444. The Arabic Martyrdom of Saint Matthias

445. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Matthias

446. The Latin ­Gesta Matthiae­

 

XXXI: THADDAEUS

 

447. The Greek Acts of Thaddaeus

448. The Syriac Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle

449. The Armenian Acts of Thaddaeus

450. The Latin ­Acta Thaddaei­, after Abdias of Babylo

451. The Arabic Preaching of Thaddaeus

452. The Ethiopic Preaching of Judas Thaddaeus in Syria

*

453. The Greek Acts of Sharbil

454. The Syriac Acts of Sharbil

455. The Syriac Martyrdom of Barsumya

456. The Armenian Martyrdom of Barsumya

 

XXXII: JAMES OF ZEBEDEE

 

457. The Greek Acts of James, the Son of Zebedee

458. The Greek Acts of James the Great

459. The Latin Acts of James the Great

460. The Coptic Acts and Death of James the Great

461. The Armenian Acts and Death of James the Great

462. The Arabic Acts of James, the Son of Zebedee

463. The Ethiopic Acts of Saint James in India

464. The Arabic Martyrdom of James, the Son of Zebedee

465. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint James

 

XXXIII: MARK

 

466. The Received Gospel of Mark

467. The Variant Gospel of Mark in the Koreidethi Codex

468. The Secret Gospel of Mark

469. Papyrus Gospel Fragment A, after James

*

470. The Greek Acts of Mark

471. The Latin Acts of Mark

*

472. The Arabic Martyrdom of Mark

473. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Mark the Evangelist in Alexandria

 

XXXIV: SIMON OF CLEOPAS, AND JUDE

 

474. The Coptic Preaching of Simon, the Son of Cleopas

475. The Arabic Preaching of Simon, the Son of Cleopas

476. The Ethiopic Preaching of Simon, the Son of Cleopas

477. The Arabic Martyrdom of Simon, the Son of Cleopas

478. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Simon, the Son of Cleopas

*

479. The Latin Acts of Simon and Jude

 

XXXV: JAMES OF ALPHAEUS

 

480. The Gospel of James, the Son of Alphaeus

*

481. The Coptic Acts and Martyrdom of James the Less

482. The Armenian Acts and Martyrdom of James the Less

483. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint James, the Son of Alphaeus

*

484. The Revelation of James, the Son of Alphaeus

 

XXXVI: BARNABAS

 

485. The Greek Acts of Barnabas

486. The Latin Acts of Barnabas

*

487. The Greek Life of Auxibius of Soli

488. The Greek Life of Heraclides of Tamasus

*

489. The Letter of Barnabas to His Sons and Daughters

 

XXXVII: LUKE

 

490. The Received Gospel of Luke

*

491. The Coptic Acts of Luke

492. The Arabic Martyrdom of Saint Luke

493. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Luke

 

XXXVIII: VALENTINUS

 

494. The Latin Gospel of Truth, associated with Valentinus

495. The Coptic Gospel of Truth, associated with Valentinus

*

496. The Letter of Ptolemy to Flora

*

497. A Coptic Valentinian Exposition

 

XXXIX: JUDAS ISCARIOT

 

498. The Gospel of Judas Iscariot

*

499. The Martyrdom of Judas Iscariot

 

XL: APELLES

 

500. The Gospel of Apelles

*

501. The Manifestations of Philumene

 

XLI: SINGLE CITATIONS

 

502. The Gospel of Bardesanes

503. The Gospel of Basilides

504. The Gospel of Cerinthus

505. The Gospel of Hesychius

506. The Gospel of Lucianus

507. The Gospel of Mani

508. The Gospel of Marcion

509. The Gospel of Perfection, associated with Nicolas

510. The Book of Elchasai

*

511. The Letter from an Unknown Person to Diognetus.

*

512. The Prophecy of the Montanists

 

XLII: OFFICIALS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

 

513. The Greek Acts of Pilate

514. The Latin Acts of Pilate

515. The Coptic Acts of Pilate

516. The Syriac Acts of Pilate

517. The Armenian Acts of Pilate

518. The Anglo-Saxon Acts of Pilate

*

519. The Greek Acts of Cornelius

520. The Greek Acts of Nereus and Achielleus

521. The Latin Acts of Nereus and Achielleus

522. The Greek ­Martyrium Sancti Longini Centurionis­, after Hesychius of Jerusalem

523. The Greek ­Martyrium Sancti et Glorioso Martyris­, after Simeon of Constantinople

524. The Arabic Martyrdom of Longinus

*

525. The Letter of Pilate to Tiberius I

526. The Report of Pilate to Tiberius I

527. The Letter of Tiberius I to Pilate

*

528. The First Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I

529. The Second Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I

530. The Third Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I

531. The Letter of Tiberius I to Abgar V

*

532. The Letter of Pilate to Herod

533. The Letter of Herod to Pilate

*

534. The Letter of Pilate to Claudius I.

*

535. The Letter of Lentulus to the Senate of the Roman People

 

XLIII: WORKS STILL PRESENTLY UNASSIGNED

 

536. Papyrus Cairensis 10735

537. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 210

538. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1384

 

NOTES

 

SUBGROUPS I-II: I.e., works written in an intellectual climate of associations and ideals held by people who believed themselves indisputably non-Christian, but whose religious mind-set is nevertheless alleged by six authorities of international reputation to parallel in some 3,800 verbal or conceptual instances with various allegedly Christian ideas scattered throughout the 27 books of the ­Received New Testament­. Poimandres, Protennoia, the Archons, the Sibyllines; and, in the opinion of the author of item 15 of the Table of Contents, the Gnostic-Christian author and his fellow enthusiasts.

 

SUBGROUPS III-XIII: It should always be kept in mind that even though the 55 works in this section bear Jewish names, and though many were originally written by Jews, (1) this was not true of all of them, and (2) the versions ­of­ all of them ­that are now before us­ are thought by critical, scholarly opinion to have been, at some stage in their documentary career, wholly or partially Christianized—and are therefore thought to contain verbal or conceptual parallels with the works of the ­Received New Testament­. This is perhaps their greatest value now to the Christianized individual; as in the same way could be those passages in the Received Old Testament­ (e.g., in Isaiah­) which are said to “prefigure” the Messianic Age.

 

ITEMS 26, 44, 51, 53, 77-80, 101, 103-105, 114, 120-122, 125-126, 131, 142-143, 163-165, 173, 186, 196, 214, 223, 261, 276, 328-329, 331, 350, 364-365, 377, 383-384, 395, 418, 450, and 522-523: The word ­after­ in the title means after the version preserved by an ancient or modern named individual, group, or document.

 

ITEMS 76, 85, 91, 125-126, 139, 244, 300-301, 324, 356, and elsewhere: These represent some of the deliberately intruded title forms, where titles were either unknown or in some way obscure. Where desirable, attempts have been made to preserve traditional titles hallowed by scholarly or popular use; but (as with the traditional titles of the texts of the ­Received New Testament­) it was sometimes felt more advantageous to sacrifice customary usage for descriptive clarity.

 

ITEM 52: ­Paraleipomena, a Greek term,­ means ­things omitted from­.

 

ITEMS 60-64: My source (Patrides, C. A. and Wittreich, J., The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature: Patterns, Antecedents and Repercussions­, Ithaca, 1984) does not give the names of these five works concerned with Daniel, but simply says that they do exist.

 

ITEMS 134-136, 146-147, 152-156, 245-246, 249-250, 335-337, 436, 457, 462-463, 474-478, 480, 483-484, and elsewhere: Throughout the matrix of the title structure used in this table of contents, there has been an attempt to clarify the identity of authors who happen to bear the same name as one or another of the various ­dramatis personae­ of the ­Received New Testament­: thus the James’, Simons’, Marys’ and Johns’ etc., are further identified by clan or marriage.

 

ITEMS 51, 76, 85, 91, 114-115, 117, 119, 121-122, 137, 169, 174-180, 183, 194, 253, 353-355, 371-372, 379, 469, 523, and elsewhere: In some cases, the title of a work does not identify its place in this organizational scheme, but the works have nevertheless been correctly located on the basis of their content.

 

ITEMS 211-219, 228-230, 387-394, 411, 479: Of interest also are a handful of instances in which apostles are paired together in their reported activities.

 

ITEMS 220-225, 231-251, 269-279, 309-316, 412-413, 453-456, 487-488, 501, and elsewhere: The preoccupation of this study with the universality of its mission has resulted in the classification, with the principal author of a subset, his immediate dependents. Except for Stephen the Deacon (who is perhaps more rightly adjudged to have performed his services for the apostles as a whole) and Mary Magdalene and Lazarus (who are perhaps more appropriately thought of as in personal connection as friends the Messiah), these subsidiary figures are all either immediate disciples of the individual apostles under whose name they are gathered; or, very occasionally, they appear as immediate disciples of ­those­ disciples. The following chains of relationship have been sketched out: PETER: Ignatius, Polycarp, Hero, Mary of Cassobelae; PAUL: Clement, Thecla, Ananias, Aquila, Timothy, Titus, Xanthippe, Polyxena, Rebecca, Zenas, Zenais, Philonilla, Silvanus, Sosthenes, Apollos, Priscilla, Seneca, Philemon, Dionysius, Rheginos, Pelagia; JOHN: Gaius; ANDREW: Philemon; PHILIP: Hermione, Julitta, Quiricus; MATTHEW: James; THADDAEUS: Sharbil, Barsuma; BARNABAS: Auxibius, Heraclides; APELLES: Philumene; VALENTINUS: Ptolemy, Flora.

 

RECEIVED: The word Received is used to demarcate the 27 books handed down as authentic Scripture by the most ancient representatives of Orthodox Christianity, and also similarly in the context of particular discussions to demarcate those books of the [Received] Old Testament. The word has been found to be of particular value when combined with the titles of those works whose title-words have been greatly changed to more accurately reflect their contents.

 

MEASURE OF EFFICIENCY: Such is the efficiency of this organizational scheme that only 3 out of 538 titles have not yet been able to critically find a place under subsets 1-43 of the 13 general headings.

 

Before considering the texts themselves, there is one further bit of editorial comment which must be announced to a candid world.

 

[E]

 

     In January of 1997, when it came time to decide upon the format in which to print this book, it was discovered that VOLKSWRITER (the name of the program under which the text was originally typed) was no longer a suitable method in which to electronically transmit information; but at the same time, a thorough-going conversion to a more modern language was thought by the General Editor to be, for various economic, technical and temporal reasons, quite beyond his personal control. It was clear, however, that if he wished to distribute directly and conveniently the results of 17 years of research to a world-wide audience by the use of electronic means, a way in which to circumvent these obstacles would have to be found; and with the timely assistance of certain undergraduate students attending the State University of New York at Geneseo, and such technical advances made since that time, the book stands before you in the most up-to-date manner possible, consistent with such restraints of time, talent and expense which necessarily burden all existence.

 

     Every attempt has been made to present the at times extremely complicated arguments discussed in this book in as clear and as straightforward a manner as possible; and to further facilitate this end, a minimal use of italics, bold-facing of text, underscoring, and reproduced quotation ­set in quotation marks­ has been adopted throughout. The use of italics has been largely confined to quotations from holy books; the use of underscoring almost entirely to citations in the professional literature; the use of bold-facing of text to headings and sub-headings; and the use of quotation marks to short quotations as opposed to lengthy dissertations.

 

     It is most important to emphasize this matter of quotations. Almost all the material in this book has been written by its contributors. The relatively few occasions in which the editor felt constrained to insert his opinion into the proceedings are very carefully identified with the letter (H) usually placed in brackets. Thus it may be from time to time that the reader, proceeding through his task of perusal and integrative association, may be led by this editorial technique to the conclusion that Horace H. Bradley (H), and not his contributors, is responsible for the matrix of facts, assertions and conclusions which form the vast body of the text, and without which, of course, no compilation would ever be possible. The compiler is responsible for the arrangement­ of the text; but the ­content­ of the material is in most cases literally the product of the bibliographic indications at the end of each entry (in solid brackets: [] :).

 

     Do not be misled. The compiler is not trying to pass off as his own information that which he has not been responsible for originally setting out in print. At the same time, because (a) it ­is­ his responsibility to offer as clear a presentation of the material as possible to an audience in large part absolutely unfamiliar with either the terminologies or scholarship involved; (b) because, ­being­ a compilation, this creative literary process necessarily involves the close combination of (at times) dozens of pieces of information culled from a variety of sources and compressed into the short space of a single paragraph (which, if displayed in its traditional manner—i.e., printed out as a string of entries separated by quotation marks and accompanying accreditation’s—would create a text extremely tedious if not impossible to read); and (c) because the editor/compiler knows himself to be a person of integrity: as he says, for all these reasons, he has contented himself with square-bracketed reference lines at the end of every compiled article, keyed to the bibliography at the end of the book, to enable those who wish to undertake a check of his professionalism, to turn to the indicated bibliographies by volume and page number, that they may assess the accuracy of his borrowing, the efficacies of his judgment in his selections, and the truthfulness of his combinations.

 

     This text deliberately bulges with bibliographic entries at every turn. Something on the order of 500 ancient authorities are made reference to within its body, together with some 1500 modern (since 1500AD) authors. Had it been the intent of the editor/compiler to misrepresent ­anyone­, for ­any­ purpose, he has taken precious little care to conceal the crime—the potential exposure to which he has in fact deliberately made crystal clear. But then, his intention is to produce, for each of these 538 separate entries, primary information units in the English language which may be combined by present users or future generations with whatever new discoveries may be made in the field of New Testament-Form-Literature; or whatever relevant information might in the future be translated into English from ancient or modern languages otherwise unintelligible to the native English speaker. His own integrity in this process he automatically assumes; for it is his claim that he has combined his authorities without prejudice for or against scholarly opinion on any subject; the purpose being to create 538 super-biographical entries, that the reader may be presented with the largest amount of up-to-date information that it would be possible for him to acquire if, like the editor/compiler, he finds himself restricted to the consumption of literary efforts within his native language.

 

[F]

 

     This book has been prepared with the people as a whole in mind, as a handy guide to the wealth of information it encompasses. It does not pretend to be an effort of scholarship, but of compilation; for its compiler has a mastery neither of languages foreign to his own, nor of the specialist literary science known as Religious Form Criticism—both absolutely necessary tools of scholarship operating in this field of human endeavor. If he has any business in this area at all, it lies in his abilities to organize the conclusions and postulates of others as a testimony to the following meaningful coherency: (1) that the nature of what we now mean by ­The New Testament­ is far more complicated than perhaps anyone had ever anticipated; (2) that scholarship particularly in the field of religion must be shared with as wide an audience as possible, given the fact that all men contemplate the nature of religion, often with love, but almost always with illiteracy; (3) that the field did not until now possess as simple and direct an organizational framework for this knowledge as the table of contents to this work; (4) that a plan something along these lines was necessary in order to make the results of scholarship in this field intelligible to the great masses of English-speaking people throughout the known world; and (5) that the time for such a task was if anything overdue, given (a) the demonstrable political power of religious ignorance, and (b) the fact that nothing of such a supremely comprehensive nature had ever been undertaken primarily for an American audience in a field whose continuous critical scholarship (see below) goes back to at least 1474 (and in a few individual cases, even earlier than that).

 

     Because it has been arranged in such a manner and with such views in mind, the Editor/Compiler views with disfavor any printed or electronic attempt to cast any part of this work in a light other than it has been intended (e.g., as an advertisement designed to induce support for an ecclectic religious sect or religious world order): in short, in any other than in a specifically Christian context.

 

[G]

 

     In the way of an addenda of sorts, Agnes Smith Lewis appends to her volume of Arabic legends (­The Mythological Acts of The Apostles­, Cambridge, 1904, xliv-xlvi) a bibliography of sixty-one items concerning the field of New Testament Apocrypha, from the 16th to the very beginnings of the 20th century. The following is its contents:

 

(1) The ­Legendarium­ of B. Mombertius, Milan, 1474. (2,3) The Abdiae Babyloniae Primus de Historia Certaminis Apostolici­ published in Paris in 1560 from materials gathered earlier by Friedrich Nausea (Cologne, 1531) and Wolfgang Lazius (Basel, 1551). (4) ­The Vitae Sanctorum­ of Aloys Lipomannus, Rome, 1551-1560. Eight volumes. (5) ­Catechesis Martini Lutheri Parva Graeco-Latina­ of Michael Neander, Basle, 1567. (6) The Vitae Sanctorum­ of Laurentius Surius. Cologne, 1569 sqq. Six volumes. (7) The ­Annalles Ecclesiastici­ of Cardinal Caesar Baronius. 1609-1613, 1617-1670. Twelve volumes. (8) The ­Acta Sanctorum­ of the Bollandists. From 1643. Sixty volumes. (9) The ­Martyrologium Nieronymianum­ of Florentini, Lucca, 1688. (10) ­Memoires de l'Histoire Ecclesiastique Des Six Premiers Siecles­ of Tillemont, in three editions: Paris (1693-1712) 16 volumes; Brussels (1694-1730) 10 volumes; and Paris (1701-1730) 10 volumes. (11) ­De Rebus Gestis et Vitis Apostolorum­ by Joachim Perionius. (12) ­Dissertatio de Pseudepigraphis Christi, Virginis Mariae et Apostolorum­ by Thomas Ittig, Leipzig, 1696. (13) ­Pseudo-Novum Testamentum Exhibens Pseudo-Evanbgelia, Acts, Epistolas, Apocalypses­ by Chuedenius, Helmstadt, 1699. (14) Spicilegium Patrum­ of Johann Ernst Grabe, Oxford, 1700. Two volumes. (15) Historia Saeculi Primi Fabulis Variorum Maculata­ of Weddercamp, Helmstadt, 1700. (16) Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­ of Fabricius, Hamburg, 1703, 1719. (17) ­Histoire Critique de Manichee et du Manicheisme­ of Beausobre, Amsterdam, 1734. (18) ­Aegyptiorum Codicum Reliquiae Venetiis in Bibliotheca Naniana Asservatae­, of Mingarelli, Bologna, 1785. (19) ­A New and Full Method of Settling the Canonical Authority of the New Testament­ of Jeremiah Jones, London, 1722, 1798. (20) ­Die Apokryphen des Neuen Testamentes­ of Kleuker, Munster, 1798. (21) ­Auctarium Codicis Apocryphi Fabriciani­ of Andreas Birch, Copenhagen, 1804. (22) ­Catalogue Codicum Copticorum in Museo Borgiano­ of George Zoega, Rome, 1810. Volume III, pp 229 sqq. (23) ­Acta Thomas­ of Johann Karl Thilo, Leipzig, 1823. (24) ­Acta Petri et Pauli­ of Johann Karl Thilo, Halle, 1837-1838. (25) ­Andreas und Elene­ of Jacob Grimm, Cassel, 1840. (26) ­Die Apokryphischen Evangelien und Apostelgeschichten­ of Borberg, Stuttgart, 1841. (27) ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ of Constantin Tischendorf, Leipzig, 1851. (28) ­Die Kirchliche Legende Uber die Heiligen Apostel­ of Franz Otto Stichart, Leipzig, 1861. (29) ­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­ of William Wright, London, 1871. Two volumes. (30) ­The Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­ of S. C. Malan, London, 1871. (31) ­Die Quellen der Romischen Petrussage­ of Lipsius, Kiel, 1872. (32) ­Die Simon-Sage­ of Lipsius, Leipzig, 1874. (33) ­Vita et Martyrium S. Bartholomaei­ of Mosinger, Innsbruck, 1877. (34) ­Ecclesiae Ephensinae de Obitu Ioannis Apostoli Narratio­ of Joseph Catargian, Vienna, 1877. (35) ­Acta Timothei­ of Usener, Bonn, 1877. (36) “Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles”­ in Smith and Wace’s ­Dictionary of Christian Biography­, London, 1877. (37) ­Apocryphen des Neuen Testaments­ by Rudolf Hofmann in Heerzog’s ­Real-Encyclopadie­. (38) ­Acta Ioannis­ of Archimandrite Amphilochius, Moscow, 1879. (39) ­Acta Ioannis­ of Theodore Zahn, Erlangen, 1880. (40) ­Denkmaler der Apokryphischen Literatur­ of Tichonrawow. Old Slavonic. (41) Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte­ of Bonwetsch, 1882, pp 506sqq. (42) ­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ of Richard Adelbert Lipsius, Brunswick, 1883-1890. Three volumes. (43)Die Konigsnamen” in Den Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten. Rheinisches Museum für Philologie­, N. F. xix. pp. 161-183; 380-401 of Alfred von Gutschmid. (44) ­Gli Atti Apocrifi Degli Apostoli nei Testi Copti, Arabi ed Etiopici. Giornale della Societa Asiatica Italiana­ II, Rome, 1888. Frammenti Copti. (45) Melanges Asiatiques­ X, 110ff and 148ff, in the Bulletin de l'Academie Imperiale des Sciences­ XXXIII, 354ff and XXXV, 294ff, Petersburg, 1890-1892. (46) ­Koptische Apocryphe Apostelacten­ I and II in the ­Bulletin de l'Academie Imperale des Sciences­ XXXIII (1890) 509-581; XXXV (1892), 233-326. (47) ­Apokryphe Koptische Apostelgeschichten und Legenden­ by Carl Schmidt in Harnack’s ­Geschichte der Altchristlichen Litteratur­ I, Leipzig, 1893, 919-922. (48) Apocrypha Anecdota­ by Dr. Montague Rhodes-James in ­Texts and Studies­ II.v, Cambridge, 1893, 1897. (49) Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ of Richard Adelbert Lipsius and Maximilian Bonnet, Leipzig, 1891-1903. Two volumes. (50) ­Studia Sinaitica­ V, in which Margaret Dunlop Gibson, London, 1896. (51) ­Studia Sinaitica­ VIII, in which Margaret Dunlop Gibson, London, 1901. (52) ­Lives and Legends of the Evangelists, Apostles, and Other Early Saints­ of A. Bell, London, 1901. (53) ­The Contendings of the Apostles­ of E. Wallis Budge, London, 1901. Ethiopic text with an English translation. Two volumes. (54) Les Actes de S. Jacques et les Actes d'Aquilas­ of Jean Ebersolt, Paris, 1902. (55) ­Die Petrus-und Paulusacten in der Litterarischen Ueberlieferung der Syrischen Kirche­ of Anton Baumstark in Leipzig, 1902. (56) ­Simon Magus­ of A. C. Headlam, in Hasting’s ­Bible Dictionary­ IV, 519-527, Edinburgh, 1902. (57) ­The Dioscuri in Christian Literature­ of J. Rendel Harris, London, 1903. (58) Die Alten Petrusakten im Zusammenhang der Apokryphen Apostelliteratur. Texte und Untersuchun-gen­ XXIV of Carl Schmidt, Leipzig, 1903. (59) ­Acta Pauli, aus der Heidelberger Koptischen Papyrus-Handschrift Nr I­, of Carl Schmidt, Leipzig, 1904. (60) Die Petrusakten­ of G. Ficker, Leipzig, 1903. (61)Swei Hymnen der Thomasakten” in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft­ of G. Hoffman, Giessen, 1903. Volume II.

 

THE BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR THE FRAGMENTS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

 

     The working bibliography—i.e., the sources which physically contained the information used in the compilation of this particular book—are listed below. They are presented in two versions: first, alphabetically by anagramatic identification; and second, alphabetically by author. Except in the case of multiple-volume encyclopedic works (where only the primary editor or publisher is listed) every effort has been made to credit multiple authors. Every effort has also been made to expand the titles proper to include their sub-titles. Titles in languages other than English have been simplified.

 

The Bibliography Organized Alphabetically by Anagram

 

1. AAA Wright, W., Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, Amsterdam, 1968.

2. ACH Achelis, H., in Gebhart & Harnack, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur XI, Hit. 2, Leipzig, 1893.

3. ALL Allen, A. J. C., The Acts of the Apostles: Edited, with Notes and Explanations, New York, 1893.

4. ALM Hoffman, M. S., The World Almanac and Book of Facts: 1989, New York, 1988.

5. ANE Robinson, F., Texts and Studies—Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature: Apocrypha Anecdota, A Collection of Thirteen Apocryphal Books and Fragments, Cambridge, 1893.

6. ANF Coxe, A. C., The Anti-Nicene Christian Library, New York, 1891. [Principally this edition, and at first of it only volume VIII: Apocrypha of the New Testament.]

7. ANG Davidson, G., A Dictionary of Angels Including the Fallen Angels, New York, 1967.

8. ANT James, M. R., The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford, 1924.

9. AOT Sparis, H., The Apocryphal Old Testament, Oxford, 1984.

10. AOW McEvedy, C. and Jones, R., Atlas of World Population History, Bungay, 1978.

11. APA Goppelt, L., Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times, Grand Rapids, 1980.

12. ARM Peeters, P., Evangiles Apocryphes: l’Evangile de l’Enfance: Redactions Syriaque, Arabe, et Armeniennes, Traduites et Annotees, Paris, 1914.

13. ASM Talbot, C. H., The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany, New York, 1954.

 

14. BDS Holweck, F. G., A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints, St. Louis, 1924.

15. BEN Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine’s Abbey at Ramsgate, The Book of Saints: A Dictionary of Servants of God Canonized by the Catholic church, Extracted from the Roman and Other Martyrologies, London, 1921.

16. BET Russell, D. S., Between the Testaments, London, 1960.

17. BIB Sims, A. E. and Dent, G., Who’s Who in the Bible, London, 1960.

18. BOR Boswell, C. S., An Irish Precursor of Dante: A Study on the Version of Heaven and Hell Ascribed to the Eighth-Century Irish Saint Adamnan with Translation of the Irish Text, London, 1908.

19. BRO Brooks, K. R., Andreas and the Fates of the Apostles, Oxford, 1961.

 

20. CAT Herbermann, C. G., The Catholic Encyclopaedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline and History of the Catholic Church, New York, 1907.

21. CAG Robinson, F., Texts and Studies—Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature: Coptic Apocryphal Gospels, Cambridge, 1896.

22. CHA Carey, E. F., The Channel Islands, London, 1904.

23. COA Budge, E. A. W., The Contendings of the Apostles II: The English Translation, London, 1901.

24. COL Collins, J. J., The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to the Jewish Matrix of Christianity, New York, 1987.

25. COO Cook, A. S., The Old English Elene, Phoenix, and Physiologus, New Haven, 1919.

26. COP Budge, E. A. W., Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, London, 1913.

27. COU Coulson, J., The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary, Briston, 1957.

28. CYC McClintock, J. and Strong, J., Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, New York, 1969.

29. CYP Purcell, H. D., Cyprus, London, 1969.

 

30. DAN Danielou, J., A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea I: The Theology of Jewish-Christianity, Philadelphia, 1978.

31. DCA Smith, W. and Cheetham, S., A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, London, 1880.

32. DCB Smith, W. and Wace, H., A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines During the First Eight Centuries, London, 1882.

33. DCG Hastings, J., Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, New York, 19908.

34. DCT Richardson, A. and Bowden, J., A Dictionary of Christian Theology, Philadelphia, 1969.

35. DEW de Waard, J., A Comparative Study of the Old Testament Text in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the New Testament, Grand Rapids, 1966.

36. DID Dickens, B. and Ross, A. S. C., The Dream of the Rood, London, 1963.

37. DIL Dillon, J. M., The Middle Platonists: 80BC-220AD, Ithaca, 1977.

38. DOB Hastings, J. and Selbie, J. A., A Dictionary of the Bible Dealing with its Languages, Literature and Contents Including the Biblical Theology, Edinburgh, 1898.

39. DOR Doresse, J., The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics, New York, 1960.

40. DOW Downey, R. M., A History of Antioch in Syria from Seleucus to the Arab Conquest, Princeton, 1961.

41. DRG Werbeck, W., Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Tübingen, 1959.

42. DSS Gaster, T. H., The Dead Sea Scriptures, Garden City, 1976.

43. DUR Durant, W. and Durant, A., The Story of Civilization, New York, 1954.

44. DUS Dupont-Sommer, A., The Essene Writings from Qumran, Gloucester, 1973.

 

45. EBC Segal, J. B., Edessa the Blessed City, Oxford, 1970.

46. ECC Davies, J. G., The Early Christian Church: A History of its First Five Centuries, Grand Rapids, 1983.

47. ECW Staniforth, M., Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers, Harmondsworth, 1976.

48. ENB Cheyne, T. K. and Black, J. S., Encyclopaedia Biblica, A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political and Religious History, the Archaeology, Geography and Natural History, of the Bible, London, 1902.

49. ENC Preece, W. E., Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago, 1966.

50. ENJ Roth, C., Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jerusalem, 1972.

51. EOR Eliade, M., The Encyclopedia of Religion, New York, 1987.

52. EVS Bunge, F. M., Cyprus: A Country Study, Washington, 1980.

 

53. FAB Fabricius, J. A., Condex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti, Hamburg, 1703, 1719.

54. FOD Dannhorn, R., Fodor’s India and Nepal: 1982, New York, 1982.

55. FNT Bradley, H. H., Fragments of the New Testament, Bryn Mawr, 1990.

 

56. GIB Gibbon, E., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, New York, 1978.

57. GLD Downey, R. M., Ancient Antioch, Princeton, 1963.

58. GNO Foerster, W. and Wilson, R. McL., Gnosis, A Selection of Gnostic Texts I: Patristic Evidence, Oxford, 1972.

59. GOO Goodspeed, E. J., The Apostolic Fathers, New York, 1950.

60. GRA Grant, R. M., The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation and Commentary, New York, 1964.

 

61. HLC Schoeps, H. J., Jewish-Christianity: Factional Disputes in the Early Church, Philadelphia, 1969.

 

62. INT Buttrick, G. A., The Interpreter’s Dictionary Of The Bible: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Nashville, 1962.

63. IOM Kinvig, R. H., The Isle of Man: A Social, Cultural and Political History, Liverpool, 1975.

 

64. JAA Philonenko, M., Joseph et Asenath: Introductión, Texte, Critique, Traduction et Notes, Leiden, 1968.

65. JEN Singer, I., The Jewish Encyclopedia, London, 1909.

66. JHC Charlesworth, J. H., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha I: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments, New York, 1983.

67. JON de Jonge, M., Outside the Old Testament, Cambridge, 1985.

68. JOS Whiston, W., The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus, London, 1860.

69. JSL Wright, W., “The Departure of My Lady Mary From This world” in Journal of Sacred Literature, London, 1895.

70. JTS James, M. R., “Irish Apocrypha” in Journal of Theological Studies XX, Oxford, 1918.

 

71. KEE Kee, H. C., The Origins of Christianity: Sources and Documents, Englewood Cliffs, 1973.

72. KEN Kennedy, C. W., The Poems of Cynewulf, London, 1910.

73. KNI Coggins, R. J. and Knibb, M. A., The First and Second Books of Esdras, Cambridge, 1979.

 

74. LAB de Labriolle, P., The History and Literature of Christianity from Tertullian to Boethius, New York, 1968.

75. LAS la Sor, F., The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament, Grand Rapids, 1972.

76. LEW Springer, O., Lagenscheidts Enzyklopadisches Worterbuch II, Berlin, 1975.

77. LIG Lightfoot, J. B., The Apostolic Fathers, London, 1885.

78. LIV Edmunds, A. J., Jerome’s Lives of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Philadelphia, 1896.

79. LST Budge, E. A. W., “The History of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the History of the Likeness of Christ,” in Luczac, Semitic Text and Translation Series V, London, 1899.

 

80. MAR Marxsen, W. and Buswell, G., Introduction to the New Testament: An Approach to its Problems, Philadelphia, 1968.

81. MIP Witt, R. E., Albinus and the History of Middle Platonism, Cambridge, 1937.

82. MPE Frend, W. H. C., Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of a Conflict from the Maccabees to Donatus, New York, 1967.

83. MRJ James, M. R., Latin Infancy Gospels, Oxford, 1927.

84. MRS Lewis, A. S., The Mythological Acts of the Apostles, Translated from an Arabic Manuscript in the Convent of Deyr-es-Suriani, Egypt, and from Manuscripts in the Convent of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai and in the Vatican Library; with a Translation of the Palimpsest Fragments of the Acts of Judas Thomas from Codex Sinaiticus Syriacus 30, London, 1904.

 

85. NAB  Members of the Catholic Biblical Association of America, The New American Bible, Beverly Hills, 1970.

86. NAG Robinson, J. M. and Meyer, M. W., The Nag Hammadi Library in English, Leiden, 1977.

87. NBC Guthrie, D., et.al., The New Bible Commentary: Revised, Carmel, 1984.

88. NCE McDonald, W. J., New Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, 1966.

89. NDT Komonchack, J. A., The New Dictionary of Theology, Wilmington, 1988.

90. NEB Ebor, D., The New English Bible with the Apocrypha, New York, 1971.

91. NHE Hebrick, C. W. and Hodgson, R., Jr., Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism & Early Christianity, Peabody, 1986.

92. NHG Tuckett, C. M., Nag Hammadi and the Gospel Tradition: Synoptic Tradition in the Nag Hammadi Library, Edinburgh, 1986.

93. NOAB Metzger, B. M. and Murphy, R. E., The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal-Deuterocanonical Books, Oxford, 1991.

94. NTA Hennecke, E., Schneemelcher, W. and Wilson, R. McL., New Testament Apocrypha: I: Gospels and Related Writings; II: Writings Relating to the Apostles, Apocalypses and Related Subjects, Philadelphia, 1963, 1965.

95. NTB Evans, C. A., Webb, R. L. and Wiebe, R. A., Nag Hammadi Texts and the Bible: A Synopsis and Index, Leiden, 1993.

96. NWT International Bible Students Association, New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, Brooklyn, 1951.

 

97. OAB May, H. G. and Metzger, B. M., The Oxford Annotated Bible, London, 1962.

98. ODC Cross, F. L., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, London, 1962.

99. ODP Kelly, J. N. D., The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, Oxford, 1986.

100. OED Simpson, J. A. and Weiner, E. S. C., The Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford, 1989.

101. OLD Glare, P. G. W., Oxford Latin Dictionary, Oxford, 1968.

102. OXY Grenfell, B. P. and Hunt, A. S., Oxyrhynchus Papyrus II, XI, New York, 1899, 1915.

 

103. PAG Pagels, E., The Gnostic Gospels, New York, 1981.

104. PAM McEvedy, C., The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History, Norwich, 1978.

105. PAT Patrides, C. A. and Wittreich, J., The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature: Patterns, Antecedents and Repercussions, Ithaca, 1984.

106. PEL Goodspeed, E. J., “The Epistle of Pelagia” in American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures XX, Chicago, 1904.

107. PER Perrin, N., The New Testament: An Introduction, Chicago, 1974.

108. PRO Tischendorf, C., Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, Leipzig, 1851.

 

109. QUI Quispel, G., Lettre a Flora par Ptolemee, Paris, 1966.

 

110. REQ Milik, J. T., Revue de Qumran, I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XV, Paris, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1966, 1969, 1971, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1992.

111. RHC Charles, R. H., Religious Development Between the Old and New Testaments, London, 1929.

112. RJP Peebles, R. J., The Legend of Longinus in Ecclesiastical Tradition and in English Literature and its Connection with the Grail: A Dissertation, Baltimore, 1911.

113. RMG Grant, R. M., An Historical Introduction to the New Testament, New York, 1963.

114. ROW Rowley, H. H., The Relevance of Apocalyptic: A Study of Jewish and Christian Apocalypses from Daniel to Revelation, New York, 1974.

115. RUS Russell, D. S., The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic, Philadelphia, 1964.

116. RWT Thomson, R. W., History of the Armenians of Moses Khorenats’i, Cambridge, 1978.

 

117. SAI Farmer, D. H., The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford, 1978.

118. SAR Scharr, C., Critical Studies in the Cynewulf Group, London, 1949.

119. SCH Schmithals, W., The Apocalyptic Movement: Introduction and Interpretation, Nashville, 1975.

120. SCI Jackson, S. M., The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, New York, 1909.

121. SGM Smith, M., The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark, New York, 1973.

122. SHE Loetscher, L. A., Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Grand Rapids, 1955.

123. SOU Souter, A., A Glossary of Later Latin to 600AD, Oxford, 1949.

124. STE Stendahl, K., The Scrolls and the New Testament, New York, 1957.

 

125. TAF Lake, K., The Apostolic Fathers II: The Shepherd of Hermas; The Martyrdom of Polycarp; The Epistle to Diognetus, London, 1959.

126. TAG Cowper, B. H., The Apocryphal Gospels, London, 1867.

127. TAW Caldwell, W. E. and Gyles, M. F., The Ancient World, New York, 1967.

128. TFC Schoppe, L., The Fathers of the Church I: The Apostolic Fathers, New York, 1947.

129. TWE Chambers, M., The Western Experience to 1715, New York, 1974.

 

130. USE Usener, H., “Acta S. Timothei” in Natalica Regis Augustissimi Guilelmi Imperatoris Germanie, Bonn, 1877.

 

131. WEB Gove, P. B., Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged, Springfield, 1981.

132. WRE Wrenn, C. L., A Study of Old English Literature, London, 1967.

133. WS1, WS2, WS3 Mingana, A., Woodbrooke Studies: Christian Documents in Syriac, Arabic and Garshuni, with Introductions by Rendel Harris, Cambridge, 1927.

134. WWW Bowder, D., et al., Who Was Who in the Roman World: 653BC-476AD, Oxford, 1980.

 

135. ZZZ Schaff, P., The Creeds of Christendom with a History and Critical Notes II: Greek and Latin Creeds, New York, 1919.

 

The Bibliography Organized Alphabetically by Author

 

 

(1) Achelis, H., [text and commentary of the Acts of Archelaeus] in Gebhart & Harnack, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur XI:ii, Leipzig, 1893. (2) Allen, A.J.C., The Acts of the Apostles: Edited, with Notes and Explanations, New York, 1893. (3) Baring-Gould, S., Lives of the Saints, London, 1898. (4) Benedictine Monks of St. Augustine’s Abbey at Ramsgate, The Book of Saints: A Dictionary of Servants of God Cannonised by the Catholic Church, Extracted from the Roman and Other Martyrologies, London, 1921. (5) Boswell, C. S., An Irish Precursor of Dante: A Study on the Vision of Heaven and Hell Ascribed to the Eighth-Century Irish Saint Adamnan with Translation of the Irish Text, London, 1908. (6) Bowder, D., Who Was Who in the Roman World: 653BC-476AD, Oxford, 1980. (7) Bradley, H.H., Fragments of the New Testament, Bryn Mawr, 1990. (8) Brooks, K. R., Andreas and the Fates of the Apostles, Oxford, 1961. (9) Budge, E. A. W., The Contendings of the Apostles II: The English Translation, London, 1901. (10) Budge, E. A. W., Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, London, 1913. (11) Budge, E. A. W., The History of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the History of the Likeness of Christ, in Luzac, Semitic Text and Translation Series V., London, 1899. (12) Bunge, F. M., Cyprus: A Country Study, Washington, 1980. (13) Buttrick, G. A., The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, Nashville, 1962. (14) Caldwell, W. E. and Gyles, M. F., The Ancient World, New York, 1967. (15) Carey, E. F., The Channel Islands, London, 1904. (16) Chambers, M., The Western Experience to 1715, New York, 1974. (17) Charles, R. H., Religious Development Between the Old and New Testaments, London, 1929. (18) Charlesworth, J. H., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha I: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments, New York, 1983. (19) Cheyne, T. K. and Black, J. S., Encyclopaedia Biblica, A Critical Dictionary of the Literary, Political and Religious History, the Archaeology, Geography and Natural History, of the Bible, London, 1902. (20) Coggins, R. J. and Knibb, M. A., The First and Second Books of Esdras, Cambridge, 1979. (21) Collins, J. J., The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to the Jewish Matrix of Christianity, New York, 1987. (22) Cook, A. S., The Old English Elene, Phoenix, and Physiologus, New Haven, 1919. (23) Cowper, B. H., The Apocryphal Gospels, London, 1867. (24) Coxe, A. C., The Anti-Nicene Christian Library, New York, 1871. By far the edition most often used. (25) Cross, F.L., The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, London, 1962. Overwhelmingly the edition most often used. (26) Danielou, J., A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea I: The Theology of Jewish-Christianity, Philadelphia, 1978. (27) Dannhorn, R., Fodor’s India and Nepal, New York, 1982. (28) Davidson, G., A Dictionary of Angels Including the Fallen Angels, New York, 1967. (29) Davies, J. G., The Early Christian Church: A History of its First Five Centuries, Grand Rapids, 1983. (30) Dickens, B. and Ross, A. S. C., The Dream of the Rood, London, 1963. (31) Dillon, J. M., The Middle Platonists: 80BC-220AD, Ithaca, 1977. (32) Doresse, J., The Secret Book of the Egyptian Gnostics, New York, 1960. (33) Downey, R. M., Ancient Antioch, Princeton, 1963. (34) Downey, R. M., A History of Antioch in Syria from Seleucus to the Arab Conquest, Princeton, 1961. (35) Dupont-Sommer, A., The Essene Writings From Qumran, Gloucester, 1973. (36) Durant, W. and Durant, A., The Story of Civilization, New York, 1954. (37) Ebor, D., The New English Bible with the Apocrypha, New York, 1971. (38) Edmunds, A. J., Jerome’s Lives of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, Philadelphia, 1896. (39) Eliade, M., The Encyclopedia of Religion, New York, 1987. (40) Evans, C. A., Webb, R. L. and Wiebe, R. A., Nag Hammadi Texts and the Bible: A Synopsis and Index, Leiden, 1993. (41) Fabricius, J. A., Codex Apocrhyphus Novi Testamenti, Hamburg, 1703. (42) Farmer, D. H., The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, Oxford, 1978. (43) Foerster, W. and Wilson, R. McL., Gnosis, A Selection of Gnostic Texts I: Patristic Evidence, Oxford, 1972. (44) Frend, W. H. C., Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of a Conflict from the Maccabees to Donatus, New York, 1967. (45) Gaster, T. H., The Dead Sea Scriptures, Garden City, 1976. (46) Gibbon, E., The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, New York, 1978. (47) Glare, P. G. W., Oxford Latin Dictionary, Oxford, 1968. (48) Goodspeed, E. J., The Apostolic Fathers, New York, 1950. (49) Goodspeed, E. J., “The Epistle of Pelagia” in American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures XX, Chicago, 1904. (50) Goppelt, L., Apostolic and Post-Apostolic Times, Grand Rapids, 1980. (51) Gove, P. B., Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged, Springfield, 1981. (52) Grant, R. M., The Apostolic Fathers: A New Translation and Commentary, New York, 1964. (53) Grant, R. M., An Historical Introduction to the New Testament, New York, 1963. (54) Grenfell, B. P. and Hunt, A. S., Oxyrhynchus Papyrus II, XI, New York, 1899, 1915. (55) Guthrie, D., et.al., The New Bible Commentary: Revised, Carmel, 1984. (56) Hastings, J., Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels, New York, 1908. (57) Hastings, J. and Selbie, J. A., A Dictionary of the Bible Dealing with its Languages, Literature and Contents Including the Biblical Theology, Edinburg, 1898. (58) Hedrick, C. W. and Hodgson, R., Jr., Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism & Early Christianity, Peabody, 1986. (59) Hennecke, E., Schneemelcher, W. and Wilson, R. McL., New Testament Apocrypha I: Gospels and Related Writings; II: Writings Relating to the Apostles, Apocalypses and Related Subjects, Philadelphia, 1963, 1965. (60) Herbermann, C. G., The Catholic Encyclopaedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline and History of the Catholic Church, New York, 1907. (61) Hoffman, M. S., The World Almanac and Book of Facts: 1989, New York, 1988. (62) Holweck, G., A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints, St. Louis, 1924. (63) International Bible Students Association, New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, Brooklyn, 1951. (64) Jackson, S. M., The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, New York, 1909. (65) James, M. R., The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford, 1924. (66) James, M.R., “Irish Apocrypha” in Journal of Theological Studies XX, Oxford, 1918. (67) James, M. R., Latin Infancy Gospels, Oxford, 1927. (68) de Jonge, M., Outside the Old Testament, Cambridge, 1985. (69) Kee, H. C., The Origins of Christianity: Sources and Documents, Englewood Cliffs, 1973. (70) Kelly, J. N. D., The Oxford Dictionary of Popes, Oxford, 1986. (71) Kennedy, C. W., The Poems of Cynewulf, London, 1910. (72) Kinvig, R. H., The Isle of Man: A Social, Cultural and Political History, Liverpool, 1975. (73) Komonchack, J. A., The New Dictionary of Theology, Wilmington, 1988. (74) de Labriolle, P., The History and Literature of Christianity From Tertullian to Boethius, New York, 1968. (75) Lake, K., The Apostolic Fathers II: The Shepherd of Hermas; The Martyrdom of Polycarp; The Epistle to Diognetus, London, 1959. (76) Lewis, A. S., The Mytholotical Acts of the Apostles, Translated from an Arabic Manuscript in the Convent of Deyr-es-Suriani, Egypt, and from Manuscripts in the Convent of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai and in the Vatican Library; with a Translation of the Palimpsest Fragments of the Acts of Judas Thomas from Codex Siniaticus Syriacus 30, London, 1904. (77) Lightfoot, J. B., The Apostolic Fathers, London, 1885. (78) Loetscher, L. A., Twentieth Century Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, Grand Rapids, 1955. (79) Marxsen, W. and Buswell, G., Introduction to the New Testament: An Approach to its Problems, Philadelphia, 1968. (80) May, H. G. and Metzger, B. M., The Oxford Annotated Bible, London, 1962. (81) Members of the Catholic Biblical Association of America, The New American Bible, Beverly Hills, 1970. (82) Metzger, B. M. and Murphy, R. E., The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books, Oxford, 1991. (83) McClintock, J. and Strong, J., Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, New York, 1969. (84) McDonald, W. J., New Catholic Encyclopedia, New York, 1966. (85) McEvedy, C., The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History, Norwich, 1978. (86) McEvedy, C. and Jones, R., Atlas of World Population History, Bungay, 1978. (87) Milik, J.T., Revue de Qumran I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XV, Paris, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1966, 1969, 1971, 1975, 1978, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1992. (88) Mingana, A., Woodbrooke Studies: Christian Documents in Syriac, Arabic and Garshuni, with Introductions by Rendel Harris, Cambridge, 1927, 1929, 1933. (89) Pagels, E, The Gnostic Gospels, New York, 1981. (90) Patrides, C. A. and Wittreich, J., The Apocalypse in English Renaissance Thought and Literature: Patterns, Antecedents and Repercussions, Ithaca, 1984. (91) Peebles, R.J., The Legend of Longinus in Ecclesiastical Tradition and in English Literature and its Connection with the Grail: A Dissertation, Baltimore, 1911. (92) Peeters, P., Evangiles Apocryphes: l’Evangile de l’Enfance: Redactions Syriaque, Arabe, et Armeniennes, Traduites et Annotees, Paris, 1914. (93) Perrin, N., The New Testament: An Introduction, Chicago, 1974. (94) Philonenko, M., Joseph et Asenath: Introductión, Texte, Critique, Traduction et Notes, Leiden, 1968. (95) Preece, W. E., Encyclopaedia Britannica, Chicago, 1966. (96) Purcell, H. D., Cyprus, London, 1969. (97) Quispel, G., Lettre a Flora par Ptolemee, Paris, 1966. (98) Richardson, A. and Bowden, J., A Dictionary of Christian Theology, Philadelphia, 1969. (99) Robinson, F., Texts and Studies—Conributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature: Apocrypha Anecdota, A Collection of Thirteen Apocryphal Books and Fragments, Cambridge, 1893. (100) Robinson, F., Texts and Studies—Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature: Coptic Apocryphal Gospels, Cambridge, 1896. (101) Robinson, J. M. and Meyer, M. W., The Nag Hammadi Library in English, Leiden, 1977. (102) Roth, C., Encyclopaedia Judaica, Jerusalem, 1972. (103) Rowley, H. H., The Relevance of Apocalyptic: A Study of Jewish and Christian Apocalypses From Daniel to Revelation, New York, 1964. (104) Russell, D. S., Between the Testaments, London, 1960. (105) Russell, D. S., The Method and Message of Jewish Apocayptic, Philadelphia, 1964. (106) Schaff, P., The Creeds of Christendom with a History and Critical Notes II: Greek and Latin Creeds, New York, 1919. (107) Scharr, C., Critical Studies in the Cynewulf Group, London, 1949. (108) Schmithals, W., The Apocalyptic Movement: Introduction and Interpretation, Nashville, 1975. (109) Schoeps, H. J., Jewish-Christianity: Factional Disputes in the Early Church, Philadelphia, 1969. (110) Schopp, L., The Fathers of the Church I: The Apostolic Fathers, New York, 1947. (111) Segal, J. B., Edessa the Blessed City, Oxford, 1970. (112) Simpson, J. A. and Weiner, E. S. C., The Oxord English Dictionary, Oxford, 1989. (113) Sims, A. E. and Dent, G., Who’s Who in the Bible, London, 1960. (114) Singer, I., The Jewish Encyclopedia, London, 1909. (115) Smith, M., The Secret Gospel: The Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark, New York, 1973. (116) Smith, W. and Cheetham, S., A Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, London, 1880. (117) Smith, W. and Wace, H., A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines During the First Eight Centuries, London, 1882. (118) la Sor, F., The Dead Sea Scrolls and The New Testament, Grand Rapids, 1972. (119) Souter, A., A Glossary of Later Latin to 600AD, Oxford, 1949. (120) Sparis, H., The Apocryphal Old Testament, Oxford, 1984. (121) Springer, O., Lagenscheidts Enzyklopadisches Worterbuch II, Berlin, 1975. (122) Staniforth, M., Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers, Harmondsworth, 1976. (123) Stendahl, K., The Scrolls and the New Testament, New York, 1957. (124) Talbot, C. H., The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany, New York, 1954. (125) Thomson, R. W., History of the Armenians of Moses Khorenats’i, Cambridge (Mass.), 1978. (126) Tischendorf, C., Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, Leipzig, 1851. (127) Tuckett, C. M., Nag Hammadi and the Gospel Tradition: Synoptic Tradition in the Nag Hammadi Library, Edinburgh, 1986. (128) Usener, H., “Acta S. Timothei” in Natalica Regis Augustissimi Guilelmi Imperatoris Germanie, Bonn, 1877. (129) de Waard, J., A Comparative Study of the Old Testament Text in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the New Testament, Grand Rapids, 1966. (130) Werbeck, W., Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Tübingen, 1959. (131) Whiston, W., The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus, London, 1860. (132) Witt, R. E., Albinus and the History of Middle Platonism, Cambridge, 1937. (133) Wrenn, C. L., A Study of Old English Literature, London, 1967. (134) Wright, W., Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, Amsterdam, 1968. (135) Wright, W., “The Departure of My Lady Mary From This World” in Journal of Sacred Literature, London, 1895.

 

     [This book was begun in January, 1980, and finished as a privately printed paper edition in December, 1990. Between January, 1995 and December, 1997, the contents of this paper version, together with other materials, were re-edited and typed into machine-readable format by the Editor/Compiler. Between July 26-August 15, 2006, the contents of this book was re-edited again in order to produce a master CD-ROM. Hitherto it had been preserved only on sets of floppy-disks and a primitive CD-ROM (now lost), and twice since its inception beyond the paper edition on a free web-site known as Geocities with the address http://www.geocities.com/athens/cyprus/9531, again by the editor/compiler. However, the site on Geocities was twice purged without notice; considerable advances had been made over a ten year period in the field of data micro-storage; and understanding the frailty of floppy disks, a program was undertaken to transfer the contents of this book to a more substantial and permanent vessel, whilst at the same time once again going over the contents word by word to correct such typographical errors as might be found. I have furthur reviewed the contents finally in 2013: H]

 

***

 

I: PROTO-CHRISTIAN MATERIAL

 

A

 

     Between 1957 (some 12 years after their initial discovery in some caves on the western shore of the Dead Sea) and 1995, five world authorities on the ­Dead Sea Scrolls­—and the ­Revue de Qumran­ (1959- ), the primary journal in the field—published some 3,800 thought parallels, which they believed to form points of contact between most of the 56 tractates of the Dead Sea Scrolls and all of the 27 tractates of the Received New Testament­. The authorities are as follows: Stendahl (­The Scrolls and the New Testament­, New York, 1957, pp 306-307); de Ward, (­A Comparative Study of the Old Testament Text in the Dead Sea Scrolls and in the New Testament­, Grand Rapids, 1966, 100-101); La Sor (­The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament­, Grand Rapids, 1972); Dupont-Sommer, (­The Essene Writings From Qumran­, Gloucester, 1973); Gaster, (­The Dead Sea Scriptures­, Garden City, 1976, 578-580); and fourteen separate tabulations, published in succession from 1960 to 1992 (1989-1990 excepted), of ­Received New Testament­ conceptual or verbal parallels from the journal articles contained in the Revue de Qumran­, cumulated by volume as follows:

 

I (1958-1959) 641-642; II (1959-1960) 620-622; III (1961-1962) 619-621; IV (1963-1964) 621-622; V (1964-1966) 622-624; VI (1967-1969) 623-624; VII (1969-1971) 628-629; VIII (1972-1975) 626-628; IX (1977-1978) 624-625; X (1979-1981) 618; XI (1982-1984) 615-616; XII (1985-1987) 627-628; XIII (1988) 672-674; XV (1991-1992) 633-634. (Volume XIV, 1989-1990, had not been tabulated, nor have any further volumes, as of this edition.)

 

     The importance of the discovery of the ­Dead Sea Scrolls­ can scarcely be overestimated. (1) It would appear to firmly authenticate the antiquity of the orthodox ­Received New Testament­ (c.49-c.150AD), for it would appear that the Jewish sectaries at Qumran were permanently dispersed from their settlement during the summer of 68AD, and by that time Christianity as a religious institution had been in existence only 35 years, and Peter and Paul had been dead for only about four years. (2) In view of the fact that practically no other manuscript material in Hebrew and Aramaic has survived the destruction of the Antique World, the chance survival of these scrolls assume an increased linguistic importance, particularly when it is remembered that it was almost certainly in the Aramaic language that Jesus the Christ spoke and thought. (3) The scrolls provide significant first-hand evidence for Jewish life and thought at the time that Christianity was born. More particularly, it was an ascetic form of Jewish conceptualization which also counted as worthy of preservation in its library nearly all the tractates of the Received ­Old­ Testament; and, as BOR has pointed out, the religion which Jesus the Christ inspired remained a Jewish revitalization movement until shortly after the destruction of the temple in 70AD. (4) Besides the 3,800 thought parallels in contact with the 27 books of the Received new Testament, Gaster particularly indicates a similarity of ideas in 10 instances with various portions of the ­Gospel of Thomas­, ­Letter of Barnabas­, ­First Letter of Clement­ and Shepherd of Hermas­—items discussed in this book as part of ­The New Testament­ properly so-called. (5) The existence of the 3,800 verbal or conceptual thought parallels proves conclusively the existence of a commonly-held thought milieu between members of the Old and New Covenants. (6) As Gaster points out (op.cit.­, 40) the ­Manual of Discipline­ and the ­Zadokite Document­ may be compared with the ­Didache, Didascalia Apostolorum­ and ­Apostolic Constitutions­—the primary documents relating to the organization of the earliest Christian Church. Indeed, he says, if we get away from the Greek terminology in which the details of that organization have mostly come down to us, and if we translate it back into Hebrew or Aramaic, we shall find that it bears a quite remarkable correspondence to that found in the Qumran texts, showing that the latter reflect a type of religious organization upon which the early Christian church was largely patterned.

 

     In this context, Proto-Christianity is represented by the matrix formed by the thought parallels themselves: proto­-Christian, however, as opposed to ­non­-Christian, and indicating at least a fragment of what one of the pre-Christian peoples of monotheistic background (Jewish) believed most important for their religious survival—as proven in the parallels between at least 11 of their works and 34 others which have survived the destruction of antiquity: the 27 books of the ­Received New Testament­; the ­Gospel of Thomas­, ­Letter of Barnabas­, ­First Letter of Clement­ and the ­Shepherd of Hermas­ (which are normally classified as Apocrypha); and the ­Didache­, Didascalia Apostolorum­, and ­Apostolic Constitutions­ (which are normally classified as Church Orders).

 

B

 

     The estimated 3,800 verbal or conjectural paralleled points between various of the ­Dead Sea Scrolls­ and the Received New Testament­ are organized below, by author; or by volume number of the ­Revue de Qumran­. They indicate exactly where research has been done in the Received Text; those wishing to consult more specifically must have recourse to the indices for the journal articles themselves. The purpose of this tabulation is simply to indicate the extent of what informed critical opinion believes to be the interface between the 27 books of the Received New Testament and most of the 56 Dead Sea Scrolls. All the references cited above in (A) are listed under each of the books of the Received New Testament, whether they contain parallels with the Received Text or not.

 

MARK

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:2, 1:4, 1:8, 1:12-13, 3:1-6, 3:14-15, 3:22, 3:27, 4:3, 4:17, 6:7, 6:30, 6:35-36, 7:20-21, 8:1-2, 8:28, 9:12-13, 10:21, 10:28, 12:14, 12:33, 13:20, 14:22-24; 14:25, 14:38, 15:40, 16:1, 16:17. De WAARD: 1:3, 6:52, 7:6-7, 7:28, 8:17, 10:1-12, 10:6, 10:13-16, 11:3, 11:17, 12:29-30, 12:32, 12:33, 13:19, 14:18, 14:27, 14:23. {La SOR:} 1:3-4, 7:9-13, 7:20-23, 14:24. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 2:1-12, 2:5, 2:7, 2:27, 5:23, 6:5, 7:11, 7:32, 8:23-25, 9:2-8, 10:2-12, 10:6, 10:44, 12:1-2, 14:3, 14:18, 14:27, 16:18. {GASTER:} 1:8, 1:23, 3:11, 3:30, 5:2, 5:8, 5:13, 6:7, 9:11ff, 9:25, 9:43, 13:8, 13:20, 13:22, 13:27. {REVUE I:} 1:4, 1:8, 1:10, 2:5, 7:1-23, 7:3, 7:31, 8:38, 10:38, 14:25 {REVUE II:} 1:11-13; 1:24, 2:10, 3:27, 4:35-5:3, 7:6-13, 8:11, 10:13-16, 10:45, 11:15-17, 12:35-37, 14:24, 14:57-59, 14:65, 15:34 {REVUE III:} 1:3 1:3-4, 1:4, 1:8, 1:9-11, 1:9-13, 1:10, 1:16, 1:16ff, 1:19, 1:20, 2:25, 3:15, 3:16, 3:16ff, 3:17, 3:18, 3:31-35, 4:12, 4:24, 4:29, 5:37, 6:14, 6:24, 6:25, 8:28, 9:2, 9:6, 9:7, 9:30ff, 9:30, 10:4, 10:13-16, 10:17-22, 10:28-31, 10:35, 10:35, 10:41, 10:35-40, 10:41-45, 10:38, 10:45, 10:47, 11:1-11, 11:10, 12:18-27, 12:35-37, 13:3, 14:29, 14:33, 14:58, 14:59. {REVUE IV:} 1:4, 1:6, 1:7, 8:27-30, 9:2-9, 9:23, 9:31, 13:27, 14:28, 14:61-62, 15:26-27, 16:7. {REVUE V:} 6:1-6, 7:2-23, 2:21-22, 9, 11:12-14, 11:15-17, 11:20ff, 14:12, 14:12-16, 14:12-25, 14:20, 14:21, 14:22-26. (REVUE VI:} 1:1, 2:19a, 3:1-6, 3:6, 3:18, 8:15, 9, 9:11, 9:16-28, 11:8-11, 11:12-14, 11:15, 11:17, 11:18, 11:27, 12:1, 12:12, 12:13, 12:14-17, 12:15, 12:18, 12:25, 12:38, 13:14-20, 14:58, 15:19, 15:29. {REVUE VII:} 1:3, 2:19, 3:6, 3:14, 3:16, 6:14-14?, 7:8-9:13, 8:15, 9:4-5, 9:5, 9:18-22, 10:51, 11:21, 12:13, 12:25, 14:1, 14:12-16, 14:28, 14:45, 14:62, 15:38, 16:1-8, 16:7, 16:8. {REVUE VIII:} 1:3-4, 1:21-25, 1:44, 2:1, 2:17, 4:21, 4:21-28, 4:28, 5:41, 6:48, 6:52-53, 7:11, 7:34, 8:28, 9:5, 10:51, 11:9, 11:21, 12:17, 13:15, 14:12, 14:14, 14:16, 14:17, 14:36, 14:66-71, 15:2, 15:34, 15:35. {REVUE IX:} 1:4, 1:5, 1:9, 1:13, 2:3, 2:27, 3:1-6, 5:4, 6:22, 6:48, 6:52-53, 7, 7:15, 7:18-20, 8:31, 10:2-12, 12:11, 13:13, 14:3, 14:21, 14:36, 16:11. {REVUE X:} 1:15, 8:15, 10:2, 10:28, 12:18, 12:24. {REVUE XI:} 1:20, 2:14, 2:16, 3:25, 4, 4:1-20, 4:10-12, 5:18-19, 7:1-12, 7:3, 7:9-13, 7:27-28, 10:21, 10:28, 10:44. {REVUE XII:} 7, 12:25. {REVUE XIII:} 1:2-3, 1:6, 1:10, 1:22, 1:27, 1:34, 2:10, 2:16, 2:21-22, 2:24, 3:4, 3:20-23, 3:31, 4:28, 5:23, 5:27-31, 5:41, 6:11, 6:48, 6:52-53, 7:5, 7:19, 7:24, 9:21, 9:23, 10:13-16, 10:21, 10:35, 12:17, 13:11, 13:17, 13:22, 14:58, 16:17. {REVUE XV:} 3:29, 9:9s, 9:11-13, 9:12, 10:1-12, 13:20, 14:26, 14:61-64.

 

MATTHEW

 

{STENDAHL:} 2:15, 2:18, 3:1, 3:2, 3:7, 3:11-12, 4:3-10, 5, 5:3, 5:12, 5:14-16, 5:17, 5:20-21, 5:31-32, 5:32, 5:33-37, 5:38-39, 5:43-44, 6:13, 6:24, 7:16-20, 8:11, 9:13, 9:34, 10:5, 10:34, 11:11, 11:14, 11:25-30, 12:7, 12:9-14, 12:29-30, 12:32, 13:21, 13:31-33, 16:18-19, 16:21-22, 18:15-16, 19:3-9, 23, 23:12, 23:29-37, 23:34, 24:26, 26:26-29, 27:52-53, 28:19-20. {De WAARD:} 1:1-12, 1:23, 2:1, 2:5, 2:6, 2:23, 3:3, 4:6, 4:15-16, 5:5, 8:17, 12:18-21, 12:20, 13:14-15, 15:8, 15:9, 19:4, 19:19, 19:28, 21:5, 21:13, 21:42, 22:39, 24:21, 24:38, 26:31. {La SOR:} 1:18-20, 3:2, 3:5, 4:17, 5-7, 5:3, 5:17-20, 5:27-30, 5:31-32, 5:34-35, 5:43, 5:48, 6:24, 11:18, 12:10-12, 16:18, 19:3-6, 20:25-27, 20:28. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 3:1-6, 5:17, 5:17-19, 5:22, 5:33-37, 5:34-36, 7:1-2, 9:1-8, 9:2, 9:3, 11:18-19, 11:25-26, 11:28, 12:11, 13:32, 16:18, 18:15-17, 18:17, 18:18, 18:19, 19:3-9, 19:4, 20:15, 20:16, 21:34-46, 22:1-10, 26:7, 26:31. {GASTER:} 3:3, 3:11, 5:33-37, 7:13, 10:1, 11:14, 12:43, 17:10, 18:8, 19:28, 24:8, 24:22, 24:24. {REVUE I:} 3:7, 3:8-9, 3:10, 3:11, 3:12, 3:17, 4:1, 5-7, 5:8, 5:43, 6:6, 6:24, 8:12, 11, 11:12-19, 11:3, 11:7, 11:11, 11:25, 12:25, 15:21, 16:18, 16:23, 17:5, 17:10-13, 18:8-9, 21:25, 21:33-46, 22:13, 22:14, 22:15-23, 23, 23:36, 24:26-28, 24:34, 25:30, 25:41, 26:48. {REVUE II:} 3:5, 3:7, 3:13-17, 3:17, 4:1-11, 4:3, 4:5ff, 4:6, 4:8ff, 5:6, 5:38-5:48, 5:43-48, 5:43, 5:44, 5:45, 5:48, 6:2-4, 6:9, 7:1-5, 7:23, 10:8, 10:37, 11:5, 12:33-34, 12:34, 13:32, 15:5, 15:13, 16:16, 17:2, 19:16-22, 19:19, 21:14, 21:32, 22:16, 22:39, 23:3-6, 23:10, 23:16-22, 23:23, 23:31-37, 23:33, 23:35, 25:40, 25:45, 26:28, 26:52, 26:61, 26:67, 27:52, 27:53. {REVUE III:} 1:1-17, 3:1, 3:1-4, 3:2, 3:6, 3:7, 3:10-14, 3:10, 3:11, 3:16, 4:17:, 4:18, 5:3-12, 5:5-7, 5:10-12, 5:17-19, 5:31, 5:38-42, 6:12, 6:15, 6:24-33, 6:28-30, 7:1-2, 10:2, 10:34, 10:38, 11:7, 11:11ff, 12:23, 12:28, 12:30, 13:14-15, 13:28-30, 13:37-42, 13:47-50, 14:2, 14:8, 14:29, 14:30ff, 15:22, 16:14, 16:17, 16:19, 16:23, 16:24, 17:1, 17:13, 18:12-18, 18:18, 19:16-22, 19:28, 20:20-28, 20:21-28, 20:28, 20:30, 21:1-10, 21:5, 21:9-15, 22:11, 22:11-13, 22:23-33, 23:33, 24:1, 24:5-39, 25:14-30, 24:26, 25:41, 26:28, 26:53, 26:61, 27:40, 28:19, 28:19ff. {REVUE IV:} 3:1-10, 3:1-3, 3:9, 4:15-16, 4:22-33, 5:5, 5:18, 5:22, 5:26, 5:29, 5:37, 5:43-44, 7:1, 7:21-27, 8:23-27, 8:28-34, 9:1-8, 9:1-18, 9:20-22, 10:26-31, 10:28, 10:33, 10:31, 11:9, 11:11, 11:18-19, 11:19, 12:32, 13:30, 13:47-50, 16:13-20, 16:18, 17:1-5, 17:1-13, 21:32, 21:42, 23:13-35, 24:26-28, 24:31, 24:50, 25:10, 25:30, 25:41-46, 26:63-64, 28:7, 28:16-20. {REVUE V} 2:23, 4:2, 5:3, 5:3-12, 5:5, 5:12, 5:13-16, 5:21-26, 5:32, 5:33-37, 5:43-48, 8:12, 10:28, 12:11, 12:26, 13:24-30, 13:34-35, 13:36-43, 13:37-43, 13:47-50, 13:38, 13:38-39, 13:41-42, 13:49-50, 13:42, 3:50, 13:47-48, 13:47-50, 13:48a, 13:47-52, 13:42, 13:50, 13:52, 13:53-58, 15:2-20, 16:17-19, 18:1-15, 18:15-17, 18:18-20, 19:3-12, 19:9, 19:12, 22:13, 23:23, 24:45-51, 24:45, 24:47, 24:46, 24:48, 25:30, 25:34, 26:17-29, 26:18, 26:23, 27:3-10, 27:5-7, 27:8. {REVUE VI:} 2, 3:1, 3:4, 3:5, 3:7, 5:18, 5:28-30, 5:29-30, 5:43ff, 5:43-47, 6:19-20, 6:25-34, 6:28, 9:4, 10:4, 11:7, 11:7-8, 11:9-15, 11:12, 11:18, 11:27ff, 12, 12:22-32, 12:24, 12:28, 12:29, 12:31-32, 12:34, 12:34-37, 12:42, 12:43-45, 13:1-9, 13:24-33, 13:52, 14:2, 16:11, 16:12, 18:8-9, 19:3-12, 19:10-12, 19:13-14, 19:14, 21:18-20, 21:33, 22:15, 22:16, 22:23-24, 22:30, 23:5, 24:26, 24:29, 24:36, 26:61, 27:29, 27:40, 27:52. {REVUE VII:} 1:2-3, 3:4, 3:16, 4:1-11, 5-7, 5:1, 5:43, 5:20, 5:46-47, 6:2, 6:5, 6:16, 6:32, 7:5, 7:15, 7:15-19, 7:15-20, 7:17, 7:18, 7:19, 7:22, 8:21-22, 10:4, 11:4-6, 11:10-13, 11:14-17, 11:25, 12:13, 12:20, 15:6, 15:7, 16:14, 16:18, 17:3-4, 19:12, 22:30, 23:7-10, 24:11, 24:24, 24:26, 26:25, 26:32, 26:49, 26:55, 27:25, 27:38-44, 27:51, 27:63, 28:7, 28:8, 28:10, 28:16-20. {REVUE VIII:} 1:6-12, 1:22, 2:18, 3:3, 3:14, 3:15, 4:1, 4:15, 5:5, 5:22, 5:29, 5:30, 6:24, 7:13s, 8:3, 8:14, 9:29, 10:28, 11:10, 11:14, 12:1, 12:4, 12:44, 13:25, 13:33, 16:14, 18:15-17, 18:16, 20:6, 21:9, 21:15, 23:7-8, 23:23, 26:49, 26:50, 26:69-73, 27:11, 27:46, 27:47. {REVUE IX:} 1:12, 1:16, 1:22, 2:15, 2:16, 3:6, 3:13, 3:14, 4:1, 4:24, 5:13, 5:17-20, 5:43, 6:2, 6:6, 7:2, 8:24, 10:22, 11:6, 11:7, 11:11, 11:19, 11:27, 13:57, 14, 14:24, 18:19, 19:3-9, 19:11, 19:12, 20:24, 21:42, 22:31, 23:7, 24:9, 25:34, 26:6, 26:24, 27:12, 28:14. {REVUE X:} 2:1, 4:17, 5:3-5, 5:32, 5:44, 11:18-19, 15:8, 15:19, 16:6, 18:16-17, 19:9, 19:12, 24:15, 25:31-46, 27:57-60. {REVUE XI:} 2:23, 3:1-5, 4:5, 5:18, 10:10-13, 13:10-17, 19:12, 22:11-13, 23:16-22, 23:23-38, 23:14, 24:3, 24:26-31, 27:64. {REVUE XII:} 5:3, 11:4-6, 11:25, 16:18, 22:30, 23:25, 25:31, 25:31-32, 27:64. {REVUE III:} 3:3, 3:9, 3:11-12, 3:14, 3:16, 5, 5:3, 5:5-7, 5:9-11, 5:14-16, 5:21, 5:33, 7:9-11, 8:4, 8:13, 9:1-8, 9:28-30, 10:21-22, 10:24-25, 10:34-49, 10:42, 11:3-11, 11:5, 11:18-19, 11:25-27, 12:48-49, 13:52, 15:27-28, 16:14, 16:19, 16:27, 18:3, 18:6, 18:6-14, 18:18, 19:14, 19:18, 19:29, 20:23, 21:16, 22:40, 23:4, 23:9, 23:37, 24:24, 25:31-46, 26:21, 27:40, 28:18. {REVUE XV:} 1:1-17, 2:2, 3:14, 3:16-17, 3:22, 3:24, 5:3, 5:16, 5:31, 5:45, 8:16, 9:35, 10:1, 10:8, 11:2-6, 11:3, 11:5, 11:6, 11:9, 12:32, 13:11, 13:22, 17:10-13, 17:11, 19:16-21, 19:28, 23:35, 24:22, 25:31, 25:31-46, 25:34, 26:10, 26:31, 26:63-66, 27:29, 27:52.

 

LUKE

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:17, 1:76, 1:80, 2:14, 3:1, 3:2, 3:7, 4:3-12, 4:13, 6:6-11, 6:20, 6:22, 6:38, 7:16, 7:26-27, 8:12-13, 10:18, 11:20, 11:23, 11:47-51, 12:14, 12:16-22, 12:54, 14:15, 14:33, 15:16, 16:8, 16:19-31, 18:14, 19:8-9, 22:3, 22:10, 22:15-18, 22:19-20, 22:28-30, 22:53, 24:21, 24:27, 24:30, 24:35. {De WAARD:} 3:4, 3:10-14, 4:18, 4:18-19, 20:27, 18:18-27, 19:46, 22:37. {La SOR:} 1:5, 1:15, 1:31-35, 1:80, 2:14, 3:2, 3:3-17, 3:19-20, 4:16-22, 7:28, 16:8, 19:44, 22:20, 24:50-51. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 2:34-35, 4:16-22, 4:40-41, 5:17-26, 5:20, 5:21, 6:37, 7:37, 10:21, 12:13, 14:15-24, 20:9-19, 24:21. {GASTER:} 3:16, 4:35-36, 6:18, 8:29, 9:42, 11:24, 16:8, 17:28, 18:7. {REVUE I:} 1:80, 2:14, 2:41-52, 3:3, 3:7, 3:9, 3:15, 3:16, 3:17, 4:1-13, 5:7, 7:28, 7:29, 9:52-56, 10:20, 10:21, 10:33, 11, 12:50, 14:21, 14:26, 16:13, 17:11-12, 17:23, 17:24, 22:20. {REVUE II:} 1:35, 1:46-55, 1:49, 1:59, 1:68-79, 2:14, 2:34, 3:7, 3:22, 4:1-13, 4:18, 4:34, 6:1, 6:27, 7:30-34, 9:52ff, 10:19, 10:29, 10:36, 11:2, 11:39-44, 11:42, 11:52, 12:1, 13:27, 14:25, 21:22, 22:20, 22:63ff, 23:34. {REVUE III:} 1:5-22, 1:17, 1:21, 1:27, 1:31, 1:32, 1:51-53, 1:79, 2:7, 2:8-16, 2:13, 2:14, 2:17, 2:48, 2:49, 2:50, 3:2-4, 3:3, 3:7, 3:16, 3:22, 3:23-38, 5:1ff, 5:5, 5:10, 6:14, 6:38, 7:20, 7:33, 7:24, 8:10, 8:51, 9:19, 9:51-54, 9:52, 9:54, 9:54-56, 9:55, 9:58, 12:13, 13:2-5, 13:31ff, 16:19-31, 18:18-23, 18:38, 22:24-30, 22:30, 22:31, 22:33, 23:22, 24:26, 24:46-47, 24:49. {REVUE IV:} 1:12, 1:68, 1:78, 1:80, 3:8, 5:1-11, 7:11-17, 7:16, 12:32, 16:7, 16:7, 18:7, 21:26, 22:26-38, 22:57-66, 23:40, 24:6, 28:1, 28:10. {REVUE V:} 1:19, 1:48-49, 2:14, 2:36-38, 4:16-30, 6:21, 6:24-26, 11:23, 12:16-20, 12:42-46, 12:46, 12:47, 12:47ff, 13:6-9, 13:8b, 13:8ff, 16:24-31, 22:7, 22:7-13, 22:7-38, 22:10-12, 22:15-20. {REVUE VI:} 1:80, 3:10-14, 3:12, 3:14, 4:17-21, 6:15, 6:23, 6:27, 7:22, 7:24-25, 7:25, 7:26-28, 7:33, 7:33-50, 10:21ff, 20:23ff, 11:20, 12:7, 12:16-41, 13:6-17, 13:31-32, 14:1-6, 14:28, 16:13, 16:14-15 16:16, 18:10, 18:29, 20:34-36, 20:46, 21:24, 23:5, 23:14. {REVUE VII:} 1:3, 1:17, 1:59-63, 2:14, 2:19, 2:21, 2:51, 4:17-21, 4:18, 6:15, 6:43-44, 7:22-23, 9:7-9, 9:30, 9:33, 10:21, 12:1, 13:1-2, 18:9-14, 24:1, 24:13, 24:15-31, 24:34, 24:35, 24:36-43, 24:38-41, 24:44-49. {REVUE VIII:} 1:15, 1:48, 2:1, 2:14, 2:25, 3:27-31, 3:43, 4:16, 4:16-30, 4:25, 5:14, 6:24, 9:19, 11:15, 16:6, 16:7, 16:9, 16:11, 16:13, 17:33-34, 18:21, 23:3. {REVUE IX:} 1-2, 1:26, 2:18, 2:21, 2:26, 2:27, 3:3, 3:7, 3:19, 4:1, 4:2, 4:15, 4:28, 4:38, 6:18, 7:23, 7:24, 7:28, 7:30, 7:35, 8:14, 8:22, 8:37, 8:43, 9:7-8, 9:22, 10:22, 12:6, 13:7, 14:8, 16:16, 16:18, 16:22, 17:20, 17:25, 21:16-17, 21:17, 22:22, 22:45, 23:8, 23:49, 24:35. {REVUE X:} 4:16-30, 21:1. {REVUE XI:} 1:5-6, 1:14, 1:53, 2:25-28, 2:42-46, 2:46, 3:11, 4, 4:9, 4:18, 4:36-37, 5:11, 5:12, 5:28, 6:1, 6:20-24, 7:22, 8:1-3, 8:3, 8:9-10, 9:3, 10:4, 10:27, 10:30, 11:21, 11:21-22, 11:39-42, 11:41, 12:5, 12:10, 12:13-21, 12:33, 12:44, 14:13-21, 14:31, 14:33, 16:1, 18:12, 18:22, 18:28, 19:8, 21:4, 22:11, 22:35-36. {REVUE XII:} 1:32, 1:54, 1:67, 1:70, 1:72, 1:74, 1:78, 1:79, 1:80, 2:14, 3:4, 3:16-17, 4:17, 4:17-21, 4:35, 4:40, 5:24, 6:28, 7:19, 7:27, 8:10, 9:10, 10:21, 11:2-4, 11:15, 12:1, 12:46, 12:52, 14:13, 16:18, 18:11, 19:40, 20:36, 20:42, 22:7, 23:21. {REVUE XIII:} 1, 1-2, 1:5-25, 1:14-17, 1:17, 1:26-27, 1:26-56, 1:27, 1:32-33, 1:35, 1:56, 1:59, 1:64, 1:66-80, 1:67-79, 1:76, 1:76-77, 1:76-79, 1:77, 1:78, 1:79, 1:80, 2:4, 2:4-5, 2:11, 2:52, 3:1-2, 3:2, 3:4-6, 3:8, 3:10-14, 3:21, 4:18, 4:18-19, 4:18-21, 6:20, 7:19-27, 7:48, 9:53, 9:57-62, 10:21, 12:13, 13:32, 13:12, 13:14, 14:4, 16:16, 16:29, 16:31, 16:86, 19:8, 22:15, 24:27, 24:42-43, 24:44. {REVUE XV:} 1:33, 1:70, 2:42, 3:23-28, 4:18, 4:53, 6:21, 6:28, 6:35, 7:19s, 7:21, 7:22, 7:22c, 7:26, 11:31-32, 12:10, 13:21, 14:12-14, 16:26, 16:31, 20:36, 22:3, 22:30, 22:67-71.

 

JOHN

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:9, 1:14, 1:15, 1:16, 1:19-22, 1:23, 1:26, 1:28, 1:29, 1:30, 1:33, 1:35, 1:51, 2:1-10, 2:1-15, 3:19-20, 3:20-21, 3:23, 3:25, 4:1-26, 4:14, 4:22, 4:23, 4:38,5:1-9, 5:33, 6, 6:24-25, 6:51-58, 7:38, 7:40-41, 7:51, 8:12, 8:44, 9:12, 9:15, 9:17, 9:31, 10:18, 12:31, 12:33, 12:35, 12:36, 12:40, 13:1-16, 13:24, 13:34-35, 14:16-17, 14:30, 15:1, 15:10, 15:12, 15:15, 15:16, 15:26, 16:11, 16:13, 16:33, 17:1, 17:3, 17:5, 17:16, 17:17-19, 18:37, 19:34, 20:30-31, 21:25. {De WAARD:} 1:23, 6:54-55, 12:15, 12:38, 12:40, 13:18. {La SOR:} 1:1-14, 1:3, 1:4, 1:19-23, 1:33, 3:19, 3:21, 4:24, 6:63, 6:70, 8:33, 8:39, 8:44, 9:5, 12:31, 12:35, 13:2, 13:27, 14:16, 14:16-17, 15:16, 15:26, 16:7, 16:11, 16:13, 16:33, 20:30-31, 21. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 4:10, 4:14, 7:37-38, 12:18, 14:21, 18:31. {GASTER:} 1:3, 1:9, 1:21, 1:23, 1:33, 3:21, 4:4, 5:46, 6:14, 7:40, 8:23, 8:31, 8:42, 10:11, 10:14, 12:31, 12:36, 12:43, 14:7, 17:22, 20:22. {REVUE I:} 1:6-8, 1:12, 1:15, 1:19-27, 1:19-41, 1:21, 1:25, 1:37, 1:45, 3:5, 3:6, 3:8, 3:22, 3:22ff, 3:22-36, 3:23, 3:25, 4:7, 4:24, 6:14, 6:32, 6:69, 7:38ff, 7:40, 8:14, 11:545, 13:1-11, 13:2-4, 13:3, 13:9, 13:10, 13:14, 13;18, 13:30, 14:2-3, 20:17, 20:19, 20:22, 20:22ff. {REVUE II:} 1:1, 1:14, 1:29, 1:36, 2:14-19, 2:19, 3:212ff, 3:5, 4:9, 6:68, 6:69, 7:37-39, 8:46, 9:6, 9:16, 9:31, 10:36, 14:17, 14:26, 15:13-16, 16:13, 16:21, 17:11, 17:15, 19:23. {REVUE III:} 1:1-5, 1:4-9, 1:5, 1:12, 1:14, 1:19-28, 1:23, 1:24, 1:29, 1:30, 1:32-33, 2:17, 2:19, 3:19-21, 3:23, 4:10, 4:11, 4:10-14, 4:23, 5:24, 5:27-30, 6:15, 7:38, 7:41-44, 8:12, 8:51, 8:53-58, 9:2, 9:3, 10:12, 10:15, 10:17, 11:51-52, 11:52, 12:40, 14:2, 15:2, 15:4, 16:21-22, 17:19, 18:10, 18:11, 18:36, 20:4, 20:23, 21, 21:3ff, 21:3, 21:3-14, 21:3, 21:6, 21:5, 21:6, 21:11, 21:7, 21:7b, 21:8, 21:11, 21:15-17, 21:18, 21:19a. {REVUE IV:} 1:20, 1:21, 1:28, 2:21, 3:23, 6:14, 7:40, 7:41-42, 10:1-16, 10:26ff, 11:52, 12:36. {REVUE V:} 1:29, 2:14-16, 3:6, 4:21, 4:24, 6:63, 7:8, 12:6, 12:31, 13:18, 13:26, 18:28, 19:14. {REVUE VI:} 1:17, 2:18-21, 5:36, 6:28, 6:28-29, 6:29, 6:39a, 6:65, 8:30-40, 8:37, 8:38, 8:40, 8:41, 8:41-47, 8:42, 8:43, 8:44, 8:45-46, 8:47, 9:3-4, 10:26-27, 10:27, 10:32, 12:35, 12:37-40, 14:22-6, 14:6, 15:10, 15:12, 17:2, 17:6, 18:37, 19:11. {REVUE VII:} 1:14, 1:21. 1:25, 1:38, 1:42, 1:49, 3:2, 3:26, 4:31, 6:25, 7:19, 7:6, 7:14, 7:37, 8:9, 9:2, 10:34-35, 10:36-38, 11:8, 11:51, 12:1, 12:40, 13:8, 17, 18:40, 20:1, 20:16, 20:19-25, 20:19-26, 20:26-29, 20:26, 20:29, 21:1-23, 21:3, 21:15-19. {REVUE VIII:} 1:19-25, 3:3, 3:7, 3:11, 5:2, 6:31, 6:49, 8:17, 8:46, 9:22, 11:54, 12:13, 12:20, 12:22, 12:23, 12:28, 13;10, 13:36, 14:4, 14:5, 14:8, 14:22, 16:2, 17:1, 18:37, 19:5, 19:13, 19:17, 19:19, 19:20, 19:29, 20:16, 20:19, 20:26. {REVUE IX} 8:44, 12:31, 13:24, 16:11. {REVUE X:} 2:19-22, 12:34. {REVUE XI:} 1:3, 1:28, 3:21, 3:22, 4:2-26, 5:2, 5:30, 5:39, 7:49, 8:57, 9:7, 9:22, 12:6, 12:42, 13:29, 16:2. {REVUE XII:} 4:20-26, 8:57, 10:34-36, 19:31-42. {REVUE XIII:} 1, 1:4-5, 1:13, 1:21, 1:23, 2:3-5, 2:10-11, 2:19, 2:25, 3:3, 3:26, 3:28, 4:1-42, 4:2, 4:9, 4:48, 5:8-9, 5:14, 5:17, 5:21, 5:39, 6:37, 6:37, 6:44, 6:45, 7:15, 84-5, 8:10-11, 8:11, 8:32-41, 8:33, 8:56, 9:6, 9:21, 9:34, 10:23, 10:56, 12:36, 12:41, 13:5, 13:10d-11, 14:6, 14:17, 15:14, 17:12, 20:6-7, 20:23, 21:5, 21:9-13, 21:13, 21:15. {REVUE XV:} 5:21, 5:21-25, 5:22-30, 5:25-29, 7:17-18, 9:14, 10:21, 10:33, 12:48s, 14;10, 20:9.

 

ACTS

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:4, 1:15-26, 2:33-34, 2:38, 2:42-47, 3:1, 3:6, 3:11, 3:15, 3:19-21, 3:22, 4:11, 4:32, 4:34-37, 5:1-11, 5:17, 6, 6:1, 6:2, 6:5, 6:7, 7, 7:37, 7:44-51, 7:56, 8, 8:1, 8:14-18, 9:29, 10:47-48, 11:20, 11:30, 15, 15:1-2, 15:5, 15:6-21, 15:8-9, 15:16, 16:12, 16:30, 17:30-31, 18:24-25, 19:1-4, 21:18-26, 22:5, 24:5, 24:14, 26:18, 26:22, 27:35. {De WAARD:} 3:11-26, 3:13, 3:21, 3:22-23, 4:25-26, 7:4, 7:14, 7:32, 7:39, 7:43, 7:49, 7:49-50, 7:50, 7:51, 7:53, 8:32-33, 13:17-41, 13:34, 13:41, 15:13-22, 15:16, 15:16-17, 15:17, 28:26-27. {La SOR:} 1:4-9, 1:1-12, 2:38, 5:1-11, 9:12, 9:17-18, 28:8. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 2:1-15, 2:36, 3:22, 5:1-11, 9:12, 9:17-18, 28:8. {GASTER:} 1:5, 2:17, 2:42, 4:32, 4:34, 5:16, 7:37, 7:42-43; 10:45. {REVUE I:} 1:5, 1:22, 2, 2:2, 2:3, 2:11, 2:32, 2:33, 2:37-42, 2:38, 2:44, 3:15, 3:22, 4:32, 5:31, 6:7, 6:9, 7:37, 7:44, 7:53, 8:15-17, 10:28, 20:37, 10:46, 11:16, 13:15, 13:24, 14:4, 16:6, 18:2, 18:24, 18:24, 18:28, 18:24-19:6, 19:1, 19:1-7, 19:2, 19:3, 19:4, 19:4-6, 21:39, 22:3, 24:12. {REVUE II:} 1:15ff, 2:4, 2:17ff, 2:21, 2:25-31, 3:14, 4:27, 6:14, 9, 9:13, 9:14, 9:21, 9:22, 9:41, 10:37ff, 22:16, 26:10, 26:18. {REVUE III:} 1:6-8, 1:13, 1:15-26, 2:27-31, 2:27-32, 2:29, 2:30, 3:18-19, 4:1-2, 5:33-39, 7:4, 8:32-35, 7:44-50, 9:4, 9:36-43ff, 10:9, 10:11-13, 10:37, 15:15-17, 17:32, 20:28, 22:3, 21:20, 23:6-8, 26:18, 26:20, 28:26-27. {REVUE IV:} 2:43, 3:22-33, 4:11, 5:5, 5:11, 10:2, 10:22, 10:35, 13:16, 13:26, 13:43, 13:50, 16:14, 17:4, 17:17, 18:7, 19:13-20, 21:34, 21:37, 22:24, 23;10, 23:16, 23:32, 28:16. {REVUE V:} 1:15-26, 1:16, 1:17, 1:18, 1:25, 1:18, 1:18ff, 1:20b, 1:25, 1:26, 1:24, 2:42, 3:22ff, 4:4, 4:32, 5:2, 5:4, 5:4b, 5:4c, 6-7, 6-8, 11:19-21, 6:2, 8:7, 8:20, 8:20-24, 8:21, 8:22, 8:23, 8:24, 10:2, 10:35, 10:28-29, 10:32-41, 13;16, 13:32-37, 15:16, 15:23, 18:8, 18:18, 21:23-27, 23:8, 16:18. {REVUE VI:} 1:13, 1:24, 2:1-11, 3:11-18, 4:17, 5:26, 5:28, 5:36, 7, 7:38, 7:53, 8:27, 9:1-30, 9:2, 15:8, 18:24-28, 18:25, 18:25-26, 18:26, 19:1-7, 19:9, 19:23, 20:32, 21:29, 22:38, 22:4, 22:8, 24:14, 24:22, 26:18. {REVUE VII:} 1:3, 1:8, 1:13, 2, 2:17, 3:22, 3:22-23, 5:1-11, 5:36, 6:4, 7:43, 8:9-10, 8:9-24, 9:12, 8:9-24, 9:12, 10:1-33, 10:36, 13:6, 13:6-8, 13:41, 13:47, 15:16, 19:13-17, 19:19, 20:29, 21:38. {REVUE VIII:} 1:23-26, 1:26, 2:27, 2:30, 4:13, 5:10, 7, 21:28, 21:37, 21:40-22:2, 22:3-5, 22:5, 26:14, 27:38. {REVUE IX:} 5:30, 9:2, 10:39, 19:1-7. {REVUE X:} 2:1, 4:25-26, 4:27-28, 6, 6:1-7, 6:7, 7, 7:43, 9:2, 9:8-10, 13:15, 13:33-37, 15:20, 15:29, 19:9, 19:22, 19:27, 23:8-9, 24:14. {REVUE XI:} 1-7, 1:15, 1:15-26, 2, 2-4, 2:1-41, 2:41, 2:41-42, 2:41-47, 2:41-5:42, 2:42, 2:42-47, 2:43b, 2:43-45, 2:43-47, 2:44a, 2:44b, 2:44-45, 2:45, 2:46, 2:47, 2:47b, 3:6, 4-6, 4:4, 4:31, 4:32, 4:32b, 4:32-35, 4:33, 4:34, 4:34-35, 4:35, 4:36, 4:36-37, 4:37, 5:1-2, 5:1-10, 5:1-11, 5:2, 5:3, 5:4, 5:6, 5:9, 5:10, 5:12a, 5:12-16, 6:1, 6:1-6, 6:7, 8:20, 10:22-28, 12:12, 13:1, 17:11, 19:11-31, 22:19, 23:8-9, 23:12-14, 26:11. {REVUE XII:} 2-6, 2:30, 2:44, 4:32, 5:1-11, 5:3-4, 5:4, 10:36. {REVUE XIII:} 2:2, 2:16, 3:1-10, 3:2, 3:3-10, 3:11, 5:12, 6:14, 7:42b-43, 7:44, 7:44-50, 7:48, 7:48-50, 10:2, 11:14, 13:15, 14:8, 15, 15:21, 16:13, 18, 18-19, 18:8, 18:24-19:7, 19, 20:9-12, 24:5, 25:40, 27:38. {REVUE XV:} 2:24, 2:32, 3:15, 4:24, 9:36, 10:41, 13:34, 14:15, 17:24, 17:31, 23:6, 26:8.

 

ROMANS

 

{STENDAHL:} 1, 1:3, 1:4, 1:17, 2, 2:28, 3:20, 4:1, 4:25, 5, 5:12, 6, 6:12-13, 6:19, 7, 7:5, 7:18, 7:24, 8, 8:8, 8:9-10, 8:15, 8:23-24, 8:28, 9-11, 9:3, 9:5, 9:8, 9:11, 11:5, 11:14, 13:12, 15:25, 15:26. {DE WAARD:} 1:17, 2:24, 3:4, 3:14-16, 8:36, 9:25, 9:27-28, 9:29, 9:32-33, 9:33, 10:11, 10:15, 10:16, 10:19, 10:20-21, 10:21, 11:7, 11:8, 11:26, 11:26-27, 11:27, 11:34, 13:9, 14:11, 15:12, 15:21. {La SOR:} 1:17, 1:18-32, 1:18-3:26, 2:1-13, 2:22, 2:24, 2:26, 3:23, 3:28, 4:24, 5:1, 5:17, 5:21, 7-8. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 7:14-24, 8:23. {GASTER:} 1:24, 1:29, 2:7, 2:14-15, 2:19, 8:17, 8:33, 11:4-5. {REVUE I:} 1:1, 1:4, 1:17, 2:17, 3:5, 3:25, 5:5-21, 5:19, 6:1-14, 6:2-6, 6:10, 6:11, 7-8, 8:15, 8:23, 8:38, 9:7. {REVUE II:} 1:1, 1:45, 1:5, 1:17, 1:18, 1:21, 1:25, 2:24, 3:20, 3:25-26, 3:28, 4:15, 4:17, 4:25, 5:13ff, 6:3-11, 6:11ff, 7:1-6, 7:7-25, 7:24, 8:2, 8:9-11, 8:14ff, 8:17ff, 8:18-23, 8:29, 8:30, 8:34, 9:21, 10:4, 10:13, 12:4-8, 12:9, 12:10, 12:13, 12:18ff, 12:19, 13:2, 13:4, 15:25ff, 16:15. {REVUE III:} 1:3ff, 1:16, 2:19, 2:29, 3:24-25, 4:25, 5:9, 6:5, 9:3, 9:8, 9:22, 11:17-24, 11:36, 13:12, 13:14, 15:9, 16:27. {REVUE IV:} 8:15, 8:31-39, 11:20, 13:34. {REVUE V:} 1:18-32, 3:2, 3:15, 4:2-5, 6:6, 7:7-13, 8:1-4, 8:3, 8:16-17, 8:38-39, 12:13, 13:12-14, 14:1-2. {REVUE VI:} 1:3, 8:27, 8:38-39. {REVUE VII:} 7:7-25, 10:15, 11:23, 11:26-27, 12:1, 15:10. {REVUE VIII:} 5:12-21, 7:39, 8:15, 9:11-18, 9:29, 11:16-24. {REVUE IX:} 12:19. {REVUE X:} 11:26, 12:19-21. {REVUE XI:} 1:16, 2:9-10, 2:13-16, 15:6, 15:26. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 2:3-10, 3:20, 3:21-24, 3:21-28, 3:22-26, 3:27-28, 5:11, 6:4, 7:12, 8:22, 8:26, 8:26-30, 10:9, 12:2, 14-15, 13:9, 14:2, 15:11. {REVUE XV:} 2:24, 3:10-18, 3:15, 3:17, 4:17, 8:11, 9:27, 9:28, 9:33, 10:20, 11:8, 11:14, 12:14.

 

I CORINTHIANS

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:26, 1:29, 2:6-16, 4:21, 5:3-5, 6:16, 7:5, 7:28, 8:6, 9:27, 10-11, 10:6-13, 10:16-17, 10:18, 11:23-24, 12:8-10, 13:12, 14:14, 14:32, 15:39, 15:50, 16:1, 16:13, 16:22. {DE WAARD:} 1:19, 2:9, 3:20, 14:21, 15:32, 15:45, 15:54, 15:55. {La SOR:} 5:5, 11:21, 11:25, 12:14-27, 13. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 4:13, 5:5, 14:15. {GASTER:} 2:6, 2:7, 2:9-10, 3:9, 3:13, 3:15, 3:16-17, 6:3, 6:9, 10:16-17, 14:15, 14:21, 14:28, 15:24. {REVUE I:} 1:1, 3:22, 5:5, 7:26, 10:11, 10:16, 11:25, 12:11, 12:13, 12:24, 15, 15:25-27, 15:34ff, 15:42-44, 15:44ff, 15:45, 15:47, 15:48, 15:50, 16:12. {REVUE II:} 1:2, 1:23, 1:30-31, 1:31, 3:16, 7:14, 9:1, 11:10, 11:25, 23:3, 12:4-31, 12:27, 14:33, 15, 15:1-11, 15:3-9, 15:10, 16:1, 16:15. {REVUE III:} 2:4, 3;16-17, 6:19, 9:14, 11:30, 15:3, 15:5, 15:53-54. {REVUE IV:} 2:3. {REVUE V:} 1:18, 1:27-28, 2:11, 5:1-5, 5:4, 5:5, 5:7, 5:9-13, 6-7, 6:3, 6:9-10, 7, 10:11, 10:15, 10:16, 10:17, 10:17, 11, 11:3-16, 11:23-25, 12:31, 14:34. {REVUE VI:} 2:12, 3:1-17, 6:1, 6:6, 6:11, 11-14, 15:50. {REVUE VII:} 3:16-17, 4:9, 6:19-20, 7:5, 10:4, 11:10, 14, 15:5, 15:6-7, 15:8-26, 15:45-52. {REVUE VIII:} 1:27-28, 2:9, 3:10-15, 6:15, 11:10, 11:14. {REVUE {REVUE IX:} 1:27, 7:29-31. {REVUE X:} 15. {REVUE XI:} 3:13, 5:15. {REVUE XII:} 1:18-3:20, 1:22. {REVUE XIII:} 2:1, 3:1-3, 4:1, 4:15, 5:1-2, 5:7-8, 7:19, 8-10, 8:5, 11:16, 12:3, 13:1, 14:1-25, 15. {REVUE XV:} 15:1, 15:57.

 

II CORINTHIANS

 

{STENDAHL:} 1;17, 1:22, 3:4-9, 3:13, 3:17, 4:4, 4:11, 4:13, 5:5, 5:16, 5:18, 6:14-15, 7:1, 7:5, 9:1, 10:3, 11:14, 11:18, 12:7, 13:1. {De WAARD:} 6:2, 6:14-7:1, 6;16, 6:17, 6:18. {La SOR:} 6:15. {DUPONT-SOMMER} 0. {GASTER:} 3:2, 5:1, 6:14, 6:17, 11:14. {REVUE I:} 3:6, 3:17, 3:18, 4:7-16, 5:1ff, 5:17, 6:14, 6:16, 6:18. {REVUE II:} 3:17, 3:18, 4:6, 5:6-9, 5:17, 6:14, 7:11, 9:1, 9:12, 10:4, 12:9. {REVUE III:} 1:3, 1:5, 1:6, 4:6, 4:10-12, 6:16, 11:2, 12:9-10. {REVUE IV:} 5:11, 7:1, 7:15, 7:5, 7:11, 7:15, 11;3. {REVUE V:} 2:17, 3, 3:7, 4:2, 6:14-7:1, 9:13, 10:14, 10:15, 11:4, 11:7, 11:13, 11:22, 13:13. {REVUE VI:} 2:17, 5:17, 6:13, 6:14-7:1. {REVUE VII:} 2:17, 2;22, 6:14, 6:16, 7:1. {REVUE VIII:} 6:13, 6:14-7:1, 6:16s, 8:8, 12:6, 13:1-2. {REVUE IX:} 6:8. {REVUE X:} 6:14-7:1, 11:31. {REVUE XI:} 3:7-4:6, 6:14-7:1, 8:4, 9:13, 11:32. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 3:14, 3:16, 4:16, 5:10, 5:17, 5:17-19, 12:2-4, 12:4. {REVUE XV:} 1:9, 6:14-7:1, 6:16-18.

 

GALATIANS

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:6, 1:14, 1:16, 1:18-19, 2, 2:9-10, 2:12, 2:16, 2:20, 3:3, 3:11, 4:10, 4:13-14, 4:23, 4:29, 5, 5:13-24, 6:1, 6:8, 6:12-13, 6:17. {De WAARD:} 3:8, 3:11, 3:13, 4:27, 5:14. {La SOR:} 1:11-12, 2:9, 4:4, 4:25, 5:13-21. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 0. {GASTER:} 3:29, 5:19, 6:1. {REVUE I:} 1:4, 2:20, 3:11, 3:16, 3:29. {REVUE II:} 1:1, 1:11ff, 1:13ff, 1:15-16, 2:19, 2:20, 3:11, 3:13, 4:19, 5:9. {REVUE III:} 1:5, 1:14, 2:8ff, 3:27, 4:19. {REVUE IV:} 4:6, 4:11. {REVUE V:} 2:20, 5:19-23. {REVUE VI:} 3:19, 4:24-25, 4:27, 5:12, 5:19-23. {REVUE VII:} 2:9. {REVUE VIII:} 0. {REVUE IX:} 3:13. {REVUE X:} 1:17. {REVUE XI:} 1:8, 1:19, 2:10, 2:11-15, 6:6. {REVUE XII:} 2:9. {REVUE XIII:} 2:16, 3:16, 3:26-29, 4:4, 4:19, 4:26, 5:6, 6:15, 6:15-16. {REVUE XV:} 0.

 

EPHESIANS

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:4, 1:14, 1:17, 2:1-3, 2:11, 2:14, 5:7-11, 5:29, 5:31, 6:5, 6:11, 6:12. {De WAARD:} 6:2, 6:2-3. {La SOR:} 1:23, 4:12, 4:16, 5:8, 5:11, 6:12. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 1:23, 2:19-22, 4:12, 4:16, 4:26. {GASTER:} 1:3, 1:11, 1:18, 2:18, 2:18-22, 2:20-22, 4:29, 4:31-32, 5:4, 5:8-9, 5:16-17, 6:12, 6:16. {REVUE I:} 1:11, 2:2, 6:12. {REVUE II:} 1:15, 1:18, 2:18, 3:5, 3:18, 4:12, 4:30, 5:6-20, 6:18. {REVUE III:} 1:3-15, 1:7, 1:17-19, 2:1-7, 2:20-22, 2:21, 3:3, 3:21, 4:24, 5:8. {REVUE IV:} 5:8, 6:5. {REVUE V:} 6:11-12. {REVUE VI:} 1:8-9, 1:9, 1:18, 1:21, 2:10, 2:11, 2:12, 2:14, 2:14-16, 2:15, 2:16, 4:8-10. {REVUE VII:} 2:11-22, 2:20-22, 6:15. {REVUE VIII:} 0. {REVUE IX:} 6:12. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 5:23-33. {REVUE XII:} 5:20, 5:23-33. {REVUE XIII:} 2:3, 2:10, 3:4, 4:22-24, 5:1, 5:8, 5:32. {REVUE XV:} 1:4, 2:5, 5:5, 6:8.

 

PHILIPPIANS

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:22, 1:24, 3:3, 3:4-5, 3:20. {DE WAARD:} 0. {La SOR:} 0. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 0. {GASTER:} 4:2. {REVUE I:} 2:5-9, 4:3. {REVUE II:} 1:1, 1:23, 3:6, 3:21, 4:22. {REVUE III:} 2:17, 3:3, 3:6, 4:20. {REVUE IV:} 2:6-11, 3:12. {REVUE V:} 0. {REVUE VI: 1:23. {REVUE VII:} 0. {REVUE VIII:} 2:1-11 {REVUE IX:} 2:6-11. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 1:27. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 2:6, 2:6-11, 2:11, 3:20. {REVUE XV:} 0.

 

COLOSSIANS

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:3, 1:16, 1:18, 1:20, 1:22, 2:1, 2:5, 2:8, 2:11-23, 3:5, 3:22. {De WAARD:} 1:18. {La SOR:} 2:11-23. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 0. {GASTER:} 1:12, 3:5ff, 3:12. {REVUE I:} 1:22, 2:11, 3:16-17. {REVUE II:} 1:12, 3:1-4. {REVUE III:} 1:12-13, 1:14, 1:22, 1:24, 2:11, 3:9-10, 3:12. {REVUE IV:} 3:1, 4:9. {REVUE V:} 1:12, 1:25, 2:15, 2:18, 2:20-3:17. {REVUE VI:} 1:12, 2:18, 6:15. {REVUE VII:} 2:8. {REVUE VIII:} 0. {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 1:12. {REVUE XI:} 0. {REVUE XII:} 1:12, 1:16. {REVUE XIII:} 1:12, 1:22, 2:2, 3:10, 3:9-10, 4:3. {REVUE XV:} 1:10, 3:24.

 

I THESSALONIANS

 

{STENDAHL:} 3:5, 5:5-6. {DE WAARD:} 0. {La SOR:} 5:4-5. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 0. {GASTER:} 2:6, 5:3, 5:5. {REVUE I:} 0. {REVUE II:} 4:6, 4:17, 5:23. {REVUE III:} 1:9, 2:16. {REVUE IV:} 5:5. {REVUE V:} 2:15, 4:5. {REVUE VI:} 0. {REVUE VII:} 0. {REVUE VIII:} 0. {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 0. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 2:7-11, 2:14, 5:5. {REVUE XV} 0.

 

II THESSALONIANS

 

{STENDAHL:} 0. {De WAARD:} 0. {La SOR:} 2:7. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 2:7. {GASTER:} 1:5, 1:7-8, 2:3, 2:13. {REVUE I:} 2:1, 2:2. {REVUE II:} 3:13. {REVUE III:} 2:1-12, 2:11-12. {REVUE IV:} 0. {REVUE V:} 2:15, 4:5. {REVUE VI:} 2:1-12. {REVUE VII:} 2:3-4. {REVUE VIII:} 0. {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 1:8, 2:3-12. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 2:7. {REVUE XV:} 2:17.

 

I TIMOTHY

 

{STENDAHL:} 3:7, 3:15, 6:9. {De WAARD:} 0. {La SOR:} 1:20. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 1:20, 4:8. {GASTER:} 3:6. {REVUE I:} 0. {REVUE II:} 0. {REVUE III:} 1:17, 2:6, 3:16, 6:9-11, 6:16. {REVUE IV:} 5:20. {REVUE V:} 4:3. {REVUE VI:} 4:1, 4:3, 4:7. {REVUE VII:} 1:14, 3:15, 4:1, 4:7. {REVUE VIII:} 3:7, 3:16, 4:1. {REVUE IX:} 3:12. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 3:6. {REVUE XII:} 3:15, 6:15. {REVUE XIII:} 3:16-4:3, 4:1. {REVUE XV:} 5:10, 6:18, 6:18-19.

 

II TIMOTHY

 

{STENDAHL:} 3:8. {De WAARD:} 0. {La SOR:} 3:8. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 3:8. {GASTER:} 2:10, 3:8. {REVUE I:} 0. {REVUE II:} 0. {REVUE III:} 2:8, 2:11, 4:18. {REVUE IV:} 1:7. {REVUE V:} 2:19. {REVUE VI:} 0. {REVUE VII:} 3:1, 3:5. {REVUE VIII:} 2:17, 2:26 {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 0. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 3:8. {REVUE XV:} 2:21.

 

TITUS

 

{STENDAHL:} 0. {De WAARD:} 3:5. {La SOR:} 0. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 0. {GASTER:} 3:5-6. {REVUE I:} 3:5, 3:13. {REVUE II:} 3:2, 3:3. {REVUE III:} 0. {REVUE IV:} 0. {REVUE V:} 1:10. {REVUE VI:} 0. {REVUE VII:} 1:14. {REVUE VIII:} 0. {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 0. {REVUE XII} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 1:11, 3:5. {REVUE XV:} 1:16, 3:1.

 

PHILEMON

 

{STENDAHL:} :16. {De WAARD:} 0. {La SOR:} 0. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 0. {GASTER:} 0. {REVUE I:} 0. {REVUE II:} :5. {REVUE III:} 0. {REVUE IV:} 0. {REVUE V:} :10. {REVUE VI:} 0. {REVUE VII:} 0. {REVUE VIII:} 0 {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 0. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} :10. {REVUE XV:} 0.

 

HEBREWS

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:2, 2:14, 2:17-18, 4:15, 6:4-6, 10:26, 10:38-39, 11:17, 13:15-16. {De WAARD:} 1:5, 1:5-14, 1:6, 1:7, 1:10-12, 1:11, 2:12, 2:13, 5:7, 5:9, 8:8-12, 9:3-4, 10:16-17, 10:30, 10:36, 10:37-38, 10:39, 12:22, 13:5. {La SOR:} 1:1-2, 1:3-2:18, 1:5, 1:13, 2:9-10, 3:1-4:13, 4:14-10:18, 5:1-8:28, 5:6, 5:10, 5:11, 5:12, 6:20, 7:1-2, 7:2-3, 7:9-10, 7:11, 7:14, 7:15, 7:17, 7:21, 7:22, 7:28, 8, 10:19-12:29, 13:22-25. {DUPONT-STOMMER:} 0. {GASTER:} 8:2, 10:22, 13:20. {REVUE I:} 1:1-13:25, 2:17, 10:10, 10:22, 12:23ff. {REVUE II:} 1:5, 2:17, 5:5ff, 7:11, 7:13ff, 7:25, 7:26ff, 8:4, 9:12, 9:23, 9:24, 9:28, 10:5, 10:29, 10:30, 11:26, 12:10, 13:12, 13:13. {REVUE III:} 2:10, 2:14-18, 6:20-7:25, 9:12-14, 11, 12:13, 12:15, 13:15, 13:21. {REVUE IV:} 1:3, 3;17-19, 4:1, 11:1, 12:2b, 13:6, 13:11, 13:15. {REVUE V:} 1:2, 1:4, 1:14, 2:5, 3:1-4:15, 4:12, 7:15-25, 12:15, 13:15. {REVUE VI:} 2:2, 8:7-13, 9:2-12, 9:11, 9:11-18, 9:12, 10:19, 10:19-20, 12:18-24, 12:22, 12:24 12:25-29, 12:26, 12:29. {REVUE VII:} 1:2, 1:6, 3:1-6, 5:7, 5:9, 7:2, 7:3, 7:28, 10:39. {REVUE VIII:} 6:20-7:3, 7:2, 10:28. {REVUE IX:} 6:4-12, 7:1-22, 9. {REVUE X:} 7, 9:15. {REVUE XI:} 7:5. {REVUE XII:} 1:4. {REVUE XIII:} 7:1, 7:3, 8:2, 8:5, 8:5b, 9:24, 9:26b, 10:1, 11:13, 11:22, 12:22. {REVUE XV:} 1:8, 8:1, 9:28, 12:2.

 

JAMES

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:2, 1:12, 1:13, 1:18, 3:11, 4:5. {De WAARD:} 2:8. {La SOR:} 0. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 5:12. {GASTER:} 2:7. {REVUE I:} 2:2. {REVUE II:} 2:8-26, 5:14-16. {REVUE III:} 4:1-10, 5:20. {REVUE IV:} 1:25, 2:12. {REVUE V:} 0. {REVUE VI:} 0. {REVUE VII:} 5:3, 5:7-8. {REVUE VIII:} 1:23-24, 5:4, 5:17. {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 1:22. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 1:12, 1:18, 1:23, 1:24, 2:1-2. {REVUE XV:} 0.

 

I PETER

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:6, 1:17, 2:4-5, 2:9, 4:12-13, 5:8. {De WAARD:} 2:4-6, 2:5, 2:6, 2:8. {La SOR:} 0. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 2:4-5. {GASTER:} 1:1, 1:5, 1:6, 1:7, 1:20, 2:5, 2:6, 2:9, 2:12, 2:25, 3:6, 4:7, 5:4, 5:5, 5:10. {REVUE I:} 2ff. {REVUE II:} 1:13-22, 1:15ff, 1:16, 2:14, 3:18. {REVUE III:} 2:5, 2:9, 2:24, 3:14, 3:18, 4:11, 4:14, 5:11. {REVUE IV:} 1:17, 2:25, 3:1, 3:4, 3:6, 4:18. {REVUE V:} 0. {REVUE VI:} 2:3-4, 2:9-10. {REVUE VII:} 1:5-6, 1:18, 1:20, 2:4-10, 4:17. {REVUE VIII:} 2:4. {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 1:24. {REVUE XII:} 2:4-5. {REVUE XIII:} 1:23, 2:2, 2:9, 3:3. {REVUE XV:} 0.

 

II PETER

 

{STENDAHL:} 2:9. {De WARRD:} 3:4. {La SOR:} 0. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 0. {GASTER:} 2:1, 2:4, 2:4ff, 3:6-7, 3:7, 3:10-11. {REVUE I:} 2:4ff. {REVUE II:} 0. {REVUE III:} 3:18. {REVUE IV:} 0. {REVUE V:} 0. {REVUE VI:} 2:2, 2:10, 2:15, 2:21, 3:4-13. {REVUE VII:} 2:20, 3:2, 3:3, 3:3-15. {REVUE VIII:} 1:15. {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 3:5-7:10. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 1:15. {REVUE XV:} 1:11.

 

I JOHN

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:3, 1:5, 1:6-7, 2:8-10, 2:15, 2:16, 2:20, 2:27, 3:9-13, 4:1-6, 4:7-8, 5:6-7, 5:16. {De WAARD:} 0. {La SOR:} 1:5, 1:6-7, 2:6, 2:8, 2:11, 2:12, 2:15, 2:21, 2:27, 2:29, 3:1, 3:2, 3:8, 3:10, 4:1 6, 4:3, 4:8, 4:10, 4:11, 4:20, 5:12, 5:{DUPONT-SOMMER:} 0. {GASTER:} 1:5-7, 2:1, 2:16, 2:18, 2:28, 3:19, 4:6. {REVUE I:} 2:2, 4:10, 5:19. {REVUE II:} 2:1ff, 2:11, 2:20, 3:6-9, 3:15, 4:20. {REVUE III:} 1:7, 2:2, 2:8, 3:1, 3:2, 3:10, 3:14, 4:6, 4:10, 5:2. {REVUE IV:} 4:18. {REVUE V:} 2:18. {REVUE VI:} 3:8, 3:22-23, 3:23. {REVUE VII:} 2:16, 2:18. {REVUE VIII:} 0. {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 0. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 2:12-12, 3:9, 4:15, 5:1-2, 5:1-3. {REVUE XV:} 3:12.

 

II JOHN

 

{STENDAHL:} :4, :5. {De WAARD:} 0. {La SOR:} :4. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 0. {GASTER:} :1, :5. {REVUE I:} :10. {REVUE II:} :0. {REVUE III:} 0. {REVUE IV:} 0. {REVUE V:} 0. {REVUE VI:} ---.* {REVUE VII:} 0. {REVUE VIII:} :12 {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 0. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 0. {REVUE XV:} 0. [*Incorrect entry. The original text reads: 2, 18; which translates to 2:18; which is impossible, for II John has no chapters, nor 18 verses.]

 

III JOHN

 

{STENDAHL:} :3. {De WAARD:} 0. {La SOR:} :3. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 0. {GASTER:} 0. {REVUE I:} 0. {REVUE II:} 0. {REVUE III:} 0. {REVUE IV:} 0. {REVUE V:} 0. {REVUE VI:} 0. {REVUE VII:} 0. {REVUE VIII: 0. {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 0. {REVUE XII:} 0. {REVUE XIII:} 0. {REVUE XV:} 0.

 

JUDE

 

{STENDAHL:} 0. {De WAARD:} :9. {La SOR:} :12. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} :14-15. {GASTER:} :5ff, :6, :7, :9. {REVUE I:} :4-5, :6. {REVUE II:} 0. {REVUE III:} 0. {REVUE IV:} 0. {REVUE V:} 0. {REVUE VI:} :8. {REVUE VII:} :4, :8, :14, :17, :18. {REVUE VIII:} 0. {REVUE IX:} 0. {REVUE X:} 0. {REVUE XI:} 0. {REVUE XII:} :12-13. {REVUE XIII:} 0. {REVUE XV:} 0.

 

REVELATION

 

{STENDAHL:} 1:13, 2:10, 3:10, 7:17, 11:5-6, 12:5, 12:9, 12:12, 14:14, 21:6, 21:14, 22:1, 22:15, 22:17, 22:20. {De WAARD:} 3:9, 3:14, 4:8, 7:14, 11:15, 12:7, 14:1, 16:18, 21:19, 21:24, 22:16. {La SOR:} 1:4, 1:20, 3:1, 4:5, 8:2, 8:6, 12, 12:9, 17, 20:8, 21:23, 22:5. {DUPONT-SOMMER:} 12, 12:7-10. {GASTER:} 6:11, 7:9, 7:14, 11:3ff, 12:7-9, 16:8, 17:14, 19:20, 20:8, 20:10, 20:14, 21:8, 21:23, 21:25, 22:6, 22:16. {REVUE I:} 3:5, 5:1-6, 7:14ff, 12:6, 12:14, 13:8, 17:8, 20:9, 20:12, 20:13, 20:25, 21:27. {REVUE II:} 1:13, 1:16, 2:6, 3:7, 4:8, 6:10, 12. {REVUE III:} 1:6, 1:16, 2:11, 2:12, 2:16, 3:5, 3:7, 3:12, 3:14, 5:13, 7:15, 7:17, 10:1-10, 13:6, 13:18, 19:1, 19:6, 19:15, 19:21, 20:7-12, 21:3, 21:6, 21:14, 21:22, 22:1, 22:17, 22:5. {REVUE IV:} 8:8, 14:7, 15:3-4, 15:4, 18:8, 20:9. {REVUE V:} 2:14, 2:14-15, 13:18, 20:6, 21:7-8, 22:14-15, 22:18ff, 22:19. {REVUE VI:} 1:5, 2:26, 3:12, 7:15, 11:1, 14:4, 21:2, 21:3. {REVUE VII:} 2:20, 12:7-9, 12:7-12, 14:4, 16:13, 17:4, 18:12-16, 19:20, 20:8, 20:10, 22:15. {REVUE VIII:} 9:11, 11:2, 11:3, 11:3, 11:9-11, 12:1, 12:6, 12:4, 13:5, 16:14, 16:16, 17:6-7, 19:1-6, 19:21. {REVUE IX:} 4:8, 18:21-23. {REVUE X:} 3:12, 11:2, 11:3, 11:9-11, 12:6, 12:14, 13:5, 21:2, 21:10, 21:2-22, 22:5, 22:9. {REVUE XI:} 20, 21:8, 21:9-10. {REVUE XII:} 1:4, 3:1, 3:5, 3:12, 4-5, 4:1, 4:5, 4:6, 5:6, 6:16,* 8-11, 8:2, 9:13-14, 10:8, 13:2, 16:1, 16:17, 17:14, 19:5, 19:16, 20:12, 21:3, 21:5, 21:9-10, 21:27. {REVUE XIII:} 4:6, 5:9-10, 5:12-13, 8:1, 12:10, 14:7, 14:13, 15:6, 19:1, 19:5, 21:3, 21:5, 21:9-22:5, 21:12-13, 22:1. {REVUE XV:} 1:4, 1:12, 1:16, 2-3, 2:26, 3:21, 4:4, 5:1, 7, 7:16, 8:6ff, 10:4, 10:6, 11:17-18, 11:18, 12:5-6, 12:12, 14:7, 14:12, 14:13, 15:7ff, 16:2-4, 19:6-7, 19:15, 20:4, 20:12, 21:12-21. [*The text reads: 616.]

 

C

 

     Theodor H. Gaster (­The Dead Sea Scriptures in English Translation­, 3rd. ed., rev. & enl., Garden City, 1976, 578-580) appears to be the only book source which in its index cross-references its ­Received New Testament­ parallels with the scrolls themselves. This is one reason why only 11 of the 56 Dead Sea Scrolls are included under the subject heading of Proto-Christian material. However, it is not the purpose of this volume—which is, in its very essence, an introductory compilation—to exhaustively examine the subject of cross-parallelization between the Dead Sea Scrolls­ and the ­Received New Testament­, but rather to present a rationale for the theory of proto-Christianity, and to demonstrate that the theory exists in a simple a manner as possible. Gaster's 253 parallels, itemized below under (D), satisfy these requirements. The following text is gleaned from his prose notices about some of them.

 

1. In the ­Manual of Discipline­, it is said that, if the community abides by the prescribed rules it will be a veritable temple of God, a true holy of holies. Compare ­I Corinthians­ 3:16-17. A similar statement may be found also in Ephesians­ 2:20-22.

 

2. There is a long passage in the ­Manual­ describing the Two Ways—of Good and Evil, Light and Darkness—which God sets before every man. The idea is indeed a commonplace of ancient Iranian and later Jewish thought, but it is interesting to note the development of the same basic imagery in the picture of the wide and narrow gates in ­Matthew­ 7:13-14 and ­Luke­ 13:23-24.

 

3. In the ­Manual­ there are the words of ­Isaiah­ 40:3 (Prepare in the desert a highway) in token of the fact that the final apocalyptic age is at hand. In ­John­ 1:23, John the Baptist quotes exactly the same passage in exactly the same context.

 

4. The same stereotyped catalog of vices that appears in such passages as ­Galatians­ 5:19-20, ­Romans­ 1:29-30 or 13:13, and Colossians­ 3:5 or 3:8, also appears in the ­Manual­.

 

5. At ­Manual­ 4:26 or thereabouts, where it says Like waters of purification He will sprinkle upon him the spirit of truth, compare ­Acts­ 2:17 and 10:45, and also ­Titus­ 3:5-6.

 

6. The ­Manual­ says that the faithful will receive a crown of glory. Peter and James use a similar image; and in the ­Odes of Solomon­ 9:11, there is a reference to the crown of truth.

 

7. The ­Manual­ holds that the deeds of men are divided between the light dominion of God and the dark dominion of Belial—a concept familiar enough from the ­Received New Testament­.

 

8. No less interesting, and perhaps more exciting, are the many parallels which the ­Manual­ and the ­Zadokite Document­ afford concerning the organization of the primitive Christian church. (a) The community calls itself by the same name (edah) that was used by the early Christians of Palestine to denote the church. (b) There are 12 men of holiness who act as general guides of the community—a remarkable correspondence with the twelve apostles. (c) These men have three superiors, answering to the designation of John, Peter, and James, as the three pillars of the church (­Galatians­ 2:9-10). (d) There is a regular system of mebaqqerim (­overseers­—an exact equivalent of the Greek episkopoi, but before they had acquired their sacerdotal functions). (e) And the brethren at Qumran describe themselves as preparing the way in the desert—words which John the Baptist likewise quoted from the Received Old Testament­ in defining his mission in this world (­John­ 1:23). The ­Manual­ and the Zadokite Document­ may be compared, in fact, with the ­Didache, Didascalia Apostolorum­, and the Apostolic Constitutions­—the primary documents relating to the organization of the primitive Church. Indeed, if we get away from the Greek terminology in which the details of the primitive Church have mostly come down to us, and if we translate it back into Hebrew or Aramaic, we shall find that it bears a quite remarkable correspondence to that found in the Qumran texts, showing that the latter reflect a type of religious organization upon which the primitive Church was largely patterned.

 

9. In the ­Book of Hymns­, the faithful frequently declare that they stand in the eternal congregation of God, hold direct conversation with Him, and share the lot of the Holy beings. Compare ­Ephesians­ 2:19.

 

10. The river (or lake) of fire graphically portrayed in one of the hymns of the ­Book of Hymns­ as destined to burn up the wicked finds its counterpart in ­Revelation­ 19:20, 20:10, 20:14-15 and 21:8, suggesting that this was a standard element of the current eschatological scene.

 

11. One might adduce some striking verbal analogues, as when ­John­ 8:23 speaks of men from beneath or of a son of perdition at ­John­ 17:12, both of which curious expressions occur in the ­Book of Hymns­; or when John­ 1:3 is found in virtually the same words at the end of one of those same compositions. Similarly too, when ­James­ 1:14 speaks of men hooked and trapped by their lusts (for that is what the Greek words really mean), we cannot but recall the passages in ­Book of Hymns­ 3:26 5:8 where exactly the same metaphor is used to describe the enticement of the unwary. And when ­James­ 1:17 declares that every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, his words find a striking counterpart in that curious compound expression light-perfection which the Qumran documents employ (Book of Hymns­ 4:6 and 18:29) to describe the special endowment of the faithful.

 

12. Another common title of the Qumran community was God’s plantation at ­Book of Hymns­ 6:15, 7:6 and 7:10. This, of course, was derived ultimately from the ­Received Old Testament­ (­Isaiah­ 60:21); but it is likewise used at ­Odes of Solomon­ 38:18-21, and is also very frequently used by the Mandaeans.

 

13. The doctrine that all things will be renewed (­Book of Hymns­ 11:13-14 and 13:11-12) is again part and parcel of Oriental thought at the time, and can be compared not only with the well-known reference at Matthew­ 19:29, but also in the ­Testament of Abraham­, and likewise at ­Book of Jubilees­ 1:29, which speaks of a renewal of the world after 7,000 years. The concept of periodic renewal was also a favorite doctrine of Neo-Pythagoreanism, which enjoyed a great vogue in Roman society during the 1st and 2nd centuries BC; and an allusion to this idea occurs in the very ancient form of the Jewish doxology known as the Kaddish, recited after a funeral—for God is there extolled as He who will hereafter renew the world and quicken the dead.

 

14. The picture which is painted in ­Book of Hymns­ 5 of the world travailing in the throes of a new birth is admirably illustrated by the fact that the Messianic turmoil preceding the final Golden Age is called in the Talmud­ (at ­Sanhedrin­ 98b and elsewhere), the birth-pangs of the Messiah. Compare ­Matthew­ 42:8, Mark­ 13:8-9 and ­I Thessalonians­ 5:3.

 

15. At ­Hymn of the Initiates­ 11:7, the expression Sons of Heaven occurs. See also ­Ephesians­ 1:3 and ­II Thessalonians­ 1:5 and similarly also at the beginning of the ­Apostolic Constitutions­.

 

16. Finally, with ­Zadokite Document­ 3:12, compare ­Odes of Solomon­ 6:7 and 30:1-2.

 

D

 

     As Gaster further notes: In the case of the ­(Received) Old Testament­, the parallels are verbal, representing direct quotations woven into the texts. In that of the ­(Received) New Testament­, however, what is usually involved is a correspondence of ideas and concepts, though in certain instances verbal identity is also to be found.

 

[Here begins the progressive numbering of the 538 books of the Hypothetical New Testament]

 

1. The Manual of Discipline

 

Manual of Discipline iii.7-8; Mark 1:8---Manual of Discipline ix.11, Mark 9:11ff---Manual of Discipline ii.7; Mark 9:43---Manual of Discipline viii.6; Mark 13:20---Manual of Discipline viii.6; Mark 13:22---Manual of Discipline viii.6; Mark 13:27---Manual of Discipline viii.14; Matthew 3:3---Manual of Discipline iii.7-8; Matthew 3:11---Manual of Discipline v.8; Matthew 5:33-37---Manual of Discipline iii.18; Matthew 7:13---Manual of Discipline ix.11; Matthew 11:14---Manual of Discipline ix.11, Matthew 17:10---Manual of Discipline ii.7; Matthew 18:8---Manual of Discipline iv.25; Matthew 19:28---Manual of Discipline viii.6, Matthew 24:22---Manual of Discipline viii.6; Matthew 24:24---Manual of Discipline iii.7-8; Luke 3:16---Manual of Discipline i.10; Luke 16:8---Manual of Discipline viii.6; Luke 18:7---Manual of Discipline xi.1-2; John 1:3---Manual of Discipline ix.11; John 1:21---Manual of Discipline viii.14; John 1:23---Manual of Discipline iii.7-8; John 1:33---Manual of Discipline i.5; John 3:21---Manual of Discipline v.3; John 3:21---Manual of Discipline ix.11; John 5:46---Manual of Discipline ix.11; John 6:14---Manual of Discipline ix.11; John 7:40---Manual of Discipline xi.5-6; John 8:23---Manual of Discipline i.10; John 8:31---Manual of Discipline v.10; John 8:31---Manual of Discipline iv.9; John 8:42---Manual of Discipline i.10; John 12:43---Manual of Discipline iv.23; John 12:43---Manual of Discipline iv.20-21; John 20:22---Manual of Discipline iii.7-8; Acts 1:5---Manual of Discipline iv.21; Acts 2:17---Manual of Discipline vi.3; Acts 2:42---Manual of Discipline vi.2; Acts 4:32---Manual of Discipline i.11-12; Acts 7:37---Manual of Discipline iii.6-7; Acts 10:25---Manual of Discipline ix.11; Romans 1:29---Manual of Discipline iv.6-7; Romans 2:7---Manual of Discipline i.10; Romans 2:19---Manual of Discipline ii.2; Romans 8:17---Manual of Discipline viii.6; Romans 8:33---Manual of Discipline viii.1; I Corinthians 2:6---Manual of Discipline i.20-21; I Corinthians 2:7---Manual of Discipline xi.5-8; I Corinthians 2:9-10---Manual of Discipline ix.6; I Corinthians 3:16-17;---Manual of Discipline xi.8; I Corinthians 3:16-17---Manual of Discipline iv.11; I Corinthians 6:9---Manual of Discipline x.9; I Corinthians 6:9---Manual of Discipline vi.6; I Corinthians 14:28---Manual of Discipline iv.16-17; I Corinthians 15:24---Manual of Discipline ii.25; I Corinthians 15:24---Manual of Discipline ii.25; II Corinthians 5:1---Manual of Discipline iii.19ff; II Corinthians 6:14---Manual of Discipline iv.15; II Corinthians 6:17---Manual of Discipline iii.20; II Corinthians 11:14---Manual of Discipline iv.11; Galatians 3:29---Manual of Discipline ii.2; Galatians 5:19---Manual of Discipline iii.23; Galatians 6:1---Manual of Discipline xi.7; Ephesians 1:3---Manual of Discipline ii.2; Ephesians 1:11---Manual of Discipline ix.15-16; Ephesians 2:18-20---Manual of Discipline viii.7-8; Ephesians 2:20-22---Manual of Discipline vii.9; Ephesians 4:29---Manual of Discipline x.22; Ephesians 4:29---Manual of Discipline v.24-26; Ephesians 4:31---Manual of Discipline vii.14; Ephesians 5:4---Manual of Discipline i.10; Ephesians 5:8-9---Manual of discipline v.23ff; Colossians 3:5ff---Manual of Discipline viii.6; Colossians 3:12---Manual of Discipline iv.23; I Thessalonians 2:6---Manual of Discipline i.9; I Thessalonians 5:5---Manual of Discipline ii.16; I Thessalonians 5:5---Manual of Discipline iii.13; I Thessalonians 5:5---Manual of Discipline iii.24-25; I Thessalonians 5:5---Manual of Discipline xi.7; II Thessalonians 1:5---Manual of Discipline viii.6; II Thessalonians 2:13---Manual of Discipline viii.2; II Timothy 2:10---Manual of Discipline iv.21; Titus 3:5-6---Manual of Discipline viii.7-8; Hebrews 8:2---Manual of Discipline iv.21; Hebrews 10:22---Manual of Discipline vi.27; James 2:7---Manual of Discipline viii.6; I Peter 1:1---Manual of Discipline viii.4; I Peter 1:6---Manual of Discipline viii.4; I Peter 1:7---Manual of Discipline iv.16-17; I Peter 1:20---Manual of Discipline viii.7-8; I Peter 2:5---Manual of Discipline viii.6; I Peter 2:6---Manual of Discipline viii.6; I Peter 2:9---Manual of Discipline iv.26; I Peter 2:12---Manual of Discipline i.17; I Peter 3:6---Manual of Discipline iv.5; I Peter 4:7---Manual of Discipline viii.3; I Peter 4:7---Manual of Discipline iv.7; I Peter 5:4---Manual of Discipline v.23; I Peter 5:5---Manual of Discipline vi.2; I Peter 5:5---Manual of Discipline ii.8; II Peter 3:6-7---Manual of Discipline iii.19-20; I John 1:5-7---Manual of Discipline i.6; I John 4:6---Manual of Discipline iii.5-6; I John 4:6---Manual of Discipline viii.2; II John :1---Manual of Discipline v.25; II John :5---Manual of Discipline iv.8; Revelation 6:11---Manual of Discipline iv.8; Revelation 7:9---Manual of Discipline ix.11; Revelation 11:3ff---Manual of Discipline viii.6; Revelation 17:14.

 

2. The Book of Hymns

 

The Book of Hymns v. passim*; Mark 13:8---The Book of Hymns ii.13; Mark 13:20---The Book of Hymns ii.13; Mark 13:22---The Book of Hymns ii.13; Mark 13:27---The Book of Hymns v. passim; Matthew 24:8---The Book of Hymns ii.13; Matthew 24:22---The Book of Hymns ii.13; Matthew 24:24---The Book of Hymns iii.29-30; Luke 17:28---The Book of Hymns ii.13; Luke 18:7---The Book of Hymns iv.6; John 1:9---The Book of Hymns xviii.29; John 1:9---The Book of Hymns ii.18; John 4:4---The Book of Hymns v.26; John 4:4---The Book of Hymns viii.4; John 4:4---The Book of Hymns viii.7; John 4:4---The Book of Hymns xviii.15; John 12:23---The Book of Hymns ii.16-19; Romans 1:24---The Book of Hymns v.36; Romans 1:24---The Book of Hymns xviii.27; Romans 2:14-15---The Book of Hymns ii.13; Romans 8:33---The Book of Hymns vi.15; I Corinthians 2:9-10---The Book of Hymns viii.6; I Corinthians 2:9-10---The Book of Hymns iii.29-30; I Corinthians 3:13---The Book of Hymns iii.29-30; I Corinthians 3:15---The Book of Hymns x.34-35; I Corinthians 6:3---The Book of Hymns iv.16; I Corinthians 14:21---The Book of Hymns xviii.27; II Corinthians 3:2---The Book of Hymns vi.19; II Corinthians 6:14---The Book of Hymns iv.6; Ephesians 1:18---The Book of Hymns iv.27; Ephesians 1:18---The Book of Hymns v.3; Ephesians 1:18---The Book of Hymns xi.26; Ephesians 1:18---The Book of Hymns v.16; Ephesians 6:16---The Book of Hymns vi.19; Philippians 4:2---The Book of Hymns iii.21-27; Colossians 1:12---the Book of Hymns vi.13; Colossians 1:12---The Book of Hymns xi.11-12; Colossians 1:12---The Book of Hymns v. passim, I Thessalonians 5:3---The Book of Hymns iii.29-30; II Thessalonians 1:7-8---The Book of Hymns ii.13; II Thessalonians 2:13---The Book of Hymns vi.15-16; I Timothy 3:6---The Book of Hymns viii.6; I Timothy 3:6---The Book of Hymns viii.10; I Timothy 3:6---The Book of Hymns ii.13; II Timothy 2:10---The Book of Hymns ii.13; I Peter 1:1---The Book of Hymns i.35; I Peter 4:7---The Book of Hymns xi.29; I Peter 5:10---The Book of Hymns ii.14; II Peter 2:1---The Book of Hymns ii.31; II Peter 2:1---The Book of Hymns iv.7; II Peter 2:1---The Book of Hymns iv.9-10; II Peter 2:1---The Book of Hymns iv.16; II Peter 2:1---The Book of Hymns iv.20; II Peter 2:1---The Book of Hymns x.34-35; II Peter 2:4---The Book of Hymns iii.29-30; II Peter 3:6-7---The Book of Hymns iii.29-30, II Peter 3:7---The Book of Hymns vi.25-26; II Peter 3:7---The Book of Hymns iii.29-30; II Peter 3:10-11---The Book of Hymns vi.25-26; II Peter 3:10-11---The Book of Hymns xi.11; I John 3:19---the Book of Hymns iii.29-30; Jude :7---The Book of Hymns x.4; Jude :7---The Book of Hymns iii.29-30; Revelation 16:8---The Book of Hymns vi.25-26; Revelation 19:20---The Book of Hymns vi.25-26; Revelation 20:10---The Book of Hymns vi.25-26; Revelation 20:14---The Book of Hymns vi.25-26; Revelation 21:8---The Book of Hymns vii.24; Revelation 21:23---The Book of Hymns vii.24; Revelation 212:5---The Book of Hymns vii.24; Revelation 22:6. *passim: “here and there,” a Latin expression used especially of a word or phrase which occurs repeatedly, or in different places, in a book.

 

 

3. The Zadokite Document

 

Zadokite Document xx.10; John 14;7---Zadokite Document iv.15; John 17:22---Zadokite Document vii.14; Acts 7:42-43---Zadokite Document i.4; Romans 11:4-5---Zadokite Document ii.11; Romans 11:4-5---Zadokite Document vi.9; I Corinthians 15:24---Zadokite Document vii.8; I Corinthians 15:24---Zadokite Document v.18; II Corinthians 6:14---Zadokite Document v.29; II Thessalonians 2:6---Zadokite Document v.19; II Timothy 3:8---Zadokite Document ix.66; I Peter 1:6---Zadokite Document ix.66; I Peter 1:7---Zadokite Document ii-iii; II Peter 2:4ff---Zadokite Document ii.14; I John 1:5-7---Zadokite Document viii.9; II John :5---Zadokite Document ii-iii; Jude :5ff---Zadokite Document ii.18; Jude :6---Zadokite Document vii.19; Revelation 22:16.

 

4. The War of the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness

 

War of the Sons i.5; John 12:31---War of the Sons xiii.1-2; John 12:31---War of the Sons xv.10-12; John 12:31---War of the Sons xvii.5; John 12:31---War of the Sons xviii.3; John 12:31---War of the Sons passim; Ephesians 6:12---War of the Sons passim; I Thessalonians 5:5---War of the Sons i.5; I Peter 1:5---War of the Sons xv.10-12; I Peter 1:5---War of the Sons ix.16; Jude :9---War of the Sons xvii.6-7; Jude :9---War of the Sons ix.16; Revelation 12:7-9---War of the Sons xvii.6-7; Revelation 12:7-9---War of the Sons ix.16; Revelation 20:8.

 

5. Supplication

 

Supplication 15; Mark 1:23---Supplication 15; Mark 3:11---Supplication 15; Mark 3:30---Supplication 15; Mark 5:2---Supplication 15; Mark 5:8---Supplication 15; Mark 5:13---Supplication 15; Mark 6:7---Supplication 15; Mark 9:25---Supplication 15; Matthew 10:1---Supplication 15; Matthew 12:43---Supplication 15; Luke 4:35-36---Supplication 15 Luke 6:18---Supplication 15; Luke 8:29---Supplication 15; Luke 9:42---Supplication 15; Luke 9:42---Supplication 15; Luke 11:24---Supplication 15; Acts 5:16.

 

6. The Hymn of the Initiates

 

Hymn of the Initiates 20; John 1:3---Hymn of the Initiates 27-28; John 8:23---Hymn of the Initiates 31-34; I Corinthians 2:9-10---Hymn of the Initiates 34; I Corinthians 3:16-17---Hymn of the Initiates 9; I Corinthians 14:15---Hymn of the Initiates 29; Ephesians 1:3---Hymn of the Initiates 22; Ephesians 4:29---Hymn of the Initiates 29; II Thessalonians 1:5.

 

7. The New Covenant

 

The New Covenant; John 10:11--The New Covenant; John 10:14---The New Covenant; Hebrews 13:20---The New Covenant; I Peter 2:25---The New Covenant; I Peter 5:4.

 

8. The Commentary on Habakkuk

 

The Commentary on Habakkuk vii.2; I Corinthians 15:24---The Commentary on Habakkuk vii.12; I Corinthians 15:24---The Commentary of Habakkuk vii.2; I Peter 1:20---The Commentary on Habakkuk vii.7; I Peter 1:20---The Commentary on Habakkuk vii.12; I Peter 1:20.

 

9. The Wondrous Child

 

The Wondrous Child iii; John 17:22--The Wondrous Child ii.1; II Thessalonians 1:5.

 

10. The Manual of Discipline of the Future Congregation of Israel

 

The Manual of Discipline of the Future Congregation of Israel xvii-xxi; I Corinthians 10:16-17.

 

11. The Coming Doom

 

The Coming Doom; Ephesians 5:16-17.

 

***

 

II: SEMI-DIVINE BEINGS

 

A

 

     In this group of writings we encounter for the first time selections from ­the Nag Hammadi Gnostic-Christian Library­, an ancient library which, like the library of the Dead Sea Scrolls, was also first revealed to the modern world by way of accidental discovery (this time in December, 1945). The contents of this collection were deliberately concealed and sealed away in a large jar c.400AD near what is now the modern village of Nag Hammadi (on the Nile River near ancient Thebes), apparently from fear of their being seized and destroyed by zealous proponents of early Christian monastic orthodoxy. It is still impossible to identify either the group or groups who used these papyrus books, for it is arguable that the great variety of the remains themselves precludes that it was a collection of religious writings composed for one particular community. Nor (unlike with the Dead Sea Scrolls) has there been as yet discovered any specific communal center at which they were used.

 

     The papyrus manuscripts themselves are all written in Coptic, and date from c.350AD; and it is certain that their composition occurred at an earlier period than that, for it appears that we have here to do in every case with translations from Greek originals at least in large part from the 2nd century AD, with some perhaps from the 1st century—but beyond this, there is as yet no ­consensus­ in the dating of individual texts. Indeed, it was only by 1977—32 years after their discovery—that a complete facsimile edition of the papyrus leaves themselves was published; and only in that same year that a complete English edition was likewise finished.

 

     Nevertheless, as Hedrick says, the diversity of these texts and the lack of archaeological evidence for a particular user community does not exclude the collecting and use of the library by a particular Gnostic-Christian group in antiquity. The (Received) Bible itself, he points out, is a quite diverse collection of texts sacred to two ancient religious (Judaism and Christianity) spanning some two thousand years, and yet both collections are used as the holy literature of diverse Christian groups in the twentieth century.

 

     As with the Dead Sea Scrolls, so with the Nag Hammadi Library, one should not be surprised to discover a considerable number of thought parallels with various of the texts of the Received New Testament­. As Tuckett has remarked: Nobody writes in a vacuum. Every literary text presupposes various traditions. This is not to deny the possibility of innovation, linguistic or otherwise; but very often the force of the innovation is created precisely because of the tradition or convention which it seeks to modify. Behind every writer there are many different influences: and, in the case of a religious text, religious traditions presupposed by the author.

 

     [The thought milieu, however, has changed. With these­ materials we are talking about interpenetration with existing (and therefore known) Christian monotheistic teaching. With the Dead Sea Scrolls, we have to do with the intercultural commonality of a monotheism soon to be shared by the ­as-yet-to-emerge­ Christian community, by people who certainly considered themselves totally Jewish—indeed, like the Urdu speaking Pakistani Moslem religious, the purest of the pure—and who indeed had no other choice ­but­ to think so, as Christianity had yet to be institutionally invented. (H)]

 

B

 

     The Nag Hammadi Library is a collection of religious texts that exemplify the great diversity of thought in the early centuries of the Common Era, wrote Evans, Webb and Wiebe. Most of these texts, they continued, exhibit a Gnostic conceptual framework—a framework that is highly eclectic and syncretistic in its use of different philosophical and religious traditions. The Hebrew and Christian Scriptures are among the most influential traditions underlying the Nag Hammadi literature.

 

     What is meant by Gnostic-Christianity or Christian-Gnosticism? In order to answer this, one must be able to come to at least a general understanding of the ­nature­ of the religious milieu within which both Christianity and Gnosticism found themselves in their formative period—i.e., from the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ (c.33AD) to c.150AD (in Rome; considerably later elsewhere); and then to be able to contrast this experience with the development of the general religious atmosphere later on in time, but still within the framework of the Ancient World, particularly as it appears in the 3rd century AD, and then in the 4th.

 

C

 

     Since 1959, five world authorities on the Nag Hammadi library—including ­Nag Hammadi Studies­, the leading journal in the field—have issued a total of 5,800 thought parallels which appear to exist between various of the Nag Hammadi treatises and almost all of the ­Received New Testament­ books. They include E. Pagels (­The Gnostic Gospels­, New York, 1981); C. M. Tuckett (­Nag Hammadi and The Gospel Tradition: Synoptic Tradition in the Nag Hammadi Library­, Edinburgh, 1986, 182-187); C. W. Hedrick and R. Hodgson, Jr., eds. (­Nag Hammadi, Gnosticism, & Early Christianity­, Peabody, 1986, 310-314); C. A. Evans, R. L. Webb and R. A. Wiebe (­Nag Hammadi Texts and the Bible: A Synopsis and Index­, E. J. Brill, Leiden, 1993, 482-541); and 18 separate tabulations, produced over the past twenty years, of the journal known as ­Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies­, culminated by volume as follows (and limited strictly to entries concerning the ­Nag Hammadi Library­): II (1972) 211-213; III (1972) 167-169; IV (1975) 231-232; V (1975) 227-223; VI (1975) 308-310; VII (1975) 192; VIII (1977) 222-224; IX (1978) 802-804; X (1978) 148-149; XI (1979) 548-551; XIII (1978) 339-340; XIV (1978) 173-174; XV (1981) 387-390; XVII (1981) 146-147; XVIII (1984) 401-404; XXV (1985) 186-187; XXVIII (1990) 557-559; and XXXI (1991) 295-29 .

 

D

 

     The 5,800 thought parallels between various of the Nag Hammadi texts and the books of the Received New Testament­ are recorded below, by author of text, or by specific volume of Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies­. It should be emphasized that the cumulation below is of ­raw data­, representing a continuum from the most to the least probable hypotheses. As with the Proto-Christian material of Part I, no attempt has been made to cross-reference these parallels with their respective tractates in the Nag Hammadi Library. For more specific information along this line, the reader must apply to the particular book or journal article in question, and specifically to the indices of these books and/or articles. It satisfies the requirements of this work merely to demonstrate the validity of the theory of documentary cross-fertilization. As also with the Proto-Christian material, all the references under (C) above are cited, whether there are any demonstrable parallels with the Received New Testament or not.

 

MARK

 

{PAGELS:} 1:15, 1:41, 3:3-5, 4:10-12, 4:11, 8:27-29, 9:1, 10:6-9, 10:13-16, 10:42-44, 14:43-50, 14:62, 15:1-15, 15:10, 15:37, 16:9, 16:9, 16:9-20, 16:12. {TUCKETT:} 1:4, 1:7-8, 1:9, 1:10, 1:11, 3:13-19, 3:29, 3:35, 4:9, 4:13, 4:21, 4:22, 4:24, 4:26-29; 4:26, 4:41, 5:21, 5:27, 6:8, 6:51-52, 6:56, 7:17-18, 7:28, 8:11, 8:14, 8:17-21, 8:32, 8:34-35, 8:34, 8:36, 9:4, 9:12, 9:35, 9:43, 9:44, 9:48, 9:49, 10:12, 10:13-16, 10:15, 10:17-25, 10:18, 10:28-29, 10:29, 10:30, 10:34, 10:38, 10:44, 10:45, 11:1, 11:14, 12:14, 12:18, 12:20, 12:24, 13:3, 13:5, 13:6, 13:9, 13:11, 13:12, 13:13, 13:20, 13:21, 13:22, 13:23, 13:29, 13:33, 14:1, 14:24, 14:26, 14:34, 14:36, 14:38, 14:42, 14:46, 14:50, 14:61, 14:65, 14:4-5, 15:17-20, 15:17, 15:19, 15:21, 15:29, 15:33, 15:34, 15:36, 15:38, 15:40-41, 15:42, 16:15. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1:9-13, 1:11, 1:15, 3:8, 3:18, 3:20-22, 4, 4:10-12, 4:21-22, 4:22-25, 4:33-34, 5:20, 5:37, 6:8-11, 6:11, 7:24, 7:31, 8:27-30, 8:29, 8:38, 9:2, 9:7, 9:42-10:15, 10:2-9, 10:6, 10:10-12, 13, 13:3, 13:26, 14:24, 14:33, 15:40-41, 16:8. {EVANS:} 1:2-8, 1:4, 1:5, 1:7-11, 1:8, 1:9-13, 1:9-11, 1:9-10, 1:10-11, 1:10, 1:11, 1:12-13, 1:13, 1:14-15, 1:17, 1:19-20, 1:19, 2:7, 2:17, 2:18-22, 2:18-20, 2:19, 2:21-22, 2:23-28, 3:4, 3:14, 3:16, 3:17, 3:18, 3:24-25, 3:24, 3:27, 3:28-29, 3:29, 3:32, 3:35, 4:1-8, 4:2-3, 4:3-11, 4:3-9, 4:3-8, 4:4a, 4:5a, 4:6, 4:7a, 4:8, 4:8a, 4:9, 4:10-12, 4:10-11, 4:11-12, 4:11, 4:12, 4:13-20, 4:17, 4:18-19, 4:21-22, 4:21, 4:22, 4:23, 4:25, 4:26-29, 4:29, 4:30-32, 4:32, 4:33-34, 5:27, 5:37, 6:3, 6:4, 6:7-12, 6:7, 6:8-10, 6:8, 6:10-11, 6:10, 6:12-13, 6:13, 6:16, 6:27, 6:34, 6:45-52, 6:45, 6:48-49, 6:50b, 6:56, 7:5, 7:14, 7:15, 7:16, 7:18, 7:20, 7:28, 8:11-12, 8:11, 8:15b, 8:17-18, 8:27-29, 8:27, 8:29, 8:31-37, 8:31, 8:32, 8:34-35, 8:34, 8:35, 8:36, 8:38, 9:1, 9:1b, 9:2-3, 9:2b-3, 9:3, 9:4, 9:5-7, 9:6, 9:7, 9:7a, 9:7b, 9:11-13, 9:12, 9:31-34, 9:31, 9:33-37, 9:35-37, 9:35, 9:36-37, 9:37, 9:42, 9:43, 9:43b, 9:47-48, 9:48, 10:2, 10:6-9, 10:7-9, 10:8, 10:13-16, 10:13-15, 10:13-14, 10:14-15, 10:14, 10:15, 10:17-25, 10:17, 10:18, 10:21, 10:23-24, 10:28-30, 10:28, 10:29-30, 10:31, 10:33-34, 10:35-40, 10:35, 10:42-44, 10:43-45, 10:45, 10:45b, 10:49b, 11:8-9, 11:14, 11:15-17, 11:18, 11:20-22, 11:23, 11:24, 11:25, 11:26, 11:27-12:34, 12:1-9, 12:1-8, 12:3-4, 12:6, 12:7-9, 12:7-8, 12:8, 12:10, 12:12, 12:14, 12:14b-17a, 12:24-25, 12:25, 12:29, 12:30, 12:31, 12:32, 12:33, 12:33a, 12:34a, 12:35-37, 12:36, 13:1-27, 13:2, 13:3-5, 13:3-4, 13:3, 13:4, 13:5-6, 13:8, 13:8b, 13:9-11, 13:9, 13:11, 13:12, 13:13, 13:14, 13:14b, 13:17, 13;20, 13:21-23, 13:21-22, 13:21, 13:22, 13:24-26, 13:24-25, 13:25, 13:28-29, 13:30, 13:31, 14:1, 14:3, 14:10-11, 14:11, 14:22-23, 14:23-24, 14:23, 14:24, 14:26, 14:28, 14:29-30, 14:32, 14:34a, 14:36, 14:38, 14:41-42, 14:44-46, 14:46, 14:50, 14:51-53, 14:53-15:41, 14:55-64, 14:55-57, 14:56-60, 14:58, 14:61, 14:62, 14:63-64, 14:64, 14:65a, 14:67, 15:1b, 15:3, 15:5, 15:6-37, 15:15-37, 15:15, 15:16-16:8, 15:17, 15:17a, 15:17b, 15:19a, 15:21, 15:23, 15:24, 15:25, 15:27, 15:29-32, 15:29, 15:29b, 15:33, 15:34b, 15:36a, 15:37, 15:38, 15:42-47, 15:42, 15:46, 16:2, 16:5-6, 16:6a, 16:7, 16:12-13, 16:13-14, 16:14a, 16:15-16, 16:15, 16:16, 16:17-18, 16:19-20, 16:19, 16:19a, 16:20a. {STUDIES II:} 8:11, 9:48, 10:45, 12:14, 14:24. {STUDIES III:} 3:16, 9:43, 9:45, 9:47, 9:49, 12:34, 13:5-6, 13:22. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 2:17-18, 2:18-20, 2:19, 2:20, 2:22, 3:24-25, 3:25, 3:27, 3:29, 3:31-35, 3:34-35, 3:35, 4:3-9, 4:9, 4:23, 4:9ff, 4:21, 4:22, 4:25, 4:29, 4:30-32, 6:4, 7:5, 7:15, 7:16, 7:18-20, 8:27-30, 8:29-30, 8:36, 9:1, 9:4, 9:33-34, 9:43, 9:45, 9:47, 9:49, 10:6-8, 10:18, 10:29, 10:31, 10:38, 11:13-14:20, 11:23, 12:1-12, 12:2ff, 12:7ff, 12:10, 12:14, 12:15-16, 12:17, 12:31, 12:34, 13:31, 14:34, 14:58, 16:14. {STUDIES VI:} 1:3, 1:4, 2:23, 4:12, 4:22, 9:14ff, 9:27, 10:49, 16:19. {STUDIES VII:} 1:4. {STUDIES VIII:} 2:10, 7:8-9, 9:31, 9:38, 10:18, 10:38-39. {STUDIES IX:} 1:2-4, 2:17, 3:18, 4:9, 6:10, 6:11, 6:50, 7:10, 9:19, 9:50, 10:28, 10:29, 10:31, 12:15-17. {STUDIES X:} 7:33, 14:46, 14:61-62, 14:62. {STUDIES XI:} 3:13-19, 4:14-20, 5:41, 6:8, 8:34, 9:2-9, 10:17-25, 10:17-31, 10:30, 10:38, 13:22, 13:25, 13:29, 14:34, 14:36, 14:34, 14:61, 14:38, 15:4-5, 15:33. {STUDIES XIII:} 1:3, 8:34, 10:28, 10:29, 10:29. {STUDIES XIV:} 0. {STUDIES XV:} 1:24, 4:22, 14:65, 15:19, 15:25, 15:33. {STUDIES XVII:} 1:4, 12:13ff, 16:9ff, 16:12-13, 16:14ff, 16:19. {STUDIES XVIII:} 1:4, 1:11, 3:4, 10:17ff, 13:21, 14:41. {STUDIES XXV:} 1:4, 3:3, 7:6-7. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 4:14-20, 13:8, 13:17, 13:20, 13:29. {STUDIES XXXI:} 1:11, 3:18, 9:2-8, 9:7, 10:13-16, 13:9, 15, 16:15-18, shorter ending.

 

MATTHEW

 

{PAGELS:} 2:15, 13:10-17, 13:11, 16:13-19, 16:17-18, 18:2-4, 19:4-6, 19:13-15, 28:16-20, 28:18. {TUCKETT:} 1:18, 1:20, 1:21, 3:10, 3:11, 3:13, 3:15, 3:16, 3:17, 4:5-6, 4:8-9, 4:9, 4:18, 4:23, 5:3, 5:4, 5:6, 5:7, 5:8, 5:11, 5:14, 5:15, 5:16, 5:21ff, 5:26, 5:39ff, 5:45, 5:46, 5:47, 5:48, 6:2-4, 6:6, 6:19-20, 6:19-21, 6:21, 6:22-23, 6:22, 6:24, 6:25ff, 6:25, 6:31, 6:34, 7:1-2, 7:1, 7:7, 7:13-14, 7:16-20, 7:16, 7:18, 7:20, 7:21, 7:22, 7:24-27, 8:9, 8:12, 9:15, 9:20, 9:27-31, 9:35, 10:6, 10:8, 10:10, 10:16, 10:17, 10:21, 10:26, 10:28, 10:29, 10:36, 10:38, 11:8, 11:13, 11:15, 11:19, 11:23, 11:25-27, 11:25, 11:27, 11:28, 11:29, 11:30, 11:33, 12:11, 12:31, 12:32, 12:33, 12:34-35, 12:38, 12:43-45, 12:50, 13:5, 13:11, 13:12, 13:13, 13:16-17, 13:19, 13:23, 13:30, 13:39, 13:40, 13:42, 13:45-46, 13:49, 13:50, 14:28, 14:31, 15:14, 15:27, 16:1, 16:13, 16:16, 16:17-19, 16:17, 16:18, 16:22, 16:26, 17:5, 18:2-6, 18:3, 18:10, 18:12-14, 18:12, 18:14, 18:19, 19:3, 20:1-16, 20:28, 20:29-34, 21:22, 21:23ff, 21:31, 22:11-14, 22:13, 22:16, 22;18, 22:29, 22:35, 23:6-10, 23:2, 23:9, 23:16, 23:17, 23:19, 23:26, 23:38, 24:3, 24:5, 24:7-8, 24:9, 24:11, 24:12, 24:15, 24:22, 24:23, 24:26, 24:29, 24:51, 25:1-13, 25:14ff, 25:28, 25:29, 25:30, 25:31ff, 25:35-37, 26:3, 26:15, 26:28, 26:41, 26:46, 26:50, 26:55, 26:56, 26:57, 26:63, 26:64, 26:69ff, 27:2, 27:3, 27:22-23, 27:24, 27:29, 27:34, 27:35, 27:39, 27:45, 27:46, 27:48, 27:51, 27:52, 27:53, 27:54, 27:55-56, 28:3, 28:16-20, 28:16, 28:17, 28:19-20, 28:19, 28:20. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 5-7, 5:14, 5:48, 6:2-18, 6:22-23, 7:29, 9:35-10:16, 10:7, 10:14, 10:23, 11:19, 11:25, 11:25-30, 11:27, 13, 13:47-48, 16:15-19, 18:12-14, 19:12, 19:28, 23:34-35, 23:37-39, 25:31, 27:55-56. {EVANS:} 1:16, 1:18-20, 1:18, 1:20, 1:20b, 1:21, 1:23, 1:23a, 1:25, 2:11, 2:23, 3:1-6, 3:1-2, 3:6, 3:8, 3:10a, 3:11-17, 3:11-12, 3:11, 3:13-17, 3:13, 3:15, 3:16-4:1, 3:16-17, 3:17, 4:1-3, 4:5-10, 4:5-6a, 4:11, 4:16, 4:18, 4:19, 4:21-22, 4:21, 4:23, 4:24, 5:3, 5:4, 5:6, 5:7, 5:8, 5:9b, 5:10-12, 5:10, 5:11, 5:12a, 5:14-16, 5:14a, 5:14b, 5:15, 5:16, 5:17, 5:18, 5:20, 5:22, 5:22-23, 5:24, 5:26, 5:27-28, 5:28, 5:29-30, 5:34-35, 5:42, 5:43-44, 5:45-46, 5:45, 5:48, 6:1-18, 6:1-2, 6:1, 6:3, 6:4, 6:5, 6:6, 6:8, 6:9-13, 6:13b, 6:16, 6:18, 6:19-20, 6:19, 6:20-23, 6:20, 6:21, 6:22-23, 6:22-23a, 6:22, 6:24, 6:24a, 6:25, 6:28, 6:30, 6:31-33, 6:31, 6:32, 6:33, 6:34, 6:34b, 7:1, 7:3-5, 7:6, 7:7-8, 7:7, 7:8, 7:12, 7:13-14, 7:13, 7:14, 7:16-20, 7:16-18, 7:16, 7:16a, 7:16b, 7:17-20, 7:18, 7:20, 7:21, 7:24-27, 7:24-25, 7:24, 8:12, 8:12a, 8:20, 8:22, 9:2b, 9:12, 9:14-17, 9:14-15, 9:15, 9:16-17, 9:20, 9:22a, 9:35, 9:36, 9:37-38, 10:1, 10:2-3, 10:2, 10:5-14, 10:5-8, 10:5, 10:7-10a, 10:7-8, 10:8, 10:9-13, 10:9-10, 10:10b, 10:11-14, 10:11, 10:16, 10:17-19, 10:17-18, 10:19-20, 10:21, 10:22, 10:23, 10:25a, 10:26, 10:26b, 10:27, 10:28, 10:29, 10:32, 10:33, 10:34-36, 10:34, 10:37-38, 10:37a, 10:38-39, 10:39, 10:40, 11:5, 11:6, 11:7-8, 11:7b, 11:11-12, 11:12-13, 11:15, 11:19, 11:19a, 11:23, 11:25-27, 11:25, 11:27, 11:27a, 11:28-30, 11:28-29, 11:28, 11:29-30, 11:30, 12:1-8, 12:11-12, 12:11, 12:18, 12:25, 12:28-29, 12:29, 12:31-32, 12:33-35, 12:33, 12:33b, 12:35, 12:36-37, 12:38-39, 12:43-45, 12:43-45a, 12:47, 12:50, 13:1-9, 13:3-11, 13:3-8, 13:3, 13:4a, 13:5a, 13:6, 13:7a, 13:8, 13:8a, 13:9, 13:10-17, 13:10-11, 13:11, 13:12, 13:13-16, 13:13-15, 13:13a, 13:13-14, 13:15, 13:16-17, 13:17, 13:18-23, 13:21, 13:22, 13:24-30, 13:28-30, 13:31-32, 13:33, 13:34-35, 13:36-43, 13:38-39, 13:38, 13:41, 13:42, 13:43, 13:43b, 13:44-46, 13:44, 13:45-46, 13:47-48, 13:49, 13:50, 13:55, 13:57, 14;5, 14:10, 14:22-33, 14:22, 14:24-26, 14:27b, 14:36, 15:2, 15:10, 15:11, 15:13, 15:14, 15:14a, 15;18, 15:20, 15:27, 15:30, 16:1-3, 16:1, 16:4, 16:6b, 16:11b, 16:13-16, 16:13, 16:16, 16:17-19, 16:17-18, 16:17b, 16:18, 16:19, 16:21-26, 16:21, 16:22, 16:24-25, 16:24, 16:25, 16:26a, 16:27, 16:28, 17:1-2, 17:1b-2, 17:2, 17:3, 17:4-5, 17:5, 17:5a, 17:5b, 17:6, 17:10-12, 17:20b, 17:22-23, 17:22b-23a, 18:1-6, 18:1, 18:2-6, 18:2-5, 18:2-3, 18:3, 18:8-9, 18:8b, 18:10, 18:10b, 18:11, 18:12-14, 18:12-13, 18:18, 18:19-20, 18:19, 18:20, 18:34, 18:35, 19:3, 19:4-6, 19:5-6, 19:6, 19:12-15, 19:13-14, 19:14, 19:16-24, 19:17, 19:19b, 19:21, 19:23-24, 19:27-28, 19:27, 19:28-29, 19:29, 19:30, 20:1-16, 20:16, 20:18-19, 20:19, 20:20-23, 20:25-27, 20:26-28, 20:28, 20:28b, 21:8-9, 21:12-13, 21:15-16, 21:19-20, 21;21, 21:22, 21:23-22:46, 21:33-41, 21:33-39, 21:39, 21:42, 21:42a, 21:43, 21:46, 22:2-14, 22:2-10, 22:11-13, 22:13, 22:13a, 22:13b, 22:14, 22:16, 22:17-21, 22:29-30, 22:30, 22:37b, 22:39, 22:41-46, 22:44, 23:6-10, 23:8, 23:9, 23:12, 23:13, 23:13b, 23:25, 23:26, 23:26a, 23:24, 23:24a, 23:25-26, 23:32, 23:37-38, 23:38, 24:1-31, 24:2, 24:3-4, 24:3, 24:3b, 24:4-5, 24:7-8, 24:7, 24:8, 24:9, 24:11, 24:12, 24;13, 24:14a, 24:15, 24:16, 24:19, 24:20, 24:22, 24:23-26, 24:23-24, 24:23, 24:24, 24:28, 24:29-30, 24:29, 24:29b, 24:30a, 24:32-33, 24:33, 24:35, 24:38-39, 24:40, 24:42-44, 24:43, 24:45, 24:51, 25:1-13, 25:10, 25:14-30, 25:27, 25:28-29, 25:29-30, 25:29, 25:30, 25:30a, 25:32-34, 25:33, 25:34, 26:2, 26:3-4, 26:4, 26:7, 26:14-16, 26:15, 26:26-28, 26:27-28, 26:27, 26:28, 26:29, 26:30, 26:32, 26:33-34, 26:38a, 26:39, 26:41, 26:42, 26:45-46, 26:48-50, 26:50, 26:50b, 26:55, 26:56, 26:56b, 26:57-27:56, 26:57, 26:59-66, 26:59-60, 26:60-62, 26:61, 26:61b, 26:63, 26:64, 26:65-66, 26:67, 27:2, 27:3-4, 27:12, 27:14, 27:15-50, 27:24-25, 27:25-26, 27:25, 27:26-50, 27:27-28:15, 27:28, 27:29, 27:29a, 27:30, 27:30b, 27:32, 27:34, 27:35, 27:38, 27:39-44, 27:40, 27:40a, 27:45, 27:46b, 27:48, 27:50, 27:51-53, 27:51a, 27:52-53, 27:57-66, 27:60, 27:62, 27:63, 28:1, 28:2, 28:3, 28:5-6, 28:6-7a, 28:7, 28:9, 28:10, 28:10a, 28:16-20, 28:16-17, 28:16-17a, 28:17-19, 28:17, 28:18-20, 28:19, 28:19b, 28:20, 28:20b. {STUDIES II:} 3:17, 5:48, 6:19-20, 7:7, 9:20ff, 9:27, 9:27ff, 10:29, 11:5, 11:23, 11:25, 12:11, 12:11-12, 12:33b, 12:34-35, 12:43-45, 13:50, 16:1, 16:26, 17:5, 18:12, 18:12-14, 18:13, 18:14, 19:3, 22:18, 22:35, 25:33ff. {STUDIES III:} 3:11, 6:20, 6:22, 7:1-5, 7:3, 7:4, 7:5, 7:6, 7:12, 7:15, 7:28, 8:19ff, 8:20, 10:16, 10:37, 10:38, 11:1, 11:11, 11:19, 13:12, 13:45-46, 14:53, 16:18, 17:24ff, 18:3, 19:1, 19:16, 19:23-24, 21:12, 22:39, 23, 23:25, 23:25-26, 26:1, 26:6-13, 28:16. {STUDIES IV:} 12:25, 16:28, 25:41. {STUDIES V:} 3:9, 3:10, 3:11, 4:3, 4:23, 5:3, 5:3ff, 5:6, 5:7, 5:8, 5:10-11, 5:11, 5:14, 5:15, 5:18, 5:20, 5:45, 6:1-18, 6:3, 6:2, 6:5, 6:16, 6:19-20, 6:20, 6:22-23, 6:24, 6:25, 6:31, 6:33, 7:1-5, 7:3, 7:5, 7:4, 7:6, 7:7, 7:7-8, 7:12, 7:13-14, 7:16, 7:17-20, 7:19, 7:21, 7:24-25, 8:12, 8:13, 8:19ff, 8:20, 8:22, 9:14-15, 9:15, 9:17, 9:27, 9:37-38, 10:16, 10:26, 10:27, 10:34-35, 10:37, 10:38, 11:2, 11:5, 11:7-8, 11:8, 11:9, 11:11, 11:13, 11:15, 11:25, 11:27, 11:28-30, 12:25, 12:29, 12:32-33, 12:35, 12:46-50, 12:50, 13:3-9, 13:4-6, 13:9, 13:9, 13:43, 13:12, 13:14, 13:17, 13:24-30, 13:25, 13:31-32, 13:33, 13:38, 13:44, 13:45-46, 13:46, 13:47-48, 13:47-50, 13:57, 15:1, 15:11, 15:12, 15:13, 15:14, 15:17-18, 16:1, 16:3, 16:13-16, 16:16, 16:24ff, 16:24-28, 16:26, 17:11-12, 17:20, 18:3, 18:12-13, 18:13, 18:19, 18:20, 19:4, 19:16, 19:16-22, 19:17, 19:19, 19:29, 19:30, 20:16, 21:19, 21:21, 21:31, 21:33ff, 22:1-10, 22:2, 22:5, 22:9, 22:9, 22:10-14, 22:14, 22:17, 22:19, 22:21, 22:19, 22:39, 23:8, 23:13, 23:13-15, 23:25, 23:26, 23:39, 24:14, 24:28, 24:35, 24:42, 24:43, 24:43-44, 24:45, 25:10, 25:13, 25:29, 26:38, 26:61, 28:20. {STUDIES VI:} 3:3, 5:4a, 5:6, 5:7b, 5:8, 7:22, 10:19, 10:26, 13:15, 13:31-32, 16:17-19, 16:19, 18:10, 20:23, 26:72, 26:74. {STUDIES VII:} 5:4, 5:6, 11:28, 25:1-13. {STUDIES VIII:} 1:22, 2:15, 5:4, 5:6, 5:22, 5:34-35, 5:45, 5:48, 7:18, 7:21, 8:10, 8:12, 8:16, 8:20-21, 9:9, 9:37, 10:1, 10:4, 10:10, 10:24, 10:28, 11:9ff, 11:21-22, 11:23-24, 11:25, 11:25ff, 11:27, 13:31, 15:3, 15:3-6, 19:7, 19:17, 21:23, 21:33-41, 21:33-44, 22:1-14, 22:31-32, 22:36, 23:9, 24:22, 25:14-30, 25:41, 27:56. {STUDIES IX:} 3:11, 3:11, 3:12, 3:13, 3:16, 5:3-7, 5:12, 5:13, 5:25, 5:26, 6:21, 7:7, 7:7, 7:8, 7:22, 7:23, 8:12, 9:12, 9:13, 10:4, 10:11, 10:12, 10:12, 10:13, 10:4, 10:36, 10:37, 10:41, 11:10, 11:14, 11:28, 11:30, 13:39, 13:42, 13:50, 14:27, 15:4, 15:16, 15:17, 16:3, 16:19, 17:10, 17:11, 17:12, 17:17, 18:15-17, 18:16, 18:18, 18:21, 18:22, 19:12, 19:27, 19:28, 19:29, 19:30, 20:16, 22:13, 22:19-21, 24:4, 24:5, 24:15, 24:43, 24:51, 25:11, 25:12, 25:30, 26:27, 26:28, 26:29, 28:16, 28:18. {STUDIES X:} 8:3, 9:17, 18:10, 19:28, 25:21, 25:31ff, 25:31, 25:33-46, 25:46, 26:30. {STUDIES XI:} 2:2, 2:3-8, 3:12, 4:5, 4:23, 6:6, 6:11, 6:34, 6:12, 6:13, 6:19-21, 6:21, 7:1, 7:7, 7:7-8, 7:14, 7:19-21, 9:27-31, 10:8, 10:9-10, 10:32-33, 10:35-36, 11:15, 11:27, 12:32, 12:38, 13:41, 13:45-46, 16:1, 16:16-18, 16:19, 16:28, 18:2-6, 20:29-34, 22:14, 23:13, 24:4, 24:7, 24:12, 24:23, 24:29, 26:14-16, 26:15, 27:3, 27:24, 27:51-52, 28:10, 28:17, 28:19-20. {STUDIES XIII:} 3:3, 5:37, 10:38, 10:40, 16:24, 19:27, 19:29, 19:29, 23:37, 25:33. {STUDIES XIV:} 6:34b, 10:10, 10:17-18, 10:25. {STUDIES XV:} 1:21, 3:8, 3:13, 3:13-16, 5:26, 5:39, 5:42, 5:48, 6:7, 6:19, 6:24, 6:33, 7:8, 7:22, 10:40, 11:7, 11:15, 11:19, 11:27, 11:30 13:13-15, 13:58, 14:25, 15:12-16, 15:14, 16:27, 22:29, 26:67, 27:30, 27:45, 28:7. {STUDIES XVII:} 3:13-17, 5:4, 5:6, 7:6, 7:21, 11:27, 13:3-9, 13:32, 13:33, 13:46, 18:12ff, 21:31, 25:34, 28:18, 28:19. {STUDIES XVIII:} 3:12, 3:17, 5:19-20, 7:7, 8:9, 8:11-12, 8:20, 10:13, 10:38, 11:25-27, 11:28, 11:28-29, 11:28-30, 11:29, 11:30, 12:11, 16:26, 18:10, 18:20, 19:28, 25:35-36, 26:12, 26:73. {STUDIES XXV:} 1:1-6, 1:3, 3:6, 5:3, 5:4, 5:5, 5:16, 5:45, 5:48, 7:21, 7:23, 12:50, 13:41, 15:18, 18:14, 19:28, 21:31, 23:1-36, 23:5, 23;10, 25:1-13. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 4:16, 5:14, 5:21-43, 6:9, 10:28, 12:11-12, 12:48-50, 13:21, 13:39, 13:40, 13:49, 16:26, 18:12-13, 19:16-22, 19:17, 23:9, 24:3, 24:22, 27:39-44, 28:20. {STUDIES XXXI:} 10:17-18, 12:18-21, 17:5, 27, 18:18-20, 28:20.

 

LUKE

 

{PAGELS:} 8:9-10, 10:38-42, 12:8-12, 14:26, 17:21, 18:15-17, 23:34-36, 24:13-32, 24:31, 24:34, 24:36-43, 24:36-49, 19:41-44. {TUCKETT:} 1, 1:19, 1:35, 1:52-53, 1:78, 2:11, 2:46-49, 3:3, 3:9, 3:16, 3:22, 4:5-7, 4:6, 5:28, 6:20, 6:21, 6:27ff, 6:27, 6:32-34, 6:33, 6:37, 6:43-44, 6:43, 6:44, 6:45, 6:47-49, 7:14, 7:21-22, 7:25, 7:34, 8:16, 8:17, 8:18, 8:44, 9:3, 9:23, 10:9, 10:10, 10:15, 10:19, 10:21, 10:22, 10:23-24, 10:29ff, 11:1, 11:9, 11:18, 11:24-26, 11:33, 11:34-36, 11:34, 12:1, 12:2, 12:6, 12:8-9, 12:10, 12:11-12, 12:22ff, 12:22, 12:34, 12:59, 13:23-24, 13:28, 13:35, 14:5, 14:11, 14:26, 14:27, 14:33, 15:4-7, 15:8-10, 15:11ff, 15:17, 16:9, 16:13, 16:16, 16:22-24, 17:20-21, 17:21, 17:23, 18:14, 18:32, 19:8-9, 19:11ff, 19:20, 19:37, 20:34-35, 21:8, 21:12, 21:15, 21:37, 22:46, 22:65, 23:10, 23:39, 23:45, 24:3, 24:36ff, 24:36, 24:38, 24:39, 24:48, 24:49, 24:52-53. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1:76-79, 2:46-49, 6, 6:20, 6:22-23, 6:27-30, 6:34-35, 7:1, 7:22, 7:28, 7:35, 8:2, 8:10, 9:2, 9:3, 9:58, 10:1-16, 10:4, 10:9, 10:13, 10:15, 10:21, 10:21-22, 10:21-24, 10:22, 11:34-36, 11:49, 11:49-51, 12:2-3, 12:4-7, 12:8-9, 12:35-46, 12:35-56, 13:34-35, 15:4-7, 16:16, 17:22, 17:22-37, 17:24, 17:26, 17:30, 18:8, 21:14, 22:29, 22:30, 22:35-36, 24:10-11, 24:36. {EVANS:} 1:2, 1:7, 1:18, 1:27, 1:32, 1:34-35, 1:34, 1:35, 1:35b, 1:36, 1:57, 1:60, 1:79, 2:11, 2:21-47, 2:21, 2:40, 2:46-49, 2:52, 3:1-6, 3:3, 3:8, 3:9a, 3:16-17, 3:16, 3:21-22, 3:21-22a, 3:22, 3:23, 4:1-3, 4:1-2, 4:1, 4:5-12, 4:9, 4:14, 4:18, 4:22, 4:23-24, 4:24, 4:43, 5:10-11, 5:10, 5:21, 5:31, 5:33-39, 5:33-35, 5:34, 5:36b-39, 6:1-5, 6:9, 6:13-14, 6:14, 6:20, 6:20b, 6:21a, 6:21b, 6:22-23, 6:22, 6:24, 6:30, 6:31, 6:33, 6:33-34, 6:34-35a, 6:37, 6:39, 6:39a, 6:40, 6:41-42, 6:43-45, 6:43-44, 6:44-45, 6:44, 6:44a, 6:44b, 6:47-49, 6:47-48, 7:21-22, 7:23, 7:24-25, 7:24b, 7:28, 7:30, 7:34, 7:35, 7:37-38, 8:1-2, 8:1, 8:4-8, 8:4-5, 8:5-15, 8:5-10, 8:5-8, 8:5-8a, 8:5a, 8:6, 8:6a, 8:7a, 8:8, 8:8a, 8:8b, 8:9-10, 8:10, 8:10a, 8:11-15, 8:13, 8:14, 8:16-17, 8:16, 8:17, 8:18, 8:20-21, 8:21, 8:31, 8:44, 9:1-6, 9:1-2, 9:2-3, 9:3-4, 9:3, 9:4-5, 9:4, 9:6, 10:2, 10:4, 10:7a, 10:8-9, 10:9, 10:10-16, 10:15, 10:16, 10:19, 10:21-23, 10:21-22, 10:21, 10:22, 10:22a, 10:23-24, 10:24, 10:27, 10:27b, 10:30-33, 10:30, 10:33-34, 10:34, 11:1, 11:1b, 11:2-4, 11:2, 11:3, 11:4, 11:6, 11:9-10, 11:9, 11:10, 11:13, 11:16, 11:17, 11:20-22, 11:21-22, 11:21, 11:24-26, 11:27-28, 11:29-30, 11:29, 11:33-36, 11:33, 11:34-36, 11:34-35, 11:34, 11:39-40, 11:40, 11:52, 11:52b, 12:1b, 12:2, 12:3, 12:4-5, 12:10, 12:11-12, 12:11, 12:13-14, 12:15, 12:16-20, 12:22-23, 12:22, 12:28, 12:29-31, 12:29, 12:30, 12:31, 12:33-34, 12:33, 12:33b, 12:34, 12:36, 12:37-39, 12:39-40, 12:42, 12:49, 12:51-53, 12:51, 12:56, 12:59, 13:18-19, 13:20-21, 13:23-24, 13:24, 13:28a, 13:30, 13:33, 13:34-35a, 13:35, 14:5, 14:11, 14:16-24, 14:26-27, 14:26, 14:27, 14:31, 14:33, 14:35, 14:35a, 14:35b, 15:3-7, 15:3-5, 15:4-6, 15:8-10, 15:8-9, 15:12, 16:8, 16:8b, 16:9, 16:11, 16:13, 16:13a, 16:14-15, 16:16, 16:17, 16:19-31, 16:22-23, 16:23-24, 17:2, 17:20-23, 17:20-22, 17:20-21, 17:21, 17:22, 17:23, 17:25, 17:26-27, 17:33, 17:34, 17:37, 17:37b, 18:1, 18:7, 18:14, 18:15-17, 18:15-16, 18:16-17, 18:16, 18:17, 18:18-25, 18:18 18:19, 18:22, 18:24-25, 18:28-30, 18:28, 18:29-30, 18:32-33, 18:32, 19:1-10, 19:10, 19:11-27, 19:23, 19:24, 19:26-27, 19:26, 19:36-38, 19:41-44, 19:41, 19:42, 19:43-44, 19:44, 19:45-46, 19:47-48, 19:47, 20:1-40, 20:9-16, 20:9-15a, 20:10-11, 20:13, 20:14-16, 20:14-15, 20:15, 20:17, 20:19, 20:21, 20:22-25, 20:34-36, 20:34, 20:35-36, 20:41-44, 20:42, 21:5-28, 21:6, 21:7-8, 21:7, 21:8, 21:10-11, 21:11, 21:12-15, 21:12, 21:16, 21:19, 21:20-24, 21:21a, 21:23, 21:24b-27, 21:24b, 21:25, 21:26, 21:28, 21:29-31, 21:33, 21:34, 21:36, 21:37, 22:2, 22:3-6, 22:3, 22:5-6, 22:14, 22:17, 22:19-20, 22:19, 22:20, 22:22-24, 22:24-27, 22:26-27, 22:31-34, 22:33-34, 22:37, 22:39, 33:40b, 22:42, 22:46, 22:47, 22:54-23:49, 22:54, 22:54a, 22:63-24:12, 22:63-66, 22:63-64, 22:63, 22:66-71, 22:69, 22:71, 23:2, 23:4, 23:9, 23:10, 23:14, 23:15, 23:17-46, 23:22, 23:24-46, 23:24-25, 23:26, 23:28, 23:29, 23:32, 23:33, 23:34, 23:35, 23:36, 23:39, 23:44-45a, 23:44, 23:45, 23:45b, 23:46, 23:47, 23:50-56, 23:53, 23:54, 24:1, 24:3, 24:4-6, 24:5, 24:5b, 24:6-8, 24:7, 24:26, 24:27, 24:30-31, 24:31-35, 24:32, 24:33-37, 24:36-40, 24:36-37, 24:36, 24:39-43, 24:39-40, 24:39, 24:39b, 24:44, 24:45-48, 24:46, 24:47-49, 24:49, 24:50-53, 24:50-52, 24:50-51, 24:51-52, 24:51-52a, 24:51, 24:52-53. {STUDIES II:} 1:78, 2:46, 2:49, 3:22, 4:14, 6:44a, 10:15, 10:21, 11:24-26, 12:33, 15:4-7, 24:36, 24:36ff. {STUDIES III:} 2:29, 3:16, 6:14, 6:24-26, 6:41-42, 6:42a, 9:58, 10:1-8, 10:22, 11:39-40, 11:40, 12:49, 12:52-53, 14:33, 18:14. {STUDIES IV:} 11:49, 16:16. {STUDIES V:} 1:11, 2:49, 3:8, 3:16, 4:3, 4:16ff, 4:23-24, 5:33-35, 5:34, 5:35, 5:36-37, 5:39, 5:36, 5:39, 5:37-38, 6:19, 6:20, 6:21, 6:22, 6:31, 6:39, 6:41-42, 6:43-44, 6:44-45, 7:19, 7:24-25, 7:25, 7:26, 7:28, 7:30, 8:5-8, 8:8, 8:16, 8:17, 8:18, 8:19-21, 8:20, 8:21, 9:6, 9:9-10, 9:10, 9:18-21, 9:25, 9:58, 9:60, 10:1-8, 10:2, 10:8-9, 10:21, 10:22, 10:24, 10:27, 11:1, 11:9, 11:10, 11:21-22, 11:27-28, 11:33, 11:33-36, 11:39-40, 11:40, 11:42-43, 11:52, 12:1, 12:2, 12:3, 12:10, 12:13-14, 12:16-20, 12:22, 12:29, 12:31, 12:33, 12:35, 12:35-37, 12:35, 12:39, 12:37, 12:39-40, 12:41, 12:45, 12:49, 12:51-53, 12:56, 13:6-9, 13:18-19, 13:20-21, 13:30, 14:16-24, 14:21, 14:26, 14:26-27, 14:35, 15:2, 15:4-6, 15:4-7, 16:13, 16:17, 17:5, 17:37, 17:20-21, 17:21, 17:22, 17:34, 17:37, 18:18-22, 18:19, 18:29, 19:26, 20:17, 20:22, 20:24, 20:25, 21:6, 21:7, 21:33, 22:43, 23:29, 24:5, 24:15, 24:27, 24:34, 24:39, 24:45. {STUDIES VI:} 2:38, 3:4, 5:31, 6:8, 8:17, 10:30, 12:46, 13:6-9, 14:26, 15:21, 19:3. {STUDIES VII:} 3:3, 14:26, 15:11-12. {STUDIES VIII:} 10:27, 11;1, 14:26, 14:33, 17:29, 18:19, 19:11-27. {STUDIES IX:} 1, 1:26-27, 1:39-40, 1:48, 2, 3:16, 3:17, 3:22, 5:31, 5:32, 7:27, 9:4, 9:5, 9:41, 10:5, 10:6, 10:11, 11:9, 11:10, 12:34, 12:39, 12:47, 12:48, 12:49, 12:50-52, 12:51, 12:52, 13:6-9, 13:24-28, 13:28, 13:30, 14:26, 14:34, 14:35, 16:9, 17:3, 17:4, 18:28, 18:29, 20:24, 20:25, 22:28-30, 22:30. {STUDIES X:} 11:20. {STUDIES XI:} 1:78, 7:14, 10:20, 10:38-42, 11:5-8, 11:16, 11:40, 12:8-9, 16:22-24, 17:21, 21:24, 21:26, 22:37, 24:36. {STUDIES XIII:} 3:4, 9:23, 13:34, 14:27, 18:28, 18:29. {STUDIES XIV:} 19:48, 22:39, 24:44, 24:52-53. {STUDIES XV:} 1:5-36, 1:19, 1:26, 1:27-35, 1:35, 1:36, 1:57, 2:11, 2:23, 4:34, 5:28, 6:48, 7:21-22, 7:34, 9:44, 10:19-20, 10:26, 12:1, 12:17, 12:51-52, 14:33, 16:9, 21:23, 22:63, 23:9, 23:44, 24:3. {STUDIES XVII:} 7:9, 9:57-58, 9:60, 9:61, 9:61-62, 11:27-28, 11:50, 14:26, 15:4ff, 17:21, 17:28-33, 18:10ff, 19:5, 23:29, 24:45. {STUDIES XVIII:} 2:40, 3:17, 6:22-23, 9:58, 10:6, 10:41-42, 12:18ff, 14:26, 14:27, 16:19, 16:19ff. {STUDIES XXV:} 3:3, 14:26. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 4:18-19, 9:8, 9:19, 10:19, 10:30-36, 12:50, 15:3-7. {STUDIES XXXI:} 1:9, 1:80, 15:17, 19:29, 21:12, 21:37, 22:39, 22:41, 23, 24:44-49, 24:46, 24:47, 24:49, 24:51, 24:52-53.

 

JOHN

 

{PAGELS:} 3:17-29, 11:45-53, 11:47-48, 11:49-50, 14:5-6, 19:17-30, 20:11-17, 20:11-17, 20:11-19, 20:19-23, 20:27, 21:15-19. {TUCKETT:} 1:32, 5:17, 5:21, 5:25-27, 6:19, 6:44, 8, 8:19, 9, 12:24, 12:32, 14:1, 14:2, 14:6, 14:7, 14:13, 14:26, 14:27, 15, 15:2ff, 15:5-8, 15:7, 15:18ff, 15:18-20, 16:2, 16:21, 16:23-24, 18:4-8, 19:2, 19:25, 20:7, 20:19-27, 20:19, 20:29ff, 20:25-27, 20:26, 21:15-17. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1:1-18, 1:1, 1:3-5, 1:5, 1:6-8, 1:10-12, 1:12, 1:14, 1:15, 1:16, 1:18, 1:29, 1:41, 1:45, 1:49, 3, 3:3, 3:5, 3:11, 3:12, 3:14, 3:16, 3:19, 3:21, 3:31, 3:35, 4:7-15, 4:14, 4:19, 5:1, 5:1-47, 5:21, 5:22-24, 5:31, 5:31-47, 5:35-47, 5:39, 5:39-47, 5:45, 6:35, 6:35-51, 6:51, 6:63, 7:15-24, 7:30, 7:33-34, 7:34, 7:36, 7:37-38, 7:37-39, 7:38-39, 7:44, 8, 8:12, 8:12-20, 8:12-47, 8:12-59, 8:13, 8:13-14, 8:14, 8:15-16, 8:17, 8:18, 8:19, 8:20, 8:21-29, 8:21, 8:21-22, 8:21-59, 8:23, 8:23-24, 8:25, 8:25-26, 8:25-27, 8:26-29, 8:26-27, 8:28, 8:30, 8:30-40, 8:31-32, 8:33-36, 8:35, 8:37-50, 8:37, 8:38, 8:39-41, 8:42, 8:43, 8:44, 8:45-46, 8:46, 8:47, 8:48-50, 8:51, 8:52-59, 8:58, 8:59, 9:1-41, 9:4, 9:5, 10, 10:1-12:32, 10:3-4, 10:7, 10:7-18, 10:9, 10:11, 10:14, 10:28-29, 10:29, 10:31, 10:39, 11:5, 11:9-10, 11:16, 11:25, 11:37, 12:35, 12:34-36, 12:35-36, 12:44-50, 13, 13:3, 13:21-30, 13:23, 13:33, 14:2-3, 14:2-12, 14:5, 14:6, 14:7-10, 14:8-11, 14:9, 14:16, 14:22, 15:1, 16:2, 16:5, 16:23, 16:23-24, 16:25, 16:28, 16:29, 16:30, 17, 17:3, 17:9-10, 17:23, 18:5, 18:6, 18:8, 19, 19:25-27, 19:26, 19:26-27, 19:34, 19:34-35, 19:35, 20, 20:1-10, 20:2, 20:17, 20:19, 20:24, 20:26, 20:26-28, 20:27, 20:28, 20:29, 21, 21:1-24, 21:2, 21:7, 21:14, 21:15-24, 21:20, 21:23, 21:24. {EVANS:} 1:1-18, 1:1-3, 1:1-2, 1:1, 1:3-4, 1:3, 1:4-9, 1:4-5, 1:4, 1:5, 1:7, 1:9-14, 1:9-10, 1:9, 1:10-11, 1:10, 1:10a, 1:10b, 1:11-12, 1:11, 1;11a, 1:11b, 1:12-13, 1:12, 1:13-14, 1:13, 1:14-15, 1:14, 1:14a, 1:14b, 1:16, 1:17-18, 1:17, 1:18, 1:18b, 1:26-27, 1:28-29, 1:28, 1:29, 1:32-34, 1:32-33, 1:32b-33, 1:32, 1:33-34, 1:33, 1:34, 1:36, 1:38-39, 1:42, 1:45, 1:49, 1:51, 2:11, 2:13b-16, 2:14-16, 2:18, 2:19-21, 2:19, 2:21, 3:3-8, 3:3-5, 3:3, 3:4, 3:5, 3:6, 3:7, 3:8, 3:12-15, 3:12-13, 3:12, 3:13, 3:14-17, 3:14-16, 3:14, 3:15-16, 3:16, 3:16a, 3:17, 3:18-19, 3:18, 3:18b, 3:19-21, 3:19-20, 3:19, 3:20-21, 3:29, 3:29a, 3:31-32, 3:31, 3:34, 3:35, 3:36, 4:2, 4:10-11, 4:10, 4:14, 4:14b, 4:23-24, 4:24, 4:27, 4:34, 4:35, 4:36, 4:37-38, 4:38, 4:42, 4:44, 5:2, 5:9-10, 5:14, 5:16-18, 5:18, 5:21, 5:23, 5:24-25, 5:24, 5:25, 5:26, 5:30, 5:31, 5:32-33, 5:37, 5:38-40, 5:39, 6:16-21, 6:16-17, 6:19, 6:27, 6:29-30, 6:29b-30, 6:30, 6:31-58, 6:32-40, 6:32-33, 6:32, 6:35, 6:36, 6:37, 6:38, 6:39-40, 6:39, 6:40, 6:41, 6:42, 6:44, 6:46, 6:48-51, 6:48, 6:49-51, 6:50-51, 6:50, 6:51, 6:52-58, 6:53-59, 6:53-58, 6:53-55, 6:53, 6:54-56, 6:54, 6:55, 6:56, 6:57, 6:62, 6:63, 6:63a, 6:65, 6:68-69, 6:68, 6:70-71, 7:1, 7:5, 7:12, 7:30, 7:32, 7:33-36, 7:33, 7:34, 7:36, 7:37-38, 7:37, 7:38-39a, 7:38, 7:38b, 7:40-44, 7:40-42, 7:44, 7:47, 7:53-8:11, 8:2, 8:3-6, 8:11, 8:12-58, 8:12, 8:12a, 8:13-14, 8:14, 8:18, 8:19, 8:20, 8:21-22, 8:21, 8:22, 8:23, 8:24-27, 8:24, 8:25, 8:26, 8:28-29, 8:28, 8:32, 8:34, 8:36, 8:39-47, 8:40, 8:41, 8:46, 8:46a, 8:50, 8:51-52, 8:51, 8:52b, 8:54, 8:55, 8:56, 8:58, 8:59, 9:4-5, 9:5, 9:5b, 9:36, 10:1-18, 10:2-3, 10:2, 10:3-4, 10:3, 10:4, 10:5, 10:6, 10:7, 10:8, 10:9, 10:9a, 10:10, 10:10b-11, 10:11, 10:11a, 10:14-16, 10:14, 10:14a, 10:15, 10:16, 10:17-18, 10:19, 10:23-24, 10:24, 10:28, 10:29-30, 10:29, 10:30-31, 10:30, 10:31-33, 10:34-35, 10:38, 10:38b, 10:39, 11:1-2, 11:5, 11:8, 11:9-10, 11:16, 11:24, 11:25-26, 11:25, 11:26, 11:26a, 11:27, 11:47-53, 11:47-48, 11:53, 11:57, 12:3, 12:12-15, 12:23-24, 12:24, 12:25-26, 12:25, 12:27, 12:31, 12:35-36, 12:36, 12:38-40, 12:39-40, 12:40, 12:44, 12:46, 12:47, 12:49, 13:1-3, 13:1, 13:2, 13:3, 13:3a, 13:20, 13:22-25, 13:27, 13:32, 13:33, 13:36, 13:36-37, 14:2-3, 14:2, 14:3, 14:4-7, 14:4-5, 14:5, 14:6-9, 14:6-7, 14:6, 14:6a, 14:7-9, 14:77-8, 14:7, 14:8, 14:9-11, 14:9-10, 14:10-11a, 14:10, 14:12, 14:13-14, 14:16-19, 14:16-17, 14:16-17a, 14:16, 14:17, 14:18, 14:19, 14:20-21, 14:20, 14:21, 14:22, 14:23, 14:24, 14:25-28, 14:25, 14:26, 14:27, 14:27a, 14:28, 14:31, 15:1-6, 15:1-2, 15:1a, 15:2, 15:4-5, 15:5, 15:7, 15:8, 15:15, 15:16, 15:16a, 15:18-21, 15:18-19, 15:20, 15:26, 15:26a, 16:2-3, 16:2, 16:4-5, 16:5, 16:7, 16:10, 16:11, 16:12, 16:13-15, 16:13, 16:16-19, 16:16-17, 16:17, 16:19, 16:20, 16:23-25, 16:23-24, 16:25-30, 16:25, 16:28, 16:29, 16:30, 16:33, 16:33b, 17:1-3, 17:1, 17:2, 17:3, 17:4-5, 17:4, 17:5-6a, 17:5, 17:6-7, 17:6a, 17:8, 17:9, 17:10, 17:11, 17:11b-12a, 17:12, 17:13, 17:15, 17:21-24, 17:21-22, 17:21, 17:21a, 17:22-23a, 17:22, 17:23a, 17:24, 17:26a, 18:2, 18:12-19:37, 18:12-13, 18:12, 18:22, 18:22a, 18:29, 18:37, 18:38-40, 18:38, 19:1-10, 19:1-3, 19:2-30, 19:2, 19:2a, 19:2b, 19:3, 19:4, 19:5, 19:5a, 19:6-11, 19:6, 19:9, 19:14, 19:16-37, 19:17, 19:18, 19:23, 19:25, 19:26-27, 19:29, 19:30, 19:34, 19:38-42, 19:39-40, 19:42, 20:1-3, 20:1, 20:9, 20:17, 20:18, 20:19-20, 20:19, 20:19b, 20:20, 20:21-22, 20:21, 20:21a, 20:22, 20:24, 20:25, 20:26-28, 20:26, 20:26b, 20:27, 20:28, 20:29, 20:31, 21:2. {STUDIES II:} 1:1, 1:1-4, 1:4, 1:5, 1:14, 1:18, 3:19, 3:31, 4:23, 4:25, 4:34, 5:1ff, 5:11ff, 5:17, 5:25, 6:38-40, 6:52-58, 7:7, 7:17, 7:43, 8:12, 8:23, 8:32, 9:21, 10:3, 10:3-4, 10:4, 10:7ff, 10:10, 10:19, 10:28, 10:37, 12:35, 12:46, 14:6, 14:10-11, 15:18, 16:3, 17:12, 17:21, 17:22, 17:23, 20:22. {STUDIES III:} 1:3, 1:9, 1:42, 5:23, 10:9, 10:12, 13:5, 14:6, 14:15ff, 15:13, 16:29, 17:1. {STUDIES IV:} 1:3, 8:52, 12:31, 14:30, 16:11. {STUDIES V:} 1:9, 1:10-11:26, 1:18, 2:1-11, 2:19, 3:3, 3:3-5, 3:8, 3:19, 3:29, 3:53, 4:10, 4:10-14, 4:13-15, 4:21, 4:22, 4:23-24, 4:28-29, 4:44, 5:18, 5:23, 5:24, 5:25, 5:28-29, 5:36, 5:39-40, 5:43, 6:5, 6:35, 6:54-56, 6:37, 6:39, 6:39, 6:40, 6:44, 6:44, 6:46, 6:51, 7:17, 7:33, 7:34, 7:36, 7:34, 7:36, 7:37, 7:38, 8:12, 8:20, 8:21, 8:25, 8:51, 8:52, 8:53, 8:58, 8:59, 9:21, 9:29, 9:41, 10:9, 10:25, 10:38, 10:31, 11:37, 12:27, 12:32, 12:48, 13:5, 13:31, 13:33, 13:35, 14:4-5:8, 14:6, 14:7-9, 14:8-9, 14:15ff, 14:17, 14:22, 15:1, 15:1-2, 15:5-6, 15:10, 15:8, 15:12, 15:13, 15:15, 16:5, 16:12-13, 16:23, 16:16, 17:2, 17:6, 17:9, 17:11, 17:20-21, 17:22-23, 18:17, 21:12, 21:18. {STUDIES VI:} 3:22, 4:1-2, 6:44, 6:63, 11:43, 12:13, 14:18, 16:14, 19:15, 21:15-19. {STUDIES VII:} 3:5, 6:44, 6:63, 10:11, 15:1. {STUDIES VIII:} 1:1, 1:3, 1:4, 1:5, 1:14, 1:16-17, 1:18, 1:23, 1:26, 2:12-13, 2:12ff, 2:14-16, 3:16, 3:18, 4:2, 4:5-42, 4:17, 4:19-20, 4:20, 4:23, 4:24, 4:26-27, 4:28, 4:30ff, 4:38, 4:42, 4:46-53, 4:48, 4:50, 4:52, 6:44, 6:63, 8, 8:21-47, 8:22, 8:37, 8:39, 8:43-44, 8:44, 10:18, 13:33, 14:2, 14:15, 16:8, 16:8-10, 16:8-11, 16:10. {STUDIES IX:} 1:3, 1:4, 1:20, 1:32, 4:10, 4:14, 12:26, 15:19, 16:16, 16:28, 16:25, 17:5, 17:14, 17:16, 19:34, 20:22, 20:23. {STUDIES X:} 1:4, 1:9, 3:13, 3:19, 7:18, 8:12, 8:23, 8:26, 8:28, 12:32, 20:17, 20:25, 20:27. {STUDIES XI:} 1:3, 1:20, 1:29, 4:10-11, 4:27, 5:21, 5:26, 6:18, 6:30, 6:31-34, 7:12, 8:28, 8:52, 10:11, 10:14, 11:5, 11:44, 12:29, 12:40, 12:41, 12:49, 13:23, 14:1-3, 14:6, 14:16, 14:26, 14:27, 14, 15, 16, 17, 15:19, 15:26, 16:7, 16:8, 17:25-26, 18:11, 20:7, 20:19-21:26. {STUDIES XIII:} 1:1, 1:4, 1:3, 1:16, 1:23, 3:18, 8:23, 8:31, 10:28, 10:34, 12:31, 12:36, 13:34, 14:16, 14:26, 14:31, 15:12, 15;17, 15:26, 16:7, 17:21. {STUDIES XIV:} 1:14, 3:16-17, 4:42, 16:8-11, 19:5. {STUDIES XV:} 1:7, 1:12, 1:12-13, 1:13, 1:14, 1:15, 1:17, 1:32, 1:34, 3:6, 3:13, 3:14, 3:15-16, 4:1-2, 4:2, 4:14, 5:27, 5:32, 5:33, 6:16, 6:19, 6:39, 6:62, 6:53, 7:26-28, 8:13-14, 8:17, 8:28, 8:42-44, 8:44, 8:46, 11:24, 12:31, 12:35, 13:20, 15:5, 15:16, 15:8-16, 16:25, 16:28, 17:9-10, 18:38, 19:4, 19:6. {STUDIES XVII:} 1:1-4, 1:3, 1:3, 1:4, 1:3-4, 1:4, 1:17, 2:1-11, 2:9, 2:11, 3:6, 3:14, 3:29, 3:35, 4:10, 4:12-15, 4:14, 4:21, 4:23, 4:24, 6:1-14, 6:44, 9:1-41, 11:25, 13:3, 13:51, 14:6, 17:2, 20:30, 21:25. {STUDIES XVIII:} 1:12, 1:14, 3:29, 3:31, 4:34, 4:35-36, 4:36, 5:17, 5:30, 6:38-39, 6:38-40, 8:12, 8:29, 8:32, 10:10, 10:28, 12:32, 14:2, 14:2-3, 14:6, 14:10, 14:27, 15, 16:33, 17, 17:5, 17:13, 17:22, 17:24. {STUDIES XXV:} 6:44, 6:63. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 1:1-13, 1:1-18, 1:5, 1:6-8, 1:10-11, 1:14, 1:14-18, 1:23, 1:29, 4:14, 4:48, 5:17, 5:22, 5:45, 7:37, 8:50, 12:32, 14:2, 14:2-3, 15:4, 15:4-5, 15:5-7, 15:16, 17:21-23, 19:34. {STUDIES XXXI:} 1:1-18, 1:10, 1:11, 1:12, 1:43-48, 6:5-7, 7:33, 12:21-22, 14:8-9, 16:5, 19, 19:5, 20:19-23, 20:28.

 

ACTS

 

{PAGELS:} 1:6-11, 1:15-20, 1:22, 1:26, 2:22-36, 2:25, 7:56, 9:1-6, 9:3-4, 9:7, 10:40-41, 18:9-10, 21:9, 22:9, 22:17-18. {TUCKETT:} 1:4ff, 1:4, 1:8, 1:12, 2:22, 3, 3:6, 13:24. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1:21-22, 2:14-35, 3:12-26, 3:13, 4:11, 5:30, 8:1-4, 8:4-40, 8:10, 10:39, 10:43, 11:28, 13:1-3, 15:13, 15:19, 15:13-21, 21:11, 21:18. {EVANS:} 1:4-14, 1;4, 1:5, 1:6, 1:8, 1:9-12, 1:9, 1:12, 1:12a, 2:4, 2:22-36, 2:22-24, 2:23, 2:23b, 2:24, 2:32-33, 2:34, 2:36, 2:38, 2:43, 3:1, 3:4, 3:6, 3:6b-12, 3:6b-7, 3:11-26, 3:12-17, 3:12-15, 3:13-15, 3:13a, 3:14, 3:14a, 3:15, 3:15a, 3:17, 3:22, 3:26, 4:7-8, 4:8, 4:10, 4:11, 4:12, 4:13, 4:19-20, 4:27a, 4:30b, 4:31, 4:34-35, 5:1-2, 5:12, 5:14-16, 5:15-16, 5:20-21, 5:29-31, 5:29, 5:30-31, 5:30, 5:31, 5:33, 6:14, 7:2-3, 7:37, 7:38, 7:49, 7:52, 7:52b, 7:53, 7:54, 7:55-56, 7:57-60, 8:4, 8:5, 8:10, 8:12, 8:14-15, 8:20, 9:1-19, 9:2, 9:3-4a, 9:3, 9:4b-5, 9:7, 9:26-27, 9:26-27b, 9:36, 10:2, 10:3, 10:4, 10:5, 10:7-8, 10:9-11, 10:13-15, 10:30-33, 10:34, 10:38-40, 10:38, 10:39, 10:39b, 10:43, 10:44-48a, 10:44-47, 10:47, 11:15-17, 11:16, 11:17, 12:11, 13:10, 13:23b-24, 13:27-28, 13:28, 13:29b, 13:33, 14:16-17, 15:8, 15:20, 15:23, 15:28, 15:29, 17:23-24, 17:23, 17:24-25, 17:24, 17:25, 17:26, 17:27-29, 17:27-28, 17:27, 17:27b, 17:28, 17:29-31, 17:30, 19:9, 19:23, 20:7, 20:35, 21:25, 22:4, 22:6-7a, 22:6, 22:7b-8, 22:9, 22:11, 22:14, 22:16, 23:11a, 24:14, 24:22, 26:13-14a, 26:13, 26:14b-15, 28:26-27, 28:27. {STUDIES II:} 2:4, 2:23, 3:26, 5:30, 10:38, 10:39, 10:40, 13:33, 17:30, 28:24. {STUDIES III:} 1:26, 4:24, 6:5, 15:22, 20:20-21, 20:29. {STUDIES IV:} 5:36. {STUDIES V:} 1:3, 6:14, 7:38, 8:10, 9:17, 13:31, 20:25, 20:35, 26:16. {STUDIES VI:} 7:8, 7:20, 8:26-29, 10, 11:27, 12:15, 20:30, 21:25, 28:27. {STUDIES VII:} 3:5, 6:44, 6:63, 10:11, 15:1. {STUDIES VIII:} 3:16-26, 3:13, 4:24, 5:30, 7:2, 7:34-36, 8:4-24, 8:9-10, 8:9ff, 14:12, 17:24, 24:10. {STUDIES IX:} 22:9. {STUDIES X:} 2:32-46, 2:33-34, 2:34, 16:25. {STUDIES XI:} 1:8, 1:26, 3:2, 3:6, 3:17, 3:21, 5:1-11, 5:16, 6, 7, 8:10, 17:24-31, 17:26, 17:27, 23:1. {STUDIES XIII:} 2:26. {STUDIES XIV:} 1:2-4, 1:12, 5:30, 6:5, 8:5ff, 10:39, 14:22, 21:8, 21:17, 22:6. {STUDIES XV:} 3:14, 5:9, 15:5, 21:24, 26:26. {STUDIES XVII:} 1:3, 1:12, 8:10-11, 21:25. {STUDIES XVIII:} 3:5, 3:15, 3:16, 4:28, 5:31, 8, 8:10, 9:2, 19:9, 19:23, 20:27, 22:4. {STUDIES XXV:} 13:24, 15:20, 15:20, 15:29, 21:25. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 4:27, 10:38. {STUDIES XXXI:} 1:1-8, 1:8, 1:9, 1:12, 1:13, 2:1-4, 2:14-40, 2:38, 2:42-47, 3:6, 3:13, 3:15, 4:8, 4:10, 4:27, 4:29, 4:30, 4:31, 5:12-16, 5:30, 5:31, 5:42, 6:5, 7:60, 7:55, 8:4-40, 9:1-9, 9:3, 9:22, 9:40, 10:16, 10:39-41, 13:9, 13:29-30, 13:52, 14:22, 15:23, 20:36, 21:5, 21:8-9, 22:4-11, 22:6, 26:1, 26:9-18, 26:13, 27:24.

 

ROMANS

 

{PAGELS:} 3:23, 16:1-2, 16:6, 16:7, 16:12. {TUCKETT:} 10:9. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1:2-5, 3:8, 4:12, 5:12-6:14, 6:1, 6:15, 8:30, 9:22-23, 16:27. {EVANS:} 1:3-4, 1:19-27, 1:19-23, 1:19-22, 1:21, 1:23, 1:25, 2:4, 2:19-21, 2:24, 2:25, 2:29-3:2a, 3:23, 4:11, 4;15, 4:17, 4:25, 5:5b, 5:12-21, 5:12, 5:13, 5:14-21, 5:14, 5:15-21, 5:15-17, 5:15, 5:17, 5:17a, 5:18, 5:19, 6:1-23, 6:1-2, 6:3-14, 6:3-9, 6:4, 6:5-23, 6:5, 6:8, 6:9, 6:12-23, 6:12-13, 6:16-19, 6:16, 6:18, 6:20, 6:22, 6:23, 7:1-7, 7:4, 7:7-13, 7:14-15, 7:14, 7:15-24, 7:15, 7:19, 7:22-23, 7:23, 7:24, 7:25, 8:2, 8:3, 8:3b, 8:4-11, 8:4, 8:5-13, 8:5-8, 8:5, 8:10, 8:12-14, 8:13, 8:15, 8:17, 8:20, 8:20a, 8:22, 8:23, 8:26, 8:29-30, 8:29, 8:34, 8:38-39, 8:38, 9:8, 9:15-16, 9:18, 9:19-24, 9:20-24, 9:23, 9:26, 10:4, 10:6-8, 10:6-7, 10:6, 10:7, 10:14, 10:15, 11:5, 11:16-21, 11:25, 11:29, 11:32, 11:33, 11:34, 11:36, 12:3-6, 12:3, 12:4, 12:6a, 12:14, 13:9, 13:12, 13:14, 16:16, 16:25. {STUDIES II:} 1:21-22, 1:22, 2:7, 3:23, 5:5, 8:8, 8:30, 9:11, 9:20-24, 9:32, 9:33, 11:11, 11:33, 11:36, 13:11, 14:13, 14:20. {STUDIES III:} 6:1, 6:15. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 2:25, 2:29, 3:1, 3:2, 5:12, 5:14, 5:20-21, 7:10, 7:24, 8:3, 8:19, 10:6-10. {STUDIES VI:} 11:23. {STUDIES VII:} 1:20, 8:26-27. {STUDIES VIII:} 1:1-4, 1:21, 1:25, 4:3, 8:38, 12:1, 12:14. {STUDIES IX:} 13:7, 13:8. {STUDIES X:} 3:5, 8:29, 8:34, 8:38. {STUDIES XI:} 1:19-21, 1:26-27, 3:3-5, 7:22, 8:38, 9:12-14, 10:4, 10:14-17, 10:20, 11:16-21, 12:1, 13:9. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} 4:25, 6:3-4, 8:3, 16:16. {STUDIES XV:} 5:15, 6:14, 7:5, 7:11, 8:2, 8:13, 10:9, 12:1, 13:12, 13:14, 16:20. {STUDIES XVII:} 11:16, 13:10. {STUDIES XVIII:} 1:16, 4:13-16, 8, 8:3-4, 8:14, 8:14-17, 8:23, 8:23-24, 8:29, 9:8, 11:34-35, 13:14, 16:25. {STUDIES XXV:} 1:27, 3:24, 5:15, 9:10. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 1:19-23, 1:25, 5:6-6:10, 5:14, 6:6, 7:13, 7:14, 8:2, 8:3, 8:15, 8:33-34, 8:38, 11:16, 12, 12:2, 12:3, 12:4-8, 12:6, 12:6-8. {STUDIES XXXI:} 1:7, 4:20, 16:16.

 

I CORINTHIANS

 

{PAGELS:} 2:6, 11:7-9, 12:14-21, 14:20, 15:8, 15:50, 15:51-53. {TUCKETT:} 1-4, 2:7, 2:9, 4:5, 5:7. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1-4, 1:11-17, 1:12-13, 2, 2:6-7, 2:6-8, 2:6-15, 2:7, 2:7-8, 2:8, 2:9, 2:10, 2:13, 2:14, 2:14-3:1, 2:16, 5:9, 6:16, 6:16-20, 7:8, 7:25-40, 7:31, 7:32-35, 7:32-36, 8:2-3, 8:6, 9:5, 11:2-11, 15, 15:3-5, 15:22, 15:24-28, 15:24-29, 15:28, 15:35-39, 15:35-50, 15:42-48, 15:43ff, 15:43-44, 15:43-48, 15:44-47, 15:45, 15:45-47, 15:46, 15:47, 15:47-49, 15:48, 15:53-54. {EVANS:} 1:7a, 1:18-31, 1:18-25, 1:18, 1:19b, 1:20a, 1:20b, 1:21, 1:23-25, 1:24-25, 1:24, 1:27-28, 1:27, 1:30, 2:6-8, 2:6, 2:7-16, 2:7-8, 2:7, 2:8-11, 2:8, 2:9, 2:9a, 2:9b, 2:10-16, 2:10-14, 2:10-12, 2:10, 2:12, 2:14-3:1, 2:14, 2:16, 3:1-2, 3:6-9, 3:12, 3:13, 3:16, 3:17, 3:18-20, 3:18, 4:5, 4:8-10, 5:9-10, 6:9, 6:13, 6:15, 6:16, 6:18-20, 6:18, 6:19, 7:29-31, 7:31, 7:32-34, 7:36-38, 7:40, 8:1-3, 8:1, 8:4-5, 8:4b, 8:6, 9:19, 9:24-25, 9:25, 10:1-5, 10:1-4, 10:3-4, 10:4, 10:16-17, 10:16a, 10:19-20, 10:22, 10:27, 11:3, 11:12, 11:17-22, 11:23-25, 11:24-25, 11:25-28, 11:28-32, 12:1, 12:6-7, 12:8, 12:10, 12:11, 12:12-27, 12:12-25, 12:12-13, 12:13-14, 12:13, 12:14-21, 12:21-22, 12:22-23, 12:23, 12:26, 12:27, 12:30, 13:2, 13:4-5, 13:7, 13:10, 13:12-13, 13:12, 13:13, 14:1-19, 15:1-4, 15:3-4, 15:3, 15:7, 15:12-23, 15:12-20, 15:12-19, 15:12, 15:20, 15:12-22, 15:23, 15:24-26, 15:24-25, 15:24, 15:26, 15:27, 15:33, 15:35-49, 15:39, 15:40, 15:42-49, 15:42, 15:44-50, 15:44, 15:45, 15:46-49, 15:47-49, 15:47, 15:49, 15:50-54, 15:50, 15:51-52, 15:53-54, 15:54-55, 15:54, 16:2, 16:20. {STUDIES II:} 1:27, 2:8, 2:10, 4:5, 7:31, 8:1-3, 8:2-3, 8:3, 8:6, 8:9, 13:6, 13:10, 13:12, 13:12b, 13:14, 14:1ff, 15, 15:34, 15:45, 15:53-54, 15:54. {STUDIES III:} 1:25, 1:27, 2:6-16, 2:13-3:3, 3:16, 3:17, 3:18, 9:9-10, 10:6, 10:11, 11:20-22. {STUDIES IV:} 13:12, 15:52. {STUDIES V:} 2:7-8, 2:9, 4:8, 5:6, 7:5, 7:21, 7:31, 9:1, 11:9, 15:5ff. {STUDIES VI:} 1:26, 2:9, 5:9-10, 15:3, 15:10, 15:35-49, 15:39ff, 15:44-46. {STUDIES VII:} 2:10-13, 5:9-10. {STUDIES VIII:} 2:10, 2:15, 5:9-10, 8:1-10:22, 9:9-10, 10:23-11:1, 12:8, 13:9, 13:9ff, 13:10, 13:22, 15:51, 15:54. {STUDIES IX:} 2:8, 2:9, 15:4. {STUDIES X:} 15:23ff, 15:24. {STUDIES XI:} 1, 2, 3, 3:19, 2:8, 2:14, 4:8, 7:3-4, 11:30, 12:13, 15:24, 15:42-54, 15:44, 15:44, 15:46, 15:47, 15:51, 16:2. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} 0. {STUDIES XV:} 1:10, 1:18, 1:24, 2:6-8, 2:8, 2:14, 3:1, 4:20, 5:7, 7:9, 9:9, 9:20, 9:22, 10:6, 11:18, 11:19, 11:28, 12:15, 14:21, 15:20, 15:24, 15:24-25, 15:26. {STUDIES XVII:} 2:13, 2:13-14, 2:14, 2:15, 5:9-10, 10:11, 15:8, 15:24, 15:27, 15:47-50, 15:50. {STUDIES XVIII:} 1:18, 1:24, 6:10, 12:20-25. {STUDIES XXV:} 2:10-13, 5:9-10, 11:10, 15:45. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 2:1, 12, 12:4, 12:4-11, 12:4-31, 12:8, 12:12-27, 12:12-31, 12:14-26, 12:26, 13, 14:1-19, 15:51, 15:52, 21;1-8. {STUDIES XXXI:} 2:6, 10:1-2, 13, 15, 15:3-5, 15:49, 16:20.

 

II CORINTHIANS

 

{PAGELS:} 12:2-4. {TUCKETT:} 1:21-22. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 4:7, 5:2-4. {EVANS:} 1:22, 2:11, 2:14-16, 2:14-15, 2:17, 2:17a, 3:6, 3:9-11, 3:14, 3:17-18, 3:17, 3:18, 4;4, 4:4b, 4:6, 4:7, 4:8-14, 4:8-11, 4:10-14, 4:16-18, 4:16, 5:1-4, 5:2-4, 5:3-4, 5:4, 5:4b, 5:8, 5:9, 5:21, 6:14, 6:15, 7:1, 8:9, 9:6, 11:3, 11:13-14, 12:2-4, 12:2, 12:7-10, 13:12, 13:14. {STUDIES II:} 1:21, 2:14-16, 5:2, 5:2-4, 5:3, 5:4, 5:9. {STUDIES III:} 0. {STUDIES IV:} 4:4, 5:19. {STUDIES V:} 4:6, 5:1, 5:3, 5:4, 8:9. {STUDIES VI:} 1:11, 1:18, 3:6, 6:7, 7:1, 8:10. {STUDIES VII:} 3:6, 4:4. {STUDIES VIII:} 1:15, 3:4, 3:16, 8:22, 10:2, 11:22. {STUDIES IX:} 13:1. {STUDIES X:} 11:14-15, 12:2ff, 12:2, 12:4. {STUDIES XI:} 1:12, 4:4, 4:16, 12:2, 12:2-4. {STUDIES XIII:} 11:2. {STUDIES XIV:} 0. {STUDIES XV:} 4:4, 4:11, 6:7. {STUDIES XVII:} 1:21, 12:2-4. {STUDIES XVIII:} 2:14-16, 5:9, 7:13, 13:12. {STUDIES XXV:} 3:6, 7:1. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 1:21, 4:16, 11:2-3, 12:2. {STUDIES XXXI:} 1:1, 5:1-5, 5:2-3, 12:2-3, 13:12.

 

GALATIANS

 

{PAGELS:} 3:28. {TUCKETT:} 1:8, 3:13. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1:12, 1:18, 1:19, 2:3, 2:7-9, 2:9, 2:12, 3:23, 3:26-28. {EVANS:} 1:4, 1:8, 1:11-12, 1:15a, 1:17-18, 1:19, 2:1-2, 2:1a, 2:7-8, 3:10-11, 3:13-18, 3:13-14, 3:13, 3:16, 3:19, 3:21, 3:23-4:7, 3:23-25, 3:27, 3:28, 4:1-7, 4:1-2, 4:4-5, 4:4, 4:6-9, 4:8, 4:9, 4:21-31, 4:27, 5:1, 5:6, 5:13, 5:14, 5;17, 6:7-9, 6:7, 6;10, 6:14, 6:15. {STUDIES II:} 4:8-9, 4:9. {STUDIES III:} 2:4, 5:13. {STUDIES IV:} 4:9, 6:14. {STUDIES V:} 3:28, 5:9, 6:8. {STUDIES VI:} 1:8, 2:7b, 2:8. {STUDIES VII:} 3:19, 3:28. {STUDIES VIII:} 1:8, 3:19, 4:23, 5:22. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES X:} 0. {STUDIES XI:} 1:11-17, 1:15, 1:17-21, 2:1-2, 3:13, 3:27, 5:1. {STUDIES XIII:} 3:28, 4:19, 6:14. {STUDIES XIV:} 1:1. {STUDIES XV:} 1:8, 2:2, 3:19, 4:4, 4:5, 4:21, 5:1, 5:18-20. {STUDIES XVII:} 4:26. {STUDIES XVIII:} 3:16, 3:19, 3:27, 4, 4:4-7, 4:5, 6:7. {STUDIES XXV:} 0. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXXI:} 0.

 

EPHESIANS

 

{PAGELS:} 5:24. {TUCKETT:} 3:9, 6:12, 6:14. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 3, 3-5, 3:3-4:9, 3:4-5, 3:21, 4:6, 5-6, 5:8, 5:14, 5:23, 6:11-12, 6:12. {EVANS:} 1:3-6, 1:4-5, 1:4, 1:6, 1:7, 1:9-10, 1:10, 1:11, 1:13-14, 1:13, 1:15-16, 1:17-18, 1:17, 1:20-22, 1:20-21, 1:20, 1:21, 1:22, 1:23, 2:2, 2:4, 2:5-6, 2:8, 2:10, 2:12-13, 2:12, 2:14-3:5, 2:14-16, 2:15, 2:18, 2:19, 2:20, 2:21-22, 3:2-6, 3:2-5, 3:3-6, 3:4-5, 3:4, 3:6, 3:7, 3:8, 3:9-10, 3:14-19, 3:16b, 3:18-19, 4:4, 4:6, 4:7-8, 4:8-10, 4:8b-10, 4:9, 4:11, 4:13-14, 4:13, 4:13b, 4:14, 4:15-16, 4:15, 4:18, 4:21-24, 4:22-24, 4:24, 4:24a, 4:25, 4:27, 4:28, 4:30, 5:3, 5:8-14, 5:8-9, 5:8, 5:14, 5:16, 5:17-18, 5:18, 5:23, 5:26, 5:30, 5:31-32, 5:31, 6:10-17, 6:10-12, 6:10, 6:11, 6:12, 6:13-18, 6:14, 6;17, 6:18, 6:19. {STUDIES II:} 1:4, 3:3-4:9, 3:17, 3:18, 4:6, 4:8-10, 4:13, 4:14, 4:17ff, 4:27, 5:2, 6:14, 6:19. {STUDIES III:} 1:21, 6:11. {STUDIES IV:} 2:2, 2:15-16, 2:15, 6:11. {STUDIES V:} 2:1, 2:5, 2:15, 3:9-12, 4:25, 5:14, 5:31-32. {STUDIES VI:} 6:12. {STUDIES VII:} 1:8, 6:12. {STUDIES VIII:} 3:5, 3:12, 4:4, 5:8, 5:14, 6:2-3, 6:12. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES X:} 1:18-21, 1:20-21, 1:20, 1:22, 4:7-16, 6:12. {STUDIES XI:} 1:4, 2:15, 3:16, 4:8, 4:18, 5:12, 5:18, 5:19, 5:31-32. {STUDIES XIII:} 4:8, 5:8. {STUDIES XIV:} 2:1-6, 4:16, 5:2, 6:11-17, 6:12. {STUDIES XV:} 1:10, 1:13, 1:21, 2:14, 3:5, 3:2, 3:9, 3:10, 4:9, 4:10, 4:14, 5:11, 6:12. {STUDIES XVII:} 1:21, 1:22, 1:23, 3:5, 3:16, 6:12. {STUDIES XVIII:} 1:4-5, 1:5, 1:11, 4:15, 5:10. {STUDIES XXV:} 3:7, 5:14, 6:12. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 1:22, 4:9-10, 4:15-16, 4:17-19, 4:22-24, 5:8, 5:14, 5:23, 5:25-32, 5:32. {STUDIES XXXI:} 4:15, 16:10-20.

 

PHILIPPIANS

 

{PAGELS:} 4:2-3. {TUCKETT:} 2:16, 4:6. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 2, 2:5-11, 2:8, 3:10. {EVANS:} 1:15-17, 1:21-23, 2:1, 2:2-8, 2:5-11, 2:5-6, 2:6-11, 2:6-9, 2:6-8, 2:6, 2:7-8, 2:7, 2:8, 2:8a, 2:9-11, 2:9-10, 2:9, 2:10-11, 2:10, 3:3, 3:7-8, 3:12, 3:19, 3;20, 3:21, 4:3. {STUDIES II:} 2:6, 2:7, 2:7-8, 2:8, 2:9, 3:10, 4:3, 4:18. {STUDIES III:} 0. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 2:6, 2:7. {STUDIES VI:} 3:20. {STUDIES VII:} 2:7. {STUDIES VIII:} 2:7. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES X:} 2:6-11, 2:6-10, 2:9, 2:11. {STUDIES XI:} 4:3. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} 0. {STUDIES XV:} 2:9, 2:9-10, 2:10, 2:16, 3:20. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 1:23, 2:5-11. {STUDIES XXV:} 1:30. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 2:3, 2:6-11. {STUDIES XXXI:} 2:15.

 

COLOSSIANS

 

{PAGELS:} 3:18, 4:15. {TUCKETT:} 1:26. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1, 1:9, 1:9-10, 1:10, 1:12, 1:12-13, 1:13, 1:15, 1:15-17, 1:17, 2:8-15, 2:14, 3:1-2, 3:2. {EVANS:} 1:5-6, 1:5, 1:9, 1:12-13, 1:12, 1:13, 1:15-18, 1:15-16, 1:15, 1:15a, 1:16-18, 1:16-17, 1:16, 1:17-18, 1:17, 1:17a, 1:18, 1:18b-19, 1:18b, 1:19-20, 1:19, 1:23, 1:24-27, 1;24, 1:25-27, 1:26-27, 1:26, 1:27, 2:2-3, 2:2b-3, 2:3, 2:6-7, 2:9, 2:10, 2:11-13, 2:11, 2:12-13, 2:12, 2:13-15, 2;14, 2:14b-15, 2:15, 2;19, 2:20, 3:1-10, 3:1-3, 3:1-2, 3:1, 3:3-4, 3:3, 3:8-10, 3:9, 3:9b-10, 3:9b-10a, 3:10, 3:11, 4:3, 4:5. {STUDIES II:} 1:5, 1:17, 1:26, 1:59, 2:14, 2:15. {STUDIES III:} 1:15, 1:16. {STUDIES IV:} 1:16, 1:18, 1:20, 2:14. {STUDIES V:} 2:7, 2:11, 3:9. {STUDIES VI:} 0. {STUDIES VII:} 1:9, 1:15. {STUDIES VIII:} 1:16. {STUDIES IX:} 1:17. {STUDIES X:} 1:15-20, 1:15ff, 3:1, 3:2. {STUDIES XI:} 1:15, 1:18, 3:16. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} 1:1-3, 1:13, 1:24, 2:1, 3:1-4. {STUDIES XV:} 1:15, 1:16, 1:18, 1:22, 2:10, 2:15, 3:9. {STUDIES XVII:} 2:9. {STUDIES XVIII:} 1:19. {STUDIES XXV:} 0. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 1:15, 1:15-16, 1:18, 1:26, 2:9, 2:11-12, 2:11-15, 2:14, 2:19, 3:9-10. {STUDIES: XXXI:} 0.

 

I THESSALONIANS

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 5:8. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 5:4-6, 5:5. {EVANS:} 2:14-16, 4:3-4, 4:3, 4:4, 4:11, 4:13-17, 4:13, 4:14, 5:3, 5:5, 5:6-8, 5:9, 5:20-21, 5:26. {STUDIES II:} 2:15, 4:1, 5:24. {STUDIES III:} 1:1. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 5:7. {STUDIES VI:} 4. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 0. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES X:} 4:17. {STUDIES XI:} 4:4. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} 5:8-9, 5:10, 5:28. {STUDIES XV:} 2:13. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 4:17. {STUDIES XXV:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXXI:} 3:3-4, 4:17.

 

II THESSALONIANS

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 0. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 2:1-2. {EVANS:} 1:10, 2:4, 2:9-11, 2:9, 2:11, 2:13, 3:2, 3:6-7, 3:11. {STUDIES II:} 2:13. {STUDIES III:} 0. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 0. {STUDIES VI:} 0. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 0. {STUDIES IX:} 0 {STUDIES X:} 2:10. {STUDIES XI:} 2:3, 2:4, 2:11-12. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} 2:12. {STUDIES XV:} 2:4. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXV:} 0. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXXI:} 1:5-8.

 

I TIMOTHY

 

{PAGELS:} 2:11-12, 3:1-7. {TUCKETT:} 2:6. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1:7, 2:4, 3:16, 4:1-5. {EVANS:} 1:1, 1:17, 1:18, 1:18b, 2:1-4, 2:4-6, 2:4-5, 2:4, 2:5, 2:6, 2:6a, 2:14, 3:15, 3:16, 3:16a, 3:16b, 4:3-4, 4:7-8, 5:2, 5:13, 5:14-15, 5:18b, 6:6-11, 6:7, 6:10, 6:12, 6:12a, 6:15, 6:16, 6:16a, 6:17-19. {STUDIES II:} 2:4, 2:20-21, 3:16. {STUDIES III:} 4:1-3. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 3:16, 6:16. {STUDIES VI:} 4:1, 5:14. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 6:4, 6:20. {STUDIES IX:} 5:19. {STUDIES X:} 3:16. {STUDIES XI:} 1:13, 2:5, 4:1, 5:2. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} 3:16. {STUDIES XV:} 6:4. {STUDIES XVII:} 4:1-3. {STUDIES XVIII:} 1:2, 4:8, 6:7. {STUDIES XXV:} 6:12. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXXI:} 2:14, 3:12-13.

 

II TIMOTHY

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 0. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 3:6. {EVANS:} 1:6, 1:10, 2:9-12, 2:10-12, 2:11-12a, 2;15, 2:20-21, 2:21, 2:25, 3:5, 3:7, 4:5, 4:7-8, 4:7, 4:10, 4:17, 4:18. {STUDIES II:} 1:10, 2:20-21. {STUDIES III:} 3:1-5, 3:6, 4:3. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 0. {STUDIES VI:} 2:18. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 1:3, 2:14. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES X:} 0. {STUDIES XI:} 1:7, 1:9, 3:1-5, 4:3-4. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} 0. {STUDIES XV:} 2:5, 4:7. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 2:18. {STUDIES XXV:} 4:7. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXXI:} 0.

 

TITUS

 

{PAGELS:} 1:5-9. {TUCKETT:} 0. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1:10. {EVANS:} 1:1, 1:3-4, 2:10, 2:13, 3:5. {STUDIES II:} 0. {STUDIES III:} 0. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 0. {STUDIES VI:} 0. {STUDIES VII:} 3:5. {STUDIES VIII:} 0. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES :} 1:5, 3:6. {STUDIES XI:} 0. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} 3:15. {STUDIES XV:} 3:3, 3:10. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 1:3. {STUDIES XXV:} 3:5. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXXI:} 0.

 

PHILEMON

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 0. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 0. {EVANS:} 0. {STUDIES II:} 0. {STUDIES III:} 0. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 0. {STUDIES VI:} 0. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 0. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES X:} 0. {STUDIES XI:} 0. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} :25. {STUDIES XV:} 0. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXV:} 0. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXXI:} 0.

 

HEBREWS

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 1:5, 1:14, 2;17, 5:5, 6:4-5, 9:15. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 0. {EVANS:} 1:1-3, 1:2-3, 1:2-3a, 1:2, 1:3, 1:3a, 1:4, 1:5, 1:6, 1:10-12, 1:13, 2:2, 2:6b-7, 2:7, 2:8, 2:10, 2:11-13, 2:14-15, 2:14, 2:14a, 2:16, 2:17-18, 2:17, 2:18, 3:2, 3:5a, 4:1-11, 4:1, 4:9-11, 4:10, 4:11, 4:12-13, 4:12, 4:12a, 4:13, 4:14, 4:15, 4:16, 5:2-3, 5:5, 5:6, 5:8, 5:10, 5:11-6:2, 5:12-14, 6:4-6, 6:19-20, 6:20, 7:1, 7:1a, 7:3, 7:11, 7:15-19, 7:15, 7:17, 7:25, 7:26, 7:27, 8:1, 8:1b, 8:6, 9:1-10:18, 9:1-28, 9:7, 9:11a, 9:12-14, 9:12a, 9:15-17, 9:15, 9:24, 9:25-28, 9:26, 9:26b, 9:28, 10:1-10, 10:1-4, 10:10, 10:12, 10:19-20, 10:26-29, 10:26, 11:1, 11:3, 11:4, 11:6, 11:7, 11:8-10, 11:13-16, 11:13, 11:27, 11:37, 12:2-3, 12:2, 12:2a, 12:15, 12:24, 13:12, 13:13-14, 13:20, 13:21. {STUDIES II:} 1:3, 1:5, 2:17, 3:2, 3:6, 4:9-10, 4:12, 5:5, 8:11, 9:15, 11:6, 11:23. {STUDIES III:} 4:12. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 1:10, 2:9, 2:14-15, 5:12, 12:14. {STUDIES VI:} 6:18. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 9:6ff, 9:7, 10:1. {STUDIES IX:} 10:28. {STUDIES X:} 1:3, 2:12, 6:19-20, 9:1-14, 9:5, 10:19-20, 11:12. {STUDIES XI:} 2:14, 3:18-4:11, 4:14, 6:5, 6:19, 12:23, 13:15. {STUDIES XIII:} 6:7. {STUDIES XIV:} 4:1-11, 10:10-19, 13:25. {STUDIES XV:} 1:4, 1:13, 2:11-12, 2:11-13, 2:12, 2:14, 3:1, 3:12, 4:12, 5:10, 5:13, 6:6, 6:11, 6:20, 7:3, 7:16, 7:19, 7:24, 7:26, 7:27, 9:7, 9:12-13, 9:23-26, 10:13, 10:27, 11:37, 12:2, 13:22-45. {STUDIES XVII:} 2:6ff, 4:3, 9:26. {STUDIES XVIII:} 2:7, 2:9, 2:10, 2:10-11, 3:7, 3, 4, 4:1, 4:4, 4:9, 11:6, 12:2, 13:13. {STUDIES XXV:} 11:31, 12:1. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 1:1, 1:2-3, 9:7, 9:8, 9:26. {STUDIES XXXI:} 2:10, 7:3, 12:2.

 

JAMES

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 1:5, 1:8. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 0. {EVANS:} 1:5-8, 1:6, 1:7-8, 1:12, 1:13, 1:16, 1:17, 1:18, 1:18a, 1:22, 2:1-7, 2:1, 2:7, 2:8, 2:14-18, 3:1-5, 3:3-4, 3:3, 3:13, 3:14, 4:6, 4:7, 4:8, 4:10, 5:1, 5:2-3, 5:5-6, 5:14-15, 5:15, 5:19-20, 5:20. {STUDIES II:} 0. {STUDIES III:} 0. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 1:12, 2:20. {STUDIES VI:} 2:16. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 2:20. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES X:} 0. {STUDIES XI:} 1:13, 2:1-9, 3:15. {STUDIES XIII:} 5:12. {STUDIES XIV:} 1:1, 1:21. {STUDIES XV:} 1:18, 1:25, 5:1-6. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXV:} 5:16. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXXI:} 0.

 

I PETER

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 1:13, 2:3, 2:19, 2:20, 2:23. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1:10-12, 3:18-22. {EVANS:} 1:1-4, 1:1-2, 1:1, 1:3-5, 1:3, 1:5, 1:8, 1:10-12, 1:14, 1:17, 1:18-20, 1:18, 1:21, 1:23, 2:2, 2:3, 2:4, 2:5, 2:6, 2:7, 2:9-11, 2:9-10, 2:11, 2:20-23, 2:21, 2:22, 2:23, 2:24, 2:25, 3:14, 3:18-19, 3:18, 3:18b-20, 3:19-21, 3:19-20, 3:20, 3:21-22, 3:21, 3:22, 4:1, 4:6, 4:8b, 4:11, 4:12-19, 4:14, 4:17, 5:4, 5:5-6, 5:7, 5:8-9, 5:8, 5:14. {STUDIES II:} 1:14, 2:3. {STUDIES III:} 2:16, 5:7, 5:8. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 1:10-11, 3:14, 4:11. {STUDIES VI:} 1:10-11, 3:12. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 0. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES X:} 3:22. {STUDIES XI:} 2:24, 3:19-20, 3:20. {STUDIES XIII:} 2:9. {STUDIES XIV:} 1:9, 4:15, 5:14. {STUDIES XV:} 1:23, 3:18-20, 3:21, 4:14, 5:4. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 4:14. {STUDIES XXV:} 0. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 3:19, 4:6. {STUDIES XXXI:} 1:12.

 

II PETER

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 1:16-17, 2:22. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 3:1-2. {EVANS:} 1:1, 1:3-4, 1:4, 1:16-18, 1:16-17, 1:17, 1:20-21, 2:1, 2:4-5, 2:4, 2:5-7, 2:5, 2:12, 2:17, 2:22b, 3:5, 3:6-7, 3:7, 3:9, 3:10, 3:12. {STUDIES II:} 1:17. {SUTDIES III:} 2:1, 3:9. {STUDIES IV:} 1:3, 2:5. {STUDIES V:} 1:12, 3:12. {STUDIES VI:} 2:1. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 0. {STUDIES IX:} 0 {STUDIES X:} 0. {STUDIES XI:} 0. {STUDIES XIII:} 3:13. {STUDIES XIV:} 0. {STUDIES XV:} 0. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 1:12. {STUDIES XXV:} 0. {STUDIES XXVII:} 2:4. {STUDIES XXXI:} 1:16-19, 1:17.

 

I JOHN

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 1:1, 5:14-15. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 1:1, 1:6, 2:18-19, 2:22, 3:8, 3:15. {EVANS:} 1:1-2, 1:1, 1:3, 1:5-7, 1:5-6, 1:5, 2:1-2, 2:8-10, 2:9-10, 2:10, 2:11, 2:13-14, 2:13, 2:15, 2:17, 2:20, 2:27, 3:2, 3:5, 3:7, 3:8-15, 3:83:8b, 3:9, 3:10, 3:12, 3:18, 3:24, 4:1, 4:2, 4:2b, 4:6, 4;9, 4:9a, 4:12, 4;13, 4:14, 4:15-16, 4:20, 4:21, 5:6, 5:7-8, 5:7, 5:8, 5:13, 5:16, 5;20. {STUDIES II:} 1:1, 1:5-7:8. 2:9, 2:9-11, 2:11, 2:21, 2:26, 2:20, 2:27, 3:7, 3:9, 3:20, 4:2. {STUDIES III:} 2:18, 2:22, 3:12, 4. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 1:1, 2:17, 3:2, 4:2, 4:20. {STUDIES VI:} 2:19, 4:2. {STUDIES VII:} 2:2. {STUDIES VIII:} 3:3, 4:9. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES X:} 0. {STUDIES XI:} 5:16-17. {STUDIES XIII:} 1:1. {STUDIES XIV:} 2:2, 4:2, 4:9, 4:14. {STUDIES XV:} 3:8, 3:18, 4:2. {STUDIES XVII:} 2:20-27. {STUDIES XVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXV:} 0. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 2:24, 3:9, 3:24, 4:2-3, 4:7-12. {STUDIES XXXI:} 1:5.

 

II JOHN

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 0. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 0. {EVANS:} :3, :7, :7a. {STUDIES II:} :7. {STUDIES III:} :7. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} :7. {STUDIES VI:} :7. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 0. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES X:} 0. {STUDIES XI:} 0. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} :7. {STUDIES XV:} :7. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXV:} 0. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXXI:} 0.

 

III JOHN

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 0. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 0. {EVANS:} 0. {STUDIES II:} 0. {STUDIES III:} :1-:15. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} :11. {STUDIES VI:} 0. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 0. {STUDIES IX:} 0. {STUDIES X:} 0. {STUDIES XI:} 0. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} 0. {STUDIES XV:} 0. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXV:} 0. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXXI:} 0.

 

JUDE

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 0. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} :8. {EVANS:} :6, :10, :12, :13, :13b, :15, :25. {STUDIES II:} 0. {STUDIES III:} :3, :4, :4-:19, :5, :5-:7, :5-:16, :6, :8, :8ff, :10, :11, :12, :13, :14, :15, :16, :17, :17-:18, :18, :19, :20, :25. {STUDIES IV:} 0. {STUDIES V:} 0. {STUDIES VI:} :4, :13. {STUDIES VII:} 0. {STUDIES VIII:} 0. {STUDIES IX:} :6. {STUDIES X:} 0. {STUDIES XI:} :6, :19. {STUDIES XIII:} 0. {STUDIES XIV:} 0. {STUDIES XV:} :13. {STUDIES XVII:} 0. {STUDIES XVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXV:} 0. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 0. {STUDIES XXXI:} 0.

 

REVELATION

 

{PAGELS:} 0. {TUCKETT:} 1:13, 1;14, 17:14, 19:16. {HEDRICK & HODGSON:} 3:5, 5:2-4, 5:9, 12:1-17, 20:12-15, 22:16. {EVANS:} 1:1, 1:4, 1:4b, 1:5, 1:6, 1:8, 1:10, 1:13-16, 1:13-14, 1:16, 1:17-18, 1:17, 1:18, 1:19, 2:4, 2:7, 2:7a, 2:7b, 2:8, 2:10, 2:11, 2:11a, 2:12, 2:16, 2:17, 2:17a, 2:23, 2:27, 2:29, 3:5, 3:6, 3:13, 3:18, 3:20, 3:22, 4:1-2, 4:1, 4:6b-7, 4:8, 4:10-11, 4:11, 5:1-9, 5:3, 5:9-10, 5:9, 5:11, 5:12-13, 6:11, 6:12-16, 6:12b-13a, 6:14, 7:12, 7:12b, 7:16-17, 7:17, 8:8-9, 8:12, 11:11, 11:17, 11:17a, 11:19, 12:5-6, 12:6, 12:9, 12:14, 13:2-4, 13:2, 13:6, 13:8, 13:8b, 13:9, 13:12-14, 13:14-15, 14:13, 14:15, 15:3b, 15:6, 16:3, 16:5, 16:5b, 16:14, 16:18, 17:2, 17:6, 17:8, 17:14, 17:14b, 18:9-20, 18:9-11, 19:12, 19:15, 19:16, 19:20, 19:21, 19:21b, 20:1-3, 20:3, 20:8, 20:10, 20:12, 20:13-14, 20:13, 20:15, 21:1, 21:4, 21:6, 21:6a, 21:6b, 21:23, 21:25, 21:27, 22:1, 22:2-3, 22:2, 22:2b, 22:5, 22:13, 22:14, 22:17, 22:19. {STUDIES II:} 2:12, 2:16, 2:17, 3:5, 3:12, 4:1, 5:2-4, 5:9, 5:12, 6:14, 11:12, 12:1, 13:8, 14:1, 17:8, 19:11, 19:12, 19:15, 20:4, 20:12, 20:15, 21:1, 21:1-2, 21:2, 21:4, 21:27. {STUDIES III:} 2:6, 2:14, 2:15, 2:20, 6:10. {STUDIES IV:} 18:13. {STUDIES V:} 1:8, 1:17-18, 2:7, 4:4, 11:8, 13:9, 14:13, 21:1. {STUDIES VI:} 1:4-5, 2:2, 2:9, 2:14-15, 2:20, 2:21. {STUDIES VII:} 2:23. {STUDIES VIII:} 13:18. {STUDIES IX:} 3:7, 20:4, 21:6, 22:13. {STUDIES X:} 4:1ff, 4:1, 4:2-11, 4:6-7, 4:7, 5:1-22:7, 5:8, 5:11, 8:2, 12:5, 12:7, 14:2. {STUDIES XI:} 1:13, 1:13-18, 1:17, 2:17, 3:5, 3:18, 3:20, 6:1, 6:13, 6:15-17, 7:17, 9:6, 12, 13:13-14, 15:6, 16:9, 16:11, 16:21, 16:14, 19:7-8, 19:15, 19:21, 21:1-2, 21:6, 22:6-7, 22:10-12, 22:17. {STUDIES XIII:} 3:12, 4:8, 21:1, 21:2. {STUDIES XIV:} 21:6, 22:13. {STUDIES XV:} 1:16, 2:12, 3:7, 5:3, 5:11, 7:1, 11:1, 11:3-11, 11:7, 12:9, 14:4, 15:21, 19:13, 19:19, 20:8, 22:1. {STUDIES XVII:} 12:1-6, 13:8, 17:8. {STUDIES XVIII:} 2:10, 2:17, 3:21, 4:11, 5:10, 14:13, 19:7, 19:14, 20:4, 20:6, 21:4, 22:5. {STUDIES XXV:} 2:23, 16:5. {STUDIES XXVIII:} 21:6. {STUDIES XXXI:} 1:12-16, 11:17, 14:1, 17:8-41.

 

12. Poimandres

 

     The book entitled ­Poimandres­ (Mind of the Sovereignty) is part of a collection of 17 Greek religious and philosophical writings ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus (Hermes the Thrice-Greatest, a later, Hellenistic title of the Egyptian god Thoth, in whom the Egyptian Greeks, by the 3rd century BC, saw an identity with their god Hermes, messenger of the Olympian gods of Greece—who, as Thoth, was believed by the Egyptian non-Greeks to be the father and protector of all knowledge, scribe to the gods and the god of wisdom). Around Hermes there developed this vast body of writing, collectively known as ­The Hermetica­. The oldest stratum of these records can be traced back to the 2nd century BC, and the growing astrologic literature of that period; and it was originally the product of combining Babylonian astral observations with Greek skills in systematization. Upon that Egyptian astrological base there was erected a great complex of (1) scientific knowledge (about the medicinal and other properties of plants and minerals); (2) cosmogonic speculation; and (3) mystical philosophy. The most finished productions of The Hermetica­ reach over a period of 500 years, from the first half of the 2nd century to the end of the 3rd century AD; and it is to this group that ­Poimandres­ belongs, being written in Egypt early in the Christian Era, perhaps not long after 100AD. (It first appears in a Latin translation by Marsilius Ficinus in 1463.)

 

     The ideas expressed in ­Poimandres­ are those of popular Greek philosophical thought, in a highly eclectic form, with a mixture of Platonism, Aristotelianism, Stoicism, Judaism, Gnosticism, Christianity, and probably also a religious literature the ultimate source of which is to be found among the ­Bundanishan­ of Iran. It is essentially a mosaic of ancient ideas, presented in the form of Platonic dialogues and often formulated by way of brief allusions; and some of its elements certainly belong to the world of Hellenistic syncretism, and reflect an enthusiasm for ancient secret religious lore derived presumably from the Orient and Egypt.

 

     Dodd (­The Bible and the Greeks­, London, 1935, 99-147) has demonstrated some points of contact between Poimandres­ and the Jewish historian Philo of Alexandria (d.c.50AD); and at times, the language of ­Poimandres­ closely approximates to that of the ­Septuagint­, which was certainly known to the author. DAN notes that the creation of Adam and Eve occurs in Poimandres­. The most interesting element, he continues, is the theme of the comparison of Adam and Eve to Christ and the Church, which appears also in Paul at Ephesians­ 5:23-25—(For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.)—and in Revelation­ 21:1-3—(Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the tabernacle of God is among mortals. He will tabernacle with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.”). Some writers find a topological significance, but others speak of the creation of the pre-existent Church, especially ­II Clement­ 14:1-2—(Wherefore, brethren, if we do the will of God our Father we shall be of the first church, which is spiritual, which was created before the sun and the moon; ... the Church of life. ... and I do not suppose ye are ignorant, that the living Church is the body of Christ, for Scripture saith: God made man, male and female. The male is Christ and the female is the Church. And the Books and the Apostles plainly declare that the Church existeth not now for the first time, but cometh from on high; for she was spiritual, as our Jesus also was spiritual, but was manifested in the last days that He might save us.).

 

     There are obvious contacts between this text and those studied earlier, even to the actual expression used by Hermas in speaking of the Church [­Shepherd of Hermas­ VIS.II:iv.2—(She was created the ­first of all things.)]. This idea of a pre-existent Church exists also at ­Shepherd of Hermas­ VIS.I:iii.4--(by His own wisdom and forethought­ created his holy Church.)—and also at ­Shepherd of Hermas­ VIS.IV:iii.1-2—(A maiden met me, adorned as if coming forth from the bridal chamber­, all in white and with white sandals, veiled to the forehead, and a turban for a head-dress, but her hair was white. I recognized from the former visions that it was the Church.)—which is derived from ­Revelation­ 21:1-3, as proved by a comparison of their common symbolism—(Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, ­the new Jerusalem­,\fn{The church.} coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a ­bride adorned­ for her husband.)

 

     Further, NTA notes that the idea expressed in ­Poimandres­ that the theory which makes of admiration or astonishment the first step or first stage in the progressive advance to contemplation or to supreme knowledge is a more or less commonplace of ancient philosophy, and is to be found (among other sources) in logion 2 of the Gospel of Thomas­—(Jesus said: He who seeks, let him not cease seeking until he finds; and when he finds he will be troubled, and if he is troubled he will be amazed, and he will reign over the All.)—and as Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ 654—(Let him who seeks, not cease seeking until he finds, and when he finds, he will be troubled, and when he has been troubled, he will marvel.).

 

     Also, the dualism manifested by ­Poimandres­—a vision of the Light on high and the Darkness below—the latter being coiled into spirals like a serpent, from which is created the moist abyss out of which Fire arises; the former being descended upon by a holy Word, which covers up the lower inferior nature, whilst from below the Fire flames up over the waters—is found particularly in Basilides [who, according to Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Stromateis­) claimed to have received a secret tradition from Glaucias, interpreter of Peter; and who, according to Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236, ­Refutation of All Heresies­ VII:xx-VII:xxvii) claimed to have received a secret tradition from Matthias.]

 

     Finally, the doctrine in ­Poimandres­ that the Divine Logos was active in Creation, together with its description as light and life, is similarly expressed at ­John­ 1:2-4—(He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.).

 

     That said, however, it would seem that the aim of the teachings of ­The Hermetica­ was the deification of man through ­gnosis­ (knowledge—meant here to be understood as knowledge of God). The writer’s nearest associations are with Gnosticism; and it is one of the later tractates in ­The Hermetica­, which are more markedly Gnostic in content. Also: certain passages of Poimandres­ concerning the mysteries of the Hebdomad­ (the lower heavens of the material world), the ­Ogdoad­ (the higher world) and the ­Ennead­ (the kingdom of the highest entities allegedly established above the ­Ogdoad­) are to be found among most of the Gnostic myths, particularly among the Sethians. Finally, DAN defines ­The Hermetica­, especially Poimandres­, as pagan speculations on the Received Old Testament­ book of ­Genesis­; and Grant (“Theophilus of Antioch to Autolycus,” ­Harvard Theological Review­ XL, 1947, 234), quoting Numenius of Apamea (2nd century), Galienus (?), and Longinus of Athens (d.273) as in support of the following statement, notes that in Imperial times interest in cosmogony was widespread, and the book of ­Genesis­ was much admired and discussed.

 

     The question has sometimes been raised whether there was a Hermetic religion, perhaps with cells of Hermetics. There is evidence of a Hermetic life-style, of a sacred literature, of a desire for separation from the world, and of an appeal to those not yet converted to associate themselves with the Way. The whole was presented as of Divine revelation mediated by Thoth/Hermes; and it was designed to provide those who were given access to it with a sense of intimacy with the gods, and also a hope of eternal life. Their popular appeal, in keeping with the spirit of the time in which they developed their final form, was based on the desire for an assured Divine revelation, a fondness for the esoteric and the abstract, and a concern for the soul and its salvation.

 

     On the other hand, there are no ceremonial purifications (as was true of Orhpism); no practices to indicated the epiphany of a god; little evidence of any cultus or organization; and no theurgy or magic. This indicates that Hermeticism was not a mystery cult, but a mystery of the Word; and it is perhaps best to understand it as a private, individual, literary and intellectual practice of personal religion, forming at most a school of mystical religious thought.

 

[ODC, 631, 1086-1087; KEE, 241-242; SHE, 506; DAN, 108, 114, 301; NTA, I, 310; DOR, 243, 266-267, 281n; TAF, II, 15, 25, 63; ENC, II, 434]

 

13. Trimorphic Protennoia

 

     The treatise known as ­Trimorphic Protennoia­ (Triple-Formed Primal Thought) occurs in one of the (Coptic) codices of the Nag Hammadi Library, which comprises but eight leaves without binding, and contains besides itself only one other work. Moreover, it is written in a stiffly calligraphic hand, which emphasized the down-strokes of the pen. Such a hand occurs in this library as a hand transitory from the supple and unpretentious cursive hand of the copyist of earlier codices; and may be therefore dated ­as a copy­ to sometime during the 4th century AD.

 

     Its original language, however, was certainly Greek, and the Coptic is a translation from that language. Its contents also seem, in its present form, complex, but Gnostic in character.

 

1. PAG says that one of the characteristic themes of the work is the nature of the androgynous existence of Trimorphic Protennoia­, which she sees at 42:17-18, 42:23-25 and 45:3-5—(Now I have come the second time in the likeness of a female and have spoken with them. ... We shall be purified within those Aeons from which I revealed myself in the Thought of the likeness of my masculinity. ... I am androgynous. I am both Mother and Father since I copulate with myself. I copulate with myself and with those who love me.)—and draws a parallel with the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Adam­ at 81:2-9—(From the nine Muses, one separated away. She came to a high mountain and spent time seated there, so that she desired herself alone in order to become androgynous. She filled her desire, and became pregnant from her desire.). This apocalypse is thoroughly non-Christian, but apparently heavily dependent on Jewish apocalyptic traditions, indicating that its date of origin may be as early as the 1st or 2nd century AD.

 

2. The only other work in the codex is one of Sethian (and therefore Gnostic) origin.

 

3. NAG says that it represents in certain interesting ways the ­Apocryphon of John­ (a largely Gnostic book of Sethian provenance known to have been used by Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.220AD) before 180; and whose original time of composition may have been between 100-150).

 

4. There is an apparent similarity between the ideas that are developed in ­Trimorphic Protennoia­ and those attributed in Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236; ­Refutation of All Heresies­) to Simon Magus to whom Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165) was the first to attribute certain Gnostic doctrines.

 

     There are, nevertheless, Christian elements to ­Trimorphic Protennoia­.

 

1. The name Christ is mentioned four times, and the name Jesus once, at 37:31-34, 38:22-25, 39:5-6, 49:7-8 and 50:12-15: (It is he alone who came to be, that is, the Christ. And it was I who anointed him as the glory of the Invisible Spirit with goodness. ... The blessed the Perfect Son, the Christ, the God who came into being by himself. And they gave glory, saying, “He is! He is! The Son of God! The Son of God! It is he who is!” ... Now those Aeons are the ones begotten by the God who was begotten—the Christ—and these Aeons received as well as gave glory. ... The Archons thought that I was their Christ. ... As for me, I put on Jesus. I bore him from the cursed wood, and established him in the dwelling places of his Father.).

 

2. There are certain similarities between various of the contents of the second part of ­Trimorphic Protennoia­ and both the so-called Synoptic Apocalypse (­Mark­ 13) and ­I Corinthians­ 15.

 

3. There are also particularly interesting parallels between the Received gospel of ­John­ and part three of Trimorphic Protennoia­ (which bears the colophon ­The Discourse of the Appearance­). It may not be too much to say that ­Trimorphic Protennoia­ may in part reflect these ­Received New Testament­ sources; and yet, to judge from what remains—and it should be remembered that from the end of the work only some fragments have survived—it is quite probable that the tractate has been secondarily Christianized.

 

     We are left, then, with a Barbeloite treatise with Sethian influences, possessed of a complex compositional history, largely but not exclusively Gnostic in outlook, which attained its final form around 200AD. It probably survived for some time in Greek, but was eventually translated into Coptic, in which language it found its way into Codex XIII of the Nag Hammadi Library.

 

     NTB calls special attention to the following portions of Trimorphic Protennoia­ which it is felt are probably in some verbal or conceptual way in parallel to texts of the ­Received New Testament­. The Nag Hammadi work is cited by the Roman and Arabic codex and tractate numbers identifying its position in the thirteen-book, fifty-six tractate papyrus library itself; followed by page and line numbers from the Coptic manuscripts themselves. Lacunae in the Coptic text are indicated by three dots [...]. Compound Received New Testament references are also separated by three dots [...]. Appropriate punctuation—end of sentences, phrases or clauses—is indicated, where given.

 

XIII,1;35.4-9­: the first-born among all who came to be, she who exists before the All. ... I am invisible within the Thought of the Invisible One.

Colossians 1:15,17a,18b­: He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; ... He is before all things, ... he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.

*

XIII,1;35.24­: I am the Invisible One within the All.

Colossians 1:15a­: He is the image of the invisible God,

*

XIII,1;35.30-32­: I am the head of the All. I exist before the All and I am the All, since I exist in everyone.

Colossians 1:17-18­: He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.

*

XIII,1;36.4-6­: I descended to the midst of the underworld and I shone down upon the darkness. It is I who poured forth the water.

John 1:5,9­: The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness had not overcome it ... The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

*

XIII,1;38.11-12­: I am the Image of the Invisible Spirit and it is through me that the All took shape,

Colossians 1:15a,16­: He is the image of the invisible god, for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

John 1:3­: all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

I Corinthians 8:6­: yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

*

XIII,1;38.22-23­: They blessed the Perfect Son, the Christ, the only-begotten God.

John 1:18­: No one has ever seen God; the only Son,\fn{Other ancient authorities read: ­God­.} who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

*

XIII,1;39.6-7­: by the God who was begotten—the Christ

John 1:18­: No one has ever seen God; the only Son,\fn{Other ancient authorities read: ­God­.} who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

*

XIII,1;39.9-12­: the Perfect Son, the God who was begotten.

John 1:18­: No one has ever seen God; the only Son,\fn{Other ancient authorities read: ­God­.} who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

*

XIII,1;43.5­: that the time of fulfillment has appeared—

Mark 13:4­: “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign when these things are all to be accomplished?”

Matthew 24:3b­: “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”

Luke 21:7­: And they asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign when this is about to take place?”

*

XIII,1;43.6-7­: just as in the pangs of the parturient it\fn{The time.} had drawn near,

Mark 13:8b,30­: this is but the beginning of the birth-pangs. ... Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away before all these things take place.

Matthew 24:8,33­: all this is but the beginning of the birth-pangs. ... So also, when you see all these things, you will know that he is near, at the very gates.

*

XIII,1;43.7-12­: so also had the destruction approached—all together the elements trembled, and the foundations of the underworld and the ceilings of chaos shook and a great fire shone within their midst, and the rocks and the earth were shaken

Mark 13:25­: and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Matthew 24:29b­: and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;

Luke 21:26­: men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

*

XIII,1;43.12­: shaken like a reed shaken by the wind.

Matthew 11:7b­: “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind?”

Luke 7:24b­: “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind?”

*

XIII,1;44.12-13­: As for the future, let us make our entire flight before we are imprisoned

Mark 13:14b­: then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains;

Matthew 24:16,20­: then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; ... Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.

Luke 21:21a­: Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains,

*

XIII,1;44.16­: the times are cut short and the days have shortened

Mark 13:20­: And if the Lord had not shortened the days, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.

Matthew 24:22­: And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.

*

XIII,1;44.17a­: and our time has been fulfilled,

Luke 21:24b­: until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

*

XIII,1;44.17b-18­: the weeping of our destruction has approached us

Luke 19:41,43-44­: And when he drew near and saw the city he wept over it, ... for the days shall come upon you, when your enemies will cast up a bank about you and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and dash you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave one stone upon another inyou; because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Luke 23:28­: But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

*

XIII,1;45.23-24­: for it is I who gave shape to the All when it had no form.

John 1:3­: all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

I Corinthians 8:6­: yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Colossians 1:16­: for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

*

XIII,1;46.5-16­: I am the Word who dwells in the ineffable voice. I dwell in undefiled Light ... And it\fn{The Speech.} exists from the beginning in the foundations of the All. But there is a Light that dwells hidden in Silence and it was first to come forth. ... I alone am the Word, ... It\fn{The Word.} is a hidden Light,

John 1:1-2,4­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; ... In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

*

XIII,1;46.20-25­: the glory of the offspring of God; I a male virgin ... the source of the All, the Root of the entire Aeon.

John 1:1-3­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

John 1:10a­: He was in the world, and the world was made through him,

I Corinthians 8:6­: yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Colossians 1:16­: for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Hebrews 1:2­: but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

*

XIII,1;46.30-32­: And it is a Word by virtue of Speech; it was sent to illumine those who dwell in the darkness.

John 1:1,4-5,9­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. ... The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

*

XIII,1;47.14-17­: I revealed myself to them in their tents as Word and I revealed myself in the likeness of their shape. And I wore everyone’s garment

John 1:14­: And the Word became flesh and dwelt\fn{The Greek term means: ­to dwell in a tent} among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

Philippians 2:7­: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

*

XIII,1;47.28-31­: I am the Light that illumines the All. I am the Light that rejoices in my brethren,

John 8:12­: Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 9:5­: As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

*

XIII,1;47.31-33­: I came down to the world of mortals on account of the Spirit that remains in that which descended and came forth

John 1:14­: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as the only Son from the Father.

John 1:32b-33­: “I saw the spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

*

XIII,1;48.11-14­: All these I put on. And I stripped him of it and I put upon him a shining Light, that is, the knowledge of the Thought of the Fatherhood.

Colossians 3:9b-10­: seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

*

XIII,1;49.28-32­: He ... has stripped off the garments of ignorance and put on a shining Light.

Colossians 3:9b-10a­: seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature,

*

XIII,1;50.10-12­: in order that I might abide in them and they also might abide in me.

John 6:56­: He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

*

XIII,1;50.12-15­: As for me, I ... established him in the dwelling places of his Father.

John 14:2­: In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

*

XIII,1;50.12-13­: As for me, I put on Jesus.

Romans 13:14­: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Galatians 3:27­: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

 

[NAG, 461; ODC, 1258; PAG, 65-66; DOR, 181, 311-312; EWW, 401-414]

 

14. The Hypostasis of the Archons

 

     The ­Hypostasis of the Archons­ (The Reality of the Rulers) is an anonymous tractate of the (Coptic) Nag Hammadi Library presenting an esoteric interpretation of ­Genesis­ 1-6, partly in the form of a revelation discourse between an angel and a questioner. The work was copied by a hand known to have been the most beautiful that appears in the entire library, transcribing what it did without heaviness in a flexible manner. It’s owner was alive sometime during the 4th century AD. Much of the text, however, is manifestly an abridgment of a certain ­Book of Norea­, which Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200AD) tells us (­Against All Heresies­ 1:30) was in use among a people who can be identified with the Sethians and the Ophites. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403AD), when dealing with the great Gnostic authorities, also cites this work (at Refutation of All Heresies­ 26) as one of their most important. There are also numerous parallels between this work and the known Sethian treatise entitled ­On the Origin of the World­.

 

     So, though the exact date of composition of the ­Hypostasis of the Archons­ is unknown, there exists sufficient evidence to indicate its place of origin to be Egypt; its language of origin to be Greek; and its time of origin to be the 3rd century AD.

 

     In its present form, the ­Hypostasis of the Archons­, though demonstrating a theological perspective vigorously Gnostic, and though illustrating a wide-ranging Hellenistic syncretism, displays also some manifestly Christian features sufficient to make it the possession of a Christian-Gnostic sect of undetermined origin.

 

1. The introductory paragraph of the work contains two clear reminiscences of Received Pauline quotations: Colossians­ 1:13—(He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son.); and ­Ephesians­ 6:12—(For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.) They are in italics below:

 

     (On account of the hypostasis of the Authorities, inspired by the Spirit of the Father of Truth, the great apostle—referring to the authorities of the darkness—told us that our contest is not against flesh and blood; rather, the authorities of the universe and the spirits of wickedness. I have sent you this because you inquire about the reality of the Authorities.)

 

2. At 91:1-3, 93:12, and 93:24-27, the concept of the Christian Redeemer (variously named) is introduced; and this culminates in an association with a Father and a Holy Spirit (at 96:33-36 and 97:13-20) in what seems to be as intentional an approximation of the Orthodox Christian Trinity as might be possible for Christian Gnosticism:

 

     (91:1-3—From that day, the Snake came to be under the curse of the Authorities; until the All-powerful Man was to come, that curse fell upon the Snake.)

 

     (93:12—And I shall teach you about your Root.)

 

     (93:24-27—None of them can prevail against the Root of Truth; for on its account he appeared in the final ages; and these Authorities will be restrained.)

 

     (96:33-36—He said to me, “Until the moment when the True Man, within a modeled form, reveals the existence of the Spirit of Truth, which the Father has sent.”)

 

     (97:13-20—“Then all the Children of the Light will be truly acquainted with the Truth and their Root, and the Father of the Entirety and the Holy Spirit: They will all say with a single voice, ‘The Father's truth is just, and the Son presides over the Entirety’: And from everyone unto the ages of ages, ‘Holy—Holy—Holy! Amen’”).

 

3. While the imperfect creator-god of man (in pure Gnostic thought) is retained in ­Hypostasis of the Archons­ with all his limitations, this work contains, from the outset, allusions to an Orthodox God-the-Father concept (also variously named) at 86:20-21, 92:32-34, 93:20-21, 93:29-32, 94:22-23, 95:4-5, 96:11-12, and 96:19-20; and this also culminates in an association with the Son and the Holy Spirit at 96:33-36 and 97:13-20 (quoted under (2) above):

 

     (86:20-21—On account of the hypostasis of the Authorities, inspired by the Spirit of the Father of Truth,)

 

     (92-32-34—But Norea turned, with the might of ...; and in a loud voice she cried out up to the Holy One, the God of the Entirety,)

 

     (93:20-21—I am one of the four Light-givers, who stand in the presence of the Great Invisible Spirit.)

 

     (93:29-32—And these Authorities cannot defile you and that generation; for your abode is in Incorruptibility, where the Virgin Spirit dwells, who is superior to the Authorities of Chaos and to their universe.)

 

     (94:22-23—When he said this, he sinned against the Entirety.)

 

     (95:4-5—And he said to his offspring, “It is I who am the god of the Entirety.”)

 

     (96:11-12—But it was by the will of the Father of the Entirety that they all came into being—)

 

     (96:19-20—You, together with your offspring, are from the Primeval Father;)

 

4. Similarly with the Son and the Father, there are at 91:9-11, 93:4-6, and 93:8-10, three indications of an approximation to the Orthodox Christian concept of the Holy Spirit; and they likewise, as the references to the Son and the Father, appear to culminate in a Trinitarian manner at 96:33-36 and 97:13-20 (printed above, also under (2):

 

     (91:9-11—so that their Mankind might be occupied by worldly affairs, and might not have the opportunity of being devoted to the Holy Spirit.)

 

     (93:4-6—“Why are you crying up to God? Why do you act so boldly towards the Holy Spirit?”)

 

     (93:8-10—It is I who am Eleleth, Sagacity, the Great Angel, who stands in the presence of the Holy Spirit.)

 

5. Finally, the concluding section of ­Hypostasis of the Archons­ (96:32-97:20) appears to approximate (though in accord with Gnostic sensibilities), Orthodox scriptural teachings concerning the Second Coming of Jesus Christ:

 

     (96:32-97:20—Then I said, “Sir, how much longer?” He said to me, “Until the moment when the True Man, within a modeled form, reveals the existence of the Spirit of Truth, which the Father has sent. Then he will teach them about every thing: And he will anoint them with the unction of Life eternal, given him from the undominated generation. Then they will be freed of blind thought: And they will trample under foot Death, which is of the Authorities: And they will ascend into the limitless Light, where this Sown Element belongs. Then the Authorities will relinquish their ages: And their angels will weep over their destruction: And their demons will lament their death. Then all the Children of the Light will be truly acquainted with the Truth and their Root, and the Father of the Entirety and the Holy Spirit: They will all say with a single voice, ‘The Father’s truth is just, and the Son presides over the Entirety’: And from everyone unto the ages of ages, ‘Holy—Holy—Holy! Amen!’”)

 

     This passage has all the appearance of a Second Coming prediction (at which time will be saved all who have the Spirit of Truth present within them, defined as all those who exist deathless in the midst of dying Mankind). This event will, moreover occur after three generations, which corresponds with the idea, current in earliest Christian Orthodoxy, of an imminent Parousia. As it now appears that Christian Gnosticism manifested itself at first as a school (or schools) of thought within the primitive Church, and came into clear prominence in the 2nd century, it is not at all impossible that we have here to do with the survival of a primitive Christian-Gnostic gospel.

 

     That this group of Christian-Gnostics contained a large number of women is also indicated by PAG, who points out that the feminine powers of the Divine and human are both regarded in Hypostasis of the Archons­ as superior to their male counterparts; for at 89:11-91:1, it is Eve—as the spiritual principle in humanity—who raises Adam from his merely material condition; and at 94:21-97:7, it is the male­ creator-god who is castigated for his arrogance by his mother (Wisdom) and his daughter (Life):

 

     (89:11-90:30—And the spirit-endowed Woman came to him and spoke with him, saying, “Arise, Adam.” And when he saw her, he said, “It is you who have given me life; you will be called ‘Mother of the Living’—For it is she who is my mother. It is she who is the Physician, and the Woman, and She Who Has Given Birth.” ... Then the Female Spiritual Principle came in the Snake, the Instructor, and it taught them, saying, “... you shall not die; for it was out of jealousy that he said this to you. Rather your eyes shall open and you shall come to be like gods, recognizing evil and good.” ... And the arrogant Ruler cursed the Woman.).

 

     (94:21-97:7—and he became arrogant, saying, ‘It is I who am God, and there is none other apart from me.’ ... And a voice came forth from above the realm of absolute power, saying, ‘You are wrong, Samael’—which is, ‘god of the blind.’ And he said, ‘If any other thing exists before me, let it become visible to me!’ And immediately, Wisdom stretched forth her finger, and introduced Light into Matter, and she pursued it down to the region of Chaos. ... And he said to his offspring, ‘It is I whom am the god of the Entirety.’ And Life, the daughter of Holy Wisdom, cried out and said to him, ‘You are mistaken, Fool!’).

 

     NTB calls special attention to the following portions of ­The Hypostasis of the Archons­ which it is felt are probably in some verbal or conceptual way in parallel to texts of the ­Received New Testament­. The Nag Hammadi work is cited by the initials of its English title; followed by the roman and Arabic codex and tractate numbers identifying its position in the 13-book papyrus library itself; followed by page and line numbers from the Coptic manuscripts themselves. Lacunae in the Coptic text are indicated by three dots [...]. compound Scriptural references are also separated by three dots [...].

 

II,4;86.21-25­: the great apostle—referring to the “authorities of the darkness”—told us that “our content is not against flesh and blood; rather, the authorities of the universe and the spirits of wickedness.”

Ephesians 6:12­: For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

*

II,4;87.10-11­: for by starting from the invisible world the visible world was invented.

Hebrews 11:3­: By faith we understand that the world was created by the world of God, so that what is seen was made out of things which do not appear.

*

II,4;95.11-13­: that angel bound Yaldabaoth and cast him down into Tartaros below the abyss.

Revelation 20:1-3­: Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were ended. After that he must be loosed for a little while.

*

II,4;96.23-24­: because of the spirit of truth present within them;

John 14:17­: even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.

*

II,4;96.33-35­: “Until the moment when the true man, within a modeled form, reveals the existence of the spirit of truth, which the father has sent.

John 14:16-17­: And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.

John 15:26­: But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me;

*

II,4;97.1-3­: “Then he will teach them about everything: and he will anoint them with the unction of life eternal,

I John 2:27­: but the anointing which you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that any one should teach you; as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie, just as it has taught you, abide in him.

 

[NAG, 152-160; ODC, 564; DOR, 144, 159, 163, 241n, 291, 306; PAG, 36, 69-70; EWW, 172-184]

 

15. The Concept of Our Great Power

 

     The Concept of Our Great Power­ occurs as part of Codex VI of the Nag Hammadi library, which contains a total of eight documents. Dates ranging from the beginning to the end of the 4th century AD have been proposed for the hands that transcribed the Nag Hammadi library; but in the case of this work, there is a textual citation that may help to determine when it, at least, was last transcribed. The Anomoeans (extreme Arians of the 4th century, known to have briefly flourished in Alexandria, whilst the Orthodox Archbishop of Alexandria, Athanasius, was in hiding in the Pachomian monasteries c.360AD), are mentioned at 39:33-40:9—(Yet you are sleeping, dreaming dreams. Wake up and return, taste and eat the true food! Hand out the word and the water of life! Cease from the evil lusts and desires and the teachings of the Anomoeans, evil heresies that have no basis!)—and it is probable that ­The Concept of Our Great Power­ received its final Coptic form no earlier than at this time. The language of origin, however, as is true with all the books of the Nag Hammadi library, was Greek.

 

     The book is a complex and somewhat inconsistent exposition of salvation history in apocalyptic form. It may have originated in Jewish apocalyptic circles: in its present condition, however, it may be called a Christian-Gnostic apocalypse, or a Christian apocalypse with Gnosticizing tendencies. The Gnostic character of the work seems quite clear: the ­Received Old Testament­ god is portrayed as the father of the flesh; archons exists, and they are wrathful and hostile; the flesh is portrayed as defiled; and final bliss is seen as glory in the Divine Light of the Great Power.

 

     Throughout the work, the name of Jesus nowhere appears; but for a variety of reasons, His presence in the work seem inescapable.

 

1. The section 40:24-41:12 forms a unit in itself, and includes the following three summary statements of the public period of Jesus’ life (and in their order of happening):

 

     (40:25b-27—the man will come into being who knows the great Power.)

 

     (40:30-32—He will speak in parables; he will proclaim the aeon that is to come,)

 

     (41:7-12—And he opened the gates of the heavens with his words. And he put to shame the ruler of Hades; he raised the dead, and he destroyed his dominion.)

 

2. Immediately following this there occurs the section 41:14-42:3, which contains scenes of His passion set out in the order in which they are to be found in the ­Received New Testament­. They seem fully incorporated into a Gnostic understanding of what is happening; and yet they are recognizable to an Orthodox Christian. (Note particularly the obvious indication of Judas as the object of the pronoun his at A fire took hold of his soul.; and an obvious monetary substitution somewhat later in the same passage: 41:15-30—(The archons raised up their wrath against him. They wanted to hand him over to the ruler of Hades. Furthermore, they knew one of his followers. A fire took hold of his soul. He handed him over, since no one knew him. They acted and seized him. They brought judgment upon themselves. And they delivered him up to the ruler of Hades. And they handed him over to Sasabed for nine bronze coins.).

 

3. ­Matthew­ 27:45—From noon on, darkness was came over the whole land until three in the afternoon.)—is remembered at 42:16-17—(The sun set during the day; the day became dark.);

 

4. the Ascension is mentioned at 42:19—(And after those things he will appear ascending.); and

 

5. a discussion upon the (Christian) faith of His followers begins immediately at 42:23-43:3—(And those who would know these things that were discussed with them will become blessed. And they will reveal them, and they will become blessed, since they will come to know the truth. For you\fn{Plural; the author clearly means his fellow brothers of Qumran, and the rest of the quotation, contained in the paragraph immediately following this one, means others professing Christianity.} have found rest in the heavens. Then many will follow him, and they will labor in their birthplaces. They will go about, they will abandon his words according to their desire.)

 

6. According to the plan in the ­Received New Testament­, the Second Coming is announced at 43:11-16—(But at first, after his preaching, he proclaims the second aeon, and the first—and the first aeon perishes in the course of time.) This leads naturally enough to

 

7. the small apocalypse in this work; which is essentially an expositional treatise whose details appear to be Gnostic, but whose concept seems to have been borrowed from the ­Received Revelation­, and whose very wording at times seems directly traceable to the Received apocalypse:

 

(a) The text at 43:33-34, 45:34-46:5 and 47:5-6—(The cities were overturned; the mountains dissolved. ... The springs will cease. The rivers will not flow down to their springs. And the waters of the springs of the earth will cease. Then the depths will be laid bare, and they will open. The stars will grow in size, and the sun will cease. ... Then the firmaments will fall down to the depth.)—portrays catastrophes paralleled at or perhaps inspired by Revelation­ 6:12b-14, 8:7b, 8:12b, 16:12, and 16:20 (below):

 

(the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. ... and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up and all green grass was burned up. ... and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise the night. ... The sixth angel poured his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up in order to prepare the way for the kings from the east. ... And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found;)

 

(b) The text of 44:6-8—(Moreover, the birds ate and were filled with their dead.)—is certainly borrowed from Revelation­ 19:21c:

 

(and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.)

 

(c) The evil male presence at 44:13-26—(Then the archon of the western regions arose, and from the East he will perform a work, and he will instruct men in his wickedness. And he wanted to nullify all teaching, the words of Sophia of truth, while loving the lying Sophia. for he attacked the old, wishing to introduce wickedness and to put on dignity. He was incapable, because the defilement of his garments is great.)—may be inspired by the person described as a beast at ­Revelation­ 13:13-18, and generally thought to be the Emperor Nero:

 

(It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all; and by the signs that it is allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceives the inhabitants of earth, telling them to make an image for the breast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived; and it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast so that the image of the beast could even speak and cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. Also it causes all, both small and great, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six.)

 

8. At 45:25-27—(When he has completed the established time of the kingdom of the earth,)—there is very briefly mentioned the establishment of the Millennium, dwelt on extensively at Revelation­ 20:1-6:

 

(Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and locked and sealed it over them, so that he would deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be let out for a little while. Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him a thousand years.)

 

9. Finally, for good measure, the material at 45:17-24—(Then those men who will follow them after him will introduce circumcision. And he will pronounce judgment upon those who are from the uncircumcision who are the true people. For in fact, he sent many preachers beforehand, who preached on his behalf.)—seems clearly to reflect the circumcision controversy which beset the early church prior to its sending out its mission to the Gentiles, and probably best seen at ­Acts­ 10:45-47} and 15:1-2:

 

(The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling god. then Peter said, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy spirit just as we have?” ... Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders.)

 

     NTB calls special attention to the following portions of ­the Concept of Our Great Power­ which it is felt are probably in some verbal or conceptual way in parallel to texts of the ­Received New Testament­. The Nag Hammadi work is cited by the initials of its English title; followed by the roman and Arabic codex and tractate numbers identifying its position in the 13-book papyrus library itself; followed by page and line numbers from the Coptic manuscripts themselves. Lacunae in the Coptic text are indicated by three dots [...]. Compound Received New Testament references are also separated by three dots [...].

 

VI,4;38.24-26:­—and it is the father of the flesh who holds the angels in subjection. And he\fn{Noah.} preached piety

II Peter 2:4-5­: For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

Jude :6­: And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day;

*

VI,4,40.30-32­: He will speak in parables; he will proclaim the aeon that is to come.

Mark 4:11­: And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables;

Matthew 13:11,13a­: And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ... This is why I speak to them in parables,

Luke 8:10a­: he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of god; but for others they are in parables,

*

VI,4;41.18-24­: Then they recognized one of his followers. A fire took hold of his\fn{Judas’.} soul. He handed him over, since no one knew him. They acted and seized him.

Mark 14:10-11,44-46­: Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it they were glad, and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him. ... Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I shall kiss is the man; seize him and lead him away under guard.” And when he came, he went up to him at once, and said, “Master!” And he kissed him. And they laid hands on him and seized him.

Matthew 26:14-16,48-50,57­: Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver. And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. ... Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “the one I shall kiss is the man; seize him.” And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Hail, Master!” And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, why are you here?” then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. ... Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered.

Luke 22:3-6,47,54a­: Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve; he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and engaged to give him money. So he agreed, and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of the multitude. ... While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him; ... Then they seized him and led him away, bringing him into the high priest’s house.

John 18:2,12­: Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with his disciples. ... So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the Jews seized Jesus and bound him.

*

VI,4;41.18-21­: Then they recognized one of his followers. A fire took hold of his\fn{Judas’.} soul.

Luke 22:3­: then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve;

John 13:2,27­: And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, ... then after the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

*

VI,4;41.24-26­: They brought judgment upon themselves. And they delivered him up

Matthew 27:25-26­: And all the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Then he released for them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him to be crucified.

*

VI,4;41.28-30­: And they handed him over to Sasabek for nine bronze coins.

Matthew 26:15­: and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him to you!” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver.

*

VI,4;42.15-17­: The sun set during the day; that day became dark.

Mark 15:33­: And over the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

Matthew 27:45­: Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

Luke 23:44-45a­: It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed;

*

VI,4;42.18-19­: And after these things he will appear ascending.

Mark 16:19a­: So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven,

Luke 24:51­: While he blessed them, he parted from them, and was carried up into heaven\fn{Other ancient authorities omit: and was carried up into heaven.}

Acts 1:9­: And when he had said this, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight.

*

VI,4;42.20-21­: And the sign of the aeon that is to come will appear.

Matthew 24:30a­: then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven,

*

VI,4;43.17-20­: going about in it until it perished while preaching one hundred and twenty years in number.

II Peter 2:5­: if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;

*

VI,4;43.35-44:13­: The archon came, with the archons of the western regions, to the East, i.e., that place where the Logos appeared at first. then the earth trembled, and the cities were troubled. Moreover, the birds ate and were filled with their dead. The earth mourned together with the inhabited world; they became desolate. then when the times were completed, then wickedness arose mightily even until the final end of the Logos.

Mark 13:14,24-26­: “But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; ... “but in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory.

Matthew 24:15,29-30­: “So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), ... “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will se the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory;

Luke 21:20,24b-27­: “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. ... and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the gentiles, until the times of the gentiles are fulfilled. And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

*

VI,4;44.6-8­: the birds ate and were filled with their dead.

Matthew 24:28­: Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together.

Luke 17:37b­: “Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered.”

Revelation 19:21b­: and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

*

VI,4;45.1-7­: then the archons sent the imitator to that man in order that they might know our great Power. And they were expecting from him that he would perform for them a sign.

John 6:29b-30­: “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform?

 

[NAG, 15, 284-289; EWW, 272-280]

 

16. The Christian Sibyllines

 

     Throughout the ancient world, numerous oracular sayings were circulated under the authority of the Sibyl, a legendary seeress of remote, uncertain antiquity, who first appears in the Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus (d.c.450 BC), where she is represented as a woman of prodigious old age uttering predictions in an ecstatic frenzy, and located in Asia Minor (at Erythrae in Ionia, or Marpessus near Troy). (After the early 4th century BC, the number of Sibyls is multiplied, and they are located at all the famous oracle centers of the Ancient World, and elsewhere, particularly in association with Apollo. Varro in the 1st century BC lists ten—Persian, Libyan, Delphic, Cimnmerian, Erythraean, Samian, Cumaean, Hellespontine, Phrygian, Tiburtine—and others could be added from other sources.) The Roman Senate had an official collection of the utterances of the Sibyl made, and consulted them in times of crisis. These were normally kept in the Temple of Jupiter, and the last time they were consulted was by Julian the Apostate (363AD). They were finally officially destroyed by Falvius Stilicho (executed 23 March 408).

 

     For its own propaganda purposes in the Roman Empire, Hellenistic Judaism took advantage of the high regard felt by the people in general for Sibylline oracles by proclaiming its own messages under the authority of the Sibyl; and the Christians later also associated themselves with this literary device. There were in this combined Judaeo/Christian collection (which appears to have been compiled for the first time in the 6th century AD and, though containing some pagan elements, is not to be confused with the Roman production briefly discussed above) a total of 15 (ENC says 14) books, of which only twelve have come down to our time. Their contents are presented with very little order, and often inextricably intermingle pagan, Jewish, and Christian materials. Written in hexameters, the entire compendia is preceded by a prose prologue affirming that the oracles are utterances of Greek Sibyls of various periods. They are outlined briefly below:

 

1 & 2. Books one and two, which in their final form despite some gaps and roughness, constitute a beautiful whole, and were originally of Jewish origin, but were subjected to later Christian revision (which has resulted in heavy Christen interpolation of its original contents). The Jewish sections of ­The Christian Sibyllines­ stem in general from the end of the 1st century BC to the end of the 2nd century AD; but for these two books ­in their present form­ we are led to a period of time shortly after the death of the emperor Hadrian (July 10, 138); or c.150AD (soon after the appearance of the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­, but before books 7 and 8, since books 7 and 8 make some use of books 1 and 2).

 

3, 4 & 5. All three of these books are of Jewish origin, though of different periods. They were written in Greek by members of the Jewish Dispersion in imitation of earlier pagan oracles which had a great popularity in pre-Christian days; for it was by this means that the writers sought to spread knowledge of the true God among the Gentiles. Book 3 is the longest, and comes substantially from c.150BC (150-120:BET; 150-100:ENC), at least for lines 97-819 (294:ENC), which form the oldest oracle in the entire collection. Other sections of book 3 are later; and they probably date from the 1st century BC (lines 46-62), and the 1st century AD (lines 63-92). Book 4 contains a reference to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius (79AD), and thus may be dated c.80AD [so also BET; ENC would place it sometime during the reign of Domitian (81-96AD)] Book 5 makes reference to the emperors Titus (79-81AD) and Hadrian (117-138AD), and is probably to be dated early in Hadrian’s reign (so also BET, who would place it before 130AD; but ENC would place it between 81-96).

 

6. Book 6 is, many say, purely Christian, and consists entirely of a hymn to Christ. It has sometimes, however, been held to be Gnostic, and of the 2nd century AD.

 

7. Book 7 is likewise an entirely Christian production, and consists of a conglomeration of eschatological prophecies and moral and ritual precepts. It presents Gnosticizing views; and because of this one critic has placed its composition in the 3rd century. Such Gnosticizing seems possible already by the end of the 2nd century AD; but it any case, it must be dated after book 6, because use in it is made of that volume, as are also volumes 1 and 2.

 

8. Book 8 reflects Christian antagonism to the Roman Empire during the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161-180AD); and certainly its first part may still derive from a period before 180AD. As with book 7, volumes 1 and 2 are made use of in book 8. It treats of the nature of Christ, and of his Second Birth; and seems purely Christian in its construction.

 

9 & 10. Neither of these books has survived the destruction of the Antique World.

 

11, 12, 13, & 14. These books were written considerably later (they are generally assigned to the 4th century), and are Jewish. The church Fathers do not quote from any of them.

 

15. No copy of book 15 has survived the destruction of the Antique World; or, if ENC is correct, it never existed.

 

     The ­Sibyllines­—which, it will be remembered, has been subject to heavy Christianization—may have been composed over the period from the end of the 2nd century BC, to the end of the 2nd century AD. [ODC says the dates of the Jewish portions of the collection range from the Maccabean period (which began in 168BC) to the time of Hadrian (Emperor of Rome, 117-138AD)]. In them the Sibyl is regarded as a daughter of Noah. She is an unwearying preacher of monotheism and opposes all worship of idols. She underscores her propaganda for the Jewish belief in God with the prophecy of the coming judgment upon all men who worship idols. The time of judgment is portrayed in apocalyptic colors, the judgment of fire upon the world is depicted, and the destruction of Belial, the enemy of God, is described. Historical sketches, brought down to the time of the various authors, attest the Sibyl’s precise foreknowledge and at the same time make it clear that the end of all things and all times is now imminent. The omens of the end are described. The Sibyl enticingly holds before a group of entranced pagans the wealth and the bliss of the golden kingdom of God, and in this process the Jewish national expectation recedes behind universalist motifs. All the world will come then to the splendid, newly erected temple in Jerusalem, to worship the great God who will dwell among men and will restore the era of Paradise.

 

     These Sibyllines do not pursue any self-presentation of apocalyptic piety, but rather place apocalyptic motifs at the service of the comprehensive Jewish mission and propaganda. Apocalyptic conceptions which were not serviceable for such propaganda in the Hellenistic context recede into the background: the foreground is occupied by the figure of the Messiah, the hope of the resurrection of the dead, and dualism. Moreover, judgment and renewal occur in the sphere of the one cosmos, outside of which there is no realty for Greek thought. Hence one cannot gather from the Sibyllines a complete picture of an explicitly apocalyptic piety. Nevertheless they show how extensively the apocalyptic movement did in general influence Jewish thought in the period before and after Christ’s birth.

 

     The whole of ­The Christian Sibyllines­ is preceded by a prose prologue affirming that the oracles are utterances of Greek Sibyls of various periods; and many accept this view of the oracles, and drew from them arguments in defense of Christianity (a list whom include the following ancient witnesses, who lived at various times between the II-VI centuries:) ps. = pseudo; bet. = between

 

1. Justin of Flavia Neapolis c.100-c.165AD first half II century AD

2. ­Shepherd of Hermas­ bet.140-155 mid II

3. Tatian of Assyria fl.c.160 mid II

4. Theophilus of Antioch later 2nd cent. later II

5. ps.-Melito of Sardis d.180 last half II

6. Aristide of Athens 2nd cent. II

7. Athenagoris of Alexandria 2nd cent. II

8. Clement of Alexandria c.150-c.215 II-III

9. Tertullian of Carthage c.160-c.220 II-III

10. Commodian of Africa fl.c.150 mid III

11. Minucius of Africa 3rd cent. III

12. Lactantius of Sicca c.240-c.340 III-IV

13. Eusebius of Caesarea c.260-c.320 III-IV

14. ­Apostolic Constitutions­ bet.350-400 last half IV

15. Gregory of Nazianzus 329-389 IV

16. Augustine of Hippo Regius 354-430 IV-V

17. Sozomen of Bethelia early 5th cent. early V

18. ps.-Augustine of Hippo Regius 5th cent.? V?

19. ps.-Justinian (?) 6th cent.? VI?

 

     Modern critics assign to ­the Christian Sibyllines­ various Jewish and Christian authors; for, though genuine Greek oracles are inserted in some places, the tendency of the whole is monotheistic and Messianic. They are evidently cast in their peculiar form to gain the pagan world to Jewish or Christian doctrines.

 

[NTA, II, 51, 586, 600ff, 667, 669, 684, 703-745; NEC, XX, 600; ODC, 1252-1253; RUS, 54-55; SCH, 191-193]

 

***

 

III: ADAM AND EVE

 

     The Adam and Eve books which have survived the ruin of classical civilization have done so under different titles, in a variety of forms and recensions, and in a number of different languages. Some are independent productions; others are interrelated, some distinctly so, others less obviously. Two pertinent remarks should be made of them in general.

 

1. Jewish legends connected with Adam and Eve and their children abound. So much is evident from the Rabbinic literature.

 

2. The primitive Christian Orthodoxy seems to have known a number of apparently different books about Adam and Eve, and from a comparatively early date. (a) Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Panarion­ XXVI:8.1) says that many Gnostic books were attributed to Seth and revelations to Adam. (b) The Apostolic Constitutions­ VI:16.3 (latter half 4th century)—(And among the ancients also some have written apocryphal books of Moses, and Enoch, and Adam, and Isaiah, and David, and Elijah, and of the three patriarchs, pernicious and repugnant to the truth.)—mentions Adam along with a number of the ancients who had apocryphal books written about them. (c) The ­Pseudo-Gelasian Decree­ (early 6th century AD) includes in its list of apocrypha the book that is called the Penitence of Adam­.

 

     A tolerable summary of the material then known may be found in Leclercq (“Adam et Eve” in Cabrol & Leclercq, Dictionnaire d'Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie­ I.i, 1907, cols. 509-519).

 

[ODC, 15; AOT, 141-167]

 

17. The Gospel of Eve

 

     The ­Gospel of Eve­ is mentioned by Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, Panarion­ XXVI:2,3,5) as in use among the Borborites, an Ophite section of Gnostics. Preuschen (­Antilegomena­, Giessen, 1901, 80) prints the extracts quoted by Epiphanius. Harnack is doubtful if it can properly be called a gospel; Lipsius (Dictionary of Christian Biography­ II, London, 1882, 717) describes it as a Gnostic doctrinal treatise, though presented, it may be, in an historical form. The number of surviving fragments (outside of the first one, listed below) is also under dispute; for fragments belonging to this work have also been identified in Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236, ­Refutations of All Heresies­ V:16.8,13-14), and in the ­Books of the Savior­ (3rd century).

 

     NTA renders the wording of the first two named fragments, in Epiphanius of Salamis [d.403AD, ­Panarion­ XXVI:3.1 (the only one whose authenticity is not in dispute) and XXVI:5.1] thus—(I stood upon a high mountain and saw a tall man, and another of short stature, and heard as it were a sound of thunder and went nearer in order to hear. Then he spoke to me and said: I am thou and thou art I, and where thou art there am I, and I am sown in all things; and whence thou wilt, thou gatherest me, but when thou gatherest me, then gatherest thou thyself. ... I saw a tree which bore twelve fruits in the year, and he said to me: This is the Tree of Life.)

 

     The work was written in the 2nd century, apparently in Greek. As far as is presently known, it exists now only in fragments.

 

     Epiphanius ascribed the work to the Gnostics, and suggests that the writing had for its subject the discovery by Eve, in consequence of a revelation received from the mouth of a serpent, of saving knowledge. The revealer discloses his identity by an almost stereotyped formula often employed in Gnostic and other texts (Hermetic, magical, alchemical). The revelation is constructed after the usual pattern and employs the normal motifs of this kind of literature: the setting of the scene upon a mountain, the appearance of a figure of very great or gigantic stature, and an address by this figure to the seer. This would seem to confirm the statements of Epiphanius about its Gnostic origin.

 

     On the other hand, it is certain that the work contained the announcement (made by Eve, or at least made to Eve), of good tidings. It may also have taken the form of a dialogue with a Redeemer (who may have been Jesus). Further, the ­Armenian Infancy Gospel­ IX—(Comme quoi Ève notre première mère et Joseph arriverent en hâte et virent la très bénie et sainte vierge Marie devenue mère.\fn{Litteéralement: partum viderunt laudatissimae et sanctae V.M.} 1. Et lorsque Joseph et notre première mère virent cela, ils se prosternèrent la face contre terre, et remerciant Dieu à haute voix, ils le glorifiaient et disaient: «Soyez bénie, Seigneur Dieu de nos pères,\fn{C’est Ève qui parle de ses pères!} Dien d'Israël, qui avez aujourd'hui, par votre avènement, opéré la rédemption de l'homme; qui m'avez rètablie á nouveau et relevée de ma chute et aui m'avez réintégrée dans mon ancienne dignité. Maintenant mon âme se sent fière et mon espérance (en) Dieu mon Sauveur a tressailli.» 2. Ayant ainsi parlé, Ève notre première mère vit une nuée monter vers le ciel en se détachant de la caverne. Et <d'un> autre côté, paraaissait ube lumière étincelante qui s'était posée devant la mangeoire du bétail. Et <l'enfant> vint prendre le sein de sa mère et s'abreuva de lait; puis il retourna à sa place et s'assit. A cette vue, Joseph et notre première mère Ève rendirent gloire à Dieu en le remerciant, et ils admiraient, dans la stupeur, les prodiges qui venaient de se passer. Et ils disaient: «Vraiment qui a jamais ouï de peersonne une chose semblable ou vu de ses yeux (rien de) tout ce qui s'est accompli?» 3. Et notre première mère entra dans la caverne, elle prit l'enfant dans ses bras et se mit à le caresser et à l'embrasser avec tendresse, et elle bénissait Dieu, car l'envant était excellemment bau à voir, brillant et resplendissant et les traits épanouis. Et l'ayant enveloppé de langes, elle le déposa dans l'auge des bœufs. Et notre première mère Ève sortit de la caverne. Tout à coup, elle vit une femme nommée Salomé, qui venait de la ville de Jérusalem. Notre prèmiere mère Ève alla au-dvant d'elle et lui dit: «Je vous announce une heureuse et bonne nouvelle: une jeune vierge, qui ne connaît absolument aucun homme, a mis au monde un envant dans cette varerne.» 4. Saloméf dit: «Je sais, moi, que toute la ville de Jérusalem l'a condamnée, comme coupable et digne de mort. Et à cause de sa honte et de son déshonneur, elle s'est enfuie de la ville pour venir ici. Et moi, Salomé, j'ai appris à Jérusalem que cette vierge a mis au monde un enfant mâle, et je suis venue avec joie pour le voir.» Notre première mère Ève dit: «Qui, (et cependant) sa virginité est saint et demeure immaculée.» Salomé dit: «Et comment avez-vous pu savoir qu'elle est vierge?» Notre première mère dit: «Je vous rapporterai ce que j';ai vu de mes yeux.» Salomé dit: «Dites.» Noitre première mère dit: «Lorsque je suis entrée dans cette caverne, j'ai vu une nuée lumineuse qui planait par-dessus. Et l'on entendait dans les hauteurs un bruit de paroles et la nombreuse armée de choeurs spirituels des anges qui bénissaient et glorifiaient Dieu à pleine voix. Et vers le ciel, s'élevait comme une nuée brillante.» Salomé lui dit: «Par la vie <du Siegneur>, je ne croirai pas à vos paroles avant d'avoir vu qu'une vierge qui ne connaît point d'homme a mis au monde un enfant, sans un concours masculin.» Et notre première mère étant entrée dans la caverne, dit à la sainte vierge marie: «Tenez'vous prête, il nous le faut, car voici Salomé qui veut vous mettre à l'épreuve et constater votre virginite.» 5. Et lorsque Salomé pénétra dans la caverne et que, avancant la main,\fn{Ici l’arménien se rapproche de nouveau du récit primitif; cf. Protév. (Infancy Gospel of James: H) XX, 1 et suiv.} elle voulut l'approcher de la vierge, tout à coup, une flamme jaillissant de là avec une ardeur intense, lui brûla la main. E avec un cri aigu, elle dit: «Malheur à moi, misérable et infortunée, que mes fautes ont gravement égarée! Qu'ai-je fait dans mon dérèglement? Car j'ai péché contre mon Dieu, je l'ai blasphémé, et, dans mon incrédulité, j'ai tenté le Dieu vivant. Voici que ma main aussi est devenue comme un feu ardent!» 6. Mais un ange\fn{C. Ps.-Matth. (The Infancy Gospel of Matthew: H) XXX,5.} qui se tenait près de (Salomé), lui dit: «Étendez votre main vers l'enfant; approchez-la de lui et vous serez guerié.» Et tombant aux pieds de l'enfant, elle le baisa, et le prenant dans ses bras elle le caressait et disait: «O nouveau-né, fils du Père grand (et) puissant, enfant Jésus, Messie, roi d'Israël, rédempteur, oint du Seigneur,\fn{Cf. Luc, (Luke: H) II,26.} vous vous êtes manifesté dans la ville de David.\fn{Cf. Luc,II,11.} O lumière, vous vous êtes levée sur la terre et nous avez découvert la rédemption du monde.» 7. Salomé disait ces paroles et beaucoup d'autres semblables, et au même instant, sa main fut guérie. et se levant, elle adora l'enfant. Elle voulut aller à Jérusalem. Alors l'ange lui adressa la parole et lu dit: «Salomé, quand vous irez à Jérusalem, lé où vous voulez aller, ne dites à personne la vision\fn{Matth., (Matthew: H) XVII,9} qui vous est apparue, de peur qu'elle ne vienne à la connaissance du roi Hérode, avant que l'enfant Jésus n'aille au temple pour la purification, après quarante jours.» Salomé dit: «Oui, Seigneur, que votre volonté soit faite.» Et quand Salomé revint à sa maison, elle ne découvrit à personne les paroles que l'ange lui avait dites.)—relates how Eve was present with Joseph at the first suckling of Jesus, and how she testified to the virgin birth. Therefore, the interpretation that this work was originally a gospel transmitted by Eve, or with her as the central figure, is not entirely arbitrary (though this source is of the opinion that such reasoning does not operate in this case, and that what we have here to do with is a revelation of Gnostic provenance).

 

     See also on this Ropes (­Die Spruche Jesu­, Leipzig, 1896, 56).

 

[NTA, I, 241-243; HAS, Extra Volume, 243; HAF, I, 226]

 

18. The Aramaic Life of Adam and Eve

 

     The ­Aramaic Life of Adam and Eve­, can be reconstructed out of several surviving versions, chief among which are the Greek and Latin texts. There exists no direct evidence of any pre-Christian written collection of these legends in either Hebrew or Aramaic. Nevertheless Charles (­Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha­ of the (Received) Old Testament II, 126-129) holds the original to be a Jewish work with Christian interpolations. It is cast in the form of a story of the experiences of Adam and Eve, after their expulsion from Paradise. The apocalyptic material it contains is not considerable.

 

[RUS, 59-60; AOT, 141-167; ROW, 113]

 

19. The Greek Life of Adam and Eve

 

     The ­Life of Adam and Eve­ in its Greek dress was first edited in modern times just after the American Civil War by Constantine Tischindorf (­Apocalypse Apocrypha­, Leipzig, 1866, 1-23) from four manuscripts; and then by Ceriani (­Monumenta sacra et profana­ I, Milan, 1868, 138-148) from a single manuscript (of the 11th century); and by James (“A Fragment of the Apocalypse of Adam in Greek; Apocrypha Anecdota: A Collection of Thirteen Apocryphal Books and Fragments” in ­Texts and Studies­ 2.3, Cambridge, 1893, 138-145). Tischendorf gave the work a title of his own—­Apocalypse of Moses­—even though his four manuscripts all gave as a title (with minor variations): “­The Story and Life of Adam and Eve, Revealed by God to Moses his Servant, When he Received the Tables of the Law of the Covenant from the Lord's Hand, Being Taught by the Archangel Michael­.”

 

     Today, more than 20 manuscripts of this Greek work are known. So far as its origin is concerned, there is nothing that is necessarily Christian about it; and for this reason many regard it as a purely Jewish work—some even going to far as to claim that it is an translation from a Semitic work (i.e., a book originally written in either Hebrew or Aramaic). But there are two serious objections to this view:

 

1. There are present in the work certain Greek terms and expressions which are unlikely to be found in a translation.

 

2. References and allusions to the ­Received Old Testament­ betray dependence by the author on the Greek form of that work, known as the ­Septuagint­.

 

     All that can safely be said, then, about the Greek work is that its author—whether Jew or Christian—constructed his narrative making use of such Jewish traditions or written sources as were known to him; that he almost certainly wrote in Greek; and that in all probability he is to be dated within the first three Christian centuries. In the Greek work there is displayed more Gnostic than apocalyptic influence; but it may still be said to contain a fair amount of Christian interpolation. Wells (in the introduction to Charles’ Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the (Received) Old Testament­ (1913, 123-154) saw the author as a Jew of the Dispersion, who wrote perhaps at Alexandria between 60AD and 300AD, and probably in the earliest years of this period. He reckoned, however, with the possibility that the extant Greek text may be a slightly revised version. BET would date the work to 80-100AD. RUS notes that its contents indicate that it was probably written some time in the 1st century AD; and since the Temple is apparently still standing we may date its composition before 70AD. It is a haggadic work concerning the lives of Adam and Eve and records incidents supplementary to the Received story. The apocalyptic element in the book is small but significant.

 

[For references, see below under the bibliography for #20]

 

20. The Latin ­Vita Adae et Evae­

 

     Hastings says that the ­Latin Life of Adam and Eve­ is merely a Latin rendering of the same material as is covered in the Greek book of this name. It was first revealed to the modern world by Meyer (“Vita Adae et Evae” in Abhandlaugen der Philosdopich Philologischen Classe der Koniglich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissens-chaften­ XIV.3, Munich, 1878, 185-250), who published his edition from 12 manuscripts (9th-15th centuries). Some 50 years later, Mozley (“The Vita Adae” in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XXX, 1929, 121-149) printed a text based on a further 12 manuscripts, all of them in the English language (13th-15th centuries). Mozley’s text does not differ markedly from Meyer’s in content: it only makes even more clear what is already evident from Meyer—that the medieval copyists of the book had no scruples about layering and expanding the phraseology of their original whenever they felt so inclined, or about incorporating odd scraps of additional material that came their way wherever it seemed appropriate.

 

     That we have here to do with the alteration of a Greek original is evident for three reasons.

 

1. Despite the very considerable differences in detail between the Latin ­Vita Adae et Evae­ and the Greek Life of Adam and Eve­, the Greek version, which came first, covers in all essentials the same ground as the Latin work.

 

2. The occurrence from time to time of transliterated Greek words (e.g., such as those words used for the spices mentioned at ­Vita­ 42:3—(And Eve and Seth returned, carrying with them sweet-smelling herbs—nard, and crocus, and calamus, and cinnamon)—makes it as reasonably certain as anything can be that the Latin ­Vita­ is basically a translation of a Greek original.

 

3. Even in its Latin dress, the ­Vita­, though an altered compound of Jewish and Christian elements, shows the Jewish predominating. This is altogether the case in the Greek ­Life­, where AOT says that there is nothing in it that is necessarily Christian.

 

     The ­Vita­ is best explained as the translation of a later recension of the ­Life­; or (possibly, but less probably) as the translation of one of the sources behind the ­Life­.

 

     That the ­Vita­ is also an altered compound of Jewish and Christian elements is quite definite.

 

1. The ­Life­ lacks the account of the penitence of Adam and Eve contained in ­Vita­ 1-21.

 

2. The ­Vita­, on the other hand, lacks the much more elaborate account of the fall of Adam in the ­Life­ [where it expands what some regard as an original Aramaic work lying behind the remains of the Greek work (above) by some 16 additional chapters].

 

3. The legend that appears as ­Vita­ 50-51—that, in accordance with Eve’s final instructions before her death, Seth wrote down the story of Adam and Eve and all that he had heard and seen from them, both on tablets of stone and on tablets of clay, so that whatever form the threatened judgment took, either fire or flood, the record of one or other might survive—is a Jewish tradition, known also to Josephus of Palestine (d.c.100 AD, ­Antiquities of the Jews­ I.2:3—(And that their inventions might not be lost before they were sufficiently known, upon Adam’s prediction that the world was to be destroyed at one time by the force of fire, and at another time by the violence and quantity of water, they made two pillars; the one of brick, the other of stone: they inscribed their discoveries on them both, that in case the pillar of brick should be destroyed by the flood, the pillar of stone might remain, and exhibit those discoveries to mankind; and also inform them that there was another pillar of brick erected by them. Now this remains in the land of Siriad to this day.).

 

4. On the other hand, the speech of Michael in ­Vita­ 41:2-42:5 is almost verbally identical with his speech as given in the Latin “A” recension of ­Acts of Pilate­ III:1 (4th century), a late, indisputably Christian, work.

 

5. Neither the account in ­Acts of Pilate­ III:1 (Latin A)—or, for that matter, the speech as it appears in slightly different form in Latin B of the (later) Greek version of the ­Acts of Pilate­—contains the concluding sentences of Michael’s speech (which appears only at ­Vita­ 43:1)—(But as for you, Seth, go to your father Adam, for his lifespan is complete. Six days from now his soul will leave his body; and, when it goes out, you will see what marvels in the heaven on the earth and in the luminaries of heaven.)—thus indicating further expansion in a later document (H).

 

6. Some manuscripts of the ­Vita­ add to 51:3 (the last point at which they all agree), a further account of how the tablets made by Seth recording the family inventions survived the Flood; but that even so, no one could read them. Solomon, however, had the secret of the script revealed to him by the same angel who had held the hand of Seth when he wrote them; and the account concludes by stating that on these stones was found what Enoch, the seventh from Adam, had prophesied before the Flood about the advent of Christ—which is clearly a Christian addition.

 

7. Still other manuscripts have further additions, including information about the materials out of which Adam’s body was made, and the statement that he was fashioned in that place in which Jesus was born, that is to say in Bethlehem, which is in the middle of the world—clearly another purely Christian addition.

 

[AOT, 141-167; ROW, 113; RUS, 59-60; HAS, 37-38; BET, 86; SCH, 205; JAM, 138-145]

 

21. The Greek Testament of Adam

 

     The text of the principal remains of the ­Testament of Adam­ or Apocalypse of Adam­ is to be found in the Journal Asiatique­ V.2, 1853, pp. 427-471. They are there given in Syriac and for the most part also in Arabic with a masterly essay by Renan. Further light was subsequently thrown on them by Hort in his article on books of Adam in the ­Dictionary of Christian Biography.­ Since the date of this last work, not much has been added to the material. JAM contributed a small fragment in the shape of a Greek version of the “Table of the Hours of the Day and Night,” which, in Renan’s edition, appears as Fragments 1 and 2.

 

     This Greek fragment (in ­Texts and Studies­ II.ii.127) is not altogether new, though it had not been hitherto recognized as coming from the ­Testament of Adam­. In the notes to his edition of Michael Psellus’ ­De Operationibus Daemonum­ (the text and notes to which are reprinted in Migne’s ­Cedrenus­ II—apparently, Migne, Patrologia Graeca­ CXXII, 1864) Gilbert Gaulmyn of Moulins quoted part of it from the manuscript from which the whole is now printed. This is a great magical manuscript at Paris (­Codex Graecae­ 2419) written at the beginning of the 16th century in a rather difficult hand. It is a perfect storehouse of Byzantine “occultism,” containing much Solomonic matter, and would no doubt repay more careful examination.

 

     There are, then, six reports about the ­Greek Testament of Adam­, in the following locations:

 

1. Fragments published by Renan, viz: FRAGMENTS 1 & 2 (“Hours of the Night and of the Day”)—FRAGMENT 3 (prophecy, addressed by Adam to Seth, of the coming of Christ; Jesus’ promise to deliver Adam; a few lines on the Fall of Man; a prophecy of the Deluge; and the burial of Adam (all of which is entitled “End of the Testament of Adam”)—and FRAGMENT 4 (an account of the nine Orders of Angels, containing mention of Sennacherib’s defeat, and of the visions of Zechariah: consequently in its present form not Adamic.) [This fragment is also called “End of the Testament.”]

 

2. One more small fragment of the Greek ­Testament­ appears to exist in the ­Letter of Barnabas­, where at II:10 there is what purports to be the second half of a single quotation of Jesus (underscored), which has otherwise no known source—(And what He tells us is, “the sacrifice for the Lord is a contrite heart; ­a heart that glorifies its Maker is a sweet savor to the Lord­.”).

 

3. Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200, ­Adversus Omnes Haereses­ IV.17) after quoting ­Isaiah­ 1:11a—(“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?” says the Lord.)—goes on with the following—(And He elsewhere declares: “The sacrifice to God is an afflicted heart: a sweet savor to God is a heart glorifying Him who formed it.”). The passage is not now found in Scripture; but virtually the same words are quoted also by

 

4. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, in ­Paedagogus­ III:12) who says—(How, then, shall I crown myself, or anoint with ointment, or offer incense to the Lord? “An odor of a sweet fragrance,” it is said, “is the heart that glorifies Him who made it.”).

 

5. Clement of Alexandria (­Stromateis­ II:18, underscored)—(“Break every bond of wickedness; ­for this is the sacrifice that is acceptable to the Lord, a contrite heart that seeks its Maker.”)—after earlier quoting Isaiah­ 1:11a (which he does also just before the fragment quoted above), seems to preserve a loose memory of the fragment in question as a continuation of ­Isaiah­ 58:6b—(to loose the bonds of injustice,)—for the entire of Isaiah­ 58:6—(Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?)—clearly does not contain the fragment in question.

 

6. Finally, George Cedrenus (fl. 11th century AD, ­Synopsis Historiarum­ I.41, preserved in Migne, Patrologia Graeca­ CXXI-CXXII, 1864, 18) has apparently (H; I know no Greek) preserved a quotation or memory of the same saying, perhaps drawn from a writing by Theophanes the Confessor (c.758-818AD, upon whose labors in part the earlier part of Cedrenus’ work is based).

 

[JAM, 138-145; ENC, V, 129-130; XXII, 66]

 

22. The Syriac Testament of Adam

 

     AOT (bibliography) acknowledges very briefly the existence of two Adam-books in the Syriac language. The Syriac Testament of Adam­, he says, has no points of contact at all with the Coptic Apocalypse of Adam­ (part of the Gnostic-Christian Library discovered in upper Egypt in 1945). HAS says that the text of this work was first published with a French translation by Renan (“Fragments du Libre Gnostique Inutile, Apocalypse d'Adam, ou Penitance d'Adam, ou Testament d'Adam, publies d'apres deux versions syriaques” in ­Journal Asiatique­ I, Paris, 1853, 427-471). AOT also says that this book has nothing to do with another Ethiopic book entitled the ­Ethiopic Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan­.

 

     [Of the recently discovered ­Coptic Apocalypse of Adam­ (below, item 31), Parrott (“The Apocalypse of Adam” in Robinson’s The Nag Hammadi Library in English­, New York, 1977, 156) says that its primary characters figure prominently as recipients and bearers of Gnostic tradition. Parrott thought that the Coptic work might represent a transitional state in the development from Jewish to Gnostic apocalyptic; that it did not disclose any explicitly Christian themes; and that the apocalypse demonstrated the existence of a sort of Gnosticism which, though non-Christian, still contained a well-developed myth proclaiming a heavenly redeemer.]

 

     Kmosko (“Testamentum Patris Nostri Adam” in ­Patrologia Syriaca­ I.11, Paris, 1907, 1306-1060) has here provided the original Syriac with a Latin translation; and he and Riessler (Altjudisches Schrifttum Ausserhalb der Bibel 2. ­Auflage­, Heidelberg, 1966, 1084-1090) continue the discussion, prevalent in all these citations, about the relationship between this book and the other known Syriac Adam-book (discussed just below); or with the Ethiopic ­Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan­, or the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Adam­; or whether they are or are not related to a hypothetical Greek-Latin-Armenian-Georgian-Ethiopic tradition.

 

[AOT, 141-146]

 

23. The Arabic Testament of Adam

 

     The existence of this work lies upon the following citation by F. Robinson (“Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature” in ­Apocrypha Anecdota, A Collection of Thirteen Apocryphal Books and Fragments: Texts and Studies­, Cambridge, 1893); and it seems limited to the phrase: fragments of the work also exist in Syriac and Arabic.

 

[JAM, 138-145]

 

24. The Syriac Book of the Cave of Treasures

 

     HAS very briefly notes the existence of two Syriac works having to do with Adam. The ­Syriac Book of the Cave of Treasures­ he thought—he called it the “­Treasure-Cave"­—resembled the ­Ethiopic Conflict of Adam and Eve With Satan.­ The Syriac text, together with a French translation, was published in 1853 by Renan (see above under 22). It has also been translated from the Syriac by Budge (­The Book of the Cave of Treasures ... Translated from the Syriac text of the British Museum MS. Add. 25875­, London, 1927, 51-74); and also by Riessler (Altjudisches Schrifttum Ausserhalb der Bibel 2, ­Auflage­, Heidelberg, 1966, 944-951).

 

[AOT, 141-146; HAS, 36-38]

 

25. The Armenian Book of Adam

 

     The Armenian version is entitled the ­Book of Adam­. AOT says it is closely allied to the Greco-Latin Adam tradition. It was apparently first translated by Conybeare (“On the Apocalypse of Moses” in ­Jewish Quarterly Review­ VII, London, 1895, 216-235), followed by Hovsepheantz (A Treasury of Old and New Primitive Writers, Uncanonical Books of the Old Testament, Venice, 1896, 1-26, 307-332) who brought out an edition of the work. A German translation followed, by Preuschen (“Die Apokryphen Gnostischen Adamschriften aus dem Armenischen Ubersetzt uind Untersucht” in Festgruss für Berhnard Stade­, Giessen, 1900, 163-252); and a second English translation is also included in Issaverdens (­The Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament found in the Armenian Manuscripts of the Library of St. Lazsarus, Translated into English­, 2nd ed., Venice, 1934). AOT says of this version that he will make no attempt to delineate the very complicated interrelationships that exist between it and the Greco-Latin tradition.

 

[AOT, 141-146]

 

26. The Book of Adam, after Harnack

 

     Harnack (“Der Apokryphe Brief des Paulusschulers Titus” in ­Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse­ XVII, 1925, 192) says that the allusion in the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­ to the fall of Adam (underscored)—(So also did the first created man fall because of a virgin: ­when he saw a woman giving him a smile, he fell­)—is a remnant of a lost ­Book of Adam­.

 

[NTA, II, 151]

 

27. The Ethiopic Confrontation of Adam and Eve with Satan

 

     AOT is content to say that this work has a number of points of contact with the ­Greek Life of Adam and Eve­; but nothing like as many as the Latin ­Vita Adae et Evae­ has with the Armenian Book of Adam­. The work was first translated by Dillman (­Das Christliche Adambuch des Morgenlandes aus dem Athiopischen mit Bemerkungen Ubersetzt­, Gottingen, 1853); and this was followed by Trumpp (“Der Kampf Adams: Aethiopischer Text, Verglichen mit dem Arabischen Originaltext,” in ­Abhandlungen der Philosophisch-Philologischen Classe der Koniglich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften­ XV:3, Munich, 1881, 1-172); and finally in English by Malan (­The Book of Adam and Eve; Also Called the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan­, London, 1882). HAS also mentions the Dillman and Malan studies.

 

[HAS, 37-38; AOT, 141-146]

 

28. The Arabic Confrontation of Adam and Eve with Satan

 

     The only trace of such a work appears to lie in the mention of one in the title of Trumpp’s article—(“Der Kampf Adams: Aethiopischer Text, Verglichen mit dem Arabischen Originaltext” in ­Abhandlungen der Philosophisch-Philologischen Classe der Koniglich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften­ XV.3, Munich, 1881, 1-172).

 

[AOT, 141-146]

 

29. The Slavonic Adam-Book

 

     AOT says nothing about this tradition; but to judge from the information contained in the titles of two of its bibliographic items, there is one, and it is somehow connected with the Bogomiles, and therefore cannot in its Slavonic dress be earlier than the middle of the 10th century. See on this Jagic (“Slavische Beitrage zu den Biblischen Apocryphen I: Die Altkirchen-slavischen Texte des Adam-buches” in ­Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaft. Philosophisch-Philologischen Classe­ XLII, Vienna, 1893, 1-104); Ivanov (Bogomilski Knigi i Legendi­, Sofia, 1925, 207-227); and Turdeanu (“Apocryphoes Bogomiles et Apocryphes pseudo-Bogomiles” in Revue de l'Histore des Religions­ 138, 1950, 187-194).

 

[AOT, 141-146]

 

30. The Georgian Adam-Book

 

     But recently discovered, the Georgian Adam-Book—the bibliography does not even so much as betray the name of the work—was first published by Kurcik’idze (in ­P’ilologiuri Dziebani­ I, Tiflis, 1974, 97-136). AOT says nothing at all about this work. ODC, however, says that the ­Received New Testament­ was first translated into Georgian apparently from Armenian—and from better texts than any now surviving Armenian manuscripts. The Georgian language probably owes its alphabet to Mesrob of Armenia (c.345-404AD), historian and Patriarch of Armenia. By inference, all this connection with Armenia could mean that the Georgian Adam literature is allied to the Armenian material under the name ­Book of Adam­; but this reasoning is certainly far from conclusive.

 

[AOT, 141-146; ODC, 550]

 

31. The Coptic Apocalypse of Adam

 

     Part of the ­Nag Hammadi Library­, the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Adam­, according to NAG, depends heavily on Jewish apocalyptic traditions; in fact, the document may represent a transitional stage in the development from Jewish to Gnostic apocalyptic. Its date may therefore be very early, perhaps as early as the 1st or 2nd century AD (NHE says 125-150AD.) NAG also denies that the work discloses any explicitly Christian themes; but in this NAG is challenged by NHG, who says that the text has provoked great interest as to whether it is Christian or non-Christian, noting that there are some features in the text which, if one knew already that the text were Christian, would be regarded as clear echoes of Christian traditions. With regard to synoptic traditions, there is the reference in 76.15 to fruit-bearing trees reminiscent of Matthew­ 7:16—(You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?)—a text which was used by other Christian-Gnostic writers. Similarly, the text at 77.1-2, says that the Illuminator will perform signs and wonders. This is not a quotation of a specific Synoptic text but it could be a good summary of Jesus’ activity in the synoptic gospels [and is very similar in this respect to Acts­ 2:22—(“Men, Israelites, listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that Good did through him among you, as you yourselves know—)].

 

     NHG cites a full bibliography on this question by Fallon (“The Enthronement of Sabaoth” in ­Nag Hammadi Studies X­, Leiden, 1978, 69-70) and Shellrude (“The Apocalypse of Adam: Evidence for a Christian Gnostic Provenance” in ­Nag Hammadi Studies XVII­, Leiden 1981, 82-91), and notes that the Christian allusions in this text, if they exist, are at best remote. NTB, however, finds three probable conceptual or verbal parallels with two texts in the Received apocalypse:

 

V,5;78.9-13;78.22-24;79.11-15­: And a bird came, took the child who was born and brought him onto a high mountain. And he was nourished by the bird of heaven. … he and his mother; he was brought to a desert place. He was nourished there. … The Virgin became pregnant and gave birth to the child there. She nourished him on a border of the desert. When he had been nourished,

Revelation 12:5-6,14­: she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. … but the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.

 

[NAG, 256; NTB, 260-261; NHG, 20-21; NHE, 74-75]

 

***

 

V. THE PATRIARCHS IN GENERAL

 

32. The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs

 

     The ­Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs­ professes to relate, in twelve books, the various messages that each of the twelve sons of Jacob gave on their respective deathbeds to their descendants. In these accounts, they give some details of their lives, embodying particulars not found in the ­Received Old Testament­, building there on moral exhortations for the guidance of their descendants, most of which are connected with historical examples from the ­Received Old Testament­. (The impetus for the book’s composition appears to be the prophecies given by Jacob to his sons on his own deathbed, reported at ­Genesis­ 49:2-7.)

 

     That we have here to do with the final redaction of a single author seems without contradiction. (1) First, the patriarch (in every case) gives his immediate family details about his own earthly life and experience. (2) He then discourses at some length either on a particular virtue they should cultivate or on a particular vice they should avoid, charging them to keep the laws of God and obey the commands of God. (3) He then warns them of the evils that will come upon them as a result of their moral deterioration, usually coupling this with the assurance that at the end of time God will bring salvation both to Israel and the Gentiles. (4) Finally, he asks to be buried in Canaan at the family burial vaults in Hebron; (5) moreover, in every case, it is also recorded that this was done.

 

     Further, it appears that we also have to do with an author who was a product of Hellenistic-Greek (as opposed to Hebrew) culture. (1) The work presents none of the peculiar marks which characterize a version (indicating it is not a translation from Hebrew: H). (2) At least four expressions are used which pertain to Greek philosophy. (3) There are numerous instances of plays-on-Greek-words, or puns (­paronomasia­); and finally, (4) the Greek word meaning “testament” is used by the writer, and for this word there is no strictly equivalent word in Hebrew.

 

     The book is almost certainly quoted by the following Fathers:

 

1. Tertullian of Carthage, d.c.220AD (­Adversus Marcionem­ V.1)—(For among the types and prophetic blessings which he pronounced over his sons, Jacob, when he turned his attention to Benjamin, exclaimed, “Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf; in the morning He shall devour the prey, and at night he shall impart nourishment.”)—quotes a portion of Benjamin­ XI (underscored)—(­And I shall no longer be called a ravening wolf­, on account of your ravages, but a worker of the Lord, distributing food to them that work what is good.).

 

2. Origen of Alexandria, (d.c.254AD, ­Homily on Joshua­ 15.6), quoting from ­Reuben­ 2 and 3, where Origen (so Rufinus of Aquileia, d.410AD) calls the work he quotes a certain little book which is called ­The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs­, adding that it is extra-canonical;

 

3. Jerome of Strido, (d.420AD, ­Adversus Vigilantium­ 6; ­Tractate on the Psalms­ 15.7), in which latter work he abstracts a statement which is most naturally understood as a free quotation from ­Napthali­ 2.8, adding that he found it in a ­Book of the Patriarchs­;

 

4. the ­Canons of the Council of Rome­, 494AD;

 

5. possible references in documents relating to the Council of Bracara (563AD), though it is far from improbable that in some of these passages the reference may be to a different writing alluded to at Apostolic Constitutions 6:16­;

 

6. Pseudo-Athanasius of Alexandria, (6th century, ­Synopsis Sacrae Scripturae­);

 

7. Procopius of Gaza, (d.c.538AD, ­Commentary on Genesis­ 38);

 

8. the ­Canon of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century AD), where it occurs as item 4 entitled The Patriarchs under the general heading And the following apocryphal; and

 

9. Nicephorus of Constantinople, (d.829AD, ­Stichometry­), where its length is given as 5100 lines, and it is given as item two, just below Enoch ...... 4800 lines, under the general heading Apocrypha of the Old Testament are the following:.

 

     Grabe (­Spicilegium SS. Patrum ut et Haereticorum Seculi post Christum Natum­ I, 1698), their first modern critic, and the first writer to issue a printed edition, believed that in their present form the ­Testaments­ embody both Jewish and Christian elements, and suggested what has become the dominant theory of their composition: that the work was written by a Jew, and was afterwards interpolated by a Christian. This theory was revived and developed by Schnapp [(­Die Testamente der zwolf Patriarchen untersucht­, Halle, 1884); widely disseminated by Schurer (­A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ­ II.iii, Edinburgh, 1886, 114-124); and placed in classical form by Charles (­The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs­, London, 1908, xvii)], viz: that the original language of the books was Hebrew; that when purged of their Christian interpolations, they are patently Jewish; that even in pre-Christian times they received additions—by the hand of an anti-Maccabean writer; that they were written in the later years of John Hyrcanus I (135-104BC), in all probability between 109-106; and that their author was a Pharisee, who combined loyalty to the best traditions of his party with unbounded admiration for Hyrcanus, in whom the Pharisaic party had come to recognize the actual Messiah. Perhaps the most recent exponent of this theory is Kee (“The Ethical Dimensions of the Testaments of the XII Patriarchs as a Clue to Provenance” in ­New Testament Studies­ XXIV.2, January, 1978, 259-270), who suggested that they were produced in a Jewish environment that thought and spoke in Greek, possibly in Egypt, about 100BC. Other scholars in sympathy with an originally Jewish origin for the ­Testaments­ have suggested other dates, viz: Meyer (­Ursprung und Anfange des Christentums­, II, 1925, 44), end of the 3rd century BC; Eissfeldt (­Einleitung in das Alte Testament­, 1956, 785-786), 2nd century BC; Bickerman (­Journal of Biblical Literature­ LXIX, 1950, 245ff), 1st quarter of the 2nd century BC; Lods (­Histoire de la Litterature Hebraique et Juive­, 1950, 833), between 168-163BC; Pfeiffer (­History of New Testament Times,­ 1949, 64), end of the 2nd century BC; and Torrey (The Apocryphal Literature­, 1945, 131), 1st century BC.

 

     Although the above is certainly the majority scholarly opinion, there is another, which holds that the author of the ­Testaments­ was, in fact, some form of Christian. This seems first to have been stated by Vorstman (Disquisitio de Tesetamentorum XII Patriarcharum Origine et Pretio­, 1857) and Messel (­Abhandlungen zur Semitischen Religionskunde und Sprachwissenschaft­, 1918, 355ff). ANF thought the person to be a converted Jew, who sought to win over his countrymen to the same faith, and thus employed the names of the patriarchs as a vehicle for conveying instruction to their descendants, as winning by this means for his teaching at any rate a prima facie­ welcome in the eyes of the Jewish people; although it seemed doubtful how far one could attempt with safety to determine accurately the religious standpoint of the writer beyond the obvious fact of his Jewish origin (though some have attempted to show that he was a Nazarene, and others a Jewish-Christian of Pauline tendencies). Perhaps the most forceful consideration of this theory has been enunciated by de Jong (­The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs­, 1953; ­The Testaments of the XII Patriarchs and the New Testament­, 1957, 550; ­Novum Testamentum­ IV, 1960-1961, 188) who maintained that the work was composed c.200AD by a Christian author using much Jewish material in his construction; that the contents were greatly influenced by both Jewish and Christian oral tradition; that its Christian author was the last of a series of redactors of Testament­ material, which itself gradually grew in size and was adapted to meet various needs; that there may have been at least one Jewish stage in the writing of the book; that a Hebrew ­Testament of Levi­ may have formed its starting-point, to be followed later by a Testament of Naphtali­ and possibly also a ­Testament of Judah­ on the same model; but that in their final form the ­Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs­ is essentially a Christian work. Likewise, Milik (Revue Biblique­ lxii, 1955, 298; ­Ten Years of Discovery in the Wilderness of Judaea­, 1959, 34-35) claims for the Testaments­ an at least partly Christian origin, saying that a Jewish-Christian of the 1st or 2nd century AD, adopting such testaments as were already in existence, completed a set of testaments for all twelve patriarchs, using the same literary form in each case.

 

     ANF also saw a 1st-2nd century AD dating, saying that it cannot be placed very late in the 2nd century AD, seeing that it is almost certainly quoted by Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220), and that Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254) cites it by name. We can, however, approximate much more nearly than this; for the allusions to the destruction of Jerusalem assign the work to a date subsequent to that event (70AD). This would harmonize perfectly with what is the natural inference from several passages (variously bracketed and underscored, below) in ­Benjamin­ XI—namely, (a) that the Gentiles were now a majority in the church (); (b) that there are present in the text many formulae which express the Incarnation {}; and (c) that the components of the Received New Testament­ have been collected into a volume []—all three of which, it is alleged, are post-1st century AD developments (H).

 

And I shall no longer be called a ravening wolf on account of your ravages, but a worker of the Lord, distributing food to them that work what is good. And one shall rise up from my seed in the latter times, {beloved of the Lord}, hearing upon the earth His voice, enlightening with new knowledge (all the Gentiles, bursting in upon Israel for salvation with the light of knowledge, and tearing it away from it like a wolf, and giving it to the synagogue of the Gentiles.) And until [the consummation of the ages] shall he be in the synagogues of the Gentiles, and among their rulers, as {a strain of music in the mouth} of all; and {he shall be inscribed} in [the holy books, both his work and his word,] and {he shall be a chosen one of God} for ever; and because of him my father Jacob instructed me, saying, {He shall fill up that which lacketh} of thy tribe. ...

 

     De Jonge’s challenge inevitably forced on all those interested in the ­Testaments­ a fundamental reconsideration of the question of their origin. From the ensuing debate it has become clear that (1) neither hypothesis is tenable in its extreme form; (2) that many of the details of both arguments require considerable modification if either is to be seriously maintained; and (3) that certain lines of demarcation—the distinction between sharply defined “Jewish” or “Christian” contents; or the supposedly great differences of text resulting from either the Primary-Jewish Theory or the Primary-Christian Theory—can no longer be drawn as finely as was once believed.

 

     At least seven complete or incomplete versions of this work, or portions of a work which may have borne this title, have survived to our time.

 

1. HEBREW. Among the manuscripts discovered in the genizah of an ancient synagogue in Cairo, and published in the early years of the 20th century, there was found a complete text of a Testament of Napthali­ in Hebrew. (A copy of the Hebrew ­Napthali­ was also discovered in Cave 4, as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls library of Qumran.) By some scholars the Hebrew Napthali­ is alleged to have several points of contact with the Greek Napthali­; but by others that it differs so markedly from the Greek that it is certain that the Hebrew could not be the Semitic original of which the Greek version is a translation, despite some alleged points of contact with Greek ­Napthali­ 5-6.

 

2. ARAMAIC. There were also discovered in the Cairo genizah and published in 1907 some sizable fragments of a hitherto unknown Aramaic ­Testament of Levi­. Subsequently in the 1950’s, further fragments containing three separate texts of an Aramaic ­Levi­ came to light in Cave 4, as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls library at Qumran. These confirm the antiquity of the recension preserved in the medieval genizah fragments: but scholars differ as to whether the Aramaic ­Levi­ is the original of the Hebrew ­Levi­; and while some scholars, citing alleged verbal parallels with Greek ­Levi­ 8-9 and 11-13, have identified the Aramaic-Hebrew work as the precursor of the Greek, others have also said that the Aramaic-Hebrew ­Levi­ differs so markedly from the Greek ­Levi­ that it is certain that the Aramaic-Hebrew ­Levi­ can not be the Semetic original of the Greek production.

 

3. GREEK. For this version, 19 continuous Greek manuscripts and three collections of extracts survive. In his edition of the Greek text of the ­Testaments­, Charles (1913) assumed the existence of two ancient recensions of the work, which he believed he could trace back to what he thought to be the original Hebrew of the ­Testaments­. He thought, however, that for the most part the differences between the Greek textual traditions were accounted for as having arisen by chance, based on corruption in the process of translation; and de Jonge later rejected Charles’ classification, concluding that two Greek manuscripts of the 10th century have preserved the oldest stage of the Greek archetype. The definitive edition of this text now appears to be that by de Jonge and Kortheweg (“The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs: A Critical Edition of the Greek Text” in ­Pseudepigrapha Veteris Tesetamenti Graece­ I.ii, Leiden, 1978).

 

4. ARMENIAN. Charles knew 12 Armenian manuscripts of the Testaments­, nearly all from Western Europe: by 1969, this had grown to 45. The Armenian manuscripts remain translations from the Greek, and give no evidence of dependence on Semitic originals, though they at times yield superior readings to the Greek. The most readily available English version of an Armenian text of the ­Testaments­—there does not appear to be as yet any definitive translation—is by Issaverdens (­The Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament Found in the Armenian Manuscripts of the Library of St. Lazarus, Translated into English­, 2nd. ed., Venice, 1934, 267-358), supplemented by Stone (­The Testament of Levi: A First Study of the Armenian Manuscripts of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs in the Convent of St. James, Jerusalem, with Text, Critical Apparatus, Notes and Translation­, Jerusalem, 1969), who has published part of their 45 manuscripts.

 

5. SLAVONIC. The Slavonic manuscripts are few and late, consisting mostly of material excerpted from Greek sources in which ­Received Old Testament­ narratives are retold in expanded form. Its variants were considered important by Charles. It appears most recently in Turdeanu (“Les testaments des Douze Patriarchs en Slave” in Journal for the Study of Judaism­ I, 1970, 148-184).

 

6. SERBIAN. AOT is content to mention this version (not earlier than the 12th century) without giving further information. References to it are probably to be found in Sinker (­A Descriptive Catalogue of the Editions of the Printed Text of the Versions of the Testamenta XII Patriarcharum­, Cambridge, 1910).

 

7. LATIN. This version was made in the 13th century by Robert Grosseste, bishop of Lincoln, in a very literal Latin translation, with the collaboration of John of Basingstoke, archdeacon of Leicester, from a 10th century Greek manuscript now in the University Library at Cambridge (where it is numbered Ff.1.24). Matthew Paris (Historia Anglorum­, 1252AD, p. 1112) gives the following account of the matter—(This Master John had mentioned to Robert, Bishop of Lincoln, that when he was studying at Athens he had seen and heard from learned Greek doctors certain things unknown to the Latins. Among these he found the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs­, that is to say, of the sons of Jacob. Now it is plain that these really form part of the sacred volume, but have been long hidden through the jealousy of the Jews, on account of the evident prophecies about Christ which are clearly seen in them. Consequently this same bishop sent into Greece; and when he obtained them, he translated them from Greek into Latin, as well as certain other things.). From this Latin version, the ­Testaments­ were translated into German (1544); Dutch (1570); English (1581); Danish (1601); French (1713); and even into Icelandic (also during the 18th century).

 

[ODC, 1335; ANF, VIII, 5-8; AOT, 505-600; ROW, 68-69; KEE, 175; BET, 85; SCH, 201; RUS, 55-57; JHC, 775-781; VER, 50, 210, 223]

 

***

 

ENOCH

 

33. The First Book of Enoch

 

     The First Book of Enoch­, called also ­I Enoch­, or ­The Ethiopic Book of Enoch­ or simply ­The Ethiopic Enoch­ (because a complete manuscript of the work exists only in that language), is the oldest of three works connected with the name of Enoch that have come down to us. [The last of them, which appears to betray traces of an anti-Christian polemic, is of post-Christian date, and has gradually come to light, mainly in fragments, from c.1870 onwards. A continuous Hebrew text was first published by H. Odeberg (­III Enoch or the Hebrew Book of Enoch­, Cambridge, 1928) from a manuscript in the Bodleian Library of c.1511AD. Assigned to the latter part of the 3rd century AD (other dates have been suggested) it has been termed a characteristically rabbinic compilation; and being apparently (H) a purely Jewish production, need not detain us.] In ­Genesis­ 5:18-24, we are told of Enoch, a descendant of Adam in the eighth generation, who because of his pious life was carried off bodily by God. Because it was assumed on the basis of this note that Enoch lived in the celestial world close by the throne of God, and thereby granted special knowledge of the Divine secrets, including the future of the world, many revelations were attributed to him; and ­I Enoch­ forms one of three collections of these.

 

     Copies of ­I Enoch­ were first brought back to Europe by James Bruce, the adventurous Scottish traveler to Africa, in 1773. Excerpts from it were first published by de Sacy (“Notice sur le livre d’Henoch” in Magazine Encyclopedique­, June 1, 1800, 382), together with Latin translations of chapters 1-2, 15-16 and 23-32; the first English version was published by a man named Lawrence in 1821. The book was originally studied as a unity; but it is now commonly agreed that I Enoch is in fact a collection of several previously independent writings that have been put together and edited. SCH (1975) believes they all betray a more or less pronounce apocalyptic origin, and that the combination of these ideas was undoubtedly undertaken in the interests of specifically apocalyptic piety; but that even so we have here to do with a collection of related materials not identical in form, the conceptions of which now stand together in the service of the universalistic apocalyptic hope of overcoming this world and its history.

 

     The five sections are as follows:

 

1. Chapters 1-36 (from which some distinguish chapters 1-5) is called by some the ­Angleology Book­, but is commonly known as the ­Book of Watchers­ [because three our of four extracts preserved by Syncellus of Palestine (fl.c.800AD, below) were certainly taken from it, and he says that they were from the first book of Enoch, concerning the Watchers.] This was probably the most ancient of the five books that went to make up this work. (a) There were no less than five copies of it in Aramaic at Qumran, the oldest of which is assigned to the first half of the 2nd century BC, thus taking back the date of its original composition to the 3rd century BC. (b) Fragments of it found at Akhmim; and this, together with Syncellus’ extracts and the fact that it was well known to the Fathers, provide evidence for the existence of a complete Greek version of it (the first language after Hebrew or Aramaic in which it would have existed: H). (c) It was quoted as Scripture by ­Jude­ (c.60-70AD). It is generally agreed that at least chapters 6-36 come from the 2nd century BC, and are among the earliest portions of the book. The probability is that it dates from the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (d.163BC), so Frey (“Apocryphes de l’Ancien Testament” in Pirot’s Supplement au Dictionnaire de la Bible­ I, 19928, col. 358), towards the end of his reign and after the writing of the Received Book of Daniel­.

 

2. Chapters 37-71, commonly known as the ­Book of Parables­, but also called the ­Similitudes of Enoch­, forms a complete contrast to chapters 1-36. (a) No Aramaic fragments of it were found at Qumran. (b) No traces of any version of it, apart from the Ethiopic, have survived. (c) No quotations of it have been found in the Fathers. (d) The work is notable for the number of verbal parallels with the ­Received New Testament­, and also makes use of several of the well-known ­Received New Testament­ Christological titles. Nevertheless, it has frequently been regarded as a bit of late Jewish Tradition (the verbal parallels with Matthew­ 25:31 and ­John­ 5:22 and 5:27, and the Christological titles, being explained as influencing the Book of Parables­, and not the other way round). It has been variously dated [last half 1st century BC (Charles); c.40-38BC, from the time of the first Roman procurators (Sjoberg); end of the 1st century AD (Knibb); 1st or 2nd century AD, by a Jew or a Jewish Christian (Milik)]. Black at first (1948) agreed with Sjoberg’s finding; but later, with Rowley (“The Development of Judaism in the Greek and Roman Periods” in ­Peak’s commentary on the Bible­, 1962, 697, section 608d) confessed that it is not free from suspicion of Christian influence or tampering.

 

3. Chapters 72-82, commonly known as the ­Book of Astronomy­, also called the ­Book of the Heavenly Luminaries­. It is in the main a book dealing with the laws of the heavenly bodies and the chronological systems allegedly derivable therefrom. Particular interest is shown in the calendar and in the substitution of a solar year for a lunar year. Fragments of four Aramaic manuscripts of this work were found at Qumran, but they attest a much fuller text than the 11 chapters now preserved in the Ethiopic version. ­Jubilees­ 4:17 records that Enoch wrote down in a book details about the signs of heaven according to the order of their months; and since the author of Jubilees­ (135-96BC) places this first among the works of Enoch known to him, it is probable that he regarded it as the most significant part of the Enoch corpus, and in consequence may well have known it in its longer form. The oldest of the Aramaic texts is dated by Milik to the end of the 3rd or the beginning of the 2nd century BC, which takes the time of original composition of the ­Book of Astronomy­ to the beginning of the 3rd century BC at the latest. Charles believed this book was originally composed in Hebrew, and dated it before 110BC. AOT says that the existence of a Greek version of this book is made virtually certain by the Ethiopic version of this book (which was presumably made from one); Origen’s and Syncellus’ references (below); the likelihood that both Origen and Syncellus are likely to have known only a Greek text of this book; and by the Greek fragment discovered and published by Mai (below).

 

4. Chapters 84-90, commonly known as the ­Book of Dreams­, or ­Dream Visions­, in which some scholars include chapter 93. It is represented by fragments from four manuscripts from Qumran, the oldest of which is to be dated to the third quarter of the 2nd century BC. It was known to the author of ­Jubilees­; and its date of origin is securely anchored within the last years of the Maccabean revolt by details (­I Enoch­ 90:6-19) which identify Judas Maccabaeus (d.161BC) as apparently still active, indicating that this section must have been written before his death, and somewhat later than chapters 6-36. The existence of a Greek version of this book is made virtually certain by the quotation from it in the ­Letter of Barnabas­ and the fragment published by Mai (below).

 

5. Chapters 91-108, commonly known as the ­Letter of Enoch­ (from which some distinguish a unity 93:1-10+91:1-17 and call the ­Apocalypse of Weeks­) [the wording for which derives both from the colophon at the end of the Chester Beatty Michigan Papyrus and the Greek text of ­I Enoch­ 100:6 (these words of this epistle) as opposed to the Ethiopic (the words of this book)]. Fragments exist in Aramaic from two manuscripts: one from c.50BC corresponds to parts of chapters 91-94; and one from c.100BC corresponds to parts of chapters 104-107. The Apocalypse of Weeks­ is possibly to be dated also in the Maccabean period, and was written under the influence of the ­Received Book of Daniel­. SCH (1975) would date it c.170BC. Some also distinguish in these chapters a so-called ­Book of Admonitions­ (chapters 91-104); and Frey (­op.cit.­, col. 367) suggests the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (d.163BC); but the time of Alexander Jannaeus (102-76BC) might suit equally well or even better.

 

     When the five separate books were united is not conclusively known. Several, if not all, of these sections of ­I Enoch­ had in all probability a separate circulation for a lengthy period of years before the book assumed its present form; and indeed, attempts have been made to find a common group of people behind each of them at the several stages of writing [on which see van Andel (­De Structuur van de Henoch—Traditie en Het Nieuwe Testament­, 1955, with English summary). Divers opinions have been expressed by scholars concerning the dating of the several sections, and the final editing of the whole book. Charles (­The Book of Enoch­, 1912, liiff, lxiv) gives the period of its growth as 170-164BC, and reckons that it existed in its final form in the first half of the 1st century AD, if not a century before. BET (­Between the Testaments­, London, 1960) assigns chapters 6-36, 31-71, 83-90, and 91-104 to c.164BC. Rowley (­The Relevance of Apocrypha­, 1945, 52ff, 75ff) argues that the earliest sections are to be dated c.164BC, i.e., shortly after the writing of the ­Received Book of Daniel­; while SCH (1975) would date the latest sections to c.70BC. There are a number of minor additions of later date scattered throughout the book; besides these, chapters 105 and 108 (which are absent from the Greek text) are probably to be regarded as secondary and represent later insertions. Milik believes that it acquired its present form sometime during the later 3rd or 4th century AD; but the almost complete lack of evidence on this point makes such a conclusion premature. The Ethiopic text—of which there is a wealth of some 40 manuscripts known—does not help us here, for even though it is in this version alone that a complete text has survived, the oldest of this text is traceable back to only the 15th century; and in any event, it is clear from evidence within itself that it was made from a Greek original.

 

     Similarly, it is uncertain where the work was written, except it is clear that it originated somewhere in Judea, and was in use at Qumran before the beginning of the Christian Era.

 

     The following witnesses for the existence of ­I Enoch­ have been noted in the literature:

 

1. ­Jubilees­ IV:17-21, X:17 and XXI:10 (bet.135BC-c.96BC)—[And he was the first among men born on earth to learn to write and to acquire knowledge and wisdom; and he wrote down in a book details about the signs of Heaven according to the order of their months, so that men might know the seasons of the years according to the order of their several months. And he was the first to write a testimony; and he testified to the sons of men concerning the generations of the earth, and recounted the weeks of the jubilees, and made known the days of the years, and set in order the months, and recounted the Sabbaths of the years, just as we made them known to him. And what was and what will be he saw in a vision in his sleep, just as it will happen to the sons of men in every generation till the day of judgment: he saw and knew all of it; and he wrote his testimony and placed it as a testimony upon earth for all\fn{Or perhaps: and left it as a witness on earth against.} the sons of men for every generation. And in the twelfth jubilee, in the seventh week of it, he took a wife, and her name was Edni, the daughter of Danel, his father’s sister’s\fn{So the manuscript: brothers is perhaps meant.} daughter; and in the sixth year in that week she bore him a son, and he called him Methuselah. And he was with the angels of God these six jubilees of years, and they showed him everything on earth and in the heavens, and the power of the sun;\fn{Or: and they showed him all the power of the sun on the earth and in the Heavens.} and he wrote down everything. ... And in his life on earth he surpassed all mortal men in achieving perfect righteousness, except Enoch; for Enoch had a special function to be a witness to the world’s generations and report all the deeds of each generation till the day of judgment. ... And eat the meat of it\fn{Public sacrifice.} on that day and on the second day, and do not let sunset on the second day find any of it still uneaten. Let none of it be left over till the third day; for it is not by then acceptable, nor is it desirable. Let none of it, therefore, be eaten then; and all who do eat of it then will bring sin upon themselves—for so I have found it written in the books of my forefathers (in the words of Enoch and in the words of Noah).]—which refers to Enoch having written several apparently quite unrelated works;

 

2. ­Jude­ :14-:15 (c.60-70AD)—(It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “See, the Lord came with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all, and to convict everyone of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”)—which virtually quotes ­I Enoch­ 1:9—(And behold! He comes with ten thousand holy ones to execute judgment upon them, and to destroy the impious, and to contend with all flesh concerning everything which the sinners and the impious have done and wrought against him.);

 

3. ­Letter of Barnabas­ 4:3 and 16:5 (70-100AD)—(The last great Hindrance of all is now at hand, which according to Enoch is alluded to in the text, “the Lord has made an end of times and days, so that his Beloved can come quickly and enter upon his inheritance.” ... for Scripture says, “it will come to pass in the last days that the Lord will deliver up to destruction the sheep of the pasture, with their sheepfold and their watchtower.); of which ECW says the first is not found in ­I Enoch­ and the second may be a loose citation of ­I Enoch­ 89:56—(And I saw how he left that house of theirs and their tower and gave them all into the hands of the lions, that they mighty tear them in pieces and devour them, into the hands of all the animals.);

 

4. ­Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs­ 2:5, 3:10, 3:14, 3:16, 4:18, 7:5, 8:4 and 12:9 (70-150AD for its Christian additions)—(For I have seen it inscribed in the writing of Enoch that your sons shall with you be corrupted in fornication, and shall do wrong against Levi with the sword. ... For the house which the Lord shall choose shall be called Jerusalem, as is contained in the book of Enoch the righteous. ... And now, my children, I have learnt from the writing of Enoch that at the last ye will deal ungodly, laying your hands upon the Lord in all malice; and your brethren shall be ashamed because of you, and to all the Gentiles shall it become a mocking. ... And now I have learnt in the book of Enoch that for seventy weeks will ye go astray, and will profane the priesthood, and pollute the sacrifices, and corrupt the law, and set at nought the words of the prophets. ... For I have read also in the books of Enoch the righteous what evils ye shall do in the last days. ... For I have read in the book of Enoch the righteous, that your prince is Satan, and that all the spirits of fornication and pride shall be subject unto Levi, to lay a snare for the sons of Levi, to cause them to sin before the Lord. ... These things I say, my children, for I have read in the holy writing of Enoch that ye yourselves also will depart from the Lord, walking according to all wickedness of the Gentiles, and ye will do according to all the iniquity of Sodom. ... Now I suppose, from the words of the righteous Enoch, that there will be also evil-doings among you: for ye will commit fornication with the fornication of Sodom, and shall perish all save a few, and will multiply inordinate lusts with women; and the kingdom of the Lord shall not be among you, for forthwith He will take it away.)—but of them AOT says that most of these citations are not to be found in the work as it has come down to us, and that the references are either to some other books of Enoch not now extant, or are perhaps general appeals to the spirit of the book as a great fount of prophecy;

 

5. Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220AD) who says [­On the Apparel of Women­ I.3 (portions), c.202AD]—(I am aware that the Scripture of Enoch, which has assigned this order of action to angels, is not received by some, because it is not admitted into the Jewish canon either. ... But since Enoch in the same Scripture has preached likewise concerning the Lord, nothing at all must be rejected by us which pertains to us; and we read that “every Scripture suitable for edification is divinely inspired.” ... To these considerations is added the fact that Enoch possesses a testimony in the Apostle Jude.)—that though he himself accepts ­I Enoch­, he knows of some who did not;

 

6. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254AD) who (­Commentary on John­ VI.42:25; ­Homily on Numbers­ 28:2; Contra Celsum­ 5:54)—(And in a most confused manner, moreover, does he adduce, when examining the subject of the visits of angels to men, what he has derived, without seeing its meaning, from the contents of the book of Enoch; for he does not appear to have read the passages in question, nor to have been aware that the books which bear the name Enoch do not at all circulate in the Churches as divine, although it is from this source that he might be supposed to have obtained the statement, that “sixty or seventy angels descended at the same time, who fell into a state of wickedness.”)—quoted and referred to ­I Enoch­, but said that he had reservations; and was at pains to point to Celsus that the books entitled ­Enoch­ are not generally held to be divine by the churches; his remarks in Homily on Numbers­ seem to refer to chapter 82; AOT also says that Origen is likely to have known a text of ­I Enoch­ 72-82 in Greek rather than any other language;

 

7. Jerome of Strido (d.420AD) who (­Vir. inl.­ 4; ­Comm. in Tit.­ 1:12; ­Tract. de Ps.­ 132:3) considers the work certainly to be apocryphal;

 

8. Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430AD) who (­De Civitate Dei­ 15:32, 18:38) admitted that Enoch had written not a little by divine inspiration, but he himself found the writings then circulating under Enoch’s name so full of incredible fables and other undesirable matter that they could not possibly be genuine, believing that they should quite rightly be rejected by both Jews and Christians;

 

9. Pseudo-Athanasius of Alexandria (6th century, ­Synopsis Sacrae Scripturae­);

 

10. the ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century), where a book thus described: Enoch : is listed under the subheading And the following apocryphal:;

 

11. George the Syncellus (fl.c.800AD) in his ­Chronography­, where he gives four extracts in Greek from the first book of Enoch [published by Dindorf (“Georgius Syncellus et Nicephorus” in ­Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae­ I, Bonn, 1829, 20-23, 42-47)], and later on refers to certain astronomical information which the archangel Uriel had given Enoch as Enoch records in his book, which has seemed to be to some in effect a brief summary of the entire work; AOT says that George is more likely to have known at text of ­I Enoch­ 72-82 in Greek rather than any other language; and

 

12. Nicephorus of Constantinople (d.829AD) in his ­Stichometry­ where a book thus described: Enoch--4800 lines  is listed under the subheading Apocrypha of the Old Testament are the following:.

 

     Remains of ­I Enoch­ have been recovered in the following languages:

 

1. ARAMAIC. Several hundred fragments, apparently the remains of 11 different manuscripts (SCH says 10), the oldest of which is assigned by Milik and Black (­The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran, Cave 4­, Oxford, 1976) to the first half of the 2nd century BC. They cover all parts of the book as known today, except chapters 37-71; and it is clear proof that the greater part of what is now ­I Enoch­, if not all of it, was known and popular at Qumran in pre-Christian times.

 

2. GREEK. Besides the fragments of the Greek text of ­I Enoch­ quoted by the preceding Patristic references, other fragments in Greek, consisting of substantial amounts of the text, have been discovered at various times: (a) ­I Enoch­ 1:1-32:6 and 19:3-21:9 were found during the winter of 1886-1887 by U. Bouriant, attached to the French Archaeological Museum at Cairo, in a tomb of a monk buried at Akhmim, as part of a fragment of a Greek manuscript, probably of the 8th century [so ODC; Lods (­Le livre d'Henoch: Fragments Grecs Decouverts a Akhmim (Haute-Egypt), Publies avec les Variantes du Texte Ethiopien, Traduits et Annotes­, Paris, 1892) says they date from the 5th or 6th centuries; JHC (1983) says the 6th century or later]. (b) ­I Enoch­ 89:42-49 was found in a Vatican codex (JHC identifies it as Vatican Greek manuscript 1809, but not dated) and published by Mai (Patrum Nova Bibliotheca­ III, Rome, 1844, iv). (c) ­I Enoch­ 97:6-54, 104:13 and 106:1-107:3 were (JHC seems to identify these as two fragments, 97:6-104 and 106-107, and says they are not dated) discovered c.1930 in three leaves belonging to the University of Michigan, and in eight leaves and three fragments belonging to Mr. A. Chester Beatty, all of which proved to be part of the same codex, and were published by Bonner and Youtie (“The Last Chapters of Enoch in Greek” in ­Studies and Documents­ VIII, London, 1937). (d) Two other fragments were published by Swete (The Psalms of Solomon with the Greek Fragments of the Book of Enoch­, Cambridge, 1912, 25-45); and Black (“Apocalypsis Henochi Graece” in ­Pseudepigrapha Veteris Testamenti Graece­, Leiden, 1970, 1-44); (e) Milik (­op.cit.­) claims to have identified ­I Enoch­ 77:7-78:1 and 78:8 as part of an Oxyrhynchus fragment published in 1927.

 

3. SYRIAC. A single fragment has been discovered by Brock (“A Fragment of Enoch in Syriac” in Journal of Theological Studies­ XIX, 1968, 626-631).

 

4. COPTIC. ­I Enoch­ 43:3-8 was discovered during the excavations at Antinoe, Egypt, in 1937, and published in 1960. It dates from the 6th-7th centuries.

 

5. LATIN. ­I Enoch­ 106:1-18 was discovered as a single fragment in 1893 by James in a Latin manuscript of the 8th century AD) in the British Museum, and published by him (“A Fragment of the Book of Enoch in Latin'” in Apocrypha Anecdota, Texts and Studies­ II.3, Cambridge, 1893, 146-150).

 

6. ETHIOPIC. The Ethiopic text, in which alone ­I Enoch­ appears in its modern entirety, and up to 1983 was represented by 43 manuscripts, has been variously dated. VER (1978) says that the most suitable period for dating chapters 37-71 is the last quarter of the 1st century AD; JHC (1983) believes that it was produced in Ethiopia during the earliest period of Ethiopic literature (c.350-650AD); but as this was a time of extensive translating and copying by Christian scribes in Ethiopia, exact dates and cities are unknown. Burkitt (“On the Greek Text of Enoch” in ­Jewish and Christian Apocalypses­, London, 1914, 53-71), suggested the 4th century; Milik (­op.cit.­) thought hardly earlier than the 6th century; Knibb (­The Ethiopic Book of Enoch: A New Edition in the Light of the Aramaic Dead Sea Fragments­ I, Oxford, 1978) said before the end of the 6th century; and Charles (­The Ethiopic Version of the Book of Enoch Edited from Twenty-three Manuscripts, Together with the Fragmen-tary Greek and Latin Versions­, Oxford, 1906) says that it first saw the light of day in either the 6th or 7th century.

 

     In chapters 37-71, the expression Son of Man is repeatedly used, alongside other designations of the leader of the coming kingdom; and many scholars have held that these chapters have been interpolated by a Christian editor. In particular, they have found these Son of Man references to be accretions, and have accordingly believed they could be removed. Indeed, it is sometimes noted that the oldest manuscript of these chapters does not go further back than the 15th century; and that although the work was known to the early Fathers, none of them mention any of a whole series of striking parallels to the Received gospels found in our present text. Messel (­Der Menschensohn in den Bilderreden das Henoch­, 1922, 3fdf) argues that the expression Son of Man is original in only two passages (where it designates not an individual but the elect people). Manson (­The Teaching of Jesus­, 1934, 228-229) believed that the term is a collective one in this work (though he has since modified his view to the extent of recognizing that the concept of the Son of Man is both individual and collective, with something of the fluidity of the concept of corporate personality); and he also holds that the other terms employed (Righteous One, Elect one, Anointed One) are collective in their reference. Messel (op.cit.­) also, where he does not eliminate Elect One, treats it as a collective expression. The term seems to build on the phrase as it appears in ­Ezekiel­ (where it means simply a man) and at ­Daniel­ 7 (where one like a son of man is the Divine agent in establishing God's kingdom). This, then, is the majority scholarly view.

 

     The minority view is that represented by Hilgenfeld (­Die Judische Apokalyptik­, 1857, 148ff) and Kuenen (The Religion of Israel­ III, 1883, 265); Milik (in ­Harvard Theological Review­ LXIV, 1971, 333-378) who held that chapters 37-71 were composed during the Christian Era; and Mowinckel (­He That Cometh­, 1956, 355) who holds that the Christological titles referred to above are integral portions of the text. A modification of this theory, maintained by Drummond (­The Jewish Messiah­, 1877, 23ff) and Faye (­Les Apocalypses Juives­, 1892, 212ff) held that chapters 37-71 were of pre-Christian origin, but contained Christian interpolations.

 

[ODC, 28, 64; VER, 223; AOT, 169-179; ROW, 57, 61-63; RUS, 51-53; BET, 85; KEE, 180-181; JHC, 5, 12; ENC, VIII, 604-605]

 

34. The Second Book of Enoch

 

     The ­Second Book of Enoch­ [also called ­II Enoch­, ­The Slavonic Enoch­, and ­The Book of the Secrets of Enoch­ (a title based on the titles in some of the manuscripts)] first came to the knowledge of Western scholarship in the last years of the 19th century. It is said to have many points of contact with ­I Enoch­ (so Nickelsburg, ­Jewish Literature­, 185): thus Enoch’s ascent and commission (chapters 3-37) would be the counterpart of ­I Enoch­ 12-36; his return to earth and instructions (chapters 38-66) counterpart ­I Enoch­ 81 and 91-105; and the story of Melchizedek’s birth, of ­I Enoch­ 106-107. Others allege, however, that the correspondences are quite loose; that the ascent of Enoch in ­II Enoch­ is structured by the sequence of seven heavens, which was not in ­I Enoch­ (the older of the two works); that the story of Melchizedek is a formally distinct unit and is widely thought to be of different origin (so Fischer, Eschatologie und Jenseitserwartung im Hellenistischen Diasporajudentum­, 40); and that both the cosmology and the ethical message of ­II Enoch­ are largely independent of ­I Enoch­, the debt to ­I Enoch­ lying mainly in the tradition that Enoch ascended to the heavens and returned to instruct his sons, and in occasional details (e.g., the reference to the Watchers in chapter 18).

 

     Unlike many of the apocalypses, ­II Enoch­ does not appear to have been written in the context of any great historical crisis. The wisdom it contains shares with Jewish Wisdom Tradition the conviction that right conduct depends on right understanding; but no account is taken of a special history of Israel; and the moral exhortations in it do not mention the peculiarly Jewish laws of circumcision or dietary regulation. The insistence on justice and dignity is broadly humanistic, and conforms rather to the common ethic of Hellenistic Judaism, distinguished as Jewish only by its prohibition of idolatry, and its reliance on the authority of the Jewish sage, Enoch.

 

     Nor does ­II Enoch­ make any attempt to promote membership in a distinct group. In view of this, and of the general nature of the instructions of ­II Enoch­ it seems very unlikely that the book was the product of an special group. The only element that suggests such a possibility is the peculiar requirement (contrary to the usage in the Mishnah) that the four legs of a sacrificial animal be tied together. This ­was­ common practice in Egypt, however; and if the author wrote there, he may have assumed a corresponding Jerusalem practice in ignorance of actual fact, rather than engaging in a deliberate repudiation of what he believed to be true Jerusalem rite. In any case, the original language of ­II Enoch­ (so Rubinstein, “Observations on the Slavonic Book of Enoch” in ­Journal of Jewish Studies­ XIII, 1962, 1-21; and the general consensus of scholarship) was most probably Greek; and Egypt is the most likely place of composition in view of allusions to Egyptian mythology and affinities with Plato and other diaspora writings (so Charles, “The Book of the Secrets of Enoch” in ­Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament­ II, 1913, 426; Philonenko, “La Cosmologie du ‘Livre des Secrets d'Henoc’”in ­Religions en Egypte Hellenistique et Romaine­, 109-116; and Fischer (­op.cit.­, 40).

 

     As to the time of its writing, there was a general consensus that, because of the importance attached to animal sacrifice, ­II Enoch­ was composed no later than the 1st century AD; and on this numerous scholars continue to agree: Charles and Morfill (­The Book of the Secrets of Enoch­, 1896, xxvi): certainly before the destruction of the Temple in 70AD, and probably in the first half of the 1st century AD; Harnack (Geschichte der Alttestamentlichen Litteratur bis Eusebius­ II.i, 1897, 564): towards the beginning of the Christian Era; Littmann (­Jewish Encyclopedia­ V, 1903, 182): between 50BC and 70AD; Schurer (Tesechichte des Judischen Volkes­, 4th ed., 1909, 290ff): not later than the end of the 1st or the beginning of the 2nd century AD; Charles (­op.cit.­, 429): 30-70AD; Russell (­Between the Testaments­, London, 1960, 86): 1-50AD; Klausner (­Ha-ra’yon ham Meshihi be-Yisrael­, 1927, 241): 30-40AD; Bousset-Gressmann (Die Religion des Judentums­, 1926, 22): in the Herodian and post-Herodian period; Riessler (­Altjudisches Schrifttum Ausserhalb der Bible­, 1927, 1297): before 70AD; Volz (­Die Eschatologie der Judischen Gemeinde­, 1934, 34): 1st century AD; Oesterley (in Manson’s ­Companion to the Bible­, 1939, 93ff): mid-1st century AD; Tricot (­Initiation Biblique­, 1939, 542): before 70AD; Bentzen (Indledning Til det Gamle Testamente­, 1941, I.i, 216): before 70AD; Lods (­De Quelques Recits de Voyage au Pays de Morts­, 1940, 14): 63-70AD; and Bonsirven (­La Bible Apocryphe­, 1953, 227): early 1st century AD.

 

     Other scholars, however, see the author, as Christian, or Jewish-Christian; and consequently differ from the majority view as to the time of composition (or when in agreement assign different reasons for maintaining their Christian-authorship position). They consider also a different relative importance between its surviving versions, and place a different emphasis upon the importance of various internal data within the surviving versions of ­II Enoch­.

 

     Doubts about the validity of a 1st century date began to surface with Burkitt (­Jewish and Christian Apocalypses­, 1914, 75-76). Four years later, Maunder (“The Date and Place of Writing of the Slavonic Enoch” in ­The Observatory­ XLI, 1918, 309-316) argued that ­II Enoch­ was a Bogomil—i.e., a non-orthodox Christian—work, written originally in Bulgarian between the 12th and 15th centuries; and a few years later, Maunder and Fotheringham (­Journal of Theological Studies­ XX, 1919, 252; XXII, 1921, 166ff; XXIII, 1922, 49ff), again challenged the 1st century dating, based upon their analysis of the astronomical evidence within the work, which they thought pointed to a date of composition not earlier than the 7th century AD. This evidence was accepted by Burkitt (­Proceedings of the British Academy­ XVII, 1931, 442-443); and a year later, Lake (­Harvard Theological Review­ XVI, 1932, 398) pronounced it as convincing evidence as has ever been produced for the dating of a document of uncertain origin. Vaillant (“Le Livre des Secrets d’Henoc” in ­Textes Publies par l’Institut d’Etudes Slaves­ IV, Paris, 1952, 1976) was by this time in no doubt that the author was a Jewish Christian who wished to produce a Christian counterpart to ­I Enoch­ and who wrote in Greek, probably in the 2nd or 3rd century AD. [Somewhat later (in Weiser's ­Introduction to the Old Testament­, 1961, 430), while still holding that ­II Enoch­ was a Christian work, Vaillant now thought it might rest upon an as yet unrecovered Jewish treatise.] Rowley (1964) has come forth with the curious observation that since the 1st century date is followed by Charles, and also by Bonwetsch (­Die Bucher der Geheimnise Henochs­, 1922, xix), as well as by the authorities listed above, in the editions of the book most commonly used, it therefore seems well to conclude that ­II Enoch­ is an apocalypse of the 1st century AD, but with the recognition that it probably lies well beyond the limits of that period. Some twelve years later, Milik (apparently in ­The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4­ Oxford, 1976, 107-116) contended that ­II Enoch­ is a late, Christian work of the 9th or 10th century, his main argument being the discovery of a late Greek word (­syrmaiographa­) as part of its text.

 

     Perhaps most recently, AOT (1984) has taken the position that the cause for a Christian origin depends partly on general considerations (several of which, such as the astronomical information and the presence of a late Greek term, have already been mentioned); partly on the lack of specifically Jewish features (also alluded to, but expanded upon below); partly on its alleged use by the book of ­Hebrews­ of the ­Received New Testament­ and other Patristic references; and partly on how one understands the nature and very presence of the Melchizedek story in ­II Enoch 23­. In order to understand this argument more clearly, it is necessary to proceed to a discussion in more detail about the literary remains themselves, and how they appear (or seem to appear) in the most ancient witnesses to their existence.

 

     Complicating a resolution of this question is the fact that ­II Enoch­ is at present preserved in ­two­ versions—a long and a short. The short version (one manuscript of which was discovered in a Serbian redaction derived from a Russian original) is represented by five manuscripts (three of which are incomplete). This version contains the oldest known complete manuscript of ­II Enoch­ (of the 15h century). Four fragments of the short version are also extant. The long version has survived in a single complete manuscript of the 16th century, written in Middle Bulgarian, and also in two incomplete texts, one of which bears the date 1679. All the other recensions exist in Slavonic; and the entire corpus, according to Vaillant (“Le Livre des Secrets d’Henoc” in ­Textes Publies par l’Institut d’Etudes Slaves­ IV, Paris, 1952, 1976) and Bonwetsch (“Die Bucher der Geheimnisse Henochs: Das Sogennante Slavische Henochbuch” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen­ XLIV.2, Leipzig, 1922) may ultimately be traceable to a single Slavonic translation, made probably in Macedonia in the 10th or 11th century.

 

     This translation (so Vaillant) survives in all its essentials in the ­short ­form of the book, whose manuscripts and fragments date from the 15th-18th centuries. The long form Vaillant attributes to a pair of revisers. The first of these men worked most probably towards the end of the 15th century and was responsible for very many relatively minor corrections and alterations, and also for a number of substantial additions of new material. The second redactor worked over his predecessor’s text very soon after, paraphrased it sometimes rather freely, transposed an item here and there, and made a few more additions: unfortunately, both of his surviving manuscripts are incomplete.

 

     The question then became, of course, which of the Slavonic recensions (assuming them to be descended from Greek originals) is closest to the original writing (and thus whose contents show the least amount of interpolated material). N. Schmidt (“The Two Recension of Slavonic Enoch” in ­Journal of the American Oriental Society­ XLI, 1921, 307-312) argued not only for the priority of the short form of the work, but also that both Slavonic forms were traceable to two previously existing recensions in Greek (the longer version dating from a Greek form of the book produced prior to the 5th century AD). With the case for a Greek original AOT finds himself in complete agreement, arguing that (1) there are a number of linguistic pointers in the direction of a Greek original; (2) that the ­Septuagint­, rather than the Hebrew, version of the ­Received Old Testament­, was the author’s Bible; (3) that some of the proper names, such as Adoil (11:7) and Sofonima (23:1 and elsewhere), even though found only in ­II Enoch­, might suggest at the very least a Jewish background for the author, but that (4) there are no specifically Jewish features anywhere, on the grounds that: (a) Enoch’s admonitions about gifts and offerings (­II Enoch­ 2:2-4, 13:46-47, 15:6-7, 15:17-20, 17:7) and the descriptions of the priestly functions and activities of both Methuselah and Nir (­II Enoch­ 20:1-2, 21:7-15, 22:15, 22:22-24) are all very general; and (b) they exhibit no points of contact in detail either with the sacrificial requirements of the Pentateuch or with any known Temple activities.

 

     Further, Clement of Alexandria, (d.c.215, ­Ecclesiastical Prophecy­ 2:1), not quoted here, and Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254 AD, De Principiis­ IV:35)—(For it is written in that same book of Enoch, “I beheld the whole of matter;” which is so understood as if he had said: “I have clearly seen all the divisions of matter which are broken up from one into each individual species either of men, or animals, or of the sky, or of the sun, or of all other things in this world.”)—both quote the words I saw all material things, and attribute them to Enoch. It is customary to explain this in the light of ­II Enoch­ 13:14-15, 13:20-22 and 13:23-24—(So now, my children, I know all things, some from the mouth of the Lord, some my eyes have seen, from the beginning to the end and from the end to the renewal. I know everything, and I have written down in the books the extent of the heavens and all that is in them: I have measured their movements and I know their hosts: I have completed the count of the stars, a great multitude without number. ... And they showed me their custodians and the passages measured out for them to go up and down (they go up bound and descend bound, lest with rude violence they tear down the clouds and destroy everything that is on he earth). I have written down the treasuries of the snow and the storehouses of the ice and the cold airs: I have observed how from time to time their custodians fill the clouds, yet the treasuries are not exhausted. I have written down the resting-places of the winds; I have looked and seen how their custodians bring their balances and measures: first they put them on the balance, and then in the measure; and they let them out by measure over the whole earth, lest with a rude breath they shake the earth. ... For there I was taken down and came to the place of judgment; and I saw Hell open, and I saw there a piece of level ground like a prison, a judgment-place without measure. And I descended and wrote down all the judgments of those who were judged, and I saw all their questionings; and I sighed and wept for the perdition of the impious, and I said to myself, Happy the man who was never born, or who after birth lived without sin in the Lord’s eyes, so as not to come to this place or bear the yoke of this place. And I saw the keepers of the keys of Hell standing by the massive gates: their faces were like the faces of great asps, their eyes like candles that had gone out, and their teeth were bared and reached down to their chests. And I said to them openly, Would that I had not seen you nor caught sight of what you do: may none of my kinsmen ever come to you.).

 

     But AOT notes that in both Clement and in Origen, the text reads like an exact quotation: when Enoch said, I saw all material things; whereas nowhere in any of the suggested passages from ­II Enoch­ 13 is there verbal identity; and also that Origen not only ascribes the quotation to Enoch, but also says that it was written in the same book as another of Enoch’s sayings he has just quoted, and which appears to have been taken from ­I Enoch 21:1. This, AOT says, suggests a number of possibilities: (1) that the words I saw all material things did indeed stand in the Greek copy of ­II Enoch­ 13 used by Clement and Origen, but that the Slavonic translator either omitted them or paraphrased them—in which case Origen will have been guilty of a lapse of memory in saying that they occurred in the same book as ­I Enoch­ 21:1; (2) that Origen was correct and that those words did once stand in some text of ­I Enoch­, though they are not today found in any known text of that work; (3) that the words were not intended originally to be an exact quotation at all, but merely a loose reference; (4) that Origen may have remembered the words from his reading of Clement; or (5) that both Clement and Origen may have been familiar with them independently from some collection of Enochian sayings circulating in Alexandria, or from some contemporary oral­ traditions about Enoch. What cannot­ be had at this time, AOT says, is ­certainty­ about the matter.

 

     Again, in ­Hebrews­ 7:3, the priest named Melchizedek appears without father, without mother, without genealogy, and his priesthood is like that of Christ, who is described more than once as a priest for ever (5:6, 7:3, 7:21) and as the mediator of a new or better covenant (7:22, 8:6, 9:15, 12:24)—(as he says also in another place, “Thou art ­a priest for ever,­ after the order of Melchizedek.” ... He is ­without father or mother or genealogy,­ and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues ­a priest for ever.­ ... Those who formerly became priests took their office without an oath, but this one was addressed with an oath, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘Thou art ­a priest for ever­.’” ... This makes Jesus the surety of a better covenant­. ... But as it is, he has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better­, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant. ... and to Jesus, ­the mediator of a new covenant­, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel.) According to the version in ­II Enoch­, Melchizedek is born with the agency of a human father, and from the body of his mother after her death. He has on his breast ­the seal of the priesthood­ (23:18). Nir (a prince in this version of the Melchizedek story) is told that he will be a priest for ever­ (23:29). After the Flood, the Lord will raise up another generation and Melchizedek will be ­chief priest­ in that generation (23:24)—(And behold, the seal of the priesthood­ was on his breast, and he was a joy to look at. ... He will not perish with those who are about to perish, for I have sent him as a sign; for he shall be to me ­a priest­ of priests for ever­—Melchizedek, and I will set him apart, and I will make of him a great people who will honor me. ... for the time is now very near when I shall let loose all the waters over the earth, and all that is on the earth shall perish; and I will give him a place of honor in another generation, and Melchizedek shall be ­chief priest­ in that generation.)

 

     It would appear from this as if the story in ­II Enoch­ is dependent upon that in ­Hebrews­. That would mean that ­II Enoch­ cannot be much earlier than the end of the 1st century AD, and that its origin must be Christian. But again, AOT notes that we now know from the evidence at Qumran that Jews, no less than Christians, were interested in Melchizedek; and there is, therefore, no reason to suppose that both a Jewish author and a Christian author could not have developed this interest independently from one another. Also, he says that it is not certain that the Melchizedek story was an integral part of the original ­II Enoch­, since chapter 23 in which it occurs is not in three manuscripts of the short recension (two of which end with chapter 18); or in two manuscripts of the long.

 

     Finally, it is also alleged that the ­Letter of Barnabas­ 15:4—(witness his own saying, Behold, a day of the Lord shall be as a thousand years.)—preserves a saying from ­II Enoch­. But Staniforth (­Early Christian Writings: The Apostolic Fathers­, Harmondsworth, 1976, 214) says that this is to be credited to ­Psalms­ 90:4—(For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.).

 

     The debate continues; for AOT also says that ­II Enoch­ 23 is included in two (including the oldest) of the five extant manuscripts of the short recension; two of the four surviving fragments of the short recension; and in one (again, the oldest) of the three extant manuscripts of the long recension. Indeed, the same argument could be used of chapters 21 and 22 (which are lacking in four of the manuscripts of ­II Enoch­. But Rubenstein (“Observations on the Slavonic Book of Enoch” in ­Journal of Jewish Studies­ XIII, 1962, 1-21) believes that these chapters do belong to the original text. He points out that ­II Enoch­ 15:8-9 says as a law—(And all you have for food, bind it by the four legs ... the man who kills any beast without binding it—it is an evil custom.)—what is later observed by both Methuselah and Nir in ­II Enoch­ 21:9 and 22:23—(And the elders of the people took the sheep and the cattle and bound them by the four feet, and they laid them at the head of the altar; ... they made haste and brought the victims and bound them at the head of the altar;). Now, Rubenstein continues, for this binding of a victim before slaughter there is neither Biblical nor Rabbinic parallel; so the references in chapters 21 and 22 cannot be from the Bible or a tractate from the Mishnah­. They must therefore hearken back to what is laid down as an observation in chapter 15, and must therefore be part of the book, even though they do not appear in four of the surviving manuscripts. [By analogy, the same can also be said of chapter 23, even though it appears in only five of the twelve total surviving fragments of ­II Enoch­. (H)]

 

[AOT, 321-328; ODC, 453; ROW, 110-111; BET, 86; COL, 195-196; ENC, VIII, 604-605]

 

***

 

VI: ABRAHAM, MELCHIZEDEK, ISAAC, JACOB, JOSEPH

 

35. The Apocalypse of Abraham

 

     The ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ has survived Antiquity most anciently in Slavonic; but in that language, it has been passed down in two different versions; and there are suggestions, some of them considerable, that it has existed in other languages as well, besides Serbian and Russian (which, it is alleged, ultimately depend upon Slavonic translation of a Greek original).

 

1. SLAVONIC. The first of the Slavonic manuscripts is a single continuous text, the Codex Sylvester (14th century), first published by Tikhonravov (­Pamyatniki Otrechennoi Russkoi Literatury­ I, St. Petersburg, 1863, 32-53) and Sreznevsky (“Drevnie Pamyatniki Russkogo Pisma i Yazyka: Obshchee Povremennoe Obozrenie” in Isvestiya Imperatorskoi Akademii Nauk po Otdeleniyu Russkogo Yazyka i Slovesnosti­ X, St. Petersburg, 1861- 1863, cols. 648-665). In the Codex Sylvester, the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ appears as one item in a collection of lives of various saints. Unfortunately, in many places it is manifestly corrupt, and not infrequently inferior to one or another of the manuscripts mentioned below.

 

     The ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ also exists in several manuscripts of the ­Palaea Interpretata­ (a collection of texts made originally in Greek in the 8th or 9th century and translated into Slavonic in the 10th century under the title Tolkovaja Paleja­), of which three are enumerated here, viz: (a) a 15th century manuscript in the Joseph Monastery at Volokolamsk, edited by Tikhonravov (­Pamyatniki Otrechennoi Russkoi Literatury­ I, St. Petersburg, 1863, 54-77); (b) another of the 15th century—dated 1494—in the Rumyantsev Museum (formerly the Lenin Library), edited by Pypin (“Lozhnye i Otrechennye Knigi Russloi Stariny” in Kushelev-Bezborodko’s ­Pamyatniki Starinnoi Russkoi Literatury­ III, St. Petersburg, 1862, 24-26); and (c) a third of the 17th century, originally in Solovetsk, but transferred to Kazan and edited by Porfirev (“Apokrificheski Skazaniya o Vetkhozavetnykh Litsakh i Sobytiyakh po Rukopisyam Solovetskoi Biblioteki” in ­Sbornik Otdeleniya Russkogo Yazyka i Slovesnosti Imperatorskoi Akademii Nauk­ XVII.1, St. Petersburg, 1877, 111-130).

 

     Wide variations have been recorded between the various manuscripts of the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ from the Tolkovaja Paleja ­(hereafter called simply the Paleja). (1) Most of them begin with a prologue not found in Codex Sylvester. (2) Some of them—including Porfirev’s and Pypin’s editions—continue immediately after the prologue with the opening words of chapter 1, while others omit chapters 1-6 (which contains most of the legendary part of the Apocalypse­) and follow the prologue with the beginning of chapter 7. (3) On the other hand, Pypin’s edition stops short at the end of chapter 8 (the true end of the legendary material), and contains none of the apocalyptic portion (chapters 9-31). (4) Tikhonravov’s and Porfirev’s editions agree in offering a more satisfactory conclusion—which is wholly lacking in Codex Sylvester; but even here, Tikhonravov’s edition seems to be defective at the very end. (5) Throughout there are many variants, omissions, additions, and displacements. (6) Also noteworthy is the vacillation between the use of the first and third persons in the narrative—the result of uncertainty in the tradition about whether Abraham himself is telling the story or someone else is telling it about him.

 

2. HEBREW\GREEK. The general style of the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­, however, is strongly Semitic, though generally within the bounds of the Biblical Greek that was presumably used by some Hellenistic Jews for original works (e.g., ­Revelation­). It is reasonable to hypothesize (according to the majority of scholarly opinion) that the text of the ­Apocalypse­ was composed in Hebrew (so Rubinstein, “Hebraisms in the Slavonic ­Apocalypse of Abraham­” in ­Journal of Jewish Studies­ IV, 1953, 108-115) or Aramaic (so Charlesworth, ­The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha I: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments­, New York, 1983, 681-705) and rendered very literally into Greek. Two reasons are advanced for this. (1) While no decisive arguments for a Semitic original have yet (1983) been advanced, the sheer number of Semiticisms is best explained by this hypothesis. (2) The Slavonic version contains Greek words well known from Old Church Slavonic, along with the conventional bizarre rendering of Gehenna as fiery race, and numerous literalistic phrases that make better sense in Greek than in Slavonic: there can thus be no question that this text was translated from Greek. (3) It is fully realistic to assume that a Greek text of the Apocalypse still existed in the Balkans as late as the 9th century AD, although no trace has yet been found in surviving Greek manuscripts; for (a) the existence of one Leon Mung [a Jew who converted to Christianity and later became archbishop of Ochride (in Bulgarian Macedonia, 1108-1120)], and (b) the certain knowledge that his teacher was one Tobias ben Eleazar (the author of the Midrash ­Lekah Tov­) makes it indisputable that Bulgaria at that time was in possession of educated men who could make a translation from Hebrew into Slavonic.

 

3. GLAGOLITIC. At ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 19:6 (underscored)—(And I saw there a multitude of spiritual angels, incorporeal, carrying out the orders of the fiery angels who were on the ­eighth­ firmament, as I was standing on its elevation.)—surely the ­sixth­ firmament is meant (since only six are covered within the text of the Apocalypse of Abraham­: H). The Glagolitic letter-symbol for ­8­, however, corresponds to the Cyrillic letter whose numerical value is ­6­; and the oldest manuscript of the apocalypse (14th century) has other indications of a fore-text written in Glagolitic.

 

4. LATIN. A few translations from Latin, made in Moravia (or perhaps Pannonia or Dalmatia) may have been in use in Macedonia and Bulgaria. The products of western Slavonic culture are somewhat better represented in Russia, where they were introduced between c.988 and 1100AD.

 

5. SERBO-CROATIAN. At ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 23:8 (underscored)—(And he was holding the grapes of the tree and ­feeding­ them to the two I saw entwined with each other.)—two ­Tolkovaja Palaja­ manuscripts preserve the word ­zalagagse­, a verb with the specialized sense to put morsels of food into the mouth of someone (a meaning preserved in Serbo-Croatian, but distorted in the other manuscripts because the meaning was unknown). Could there have at one time been a version in Serbo-Croatian? The manuscripts in which this verb is found are both of the 16th century.

 

     At the present time, it is customary to classify the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ with the body of Jewish Apocalyptic, for the following reasons:

 

A

 

     Despite the wide variations in the extant Slavonic texts of the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­, and the consequent difficulty in tracing any part of it with any degree of certainty to a Greek or Semitic original, there can be no doubt at all that a very great deal of the material contained in it is ultimately Jewish.

 

1. The tradition that Israel’s ancestors came from Mesopotamia (so ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 1:1 in Codex Sylvester and the second ­Palaja­ version) is attested as early as ­Joshua­ 24:2 (6th century BC).

 

2. Material in the Apocalypse of Abraham­ relating how Abraham disputed with Terah about the practice of idol-worship and how he set fire to a house of idols in the city of Ur—and then how later in Haran, while observing signs of the stars, he perceived at last the truth about the Creator, was thus led to forsake all kinds of false worship, and set out at the Divine command on his journey to Canaan—is repeated in ­Jubilees­ 12:1-8, 12:12 and 12:16-28 (135-96BC).

 

3. The author makes fundamental use of the Received book of ­Genesis­. He begins with the text of ­Genesis­ 30:13 ( = ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 1:1), which is quoted according to the exegesis of the Targums; he ends his work with a citation of ­Genesis­ 15:16, where there is a direct verbal parallel with Apocalypse of Abraham­ 28:5 (underscored)—(But ­in the fourth generation­ of a hundred years, even one hour of the age (that is a hundred years), they will be held in oppression among the heathen. ... And they shall come back here ­in the fourth generation­; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”). Apocalypse of Abraham­ 8:4 and 9:1-4 reflects respectively ­Genesis­ 12:1 and 15:1 seen in the light of ­Psalm 20:2-3­ or Deuteronomy­ 33:29. ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 9:5 and 15:1 quote ­Genesis­ 15:9-10 and 15a, respectively; Apocalypse of Abraham­ 20:4 calls to mind Genesis­ 18:27; ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 20:6 is based on Genesis­ 18:30.

 

4. The same is true between ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 9:6c, ­Isaiah­ 41:8 (just before 537BC), and ­II Chronicles­ 20:7 (400-350BC, underscored)—(for you have loved me to seek me out, and I have called you ­my friend­. ... But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham, ­my friend­; ... Didst thou not, O our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and give it for ever to the descendants of Abraham ­thy friend­?).

 

5. Great use is also made of Ezekiel­ (late 6th century BC). Ezekiel­ 1 and 10 are behind ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 18-19. The Abraham of ­Ezekiel­ 1:10 and 10:14 also sees four living creatures in Apocalypse of Abraham­ 18:5-11; wheels full of eyes (at 18:3 and 18:12); the throne (1:23 = ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 18:3); and the Divine chariot (­Ezekiel­ 10:6 = ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 18:12). Certainly there is a also a ­conceptual­ parallel between Apocalypse of Abraham­ 25 and Ezekiel­ 8:2-6.

 

6. Finally, it would seem that the author follows the tradition of ­I Enoch­ 1-36. Azazel (chief of the fallen angels, ruler of the stars and most men) is in the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ the head of the angels who plotted against the Lord and who impregnated the daughters of men (­I Enoch­ 6:4 = ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 14:4; ­I Enoch­ 6:1-2 and 10:4 = Apocalypse of Abraham­ 14:6). These angels are compared to the stars (­I Enoch­ 8:1 = ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 14:6); Azazel reveals the secrets of Heaven and is banished to the desert (­I Enoch­ 8:1 = ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 14:4; ­I Enoch­ 10:4 = Apocalypse of Abraham­ 14:5); and Abraham, as Enoch, receives the power to drive away Satan (­I Enoch­ 14:3 = Apocalypse of Abraham­ 14:3).

 

B

 

     Rubinstein (­op.cit.­) has concluded that the document was probably written either in Hebrew or certainly in a Semitic language from the following linguistic evidence:

 

1. The Slavonic text of the work contains at least ten examples of Hebrew names, words and phrases (in Apocalypse of Abraham­ 8:4, 12:3, 12:10, 14:4, 14:6, 14:13, 29:8, 29:20, 31:1, and 31:2) of which the most impressive are (a) Iovan, a Slavonic deformation of the Hebrew word ywn (Greece); (b) Souzouch, probably a Slavonic transcription of the Hebrew name kwrws (Cyrus); and (c) Maroumat, a Slavonic abbreviation of the Hebrew Marta Roma.

 

2. The use of parts of the body (e.g., Apocalypse of Abraham­ 1:4—My heart was perplexed; ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 27:6—Why now have you afflicted my heart) instead of a simple pronoun is frequent and very Semitic.

 

3. Verse parallelism (e.g., at Apocalypse of Abraham­ 1:4, 3:1, 6:1 and 21:3—And it came to pass, that when I saw it ­my heart was perplexed and I thought in my mind­ that I, Abraham, could not put it back in its place, ... As I was still walking on the road, ­my heart was disturbed and my mind distracted­. ... When I, Abraham, heard words like this from my father, ­I laughed in my mind, and I groaned in­ the bitterness and anger of ­my soul­. ... And I saw there ­the earth­ and its fruit, and its moving things and its things that had ­souls­, and its host of men and the impiety of their souls and their justification, and their pursuit of their works, ­and the abyss­ and its torments, and its lower depths and the perdition of it.) also reflect Semitic thought.

 

4. The use of the positive instead of a comparative (e.g., Apocalypse of Abraham­ 1:5—It was heavy of­ a big stone as opposed to It was ­heavier than­ a big stone—betrays a Semitic original.

 

5. Prepositions are sometimes utilized according to Hebrew rather than Slavonic syntax. Finally,

 

6. the syntax of the temporal phrases reflects the Hebrew original of the book; for frequently a phrase is introduced by the Hebrew verb hyh (­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 1:4, 1:7, 2:5, 5:4, 5:10-11, 8:5, and numerous other examples)—(­And it came to pass­ that when I saw it ... ­And it came to pass­, when My father saw ... ­And it came to pass­ that when the Syrians saw ... ­And it came to pass­, when I was choosing ... ­And it came to pass­ when I saw it, I laughed and said to myself, “Barisat, truly you know how to light a fire and cook food!” ­And it came to pass­ while saying this ... ­And it came to pass­ as I went out).

 

     As to the date of the original Greek text, we have here to do with two problems. One of them has to do with the nature of the surviving text itself; and the other has to do with references to it from antiquity.

 

A

 

     The ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ seems to be composed of two fairly distinct parts: chapters 1-8, which comprise the legendary, or narrative portion; and chapters 9-31, the apocalypse-proper. For those who believe that the latter was originally independent of the former, the description of the burning and pillaging of the temple by the heathen (chapter 27) has been held to point to a date after 70AD, making it possible to establish a ­terminus a quo­; but only for that portion of the work. However, as the book presently stands, there are certainly connections between the two parts.

 

1. Chapters 25 and 26 make unambiguous references to the contents of chapters 1-8. Consequently, even if the two parts were originally independent of each other, they have not simply been joined together, but a definite attempt has been made to fuse them.

 

2. Pertinent to this argument, there is a passage in Recognitions of Clement­ 1:32. It refers to Abraham, who, since he was an astrologer, was able to recognize the creator from the disposition and order of the stars, and understood that all things are regulated by His providence. Whence also an angel standing by him in a vision, instructed him more fully about those things which he was beginning to perceive. But he showed him also what was destined for his race and posterity, and promised that these places should not so much be given to them as restored. It is true that nothing is said in the Recognitions­ about the source of the writer’s information about Abraham at this point. Also, the legendary interest of the passage is concentrated on Abraham’s practice of astrology, rather than on his attack on idolatry (the main theme of the first part of the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­). Even so, it is significant that in this passage in Recognitions­, the narrative and apocalyptic elements in the Abraham tradition are closely associated. In fact, the latter part of the quoted passage, so Box and Landsman (“The Apocalypse of Abraham: Edited, with a Translation from the Slavonic Text and Notes” in the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge’s Translations of Early Documents­, London, 1918, xvii), forms a good description of the second or apocalyptic part of our Book. Since the ­Recognitions­ quotation is taken from Rufinus of Aquileia’s translation of that work, and it is known that that translation was compiled c.400AD, Recognitions­ 1:32 would seem to be evidence that the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ existed—at any rate in embryo form—as early as c.350AD, however much it may subsequently have been remodeled, rewritten, expanded, or interpolated; that is, by the middle of the 4th century.

 

B

 

     The problem of dating with the testimony about this book from antiquity is that almost all these references are either notoriously vague; or they appear to confuse this work with others under Abraham’s name, such as the (still extant) ­Testament of Abraham­.

 

1. At ­Recognitions of Clement­ I.32:2—(When the whole world was again overspread with errors, and when for the hideousness of its crimes destruction was ready for it, this time not by water, but fire, and when already the scourge was hanging over the whole earth, beginning with Sodom, this man, by reason of his friendship with God, who was well pleased with him, obtained from God that the whole world should not equally perish.)—there is perhaps (so Box and Landsman, ­op.cit.­) evidence for a relatively early date for a Greek version of the Apocalypse of Abraham­ (discussed above). The remaining evidence from antiquity, however, is not promising.

 

2. It begins with ­Apostolic Constitutions­ VI.16:3 (350-400AD)—(And among the ancients also some have written apocryphal books of Moses, and Enoch, and Adam, and Isaiah, and David, and Elijah, and of the three patriarchs, pernicious and repugnant to the truth.)—which mentions either a book or books of the three Patriarchs in the very end of its list of apocryphal writings. We would naturally expect the three patriarchs referred to, to be Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But is this true; or is the fact that they occur at the very end of the list—after books ascribed to Isaiah, David and Elijah—significant, and are three worthies who lived later than Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the compiler’s mind?

 

3. Priscillian of Avila (d.385, ­Tractae III­), is only a little less vague when he asks whether anyone has ever read a book of Abraham among the prophets of the established canon.

 

4. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Refutation of All Heresies­ 39.5:1) is at first sight more definite. He records that among the apocryphal books used by the Sethians was one passing under the name of Abraham, which also they assert to be a revelation. The obvious interpretation of this statement is that it is a reference to the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­. On the other hand, the Testament of Abraham­ contains not a little apocalyptic material; and this is recognized, for example, in the title of the ­Testament­ in the Rumanian version of that work—­The Life and Death of Our Father Abraham, the Righteous, Written According to the Apocalypse­—so there could clearly be confusion here. (Indeed, the Sethians—who form the main subject here in Epiphanius’ writing—may have used either work; or perhaps another work incorporating material from one, or the other, or both, or neither.)

 

5. Palladius of Galatia (d.425, ­Lusaic History­) refers [in the traditional text of this passage, preserved in Migne (Patrologia Graeca­ XXXIV, 1857-1866, 1003-1004)] to those who have written the lives of the Fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses also and Elijah, and those who came after them—or, as preserved in Butler, (“The Lausiac History of Palladius II” in Texts and Studies­ V.2, Cambridge, 1904, 11): those who have written the lives of the Father, Abraham and those who came after him, Moses and Elijah and John. In either case, however, the description ­Life­ of Abraham fits the ­Testament­ just as well as the Apocalypse­; and it may be that Palladius was referring to neither, but to an altogether different work now no longer extant.

 

6. Pseudo-Athanasius of Alexandria (6th century, ­Synopsis Sacrae Scripturae­) also includes an Abraham in its list of apocryphal books but it is otherwise unclear what work is meant by this.

 

7. Theodore bar Konai (late 8th century, ­Book of Scholia­ XI) cites, in a section devoted to the Oadje, or Audians, cites the title and a few passages from an Apocalypse in the name of Abraham. The book is identical with the work previously cited by Epiphanius (in use, he says, among the Sethians); and its content is also known from Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254). Unfortunately, there is also no doubt that the writing used by the Sethians and this ­Apocalypse­ are two different works. There remains

 

8. Nicephorus of Constantinople (d.829, ­Stichometry­), which mentions an Abraham ... 300 lines; which is certainly as obscure an identification as almost all the others.

 

     The evidence for Jewish origin of the text followed by Christian interpolation, however, would appear to be so overwhelming that the majority of scholarly opinion (commonly, so JHC, 1983) dates its point of origin to the end of the 1st century AD, and otherwise to well within the first two centuries of the Christian Era—so Russell (Between the Testaments­, London, 1960, 86): 70-100AD for ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 9-32; Rowley (­The Relevance of Apocalyptic: A Study of Jewish and Christian Apocalypses from Daniel to Revelation­, New York, 1964, 126): after 70AD, but not later than the early decades of the 2nd century; ODC (1963, 6): probably in the late 1st century; ENC (II, 1966 ed., 112): 70-100AD for ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ 9-32; Box and Landsman (­The Apocalypse of Abraham­, 1919, xv-xvi): between 70AD and the first decades of the 2nd century; Charles (“The Apocalypse of Abraham” in ­The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament­, 1913, 683): before the middle of the 2nd century AD; Ginzberg (“Apocalypse of Abraham” in Jewish Encyclopaedia­ I, 92): during the last decades of the 1st century; and Rubinkiewicz (­L’Apocalypse d’Abraham en Slave: Edition Critique du Texte, Introduction, Traduction et Commentaire­): shortly after 79AD (perhaps between 79-81), on the strength of the supposition that plagues two, four, six, eight, and ten reflect the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79AD; that plagues one, three, five, seven, and nine reflect the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD; and that the alternation of the two forms was deliberately designed by the author of the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­, who wrote his work upon the pressure of events which he appreciated might signal the end of the world.

 

     Nevertheless, there are presently in the text of the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ several passages which show signs of Christian influence, particularly towards the end of the work (and preeminently in chapter 29). Box and Landsman (­op.cit.­, x, xxiff) believe that while the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ was to be considered essentially a Jewish work, it certainly received some Christian accretions; and JHC, while saying, somewhat mysteriously, that there is no direct relationship between the Apocalypse of Abraham­ and the ­Received New Testament­, notes that there are some parallel expressions which may indicate that both drew from a shared tradition, and says that it is generally accepted that the present text of the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ has many legendary insertions about Abraham taken from the ­Palaja­, which are due to Slavonic editors, and in which he includes: all of chapter 7; a long passage with heterogeneous material beginning at 8:1 in manuscripts a, b, c, and k of the ­Palaja­; another long passage after 29:21, also in manuscripts a, b, c, and k (which in the earlier ­Palaja­ that does not contain the Apocalypse of Abraham­ occurs as an ­independent­ piece prefaced by the following sentence: This is written out of the ­Book of the Sons of Jacob­. Elsewhere, AOT preserves Apocalypse of Abraham­ 9:6c, with he says is in parallel with ­James­ 2:23—(for you have loved me to seek me out, and I have called you my friend­. ... and the scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend­ of God.)—and it may be that others may be elucidated within the professional literature.

 

     If the original language of the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­ is Hebrew, than it was most likely composed in Palestine; but it is necessary to be conservative regarding the provenance of the work for two main reasons:

 

1. the book is preserved in Slavonic manuscripts that are far removed from the conjectured time and place of the original composition; and

 

2. as stated herein by Lunt and Andersen in their respective presentations of the ­Ladder of Jacob­ and ­II Enoch­, pseudepigrapha preserved only in Slavonic may have been considerably altered by the Bogomils, who were influenced by passages in the non-orthodox Christian literature, and composed new ones.

 

[AOT, 363-391; NTA, I, 318; ROW, 126; SCH, 205; BET, 86; JHC, 681-705; ODC, 6; ENC, II, 112-113]

 

36. The Testament of Abraham

 

     The apocalyptic work known as the ­Testament of Abraham­ has come down to us in a number of languages:

 

1. GREEK. Preeminently it is to be found in more than 30 Greek manuscripts, which date from the 13th-17th centuries AD, and which are clearly divisible into two recensions: a shorter one (supported by several Greek manuscripts and on the whole by a Rumanian version—and hereafter called “B”); and a much longer one, hereafter called “A” (also supported by several Greek manuscripts and a Rumanian version, and also by Slavonic, Coptic, Arabic and Ethiopic redactions—for all of which see below). Besides varying in length, it is clear that these recensions are distinct from one another in three other ways:

 

     A and B represent different arrangements of what is frequently different material. With regard to the story, B differs from A in five major ways: (a) In B, Abraham’s view of the judgment is stated before his tour of the world, not after. (b) In B the judgment scene itself is much less fully described. (c) In style and vocabulary, B is simpler and less verbose than A. (d) There are also fewer late words in B than in A (some of which are not evidenced before the 5th century AD). (e) There are fewer places in B where Christian influence is probable, as opposed to A (which does show some instances of Christian editing, such as a few verbal dependencies on the Received New Testament­). In B, the story is not substantially Christianized (Jesus the Christ does not appear in the judgment scene, and the verbal dependencies are almost entirely absent).

 

     There is no reason for thinking either that B is an abridgment of A, or that A is an expansion of B. Indeed, although it is certain that there are numerous differences among the various Greek manuscripts that support either A or B, the differences between A and B themselves (in terms of consistency in style, syntax, and vocabulary within both A and B, on which see Nickelsburg (­op.cit.­, 123, 126), is even more strongly marked, and it is necessary to postulate a separate vorlage for each of them. The fact that each of these vorlage may have themselves also had a common ancestor is indicated by (a) the general similarity of the story line; (b) the high degree of verbatim agreement between A and B in some chapters; and (c) the occasional striking verbatim agreements between A and B even in the sections where the order of events differs.

 

     The question as to what extent the other linguistic versions support either A or B admits of no easy answer. [E.g., of the nine manuscripts James used in his edition of the text (“The Testament of Abraham: The Greek Text now First Edited with an Introduction and Notes” in ­Texts and Studies­ II.2, Cambridge, 1892, 1-130), even the titles differed. Four gave it as given here; four at least included the word Testament in their more elaborate titles; and not even that appears in the remaining two (translated as “Narrative Concerning the Life and Death of the righteous Abraham­,” and ­“Account Concerning the Death of Abraham.”]

 

2. COPTIC. There has also survived a Coptic version, for which see Guidi (“Il Testo Copto del Testamento di Abramo” in ­Rendiconti Della Realle Accademia dei Lincei: Classe di Scienze, Morali, Storiche e Filologiche­, Series V.9, Rome, 1900, 157-180); and MacRae (“The Coptic ­Testament of Abraham­” in Society of Biblical Literature, Septuagint and Cognate Studies­ VI, Mizzoula, Montana, 1976, 327-340). It is in the Bohairic dialect, and follows neither the longer nor the shorter Greek texts exactly; though on the whole it is much closer to the shorter. It is also connected with the ­Testament of Isaiah­ and the ­Testament of Jacob­. It introduces the main body of the work with a short preface, explaining that what follows is an account of the going forth from the body of our holy fathers, the three patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and goes on to describe the work as a homily or discourse of Athanasius of Alexandria (c.373AD), adding that Athanasius had discovered the substance of it in ancient apostolic writings.

 

3. SLAVONIC. A version in Slavonic has also been discovered, for which see Tikhonravov (­Pamyatniki Otrechennoi Russkoi Literatury­ I, St. Petersburg, 1863, 79-90); Polivka (“Die Apokryphische Erzahlung vom Tode Abrahms” in ­Archiv fur Slavische Philologie­ XVIII, 1896, 112-125); and Cooper and Weber (“The Church Slavonic Testament of Abraham” in Society of Biblical Literature, Septuagint and Cognate Studies­ VI, 301-326). The Slavonic inclines very definitely towards the shorter Greek version, though the situation here is complicated by the fact that, as so often the case with Slavonic texts, a number of different inner-Slavonic recensions have to be reckoned with. The Slavonic titles it simply: “­The Death of Abraham­.”

 

4. ARABIC. There is an Arabic production, of which Chaine and Marcais (“Le Testament d’Abraham: Introduction, Traduction du Texte Grec et Commentaire de la Recension Grecque Longue, Suivi de la Traduction des Testaments d’Abraham, d’Isaac et de Jacob d’Apres les Versions Orientales” in ­Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha­ II, Leiden, 1973) appears to have published an entire translation. From what is know of it, it would seem that the Arabic, like the Slavonic, inclines towards the shorter Greek version, though with considerable variations. Like the Coptic, it is connected in its manuscript with the Testament of Isaac­ and the Testament of Jacob­. Leslau (Falasha Anthology: The Black Jews of Ethiopia­, New York, 1969, 95) believes it was translated from the Coptic. Other Arabic manuscript exist in the Vatican; for them see Assemani (Bibliotheca Orientalis Clementino-Vaticana­, Rome, 1725, Part I.3, 285, 286); and Maius (­Scriptorum Veterum Nuova Collectio­, Rome, 1831, IV, 312, cod. 171).

 

5. ETHIOPIC. An Ethiopic translation survives, parts of which appear in Leslau (“The Testament of Abraham” part of the ­Falasha Anthology: Translated from Ethiopic Sources with an Introduction­ in ­Yale Judaica Series­ VI, New Haven, 1951, 92-102, 176-180) and Chaine and Caquot (­op.cit.­). The Ethiopic appears to have been made from the Arabic; and like the Arabic it seems to incline towards the shorter Greek version, though with considerable variations. Like both the Coptic and the Arabic, the Ethiopic connects the ­Testament of Abraham­ with the Testament of Isaac­ and the ­Testament of Jacob­. Leslau (op.cit.­, 96) believes it was translated from the Arabic during the 14th or 15th centuries AD.

 

6. RUMANIAN. Finally, a Rumanian version has been discovered by M. Gaster (“The Apocalypse of Abraham: From the Rumanian Text, Discovered and Translated” in ­Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology­ IX, London, 1893, 195-226). There are Rumanian texts which incline to both the longer and the shorter Greek versions, though that which inclines to the longer is by no means identical with it. (The title of the latter manuscript is: “­The Life and Death of our Father Abraham­.”

 

     Ancient testimony from the earliest days of Christianity may be adduced in the references already discussed above with relation to the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­. Partly as a consequence of this vagueness, there is some doubt as to its origin and date; the latter aspect of which is further complicated because in the text (a) there are no references to historical events, (b) the doctrines of the book are not datable to any narrow historical period, and (c) Greek B is partly written in an artificial style (imitative of classical Biblical prose).

 

1. James (“The Testament of Abraham: The Greek Text Now First Edited With an Introduction and Notes” in Texts and Studies­ II.2, Cambridge, 1892, 23-29) styled it another fragment of early popular Christian literature and suggested that it was earlier than Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254), and written as early as the 2nd century (probably in Egypt), by a Jewish Christian who used the ­Apocalypse of Peter­ (of which only a single Greek fragment was known in 1892) as one of his sources; that it embodied even earlier legends; and that it received its present form perhaps in the 9th or 10th century AD. He was also of the opinion that Greek A best represents the contents and order—and therefore the priority—of the original composition [in which Nickelsburg (­Studies on the Testament of Abraham­, 1976, 92) still concurs]; while Greek B sometimes preserves earlier wording.

 

2. On the other hand, Kohler (“The Pre-Talmudic Haggada. II. ­The Apocalypse of Abraham­ and its Kindred” in Jewish Quarterly Review­ VII, 1895, 581-606), Ginzberg (“Abraham, Testament of” in ­Jewish Encyclopaedia­ I, New York, 1901, 93ff; and also ­The Legends of the Jews­ vol. I, Philadelphia, 1909, 209-306, and vol. V, Philadelphia, 1925, 266-267), and Box (“The Testament of Abraham: Translated from the Greek Text with Introduction and Notes” in the Society for the Preservation of Christian Knowledge’s ­Translations of Early Documents­, London, 1927, xxviii-xxix) all stressed the essentially Jewish character of the work, and argued in one way or another for a Semitic original, dating from the 1st century AD, with a number of late Christian additions, arguing in this case that the Greek text may be a translation of a Semitic, possibly a Hebrew (so Ginzberg and Kohler) original. Box noted that the present Greek text does not read like a translation: The story in its original form probably grew up in the first half of the 1st century AD. ... This probably formed the basis of a free Greek version, which was embellished with some special features (e.g., in the description of the Angel of Death) which owed their origin to Egypt. Box maintained that the work was originally Palestinian, but may have had a Semitic original. Turner (The Testament of Abraham: A Study of the Original Language, Place of Origin, Authorship, and Relevance­, especially 14-48 and 242-248) agreed with Box’s view of A, but argued in 1951 that B was a translation from Hebrew [so also F. Schmidt (­Le Testament d'Abraham: Introduction, Edition de la Recension Courte, Traduction et Notes­ I, 1 20)], written not in Palestine, but in Egypt. No one has proposed an Aramaic original, and Turner’s study shows that the Semiticisms are Hebraisms, rather than Aramaisms. He regarded it as having been written in Egypt before the ­Septuagint­ was translated, or in wide use, and when at least some Jews still spoke Hebrew. (The Greek translation represented by Greek B he dated to c.200-165BC, and that represented by Greek A to a period not much later, though perhaps as late as the 2nd century AD, with some late additions.) Even so, Turner later withdrew­ his theory of a Hebrew original in a note dated November 10, 1977, in which he wrote in part: I now think that books written freely in “Biblical Greek” were relatively representative phenomena among Jews and Christians who had tasted the influence of the synagogue and knew the Greek versions of the Bible very well. ... Like Professor Sanders I would think that both recensions were more likely to have been composed in this dialect of Greek than to have been literally rendered from a vorlage; that the Semitic idioms had already infused the dialect known to the author, who was not consciously translating nor even thinking in one language and writing in another. F. Schmidt (­op.cit.­, 120) regarded the ­Testament of Abraham­ as Palestinian in origin, composed in Hebrew in either Essene or related circles, and datable to the first half of the 1st century AD. He argued that, since the ­Testament­ is concerned with only individual eschatology, it must come after ­IV Ezra­, where both individual and collective or national eschatology are matters of concern.

 

3. Against this, Schurer (­Geschichte des Judischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi­ IV. Auflage. III. Band, Leipzig, 1909, iii, 338-339) saw no reason for thinking the story was of Jewish origin, on the grounds that many such legends were invented by Christians.

 

4. Bousset and Gressmann (­Die Religion des Judentums im Spathellenistischen Zeitalter­, Tübingen, 1926, 45) were prepared to compromise and regarded the ­Testament­ as an example of Christian adaptation of preexisting Jewish legend.

 

5. More recently, Turner (“The ­Testament of Abraham­: Problems in Biblical Greek” in ­New Testament Studies­ I, 1955, 219-223) has maintained that James overemphasized the Christian elements. For Turner, the ­Testament­ is Jewish in origin, but was written in Greek originally, rather than in Hebrew; and in all probability in Egypt, though rather earlier than James suggested. It subsequently passed into Christian hands and became very popular in the primitive church from the 5th century onwards. He dates the shorter Greek recension (which he did not think displayed a knowledge of the ­Septuagint­) to the 3rd century; and Greek A (which he thought both displayed knowledge of the ­Septuagint­ and also a strong linguistic similarity with ­II Maccabees­, ­III Maccabees­ and ­IV Maccabees­)—as it now stands—not earlier than the 5th or 6th century, and perhaps very much later than that.

 

6. A few years later, Russell (­Between the Testaments­, London, 1960, 86) dated the short Greek version to the first half of the 1st century AD.

 

7. Even more recently, Delcor (­op.cit.­ 1973) has argued along much the same lines. He feels that traces of Christian influence are much fewer and less definite than James and his followers thought. For Delcor (who based his study primarily on Greek A) the original work, which lies behind both Greek A and B, was a Greco-Jewish writing incorporating a variety of traditions, some traceable to the Alexandrian ­Septuagint­. It was written in Egypt, perhaps by a member of the sect of the Therapeutae, about the beginning of the Christian Era.

 

8. Finally, Charlesworth (­The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha I: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments­, New York, 1983, 871-880) has made out a case that Hebrew could have been the original language of Greek B (the shorter version). He discovered that the form of Greek used by the author of B could, for the most part, be smoothly translated ­back­ into the classical Hebrew of the early narrative sections of the Received Bible­ (as opposed to any form of late Hebrew as known from the late canonical books, the ­Dead Sea Scrolls­, and rabbinic literature). Thus in B, and occasionally also in A, the form of ­Greek­ used by the author is also discovered, by analogy, to be in imitation of the classical Greek Biblical style in literary works composed in that language (of which examples may be drawn from ­Luke­, the ­Infancy Gospel of James,­ and ­The Acts of Pilate­ [on which see Sanders (­The Tendencies of the Synoptic Tradition­, 1969, 200-202, 226, 228)]. This type of Greek, Charlesworth argued, was used by the author of Greek B, because he thought it appropriate to his theme.

 

     On the assumption that the original work was written in Greek and comes from Egypt, it is possible to make a reasonable conjecture of the date on the basis of three general considerations.

 

1. It is doubtful if Egyptian, especially Alexandrian, Judaism was sufficiently intact after 117AD to allow the production of such literature, especially a work like the ­Testament of Abraham­, which does not distinguish Jew from Gentile in the judgment.

 

2. On the other hand, it is unlikely that the work is very early—i.e., prior to the Christian Era—for it combines genres and motifs that must have been known to the author from other literatures (e.g., the ascension or heavenly tour, and the motif of resistance to death, which are appropriated from the Moses tradition).

 

3. Further, there is a concern, assuming that Greek A preserves the original contents, to bring fairly early into one picture the different images of the judgment: fire, balance, and written records, remembering (a) that the work was subsequently rewritten by more than one hand, (b) that Greek A (presumed to date most closely to the original) in particular shows the traces of late redactional activity, and (c) that the redactional activity that imparted to A (and to a lesser extent B), late words and traces of ­Received New Testament­ passages, must be distinguished from the rewriting that produced the vorlages­ of both Greek A and Greek B.

 

     It seems best to assume a date for the original of the Testament of Abraham­ of c.100AD, plus or minus 25 years.

 

     If the ­Testament­ is regarded as having been originally written in Greek, the most likely place of origin is Egypt. The evidence for this may be summarized as follows:

 

1. The vocabulary, especially of Greek A, shows strong similarity to that of the late books of the ­Septuagint­ (made in Alexandria), and to other Jewish books written in Greek in Egypt (e.g., III Maccabees­, probably written in Alexandria between 100BC-70AD).

 

2. The motif of the weighing of souls is most closely paralleled in late Egyptian depictions.

 

3. The three levels of judgment may reflect the three levels of government in Egypt.

 

4. Though the above arguments are decisive only for Greek A, it appears that the story as it is found in A (especially the account of the judgment scene) more accurately reflects the ultimate common ancestor and therefore forces the conclusion that it is best to postulate Egyptian provenance for the original story.

 

5. It would be reasonable to assume that the story was redacted where it first circulated, in Egypt; but here there is nothing that would decisively rule out other Jewish centers in the Mediterranean Basin.

 

     The most verbal and conceptual thought parallels lie with the Testament of Job­, ­III Baruch­, ­II Enoch­, and The Apocalypse of Moses­; but there are also some with ­The Assumption of Moses­, ­The Letter of Joseph and Asenath­, ­The Received Apocalypse of John­, ­The Apocalypse of Paul­, ­The Coptic Book of Enoch­, ­The Sibylline Oracles­, ­The Wisdom of Solomon­, Hebrews­, ­II Chronicles­, ­I Clement­, ­Poimandres­, ­Matthew­, Romans­, ­IV Ezra­, ­I Corinthians­, ­I Enoch­, ­I Peter­, ­I Thessalonians­, ­I John­, ­II Peter­, ­John­ and ­Luke­ (for Greek A); and with ­The Apocalypse of Paul­, ­Luke­, ­Matthew­, and ­I Enoch­ (for Greek B). All of these books are part of ­the contents of the Fragments of the New Testament­, except for ­III Baruch­, which is regarded as an entirely Jewish production; and the Coptic Book of Enoch­, which is regarded as entirely Gnostic.

 

[ODC, 7, 839; AOT, 393-421; ROW, 128; BET, 86; RUS, 60-61; JHC, 871-880]

 

37. The Slavonic Tale of the Just Man, Abraham

 

     This work was most recently published by Lavrov (in ­Sbornik Otdeleniya Russkogo Yazyka i Sloves Nostri Imperatorskoi Akademii Nauk­ LXVII.3, St. Petersburg, 1899, 70-81). It cannot be described as an abridgment of the ­Apocalypse of Abraham­, but it shows clear traces of dependence on the same tradition, and by its very existence provides an interesting illustration of how that tradition—at least in the Slavonic world—was being continually adapted and reshaped.

 

[AOT, 465]

 

38. Melchizedek

 

     The work entitled ­Melchizedek­ deals with the mysterious priest of that name, who is mentioned in the Received Old Testament­ at ­Genesis­ 14:18-20, and ­Psalms­ 110:4—(And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, maker of Heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. ... The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.”)—and in the ­Received New Testament­ at ­Hebrews­ 5:5-10 and 6:19-7:22—(So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek. ... We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. This “King Melchizedek of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he was returning from defeating the kings and blessed him”; and to him Abraham apportioned “one-tenth of everything.” His name, in the first place, means “king of righteousness”; next he is also king of Salem, that is, “king of peace.” Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.\fn{Melchizedek’s ancestors, birth, and death, are not recorded in Scripture.}See how great he is! Even\fn{Other ancient authorities lack: Even.} Abraham the patriarch gave him a tenth of the spoils. And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to collect tithes\fn{Or: tenth.} from the people, that is, from their kindred,\fn{The Greek has: brothers.} though these also are descended from Abraham. But this man, who does not belong to their ancestry, collected tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had received the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case, tithes are received by those who are mortal;\fn{The Levitical priests are meant.} in the other, by one of whom it is testified that he\fn{Melchizedek.} lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him. Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood—for the people received the law under this priesthood—what further need would there have been to speak of another priest arising according to the order of Melchizedek, rather than one according to the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. Now the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests. It is even more obvious when another priest arises, resembling Melchizedek, one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life. For it is attested of him, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” There is, on the one hand, the abrogation of an earlier commandment because it was weak and ineffectual (for the law made nothing perfect); there is, on the other hand, the introduction of a better hope, through which we approach God. This was confirmed with an oath; for others who became priests took their office without an oath, but this one became a priest with an oath, because of the one who said to him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind, ‘You are a priest forever’”—accordingly Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.).

 

     In ­Hebrews­ [which book Tuckett (­Nag Hammadi and the Gospel Tradition­, Edinburgh, 1986, 137) says is almost certainly presupposed by ­the author of Melchizedek­], the role of Melchizedek as an eschatological high priest and Messianic warrior reflects Jewish [and, so Danielou (­The theology of Jewish-Christianity I: A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea­, 1964, 216), Jewish-Christian] speculations on Melchizedek current at the turn of the Christian Era. Such speculations are attested most notably by the Melchizedek fragments discovered at Qumran, [but also, so Danielou (­op.cit.­, 353) in ­II Enoch­]. Furthermore, the author of ­Melchizedek­ apparently identifies Melchizedek with Jesus Christ, possibly based on an interpretation of the passage in ­Hebrews­; and this is also documented elsewhere in early Christianity, particularly in Egypt.

 

     Melchizedek­ was originally written in Greek by an unknown author, possibly as early as the 2nd century AD, probably in Egypt. Tuckett (­op.cit.­, 139) in addition to identifying with the author a knowledge of Hebrews­, also says that at 25.5-7 he betrays a knowledge of ­Mark­ 15:33 & 42 (Mark’s passion narrative in its completed form); and therefore a knowledge of Mark’s completed gospel, one of the rare examples of the clear use of this gospel in the Great Church. Though the work contains obvious Sethian Gnostic elements, they may be secondary additions. Indeed, especially interesting is the ­anti­-docetic tendency: the body, flesh and suffering of Jesus Christ are indeed real (and not apparent as Gnosticism would insist: H).

 

     NTB calls special attention to the following portions of Melchizedek­ which it is felt are probably in some verbal or conceptual way in parallel to texts of the Received New Testament. The Nag Hammadi work is cited by the initials of its English title; followed by the Roman and Arabic codex and tractate numbers identifying its position in the thirteen book papyrus library itself; followed by page and line numbers from the Coptic manuscripts themselves. Lacunae in the Coptic text are indicated by three dots [...]; compound Scriptural references are also separated by three dots [...]. EWW believes there are parallels with ­Mark­, Matthew­, ­Luke­, John­, ­Revelation­, and ­Ephesians­; and on that basis, the writing could be dated as early as the first half of the 2nd century AD.

 

IX,1;1.20-2.5­: And he will reveal to them the truth ... in ... proverbs ... at first in parables and riddles ... proclaim them.

Mark 4:33-34­: With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.

Matthew 13:34-35­: All this Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.”

*

IX,1;2.8-11­: world-ruling archons and the principalities and the authorities, ... together with the archangels.

Ephesians 6:12­: For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

*

IX,1;3.4-11­: They will ... this the lawyers will bury him quickly. They will call him, “impious man, lawless and impure.” And on the third day he will rise from the dead

Mark 10:33-34­: saying, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles; and they will mock him, and spit upon him, and scourge him, and kill him; and after three days he will rise.”

Matthew 20:18-19­: “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Luke 18:32-33­: For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon; they will scourge him and kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”

Mark 8:31­: And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.

Matthew 16:21­: From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.

Luke 9:22­: saying, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

Mark 9:31­: for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.”

Matthew 17:22b-23a­: Jesus said to them, “The Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.”

Luke 24:7­: that the Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and on the third day rise.”

*

IX,1;3.7-9­: They will call him, “impious man, lawless and impure.”

Matthew 11:19a­: the Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

Luke 7:34­: The Son of man has come eating and drinking; and you say, ‘Behold, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

*

IX,1;5.14-15, 26.2-4­: O Melchizedek, Holy One, High-Priest, ... O Melchizedek, great High-Priest of God Most High,

Hebrews 5:10,6:20­: being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. ... where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

*

IX,1; 12.10-11; 15.9-10; 15.12-13; 19.13-14; 26.2-4­: Melchizedek, the Priest of God Most High ... I am Melchizedek, the Priest of God Most High; ... High-Priest of God Most High, ... Melchizedek, Priest of God Most High ... O Melchizedek, great High-Priest of God Most High,

Hebrews 7:1a­: For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God,

*

IX,1;16.16-18.4­: Holy are you, Holy are you, Holy are you, O Father of the All, ... (etc.) ... Holy are you, Holy are you, Holy are you, Commander-in-chief of the All, Jesus Christ, for ever and ever, Amen.

Revelation 4:8­: And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all round and within, and day and night they never cease to sing, ``Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"

*

IX,1;25.2­: you struck me,

Mark 14:65a­: And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to strike him,

Matthew 26:67­: Then they spat in his face, and struck him; and some slapped him,

Luke 22:63­: Now the men who were holding Jesus mocked him and beat him;

Mark 15:19a­: And they struck his head with a reed, and spat upon him,

Matthew 27:30­: And they spat upon him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.

John 19:3­: they came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.

John 18:22a­: When he had said this, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand,

*

IX,1;25.4-7­: And you crucified me from the third hour of the Sabbath-eve until the ninth hour.

Mark 15:25,33,42­: And it was the third hour, when they crucified him. ... And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. .... and when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath,

Matthew 27:45,62­: Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. ... Next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate

Luke 23:44,54­: It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, .... It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was beginning.

*

IX,1;25.7-12­: And after these things I arose from the dead. ... came out of ... into me. ... my eyes saw ... they did not find anyone

Mark 16:2,6a­: And very early on the first day of the week they went to the tomb when the sun had risen. ... And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen,

Matthew 28:1,6-7a­: Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulcher. ... He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead,

Luke 24:1,3,5­: But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices which they had prepared. ... but when they went in they did not find the body. ... and as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead.\fn{Other ancient authorities add here: He is not here, but has risen.}

John 20:1-3,9­: Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb, ... for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead.

 

[NHG, 137-139; NOAB, NT, 320-323; NAG, 399; DAN, 216, 353]

 

39. The Testament of Isaac

 

     The ­Testament of Isaac­ appears to have survived the destruction of the ancient world in the following three languages:

 

1. COPTIC. Two versions are known from Coptic. The first one is in the Sahidic dialect, extant in a single manuscript, in the Pierpont Morgan Library (New York City) dated 894-895AD. It is the most ancient text available. The other is the Bohairic dialect, also in a single manuscript, in Rome (Vatican Library) and dated 962AD. This version groups the texts of this work, and the ­Testament of Abraham­ and the ­Testament of Jacob­, together. The Bohairic was almost certainly made from the Sahidic, although as it has come down to us it does not always follow it exactly. The Bohairic version may, therefore, occasionally have preserved some features otherwise lost. Guidi (“Il Testamento di Isacco e il Testamento di Giacobbe” in ­Rendiconti Della Reale Accademia dei Lincei: Calsse di Scienze Morali, Storiche e Filologiche­ V.ix, Rome, 1900, 224-244) argues that the book is an imitation of the ­Testament of Abraham­, and that Coptic was its original language of composition. Sparis (­The Apocryphal Old Testament­, Oxford, 1984, 423-439), however, argues that although the pattern of the ­Testament of Isaac­ follows that of ­Abraham­ closely, there is a new element introduced—the moral and religious teaching attributed to Isaac; and it might well be argued that this new element is due to a Coptic author or redactor, since a strong practical and pastoral interest is one of the recurring features of all Coptic literature.

 

2. ARABIC. This version of the ­Testament of Isaac­ is represented by a single manuscript, dated 1269AD—but the translation which it contains may have been made c.800AD. It is partly available in English, for which see James (“The Testament of Abraham” in ­Texts and Studies­ II.ii, Cambridge, 1892, 140-141).

 

3. ETHIOPIC. This is an undoubtedly Christian manuscript, presently in Paris (Bibliotheque National manuscript number 134 in the catalogue of Zoteberg). Guidi (­op.cit.­) has also suggested that this work derived from the Coptic; and this hypothesis may be supported by the observation that this later version follows the Bohairic text not only (a) in grouping the Testament of Abraham­, ­Testament of Isaac­, and Testament of Jacob­ together as a unity, but (b) also in attributing them in their present form to Athanasius of Alexandria (d.373).

 

     The ­Testament of Isaac­ is now extant only in these three languages (all from the area south of the Mediterranean Sea). Unlike the ­Testament of Abraham­, it is not extant in Greek, or in the northern versions of Rumanian and Slavonic. However,

 

1. the dependence of this book on the ­Testament of Abraham­ makes it possible that it was originally written in Greek, shortly after ­Abraham­, and in the same milieu, even if the smallest trace of the hypothetical Greek text has yet to come to light, since

 

2. if the reference at ­Apostolic Constitutions­ VI.16:3 to the book, or books of the three Patriarchs is to the Testaments of Abraham­, Isaac­, and ­Jacob­, than there must have been Greek versions of all three. (Similarly, it might be argued that the enigmatic passage of Priscillian of Avila in ­Tractatus III­—(Nos fili prophetarum sumus: Noe profeta fuit et Abraham et Isaac et Iacob et omnes patres nostri qui ab initio saeculi profetaverunt.)—shows that Priscillian knew a Latin version of all three works: and that this is in itself further evidence in favor of Greek predecessors of the present surviving Coptic, Arabic and Ethiopic versions.

 

     As to the date, place of origin, and present theology of the Testament of Isaac­, the following points should be kept in mind.

 

1. The attribution to Athanasius of Alexandria (d.373AD) in the Coptic-Arabic-Ethiopic tradition to the Testament of Isaac­ as well as the ­Testament of Abraham­ must inevitably be suspect; but even if it were not, the further statement in the preface to the Bohairic ­Abraham­ the Athanasius found them in ancient books of our holy fathers the apostles looks far too much like a pious conjecture on the part of some editor or scribe, and in any case too vague to be of any real use.

 

2. Even so, such evidence as there is—the name, Athanasius; the geographical distribution of the extant texts; and the similarity of ­Isaac­ and Abraham­ (which in all probability was itself written in Egypt)—points to Egypt as the place of origin.

 

3. Indeed, if the author of ­Isaac­ was not the same as the author or compiler of ­Abraham­, that he must not only have known ­Abraham­, but also have thought it worth while composing very passable imitations of it.

 

4. In its present form, ­Isaac­ is certainly Christian; yet it may be maintained, as in the case of ­Abraham­, that ­Isaac­ contains Jewish legendary material, even if it was not itself the work of Jewish authorship. Indeed, in Isaac­, the explicitly Christian elements may have been superimposed, for they appear to be easily detachable.

 

     There are pronounced Christian elements in ­Isaac­ as it now stands, and in its present form it has the function of emphasizing the date of the deaths of Abraham and Isaac as commemorated in the Coptic Church. Thus it would be possible to see the work as springing from the Coptic Christian Church. The Christianizing is not thoroughgoing, however—indeed, all my sources present me with but a single verbal or conceptual parallel: Isaac­ 4:19 with ­Matthew­ 1:17—and it seems more likely that the original composition was a product of Egyptian Judaism:

 

1. Isaac­ 2:9 maintains the universalism of ­Abraham­—(You shall be entrusted with this name for all future generations: The Patriarchs. Thus you shall be ­fathers of all the world­, our faithful elder, our father Isaac.);

 

2. Isaac­ 2:22 says, like ­Abraham­, that Jacob is called the father of many nations as well as of the twelve tribes—(Then he will become the father of many nations, and twelve tribes will come forth from him.); and (3) the admonitions (e.g., at ­Isaac­ 4:11-54) concerning proper behavior remain, as in Abraham­, quite general—(Then someone said to him, ‘Begin for me a discourse that I may be consoled by it and hold fast to it.’ So our father Isaac said to him, ‘If you speak in anger, guard yourself from slander and beware of empty boasting. See that you do not converse alone with a woman.\fn{The last three words completing the sentence are added from the Bohairic Coptic and Ethiopic versions.} Be careful that an evil word does not come forth from your mouth. Guard your body, that it may be pure, for it is the temple of the Holy Spirit, which dwells within it. Take care of the lesser functions of your body, that it may be pure and sanctified. See that you do not make sport with your tongue lest an evil word go forth from your mouth. Beware of stretching out your hand to what you do not own. Do not present an offering when you are not ritually clean; bathe yourself in water when you intend to approach the altar. Do not mingle your thoughts with the thoughts of the world, as you stand at the altar in the presence of God. Make your offering so that you may be a peacemaker between men. As you are about to present your offering to God, when you have moved forward to approach the latter, you shall pray to God a hundred times without ceasing. At the beginning you shall voice this thanksgiving as follows, ‘O God, the incomprehensible, who cannot be searched out, the possessor of power, the source of purity, cleanse me by your mercy, a free gift from you to me. For I am a creature of flesh and blood, fleeing to you. I know of my uncleanness, and surely you will cleanse me, O Lord. For behold, my cause is in your hands and my recourse is to you. I know my sin, so cleanse me, O Lord, that I may enter into your presence with self-respect. Now my offenses are weighty; I have drawn near to the fire which burns. Your mercy is upon all things, so that you can take away all my transgressions. Pardon me, even me, the sinner. And pardon all your creatures whom you have fashioned, but who have not heard and learned of you. I am like all who are in our name. I have turned to the doing of what is forbidden to me. I have come to you and I am your servant and the sinful son of your nation, but you are the very forgiving one. Forgive me by the graciousness that comes from you, and hear my entreaty that I may be worthy of standing at your holy altar. May this burnt offering be acceptable to you. Do not turn me back to my ignorance because of my sins. Receive me like the lost sheep. May the God who provided for our father Adam, and Abel and Noah, and our father Abraham, be with you, O Jacob, and with me also. Receive my offering from me.’ So if you have approached and have done this before your ascent to the altar, then offer your sacrifice. But you shall take care and be alert that you do not grieve the spirit of the Lord. For the work of the priesthood is not easy, since it is incumbent upon every priest, from today until the completion of the last of the generations and the end of the world, that he should not be filled by the drinking of wine nor be satisfied by the eating of bread; and that he should not talk about the concerns of the world nor listen to one who does talk about them. But priests must expend all of their efforts and their lives in prayer and watchfulness and perseverance in piety, in order that each one may petition the Lord successfully. Moreover, every man on earth, whether wretched or fortunate, has incumbent upon him the keeping of the proper commandments. For men, after a short time, will be removed from this world and its intense anxiety. Then they will be engaged in holy, angelic service by reason of purity. They will be presented before the Lord and his angels because of their pure offerings and their angelic service. For their earthly conduct will be reflected in Heaven, and the angels will be their friends because of their perfect faith and purity. Great is their esteem before the Lord, and there is no one either small or great in whom the Lord will not make improvement; for the Lord wishes that each be without fault or offense. And now, continue to supplicate God with repentance for your past sins, and do not commit more sin. Accordingly do not kill with the sword, do not kill with the tongue, do not fornicate with your body, and do not remain angry until sunset. Do not let yourself receive unjustified praise, and do not rejoice at the fall of your enemies or of your brothers. Do not blaspheme; beware of slander. Do not look at a woman with a lustful eye. These things and what is like them you shall guard against, in order that each one of you may be saved from the wrath which will be manifested from Heaven.)

 

     Thus, assuming that ­Isaac­ was originally Jewish, the book represents very much the same values as are represented by ­Abraham­: Men should set their houses in order in preparation for death; they should lead good moral lives; they should remember the judgment; but they should forget neither the mercy of God nor the need that they themselves must be merciful.

 

[AOT, 423-439; ODC, 7; JON, 56; JHC, 903-904]

 

40. The Testament of Jacob

 

     The ­Testament of Jacob­ has come down to us in Coptic, Arabic and Ethiopic. The principal manuscripts are the same as those used for the ­Testament of Isaac­ (above), except that in a Sahidic Coptic version, only Isaac­ is extant. Guidi (­op.cit.­, in his introduction to the Bohairic text of ­Jacob­), argued that ­Jacob­ was an imitation of the ­Testament of Abraham­, and that it was originally composed in Coptic. However, if the reference at ­Apostolic Constitutions­ VI.16:3—(of the three Patriarchs)—is meant to include ­Jacob­, than this apocalypse will also have existed in Greek, as well as Arabic and Ethiopic. Similarly, the passage in Priscillian (­Tractatus III­), previously alluded to in the discussion of ­Isaac­, might be argued to show that Priscillian knew a Latin version of ­Jacob­ as well; and this is further evidence in and of itself that a Greek Jacob­ existed (though no actual manuscript of it in this language has as yet been discovered).

 

     The distinguishing marks of ­Jacob­ are: (1) its dependence on the Received book of ­Genesis­; (2) its essentially derivative character; (3) the impression that the Christian elements in it are less easily detachable than in ­Isaac­; (4) the fact that no Sahidic Coptic text of it (unlike ­Isaac­) has been found; and (5) that there are signs that the text has a long history behind it. [Indeed, Gaslee (­op.cit.­) notes that the violent treatment to which the ­Testaments­ (more especially the ­Testament of Jacob­) have been subjected, lags a long way behind their present Coptic form.] All this suggests to Sparis (­The Apocryphal Old Testament­, Oxford, 1984) that ­Jacob­ originated independently from ­Abraham­ and ­Isaac­; but there still remain two theories which represent the extremities between which a number of possibilities may exist:

 

A. Either ­Abraham­ was written first in Greek in Egypt by a Jewish author; ­Isaac­ came later as an independent work by either a Jewish or a Christian author (though whether written in Greek, Sahidic Coptic, or anything else is impossible to say); and still later, the Bohairic Coptic translator (also either Jewish or Christian) of these two works put them together and himself composed (in Bohairic) a ­Testament of Jacob­, for the purpose of making a trilogy with the other two, perhaps in order to round out the stories of the deaths of the three patriarchs (for ­Isaac­ 2:1 and 8:1 refers to the archangel Michael being sent to Abraham, as well as to the story of Abraham’s death, while ­Jacob­ 1:2 and 8:1 refers respectively to the commemoration of the deaths of both Abraham and Isaac—and a later date for ­Jacob­ is demanded anyway, based upon allegedly increased redactional violence done to the text by a longer series of copyists);—or

 

B. the three testaments were designed as a trilogy from the start; all three were originally written in Greek, at some time during the 1st century AD; and (1) it is pure accident that only Abraham­ has survived in Greek, (2) that there are not surviving Sahidic texts of ­Abraham­ or ­Jacob­, and (3) that the Bohairic dialect of Coptic is the first extant text we possess to group all three together.

 

     As to the date, place of origin, and present theology of Jacob­, the same points apply to ­Jacob­ as were applied to Isaac­ (above)—with some additional observations which may account for a compositional date for ­Jacob­ at some time during the 2nd or 3rd century AD. (1) ­Jacob­ is much more imitative in its structure than is ­Isaac­; and it appears that ­Jacob­ imitates ­Isaac­ rather more directly than it imitates ­Abraham­ (which suggests that they were composed in the chronological order ­Abraham-Isaac-Jacob­: H). (2) ­Jacob­ begins with a Trinitarian formula, the word for which was first used in its Greek form by Theophilus of Anitoch (c.180AD) and the concept for which is embedded in the ­Received New Testament­, both implicitly and explicitly. (3) Jacob­ describes Mary, the Mother of Jesus, with the titles Mistress of Intercessions and Mother of Salvation. She is not described by her fundamental title God-Bearer, beyond the time of Origen (d.c.254AD) (and the developed nature of these titles may indicate at least a 3rd century author: H) (4) The numerous similarities with ­Isaac­—the narrator beginning a commemoration of Jacob on the same day set aside in the Church calendar to honor Isaac; the Lord sending the archangel Michael to Jacob to announce his imminent demise, as in the case of Isaac; Jacob being taken up for a preliminary tour of the next world, as happened to Isaac—indicates a dependence upon the latter by the former, and so a date of composition after that of ­Isaac­, which Charlesworth (­The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha I: Apolcalyptic Literature and Testaments­, New York, 1983) believes was definitely at some time during the 2nd century AD.

 

     It is certain that eventually all three ­Testaments­ were Christianized and became the exclusive property of the Church. They were for some centuries immensely popular in Christianity, as may be seen both from their wide distribution and from the influence of ­Abraham­ on later Christian writing and art. In its present form, ­Jacob­ is certainly Christian: it contains much Jewish legendary material, but its Christian elements form a more integral part of the whole work. Sparis (­op.cit.­) notes verbal or conceptual parallels between Jacob­ 3:20—(He shall lack no good thing in this world; and in the world to come eternal life.)—and Mark­ 10:30 and ­Luke­ 18:30—(who will not receive a hundred-fold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecution and in the age to come eternal life. ... who will not receive manifold more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.); and between Jacob­ 12:5—(For pity triumphs over judgment and love covers a multitude of sins; and again, He who has pity on a poor man lends on usury to God.)—and James­ 5:20 and ­I Peter­ 4:8—(Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. ... Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.).

 

[AOT, 395, 423-439, 441-452; ODC, 7; JON, 56; JHC, 869, 903-904, 913]

 

41. The Romance of Joseph and Asenath

 

     The ­Romance of Joseph and Asenath­, in its present form a Christian version of a Jewish legend, tells the story of the gradual conversion of Asenath, the proud and beautiful daughter of Pentephres, Egyptian priest of On, to Judaism; her betrothal and marriage to Joseph, son of Jacob; her introduction to Jacob when he came to Egypt; and finally (at great length) of an attempt on the part of Pharaoh’s first born son to abduct her, in which he loses his life. Asenath’s parents propose the marriage; but their daughter, living in magnificent seclusion and despising all men, rejects the idea with scorn. However, Joseph soon arrives at the house on one of his journeys through Egypt to collect corn, and Asenath sees him and at once falls in love with him. Joseph, who has a horror of all women, will have nothing to say to her, and cannot even kiss her, since she worships idols. He blesses her; she retires to her room, shuts herself up for seven days in sackcloth and ashes, throws her idols out of the window, and does strict penance for her polytheistic religious behavior. On the eighth day she utters a long prayer; whereupon an angel comes to her in the form of Joseph and blesses her, giving her a mystical honeycomb to eat. Accepted by God, Asenath arrays herself in beautiful garments, and goes forth to meet Joseph, who now returns to the house, where the betrothal takes place and the wedding is held in the presence of Pharaoh. At this point the first part of the book ended—so at least the testimony of all known versions of the Greek text, the language in which it was first written. Asenath’s meeting with Jacob and an attempt by Pharaoh’s son to abduct her form the subject matter for its second part.

 

     The purpose of the book has seemed to some not very evident. Many of the events it narrates, however, are alleged to have taken place prior to the announcement of the marriage between Joseph and Asenath, stated originally at ­Genesis­ 41:45—(And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.). Moreover, Asenath is later (­Genesis­ 41:50) last mentioned by name in connection with two children whom she bore to Joseph—(Before the year of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.); and still later (­Genesis­ 46:27) her sons are associated directly with the house of Jacob and its migration to Egypt during the famine—(and the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two; all the persons of the house of Jacob, that came into Egypt, were seventy.). We are certainly left with the supposition that the original author of the work presumed her to be still alive after the account of the birth of her sons in ­Genesis­, and so a fit subject for further literary development: an honorable and devoted monotheist to talk with Jacob; a beautiful woman to be ravished by one of those nasty polytheists who, after all, had enslaved the Hebrews in the first place. (H)

 

     This, then, would be essentially a Midrashic explanatory tale, the purpose for which was to (1) evade the difficulty of Joseph’s marriage with a heathen wife, by presenting essentially a piece of propaganda against mixed marriages, and (2) to put forth a story typical of the conversion of a heathen to Judaism; and so the Romance of Joseph and Asenath­ has been thought to be originally part of a class of Hellenistic literature by which Jewish writers endeavored to win the non-Jewish world for the Jewish faith, while at the same time eagerly representing their Hebrew ancestors—Asenath is rescued from her plight with Pharaoh’s son by representatives of three Hebrew tribes—as physical and moral heroes.

 

     The book exists in whole or in part in a variety of languages.

 

1. GREEK. Modern commentators regard a Jewish-Greek form of this book as the language of origin; and probably of a date of composition much earlier than the 6th century AD, a suggested date for its Syriac redaction (see just below). A Greek fragment of the story is printed by Fabricius (see below under LATIN).

 

2. SYRIAC. The Syriac version of the ­Romance of Joseph and Asenath­ was made from the Greek by Moses of Agil (c.550AD; not later than 560). Moses—who regarded the work as an elaborate allegory—said that he found the work in a very old Greek book; and on this testimony, Greek must be the oldest version of the book, if not the language of origin. In the Syriac catalogue of ecclesiastical books by Abdhish of Sigar & Bet Arabaje (Ebed Jesus, d.1318)—for which see Mai (­Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio e Vaticanis Codicibus Edita­ X, Rome, 1838, 1-331)—the book of Asiatha the wife of Joseph the Just, the son of Jacob stands before the book of Tobias and Tobith the Just Israelites among writings partly belonging to the Christian apocrypha, partly of other origin. The work was edited for the first time by Batiffol (apparently in ­Studia Patristica­, 1889); commentary on the legend itself is offered by Openheim (Fabula Josephi et Asenethae­, 1886). That Syriac cannot have been the language of origin seems also proved by the existence, at the end of the first part of the book, of a lamentation of Asenath for her former pride—a lamentation found also in the Armenian and Latin versions, but not in the Greek.

 

3. ARMENIAN. Philonenko (­Joseph et Asenath: Introduction, Texte, Critique, Traduction et Notes­, Leiden, 1968) says in the preface to his work that the book exists in this language.

 

4. OLD SLAVONIC. Philonenko (­ibid­.) says similarly of this language.

 

5. ETHIOPIC. An Asenath occurs between Judith and Esther in an Ethiopic list of canonical books (­British Museum Add­. 16,188). But it is wanting in another similar list (­British Museum Add­. 16,205), and no Ethiopic manuscript containing the book appears to have yet reached Europe.

 

6. ARABIC. Philonenko (­op.cit­.) says similarly of this language.

 

7. LATIN. The Latin version of the book is not older than the 13th century, and is believed to be the work of Robert of Lincoln (Robert Grossteste, d.1253), or one of the scholars associated with him. The book was also made known to the medieval world c.1260 by means of the extracts from it which Vincent of Beauvais included in his ­Speculum Historiale­ (1247-1259)—for his Latin version and a Greek fragment, see Fabricius (­Codex Pseudepigraphus Veteris Testamenti­, 1713). From these mediaeval Latin versions many early-modern European-language versions were made.

 

     In its present form, the work is that of a Christian writer (HAS says more specifically, a Christian version of a Jewish legend). (1) The references to the sacred bread (the blessed bread of life), the cup (from which is drunk a potion of immortality), and the chrism (Asenath is anointed with the oil of incorruption) are sufficient to place the fact beyond doubt. (2) The ceremonies of the Eucharist and Confirmation are clearly meant; and the bread, cup of blessing and the chrism are mentioned four times. (3) There are bloody tracks upon the mystical honeycomb given Asenath by Michael the archangel which evidently make up a cross; and though the full significance of this mysterious comb is not easy to discover, various particulars connect it with the Eucharist, and its consumption by fire stands in broad contrast to Jewish Law stated at ­Leviticus­ 2:11—(No cereal offering which you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven; for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey as an offering by fire to the Lord.). (4) The exaltation of virginity and the prominence of the doctrine of forgiveness, though not unknown to the Jews, would hardly be made so conspicuous in a Jewish work. (5) The betrothal of Asenath to Joseph takes place in the absence of her parents, certainly not a Jewish custom. (H)

 

     Some have concluded that there seems to be no evidence within the work itself to show how much earlier than the time of Moses of Agil, or where particularly, the ­Romance of Joseph and Asenath­ came into being. The Syriac writer may have compiled his text in central Asia Minor, where Michael the archangel was especially honored in the 5th century (so Batiffol). On the other hand, the Eastern character of the work, and the fact that it was originally written in Greek, are both strong points of evidence for a Syrian rather than a Mesopotamian origin (so Brooks).

 

     In its present form, the book has been assigned by Batiffol to the 5th century AD; but since it is certain that the Syriac version is at least that old; that the Syriac is self-confessedly a translation from a very old Greek book; and that Greek was certainly its original language of composition, HAS has said that it is probable that the original is at least as early as the 3rd century AD—and JAA says that in its original Jewish-Greek dress it might belong, at the latest, to the early years of the 2nd century AD.

 

[JAA, preface; OAB, 53, 60,66; HAF, IX, 341; HAS, I, 162-163; DCB, I, 177]

 

***

 

VI: JOB, SOLOMON

 

42. The Testament of Job

 

     The ­Testament of Job­ resembles the form and purpose of the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs­. Slightly shorter than the Received letter to the ­Romans­, it commends the virtue of endurance (or, rather, patience) based on the Biblical character of Job. It is divided into two parts: chapters 1-45, which contains a first-person address by Job; and chapters 46-53, which report the details of Job’s recovery. Apocalyptic language more conspicuously appears in chapters 46-53; neither do these chapters contain extended poetic pieces matching those found in chapters 1-45. There is but one reference to the Devil found in 46-53 (at ­Testament of Job­ 47:10, he is called the enemy); and by contrast the terms Satan, devil, and evil one appear in Testament of Job­ 1-45. (All this indicates the possibility that what is now one book was at one time at least two separate tractates. H) Its purpose, so Rahnefuhrer (“Das Testament des Hiob und das Neus Testament” in Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ LXII, 1971, 88-93) was to serve the propagandistic missionary interests of Hellenistic Judaism.

 

     The ­Testament of Job­ survives in the following languages.

 

1. GREEK. There exist four Greek manuscripts; and in this language there is the best witness to the original text (a Greek manuscript of the 11th century), both complete and dated, and evidencing traces of Christian intrusions. A 16th century copy of this manuscript was discovered in the same library; and there is besides these a manuscript in Messina, Sicily (dated 1307/1308AD), and apparently representing a separate textual tradition to the two manuscripts just mentioned. A complete Greek palimpsest of the work has also been found (dated 1195AD), which restyles textual difficulties into smooth paraphrases, shows some evidence of Christian terminology, harmonizes chronological references, and frequently abbreviates the text.

 

2. COPTIC. There exists also a single incomplete and unevenly preserved Coptic papyrus of the work, now being edited by Weber (Institute for Antiquity, University of Cologne, Germany). Philonenko (in Semitica­ XVIII, 1968, 9, 61-63) says that it is of the 5th century AD; composed in the Sahidic dialect of Coptic, with Bohairic influences; and differs from the Greek. It is so far the oldest known witness for the original text.

 

3. SLAVONIC. An Old Church Slavonic version of the ­Testament of Job­ was published by Polivka (“Apokrifna Prica o Jovu” in ­Starine­ XXIV, 1891, 135-155), based on a manuscript known once to have been privately owned by Pavel Safarik (d.1861, a pioneer of Slavonic philology), and apparently located in Prague (where Safarik settled in 1833). Two other manuscripts were also consulted by Polivka: an incomplete one (number 149, in the Belgrade National Library); and another in the Moscow Rumjancov Museum (number 1472). The Slavonic versions are exceedingly periphrastic, and contain many obviously deliberate abbreviations and expansions of the original text.

 

4. ARABIC. According to Kohler (­Semitic Studies­, 292-295), the Islamic tradition preserves features of the saga of Job distinctive to the ­Testament of Job­.

 

5. HEBREW. No manuscript evidence of either a Hebrew or an Aramaic text is known to exist. James (Testament of Job­, 1897) and Kohler (­Testament of Job­, 1897), influenced by the hymnic portions of the text where such phrases as ­Testament of Job­ 43:14—(while crowns lead the way with praises)—seem to reflect Hebraisms, held the work to have been written originally in Hebrew. Later, Pfeiffer (­History of New Testament Times­, 1941, 70) and Torrey (­The Apocryphal Literature­, 1945, 143), also pleading on linguistic grounds, argued for an Aramaic original. These considerations seem insupportable, however, for the following reasons: (a) not even a scrap of Hebrew or Aramaic text of this book is known to exist; (b) the author of the book ­as it is now known to exist­ knew and used the Received book of ­Job­ in the ­Septuagint­ (Greek) version, and not in its Hebrew original, or in any other version (thus indicating that the native language of its author was Greek, not Hebrew: H); and (c) the Septuagintial words and phrases he used are throughout so much a part of the texture of the work that they could not possibly be due to a translator (meaning that the tractate is a Hellenistic production throughout, that its author wrote in Greek, and that he was not translating from any other language: H). Such Hebraisms as may exist may be accounted for by postulating that the author may have known a Hebrew Midrash­ on ­Job­, or an Aramaic targum­ of ­Job­; or he may have been familiar with stories about Job from contemporary Jewish folklore; or he may have been dependent on his own creative imagination, except in so far as it was inspired by the contents of the Received book of ­Job­ in the Septuagintial version, and modified by such scraps of Jewish tradition (e.g., that Job’s wife was named Dinah) as might have come his way.

 

6. LATIN. If the liber qui appellatur ­Testamentum Job­, apocryphus (Book which is called ­The Testament of Job­ ... apocryphal) recorded in the ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century) refers to our work, there would seem to have been a Latin version of it circulating in the West during the 5th and 6th centuries. But apart from this single possibility, there is no reference to this work, or any certain quotation from it, anywhere in antiquity, saving that Tertullian (­De Patientia­ XIV.2-7)—(Oh, happy also he who met all the violence of the devil by the exertion of every species of patience!\fn{Job is meant.}whom neither the driving away of his cattle nor those riches of his in sheep, nor the sweeping away of his children in one swoop of ruin, nor, finally, the agony of his own body in one universal wound, estranged from the patience and the faith which he had plighted to the Lord; whom the devil smote with all his might in vain. For by all his pains he was not drawn away from his reverence for God; but he has been set up as an example and testimony to us, for the thorough accomplishment of patience as well in spirit as in flesh, as well in mind as in body; in order that we succumb neither to damages of our worldly goods, nor to losses of those who are dearest, nor even to bodily afflictions. What a bier for the devil did God erect in the person of that hero! What a banner did He rear over the enemy of His glory, when, at every bitter message, that man uttered nothing out of his mouth but thanks to God, while he denounced his wife, now quite wearied with ills, and urging him to resort to crooked remedies! How did God smile, how was the evil one cut asunder, \fn{I.e., with rage and disappointment.} while Job with mighty equanimity kept scraping off the unclean overflow of his own ulcer, while he sportively replaced the vermin that brake out thence, in the same caves and feeding-places of his pitted flesh! And so, when all the darts of temptations had blunted themselves against the corslet and shield of his patience, that instrument of God’s victory not only presently recovered from God the soundness of his body, but possessed in redoubled measure what he had lost. And if he had wished to have his children also restored, he might again have been called father; but he preferred to have them restored him in that day.)—may have used it in some form of its literary history (and by doing so thus serve as a further witness to the existence of a Latin version: H). Possible textual traditions between the ­Testament of Job­ and the ­Vulgate­ remain to be explored.

 

     The religion of the author must admit of two possibilities. The earliest editor of the ­Testament of Job­, Cardinal Angelo Mai (­Scriptorium Veterum Nova Collectio­ VII, 1836?, col. 191) concluded that the work was produced by a Christian; and James (“Apocrypha Anecdota” in ­Texts and Studies­, Cambridge, 1893, xciii-xciv), although suggesting that it may have had a Semitic origin, claimed that in its present form the work stems from a Christian, born a Jew, who put the Hebrew original into Greek and added his own material (chapters 46-52, plus the poetic pieces in chapters 25, 32, 33 and 43). In favor of this:

 

1. There is certainly much to be said for the view that the author was familiar with the ­Received New Testament­. Certain expressions found in the following verbal or conceptual parallels—Testament of Job­ 4:8 with ­I Peter­ 1:17 and ­Romans­ 2:6; 20:8 with ­Acts­ 12:23; 33:7 with ­Hebrews­ 7:3, 10:1 and 10:12—tell strongly in favor of it.

 

2. It may also be argued that the patience or endurance of Job, and his final vindication—Testament of Job­ 52-53 with ­James­ 5:11—are presented as a type of the sufferings and “end” of Christ. If this be so, the author must have been a Christian, although he seems to have made no conscious attempt to Christianize the details of his material.

 

     In spite of this, and although Christian editing is possible, the work is essentially Jewish in character. (1) The author’s contacts with the ­Received New Testament­ look much more like unconscious reminiscences than deliberate allusions. (2) The book draws heavily from the Septuagintial form of the Received Book of Job­, from which texts are drawn (apparently these are typically Jewish themes: H) having to do with the “upper world,” proper burial, and attentions to women. (3) More singular interests of the author appear in his use of magic and merkabh mysticism (Jewish mystical speculation focusing on God’s chariot, ­mrkbh­).

 

     However that may be, much scholarly opinion has decided in favor of a Jewish author. At first, there was talk that the book came from the Essenes. Kohler (­op.cit.­) originally declared that the work might be of Essenic origin; but later (­Jewish Encyclopaedia­, 1904) made no mention of the Essenes, and referred to the work as one of the most remarkable productions of the pre-Christian era, explicable only when viewed in the light of ancient Hasidean practice. Essenic derivation was also denied by Spitta (“Das Testament Hiobs und das Neue Testament” in Zur Geschichte und Literatur des Urchuristendoms­ III.2, 1907, 165), who in an extensive study of the Testament­ concluded that it is a piece of pre-Christian folk piety.

 

     However, at about the same time as James published his book on the ­Testament of Job­ in 1897, Kohler, in another place (­Semitic Studies­, 273) stated that the work might be traceable to the Therapeutae; and this has met with more favor, for Philonenko, in the process of evaluating Kohler’s thesis in view of the Qumran finds (“Le Testament de Job et les Therapeutes” in Semitica­ VIII, 1958, 41-53), concluded that the Egyptian Therapeutae are to be distinguished from the Qumran Essenes, and that the former are a more likely point of origin for the Testament of Job­ than the latter; for while the Essenes were misogynists, the Therapeutae allowed women a significant role. And for the Therapeutae being the point of origin, there is some support when internal evidence from the Testament of Job­ is contrasted with a witness of the period in question—Philo of Alexandria (d.c.50AD), who wrote a book about the Therapeutae (­De Vita Contemplativa­). For we read in both ­Testament of Job­ 40:3 and Contemplativa­ 89 that the Therapeutae prayed towards the east; and also at ­Contemplativa­ 80 and Testament of Job­ 48:3 and 50:1 how spontaneous hymnic compositions sprang from sacred meetings of the Therapeutae, in which both men and women were present. It is true that Philo (­Contemplativa­ 70-72) made a special point about the absence of slaves in the Therapeutae community; yet they are assumed in the ­Testament of Job­ and are both male (13:4) and female (14:4); nor does Philo include laments among the forms or purposes of the hymns of the Therapeutae. Even so, an origin for the ­Testament of Job­ among the Egyptian Therapeutae seems very possible, especially when set beside three other internal features of the ­Testament of Job­ which appear to confirm an Egyptian origin for the work. (1) At 28:7, Job is called the king of all Egypt. (2) There is a reference to Job’s fifty bakeries at 10:7; and while this finds no Septuagintial source, as do many of the quantities mentioned in the book, the Therapeutae did hold the number fifty in special reverence, possibly as a reference to the feast of Pentecost; and it may be that that is what is meant by the bakeries. (3) Finally, gem collecting, attributed to Job at 28:4-5 and 32:5, and also to Job at ­Job­ 31:24 in the ­Septuagint­, has been substantiated by Theophrastus of Lesbos (d.c.287BC, in his ­De Lapidibus­ XXIV:55) as an Egyptian royal pastime.

 

     Various dates have been proposed for the creation of the work. James (­Apocrypha Anecdota­, 1893) originally thought the 2nd century AD, expanding his horizons later (­Testament of Job­, 1897) to the 2nd or 3rd century AD; Torrey (­op.cit.­) and Russell (­Between the Testaments­, London, 1960, 858-86) preferred the 1st century BC; Philonenko (­op.cit.­) the 1st century AD. Delcor (“Le Testament de Job, la Priere de Nabonide et les Traditions Targoumiques” in Wagner’s ­Bibel und Qumran­, 72) suggested that the invasion of Palestine by the Persian general Pacorus (40BC) might lie behind the reference to Satan’s disguise as the king of the Persians (­Testament of Job­ 17:2); but this was later tempered by Collins (“Structure and meaning in the ­Testament of Job­” in MacRae’s ­Society of Biblical Literature: Seminar Papers­ I, 1974) who proposed a 1st century AD date as more likely, noting the Persian kings were in any event traditional enemies of Egyptian royalty. But the state of the evidence hardly permits any more precise dating than the 1st century BC or AD. Spittler (­Testament of Job­, 58-69) suggested that the book may have been ­reworked­ in the 2nd century by Montanists; and for this there may be two pieces of evidence. (1) Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340AD, in his Ecclesiastical History­ V.17:1-4) preserves the argument of an unnamed anti-Montanist who demanded to know where in the range of Received Biblical history any precedent appeared for ecstatic prophecy; and the descriptions of Job’s daughters speaking in ecstasy at ­Testament of Job­ 48-50 may have been a Montanist move to supply such a precedent. (2) Furthermore, Testament of Job­ 20:8-9 preserves the story that Job returned a worm escaping from his body; and this is reflected at ­De Patientia­ XIV:6—(How did God smile, how was the evil one cut asunder, while Job with mighty equanimity kept scraping off the unclean overflow of his own ulcer, while he sportively replaced the vermin that brake out thence, in the same caves and feeding-places of his pitted flesh!)—by Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220AD), written just before his Montanist period (which began c.206).

 

     In any event, Charlesworth (­The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha I: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments­, New York, 1983, 829-836) has offered the following reconstruction of the origin and development of the Testament of Job­, and apologizes for the fact that it must be seen as conjectural; for how in fact the Testament of Job­ arose cannot be described with faultless historical accuracy.

 

1. Somewhere in the second half of the 1st century BC, a member of the Therapeutae living near Alexandria produced a testament in praise of patience, which is surely a contemplative virtue. Although he (or someone before him) may have used a Semitic original, his own work bore unmistakable evidences of having been written by a lover of the ­Septuagint­. Having himself spontaneously composed hymns at the Therapeutae vigils, and with his poetic skills now refined by writing he—or she—produced at least three poetic pieces in the work (in chapters 25, 32, perhaps 33, and 43). As the document left the Therapeutae community and found its way to the Phrygian regions, it was in Greek and consisted of ­Testament of Job­ 1-45, a true testament of a tested servant of God.

 

2. The work was artful enough—at least so far as the speech of Job’s wife (­Testament of Job­ 24) is concerned—to have been interlaced with the developing text of the ­Septuagint­. If the book was influential enough to have affected the text of the ­Septuagint­, or to have been affected by it, it may be no surprise to find it in Phrygian regions two centuries later.

 

3. When the new prophecy erupted (c.150AD), there was no contest over canon, scripture, or doctrine. When, however, the original Montanist trio (Montanus of Phrygia, and two women, Prisca and Maximilla) passed and the foretold end had not yet come, the movement organized and prophetic ecstasy spread. Prophetic virgins constituted themselves into an institution. At one point—before 195AD—an anti-Montanist writer demanded of the Montanists where in Scripture prophecy-in-ecstasy might be claimed. In an era of canonical flexibility, a Montanist apologist, probably of Jewish background, made use of a testament known to him and in which he found ideas compatible with his own species of Judaistic practice. By creating Testament of Job­ 46-53, possibly inserting chapter 33, and certain other restyling, the apologist for the new prophecy produced a text wherein the daughters of Job were charismatically, or magically, lifted into prophetic ecstasy, enabling them to speak in the language of angels.

 

4. The work remained in Montanist hands as a propaganda text, perhaps particularly useful for Jews. Tertullian of Carthage, at any rate, came by the text even before he became a Montanist. He used this Jewish testament in praise of patience in producing his own work (­De Patientia­). The work may even have played some part in his attraction to the Montanist movement.

 

5. By the 6th century, the work appeared on a list of proscribed apocrypha, the ­Decretum Gelasianum­. But even before then it had been translated into Coptic, showing its continued popularity in Egypt. By the 10th century, it had been translated into Slavonic; but in spite of the existence of four late medieval Greek manuscripts, the work remained virtually unknown in the West till modern times.

 

[AOT, 617-648; BET, 85-86; JHC, 829-836; ODC, 918-919; ENC, XXII, 68]

 

43. The Testament of Solomon

 

The ­Testament of Solomon­ has survived from antiquity in perhaps four languages:

 

1. GREEK. Fleck (­Wissenschaftliche Reise Durch das Sudliche Deutschland, Italien, Sicilien und Frankreick­ I.iii, Leipzig, 1837, 111-140; reprinted with a Latin translation by Migne (­Patrologia Graeca­ CXXII, 1864, 1315-1318) was the first editor of the Greek version of this work. He used a single manuscript (of the 16th century), which belongs to one of a total of four recensions of the Greek text thus far discovered (A,B,C,D)—recension B. This recension fills out the details in the text of recension A (of which it is, however, independent) about individual demons, and is also inclined to expand A’s Christian passages. B is to be dated in the 4th or 5th centuries. Both Bornemann (in ­Zeitschrift für die Historische Theologie, N.F.­ VIII.iii, 1844, 9-56) and Conybeare (in ­Jewish Quarterly Review­ XI, October, 1898, 1-45) in their translations of this document follow B. The next edition—and at the present time, the standard edition—was that of McCown (“The Testament of Solomon, Edited From Manuscripts at Mt. Athos, Bologna, Holkham Hall, Jerusalem, London, Milan, Paris, and Vienna, with Introduction” in Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament­ IX, Leipzig, 1922). He was able to make use of 12 (JHC says 14) additional manuscripts (all of the 15th or 16th century). These represented all four (JHC says there are only three) recensions: A—which differs little from the original, though it is obviously secondary at the beginning and shows signs of expansion at the end; B—discussed above; C—a further version of B, but much later, perhaps as late as the 12th or 13th century; and D—which contains stories of Solomon’s dealings with demons and his building of the Temple. McCown based his text mainly on A; and it was this recension that was also adopted later by Riessler (­Altjudisches Schrifttum Ausserhalb der Bible­ II, Heidelberg, 1966) in his translation. Added to this total is an additional fragment, published by Preisendanz (“Ein Wienere Papyrusfragment zum Testamentum Salomonis” in ­Eos. Commentarii Societatis Philologae Polonoeum­ XLVIII, 1956, 161-167). Finally, deLatte (“Anecdota Atheniensia I” in ­Bibliotheque de la Faculte de Philosophie et Lettres de l’Universite de Liege­ XXXVI, Liege and Paris, 1927, 211-227) has published an edition (from a single manuscript of the 18th century). It is a similar, though substantially longer, version of the material in McCown’s recension D.

 

2. SYRIAC. Graf (“Geschichte Christ. Arab. Literatur I” in Studi e Testi­ CXVIII, Vatican City, 1944, 210) has drawn attention to the existence of a Syriac version (a single manuscript of the 16th century in Paris).

 

3. ARABIC. A single Arabic manuscript of the ­Testament of Solomon­, of the 17th century, is to be found in the Vatican.

 

4. COPTIC. A fragment of the ­Testament of Solomon­ from the late 3rd century AD may have been preserved in Coptic from the ­Nag Hammadi Library­, as part of the text of ­On the Origin of the World­ 106-107.—(Then since Death was androgynous, he mixed with his nature and begot seven androgynous sons. These are the names of the males: Jealousy, Wrath, Weeping, Sighing, Mourning, Lamenting, Tearful Groaning. And these are the names of the females: Wrath, Grief, Lust, Sighing, Cursing, Bitterness, Quarrelsomeness. They had intercourse with one another, and each one begot seven so that they total forty-nine androgynous demons. Their names and their functions you will find in the Book of Solomon.). [Significant for the possibility of the existence at one time of a Coptic ­Testament of Solomon­ is the fact that Solomon is mentioned in three other treatises from this library: at Apocalypse of Adam­ 78-79:—(The fourth kingdom says of him that he came from a virgin. ... Solomon sought her, he and Phersalo and Saul and his armies, which had been sent out. Solomon himself sent his army of demons to seek out the virgin. And they did not find the one whom they sought, but the virgin who was given to them. It was she whom they fetched. Solomon took her. The virgin became pregnant and gave birth to the child there.); at ­Second Treatise of the Great Seth­ 63:—(Solomon was a laughingstock, since he thought that he was Christ, having become vain through the Hebdomad, as if he had become stronger than I and my brothers. But we are innocent with respect to him. I have not sinned.); and at ­Testimony of Truth­ 70:—(Others have demons dwelling with them as did David the king. He is the one who laid the foundation of Jerusalem; and his son Solomon, whom he begat in adultery, is the one who built Jerusalem by means of the demons, because he received their powers. When he had finished building, he imprisoned the demons in the temple. He placed them in seven water pots. They remained a long time in the water pots, abandoned there. When the Romans went up to the Jerusalem they discovered the water pots, and immediately the demons ran out of the water pots as those who escape from prison. And the wate rpots remained pure thereafter. And since those days they dwell with men who are in ignorance, and they have remained upon the earth. Who, then, is David? And who is Solomon?). (H)]

 

5. HEBREW. M. Gaster (“The Sword of Moses” in ­Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society­, 1896, 155, 170), on the basis of what he considered to be a misunderstanding of a single Hebrew term, argued that the Testament of Solomon­ was a translation from the Hebrew; and McCown (­op.cit.­, 42-43) turned up two more, at ­Solomon­ 2:4 and 18:24-40, one of them in an important passage of Egyptian origin. However, though it is possible that the Testament­ has Semitic language materials behind it, or its sources, these meager instances cannot support the hypothesis that it is a translated document. McCowan’s conclusion still stands: the native language of the writer of the ­Testament of Solomon­ was Koine Greek, the commonly spoken Greek of the Hellenistic era, and thus of the ­Received New Testament­. So scholars since him. It is no surprise that in most respects the language and style of the work are similar to that of the Greek New Testament.

 

    There is certainly one, and perhaps as many as five, separate witnesses from antiquity to the existence of this work.

 

1. Josephus of Palestine (d.c.100AD, ­Antiquities of the Jews­ 8.2:5) writes of Solomon:—(And God gave him knowledge of the art used against demons for the benefit and healing of men. He also composed incantations by which illnesses are relieved, and left behind forms of exorcisms with which those possessed by demons drive them out, never to return.) And Josephus goes on to record how he himself had seen a certain Jew, named Eleazar, exorcise a demon in the presence of the Roman emperor Vespasian and his retinue. Eleazar held under the possessed man’s nose a ring which had under its seal one of the roots prescribed by Solomon, and then, as the man smelled it, Eleazar dragged the demon out through the man’s nostrils. The man immediately fell to the ground. Eleazar then solemnly forbade the demon to reenter the man, using the name of Solomon and pronouncing over him one of the Solomonic incantations. Josephus does not say explicitly in this passage that Solomon wrote down the incantations and forms of exorcism which he composed; but that he did so is a natural inference.

 

2. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254AD, ­Commentary on Matthew­ 26:3) says that it is customary to adjure demons with adjurations written by Solomon. But they themselves who use these adjurations sometimes use books not properly constituted; indeed they even adjure demons with some books taken from Hebrew. Perhaps this is a reference to the ­Testament of Solomon­.

 

3. In the ­Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila­ (c.400AD) there appears the following passage:—(The Jew responded, ‘Not sacrificed, but unwillingly crushed in his hand. The ­Book of Kings­ does not encompass these things, but it is written in his ­Testament­.’ The Christian said, ‘On this I take my stand with confidence, because this was not made clear by the hand of a historian, but out of the mouth of Solomon himself.’). On this see Conybeare (“The Dialogues of Athanasius and Zacchaeus and of Timothy and Aquila” in ­Anecdota Oxoniensia­ VIII, Oxford, 1898, 70).

 

4. Lactantius of Nicomedia (d.c.320, ­Divinae Institutiones­) contains (so Bornemann in ­Zeitschrift fur die Historische Theologie­ XIV, Leipzig, 1844; and Toy (“Solomon, Testament of” in ­The Jewish Encyclopedia­ XI, New York, 1907, 449) a demonology which so closely resembles that in the ­Testament of Solomon­ that it must have been taken from there.

 

5. At ­On The Origin of the World­ 106-107 (late 3rd century AD), there is written the following statement:—(Then since Death was androgynous, he mixed with his nature and begot seven androgynous sons. These are the names of the males: Jealousy, Wrath, Weeping, Sighing, Mourning, Lamenting, Tearful Groaning. And these are the names of the females: Wrath, Grief, Lust, Sighing, Cursing, Bitterness, Quarrelsomeness. They had intercourse with one another, and each one begot seven so that they totaled forty-nine androgynous demons. Their names and their functions you will find in ­The Book of Solomon­.). Doresee (The Secret Books of the Egyptian Gnostics­ 1960, 171) thinks that we have here to do with a portion of Testament of Solomon­ 8, which enumerates a crowd of genies and mentions, for example, as rulers of this terrestrial world, Deception, Discord, Quarrelsomeness, Violent Agitation, Error, Violence, and Perversity.

 

     There are five unmistakable Jewish features to the ­Testament of Solomon­: (1) the fact that as a testament the book belongs to an established literary category which apparently was originated in Judaism; (2) that its main motif (that Solomon acquired power over demons and used them to build the First Temple) reappears in the Talmud­ (tractate ­Gittin­ 68a-b), meaning that the framework of the book is firmly fixed within Judaism; (3) that the underscored phrase quoted at ­Testament­ 3:5 is quoted verbatim at ­Wisdom of Solomon­ 9:4—(And when I saw the ruler of the demons, I glorified God and said, Blessed art thou, O Lord God Almighty, who didst give to thy servant Solomon ­wisdom that sits beside thy throne­, and didst make subject to me all the power of the demons. ... give me ­wisdom, who sits beside thy throne­, and do not refuse me a place among thy servants.); (4) that the name of the God at Testament­ 5:2—(And he brought me Asmodeus­, the evil demon, bound.)—is also found at ­Tobit­ 3:8 and 3:17—(and before the marriage could be regularly consummated they had all been killed by the wicked demon ­Asmodeus­. ... and Sarah daughter of Raguel by giving her in marriage to Tobias son of Tobit and by setting her free from their wicked demon Asmodeus­.); and (5) that ­Testament­ 21:3b—(She saw also the brazen sea with its base and the thirty-six bulls.)—seems to preserve a memory of ­I Kings­ 7:23a/25ab and ­II Chronicles­ 4:2a/4ab—(Then he made the molten sea; It stood on twelve oxen; three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set on them. ... Then he made the molten sea; It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was set on them.).

 

     At the same time, there are undoubted oral, verbal and conceptual parallels with the ­Received New Testament­; for the ­Testament of Solomon­ is the product of the ­growth­ of a legend about a famous Biblical character combined with a variety of syncretistic beliefs about astrology, demonology, angelology, magic, and medicine. As the product of a long tradition, it represents not only its own period of composition but the rise of earliest Christianity.

 

1. Christ’s power over demons is referred to at least five times (non-italicized, below): Testament­ 11:4-7, 12:3, 15:10-11, 17:4 and 22:20 [the first four paraphrased by Sparis (­The Apocryphal Old Testament­, Oxford, 1984), the last quoted from the Testament­ itself]:—(an Arabian demon like a lion rampant, called Lionbearer. He has a legion of demons subordinate to him; and, when Solomon asks by whom he is inhibited, replies, By the name of him that endured after many sufferings at the hands of men, whose name is Emmanuel, who even now has enchanted us and will come to plunge us from a cliff under the water. ... inhabited by the place of the skull, for there the Angel of the great Council foreordained that I should suffer, and now openly he will dwell upon a cross. ... when the jars in which he had enclosed the demons will be broken and they will be dispersed over the world again, until the son of God should be stretched upon a tree, he whose number is 644—i.e., Emmanuel. ... who lives in tombs and causes men to become demoniacs, inhibited by the Savior that is to descend. ... And I said to him, What angel are you inhibited by? He said, By him who is to be born of a virgin, since angels worship him, and who is to be crucified by the Jews.).

 

2. It may also be that ­Testament­ 6:8 preserves a memory of ­Mark­ 15:34, in the appearance in both of the same proper name:—(I said, Tell me what angel you are inhibited by. He said, By the all-powerful God: he is called among the Hebrews Patike (he that came down from on high); but he is the Emmanuel of the Greeks. And I am afraid of him and tremble before him. If anyone adjures me by ­Eloi­, his great name of power, I disappear. ... And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “­Eloi­, ­Eloi­, lamma sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”).

 

3. The crucifixion of Jesus is mentioned at ­Testament­ 22:20; and at 12:3, the three-headed dragon spirit states: But there is a way by which I am thwarted, by the site which is marked “Place of the Skull,” for which an angel of the Wonderful Counselor foresaw that I would suffer, and he will dwell publicly on the cross.

 

4. At ­Testament­ 17:4, the sign of the cross is written on the forehead of the lecherous spirit.

 

5. Perhaps most interesting of all is the connection between Testament­ 11, which is a clear allusion to the story of the healing of the Gerasene demoniac in ­Mark­ 5:1-20:—(They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. And when he had come out of the boat, there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, who lived among the tombs; and no one could bind him any more, even with a chain; for he had often been bound with fetters and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the fetters he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out, and bruising himself with stones. And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshipped him; and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.” For he had said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” And he begged him eagerly not to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of swine was feeding then on the hillside; and they begged him, “Send us to the swine, let us enter them.” So he gave them leave. And the unclean spirits came out, and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and were drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled, and told it in the city and in the country. And people same to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus, and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. And those who had seen it told what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine. And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their neighborhood. And as he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. But he refused, and said to him, “Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he had had mercy on you.” And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and all men marveled.)—and its parallels at ­Matthew­ 8:28-34 and ­Luke­ 8:26-39.

 

6. The virgin of ­Matthew­ 1:23 and ­Luke­ 1:27—(“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” ... to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.)—is implied once at Testament­ 15:10 in what is also the clearest reference to Jesus in the ­Testament­, and clearly also mentions Jesus’ rule over the demons, the crucifixion, and the name Emmanuel:—(We will lead astray all the inhabited world for a long time until the Son of God is stretched upon the cross. For there has not yet arisen a king like him, one who thwarts all of us, whose mother shall not have sexual intercourse with a man. Who holds such authority over the spirits except that one? The one whom the first devil shall seek to tempt, but shall not be able to overcome, the letters of whose name add up to 644—he is Emmanuel.). (This reference also says that the virgin is also mentioned explicitly once at Testament­ 22:20, but does not print the citation.)

 

7. At ­Testament­ 4:2 there occurs the name of Beelzebul—(And Beelzebul went off and fetched Onoskelis for me to see.)—and Beelzebul occupies a prominent place at ­Mark 3:22­, Matthew­ 10:25 and 12:24, and ­Luke­ 11:15—(And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” ... If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household! ... But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons.” ... But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”).

 

8. Conybeare (­op.cit.­ 5-6) isolated a number of common phrases between the Received Scripture and the first-discovered manuscript (Fleck’s Greek B, which he published in 1837) of the Testament­.

 

9. Fisher (“Can this be the Son of David?” in ­Jesus and the Historian­, Philadelphia, 1968, 82-97); Berber (“Die Koniglichen Messiastraditionen des neuen Testaments” in ­New Testament Studies­ XX, 1973, 1-44); Lovestam (in ­Studia Theologica­ XXVIII, 1974, 97-109); and Duling (in ­Harvard Theological Review­ VIII, 1975, 235-252), referring primarily to the cryptic passage at ­Matthew­ 12:42—(The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to listen to the wisdom of Solomon, and see, something greater than Solomon is here!)—followed by the story of the return of the unclean spirit (12:43-45)—(When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So shall it be also with this evil generation.”)—suggests that there is some dependency between this section and the magical wisdom of Solomon, of which much is found within the ­Testament­.

 

10. Finally, there are a number of general relationships [such as demonology and the designation of Solomon as Son of David (­Testament­ 1:7 and 20:1)] which have led some scholars to believe that the Testament of Solomon­ provides an excellent background for understanding many parts of the ­Received New Testament­.

 

     In addition to its Jewish framework and its Christian heritage, the ­Testament of Solomon­ also makes reference to Paganism. (1) At ­Testament­ 4:2, there occurs the mention of the well-known Hellenistic demon, Onoskelis—(And Beezebul went off and fetched Onoskelis for me to see.); (2) ­Testament­ 7 is itself a collection of magical formulae, and contains the names of eight demons (probably the Pleiades star-cluster), of which the third—Clotho—was the name of the Greek Fates; (3) at ­Testament­ 15, there is mentioned a female demon with three heads named Enepsigus, who is also called by countless names, and is reminiscent of Artemis (who had three forms); (4) the work also contains an epithet which recalls the goddess Isis (of the Old Egyptian Religion: H), who also had connections with the moon; (5) and finally, Testament­ 15 contains a summary of the thirty-six elements—man-shaped, bull-shaped, bird-faced, animal-faced, sphinx-faced and serpent-shaped (the well known decani­ of the Zodiac circle)—most of which cause physical troubles; and often charms and remedies are given for these.

 

     The story of the ­Testament of Solomon­ purports to take place during the reign of Solomon in the 10th century BC. Nonetheless, there is no doubt that it comes from much later times, not only because of its language, but because it presupposes events, some in the form of prophecies, which took place in the 1st century AD, and because in general it assumes thought forms generally accepted as having arisen in Hellenistic times. Nonetheless, because explicit references to historical events (apart from the story line and prophecy) are lacking, opinions about its date have varied among scholars.

 

1. Fleck (in Migne’s ­Patrologia Graeca­, 1864, preface) argued that the book (then known from but a single manuscript) was a Byzantine work of the late Middle Ages.

 

2. Bornemann (­op.cit.­, introduction) moved the date ahead to the early 4th century AD, because he believed that its demonology resembled that found in the ­Divinae Institutiones­ of Lactantius of Nicomedia (d.c.320AD).

 

3. Harnack (­Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius­ I, Leipzig, 1893, 858) would not fix a specific date of composition, but thought it might not be in the earliest period.

 

4. Istrin (­Grieceski Spiski Zabesania Solomona­, Odessa, 1898, 18-19) argued that a biographical manuscript of Solomon’s life which he had discovered was the basis of the ­Testament­; and thought the ­Testament­ to have been written c.1200AD.

 

5. Conybeare (“The Testament of Solomon” in ­Jewish Quarterly Review­ XI, 1898, in the preface to his English translation of the ­Testament­) described it as originally a Jewish document of uncertain date, the autograph form of which might well have been the very collection of incantations which, according to Josephus, was composed and bequeathed by Solomon. He also suggested that certain Christian additions to this Jewish document sounded very archaic and seemed to belong to c.100A; that the section about the thirty-six heavenly bodies (­Testament­ 18) shared a common demonology with the apostle Paul; and that its faith had an analogue in that of the Essenes.

 

6. Toy (­op.cit.­) agreed with Bornemann.

 

7. Kohler (“Demonology” in ­The Jewish Encyclopedia­ IV, 1907, 578) however, accepted Conybeare’s results, as did

 

8. Salzberger (­Die Salomosage in der Semitischen Literatur­, Berlin, 1907, 10), in his extensive study of the whole Solomon legend in Semitic literature.

 

9. Schurer (­Geschichte des Judischen Volkes im Zietalter Jesu Christi­ III, Leipzig, 1901-1909, 419) described the book as Christian, but left the date open.

 

10. McCown (­The Testament of Solomon­, Leipzig, 1922, 3, 32, 35, 59-62, 82-86, 89, 100, 108) suggested among other things that (a) the latest possible date, on the basis of the evidence in the ­Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila­, was c.400AD; (b) that if one removed the Christian and Pagan elements, the ­Testament­ comes to be of assistance in reconstructing the thought world of the Palestinian Jew in the 1st century of our Era; (c) and that the work ­as a testament­ was a Christian work (i.e., not simply a Jewish work edited by a Christian) from the early 3rd century AD (between 200-250AD).

 

11. James [“The Testament of Solomon (Review)” in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XXIV, 1922, 468] accepted McCown’s early 3rd century dating of the ­Testament­ itself, as have most other scholars since McCown.

 

12. Gundel (“Dekane und Dekansternbilder” in ­Studien der Bibliothek Warburg­ XIX, Hamburg, 1936, 49-62) discusses the Testament­ at great length, and suggests that chapter 18 was in use in pre-Christian Egypt.

 

13. Preisendanz (“Salomo” in ­Pauly-Wissowa Supplement­ VIII, 1956, cols. 660-704), the noted authority on magical papyri and the discoverer of the oldest known fragment of the ­Testament­—containing material which Preisendanz speculates may be 1000 years older than manuscript N, the other manuscript associated with Egypt—provides an exception to the trend initiated by McCown and James, and would date the original form of the work either to the 1st or 2nd century AD.

 

14. Denis & deJonge, however (“The Greek Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament” in ­Novum Testamentum­ VII, 1965, 322) judge the ­Testament­ to be too late to be included in their collection.

 

     Whether one follows McCown’s early 3rd century dating or Preisendanz’s still earlier one, there is general agreement that much of the ­Testament­ reflects 1st century Judaism in Palestine. There is nothing in the Testament­, however, which would clearly­ identify its author. As the above discussion indicates, the author did not write in either Hebrew or Aramaic; and modern scholarship is divided on whether he was a Greek-speaking Jew (the surviving ­Testament­ being a Christian edition)—or (more recently) that the author was a Greek-speaking Christian in the first place. Equally difficult to establish is its provenance; for like most Hellenistic magic productions, the ­Testament­ has an international quality about it.

 

1. Certain elements suggest Babylonia. The ascription of ailments and diseases to specific demons was deeply rooted there, and so was the wind demon (mentioned in ­Testament­ 23) which causes a fever. There are also connections with the Babylonian ­Talmud­ (e.g., the demons assisting Solomon’s temple building, or the lengthy treatment of the legend of Asmodeus). Furthermore, the popular magic of the Aramaic incantation bowls from Babylonia (though from c.600BC) is in many respects like the magic of the Testament­, most noticeably in the importance of Solomon as a Son of David whose name is invoked to exorcise the demons. Yet some judge that the ­Testament­ is both pre-Talmudic in its demonology and earlier than the type of magic associated with the 6th century bowls [on which see Kohler (“Demonology” in ­Jewish Encyclopedia­ IV, 1901-1906, 518); and Duling, (“Solomon, Exorcism, and the Son of David” in ­Harvard Theological Review­ LXVIII, 1975, 245-247)]. Thus, Babylonia is not usually suggested as the place of origin.

 

2. A second possibility is Asia Minor. The Received ­Book of Acts­ 19:11-20 stresses that Ephesus was an important center for the magical arts: the claim is made that magical books worth 50,000 pieces of silver were consumed in a book burning there. Though somewhat meager, there are other indications of active magical activity in Asia Minor: e.g., a whole magical apparatus has been discovered at Pergamum (on which see Wunsch, “Antikes Zaubergerat aus Pergamon” in ­Jahrbuch des Kaiserlich Deutschen Archaologischen Instituts­ VI, Berlin, 1905). Among the scholars, McCown (­op.cit.­, 110), followed by James (­op.cit.­), mildly and cautiously favored Ephesus, or some part of Asia Minor, McCown because no decisive objections appeared to this theory.

 

3. The third, and perhaps most obvious possibility, is Egypt, that melting pot of ancient magical lore. Ethiopia received its Jewish and Christian traditions via Egypt, and Ethiopia preserved magic, demonology, and legends about the Queen of Sheba and Solomon’s demise similar to those found in the ­Testament­ [on which see Budge (The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek­, London, 1922) and McCown (­op.cit.­, 71-73). The magic of the ­Testament­ is very much like the Hellenistic magical papyri discovered in Egypt (which mention Solomon), and the account of the 36 heavenly bodies which attack various parts of the human body (­Testament­ 18) is a variation of the 36 ­decans­ (or ten degree divisions and deities of the 360 degree zodiac), known especially in Egypt. Presumably the papyrus fragments of the decan chapter came from Egypt. Gnostic amulets frequently drew on the name of Solomon. Finally, the earliest certain literary references to the ­Testament­ (that from the Dialogue of Timothy and Aquila­, c.400AD), is likely from Egypt. Indeed, Conybeare (­op.cit.­, 14) thought that the Testament­ was probably a favorite book among the Egyptian Ophians, or some analogous Gnostic sect; but McCown objected to Conybeare’s Gnostic interpretation of the work, and believed that neither the Testament’s­ cosmology nor its dualism was Gnostic enough to warrant a derivation of it from Egyptian Gnosticism.

 

4. A final possibility is Syria-Palestine. The Jews and Samaritans were known in the Greco-Roman world for the practice of magic, and the Solomonic magical tradition is well documented in Palestinian Judaism. If Conybeare’s suggestion that Josephus of Palestine was referring to the ­Testament­ seems a bit farfetched, it is also clear that McCown’s primary reason for preferring Asia Minor over Palestine (specifically, the Galilee)—that the book is thoroughly Greek in its language and much of its material—would no longer be accepted by an increasing number of scholars [e.g., Goodenough (­Jewish Symbols in the Graeco-Roman World­ II, 233); Smith (“Prologomena to a Discussion of Aretalogies, Divine Men, the Gospels, and Jesus” in Journal of Biblical Literature­ XC, 1971, 174-199); and Hengel (­Judaism and Hellenism­ I, Philadelphia, 1973, esp. 239-241)] who are convinced of the Hellenization of Palestine. Thus the fourth possibility emerges as more of a live option than could have been possible in McCown’s day (1922).

 

[AOT, 733-751; JHC, 935-959]

 

44. The Apocryphon of Solomon, after Harnack

 

     In the following saying from the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­:—(They will be rejected according to the saying of Solomon: ‘In secrecy they carry out abortions and at the same time think they will live forever.’)—Harnack (“Der Apokryphe Brief des Paulusschulers Titus” in ­Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse­ XVII, 1925, 180-213) sees a statement from an otherwise lost ­Apocryphon of Solomon­. It may be that another quotation also is derived from such a book. Somewhat earlier in the Letter­, the following quotation (underscored) may be from such an apocryphon: it is otherwise unattested:—(Solomon took these things into account, saying: ‘Blessed is the eunuch who has committed no offense with his hands.’ And again, ­If thou controllest the craving of thy heart, then art thou an athlete.­).

 

[NTA, II, 158, 165]

 

45. The Odes of Solomon

 

     The ­Odes of Solomon­ is a compendium containing 42 short pseudepigraphical hymns, of the same general character as the Received Psalms­, characterized by a spirit of adoration. Only exceptionally do they touch some theological theme, and then the religious lyric tends to veil it, wrapping it in mystical speech. Three concerns are made manifest: (1) the center of salvation is not the cross, but, as in ­Philippians­ 2, God’s self-humiliation; (2) virginity is a prerequisite for perfection; and (3) the congregation is thought of as a mystical union. The terms used of Wisdom in the so-called Wisdom Literature are freely applied to Christ. Though there are few references to Jesus’ life, the descent of Christ into Hell is described in some detail in more than one place. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit, however, is undeveloped, and the word church nowhere occurs. A suggestion has been advanced by Bernard (­The Odes of Solomon­, 1912) and Voobus (“Celibacy, a Requirement for Admission to Baptism in the Early Syrian Church,” ­Papers of the Estonian Theological Society in Exile­ I, Stockholm, 1951) that we have here to do with a collection of baptismal hymns, used ritually on the days of Lent as part of the final preparation of catechumens for baptism in the Ancient Church.

 

     The ­Odes of Solomon­ survived the destruction of the antique world fragmentarily in four languages:

 

1. GREEK. Ode 11 has survived on a fragment of papyrus written in Greek and dating from the 3rd century AD; on which see Testuz (­Papyrus Bodmer­ XI, 1959).

 

2. SYRIAC. In 1909, Harris [on which see Harris (­An Early Christian Psalter­, London, 1909); and Harris and Mingana (­The Odes and Psalms of Solomon­ I & II, 1916-1920)] discovered almost the entire collection in a Syriac manuscript about 400 years old, in which it was followed by the ­Psalms of Solomon­. This text began in the course of the third ode. Bernard (in Texts and Studies­ VIII.3, Cambridge, 1912) published a further English translation of Harris’ manuscript, with an introduction and notes. In 1912 a second Syriac manuscript (of possibly the 10th century AD), beginning at Ode 17:7, was found by Burkitt.

 

3. LATIN. Lactantius of Nicomedia (d.c.320AD, ­Divinae Institutiones­ IV:12.3) cites Ode 19:6-7 by name—(Thus Solomon speaks: “The womb of a virgin was strengthened, and conceived; and a virgin was made fruitful, and became a mother in great pity.”).

 

4. COPTIC. Odes 1, 5, 6, 22 and 25 are also preserved by name in the Coptic ­Pistis Sophia­ (called in this volume the Books of the Savior­). In the ­Pistis Sophia­, they are treated as of almost equal authority with the Psalms of David­. On this see Horner (Pistis Sophia­, 1924).

 

     Mention of the ­Odes of Solomon­ occurs in lists of Christian books from the 6th century AD onwards. [It is indicated as The Psalms and Odes of Solomon ... 2100 lines under the heading And the writings of the Old Testament which are gainsaid and are not recognized in the Church are the following: in the Stichometry­ of Nicephorus of Constantinople (c.850)].

 

     The original language of the ­Odes­ was almost certainly Greek. See on this Schulthess (in ­Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Altern Kirche­ XI, 1910, 251-252); and on the whole the majority of scholarship. Frankenberg (“Das Verstandnis der Oden Salomos” in ­Beiheft zur Zeitschrift fur die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, und die Kunde des Nachbiblischen Judentums­ XXI, 1911) has made an attempt to recover the original Greek text. From the first, however, notable scholars [including Adam (“Die Ursprungliche Sprache der Salomo-Oden” in ­Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alten Kirche­ LII, 1961, 141-156) and de Zwann (“The Edessene Origins of the Odes of Solomon” in Quantulacumque­, 1937, 285-302)] have argued for a Syriac original. But even the assumption of Edessa or Antioch [so Harris and Mingana (­op.cit.­) and Grant (“The Odes of Solomon and the Church of Antioch” in Journal of Biblical Literature­ LXIII, 1944, 363-377)] as the home of the ­Odes­ remains within the realms of conjecture. For a summary of the arguments for and against Greek as the language of origin, see Adam (­op.cit.­); and Voobus (“Neues Licht zur Frage der Originalen Sprache der Oden Salomos” in ­Le Museon­, 1962).

 

     Nor has it been any easier for informed scholarship to conclude whether the author was Jewish, Christian, Gnostic, or Montanist [although the idea of Kittel (“Die Oden Salomos Uberarbeitet Oder Einheitlich?” in Beitrage zur Wissenschaft vom Alten Testament­ XVI, 1914), that the ­Odes­ assumed their form through the redaction of older material by someone of different opinions to the material itself has not been widely accepted]. Harris, who made the original discovery, conjectured a Jewish-Christian origin. Harnack (“Ein Judisch-chrisetliches Psalmbuch aus dem I. Jahrh.” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literature­ XXXV.4, 1910) and Spitta (in Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XI, 1910, 193-203) assumed Jewish origin with a Christian redaction. More recently, Ehrhard (“The Birth of the Synagogue and R. Akiba” in ­Studia Theologica­ IX.2, 1955, 88-89) examined what he believed to be the odes of Jewish origin and found a kinship with the psalms from the ­Dead Sea Scrolls­. A Jewish-Christian origin for the ­Odes­ probably also includes Danielou (“Odes de Salomon” in ­Dictionnaire de la Bible­, supplement XXXII, columns 677-684).

 

     On the other hand, many defend original Christian authorship. Zahn (in ­Neue Kirchliche Zeitschrift­, 1910, 667-701, 747-777) thought them to be the creation of a Christian. Wellhausen (in ­Gottingische Gelehrte Anzeigen­, 1910, 642) observed in the Odes­ probable Biblicisms, but no Semitisms. Labourt and Batiffol (Les Odes de Salomon­, 1911) defined the author more precisely as a Gentile Christian; and Frankenberg (op.cit.­) noticed connections with Alexandrine theological systems. See on this more recently Fabbri (“El Tema de Christo Vivificante en las Odas de Salomon” in ­Ciencia y Fe­ XIV, Buenos Aires, 483-498); and Braun (“Jean le Theologien et son Evangile dans l’Eglise Ancienne” in ­Etudes Bibliques­ 1959, 224-251). A discussion of the question is available in Connolly (“The Odes of Solomon: Jewish or Christian?” in ­Journal of Theological Studies XIII­, 1912, 298-309); Quasten (­Patrology­ I, Utrecht, 1950, 160-168); and Braun (“L’Enigme des Odes de Salomon” in ­Revue Thomiste­ LVII, 1957, 597-625).

 

     Unorthodox Christianity has also been suggested as the province of the author, whom some alleged to have been a Montanist [so Conybeare (in ­Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XI, 1910, 291-328) and Fries (­ibid.­, 108-125)]. This would seem unlikely, for (1) the text merely reflects oriental Christianity of the 2nd century AD, and is not unorthodox; and (2) the content of the work—an amalgam of covenant-consciousness, baptismal imagery, and encratism—indicates that the home of the author must be sought for somewhere in Mesopotamia (as opposed to Phrygia, where Montanism thrived).

 

     Even the possibilities of Gnosticism have been unearthed. Newbold (in ­Journal of Biblical Literature­ XXX, 1911, 161-204) suggested the possibility that their author was Bardesanes; and Preuschen (in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XI, 1910, 328, note 3) suggested Valentinus. There do not appear to be any reasons for postulating a Gnostic origin to the ­Odes of Solomon­, for (1) there is no trace of dualism; and (2) there is nothing else in them that indicates a Gnostic background. In reply to this, Gunkel (in ­Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XI, 1910, 291-328), Stolen (in ­Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XIII, 1912, 29-58), Kroll (“Die Christliche Hymnodik” in ­Verzeichnis der Vorlesungen an der Akademie Braunsberg­, 1921-1922, 70ff), Gressmann (in Hennecke’s ­Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­, 1924, 437), Gunkel again (in ­Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart­ V, 1931, cols. 87-90), Abramowski (in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XXXV, 1936, 44-69), and Rylands (­The Beginning of Gnostic Christianity­, 1940) have all insisted that the term Gnostic must be understood to apply here in a broad sense.

 

     The attainment of certain knowledge here is difficult also because it is certain that Semitic (Hebrew or Aramaic) poetry, in particular through the medium of the Greek Old Testament, once exercised an influence on men of Greek speech, too. Syrians of the stamp of Bardesanes, for example, were guided in their poetic efforts by Greek influence [so Kroll (­Die Christliche Hymnodik bis zu Klemens von Alexandria­, 1912), referring to Sozomen of Bethelia (d.c.425AD) who, in his continuation of Eusebius of Casearea’s Ecclesiastical History­ down to his own time, reports this (at III.16) about Harmonius, the son of Bardesanes, as well as on the basis of his own observations].

 

     As to the date of composition of the original, Harris (­op.cit.­) has suggested the 1st century AD; Bernard (op.cit.­) the 2nd century; and Zahn (­op.cit.­) between 120-150AD.

 

     Further literature is available in Harris and Mingana (­The Odes and Psalms of Solomon­ II, 1920, 455ff) and Casel (in ­Archiv fur Liturgiewissenschaft­ I, 1950, 297ff).

 

[ODC, 1269; ENC, XX, 952; NTA, II, 808-810]

 

***

 

VIII: ELIJAH

 

46. The Oracle of the Potter

 

     One of the sources of the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ is a document called the ­Oracle of the Potter­ (on which see McCown, “Egyptian Apocalyptic Literature” in ­Harvard Theological Review­ III, 1925, 397-400; and Koenen, (“Die Prophezeiungen des Topfers” in ­Zeitschrift fur Papyrologie und Epigraphie­ II, 1968, 178-209). It expresses a very hostile attitude toward the city by the sea (Alexandria in Egypt).

 

[JHC,727-732]

 

47. The Greek Apocalypse of Elijah

 

     A number of references are made in the Fathers and in the lists of apocryphal books to the ­Apocalypse­ (or the Prophecy­, or the ­Mysteries­) ­of Elijah­. From an examination of the several quotations available and of two later apocalypsi of the same name which may well reflect a common earlier work, James (­The Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament­, 1936, 54, 61) has concluded that the book (here called the ­Greek Apocalypse of Elijah­) contained descriptions of Hell-torments, eschatological prophecy, descriptions of Antichrist, and didactic matter; and said further that it is possible that the following quotations preserve in them what remains of its content:

 

I CORINTHIANS 2:9.

 

1. In the ­Testament of Our Lord in Galilee­ (c. 150AD, called in this book the Letter of the Apostles to the Christians of the World­ and by others ­Epistula Apostolorum­), there appears the following:—(And the righteous, that have walked in the way of righteousness, shall inherit the glory of God; and the power shall be given to them which no eye hath seen and no ear heard; and they shall rejoice in my kingdom.).

 

2. By Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Protrepticus­ 103:—(But the saints of the Lord shall inherit the glory of God, and his power. Tell me what glory, O blessed one. That which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it come up upon the heart of man; and they shall rejoice at the kingdom of their Lord for ever. Amen.).

 

3. In addition, Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­Commentary on Matthew­ 27:9) and others say that Paul’s words at ­I Corinthians­ 2:9:—(But, as it is written, `What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him,”)—is to be attributed to the ­Secrets of Elijah the Prophet­, as it says in the Latin translation of the ­Commentary­ made by Rufinus of Aquileia (d.410AD), the Greek being no longer extant—(in nullo enim regulari libro hoc positum invenitur, nisi in secretis Eliae prophetae.).

 

4. Ambrosiaster (4th century AD, in ­I Corinthians­ 2:9) refers the quotation embedded in ­I Corinthians­ 2:9 to the Apocalypse of Elijah­—(hoc scriptum est in Esaia profeta aliis verbis (est in aocalypsi Heliae in apocryfis).).

 

5. Jerome of Strido (d.420 AD, ­Letter 101, to Pammachius­; Commentary on Isaiah­ 17) did not deny that ­I Corinthians­ 2:9 was to be found in an ­Apocalypse of Elijah­ (though he does deny that Paul was dependent upon an apocryphal work). [He appears to say elsewhere (­Letter­ 57:9; ­Commentary on Isaiah­ 64:4-5), so AOT, that the quotation did not appear in an ­Apocalypse of Elijah­, but is in fact a free paraphrase of ­Isaiah­ 64:4:—(From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides thee, who works for those who wait for him.); but nevertheless admits the existence of an ­Apocalypse of Elijah­, from which some said Paul was quoting.]

 

     The point of this inquiry is to prove that the ancients were familiar with an ­Apocalypse of Elijah­ that spoke of things which the eye has not seen nor the ear heard (the essence of ­I Corinthians­ 2:9—and that no such phrase is to be found in the Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ (discussed as number 48). Elsewhere, however, it appears, out of the mouth of Jesus, as logion 17 of the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas:­—(Jesus said: I will give you that which eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and hand has not touched, and which has not entered into the heart of man.).

 

EPHESIANS 5:14.

 

     Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403 AD, ­Against All Heresies­ XLII.12:3) claims that the quotation embedded in Ephesians­ 5:14—(Therefore it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”)—was circulated in Elijah, without being more specific about the identification. This quotation also is not found in the Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­. Elsewhere, it is [so James (­op.cit.­, 63)] ascribed to an apocryphal book bearing the name of Jeremiah.

 

TITUS.

 

1. The author of the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­ (5th century AD) attributes a description of souls tormented in Gehenna to the prophet Elias—(The prophet Elias bears witness to a vision: The angel of the Lord, he says, showed me a deep valley, which is called Gehenna, burning with brimstone and pitch. In this place the souls of many sinners dwell and are tormented in different ways. Some suffer hanging from the genitals, others by the tongue, some by the eyes, others head downwards. The women are tormented in their breasts, and the young hang from their hands. Some virgins are roasted on a gridiron, and other souls undergo an unceasing torment. The multiplicity of the torments answers to the diversity of the sins of each. The adulterers and the corrupters of such as are under age are tormented in their genitals. Those who hang from their tongues are the blasphemers and false witnesses. They have their eyes burned who have stumbled through their glances and who have looked at foul things with craving for them. Head downwards there hang those who have detested the righteousness of God, who have been evil-minded, quarrelsome towards their fellows. Rightly then are they burned according to the punishment imposed on them. If some women are punished with torment in their breasts, then these are women who for sport have surrendered their own bodies to men, and for this reason these also hang from their hands.).

 

     This fragment is not otherwise attested; and nothing like it is to be found in the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­.

 

2. ­I Corinthians­ 2:9, however, is to be found at the beginning of the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­—(Great and honorable is the divine promise which the Lord has made with his own mouth to them that are holy and pure: He will bestow upon them what eyes have not seen nor ears heard, nor has it entered into any human heart.).

 

NAU’S FRAGMENT.

 

     A Greek fragment has been published by Nau (“Methodius-Clement-Andronicus” in Journal Asiatic­ IX, 1917, 454) which contains a description of the Antichrist introduced by the statement that Elijah the prophet spoke concerning the Antichrist. Here, the fragment parallels an episode in the Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ that contains a description of the Antichrist—but the details of the two descriptions are quite different. (The fragment, however, is quite similar to a description of Antichrist that appears in the ­Testament of Our Lord in Galilee­.)

 

REMAINING CITATIONS.

 

     Finally, it should be noted that four remaining citations from antiquity can not be used as evidence for the existence of this particular hypothetical text [for in none of them—(1) ­Apostolic Constitutions­ VI:16.3 (which mentions, without further definition, an apocryphal Elijah; (2) the ­Synopsis Sacrae Scripturae­ of Pseudo-Athanasius of Alexandria (6th century), which mentions a work of Elijah the prophet; (3) the ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century), which mentions The Revelation of Elias; or (4) the ­Stichometry­ of Nicephorus of Constantinople (c.850), which mentions a book of the prophet Elias, 316 lines—can the citations be called anything more than vaguely specific. H]

 

*

 

     All that can be said about this evidence is that there ­might­ at one time have existed a ­Greek Apocalypse of Elijah­ which contained these items. On the other hand, both the sayings in ­I Corinthians­ and ­Ephesians­ have been shown to exist in other works: besides being part of the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­, ­I Corinthians­ 2:9 appears also as logion 17 of the Coptic Gospel of Thomas­; and ­Ephesians­ 5:14 appears (so James, ­op.cit.­, 63) in an apocryphal book bearing the name of Jeremiah. Consequently assertions that they were ­originally­ part of a supposed ­Greek Apocalypse of Elijah­ must be said to have been compromised. The same may be said with even greater conviction about Mau’s Fragment; for it not only appears in another source, but also is in modest parallel with material in the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­.

 

     (We are left, then, with the otherwise completely unattested ascription to Elijah in the ­Testament of Our Lord in Galilee­ as the sole surviving fragment of a ­Greek Apocalypse of Elijah­ independent of the known ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­. H) AOT, however, says that from the evidence it looks as if there were several apocrypha bearing the name of Elijah and circulating in the early centuries. There may have been different recensions of the same basic material; they may have been completely independent: we have no means of knowing.

 

[NTA, II, 752; ANT, 485, 525; RUS, 68; SCH, 205-206; AOT, 753-773]

 

48. The Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah

 

     Knowledge of the text of the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ rests on discoveries in three languages.

 

A. COPTIC.

 

1. Among the Coptic Biblical fragments from Akhmim, acquired for the ­Bibliotheque Nationale­ in Paris by G. Maspero in the early 1880’s, were 14 papyrus leaves in the Akhmimic dialect of Coptic, and 7 in the Sahidic (late 4th or early 5th century; beginning of the 5th century: JHC). (Steindorff seems to have published these Sahidic fragments.) The remains of two distinct codices, the texts were previously unknown, though were undoubtedly of an apocryphal work or works. There was a considerable overlap between them, so that it was frequently possible to restore gaps in the Akhmimic from the Sahidic and ­vice versa­.

 

2. In 1888, a further 8 Akhmimic leaves (4th century), recently acquired by the Berlin Museum, were identified as belonging to the same codex and the 14 Akhmimic leaves in Paris; and at the end of the text of one of them—it would seem to be the last in the codex—was the colophon: The Apocalypse of Elijah. Steindorff (“Die Apokalypse des Elias, eine Unbekannte Apokalypse, und Bruchstucke der Sophonias-Apokalypse: Koptische Texte, Uberset-zung, Glossar” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen­ XVII, II.3a, Leipzig, 1899) in his introduction to these texts concluded that the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ was one of three works involved in these fragments; that the Sahidic version was translated from the Akhmimic; and that evidence for this was primarily to be found in the leaves themselves. It appears that a translator of the Sahidic text found some puzzling constructions in the Akhmimic text from which he worked; and being unable to translate them (or perhaps being careless about translating every expression) he allowed himself to enter the unintelligible Akhmimic expressions to the Sahidic text which he was writing down. (See below under 4.)

 

[About this time, Schurer (­Geschichte des Judischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi­ IV.3, Leipzig, 1909)—nearly alone in his criticism here—maintained that there were no adequate grounds for distinguishing an Elijah apocalypse. Elijah, he pointed out, was referred to in the text of the alleged Elijah apocalypse twice, together with Enoch, in the third person; but if Elijah were in fact being represented by the author of the work as the recipient of the revelations which he himself was recording, he might naturally be expected to refer to himself in the first person. Thus, in spite of the colophon, he said that we have here to do with an Apocalypse of Zephaniah.­]

 

3. In 1912, Budge (­Coptic Biblical Texts in the Dialect of Upper Egypt­, London, 1912, lv-lvii, 270-271) published an uncial manuscript of c.350AD (first half of the 4th century: JHC), which contained a Sahidic text of what he called the opening part of a short composition, written in a cursive hand; and this was later identified by Schmidt (“Der Kolophon des MS Orient 7954 des Britischen Museums: Eine Untersuchung zur Elias-Apokalypse” in ­Sitzungsberichte der Preussichen Akademie der Wissenschaften­, Berlin, 1925, 312-321) as the beginning of the Elijah apocalypse isolated from the texts mentioned in (1) and (2) by Steindorff. The text came into existence in the earlier half of the 4th century at the latest; (at some time in the first half of the 4th century: JHC). Weinel (“Die Spatere Christliche Apokalyptic” in ­Studien zur Religion und Literatur des AT und N, Gunkel Festschrift­, 1923, 2nd ed., 141-173) put it at the end of the 4th century; Riessler (­Altjudischen Schrifttum Ausserhalb der Bible­, 1928, 168-177) puts it considerably earlier.

 

4. In 1981, Pietersma, Comstock and Attridge (“The Apocalypse of Elijah Based on Papyrus Chester Beatty 2018” in the Society of Biblical Literature’s ­Texts and Translations IX, Pseudepigrapha Series IX­, Chico, 1981) published a Sahidic text in a manuscript of 10 leaves (late 5th or early 6th century AD). This text, however, comes to an abrupt end at 3:72 (apparently short verses 73-99). On paleographical grounds, the editors argued that this was not due to accidental loss or mutilation, but because the copy that the scribe had before him ended there. However that may be, this discovery did contain 2:14-22, which was missing from the previous Akhmimic and Sahidic texts; with the result that it at last became possible to read through the Coptic text of the entire work from beginning to end as a single continuous whole. It was also now possible for the 1981 Sahidic Coptic fragment to be critically compared with the 1899 Sahidic Coptic fragment of the same apocalypse and in the same language; with the result that (a) it was determined that 1981 Sahidic contained essentially the same text as 1899 Sahidic; (b) that 1981 Sahidic did not contain the unusual Akhmimic features of 1899 Sahidic; and (c) that 1981 Sahidic was longer than 1899 Sahidic. On this evidence, it now seems reasonable to conclude that the Akhmimic and Sahidic texts represent independent translations from the Greek: but also to conclude that, because the unusual Akhmimic features in the Maspero manuscript remain puzzling—perhaps they are due to a scribe whose native dialect was Akhmimic, thereby making him more familiar with the Akhmimic version—that these problems deserve further study.

 

B. GREEK.

 

     In 1912, Pistelli (­Papiri Greci e Latini­ I, Florence, 1912, 16-17, note 7) published a small 4th century papyrus fragment, the verso of which contains, in a very mutilated state, the text of Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ 3:90-92. Though it contains only a few words, its discovery proves the general statement that most Coptic texts of this kind are translations from the Greek; that this work certainly is underlain by a Greek text; and that there is a close relationship between the Greek text and the Coptic Akhmimic­ translation. If we are to allow time for the Greek text to become generally known, to be translated into Coptic, and then to become known in Coptic, it would seem that we must push back the date of composition of the original Greek text into the 3rd century, or even earlier. Thus it can be said that the Greek ancestor of the Coptic work is of some respectable antiquity. On this fragment see also Wessely (“Les Plus Anciens Monuments du Christianisme Ecrits sur Papyrus: Textes Edites, Traduits et Annotes” in Patrologia Orientalis­ XVIII.3, Paris, 1924, 487-488; Denis (“Fragmenta Pseudepigraphorum quae Supersunt Graeca” in ­Pseudepigrapha Veteris Testamenti Graece­ III, Leiden, 1970, 104); and Pietersma, Comstock and Attridge (­op.cit.­, 90-94).

 

C. HEBREW.

 

1. In 1897, Buttenwieser (­Die Hebraische Elias-Apokalypse und Ihre Stellung in der Apokalypti-schen Litteratur des Rabbinischen Schrifttums und der Kirche­, Leipzig, 1897) published from a Hebrew manuscript he found in Munich, a Jewish ­Apocalypse of Elijah­, the text of which is in the form of a revelation made by the archangel Michael to Elijah on Mount Carmel concerning the times of the End. From the historical references in it, Buttenwieser thought that the original apocalypse had been written soon after 260AD, and that it had been edited and expanded in the 6th-7th centuries. There are undoubtedly contacts between this Hebrew apocalypse and the Coptic apocalypse, particularly in the historical section in chapter two of the Coptic apocalypse (though none of them are very close).

 

2. The only complete apocalypse of Elijah to survive is in a Hebrew text published by Jellinek (in ­Bet ha-Midrash­ III, 65-68). This second Hebrew text is significantly different from the Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­, with only one section—a description of the signs of the Antichrist—having close parallels with the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­. When Jellinek first published his Hebrew text, he traced its composition to Persia in the gaonic period; but there is reason to believe that the writer made use of much earlier traditions. Both Bousset (The Antichrist Legend­, London, 1896, 108-118; 156) and Rosenstiehl (“Le Portrait de l’Antichrist” in Pseud-epigraphes de l’Ancient Testament et Manuscrtits de la Mer Mort­ I, 45-63) have rather clearly established this possibility with regard to the sins of the Antichrist. One suspects that there are other antique traditions contained in the Hebrew work; and Steindorff was probably correct in suggesting (­op.cit.­, 22) that it is possible that both Jellineks’ and Buttenweisers’ Hebrew versions have been partially created out of the same Hebrew source. Unfortunately, the task of sorting out the various passages into Jewish and Christian sources is still being pursued; and once a consensus is possible, the task of discovering whether the ­Hebrew Apocalypse of Elijah­ is a common ancestor of the Greek and/or the Coptic apocalypses of Elijah can be undertaken; though it can be said for now that the earliest Jewish strata seem to predate the destruction of the Jewish quarter of Alexandria (117AD).

*

 

     As far as dating is concerned, it would appear that the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ came into being at some time between the creation of ­Revelation­ 11:8-9—(and their dead bodies will lie in the great city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three days and a half men from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,)—and ­I John­ 2:15—(Do not love the world or the things in the world. If any one loves the world, love of the Father is not in him.); for they appear to have been used by the author of the Coptic Elijah­ at 4:13-14 and 1:2—(The shameless one will hear and he will be angry, and he will fight with them in the market place of the great city. And he will spend seven days fighting with them. And they will spend three and one half days in the market place dead, while all the people see them.\fn{The Maspero text adds here: ­and he will kill them­.}) ... (Don’t love the world or the things which are in the world, for the boasting of the world and its destruction belong to the devil.). This being probable, the ­Greek­ version of the Coptic fragments could not have come into being prior to their creation of Revelation­ and ­I John­—for which one should probably consult the very beginning of the 2nd century AD. Christianity itself in Alexandria traditionally began with the conversion of the population by Mark; fragments of manuscripts containing the Received New Testament­ in Greek have been found dating not later than the 2nd century AD; and so an extremely conservative guess at the date when both ­I John­ and ­Revelation­ might be available for use together by a Christian writer in Egypt would scarcely fall before 150AD. Consequently, it is possible to set a reasonable date at somewhere between 150-275AD for the final composition of the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­. Such scholars as Schurer (­Geschichte des Judischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi­ III, Leipzig, 1900, 368); Bousset (­Die Religion des Judentums in Spathellenistischn Zeitalter­, Tubingen, 1926, 46); and Rosenstiehl (­L’Apocalypse de’Elie­, Paris, 1972, 75) have concluded that the work must be dated after the middle of the 3rd century, and it is probable that the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ was composed closer to 275 than to 150. Nevertheless, most of the evidence used for dating the text will need to be revised in terms of the additional information provided by the new Greek papyrus fragment—for, though the new portion of the text is not large, it radically changes our understanding of chapter 2 (the primary chapter consulted by previous scholars in an attempt to discover historical allusions of value for dating). It seems wise to leave the date of the final composition open until scholars have had time to appraise carefully the new material.

 

     Most scholars who have studied the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ have concluded that it is a composite work, containing both Jewish and Christian materials. The task of sorting out the various passages to be assigned to each group is still being pursued; and until a consensus is reached, any statement about a date for the earlier Jewish material in the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ remains too conjectural. Also uncertain is whether of not the Christian elements are an original part of the apocalypse or were superimposed by a Christian editor who rewrote and expanded a Jewish source—argued by Steindorff (op.cit.­), Bousset (“Beitrage zur Geschichte der Eschatologie I: Die Apokalypse des Elias” in ­Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte­ X, Gotha, 1899, 103-112); and Rosenthiel (“L’Apocalypse d’Elie: Introduction, Traduction et Note” in Textes et Etudes Pour Servir a l’Historie du Judaisme Intertestamentaire­ I, Paris, 1972), who was also of the opinion that the Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­, as it now stands, dates from the 3rd century AD; and that it is the work of an author who refashioned material composed in the 1st century BC by a Jew with Essene leanings, who lived in Egypt.

 

     With regards to the ­Received New Testament­: in light of the breadth of literary allusions that appear in this text, it is quite probable that the writer knew most, if not all, of the books of the ­Received New Testament­; though of course, one cannot draw any final conclusion about the extent of his canon on the basis of that observation. (1) The gospel tradition is most clearly reflected in the list of works the Antichrist will do in imitation of the true Christ. (2) The influence of the Received Pauline corpus of letters may be noted at many points, but it is most clearly illustrated in ­II Thessalonians­. (3) Literature from the Johannine circle is used at ­Coptic Elijah­ 1:2, which contains a quotation from ­I John­ 2:15, and at ­Coptic Elijah­ 4:13-14, which is dependent on ­Revelation­ 11:8-9. [Indeed, both Steindorff (­op.cit.­, 20-23) and Rosentiehl (­op.cit.­) have provided surveys of ancient witnesses to apocryphal works that have been attributed to Elijah, consisting of three types: (a) early lists of Received and non-Received works; (b) citations in early Christian writings; and (c) a complete Hebrew text, also known as the Apocalypse of Elijah­.]

 

     It may also be said of the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ that, if not entirely Christian in origin, whatever Jewish sources it may have had have been so completely Christianized as to be almost unrecognizable. The Christian elements in the work are undeniable, especially the many apparent reminiscences of the ­Received New Testament­.

 

1. It is possible to discount some of the contacts with the Received apocalypse as no more than part of the common stock-in-trade of apocalyptic literature, whether Jewish or Christian. Such contacts are the tree of life and the mention of white garments [­Revelation­ 2:7, 7:9; ­Apocalypse of Elijah­ 3:60—(He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the ­tree of life­, which is in the Paradise of God.’ ... After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in ­white robes­, with palm branches in their hands, ... Then will Gabriel and Uriel be a pillar of light to lead them \fn{Both Steindorff’s and Pietersma’s Sahidic texts add here: until they bring them.} into the holy land; and they will give them the right to eat from the ­tree of life­, and to wear ­white garments­, and to be guarded by angels.)]. The same may be said of the phrase ­no hunger or thirst­, which is used at ­Revelation­ 7:16 and Apocalypse of Elijah­ 1:10 and 3:61—(They shall hunger no more, either thirst­ any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. ... They shall neither hunger, nor­ shall they ­thirst­, nor shall the Son of Lawlessness have his way with them, nor shall thrones hinder them; but they shall walk with angels in my city. ... They shall not thirst­,\fn{Instead of not thirst Steindorff’s and Pietersma’s Sahidic texts have: not hunger or thirst.} nor shall the Son of Lawlessness have power over them.).

 

2. It is also possible to assign to relative unimportance the similarity of doctrines expressed between the Apocalypse of Peter­ and the ­Coptic Apocalypse­ concerning the idea that sinners will be saved at last by the prayers of the righteous—(It is because of them that have believed in me that I am come. It is also because of them that have believed in me, that, at their word, I shall have pity on men. ... And unto them, the godly, shall the almighty and immortal God grant another boon, when they shall ask it of him. He shall grant them to save men out of the fierce fire and the eternal gnashing of teeth; and this will he do, for he will gather them again out of the everlasting flame and remove them elsewhither, sending them for the sake of his people unto another life eternal and immortal, in the Elysian plain where are the long waves of the Acherusian lake exhaustless and deep-bosomed.)—because the idea was very widespread, as shown by its confession, also, in the ­Christian Sibyllines­ (itself in part a paraphrase of the ­Apocalypse of Peter­); at ­Letter of the Apostles to the Christians of the World­ XL—(the righteous are sorry for the sinners, and pray for them. ... And I will hearken unto the prayers of the righteous which they make for them.); and also in the Acts of Paul­ [where, in the copy of ­III Corinthians­ embedded in its text, and elsewhere in the Acts of Paul­, the author betrays and knowledge of the ­Apocalypse of Peter­, and makes Falconilla, (the deceased daughter of Tryphaena) speak of Thecla’s praying for her that she may be translated into the place of the righteous].

 

3. But it is not so easy to apply this examination to the description of the Antichrist as ­the Son of Perdition­ and the Lawless one­ [­II Thessalonians­ 2:3, 2:8; ­Apocalypse of Elijah­ 2:33-34—(Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the ­man of lawlessness­\fn{In place of lawlessness, other ancient authorities read: sin.} is revealed, the ­son of perdition­, ... And then the ­lawless one­ will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. ... Then if you hear, Safety is\fn{Pietersma’s Sahidic text reads: Safety and security are.} in Jerusalem, then rend your garments, you priests of the land, for the coming of the Son of Perdition­ will not long be delayed. The ­Lawless One­ will appear in those days in the holy places.)].

 

4. The warning against believing in the Antichrist’s claims (­Apocalypse of Elijah­ 3:1-2) looks very much as if it derives from Jesus’ words as recorded at ­Matthew­ 24:5 and 24:23—(In the fourth year of that king, the Son of Lawlessness will appear, saying, I am the Christ (though he is not). Do not believe him. ... For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. ... Then if any one says to you, ‘Lo, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.).

 

5. The injunction “Love not the world nor the things in the world” (­Apocalypse of Elijah­ 1:2) seems to be an exaction quotation of ­I John­ 2:15—(Love not the world nor the things in the world, for the boastfulness of the world is of the devil and its destruction. ... Do not love the world or the things in the world.).

 

6. Furthermore, when the Christ comes, he will be preceded by the sign of the cross (­Apocalypse of Elijah­ 3:3—(When the Christ comes, he will come encircled by angels, like a flock of doves circling round their dovecote; he will walk on the clouds of heaven, with the sign of the cross preceding him.).

 

7. There is even an unmistakable statement of the doctrine of the Incarnation (­Apocalypse of Elijah­ 1:6-7), which invites comparison with a similar statement at ­Letter to Diognetus­ 7:2-4 (itself probably dating from the 2nd, perhaps the 3rd, century AD):—(That is why the God of glory took pity on us: he sent\fn{Pietersma’s Sahidic text has: he will send.} his Son into the world to deliver us from our slavery. When he came to us, he told neither angel nor archangel nor any power;\fn{Pietersma’s and Schmidt’s texts both omit: nor any power.} but he assumed the form of a man when he came to us to save us.\fn{Pietersma’s Sahidic text adds: from the flesh.} ... The Almighty Himself, the Creator of the universe, the God who no eye can discern, has sent down His very own Truth from heaven, His own holy and incomprehensible Word, to plant it among men and ground it in their hearts. To this end He has not, as one might imagine, sent to mankind some servant of His, some angel or prince; it is none other than the universal Artificer and Constructioner Himself, by whose agency God made the heavens and set the seas in their bounds; whose mystic word the elements of creation submissively obey; by whom the sun is assigned the limits of his course by day, and at whose command by night the obedient moon unveils her beams, and each compliant star follows circling in her train.).

 

     As to the ­provenance­ of the writing, that may be no problem at all.

 

1. The events described in chapters 3 and 4 are eschatological events that will take place in Jerusalem. They are part of the eschatological lore that anticipates the appearance of the Messiah in Jerusalem. Chapter 3, however, describes events that will occur in Egypt before the time of the Antichrist; and it is that interest in Egypt which betrays the provenance of the writers of this work.

 

2. More specifically, the Jewish community in Alexandria may well have been the home of the writer of the Jewish portions of the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­. ­Coptic Apocalypse­ 2:15—(He will command that the wise men and the great ones of the people be seized, and they will be brought to ­the metropolis which is by the sea­, saying,)—apparently mentions the removal of the wise men to that city; and in one of the sources of the present work, a document called the ­Oracle of the Potter­ (on which see number 46, above), the city by the sea—in this case the place where the hostility is removed and where the wise men are taken, in much the same way as Jews are returned to Jerusalem in Coptic Apocalypse­ 2:39—(In those days, three kings will arise among the Persians, and they will take captive the Jews who are in Egypt. They will bring them to Jerusalem, and they will inhabit it and dwell there.\fn{Mostler’s fragment has in place of the last clause: ­and they will populate it for them again­.}).

 

     Because it is possible that there may be contacts between the Hebrew and the Coptic versions of the Apocalypse of Elijah­, the possibility of a Jewish base to the ­Coptic Apocalypse­ must be left an open question. However, it is worth noting that (1) if that base was in its essentials the same as the nucleus that Buttenwieser (­op.cit.­) discerned in his Hebrew Elijah, and (2) that he was also right in dating that nucleus after 260AD [a date with which Bousset (­op.cit.­) concurred], then our apocalypse cannot have been the Greek Secrets of Elijah­ known to Origen (since Origen died c.250AD). (But, as was previously remarked, there were probably several “Elijah’s” circulating in the early centuries in various languages, some of which were only distantly related to one another, if related at all.)

 

     The ­Stichometry­ of Nicephorus of Constantinople (c.850AD) lists its ­Book of the Prophet Elias­ under the heading ­Apocrypha of the Old Testament are the following:­ at 316 lines of calligraphy; and armed with this knowledge, Steindorff (­op.cit.­) computed its length to be approximately the same as the Received letter called Galatians­. He then compared the length of a Coptic ­Bohairic­ text of ­Galatians­ with the length of the Akhmimic text of the ­Apocalypse of Elijah­, and discovered that the Akhmimic Elijah was about 7% shorter than the Bohairic Galatians­. However: (1) Bohairic Coptic may be written a bit more pleonastically than Akhmimic Coptic (thus accounting for the difference in length: H); and (2) the parallel is probably close enough to represent a recension of the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ sighted in the ­Stichometry­.

 

     However, that Nicephorus’ apocryphal Elijah might be the same as our apocryphal Elijah is strengthened by two arguments: (1) that we have five surviving manuscripts of the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­ (which would indicate that it was rather widely used, an important criterion for a work to be included in the ancient lists); (2) that the present text circulated in two separate manuscripts with the ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ [in the ­Stichometry­ of Nicephorus of Constantinople (c.850AD), and the closely related ­Synopsis of Sacred Scripture­ by Pseudo-Athanasius of Alexandria (6th century AD), the two works are listed side by side]; and (3) in the ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ the order is: ­Apocalypse of Elijah­/­Vision of Isaiah/Apocalypse of Zephaniah­.

 

[AOT, 753-773; NTA, II, 752; ANT, 485, 521, 525; JHC, 727-732]

 

***

 

IX: ISAIAH AND ZEPHANIAH

 

49. The Ascension of Isaiah

 

     Knowledge from the Antique Age about the existence of the ­Ascension of Isaiah­ is available in several places.

 

1. The birth story of Jesus in the ­Ascension of Isaiah­ is from the first part of the 1st century AD, and a part also of the ­Infancy Gospel of James­ (late 2nd century AD).

 

2. The statement at ­Ascension of Isaiah­ 11:16—that the descent and nativity of the “Beloved” were hidden from the heavens and all the princes and all the gods of this world—certainly looks like an earlier form of a passage in ­Letter of Ignatius to the Ephesians­ 19:1 (c.107AD)—(Mary’s virginity was hidden from the prince of this world; so was her child-bearing, and so was the death of the Lord.).

 

3. The presence of prophets is mentioned side by side with that of pastors and presbyters at ­Ascension of Isaiah­ 3:27, a Jewish-Christian characteristic that reappears in the ­Shepherd of Hermas­ (between 140-155AD) and the Didache­ (between 100-150).

 

4. The Resurrection is described in terms very similar to those at ­Gospel of Peter­ 13:55-57 (c.150AD)—(And they went and found the sepulcher open: and they drew near and looked in there, and saw there a young man sitting in the midst of the sepulcher, of a fair countenance and clad in very bright raiment, which said unto them: Wherefore are ye come? Whom seek ye? Not him that was crucified? He is risen and is departed; but if ye believe it not, look in and see the place where he lay, that he is not here: for he is risen and is departed thither whence he was sent. Then the women were affrighted and fled.).

 

5. The words of ­Ascension of Isaiah­ 11:14—(And another prophet saith, honoring the Father: Neither did we hear her voice, neither did a midwife come in.)—are actually quoted in ­Acts of Peter­ 24 (c.150-200AD)—(And another prophet saith, honoring the Father: Neither did we hear her voice, neither did a midwife come in.), and so must have predated that work.

 

6. Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200AD, ­Against All Heresies­ I:30) describes a Gnostic movement, possibly Ophite, as providing the best parallel to the ­Vision of Isaiah­ portion of the ­Ascension of Isaiah­; but does not name the book he used.

 

7. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254AD, ­Commentary on Matthew­ 10:18)—(And Isaiah is reported to have been sawn asunder by the people; and if any one does not accept the statement because of its being found in the Apocryphal Isaiah,)—provides a reference by name to the ­Ascension of Isaiah­.

 

8. Mention of the ­Ascension of Isaiah­ occurs at ­Apostolic Constitutions­ 6:16. (latter half of the 4th century AD)—(And among the ancients also some have written apocryphal books of Moses, and Enoch, and Adam, and Isaiah, and David, and Elijah, and of the three patriarchs, pernicious and repugnant to the truth.).

 

9. Epiphanius of Salamas (d.403AD) refers to the ­Ascension of Isaiah­ at ­Panarion­ 40:2.

 

10. Cedrinus the Byzantine (fl. 11th century; very little is known about his life; he may have been a monk), in his ­Synopsis Historiarum­ (which ends with the year 1057AD), records that in a ­Testament of Hezekiah­, Hezekiah says that the Antichrist will rule for three years and seven months (1290 days). This so closely resembles the figures at ­Ascension of Isaiah­ 4:2 (3 years, 7, months, 27 days, for a total of 1317 days), that the ­Ascension of Isaiah­ is held to be Cedrinus’ source. [So Charles (op.cit.­, 28, 32-33) who suggested that the period of time is supposed to be 1335 days according to the Julian calendar.] However, since both Cedrinus’ number (1290) and that recorded at ­Ascension of Isaiah­ 4:4 (1335) appear in the ­Received Daniel­ (1290 at Daniel­ 12:11, and 1335 at ­Daniel­ 12:12)—(And from the time that the continual burnt offering is taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who waits and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days.)—it would seem that the ­Received Old Testament­ book should be regarded as the source of both figures, and that the testimony from Cedrinus the Byzantine about the existence of a Testament of Hezekiah­ provides merely the indication of a book other than the present Ascension of Isaiah­, ­and­ that he had no idea of its contents.

 

     The ­Ascension of Isaiah­ has survived the destruction of Antiquity in parts of six languages (completely only in Ethiopic), as follows:

 

An Analysis of the Discovered Fragments of the Ascension of Isaiah in Terms of Language, Location, and Publication Information

 

GREEK chapters 2:4-4:4 Grenfell & Hunt, ­Amherst Papyri­ I, 1900.

GREEK chapters 6-11 Charles, ­Ascension of Isaiah­, 1900.

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LATIN chapters 2:14-3:13 Mai, 1828; Migne, ­Patrologia Latina­ XIII, 1844-1835, cols. 629-630; Charles, 1900. The Latin was translated from (so ANF) a now lost Slavonic recension.

LATIN chapters 6-11 . Gieseler, 1832; Charles, 1900; in Venice, 1922

LATIN chapters 7:1-19 Mai, 1828; Migne, 1844-1845; Charles, 1900.

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SLAVONIC chapter 6-11 Charles, 1900 (Latin translation of the Slavonic); more undoubtedly in Charles, Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament­ II, 1913, 155-162.

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COPTIC chapters 1:1-5 Lacau, ­Le Museon­ LIX, 1946, 453-467.

COPTIC chapters 2:3-12 Lefort, ­Le Museon­ LI-LII, 1938-1939, 24-32, 7-10—the text does not give the volume numbers; this is my assumption. (H).

COPTIC chapters 3:25-28 Lacau, 1946.

COPTIC chapters 5:7-8 Lacau, 1946.

COPTIC chapters 6:7-11 Lacau, 1946.

COPTIC chapters 7:12-15 Lefort, 1938-1939.

COPTIC chapters 7:10-15 Lacau, 1946.

COPTIC chapters 7:28-32 Lacau, 1946.

COPTIC chapters 8:16-17 Lefort, 1938-1939; Lacau, 1946.

COPTIC chapters 9:9-11 Lefort, 1938-1939; Lacau, 1946.

COPTIC chapters 9:28-30 Lacau, 1946.

COPTIC chapters 10:9-11 Lefort, 1938-1939; Lacau, 1946.

COPTIC chapters 10:17 Lacau, 1946.

COPTIC chapters 11:14-16 Lacau, 1946.

COPTIC chapters 11:24-31 Lefort, 1938-1939.

COPTIC chapters 11:35-40 Lefort, 1938-1939; Lacau, 1946.

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DANISH chapters 1-5 Hammershamid (­De Gammeltestamentlige Pseudepigrafer­ III, Oslo, Lund, and Copenhagen, 1958, 303-315).

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ETHIOPIC the entire work Charles, 1900. Schmithals (­The Apocalyptic Movement: Introduction and Interpretation­, Nashville, 1975, 206) says this was a work used particularly in the Ethiopian church.

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HEBREW For connections between the ­Acension of Isaiah­ and the ­Dead Sea Scrolls­ see Flusser (“The Apocryphal Book for Ascension Isaiae and the Dead Sea Sect” in ­Israel Exploration Journal­ III, Jerusalem, 1953, 30-47).

 

     The ­Ascension of Isaiah­ is divided into two major parts, neither of which forms a unity in itself, and both of which differ in their contents. They are: (A) chapters 1-5, (of which 3:13-5:1 forms in it an independent entity), which narrates the martyrdom of Isaiah, and of which chapter 1:2b-5a and the main part of verse 13 are also separate); and (B) chapters 6-11 (of which 11:2-22 forms an independent entity), which describe a heavenly journey or vision of the prophet Isaiah.

 

A. CHAPTERS 1-5.

 

1. Chapter 1 was early regarded by Dillmann (­Ascension Isaiae­, 1877, ix-xiii; Realencyclopaedia fur Protestanti- sche Theologie und Kirche­ XII, 1883, 359-360) as the gift of the original creator of the book (whom Dillman saw as the person who combined its original sections—a ­Martyrdom of Isaiah­ and a ­Vision of Isaiah­—but without certain other elements [including 3:13-4:21), which Charles (­The Ascension of Isaiah­, 1900, xxxviff) would differentiate later as the Testament of Hezekiah­]. Somewhat later, Littmann (­Jewish Encyclopedia­ VI, 1907, 643) sustained these opinions about chapter 1 and the division of the work into three parts; as did Tisserant (­Ascension d’Isaiae­, 1909, 59). Robinson (in Hasting’s ­Dictionary of the Bible­ II, 1899, 500) substantially followed Dillmann, but thought that two hands only need to be found in the book, and that a Christian author took the Jewish ­Martyrdom of Isaiah­ and composed the remainder. Charles would date all three of his independent works to the 1st century AD; and he believed the first of them in origin to be Jewish, and the other two Christian. [These opinions he stated again somewhat later, with Box (­The Ascension of Isaiah­, 1919, 7-8).] It should also be mentioned that some scholars have argued for a unity of text which speaks with a Christian voice, though doubtless resting on traditions derived from Jewish sources. So in this vein are Burkitt (­Jewish and Christian Apocalypses­, 45ff, 72ff); James (The Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament­, 81ff); and Burch (“The Literary Unity of the Ascension Isaiah” in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XX, 1919, 17ff).

 

2. The martyrdom narrated in the first section, then, is critically thought to be a Jewish writing of uncertain date, the substance of which was known [so ­Hebrews­ 11:37—(They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented)] in the 1st century AD. All of the authorities mentioned above in (1) believe that the martyrdom was originally Jewish.

 

3. ­Ascension of Isaiah­ 3:13-4:21 (INT says 3:13b-4:18)—a section comprising almost the whole of Charles’ Testament of Hezekiah­—is clearly of Christian origin. It is a Christian apocalypse purporting to be a vision of Isaiah’s which he related to Hezekiah, ruler of Judah (716-687BC). This is thought critically true particularly of the passage (4:2ff) that tells of the coming of Christ and of the end of the world. Also in this passage occurs a clear identification with the emperor Nero as Antichrist. He is described as the incarnation of Beliar, the ruler of this world; and as a lawless king, the slayer of his mother, and the persecutor of the Church, into whose hands one of the twelve Apostles shall be delivered, who shall set himself up as a god and be sacrificed to by all men. This Neronic Antichrist passage resembles that in ­Revelation­ 13, Mark­ 13 and ­II Thessalonians­ 2:1-12. Russell (Between the Testaments­, London, 1960, 85) dates this section to the first half of the 1st century AD, and treats it as an independent document. This section Bartlett (­The Apostolic Age­, 1900, 521ff) believes to have been composed between 64AD (the date of the Neronian martyrdoms) to 68AD (the death of Nero), and preferably 65-66. Beer (Realencyclopadie für Protestantische Theologie und Kirche­ XVI, 1905, 261) would assign this section to the early 2nd century AD at the earliest, however; and Stokes (in Smith and Wace’s ­Dictionary of Christian Biography­ III, 1882, 300) thought the book took its present shape at some time during the 3rd century AD.

 

B. CHAPTERS 6-11

 

1. The ­Vision of Isaiah­ section is a revelation made to Isaiah by an angel concerning the heavenly world and the passage through it of the Beloved and his descend and ascent. This last part belongs to the literary genre of visions, typical of apocalyptic, in which the heavenly world and its secrets are shown to a seer in the course of an ascension to Heaven in which he is assisted by an angel. It is one of the most characteristic features of Jewish-Christian literature. The view that chapters 6-11 is a separate piece is made certain by the fact that the passage is absent from the Latin version first published in 1522; and from the three Slavonic versions as well. (The division of the whole of the ­Apocalypse of Isaiah­ into two distinct parts is simultaneously confirmed by the fact that in the versions mentioned only the vision is recorded.) The vision, which describes the ascension of Isaiah through the seven heavens and the revelation of the future redemption through Christ, may have originated in the 2nd century AD. The remaining parts distinguished above are also Christian productions.

 

2. NTA (II,643) says also that the section 11:2-22 forms an independent unit within chapters 6-11.

 

3. In addition, although Irenaeus’ Gnostic movement which he describes at ­Against All Heresies­ 1:30 does provide the best parallel to this second section of the ­Apocalypse of Isaiah­, the Vision­ still seems to be a modification of that movement’s basic theology—that a being called Christ united with a human named Jesus, thus producing Jesus Christ, who departed from Jesus before his crucifixion, but who later assisted Jesus in rising from the dead—which is also delivered without the fantastic mythology of extreme Gnosticism. If so, this would tend to place the Vision of Isaiah­ in the 2nd century AD.

 

     There remains the question of where chapters 1-5 were written.

 

1. They are quite typical of Palestinian Jewish-Christian apocalyptic. On the other hand, they do not exhibit characteristics of the Asiatic community, the millenarianisms (at 4:16) being exhibited in only a very attenuated form. This suggests as the place of composition the center where Palestinian Jewish-Christians seem mostly to have gathered after the year 70AD: namely, in Antioch.

 

2. With regard to the religious background, there is no ground for assuming that there were especially marked Essenic influences: the use of the term Beliar (4:2) was common in Judaism. The setting is therefore that of ordinary Judaism, or more exactly of Jewish gnosis, the distinguishing feature of which is the claim to a knowledge of heavenly mysteries. This does not imply any kind of heterodoxy: there is not a trace of Gnosticism in the book, and its theology of the Trinity and of the Incarnation are archaic, but not heretical. The work is interesting because it represents an original form of gnosis, an early example of Christian theology, borrowing its modes of expression from the Jewish apocalyptic. Together with the ­Gospel of Peter­ it shares a similar Resurrection account, and also the tale of Jesus passing through the seven heavens at His descent, putting on the form of the angels. Similarly, there is a parallel between the great importance to the author of the Ascension of Isaiah­ of the virginal character of Mary, and that enunciated by the ­Odes of Solomon­.

 

     The application to Christ of the term Beloved is in the Ascension of Isaiah­, as also at ­Letter of Baranabas­ 3:6, a characteristic of a document of a Jewish-Christian type; and it is also the earliest document which refers explicitly to the martyrdom of Peter in Rome (4:3). A further indication of an archaic character to the ­Ascension­ is that the Trinitarian theology of the work is expressed in terms of angelic beings. And there is the fact that the author expects the end of the world to be near—the statement that there would be some who knew Jesus living at the time of his Second Coming, together with the resemblances to the Received apocalypse, might indicate a late 1st century or early 2nd century date of composition. The simple church organization—only elders, shepherds, and a diminishing number of prophets are mentioned—indicates a similar period, as does the blame placed upon the Jews alone for the crucifixion of Jesus. The complete silence concerning Paul—even though his martyrdom is mentioned—might indicate a time in the early 2nd century AD, when Paul was in eclipse.

 

[ANF, 704; ANT, 325; DAN, 12-14, 21, 27, 31, 35, 38, 40,41; ROW, 123-126; NTA, I, 197; II, 307, 642-663, 792; INT, 744-746; BET, 85; SCH, 206]

 

50. The Apocalypse of Zephaniah

 

     Among the Coptic fragments acquired from Akhmim—from the White Monastery of Shenoute of Athribis (d.c.450AD), near the Sohag in Egypt—by the ­Bibliotheque National­ in Paris in the early 1880’s were 14 leaves in the Akhmimic dialect of Coptic, and 7 in Sahidic Coptic. These proved upon examination to be the remains (1) of two distinct codices, of which the Akhmimic (end of the 4th century) was thought to be earlier than the Sahidic (beginning of the 5th century); (2) containing certainly two, and perhaps three, distinct works; (3) all of which, though undoubtedly apocryphal in nature, were hitherto unknown. There was considerable overlap between the texts, so that it was frequently possible to restore gaps in the Akhmimic from the Sahidic, and ­vice versa­. It was therefore presumed that they were, at least in part, two versions in different dialects of the same originals.

 

     These fragments were first edited in 1885. Their first editor, Bouriant (“Les Papyrus d’Akhmim, Fragments de Manuscrits en Dialectes Bachmourique et Thebain” in ­Memoires Publies par les Membres de la Mission Archeologique Francaise au Caire­ I.2, Paris, 1885, 242-304) took the view that only a single work was involved; and from the fact that Zephaniah appeared as the speaker on one of the Sahidic leaves, he concluded that the work was the lost ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­. The next year Stern (“Die Koptische Apocalypse des Sophonias, mit Einem Anhang Uber den Untersahidischen Dialect” in ­Zeitschrift fur Agyptische Sprache und Alterthumskunde­, Leipzig, 1886, 115-135) took a view similar to Bouriant; but he arranged the 21 Paris leaves in a different order.

 

     In 1888, a further 8 leaves, recently acquired by the Berlin Museum, were identified as belonging to the same codex as the 14 Akhmimic leaves in the Bibliotheque Nationale (mentioned above); and at the end of the text on one of these leaves—it would seem to be the last work in the codex—appeared the colophon The Apocalypse of Elijah. Consequently, it was deduced that the codex must have contained more than one work, and the question remained: How many? An answer depends partly upon the order in which the loose leaves from both codices are arranged, and partly upon what is presumed to be the relationship between the two codices. The codices certainly overlap; but that does not necessarily mean that their contents were precisely­ the same.

 

     This question was addressed in detail by Steindorff (“Die Apokalypse des Elias, Eine Ubekannte Apokalypse, und Bruchstucke der Sophonias-Apokalypse: Koptische Texte, Ubersetzung, Glossar” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen­ XVII.3a, Leipzig, 1899, Introduction); and he concluded that three works—an Apocalypse of Zephaniah­, an Apocalypse of Elijah­, and an ­Anonymous Apocalypse­ (so called because the seer in it is not named)—were involved. This conclusion, however, was decisively rejected by Schurer (“Geschichte des Judischen Volkes” in Zeitalter Jesu Christi­ IV.3, Leipzig, 1909), who maintained (1) that there were no adequate grounds for distinguishing an ­Anonymous Apocalypse­ from an ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­, and (2) that there were also no adequate grounds for distinguishing a separate ­Apocalypse of Elijah­. Elijah, he pointed out, was referred to in the text of the alleged ­Anonymous Apocalypse­ twice, together with Enoch, in the third person; and if Elijah were in fact being represented by the author as the recipient of the revelations, he might naturally be expected to refer to himself in the first person. Thus, Schurer said, in spite of the colophon at the end of the Akhmimic text, we have here to do with only one work, an ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­

 

     Nearly all authorities subsequent to Steindorff have followed him to the extent of distinguishing an Apocalypse of Zephaniah­—of which only a very small portion, according to Steindorff, has been preserved on one side of one of the Sahidic leaves, the text on the other side being illegible. The passage on the single Sahidic leaf, where Zephaniah speaks in the first person,—(Truly I, Zephaniah, saw)—and for which there is no parallel in Akhmimic, has been generally regarded as conclusive evidence that at least on this leaf we have before us part of the text of a Zephaniah apocalypse. However, the first nine leaves of the Akhmimic codex (according to Steindorff’s arrangement) are so markedly different in subject matter from the last 13 (which form an Elijah apocalypse) that they must belong to a different work. Is that work a third, entirely different apocalypse independent from the Zephaniah and Elijah fragments; or is it the major part of the ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­? Steindorff preferred the former alternative; but this has been challenged from several angles:

 

1. It has been pointed out that the fact that there is no Akhmimic parallel to the single Sahidic Zephaniah leaf—whereas there are Akhmimic parallels to the remaining six Sahidic leaves—is almost certainly accidental.

 

2. The Akhmimic text of the presumed ­Anonymous Apocalypse­ is itself far from complete: how much is missing at the beginning is unknown; and the Sahidic ­Zephaniah­ fragment may belong at the beginning, the gap in the middle, or even at the end of the so-called ­Anonymous­ text.

 

3. There are some very evident contacts in subject matter between the ­Zephaniah­ leaf and the ­Anonymous­ material. (a) Both are concerned with the torments of Hell; and (b) there are several coincidences of language, the most obvious being concentrated in ­Zephaniah­ 6-7a and ­Anonymous­ 1:11-12 (with a lacuna)—[(Truly I, Zephaniah, saw and took note of these things, and the angel of the Lord walked with me. I saw a wide open place, with thousands upon thousands surrounding it on the left and myriads upon myriads on the right.) ... (I then walked further with the angel of the Lord, and I looked in front of me: I saw a place there ... thousand and myriads upon myriads of angels walking through it.)]; at Zephaniah­ 7b and Anonymous­ 2:7—[(The nature of each one was different, their hair all loose like a woman’s hair, their teeth like the teeth of) ... (I saw a great angel in front of me, his hair flying out and round his head like the lioness, his teeth showing outside his mouth like a bear’s, his hair flying out like a woman’s,)]; or at Zephaniah­ 3 with Anonymous­ 3:1 and 3:6-7—[(The angel gave me his hand. He said to me, Be victorious that you may be victorious, and be strong that you may be victorious over the accuser and may come up from Hell.) ... (Then I got up and stood upon my feet. I saw a great angel in front of me, saying to me, Be victorious, be strong; for you have been strong, you have been victorious over the accuser, you have come up from Hell and the abyss, ... Then a great angel came out with a golden trumpet in his hand. He sounded it three times over my head, saying, Be victorious, he who has been victorious, be strong, he who has been strong. For you have been victorious over the accuser, you have escaped from the abyss and Hell.)].

 

4. Finally, Lefort (“Les Manuscrits Coptes de l’Universite de Louvain I” in ­Textes Litteraires­, Louvain, 1940, 79-80) published a very small (and for the most part illegible) Coptic fragment, containing (according to his reconstruction) a very few complete words, and a single sentence (Truly I Zephaniah saw these things.), followed by a colophon:—(The Apocalypse of Zephaniah). If this reconstruction is to be trusted, and if there is any relationship at all between LeFort’s fragment and the Sahidic ­Zephaniah­ leaf, it would appear that the surviving lines on the Sahidic leaf down to Truly I, Zephaniah, saw and took note of these things are the conclusion of the Zephaniah apocalypse; and that what follows belongs to something else. Only a very few words of the Coptic fragment can, however, be read; and the possibility remains that the phrase Truly I, Zephaniah, saw these things was a kind of refrain, occurring regularly throughout the apocalypse at the end of each section, and then, finally, at the very end. (This will hereafter be called the Lefort Fragment.)

 

     An ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ was certainly known to the early Christians.

 

1. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Miscellaneous Studies­ V.9:77) appears to preserve a portion of its contents:—(Are not these statements like those of Zephaniah the prophet? “And the spirit took me, and brought me up to the fifth heaven, and I beheld angels called lords; and their diadem had been set upon them by the Holy Spirit; and each of them had a throne seven times brighter than the light of the rising sun; and they dwelt in temples of salvation, and they hymned the ineffable Most High God.”). But Clement’s quotation has no parallel: neither in the Sahidic ­Zephaniah­ fragment, nor in what remains of the so-called Anonymous Apocalypse­ is it to be found; and there is no obvious gap anywhere into which it might suitably be fitted. Even so, it has generally been assumed that the ancient lists refer to the same work cited by Clement: but perhaps a more important question to consider is the relationship between Clement’s citation and the Coptic texts themselves.

 

     There are details in the quotation from Clement that both parallel and contradict data in the Coptic fragments. (a) The most striking parallel is that both quotations deal with angels and describe them as singing hymns before God (as in the ­Ascension of Isaiah­). (b) On the other hand, the Holy Spirit is mentioned in Clement’s quotation, but not in the Coptic fragments; and (c) the quotation from Clement also assigns the Spirit a role in transporting the seer, but the Coptic fragments portray the seer as traveling with the angel of the Lord. Of course, it is equally true that none of these supposedly contradictory features excludes the possibility that the quotation was taken from the same text as the Coptic fragments. Variation between the two may occur because Clement had a “Christian” recension of the text. Variation may also exist because the author of the apocalypse was following a different source in writing about the fifth heaven. Nevertheless, the majority of scholars appear to have followed the lead of Schurer (who reviewed ­Die Apokalypse des Elias­ by Steindorff in ­Theologische Literaturzeitung­ XXIV, 1899, cols. 4-8) and assumed that this quotation was taken from the same ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ as that preserved in the surviving Coptic fragments.

 

     Thus the simplest hypothesis is to assume that (a) there was a single ancient text entitled The Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ which was attested by the four ancient witnesses listed here and below, and (b) that the Coptic fragments represent two different versions of that text.

 

2. In the ­Synopsis Sacrae Scripturae­ of Pseudo-Athanasius of Alexandria (6th century) there is listed The Book of the Prophet Zephaniah. The works assigned here to Elijah and Zephaniah appear in precisely the same order and with the same title that is given to them in the ­Stichometry­ of Nicephorus.

 

3. In the ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century) there is mentioned The Revelation of Zephaniah under the heading And the following apocryphal:. This catalogue lists the ­Apocalypse of Elijah­, the ­Vision of Isaiah­, and the Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ in that order. Here the works attributed to Elijah and Zephaniah are both designated as apocalypses, and the Vision of Isaiah­ is placed between them. Nevertheless, there is nothing in this listing of the two works that prevents their being identified with the parallel works mentioned in (2) or (4). In fact, the probability lies with their being the same.

 

4. In the ­Stichometry­ of Nicephorus of Constantinople (c.850AD), there is mentioned at the end, together with five other works, under the names of Zechariah, Baruch, Habakkuk, Ezekiel and Daniel, The Book of the Prophet Zephaniah ... 600 lines, under the heading, Apocrypha of the Old Testament are the following:. Its notification immediately follows a work entitled ­The book of the Prophet Elijah­. The proximity of the works attributed to Zephaniah and Elijah in the Stichometry­, and the fact that the works appear together in two separate Coptic manuscripts, lend some support to the assumption that the Coptic works are to be identified with the ancient works mentioned in the ­Stichometry­. Nevertheless, it would appear that we do not have texts in the recension used for counting ­stichoi­ (lines) since the calculations of Schmidt and Ibscher (“Der Kolophon des Ms. Orient. 7594 des Britischen Museums; Eine Untersuchung zur Elias-Apokalypse” in Sitzungsberichte der Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-Historische Klasse­, Berlin, 1925, 312-321) reveal that the actual text of Elijah is a bit short for their suggested 316 lines and the space needed for the text of Zephaniah is a bit more than their suggested 600 lines.

 

     The ­Apoclypse of Zephaniah­ has survived the end of the Classical Age in fragments of two languages.

 

1. GREEK. The Greek text of this work is still confined to the quotation of it preserved by Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215). It is as yet not certain, due to the fragmentary nature of the surviving material, as to where particularly, if anywhere, this fragment may be fitted.

 

2. COPTIC. Officially, the Coptic text of the Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ survives on the almost entirely illegible (saving a few words, a single sentence, and a colophon) single sheet of the Lefort Fragment (for which see above). However, more extensive apocalyptic fragments in both Sahidic and Akhmimic Coptic have also been thought to belong to this work. If the calculations of Schmidt and Ibscher (­op.cit.­) are correct, the following conclusions may be drawn: (a) about 25% of the text of the ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ has been recovered, with a lacuna of over 50% of the text (Schmidt says 46 pages) occurring at the beginning of the work; (b) the Greek fragment about the fifth heaven and the Sahidic fragment’s description of a tortured soul in Hades may have been located there; (c) the eighteen pages of Akhmimic text are broken by a lacuna after page 12; (d) the text that has survived is not of a continuous nature; and (e) the statement, Truly, I, Zephaniah, saw these things in my vision., which survives on the Lefort Fragment, together with the general content of the text in the above fragments, is sufficient to classify the work as an Apocalypse of Zephaniah­. (See below for another possible Coptic fragment in the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Paul, after Budge.­)

 

     No knowledge about the author exists apart from his work. Although the claim is made that these are the visions of Zephaniah, reported in the first person, the well-known literary conventions of apocalyptic writing have led scholars to disregard that claim. Zephaniah is generally considered to be a pseudonym used by an anonymous writer who either believed that he was writing in the spirit of the Biblical prophet Zephaniah, or simply wished to enhance the prestige of his own ideas by invoking the name of an illustrious man of God.

 

     Whatever his name, it is fairly clear that the writer was a Jew. In the surviving portions of the text that deal with doctrines as basic as judgment for sin, intercessory prayer, and life after death, there is nothing distinctively Christian. The lack of Christian elements is even somewhat surprising when we remember that the manuscripts came from the library of a Christian monastery. They were preserved by monks, and in all probability copied by monks from earlier manuscripts that had been translated from Greek to Coptic within a Christian community. Over a period of 100 or 200 years of transmission by Christian scribes there are a number of ways that Christian concerns might have entered the document short of a conscious redaction of the text. (1) A Christian translator might have assumed that certain Greek terms in the document he was translating had a “Christian” meaning; (2) a Christian copyist might unconsciously have expanded a phrase or reformulated a sentence to agree with a familiar liturgical statement drawn from a Christian context; or (3) a monk might even have been tempted to add the name of Jesus or Paul to the list of righteous saints in Paradise. As a matter of fact, however, there is no clear example of any such modification of the text.

 

     The author, who was concerned about the question of life after death, was not a Sadducee. His dualism is not compatible with that of Qumran. There is no zealot theology in evidence. He comes across as a gentle man, concerned for intercession on behalf of those in torment. He has concern for proper fulfillment of priestly ordinances and times of daily prayer, but there is no reason to believe that the author himself was a priest. As a writer of apocalyptic, he shares features with a wide range of similar writings, of which the following verbal or conceptual parallels are noted with ­Zephaniah­: [This list assumes that the Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ contains the material in it awarded by the evaluative study of Schmidt and Ibscher; i.e., that the so-called ­Anonymous Apocalypse­ (­op.cit.­) does not exist.]

 

1. With various parts of the Clementine fragment: ­II Enoch­ 18, III Baruch­ 11 and Ascension of Isaiah­ 7:32 37.

2. With the Sahidic fragment: Revelation­ 22:8.

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3. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 1:3: Matthew­ 24:40-41 and ­Luke­ 17:34-35.

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4. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 2:1-4, and various parts of chapter 2 of the Akhmimic text: Matthew­ 24:40-41, ­Luke­ 17:34-35, ­Wisdom of Solomon­ 11:22 and ­I Clement­ 59:3.

5. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 2:10-12: ­Revelations­ 1:13, 1:15, 2:18, 19:10 and 22:8-9.

6. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 2:12b: one of the Akhmim fragments of ­II Enoch­, and ­II Esdras­ 4:36.

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7. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 3:4: Luke­ 1:6.

8. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 3:18: I Corinthians 15:38.

9. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 3:26b: Apocalypse of Elijah­ 3:62b-63a.

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10. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 4:1-3: Revelation­ 5:11 and ­I Enoch­ 40:1.

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11. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 6:1-3: I Enoch­ 67:13, ­Apocalypse of Peter­ 23 and ­Revelation 19:20.

12. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 6:9: I Enoch­ 21:9.

13. With parts of ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 6:11-15: Revelation­ 1:13-15, 2:18, 19:10, 22:8-9 and Ascension of Isaiah­ 7:21.

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14. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 7:1: Apocalypse of Paul­ 17.

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15. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 9:5: James­ 2:23.

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16. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 10:9: James­ 1:22.

17. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 10:13-14: I Corinthians­ 15:38.

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18. With ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 12:6: Revelation­ 6:17.

 

     Though a Jewish-Christian author or a Christian editor might be hypothesized as the author of the Apocalypse of Zephaniah­, there is at least in part no need to do so.

 

1. At ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 10:9—(I said, ‘Who are these?’ He said to me, ‘These are catechumens who heard the word of God, but they were not perfected in the work which they heard.’)—there is a quotation containing the word ­katechoumenos­, which is frequently used in Patristic texts; and the quotation could certainly pass as a Christian statement on the idea of the perfection of just men. Nevertheless, though the word for catechumens is not fully current in Jewish writings, that fact does not exclude its possible use by a Jewish author. The verb katecheo­ was used by both Philo of Alexandria (d.c.50AD) and Josephus of Palestine (d.c.100), in the sense of giving information: it would therefore not be too surprising to discover a Jewish writer who used the passive participle (katechoumenos) to describe those who were taught.

 

2. In the case of the parallel between ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 1:3, ­Matthew­ 24:41, and ­Luke­ 17:34-35:—(Then I saw two men walking together on the same road: I saw them talking. And I saw also two women grinding at a mill together; and I saw them talking. And I saw also two on one couch, both of them taking their rest on their couch. ... The two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. ... I tell you, in the night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.”)—we are probably dealing with a well-known proverbial expression that was used by the author of the ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ and the evangelist, Matthew.

 

3. In the case of the parallel between ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 2:10-12, and ­Revelation­ 1:13, 1:15, 2:18, 19:10 and 22:8-9—(Then I got up and stood upon my feet. I saw a great angel standing in front of me: his face shone like the gifts of the sun in its glory: his face was like the face of a man filled with its glory; and he had what looked like a golden girdle round his breast, and his feet were like brass refined by fire. I fell on my face: I worshipped him. He said to me, It is God you must pay homage to: you must not worship me. I am not the Lord Almighty; but I am the great angel Eremiel, whose place is in the world below, and I have been appointed over the abyss and Hell, in which all souls have been imprisoned from the end of the flood, which was upon the earth, until today.) ... (and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle round his breast; ... and his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters; ... “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. ... His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. ... I John am he who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me; but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren and prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. worship God.”)—we have here to do with a New Testament period author who may simply be dependent on a tradition that wishes to combat the worship of angels.

 

     It is clear that the author wrote in Greek; and he may well have resided in a Jewish community outside of Palestine, somewhere in the Hellenistic world. Evidence favoring Egypt is strongest:

 

1. Two separate manuscripts of the apocalypse have survived in Egypt.

 

2. The ­Coptic Apocalypse of Paul, after Budge­ probably contains a quotation from a third Egyptian manuscript of the work, thus attesting to the popularity of the text in Egypt.

 

3. The comment regarding the weighing of good and evil at ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 8:5:—(Now, moreover, my sons, this is the trial because it is necessary that the good and the evil be weighed in a balance.)—also reminds one of an Egyptian motif.

 

4. The only outright quotation in Greek surviving from antiquity is that quoted in a work by Clement of Alexandria­.

 

5. There is a reason to believe that the writer did not fully understand Hebrew. At ­Apoclapyse of Zephaniah­ 6:7, there occurs the following phrase:—(I cried out saying, ‘Eloe, Lord, Adonai, Sabaoth, I beseech you to save me from this distress because it has befallen me.’). ­Eloe, Lord, Adonai, Sabaoth­ (My God, my Lord, Lord of Hosts) looks like a curious expression indeed. It is hard to imagine that it would be constructed in a Hebrew-speaking community. The author apparently knew two Hebrew epithets: ­Eloe­ and ­Adonai Sabaoth­. He used the two of them together with his own Greek term ­kurios­ (Lord), to address God by means of three of His titles: Eloe, Kurios, Adonai Sabaoth­. (The Coptic translator later translated the Greek and left the Hebrew transcriptions in place.)

 

     If the quotation by Clement of Alexandria is part of the apocalypse, then there are distinct limits for the time within which the text is to be dated. The earliest date is sometime after the story of Susanna was circulated in Greek as part of the ­Received Book of Daniel­ during the 1st century BC. The late date is, of course, the time of Clement of Alexandria’s ­Miscellaneous Studies­ (probably between 190-215AD); for at ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 6:10—(I was unable to stand, and I prayed before the Lord Almighty, ‘You will save me from this distress. You are the one who saved Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. You saved Susanna from the hand of the elders of injustice. You saved the three holy men, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, from the furnace of burning fire. I beg you to save me from this distress.’)—the author of the book appeals to the accounts of Susanna, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego as examples of God’s power to deliver; and one may assume with certainty that the tale of Susanna would be well known in Alexandria as part of the ­Received Book of Daniel­ during the 1st century BC. If we are correct in assuming that Clement accepted the ­Apoclypse of Zephaniah­ as that of the Biblical prophet Zephaniah, it must have circulated long enough to have acquired that prestige. That would set the latest date of composition at a point some time before the last quarter of the 2nd century AD (or between 175-200AD).

 

     But it may be possible to fix the time of composition even more accurately than this.

 

     At ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 2:3—(And he took me up upon Mount Seir and he showed me three men, as two angels walked with them rejoicing and exulting over them.)—there is mentioned a Mount Seir. This is probably a reference to an Edomite name, which is very closely associated with Mount Sinai in the theophanies that appear in the ­Song of Deborah­ in Judges­ 5:4-5 and ­Deuteronomy­ 33:2. Throughout the Received Old Testament­, Edom is treated as a model of villainy, but after the conquest of Edom by John Hyrcanus (d.104BC) the Idumeans began to be fully involved in the affairs of Judah. During the period of Herod Antipater (37-4BC) and the Herodians (the last of the family, Herod Agrippa II, rules various territories in Northern Palestine until c.93AD), pro-Edomite sentiment undoubtedly flourished. Despite the fact that hatred for those Idumean monarchs only intensified the traditional mistrust of Edom among certain Jewish parties, there were others who sought their favor. [For example, Josephus of Palestine (d.c.100AD, War of the Jews­ 4:4) reports that the Idumeans came to Jerusalem to assist the Zealots shortly before that city fell to the Romans.)] So: the most likely period for this pro-Edomite portion of the narrative in the Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ that locates the prophet’s vision on Mount Seir is between 128BC and 70AD, when there was a reasonable motive for recalling positive reference to Mount Seir in the ­Received Old Testament­, or for making it the locus of a new vision. If the author if the ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ is responsible for the tradition that places the seer’s vision on Mount Seir, then he probably wrote before 70AD.

 

     Indeed, the work has been dated as early as 68AD; but the statement that there would be some who knew Jesus living at the time of his Second Coming, together with the resemblances to the Received apocalypse, might indicate a late 1st century or early 2nd century date of composition. The simple church organization—only elders, shepherds, and a diminishing number of prophets are mentioned—indicate a similar period, as does the blame placed upon the Jews alone for the crucifixion of Jesus. The complete silence concerning Paul (even though Paul’s martyrdom is mentioned), extending even to the alleged verbal or conceptual parallels, may indicate a time prior to the publication of the ­Received Book of Acts­ and the Received Pauline letters; or to an early 2nd century period when Paul was in eclipse.

 

[AOT, 915-925; NTA, II, 751-752; ROW, 125; COL, 194-195; JHC, 497-515]

 

51. The Anonymous Apocalypse, after Steindorff

 

     Steindorff (“Die Apokalypse des Elias, eine Ubekannte Apokalypse, und Bruchstucke der Sophonias-Apokalypse: Koptische Texte, ub Ersetzung, Glossar” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen­ XVII.3a (N.F.2), Leipzig, 1899) examined the question of how many separate works were represented by two manuscript finds made in Egypt in the early 1880’s (described above) which, it was certain, contained fragments of two hitherto unknown apocalypses: an ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ and an ­Apocalypse of Elijah­. He believed that he could discern fragments of yet a third work, which he named the ­Anonymous Apocalypse­ (so-called because the seer in it is not named). This material Steindorff said occupied the first nine leaves of the Akhmimic Coptic codex, which he felt were so markedly different in subject matter from the last 13 leaves (which formed the ­Apocalypse of Elijah), that they must belong to a different work.

 

The debate since that time has tended to attempt to answer the question whether the so-called ­Anonymous­ text is indeed so entirely different from the texts of the other two as to warrant a viable separation; or whether it is in fact simply a major part of the ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­. Steindorff preferred the former alternative. And he believed that he could isolate several verbal or conceptual parallels with various texts of the ­Received New Testament­ and other works, viz:

 

1. With ­Anonymous Apocalypse­ 1:3: Matthew­ 24:40-41 and ­Luke­ 17:34-35.

2. ­With Anonymous Apocalypse­ 1:11-12: ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 6-7a.

3. ­With Anonymous Apocalypse­ 2:7: Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 7b.

4. ­With Anonymous Apocalypse­ 2:10-12: Revelation­ 1:13, 1:15, 2:18, 19:10, 22:8-9.

5. ­With Anonymous Apocalypse­ 2:12b: one of the Akhmim fragments of the Greek Book of Enoch­ and ­II Esdras­ 4:36.

6. ­With Anonymous Apocalypse­ 3:1: Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 3.

7. ­With Anonymous Apocalypse­ 3:6-7: Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ 3.

8. ­With Anonymous Apocalypse­ 3:18: I Corinthians­ 15:38.

9. ­With Anonymous Apocalypse­ 3:26b: Apocalypse of Elijah­ 3:62b-3:63a.

 

     These passages are delineated below in order, left-to-right from the citations above.

 

1. [(Then I saw two men walking together on the same road: I saw them talking. And I saw also two women grinding at a mill together; and I saw them talking. And I saw also two on one couch, both of them taking their rest on their couch.) ... (Then two men will be in a field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left.) ... (I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. There will be two women grinding together; one will be taken and the other left.\fn{Other ancient authorities add: Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.)]

 

2. [(I then walked further with the angel of the Lord, and I looked in front of me: I saw a place there ... thousand and myriads upon myriads of angels walking through it.) ... (Truly I, Zephaniah, saw and took note of these things, and the angel of the Lord walked with me. I saw a wide open place, with thousands upon thousand surrounding it on the left and myriads upon myriads on the right.)]

 

3. [(I saw a great angel in front of me, his hair flying out round his head like the lioness, his teeth showing outside his mouth like a bear’s, his hair flying out like a woman’s,) ... (The nature of each one was different, their hair all loose like a woman’s hair, their teeth like the teeth of)]

 

4. [(Then I got up and stood upon my feet. I saw a great angel standing in front of me: his face shone like the gifts of the sun in its glory: his face was like the face of a man filled with its glory; and he had what looked like a golden girdle round his breast, and his feet were like brass refined by fire. And when I saw him, I rejoiced, for I thought the Lord Almighty had come to visit me. I fell on my face: I worshipped him. He said to me, It is God you must pay homage to: you must not worship me. I am not the Lord Almighty; but I am the great angel Eremiel, whose place is in the world below, and I have been appointed over the abyss and Hell, in which all souls have been imprisoned from the end of the flood, which was upon the earth, until today.) ... (and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle round his breast; ... and his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters; ... “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. ... His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. ... I John am he who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me; but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brethren the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”)]

 

5. [(But I am the great angel Eremiel, whose place is in the world below, and I have been appointed over the abyss and Hell, in which all souls have been imprisoned from the end of the flood, which was upon the earth, until today.) ... (Remiel, one of the holy angels, whom God put in charge of those who rise. Seven names of archangels.) ... (And Jeremiel the archangel answered them and said, `When the number of those like yourselves is completed;\fn{The Syriac, Ethiopic, Latin, and second Arabic versions continue here with: number of seeds is completed for you. The Syriac for Jeremiel is Remiel.} for he has weighed the age in the balance,)]

 

6. [(Then I got up and stood upon my feet. I saw a great angel in front of me, saying to me, Be victorious, be strong; for you have been strong, you have been victorious over the accuser, you have come up from Hell and the abyss,) ... (The angel gave me his hand. He said to me, Be victorious that you may be victorious, and be strong that you may be victorious over the accuser and may come up from Hell.)]

 

7. [(Then a great angel came out with a golden trumpet in his hand. He sounded it three times over my head, saying, Be victorious, he who has been victorious, be strong, he who has been strong. For you have been victorious over the accuser, you have escaped from the abyss and Hell.) ... (The angel gave me his hand. He said to me, Be victorious that you may be victorious, and be strong that you may be victorious over the accuser and may come up from Hell.)]

 

8. [(And I saw others with their hair on them. I said, Are there hair and body in this place? He said, Yes: the Lord gives them body and hair as he pleases.) ... (But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body.)]

 

9. [(All trees that grow upon the earth will be uprooted with their roots and fall down, and all high towers and the birds that fly over them will fall to the ground.) ... (the trees will be uprooted and fall: the wild beasts and the cattle will die in confusion. The birds will fall dead upon the ground:)]

 

     NTA says, however, that the assigning of Steindorff’s ­Anonymous Apocalypse­ to the text of the ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ is not above doubt.

 

[NTA, II, 751-752; AOT, 915-925]

 

***

 

X. JEREMIAH, BARUCH, EZEKIEL

 

52. The Paraleipomena of Jeremiah

 

     The ­Paraleipomena­ (Things Omitted From) ­of Jeremiah­ is a continuously written ­haggadah­, completing in its own way that which is narrated in the ­Received Old Testament­. It is a consolatory writing; and its historical framework—the capture of Jerusalem and the captivity in Babylon—allows the author to describe the catastrophe of 70AD using the data of that of 587BC.

 

     The ­Paraleipomena of Jeremiah­ seems never to have been either quoted or referred to by any of the Fathers. That it existed at all could not certainly be proved from a glance at the two Greek lists of apocryphal books:—the Synopsis Sacrae Scripturae­ of Pseudo-Athanasius of Alexandria (6th century), in which there is a reference to Pseudepigrapha of Baruch, Habakkuk, Ezekiel and Daniel; and the ­Stichometry­ (c.850AD) of Nicephorus of Constantinople (d.829AD), where there is condemned something called Baruch pseudepigraphon, in which there is certainly no hint at the existence of non-canonical material having to do with ­Jeremiah­—for these lists seem to presuppose knowledge that Baruch was Jeremiah’s secretary. Much less is there warrant to suppose that from these surviving titles that either of them was intended to refer to the ­Paraleipomena of Jeremiah­; indeed, if a reference to a work now in existence was intended in the Greek lists, it was far more likely to have been to the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch­. At least two lists do survive, however, in which the ­Paraleipomena­ is mentioned; but they are in Armenian and Slavonic, and AOT is not more specific about them (H).

 

     This is especially unusual when it is known from the surviving remains that the ­Paraleipomena­ existed in a number of languages, and this suggests that in Antiquity it was known over a wide area and enjoyed considerable popularity.

 

A. GREEK. Two versions have survived in numerous manuscripts: (1) a long version, first published in 1868 by Ceriani (who discovered the text in a manuscript of the 15th century, preserved in the Brera Museum of Milan). It was first critically edited by Harris (­The Rest of the Words of Baruch: A Christian Apocalypse of the Year 136AD­, Cambridge, 1889), who made use of three manuscripts of the 10th, 11th and 15th centuries of the long version in Greek; the Ethiopic version discussed below, for which Harris had an extremely high regard; and a copy of (2) the short Greek version [which exists, essentially as yet unedited, in a number of ­menaea­ manuscripts (service books containing information used in the celebration of saint’s days) of the Eastern Church for November 4 (when the Fall of Jerusalem was commemorated, and material about Jeremiah appropriately sought out)]. These ­menaea­ manuscripts preserve only portions of the text of the ­Paraleipomena­ in an abbreviated and less pure form, so that, despite the fact that there are additions here and there, they represent what would normally be called a short recension. [A fair specimen of this short recension text is preserved in Vassiliev (Anecdota Graeco-Byzantina­ I, Moscow, 1893, 308-316), from a manuscript dated 1497.] Since Harris’ day a number of other manuscripts have come to light belonging to both recensions; but few of them have as yet been adequately examined. Moreover, the relationship between the two versions—if indeed there are only two—and the manuscripts themselves that go to make them up, is more than ordinarily complex, and little detailed work has so far been done to unravel this complexity. However, in the brief introductory matter to their pilot edition, Kraft and Purintin (“Paraleipomena Jeremiou” in the Society of Biblical Literature’s ­Texts and Translations I, Pseudepigrapha Series I­, Missoula, 1972) gave a convenient list of all known and suspected witnesses up to that date, together with a suggested classification. With a commendable honesty they emphasized that all the materials presented here are in every way provisional; and it is clear that this statement is intended to cover not only their list of available witnesses and their suggested classification of them, but their eclectic Greek text of the long recension as well. Finally, it should perhaps be noted that the title of the long recension was most often “Paraleipomena of Jeremiah the Prophet­;” that of the short recension ­“Narrative About the Capture of Jerusalem and the Lamentation of the Prophet Jeremiah and Concerning the Trance of Abimelech­,” or a variety thereof.

 

B. ETHIOPIC. The attention of the modern West was first drawn to this version when it was first published by Dillmann (Chrestomathia Aethiopica­, Leipzig, 1866, viii-x and 1-15). In 1860, Dillmann had described the work as a Christian apocryphon in his article in the first edition of Herzog’s ­Real-Encyklopadie für Protestantische Theologie und Kirche­ XII, 314). The Ethiopic version prefers as a title “Rest of the Words of Baruch­,” though manifestly the book is primarily about Jeremiah, not Baruch, Baruch serving as an important, but subsidiary, figure, (his importance lying in his function as Jeremiah’s secretary, whence he appears in the Received Old Testament book of ­Jeremiah­). See also on this Pratorius (“Das Apokryphische Buch Baruch im Athiopischen” in Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Tehologie­ XV, 1872, 230-247); Konig (“Der Rest der Worte Baruch. Aus dem Aethiopischen Ubersetzt und mit Anmerkungen Versehen” in ­Theolkogische Studien und Kritiken­ I, 1877, 318-338); and Basset (­Les Apocryphes Ethiopiens Traduits en Francais. I. Le livre de Baruch et la Legende de Jeremie­, Paris, 1893).

 

C. ARMENIAN. There exist also three different Armenian recensions. The titles used in this version is similar to the Greek of the long recension. On them see Hovsepheantz (­A Treasury of Old and New Primitive Writers I: Uncanonical Books of the Old Testament­, Venice, 1896, 349-377); Issaverdens (­The Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament Found in the Armenian Manuscripts of the Library of St. Lazarus, Translated Into English­, 2nd. ed., Venice, 1934, 193-232, which offers separate translations of the three); and Stone (“Some Observations on the Armenian Version of the Paraleipomena of Jeremiah” in ­Catholic Bible Quarterly­ XXXV, 1973, 47-59).

 

D. SLAVONIC. The work is also known in more than one Slavonic recension. Like the Greek and the Armenian versions, the Slavonic tradition agrees in calling it the ­“Paraleipomena of Jeremiah­,” or something similar. On them see Tikhonravov (Pamyatniki Otrechennoi Russkoi Literatury­ I, St. Petersburg, 1863, 273-297); Popov (Opisanie Rukopisei i Katalog Knigi Tserkovnoi Pechati Biblioteki A. I. Khludova­, Moscow, 1872, 406-413); and Novakiovic (“Apokrifi Jednoga Srpskog Cirilovskog Zbornika XIV. Vieka” in ­Starine­ VIII, Zagreb, 1876, 40-48).

 

E. GARSHUNI. This ­may­ be extant. Mingana (­Woodbrooke Studies­ I, Cambridge, 1927, 125-1238, 148-233 in Bulletin of the John Rylands Library­ XI, Manchester, 1927, 329-342, 352-437) has printed in English what Amelineau (“Historie de la Captivite de Babylone” in ­Coptes et Romans de l’Egypte Chretienne­ II, Paris, 1888, 97-151) and Leroy and Did (“Un Apocryphe Ca chouni sur la Captivite de Babylone” in ­Revue de l’Orient Chretin­ XV, Paris, 1910, 255-274, 398-409; and op.cit.­ XV, Paris, 1911, 128-154) originally printed in French. To what extent this version should be regarded as a completely separate work, and not just another (though widely divergent) recension of the ­Paraleipomena­, is debatable. Certainly the account of Jeremiah’s hiding of the Temple vessels (­Paraleipomena­ 3:7-8 in the Greek long version) is either paralleled or echoed in it, as is the story of Abimelech in his long sleep.

 

F. HEBREW. If we are prepared to accept the book as a unity and regard it as Christian throughout, the original language is likely to have been Greek. If it was Jewish, apart from the later Christian modifications, then it may have been written originally either in Greek, or in Hebrew or in Aramaic. The mention of ­Zar­ as a god’s name at Paraleipomena­ 7:25-26—(For often enough when I have come out of doors I have found some of the people about to be hanged by king Nebuchadnezar, and they would be in tears, saying, Have mercy upon us, thou god Zar. When I heard this I was distressed and made a double lamentation, not only because they were being hanged, but also because they were invoking a foreign god, saying, Have mercy on us.) [Harris’ 11th and 15th century Greek manuscripts of the long version also read Zar; but the 10th century manuscript of the long version reads: Sabaoth; and the Ethiopic manuscripts vary between Zar, Sorot and Sarot]—has sometimes been held to point to a Hebrew original, inasmuch as ­zar­ is the common Hebrew word for strange(r) or foreign(er). The argument is not conclusive­, however, for it cannot be supposed that the hypothetical Greek translator of the Hebrew or Aramaic did not know what ­zar­ meant, since in the very next verse he refers to Jeremiah’s grief because his contemporaries were invoking a foreign god. However (1) the phrase thou god Zar is undoubtedly proof that the Greek text had a Semetic ­background­, even if it was not a translation from Hebrew; and (2) at Paraleipomena­ 6:3b—(For the almighty is coming, and he will take you out of your body.)—the translator uses a Greek idiomatic expression for the Almighty, which accords with the practice of the later translators (Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion) of the ­Received Old Testament­, who normally render the Hebrew ­shaddi­ in his way.

 

     If there was such an original, it has not survived to our time, even in fragments. (H)

 

G. SYRIAC. The same may be said of any Syriac version, in whole or in part, though it may be that Boagert (“L’Apocalypse Syriaque de Baruch I” in ­Sources Chretinnes­ CXLIV, Paris, 1969, 177-221) may put up an argument for one. Sparis (­The Apocryphal Old Testament­, Oxford, 1984, 813-833) says only that he accepts Harris’ conclusions in general about the dating of the ­Paraleipomena­, to which we now turn; if there were any Syriac versions or fragments of this work, they are unknown to Sparis.

 

     The scene of the ­Paraleipomea­ is set in Jerusalem, both at the beginning and at the end of the Babylonian exile. Jeremiah goes with the exiles to Babylon; Baruch stays near Jerusalem, lamenting its desolation; and Abimelech—the Ebed-melech of Received Jeremiah­ 38:7-13—(When Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate—Ebed-melech went from the king’s house and said to the king, “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern; and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.” Then the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian, “Take three men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.” So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king, to a wardrobe of the storehouse, and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes. Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so. Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.)—continues the tale. Having been sent to gather figs so that he may not see the impending destruction of the city, he falls into a miraculous sleep which lasts for 66 years. Since in ­Paraleipomena­ 3:10, the Lord proclaims I will shelter him there until I bring the people back to the city, the 66 years of Abimelech’s sleep are presumably of significance in determining the date of the Return. So, at any rate, Harris (­op.cit.­): who, in identifying the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (586BC) with its sack by the Romans in 70AD, and adding 66 years, arrived at the date 136AD, in which he believed the ­Paraleipomena­ was composed. The author, Harris argued, was clearly a Jewish-Christian, who was writing a tract of immediate significance to the refugees of Roman cruelty and barbarism in 135AD. It was in this year that the so-called Second Jewish Revolt had been finally crushed. Jerusalem was to be rebuilt as a pagan city, to be called Aelia Capitolina, to be peopled exclusively by Gentiles, and an imperial edict was announced prohibiting Jews from entering the city on pain of death. Moreover: the Paraleipomena­ points out that the Jews could evade this edict by forsaking Babylon (i.e., Judaism) and entering their ­rightful­ city (i.e., the Christian church). Given these factors, it was Harris’s conclusion (­op.cit.­, 14) that the Paraleipomena­ represented the church’s Eirenicon to the synagogue; at the time of the Hadrianic edict. And this view was accepted by a number of subsequent scholars.

 

     It has not, however, gone unchallenged. Schurer (­Geschichte des Judischen Volkes im Zeitalter Jesu Christi­ IV.3, Leipzig, 1909) drew attention to a number of what would seem to be distinctively Jewish features of the work; and later, Delling (“Judische Lehre und Frommigkeit in den Paralipomena Jeremiae” in ­Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die Altestamentliche Wissenschaft­, Berlin, 1967) emphasized the fundamental concern with the fate of Jerusalem and the future of the Jewish people, the references to the need for social purity at Paraleipomena­ 6:13-14 and 8:2-5—(and write a letter, saying, Speak to the Israelites and say to them, The stranger that is among you, let him be separated from you, and let this continue for fifteen days; and after this I will bring you to your city, says the Lord. Whoever does not separate himself from Babylon, Jeremiah, shall not enter the city; and I will punish them, so that they are not received back again by the Babylonians, says the Lord. ... And the Lord said to Jeremiah, Get up, both you and the people, and make your way to Jordan; and say to the people, He that is for the Lord, let him leave behind what was done in Babylon—the men who married Babylonian wives and the women who married Babylonian husbands. And let those who listen to you cross over, and bring them to Jerusalem; but those who will not listen to you, do not bring into it. And Jeremiah told them this; and they got up and came to Jordan to cross over, and he repeated to them what the Lord had told him. And half of those who had married Babylonians\fn{Here the text of the 10th century Greek long version breaks off and concludes with a collection of historical passages, mostly derived from I Esdras and II Esdras.} refused to listen to Jeremiah, but said to him, We will never leave our wives behind: let us take them back with us to our city. So they crossed the Jordan and came to Jerusalem. And Jeremiah stood up, and Baruch, and Abimelech, and said, No one with a Babylonian partner shall enter this city.)—being especially significant in this respect. So, according to Delling (­op.cit.­), the Paraleipomena­ is a book for edification, stressing the importance for Jews of the Holy City, the Temple, and the regular life of praise and prayer; and it is to be dated at any time in the first third of the 2nd century AD. See also on this Kohler (“The Pre-Talmudic Haggadad, I. B. The Second Baruch or rather the Jeremiah Apocalypse” in Jewish Quarterly Review­ V, April, 1893, 407-419); Ginzberg (The Legends of the Jews­ IV, Philadelphia, 1913, 318-321); and, op.cit., VI, Philadelphia, 1928, 409-411); and Riessler (­Altjudisches Schrifttum Ausserhalb der Bibel­ II, Heidelberg, 1966, 903-919, 1323).

 

     If we take this last view we shall, of course, have to explain the Christian elements in the book as later additions. Now, there is no difficulty in explaining ­Paraleipomena­ 9:10-32 in this manner (as does Delling)—(And afterwards they made preparations to bury him. And lo, a voice came, saying, bury not a man who is still alive, because his soul is coming back into his body again. And when they heard the voice they did not bury him, but remained round his body for three days discussing, but not knowing, when he would rise up. And after three days his soul came back into his body, and he raised his voice in the middle of them all and said, Glorify God, glorify God, all of you, and also the Son of God who awakens us out of sleep, Jesus Christ, the Light of all the ages, the unquenchable Lamp, the Life of faith. After four hundred and seventy-seven years from now, he will come to earth; and the Tree of Life, which was planted in the middle of Paradise will make all the trees that are barren bear fruit, and they will grow and sprout.\fn{So the 11th and 15th century Greek long versions. The Ethiopic adds: And their fruit will dwell with the angels.} And as for those that have sprouted and boast and say, We have thrust out our topmost branches to the sky—the Tree that is firmly rooted will make them wither, tall though they are, and will bend their branches to the earth. And it will make scarlet white like wool. Snow will be turned black; and sweet water will become salt,\fn{The Ethiopic adds: and salt water will become sweet.} in the great light of the gladness of God. And he will bless the islands, so that they bear fruit by the word of the mouth of his Christ. For he will come and go out and choose for himself twelve apostles to preach the gospel among the Gentiles (I have seen him adorned by his Father and coming into the world on the Mount of Olives); and he will feed the hungry souls. While Jeremiah was saying this about the coming of the Son of God into the world, the people became incensed and said, These are the very same words that were spoken by Isaiah, the son of Amoz, when he said, I beheld God and the Son of God. Come then: let us kill him, but not in the same way as we killed Isaiah: let us rather stone him to death. And Baruch and Abimelech were much distressed by this madness, especially because they were anxious for a full account of the mysteries that he had seen. And Jeremiah said to them, Make no move, and do not weep, for they will not kill me until I have told you everything that I saw. And he said to them, Bring me a stone. And he set it up and said, Light of the ages, make this stone become like me. And the stone assumed the likeness of Jeremiah. And they stoned the stone, thinking that it was Jeremiah. And meanwhile he delivered all the mysteries he had seen to Baruch and Abimelech. Then, with the firm intention of bringing his stewardship to an end, he went and stood in the middle of the earth. And the stone shouted out, saying, You foolish Israelites, why are you stoning me, under the impression that I am Jeremiah? Lo, Jeremiah is standing in the middle of you. And when they saw him, they bore down upon him at once with many stones. And his stewardship was fulfilled. And Baruch and Abimelech came and buried him; and they took the stone and set it up as a memorial to him, and inscribed these words upon it, This is the stone that came to the aid of Jeremiah. \fn{This is the end of the work for all the witnesses, except the 11th and 15th century Greek long versions, which add: And the rest of the words of Jeremiah, and all his might, behold, are they not written in the ­Epistle of Baruch­?})—and it may well have been added as a suitable finish in order to Christianize an otherwise purely Jewish work.

 

     But: is the ­Paraleipomena of Jeremiah­ (apart from 9:10-32) purely Jewish? There are at least five other important verbal or conceptual parallels (underscored) with the ­Received New Testament­ in the book:

 

1. ­Paraleipomena­ 5:34b and ­Galatians­ 4:26—(And Abimelech picked out some of the figs, and gave them to the old man, and said to him, God will light your way to the city of Jerusalem­ which is ­above­. ... But the Jerusalem above­ is free; and she is our mother.);

 

2. ­Paraleipomena­ 6:3a and ­II Corinthians­ 5:1—(Prepare yourself, my heart, and make merry, and rejoice while you are in your ­tent­—that is, in your house of flesh; for your sorrow has been turned into joy. ... For we know that if the earthly ­tent­ we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.);

 

3. ­Paraleipomena­ 9:12 and ­II Corinthians­ 5:4—(And when they heard the voice they did not bury him, but remained round his ­tent­ for three days discussing, but not knowing, when he would rise up. ... for while we are still in this ­tent­, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.)

 

4. ­Paraleipomena­ 7:32b and ­Acts­ 15:19-20—(And he remained there teaching them to keep themselves from the pollutions­ of the ­Gentiles­ of Babylon. ... Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles­ who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the ­pollutions­ of idols and from unchastity and from what is strangled\fn{Other early authorities omit: and from what is strangled.} and from blood.)

 

5. ­Paraleipomena­ 9:3 and ­John­ 1:9—(And he prayed, saying, Holy, holy, holy, the incense of the living trees, the true Light­ which ­lighteth­ me till I am taken up to thee, ... The ­true light­ that ­enlightens­ every man was coming into the world.)

 

     Are these examples to be explained as genuine reminiscences of Christian writings on the part of a Christian author? Or are they Christian intrusions into a Jewish document? Or are they perhaps mere verbal coincidences?

 

     There are also a dozen or so verbal or conceptual parallels (underscored) with the ­Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch­, of which the following four are perhaps the most striking:

 

1. ­Paraleipomena­ 1:1-2 and ­Syriac Baruch­ 2:1-2—(It came to pass, when the Israelites were taken captive by the king of the Chaldaeans, God spoke to Jeremiah saying, Jeremiah, my chosen one, get up and ­leave this city­, you and Baruch, for I am about to destroy it because of the many sins of those who live in it. for your prayers are ­like a solid pillar­ in the middle of it, and like a wall of adamant­ around it.) ... (I have told you this so that you may tell Jeremiah, and all those that are like you, to ­leave this city­. For your deeds are ­like a solid pillar­ to this city, and your prayers ­like an impregnable wall­.);

 

2. ­Paraleipomena­ 3:7-8 and ­Syriac Baruch­ 6:7-10—(What should we do with the sacred things in thy temple and the vessels used in thy service? What wouldest thou have us do with them? And the Lord said to him, Take them and consign them to the earth,\fn{So the 11th and 15th century manuscripts of the Greek long version. The 10th century Greek long version and the Ethiopic add: and to the altar.} saying, Listen, O earth, to the voice of him who created you in the abundance of the waters, who sealed you with seven seals in seven periods of time, and who will afterwards receive your beauty: guard the vessels of the service till the coming of the Beloved One.) ... (And I saw him descend into the Holy of Holies, and take from it the veil, and the holy ephod, and its cover, and the two tablets, and the holy vestments of the priests, and the altar of incense, and the forty-eight previous stones with which the priest was adorned, and all the vessels of the tabernacle. And he cried to the earth in a loud voice, Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the mighty God, and receive what I commit to you. And guard them until the last times, so that, when you are ordered, you may restore them, and strangers may not get possession of them. For the time has come when Jerusalem also will be delivered for a time, until it is said that it shall be restored again for ever. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up.);

 

3. ­Paraleipomena­ 4:3-4 and ­Syriac Baruch­ 10:18—(And Jeremiah took the keys of the temple, and went outside the city and ­threw them up­ in the face of the sun, saying, I tell you, sun, ­take the keys of­ God’s temple, and ­guard­ them until the day when the Lord tells you what to do with them; because we have proved unworthy guardians of them and faithless ­stewards­.) ... (And you, priests, ­take the keys of­ the sanctuary, and ­throw them up­ to the heaven above, and give them to the Lord and say, ­Guard­ thy house thyself, for we have been found false stewards­.);—and

 

4. ­Paraleipomena­ 7:8-12 and ­Syriac Baruch­ 77:19-26—(And Baruch picked up the letter, and fifteen figs from Abimelech’s basket, and tied them round the ­eagle’s­ neck. And he said to him, I tell you, ­king of birds, go­ in peace, and carry my message safely. Do not be like the ­raven­, which Noah sent out, and which never returned to him in the ark again; but be like the ­dove­, which on the third occasion brought back a message to that good man. So do you too take this message of encouragement to Jeremiah and those that are with him, and fare you well: take ­this letter­ to the chosen people of God. Even if all the birds of Heaven gather round you, and all the enemies of truth set themselves in array against you, fight them; and may the Lord give you strength. ­Fly straight­ as an arrow, without deviating ­either to right or to left­, in the strength of God.) ... (And I wrote two letters: one I sent by an ­eagle­ to the nine and a half tribes; and the other I sent to those that were in Babylon by the hands of three men. And I called the ­eagle­ and said to it, The Most High created you to be ­king of­ all the ­birds. Go­ now: stop nowhere on your journey: neither enter a nest, nor settle on any tree, till you have crossed the broad waters of the river Euphrates, and come to the people that dwell there, and laid ­this letter­ at their feet. Remember how, at the time of the flood, a ­dove­ brought Noah back the fruit of an olive, when he had sent it out from the ark. Ravens­, too, waited on Elijah, and brought him food, as they had been commanded. Solomon also, when he was a king, whenever he wanted to send a message or find out anything, would give instructions to a bird, and it obeyed his instructions. And now, never mind how tired you are: do not stray from your course, ­either to­ the right or left­, but ­fly straight­ there; and carry out the instructions of the Mighty One, as I have explained them to you.)

 

     Did the author of the ­Paraleipomena­ know and use the ­Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch­? Or did the Author of the Syriac Baruch­ know and use the ­Paraleipomena­? Or did both authors know and use a common source?

 

     There are also three conceptual parallels from other books:

 

1. ­Paraleipomena­ 3:7-8 and ­II Maccabees­ 2:4-5—(What should we do with the sacred things in thy temple and the vessels used in thy service? What wouldst thou have us do with them? And the Lord said to him, Take them and consign them to the earth, saying, Listen, O earth, to the voice of him who created you in the abundance of the waters, who sealed you with seven seals in seven periods of time, and who will afterwards receive your beauty: guard the vessels of the service till the coming of the Beloved One.) ... (Further, this document records that, prompted by a divine message, the prophet gave orders that the Tent of Meeting and the ark should go with him. Then he went away to the mountain from the top of which Moses saw God’s promised land. When he reached the mountain, Jeremiah found a cave-dwelling; he carried the tent, the air, and the incense-altar into it, then blocked up the entrance.);

 

2. ­Paraleipomena­ 5:1-2 and ­Greek Apocalypse of Baruch­ 1:2—(Now Abimelech had gone to fetch the figs and was bringing them back in the midday heat; and he came upon a tree, and sat down in its shade to rest awhile. And he leaned his head on the fig-basket and fell asleep; and he slept soundly for sixty-six years without waking up. And afterwards, when he did wake up, he said, It is a pity I did not sleep a little bit more: I feel very drowsy, because I have not had enough sleep.) ... (A revelation of Baruch, who was beside the river Gel weeping over the captivity of Jerusalem, when also Abimelech was preserved by the hand of God at Agrippa’s farm.); and

 

3. ­Paraleipomena­ 9:20 and ­Ascension of Isaiah­ 3:8-9—(These are the very same words that were spoken by Isaiah, the son of Amoz, when he said, I beheld God and the Son of God.) ... (And Isaiah himself has said, I see more than the prophet Moses. For Moses said, No man can see God and live; but Isaiah has said, I have seen God, and behold I am still alive!).

 

     Boagert (­op.cit.­) and Charles (­The Apocalypse of Baruch­, London, 1896, xviii) explained the parallels with the Syriac Baruch­ by concluding that the author of the ­Paraleipomena­ knew the work and used it. Nickelsburg (“Narrative Traditions in the Paralipomena of Jeremiah and II Baruch” in ­Catholic Bible Quarterly­ XXXV, 1973, 60-68) thought that both writers were dependent upon a common source. [Indeed, Nickelsburg pointed out in this connection that the author of ­II Maccabees­ claimed (­II Maccabees­ 2:4—Further, this document records that, prompted by a Divine message, the prophet gave orders that the Tent of Meeting and the Ark should go with him.) to be dependent for his story of Jeremiah and the Temple furnishings on an extant written source; so that presumably there were written Jeremiah/Baruch traditions in circulation which predated the composition of both the Syriac work and the Paraleipomena­.] A fourth hypothesis, however, has been proposed: that the ­Syraic Baruch­ could have used an earlier form of the Paraleipomena­; and the ­Paraleipomena­ as we know it at present could ­in its turn­ have used the ­Syraic Baruch­. But the entire question is so complicated that it seems difficult to give preference to any one of these theories, and the most plausible viewpoint might be that the author of the Syriac Baruch­ drew on a source which was also used by the author of the ­Paraleipomena.­

 

     The ­Paraleipomena of Jeremiah­ was probably first drawn up in Hebrew, and very probably by a Jew from Jerusalem. Whoever he was, he was well acquainted with the topography of this city, and his Judaism is notably manifest in the prohibition of marriages to foreign women (8:5-8). However, it is far from easy to determine the date of his composition. The one proposed by Harris (­op.cit.­) is, perhaps, too precise. It is, moreover, one of the arguments for his hypothesis on the composition: namely that, after Hadrian’s edict expelling the Jews from Jerusalem (132AD), a Jewish-Christian would have wanted to make the banned Jews elude the edict by becoming Christians. Yet Harris’ explanation should not be rejected entirely: it would seem that the Paraleipomena­ was written during the period of that generation which lived in the expectation of a speedy reconstruction of the Temple, and which could reasonably hope that the second exile would not outlast the first, because the span of 66 years was approaching.

 

     The young Jewish-Christian communities which used the great traditions of their predecessors as a basis for their own religious literature did not neglect the opportunity to appropriate a work that glorified the prophet Jeremiah. The Christian author of its conclusion (9:11-32) had no need whatever to modify the Paraleipomena­. It sufficed for him to resuscitate Jeremiah three days after his death (9:13) in order to make him glorify the Son of God who awakens us, Jesus Christ, and to announce his return on the Mount of Olives. Thus he added to the portrait of Jeremiah a vital element: that as the herald of the Messiah, whose suffering and death he prefigured by the persecutions and death he himself underwent (9:19-32).

 

[JON, 213-217; AOT, 813-833]

 

53. The Life of Jeremiah, after Torrey

 

     Sparis (­The Apocryphal Old Testament­, Oxford, 1984, 813-833) mentions an apocryphal ­Life of Jeremiah­ discovered by C. C. Torrey (“The Lives of the Prophets” in ­Journal of Biblical Literature Monograph Series­ I, Philadelphia, 1946, 22, 36), and draws attention to one conceptual parallel in it with ­Paraleipomena of Jeremiah­ 5:1-2—(Now Abimelech had gone to fetch the figs and was bringing them back in the midday heat; and he came upon a tree, and sat down in its shade to rest awhile. And he leaned his head on the fig-basket and fell asleep; and he slept soundly for sixty-six years without waking up. And afterwards, when he did wake up, he said, it is a pity I did not sleep a little bit more: I feel very drowsy, because I have not had enough sleep.)—and ­Greek Apocalypse of Baruch­ 1:2—(A revelation of Baruch, who was beside the river Gel weeping over the captivity of Jerusalem, when also Abimelech was preserved by the hand of God at Agrippa’s farm.).

 

[AOT, 813-833]

 

54. The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch

 

     The ­Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch­ (also called ­II Baruch­; the Syriac Baruch­) is a work professing to have been written by Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary, whose purpose is to encourage Jews in a new distress, whether in Palestine or scattered among the Gentiles, to stand fast and remain hopeful. In it Baruch beholds the fall of Jerusalem, which was announced to him beforehand; and then, weeping in the ruins of Jerusalem, he is informed in visions and auditory experiences about the future and about the end of the world.

 

     For reasons at which we can but surmise, ­II Baruch­ seems to have been especially popular in the Syriac-speaking churches of the East and on occasion to have been included in the Syriac Bible—Schmithals (­The Apocalyptic Movement: Introduction and Interpretation­, Nashville, 1975, 198-199) would restrict this to the Bible of the Syrian Monophysites. Normally, however, only chapters 78-87 were included in the Bible; and these chapters appeared as an independent work, with the title “­Letter of Baruch­,” or something similar, and with no hint that they were an extract from another work. It thus came about that, although the “letter” (the literary style adopted by the author of chapters 78-87: the text appears in the guise of a letter of Baruch to the nine and one half tribes involved in the Babylonian Exile) was well known to the modern world, the book as a whole was lost to modern knowledge. Today, the entire work is known to exist (in whole or in part) in three languages:

 

1. SYRIAC. A single ­complete­ text in this language exists, from a 6th [7th; so Charlesworth (­The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha I: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments­, New York, 1983)] century manuscript in the Ambrosian Library, Milan, first printed by Ceriani (­Monumenta Sacra et Profana­ V.2, Milan, 1871). There are also four small Syriac excerpts known from three Jacobite lectionaries (dated 1255, 1256 and 1423AD). The heading of the Syriac text states that the document has been translated from Greek; and this is the opinion of many scholars. There are in existence also some 36 different texts of chapters 78-87—all of them apparently to be found in manuscripts of the ­Peshitta­ (from the early 5th century, the official text of the Bible in Syriac-speaking Christian lands); and they are listed in ­List of Old Testament Peshitta Manuscripts (Preliminary Issue)­, Peshitta Institute, Leiden, 1961, 99.

 

2. GREEK. Two Greek fragments (12:1-13:2 and 13:11-14:3) also exist from a codex of the 4th or 5th century, and were printed by Grenfell and Hunt (­The Oxyrhynchus Papyri­ III, London, 1903, 3-7). Greek was universally thought to have been the original language of this work (though the extant Greek is different from the Syriac and seems to be a free rendering). This was first questioned by Charles (apparently in “The Apocalypse of Baruch,” one of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge’s ­Translations of Early Documents­, London, 1918); but Boagert (“L’Apocalypse Syriaque de Baruch, Introduction, Traduction du Syriaque et Commentaire” in ­Sources Chretiennes­ CXLIV-CXLV, Paris, 1969) has maintained that none of the suggested instances of mistranslation (by the supposed Greek translator of Charles’ Hebrew original) were at all compelling; that the hypothesis of an original Greek work, addressed in all probability to the Jews of the Diaspora, is equally plausible; that there is no reason to doubt the truth of the assertion of the title of the book (which in the manuscript states that the Syriac was translated from the Greek), for all the internal evidence is in favor of it; and that the discovery at Oxyrhynchus of the aforementioned Greek fragments proves the existence at one time of at least a Greek version (if not an original). Other scholars, however, believe that though most of the Greek version has been lost, the Greek version itself appears to have been translated from Hebrew.

 

3. ARABIC. There is an Arabic version from Mt. Sinai, which is especially interesting because it is clearly not a direct translation of the Syriac text printed by Ceriani (though it is a translation of some Syriac version). The translation is rather free and thoroughly adapted to Muslim ideas. It was commented on by van Koningsveld (“An Arabic manuscript of the Apocalypse of Baruch” in ­Journal for the Study of Judaism­ VI, 1975, 205-207). As of 1983 (the date of the source in which this information appears) it had not yet been published.

 

4. ARAMAIC. Russell (­The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic­, Philadelphia, 1964, 38, 64-65) is of the opinion that the ­Syriac Baruch­ was originally written in Aramaic. No trace of such a work has survived; but see below.

 

5. HEBREW. Charles (­op.cit.­) questioned the hitherto universal assumption that the original language of the book was Greek, and argued for a Hebrew original. Schmithals (­op.cit.­) has also suggested that the original language of this apocalypse may very well have been Hebrew or Aramaic, even though the Syriac translation goes back to a Greek version; for an original Hebrew version for this apocalypse should be accepted in theory, because of the many parallels between ­II Baruch­ and other Jewish writings composed in Hebrew or Aramaic; and also because in some cases the Syriac text is intelligible only after translating it into Hebrew. [Indeed, a translation of the Syriac text into Hebrew restores a play on words apparently contained in the original, on which see Zimmermann (“Textual Observations on the Apocalypse of Baruch” in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XL, 1939, 151-156; and “Translation and Mistranslation in the Apocalypse of Baruch” in ­Studies and Essays in Honor of Abraham A. Newman­, ed. By Ben-Horin, ­et.al.­, Leiden, 1962, 580-587)].

 

     There is a single Patristic witness. ­II Baruch­ 61:7 is quoted at Letter of Barnabas­ 11:9; and for most scholars, that work was composed c.130AD.

 

     Several passages or inter-documentary associations help determine the probable date of ­II Baruch­.

 

1. ­II Baruch­ 32:2-4 states that after a short time the building of Zion will be shaken in order that it will be rebuilt. But that building will not remain because it will again be uprooted; and that finally a new Temple will appear that will last forever. In this passage two destructions are presupposed, indicating that the author lived after the destruction of the second Temple in 70AD.

 

2. ­II Baruch­ 67:1 speaks about the disaster that befalls Zion now; and in 68:5, the author writes about the restoration of the Temple. If he assumes the view of Baruch, the author speaks about the destruction of the Temple in 587BC and the building of the second Temple without mentioning its destruction. In that case the author used a source that must be dated before 70AD. If, however, he is referring to the restoration of the Temple which probably took place in 130AD during the time of Hadrian, then the last black waters (mentioned in chapters 69 and 70) might refer to the time of Bar Kokhba.\fn{d.135, the leader of the Jewish armed forces in their (abortive) war against the Roman Empire (132-135).} On this see Bientenhard (“Die Freiheitskriege der Juden unter den Kaisern Trajan und Hadrian und der Messianische Tempelbau” in Judaica­ IV, 1948, 164-166).

 

3. In language and ideas, ­Syriac Baruch­ bears a striking resemblance to ­II Esdras­; and the closeness of their literary connection—like ­II Esdras­, ­Syriac Baruch­ is also divided into seven parts; and the ­Syriac Baruch­ is also inferior to ­II Esdras­ in terms of depth of religious feeling and in passion of theological thought (indicating a need on the part of the author of the former to borrow from the richer storehouse of the latter: H)—even includes the point of verbal imitation. Some students of the matter have presumed that ­II Baruch­ has the same author as ­II Esdras­; though even if this thesis cannot be maintained, most scholars believe that ­II Baruch­ is dependent upon ­II Esdras­. There is perhaps no real need to attempt a solution to this problem, since we cannot rule out the possibility that the connections between the two books are based on the use of a common tradition; or on the work of a “school;” so that it is not strictly necessary to assume a direct dependence at all. If, however, the author of ­II Esdras­ used the ­Syriac Baruch­, the ­Syriac Baruch­ would have to have been written shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD (for there is no doubt that the author of ­Syriac Baruch­, like the author of ­II Esdras­ is also writing under the impact of the experience of the destruction of Jerusalem—in the case of ­II Baruch­, in 70AD). If, as most scholars suppose, the ­Syriac Baruch­ is dependent upon ­II Esdras­, then the first third of the 2nd century of the Christian Era comes into consideration as the time of the writing of ­II Baruch­.

 

     The textual unity of ­II Baruch­ was first denied by Kabisch (“Die Quellen der Apokalypse Baruchs” in Jahrbucher für Protestantische Theologie­ XVIII, 1892, 66ff); and he was followed by Charles (­The Apocaypse of Baruch­, 1896, liiiff); Oesterley (in Charles’ Apocalypse of Baruch­, 1918, x); and Frey (in Pirot’s ­Supplement­ I, 1928, col. 423). Charles attempted to dissect ­II Baruch­ into several sources of varying dates and authorship. He identified three fragmentary apocalypses, all of them written before 70AD, and four other sections, all of them written after 70AD. This dissection was rejected by several of the scholars, including Clemen (in ­Theologische Studien und Kritiken­ LXXI, 1898, 227ff); Lagrange (in ­Revue Biblique­ XIV, New Series II, 1905, 501ff); Burkitt (­Jewish and Christian Apocalypses­, 1914, 41); James (in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XVI, 1915, 405), and Violet (­Die Apokalypsen des Esra und des Baruch­, 1924, lxxiii-lxxiv). Violet believed that the disagreements within the book are due to the fact that the author used various oral or written sources in the preparation of his work; but that it is essentially the compilation of a single hand. James says: I find it impossible to accept the scheme of the dissection of Baruch as set forth by Dr. Charles. In this case, as in that of Esdras, the inability to allow for slight inconsistencies consequent upon the weaving together of disparate strands of apocalyptic tradition has been the snare of over-ingenious critics. Burkitt noted: So far as the ­Apocalypse of Baruch­ is concerned, I really do not see why it should be regarded as composite. Boagert (­op.cit.­) was impressed by the evidence of an underlying plan in the book, and in consequence was concerned to stress its literary unity. Russell (­op.cit.­) also noted that despite Charles’ argument, there seems to be less reason even than in the case of ­II Esdras­ to break the book up in this way. When allowance is made for the inevitable inconsistency of apocalyptic and its free use of traditional material, in literary or oral form, there seems little reason to doubt the unity of this work, whose homogeneity of treatment and style indicates a single author. Sparis (The Apocryphal Old Testament­, Oxford, 1984, 835-895) noted that inconsistencies there certainly are: it is also possible that some of them may be accounted for by the use of different sources, some belonging to the years before 70AD and some after; but that these sources can be identified with the degree of precision Charles claimed, and the history of the composition of the book reconstructed in such detail,—Charles went on to say that these fragments were assembled, and in some respects radically altered, by an editor who worked c.100AD—is unlikely.

 

     The Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch­ was probably written in Palestine.

 

1. The original language, if Hebrew, indicates this region.

 

2. The work shows a close acquaintance with Jewish rabbinical literature.

 

3. The author takes his stand with the inhabitants of Palestine, who, especially in chapters 78-87, try to exhort and encourage the Jews of the Diaspora. Consequently, Rosenthal (­Vier Apokryphische Bucher aus der Zeit und Schule Akiba­, Leipzig, 1885, 72-103) believed he saw the author as a member of the circle gathered around Rabbi Akiba at Jamnia (c.100AD). With this Violet (“Die Apokalypsen des Esra und des Baruch in Deutscher Gestalt” in Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der Ersten Drei Jahrhunderte­ XXXII, Leipzig, 1924, lvi-xcvi, 203-336) agreed. Boagert (­op.cit.­) particularized even further, and suggested as a possibility the name of rabbi Joshua ben Hananiah (c.40-125AD).

 

     The author of ­II Baruch­ seems, therefore, to be unmistakably a Jew, living in the difficult times following the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD. It has been suggested that the book in the form in which we have it, however, was the work of a Christian; and though this judgment has not won general acceptance, it remains a fact that the book contains a wealth of verbal or conceptual parallels (115 of them by count) taken from 18 of the 27 books of the ­Received New Testament­; and that the parallels are especially striking with regard to the Received Pauline letters (37 in all—­Hebrews­ and ­James­ are excluded from the count) especially Romans­, ­I Corinthians­ and ­II Corinthians­ (29 of the 37):

 

Parallels Between the Received New Testament and the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch

 

Chapter 3 ­Philippians­ 1:23; ­Romans­ 9:19.

Chapter 4 Mark­ 14:58; ­II Corinthians­ 12:4; ­Revelation­ 2:7.

Chapter 6 Acts­ 8:38.

Chapter 10 ­Revelation­ 1:1, 4:1; ­Matthew­ 24:19; 26:24; ­Luke­ 23:29.

Chapter 13 Mark­ 6:11, 13:9; ­Romans­ 11:29; ­Hebrews­ 12:4-11.

Chapter 14 Romans­ 3:1; ­Matthew­ 6:19-20; ­Hebrews­ 11:3.

Chapter 15 Romans­ 4:15, 8:18; ­II Corinthians­ 4:17; ­I Corinthians­ 9:25; ­II Timothy­ 4:8; ­James­ 1:12; ­I Peter­ 5:4; ­Revelation­ 2:10.

Chapter 17 Romans­ 5:12; ­I Corinthians­ 15:21.

Chapter 18 John­ 1:9, 3:19, 5:35.

Chapter 19 Mark­ 13:20.

Chapter 21 Romans­ 48:17, ­Revelation­ 1:8, ­I Corinthians­ 15:19, II Peter­ 3:9.

Chapter 22 Acts­ 7:57; ­Matthew­ 3:16, 17:5; ­Revelation­ 4:1.

Chapter 23 Romans­ 11:25; ­Revelation­ 6:1, 4:1; ­Luke­ 21:28; ­I Peter­ 4:7; ­James­ 5:3.

Chapter 24 Revelation­ 20:12; ­Romans­ 9:22.

Chapter 25 Matthew­ 24:30; ­Mark­ 13:4; ­Luke­ 11:25, 21:7, 21:25-26; ­Revelation­ 12:1-3.

Chapter 27 Matthew­ 24:7-8; ­Revelation­ 15:1; ­Mark­ 13:8; ­Luke­ 21:11.

Chapter 28 Matthew­ 24:15.

Chapter 29 Revelation­ 2:17.

Chapter 30 I Corinthians­ 15:52.

Chapter 38 Mark­ 10:20; ­Luke­ 18:21.

Chapter 39 John­ 15:21.

Chapter 40 Galatians­ 4:4.

Chapter 44 Luke­ 2:25.

Chapter 48 ­John­ 14:2; ­II Corinthians­ 5:1-2; ­Matthew­ 10:42, 18:6, 18:10, 24:6, 24:11, 24:24; ­Ephesians­ 4: 4-6; ­II Peter­ 3:9; ­Romans­ 2:14-15; ­II Corinthians­ 4:17.

Chapter 49 I Corinthians­ 15:51.

Chapter 51 I Corinthians­ 15:41, 15:51; ­Matthew­ 16:26, 17:2; Philippians­ 3:21; ­Luke­ 20:36.

Chapter 53 Matthew­ 24:17.

Chapter 54 Ephesians­ 2:14; ­Luke­ 1:37, 1:42, 11:27; ­Romans­ 1:17, 1:20-21, 5:12; ­Hebrews­ 10:38.

Chapter 59 Hebrews­ 8:5.

Chapter 67 Romans­ 10:5; ­Philippians­ 3:6.

Chapter 70 Acts­ 3:13, 3:26, 4:27.

Chapter 73 I Corinthians­ 15:24-25, ­Hebrews­ 4:3; ­Revelation­ 21:4.

Chapter 76 Matthew­ 4:8.

Chapter 78 Romans­ 1:7; ­I Corinthians­ 1:3; ­II Corinthians­ 1:2.

Chapter 81 Hebrews­ 13:22.

Chapter 83 I Corinthians­ 4:5, 14:25; ­Hebrews­ 4:12.

Chapter 85 Matthew­ 7:13, 13:17.

Chapter 86 Colossians­ 4:16; ­Romans­ 1:9.

 

     The following dates have been suggested as to the time of its original composition of the Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch

 

1. Shortly after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD [ODC,138].

2. Assembled and radically altered c.100AD [Charles (­op.cit.­, 1913)].

3. C.115AD [Violet (­op.cit.­)].

4. 70AD, immediately after the ­Apocalypse of Salathiel­ [Torrey (­The Apocryphal Literature­, 1953, 126)].

5. Around 90AD [Volz (­Die Eschatologie der Judischen Gemeinde im Neutestamentlichen Zeitalter­, 1934, 40)].

6. Between 50-100AD [Russell (­Between the Testaments­, London, 1960, 86)].

7. After 90AD Russell (­The Method & Message of Jewish Apocalyptic­, Philadelphia, 1964, 38, 64-65)].

8. 218AD in its present form, but resting on an older Jewish work written between 75-100AD [Le Hir (Etudes Biblique­ I, 1896, 173ff)].

9. 100-120AD [Charlesworth (The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha I: Apocalyptic Literature & Testaments­, New York, 1983, 615-652)].

 

[ODC ,138, 714; AOT, 835-895; RUS, 38, 64-65; ROW, 119-123; BET, 86; SCH, 198-199; JHC, 615-652; ECW, 190]

 

55. The Greek Apocalypse of Baruch

 

     The ­Greek Apocalypse of Baruch­, often referred to as ­III Baruch­, or as the ­Greek Baruch­, tells of Baruch’s being caught up through five heavens, in which an angel shows him the mysteries of God—which mysteries do not have to do with apocalyptic insights with respect to history, but with information about the destiny hereafter of both sinners and the righteous. The book thus serves as a compendium of ethical exhortation, as well as a book of explanations concerning cosmic processes (which likewise are not set in an apocalyptic context).

 

     The ­Greek Baruch­ is known to exist in at least two languages:

 

1. SLAVONIC. This apocalypse first became known to the modern world in its Slavonic version. Novakovic (“Otkrivenje Varuhovo” in ­Starine­ XVIII, Zagreb, 1886, 302-309) published the text of a Slavonic version preserved in a 15th century Serbian manuscript; it was translated into English by Morfill (“The Apocalypse of Baruch: Translated from the Slavonic” in Apocrypha Anecdota: Texts and Studies­ V.i, Cambridge, 1897, 95-102). [The work would appear to be quite incomplete, as it mentions only two (of the apocalyptic seven) heavens.] This was followed by Tikhonravov (“Apokrificheskie Skazaniya” in ­Sbornik Otdeleniya Russkogo Yazka i Slovesnosti Imperatorskoi Akademii Nauk­ LVIII.4, St. Petersburg, 1894, 48-54), who found a second Slavonic version in a Moscow manuscript, also of the 15th century. Subsequently, Sokolov (“Apokrificheskoe Otkrovenie Varukha­Drevnosti: Trudy Slavyanskoi Komissi Imperatorskogo Moskovskogo Arkheologischeskogo Obshchestva­ IV.1, Moscow, 1907, 201-258) and Ivanov (­Bogomilski Knigi i Legendi­, Sofia, 1925, 193-200) discovered other manuscripts of both versions; and there are now a total of 12, which can be divided into two major families (A and B), with the more original readings having been preserved in A (the best manuscripts of which date from the 13th-15th centuries). Family B contains five major variants from A—2:6 is omitted; an interpolation occurs at 3:5; 3:8 is revised and interpolated; 4:1-2a is omitted; and 4:5b is revised;—this clearly indicates the nature of the redaction upon which the manuscripts representing B are dependent. The complications arising from these discoveries, both in the relationship of the two Slavonic versions to each other and their joint relationship to the Greek texts (below) have not been resolved; but it is thought by some that (a) the Slavonic version ­as such­ is a translation from a now lost Greek original; (b) that the divergence of the textual tradition of present Greek manuscripts and the Greek basis of the present Slavonic tradition occurred not later than the 10th century, approximately 500 years before the earliest extant Greek manuscripts; and (c) that in at least the following three important differences between the Greek and Slavonic traditions, a strong argument for the priority of the Slavonic tradition as more faithful to the original exists: (i) explicit ­Received New Testament­ citations in the Greek (at 4:15, 5:32, 15:4 and 16:2), and the phrase through Jesus Christ Emmanuel at 4:15, are all lacking in the Slavonic; (ii) the story of the planting of the garden by angels in the Slavonic, lacking in the Greek, is worthy of consideration as original; and (iii) the structure and content of chapter 4 in the Slavonic may be more original than that in the Greek.

 

     It is certain that there was a widespread appreciation of the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch­ in the Slavonic areas. Lavrov (in ­Sbornik Otd. Russk. Jaz. i Slov.­ LXVII, 1899, 149-151) says that it gave rise to a Bulgarian folktale known from the 18th century; and Turdeanu (­Revue des Etudes Slaves­ XLVIII, 1969, 36-38, 44-48) cites certain Russian manuscripts of the 15th-17th centuries in which there are moral discourses against the abuse of wine which make use of chapters 4-5 of ­III Baruch­ to make their point.

 

2. GREEK. Two manuscripts of the Greek version have been discovered. The credit for this in modern times belongs to Dom Cuthbert Butler, who found the first manuscript in 1896 among a collection of apocryphal and ecclesiastical items in a late 15th (ODC says 16th) century paper manuscript in the British Museum. It is fuller than the Slavonic, but still seems to be lacking, as it mentions only five heavens. It was published by James (“The Apocalypse of Baruch” in ­Apocrypha Anecdota II: Texts and Studies­ V.i, Cambridge, 1897, li-lxxi and 83-94) and also by Charles (­Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament­ II, 1913, 527-541). Seventy years later, Picard (“Apocalypsis Baruchi Graece” in ­Pseudepigrapha Veteris Testamenti Graece­ II, Leiden, 1967, 61-96) discovered a second Greek text, of the 15th century, from the Monastery of the Hagia at Andros. Unfortunately, it is so closely allied to the Butler text that it is of little help in establishing a critical recension. Picard did, however, devote several pages to a discussion of the problems between the Greek and Slavonic versions in the introduction to his book.

 

3. HEBREW. A few linguistic features of the Greek could be explained by supposing a Semitic base (Hebrew or Aramaic); but they are not unknown in later Koine Greek usage. There is no convincing argument that the Greek is a translation from another language.

 

4. LATIN. It is possible that there was at one time a Latin version as well as the Slavonic and the Greek, and that it was in circulation at least in the north-western area of Spain in the 7th century AD. But there is only indirect evidence for this. There are no surviving Latin texts or fragments of text. On this see James (“Notes on Apocrypha VI: Traces of the Greek Apocalypse of Baruch in Other Writings” in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XVI, 1915, 413).

 

     Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­De Principiis­ II.3:6) suggests by the following reference that he knew of this work:—(Finally they appeal to the book of the prophet Baruch to bear witness to this assertion, because in it there are very clear indications of the seven worlds or heavens.). He is the only Patristic source that has been found who seems to have known of it.

 

     The book, particularly in its Greek version, contains a number of passages which many believe to be of Christian ­provenance­:

 

1. The passage concerning the vine in chapter 4 is almost universally admitted to be Christian. Hughes (in his introduction to Charles’ ­Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament­ II, 1913, 527-541) says this stretched from 4:9 to 4:15, and calls it an interpolation; but it has been suggested that this is true only of the last two sentences:—(And I, Baruch, said, Since then the vine that has been the cause of so much evil, and is under the judgment of the curse of God, and brought about the destruction of the first created man, how is it that it is now so useful? And the angel said, A good question. When God brought the flood upon the earth, and destroyed all mankind and four hundred and nine thousand giants, and the waters rose fifteen cubits above the highest mountains, then the water entered Paradise and destroyed every flower there; but it dislodged the vine from its place inside Paradise altogether and thrust it out. And when the earth appeared out of the water, and Noah came out of the ark, he began to plant some of the plants he found. And he found a shoot of the vine and picked it up and asked himself, What is it? And I came and told him about it. And he said, Shall I plant it, or what shall I do? If Adam was destroyed because of it, I have no desire to incur God’s anger through it. And so saying he prayed that God would reveal to him what to do about it. He prayed earnestly and wept for forty days; and when he had finished his prayer he said, Lord, I entreat thee to reveal to me what to do about this plant. And God sent his angel Sarasael and said to him, Up, Noah, and plant the shoot, for these are the Lord’s words, Its bitterness shall be changed into sweetness, and its curse shall become a blessing, and what is produced from it shall become the blood of God. And as it was through it that the human race was consumed, so again through Jesus Christ, the Emmanuel, will they be restored in him and gain entry into Paradise.).

 

2-3. At ­III Baruch­ 13:4—(For we have never seen them devote themselves in the church either to their spiritual fathers or to any one good thing.)—the phrases in the church and their spiritual fathers sound Christian enough; and ­III Baruch­ 16:4—(For they did not heed my voice, neither did they observe my commandments nor do them; but they despised my commandments and my churches, and insulted the priests who proclaimed my words to them.)—contains the phrase despised my commandments and my assemblies, and insulted the priests who proclaimed my words to them, which may also be Christian.

 

4-6. Similarly, it is alleged that the catalogues of vice at ­III Baruch­ 4:17—(Those who drink to excess are led astray in all sorts of ways: brother has no pity for brother, nor father for son, nor children for parents: from drinking wine come all evils—murders, adulteries, fornications, perjuries, thefts, and such like; and nothing good is achieved by it.)—­III Baruch­ 8:5—(And I, Baruch, said, And why, my lord, are its rays defiled on earth? And the angel said to me, Because it beholds the lawlessness and unrighteousness of men—their fornications, adulteries, thefts, extortions, idolatries, carousals, murders, quarrels, jealousies, slanders, wranglings, gossipings, divinations, and so forth, which are not pleasing to God: that is why it is defiled, and that is why it is renewed.)—and ­III Baruch­ 13:4—(For we have never seen them devoting themselves in the church either to their spiritual fathers or to any one good thing, but where there is murder, there are they in the middle of it, and where there are fornications, adulteries, thefts, slanders, perjuries, envyings, carousals, quarrels, jealousies, wranglings, idolatry, divination, and so forth, there are they doing things like this, and things worse.), may be echoes of such ­Received New Testament­ passages as (respectively) Mark­ 7:21-22—(For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.)—Matthew­ 15:19—(For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.)—and Galatians­ 5:19-21—(Now the works of the flesh are plain: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy,\fn{Other ancient authorities add here: murder.} drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.).

 

7. At ­III Baruch­ 16:3—(And more—afflict them with caterpillar and maggot, and rust and locust, and hail with flashes of lightening and wrath, and smite them with sword and with death, and their children with demons.)—there occurs the rather curious word translated as smite (meaning literally cut in two)—and this word occurs in an almost identical context at ­Matthew­ 24:51 and ­Luke­ 12:46—(and will smite him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. ... the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will smite him, and put him with the unfaithful.)—where it is usually remarked on by the commentators, and not infrequently explained, as a misunderstanding of an Aramaic original on the part of the Greek translator of one of the gospel’s sources. What makes the use of this word at ­III Baruch­ 16:3 even more significant in determining either Jewish or Christian origins for this apocalypse, is the fact that it is to be found there only three verses later.

 

8. ­III Baruch­ 15:4—(Then he said both to those who had brought the full baskets and to those who had brought the baskets that were not full, Go and bless our friends and say to them, So the Lord says, You have been faithful in a few things, he will put you in control of many things: come and share the joy of your Lord.)—there is a very clear parallel with ­Matthew­ 25:21—(His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much; enter into the joy of your master.’). [This is one of the three passages in ­III Baruch­ noted by Hughes (­op.cit.­) as certainly a Christian interpolation.]

 

9-10. It seems also that ­III Baruch­ 8:7—(For, as we said before, unless its wings acted as a screen to the sun’s rays, no living creature would be preserved.)—and ­III Baruch­ 9:7—(And when the first Adam sinned, it was near Sammael when he took the serpent as a garment. And it did not hide itself away; and God was angry with it and punished it, and shortened its days.)—are derived from ­Mark­ 13:20 and/or Matthew­ 24:22—(And if the Lord had not shortened the days, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. ... And if those days had not been shortened, no human beings would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.).

 

11. It is also possible that the whole idea of the three classes of angels, some of whom offer Michael baskets full of flowers, others baskets only partially full, and yet others nothing (also an idea worked out in detail in chapters 12-16 of ­III Baruch­) was inspired from the same gospel source—­Matthew­ 25:14-25—(“For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’)—where one servant offers his master five talents gained by trading, another two, but a third nothing.

 

12. It has also been suggested that verse 2b in the prologue of III Baruch­ (in the Greek version only)—(when also Abimelech was preserved by the hand of God at Agrippa’s farm.)—forms a conceptual parallel with Acts­ 3:10—(and they recognized him as the one who used to sit and ask for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.); and that this is also true

 

13. of ­III Baruch­ 1:8 (in the Slavonic at 2:1), with ­II Thessalonians­ 1:7—(and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels)—

 

14. of ­III Baruch­ 4:1 (in both the Greek and Slavonic) with Revelation­ 15:1 or 15:3—(Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and amazing: seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is ended. ... And they sing the song of Moses, the slave of God and the song of the Lamb: “Great and amazing are your deeds, Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, King of the nations!\fn{Other ancient authorities read: King of the ages.})—

 

15. of ­III Baruch­ 6:2b (in both the Greek and Slavonic) with ­John­ 5:20—(The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you will be astonished.)—

 

16. of ­III Baruch­ 11:8a (11:7 in the Slavonic) with ­Revelation­ 5:8 or 8:3—(When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ... Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne.)—

 

17. of ­III Baruch­ 12:6b (in the Greek only) with ­Philippians­ 3:14 or ­I Corinthians­ 9:24—(I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. ... Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it.)—and

 

18. of ­III Baruch­ 14:2b (in both the Greek and Slavonic) with Mark­ 10:30 or ­Matthew­ 19:29—(who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. ... And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold,\fn{Other ancient authorities add: from my youth.} and will inherit eternal life.).

 

     There are also verbal or conceptual parallels with ­III Baruch­ and other literature concerned with Baruch.

 

1. In verse 2 of the prologue to ­III Baruch­—(A revelation of Baruch, who was beside the river Gel\fn{James suggests that the Greek has been corrupted by a copyist, and that we should read here instead: Kidron.} weeping over the captivity of Jerusalem, when also Abimelech was preserved by the hand of God at Agrippa’s farm.)—Baruch is introduced, located beside a river and presented as weeping over the captivity of Jerusalem; and this is said to correspond in general to ­Syriac Apocalypse of Baruch­ 5:5-6 and 6:3—(And I went and took Jeremiah, and Iddo, and Seriah, and Jabish, and Gedaliah, and all the nobles of the people, and I let them out to the Kidron Valley; and I repeated to them everything that had been told me. And they cried out aloud, and all of them wept. ... And I was grieving over Zion and lamenting over the captivity that had come upon the people.).

 

2. In verse 3 of the prologue to ­III Baruch­—(And he was sitting at the beautiful gates, where the Holy of Holies lay.)—where Baruch is sitting with the Holy of Holies can be compared with ­Syriac Baruch­ 10:5 and 3:1-3—(And I passed on to Jeremiah the Lord’s commands. And he went away with the people; but I, Baruch, returned and sat in front of the gates of the temple and made this lament over Zion and said,) ... (And I answered and said to the people, God forbid that I should desert you or leave you. I am only going to the Holy of Holies to inquire of the Mighty One about you and about Zion, in the hope that I may get some further understanding. After this I will come back to you. And I, Baruch, went to the holy place and sat down amidst the ruins, and I wept and said,).

 

3. In ­III Baruch­ 1:1-3—(I, Baruch, was weeping in my mind and sorrowing on account of the people, and because Nebuchadnezzar the king had been permitted by God to destroy his city, saying, Lord, why didst thou set on fire thy vineyard and lay it waste? Why didst thou do this? And why, Lord, didst thou not punish us in some other way, but didst deliver us to nations such as these, so that they reproach us and say, Where is their God? And behold, as I was weeping and saying such things, I saw an angel of the Lord coming and saying to me, Listen Baruch, for you are a man much beloved: do not be so distressed about the condition of Jerusalem—so says the Lord, the Almighty.)—the statement that Baruch was weeping over Jerusalem’s captivity and that this was made the occasion for an angelic visitation is paralleled at ­II Baruch­ 6:3-4—(And I was grieving over Zion and lamenting over the captivity that had come upon the people. And suddenly a powerful spirit\fn{Or: a strong wind.} lifted me up and carried me over the wall of Jerusalem. And I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the city, each of them holding a fiery torch in his hands.).

 

     There also appear to be verbal or conceptual parallels with material concerned with Paraleipomena of Jeremiah:

 

1. Verse 2 of the prologue to ­III Baruch­—(A revelation of Baruch, who was beside the river Kidron weeping over the captivity of Jerusalem, when also Abimelech was preserved by the hand of God at Agrippa’s farm.)—has also been thought to find a parallel arising out of the narrative setting with Paraleipomena of Jeremiah­ 4:6-10—(But Baruch put dust on his head, and sat down and uttered this lament, saying, Why is Jerusalem desolated? Because of the sins of the beloved people she is delivered into the enemies’ hands, because of our sins and the sins of the people. But let not the lawless ones boast and say, We have been able to take God’s city by our own strength. You have indeed prevailed against her; but it was because of our sins that we were delivered up. And our God will have pity on us, and he will restore us to our city; but as for you, you will not endure. Blessed are our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for they departed from this world and did not see the destruction of this city. And when he had said this, he went out weeping and saying, O Jerusalem, I leave you, mourning for you.).

 

2. In verse 3 of the prologue to ­III Baruch­—(And he was sitting at the beautiful gates, where the Holy of Holies lay.)—Baruch’s sitting with the Holy of Holies can be paralleled with Paraleipomena of Jeremiah­ 4:11, 6:1 and 7:1—(And he remained, sitting on a tomb, while the angels came and told him in detail about everything. ... After this Abimelech went outside the city and prayed to the Lord. And lo, an angel of the Lord came and led him back to where Baruch was; and he found him sitting on a tomb. ... And Baruch got up and left the tomb.\fn{So the 11th and 15th century manuscripts of the Greek long recension. A third, of the 10th century, however, adds: and he found the eagle sitting outside the tomb. Clearly something appears to have dropped out of the text at some stage in its transmission.})—the only difference being that instead of sitting at a gate, Baruch is said to be sitting at or on a tomb.

 

3. In verse 2b of the prologue to ­III Baruch­—(when also Abimelech was preserved by the hand of God at Agrippa’s farm.)—the reference to the preservation by God of Abimelech at Agrippa’s farm would seem to plainly refer to the contents of ­Paraleipomena of Jeremiah­ 3:9-10, 3:15 and 5:1-6:1—(And Jeremiah said, I beseech thee, Lord, show me too what I should do about Abimelech the Ethiopian, for he has done many kindnesses to the people, and to thy servant Jeremiah (for it was he who hoisted me up out of the muddy pit), and I would not wish him to see the city’s destruction and desolation, and be distressed about it. And the Lord said to Jeremiah, Send him to the vineyard of Agrippa by the mountain road; and I will shelter him there until I bring the people back to the city. ... And in the morning early, Jeremiah sent Abimelech away, saying, Take your basket and to Agrippa’s farm by the mountain road: fetch a few figs, and give them to those of the people who are ill: on you be joy from the Lord, and may his glory rest upon your head. ... Now Abimelech had gone to fetch the figs, and was bringing them back in the midday heat; and he came upon a tree, and sat down in its shade to rest awhile. And he leaned his head on the fig-basket and fell asleep; and he slept soundly for sixty-six years without waking up. And afterwards, when he did wake up, he said, It is a pity I did not sleep a little bit more: I feel very drowsy, because I have not had enough sleep. Then he took off the cover over the fig-basket and found the figs oozing sap. And he said, I would have liked a bit more sleep, because I feel so drowsy. But I am afraid that if I do go to sleep, I might not wake up for some time, and my father Jeremiah will be put out; for if he had not been in a hurry, he would not have sent me out today at daybreak. So I will get up, and go on in the heat—would that I could find somewhere where there is no heat and daily toil!\fn{The underscored is a reconstruction based on Harris’ 11th and 15th century manuscripts of the Greek long recension. His 10th century manuscript omits the passage, and the Ethiopic version is clearly corrupt.He got up accordingly, and picked up the fig-gasket and put it on his shoulders, and made his way into Jerusalem; and he did not recognize it, neither his house, nor the district where he lived, nor could he find any of his relations. And he said, Blessed be the Lord, for I must be in a trance: this is not the city. I am lost, for I came by the mountain road after I woke up from my sleep. And because I was drowsy through not having had enough sleep, I must have lost my way. It would be absurd to tell Jeremiah that I got lost. And he went out some distance from the city; and, looking at it, he saw the city’s landmarks and said, This is indeed the city, but I am lost. And he went back again inside the city, and searched, and discovered no single person that he knew. And he said, Blessed be the Lord, for a mighty trance has fallen on me. And while he was sitting there, he saw an old man coming in from the country; and Abimelech said to him, Tell me, old man, what city that is? And he said to him, Jerusalem. And Abimelech said to him, Where is Jeremiah the priest, and Baruch the scribe, and all the people of this city, because I have not been able to find them? And the old man said to him, Surely you must be from this city yourself: otherwise why should you be thinking about Jeremiah today and asking about him such a long time after he went away? Jeremiah is in Babylon with the people; for they were taken captive by King Nebuchadnezzar, and Jeremiah is with them preaching to them and instructing them. And as soon as Abimelech heard what the old man told him, he said to him, No one should insult anyone who is older than he is himself, and if you were not an old man, I would laugh at you and call you mad to tell me that the people have been taken captive to Babylon. Even if the contracts of Heaven had descended on them there would not yet have been time for them to reach Babylon. For how long is it since my father Jeremiah sent me to Agrippa’s farm for a few figs to give to those of the people who are ill? I went off and fetched them, and on the way back in the heat I came to a tree, and I sat down to rest a bit, and leaned my head on the basket, and went to sleep; and when I woke up, I took off the cover over the fig-basket, as I thought I have been rather a long time, and I found the figs oozing sap, as if I had just picked them. Yet you tell me that people have been taken captive to Babylon. So that you may know that I am telling you the truth, come, look at the figs. And he took off the cover of the fig-basket for the old man. And he too saw them oozing sap. And when the old man saw them he said, My son, you are a righteous man, and God would not let you see the city’s destruction; for it is God who has brought this trance upon you. For, behold, it is sixty-six years to the very day since the people were taken captive to Babylon. And so that you may understand that this is true, my child, look out on the countryside, and see how much progress the crops have made, and you will realize that it is not yet the time for figs. Then Abimelech cried out aloud, saying, I will bless thee, Lord God of Heaven and earth, the repose of the souls of the righteous in every place. And he said to the old man, What month is it? And he said, Nisan; ­and it is the 12th of Nisan.\fn{Both the 11th and 15th century manuscripts mentioned in the previous note have: Nisan, which is the twelfth month. The 10th century manuscript has: Isaac is this month. The Ethiopic has: the twelfth of the month Nisan, which is Mijazja.} And Abimelech picked out some of the figs, and gave them to the old man, and said to him, God will light your way to the city of Jerusalem which is above. After this Abimelech went outside the city and prayed to the Lord. And lo, an angel of the Lord came and led him back to where the Baruch was; and he found them sitting on a tomb.)

 

4. At ­III Baruch­ 1:1-3—(I, Baruch, was weeping in my mind and sorrowing on account of the people, and because Nebuchadnezzar the king had been permitted by God to destroy his city, saying, Lord, why didst thou set on fire thy vineyard and lay it waste? Why didst thou do this? And why, Lord, didst thou not punish us in some other way, but didst deliver us to nations such as these, so that they reproach us and say, Where is their God? And behold, as I was weeping and saying such things, I saw an angel of the Lord coming and saying to me, Listen Baruch, for you are a man much beloved: do not be so distressed about the condition of Jerusalem—so says the Lord, the Almighty.)—where it says that Baruch was weeping over Jerusalem’s captivity and that this was made the occasion for an angelic visitation, there is seen a parallel with Paraleipomena of Jeremiah­ 4:11—(And when he had said this, he went out weeping and saying, O Jerusalem, I leave you, mourning for you. And he remained, sitting on a tomb, while the angels came and told him in detail about everything.).

 

     Two conclusions may be drawn about the parallels drawn between ­II Baruch­ on one hand, and ­III Baruch­, the Paraleipomena­, and the material from the ­Received New Testament­ on the other:

 

1. It is evident that the ­Greek Apocalypse of Baruch­ belongs squarely within what may be called the Baruch Tradition, so far as its narrative setting is concerned. But there are few, if any, contacts outside this setting. If we are prepared to take the text of the opening verses as they stand, we can argue equally well either that (a) the author knew both ­III Baruch­ and the Paraleipomena­ much as we know them today; or (b) that he had access to much the same sources and traditional material that their authors had. If, however, we are doubtful about whether the prologue to ­III Baruch­ is an original part of the book—on the sole ground that it refers to Baruch in the third person, whereas the rest of the book purports to have been written by Baruch himself in the first person—the case for direct knowledge of ­II Baruch­ and the ­Paraleipomena­ on the part of the author of ­III Baruch­ is very much weaker, inasmuch as the most telling contacts are to be found in the prologue only. In either case it is tempting to see ­III Baruch­ as a later amplification of the situation described so neatly at ­Paraleipomena­ 4:11—(And he remained, sitting on a tomb, while the angels came and told him in detail about everything.). In no case are there grounds for positing dependence in the reverse direction. III Baruch­ may be later than the other two works, or it may be contemporary with them: it is unlikely to be earlier.

 

2. With regard to the Christian contacts, we cannot account satisfactorily for such a complicated situation either by suggesting that it is accidental, or just by positing Christian-interpolations-into-an-otherwise-Jewish-work and leaving it at that. The final redactor, or editor, or author, whoever he may have been, was undoubtedly a Christian. Whatever Jewish material he may have used he certainly rephrased and very thoroughly recast. He was not a mere interpolator.

 

     The dating and assignment of an historical context for the ­Greek Apocalypse of Baruch­ have been the subject of considerable discussion.

 

1. It appears that there is only one Patristic commentary on this work—Origen of Alexandria (above)—who says that it contains very clear information about the seven worlds or heavens. This is the usual number when a plurality of heavens is mentioned. Yet, the text we have before us mentions only five. Is our surviving text an abbreviated recension of the original? Was Origen suffering a lapse of memory when he specified seven heavens? Or, if he was not familiar with the contents of the book himself, had he been misinformed about the details? Or was he referring to a different book altogether?

 

     If Origen knew about our book, it must be dated [so Sparis, (­The Apocryphal Old Testament­, Oxford, 1984, 897-914)] between c.140-200AD, on the grounds that (a) there are certain passages that could have been written only by the hand of a Christian, and (b) that the author betrays knowledge not only of the Pauline letters, but also of certain of the apocryphal writings—notably the ­Paraleipomena­ [which, so Harris (­The Rest of the Words of Baruch: A Christian Apocalypse of the Year 136AD­, Cambridge, 1889) is assignable to 136AD)].

 

     James (­op.cit.­, 410-413) also took the view that ­III Baruch­ is a Christian apocalypse of the 2nd century.

 

2. In opposition to James, L. Ginzberg [“Baruch, Apocalypse of (Greek)” in ­Jewish Encyclopaedia­ II, 1902, 549-551] was of the opinion that the book was almost wholly Jewish. He maintained that only one passage can with certainty be considered a Christian interpolation; and that is the one concerning the vine in chapter 4. The author, moreover, betrays signs of both Indian and Gnostic influence, and was, therefore, a Jewish-Gnostic who wrote about the beginning of the 2nd century, when ­gnosis­ was at its height among both Jews and Christians. Charles (op. cit.­) also acknowledged that the author’s Judaism was tempered by a Hellenic-Oriental syncretism.

 

3. Hughes (­op. cit.­, 529-530) and Hage (“Die Griechische Baruch-Apokalypse” in ­Kummel’s Judische Schriften aus Hellenistich-Romischer Zeit­ V.1, Gutersloh, 1973, 19-20) maintained that the original version is a 2nd century Jewish work—Rost (­Einleitung in die Alttestamentlichen Apokryphen und Pseudepigraphen ein Schliesslich der Grossen Qumran-Handschriften­, Heidelberg, 1971, 88) thought it specifically a product of Syrian Jewry—that has been modified by Christian redactors. Indeed, for Hughes, the Christian interpolations were not confined to the passage in chapter 4, but in fact were most evident in the concluding chapters. The original apocalypse was Jewish, however, and was to be dated somewhere near the beginning of the 2nd century AD. The Christian redactor took this work over soon after 136AD. The book in its present form is thus roughly contemporary with the ­Paraleipomena­, a product of the same circumstances, and inspired by the same motives: the conversion of Jews and Ebionites.

 

4. Picard (­Apocalypsis Baruchi­ 75-78; and “Observations sur l’Apocalypse Grecque de Baruch” in ­Semitica­ XX, 1970, 100-103) claimed that it is a product of Jewish mysticism in the Diaspora from the 1st or 2nd century with very minor Christian interpolations.

 

5. Russell (­Between the Testaments­, London, 1960, 86) dates it between 100-175AD.

 

6. The ODC, ever appropriately cautious, pronounced it to be apparently of Jewish origin, but worked over by a Christian hand, and perhaps to be dated from the 2nd century.

 

7. Rowley (­The Relevance of Apocalyptic: A Study of Jewish and Christian Apocalypses from Daniel to Revelation­, New York, 1964, 119) says that the work is probably not to be dated earlier than the 2nd century AD.

 

8. Schmithals (­The Apocalyptic Movement: Introduction and Interpretation­, Nashville, 1975, 199-200) believed it to be originally a Jewish writing from the 2nd or 3rd century AD which has undergone a Christian revision.

 

9. Charlesworth (­The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha I: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments­, New York, 1983, 653-679) says that beyond the very general statement that the original work would have been created in the first two centuries AD, one cannot be terribly certain about a time and place of composition for ­III Baruch­.

 

     (a) Origen’s statement does not help us to determine the latest possible date for the ­Greek Apocalypse of Baruch­. Either he knew a version other than the present one (i.e., one with seven heavens), or he is speaking about another work altogether which has not survived. The only ­clear­ references to ­III Baruch­ are of a much later date: (i) the use of ­III Baruch­ 2 in the History of the Rechabites­ (formerly called the ­Apocalypse of Zosimus­) for which see James (­op.cit.­, lvi-lvii); and (ii) in the later Slavonic literature, for which see Turdeanu (­Revue des Etudes Slaves­ XLVIII, 1969, 36-38, 14-48).

 

     (b) An argument for the earliest possible date is the supposed dependency of ­III Baruch­ on ­II Baruch­ 76:3, where Baruch is promised a vision [so James, (­op.cit.­, liv); and Boagert (Apocaypse de Baruch I, Paris, 1969, 455)]. However, the interests of the author of ­III Baruch­ suggest that he belongs to a group completely other than that of the author of ­II Baruch­. (i) There is no apocalyptic notion of an end-time in ­III Baruch­, nor would that interest him. (ii) His interest would seem to be focused on heavenly realities and not on those on earth. (iii) Finally, a timeless heavenly service in which the good deeds or prayers of men are offered by Michael on the altar is his chief answer to the crisis caused by the destruction of the earthly temple (70AD), and not a patient waiting for the new temple (whether in Heaven or in Jerusalem) at the end of days.

 

     (c) There is evidence from antiquity of a large number of materials having to do with Baruch, the nature of which would appear to be beyond our abilities to recover. E.g., Justin the Gnostic (2nd century, in Hippolytus’ Refutation Of All Heresies­ V:22—(Hence also, in the first book inscribed ­Baruch­, has been written the oath ... “I swear by that Good One who is above all, to guard these mysteries, and to divulge them to no one, and not to relapse from the Good One to the creature.” ... The volume, however, inscribed ­Baruch­, is pre-eminently to them the one in which the reader will ascertain the entire explanation of their legendary system.)—also had a book of Baruch, which Epiphanius quotes and discusses at length. James (­The Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament: Translations of Early Documents­, London, 1920, 77-78) and Robinson [in his discussion of the Jewish work known as ­IV Baruch­ in Charlesworth (­op.cit.­)] think that still another book of Baruch was known to Cyprian (Testimonia­ III:29, c.248AD, in three manuscripts of which an otherwise unknown quotation of some 12 lines appears)—(Also in Baruch: “For the time shall come, and ye shall seek me, both ye and those who shall be after you, to hear the word of wisdom and of understanding. and ye shall not find me. But the nations shall desire to see the wise man, and is shall not happen to them; not because the wisdom of this world shall be wanting, or shall fail to the earth; but neither shall the word of the law be wanting to the world. For wisdom shall be in a few who watch, and are silent and quiet, and who hold converse with one another; because some shall dread them, and shall fear them as evil. But some do not believe the word of the law of the Highest. But some who are amazed in their countenance will not believe; and they also who contradict will believe, and will be contrary to and hindering the spirit of truth. Moreover, others will be wise to the spirit of error, and declaring the edicts, as if of the Highest and the Strong One. Moreover, others are possessors of faith. Others are mighty and strong in the faith of the Highest, and hateful to the stranger.”). Evagrius of Pontus (d.399, ­Altercatio Legis Inter Simonem Iudaeum et Theophilum Christianum­) preserves knowledge of a Baruch book, from near the end of which an alleged prophecy of Christ’s birth, mode of dress, death, and resurrection appears.

 

     Nevertheless, while there is evidence of Christian reworking of this apocalypse, there is also strong evidence of its original writing being Jewish, or early Christian; for the many parallels with Jewish traditions are not likely to have been known after the clear separation between Jewish and Christian communities (which took place by the time of the Second Jewish Revolt: H): therefore the original work would have been created in the first two centuries AD.

 

[AOT, 897-914; ROW, 119; SCH, 199-200; ODC, 137-138; RUS, 65-66; BET, 86; JHC, 653-679]

 

56. The Ethiopic Apocalypse of Baruch

 

     The ­Ethiopic Apocalypse of Baruch­, or ­Fifth Baruch­ (V Baruch), was first published, with a French translation, by J. Halevy (­Te’ezaza Sanbat. Commandments du Sabbath­, Paris, 1902, 80-96, 196-209) from a unique manuscript of Falasha (Ethiopic-Jewish) provenance. Three other manuscripts of this type are now known, all of them probably of Christian origin: (1) Orient, 503, folios 63a-66b (W. Wright, ­Catalogue of the Ethiopic Manuscripts in the British Museum­, p. 21); (2) Add., 16, 223, folios 1-20 (A. Dillmann, ­Catalogus Codicum Manuscriptorum Orientalium qui in Museo Britannico Asservantur­. Pars intertia. Codices Aethiopicos Amplectens, London, 1847, p. 23); and (3) d’Abbadie, 247, folios 103vo-108, of the Bibliotheque Nationale of Paris (Conti Rossini, ­Notice­, No. 243, p. 234). [The Falasha ­Fifth Baruch­ is a copy of the Ethiopic Christian ­Fifth Baruch­, in which any specifically Christian institution or belief (except, curiously, for the image of the cross, the veneration of Sunday, the mention of the Holy Spirit, and the names of some of the Roman emperors who protected Christianity) are excised from the text.]

 

     Fifth Baruch­ contains nearly all the elements which are to be found in apocalyptic works, and in the apocalyptic in general; but although it appears as if there are resemblances to works of this nature which pass under the names of Enoch or Ezra, in its main section (dealing with the details of Hell and Paradise), Fifth Baruch­ appears to find its ultimate home in the ­Ethiopic Apocalypse of the Virgin Mary­; and in many places may even be a copy of it. The ­Ethiopic Mary­, in its turn, is an adaptation of the ­Apocalypse of Paul­ (3rd century); and that­ work apparently has as ­its­ chief source the ­Apocalypse of Peter­ (2nd century). All the Ethiopic apocalypses, of Peter, of Mary, and of Baruch, seem to be translations from Arabic sources; and these in their turn were probably translated from the Greek.

 

     Fifth Baruch­ is composed of two parts: (1) the first, in which Baruch, guided by the angel Sutuel, ascends to heaven and sees the rewards of the just and the punishments of the sinners; and (2) the second, which deals with the future, with the time of the antichrist, of the Messiah, and of the resurrection. This second part is a very abridged form of other apocalyptic works, such as the ­Ethiopic Apocalypse of Peter­, the ­Apocalypse of Peter­, and others dealing with the same subject.

 

     The complicated literary relations of the material contained in Fifth Baruch­ show that it has roots reaching back into Christian history, and probably took shape in the latter part of the 7th century AD. Mention in it of the Ethiopian king Gabra Masqal, who reigned c.550AD, precludes any much earlier date of composition.

 

[JHC, 659-660; TBJ, 57-76, 162-172]

 

57. The Apocryphon of Ezekiel

 

     The ­Apocryphon of Ezekiel­ has not survived to modern times intact: five fragments are all that remain of its text. Indeed Danielou (­The Theology of Jewish Christianity­ I, London, 1964, 105-107), Baker (“Justin’s Agraphon in the Dialogue with Trypho” in ­Journal of Biblical Literature­ LXXXVII, 285-286), and Resch (“Agrapha” in ­Text und Untersuchungen­ N.F. XV, Leipzig, 1906, 381-384) have argued that the fragments of this work never existed as part of a separate document, but are actually from a Christian reworking of the Received Ezekiel­, or an expanded form—a ­midrash­—of the Received ­Ezekiel­. Indeed, if we were dealing only with three of these fragments, the suggestion would be very attractive, for these bits do bear some similarity to passages from the Received Old Testament­ work. However: (1) It is very difficult to understand where the other two fragments would fit in such an expanded or paraphrased text, for they are totally unlike anything in the Received ­Ezekiel­. (2) Epiphanius (­Against All Heresies­ 64:70) explicitly identifies one of the fragments as coming from Ezekiel’s own apocryphon. (3) Any theory that the Apocryphon of Ezekiel­ is merely an expanded or paraphrased Christian version of the Received ­Ezekiel­ must ignore the notice in Josephus of Palestine (d.c.100AD, ­Antiquities of the Jews­ 10:5.1) that he knew of ­two­ books attributed to the prophet (of which one might be this work: H).

 

     The five fragments presently extant and the testimony of Jewish and Christian writers of antiquity weigh heavily in favor of an existence of this book separated from the ­Received Ezekiel­. Indeed, to judge from the sources in which they are variously found, the ­Apocryphon of Ezekiel­ seems to have enjoyed a certain amount of popularity in the first centuries of the Christian Era—with one of the fragments being cited by no less than 32 secondary sources, dating from c.200AD to well into the Middle Ages.

 

     The five fragments are variously referred to in the following earliest references:

 

1. ­I Clement­ 8:2-3 (c.96AD):—(The Master of the Universe Himself spake concerning repentance with an oath: For as I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of the sinner so much as his repentance; and He added also a merciful judgment: Repent ye, O house of Israel, of your iniquity; say unto the sons of My people, though your sins reach from the earth even unto the Heaven, and though they be redder than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, and ye turn unto Me with your whole heart and say Father, I will give ear unto you as unto a holy people.);

 

2. ­I Clement­ 23:3 (c.96):—(Wretched are the double-minded, which doubt in their soul and say, These things we did hear in the days of our fathers also, and behold we have grown old, and none of these things have befallen us. Ye fools, compare yourselves unto a tree; take a vine. First it shreddeth its leaves, then a shoot cometh, then a leaf, then a flower, and after these a sour berry, then a full ripe grape. Ye see that in a little time the fruit of the tree attaineth unto mellowness.);

 

3. ­I Clement­ 29:3 (c.96):—(And it says somewhere else, ‘Behold, the Lord takes a people for himself out of the midst of the nations, as a man takes the first-fruits of his threshing floor; and it is out of that people that the Holy of Holies shall come.’);

 

4. ­Leviticus Rabbah­ 4:5 (attributed to Rabbi Ishmael, c.130);

 

5. the ­mekhilta­ on ­Exodus­ 15:1 (also attributed to Rav Ishmael);

 

6. ­Acts of Peter­ 24 (c.150-200):—(And another prophet saith: And we saw him and he had no beauty nor comeliness. And: In the last times shall a child be born of the Holy Ghost: his mother knoweth not a man, neither doth any man say that he is his father. And again he saith: She hath brought forth and not brought forth. And again: Is it a small thing for you to weary men? Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb.);

 

7. Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165, ­Dialogue with Trypho­ XLVII:5):—(For the goodness and the loving-kindness of God, and His boundless riches, hold righteous and sinless the man who, as Ezekiel tells, repents of sins; and reckons sinful, unrighteous, and impious the man who falls away from piety and righteousness to unrighteousness and ungodliness. Wherefore also our Lord Jesus Christ said: ‘In whatsoever things I shall take you, in these I shall judge you.’).

 

8. ­Sanhedrin­ 91a,b (attributed to Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi, c.200);

 

9. ­Exegesis on the Soul­ (c.200):—(Again he said in Ezekiel, It came to pass after much depravity, said the Lord, you built yourself a brothel and you made yourself a beautiful place in the streets. And you built yourself brothels on every lane, and you wasted your beauty, and you spread your legs in every alley, and you multiplied your acts of prostitution. You prostituted yourself to the sons of Egypt, those who are your neighbors, men great of flesh.).

 

10. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Paedagogus­ I:10):—(For He says by Ezekiel, “If ye return with your whole heart, and say, Father, I will hear you, as a holy people.”); ­Quis Dives Salvetur­ XXXIX:2:—(“I desire not the death, but the repentance of the sinner.”); ­Stromateis­ VII:16:—(Now such to us are the Scriptures of the Lord, which gave birth to the truth and continue virgin, in the concealment of the mysteries of the truth. “And she brought forth, and yet brought not forth” says the Scripture; as having conceived of herself, and not from conjunction.).

 

11. Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.215, ­De Carni Christi­ XXIII):--(We read in Ezekiel of “a heifer which brought forth, and still did not bring forth.” Now, see whether it was not in view of your own future contentions about the womb of Mary, that even then the Holy Ghost set His mark upon you in this passage; otherwise He would not, contrary to His usual simplicity of style in this prophet, have uttered a sentence of such doubtful import, especially when Isaiah says, “She shall conceive and bear a son.”).

 

12. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­Homilies on Jeremiah­ 18:9);

 

13. ­Manichaean Psalm Book­ (3rd century);

 

14. Gregory of Nyssa (d.c.395, ­Against the Jews­ 3); and

 

15. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.c.403, ­Against All Heresies­ XXX:30)—(64:70, 5-17).

 

     Bearing in mind that it is extremely hazardous to speculate on the original language of compositions that are no longer extant or that are known by only a few fragments, one may hypothesize that Greek and Hebrew are the most likely candidates for the original language of this work. Greek might be suggested by the fact that the document was so widely spoken of in the Intertestamental Period and by the fact that the only surviving manuscript fragment of the actual text (as opposed to its quotation by a source) is written in that language. On the other hand, Hebrew might be suggested by the appearance of a Hebrew version of one of the fragments in the rabbinic literature, and by the statement of Josephus that there were in his day two books of Ezekiel (the natural inference being that he considered these companion pieces, and hence written in the same language: Hebrew). However, both of these possibilities are threads too slender to bear much weight, and in the absence of more manuscript evidence, the question of the original language of the Apocryphon of Ezekiel­ should be left open.

 

     Historically, the ­Apocryphon of Ezekiel­ is another example of a work which, though Jewish in origin, has been preserved almost entirely only in Christian sources. This wide early Christian popularity witnesses a certain latitude in the concept of the canon that became less common as orthodoxy became less and less diversified in later centuries. Nevertheless, though some of the fragments may indicate a Christian redaction of the work, there is little doubt that, fragmentary as it is, the original book was Jewish in character. This is the opinion of Denis (Introduction­, 190), Eckart (“Das Apokryphon Ezeckiel” in Kummel’s ­Judische Schriften aus Hellenistischlische Adhandalungen, Adolf Schlatter zum Seinem LXX. Geburtstage­, Stuttgart, 1922, 93-94); Zahn (­Forschungen zur Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanons und der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ VI, 311); Frey (in Pirot’s Dictionnaire de la Bible, Supplements­ I, col. 460); and Charlesworth (The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha I: Apocalyptic Literature and Testaments­, New York, 1983, 437-440).

 

     For the opposite opinion, however, see James (“The Apocryphal Ezekiel” in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XV, 1914, 243), Resch (­op.cit.­, 381-384), and Russell (­The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic­, Philadelphia, 1964, 69). Danielou (­op.cit.­) says that the fragment in #1 (above) betrays a Christian authorship because the expression blacker than sackcloth brings to mind in particular ­Revelation­ 6:12—(When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,)—and that the mention of the double-minded in #2 is especially typical of archaic Christian spirituality, appearing as it does in the ­Didache­, the ­Letter of Barnabas­, and the ­Shepherd of Hermas­, while there is a very clear association with ­James­ 4:8—(Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you men of double mind.). The theme, he says, bears a close resemblance to II Peter­ 3:4—(and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.”)—and that finally, the growth of a tree was a common symbol in the Synoptics.

 

     The book cannot be dated later than the end of the 1st century AD. ­I Clement­ (c.96AD) used the work as one of his sources; and Josephus of Palestine (d.c.100AD) notes that Ezekiel had left behind two books, of which it is possible to assume that one of them was this apocryphon. The ­earliest­ possible date cannot be determined as precisely, although the conjecture of Holl (“Das Apokryphon Ezekiel” in ­Aus Schrift und Geschichte­, 85-89) and Frey (­op.cit.­, cols. 458-460) placing the composition of the document between 50BC-50AD has been generally accepted.

 

     The fragmentary nature of the remains make a determination of its provenance, however, very hazardous. Nevertheless, Danielou (­op.cit.­) says that it may have been written in Rome; and that because of alleged Essenic characteristics similar to the ­Shepherd of Hermas­, it is therefore likely that the text is connected with an Essene-Christian environment, which would explain the very Jewish nature of the language and the eschatological slant.

 

[JHC, 437-440; RUS, 69; DAN, 105-107]

 

***

 

XI: DANIEL, SEDRACH

 

58. The Revelation of the Prophet Daniel

 

     The ­Revelation of the Prophet Daniel­, which is about the consummation of the world, is also of a late date. Tischendorf gives about half of the Greek text apparently in his prologue to an edition in his book Apocalyptic Apocalypses­ (1866).

 

[ANF, VIII, 359]

 

59. The Seventh Vision of Daniel

 

     The pseudepigraphical work ascribed to Daniel at the end of the Stichometry­ of Nicephorus of Constantinople (c.850AD) may lie behind the ­Seventh Vision of Daniel­, whose text as we now have it reflects a much later date.

 

[RUS, 69]

 

60. 61. 62. 63. 64. Unnamed Daniel Apocalypsi

 

     In the course of a summary of later apocalyptic works, PAT mentions seven in the name of Daniel, thus:—(It might be thought that with the conversation of the empire and the changes undergone by Christianity in the 4th century, the genre apocalypse might either vanish from the scene or become solely a type of vision of the other world, whether mediated or not. This seems to be the case in the Latin West, but not in the Greek East. So little study has been done on the later Byzantine apocalypses (there are at least three apocalypses of John, two of Mary, two of Esdras and seven of Daniel) that we cannot be sure of the dating of many of them, nor can we say how far they fit the genre apocalypse as we have been using it. A number of them do display real apocalyptic eschatology.). The compiler has assumed the above two titles are part of the seven books of Daniel noted in PAT. Some further accounts probably lie in (1) Macler (“Les Apocalypses Apocryphes de Daniel” in ­Revue de l’Histoire des Religions­ XXXIII, 1896, 377-73, 163-176, 288-319); (2) Denis (Introduction Aux Pseudepigraphes Grecsd d’Ancien Testament­, Leiden, 1970); (3) Alexander (“Medieval Apocalypses as Historical Sources” in American Historical Review­ LXXIII, 1968, 1997-2018); and (4) Berger (­Die Griechische Daniel-Diegese: Eine Altkirchliche Apokalypse­, Leiden, 1976).

 

[PAT, 25, 37]

 

65. The Apocalypse of Sedrach

 

     The ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ has survived antiquity in a single (Greek) manuscript (of the 15th century), preserved in the Bodleian Library. Many scholars say that there is no reason to doubt that Greek was the original language of the book; for the extant Greek text is replete with Patristic and Byzantine vocabulary and syntax; and elements of modern Greek also appear in it.

 

     The text is itself marred by a number of irregularities.

 

1. The original opening of the work seems at some stage in its transmission to have been lost. As it now appears, the book opens with a three and a half page homily on love (which James omitted in his translation of it as irrelevant to the main theme of the work), and which is obviously a separate piece, probably attributable to Ephraem Syrus (c.373AD).

 

2. The surviving text is itself in some places curiously corrupt, with the result that the sense is obscured. (a) At 9:2—(The only-begotten Son said to ­Sedrach, what­ our Father deposited in your mother’s womb, in the holy tabernacle of your body before you were born.)—something is obviously lacking between the underscored words, and AOT supplies the words <The Lord God said to him,> from ­Apocalypse of Esdras­ 6:3—(Then came a voice to me­, Come die, Esdras my beloved, and give up what was entrusted to you.)—as expressing a similar, but transliterated sense. (b) At 13:6—(The Savior said to him, I will put one question to you, Sedrach, my beloved: then shall you put yours to ­me. If­ the sinner repents for forty days, I will remember none of the sins that he committed.)—there seems to be something missing between the two words underscored, since God asks no question, nor does Sedrach reply with another question or repeat his previous one. (c) At 4:11—(And more, in my assemblies and services they do not respect my messenger.)—it is not clear who is meant by the messenger: Christ; or the angel presumed to be in attendance at the service; or the Christian minister in charge of the service.

 

3. In the strict sense of the world, the ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ is not a real apocalypse. (a) Though Sedrach, like Paul, is caught up into the third Heaven at 2:4—(And the voice said to him, ‘I was sent to you that I may carry you up into Heaven.’)—as in ­II Corinthians­ 12:2—(I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up into the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—)—no revelation in the strict sense is made to him. (b) It is to James that we owe the modern title; for although the title in the manuscript—“­The Word of the Holy and Blessed Sedrach Concerning Love and Repentance and Orthodox Christians and Concerning the Second Coming”­—would seem to clearly illustrate its contents, there is no mention of the Second Coming anywhere in the one surviving manuscript.

 

4. Even the name, Sedrach, presents a problem. Sedrach appears in the Greek version of the ­Received Daniel­ as the equivalent of the Hebrew and Aramaic name, Shadrach. Now, Shadrach was the name given to Daniel’s friend, Hananiah, by the chief of the eunuchs at the Babylonian court in ­Received Daniel­ 1:7—(And the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he called Beltheshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach and Azariah he called Abednego.)—and it may well be that our author had Shadrach/Hananiah in mind when he wrote.

 

     It would seem, however, that the ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ stands firmly within the Esdras literary tradition.

 

1. The main reason for thinking this is that the book is undoubtedly related to ­II Esdras,­ the ­Apocalypse of Esdras­, and the ­Vision of Esdras­. Indeed, not only is the theme of the justification of God’s ways to men—so prominent in the ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­—treated at length in both ­II Esdras­ and the ­Apocalypse of Esdras­: there are also a number of often very close parallels between Sedrach and one or the other of those works, or all three of them.

 

     (a) Sedrach’s observation that it would be better for man if he had not been born, his fundamental question why did God make man in the first instance if He would not have mercy on him, and God’s reply—(Sedrach said to him, Thy discipline is punishment and fire: they are bitter, my Lord. It were better for man if he had not been born. Why then didst thou make him, my Lord? Why didst thou weary thy unsullied hands with toil and fashion man, since thou wouldest not have mercy on him? God said to him, I made the first-formed Adam, and I set him in Paradise where grew the tree of life; and I said to him, You may eat of all the fruits, only keep away from the tree of life, for if you eat of it, you will most surely die. And he disobeyed my command and was deceived by the devil and ate of the tree.)—may be compared to Apocalypse of Esdras­ 1:6, 1:21, 2:10-17, 3:9, 5:9, and 5:14—(And I said to them, I would plead with God for the race of Christians: it were better for man not to have been born than to come into the world. ... And Esdras said, It were better for man not to have been born, better not to be alive: ... And the prophet said, Who made the first-formed Adam, the first man? And God said, My unsullied hands. But I set him in Paradise to keep the pasture of the tree of life. <But he then set his mind on disobedience and transgressed. And the prophet said, Was he not guarded by an angel? And was he not watched over by the Cherubim in this life so that he might come to the world that has no end? How then was it that he who was watched over by angels was deceived? Thou didst specifically command him to take heed and to conform to what thou didst say to him. Yet if thou hadst not given him Eve, the serpent would not have deceived him. As for thee, whom thou willest thou dost save, and whom thou willest thou dost destroy.>\fn{Sparks says that the translation between <> is highly questionable because it is based upon very badly preserved text.} ... And the prophet said, Lord, if thou didst purpose so, why didst thou fashion man? ... And I wept bitterly and said, Better were it for a man not to have come out of his mother's womb. ... And the prophet said, Lord, better were it for the man not to have been born.)—Vision of Esdras­ 62-63—(And Esdras said, Lord, thou hast dealt more leniently with the animals than with us: they feed on grass and render thee no praises, they die and have no sin; but us thou dost torment both when living and when dead. And the Lord said, Esdras, I fashioned man in my own image, and I commanded them that they should not sin, and they did sin: that is why they are in torments.)—and II Esdras­ 3:5-7 and 7:116-126—(You commanded the dust, and Adam appeared. His body was lifeless; but yours were the hands that had molded it, and into it you breathed the breath of life. So you made him a living person. You led him into Paradise, which you yourself had planted before the earth came into being. You gave him your one commandment to obey; he disobeyed it, and thereupon you made him subject to death, him and his descendants. ... I replied, ‘But this is my point, my first point and my last: how much better it would have been if the earth had never produced Adam at all, or, since it has done so, if he had been restrained from sinning! For what good does it do us all to live in misery now and have nothing but punishment to expect after death? O Adam, what have you done? Your sin was not your fall at all; it was ours also, the fall of all your descendants. What good is the promise of immortality to us, when we have committed mortal sins; or the hope of eternity, in the wretched and futile state to which we have come; or the prospect of dwelling in health and safety, when we have lived such evil lives? The glory of the Most High will guard those who have led a life of purity; but what help is that to us whose conduct has been so wicked? What good is the revelation of Paradise and its imperishable fruit, the source of perfect satisfaction and healing? For we shall never enter it, since we have made depravity our home. Those who have practiced self-discipline shall shine with faces brighter than the stars; but what good is that to us whose faces are darker than the night? For during a lifetime of wickedness we have never given a thought to the sufferings awaiting us after death’.).

 

     (b) As to the nature of God’s particular choices, compare those of ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ 8:3 with ­II Esdras­ 5:23-27—(Sedrach said, I know, Lord, that among thy creatures thou didst love man first, among animals the sheep, among trees the olive, among fruits the grape, among winged creatures the bee, among rivers the Jordan, among cities Jerusalem. ... ‘My Lord, my Master,’ I said, ‘out of all the forest of the earth, and all their trees, you have chosen one vine; from all the lands in the whole world you have chosen one plot; and out of all the flowers in the whole world you have chosen one lily. From all the depths of the sea you have filled one stream for yourself, and of all the cities ever built you have set Zion apart as your own. From all the birds that were created you have named one dove, and from all the animals that were fashioned you have taken one sheep. Out of all the countless nations, you have adopted one for your own, and to this chosen people you have given the law which all men have approved.).

 

     (c) As to Sedrach’s reluctance to surrender his soul immediately he is asked to do, when he finally agrees, and his question about what limb it would be taken out through (­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ 9-10)—(And God said to his only-begotten Son, Go, take the soul of my beloved Sedrach, and set it down in Paradise. The only-begotten Son said to Sedrach, ­Give up what was entrusted to you­,\fn{Not in the text, but suggested from a similar phrase at Apocalypse of Esdras 6:3.} what our Father deposited in your mother’s womb, in the holy tabernacle of your body before you were born. Sedrach said, I will not give my soul to thee. The Son\fn{The manuscript indicates, incorrectly, that it is the Father who is speaking here.} said to him, Why then was I sent and came here, and you make excuses to me? For I was ordered by my Father not to take your soul by force; so then, give me your soul which he desires so much. And Sedrach said to God, And how wilt thou take my soul? From what limb? And God said to him, Do you not know that your soul is centered in your lungs and your heart and is dispersed through all your limbs? It is brought up through throat and larynx and the mouth. And when the time comes for it to come out, it is first of all collected and gathered together from the toes and all the other limbs, and then it has to be separated from the body and parted from the heart. When Sedrach had heard all this, and thought about the reference to death, he was much disturbed. And Sedrach said to God, Grant me, Lord, a little respite\fn{Sparks says to compare Apocalypse of Esdras 5:10: And those who were undergoing punishment cried out saying, Since you came here, you holy man of God, we have found little respite.} so that I can weep; for I have heard that tears are a most powerful and effective medicine for the weak body that thou has fashioned.)—compare Apocalypse of Esdras­ 6:3-7:3 and ­Vision of Esdras­ 56-57—(Then came a voice to me, Come die, Esdras my beloved, and give up what was entrusted to you. And the prophet said, And how will you get at my soul to take it away? And the angels said, We can get at it and expel it through your mouth. And the prophet said, Mouth to mouth I spoke with God, and it shall not come out from there. And the angels said, Let us get it and take it through your nostrils. And the prophet said, My nostrils have savored the glory of God. And the angels said, Let us get it and take it through your eyes. and the prophet said, My eyes did see the back parts of God.\fn{This curious information I seem to remember from the Thomas material. (H)} And the angels said, Let us get it and take it through the top of your head. And the prophet said, I walked together with Moses on the mountain-top, and it shall not come out from there. And the angel said, Let us take it and expel it through your toes. And the prophet said, My feet also walked at the altar. And the angels went away without success, saying, Lord, we cannot take his soul. Then he said to his only-begotten Son, Go down, my beloved Son, with a great host of angels, and take the soul of my beloved Esdras. And the Lord took a great host of angels and went down and said to the prophet, Give up to me what was entrusted to you—what I entrusted to you: the crown has been made ready for you. And the prophet said, Lord, if thou takest my soul from me, who will remain to plead with thee on behalf of the human race? And God said, Since you are mortal and of the earth you should not plead with me. And the prophet said, I will not stop my pleading with thee. And God said, Even so, give up now what has been entrusted to you: the crown has been made ready for you. Come die, so that you may obtain it. Then the prophet began to weep and say, O Lord, what have I gained from my pleading with thee, if I am now to sink down into the earth? Alas, alas, for I am to be consumed by worms. Weep for me all saints and righteous men; for I pleaded much. Weep for me all saints and righteous men, for I have entered the depths of hell. And God said to him, Listen, Esdras my beloved. I, although immortal, endured a cross; I tasted vinegar and gall: I was buried in a tomb; and I raised up my chosen ones. Adam I called forth from hell, that the human race might have no cause to be afraid of death. For that part of man which is of me, that is his soul, departs to Heaven; that part of him which is of the earth, that is his body, departs to the earth from which it was taken. ... Then Michael and Gabriel came and said to him, ‘Come into heaven!’ and Ezra said, ’As my Lord lives, I may not come until I see every judgment of sinners.’\fn{Manuscript L of ­Vision of Esdras­ 56-57 reads: Then the angels, Michael and Gabriel, came and said to me, ‘Come into heaven so that we might make the Paschal feast.’ And I said, ‘I will see every judgment of sinners.’ And I walked as before and I saw the beasts ripping them apart. And I said, ‘Who are they?’ And the angels said to me, ‘These are the ones who altered the last things and spoke false testimony.’}).

 

     (d) As to the final entry of the prophet into Heaven, compare Apocalypse of Sedrach­ 16:9—(And God took him and set him in Paradise with all the saints. To whom be glory and might for ever and ever. Amen.)—with ­Vision of Esdras­ 60—(And after he had seen these things he was taken up into Heaven; and a host of angels came and said to him, Intercede with the Lord for the sinners. And they set him down in the Lord’s presence.).

 

     The overall impression that is created is that the author of the Vision­ selected for amplification from the elements in the tradition of the ­Apocalypse­ the details about the torments of the damned, while the author of the Apocalypse­ chose to concentrated on the more fundamental theme of the justice of God’s dealings with His creatures.

 

2. If the question be asked why it should be thought that the Apocalypse of Sedrach­ represents a later stage in the tradition than the ­Apocalypse of Esdras­—rather than the reverse—the answer is that a close study of the parallels suggests it.

 

     (a) For example, at ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ 9:1—(And God said to his only-begotten Son, Go, take the soul of my beloved Sedrach, and set it down in Paradise.)—God’s only begotten Son is very awkwardly introduced without warning as the agent chosen to demand Sedrach’s surrender of his soul; whereas at Apocalypse of Esdras­ 6:1-17—(Then God said to me, Do you know, Esdras, the names of the angels at the consummation—Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Gabuthelon, Aker, Arphugitonos, Beburos, and Zebulon? Then came a voice to me, Come die, Esdras my beloved, and give up what was entrusted to you. And the prophet said, And how will you get at my soul to take it away, etc.)—a band of angels is selected for this task and the only-begotten Son is only commissioned to lead them on a second attempt after their first attempt on their own had failed.

 

     (b) In the same context, the argument with the angels that follows Esdras’ question about which limb his soul should be taken out through (at Apocalypse of Esdras­ 6:5-14, just above) make much better sense than God’s distinctly obscure reply at Apocalypse of Sedrach­ 10:1-4—(And Sedrach said to God, And how wilt thou take my soul? From what limb? And God said to him, Do you not know that your soul is centered in your lungs and your heart and is dispersed through all your limbs? It is brought up through throat and larynx and the mouth. And when the time comes for it to come out, it is first of all collected and gathered together from the toes and all the other limbs, and then it has to be separated from the body and parted from the heart.).

 

     There should be no difficulty here in deciding which version is primary and which is secondary.

 

     For a number of reason, the ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ appears to be from a Jewish original.

 

1. The role of Sedrach as explorer of the Divine will and mediator for Divine compassion does not fit the Christian tradition of either the earlier or later period. In popular Christian tradition, this role is attributed to Mary, the mother of Jesus. For example, in the ­Apocalypse of Mary­, she travels through hell, sees the torments of the sinners, and tearfully pleads with her son for them. As a result he grants them a respite of fifty days in Paradise between Easter and Pentecost.

 

2. The final period of twenty days’ repentance agreed to by the Lord at Sedrach’s pleading seems to be in conflict with much of later Church discipline. Most of the serious sins in the later Church require several years of repentance. See on this Nicolaides (­The Rudder­, Chicago, 1957, 931-952).

 

3. Christian elements such as the Incarnation or the cross are conspicuously absent. Christ plays practically no role at all. He is sent for Sedrach’s soul; but this motif probably originates with the role of Michael (as it is, for example, in the ­Testament of Abraham­), who appears elsewhere in the text. The Christian redactor here has substituted the figure of Christ for the figure of Michael.

 

4. One can detect a change not only in content but in style, when moving from the first section to the last. The difference between the bombastic rhetoric of the sermon on love and the more subtle tones of the apocalypse itself is readily apparent. The contrast is accentuated by a sudden transition from the sermon to the ascent of Sedrach. All of these indicate that the author of the second section is not the author of the Christian homily.

 

5. Several allusions are typically Jewish: (a) the theme of man’s debate with God; (b) the reluctant reduction of the period of penitence at the badgering of the favored seer, which qualifies at the ­leitmotif­ of the Apocalypse of Sedrach­; (c) the ­bath qol­ received by the seer; (d) the belief that this soul filled the entire body (as the scholar Meier relates in the Rabbinic work ­Bere’ sit Rabbah­ 14:9); (e) the tradition about the creation of Adam and Eve, and their comparison to the sun and the moon; (f) the angelology of this document; and (g) those things represented as most beloved by God at ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ 8:2—(among the rivers, the Jordan; among the cities, Jerusalem.).

 

     If James’ date for the ­Apocalypse of Esdras­ (9th century AD) is acceptable, and keeping in mind that the Apocalypse of Sedrach­ is probably dependent upon it, then the likelihood is that the ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ will first see the light of day during the 10th or 11th centuries. Both may very well be much earlier—indeed, Batiffol (“Apocalypses Apocryphes” in Vigouroux’s Dictionaire de la Bible­ I.ii, Paris, 1892, col. 675) suggested the 5th-8th centuries for the ­Apocalypse of Esdras­. In favor of a late date for that work, however, is the fact that there are no certainly identifiable quotations from the tractate in any of the Fathers; nor is there any certain reference to it in any of the Scriptural lists (for though the “Apocalypse of Esdras” mentioned in the ­List of the Sixty Canonical Books­ may be a mention of our apocalypse, it is much more probably a reference to ­II Esdras­). Also in favor of a late date for the ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ are (1) the fact that its language abounds in neo-Greek forms and constructions, and (2) the fact that it, too, is not mentioned in any of the surviving lists of apocryphal books.

 

     On the other hand, the use ­in the book­ of early sources abounds.

 

1. Some scholars (e.g., Meyer, “Sedrach-Apokalypse” in ­Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart­ V, 1961, col. 1631) have claimed to be able to detect at various points evidence for the use of Jewish sources which were not used by the authors of the Esdras books. And however that may be, it is certain that such features as the introduction of Christ as the speaker at Apocalypse of Sedrach­ 12:1—(Christ said to him, Enoch, Sedrach.)—the references to apostles, gospels, services and holy churches mentioned at ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ 14:10-12—(And they pay no attention either to the apostles, nor to my word in the gospels; and they make my angels sad. And more, in my assemblies and services they do not respect my messenger. Neither do they keep quiet in my holy churches, but instead of falling on their knees in fear and trembling, they stand up and make fine speeches, which I do not accept myself, neither do my angels.)—and the knowledge of books of the ­Received New Testament­ displayed at ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ 6:5, 7:7-8, 14:5-6 and 15:3-7--(What father is there, tell me, who after giving his son his share of his estate, and his son, after taking what was now his, left his father, and went away into a foreign land and became the slave of a foreign master— ... How was it that thou didst say, Lord, Do not repay evil for evil? How is it, Lord? The word of thy Godhead never lies: so why dost thou reward man thus? Dost thou not will evil for evil? ... Do you not know, Sedrach, that there are Gentiles who, though they have not the Law, yet fulfill the requirements of the law? For even though they are unbaptised, yet my divine spirit has entered into them, and they are converted to my baptism, and I receive them with my righteous ones in Abraham's bosom. ... And the Lord said to Sedrach, Do you not know, Sedrach, that the robber was saved at one critical moment when he repented? Do you not know that my apostle and evangelist was also himself saved at one critical moment? But sinners are not so saved, because their hearts are like a decaying stone—those are those who follow unholy paths and are to be destroyed with Antichrist. Sedrach said, My Lord, thou didst also say, My divine spirit entered into the Gentiles, who though they have not the law yet fulfill the requirements of the law. As with the robber, and the apostle and evangelist, and the others who have attained to thy kingdom, My Lord,)—are all incontrovertibly Christian features. Charles organizes them by chapters of the apocalypse, as follows:

 

Parallels Between the Received New Testament and the Apocalypse of Sedrach

 

Chapter 1 I Peter­ 4:8, ­I Corinthians­ 13:1-3, ­I John­ 4:20-21, Matthew­ 22:40, ­Romans­ 13:10, ­John­ 15:13.

Chapter 2 Revelation­ 1:12.

Chapter 6 Luke­ 15:11-24.

Chapter 7 ­Romans­ 12:17, ­I Thessalonians­ 5:15, ­I Peter­ 3:9.

Chapter 14 Luke­ 16:22.

Chapter 15 Matthew­ 9:13, ­Luke­ 23:43, ­Romans­ 2:14.

 

2. Although there is general agreement that the ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ dates, in its final redacted form, to the Byzantine period, the probability that the apocalypse is shaped out of much earlier material is accepted by most scholars. James (­Apocrypha Anecdota I: Texts and Studies­, Cambridge, 1893, 129ff) and Denis (Introduction­, 98) believe that ­Sedrach­ received its final form around the 10th or 11th century AD, but that the author drew upon materials which extended back to an earlier age; and Stone (“Prophets, Lives of the” in ­Encyclopedia Judaica­ XIII, cols. 1149-1150) and Charlesworth (“The Pseudepigrapha of Modern Research”­ in Nickelsburg’s Septuagint and Cognate Studies­ VII, Missoula, 1976, 178) have argued that the materials so used must have dated from the early centuries of the Christian Era. Much of the doctrinal content of Sedrach­ is atypical of medieval Christianity; many other elements of the apocalypse are more Jewish than Christian; and where “Christ” is briefly mentioned, the name seems to be substituted for the name of the Jewish archangel Michael.

 

3. It appears then that the original ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ was at some time put together with one or more Christian sermons on love, repentance, orthodoxy, and the Second Coming of Christ. In the course of time all but the sermon on love and the apocalypse itself dropped out, with the remainder of the collection still bearing the more inclusive title, but now being attributed to the main character, Sedrach. It may be fairly stated, then, that the sermon on love is a product of Byzantine Christianity, and that the apocalypse itself originated in Jewish circles. While no precise dates can be given, it appears that the work was originally composed between 150-500AD; and that it was joined together with the sermon on love and received its final form shortly after 1000AD. Nothing further can be said about the place of composition.

 

[ANT, 26; JHC, 605-613; AOT, 953, 966]

 

***

 

XII: EZRA

 

66. The Fourth Book of Ezra

 

     The book known as ­IV Ezra­ enjoyed great popularity among the Christians of Antiquity, and has been preserved for us in many translations. It was even included in the Latin translation of the ­Received Text­ made by Jerome of Strido (d.420) known as the ­Vulgate­; and is traditionally included among the Apocrypha of English Bibles under the title ­II Esdras­, which practice began in the Geneva Bible of 1560. In reality, however, the book is composed of three separate parts. This is confirmed by the evidence of the Latin version (in which redaction alone the entire tractate has survived) of the ­Vulgate­, which has two additional chapters at the beginning and at the end of the book (they are missing in the Oriental texts of the ­Received Bible­). Two of these chapters appear either before or after ­IV Ezra­ 3-14; and the other two form an appendix. [These appear in the Latin Bible as chapters 1 and 2, and 15 and 16, respectively; though the three parts have been discovered organized chronologically 3-14, 1-2, 15-16 and also 3-16, 1-2 (Codex Mazarinaeus).] All four chapters are available only in Latin; but linguistic observations point to the existence at one time of a Greek original; and this has been confirmed for chapters 15-16 by the discovery by Hunt (­The Oxyrhynchus Papyri­ VII, 1910, 11ff) of a small Greek fragment of ­IV Ezra­ 15:57-59:—(Your children shall die of hunger, and you shall fall by the sword; your cities shall be wiped out, and all your people who are in the open country shall fall by the sword. Those who are in the mountains and highlands shall perish of hunger, and they shall eat of their own flesh in hunger for bread and drink their own blood in thirst for water. Unhappy above all others, you shall come and suffer fresh miseries.).

 

1. Chapters 1-2 form an introductory section beginning ­Liber Esdrae Prophetae Secundus­ and are extant only in Latin. Part of it (especially 2:10-48) is also based on ­Received New Testament­ and Christian belief (e.g., the vision of the multitude of the redeemed; and of the Son of God in 2:42-48, alleged by some to be the only definitely Christian passage in the work). The prophecy of ­IV Ezra­ 1-2 falls into two parts. The first turns against the Jewish people, and the second is concerned with the Christians who must take their place. It is possible that in the first section material from a Jewish text has been used and been worked over by a Christian hand in order to provide an invective against the Jewish people. On the other hand, the second part (­IV Ezra­ 2:10-48), which brings comforting promises to the Christians, is purely Christian, in spite of passages like ­IV Ezra­ 2:33 and 2:42—(I, Ezra, received a command from the Lord on Mount Horeb to go to Israel. When I came to them they rejected me and refused the Lord’s commandment. ... I, Ezra, saw on Mount Zion a great multitude that I could not number, and they all were praising the Lord with songs.)—which are decoration. At ­IV Ezra­ 2:43-47a—(In their midst was a young man of great stature, taller than any of the others, and on the head of each of them he placed a crown, but he was more exalted than they. And I was held spellbound. Then I asked an angel, “Who are these, my lord?” He answered and said to me, “These are they who have put off mortal clothing and have put on the immortal, and have confessed the name of God. Now they are being crowned, and receive palms.” Then I said to the angel, “Who is that young man who is placing crowns on them and putting palms in their hands?” He answered and said to me, “He is the Son of God, whom they confessed in the world.”)—an innumerable company of Christian martyrs are crowned. This takes us beyond the 1st century; for the young man of great stature has a parallel in the ­Gospel of Peter­, the ­Acts of Perpetua and Felicity­, and the ­Shepherd of Hermas­, and is a literary feature which points to the 2nd century. However, as the argument with Judaism still clearly possesses significance for the author, we ought not to place the writing too late. We may adhere to a date around 200AD for these two chapters.

 

2. Chapters 3-14 form the Ezra apocalypse proper, in which the writer, speaking in the name of Salathiel, relates his visions and discourses with an angel. Chapter 13 contains a vision of the Messiah described as a Son of Man, seen rising from the depths of the sea, who destroys a hostile multitude by the breath of his mouth, after ­II Thessalonians­ 2:8—(And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming.)—and gathers to himself a peaceable multitude (explained as the nine tribes of Israel, 13:39-40). This central section of ­IV Ezra­ was certainly written in Hebrew. It is extant, however, in Syriac, Ethiopic and Arabic versions as well as in Latin. A Greek version (not as yet recovered) is quoted by Clement of Alexandria (­Miscellaneous Studies­ 3:16), and at ­Apostolic Constitutions­ 8:7. The visions of the Eagle (chapters 11-12) and of the Son of Man, and the story of Ezra and the canon (chapter 14), were believed by Box (“The Ezra-Apocalypse, Being Chapters 3-14 of the Book Commonly Known as IV Ezra, or II Esdras” in Bensley’s edition of the Latin text in ­Texts and Studies­ III.2, Cambridge, 1895) to be of different authorship from the rest of chapters 3-14. Chapters 3-14—the apocalypse proper—is dated by most scholars after the fall of Jerusalem (70AD), and reasons are advanced for placing it not later than the reign of Hadrian (117-138AD).

 

It can be seen—and is further explored, below—that quite disparate elements are represented in chapters 3-14. There has been, therefore, not a little debate as to whether the book is the product of a redactor who combined the diverse productions of several authors; or whether, despite more or less minor inconsistencies arising from the utilization of varying traditions, the artistry of the book suggests the hand of a single author who managed to fit heterogeneous details into a more or less coherent scheme. Kabisch (­Das Veirte Buch Esra auf Seine Quellen Untersucht­, 1889) and de Faye (­Les Apocalypses Juives­, 1892, 115ff) first challenged the unity of ­IV Ezra­, and believed they discovered within the work no less than ­five­ separate works: (a) an ­Apocalypse of Salathiel­; (b) the Ezra apocalypse proper; (c) an Eagle vision; (d) a Son-of-Man vision; and (e) a fragment of another Ezra book. These parts were assigned various dates, but all fell within the 1st century AD, except (d), which was held to be of the 1st century BC. Kabisch and de Faye were followed by Charles (­Critical History of the Doctrine of a Future Life­, 338) and Box (­The Ezra-Apocalypse­, 1912; and in Charles’ ­Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha­ II, 551); and they apparently by Dentan (The Apocrypha, Bridge of the Testaments­, 1954, 93ff), Filson (­Which Books Belong to the Bible?­, 1957, 75-76), and Metzger (­An Introduction to the Apocrypha­, 1957, 22-23). Charles and Box, to some extent, modified Kabisch’s view.

 

James (in Bensly & James, ­The Fourth Book of Ezra­, 1895, lxxxix; Journal of Theological Studies­ XVIII, 1917, 167ff; XIX, 1918, 347ff; and ­Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament­, 1920, 79-80) as early as 1895 expressed his doubts on the subject of this dissection, and later definitely rejected it. Meanwhile, a whole series of other scholars—Clemen (­Theologische Studien und Kritiken­ LXXI, 1898, 237ff), Lagrange (­Revue Biblique­ XIV, New Series II, 1905, 486ff), Porter (­The Messages of the Apocalyptical Writers­, 1905, 336), Vaganay (­Le Probleme Eschatologique Dans le IV Livre d’Esdras­, 1906, 7ff), Sanday (in the preface to Box’s ­Ezra-Apocalypse­, 5ff), Burkitt (­Jewish and Christian Apocalypses­, 1914, 41-42; and ­Proceedings of the British Academy­ XVII, 1931, 443), Keulers (­Die Eschatologische Lehre des Vierten Esrabuches­, 1922, 41fdf), Violet (Die Apokalypsen des Esra und des Baruch­, 1924, xliiff), and Fry (­Les Dires Prophetiques d’Esdras­ I, 1938, xcivff)—had rejected the view. Although such a question cannot, perhaps, be regarded as permanently settled, many scholars today tend to regard chapters 3-14 as representing the author’s own conception and handiwork.

 

3. Chapters 15-16, which are no part of the apocalypse proper, were apparently written as an appendix to ­IV Ezra­, and in some manuscripts are separately reckoned as ­VI Ezra­ (though they appear never to have been separately current with the rest of the book.) It would appear not unlikely that the author of this section took over and adapted for his purpose traditions that were already in existence; for in form these chapters consist of a series of prophecies which are only loosely strung together, and in which there is no attempt to develop a sustained argument. The prophecies imitate the style of, and draw their inspiration from, ­Received Old Testament­ prophecy. The background of ­IV Ezra­ 15-16 is a period of persecution, for the author threatens judgment to the oppressors and attempts to comfort and encourage those who are being persecuted. These latter are apparently Christians, and the work is apparently a Christian composition, but although there are a number of parallels with the ­Received New Testament­, the Christian coloring of the text is not very marked. However, in its present form, it does seem likely that 15-16 is a Christian work, and that its character is perhaps to be explained by the assumption that the Christian author made use of already existing Jewish traditions. Allusions have been detected, particularly at ­IV Ezra­ 15:28-33—(What a terrifying sight, appearing from the east! The nations of the dragons of Arabia shall come out with many chariots, and from the day that they set out, their hissing shall spread over the earth, so that all who hear them will fear and tremble. Also the Carmonians, raging in wrath, shall go forth like wild boars from the forest, and with great power they shall come and engage them in battle, and with their tusks they shall devastate a portion of the land of the Assyrians with their teeth. And then the dragons, remembering their origin, shall become still stronger; and if they combine in great power and turn to pursue them, then these shall be disorganized and silence by their power, and shall turn and flee. And from the land of the Assyrians an enemy in ambush shall attack them and destroy one of them, and fear and trembling shall come upon their army, and indecision upon their kings.)—which make it seem likely that what is being referred to is the attack of King Sapor I of Persia; the name Carmonian is derived from Carmania (Kirman, the southern province of the Parthian empire)—upon the Roman province of Syria, and consequently that they were composed in the latter part of the 3rd century AD. The place of composition is more difficult to determine. References to events in the east suggest the eastern part of the Roman Empire; it is not possible to be more precise.

 

Descriptions of all eight linguistic remains of ­IV Ezra­ are discussed below:

 

1. LATIN. The Latin version of ­IV Ezra­ comprises two families: (a) a French group, represented by the oldest known copy of ­IV Ezra­ (Codex Sangermanensis, dated 822AD, and the parent of the vast majority of extant manuscripts), and also a Carolingian minuscule of the 9th century (Codex Ambianensis), which contains a section (7:36-105) physically cut out of (a); and (b) a Spanish group, represented by (i) a manuscript written in a Visigothic hand of the 9th-10th centuries (Codex Complutensis), (ii) a second codex of the 11th century (Codex Mazarinaeus), in which the text of ­IV Ezra­ is given in the sequence of chapters 3\16\1\2, and (iii) some other secondary witnesses, among which one (Codex Legionensis) has a sharply divergent text, the result [so Violet, (op. cit.­)] of a writer of independent spirit. (In general the French family represents a superior text.)

 

2. SYRIAC. Versions of ­IV Ezra­ in Syriac may be found in de Boer & Baars (­The Old Testament in Syriac According to the Peshitta Version­ IV.3, edited on behalf of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament by the Peshitta Institute of the University of Leiden); and in Bidawid (Apocalypse of Baruch.IV Esdras­, Leiden, 1973.)

 

3. ETHIOPIC. Dillmann (­Veteris Testamenti Aethiopici V: Libri Apocryphi­, Berlin, 1894, 152-193) has edited the Ethiopic version, based on 10 manuscripts. It is a rather free rendering, of little value in reconstructing the original text of the work.

 

4. ARMENIAN. Stone (`”The Armenian Version of IV Ezra,” University of Pennsylvania Armenian Texts and Studies I, Missoula, 1979) has produced the best Armenian edition to date (1983), based on 22 manuscripts. Like the Ethiopic, the Armenian version is of little value in reconstructing the text of the original book.

 

5. ARABIC. There are 3 versions of the Arabic text: (a) the so-called “Arab 1,” consisting of two manuscripts—the original, dated 1354AD and a copy of it—and published by Ewalt (“Die Virete Ezrabuch Nach Seinem Zeitalter, Seinen Arabischen Ubersetzungen und Einer Neuen Wiederherestellung” in Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen­ XI, 1863); (b) “Arab 2,” contained in a complete manuscript of the 14th century, published by Gildemeister (­Esdreae Liber Quartus Arabice e Codice Vaticano­, Bonn, 1877), and in two incomplete manuscripts; and (c) what may one day be called “Arab 3” (H), two further fragments of an Arabic version independent of Arab 1 and Arab 2, the details of which are published by Violet [Die Esra-Apocalypse (IV. Esra)]; Teil (“Die Uberlieferung” in Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der Ersten Drei Jahrhunderte­ XVIII, Leipzig, 1910, xxxix); and Graf (Geschichte der Christlichen Arabischen Literatur­ I, Vatican City, 1944, 219-221). For details of a newly identified witness, see Stone (“A New Manuscript of the Syrio-Arabic Version of the Fourth Book of Ezra” in ­Journal for the Study of Judaism­ VIII, 1977, 183-184).

 

6. COPTIC. A fragmentary parchment leaf in the Sahidic dialect, containing ­IV Ezra­ 3:29-46 and dating from the 6th-8th centuries, was edited by Leipoldt & Violet (“Ein Saidisches Bruchstuck des Vierten Esrabuches” in Zeritschrift für Agyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde­ XLI, 1904, 138-140).

 

7. GEORGIAN. Portions of ­IV Ezra­ are contained in two manuscripts dated 978AD and 1050AD, respectively. The earlier of the two contains excerpts comprising about two-thirds of the book. According to Blake (“The Georgian Text of Fourth Esdras from the Jerusalem Manuscript” in ­Harvard Theological Review­ XIX, 1926, 299-375 and “The Georgian Text of Fourth Esdras from the Athos Manuscript” in Harvard Theological Review­ XXII, 1929, 57-105) they both go back to the same archetype, and that by no means a remote one. He also is of the opinion that the Georgian and the Ethiopic versions also go back to a single Greek archetype. In a more recent study, Kourtsikidze (­Versions Georgiennes des Livres Apocryphes de l’Ancien Testament­ II, Tiflis, 1973, 270-308) finds that the Georgian texts edited by Blake are represented also by a fragment of the Paris Lectionary (edited by M. Tarchnichvili).

 

8. GREEK. A tiny scrap of papyrus found at Oxyrhynchus, dating from about the 4th century, preserves IV Ezra­ 15:57-59. There is also a ­condensation­ in Greek of chapters 11 and 12, contained in a manuscript dated 1656AD. When compared with that of the several versions of ­IV Ezra­, it appears that the condensation was made from the current Latin form of the book. The relation of the extant versions of chapters 3-14 to each other and to a lost original has received prolonged and repeated study. Not a few instances have been collected in which differences between the several versions (with the possible exception of the Armenian) can be explained by presupposing corruptions or in misunderstanding of a Greek text underlying them. (a) At ­Sedrach­ 8:6, the Latin ­locum­ obviously arose from misreading the Greek typon­ as topon­. (b) At ­Sedrach­ 9:19, the Latin and Oriental versions took the Greek ­nomos­ (accented on the first syllable) as law (which does not fit the context) to be the correct word, instead of ­nomos­ (accented on the second syllable, and meaning pasture, which does fit the context. (c) The Latin sometimes reproduces Greek constructions, or Greek genders that are unknown to Latin grammar. (d) Furthermore, quotations of ­IV Ezra­ included in Greek Patristic and apocryphal documents presuppose knowledge of a Greek version of the book.

 

9. HEBREW. There remain many phenomena that suggest a Semitic original lying behind the largely lost Greek text. Three scholars—Fry [­Les Dires Prophetiques d’Esdras (IV. Esdreas)­, Paris, 1938, xxiii-lxxvi)]; Torrey (Apocalyptic Literature­, 122); and Bloch (“The Ezra Apocalypse: Was it Written in Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic?” in Jewish Quarterly Review­ XLVIII, 1957-78, 279-294)—have argued that this was Aramaic. On the other hand, the presence of instances of notable Hebraisms (e.g., the infinitive absolute construction) has led most modern scholars to postulate a Hebrew original underlying the Greek.

 

     Verbal or conceptual parallels with New-Testament-Form and Old-Testament-Form literatures abound.

 

1. Several striking parallels can be found between ­IV Ezra­ and ­I Enoch­, particularly ­I Enoch­ 37-71, the latest section of that book. These include ­IV Ezra­ 6:49-52 & ­I Enoch­ 60:7-9; ­IV Ezra­ 7:32-33 & ­I Enoch­ 51:1 and 51:3; and ­IV Ezra­ 7:37 & ­I Enoch­ 62:1.

 

2. Many scholars have pointed to a very considerable number of parallel passages between ­IV Ezra­ and ­II Baruch­. See on them Bogaert (“Apocalypse de Baruch. Introduction, Traduction du Syriaque et Commentaire,” Sources Chretiennes­ CXLIV, Paris, 1969, I, 58-67); and Thompson (“Responsibility for Evil in the Theodicy of IV Ezra,” Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series­ XXIX, Missoula, 1977, 121-127). The latter work, which on the whole represents a point of view and a theological outlook somewhat more in accordance with later rabbinical Judaism than ­IV Ezra­, appears to have been written as an answer to the perplexities mentioned by the seer. Many students of the matter, have presumed that ­II Baruch­ and IV Ezra­ simply have the same author. This surmise is based on the close connections between the two, in substance and even in wording: the author of ­II Baruch­ also writes under the oppressive impact of the destruction of the Temple in 70AD; and like ­IV Ezra­, ­II Baruch­ is divided into seven parts. On the other hand, though this close kinship certainly suggests the assumption of some sort of dependent relationship between the two writings, there is no unanimous opinion as to which of the two is the earlier. If ­IV Ezra­ used ­II Baruch­, ­II Baruch­ would have to have been written shortly after the destruction of the Temple in 70AD. If ­II Baruch­ used ­IV Ezra­, than the first third of the 2nd century AD comes into consideration as the time of the writing of ­II Baruch­. Of course, there is no need to assume a direct dependence of either upon the other, since we cannot rule out the possibility that the connections between the two works are based on the use of common traditions or on the work of a “school.”

 

3. A number of resemblances in thought and diction with the Received New Testament­ occur in chapters 3-14. (a) At ­IV Ezra­ 7:6-7—(another example: There is a city built and set on a plain, and it is full of all good things; but the entrance to it is narrow and set in a precipitous place, so that there is fire on the right hand and deep water on the left.)—the writer speaks of the narrow entrance that leads to the abode of the righteous; similarly also at Matthew­ 7:13-14—(Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.). (b) At ­IV Ezra­ 8:3—(Many have been created, but only a few shall be saved.)—there seems ready comparison with ­Matthew­ 22:14 and ­Luke­ 13:24—(For many are called, but few are chosen. ... Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.). (c) At ­IV Ezra­ 4:33—(Then I answered and said, “How long? When will these things be? Why are our years few and evil?”)—compare the words of the disciples with those of the apostles at ­Luke­ 21:7—(They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?”). (d) At ­IV Ezra­ 10:7—(For Zion, the mother of us all, is in deep grief and great distress.)—the personification compares favorably with that at Galatians­ 4:26—(But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother.). (e) At ­IV Ezra­ 7:61—(I will not grieve over the great number of those who perish; for it is they who are now like a mist, and are similar to a flame and smoke—they are set on fire and burn hotly, and are extinguished.)—the transience of human life may be compared with that at ­James­ 4:14—(Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.). (f) At ­IV Ezra­ 12:42—(For of all the prophets you alone are left to us, like a cluster of grapes from the vintage, and like a lamp in a dark place, and like a haven for a ship saved from a storm.)—compare the definition of the prophetic word at ­II Peter­ 1:19—(So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.). (g) IV Ezra­ 13:10-11—(but I saw only how he sent forth from his mouth something like a stream of fire, and from his lips a flaming breath, and from his tongue he shot forth a storm of sparks. All these were mingled together, the stream of fire and the flaming breath and the great storm, and fell on the onrushing multitude that was prepared to fight, and burned up all of them, so that suddenly nothing was seen of the innumerable multitude but only the dust of ashes and the smell of smoke. When I saw it, I was amazed.)—finds a parallel in ­II Thessalonians­ 2:8—(And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming.). Finally, (h) between ­IV Ezra­ and the ­Received Revelation­, Box (­op.cit.­, 377) lists some two dozen parallels in his index to passages.

 

     According to most scholars, chapters 3-14 of the original Jewish document known today as ­IV Ezra­ was composed c.100AD. This opinion rests upon a more or less plausible interpretation of the opening sentence, which states that in the thirtieth year after the destruction of the city Ezra was in Babylon and underwent the experiences recounted in the visions that follow 3:1. Although this purports to be in the thirtieth year after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 586BC, it becomes obvious when one begins to study the book that this statement is intended to refer cryptically to the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Since it is difficult to believe that a Jewish book of this kind could have found its way into Christian circles after the Bar-Cochba revolt (132-135AD)—for by this time the Church and the Synagogue had become hopelessly alienated—the date of the completion of the Hebrew original cannot be placed much after 120AD. This would allow time for the Greek version to have been made and taken up in Christian circles. Near the middle or in the second half of the 3rd century AD, four chapters were added—two at the beginning and two at the end—by one or more unknown Christian redactors.

 

     Although several scholars have thought that ­IV Ezra­ 3-14 were composed in Rome among the Jewish Diaspora there—the reference at ­IV Ezra­ 3:1 (above) to Babylon being understood by them as a cryptic reference to Rome—the obviously Semitic coloration of the work rather suggests Palestine as the place of writing and publication of the Hebrew original. There is no trace of any influence from Egyptian Judaism, or from the Qumran community.

 

[KNI, 76-77, 283-284; NTA, II, 689-703; SCH, 196-199; JHC, 517-523; KEE, 191; ROW, 119,156; ODC, 463]

 

67. The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra

 

     The first mention of the ­Greek Apocalypse of Ezra­ (or the Greek Ezra­) seems to have been by Thilo, in his prologue to the ­Acts of Thomas­ (­Codex Apocryphus Novum Testamentum­ I, Leipzig, 1832, lxxxii) where he doubts that it is ­IV Ezra­. The work was first published in 1866 by Tischendorf (­Apocalypses Apocryphae­, Leipzig, 1866) from a 15th century Greek manuscript in very poor condition, preserved in Paris. Only one other text of this work is known to exist, also a Greek text, but of the 16th century, and apparently a direct copy of the 15th century version.

 

     Riessler (­Altjudisches Schrifttum Ausserhalb der Bibel­, Augsburg, 1928, 127-137) has suggested that a Jewish source written in Hebrew underlies the known Greek remains. His chief examples adduced to support this view—(1) that ­Greek Ezra­ 1:20 contains a corruption of a hypothetical ­mdr­ to ­gdr­; (2) that at Greek Ezra­ a supposed barah­ (to eat) was confused with bara­ (to do); (3) that at ­Greek Ezra­ 4:21, apoleia­, supposedly from the Hebrew sht­, was misinterpreted in context; and (4) that at ­Greek Ezra­ 5:23, kolasis­ is a mistranslation of ­pqwdh­—are unlikely, unnecessary, or unconvincing. Most scholars correctly contend that the writing as extant is Christian, and was originally written in Greek. Denis (­Introduction­, 192) presents a summary of views.

 

     Three considerations perceived about the literary nature of the work all point to a late date of composition. (1) The Greek language of the writing is late in character, inelegant, and notable for a number of anomalous forms and usages. (2) There are no certainly identifiable quotations from the apocalypse in any of the Fathers of the church. (3) There is no certain reference to it in any of the surviving lists of Scripture, with the possible exception of the ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century), though the ­Revelation of Ezra­ mentioned there is much more probably a reference to ­IV Ezra­.

 

     Clearly, the ­Greek Ezra­ stands in the body of the Ezra tradition. The similarities between this work and what may be regarded as its model, ­IV Ezra­, are numerous. The very form of the Greek Ezra­, a dialogue between the prophet Ezra and an angel (or God) in which the seer taxes his interlocutor with telling questions, undoubtedly derives from ­IV Ezra­ (so Tischendorf, op.cit.­, xii). A number of the topics raised are clearly taken from ­IV Ezra­, even though the ­Greek Ezra­ treats them or expresses them differently. In a number of cases, however, there is more or less a literal use of the text of ­IV Ezra­ by the ­Greek Ezra­---these parallels are conveniently set forth by Violet—and many words and expressions strongly resemble ­IV Ezra­. Moreover, the literary framework of the Greek Ezra­ is of a perfunctory nature, a fact which emphasizes its dependence on ­IV Ezra­. Perhaps the closest of these verbal parallels lie (1) in the dating of Ezra’s vision [Greek Ezra­ 1:1 & ­IV Ezra­ 3:1—It came to pass in the thirty-second year and on the twentieth day of the month I was in my house. ... In the thirtieth year after the fall of Jerusalem, I, Salathiel (who am also Ezra), was in Babylon.]; (2) in the instruction to Ezra to fast (­Greek Ezra­ 1:3-5 & ­IV Ezra­ 5:13, 6:31 and 6:35—And when it was night there came an angel, Michael the archangel, and he said to me, From tomorrow, Esdras, you must abstain from food for seventy weeks. And I fasted as he told me. And Raphael, the prince came and gave me an incense stick. And I fasted for twice sixty weeks, and I saw God’s mysteries and his angels. ... But turn again to prayer, continue to weep and fast for seven days; and then you shall hear further signs, even greater than these.’ ... If once again you pray and fast for seven days, then I will return to tell you even greater things. ... Thereupon I wept and fasted again for seven days in the same way as before, thus completing the three weeks enjoined on me. On the eighth night I was again disturbed at heart, and spoke to the Most High.); (3) in the description of Adam as the work of God’s hands followed by the details of how he was set in Paradise and there transgressed the Divine command (­Greek Ezra­ 2:10-16 & ­IV Ezra­ 3:5-7—(And the Prophet said, Who made the first-formed Adam, the first man? And God said, My unsullied hands. And I set him in Paradise to keep the pasture of the tree of life. But he then set his mind on disobedience and transgressed. And the prophet said, Was he not guarded by an angel? And was he not watched over by the cherubim in this life so that he might come to the world that has no end? How then was it that he who was watched over by angels was deceived? Thou didst specifically command him to take heed and to conform to what thou didst say to him. ... You commanded the dust, and Adam appeared. His body was lifeless; but yours were the hands that had molded it, and into it you breathed the breath of life. So you made him a living person. You led him into Paradise, which you yourself had planted before the earth came into being. You gave him your one commandment to obey; he disobeyed it, and thereupon you made him subject to death, him and his descendants.); (4) in the repeated assertion that it were better that man never have been born than to come into this world (­Greek Ezra­ 1:6, 121, 5:9, 5:14 & ­IV Ezra­ 4:12, 7:116—(And I said to them, I would plead with God for the race of Christians, it were better for man not to have been born than to come into the world. ... And Esdras said, It were better for man not to have been born, better not to be alive: ... And I wept bitterly and said, Better were it for a man not to have come out of his mother’s womb. ... And the prophet said, Lord, better were it for the man not to have been born. When I heard that, I fell prostrate and exclaimed: ‘Better never to have come into existence than to be born into a world of wickedness and suffering which we cannot explain!’ ... I replied, ‘But this is my point, my first point and my last: how much better it would have been if the earth had never produced Adam at all, or, since it has done so, if he had been restrained from sinning!); and (5) in the comparison made between the farmer who sows wheat seed in the earth and the man who sows his seed in the field of a woman (­Greek Ezra­ 5:12-13 & ­IV Ezra­ 8:41—And God said, Listen my beloved Esdras. Just as a farmer sows wheat seed in the earth, so also a man sows his seed in the field of a woman. During the first month it remains as it was, in the second it increases in size, in the third it grows hair, in the fourth it grows nails, in the fifth it takes milk for food, in the sixth it become ready and receives its soul, in the seventh it prepares itself, and in the ninth\fn{No eighth month is mentioned in this text.} the doors of the woman’s womb are opened and it is born safe and sound upon the earth. ... The farmer sows many seeds in the ground and plants many plants, but not all the seeds sown come up safely in season, nor do all the plants strike root. So too in the world of men: not all who are sown will be preserved.). (Here we are especially left with the impression that the form of this story was originally the parable as it appears in ­IV Ezra­, and that somehow the original point of this story has been lost, although certain key words have been preserved. In addition, the tale as told in the ­Greek Ezra­, though intelligible, does not help the argument in the text, and it is difficult to see why it has been placed there; whereas the tale as told in ­IV Ezra­ is clear, the argument is illuminated, and the comparison fits the context admirably.)

 

     The ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ and the ­Vision of Ezra­ are both closely related to the ­Greek Ezra­ and ­IV Ezra­. Sedrach­ has expressions in common with the ­Greek Ezra­ that do not occur in IV Ezra­, while nearly all its allusions to ­IV Ezra­ also occur in the ­Greek Ezra­. It is, therefore, tempting to think, as James (­Apocrypha Anecdota: Texts and Studies­ II.2, Cambridge, 1893, 129) did, that Sedrach­ was based on another form of the materials in the Greek Ezra­, perhaps with some access to ­IV Ezra­. A similar situation was observed to obtain as to the relationship between the ­Greek Ezra­ and the ­Vision of Ezra­.

 

     That there is an intimate connection between the ­Greek Ezra­ and the ­Received New Testament­ seems equally clear. This takes two forms: (A) the outright mention of Christians and apostles in general, and by specific name; and (B) obvious borrowing from ­Received Scripture­ itself.

 

(A)

 

     As to the first, (1) Ezra pleads three times for the Christians at 1:6, 2:7 and 5:1—(And I said to them, I would plead with God for the race of Christians: it were better for man not to have been born than to come into the world. ... As the Lord lives, I will not cease pleading with thee on behalf of the race of Christians. ... And the prophet said, Have mercy, Lord, on the race of Christians.); (2) Paul and John are mentioned at 1:19—(And God said, I would have you as Paul and John: you offer me freely, uncorrupt, the inviolable treasure, the precious jewel of virginity, the rampart of men.); (3) all the apostles are mentioned at 2:1—(While I was talking thus with him, Michael came, and Gabriel, and all the apostles, and said, Hail, faithful man of God.); and (4) Peter, Paul, Luke and Matthias are mentioned at 5:22—(And I saw there Enoch and Elijah and Moses and Peter and Paul and Luke and Matthias and all the righteous and patriarchs.).

 

(B)

 

     As to the second, (1) for ­Greek Ezra­ 2:17 compare ­Romans­ 9:18—(As for thee, whom thou willest thou dost save, and whom thou willest thou dost destroy. ... So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills.); (2) for ­Greek Ezra­ 2:25a compare ­Matthew­ 27:24a—(They gave me vinegar and gall to drink, ... they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall;); (3) for ­Greek Ezra­ 2:32 compare ­Hebrews­ 11:12—(Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”); (4) for ­Greek Ezra­ 3:3a compare ­II Timothy­ 4:1b, 4:8d, and ­Titus­ 2:13—(And God said, My prophet, my chosen one, no man may know that great day and the manifestation ... And by his appearing and his kingdom; ... and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. ... awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,); (5) for ­Greek Ezra­ 3:12-13 compare Mark­ 13:7-8, 13:12-13, and 13:28-29—(And when you see that brother betrays brother to death, and children turn against parents, and a wife leaves her own husband, and when nation makes war upon nation, then you will know that the end is near. ... And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines; this is but the beginning of the sufferings. ... And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. ... ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.); (6) for ­Greek Ezra­ 3:13d compare Matthew­ 24:7a—(For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, ... and when nation makes war upon nation, then you will know that the end is near.); (7) for ­Greek Ezra­ 4:11 compare Matthew­ 2:16b—(And they said to me, this is Herod who for a short spell was a king, and ordered the slaughter of the babes from two years old and under. ... Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, was in a furious rage, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under,); (8) for ­Greek Ezra­ 4:36 compare ­I Corinthians­ 15:52—(And after this a trumpet will sound, and the tombs will be opened, and the dead will be raised incorruptible. ... in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.); (9) for ­Greek Ezra­ 4:30a compare Revelation­ 2:28 and 22:16b—(His right eye is like the Daystar, ... and I will give him the morning star. ... I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star.’); (10) for ­Greek Ezra­ 4:32 compare ­Matthew­ 11:23 and ­Luke­ 10:15—(He has been exalted to Heaven: to Hell shall he descend. ... And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to Heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. ... And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to Heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades.); (11) for Greek Ezra­ 6:3c and 6:17b compare ­I Timothy­ 6:20a and ­II Timothy­ 1:14—(and give up what was entrusted to you. ... Give up to me what was entrusted to you-- ... O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. ... guard the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit and dwells within us.); and (12) for Greek Ezra­ 6:17c compare ­II Timothy­ 4:8a—(... the crown has been made ready for you. ... Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness,).

 

     There are, in short, Christian features discernible on almost every page. The conclusion based upon such evidence is that the work as it stands is patently Christian, and although attempts have been made to explain it as a fundamentally Jewish work with extensive Christian interpolations, they can hardly be said to have been successful. The ­Greek Ezra­ is a Christian composition in which a series of sources, Jewish and Christian, have been utilized. The whole has been put together in a somewhat crude fashion, however, and the writing is characterized by literary unevenness and inconsistency, repetitions, and a measure of incoherence. The corrupt state of the Paris manuscript makes it possible that amelioration of the text by recourse to a broader range of witnesses might obviate some clumsy passages; yet their abundance makes it unlikely that they are all the result of textual corruption. [The problem of defining Jewish and Christian materials in such works as this is commented on by Kraft (“The Multiform Jewish Heritage of Early Christianity” in Neusner’s ­Christianity, Judaism and Other Graeco-Roman Cults­, Leiden, 1975, 174-199).]

 

     Various dates of composition have been suggested. James (­Apocrypha Anecdota: Texts and Studies­ II.iii, Cambridge, 1893, 113) thought the book to have been written as late as the 9th century AD. Batiffol thought earlier and more generally (“Apocalypses Apocryphes” in Vigouroux’s ­Dictionaire de la Bible­ I.ii, Paris, 1892, col. 765) and suggested any time between the 5th-8th centuries. The dependence of the writing on ­IV Ezra­ and its Christian character indicate a date sometime in the first millennium. If this is the writing referred to in the Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­, then our search is narrowed to between the 2nd and the 7th centuries. The problem is compounded because the work clearly conveys no historical information in the ordinary sense of the word; indeed, in the broad context of Byzantine apocalyptic writing, it is an important witness of the way in which older Jewish apocalyptic traditions were ­taken over and reused­ by the Church.

 

[JHC, 561-579; AOT, 927-941; ANF, VIII, 358, 571-574]

 

68. The Latin ­Visio Beati Esdrae­

 

     The ­Latin Visio Beati Esdrae­, here called the ­Latin Ezra­, occupies a niche of some uniqueness within the family of Ezra-works. Indeed, when as a whole it is compared with the others, it looks very much as if the author was concerned to concentrate on one element only in the tradition—namely, the details of the torments of the damned. No doubt he has himself elaborated it and developed it. But the result has been that all the other elements in the tradition are virtually ignored. In short, the ­Latin Ezra­ contains a more expanded form of the descent into Tartarus and the “hanging” punishments, without the material on the Antichrist. That is why, for example, that the fundamental question of why God created man and then arranged things so that he suffers as he does (a question which is discussed at some length in the other Ezra materials) gets only a very cursory mention in the ­Latin Ezra­, and then only at the very end of the work.

 

     The ­Latin Ezra­ is preserved in eight Latin manuscripts, which date from the 10th to the 13th centuries. One of these texts (of the 12th century preserved in the Vatican Library and referred to as manuscript V) is to be preferred over the others; for its language is closer to the earlier, classical Latin of the original work than any of the others, all of which suffer from numerous vulgarities of language, syntax, and spelling common to the medieval period. Until recently, only two other manuscripts of the ­Vision of Ezra­ were known: (1) one of the late 12th or early 13th century, allied to the family of manuscripts represented by V, and found in Heiligenkruz (H); and (2) one of the 10th or 11th century, found in Linz (L). Then in 1977 Wahl (“Apocalypsis Esdrae. Apocalypsis Sedrach. Vision Beati Esdrae.” in ­Pseudepigrapha Veteris Testamenti Graece­, Leiden, 1977, 584) discovered four new manuscripts in Austria that contain the ­Vision of Ezra­: one of the 12th century (K); and three of the 13th century (Lf, M and Z). These manuscripts contain innumerable textual variants, few of which significantly alter the sense of the three major witnesses (V,H,L), being primarily spelling differences, word omissions and transpositions, and minor additions. An eighth manuscript (of the longer recension; both long and short recensions are discussed below) seems to have been pointed out by Dinzelbacher (“Die Vision Alberichs und die Esdra-Apokryphe” in Studien und Mitteilungen zur Geschich-te der Benediktiner-Ordens­, Othobeuen, 1976, 435-442), who discusses some of the relationships between the Vision of Esdras­ and medieval apocalyptic literature.

 

     Few as they are, the manuscripts divide into two families: a longer (represented by V and its allies); and a shorter (L, ­et.al.­). Three demarcations seem to be involved: (1) There are several noteworthy divergences in basic subject-matter between V and L (e.g., additional classes of sinners appear in L, but are entirely absent from V). (2) There are continual differences in wording throughout, especially in the order of words, even when the same words are used. (3) Whereas in V the narrative refers consistently to Ezra in the third person, in L, Ezra almost invariably speaks of himself in the first person.

 

     That the ­Latin Ezra­ is related in some way to the ­Greek Ezra­ is certain.

 

1. In both the Latin and Greek works, Ezra is taken on a tour of the nether regions to inspect the torments of the damned and is conducted down a series of steps by angels (­Latin Ezra­ :2, :12, :59 and ­Greek Ezra­ 4:8, 4:13, 4:15, 4:19)—(And seven angels of Tartarus were given him, who carried him down seventy steps into the nether regions. ... And they led him a further fifty steps lower down; and he saw there men standing and undergoing punishment. ... And they led him down into the nether regions a further fourteen steps. ... And I went down eighty-five steps; and they took me down another five hundred steps. ... And again they led me down a further thirty steps, and I saw there a seething fire, ... And they led me down many steps lower still, which I could not count. ... And they led me down again another five hundred steps.).

 

2. In both the Latin and the Greek works Ezra asks the angels who the particular individuals are that are undergoing particular punishments; he received answers ­in the form­: These are ... ; and he then beseeches God for mercy on each particular class of sinner. Some of the punishments described in both books are, of course, similar, as is inevitable in this type of literature, and so also are some of the sinners; but especially significant for the literary­ relationship between the two works are (a) the descriptions in each of King Herod seated on a fiery throne (­Latin Ezra­ :37-:39 and ­Greek Ezra­ 4:9-12)—(And he saw a man sitting on a fiery throne, and from the fire his servants ministered to him on every side, and his counselors stood round about him in the fire. And Esdras said, Who is that? And the angels said, That man was king for many years, Herod by name, who in Bethlehem of Judah killed young children because of the Lord. And Esdras said, Lord, thou hast pronounced a proper judgment. ... And I saw a fiery throne, and upon it an old man was sitting, and his judgment was merciless. And I said to the angels, Who is this, and what was his sin? And they said to me, This is Herod who for a short spell was a king, and ordered the slaughter of the babes from two years old and under. And I said, Alas for his soul.); (b) the descriptions of the punishment of the incestuous (­Latin Ezra­ :19-:21 and ­Greek Ezra­ 4:22-24)—(And again they took him and set him down at the south; and he saw a fire, and poor people hanging up, both men and women, and angels were beating them with fiery cudgels. And Esdras said, Who are those? And the angels said, These are they who had intercourse with their mothers, and yielded to desiring an evil desire. ... And they led me away towards the south, and I saw there a man hanging by his eyelids, and the angels were scourging him. And I asked, Who is this, and what was his sin? And Prince Michael said to me, This man committed incest with his mother; having accomplished his little will he was ordered to be hanged.); and (c) the passage at the end of the Latin Ezra­, where Ezra refused the angelic first offer to take him to Heaven, where he compares man’s lot on earth unfavorably with that of the animals, and where God replies, (I fashioned man in my own image and I commanded them that they should not sin, and they did sin: that is why they are in torments) (which is essentially what happens in the ­Greek Ezra: H).

 

     There are also verbal or conceptual parallels here not only with the ­Greek Ezra­, but also with the Apocalypse of Sedrach­ and ­IV Ezra­.1. With ­Latin Ezra­ :56-:57, compare ­Greek Ezra­ 6:13-15 and Sedrach­ 9:1-3—(Then came Michael and Gabriel and said to him, Come to Heaven. And Esdras said, As my Lord lives, I will not come before I see all the judgments of the sinners. ... Then came a voice to me, Come die, Esdras my beloved, and give up what was entrusted to you. And the prophet said, And how will you get at my soul to take it away? And the angels said, We can get at it and expel it through your mouth. And the prophet said, Mouth to mouth I spoke with God, and it shall not come out from there. And the angels said, Let us take it through your nostrils. And the prophet said, My nostrils have savored the glory of God. And the angels said, Let us get it and take it through your eyes. And the prophet said, My eyes did see the back parts of God. And the angels said, Let us get it and take it through the top of your head. And the prophet said, I walked together with Moses on the mountain-top, and it shall not come out from there. And the angels said, Let us take it and expel it through your toes. And the prophet said, My feet also walked at the altar. And the angels went away without success, saying, Lord, we cannot take his soul. ... And God said to his only-begotten Son, Go, take the soul of my beloved Sedrach, and set it down in Paradise. The only-begotten Son said to Sedrach, Give up what was entrusted to you, what our Father deposited in your mother’s womb, in the holy tabernacle of your body before you were born. Sedrach said, I will not give my soul to thee.).

 

2. With ­Latin Ezra­ :62, compare ­Greek Ezra­ 1:22 and ­IV Ezra­ 7:65-66 and 8:29-30—(And Esdras said, Lord, thou hast dealt more leniently with the animals than with us: they feed on grass and render thee no praises: they die and have no sin; but us thou dost torment both when living and when dead. ... The irrational creatures are better when compared with man, because they have to endure no punishment. ... What sorrow for mankind; what happiness for the wild beasts! What sorrow for every mother's son; what gladness for the cattle and flocks! How much better their lot than ours! They have no judgment to expect, no knowledge of torment or salvation after death. ... Do not destroy those who have lived like animals, but take account of those who have been borne shining witnesses to thy law. Do not be angry with those judged to be worse than beasts; but show love to those who have put unfailing trust in thy glory.).

 

3. With ­Latin Ezra­ :63, compare ­Greek Ezra­ 2:10-12, ­Sedrach­ 4:4-6 and ­IV Ezra­ 3:6-7—(And the Lord said, Esdras, I fashioned man in my own image, and I commanded them that they should not sin, and they did sin: that is why they are in torments. ... And the prophet said, Who made the first-formed Adam, the first man? And God said, My unsullied hands. And I set him in Paradise to keep the pasture of the tree of life. But he then set his mind on disobedience and transgressed. ... God said to him, I made the first-formed Adam, and I set him in Paradise, in the midst of the tree of life; and I said to him, You may eat of all the fruits, only keep away from the tree of life, for if you eat of it, you will most surely die. And he disobeyed my command and was deceived by the devil and ate of the tree. ... You commanded the dust, and Adam appeared. His body was lifeless; but yours were the hands that had molded it, and into it you breathed the breath of life. So you made him a living person. You led him into Paradise, which you yourself had planted before the earth came into being. You gave him your one commandment to obey; he disobeyed it, and thereupon you made him subject to death, him and his descendants.).

 

     None of these last parallels, however, nor indeed any of the others, are sufficiently close to demand ­direct­ literary dependence. They suggest rather that the ­Latin Ezra­ stands squarely in the Ezra apocryphal tradition, and that it is essentially an independent reworking of some of the same material that found its way into ­Greek Ezra­ 4-5.

 

     That the author was a Christian can hardly be denied. It is true that he is less obviously Christian than the author of the ­Greek Ezra­. Indeed, Mercati (“Note di Litteratura Biblica e Christiana Antica” in ­Studi e Testi­ V, Rome, 1901, 70-73) claimed that there are almost no New Testament references in it. The author makes no mention of Christians as such, or of Christian notables. And there are no explicit references in the ­Latin Ezra­ to any of the texts of the ­Received New Testament­, except at :38b—(And the angels said, “That man was a king for many years, Herod by name, who in Bethlehem of Judah killed young children because of the Lord.’)—which certainly comes from ­Matthew­ 2:16—(When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the magi.). This, however, should be coupled with references (1) to the Lord’s Day [V/L/H (:10)]-(The angels said, Those are they who denied the Lord, and on the Lord’s Day sinned with women.); (2) to baptism [V/L/H (:46)]—(Those are the doctors of the law who confused baptism and the law of the Lord, because they used to teach with words only and not follow up their words with deed; and they are judged in this way.); (3) to the Mass [L/H (:10)]—(The angels said, Those are they who denied the Lord, and on the Lord’s Day before Mass sinned with women.); and (4) to confession and penance (V/H :26, V/H :36, and V/H/L :64)—(The angel said, Those are they who in their profit daily made confession in the presence of God and of his holy priests, by doing works of mercy, and by resisting sins.\fn{L has: Those are they who did many works of mercy and clothed the naked.} ... And Esdras said, Who are those? And the angels said, Those were full of every evil, and they passed over without confession and penance.\fn{L omits: and they passed over without confession and penance. L/H then add, however: And he walked on further still and saw a fiery river and a great bridge over it. And some righteous men came and crossed over it with joy and exultation. And some sinners came, and the bridge was reduced to the thinnest thread. And they fell into the river confessing their sins, and saying, We have done every evil thing there is to do, and that is why we are being punished in this way. And they were begging for mercy; but no mercy was granted them.} ... And those who are chosen will go to eternal rest by virtue of confession and penance.\fn{L has: by virtue of penance and prayer and confession.}).

 

     Additionally, Charles alleges eight parallels with the Received New Testament­ not yet mentioned: (1) ­Latin Ezra­ :5-6 with ­Acts­ 9:36, 10:2 and ­Matthew­ 6:2-3; (2) ­Latin Ezra­ :7 with ­Matthew­ 25:36; (3) ­Latin Ezra­ :10 with Revelation­ 14:4; (4) ­Latin Ezra­ :34 with ­Mark­ 9:48; (5) ­Latin Ezra­ :38 with ­Matthew­ 2:16; (6) ­Latin Ezra­ :39 with ­John­ 7:24; (7) ­Latin Ezra­ :46 with Matthew­ 23:1-3; and (8) ­Latin Ezra­ :50 with Romans­ 1:30.

 

     About the languages in which the work may have existed:

 

A. GREEK. There is almost unanimous agreement that the extant Latin Ezra­ is a translation from an earlier Greek work. Two points favor this conclusion: (1) the tangible literary kinship with the ­Greek Ezra­ and Sedrach­, both of which are extant in Greek; and (2) variations within the Latin witness to the ­Latin Ezra­ itself, which are most easily explained as variant translations of a Greek original. None of the examples cited (19 in all) could on their own carry the weight of the hypothesis of a Greek original, but collectively they are capable of bearing such a weight.

 

B. HEBREW. Wahl (­op. cit.­) has also noted a few verses that he claims represent Semitisms. He makes no explicit claims that these few examples represent evidence for a Semitic original, yet his mention of them implies that the possibility might be entertained. On the other hand, such an original is doubtful for two reasons: (1) the previously mentioned literary relationships between the ­Latin Ezra­ to works known only in Greek; and (2) the likelihood that phrases such as the chief one Wahl points out [bonum desiderium desideraverun (they desired a good desire) in verses :7, :17, and :21] may be what are known as “Biblicisms” or “Vulgatisms,” rather than true Semitisms.

 

     There are no historical allusions in the ­Latin Ezra­ that would yield an approximate date for the work. Given the allusion to ­Matthew­ 2:16, the earliest possible date would be the late 1st century AD. That a medieval work of 1111AD (the ­Vision of Alberich­) is literally dependent both on the short and the longer versions of the ­Latin Ezra­, would mean that manuscripts of a Latin form of our book had to be available to the author of the ­Vision of Alberich­ by the date of his writing. But we may perhaps be more specific.

 

1. The upper limit may be lowered somewhat, for two reasons. (a) It appears that the ­Latin Ezra­ (in its Greek dress) lacks many features of classical Intertestamental apocalyptic works such as ­IV Ezra­ or ­II Baruch­—i.e., its features are derivative, not originative. (b) The ­Latin Ezra­ also shares features such as the “hanging” punishments and the journey through the Underworld with many other fragments of the New Testament (H) hitherto unmentioned: the ­Apocalypse of Paul­, ­II Enoch­, the ­Apocalypse of Peter­, the ­Vision of Paul­, the ­Questions of Ezra­ and one of the non-canonical apocalypses attributed to John. While no literary dependence need be postulated, the ­Latin Ezra­ certainly shares the ­zeitgeist­ (ethos) of their era, the 3rd and 4th centuries AD. For these reasons, the Greek original of the ­Latin Ezra­ should probably be dated from 350-600AD.

 

2. The lower limit may be raised slightly to allow time for the original Greek to circulate in translation before being interpolated—which all of them have been, in at least five points in their narratives; and of which at least one point could not have been so interpolated before the late 6th century AD. [See on this the arguments of Dinzelbacher (“Die Vision Alberichs und die Esdras-Apokryphe” in ­Studien und Mitteilungen zur Geschichte des Benediktiner-Ordens­ LXXXVII, 1976, 435-442).] (Thus the extant Latin might have been in circulation from the 7th or 8th century AD, in manuscripts which have yet to be discovered: H)

 

3. Mercati (­op.cit.­, 61-73) drew attention to the fact that the phrase propter dominum (because of the Lord), which occurs at the end of the description of :38—(And the angels said, That man was a king for many years, Herod by name, who at Bethlehem of Judah killed young children because of the Lord.)—is also found in one of the antiphons set in some breviaries for use at Lauds on Holy Innocents Day (a date for Latin Ezra­ being possible in part founded upon the date of those breviaries: H). But this could mean that the author of the ­Latin Ezra­ was influenced by the Liturgy (rather then the other way round: H); or that a translator from a Greek manuscript of the work was so influenced; or that the phrase was simply added by a later copyist.

 

Apocalyptic works, especially those that do not recount history and do not have other historical allusions, are nearly impossible to locate geographically and culturally. All that may be said in the case of the ­Latin Ezra­ is that it is a Christian document of unknown origin circulated in medieval times in the West. For more on this view see Pelikan (­The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition: 100-600­ Chicago, 1971, 123-132); and Cohn (­The Pursuit of the Millennium­, New York, 1970).

 

[AOT, 943-951; JHC, 581-590]

 

69. The Syriac Revelation of Ezra

 

     This book is merely mentioned by AOT. He says it is a Syriac work, edited and translated into German by Baethgen (“Beschreibung der Syrischen Handschrift ‘Sachau 131’ auf der Koniglichen Bibliothek zu Berlin” in Zeitschrift für die Altestamentliche Wissenschaft­ VI, 1886, 199-210), and is chiefly concerned with the duration of the rule of Islam. According to JHC, the work mentions a vision of four empires, and gives an account of the Antichrist, together with other material. It is fully discussed by Chabot (“L’Apocalypse d’Esdras” in ­Revue Semitique­ II, 1894, 242-240, 333-346). Denis (­Introduction­, 194) mentions it; and Baethgen’s work is there listed.

 

     [If the original text of the book is chiefly concerned with the rule of Islam, and assuming that its original language is Syriac, then it would seem to have come into existence at some time early in the conquest of the Syriac-speaking regions of the ancient Levant by the power of Islam. Permanent occupation of this area was effected during the second half of the 7th century AD; but if this “chief concern” is in fact an interpolation—however long—into a Greek work predating the Muslim conquest, then we may have here to do with the lower (as opposed to the upper) limits of invention for the ­Syriac Revelation of Ezra­. H]

 

[AOT, 928; JHC, 563]

 

70. The Armenian Questions of Ezra

 

     The ­Armenian Questions of Ezra­ was first printed by Yovsepianc (­A Treasury of Old and New Primitive Writers­ I, Venice, 1896, 300-304). He based his edition upon a single manuscript, dated 1280. The Armenian Ezra­ was translated into English by Issaverdens (­The Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament Found in the Armenian Manuscripts of the Library of St. Lazarus, Translated into English­, 2nd ed., Venice, 1934, 503-509). A short work, it is nevertheless extant in two textual forms: (1) that published by Yovsepianc, and (2) one found in the fourth recension of the ­Menologium­ (lives of the saints) of the Armenian Church printed in Constantinople in 1730, pp. 424-425. [On this ­Menologium­ see Mercerian (“Introduction a l’Etude des Synaxaires Armeniens” in Bulletin Armenologique, Melanges de l’Universite de S. Joseph­ XL, Beirut, 1953).] The long form of the work (A) is represented by Yovsepianc’s discovery; the short (B) by that printed in the Armenian ­Menologium­. B has also been discussed by Stone (“The Apocryphal Literature in the Armenian Tradition” in Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities­ IV, 1971, 59-77, 371-372). See also “New Discoveries Concerning the Uncanonical Ezra Books” in ­Sion­ LII, 1978, 54-60.

 

     B differs from A in three respects: (1) it is much shorter, but, even where the texts are parallel, it contains a number of details not in A; (2) B seems to preserve text in two places where there is a physical lacuna in A—following A:10 and A:40; and (3) B lacks verses :11-:30 of A.

 

     There is insufficient evidence to determine whether the writing was originally composed in Armenian or whether it was translated into Armenian from another language. Possible arguments based on literary considerations have been adduced (below); but there seems no clear basis for establishing the date of composition except to say that the writing is a Christian composition clearly based on Jewish models. There is no indication of ­provenance­. The book is an interesting example of the development and Christianization of themes deriving from the great Jewish apocalypses of the period of the Second Temple. The questions with which it deals, and the fate of the souls of men and reward and punishment, are among those that have always aroused men to thought and speculation. This work is one of those developments that show the way in which various Christian churches developed and ampli-fied themes of special interest to them.

 

     The ­Armenian Ezra­ should be viewed in the context of the non-canonical Ezra literature. Its general inspiration derives clearly from ­IV Ezra­, which may also have provided certain patterns for the questions posed. The amount of verbal parallelism is very limited, however, and decisive evidence as to whether the dependence from the Armenian Ezra­ to ­IV Ezra­ or from ­IV Ezra­ to the ­Armenian Ezra­ is unclear. The contacts between the two writings are shared general ideas, and not direct verbal parallels. Special note should be perhaps only be taken of the seven steps or ways of ascent of the souls (­Armenian Ezra­ A:19-:20 and ­IV Ezra­ 7:81-98).

 

     The general resemblance to the ­Greek Ezra­ is also quite striking: (1) both writings center on questions about the fate of the souls and (2) both share dialogue form. The ­Latin Ezra­ is another form of this writing. The Armenian Ezra­ is also related to the extensive expansionary passages found in the Armenian version of ­IV Ezra­ [on which see Stone (“The Armenian Version of IV Ezra,” University of Pennsylvania Armenian ­Texts and Studies­ I, Missoula, 1979)]. (These passages are dialogues on various theological issues inserted into the dialogue of ­IV Ezra­; and taken together, they constitute a fairly extensive body of literature, inspired by ­IV Ezra­ and preserved in the Armenian tradition.)

 

     In a study of the ­Armenian Ezra­ published in Armenian in 1898, Sargissian (­Studies on the Uncanonical Writings of the Old Testament­, Venice, 1898, 452-484) pointed out certain parallels between it and two other Armenian texts, the ­Inquiries of St. Gregory the Illuminator­, and the ­Martyrdom of St. Kalistratos­. He published the chief parallels with these writings in his work. Both contain dialogues concerning the fate of the souls of men. Sargissian is of the opinion that the ­Inquiries­ is later than the ­Armenian Ezra­ (of which he knew only recension A); but that the ­Martyrdom­ is an Armenian translation of an older Greek source that may also have served the Armenian Ezra­. Although the ­Martyrdom­ contains closer verbal parallels to the Armenian Ezra­, it also has close parallels with the ­Inquiries­. It is by no means certain, however, that this implies that the ­Martyrdom­ served as a source for the ­Armenian Ezra­; and this is particularly so in view of the affinities of the ­Armenian Ezra­ with the Ezra literature noted above, as well as with the text of ­Armenian Ezra­ B. Final resolution of these issues must await the full publication of the Armenian texts involved.

 

     Concerning the composition of the writing, Sargissian suggests that the section A:31-:40 is a later addition to an older description of the heavens. Moreover, he considers this older description to have some features in common with Zoroastrianism. This theory, however, requires reevaluation in view of the new information to be gained from ­Armenian Ezra­ B. On the basis of a comparison of A and B, it may be suggested that the cosmological description from verses :16-:30 is derived from a separate source, although the supposed Zoroastrian features are not as striking as Sargissian thought. (This section is not represented in B.)

 

     The comparison of A and B thus seems to imply that two source documents are involved in the composition of the ­Armenian Ezra­. The first contained the dialogue between the prophet and the angel concerning the fate of the souls. It comprised six parts: (1) A:1-:10; (2) the section upon which B:4 is based, which fell in the lacuna after verse A:10; (3) A:11-15; (4) the section upon which B:6 is based; (5) A:31-40; and (6) a section corresponding to B:10-14. The second document is distinctive in its views and contains a pastiche of ideas drawn from older sources.

 

     This analysis would contradict the view of Sargissian referred to above, for it is clear that the discussion of the fate of the souls belonged in the same document as the indubitably Christian section dealing with the freeing of the souls from Satan. This means that the writing as extant is Christian; but that it probably draws upon older sources. The point in its development at which the description of the ascent of the souls was combined with the dialogue about the fate of the righteous and the wicked is unclear. If B was based on a form of the text in which this section did not occur, then we must say that it was incorporated subsequently into the original composition. If, on the other hand, the epitomist of B simply left it out, as he did other isolated verses of A, then this material may go back to an older source utilized by the person who put the Armenian Ezra­ together in its present shape in A.

 

     The 40 day period of repentance (A:32) appears in a somewhat different form in another of the documents associated with the non-canonical Ezra literature, the ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­ :13-:14. In that writing there is emphasis on prayer and service of God that in general resembles that in the ­Armenian Ezra­. This may, however, reflect merely a common concern and a similar response of monastic piety to similar issues.

 

     JHC draws the following parallels with ­Received New Testament­ works: (1) ­Armenian Ezra­ B:13 and Matthew­ 24:31, ­I Corinthians­ 15:51-52 and ­I Thessalonians­ 4:16; (2) ­Armenian Ezra­ A:32 and ­I Corinthians­ 15:29; and (3) ­Armenian Ezra­ A:37 and ­Matthew­ 13:22.

 

[AOT, 928; JHC, 591-599]

 

***

 

XIII. ZACHARIAH

 

71. The Apocalypse of Zachariah

 

     The ­Stichometry­ of Nicephorus of Constantinople (c.850AD) refers to a Book of Zacharias, the father of John, 500 lines as part of the Apocrypha of the Old Testament. It is indeed remarkable that this book is reckoned among the Old Testament apocrypha with this spelling of the name, Z­e­chariah being identified with the minor prophet whose book of the ­Received Old Testament­ belongs to the years 519-518BC. [On the other hand, there also exists a reference in the ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century) to The Revelation of Zechariah as item 13 in a list of 25 titles, the first 14 of which clearly bear Old Testament names, under the subheading And the following apocryphal.]

 

     Berendts (­Studien uber Zacharias-Apokryphen und Zacharias-Legenden­, 1895; “Die Handschriftliche Uberlieferung der Zacharias- und Johannes-Apokryhphen” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XXVI.3, 1904) believed that there is not sufficient evidence for an Old Testament apocryphon, and would prefer to see behind this title an account of the murder of Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, inspired by Matthew­ 23:35—(so that there may come upon you all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you\fn{Scribes and Pharisees.} murdered between the temple and the altar.)—and ­Luke­ 11:51—(from Abel’s blood to that of Zechariah, who was murdered between the altar and the temple). This has then been referred to John the Baptist’s father and embellished with legend.

 

     Such a legend (3rd or 4th century) may have then been the source for the account in the ­Infancy Gospel of James­ 22-24—this portion is clearly an addition to the book—and also for a Slavonic legend about the birth of a John the Forerunner and the death of his father Z­e­chariah. A reexamination is required to see if this solution to a very intricate problem is correct. It is certain that there was a writing, perhaps of an apocalyptic nature, connected to the name of Z­e­chariah.

 

     NTA finished its review of this question by saying that it was not possible to say precisely what the Apocalypse of Zachariah­ looked like. NTA included, however, without comment, a publication by Wall (“A Coptic Fragment Concerning the childhood of John the Baptist,” ­Revue d’Egyptologie­ VIII, 1951, 207-214), which fragments Wall was apparently willing to ascribe to this apocalypse; and RUS, while noting that the work might, according to its title, refer either to the Received Old Testament prophet of that name, or to the father of John the Baptist, clearly stated that this latter identification is made in two of the texts and indicates that this book is, in fact, a Christian writing.

 

     [No mention of RUS (1964) is made by NTA; J.C.B. Mohr, who originally published volume II of NTA also in 1964—the English translation was published in 1965 and reprinted in 1976—simply may not have known about it; and unfortunately RUS does not elaborate. H]

 

[NTA, II, 752-753; RUS, 68-69]

 

***

 

XIV. JEWISH-CHRISTIANITY

 

72. The Gospel of the Ebionites

 

     Perhaps all that is known of this gospel is contained in quotations preserved by Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, Panarion­ XXX). Epiphanius says that it was used by the Jewish-Christian sect of the Ebionites, and that they referred to it as the ­Gospel According to the Hebrews­, or the ­Hebrew Gospel­; but it is clearly different from the book described in the entry with that title below—among other things, the accounts of the baptism of Jesus in the two are quite different. Similarly, modern research has generally differentiated between this work and a work known as the ­Gospel of the Nazarenes­, though both originated at about the same time, are inclined to paraphrase (like the Old Testament targumim­), and are treated as dependent upon the Received Gospel of Matthew­. But though the quotations Epiphanius preserves show the book to have been modeled on ­Matthew­—indeed, some scholars believe the book was nothing more than an abridged and falsified copy of ­Matthew­—the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­ may have been identical with a ­Gospel of the Twelve­ referred to by Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, Homily on Luke­ 1:1f), and elsewhere by Ambrose of Milan (d.397) and Jerome of Strido (d.420). (Its title Gospel of the Ebionites­ is modern; what title it actually bore is unknown.)

 

     Besides the quotation adduced by Epiphanius, Waitz (in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XIV, 1913, 48ff; and in Hennecke’s Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­ II, 1924, 39f, 42f, 47f nos. 37, and 59b) has sought to reconstruct the content and compass of the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­ by also assigning to it (1) citations from the Received gospels as quoted from the ­Preaching of Peter­, (2) a second (unnamed) source document of the ­Homilies and Recognitions of Clement­, and (3) two further Patristic citations: [Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­De Principiis­ iv.22) and Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, Stromateis­ V:x.63)]. He also asserted a dependency of it upon the ­Gospel of the Nazarenes­. In these conclusions, he is both supported and opposed by informed scholarship. Zahn (no reference indicated) has also identified with the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­ the ­Gospel of the Twelve­ mentioned above by Origen, Ambrose and Jerome; and in this he is supported by James (ANT,10).

 

     Other sources about the Ebionites themselves are scattered, and do not even mention the existence of an Ebionitic gospel, let alone any quotations as such from it. They include Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165, Dialogue with Trypho­ XLVII); Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.220, ­Against All Heresies­ I:xxvi.2, III:xxi.1, V:i.3); Tertullian of Carthage [d.c.220, ­De Praescriptione Haereticorum­ (c.200)]; and Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236, Refutation Of All Heresies­ vii.34, ix.13-17). From these, it can be deduced that the Ebionites were a sect of Jewish-Christians who flourished in the early centuries of the Christian era, and especially well on the Eastern side of the Jordan river. A poor people, they appear to have adopted a severely ascetic mode of life and to have remained outside the main stream of Christian development. It is difficult (for ODC) to state exactly what their relationship was to such sects as the Nazarenes (though NTA says that their dogmatic denial of the virgin birth, their Gnosticizing union of a heavenly being with the man Jesus resulting in the Christ, their attitude to temple sacrifice, their vegetarianism, and their belief that the twelve apostles were ordained to minister to Israel, distinguishes them from both the Nazaraenas and orthodox Christianity).

 

     Epiphanius lists the following seven fragments from the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­.

 

1. In the Gospel that is in general use amongst them, which is called according to Matthew, which however is not whole and complete but forged and mutilated—they call it the Hebrew Gospel—it is reported: There appeared a certain man named Jesus of about thirty years of age, who chose us. And when he came to Capernaum, he entered into the house of Simon whose surname was Peter, and opened his mouth and said: ‘As I passed along the Lake of Tiberias, I chose John and James the sons of Zebedee, and Simon and Andrew and Thaddaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the Iscariot, and thee, Matthew, I called as thou didst sit at the receipt of custom, and thou didst follow me. You therefore I will to be twelve apostles for a testimony unto Israel.’

 

2. And it came to pass that John was baptizing; and there went out to him Pharisees and were baptized, and all Jerusalem. And John had a garment of camel’s hair and a leathern girdle about his loins, and his food was wild honey, the taste of which was that of manna, as a cake dipped in oil. Thus they were resolved to pervert the word of truth into a lie and to put a cake in the place of locusts.

 

3. And the beginning of their Gospel runs: It came to pass in the days of Herod the king of Judaea, when Caiaphas was high priest, that there came one, John by name, and baptized with the baptism of repentance in the river Jordan. It was said of him that he was of the lineage of Aaron the priest, a son of Zacharias and Elisabeth; and all went out to him.

 

4. And after much has been recorded it proceeds: When the people were baptized, Jesus also came and was baptized by John. And as he came up from the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove that descended and entered into him. And a voice sounded from heaven that said: ‘Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.’ And again: ‘I have this day begotten thee.’ And immediately a great light shone round about the place. When John saw this, he saith unto him: ‘Who art thou, Lord?’ And again a voice from heaven rang out to him: ‘This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’ And then, it saith, John fell down before him and said: ‘I beseech thee, Lord, baptize thou me.’ But he prevented him and said: ‘Suffer it; for thus it is fitting that everything should be fulfilled.’

 

5. Moreover they deny that he was a man, evidently on the ground of the word which the Savior spoke when it was reported to him: “Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without,” namely: ‘Who is my mother and who are my brethren?’ And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples and said: ‘These are my brethren and mother and sisters, who do the will of my Father.’

 

6. [And on this account they say that Jesus was begotten of the seed of a man, and was chosen; and so by the choice of God he was called the Son of God from the Christ that came into him from above in the likeness of a dove. And] they say that he was not begotten of God the Father, but created as one of the archangels, [yet greater, and] that he rules over the angels and all the creatures of the Almighty, and that he came and declared, as the Gospel [current among them] reports: I am come to do away with sacrifices, and if ye cease not from sacrificing, the wrath of God will not cease from you. [Restored from ANT,10. H]

 

7. But they abandon the proper sequence of the words and pervert them saying, as is plain to all from the readings attached, and have let the disciples say: Where wilt thou that we prepare for thee the Passover? And him to answer to that: Do I desire with desire at this Passover to eat flesh with you?

 

     Scholars have adduced from the fragments themselves, or what is said about them, several things about the Gospel of the Ebionites­, or about the Ebionites themselves.

 

1. The ­Gospel of the Ebionites­ was designed to support a particular set of views.

 

2. The chronological and biographical statements in the account of the Baptist, the statement about the age of Jesus, and saying number 7, are based on ­Luke­; and in the story of the baptism of Jesus, all three Synoptics (Mark­ 1:11, ­Matthew­ 3:17 and ­Luke­ 3:22) are utilized.

 

3. The Ebionites denied the virgin birth of Jesus.

 

4. They understood a reduced doctrine of the Person of Christ, to the effect that Jesus was the human son of Joseph and Mary and that the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove entered into him at his baptism, thus in a gnosticizing way adopting him as the Son of God.

 

5. They retained the binding character of the Mosaic Law.

 

6. They rejected the Received letters of Paul.

 

7. They practiced vegetarianism.

 

8. The mention of a great light which shone round about the place they adopted from the ­Diatessaron­ (c.150) by Tatian of Assyria. On this see Bauer (­Das Leben Jesu­, 1909, 134-139).

 

9. They seemed to regard the person of Christ as not completely human after his adoption: certainly this must be the intent of Christ’s response in fragment 7—that he is no longer capable of human desire. (H)

 

10. Their gospel, though based upon the ­Received Gospel of Matthew­, was patently heterodox.

 

11. Besides being familiar with the Synoptics, the Ebionites may also, according to the scriptural references attached to the fragments of Epiphanius in NTA, have been familiar with ­John­, and the ­Letter of Barnabas to His Sons and Daughters­. (H)

 

12. A task of Jesus for them was to annul the sacrifices practiced at the Temple in Jerusalem: in this saying the enmity of the Ebionites against the Jews in control there registers itself.

 

13. The Adoptionists ­per se­, who began their teachings c.190AD, were really reviving a belief of the Ebionites.

 

     The original language of the gospel was Greek. The work adheres considerably to the text of the Synoptics, and that goes to prove a composition in Greek. Since the gospel presupposes the Synoptics, and perhaps also the Letter of Barnabas to His Sons and Daughters­, and because Irenaeus of Lyons (c.175AD) knew of its existence, although only from hearsay [so NTA, probably concluding from ­Against All Heresies­ III:xxi.1—God, then, was made man, and the Lord did Himself save us, giving us the token of the Virgin. But not as some allege, among those now presuming to expound the Scripture, thus: ‘Behold, a young woman shall conceive, and bring forth a son,’ as Theodotion the Ephesian has interpreted, and Aquila of Pontus, both Jewish proselytes. The Ebionites, following these, assert that He was begotten by Joseph­; thus destroying, as far as in them lies, such a marvelous dispensation of God, and setting aside the testimony of the prophets which proceeded from God. (underscoring mine)—that Irenaeus is in agreement with Epiphanius’ statement in fragment 6, and would have named the gospel had he had a copy of it before him. H], the gospel may have been written during the first half of the 2nd century. On the other hand, the ODC prefers to see its origin during the second half of the 2nd century.

 

     The place of origin is uncertain; but it was probably composed in the region east of the Jordan river, where according to the accounts of the orthodox Church fathers the Ebionites had their headquarters, and where Epiphanius will have seen the book and made excerpts from it.

 

[ODC, 433-434; ANT, 8-10; ECC, 137; HLC, 14; NTA, I, 153-156; DAN, 20, 22, 58-59]

 

73. The Gospel of the Hebrews

 

     The ­Gospel of the Hebrews­ may be (the nature of both the congregation who used the ­Greek Gospel of the Egyptians­, and where its title originated is disputed) the only Jewish-Christian gospel the title of which has been handed down. The title characterizes the book as the gospel of Jewish-Christian circles, and that in distinction from, and in contrast with, the gospels of other and Gentile-Christian circles. By happy chance, an analogous instance presents itself (so Bauer, ­Rechtglaubigkeit und Ketzerei im Altesten Christentum­, 1934, 54-57) in the Gospel of the Egyptians­ (below); for it is possible that these two titles (both of which were handed down from antiquity) were provided to distinguish the gospels of two non-orthodox churches existing in the same area of Egypt: that of the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ which was the gospel of the Egyptian Gentile-Christians; and that of the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­, which was the gospel of the Egyptian Jewish-Christians. (The orthodox Christians in Egypt would, presumably, have as their canon the gospels of ­Mark­, Matthew­, ­Luke­ and ­John­ as we know them today. H) ANT calls it a divergent but not heretical form of the Received Gospel of Matthew­; and that it resembled it enough to have been regarded as the original Hebrew of that gospel.

 

     It is alleged that there are a number of ancient witnesses to its existence, which vary in number according to their scholarly authority (NTA list ­as fragments­ 1, 2, 3, 4a, 4b, 5, 6, 7; the others are from ANT) who preserve selections from it (for as yet no complete copy of the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­ has been recovered). Please note in the ­text­ of these (printed below their sources) that there are present only the fragments alleged by NTA and ANT to be from this gospel; other scholars assign different fragments: there is no scholarly agreement as to content.

 

1. The ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ [the earliest (Greek) edition of which may dated from c.140AD, or perhaps a little later, so NTA,I,305)] for the saying preserved in fragment 4b;

 

2. The ­Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians­ 4:5 (c.150);

 

3. ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654­ (end of the 2nd century or beginning of the 3rd, but clearly copied from an earlier original), for fragment 4b.

 

4. Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200, ­Against All Heresies­ I:xxvi.2, III.xi.7);

 

5. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215AD, ­Miscellaneous Studies­ II:ix.45, who here preserves fragment 4a; and Miscellaneous Studies­ V:xiv.96, for fragment 4b);

 

6. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, in both ­Commentary on John­ II.12 and ­Homily on Jeremiah­ XV.4, for fragment 3);

 

7. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxv.5, III:xxvii.4, III:xxxix.17, IV:xxii.8); Theophany­ IV.12; V.35);

 

8. Cyril of Jerusalem [d.386, from the Coptic translation of a discourse attributed to him, edited by Budge (Miscellaneous Coptic Texts­ 1915, 637, for fragment 1)];

 

9. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Refutation of All Heresies­ XXIX:ix.4);

 

10. Jerome of Strido [d.420, ­Commentary on Isaiah­ IV (for fragment 2); ­Commentary on Ephesians­ 5:4 (for fragment 5); ­Commentary on Ezekiel­ 18:7 (for fragment 6); and ­De Viris Illustribus­ 2 (for fragment 7)]. Jerome is also a witness in three places (­Commentary on Micah­ 7:6; ­Commentary on Isaiah­ 40:9, Commentary on Ezekiel­ 16:13) for fragment 3. See also Commentary on Matthew­ II:ii.1, II:vi.6, II:xii.13, II:xxi.12, II:xxiii.35, II:xxvii.16, II:xxvii.51; ­On Psalms­ CXXXV; ­Letter to Damasus­ (letter 20) on Matthew­ 21:9; ­Letter to Hebdibia­ 8 (letter 120); ­De Viris Illustribus­ 3, 16; ­Commentary on Isaiah­ XI.2, XI.9, preface to XVIII; ­Dialogue Against Pelagius­ III.2.

 

11. Zion Gospel Edition­ (certain marginal notes in manuscripts of Matthew­ made by someone who did his work at Jerusalem between 370-500, at ­Matthew­ 4:5, 5:22, 7:5, 10:16, 11:12, 11:25, 12:40b, 15:5, 16:2-3, 16:17, 18: 22, 26:74, and 27:65);

 

12. Haimo of Auxerre [d.c.855, ­Commentary on Isaiah­ LIII.12; but this reference is differently reported: as 53.12 (ANT,7) and 53.2 (NTA,I,150)].

 

13. The ­Stichometry­ of Nicephorus of Constantinople (c.850), preserves: And of the New Testament the following are gainsaid: 4. ­The Gospel of the Hebrews­ ... 2200 lines.

 

14. Peter of Riga (13th century, ­Aurora Bible­, a marginal note in a manuscript of same at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge);

 

     The Jewish-Christian character of this work is seems indisputable. It is indicated by (1) the antiquity of its title, which is not modern, but handed down as the title of the original; (2) the emphasis in its text on the activities of James, the brother of Jesus, as a champion of strict Jewish-Christianity and leader of the early Jerusalem Church [facts corroborated by ­Galatians­ 2, and ­Acts­ 15:13-21 and 21:18-25—and also by Hegesippus of Palestine (2nd century, so Eusebius of Caesarea, ­Ecclesiastical History­ II:xxiii.4-18)]; (3) the understanding of the Holy Spirit as feminine—it is called Mother, a usage which presupposes the feminine Hebrew noun ­ruah­ rather than the neutral Greek adjective—which is also Jewish or Semitic; (4) the fact (below) that it is James in fragment 7 who is the highest authority in the circle of Jesus’ acquaintances, who is indisputably the leader of the first (and apparently Jewish-Christian: H) Jerusalem Christian church; and (5) the account of Christ’s baptism, which exhibits Jewish-Christian features.

 

     That Egypt is the place of origin for the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­ is indicated by (1) the fact that its principal witnesses are Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215AD) and Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254); (2) by the religio-historical character of fragments 1 and 4; (3) by the concept of Jesus as the Son of the Holy Spirit, which is documented for Egypt by the ­Coptic Letter of James­; and (4) by the striking affinity between logion 12 of the Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ with the information in fragment 7 of the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­ that James is the highest authority in the circle of Jesus’ acquaintances [for (a) in fragment 7 he is distinguished as a participant at the Last Supper and as the first witness to his brother’s resurrection; and (b) logion 12 states: The disciples said to Jesus: “We know that thou wilt go away from us. Who is it who shall be great over us?” Jesus said to them: “Wherever you have come, you will go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.”].

 

     It cannot now be determined what the extent of the work was; but two considerations must be mentioned which bear on this: (1) the number of lines assigned to it by the ­Stichometry­ of Nicephorus of Constantinople (2200; which if correct means that it was only 300 lines shorter than the ­Received Gospel of Matthew­, and that a good deal of it is therefore missing); and (2) that if the Oxyrhynchus sayings are really, as competent scholars believe, extracts from this work, we must also suppose a large quantity of additional matter: for ANT notes that we have (1924) but two rather brief fragments of that collection of sayings, and eight out of the thirteen sayings of Jesus (in ANT’s compilation) are either not represented in the ­Received New Testament­, or differ widely therefrom. Jerome of Strido (d.420, De Viris Illustribus 2), who is our chief source of knowledge about this gospel, says that he had made a Greek and a Latin version of it; and that he found a copy of it in the library of Caesarea. (The statement by Epiphanius is, however, wholly rejected by some, and by others thought to be an exaggeration: perhaps the truth may be that Jerome took notes of the text in Greek and Latin.)

 

     If the Oxyrhynchus sayings do come from the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­, they seem to imply the existence of a Greek version of this work before Jerome’s time; and this is also implied by the entry in the ­Stichometry­. Further, the appearance of the risen Christ to James is an independent legend, which has formed around an historical kernel of which the oldest witness is ­I Corinthians­ 15:7—(Then He appeared to James, then to all the Apostles.). That the work is known to us from Hegesippus, Clement and Origen, and that it may have been one of the sources of the ­Greek Gospel of Thomas­, would place its date of origin at the beginning of the 2nd century.

 

     Though a Greek version was extant in Jerome’s time, it may be regarded as established that it existed in either Hebrew or Aramaic (ODC says Western Aramaic). ANT says further that he believed that the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­ was in fact the original Hebrew of the ­Received Gospel of Matthew­; but others deny this, stressing that as literature and in substance the work differed considerably from the Received gospels, and also from the Gospel of the Nazaraeans­ and the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­.

 

     The fragments of the text of the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­ alleged by ANT and NTA to have survived from it to modern times are listed below, excluding those fragments alleged by NTA to be portions of the ­Gospel of the Nazaraeans­ (and printed under that entry), but thought by ANT to be parts of ­this­ gospel. The numbering (for 1-7) is keyed to those referred to by fragment only in the above 14-source listing, and has been compared with the same passages as also reported for this gospel by ANT (editorial corrections from the latter being surrounded by brackets: [] :. Items 8-25 have been gleaned from the remains of the fourteen-source listing (above), but exclude those items thought by NTA to be part of the ­Gospel of the Nazaraeans­ (in the 15-source list printed under the discussion of ­that­ tractate, below); and also excluding the citation at II Clement­ 4:5, which ANT claims for the Gospel of the Hebrews­, but which NTA claims for the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­.

 

     They are as follows: [fragments 8-9—Irenaeus of Lyons (­Against All Heresies­ I:xxvi.2; III:xi.7); 10-15—Eusebius of Caesarea (­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxv.5, III:xxvii.4, III:xxxix.17, IV:xxii.8; ­Theophany­ IV.12, V.35); 16—Epiphanius of Salamis (­Refutation of All Heresies­ XXIX:ix.4); 17-20—Jerome of Strido (Commentary on Matthew­ II:ii.1, II:vi.6, II:xxi.12, II:xxvii.16); 21—Jerome of Strido (­Letter to Damasus­ on Matthew­ 21:9); 22-23—Jerome of Strido (­De Viris Illustribus­ 2, 16); and 24-25—Jerome of Strido (­Commentary on Isaiah­ XI.9, preface XVIII)].

 

1. It is written in the Gospel of the Hebrews: When Christ wished to come upon the earth to men, the good Father summoned a mighty power in heaven, which was called Michael, and entrusted Christ to the care thereof. And the power came into the world and it was called Mary, and Christ was in her womb seven months. [Afterwards she gave birth to him, and he increased in stature, and he chose the Apostles. After they had raised him up on the cross, the Father took him up into heaven unto himself. Cyril asked: Where in the Four Gospels is it said that the holy virgin Mary the mother of God is a force? The monk said: In the Gospel to the Hebrews. Then, said Cyril, there are five Gospels? Where is the fifth? The monk said: It is the gospel that was written to the Hebrews.] (Restored according to ANT,8. H)

 

2. [The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him not partially as in the case of other holy men: but] according to the Gospel written in the Hebrew speech, which the Nazaraeans read, the whole fount of the Holy Spirit shall descend upon him ... Further in the Gospel which we have just mentioned we find the following written: And it came to pass when the Lord was come up out of the water, the whole fount of the Holy Spirit descended upon him and rested on him and said to him: My Son, in all the prophets was I waiting for thee that thou shouldest come and I might rest in thee. For thou art my rest; thou art my first-begotten Son that reignest for ever. (Restored according to ANT,5. H)

 

3. And if any accept the gospel of the Hebrews—here the Savior says: Even so did my mother, the Holy Spirit, take me by one of my hairs and carry me away on to the great mountain Tabor.

 

4a. As also it stands written in the Gospel of the Hebrews: He that marvels shall reign, and he that has reigned shall rest.

 

4b. To those words this is equivalent: He that seeks will not rest until he finds; and he that has found shall marvel; and he that has marveled shall reign; and he that has reigned shall rest.

 

5. As we have read in the Hebrew Gospel, the Lord says to his disciples: And never be ye joyful, save when ye behold your brother with love.

 

6. In the Gospel according to the Hebrews, which the Nazareans are wont to read, there is counted among the most grievous offenses: He that has grieved the spirit of his brother.

 

7. The Gospel called according to the Hebrews which was recently translated by me into Greek and Latin, which Origen frequently uses, records after the resurrection of the Savior: And when the Lord had given the linen cloth to the servant of the priest, he went to James and appeared to him. For James had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour in which he had drunk the cup of the lord until he should see him risen from among them that sleep. And shortly thereafter the Lord said: Bring a table and bread! And immediately it is added: He took the bread, blessed it and break it and gave it to James the Just and said to him: My brother, eat thy bread, for the Son of Man is risen from among them that sleep.

 

8. But the Ebionites use only that Gospel which is according to Matthew, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, calling him an apostate from the Law.

 

9. For the Ebionites, who use only that Gospel which is according to Matthew, are convicted out of that very book as not holding right views about the Lord.

 

10. And among them\fn{Eusebius’ ­Antilegomena­, writings whose canonicity was disputed.} some have placed the Gospel according to the Hebrews which is the especial delight of those of the Hebrews who have accepted Christ.

 

11. (The Ebionites repudiated Paul) and used only the Gospel called according to the Hebrews, making but slight account of the others.

 

12. He\fn{Papias of Hierapolis, c.60-130AD.} has also expounded another story, about a woman accused of many sins before the Lord, which the Gospel according to the Hebrews also contains.

 

13. Hegesippus made use in his ­Memoirs­ of the Gospel according to the Hebrews.

 

14. As we have found somewhere in the Gospel which the Jews have in the Hebrew tongue, where it is said: I choose for myself them that are good:\fn{Or: well pleasing} the good are they whom my Father which in heaven giveth\fn{Or: hath given} me.

 

15. But since the Gospel written in Hebrew characters which has reached our hands turns the threat not against the man who hid the talent, but against him who had lived riotously (for it told of three servants, one who devoured his master’s substance with harlots and flute-girls, another who multiplied it by trading, and another who hid the talent; and made the one to be accepted, another only rebuked, and another to be shut up in prison), the question occurs to me whether in Matthew, after the conclusion of the speech against the man who did nothing, the threat that follows may refer, not to him, but by ­epanalepsis­\fn{I.e., taking up a former subject again.} be said of the first, who ate and drank with the drunken.

 

16. They\fn{The Nazoraeans.} have the gospel according to Matthew quite complete, in Hebrew: for this Gospel is certainly still preserved among them as it was first written, in Hebrew letters. I do not know if they have even removed the genealogy from Abraham to Christ.

 

17. Bethlehem of Judaea. This is a mistake of the scribes: for I think it was originally expressed by the Evangelist as we read in the Hebrew, “of Judah,” not Judaea.

 

18. II:vi.6.

 

19. (The people whom Jesus drove out of the temple did not resist him) for a certain fiery and starry light radiated from his eyes and the majesty of Godhead gleamed in his face.

 

20. This Barabbas, in the gospel written according to the Hebrews, is interpreted: ‘son of their master.’

 

21. Matthew, who wrote his gospel in the Hebrew speech, put it thus: Osanna barrama, i.e., Ossana in the highest.

 

22. Further, the Hebrew itself is preserved to this day in the library at Caesarea which was collected with such care by the martyr Pamphilus. I also had an opportunity of copying it afforded me by the Nazarenes who use the book, at Beroea,\fn{Modern Aleppo.} a city of Syria.

 

23. In it\fn{The ­Letter of Ignatius to Polycarp.} he also inserts a testimony about the person of Christ, from the Gospel which was lately translated by me; his words are: But I both saw him in the flesh after the resurrection, and believe that he is in the flesh: and when he came to Peter and those who were with Peter, he said to them: Lo, feel me and see that I am not a bodiless spirit. And forthwith they touched him and believed.}

 

24. My mother the Holy Spirit.

 

25. For when the Apostles thought him to be a spirit, or, in the words of the Gospel which is of the Hebrews which the Nazarenes are wont to read, ‘a bodiless demon,’ he said to them\fn{Luke­ 24:38.}.

 

     ANT says of fragment 7 that one interesting clause is apt to escape notice, about the giving of the linen cloth (the shroud) to the servant of the High Priest, which implies that the priests must have been apprised of the Resurrection as soon as the Apostles. Was the servant of the priest Malchus? Presumably the servant was at the sepulcher: if so, it was being guarded by the Jews as well as the Roman soldiers, as in the ­Gospel of Peter­ (a Syriac work of c.150AD). Of fragment 1, he notes that it might, with its omission of all mention of the Resurrection, be construed as heretical; but on the other hand, it may be merely a case of extreme compression of the narrative.

 

[ODC, 615-616; DAN, 22-23; NTA, I, 158-163; ANT, 1-8]

 

74. The Gospel of the Nazarenes

 

     (1) Nazarenes (the spelling of this source) occurs as a name given by 4th century writers to a group of Jewish Christians living in Syria, who continued to obey much of the Jewish Law though they were otherwise orthodox Christians. They used a version of the gospel in Aramaic, known as the ­Gospel According to the Hebrews­ (which has hence sometimes been termed the ­Gospel of the Nazarenes­). The sect had no doubt existed from the earliest times of Christianity. The word also appears (2) as a Jewish term for the early Christians which continued to be so used for some centuries. It occurs at ­Acts­ 24:5—(For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.). It is sometimes met with in Jewish literature in the form Nozri. (3) The Mandaeans (a Gnostic sect which originated as a small community to the east of the Jordan river in the 1st or 2nd century AD, and still survives south of Baghdad) are described as Nasoreans in some of their earliest literature. (4) In the Received gospels, Jesus is called Jesus the Nazarene, i.e., of Nazareth, from the place of his residence. In ­Matthew­ 2:23—(And he went and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, “He shall be called a Nazarene”)—it is said to have been prophesied that Jesus should be called a Nazarene; but the original reference and meaning of this prophecy, which is not found in the Old Testament, is doubtful. (It has been argued that the original reference here was not to Nazareth; in Matthew­, ­John­ and ­Acts­ the form is different from that used in ­Mark­; and in ­Luke,­ both spellings occur.)

 

     The Christian community of Jerusalem, dominated by James and the tendencies for which he stood, has sometimes been described as “Nazarene.” This community was perfectly orthodox in its Christianity but remained attached to certain Jewish ways of life, without, however, imposing them on proselytes from paganism. Until 70AD, the church of Jerusalem enjoyed considerable prestige, so that Paul had to struggle to get his views accepted; and indeed, it was only after the fall of the city to the Roman power that the Pauline position definitely gained the upper hand. After the fall of Jerusalem, these Jewish-Christians gradually disappeared.

 

     With regard to their literary remains it is possible that the Received Letter of Jude­ is theirs; and they composed an Aramaic ­Gospel According to the Hebrews­. In theology they remained faithful to the archaic tradition, restricted to monotheism and belief in the messianic role of Jesus—though, in contrast to the messianism of the Ebionites, theirs implied the divinity of Jesus as the Christ, and therefore entitled the Jerusalem church to the description “orthodox” given it above. When obliged to quit Jerusalem with the Jews, the group lost its vitality. Some may have joined the Ebionites; others, no doubt, were assimilated by the Hellenistic communities. Justin of Flavia Neapolis (c.100-c.165) met some of them as late as the middle of the 2nd century, and it is possible that their congregation survived even longer in eastern Syria. Jerome of Strido (c.342-420) came across a group of Nazarenes in Beroea, a city in Syria, in the 4th century (­De Viris Illustribus­ 3). He made a copy of a version of Matthew­ written in Aramaic but in Hebrew characters, which was the only gospel they had. It showed some original developments, but they were in no way heretical. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Panarion­ XXIX) says that they separated from the rest of the Church because they regarded the Jewish observances of Sabbath and circumcision as still matters of obligation. [Later on (XXX:iii.13) he says about the Ebionites:—(They accept the gospel of ­Matthew­ and use only that, calling it the ­Gospel According to the Hebrews­. But the gospel of ­Matthew­ which they possess is not complete, but falsified and mutilated.)]

 

     They kept Sunday (which, indeed, they may have invented, as the concept goes back to the very first Christian community and is a purely Christian creation) in a Jewish environment, side by side with the social observances of the Sabbath. At all events, after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD only a small group remained, probably in Transjordan, clinging to the successor of James, who at that time was probably Simeon (so Eusebius of Caesarea, d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ IV:xxii.4), and these were to form the group of the Nazarenes; but the majority went elsewhere to Syria, Antioch then becoming the center of Jewish-Christianity. There the most important Jewish-Christian body, the Judaeo-Syriac, was formed. It was paramount not only in the sphere of creative theology, but also in the sphere of authority. A hierarchy grew up in Antioch on the model of the one in Jerusalem, and claimed to be its successor. Possibly it already based its authority on that of Peter, making his sojourn there the basis of a claim to a primacy in authority; but however that may be, it seems to have been the first local church after Jerusalem to show a hierarchy with two ranks and to have at its head one who claimed to be a successor of the Apostles. Such at any rate was the situation with these people at the time of Ignatius of Antioch (d.c.107).

 

     [Concerning the ­Gospel of the Nazaraeans­, we have here to do with a divergence of critical opinion between ANT and NTA, the former not recognizing such a book, and the latter, with improvements, crediting this gospel with containing that which ANT credited to the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­. (H)]

 

The 36 fragments adduced by NTA for the ­Gospel of the Nazaraeans­ are from the following sources:

 

(1) 1 - - - Jerome of Strido, ­De Viris Illustribus­ 3.

(2) 16 - - - Origen of Alexandria, ­Commentary on Matthew­ 19:16f, in the Latin rendering of Rufinus of Aquileia (d.410).

(3) 21 - - - Jerome, ­Letter to Hebdibia­; ­Commentary on Matthew­ 27:51.

(4) 2, 15a - - - Jerome, ­Dialogi Adversus Pelagianos­ III.2.

(5) 18, 23 - - - Eusebius of Caesarea, ­Theophania on Matthew­ 25:14f; Theophania­ (in Syriac) ­on Matthew­ 10:34-36.

(6) 5, 10, 17, 20 - - - Jerome, ­Commentary on Matthew­ 6:11, 12:13, 23:35, 26:17.

(7) 3-4, 6-9, 11-14, 15b, 19, 22 - - - Zion Gospel Edition­ variants to ­Matthew­ 4:5, 5:22, 7:21f, 10:16, 11:12, 11:25, 12:40b, 15:5, 16:2f, 16:17, 18:22, 26:74, 27:65.

(8) 24 - - - Haimo of Auxerre, ­Commentary on Isaiah­ 53:2.

(9) 25 - - - Marginal note in a manuscript of the ­Aurora Bible­ of Peter of Riga.

(10) 26 - - - From the ­Catechese Celtique­ of Vaticanus the Breton, cited in ­Studi e Testi­ LIX, 1933, 58.

(11) 27 - - - Manuscript entitled ­Historical Commentary on Luke­ 10:13, cited by Bischoff in ­Sacris Erudiri­ VI, 1954, 262.

(12) 28 - - - Sedulius Scotus (9th century, ­Commentary on Matthew­ 9:20, 12:10, 12:42) cited by Bischoff in Sacris Erudiri­ VI, 1954, 203f.

(13) 29 - - - Sedulius Scotus (­Commentary on Matthew­ 9:20, 12:10, 12:42) cited by Bischoff in ­Sacris Erudiri­ VI, 1954, 252.

(14) 30 - - - Manuscript entitled ­Historical Commentary on Luke­, cited by Bischoff in ­Sacris Erudiri­ VI, 1954,262.

(15) 31-36 - - - From the ­Historia Passionis Domini­, folios 25v, 32r, 35r, 44r, 55r, 65r.

 

     NTA says that the literary character of the ­Gospel of the Nazaraeans­ is secondary as compared with the Received Gospel of Matthew­; and that from the point of view of the literary science of Form Criticism, language, and the history of Tradition, this work presents no proto-­Matthew­, but an unoriginal, though closely related, retranslation of developed Received text. The ­terminus a quo­ is accordingly the writing of Matthew­ (c.80AD), the ­terminus ad quem­ is Hegesippus of Palestine (180AD), who is the first to testify to the existence of the Gospel of the Nazaraeans­. It will have appeared in the first half of the 2nd century.

 

     The place of its origin is uncertain. We must think of regions in which Aramaic-speaking Jewish-Christian churches continued down to the time of Jerome. It is quite possible that the gospel originated where (according to the testimony of Epiphanius and Jerome) it was in use as ­the­ gospel, in Beroea (modern Aleppo), in what was then known as Coelesyria. The circles in which it arose, those of Syrian Jewish-Christians (Nazaraeans), were clearly not “heretical” but belonged, so far as the gospel permits us to make out, to the Great Church.

 

     According to the testimony of Hegesippus, Eusebius, Epiphanius and Jerome, the gospel was written in Syriac or Aramaic. Among scholars, however, it is disputed whether the work was originally drafted in Aramaic, or was a translation from the Greek. Closely bound up with this is the question whether the gospel represents or discloses an earlier tradition than ­Matthew­. The scantiness an uncertainty of the material permit of no conclusion that is absolutely sure.

 

The following, in the opinion of NTA, are the 36 remains of the Gospel of the Nazaraeans, as keyed to the previous listing:

 

1. To these\fn{Namely the citations in which ­Matthew­ follows not the ­Septuagint­ but the presumed Hebrew original text.} belong the two: “Out of Egypt have I called my son” and “For he shall be called a Nazaraean.”

 

2. Behold, the mother of the Lord and his brethren said to him: John the Baptist baptizes unto the remission of sins, let us go and be baptized by him. But he said to them: Wherein have I sinned that I should go and be baptized by him? Unless what I have said is a sin of ignorance.

 

3. The Jewish Gospel has not “into the holy city” but “to Jerusalem.”

 

4. The phrase “without a cause” is lacking in some witnesses and in the Jewish Gospel.

 

5. In the so-called Gospel according to the Hebrews instead of “essential to existence” I found ­mahar­, which means “of tomorrow,” so that the sense is: Our bread of tomorrow—that is, of the future—give us this day.

 

6. The Jewish Gospel reads here as follows: If ye be in my bosom and do not the will of my Father in heaven, I will cast you out of my bosom.

 

7. The Jewish Gospel: wise more than serpents.

 

8. The Jewish Gospel has: the kingdom of heaven is plundered.

 

9. The Jewish Gospel: I thank thee.

 

10. In the gospel which the Nazarenes and the Ebionites use, which we have recently translated out of Hebrew into Greek, and which is called by most people the authentic Gospel of Matthew, the man who had the withered hand is described as a mason who pleaded for help in the following words: I was a mason and earned my livelihood with my hands; I beseech thee, Jesus, to restore to me my health that I may not with ignominy have to beg for my bread.

 

11. The Jewish Gospel does not have: three days and nights.

 

12. The Jewish Gospel: corban is what you should obtain from us.

 

13. What is marked with an asterisk is not found in other manuscripts, also it is not found in the Jewish Gospel.

 

14. The Jewish Gospel: son of John.

 

15a. He\fn{Jesus.} said: If thy brother has sinned with a word and has made thee reparation, receive him seven times in a day. Simon his disciples said to him: Seven times in a day? The Lord answered and said to him: Yea, I say unto thee, until seventy times seven times. For in the prophets also after they were anointed with the Holy Spirit, the word of sin\fn{Sinful discourse?} was found.

 

15b. The Jewish Gospel has after “seventy times seven times:” For in the prophets also, after they were anointed with the Holy Spirit, the word of sin\fn{Sinful discourse?} was found.

 

16. The other of the two rich men said to him: Master, what good thing must I do that I may live? He said to him: Man, fulfill the law and the prophets. He answered him: That have I done. He said to him: Go and sell all that thou possessest and distribute it among the poor, and then come and follow me. But the rich man then began to scratch his head and it\fn{The saying} pleased him not. And the Lord said to him: How canst thou say, I have fulfilled the law and the prophets? For it stands written in the law: Love thy neighbor as thyself; and behold, many of thy brethren, sons of Abraham, are begrimed with dirt and die of hunger—and thy house is full of many good things and nothing at all comes forth from it to them! And he turned and said to Simon, his disciple, who was sitting by him: Simon, son of Jona, it is easier for a camel to go thorough the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.

 

17. In the Gospel which the Nazarenes use, instead of “son of Barachias” we have found written “son of Joiada.”

 

18. But since the Gospel (written) in Hebrew characters which has come into our hands enters the threat not against the man who had hid (the talent), but against him who had lived dissolutely—for he\fn{The master.} had three servants: one who squandered his master’s substance with harlots and flute-girls, one who multiplied the gain, and one who hid the talent; and accordingly one was accepted with joy, another merely rebuked, and another cast into prison—I wonder whether in Matthew the threat which is uttered after the word against the man who did nothing may refer not to him, but by epanalepsis to the first who had feasted and drunk with the drunken.

 

19. The Jewish Gospel: And he denied and swore and damned himself.

 

20. Barabbas ... is interpreted in the so-called Gospel according to the Hebrews as “son of their teacher.”

 

21. But in the Gospel which is written in Hebrew characters we read not that the veil of the temple was rent, but that the lintel of the temple of wondrous size collapsed.

 

22. the Jewish Gospel: And he delivered to them armed men that they might sit over against the cave and guard it day and night.

 

23. He\fn{Christ.} himself taught the reason for the separations of souls that take place in houses, as we have found somewhere in the Gospel that is spread abroad among the Jews in the Hebrew tongue, in which it is said: I choose for myself the most worthy: the most worthy are those whom my Father in heaven has given me.

 

24. As it is said in the Gospel of the Nazaraeans: At this word of the Lord many thousand of the Jews who were standing round the cross became believers.

 

25. In the Gospel books which the Nazarenes use we read: Rays went forth from his eyes, by which they\fn{Those practicing business dealings within the precincts of the Temple, whose tables Jesus overturned.} were affrighted and fled.

 

26. These eight days of the Passover at which Christ, the Son of God, rose again signify eight days after the recurrence of the Passover at which all the seed of Adam will be judged, as is proclaimed in the Gospel of the Hebrews; and for this reason the learned believe that the day of judgment will be at Easter time, because on that day Christ rose again, that on that day also the saints should rise again.

 

27. In these cities\fn{Chorazin and Bethsaida.} many wonders have been wrought, as their number in the Gospel according to the Hebrews gives 53.

 

28. For thus the Gospel which is entitled “According to the Hebrews” reports: “When Joseph looked out with his eyes, he saw a crowd of pilgrims who were coming in company to the cave, and he said: I will arise and go out to meet them. And when Joseph went out, he said to Simon: It seems to me as if those coming were soothsayers, for lo, every moment they look up to heaven and confer one with another. But they seem also to be strangers, for their appearance differs from ours; for their dress is very rich and their complexion quite dark; they have caps on their heads and their garments seem to me to be silky, and they have breeches on their legs. And lo, they have halted and are looking at me, and lo, they have again set themselves in motion and are coming here.” From these words it is clear that not merely three men, but a crowd of pilgrims came to the Lord, even if according to some the foremost leaders of this crowd were named with the definite names Melchus, Caspar and Phadizarda.

 

29. On Matthew 9:20 (a woman with an issue of blood) named Mariosa.

 

30. On Luke 8:42 “the daughter,” that is the synagogue, whose name is Mariossa. On Luke 11:31 “the queen of the south” whose name is Meruae.

 

31. (And he wiped their feet.) And as it is said in the gospel of the Nazaraeans: He kissed the feet of each one of them.

 

32. And how the angel strengthened Christ in his struggle in prayer, is told in the Gospel of the Nazaraeans. And the same is also adduced by Anselm in his lamentation: Be constant, Lord, for now comes the time in which through thy passion mankind sold in Adam will be ransomed.

 

33. In the Gospel of the Nazaraeans the reason is given why John was known to the high priest. As he was the son of the poor fisherman Zebedee, he had often brought fish to the palace of the high priests Annas and Caiaphas. And John went out to the damsel that kept the door and secured from her permission for his companion Peter, who stood weeping loudly before the door, to come in.

 

34. We read in the Gospel of the Nazaraeans that the Jews bribed four soldiers to scourge the Lord so severely that the blood might flow from every part of his body. They had also bribed the same soldiers to the end that they crucified him as it is said in John 19.

 

35. (Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.) Note that in the Gospel of the Nazaraeans we have to read that at this virtuous discourse of Christ eight thousand were later converted to the faith; namely three thousand on the day of Pentecost as stated in the Acts of the Apostles 2, and subsequently five thousand about whom we are informed in the Acts of the Apostles 10.

 

36. Also in the gospel of the Nazaraeans we read that at the time of Christ’s death the lintel of the temple, of immense size, had split (Joseph says the same and adds that overhead awful voices were heard which said: Let us depart from this abode).

 

[ODC, 848, 941; DAN, 8, 56, 58, 342, 356; NTA, I, 139-153]

 

75. The Gospel of the Egyptians

 

     The ­Gospel of the Egyptians­, like the other gospels of Jewish-Christian origin, has not come down to us in whole, but in part. The following works are said by informed scholarship to have fragments of the work embedded in them:

 

1. The ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­, four apocryphal logia spoken by Jesus (so De Bruyne in Revue Benedictine­ XXXVII, 1925, 69ff, 355ff, 492f, 502f);

 

2. The ­Apostolic Church Order­, some passages (so Hennecke, after Harnack and Baumstark, Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­, 1924, 56, 59);

 

3. ­Acts of Peter­ 38 (so Hennecke, ­Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­, 1924, 56);

 

4. ­Acts of Philip­ 140, variation of 3;

 

5. ­Acts of Thomas­ 147, variation of 3;

 

6. ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ logion 22, variation of 3;

 

7. ­Acts of Peter and Simon­ 10 (so Hennecke, ­Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­, 1924, 115f);

 

8. ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 210­ (so Grenfell and Hunt, ­Oxyrhynchus Papyri­ II, 1899, 9-10);

 

9. ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 655­ (so Hennecke, ­Neutestamentliche Apkryphen­, 1924, 56f);

 

10. ­The Fayuum Fragment­ (so Hennecke, ­Neutesetamentliche Apokryphen­, 1924, 56);

 

11. ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1­ (so Harnack, ­Uber die Jungst Entdekten Spruche Jesu­, 1897, 33-34)—I have excepted lines 1-4 and 31-42, on the grounds that they are known from the Synoptics; and 42-44 because it is so fragmentary that nothing can be said about its content.

 

12. The ­Gospel of Peter­ (so Zahn—who in particular supposed that the material contained in the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ and the ­Gospel of Peter­, was very closely connected—in ­Geschichte d. ntl. Kanons­ II.2, 635f); and Volter (“Petrusevangelium oder Agypterevangelium” in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ VI, 1905, 368-372), who changed Zahn’s conjecture into a certainty;

 

13. ­Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians­ 2:4, 3:2, 4:2, 4:5, 5:2-4, 6:1, 6:2, 8:5, 9:11, 11:2-4, 11:7, 12:1-2, 13:4, (so various scholars, unnamed by NTA);

 

The ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ is also cited by the following four individuals.

 

1. Clement of Alexandria [(d.c.215, ­Miscellaneous Studies­ III:ix.63,64,66,68; III:vi.45; III:xiii.92,97); (Excerpta ex Theodoto­ LXVII)];

 

2. Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236, ­Refutation Of All Heresies­ V:vii.8f, who attacks the Naassenes for its use). [Zahn (­Geschichte des ntl. Kanons­ II.2, 630, n.1) and Preuschen (­Antilegomena­, Giessen, 1901, 12f) have proposed other passages from Hippolytus as also belonging to this gospel.];

 

3. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­First Homily on Luke­, prologue) who is content to mention the work and castigate its author for having attempted it without, in his opinion, the necessary gifts of Divine grace;

 

4. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Refutation Of All Heresies­ LXII:ii.4) who says the work was used by the Sabellians.

 

     The principal source of our knowledge of this gospel is Clement of Alexandria, who is aware of its use by Encratites, Julius Cassianus, and Theodotus of Alexandria; but it seems to have been used as early as the time of the ­Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians­. As the title indicates, it is of Egyptian origin, but derives from a different community from that of the Gospel of the Hebrews­—and it seems to have circulated widely, to judge from the number of allegations in ­Hypothetical New Testament­ literature. It is marked chiefly by a pronounced asceticism (chiefly encratite), for which it was criticized by Clement (who, from his editorial comments, though he did not regard it as being on a part with the four orthodox gospels, yet did not wholly disapprove of it either, and did not regard it as heterodox).

 

     Such a group cannot have comprised the whole body of Egyptian Christianity; but certain features of its text derive (so DAN) from Jewish-Christian gnosis, notably the role of Salome. These different elements are typical of a stream of Jewish-Christianity which was to manifest itself later in the apocryphal ­acta­, and they bear striking testimony to the rich variety of background present in Egyptian Christianity in the first half of the 2nd century AD. Earlier than DAN, Schneckenburger (­Uber das Evangelium der Aegyptier­, Berne, 1834, 38) believed that he could prove that the gospel was closely related to the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­, and indirectly to the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­. (Modern scholarship is perhaps more critical about the theology of the group who used it. H)

 

     The book was a secondary work with a distinct doctrinal tendency. It resembles to some the later Gnostic treatises (such as the ­Books of the Savior­) in assigning an important role in the dialogues with Christ to the female disciples. It may be that the title originated in Rome; if so, that would throw some light on the use of the gospel in the ­Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians­ (which may also belong to Rome). NTA treats the text as displaying sturdy Gnostic traits, and believes that this gospel became popular in Egypt earlier than did the Received New Testament­, partly depending on the fact that the Christianity of the Nile Valley was already at its outset influenced by Gnosticism. He also believes that many logia from the Coptic Dialogue of the Redeemer­ may be derived from it, and that this would to a certain extent confirm the view that the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ enjoyed great popularity in different Gnostic groups, being intimately connected with their doctrines.

 

     The following fragments of or alluding to the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ are excerpted from the Fathers (above), in the following order: (1) Clement, III.45; (2) III.63; (3) III.64; (4) III.66; (5) III.68; (6) III.91ff; (7) III.97; (8) LXVII; (9) Hippolytus, V:vii.8f; (10) Epiphanius, LXII.ii.4.

 

1. When Salome asked, “How long will death have power?” the Lord answered, “So long as ye women bear children”—not as if life was something bad and creation evil, but as teaching the sequence of nature.

 

2. Those who are opposed to God’s creation because of continence, which has a fair-sounding name, also quote the words addressed to Salome which I mentioned earlier. They are handed down, as I believe, in the Gospel of the Egyptians. For, they say: the Savior himself said, “I am come to undo the works of the female,” by the female meaning lust, and by the works birth and decay.

 

3. Since then the Word has alluded to the consummation, Salome saith rightly, “Until when shall men die?” Now Scripture uses that term “man” in two senses, of the visible outward form and of the soul, and again of the redeemed man and of him who is not redeemed. And sin is called the death of the soul. Wherefore the Lord answers advisedly, “So long as women bear children,” i.e., so long as lusts are powerful.

 

4. Why do they not also adduce what follows the words spoken to Salome, these people who do anything but walk by the gospel rule according to truth? For when she said, “I have then done well in not bearing children,” as if it were improper to engage in procreation, then the Lord answered and said, “Eat every plant, but that which has bitterness eat not.”

 

5. For they declare that the Lord meant to say: with the greater number there is the Creator, God, the primal cause of existence, but with the one, the elect one, there is the Redeemer, the Son of another, to wit the good God.

 

6. If such an arrangement\fn{Namely, the institution of different sexes.} were of God, to whom we aspire, then he would not have praised eunuchs and the prophet\fn{Isaiah.} would not have said that they are no unfruitful tree ... Contending further for the impious doctrine he adds: ‘And how could a charge not be rightly brought against he Savior, if he has transformed us and freed us from error, and delivered us from sexual intercourse?’ In this matter his teaching is similar to that of Tatian. But he emerged from the school of Valentinus. Therefore Cassianus now says, When Salome asked when what she had inquired about would be known, the Lord said, “When you have trampled on the garment of shame and when the two become one and the male with the female is neither male nor female.” Now in the first place we have not this word in the four Gospels that have been handed down to us, but in the Gospel of the Egyptians. Further he seems to me to fail to recognize that by the male impulse is meant wrath and by the female lust.

 

7. Again the Lord says: He who has married should not repudiate his wife, and he who has not married should not marry.

 

8. And when the Savior says to Salome that death will reign as long as women bear children, he does not thereby slander procreation, for that indeed is necessary for the redemption of believers.

 

9. They\fn{The Naassenes.} inquire yet further what the soul is, whence it originates and of what nature it is ... This, however, they search for not in the Scriptures but in esoteric doctrines\fn{Or perhaps: teachers of esoteric doctrine.} Now they say that the soul is very hard to find and to perceive, for it does not always remain in the same fashion or form or in one condition ... And these various changes they find recorded in the so-called Gospel of the Egyptians.

 

10. Their\fn{The Sabellians.} whole error, however, and the strength of it they derive from some apocrypha, above all from the so-called Gospel of the Egyptians, as some name it. For in it many such mysterious things are handed down as having come secretly from the Savior, as that he had revealed to the disciples that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are one and the same person.

 

The following alleged quotations from the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ are taken from the 13 documentary (as opposed to Patristic) sources mentioned above, in the following order: (11-14), number 1; (15-17, but my source says only some passages), number 2; (18), number 3; (19), number 4; (20), number 5; (21), number 6; (22), num-ber 7; (23), number 8; (24), number 9; (25), number 10; (26), number 11; (27), number 12; (28-40), number 13.

 

11. ... as the voice of the Lord says: O what manner of maid, what manner of woman! Such a mystery of the resurrection have you indicated to me, you who in the beginning of the world did institute vain feasts for yourselves and have taken delight in popular revelries and done like those who let themselves be amused. See, what youths are among you! But come and consider, because he is here who considers\fn{The soul?} and because the last day of persecution and punishment is here.

 

12. When the Savior Christ saw the deeds of this offense multiplying\fn{In? Until?} the end he was grieved and said: Precious to me are those who despise their souls\fn{Conscientiously?} for I see that some allow their souls to grow cold unto vanity and surrender themselves to the unclean age and turn above all to the devil. But I can assist them and say to them: O you souls, who abandon yourselves to voluptuousness and the fear of God is not in you.

 

13. In encouragement given by the Lord he said: Hear me, you whom I have chosen as lambs, and fear not the wolves.

 

14. For in particular the cypress is a mystery of pious conduct according to the Lord Christ’s question and answer.

 

15-17. Not as yet in my possession. (H)

 

18. Concerning this the Lord says in a mystery: Unless you make what is on the right hand as what is on the left and what is on the left hand as on the right and what is above as what is below and what is behind as what is before, you will not recognize the kingdom.

 

19. For the Lord said to me: Unless ye make that which is beneath to be above, and the left to be right, ye shall not enter into my kingdom.

 

20. The inside I have made outside, and the outside inside, and thy whole fullness has been fulfilled in me. I have not turned back to what is behind, but have advanced to what is before, that I may not become a reproach.

 

21. Jesus saw children who were being suckled. He said to his disciples: “These children who are being suckled are like those who enter the Kingdom.” They said to Him: “Shall we then, being children, enter the Kingdom?” Jesus said to them: “When you make the two one, and when you make the inner as the outer and the outer as the inner and the above as the below, and when you maker the male and the female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female not be female, when you make the eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand, and a foot in the place of a foot, and an image in the place of an image, then shall you enter the Kingdom.”

 

22. I have heard, that is to say, that he has said this: Those who are with me have not understood me.

 

23. In Greenfell and Hunt (­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ II, 1899, 9-10).

 

24. His disciples say to him: When will you be manifest to us and when shall we see you? He says: When you have undressed and are not ashamed.

 

25. As he led them out, he said: All ye in this night will be offended, as it is written: I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. When Peter said: Even if all, not I, Jesus said: Before the cock crows twice, thrice wilt thou deny me today.

 

26. ... Jesus says: If you do not fast as to the world, you will not find the kingdom of God, and if you do not keep the Sabbath as Sabbath, you will not see the Father. Jesus says: I stood up in the midst of the world, and in the flesh I appeared to them and found all drunken, and none found I athirst among them, and my soul is troubled \fn{Or: feels pain.} for the sons of men, because they are blind in their heart and do not see. ...\fn{Here occurs a considerable lacuna (ANT says the bottom of the column is gone) in the text, which apparently contained a ­Greek­ version of logion 29 of the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, viz: Jesus said: If the flesh has come into being because of the spirit, it is a marvel; but if the spirit has come into being because of the body, it is a marvel of marvels. But as for me, I marvel at this, how this great wealth has settled in this poverty.} ... the poverty. Jesus says: wherever there are ...\fn{Here another lacuna, very short, two or three words at most, to be completed from the sense of logion 30 of the Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, viz: Jesus has said: Where there are three gods, there they are gods; where there are two or one, there I am with him.—and which I would complete: <many gods> or, perhaps, <many people>.} without God, and where one is alone, I say: I am with him. Lift up the stone and there thou wilt find me; cleave the wood, and I am there. ...}

 

27. See for this under the ­Gospel of Peter­.

 

28. And another Scriptures says: I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

 

29. But he himself says: He who confesses me before men, him will I confess before my Father.

 

30. For he says: Not every one who says to me ‘Lord, Lord’ will be saved, but he who does righteousness.

 

31. Wherefore, if you do this, the Lord says: Though you should be joined to me in my bosom and keep not my commandments, I will cast you out and say to you: Depart from me, I know you not, whence you are, you doers of lawlessness.

 

32. For the Lord says: You will be as sheep in the midst of wolves. But Peter answered him and said: What if the wolves tear the sheep in pieces? Jesus said to Peter: Let the sheep not fear the wolves after death; you also fear not them who kill you, but otherwise cannot do anything to you; but fear him who after your death has power over body and soul to cast them into hell-fire.

 

33. But the Lord says: “No servant can serve two masters.” If we desire to serve God and mammon, that is without profit to us.

 

34. For what is the profit if one gain the whole world and lose his soul?

 

35. For the Lord says in the gospel: If you have not kept what is little, who will give you what is great? For I say to you: He who is faithful in what is least, is faithful also in much.

 

36. For the Lord also says: My brethren are those who do the will of my Father.

 

37. For the prophetic word also declares, “Wretched are those of a double mind, and who doubt in their heart, who say, All these things have we heard even in the times of our fathers; but though we have waited day by day, we have seen none of them accomplished. Ye fools! Compare yourselves to a tree; take, for instance, the vine. First of all its sheds its leaves, then the bud appears; after that the sour grape, and then the fully-ripened fruit. So, likewise, my people have borne disturbances and afflictions, but afterwards shall they receive their good things.”

 

38. If, therefore, we shall do righteousness in the sight of God, we shall enter into His kingdom, and shall receive the promises, “which ear hath not heard, nor eye seen, neither have entered into the heart of man.”

 

39. Let us now every hour expect the kingdom of God in love and righteousness, since we know not the day of God’s appearing. For the Lord himself, on being asked by some one when his kingdom should come, said: When the two shall be one and that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female neither male nor female.

 

40. For when they hear from us that God says: There is no favor for you if you love those who love you, but there is favor for you if you love your enemies and them that hate you.

 

     It should be mentioned that the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ has nothing to do with the Coptic ­Sacred Book of the Great Invisible Spirit­, also subtitled ­Gospel of the Egyptians­.

 

[DAN, 23; ODC, 442; ANT, 10-12; NTA, I, 166-178, 361-362; NAG, 195]

 

76. The AJ-II Source

 

In 1848, Hilgenfeld (­Die Clementischen Recognitionen und Homilien Nach Ihrem Ursprung Dargestellt­, Jena) reconstructed from the ­Recognitions of Clement­ I:xxvii-lxxii a Jewish-Christian source writing originally entitled ­The Preaching of Peter­. Since that time, the sections I:xxxiii-xliv.2 and I:liii.4b-lxxi have been variously recognized as possessing a literary character independent from the material surrounding them. In fact, these sections are to be regarded as a Jewish-Christian source writing which the author of the document common to both the Recognitions of Clement­ and the ­Homilies of Clement­ worked up side by side with his other references.

 

This tractate originally included a sketch of the history of salvation—from Abraham to the infant Jewish-Christian church in Jerusalem. It also included disputations of the twelve apostles and of James (Jesus’ brother) with certain factions of Judaism. There was also a discussion with Paul. The commentaries on this source are most extensively assembled in Strecker (“Das Judenchristentum in den Pseudoklementinen” in Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ LXX, 1958, 221f; see also his “Ebioniten” in Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum­ IV, cols. 487-500; and “Supplement to W. Bauer” in ­Rechtglaubigkeit und Ketzerei­, 1964).

 

As to a date of composition, Schoeps (­Theologie und Geschichte des Judenchristentums­, Tübingen, 1949) sees the ­Preaching of Peter­ itself as originating in the conflict which broke out between the early traditions of the infant church and the teachings of Marcion, who died c.160AD. His followers (so ODC,854) were the chief protagonists of the Orthodox faith from dogmatic unorthodoxy in the latter half of the 2nd century. (All this would seem to indicate that the ­AJ-II Source­—which preceded the ­Preaching of Peter­—most probably was written during the earlier part of the 2nd century AD, perhaps even in the late decades of the 1st century. H)

 

[NTA, II, 102-106; ODC, 854]

 

***

 

XV: JOHN THE BAPTIST

 

77. The Life of John the Baptist, after Serapion of Thumis

 

     A ­Life of John the Baptist, after Serapion of Thumis­ became known comparatively late. Written in Arabic with Syriac letters (a language known as Garshuni), it purports, according to the testimony of the Egyptian bishop Serapion, to have been composed in Greek between the years 385-395AD; but it seems to have survived only in Syriac, in two manuscripts (of the 16th and 18th centuries respectively), from the Mingana collection (Woodbrooke Studies: Christian Documents in Syriac, Arabic and Garshuni, with Introductions by Rendel Harris­, Cambridge, 1927). Mingana says that his text was compiled from these two editions, both of which exhibit short lacunae. Fortunately, these do not affect identical passages, and a complete, continuous and unbroken text could be established by collation.

 

     In spite of some important variants, both manuscripts represented a single recension of the story, though one may perhaps have been written for the use of Egyptian, the other for Syrian, Christians. Serapion was bishop during the patriarchate of Theophilus of Alexandria (385-412AD); and from the mention of the Roman emperor Theodosius the Great in connection with some events of the narrative, it may be affirmed with a good deal of probability that Serapion was writing between 385-395. If the story is a translation from Greek, as in many passages it appears to be, the translator must have used his proper names in the form in which they were known in his day. The text seems to contain sentences that have been interpolated by authors or copyists who might have lived at a date much later than that of Serapion.

 

[NTA, I, 407; WS1, 234-235]

 

78. The Life of John the Baptist, after Mark the Evangelist

 

     There is also a ­Life of John the Baptist, after Mark the Evangelist­ It is edited by Nau (­Patrologia Orientalis­ IV, 521-525), in a French version with introduction. Abbe Nau says that the narrative is quite simple and unassuming. Two considerations take us to Syria as the place of authorship: (1) the mention of the Syro-Macedonian month of Dustros; and (2) the fact that the author tells us that John’s disciples took John’s head to a cave near Emesa, and that he considers himself John’s disciple. This allows us to believe that the author wanted to attest to the authenticity of the finding of John the Baptist’s head—and such an event is actually known to have taken place in Emesa in 453AD.

 

     Three versions of this work are known: (1) a version which was written or completed towards the end of the 5th century AD (represented by manuscripts G, P and Q); (2) a slight modification of version (1), issued somewhat later (manuscripts V and R); and (3) a slight modification of version 2, published by A. Vassiliev, (­Greek-Byzantine Anecdote­, Moscow, 1893) and attributed to a disciple of John’s named Eurippos (in some passages) or Agrippios (in others).

 

[ANT, xxv; PAT, IV, 521-525]

 

79. A Life of John the Baptist, after Manuscript Sachau 329

 

     There is a ­Life of John the Baptist­ contained in a Berlin manuscript (Manuscript Sachau 329). Nau (in Patrologia Orientalis­ VIII, 405-410, 557-559) says that the Syriac manuscript is Nestorian, and contains, besides this life of John the Baptist, stories (almost always oral; written proof is quite rare) either gathered by its compiler, or narrated by people of the entourage of Peter the Iberian (contemporary Monophysite bishop of Maiouma, near Gaza).

 

     The author also wishes to fight the decisions of the Council of Chalcedon (451AD); and with this end in view, he describes (originally in Greek; the Syriac is a translation) a series of visions, miracles and predictions, to prove that the council was nothing but a revenge upon Nestorians who were condemned twenty years before at the First Council of Ephesus (431). The work is therefore an interesting sample of Jacobite opinion, then triumphant, about the Council of Chalcedon, as well as of their polemical procedures.

 

     The author himself was an historical person. The writing says his name was John Rufin (in the ­Life of Severus of Antioch­ he is called John Rufus); that he was an Arab from Southern Palestine (undoubtedly from Ascalon); and that he studied law in Beirut. He was ordained a priest in Antioch (476-478) by the Monophysite patriarch Peter the Fuller, for whom he had been his ­syncelle­; but when Peter was expelled, he too left and went to Jerusalem and Palestine, where he met Peter the Iberian. He was in Jerusalem in 485 when Peter the Fuller, re-established in Antioch, sent a synodical letter to Martyrius, Orthodox bishop of Antioch. Since that time he seems completely attached to Peter the Iberian, and upon the latters’ death (December 1, 488), succeeded him as bishop of Maiouma, writing the present work while Severus was Monophysite patriarch of Antioch (512-518).

 

[PAT, VIII, 405-410]

 

80. An Encomium on John the Baptist, after John Chrysostom

 

     John Chrysostom (patriarch of Constantinople, 398-404) says that he discovered this narrative in a little old volume preserved in the library of Jerusalem, among the manuscripts which had been deposited there by the Apostles. According to this book Jesus was on the Mount of Olives surrounded by the Apostles, who were questioning Him about John the Baptist. He commanded a cloud to come, and He and they ascended upon it into the heights of heaven. He showed them the heavens, bringing them into the third heaven last, a most glorious place, where they saw John the Baptist and his parents, splendidly arrayed in clothes studded with precious stones.

 

     Summoning to Him Michael, the seven Archangels, and Sedekiel, and surrounded by the Apostles, Jesus called upon them all to bear witness to the fact that He had bestowed the third heaven upon John the Baptist, telling them the gifts he had given John, the last and greatest of which being a boat of gold. After the death of their bodies, the souls of those who had loved John upon earth would find their way to this golden boat, and John would ferry them over a lake of fire, and land them in the third heaven. No soul, good or bad, could enter this Heaven except after baptism in the lake of fire, which consumed the wicked, but which seemed only like a hot bath to the righteous. There was there also another boat, equipped with oars and lamps; and when the souls of the righteous had taken their places in it, the oars worked by themselves and rowed it over the dark waters, the lamps serving to light it on its way.

 

[CAD, viii]

 

***

 

XVI: JESUS THE CHRIST

 

81. The Testimonies of Josephus

 

     In the traditional text of the ­Jewish Antiquities­ by Josephus of Palestine (c.37-c.100AD) Jesus the Son of God is mentioned only twice (XX.ix.1, XVIII.iii.3). The first of these consists of a single statement—(Ananas summoned the Council to judgment, and brought before it the brother of Jesus, the so-called Christ, James by name.)—which was known to Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­Contra Celsus­ I:xlvii; ­On Matthew­ X:xvii.22). Since the author (through the alleged use of the phrase so-called in the text) clearly stands aside from the Christian faith there is no reason for denying the words to Josephus. So the most recent scholarship on this first saying.

 

     On the other hand, the second testimony—(At this time appeared Jesus, a wise man, if one may call him a man at all. For he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of men, who received the truth with gladness. And he attracted Jews as also people of the Greek sort in great number. This was the Christ. And when on the denunciation of our leading men Pilate had punished him with crucifixion, those who had loved him formerly did not cease therefrom. He appeared to them alive again on the third day, for the godly prophets had foretold this and innumerable other wonderful things concerning him. And even now the race of men called after him Christians has not died out.)—though known to Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History­ I:xi.7-8; Demonstration of the Gospel­ III:v.105f), was evidently not known by Origen; who also [­Contra Celsus­ I:xlvii—For in the 18th book of his ­Antiquities of the Jews­, Josephus bears witness to John as having been a Baptist, and as promising purification to those who underwent the rite. Now this writer, although not believing in Jesus as the Christ, in seeking after the cause of the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple, whereas he ought to have said that the conspiracy against Jesus was the cause of these calamities befalling the people, since they put to death Christ, who was a prophet, says nevertheless—being, although against his will, not far from the truth—that these disasters happened to the Jews as a punishment for the death of James the Just, who was a brother of Jesus (called Christ),—the Jews having put him to death, although he was a man most distinguished for his justice.]—expressly denies to Josephus any belief in Jesus as the Christ.

 

     The most generally accepted opinion is that Josephus actually did mention Jesus at ­Antiquities­ XX:ix.1; but that the passage at XVIII:iii.3 was interpolated into the text of his book by an otherwise unknown Christian writer at an early date, certainly before the time of Eusebius (who knew it in its present form). This second testimony is thus intelligible (1) either as the confession of a Christian (which Origen says Josephus was not); or (2) we must assume that an original text by Josephus has been very thoroughly transformed by a Christian hand.

 

     The latter opinion has found its scholarly defenders, however. Oliphant Smeaton, in the 1910 edition of Gibbon’s ­The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire­, notes that it is a mistake to regard the passage as wholly spurious, and that he was inclined to agree with Heinichen, Ewald, Bury and others (though no references are given) in regarding the longer of the two passages as only tainted by interpolations, but not wholly spurious. Bury, he says, calls attention to another passage in which reference is made to the death of St. James, brother of Jesus called the Christ; and, indeed, this is also the translation in my copy (1860) of Antiquities­ XX:ix.1—Ananus assembled the Sanhedrin and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others, and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned. It does not appear, however, that there are any passages of the ­Antiquities­ to be sought after these two: a quick check of the index turns up the name Jesus thirteen times besides the entry devoted to the Messiah, but they are all accounted for.

 

     [Still, it is also clear that the adverb so-called does not appear in my copy. We must assume, therefore, (1) that modern scholarship has discovered an error in the original translation into English of this passage (i.e., called to so-called); (2) that Bury is making reference to the shorter of the two references already known (above); (3) that Origen understood his Josephus the same way that I do, if the translation of his passage in brackets quoted above in ANF (1907)—[who was a brother of Jesus (­called Christ­)]—is correct; and (4) that the ­translator­ of Origen (above) understood ­his­ Josephus (his use of it copyrighted in 1907) as I do mine (translation copyrighted in 1860, my use of it in 1996): which, if true, may perhaps make this retranslation of called into so-called ­after­ 1907 and before­ 1963 (the publication date of NTA,II, on pages 436-437 of which are to be found the texts quoted in this paragraph (unless otherwise specified).H]

 

     The great English scholar Gibbon himself believed the longer passage to be no vulgar forgery. The accomplishment of the prophecies, virtues, miracles and resurrection of Jesus are distinctly related. Josephus acknowledges that he was the Messiah, and hesitates whether he should call him a man. If any doubt can still remain concerning this celebrated passage, the reader may examine the pointed objections of Le Fevre (Havercamp, Joseph.­ tom. ii. p. 267-273), the labored answers of Daubuz (p. 187-232), and the masterly reply of an anonymous critic (­Bibliotheque Ancienne et Moderne­, tom. vii. p. 237-288), whom I believe to have been the learned abbe de Longuerue. Since this time, others have defended at least a partial authenticity to the longer fragment: Burkitt (­Theol. Tidschift­ 1913, 135-144); Harnack (­Internationale Monatsschrift­ 1913, 1037-1068); Corssen (in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschafte und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XV, 1914, 114-140); Goguel ­(Life of Jesus­ 1933, 79f). Indeed, at least three attempts have been made to restore the original text: Reinach [in ­Revue des Etudes Juives­ XXXV, 1897, 13f; Eisler, (Greek title, 1929, 1-88)]; and Scheidweiler (in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XLV, 1945, 230-243).

 

     The ­Antiquities­ were published c.94AD; and this would seem to date the first possible appearance of the brief identification. Eusebius brought out his ­Ecclesiastical History­ between 303-323; and this would establish the terminus ad quem­ for the time of writing of the longer testimony (assuming it not to be the work of Josephus).

 

[GIB, II, 16-17; ODC, 473-474, 745-746; NTA, I, 436-437; ENC, XIII, 90]

 

82. Signs and Wonder at the Persian Court Upon the Birth of Jesus

 

     This is a long book, a discussion of Christianity at the Persian court, containing narratives of the miracles which took place in a Persian temple upon the birth of the Christ. It was this event (so it says in this work) which started the magi on their way. It was last edited by Bratke (in ­Texte und Untersuchungen­).

 

[ANT, xxvi]

 

83. The Gospel of the Boyhood of Our Lord, Jesus

 

     Cowper says that by way of supplement to the present volume, I have introduced a translation of this which I regard as the oldest form in which the ­Gospel of Thomas­ is now known, but not so full as the original. The reader will observe that it is not called the ­Gospel of Thomas­ at all, and will, not without reason, infer that, like other books of its class, it changed its title to suit the convenience of its copyists or editors.

 

[TAG, cx]

 

84. The Boy in the Tower

 

     It is more doubtful whether this story belongs to the old stock. It occurs in the mediaeval vernaculars, and may perhaps be discovered in some Latin text. The composition is one of the English metrical versions [Manuscript Harley 3954, edited by Horstmann (­Sammlung Altenblischer Legenden­, 1878, 108); he also prints another infancy gospel]. The names in the English version (Joseph and Braudyn) are probably the versifier’s invention: both the infancy gospels printed by Horstmann contain many such names, which do not occur elsewhere.

 

     Other miracles which find a place in the vernacular versions or in the ­Vita Rhythmica­ (a long Latin rhyming composition of the 13th century, edited by Vogtlig (­Bibl. d. Litterar­. Vereins in Stuttgart, no. 180, 1888) are: (1) Jesus slides on a sunbeam, and other boys attempting this fall, are hurt, and are cured; (2) Jesus hangs his pitcher on a sunbeam, other boys’ attempting to do this suffer broken pitchers, which are mended; (3) Jesus brings bitter herbs to Mary and sweetens them by putting flour in the pot; (4) a lion carries off a shepherd’s boy and is made to bring him back; (5) Jesus finds a hunter killed by a snake and raises him from the dead; (6) Jesus cures one who had swallowed a viper in his sleep.

 

     James gives (MRJ,69) only a partial translation; a complete, quite literal translation, the work of Dr. Ronald Herzman and Mr. Alan Lupack, is given below. In some versions the father, returning and finding the tower empty, is struck blind. I have modernized the spelling.

 

A rich man was in that city | That of Jesus had envy, | Joseph’s father, Braudyn was named, | Over his son he made mastery. | He said: ‘My son, you were dear to me, | Now you do against my will | To be with Jesus, of him to learn— | You were well better to be still. | For his love you shall be kept | In a tower of lime and stone, | His love you shall rue, Joseph, | You will not gain any better dwelling place. | To you shall no man come or leap: | There you must cry and call alone | So that no man of you shall take keep, | Nor for hear your boon. | I swear by God Adonai | Lying there you shall not have: | Loud you may cry all you wish, | No help gain you to crave. | Jesus, that has shunted you thus | Out of prison shall you not bring | By no manner of charm | That he can read or sing of.’ | Joseph said right away: | ‘Father, you might do your will. | Jesus is full of much might, | He will not suffer me to die.’ | He left Joseph in that prison, | The doors were locked fast; | There lay Joseph all alone, | To him came Jesus right in haste. | ‘Joseph, fellow,’ spoke Jesus, | ‘For my love you lie here, | You shall see more of my virtue, | For so I will, my lover fair.’ | Jesus found a little hole | And bade Joseph take his finger: | Whole and sound as he was noble | He came out through it without a scratch. | Ever with Jesus he would be; | Nothing might prevent him: | Ever was Jesus to him so free, | He treated him as his companion.

 

[ANT, 68-70]

 

85. The Unknown Infancy Gospel in the Arundel and Hereford Manuscripts.

 

     This is a Latin work, first edited by James (­Latin Infancy Gospels­, 1927) from two manuscripts: the Hereford manuscript (13th century) and the Arundel manuscript (14th century). James says they represent a hitherto unknown source of material on the infancy of Jesus Christ, though they diverge widely from one another. The source may be said to appear in the first lines of paragraph 69; and to disappear with the story of the Magi (in Arundel with the words ­detinuit autem eos­, and in Hereford with the words ­letantesque in bonis domini­).

 

     The text resembles the ­Infancy Gospel of James­; but it also contains much from the ­Infancy Gospel of Matthew­, together with a number of features peculiar to itself. Symeon, a son of the patriarch Joseph, is named in the manuscripts as the source of the information; but since the story it contains about the birth of Jesus is strongly docetic in character, James has raised the question as to whether or not we have here to do with a source comparable with he ­Gospel of Peter­.

 

     See also on this Robinson (in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ 1928, 205-207); Lagrange (in ­Revue Biblique­, 1928, 544-557); Capelle (in ­Revue Benedictine­ 1929, 79ff); Bonaccorsi (in Vangeli Apocrifi­ I, 1948, 232-259, extracts, Italian translation); Ferri (in ­Studi Mediolantini e Volgari­ I, 1955, 119-125); and de Santos Otero (­Los Evangelios Apocrifos­, 1956, 276-292, extracts, Spanish translation).

 

[NTA, I, 406-407; MRJ, preface]

 

86. The Infancy Gospel of Matthew

 

     The ­Infancy Gospel of Matthew­ (a title used here as a standardized offering, hoping to replace the one presently in general use, the ­Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew­) was first edited by Thilo (­Codex Apocryphus Nuevo Testamentum­ I, Leipzig, 1832, 339-400, for chapters 1-24) and Tischendorf (­Evangelia Apocrypha­, 1876, 51-112, for chapters 25-42). A large number of copies have survived into modern times.

 

     The text of the ­Infancy Gospel of Matthew­ is taken largely from the ­Infancy Gospel of James­ or the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­; but there are also included materials not found in either of these major compilations.

 

1. In chapters 35-36, there is a road from Jericho to the Jordan River, at the place where Israel crossed and the ark rested. Jesus, eight years old, goes from Jericho to the Jordan. On the way he comes across a vault where a lioness with whelps has made a home. He goes in and sits there, and the whelps play about him, the older lions standing at a distance, adoring him and wagging their tails. The people who see it say that he or his parents must have sinned or he would not have delivered himself to the lions. Then he comes forth and the lions go before him, the whelps playing around his feet. His parents and the people look on. Jesus says: How much better than you are the beasts which know me and are tame, while men know me not. Then he goes over the Jordan with the lions—the waters of the river divide for him to pass—and he tells the lions in the hearing of all to go back home and hurt no one; and so they do.

 

2. In chapter 40, the Holy Family removes to Capernaum. A rich man named Joseph falls ill and dies. Jesus hears the voices of mourning and says to Joseph: Why do you not do him a service since he is of your name? Joseph says: What can I do? Jesus replies: Take the kerchief that is on your head and go and put it on his face and say: Christ save thee. He does so, but says: Jesus save thee. The dead man is raised to life again, and asks who Jesus is.

 

3. In chapter 42 (the conclusion) Joseph comes to a feast with his sons James, Joseph, Juda, and Simeon, and his two daughters. Jesus and Mary come with Marys’ sister, Mary of Cleophas, whom Jesus gave to her father Cleophas and her mother Anna, because they had offered Mary the mother of Jesus to the Lord, and this other Mary was given them for their consolation and called by the same name. When they are together, Jesus blesses and sanctifies them, and is the first to eat and drink, for no one ventures even to sit down until he has done so, and all wait for him if he is not there. His brothers both watch him all the time and fear him. When he sleeps by day or by night the light of God shines always over him.

 

4. The section containing chapters 18-24 also does not appear in either the Infancy Gospel of James or that of Thomas, and is probably not on the whole translated from a written source. Some tell of fulfillments of prophecy; others may depend on local legend. The gist of the contents are as follows.

 

     The Holy Family comes to a cave and wishes to rest there. Mary dismounts and sits with Jesus in her lap. There are three boys with Joseph, and a girl with Mary. Suddenly a number of dragons rush out of a nearby cave, and all cry out in fear. Jesus gets down from his mother’s lap, and stands before the dragons, which worship him. Thus is fulfilled the word: “Praise the Lord out of the earth, ye dragons and all deeps.” Jesus walks before them and commands them not to hurt anybody. Mary is alarmed for him, but he says: “Fear not, neither conceive that I am a child, for I always was and am a perfect man, and it is necessary that all the beasts of the forest should grow tame before me.”

 

     In like manner lions and leopards adore him and accompany them, showing them the way, and bowing their heads to Jesus. At first Mary is afraid; but Jesus smiles on her and reassures her. The lions never injure their oxen,—they have with them two oxen and a cart to carry their baggage—asses, or the sheep they brought from Judaea. Wolves, too, come and are harmless. Thus is fulfilled the word: “The wolves shall feed with the lambs, the lion and ox shall eat straw together.”

 

     On the third day Mary sees a palm tree and wishes to rest under it. Seated under it, she looks up and sees fruit on its branches, and tells Joseph that she would like to have some. Joseph says that he is surprised to hear her say such a thing, as the tree is so high as to preclude climbing it: he himself is thinking more about water, of which they have very little left. Jesus, sitting in Mary’s lap with a joyful countenance, commands the palm to give his mother of its fruit; whereupon the tree bends as low as her feet, and she gathers what she wishes. He commands it to rise again, and give them water concealed beneath its roots. A spring comes forth, and all rejoice and drink of it.

 

     On the following day when they leave the place Jesus says to the palm: I give you this privilege, that one of your branches shall be taken by my angels and planted in my Father’s garden. And henceforth all who win contests shall be told that they have won the palm of victory. An angel arrives and takes a branch and flies away with it. All fall down in fear; but Jesus reassures them.

 

     As they continue on their journey, Joseph says that as it was so warm they should go by way of the sea coast. But Jesus says he will shorten the way—and even as he speaks, they begin to see the hills and cities of Egypt.

 

     They arrive at Hermopolis, and enter a city called Sotinen, lodging in a temple where there are 365 gods. When Mary and Jesus enter, all the idols fall, and Isaiah’s word is fulfilled: “Behold the Lord shall come upon a light cloud and enter into Egypt, and all the gods made by the hand of the Egyptians shall be moved before his face.” Affrodosius, governor of the city, hears of it and comes with all his host. The priests think he will punish those who had destroyed the gods: but when Affrodosius sees them fallen, he adores Jesus and says to those present that “unless this were the God of our gods they would not have fallen. If we do not adore him, as they have done, we are in danger of such destruction as fell upon Pharaoh who was drowned with all his army.” Then all the people of the city believe in the Lord, through Jesus Christ.

 

     The majority of these manuscripts containing the ­Infancy Gospel of Matthew­ attribute its composition to the apostle Matthew, though the actual titles vary greatly; and sometimes to James, the brother of Jesus. Several of them also contain a prefixed letter of authentication allegedly by Jerome of Strido (d.420AD); but none of these statements can be true.

 

1. The fact that the book ­has­ an introduction—(Here beginneth the book of the Birth of the Blessed Mary and the infancy of the Savior. Written in Hebrew by the blessed Evangelist Matthew, and translated into Latin by the blessed Presbyter Jerome)—is, of itself, evidence of origin much later than the lifetime of the residents of the 1st century.

 

2. No one who is acquainted with the style of Jerome’s letters would think the one prefixed to the ­Infancy Gospel of Matthew­ authentic.

 

3. But even excepting this evidence, Jerome was one of the leading churchmen ­opposed­ on theological grounds to the dissemination of Infancy Literature: indeed, it was he whose efforts led to its condemnation under the Roman bishops Damasus I (d.384), Innocent I (d.417), and Gelasius I (d.496). He would hardly be the translator or protagonist of such a work.

 

4. Though a large number of manuscripts of this work survive, no manuscript earlier than the 11th century is known to exist. Tischendorf, for his pioneer edition, used three of the 14th and one of the 15th centuries.

 

5. Hrosvit of Gandersheim (10th century) used the work in her poems; but no earlier personal knowledge of its existence seems to be known.

 

6. That text which its author borrowed from the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ betrays a good deal of late amplification.

 

     The original language of this book is Latin. In chapters 1-17 the author borrows extensively from the Infancy Gospel of James­; and although an Old Latin translation of that originally Greek work (c.150AD) has not survived, its contents must have been known in that language, for such a work was used by Zeno of Verona (d.c.375) and Prudentius of Spain (d.c.410). For the contents of chapters 25-42, extensive use of the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ has been discovered; and here a Latin version dating from the 5th or 6th century of that work is known to exist, with which at least one copy of the ­Infancy Gospel of Matthew­ has some affinity. Further, the list of epithets, applied to the triangles of the Alpha in chapter 31, are pretty obviously mistranslations of Greek technical terms; and this is one of the chapters whose material is taken from the Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ (who presumably passed on these mistranslations, which were then simply copied by the author of the ­Infancy Gospel of Matthew­: H).

 

The further development in the West of legends of the infancy of Jesus is of particular interest. Official condemnation (which was based not only upon theological grounds but frank displeasure at the allegedly bad taste of many of the legends) extended in the 5th century to the banning of specific books in the Gelasian Decree—(Gospel under the name of Thomas, which the Manichaeans use ... Book about the childhood of the Redeemer ... Book about the birth of the Redeemer and about Mary or the midwife)—but the official displeasure failed to deter the spread of this material, which enjoyed ever-increasing popularity among church people. Indeed, it became necessary in time, despite the rejection of certain miracles believed too crude—e.g., the standing still of all Creation at the time of the birth of Jesus—to bring much of the infancy stories together in a refined form in a new collection; and not only for its own sake, but at the same time, to further an expanding devotion to Mary in her aspect as Queen of Virgins.

 

This was done, at some time during the 8th or 9th century, during the so-called Early Middle Ages. The extraordinary importance of this book lies in the fact that it is in this form that the legends from the older infancy gospels became the common property of the people, and were thus able to exercise immense influence on the literature and art from the 12th to the 15th centuries; for it is upon this text that the many vernacular versions for the most part depend; and by them that the pictures of the rejection of Joachim’s offering, his meeting with Anne at the Golden Gate in the city wall of Jerusalem, the presentation of the virgin, the repose in Egypt, and a few of the infancy miracles themselves, were inspired.

 

Further, the book underwent a further shortened edition, named the ­Story of the Birth of Mary­ (below, #124) in which the first marriage of Joseph, now officially rejected as heretical, was excised from the original text, together with other offensive details, and the original material was pruned and made less tedious. This version also was provided with the fictitious correspondence of Jerome. Through being included in the ­Golden Legend­ of James of Voragine (1298AD) it enjoyed a very wide circulation.

 

[ANF, 351-352, 368; ANT, 70-79; NTA, I, 368, 405-406]

 

87. The Infancy Gospel of James

 

     This work is usually credited to James the Less, Jesus’ brother (who in the earliest Christian literature is not to be identified with James of Alphaeus, one of the Twelve). As in the Infancy Gospel of Matthew­, the titles of the known surviving manuscripts of the ­Infancy Gospel of James­ vary greatly. At least 18 different forms of the title exist. The oldest manuscript (Papyrus Bodmer V) has ­“Birth of Mary. Revelation of James­”; the later Greek manuscripts usually have ­Story­, ­History­ or ­Account­, and then, either with or without mention of James, give the contents, usually described as ­Birth of Saint Mary, Mother of God­. The Syriac translation bears the title “­Birth of our Lord and our Lady Mary­.” Perhaps not surprisingly, the title is also reported differently by at least one of the ancient Fathers. In the 16th century (1552:ANF), the book was given its perhaps most recognizable modern title (Protevangelium of James­) by Guillaume Postel, a French Jesuit who died in 1581 and whose Latin translation of it was first published by Bibliander (­Protoevangelion Jacobi, Fratyris Domini, de Natalibus Jesu Christi, et Virgi-nis Mariae; cum Evangelio Vitaque S. Marci Evangelistae­, Basel, 1552). This publication represents its introduction to modern Europe: English editions exist by Jones (1722) and Cowper (1867).

 

     Where James is mentioned, it is said that he wrote the work after the death of Herod (probably Herod Agrippa I, a grandson of Herod the Great, called ­Herod­ in the ­Received Acts­, who according to ­that­ book puts James to death).

 

     A large number of manuscripts are known to exist. For his edition, Tischendorf (­Evangelia Apocrypha­, 2nd ed., 1876, 1-50) used 17 of them, the earliest of which belongs to the 9th century. Several linguistic versions are known.

 

1. GREEK. There are at the moment over 30 known Greek manuscripts alone (perhaps the oldest of which was recently discovered and edited by Testuz (­Nativite de Marie­, 1958). Following the judgment of papyrologists on the paleographical evidence, he assigns it to the 3rd century; but this has been objected to as too early, based upon what others see as a very advanced stage of secondary textual expansion, coupled with a number of known secondary or variant textual readings; and it may be that it is closer in age to a known 5th or 6th century fragment published by Grenfell in 1896. The very oldest known Greek text of the work appears to have been dealt with by Ehrhard (­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ L.1, 1937, 56f; 69), in the form of some fragments dated prior to the 3rd century. Apart from isolated passages its original language was Greek, and not Hebrew.

 

2. SYRIAC. A complete and obviously very old Syriac form of the work (5th-6th centuries) has been published by Lewis from two manuscripts (“Apocrypha Syriaca: The Protevangelium Jacobi and Transitus Mariae” in ­Studia Sinaitica­ XI, 1902).

 

3. ARMENIAN. An Armenian version, agreeing closely with the Greek text, has been found in a codex in the Mechitarist library in Venice, and was first published by Daietsi [1896; an English translation appears in Conybeare (in ­American Journal of Theology­ I, 1897, 424-442); see also Peeters, (“Evangelia Apocrypha” in Textes et Documents pour l’Etude Historique du Christianisme­ II, 1914)].

 

4. GEORGIAN. A Georgian version (from the ­Codex Sinaiticus Georgianus­ VI, 10th century), exhibiting interesting variants, was published by Garitte (in ­Le Museon­ LXX, 1957, 233ff).

 

5. ETHIOPIC. An Ethiopic text has been published by Chaine (­Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium­, Series I, Volume VII of the ­Scr. Aethiop.­, 1909, 3-19).

 

6. COPTIC. A Coptic (Sahidic dialect) fragment of the ­Infancy Gospel of James­ has been printed by Leipoldt (in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ VI, 1905, 106f).

 

7. OLD SLAVONIC. For Old Slavonic manuscripts see Bonwetsch in Harnack (­Litg.­ I, 909f).

 

8. OLD LATIN. Latin manuscript evidence has not survived because of the condemnation of this book in the West, although doubtless an Old Latin edition was current.

 

1. Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165) in two passages of the Dialogue With Trypho­ mentions the cave in the Infancy Gospel of James­ in which Jesus is there said to have been born, and also the supposed Davidic descent of Mary, the mother of Jesus; and though the name of the reference in which that information was found is not mentioned by Justin, it is considered probable that he knew of the existence of the ­Infancy Gospel of James­.

 

2. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215) is said by the ODC to still more probably have known about the existence of this book than Justin of Flavia Neapolis, but does not say where Clement writes down his testimony.

 

3. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254) mentions, towards the end of the 2nd century a ­Book of James­. It is by no means clear in one of the three references allegedly identifying its existence that Origen refers to our text; but in the two other references he mentions the book by name and says that it, together with the ­Gospel of Peter­, both speak of the brothers and sisters of Jesus (mentioned openly and frankly in the Received New Testament by the use of a characteristic Greek expression which can have no other meaning than this) as in fact the sons of Joseph by a former wife. This is the first specific mention of the book by title.

 

4. From the end of the 4th century on, there are numerous allusions in ecclesiastical writings to statements made in the ­Infancy Gospel of James­.

 

     In actual fact, however, the ­Infancy Gospel of James­ cannot have been written before 150AD.

 

1. It presupposed the Received infancy stories, particularly in Luke­ 1ff, and is certainly not to be regarded as their source.

 

2. It is not derived with the Received infancy stories from a common written source.

 

3. Apart perhaps from isolated passages, it was not originally written in Hebrew.

 

     Nevertheless, the book belongs to the early ages of the Christian Era.

 

1. Though it presupposes the Received infancy stories, it makes very free use of them—e.g., it is here that the names of Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anna, occur for the first time—and it is probable that the author of the Infancy Gospel of James­ is, to some extent, following an oral tradition (i.e., one independent of, or not used by but perhaps contemporary with, the Orthodox: H). This indicates that the growth of the orthodox (Received) Canon of the ­New Testament­ had not yet been completed.

 

2. Since Origen certainly, and Clement of Alexandria probably, knew the document, and Justin of Flavia Neapolis exhibits very close contacts with its ideas (birth of Christ in a cave; Davidic descent of Mary), its roots must go back to about 150AD (although several chapters must be later additions).

 

     Many scholars have thought the author to have been a Jewish-Christian; but this is disputed on two grounds: (1) ignorance of Palestinian geography and (2) ignorance of Jewish customs (Jews were not expelled from the community for childlessness, and young girls were not brought up in the Temple); which advocates of this reasoning say point to a non-Jewish author.

 

     The literary style of the work is impressive, extremely graphic, and is evidence of a sober, sincere and poetic mind at work. The author uses sources from oral and literary Christian tradition, besides much material from the Received Old Testament­, especially the story of Samuel; and the strength of his effort demonstrates that he also knew how to form from a number of traditions an artistic whole.

 

     According to NTA, in which apparently the most recent English translation (1963) is to be found, the author of the ­Infancy Gospel of James­ made use of the of the Received gospels of Matthew­ ­Luke­, and ­John­; the Received book of ­Acts­; and ­II Corinthians­, ­I Timothy­, ­James­ and ­I Peter­, breaking all this down into 127 verbal or conceptual thought parallels from these works, 71 of which (+55%) are of ­Hypothetical New Testament­ origin.

 

[ODC, 711, 1240; OAB, 831 ,1115; ANT, 38, 447-48; NTA, I, 370-374]

 

88. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas

 

     The ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ has come down to us, in whole and in part, in a number of interwoven linguistic traditions.

 

1. GREEK. For the Greek form of this work there are only a few very late and rather unreliable manuscripts, classified by Tischendorf (­Evangelia Apocrypha­, 1876, 140-157, 159-163) according to two recensions:——A, a longer form with 19 chapters, undoubtedly the older of the two Greek forms, and represented by (i) three complete manuscripts of the 15th-16th centuries, two of which (at Bologna and Dresden) being in almost complete agreement with one another—the Bologna manuscript was published with a Latin translation by Mingarelli in 1764; the Dresden, of the 16th century, was edited by Thilo—and a third (at Mt. Athos) first brought to light by Coteler in his edition of the ­Apostolic Constitutions­, 1672; and (ii) a fragment (at Paris), number 239 of the Greek papyrus collection in the National Library, first published in 1700, which gives, after chapter seven, the beginning of a story about Jesus and a cloth-dyer, a passage found in no other manuscript of the Greek tradition, but known from the Latin, Arabic and Armenian versions of this gospel, a discovery which could mean that the (later) Arabic and Armenian versions are considerably closer to the original form of this gospel than the extant Greek manuscripts would lead one to believe——and B, a shorter form with 11 chapters, from a single paper manuscript of the 14th or 15th century, which Tischendorf discovered in one of the monasteries on Mt. Sinai and first published. (ANF also states that a fourth Greek fragment, from Vienna and edited by Lambecius, belongs to the Greek A tradition.) James (­Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924) translates the Greek and Latin versions.

 

2. SYRIAC. The Bollandist Paul Peeters (“Evangiles Apocryphes” in ­Textes et Documents pour l’Etude Historique du Christianisme­ II, 1914, introduction) has said that all the various forms of the material on the nativity of Jesus Christ go back ultimately to a Syriac original, which he assigns to a time before the 5th century. However that may be, of special importance are two older manuscripts of a shorter Syriac recension, both of which at points diverge considerably from either Greek A or B, while at the same time demonstrating striking contact with the extant ­Latin­ tradition: (a) the text of a London manuscript of the 6th century, edited by Wright (Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament­, 1865) and later reprinted by Budge (­The History of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the History of the Likeness of Christ­, 1899, 217-222); and (b) a second manuscript, of the 5th-6th century, collated by Meyer in Gottingen for a 1922 revision of Hennecke’s Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­. The Syriac tradition is also preserved in a Vatican manuscript (Codex Vaticanus Syriacus 159), a text to which Peeters assigns very high value as standing especially close to the Syriac original which he regards as the basis of all editions of stories about the childhood of Jesus the Christ. James has suggested that the form in which the gospel has been transmitted to modern times is in fact the skeleton of the old one—i.e., lacking those discourses which conveyed the doctrinal teachings of the book—and should be regarded as an expurgated version.

 

3. LATIN. The Latin ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ was first edited by Tischendorf (­Evangelia Apocrypha­, 156f) from a late Vatican manuscript. It goes beyond the Greek and Syriac versions in having at the beginning stories about the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt—stories which are in partial agreement with those found in the Arabic and Armenian infancy gospels, and the Latin ­Infancy Gospel of Matthew­. An Old Latin witnesses (at Vienna)—a palimpsest of the 5th-6th century—seems to be very important because (in agreement with a late Latin manuscript of the ­Infancy Gospel of Matthew­ (number 1652 of the Latin manuscript collection of the National Library of France), it appears to establish that the London Syriac manuscript [above, (a)] does actually preserve a very good ancient tradition. The story concerning the miracle of the cloth-dyer occurs in a Milan manuscript (Ambrosian L.58), edited by Ceriani (Canonical Histories and Apocryphal Legends­, 1873), being the first miracle after the return of the Holy Family from Egypt.

 

4. GEORGIAN. A fragment of the Georgian tradition, also related to the Syriac but hitherto barely noticed in the West, has been published by Garitte (“Le Fragment Georgien de l’Evangile de Thomas” in Revue d’Histoire Ecclesiastique­ LI, 1956, 513-520).

 

5. ETHIOPIC. An Ethiopic version, preserved as the eighth part of a gnosticising work entitled the Miracles of Jesus­, was published with a French translation by Grebaut (in ­Patrologia Orientalis­ XII.4, 1919, 625-642; see also his comments in ­Revue de l’Orient Chretien­ XVI, 1911, 255-265, 356-367).

 

6. OLD SLAVONIC. There are three sources available for Old Slavonic traditions: (a) Bonwetsch (in Harnack, Litg I, 910); (b) Ludtke (“Die Slawischen Texte des Thomas-Evangeliums” in ­Byzantinisch-neugrriechische Jahrbucher­ VI, 1928, 490-508); and (c) the Russian works of Speranskij (in Peeters, Evangiles Apocryphes­ II, xviii, note 3).

 

The following ancient Fathers cite the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­:

 

1. Irenaeus of Lyons [d.c.220, ­Against All Heresies­ I.xiii.1—(They\fn{The Marcosians.} adduce, too, this false invention, that when the Lord as a child was learning the alphabet, and his teacher said, as the custom is: Say Alpha; he answered: Alpha. But when the teacher bade him say Beta, the Lord answered: first tell thou me what Alpha is, and then will I tell thee what Beta is. And this they interpret as meaning that he alone knew the unknown mystery, which he manifested in the form of Alpha.)] It seems probable from Irenaeus’ language that the Marcosians took this from an apocryphal writing; that it was probably from the Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ is born out from the fact that the story occurs in Greek A (chapter 6), and exists in all infancy gospels in some form; and also in book four of the ­Letter of the Apostles to the Christians of the World­.

 

2. Hippolytus of Rome [d.c.234, ­Against All Heresies­ V.vii—(The Naassenes speak of a nature of man at once hidden and manifesting itself, which they say is within man, and is the kingdom of heaven that is sought after: and they deliver this concerning it, expressly, in the gospel entitled according to Thomas, in these words: He that seeketh me will find me in children from seven years old and upwards: for there am I manifested, who am hidden in the fourteenth aeon.)].

 

3. Origen of Alexandria [d.c.254, ­Homily I on Luke­—(There is also current the Gospel according to Thomas.)].

 

4. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, apparently at ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxv.3f) names the work among those books undoubtedly spurious.

 

5. Cyril of Jerusalem [­Catecheses­ IV.36; VI.31—(And of the New Testament read the four gospels only. The others are apocryphal and harmful. The Manichaeans also wrote a Gospel according to Thomas, which, though colored with the fragrance of a gospel name, corrupts the souls of the simpler. ... Let no one read the Gospel according to Thomas, for it is not by one of the twelve apostles, but by one of the three wicked disciples of Manes.)].

 

6. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century) condemns as apocryphal Gospel under the name of Thomas, which the Manichaeans use.

 

7. The ­Stichometry of Nicephorus­ (c.850) sets under the title Apocrypha of the New Testament are the following: The Gospel of Thomas, 1300 lines.

 

     Both the ­Arabic Infancy Gospel­ (translated from the Syriac), and the ­Armenian Infancy Gospel­ are of importance to the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ at least as parallel texts.

 

1. The infancy story of the miracle of the cloth-dyer is found at Arabic Infancy Gospel­ XXXVIII; and at great length at ­Armenian Infancy Gospel­ XXI. Thilo (apparently in his ­Codex Apocryphus Nuevo Testamentum­, Leipzig, 1832, 150) quotes an Islamic version, and shows that the tale was current in Persia. There seems little doubt that it stood in the more complete texts of the gospel; and it is also found in the mediaeval French and English vernacular versions. It is as follows:

 

     One day, when Jesus was running about and playing with some children, he passed by the workshop of a dyer called Salem. They had in the workshop many cloths which he had to dye. The Lord Jesus went into the dyer’s workshop, took all these cloths and put them into a cauldron full of indigo. When Salem came and saw that the cloths were spoiled, he began to cry aloud and asked the Lord Jesus, saying: “What have you done to me, son of Mary? You have ruined my reputation in the eyes of all the people of the city; for everyone orders a suitable color for himself, but you have come and spoiled everything.” And the Lord Jesus replied: “I will change for you the color of any cloth which you wish to be changed,” and he immediately began to take the cloths out of the cauldron, each of them dyed in the color the dyer wished, until he had taken them all out. When the Jews saw this miracle and wondered, they praised God.

 

2. Similarly, another miracle (that of the children in the oven) does not occur in the known Greek or Latin texts of this gospel, but is nevertheless present in chapter XL of the Arabic, in the Syriac (the one found in Budge’s History of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the History of the Likeness of Christ­), and also in the French and English mediaeval vernaculars (in which tales the children are changed into pigs). Its occurrence in both Eastern and Western Christian traditions means that this story probably formed part of the original text of the gospel. It is as follows:

 

     And it came to pass that Jesus went out one day and saw a company of children playing together, and he went after them, but they fled before him and went into an oven. And Jesus came after them and stood by the door and said unto the women who were sitting there: “Where are the children who came in here before me?” And the women said unto Jesus: “No children came here.” Then Jesus said unto them: “Then what are the beings that are inside the house?” And the women said unto him: “They are goats.” And Jesus said unto them: “Let the goats which are in the oven go out to their shepherds.” And there came forth from the oven goats which leaped round about Jesus and skipped joyfully. And when the women had seen what had taken place, they wondered, and great fear laid hold upon them. Then the women rose up and did homage unto Jesus, and they made supplication unto him, saying: “O Jesus, thou son of Mary, thou good shepherd of Israel, have compassion upon thine handmaidens; for thou didst come to heal and not to destroy.” And Jesus answered and said unto them: “Verily the children of Israel are like unto the black folk among the natives, for the black ones seize the outer side of the flock and harass their shepherd: even thus are the people of Israel.” Then the women said unto him: “Thy disciples could never hide themselves away from thee, and they could never harass thee, for they perform thy will and they fulfill thy commandments.”\fn{The Arabic has: “Lord, thou knowest all things and nothing is hid from thee. Now we pray thee and ask of thy goodness that thou wouldest restore unto these children thy servants their former state.”} And Jesus gave the word of command and said unto the goats: “Come, O ye children, my layfellows, and let us play together.” And straightway whilst these women were looking on, they were changed from the similitude of goats and became children again. And they went after Jesus. And from that day the children were not able to flee from Jesus; and their parents admonished them saying: “See that ye do everything that Jesus the son of Mary commandeth you to do.”

 

3. And perhaps it is not accidental (in view of the tradition that Thomas visited India) that it is precisely the material in the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ for which parallels exist in Indian, Egyptian and Persian legends. For the Indian, see van Eysigna (­Indische Einflusse auf Evangelische Erzahlungen­, 1909); for Egypt see Norden (­Die Geburt des Kindes­, 1924); and for Persia, see Cheyne (­Biblical Problems­, 1904). Tales of the childhood of Krishna and of Buddha have been cited, which have a colorable resemblance to some of those in the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­; and it should not be forgotten that Thomas the apostle was connected with India by a tradition probably a good deal older than the Acts of Thomas­ (before 250), which is strongly defended by the Christians of Malabar—that they were evangelized by the Apostle, and that he was martyred and buried at Mylapore, near Madras.

 

     A direct relationship between this work and the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ (for which seen under THOMAS in the Table of Contents) cannot be traced, although it has been suggested that the teaching of the boy Jesus on the allegorical meaning of the alphabet in the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ may be the narrative starting point for gnosticising speculations of the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­.

 

     There are discrepancies between the texts of the three known Greek manuscripts of this infancy gospel, and very wide divergences between the Syriac translation and the Latin, to which it is partly related. Often the divergences are much shorter, like the Syriac, which seems to preserve much that is primitive. It is hard to decide which of them is in fact the oldest, because while later editors of the material in these versions tend to excise anything offensive, the natural tendency at the same time is always towards physical expansion of the text. Similarly, the titles vary widely: “­The Stories of Thomas the Israelite, the Philosopher, Concerning the Works of the Childhood of the Lord”­ (so Greek A); ­“The Writing of the Holy Apostle Thomas Concerning the Conversion of the Lord in His Childhood­” (so Greek B); ­“The Infancy of the Lord Jesus­” (so the Syriac); “The Boyhood of Jesus According to Thomas­” (so the Latin).

 

     The man who collected the legends and composed the gospel was endowed with a gift of vivid story-telling, especially when he depicts scenes from ordinary life. Readers were also attracted by a book quite free of theological bias: it enjoyed wide popularity, as the many translations and its later gospel use testify. For some ancient Christians the work may have appeared excessively embellished with miracles; and there might have been the feeling, in some quarters, that the Jesus it portrays was rather often devoid of ethical feeling, and had indeed been removed from any necessity of a purely human development. Perhaps a reaction against this is to be found in the ­History of Joseph the Carpenter­ (below, #138) which stresses the meekness of the child Jesus (so Morenz, in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literature­ LVI, 1, 43; see also IX).

 

     The text of the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ printed by NTA (below) notes 22 verbal or conceptual parallels with the Received New Testament, most of them to be found in ­Luke­, but a few in ­Mark­ and even one in Romans­; and Irenaeus of Lyons clearly says that the Marcosians possessed a document containing a portion of chapter six. The work was thus probably written at some time during the 2nd century. All that can be said about the author with any certainty is that he must have been a Gentile Christian, since his work betrays no knowledge of Judaism; but he has also been supposed a gnostic, a docetic, and a Marcosian (by those who follow Hippolytus’ assertion that he was a follower of Mani.)

 

     The original text of the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas, then, with its important variant texts added in notes,­ is as follows:

 

     I, Thomas the Israelite, tell and make known to you all, brethren from among the Gentiles, all the works of the childhood of our Lord Jesus Christ and his mighty deeds, which he did when he was born in our land. The beginning is as follows.

 

     When this boy Jesus was five years old he was playing at the ford of a brook, and he gathered together into pools the water that flowed by, and made it at once clean, and commanded it by his word alone. He made soft clay and fashioned from it twelve sparrows. And it was the Sabbath when he did this. And there were also many other children playing with him. Now when a certain Jew saw what Jesus was doing in his play on the Sabbath, he at once went and told his father Joseph: “See, your child is at the brook, and he has taken clay and fashioned twelve birds and has profaned the Sabbath.” And when Joseph came to the place and saw, he cried out to him, saying: “Why do you do on the Sabbath what ought not to be done?” But Jesus clapped his hands and cried to the sparrows: “Off with you!” And the sparrows took flight and went away chirping. The Jews were amazed when they saw this, and went away and told their elders what they had seen Jesus do.

 

     But the son of Annas the scribe was standing there with Joseph; and he took a branch of a willow and dispersed the water which Jesus had gathered together. When Jesus saw what he had done he was enraged and said to him: “You insolent, godless dunderhead, what harm did the pools and the water do to you? See, now you also shall wither like a tree and shall bear neither leaves nor root nor fruit.” And immediately that lad withered up completely; and Jesus departed and went into Joseph’s house. But the parents of him that was withered took him away, bewailing his youth, and brought him to Joseph and reproached him: “What a child you have, who does such things.”

 

     After this again he went through the village, and a lad ran and knocked against his shoulder. Jesus was exasperated and said to him: “You shall not go further on your way,” and the child immediately fell down and died. But some, who saw what took place, said: “From where does this child spring, since his every word is an accomplished deed?” And the parents of the dead child came to Joseph and blamed him and said: “Since you have such a child, you cannot dwell with us in the village; or else teach him to bless and not to curse. For he is slaying our children”

 

     And Joseph called the child aside and admonished him saying: “Why do you do such things that these people suffer and hate us and persecute us?” But Jesus replied: “I know that these words are not yours; nevertheless for your sake I will be silent. But they shall bear their punishment.”\fn{A Syriac variant has here: “If the words of my father were not wise, he would not know how to teach children.” And again he said: “If these children were born in wedlock they would not be accursed. Such will see no torment.”} And immediately those who had accused him became blind. And those who saw it were greatly afraid and perplexed, and said concerning him: “Every word he speaks, whether good or evil, was a deed and became a marvel.” And when Joseph saw that Jesus had so done, he arose and took him by the ear and pulled it hard. And the child was angry and said to him: “It is sufficient for you to seek and not to find, and most unwisely have you acted. Do you not know that I am yours? Do not vex me.”

 

     Now a certain teacher, Zacchaeus by name, who was standing there, heard in part Jesus saying these things to his father, and marveled greatly that, being a child, he said such things. And after a few days he came near to Joseph and said to him: “You have a clever child, and he has understanding. Come, hand him over to me that he may learn letters, and I will teach him with the letters all knowledge, and to salute all the older people and honor them as grandfathers and fathers, and to love those of his own age.” And he told him all the letters from Alpha to Omega clearly, with much questioning. But he looked at Zacchaeus the teacher and said to him: “How do you, who do not know the Alpha according to its nature, teach others the Beta? Hypocrite, first if you know it, teach the Alpha, and then we shall believe you concerning the Beta.” Then he began to question the teacher about the first letter, and he was unable to answer him. And in the hearing of many the child said to Zacchaeaus: “Hear, teacher, the arrangement of the first letter, and pay heed to this, how it has lines and a middle mark which goes through the pair of lines which you see, how these lines converge, rise, turn in the distance, three signs of the same kind, subject to and supporting one another, of equal proportions; here you have the lines of the Alpha.”\fn{The text appears to be corrupt, according to James in this and all the parallel texts. James has: how it has lines, and a middle mark, which you see, common to both, going apart; coming together, raised up on high, dancing, (a corrupt word) balanced, equal in measure: you have the rules of the Alpha.}

 

     Now when Zacchaeus the teacher heard so many such allegorical descriptions of the first letter being expounded, he was perplexed at such a reply and such great teaching and said to those who were present: “Woe is me, I am forced into a quandary, wretch that I am; I have brought shame to myself in drawing to myself this child. Take him away, therefore, I beseech you, brother Joseph. I cannot endure the severity of his look, I cannot make out his speech at all. This child is not earth-born; he can tame even fire. Perhaps he was begotten even before the creation of the world. What belly bore him, what womb nurtured him I do not know. Woe is me, my friend, he stupefies me, I cannot follow his understanding. I have deceived myself, thrice wretched man that I am. I strove to get a disciple, and have found myself with a teacher. My friends, I think of my shame, that I, an old man, have been overcome by a child. I can only despair and die because of this child, for I cannot in this hour look him in the face. And when all say that I have been overcome by a small child, what have I to say? And what can I tell concerning the lines of the first letter of which he spoke to me? I do not know, my friends, for I know neither beginning nor end of it. Therefore I ask you, brother Joseph, take him away to your house. He is something great, a god or an angel or what I should say I do not know.”\fn{At this point there is inserted in the Arabic version the story of the dyer (printed in the discussion above). James has found a Latin version in a Latin manuscript otherwise unrelated to this gospel—Milan Ambrosian MS. L. 58, edited in facsimile by Ceriani for Gibson Craig (Canonical Histories and Apocryphal Legends, 1873). It is as follows:}

 

     It came to pass on a day that the blessed Virgin Mary went unto the house of a certain neighbor of hers which was of the craft of a dyer. And the child Jesus, her glorious son, followed her as is the wont of boys to follow their mothers. Now while the Virgin Mary spake with the man unto whom she had come, the child Jesus went unto the place wherein that man was wont to practice his trade, and found there divers vessels containing several dyes; and likewise he found divers cloths belonging to many men, which those men had given to be dyed. All the which cloths the child took and wrapped them together and sunk all of them in a vessel wherein was only a black dye. Now when this thing which he had done came to the knowledge of that man, he began to be sore vexed and to complain greatly against the mother of Jesus. And he said to his mother: “Alas! Behold what thy son hath done: he hath brought all my labor to nought. But know you this for certain, that the child shall not be let go by me till the damage that he hath done be made good.” But the mother of Jesus when she heard these things from the man began to say unto her son: “My beloved son, what hast thou done? Wherefore hast thou done this? For I hoped that I should have great joy of thee: for I know how I had thee. But thou, whereas thou oughtest to make me glad in all things, as thou hast done alway, now contrariwise makest me sad.” The child Jesus answered his mother and said: “Wherein have I grieved thee?” The blessed Virgin said unto him: “See, thou hast destroyed all the labor of this man.” But Jesus said unto her: “How have I destroyed it?” His mother answered and said unto him: “Because, whereas he had the cloths from many men to give to each one of their cloths a several dye, thou hast made of all of them a dye of one color. Now, therefore, I must amend that which thou hast done.” But the beautiful child Jesus when he heard that came near to the vessel wherein he had cast the cloths, and according to the will of the master he drew thereout every cloth dyed of a several color and gave them unto the man. And when that man saw it, together with the mother of the Lord, he glorified the child, and they had him in great admiration. But the Virgin, the mother of the Lord, embraced her son in her arms and kissed him, and so being filled with great joy returned to her house with Christ her son.

 

     And while the Jews were trying to console Zacchaeus, the child laughed aloud and said: “Now let that which is yours bear fruit, and let the blind in heart see. I have come from above to curse them and call them to the things above, as he commanded who sent me for your sakes.” And when the child had ceased speaking, immediately all those were healed who had fallen under his curse. And no one after that dared to provoke him, lest he should curse him, and he should be maimed.\fn{There exists the following Syriac variant for the preceding three paragraphs (excepting the story of the dyer): But a teacher, whose name was Zacchaeus, heard him speaking with his father, and said: “O wicked boy!” And he said to Joseph his father: “Till when wilt thou not choose to hand over this boy, that he may learn to be fond of children of his years, and may honor old age?” Joseph answered and said: “And who is able to teach a boy like this? Does he think he is equal to a small cross?” Jesus answered and said to the teacher: “These words which thou has spoken, and these names, I am strange to them; for I am apart from you, though I dwell among you. Honor in the flesh I have not. Thou art by the law, and in the law thou abidest. For when thou wast born, I was, but thou thinkest that thou art my father. Thou shalt learn from me a doctrine, which another man knows not and is not able to learn. And as for the cross of which thou hast spoken, he shall bear it, whose it is. For when I am greatly exalted, I shall lay aside whatever mixture I have of your race. For thou dost not know whence thou art; for I alone know truly when ye were born, and how long time ye have to remain here.” But when they heard, they were astonished, and cried out and said: “O wonderful sight and hearing! Words like these we have never heard man speak, neither the priests, nor the scribes, nor the Pharisees. Whence was this one born, who is five years old, and speaks such words? Man hath never seen the like of this.” Jesus answered and said to them: “Ye wonder at what I have said to you, that I know when ye were; and yet I have something more to say to you.” But they, when they heard, were silent, and were not able to speak. And Zacchaeus the teacher said to Joseph: “I will teach him whatever is proper for him to learn.” And he made him go into the school. And he, going in, was silent. But Zacchaeus the scribe began to tell him the letters from Alaph, and was repeating to him many times the whole alphabet. And he says to him that he should answer and say after him; but he was silent. Then the scribe became angry, and struck him with his hand upon his head. And Jesus said: “A smith’s anvil, being beaten, can learn, and it has no feeling; but I am able to say these things, which are spoken by you, with knowledge and understanding.” The scribe answered and said:”This child is something great. He is either God, or an angel, or—what I should say I know not.” Then the boy Jesus laughed and said: “Let those in whom there is no fruit, produce fruit; and let the blinded see the fruit of life of the Judge.”}

 

     Now after some days Jesus was playing in the upper story of a house, and one of the children who were playing with him fell down from the house and died. And when the other children saw it they fled, and Jesus remained alone. And the parents of him that was dead came and accused him of having thrown him down. And Jesus replied: “I did not throw him down.” But they continued to revile him. Then Jesus leaped down from the roof and stood by the body of the child, and cried with a loud voice: “Zenon”—for that was his name—“arise and tell me, did I throw you down?” And he arose at once and said: “No, Lord, you did not throw me down, but raised me up.” And when they saw it they were amazed. And the parents of the child glorified God for the miracle that had happened and worshipped Jesus.

 

     After a few days a young man was cleaving wood in a corner,\fn{So the manuscripts. James and others emend the text and read: in the neighborhood.} and the ax fell and split the sole of his foot, and he bled so much that he was about to die. And when a clamor arose and a concourse of people took place, the child Jesus also ran there, and forced his way through the crowd, and took the injured foot, and it was healed immediately. And he said to the young man: “Arise now, cleave the wood and remember me.” And when the crowd saw what happened, they worshipped the child, saying: “Truly the spirit of God dwells in this child.”

 

     When he was six years old, his mother gave him a pitcher and sent him to draw water and bring it into the house. But in the crowd he stumbled, and the pitcher was broken. But Jesus spread out the garment he was wearing, filled it with water and brought it to his mother. And when his mother saw the miracle, she kissed him, and kept within herself the mysteries which she had seen him do.

 

     Again, in the time of sowing the child went out with his father to sow wheat in their land. And as his father sowed, the child Jesus also sowed one corn of wheat. And when he had reaped it and threshed it, he brought in a hundred measures; and he called all the poor of the village to the threshing-floor and gave them the wheat, and Joseph took the residue of the wheat. He was eight years old when he worked this miracle.

 

     His father was a carpenter and made at that time\fn{The Syriac and the Latin add here: only.} ploughs and yokes. And he received an order from a rich man to make a bed for him. But when one beam was shorter than its corresponding one and they did not know what to do, the child Jesus said to his father Joseph: “Put down the two pieces of wood and make them even from the middle to one end.” And Joseph did as the child told him. And Jesus stood at the other end and took hold of the shorter piece of wood, and stretching it made it equal with the other. And his father Joseph saw it and was amazed, and he embraced the child and kissed him, saying: “Happy am I that God has given me this child.”

 

     And when Joseph saw the understanding of the child and his age, that he was growing to maturity, he resolved again that he should not remain ignorant of letters; and he took him and handed him over to another teacher. And the teacher said to Joseph: “First I will teach him Greek, and then Hebrew.” For the teacher knew the child’s knowledge and was afraid of him. Nevertheless he wrote the alphabet and practiced it with him for a long time; but he gave him no answer. And Jesus said to him: “If you are indeed a teacher, and if you know the letters well, tell me the meaning of the Alpha, and I will tell you that of the Beta.” And the teacher was annoyed and struck him on the head. And the child was hurt and cursed him, and he immediately fainted and fell to the ground on his face. And the child returned to Joseph’s house. But Joseph was grieved and commanded his mother: “Do not let him go outside the door, for all those who provoke him die.”

 

     And after some time yet another teacher, a good friend of Joseph, said to him: “Bring the child to me to the school. Perhaps I by persuasion can teach him the letters.” And Joseph said to him: “If you have the courage, brother, take him with you.” And he took him with fear and anxiety, but the child went gladly. And he went boldly into the school and found a book lying on the reading-desk and took it, but did not read the letters in it, but opened his mouth and spoke by the Holy Spirit and taught the law to those that stood by. And a large crowd assembled and stood there listening to him, wondering at the grace of his teaching and the readiness of his words, that although an infant he made such utterances. But when Joseph heard it, he was afraid and ran to the school, wondering whether this teacher also was without skill. But the teacher said to Joseph: “Know, brother, that I took the child as a disciple; but he is full of great grace and wisdom; and now I beg you, brother, take him to your house.” And when the child heard this, he at once smiled on him and said: “Since you have spoken well and have testified rightly, for your sake shall he also that was smitten be healed.” And immediately the other teacher was healed. And Joseph took the child and went away to his house.

 

     Joseph sent his son James to bind wood and take it into his house, and the child Jesus followed him. And while James was gathering the sticks, a viper bit the hand of James. And as he lay stretched out and about to die, Jesus came near and breathed upon the bite, and immediately the pain ceased, and the creature burst, and at once James became well.

 

     And after these things in the neighborhood of Joseph a little sick child died, and his mother wept bitterly. And Jesus heard that great mourning and tumult arose, and he ran quickly, and finding the child dead, he touched his breast and said: “I say to you, do not die but live and be with your mother.” And immediately it looked up and laughed. And he said to the woman: “Take him and give him milk and remember me.” And when the people standing round saw it, they marveled and said: “Truly, this child is either a god or an angel of God, for every word of his is an accomplished deed.” And Jesus departed from there and played with other children.

 

     After some time a house was being built and a great disturbance arose, and Jesus arose and went there. And seeing a man lying dead he took his hand and said: “I say to you, man, arise, do your work.” And immediately he arose and worshipped him. And when the people saw it, they were amazed and said: “This child is from heaven, for he has saved many souls from death, and is able to save them all his life long.”

 

     And when he was twelve years old his parents went according to the custom to Jerusalem to the feast of the Passover with their company, and after the Passover they returned to go to their house. And while they were returning the child Jesus went back to Jerusalem. But his parents supposed that he was in the company. And when they had gone a day’s journey, thou sought him among their kinsfolk, and when they did not find him, they were troubled, and returned again to the city seeking him. And after the third day they found him in the temple sitting among the teachers, listening to the law and asking them questions. And all paid attention to him and marveled how he, a child, put to silence the elders and teachers of the people, expounding the sections of the law and the sayings of the prophets. And his mother Mary came near and said to him: “Why have you done this to us, child? Behold, we have sought you sorrowing.” Jesus said to them: “Why do you seek me? Do you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But the scribes and Pharisees said: “Are you the mother of this child?” And she said: “I am.” And they said to her: “Blessed are you among women, because the Lord has blessed the fruit of your womb. For such glory and such excellence and wisdom we have never seen nor heard.” And Jesus arose and followed his mother and was subject to his parents; but his mother kept all that had taken place. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and grace. To him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[ANF, 352, 395, 402; NTA, I, 364, 388-401; ECC, 83; ANT, 14-16, 22, 24, 49, 55, 58, 66-70]

 

89. The Armenian Infancy Gospel

 

     The only accessible edition of the ­Armenian Infancy Gospel­ is a translation into French by Dom Peeters (­The Armenian Infancy Gospel­ = ­Evangiles Apocryphes­ II, 1914, 69-286). It is a very long work, occupying over 200 pages of print; and though ultimately dependent on the infancy gospels of James and Thomas, has enormously amplified the data of both. (The magi are here royal brothers: Melqon rules over Persia, Balthasar over India, and Gaspar over Arabia.) The first edition of the work was by Daietsi (Venice, 1898), based on two manuscripts from the Mechitartist library in Venice; and there are other manuscripts in Vienna, and in the monastery at Holy Edschmiadsin, in Armenia.

 

     The ­Armenian Infancy Gospel­ was translated from Syriac, but the date of the Syriac book form is open to question. An infancy gospel was brought into Armenia by Nestorian missionaries in 590AD; but this cannot be the present text (which does not apparently exhibit Nestorian tendencies: H). On the other hand, an Armenian writer of the 12th century mentions a book of the infancy of Jesus Christ which may be ours. The diffuseness of the expansions reminds one of the Armenian version of ­IV Esdras­ which in James’ opinion takes unwarrantable liberties with the text.

 

     Dom Peeters has drawn a number of conclusions about the textual traditions and interrelationships inherent between the various tractates of the Infancy Literature:

 

1. All the apocryphal stories about the infancy of Jesus which have thus far reached us come from the same common source: a book which was a mixture of old legends—such as the episode of Jesus in school, which was read by Irenaeus in a Gnostic book—and new fictions; and which describes (in a dramatized and circumstantial fashion) some episodes of Christ’s early youth after his return from Egypt.

 

2. This book, dating from perhaps the 5th century, came to its mature form through a variety of Syriac apocrypha which, from redaction to redaction, became the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­.

 

3. This mature Syriac book was used to create at least one (if not many) Greek versions: and this resulted—in addition to the present abridged Greek texts—in the present Latin, Georgian and Slavonic versions.

 

4. This mature Syriac book was also taken as a pattern by the Infancy Gospel of Matthew­.

 

5. The common source—the mix of old legends and new fictions described under (1)—and the mature Syraic book, were also combined for the purpose of producing a continuous story of the infancy of Jesus up to his twelfth year. Of these narratives, some began with Jesus’ birth, others went back to the birth of His mother (e.g., the Latin legends of Mary’s birth and Jesus’ infancy, ­De Ortu Mariae­ and ­De Infantia Salvatoris­).

 

6. A narrative of this second type—one that went back to Mary’s birth—fell into the hands of a Syriac redactor, who drew from it a long story (really, a novel) in which the original plan of the infancy narrative was buried under lengthy developments and was undoubtedly extended by the addition of some new episodes.

 

7. This is the infancy narrative brought to Armenian towards the end of the 6th century by Nestorian missionaries, and at first accepted there.

 

8. Its use was prohibited, however, soon after it was translated into Armenian; and it remained in obscurity until around the 10th century; when, having reappeared, it was found to have been adapted to fit the tastes of the prevailing popular culture, and seems to have been distributed quite widely, especially among Armenian Christians living in Persia.

 

9. Finally, the latest branch of the tradition to be grafted upon the original narratives—that branch whose stories begin with Jesus’ birth—came into being at the earliest by the end of the 6th century. A compiler abridged one of these (Syriac) narratives. He interpolated into the original narrative a series of miracles about the Virgin, arranged or made up according to models of a very early date. This work was translated into Arabic; and its Syriac counterpart is known to have been included in a broad poem about the virgin (apparently the ­Vita Rhythmica­ is meant: H). Similarly, there was an attempt to harmonize the accounts of the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ to the Arabic Infancy Gospel­; and it was a somewhat incorrect and misrepresented manuscript of this Arabic version which had the honor of representing the ­Armenian Infancy Gospel­ before the eyes of critics for a long time.

 

[ANT, 83-84; NTA, I, 405; ARM, LIII-LVI]

 

90. The Arabic Infancy Gospel

 

     The first edition of the ­Arabic Infancy Gospel­, with a Latin translation and copious notes, was made by Sike (Evangelium Infantiae bel Liber Apocryphus de Infantia Servatoris­, 1697), and after him by Fabricius, Jones, Schmidt, Thilo, and Tischendorf. Sike had at his disposal only one (Arabic) manuscript, now lost, though reprinted in Thilo (­Codex Apocryphus Nuevo Testamentum­, Leipzig, 1832, 66-131). There are now known to be other manuscripts at Rome (­Vaticanus Syriacus­ 159) and at Florence (­Laurentionus Orientalis­ 32); but as of 1924 (when ANT was first printed) these had all not been as yet fully collated with one another. The greatest portion of the work is also contained in some manuscripts of the 13th and 14th centuries and edited by Budge (History of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the History of the Likeness of Christ­, London, 1899) which is of special importance for the presumed Syriac archetype. (In a similar manner, the ­Armenian Infancy Gospel­ also derives from the Syriac.)

 

     The gospel is a late compilation, as has been shown most clearly by Dom Peeters in his 1914 French edition (The Arabic Infancy Gospel­ = ­Evangiles Apocryphes­ II, 1914, 1-65). He divides it into the following parts: (1) chapter I (a late note, prefixed to the original work); (2) II-IX (the birth of Jesus and the flight into Egypt, of which the Infancy Gospel of James­ is in some parts of this the ultimate source); (3) X-XXV (miracles in Egypt, some of which show the influence of late local traditions); (4) XXXVI-LIII (further miracles, mostly derived from the Infancy Gospel of Thomas­, and ending with the story of the finding of Jesus by his parents in the Temple at Jerusalem); (5) LIV (baptism of Jesus); and (6) LV (Doxology).

 

     With the end in view of accurately dating this book, the following observations have also been made.

 

1. The first ancient allusion to the ­Arabic Infancy Gospel­ which seems to be identified is that of Solomon of Bassora (1222AD).

 

2. The identity of the miracle in chapters XX-XXI—that of the brother of two women, who had been changed into a mule and was restored to human form by having Jesus placed upon his back—can be traced back to one told of by Macarius in the ­Historia Lausica­ of Palladius of Galatia (the most valuable single writing that survives for the history of early monasticism, and written c.419AD).

 

3. Chapters XXIV-XXV are an Egyptian interpolation not earlier than the 12th century.

 

4. The meeting with the good thief told of in chapter XXIII is mentioned in at least two other places: (a) in a Greek version of the ­Acts of Pilate­ (not earlier than the 4th century); and (b) by Ailred of Rievaulx (d.1147, in his ­De Vita Eremitica ad Sororem­ XLVII).

 

5. The stories which this book has in common with the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ (2nd century) are rather shortly told and do not help to solve difficulties in the older text (by older text is apparently meant that of Thomas: H).

 

6. In the long series of healings in Egypt and at Bethlehem, it is Mary for the most part who is the prominent figure in them. It is to her that the sufferers apply, and it is she who gives them the water in which the child Jesus has been washed, or some of his linen, or allows them to touch him.

 

7. There is an echo of the story in chapter XLI of a Western book, the ­Vita Rhythmica­, a long Latin rhyming composition of the 13th century about Mary, the sources of which are enumerated by the compiler—Germanus of Auxerre, a Theophilus, Epiphanius of Salamis, Ignatius of Antioch, the ­Infanta Salvatoris­—and are ostensibly Greek to a large extent.

 

8. The story in chapters XXXVII about Jesus and the cloth-dyer has parallels in the Paris (Greek) manuscript of the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­; the Paris Greek fragment (­Bibliotheque National Gr.­ 239); and in an expanded form in chapter 21 of the ­Armenian Infancy Gospel­.

 

9. Mohammed—blessings and peace be upon him—was familiar with this tradition and adopted many of these legends into the text of the ­Qur’an­ (which appeared in its present form between 643-656).

 

10. Chapters L-LII display to some a formidable array of scientific terms and topics. The 9th century is the era to which the rise of scientific studies among the Arabs is assigned; it is in the 8th century when the scientific writings of the Greeks were studied and translated by Syrians. A chief agent in this work was Honain Ben Isaac (d.c.873) who wrote in Syriac and Arabic what he derived from the Greek.

 

11. The actual Arabic text cannot well claim a great antiquity for several reasons; and in any event, the rise of Arabic literature was very little earlier than Mohammed (d.629), and this version was written when the Arabic language was a familiar vehicle for literary composition.

 

12. In chapter XXIV, the Arabic name Matarea is twice mentioned—(From there, they went to the sycamore, known today as Matarieh. And at Matarieh, the Lord Jesus made a spring rise from the ground, from which the Virgin Mary washed his tunic. And the Lord Jesus’ sweat, that she wrung out right there, gave birth to ­le baume.)—as both the name of the sycamore tree, and (capitalized) as the name of a place. As a place name, the earliest discoverable use of it appears to be by Abulfeda (d.1331) in his description of Egypt.

 

     The resolution of this data does not seem particularly difficult, now that the existence of a Syriac archtype may be presupposed.

 

1. The Syriac edition cannot have been compiled before the 5th century (which takes into account items 2, 4, 5, and 8, above). Could Mohammed have been familiar with these legends in a Syriac prototype of the ­Arabic Infancy Gospel­ (to explain item 9)? The simpler explanation would be that he adapted them directly from the Infancy Gospel of James­ or the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­. But it would seem that we must proceed to the 8th century as at least the earliest time for the emergence of the Syriac form of the ­Arabic Infancy Gospel­; for, although devotion to Mary was already very strong in the East by the 4th-5th centuries, it was during the 8th century that Mary was elevated by John of Damascus (d.c.749) and Andrew of Crete (d.740) to mediatrix and mediatrix of grace, respectively. Such a time would seem to answer to the requirements of item 6, which covers chapters X-XXXV, clearly the core of the book, and therefore presumably intended by the author to be of primary interest to his audience.

 

2. The 9th century would seem to be the first in which the Arabic version of the ­Arabic Infancy Gospel­ could have been produced; for only this century appears to answer to the statements set out in items 10 and 11. On the other hand, James is certain that chapters 24-25 (covered in items 3 and 12) represent an Egyptian interpolation of the 12th century; and there would seem to be no objection to fixing this as the date of our present­ Arabic recension from items 7 (the “echo” may be a Greek, not a 14th century Latin one), or item 1 (for Solomon does not, of course, have to be the first witness, only the first discovered witness, to the existence of the ­Arabic Infancy Gospel­.

 

3. The Syriac version therefore made its way onto the literary stage during the 8th century, and the Arabic during the 9th at the earliest (the present form, with its Egyptian interpolation, deriving from the 12th). (H)

 

[ANF, 352-353; ANT, 80-82; NTA, I, 369, 400-401, 404-405; TAG, lxxvi-lxxx]

 

91. Q

 

     Q­ is the first letter of the German word quelle (source), and it has been held by scholars to identify the (as yet hypothetical, for no actual manuscript has been discovered) source of those passages in the Received New Testament­ where ­Matthew­ and ­Luke­ show a close similarity to each other, but to almost nothing in Mark­ or John­. According to its most recent English translator (Mack, ­The Lost Gospel: The Book of Q and Christian Origins­, HarperSanFrancisco, 1993) it was first published in manuscript form c.50AD, and in this, its most primitive version, consisted of nothing but sayings of Jesus. It is held also to consist (so Mack, as a more fully developed writing) material on John the Baptist (­Luke­ 3:16-17 = Matthew­ 3:11-12 and ­Luke­ 7:18-23 = ­Matthew­ 11:2-6) and on the Temptation of Christ (­Luke­ 4:2-13 = Matthew­ 4:2-11).

 

     Biblical scholars have been publishing papers on ­Q­ since 1776; and the theory, elaborated on the basis of the critical studies of Hawkins (­Horae Synopticae­, Oxford, 1899) and Harnack (Spruche und Reden Jesu­, 1907; English translation, 1908) was put into a widely accepted form by Streeter (­The Four Gospels­, 1924, chapters vii-xi) who said:

 

1. that ­Q­ was a document, not merely a group of oral traditions, written in Greek;

 

2. that almost its whole content was used by either ­Matthew­ or Luke­ or both; and

 

3. the order of the contents in ­Luke­ is nearer to the original order than that in ­Matthew­.

 

     The existence of such a source document is still challenged by Chapman (­Matthew, Mark, and Luke­, 1937), Farrer (“On Dispensing with Q” in Nineham’s ­Studies in the Gospels: Essays in Memory of R. H. Lightfoot­, 1955, 55-86), and Butler (­The Originality of St. Matthew­, 1951); and even Streeter said that its actual existence though highly probable, falls just short of certainty; but the hypothesis continues to enjoy very wide acceptance among scholars. See on this also Sandy (­Oxford Studies in the Synoptic Problem­, 1911); and Lightfoot (­History and Interpretation in the Gospels­, 1935, 27, note 1).

 

     If 50AD is its approximate date of publication, ­Q­ will predate Mark­, earliest of the gospels, by 15-20 years, and thus be the earliest known record of the sayings of Jesus the Christ, and so the closest that one may approach whatever it was that Jesus actually did say. Based upon nearly 200 years of scholarship, Mack has reconstructed the most primitive form of ­Q­ as follows:

 

     <These are the teachings of Jesus.>

 

     <Seeing the crowds, he said to his disciples,>

 

     How fortunate are the poor; they have God’s kingdom. How fortunate the hungry; they will be fed. How fortunate are those who are crying; they will laugh.

 

     I am telling you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on the cheek, offer your other cheek as well. If anyone grasps your coat, let him have your shirt as well. Give to anyone who asks, and if someone takes away your belongings, do not ask to have them back. As you want people to treat you, do the same to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even tax collectors love those who love them, do they not? And if you embrace only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Doesn’t everybody do that? If you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even wrongdoers lend to their kind because they expect to be repaid. Instead, love your enemies, do good, and lend without expecting anything in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of God. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good; he sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

 

     Be merciful even as your Father is merciful. Don’t judge and you won’t be judged. For the standard you use will be the standard used against you.

 

     Can the blind lead the blind? Won’t they both fall into a pit? A student is not better than his teacher. It is enough for a student to be like his teacher.

 

     How can you look for the splinter in your brother’s eye and not notice the stick in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the splinter in your eye,’ when you do not see the stick in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the stick from your own eye, and then you can see to remove the splinter that is in your brother’s eye.

 

     A good tree does not bear rotten fruit; a rotten tree does not bear good fruit. Are figs gathered from thorns, or grapes from thistles? Every tree is known by its fruit. The good man produces good things from his store of goods and treasures; and the evil man evil things. For the mouth speaks from a full heart

 

     Why do you call me, ‘Master, master,’ and not do what I say? Everyone who hears my words and does them is like a man who built a house on rock. The rain fell, a torrent broke against the house, and it did not fall, for it had a rock foundation. But everyone who hears my words and does not do them is like a man who built a house on sand. The rain came, the torrent broke against it, and it collapsed. The ruin of that house was great.

 

     When someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go,’ Jesus answered, Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. When another said, ‘Let me first go and bury my father,’ Jesus said, Leave the dead to bury their dead. Yet another said, ‘I will follow you, sir, but first let me say goodbye to my family.’ Jesus said to him, No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

 

     He said, The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few; beg therefore the master of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest. Go. Look, I send you out as lambs among wolves. Do not carry money, or bag, or sandals, or staff; and do not greet anyone on the road. Whatever house you enter, say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a child of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, let your peace return to you. And stay in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. And if you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Pay attention to the sick and say to them, ‘God’s kingdom has come near to you.’ But if you enter a town and they do not receive you, as you leave, shake the dust from your feet and say, ‘Nevertheless, be sure of this, the realm of God has come to you.’

 

     When you pray, say, ‘Father, may your name be holy. May your rule take place. Give us each day our daily bread. Pardon our debts, for we ourselves pardon everyone indebted to us. And do not bring us to trial.’

 

     Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be opened. What father of yours, if his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone, or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? Therefore, if you, although you are not good, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the father above give good things to those who ask him!

 

     Nothing is hidden that will not be made known, or secret that will not come to light. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the light. And what you hear as a whisper, proclaim on the housetops.

 

     Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body, but can’t kill the soul. Can’t you buy five sparrows for two cents? Not one of them will fall to the ground without God knowing about it. Even the hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows

 

     Someone from the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.’ But he said to him, Sir, who made me your judge or lawyer? He told them a parable, saying, ‘The land of a rich man produced in abundance, and he thought to himself, ‘What should I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ Then he said ‘I will do this. I will pull down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods stored up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Foolish man! This very night you will have to give back your soul, and the things you produced, whose will they be?’ That is what happens to the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich in the sight of God.

 

     I am telling you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Think of the ravens. They do not plant, harvest, or store grain in barns, and God feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than birds? Which one of you can add a single day to your life by worrying? And why do you worry about clothing? Think of the way lilies grow. They do not work or spin. But even Solomon in all his splendor was not as magnificent. If God puts beautiful clothes on the grass that is in the field today and tomorrow is thrown into a furnace, won’t he put clothes on you, faint hearts? So don’t worry, thinking, ‘What will we eat,’ or ‘What will be drink,’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For everybody in the whole world does that, and your father knows that you need these things. Instead, make sure of his rule over you, and all these things will be yours as well.

 

     Sell your possessions and give to charity. Store up treasure for yourselves in a heavenly account, where moths and rust do not consume, and where thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.

 

     He said, What is the kingdom of God like? In what should I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard which a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches. He also said, The kingdom of God is like yeast which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until it leavened the whole mass.

 

     Everyone who glorifies himself will be humiliated, and the one who humbles himself will be praised.

 

     A man once gave a great banquet and invited many. At the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Please come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I’ve bought a farm, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ And another said, ‘I’ve just bought five pair of oxen and I need to check them out. Please excuse me.’ And another said, ‘I’ve just married a woman and so I can’t come.’ The servant came and reported this to his master. Then the owner in anger said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets of the town and bring in as many people as you find.’ And the servant went out into the streets and brought together everybody he could find. That way the house was filled with guests.

 

     Whoever does not hate his father and mother will not be able to learn from me. Whoever does not hate his son and daughter cannot belong to my school. Whoever does not accept his cross and so become my follower, cannot be one of my students. Whoever tries to protect his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life on account of me will preserve it.

 

     Salt is good; but if salt loses its taste, how can it be restored? It is not good for either the land or the manure pile. People just throw it out.

 

[ODC, 1130; BLM, 73-80]

 

92. The Priesthood of Jesus

 

     A document called the ­Priesthood of Jesus­ is given by the 12th century lexicographer Suidas (fl.c.1000AD: ODC). It was rendered into Latin by Robert Grosseteste, bishop of Lincoln, in the 13th century. It is a late production, telling how Jesus was appointed to fill a vacancy in the priesthood of the Temple; how his pedigree had to be investigated, and how the Virgin was summoned (Joseph being dead) and gave an account of the conception of her son. All this purports to be taken from the Jewish archives.

 

[ANT, xxv-xxvi]

 

93. A Teaching of Jesus Concerning the Hebrew Prophets

 

     This is to be found in a single quotation from Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430). It was used by an otherwise nameless adversary of the Law and the Prophets, whom Augustine refutes, and from which the following is quoted:—(The apostles having asked the Lord what they were to think about the Jewish prophets, who were thought in the past to have foretold his coming, he was troubled that they even yet had such thoughts, and answered: You have given up the living one who is before your eyes, and talk idly of the dead.). It is a work of tendency similar to that of the ­Gospel of the Birth of Mary­, bordering on a hatred of the Old Covenant, of which Marcion of Sinope (d.160) was the noblest exponent.

 

[ANT, 20]

 

94. The Books of the Savior

 

     This is the book most commonly known by the title given it in 1778 by Woide, Pistis Sophia­ (Faithful Wisdom), who first drew critical attention to it. The text itself is in Coptic (almost pure Sahidic dialect) in a parchment manuscript which dates to the second half of the 4th century (350-400AD). It was bought in a London bookshop in 1773 by Dr. Anthony Askew (d.1774), and named after him the Codex Askewianus. In 1785 it passed to the British Museum, where it is now preserved as Manuscript Add. 5114. An English translation first appeared by Mead (­Pistis Sophia­, London, 1896); the most recent edition in that language appears to that by Horner (­Pistis Sophia­, London, 1924).

 

     The text of the codex in which it is found was first published, with a Latin translation, by Petermann & Berlioni (­Pistis Sophia. Opus Gnosticum Valentino Adiudicatum e Codice Manuscriopto Coptico Londinensi Descripsit et Latine Vertit M. G. Schwartz­, 1851). Following the analysis of Kostlin (“Das Gnostische System des Buches Pistis Sophia” in Theologische Jahrbucher­ XIII, 1854, 1-104, 137-196), it is today almost unanimously agreed that the four sections of the manuscript are to be divided into two distinct groups, made up of three sections and one section, respectively. The three sections of one group correspond to three books of one and the same work, probably composed between 250-300AD; and with the fourth section, we have to do with a distinctly separate work, composed in the ­first­ half of the 3rd century (200-250AD), thus making this other work (see below, #95) older than that which precedes it in the codex.

 

     It would seem better to give preference to the more primitive but less significant and rather technical title, Books of the Savior­. The traditional title, ­Pistis Sophia­, appears only once: as the superscription to book two. And even there, the colophon of the same book has on it: A part of the books of the Savior. This title also appears on the colophon of the third book.

 

     The first book has neither superscription or colophon; the second is superscribed (in a later hand): The second book of the ­Pistis Sophia­. Only here do any of the four books in this codex bear this title. The true explanation of this title seems to be supplied by a passage in a book entitled the ­Wisdom of Jesus Christ­—(The Son of Man agreed with Sophia, his consort and revealed himself in a great light as bisexual. His male nature is called ‘the Savior, the Begetter of All Things,’ but his female ‘Sophia, the Mother of All,’ whom some call Pistis.).

 

     The ­Books of the Savior­ is written in the form of a gospel of the common Gnostic type. With fantastic imagery, interspersed with jejune canticles, it professes to contain esoteric teaching revealed by the risen Christ to the disciples and holy women—it has been reckoned that of the 46 questions put to Jesus, 39 of them are asked by Mary Magdalene—during a twelve year sojourn upon earth after the Resurrection, in response to their questions and in the form of a dialogue. Ascetic rules are appended which a man must follow if he is to escape the menace of evil powers and win through to the Kingdom of Light; yet in his own fashion the author emphasizes above all things the condescending Incarnation of Jesus, who is revealed as the greatest yet the simplest of all Mysteries, and in whom the contradictions of the entire universe are explained.

 

     In the course of the dialogue, it is said that the final Ascension of Jesus to Paradise occurred on the 15th of the moon in the month of Tobe or Tybi (January). This date is perhaps to be connected with that on which, according to Clement of Alexandria (­Miscellaneous Studies­ I.21.146.2) some of the Basilidian Gnostics celebrated annually the baptism of Jesus. If so, the work is connected with the life of a known Gnostic teacher, probably of Syrian origin, who taught at Alexandria in the second quarter of the 2nd century (125-150). [The attempt, made at the beginning, to claim the book as the work of Valentinus of Egypt (2nd century) or a Valentinian author, has long been abandoned. Indeed, it is much more probably to be ascribed to the gnostics described by Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403), although it is not possible to determine more precisely whether they were Sethians or Severians.]

 

     Codex Askewianus is written in Coptic; but that in this writing we have to do with a translation of a Greek original seems certain. Granger (in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ V, 1904, 401) and Burkitt (“Pistis Sophia” in Journal of Theological Studies­ XXIII, 1922, 271-280; “Pistis Sophia Again,” ­ibid­., XXVI, 1925, 391-399; “Pistis Sophia and the Coptic Language,” ­ibid­., XXVII, 1926, 148-157) have suggested that the work was directly composed in Coptic; but this is exposed to objections and arguments of fact which appear to be decisive.

 

     The ­Books of the Savior­ contains an account of an incident in the infancy of Jesus which may be compared with the so-called “Hymn of the Soul” in the ­Acts of Thomas­. The ­Odes of Solomon­ was also known to the author: the first ode is quoted by him as part of his text. NTA also offers parallels to ­Mark­, ­Matthew­ and John­. Several authors (references in Leisegang, Pauly-Wissowa I Reihe, 40 Halbbd., 1950, cols. 1820.62-1821.11) have proposed to identify the entire book or parts of it with the ­Little Questions of Mary­; but this appears as untenable as the view of Liechtenhan (“Untersuchungen zur Koptische-Gnostische Literatur” in Zeitschrift für Wissenschsaftl. Theologie­ XLIV, 1901, 236-253) that book one might once have been called The ­Gospel of Philip­, or book two The Questions of Mary­.

 

     Three legends concerning the infancy of Jesus have also made it into the text of the ­Books of the Savior­. They concern the communication of heavenly powers by the child Jesus to John the Baptist and to Mary, the mother of Jesus (1 and 2, below); and the union of the child Jesus with the Holy Spirit (3):

 

1.And when I set out for the world, I came to the midst of the Archons of the Sphere and had the form of Gabriel, the angel of the Aeons, and the Archons of the Aeons did not recognize me, but they thought that I was the angel Gabriel. Now it happened that, when I had come to the midst of the Arcons of the Aeons, I looked down upon the world of mankind at the command of the first Mystery. I found Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, before she had conceived him, and I sowed in her a power which I had taken from the little Jao, the Good, who was in the midst, that he might be able to proclaim before me, and prepare my way and baptize with water of the forgiveness of sins.”

 

2. Jesus again continued in his speech and said: “Now it happened afterwards, when at the command of the first Mystery I looked down upon the world of mankind and found Mary, who is called ‘my mother’ according to the material body, that I spoke with her in the form of Gabriel, and when she had turned upwards towards me, I thrust into her the first power, which I had taken from Barbelo, that is, the body which I have borne on high. And in the place of the soul I thrust into her the power which I have taken from the great Sabaoth the Good, who dwells in the place of the righteous ones.”

 

3. Mary declares to the risen Jesus: “When you were small, before the Spirit had come upon you, while you were with Joseph in a vineyard, the Spirit came from on high and came to me in my house, resembling you, and I did not recognize him, and I thought that it was you. And the Spirit said to me: ‘Where is Jesus, my brother, that I may meet him?’ When he said this to me, I was perplexed and thought that it was a ghost come to tempt me. And I seized him and bound him to the foot of the bed which is in my house, until I went out to you both, to you and Joseph in the field and found you in the vineyard, while Joseph was fencing in the vineyard. Now it came to pass that, when you heard me speak the word to Joseph, you understood the word, and were glad and said: ‘Where is he, that I may see him? For I await him in this place.’ And it came to pass that, when Joseph heard you say these words, he was perplexed, and we went up together, entered the house, and found the Spirit bound to the bed. And we looked at you and him and found that you resembled him, and when he who was bound to the bed was freed, he embraced you and kissed you, and you kissed him and you both became one.”

 

[NTA, I, 250-257, 402-404; ODC, 140, 1075; ANT, xxii, 66; JGD, 84, 103]

 

95. The Revelation of Aberamentho

 

     This otherwise independent treatise exists as a single manuscript as part of the (Coptic) Codex Askewianus (see above). The title of this entry has been given to it to differentiate it from the other work contained in the codex, and known as the ­Books of the Savior­.

 

     In the ­Revelation of Aberamentho­ we have to do with a gospel in a dialogue form, but with the episodes set at a time and in a framework different from those of the three volumes preceding it in the codex. Here the action takes place on the day after the Resurrection, and in the first instance on the shore of the ocean. The speeches of Jesus, which give the writing its unity, all center on the same theme.

 

     Jesus, here called Aberamentho—on this name, see Eitrem (­Papyri Osloenses­ I, Oslo, 1925, 34, 55); Burkitt (Church and Gnosis­, Cambridge, 1932, 39, 82f); and Bonner (­Studies in Magical Amulets­, Ann Arbor, 1950, 203)—relates to His disciples the story of the Archons of destiny, and sets forth the terrible punishments which they inflict upon men. To calm the fears of His audience, He celebrates before them the mysteries which purify from sin; but here only the lesser mysteries, of which the manuscript, here defective, describes only the first—the baptism of water. The revelation then continues and concludes with an exposition of the fate which awaits the soul of the sinner after death. The scene changes in the course of the narrative, and the action is set successively in an airy region on the way of the Midst; in an air of very strong light; on the Mount of Galilee; and in Amente, the region of the dead.

 

     As in the ­Books of the Savior­, the disciples and the holy women intervene in turn, either in groups or as individuals, to ask questions of Jesus. Mary, Salome, Peter, Andrew, Thomas, Bartholomew, and John all appear, Thomas and Mary twice each.

 

     The book was composed in the first half of the 3rd century (200-250), and is thus older than the much larger work which precedes it. As with the ­Books of the Savior­, the ­Revelation of Aberamentho­ was originally composed in Greek. NTA notes verbal or conceptual parallels with ­Mark­, ­Matthew­, ­Luke­, the ­Apocryphon Jacobi­ and the ­Two Books of Jeu­.

 

     See also Moffatt (in Hastings’ ­Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics­ X, 1918, 45-48) and Peterson (in Paschini’s Encyclopedia Cattolica­ IX, 1952, 1574) for bibliographies dealing with both this and the previous work.

 

[NTA, I, 256, 258-259; ODC, 1075]

 

96. The Miracles of Jesus

 

     The ­Miracles of Jesus­ is an Ethiopic work of gnosticizing tendency, which combines the most varied traditions about the childhood and youth of Jesus. It was edited, with a French translation, by Grebaut (Patrologia Orientalis­ XII.4, 1919). It is to be thought of as having been composed much later than the Armenian Infancy Gospel­, or well after the 6th century.

 

[NTA, I, 405]

 

97. The Wisdom of Jesus Christ

 

     The text of a writing known as the ­Sophia Jesu Christi­ (here translated as the ­Wisdom of Jesus Christ­) has all the appearance of a gospel and corresponds to the usual type of Gnostic work in this category. It begins with the customary setting: the scene is laid on a mountain, after the Resurrection; the Savior appears in a supernatural, luminous form; those present are struck with astonishment and terror; and there immediately begins a dialogue, in the course of which the risen and glorified Christ imparts to His hearers the most sublime revelations, expounds all the mysteries and resolves all the problems the profundity, obscurity and difficulty of which still perplexes them. The material is presented—again in correspondence with the scheme of Gnostic gospels—as so many replies by Jesus to questions posed in turn by His hearers. Even the conclusion—(Thus said the blessed Redeemer and vanished from their sight. But they fell into great and indescribable joy in the Spirit. From that day on his disciples began to preach the Gospel of God, the eternal Father of him who is immortal for ever.)—is the norm in other Gnostic gospels, and the whole work seems to be constructed from beginning to end according to a conventional and stereotyped model.

 

     The book also seems to have been added to—indeed, imposed upon—a writing which originally had nothing to do with a gospel. The text of the ­Wisdom of Jesus Christ­ is in fact almost throughout—and in its main points closely parallel to—that of the work which immediately precedes it in the Nag Hammadi codex (where it is found): the Letter of Eugnostos­, a dogmatic letter without any distinct Christian features. Indeed, apart from slight differences in the sections common to them, the two writings diverge only in the following points: (1) the Wisdom­ is a little longer than the ­Letter­, and contains here and there passages which are peculiar to it; (2) the prologue and epilogue of the ­Wisdom­ have the form of a narrative, not of a letter; (3) the doctrinal exposition in the ­Wisdom­ is not present in the form of a continuous discourse, but in that of a dialogue; and (4) the ­Wisdom­ is heavily Christianized.

 

     It would therefore appear that the gospel is only a simple recasting of the letter: its author has taken over the content of the letter, broken it into sections, and divided it, almost without variants and with only a few additions, among the answers put in the mouth of Jesus. By slight alterations, by placing the content of the letter in a fictitious frame, by a setting as artificial as the questions posed by the characters introduced, he has transformed a treatise written for a correspondent into a dialogue of the risen Savior with His disciples.

 

     Till (“Die Gnostischen Schriften des Koptischen Papyrus Berolinensis 8502” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ LX, 1955, 54) believes that the ­Wisdom­ is the source for the Letter­, and ­not­ the reverse; but further research thus far tends to the conclusion that the ­Letter­ is indeed nearer the original form of this document (though it is now certain that despite their different outward appearance, these tractates are two versions of an original work published before their time: the ­Wisdom­ is, in fact, a Christian-Gnostic treatise, originally taken from an entirely different work than the ­Letter­ and modified in order to express newly-acquired Christian beliefs, or to attract Christians to Gnostic teachings—or perhaps for both reasons. James, however, while including a mention of this book in his compilation (1924), relegates it to a category which he refers to as Gnostic Apocrypha, and in which besides this book he includes the ­Gospel of Mary­, the Apocryphon of John­, part of the ­Acts of Peter­, the ­Books of the Savior­, the ­Two Books of Jeu­, and another, untitled tractate from the Codex Brucianus.

 

     Commenting on its original language, James notes that We have a considerable mass of this literature, all in Coptic. As a rule it is safe to assume that the Coptic is a version from the Greek: but in the case of some of these books it may possibly be the original language. The text of the work is preserved complete in Coptic in two manuscripts, and partially in Greek in a third.

 

1. The oldest of the remains is ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ 1081 (3rd century or beginning of the 4th). It contains two pages of the Greek text; and by doing so thereby proves that the ­Wisdom of Jesus Christ­ was originally composed in that language, and not in Coptic.

 

2. The oldest of the two Coptic manuscripts (middle or second half of the 4th century) is to be found in Codex III of the Nag Hammadi Library. Two leaves of this text are missing; but it has been possible to fill in the gap with material taken from 3 (below). This codex was bought in 1946 for the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo, where it still is. It is parallel to that of 3, and presents only slight differences.

 

3. ­Papyrus Berolinensis­ 85102 (5th century, or the beginning of the 5th century) comes from the region of Akhmim, and was bought in Cairo in 1896 by Reinhardt for the Egyptian Department of the Berlin Museum and is now in the papyrus collection there. A complete translation exists in Robinson (­The Nag Hammadi Library­, 1977, 206-228).

 

     The scheme of thought in the Original Document, with the unbegotten Father and the three divine men, resembles most closely the theology of the Sethian-Ophite Gnostics described by Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200). The additions in the ­Wisdom­ also have significant affinities with Sethian-Ophite thought. In addition, significant Middle Platonic philosophical tendencies are present in the Original Document. For the composition of the Greek work which served as the prototype for both the ­Wisdom of Jesus Christ­ and the ­Letter of Eugnostos­ only an approximate date can be given: sometime in the first two centuries of the Christian Era (NAG); perhaps the second half of the 2nd century, or at the latest the 3rd century (NTA).

 

[NTA, I, 243-248; ANT, xxii-xxiii; NAG, 206-207]

 

98. The Gospel of Gamaliel

 

     The ­Gospel of Gamaliel­ is a document dealing with the resurrection of Jesus and the lamentations of his mother over his body on the occasion of his crucifixion. Its purpose appears to be to confirm the Resurrection by allegedly new arguments; and to present Pontius Pilate, in so far as this is possible, in a favorable light. (Pilate is regarded as a saint in the Coptic Church.) It exists in at least four languages.

 

A. ETHIOPIC. It was in this language that the first fragments of this book were published (from a detached manuscript sheet) in ­Newberry House Magazine­, 1892, 641; and it is in this language that the work exists in its most complete form. Van den Oudenrijn (­Gamaliel: Athiopische Texte zur Pilatusliteratur­, Freiburg, 1959) has discovered in an Ethiopic manuscript of the 14th century, a sermon allegedly by one Cyriacus of Oxyrhynchus—which in the 6th century AD contained 26 churches—in which the ­Gospel of Gamaliel­ has probably been worked up. In the Ethiopic text this homily occupies about 75% of manuscript, and is divided into 11 chapters, of which the four following portions—I:49-51+56-59; II:27-344+39-41+52-III:25; III:40-IV:4; V:2-XI:50—appear to be the actual remains of the gospel itself. (The last 38 verses of the text are probably a later continuation of the Gamaliel story, which breaks off at XI:50.)

 

B. COPTIC. Robinson (­Coptic Apocryphal Gospels­, Cambridge, 1896); Revillout (“Apocryphes Coptes” in Patrologia Orientalis­ II.2, IX.2) and Lacau (“Fragments d’Apocryphes Coptes” in ­Memoires de l’Institut Francais d’Archaeologia Orientale du Caire­, 1904), have, according to Baumstark (in ­Revue Biblique Internationale­, 1906, 245) and James (Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924, 147-152), published the following 11 Coptic fragments of the ­Gospel of Gamaliel­: (1) Robinson p. 176; (2) Revillout #1; (3) Revillout #2 = Robinson p. 168; (4) Revillout #4 = Robinson p. 176; (5) Revillout #5; (6) Revillout #10; (7) Revillout #11; (8) Revillout #13; (9) Revillout #14; (10) Revillout #15 = Lacau p. 19; and (11) Robinson p. 162). James was of the opinion that numbers 2, 3, 4 and 11 were from a book of homilies; that they are linked together by a common stylistic element (intrigues to make Jesus a king); and that their late date is apparent in their being cast in the form of long rhetorical speeches, together with a tremendous exaltation of Peter. He also thought it conceivable that some of the narrative matter might have been taken from earlier books; but that the fragments themselves could not be earlier than the 5th century (a sentiment with which NTA agrees, adding also the 6th century as a possible time of composition.

 

C. ARABIC; D. GARSHUNI. Several Arabic redactions exists, which in part have also appeared in print in Coptic-Arabic devotional books (1902, 1927, 1945). On them see Simon (in Orientalia­ IX, 1940, 159) and Giamberardini (­L’Immacolata Concezione di Maria Nella Chiesa Egiziana­, Cairo, 1953, 31, n.3). Besides these Mingana (­Woodbrooke Studies II­, 211-240 = Bulletin of the John Reynolds Library­ XII, 1928, 411ff) published an Arabic version from two Garshuni manuscripts which, he says, (1) seems to constitute another link in the chain of the Acts of Pilate­ or the ­Gospel of Nicodemus­; (2) might in some respects be brought within the circle of the documents edited by Lacau; (3) bears some sort of relationship with the ­Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Bartholomew the Apostle­; and (4) has the advantage of supplying the deficiencies of the Coptic fragments published by Revillout.

 

     Coptic appears to be the original language of composition: the Garshuni texts used by Mingana were in his opinion translated from that language. The original compiler of the ­Gospel of Gamiliel­ was an Orthodox Christian, who seems to have written his book not earlier than the 5th century AD.

 

[NTA, I, 508-510; WS2, 241-243; ANT, 147-152]

 

99. The Descent of Christ Into Hell

 

     The belief that Christ descended into Hell is based on such passages in the ­Received New Testament­ as Matthew­ 27:52—(the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised); ­Luke­ 23:43—(And He said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’); and ­I Peter­ 3:18-20—(For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is eight persons, were saved through water.)—although various opinions have been held as to the exact meaning of these quotations. Some have thought that the descent into Hell refers to the victory over the powers of evil; others have connected it with the dereliction on the cross and the full bearing by Christ of the fruit of sin in our stead. Most Christian theologians, however, believe that it refers to a visit of Jesus after His death to the realm of existence, which is neither Heaven nor Hell, but a place or state (not Purgatory) where the souls of the pre-Christian people waited for the message of the gospel, and whither the penitent thief passed after his death on the cross (Luke­ 23:43, above).

 

     The earliest known occurrences of the concept as a confessed article of faith in the creeds of Christian attestation are in the 4th century Arian-Christian confessional formularies (­Fourth Creed of Sirmium­, 359AD; Creed of Nike­, 360; the ­Creed of Constantinople­, 360). Thence it found its way into the ­Creed of Aquileia­ (which dates to the time of Tyrannius Rufinus, c.345-410, a presbyter of Aquileia). It also occurs in the ­Creed of Athanasius­ (so-called after the great Alexandrian bishop, but probably originating between 381-428 in Gaul). It is absent, however, from the ­Creed of Nicaea­ (325); and the ­Creed of Constantinople­ (381); and it is not found in the Old Roman Creed­ (an earlier and shorter form of the present ­Apostle’s Creed­, which at least from the end of the 2nd century was the official creed of the church at Rome).

 

     The writing entitled the ­Descent of Christ Into Hell­, or at least the nucleus of it, was not originally an independent treatise, and not part of the ­Gospel of Nicodemus­ (to which it is now found occasionally attached). It is—apart from its setting—probably an older document. When it first became attached to Nicodemus­ is uncertain; but the two documents were probably not united before the 5th century AD. It does not appear attached to the Coptic translation of the ­Acts of Pilate­.

 

     The work purports to have been written by the two sons of the aged Simeon (the devout Jew who took the infant Jesus in his arms in the temple at Jerusalem and spoke the words recorded in ­Luke­ 2:29-32 and 2:34-35—(Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel.) ... (Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.). It describes with much detail the effect of Christ’s presence among the imprisoned souls in Hell.

 

     The text exists in three forms:

 

1. LATIN A, found in the majority, perhaps, of the Latin manuscripts. It does not differ materially from the Greek, apart from the conclusion. The sons of Symeon are given the names Karinus and Leucius, which are somehow connected with Leukos Charinos, the Gnostic author of the ­Acts of John­. In the speeches of John the admonition to repentance, which (as addressed to the righteous) is inappropriate, is omitted. But otherwise, the speeches are greatly expanded, and not to their advantage, so that we get the impression that the author is fascinated by his phraseology. In the conclusion of Latin A the Jews go home in great distress, beating their breasts in fear and trembling. Incorporated as the last chapter of this version is the ­Letter of Pilate to Claudius­; the same letter (though a different version of it) is also incorporated into the text of the Acts of Peter and Paul­, and in ­its­ original Greek. (The Latin of Latin A is a late form of Latin.)

 

2. LATIN B, rather an abridged text in the account of the descent into Hell itself, differing in order of contents and in setting from A, and containing an opening section far longer than either (1) or (3). In chapter 8, the order of events is changed. The dialogue between Satan and Hades precedes Seth’s account of his fruitless mission to Paradise. Then follows the reference of Isaiah to his word about the people who sit in darkness, and the coming of John the Baptist, whose call to repentance is here omitted. The journey to Paradise and the meeting with Enoch and Elijah are also omitted. This account also ends in 11 chapters; and the concluding chapter does not contain the ­Letter of Pilate to Claudius­ in any form.

 

3. GREEK. The Greek version is later than the Latin, at least the version called Latin A (for in the order of the story, Latin A and the Greek go together, except in the conclusion). In the Greek version, there is no description of the effect produced on the Jews by the disclosures of the sons of Symeon. (The Greek text is written in a late form of the Greek language.)

 

     There are no early versions of the ­Descent of Christ into Hell­ except the Latin. The story does not appear to exist in Coptic, Syriac, or Armenian. James presents a full translation of Latin A, Latin B, and the Greek (ANT,119-146).

 

     In some manuscripts of the ­Acts of Pilate­, the ­Descent of Christ into Hell­ is found attached. From the 13th century onwards, the two together have been sometimes known as the ­Gospel of Nicodemus­.

 

[ODC, 392, 1072; ANT, 117-146; ANF, 353; NTA, I, 476-481]

 

100. The Dispute of the Devil with Christ

 

     A book with this title exists in Greek. Vassiliev prints two forms of it in his ­Anecdota Graeco-Byzantina­. It has some slight affinities with the ­Gospel of Bartholomew­, but it is very late. The work is part of a fairly large class of books, early and late, which consist essentially of questions addressed to Jesus and his answers to them. As a type of literature, it goes back in time to at least Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200), who is known to have used one of the versions. Other examples of this later material include the ­Apocryphal Apocalypse of John­, the ­Liber Sancta Joannis­, and the ­Questions of Saint James to Saint John­ (also printed by Vassiliev).

 

[ANT, xxvi, 187]

 

101. A Coptic Fragment of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, after Schmidt

 

     C. Schmidt (“Eine Bisher Unbekannte Altchristliche Schrift” in Koptischen Sprache­ in the ­Sitzungsberichte der Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berline­ XXXI, June 20, 1895, 705-711) has called attention to a Coptic papyrus fragment containing gospel apocryphal matter of importance: and he has promised a further study of the work. The account which this fragment preserves of the Resurrection is an interesting example of the way in which Received narrative were expanded and embellished, and put into the lips of eyewitnesses. The text appears below in a summary form; the precise reference in CAG is, unfortunately, missing.

 

     Mary, Martha and Mary Magdalene go to the grave to anoint the body of Jesus. Because they find the grave empty, they are saddened and cry. The Lord appears to them and speaks: ‘Why are you crying? Stop crying, it is me whom you seek. But would one of you go to your brothers and say: Come, the master has risen from the dead.’ Martha came and told us what had happened. We said to her: ‘What do you want with us, woman? He who has died is buried and there is no possibility that he lives.’ Nor did we believe her that the Savior had risen from the dead. Then she went to the Lord and said to him: ‘None of them believed me that you live.’ He said: ‘May another of you go to them and say it to them again.’ Mary came and told it to us again, and again we did not believe her. She returned to the Lord and told Him what had happened. Then the Lord spoke to Mary and her other sisters: ‘Let us go to them.’ And he went and found us inside and called us outside. But we thought it was a ghost and didn’t believe it was the Lord. Then he spoke to us: ‘Come and ... you, O Peter, who has denied him three times, and also now you deny?’ We approached Him as we doubted in our hearts that it might perhaps not be Him. Then he said to us: ‘Why do you still doubt and are unbelieving? I am the one who told you that because of my flesh and my death and my resurrection you would know that it is me. Peter, lay your fingers in the nail wounds of my hand, and you, Thomas, lay your fingers in the spear marks of my side. But you, Andrew, touch my feet, so you see that they ... those of the earth. Because it stands written in the prophet: Fantasies about dreams ... on earth.’ We answered him: ‘We have in truth recognized, the ... in flesh.’ And we threw ourselves on our faces and confessed our sin of having been unbelievers.

 

[CAG, ---]

 

102. The Dialogue of the Redeemer

 

     The somewhat fragmentary ­Dialogue of the Redeemer­—several pages are missing and the original order of the extant leaves, between which there are frequent lacunae, has not yet been satisfactorily restored—is preserved only in Coptic, and appears in the Nag Hammadi Library in Codex III after the ­Wisdom of Jesus Christ­. The fifth and last work of that volume, it occupies pages 120 to the end. The title appears at the beginning and (partly mutilated) at the end.

 

     The work belongs to the same type of literature as the work immediately preceding it: a gospel in dialogue form, the explanations of its narrator having been introduced by stereotyped formulae, the explanations themselves taking the pains to satisfy the demands of the interlocutors. The content is none the less dogmatic: the conversation ranges over very diverse problems (cosmological, anthropological, eschatological, soteriological); here and there occur echoes of ­Matthew­, ­Luke­, ­John­, ­I Corinthians­, ­I Timothy­ and ­I John­ (see below); and probably use is made of words of Jesus from other gospels (­Gospel of Thomas­, Gospel of the Egyptians­).

 

     But for all the contrivance in its format, the ­Dialogue of the Redeemer­ remains a very short but important Christian document of considerable complexity. To begin with, it is composed of several sources and traditions which can be isolated; and while it is true that the main source used by the author was a dialogue between Jesus and several of the disciples, this dialogue is based on a traditional collection of sayings comparable to ­Q­ (c.50AD), or even the ­Gospel of Thomas­ (2nd century); in fact, many of the sayings used or alluded to in the dialogue have parallels in the ­Gospel of Thomas­. The individual sayings of Jesus are quoted, expanded, and interpreted, and thus a dialogue is created, into which are inserted:

 

1. a creation myth (127:23-131:15) based upon ­Genesis­ 1-2;

 

2. a cosmological list interpreted in the Wisdom Tradition (133:16-134:15); and

 

3. a fragment of an apocalyptic vision (134:24-137:3). The final redactor has introduced this material by means of an exhortation, a prayer, and a typically Gnostic instruction about the passage of the soul through the heavenly spheres and hostile powers.

 

     The ­Dialogue of the Redeemer­ has one primary theological concern which the gospelist develops in continuity with his dialogue source: realized eschatology is juxtaposed with futuristic eschatology, the “already” with the “not yet.” This duality is expressed in language which has many parallels in the Received Pauline letters, ­I Peter­, and ­Hebrews­. Like the ­Received Letter to the Ephesians­, the ­Dialogue­ relates metaphorical and mythical language to a cultic act for the expression of realized eschatology: in baptism the elect have already passed through death to life. Yet, paradoxically, the elect look to the future for their hope. Here the author utilizes his major source which presents the discussion of Jesus’ sayings according to an order of salvation like that of the second saying in the ­Gospel of Thomas­—(Jesus said: he who seeks, let him not cease seeking until he finds; and when he finds he will be troubled, and if he is troubled he will be amazed, and he will reign over the All.). Although the elect already have sought and found through baptism, and have marveled at visions, their rule and rest is still to come: they are still burdened by fleshly existence in the world. But they bear this burden for the sake of others, in order that they, like their Lord, may save others and reveal the greatness of the revealer. Only when this task is completed, when they strip off the body in death and when the works of femaleness are dissolved, will they finally rule and rest in the place of life which is pure light.

 

     NTB quotes the following 22 passages of the ­Received New Testament­ as being in verbal or conceptual parallel with certain passages of the ­Dialogue of the Redeemer­ (themselves listed by codex number and document position therein, followed by chapter and line location):

 

III.5;121.6-7­: only-begotten Son

John 1:14­: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

John 1:18­: No one has ever seen God; the only Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

John 3:16­: He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

I John 4:9­: In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

*

III.5;125.18-126.1­: The Savior said, “The lamp of the body is the mind. As long as the things inside you are set in order, that is, ... , your bodies are luminous. As long as your hearts are dark, the luminosity you anticipate

Matthew 6:22-23­: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Luke 11:34-35­: Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.

*

III.5;127.16-18­: In that place there will be the weeping and gnashing of teeth over the end of all these things.”

Matthew 8:12­: while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Matthew 13:42­: and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.

Matthew 13:50­: and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.

Matthew 22:13b­: and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’

Matthew 24:51­: and will punish him, and put him with the hypocrites; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.

Matthew 25:30­: And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’

Luke 13:28a­: There you will weep and gnash your teeth,

*

III.5;139.8-9­: ‘the wickedness of each day,’

Matthew 6:34b­: Let the day’s own wickedness be sufficient for the day.

*

III.5;139:9-10­: ‘the laborer is worthy of his food,’

Matthew 10:10b­: for the laborer deserves his food.

Luke 10:7a­: And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages;

I Timothy 5:18b­: “The laborer deserves his wages.”

*

III.5;139:11­: ‘the disciple resembles his teacher.’”

Matthew 10:25a­: it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher,

*

III.5;140:2-3­: which eye has not seen, nor have I heard it

Luke 6:40­: But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

I Corinthians 2:9a:­ But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

*

III.5;144:12-15­: Judas said, ... When we pray, how should we pray?”

Luke 11:1b­: one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

 

[NTB, 234-237; NAG, 229; NTA, I, 248-250]

 

103. The Avenging of the Savior, after ­Vindicta Salvatoris­

 

     The work known as the ­Vindicta Salvatoris­ is but one of three known Latin accounts, having in common the Veronica legend and the death of Pilate (by whose account it is obvious that we have here to do with a non-Coptic tradition). The other two are called the ­Mors Pilati­ and the ­Cura Sanitatis Tiberii­. In all three Tiberius is very sick. He hears of the wonder-working physician Jesus and hopes to be healed by him. But his emissary Volusianus learns from Pilate that Jesus is no longer alive. Meanwhile, he meets Veronica, whose handkerchief had imprinted on it the wonder-working picture of Jesus, and takes her with him to Rome. So Tiberius is healed. Now punishment overtakes Pilate. In the ­Mors Pilati­, he protects himself from Caesar’s anger for a long time by wearing the seamless robe of Jesus. But this becomes known, and Caesar forces him to commit suicide. (In the Vindicta Salvatoris­ Volusianus has already imprisoned him in Damascus; in the ­Cura Sanitatis Tiberii­ he is sent into exile.) His body is thrown into the Tiber. There it attracts the evil spirits, which rage so fiercely that all who live near are terrified. Then the body is taken out of the Tiber and sunk in the Rhone. There also the raging of the evil spirits is repeated, so that the inhabitants of Vienna, which is interpreted as ­Via Tehennae­ (Way to Hell), in allusion to Pilate, also wish to be rid of him. He then comes to the region of Lausanne (in Switzerland), and after being removed from there also, finally finds a resting-place in a well surrounded by mountains (i.e., in an Alpine lake near the mountains named after him). There the rumbling of the spirits ceases to annoy.

 

[NTA, I, 484]

 

104. The Avenging of the Savior, after ­Mors Pilati­

 

    This version of the ­Legend of Veronica­ is written in very barbarous Latin, probably of the 7th or 8th century. An Anglo-Saxon version, which Tischendorf concludes to be derived from the Latin, was edited and translated for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, by C. W. Goodwin, in 1851. The Anglo-Saxon text is from a manuscript in the Cambridge Library, one of a number presented to the Cathedral of Exeter by bishop Leofric in the beginning of the 11th century. The reader will observe that there are in this document two distinct legends, somewhat clumsily joined together: that of Nathan’s embassy, and that of Veronica.

 

[ANF, 354]

 

105. The Avenging of the Savior, after ­Cura Sanitatis Tiberii­

 

     James places this work in a sequence of stories dealing with Pontius Pilate, and regards it as essentially yet another appendix to the ­Gospel of Nicodemus­. This development of the Pilate material is thought to originate in the province of Aquitaine. The manuscripts go back to the 10th century, and the Anglo-Saxon version is not later than the 11th century. Another form of the tale is given in the ­Golden Legend­ (also known as the ­Lombardica Historia­, compiled between 1255-1266), in chapter 67 on James the Less. Yet another version is incorporated, with pictures, in a Milanese manuscript of the 14th century (Milanese Ambrosian Manuscript L. 58 sub.), edited in facsimile by Ceriani for Gibson Craig (­Canonical Histories and Apocryphal Legends­, 1873). The manuscript is in Latin.

 

[ANT, 66, 159-160]

 

106. The Story of Joseph of Arimathaea.

 

     James (­The Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924, 161-165) presents a paraphrase of a work entitled the ­Story of Joseph of Arimathaea­, the earliest manuscript evidence for which may be that used by Tischendorf in his edition (in ­Evangelia Apocrypha­, 2nd. ed., 1876; from the 12th century). It is preserved only in Greek.

 

     There is a certain amount of inventiveness in it. None of the picturesque detail, however, may be called antique, and several phrases betray the influence of the same workshop that had produced the letters allegedly exchanged between Herod and Pilate. The ignorance of Jewish customs which it betrays is colossal. See on this Dobschutrz (“Joseph von Arimathia” in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte­ XXIII, 1902, 1-17).

 

[ODC, 744; ANT, 161-165]

 

107. Isolated Sayings of Jesus the Christ

 

     The material organized below should certainly be brought to public and private attention; for there appear to be—both within and without the confines of the ­Received New Testament­—at least 83 sayings of Jesus Christ not normally found within the four gospels of the ­Received New Testament­ “Canon of Scripture” (as the Received New Testament­ is sometimes called). As may be seen, they devolved from at least 10 categories.

 

(I) Within the proto-Christian materials there may exist reflections of word-patterns pre-existent to the life in this world of Jesus Christ, of a nature so close in mental agreement with that of the Messiah as to make their essential identity a veritable certainty. It is logical to suppose that such a deposit of information actually exists in proto-Christian texts, since it is certain that the cultural religious ­milieux­ into which the Christ was born (1) contained certain notions about his mission and message some centuries prior to his actual physical existence, and (2) must have regarded moral principles as transcending individuals and their religious dialectic. This is not to say that the thoughts of the Son of God are not a Divine revelation: merely that they may have been anticipated, all unknowingly, by His Father’s divine creation—the human soul. However—and as in the case about the lost material in Sanskrit about the Apostle Thomas (#356, below)—it is a consideration perhaps better left to the research of others. (H)

 

(II) The first 13 sayings present interpretive anomalies within the context of certain ancient manuscript copies of the ­Received New Testament­. These all appear to be ancient intrusions into the original text; but the real point with these sayings—as with all the others—is that they may go back ultimately to an original verbalization­ of the Mesesiah which has somehow survived within a ­written­ format. Four of them are to be discovered within the text of ­Mark­, four more in ­Matthew­, three in ­Luke­, one in ­John­.

 

(III) This is followed by an analysis of the Oxyrhynchus payrii 1, 654, 655, 840, 1244, and an unreferenced Oxyrhynchus papyrus listed by Hastings. They seem to contain some 25 additional sayings of Jesus, the most developed and complete evolution of which appears to be the manner in which they are represented in the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­. This gospel was then analyzed; and it was discovered that out of the 93 remaining logia in its contents, there were

 

(IV) a further 12 which share their text with at least one other authoritative source duplicating a knowledge of some version of the contents of this Coptic gospel.

 

(V) There are also 2 sayings which appear in the text of various forms of the ­acta­; and

 

(VI) an additional 4 which turn up in the text of various letters.

 

(VII) There are immediately to be considered 23 sayings attested by one or more of the Patristic Fathers of the Received (i.e., Orthodox, in the broad sense) Christian Church; and

 

(VIII) 1 saying exclusively reported by a church order (the Apostolic Church Order­).

 

(IX) I have additionally included space for reliable traditions reported in the Talmudic agrapha, though my sources revealed none of them as possibilities for inclusion.

 

(X) Finally, 4 sayings of Jesus appear within the Islamic agrapha, the nature of which might indicate some form of tenuous link with genuine oral tradition.

 

The evaluation of these sayings, quite naturally, varies from scholar to scholar, of which the following is necessarily only a brief selection.

 

1. Puesch says (NTA,I,293) about the sayings in the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ and their Received parallels:—(Are they all the result of revision undertaken by the redactor or compiler of the ­Gospel of Thomas­? Are the sayings in question only more or less from adaptions of the Synoptic logia and therefore, as would appear certain for some of them, composed later than the ­Gospel of Luke­ or even, as some indications, less numerous and less obvious, would suggest, than the ­Gospel of John­? Or are they drawn from the same source as the canonical logia, reproducing these sayings more faithfully and in a better or more primitive form? Or do they represent a parallel tradition? This question can and must be raised at least for some of them because of the archaic stamp and the Aramaisms which appear to lie behind them. an answer can only be attained with the long and careful investigations now in process, which must put into application the accepted methods of textual criticism and of Form Criticism, have been completed.).

 

2. Lambert (1909) said in connection with the Oxyrhynchus papyrii:—(Of the value of the Oxyrhynchus “Sayings” very different estimates have been formed. But it is pretty generally agreed that, in their present shape at all events, they were not uttered by Jesus, and do not belong to the first Christian age.).

 

3. Hastings (1909), on the sayings in general, notes:—(That some genuine sayings of the Lord not recorded by the Evangelists should linger in the oral tradition of the early Church is only what we should expect, but of the extant agrapha it is only a small number that meet the tests of textual criticism, or satisfy the requirements of moral probability. It is significant of the value of the Received Gospels as historical records that outside of them there are so few “sayings of Jesus” that could possibly be accepted as conveying a veritable tradition of His actual words.).

 

4. Butrick (1962):—(Many collections have been made of this material, which ranges from short, aphoristic utterances to lengthy discourses and which dates from the earliest days to the present. Earlier scholars regarded many of them as genuine sayings of Jesus, and saw their source in an early oral gospel from which our canonical gospels drew heavily but not exhaustively. While far great caution is shown today in such estimates, all judgments are bound to be subjective. Long discourses, often highly doctrinal, as in the ­Wisdom of Jesus Christ­ and in such romances as the apocryphal Acts, Gnostic and Catholic alike, may be safely disregarded; but there are many terse and wholesome utterances, utterly unobjectionable and free from the bias of dubious theology or the tinsel of fantasy, which have appeared to many critics as not inappropriate to the Jesus of the canonical gospels. The fact that they are not in the canonical gospels is not in itself conclusive, but the parallel fact that so few of them are of a nature to appear to most investigators of an age and quality to make ascription to the Jesus of history probable, would suggest that the authors of the canonical gospels left very little primitive tradition out of their collections.).

 

5. Jeremias (NTA,I,86-87):—(The valuation of the agrapha fluctuates between undiscriminating high esteem and extreme skepticism. The forming of a judgment that will not depend on fancy is possible only on the basis of a critical examination of the very extensive material. In the first place we must with Ropes (“Die Spruche Jesu, die in den Kanonischen Evangelien Nicht Uberliefert Sind” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XIV.2, 1896) and Klostermann (“Apocrypha II and III” in ­Kleine Texte fur Vorlesungen und Ubungen­ VIII, 1911; IX, 1929) exclude all texts that have been erroneously claimed as agrapha. The remaining material consists in great part (a) of tendentious coining of sayings of the Lord; (b) of barefaced legendary inventions or legendary transferences to Jesus (there belong here the Islamic agrapha and the sayings of Jesus in the nativity gospels); (c) of Biblical and extra-Biblical citations which, because of slips of memory, have inadvertently been transferred to Jesus; (d) of sayings of Jesus given in the (Received) Gospels, which have been remodeled and worked up; (e) of sayings the attestation of which occasions doubt. There remains a very small residue of sayings the character of whose content, form and attestation justify the opinion that they stand on a level with the sayings of Jesus (themselves of very differing historical value) contained in the (Received) Gospels.).

 

6. Louis (NCE,I,212) says that Resch (­Agrapha: Aussercanonische Evangelienfragmente­, Leipzig, 1889) made the first scholarly probe for authenticity:—(He considered 74 sayings authentic; his second edition reduced the number to 35. By 1929 Vaganay (“Agrapha” in ­Dictionnaire de la Bible­, Suppolement I, Paris, 1928, cols. 159-198) hesitatingly accepted only 4 or 5. The papyri discoveries have given new impetus to agrapha study, but little or no authentic material. J. Jeremias selected 18 likely authentic texts for examination and careful study. Probably the sober view of MacRae (“The Gospel of Thomas: Logia Iesou?” in ­Catholic Biblical Quarterly­ XXII, 1960, 56-71) on the latest agrapha from the ­Gospel of Thomas­ of the Coptic papyri, that one will probably never be able to say that any given logion is a genuine and hitherto lost saying of Jesus, should be extended to the earlier agrapha.).

 

     However these judgments may be viewed, this collection is a mosaic culled from such agrapha as my scholarly sources admit to ­their­ collections. Here are the 83 sayings.

 

I

 

SAYINGS FROM THE PROTO-CHRISTIAN MATERIAL

 

     This should be, as noted above, a fascinating exploratory field for future research.

 

II

 

SAYINGS WITHIN THE GOSPELS

 

1

 

Mark­ 9:49b [so OAB (1): the passage is underscored); Hastings (2)]: (1)—(For everyone will be salted with fire and every sacrifice will be salted with salt­.); (2)—(Hastings notes the existence of 9:49b, but does not quote its text.). ODC says that other ancient authorities either add or substitute 9:49b.

 

2

 

Mark­ 16:3-4 [so OAB (1); ­Codex Bobiensis­: the passage is underscored (2); ­Gospel of Peter­ 35-54 (3)]: (1)—(And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the door of the tomb?” And looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back; for it was very large.); (2)—(And they were saying to one another, ``Who will roll away the stone from the door of the sepulcher?" But suddenly at the third hour of the day there came darkness throughout all the globe of the earth; and angels came down from the heavens, and rising in the brightness of the living God they went up together with him, and immediately there was light. Then the women drew near to the sepulcher­ and saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.); (3)—(Now in the night in which the Lord’s day dawned, when the soldiers, two by two in every watch, were keeping guard, there rang out a loud voice in heaven, and they saw the heavens opened and two men came down from there in a great brightness and drew nigh to the sepulcher. That stone which had been laid against the entrance to the sepulcher started of itself to roll and gave way to the side, and the sepulcher was opened, and both the young men entered in. When now those soldiers saw this, they awakened the centurion and elders—for they also were there to assist at the watch. And whilst they were relating what they had seen, they saw again three men come out of the sepulcher, and two of them sustaining the other, and a cross following them, and the heads of the two reaching to heaven, but that of him who was led of them by the hand overpassing the heavens. And they heard a voice out of the heavens crying, “Thou hast preached to them that sleep,” and from the cross there was heard the answer, “Yea.” Those men therefore took counsel with one another to go and report this to Pilate. And whilst they were still deliberating, the heavens were again seen to open, and a man descended and entered into the sepulcher. When those who were of the centurions company saw this, they hastened by night to Pilate, abandoning the sepulcher which they were guarding, and reported everything that they had seen, being full of disquietude and saying, “In truth he was the Son of God.” Pilate answered and said, “I am clean from the blood of the Son of God, upon such a thing have you decided.” Then all came to him, beseeching him and urgently calling upon him to command the centurion and the soldiers to tell no one what they had seen. “For it is better for us,” they said, “to make ourselves guilty of the greatest sin before God than to fall into the hands of the people of the Jews and be stoned.” Pilate therefore commanded the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing. Early in the morning of the Lord’s day Mary Magdalene, a woman disciple of the Lord—for fear of the Jews, since they were inflamed with wrath, she had not done at the sepulcher of the Lord what women are wont to do for those beloved of them who die—took with her her women friends and came to the sepulcher where he was laid. And they feared lest the Jews should see them, and said, “Although we could not weep and lament on that day when he was crucified, yet let us now do so at his sepulcher. But who will roll away for us the stone also that is set on the entrance to the sepulcher, that we may go in and sit beside him and do what is due? For the stone was great, and we fear lest any one see us. And if we cannot do so, let us at least put down at the entrance what we bring for a memorial of him and let us weep and lament until we have again gone home.”).

 

3

 

The Long Conclusion to the Received Gospel of Mark­ [so OAB (1); NWT (2)]: (1)—(Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it. After this he appeared in another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them. Afterward he appeared to the seven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who dies not believing will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went forth and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by the signs that attended it. Amen.); (2)—(After he rose early on the first day of the week he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had expelled seven demons. She went and reported to those who had been with him, as they were mourning and weeping. But they, when they heard he had come to life and had been viewed by her, did not believe. Moreover, after these things he appeared in another form to two of them walking along, as they were traveling into the country; and they came back and reported to the rest. Neither did they believe these. But later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at the table, and he reproved their lack of faith and hardheartedness, because they did not believe those who had beheld him now raised up from the dead. And he said to them: “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. He that believes and is baptized will be saved, but he that does not believe will be condemned. Furthermore, these signs will accompany those believing: By the use of my name they will expel demons, they will speak with tongues, and with their hands they will pick up serpents, and if they drink anything deadly it will not hurt them at all. They will lay their hands upon sick persons, and these will become well.” So, then, the Lord Jesus, after having spoken to them, was taken up to heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. They, accordingly, went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and backed up the message through the signs accompanying it.).

 

     NWT says this addition to the original gospel text is found in Codices ­Alexandrinus­, ­Ephraemi­, ­Bezae­ and Regius­, the ­Vulgate­, and in the Curetonian and Peshitta versions of the Received Gospel of ­Mark­ in the Syriac language. It is not found in Codices ­Aleph­, ­Vatican Manuscript 1209­, ­Sinaiticus­, or the Armenian versions of the Received Gospel of ­Mark­.

 

4

 

The Short Conclusion to the Received Gospel of Mark­ [so OAB (1); NWT (2); NAS (3)]: (1)—(But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.); (2)—(but all the things that had been commanded they related briefly to those around Peter. Further, after these things, Jesus himself sent out through them from the east to the west the holy and incorruptible proclamation of everlasting salvation.); (3)—(And they promptly reported all these instructions to Peter and his companions. And after that, Jesus Himself sent out through them from east to west the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.).

 

     Other ancient authorities (so OAB), some late manuscripts and versions (so NAG), and a few later manuscripts and versions (so NAS), contain this paragraph, usually after verse 8. NWT also notes that Codex Regius­ contains both conclusions, giving first the shorter and then the longer, and prefixing to each a note to say that these passages are current in some quarters, while evidently not recognizing either conclusion as authoritative. OAB says that on the basis of important ancient manuscripts and church Fathers, modern scholars generally agree that the original text of ­Mark­ (as far as we have it) ends abruptly at 16:8. If an original ending was in fact written and lost, the damage took place very shortly after the time Mark­ was written. Numerous manuscripts, including some ancient ones, present with variations one or both of the endings above. The contents are set forth in a literary style differing from the rest of the gospel, but appearing to have been gleaned from materials known from Received text—in this case, the other gospels and the single book of ­acta­.

 

5

 

Mark­ 16:14-15 [so OAB (1); Manuscript W: the passage is underscored (2); Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­Dialogi Adversus Pelagianos­ II.15 (3)]: (1)—(Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they sat at table; and he upbraided them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation.”); (2)—(Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen and they made excuse, saying, “This age of wickedness and unbelief is under Satan who, by means of unclean spirits, permitteth not men to apprehend the true power of God: therefore do thou now reveal thy righteousness.” They, then, said these things unto Christ. And Christ said unto them, “The limit of the years of the power of Satan is fulfilled: but other fearful things draw near even upon them for whom, because they had sinned, I was delivered unto death that they may return unto the truth and sin no more: that they may inherit the spiritual and incorruptible glory of righteousness which is in heaven. But go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.”); (3)—(And they excused themselves saying, “This age of iniquity and unbelief is under Satan who by unclean spirits suffereth not the true power of God to be perceived: therefore now forthwith reveal thou thy righteousness.”).

 

     Jerome says he found this addition in some copies of the Received Text, and especially in the Greek manuscripts thereof. It is, of course, all the more remarkable for appearing as an expansion in a text which is itself a secondary ending to the original text of ­Mark­. OAB says it is probable that almost from the beginning of its history there were two recensions of ­Mark­ 16:14-15, of which one contained the expansion found in Manuscript W­ and the other did not, and that the latter for some reason was commonly preferred. In style, it does not differ from the language of the remainder of the ­Long Conclusion­, which NTA says demonstrates its own ancientness by its highly eschatological tone (which comes out in the request of the disciples) and by its Jewish-apocalyptic terminology, a type of literature which, according to the ODC (p. 67) belongs approximately to the period 200 BC-100AD.

 

     There could have been an original ending, now lost. Chapter 14:28 (Jesus is speaking)—(But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee.)—suggests that Mark originally described at least one experience of the disciples with Jesus in Galilee. The friendly reference to Peter in ­Mark­ 16:7 (an angel is speaking)—(But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him, as he told you.)—suggests at the existence (perhaps the original ending, if there was one) of a now unrecorded moment of reconciliation between Peter and Jesus.

 

     [NTA translates ­Manuscript W­ as follows:—(Afterward he appeared to the eleven as they reclined at table and reproached them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, for they had not believed those who had seen him after he arose. And they excused themselves with the words, “This age of lawlessness and unbelief is under Satan, who through the unclean spirits does not allow the true power of God to be comprehended. Therefore,” they said to Christ, “reveal your righteousness now.” And Christ replied to them, “The measure of the years of Satan’s power is filled up. But other fearful things draw near, also for those whom I, because they have sinned, was delivered to death, that they might turn back to the truth and sin no more in order to inherit the spiritual and imperishable glory of righteousness preserved in heaven. Now then, go into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation.”).]

 

6

 

Matthew­ 3:16-17 [(so OAB (1); ­Codex Vercellensis­: the passage is underscored (2); ­Codex Sangermanensis­ (3); Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165, ­Dialogue With Trypho­ 88) (4); Ephraem Syrus (5); the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­ in Epiphanius’ ­Panarion­ XXX:xiii.2: the passage, and a further tradition, are underscored (6); and many other early writers, not here noted]: (1)And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him; and lo, a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”); (2)—(and when he was being baptized, a very great light shone round about from the water, so that all that had come thither feared.); (3)—(and when Jesus was being baptized, a great light shone from the water, so that all that were gathered together feared.); (4)—(Justin Martyr says: a fire was kindled in Jordan); (5)—(Ephraem Syrus has: a light rising over the water); (6)—(When the people were baptized, Jesus also came and was baptized by John. And as he came up from the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove that descended and entered into him. And a voice sounded from heaven that was, “Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.” ­And again, “I have this day begotten thee.” And immediately a great light shone round about the place. When John saw this, it saith, he saith unto him, “Who art thou, Lord?” And again a voice from heaven rang out to him, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased­.”).

 

7

 

Matthew­ 6:9-15 [so OAB (1); NWT (2); NAS (3); ­Didache­ 9 (in an isolated sentence) (4); Didache­ 10 (in an isolated sentence) (5)]: (1)—(Pray then like this: our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread: and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.); (2)—(You must pray, then, this way: Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth. Give us today our bread for this day; and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the wicked one.); (3)—(Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. ­For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.); (4)—(This is the glory and power, through Jesus Christ, for ever and ever.); (5)—(This is the power and glory for ever and ever.).

 

     OAB adds in a note that the Early Church added an appropriate concluding doxology to the Lords’ Prayer on the basis of David’s Prayer, recorded at ­I Chronicles­ 29:10-13 in the Received Old Testament­:—(Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly; and David said: “Blessed art thou, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty; for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from thee, and thou rulest over all. In thy hand are power and might; and in thy hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank thee, our God, and praise thy glorious name.).

 

     Luke­ 11:2-4 presents this prayer in a slightly different form (so OAB)—(And he said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation.).

 

     ODC says that the form in ­Matthew­ is that universally used by Christians. The concluding sentence was probably added in early times, for it occurs in the ­Didache­ (c.150—twice in isolated sentences in chapters 9 and 10); and in a longer form—corresponding to that in the ­Book of Common Prayer (text not included here)­; and in the liturgy of Chrysostom of Constantinople (d.407, text not included here). The concluding sentence, however, was not traditional­ in the liturgical tradition of ­Western­ Christendom, and indeed is first met with in the West only in the 17th century (it appears in the Scottish ­Book of Common Prayer­ for 1637). The Patristic commentaries include Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, ­De Oratione­ i-x); Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­De Oratione­, especially xxii-xxx); Cyprian of Carthage (d.258, ­De Dominica Oratione­); and Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430, ­De Semone Domini in Monte­ II, 15-39).

 

8

 

Matthew­ 17:21 [so OAB (1); NWT (2); NAS (3)]: (1)—(But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting.”); (2)—(However, this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting.”); (3)—(But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”).

 

OAB says this appears in other ancient authorities. It is not found, however, in ­Codex Aleph­, ­Codex Vaticanus 1209­, the Curetonian and Sinaitic Syriac codices, and other important manuscripts (so NWT). Hastings is content to mention it and pass on. The passage (underscored, below) occurs at the end of the incident described in ­Matthew­ 17:14-20—(And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to them and kneeling before him said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, and they could not heal him.” And Jesus answered, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.” And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move hence to yonder place,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. ­But this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting­.”).

 

9

 

Matthew­ 20:25-28 [so OAB (1); ­Codex Bezae­: the passage is underscored (2)]: (1)—(But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave; even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”); (2)—(But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you; but whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. ­But ye seek to increase from smallness and from the greater to become less. And when ye go in and are invited to dine, do not recline in the prominent place lest haply one more illustrious than thou come in, and he that bade thee to dinner say to thee: Go yet lower down; and thou shalt be put to shame. But if thou recline in the lesser place, and a lesser man come in, he that bade thee to dinner will say to thee: Get thee yet higher up; and this will be profitable to thee­.”).

 

     Butrick sees the expansion in ­Codex Bezae­ as an amplified parallel to ­Luke­ 14:7-11, where indeed a similar passage appears as part of the original text of this Received gospel (after OAB)—(Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he marked how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by any one to a marriage feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest a more eminent man than you be invited by him; and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher,’ then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For every one who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”)

 

10

 

Luke­ 6:4, after the ­Codex Bezae­ [so NTA (1); Hastings (2); Butrick (3); James (4)]: (1)—(When on the same day he saw a man doing work on the Sabbath, he said to him: Man! if thou knowest what thou doest, blessed art thou! But if thou knowest not, thou art cursed and a transgressor of the law.); (2)—(On the same day he saw one working on the Sabbath, and said to him, Man, if thou knowest what thou doest, blessed art thou; but if thou knowest not, thou art accursed and a transgressor of the law.); (3)—(“Man, if thou knowest what thou art doing, blessed art thou; if thou knowest not, thou art accursed and a transgressor of the law.”); (4)—(On the same day, seeing one working on the Sabbath, he said unto him: Man, if indeed thou knowest what thou doest, thou art blessed: but if thou knowest not, thou art cursed, and a transgressor of the law.).

 

     Hastings refers to it as a striking saying, Butrick as a famous rejoinder. James says that to discuss other small additions or supposed additions to the text would take us into the sphere of textual criticism, and he is correspondingly silent about this and other portions of the agrapha. NTA says it is a warning against thoughtless transgression of the Sabbath commandment, and passes it without further comment. The expansion does not appear in the Received Text, of which ­Luke­ 6:1-5 is quoted below from OAB (1); NWT (2); and (NAS) (3): (1)—(On a Sabbath, while he was going through the grainfields, his disciples plucked and ate some ears of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?” And Jesus answered, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those with him?” And he said to them, “The Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.”); (2)—(Now on a Sabbath he happened to be passing through grainfields, and his disciples were plucking and eating the heads of grain, rubbing them with their hands. At this some of the Pharisees said: “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” But Jesus said in reply to them: “Have you never read the very thing David did when he and the men with him got hungry? How he entered into the house of God and received the loaves of presentation and ate and gave some to the men with him, which it is lawful for no one to eat but for the priests only?” And he went on to say to them: “Lord of the Sabbath is what the Son of man is.”); (3)—(Now it came about that on a certain Sabbath He was passing through some grainfields; and His disciples were picking and eating the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And Jesus answering them said, “Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread which is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?” And he was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”).

 

11

 

Luke­ 9:51-56 [so OAB (1); NWT (2); NTA: the passage is underscored (3); Hastings (4)]: (1)—(When the days draw near for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him; but the people would not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. And they went on to another village.); (2)—(As the days were now coming to the full for him to be taken up, he firmly set his face to travel to Jerusalem. So he sent forth messengers ahead of him. And they went their way and entered into a village of Samaritans, to make preparation for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set for traveling to Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this they said: “Master; do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and annihilate them?” But he turned and reproved them. So they traveled to a different village.); (3)—(And it came about, when the days were approaching for His Ascension, that He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him. And they went, and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make arrangements for Him. And they did not receive Him, because He was journeying with His face toward Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them, ­and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them­.” And they went on to another village.); (4)—Hastings is content to cite the passage, but not to quote it. OAB says merely that this passage (without the expansion) is peculiar to Luke.

 

12

 

Luke­ 23:32-34 [so OAB (1): the passage is underscored); NWT (2); NAS (3): the passage is underscored); Hastings (4); Butrick (5)]: (1)—(The others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. ­And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do­.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.) OAB also says that other ancient authorities lack the sentence; (2)—(but two other men, evildoers, were also being led to be executed with him. And when they got to the place called “The Skull,” there they impaled him and the evildoers, one on his right and one on his left. Furthermore, to distribute his garments, they cast lots.); (3)—(And two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. And when they came to the place called The Skull, thee they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. ­But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing­.” And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among themselves.); (4)—Hastings notes the passage, but does not quote it.; (5)—Butrick notes the passage, but also does not quote it.

 

13

 

John­ 7:53-8:11 [so OAB (1); NWT (2); NAS (3); Hastings (4)]: (1)—(They went each to his own house, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus looked up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.”); (2)—(So they went each one to his own home. But Jesus went to the mount of Olives. At daybreak, however, he again presented himself at the temple, and all the people began coming to him, and he sat down and began to teach them. Now the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught at adultery, and, after standing her in their midst, they said to him: ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of committing adultery. In the Law Moses proscribed for us to stone such kind of women. What, really, do you say?’ Of course, they were saying this to put him to the test, in order to have something with which to accuse him. But Jesus bent down and began to write with his finger in the ground. When they persisted in asking him, he straightened up and said to them: ‘Let the one of you that is sinless be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And bending over again he kept on writing in the ground. But those who heard this began going out, one by one, starting with the older men of influence, and he was left alone, and the woman that was in their midst. Straightening up, Jesus said to her: ‘Woman, where are they? Did not one condemn you?’ She said: ‘No one, sir.’ Jesus said: ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way; from now on practice sin no more.’”); (3)—(And everyone went to his home. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them. And the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such woman; what then do You say?” And they were saying this, testing him, in order that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground. But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And when they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the midst. And straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” And she said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go your way. From now on sin no more.”); (4)—Hastings mentions this passage, but does not quote it.

 

     OAB says the most ancient authorities lack 7:53-8:11; other add the passage here or after 7:36, or after 21:25, or after ­Luke­ 21:38, with variations of text. Some ancient authorities mark the passage as doubtful.

 

III

 

SAYINGS FROM THE OXYRHYNCHUS PAPYRII AS RECORDED IN THE COPTIC GOSPEL OF THOMAS

 

14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22

 

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ 1 [so NTA (A); ANT (B)]: (A)—[(14) and then thou mayest see clearly to pull the mote that is in the eye of thy brother. (15) Jesus says: If you do not fast as to the world, you will not find the kingdom of God, and if you do not keep the Sabbath as Sabbath, you will not see the Father. (16) Jesus says: I stood up in the midst of the world, and in the flesh I appeared to them and found all drunken, and none found I athirst among them, and my soul is troubled for the sons of men, because they are blind in their heart and do not see (17) ... the poverty. (18) Jesus says: Wherever there are ... without God, and where one is alone, I say: I am with him. Lift up the stone and there thou wilt find me; cleave the wood, and I am there. (19,20) Jesus says: A prophet is not acceptable in his own country, neither does a physician work cures on those who know him. (21) Jesus says: A city which is erected on the top of a high mountain and firmly stablished, can neither fall nor remain hidden. (22) Jesus says: Thou hearest in thy one ear the …]; (B)—[(14) And then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote which is in thy brother’s eye. (15) Jesus saith: If ye fast not from the world ye shall not find the kingdom of God, and if ye keep not Sabbath for the whole week, ye shall not see the Father. (16) Jesus saith: I stood in the midst of the world, and in flesh appeared I unto them: and I found all men drunken, and none did I find thirsting among them and my soul is afflicted for the sons of men, because they are blind in their heart and see not. (17) poverty. (18) Jesus saith: Wheresoever there are two, they are not without God: and where there is one alone I say I am with him. Lift up the stone and there shalt thou find me: cleave the wood, and I am there. (19-20) Jesus saith: A prophet is not acceptable in his own country, nor doth a physician do cures upon them that know him. (21) Jesus saith: a city built on the top of an high mountain and established can neither fall nor be hidden. (22) Jesus saith: Thou hearest within thy one ear but the other thou hast closed.]

 

     NTA (I,105-106) says that saying (14) is presented in its entirety as logion 26 of the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, thus:—Jesus has said: The mote that is in thy brother’s eye thou seest; but the beam that is in thine own eye thou seest not. When thou pullest out the beam out of thine own eye, then thou wilt see clearly to pull out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

 

     NTA (I,108) says that though only two words can be translated here from Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1, saying (17) has been recorded as logion 29 of the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, thus:—Jesus has said: If the flesh has existed for the sake of the spirit, then is that a marvel. If, however, the spirit has existed for the sake of the body, then is that a marvel of marvels. But I marvel at this: How so great wealth has made its home in this poverty.

 

     NTA (I,110) says that the text of saying (22) being so fragmentary, no statement can be made about its content; but it seems completed by ANT. He says also that he has trouble restoring saying (18); but again, ANT has no difficulty.

 

23

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, preface and logion 1. NTA has:—These are the secret words which Jesus the Living One has spoken and which Didymus Judas Thomas has written. And he has said: He who has found the interpretation of these words will not taste death. NAG has:—These are the secret sayings which the living Jesus spoke and which Didymos Judas Thomas wrote down. And he said, “Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.”

 

24

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ logion 2. NTA has:—Jesus has said: He who seeks should not cease to seek until he has found, and when he has found, he will be bewildered, and when he is bewildered, he will marvel and will reign over the All. NAG has:—Jesus said, “Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All.”

 

25

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ logion 3. NTA has:—Jesus said: If those who lead you say unto you: Behold, the Kingdom is in heaven, then the birds of the heaven will be before you. If they say unto you: It is in the sea, then the fish will be before you. But the Kingdom is within you, and it is outside of you. When you know yourselves, then shall you be known, and you shall know that you are the sons of the living Father. But if you do not know yourselves, then you are in poverty, and you are poverty. NAG has:—Jesus said, “If those who lead you say to you, ‘See, the Kingdom is in the sky,’ then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, ‘It is in the sea,’ then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living Father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.”

 

26

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ logion 4. NTA has:—Jesus has said: The man old in his days will not hesitate to question a small child of seven days about the place of life, and he will live; for there are many among the first who will be last and they will become a single one.” NAG has:—Jesus said, “The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same.” The Manichean Psalm Book (so ANT) has:—He said: “The gray-haired old men, the little children instruct them. They that are six years old instruct them that are sixty years old.”

 

27

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ logion 5. NTA has:—Jesus has said: Know that which is before thy face, and that which is hidden from thee will be manifested to thee; for nothing is hidden which will not be manifest. NAG has:—Jesus said, “Recognize what is in your sight, and that which is hidden from you will become plain to you. For there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest.” The Kephalaia 1:xv has:—On this mystery, which to the sects is hidden, the Savior gave a hint to his disciples: “Know what is before your face, and what is hidden from you will be revealed to you.”

 

28

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ logion 6. NTA has:—His disciples asked him and said to him: Wouldst thou that we fast, and in what way should we pray? Should we give alms, and as regards food what should be observed? Jesus has said: Lie not, and do not do what you hate; for everything is manifest before Heaven; for nothing is hidden that will not be manifest; and nothing is covered over that will not presently be uncovered. NAG has:—His disciples questioned Him and said to Him, “Do You want us to fast? How shall we pray? Shall we give alms? What deed shall we observe?” Jesus said, “Do not tell lies, and do not do what you hate, for all things are plain in the sight of Heaven. For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered.

 

29

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ logion 7. NTA has:—Jesus has said: Blessed is the lion that the man will devour, and the lion will become man. And loathsome is the man that the lion will devour, and the lion will become man. NAG has:—Jesus said, “Blessed is the lion which becomes man when consumed by man; and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man.”

 

30, 31, 32

 

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ 655 [so NTA (A); ANT (B)]: [(A)—(30) From early until late nor from evening until early neither about food for you, what you should eat nor about clothing for you, what you should put on. Much better are you than the lilies which grow but do not spin. If you have a garment ... also you? Who can add to your age? He himself will give to you your garment. (31) His disciples say to him: When wilt thou be manifest to us and when shall we see thee? He says: When you undress and are not ashamed ... (32) they have obtained the keys of the kingdom and them they have hidden, they themselves go not in and those who wish to go in they have not allowed to go in. But you, be wise as serpents and without guile as doves ...]; [(B)—(30) From early until late nor from evening until early neither about food for you, what you should eat nor about clothing for you, what you should put on. Much better are you than the lilies which grow but do not spin. If you have a garment ... you? Why can add to your age? He himself will give to you your garment. (31) His disciples say to him: When wilt thou be manifest to us and when shall we see thee? He says: When you undress and are not ashamed ... (32) He said: the key of knowledge have ye hidden: yourselves ye entered not in, and to them that were coming in ye opened not ... harmless as doves.]

 

     NTA (I,112) notes the parallel in saying (30) with logion 36 of the ­Gospel of Thomas­, thus:—Jesus has said: Be not anxious from morning to evening and from evening to morning wherewith you will clothe you. NAG has:—Jesus said, “Do not be concerned from morning until evening and from evening until morning about what you will wear.”

 

     NTA (I,112) says that saying (31) is expressed also by logion 37 of the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, thus:—His disciples have said: On which day wilt thou reveal thyself to us and on which day shall we see thee? Jesus has said: When you undress and are not ashamed, and when you take your garments and cast them upon the ground under your feet in the manner of little children and tread on them, then will you see the Son of him who lives, and you will not be afraid. NAG has:—His disciples said, “When will You become revealed to us and when shall we see You?” Jesus said, “When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garments and place them under your feet like little children and tread on them, then will you see the Son of the Living One, and you will not be afraid.”

 

     Clement of Alexandria (­Miscellaneous Studies­ III.91ff) also preserves a memory of logion (31), but he ascribes it to the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­, and as having been preserved by Julius Cassianus:—(Therefore Cassianus now says, When Salome asked when what she had inquired about would be known, the Lord said, “When you have trampled on the garment of shame and when the two become one and the male with the female is neither male nor female.” Now in the first place we have not this word in the four gospels that have been handed down to use, but in the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­. Further, he seems to me to fail to recognize that by the male impulse is meant wrath and by the female lust.)

 

     NTA (I,113) says that saying (32) is supported by logion 39 of the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, thus:—Jesus has said: The Pharisees and the scribes have obtained the keys of knowledge. They have hidden them and have not gone in, and those who wished to go in they have not allowed; but you, be wise as serpents and pure as doves. NAG has:—Jesus said, “The Pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of Knowledge and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to. You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.”

 

33

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ logion 38. NTA has:—Jesus has said: Many times have you desired to hear these words of mine which I say to you, and you have not another from whom to hear them; there will come days when you will seek me, and you will not find me. NAG has:—Jesus said, “Many times have you desired to hear these words which I am saying to you, and you have no one else to hear them from. There will be days when you will look for Me and will not find Me.”

 

     [Logion 38 is also reproduced in five other forms: (1) by Ireaneus of Lyons (d.c.200, ­Against All Heresies­ I.xiii.2, on the Marcosians); (2) Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Panarion­ XXXIV:xviii.3); (3) ­Acts of John­ 98 (Jesus is speaking to John on the Mount of Olives at the moment of His crucifixion); (4) ­Coptic Manichean Psalm Book­ p. 187 (words spoken by Jesus to Peter on the Mount of Olives, of which Mary Magdalene is to remind him); and (5) Cyprian of Carthage (d.258, ­Testimoniorum Libri Tres ad Quirinum­ III.29): (1)—(Often have I desired to hear one of those words, and have had none to tell it to me.); (2)—(I do not as yet have access to the necessary translation.) (3)—(John, someone must hear this from me; for I have need of one who will hear it.); (4)—(I have something to say, I have none to whom to say it.); (5)—(For a time will come, and ye shall seek me, both you and those who shall come after you, to hear the word of wisdom and of insight, and you shall not find.)]

 

 

34

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ logion 40. NTA has:—Jesus has said: A vine has been planted outside of the Father and has not established itself. It will be torn up by its root, and it will go to ruin. NAG has:—Jesus said, “A grapevine has been planted outside of the Father, but being unsound, it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed.”

 

35

 

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ 840. NTA—First before he does wrong he thinks out everything that is crafty.\fn{Or: falleth into error. ANT: first, before he doest wrong he excuseth himself. Swete (in Excerpta Theologia XV,1903,483; ibid.,VIII,1897,544) translates: beforehand he useth every device to injure first.} But be ye on your guard that the same thing may not happen to you as does to them. For not only among the living do evil doers among men receive retribution, but they must also suffer punishment and great torment.” And he took them with him into the place of purification\fn{Many people believed in that day that one could (indeed, had to) make oneself ritually pure before God prior to intercourse with the Deity, not only to make ones’ offering possible, but to avoid personal annihilation by God for not doing so.} itself and walked about in the Temple court. And a Pharisaic chief priest, Levi by name, fell in with them and said to the Savior, “Why gave thee leave to tread this place of purification and to look upon these holy utensils without having bathed thyself and even without thy disciples having washed their feet? On the contrary, being defiled, thou hast trodden the Temple court, this clean place, although no one who has not first bathed himself or changed his clothes may tread it and venture to view these holy utensils!” Forthwith the Savior stood still with his disciples and answered, “How stands it then with thee, thou art forsooth here in the Temple court. Art thou then clean?” He said to them, “I am clean. For I have bathed myself in the pool of David and have gone down by the one stair and come up by the other and have put on white and clean clothes, and only then have I come hither and have viewed these holy utensils.” Then said the Savior to him, “Woe unto you blind that see not! Thou hast bathed thyself in water that it poured out, in which dogs and swine lie night and day and thou hast washed thyself and hast chafed thine outer skin, which prostitutes also and flute-girls\fn{With this see also the eighteenth fragment of the Gospel of the Nazarenes, which has preserved a memory of this saying. Eusebius of Caesarea (Theophany on Matthew XXV:14ff) has: But since the Gospel written in Hebrew characters which has come into our hands enters the threat not against the man who had hid the talent, but against him who had lived dissolutely—for he had three servants: one who squandered his master’s substance with harlots and flute-girls, one who multiplied the gain, and one who hid the talent; and accordingly one was accepted with joy, another merely rebuked, and another cast into prison—I wonder whether in Matthew the threat which is uttered after the word against the man who did nothing may refer not to him, but by epanalepsis to the first who had feasted and drunk with the drunken.}anoint, bathe, chafe and rouge, in order to arouse desire in men,\fn{James says that he is reminded of an addition to I Kings XXII:38—(They washed Ahab’s chariot at the fountain of Samaria: and the swine and the dogs licked up the blood, and the harlots washed themselves in the blood, according to the word of the Lord which he spake.”)—in the Septuagint (but does not quote the addition).} but within they are full of scorpions and of badness of every kind. But I and my disciples, of whom thou sayest that we have not immersed ourselves, have been immersed in the living ... water which comes down from ... But woe unto them that ... \fn{Swete completes the sentence thus: But woe unto them that wash the outside, but within are unclean.}].

 

     Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840 is discussed more fully as item #194 under XXII: PETER. The fragment is in the form of a single, almost complete leaf of parchment, written upon both sides in a microscopically small hand—the leaf itself is just 7 x 8.5 centimeters. It had probably served as an amulet of the 4th-5th century. The objections (so NTA) which for long were made to the historicity of this narrative on the grounds of ignorance of the Temple and its ritual—James himself says that the writer seemed to show gross ignorance of Jewish matters, among others in assuming that swine could be allowed in the neighborhood of the Temple—can now no longer be sustained. On the contrary, it is excellently informed, exhibits numerous Semiticisms, and in substance ranks as high as the Received account of Jesus’ ministry.

 

36

 

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ 1224 [so NTA—(And the scribes and Pharisees and priests, when they saw him, were angry that with sinners in the midst he reclined at table. But Jesus heard it and said: The healthy need not the physician. And pray for your enemies. For he who is not against you is for you. He who today is far-off—tomorrow will be near to you.)]

 

     This is the remains of a papyrus book, the writing of which points to the beginning of the 4th century. It is discussed more fully as item #354 under XXV: THOMAS.

 

37

 

Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ (no number given) [so Hastings (no reference given)]:—(Jesus saith ... Do nothing save the things that belong to the truth, for if ye do these, ye shall know a hidden mystery.)

 

     I am unable to find any further corroboration for the existence of this saying in the Oxyrhynchus papyrii or in the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­. To judge from the entry in Hastings, this quotation lies somewhere in the second series of sayings with the Greek text as restored by Grenfell and Hunt, to be found in an article by Swete (Excerpta Theologica­ XV, 1903, 483); to which, unfortunately, I have no access. (H)

 

***

 

Partial summation:

 

     NTA says that the material in the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ requires an accurate examination of its standing with the level of the sayings of Jesus contained in the Received gospels. There are certainly at least 21 verbal or conceptual parallels, as we have seen, that exist between the 114 logia of the ­Coptic gospel of Thomas­ at least three of the Oxyrhynchus papyrii:

 

(1) ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ 1: logia 26, 27, 28, 29, 30a (first part only), 31, 32, 33, 77b (second part only).

(2) ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ 654: preface, and logia 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

(3) ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ 655: logia 36, 37, 38 (possibly), 39, 40 (possibly).

 

     Of the remaining 93 logia of the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, modern scholarship has been able to demonstrate parallels between an additional 12 of them and at least one non-Received textual source outside themselves:

 

***

 

38

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 11 [so NTA (1); NAG (2); Hippolytus (­Refutations of All Heresies­ V:viii.32) (3); ­Ev. Philip­. 121 (4)]: (1)—(In the days when you devoured the dead, you made it alive; when you came into light, what will you do?); (2)—(Jesus said, “This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away. The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it what is alive. When you come to dwell in the light, what will you do? On the day when you were one you became two. But when you become two, what will you do?”); (3)—(If you ate dead things and made them living, what will you do if you eat living things?); (4) The text is not given in my sources

 

     NTA says that when the Naassenes said what they did in Hippolytus’ quotation, there is every reason to believe that here they were influenced by the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, and moreover by a version of this gospel identical with the one rediscovered at Nag Hammadi.

 

39

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 12 [so NTA (1); NAG (2); ­Gospel of the Hebrews­ (3)]: (1)—(The disciples said to Jesus: “We know that thou wilt go away from us. Who is it who shall be great over us?” Jesus said to them: “Wherever you have come, you will go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.”); (2)—(The disciples said to Jesus, “We know that you will depart from us. Who is to be our leader?” Jesus said to them, “Wherever you are, you are to go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven and mother came into being.”); (3)—NTA (I, 298) says that logion 12 might at one time have been part of the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­.

 

     NTA says that this logion demonstrates the high esteem which James, Jesus’ brother, enjoyed in many circles during the early Christian period. The copyist at Nag Hammadi has also allowed certain details as the exaltation of James the Just to stand: and this would be difficult to explain if the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ has been composed by a pure Gnostic. The assignation of logion 12 to the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­ is (so NTA,I,298) probable; and it seems quite possible that a number of other logia have the same provenance.

 

40

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 13 [so NTA (1); NAG (2); ­Acts of Thomas­ 37 (3); Acts of Thomas 39 (4); Acts of Thomas 47 (5); Acts of Thomas 147 (6); ­Greek Gospel of Bartholomew­ II.5 (7)]: (1)—(Jesus said to his disciples: “Make a comparison to me and tell me whom I am like.” Simon Peter said to him: “Thou art like a righteous angel.” Matthew said to him: “Thou art like a wise man of understanding.” Thomas said to him: “Master, my mouth will not at all be capable of saying whom thou art like.” Jesus said to him: “I am not thy Master, because thou hast drunk, thou hast become drunk from the bubbling spring which I have measured out.” And he took him, he withdrew, he spoke three words to him. Now when Thomas came to his companions, they asked him: “What did Jesus say to thee?” Thomas said to them: “If I tell you one of the words which he said to me, you will take up stones and throw at me; and fire will come from the stones and burn you up.”); (2)Jesus said to His disciples, “Compare Me to someone and tell Me who I am like.” Simon Peter said to Him, “You are like a righteous angel.” Matthew said to Him, “You are like a wise philosopher.” Thomas said to Him, “Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom You are like.” Jesus said, “I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out.” And He took him and withdraw and told him three things. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, “What did Jesus say to you?” Thomas said to them, “If I tell you one of the things which he told me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me; a fire will come out of the stones and burn you up.”); (3)—(And he shall be for you a spring gushing forth in this thirsty land); (4)—(the spring that is sweet and unfailing, the fountain that is secure and pure and never defiled,); (5)—(who did set me apart from all my companions and speak to me three words, wherewith I am inflamed, and tell them to others I cannot;); (6)—(The abundant spring within me I have dried up, that I may find thy living spring.); (7)—(But Mary said unto them: Ask me not concerning this mystery. If I should begin to tell you, fire will issue forth out of my mouth and consume all the world.); NTA has translated (7)—(But Mary answered: Do not ask me concerning this mystery. If I begin to tell you, fire will come out of my mouth and consume the whole world.).

 

41

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 16 [so NTA (1); NAG (2); Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165, ­Dialogue with Trypho­ XXXV:3) (3); the Syriac ­Didascalia­ VI.5 (4); ­Homilies of Clement­ II.17 (5); Homilies of Clement XVI. 21 (6)]: (1)—(Jesus said: “Men possibly think that I have come to cast a peace upon the world, and they do not know that I have come to throw divisions upon the earth, fire, sword, war. For there shall be five in a house: three shall be against two and two against three, the father against the son and the son against the father and they shall stand as solitaries.); (2)—(Jesus said, “Men think, perhaps, that it is peace which I have come to cast upon the world. They do not know that it is dissension which I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword, and war. For there will be five in a house: three will be against two, and two against three the father against the son, and the son against the father. And they will stand solitary.); (3)—(For he said: Many shall come in my name clad outwardly with sheep skins, but within they are ravening wolves. And: There will be dissensions and squabbles.); (4)—(As also our Lord and Savior said, There will be squabbles and dissensions.); (5)—(And thus, as the true Prophet has told us, a false prophet must first come from some deceiver.); (6)—(For there will be, as the Lord said, false apostles, false prophets, heresies, desires for supremacy, who, as I conjecture, finding their beginning in Simon,\fn{Simon Magus is meant.} who blasphemes God, will work together in the assertion of the same opinion against God as those of Simon.

 

42

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 17 [so NTA (1); NAG (2); ­Acts of Peter­ 39 (3); Manichean Turfan Fragment­ M789 (4); Letter of Titus­ (5); ­Martyrdom of Peter­ 10 (6); and James, ­Letter of the Apostles to the Christians of the World­ (7)]: (1)—(Jesus said: “I will give you what eye has not seen and what ear has not heard and what hand has not touched and what has not arisen in the heart of man.”); (2)—(Jesus said “I shall give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never occurred to the human mind.”); (3)—(“With Him then do you also take refuge, brethren, and learning that in him alone is your real being, you shall obtain those things of which he says to you, ‘What eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered the heart of man.’”); (4)—(Great and honorable is the divine promise which the Lord has made with his own mouth to them that are holy and pure: He will bestow upon them what eyes have not seen nor ears heard, nor has it entered into any human heart.); (5)—(that I may redeem you from death and annihilation. I will give you what ye have not seen with the eye, nor heard with the ears, nor grasped with the hand.); (6)—(As for you, if ye do thus ye shall comprehend that which He spake aforetime, saying “Things which the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive;” for these I entreat Thee, O Lord, because Thou didst declare that Thou wouldst give them unto us.); (7)—(And the righteous, that have walked in the way of righteousness, shall inherit the glory of God; and the power shall be given to them which no eye hath seen and no ear heard; and they shall rejoice in my kingdom.).

 

     NTA (II,144) notes that this saying is one to which Paul himself appeals (­I Corinthians­ 2:9—But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.”). Origen (­On Matthew­ 27:9) discusses the problem of its origin and concluded that Paul borrowed this sentence from the Apocalypse of Elias­ (and so also James, ­Lost Apocrypha of the Old Testament­, p. 54: in nullo enim regulari libro hoc positum invenitur, nisi in secretis Eliae prophetae). Resch (Agrapha­, 1st ed., 102, 154-167, 281) suggests that this saying is to be conceived of originally as a logion. But NTA says that the question of its immediate source is not easy to answer, pointing out that the apocryphal ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­ includes it in his text (underscored):—(Great and honorable is the divine promise which the Lord has made with his own mouth to them that are holy and pure: He will bestow upon them what eyes have not seen nor ears heard, nor has it entered into any human heart. ­And from eternity to eternity there will be race incomparable and incomprehensible)—and says that it has an affinity with Clement of Alexandria (Protrepticus­ IX:94); but NTA concludes that the assumption that the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­ wished in this place to cite nothing other than ­I Corinthians­ 2:9 seems to me much more likely.) Harnack (“Der Apokryphen brief des Paulus-schulers Titus” in ­Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse­ XVII, 1925, 193) also comments on this affinity with Clement.

 

43

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 19 [so NTA (1); NAG (2); Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200, ­Demonstration­ 43) (3); Lactantius of Nicomedia (d.c.320, ­Divine Institutes­ IV.8) (4); ­Fragments of a Dialogue Between John and Jesus­ (5)]: (1)—(Jesus said: “Blessed is he who was before he came into being. If you became disciples to me and hear my words, these stones will minister to you. For you have five trees in Paradise, which are unmoved in summer or in winter and their leaves do not fall. Whoever knows them will not taste death.”); (2)—(Jesus said, “Blessed is he who came into being before he came into being. If you become My disciples and listen to my words, these stones will minister to you. For there are five trees for you in Paradise which remain undisturbed summer and winter and whose leaves do not fall. Whoever becomes acquainted with them will not experience death.”); (3)—The text is not given. (4)—The text is not given. (5)—(Lo, I have explained unto thee, O Johannes, concerning Adam and Paradise and the Five Trees, in an intelligible allegory.).

 

     For Manichaeism, see references in Puech (­Le Manicheisme­, Paris, 1949, 159 note 285).

 

44

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 22 [so NTA (1); NAG (2); ­Acts of Thomas­ 147 (underscored) (3); Clement of Alexandria (quoting Julius Cassianus in ­Stromateis­ III:xiii.91f) (4); ­Second Letter of Clement­ 12:2-6 (5); ­Acts of Peter­ 38a (6); ­Acts of Philip­ 140 (7); ­Ev. Philip­ 115:30-34 (8)]: (1)—(Jesus saw children who were being suckled. He said to his disciples: “These children who are being suckled are like those who enter the Kingdom.” They said to Him: “Shall we then, being children, enter the Kingdom?” Jesus said to them: “When you make the two one, and when you make the inner as the outer and the outer as the inner and the above as the below, and when you make the male and the female into a single one, so that the male will not be male and the female not be female, when you make the eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in the place of a hand, and a foot in the place of a foot, and an image in the place of an image, then shall you enter the Kingdom.”); (2)—(Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to His disciples, “These infants being suckled are like those who enter the Kingdom.” They said to Him, “Shall we then, as children, enter the Kingdom?” Jesus said to them, “When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the Kingdom.”); (3)—(My\fn{This part of the Acts of Thomas has been supplemented with material not contained in the main tradition (which has here only two sentences).} loins have I girded with truth and my shoes have I bound to my feet, that I may not see their thongs loosened altogether. My hands have I put to the yoked plough, and have not turned away backward, that the furrows may not be crooked. The field is become white and the harvest is at hand, that I may receive my reward. My garment that grows old I have worn out, and the laborious toil that leads to rest I have accomplished. I have kept the first watch and the second and the third, that I may behold thy face and worship thy holy radiance. I have pulled down the barns and left them desolate on earth, that I may be filled from thy treasures.\fn{Some manuscripts have here: All my goods have I sold, that I may gain thee, the pearl.} The abundant springs within me I have dried up, that I may find thy living spring. The prisoner whom thou didst commit to me I have slain, that the freed man in me may not lose his trust. The inside I have made outside, and the outside inside,\fn{This is the specific knowledge of Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 22 as demonstrated by the author of the Acts of Thomas; it is part, however, of a much larger context within an enormous prayer covering the whole of Acts of Thomas 144-149. Here it lies, in about the center of a sub-section of this prayer, in which Thomas pleads his personal case for salvation before God by telling God how loyal to the cause of Paradise he has been by enumerating his good deeds in terms of allegorical generalities (a linguistic characteristic of which is the inclusion of the words I have or have I—as in I have done such-and-such, or such-and-such have I done—within the body of the text). In short, the knowledge of this logion demonstrated by the author of the Acts of Thomas is part of a general teaching linguistically identifiable, and so cannot properly be understood apart from the characteristics of its literary surroundings.)} and thy whole fullness has been fulfilled in me. I have not turned back to what is behind, but have advanced to what is before, that I may not become a reproach. The dead man I have brought to life and the living I have put to death, and what was lacking I have filled up, that I may receive the crown of victory and the power of Christ be perfected in me. Reproach have I received on earth, but give me recompense and requital in Heaven!); (4)—(If such an arrangement\fn{The institution of the different sexes.} were of God, to whom we aspire, then he would not have praised eunuchs and the prophet would not have said that they are no unfruitful tree ... Contending further for the impious doctrine he adds: ‘And how cold a charge not be rightly brought against the Savior, if he has transformed us and freed us from error, and delivered us from sexual intercourse?’ In this manner his teaching is similar to that of Tatian. But he emerged from the school of Valentinus. Therefore Cassianus now says, When Salome asked when what she had inquired about would be known, the Lord said, “When you have trampled on the garment of shame and when the two become one and the male with the female is neither male nor female.” Now in the first place we have not this word in the four Gospels that have been handed down to us,\fn{The four Received gospels are referred to here.} but in the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­. Further he seems to me to fail to recognize that by the male impulse is meant wrath and by the female lust.); (5)—(Let us expect, therefore, hour by hour, the kingdom of God in love and righteousness, since we know not the day of the appearing of God. For the Lord Himself, being asked by one when His kingdom would come, replied, “When two shall be one, and that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female, neither male nor female.” Now, two are one when we speak the truth one to another, and there is unfeignedly one soul in two bodies. And “that which is without as that which is within” meaneth this: he calls the soul “that which is within,” and the body “that which is without.” As, then, thy body is visible to sight, so also lest thy soul be manifest by good works. And “the male with the female, neither male nor female.” by this he meaneth, that a brother seeing a sister should think nothing about her as of a female, nor she think anything about him as a male. If ye do these things, saith He, the kingdom of my Father shall come.); (6)—(And when they had hanged him up in the way which he had requested, he began to speak again, saying, “Men whose duty it is to hear, pay attention to what I shall tell you at this very moment that I am hanged up. You must know the mystery of all nature, and the beginning of all things, how it came about. For the first man, whose likeness I have in my appearance, in falling head-downwards showed a manner of birth that was not so before; for it was dead, having no movement. He therefore, being drawn down—he who also cast his first beginning down to the earth—established the whole of this cosmic system, being hung up as an image of the calling, in which he showed what is on the right hand as on the left, and those on the left as those on the right, and changed all the signs of their nature, so as to consider fair those things that were not fair, and take those that were really evil to be good. Concerning this the Lord says in a mystery, ‘Unless you make what is on the right hand as what is on the left and what is on the left hand as what is on the right and what is above as what is below and what is behind as what is before, you will not recognize the Kingdom.’ This conception, then, I have declared to you, and the form in which you see me hanging is a representation of that man who first came to birth.”); (7)—(And some ran to take him down: but he refused and spoke to them. ... “Be not grieved that I hang thus, for I bear the form of the first man, who was brought upon earth head down-wards, and again by the tree of the cross made alive from the death of his transgression. And now do I fulfill the precept. For the Lord said to me: Unless ye make that which is beneath to be above, and the left to be right (and the right left), ye shall not enter into my kingdom. Be like me in this: for all the world is turned the wrong way, and every soul that is in it.”); (8)—The text is not given.

 

45

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 52 [so NTA (1); NAG (2); ­Acts of Thomas­ 170 (3); Augustine of Hippo-Regius (d.430, Contra Adversarium Legis et Prophetarum­ II:iv.1) (4)]: (1)—(His disciples said to him: “Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel and they all spoke about thee.” He spoke to them, “You have dismissed the Living One who is before you and you have spoken about the dead.”); (2)—(His disciples said to Him, “Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and all of them spoke in You.” He said to them, “You have omitted the one living in your presence and have spoken only of the dead.”); (3)—(But after a long time had passed it befell that one of Misdaeus’ sons was possessed by a demon; and since the demon was stubborn, no-one was able to heal him. But Misdaeus pondered and said: “I will go and open the tomb, and take one of the bones of the apostle of God, and fasten it upon my son, and I know that he will be healed.” And he went away to do what he had in mind. And Judas appeared to him and said: “Since thou didst not believe in the living, how dost thou wish to believe in the dead?”\fn{This is the parallel; and it has its proper place embedded within the context of its enframing information. (H)} But fear not! Jesus the Christ, because of his great goodness, acts humanely towards thee.” But Misdaeus did not find the bones; for one of the brethren had stolen them away, and carried them to the regions of the West. But taking dust from the place where the bones of the apostles had lain, he attached it to his son and said: “I believe in thee, Jesus, now when he has left me, who ever confuses men that they may not look upon thy rational light.” And when his son was in this manner restored to health, he\fn{Misdaeus.} came together with the other brethren, becoming submissive to Siphor. And he besought all the brethren to pray for him, that he might find mercy from our Lord Jesus Christ.); (4)—(But when the apostles (so he said) asked what was to be thought of the Jewish prophets who, as men assumed, announced His coming as something relating to the past,\fn{So Jeremias, Unknown Sayings of Jesus, 74 note 1; usual translation: who, as men assumed, in the past proclaimed His coming.} our Lord answered, under the impression that they still cherished such opinions: “You have rejected the Living One who stands before you, and talked fables\fn{I.e., prattled.} about the dead.”)\fn{NTA says Augustine of Hippo Regius reproduced this from an anonymous Marcionite or neo-Marcionite tractate widely read about 420AD on the Piazzi Maritima of Carthage. He says Augustine does not know its origin: testimonium de scripturis nescio quibus apocryphis.}

 

46

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 69 [so NAG (1); ­Letter of Mani­ (2)]: (1)—(Jesus said, “Blessed are they who have been persecuted within themselves. It is they who have truly come to know the Father. Blessed are the hungry, for the belly of him who desires will be filled.”); (2)—The text is not given; but on it see Bohlig (­Bull. Soc. Arch. Copte­ XV, 1957-1960, 57 note 5).

 

47

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 74 [so NTA (1); NAG (2); Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­Contra Celsum­ VIII.15-16) (3)]: (1)—(He said: “Lord, there are many around the cistern, but nobody in the cistern.”); (2)—(He said, “O Lord, there are many around the drinking trough, but there is nothing in the cistern.”); (3)—(“How are there so many about the well, and no one in the well!”).

 

     NTA says this might be part of an Ophite heavenly dialogue.

 

48

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 82 [so NTA (1); NAG (2); Hastings (3); Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, Homily­ XX.3) (4); Origen of Alexandria (quoting Didymus of Alexandria, ­Psalms­ 88:8) (5); in a Syrian anti-Marcionite explanation of parables, preserved in Armenian (6)]: (1)Jesus said: “Whoever is near to me is near to the fire, and whoever is far from me is far from the Kingdom.”); (2)—(Jesus said, “He who is near Me is near the fire, and he who is far from Me is far from the Kingdom.”); (3)—(But the Savior himself saith, He who is near me is near the fire; he who is far from me is far from the kingdom.); (4)—(I have read somewhere an alleged word of the Savior, and I ask whether someone imagined the figure of the Savior or called the words to mind, or whether the saying is true. The Savior at any rate said: ‘He who is near to me is near the fire; he who is far from me, is far from the Kingdom.’\fn{NTA underscores the fact that Origen says he found this saying in a written source: legi alicubi}; (5)—The phrase is given only in Greek, but available in Bradley (Fragments of the New Testament­, Bryn Mawr, 1990, 471); (6)—(That is what our life-giving Redeemer said: “He who draws nigh to me, draws nigh to the fire; he who moves away from me, moves away from life.”)]

 

49

 

Coptic Gospel of Thomas logion 114 [so NTA (1); NAG (2); Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Excerpta ex Theodoto­ XXI.3) (3); Origen of Alexandria (quoting Heracleon the Gnostic, ­On John­ VI.20) (4); the mediaeval Cathari (5)]: (1)—(Simon Peter said to them: “Let Mary go out from among us, because women are not worthy of the Life.” Jesus said: “See, I shall lead her, so that I will make her male, that she too may become a living spirit, resembling you males. For every woman who makes herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”); (2)—(Simon Peter said to them, “Let Mary leave us, for women are not worthy of Life.” Jesus said, “I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too may become a living spirit resembling you males. For every woman who will make herself male will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”); (3)—The text is not given. (4)—The text is not given. (5)—The text is not given; but see on this (a) Dollinger, ­Beitrage zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters­, Munich, 1890, 151-152, 176-177, 191, 219); and (b) Badham and Conybeare, “Fragments of an Ancient (? Egyptian) Gospel used by the Cathars of Albi” in The Hibbert Journal­ XI, 1913, 805-818.

 

     NTA further draws attention to similar attitudes in the ­Gospel of Mary Magdalene­—(When Mary had said this, she was silent, so thus the Savior had spoken with her up to this point. But Andrew answered and said to the brethren: “Tell me, what think ye with regard to what she says? I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these doctrines have other meanings.” Peter in answer spoke with reference to things of this kind, and asked them about the Savior: “Did he then speak privily with a woman rather than with us, and not openly? Shall we turn about and all hearken unto her? Has he preferred her over against us?”)—and three times in the Wisdom of Jesus Christ­ (in chapters 36, 72 and 100), in which Andrew is rebuked for his lack of insight, and where Peter’s hostility towards women and in particular to Mary Magdalene is detailed.

 

V

 

SAYINGS WITHIN THE ACTS

 

50

 

Acts­ 1:4-5 [so OAB (1); NWT (2); NAS (3); NTA (4)]: (1)—(And while staying\fn{Or: eating; in Greek the words for eating and staying are identical.} with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “You heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”); (2)—(And while he was meeting with them he gave them the orders: “Do not withdraw from Jerusalem, but keep waiting for what the Father has promised, about which you heard from me; because John, indeed, baptized with water, but you will be baptized in holy spirit not many days after this.”); (3)—(And gathering\fn{Or: eating with; or possibly: lodging with.} them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with\fn{Or: baptized in.} the Holy Spirit not many days from now.\fn{Literally: not long after these many days.); (4)—(And while staying\fn{Or: while eating.} with them he charged them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which, he said, “You heard from me, for John baptized with water, but before many days you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”)

 

     There is a parallel at ­Acts­ 11:16 [so (OAB (1), NWT (2), NAS (3) and NTA (4)]: (1)—(And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’); (2)—(At this I called to mind the saying of the Lord, how he used to say: ‘John, on the one hand, baptized with water, but you will be baptized in holy spirit.’); (3)—(“And I remembered the word of the Lord, how He used to say, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with\fn{Or: in.} the Holy Spirit.’); (4)—(And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’)]

 

51

 

Acts­ 20:35 [so OAB (1); NWT (2); NAS (3); ANT (4); Hastings (5); Buttrick (6); NTA (7)]: (1)—(In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’\fn{OAB notes this as a saying of Jesus not found in the gospels.}); (2)—(I have exhibited to you in all things that by thus laboring you must assist those who are weak and must bear in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, when he himself said, ‘There is more happiness in giving than there is in receiving.’); (3)—(“In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”); (4)—(In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, ‘It is more blessed to give then to receive.’\fn{James says this was told by Paul at Miletus.); (5)—The text is not here, for some reason now forgotten by me (H,5/18/96); (6)—(It is more blessed to give than to receive.); (7)—(To give is more blessed than to receive.).

 

     See below under saying #53.

 

52

 

Acts of Peter­ 4.10 (so NTA—the saying in question is underscored for easy location in the context):—(But when Marcellus saw it he went to the door and threw himself down at Peter’s feet and said, “Peter, I clasp your feet, you holy servant of the holy God; I have sinned greatly; but do not punish my sins, if you have any true faith in the Christ whom you preach, if you remember his commandments, not to hate anyone, not to be angry with anyone, as I have learnt from Paul, your fellow-apostle. Do not consider my faults, but pray for me to the Lord, the holy Son of God, whom I provoked to anger by persecuting his servants. Pray therefore for me like a good steward of God, that I be not consigned—with the sins of Simon—to eternal fire; for he even persuaded me to set up a statue to him with this inscription: TO SIMON THE YOUNG GOD. If I knew, Peter, that you could be won over with money, I would give my whole fortune; I would have given it to you and despised it, in order to regain my soul. If I had sons, I would have thought nothing of them, if only I could believe in the living God. But I protested that he would not have deceived me except by saying that he was the power of God. Yet I will tell you, dearest Peter; I was not worthy to hear you, servant of God, nor was I firmly grounded in the faith of God which is in Christ; and for this reason I was overthrown. So I beg you, do not resent what I am about to say: that Christ our Lord, whom you preach in truth, said to your fellow-apostles in our presence, ‘If you have faith like a grain of mustard-seed, you shall say to this mountain, “Remove yourself!”, and at once it will remove.’ But, Peter, this Simon called you an unbeliever, since you lost faith when upon the water; indeed I heard that he also had said, ‘Those who are with me have not understood me­.’ Therefore If you lost faith,\fn{The text actually reads: Therefore if you all lost faith; i.e., apparently, the apostles are meant, this interpretation fitting both the plural form of the adjective here, and below.} you on whom he laid his hands, whom he also chose, and with whom he worked miracles, then since I have this assurance, I repent and resort to your\fn{The form of you is here in the singular—apparently, you, Peter is meant to be understood. (H).} prayers. Receive my soul, though I have fallen away from our Lord and from his promise. But I believe that he will have mercy on me, since I repent. For the Almighty is faithful to forgive me my sins.”)

 

     Hennecke (Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­ II, 1924, 56) was willing with great likelihood to assign this saying to the Gospel of the Egyptians­; but this is disputed by other scholars.

 

VI

 

SAYINGS WITHIN THE LETTERS

 

53

 

I Thessalonians­ 4:15-18 [so OAB (1); NWT (2); NAS (3); NTA (4)]: (1)—(For this we declared to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.); (2)—(For this is what we tell you by Jehovah’s\fn{Jehovah’s [so the first complete Hebrew version of the Greek Christian canon (Elias Hutter, 1599); its revision (William Robinson, 1661); and Delitzsch’s (1892) and Salkinson-Ginsburg’s (1891) modern translations of the Greek canon into Hebrew. Codices Aleph, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus 1209 and the Vulgate all say: the Lord’s.]} word, that we the living who survive to the presence of the Lord\fn{Codices Aleph, Alexandrinus, and the Vulgate all say: the Lord. Codex Vaticanus 1209 says: Jesus.} shall in no way precede those who have fallen asleep in death, because the Lord\fn{[Codices Aleph, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus 1209 and the Vulgate all say: the Lord. John Richard’s version of the Greek canon in Hebrew (1846), and Hutter and Robinson (above) both say: Jehovah.]} himself will descend from heaven with a commanding call, with an archangel’s voice and with God’s trumpet, and those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. Afterward we the living who are surviving will together\fn{Or: at the same time.} with them be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord\fn{[Codices Aleph, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus 1209 and the Vulgate all say: the Lord. John Richard’s version of the Greek canon in Hebrew (1846), and Hutter and Robinson (above) both say: Jehovah.]} in the air; and thus we shall always be with the Lord.\fn{Robinson reads: Jehovah.} Consequently, keep comforting one another with these words.); (3)—(for this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, and\fn{Literally: who.} remain until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout,\fn{Or: cry of command.} with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and\fn{Literally: who.} remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.); (4)—(The Lord will descend from heaven with a loud summons, the call of the archangel and the trumpet of God. And first will the dead in Christ arise. Then we the living who are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.).

 

     This counts as a saying of Jesus—though admittedly hearsay—since, as OAB notes, it represents authoritative teaching, not private opinion. Both this saying and that at ­Acts­ 20:35 can with certainty be traced back to oral tradition. Perhaps because of the form in which it is reported, there is (so NTA) uncertainty as to just where this saying begins and ends. It was possibly spoken in connection with such sayings as are found at Mark­ 9:1—(And he said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.’)—but could it be in content a development of ­Matthew­ 24:30-35?—(then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and put forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”).

 

54

 

I Corinthians­ 11:25b (underscored) [so OAB (1); NWT (2); NAS (3); Hastings (4)]: (1)—(In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant of my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”); (2)—(He did likewise respecting the cup also, after he had the evening mean, saying: “This cup means\fn{Or: is.} the new covenant by virtue of my blood. ­Keep doing this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me­.); (3)—(In the same way He took the cup also, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; ­do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.); (4)—(­This do as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me­.)

 

     For his part, Buttrick (p. 56) would give both parts of the saying quoted by Paul as Jesus’ own at the institution of the Lord’s Supper. OAB, however, quotes three variants of this speech in three other settings of the Last Supper: Mark 14:22-25—(And as they were eating, he took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” And he took a cup and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. And he said to them, “This is my blood of the\fn{Other ancient authorities insert: new.} covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I shall not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”); ­Matthew­ 26:26-29—(Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the\fn{Other ancient authorities insert: new.} covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you I shall not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”); and at Luke­ 22:14-20—(And when the hour came, he sat at table, and the apostles with him. And he said to them, ``I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I tell you I shall not eat it until it is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he said, “Take this, and divide it among ourselves; for I tell you that from now on I shall not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God comes.” And he took bread, and when he had given thanks he broke it and gave it to them saying, “This is my body.\fn{Other ancient authorities add: which is given or you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after supper, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.} But behold the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table. For the Son of man goes as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” And they began to question one another, which of them it was that would do this.). The incident is left out completely from the Received gospel of ­John­—in which the institution of the Eucharist does not include the saying under discussion.

 

55

 

James­ 1:12 [so (OAB (1); NWT (2); NAS (3); and Hastings (4)]: (1)—(Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him.); (2)—(Happy is the man that keeps on enduring trial, because on becoming approved he will receive the crown of life, which Jehovah\fn{Hutter, Robinson, the 1838 version of the Greek canon in Hebrew published by the London Jewish Society, and Delitzsch [see under #53 (2) above] all have: Jehovah. The Vulgate and the Peshitta Syriac version of the canon have: God. Codex Ephraemi, the Jerusalem Syriac version of the canon, and Salkinson-Ginsburg have: the Lord. Codices Aleph, Vaticanus 1209 and Alexandrinus all have: he.} promised to those who continue loving him.); (3)—(Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved,\fn{Or: passed the test.} he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love him.); (4)—(the crown of life which the Lord\fn{The Greek has: he; other ancient authorities have: God.} promised to them that love him.).

 

56

 

Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians­ 5:2-4:—(For the Lord saith: Ye shall be as Lambs in the midst of wolves. And Peter answering saith unto him: If then the wolves tear the lambs in pieces? Jesus said unto Peter: Let not the lambs fear the wolves, after they are dead. And do not ye fear them that kill you, and can do nothing unto you, but fear him who, after ye are dead, hath power over soul and body, to cast them into the hell of fire.)

 

VII

 

SAYINGS WITHIN THE PATRISTIC FATHERS

 

57

 

[Papias of Hierapolis, d.130, ­Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord­ (after Irenaeus of Lyons, d.c.220, Against All Heresies­ V:xxxiii.3)] (1); ­Apocalypse of Baruch­ 29:5 (2); Chrysostom of Constantinople (d.407, An Ecomium on John the Baptist)­ (3); Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236, ­On Daniel­ 4:60) (4)]: (1)—(As the elders remember, who saw John the Lord’s disciple, that they heard from him how the Lord taught concerning those times, and said: The days shall come wherein vines shall grow each having ten thousand branches, and on one branch ten thousand grapes, and every grape when it is pressed shall yield five and twenty measures of wine. And when any of the saints taketh hold of one of the clusters, an other will cry out: I am a better cluster, take me, through me bless thou the Lord. Likewise also he said that a grain of wheat shall bring forth ten thousand ears, and every ear shall have ten thousand grains, and every grain shall yield five double pints of white clean flour; and all other fruits and seed and plants according to the agreement that followeth with them: and all animals using those foods which are got from the earth shall be peaceable and in concord one with another, subject unto men with all obedience. These things Papias also, a hearer of John, and an associate of Polycarp, an ancient man, testifies in writing in the fourth of his books—for he wrote five. And he adds, saying: But these things are credible unto believers. And, he says, when Judas the traitor believed not, and asked: How then shall these growths be accomplished by the Lord? the Lord said: They shall see who shall come thereto.); (2)—(The earth also will yield its fruit ten thousand fold, and on one vine there will be a thousand branches, and each branch will produce clusters, and each cluster will produce a thousand grapes, and each grape will produce a ­cor­ of wine.); (3)—(The Savior said: I will hide nothing from you about the things concerning which ye have questioned me. As regards the vine, concerning the fruit of which ye have asked, there are ten thousand bunches of grapes upon it, and each bunch will produce six measures of wine. As regards the palm-trees, each cluster yieldeth ten thousand dates, and each cluster is as long as a man is high. So likewise is it in the matter of the fig-trees; each shoot produceth ten thousand figs, and if three men were to partake of one fig, each of them would be satisfied. On each ear of the wheat which is in Paradise there are ten thousand grains, and each grain produces six measures of flour. And the cedars also are on the same scale: each tree produceth ten thousand cones and is of a very great height. And the apple-tree and the thourakion tree are of the same height; there are ten thousand apples on each shoot, and if three men were to partake of one apple, each of them would be satisfied.); (4)—(So when the Lord was telling the disciples about the future kingdom of the saints, how glorious and wonderful it should be, Judas was struck by his words, and said: Who then shall see these things? And the Lord said: These things shall they see who are worthy.).

 

58

 

[Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Stromateis­ I:xxiv) (1); and Origen of Alexandria (d.284, ­On Prayer­ II) (2)]: (1)Ask ye for the greater things, and the small shall be added unto you: and ask for the heavenly things, and the earthly shall be added unto you.); (2)—(Ask ye for the greater things, and the small shall be added unto you.).

 

     James says that Origen quotes both parts of this saying, Clement the first part only. The NTA suggests that the relationship of this saying to one of Jesus’ recorded at ­Matthew­ 6:33—(But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.)—may be of such intimate a nature as to discount its evaluation as an authentic saying of Jesus, but may on the other hand be simply a recasting of Matthew­ 6:33 as an application to prayer.

 

59

 

[Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis­ I:xxiv (so Hastings)]:—(And why do not they who walk any way rather than by the gospel rule of truth adduce the rest also of the words spoken to Salome? For when she said, “Therefore have I done well in that I have not brought forth,” as if it were not fitting to accept motherhood, the Lord replies, saying, “Eat every herb, but that which hath bitterness eat not.”).

 

60

 

[Clement of Alexandria (­Stromateis­ I:xxviii.177) (1); Apelles the Gnostic (in Epiphanius of Salamis, d.403, Panarion­ 44.2) (2); Origen of Alexandria (­On John­ 19) (3); ­Teaching of Peter­ III.48.2 (4); and many others]: (1)—(Be ye approved money-changers.); (2)—(Be ye competent money-changers!); (3)—(the commandment of Jesus which saith, Prove yourselves trustworthy money-changers.); (4)—(Also his utterance, ‘Be ye good money-changers,’ refers to the genuine and non-genuine words of scriptures.).

 

     James also says that Paul’s words as reported by ­I Thessalonians­ 5:21—(Prove all things, hold fast that which is good.)—are really a comment on the saying, and demonstrate its meaning. NTA notes that the saying is repeatedly introduced by ancient authorities as a word of Scripture, or from the Gospel.

 

61

 

[Clement of Alexandria (­Stromateis­ II:ix.45) (1); ODC (2)]: (1)—(for those words have the same meaning with those others, “He that seeketh shall not stop until he find, and when he hath found he shall wonder, and when he hath wondered he shall reign. And when he hath reigned he shall rest.”); (2)—(He that wonders shall reach the kingdom, and having reached the kingdom shall rest.).

 

62

 

[Clement of Alexandria ­(Stromateis­ III:ix.63)]—(And those who opposed the creation of God through shameful abstinence allege also those words were spoken to Salome whereof we made mention above. And they are contained, I think, in the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­. For they said that the Savior Himself said, “I come to destroy the works of the female.”—the female being lust, and the works birth and corruption.).

 

63

 

[Clement of Alexandria (­Stromateis­ III:iv.5)]—(when Salome asked how long death should have power, the Lord (not meaning that life is evil and creation bad) said, “As long as you women bear.”).

 

64

 

[Clement of Alexandria ­(Stromateis­ V:x.63) (1); ­Homilies of Clement­ XIX.20 (2)]: (1)—(For the prophet saith: Who shall understand a parable of the Lord save he that is wise and knowledgeable and loveth his Lord? For it is given to few to contain all things: for it is not as grudging that the Lord commanded in a certain gospel: My mystery for me and for the sons of mine house.); (2)—(For we remember our Lord and Teacher, how he charged us saying: Ye shall keep my mysteries for me and for the sons of mine house.).

 

65

 

[Clement of Alexandria ­(Stromateis­ V)]—(Wherefore Peter says that the Lord said to the apostles, If then any one of Israel wishes to repent and believe on God through my name, his sins shall be forgiven him. After twelve years go forth into the world, lest any one say, We did not hear.).

 

66

 

[Clement of Alexandria ­(Excerpts from Theodotus­ II.2)]—(As the Valentinians say ... on this account the Savior saith: Be thou saved.\fn{Or: Save thyself, thou and thy soul.).

 

     NTA translates this: Save thyself and thy soul.\fn{Or: thy life?!} It is a call, like the ones at ­Mark­ 13:14—(But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything away; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle. And alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! Pray that it may not happen in winter.)—or at ­Genesis­ 19:17—(And when they had brought them forth, they\fn{OAB says that the Greek, Syriac and Latin (Vulgate) forms of Genesis 19:17 have all here translated their Hebrew to mean: he.} said, ‘Flee for your life; do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley; flee to the hills, lest you be consumed.).

 

67

 

[Clement of Alexandria (a more specific citation is not given) (1); Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165, Dialogue with Trypho­ 47) (2)]: (1)—The text is not given. (2)—(Where I find you, there will I judge you.).

 

68

 

[Origen of Alexandria (­On John­ 2:6)]—(and if any one goes to the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­, there the Savior Himself saith: “Just now my mother the Holy Spirit took me by one of my hairs and carried me off to the great mountain Tabor.”).

 

69

 

[Origen of Alexandria (­On Matthew­ 15:14). The unique saying material is underscored, so Hastings (1); NTA (2)]: (1)—(It is written in a certain gospel, the so-called ­Gospel of the Hebrews­, if any one likes to take it up not as having any authority but to shed light on the matter in hand: “The other,” it says, “of the rich men said unto Him, Master, by doing what good thing shall I have life? He said to him, ­Man, do the Law and the Prophets.­ He answered unto him, I have. He said to him, Go, sell all that thou hast, and distribute to the poor, and come, follow Me. But the rich man began to scratch his head, and it pleased him not. And the Lord said unto him, ­How sayest thou, I have done the Law and the Prophets, since it is written in the Law, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; and behold many brethren of thine, sons of Abraham, are clad in filth, dying of hunger, and thy house is full of good things, and nothing at all goes out from it to them­. And He turned and said to Simon His disciple, who was sitting by Him: ­Simon, son of John­, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.); (2)—(The other of the two rich men said to him: Master, what good thing must I do that I may live? He said to him: Man, fulfill the law and the prophets­. He answered him: That have I done. He said to him: Go and sell all that thou possessest and distribute it among the poor, and then come and follow me. But the rich man then began to scratch his head it pleased him not. And the Lord said to him: ­How canst thou say, I have fulfilled the Law and the prophets? For it stands written in the Law: Love thy neighbor as thyself; and behold, many of thy brethren, sons of Abraham, are begrimed with dirt and die of hunger—and thy house is full of many good things and nothing at all comes forth from it to them­! And he turned and said to Simon, his disciple, who was sitting by him: ­Simon, son of Jona­, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven.).

 

     As can be easily seen from a chart of phrase comparisons between the Received rendering of the story and that in Origen, there are three parts to this saying source: (i) the injunction to follow the Law and the Prophets, instead of the commandments of ­Matthew­; (ii) the large central section, filled with simple outrage and, like (i), completely lacking in the Received tradition; and (iii) the ascription of the analogy between camels: needles as rich man; God to Simon, son of John, rather than to the disciples as a group.

 

     What we have here to do with is certainly more than an intrusion into the Received text of unorthodox material. (i) The large central section calls to mind, for its archaic declamatory powers, the last portion of Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ 840—(Then said the Savior to him: Woe unto you blind that see not! Thou hast bathed thyself in water that is poured out, in which dogs and swine lie night and day and thou hast washed thyself and hast chafed thine outer sin, which prostitutes also and flute girls anoint, bathe, chafe and rouge, in order to arose desire in men, but within they are full of scorpions and of badness of every kind.). (ii) The greeting of Jesus as Master instead of Teacher prefers an archaic terminology; (iii) likewise, the reference for Law and the Prophets instead of the more general commandments, may betray a language more archaic than the Greek of the original Received Text.

 

     Clearly, the same tradition is being remembered in two different ways. On the face of it, the one recorded by Origen would also appear more primitive because it lacks an enumeration of commandments (irrespective of order); or, indeed, any development in the youth’s response (he merely says, I have.). Nor is the Jewish-Christian author of the book in which Origen found his saying content to record any calm and philosophical expressions so beloved of the Synoptic rationality—e.g., And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone; and Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.; or, however true, Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!. Perhaps the most curious thing about this saying is the fact that the sources are simply not at all certain as to who the recipient of the sayings was. ­Mark­ and Matthew­ say he was a young man—this is implied in the statement by ­Mark­ that he loved this young man; but Luke­ calls him a ruler, and says he was very rich, thus implying middle age at least. The source in Origen also says he was a rich man—indeed, one of a pair of rich men, who owned a house full of rich things: and therefore also certainly a man of accumulated years.

 

     Perhaps the single most important thing to be said about the sayings in Origen of Alexandria is that their existence corroborates the reality of the Synoptic versions of the Rich Young Ruler—themselves here and there rather different from one another. (H)

 

70

 

[Origen of Alexandria (­Homily­ XVIII.9) (1) ­Coptic Manichaean Psalm Book­ CCXXXIX (2)]: (1)—(He is not far from us, my brethren, even as he said in his preaching: “I am near to you, like the clothing of your body.”); (2)—(And it is promised through the prophets, saying: I will be nearer to them than the tunic to their skin.).

 

71

 

[Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, ­On Baptism­ XX.2) (1); ­Didascalia­ II.8 (2); Hastings (3); NTA (4)]: (1)—(The disciples were tempted because they fell asleep, so that they forsook the Lord when he was taken, and even he who abode with him and used the sword, so that he even denied thrice: for the saying had gone before, that: No man that is not tempted shall obtain the kingdom of heaven.); (2)—(The scripture saith: A man that is not tempted is not approved.); (3)—(Tertullian, ­De Baptismo­ XX, commenting on the words “Watch and pray”, addressed to St. Peter in Gethsemane, adds: “for the saying had also preceded, that no one untempted should attain to the heavenly kingdoms.”); (4)—(No one can attain the kingdom of heaven who has not gone through temptation.).

 

     The object of this saying is that the overcoming of temptation in the last days is the indispensable condition of a portion of the kingdom of God. Tertullian says that he found it in a passion history. The attestation is broadly apocalyptic, however, and is lacking in anything specifically Christian: this for some may cast doubt upon its authenticity.

 

72

 

[Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Theophania­ IV.12)]—(He himself taught the reason for the separations of souls that take place in houses, as we have found somewhere in the gospel that is spread abroad among the Jews in the Hebrew tongue, in which it is said: I choose for myself the most worthy: the worthy are those whom my Father in heaven has given me.).

 

     NTA says that Eusebius is here commenting on ­Matthew­ 10:34-36—(Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household.).

 

73

 

[Eusebius of Caesarea (­Theophania­ XXII, so Hastings)]—(The gospel which has come down to us in Hebrew characters gave the threat as made not against him who hid his talent, but against him who lived riotously; for the parable told of three servants, one who devoured his Lord’s substance with harlots and flute-girls, one who gained profit many fold, and one who hid his talent; and how in the issue one was accepted, one merely blamed, and one shut up in prison.).

 

74

 

[Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­Against Pelagius­ III.2, so Hastings)]—(In the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­ ... is the following story: “Behold, the Lord’s mother and His brethren were saying to Him, John the Baptist baptizes unto the remission of sins; let us go and be baptized by him. But He said unto them, What sin have I done, that I should go and be baptized by him? Unless perchance this very thing which I have said is an ignorance.).

 

75

 

[Jerome of Strido (­De Viris Illustribus­ II, so Hastings)]—(Also the so-called ­Gospel of the Hebrews­, which was recently translated by me into Greek and Latin, which Origen, too, often uses, relates after the resurrection of the Savior: “But when the Lord had given the linen cloth to the priest’s servant, He went to James and appeared to him. For James had taken an oath that he would not eat bread from that hour in which he had drunk the cup of the Lord, until he should see Him rising from that sleep.” And again, a little farther on: “Bring me, saith the Lord, a table and bread.” And there follows immediately: “He took the bread, and blessed, and brake, and gave it to James the Just, and said to him, My brother, eat thy bread, inasmuch as the Son of Man hath risen from them that sleep.”).

 

76

 

[Jerome of Strido (­Against Pelagius­ III.2, so NTA) (1); Hastings (2); the Zion Gospel version (3)]: (1)—(He said: If thy brother has sinned with a word and has made thee reparation, receive him seven times in a day. Simon his disciple said to him: Seven times in a day? The Lord answered and said to him: Yea, I say unto thee, until seventy times seven times. For in the prophets also after they were anointed with the Holy Spirit, the word of sin was found.); (2)—(If thy brother sin in word and give thee satisfaction, receive him seven times in the day. Simon, His disciple, said to Him, “Seven times in the day?” The Lord answered and said to him: Yea, I say unto thee, until seventy times seven times. For in the prophets also after they were anointed with the Holy Spirit, there was found sinful speech.); (3)—(The Jewish Gospel has after “seventy times seven times”: For in the prophets also, after they were anointed with the Holy Spirit, the word of sin\fn{NTA has here in brackets: sinful discourse?} was found.).

 

     NTA (II,148) says that this saying is no more than a variant of Matthew­ 18:22—(The Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Jesus aid to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.)—but if this were true, as much may be said of the development of Jesus’ reply in ­Luke­ 17:3-4—(Take heed to yourselves; if your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him; and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, and says, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.)—together with the absence in both ­Luke­ and Jerome of the question ­Matthew­ provides Peter in order to introduce his version of this saying. It is clear also that Luke­ has Jesus addressing the apostles in general, as well as forming his saying as a developed teaching. Further, ­Matthew­ does not assume repentance as a pre-condition to forgiveness (though repentance in exchange for forgiveness is clearly the message of this teaching in both ­Luke­ and Jerome). The version in Jerome further develops Jesus’ answer to include the information that even the prophets were found to be capable of sinful speech after having been anointed with the Holy Spirit; this may, however, in view of the diversity presented by ­Luke­, be merely another portion of the original tale first mentioned by ­Matthew­, and later elaborated by ­Luke­. (H)

 

77

 

[Jerome of Strido (­On Ephesians­ 5:3f) (1); (­On Ezekiel­ 18:7) (2); ODC (3)]: (1)—(In the gospel which the Nazarenes are accustomed to read, that according to the Hebrews, there is put among the greatest crimes, he who shall have grieved the spirit of his brother.); (2)—(In the Hebrew gospel, too, we read of the Lord saying to the disciples, “And never,” said He, “rejoice, except when you have looked upon your brother in love.”); (3)—(Never be glad, except when ye look upon your brother in love.).

 

78

 

[Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430, ­Contra Felicium­ I.16) (1); Coptic Manichaean Psalm Book­, psalms of Thomas XIII (2)]: (1)—(But the love of the Holy spirit shall open the inmost places of your heart, that with your own eyes ye may see your souls.); (2)—(A man called down unto the world, saying: “Blessed is he that shall know his soul.”).

 

VIII

 

SAYINGS WITHIN THE CHURCH ORDERS

 

79

 

Apostolic Church Order­ [so the Greek and Latin texts (1); so the Syriac text (2)]: (1)—(Peter said: We have gone too fast in making ordinances; let us signify accurately the offering of the body and the blood. John said: Ye have forgotten, brethren, when the Teacher asked for the bread and the cup, and blessed them, saying: This is my body and my blood, that he permitted not these women to be\fn{I.e., stand.} with us. Martha said: It was because of Mary, because he saw her smiling. Mary said: I laughed not yet:\fn{Or: I laughed no more.} for he said unto us before that: That which is weak shall be saved by means of that which is strong.); (2)—(I did not verily laugh, but I remember the words of our Lord, and was glad: for ye know that he said unto us aforetime, when he taught us: that which is weak shall be saved by means of that which is strong.)

 

     James calls this a curious passage. NTA says that the Syriac version seems better than the Graeco-Latin transmission; by which we should probably understand more near the original text.

 

IX

 

SAYINGS WITHIN THE TALMUDIC AGRAPHA

 

NTA says these are in number quite scanty ... which throughout bear the marks of anti-Christian polemic. On the Talmudic agrapha see Strack (­Jesus, die Haretiker und die Christen­, Leipzig, 1910). None of my sources quote any of it; but that does not mean that it should not be studied. (H)

 

X

 

SAYINGS WITHIN THE ISLAMIC AGRAPHA

 

     On the Islamic agrapha, see Sell and Margoliouth in Hastings, Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels­ II, Edinburgh, 1908, 882-886; and twice in Palacios, “Logia et Agrapha domini Jesu apud Moslemicos Scriptores” in Patrologia Orientalis­ XIII.3, Paris, 1919, 327-431; XIX.4, Paris, 1926, 529-624.

 

80

 

     An inscription carved on the south main portal of a mosque in Fathpur-Sikri, India (1601AD)—(Jesus, on whom be peace, has said: The world is a bridge. Go over it, but do not install yourselves upon it.).

 

     NTA notes that this saying is often adduced from Islamic literature since the 8th century; but then Jeremias says that he is only listing it because it is frequently quoted, writing on further that it can hardly be included in his self-described very small residue of sayings that in the case of which content, form and attestation justify the opinion that they stand on a level with the sayings of our Lord (themselves historically of very differing value) contained in the (four Received) Gospels.)

 

     It should be noted, however, that Jeremias limits himself to sayings not found in our four canonical Gospels (and so does not discuss the first 13 sayings of this collection); and he admits that the fragment of an unknown gospel ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ 840 (saying #35 of this collection) may belong here, and from the material of the Jewish-Chrstian gospels perhaps numbers 15, 16, 23 from the ­Gospel of the Nazarenes­ (sayings 85, 86, 87 there); and number 5 (saying 88 there) from the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­. The material of the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­ still requires to be accurately examined from this point of view (speaking of sayings 14-32 and 38-49).

 

     Perhaps this also should be a requirement for the Islamic agrapha. Hastings delineates three more sayings, from a large number of agrapha collected by Margoliouth and published by him in a series of papers in Excerpta Theologica­ for 1893-1894. They are, he says, interesting and sometimes striking, and then apparently contradicts himself, by noting that these have no claim to represent original traditions, but are frequently traceable to Gospels canonical or apocryphal. It escapes me (H) how a saying might be traced back to within the lifetime of the apostles and yet have no claim to represent original traditions; but however that may be, Hastings notes that the three he has selected are among the best specimens:

 

81

 

Jesus said: Whoso knows and does and teaches, shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

 

82

 

Jesus said, Take not the world for your lord, lest it take you for its slave.

 

83

 

Jesus one day walked with his apostles, and they passed by the carcass of a dog. The apostles said, How foul is the smell of this dog! But Jesus said, How white are its teeth.

 

[The sources for these sayings are contained within the body of each individual saying, or group of sayings]

 

108. 109. The Letter of Abgar V to Jesus Christ; The Letter of Jesus Christ to Abgar V

 

     The tradition that Jesus and one of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Osroene (which lasted for some 350 years, from about 136BC-216AD) named Abgar [according to the legend, Abgar V Ukkama (the Black, 4BC-50AD)] exchanged letters is meant with for the first time in

 

1. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ I:xiii.1-5 and II:i.6-8, in a version published between 311 and 325AD), who firmly emphasizes that he obtained it from the public archive of the city of Edessa (during this time the capital of the Kingdom of Osroene), where it lay recorded in the Aramaic language. Eusebius said it had been made available to him, and that he had copied it out in a literal translation into Greek:—(Abgar the Black, sovereign of the country, to Jesus, the good Savior, who has appeared in the country of Jerusalem: Peace. I have heard about thee, and about the healing which is wrought by thy hands without drugs and roots. For, as it is reported, Thou makest the blind to see, and the lame to walk; and Thou cleanest the lepers, and Thou castest out unclean spirits and demons, and Thou healest those who are tormented with lingering diseases, and Thou raisest the dead. And when I heard all these things about Thee, I settled in my mind one of two things: either that Thou art God, who hast come down from heaven, and doest these things; or that Thou art the Son of God, and doest these things. On this account, therefore, I have written to beg of Thee that Thou wouldst weary thyself to come to me, and heal this disease which I have. For I have also heard that the Jews murmur against Thee, and wish to do Thee harm. But I have a city, small and beautiful, which is sufficient for two.”).

 

     To this the Messiah allegedly made answer as follows:—(Blessed is he that hath believed in me, not having seen me. For it is written concerning me, that those who see will not believe in me, and that those will believe who have not seen me, and will be saved. But touching that which thou hast written to me, that I should come to thee—it is meet that I should finish here all that for the sake of which I have been sent; and, after I have finished it, then I shall be taken up to Him that sent me; and, when I have been taken up, I will send to thee one of my disciples, that he may heal thy disease, and give salvation to thee and to those who are with thee.).

 

     [For other Greek fragments see under numbers 6, 11, and 13 (below).]

 

2. It is only in the ­Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle­, a Syriac book composed in Edessa c.400AD, that the material known from Eusebius again appears, now indeed considerably enlarged, among other things by a detailed description of the activity of Thaddaeus (Addai in Syriac, the promised Apostolic emissary) who in Edessa preaches, baptizes, and builds the first Orthodox church in that city. There is also found here, apparently for the first time, a further elaboration of the Abgar material by the introduction correspondence between Abgar V and Tiberius I, the contemporary Roman emperor. They are as follows:—(King Abgar to our lord Tiberius Caesar: Although I know that nothing is hidden from thy Majesty, I write to inform thy dread and mighty Sovereignty that the Jews who are under thy dominion and dwell in the country of Palestine have assembled themselves together and crucified Christ, without any fault worthy of death, after he had done before them signs and wonders, and had shown them powerful mighty works, so that He even raised the dead to life for them; and at the time that they crucified Him the sun became darkened and the earth also quaked, and all created things trembled and quaked, and, as if of themselves, at this deed the whole creation and the inhabitants of the creation shrank away. And now thy Majesty knoweth what it is meet for thee to command concerning the people of the Jews who have done these things.”)

 

     The text of Tiberius’ reply is as follows:—(The letter of thy Fidelity towards me I have received, and it hath been read before me. Concerning what the Jews have dared to do in the matter of the cross, Pilate\fn{It was Pilate’s duty, as governor of Judea, to send an account to the Roman government of what had occurred in respect to Jesus; and his having done so is mentioned by Justin of Flavia Neapolis, Tertullian of Carthage, and several other writers.} the governor also has written and informed Albinus\fn{The word in the text is Aulbinus, evidently a misspelling. The name intended may have been confounded with that of the Albinus who was made governor of Judea at a later period by Nero (62AD). The same person is referred to in the Transit of Mary, where there is also mentioned Sabinus, the governor who had been appointed by the emperor Tiberius; and even as far as the river Euphrates the governor Sabinus has authority. This person can only be Vitellius, who was then governor of Syria, who removed Pilate from the administration of Judea, sending one Marcellus in his stead, and ordering him to appear before Tiberius I at Rome. The emperor died before Pilate reached Rome.} my proconsul concerning these selfsame things of which thou hast written to me. But, because of a war with the people of Spain,\fn{No mention is made by historians of any war with Spain. But about this time Vitellius, mentioned in the preceding note, was involved with the wars of the Parthians and Hiberians; and as Hiberi is a name common to Spaniards as well as Hiberians, the apparent error may have arisen in translating the letter out of Latin into Syriac.} who have rebelled against me, is on foot at this time, on this account I have not been able to avenge this matter; but I am prepared, when I shall have leisure, to issue a command according to law against the Jews, who act not according to law.\fn{Baronius says Pilate violated the law by crucifying Jesus so soon after sentence had been passed, whereas a delay of ten days was required by a law passed in the reign of Tiberius I.} And on this account, as regards Pilate also, who was appointed by me governor there—I have sent another in his stead, and dismissed him in disgrace, because he departed from the law, and did the will of the Jews, and for the gratification of the Jews crucified Christ, who, according to what I hear concerning Him, instead of suffering the cross of death, deserved to be honored and worshipped\fn{Tiberius I is said by Tertullian of Carthage (Apologeticum, c.197AD) to have referred to the Senate of Rome the question of admitting Christ among the gods. This has been interpolated into the Letter of Tiberius I to Abgar as given in yet a further version of the correspondence reported in Armenian through the name of Moses of Chorene. Moses also adds a third letter from Abgar in reply to this one. (All the Abgar/Tiberius I materials are dealt with below under items 528-531.)}by them: and more especially because with their own eyes they saw everything that He did. Yet thou, in accordance with thy fidelity towards me, and the faithful covenant entered into by thyself and by thy fathers, hast done well in writing to me thus.”)

 

     There is also preserved in this book a fragment of Jesus’ reply, in variant form:—(Blessed are ye that have believed in me, not having seen me; ­and, because ye have so believed in me, the town in which ye dwell shall be blessed, and the enemy shall not prevail against it for ever.­) (The underscored words are not in the Eusebian version.) They must therefore be, either a message brought by Addaeus himself, or, much more probably, a later interpolation: earlier, however, than Ephraem Syrus (c.306-373), who alludes to them in his ­Testament­. This notion of the immunity of the city of Edessa is referred to by several Syriac writers.

 

3. At apparently about this time, there is mention at least of the legend in the ­Letter of Count Darius to Augustine of Hippo­ Regius (in ­Patrologia Latina­ XXXIII, 1022); and

 

4. the Western pilgrim, Aetheria (the ­Pilgrimage of Aetheria­, end of the 4th century); who testifies in the diary of her pilgrimage that the Abgar legend was known in her homeland of Spain. According to her, the letter of Christ, written in Syriac on parchment, was preserved at Edessa; and there existed many copies of it to which were ascribed miraculous powers of healing and protection. [NTA (I,439) says that he who possessed a copy could feel secure before the judges, on a journey, or against sickness and misfortune.] She, with numbers 3 (above) and 5 (below), are also the three earliest Latin witnesses.

 

5. A Latin translation of the Syriac letters (below), by Rufinus of Aquileia came into being c.402AD, and (so NTA), greatly furthered the dissemination of the legend in the Western orthodox communities:—(Abgar Uchama the toparch to Jesus the good Savior, who has appeared in the city of Jerusalem, greeting. I have heard of thee and of thy healings, that they are done by thee without drugs and herbs. For as it is said, thou dost make blind men see again and lame walk, and dost cleanse lepers, and cast out unclean spirits and demons, and heal those tormented by long disease, and raise the dead. And when I heard all these things about thee, then I concluded that either thou art God come down from heaven to do them, or thou art the Son of God, who doest these things. Therefore now I write and beseech thee to visit me, and heal the affliction which I have. Moreover I have heard that the Jews murmur against thee, and wish to do thee injury. Now I have a city, small indeed but noble, which is sufficient for both.) ... (Blessed art thou, who hast believed in me without having see me. For it is written concerning me, that they who have seen me will not believe in me, and that they who have not seen me shall believe and live. But concerning what thou hast written to me, that I should come to thee, it is necessary that I fulfill here all for which I was sent, and after this fulfillment be taken up again unto Him who sent me. And when I am taken up, I will send to thee one of my disciples, that he may heal thine affliction and give life to thee and them that are with thee.).

 

6. Ehrhard, (­Die Altchristliche Literatur u. ihre Erforschung von 1884-1900­, 1900, 41-42) has identified a number of Greek fragments from the 4th-5th century.

 

7. In the ­Departure of My Lady Mary From This World­ (5th or 6th century), there occurs a letter from Abgar to Tiberius; it has nothing to do with the one printed above of this text, but may be the same one which appears in the Armenian versions reported by Moses of Chorene:—(From Abgar, the king of the city of Edessa. Much peace to thy Majesty, our Lord Tiberius! In order thy Majesty may not be offended with me, I have not passed over the river Euphrates: for I have been wishing to go up against Jerusalem and lay her waste, forasmuch as she has slain Christ, a skillful healer. But do thou, as a great sovereign who hast authority over all the earth and over us, send and do me judgment on the people of Jerusalem. For be it known to thy Majesty that I desire that thou wilt do me judgment on the crucifiers.). And Sabina received the letters (the account by Moses of Chorene  continues) and sent them to Tiberius the emperor. And, when he had read them, Tiberius the emperor was greatly incensed, and he desired to destroy and slay all the Jews. And the people of Jerusalem heard it and were alarmed. And the priests went to the governor and said to him: My lord, send and command Mary that she go not to pray at the sepulcher and Golgotha. The judge said to the priests: Go ye yourselves, and give ye what command and what caution ye please.).

 

     Augustine of Hippo Regius (­Contra Faustum Manichaeum­ XXVIII.4, 397-398AD) and Jerome of Strido (On Ezekiel­ 44:29) affirm, however, that Jesus left nothing in writing, and this may have led finally to

 

8. the declaration in the ­Decretum Gelasianum­ V:viii.1 (early 6th century) that the correspondence—at least the correspondence of which it knew—is apocryphal:—(Epistle of Jesus to Abgar ... apocryphal; Epistle of Abgar to Jesus ... apocryphal.).

 

9. Nevertheless, sometime in the early 6th century, Procopius of Caesarea (­De Bellis­ I.12) says that the people of Edessa fastened the letter of Jesus in transcript on the gates of the city. Such also was reported by Aetheria: that the then bishop of Edessa told her that Abgar and many others after him, when a siege threatened, brought Jesus’ letter to the gate, there read it, and immediately the enemy dispersed.

 

10. During the 6th century, the ­Greek Acts of Thaddaeus­ was written, in which the legend as a whole attracted attention and further development; and

 

11. Frisk (­Gothenburg­ XXI, 1929, 41-42) has printed further Greek fragments from the 6th-7th century. Perhaps also at this time may be dated

 

12. the Coptic version of the letters (so Ehrhard, ­Die Altchristliche Literatur u. ihre Erforschung von 1884-1900­, 1900, 118;

 

13. an inscription from Pontus (in ­Studia Pontica­ III, 1910, 210, 226); and

 

14. a superscription on a door in Ephesus (in Oppenheim and von Gartringen, “Hohleninschrift von Edessas mit dem Briefe Jesu an Abgar,” ­Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse­ 1914, 817-828).

 

     There remains, besides,

 

15. the Armenian version, the ­Historia Armeniae­ (c.700AD), allegedly by Moses of Chornene, which develops the legend as a whole (for which see above under 7); and

 

16. an Anglo-Saxon version, described by ANF as having been found in a very ancient service-book of the Saxon times, preserved in the British Museum. In it the letters follow the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles’ Creed; and an appended description of the virtues of the letter which closes with these words, according to the Latin version of Rufinus: Si quis hanc epistolam secum habuerit, securus ambulet in pace. Jeremiah Jones, writing of the last century, says: The common people in England have had it in their houses and in many places in a frame with a picture before it; and they generally, with much honesty and devotion, regard it as the word of God and the genuine letter of Christ. Even now (c.1900) a similar practice is believed to linger in some districts. The story of Abgar is also told in an Anglo-Saxon poem, published in Abgarus-Legenden paa Old-Engelsk­ by G. Stephens (Copenhagen, 1853).

 

17. A Slavonic version also must have come into being about this time. NTA mentions it, but without a specific reference. Perhaps it is to be found in one of the four following sources: (a) Dobschutz, “Christusbilder” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XVIII, 1899, 102-105, 1309-156, 158-249; (b) Dobschutz, “Der Briefwechsel Zwischen Abgar und Jesus” in ­Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftliche Theologie­ XLIII, 1900, 422-486; (c) Casson and Hettich, ­Excavations at Nessana­ II, 1950, 143-147; or (d) Burkitt, ­Early Eastern Christianity­, 1904.

 

18. Even into the 9th century [when the manuscript in which a homily composed by James of Edessa (c.640-708) On the Fall of Idols­ is reported] the legend of Abgar and Addaeus is remembered; and perhaps about this time were made

 

19-20. the Arabic and Persian versions (on which see Yaas ’abd al-Masih, in ­Bulletin de l’Institute Francoise d’Archaeolge Oriental­ XLV, 1946, 65-80; and ibid., LIV, 1954, 113-43.

 

     By way of further bibliographic supplement, especially for the early literature, see Lipsius, ­Die Edessenische Abgarsage Untersucht­, 1880; and Tixeront, ­Les Origines de l’Eglise d’Edesese et la Legende d’Abgar­, 1888. For the ­Historia Armeniae­, see Gu. and G. Whiston, 1763 (the title of the work is not given), II, chapters 29-32; for the ­Greek Acts of Thaddaeus­, Lipsius, ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, 1891, 273-78.

 

     To understand these letters a brief glance is necessary at the history of Edessa in the period of its turning to Christianity. That Abgar V brought this about it today no longer maintained by any serious scholar, although Protestant and Catholic scholars of repute still defended the authenticity of the documents in the 19th century.

 

1. Of the letters, which ostensibly rested for centuries in the custody of the records office in Edessa, there is certainly no trace in the pre-Eusebian period, even in Edessa itself.

 

2. In orthodox circles in Edessa the legend was still unknown for decades after Eusebius. Proof: the silence of Ephraem Syrus, who lauds the conversion of the city in rhetorical exuberance, and mentions indeed the apostle Addai, but drops not a single hint (so Bauer) about the correspondence.

 

3. The ­Edessene Chronicle­, which belongs as a whole to the 6th century but grew up gradually and contains older material, knows nothing at all even of Abgar V. It says that when Abgar ­IX­ became a believer he forbade castration; however, the words became a believer appear to be an interpolation caused by the Abgar legend. From the period before 313AD, it can name as personalities significant for religious history only Marcion, Bardesanes, and Mani, and thereby clearly demonstrates who exercised the decisive influence on the earliest history of Christianity in Edessa. Only at 313AD does it note:—(The Bishop Kune laid the foundation of the Church of Urhai\fn{Edessa.} And Bishop Scha’ad his successor, built it and completed the building.)—thus only at that time was the Orthodox church with its succession of bishops a factor worthy of mention.

 

4. Even the view which under the guidance of von Gutschmid (“Untersuchen Uber die Geschichte des Konigreiches Osroene” in ­Memoires de l’Academie Imperial dese Sciences de S. Petersburg­ VII.35, 1887, 1-49) has come into fashion in modern study—that not Abgar V, but probably a later prince of the same name (such as Abgar IX, 179-214AD) went over to Christianity and assisted it in the conversion of his city—has no ancient witness in its favor (the ­Edessene Chronicle­ knows of his existence, but not as a Christian) and is untenable also on other grounds.

 

     Based upon (1) the fact that Eusebius firmly asserts that he did not draw his information about Abgar, like so much else, from books, but used a document from the archives of Edessa; (2) the fact that it is from Eusebius that the earliest form of this legend devolves; and (3) the maxim: ­Cui bono­? (Who benefits?), it follows that the correspondence must have originated in Edessa, and there in orthodox circles. The Marcionites and other non-Orthodox Christians there had no occasion whatever to push back the foundation of the Orthodox church into the period before the rise of their own communities. By doing so they would only have cut off their own water supply, for as soon as the documentary proof obtained that the Orthodox church in Edessa actually went back to Jesus Himself, they were not merely relegated to a secondary place, but struck mortally.

 

     On the other hand, the Abgar material would not necessarily have been ­published­ for the first time in Edessa. How could the Orthodox minority even have hoped to prevail in Edessa (assuming they were the instigators), where a vigorous resistance was to be expected from all other Christians, with the statement that for nearly three hundred years past an autograph letter of Jesus Christ in reply to a letter from a prince of the Kingdom of Osorene had been lying unnoticed in the public archives? On the other hand, if a way could be found of putting these “documents” into the hands of Eusebius, who was at the time collecting material for his church history in nearby Palestine, then the road was open to the wider world, in so far as it was Orthodox-Christian, and a favorable reaction upon Edessa could scarcely fail to result.

 

     It may therefore be a legitimate conjecture that bishop Kune and his circle were the instigators in the formation of this legend, and that it was among them that the original form arose. For detailed presentation of the view here advanced, see Bauer, ­Rechglaubigkeit und Ketzerei im Altesten Christentum­, 1934, 6-48.

 

     It has also been thought, however, that the legend arose sometime after a real conversion of Abgar IX (179-214AD), and was accepted as authentic in the East, but widely rejected in the West (being placed among the apocryphal materials in the ­Gelasian Decree­). It has, however, found defenders even in modern times both among Catholics and Protestants. See also Voobus, ­History of Asceticism in the Syrien Orient­ I, 1958.

 

     Christianity in this small city-state saw three events never seen before: a king baptized, a church building erected and the Greek New Testament (the Received Text) translated into another language. The Abgar/Christ correspondence forms an antedating and romanticizing of a reveal event. Christianity reached Edessa c.150AD, and the missionary who brought it may have been named Addai. By 190AD, the Easter Controversy (what day Easter should be celebrated on) reveals several bishoprics in the region. The king may have been baptized about this time: a cross appears on the headdress of Abgar ­VIII­ in coins issued within the period 180-192. (The church building itself is mentioned in the 6th century Edessene Chronicle­ as having been destroyed by a flood in 210 AD.)

 

     By way of more background, the name Abgar was one of two names most commonly born by the dynastic rulers of the various Arabian or Nabataean dynasties in control of the Kingdom of Osroene (the other name was Manu). As for the kingdom itself, it occupied an area between the Euphrates and the Tigris rivers, lying across the frontiers of both modern Turkey and Syria. Its capital was Edessa, the modern Urfa. The name of the kingdom (which Pliny the Elder gives as Osrohene) appears to be derived from Urha (the Syriac name for Edessa); and Urha, in its turn, may be derived from a certain Osroes or Orhai, who founded the state c.136BC, at the time of the disintegration of the Seleucid empire. To judge from his name, this Osroes was of Iranian origin and may have been a Seleucid governor. The next ruler of the kingdom, however, was an Arab, Abdu bar Ma’zur, and from then onward the throne remained almost continuously in Nabataean or Arab control.

 

     The Kingdom of Osroene embraced the cities of Melitene in the north, Nisibis in the east, Zeugma in the west, Singara on the southeast and Carrhae (modern Harran) on the southwest. It thus commanded not only the great strategic highway from West to East which followed the Southern edge of the Kurdish plateau from Singara to Zeugma, but also that section of the trade route from Asia Minor to Mesopotamia (the old Persian Royal Road), which passed probably from Melitene to Carrhae. The kingdom was therefore in a strong strategic position during the wars between Rome and Parthia from the 1st century BC to the 2nd century AD; and it formed alliances at different times with one or the other. During the Armenian campaigns of Lucullus (69BC), Pompey (in 66), and Crassus (from 54-53), it kept generally to the Roman side, though Abgar II was responsible for betraying Crassus to the Parthians. About 50AD, Sanatruces, ruler of the Kingdom of Adiabene, the eastern neighbor of Osroene, occupied Nusaybin and Edessa; but in 109, Abgar VII reestablished the indigenous dynasty. Trajan deposed Abgar VII, however, after quelling the Mesopotamian revolt of 116AD, and two foreign princes then successively occupied the throne. In 123, Manu VII, brother of Abgar VII, succeeded under the protection of Hadrian in bringing back for yet a third time the native dynasty. Thereafter the state maintained a certain measure of autonomy until 216AD, when, just a year before his murder (by an army officer with a personal grudge, at Carrhae, ironically, on April 8, 217), the emperor Caracalla occupied Edessa and abolished the kingdom. The region, however, continued to regain its place-name of the Osroehe until the 7th century. In 608 it was taken by the Sassanid king Khosrau II. The emperor Heraclius recaptured it in 625, but in 638 it fell finally to the embrace of Islam.

 

     Under its Arab dynasties, Osroene became increasingly influenced by Aramaic culture and acted as a center of national reaction against Hellenism. The cultural standing of the kingdom was raised by the arrival there in the 3rd century AD of Chaldean Christians exiled there by the Persian Sassanian kings. By the 5th century Edessa had become the headquarters of Chaldean Syriac literature and learning, while Nisibis was a center of the Nestorian Christians.

 

[BRI, I, 371; IV, 858; VII, 969; XVI, 1142; NTA, I, 437-444; ANF, VIII, 651-655; ODC, 5]

 

110. The Letter of Jesus Christ to the Apostles

 

     By this title is meant ­The Letter that Fell from Heaven on the Altar of Peter­ (on which see de Santos Otero, ­Los Evangelos Apocryphons­ 712-725; and in ­Studia Patristica­, ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ LXXVIII, 290-296. James refers to this as one famous apocryphal letter which he will not reproduce:—(the letter of Christ concerning Sunday, extant in almost every European language and in many Oriental versions. It was fabled to have fallen on the altar at Jerusalem, Rome, Constantinople—where not?—and is a long, very dull denunciation of what we call Sabbath-breaking, with threats of disaster to the transgressors.).

 

[NTA, II, 574; ANT, 476]

 

111. The ­Testimentum Domini­ Apocalypse

 

     The ­Testament of the Lord­ is a short early Christian treatise professing to be in the words of Christ Himself. A discourse of the Risen Christ to the disciples, it contains detailed regulations on matters of ecclesiastical order and church building, and a complete liturgy. It contains also reference to persecutions, probably of the 3rd century; a detailed account of the apocalyptic signs (especially the career of the Antichrist); and descriptions of the coming fiery judgment of sinners and the Resurrection and reward of the just. It was originally written in Greek (probably in the 4th-5th centuries), but survives only in a 7th century Syriac version, apparently translated by Jacob of Edessa (c.640-708).

 

     The work was probably a private compilation, and hence does not represent the official practice of any church. Later it became incorporated into a collection known as the ­Clementine Octateuch­, which circulated among the Syrian Monophysites. It has close literary connections with Hippolytus of Romes’ ­Apostolic Tradition­, the Apostolic Constitutions­, and other early Church Orders (itself a separate literature). An English translation of this work was published by Cooper & Maclean (­The Testament of the Lord­, Edinburgh, 1902). It is evidence that at least some circles of 3rd century Christianity had apocalyptic beliefs that were similar to those of the Received Apocalypse, and still expressed them in the same literary ­genre­. As it now stands, however, the work is a 5th century Syriac Church Order containing embedded within its present text the earlier apocalypse (chapters 2-14). On the dating and content, see Weinel (“Die Spatere Christliche Apokalyptik” in ­Eucharisterion: Studien zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments: Festschrift Hermann Gunkel­, Gottingen, 1923, 143-145).

 

[ODC, 1335; NTA, II, 599; PAT, 24,37]

 

112. The Three Steles of Seth

 

     This is one of the Coptic Nag Hammadi Library tractates. In only a single phrase does there appear to be any verbal or conceptual parallel with anything of a Christian nature:

 

VII,5;123.18-19­: On account of thee is life; from thee is life.

John 5:21­: For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.

John 5:26­: for as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

John 6:53­: So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you;

John 6:57­: As the living father sent me, and I live because of the father, so he who eats me will live because of me.

John 11:25-26­: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

Romans 4:17­: as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

 

     With not a word does the account of this book in NAG betray the slightest Christian association.

 

[NAG, 362-363; NTB, 336-337]

 

113. The Second Treatise of the Great Seth

 

     The ­Second Treatise of the Great Seth­ (also called the ­Paraphrase of Shem­) is a revelation dialogue allegedly delivered by Jesus the Christ to an audience of perfect and incorruptible ones, i.e., Gnostic believers. Apart from the title, however, the name Seth never occurs in the text, though perhaps Jesus is meant to be identified with Seth; for there is no doubt that the work is both Christian and Gnostic.

 

     The book forms the longest and most extraordinary of the apocalypses in the entire Nag Hammadi Library, perhaps one of the most important of all the writings that were in use among the Gnostics. The manuscript in which the writing is found is written in two different hands—mainly in a cursive writing, supple and unpretentious, with a marked difference between thick and thin strokes and dating without doubt from the end of the 3rd century AD; but also partly in a book-writing style, flexible and without heaviness (according to Doresse the most beautiful hand that appears in all the Nag Hammadi manuscripts). Paleographic experts have said that the translation to this type of writing from that previously mentioned took place during the 4th century AD.

 

     Two Greek witnesses appear to confirm that this apocalypse existed much before the 4th century.

 

1. Among other things, the work says that upon his Ascension into Heaven, Seth\Shem is welcomed by a supreme Mother called Derdekea; and this information is confirmed by Epiphanius of Salamis (­Panarion­ XL:vii), where he says that the Gnostic Archontici taught that Seth (whom Doresse admits is, in this book, specifically made into an appearance of Jesus Christ) had been caught up into heaven by a supreme Power—the Mother—and by the angels of the good God, there to be instructed in the mysteries of the Pleroma and of the inferiority of the created world. However,

 

2. Hippolytus of Rome (­Philosophumena­ V.19-22) provides us with a guarantee of the early existence of this book when he calls this work the ­Paraphrase of Seth­. He writes that those who wish to make a complete study on the ideas of the Sethian Gnostics have only to read this work; and it is certain that the treatise to which the Father alludes was identical or nearly so with the text whose Coptic version we now possess.

 

     All this confirms the idea that the Coptic version of this book is translated from the Greek, and used by a sect (the Sethians) who were in existence by the 2nd century, the period in which the ODC believes the constituent writings of the codex in which the ­Paraphrase of Shem­ is to be found, came into existence.

 

     On the one hand, Christian elements are tightly woven into the fabric of the treatise:

 

1. The apocalypse accepts the ­Received New Testament­, or parts of it.

 

2. It claims to be the revelation of Jesus.

 

3. The crucifixion figures prominently in the work; in fact, it is described in three separate scenes within the book—[(For my death which they think happened, happened to them in their error and blindness, since they nailed their man unto their death. For their Ennoias did not see me, for they were deaf and blind. But in doing these things, they condemn themselves. Yes, they saw me; they punished me. It was another, their father, who drank the gall and the vinegar; it was not I. They struck me with the reed; it was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder. It was another upon whom they placed the crown of thorns. But I was rejoicing in the height over all the wealth of the archons and the offspring of their error, of their empty glory. And I was laughing at their ignorance.) ... (And the world became poor when he was restrained with a multitude of fetters. They nailed him to the tree, and they fixed him with four nails of brass. The veil of his temple he tore with his hands. It was a trembling which seized the chaos of the earth, for the souls which were in the sleep below were released. And they arose. They went about boldly, having the zealous service of ignorance and unlearnedness beside the dead tombs, having put on the new man, since they have come to know that perfect blessed One of the eternal and incomprehensible Father and the infinite light, which is I, since I came to my own and united them with myself.) ... (O those who do not see, you do not see your blindness, i.e., this which was not known, nor has it ever been known, nor has it been known about him. They did not listen to firm obedience. Therefore they proceeded in a judgment of error, and they raised their defiled and murderous hands against him as if they were beating the air. And the senseless and blind ones are always senseless, always being slaves of law and earthly fear.)] The interpretation of the crucifixion is that of the Gnostic Basilides as presented by the heresiologist Irenaeus of Lyons: Simon of Cyrene is crucified in the place of Jesus.

 

4. There is a sentence which comes as close as anything to the injunction by the Orthodox Jesus to his disciples that they should love each other as he had loved them:—(But he who lives in harmony and friendship of brotherly love, naturally and not artificially, completely and not partially, this person is truly the desire of the Father. He is the universal one and perfect love.)

 

5. There is also mentioned once the phrase the living water:—(But the entire nobility of the Fatherhood is not guarded, since he guards only him who is from him, without word and constraint since he is united with his will, he who belongs only to the Ennoia of the Fatherhood, to make it perfect and ineffable through the living water, to be with you mutually in wisdom, not only in word of hearing but in deed and fulfilled word)—which calls to mind the reply of Jesus to the Samaritan woman in ­John­ 4:10—(I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eat of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.)

 

     On the other hand, the ­Second Treatise of the Great Seth­ is also clearly Gnostic: knowledge is the means of salvation; the God of this world is evil and ignorant, and can be identified with the God of the Old Testament; and all his minions are mere counterfeits and laughingstocks.

 

     The purpose for which the apocalypse was written is plainly polemical. The entire first part describes the true history of Jesus and emphasizes, over against Orthodox Christianity, his docetic passion. The second part is a refutation of Orthodox Christianity’s claim to be the true church. The essential message is this: despite the trials and persecutions apparently instigated by the Orthodox church—by those ignorant and imitative persons who think that they are advancing the name of Christ—the Gnostic believers will enjoy true brotherhood on earth, and bliss in the joy and union of eternal life.

 

     NTB notes the following verbal or conceptual parallels between part of the text of the ­Second Treatise of the Great Seth­ and certain of the texts of the ­Received New Testament­ as follows:

 

VII,2;49.20-25­: I brought forth a word to the glory of our Father, through his goodness, as well as an imperishable thought; that is, the Word within him

John 1:14­: and the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

John 1:18­: No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

*

VII,2;49.32-35­: It is I who am in you\fn{Plural.} and you are in me, just as the Father is in you.

John 14:20­: In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

John 17:21a­: that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us,

John 17:23a­: I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one,

*

VII,2;51.34-52.3­: For he was an earthly man, but I, I am from above the heavens.

John 3:31­: He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth belongs to the earth, and of the earth he speaks; he who comes from heaven is above all.

John 8:23­: He said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.

I Corinthians 15:47­: The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

*

VII,2;53.35-54.4­: “Who is man?” And the entire host of his angels who had seen Adam and his dwelling were laughing at his smallness.

Hebrews 2:6b-7­: “What is man that thou art mindful of him, or the son of man, that thou carest for him? Thou didst make him for a little while lower than the angels, thou hast crowned him with glory and honor,

*

VII,2;55.30-56.4­: For my death which they think happened, happened to them in their error and blindness, since they nailed their man unto their death. For their Ennoias did not see me, for they were deaf and blind. But in doing these things, they condemn themselves.

I Corinthians 2:8­: None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

*

VII,2;55.34-35­: since they nailed their man unto their death.

Acts 2:23b­: you crucified\fn{The Greek verb means: to nail.} and killed by the hands of lawless men.

*

VII,2;56.6-8­: It was another, their father, who drank the gall and the vinegar; it was not I.

Matthew 27:34­: they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.

Mark 15:23­: And they offered him wine mingled with myrrh; but he did not take it.

Matthew 27:48­: And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink.

Mark 15:36a­: And one ran and, filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink,

Luke 23:36­: The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him vinegar,

John 19:29­: A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth.

*

VII,2;56.8-9­: They struck me with the reed;

Matthew 27:30b­: and took the reed and struck him on the head.

Mark 15:19a­: And they struck his head with a reed,

*

VII,2;56.9-11­: it was another, Simon, who bore the cross on his shoulder.

Matthew 27:32­: As they went out, they came upon a man of Cyrene, Simon by name; this man they compelled to carry his cross.

Mark 15:21­: And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.

Luke 23:26­: And as they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.

*

VII,2;56.12-13­: It was another upon whom they placed the crown of thorns.

Matthew 27:29a­: and plaiting a crown of thorns they put it on his head,

Mark 15:17b­: and plaiting a crown of thorns they put it on him.

John 19:2a­: And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head.

*

VII,2;57:3-6­: And I was doing all these things because of my desire to accomplish what I desired by the will of the Father above.

John 4:34­: Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.

John 5:30­: “I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 6:38­: for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me;

*

VII,2;58.20-21­: the sun of the powers of the archons set, darkness took them.

Matthew 27:45­: Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour.

Mark 15:33­: And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.

Luke 23:44­: It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour,

*

VII,2;58.22-24­: And the world became poor when he was restrained with a multitude of fetters.

Matthew 27:2­: and they bound him and led him away and delivered him to Pilate the governor.

Mark 15:1b­: and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him to Pilate.

Matthew 26:50b­: Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.

Mark 14:46­: And they laid hands on him and seized him.

*

VII,2;58.24-26­: They nailed him to the tree, and they fixed him with four nails of brass.

Acts 2:23b­: you crucified\fn{The Greek verb means: to nail.} and killed by the hands of lawless men.

*

VII,2;58.26-59.3­: The veil of his temple he tore with his hands. It was a trembling which seized the chaos of the earth, for the souls which were in the sleep below were released. And they arose. They went about boldly, having shed zealous service of ignorance and unlearnedness beside the dead tombs,

Matthew 27:51-53­: And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom; and the earth shook, and the rocks were split; the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

*

VII,2;59.4-7­: having put on the new man, since they have come to know that perfect Blessed One of the eternal and incomprehensible Father

Colossians 3:10­: and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

*

VII,2;59.17-18­: And therefore I did the will of the Father, who is I.

John 4:34­: Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.

John 5:30­: “I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 6:38­: For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me;

Matthew 26:39­: And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.”

Mark 14:36­: And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

Luke 22:42­: “Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.”

John 10:30­: I and the Father are one.”

John 27:21­: that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.

*

VII,2;59:59.22-60.1­: we were hated and persecuted, not only by those who are ignorant, but also by those who think that they are advancing the name of Christ, since they were unknowingly empty, not knowing who they are, like dumb animals. They persecuted those who have been liberated by me, since they hate them--those who, should they shut their mouth, would weep with a profitless groaning because they did not fully know me.

John 15:18-19­: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

*

VII,2;60.2­: they served two masters.

Matthew 6:24­: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Luke 16:13­: No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

*

VII,2;60.10-12­: since we have a mind of the Father in an ineffable mystery.

I Corinthians 2:7­: But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification.

I Corinthians 2:16­: “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

*

VII,2;62.3-5­: not only in word of hearing but in deed and fulfilled word.

I John 3:18­: Little children, let us not love in word or speech but in deed and in truth.

*

VII,2;63:26-27­: Moses, a faithful servant,

Hebrews 3:5a­: Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant,

*

VII,2;64.1-12­: For they had a doctrine of angels to observe dietary laws and bitter slavery, since they never knew truth, nor will they know it. For there is a great deception upon their soul making it impossible for them ever to find a Nous of freedom in order to know him, until they come to know the Son of Man.

II Corinthians 3:14­: But their minds were hardened; for to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away.

*

VII,2;64.13-15­: I am he whom the world did not know, and because of this, it\fn{The world.} rose up against me and my brothers.

John 1:10-11­: He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not. He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.

*

VII,2;69.21-22­: I am Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, who is exalted above the heavens

Hebrews 7:26­: For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

*

VII,2;70.5-6­: I have been in the bosom of the father from the beginning,

John 1:1-2­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God;

John 1:18­: No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

 

[ODC, 755; DOR, 146-155, 202, 250; NAG, 329-336; NTB, 295-304]

 

114. A Latin Apocalyptic Fragment, after Robinson

 

     The Latin apocalyptic fragment discovered by Robinson (and not as yet translated into English) is a description of the Antichrist, taken from an uncial manuscript of the 8th century in the Stadtbibliothek at Treves which he read and copied in April, 1891. The volume is a small folio of 115 leaves of vellum, dated 719AD, and written in uncials at 22 lines to a page. The book came originally from the Abbey of St. Matthias just outside Treves. It is prefaced in the vellum book by a treatise attributed to Prosper of Aquitaine (c.390-c.463), which occupies the first 112 pages. The principal interest of the fragment lies in the fact that it is the literal equivalent of certain sections of the tractate known as the ­Testament of the Lord­ (the ­Testamentum Domini­: H), chapters 6-8 and 11.

 

     The fragment is as follows:—(Hec sunt signa Antichristi: Caput eius sicut flamma ignis, oculi eius fellini: sed dexter sanguine mixtus erit, sinister autem glaucus\fn{The codex has: gaudens.} et duos pupulos habens: supercilia uero alba, labium inferiorem maiorem, dextrum femur eius macrum, tibie tenues pedes lati, fractus erit maior digitus eius: Iste est falx desolationis\fn{The codex has: fallax dilectionis.} et multis quasi christus adstabit. Sed ante hec in caelo erunt signa alia. Arcus in caelo praebit et cornum et lampada et sonus et uox et maris Bullitio et terrae rugitus. Et in terra erunt monstrua, draconum generatio de homines similiter et serpentium, et mox nubserit femina pariet filios dicentes sermones perfectos et nuntiantes posteriora tempora, et rogabunt ut interficiantur; uisio enim eorum erit six quasi seniorum in annis; cani erunt enim\fn{The codex has: in eis.} qui nascuntur: et aliae mulieres filios quadrupedes generabunt, aliae autum mulieres uentum solum generabunt, aliae autem cum spiritibus inmundis generabunt filios, aliae uero in utero diuinabunt: et multa alia monstrua erunt. Et in populis et in ecclesiis\fn{The codex has: erunt in populis et in ecclesiis.} contrubationes multe erunt. Haec autem omnia ante uentum antichristi erunt. Dexius erit nomen antichristi. Explicit.)

 

 

[JAR, 151-154]

 

115. The Apocalyptic Fragments of the Received New Testament

 

     Besides the Received ­Apocalypse of John­, there are at least 21 other instances of the apocalyptic scattered through 10 books of the ­Received New Testament­.

 

1. ­Mark­ 8:38—(For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of man also be ashamed, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’);

 

2. ­Mark­ 13:5-6,9,11,13,21-23 (underscored)—(­And Jesus began to say to them, Take heed that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray­. And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places, there will be famines; this is but the beginning of the sufferings. ­But take heed to yourselves; for they will deliver you up to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them­. And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. ­And when they bring you to trial and deliver you up, do not be anxious before hand what you are to say; but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit­. And brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; ­and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved­. But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything away; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle. And alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! Pray that it may not happen in winter. For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. And if the Lord had not shortened the days, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days. ­And then if any one says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. False Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take heed; I have told you all things beforehand­.).

 

3. ­Matthew­ 10:1-40—(And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every infirmity. The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Cleopas, and Thaddaeus;\fn{Other ancient authorities read: Lebbaeus, or Lebbaeus called Thaddaeus} Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. These twelve Jesus sent out, charging them, ``Go nowhere among the gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And preach as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without pay, give without pay. Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor a staff; for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay with him until you depart. As you enter the house, salute it. And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And if any one will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel, before the Son of man comes. A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant\fn{Or: slave.} above his master; it is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant\fn{Or: slave.} like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops. And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Hell.\fn{Greek: Genenna.} Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s will. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. So every one who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in Heaven; but whoever denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in Heaven. Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me.)

 

4. ­Matthew­ 13:36-43—(Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “He who sows the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the world, and the good seed means the sons of the kingdom; the weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the close of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the close of the age. The Son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and throw them into the furnace of fire; there men will weep and gnash their teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.).

 

5. ­Matthew­ 18:20—(For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them.).

 

6. ­Matthew­ 24:10-12,14,26-28,37-41 (underscored)—(­And then many will fall away,\fn{Or: stumble.} and betray one another, and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray­. But he who endures will be saved. ­And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come­. So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; let him who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle. And alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. Then if any one says to you, ‘Lo, there is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Lo, I have told you before hand. ­So, if they say to you, ‘Lo, he is in the wilderness’, do not go out: if they say, ‘Lo, he is in the inner rooms’, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man. Wherever the body is, there the eagles\fn{Or: vultures.} will be gathered together­. Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; then will appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of Heaven with power and great glory; and he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of Heaven to the other. From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as the branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of Heaven, nor the Son,\fn{Other ancient authorities omit: nor the Son.} but the Father only. ­As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they did not know until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man. Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left­. Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.)

 

7. ­Luke­ 12:3—(Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.)

 

8. ­Luke 17:23-24,26-27­ (underscored)—(And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it. ­And they will say to you, ‘Lo, there!’ or ‘Lo, here!’ Do not go, do not follow them. For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of man be in his day­.\fn{Other ancient authorities omit: in his day.} But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. ­As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days of the Son of man. They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all­.)

 

9. ­Luke­ 21:5-36—(And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, “As for these things which you see, the days will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” And they asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign when this is about to take place?” And he said, “Take heed that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time is at hand!’ Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified; for this must first take place, but the end will not be at once.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this thy will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be a time for you to bear testimony. Settle it therefore in your minds, not to mediate before hand how to answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death; you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it; for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for those who are with child and for those who give suck in those days! For great distress shall be upon the earth and wrath upon this people; they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the gentiles are fulfilled. And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distresses of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the weaves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, look up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees; as soon as they come out in leaf, the summer is already near. So also, you see for yourselves and know that when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away till all has taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare; for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man.”).

 

10. ­Romans­ 3:25—(whom\fn{Jesus.} God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he has passed over former sins previously committed;).

 

11. ­Romans­ 4:25—(who\fn{Jesus.} was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.).

 

12. ­I Corinthians­ 15:3—(For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,).

 

13. ­I Corinthians­ 15:20-28—(But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom of God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. “For God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection under him,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things under him, that God may be everything to every one.).

 

14. ­II Corinthians­ 12:1-4—(I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.).

 

15. ­I Thessalonians­ 4:15-17—(For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from Heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord.).

 

16. ­I Thessalonians­ 1:9-10—(For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from Heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.).

 

17. ­II Thessalonians­ 1:5-10—(This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be made worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering—since indeed God deems it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant rest with us to you who are afflicted, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance upon those who do not know God and upon those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They shall suffer the punishment of eternal destruction and exclusion from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at in all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.).

 

18. ­II Thessalonians­ 2:1-12—(Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you, brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the son of lawlessness\fn{Other ancient authorities read: sin.} is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.).

 

19. ­II Peter­ 3:3-13—(First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.” They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago, and an earth formed out of water and by means of water, through which the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist have been stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing towards you,\fn{Other ancient authorities read: on your account.} not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of persons ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening\fn{Or: earnestly desiring.} the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be kindled and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire! But according to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.).

 

20. ­Jude­ 1:9—(But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”).

 

21. ­Jude­ 1:14—(It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads,).

 

[OAB, 1225, 1232-1233, 1182-1184, 1189, 1195, 1204-1205, 1262, 1270-1271, 1276-1277, 1362, 1364, 1392, 1392-1393, 1405, 1431-1432, 1433-1434, 1435, 1436, 1480-1481, 1489, 1490]

 

116. The Questions of John to Jesus About the Last Things

 

     James mentions this title in the following context: We also possess, in Greek, late specimens of this class: e.g., Questions of John to Christ About the Last Things­, which go by the name of the ­Apocryphal Apocalypse of John­ and have been printed by Tischendorf. We may have here to do, however, with two very different titles for the Greek Apocalypse of John the Theologian­, which is discussed below (#346).

 

[ANT, xxi, 187, 504]

 

117. The ­Didache­ Apocalypse

 

     In 1873 a small volume of 120 parchment leaves, written in Greek in the year 1056, was found by Bryennios at the Jerusalem Monastery of the Holy Sepulcher at Constantinople. He published it in 1883. For part of it a Latin translation also exists. A Coptic fragment was edited by Horner (in ­Jewish Theological Studies­ XXV, 1924, 225-231); and C. Schmidt (in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde des Urchristentums­ XXIV, 1925, 81-99). An early Latin translation of the 11th century was edited by Wohleb (“Die Latenische Uber-setzung der Didache” in ­Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des Altertums­ VII.1, 1913).

 

     There is a vast literature. In English, see Robinson (­Barnabas, Hermas and the Didache­, Donnellan Lectures for 1920, 1920); Muilenburg (­The Literary Relation of the Epistle of Barnabas and the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles­, Yale University Dissertation of 1926, Marburg, 1929); Connolly (“The Didache in Relation to the Epistle of Barnabas” in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XXXIII, 1932, 237-253); and Sokes (­The Riddle of the Didache­, 1938, with bibliography).

 

     The work was originally entitled “­The Teaching of the Lord to the Gentiles, Through the Twelve Apostles­” [though for convenience it is known nowadays simply as the ­Didache­ (Teaching)]. The contents fall into two separate and distinct divisions: chapters 1-6, which form an exposition of Christian morality; and chapters 7-16, a compendium of rules dealing with baptism, fasting, the Eucharist, itinerant missionaries, local ministers, and such matters as have to do with local church life. Chapter 16 (the ­Didache­ Apocalypse) is apparently an eschatological chapter of the author’s own composition. It is of unique interest and importance, however, for it reflects the belief structure of a primitive Christian community somewhere in Syria (or possibly in Egypt) towards the close of the 1st century AD, at an epoch when traveling missionaries were still the chief officers of the church, and bishops had not yet perhaps become fully distinguished from presbyters.

 

     It had long been known that such a work existed, for there are references to it in several ancient writers. Eusebius of Caesarea (­Ecclesiastical History­ III.25) makes mention of it; Clement of Alexandria (Miscellaneous Studies­ 1:20, 100) cites it as scripture. Athanasius of Alexandria (­Festal Letter­ XXXIX) recommends it for the use of catechists; and a passage from it has been identified in the prayer book of his contemporary, Serapion of Alexandria. From the circumstance that the last three witnesses are all natives of Alexandria, and from certain indications in the text, it has been inferred that the ­Didache­ itself may have originated in that city.

 

     Nothing, however, is known about the author. The date of the work has become a matter of dispute ever since its discovery, some critics holding it to be the oldest example of Christian literature that we possess outside the Received New Testament­, others being unwilling to place it earlier than the middle of the 2nd century. There is general agreement today that the book is in fact a composite affair, in which materials of an early date have been used by the compiler and touched up with additions and alterations of his own. At what later date the unknown Didachist put together the treatise in which he has embedded them, we have no means of discovering, though this is unlikely to have been later than 150AD.

 

     The ­Didache­ may perhaps be dated as early as the first decade of the 2nd century. NTA notes that the author, date, and place of origin are unknown. It is, however, the earliest of a series of Church Orders, and forms the basis of the seventh book of the ­Apostolic Constitutions­ (last half of the 4th century). Many have assigned the Didache­ to the 1st century; but the trend of recent opinion has been to put it later. More to the point it has at its end a little apocalypse; and perhaps of more importance than the question of sources and redaction is the observation that an apocalypse—without concrete reference to the present and without interest in the speculative arrangement of the last things—has become a component of a manual of church order. It appears to describe the life of an isolated Christian community, probably in Syria (not Egypt). The author knew the Received gospels of Matthew,­ ­Luke­ and probably ­John­; and there is certainly some literary connection between the ­Didache­ and the Letter of Barnabas­; and also the ­Shepherd of Hermas­, the exact nature of which—important in connection with dating the Didache­—is much disputed.

 

     The scheme and the details of the apocalypse are found in ­Matthew­ 24 and ­II Thessalonians­ 2. One feels, however, that the description of the Parousia in verse 8—(Then shall the world see the Lord coming on the clouds of heaven.\fn{This is the end if the apocalypse.})—is incomplete. The Georgian translation (on which see Peradse “Die Lehre der Swolf Apostel in der Georgischen Uberlieferung” in ­Zeritschrift für die Neutestamntliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Altern Kirche­ XXXI, 1932, 111-116) renders verse 8 as follows—(Then will the world see our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of Man who is Son of God, coming on the clouds with power and great glory, and in his holy righteousness to requite every man according to his works before the whole of mankind and before the angels, Amen.)—and the rendering in the seventh book of the ­Apostolic Constitutions­ gives a similar ending—(with the angels of his power, at the throne of his dominion to judge the world deceiver, the devil, and to require each according to his deed.). Paleographical observations on the Greek text support the view that the present wording of verse 8 is incomplete and should be supplemented by the sense of the two readings noted above. Admittedly, the missing judgment is already included in the statement of verse 7 (if this sentence is not a secondary addition); but still, something is missing in verse 8, if not the judgment, than the gathering of the elect (Matthew­ 24:31), or the union of the faithful with the Lord (as in ­I Thessalonians­ 4:17). The complete apocalypse (­Didache­ 16) is quoted below:

 

(Be ye watchful for your life! Let not your lamps be extinguished nor your loins unguarded, but be ye ready! For ye know not the hour in which your Lord cometh. Assemble yourselves frequently, seeking what is fitting for your souls. For the whole time of your faith will not be profitable to you, if you are not made perfect in the last time. For in the last days the false prophets and corrupters will be multiplied and the sheep will be turned into wolves and love shall be changed into hate. For as lawlessness increases, they shall hate one another and shall persecute and betray, and then the world-deceiver shall appear as a son of God, and shall work signs and wonders, and the earth shall be delivered into his hands, and he shall commit crimes such as have never been seen since the world began. Then shall created mankind come to the fire of testing, and many shall be offended and perish, but those who have endured in the faith shall be saved ­from the grave­.\fn{The text has: by the Curse; which makes no sense. Perhaps by the Christ was originally meant. It is Audet who suggests the ending: from the grave.} And then shall the signs of the truth appear, first, the sign of a rift in Heaven, then the sign of the sound of a trumpet, and thirdly, a resurrection of the dead, but not of all, but as it was said, ‘The Lord will come and all his saints with him.’ Then shall the world see the Lord coming on the clouds of Heaven.)

 

     The almost complete absence of specifically Christian features in verses :3-:8 is striking. Indeed, only the description of the world-deceiver points to Christian enlargement (if we disregard an enigmatic Greek word in verse :5). For without damaging the text, these words could be erased, and then it would be a purely Jewish apocalyptic statement which we have here to do with: for there is nothing in the description of the distress in verses :3-:8 which suggests that the persecution is directed against Christians.

 

     Nevertheless, we can hardly assume that we have here before us a Jewish text with Christian interpolations. As is generally the case with early Christian apocalyptic the scheme and the material of this apocalypse are of Jewish origin. But the description in :3-:8 is so strongly indebted to ­Received New Testament­ phraseology (especially Matthew­ 24, but also ­II Thessalonians­ 2) that we should probably assume that these texts provided a vorlage­ for the author of this apocalypse.

 

     Unlike the apocalyptic sections of the ­Received New Testament­, the ­Didache Apocalypse­ has no reference to the period of the author himself. Indeed, what is distinctive about this text, like the later ­Vision of Paul­, is the lack of any reference to the historical situation of the author. ­Didache­ 16 does not aim to exhort or comfort a community exposed to eschatological tension and distress, or even (like ­II Peter­) to awaken to a new eschatological hope a Church which has become languid. ­Didache­ 16 has also no speculative aim. The text pictures nothing; rather everything is schematized. The author’s main concern is evidently to give a general outline of the last times with distinct conciseness and clear arrangement. This suggests that Didache­ 16 is a fragment of something like a catechism: as such it fits well into the ­Didache­ as a whole; and it may have belonged to it from the start.

 

[ECW, 225-237; ODC, 397; NTA, II, 626-629; PAT, 26, 36-37]

 

118. The Revelation of Jesus to the Apostles Concerning Abbaton, the Angel of Death.

 

     Budge (­Coptic Martyrdoms­, British Museum, 1914) prints a revelation made by the Lord Jesus Christ to the apostles about Abbaton, the angel of death. It is Egyptian; and in Coptic; and that is all James will say about it.

 

[ANT, 505]

 

119. The Naassene Psalm

 

     In his refutation of the Gnostic Naassenes, Hippolytus of Rome (­Refutation of All heresies­ V:x.2ff) incorporates into his discussion the so-called ­Naassene Psalm­, a two-part hymn which Hippolytus says belongs to the Naassenes. Except for the first lines, which have an expanded meter, this hymn is in anapests, the most common meter of the Roman Imperial Period. Its poetic form has attracted numerous scholars. The work is quoted below in its entirety:

 

(Primal principle of all things was the first-born Mind; | the second, poured forth from the first-born, was Chaos; | the third, which received being and form from both, is the Soul. | And it is like the timid deer | which is hunted upon the earth | by death, which constantly | tries its power upon it. | It is today in the Kingdom of Light, | tomorrow it is flung into misery, | plunged deep in woe and tears. | On joy follow tears, | On tears follows the judge, | On the judge follows death. | And wandering in the labyrinth | it seeks in vain for escape. | Jesus said: Look, Father, | upon this tormented being, | how far from thy breath it wanders, | sorrowful upon earth. | It seeks to flee the bitter chaos, | but knows not how to win through. | For its sake send me, Father; | bearing the seals will I descend, | whole aeons will I travel through, | all mysteries will I open, | and the forms of gods will I display; | and the hidden things of the holy way | —Gnosis I call it—I will bestow.)

 

     The psalm is really entirely pagan; but at one point it has been clearly Christianized by the insertion of the name Jesus instead of the deity originally there named. Reitzenstein (Poimandres­, 1904, 82ff; ­Studien zum Antiken Synkretismus­, 1926, 104ff, 161-173) has demonstrated that this is an originally pagan address—or perhaps more correctly a syncretistic formation, the basic pagan content of which has from the beginning been enriched by a few Jewish and Christian additions (the latter of which are easily detachable). It seems a sermon, originally intended for recitation in the theater; but whether the Christian Naassenes also made use of it for purposes of worship, or merely in support of their speculations, is still a point of critical dispute, ranging from those who say that cultic use was probable, to those who insist that such a thing can no longer be determined.

 

     DAN, however, writes that the section of the psalm translated (For its sake send me, Father; | bearing the seals will I descend, | whole aeons will I travel through, | all mysteries will I open,) represents the old Jewish-Christian theme, noted on so many occasions already, the descent of the Savior through the angelic spheres. He also argues that the teaching expounded as Naassenian by Hippolytus of Rome immediately prior to his quotation of the ­Naassene Psalm­ is based on earlier works which must go back at least to the second half of the 2nd century AD. From this same older source may also come certain liturgical pieces of the sect, especially the hymn with which Hippolytus ends his notice.

 

     On the contents see Kroll (­Die Christliche Hymnodik bis zu Koemens von Alexandria­, 1921, 94-97); Harnack (Lehrbuch der Dogmengeschichte­ I, 5th ed., 1931, 257; and in Hennecke’s Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­ II, 1924, 436).

 

[DAN, 82; NTA, II, 807]

 

120. The Christ, after Cynewulf

 

     The work by Cynewulf called ­The Christ­ is found in a single manuscript—written by a single hand on vellum at the beginning of the 11th century and still part of the cathedral library of Exeter—in the form of a long poem divided into three sections, of which lines 1-439 deal with the Nativity; 440-865 with the Ascension, and 866-1693 with the Second Coming and the Last Judgment. The poem is a mosaic, to which some of the better known liturgical writings of Cynewulf’s day have contributed their portion:

 

1. In the first section, a set of twelve Advent antiphons—(­O Rex Gentium­; ­O Clavis David­; ­O Hierusalem­, ­O Virgo Virginum­, ­O Oriens­; ­O Emmanuel­; ­O Rex Pacifice­; ­O Mundi Domina­; ­O Radix Jesse­; ­O Beata et Benedicta et Gloriosa Trinitas, Pater et Filius et Spiritus Sanctus­; ­Te Jure Laudant, Te Adorant, Te Glorificant Omnes Creatureae Tuae, O Beata Trinitas­; ­O Admirabile Commercium­)—are used; and while in no sense is this section to be considered as a distinct translation of these antiphons, the material of the poetry may for each case be shown to be variations of one or another of the themes of these antiphons. (Indeed, it has sometimes been thought that the whole tripartite poem ­The Christ­ was originally intended for celebrations extending from Advent straight through to Easter.)

 

     The Christ­ includes some of the finest purely lyric passages in Old English religious writing. But in addition, lines 164-213 contain a remarkably dramatic dialogue between Joseph and Mary on the question of the (to Joseph) bewildering mystery of her impending motherhood, for which no source is yet known; indeed, this dialogue may seem to be the first use in the vernacular of that kind of liturgical antiphonal exchange which was to provide the beginnings of medieval drama. Dramas originated in religious ritual: and as early as the 9th century there are records of monastic celebrations of Easter in which the angels and the three Marys sing an antiphonal Latin dialogue at the tomb of the risen Christ; and the tense conversation of Mary and Joseph of lines 164-214 comes near to expanding the idea of the liturgical dialogue added to the Easter mass into a genuinely dramatic fragment. [For lines 348-377, a further source (the preface for the mass ­In Vigilia Domini in Nocte­ from the ­Liber Sacramentorum­ of Gregory the Great, bishop of Rome, 590-604) has been discovered.]

 

2. The source of the second section (lines 440-865) has been shown to be a homily on the Ascension of Gregory the Great. It is also agreed that this is the authentic work of Cynewulf, and it is in this piece that his name in runes appears. The passage is obscure, probably because of the difficulty of fitting the runes—and perhaps their meanings—into an intelligible context. The name is here spelt, as in the ­Fata Apostolorum­, C.Y.N.W.U.L.F., in the Anglian manner. The poem is noted for some bold and effective rhetorical images and metaphors, and its frequent allegorical manner is a clear reminder that Cynewulf belonged to a later and more definitely established Christianity than the poet of ­Beowulf­ (an Anglian of the late 8th century, his near contemporary): but these particular lines are, in fact, Gregory the Great’s Ascension homily, adapted and adorned into an Old English heroic lay in which the whole of Jesus’ actions, from incarnation to Judgment, are handled with vivid poetic feeling. (A hymn by Bede,\fn{An English monk from Sunderland (c.673-735).} ­Hymnum Canamus Gloriae­, has also been used in this section.)

 

3. The source of the final sections of nearly 800 lines is in the main a hymn beginning with the words Apparebit repentina dies Magna Domini and cited by Bede in his ­De Arte Metrica­. Several other sources have apparently also been used: (a) Augustine of Hippo Regius (­De Civitate Dei­ XX); (b) Bede of Jarrow (De Temporum Ratione­ LXX); (c) Ephrem the Syrian (­De Judicio et Compunctione­); (d) Caesarius of Arles (­De Extremo Judicio­); (e) some Latin translation of the Greek original of a homily by Pseudo-Chrysostom of Constantinople; (f) chapter 14 of the ­Received Apocalypse of John­; (g) part of the ­Institutiones­ by Lactantius of Nicomedia; (h-j) and fragments of certain other writings by Gregory the Great (­Moralia­ XXI; ­Hom. in Evang­. I.10; ­In Septem Psalm Poenit. Expositio­). The whole of this section, in fact, seems to have been modeled entirely on foreign material, and it is difficult to distinguish parts of a more original character. Certain sections, it is true, seem to have no specific correspondence to the Latin texts referred to—as, for example, lines 1181ff, where there is a description of a giant Cross that shines, instead of the sun, on Judgment day, and is wet with the blood of Christ. But although the poet is more independent in this section, the idea was certainly not his own originally, and it seems on the whole hardly possible to find any passage in the work where vernacular Anglo-Saxon tradition unmistakably asserts itself. There was not room in Cynewulf’s mind, apparently, except for phrases, ideas, and echoes from the works of the leading spirits of continental Christian tradition.

 

     For the best full account of the liturgical origins of medieval drama, see Young (­The Drama of the Medieval Church­, Oxford, 1933). It should also be mentioned that some scholars believe the first two sections of this manuscript to be a unity. See also Campbell (­The Advent Lyrics of the Exeter Book­, Princeton, 1959).

 

[KEN, 27-34; SAR, 35-39; WRE, 126-127]

 

121. The Dream of the Rood, after Cynewulf

 

     The ­Dream of the Rood­, a short poem of 156 lines, is found in the Vercelli Book­, folio 104b-106a, between Andreas­ and ­Elene­. It is in one way the most interesting of all the poems which have been attributed to Cynewulf, because of its connection with the Ruthwell cross, near Dumfries on the Scottish border [see Kembell (“On Ango-Saxon Runes,” ­Archaeologia­ XXVIII, 1840, 349ff) and Stephens (­Old Northern Runic Monuments­ I, 1866, 409-448) for a detailed description of the cross and consideration of the runic passage upon it]. This connection consists in the fact that upon the Ruthwell Cross are sculptured in runic characters passages which are identical with portions of the ­Dream of the Rood­. This identity was first made known by Kembell (in Archaeologia­ XXX, 1842, 405)—but the ­editio princeps­ of the ­Vercelli Book­ poems was made by Thorpe in 1836; and it was he who also gave it its name.

 

     In its simplicity the ­Dream of the Rood­ is one of the most beautiful of Anglo-Saxon poems. The poet tells of a vision—he speaks of it as swefna cyst (the most exquisite of dreams)—came to him at midnight, when mortal men abode in sleep. Such a dream-vision the poet Caedmon (d.c.680, earliest known English poet.) had encountered, as Bede narrates: so that this device was not strictly new in Anglo-Saxon. But the combination of this dream-vision with the Latin ­prosopopoeia­—by which the cross is made to speak as a person—was something quite original in Anglo-Saxon.

 

     The blend of the dream with allegory in the poem is also for its time startlingly original. It seemed to the author that he beheld the cross enwreathed with light, adorned with gems and gold, rising in the air. It was given to him, stained as he was with sin and guilt, to see the Tree shining with radiant light. In this portion of the Dream­, the influence of Constantine’s vision of the cross is very apparent. The cross flamed with changing color and was now decked with jewels, now wet with blood. As he gazed upon it the cross addressed him, telling how it was hewn down as a forest tree upon the edge of a wood, and borne away by men and set upon a hill. The crucifixion is then related in an entirely heroic vein, the deposition and burial are described, and the poem ends with passages of a personal nature which strongly resemble those of ­The Christ­ and ­Elene­, and with the motives of the harrowing of Hell and the triumphal return of the Christ to heaven.

 

     Whoever the poet was, the ­Dream­ is evidently the product of the cult of the cross which, owing something to Irish influence, was strong in Northern and Western Britain in the latter 8th century: and this special devotion to the cross had clearly played a great part in the poet’s deep spiritual feeling.

 

     It was suggested by Haigh in 1856 that the ­Dream­ must have been composed by Caedmon. Haigh supported this view by dating the Ruthwell Cross to c.665AD. Having set the Ruthwell inscriptions at this early date, and conjecturing the ­Dream­ to be a later reworking of a poem of which the Ruthwell inscriptions formed part, Haigh then suggested that Caedmon was the only religious poet in England at that date worthy of the name, and therefore naturally to be looked upon as the author of the religious fragments upon the Ruthwell Cross.

 

     This view of Haigh’s was supported by Stephens (­Old Northern Runic Monuments­ I, 1866, 419). Stephens strengthens the case for Caedmon’s authorship by his interpretation of a nearly obliterated runic passage on the rune side of the top stone of the cross. According to his conjecture, the runes there formed the words Cadmon me fawed (Cadmon made me). He further supports the theory of Caedmonian authorship by calling attention to the long epic lines found in the ­Dream­, which are found also in the so-called Caedmonian Paraphrases­ and in ­Judith­, and concludes that both ­Judith­ and the ­Dream­ are by Caedmon. These arguments, however, fail to hold.

 

1. In the first place, Haigh’s date of 665AD for the Ruthwell Cross was merely a conjectured date, and according to expert opinion (Cook, “Notes on the Ruthwell Cross” in ­Modern Language Publications­ VII, 390) the cross must be dated after 800AD.

 

2. Secondly, no trace of the name Caedmon is to be found upon the cross (so Victor, ­Die Nordhumbrischen Runensteine­ 12).

 

3. Finally, the language of the instruction upon the cross lacks some of the marks of antiquity, is probably later than the ­Dream­ instead of earlier, and is to be placed at least as late as the 10th century AD.

 

     Without reference, therefore, to the whole vexed question of Caedmonian authorship, any claims for the attribution of the ­Dream­ to him may be dismissed at once.

 

     The second theory of the authorship of the ­Dream­ connects it with the name of Cynewulf (c.750). Kembell and Thorpe, who were inclined to attribute all the poetry of the Vercelli manuscript to Cynewulf, favored this view, neither of them making, however, any close examination of the poem to support their theory. It was Deitrich (Disputatio de Cruce Ruthwellensi­) first brought together a number of reasons for attributing the poem to Cynewulf:

 

1. He strove to connect the ­Elene­ with the ­Dream­, since the theme of both was the cross, and conjectured that the poet was inspired to write of the invention of the cross by the influence of the vision which he narrates in the Dream­.

 

2. He called attention to a similarity in tone between the personal passages in ­Juliana­, The ­Christ­, and ­Elene­, and certain passages of a personal nature in the ­Dream­.

 

3. The diction of the poem he finds also to correspond with that of the authentic Cynewulfian poems, and concludes, therefore, that the ­Dream­ was written by Cynewulf towards the end of his life.

 

     Dietrich’s views were supported by Reiger (in Zachere’s Zeitschrift­ I, 313ff), who also strives to show a connection between the ­Dream­ and ­Elene­. Brink (­Zeitschrift für Deutesches Alterthum­, XXIII, Anzeiger, 53-70) also argues for Cynewulf’s authorship of the ­Dream­, making it his first poem. He connects it with the conversion of Cyunewulf, and conjectures that all the rest of his poems are later than the ­Dream­, ­Elene­ being last of all. Wulker (­Grundriss­, 1885, 194-195) brings one or two important criticisms to bear upon the view of Rieger, Dietrich and Brink. If with Reiger we hold the opinion that the ­Dream­, the first of Cynewulf’s poems, was followed immediately by ­Elene­ with which it is vitally connected, and then by his other poems, Milker points out that we have an order of composition quite at variance with normal development of literary merit, since ­Juliana­, Guthlac­, and The ­Christ­ were less important poems. Again, if with Brink and Dietrich, we take the ­Dream­ as the first of the poems and ­Elene­ as the last, and regard Elene­ as springing from the inspiration of the vision related in the Dream­, it is curious that Cynewulf should only at the end of his career have turned to the writing of a poem the inspiration for which is considered to come from the beginning of his career. Moreover, certain verses (1224 ff) in the ­Dream­ are of such a tone as to suggest a date for its composition late in the life of the poet.

 

     The portions of the ­Dream­ that are carved in runes on the Ruthwell Cross must, most students agree, be dated earlier than the life of Cynewulf himself, which would seem to rule out that poet from authorship. Moreover, the runic fragments of the poem being in the early Northumbrian dialect (while Cynewulf seems to have been a Mercian), would also militate against its being attributed to him. But the chief reason for rejecting Cynewulf as the author, despite the many remarkable resemblances in tone, style, and diction to Elene­, is that the ­Dream­ is an original poem, whereas Cynewuylf’s signed poems are all based on established Latin sources. It seems odd that Cynewulf, having set his name to four poems, should, if he had composed this piece which is so superior in every way to his acknowledged work, have failed to indicate his authorship by runes in his one really outstanding poem.

 

     Ebert (­Nerichte der kgl. Sachs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften­, ­Phil. Hist. Klasse­ XXXVI, 1884, 81-93) denies the ­Dream­ to Cynewulf because of certain discrepancies between Elene­, and on the grounds of diction. Brooke (History of Early English Literature­, 438) finds little that would argue for Cynewulf’s authorship in those portions of the ­Dream­ written in the long epic line of the Caedmonian school, but regards the introduction and the close, which are in the short epic line, as having characteristics of Cynewulf’s verse. He holds the view therefore, that there may have been an old poem upon the crucifixion in the manner of the Caedmonian school which was retold by Cynewulf in the form of a dream. Trautmann (­Bonner Beitrage­ I, 40) holds that the ­Dream­ cannot be attributed to Cynewulf with any degree of probability. Cook, however (­The Dream of the Rood­, Clarendon Press Series, 1905, introduction, 40) is inclined upon the whole to attribute the poem to Cynewulf. He says:—(Making all due allowances for the weakness of certain arguments, both pro and con, the balance of probability seems to incline decidedly in favor of Cynewulfian authorship.).

 

     It must be admitted that the problem of the authorship of the Dream­ has been confused—rather than rendered more clear—by the attempt made by Dietrich and others to find a specific allusion to the ­Dream­ in the personal passage of ­Elene­ 1251-1256—(Full often had I pondered on that glorious cross, | Not once alone, | Ere I unriddled all the marvel of that radiant tree. | I found the tale of that victor token in books, | To make it known in writings | In due course of time.)—but here is certainly no specific allusion either to a previous writing by Cynewulf on the subject of the cross, or to a vision. It is hardly possible to regard this passage seriously as a reference to the ­Dream­, or to anything more than a general statement of the fact that the poet had often pondered as to the fate of the cross (see Stephens, “The Cross in the Life and Literature of the Anglo-Saxons” in ­Yale Studies­ XXIII); and, after searching through books and writings, had at last thoroughly familiarized himself with the story of the invention of the cross which he has just related in the body of ­Elene­.

 

     On the other hand, for many scholars, the question of the authorship of the ­Dream­ must rest upon these general facts:

 

1. that the diction of the ­Dream­ is on the whole thoroughly Cynewulfian;

 

2. that Cynewulf had written another poem upon the cross, in which he handled the Constantinian vision with evident appreciation of its beauty; and

 

3. that the personal passages of The ­Christ­ and ­Elene­ are remarkably similar in tone to certain lines at the beginning and the end of the ­Dream­.

 

     These facts tend to make the theory of Cynewulfian authorship of the ­Dream­ probable for many.

 

     For the text of the ­Dream of the Rood­ there are three pieces of evidence: the inscription on the Ruthwell Cross; the text in the ­Vercelli Book­; and an inscription on the Brussels Cross. It is clear that the inscriptions are related to portions of the poem found in the ­Vercelli Book­, though it is also true that there are striking differences between the three texts.

 

     Our earliest evidence for the text of the ­Dream­ is provided by the large carved and inscribed cross (about 18 feet tall) now preserved in the church of Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire. The Ruthwell Cross has been moved several times; and it has suffered more by human malice than by the tooth of time—which suggests that it had been under cover for a considerable period before it attracted the iconoclastic zeal of the Covenanters. (This cross, as a matter of fact, like one of which the foundations have been discovered at Reculver in Kent, stood ­in­ the church. Originally, it may be, the cross was set up ­in place of­ a church ad commodam diurne precationis sedulitatem after the fashion described in the ­Life of Willibald­. Later, when the church was built, it may have stood at the junction of nave and chancel.)

 

     As a result of an Act of Assembly of the Scottish Church dated 1642 (in which idolatrous monuments in Ruthwell are mentioned) it was thrown down and broken into several pieces. It remained, however, under cover till some time in the 18th century; but it had been turned out into the kirkyard and was rapidly deteriorating, when in 1802 the parish minister, Dr. Duncan, set it up in the grounds of the Manse. In 1923 he added the transom, unfortunately fixing the top piece of the cross-head the wrong way around, and thereby dislocating the scheme of the decoration; and it remained out of doors till 1887 when a new apse was built out from the north side of the church to contain it.

 

     The date of this cross, and of a similar monument at Bewcastle, either of which would have been a remarkable achievement in any period, has been hotly disputed. The earliest date proposed is c.670AD, the latest some time in the 12th century. This latter view, warmly urged in a series of papers by Cook, seems to us to be out of the question. (1) It cannot be shown that the use of the Anglo-Saxon runic alphabet for monumental purposes survived long after the fall of the Northumbrian kingdom to the Danes (first half of the 10th century). The latest example is the inscription preserved in Urswick church, Furness (on which see Collingwood, ­Northumbrian Crosses of the Pre-Norman Age­, 53), which, debased as the carving is, can scarcely be later than the early part of the 10th century. (2) Twelfth century runic inscriptions from the North-West make use of the alphabet introduced by the Scandinavian invaders (on which see Forbes & Dickins in ­Burlington Magazine­, April, 1914, 24-29), and the Bridekirk Font in Cumberland and the Pennington Tympanum (on which see Fell, ­A Furness Manor­, 208ff) have no affinities, either in epigraphy or art, to the Ruthwell/Bewcastle crosses. (3) We have literary evidence that monuments no less remarkable were being set up at the end of the 7th and the beginning of the 8th centuries. (a) William of Malmsbury (­Gesta Regum Anglorum­) tells us that there were in his day two stone obelisks, one 28 feet tall and of 5 stages, the other 26 feet tall and of 4 stages. The latter one bore the names of Centwine (king of Wessex, 676-688), Haedde (bishop of Wessex, 677-705), and two abbots of Glastonbury who can be assigned to the late 7th and early 8th centuries. Of these monuments no trace remains; but (b) from Reculver in Kent come recently discovered fragments of a cross with figure sculpture indubitably of the 7th century. On this see Peers (in ­Archaeologia­ LXXVII, 1927, 250-256). (c) The striking fragments of the Easby (Yorkshire, North Riding) Cross, recently acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, and described by Longhurst (in ­Archaeologia­ LXXXI, 1931, 43-47) are also of importance in this connection. (d) The fine Hexham Cross, now in the Durham Cathedral library, is almost certainly that which, according to Symeon of Durham (­Historia Regum Anglorum et Dacorum­, c.1129) stood at the head of the grave of bishop Acca (d.704AD). This is described and illustrated in Haverfield & Greenwell (­Catalogue of the Sculptured and Inscribed Stones in the Cathedral Library­, Durham, 53-59).

 

     A discussion of the art and epigraphy of the Ruthwell Cross would be out of place here; it is sufficient to say that the most recent authorities—Collingwood (­Northumbrian Crosses of the Pre-Norman Age­, London, 1927); Brown (­The Arts in Early England­ V, Edinburgh, 1921); Brondsted (­Early English Ornament­); Clapham (­English Romanesque Architecture Before the Conquest­, 55ff); Saxl (in ­Journal of the Warburg Institute­ VI, 1-19)—agree in assigning the cross to c.670-750AD (though Saxl dates it c.675-700). On linguistic grounds the date c.670 appears to us to be unduly early, since the language is very slightly less archaic than that of the earliest monuments of English, which probably go back to the late 7th century. Taking into consideration both the linguistic and the non-linguistic evidence, it may be said that the first half of the 8th century—coincidentally the Golden Age of Northumbria—is the most probable date for the Ruthwell Cross.

 

     The most complete text of the ­Dream­ is found on folios 104b-106b of the ­Vercelli Book­, a manuscript of Old English poetry and prose which has been for many centuries in the Cathedral Library at Vercelli. The Vercelli Book­ is undoubtedly to be assigned to the second half of the 10th century AD. Brandl would say towards the end of that century; and Keller would narrow the extreme limits to 960-980AD, or even to 970-980. The text of the poem is clearly written and no letter offers difficulty. The linguistic forms of the Vercelli text are predominantly West Saxon, and of the period of the manuscript; there are also a few traces of Anglian.

 

     Two lines reminiscent of the ­Dream­ are inscribed on the silver-work of the Brussels cross, one of the most famous relics in Christendom, now preserved in the sacristy of the cathedral of St. Michel and Ste. Gudule in Brussels. Dr. Lefevre of the University of Louvain has reached the following conclusions about it:

 

1. Documentary evidence begins in the year 1315. The cross was then transferred from the parish church of Dodewasard to the collegiate church of Arnhem, where it remained

 

2. until 1582. It was then transferred to the abbey of Steinfeld in Germany.

 

3. The archduchess Isabella bought it from the abbey in 1617; and after her death in 1633,

 

4. the cross was finally deposited at Ste. Gudule in 1650; where ultimately,

 

5. in 1793, it was enclosed in the silver ­ostensorium­ in which it now reposes.

 

     According to Hesen (but see Byron, ­The Station: Athos­, 257-258) the reliquary contains also the largest piece of the True Cross presently in existence. The actual relic is a piece of wood ½ cm. thick, 14cm. tall, and 7cm. across the transom. Stock and transom are alike about 2cm. broad, being rather broader at the ends than at the point of intersection of the arms. It is probable that the relic is the fragment of the True Cross sent to king Alfred by Marinus I of Rome (882-884AD). The linguistic evidence renders probable a date in the late 10th or 11th century, and there appears to be nothing in the art or epigraphy to militate against such a conclusion. On this see Logeman (­L’Inscription Anglo-Saxonne du Reliquaire de la Varie Croix au Tresor de l’Eglise des SS. Michel-et-Gudule a Bruxxelles­, 30-31); and d’Ardenne (in ­English Studies­ XXI, 145ff). The orthography and language of the cross are Late West Saxon.

 

     The poem opens with an introductory account of the dream in which the poet beheld the Cross towering into the air, encompassed with light. The most beauteous of trees was adorned with gold, with precious gems at each of the four points of the cross. This would be suggested by the unveiling in churches on Easter Day of the ceremonial cross, as also by the thought of the actual cross visited by countless pilgrims after its recovery from the Persians by the Roman emperor Heracleus in the early 7th century, when it was adorned with so many precious gifts. Marvelous was that tree of victory at line 13 reminds us of the symbolic figure of Christ crowned in victory notable in the earlier Middle Ages.

 

     Terrified at the fair sign in the consciousness of his own sins, the poet yet could not but gaze on: and he had seen that through the gold on the cross could be perceived the affliction which it had caused and suffered, as with its changing colors it began to bleed on the right side. Then, after this striking opening of 25 lines, the cross begins to speak to the dreamer: and in 50 lines of most moving depth and simplicity the wood speaks a narrative of its life, from its first being cut down in the forest to the crucifixion and beyond. Christ is portrayed as a young Germanic warrior, yet at once both victorious as divine and suffering all the torment and grief of being human. Here are some lines of the speech of the personified Christ—(Many things and cruel happenings | Have I suffered on that hill; I saw | The Lord of hosts grievously stretched in pain. | Darkness had covered the body of the Lord, | That bright radiance, | With clouds: the shadow of dusk had come forth | Beneath the skies. | All creation wept in lamentation for the fall of the King. | Christ was on the Cross.).

 

     This austere style, with the tremendous juxtaposition of the weeping universe with the stark half-line Christ was on the Cross is unique in Anglo-Saxon poetry. There follows more speech by the cross describing the burial of Christ by his disciples: and it is significant that they walk solemnly around the corpse singing a funeral dirge in the traditional Germanic manner. For Jesus is the leader in this poem of his own ­comitatus­ of followers.

 

     The later portion of the cross’s speech after the account of Jesus’ entombment, and the description of how men from all over the world now visit the symbol of his victory as pilgrims, is rather in the nature of a homily, and is therefore often considerably curtailed by modern anthropologists. But the exhortation to service of the cross and the promise of celestial aid are expressed with a tone of deeply moving sincerity which must have got well home to the hearts of its listeners. It is of interest to notice that the author of the Dream­ provides the earliest literary vernacular reference to the devotion of Mary, where the cross says:—(Truly the Prince of glory | Who is guardian of the kingdom of Heaven | Honored me above all other trees: | As likewise almighty God honored Mary herself | Before all men above every kind of woman.). This devotion to Mary is particularly characteristic of medieval England.

 

     The 156 lines in the Classical Late West Saxon which suggest that the ­Dream of the Rood­ shared in some kind of recension in King Alfred’s time (871-899), or that the actual expansion of the poem as we know it was done then, was probably as a result of the increased emphasis on the cult of the cross which took place about that time through the pope’s gift to the king of a piece of the True Cross in the year 885. Just as the Ruthwell Cross inscription seems too early for Cynewulf’s authorship of the original poem, so too the expanded Vercelli text’s archtype, if it was Alfredian, would be rather too late. The attribution of the Ruthwell fragments to a poem by Caedmon—the only other claimant to authorship—was encouraged by the fact that it is in a Northumbrian dialect, and that it has been dated, though without convincing evidence, as early as the late 7th century (Caedmon’s time) by earlier investigators.

 

     The ­Dream of the Rood­ really stands quite by itself, as anonymous as it is unique. Its sources may be conjecturally glimpsed here and there in well-known Latin hymns like the ­Vexilla Regis­, and in the tradition, seen in some Old English riddles, of beginning with a statement of one having ­seen­ what follows—ic gesseah­, (I have seen)—followed by a speech by the thing seen as personified. But the whole conception of the poem is in any case profoundly original, and it stands as the great achievement of Anglo-Saxon religious poetry.

 

     As with Cynewulf’s ­Elene­, the ­Dream­ ends with a usual meditative pious epilogue. But like that of ­Elene­, its tone is elegiac and personal—(Few are the powerful men on earth who love me. | But they have departed from the joys of the world | And sought for themselves the King of glory. | They live now in the Heavens with the Father on high, | Dwelling in glory. | And every day for my part I look for the time | When the Cross of the Lord | Which here on earth I have gazed at aforetime | Should fetch me away from this fleeting life | And then bring me there where there is great happiness, | Joyful revelries in the Heavens, | Where the Lord’s people are seated at the feasting | And where their blessedness is eternal. | So that He may then place me | Where henceforth I may live in glory | To enjoy great happiness with the Saints.)—the diction here, as usual, containing echoes of the heroic past; and this picture of the Lord’s people seated at the feasting naturally calls to mind the Germanic Valhalla­.

 

[WRE, 134-138; DID, 1-19; KEN, 62-68]

 

122. ­Elene­, after Cynewulf

 

     The poem by Cynewulf known as ­Elene­ is preserved in a single late 10th-early 11th century manuscript, number 117 of the cathedral library of Vercelli, in Northern Italy. It was discovered in 1822 by Fredrich Blume, a German jurist, written in a single Anglo-Irish hand from the south of England. The language is Late West Saxon, interspersed with occasional Early West Saxon, many Anglian forms, and a few traces of Kentish.

 

     On the evidence of the interspersed runes which spell out his name and are found near the end of the poem, Elene—like ­Christ­ and the ­Fates of the Apostles­—was written by Cynewulf. In ­Elene­ the name is spelled Cynewulf; in the other two, Cynwulf. The form Cyne- in such words is the earlier spelling of the name, and obtains from c.750AD. The form Cyn- belongs almost wholly to the 9th century, but does not altogether replace the earlier form (which, in its turn, had succeeded to a still earlier form, Cyni-, again without completely displacing it). To these—and also to a poem about the life of St. Juliana, signed Cynewulf but not discussed here since it is not properly part of the ­Fragments of the New Testament­—may with some degree of probability be added Andreas­, on the ground of its close relationship to the ­Fates of the Apostles­ (the Fates­ follow immediately upon Andreas­ in the manuscript, to which they might be considered as forming an epilogue).

 

     In the personal passages in ­Elene­, the poet expressly states that he is old and ready to depart by reason of this failing house; which would seem to place ­Elene­ later in his lifetime. If Cynewulf could be conclusively shown to be the bishop of Lindesfarne of that name (c.710-783AD), a date after 760 could be considered as the probable time of composition.

 

     Elene­ is based upon a Latin version of a legend which, in its fully developed form, seems to be Syriac in origin (probably composed at Edessa, the seat of Syrian learning and literature in that period); and which probably, though not certainly, entered Latin through the medium of the Greek language. This elaborated legend (the foundations­ of which are not Syrian, as the quotations below will demonstrate) arose about the beginning of the 5th century. Cynewulf’s direct source may well have been derived from c.450AD, though its larger outlines may have established themselves c.375AD. It became pretty well diffused over Latin Christendom from c.450. The direct source may well have been derived from Ireland.

 

     In what follows, the principal documents are quoted or summarized in order, beginning in the earlier years of the reign of Constantine I (senior emperor from 312; sole ruler from 324-337) to c.500AD:

 

1. Lactantius of Nicomedia (­De Mortibus Persecutorum­ XLIV, in Migne’s ­Patrologia Latina­ VII, 260-262, between 311-320AD)—(And now a civil war broke out between Constantine and Maxentius. ... They fought, and the troops of Maxentius prevailed. At length Constantine, with steady courage and a mind prepared for every event, led his whole forces to the neighborhood of Rome, and encamped them opposite to the Milvian bridge. ... Constantine was directed in a dream to cause the Heavenly sign to be delineated on the shields of his soldiers, and so to proceed to battle. He did as he had been commanded, and he marked on their shields the letter “X,” with a perpendicular line drawn through it and turned round at the top, being the cipher of Christ. Having this sign, his troops stood to arms. The enemy advanced, but without their emperor, and they crossed the bridge. The armies met, and fought with the utmost exertions of valor, and firmly maintained their ground. ... At length Maxentius went to the field. The bridge in his rear was broken down. At sight of that the battle grew hotter. The hand of the Lord prevailed, and the forces of Maxentius were routed. He fled towards the broken bridge; but the multitude pressing on him, he was driven headlong into the Tiber. The destructive war being ended, Constantine was acknowledged as emperor, with great rejoicings, by the Senate and people of Rome.). Testimony about the discovery of the tomb and the erection of the basilica over it is furnished independent of Eusebius of Caesarea’s testimony (item 3, below), slightly earlier than it, in

 

2. the ­Bordeaux Pilgrim­ (­Itinerary from Bordeaux to Jerusalem­, Palestine Pilgrim’s Text Society, 23-24, 332AD)—(About a stone’s throw from thence\fn{Golgotha.} is a vault wherein his body was laid, and rose again on the third day. There, at present, by the command of the Emperor Constantine, has been built a basilica, that is to say a church, of wondrous beauty.).

 

3. Eusebius of Caesarea (­Life of Constantine­ I.28-31, c.335AD)—(Accordingly, he called on him with earnest prayer and supplications that he would reveal to him who he was, and stretch forth his right hand to help him in his present difficulties. And while he was thus praying with fervent entreaty, a most marvelous sign appeared to him from heaven, the account of which it might have been difficult to receive with credit, had it been related by any other person. But since the victorious emperor himself long afterwards declared it to the writer of this history, when he was honored with his acquaintance and society, and confirmed his statement by an oath, who could hesitate to accredit the relation, especially since the testimony of afore-times has established its truth? He said that about midday, when the sun was beginning to decline, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross of light in the Heavens, above the sun, and bearing the inscription, ‘Conquer by this.’ At this sight, he himself was struck with amazement, and his whole army also, which happened to be following him on some expedition, and witnessed the miracle. He said, moreover, that he doubted within himself what the import of this apparition could be. And while he continued to ponder and reason on its meaning, night imperceptibly drew on; and in his sleep the Christ of God appeared to him with the same sign which he had seen in the heavens, and commanded him to procure a standard made in the likeness of that sign, and to use it was a safeguard in all engagements with his enemies. At dawn of day he arose, and communicated the secret to his friends; and then, calling together the workers in gold and precious stones, he sat in the midst of them, and described to them the figure of the sign he had seen, bidding them represent it in gold and precious stones. And this representation I myself have had an opportunity of seeing. Now it was made in the following manner. A long spear, overlaid with gold, formed the figure of the cross by means of a piece transversely laid over it. On the top of the whole was fixed a crown, formed by the intertexture of gold and precious stones; and on this, two letters indicating the name of Christ symbolized the Savior’s title, by means of its first characters—the letter P being intersected by X exactly in its center; and these letters the emperor was in the habit of wearing on his helmet at a later period. From the transverse piece which crossed the spear was suspended a kind of streamer of purple cloth, covered with a profuse embroidery of most brilliant precious stones; and which, being also richly interlaced with gold, presented an indescribable degree of beauty to the beholder. This banner was of a square form; and the upright staff, which in its full extent, was of great length, bore a golden half-length portrait of the pious emperor and his children on its upper part, beneath the trophy of the cross, and immediately above the embroidered streamer. The emperor constantly made use of this salutary sign as a safeguard against every adverse and hostile power, and commanded that others similar to it should be carried at the head of all his armies.).

 

4. Eusebius of Caesarea (­Life of Constantine­ III.26-30, c.335AD)—(They prepare on this foundation\fn{The heathen had endeavored to obliterate from memory the sepulcher of Christ by covering it with earth, and laying over this a stone pavement.} a truly dreadful sepulcher of souls, by building a gloomy shrine of lifeless idols to the impure spirit whom they call Venus.\fn{So also Rufinus (Ecclesiastical History X:vii); Paulinus of Nola (Letter to Severus XXXI:xi.3); and Jerome of Strido (Letter to Paulinus LVIII.3 in Migne, Patrologia Latina XXII.582)—(for about 180 years, from the time of Hadrian to the reign of Constantine, an image of Jupiter was worshipped on the site of the Resurrection, and a statue of Venus, erected by the heathen, on the site of the cross; the authors of the persecution imagining that if they polluted the holy place with idols, they would rob us in our faith in the resurrection and the cross.)} ... He\fn{Constantine I.} ... gave orders that the place should be thoroughly purified. ... He gave further orders that the materials of what was thus destroyed, both stone and timber, should be removed and thrown as far from the spot as possible. ... Once more, ... he directed that the ground itself should be dug up to a considerable depth. ... This also was accomplished without delay. But as soon as the original surface of the ground, beneath the covering of earth, appeared, immediately, and contrary to all expectation, the venerable and hallowed monument of our Savior’s resurrection was discovered. ... Immediately after the transactions which I have recorded, the emperor sent forth instructions, ... commanding that a house of prayer worthy of the worship of God should be erected near the Savior’s tomb, on a scale of rich and royal greatness. ... He also dispatched the following letter to the bishop who at time presided over the Church at Jerusalem:--Victor Constantinus Maximum Augustus, to Marcarius: That the monument of his most holy passion, so long ago buried beneath the ground, should have remained unknown for so long a series of years, until its reappearance to his servants, is a fact which truly surpasses all admiration. ... With regard to the erection and decoration of the walls, this is to inform you that our friend Dracilianus,\fn{The existence of this Dracilianus as deputy of the praetorian prefects is otherwise attested by inscriptions sent to him by Constantine I in the years 325 and 326 (so Lipsius, 372)} the deputy of the praetorian prefects, and the governor of the province, have received in charge from us.).

 

     Thus far, there has been no mention of the discovery of the cross, but only of the tomb. The first author to speak of this is

 

5-7. Cyril of Jerusalem (­Catecheses­ 4.10; 10.19; 13.4), 347AD)—(He was indeed crucified for our sins; shouldst thou be disposed to deny it, the very place which all can see refutes thee, even this blessed Golgotha, in which, on account of him who was crucified on it, we are now assembled; and further, the whole world is filled with the fragments of the wood of the cross.) ... (The holy wood of the cross is his witness, which is seen among us to this day, and, through the agency of those who have in faith received it, has already from this place almost filled the whole world.) ... (For though I should now deny it, this Golgotha confutes me, near which we are now assembled; the wood of the cross confutes me, which has from hence been distributed piecemeal to all the world.).

 

8. Cyril of Jerusalem (­Letter to Constantius­ of May 7, 351)—[In the days of thy father Constantine, dear to God and of blessed memory, the saving wood of the cross was found in Jerusalem, divine grace granting the discovery of the hidden sacred places to him who sought piety aright.\fn{The passage is of somewhat doubtful authenticity. See on it Lipsius (pp. 73-74); Russel (“Syrische Quellen Abendlandischer Erzahlungesstoffe I” in ­Archiv fur das Sudium der Neuren Syrachen­ XCIII, 3 note 1); and Migne (Patrologia Graecae­ XXXIII, 1153f.)}].

 

9. One of the most important testimonies is contained in the following dated inscription from the Roman province of Mauretania. Three or four miles south of the railway station of Tixter, which is about 16 miles from Setif, on the railway leading to Algiers, there was found in October or November, 1889, an inscribed stone some 51 inches square, which, according to the date near the end, was erected in the year 320 of the province of Mauretania (359AD). This stone originally marked the place of a basilica which, according to the inscription, possessed a portion of the wood of the True Cross, as well as some of the soil of the Holy Land. This date is extremely important, since it is only 33 years, or less, after the reputed discovery of the cross by Helena, and only 25 years after the death of Constantine. The stone is now in the Christian Museum of the Louvre. The inscription is as follows:

 

Memoria sancta. Victorinus Miggin, septimum idus septembres, bdv et dabulail, de ligno crucis, de terra promissionis ubi natus est Christus, apostoli Petri e Pauli, nomina martyrum Datiani Donatiani Cyopriani et Victorias. Anno provinciae trecentivigesimo—Posuit Benenatus et Pequarla.

 

     See on this Audollent (­Melanges d’Archeologie et d’Histoire­ X, 440-468), which contains an excellent study of the instruction; Duchesne (­Comptes-Rendus de l’Acad. des Inscriptions­ XVII, 417 and XVIII, 233); and Analecta Bollandiana­ X, 366-367.

 

10. Cyril of Alexandria (­Contra Julianum­ VI, before 363AD)—(You worship the wood of the cross; you outline figures on your foreheads, and paint them in front of your houses.\fn{The emperor Julian (361-363) is being quoted by Cyril.}).

 

11-12. ­Pilgrimage of Sylvia­ (­The Pilgrimage of St. Sylvia­, Palestine Pilgrim’s Text Society, 63-64; 76, c.385)—(A chair is placed for the bishop in Golgotha, behind the cross which stands there now; the bishop sits down in the chair; there is placed before him a table covered with a linen cloth, the deacons standing round the table. Then is brought a silver-gilt casket, in which is the holy wood of the cross; it is opened, and, the contents being taken out, the wood of the cross and also its inscription are placed on the table. When they have been put there, the bishop, as he sits, takes hold of the extremities of the holy wood with his hands, and the deacons, standing round, guard it. It is thus guarded because the custom is that every one of the people, faithful and catechumens alike, leaning forward, bend over the table, kiss the holy wood, and pass on. And as it is said that one time a person fixed his teeth in it, and so stole a piece of the holy wood, it is now guarded by the deacons standing round, so that no one who comes may dare to do such a thing again. And so all the people pass on one by one, bowing their bodies down, first with their forehead, then with their eyes, touching the cross and the inscription, and so kissing the cross they pass by, but no one puts forth his hand to touch it.) ... (The dedication-festival of these holy churches\fn{At Golgotha and on the site of the Resurrection.} is observed with the greatest honor, since the cross of the Lord was found on that day.\fn{September 13.}).

 

13. The ­Letter of Paula and Eustochium to Jerome­ (Palestine Pilgrim’s Text Society, 386AD)—(When will the day come when we shall be able ... to weep with our sister and with our mother in the sepulcher of the Lord? Afterwards, to kiss the wood of the cross?).

 

14. Chrysostom of Constantinople (­That Christ is God­ in Migne’s Patrologica Graecae­ XLVIII.826, before 387 AD)—(How is this very wood, on which the holy body was stretched and impaled, struggled for by all? For many, both men and women, taking a small portion of it, and setting it in gold, suspend it from their necks as an ornament.).

 

     Helena is first introduced by Eusebius in connection with the churches of the Nativity and the Ascension:

 

15. Eusebius of Caesarea (­Life of Constantine­ III.41-43 in Migne’s ­Patrologia Graecae­ XX, 1101, 1104)—(In the same country he discovered two other places, venerable as being the localities of two sacred caves, and these also he adorned with lavish magnificence. ... And while he thus nobly testified his reverence for those places, he at the same time eternalized the memory of his mother, who had been the instrument of conferring so valuable a benefit on mankind. For this empress, having resolved to discharge the duties of pious devotion to the supreme God, ... had hastened to survey this venerable land. ... As soon, then, as she had rendered due reverence to the ground which the Savior’s feet had trodden, ... she immediately bequeathed the fruit of her piety to future generations, for without delay she dedicated two churches\fn{The Church of the Nativity is also referred to in the Pilgrimage of Sylvia—And what shall I say of the decoration of that structure which Constantine, with the assistance of his mother, adorned, as far as the resources of is kingdom would go, with gold, mosaic, and precious marbles?} to the God whom she adored. ... Thus did Helena Augusta, the pious mother of a pious emperor, erect these two noble and beautiful monuments of devotion, ... and thus did she receive from her son the countenance and aid of his imperial power.).

 

16. Ambrose of Milan (­Oration on the Death of Theodosius­ XLIII.45-48, in Migne’s ­Patrologia Latina­ XVI, 14002, 395AD)—(Helena, wishing to revisit the holy places, went thither. Now the Spirit put it into her head to demand the wood of the cross. So, approaching Golgotha, ... she opens the ground, and removes the dust; there she finds three indistinguishable crosses, which ruin had covered, and the enemy had concealed, though unable to obliterate the triumph of Christ. She remains undeceived, ... but the Holy Spirit suggests a clue in the fact that two thieves were crucified with the Lord. She therefore casts about to find the middle cross. Yet it might have happened that the crosses had become shifted in the ruins. Returning to the text of the gospel, she finds that the inscription on the middle cross ran: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ From this the truth was determined: the cross of salvation was made known by its title. ... She therefore found the inscription, and adored the King, not the wood—for this is the error of the heathen, and the vanity of the wicked; him she adored who hung upon the wood. ... Then she sought the nails with which the Lord was crucified, and found them. Of one she commanded a bridle to be made, of another a crown to be fashioned.\fn{It became part of the Iron Crown of Lombardy (so-called). The crown is actually of gold, the nail forming a thin iron band circling the ­interior­ of the crown, and is now preserved in the cathedral church of Monza; but it was certainly made for Theodelinda, window of Authoris, King of Lombardy, and presented in 594 to the Duke of Turin, from whom it passed eventually to the recent royal house of Italy.} … She sent to her son Constantine the crown adorned with gems, … and also the bridle. Constantine made use of both, and transmitted the faith to the kings who followed.).

 

17. Rufinus of Aquilea (­Ecclesiastical History­ X.7-8 in Migne’s Patrologia Latina­ XXI, 475ff, c.400AD)—(Now\fn{This in the main is like the account by Ambrose of Milan, up to the identification of the Savior’s cross. The inscription was found, but could not be assigned to any one of the crosses in particular; and the new material in Rufinus is below.} it happened that there lay grievously ill in that city a woman of rank. At that time Marcarius was bishop of that church. When he saw that the queen and those with her lingered, he said: ‘Bring hither all the crosses which have been found, and God will show us which one bore the Lord.’ Then, proceeding with the queen and the people to the house of her who was lying ill, he kneeled down and prayed thus: ‘O Lord, thou who hast vouchsafed to bestow salvation on mankind by the passion of thy only begotten Son on the cross, and in these latter times hast inspired in the heart of thy handmaid to seek the blessed wood on which our salvation hung, show plainly which of these three was for the glory of the Lord, and which for slavish punishment, by causing this woman, who lies half dead, to return to life from the gates of death, so soon as she shall touch the saving wood.’ When he had said this, he brought one of the three, but it had no effect. He brought the second, but nothing occurred. But when he had brought the third, the woman suddenly opened her eyes and sat up; having recovered her strength, she began to go about the house much more blithely than before she had been taken ill, and to magnify the power of the Lord. ... Part of the saving wood Helena sent to her son, and part she deposited in a silver case and left on the spot, where it is still preserved as a memorial.).

 

18. Paulinus of Nola (­Letter to Severus­ XXXI in Migne’s Patrologia Latina­ LXI, 326ff, c.403AD)—Paulinus relates that Hadrian, thinking to injure the Christian religion, had erected a temple of Jupiter on the site of the passion. At the request of Helena, Constantine gives her authority to destroy all temples and idols which had profaned the holy places, and to erect churches in their stead. Arriving at Jerusalem, she knows not how to find the cross. Eventually she seeks out and consults, not only Christian men full of learning and sanctity, but also the cleverest of the Jews. She commands a dig at the designated spot. Citizens and soldiers join in the work. The crosses are found. God inspires her to make trial with the corpse of one newly dead. This is done, but two of the crosses produce no effect. Jesus’ cross raises the dead. A church is erected, which preserves the cross in a secret shrine.

 

19. Sozomen of Bethelia (­Ecclesiastical History­ II.1, c.450AD)—(At length, however, the secret was discovered, and the fraud detected. Some say that the facts were first disclosed by a Hebrew who dwelt in the East, and who derived his information from some documents which had come to him by paternal inheritance.\fn{Sozomen in general reproduces earlier accounts, but adds the following significant statement after mentioning the temple of Venus.}).

 

20. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (in Mansi’s ­Sacrorum Conciliorum Nova et Amplissima Collectio­ VIII, 163, c. 496AD; though more generally, according to Duchesne, from the early 6th century)—(Likewise the writing concerning the invention of our Lord’s cross, and the other writing concerning the invention of the head of the blessed John the Baptist, are new stories. Some Catholics read them; but when they come into the hands of Catholics, let it be with the prefatory text from St. Paul: Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.\fn{­I Thessalonians­ 5:21.}).

 

21. Finally, according to another form of the legend (which my source does not date or otherwise elaborate upon) the True Cross was ­first­ found during the reign of Tiberius I (24-37AD), while James the Great was bishop of Jerusalem, by Protonike, wife of the future emperor Claudius I (41-54AD). Some scholars have regarded this form of the legend as earlier than the story of Helena, but it is now considered by the most competent authorities to be merely an adaptation of that story. See on this Nestle (­De Sancta Cruce­, 1ff, 65ff); Lipsius (88-92); Tixeront (184-191); and Russel (“Syrische Quellen Abendlandischer Erzahlungs-stoffe I” in ­Archiv für das Studium der Neuren Syrachen­ XCIII, 1-3). (The ­Encyclopaedia Britannica­ (11ed, 1966, VII, 506) is mistaken, then, in calling the legend of Protonike the older of the two. H).

 

     Among the numerous versions of the legend about the finding of the True Cross the one most familiar to the Old English epic is, no doubt, as is generally held, the ­Vita Quiriaci­ of the Acta Sanctorum­ for May 1, 450ff. There are also, however, other Latin versions that come close to ­Elene­: the ­Inventio Sanctae Crucis­, edited by Holder (Inventio Sanctae Crucis­, Lipsiae, 1889); and the legend in the ­Vita Sanctorum­, edited by Mombritius (Sanctuariam se Vitae Sanctorum­ I & II, 1479; new edition, Paris, 1910). As Holthausen remarks (­Cynewulf’s Elene­, 4th ed., Heidelberg, 1936, XII) Cynewulf’s sources must have been closely related to these three Latin legends. A certain stability of transmission, however, must have existed in the overall tradition about the finding of the cross such as we have it in Cynewulf’s poem. The legend seems to have originated in Syria, and a comparison of two Syrian versions with the Old English one has revealed to Russel (“Syrische Quellen Abendlandischer Erzahlungsstoffe I” in Archiv für das Studien der Neueren Sprachen­ CXXV, 1910, 83ff) through collations of ­Elene­ with other versions of the cross legend, that we are now in a position to single out those portions of ­Elene­ which are not historically to be found elsewhere.

 

     Cynewulf follows his original in the broad outline of the narrative and in certain details. The advance of the heathen army, the preparations of the Romans, Constantine’s fears, his dream, the sign of the cross, the successful flight, Constantine’s queries about the cross, the answer of the wise men, the revelation of the Christian truth, Constantine’s baptism, Helena's expedition, her arguments with the Jews, Judas’ speech, his argument with the queen, the torture and the result, Judas’ prayer, the finding of the crosses, the miracle of the cross of Christ, Judas’ dispute with the Devil, Helena’s admiration of Judas’ faith, the adornment of the cross and the erection of a church, Judas’ baptism and ordination as a bishop, Helena’s demand for the nails of the cross, the finding of the nails, the joy of all, the prophecy, the queen’s doings before the departure: all these episodes belong to the traditional legend. Different from this are:

 

1. the episode about the message to Constantine after the finding of the cross, the joy of the emperor and his subjects, and his dispatch in return ordering Helena to build a church (lines 967-1016), a detail peculiar to Elene­;

 

2. the close of the poem (lines 1236-1321), with its religious and elegaic mediations and the account of the Judgment Day, which is Cynewulf’s addition, and not in the others;

 

3. the detailed descriptions of the approach of the heathens, the battle, and the overthrow of the enemies (lines 18b-53 and 105-143), which are obvious Anglosaxonisms; and

 

4. the voyage of Helena to the land of the Jews (lines 225-275), which was apparently inspired by similar passages in ­Beowulf­.

 

     Among the details in the ­Vita­ missing in ­Elene­, one may mention Helena’s interest in the tradition about the Crucifixion, and the queen’s destruction of the pagan temple of Venus; but on the whole, the style of Cynewulf’s poem is much fuller than that of the Latin legends.

 

     Scharr makes a few other related comments.

 

1. Brown (in ­English Studies­ XI) points out some interesting (though sometimes doubtful) correspondences between ­Elene­ and a Middle Irish version of the 14th century, the ­Leabhar Breac­, and remarks that a description of the voyage—missing in the other versions of the legend—links ­Elene­ up with the ­Leabhar Breac­. However, the detailed description of the voyage in ­Elene­ is not at all comparable to the brief line in the ­Leabhar Breac­; and there are other distinctions between ­Elene ­ and the ­Leabhar Breac­ which indicate that the differences between the two works are greater than the similarities which they share.

 

2. In all probability the autobiographical section and the acrostic passage in ­Elene­ are the poet’s own original invention.

 

3. It seems likely that the last section (lines 1277-1321) was inspired by some theological treatise on the Judgment Day: but there is nothing to indicate that he borrowed the phrasing of his version from such a source. That he may have taken over the general idea is another matter, and the description of the events after the Judgment Day which most closely resembles his concluding lines, is sermon 104.8 of Augustine of Hippo Regius (­Sors Triplex Hominum in Judicio­) in Migne (­Patrologia Latina­ XXXIX, 1949). There is there the same division of humanity into three groups as we find in ­Elene­: (1) the righteous who are not injured by Purgatory; (2) the morally tepid who must remain there for a long time; and (3) the sinners, who must stay there for ever. Cynewulf, then, seems indebted to Augustine for the matter—though not for the form—of part of his final section.

 

[SAR, 24-27; COO, xiv-xxiv; WRE, 124-125; KEN, 35-40]

 

***

 

XVII: JESUS' MOTHER, MARY

 

123. The ­Genna Marias­

 

     The document entitled ­Genna Marias­ (­Prehistory­, ­Birth­, ­Genealogy­ or ­Descent of Mary­) may be included in this collection. It belongs to the numerous writings produced or read by the Gnostics properly so-called, and of its existence, its title and part of its contents we know only from a passage in the account devoted to these sectaries by Epiphanius (­Panarion­ XXVI:xii.104). It may be enough to note:

 

1. that the identification of the Zacharias here in question with the father of John the Baptist occurs also in the Infancy Gospel of James­ (23f), and in Origen of Alexandria (­Commentary on Matthew­);

 

2. that the semblance ascribed to the figure who appeared to Zacharias in the temple of Jerusalem in the form of an ass (or with an ass’s head?) conforms not only with the conception formed of the God of the Jews by certain pagan circles and by the polemicists of antiquity, but also with a concept of the same God (or at least of the planetary Archon identified with him), which was common among the Gnostics, the Ophites, and other sectaries; and

 

3. more generally, that if the ­Genna Marias­ thereby manifests a violent hostility towards Judaism, the title of the work appears to confirm the interest taken by the Gnostics in Mary the mother of Jesus.

 

     Further, it is possible that the Manichees received this work into the volume of their Scriptures. The Gnostics early wrote this prehistory of Mary, mentioned by Epiphanius of Salamis, which shows that the material of the Infancy Gospel of James­ was used in Gnostic circles. The passage from Epiphanius is as follows:

 

(Among them an immense number of other forged writings are tolerated. For they say that there is a certain book, the ­Genna Marias­, and when they suggest terrible and destructive things they say these are there. It was for this reason, they say, that Zacharias was slain in the Temple, because, they say, he had seen a vision, and when he wished to tell the vision his mouth was stopped up from fear. For he saw, they say, at the hour of the incense-offering as he was burning incense, a man standing, they say, having the form of an ass. And when he came out, they say, and wished to say ‘Woe unto you! Whom do ye worship?,’ he who appeared to him within the Temple stopped up his mouth, that he could not speak. But when his mouth was opened, that he might speak, then he revealed it to them, and they slew him. And so, they say, died Zacharias. For it was to this end that the priest was charged by the Law-giver himself, they say, to wear bells, in order that whenever he entered in to do priestly service he who was worshipped, hearing the sound, might hide himself, that the likeness of his form might not be discovered.)

 

     James spoke of this book, however, as one which may be properly reckoned as New Testament apocrypha. It contains the vulgarest expression of the hatred felt by some for the Old Covenant, of which Marcion was the noblest exponent; but the belief among heathens that Jews and Christians worshipped a deity in the form of an ass was widespread: there exist some graffiti on a Palatine artifact\fn{I.e., an artifact whose source was a place on the Palatine Hill in Rome.} of a crucified figure with an asses head.

 

[NTA, I, 344-345, 351, 401, 428; ANT, 19-20]

 

124. The Gospel of the Birth of Mary

 

     The ­Gospel of the Birth of Mary­ is an apocryphal book containing a narrative of the birth of Mary, Christ’s mother, to Joachim and Anne; her life in the temple of Jerusalem from the age of 3-12 years; her betrothal to Joseph; the Annunciation; and the virgin birth of Christ. Mary is represented as being fourteen years of age before she was espoused to Joseph, who afterwards went into the Galilee to take her as his wife. The birth of Jesus is simply said to have occurred at Bethlehem as the holy Evangelists have taught, and the book concludes with a doxology to the Trinity.

 

     In some editions, a preface is found attached to it, in which it is attributed to Jerome of Strido (d.420), who is stated to have composed it after a Hebrew original.

 

     The ­Gospel of the Birth of Mary­ acquired great celebrity from having been transferred almost entirely into the Historia Lombardica­ (the ­Golden Legend­; ­Legenda Aurea­; ­Historia Lombardica­) of James de Voragine (towards the end of the 13th century); so it must have come into existence before that compilation. On the other hand, he uses the Latin ­Vulgate­ version of the ­Received New Testament­ (finished first by Jerome of Strido in 404), and therefore wrote after that compilation was published. Many critics, however, believe that it no more than an amplification of the earlier chapters of the ­Infancy Gospel of Matthew­ in more elegant Latin, and with all the detail blurred and smoothed down. The original is in Latin, and is not a direct translation from the Greek. Judging from the style it would seem to be less a translation than a Latin recension of the popular story respecting the birth and childhood of Mary; such a close involvement with its society is also indicated by its great popularity during the Middle Ages with mediaeval poets and artisans. This leads us to the conclusion that it is a product of the Middle Ages after the time of the issue of the Infancy Gospel of Matthew­ (8th or 9th century), but prior to the 13th.

 

     The critical edition of the book is by Tischendorf (­Evangelia Apocrypha­, Leipzig, 1876, 113-121).

 

[ANT, 79-80; ODC, 868; ANF, 352; TAG, ---]

 

125. Stories About the Birth of Mary, after Evodius of Antioch, Cyril of Jerusalem, Demetrius of Antioch, Epiphanius of Salamis, and Cyril of Alexandria

 

     There are a number of lives, panegyrics, discourses and the like in Coptic, complete and fragmentary, which tell the story of the birth of Mary, the mother of Jesus. These documents on the whole show great negligence in the use of ancient sources and great license on the art of the writers; rather a characteristic of the Christian literature of Egypt.

 

(1) The first example consists of three fragments of Coptic text (apparently portions of the same homily, perhaps attributable to Evodius of Antioch, a disciple of the Apostles). They are printed in Robinson’s Coptic Apocryphal Gospels­, 1896.

 

(2) On page 626 of Budge’s ­Miscellaneous Coptic Texts­ (1915) appears a text entitled “The ­Twentieth Discourse of Cyril of Jerusalem­.” (Robinson has edited part of this account as the Fourth Sahidic Fragment.) The account entirely denies a corporeal assumption, but maintains frequent coincidence of language and content with both the Sahidic and Bohairic accounts of the discourse attributed to Evodius of Antioch in (1). The reckless identification of Jesus’ mother with all the other Maries of the gospels is characteristic of these Egyptian rhapsodies. In the Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Bartholomew the Apostle­ (which exists only in Coptic), the appearance of Jesus to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection in the Received account is turned into an appearance to his mother; and the same thing takes place in another Coptic fragment on the passion of Jesus printed by Revillout (­Patrologia Orientalis­ II.2, #14, p. 169).

 

(3) On page 653 of Budge’s work begins a discourse by Demetrius of Antioch. It tells a partial story of the life of Salome, the daughter of Joakim and his wife Susanna (though elsewhere in the same work she is called Anna). The description of her habits is almost identical with that in one of the three fragments mentioned under (1). [There is also a Coptic text not yet (1925) printed in full which tells the entire story of Salome, and simply transfers to her a great part of the legend of Mary of Thais of Egypt (early 4th century), the niece of the hermit Abraham.]

 

(4) One of the stories is attributed to Epiphanius of Salamis. This has very few points of contact with the apocryphal fragments of the New Testament. It is mentioned that Mary was working when the Annunciation took place.

 

(5) Finally, the homily of Cyril of Alexandria preserves a number of intimate details about the care Jesus’ mother took for Him while He was growing up. The description of Mary’s habits is essentially the same as that in one of the Robinson fragments previously mentioned under (1), as well as that in the discourse of Demetrius of Antioch (3).

 

[ANT, 87-89, 197; CAG, 24-40]

 

126. Stories About the Death and Assumption of Mary, after Melito of Sardis, Joseph of Arimathaea, John the Apostle, John of Thessalonica, Theodosius of Alexandria, Evodius of Rome, Modestus of Jerusalem, James of Serug, and James of Birta

 

(1) The story of the Assumption written under the name of Melito of Sardis (d.c.190AD) is the leading Latin authority on this subject. It has often been printed. This is probably the oldest version of the Assumption. It is printed by Tischendorf (­Apocalypses Apocryphae­, 1866); see also on it the critical observations of Altaner (Theological Revue­, 1948, 129-130; 1949, 129-142; 1950, 5-20). The narrative begins after the Ascension and depicts Mary’s association with the disciples, then passes on to the main theme—the death and burial of Mary—and what happened after that. The author of this form, writing under the name of Melito, also ascribes the authorship of a treatise on the subject of the Assumption to one Leucius (the name of a—real or fictitious—companion of John the Apostle). This, however, cannot be the book referred to, as Melito affirms that his book—which is in substance the same as the Greek text under (3)—was written to condemn Leucius’ opinions. [ANT, 194, 209; NTA, I, 429; ANF, 359]

 

(2) The story written under the name of Joseph of Arimathaea, although Tischendorf’s leading Latin text, is of late complexion. The various recensions of it present a very divergent text throughout—particularly manuscript C. It is printed from three late manuscripts, all in Italian. A story of Thomas and a girdle is peculiar to this writing. This girdle is the great relic of Prato (a city in central Italy, near Florence, where the burial shroud of the Virgin is thought to still exist); and the prominence given to this incident is another indication that we have here to do with a medieval Italian composition, not earlier than the 13th century. The numerous Latin recensions, though differing considerably from each other, are all from the same source, and that is probably the Greek text described under the following entry. The Latin version of our text, which has been previously published elsewhere, is from a Venetian manuscript of the 14th century. [ANT, 194, 216, 218; ANF, 359-360; RHC, 1041]

 

(3) The standard Greek version of the Assumption is the one attributed to John the Apostle. It is edited from five manuscripts (11th-15th centuries) by Tischendorf. He assigns a date for its original composition not later than the 4th century. It is somewhat strange that this Greek text, which has been translated into several languages both of the East and the West, is edited by Tischendorf for the first time. A book under this title is condemned in the Decretum Gelasianum­ (early 6th century). [ANT, 194; ANF, 359]

 

(4) A Greek form of the Assumption also exists under the name of John of Thessalonica. This is the other major Greek narrative, and it is not yet (1924) fully known. It is embodied in a sermon of John of Thessalonica (d.c.630AD), and it is essentially an expansion and inflation of the standard Greek form noted above. It was written in the 7th century. Tischendorf gives only extracts, from several manuscripts, which show that the story begins with the bringing of a palm to Mary by an angel, as a token of her approaching departure from this world. In one text, Jesus appears and takes the body himself. The Greek texts exhibit considerable variations, especially in the later portions of the manuscripts. The titles also vary considerably: in two codices the author is said to be James, Jesus’ brother; and in some versions this treatise of John of Thessalonica is actually ascribed to John the Apostle. Epiphanius, however, makes distinctive mention of both.\fn{This statement about Epiphanius (ANF,359) is curious, since the ODC (96) clearly says that it is now generally agreed that the belief about the Assumption of Mary was unknown in the earliest ages of the Christian Orthodoxy, and that both Ambrose of Milan and Epiphanius of Salamis (Panarion­ 79:11) were apparently still ignorant of it. (H)} [ANT, 194, 209; NTA, II, 182; ANF, 359]

 

(5) There is a Coptic account of the Assumption, allegedly written by Theodosius of Alexandria (by which is probably meant the Jacobite patriarch of that city, who held the see from 536-568). It is in the Bohairic dialect, edited by Robinson (­Coptic Apocryphal Gospels­, Cambridge, 1896), who calls it the Second Bohairic Account. Robinson says that he has omitted 15 pages (of homelitic material: ANT) at the beginning of the work, and three pages at the end. He says the tradition begins in this work with the words: Let us turn to the theme which is laid down for us of this great festival, which is spread out for us today; that we may bring into the midst her who is worthy of all honor: beginning from the dispensation of Christ unto the death\fn{Or: consummation.} of this holy virgin and her holy Assumption: even as I found it in detail in ancient records in Jerusalem, which came into my hand in the library of the holy Mark at Alexandria.} [ANT, 198-200; CAG, ---]

 

(6) There is an account of the Assumption embedded in a homily attributed to Evodius of Rome (1st century AD, usually described, however, as the first bishop of Antioch). Robinson calls it his First Bohairic Account. The author insists that he was an eyewitness to all he tells. There also survive two Sahidic fragments of this work: (a) chapters 7-8, which Robinson calls the First Sahidic Account (p. 66); and (b) chapters 10-17, which Robinson calls the Second Sahidic Account (p. 70). The legend was first elaborated, if it did not originate, in Egypt. [ANT, 194-198]

 

(7) But a single reference appears for this item. The story of the Assumption as told by Modestus of Jerusalem is to be found in Migne (­Patrologia Graeca­ LXXXVI.2, 3277-3312).

 

(8-9) The material on the Assumption by James of Serug and James of Birta has been edited by Baumstark (“Zwei Syrische Dichtungen auf das Entschlafen der Allerseligsten Jungfrau” in ­Oriens Christianus­, 1095, 82-125). [ODC, 97; NTA, I, 429]

 

[References are included within the body of the text.]

 

127. The Departure of My Lady, Mary, From This World

 

     This work exists in both Greek and Syriac. Wright (in ­Journal of Sacred Literature­, 1865) and Lewis (in Studia Sinaitica­ XI and ­Apocrypha Syriaca­, 1902) have both translated the Syriac version. Wright notes that since the Syriac text of this book was printed, he had been permitted, through the kindness of his friend Constantine Tischendorf (1815-1874), to peruse the original Greek text (which Tischendorf, the Father of Form Criticism, had discovered and intended to edit). Apparently the Syriac translation had been greatly amplified in various ways from the Greek. The introduction, the narration about the discovery of the book, a disputation before the Hegemon and certain liturgical portions of the fourth chapter (there are six in all) are all later additions. The Greek text is not divided into chapters.

 

     James says that the work is a ­congeries­ of documents, divided into six parts. There are various proofs of lateness inherent in the text.

 

1. In book two, Abgar, King of Edessa, appears and wishes to destroy Jerusalem because of Christ’s death there, and comes as far as the Euphrates River, but hesitates to cross it. Abgar is represented here as a convert to Christianity, a legend which is not thought to have been extant before the beginning of the 4th century (see the exchange of letters between Abgar and Jesus, #’s 108-109, and the remainder of the Abgar material, #’s 528-531, below).

 

2. The text also contains a long digression in the Syriac (not to be found in the Greek) belonging properly to the story of the Cross (and certainly proof of a later interpolation—H).

 

3. In book four (verses 38-44), Jesus’ blessing of his mother is far longer in the Syriac than the Greek (indicating a further, later traditional development of the material—H).

 

4. In book three, a ­chiliarch­ (sent by the Roman governor with thirty men to intern Mary for the purpose of banishment) found nothing of her in Bethlehem, and the Jewish priests are made to say that this is due to the practice of magic. This last is not in the corresponding Greek text (indicating later traditional development—H).

 

5. Finally, the text contains a letter allegedly written by Abgar to a procurator (whether of Judea or Palestine James does not say) named Sabinus (book two); but the text also insists (book three) that the whole story was written down by disciples at Rome, who also wrote from there to the Apostles, telling them of seven miracles which Mary had wrought. This identification with Rome may mean that the Sabinus referred to earlier in the text was in fact the emperor Vespasian’s (d.79AD) elder brother, Titus Flavius Sabinus, who was prefect of Rome (61-69), and whose first activities of any importance appear to be connected with the military pacification of Roman Britain after 43AD. He could not have sent Abgar’s letter to Tiberius I (d.37AD); moreover, the name Sabinus does not occur in the list of Roman procurators (6-66AD) of either Judea or Palestine. This confusion of historical detail would, of course, be possible for an author living in a much later age fascinated by the dim memory of a prominent representative of the Julio-Claudian royal line from which sheer time had removed all certain historical detailed knowledge except for his name—H. James is also the only witness I (H) have found who indicates the existence of a Latin text of this work.

 

[ANT, 219-222; ODC, 929; WWW, 187]

 

128. The History of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

     This work is printed by Budge (in Luzac’s ­Semitic Text and Translation Series­ V, 1899, 97-153). Its content is essentially the same as that printed by Wright and Lewis (and known as the ­Departure of My Lady Mary From This World­); but it has points of its own, so it has independence of its own. Budge says in his preface to the work that a perusal of it will convince the reader that the object of the writer throughout has been to magnify the importance of the Virgin Mary, and to describe her miraculous power: in short, it represents the popular views which were held by devout but unlettered people concerning the earthly life of Jesus and his mother. The manuscript has considerable value, for it is a tolerably full summary of a number of apocryphal books, of which may be mentioned the ­Infancy Gospel of James­, the ­Gospel of the Birth of Mary­, the Narrative of Joseph of Arimathaea­, the ­Gospel of Thomas­ the ­Arabic Infancy Gospel­ and the ­Genna Marias­. These and other books written in Greek and Latin were laid under contribution by the Syrian translator and editor, and as a result we have in the work before us a careful selection of the most important (so Budge) of the stories concerning Jesus and his mother which were current in Syria and Palestine as early as the end of the 5th century.

 

     At least three other recensions of this Syriac version exist. Closely allied to one of these are the Arabic and Ethiopic versions, which are extant in several manuscripts. It is impossible to assign exact dates to these three recensions, but there is no doubt that the principal materials for the construction of the narrative were collected before the end of the 4th century. About this time and during the 5th century, the history of Jesus and his mother must have been very widely known and read, for a Latin version of this material was (allegedly, but wrongly) \fn{The so-called Gelasian Decree (Decretum Gelasianum) came into existence probably in Italy, but not at Rome, and during the early 6th century.} condemned, together with several other non-orthodox works, by bishop Gelasius and a council held in Rome in 494AD.

 

     About a third of the text deals with the last days of Mary on earth and of her Assumption into Heaven. Many of the incidents and accounts of the miracles which were wrought by her are found in the third recension of the Syriac version (the one also very closely allied with the Arabic and Ethiopic versions); but the order in which they are given is not always the same. Incorporated into its structure are a number of later additions:

 

     1. the history of the merchant and the three pearls;

 

     2. the history of Andrew, son of Andronicus, who was kept alive at the bottom of the sea by Mary;

 

     3. the corruption of several proper names—Arbolos for Archelaus; Buza for Zeno; Palona for Flavia; Nubkar for Jochebed—and this would seem to indicate a later text; and

 

     4. as in the ­Departure of My Lady Mary From This World­, much of the Abgar legend is reproduced here (making it almost certain that this book did not come into existence prior to the 4th century: H).

 

[ANT, 219, 222-224; LST, ---]

 

129. The Obsequies of the Holy Virgin

 

     This book is very peculiar. It was translated from the Syriac by Wright (­Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament­, 1865, preface, 10-15, 42-51). In the first long fragment, Paul is speaking, and he tells a long story about Solomon, who had been told by a demon that a certain young man would die. A form of this story occurs in the ­Testament of Solomon­. The second fragment—a story told by Michael the archangel to Mary about concealing the bones of Joseph in the Nile River by Pharaoh and their discovery by Moses—appears as if it must have been told in answer to some inquiry of Mary’s about her own body, and therefore should be placed earlier in textual order. The last fragment is a curious story about Jesus testing the Apostles (evidently during his life on earth). It appears to have no parallel with any other fragment of the Hypothetical New Testament, and seems to have a rather ancient complexion.

 

     The whole book stands quite apart from the rest of the Assumption narratives. It had a framework evidently designed for the insertion of a number of discourses and legends quite extraneous to its original content; and what has survived of these is so unusual that we must greatly regret the loss of the rest. The undoubted fact that this text somehow penetrated to Ireland—Seymour (­Journal of Theological Studies­?) has proven that the visit of the apostles to Hell mentioned in this tractate was known in Ireland at an early date, and that the Irish form of this legend must be derived somehow from this Syriac text—lends additional interest to the book. Wright assigns the manuscript to the latter part of the 5th century.

 

[ANT, 219, 224-226]

 

130. The Simplest (Syriac) Form of the Assumption

 

     The church concerned itself with the further destiny of Jesus’ mother after the death and resurrection of her son. The presence of Mary with the Apostles, attested to the ­Received Acts­ 1:14—(All these were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as his brothers.)—provided the initial impetus. In the ­Gospel of Bartholomew­, Mary instructs them in thoroughly original fashion about the secrets of the Annunciation.

 

     Epiphanius of Salamis turns aside questions about the death and burial of Mary, or whether or not John took Mary with him on his travels in Asia. Later, exact information was available concerning the very house in which she died. It was most recently translated by Zahn (­Die Dormitio s. Virginis­, 1899). In general, the compilers of legend went diligently to work and produced a comprehensive description of the Assumption of Mary, which has survived in Greek, Latin, Armenian, Syriac, Coptic, Ethiopic and Arabic; is probably of Egyptian origin; and hardly older than 400AD.

 

     Just prior to the beginning of the Twentieth Century, Robinson (­Coptic Apocryphal Gospels­, Cambridge, 1896) wrote the following note upon the importance of the Coptic literature dealing with Mary. He says that its importance is considerable, for even when the Coptic narratives resemble those already known to us, yet they have strongly marked features of their own. And in some instances we have no knowledge of any similar accounts. The non-orthodox gospel material which we possess in other languages deal almost exclusively with the history of Jesus’ Infancy and Passion, or with the lives of Mary and Joseph. We have practically nothing which relates to the period of the Ministry. Any fragments connected with that period have a peculiar interest, for they may throw light upon the composition of early non-orthodox gospels which we have lost.

 

     The form in which these narratives have come down to us seems to be peculiar to Egypt. In almost every case—the account of the death of Joseph, written in the northern or Bohairic dialect of Coptic, is one certain exception—the stories are used as the material of sermons. This fact points to a developed ecclesiastical system, and makes us hesitate to ascribe a very early date to the documents in their present form. The discourses resemble in their general features those of a modern preacher. They are expositions of Christian faith and duty. But suddenly the preacher stops his exhortation, and introduces some gospel narrative—either (1) introducing some statement not recorded in the ­Received New Testament­, or (2) using the first person plural and narrating the incident from the point of view of an eyewitness (usually a follower of the Apostles).

 

     The most interesting of these sermons are written in the southern (Sahidic) dialect of Coptic. If, as there is reason to believe, all the narratives Robinson reports were molded into their present shape on Egyptian soil, they throw light on the popular religion of Coptic Christians. They show us more clearly than formal history or merely didactic discourses the way in which the ordinary man was being influenced by his religion.

 

     Further, it appears that popular Coptic Christianity, like the Gnostic systems preserved for us in the Coptic books, borrowed from the ancient Egyptian religion. Indeed, it appears that the influence of the Old Religion was not confined to contact with Egyptian Christianity: it had already influenced the Orphic religion of Greece; and this in its turn affected Greek Christianity.

 

     Our survey of the narratives of the Assumption shows that there are two great groups, one of which is represented in Coptic only—but not uniformly by all the Coptic authorities. Nevertheless, all or most of them share the following common points:

 

1. In all of them, Mary is warned of her death by her son, not by an angel.

 

2. In almost all of them there is a long interval between the death of Mary and her Assumption—206 days. One authority gives only 7 days, however; and one excluded a corporal assumption entirely.

 

3. In none of these tractates do we hear of the summoning of the apostles from their missionary work; indeed, Peter and John are the only two who are prominent.

 

     In the Greek, Latin and Syriac narratives, the death of Mary is announced by an angel. In the Greek and Latin he brings a palm-branch—so also in the ­Fragment of the Resurrection, after Revillout­—but not in the Syriac. The figure of the Roman governor figures largely in the Syriac version, and appears in the Greek. The controversy before him is, however, only present in the oriental versions of the Assumption. Also, it seems to have been borrowed from another document, since the real point of it is the hiding of the cross at the end. The Jew who attacks the bier (usually named Jephonias, but called Ruben in the version attributed to Joseph of Arimathaea) is a constant feature: he also figures in the ­Obsequies of the Holy Virgin­—in which fragment only is found the story of a Jew smitten for touching the bier with the body of Mary on it, but being healed. In the Greek, Latin (and one Coptic) versions, Jesus heals the blinded people with a palm-branch; but in the Syriac, this is accomplished by the use of Peter’s staff. The corporal assumption takes place in the Syriac versions very soon after the death of Mary, and less emphasis is laid upon it than in the Coptic texts.

 

     The Armenian, Ethiopic and Arabic forms agree in their main features with the Syriac books, and do not demand a detailed analysis; with the Armenian, as usual, presenting its own peculiar additions.

 

     In so far as we have it, this work—pieces of two distinct works put together under one heading—presents a far more compact and coherent story of the Assumption than either the Departure of My Lady Mary From This World­ or the ­History of the Blessed Virgin Mary­. It was first published in 1865 by Wright ­ (Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament­, 1865, 18-24, 24-41). Although the simplest of the Syriac versions of the Assumption, only three fragments of the legend survive:

 

1. The first fragment begins with a prefatory section, declaring the apostles to be the witnesses and authors of what follows. In it, Mary journeys to Bethlehem with three virgins; and they are named as in the Departure of My Lady Mary From This World­. The fragment ends during the description by John the Apostle about how he came to comfort Mary after the crucifixion of her son. It was left unfinished by the scribe.

 

2. The second fragment of this book begins in the midst of the disputes between believers and unbelievers before the governor (narrated in 1), and the story follows the course of 1 down to the point where the apostles lay Mary in the cave. Here it ends.

 

3. The third fragment—actually, a continuation of (2)—does not seem to have an exact textual equivalent in (1). It contains a rather long doxology, with which the book originally ended.

 

     For the publications of the texts themselves: (1) SYRIAC: edited and translated by Wright (­Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament­, 1865; another recension of it was published in the Journal of Sacred Literature­ for 1865); (2) ARABIC: a version resembling more the Syriac than the Greek or Latin, edited and translated by Enger in 1854; (3) COPTIC: published and translated by Zoega and Dulaurier, is considerably different from all present texts; (4) LATIN: The numerous Latin recensions also differ considerably from each other. They are all, however, from the same source, and that probably (5) GREEK: the Greek text attributed to John the Apostle. (6) ETHIOPIC: edited by Chaine, (­Corpus Script. Christ. Orient­., 1909). (7) ARMENIAN: edited by Vetter (­Theol. Quartalschrift­, 1902).

 

[ANT, 219, 222, 226-227; ANF, 359; NTA, I, 429; CAG, ---]

 

131. A Coptic Fragment of the Assumption, after Revillout.

 

     E. Revillout (in ­Patrologia Orientalis: Apocryphes Coptes­ I.16, 174) has published a Coptic papyrus fragment of the assumption of Mary (Sahidic dialect). He attributes it quite without reason to the ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­. It is told by an eyewitness, but he cannot be identified. We here encounter the high priest whose hand is smitten off when he touches the bier: he appears in other versions. The fragment forms a link between the Egyptian and the other forms of the story. The narrative tells of a corporeal assumption, and joins a number of similar fragments in placing that event on the 16th of Mesore. In this Coptic group, the death of Jesus takes place before the dispersion of the apostles, and we do not hear of any of them individually except Peter and John. The other versions mostly agree in assembling all the apostles at the death-bed. James provides the following resume:

 

     The high priest begs to be healed. Peter says this is possible if he believes in Jesus the Christ; whereupon the high priest confesses that both he and his people knew Jesus to be the Son of God, but crucified him because he drove the traders out of the temple. Peter simply tells him that, if he believes he should embrace the body of Jesus’ virgin Mother (who has recently died) and profess his belief. He does this, and takes his amputated hand and presses it to the stump, to which it miraculously adheres.

 

     The apostles lay the body of the mother of Jesus in a tomb and remain there, to wait until the Lord should come and raise it up as he had promised. They tell some attending virgins to go home in peace; but these want to stay, too. Peter and John reassure them; they ask to be blessed, and Peter blesses them.

 

     At the third hour of the day the converted high priest comes and tells Peter that the Jews are still plotting to burn the body of Mary and the tomb as well. Peter warns the disciples; but God sends forgetfulness upon the Jews. The apostles take courage, and a voice from Heaven is heard, promising safety.

 

     On the 16th of Mesore, lightning plays about the tomb and the apostles become frightened. Suddenly, there is the sound of trumpets, and a sweet odor fills the vicinity. The door of the tomb is opened, and they see within a great light. As they are watching, behold, a chariot bearing the Lord Jesus descends in fire from Heaven.

 

     He greets the apostles, and calls into the tomb: “Mary, my mother, arise!” And behold, she steps out of the tomb, looking as if she had never died. He invites her into the chariot with Him; and together they depart into Heaven, angels going before them. A voice calls out: “Peace be to you, my brethren.”

 

     The apostles enter the tomb, find the burial clothes where the body had lain, and bury them

 

     The fragment says that this miracle was even greater than that of the resurrection of Jesus; adds that no one saw that­ except His mother, and Mary Magdalene; and states that nothing has been added or taken away from this narrative.

 

[ANT, 200-201]

 

132. 133. The Letter of Mary to the Messinaeans; The Letter of Mary to the Florentines

 

     In Fabricius (­Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­ I, II, 1703; III, 1719) the text of a ­Letter of Mary to the Messinaeans­ appears, as well as a ­Letter of Mary to the Florentines­. James mentions the former, but then proceeds to excuse himself from even the briefest of discussion; and from his reaction it—James demonstrates throughout his book his personal dislike of much of the Christian agrapha, in particular the post-fifth century productions—it is probably safe to maintain that Latin was their original language; and so they may be some production of the Early Middle Ages at best, though what is needed is a translation of what seem to be Latin commentaries on these letters which Fabricius reproduces (below).

 

     First I have reproduced the letters with the location of their Latin footnotes (the texts of which appear in the KEY, below the letters). In the second part of this Latin exposition are two (apparently—I know no Latin) commentaries on them, which also appear in Fabricius. I have copied them all directly from the 18th century book.

 

132. The Letter of Mary to the Messinaeans

 

[Maria Virgo, Joachim filia, humillima Dei ancilla christi jesu crucifixi mater, ex tribu Juda, stirpe David, messanensibus omnibus salutem, & Dei Patris omnipotentis benedictonem. Vos omnes fide magna legatos ac nucios (a) per publicum documentum ad nos fisisle tonstat. Filium nostrum Dei genitum, Deum & hominem esse fatemini, & in coelum post suam resurrectionem ascendiste, Pauli Apostoli praedicatione mediante viam veritaris agnoscentese. Ob quod vos & civitatem vestram benedicimus, cujus perpetuam, protrectricom nos esse volumus. Anno filii nosetri (b) XI.II.3, Nonis (c) Julii, luna 17 feria quinta, ex Hierosolymis. (d)]

 

133. The Letter of Mary to the Florentines

 

[Florentia, (e) Deo & Domino Jesu Christo Filio meo & nihi dilecta. tene disem, insta. Orationibus, roborare patientia. His enim sempiternam consequeris salutem (f) Deum.]

 

KEY

 

(a) Neutiquam verisimile est integras urbes ad mariam cum viveret legatos ac nuncios publica auctoritate misisse. Longe vero incredibilius quod paulo post profitetur se maria perpetuam esse velle urbis protrectricem. Hoc cum humillimae Dei ancillae elogio quod sibi ante dedit parum apte convenit.

(b) Neque Apostolis neque mariae in mentem uoquam venisse constat, annos numerare a nativitate Christi, quem morem longe juniorem nec nisi sub Christtanis Imperatoribus obtinuisse norunt eruditi.

(c) Tunc hauddubie Hierosolymis, inquit idem Rivetus, per Nonas & Calendas tempus signabant, & per ferias. Possit Tamen dici hoc a latino interprete ita positum more Romano & Christiano.

(d) Traduntur ita hae literae scriptae ad Messanenses a beata virgine, non e coelo ut quosdam affirmare memini, sed cum adhuc viveret in terris & Hieroslymis.

(e) Aliiedunt: Florentiae - dilectae. Quanquam Adrianus Lyraeus pro fide huic epistolae facienda laudat Hieronymum Savanarolam Ferrariensem qui in urbe florentina did 25 Octobris 1495. Iltam velut genuinam Mariae, pro concione est interpretatus, sermo. Ne qui adhuc inter ejus opera extat: tum Johannem de Carthagena, qui tom. 3.1.4 hom 1. vocat antiquissimam, immemorabilem, caleber. simamque Florentinae urbis traditionem, quod B. virgo eam per Epistolam salutarit. Nihilominus nullum potuit afferre testem antiquum qui ejusmodi literas a maria ad Florentinos seriptas esse affirmet. Praetera Antonius Macedo in libro de Diis tetularibus Orbis Christiani quo p. 227. Epistolam ad Messaenses adprobare non dubitabit, hanc tamen ad Florentinos ait p. 115. non immerito bocari in dubium, quod florentia urbs Evangelicae doctrine veritatem demum didicerit a Paulino & Frontino Petri apostoli discipulis Anno Christi LXV. Cordatis vero atque eruditis Criticis non inter Protestantes modo sed in ipsa romana Ecclesia quo que minime dubium est, uti Epistolam ad Igrnatium & ad messanenses ita ad Florentinos quoque suppositiam & ante pauca secula sub nomine Mariae confictam esse.

(f) Aliisict His enim faturem apud Deum, & apud homines gloriam consequeris.

 

     On page 846, Fabricius alludes to Johanners Mabillonius lib. de re diplomaticqa p. 25; which I take to mean: Jean Mabillon, ­De Re Diplomatica­, page 25, and he quotes Mabillon thus—(Hic adde quod a roco Pirro memoratur de quodam Graeco Antistite, qui ut Messinensium grratiam iniret, spem injecit reperiundi autographi epistolae beate Virginis ad Messanenses hebraice conscripti, quod in membrana confictum cum sub lateribus certo in loco abscondisset; viri quidam religiosi tandem ejus detexerunt imposturam.)

 

     Fabricius also appears to reproduce some commentary from Augustus Varenius rationarii Scriptorum Ecclesiast. Seculi I p.14 (a) —(1), below— and a Thomas Ittigius in Heptade dissertationum p. 115—(2), below. They appear to be footnoted (b) and (c) in the text.

 

1. Pro fide epistolae ad Messanenses Lyraeus in trisagio Mariano allegat praeter antiquissimam Messa-nensium in Sicilia traditionem flavium Lucium Dextrum ad A. salutis 86. Constantinum Lascarem in prologo ad hanc Epistolam, qui Hebraice a Maria scriptam & jamolim Graece translatam ex Grajo sermone in latinum transmiserit: Mutium Justinopolitanum lib. i. hist. c.13. Martinum Navarrum I. de Orat c.21. P. Canisium lib 5. de virgine Dei para c.i. J. Petrum Odeschalcum in instituto devotionis b. virginis discursu 8. Sed recentiores sunt hi omnes, & quibus opponitur exipsis Pontificiis Iohannes Maria sacri Palatii Apostolici Magister, & quem Lyraeus velut Caetera his religiofiorem citat, quippe qui epistolam ad Ignatiam rejicere ausus non fuerit: (b) Baronius (ad A. C. 48. num. 25.) & Christophorus a Castro in (first letter illegible) oseto Mariano c.84.

 

2. Nec Majorem sidem meretur Epistola divae virginis ad messanenses, etsi Lucius Dexter ad A. C. 86. num. 11. Celebrem bujus Epistolae memoriam commendet, & ad A. C. 430. num. 7. Isto tempore hanc Epistolam Hebraice exaratam in Tabulario messanensi repertam referat. Credat id Bivarius, qui in notis ad Dextrum p. 178. hanc Epistolam Hispanice & latine exhibet (c) & in memoriam tanti beneficii Ecclesiam Messanensium metropolitanam Madonna de lettera ad hac Epistola quae reverenter illic asservari dicitur nuncupatam observat. Verum & inscriptio & subscriptio & alia argumenta hanc Epistolam spuriam esse produnt, ut Rivetus libro 2. Apologiae pro Maria c.9 & alii notarunt. Magno igitur conatu magnas nugae egit melchior Inchoferus cum peculiari libro hanc Mariae Epistolam defendit &c.

 

KEY

 

(a) Siciliae loib. i. p. 247. Hunc rocchum Pirrum impugnavit Selvagus paulo ante memoratius, cujus liber prodfit messanae A. 1640. 4.

(b) Neque admittere tamen illam est ausus. vide supra p. 837.

(c) Ediderunt hanc Epistolam Praeter Bivarium Inthosurus, Canisius, Leraeus aliique. Johannes quoque baptista Laurus a Julio Castanaceo acceptam commentario fuo de annulo pronubo infernit. Epistola b. Virginis, inquit Castanaceus, sic habet, quae nos perpetuo servet. Maria Virgo &c. Ex Lauro repetit Rivertus T.3. Opp. 703. Exhibet itidem Varenius loco laudato, ut alios in prqesentio omittam. caeterum epistolam ad Messanenses pro genui na habet quoque Antonius Macedo libro de Dus tutelaribus Orbis Christiani p. 207, seq. marcellus Laurus jesuita in epistola edita Mesesanae A. 1642. Paulus bellus in gloria messanensium A. 1647, fol. & in aduexo huic carmine Hieronymus Petruccius celebrante eandem mariae Epistolam Jambis puris 525. Dominicus Arganautsns in pompis fefti vis a Civitate massanensi celebratis circa soleunitatem Epistolae Mariae ad mesesanenses Scriptae, editis Italicae A. 1646. 4. Hippolytus Maria Pergamus de Epistola ad Messanenses, Messanae A. 1644. 4.

 

[FAB, 846ff]

 

134. The Greek Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus

 

     The ­Greek Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus­, which James (­Apocrypha Anecdota­ 1893) entitled the Apocalypse of the Virgin­, has long been known to exist. Hardly any collection of Greek manuscripts is without one or more copies of it; and similar documents, if not actual versions of this Greek text, are to be found in Slavonic (see Kozak’s list of Slavonic apocrypha in Jahrbuch für Protestant Theologie­, December, 1891); Ethiopic (see Dillmann’s ­Catal. Codd. Aeth. Mus. Brit.­, 21); Armenian, apparently in Tischendorf (Apocalypse Apocryphae­, 1866, xxvi-xxx); and Cretan, in Dawkins (in ­Kpnt. Xpovika­ II, 1948, 487-500). [Dawkin’s title is my attempt to reproduce Greek letters as closely as possible with Latin ones. H]

 

     James could find no manuscript copy older than the 11th century. The work also exists in a shortened and more modern form (from a copy in the Bodleian Library, of the 16th century). Between the other copies there also exist very wide differences; and it would no doubt result from the comparison of a number of manuscripts that several distinct recensions of the apocalypse would be recognizable. For this book was a member in very good standing of that class of works known as apocalyptic literature; and its text reveals considerable indebtedness to the works of other and older materials within this ­genre­, of which it is but a variation.

 

1. The idea of attributing a revelation of any kind to the Mother of Jesus is most likely taken from the literature connected with the ­Assumption of Mary­. The Greek narrative attributed to John the Apostle represents Mary as going every day to the sepulcher to pray; and here she received warning of her approaching death from Gabriel, who descends from Heaven (as in this work) to make the announcement. At the end of the Arabic narrative (ed. Max Enger); in the ­Syriac History of the Departure of My Lady Mary From This World­; and also in the Obsequies of the Holy Virgin­ (for which see Wright in the ­Journal of Sacred Literature­, and ­Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament­), there are sections describing the visit of Mary to Hell and to Paradise which are of an apocalyptic nature. That the obligation, if any exists, must be on the side of the ­Greek Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus­, does not seem in doubt: the Assumption legends, then, are one source of the document before us.

 

2. Next to this, and more wide-reaching in its influence, is the Apocalypse of Paul­. The leading idea of the Greek Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus­—that of interceding for the lost and obtaining a respite from torment for them—forms an episode in the ­Apocalypse of Paul­. Nor is this an isolated case. Indeed, Paul is expressly mentioned ­with other saints­ as not having interceded for a particular class of sinners (in chapter 4). This idea of intercession for the lost was suggested by Abraham’s intercession for the city of Sodom (Genesis­ 18), an incident alluded to in ­IV Esdras­ 7:35—and very likely the first use made of it in apocalyptic literature was in the Abrahamic apocryphon of which the main lines are preserved in the ­Testament of Abraham­. It is amplified in the ­Apocalypse of Paul­, and still further in that of ­Mary­. Intercession for sinners generally is a leading idea in ­IV Esdras­, the ­Apocalypse of Baruch­, the ­Greek Apocalypse of Esdras­ and the ­Apocalypse of Sedrach­; but in these books the intercession is not directly connected with any vision of torment (except partially in the case of ­IV Esdras­). The ­Apocalypse of Paul­, then, itself influenced in this particular (perhaps by the ­Testament of Abraham), has been a main source from which the author of this apocalypse of Mary drew.

 

3. Finally, it is not only through the medium of the Pauline vision but directly also from the ­Apocalypse of Peter­ that our author is under obligation. There are at least 10 possible contacts with the ­Apocalypse of Peter­ (though in some of them the immediate source is likely to be the ­Apocalypse of Paul­). The recurrence of the resemblance to fragment six of ­Peter­ is, however, striking; and there is also no improbability whatever in the supposition that the Petrene apocalypse existed down to a comparatively late date, perhaps the 10th century, in a few copies. Indeed, such evidence as we possess points to its having so survived, at least in Palestine.

 

     As to the date of composition for the ­Greek Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus­, if it is placed in or about the 9th century, notes JAR, we shall probably not be far wrong. ANF says that it is the compilation of some monk of the Middle Ages. James is content to pronounce it a late production. He also provides the following brief summary:

 

Mary prays at the Mount of Olives to be told about the torments of Hell and the next world. For this purpose, Michael the archangel is sent. He takes her first to the west. The earth opens and discloses the lost who did not worship the Trinity. Mary sees a great darkness. At her prayers it is lifted and she sees souls tormented with boiling pitch. No one has yet interceded for them—neither Abraham, John the Baptist, Moses, or Paul—for they are unbelievers. He takes her to the south. There is a river of fire there with souls immersed at various depths. They are cursers of their parents, causers of abortion, false witnesses, usurers (represented by a man hung by his feet and devoured by worms), and backbiters and gossips (represented by a woman hung by her ears, with serpents coming out of her mouth and biting her). He takes her again to the west. There, in a cloud of fire, lie those who lay late in bed on Sunday and so missed Divine Service. On fiery seats sit those who did not rise at the entry of the priest. On an iron tree hang blasphemers and slanderers. A man hung by his hands and feet is the evil steward of a church. Wicked priests, readers, bishop, widows of priests who married again, an ‘archdeaconess,’ and covetous women are severally described. He takes her to the left-hand (?) of Paradise. In a river of pitch and fire appear the Jews who crucified Jesus, those who denied baptism, those guilty of various impurities, sorcerers, murderers, and those who strangle their children. In a lake of fire are bad Christians. A great appeal of Mary follows, in which she entreats all the saints to intercede, with her, for the Christians. At last the Son appears, and grants the days of Pentecost as a season of rest to all the souls who are lost.

 

     In some texts a (usually short) visit of Mary to Paradise follows this.

 

[ANT, 563; ANF, VIII, 359; NTA, II, 753-754; JAR, 109-113]

 

135. The Latin Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus

 

     Tischendorf (­Apocalypses Apocryphae­, 1866, 95-112) reproduces an apocalypse entitled ­Liber Johannis de Dormitione Mariae­; but NTA says about it only that it is a legend, and not an apocalypse.

 

[NTA, II, 754]

 

136. The Ethiopic Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus

 

     This work is wholly different from the ­Greek Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.­ Chaine has edited it, with the title ­Apocalypsis sen Visio Mariae Virginis­ and a Latin translation in ­Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium­, Script. Aeth., series I.7, 1909, 43-68). The work is almost entirely borrowed from the ­Apocalypse of Paul­. Chaine believes it to be a version from the Arabic, and the Arabic, he believes, was translated from Greek.

 

     The apostle John is the narrator. Mary calls him to listen to a wonderful mystery which has been revealed to her. As she prayed at Golgotha at noon on the sixth day of the week, a cloud came and took her into the third heaven. Jesus appeared and said that he would show her a great mystery. Look upon the earth beneath, he says, and from this point—chapter 13 of the Apocalypse of Paul­—the text of the ­Ethiopic Apocalypse of Mary, the Mother of Jesus­ is in fact that of the ­Apocalypse of Paul­, sometimes amplified with quotations from the ­Received New Testament­. Two further points are of interest here:

 

1. In the Ethiopic apocalypse, there is an addition to the text (at what amounts to ­Apocalypse of Paul­ 31) that the souls mentioned at ­Paul­ 31 who were neither hot nor cold sat beside the river of fire. Something like this seems to be wanting in ­Paul­, since, without this addition, those who were neither hot nor cold are illogically placed in the river.

 

2. The section corresponding to ­Paul­ 40 shows a definite affinity with the ­Apocalypse of Peter­. Women are seen bitten by serpents, dogs, lions, and leopards of fire. There are nuns who violated the rule and slew their children. Often they caused their death before they were born. They shed their blood on the ground, or killed them when they were born, or their fathers gave poison to their mothers.

 

     The Ethiopic work ends with chapter 44 of the ­Apocalypse of Paul­. No trace appears in it of chapters 1-12 or 45-51 of the ­Apocalypse of Paul­.

 

[ANT, 563-564; NTA, II, 754]

 

137. The Coptic Vision of Theophilus

 

     This book is an apocryphal story dealing with the flight of the holy family into Egypt and the life which they led in that country. The story is cast in the mold of a vision, and entitled the Vision of Theophilus­ (by whom is meant the Patriarch of Alexandria from 385-412AD). Of all the patriarchs of that great city, he is probably the one who showed more zeal in the destruction of pagan temples and monuments.

 

     The text is edited from three extant manuscripts. They are dated 1479, 1720 and 1909 (the last copied from one dated 1757). In the three manuscripts, the story is part of a work divided into five books containing the apocryphal history of the Virgin and her Son. The first book deals with the Annunciation of Mary, the second with the Nativity of Jesus—it is attributed to James, the brother of our Lord; the third contains the present ­Vision of Theophilus­; the fourth is an infancy gospel; and the fifth and sixth deal with the death and the Assumption of the Virgin. All these texts, except this one, have already been published. If we assume that this division of the story is original, we shall have no difficulty in maintaining that from relatively ancient times the ­Vision of Theophilus­ constituted an integral part of the apocryphal life of Christ and His mother in some communities belonging to the Monophysite West Syrian Church. (The East Syrian Church, being mainly Nestorian, knows nothing of the Vision of Theophilus­ in any shape or form.)

 

     Some traditions embodied in the narrative are attested by Rufinus of Aquileia (d.410) and Sozomen of Bethelia (early 5th century). There is probably a reference to our document in an Arabic Jacobite synaxarion of Coptic origin, which under the second of November reads: On this day the Savior our God, our King, and our Lord Jesus Christ was united to His pure disciple of Kuskam, which is al-Muharraq. It is there that the first Mass was said, as testify St. Theophilus and St. Cyril. There are other references.

 

     The author mentions in connection with some events of his story the name of Theodosius the Younger (Eastern Emperor, 408-450); but as the ­Life of John the Baptist According to Serapion­ shows, it was under Theodosius the Great (379-395) that those events, including the destruction of the temple of Serapis (391) took place. It does not seem probable that either Theophilus or Cyril wrote the story; and it may be that the work is by a late Coptic bishop, such as Cyriacus of Oxyrhynchus (15th century). From the fact, however, that he is the author of the Ethiopic liturgy of St. Mary, it does seem probable that he flourished at an earlier date. Woodley has pointed out that the threefold Coptic liturgy of Basil, Gregory and Cyril was definitely fixed and stereotyped before the 12th century; and it seem unlikely that a Coptic bishop should have composed another as late as the 15th. Further, the Ethiopic liturgy itself, which has been ascribed to the above bishop, seems to postulate a much earlier date than the 15th century—as early as the 11th century.

 

     Arabic seems to be the original language in which this pseudo-Theophilus wrote his treatise. There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the Syriac text that I am editing and translating is a translation from Arabic.

 

1. There are in the narrative distinct Arabic words which could not have crept into the Syriac text except through an Arabic original.

 

2. There are in the treatise many purely Arabic expressions which are foreign to the genius of the Syriac language.

 

3. There are some words which are masculine in Syriac, but are used in the treatise in the feminine gender under the influence of the corresponding words in the Arabic language in which they are feminine.

 

     This anomaly can easily be explained by the fact of an Arabic original lying before the translator. The Arabic original seems to have been translated at a time prior to the 14th century into the Syriac text which we have before us, and this Syriac text was retranslated into Garshuni.

 

     The origin of the work may be traced to the fact that its author, noticing that there was a gap in the apocryphal infancy gospels and in the life of Jesus’ Mother in connection with the flight into Egypt and the life of the holy family in that country, endeavored to fill it. Supplying these deficiencies gave him also the opportunity of enhancing the value of the shrine of Kuskam, for which he shows special predilection (calling it this holy mountain, this mountain, this holy house, this house, etc.).

 

     The above surmise, however, does ­not­ imply that every historical detail in the story was invented by the author, whose only task seems indeed to have been to take the material for his narrative from local tradition and to put it in the form in which we find it before us. He made us also aware of some apocryphal books and of some works on ecclesiastical history with which the Egyptian scholars of his time were familiar. The present document is thoroughly Coptic in origin; indeed, the only link that connects with the Syrian church is its translation into Syriac by a West Syrian Monophysite living in or near Egypt.

 

[WO3]

 

***

 

XVIII: JESUS' FATHER, JOSEPH

 

138. The History of Joseph the Carpenter

 

     The ­History of Joseph the Carpenter­ (NTA prefers ­Story of Joseph the Carpenter­) is an Egyptian production dating from about 400AD (James says not earlier than the 4th, and very probably later; the ODC thinks the 4th-7th centuries are all open). Tischendorf employed various arguments in support of his opinion that the work belonged to the 4th century: (1) that it is found in at least two dialects of Coptic (fragments in Sahidic, completely in Bohairic); (2) that the eschatology of it is not inconsistent with an early date; (3) that the Feast of the Thousand Years (chapter 26) had become part of the non-orthodox Christian opinion after the 3rd century. ANF, however points out that the death of Mary (chapter 5) is consistent with the doctrine of the Assumption, which began to prevail in the 5th century.

 

     That Coptic or Greek was the original language of the book may still be in dispute. In favor of the Greek are two considerations: (1) The first part, chapters 1-11, recount events before the birth of Jesus, thence his birth and early childhood. Here the influence of the ­Infancy Gospel of James­ and the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ (both originally Greek productions) is unmistakable. (2) Part two, chapters 12-32, portray Joseph’s sickness and death as a model of holy dying; and also his burial, the latter corresponding to the rites of Osiris from the Old Religion (whose precepts had been translated into Greek long before this). Morenz (“Die Geschichte von Joseph dem Zimmermann Unbersetzt, Erlautert und Untersucht” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ LXVI, 1951) demonstrates a strong influence from Egyptian religion, and also that of Gnosis. Klameth (in ­Angelos­ III, 1930) affirms that in the Egyptian Christianity of the late 2nd century, there were no sharp lines between the Great Church and Gnostic thought.

 

     On the other hand, a Latin version (not yet published) made in the 14th century exists, but it is from the Arabic, not the Greek. And it is from Coptic, not Greek, that the work was first translated into Arabic (first published by Wallin in 1722, with a Latin translation and copious notes). Wallin’s version has been republished by Fabricius, and later in a somewhat amended form by Thilo. This amended form of Wallin’s version is the text adopted by Tischendorf. Chapters 14-24 have been published in the Sahidic-Coptic version by Zoega in 1810 with a Latin translation; but more correctly by Dulaurier in 1835 with a French translation, and also by Lagarde (­Aegyptiaca­, 1883).

 

     The object of the work is the glorification of Joseph, the Father of Jesus, on his feast day; for his cult, today so popular in the West, was long confined to Egypt. The interest of it lies in a few reminiscences of earlier books (the ­Infancy Gospel of Thomas­, the ­Received Acts­, the ­Apocalypse of Elias­), and in the picturesque and highly Egyptian descriptions of death. The lamentations of Joseph and his prayers find many parallels in the literature of Christian Egypt, and especially in the Coptic accounts of the death of Mary.

 

[ANF, 352; ANT, 84-86; NTA, I, 430; ODC, 744]

 

139. A Possible Joseph Apocryphon in the ­Infancy Gospel of James­

 

     Not only is it generally agreed among scholars that the story of the death of Zacharias in the ­Infancy Gospel of James­ (chapters 22-24) does not properly belong to the text, so also difficulty is caused by the sudden introduction of Joseph, the Father of Jesus, as the narrator (chapter 18:2ff). The view that this is a passage from another source later inserted into the narrative seems now to be confirmed by its absence from the oldest manuscript of the ­Infancy Gospel of James­. We cannot be sure whether this means that a fragment of a Joseph-apocryphon has been introduced at this point or, if so, how far it extends. The story of a midwife being present at the birth of Jesus (which immediately follows, chapters 19-20), was current in the 2nd century; and this is known from a quotation in Clement of Alexandria (­Miscellaneous Studies­ VII.93:—(for after she had brought forth some say that she was attended by a midwife, and was found to be a virgin.). In ­Infancy Gospel of James­ 20:2, an altogether secondary addition, makes its appearance; but this prayer is itself only to be found in the later manuscripts of the Infancy Gospel of James­. But even beyond this is the fact that the oldest extant manuscript of the ­Infancy Gospel of James­ itself shows unmistakably clear traces of later expansion of the original work.

 

[NTA, I, 372-373]

 

***

 

XIX: JESUS' BROTHERS, JAMES AND JUDE

 

140. The Questions of James

 

     There is a fairly large class of books, early and late, which consists, like the ­Gospel of Bartholomew­, of questions addressed to Jesus and his answers to them. We possess late Greek specimens of this class, among them the Questions of James­, the brother of Jesus, to John. It is printed by Vassiliev (­Anecdota Graeco-Byzantina­).

 

[ANT, 187]

 

141. The ­Apocryphon Jacobi­

 

     But a single manuscript of this work exists, untitled, written in Coptic (Subachmimic dialect): the Apocryphon Jacobi­ (Secret Book of James) has received its modern title from the reference to the secret book (Greek: apocryphon) allegedly revealed to James and Peter by Jesus and recorded in Hebrew by James—James the Just, the brother of Jesus. This tractate assumes the form of a letter, and opens in typical epistolary fashion. An identification of the recipient of the letter is impossible, though it has been suggested that the name of the addressee might be restored as [Cerin]thos. (The letter proceeds to describe the circumstances surrounding the composition of this secret book, and emphasizes the need for care in its circulation.)

 

     In spite of this, however, the ­Apocryphon Jacobi­ deserves, like the ­Apocryphon of John­ to be ranked among the writings related to the Gnostic gospels, or referring to one episode or another of the Received gospel narrative. (1) As in the gospels of this type, the special teachings which James relates in confidence to his correspondent are supposed to have been delivered by the risen Christ on the eve of His Ascension. (2) The event of the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven occurs here 550 days after the Resurrection from the realm of the dead, a figure which corresponds to that assigned by the Valentinians (so Irenaeus, ­Adversus Omnes Haereses­ I:i.5: 18 months), the Ophites (so Irenaeus, ­ibid.­, I:xxviii.7—18 months; ­ibid.­, I:ix.16—545 days), and the ­Ascension of Isaiah­ (below). (3) The place and privileged role which is accorded to James and Peter recall a tradition reported by Eusebius of Caesearea (­Ecclesiastical History­ II.i.3-4) as from Clement of Alexandria, according to which Jesus after his Resurrection imparted `gnosis' first to these same two apostles and to John. In contrast to all this is the Orthodox witness (­Received Acts­ 1:3, 1:9), which assigns the period of time between the Resurrection and the Ascension to 40 days; and which says that all the Apostles were witnesses to the Ascension, not just James and Peter (as in the ­Apocryphon Jacobi­).

 

     The major section of the book relates a dialogue between James and Peter and the resurrected Christ. James and Peter are selected to receive special revelation, and the Savior discourses on such topics as diminution and fullness, persecution and death, prophecy and parables. Appeals and warnings are given for the sake of salvation. The Savior tells the apostles that he wishes them to know themselves and to live as sons of God, filled with the kingdom. Finally, after Jesus ascends in his chariot of spirit, James and Peter themselves experience an ecstatic trip to the heavens; then James sends each of the disciples out, while he himself goes to Jerusalem.

 

     The position occupied by James is most important. It is James who sends them separately to another place (16:7). It is the account rendered by James to which all the disciples give credence. James thus appears as leader of the Apostolic college, and plays—if his speech at 16:7 refers to sending the disciples into the world to spread the Good News—the role attributed in Matthew­ 28:19 to Jesus Himself. And while according to Acts­ 1:12 all the other Apostles also returned to Jerusalem, here James is the only one to come back (16:8). In the conclusion to the work, it is James who expresses the wish that his correspondent may be the first to be enlightened by the faith which he is charged to preach—that he may have his part among the beloved, the children of God. Hippolytus (Refutation of All Heresies­ V:vii.1) speaks in a note about the Naassenes about a secret teaching transmitted to ‘Mariamme’ (probably Mary Magdalene) by James, the brother of Jesus—(These are the chief heads of a great mass of words which, they say, James the brother of the Lord delivered to Mariamme). We may therefore suspect that these traditions of James, like those of Matthias (below) were written down in a document which perhaps had more or less the form of a gospel.

 

     But there is nothing to prove that this was so, of that the gospel mentioned by Hippolytus—assuming that it ever existed—bore the name of James rather than that of Mariamme or Mary, who has given her name to more than one Gnostic writing of this kind. It is equally possible that these traditions were composed in the form of a revelation, disclosed by James in the course of a conversation or by the channel of a letter.

 

     The surviving Apocryphon Jacobi may be a Gnostic document, and some scholars have suggested that it reflects certain Valentinian ideas, though there is no full agreement concerning the precise nature of the document. The emphasis upon knowledge, and the use of such typically Gnostic themes as sleep, drunkenness, and sickness, suggest that the work would be at home within Christian Gnosticism. Indeed, on the whole, and despite its variations from the Received tradition, the book does not have a thoroughly heretical character, and strictly speaking it would be permissible to see in it, with van Unnik (“The Origin of the Recently Discovered Apocryphon Jacobi” in ­Vigiliae Christianae­ X, 1956, 149-156), an offshoot of early Christian literature without any connection with Gnosticism. It would then present a case analogous to that of the ­Letter of the Apostles to the Christians of the World­ (to which it is akin both in form and in some of its details).

 

     On the other hand, there are certain features of its doctrine and vocabulary which suggest a Valentinian origin; as does the fact that the codex to which the ­Apocryphon Jacobi­ is on the whole homogeneous, and contains only writings by Valentinus or by his school. Also, there is abundant evidence that the author borrowed freely not only from Christian, but also from Pagan ideas. The conclusion of the work, particularly the concluding addresses by Jesus, his Ascension, and the immediate responses by James and John (­Apocryphon Jacobi­ 14:26-16:2) combines reminiscences of Biblical material (farewell discourse of ­ John­ 16; ­Assumption of Elijah­, ­Vision of Ezekiel­) with pagan conceptions and ideas (imagery of apotheosis­ and of Imperial triumphs). [On the chariot of the spirit, see Puech and Quispel (in ­Vigilius Christianae­ VIII, 1954, 15-18); on the gesture of triumphal farewell—the sign of greeting and blessing, made by raising the right hand toward the sky—see L’Orange (“Sol Invictus Imperator. Ein Beitrag zure Zpotheose” in ­Symbolae Osloenses­ XIV, 1935, 86-114; and his book, ­Studies on the Iconography of Cosmic Kingship in the Ancient World­, Oslo, 1953, 124-133, 171-197). On the hymns which accompany the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven, see Festigiere (­La Revelation d’Hermes Trismegiste­ III, Paris, 1953, 133-137)].

 

     The ­Apocryphon of James­, like its three companions in the Codex Jung (probable 4th century) is a translation into Coptic of a 2nd century Greek text. NAG says that it may have been written in Egypt during the 3rd century, but acknowledges that some would place it earlier.

 

     NTB lists the following verbal or conceptual parallels with the Received New Testament­:

 

I,2;2.23-26­: But Jesus said, “No, but I shall go to the place from whence I came. If you wish to come with me, come!”

John 8:21­: Again he said to them, “I go away, and you will seek me and die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.”

*

I,2;2.28-33­: He said, “Verily I say unto you, no one will ever enter the kingdom of heaven at my bidding, but only because you yourselves are full.

Matthew 5:20­: For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 18:3­: and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Mark 10:15­: Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Luke 18:17­: Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

John 3:5­: Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

*

I,2;3.27-34­: Woe to those who have found relief from their illness, for they will relapse into illness. Blessed are they who have not been ill, and have known relief before falling ill; yours is the kingdom of God.

Luke 6:20b,24­: “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation.

*

I,2;4.23-28­: “Lord, we can obey you if you wish, for we have forsaken our fathers and our mothers and our villages and followed you.

Matthew 19:27,29­: Then Peter said in reply, “Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?” And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.

Mark 10:28-30­: Peter began to say to him, “Lo, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.

Luke 18:28-30­: And Peter said, “Lo, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no man who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive manifold more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”

*

I,2;4.28-30­: Grant us, therefore, not to be tempted by the devil, the evil one.”

Matthew 6:13­: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.\fn{Or: the evil one.}

*

I,2;5.9-19­: Or do you not know that you have yet to be abused and to be accused unjustly; and have yet to be shut up in prison, and condemned unlawfully, and crucified without reason, and buried shamefully, as was I myself,

Matthew 24:9­: “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.

Mark 13:9­: “But take heed to yourselves; for they will deliver you up to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them.

Luke 21:12,16­: But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and kinsmen and friends, and some of you they will put to death;

Matthew 10:17-18­: Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles.

John 16:2­: They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.

*

I,2;5.36-6.18­: “Lord, do not mention to us the cross and death, for they are far from you.” The Lord answered and said, “Verily I say unto you, none will be saved unless they believe in my cross. But those who have believed in my cross, theirs is the kingdom of God. Therefore, become seekers for death, like the dead who seek for life; for that which they seek is revealed to them. And what is there to trouble them? As for you, when you examine death, it will teach you election. Verily I say unto you, none of those who fear death will be saved; for the kingdom of God belongs to those who put themselves to death.

Matthew 16:21-26­: From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God, but of men.” Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?

Mark 8:31-37­: And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not on the side of God, but of men.” And he called to him the multitude with his disciples, and said to them, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life?

Luke 9:22-25­: saying, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” And he said to all, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

*

I,2;6.28-31­: The Lord answered and said, “Do you not know that the head of prophecy was cut off with John?”

Matthew 11:12-13­: From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John;

Luke 16:16­: “The law and the prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and every one enters it violently.

Matthew 14:5,10­: And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet. He sent and had John beheaded in the prison.

Mark 6:27­: And immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard and gave orders to bring his head. He went and beheaded him in the prison,

*

I,2;7.1-10­: At first I spoke to you in parables and you did not understand; now I speak to you openly, and you still do not perceive. Yet it was you who served me as a parable in parables, and as that which is open in the words that are open.

John 16:25,29­: “I have said this to you in figures; the hour is coming when I shall no longer speak to you in figures but tell you plainly of the Father.” His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly, not in any figure!

*

I,2;7.1-10­: “Do not allow the kingdom of heaven to wither; for it is like a palm shoot whose fruit has dropped down around it. They\fn{The fallen fruit.} put forth leaves, and after they had sprouted, they caused their womb to dry up. So it is also with the fruit which had grown from this single root; when it had been picked, fruit was borne by many. It\fn{The root.} was certainly good, and if it were possible for you to produce the new plants now, you would find it.

Mark 4:26-29­: And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

Matthew 13:3-8­: And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Mark 4:3-8­: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Luke 8:5-8a­: “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold.”

*

I,2;8.35-36­: and I have taught you what to say before the archons.

Luke 12:11-12­: And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you are to answer or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

Matthew 10:19-20­: When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but the spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Mark 13:11­: And when they bring you to trial and deliver you up, do not be anxious before hand what you are to say; but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.

Luke 21:12-15­: But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be a time for you to bear testimony. Settle it therefore in your minds, not to meditate beforehand how to answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

*

I,2;10.39-11.1­: Rejoice and be glad as sons of God.

Matthew 5:9b,12a­: for they shall be called Sons of God. Rejoice and be glad,

*

I,2;12.5-9­: For it is the spirit that raises the soul, but the body that kills it; that is, it is the soul which kills itself.

John 6:63a­: It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail;

*

I,2;12.38-13.1­: Blessed will they be who have known me; woe to those who have heard and have not believed! Blessed will they be who have not seen, yet have believed!

John 6:36­: But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

John 20:29­: Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

*

I,2;13.2-8­: “And once more I prevail upon you, for I am revealed to you building a house which is of great value to you when you find shelter beneath it, just as it will be able to stand by your neighbors' house when it threatens to fall.

Matthew 7:24-27­: “Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because I had been founded on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain fell and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell; and great was the fall of it.”

Luke 6:47-49­: Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and laid the foundation upon rock; and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But he who hears and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation; against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”

*

I,2;13.23-25­: For your sakes I have placed myself under the curse, that you may be saved.”

Galatians 3:13-14­: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “ursed be every one who hangs on a tree”—that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the spirit through faith.

*

I,2;13.39-14.1­: I have revealed myself to you, James

I Corinthians 15:7­: Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

*

I,2;14.19-21­: “These are the things that I shall tell you so far; now, however, I shall ascend to the place from whence I came.

John 3:12-13­: If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.

 

[NAG, 29; ODC, 755; NTA, I, 334-338; NTB, 5-18]

 

142. The Fragments of a ­Life of James­, after Revillout

 

     Revillout (in ­Journal Asiatique­ X.6, 1905, 113-120) has published a pair of Coptic fragments dealing with the Resurrection and the incident at Emmaus, under the title “Un Nouvel Apocryphe Copte: le Livre de Jacques.” These fragments have nothing to do with the ­Infancy Gospel of James­. Nor can they be considered purely heterodox.

 

[NTA, I, 333-334]

 

143. The Gospel of James the Elder, after Santos

 

     Santos (­Los Evangelios Apocrifos­, 1956, 27) claims the remains of an apocryphal gospel for a series of very late apocryphal writings found in 1597 in leaden boxes in the Sacro Monte de Grenada and designated the Gospel of James the Elder­.

 

[NTA, I, 334]

 

144. The Secret Teaching of James, the Brother of Jesus, to Mariamme

 

     Hippolytus (­Refutation of All Heresies­ V:vii.1) speaks in a note about the Naassenes of a secret teaching transmitted to Mariamme (probably Mary Magdalene) by James, the brother of Jesus:—These are the chief heads of a great mass of words which, they say, James the brother of the Lord delivered to Mariamme.

 

     NTA says that we may therefore suspect that these ‘Traditions’ of James, like those of Matthias, were written down in a document which perhaps had more or less the form of a gospel; but goes on to say that there is no proof that this was the case (the writing in question apparently not having survived the destruction of the antique world: H).

 

     Whatever is know about this gospel must therefore come solely from the notice in Hippolytus; and as yet I (H) have no access to the notice itself.

 

[NTA, I, 334]

 

145. The Ascents of James

 

     The Ebionites, of whom Epiphanius of Salamis reports (­Panarion­ XXX.16, XXX.23), appealed to writings under apostolic names, including that of James. This certainly means Jesus’ brother, the hero of the ­Ascents of James­ which Epiphanius says the Ebionites highly esteemed and in which Paul, as the opponent of circumcision, the Sabbath and the Law, is rejected (although admittedly the sacrificial worship of the Temple is abandoned). In early Christendom Paul underwent a discordant judgment, and the opinion that was entertained of his person and his life corresponded to that. The Jewish-Christians dismissed the apostle to the Gentiles. How strong an effect such antagonism could have on the view of Paul and his life we learn from the Jewish-Christian ­Ascents of James­:—(Paul was a man of Tarsus and indeed a Hellene, the son of a Hellenist mother and a Hellenist father. Having gone up to Jerusalem and having remained there a long time, he desired to marry a daughter of the priest and on that account submitted himself as a proselyte for circumcision. When nevertheless he did not obtain the girl, he became furious and began to write against circumcision, the Sabbath, and the Law.).

 

     The book, says Lightfoot (­Galatians­, 330 note 2) was so called doubtless as describing the ascents of James up the Temple stairs, whence he harangued the people. Relics of it may probably be discerned in the latter chapters of ­Recognitions of Clement­ I. Lightfoot also suggests (­Galatians­, 367 note 1) that the account of the death of James which is quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea as from Hegesippus of Palestine—in which James is cast down from the pinnacle of the Temple—was the grand finale of these ascents. In the Recognitions of Clement­, James addresses the people from the Temple steps, and is thrown down and left for dead by Paul. In Hegesippus, James speaks from the pinnacle, is hurled from the still loftier station, and this time his death is made sure.

 

[ANT, 20-21; NTA, I, 421-422; II, 71]

 

146. 147. The Arabic Preaching of James, the Brother of Jesus; The Arabic Martyrdom of James, the Brother of Jesus.

 

     The legends of the apostles and disciples originated at a very early period, probably during the 2nd century, among certain heretical sects, and it is probable that some of them were written first of all in a Semitic dialect, Hebrew, or perhaps Syriac. It is certain that translations, or works based upon them very soon afterward appeared in Greek. From the 4th century we meet with distinct traces of a collection of apostolic acta­ widely diffused in Gnostic and Manichean circles, which probably had the same compass from the beginning, as Photius of Constantinople (d.c.891, ­Myriobiblion­ CIX) expressly testifies. Probably during the 5th or 6th century some Greek texts containing apocryphal acts of various of the apostles were translated into Coptic, although no copy of them older than the 9th century is known. Afterwards imitations and local legends, of Egyptian origin, were added to them. More texts of these ­acta­ were gradually formed; and when the Coptic language died out in general use (10th century) a translation of this material was made from Coptic into Arabic. This was occasioned by an ecclesiastical and literary movement observed in the 13th century in the Patriarchate of Alexandria, a movement which also saw the first Arabic version of the Received New Testament­ sponsored by ecclesiastical authority (though manuscript evidence for an Arabic New Testament­ survives from the 8th century in the form of a translation of the Syriac Peshitta, and others were made in some cases directly from the Greek, or from Coptic. From the Arabic, the Ethiopic was made, probably during the early part of the 14th century. They were the last of the three great Oriental versions of the histories of the apostles which grew up under the care of the Patriarchate of Alexandria. See on this Burkitt (in Hastings’ ­Dictionary of the Bible­ I, 1898, 136-138).

 

 

     All these legends agree with the ­Received Acts­ in placing the scene of James’ ministry in Jerusalem. The most interesting feature in this story is the account of his relationship to Mary, the mother of Jesus, in folio 150a. There James is described as the youngest of the four sons of Joseph by a first wife. We should have imagined from Matthew­ 13:55—(Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?)—that he was the eldest (apparently because he is listed first in order: H).

 

     These legends are the same as those translated from the Ethiopic by Malan (­Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­) [and apparently also from the Ethiopic by Budge (­Contendings of the Holy Apostles­).H] There Theopiste, wife of the prefect, become Piobstata (Budge: Teryobasta), wife of the judge Aumanis (Budge: the governor Ammanyos).

 

     The Arabic text is printed below, minus its introduction.

 

[ODC, 77; MRS, xii-xiv, xxi, 140-142; DCB, I, 18-19; COA, vii-ix]

 

146. The Arabic Preaching of James, the Brother of Jesus

 

1. It came to pass when the disciples were assembled to divide the cities of the world amongst themselves, the Lord Jesus the Christ appeared in the mist of them and said unto them: “My peace be unto you, O my sincere disciples! As my father hath sent Me into the world, so I send you, that ye may preach in the inhabited earth about the knowledge of My Heavenly Father.” Then the disciples prayed together, the Lord being in the midst of them. And they cast lots; and the lot fell upon James, that he should preach the Holy Gospel in Jerusalem and in all its district. Then he worshipped the Lord and said: “Thou knowest, O Lord, that the Jews seek to slay us, when we preach about Thy resurrection and Thy Holy Gospel. And I do not resist Thy command, nor the lot which hath come out for me; but I know that the Jews will not hearken to my words which I shall speak unto them. And I entreat thee, O Lord, that Thou wouldest send me unto the Gentiles like my brethren. And I will do all that Thou dost command me. And I will endure all that may befall me of suffering for Thy name’s sake.”

 

2. Our Lord answered and said unto James: “Thou must needs preach in the place which came out as thy lot. Behold, Peter, My chosen one, I have made him care for you. And thou must needs become Bishop of Jerusalem. And thy words shall be listened to, and thy good conflict shall be accomplished; and thy grave shall be in it. Arise then, and fulfill what I have commanded thee.” James said unto him: “Let my father Peter be a helper unto me: and I will endure all that may befall me, for the sake of Thine honored Name.” And the Lord gave them the salutation of peace, and ascended to heaven in glory. And the disciples were filled with joy by the power of the Holy Ghost; and they prayed upon the Mount of Olives.

 

3. Then Peter said unto the disciples: “Go with us with our brother James that we may seat him upon the throne of the bishopric.” And Peter arose, and all who were with him, and they stretched out their hands and prayed, and said: “O God! Who rulest all things, Governor of the whole creation! Hearken unto us. We know that Thou art not far from us: nor from whatsoever word we entreat of Thee. Give to our brother James power to govern Thy nation which Thou hast committed unto him to rule according as Thou hast commanded.” And when they arrived, they saluted one another, and brought James into Jerusalem. And he preached in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ; and many of its people believed in his proclamation of the Gospel.

 

4. And when some of the Jews saw James preaching in the name of the Christ they would fain have killed him. And they found no way to do it, because of those who believed in the Lord by means of him. And when he knew this, he went out to the villages which were around the city, and preached the gospel to them in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ. And when he was going into one of the villages he found an old man, and said unto him: “I wish thee to let me lodge with thee.” The old man said, “Come in and rest until tomorrow.”

 

5. And the disciple went with him to enter his house. And, behold, there was on the road a man possessed with a devil. When the devil saw James the disciple, it cried and said: “What has thou to do with me, O disciple of Jesus the Christ? Hast thou come hither to destroy me?” He said unto him: “Shut thy mouth, O thou unclean spirit, and come out of the man.” And straightway it came out of the man like fire. And when he saw this wonder, he fell at the feet of the disciple, and said: “I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter my house; but teach me what I should do, that I may be saved; I and all my household.”

 

6. And when the disciple praised the name of God, our Lord Jesus the Christ, and said, “I thank Thee, O my Lord! Thou hast made my way easy.” And he returned to the old man, and spoke unto him the words of salvation; and he exhorted him, and taught him the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ. And he went into his house, and the old man gathered his people together: and the disciple preached unto them, and taught them the faith: and baptized them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost: and made them partakers in the Holy Mysteries—the Body of the Lord and His pure Blood.

 

7. And the people of the village heard of it; and they brought before him all the sick of divers diseases: and the possessed: and he healed them all. And he appointed unto them a presbyter and deacons. And he appointed unto them the old man as bishop, and committed unto him the Gospel of the Lord Jesus the Christ; and he went out journeying into all the country round about Jerusalem to preach in it. And when they believed, he returned unto Jerusalem; and they all came into his presence, praising the Lord Jesus the Christ, and His Father, and the Holy Ghost, the Holy Trinity, henceforth and for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[MRS, 140-142]

 

147. The Arabic Martyrdom of James, the Brother of Jesus

 

     The Arabic text is printed below, minus its introduction.

 

1. And when James the Just, the blessed, Brother of the Lord, returned to Jerusalem, and preached amongst them in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ in that city, many believed on Him because of the wonders and the miracles which God wrought by means of him--may His name be blessed! The Lord deemed him worthy of the rank of a bishop in Jerusalem. And when he had become bishop, God made many healings of diseases manifest by his hand.

 

2. And the ruler of the city was a great lover of money; and he hated the saints, because of what Satan, may God curse him, showed him against them. And he had no child; because God, may His fame be glorified, was recompensing him for his many sins. But nevertheless his wife besought God—praise be unto Him—that He would grant her a child; and she did good unto all who were in want, and her alms never ceased from the holy churches without the knowledge of her husband, because of his great greed. And once upon a day she was very sad because of what was in her heart in asking for a child. And when her beseechings were multiplied and her desire was not granted, because God—may He be glorified and magnified—knew what of good there was to her in it.

 

3. And on a certain day the believing woman was standing, when there came to her the fame of Saint James in his religion; and how God was—may His power be glorified—dwelling with him in all his deeds. She arose with joy and gladness and went unto Saint James. And she was sound in the faith, for God—praise be to His name—through the prayer of the saint, had given her her desire. And when the saint knew that Theopiste, the wife of the Prefect, wished admittance to him that she might be blessed by him, he wondered exceedingly; and he said, “This is a serious thing.” For he knew the wickedness of her husband. And he allowed her to have access to him.

 

4. And when she came into his presence, she knelt down and did obeisance at his feet, and said: “I entreat thee, O holy father, to receive thy handmaiden, and hearken unto her words. I have lived with my husband for twenty years, and have had no child. I am grieved exceedingly at this state of things.” Saint James said unto her: “Dost thou believe that our Lord Jesus the Christ is able to give thee a child?” She replied with all her heart, and said unto him: “I believe.” And he said unto her: “If thou dost believe, be it unto thee according to thy faith.” And she bade him farewell, and delivered unto him the blessing that she had with her, that he might distribute it amongst the needy. And she received his blessing, and returned to her house. And she gave glory unto God, and the fame of the saint was increased.

 

5. And after these things God—may He be praised—answered her petition, and gave her her request. And she conceived and bore a male child and called him James, like the name of the saint. And she took her child and much money, and went to the saint; and was blessed by him. And she said: “O good servant of God! God hath heard thy supplication, and hath given me what I asked for. And it is this child which thou seest on my hand; and he is by the blessing of thy prayer. And I entreat thee, O thou holy one, to bless him.” And the saint took him from her hand, and blessed him with all his heart, and returned him to his mother; and restored her to her house in peace.

 

6. And when this reached the Prefect her husband, he was wroth with a fierce wrath, because of what his wife had done. And he gathered to himself the nobles of the city and said unto them: “Ye are negligent; and this bishop is corrupting the city for us; and leading all its people astray, desiring that everyone round about us should be of his faith and doctrine.” And they all arose and gook counsel saying: “What shall we do with him?” Some of them said: “The feast-day is near, and if ye wish, come one will watch for him in the temple.”

 

7. For many people were called James, but there was no James the Just among them except this one; because God chose him from the womb of his mother like Jeremiah the prophet. He drank no wine all the days of his life; and he ate no food from which blood issued; and he never put a razor upon his head; and he never washed in a hot bath; and he never wore a coat; but all his life he was wrapped in a mantle. And he was always in the temple intent on prayer and supplication to God—glory be to His name—that He might forgive the sins of the nation; until his feet swelled from much standing and worshipping, and for this reason he was called James the Just. And all the Jews—may God curse them—knew that he was just, pure; and he was amongst them in the house of the devout.

 

8. This James was the youngest of the sons of Joseph the carpenter. And Joseph had four male children, and two daughters. And all the children of Joseph were married except this James. And he was orphaned of his mother. And when the Lady Mary was espoused to Joseph, she found James. And he was the youngest in his house; and she brought him up and taught him the fear of God. And therefore the Lady Mary was called the mother of James. And when he became Bishop in Jerusalem, many of the people believed in the Lord Jesus the Christ by his means; because they knew his purity.

 

9. And there was a great tumult among the Jews and the Scribes and the Pharisees; because the people said that James was the Christ. And they drew nigh unto James and desired to deceive him, and said unto him: “We beseech thee to consecrate all the nation; for they are doubtful about Jesus, that He is the Messiah Who is to come. And all this people will be present at Jerusalem at the Passover. Speak thou to them and make their hearts docile, for we know that thou wilt not say aught that is false; and all the people will accept thy speech; for thou art like a Prophet amongst them. And we will bear witness to them about all thine integrity and will tell them that there is no hypocrisy about thee. Do thou agree to our request, and they will all accept it from thee. Go up to a pinnacle of the temple, and stand so that all the people will hear thy voice”

 

10. These are the tribes of the children of Israel; they went up, and many of the Gentiles. And all the scribes and the Pharisees desired that James should say unto them that Jesus was the son of Joseph, and he (himself) was his brother. And they commanded a herald to order the crowd to be silent, that they might hear the words of James the Just. And they all cried, “It is our duty to listen and not to oppose,” because all the people were going astray with the evil of their deeds; and the Jews were longing for faith in Jesus the Christ, Who had been crucified. “Tell us now, O thou Just One, who is Jesus the King?” James answered in a loud voice and said unto them: “Why ask ye me about the Lover of mankind? Behold He is seated in His majesty on the right hand of the Father; and He it is Who shall come on the clouds of heaven to judge the quick and the dead.” And most of the nation believed in what they had heard from James; and they praised the Lord the Christ, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

 

11. And when the priests and the Pharisees heard these words, they were ashamed in the presence of the people; and were filled with rage against James. And they returned and cried unto him, saying: “Tell us, whose Son is Jesus?” He said unto them: “The Son of God in truth—the Father—glory be to His name—Who begat Him before all the ages. And it is He Who was born of Mary the Virgin in the latter days. I believe in Him, and in His Eternal Father, and in the Holy Ghost, the Equal, the Everlasting Trinity for ever and ever.” And when the chief priests and the scribes and the Pharisees heard these words from him, they gnashed their teeth at him, and stopped their ears lest they should hear the word of God—may He be exalted and glorified—at the mouth of Saint James.

 

12. And they took counsel together and said: “Alas for what we have done! For we have made him testify to all the people that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; but let us go up to him and kill him, lest all the nation should believe in the Christ.” And the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled, when he said: “The righteous shall prosper; it shall not be hard for him to become the Anointed One over us; and they shall eat the fruit of their wicked deeds.” And they went up to him in a rage; and they threw him down and stoned him. And he fell prone upon his face, and knelt upon his knees like Stephen the first of martyrs: and he made supplication unto God—the God of mercy--saying: “O God of mercy! Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they stoned him while he was praying after this manner. And one of the priests of the sons of Ahab, about whom Jeremiah the prophet bears witness, cried out to them, saying: “Have pity for a little; what is this that ye are doing to the good man of God? He maketh supplication unto Him—may He be magnified and glorified—that He would forgive you.” And one of them, a fuller, who had not turned at his words, took a piece of wood with which he beat the clothes, and struck the head of James the Just with it, and he yielded up the ghost, on the eighteenth day of Abib. And his martyrdom was ended; and he was buried beneath the walls of the temple.

 

13. And James the Just was a disciple and a martyr and bishop of the Jews. And he died for the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ. And after his death, a mighty wrath abode upon all the Jews, the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this was chiefly upon those who had been the cause of the murder of James the disciple. And Vespasian surrounded them, and plundered them, and took them captive, and their humiliation increased daily because of the wickedness of their deed to the Lord Jesus the Christ, the King, and to His saints. And may there be to us all, the Christians whom He calleth by the new name, that we may find mercy and forgiveness in the terrible position when the Lord Jesus the Christ cometh to judge the quick and the dead. To Whom be praise and glory henceforth and at all times, and for ever and ever. Amen. Amen. Amen.

 

[MRS, 143-146]

 

148. 149. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint James the Just; The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint James the Just

 

     What follows in these entries is a presentation of the major differences between the Ethiopic and Arabic texts of the same groups of apostolic legends, as worked out by the editor\compiler, and keyed to the corresponding numbered paragraphs of the Arabic translation (above, #’s 146 and 147), which is presented in each case in its entirety. They are taken from British Museum manuscript Oriental 678, which came into existence during the 15th century, and which is, according to COA, exceedingly difficult to understand in some places, and is, moreover, corrupt in others. The Arabic text from which it was made is derived from the Coptic form of these legends; indeed, it cannot have been made from the Syriac, for a comparison of the Arabic with the Syriac version shows that its diversities from the Syriac are more striking and more numerous than its similarities to the Coptic. As we shall see, this did not greatly bother the Ethiopic translator, who appears to introduce into the Coptic text additions and deletions of his own irrespective of the original. (H) (For a general outline of the time-frame in which these legends appeared in their various languages, see the statement at the beginning of #146. Here, as in all such presentations, A = Arabic text, E = Ethiopic text.)

 

[COA, II, vii-x]

 

148. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint James the Just

 

1. E begins his version with the phrase And it came to pass that, one of his favorite expressions; it does not appear in the Arabic. | A says the Apostles were gathered in cities; but E has them in countries | A has: the Lord Jesus the Christ appeared; E has: our Lord Jesus Christ sat | A calls them sincere disciples; but to E they are holy Apostles | A sends them to preach in the inhabited earth; but E sends them throughout the whole world | E deletes before the casting of lots: Then the disciples prayed together, the Lord being in the midst of them. | Where A has: And I do not resist Thy command, nor the lot which hath come out for me; E has: And are not the command and the lot which have gone forth to me great? Yet I am only one, and | A has: Gentiles like my brethren; but E changes this to Gentiles, together with my brethren,.

 

2. E prefaces Jesus’ speech with: Hearken, and I will tell thee; but | A has: to care for you; but E renders this to toil for your sakes | A has: fulfill what I have commanded thee; but E has finish that for which I have prepared thee. | It is in glory for A, but with great glory for E | For A the disciples were filled with joy by the power; but for E the apostles were filled with the power.

 

3. A has: O God, Who rulest all things, Governor of the whole creation, hearken unto us. E renders this O God, Who dost sustain All creation, hearken unto us. | A has: And when they arrived, they saluted one another, and brought James into Jerusalem.; but E expands this to: And it came to pass that when they had prayed their prayer, and each of them had given him the salutation of peace, they brought James into Jerusalem, | A says that many of its people believed in his proclamation of the Gospel; but E says that many men believed in his story.

 

4. A says that some of the Jews saw James preaching, and that they wished to slay him; but E says that the Jews saw James preaching and that certain of them wished to slay him. | A says that when he knew this he went out to the villages and preached the Gospel to them; but E says that that they were conspiring together against him, he went to the regions and preached unto them | For A it is one of these villages in which he finds an old man; but for E it is those regions in which he finds a certain aged man.

 

5. For A it is the disciple; but for E it is James the Apostle | It is a devil who salutes James as a disciple of Jesus the Christ; but in E it is Satan who salutes him as an Apostle of Christ | A has: He where E has the Apostle | A has: And when he saw this wonder; but E renders this And it came to pass that when the aged man saw this miracle | A has him fall at the feet of the disciple; but E makes him fall at the feet of the Apostle.

 

6. A has James return to the old man; but E to the man | A teaches him the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ; but E has him teach that our Lord Jesus Christ is God | A says: And he went into his house; but E says So the aged man brought him into his house | A says: and the old man gathered his people together: and the disciple preached unto them, and taught them the faith; but in E this appears and all the people thereof were gathered together unto him, and he taught them and made them to know the faith | A says the people are made partakers of the Holy Mysteries; but E says they are to be heirs | The mysteries for A include His pure blood; this is rendered by E as His precious blood.

 

7. For A, it is the people of the village; but for E, of the country | A has: and they brought before him all the sick of divers diseases: and the possessed: and he healed them all; but E says that they brought unto him all their folk who were sick with sicknesses of every kind, and he healed them | A says: And when they believed, he returned unto Jerusalem; and they all came into his presence,; but E has here: and then he returned to Jerusalem. And the faithful heard of the coming of James (now he was surnamed the Just) into Jerusalem, and they all came to him, | A concludes: and the Holy Ghost, the Holy Trinity, henceforth and for ever and ever. Amen.; but E finishes and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen and Amen

 

[COA, 78-81]

 

149. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint James the Just

 

1. A begins: And when James the Just, the blessed, Brother of the Lord, returned; but E begins And it came to pass that when James returned | For A, it is the Lord Jesus the Christ; but for E our Lord Jesus Christ | A says that many believed on Him because of the wonders and the miracles which God wrought by means of him—may His name be blessed!; but E says in the same place that many believed on him by reason of the signs and wonders which God made to go forth by the hand of His holy Apostle, | For A James is worthy of the rank of a Bishop; for E he is worthy of the episcopal throne | For A, God made many healings of diseases manifest by his hand; but for E God made manifest the healing of many folk who were sick of every kind of disease.

 

2. A has the saint where E has Saint James | For A the ruler of the city was a great lover of money; for E the governor of the city was a lover of money | A says child where E says children | For A it is God, may His fame be glorified, was; for E it is God Almighty, Whose Name is great, was | A has God recompensing James; but E has God rebuking him | A has God, praise be unto Him, that he would grant her a child; but E has God to give her children | A says she did good unto all; but E says she was wont to do deeds of kindness unto all | A has and her alms never ceased from the holy Churches; but E opportunistically inserts in this place and to send gifts and offerings to the sanctuary of the church daily | A has: because of what was in her heart in asking for a child; but E substitutes and made entreaty for children | A says: because God—may He be glorified and magnified—knew what of good there was to her in it; but in E this becomes He knew that good was about to come upon her.

 

3. COA notes after the first clause of the first sentence in this section of E, thus:—(And when the glorious fame of Saint James and of his faith had come—that\fn{The text is corrupt here and in many other places in this section of the work.}) | A has God was—may His power be glorified—dwelling with him; but E shortens this to God was with him | A has for God—praise be to His name—through the prayer of the saint had given her; but E shortens this to God would give her | In A, the saint is named Theopiste, and she is wife of the Prefect; but in E she is either Theryobasta or Piobsata, and she is the wife of Ammanyos or Aumanius or Ananus, and he is styled as the governor | A has: And he allowed her to have access to him; but E says and that he had commanded her to come to him.

 

4. A has: knelt down and; but E has bowed her head, and | In A, James asks her Dost thou believe that our Lord Jesus the Christ is able to give thee a child; but E rewords this to Dost thou believe in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that He is able to give thee children?; After the statement about her belief, A has: And she bade him farewell; which E deletes. | A has that the alms she gave him were to be distributed amongst the needy; but these become in E those who were in sorrow and affliction | The last sentence of this section in A reads: And she gave glory unto God, and the fame of the saint was increased; but in E it is and she came unto her house glorifying God.

 

5. A begins the next section: And after these things God—may He be praised—answered her petition; but E has Now what the holy man had said came to pass, for after this things God hearkened unto her petition | A has the saint; but E has Saint James | A has: money; but E has possessions | In A , she says O good servant of God; but E makes her say O servant of the Good God, behold, | A has this child which thou seest on my hand; but E rewords to this child, this fruit which thou seest in my arms | A says I entreat thee, O thou holy one, to bless him; but E rewords and expands this to I beseech thee, O my father, to bless him with all thy heart | A has: hand; E has hands.

 

6. In A, the Prefect begins his speech Ye are negligent; and this bishop is corrupting the city for us; but in E Aumanius (or Ananus) begins: Are ye going to do nothing in this matter? Behold, the Bishop is destroying the city | A quotes the nobles as saying: The feast day is near and if ye wish, some of us will watch for him in the temple; but E has: Behold, he will come to the feast, and if ye desire to lay hold upon him we will lie in wait for him in the synagogue.

 

7. A has: chose him from the womb of his mother; but E expands: chosen him and had sanctified him from his mother’s womb | In A it is food, but in E it is meat | In A James never washed in a hot bath; but in E he never took a bath, and COA has the following note here:\fn{Or, “he never washed in the house of washing.” See Lipsius, op. cit., vol. ii. p. 240.} | A says he never wore a coat; but E that he put on no clothing | A says: And he was always in the temple intent on prayer and supplication to God—glory be to His name—that He might forgive; but E changes and expands to: And he continued in the sanctuary always, and he stood up, and watched, and prayed humbly unto God that He would forgive | For A, James’ his feet swelled; but for E it was his foot | A has for the last sentence of this section: And all the Jews—may God curse them—know that he was just, pure; and he was amongst them in the house of the devout; but E has here: Now the Jews knew that he was both just and sincere towards them, and that he was of the type of the Prophets.

 

8. A has that James was orphaned of his mother; but E that he became an orphan | A says that Jesus’ mother brought him up; but E that she tended him | For A she is the Lady Mary; but for E our Lady Mary | A words the last sentence of this section: And when he became Bishop in Jerusalem, many of the people believed in the Lord Jesus the Christ by his means; because they knew his purity; but E has And it came to pass that, when James had been appointed Bishop in Jerusalem, multitudes believed on our Lord through him, because they became convinced of his sincerity.

 

9. A has: because the people; but E expands: because all the people | A has: James was the Christ; but E says Jesus was the Christ (which seems to make more sense: H) | A says that they came to James and desired to deceive him; but E that they might take counsel with him concerning Him | A has to consecrate all the nation; but E to set thyself at the head of all the multitude | A has to make their hearts docile; but E to make their hearts to rejoice | A has: aught that is false; and all the people will accept thy speech; for thou art; but E has here any false thing whatsoever; and besides, thou art | For A it is thy integrity; but for E thy graciousness | For A there is no hypocrisy; but for E there is no unchastity | A has and they will accept it from thee; but at this point E has: and let them all hear thy voice | A has as its last sentence in this section: Go up to a pinnacle of the temple, and stand so that all the people will hear thy voice; but here E has: and thou shalt go up unto the upper portion of the synagogue, and we will stand there until all the people shall hear thy voice.

 

10. A begins this section: These are the tribes of the children of Israel; they went up, and many of the Gentiles. And all the scribes and the Pharisees desired that James; but E begins it: And, behold, of the children of Israel multitudes of the people, of the tribes and of the Scribes and Pharisees, went up wishing that James | A says they commanded a herald; but E that they commanded the deputy of the congregation | A begins the quotation: It is our duty to listen and not to oppose; but E begins: We have upon us the desire to hear, and we will not be denied | A has: the evil of their deeds; but E has: the evilness of the teaching of the Jews | In James’ speech in A, Jesus is a lover of mankind; but in E He is a lover of men | A talks about His majesty (meaning Jesus); but E about the majesty of the Father | A says He will come upon the clouds; but E says a cloud | A says that most of the nation believed in James; but E says only many people.

 

11. A has they were ashamed; but here E has although they pretended to be afraid | A says and they were filled with rage against James; but E expands this to yet were they filled with wrath in their hearts against James the Just | A has: The Son of God in truth—the Father—glory be to His name! Who begat Him before all the ages; but E has: He is in truth the Son of God the Father, Who begot Him before the world | E has: I believe in Him, and in His Father, Who is of old and at this point COA has the note:\fn{Literally, “His Father, the first One.”} | A has and in the Holy ghost, the Equal, the Everlasting Trinity for ever and ever, but E has here and in the Holy Spirit, the glorious Trinity which shall have its being unto the end of the world, and for ever. | A has the word of God—may He be exalted and glorified—at the mouth of Saint James; but E rewords the voice of God from the mouth of Saint James.

 

12. A begins this section: And they took counsel together and said; but E expands: Then they took counsel together each with the other, and said | A has to all the people; but E unto the people | A has up to him; but E up against him | A has: And the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled, when he said: “The righteous shall prosper; it shall not be hard for him to become the Anointed One over us; and they shall eat the fruit of their wicked deeds.”; but E has reworded and changed this to: Then was fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet who said, “The righteous man shall be rewarded, for he that is a harsh man shall not be the anointed one over us; and they shall eat the fruit of their evil work.” COA adds here the following note:\fn{Compare Isaiah iii.10,11} | A has: and they threw him down and stoned him; but E has here: and they thrust him off from the pinnacle of the temple | A has: God—the God of mercy—saying; but E merely God, saying | A has: forgive them; but E inserts here instead be merciful unto them, and show compassion unto them | A has: And they stoned him; but in this place E has: and they cast him down | A has: And one of the priests of the sons of Ahab, about whom Jeremiah the prophet bears witness, cried out to them, saying: “Have pity for a little; but E alters this to: Now there was a certain priest of the children of Ahaz who bore witness on his behalf. And Jeremiah the prophet cried out unto them, saying, “Wait ye a little, | A has: the good man of God; but E has: God the Good | A says they buried him beneath the walls of the temple; but in E they buried him in the synagogue.

 

13. In A James is a Bishop of the Jews; but in E only a Bishop | In A the succeeding wrath of God abode upon all the Jews, the inhabitants of Jerusalem; but in E it is upon all the Jews and upon those who dwelt in Jerusalem | In A, Vespasian plundered them; but in E he spoiled their city and country | In A their humiliation increased daily because of the wickedness of their deed; but in E their disgrace was increased, and they were brought lower by reason of the evil | A calls Him Christ the King; but E only Christ | A says: And may there be to us all, the Christians whom He calleth by the new name, that we may find mercy; but E alter this to: And may it be that we and all Christians who call themselves by His new Name may find mercy | For A it is the Lord; but for E our Lord | A finishes the work: To Whom be praise and glory henceforth and at all times, and for ever and ever. Amen. Amen. Amen.; but E finishes to Him be glory and honor for ever and ever! Amen, Amen, and Amen.

 

[COA, II, 82-89]

 

150. The Received Letter of James to the Exiles of the Dispersion.

 

     The ­Received Letter of James to the Exiles of the Dispersion­ is a sermon in the form of a letter, using good Greek in a clear and forceful presentation. It is epigrammatic in style, hortatory in content; there are about 60 imperatives in the letter’s 108 verses, seeking to encourage its recipients to endure their trials patiently and to obey certain primary duties of a righteous life. The author presupposes knowledge of the Gospel on the part of his readers, and is concerned to remind them how Christians ought to live. It is a remarkably pure specimen of the ethical teaching found in the Sermon on the Mount (­Matthew­ 5-7).

 

     But for all that, not much is known of either the authorship or date of composition of this work. The tradition that it was written by James, the brother of Jesus, has little support from ancient times, either from indications in the letter itself, or from historical ascription.

 

1. The letter is written in excellent Greek, containing a number of Hellenistic Greek rhetorical devices and combining a vivid metaphor with a facile use of idiom; but James, born and raised in the country, was certainly a Jew who would probably have been raised in the ­lingua franca­ of his day, which was Aramaic, and which was almost certainly also the language of his more exalted Brother.

 

2. The letter contains almost no specific references to Jesus, a thing thought by some to be unusual in a writing allegedly by his own brother.

 

3. It stands apart from the Judaizing controversy of the 1st century, in which James was known to have been a central figure.

 

4. It is not a translation from an originally Aramaic document (a theory which scholars support on stylistic grounds).

 

5. ­James­ appears to have a knowledge of ­I Peter­, and ­I Peter­ is objected to as an autograph by many scholars on the grounds that its literary style is not that of a Galilean fisherman; that passages in it reflect Pauline teaching; and that a persecution of the Church in Asia Minor which it reports at so early a date is otherwise unattested.

 

6. It is absent from the ­Muratori Canon­ (the oldest extant list of ­Received New Testament­ writings, generally held to date from the later 2nd century).

 

7. It is first mentioned quite late, by Origen of Alexandria (d.254).

 

8. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxv.3f) places it in a category of writings (including Jude­, ­II Peter­, ­II John­ and ­III John­) whose claim to be considered a part of the New Testament canon was still in his day only ­generally recognized­.

 

9. ­James­ 2:14-26—(What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But some one will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder. Do you want to be shown, you foolish fellow, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by works, and the scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness”; and he was called the friend of God. You see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the harlot justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so faith apart from works is dead.)—seems directed against a (post-Pauline: H) misuse of the Pauline doctrine of justification by faith alone, and James dies in 62AD, Paul probably in 64 (or, so Eusebius, in 67) during the Neronian persecution.

 

     All this suggests a time of authorship after the death of Paul, and a Hellenistic Christian as its author. There remains to support Jamesian authorship only

 

1. the most natural interpretation of the word James alone as being a reference to Jesus’ brother—but this may indeed have been a later and deliberately intended ascription by the otherwise unknown author, in conformity with the common ancient practice of attaching the name of famous contemporaries to literary works in order to increase their circulation; and

 

2. two slight parallels with the letter alleged to exist between it and part of a speech of James recorded in Acts­ 15:13-21 (underscored)—(After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brethren, listen to me. Symeon has related how God first visited the gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree, as it is written, ‘After this I will return, and ­I will rebuild the dwelling of David, which has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins­, and I will set it up, that the rest of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who has ­made these things known from of old­.’)—but for which OAB footnotes ­Amos­ 9:11-12 and\or ­Isaiah­ 45:21—(In that day ­I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen­ and repair its breaches, ­and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it­ as in the days ­of old­; that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” says the Lord who does this.) ... (Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who ­declared it of old­? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.)—as present in the (otherwise unknown) author’s mind.

 

     But even if the letter is not the work of James, it seems likely that it was composed before 95AD. Some scholars, impressed by its primitive nature—there was a strong tradition of moral exhortation in the earliest Christian movement—argue for a date c.40AD. At any rate it is not later in composition than 150AD. (OAB, p. 1467, argues for a date toward the end of the 1st century.) Its canonicity seems to have been accepted only in the later 3rd century; and in the West, it was known in the mid-4th century, and accepted as canonical by the Council of Hippo Regius of 393AD. It was translated into Syriac as part of the ­Peshitta­ in the early 5th century.

 

     Apart from ­James­ 1:1—(James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greeting.) and ­James­ 2:11—(For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” said also, “Do not kill.” If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become a transgressor of the law.”)—there is nothing uncontestably Christian in it; and Spitta (1852-1924, no reference given) has argued that the work is a revision of a Jewish writing. The close parallels to the Sermon on the Mount and other of Jesus’ teachings make this theory unlikely; and equally improbable is Moulton’s (1835-1898) suggestion (also no reference) that the absence of Christian reference was due to its being addressed to unconverted Jews (though it ­is­ unlikely that this letter was ever addressed to ­any­ particular community). Martin Luther (d.1546) disliked it—he called it ­a right strawy epistle­—and in modern times it has generally been little valued by Orthodox Protestants (probably because, in emphasizing the efficacy of good works, it seeks to considerably modify the Pauline doctrine of justification by faith alone: H).

 

[OAB, 1467; ODC, 711-712; PER, 254-256]

 

151. The Received Letter of Jude to Those Who Have Been Called

 

     The letter proposes to be written by Jude ... brother of James, who is identified by Origen of Alexandria, Jerome of Strido, and others as the apostle Judas of James, of ­Luke­ 6:16—(and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.)—and ­Acts­ 1:13—(and when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.).

 

     The aim of the letter was to combat the spread of doctrines through false teachers having not the Spirit, whose allegedly immoral life it denounces. The letter was recognized as canonical by the ­Muratori Canon­, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian of Carthage, though Eusebius of Caesarea put it among the Antilegomena­ in the category with ­James­, ­II Peter­, ­II John­, and ­III John­, among those writings generally but not universally accepted. The doubts were chiefly due to verses :9 and :14—(But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”) ... (It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads,)—which appear to reproduce passages from the ­Assumption of Moses­ and the Book of Enoch­, respectively.

 

     The destination of the letter cannot now be determined—indeed, the exhortations in it are so general that the letter may not be directed against a particular group or crisis within the Christian community, and was perhaps composed simply in order to remind its readers that they must never relax their efforts to achieve holiness.

 

     The author may well be, as tradition affirms, the brother of James and of Jesus; otherwise it is difficult to see why a pseudonymous author should have chosen the name of one so obscure in the following of the Messiah. The date usually assigned to it, however, is the close of the Apostolic Age, perhaps before the destruction of Jerusalem, which is not mentioned among the calamities enumerated in verses :5-:7—(he who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day; just as Sodom and Gomorra and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.); and NOAB (NT,359) is persuaded that Jude clearly originated in the post-Apostolic age.

 

     There are striking similarities between the letter of ­Jude­ :3-:23 and ­II Peter­ 2:1-22—not only are single words held in common, but phrases in ­Jude­ are either transposed by the author of ­II Peter­ or directly taken by him from Jude­ word for word; and these are most probably due to the use of it made by the author of ­II Peter­ [another part of the present canon of the ­Received New Testament­ still not universally accepted even by the time of Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340AD)].

 

[OAB, 1489; ODC, 750; NOAB, NT, 359]

 

152. The Greek Apocalypse of James, the Brother of Jesus

 

     A single quotation from a Greek work of this inference occurs in Dobschutz (­Byzantinische Zeitschrift­, 1903, 556), where the form of the citation is:—as James the brother of the Lord said in his Apocalypse. It is to the effect that at the prayer of the apostles, the Lord added two sixtieths to the time of his Second Coming (indicated as c.5000AD: H). It is symbolized by the attitude of the priest’s fingers when he blesses. The passage is not found in the revelation of James contained in the late Syriac apocalypse, edited by Rendell Harris, which occurs in the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­ (below, #164).

 

[ANT, 504]

 

153. The Syriac Apocalypse of James, the Brother of Jesus, in the ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­

 

     This apocalypse is found in the ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, with the Apocalypses of Each of Them­ (to give it its full title). That book is reviewed below under #164, where James says that it is in its present form late and where NTA notes that it is a creation of very late date. On this see Nestle (Theologische Literaturzeitung­, 1900, 557-559).

 

[ANT, 504; NTA, I, 271]

 

154. The First Coptic Apocalypse of James, the Brother of Jesus

 

     This work was originally entitled ­The Apocalypse of James­ (the change being made by modern editors in order to differentiate it from the book immediately following in the codex, which was also entitled ­The Apocalypse of James­, but is an entirely different treatise); and from yet a third apocalypse in Coptic with James as the central character, all three of which are different from one another. This first apocalypse is a revelation in the sense that it describes the secret teachings of the Lord to James the Just, His brother: indeed, the importance assigned to this James is no doubt due to his having been regarded in certain circles, like Thomas, as a brother of Jesus Christ, and to his being the first bishop of Jerusalem. Although the framework of the document is narrative, the prevailing form is that of a dialogue between Jesus and James. In this, the first of these works, Jesus is brought in person into its preamble: He predicts to James: Tomorrow they will arrest me. James replies: Rabbi ... and the dialogue ensues. [On the figure of James, see Brown (­James: A Religio-Historical Study of the Relations Between Jewish, Gnostic, and Catholic Christianity in the Early Period Through an Investigation of the Traditions about James the Lord’s Brother­, Providence, 1972.)]

 

     The First Coptic Apocalypse of James­ may be considered as a work echoing Jewish-Christian and Gnostic themes. The prominent place of James in the work—a figure of much importance within Jewish-Christian circles; and the reference to Addai, the reputed founder of Syrian Christianity—(They are a type of the twelve disciples and the twelve pairs, ... Achamoth, which is translated “Sophia.” And who I myself am, and who the imperishable Sophia is through whom you will be redeemed, and who are all the sons of Him Who Is—these things they have known and have hidden within them. You are to hide these things within you, and you are to keep silence. But you are to reveal them to Addai. When you depart, immediately war will be made with this land. Weep, then, for him who dwells in Jerusalem. But let Addai take these things to heart. In the tenth year let Addai sit and write them down.)—together suggest that the document may have emerged out of Syrian Jewish-Christianity.

 

     The additional use of formulas:—(When you come into their power, one of them who is their guard will say to you, ‘Who are you or where are you from?’ You are to say to him, ‘I am a son, and I am from the Father.’ He will say to you, ‘What sort of son are you, and to what father do you belong?’ You are to say to him, ‘I am from the Pre-existent Father, and a son in the Pre-existent One.’ When he says to you, ..., you are to say to him, ... in the ... that I might ... . ... of alien things?’ You are to say to him, ‘They are not entirely alien, but they are from Achamoth, who is the female. And these she produced as she brought this race down from the Pre-existent One. So then they are not alien, but they are ours. They are indeed ours because she who is mistress of them is from the Pre-existent One. At the same time they are alien because the Pre-existent One did not have intercourse with her, when she later produced them.’ When he also says to you, ‘Where will you go?,’ you are to say to him, ‘To the place from which I have come, there shall I return.’ And if you say these things, you will escape their attacks.)—are connected by the heresiologists with a Valentinian rite of extreme unction, and illustrates the sort of Gnostic elements which may have shaped the theology of this tractate.

 

     The work is written in a cursive writing, supple and unpretentious, one represented in five of the thirteen manuscripts of the Nag Hammadi Library. The (Coptic) hand would seem to come from some time during the 3rd century. The Greek text of which it is a translation will probably have originated in the 2nd.

 

     NTB indicates no ­probable­ verbal or conceptual parallels between this apocalypse and any of the texts of the Received New Testament­, but does list several ­possible­ ones, in conformity with its own editorial criteria.

 

[NAG, 242-247; DOR, 141,237; NTB, 241-243]

 

155. The Second Coptic Apocalypse of James, the Brother of Jesus

 

     Like the preceding tractate, the ­Second Coptic Apocalypse of James, the Brother of Jesus­ was in ancient times called ­The Apocalypse of James.­ The presence in codex five of two apocalypses linked with tradition about James, Jesus’ brother, is noteworthy; furthermore, the order seems deliberate. While the first apocalypse stresses the period prior to the martyrdom of James and offers certain predictions, the second apocalypse describes the suffering and death of James in line with these predictions. Indeed, the same concern with persecution that animated the author of the first apocalypse dominates the second, together with a similar analogy between the believer’s experience and the Savior’s passion—as the Savior who lived without blasphemy, died by means of blasphemy, so the believer says I am surely dying, but I shall be found in life (47.24-25; 48.8-9). Thus, the present order of these two works, far from being merely accidental, probably reflects the scribal understanding of the documents and their complementary relationships.

 

     The second apocalypse may be considered as an apocalypse in the sense of a revelation discourse: James relates a special revelation delivered by the resurrected Jesus. It must be noted, however, that the actual structure of the work is that of a report by Mareim, a priest and a relative of Theuda, James’ ­father­. It is obvious that the author of the second apocalypse made extensive use of Jewish-Christian traditions. Such is particularly clear with regard to the account of the martyrdom of James—

 

On that day all the people and the crowd were disturbed, and they showed that they had not been persuaded. And he arose and went forth speaking in this manner. And he entered again on that same day and spoke a few hours. And I was with the priests and revealed nothing of the relationship, since all of them were saying with one voice, ‘Come, let us stone the Just One.’ And they arose, saying, ‘Yes, let us kill this man, that he may be taken from our midst. For he will be of no use to us.’ And they were there and found him standing beside the columns of the temple beside the mighty corner stone. And they decided to throw him down from the height, and they cast him down. And they ... they ... . They seized him and struck him as they dragged him upon the ground. They stretched him out, and placed a stone on his abdomen. They all placed their feet on him, saying, ‘You have erred!’ Again they raised him up, since he was alive, and made him dig a hole. They made him stand in it. After having covered him up to his abdomen, they stoned him in this manner. And he stretched out his hands and said this prayer: …

 

which is quite similar to the account in the ­Memoirs­ of Hegesippus of Palestine (2nd century), himself a converted Jew. Also, though as it now stands the tractate displays considerable Gnostic influences, it shows a remarkable restraint in treating certain general Gnostic themes.

 

     The portrait of James the Just in the work is particularly significant. It is well known that this brother of Jesus held a position of honor and importance within several Jewish-Christian traditions. In the second apocalypse, however, James is also the escort guiding the Gnostic through the heavenly door, the illuminator and redeemer who astonishes people with his powerful deeds, the one whom the heavens bless and on whose account the people reign and become kings. In short, James seems to function particularly as a Gnostic redeemer.

 

     On the other hand, as he dies, he offers up a prayer intended to strengthen other Christians who face martyrdom, thus affirming the reality of Christ’s passion, and even expressing an enthusiasm for martyrdom:—My God and my Father, | who saved me from this dead hope, | who made me alive through a mystery of what he wills, | do not let these days of this world be prolonged for me, | but the day of your light ... remains | in ... salvation. | Deliver me from this place of sojourn! | Do not let your grace be left behind in me, | but may your grace become pure! | Save me from an evil death! | Bring me from a tomb alive, | because your grace—love—is alive in me | to accomplish a work of fullness! | Save me from sinful flesh, | because I trusted in you with all my strength! | Because you are the life of the life, | save me from a humiliating enemy! | Do not give me into the hand of a judge | who is severe with sin! | Forgive me all my debts of the days of my life! | Because I am alive in you, your grace is alive in me. | I have renounced everyone, | but you I have confessed. | Save me from evil affliction! | But now is the time and the hour. | O Holy Spirit, send me | salvation ... the light ... | the light ... in a power ... .

 

     NTB finds the following probable verbal and\or conceptual parallels with various of the ­Received New Testament­.

 

V,4;47.21-23­: they have already proclaimed through these words: “He shall be judged with the unrighteous.”

Luke 22:37­: For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was reckoned with transgressors’; for what is written about me has its fulfillment.”

*

V,4;51.14-19­: “‘“You are the one to whom I say: Hear and understand—for a multitude, when they hear, will be slow-witted. But you, understand as I shall be able to tell you.

Matthew 13:13-16­: This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: ‘You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear.

Mark 4:12­: so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.”

Luke 8:10­: he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

*

V,4;51.14-16­: “‘“You are the one to whom I say: hear and understand—for a multitude,

Matthew 15:10­: And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand:

*

V,4;52.15-18­: When you hear, therefore, open your ears and understand and walk accordingly!

Matthew 11:15­: He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Matthew 13:9­: He who has ears, let him hear.”

Mark 4:9­: And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Luke 8:8b­: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Matthew 13:43b­: He who has ears, let him hear.

Mark 4:23­: If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.

Mark 7:16­: [RSV note:\fn{Other ancient authorities add verse 16, If any man has ears to hear, let him hear”]

Luke 14:35b­: He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Revelation 2:7a­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 2:11a­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 2:17a­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 2:29­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Revelation 3:6­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Revelation 3:13­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Revelation 3:22­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Revelation 13:9­: If any one has an ear, let him hear:

*

V,4;55.6-14­: And those who wish to enter, and who seek to walk in the way that is before the door, open the good door through you. And they follow you; they enter and you escort them inside, and give a reward to each one who is ready for it.

John 10:4,7,9,11a­: When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. … So Jesus said again to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. … I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. … I am the good shepherd.

*

V,4;56.25-57.1­: he who boasted, ‘ ... there is no other except me.

I Corinthians 8:4b­: and that “there is no God but one.”

*

V,4;58.3-5­: he who created the heaven and the earth, and dwelled in it,

John 1:3,10a,11a,14a­: All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. What has come into being … He was in the world, and the world was made through him, … He came to his own home,\fn{Or: to his own home.} … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

*

V,4;58.6­: did not see.

John 1:10b,11b­: yet the world knew him not. … and his own people received him not.

*

V,4;61.1-23­: “On that day all the people and the crowd were disturbed, and they showed that they had not been persuaded. And he arose and went forth speaking in this manner. And he entered again on that same day and spoke a few hours. And I was with the priests and revealed nothing of the relationship, since all of them were saying with one voice, ‘Come, let us stone the Just one.’ And they arose, saying, ‘Yes, let us kill this man, that he may be taken from our midst. For he will be of no use to us.’ “And they were there and found him standing beside the columns of the temple beside the mighty corner stone.

John 10:19,23-24,30-31­: There was again a division among the Jews because of these words. … it was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered round him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” … I and the Father are one.” The Jews took up stones again to stone him.

*

V,4;61.13-25­: ‘Come, let us stone the Just One.’ And they arose, saying, ‘Yes, let us kill this man, that he may be taken from our midst. For he will be of no use to us.’ “And they were there and found him standing beside the columns of the temple beside the mighty corner stone. And they decided to throw him down from the height,

Matthew 21:35,38-49,42,46­: and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stone another. … But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, and let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. … Jesus said to them. “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner;\fn{Or: keystone.} this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? … but when they tried to arrest him, they feared the multitudes, because they held him to be a prophet.

Mark 12:3-4,7-8,10,12­: And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. … But those tenants said to hone another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. … Have you not read this scripture: ‘The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner;\fn{Or: keystone.} … And they tried to arrest him, but feared the multitude, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them; so they left him and went away.

Luke 20:10-11,14-15,17,19­: When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, that they should give him some of the fruit of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant; him also they beat and treated shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. … But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? … But he looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner’?”\fn{Or: keystone.} … The scribes and the chief priests tried to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people; for they perceived that he had told this parable against them.

*

V,4;61.13-14­: ‘Come, let us stone the Just One.’

Acts 3:14a­: but you denied the Holy and Righteous One,\fn{Or: Just One.}

Acts 7:52b­: And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One,\fn{Or: Just One.} whom you have now betrayed and murdered,

*

V,4;61.20-26­: “And they were there and found him standing beside the columns of the temple beside the mighty corner stone. And they decided to throw him down from the height, and they cast him down.

Matthew 4:5-6a­: Then the devil took him to the holy city, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down;

Luke 4:9­: And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here;

*

V,4;62.1-63.30­: They seized him and struck him as they dragged him upon the ground. They stretched him out, and placed a stone on his abdomen. They all placed their feet on him, saying, ‘You have erred!’ Again they raised him up, since he was alive, and made him dig a hole. They made him stand in it. After having covered him up to his abdomen, they stoned him in this manner. And he stretched out his hands and said this prayer—not that one which it is his custom to say: ‘My God and my Father, who saved me from this dead hope, who made me alive through a mystery of what he wills, do not let these days of this world be prolonged for me, but the day of your light ... remains in ... salvation. Deliver me from this place of sojourn! Do not let your grace be left behind in me, but may your grace become pure! Save me from an evil death! Bring me from a tomb alive, because your grace—love—is alive in me to accomplish a work of fullness! Save me from sinful flesh, because I trusted in you with all my strength! Because you are the life of the life, save me from a humiliating enemy! Do not give me into the hand of a judge who is severe with sin! Forgive me all my debts of the days of my life! Because I am alive in you, your grace is alive in me. I have renounced everyone, but you I have confessed. Save me from evil affliction! But now is the time and the hour. O Holy Spirit, send me salvation ... the light ... the light ... in a power ... .’ After he spoke, he fell silent.

Acts 7:54,57-60­: Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth against him.\fn{Other ancient authorities read: for the God of Jacob.} … But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together upon him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

 

[NAG, 249-255; PAG, 109-110; NTB, 244-253]

 

156. The Third Coptic Apocalypse of James, the Brother of Jesus

 

     Budge (­Coptic Apocrypha­, 1913, 348) notes a single quotation from an ecomium on John the Baptist, attributed to Chrysostom of Constantinople (d.407) from an apocalypse of James. The work is said by the author to have been discovered in a library at Jerusalem. In it, Jesus tells the apostles of the glories of John the Baptist, who lives in a third heaven and ferries those who honor him on earth in a golden boat over a river of fire. He then takes the apostles to Paradise, and Thomas asks him how much fruit the trees will bear. Jesus says:

 

I will hide nothing from you about the things concerning which ye have questioned me. As regardeth the vine, concerning the fruit of which ye have asked, there are ten thousand bunches of grapes upon it, and each bunch will produce six ­metretes­\fn{Measures.} of wine. As regards the palm-trees in Paradise, each cluster yieldeth ten thousand dates, and each cluster is as long as a man is high. So likewise is it in the manner of the fig-trees: each shoot produceth ten thousand figs, and if three men were to partake of one fig, each of them would be satisfied. On each ear of the wheat which is in Paradise there are ten thousand grains, and each grain produceth six measures of flour. And the cedars also are on the same scale: each tree produceth ten thousand cones and is of a very great height. And the apple tree and the ­thourakion­ tree are of the same height; there are ten thousand apples on each shoot, and if three men were to partake of one apple, each of them would be satisfied. …

 

     Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200AD, ­Against All Heresies­ XXXIII.3) uses the same word in a similar passage, which he attributes to Papias of Hierapolis (c.60-130), who heard it from John the Lord’s disciple, who, according to Papias, attributed it to Jesus:

 

As the elders remember, who saw John the Lord’s disciple, that they heard from him how the Lord taught concerning those times, and said: The days shall come wherein vines shall grow each having ten thousand branches, and on one branch ten thousand shoots, and on every shoot ten thousand clusters, and in every cluster ten thousand grapes, and every grape when it is pressed shall yield five and twenty ­metretes­ of wine. And when any of the saints taketh hold of one of the clusters, another will cry out: I am a better cluster, take me, through me bless thou the Lord. Likewise also he said that a grain of wheat shall bring forth ten thousand ears, and every ear shall have ten thousand grains, and every grain shall yield five double pounds of white clean flour; and all other fruits and seeds and plants according to the agreement that followeth with them: and all animals using those foods which are got from the earth shall be peaceable and in concord one with another, subject unto men with all obedience. These things Papias also, a hearer of John, and an associate of Polycarp, an ancient man, testifies in writing in the fourth of his books—for he wrote five. And he adds, saying: But these things are credible unto believers. And, he says, when Judas the traitor believed not, and asked: How then shall these growths be accomplished by the Lord? the Lord said: They shall see who shall come thereto. …

 

[INT, II, 794; ANT, 34-35]

 

***

 

XX: JESUS’ FRIENDS

 

157. The Coptic Gospel of Mary Magdalene

 

     In 1896 a German Egyptologist, alerted by articles in scholarly journals, bought in Cairo a Coptic manuscript (Sahidic dialect) that contained the remains of this gospel, plus three other works. [Three copies of one of them (the ­Apocryphon of John­) were also included among the Nag Hammadi Library, discovered just over 50 years later at Nag Hammadi, near ancient Thebes.] The title suggests that its revelations came from a direct, intimate communication with the Savior. The hint of an erotic relationship between him and Mary Magdalene may indicate claims to mystical communion: throughout history, mystics of many traditions have chosen sexual metaphors to describe their experiences. The gospel depicts Mary Magdalene—never recognized as an apostle by the orthodox—as the one favored with visions and insight that far surpass Peter’s. [The earliest reference to the gospel is by Schmidt {“Ein Vorirenaeisches Gnostisches Originalwerk in Koptischer Sprache” in Sitzungsberichte der Koniglich Preussischen­ (from 1948, ­Deutschen­) ­Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin­ II, 1896, 839-846}.]

 

     The author of this gospel, one of the few Gnostic texts discovered prior to the find at Nag Hammadi, interprets the Received resurrection appearances as visions received in dreams or in ecstatic trance. The work recalls traditions recorded by ­Mark­ and ­John­ that Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Christ (so Irenaeus of Lyons, ­Adversus Omnes Haereses­ III:ii.1-III.i): John says (so Irenaeus, ­Praefatio­ II; III:xv.1-2) that Mary saw Jesus on the morning of His resurrection, and that he appeared to the other disciples only later, on the evening of the same day. According to the ­Gospel of Mary Magdalene­, Mary, seeing the Lord in a vision, asks him:

 

How does he who sees the vision see it? Through the soul, or through the spirit?

 

     Jesus answers that the visionary perceives through the mind. Similarly, the ­Apocalypse of Peter­, discovered at Nag Hammadi, tells how Peter, deep in a trance, sees Christ, who explains that

 

I am the intellectual spirit, filled with radiant light.

 

     What interested these Gnostics far more than past events attributed to the historical Jesus of the orthodox and the ­Received New Testament­ was rather the possibility of encountering the risen Christ in the present. The gospel illustrates the contrast between these two points. It recalls what ­Mark­ relates:

 

Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene ... She went and told those who had been with him, as they mourned and wept. But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they would not believe it.

 

     As the gospel opens, the disciples are mourning Jesus’ death and terrified for their own lives. Then Mary Magdalene stands up to encourage them, recalling Christ’s continual presence with them:

 

Do not weep, and do not grieve, and do not doubt; for his grace will be with you completely, and will protect you.

 

     Peter invites Mary to tell us the words of the Savior which you remember. But to Peter’s surprise, Mary does not tell anecdotes from the past: instead she explains that she has just seen the Lord in a vision received through the mind, and she goes on to tell what he revealed to her. When Mary finishes,

 

she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her. But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, ‘Say what you will about what she has said. I, at least, do not believe that the Savior has said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas!’ Peter agrees with Andrew, ridiculing the idea that Mary actually saw the Lord in her vision. Then, the story continues,

 

     Mary wept and said to Peter, ‘My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I thought this up myself in my heart? Do you think I am lying about the Savior?’ Levi answered and said to Peter, ‘Peter, you have always been hot-tempered ... If the Savior made her worthy, who are you to reject her?’

 

     Finally Mary, vindicated, joins the other apostles as they go out to preach. Peter, apparently representing the orthodox position, looks to past events, suspicious of these who “see the Lord” in visions: Mary, representing the Gnostic, claims to experience his continuing presence.

 

     As it has now come down to us, the ­Gospel of Mary Magdalene­ is composed of two distinct parts:

 

1. In the first, of which the beginning six pages are lost, we find a conversation between the risen Christ and His disciples, in conformity with the usual scheme in gospels of this type. In response to a question put to Him, the Savior describes the future destiny of matter: then, in reply to Peter, He gives instruction on the nature of sin, and finally takes his leave. The disciples find themselves in a great perplexity. At this moment, Mary intervenes, to comfort the disciples and draw them out of their indecision. This is followed by an apparent conclusion:—When Mary said this, she turned their mind to good, and they began to discuss the words of the Savior.

 

2. The second part begins with a question from Peter, who asks Mary to impart to him and the other disciples the revelations which she separately has received from the Savior, who loved her above all other women. Mary consents, and relates an appearance of the Lord in a vision, in which the Savior in reply to her question informs her that what she sees in the vision is neither the soul nor the spirit, but the understanding—which is in the middle between the other two. There then follows a lacuna of four pages; but in them Jesus probably described how a soul journeying through the planetary spheres converses with five hostile powers, from which it frees itself in order to attain rest at the time of the season of the Aeon in silence.\fn{This passage is thus of a different kind from that of the preceding pages. It is related to the Gnostic gospels which, like the ­Apocryphon of John­ or the ­Gospel of Eve­, take the form of an account of a vision in the course of which the seer and the Revealer, or Savior, exchange questions and answers.} Mary’s testimony meets with unbelief from Andrew and Peter;\fn{The attitudes of Andrew and Peter here correspond more or less to that ascribed to them in the Books of the Savior­, where the former (in chapter 100) is rebuked for his lack of insight, while reference is made twice over (in chapters 36 and 72) to Peter’s hostility towards women, and in particular towards Mary Magdalene. Again, in the last logion of the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, Peter is made to say to the other disciples: Let Mary go out from among us, because women are not worthy of the Life.”} all of which reduces Mary to despair. Levi\fn{The son of Alphaeus, also mentioned with Simon Peter and Andrew at Gospel of Peter­ LX.} comes to her defense: and we are thus brought to the conclusion of the whole work:—But when Levi had said this, they set about going to preach and to proclaim.

 

     The work seems to have been put together from two small, originally independent writings, which have been more or less artificially united by the introduction, at the end of the first part, of Mary Magdalene, whose intervention is supposed to restore courage to the disciples. There is in fact a contrast between the dominant role which she plays in the second part, and the modest one which she plays in the first—or at least seems to have had in the work which lies behind it. At any rate, the title ­Gospel of Mary Magdalene­ is strictly appropriate only to the second part of our present apocryphon. The situation is complicated because, of a writing which in its original state consisted of 18 pages only, 10 are now lost, and only 8—or very little more—remain.

 

     The language and the different themes of the writing leave no doubt in the minds of many scholars as to its Gnostic character and origin. It is difficult, however, if not impossible, to ascribe it to any particular Gnostic school. On the other hand, dating the original writing is relatively simple. To begin with, the Coptic codex in which the gospel is found has been dated to the 5th century. Surviving Greek remnants of these Coptic translations are for the most part lacking; but in this particular case, the text of the final pages of the Coptic manuscript has been discovered in Greek, in Papyrus 463 of the John Rylands papyrus collection in Manchester, England, in the form of a single leaf (numbered 21/22) of a papyrus codex brought from Oxyrhynchus, Egypt, and acquired in 1917. The Greek version differs at some points from the Coptic, and must have been a little longer; but the codex from which it is but a portion has been dated to the beginning of the 3rd century; and NTA says, in agreement with the general consensus concerning works of this kind, that we may date it fairly certainly in the 2nd century.

 

     [The Greek papyrus was first examined and published by Roberts (­Catalogue of the Greek and Latin Papyri in the John Rylands Library­ III, Manchester, 1938, 18-23). It was re-edited with notes by Carratelli (in ­La Parola del Passato­ II, 1946, 266f); and another English discussion of the manuscript was undertaken by Wilson (“The New Testament in the Gnostic Gospel of Mary” in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ III, 1956-1957, 233-243).]

 

[ODC, 868; ANT, xxii; NTA, I, 340-344; PAG, xxiv, 13-15, 21, 26]

 

158. The Great Questions of Mary Magdalene

 

     Among their extensive apocryphal literature the Gnostics also possessed, according to Epiphanius (­Against All Heresies­ XXVI:viii.1) certain books entitled ­Questions of Mary­, in which Jesus is represented as the revealer of the obscene practices which constituted the rites of redemption peculiar to the sect. The same Father tells us more exactly (­Against All Heresies­ XXVI:viii.2f) that two distinct works were described by the aforementioned title: the ­Little Questions­ and the Great Questions­ of Mary; and of the latter, he supplies two brief quotations, interpolated into the analysis of one of its episodes:

 

For in the ­Questions of Mary­ which are called Great (for there are also ­Little Questions­ forged by them), they assert that he (Jesus) gave her (Mary) a revelation, taking her aside to the mountain and praying; and he brought forth from his side a woman and began to unite with her, and so, forsooth, taking his effluent, he showed that ‘we must so do, that we may live’; and how when Mary fell to the ground abashed, he raised her up again and said to her: ‘Why didst thou doubt, O thou of little faith?’ …

 

     It would therefore appear that the ­Great Questions of Mary Magdalene­ belonged to the ordinary type of Gnostic gospel: it was a revelation; a secret teaching of Christ was therein imparted to a privileged hearer; and no doubt, as the title suggests, this was done in the form of a dialogue composed of questions and answers. The action—or at least, one of its episodes—took place upon a mountain. The other character is here probably, as in other works of the same kind, Mary Magdalene, rather than Mary, the mother of the Lord, or Mary Salome. The procedure here ascribed to Jesus is influenced by ­Genesis­ 2:20-25:

 

The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, `This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman,\fn{In Hebrew: ishshah.} because she was taken out of Man.'\fn{In Hebrew: ish.} Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked, and were not ashamed. …

 

     The actions of sexual union and offering of the seed, etc., are intended to serve as the model and first example—the prototype—for the eucharistic rites actually in use among the Nicolaitans, the Borborians, and other licentious Gnostics in Egypt (so Epiphanius, ­Against All Heresies­ XXV:iii.2, XXVI:iv.1-8, VIII:iv-IX:ix; the ­Books of the Savior­ CXLVII; the ­Second Book of Jeu­ XLIII). Fendt (­Gnostische Mysterien­, Munich, 1922, 3-29) also accuses the Manicheans of practicing them.

 

[NTA, I, 338-339]

 

159. The Little Questions of Mary Magdalene

 

     It has often been suggested that the ­Little Questions of Mary Magdalene­ are to be identified with the ­Books of the Savior­ [so Renan (­Marc Aurele­, 12th ed., Paris, 1905, 120 note 3); Harnack (“Uber das Gnostische Buch Pistis Sophia” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literature­ VII.2, 1891, 107-109); Schmidt (“Gnostische Schriften in Kptischer Sprache” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchrist-lichen Literatur­ VIII.1-2, 1892, 597); Faye (­Gnostiques et Gnosticisme­, 2nd ed., Paris, 1925, 2888 note 2); and Leisegang (­Die Gnosis­, 4th ed., Leipzig, 1955, 353, though here more vaguely)]. This hypothesis finds its chief support in the fact that in the ­Books of the Savior­ I, 39 of the 46 questions addressed by the disciples to Jesus are placed in the mouth of Mary Magdalene.

 

     It has—it seems rightly—been criticized and rejected by Leichtenhan (“Untersuchungen zur Koptisch-Gnostischen Litteratur” in ­Zeitschrift für Wissenschaftl. Theologie­ XLIV, 1901, 240) and Bardenhewer (Litg.­ I, 2nd ed., 355 note 2). Even Schmidt himself has abandoned it (in ­Koptisch-Gnostische Schriften­ I, Leipzig, 1905, XVIII). Nor is there any ground for identifying with the ­Little Questions­, the ­Coptic Gospel of Mary­ Magdalene (above, #157).

 

     ANT briefly mentions Epiphanius’ citation, but says that he must be excused from repeating the passage.

 

[NTA, I, 339-340; ANT, 20]

 

160. The Life of Mary Magdalene

 

     James is the only authority. He says that it tells a story about the emperor Tiberius I who, while out hunting one day, chases a hind to the door of Pilate’s prison. The former Procurator of Judea looks out his window, trying to see the emperor’s face—since it was an old law that if a condemned criminal saw the face of the emperor he was spared: but at that moment, the emperor shoots an arrow at the hind, which flies through the window where Pilate stands and kills him.

 

     The book is in Greek, which James has transcribed from a manuscript at Holkham, and which is evidently under strong Western influence, since it tells the story of her mission to Marseilles and of a miracle wrought on a prince there, which is a very favorite subject with French mediaeval artists.

 

[ANT, 157]

 

161. The Revelation of Lazarus

 

     A ­Revelation of Lazarus­ describing the torments of Hell is perhaps the latest of the apocryphal apocalypses. James says that he has seen it only in Old French. It occurs in the Calendrier des Bergers, is described by Nisard in his ­Histoire de la Litterature Populaire­, and is also to be found, illustrated by paintings of the early part of the 16th century, at the west end of the cathedral of Albi.

 

     More may perhaps be found on this work in Lagrange (­St. Jean­, 1925, 295-318); Morin (“Saint Lazare et Saint Maximin” in ­Memoires de la Societe des Antiquaires de France­ LVI, 1897, 27-51); Duchesne (­Fastes Episcopaux de l’Ancienne Gaule­ I, 2nd ed., 1907, 321-359); Leclercq (in Cabriol & Leclercq’s ­Dictionnaire d’Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie­ VIII.ii, 1929, cols. 2009-2086); and Josi (in Paschini ­et. al.­, Encyclopedia Cattolica­ VII, 1951, cols. 996-998).

 

[ANT, xxvi; ODC, 793]

 

***

 

XXI: THE APOSTLES IN GENERAL

 

162. The Gospel of the Seventy

 

     Sachau (­The Chronology of Ancient Nations­, London, 1879, 27) has published what is to date (1963) the only testimony about this book from ancient times. It is that of Al-Biruni (973-1048AD, ­Kitab al-Athar al-Baqiya­):

 

Everyone of the sects of Marcion, and of Bardesanes, has a special gospel, which in some parts differs from the gospels we have mentioned.\fn{The Received gospels are meant.} Also the Manicheans have a gospel of their own the contents of which from the first to the last are opposed to the doctrines of the Christians; but the Manicheans consider them as their religious law, and believe that it is the correct gospel, that its contents are really that which the Messiah thought and taught, that every other gospel is false, and its followers are liars against the Messiah. Of this gospel there is a copy, called the ­Gospel of the Seventy­, which is attributed to one Balamis,\fn{Or: Iklamis.} and in the beginning of which it is stated that Salam ben Abdallah ben Salam wrote it down as he heard it from Salman Alfarisi. He, however, who looks into it, will see at once that it is a forgery; it is not acknowledged by Christians and others.\fn{Throughout the Orthodox sect of Christianity is meant.}

 

     The interpretation of such a testimony is exceptionally difficult. Kessler (­Mani­, Berlin, 1889, 208) thinks it refers to Mani’s ­Living Gospel­. But in that case the writing Al-Biruni mentions must have been an independent work, a late apocryphon which, although perhaps placed under the authority of Clement (Iklamis) of Rome, could not be dated earlier than the first half of the 7th century—Salman Alfarsi and Salam ben Abdallah ben Salam both being known contemporaries of Mohammed (c.570-629AD).

 

     Alfric (­Les Ecritures Manichennes­ II, Paris, 177-180) further believes that we possess a fragment of the Gospel of the Seventy­ in a Uyghur text, perhaps translated from Syriac, which was discovered at Bulayiq, in the north of Turfan, Iraq. The text is in Coq (“Ein Christliches und ein Manichaisches Manuskript-fragment” in Sitzungsber-ichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse­, 1909, 1205-1208):

 

... my son, thy way is ... Hear now the command of God. Go not upon this way. For if thou dost go without hearing, thou shalt fall into the great ditch. If thou ask Why?, the Adversary lies in wait for thee, he thinks to destroy thee utterly. 18th saying: This is good: thus says Zavtai the Apostle: Thou art, O Son of man, like the cow which lowed from afar after her calf, which had gone astray. When that calf ... heard the voice of its mother, it came running quickly ... to meet its mother, it became free from suffering. So also thy which ... afar will quickly with great joy. 19th saying: This is bad: thus says Luke the Apostle: Son of man, wash thy hands clean; before the evil have no fear; think pure thoughts; what thou dost possess of love for God, carry fully into effect. ...

 

     Puech (in NTA,I,351) says that the Manichean-Christians received into the volume of their scriptures a certain number of apocryphal gospels borrowed from Christian or Gnostic literature, (all of which are reviewed in this work): the ­Gospel of Peter­, the ­Gospel of Philip­, the ­Gospel of Thomas­, a ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­, the Gospel of the Seventy­, probably the ­Memoirs of the Apostles­ and perhaps the ­Genna Marias­. On this see also Alfaric (­ibid.­, 169-185).

 

[NTA, I, 269-271, 351]

 

163. The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, after Revillout

 

     Revillout (­Patrologia Orientalis­ II.2, Paris, 1904, 117-198) has published sixteen leaves (mostly from the Paris National Library, but partly from other libraries) which he declared to be the remains of a ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­. But no one seems to have been found to support his conclusion. Ladeuze (in ­Revue d’Histoire Ecclesiastique­ VII, 1906) and Baumstark (in ­Revue Biblique­ III, 1909, 245-265) have demonstrated for some that both association and title are completely arbitrary. Puech (NTA,I,271) calls it a collection of sixteen independent Coptic fragments, likewise of late date, arbitrarily grouped under a fictitious title. The texts are of very diverse origin and in part do not belong to any apocryphal gospel at all, but are the remains of a homiletic work. It may be, however, that for particular pieces in Revillout’s collection we may consider (1) a connection with a writing of Bartholomew, and (2) a relationship with a composition of Gamaliel.

 

[ANT, 10; NTA, I, 271, 504]

 

164. The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, after Harris

 

     Harris (­The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles with the Apocalypses of Each of Them, Edited from the Syriac Manuscript with a Translation and Introduction­, Cambridge, 1900) printed the above from a Syriac text, which he believed to have been translated from Greek, and into that language originally from Hebrew. On this see Nestle (Theologische Literaturzeitung­, 1900, 557-559). It has been criticized as demonstrating by the doctrines which it contains to be a creation of very late date, and does not come up to its imposing title, containing only the utterances of Peter, John and James (but whether the Great, the Less, or the Just is not specified).

 

[ANT, 504; NTA, I, 271]

 

165. The Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, after the Quqaje

 

     Maruta of Maiperkat (d. before 420) records in his catalogue of heresies (so Braun, ­De Sancta Synodo Nicaeana­, Munster, 1898, 49), on the subject of the Quaje of the region of Edessa:--With the names of the Twelve Apostles they imagine for themselves twelve Evangelists. Also they corrupt the New Testament, but not the Old.

 

     Abraham Ecchellensis (1600-1664, Maronite scholar) writes (so Haase, ­Altchristliche Kirchengeschichte nach Orientalischen Quellen­, Leipzig, 1925, 322), with reference to the same sect:—They have done away with the New Testament and forged for themselves another. On the twelve apostles they impose barbarous names, but they retain the Old Testament intact.

 

     Ephraem Syrus (c.306-373, ­Adv. haer. hymn­. 22.2f) mentions them only in association with the Marcionites, the Valentinians and Bardesanites; although James of Edessa (c.640-708, ­Letter to John the Stylite of Litharba­, Syriac text) says that they later separated themselves from the Valentinians by schism. Theodore bar Konai (fl. Early 9th century, Liber Scholiorum­ XI) finally accuses them of professing a system of Gnosis which in certain features recalled Bardesanism but was crudely mythical and even pagan in character.

 

     For Harnack (in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XIX.1b, 1899, 11) and Zahn (in ­Forschungen zur Geschichte der Ntl. Kanons­ VI, 279 note 1), this referred to a work called the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­; and this was no other work than the gospel of the same title in use among the Ebionites. Indeed, appealing to certain ritual practices ascribed to this sect in Maruta’s notice (a strict and scrupulous purification observance, abstinence from pork, abhorrence of all unclean contact, etc.), Harnack in fact held the Quqaje (whom he called Kukeans and Abraham Ecchellensis called Phocalites) to be Jewish-Christian Gnostics who lived in Edessa alongside the Bardesanites (whom Harnack held to be Pagan-Christian Gnostic groups).

 

     Schmidtke (“Neue Fragmente und Untersuchungen” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristli-chen Literatur­ XXXVII.1, 1911, 173f) proposed to link the name of the sect with that of the Koddiani, mentioned by Epiphanius (­Panarion­ XXVI:iii.6-7), and thus identified the Quqaje with Gentile Christians strongly influenced by Parsism (the ancient religion of Persia). This would then involve regarding their ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­ as a Gnostic production, and distinguishing it from the Gospel of the Ebionites­. Waitz, on the other hand (in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XIV, 1913, 46f) has produced evidence that the reference in Maruta’s catalogue concerns not a gospel but the Gnostic system of the Quqaje, and can therefore afford no proof of a Gentile-Christian character to the ­Gospel of the Twelve­.

 

[NTA, I, 264-265]

 

166. The Jewish-Christian Gospel of the Twelve Apostles

 

     There seems to be abundant evidence for the existence of this Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­, though NTA says that the majority of critics today are inclined to identify it with the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­.

 

1. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­First Homily on Luke­) mentions, immediately after the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ and before the ­Gospel of Basilides­, the ­Gospel of Thomas­ and the ­Gospel of Matthias­, a heterodox writing entitled the ­Gospel of the Twelve­ (or, according to Jerome, the ­Gospel According to the Twelve Apostles­). The context in which Origen sets the work might lead one to think of a Gnostic gospel.

 

2. By the gospel according to the Apostles Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­Dialogi Adversus Pelagianos­ III:ii) certainly understands the ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­ which he also mentions in the prologue to his Commentary on Matthew­ side by side with other apocrypha. He calls the work Juxta duodecim apostolos. He also said (towards the end of 415AD) that the Aramaic ­Gospel of the Nazaraeans­ was identical with the ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­. This last, however, is unsupported by other evidence. Nor do we know for certain that Jerome knew more than the title of this work. It has been conjectured that Jerome had seen these fragments of the ­Gospel of the Twelve­ in the writings of Origen: but there is no citation of the kind in the preserved portions of Origen’s writings, and their lost portions are no proper basis for a credible hypothesis.

 

3. Since in a fragment of the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­ in Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Panarion­ XXX:xiii. 2f), the apostles themselves appear as narrators and so are put forward as authorities for what is reported, the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­ has frequently been identified with this ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­. Nevertheless, the equating of the two works remains questionable.

 

4. Similarly, Schmidt (­Gottingische Gelehrte Anzeigen­ 1900, 481-506) conjectured, although very cautiously, that the text of the anonymous apocryphal gospel known as the ­Strasbourg Coptic Papyrus­ (below) belonged to the Jewish-Christian ­Gospel of the Twelve­, since the apostles here speak in the plural. But Haase (Literarkritische Untersuchungen zur Orientalisch-apokryphen Evangelienliteratur­, 1913, 1-11) has rejected all speculations of this kind.

 

5. Philip of Side (towards 430AD) declares in a fragment of his history (see on this de Boor, in ­Texte und Unter-suchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ V.2, 1888, 169 note 4) that the majority of the ancients had completely rejected the so-called gospel of Thomas, as well as those of the Hebrews and of Peter, saying that these writings were the work of heretics. These belonged to the false gospels, of which Philip gives other examples: the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­, the ­Gospel of Basilides­, and the ­Gospel of the Twelve­.

 

6. Ambrose of Milan (d.397, ­Expositio Evangelii Lucae­ I:ii) briefly mentions its title—euangelium, quod duodecim scripsisse dicuntur.

 

7. Bede of Jarrow (d.735, ­In Lucae Euangelium Expositio­ I, prologue) mentions the existence of this gospel by name, as does

 

8. Theophylact of Euboea (11th century, ­Enarratio in Evangelium Lucae­, prologue).

 

     If Bardenhewer (­Litg­. I, 519) is correct in his restoration of the complete title of the work, the document may have had nothing to do with Gnosticism, or at most is to be connected with gnosticizing Jewish-Christianity. James (­Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924, 10) said that Zahn (no citation given) made a good case in identifying it with the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­; and that if the two are not identical, it can only be said that we known nothing of the ­Gospel of the Twelve­. But NTA notes in 1963 that the question remains open, however, as to whether there may not have existed, under the same or a similar title, another work—or perhaps even several distinct works—whose Gnostic origin and character would be less in dispute.

 

[NTA, I, 131, 153-154, 228, 263-264, 279; ANT, 10]

 

167. The Manichean Gospel of the Twelve Apostles

 

     In the second part of the 8th century, Theodor Abu Qurra, Melchite bishop of Harran (Carrhae) writes in paragraph 24 of his ­Tractate on the Creator and the True Religion­: I separated myself from these, and there met me people of the Manicheans. These are they who are called the Zanidiqa, and they said: Thou must attach thyself to the true Christians and give heed to the word of their gospel. For the true Gospel is in our possession, which the twelve apostles have written, and there is no religion other than that which we possess, and there are no Christians apart from us. No one understands the interpretation of the Gospel save Mani, our Lord (so Graf, “Des Theodor Abu Kurra Traktat uber den Schopfer und die Wahre Religion” in Beitrage zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mitteralters­ XIV.1, Munster, 1913, 27).

 

     It is possible that the work here mentioned is a ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­. But is it, as Alfric holds (­Les Ecritures Manicheennes­ II, 173, 177) a question of the Ebionite gospel of this name? Perhaps we may here adduce a little-known testimony from Shenute of Atripe (d.466AD), who reproaches the heretics for having said that there are twelve Gospels (so Wessely, ­Studien zur Palaographie und Papyruskunde­ IX, Leipzig, 1909, 143). The heretics in question must in fact have been Manicheans (so Crum, ­Journal of Egyptian Archaeology­ XIX, 1933, 198).

 

     But it would be unwise to attach much value to an apparently analogous account in Al-Jaqubi (after Kessler, Mani­ I, Berlin, 1889, 206, 329), who names among the books composed by Mani twelve gospels, of which he named each after one of the letters of the alphabet, and in which he expounded the prayer and what must be employed for the freeing of the spirit. ‘Twelve,’ here, is in any case an error for ‘twenty-two’; from the context, it is evidently a reference to Mani’s ­Living Gospel­, which was divided into twenty-two chapters or sections, corresponding to the twenty-two letters of the Syriac alphabet.

 

     Alfric (­op. cit­., 175) ascribes to it two extracts quoted by Al-Biruni (d.1048):

 

1. The apostles asked Jesus about the life of inanimate nature, whereupon he said: If that which is inanimate is separated from the living element which is commingled with it, and appears alone by itself, it is again inanimate and is not capable of living, whilst the living element which has left it, retaining its vital energy unimpaired, never dies.

 

2. Since the apostles knew that the souls are immortal, and that in their migrations they array themselves in every form, that they are shaped in every animal, and are cast in the mold of every figure, they asked Messiah what would be the end of those souls which did not receive the truth nor learn the origin of their existence. Whereupon he said: Any weak soul which has not received all that belongs to her of the truth perishes without any rest or bliss.

 

[NTA, I, 268-269]

 

168. The Memoirs of the Apostles

 

     A work with this title is mentioned about 440AD by the Latin writer Turribius of Astorga in his ­Letter to the Bishops Idacius and Ceponius­ (in Migne, ­Patrologia Latina­ LIV.694D), as being found among the apocryphal literature common to the Manicheans and the Priscillianists, beside the ­Acts of Andrew­, ­John­, Thomas­, and others. The notice is somewhat vague:

 

From these\fn{The Received Acts and apocryphal books. The ODC says, however, that the Priscillianists tried to prove their doctrines from the Bible.} the Manicheans and Priscillianists, or whatever sect is akin to them, strive to establish all their false doctrine; and principally from that most blasphemous book which is called the ­Memoria Apostolorum­, in which to the great authority of their perversity they falsely claim a doctrine of the Lord, who destroyed the whole Law of the Old Testament and all that was divinely revealed to the blessed Moses concerning the diversity of creature and Creator; besides the other blasphemies of this same book, to recount which is vexatious.

 

     There is every reason to believe, as Babut (­Priscillien et le Priscillanisme­, Paris, 1909, 239) has shown, that Turribius borrowed everything he knew and here says from an earlier document, which is in any case the primary source on this question: the ­Consultatio­ or ­Commonitorium de Errore Priscillianistarum et Origenistarum­, composed probably in 414 by Paulus Orosius of Braga. It is there said of Priscillian:

 

And this very thing\fn{Mani’s dualistic doctrine of the eternity of Hell, from which the `prince of the world’ has come. Between this | and a second | (below), Orosius is evidently quoting a teaching of Priscillian based upon material contained in a teaching of Jesus to the Apostles (and a substantial contingent of the people) recorded in an Orthodox gospel (Matthew 13:3-9): And he told them many things in parables, saying: ‘A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seed fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.} he establishes from a certain book entitled Memoria Apostolorum­, wherein the Savior appears to be questioned by the disciples in secret, and to show from the Gospel parable which has ‘The sower went forth to sow’ | that he was not a good sower, asserting that if he had been good he would not have been neglectful, or cast seed ‘by the wayside’ or ‘on stony places’ or ‘in untilled soil’; | wishing it to be understood that the sower is he who scatters captive souls in diverse bodies as he wills. In which book also many things are said about the prince of dampness and the prince of fire, which is meant to signify that it is by art and not by the power of God that all good things are done in this world. For it says that there is a certain virgin light whom God, when he wishes to give rain to men, shows to the prince of dampness, who since he desires to take possession of her perspires in his excitement and makes rain, and when he is deprived of her causes peals of thunder by his roaring.

 

     Here (­Consultatio­ II) it is certainly a question of the existence of a gospel, Gnostic too, both in form and in content.

 

1. Jesus is presented as coversing in secret with His disciples, revealing His teaching in answer to their questions, and in particular supplying the esoteric interpretation of a parable.

 

2. The doctrinal content of the book was dualistic and contained a cosmogony which introduced certain mythical beings, among others the Archons of water and of fire.

 

3. More precisely, the figure of the Virgin of Light and the erotic myth relating to the production of rain—ANT says that the cause of rain is expounded in a manner best not repeated—appear also in other accounts of opinions which Priscillian and his disciples were accused of holding (so Pseudo-Jerome, Indiculus de haer.­; ­First Priscillianist Tractate of Wurzburg­). They belong also to the common stock of the Nicolaitans, Borborians, Gnostics (or whatever it is that Epiphanius of Salamis, d.403, identifies at ­Panarion­ XXV:ii.4), and Manicheans (so the Acts of Archelaeus­ IX.1-4; Titus of Bostra in ­Contra Manichaeum­ II.56; and Ephram Syrus, d.c.373, in Hymn. Contra Haer.­ 50.5f).

 

4. According to the historian Sulpicius Severus of Aquitaine (d.c.420/5), Priscillian took his doctrines from a kind of Gnosticism introduced into Spain by an Egyptian named Marcus. (Egypt, as we have seen, was the home of much religious speculation of a Christian-Gnostic/Gnostic-Christian nature. H)

 

     The Gnostic origin of the ­Memoirs of the Apostles­ seems therefore beyond question; and Lipsius (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, 1891, 74 note 1) has maintained that this apocryphon is a specifically Manichean writing. Beyond this, however, it may be unwise to proceed.

 

1. Davids (“De Orosio et Sancto Augustino Priscillianistarum Adversaris Commentatio” in ­Dissertation Nimwegen­, The Hague, 1930, 239) identifies the ­Memoria Apostolorum­ with the unnamed gospel referred to by Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200, ­Adversus Omnes Haereses­ I:xx.3):—(In their\fn{Either Carpocratians or Gnostics may be meant.} writings it is written, and they themselves thus explain: saying that Jesus spoke in secret and apart to His disciples and apostles, and that they requested that they might transmit these things to those who were worthy and agreed with them.) Since the relationship is far from clear, however, this statement is regarded by some as too bold.

 

2. According to some, Alfric (­Les Ecritures Manicheennes­ II, Paris, 1919, 173-177) also goes too far in his assertion that the document is identical with the gospel which, according to Theodor Abu Qurra and al-Biruni, was in use among the Manichees: the ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­.

 

     All that is certain is that the writing was not a narrative about the apostles, or a pretended history of Christ and the apostles; and that it has nothing to do with the apocryphal ­acta­ of the collection attributed to Leucius Charinus. It was a work of the ordinary type of Gnostic gospel, and professed to relate either the secret conversations of Jesus with the apostles or, perhaps more exactly, the recollections of these conversations preserved and reported by the apostles themselves.

 

     The date of its composition—before 350AD—cannot be more precisely determined. Priscillian of Avila and several of his followers, who were accused by their opponents of practicing Manicheism, were condemned to death at Trier by Maximus, the Western Roman Emperor (who wished the support of the Orthodox bishops) on a charge of magic in 386. Mani himself began his teachings c.240.

 

[ODC, 848-849, 864, 1107-1108, 1303; NTA, I, 265-268; ANT, 21]

 

169. The Gospel of the Four Heavenly Regions of the World

 

     A document entitled the ­Gospel of the Four Heavenly Regions­ (or of the Four Corners­) ­of the World­ is mentioned by Maruta of Maiperkat (d. before 420) in his ­De Sancta Synodo Nicaena­:—And they\fn{The Simonians.} made for themselves a gospel, dividing it into four volumes, and called it the ­Book of the Regions of the World­.

 

     Both Harnack (in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XIX.1b, 1899, 7 note 2) and Haase (­Altchristliche Kirchengeschichte nach Orientalischen Quellen­, Leipzig, 1925, 324) are inclined to consider trustworthy what is there said about the Gospel of the four regions. However that may be, the work might be one of the volumes which according to Apostolic Constitutions­ VI:xvi were current and under the name of Christ and His disciples, and which were alleged to have been composed by Simon Magus and his followers. The title itself recalls a theory of Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200, ­Against All Heresies­ III:xi.11 Harvey) on the four-fold Gospel:—It cannot be admitted that there are either more or less than four Gospels. For since there are four regions of the world in which we live, and four winds from the four cardinal points, and since on the other hand the Church is spread over all the earth, and the Gospel and the Spirit of life are the pillar and foundation of the church, it follows that this Church has four pillars, which from every part breathe out incorruptibility and quicken men to life.

 

     Perhaps also we may recall certain passages from the ­Wisdom of Jesus Christ­ CXXXVI (p. 232, 14-26) where Jesus with His disciples turns to face the four corners of the world; or CXXXVI (p. 254, 10-17) where the twelve apostles going in threes to the four quarters of heaven, preach the Gospel of the kingdom in the whole world.

 

     The title of the ­Gospel of the Four Heavenly Regions of the World­ and its division into four books, each corresponding to one of the four cardinal points, seem to indicate that the apocryphon ascribed to the Simonians claimed to be a universal gospel, if not ­the­ universal gospel. Nothing more is known. It appears that Maruta’s notice was first brought to modern attention by Braun (in ­Kirchengeschichtliche Studien­ IV.3, Munster, 1898, 47)

 

[NTA, I, 231-232]

 

170. The Received Acts of the Apostles

 

     This is the fifth book of the Orthodox Christian New Testament. It traces the progress of the Orthodox Christian experience from the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven to Paul’s first visit to Rome (or from c.33-c.63AD, assuming the most favored date among scholars for the Ascension, and that ­Acts­ 28:30 is correct when it says that Paul spent two years in Rome, putting himself up at his own expense. H) The identity of authorship between the Received Gospel of Luke­ and the ­Received Acts­ is virtually undisputed: both appear the work of Luke, the companion of Paul, mentioned in ­Colossians­ 4:14, ­Philemon­ :24, and ­II Timothy­ (assuming this to have been written by Paul, which for many scholars is now an open question) 4:11:—[(Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you.) ... (and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.) ... (Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you; for he is very useful in serving me.)]. This is also definitely stated by Christian writers from the latter part of the 2nd century onwards—the Muratori Canon­ (later 2nd century), Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200), Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215), and Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220). It is alleged that the chief difficulties facing advocates of Lucan authorship are certain supposed inconsistencies between ­Received Acts­ and the Received Pauline letters: given their different aims, these are not insuperable difficulties; but see below. (The argument, however, from the use of medical language in ­Luke/Acts­ to prove that the writer was a physician has been shown by Cadbury (­The Making of Luke-Acts­, 1927) to be insufficient, though the terminology ­itself­ is fully consistent with medical authorship.)

 

     The accuracy of the author in many places where ­Received Acts­ and profane history meet on common ground has been vindicated by modern archaeological finds, notably through the researches of Sir William Ramsay (­The Historical Geography of Asia Minor­, 1890; ­The Church in the Roman Empire­, 1893; ­The Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia­ I, 1895, II, 1897; ­St. Paul, the Traveler and Roman Citizen­, 1895; ­Was Christ Born at Bethlehem?­, 1898).

 

     The sources used by the author are both oral and written. The apparent existence of doublets in the earlier chapters, together with the speeches of Peter, has been thought to support the existence of oral or written traditions within the book, and several scholars (e.g., Harnack, ­Die Apostelegeschichte­, 1908, English translation, 1909, and other works) have claimed success in separating these sources. [Indeed, according to Torrey (“The Composition and Date of Acts” in ­Harvard Theological Studies­ I, 1916), ­Acts­ 1:2-15:35 is Luke’s translation of a single Aramaic document, emanating from Jerusalem, which was concerned to demonstrated the universal mission of Christianity.] The so-called ‘we-sections’ (­Acts­ 16:10-17, 20:5-15, 21:1-17, and 27:1-28:16, to which Codex Bezae adds 11:27), are now generally believed to come from the author’s own travel diary, thus revealing him as an eye-witness to many of the events he relates.

 

     The text of ­Acts­, which has come down to us in two recensions, presents a difficult critical problem. The shorter text is represented by most of the great uncial manuscripts (e.g., Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus); the other, longer text by the fragments of the ­Received New Testament­ which together constitute the so-called Western Text of that work (especially the Codex Bezae). Several theories have been put forward to account for this divergence. According to one view, Luke himself issued his work in two versions; but according to another, which is much more widely held, the original text was expanded and smoothed over by some writer versed in Tradition early in the 2nd century AD, for the purpose of correcting mistakes, illustrating various points, and inserting liturgical phraseology.

 

     The ­Received Acts­ may be conveniently divided (after Turner, whose collected papers were edited by Bate, Catholic and Apostolic­, 1933) into the following six parts:

 

1. ­Acts­ 1:1-6:7, which describes the Jerusalem church and the preaching of Peter;

2. 6:8-9:31, the extension of the church throughout Palestine and the preaching of Stephen;

3. 9:32-12:34, the extension of the church to Antioch and the conversion of Cornelius;

4. 12:25-16:5, Paul’s mission to Galatia and the Council of Jerusalem (c.49AD);

5. 16:6-19:20, the conversions of Macedonia, Greece and Asia; and

6. 19:21-the end, the extension of the church to Rome and Paul’s journey there as a prisoner.

 

     The infant church seems to have been governed first only the apostles (2:42, 4:33), to whom the seven deacons were added later (6:1-6), as well as elders (14:23, 15:2, 20:17) and bishops (20:28), the latter two positions evidently not yet being distinguished:

 

2:42. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

 

4:33. And with great power the apostles gave their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

 

6:1-6. Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, the Hellenists murmured against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution. And the Twelve summoned the body of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.’ And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them.

 

14:23. And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they believed.

 

15:2. And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.

 

20:17. And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the elders of the church.

 

20:28. Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord\fn{Other ancient authorities read: of God.} which he obtained with his own blood.\fn{Or: with the blood of his Own.}

 

     Scholars are far less unanimous on the question of date; and indeed, there were two different views already held in antiquity:

 

1. According to the so-called Anti-Marcionite prologue of ­Luke­ [which appears in Greek prefixed to ­Luke­ in some 40 surviving manuscripts of the ­Vulgate­, and may {so de Bruyne (“Les Plus Anciens Prologues Latins des Evangiles” in ­Revue Biblique­ XI, 1928, 322-341) and Harnack (“Die Altesten Evangelien-Prologe und die Bildung des Neuen Testaments” in ­Sitzungsberichte der Koniglichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Philosph.-hist. Kl.­ XXIV, 1928, 322-341)} have been written between 160-180AD,] ­Acts­ was written in Achaia some time after the death of Paul [67AD, so Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340), who evidently knew of a Tradition reporting the death of Paul during the Neronian persecution which followed immediately upon the destruction of Rome by fire during that year].

 

2. The more common early opinion dated the book at the end or shortly after Paul’s (alleged) first Roman captivity (61-63).\fn{Acts­ ends with the statement that Paul lived there two whole years at his own expense: hence the date of 61-63.} Eusebius of Caesarea based this view chiefly on II Timothy 4:16-17:—(At my first defense no one took my part, all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the word fully, that all the gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.)—and among modern exegetes it is followed by Harnack (op.cit.), who considered it unlikely that Acts would have omitted any mention of Paul’s martyrdom if it had already taken place.\fn{Clement of Rome (­First Letter of Clement to the Corinthians­ V, written c.96AD) says that after preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects; and in ­Romans­ 15:23-24 and 15:28—(But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you when I go to Spain. For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while.) ... (So when I have completed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will set out by way of you to Spain;)—Paul certainly seems to have desired to go at least to Spain. Moreover, Cyril of Jerusalem (d.386), Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403), Chrysostom of Constantinople (d.407), and Jerome of Strido (d.420), all accept a Tradition that he actually ­did­ visit Spain. [This would give him plenty of time (four years) to evangelize there, return to visit some of his former churches, be re-arrested and murdered in the Imperial capital—and write ­I Timothy­, ­II Timothy­, and ­Titus­, the legitimizing of which as his autographs may perhaps have been the real motivating force behind the assertions of these late 4th century Fathers; for there are, in my opinion, convincing arguments for believing that these three letters are not written by Paul, since ANF also publishes the following notes: Some think Rome, others Spain, and other even Britain, to be here referred to. The language of Clement concerning the Western progress of St. Paul (cap. v.) is our earliest postscript to his Scripture biography.; and some regard the words as denoting simply the witness­ borne by Peter and Paul to the truth of the gospel before the rulers of the earth. It is sufficient to refer the reader to the great works of Conybeare and Howson, and of Mr. Lewin, on the ­Life and Epistles of St. Paul­. See more especially the valuable note of Lewin (vol. ii. p. 294) which takes notice of the opinion of some learned men, that the great Apostle of the Gentiles preached the Gospel in Britain. The whole subject of St. Paul’s relations with British Christians is treated by Williams, in his ­Antiquities of the Cymry­, with learning and in an attractive manner. (H)]

 

3. A third view, held by several modern scholars, favors a date between 90-95, on the grounds that certain parallels between ­Luke/Acts­ and the books of Josephus demand that the author should have either read his Antiquities of the Jews­ (published 93AD), or heard his lectures in Rome (90AD).

 

4. The majority of critics favor a date between 70-80, which is considered late enough to account for a supposedly idealized picture of the nascent Church.

 

5. Arguments have been presented for a date of 80-90AD, on the following grounds: (a) that the author’s view of the church and the faith of its members shows movement toward the institutionalism and theology characteristic of the later period of emergent Catholicism; (b) that the author knew and used ­Mark­, and that ­Mark­ was written after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD; and (c) that both ­Luke­ and ­Acts­ were written in the generation immediately following the fall of Jerusalem (70AD).

 

6. It has also been thought that ­Acts­ was written in the last decade of the 1st century AD. This theory agrees with the picture of the Christian movement in (5), but postulates a different author for ­Acts­ than for ­Luke­, on the grounds that even if we trace some of the sources back to him—sources, moreover, which are thoroughly altered and recast to a far greater extent than in ­Luke­—as has sometimes been attempted, this does not really help us, as we cannot in any case reconstruct them with sufficient certainty to be able to deduce from them Luke’s message. This approach also argues that ­Acts­ was written ­before­ ­I Timothy­, ­II Timothy­ and ­Titus­; and indeed (so ODC, 1023) differences in language, style, and theological standpoint from the other letters in the Pauline corpus­ make their ascription to St. Paul doubtful. On their date, see (below) under numbers 298, 299 and 300. For a discussion of the date of composition of ­Mark­, see below, number 465.

 

7. In any case, a date prior to the Domitianic persecution (c.95) seems demanded, as after this the favorable attitude of ­Acts­ towards the Roman authorities would be difficult to understand.

 

     Acts­ is the only book of its kind in the ­Received New Testament­ that alone tells the story of the progress of the church from the first days in Jerusalem to its secure establishment in Rome some 30 years later. Its plan is stated in ­Acts­ 1:8, where the Ascending Jesus says:—But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth. Nevertheless, just as the gospels are not biographies, so ­Acts­ is not a straightforward account produced in accordance with the canons of modern historical study. Its author was not so much concerned to record exactly what happened as to justify the Gentile mission to both Christians and Pagans. He was also concerned to report the Holy Spirit as the driving power of the main stages of the outward movement from the place of Jesus’ execution and Resurrection.

 

[ODC, 12-14, 62, 1029-1030; PER, 195; MAR, 168, 171-172; ECC, 37-38; ALL, 18-27; ANF, I, 6, 21]

 

171. The Ebionite Acts of the Twelve Apostles

 

     The only place such a work appears to be mentioned is in INT (V,722), where it says that this work apparently has no connection with the ­Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles­. It is not mentioned by Danielou (­The Theology of Jewish Christianity I: A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea­, Philadelphia, 1964, 55-64), in his chapter on the Ebionites. Nor does NTA or ANT make reference to such a work.

 

[INT, V, 722]

 

172. The Manichean Acts of the Twelve Apostles

 

     A Manichean collection of apostolic pseudepigraphic ­acta­ is known to have circulated in both the East and West, in part at least, identified with the name Leucius or Leucius Charinus [or a spelling variety, Leutius (so Augustine of Hippo Regius, d.430AD); Karinus (in the Latin version of the ­Descent of Christ Into Hell­)] as their author; and apparently normally (though not exclusively) containing the acts of five of the apostles: Peter, Paul, John, Thomas, and Andrew. At least 19 witnesses testify to the existence of these acta­:

 

1. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254) may have known of a collection of five books of acts, according to Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340) who records (­Ecclesiastical History­ III.1) the following:—The holy Apostles and Disciples of our Savior were dispersed about the whole world. Thomas, as the tradition has it, was allotted Parthia, and Andrew Scythia, and John Asia; and here he remained till he died at Ephesus. Peter must have preached in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia and Asia, among the Jews of the Dispersion; and when at last he came to Rome he was crucified head downwards, since he had requested that he might suffer in this manner. What need is there to speak of Paul, who ‘accomplished the Gospel of Christ from Jerusalem as far as Illyria’\fn{Romans 15:19: by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that from Jerusalem and as far round as Illyricum, I have fully preached the Gospel of Christ,} and afterwards was martyred at Rome under Nero?—These are the express terms which Origen uses in the third book of his ­Commentaries on Genesis­.

 

     This text, however, has been analyzed by Harnack (“Der Kirchengeschichtliche Ertrag der Exegetischen Schriften des Origenes I” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XLII.3, Leipzig, 1918, 14ff), who has shown that the quotation from Origen very probably does not include the reports about all five apostles who are mentioned, but only those about Peter and Paul, and that the statements about Thomas (whose sphere of activity is given as Parthia, not India, as in the ­Acts of Thomas­) and those about Andrew and John should certainly not lead us to postulate corresponding books of acts as their respective sources.

 

2. In the ­Latin Descent of Christ Into Hell­ (late 3rd century?), the two resurrected men who write down the account of the Descent are named Leucius and Karinus:—Then Karinus and Leucius beckoned to them with their hands to give them paper and ink. This they did because the Holy Spirit did not allow them to speak with them. They gave each of them a papyrus roll and separated them one from the other in different cells. And they made with their fingers the sign of the cross of Christ and began each one to write on his roll. And when they had finished, they cried out as with one voice each from his cell: ‘Amen.’ Then they rose, and Karinus gave his roll to Annas and Leucius to Caiaphas; and they saluted one another and went out and returned to their sepulchers.

 

     It may be assumed that there is some connection with the double name, Leucius Charinus, attested later in this list by Photius of Constantinople. Leucius’ second name (Charinus) became known in the Latin-speaking world, and before the time of Photius. The fact that the double name could be regarded as a guarantee of valuable ancient tradition—which is how the ­Descent of Christ into Hell­ was meant to appear—represents an echo, though weak and barely recognizable, of some knowledge of a legendary disciple of the apostles named Leucius.

 

3. Agapius the Manichean (early 4th century?)\fn{His name is first attested in the 6th century (in the shorter Greek anathemas in Patrologia Graecae 100, 1321C), but he must have lived earlier, since by that time his Heptalogus seems to have been accorded classical authority among the Manicheans of the Byzantine phase of the Roman Empire. His appearance in a list of the twelve apostles of Mani, given by Photius of Constantinople (d.895, Contra Manichaeum I.14) and Peter of Sicily (Nist. Manich. XVI)—with which compare also the longer Greek anathemas in Patrologia Graecae I, 1468B)—can hardly be regarded as a trustworthy report which enables us to fix his date; nor the supposition, which Photius makes (Myriobiblion CLXXIX) in his analysis of the Heptalogus, that Agapius seems to have disputed with Eunomius of Cyzicus (d.c.395, an Arian).}, according to Photius (Myrabiblion­ CLXXIX) attributed special authority to the so called Acts of the twelve Apostles, especially those of Andrew. Both this statement, and one made below by Philaster of Brescia, who said that acts of Andrew, John, Paul and Peter were in the hands of the Manicheans, indicate the use of a collection of apocryphal acts of Apostles by the Manicheans. There is not much significance in the fact that they represent the contents of this collection as different in some points from that presupposed to have been used by the author of the ­Manichean Psalm Book­ (4, below) and Faustus of Mileve (8, below). Philaster’s omission of the ­Acts of Thomas­ in his account of the ­acta­ used by the Manicheans only means that he was insufficiently informed; and with regard to Agapius’ ­Acts of the Twelve Apostles­ we may suppose, with C. Schmidt (“Die Alten Petrusakten” in Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XXIV.1, 1903, 30) that perhaps it is only an inflated version of a title given to the collection of five books of apostolic acts, just as the Lucan book of acts is called the acts of all the apostles in the ­Muratori Canon­:—But the acts of all the apostles are written in one book.

 

     In any case, it is sufficiently clear that the collection described between 858-895AD by Photius (below) appeared long before he did in the 4th century, as a clearly defined corpus of apocryphal ­acta­ in use among the Manicheans. This prompts the assumption that it was an initiative taken by Manichean circles that was responsible for uniting within this body, acts which they found and took over which had been circulating separately or in looses association among Christian sects (and in the case of the Acts of Paul­ within the church itself).

 

4. The ­Manichean Psalm Book­ (c.340), preserved in a Coptic translation, contains in its sixth chapter—in an account of the sufferings of holy men—a passage which makes it clear that the author knew certain acts of Peter, Andrew, John, Thomas, and Paul.\fn{In the same account there certainly also appears a reference to the cup of poison drunk by the two sons of Zebedee; and the stoning of James (who is not further identified, but is probably to be taken as the son of Zebedee). Between these references stand the remarks about John, to which they have very probably been added in order to supplement them by information about his brother, whereas immediately before this there was a reference to Peter and Andrew, the other pair of brothers among the Apostles. There is no occasion to postulate particular books of acts as their source; the first reference must be derived from Mark 10:38-39—(but Jesus said to them, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?’ And they said to him, ‘We are able.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized you will be baptized.)—the second from traditions recorded by Hegesippus of Palestine (2nd century) about the Lord’s brothers.}

 

5. Philaster of Brescia (d.c.397, Liber de Haeresibus LXXXVIII.6) mentions acts of Andrew, John, Paul and Peter in the hands of the Manicheans, but makes no reference to the Acts of Thomas. He is the first Westerner to mention them.

 

6. Pacian of Barcelona (d.392), in his short account of the Montanists (­Letter to Sympronianum­ I.2) distinguished by its complete ignorance of the facts (so Lipsius, ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, 1891, 93-95), observed that the noble Phrygians (falsely pretended) to be inspired by Leucius. His source for this name cannot be determined, but the fact that he makes him combat the heretics suggests that he saw in him a person who could claim some authority, so that here he may be following some obscure piece of information about a supposed disciple of the apostles named Leucius. (See on this also C. Schmidt (­op cit­., 40-41.)

 

7. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Panarion­ LI:vi.9), where he presents a discussion of the Alogi, includes the statement that a series of psilanthropistic heretics had frequently been attacked by St. John and his companions, Leucius and many others. Nowhere else in the Tradition do we find a disciple of John named Leucius, yet Epiphanius could hardly have invented him for the particular argument at hand without care about a wider audience; which suggests that he did indeed have access to some sort of reliable witness to Lucius as a follower of John. Zahn’s assertion (­Acta Joannis­, 1880, lx-lxi) that Epiphanius owes this statement to his own perusal of the ­Acts of John­ has indeed been convincingly refuted by Lipsius (­op cit­., 95ff) and C. Schmidt (­op cit­., 31ff). Nevertheless, Epiphanius, or his informant, must have possessed some sort of information indirectly derived from this source. What can this have stated which could prompt the opinion that John’s associates included a Lecius? It was certainly more than a general note about a certain Leucius who was the author of apostolic acts; even a notice of their content, saying that a man of this name had recorded the travels of John, would not sufficiently explain Epiphanius’ pronouncement. He must have already heard of a Leucius among John’s associates.

 

8. Faustus of Mileve (late 4th century), according to Augustine of Hippo Regius (­Contra Faustum Manichaeum­ XXX:iv) makes allusion to the acts of Peter, Andrew, John, Thomas and Paul.

 

9. Innocent I of Rome (d.417, ­Letter­ 6.7), in a list of writings to be rejected, names among others those under the names of Peter and John, which were composed by a certain Leucius,\fn{C. Schmidt (Die Alten Petrusakten 55) has argued that the relative clause which were composed by a certain Lucius is not meant to include the Acts of Peter; but its inclusion must seem probable to any prejudiced reader. See on this Bousset (in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentiche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Altern Kirche XVIII, 1917\18, 37).} and that under the name of Andrew, composed by the philosophers Xenocarides and Leonidas,\fn{Fabricius (Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti II, Hamburg, 1719, 767f) assumed that Xenocarides and Leonidas were distortions of Leucius and Charinus; so also Zahn (Acta Johannis, 1880) and Lipsius (Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha I, 1891, 84). Gutschimdt (no reference given) was probably right in distrusting it. (See Bonnet, Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha II.2, 1898, 430).} and that under the name of Thomas. The name ‘Leucius’ shows that the acts are in question.

 

10. Jerome of Strido (d.420), should be also mentioned, at least for the name: two letters falsely attributed to Jerome (for which see Tischendorf, ­Evangelina Apocrypha­, 1876, 53) credit Leucius with a whole series of apocryphal acts (and sometimes other writings); but here we have only developments of reports received at second hand. (I am assuming that this pseudo-Jerome is a contemporary of the historical person. H)

 

11. Augustine of Hippo Regius [d.430, in seven different places: De serm. dom. in Monte­ I:xix.65, ­Contra Adim­. XVII.2, ­Contra Faustum Manichaean­ XXII.79, ­Letter­ CCXXXVII.2, ­Tractatus XCCIV (in Joannis Evangelium­ CXXIV.2), ­C. adv. legis et porph.­ I.20, ­Contra Felicianum­ II.6—I (H) have here, as everywhere in this book, expanded my sources’ abbreviations of both ancient and modern titles to their original spellings, where this was possible] appears to know of at least the acts of John, Andrew and Thomas. In citations 1-5, their source is referred to quite generally as apocryphal writings but it is clear from the content that the first three refer to a single episode of the ­Acts of Thomas­ (in chapters 6 and 8); and the fourth and fifth to a hymn in the ­Acts of John­ (chapter 94ff), and the departure narrative thereof (chapter 10ff). The sixth passage mentions apocrypha which are composed under the names of the apostles Andrew and John, which may refer to the ­Acts of Andrew­ and the ­Acts of John­. Further, in the third citation, the complete reference reads apocryphal writings ... composed under the names of Apostles. The ­Acts of Andrew­ are probably to be discovered as the source of the seventh citation:—You have this also in apocryphal writings, which indeed the canons of the Catholic Church does not admit, but which are all the more pleasing to you for being excluded from the Catholic canon. Let me mention a point from them; that their authority is not binding for me, but you shall be convinced by it. In the acts written by Leutius, which he writes as if they were the acts of the Apostles, you have set it down: ‘Indeed glittering deceptions and false appearances and the compulsion of visible things do not proceed from their proper nature, but from that man who through his own fault is corrupted by temptation.’ It may be accepted as almost certain that Augustine knew of the Manichean ­acta­ as a fixed quantity.

 

12. Evodius of Uzala (fl.385-426, ­De Fide Contra Manichaeum­ XXXVIII) tells of an episode that certainly derives from the ­Acts of Andrew­ which he says may be found in the Acts of Leucius, which he wrote under the name of Apostles. Evodius also duplicates the quotation given by Augustine (7, above) with the same indication of its source; indeed, Evodius probably drew it from Augustine.

 

C. Schmidt (­op cit­., 54) rejects the assumption that Evodius could have known the whole Manichean corpus of acts under the name Leucius, and thinks it more probable that his wording is based on a misunderstanding of a remark of Augustine; for in the seventh citation, Augustine mentions Leucius and his work in his controversy with the Manichean Felix. He wishes to establish that Manicheism itself, by admitting the possibility of moral decision, treats its own dualistic view as questionable.

 

C. Schmidt (­ibid.­, 51) thinks the most probable view of the seventh citation is that Augustine, in writing against Felix, did not refer to the Manichean collections of acts as a whole, but to the particular acts from which he quotes. The quotation itself cannot be further verified,\fn{It perhaps derives from the Acts of Andrew. The fragment was discovered by Augustine in actibus scriptis a Leucio, and was cited by Evodius of Uzala (De Fide Contra Manichaeos V).} but Schmidt assumes, agreeably to his hypothesis, that it comes from the ­Acts of John­. In that case Evodius misunderstood Augustine as connecting the name Leucius with the corpus as a whole, and therefore wrongly claimed it for the author of the ­Acts of Andrew­, which he also cites. But this is a very disputable theory, and Bousset (in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestament-liche Wissenschaft­ XVIII, 1917/18, 37) opposes it thus:—It is hardly convincing to begin by referring (Augustine’s) brief and ambiguous mention of Leucius’ Acts of Apostles to the ­Acts of John­, and then to claim that the valuable and detailed statements of Evodius are a misunderstanding of Augustine’s evidence, as thus interpreted. Besides, the most obvious probability is that Augustine, in describing the Leucian acts as pretended acts of the Apostles, meant to indicate the work that would be regarded by Felix as the ­Acts of the Apostles­, and possibly even bore this title: that is, the Manichean corpus as a whole. (See on this also Lipsius, ­op cit.­, 73, 79.)

 

The other reasons advanced by Schmidt likewise cannot carry the burden of proof for his view. If, he argues, in citation seven, the name Leucius was assigned to the whole collection, and Augustine therefore regarded him as the author of the whole corpus, it is surprising that he never mentions him again, although he often refers to apocryphal acts. But if Augustine knows of Leucius as the author of the ­Acts of John­ in particular, the question still remains why, even when clearly referring to these very acts, he only writes in quite general terms of apocryphal writings and does not quote the author’s name.

 

Even this does not necessarily follow; for it is quite possible that Augustine’s wording represents an affected ignorance intended to indicate his contempt for the supposed author of the collection of acts. The student who wishes to learn anything about Leucius from Augustine must continue to be guided by the text of citation seven, the only passage in which Augustine mentions this name; and according to the interpretation which suggests itself for this passage—the statement of Evodius that the incidents retailed by him from the Acts of Andrew­ are found in the acts written by Leucius, etc., which must certainly be taken as a reference to the corpus of acts as a whole.

 

13. Turribius of Astorga (d.461, ­Letter to Idacium and Ceponium­ V) mentions acts of Andrew, John and Thomas used by the Manicheans and Priscillianists. He says (only of the ­Acts of John­) that Leucius wrote them.

 

14. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (early 6th century) refers to the apocryphal acts of Andrew, Thomas, Peter and Philip in the same context:—Acts under the name of the apostle Andrew—apocryphal; Acts under the name of the apostle Thomas—apocryphal; Acts under the name of the apostle Peter—apocryphal; Acts under the name of the apostle Philip—apocryphal.—and elsewhere:—All the books which Leucius, the disciple of the devil, has made. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ gives no further particulars of these books, and perhaps lacked any clearer impression of them.

 

15. John of Thessalonica (so Jugie, in ­Patrologia Orientalis­ XIX, 377, 5-12) prepared an edition of the Dormitio Mariae­, because he held that this writing had been corrupted by heretics, and appealed in the preface of his work to the example of similar works:—We have indeed established that our most recent predecessors and the holy Fathers long before them used this procedure, the former with the various so-called Travels of the holy Apostles, Peter, Paul, Andrew and John, the latter with most of the writings about the Christ-bearing martyrs.

 

16. Pseudo-Melito of Sardis (6th-7th century), in the prefaces to his editions of the ­Passio Joannis­ and the Transitus Mariae­, attributes to Leucius a whole series of apocryphal acts (and sometimes other writings); but these are developments of reports received at second hand. On them see Lipsius (­op cit.­, 104ff, 408ff) and Schmidt (­op cit.­, 59ff).

 

17. The ­Stichometry of Nicephorus­ (c.850) contains the same type of grouping as the ­Decretum Gelasianum­. Here, it appears in the first four places under Apocrypha of the New Testament are the following: ­The Circuit of Paul­—3600 lines, ­The Circuit of Peter­—2750 lines, ­The Circuit of John­—2500 lines, ­The Circuit of Thomas­—1600 lines.

 

18. Photius of Constantinople (d.895, ­Myriobiblion­ CXIV) describes a collection of five apocryphal books of acts of apostles:—a book, the so-called ­Journeyings of the Apostles­, in which are contained the Acts of Peter, John, Andrew, Thomas, Paul. These were written, as the book itself makes clear, by Leucius Charinus. The style is thoroughly uneven and corrupt, for in places it uses well-turned constructions and expressions, but for the most part common and hackneyed ones, while it shows no trace of the plain artless style and native grace which characterizes the diction of the evangelists and apostles. It is stuffed with foolishness, inconsistency and incongruity; for it says that there is One who is God of the Jews, who is evil, whose servant Simon Magus became; and another is Christ, whom it calls good;\fn{On this point see James (Apocrypha Anecdota II, Texts and Studies V:I, Cambridge, 1897, xviii-xvix); and C. Schmidt (Die Alten Petrusakten, 68ff).} but it mixes and confuses everything by calling him both Father and Son.\fn{See also Acts of John 98; there the Cross of Light is called sometimes Father, sometimes Son.} It also says that he was not truly made man, but only appeared to be, and that he often appeared to his disciples in many forms, as a young man, as an old man, as a child, as an old man again and again as a child, as larger and smaller and then of great size, so that sometimes his head even reached up to Heaven.\fn{See also Acts of John 87-93; and the Vercelli Acts of Peter 21.} It also invents many foolish absurdities about the cross,\fn{See also Acts of John 97-100.} saying that it was not Christ that was crucified, but another in his place, and that for this reason he derided those who crucified him.\fn{See also Acts of John 97, and 102; though it is John who derides the multitude.} It rejects lawful marriages\fn{Photius may have drawn this inference from the encratite tendencies which are common to all the various acts of Apostles which we have mentioned; perhaps he has also pressed the interpretation of sayings such as are found, e.g., within Acts of Paul and Thecla 11, Acts of Andrew (the fragment from Codex Vaticanus 808), or Acts of Thomas 88. A passage in the Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates, which may derive from the Acts of John, certainly seems to contain an explicit general rejection of marriage.} and says that every birth is evil and a work of the evil one,\fn{See also Acts of John 98 and 99:—(there are … Satan and the inferior root from which the nature of transient things proceeded) … [(the Cross) which has separated off what is transitory and inferior.]} and it absurdly states that the creator of the demons is another,\fn{James (Apocrypha Anecdota II, 1897, xix) refers to the Acts of John 98-99. This hardly suffices to justify the charge of thoroughgoing dualism brought by Photius; but it is not impossible that Photius had in view some possibly Manichean gloss on some passage in the collection of acts.} and it concocts senseless and childish stories about resurrections of dead men and of cattle\fn{The miracle of a resurrection of the dead occurs in all the apocryphal acts of Apostles; however, a resurrection of dead animals is not related in the surviving acts, if one excludes the reanimation of a dried fish in the Vercelli Acts of Peter 13. In the Acts of Thomas 41, the resurrection of a dead donkey is refused, but is in principle declared to be possible.} and other animals. And the Iconoclasts believe that in the ­Acts of John­ there is teaching directed against the holy pictures.\fn{Acts of John 26-29.} In short this book contains innumerable childish, improbable, ill-conceived, false, foolish, self-contradictory, profane and godless things; and if anyone called it the source and mother of all heresies he would not be far from the truth.

 

[NTA, II, 178-188]

 

173. The Latin History of the Apostles, after Abdias of Babylon

 

     James presents the following review and synopsis of what he calls the ­Latin Acts­ as contained in what is more commonly known as the ­Apostolic History of Pseudo-Abdias­, and what is here linguistically titled. It is in ten books:

 

1. BOOK I: PETER. Chapters 1-5 are drawn from the Received gospels and ­acta­; 6-14 from the Clementine literature; 15 from the ordination of Clement of Rome (fl.c.96AD); and 16-20 from a work by Pseudo-Hegesippus of Palestine (­De Excidio Hierosolymae­ III).

 

2. BOOK II: PAUL. Chapters 1-6 from the Received ­acta­; 7-8 from the ­Martyrdom of Paul­.

 

3. BOOK III: ANDREW. This is taken from the epitome of the ­Acts of Andrew­ made by Gregory of Tours (d.594); and the Passion—perhaps the ­Latin Passio Sancti Andreae Apostoli­ is meant, since this work is a Latin production and the compiler of ­Pseudo-Abdias­ apparently knew no Greek: (H)

 

4. BOOK IV: JAMES, THE SON OF ZEBEDEE. New matter, found only here, though doubtless there was a Greek original. [The tale at the end of James forgiving his accuser ultimately goes back to Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215), who quotes it.]

 

i. Describes James’s preaching. ii. In the course of it he was opposed by Hermogenes and Philetus. Philetus was converted by James, and told Hermogenes he should leave him. Hermogenes in anger bound him by magical incantations and said: We will see if James can free you. Philetus found means to send a servant to James, who sent back his kerchief, and by it Philetus was freed and came to James. iii. Hermogenes in anger sent devils to fetch both James and Philetus to him: but when they got there they began to howl in the air and complain that an angel had bound them with fiery chains. James sent them to bring Hermogenes bound. They tied his arms with ropes and brought him, mocking him. You are a foolish man, said James, but they shall not hurt you. The devils clamored for leave to avenge themselves on him. Why do you not seize Philetus? said James. We dare not touch so much as an ant in your chambers, they said. James bade Philetus loose Hermogenes, and he stood confounded. Go free, said James, for we do not render evil for evil. I fear the demons, he said. And James gave him his staff to protect him. iv. Armed with this, he went home and filled baskets with magical books and began to burn them. Not so, said James, lest the smoke vex the unwary; cast them into the sea. He did so, and returned and begged for pardon. James sent him to undo his former work on those he had deceived, and spend in charity what he had gained by his art. He obeyed, and so grew in faith that he even performed miracles. v. The Jews bribed two centurions, Lysias and Theocritus, to seize James. And while he was being taken away, there was a dispute between him and the Pharisees. He spoke to them first of Abraham, (vi.) and went on to cite prophecies. Isaiah: Behold a virgin ... Jeremiah: Behold, thy redeemer shall come, O Jerusalem, and this shall be the sign of him: he shall open the eyes of the blind, restore hearing to the deaf, and raise the dead with his voice. Ezekiel: Thy king shall come, O Zion, he shall come humbly, and restore thee. Daniel: As the son of man, so shall he come and receive princedoms and powers. David: The Lord said unto my Lord ... Again: He shall call me, thou art my Father ... I will make him my first-born. Of the fruit of thy body ... Isaiah again: Like a sheep to the slaughter. David: They pierced my hands ... They gave me gall ... My flesh shall rest ... I will arise and be with thee ... For the comfortless trouble’s sake ... He is gone up on high ... God is gone up. He rode on the cherubim ... The Lord shall come, and shall not keep silence, ... vii. Isaiah: The ead shall rise. David: God spake once ... They rewarded me evil for good ... He that did eat my bread ... The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan. viii. The people cried out: We have sinned. Abiathar the high priest stirred up a tumult, and a scribe cast a rope about James’s neck and dragged him before Herod, who sentenced him to be beheaded. On the way he healed a paralytic. ix. The scribe, named Josias, was convinced, and prayed for pardon. And Abiathar procured that he should be beheaded with James. Water was brought, James baptized him, they exchanged the kiss of peace, and were beheaded.

 

5. BOOK V: JOHN. Chapter 1 is taken from the Received gospels and acta­; and in chapter 3, the story of the robber has Clement of Alexandria as its ultimate source. NTA says that ­Pseudo-Abdias­ contains (presumably here) part of a text named the ­Virtutes Joannis­, which possesses two narratives to be found only in Fabricius (Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­ II, 1703, 557-573; 575-580). See on this Lipsius (Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ I, 1883, 408-431) and Zahn (­Acta Joannis­, 1880, here and there). James is aware of this, and reproduces an edited text of these sections in his edition of the ­Acts of John­ (ANT, 257-264).

 

6. BOOK VI: JAMES, THE SON OF ALPHAEUS. Chapters 1-6 are taken from the Received gospels and acta­, and from Hegesippus of Palestine as quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea in the Latin edition of Rufinus of Aquileia (d.410). Chapters 7-23, the remainder of the work, are given over to various acts of Simon and Jude not to be found elsewhere:

 

vii. Simon and Jude, going to Persia, found there two magicians, Zaroes and Arfaxat, whom Matthew had driven out of Ethiopia. Their doctrines were that the God of the Old Testament was the god of darkness, Moses and the Prophets deceivers, the soul the work of the good God, the body the work of the god of darkness, so that soul and body are contrary to each other: that the sun and moon are gods, and also water: that the incarnation of Christ was in appearance only. viii. On entering the country they met Varardach, the general of King Xerxes, with an army preparing to repel an invasion from India. He had many priests and diviners with him: their gods explained that they could give no answers because of the presence of Simon and Jude. Varardach sent for them and they offered to expound their teaching: he said he would hear them after the campaign. Jude urged him to hear now. He asked them to foretell his success or failure. ix. Simon said: We will allow your gods to answer your diviners. So they prayed, and the prophets said: There will be a great battle, and many will fall on either side. The apostles laughed, though Varardach was impressed; and they said: The truth is that tomorrow the Indians will send and offer you peace and become tributaries to Persia. After some dispute with the priests it was agreed (x.) that both parties should be kept in custody till the morrow; (xi.) when the apostles’ prediction was fulfilled. But they interceded for the priests, whom Varardach would have killed. At last, said he, you will receive their goods. Their pay was reckoned up: 120 talents in all, besides the chief priest's, who had 4 pounds of gold a month: and much raiment, &c.\fn{James notes here in his synopsis that the Apostles’ refusal to take this seems to have dropped out of the text.} xii. On his return, Varardach reported all this to the king; but Zaroes and Arfaxat made light of it, and proposed a test before the apostles came. The lawyers of the land were to be summoned to dispute with them. And first they made them unable to speak, then restored their speech but took away their power of motion, and then made the unable to see. The lawyers retired in confusion. xiv.\fn{James does not indicate a part xiii.} Varardach told the apostles, and they asked him to send for the lawyers, and proposed a second trial. If the lawyers would believe on their God, they would sign them with the cross and enable them to overcome the wizards. The lawyers were at first inclined to despise them for their mean appearance; but, convinced by Simon’s words, believed. xv. The apostles prayed over them: O God of Israel, who didst do away with the magic illusions of Jannes and Mambres and give them over to confusion and sores and cause them to perish: let thine hand be also of these magicians Zaroes and Arfaxat, &c. The contest took place and the magicians were powerless. One of the lawyers, Zebeus, explained to the king how they were the instruments of the evil angel; and defied them to do as they had done the day before. xvi. They were enraged and called in a host of snakes. The apostles were hastily summoned, and made the snakes all turn on the magicians and bite them: they howled like wolves. Kill them outright, said the king; but the apostles refused, and instead made the serpents suck out all their venom, which hurt still more. xvii. And for three days, in the hospital, the wizards continued screaming. When they were on the point of death, the apostles healed them, saying: Our God does not ask for forced service; if you will not believe, you may go free. They wandered about Persia, slandering the apostles and telling the people to kill them when they came. xviii. The apostles stayed in Babylon, healing the sick, and ordaining clergy. A deacon was accused of incontinence by the daughter of a satrap who had been seduced by another. The parents clamored against the deacon Euphrosinus. The apostles sent for the infant who had been born that day, and on their bidding it spoke and cleared Euphrosinus: but the apostles refused to question it about the guilty man. xix. Two fierce tigers had escaped from their cages and were devouring everybody they met. The apostles, appealed to, made the beasts follow them home, where they stayed three days. Then the apostles called the people together, and announced that they were going to leave them to visit the rest of Persia. On the urgent prayer of the people they stayed fifteen months longer, baptized 60,000 people, (xx) ordained Abdias bishop, and set out, accompanied by many disciples. For thirteen years they traveled, and Craton their disciple recorded their acts in ten books, which Africanus the historian\fn{Julius Africanus (c.160-c.240) is meant. His History of the World was finished in 217AD.} translated into Latin. Zaroes and Arfaxat always went before the apostles and warned people against them, but were as regularly confuted. At Suanir there were seventy priests who received a pound of gold apiece from the king at each of the feasts of the sun.\fn{I.e., at the beginning of each of the four seasons.} The magicians warned these men that two Hebrews were coming, who would deprive them of all their gains: they should be compelled to sacrifice immediately on their arrival. xxi. After traveling through all the twelve provinces, the apostles same to Suanir and lodged with a chief citizen, Sennes. The priests and mob flocked thither, crying out: Bring out the enemies of our gods. So they were taken to the temple of the sun; and as they entered the devils began to cry out that they were being burned. In the east, in the temple, was a four-horse chariot of the sun in silver, and on the other side a four-oxed chariot of the moon, also silver. xxii. The priests would now compel the apostles to sacrifice. Jude said to Simon: I see the Lord calling us. Simon: I see him also among the angels; moreover, an angel has said to me: Go out hence and the temple shall fall, but I said: No, for some here may be converted. As they spoke in Hebrew an angel came and said: Choose either the death of all here or the palm of martyrdom. They chose the palm. As the priests pressed on them, they demanded silence. After a few words Simon commanded the devil to leave the chariot of the sun and break it, and Jude spoke likewise of the moon. Two hideous black men appeared and fled howling. The priests and the people attacked the apostles and slew them. xxiii. This was on the first of July. Sennes suffered with them. Lightning struck the temple and split it into three pieces and burnt Zaroes and Arfaxat to coal. After three months Xerxes sent and confiscated the priests’ goods and translated the bodies to his city, and built a marble basilica, octagonal, and 8 x 80 feet in circumference and 120 feet high, plated with gold inside, and the sarcophagus of silver in the middle. It took three years to build.

 

7. BOOK VII: MATTHEW. This and book ten are linked together by the figures of Zaroes and Arfaxat, and strictly Matthew should precede Simon and Jude. The discourses in Matthew are much longer than in the other; and a certain consciousness of the existence of the Abyssinian church is shown.

 

i. He came to Naddaver in Ethiopia, where King Aeglippus reigned. There were two magicians, Zaroes and Arfaxat, who could make men immovable, blind, or deaf as they pleased, and also charmed serpents, like the Marsi. ii. Matthew counteracted all these acts, sent the snakes to sleep, and cured their bites with the cross. A eunuch named Candacis, whom Philip had baptized, took the apostle in, and he did many cures. iii. Candacis asked him how he, a Hebrew, could speak other tongues. Matthew told him the story of Babel and of Pentecost. iv. One came and announced that the magicians were coming with two crested dragons breathing fire and brimstone. Matthew crossed himself and rose to meet them. ‘Speak from the window,’ said Candacis. ‘You can be at the window; I will go out.’ When the dragons approached, both fell asleep at Matthew’s feet, and he challenged the magicians to rouse them. They could not. Then he adjured them to go quietly and hurt no man, and so they did. v. The apostle then spoke, describing Paradise at length and (vi) the Fall (the description of Paradise is rather interesting). vii. It was now announced that Euphranor the king’s son was dead. The magicians, who could not raise him, said he had been taken up among the gods, and an image and temple ought to be built. Candacis said: Keep these men till Matthew comes. He came: the queen Euphenissa fell at his feet. He consoled her and raised Euphranor. viii. The people came to sacrifice to him as a god. He persuaded them to build a church: 11,000 men did it in thirty days: it was called the Resurrection. Matthew presided there twenty-three years, ordained clergy and founded churches; baptized the king, queen, prince, and princess Ephigenia, who vowed chastity. Zaroes and Arfaxat fled the country. It would be long to tell of all Matthew’s cures and miracles: I will proceed to his martyrdom. ix. Aeglippus was succeeded by his brother Hyrtacus, who wished to marry Ephigenia, now presiding over more than 200 sacred virgins. He offered Matthew half his kingdom to persuade her. Matthew said: Assemble all the virgins tomorrow, and you shall hear what good things I will speak of marriage. x. His address on the divine institution and merits of matrimony. xi. Loudly applauded by Hyrtacus and his followers; he then pointed out that it would be sacrilege to marry Ephigenia. Hyrtacus went away in a rage. xii. But Matthew exhorted them not to fear man. xiii. Ephigenia prayed him to consecrate her and the other virgins. And he veiled them (with a long prayer). xiv. And as he stood at the altar praying, a soldier sent by Hyrtacus pierced him in the back and he died. The people threatened to burn the palace, but the clergy restrained them. xv. Ephigenia gave all her wealth to the church. Hyrtacus sent the nobles’ wives to her, then tried to send demons to carry her off, then surrounded her house with fire. But an angel, and Matthew, appeared and encouraged her. And a great wind rose and drove all the fire on the palace, and only Hyrtacus and his son escaped. The son was seized by a devil, and rushed to Matthew’s tomb and confessed his father’s crimes. Hyrtacus was attacked with elephantiasis, and stabbed himself. Beor, the brother of Ephigenia, a Christian, succeeded and reigned twenty-five years, dying at 88, and appointing successors in his lifetime, and he had peace with the Romans and the Persians, and all Ethiopia was filled with churches, unto this day.

 

8. BOOK VIII: BARTHOLOMEW. This, as Bonnet has shown, is the original of the ­Greek Martyrdom of Bartholomew­, edited by Tischendorf, of which there is but one manuscript, dated 1279AD. The Latin manuscripts go back to the 8th or 9th century.

 

India is divided into three parts: Bartholomew came thither to a temple of Astaroth, who ceased to answer his worshippers. So they went to another city; and inquired of Beireth (Berith), who said Bartholomew was the cause. What is he like? they asked. ‘He has black curly hair, white skin, large eyes, straight nose, his hair covers his ears, his beard long and grizzled, middle height: he wears a white colobium with a purple stripe, and a white cloak with four purple gems at the corners: for twenty-six years he has worn these and they never grow old: his shoes have lasted twenty-six years: he prays 100 times a day and 100 times a night: his voice is like a trumpet: angels wait on him: he is always cheerful and knows all languages.’ For two days they could not find him, but then he cast a devil out of a man. King Polymius heard of it and sent for him to heal his lunatic daughter who bit every one. She was loosed—the apostle having reassured her keepers—and cured. The king sent camels laden with riches, but the apostle could not be found. Next day, however, he came to the king and expounded the Christian faith, and offered to show him the devil who inhabited his idol. There was a dialogue, in which the demon explained his doings. Bartholomew made the people try to pull the statue down, but they could not. The ropes were removed and he bade the demon leave the statue, which was instantly broken. After a prayer of the apostle, an angel appeared and signed the four corners of the temple with the cross; and then showed them the devil: black, sharp-faced, with long beard, hair to the feet, fiery eyes, breathing flame, spiky wings like a hedgehog, bound with fiery chains; and then the angel sent him away howling. The king and the rest were baptized. But the heathen priests went and complained to his brother Astriges (Astyages), who had Bartholomew brought bound, and questioned him. It was told him that his idol Vualdath had fallen and was broken to pieces, and in anger he had Bartholomew beaten with clubs and beheaded.\fn{The Greek has: flayed, in accordance with the late tradition.} And the people buried him honorably, and built a basilica over him. After twenty days Astriges was seized by a devil, and he and all the priests died. And there was great fear, and all believed: the king (Polymius) became bishop and presided twenty years.

 

9. BOOK IX: THOMAS. Much of the first fifteen chapters are an interpolation of new material, but chapters 16-25 epitomize the old ­Acts of Thomas­. The great prayer of Thomas here immediately precedes his death

 

10. BOOK X: PHILIP. Quite short, but presents material wholly divergent from the Greek accounts of his wanderings. Yet some Western texts, notably those current in Ireland, are aware of the story of his crucifixion, noted here, at Hierapolis, and blend it awkwardly with the Latin legend.

 

i. He goes to Scythia twenty years after the Ascension. ii. Before a statue of Mars: a great dragon comes out from beneath the statue and kills the priest’s son and two tribunes, and makes many ill with its venomous breath. Philip banishes the dragon and raises and heals the dead and sick. iii. He teaches them for a year: they break the image, and many thousands are baptized. After ordaining bishop and clergy he returns to Asia, to Hierapolis, where he extinguishes the malignant heresy of the Ebionites, who said that the Son of God was not born as a man, but took his humanity from the Virgin. iv. And he had two daughters who converted many. Seven days before his death he calls the clergy together, exhorts them, and dies, aged 87, and is buried at Hierapolis, and his two daughters after a few years are laid at his right and left. Where many miracles are done by his intercession.

 

     The ­Latin History of the Apostles, after Abdias of Babylon­ came into existence not earlier than the 6th century, and was falsely attributed to Abdias, the first bishop of Babylon, by whom it was allegedly written in Hebrew.

 

[ANF, VIII, 355; ANT, 462-469; NTA, II, 201, 204-205, 575-576]

 

174. The Coptic Tripartite Tractate

 

     The text of the ­Coptic Tripartite Tractate­ relates the process of devolution and precreation known from Valentinian sources; but interprets the Divine Being in terms of three primary members—Father, Son, and Church—a theological innovation attributed by Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220) to Heracleon the Gnostic (fl.145-180). Unlike any known Valentinian teacher, however, this author says that it is the Word, the Logos—Jesus, described as that which he previously was and that which he is eternally, an unbegotten, impassible Logos who came into being in flesh—who underwent suffering and brought forth from himself the elements involved in creation.

 

     He goes on to interpret the creation account in ­Genesis­ as having instituted three different types of human beings—the penumatics, or spiritual ones; the hylics, or material ones; the psychics, composed of a mixture of spirit and matter, and identified with the soul—and insists that human response to Christ’s coming depends on our essential nature (only the hylics facing ultimate destruction). Jesus, according to this author, came into the world to release humankind from death, to redeem the Church, and to restore all things to the Father.

 

     In line with the findings of NTB, NHG concludes that very few clear synoptic echoes can be found, the author being generally content to explicate his thesis without direct allusion to the synoptic tradition, apparently seeing no need to relate what he says about Christ to what the `orthodox' might want to claim that Jesus had said or done. Indeed, NHG adduces only two synoptic passages which might claim direct synoptic influence: (1) I,5;116,13-17­, cited below, which may reflect a memory of the synoptic mission charge of ­Matthew­ 10:8, ­Luke­ 9:2, or ­Luke­ 10:0 (but which NTB attributes to a conceptual parallel at James­ 5:14-15); and (2) ­I,5;118,23-24­—(Each of the three essential types is known by its fruit.)—which echoes ­Matthew­ 7:16a—(You will know them by their fruits.)—a text referred to in the ­Gospel of Truth­ and ­Valentinian Exposition­, and, according to Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­De Principiis­ I:viii.2) was a favorite Valentinian text.

 

     Like NTB, NHG adduces a parallel between ­I,5;127.25-34­ with Matthew­ 28:19, but believes that contemporary liturgical practice is likely to have been just as influential on the author of the ­Tripartite Tractate­ as a direct dependence upon the orthodox text (noting also that ­Matthew­ 28:19 itself probably also reflects observation of liturgical practice). Other possible synoptic verbal or conceptual parallels are rejected because one cannot really tell if the source is the synoptic tradition or not (the title the Beloved, given to Jesus at ­I,5;87.8 ­= Mark­ 1:11); because the language is so general (the reference to the little ones at ­I,5;89.9-20 ­= Matthew 18); or because one can hardly say more than that both texts make use of similar imagery and language (the reference to the pit as the Outer Darkness, I,5;89.26 = Matthew­ 8:12).

 

     The work will have been composed at some time during the 2nd century. (H)

 

     NTB notes the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various texts of the ­Received New Testament­:

 

I,5;54.18-23­: nor can any body grasp him, because of his inscrutable greatness and his incomprehensible depth, and his immeasurable height, and his illimitable will.

Ephesians 3:18-19­: may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

*

I,5;57.12-34­: so too the Son exists in the proper sense, the one before whom there was no other, and after whom no other son exists. Therefore, he is a firstborn and an only Son, “firstborn” because no one exists before him and “only Son” because no one is after him. ... Not only does the son exist from the beginning,

Colossians 1:15,17-18­: He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; … He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.

John 1:14­: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

John 1:18b­: the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

John 3:16a­: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

John 3:18b­: he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

I John 4:9a­: In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world,

*

I,5;64.6-65.17­: being minds and spiritual offering to the glory of the Father. ... whom they speak about, and the one toward whom they move, and the one in whom they are, ... Father of the All, out of his laboring for those who exist, having sown into their thought that they might seek after him. The abundance of their ... consists in the fact that they understand that he exists and in the fact that they ask what it is that was existing.

Acts 17:27-29­: that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, a representation by the art and imagination of man.

*

I,5;71.23-29­: He has extended to them faith in and prayer to him whom they do not see; and a firm hope in him of whom they do not conceive; and a fruitful love, which looks toward that which it does not see;

I Peter 1:3,5,8­: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, … who by God’s power are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. … Without having seen him you love him; though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with unutterable and exalted joy.

*

I,5;96.17-24­: The Logos established himself at first, when he beautified the totalities, as a basic principle and cause and ruler of the things which came to be, like the Father, the one who was the cause of the establishment, which was the first to exist after him. He created the pre-existent images,

John 1:1-3­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

John 1:10a­: He was in the world, and the world was made through him.

*

I,5;108.5-10­: Because of the transgression of the first man death ruled. It was accustomed to slay every man in the manifestation of its domination which had been given it as a kingdom,

Romans 5:17a­: If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man,

*

I,5;113.5-11­: The prophets, however, did not say anything of their own accord, but each one of them spoke of the things which he had seen and heard through the proclamation of the Savior.

II Peter 1:20-21­: First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the impulse of man, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

*

I,5;113.37-38­: an unbegotten, impassable one from the Logos, who came into being in flesh.

John 1:14­: and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

*

I,5;114.7-10­: the spiritual Logos who is the cause of the things which have come into being, from whom the Savior received his flesh.

John 1:1,3,10a,14­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. What has come into being … He was in the world, and the world was made through him; … and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

*

I,5;115.3-11­: Not only did he take upon himself the death of those whom he thought to save, but he also accepted their smallness to which they had descended when they were born in body and soul. He did so, because he had let himself be conceived and born as an infant, in body and soul.

Philippians 2:7-8­: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

*

I,5;116.13-17­: Others are from prayer, so that they heal the sick, when they have been appointed to treat those who have fallen. These are the apostles and the evangelists.

James 5:14-15­: Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

*

I,5;116.28-30­: The Savior was an image of the unitary one, he who is the totality in bodily form.

Colossians 2:9­: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.

*

I,5;117.3-8­: For the will held the Totality under sin, so that by that will he might have mercy on the Totality and they might be saved, while a single one alone is appointed to give life and all the rest need salvation.

Romans 5:12,15,17­: Therefore as sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned— … But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. … If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

Romans 11:32­: For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

*

I,5;118.14-21­: Mankind came to be in three essential types, the spiritual, the psychic and the material, conforming to the triple disposition of the Logos, from which were brought forth the material ones and the psychic ones and the spiritual ones.

I Corinthians 2:14-3:1­: The unspiritual man does not receive the gifts of the spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. But I, brethren, could not address you as spiritual men, but as men of the flesh, as babes in Christ.

*

I,5;119.8-16­: The material race, however, is alien in every way; since it is dark, it shuns the shining of the light because its appearance destroys it. And since it has not received its unity, it is something excessive and hateful toward the Lord at his revelation.

John 3:19-20­: And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.

*

I,5;121.10-20­: even more for wickedness in doing to the Lord things which were not fitting, which the powers of the left did to him, even including his death. They persevered saying, “We shall become rulers of the universe, if the one who has been proclaimed king of the universe is slain,” they said this when they labored to do this, namely the men and angels who are not from the good disposition

Matthew 21:38-41­: But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”

Mark 12:7-9­: But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and give the vineyard to others.

Luke 20:14-16­: But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants, and give the vineyard to others.”

*

I,5;126.9-15­: In a hidden and incomprehensible wisdom he kept the knowledge to the end, until the Totalities became weary while searching for God the Father, whom no one found through his own wisdom or power.

I Corinthians 1:21­: For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

I Corinthians 2:6-8­: Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

*

I,5;127.25-34­: As for the baptism which exists in the fullest sense, into which the Totalities will descend and in which they will be, there is no other baptism apart from this one alone, which is the redemption into God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, when confession is made through faith in those names,

Matthew 28:19­: Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

*

I,5;132.23-38­: where there is no male nor female, nor slave and free, nor circumcision and uncircumcision, neither angel nor man, but Christ is all in all.

Galatians 3:28­: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:11­: Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, freer man, but Christ is all, and in all.

*

I,5;133.30-32­: when he was in the tomb as a dead man the angels thought that he was alive,

Matthew 28:1,5-6­: Now after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the sepulcher. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

 

[NTB, 48-64; NAG, 54-55; PAG, 37, 48, 115; NHG, 71-72]

 

175. The Coptic On the Origin of the World

 

     The title of this work is modern: it was transmitted from antiquity without one (the modern one based upon the text of the work itself). Perhaps not surprisingly, the treatise does not represent any known Gnostic system; and though there are reminiscences of Sethian, Valentinian and Manichaean themes, there are also present varieties of Jewish thought, Christian ideas, Greek or Hellenistic philosophical and Mythological concepts, magical and astrological themes, and elements of Egyptian lore.

 

     This would suggest that Alexandria may have been the place where the original Greek text was composed; and a time of composition at the end of the 3rd century AD, or the beginning of the 4th.

 

     An important salvific role is played by Jesus as Logos and Savior. Indeed, the Logos is quoted (125.17f) as saying: There is nothing hidden which will not appear and what was unknown will be known. The reference here to being known suggests that the ­Q­ version of the saying put forth at ­Matthew­ 10:26 and ­Luke­ 12:2 is in the mind of the author, rather than the Markan one; but it is impossible to say whether it is Q­ or ­Matthew­ or ­Luke­ or a post-synoptic source which is presupposed here.

 

     Some have also claimed that there is a clear synoptic allusion in the reference to the blessed little guileless spirits and the angel who appears before them who stands in front of the Father (124.10-23). However, the idea of guardian angels is well-established in the New Testament period, and there seems insufficient reason for seeing a synoptic allusion here. Tardieu refers to a number of synoptic parallels throughout his translation of this text; but nearly all of them involve at best a loose parallel in content but little verbal agreement, and in most cases the synoptic passage in question is simply reflecting standard ideas for which there are numerous non-synoptic parallels. (E.g., the description of woes at 126.10ff—The sun will darken and the moon will lose its light. The stars of heaven will disregard their course and a great thunder will come out of a great power.—has parallels with ­Matthew­ 24:29: but both texts are clearly reflecting typical apocalyptic imagery.)

 

     Perhaps a stronger case can be made for seeing some influence of the synoptic tradition in the reference to the three baptisms (122.14-16—the first is spiritual, the second is a fire, the third is water.); which appears to be reminiscent of the ­Q­ account of John the Baptist’s preaching of a coming baptism with spirit and fire which will supersede his own water baptism.

 

     Other than this, it may be that there is little that is explicitly Christian here; and Troger (­Gnosis und Neues Testament­, Berlin, 1973, 36) in fact regards the Christian elements in it as secondary. Similarly, there seems very little to determine which form of synoptic tradition was presupposed by the author/redactor who produced the final text.

 

     NTB notes the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various texts of the ­Received New Testament­:

 

II,5+XIII,2;101.5-9­: And from matter he made for himself an abode, and he called it heaven. And from matter, the ruler made a footstool, and he called it earth.

Acts 7:49­: ‘Heaven is my throne, and earth my footstool. What house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?

*

II,5+XIII,2;102.33-34­: she sent forth her breath and bound him and cast him down into Tartaros.

Revelation 20:1-3­: Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years were ended. After that he must be loosed for a little while.

*

II,5+XIII,2;104.35-105.8­: And before his mansion he created a throne, which was huge and was upon a four-faced chariot called “Cherubin.” Now the Cherubin has eight shapes per each of the four corners, lion forms and calf forms and human forms and eagle forms,

Revelation 4:6b-7­: And round the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with the face of a man, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle.

*

II,5+XIII,2;105.26-29­: Jesus Christ, who resembles the savior ... sits at his right upon a revered throne,

Hebrews 8:1b­: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven,

Hebrews 12:2­: looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

*

II,5+XIII,2;118.24-119.6­: Then came the wisest of all creatures, who was called Beast. And when he saw the likeness of their mother Eve he said to her, “What did God say to you? (pl.) Was it ‘do not eat from the tree of gnosis’:” She said, “He said, ‘Not only do not eat from it, but do not touch it, lest you die’.” He said to her, “Do not be afraid. In death you (pl.) shall not die. For he knows that when you eat from it, your intellect will become sober and you will come to be like gods, recognizing the difference that obtains between evil men and good ones. Indeed, it was in jealousy that he said this to you, so that you would not eat from it.”

I Corinthians 10:22­: Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

*

II,5+XIII,2;122.13-16­: So too there are three baptisms—the first is the spiritual, the second is by fire, the third is by water.

Matthew 3:11­: “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Luke 3:16­: John answered them all, “I baptize you with water; but he who is mightier than I is coming, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

*

II,5+XIII,2;125.14-16­: Now the Word that is superior to all beings was sent for this purpose alone: that he might proclaim the unknown.

John 1:18­: No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

*

II,5+XIII,2;125.17-19­: “There is nothing hidden that is not apparent, and what has not been recognized will be recognized.”

Matthew 10:26b­: for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

Mark 4:22­: For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.

Luke 8:17­: For nothing is hid that shall not be made manifest, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light.

Luke 12:2­: Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

*

II,5+XIII,2;126.10-12­: Then the sun will become dark. And the moon will cause its light to cease. The stars of the sky will cancel their circuits.

Matthew 24:29­: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;

Mark 13:24-25­: “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Revelation 6:12b-13a­: and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth

 

[NTB, 185-208; NAG, 161; NHG, 30-31]

 

176. The Coptic Exegesis on the Soul

 

     The ­Coptic Exegesis on the Soul­, another anonymous tractate of the ­Nag Hammadi Library­, contains a narrative describing the fall and restoration of the soul, concluding with a hortatory section encouraging the reader to repent. In order to support his account, the author has included various scriptural quotations from the Received Old Testament­ and the ­Received New Testament­, as well as Homer (The ­Odyssey­) as proof-texts; and it has been suggested that the narrative itself, devoid of its proof-texts, contains nothing distinctively Jewish or Christian, but resembles Pythagorean and Platonic accounts of the exile and return of the soul.

 

     Indeed, the ­Exegesis on the Soul­ is unique among the Nag Hammadi texts in giving explicit Biblical quotations to back up its argument; indeed, it is perhaps closest to what one would have expected a Gnostic to look like from the reports of the church Fathers. On the other hand, while it has been claimed that the quotations are secondary additions to an underlying, possibly non-Christian, source, most scholars now take the opposite view and see the quotations as an integral part of the tractate [so perhaps most recently Sevrin, “La Redaction de l’Exegese de l’Ame (Nag Hammadi II.6)” in ­Museon­ XLII, 1979, 237-271; but the New Testament quotations are less extensive than those from the Old Testament)].

 

     In one short passage (135.16-24) there is a group of citations from synoptic material, where, as part of the exhortation to the soul to repent and turn to the Father, the text quotes the words of the SaviorThe Savior said: ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for it is they who will be pitied; blessed, those who are hungry, for it is they who will be filled.’ Again he said ‘If one does not hate his soul he cannot follow me.’ For the beginning of salvation is a repentance. Therefore, ‘Before Christ’s appearance came John, preaching the baptism of repentance’. It is not absolutely certain whether the final clause is intended to be an explicit citation, or simply the author’s own summary of the events concerned; but if the former, ­Acts­ 13:24 is probably closest in wording, and this might imply knowledge of the Lukan writings; for the first half of this saying is very close to ­Luke­ 14:26a, and in general terms Luke’s form of this saying in terms of hating is usually considered to be more original than Matthew’s parallel (­Matthew­ 10:37).

 

     The second half of the citation, on the other hand, does not agree precisely with any canonical version: perhaps one can do no better than to say that it is a free association of ­Luke­ 14:26 (so Sevrin, ­op cit.­, 240); or associated with ­Luke­ 9:23 (so Krause and Labib, ­Gnostische und Hermetische Schriften aus Codex II und Codex VI­, Gluckstadt, 1971, 83).

 

     The second beatitude also raises some problems. It might be considered significant that ­Matthew­ 5:6 follows immediately after 5:4 in some manuscripts of ­Matthew­ (predominantly those of the so-called Western Text). On the other hand, the two beatitudes must have been adjacent to each other in ­Q­. There is thus the possibility that the author derived his material from ­Matthew’s­ source ­Q­, rather than from ­Matthew­—a possibility which may also be suggested by the fact that the reference to righteousness in ­Matthew­ 5:6, almost universally recognized as due to the Matthew Redactor, is not present here. The citation is thus closer to ­Luke­ 6:21, which is often thought to preserve the ­Q­ wording more accurately.

 

     A comparison with the citation by Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, Miscellaneous Studies­ V.70.1) is instructive; for while Clement usually cites the beatitude in its Matthaean form (which refers to a hungering after righteousness), on one occasion he omits the reference to righteousness and gives another interpretation:—If then it is agreed among us that knowledge is the food of reason, ‘blessed truly are they,’ according to the scripture, ‘who hunger and thirst after truth, for they shall be filled with everlasting food.’—which makes the allusion thus to knowledge as the food of reason, an interpretation which fits very well in the passage in the ­Exegesis on the Soul­.

 

     One final possible allusion to synoptic tradition, apart from the explicit citations, may occur at the start of the work (127.26f). In referring to the soul’s fall into the corporeal world, the writer says she fell into the hands of many robbers. This may be an allusion to Gnostic interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan, where the action of the robbers is interpreted as that of imprisoning the soul in the world; but the allusive nature of the reference means that one cannot be certain.

 

     The writer shows dependence on ­Luke­, and probably on ­Matthew­ as well, with a certain amount of freedom in citing and interpreting the texts chosen. As to the time of the writing, it must have been composed originally in Greek, perhaps as early as 200AD, though only the present Coptic translations survives.

 

     NTB has noted the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various texts of the ­Received New Testament­.

 

II,6;131.2-8­: Therefore Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said, “I wrote you in the letter, ‘Do not associate with prostitutes,” not at all meaning the prostitutes of this world or the greedy or the thieves or the idolaters, since then you would have to go out from the world.

I Corinthians 5:9-10­: I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men; not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

*

II,6;131.9-13­: For our struggle is not against flesh and blood—as he said—but against the world rulers of this darkness and the spirits of wickedness.

Ephesians 6:12­: For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

*

II,6;133.6-10­: This marriage has brought them back together again and the soul has been joined to her true love, her real master, as it is written, For the master of the woman is her husband.

I Corinthians 11:3­: But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God.

Ephesians 5:23­: For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.

*

II,6;134.35-135.4­: Therefore the savior cries out, No one can come to me unless my Father draws him and brings him to me; and I myself will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:44­: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

*

II,6;135.4-8­: It is therefore fitting to pray to the father and to call on him with all our soul--not externally with the lips but with the spirit, which is inward, which came forth from the depth—sighing;

Romans 8:26­: Likewise the spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.

*

II,6;135.15-17­: Again the savior said, blessed are those who mourn, for it is they who will be pitied;

Matthew 5:4­: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Luke 6:21b­: “Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.

*

II,6;135.18-19­: blessed, those who are hungry, for it is they who will be filled.

Luke 6:21a­: “Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.

Matthew 5:6­: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

*

II,6;135.19-21­: Again he said, If one does not hate his soul he cannot follow me.

Luke 14:26­: “If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

*

II,6;135.22-24­: Before Christ’s appearance came John, preaching the baptism of repentance.

Acts 13:23b-24­: God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. Before his coming John had preached a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

 

[NTB, 209-217; NAG, 180; NHG, 51-57]

 

177. The Coptic Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth

 

     The ­Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth­ is so named from the eighth and ninth spheres alleged by some to surround the earth, which in ancient times were thought to be the beginning of the Divine realm, the levels beyond the control of the lower powers [the first seven spheres being the realms of the sun, moon, and planets, (Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto and the planet recently discovered beyond Pluto were unknown to the ancients)]—the lower powers whose control over human life was not necessarily benevolent. In order to reach the eighth and ninth levels, advanced stages of spiritual development in the individual were indicated—for these were the first levels at which the soul could experience true bliss.

 

     Originally, the ­Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth­ was a Hermitic treatise—its character is emphasized by the name of Hermes, and the similarities it possesses to other Hermetic documents. The additional dualistic, Gnostic themes, and elements of mystery, together with certain affinities with Middle Platonism, suggest a date of composition in the 2nd century AD.

 

     NTB notes the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various texts of the ­Received New Testament­:

 

VI,6;55.10-14­: “My son, what is fitting is to pray to God with all our mind and all our heart and our soul,

Matthew 22:37b­: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Mark 12:30,33a­: and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ … and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself,

Luke 10:27b­: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

*

VI,6;57.18-23­: Receive from us these spiritual sacrifices, which we send to you with all our heart and our soul and all our strength.

Matthew 22:37b­: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.

Mark 12:30,33a­: and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ … and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself,

Luke 10:27b­: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

 

[NTB, 282-283; NAG, 292; NHG, 51-57]

 

178. The Testimony of Truth

 

     The ­Testimony of Truth­ has been called a Christian Gnostic tractate with homiletical and polemical characteristics: its modern title has been assigned to it on the basis of content.

 

     There are numerous echoes of synoptic tradition in this work:

 

1. 29.12-15 (there has taken hold of them the old leaven of the Pharisees and of the scribes of the Law) uses the language of ­Matthew­ 16:16/­Mark­ 8:14/­Luke­ 12:1, though there is no clear indication as to which of these three, or perhaps also ­I Corinthians­ 5:7, may be in mind.

 

2. 29.24 (they will not be able to serve two masters) recalls ­Matthew­ 6:24/­Luke­ 16:13.

 

3. 30.17 (until they pay the last penny) recalls ­Matthew­ 5:26.

 

4. 31.18-22 (I have said to you, ‘Do not build nor gather for yourselves in the place where brigands break open, but bring forth fruit to the Father’) recalls ­Matthew­ 6:19f in the first half; and the reference to building in the first phrase may indicate that the parable of the two houses (­Matthew­ 7.24-27/Luke­ 6:47-49) is in mind.

 

5. 33.5-8 (the lame, the blind, the paralytic, the dumb and the demon-possessed were granted healing) looks very similar to the summary in ­Luke­ 7:21f.

 

6. 33.8f (a reference to Jesus’ walking on the water); but although an allusion to the synoptic account of the miracle is possible, the sequel makes it more probable that the Johannine version of the story (­John­ 6:19) is in mind; for a few lines later there is the note they boarded the ship and at about 30 stadia they saw Jesus walking on the sea (33.22-24), and the reference to the 30 stadia indicates that the Johannine account is being used.

 

7. 37.5-8 (they do not know the power of God nor do they understand the interpretation of the scriptures) clearly echoes the language of ­Matthew­ 22.29/Mark­ 12:24.

 

8. 37.22 (which says of the blessed that they dwell before God under the light yoke) is perhaps a reminiscence of Matthew­ 11:29f, which is part of material peculiar to Matthew, but not clearly affected by the Matthew Redactor.

 

9. 39.24-28 (where it is said of Jesus that when he came to John at the time he was baptized, the Holy Spirit came down upon him as a dove) recalls the synoptic accounts of Jesus’ baptism, and Luke’s account in particular (which is the only one that qualifies the Spirit as holy).

 

10. 39.29 (where it says the Jesus was born of a virgin) indicates some knowledge of the birth stories.

 

11. 41.7-9 (which speaks of the man who will forsake all the things of the world having renounced the whole place) may well echo ­Luke­ 14:33, a verse which has no exact parallel in the other gospels.

 

12. 41.10 (which speaks of the man who has forsaken all having grasped the fringe of his garment) recalls Matthew­ 9:20/­Luke­ 8:44.

 

13. 44.17-18 (where it says that which anyone wants he brings to him in order that he might become perfect) is probably an allusion to ­Matthew­ 5:48.

 

14. 45.7f (John was begotten by the Word through a woman, Elizabeth) and

 

15. 45.13f (John was begotten by means of a womb worn with age) show knowledge of the birth stories in ­Luke­ 1.

 

16. 45.14-17 (but Christ passed through a virgin’s womb. When she conceived she gave birth to the Savior) probably alludes to ­Luke­ 2 (particularly ­Luke­ 2:11).

 

17. 68.4 (they are gratified by unrighteous mammon), the only remaining clear synoptic allusion, recalls ­Luke­ 16:9, which is material peculiar to Luke.

 

     Unless it be at 39.18, there are no clear allusions to Mark­—indeed, the majority of the allusions are to ­Q­ sayings. However, the ­Testimony of Truth­ clearly depends upon both the Matthew Redactor and the Luke Redactor, so that knowledge of both Matthew’s and Luke’s finished gospels is implied. This pattern of synoptic allusions is certainly consistent with a relatively late date of the 3rd century AD (or the end of the 2nd century) postulated by Pearson and Koschorke as the date of writing. (A date later than c.180 is in any case demanded by the polemic against 2nd century Gnostic teachers in the second half of the text.)

 

     Indeed, the work itself may be divided into two major sections: (1) a homily (29.6-45.6) complete in itself, which addresses a group of spiritually enlightened persons on various themes—truth in contrast to the Law, knowledge in contrast to empty hopes for martyrdom and a fleshly resurrection, virginity in contrast to carnal defilement, and the life of the wise and perfect Gnostic—for whom there is promised salvation and an unfading crown; and (2) a second section in which the false doctrines and practices attacked are clearly those of contemporary Christian orthodoxy; and not only this group, but various Gnostic groups, such as the Valentinians (who are attacked as heretics), the Basilidians, and the Simonians, are bitterly abused in the second section as well; and indeed, this second witness of the ­Testimony of Truth­ may have been intended particularly for those persons in danger of falling into Orthodox Christianity, or some sort of Gnosticism perceived as filled with error. Its most notable features are its radical encratism, and its unbending insistence on total renunciation of the world and all that belongs to it.

 

     The work quotes or refers to passages from the ­Received Old Testament­, the ­Received New Testament­ (particularly from Paul and John), and various of the so-called apocryphal literature.

 

     NTB notes the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various texts of the ­Received New Testament­:

 

IX,3;29.12-13­: the old leaven of the Pharisees

Matthew 16:6b­: “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Mark 8:15b­: “Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”

Luke 12:1b­: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

Matthew 16:11b­: Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

*

IX,3;29.22-25­: For no one who is under the Law will be able to look up to the truth for they will not be able to serve two masters.

Galatians 3:23-25­: Now before faith came, we were confined under the law, kept under restraint until faith should be revealed. So that the law was our custodian until Christ came, that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian;

*

IX,3;29.24-25­: they will not be able to serve two masters.

Matthew 6:24a­: “No one can serve two masters;

Luke 16:13a­: No servant can serve two masters;

*

IX,3;30.18-31.5­: But the Son of Man came forth from Imperishability, being alien to defilement. He came to the world by the Jordan river, and immediately the Jordan turned back. And John bore witness to the descent of Jesus. For it is he who saw the power which came down upon the Jordan river; for he knew that the dominion of carnal procreation had come to an end. The Jordan river is the power of the body, that is, the senses of pleasures. The water of the Jordan is the desire for sexual intercourse. John is the archon of the womb.

John 1:28-29,32-34­: This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! … And John bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

John 3:13­: No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.

*

IX,3;31.18-20­: “Do not build nor gather for yourselves in the place where the brigands break open,

Matthew 6:19-20­: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.

*

IX,3;32.5-8­: They fall into their clutches because of the ignorance that is in them.

Ephesians 4:18­: they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart;

*

IX,3;32.24-33.3­: he went down to Hades and performed many mighty works. He raised the dead therein; and the world-rulers of darkness became envious of him, for they did not find sin in him. But he also destroyed their works

I Peter 3:18b-20,22­: being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the air, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

I Peter 4:6­: For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God.

Ephesians 4:8-10­: Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

*

IX,3;32.26-27­: He raised the dead therein;

Matthew 27:52-53­: the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

*

IX,3;32.27-28­: the world-rulers of darkness

Ephesians 6:12­: For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

*

IX,3;33.1-2­: they did not find sin in him.

John 8:46a­: Which of you convicts me of sin

*

IX,3;33.3­: he also destroyed their works

I John 3:8b­: The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.

*

IX,3;33.20-21­: They are blind guides, like the disciples.

Matthew 15:14a­: Let them alone; they are blind guides.

Matthew 23:16a­: “Woe to you, blind guides,

Matthew 23:24a­: you are blind guides,

*

IX,3;33.22-24­: They boarded the ship, and at about thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea.

John 6:16-17,19­: When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. … When they had rowed twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat. They were frightened,

Matthew 14:22,24-26­: Then he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. … but the boat by this time was many furlongs distant from the land, beaten by the waves; for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear.

Mark 6:45,48-49­: Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. … And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out;

*

IX,3;34.1-6­: But when they are “perfected” with a martyr’s death, this is the thought that they have within them: “If we deliver ourselves over to death for the sake of the Name we will be saved.”

II Corinthians 4:8-11­: We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

Matthew 24:9,13­: “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and put you to death; and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. … But he who endures to the end will be saved.

Mark 13:9,13­: “But take heed to yourselves; for they will deliver you up to councils; and you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them. … and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

Luke 21:12,19­: “But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. … By your endurance you will gain your lives.

Matthew 10:17-18,22­: Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear testimony before them and the Gentiles. … and you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.

*

IX,3;34.8-9­: wandering stars

Jude :13b­: wandering stars for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved for ever.

*

IX,3;34.26-35.2­: And some say, “On the last day we will certainly arise in the resurrection.” But they do not know what they are saying,

John 6:39-40,44,54­: and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that every one who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” … No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. … he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 11:24­: Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

*

IX,3;36.29-37.8­: Do not expect, therefore, the carnal resurrection, which is destruction, and they are not stripped of it\fn{The flesh.} who err in expecting a resurrection that is empty. They do not know the power of God, nor do they understand the interpretation of the scriptures.

Matthew 22:29-30­: But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God, for in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Mark 12:24-25­: Jesus said to them, “Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

Luke 20:34-36­: And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are accounted worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die any more, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

*

IX,3;37.21-23­: they dwell before God under the light yoke.

Matthew 11:30­: For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

*

IX,3;39.23-28­: upon the Jordan river when he came to John at the time he was baptized. The Holy Spirit came down upon him as a dove

Luke 3:21-22a­: Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove.

Matthew 3:13,16­: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. … And when Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him;

Mark 1:9-10­: In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove;

John 1:28,32­: This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. … And John bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.

*

IX,3;39.29-30­: he was born of a virgin

Matthew 1:23a­: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

Luke 1:27­: to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

*

IX,3;39.31­: he took flesh;

John 1:14a­: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

*

IX,3;40.5-6­: we have been born again by the word.

I Peter 1:23­: You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;

James 1:18a­: Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth

*

IX,3;40.20-41.4­: like Isaiah, who was sawed with a saw, and he became two. So also the Son of Man divides us by the word of the cross. ... But Isaiah is the type of the body. The saw is the word of the Son of Man which separates us from the error of the angels.

Matthew 10:34­: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Luke 12:51­: Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division;

I Corinthians 1:18­: For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Hebrews 4:12­: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

IX,3;45.4-6­: he will crown himself with the crown unfading

I Peter 5:4­: And when the chief Shepherd is manifested you will obtain the unfading crown of glory.

*

IX,3;45.6-8­: John was begotten by the Word through a woman, Elizabeth;

Luke 1:57,60­: Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. but his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.

*

IX,3;45.9-11­: Christ was begotten by the word through a virgin, Mary.

Matthew 1:23a­: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

Luke 1:27­: to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

John 1:1,14a­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth;

*

IX,3;45.12-14­: John was begotten by means of a womb worn with age,

Luke 1:7,18,36­: But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. … And Zechariah said to the angel, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” … And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.

*

IX,3;45.14-18­: Christ passed through a virgin’s womb. ... furthermore she was found to be a virgin again.

Matthew 1:23a­: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

Luke 1:27­: to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

*

IX,3;45.16-17­: she gave birth to the Savior.

Luke 2:11­: for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Matthew 1:21­: she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

*

IX,3;48.26-49.10­: Again it is written, “He made a serpent of bronze and hung it upon a pole ... which ... for the one who will gaze upon this bronze serpent, none will destroy him, and the one who will believe in this bronze serpent will be saved.” For this is Christ; those who believed in him have received life. Those who did not believe will die.

John 3:14-16,18­: And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe in condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

*

IX,3;59.9-10­: world-rulers of darkness

Ephesians 6:12­: for we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

*

IX,3;60.3-4­: in a fire unquenchable ... they are punished.

Mark 9:43b­: it is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.

Matthew 18:8b­: it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.

*

IX,3;68.3-4­: they are gratified by unrighteous Mammon

Luke 16:11­: If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches?

*

IX,3;69.7-11­: There are some who, upon entering the faith, receive a baptism on the ground that they have it as a hope of salvation, which they call “the seal,”

Ephesians 1:13­: In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,

Ephesians 4:30­: And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

II Corinthians 1:22­: he has put his seal upon us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.

*

IX,3;69.15-17­: For the Son of Man did not baptize any of his disciples.

John 4:2­: (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples),

*

IX,3;72.25-27­: the Son of Man ... and he has become manifest through the bubbling fountain of immortality.

John 4:14b­: in the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 7:38b­: ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”

*

IX,3;73.17-22­: “Even if an angel comes from heaven, and preaches to you beyond that which we preached to you, may he be anathema,”

Galatians 1:8­: But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed.

*

IX,3;74.8-12­: the fountain of immortality

John 4:14b­: the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 7:38b­: ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’”

 

[NTB, 360-368; NAG, 406; NHG, 139-145]

 

179. The Coptic Marsanes

 

     Marsanes­ has been handed down as codex ten of the ­Nag Hammadi Library­, one of the most fragmentary of the Nag Hammadi codices, apparently consisting of this work and no others, and bearing at its end the title: [M]arsanes. It appears in the form of an apocalypse attributed to a Gnostic prophet and visionary known from other Gnostic sources as Marsanes or Marsianos; and it may have been among the Gnostic apocalypses which (so Porphyry) were discussed in Rome in the school of Plotinus.

 

     The book begins and ends with an encouraging statement on the rewards of knowledge; but its fragmentary content—it is possible to be certain of its contents only for pages 1-10 and 25-41—has made it impossible to determine the full meaning of the work.

 

1. Pages 1-10 describe an intellectual and visionary ascent to the highest heaven; here the various levels of reality are revealed, and the reader is given to understand that he, too, can achieve the ascent to God. The vocabulary is closely related to that of ­Allogenes­.

 

2. Pages 25-42 contain revelations concerning the mystical meaning of the letters of the alphabet, their relation to the human soul on the one hand, and to the names of the angels on the other. The closest parallel to this material from previously known Gnostic sources is the description of the teaching of Marcus the Gnostic by Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.220).

 

     Overall, the content and vocabulary of ­Marsanes­ demonstrate points of contact with Neoplatonic philosophy, and reveal a distinct trend away from the radical dualism of the earliest Gnostic systems in the direction of a monistic understanding of reality. But it should probably be included within the broad category of those which exhibit virtually no direct Christian influence; for ­Marsanes­ is widely regarded as a non-Christian text [so Krause (“Das Literarische Verhaltnis des Eugnostosbriefes zur Sophia Jesus Christi” in ­Mullus Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum. Erganzungsband 1­, Munster, 1964, 215-223); Menard (“Normative Self-Definition in Gnosticism” in ­Jewish and Christian Self-Definition­ I, London, 1980, 134-150); and Parrot, who, in his introduction to the text (in Robinson’s ­The Nag Hammadi Library in English­, Leiden, 1977) says that the text is without apparent Christian influence].

 

     R. McL. Wilson ­(Gnosis and the New Testament­, Oxford, 1968, 115f) notes some possible Christian elements in the text—the reference to King of kings (78.2, cf. ­Revelation­ 17:14, 19:16) and gods and archangels and angels for service (77.20ff, cf. ­Hebrews­ 1:14). But these are mostly standard phrases and do not seem to be distinctive enough to warrant the claim that they are echoing New Testament language. The only Synoptic reference noted by Wilson is the phrase the Kingdom of the Son of Man (81.12f), a phrase which also occurs at Gospel of Mary­ 9.9f (itself almost certainly based on ­Matthew­ 24:15). However the ­Son of Man­ is the son of the primal androgynous Man, and has no relationship to the phrase Son of Man in the Received gospels. The common language is probably purely coincidental.

 

     Marsanes­ was composed originally in Greek, perhaps by a Syrian author, probably in the early 3rd century AD.

 

     NTB notes the following verbal or conceptual parallel with two texts of the ­Received New Testament­:

 

X,1;1.19-25­: But let none of us be distressed and think in his heart that the great Father ... . For he looks upon the All and takes care of them all.

Matthew 6:31-33­: Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall be drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the gentiles seek all these things; and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.

Luke 12:29-31­: And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be of anxious mind. For all the nations of the world seek these things; and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well.

 

[NTB, 379-380; NAG, 417; NHG, 14-15]

 

180. The Coptic Interpretation of Knowledge

 

     The Coptic ­Interpretation of Knowledge­ is clearly written for a situation not dissimilar to that at Corinth when Paul wrote ­I Corinthians­, i.e., a situation in which the variety and validity of different spiritual gifts have become a source of contention. The writer uses many of Paul’s own arguments in dealing with the situation, and Paul’s letters are clearly a source used by the writer.

 

     However, while the Pauline allusions dominate the second half of the text, there are a number of synoptic allusions in the first half. The first few pages of the manuscript have suffered a great deal, but on page 9 there is a series of sayings which seem to be direct quotations:—Now this is his teaching: Do not call out to a father upon the earth. Your Father, who is in heaven, is one (­Matthew­ 23:9); You are the light of the world (­Matthew­ 5:14); They are my brothers and my fellow companions who do the will of the Father (Matthew­ 12:50); For what use is it if you gain the world and you forfeit your soul (­Matthew­ 16:26; Mark­ 8:36)—this appears to be a deliberate quotation of texts. All the texts occur in Matthew’s gospel (though certainly the last has synoptic parallels as well). Moreover, the ‘light’ saying is probably Matthew’s own introduction added as a preface to his adapted version of the Markan light saying (­Mark­ 4:21) in Matthew­ 5:15. Thus the verse is probably due to the Matthew Redactor.

 

     Similarly, the saying in ­Matthew­ 12:50 has a synoptic parallel in Mark­ 3:35, and ­Matthew­ has redacted Mark’s­ the will of God to the will of my Father. The ­Interpretation of Knowledge­ here appears to quote Matthew­ rather than ­Mark­, thus again presupposing Matthew’s redactional activity. Thus, the text here shows dependence on Matthew’s gospel, and not just on Matthew’s source material(s).

 

     There is at 5.14ff a clear reference to the parable of the sower, with an interpretation of it; however, the text is too fragmentary for one to be able to say more precisely which version of the parable is presupposed.

 

     In another passage at 6:19ff, also very damaged, there is an interpretation of the parable of the Good Samaritan. The passage 6.26ff is slightly better preserved, and speaks of men being brought down and bound in the flesh; and this may well be part of the interpretation of the parable, since such an interpretation appears to have been current in Gnostic circles. Whether this shows that the author knew the full gospel of Luke­ must remain undetermined from this piece of evidence alone, since the parable might have been known as an independent unit of tradition.

 

     Another possible allusion to the synoptic tradition includes the text at 10.27-30:—(I became very small so that through my humility I might take you up to the great height, whence you had fallen.)—which may reflect an adaptation of the synoptic logion found in ­Matthew­ 23:12, and ­Luke­ 14:11 and 18:14. But one cannot be certain of this:

 

1. The ideas expressed fit very well with the overall argument of the text, so that one does not need a source to explain what is said here.

 

2. The synoptic saying itself is scarcely original and can be paralleled elsewhere (e.g., in Jewish Wisdom Literature).

 

     Perhaps more significant are the words at 10.30-34—You were taken to this pit. If you now believe in me, it is I who shall take you above through this shape that you see. It is I who shall bear you on my shoulders—which seems to be a conflation of the imagery and language of the saying about the sheep fallen into the pit (­Matthew­ 12:11f) and the parable of the lost sheep (­Matthew­ 18:12-14; ­Luke­ 15:4-7). The note about laying the lost sheep on the shoulders is peculiar to Luke’s version of the parable, and may be due to the Luke Redactor (so Schultz, Q—Die Spruchquelle der Evangelisten­, Zurich, 1972, 388). The two passages in the gospels can only be linked via the implied reference to sheep in both contexts; however, in the “pit” saying, it is only Matthew’s gospel which refers to the sheep in this context, and this is almost certainly due to the Matthew Redactor. Thus the text here probably betrays knowledge of both the Matthew Redactor and the Luke Redactor.

 

     The ­Interpretation of Knowledge­ offers for some a unique opportunity to see how a Gnostic teacher uses New Testament writings and applies them to the church; for features of style and structure suggest that the text of this work may present a homily intended for delivery in a service of worship.

 

1. The structure of the discussion follows a common pattern of worship, in which readings from the gospel are followed by readings from the apostle.

 

2. Correspondingly, one section (9.21-14.15) uses passages known from Matthew­ to interpret the Savior’s teaching and his Passion; the next section (14.15-21.34) uses texts from ­I Corinthians­ and probably Romans­, Colossians­, Ephesians­, and Philippians­ to interpret the church as the body of Christ.

 

3. The author is concerned to address a community that is torn over a single issue: the jealousy and hatred over the issue of spiritual gifts (some members refusing to share theirs with others; some envying those who have received such gifts as prophecy and public speaking because they consequently seem to stand out in the congregation; some despising others whom they consider ignorant: i.e., lacking ­gnosis­; some feeling slighted and resentful).

 

     To rectify this situation, the author first recalls the example of the great son Christ, who voluntarily humbled himself to demonstrated the Father’s love to all his small brothers. Next the author takes up Paul’s metaphor of the body and its members, and combines it with the image of Christ as the Head of his body, the church, to remind the members that they share the same body and the same head; and that despite the diversity of spiritual gifts, each member shares in the same grace, developing an interpretation of knowledge rather similar to that of Paul in ­I Corinthians­ 13, or even of ­I John­, implying that those who show love demonstrate the love of God the Father and of his Word (while those who show jealousy and hatred betray their resemblance to the jealous and ignorant demiurge).

 

     NTB notes the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various texts of the ­Received New Testament­:

 

XI,1;1.14-15­: they came to believe by means of signs and wonders and fabrications.

Matthew 24:23-24­: Then if any one says to you, ‘Lo, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.

Mark 13:21-22­: And then if any one says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. False Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.

II Thessalonians 2:9,11­: The coming of the lawless one by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and wonders, Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false,

*

XI,1;1.19-21­: they fled without having heard that the Christ had been crucified.

Matthew 26:56b­: Then all the disciples forsook him and fled.

Mark 14:50­: And they all forsook him, and fled.

*

XI,1;4.26-27­: He was first to fix our eye upon this virgin who is fixed to the cross

Hebrews 12:2­: looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

*

XI,1;5.16-19­: Some fell in the path. Others fell in the rocks. Yet still others he sowed in the thorns. And still others he gave to drink

Matthew 13:4a,5a,7a,8a­: And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, … Other seeds fell on rocky ground, … Other seeds fell upon thorns, … Other seeds fell on good soil

Mark 4:4a,5a,7a,8a­: and as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, … Other seed fell on rocky ground, … Other seed fell among thorns … And other seeds fell into good soil

Luke 8:5a,6a,7a,8a­: “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, … And some fell on the rock; … And some fell among thorns; … And some fell into good soil

*

XI,1;5.33-34­: And he was nailed

Acts 2:23b­: you nailed and killed by the hands of lawless men.

*

XI,1;9.28-29­: Do not call to a father upon the earth. Your Father, who is in heaven, is one.

Matthew 23:9­: And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

*

XI,1;9.30-31­: You are the light of the world.

Matthew 5:14a­: “You are the light of the world.

*

XI,1;9.31-33­: They are my brothers and my fellow companions who do the will of the Father.

Matthew 12:50­: For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Mark 3:35­: Whosoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Luke 8:21­: But he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

*

XI,1;9.33-35­: For what use is it if you gain the world and you forfeit your soul?

Matthew 16:26a­: For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?

Mark 8:36­: For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?

Luke 9:25­: For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

*

XI,1;12.18­: he appeared as flesh.

I Timothy 3:16a­: Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of our religion: He was manifested in the flesh,

John 1:14a­: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,

I John 4:2b­: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

II John 7a­: For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh;

*

XI,1;12.19-22­: He has no need of the glory that is not his; he has his own glory with the name, which is the Son.

John 17:5-6a­: and now, Father, glorify thou me in thy own presence with the glory which I had with thee before the world was made. “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world;

*

XI,1;13.36-14.33­: the cross, was undergoing nailing for the members, ... and thus the decree will be fulfilled, ... Moreover, when the great Son was sent after his small brothers, he spread abroad the edict of the Father and proclaimed it, opposing the All. And he removed the old bond of debt, the one of condemnation.

Colossians 2:14­: having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

*

XI,1;14.33-15.9­: And this is the edict that was: those who made themselves enslaved have become condemned in Adam. They have been brought from death, received forgiveness for their sins and been redeemed by

Romans 5:14-21­: Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the effect of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Then as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Law came in, to increase the trespass; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I Corinthians 15:21-22­: For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

*

XI,1;15.23-16.19­: By having a brother who regards us as he also is, one glorifies the one who gives us grace. Moreover, it is fitting for each of us to enjoy the gift that he has received from God, and that we not be jealous, since we know that he who is jealous is an obstacle in his own path, since he destroys only himself with the gift and he is ignorant of God. He ought to rejoice and be glad and partake of grace and bounty. Does someone have a prophetic gift? Share it without hesitation. ... Now your brother also has his grace:

Romans 12:3-6­: For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him. For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;

*

XI,1;16.20-24­: Do not belittle yourself, but rejoice and give thanks spiritually and pray for that one in order that you might share the grace that dwells within him.

Romans 12:3­: For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him.

I Corinthians 12:23­: and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,

*

XI,1;16.24-27­: So do not consider him foreign to you, rather, as one who is yours, whom each of your fellow members received.

I Corinthians 12:13-14­: For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.

*

XI,1;16.31-38­: But is someone making progress in the Word? Do not be hindered by this; do not say: “Why does he speak while I do not?”, for what he says is also yours, and that which discerns the Word and that which speaks is the same power.

I Corinthians 12:8­: To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,

I Corinthians 12:30­: Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?

*

XI,1;17.14-21­: eye or a hand only, although they are a single body. Those who belong to us all serve the Head together. And each one of the members reckons it as a member. They can not all become entirely a foot or entirely an eye or entirely a hand since these members will not live alone;

I Corinthians 12:14-21,27­: For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ``Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ``Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single organ, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ``I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, ``I have no need of you." Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

*

XI,1;17.21-25­: these members will not live alone; rather they are dead. We know that they are being put to death. So why do you love the members that are still dead, instead of those that live?

Romans 6:12-13­: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness.

Romans 8:5,13­: For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.

*

XI,1;17.25-29­: How do you know that someone is ignorant of the brethren? For you are ignorant when you hate them and are jealous of them, since you will not receive the grace that dwells within them,

I Corinthians 12:1,21-22­: Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable,

Romans 12:36a­: For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:

*

XI,1;17.36-18.11­: Here he gives away gifts to his men without jealousy according to

I Corinthians 12:11­: All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

Ephesians 4:7-8­: But grace was given to each of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.”

*

XI,1;18.17-22­: Rather by laboring with one another they will work with one another, and if one of them suffers, they will suffer with him, and when each one is saved, they are saved together.

I Corinthians 12:26­: If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

*

XI,1;18.28-19.1­: Do not accuse your Head because it has not appointed you as an eye but rather as a finger. And do not be jealous of that which has been put in the class of an eye or a hand or a foot, but be thankful that you do not exist outside the body. On the contrary, you have the same Head on whose account the eye exists as well as the hand and the foot and the rest of the parts. Why do you despise the one that is appointed as

I Corinthians 12:14-21,27­: For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single organ, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

 

[NTB, 381-391; NAG, 427; NHG, 145-148]

 

181. The Arabic Acts of the Apostles

 

     This is a reserved number. It is likely that the Arabic pseudepigrapha included at one time an ­Arabic Acts of the Apostles, in the same mode as #’s 171, 172, 173 and 182­: tales from the classical world collected by a compiler who is a contemporary (or near-contemporary) of the world whose legends he is engaged in collecting; but not in the mode of the ­Received Acts of the Apostles­ (which is only incidentally a collection of the acts of various of the apostles); nor in the mode presented by Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Gibson, and published under the Mythological Acts of the Apostles­ [(­Horae Semiticae­ IV, Cambridge, 1904) which is in fact a modern compilation by them to which they have affixed a title of their own invention]. Indeed, the following sources were used in bringing about this collection—from Mrs. Smith’s introduction (which is quoted here almost word or word):

 

I. DEYR-ES-SURIANI MANUSCRIPT. This is the manuscript from which Mrs. Lewis took most of these stories. They found it in the Coptic convent of Deyr-es-Suriani, or St. Mary Deipara, in the Wady Natron, Egypt—the monastery from which, fifty years ago (1854), a great treasure of Syriac manuscripts was conveyed to the British Museum by Tattam and Pacho. They photographed it almost completely during their first visit to the convent in 1901, but some of their films came to grief in the process of development and they returned in the spring of 1902, whence, by accepting the kind hospitality of the Egyptian Salt and Natron Company, we were enabled once more to pitch our tent outside the gate of the convent, and by making use of a dark room kindly lent to us by the monks, to change our film-cells several times, and fill up most of the gaps of our series in the space of a single day.

 

     The manuscript is a paper one, imperfect at the end. It has therefore no visible date; but the script has been pronounced by Guidi, Browne, and Seybold to be undoubtedly of the 14th century, and therefore within 100 years of the period when the Coptic legends of the apostles were translated into Arabic. There is a considerable resemblance between its script and that of III and VII (below).

 

     The manuscript contains 148 leaves, divided into 14 quires of 10 leaves each, with the exception of the first quire, which has only 8 leaves, and is of a much later period as regards both paper and script. Another restoration has been made in the middle of the volume which embraces the greater part of the story of John. The leaves measure 12 and one half centimeters by 16 centimeters, and contains each about 17 lines. Their edges have been carefully mended with strips of paper pasted over the margins. All we know about the history of this manuscript is contained in the colophon at the foot of folio 44b; which simply tells us that it was written in Deyr-es-Suriani in the Monastery of Our Lady.

 

II. CODEX SINIATICUS ARABICUS 539. From this were taken the stories of Mark and Luke, with a version of the legend of John, similar to that published in Syriac by Wright (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­, 4-72). This is a paper manuscript of the 16th century, containing 277 leaves, each having 17 lines and measuring 20 x 13 centimeters. Many of its pages bear Syriac numerals. Mrs. Gibson has quite recently ascertained the date of the manuscript to be 1579AD. The writing is cramped and difficult to read.

 

III. CODEX VATICANUS ARABICUS 694. From this were taken the martyrdoms of James, the brother of Jesus, and of Paul. This is a paper manuscript of the 14th century, containing 161 leaves. It measures 16 x 12 centimeters, each page having 15 lines of writing. The original numeration of the leaves is in Coptic Arabic ciphers. The script of folios 1-30, which includes the ­Martyrdom of Paul­, is larger than that of the rest of the manuscript. A description of it is contained in Mai (­Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio­ IV, c.1834, 598).

 

IV. CODEX SINIAITICUS ARABICUS 405. From this were taken the Martyrdom of Paul­, and the Martyrdom of Peter­. It is an undated paper manuscript, probably of a late period, containing 236 leaves, each measuring 33 x 21 centimeters, with 21 lines to the page. The script is very clear. The same may be said of

 

V. CODEX SINIATICUS ARABICUS O. From the script, if Mrs. Gibson’s photographs belong to it, we judge that it belongs to some period between the 12th-15th centuries. It is paper, imperfect at the beginning, and contains 224 leaves.

 

VI. CODEX PARISIANUS FONDS ARABE 81. This is a paper manuscript of 241 leaves, measuring 22 x 15 centimeters. It has 11, 12 or 13 lines on each page. Its script, which is that of the 16th century, is punctuated by red stops. Both this and the one following are in the Bibliotheque National, Paris.

 

VII. CODEX PARISIANUS FONDS ARABE 75. This is a paper manuscript of 125 leaves, measuring each 22 x 15 centimeters. It has 15 lines to each page. It is assigned to the 14th century, and its script bears a strong resemblance to that of I.

 

VIII. CODEX SINIATICUS SYRIACUS 30. From this were taken 37 pages of the ­Acts of Judas Thomas­ in Syriac, a text at least 400 years older than any hitherto known, being a text of the 6th century, as opposed to Wright’s text of the 10th century. [James contents himself with saying that they are older fragments; and with this NTA agrees. He also notes that Mrs. Lewis published one of the principal texts of the Syriac narratives of the Assumption of Mary (“Apocrypha Syriaca” in ­Studia Sinaitica­ XI, 1902); but that it had been edited previously by Wright (in ­Journal of Sacred Literature­, 1865).]

 

     NTA says that Mrs. Lewis edited two secondary versions of the Departure section of the ­Acts of John­. One of them, titled in this book the ­Arabic Death of John, the son of Zebedee­, has been translated from the Syriac along with the Syriac life of John. The other (the ­Arabic Death of Saint John­) is based on a Coptic original and is connected with an homogeneous collection of late apocryphal acts. On this collection see Guidi (“Gli Atti Apocrifi Degli Apostoli Nei Testi Copti, Arabi ed Etiopici” in ­Giornale Della Societa Asiatica Italiana­ II, 1888, 1ff); Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden,­ Brunswick, 1890, 89ff); and Grossouw (“Die Apocriefen van het Oude en Nieuwe Testamemnt in de Koptische Litterkunde” in ­Studia e Testi­ CXVIII, Rome, 1944, 258-259). Whether the Coptic original of the Departure narrative was identical with the Coptic version mentioned above has still to be investigated; according to Graf (­op cit­., 259), the Arabic text was current in the second half of the 13th century; he gives a list of Arabic manuscripts including the Departure independently of this collection (­ibid­., 263-264). The translation of the Departure into Ethiopic was made from the Arabic as part of the whole Egyptian and Arabic corpus of apostolica not earlier than the first half of the 14th century.

 

     NTA does not mention Mrs. Lewis for an Arabic version of the ­Acts of Peter­; rather, on the oriental versions of the Martyrdom see Vouaux (­Les Actes de Pierre. Introeuction, Textes, Traduction et Commentaire­, Paris, 1922, 19-22). Similarly, Vouaux (­ibid­., 12-19) is cited for further information about the tradition for the ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­ (for which NTA says only that there is an Arabic version).

 

[MRS, viii-xi; ANT, xxx, 219,364; NTA, II, 203-204, 259, 326, 428]

 

182. The Ethiopic Contending of the Apostles

 

     By this title is meant a collection of apostolic ­acta­ which seems to have formed during the 15th century, when the manuscript was copied, a complete Ethiopic work entitled the ­Gadla Hawaryat­ (­Contendings of the Apostles­, British Museum Manuscript Oriental 678), containing the following 30 chapter headings—­The History of Saint Peter­ (pp. 7-31), ­The Martyrdom of Saint Peter­ (32-42), ­The Martyrdom of Saint Paul­ (43-48), ­The Genealogies of the Twelve Apostles­ (49-50), ­The Letter of Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy­ (51-69), ­The Preaching of Simon, the Son of Cleopas­ (70-74), ­The Martyrdom of Simon, the Son of Cleophas­ (75-77), ­The Preaching of Saint James the Just­ (78-81), ­The Martyrdom of Saint James the Just­ (82-89), ­The Preaching of Saint Bartholomew in the Oasis­ (90-103), ­The Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew in Naidas­ (104-110), ­The Acts of Saint Andrew [Matthew] in the City of Kahenat­ (111-129), ­The Martyrdom of Saint Matthew in Parthia­ (130-136), ­The Martyrdom of Saint Luke­ (137-145), ­The Preaching of Saint Philip and Saint Peter­ (146-155), ­The Martyrdom of Saint Philip in Phrygia­ (156-162), ­The Preaching of Saint Andrew and Saint Philemon Among the Kurds­ (163-182), ­The Acts of Saints Andrew and Bartholomew Among the Parthians­ (183-214), ­The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew in Scythia­ (215-221), The Preaching of Saint John the Evangelist­ (222-252), ­The History of the Death of Saint John the Evangelist­ (253-263), ­The Martyrdom of Saint James­ (264-266), ­The Preaching of Saint Matthias in the City of the Cannibals­ (267-288), ­The Martyrdom of Saint Matthias­ (289-294), ­The Acts of Saint James in India­ (295-303), ­The Martyrdom of Saint James­ (304-308), ­The Martyrdom of Saint Mark the Evangelist in Alexandria­ (309-318), ­The Preaching of Saint Thomas in India­ (319-345), ­The Martyrdom of Saint Thomas in India­ (346-356), ­The Preaching of Judas Thaddeus in Syria­ (357-368)—followed by this colophon:

 

Here endeth the “Book of the Contendings of the Twelve Apostles and of the Seventy-two Disciples.” And they prayed and said, “We have labored and we have been scourged for Thy sake; what is our reward?” Then our Lord said unto them, “Ye shall pass boldly into heaven at the last day.” And the Twelve Apostles said unto our Lord, “What shall be the reward of the man who putteth his confidence in our prayers, and celebrateth the commemoration of us, and causeth the book of our acts to be written?” And again our Lord said unto them, “Whosoever shall put his confidence in your prayers, and shall celebrate the commemoration of you, and shall write the book of your contendings, and shall praise your sufferings, shall pass with you boldly into heaven at the last day.” And now, O brethren, let us celebrate the commemoration of the Apostles, and let us put our confidence in their prayers, so that we may attain unto a portion with them in the kingdom of the heavens. Amen. And let our father Gabra Marawi receive a tithe of mercy without shame on that day, together with his children, for ever and ever! Amen. And may God show mercy alike upon him that wrote this book and upon him that had it written, and upon him that had it read, and upon him that translated it, and upon him that hath listened unto the words thereof, for ever and ever! Amen, Amen. And as for those who had this book of the “Contendings of the Apostles” written, that is to say Sophonias, and Dorotheus, and our prince, Krestos-Ardeet, and Victor the scribe, because of their love for the Twelve Apostles, having confidence in the prayers of the Twelve Apostles and in those of the Seventy-two Disciples, may God write their names upon a pillar of light in letters of gold in the place where Christ the Lord shall be glorified with profound hymns of glory and praise, for ever and ever! Amen, Amen, and Amen. So be it! So be it!

 

     An older English translation of the ­Contendings of the Apostles­ was published from a single manuscript by Malan (­The Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­, London, 1871). The one discussed here was published by Budge (The Contendings of the Apostles­ II, London, 1901). Continuing with his introduction:

 

     The ­Ethiopic Contending of the Apostles­ forms part of a larger collection of Ethiopic material, published under the patronage and at the request and supervision, of John, third marquis of Butte, in 1901; and it contains, besides this, (1) a smaller manuscript, which puts together an isolated ­Preaching of Saint Matthias­ and the Ethiopic Acts of Saint Thomas in India­, which Budge says were combined from various miscellaneous texts which followed the ­Contendings­ as part of the same manuscript; and (2) the ­Ethiopic Acts of Saint Peter­ and the Ethiopic Acts of Saint Paul­, which together make up British Museum Manuscript Oriental 683, a manuscript which probably dates from the first half of the 17th century. All four of these last works are dealt with in the course of the ­Fragments of the New Testament­.

 

     The legends of the apostles and disciples originated at a very early period, probably during the 2nd century, among certain heretical sects, and they exist in modified forms in languages both of the East and of the West. The following evolutionary plan seems to have been generally followed in the transmission of the Syriac/Greek/ Coptic/Arabic/Ethiopic linguistic stream:

 

1, 2. It is probable that some of these lives were written first of all in a Semitic dialect, HEBREW, or perhaps SYRIAC; and it is certain that

 

3. as early as the 2nd century (so Lipsius, in Smith and Wace’s Dictionary of Christian Biography­, I, 18-19) numerous legendary reports concerning the fates of the Apostles were in circulation in GREEK, not a few owing their origin simply to an endeavor to satisfy the pious curiosity or taste for the marvelous in members of the primitive church; while others subserved the local interests of particular towns or districts which claimed to have derived their Christianity from the missionary activity of one of the Apostles, or their line of bishops from one immediately ordained by him. It likewise not infrequently happened that party spirit, theological or ecclesiastical, would take advantage of a pious credulity to further its own ends by manipulating the older legends, or inventing others entirely new, after a carefully preconceived form and pattern. And so almost every fresh editor of such narratives, using that freedom which all antiquity was wont to allow itself in dealing with literary monuments, would recast the materials which lay before him, excluding whatever might not suit his theological point of view—dogmatic statements, for example, speeches, prayers, etc., for which he would substitute other formulae of his own composition; and further expanding or abridging after his own pleasure, as the immediate object which he had in view might dictate. Only with the simply miraculous parts of the narrative was the case different. These passed unaltered and unquestioned from one hand to another; and although the stories originated for the most part in heretical quarters, we find them at a later period among the cherished possessions of ordinary Catholics; acquaintance with them being perpetually renewed, or their memory preserved in Catholic Christendom, partly by the festal homilies of eminent fathers, and partly by religious poetry and works of sacred art.

 

4. The legends of the apostles were first written in the dialect of COPTIC spoken in Upper Egypt (Sahidic), and it is certain that translations of them are undoubtedly as old as the 6th century [Guidi (“Gli Atti Apocrifi Degli Apostoli nei Teseti Copti, Arabi ed Etiopici” in ­Giornale Della Societa Asiatica Italiana­ II, 1888, 14) extends this probability back to the 5th century] although no copy of them older than the 9th century is presently known. In the course of time, versions of these legends were translated into the dialect of Coptic spoken in the Thebaid and in part of Lower Egypt (Bohairic). As long as Coptic was generally understood throughout Egypt the Coptic version would, naturally, be the most used in that country. But, as the Copts little by little lost their temporal power, copies of their favorite versions of Apostolic histories ceased to be multiplied.

 

5. Meanwhile, the ARABIC language was making its way steadily among the Egyptian Christians, and as a result an Arabic version of the Coptic histories of the apostles made its appearance, probably in the second half of the 13th century. The Arabic version cannot have been made from the Syriac, for a comparison of the Arabic with the Syriac version shows that its diversities from the Syriac are more striking and more numerous than its similarities to the Coptic. Of this Arabic version several copies are known, and all of them have been copied from one Arabic original, which was translated from the Coptic.

 

6. From the Arabic, the ETHIOPIC was made, probably during the early part of the 14th century. The Ethiopic is the last of the three great Oriental versions of the histories of the apostles to grow up under the care of the Patriarchate of Alexandria (the two others being the Coptic and the Arabic). In the Ethiopic the book forms its final systematically arranged whole—comprehending both Apostles and Evangelists, and of each separately Preachings and Martyrdoms. Both the Ethiopic and Arabic collections may be regarded as versions made from Coptic; but the Coptic texts themselves are for the most part very fragmentary.

 

     (A condensed form of this material appears at the head of the discussion of item #146.)

 

     The following is the entirety of the chapter headed ­The Genealogies of the Twelve Apostles­:

 

The father of Simon, who was surnamed Peter, and of Andrew his brother, was of the house of Reuben, and his mother's mother was of the house of Simon;\fn{Simeon is meant.} Simon Peter’s mother loved him greatly, and she named him Simon after the name of her father’s family, and because Andrew’s father loved him greatly he counted him among the family of his father Reuben. Zebedee was of the house of Levi and he took to wife a woman of the house of Judah, who bore to him two sons, called James and John. Now because the father of James loved him greatly he counted him among the family of his father Levi, and similarly, because the mother of John loved him greatly she counted him among the family of her father Judah; and for this reason she brought him forth to Jesus, for she herself was of the house of Judah, and Christ also was of the house of Judah, according to the flesh. And they were surnamed “children of thunder,” for they were of both the priestly house and of the royal house. And Philip was of the house of Zebulun. And Bartholomew was of the house of Naphtali; now his name was formerly John, but our Lord changed his name because of John the son of Zebedee, His beloved. And Matthew was of the house of Issachar. And Thomas was of the house of Asher. And James, the son of Alphaeus, was of the house of Gad. And Thaddaeus was of the house of Joseph. And Simon, the son of Cleopas, who is the same as Nathaniel, was of the house of Benjamin. And Judas Iscariot was of the house of Dan; now Dan sold his brother Joseph for twenty pieces of silver, and in like manner Judas sold our Lord for thirty pieces of silver. Glory be to the Father, Who loved Jacob, and Who multiplied his seed upon the earth; and adoration be to the Son Who chose unto Himself Twelve Apostles that they might dwell with Him in His kingdom; and thanksgiving be to the Holy Spirit Who gave them knowledge and understanding to preach throughout the whole world concerning the Holy Trinity, One God, to Whom be glory, and majesty, and honor, for ever and ever. Amen, and Amen.

 

[NTA, II, 204; ANT, 471-472; COA, vii-x, 49-50; MRS, xii-xiii]

 

183. The Received Letter of the First Council of Jerusalem

 

     The text of this letter—often called the ­Apostolic Decree­—is presented at ­Acts­ 15:23b-29:

 

The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greeting. Since we have heard that some persons from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your minds,\n{Other ancient authorities add: saying, ‘You must be circumcised and keep the law.’} although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us in assembly to choose men and send them to you with your beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood\fn{Other ancient authorities omit: blood.} and from what is strangled\fn{Other ancient authorities lack: and from what is strangled. “What has been strangled” may mean the same as “blood” (i.e., meat not ritually butchered). The rabbis taught that these, and fornication, had been forbidden to Noah’s sons, therefore to the righteous of all nations.} and from unchastity. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.

 

     The ODC says that the Jerusalem Council—as far as is known, the first church council—took place c.49AD; APA says in 48. The text of the letter corresponds so closely to the ancient theology of the earliest church that it must be based upon tradition. It represents the view of James (who spoke about the addition to the New Israel of the Gentiles who were seeking the Lord), and Peter (who stated that the Jewish-Christians, even though they lived according to the Law, based their hope for salvation on faith; and since Jesus himself had based his disciples from the very beginning on faith alone, so they could not now deny salvation to the uncircumcised who believed).

 

     The existence of this letter also points out that the ever-widening schism in the church between Hellenism on the one hand and Judaism on the other (which began with the stoning of Stephen, c.35AD) was closed once again through attention being focused on the church’s center. [On this see Simon (­St. Stephen and the Hellenists in the Primitive Church­, 1958).] The men whose words were considered authoritative for each side had now mutually acknowledged each other's respective ministries; and Paul and Barnabas continued to stand in the tradition of Jesus’ earthly ministry which came from Jerusalem as well as in the confession of the earliest church. Conversely, Jerusalem acknowledged the gospel free from the Law as an expression of the one true gospel. In this manner the two branches of Christianity current at that time—the Jewish-Christian, centered at Jerusalem, and the Gentile-Christian, which began its life in Antioch—were brought together into an ecclesiological fellowship in spite of all the differences in their way of life.

 

     The Jerusalem Council also stands chronologically as the decisive turning point of the period extending to 64-70AD. After the persecution of Stephen, a part of the church had emerged from the shell of Judaism which had protectively surrounded her during the initial stages; but now the turn had been taken which in the following thirty years would force the whole church from the circle of Judaism. The result was that by the time of the Neronian persecution of 67AD she would appear to the world as a religion separated from Judaism.

 

     All this notwithstanding, ­Acts­ 15 is in its present form a redacted effort; and for this reason the letter in it was considered by Dibelius (­Studies in the Acts of the Apostles­, 84-90) and Haenchen (­Apostelgeschichte­, 401-419; further literature given here) merely a literary product, and not an actual document. Even so, it contains concepts from the earliest church foreign to ­Luke­ (so Munck, ­Paul and the Salvation of Mankind­, 123-131, 233ff); and according to Linton (“The Third Aspect” in ­Studia Theologica­ III, 1949, 79-95) it also contains an theme which coincides its several points with that presupposed by the Judaizers in ­Galatians­ 1-2, and thus involved ancient sources. Apparently the Judaizers in Antioch, as later in Galatia, appealed to the men who were apostles before Paul (­Galatians­ 2:1), and to the earliest church which lived for all practical purposes according to the Law. According to ­Acts­ 15:1-5 and ­Galatians­ 2:4, the appearance of Judaizers in Antioch was the cause of this Apostolic council; but these men were merely spreading their teachings among men of the earliest church in Antioch, who demanded circumcision of the Gentile-Christians to live according to Jewish customs.

 

[APA, 75-77; ODC, 721; NOAB, NT, 183,184; ODC, 721, 945, 1289.]

 

184. The Letter of the Apostles to the Christians of the World

 

     This unusual apocryphon, referred to also as the ­Epistola Apostolorum­ or the ­Testament of Our Lord in Galilee­—it is to be distinguished from the ­Testamentum Domini­, a short early Christian treatise containing detailed regulations on matters of ecclesiastical order and church building, together with a complete liturgy—is nowhere mentioned in the literature of early Christianity, despite the very early probable date of its composition (c.150AD). Indeed, only two ancient witnesses appear to have made use of it.

 

1. The 3rd century African Christian Latin poet Commodian [so James (ANT,488); but Duensing questions this (NTA,I,190)], in ­Carmen Apologeticum Adversus Judaeos et Gentes­ V.564, appears to make use of the following quotation in the letter:—(For it is written in the prophet, ‘But a ghost, a demon, leaves no print upon the ground.’), so the Ethiopic; (‘The foot of a ghost or a demon does not join the ground.’), so the Coptic—rendering it in Latin thus:—Vestigium umbra non facit (A shadow does not make a mark). James says this quotation is not otherwise identified; but the concept is certainly inherent in a parallel with Acts of John­ 93:—And I often wished, as I walked with him, to see his footprint in the earth, whether it appeared—for I saw him raising himself from the earth—and I never saw it.

 

2. Harnack (“Der Apokryphe Brief des Paulusschulers Titus ‘De Dispositione Sanctimonii’” in Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse­ 1925, 198) discovered a trace of its use in the Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­ 31 (5th century)—vas eleccionis—inexpugnatilis murus (a chosen vessel and a wall that does not fall).

 

     Remains of the letter have been found in three languages, likewise (in terms of Christian literature written in them) of late date.

 

1. Schmidt (“Gesprache Jesu mit Seinen Jungern Nach der Auferstehung” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ 43, Leipzig, 1919) discovered 15 leaves of the work in a Coptic manuscript of the 4th-5th centuries in the Institut de la Mission Archeologique in Cairo in 1895.

 

2. A few small Latin fragments, part of a single leaf, were recognized and edited by Bick (James gives no citation) in a 5th century Vienna palimpsest.

 

3. An Ethiopic translation containing the entire work (after the 4th-5th centuries) was edited by Guerrier (­Le Testament en Galilee­, Paris, 1913).

 

     The opposition manifested in this letter to a Gnosticism that still exercises a strong influence puts the writing in the 2nd century. The free and easy way with which the author uses and treats the ­Received New Testament­ could point to the first half of that century. The questions concerning the end of the world and the Lord’s return still have a very immediate significance: that also points to an early period (so NTA). Schmidt’s verdict is that the letter was written in Asia Minor c.160AD by an orthodox Catholic; but this has been questioned by Bardy (in Revue Biblique­, 1921, 110-134).

 

[NTA, I, 1898-227; ANT, 485-503; ODC, 1335]

 

185. The Revelation of Stephen the Deacon

 

     The ­Apocalypse of Stephen­ (415AD), after Lucian of Kaphar Gamala, is perhaps what at least two of the following three sources are making reference to in the following citations.

 

1. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ condemns a Revelatio Sancti Stephani as apocryphal:—(Revelation which is ascribed to Stephen ... apocryphal.). It may be that nothing more is known about this particular apocalypse; but it has been suggested, perhaps correctly, that there is a simple misunderstanding of the facts at work here: that the reference in the ­Decretum Gelasianum­ does not relate to an apocalypse as such, but to an account of the discovery of the relics of Stephen which was composed in Greek by the presbyter Lucian, of Kaphar Gamala, in the year 415AD, and afterwards translated into Latin in two different recensions, one of which was made by Avitus of Braga [Latin text in Migne (­Patrologia Latina­ XLI, 805-815). See also Vanderlinden (“Revelation S. Stephani” in ­Revue des Etudes Byzantines­ I, 1946, 178-217).

 

2. Aphraates the Syrian (early 4th century, in his ­Homilies­, written between 336-345AD) calls Stephen one of only five apostolic martyrs; but this is not to say that he knows anything about an ­Apocalypse of Stephen­.

 

3a. Sixtus Senensis (­Bibliotheca Sancta­, 1593, 115) says:—(The ­Apocalypse of Stephen­ the first martyr who was one of the seven deacons of the apostles was prized by the Manichaean heretics as Serapion witnesses.).

 

3b. He also says (­ibid­., 299) that Serapion of Thumis (d. after 360) wrote a very large and notable work against the Manichaeans in Greek which I have lately read. It has been usually supposed that the writing so described was in fact the account of the finding of Stephen’s body (i.e., his relics), the whereabouts of which was revealed by Gamaliel in a vision to Lucian of Kaphar Gamala (in 415AD). Such a work was known to

 

4. Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430); no other information available.

 

     There seems to be little in it, as compared with similar “inventions” of relics, which justifies its being solemnly condemned by the Orthodox. Franko (­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­, 1906) published a Slavonic romance from two manuscripts which, he says, forms the real beginning of the Lucianic narrative. He further notes (and James corroborates) that (1) the existence of the Lucianic work implies a previous story; (2) that the Slavonic text is rampant in detail (suggesting it to be a much later version: H); and (3) that statements in it about Pontius Pilate—details quite unnecessary, and also irreconcilable with other legends, even those of the Eastern church, which take the favorable view of him—are deliberately inserted into the text (they exist in only one of the Slavonic recensions); and that if this could be done by one redactor, others may equally well have been at work.

 

     The empress Eudocia built a church in honor of Stephen between 455-460, upon the supposed spot of his martyrdom. It would be logical that some sort of apocalyptic work would be written under his name through the inspiration of ­Acts­ 7:55-56—(But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into Heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, ‘Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’)—particularly as the phrase ‘Son of Man’ in the Received gospels usually denotes Jesus as the glorified heavenly Judge, and because elsewhere in the ­Received New Testament­ the phrase is only found here and there in the Received apocalypse—(e.g., at 1:13—and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle round his breast)—which various elements of the Eastern church were for centuries greatly opposed to admitting into the Received canon.

 

     Finally, it must be remembered that in the works of Serapion of Thumis which have survived to our time, there is no mention of an ­Apocalypse of Stephen­. We are led then to set aside the testimony of Sixtus, and to consider that the weight of the other authorities point to a time in the early part of the 5th century—perhaps 415—for the creation of the story that has been passed down to us.

 

[ODC, 1289; OAB, 1327, 1492; ANT, 564-568; NTA, II, 53,754]

 

186. The Fates of the Apostles, after Cynewulf

 

     The ­Fates of the Apostles­ (­Fata Apostolorum­) is a short poem of 122 lines containing the runic signature of Cynewulf in the last 27 lines. Indeed, until 1888, it was thought that the work contained only 95 lines, and no signature; but in that year Napier (“The Old English Poem ­The Fates of the Apostles­” in ­Academy­ XXXIV, 1888, 153) observed a further fragment of 27 lines with the Cynewulf runes following in the codex immediately after the accepted text, and apparently belonging to it.

 

     The ­Fata Apostolorum­ is almost wholly written in the heroic Anglo-Saxon tradition. It is a mere recounting, in a few lines, of the work and manner of death of each of the Twelve, treating them as Germanic heroes and using the conventional epic diction along with the specifically Christian elements common to the Cynewulf School. The mission of the Apostles is set forth as the fight between bold and steadfast warriors and dark and evil powers, the final death and martyrdom of God’s servants being looked upon as the tragic but glorious overthrow of faithful retainers. This spirit of the poem is suggestive of ­Andreas­ and goes a long way to explain why the Fata Apostolorum­ has so frequently been attributed to the author of the ­Andreas­.

 

     No immediate source for the poem, however, is yet known. Although Cynewulf says that he gathered his material far and wide and refers to sacred books those are merely conventional expressions. Complete lists of the Apostles, giving brief accounts of their acts and martyrdoms, were current from the 5th century onwards; and Krapp (­The Fate of the Apostles­, Boston, 1905) points out in his edition of Andreas­ and the ­Fata Apostolorum­ that while the poem differs slightly from the ­Martyrology­ of Bede and the Breviarium Apostolorum­, it may well have been compiled from such Latin lists as these were based upon. No such Latin list has been found, however, corresponding exactly with the order given in the poem; but the sequence is closest to the ­Notitia de Locis Apostolorum­ of Jerome of Strido (d.420); and there are correspondences with the ­De Vita et Obitu Utriusque Testamenti Sanctorum­ of Isidore of Seville (d.636), the ­Martyrologium­ by Bede of Jarrow (d.735), and the Breviarium Apostolorum­ [on which see Bourauel (“Zur Quellen- und Vasserfragen von Andreas Christ und Fata” in Bonner Beitrage zur Anglistik­ XI, 1901, 101ff); Holthausen, (in Herrig’s ­Archiv­ CVI, 344); Krapp, (Andreas­, xxxff); Perkins, (in ­Modern Language Notes­ XXXII, 159ff); and Scharr (“Critical Studies in the Cynewulf Group,” Lund, ­Studies in English­ XVII, 1949, 34)].

 

     Cynewulf may also have used the ­Acts of Thomas­, since these treat of the resurrection of Gad (lines 54-57 of the poem), a detail absent from Bede and the ­Breviarium Apostolorum­. Hamilton (“The Sources of the Fates of the Apostles and Andreas” in ­Modern Language Notes­ XXXV, 1920, 385ff) and Sisam (­op cit­, 9) have discussed the order of the Apostles in the poem, and believe that the source was a list of Anglo-Irish origin.

 

     Since so slight a poem upon a theme so lacking in unity offers no opportunity to the poet for the attainment of poetic effect, it is somewhat surprising that Cynewulf should have been careful to mark it definitely as his by affixing his signature. Moreover, it seems strange that the opening lines of the poem should be: Lo! Travel worn, with weary heart, | I wrought this lay, made gleaning far and wide. To begin by telling us of the difficulties of writing a poem which he was about to set forth is certainly not as usual as if such a statement came after the event had transpired; and as a matter of fact, this is exactly what does occur in Elene­, where, at the end of the legend proper and the beginning of the personal passage which contains his name, Cynewulf tells us: Thus have I spun my lay with craft of word | And wrought it wondrously, | Aged and nigh unto death | By fault of this moldering house. Moreover, the statement in the ­Fata Apostolorum­ seems to carry with it the implication of more thought and labor than would seem to be represented in so short a poem, though the references to wide gleaning and to sources employed are explained by Krapp as merely conventional poetic forumlae. This may be so. But it is evident that if with reasonable probability a dependence of this short poem upon ­Andreas­ could be assumed, all of these difficulties would vanish at once.

 

     The ­Fate of the Apostles­ follows ­Andreas­ in the ­Vercelli Book­, but it is not connected with it otherwise, although earlier scholars were inclined to regard it as some kind of epilogue to ­Andreas­, and hence to confer Cynewulfian authorship upon that poem by reason of the name of the poet in runes. It is not in any way remarkable as a literary performance, but its own rather crude epilogue may well have been the produce of Cynewulf’s declining old age [so Scharr (­Critical Studies­, 261), who gives convincing reasons for believing that it was the last of the four signed poems; in particular, the awkward double epilogue seems in parts to him to be a poor recasting of the ending of the poem ­Juliana­]. In an elegiac epilogue to this poem, Cynewulf emphasizes that through the runes of an acrostic men may learn who composed this poem; and he evidently regards the runes as a way of calling the reader or hearer to pray for the poet, who represents himself as meditating on approaching death.

 

     This time, though, the runic symbols of the name (spelt Cynwulf) are arranged in an unparalleled order and regrouping: F, WUL, and CYN. Woolf (in her edition of ­Juliana­, p. 7) suggests that the poem may be an immature work, and the earliest of the four signed poems. Such a conclusion would also take into account a comparative barrenness of ideas in one so young (H).

 

     Speaking of Cynewulf, and assuming only the four signed poems to be genuinely his, Sisam (“Cynewulf and his Poetry,” ­Studies in the History of Old English Literature­, Oxford, 1953, 27-28) sums up:—He was a ninth-century ecclesiastic of cultured taste; very devout in his old age and probably always of a devotional cast of mind; not a great scholar like Bede but well versed in the Latin works that the educated clergy of those days used; not boldly original but unusually sensitive and pliant to the influence of Christian Latin models; and perhaps one may say, a man of letters, the first in English whose name and works are known. He notes further (“Cynewulf and his Poetry” in ­Proceedings of the British Academy­ XVIII, 1932, 303-311) that Cynewulf’s order is not found in Insular documents before 800AD, and is found in several late Old English manuscripts.

 

     But this estimate is incomplete, since it leaves out of account Cynewulf’s specific poetic merits. In ­Elene­ he had used the heroic diction of the past with marked success: and indeed, Cynewulf was generally a competent craftsman in verse. In ­Christ II­ he showed at times an impressive ability in which might be termed poetic rhetoric; and this piece has its moments of true lyrical power. Passing from the heroic paraphrasing of ­Received Old Testament­ material of the Caedmonian School, Cynewulf seems to have led the way in a great expansion of religious verse, treating hagiographical and homiletic sources along with Gospel themes with freedom, and sometimes showing a very real poetic “enlargement.”

 

     The definite revelation of the name of a poet with indications of his authentic works also marks a new departure amid the normal medieval anonymity among poets. The only poet before Cynewulf whose name we know (apart from the tradition of Aldhelm, d.709), is Caedmon (d.c.680). But this knowledge was preserved by Bede (d.735), and not provided by Caedmon himself; nor can we point to any authenticated poem from him save only a single nine-line ­Hymn­.

 

[BRO, xxx-xxxi; WRE, 128-129; KEN, 40-42; SAR, 34]

 

***

 

XXII: PETER

 

187. The Preaching of Peter

 

     The ­Preaching of Peter­ (also widely known by its Greek name, the Kerygma Petrou­) is a treatise, of which but a few fragments survive, purporting to be the work of Peter the Apostle. It was very popular in the early church. Apparently intended for missionary propaganda, it emphasized the superiority of Christian monotheism to the current beliefs of Greeks and Jews.

 

1. Aristides of Athens (fl.100-150AD), the earliest of the Greek apologists for Christianity whose work is still extant, takes a very similar line as Origen concerning the ­Preaching of Peter­, and is thought to have used it. True, Aristides does not mention the ­Preaching­ by name; but that there is a considerable connection between his Apologia­ (perhaps delivered early in the reign of Antonius Pius, 138-161) and the Preaching­, can be pointed out [so Dobschutz (“Das Kerygma Petri Kritisch Untersucht” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ II.1, 1893); and Seeberg (“Die Apologie des Aristides” in ­Forschungen zur Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanons und der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ V.2, 1893, 216-220)].

 

2. Heracleon the Gnostic (mid-2nd century) made use of the Preaching of Peter­ according to Origen of Alexandria (­On John­ XIII:xvii.7), regarding it thereby as genuine.

 

3. Theophilus of Antioch (later 2nd century) may have made use of the ­Preaching of Peter­ [so Quispel and Grant (“Note on the Petrine Apocrypha” in ­Vigiliae Christianae­ VI, 1952, 31f)]. Of most importance here are the connections between the fragment quoted in Clement of Alexandria at ­Stromateis­ VI:v.39-41, and Theophilus’ Apology­ I.10 and II.2. At any rate, Theophilus also does not mention the ­Preaching of Peter­ by name.

 

4. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215) is the principal source of knowledge about the ­Preaching of Peter­, for he makes clear, in a series of quotations in eight separate citations, that he actually knew this work in its entirety and quotes from it. There can be no doubt that he regarded it as composed by Peter: certainly, without expressing himself more nearly about the origin, genuineness or any other problem of the writing, he quotes from it with the words, Peter says in the Preaching, or the like. His citations are as follows: (a) Stromateis­ I:xxix.182:—(In the Preaching of Peter­ we find the Lord called Law and Word). (b) Stromateis­ II:xv.68:—(In the ­Preaching­ Peter called the Lord Law and Word). (c) Stromateis­ VI:v.39-43:—(But that the most approved of the Greeks do not know God by direct knowledge, but indirectly, Peter says in his ­Preaching­: ‘Know ye then that there is one God who made the beginning of all things and hath power over their end’ and ‘The invisible who seeth all things, uncontainable, who containith all, having need of nought, of whom all things stand in need and for whose sake they exist, incomprehensible, perpetual, incorruptible, uncreated, who made all things by the word of his power ... that is, the Son.’ This God worship he, not after the manner of the Greeks ... showing that we and the approved Greeks worship the same God, though not according to the perfect knowledge for they had not learned the tradition of the Son. ‘Do not,’ he says, ‘worship’—he does not say ‘the God whom the Greeks worship,’ but ‘not after the manner of the Greeks’: he would change the method of worship of God, not proclaim another God. What, then, is meant by ‘not after the manner of the Greeks’? Peter himself will explain, for he continues: ‘Carried away by ignorance and not knowing God as we do, according to the perfect knowledge, but shaping those things over which he gave them power, for their use, even wood and stones, brass and iron, gold and silver: forgetting their material and proper use, they set up things subservient to their existence and worship them; and what things God hath given them for food, the fowls of the air and the creatures that swim in the sea and creep upon the earth, wild beasts and fourfooted cattle of the field, weasels too and mice, cats and dogs and apes; yea, their own eatables do they sacrifice as offerings to eatable gods, and offering dead things to the dead as to gods, they show ingratitude to God, by these practices denying that he exists.’ He will continue again in this fashion: ‘Neither worship ye him as do the Jews, for they, who suppose that they alone know God, do not know him, serving angels and archangels, the month and the moon: and if no moon be seen, they do not celebrate what is called the first Sabbath, nor keep the new moon, nor the days of unleavened bread, nor the feast,\fn{Of Tabernacles?} nor the great day of atonement.’ Then he adds the finale of what is required: ‘So then do ye, learning in a holy and righteous sort that which we deliver unto you, observe it, worshipping God through Christ in a new way. For we have found in the Scriptures, how the Lord saith: “Behold, I make with you a new covenant, not as the covenant with your father in Mount Horeb.” He hath made a new one with us: for the ways of the Greeks and Jews are old, but we are they that worship him in a new way in a third generation,\fn{Or: race.} even Christians.’ But the proposition that, just as God willed the Jews to be saved by giving them the prophets, so he raised up the most approved of the Greeks to be prophets suited to their language, according as they were capable of receiving the benefit from God, and distinguished them from the ruck of men—this, in addition to the ­Preaching of Peter­, the apostle Paul will show when he says: ‘Take also the Greek books, take knowledge of the Sibyl, how she declares one God, and things to come, take and read Hystaspes, and ye will find the Son of God described far more openly and plainly, and how many kinds will make war against the Christ, hating him and those that bear his name, and his faithful ones: and his patience and his coming again.’ And then in one word he asks of us: ‘And the whole world and all that is in it, whose are they? Are they not God’s?’ Therefore Peter says that the Lord said to the apostles: ‘If then any of Israel will repent, to believe in God through my name, his sins shall be forgiven him: and after twelve years go ye out into the world, lest any say: “We did not hear”.’) (d) Stromateis­ VI:vi.48:—(For example, in the ­Preaching of Peter­ the Lord says: ‘I chose out you twelve, judging you to be disciples worthy of me, whom the Lord willed, and thinking you faithful apostles; sending you unto the world to preach the Gospel to men throughout the world, that they should know that there is one God; to declare by faith in Me what shall be, that they that have heard and believed may be saved, and that they which have not believed may hear and bear witness, not having any defense so as to say ‘We did not hear’). (e) Stromateis­ VI:xv.128:—(Wherefore Peter also in the ­Preaching­ speaks about the apostles as follows: ‘But we opened the books of the prophets which we had, which partly in parables, partly in enigmas, partly with certainty and in clear words name Christ Jesus, and found his coming, his death, his crucifixion and all the rest of the tortures which the Jews inflicted on him, his resurrection and his assumption to heaven before the foundation of Jerusalem, how all was written that he had to suffer and what would be after him. Recognizing this, we believed God in consequence of what is written in reference to him.’ And somewhat later he adds the following, stating that the prophecies have taken place through the divine providence: ‘For we recognize that God enjoined them, and we say nothing apart from Scripture.’). (­f) Stromateis­ VI.vii.58:—(For there is in very deed one God, who made the beginning of all things: meaning his first begotten Son; thus Peter writes, understanding rightly the words: ‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’ The words ‘in the beginning’ were interpreted as meaning ‘by the Son’). (­g) Ecclesiastical Prophecies­ LVIII:—(The Lord himself is called Law and Word, so Peter in the Preaching.).

 

5. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254) thought the work to be genuine in whole or in part, and perhaps three times refers to it: (a) On John­ VI:xv.128:—(Peter in the ­Preaching­, speaking of the apostles, says: ‘But we have opened the books of the prophets which we had, found, sometimes expressed by parables, sometimes by riddles, and sometimes directly\fn{I.e., authentically.} and in so many words naming Jesus Christ, both his coming and his death and the cross and all the other torments which the Jews inflicted on him, and his resurrection and assumption into the heavens before Jerusalem was judged, even all these things as they had been written, what he must suffer and what shall be after him. When, therefore, we took knowledge of these things, we believed in God through that which had been written of him.’ And a little after he adds that the prophecies came by Divine providence, in these terms: ‘For we know that God commanded them in very deed, and without the Scripture we say nothing.’) (­b) On John­ XIII:xvii.7:—(It is too much to set forth now the quotations of Heracleon taken from the book entitled the ­Preaching of Peter­ and dwell on them, inquiring about the book whether it is genuine or spurious or compounded of both elements: so we willingly postpone that, and only note that according to him, Peter taught that we must not worship as do the Greeks, receiving the things of matter, and serving stocks and stones: nor worship God as do the Jews, since they, who suppose that they alone know God, are ignorant of him, and serve angels and the month and the moon. ... And to all reasonable souls it has been said above: Whatsoever things any of you did in ignorance, not knowing God clearly, all his sins shall be forgiven him.). (c) Homily X On Leviticus­. [Dobschutz (­op cit­., 84-105) apparently discusses a reference within this work assignable to the Preaching of Peter­; for Schneemelcher (NTA,II,97) says in a note that he takes no notice at all of this passage, and insists it has nothing to do with the ­Preaching­.]

 

6. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340) knows the ­Preaching of Peter­ as definitely reckoned to be part of the non-canonical writings (­Ecclesiastical History­ III:iii.2).

 

7. Optatus of Milevus (fl.370) in his study ­Against Parmenian the Donatist­ I.5 may also have made use of the Preaching of Peter­. Dobschutz (­ibid­.) discusses the possibility; but in the same note mentioned just above under Homily X On Leviticus­, Schneemelcher takes no notice, insisting that the citation from Optatus has nothing to do with the ­Preaching­.

 

8. Jerome of Strido (d.420) states that he does not regard the Preaching of Peter­ as part of the canon (­De Viris Illustribus­ 1).

 

     To judge from what remains, the ­Preaching of Peter­ contained discourses of Peter which in many respects (the proclamation of the One God, the warding off of polytheism, the rejection of false worship of God and the observation of this behavior in both the Paganism and Judaism of that time) remind us of Christian-Apologetic-Form literature. It is also apparent that the work was not limited to general monotheistic and anti-polytheistic expositions, but also comprised Christological passages in which conformity to the Received Scriptural accounts of the passion and the resurrection of Jesus was emphasized. Indeed, Dobschutz (­op cit­., 66) was of the opinion that this writing marks the transition from early Christian (i.e., early New-Testament-Form) literature to the apologetic literature; and this characterization is correct to the extent that considerable material contacts with the early Christian apologists (above all, Aristides) do in fact lie before us.

 

     It must, however, be restricted to this extent: that the parallelisms with 2nd century apologetic ought not to be understood as if in the apologists something entirely new appears and that this new element is met with for the first time in the ­Preaching of Peter­. It is assuredly no accident that the few passages in the surviving fragments which can be regarded as reminiscences of the Received gospels point to the Received ­Gospel of Luke­; and further, it is equally certain that contact with the ­Received Acts­ cannot be overlooked.

 

     Moreover, it must not be unnoticed that monotheistic preaching is itself by no means only an apologetic phenomenon; manifestly, it was already for Paul an essential part of every Christian missionary discourse (­I Thessalonians­ 1:9—For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God.). It must therefore be said that the surviving fragments of the ­Preaching of Peter­ have only given currency (in a particularly distinctive way, it is true) to certain tendencies in early Christian missionary preaching, and on that account should not be reckoned to the apologetic literature in the strict sense. On the other hand, even the apologetic theology had its beginnings entirely in the early Christian proclamation of the gospel in the 1st century. The significance of the ­Preaching of Peter­ seems now to lie in the fact that here there is to be seen a middle term in the proclamation tradition between early Christian missionary preaching on the one hand, and Greek apologetic on the other. It is thus the more regrettable that so few fragments of this important document have survived.

 

     To judge from these attestations and conjectured uses of the Preaching of Peter­, the author wrote his book during the 2nd century AD, and indeed at some time during its first half (100-150; Dobschutz sets the time of composition between 80-140). The character of the heathen worship, with its mention of weasels, cats, etc., and the fact that our principal authorities are all Alexandrine, point to the Egyptian origin and currency of the Preaching of Peter­; but while Egypt has doubtless to be accepted as its homeland, this conjecture is not strictly demonstrable.

 

[ODC, 82, 1052; ANT, 16-18; NTA, II, 94-97]

 

188. The Teaching of Peter

 

     James preserves the following citations from the church fathers in ANT which, he says, may or may not be from a ­Teaching of Peter­. Opinion was divided over whether they were from such a work or were originally part of the Preaching of Peter­ (discussed above). All he says about them is that the first quotation probably is from the Preaching­. The others are of a different complexion.

 

1. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254), says in ­On First Principles­ I.8:—But if any would produce to us from that book which is called the ­Doctrine­ of Peter, the passage where the Savior seems to say to the disciples, ‘I am not a bodiless phantom,’\fn{So (better) Staniforth; James inserts the word demon in brackets, just after spirit.} he must be answered in the first place that the book is not reckoned among the books of the church: and then it must be shown that the writing is neither by Peter nor by any one else who was inspired by the spirit of God. [Cullmann (Le Probleme Littreraire et Historique du Roman Pseudo-Clementin­, 1940, 220-257) claims for Origen two quotations related to the ­Teaching of Peter­; no further information is provided by this source.]

 

2. Gregory of Nazianzus (d.389) says in ­Letter­ XVI:—‘A soul in trouble is near unto God,’ saith Peter somewhere—a marvelous utterance.

 

3. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403) also included among the sacred books of the Ebionites a work entitled the Journeys of Peter­, said to have been written by Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215); and it is interesting that his quotations from this alleged Ebionitic production have been shown to accord with that portion of the text of the Homilies of Clement­ and the ­Recognitions of Clement­ which describe Peter’s journeys in the course of his missionary work.

 

     The final version of both the ­Homilies­ and ­Recognitions­ dates from the 4th century, and it is difficult to decide which is the older of the two. But from an analysis it can be seen that they are the result of a fusion of composite elements; and it has proved possible to separate these without difficulty. One of these elements, and the most ancient, is the ­Teaching of Peter­, an Ebionite work of the 2nd century which preserved the theology of Ebionism. It is an entirely different work from the ­Preaching of Peter­ quoted by Clement of Alexandria which is the first orthodox treatise of apologetics. This ­Teaching­ was combined at some time during the 3rd century with other documents (so Strecker, ­Das Judenchristentum in den Pseudoclementinen­, 140-256) to form the basic stratum common to both the ­Recognitions of Clement­ and the ­Homilies of Clement­, and it is this compound stratum which is to be identified with the ­Journeys of Peter­.

 

4. Jerome of Strido (d.420) says in ­Of Illustrious Men­ XVI:—Of the ­Letter of Ignatius to Polycarp­.\fn{In fact, Ignatius of Antioch (d.107) makes no statement of this kind in his Letter to Polycarp (#242, below). It does appear, however, in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans (#234, below):—For my own part, I know and believe that He was in the actual human flesh, even after His resurrection. When He appeared to Peter and his companions, He said to them, ‘Take hold; touch me, and see that I am no bodiless phantom.’ And they touched Him then and there, and believed, for they had had contact with the flesh-and-blood reality of Him. That was how they came by their contempt for death, and proved themselves superior to it. Moreover, He ate and drank with them after He was risen, like any natural man, though even then He and the Father were spiritually one.} In it he also inserts a testimony about the person of Christ, from the gospel which was lately translated by me.\fn{By which Jerome is referring to the Gospel of the Hebrews, and not the Teaching of Peter.} His words are: ‘But I both saw him in the flesh after the Resurrection, and believe that he is in the flesh;’ and when he came to Peter and those who were with Peter, he said to them: ‘Lo, feel me and see that I am not a bodiless phantom.’ And forthwith they touched him and believed.

 

5. John of Damascus (d.749) says at ­Sacred Parallels­ A.12:—Of Peter, ‘Wretched than I am, I remembered not that God seeth the mind and observeth the voice of the soul. Allying myself with sin, I said unto myself: God is merciful, and will bear with thee: and because I was not immediately smitten, I ceased not, but rather despised pardon, and exhausted the long-suffering of God.’ ... From the ­Teaching of Peter­: ‘Rich is he that hath mercy on many, and he that, imitating God, giveth of that he hath. For God hath given all things unto all, of his own creatures. Understand then, ye rich, that ye ought to minister, for ye have received more than ye yourselves need. Learn that others lack the things ye have in superfluity. Be ashamed to keep things that belong to others. Imitate the equality of God, and no man will be poor.’

 

6. Oecumenius of Tricca (10th century) says in ­On James­ V.16:—And that happens to us which the blessed Peter says: ‘One building and one pulling down! They gain nought but their labor.’

 

     The contents of the ­Preaching of Peter­ included the ­Letter of Peter to James­ (#128, below); but as regards that part of the material which may properly be called the ­Teaching­, this is distributed among the various sermons of Peter which fill the ­Homilies­ and ­Recognitions­. It would have been a problem to reconstruct the outline of them had not Peter, in chapter 75 of book III, having decided to send James the summary of his teaching just mentioned, thoughtfully provided us with a table of contents! Thus, while distributing the earlier composition throughout the whole of his work, the compiler of the ­Teaching of Peter­ has taken care to leave us the following guide, by the use of which it could, if necessary, be restored (so Schoeps, Theologie und Geschichte des Juden-christentums­, 25-33):

 

The first book, therefore, of those that I formerly sent to you, contains an account of the true Prophet, and of the peculiarity of the understanding of the law, according to what the tradition of Moses teacheth. The second contains an account of the beginning and whether there be one beginning or many, and that the law of the Hebrews knows what immensity is. The third, concerning God, and those things that have been ordained by Him. The fourth, that though there are many that are called gods, there is but one true God, according to the testimonies of the Scriptures. The fifth, that there are two heavens, one of which is that visible firmament which shall pass away, but the other is eternal and invisible. The sixth, concerning good and evil; and that all things are subjected to good by the Father; and why, and how, and whence evil is, and that it cooperates with good, but not with a good purpose; and what are the signs of good, and what those of evil; and what is the difference between duality and conjunction. The seventh, what are the things which the twelve apostles treated of in the presence of the people in the Temple. The eighth, concerning the words of the Lord which seem to be contradictory, but are not; and what is the explanation of them. The ninth, that the law which has been given by God is righteous and perfect, and that it alone can make pure. The tenth, concerning the carnal birth of men, and concerning the generation which is by baptism; and what is the succession of carnal seed in man; and what is the account of his soul, and how the freedom of the will is in it, which, seeing it is not unbegotten, but made, could not be immovable from good. Concerning these several subjects, therefore, whatever Peter discoursed at Caesarea, according to his command, as I have said, I have sent you written in ten volumes. But on the next day, as had been determined, we set out from Caesarea with some faithful men, who had resolved to accompany Peter.

 

     This chapter furnishes some positive evidence that the Recognitions­ are based upon an earlier work. The topics here named do not correspond with those of the ­Homilies­, except in a most general way. Hence this passage does not favor the theory that the author of the ­Recognitions­ had the ­Homilies­ before him when he wrote. On the other hand, the chapter bears marks of being the conclusion to a complete document. It can therefore be urged, in support of the new view of Lehmann (­Die Clementinischen Schriften­, Gotha, 1869), that the Recognitions­ are made up of two parts (books 1-3 and 4-10), by two different authors, both parts of which are based on earlier documents. Indeed, Hilgenfeld regards chapter 75 of book III of the Recognitions­ as containing a general outline of the ­Teaching of Peter­, which he sees as a Jewish-Christian document of Roman origin; and in book I, chapters 27-72, he finds a remnant of this document.

 

     Certainly these chapters do bear many marks of an earlier origin than most of the Clementine material. (1) Much of the matter is not found elsewhere in this literature; (2) the tone of the discourse is much superior; (3) the instruction—represented as given to Clement—is quite well adapted to his needs as a heathen inquirer; (4) the views represented are not so extravagant as much that occurs in the ­Homilies­; (5) the attempt to adjust the statements to the narrative of the Received New Testament is skillfully made, and (6) there is not lacking a great vraisemblance­.

 

     Since the time of Bauer (“Die Christuspartei in der Korinthischen Gemeinde” in ­Tübingen Zeitschrift für Theologie­, 1831, 76f) the question of Jewish-Christian elements has occupied the central place of interest in research on the Clementine literature. The Later Tübingen School names the Clementine materials as witnesses for the thesis that the catholic church arose out of Petrinism and Paulinism. According to this thesis the Jewish-Christian coloring is an expression of an Ebionitism which, in spite of its anti-Pauline attitude, has taken over from Paulinism its universalistic tendency, and so represents a step in Ebionite thought in the direction of Catholicism. Later scholars linked with the question of the character and significance of the Clementine Jewish-Christianity a consideration, much more thorough than that of the Tübingen School, of literary-critical arrangements in the literature as a whole: and it was as a result of these investigations that the ­Teaching of Peter­ was discovered.

 

1. Hilgenfeld (­Die Clementischen Recognitionen und Homiliennach Ihrem Ursprung Dargestellt­, Jena, 1848) reconstructed from the ­Recognitions of Clement­ I.27-72 (according to the supposed table of contents at III.75) a Jewish-Christian source writing originally joined to the ­Letter of Peter to James­ and the Contestatio­, called the Teaching of Peter­. Its Jewish-Christianity was associated with the Essenes; and it was followed by further Ebionite adaptations (­Recognitions­ II-III, IV-VII; VIII-X). The result was finally reviewed by the writer of the Homilies of Clement­, who gave it an anti-Marcionite tinge.

 

2. Ulhorn (­Die Homilien und Recognitionen des Clemens Romanus­, Gottingen, 1848) maintained (against Hilgenfeld) that, as compared with the ­Recognitions­, the ­Homilies­ were written first. Nevertheless, he had to recognize that in some passages the ­Recognitions­ demonstrate undeniable primitive features, and was thus forced to postulate the existence of a Clementine Basic Writing, which had lain before the Homilist and the Recognitionist (who used the ­Homilies­ as well). This Basic Writing, together with the ­Homilies­, represent a Jewish-Christianity the ultimate root of which reaches back to the Elkesaites (a Jewish-Christian sect which arose c.100AD in the country East of the Jordan River). In the ­Recognitions­, however, the Jewish-Christian element steps into the background.

 

3. Lipsius (­Die Quellen der Romischen Petrussage­, Kiel, 1872) asserted the existence of a new Ebionite document, a ­Conversations of Peter­, which revealed the discussions between Peter and the magician Simon from Palestine to Rome, and which must have been accessible to the author of the Basic Writing through the likewise Ebionite ­Teaching of Peter­.

 

4. Waitz (­Die Pseudo-Klementinen, Homilien und Rekognitionen­, Leipzig, 1904), in opposition to Lipsius, for the first time clearly distinguishes between catholic and Jewish-Christian originals in the Clementines. He said the author of the Basic Writing used a catholic, anti-Gnostic source in the ­Conversations of Peter­ (which he identifies in its present form as a Jewish-Christian, anti-Pauline source that was independent of the ­Teaching of Peter­). The ­Teaching of Peter­ found its way into the Basic Writing in a form that had been touched up by Marcionites. Recognitions­ I.54-69 (according to ­Recognitions­ III.75, the seventh book of the ­Teaching of Peter­), was originally an independent document delineating Jerusalem disputations of Peter with the Jews. The genuine Teaching of Peter­ is a product of syncretistic Jewish-Christianity; their author was of Elkesaite extraction.

 

5. Cullman (­Le Probleme Litteraire et Historique du Roman Pseudo-Clementin­, Paris, 1930) understands Lipsius’ ­Conversations of Peter­ as a ­Journey of Peter­, which on literary and historical ground he files between the Teaching of Peter­ and the Basic Writing. As he sees it, the ­Teaching of Peter­ stands in the sphere of influence both of Jewish-Gnosticism and those who held membership in various sects loyal to the teachings of John the Baptist. From this point of view numerous parallels to the earliest literary pronouncements of primitive Christianity can be pointed out, the explanation for these being found by going back to an environment that was common to the early church and the ­Teaching of Peter­.

 

6. Schoeps (­Theologie und Geschichte des Judenchristentums­, Tübingen, 1949) says that the ­Teaching of Peter­ (which he would reconstruct on a scale beyond what Waitz allows on the basis of ­Recognitions­ III.75) originated in the conflict against the Marcionite Gnostics, and defends early primitive Christian traditions (although with these traditions it associates Essenic ideas). Schoeps seeks to deduce from the ­Teaching­ certain literary units that lie still farther back. He mentions two of them: (a) a ­Commentary of Symmachus­ on the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­, and (b) an ­Ebionite Acts of the Apostles­, which combined with a narrative of the occurrences in Jerusalem according to ­Recognitions­ I.27-72 a Jewish-Christian description of the conversion of Saul and other anti-Pauline material. Essentially Cullman and Schoeps claimed a close connection between the Clementine circle of writings and early Christianity, and so a significance was given to the Clementine materials such as hitherto had been given them only by the Tübingen scholars.

 

7. Chapman (“On the Date of the Clementines” in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Altern Kirche­ IX, 1908, 21f, 147f) disputes the presence of Ebionite elements in the Clementine literature.

 

8. Schwartz (“Unzeitgemasse Betrachtungen zu den Clementinen” in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Altern Kirche­ XXXI, 1932, 151f) reinforced the negative-critical position by referring to parallel literary phenomena in the Greek (i.e., pagan) romances.

 

9. Rehm (“Zur Entstehung der Pseudo-Clementinischen Schriften” in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Altern Kirche­ XXXVII, 1938, 77f) strove in a special way to secure a foundation for the critical trend in research, going back to Uhlhorn in his approach to source-analysis and assuming for the Recognitionist a double-dependence (both upon the Basic Writing and upon the ­Homilies­). Ebionite elements in the Clementines were not denied, but Rehm understands them on the basis of his own source-critical approach as interpolations, which were intruded into the ­Homilies­ and from there influenced the Recognitions­, since (so Rehm) the orthodox Recognitionist succeeded only imperfectly in restoring (by means of omissions and polishings) the original orthodox character of the Clementine romance. The table of contents (Recognitions­ III.75) is regarded as fictitious and not able to be used for the reconstruction of the Jewish-Christian elements. Nevertheless, the Ebionite interpolations can be recognized by their manner of speech: and accordingly he identifies the following fragments of the ­Teaching of Peter­ as Ebionite: (1) the Letter of Peter to James­, (2) the Contestatio­, (3) ­Homilies­ XI:xxxv.3-36, 1st paragraph; and (4) ­Homilies­ XVII.13-19.

 

     From these findings, a number of conclusions may be drawn.

 

1. The presence of Jewish-Christian elements in the Clementines has not been doubted any more since Rehm made his investigations.

 

2. The literary-historical classification of the Clementines must proceed from a settlement of the relationship between (a) the ­Homilies­ and ­Recognitions­ to each other and (b) the ­Homilies­ and Recognitions­ to the Basic Writing.

 

3. It is most likely that both the ­Homilies­ and ­Recognitions­ go back independently of one another to the Basic Writing.

 

4. Since the ­Homilies­ and ­Recognitions­ hand down Jewish-Christian ideas, the Basic Writing already contained Jewish-Christian elements.

 

5. The author of the Basic Writing did not himself create whatever genuine Ebionitisms may be therein; but he is responsible for the ­Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians­ (#307, below), and that document was composed after the Jewish-Christian ­Letter of Peter to Clement­.

 

6. If the ­Letter of Peter to Clement­ lay before the author of the Basic Writing, then this must also be assumed for the ­Contestatio­ and the remainder of the Jewish-Christian elements (which together with the Letter of Peter to James­ and the ­Contestatio­ constitute an entity of their own).

 

7. If ­Recognitions­ III.75, the table of contents of the ­Teaching­, is to be recognized (with Rehm) as a literary fiction, then in reconstructing the ­Teaching of Peter­ we must proceed only from the introductory writings—the Letter of Peter to James­ and the ­Contestatio­—isolating on the basis of conceptual and material parallels those contexts in the Clementines which display the same trend or tendency. Admittedly it is always only portions of the Basic Writing are thus laid hold of; statements regarding the ­Teaching­ cannot be wholly freed from the relativity that is theirs through their having been selected and interfered with by the author of the Basic Writing.

 

8. This approach to reconstruction, however, does not allow of the sections ­Recognitions­ I.33-44.2 and 53.4b-71 being connected with the ­Teaching­. Since as compared with the ­Preaching­ it has an independent character, it is to be regarded as a second Jewish-Christian source-writing which the author of the Basic Writing worked up side by side with his remaining texts. This writing comprised a sketch of the history of salvation—from Abraham to the church in Jerusalem—disputations of the twelve apostles and of James with the factions of Judaism and a discussion with Paul. It is called the ­AJ-II Source­ in scholarship (#76, above).

 

     The religio-historical position of the ­Teaching of Peter­ can be recognized fairly exactly in spite of the literary setting. The milieu in which this writing came into being presupposes Gnostic influence. The anthropological statements (­Homilies­ III:xxvii.3; xxviii.1) point to that. The baptism terminology contains Gnostic elements. The true prophet’s appearance in different manifestations has parallels in Gnostic literature. The dualism of the two prophecies, which is determinative for the whole of the ­Teaching­, also points on its materialistic-cosmological side to a Gnostic background (­Homilies­ II:xv.3; XIX:xxiii.3).

 

     Side by side with that there are found close contacts with Judaism. That the author of the work was in contact with Jewish theology follows no doubt from his emphatically positive estimation of the religion of Moses (­Letter of Peter to James­ 1:2f). At least one actual connection can be observed: the tendency to rationally substantiate the concept All-That-Is-Said-Or-Written-Against-God-Is-Lies (­Homilies­ II:xl.1) is also to be found in the interpretation of the ­Received Old Testament­ made when Hebrew had ceased to be the normal medium of speech among the Jews. There are near-parallels in these Targums.

 

     On the other hand, it is only in the Gnostic sphere where there are direct parallels to this work (e.g., ­Letter of Ptolemy to Flora­ 4:1f). But if here elements of Jewish origin have been worked in under Gnostic influence, it is certain that the author interprets what was originally a Gnostic dualistic system in a Jewish or Jewish-Christian light:

 

1. The opposition of two cosmic principles is interpreted as opposition between the true prophet, the content of whose proclamation is the law, and the female prophecy, which teaches the dissolution of the law (Homilies­ III:xxiii.3).

 

2. A Jewish or Jewish-Christian environment also determines the detailed instructions of the true prophet (e.g., in the counsel on ceremonial-legal requirements given at baptism.

 

3. The anti-Paulism, which is attested for different kinds of Jewish-Christian groups—(EBIONITE: Irenaeus, Adversus Haeresis­ I:xxvi.2; CERINTHIAN: Epiphanius, ­Panarion­ XXVIII:v.3; ELKESAITE: Eusebius, Ecclesi-astical History­ VI.38; ENCRATITE: Origen, ­Contra Celsum­ V.65 and often).

 

4. To a Jewish-Christian background there also belongs a more developed role of Peter and James in the economy of salvation.

 

5. That the author stood in a Jewish-Christian tradition follows also from the motif of different manifestations (which evidently already lay before him as a fixed tradition), the identification of the true prophet with Jesus being assumed as a matter of course. This idea—parallels are found in the doctrine of Mani and in Mandadeism—is attested for the Elkesaites among others by Hippolytus (­Refutations of all Heresies­ IX:xiv.1).

 

6. There is also a reminder of Elkesaitism in the wording of the oath in the ­Contestatio­—(2.1 and 4.1; see also on this Hippolytus, ­Refutations of all Heresies­ IX:xv.2, and Epiphanius, ­Panarion­ XIX:i.6 and XIX:vi.4)—which, however, serves only literary ends in the ­Contestatio­ and therefore does not permit more than a passing acquaintance with the Elkesaite system to be inferred.

 

     Since important differences from the Elkesaite theology can also be pointed out, a relationship of dependence by the ­Teaching of Peter­ upon Elkesaite doctrines cannot be concluded from the remaining analogies. It must be assumed, however, that the author of the ­Teaching­ and Elkesai, the founder of the aforementioned Jewish-Christian sect, worked in similar circumstances. The author writes in a Jewish-Christian-Gnostic milieu. His work is influenced by a universalistic tendency, and presupposes the writings of the ­Received New Testament­.

 

     All of this indicates that in the land of its origin, the Great Church and heresy do not yet appear to have been marked off one from the other. Recent researches are at one in the opinion that the ­Teaching of Peter­ cannot have originated in the West, but only in the East.

 

1. From the New Testament writings used, it is obvious that the author of the ­Teaching­ used a collection of the Received New Testament­ in its entirety, except for ­Revelation­, ­James­, ­I Peter­, ­II Peter­, ­I John­, ­II John­, III John­ and ­Jude­: and this abbreviated canon existed (so Zahn, ­Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanons­ I, Erlangen, 1888, 373f) as an ancient Syrian form.

 

2. The author of the ­Teaching­ quotes from the Pauline letters only ­Galatians­ and ­ I Corinthians­ (indirectly); and the Syrian corpus of the Received Pauline letters began with just those two letters.

 

3. The document was originally composed in Greek, not in the Aramaic tongue; hence as its land of origin, there may be reckoned the Greek-speaking area of Syria that bordered on Osrhoene.

 

4. An investigation of the people there has proven that numerous Jewish-Christians lived in the Greek speaking area of Syria near Osrhoene—in the time of Epiphanius of Salamis (­Panarion­ XX.7) and Jerome of Strido (­De Viris Illustribus­ III) they were still doing so in Beroea.

 

5. The author of the Basic Writing, who had before him the Teaching of Peter­, came from Coele-Syria.

 

     For the determination of the date there can be mentioned as terminus ad quem­ the Clementine Basic Writing, which was composed c.260AD. To the fixing of the ­terminus a quo­, however, there is no certain clue. We should not go too far towards the beginning of the 2nd century, for then—in a milieu characterized by widespread Gnostic influences—we should not be able to understand why there is no evidence for the Teaching of Peter­ outside the Basic Writing. An additional clue to the dating can, however, be secured through comparison with the date of the remaining sources of the Basic Writing: for besides the ­Teachings of Peter­, there underlies it a Bardesanian dialogue, probably written c.220. The author of the Basic Writing also used an ordination schema which came into being c.200. For the ­Teaching of Peter­ the same dating may be assumed.

 

[NTA, II, 102-111; ANF, 83, 134; ODC, 977; ECW, 119-120; ANT, 4, 18-19; TJC, 59-60]

 

189. The Doctrine of Peter

 

1. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, in the prologue at ­On First Principles­ I.8), in a section preserved only in Latin, mentions a ­Doctrine of Peter­:—And if any one should confront us with a section from that book which is called the ­Doctrine of Peter­, in which the Savior seems to say to the disciples, ‘I am not a bodiless phantom,’ then the answer must be given him, in the first place, that this book is not included among the books of the church, and further it must be pointed out that this writing comes neither from Peter nor from any other person inspired by the Spirit of God.

 

     The quotation agrees with one alleged by Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­Of Illustrious Men­ XVI) to be from the Gospel of the Hebrews­:—In it\fn{The Letter of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans 3:1 actually says: for I know, and I believe that he is in the flesh even after his resurrection.} he also inserts a testimony about the person of Christ, from the Gospel which was lately translated by me; his words are: But I both saw him \fn{James says that this is wrongly quoted; and Staniforth seems to agree in his version as follows:—For my own part, I know and believe that He was in actual human flesh, even after His resurrection. When He appeared to Peter and his companions, He said to them, ‘Take hold of me; touch me, and see that I am no bodiless phantom.’ And they touched Him then and there, and believed, for they had had contact with the flesh-and-blood reality of Him.} in the flesh after the resurrection, and believe that he is in the flesh: and when he came to Peter and those who were with Peter, he said to them: Lo, feel me and see that I am not a bodiless phantom.}

 

     The following deductions, however, make it very questionable that Origen was referring to a ­Preaching of Peter­.

 

(a) In the first place, the strength of his rejection of this work, as opposed to that when commenting on a Preaching of Peter­ (­Commentary on John­ XIII.17)—Now much is to be adduced from the words quoted by Heracleon from the so-called Preaching of Peter and in reference to them inquiry has to be made regarding the book, whether it is genuine or not genuine or mixed. For that very reason we would willingly pass by it and merely refer top the fact that it states that Peter had taught: ‘God should not be worshipped in the manner of the Greeks, who take material things and serve stocks and stones. Also the Divine ought not to be worshipped in the manner of the Jews, for they, who believe that they alone know God, rather do not know him and worship angels, the month and the moon.—indicates that we have here to do with a man evaluating two different works; and therefore that when Origen refers to a ­Doctrine­ of Peter, what is meant by this is a real book with that specific title.

 

(b) It must evidently also be asked whether the word ­doctrina­ actually translates the Greek word for preaching­ or whether the Greek word for ­doctrine­ is not in fact actually the word Rufinus saw when he made his Latin translation. Finally,

 

(c) the cited word of Jesus (I am not a bodiless phantom.) has been handed down elsewhere; and this would indicate that a separate work was circulating in manuscript copies independent of one another.

 

2. Gregory of Nazianzus (d.389) is alleged (at ­Ep­. 20 and Or­. 17.5) by Elias of Crete (12th century) to twice quote the same logion:—God is near a soul that toils and moils. ... God is near a soul that toils and moils. Peter says somewhere in an admirable way. (It is not to be assumed, however, that Elias of Crete was at all acquainted with the work which he mentions.

 

3. John of Damascus (d.749, in his ­Sacra Parallela­), there are (in Holl, ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XX.2, 1899, 234, #502, #503) two passages which are ascribed to a Doctrine of Peter­:—(I, unhappy one, did not reflect that God sees the heart and has regard to the voice of the soul. I consented to sin, saying to myself: God is merciful and will suffer me; and since I was not struck at once, I did not discontinue but still more despised the forgiveness and exhausted the patience of God.) ... (Rich is that man who has compassion on many and who in imitation of God gives of what he has. For God has given to all all of that which he has made. Understand then ye rich men that ye must serve since ye have received more than ye yourselves need. Learn that others lack what ye have in abundance. Be ashamed to retain other people’s property. Imitate God’s equity, and no one will be poor.)

 

[ECW, 119-120; ANT, 4, 18-19; NTA, II, 97-98]

 

190. The Circuits of Peter

 

     A ­Circuits of Peter­ is attested by Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403) and is probably mentioned by Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340) and Origen of Alexandria (early 3rd century). This source may also go back to the 2nd century in its origin, for Irenaeus of Lyons (c.180) mentions contendings of the apostles with Simon Magus, and they are reflected in two works for which the ­Circuits of Peter­ may have served as a prototype: the Homilies of Clement­ and the ­Recognitions of Clement­.

 

[ENC, V, 900]

 

191. The Preaching of Simon Cephas in the City of Rome

 

     The text of this work has been assembled from two manuscripts: codices Add. 14644 and 14609 (hereafter manuscripts A and B). (The title of the second manuscript reads: “­The Teaching of the Apostle Peter in the City of Rome­.”) It is an apocryphal history which proceeds on the theory that Peter preceded Paul at Rome, and was apparently written (so the internal evidence as set forth in ANF) at the earliest during the early part of the 5th century.

 

     Its gist is, briefly, this: A great assembly gathers to hear Peter. He speaks to them of the life and death of Jesus, and the call of the Apostles, exhorts them to shun idolatry, reverts to the signs at the Crucifixion, and the Report of Pilate to Tiberius I­ (#526, below), and warns them about Simon Magus. We then have the incident of the dead man raised by Peter after Simon the Magician had failed. Peter’s episcopate of twenty-five years, his martyrdom and that of Paul, Nero’s death, and a famine which ensued after many years, are shortly told.

 

     It is part of a number of documents selected by the late Dr. Cureton (Curator of the Department of Syriac at the British Museum) from manuscripts acquired from the Nitrian Monastery in Lower Egypt, of which the first portion arrived in 1841, a second in 1843, and a third in 1847. Cureton (who published it in his ­Ancient Syriac Documents­, 1864, 35-41) was of the opinion that it, together with a number of other ancient Syriac texts, formed a most interesting accession to our knowledge of the early propagation of Christianity in the East down to about 300AD. However that may be—and Cureton may have intended his words to apply most specifically to the literature surrounding the Abgar legend (#’s 528-531, below), it appears that the author of the ­Preaching of Simon Cephas in the City of Rome­ had access to a number of traditions of varying provenance, the latest of which appears to involve Eutyches of Constantinople (d.454AD).

 

1. At 3:1—(Moreover, because we were ­catchers of fish­,)—we encounter at least a reminiscence of Mark­ 1:16-17—(for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.”)—perhaps even a verbal play on words. This presupposes at least a knowledge of the remaining Received gospels; and consequently indicates that the beginning of this author’s Christian tradition lies within the 1st century AD.

 

2. At 12:2—(And he knew that he would crucify him; so he called Ansus, the deacon, and made him bishop in his stead at Rome.)—we find (only in manuscript B of the text) the name Lainus; and it is obvious that Linus is the person undoubtedly meant. He, according to all the early episcopal lists extant, was the third bishop of Rome (after Peter and Paul, who may have perished in the local persecution of Christians begun by Nero in 67AD, less than a year before his own death by suicide). There is contact also through this name with the Syriac ­Martyrdom of Barsumya­ (#455, below), where it is rendered: Anus.

 

3. At 7:1—(And immediately they sent and fetched Simon the sorcerer)—ANF has preserved the following footnote: Vol. vii. p. 453. compare vol. vi. p. 438, note 15; also vol. i. p. 171. On Justin’s simple narrative all the rest was embroidered by a later hand. Apparently, Justin of Flavia Neapolis is meant; and the work alluded to by Justin’s hand was probably composed between 135 (the date of the Dialogue with Trypho­, apparently his earliest surviving work) and c.165 (when he was martyred, together with some of his friends). So the ­Preaching­ cannot have existed before at least 135AD.

 

4. The ­Preaching of Simon Cephas in the City of Rome­ ends in the following manner:—(And many years after the great coronation of the apostles, who had departed out of the world, while ordination to the priesthood was proceeding both in all Rome and in all Italy, it happened then that there was a great famine in the city of Rome. Here endeth the teaching of Simon Cephas.). This abrupt termination seems to indicate that there was something more which followed; and the famine referred to seems to be the same as that mentioned in the interpolated passage at the end of the ­Acts of Sharbil­ (#’s 453-454, below):—(This Barsamya, the bishop, made a disciple of Sharbil the priest. And he lived in the days of Binus, bishop of Rome; in whose days the whole population of Rome assembled together, and cried out to the praetor of their city, and said to him: “There are too many strangers in this our city, and these cause famine and dearness of everything: but we beseech thee to command them to depart out of ...); our interest, however, is in the name ­“Binus­”. This is rendered ­Fabianus­ in manuscript B. The mention of Fabianus probably arose from the simple fact of his having instituted the profession of notaries for the express purpose of searching for and collecting the acts of martyrs. The passage itself, however, is evidently a later addition by a person unacquainted with chronology: for it is stated at the beginning of the ­Acts of Sharbil­ that the matters considered by its text took place in the fifteenth year of Trajan (112AD); but Fabianus was not made bishop of Rome till the reign of Maximinus Thrax (c.236). So it would seem that this work must have been written after 236.

 

5. At 12:3—(And these things did Simon himself speak; and moreover also the rest, the other things which he had in charge, he commanded Ansus\fn{His deacon?} to teach before the people, saying to him: Beside the New Testament and the Old let there not be read before the people anything else: which is not right.)—there is recorded a saying of Peter which agrees with the tenth canon of the ­Teaching of the Apostles­—(The apostles appointed: That, beside the Old Testament, and the Prophets, and the Gospel, and the Acts of their exploits, nothing should be read on the pulpit in the church.)—and is remembered also by the author of the ­Syriac Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle­ (#448, below)—(Moreover, many people day by day assembled and came to the prayers of the service, and to the reading of the Old Testament, and the New of the ­Diatessaron­.). The interest in all this, besides the literary parallels, is in the name Diatessaron­. The manuscript reads ­Ditornon­; but the two names differ but slightly in their mode of writing and it seems that it ought to read ­Diatesesaron­, which Tatian compiled from the four Received gospels about the middle of the 2nd century AD, and which was in general use in Edessa up to the 4th century. Sometime during the 4th century, Ephraem Syrus wrote a commentary on it—a commentary which (ANF implies) does not contain any knowledge that the New Testament referred to was the version known as the Diatessaron­. What we have to do with, then, is an interpolation inserted into the text some time after Ephraem’s commentary; so the text before us could not have come into being prior to the 4th century.

 

6. At 11:4—(And, when there was a great rejoicing at his teaching, he built churches there, in Rome and in the cities round about, and in all the villages of the people of Italy; and he served there in the rank of the Superintendence of Rulers twenty-five years.)—it is mentioned that Peter served as the first bishop of Rome for a period of twenty-five years, a tradition (so ODC,1050) first mentioned by Jerome of Strido (d.420).

 

7. At 4:3—(But this One who came to us is God, the Son of God, in His own nature, notwithstanding that He mingled His Godhead with our manhood, in order that He might renew our manhood by the aid of His Godhead.)—the word mingled may countenance knowledge of the Eutychian heresy (so Assemani, Biblioteca Orientalis­ I, 81), originated by Eutyches of Constantinople (d.454AD).

 

     James said that the work had nothing in common with the ­Preaching of Peter­ (confessedly an early work); and NTA noted that the dogmatic statements in the work refer it to the time of the later Christological controversies. (While admitting a very loose contact with the Acts of Peter­ (#195, below), NTA confines this to trait-borrowing, and says that the ­Preaching­ has been enlarged with many other traditions. [See on this Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ II.1, 1883, 206f); and Baumstark (­Die Petrus- und Paulusakten in der Literarischen Uberlieferung der Syrischen Kirche­, 1902, 38-40).] ANF thinks it looks like an afterthought of a later age, when the teaching of Peter was elevated into a specialty. It will have been composed during the 5th or 6th century—at the earliest during the early part of the 5th century—and handed down in Syriac.

 

[ANF, VIII, 661-662, 668, 673-675, 685; ANT, 18; NTA, II, 572]

 

192. The Journeys of Peter

 

     Cullmann (­Le Problem Litteraire et Historique du Romans Pseudo-Clementin­, 1940, 220-257) has identified two quotations from Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254)—they are not specified more exactly—with a work entitled the Journeys of Peter­. He identifies it further as a text shared by both the ­Recognitions of Clement­ and the Homilies of Clement­—in essence, by the Basic Writing.

 

     Danielou (­The Theology of Jewish Christianity: A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea­, 1964, 59) says that Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403) uses this title when he lists the work as among the books sacred to the Ebionites. He also understands Lipsius’—and so, by logical extension, Waitz’s book of the same title—­Conversations of Peter­ as his ­Journeys of Peter­. Lipsius (­Die Quellen der Romischen Petrussasge­, Kiel, 1872) asserted the existence of this document apparently for the first time (if Danielou is to be believed). He described it as an Ebionite work which depicted the discussions between Peter and the magician Simon from Palestine to Rome, and which must have been accessible to the author of the Basic Writing through the likewise Ebionite ­Teaching of Peter­.

 

     Waitz (­Die Pseudo-Klementinen, Homilien und Rekognitionen­, Leipzig, 1904), however, said that the Journeys of Peter­ was a catholic, anti-Gnostic source, in its present form Jewish-Christian and anti-Pauline, quite independent of the ­Teaching of Peter­.

 

     It should perhaps be pointed out that Danielou does not indicate where his citation for Epiphanius comes from. It also appears that James (­Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924) is also ignorant of the citation.

 

[DAN, 59]

 

193. The Gospel of Peter

 

     Down to 1886 one was aware of the existence of a ­Gospel of Peter­, but not so much as a single quotation from it was known. In the winter of 1886-1887, a fragment of the work was discovered at Akhmim in Upper Egypt. With fragments of the ­Greek Apocalypse of Peter­ (#252, below) and the ­Greek Book of Enoch­, it lay in the grave of a Christian monk who had lived at some time between the 8th and the 12th centuries. It is now in the Cairo Museum.

 

     The manuscript, in which the same hand worked on all three texts, is of the 8th or 9th century. Ornaments at the beginning and end of the manuscript indicate that the copytist knew no more of the work than the text that is known to us: accordingly, conjectures as to the compass and contents of the whole have no foundation. The present text is divided by Harnack (“Bruchstucke des Evangeliums und der Apokalypse des Petrus” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zor Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ IX, 1893) into sixty verses; and, independently of him, by Robinson (Robinson and James, ­The Gospel According to Peter and the Revelation of Peter­, London, 1892) into fourteen chapters.

 

     On the basis of their common place of discovery and linguistic affinities, Dietrich, Zahn, and James consider that the text of the ­Akhmim Fragment­ is a piece belonging to the ­Gospel of Peter­, a suggestion which is strengthened by the observation that, among other things, the two most important parallels are to be found only in the additional redactional work: (1) The absolute form the Lord, appears often in the Gospel of Peter­ (verses 2, 3, 6 etc.), always as the special peculiarity of the Greek text (as opposed to the Ethiopic, which never uses this expression); (2) We the twelve apostles is to be found at verse 59 in the gospel and at verse 5 in the Akhmim text—while the Ethiopic likewise does not have this expression.

 

     The old witnesses, however, always speak of the gospel and the apocalypse as two separate writings. Consequently, we must assume, not that the author of the Gospel of Peter­ assimilated the ­Apocalypse of Peter­ (so Zahn and James), but that it was a later finder of the two Greek fragments who first adapted the apocalypse to the already extant gospel. Was it perhaps even the copyist of the Akhmim fragment of the Gospel of Peter­ that in the 8th-9th century was this later adapter?

 

     There are a number of citations and parallels within Patristic literature.

 

1. Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165) at ­First Apology­ XXXV (written c.155 and addressed to the emperor, Antonius Pius) seems to have something to do with ­Gospel of Peter­ :7.

 

2. Julius Cassianus (2nd century) has been supposed by Zahn (­Gesch. d. ntl. Kanons­ II.2, 635ff) to have used the Gospel of Peter­ in his work, as opposed to the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­: but the material in both of them is very closely connected. Volter (­Petrusevangelium Oder Agypterevangelium­, 1893; and “Petrus-Evangelium Oder Agypterevangelium” in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alten Kirche­, 1905, 368-372) changed into an identity the relationship which Zahn had conjectured, but not proved, between the two: but this adventure has met with no approval, and it appears that the surviving fragments of the two writings permit no such conclusion.

 

3. Serapion of Antioch (c.200) is the most important and at the same time the next earliest witness to the Gospel of Peter­. Eusebius of Caesarea (­Ecclesiastical History­ VI.12) quotes a few sentences from a writing of Serapion on this work:

 

There is another treatise composed by him\fn{Serapion.} about the ­Gospel of Peter­, which he drew up to expose the false statements contained in it, for the benefit of some members of the church at Rhossus, who by the means of the aforesaid book had succumbed to unorthodox doctrines. Of this it will be well to adduce some passages in which he states his view of the book, writing thus: ‘For we, brethren, accept Peter and the other apostles as we would Christ, but, as experienced men, we repudiate what is falsely written under their name, knowing that we have not had any such things delivered to us. For I, when I was with you, supposed that all of you adhered to the right faith, and, not having gone through the gospel which they produced under the name of Peter, I said: If this is all that seems to cause you scruples, let it be read. But now that I have learned from what has been told me, that their mind had its lair in a certain heresy, I will take care to come to you again: so, brethren, expect me soon. But you, who have comprehended of what manner of heretic Marcion was, and how he contradicted himself, not understanding what he uttered, will learn the truth of what has been written to you in this treatise. For we who have been able to borrow this very gospel from others who used it, namely, the successors of those who began it whom we call Docetae—for most of their notions belong to that school—and to go through it, and to find that most of it is of the right teaching of the Savior, but some things are adventitious; a list of which we have drawn up for you.’

 

     According to them, Serapion was in his church at Rhossus, and there first decided, without having read the book, that to meet certain requirements of some of his own flock, it could be read. Later, however, he himself read it through, decided it was heretical, and as a refutation of it made a collection of some of its Gnostic statements. We were able ... to find most things in accordance with the true doctrine of our Redeemer, he says, but some things added to it. In passing, he notes that he had obtained it from successors of those who compiled it, who were Docetics. This would date its appearance back at least one generation.

 

4. The Syriac ­Didascalia­ (200-250AD), especially in its twenty-first chapter, is connected with ­Gospel of Peter­ :2 and :5 (Jesus is executed by order of Herod); :27 (fasting of the disciples until the Sabbath); :35 (the resurrection of Jesus in the night); and at :60 (special mention of Levi).

 

5. Origen of Alexandria (c.254) may or may not be speaking of the Gospel of Peter­ in his account (Commentary on Matthew­ X.17) out those who maintained that the brothers and sisters of Jesus sprang from a first marriage of Joseph—[(They of Nazareth thought that Jesus) was the son of Joseph and Mary; but some of the brothers of Jesus (founding on a tradition either from the ­Gospel of Peter­ or the Infancy Gospel of James­\fn{#87, above.} say that there were sons of Joseph by a former wife who had lived with him before Mary.]. Such a parallel does indeed occur at ­Infancy Gospel of James­ VIIIff; but Origen is not certain whether his information came from that work, or from the ­Gospel of Peter­.

 

6. There are connections with the ­Letter of Pilate to Claudius­ I (3rd century, #534 below), where it is stated that Pilate was guiltless of the death of Jesus and that the Jews alone were answerable for it. They are finally of consequence in attempting to date the ­Gospel of Peter­, since the different strata within the Pilate sub-literature can now be clearly delimited [on which see Bradley (­Fragments of the New Testament­, Bryn Mawr, 1990, 636, and also below in the discussion for #’s 525-533)].

 

7. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340) in his ­Ecclesiastical History­ III.3,25 (finished 303-323AD) reckons the Gospel of Peter­ (together with the ­Acts of Peter­, the ­Apocalypse of Peter­, and the ­Preaching of Peter­) as not handed down among the orthodox Scriptures, and not used as testimony by ancient or modern church writers; but this, as regards the ­Apocalypse­ and ­Preaching­, is an exaggeration. Eusebius, however, discloses no direct knowledge of its contents.

 

8. There are also possible traces in Cyril of Jerusalem (d.386, bishop of Jerusalem from c.349) and others.\fn{I have lost the citation to this quote:H}

 

9. Knowledge of the existence of the ­Gospel of Peter­ is also disclosed by Jerome of Strido (d.420); but it is clear that his knowledge of the existence of the book is not based upon first-hand experience, but upon having read the citation in Eusebius.

 

10. Philip of Side (near 430AD) declares in a fragment of his history (so de Book in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ V.2, 1888, 169 number 4) that the majority of the ancients had completely rejected the so-called ­Gospel of Peter­, as well as those of ­Thomas­ and ­The Hebrews­, saying that these writings were the work of heretics. These belong to the false gospels, of which he gives other examples: the Gospel of the Egyptians­, the ­Gospel of the Twelve­, and the ­Gospel of Basilides­.

 

11. Theodoret of Cyrrhus (d.458), says at ­Of Heretical Fables­ II.2:—The Nazaraeans are Jews who know Christ as a righteous man, and use the ­Gospel of Peter­.—but James says that what we know of the gospel and of the Nazarenes forbids us to give credence to this statement.

 

12. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century) rejects a book under this title as apocryphal:—Gospel under the name of the apostle Peter ... apocryphal

 

     The ­Gospel of Peter­, then, was known from the reference of ancient writers—in particular Origen—before considerable fragments of it were discovered at Akhmim. The archaic character of the theological data implies a fairly early date, the beginning of the 2nd century at the latest. The place of origin is certainly Syria. External evidence on this point is decisive, all the ancient witnesses—in particular, Serapion and the ­Didascalia­—being Syrian. As far as internal evidence is concerned, attention may be drawn to the marked resemblance between the account of the Resurrection in the ­Gospel of Peter­ and in the ­Ascension of Isaiah­ (2nd century, #49, above). The religious environment of the ­Gospel of Peter­ must likewise be that of the Jewish-Christian church of Antioch.

 

     Together, then, with the ­Ascension of Isaiah­, the ­Gospel of Peter­ represents an echo of the theology of this particular community, particularly in the way in which it expresses Christian doctrines through the symbolism of Jewish apocalyptic:

 

1. Consider the colossal stature of Jesus Christ. This is specifically characteristic of Jewish-Christian teaching, being a peculiarity of their representation of angels. It serves precisely to establish the transcendence of Jesus by showing that he surpasses the angels infinitely:—The head of the first two touched the sky; but the head of him whom they were escorting reached above the sky. The concept is also found at ­Testament of Reuben­ VI.7, Damascus Fragments­ II.19, ­Acts of Perpetua and Felicity­ 4,10, Shepherd of Hermas­ (­Similitudes­ ix.6), and (so Grillmeier, ­Der Logos am Kreuz­, Munich, 1956, 56-62) in primitive iconography, in which Jesus is often shown as taller than the persons who surround him.

 

2. The descent of Christ into his former sepulcher (apparently an equivalent in this work to the Descent of Christ into Hell: H) has as its purpose (so Bider, ­Die Vorstellung von der Hollenfahrt Jesuschristi­, Zurich, 1949, 129-135) the salvation of the saints of the Old Testament, another Judaising and archaic feature.

 

3. Equally characteristic is the theme, which appears here for the first time, of a living cross that speaks (X.42).

 

4. Objection might be raised to deriving the work from Jewish-Christianity on the grounds that it displays a very marked anti-Jewish polemical character. This would, however, be an argument against connecting it with Judaising circles within a specific Jewish-Christian congregation, rather than with Jewish-Christian literature as such. Furthermore, in view of the fact that this polemical tone appears in other works generally accepted as Jewish-Christian (e.g., the ­Letter of Barnabas to His Sons and Daughters­, the ­Didache­), it may be considered justifiable to place it in this category. There are, after all, two Judaisms to be taken into account; a work might belong to the cultural setting of later Judaism and still be opposed to the rabbinising Judaism of the years after 70AD.

 

     The ­Gospel of Peter­, then, is an early apocryphal gospel, of which the only surviving section is contained in the Akhmim Fragment, discovered in 1886-1887. According to Serapion, bishop of Antioch (c.190), it was in use at Rhossus in his time, and in the next century Origen knew of its existence. It seems to have been a largely legendary work, the author of which had strong antipathies to the Jews and was docetic in his theological standpoint. It was probably written in Syria about the middle of the 2nd century.

 

[ODC, 1051; NTA, I, 183-187]

 

194. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 840

 

     In December, 1905, Grenfell and Hunt (­Fragment of an Uncanonical Gospel from Oxyrhynchus­, Oxford, 1908) discovered in ancient Oxyrhynchus (now called Behensa, in Middle Egypt), a leaf of a parchment book of the smallest size (8.8 x 7 centimeters) written on both sides in microscopically tiny letters. It had probably served its owner as an amulet, and appears to have been written sometime during the 4th-5th centuries (3rd century: James). (See also Budge, ­Amulets and Superstitions­, 1930; and Bonner, ­Studies in Magical Amulets, Chiefly Graeco-Egyptian­, 1950.)

 

     The first seven lines contain the conclusion of a discourse of Jesus delivered in Jerusalem, in which He warns His disciples against a deceptive confidence. There follows a visit to the Temple court, where a sharp discussion takes place between Jesus and a Pharisaic chief priest named Levi, who takes the Son of God and his disciples to task for neglecting the purification rules laid down for walking in the Place of Purification—an area within the sacred precincts of the Temple:

 

First before he does wrong he thinks out everything that is crafty. But be ye on your guard that the same thing may not happen to you as does to them. For not only among the living do evil doers among men receive retribution, but they must also suffer punishment amid great torment. And he took them\fn{The disciples.} with him into the place of purification itself and walked about in the Temple court. And a Pharisaic chief priest, Levi by name, fell in with them and said to the Savior: Who gave thee leave to tread this place of purification and to look upon these holy utensils without having bathed thyself and even without thy disciples having washed their feet? On the contrary, being defiled, thou hast trodden the Temple court, this clean place, although no one who has not first bathed himself or changed his clothes may tread it and venture to view these holy utensils! Forthwith the Savior stood still with his disciples and answered: How stands it then with thee, thou art forsooth here in the Temple court. Art thou then clean? He said to him: I am clean. For I have bathed myself in the pool of David and have gone down by the one stair and come up by the other and have put on white and clean clothes, and only then have I come hither and have viewed these holy utensils. Then said the Savior to him: Woe unto you blind that see not! Thou hast bathed thyself in water that is poured out, in which dogs and swine lie night and day and thou hast washed thyself and hast chafed thine outer skin, which prostitutes also and flute-girls\fn{Flute-girls occur again in a fragment of the ­Gospel of the Nazaraeans­, preserved by Eusebius of Caesarea (Theophania­ on Matthew­ 25:14-30)—But since the gospel written in Hebrew characters which has come into our hands enters the threat not against the man who had hid the talent, but against him who had lived dissolutely—for he had three servants: one who squandered his master's substance with harlots and flute-girls, one who multiplied the gain, and one who hid the talent; and accordingly one was accepted with joy, another merely rebuked, and another cast into prison—I wonder whether in ­Matthew­ the threat which is uttered after the word against the man who did nothing may refer not to him, but by epanalepsis to the first who had feasted and drunk with the drunken.} anoint, bathe, chafe and rouge, in order to arose desire in men, but within they are full of scorpions and of badness of every kind. But I any my disciples, of whom thou sayest that we have not immersed ourselves, have been immersed in the living ... water which comes down from ... But woe unto them that

 

     The fascination with this documentary fragment lies in two conclusions which may be gained from an examination of the text:

 

1. The neglect of proper ceremonial on the part of Jesus and his followers answers to what is recorded in Mark­ 7:1-23 and ­Matthew­ 15:1-20 regarding Jesus’ attitude to rabbinical precepts:—Now when the Pharisees gathered together to him, with some of the scribes, who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands,\fn{One Greek word is of uncertain meaning and is not translated.} observing the tradition of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they purify\fn{Other ancient authorities read: and baptize.} themselves; and there are many other traditions which they observe, the washing of cups and pots and vessels of bronze.\fn{Other ancient authorities add: and beds.} And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live\fn{Greek: walk} according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?’ And he said to them, ‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.” You leave the commandment of God, and hold fast the tradition of men.’ And he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, “Honor your father and your mother”; and, “He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die”; but you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is Corban’ [that is, given to God\fn{Or: an offering.}]then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do.’ And he called the people to him again, and said to them, ‘Hear me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.’\fn{Other ancient authorities add: If any man has ears, let him hear.} And when he had entered the house, and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, ‘Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him, since it enters, not his heart but his stomach, and so passes on?’\fn{Or: is evacuated.} (Thus he declares all foods clean.) And he said, ‘What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.’ ... The Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, ‘Why do your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.’ He answered them, ‘And why do you transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, “Honor your father and your mother,” and, “He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die.” But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is given to God,\fn{Or: an offering.} he need not honor his father.’ So, for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word\fn{Other ancient authorities read: law.} of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “This people honors me with their lips, but their ear is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.” And he called the people to him and said to them, ‘Hear and understand: not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.’ Then the disciples came and said to him, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?’ He answered, ‘Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.’ But Peter said to him, ‘Explain the parable to us.’ And he said, ‘Are you also still without understanding? Do you not see that what ever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on\fn{Or: is evacuated.} But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.\fn{Note that the number of defilements is reduced here from 13 to 7.} These are what defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.

 

2. The severity and vigor with which in his rejoinder Jesus castigates the Pharisaic hypocrisy which sought through scrupulously careful observance of the ritual of cleanness to delude men as to the abominable nature of what was within them, has in substance an exact parallel with ­Matthew­ 23:25-28:—Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity. You blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

 

     The objections which for long were made to the historicity of this narrative—on the grounds that it shows no knowledge of the Jerusalem temple and its ritual, by assuming that swine could be tolerated in the neighborhood of the Temple—can now no longer be sustained. On the contrary, this witness is excellently informed, exhibits numerous Semiticisms, and in substance has produced a document that ranks as high as the Synoptic account (itself probably produced between c.65-c.95AD).

 

     There is no clue, however, as to the identity of the book from which this fragment comes. If it were not that Jesus is here spoken of as the Savior and not as the Lord, James would suggest the ­Gospel of Peter­, ‘Savior’ being the common word in the Gnostic literature. The ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ is an obvious possibility: but all is uncertain. At least, the leaf is not from the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­.

 

[NTA, I, 93-94, 149; ANT, 29-30]

 

195. The Acts of Peter

 

     The ­Acts of Peter­ is an apocryphal book composed in Greek c.150-200AD—so ODC; but ANT merely says not later than 200AD; ECC and ECC both say c.190AD; NTA says 180-190—perhaps in Asia Minor. Internal evidence shows the book to have been dependent on the ­Acts of John­: the author has read the ­Acts of John­ very carefully and has modeled his language upon them. However, he was not so unorthodox as Leucius, though his language about the Person of Jesus (chapter 20—The Lord in his mercy was moved to show himself in another shape and to be seen in the form of a man, on whom neither the Jews nor we were worthy to be enlightened. For each one of us saw him as he was able, as he had power to see.)—has rather suspicious resemblances to that of the ­Acts of John­.

 

     The length of the book is given by the ­Stichometry of Nicephorus­ as 2,750 lines—50 lines less than the Received Acts­. The portions we have may be about the length of ­Mark­: about 1000 lines, or a third of the original work, may be wanting [so Zahn, (­Gesch. del Ntl. Kanons­ II, 841 note 3)]. Not much of this missing material has yet been recovered. There survive the following:

 

A. The ­Martyrdom of Peter­ forms part of the ­Acts of Peter­, and survives in two good Greek copies (one of the 9th century, the other of the 10th-11th centuries), plus Latin, Coptic, Slavonic, Syriac, Armenian, Arabic and Ethiopic versions (some of which begin with ­Martyrdom­ 4 = ­Vercelli Acts­ 33); and in a Latin paraphrase attributed to Linus, Peter’s successor in the bishopric of Rome and made from the Greek. In the Martyrdom­ are recorded both the Quo Vadis incident—And as he went out of the gate he saw the Lord entering Rome; and when he saw him he said, ‘Lord, whither goest thou here?’ And the Lord said to him, ‘I am coming to Rome to be crucified.’ And Peter said to him, ‘Lord, art thou being crucified again?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Peter, I am being crucified again.’—and the crucifixion of Peter head downwards—‘But it is time for you, Peter, to surrender your body to those who are taking it. Take it, then, you whose duty this is. I request you therefore, executioners, to crucify me head-downwards—in this way and no other.’ In places its teaching has a Docetic ring, perhaps occasioned by the writer’s limited theological capacities rather than by any connection with unorthodox circles. The fact that the account of Peter’s martyrdom belonged to the ­Acts of Peter­ from the first is shown by the two Greek manuscripts beginning at different points: one at chapter 30 of the ­Vercelli Acts­, the other at chapter 33. As the Greek manuscripts prove, the ­Martyrdom­ was soon separated from the ­Acts of Peter­ and proceeded with a history of its own; the oriental versions demonstrate just how widely it circulated. A conspectus of these witnesses is given by Vouaux (­Les Actes de Pierre. Introduction, Textes, Traduction et Commentaire­, Paris, 1922, 19-22).

 

B. The ­Acts of Peter­ is preserved ­in toto­ (NTS says in a large portion only) in Latin in a Vercelli manuscript of the 7th century (NTA says 6th-7th centuries), often called the ­Verceilli Acts­. (Their incompleteness is shown by the ­Stichometry of Niceophorus­, which makes the ­Acts of Peter­ consist of 2,750 lines, or a bit longer than ­Luke­, which it sets at 2,600 lines.) The translation it presents originated according to Turner (in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XXXII, 1931, 119-120) not later than the 3rd or 4th century AD. It includes the ­Martyrdom­. This Latin translation, as Ficker (in Hennecke’s ­Neutetstmentliche Apockryphen­, 1924, 226-227) notes, is generally reliable, even though it is not free from misunderstandings, eccentricities and inexactitudes. We are also justified in observing that the Latin translator sometimes tries to make the sense clear by adding a few words, but seems nevertheless more anxious to abbreviate than to amplify.

 

C. A short Coptic portion (Coptic Papyrus Berolinsus 8502) also survives which describes Peter’s miraculous treatment of his paralytic daughter. Noted by Till (“Die Gnostischen Schriften des Koptische Papyrus Berolinsus 8501” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ LX, 1955, 6-8), it was discovered and edited by C. Schmidt (­Die Alten Petrusakten­, 1903). It is in the form of an early papyrus manuscript (4th-5th century), and is now in Berlin. The story is extant also in certain Gnostic writings which have not yet been published. It has at its end a title: ­Act of Peter­; and it is missing a leaf. The scene of the episode is probably Jerusalem. The subject of it was often used by later writers, most notably, perhaps, by the author of the late ­Acts of Nereus and Achieleus­ (5th or 6th century), who gives the daughter a name (Petronilla). A few critics have questioned whether this piece really belongs to the ­Acts of Peter­; but the weight of probability and of opinion is against them. Nothing can be plainer than that it is an extract from a larger book, and that it is ancient (the Coptic may be of the 4th century). The reasons adduced by Schmidt are of varying cogency, but are so convincing as a whole that it can no longer be doubted that we have here a fragment of the first part of the ­Acts of Peter­, which is otherwise lost. Moreover, Augustine of Hippo Regius, in dealing with apocryphal acts, alludes to the story contained in it.

 

     Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430, ­Contra Adimantum­ XVII.5) says to his Manichaean opponent: the story of Peter killing Ananias and Sapphira by a word is very stupidly blamed by those who in the apocryphal acts read and admire both the death of a cup-bearer at the Feast in the ­Acts of Thomas­ and that the daughter of Peter himself was stricken with palsy at the prayer of her father, and that the daughter of a gardener died at the prayer of Peter. Their answer is that it was expedient for them, that the one should be disabled by palsy and the other should die: but they do not deny that it happened at the prayer of the Apostle.

 

     This allusion to the gardener’s daughter remained a puzzle until lately. But a passage in the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­ (#299, below) tells us the substance of the story:—A certain gardener had a daughter, a virgin, her father’s only child: he begged Peter to pray for her. Upon his request, the apostle answered him that the Lord would give her that which was useful for her soul. Immediately the girl fell dead. O worthy gain and suitable to God, to escape the insolence of the flesh and mortify the boastfulness of the blood! But the old man, faithless, and not knowing the greatness of the heavenly favor, ignorant of the Divine benefit, entreated Peter that his only daughter might be raised again. And when she was raised, not many days after, as it might be today, the slave of a believer who lodged in the house ran upon her and ruined the girl, and both of them disappeared. That this narrative taken from the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­ belongs to the ­Act of Peter­ is shown by the reference in Augustine, where the two events are put side by side, so that they were probably quoted from the same apocryphal work. Certainly we have here a case of parallel narratives.

 

     This was evidently a contrast to the story of Peter’s daughter, and probably followed immediately upon in the Acts of John­. There is another sentence appropriate to the situation, which Dom de Bruyne (in ­Revue Benedictine­ XXV, 1908, 152-153) found in a Cambrai manuscript, a Biblical concordance of the 13th century—(Codex Cambrai 254, a collection of apophthegms)—and printed with the extracts from the ­Letter of Titus:­—(that the dead are not to be mourned overmuch, Peter, speaking to one who lamented without patience the loss of his daughter, said: So many assaults of the devil, so many warrings of the body, so many disasters of the world hath she escaped, and thou sheddest tears as if thou knowest not what thou sufferest in thyself.\fn{I.e., what good­ hath befallen thee.} This might very well be part of Peter’s address to the bereaved gardener. C. Schmidt connects these words with the narrative of the gardener’s daughter—It is highly probable that we have here the words spoken by the Apostle to the distracted father.—but it may be that nothing more than a possibility may be established.

 

D. Certain fragments of the ­Acts of Peter­ also exist. They include (1) one or two important quotations from lost portions; (2) a small Greek fragment of the original ­Acts of Peter­ on a papyrus (the end of chapter 25 and the beginning of chapter 26), known as ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 849­ and published by Grenfell & Hunt (Oxyrhynchus Papyrii­ VI, 1908, 6-12); (3) certain passages—speeches of Peter—transferred by an unscrupulous writer to the Vita Abercii­ (the Life of Abercius of Hieropolis (d.c.200), written toward the end of the 4th century); and (4) chapters 38 and 39 in Syriac: they were extensively used in a prayer before the oblation in the Syriac ­Testament of the Lord in Galilee­ (a member of a type of literature known as Church Orders).

 

     The Latin text of the ­Martyrdom­ is in Lipsius & Bonnet [­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, Leipzig, 1891, 122; English translation in James (­The Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924, 330-336)]. The Latin text of the Acts of Peter­ in the Vercelli manuscript—a variant form describing Peter’s victory over Simon Magus in the Forum Romanum—together with the Greek on opposite pages where it corresponds—is in Lipsius & Bonnet (­ibid­., 45-103; English translation in James, ­ibid­., 304-330). The Coptic fragment was edited by Schmidt [“Die Alten Petrusakten im Zusammenhang der Apokryphen Apostelliteratur Nebst Einem Neuentdeckten Fragment” in Gebhardt & Harnack’s ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XXIV, Hft. I, 1903, 3-7; English translation from the German in James (­op cit­., 300-302)]. There is also a further Greek fragment in Grenfell & Hunt (­The Oxyrhynchus Papyri­ VI, 1908, 6-12). See also Vouaux, (­op cit­; French translation and commentary with good bibliography); Quasten (­Patrology­ I, Utrecht, 1950, 133-135); Bardenhewer (Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, 2nd ed., 1913, 550-554); Altaner (­Patrologie. Leben, Schriften und Lehre der Kirchenvater­, 1950, 55); and Amann (in ­Dictionary of the Bible. Supplement­ I, 1928, cols. 496-501).

 

     As to the witnesses of the ­Acts of Peter­, the following attestations are a matter of record:

 

1. The ­Muratori Canon­ (150-200AD)—For the ‘most excellent Theophilus’ Luke summarizes the several things that in his own presence have come to pass, as also by the omission of the passion of Peter he makes quite clear, and equally by the omission of the journey of Paul, who from the city of Rome proceeded to Spain.—does not name the ­Acts of Peter­, but many scholars—C. Schmidt (­op cit­., 105); Vouaux (­op cit­, 110ff)—thinks there is a reference to the ­Acts of Peter­ in the above passage. According to Schmidt, this is intended to express the view which the author of this table of canonical books takes of events not recorded in the ­Received Acts­, namely Peter’s death and Paul’s journey to Spain: he knows them as actual occurrences, and not only on the basis of oral tradition, but of a written work which he has read with interest.

 

     On the other hand, such an interpretation may read too much into this brief comment. The author of the Muratori Canon­ gives no indication that he had before him any written account of the death of Peter or Paul’s journey to Spain. His words may be taken to mean that he did indeed know of these two events, but had not found them in the ­Received Acts­ because, in his opinion, Luke was not an eyewitness of these events. If so, this precludes the possibility of using the ­Muratori Canon­ as a witness to the ­Acts of Peter­, or even for its date.

 

2. The ­Acts of Paul­ (150-200) seems to demonstrate dependence upon the ­Acts of Peter­. Whereas formerly C. Schmidt strongly upheld the dependence of the ­Acts of Peter­ upon the ­Acts of Paul­, he abandoned this view in consequence of the discovery of the Hamburg papyrus of the ­Acts of Paul­: for in this papyrus the occurs a variant text of ­Acts of Peter­ 35 which does not really fit its context in the ­Acts of Paul­; and from this and other sections (especially the story of Theon as it appears in ­Acts of Peter­ 5), Schmidt (­Acta Pauli­, 1936, 127ff) has concluded that the author of the ­Acts of Paul­ used and transcribed the ­Acts of Peter­.

 

3. Clement of Alexandria (d.215) writes two passages (­Stromateis­ III:vi.52; VII:xi.63) which have been connected with the ­Acts of Peter­. In the first, Clement observes that Peter and Philip produced children, a statement which in no way helps to settle the problem of dating the ­Acts of Peter­. In the second, Clement relates that Peter encouraged his wife on the way to her martyrdom; and this statement also may have nothing to do with the ­Acts of Peter­, but belongs rather to oral traditions known to Clement.

 

4. The ­Acts of John­ (early 3rd century) presents a problem of relationship to the ­Acts of Peter­ which is extremely difficult and obscure. While Zahn (in ­Geschichte del Ntl. Kanons­ II, 860) declared an identity of authorship, C. Schmidt (­Die Alten Petrusakten­, 77-79) endeavored to prove that the author of the ­Acts of Peter­ used the ­Acts of John­. Vouaux (­op cit­, 49-52) also considers the ­Acts of John­ to be among the sources edited by the author of the Acts of Peter­. All this presupposes the ­Acts of John­ really are the earliest of the apocryphal apostolic acts. As Schmidt (­ibid­., 99) says:—Leucius has really the honor of having composed the earliest romance about the Apostles; in so doing, and probably contrary to his own expectation, he paved the way to an entire new genre of early Christian literature; for his example was soon followed by the author of the ­Acts of Paul­, who also came from Asia Minor, and Pseudo-Peter\fn{The (otherwise unknown) author of the Acts of Peter.} stood on the shoulders of both of them in writing his romance.

 

     This chronological pattern depends in the main on the detection of definite agreements and similarities in Christological ideas, but partly also on other presuppositions, which then provide the basis for the explanation of these similarities. Meanwhile as far as the ­Acts of Paul­ are concerned, C. Schmidt himself has proved this chronology untenable; and for the ­Acts of John­, Schaferdiek has shown that the witnesses before Eusebius are so uncertain that the early dating can hardly be sustained. But the problem has to be more closely considered, since the question remains, whether the agreements and similarities can perhaps be explained by the ­Acts of Peter­ having served as the model for the ­Acts of John­.

 

     In the preaching of the Gospel (­Acts of John­ 87ff) John also comes to speak about the earthly appearance of Christ, and describes at the outset how he and his brother James were called by Jesus, when James saw the Lord as a boy, while John saw him standing by in the form of a handsome man (chapters 88-89). There follows the account of the Transfiguration, a remarkable new version of the story [chapter 90, on the interpretation of which see Sturhahn (“Die Christologie der Altesten Apokryphen Apostelakten” in Theological Dissertations of Heidelberg­, 1951, 32-33)]; and here too, the theme of Jesus’ distinct forms plays an important part.

 

     Now at ­Acts of Peter­ 20, Peter likewise tells the congregation assembled to hear the gospel that Christ was seen by the disciples in the form that each one of them could comprehend. Here too the story of the Transfiguration is given as an example, but without doubt the author keeps closer to the Received Biblical narrative. Moreover, the story in chapter 21 about the widows whose sight is restored and who are then made to describe what they have seen is also characterized by the theme of polymorphy: some saw him as an old man, others as a youth, etc. The chapter concludes with Peter’s saying:—Certainly God is greater than our thoughts, as we have learned from the aged widows, how they saw the Lord in a variety of forms. This explanatory conclusion shows that the author of the ­Acts of Peter­ adopted the idea of polymorphy from other motives than those of the author of the ­Acts of John­. But even apart from the intention which appears in this explanation, it must now be stated that a resemblance between the two passages in respect of an idea which we encounter elsewhere is all that can be shown; we can hardly speak of a literary dependence.

 

     Similar caution is needed in respect of the other passages which have been cited to proved dependence. Thus at Acts of John­ 98—(Logos,\fn{Logos = Word.} Mind, Jesus, Christ, Door, Way, Bread, Seed, Resurrection, Son, Father, Spirit, Life, Truth, Faith, Grace)—there is a catalogue of various names given to the Cross of Light, so that a series of Christological predicates is assembled; and in at ­Acts of Peter­ 20—(Door, Light, Way, Bread, Water, Life, Resurrection, Refreshment, Pearl, Treasure, Seed, Abundance, Mustard-seed, Vine, Plough, Grace, Faith, Word\fn{Logos.})—we find a similar catalogue of names given to Jesus. Is this a case of literary dependence? Once again we must disregard the intentions connected with these catalogues. There is without doubt a certain affinity, but it is confined to individual conceptions, which in any case circulated freely as Christological predicates drawn from the common Christian tradition. Furthermore these lists do not present a form which is peculiar to these two apocryphal books of acts; for Justin of Flavia Neapolis (­Dialogue with Trypho­ C.4) and the ­Letter of an Unknown Person to Diognetus­ (IX.6) present evidence for the fact that such catalogues occur in other connections as well. Here, too, then, the question of literary dependence should be treated with the greatest of circumspection.

 

Finally, C. Schmidt (­op cit­., 97ff) sought to establish that ­Acts of Peter­ 39 are indebted to ­Acts of John­ 99ff. But this passage likewise does not admit a conclusive proof of dependence.

 

     To sum up: the ostensible cases where ­Peter­ borrowed from ­John­, which on the new chronology may and indeed must be seen as ­John’s­ borrowing from ­Peter­, are something quite different from demonstrable literary plagiarisms. They are in the main to be explained in that the ideas they contain have similar origins, from the historian of religion’s point of view [for which see Schlier (“Religions-Geschichtliche Untersuchungen zu den Ignatiusbriefen,” in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Altern Kirche­ VIII, 1929)] despite their very different theological intention and application. So, as far as may be seen today, the ­Acts of John­ must be set aside in considering the attestation, date and sources of the ­Acts of Peter­.

 

5. Hippolytus of Rome (d.236) in ­Refutation of All Heresies­ VI:xx.2-3:—(This Simon, who perverted many in Samaria by magical arts, was convicted by the apostles and denounced, as is recorded in ­Acts­; but afterwards in desperation he resumed the same practices, and on coming to Rome he again came into conflict with the apostles; and as he perverted many by his magical arts Peter continually opposed him. And nearing his end ... he used to sit beneath a plane-tree and teach. And now, being almost discredited, in order to gain time he said that if he were buried alive he would rise again on the third day. And ordering a grave to be dug by his disciples, he made them bury him. So they did as he instructed them, but he has remained buried to this day; for he was not the Christ.)—has been said by C. Schmidt (­op cit­., 104) to use as its basis a corresponding scene from the ­Acts of Peter­. But this assertion is quite groundless. Hippolytus relies primarily on the account given in the ­Received Acts­, and then gives a tradition of Simon’s death which has nothing to do with the ­Acts of Peter­ as we have them.

 

6. Commodian of Africa (fl.250) has been thought to have made use of the ­Acts of Peter­ for some lines (Carmen Apologeticum­ 626, 629-630), which have to do with a talking dog that speaks to Simon, and a talking infant. But even if Commodian’s date were accurately known [some modern scholars, e.g. Thraede (“Beitrage zur Datierung Commodians” in ­Jahrb. fur Antike und Christentum­ II, 1959, 90-114), disregarding the general opinion, believe that he wrote during the 5th century in Gaul], these lines again would signify nothing more than that Commodian knew the legends of the speaking animals as they appear in the ­Acts of Peter­ and the ­Acts of Paul­. They do not prove knowledge on his part of the ­Acts of Peter­ as a whole, and hardly give grounds for more precise inferences about the currency of the ­Acts of Peter­ in the West in the 3rd century AD. On the other hand,

 

7. the ­Didascalia Apostolorum­ (200-250) seems actually to have used the ­Acts of Peter­. In VI.7-9, the author gives an account of the beginnings of heresy and makes Peter describe his encounters with Simon in Jerusalem and Rome. C. Schmidt (­op cit­., 147, relying mainly on the Coptic fragment; also Vouaux, (­op cit­., 119-120) have collected the various points which indicate that the ­Acts of Peter­ were the basis of the Didascalia Apostolorum­. Here the most important point is the fact that Simon’s first meeting with the apostles takes place in Jerusalem, which disagrees with the ­Received Acts­ 8:14ff (which says it was in Samaria).

 

8. The Source Document underlying the Pseudo-Clementines (c.260) is alleged to have used the ­Acts of Peter­, by Waitz (apparently in ­Die Pseudoklementinen­, 1904, and finally in ­Zeitschrift fur Kirchengeschichte­ LVIII, 1940, 327ff), who cites extracts from the Pseudo-Clementines which were originally part of the ­Acts of Peter­. Here Waitz relied on his source-critical theories, for which he claimed an assured result, and attempted to reconstruct from the ­Homilies of Clement­ and ­Recognitions of Clement­, the ­Acts of Peter­ which he assumed. Waitz further defined the relationship of his ­Acts of Peter­ to the rest of the ­Acts of Peter­ (the Coptic fragment; the portion preserved in the ­Vercelli Acts­; the few other bits and pieces) on the principle that both derived from a common tradition, which survived in its original form in the ­Acts of Peter­ as discovered in the Pseudo-Clementines. This led Schmidt (“Studien zu den Ps.-Clementinen” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XLVI.1, 1929, especially 1-46) to a thorough investigation of the Pseudo-Clementines, including a thorough discussion of the relationship of these writings and their Source Document to the ­Acts of Peter­. Schmidt criticized Waitz for giving insufficient attention to the problem of the apocryphal acts of apostles and for numerous errors that result; but himself sought to show that the author of the Source Document underlying the Pseudo-Clementines used the ancient ­Acts of Peter­. Since this document and the ­Didascalia Apostolorum­, which certainly did use the ­Acts of Peter­, belong to the same region and period, this contention of Schmidt’s is not improbable; but whether this material reached him in the form of the ­Acts of Peter­ as we now possess them, or in another form, cannot now be determined.

 

9. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254), according to Eusebius of Caesarea (­Ecclesiastical History­ III:i.2), in the third book of his ­Commentary on Genesis­, relates that Peter was in Rome towards the end of his life, and there he was crucified head-downwards; for he requested that he might suffer thus. This statement agrees in substance with the account given in the ­Acts of Peter­; but it is not a literal translation. It can therefore be only a supposition that Origen, who certainly knew some part of the apocryphal literature, had also read the ­Acts of Peter­: the point cannot be certainly established. Certainly this statement gives no indication whatever of the form and content of the ­Acts of Peter­ which Origen possibly knew. If he did have the work before him, this would establish the terminus ad quem­, since his ­Commentary on Genesis­ was compiled (so Eusebius, ­Ecclesiastical History­ VI:xxiv. 2) before 231AD.

 

10. The ­Manichaean Psalm Book­ (3rd century) clearly uses the ­Acts of Peter­ among other apocryphal books of acts.

 

11. Porphyry of Tyre (d.303), in two passages preserved by Marcarius Magnes (II.22 and IV.4) have been taken by Schmidt (­op cit­., 167ff) to demonstrate that Porphyry knew the ­Acts of Peter­. The argument depends especially on the fact that according to Porphyry—contrary to the official Roman tradition—Peter was in Rome for only a short time before his death there by crucifixion. But it is hardly possible to prove conclusively that Porphyry derived this assertion from the ­Acts of Peter­. [On Marcarius’ use of Prophyry, see Quasten (in Patrology­ III, 1960, 486-488; and works there mentioned)].

 

12. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340) at ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:iii.2:—(There is an epistle, the so-called first, by Peter which is generally recognized. The ancients have already used it in their writings as a work that is beyond question. As regards the so-called second epistle of Peter, it has come down to us that it does not belong to the canon; to many, however, it has appeared helpful and has been highly esteemed with the remaining writings. Certainly the ­Acts­ described as his and the Gospel­ bearing his name and also the Preaching­ ascribed to him and the so-called ­Revelation­ have, we know, by no means been handed down among the catholic writings, for no ecclesiastical writer, whether ancient or modern, has made us of testimony drawn from them.)—may have made the first certainly direct evidential mention of the ­Acts of Peter­. Unfortunately, he tells us nothing about the text or the contents of the ­Acts of Peter­.

 

13. Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430) makes a statement (­Contra Adimantum­ XVII.5:—(They show great blindness in condemning this\fn{The Manichaean rejection of the Received Acts.} since, among the apocrypha, they read and treat as an important work the one which I have mentioned about the Apostle Thomas and about the daughter of Peter himself, who became paralyzed through the prayers of her father, and about the gardener’s daughter who died at the prayer of the said Peter; and they reply that this was expedient for them, that the one should be crippled with paralysis and the other die; nevertheless they do not deny that this was done at the prayers of the Apostle.)—which is especially important in proving that the Coptic fragment aforementioned belongs to the ­Acts of Peter­. The Father does not mention the ­Acts of Peter­ directly; but it is clear that he knows an apocryphal work, translated into Latin, which contained the story of Peter’s daughter; and in fact it can only have been the Acts of Peter­, to which the Coptic fragment belonged.

 

14. The ­Vita Abercii­ (4th century, edited by Th. Nissen, 1912) has incorporated verbatim from the ­Vercelli Acts­ of the ­Acts of Peter­ the following passages: ­Vercelli Acts­ 2, 7, 20 and 21 = ­Vita Abercii­ 13, 24, 15 and 26, respectively. These passages are of special interest in that they put us in a position to evaluate the Latin translation of the ­Acts of Peter­ as given by the Vercelli manuscript. The borrowed sections all consist of speeches; the Latin translator has obviously followed the Greek text practically word for word. They agree with the two Greek manuscripts of the ­Martyrdom of Peter­ and with the Coptic fragment, in demonstrating the reliability of the Vercelli Acts­, in spite of the slight revisions they disclose.

 

15. The ­Acts of Philip­ (late 4th-early 5th century), according to C. Schmidt (­Studien­ I, 329ff) exhibits the knowledge and use of the ­Acts of Peter­ in the following three passages: ­Vercelli Acts­ 28, 38 = ­Acts of Philip­ 80-85, 140; Coptic fragment = ­Acts of Philip­ 142. It cannot be conclusively proved that the author of the ­Acts of Philip­ actually transcribed the ­Acts of Peter­; but the agreements are so strong that literary dependence has to be suspected.

 

16. The ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­ (5th century) is a certain witness to the ­Acts of Peter­ (for which see the discussion above under C).

 

17. In the ­Acts of Nereus and Achielleus­ (5th-6th century; text in Ancelis, ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XI.2, 1893), at least chapter 15 can hardly be thought of without its prototype in the ­Acts of Peter­; which, it is important to note, is the Coptic narrative of Peter’s daughter. All sorts of developments must certainly be noted in the appearance of the story in these late ­acta­; but the prototype is clearly discernible.

 

18. The ­Acts of Xanthippe and Polyxenae­ (6th century; text in James, “Apocrypha Anecdota” in ­Texts and Studies­ II.3, 1893, 43-85) seem to have used the ­Acts of Peter­. Thus, following C. Schmidt (­Studien­ II, 494-495) we can see in chapter 24 an excerpt from the beginning of the ­Vercelli Acts­. Further details, especially the name Xanthippe, indicate a literary connection; indeed, the author of these late ­acta­ seems in general to have borrowed freely from other apocryphal books of acts.

 

19. The ­Testamentum Domini­ (7th century for the present text, but originally a product of the 4th-5th century), one of the type of literature known as Church Orders, and surviving only in a Syriac translation made by Jacob of Edessa (d.708), makes extensive use of chapters 38 and 39 of the ­Acts of Peter­ before the oblation.

 

20. The ­Stichometry of Nicephorus­ of Constantinople (c.850) describes under Apocrypha of the New Testament are the following: what it calls The Circuit of Peter ... 2750 lines; by which the ­Acts of Peter­ is meant.

 

     The ­Acts of Peter­ originated in catholic circles and were originally read with great respect as products of the Great Church. After the Council of Nicaea (325) they fell into disfavor, but nevertheless persisted for a long time as favorite reading in good catholic circles. They must have originated prior to c.190AD; for they were used by the author of the ­Acts of Paul­, and a reference in Tertullian fixes the date of composition of the Acts of Paul­ as the end of the 2nd century. The contents and theological trends agree with 180-190 as the time of composition for the Acts of Peter­

 

     The place of origin cannot be certainly determined. Asia Minor has been proposed over Rome—the author does not know much about Rome—and Tertullian also says that Asia Minor was the place of origin of the Acts of Paul­. DAN would confirm an association of the ­Acts of Peter­ with the Syrian Church, and incorporate it in the Petrine literature which is characteristic of that group, by pointing out parallel passages between the ­Acts of Peter­, and the ­Odes of Solomon­ and the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­. But on these points we can do no more than conjecture.

 

     The original language of the ­Acts of Peter­ was Greek.

 

[ANT, 300-336; ODC, 1050; NTA, II, 259-271, 275; ECC ,83; DAN, 24,32]

 

196. The Latin ­Martyrium Beati Petri Apostoli­, after Linus of Rome.

 

     There exists a book entitled ­Martyrium Beati Petri Apostoli a Lino Episcopo Conscriptum­ (text in Lipsius, Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, 1891, 1-22; and Salonius, “Martyrium Beati Petri Apostoli a Lion Episcopo Conscriptum” in ­Soc. Scient. Fennica, Commentationes Humanorum Litterarum­ I.6, 1926).

 

     The author of the work is alleged to be Linus, by tradition Peter’s successor as bishop of Rome (so Irenaeus of Lyons, ­Against All Heresies­ III.iii.3; and Eusebius of Caesarea, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III.ii, V.vi); who so attribute the Christian of this name who sends greetings at ­II Timothy­ 4:21:—(Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren.) But it is in fact a later Latin paraphrase and expansion of the ­Martyrdom of Peter­ in the early ­Acts of Peter­ (which stood as the concluding section of that document), probably on the basis of the Greek text, but not arranged according to the Latin translation in the ­Vercelli Acts­.

 

     There is a summary of the contents in Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ II.i, 1883, 91-93). The author generally follows the traditional ­Martyrdom­, but adds some details. In addition to naming Peter’s jailers (Processus and Martinian), it records the complicated vision which occurred at the time of Peter’s crucifixion:—angels standing with crowns of the flowers of roses and lilies, and upon the top of the upright cross Peter standing, and receiving a book from Christ, and reading from it the words which he was speaking. Lipsius also enumerates the manuscripts, but appraises the text wrongly. See also on this Harnack (­Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ I.i, 2nd ed., 1958, 133).

 

     It was written perhaps in the 6th century.

 

[ANT, 469-475; NTA, II 572; INT, V, 767]

 

197. The Syriac History of Simon Cephas, the Chief of the Apostles

 

     A work with this title exists in Syriac (text in Bedjan, ­Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum­ I, 1890, 1-33). It was originally procured in 931AD by the abbot Moses during a visit to Baghdad; and in the course of time became part of a series of manuscripts acquired between 1841 and 1877 by the British Museum from the Nitrian Monastery in Lower Egypt. It is listed in the British Museum as Codex Addwakensis 14644; another copy exists also, as Codex Addwakensis 14609.

 

     The text is based upon the ­Recognitions of Clement­, the ­Preaching of Simon Cephas in the City of Rome­, certain statements in the ­Received Acts­, and the narrative of the ­Acts of Peter­. It looks like the product of a later age, when the teaching of Peter was elevated into a specialty; and indeed appears to be of the 6th century. See also on this Baumstark (­Die Petrus- und Paulusakten in der Literarischen Uberlieferung der Syrischen Kirche­, 1902, 40ff); and Harnack (­Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ I.2, 2nd ed., 1958, 928).

 

[ANF, VIII, 648-649, 658, 673-675; NTA, II, 572-573]

 

198. The Coptic Act of Peter

 

     The ­Coptic Act of Peter­ is the fourth and last composition included in Berlin Codex BG8502. The codex of which it is a part is a manuscript of probably the 4th century, which contains translations of 2nd century Greek texts of Gnostic (probably Valentinian) origin.

 

     DOR is content to name it twice and pass it by; but notes that it is radically distinguished from the rest of the Nag Hammadi collection in being written in the Subakhmimic dialect of Coptic.

 

     The treatise describes a healing ministry of Peter in a message essentially encratite, or ascetic: through the insight and act of a man of God, the virginity of a young Christian person is preserved. Not explicitly Gnostic in character, the ­Coptic Act of Peter­ would have been attractive to ascetic Gnostics, and would have been open to extensive allegorization. A deeper understanding of the text could have suggested that the work actually proclaims a victory of knowledge, life, and the Divine, over ignorance, death, and the world.

 

     NTB indicates several verbal or conceptual parallels between this work and the ­Received Acts­:

 

BG8502,4;128.3-17­: a crowd gathered and brought to Peter many who were sick, in order that he might heal them. And a person from the crowd made bold to say to Peter, “Peter, behold, in our presence you have caused many blind to see, and you have caused the deaf to hear, and you have caused the lame to walk. And you have helped the weak and have given them strength.

Acts 5:14-16­: And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and pallets, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

*

BG8502,4;130.1-18­: Then he looked at his daughter and said to her, “Arise from your place! Let nobody help you except Jesus alone, and walk restored in the presence of all these people! Come to me!” And she arose and went over to him. The crowd rejoiced on account of what happened. Peter said to them, “Behold, your hearts have been persuaded that God is not powerless regarding anything we ask of him.” Then they rejoiced even more and praised God.

Acts 3:4,6b-12­: And Peter directed his gaze at him, with John, and said, “Look at us.” In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God, and recognized him as the one who sat for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. While he clung to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's, astounded. And when Peter saw it he addressed the people, “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?”

*

BG8502,4;136.10-137.4­: And behold in the ninth hour of that day, and when he was alone in his bedroom, he saw a great light shining in the whole house, and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Ptolemy, God did not give his vessels for corruption and pollution.

Acts 10:9-11,13-15­: The next day, as they were on their journey and coming near the city, Peter went up on the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour. And he became hungry and desired something to eat; but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heaven opened, and something descending, like a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth. And there came a voice to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “No, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has cleansed, you must not call common.”

*

BG8502,4;137.12-138.2­: But arise and go quickly to the house of Peter the apostle and you will see my glory. He will explain the matter to you.’ And Ptolemy did not hesitate. He commanded his men-servants to lead him and to bring him to me.

Acts 10:5,7-8­: And now send men to Joppa, and bring one Simon who is called Peter; When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those that waited on him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

*

BG8502,4;138.7-15­: Then he saw with the eyes of his flesh and the eyes of his soul. And many hoped in Christ. He did good things for them and he gave them the gift of God.

Acts 10:44-48a­: While Peter was still saying this, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who came with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can any one forbid water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

*

BG8502,4;139.9-17­: I sold the land. And God alone knows, neither I, nor my daughter, kept anything back from the price of the land. But I sent the entire sum of money to the poor.

Acts 4:34-35;5:1-2­: There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet; and distribution was made to each as any had need. But a man named Ananias with his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back some of the proceeds, and brought only a part and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

 

[DOR, 145, 236, 239; ODC, 755; NAG, 475-477; NTB, 421-424]

 

199. 200. 201. The First Slavonic Life of Peter; The Second Slavonic Life of Peter; The Third Slavonic Life of Peter

 

     There are three Slavonic documents which treat of the life of Peter. All give accounts of the Slavic ­Passio­ and Disputatio cum Simone Mago­, which are connected with the ­Acts of Peter­. Lipsius (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, 1891, 89-90), Speranskij (­Bibliograficeskie Materialy: Ctenija v Imp. Obscestve Istorii I Drevnostej Rossijskich pri Moskovskom Universitete­, Moscow, 1889, 1-52), and Bonwetsch (in Harnack’s Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­, 2nd ed., 1958, 903-904) give accounts of them.

 

[NTA, II, 573]

 

202. The ­Slavic Vita Petri­

 

     There has come to hand a ­Slavic Vita Petri­, a Greek original of which is not known. To the dissemination of this noteworthy document in the Slavic area evidence is given by the ­Slavic Apocryphal Index­, which in twelve of its versions, totaling in all fifteen, mentions a ­Zitie Blazenago Apostola Petra­ and attributes to it a heretical origin. (On this see Jacimirskij, ­Bibliograficeskij Obzor Apokrifov v Juznoslavjanskoj i Russkoj Pis’mennosti­ I, St. Petersburg, 1921, 44-45 under number 46).

 

     The index just mentioned distinguishes two portions: (1) a life of Peter, with a reference to noteworthy wonders related in it; and (2) a description of the childhood of Christ. In the text that has come to hand the two parts are fused into a uniform narrative, which treats, it is true, of Peter’s journey to Rome, but whose leading character is Christ Himself in the form of a child. It is a late romance, unfettered by either history or earlier legend, of some of Peter's experiences en route to and in Rome, culminating in his martyrdom.

 

     During his voyage to Rome, made at the insistence of a young child, Peter purchases the boy, also now on the ship, from the captain (Michael, the Archangel, in disguise). There is a storm which Peter stills; he then baptizes Michael, and Michael sells him the child.

 

     When they arrive in Rome, Peter tells the child to catch some fish. Make me some hooks, he said; and in an hour he catches 12,000 fish, which follow him about on dry land. The child performs many miracles in Rome, both for Peter and for a Roman noble, Aravistus, to whom Peter sells him for 50 pieces of gold. Aravistus takes him to a teacher, whom he speedily silences (a motif from the Infancy gospels). During the night the house is awakened by angels singing a thrice-holy hymn over the child. All in the house are baptized by him.

 

     When Nero arrests Peter, the child rebukes him and withers Cato, Nero’s adviser, when Cato cuffs Peter behind the ear. At that Cato is withered up (another Infancy motif), the city is shaken by an earthquake and the dead are raised, only to be restored to their graves by Peter (ANT says by the child), to await the advent of Michael. Peter is crucified head downward. The child appears again and reveals himself at long last as Jesus; the nails fall from Peter’s head, breast, hands, and knees; and Peter forgives his enemies, and then dies.

 

     The work exhibits many traits (mostly of a Gnostic coloring) in common with the known acts of apostles.

 

1. The embarkation of Peter takes places under similar circumstances as in the ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias­ 5 (on which see Bonnet, ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 69-70).

 

2. The appearance of Christ in the form of a child in the wilderness recalls a similar appearance in the ­Greek Martyrdom of Matthew­ 1 (on which see Bonnet, ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 217).

 

3. The sale of Christ by Peter has its prototype in the ­Acts of Thomas­; where, however, conditions are reversed, Thomas being sold by Christ. See also on this Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.2, 101-102).

 

4. Of interest also is the reference to a writing entrusted by Christ to Peter, which recalls the ­Letter of Christ that Fell from Heaven­ (on the altar of Peter). See on this de Santos (­Los Evangelicos, Apocryphos­ 712-725; and in Studia Patristica, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ LXXVIII, 2990-296).

 

     The ­Slavic Vita Petri­ has nothing in common either with the literature on Peter hitherto known; or with the later Evangelium Petri Infantus­ of Catulles Mendes (a forgery of c.1894); or even very much with the Infancy narratives of the antique world. It derives, however, from an early Greek translation; and this fact gains in interest, and also in certainty, when we reflect that, so far as the literature on Peter is concerned, we are frequently directed to versions.

 

     The work is extant in two different redactions. The first of these is represented by the manuscript number 111a.10 of the Academy of Agram, folio 45-49 (of the 16th century). It is to be regarded as a later digest of the second redaction (next paragraph). This text was first published by Mocul’skij (­Apokrific. Zitie Apostola Petra: Trudy X-go Archeologiceskago S’ezda v Rige­, Moscow, 1896).

 

     Of the second redaction two texts have thus far been edited. The first comes from the omnibus codex number 668 of the Public Library of Sofia, Bulgaria (likewise of the 16th century), and is preserved only incompletely. It was published by Archangel’skij (“­K Istorii Junzo-Slavajanskoj i Drevnerusskoj Apokrificeskoj Litertury”, Isvestija Otdelenija Russkago Jazyka i Slovesnosti Akatemii Nauk­ IV, 1899, 101-147). The expositions of Franko (“Beitrage aus dem Kirchenslavischen zu den Apokryphen des NT II” in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ III, 1902, 315-335)—this citation includes a German translation—are based only on this fragment.

 

     The complete text of the second redaction is preserved in the omnibus codex number 137 of the Imperial Library in Vienna, folio 169v-177 (of the 14th century). This is the oldest and best preserved text of the Slavic Vita Petri­. It was edited by Radcenko (­“Zametki o Pergamennom Sbornike XIV-go Veka Venskoj Pridvornoj Biblioteki”, Izvestija Otdelenija Russkago Jazyka i Slovesnosti Akademii Naul­ VIII, St. Petersburg, 1903, kn. 4, 199-211).

 

[ANT, 474; NTA, II, 573-574; INT, V, 771]

 

203. The Arabic Preaching of Peter

 

     This is a reserved space. James (­Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924, 472) says that there is also a Preaching of Peter­ in which he heals a leprous girl; but this is apparently a reference to an episode reported in the Arabic Martyrdom of Peter­ (#204, below). That there is somewhere, however, a ­Preaching of Peter­ as yet unknown to me I have no doubt. (1) The relative importance of this Apostle to the rest of his brethren demands it. (2) Mrs. Lewis’ compilation of Arabic tales habitually lists ­Preachings­ for even the most minor of apostolic figures, but for some reason does not have this one. (3) I have not been able to secure a copy of Mrs. Gibson’s published Arabic compilation, perhaps the only other Arabic compilation in English (for which someone should investigate Studia Sinaitica­ III and V if I don’t get to it). (H)

 

     (For a statement about the time of the appearance of the Arabic apostolic legends, see at #146.)

 

[ANT, 472]

 

204. The Arabic Martyrdom of Peter

 

     For a brief overview of the place in time at which the Arabic apostolic witness should be assigned, see a statement at the beginning of item #146. The work is preceded by the following:—In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, the One God., which is evidently supplied by the copyist. The work itself is quoted below, in its entirety.

 

1. And this is a second story about the martyrdom of Peter, the chief of the apostles, and his wonderful works in Rome, when the angel summoned him to it. May his prayers encompass us! Amen.

 

2. I desire to tell you this story also which is about the chief of the Apostles, Peter, the first of all the Apostles, as the Lord called him and said unto him: “Thou, Peter, chief of My disciples, the great city of Rome hath need of thee; for there are many people in it whom Satan hath led astray. Haste thee to go unto them, that thou mayest turn them from error and sins.” And so it was that Peter, when he had heard that saying, began to weep before his Lord, and speak unto Him thus: “Thou knowest, O Lord, that I am very weak from old age, and poor, and I have no strength, and no power except in Thee, and I cannot walk, and Thou hast not commanded me, O Lord, and Thou hast not permitted me to possess anything of the rubbish of this fleeting world, neither gold, nor silver, nor clothing, nor beast of burden, nor staff that I can lean on, not to speak of other things. And behold, I see that Thou dost wish to send me into foreign countries, far distant, and to be reached by a hard road. And I beseech Thee, O my God, that Thou wouldest put me to death on this spot wherein Thy resurrection took place”

 

3. And the Christ said unto him: “Fear not to go thither, for thou art upon earth, and I am in heaven, and I will be sufficient for thee. And the king shall do obeisance unto thee; and the mighty men shall offer tribute to thy hands; and Rome shall acknowledge thee, and shall forsake her false gods fabricated and worshipped instead of the Creator for five thousand and five hundred years, because they have forgotten Me, and have not known Me. And in truth I am He Who provideth them with all good things and fine things. And I make My sun to rise upon them; and their mouths are full of blasphemy against Me.”

 

4. And Peter answered Him, saying: “O Lord, have compassion upon me, and look at my weakness with the eye of Thy divine pity. Tell me how I shall be able to go to Rome, and to preach about Thy name in it; and it is a city of mighty men; and their clothing is of gold, and pearls, and bracelets, and fine raiment. And there are in it, as Thou knowest, haughty people, and stupid people who boast, and their proud children. And not one of the prophets hath ever entered it. And not a man in it extolleth Thy name. And this is a great command, difficult of purpose, far away to strive for; and I am poor and weak amongst mankind. And I shall go and shall die like a fool. For they whenever they shall hear Thy name from my mouth, will kill me without mercy or pity. And my life will go for naught.”

 

5. And the Lord said unto him: “And where is My divine strength, and My essential power? And where is My might, with which I have given unto thee the keys of heaven, and the keys of earth, and of the height? And go now, and fear not, and if thou shouldest see people who dispute with thee, show them My miracles and My wonders. And if they do not hearken unto thy teaching, and do not accept thy preaching in My name, and do not believe thy sayings, tell the earth to swallow them up; and it shall obey thee by the authority of My Deity, and the might of My power, which I have given thee. And be not anxious about an argument wherewith to contend, nor the answer which thou shalt make to them; for My Holy Spirit shall speak on thy lips and thy tongue immediately in everything that thou shalt wish; and everything that thou shalt ask Me and shalt entreat of Me shall be quickly given to thee in the presence of the nobles. And go now and tell whomsoever thou wilt of the dead to arise by the strength of My Deity. And likewise do thou sprinkle the eyes of the blind that they may see; and they will obey thee. And wheresoever thy voice shall fall thence shall issue My mercy.”

 

6. Then the Lord called to the sea, and it answered Him. And the Lord said unto Peter, “Arise now, and walk upon the sea, in like manner as thou dost walk upon the land. And walk above the water, as thou dost walk above the dust.” And Peter did this at the command of his Lord. And he walked above the sea until he came to Rome. And he sat at the gate of the city, and he saw a crowd of people; and they were worshipping before the impure images and the idols of the unclean demons; and the devils harangued them from inside of them. And when Peter saw this action he trembled violently. Then he turned back toward the shore of the sea, terrified.

 

7. And when he was with his three friends amongst the disciples, who were Thomas, and Andrew, and John, Peter said unto them: “Peace be upon you, O my brethren!” And they returned his greeting in like manner. And he said unto them: “Pray for me, for I am going out from among you, in the appearance of a dying man; and I am journeying on the road which the Lord hath told me of.” And they said unto him: “Go, O disciple of the Lord and saint of God! His Spirit is with thee, and he will not lose thee, and thou shalt not go away from us; for He is our Lord and our Master.”

 

8. And Peter went until he came to the city of Rome. And he sat outside the gate above a dunghill; and he had ragged clothes on him; and he cast dust upon his head, and began to weep. And the gatekeeper had a leprous daughter, and she looked at him, sitting weeping, and the dust upon his head. And she went to her father the gatekeeper, and said unto him: “O father, there is a feeble, poor old man here, in ragged clothes, and he is weeping and scattering dust on his head. And, father, I have seen a number of poor people, but anything like the poverty of this man I have never witnessed. And if thou dost approve, O father, I will go unto him and bring him to thy house, and I will give him food and drink; and I shall be blessed by his prayer. I will do this by thy command.” And he said unto her: “Go, O my daughter, to that poor old man, and take him into my dwelling: and do thou take his prayer. As for me, I do not need his prayer.”

 

9. And the girl, the daughter of that gatekeeper, came unto Peter, who was sitting, weeping. And she said unto him: “Rise, O father, and do not weep, for thou hast attained thy desire.” And Peter arose, and went with her into her house. And she set for him a chair of silver, and he sat upon it. And he sought water from her; and she brought him a vessel with some water in it; and she covered her hands with her sleeves. And he said unto her: “O my daughter! As for thy house, thou hast received me in it, and hast made me to sit on a silver chair; and has given me to drink from a cup of water. And why dost thou cover up thy hands from me? Tell me.”

 

10. And she said unto him: “I will tell thee, O father! As for me, my father hath married me to one of the nobles of Rome. And it was upon the night in which I went to the house of my husband, this disease came upon me to this extremity. And I have been since that time as thou dost see, a leper.” Then she uncovered her hands to him, and showed him them. And she said unto him: “Because of this I have covered my hands from thee.” And Peter hearkened, and took that vessel, in which was the rest of the water: and he bowed and prayed over it with a true conscience, acceptable, spiritual, nothing material being mingled with it. Then he held the vessel out to her, and said: “Wash thyself with this water.” And she did it; and straightway she was cleansed and healed from that disease, and she became like the snow, as if sickness had never touched her. And when she saw that, she was terribly frightened.

 

11. Then she went away, going to the gatekeeper, her father. And she said: “O father, why dost thou sit here? Arise and look at me, that thou mayest see this wonder.” And she uncovered her arms for him and her face, and showed him how the leprosy had ceased; and her body was pure from it, like silver, and she was cleansed. And he wondered greatly at it. And he said unto her: “What is this thing, O my daughter? And what was the manner of it? Tell me.” And she said unto him in a shrill voice: “Truly I say unto thee, O father, that the God of truth hath entered our dwelling today.”

 

12. And her father went with her to Peter. And he said unto him: “O thou old man! Cure the rest of my daughter’s body from this leprosy. And ask of me what thou dost choose of gold or silver, that I may give it thee.” And Peter said unto him: “I will heal the rest of thy daughter’s body from this leprosy; but I have no need of thy gold nor thy silver. Yet I desire from thee that thou wouldest serve our Lord the Christ; and leave these impure images, which thou hast hitherto worshipped.” And the gatekeeper said unto him: “Thou hast this from me, that I will do as thou wouldest have me when thou hast cured her.” Then he was baptized. And he\fn{Peter.} set up a baptismal font at once. And he took the girl, and dipped her in that hour, and cleansed her as if nothing of it had ever been in her. And when her father saw this, he believed in the Christ, and forsook the images with the demons whom he had worshipped. And Peter abode with him for a day and a night.

 

13. Then he desired to enter the city. And the believing gatekeeper came in and looked at him, and said unto him: “Whither dost thou desire to go? Know that thou canst not enter the city of Rome, and amongst its people; for they have a festival; and if they see thee in these rags, I fear for thee concerning them that they will kill thee.” And Peter said unto the gatekeeper: “I must needs enter; for my Lord hath sent me as upon this day. And I cannot rebel against the commandment of my Lord.”

 

14. Then Peter went until he entered the city. And he heard the people crying and saying: “Whomsoever we find not finely dressed in brocade and purple and gold embroidery with many jewels, and going towards the shrine of the honored gods, it is lawful to kill him.” And the people looked at Peter, and he was clothed in rags. And they said unto him: “O thou foolish old man! Where dost thou wish to go in these rags which are upon thee? For if the Emperor of Rome see thee he will kill thee. Go and put on gold and purple, and come to the shrine of the gods.” And Peter said unto the kings, and the soldiers, and the crowds: “This is the raiment of my Lord Who gave it to me; and there is no God but He.” And they forbade it to him with the words of refusals. And they were wroth with him with a great wrath. Then they wished to stone him with stones for his saying that the Christ was his Lord. And when Peter saw a thing like this, he went to a towering place where their gods were. And he turned towards the Lord with a true conscience, acceptable and spiritual in that place.

 

15. Then the Emperor of Rome came out, and with him were many kings and crowds, and soldiers innumerable. And with him were a hundred girls whom they had bedecked; and the people wished them to be sacrificed; and made vows to the gods and the demons. And when Peter saw this, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said: “O my Lord and my God! I have no patience after what I see. O Lord! Grant Thy strength which is needed in this hour.” And He responded to the supplication of Peter, and sent a great cloud and a strong wind also, and all these images fell and were broken. And when the Emperor saw that, he said unto the girls: “Go in peace; for my empire hath vanished by reason of this hut which is upon this high place.” For fire had come out upon the crowds from the neighborhood of the eminence upon which Peter was.

 

16. And at that moment a messenger from the Emperor’s house approached him, and said unto him: “O Emperor of Rome! What causeth thee to linger when thy beloved son is dead?” Then the Emperor commanded the rest of the kings, and the soldiers, and the crowds to follow him; and there were many thousands, who could not be numbered; and they followed him until he reached his dwelling. And his wife came out, and said unto him: “Thy son and thy beloved one is dead. Come, let us weep for our only child.”

 

17. And then this girl came who had been a leper, and she went into the Emperor and said unto him: “What causeth thee to weep, O thou Emperor, for thy son? And there is a very old man in the country, feeble and poor, wearing ragged clothes; and if thou wert to send to him, he would raise thee up thy son alive this day.” And the Emperor said unto her: “O my daughter, speak not thus, if thou dost affirm that the dead rise, and the blind see, and the stones speak; and that my only one may rise. Put away these sayings from thee, and come, weep with us for our child, thou and all thy companions.” And she said unto him: “O Emperor of Rome, dost thou know me?” And he said unto her: “Yea, thou art well known as the leprous daughter of that gatekeeper.” And she said unto him: “I am not leprous.” Then she uncovered to him her face and her arms. And the Emperor said unto her: “What is this? And how did thy cure happen?” And she said unto him: “Truly I say unto thee, O thou Emperor, that there is a feeble, poor old man in Rome; and he it is of whom I reminded thee; and he it is who will raise up thy son to thee this day.”

 

18. And the Emperor sent unto the kings, and the soldiers, and they said unto them: “Seek for this old man with diligence and desire. And if ye find him in the city, bring him to us in his rags.” And when they waxed earnest in seeking him they found him; and they set him before the Emperor. And the Emperor said unto him: “O thou old man! Behold, I say unto thee, that if thou dost raise up my dead child alive this day, my empire and all that pertaineth to it shall be thine.” And Peter said unto him: “I raise up thy son to thee, but I desire not thine empire. Only I desire from thee that thou worship my Lord, the Creator of heaven and of earth. He is Jesus the Christ, beside Whom there is no God; and that thou forsake these images and demons whom thou dost serve.” And the Emperor said unto him: “I will do that, O Peter!”

 

19. And Peter said unto him: “Send unto the kings, and the tribes, and the solider from the rest of thy dominion, those of them who are within, and those of them who are without. Then collect them and bear this thy dead son upon a couch; and come unto the place of thy gods whom thou dost worship.” Then he sent those who assembled all the people of his dominion and his empire to him, those domestic distant. And he caused his son to be borne upon a couch, and he came with it to the place of his gods whom he had worshipped.

 

20. Then Peter stood facing the east, by the side of the couch, on which the dead man was; and he made supplication to his Lord with a true conscience, spiritual and acceptable. And our Lord heard his supplication, and raised up his dead one to him. Then he came down from the couch and approached Peter until he worshipped him. And he said unto him: “Peace be upon thee, O thou whose supplication the Lord hath heard, and hath given me back my spirit after my death, and after its departure from my body.” Then the lad drew near to his father and said unto him: “Woe unto thee, O father! In what sins and what darkness we have been! Woe unto thee, O father! For the angles were conversing with this blessed old man.”

 

21. And in that place God commanded Peter, and he arose and set up the font where the images of their gods had stood. And he baptized the son of the Emperor, and his father, and cleansed them, and the rest of the army and the kings. And when Peter saw that he could not baptize the people all together, he took some of that water and sprinkled it upon them. And on whomsoever a particle or a drop of that water fell he was baptized. And whosoever believed in God was cleansed. And all who were present of peoples and tribes worshipped His Son, to Whom be majesty and power at all times and always. Amen.

 

[MRS, 210-216]

 

205. The Ethiopic Acts of Saint Peter

 

     A work of this title exists as one of two books within the same manuscript: the British Museum ­Manuscript Oriental 683­, a writing which probably dates from the period of the first half of the 17th century. (The other work it contains is the ­Ethiopic Acts of Saint Paul­.) It is not part of the Ethiopic compendium known as the Contendings of the Apostles­. Its preface:—[The noble and excellent disciple Clement\fn{Presumably the fellow-worker and disciple of Paul mentioned at Philippians 4:3, who is identified with Clement of Rome in the text of this work.} relateth unto us the history of his master Peter, the chief of the Apostles, and how our Lord Jesus Christ appeared unto him. May his prayer and his blessing be with our King John, and with the Queen Sabla Wangel.\fn{I.e., John I (Alaf Sagad), who reigned from October 1667-July 1682, and his Queen, Sabla Wangel (Alaf Mogasa)]—seems to fix the royal house contemporaneous with its compiler.}

 

     The book is divided into eight chapters:

 

I. Concerning the manifestation of and how Jesus ascended into heaven, and how He blessed the Apostles, and made known unto them concerning the angels who sing praises before Him, and the similitude of their forms, and their Orders, and their ordinances and whatsoever appertaineth thereto.

 

II. How Peter saw a mighty similitude of the Lady of us all, Mary, the spotless woman, and her honorable glory.

 

III. Of the coming of Clement into the faith of Christ; and how Peter chose him to be his disciple, along with his brethren; and how they came upon their father and their mother after they had lost all hope of them; together with the miracles and the stories which should here follow.

 

IV. Concerning the preaching of Peter and John in the city of Antioch; and their calling of men to the truth faith of Jesus, and the miracles which they wrought therein; of the coming of Paul unto them, and the matters which followed thereupon.

 

V. How Peter preached in the city of Rome and called men unto the faith of Christ; and how miracles were wrought by him there; and of the coming of Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, Titus and Clement; and of the matters which appertain thereto.

 

VI. How Satan told Peter what he would do against the believers, and the priests, and the servants of God; and how he would lead them astray in the last days.

 

VII. How Peter returned to the city of Rome and made an end of Simon Magus, and revealed the faith of Christ unto the people thereof; and how they were baptized, and built churches; and how he disciples were gathered together unto Peter; and how they appointed a Law and a Canon suitable to the believers; and how they sealed them with their sealings, and excommunicated all the transgressors, and of the miracles and stories which appertain thereunto.

 

VIII. How Clement asked Peter concerning the remainder of the mysteries, and how Peter revealed unto him the remaining matters of the ordinances of the mystery, and the Law, and the Commandments, which our Lord Jesus Christ had given unto him; and concerning other Divine histories.

 

     Budge indicates four places in the text where the author has borrowed from the ­Received New Testament­, specifically from ­Matthew­, ­II Timothy­ and ­Acts­. In (1) ­the Son of the Living God­ is common to both; in (2) it is Jannes and Jambres­. In (3), note how the two sources treat the appearance of Simon Magus; for it seems clear that both the name and the general setting are borrowed from the Received account (which appears only in the Received New Testament­ at this point). (Both accounts are given in their entirety.) In (4), the name ­Agabus­ is borrowed by the Ethiopic work.

 

1. ­Matthew­ 16:16:—(Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.) ­Ethiopic Acts of Saint Peter­ 1:—(and He said unto me, ‘Awake, O Peter, and look upon these mysteries, for thou wast the first to become a witness that I am the Son of the Living God, Who was, and Who is.)

 

2. II Timothy­ 3:8-9:—(As Jannes and Jambres\fn{The names are not given at Exodus 7:11, but are supplied from Jewish Tradition.} opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith; but they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.) Ethiopic Acts of Saint Peter­ 5:—(But he\fn{One of those who make their way into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and swayed by various impulses, who will listen to anybody and can never arrive at a knowledge of the truth.} knew not that the power of God would overcome his might and wickedness, even as it overcame the wickedness of Jannes and Jambres, the magicians of Pharaoh in Egypt in the days of Moses the prophet.)

 

3. ­Acts­ 8:9-14—(But there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the nation of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all gave heed to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, ‘This man is that power of God which is called Great.’ And they gave heed to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.) ­Ethiopic Acts of Saint Peter­ 8:—(Then envy laid hold upon Simon Magus, and he came unto us that he might dispute with us, and he was working many mighty deeds by means of his magic, and he strengthened the hold of his error over men, and he increased his wickedness, and his sorcery, and his crafty fraud whereby he led men astray; and he made manifest to the people mighty works whereat they marveled. Now one day he brought an ox and spake some words into its ear, and straightway the ox died, and then they took Simon Magus and myself\fn{Peter.} into the presence of the Emperor of Rome, and we entered therein with the disciples. Then Simon Magus said unto me in the presence of the king, ‘If thou art a worker of wonders and miracles, raise up this ox which hath died’; and I said unto him, ‘Let him that hath killed him raise him up’. And the Emperor said unto me, ‘Behold, Simon hath already wrought a great miracle, for he hath slain this ox with his word; and ye must raise him up by your words’; then Simon Magus left us, and went into his own house. And Paul said unto me, ‘Why do we stand idle’: And I Peter received help by the Holy Ghost, and I made the sign of the cross over the ox, and I said unto him, ‘In the Name of Jesus the Nazarene, Whom the Jews crucified in Jerusalem, rise up, O ox, from the dead’; then straightway the ox rose and stood up alive, even as he had been formerly. And when the people saw how he had come to life again, they marveled and glorified the Creator. Then I said unto the ox, ‘Go thou unto Simon Magus, and say unto him, Peter, the disciple of Christ, the Son of the Virgin, calleth thee’; so the ox went away quickly, and many men followed after him until he came to the house of Simon Magus, and he told him with a straight tongue what I said unto him, and on that day many men believed; and Simon Magus came with his ox unto the palace of the Emperor, who was sitting upon his throne. Then the Emperor said unto Simon, ‘Dost thou not see what the disciple of Him that was crucified hath done?’ And Simon said unto the Emperor, ‘Marvel not at this thing, for, behold, I will work miracles which are infinitely greater than those which these disciples have wrought.’ Then the men who were there said unto him, ‘What miracles art thou able to work?’ And Simon said, ‘I can work miracles the like of which neither these nor any other men can work.’ And they said unto him, ‘What wilt thou do?’ And he said unto them, ‘I will ascend into Heaven before your faces.’ And they said unto him, ‘Do what thou sayest thou canst do, that we may see what thou wilt do.’ Then, whilst I was looking at him, the unclean spirits were gathered together unto him, and he commanded them to bear him away up to the place where he would be hidden from the eyes of men, and they carried him away up until he was out of sight in the air. And he cried out unto me, and said unto me, ‘O Peter, is the height to which I have ascended sufficient for thee, or wouldst thou have me rise higher?’ Then I said unto him, ‘Yea, I wish thee to rise much higher than this’; so he mounted up higher until he was night to disappear from the eyes of men into the air. And Paul said unto me, ‘Why do we stand here idle, O noble master, and do not destroy the work of this magician, and do away (with) his crafty fraud?’ Then straightway I raised myself up towards Heaven, and I said, ‘O ye unclean spirits, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, Who hath existed from eternity, I bid you to let Simon Magus drop out of your hands so that he may fall to the earth; and make ye yourselves to be remote from him.’ Then straightway Simon Magus fell to the earth, and he was so much broken that not one whole bone was left in his body; and his brains were dashed out from his head, and all his bowels were scattered abroad, and he became like unto the dung which is cast forth into the streets. And all the people lifted up their voices, and glorified our Lord Christ, and on that day we baptized men in such multitudes that their number could not be counted, and Paul, and Clement, and the other disciples who were here received them from their baptism. Now we were baptizing men from that day until the close of the thirty-third day.)

 

4. ­Acts­ 11:27-30 or 21:10-11:—(Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world; and this took place in the days of Claudius.\fn{An historical event, which probably took place in 46AD.} And the disciples determined, everyone according to his ability, to send relief to the brethren who lived in Judea; and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.) … (While we were staying\fn{In Caesarea, at Philip’s house.} for some days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. And coming to us he took Paul’s girdle and bound his own feet and hands, and said, ‘Thus says the Holy Spirit, “So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this girdle and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.” When we heard this, we and the people there begged him\fn{Paul.} not to go up to Jerusalem.) ­Ethiopic Acts of Saint Peter­ 7:—(And my master Peter, and Paul the Apostle, and Barnabas, and Timothy, and Titus his disciple, and Thomas the Elder, and Agabus, one of the Seventy-Two disciples, and Protheus, and Dionysius, one of the sons of the heathen high-priests, all came unto me Clement, in Rome, and we made ready the Offering, and we all partook thereof.)

 

     Budge also draws attention to other peculiarities of this text in his notes to it.

 

1. In ­Ethiopic Acts of Saint Peter­ 3, Peter is found petitioning God to make them\fn{Clement and his mother, Matadora.} see their father alive. They are at that time in Laodicea on the sea shore, by the Greek River. Budge notes this as the well-known city which was situated in a fruitful valley, and is described by Strabo. It was built by Seleucus Nicator in honor of his mother Laodice. The ancient name of the city was Ramantha, or Ramitha. The ‘Greek River’ here referred to is the Nahur Mudiyukeh, or the Nahr Snobar, or the Nahr al-Kebir, all of which are quite near Laodicea.

 

2. Budge points out that the entire action of chapter 3 takes place in Anitoch; and this being so, it is odd to find the Emperor mentioned as the object of the attention of the city magistrates, as opposed to the Imperial Governor, who would certainly be more suitable:—(and they book us back to the prison-house, and informed the Emperor of our story and of what had taken place through us and through Paul. Then the Emperor sent messengers unto Paul and unto the priests of the idols, and they brought them unto him, and he inquired of them concerning what had happened; and they informed him of what we had done, and what Paul had done. And the Emperor answered and spake unto Paul alone, and inquired of him what district he came from, and what his name was, and what his country was.) In this and in many other passages, it appears that the author has transferred this scene somehow to Rome; or what may be more probable, the word governor was deleted by some scribe happily illiterate of political niceties in Roman administrative procedure. (H)

 

3. During the text of chapter 4, there is the following question-and-answer exchanged between the Emperor (who should be the Governor), and Paul:—(And the Emperor said unto Paul, ‘My son hath told me everything which happened unto him, and how these men stood before the throne of God, and how God hearkened unto their intercession on his behalf, and he also told me that there was with them another man whose petition was bold, \fn{Or: strong.} whose head was bald and shining, whose hair was red, and whose appearance was like unto that of Paul. Now I have meditated upon these things with many things; tell me them concerning your own work in this matter and hide ye nothing from me.’ And I Peter said unto him, ‘Ask Paul thyself, O Emperor, according as thou desirest.’) Budge notes that the text of this passage is corrupt, and several lines seem to have been omitted.

 

4. In chapter 5, Peter appoints Awdayos, the son of Lendayos, to be the Archbishop of the city of Antioch. Awdayos, Budge says, is really Evodius; and also that there is further on this name in Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ I, 1883, 203ff; Bonnet, ­ibid­., II.1,9, 1898, 215).

 

5. Finally, Budge calls attention to part of the last sentence of chapter 6, and a number of geographic identities (mentioned in the footnotes below):—(So when we left this place and went to Kartagona,\fn{I.e., Carthage.} and when we had entered therein Paul left me and went to the city of Warikon, the country of Darkness,\fn{Budge says that this Land of Darkness is probably that land about which so much is spoken in legends attached to the person of Alexander the Great; see Budge (Life and Exploits of Alexander, 372, 392, 440, 453, 473)} and between it and the country of the Akrad\fn{I.e., the country of the Kurds.} is a sea,\fn{Or: lake.} the name of which is Guorgnor.)\fn{This was probably situated in Armenia.}

 

[COA, II, 466-526]

 

206. The Ethiopic History of Saint Peter

 

     As with #205, the reader is directed to #146 for a linguistic determination of date of origin of this work (c.1300-1350), and for the position of this literature within the overall framework of apostolic ­acta­. In the colophon to this particular work is the identification of the preaching of the blessed Saint Peter, the chief of the apostles, the chosen one who was acceptable unto God, and the story of his life and preaching unto the people who were in the city of Rome.

 

     Budge provides no notes to this work: the following is a synopsis of the book, interspersed with quotations from it:

 

     Peter’s preaching expels a devil. One of the prefects, Kewestos, and Akrosya his wife, discuss Peter’s teaching. Kwestos gives all his goods to the poor. He is summoned to the emperor’s presence; he appeals to his brother for help. Akrosya gives her husband two dinars; and he sets out on his journey. He buys a precious stone; its story is told.

 

And Kewestos departed and came unto a certain man who worked in gold, and he showed him the stone, and said unto him, ‘O my brother, look at this stone, for I know not what it is.’ And when the worker in gold had looked at the stone he praised God, and said unto Kewestos, ‘Where didst thou find this stone?’ And Kewestos said unto him, ‘I will tell thee, O my brother;’ and he told him everything which had happened concerning the stone. Then the worker in gold said, ‘O my beloved brother, for many years past Demas the priest hath not offered up incense by reason of this stone. For he wished to have found twelve stones, and but for wanting this stone he would have completed the number of twelve, which is according to the number of the twelve tribes of Israel; and now, I will instruct thee how thou mayest bring this stone to the priest, and whatsoever thou desirest of all his possessions will he give unto thee.’ Then Kewestos went with the stone to the priest. And it came to pass that when the high priest saw the stone he fell down upon the earth, and worshipped, and said, ‘I give thanks unto God Almighty;’ and he commanded that all the people should be gathered together unto him. And he said unto them, ‘O my brethren, behold, I will make known unto you the number of the years which have elapsed since I was able to offer up incense in the temple because of this stone. When Nebuchadnezzr seized all the possessions of the house of God, this stone was missed, and it hath never been found until this day. And behold, God hath had compassion upon us, and He hath sent to us both this man and this stone which we have sought diligently, so that our prayer might come unto God Almighty; and it is meet that we should make an offering unto God, every man according to his ability, from his own possessions.’ So the people rose up and departed from him, and every man came and brought as much as he was able for his offering; and much possessions were gathered together, both of gold and of silver. And it came to pass that when these things had been gathered together, the high priest gave them to Kewestos, and blessed him, and said, ‘This is a gift from God Almighty unto thee in return for this stone; may He give thee a reward according to His good pleasure.’

 

     Kewestos is rewarded for his benevolence, and is invited to live with the Emperor in his palace.

 

     Meanwhile, his wife is tempted sexually by her brother-in-law, and knowing that he would attempt to take her by force, she fled from him by sea, but is shipwrecked on the island of Cyprus. Her son and Peter converse—he, his mother and another sibling had survived the shipwreck—and the young man become Peter’s disciple Peter journeys to Cyprus to meet Akroysa, and she finds her sons. They, unfortunately, are accidentally poisoned in order to fulfill a prophecy that they die through water.

 

     Kewestos returns after three years with the Emperor. He has supper with his wife, and informs her of his adventures. She shows him the bodies of his sons; and they retire to pray. During their prayer, a voice speaks to them, and raises the two sons, Aklamatos (Clement) and Kanayos, from the dead.

 

And it came to pass that when they had prayed a long time they heard a Voice going round about them in a bright cloud which spake, saying, “O Kewestos, Kewestos, inasmuch as ye have hearkened unto and have accepted the voice of Peter, My disciple, ye shall not be angry at all the sorrow which hath come upon you, and ye shall not grieve by reason of the death of your sons, for I will deal graciously with you and will give them back to you alive. Haste ye then, and rise up, and make supplication unto Almighty God, saying, ‘O God of Peter who came to the city of Rome, the man in whom we believed, and whose power through Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, we knew, in his name we ask Thee to make `our sons Aklamatos and Kanayos to live again;’ and they repeated their petition even as the Voice commanded them. Then straightway their two sons rose up from the dead and lived again, because they had put their trust in God. And they\fn{The two sons.} went round about in the city and in all the country, saying, “Blessed be God Almighty, the God of Peter, the holy Apostle of Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Living One, Who giveth life to the dead! He it is Who healeth all who are sick, and He is the Physician of souls and of bodies.”

 

     Clement is made a bishop, his brother a deacon; and the work ends.

 

Now this story went forth into all lands, and all those who heard it praised God, to Whom, Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost, be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. And Aklamitos\fn{Clement.} prepared himself and became a bishop, and he appointed his brother a deacon; may their prayers and blessing come to us and preserve us for ever and ever! Amen.

 

[COA, II, 7-31]

 

207. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Peter

 

     As often elsewhere, the reader is directed to explanatory material in the discussion under #146 as to the approximate time of creation of this literature and the fixing of its place in the various literary Apostolic cycles (probably between 1300-1350AD).

 

     In the colophon to this portion of the ­Contending of the Apostles­, there is the information that this is The martyrdom of Saint Peter, the Chief of the Apostles, the chosen one of our Lord Jesus Christ, who ended his strife in the city of Rome. The following is a synopsis of the work:

 

     Peter is in Rome with his flock, and all are giving thanks to God for the great numbers of converts. Among these converts are four women—Akmba, Akrabanya, Kariya, and Deweris\fn{Budge notes here that Agrippa’s concubines were called Agrippina, Eucharia, Euphemia and Dione; see also Bonnet (Die Apokryphen Apostle-geschichten II—1898?, 1903?; II:i or II:ii is not specified—H}—who were concubines to the governor of Rome, Akrepo.\fn{Perhaps Agrippa.} In a bid to keep themselves from the moment of their conversation chaste, the women refuse to go to bed with Akrepos. The governor is angry with them, and threatens them all with death, but the women hold firm. Soon they are joined by a fifth woman, Aksentiyan,\fn{Xanthippe.} the wife of one of the emperor’s friends, Altabiyos.\fn{Albinus.} The movement spreads; and in like manner a great number of men withdrew themselves from their wives, and they kept themselves pure in humility.

 

     During the resulting tumult in the city, Akrepos and Altabyos meet together and plot Peter’s destruction:—(And it came to pass, whilst they were taking counsel together over this matter, that Aknestiyan\fn{Xanthippe.} learned all their counsel, and she sent to Peter and made him to know everything which they had counseled concerning him, so that he might go forth from the city of Rome, he and all his brethren who believed.) Peter makes ready to go, and as he was leaving the city, he meets our Lord coming into the city—i.e., he received a vision of Jesus—prefiguring his\fn{Peter’s.} own crucifixion, after the manner of John­ 21:28:—(Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you girded yourself and walked where you would; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish to go.)\fn{The quotation from the Ethiopic text reads here: Now aforetime when he was in the flesh he spake unto Peter, saying, ‘Who is Christ but the Word and the Speech of God Almighty?’}

 

     Peter comes back to the city and tells all these things to the brethren. They beg Peter with bitter tears to hear the same teaching; and Peter, knowing the depth of their faith, tells them that God will comfort them whether he is there or not; and that as far as he is concerned, he accepts his fate under God.

 

     Akrepos the governor sends four soldiers to seize Peter, which they do: but a large crowd of Peter’s faction appear before Akrepos, and beg for his life, threatening to set the city on fire before they will let Karepos crucify him. Peter rebukes them gently, and tells them not to curse Akrepos, for he is an emissary of his father Satan. He then turns to the crowd and makes a short speech about the glorious mystery of the cross—it begins:

 

In the name of the cross, the hidden mystery, the gracious gift which the tongue of the children of men cannot describe, which is found in the Name of the cross, in thy creation which puts on human form, and which cannot be comprehended—God Almighty.

 

     Peter turns to the captain of the soldiers, and tells them to go ahead and kill him, but entreats them to crucify him head downwards.

 

     Here, it seems there is a break in the text, for at the bottom of p. 38, Budge notes: The narrative of the history of Saint Peter is continued on page 46, line 22 of his English text. Indeed, the narrative does seem interrupted, for the last paragraph reads:—He is the Word so that He might become the being Who straightly ascended the Wood whereon He was crucified; and He is the Speech, which was of old time, and which created man, and it was He Who was nailed to the cross .....\fn{Budge notes here, after five little dots: The text is corrupt.}

 

     A narrative clearly connected in Budge’s mind with the preceding continues with an elaborate formal speech by Peter from the cross (at least in its beginning rather Gnostic in speculation). Towards its completion, the author makes use of ­John­ 1:1 and ­I John­ 1:1:—(In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—)\fn{The quotation from the Ethiopic text reads here: For He it is of Whom it is written that He only is the Word, and it is of Him that the Holy Spirit spake, ‘Who is Christ but the Word and the Speech of God Almighty?’}

 

     The text of the speech becomes corrupt in the manuscript towards its termination. At that point, Peter immediately begins another oration, a meditation this time upon the Word, in which is quoted ­I Corinthians­ 2:9:—(But, as it is written, ‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him’—\fn{The quotation from the Ethiopic text reads here: And as for you, if ye do thus ye shall comprehend that which He spake aforetime, saying, ‘Things which the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive;’} and straightway dies. One of his disciples, named Marcellus (he was originally a follower of Simon Magus) makes his body ready for the grave, washing it with milk and wine, anointing it with myrrh, spice, and aloes, and packing it in a long coffin filled with honey.\fn{On the burial place of Peter, Budge says to see Lipsius (ibid., 20ff); and on the anointing process, see Lipsius (ibid., I, 118).} He then buries him in his own grave. The martyrdom concludes with two further events:

 

1. an appearance by Peter to Makelos\fn{Marcellus.} in a vision of the night, wherein the Apostle reminds Makelos that he is permanently out of pocket for the cost of Peter’s funeral, since he disobeyed the injunction in Matthew­ 8:22:—But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.’\fn{The quotation from the Ethiopic text reads here: ‘Hast thou not heard that our Lord said, “Let the dead bury their dead.”’}—and

 

2. a tale that Nero was angry with his governor, because the world threw the blame on Akrepos the prefect, for it was through his counsel that Nero had slain him. He refused to speak to him; he continued in a state of wrath for many days. The Emperor also initiates a persecution of all those who had been instructed by Peter, but after there appeared unto him by night a man who tormented him, and told him to stop persecuting the servants of Christ, Nero relented.

 

     The work concludes with a series of blessings and pious ejaculations.

 

[COA, II, 32-42]

 

208. The Ukrainian Life of Peter

 

     Miron (­Kievskaja Starina­ XLVII, 1894, 431) refers to an omnibus codex in the possession of Pop Jaremeckij. In this codex, under numbers 22 and 26, there may be two manuscripts of Ukrainian origin of the ­Slavonic Vita Petri­. Here also there may belong the manuscripts mentioned with question marks by Bonwetsch (in Harnack’s Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ I.2, 2nd ed., 1958, 904) under the titles “Wanderings-“­ or “Processions of the Apostle Paul Through the Countries­.” These are: (1) ­Soloveck. Bibliothek­ no. 89 S. XVI. folio 3-5 (now in Leningrad: ­Gosudarstvennaja Ord. Trud. Krasn. Znameni Publicnaja Bibliotheka imeni M. E. Saltykova-Scedrina­); and (2) Moskovsk (­Sinodal’n. Bibl­. no. 51 S. XVI/XVII folio 311v (now in Moscow: Bosudarstvennyj Istoriceskij Muzej).

 

[NTA, II, 574]

 

209. A Doctrine of Peter

 

     There appear to be at least five separate Patristic references to an otherwise lost Doctrine of Peter:

 

1. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­On First Principles­ I:viii) cites a ­Doctrine of Peter­:—And if any one should confront us with a section from that book which is called the ­Doctrine of Peter­, in which the Savior seems to say to the disciples: ‘I am not a bodiless demon’, then the answer must be given him, in the first place, that this book is not included among the books of the church, and further it must be pointed out that this writing comes neither from Peter nor from any other person inspired by the spirit of God.

 

2. Gregory of Nazianzus (d.389, ­Epistula­ 20; ­Orations­ 17:5) twice quotes one of its logions:—God is near a soul that toils and moils, Peter says somewhere in an admirable way. ... God is near a soul that toils and moils.

 

3. John of Damascus (d.c.749, ­Sacra Parallela­ A.12) prints two passages which are ascribed to a ­Doctrine of Peter­:—I, unhappy one, did not reflect that God sees the heart and has regard to the voice of the soul. I consented to sin, saying to myself: God is merciful and will suffer me; and since I was not struck at once, I did not discontinue but still more despised the forgiveness and exhausted the patience of God. ... Rich is that man who has compassion on many and who in imitation of God gives of what he has. For God has given to all all of that which he has made. Understand then ye rich men that ye must serve since ye have received more than ye yourselves need. Learn that others lack what ye have in abundance. Be ashamed to retain other people’s property. Imitate God's equity, and no one will be poor.

 

4. Oecumenius of Tricca (fl.10th century, ­On James­ XVI), according to James (ANT,19) reproduces a quotation from a ­Doctrine of Peter­:—And that happens to us which blessed Peter says: One building and one pulling down! They gain nought but their labor.

 

5. Elias of Crete (writing in the 12th century on the passage quoted by Origen, above) says that Origen is correct in ascribing it to a ­Doctrine of Peter­.

 

     The work is to be distinguished from either the ­Preaching of Peter­ or the ­Teaching of Peter­ (#187 and 188, above), though some scholars think otherwise and equate the fragments alleged for the ­Doctrine of Peter­ with those assigned to the ­Preaching of Peter­. Similarly, the alleged quotation of Jesus that he is not a bodiless demon (or, phantom, perhaps a better translation), is attested by Jerome of Strido (d.420, Commentary on Isaiah­ XVIII, & Preface) for the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­. On the whole question see Dobschutz (“Das Kerygma Petri Kritisch Untersucht” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ II.1, 1893, 84-105).

 

[NTA, II, 97-98; ANT, 18-19]

 

210. The Coptic Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles

 

     The ­Coptic Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles­ is quite unlike anything hitherto known under such a title. The opening lines of the work are damaged; however, we gather that a strange person has appeared, holding in his left hand a book cover, and in his right a staff of styrax wood:—His voice booms heavily as he cried through the streets of the city: ‘Pearls! Pearls!’

 

     Peter afterwards addresses this mysterious personage, who tells him that he is named Lithargoel. Lithargoel—if we refer back to the Coptic book called the ­Investiture of the Archangel Gabriel­, after Stephen (the unpublished text of which is to be found in the Pierpont Morgan Manuscript 593, dating from the 9th century)—is a great angel, the tenth of a series which begins with Gabriel, and includes the four luminaries Heleleth, Harmozel, Uriel, and Daueithael. There, he holds in his hands nard, described as the medicine of life for souls; and here a book cover and a styrax branch. And here also, it is Jesus who has put on this angelic appearance and who, thus disguised, calls Peter at once by his name, to the latter’s great astonishment. We have here, evidently, one of the earlier romantic writings of which so many are known in Christian apocryphal literature.

 

     For, in spite of its present title, the book is not just another one of the apocryphal acts of the apostles. The work of the apostles is not at the center of this narrative, but rather the work of Lithargoel (who is actually Christ); and only at the end of the narrative can the true apostolic activity begin. The identification of Lithargoel with Christ need not be too surprising; elsewhere in ancient texts Jesus is called a pearl, and in fact the present narrative concerning Lithargoel. Christ could conceivably have been developed on the basis of a passage like Revelation­ 2:17:—He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone which no one knows except him who receives it.

 

     In general the ­Acts of Peter and the Twelve Apostles­ seems quite consistent with the developing orthodoxy of the church of the 2nd century, when this tractate may have been composed. The emphasis upon apostolic poverty and the polemic against the rich are even rooted in the ­Received New Testament­. Though the work does not seem to proclaim distinctively Gnostic ideas, it is clear that Gnostic interpreters would have no trouble relating to such themes as the stranger, the journey, the hidden pearl, and the expensive garment of the world.

 

     The work was discovered in 1946 at ancient Chenoboskion (Nag Hammadi) in Upper Egypt. It apparently has no connection with the ­Acts of Peter­ (#195, above), the ­Ebionite Acts of the Twelve Apostles­ (#171, above), or the Manichean Acts of the Twelve Apostles­ (#172, above). The work is part of a manuscript which DOR says was evidently very much in use: some feathers served as bookmarks between certain pages. The text is written in a supple, unpretentious cursive hand, apparently from the early 3rd century AD.

 

     NTB notes the following literal or conceptual parallels between the Coptic text and various of the ­Received New Testament­:

 

VI,1;2.10-29­: A man came out wearing a cloth bound around his waist, and a gold belt girded it. Also a napkin was tied over his chest, extending over his shoulders and covering his head and his hands. I was staring at this man, because he was beautiful in his form and stature. There were four parts of his body that I saw: the soles of his feet and a part of his chest and the palms of his hands and his visage. These things I was able to see. A book cover like those of my books was in his left hand. A staff of styrax wood was in his right hand.

Revelation 1:13-16­: and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden girdle round his breast; his head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters; in his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth issued a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

*

VI,1;9.8-13­: Lithargoel answered, “I want to ask you who gave the name Peter to you?” He said to him, “It was Jesus Christ, the son of the living God. He gave this name to me.”

Matthew 16:16,18­: Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” … “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.”

*

VI,1;9.19-21­: We prostrated ourselves on the ground and worshipped him. We comprised eleven disciples.

Matthew 28:9,16-17a­: And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Hail!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshipped him. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshipped him;

*

VI,1;10.25-11.11­: Do you not understand that my name, which you teach, surpasses all riches, and the wisdom of God surpasses gold, and silver and precious stones?” He gave them the pouch of medicine and said, “Heal all the sick of the city who believe in my name.”

Matthew 10:7-10a­: And preach as you go, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received without paying, give without pay. Take no gold, nor silver, nor copper in your belts, no bag for your journey.

*

VI,1;11.1-5­: Peter was afraid to reply to him for the second time. He signaled to the one who was beside him, who was John: “You talk this time.”

John 13:22-25­: The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of Jesus; so Simon Peter beckoned to him and said, “Tell us who it is of whom he speaks.” So lying thus, close to the breast of Jesus, he said to him, “Lord, who is it?”

 

[DOR, 141, 235-236; NAG, 265; INT, V, 772; ENC, II, 117; NTB, 263-267]

 

211. The Greek Acts of Peter and Paul

 

     This book was first published in a complete form by Thilo in 1837 and 1838. A portion of it had already been translated into Latin by the Greek scholar Constantine Lascaris in 1490, and had been made use of in a controversy concerning the situation of the island of Melita, upon which Paul had been shipwrecked. For his edition Tischendorf collated six manuscripts, the oldest of which derives from the end of the 9th century.

 

     This text begins with Paul’s journey from the island of Gaudomelete to Rome. The Jews in Rome, having heard of his intent, persuade Nero to forbid his landing. While in Sicily, en route to Rome, Paul’s friend, Dioscorus, the shipmaster, who was bald, like Paul, was arrested in mistake for him at Puetoli, and beheaded by the local toparchs. (In retribution, Puetoli is swallowed up by the sea.) The head was sent to Caesar (for the Jews had induced the emperor to forbid Paul’s landing in Italy).

 

     Some portions at least of the book are of an early date. The description of the voyage to Rome is heavily dependent upon the ­Received Acts­, although embroidered with other local legends. (The manuscripts which represent the legends fall into two groups: (1) the first group, which comprises all but one of the Greek texts, and contains an account of the journey of Paul to Rome, and the martyrdom of Peter and Paul there; and (2) the second group, which comprises but a single Greek manuscript and a great many Latin ones, and presents the history of the martyrdom only.) The Domine Quo Vadis story is referred to by Origen, and others after him. There are other local legends in this portion of the book. But after the early chapters dealing with the arrival at Rome, the story takes the same course—often word for word—as the ­Greek Passio Apostolorum Petri et Pauli­ (the entirely Greek version of the text, #212, below). It is a later compilation of different traditions, among them certainly also the early ­Acts of Peter­ (#195, above), intended to delineate the activity together of the two Apostles in Rome and their martyr death.

 

     These ­acta­ are the chief source for details of the martyrdom of the two great Apostles, Peter and Paul. They are also noteworthy as emphasizing the close concord between the Apostolic founders of the Roman church. The date of composition is involved in obscurity. Lipsius finds traces of these acts as early as Hippolytus of Rome (c.235), but it is not clear that the Fathers adduced employed any written source for their references to the victory over Simon Magus and the work of the Apostles at Rome. Lipsius assigns the kernel of the martyrdom to the 2nd century; Bardenhewer refers the whole to the first half of the 3rd century. The ­Greek Acts of Peter and Paul­ undoubtedly embody some genuine traditions.

 

     The Greek text is printed in Lipsius (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, 1891, 178-222).

 

[ANF, VIII, 355; ANT, 469-475; NTA, II, 575; INT, V, 722; CAT, II, 611-612]

 

212. 213. The Greek ­Passio Apostolorum Petri et Pauli­; The Latin ­Passio Apostolorum Petri et Pauli­

 

     Of this work, the Latin text is the better known: indeed, there is only one known manuscript of a Greek form of it. (The opening words of the Latin are: Cum venisset Paulus Roman.) Like the ­Greek Acts of Peter and Paul­, it is a later compilation of different traditions, among them certainly the early ­Acts of Peter­, intended to delineate the activity together of the two Apostles in Rome and their simultaneous death as martyrs (the older legends making a year intervene between their individual demise).

 

     As in all these texts, there is a good deal about Simon’s magical arts. When confronted with the Apostles before Nero, he makes large dogs appear and attack the apostles: but Peter has foreseen this, and has some barley bread, which he has blessed, concealed in his sleeve; and, producing this, he makes the dogs vanish.

 

     The ­Letter of Pilate to Claudius I ­(#534, below, 3rd century) is produced and read before Nero.

 

     When Simon flies into the air, Peter adjures the demons who are carrying him to let him fall; and his body is broken into four pieces. The death of Nero is mentioned, together with an attempt by some devout men from the East to carry off the bodies of the apostles.

 

     This comparatively late and thoroughly unorthodox writing contains earlier material, but is not to be dated prior to the 5th century AD (so INT; NTA says that it doubtless belongs to the 6th or 7th century.). Lipsius prints a text of it (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, 1891, 223-234). It is commonly, but without warrant, attributed to Marcellus.

 

[ANT, 469-475; NTA, II, 575; INT, V, 772; CAT, II, 611-612]

 

214. The Latin Martyrdom of Peter and Paul, after Pseudo-Hegisippus

 

     There is also extant a writing quite different from the Greek and Latin ­Passiae­ just discussed. It has survived only in Latin. The full text is to be found in Lipsius ­(Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, 1891, 118-172).

 

     This book has the following peculiarity: that the apostles lodge in Rome with a believer who is a relation of Pontius Pilate; and who recommends them as competent to reply to Simon Magus’ claims. Indeed, this person is called in ­himself by Nero to testify whether Simon is, as he claims to be, Christ. He denies it, and further suggests that Peter and Paul should be called in to give their witness also. The dispute follows. The Apostles are sentenced to death by Clement, not Agrippa, prefect of the city. Hardly anything is said of the martyrdom; there is but the briefest mention of their execution.

 

     It has proved impossible to date this work; one must be content to say that, like the others, it is a later compilation of different traditions, among them certainly the early ­Acts of Peter­, intended to delineate the activity together of the two apostles in Rome and their martyr death. It is also referred to as the Marcellus Text.

 

     Bardenhewer (­Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, 1913, 567) has noted that over the origin of the Acts of Peter and Paul­ there rests a thick veil.

 

[NTA, II, 575; ANT, 471; INT, V, 772]

 

215. The Arabic Story of Peter and Paul

 

     The ­Arabic Story of Peter and Paul­ does not seem to attach itself to any other legend of these Apostles. Nor is there to be historically listed a Roman emperor named ­Baramus­ [although the Praetorian Prefect Afranius Burrus­, who with Seneca had charge of the education of Nero (emperor, 54-68AD) is no doubt the person indicated].

 

     Possible Gnostic doctrine appears on folio 3b. There we are told that Jesus, after His resurrection, told the Divine secrets to His Apostles, before sending them out to preach about His kingdom. This seems to correspond with the esoteric theology of which the popular creed of multitudes of deities, with its whole ritual of sacrifice and worship, was but the esoteric form.\fn{So King, The Gnostics and Their Remains, 6.} The idea was further developed by the Jewish Kabbalists in the 10th century, being by them applied to a secret system of theosophy which claims to have been transmitted uninterruptedly by the mouths of patriarchs and prophets ever since the creation of man.\fn{So Ginsburg, Encyclopaedia Britannica XIII, 811.} Or perhaps the phrase does not refer to Gnostic teaching, but rather to the doctrine embodied in a decree of the Council of Trent (Session IV. ­De Canon. Script.):—It teaches that the truth of Christ is contained partly in the Bible, partly in unwritten tradition received by the Apostles from Christ or from the Holy Ghost, and entrusted by them to the Church; and that Scripture and tradition (the latter of course only when proved Apostolic) are to be reverenced alike.\fn{So the Catholic Dictionary, 885.}

 

     If the number of bishops said in folio 24a to have been ordained by the apostles in Rome were intended to rule the church in that city the statement would be in the highest degree remarkable, as showing the antiquity of the legend. But we suspect that the statement refers to the Catholic church of the world. It concludes with the following interview between Satan, Peter and Paul:

 

And Satan, when he saw that he was vanquished and conquered by the Apostles, summoned his potentates and said unto them: ‘What shall I do with the disciples of the Son of Mary, for they have vanquished us, and have frustrated us, and have spoiled all our devices?’ Then Satan changed his form and became like a naked Hindu man; and he sought after the Apostles for a distance of three miles; and he kept crying out in a feeble voice along their track, saying: ‘O Peter and Paul, disciples of the Lord Jesus the merciful Christ, take pity on me, and be good to me, lest I die for your sakes.’

 

And Paul turned, and beheld him naked, and he was far away on their track. And he said unto Peter: ‘Take pity, O my brother! Verily we will see why this man runs seeking us.’ And they waited for him; and he stood before them. And he was naked and inflamed like fire. And he was unable to speak from the eagerness of his diligence. And Paul said unto him: ‘Why dost thou run in our track? Dost thou not think that we will prove ourselves more right than Baramus in any way? By the living name of the Lord Jesus the Christ! We possess nothing in this world save the clothes we have on, wherewith we cover our bodies, nothing else. And if thou desirest it, we will give thee something of what we have on. And I shall do it.’

 

And the Enemy replied to the Apostles and said: ‘I entreat you, O my lords! By the mighty power which hath brought us low, have compassion me. I will go away from you; for a burning fire serveth you.’ And Peter said: ‘Swear unto us, that in the place whither thou goest, thou wilt not pursue us, nor disturb us, nor spoil what we are doing.’ And the Enemy swore and said: ‘Nay, and by the fire of Hell, prepared for me and for all my friends, the place where thou and thy friends shall be my foot shall never tread it.’ And the Apostles let him go.

 

And when he was a little way off from them, he changed his shape, and became a black bull; and hastened to butt Paul. And Paul was terrified at him; and began to embrace Peter. And he said: ‘O my father! Save me from this devil frightful in shape.’ And Peter said: ‘Be not dismayed, O my brother! By the power of our Lord Jesus the Christ, do thou pull a horn, and I a horn, and we will drag him down.’ And they each of them began to pull a different way. And then the cursed one cried out and said to the Apostles, ‘By the truth of Jesus the Savior, let me go. I will go quite away from you; for your power is great with your God.’

 

Peter said unto Satan: ‘May the Christ put thee to shame, and all thy potentates.’ And the cursed one said unto Peter: ‘Thou didst deny the Christ three times in one night, and say that thou knewest Him not. But as for me, what shall I do? For if I have fought with one of you about anything, and have overcome him, he goes and weeps in the presence of the Christ; and sobs and is forgiven.’

 

And Paul said unto the Enemy: ‘Blessed be the Christ, Who hath put thee to shame and hath confounded thy face; and hath put thee trampled beneath our feet; and in His name we have vanquished thee.’ Satan said unto Paul: ‘Be afraid, O bald pate, and meanest of all men! Thou thinkest that thou hast overcome me by thy strength; if the mercy of God had not saved thee from me, I would have destroyed thee by means of the sin whereto thou wast harnessed for the rest of thy life.’ Then Paul wept and sobbed before the Lord, till he said unto him, ‘By the mercy of the Lord thou wast saved from me, from the yoke of the sin wherein thou wast harnessed.’

 

Then they let Satan go. And Peter said unto him: ‘Thou dost swear and dost lie, that thou wilt not oppose us.’ The Enemy replied, laughing: ‘Give praise and glory to the Lord, Who giveth this power unto His servants who believe in His name; and who do His pleasure.’

 

And to our Lord be glory and majesty, and worship and honor henceforth, and always, and for evermore. Amen.

 

[MRS, xxxv-xxxvi, 190-192; ANT, 472]

 

216. The Arabic Martyrdom of Peter and Paul

 

     This story is virtually the same as the ­Passio Sanctorum Petri et Pauli­ attributed to Linus and published by Lipsius and Bonnet. From the beginning of page 8, almost to the end, it is like the ­Acta Petri et Pauli­ published by Thilo. Virtually the entire subject of this work is a debate before Nero with Simon Magus; the martyrdom of Peter and Paul receives scant, almost perfunctory, attention. The legend of Simon Magus’ teaching in Rome, of his conflict with Peter, and of his pretending that he would rise again on the third day, is to be found in Hippolytus of Rome (d.236, ­Philosophumena­ VI:xx).

 

     The first mention of Simon Magus will be found in the ­Received Acts­ 8:9-10, where we are told that the people of Samaria believed him to be the great power of God. There seems to be some historical truth in the legend that he preached also in Rome, though Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165, ­Apologia­ I.59,77,II.98; Dialogue with Trypho­ CCIX) and Irenaeus of Lyons, (d.c.200, ­Dissertatio­ I.96-104) were mistaken when they told of a statue which was erected to Simon at Rome, on an island in the river, bearing a Latin inscription: Simoni Deo Sancto. (The actual statue was discovered in 1574, and was in fact dedicated to a Sabine deity.)

 

     Justin tells us that a woman named Helena was his companion; that she at first stood upon a roof (in Tyre of Phoenicia), and that she was called the ‘First Thought’; Irenaeus says that both he and she were honored with incense, sacrifices, and libations. See also on this Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ II:xiii) and Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Against All Heresies­ I:ii.xxi).

 

     Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden­ II.i, 1883, 258) considers that the martyrdom of Peter and Paul which has come down to us under the name of Linus shows many remains of Gnostic teaching, although it has been revised in a Catholic sense. Chief of these is a long speech made by Peter as he is approaching the cross on which he was to suffer; but this does not occur at all in our Arabic version. He considers that the conversion of Livia and Agrippina—

 

And in a multitude of the people which could not be numbered who had turned unto the Lord by the preaching of Peter, it happened by Livia, the wife of Nero, and the wife of his Vizier Agrippa, whose name was Agrippina, believed. And they believed in such a way that they withdrew from cohabitation with their husbands.;

 

—Agrippa’s suggestion that Paul should die a less cruel death than Peter—

 

And thereupon Nero called for Agrippa, his Vizier Admiral, and said unto him: ‘Two men are to be condemned with a severe sentence; they must needs die. And I therefore command that great iron stones be fastened on them and that they perish in the sea.’ And Agrippa the Vizier answered: ‘O thou glorious Emperor! This which thou hast decided is not suitable; for Paul has made his cause manifest that he is more innocent than Peter.’ And Nero said: ‘And with what kind of torture shall we destroy them?’ And Agrippa answered and said: ‘As it has occurred to my mind, a just sentence would be that Paul’s head should be struck off; and Peter should be hung upon the cross, because he hath been the cause of a murder.’ And Nero said: ‘Thou hast judged a proper judgment.’;

 

—and the embassy from Jerusalem—

 

And when he had said this, he\fn{Peter.} gave up his spirit to the Lord. And straightway there appeared noble men, their appearance being that of foreigners, saying one to the other: ‘We have come from Jerusalem on account of the two most holy disciples, the chief ones.’ And with them was a man whose name was Marcellus, the Lystrian, who had believed by the preaching of Peter, and had forsaken Simon, and he carried his body secretly, and they laid it down by the terebinth tree near the Naumachia, in a place which is called Vaticanon. But as for the men who said that they had come from Jerusalem, they said to the people: ‘Rejoice and be glad, for ye have been deemed worthy to have the two great Teachers with you. And know that this Nero after not many days will disappear, and his kingdom shall be given to another.’ And after these things an assembly of the people stood up against him tumultuously: and when he knew it, he ran off to desert places; and his soul was driven away by hunger and thirst; and his body became a prey to wild beasts.

 

—are all interpolations. He further considers it a mark of high antiquity that the name Christians occurs only once in this story; the terms believers, those who believed, the pious, or devout people being used to designate them. He also calls attention to the fact that the name Claudius is given as that of the emperor to whom the report of Pilate about the crucifixion of Jesus was sent. [­Ibid­., 21; it ought, of course, to have been Tiberius I. This story is first mentioned by Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, ­Apologeticus­ XXI); that Peter is crucified head-downwards is first noted by Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, ­In Genes­. III).] He also thinks that the emphasis laid in the tale upon the fraternal unity and complete harmony between the two apostles, together with the quarrels and discussions between the Jewish-Christians and the Gentile ones—

 

And when it was morning, at the dawn of day, Peter approached and found a multitude of Jews before the door of Paul’s dwelling. And there was a great tumult amongst the Jews between the Christians and the heathen. But those of the Jews who believed said: ‘We are the chosen race, the royal priesthood, the friends of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets to whom God confided His secrets; and He showed them His secrets and His great wonders. But ye who are of the Gentiles, there is nothing great in your descent, but ye have become infatuated with sculptured idols, dirty and contemptible.’ And when those of the Jews who believed had said this and other things like it, those of the Gentiles who believed replied to them, saying: ‘Whenever we heard the truth we at once followed the Christ, who verily is Himself the Truth, and we forsook our error; but ye have known the miracles of the fathers; and ye had the teachings of the Torah and the prophets; and ye crossed the sea with dusty feet; and ye beheld your enemies marching proudly into the depths. And a beacon of light appeared unto you by night, and the cloud overshadowed you by day. And manna from heaven was given unto you; and water overflowed unto you from a rock, and ye believed not. But after these things ye made yourselves an idol; and ye set it up; and ye worshipped a graven thing; and we saw nothing of the wonders; and we believed in the true God, Whom ye forsook when ye had rebelled against Him.’

 

—place us in the atmosphere of the 2nd century.

 

     The extant text of these acts cannot be traced to a period earlier than the 5th century; but Cyril of Jerusalem (d. 386), Sulpicius Severus (d.425, ­Chronica­ II.xxviii), and Asterios of Amaseia (fl.c.400) all relate incidents (such as that of Simon’s fall) which can have been taken from no other source (so Lipsius, ­op cit­., 331- 332).

 

     The church at San Paolo Fuori le Mura stands near the second mile-stone on the Via Ostiensis, and the ­Liber Pontificalis­ for 530AD says that the body of Paul was buried near the place where he was decapitated. Tradition, however, points likewise to the church and abbey Delle Tre Fontane, which are two kilometers further out on the same road. Similarly, the church of San Pietro in Montorio on the Janiculum disputes with the Vatican the honor of standing upon the site of Peter’s martyrdom. Jerome of Strido (d.420) mentions that Peter was buried on the Vatican: but no place named Naumachia has been found there; and the traditional spot where Peter fell is on the Via Sacra, near the church of Cosmas and Damien (which is not part of Vatican City, but was built on the edge of the Forum Romanum out of a pagan temple dedicated to Romulus, by Felix IV of Rome (526-530AD).

 

     The extant text of these ­acta­ cannot be traced earlier than the 5th century; NTA (perhaps on the strength of the paucity of manuscript evidence and the certainty of its late date:H) says that the hypotheses of Lipsius are certainly wrong.

 

[MRS, xxxvi-xxxviii, 193-209; ODC, 347; NTA, II, 575]

 

217. The Ethiopic Acts of Peter and Paul

 

     NTA mentions this in the following passing reference:—van Lantschoot, ‘Contribution aux Actes de S. Pierre et de S. Paul’, ­Museon­ 68, 1955, 17-46, 219-233 (Ethiopic).

 

[NTA,II,575]

 

218. A Preaching of Peter and Paul

 

     Lactantius of Nicomedia (d.c.320, ­Divinae Institutiones­ IV:xxi.2-4) writes:—And he\fn{Jesus.} has revealed to them\fn{The Apostles.} all the future; Peter and Paul have preached this in Rome and this discourse of theirs remains in writing for a memorial. In it, besides many other wonderful things, it is also said that in the future it would come to pass that after a short time God would send a king who would conquer the Jews, make their cities level with the ground and besiege them themselves, exhausted by hunger and thirst. Then it would come to pass that they would live on the bodies of their own and consume one another. At last they would fall as prisoners into the hands of their enemies and would see before their eyes their wives disgracefully ill-treated, their maidens violated and deflowered, their youths deported, their small children dashed to the ground. Finally everything would be devastated by fire and sword, and they would be exiled for ever as prisoners from their own land because they had gloated over the most beloved and most acceptable Son of God.\fn{Dobschutz (“Das Kerygma Petri Kritisch Untersucht” in Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XI.1, 1893, 132) translates the conclusion: over the reviled most beloved Son of God, in whom he is well pleased.}

 

     James (ANT,298) presents this as part of a lost ­Preaching of Paul­, also doubting the existence of the Preaching of Peter and Paul­. NTA (II,93) also says that with not a single word does Lactantius say that he goes back to a particular writing; and that all conjectures about a ­Preaching of Peter and Paul­ are without support of any kind.

 

     In view, however, of what seems obvious testimony inherent in the words of Lactantius—that he has in fact the writing before him, and has for his purposes made a paraphrase of some of its outstanding points—it would seem possible to set aside these criticisms, and to consider that the ­Preaching of Peter and Paul­ was an otherwise unknown book which has survived the general destruction of the classical world only in this paraphrase. (H)

 

[NTA, II, 93; ANT, 298]

 

219. The Greek Acts of Peter and Andrew

 

     The ­Greek Acts of Peter and Andrew­ was apparently designed as a short sequel to the ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias­—to which it answers admirably. It is extant in Greek (imperfectly); in Old Slavonic (completely); and in Ethiopic (in a still shorter form, where it is called, however, the ­Acts of Saint Jude­, and where Thaddaeus takes the place of Andrew). In Ethiopic it forms part of the Egyptian Cycle (or legends undertaken in Coptic, Arabic and Ethiopic, the three Oriental languages whose Christian production was originally in large part the result of the missionary efforts of the Patriarchate of Alexandria).

 

     James has published the following synopsis of the book, which seems originally to have contained 23 chapters (hence the numbers in brackets, found in the text of his work).

 

(1) When Andrew left the city of the man-eaters, a cloud of light took him up and carried him to the mountain where Peter and Matthias and Alexander and Rufus were sitting. And Peter said: Have you prospered? Yes, he said, but they did me much hurt. Come then, said Peter, and rest awhile from your labors. (2) And Jesus appeared in the form of a little child and greeted them, and told them to go to the city of the barbarians, and promised to be with them, and left them.

 

(3) So the four set out. And when they were near the city Andrew asked Peter: Do many troubles await us here? ‘I do not know, but here is an old man sowing. Let us ask him for bread; if he gives it to us, we shall know that we are not to be troubled, but if he says, I have none, troubles await us.’ They greeted him and asked accordingly. He said: If you will look after my plough and oxen I will fetch you bread. ‘Are they your oxen?’ ‘No, I have hired them.’ And he went off.

 

(4) Peter took off his cloak and garment, and said: It is no time for us to be idle, especially as the old man is working for us; and he took the plough and began to sow. Andrew protested and took it from him and sowed, and blessed the seed as he sowed. And Rufus and Alexander and Matthias, going on the right, said: Let the sweet dew and the fair wind come and rest on this field. And the seed sprang up and the corn ripened.

 

(5) When the farmer returned with the bread and saw the ripe corn he worshipped them as gods. But they told him who they were, and Peter gave him the Commandments. He said: I will leave all and follow you. ‘Not so, but go to the city, return your oxen to the owner, and tell your wife and children and prepare us a lodging.’ (6) He took a sheaf, hung it on his staff, and went off. The people asked where he got the corn, for it was the time of sowing, but he hastened home.

 

(7) The chief men of the city heard of it and sent for him and made him tell his story. (8) And the devil entered them and they said: Alas! These are of the twelve Galilaeans who go about separating men from their wives. What are we to do? (9) One of them said: I can keep them out of the city. ‘How?’ ‘They hate all women, and specially unchaste ones: let us put a naked wanton in the gate, and they will see her and flee.’ So they did. (10) The apostles perceived the snare by the Spirit, and Andrew said: Bid me, and I will chastise her. Peter said: Do as you will. Andrew prayed, and Michael was sent to catch her up by the hair and suspend her till they had passed. (11) And she cried out, cursing the men of the city and praying for pardon. (12) And many believed at her word and worshipped the apostles, and they did many cures, and all praised God.

 

(13) There was a rich man named Onesiphorus who said: If I believe, shall I be able to do wonders? Andrew said: Yes, if you forsake your wife and all your possessions. He was angry and put his garment about Andrew’s neck and began to beat him, saying: You are a wizard, why should I do so? (14) Peter saw it and told him to leave off. He said: I see you are wiser than he. What do ­you­ say? Peter said: I tell you this: it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. Onesiphorus was yet more angry, and took his garment off Andrew’s neck and cast it on Peter’s and hauled him along, saying: You are worse than the other. If you show me this sign, I and the whole city will believe, but if not you shall be punished.

 

(15) Peter was troubled and stood and prayed: Lord, help us at this hour, for thou hast entrapped us by thy words. (16) The Savior appeared in the form of a boy of twelve years, wearing a linen garment ‘smooth within and without’, and said: Fear not: let the needle and the camel be brought. There was a huckster in the town who had been converted by Philip; and he heard of it, and looked for a needle with a large eye, but Peter said: nothing is impossible with God; rather bring a needle with a small eye. (17) When it was brought, Peter saw a camel coming and stuck the needle in the ground and cried: In the name of Jesus Christ crucified under Pontius Pilate I command thee, camel, to go through the eye of the needle. The eye opened like a gate and the camel passed through; and yet again, at Peter’s bidding.

 

(18) Onesiphorus said: You are a great sorcerer: but I shall not believe unless I may send for a needle and a camel. And he said secretly to a servant: Bring a camel and a needle, and find a defiled woman and some swine’s flesh and bring them too. And Peter heard it in the Spirit and said: O slow to believe, bring your camel and woman and needle and flesh. (19) When they were brought, Peter stuck the needle in the ground, with the flesh; the woman was on the camel. He commanded it as before, and the camel went through, and back again. (20) Onesiphorus cried out, convinced, and said: Listen. I have lands and vineyards, and 27 liters of gold and 50 of silver, and many slaves: I will give my goods to the poor and free my slaves if I may do a wonder like you. Peter said: If you believe, you shall.

 

(21) Yet he was afraid he might not be able, because he was not so baptized; but a voice came: let him do what he will. So Onesiphorus stood before the needle and camel and commanded it to go through, and it went as far as the neck and stopped. And he asked why. ‘Because you are not yet baptized.’ He was content, and the apostles went to his house, and 1,000 souls were baptized that night. (22) Next day the woman that was hung in the air said: Alas that I am not worthy to believe like the rest! I will give all my goods to the poor and my house for a monastery of virgins. Peter heard it and went out to her, and at his word she was let down unhurt, and gave him for the poor 4 liters of gold and much raiment and her house for a monastery of virgins. (23) And the apostles consecrated a church and ordained clergy and committed the people to God.

 

     The change in style and emphasis in these later acts from that in the five principal romances (John, Peter, Paul, Thomas, Andrew), which earlier had suggested the possibilities of edifying fiction outside the ranges of the Received Acts­, is very evident here. No longer is there any emphasis on, or seeming interest in, doctrine. The prayers and exhortations of the apostles, which in the earlier ­acta­ bulked large in the eyes of their authors, are virtually no longer to be found. Instead, there is presented a series of miraculous stories, seemingly the sole concern and interest of the writers. HAS says that it is very doubtful if this cycle of stories ever belonged to the original ­Acts of Andrew­: but CAT says that it is one of three orthodox recensions of the ­Acts of Andrew­; and NTA says it is a working up of the material of the early ­Acts of Andrew­.

 

     The ­Greek Acts of Peter and Andrew­ was edited by Tischendorf (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, 1851, under the title ­Acta Petri et Andreae­, though no Latin recension has yet surfaced). Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I.2, 1898, 117-127) has also preserved a text of it; and Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden­ I, 1883, 553-557) provides a summary. See also on this Flamion (­Les Acts d’Andre et les Textes Apparantes­, 1911); and Bardenhewer (­Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, 1913, 571-572).

 

[HAS, I, 93; ANT, 458-460; CAT, II, 611, INT, V, 771-772; NTA, II, 576]

 

220. 221. 222. 223. 224. The Greek ­Martyrium Colbertinum­ of Ignatius of Antioch; The Greek Martyrium Vaticanum­ of Ignatius of Antioch; The Latin Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch; The Greek Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch, after Simeon the Metaphrast; The Armenian Martyrdom of Ignatius of Antioch.

 

     We possess a multitude of acts and martyrdoms of Ignatius of Antioch (c.35-c.107AD, bishop of Antioch from c.69); which, if we could accept them as historical, would furnish us with very particular accounts of his life and death. Of these,

 

1. Usher (in Cotelerius, ­Patres Apostolici­ II, Amsterdam, 1724; or in Erlington & Todd, “Polycarpi et Ignatii Epistolae,” ­Works of James Ussher­ VII, 1847-1864, 87-295) published three in whole or in part: one in Latin from two related manuscripts (which he printed in 1647, was later published by Ruinart in Greek in 1689, and is now known as the ­Martyrium Colbertinum­);

 

2. another, also in Latin, from the Cottonian Library;

 

3. and yet a third in Greek from a manuscript at Oxford (a manuscript differing slightly from one published later by Dressel from a Vatican manuscript, and now known as the ­Martyrium Vaticanum­).

 

4. The Bollandists (­Acta Sanctorum­, February 1) published a Latin martyrdom;

 

5. Cotelerius (­Patres Apostolici­ II, Amsterdam, 1724) printed a Greek martyrdom by Symeon Mataphrastes; and

 

6. Ruinart (in 1689), and afterwards Jacobson, printed a Greek manuscript from the Colbertine collection.

 

7. Assemani found a Syriac manuscript which, being unpublished, may perhaps be the same as that partly printed by Cureton (­Corpus Ignatianum­, London, 1849), and completely by Mosinger in 1872.

 

8. Aucher, and afterwards Petermann (­S. Ign. Epist­., Lips., 1849) published an Armenian version.

 

9. Finally, Dressel printed a Greek version of the 10th century from a manuscript in the Vatican.

 

     Of these, (6) is the original of (1) and identical with (7). Further, (3) is identical with (9); and (2) and (4) are closely related, being a combination of (9) and (6). The nine witnesses are therefore reduced to five, possessing each a certain independence, one from the other. But of these, (6) and (9) are by far the most valuable, being completely independent of each other, while the remaining versions are mixtures of these two, adding nothing new to them save in the case of that of (5), which gives a legend (plainly derived from the misunderstanding of the name “Theophilus”), that Ignatius was the child carried and blessed by the Lord (­Mark­ 9:36-37, ­Matthew­ 18:2-4, ­Luke­ 9:47-49:—(And he took a child, and put him in the midst of them; and taking him in his arms, he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.’) ... (And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, ‘Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.) ... (But when Jesus perceived the thought of their hearts, he took a child and put him by his side, and said to them, ‘Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me; for he who is least among you all is the one who is great.’).

 

     According to Zahn (­Patrum Apostolicorum Opera­ II, Lips., 1876), (6) relates the condemnation of Ignatius by the emperor Trajan in Antioch; and incorporates the ­Letter of Igantius to the Romans­ (#239, below). From the arrival at Puteoli, the narrative proceeds in the first person plural, as if the writer was a companion of Ignatius, who is thrown to the beasts on December 20. The bones alone remain, which are transferred to Antioch. This manuscript bears at least marks of interpolation. Ignatius, contrary to the testimony of the letters, is brought by sea from Seleucia to Smyrna. The we in the latter part is plainly imitated from the Received Acts­, and commences at an impossible point. The prayer of the saint that the beasts should be his grave is inconsistent with the collection of the bones and the funeral which follows, and which bears the appearance of having been added in support of the claims of relics. Thus the story is a lame one, and our chief obligation to it lies in its incorporation of the Letter of Ignatius to the Romans­. The other letters the author of this martyrdom has not read carefully. He speaks of a general persecution under Trajan, and makes Ignatius a disciple of John and fellow-hearer with Polycarp. Now Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­De Viribus Illustribus­ XVI) makes Polycarp a disciple of John, but plainly implies that Ignatius was not so; and in his account of the ­Chronicle­ of Eusebius (­De Viribus Illustribus­ VIII) classes both Polycarp and Ignatius with Papias as hearers of the apostle. (6) must then have derived from Jerome, or the mistaken form of Eusebius which appears in him. If so, the account must date from the end of the 4th century. But when we compare the narrative with Eusebius (­Ecclesiastical History­ IUII:xxii.37-38; IV:xiv.15) we find that the fable of the general persecution under Trajan agrees only with the loose expressions of Eusebius’ ­Chronicle­. The Ecclesiastical History­ of the same writer, had it been known, would have corrected the error. Eusebius plainly knew nothing of the martyrdom, or the story we find in it. But there are apparent connections between it and Chrysostom of Constantinople (d.407, ­Op­. II, 592), which lead to the belief that someone acquainted with Chrysostom gave this martyrdom its present form. December 20, the date given in this martyrdom for the feast of St. Ignatius, was originally in all probability the feast of the translation of the relics of Ignatius under the emperor Theodosius II (emperor 408-450). We thus arrive at the belief that this martyrdom, written in the 4th century, assumed its present form after the first half of the 5th century. The author, possessing but a general knowledge of the other letters of Ignatius (which he imagined to have been all written from Smyrna), is best acquainted with that to the Romans, which he gives at length.

 

     According to Zahn (­Patrum Apostolicorum Opera­ II, Lips., 1876, 307), (9) omits all judicial proceedings in Antioch. Ignatius is sent for by Trajan to come to Rome, as a teacher dangerous to the state; an argument takes place before the Senate between the emperor and Ignatius; and the lions kill him, but leave the body untouched, and it remains as a sacred deposit at Rome. Notice follows of the ­Letter of Pliny to Trajan­ (not in this collection), plainly out of Eusebius (­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxxiii); and December 20 is marked out as the saint’s day. Now the use of the history of Eusebius (written between 325-330AD) gives a ­terminus a quo­ for the composition of this­ martyrdom, while a ­terminus ad quem­ is furnished by the use of ­it­ made by Symeon Metaphrastes (fl.c.960), our number (5). There is a certain connection between (9), Jerome (above), and (5), notably in the account given of the purpose of the journey to Rome. And (5) has also, as Ussher pointed out, undeniable coincidences with the spurious and interpolated letters of Ignatius (all discussed below), the date of which will presently be fixed in the latter part of the 4th century. Thus we find that (9) arose on the basis of an account of the journey and death of Ignatius extant at the end of the 4th century.

 

     According to these martyrdoms, the emperor Trajan, in the ninth year of his reign, flushed with victory over the Scythians and Dacians, sought to perfect the universality of his dominion by a species of religious conquest. He decreed, therefore, that the Christians should unite with their pagan neighbors in the worship of the gods. A general persecution was threatened if this was not done, and death was named as the penalty for all who refused to offer the prescribed sacrifice. Instantly alert to the danger that threatened, Ignatius availed himself of all the means within his power to thwart the purpose of the emperor. The success of his zealous efforts did not long remain hidden from the church’s persecutors. He himself was soon arrested and led before Trajan, who was then sojourning in Antioch. Accused by the emperor himself of violating the imperial edict, and of inciting others to like transgressions, Ignatius valiantly bore witness to the faith of Christ. His bearing before Trajan was characterized by inspired eloquence, sublime courage, and even a spirit of exultation. Incapable of appreciating the motives that animated him, the emperor ordered him to be put in chains and taken to Rome, there to become the food of wild beasts and a spectacle for the people.

 

     Competent Protestant critics such as Pearson (­Vindiciae Epistolarum S. Ignatii­, Cambridge, 1672) and Migne (Patrologia Graecae­ V, 1857-1866, 37-473) used to regard at least a portion of this material as authentic history. Indeed, as late as 1871, ANF was able to say that this account of the death of Ignatius is in perfect harmony with the particulars recounted by Eusebius and Chrysostom regarding him. Its comparative simplicity, too, is greatly in its favor. It makes no reference to the legends which by and by connected themselves with the name of Ignatius. For example, as is well known, Ignatius came in the course of time to be identified with the child whom Jesus set before His disciples as a pattern of humility. It was said that the Savior took him up in His arms, and that hence Ignatius derived his name of Theophorus; i.e., according to the explanation which this legend gives of the word, ‘one carried by God.’ But in chapter 2 of this ­Martyrium­, we find the term explained to mean, ‘one who has Christ in his breast’; and this simple explanation, with the entire silence preserved as to the marvels afterwards connected with the name of Ignatius, is certainly a strong argument in favor of the early date and probable genuineness of the account.

 

     Doubt, however, as to the authenticity of the martyrdom was raised as early as Daille (­De Scriptis Quae Sub Dionysioi Areopagiticus et Ignatii Antiochus, Nominibus Circumferentur­, Geneva, 1666), and others (e.g., Grabe, ­Spicilegium­, Oxford, 1700, who regarded the latter part of the narrative as spurious, as did Ussher himself), as to the date and authorship of the account. The authenticity of even the ­Martyrium Colbertium­, which has the best claim thereof, is now seldom defended. This finding has been reached on the basis of: (1) contradictions between it and the autograph letters of Ignatius; (2) of its frequent unhistorical statements, and (3) of the fact that it was not known to any ancient writer of the first six centuries. None of the martyrdoms, according to the ODC, merit much credence from the point of view of historical fact. TFC, an official Roman Catholic encyclopedic edition of the church Fathers (­The Fathers of the Church I: The Apostolic Fathers­, 1947, 84) says of the ­Martyrium Colbertium­ that it is a document of somewhat doubtful historical accuracy. The ENC calls it a legendary report. It cannot have been composed earlier than the 5th century AD; though the ENC suggests that either the 4th or 5th century is to be sought as a likely time period for its conception.

 

[DCB, III, 210-211; HAF, VI, 444-445; TCE, VII, 644-645; ANF, I, 289-290; TFC, I, 84; ENC, XI, 1070; ODC, 677]

 

225. The Greek Martyrdom of Polycarp

 

     The obviously genuine and contemporary account of the martyrdom of Polycarp of Smyrna (d.c.155) in the form of a letter from the church of Smyrna to the church of Philomelium, some 200 miles away in Phrygia—they had requested a full account of the event—is the earliest known history of a Christian martyrdom, the genuineness of which is unquestionable, its value enhanced by the fact that in the extant manuscripts a short account is given of the history of the text itself. [From this it appears that a contemporary of Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200) named Gaius, copied the text from a manuscript in the possession of Irenaeus. Later on, one Socrates of Corinth copied the text of Gaius, and finally Pionius of Smyrna (d.250) copied the text of Socrates. Pionius says that the existence of the document was revealed to him in a vision by Polycarp, and that when he found it the manuscript was old and in a bad state of preservation.]

 

     On the text of Pionius there exist five Greek manuscripts, and further scholarly research among hagiographical manuscripts would probably reveal the existence of more, but there is no reason to suppose that such discovery would make any important addition to our knowledge of the text, which is quite good. In addition, Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ IV:xv) has preserved the greater part of the martyrdom in quotations. Syriac, Coptic and Latin versions of the martyrdom also exist.

 

     The date of the martyrdom is said in the ­Chronicle­ of Eusebius to have been during 166-167, but this date has now been almost universally abandoned, as according to a postscript to the ­Martyrdom of Polycarp­, his death was on Saturday, Xanthicus 2 (i.e., February 23) during the proconsulship of Statius Quadratus:—It was the second day of the first fortnight of Xanthicus, seven days before the kalends of March, when our blessed Polycarp died his martyr’s death two hours after midday on the Greater Sabbath. The official responsible for his arrest was Herod; the High Priest was Philip of Tralles; and the proconsul was Statius Quadratus—but the ruling monarch was Jesus Christ, who reigns for ever and ever.—and from a reference in Aelius Aristides (on which see Wadding, ­Memoire sur la Chronologie de la Vie du Rhetur­, Paris, 1864), Quadratus became proconsul of Asia in 153-154, and February 23 fell on a Saturday in 155. It is therefore suggested that February 23, 155 was in fact the date that he was burned alive in the public arena at Smyrna.

 

The irons with which the pyre was equipped were fastened round him; but when they proposed to nail him as well, he said, ‘Let me be; He who gives me strength to endure the flames will give me strength not to flinch at the stake, without your making sure of it with nails’. So they left out the nailing, and tied him instead. Bound like that, with his hands behind him, he was like a noble ram taken out of some great flock for sacrifice: a goodly burnt-offering all ready for God. Then he cast his eyes up to heaven and said: ‘O Lord God Almighty, Father of thy blessed and beloved Son Jesus Christ, through whom we have been given knowledge of thyself; Thou art the God of angels and powers, of the whole creation, and of all the generations of the righteous who live in thy sight. I bless thee for granting me this day and hour, that I may be numbered amongst the martyrs, to share the cup of thine Anointed and to rise again unto life everlasting, both in body and soul, in the immortality of the Holy Spirit. May I be received among them this day in thy presence, a sacrifice rich and acceptable, even as thou didst appoint and foreshow, and dost now bring it to pass, for thou art the God of truth and in thee is no falsehood. For this, and for all else besides, I praise thee, I bless thee, I glorify thee; through our eternal High Priest in heaven, thy beloved Son Jesus Christ, by whom and with whom be glory to thee and the Holy Ghost, now and for all ages to come. Amen’. As the amen soared up and the prayer ended, the men at the fire set their lights to it, and a great sheet of flame blazed out. And then we who were privileged to witness it saw a wondrous sight; and we have been spared to tell it to the rest of you. The fire took the shape of a hollow chamber, like a ship’s sail when the wind fills it, and formed a wall round about the martyr’s figure; and there was he in the center of it, not like a human being in flames but like the loaf baking in the oven, or like a gold or silver ingot being refined in the furnace. And we became aware of a delicious fragrance, like the odor of incense or other precious gums. Finally, when they realized that his body could not be destroyed by fire, the ruffians ordered one of the dagger-men to go up and stab him with his weapon. As he did so, there flew out a dove,\fn{The emblem of a departing Christian soul; but this may be a later addition to the text; Eusebius says nothing about it.} together with such a copious rush of blood that the flames were extinguished; and this filled all the spectators with awe, to see the greatness of the difference that separates unbelievers from the elect of God.

 

     The question of date, however, is complicated by the statement in the letter that the day of the martyrdom was a Great Sabbath. This may mean the Jewish feast of Purim—but Purim in 155AD was not celebrated on February 23. Turner (­Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica­ II, 1890, 105-155) has argued that Purim, February 22, 156, is the real date of the martyrdom, and that the Roman reckoning which regards Xanthicus 2 as equivalent to February 23 is a mistake due to neglect to consider fully the complicated system of intercalation in the Asian calendar. Schwardtz (in ­Abhandlungen der Koniglichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Gottingen­ VIII, 1905, 6, 125ff) has argued that the Great Sabbath can only mean the Sabbath after the Passover, and that owing to the local customs of the Jews in Smyrna this was on February 22 in the year 156 (thus reaching the same result as Turner, but by a different method). More recently, Gregoire & Orgels [“La Veritable Date du Martyre de Polycarpe (23 Fevr. 177) et le ­Corpus Polycarpianum­” in ­Analecta Bollandiana­ LXIX, 1951, 1-38] has argued for a much later date; but this is much contested (so ODC; who, however, reports Turner as defending February 23, 155 in the above reference: H).

 

[TAF, 309-311; ECW, 153, 160-161; ODC, 1088]

 

226. The Received Letter of Peter to the Exiles of the Dispersion

 

     This letter (whose title here is stated in its first sentence) was written to Gentile converts (­I Peter­ 1:14, 2:10, 4:3:—(As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance. ... Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy. ... Let the time that is past suffice for doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry.)—in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, i.e., all lands in what is now Asia Minor, who were undergoing persecution for having departed from their former paganism. The letter was apparently written from Rome (from the mention at 5:13a of Babylon, a cryptic name for Rome mentioned especially in the ­Received Apocalypse of John­:—(She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings.). It was perhaps written after the outbreak of the Neronian persecution of Christians in 64AD, begun by Nero who sought to scapegoat them for the great fire that destroyed much of Rome between July 18-24, 64.

 

     A number of scholars, however, have found it impossible to accept the tradition that the apostle Peter was the actual author of this letter, and in fact its Petrine authorship has often been questioned.

 

1. It appears that at least two sections of ­I Peter­ appear to reflect (if not expand) ­Pauline­ teaching set out in Romans­ and ­Ephesians­. They are ­I Peter­ 2:6-8 (compare the underscored there with that in ­Romans­ 9:32-33)—

 

(For it stands in scripture: “­Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone­, a cornerstone chosen and precious, ­and he who believes in him will not be put to shame­.” To you therefore who believe, he is precious, but for those who do not believe, “The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner,” and “­A stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall­”; for they stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.) … (Why? Because they did not persue it thru faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over a stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall; and he who believes in him will not be put to shame.)

 

—and I Peter 3:1-7 (compare the underscored there with that in Ephesians 5:22-28).

 

(Likewise you wives, be submissive to your husbands, so that some, though they do not obey the word, may be won without a word by the behaviour of their wives, when they see your reverent and chaste behaviour. Let not yours be the outward adorning with braiding of hair, decoration of gold, and wearing of robes, but let it be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable jewel of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious. So once the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves and were submissive to their husbands, as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. And you are now her children if you do right and let nothing terrify you. Likewise you husbands, live considerately with your wives, bestowing honor on the woman as the weaker sex, since you are joint heirs of the grace of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered.) … (Wives, be subject to your husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the Church, his body, and is himself its Saviour. As the church is subject to Christ, so let wives also be subject in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Even so husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.)

 

2. The letter itself is written in excellent Greek; but at least two passages from the Received Text (Matthew 26:73—(After a little while the bystanders came up and said to Peter, “Certainly you are also one of them, for your accent betrays you.”) and Acts 4:13—(Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they wondered; and they recognized that they had been with Jesus)—clearly state that Peter’s native language was probably Aramaic—the lingua franca of Northern Galilee, where all the apostles but Judas came from; and also that he was an uneducated man.

     It may well be, therefore, that Peter stands in the background as the author of this letter, but that the actual composition of the document was entrusted to silvanus (underscored in I Peter 5:12—(By Silvanus, a faithful brother as I regard him, I have written briefly to you, exhorting and declaring that this is the true grace of God; stand fast in it.)

 

     Silvanus is well known in the Received tradition (witness II Corinthians 1:19—(For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who we preached among you, Silvanus and timothy and I, was not yes and No; but in him it is always Yes.)—I Thessalonians I:1 (Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Faither and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.)—and II Thessalonians I:1—(Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, in God our Father and the Lord Jesus ChristJ).

 

3. This is the opinion of the ENC, which notes that I Peter was perhaps composed c.60AD in the large Jewish community of Babylon, not by Peter directly—its Greek and use of the Septuagint are too excellent for the mind of an uneducated fisherman—but by his assistant, Silvanus, under his guidance.

 

     External evidence for ascribing it to Peter goes back to Irenaeus of Lyons (Against All Heresies IV.xix.1; and Clement of Alexandria (Stromatesis III.18).

 

4. ODC provisionally assumes a code in operation, identifying Rome with Babylon as to the provenance of the letter (if this is the city referred to in I Peter 5:13 as “Babylon”), and sent to all the lands in what is now Asia Minor, to encourage them under persecution. If tradition is correct in attributing it to Peter, its terminus ad quem is the date of his death (probably c.65AD). Its Petrine authorship, however has often been question: (a) on the grounds that its literary style is not that of a Galilean fisherman; (b) that passages in the letter reflect Pauline teaching; and (c) that persecution of the church in Asia Minor at so early a date is otherwise unattested. These objections, however, are far from conclusive and critical opinion is still in the balance.

 

[OAB, 1472; ODC, 1051; ENC, XVII, 742-743]

 

227. The Received Letter of Peter to Those Who Have Obtained a Faith of Understanding Equal to That of Christianity

 

     The tradition that this letter is the work of the apostle Peter was questioned in early times, and internal indications are almost decisive against it.

 

1. The author of II Peter refers to all the letters of Paul (3:15-16—So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.)—in a way that presupposes not only that they had been officially collected and he had accesss to such a collection, but also that they were regarded as equal to “the other scriptures”—conditions which did not obtain in Peter’s lifetime. Knowledge of a collection of Pauline letters does, however, point to the beginning of the 2nd century.

 

2. As may be seen, II Peter 2:1-18 is clearly dependent upon Jude 1:4-16 (written c.80AD—so OAB; the close of the Apostolic age, perhaps before the destruction of Jereusalem in 70AD, which is not mentioned among the calamities in 1:5-7—so ODC)—and this would take it completely out of the lifetime of Peter, who probably perished with Paul in Rome during the Neronian persecution of 64AD.

 

     Note the underscored portions in both Jude 1:4-16 and II Peter 2:1-18, which follows Jude:

 

For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.\fn{Or: the only master and our Lord Jesus Christ}. Now I desire to remind you, though you were once for all fully informed, that he\fn{Other ancient authorities read: Jesus, or the Lord, or God} who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels that did not keep their own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day; just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet in like manner these men in their dreamings defile the flesh, reject authority, and revile the glorious ones.\fn{Greek: glories} But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, disputed about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a reviling judgment upon him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”\fn{According to ODC (p. 70) this appears to be a passage from the Assumption of Moses} But these men revile whatever they do not understand, and by those things that they know by instinct as irratioinal animals do, they are destroyed. Woe to them! For they walk in the way of Cain, and abandon themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error, and perish in Korah’s rebellion. These are blemishes\fn{Or: reefs} on your love feasts, as they boldly carouse together, looking after themselves, waterless clouds, carried along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved for ever. It was of these also that Enoch in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”\fn{According to the ODC (pp. 750, 453) this appears to be a passage from the Ethiopic Book of Enoch (= I Enoch); and ANT (p. 1490) agrees, giving the passage as I Enoch 1:9} These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own passions, loud-mouthed boasters, flattering people to gain advantage.

 

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who brought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their licentiousness, and because of them the way of truth will be reviled. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words; from of old their condemnation has not been idle, and their destruction has not been asleep. For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell\fn{Greek: Tartarus} and committed them to pits of nether gloom to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare their ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven other persons, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction and made them an example to those who were to be ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the wicked (for by what that righteous man saw and heard as he lived among them, he was vexed in his righteous soul day after day with their lawless deeds), then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they are not afraid to revile the glorious ones, whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a reviling judgment upon them before the Lord. But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed, reviling in matters of which they are ignorant, wil be destroyed in the same destruction with them, suffering wrong for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their dissipation,\fn{Other ancient authorities read: love feasts} carousing with you. They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unstady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way they have gone astray; they have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a dumb ass spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness. These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the nether gloom of darkness has been reserved. For, uttering loud boasts of folly, they entice with licentious passions of the flesh men who have barely escaped from those who live in error.

 

     Most scholars therefore regard the letter as the work of one who was deeply indebted to Peter and who published II Peter under his master’s name early in the second century. In this connection, OAB says, the following considerations should be borne in mind. (a) In antiquity pseudonymous authorship was a widely accepted literary convention. Therefore the use of an apostle’s name in reasserting his teachings was not regarded as dishonest but merely a way of reminding the church of what it has received from God through that apostle. (b) The authority of New Testament books is dependent, not upon their human authorship, but upon their intrinsic significance, which the church, under the guidance of the Spirit, has recognized as the authentic voice of apostolic teaching. For this reason therefore, what is traditionally known as the Second Letter of Peter was included in the canon of Scripture.

 

3. The passage at 3:3 and following, dealing with the delay of the Second Coming—(First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own passions and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of creation.” … The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.)—presupposes that the first generation of Christians had passed away. This denial of the Second Coming began towards the end of the 1st century and at the beginning of the 2nd.

 

4. The letter also has some close points of literary contact with the Apocalypse of Peter (which did not come into existence until the early 2nd century.

 

5. The letter is not quoted by any author in the 2nd century. It is only first definitely referred to by Origin of Alexandria (d.254) in Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History VI:xv.8) in the 3rd century, and he writes of it as of disputed authenticity.

 

6. The writer uses all sorts of typically Hellenistic ideas (e.g., “virtue” of God, 1:3; virtue connected with faith, 1:5; gnosis and epignosis, 1:2, 1:3, 1:6, 1:8, 2:20, 3:18; “partakers of the Divine nature”, 1:4; and epopts, “eyewitnesses”, an expression of the mystery-religions, 1:16).

 

7. The Syrian church has not accepted its presumed authenticity.

 

[OAB, 1478; ODC, 1050-1051; ENC, XVII, 743]

 

228. The Letter of Peter to Philip

 

     This tractate received its title from its opening sentence:—(Peter the apostle of Jesus Christ, to Philip our beloved brother and our fellow apostle and to the brethren who are with you).

 

     But only at the very beginning of the weork does Philip play a significant role: throughout the body of the work it is Peter who is the apparent leader of the apostles. The opening and clsing sections of the document, particularly the narrative materials, have important parallels to the Received New Testament, especially the Received Acts.

 

     The appearance of the risen Christ as a light or a voice is common in Gnostic texts, but it also occurs in the Received New Testament at the transfiguration scene in the Received gospels, the conversion of Paul in the Received Acts, and the apocalyptic appearance to John in the received apocalypse.

 

     The letter is a document with a clearly Christian-Gnostic message: it is Christ who is the heavenly redeemer, the Pleroma, the light from the Father, the illuminator; and like Jesus, the discples are also to become illuminators in the midst of dead men. It was written perhaps in the late 2nd century, or during the 3rd century.

 

[NAG, 394]

 

229. The Letter of Peter to James

 

     The Letter of Peter to James is found prefixed with one allegedly from Clement to James, to the Homilies of Clement (a major portion of the so-called Clementine Literature). In dating the letter, two facts appear to have been uncovered: (a) that this letter contains Jewish-Christian elements; and (b) that at least one of these elements ties it closely to the Recognitions of Clement.

 

     1. Chapter 4 of the letter—an adjuration concerning the receivers of the book—has some points of contact with the baptismal forms given by Hippolytus (Refutation of All Heresies IX.13-17 and X.29), as those of the Elkesaites (a Jewish-Christian sects which arose c.100AD in the country east of the Jordan River: the Ebionites were of similar beliefs).

     

     2. In the Recognitions of Clement XLV-XLVII, the references to oil, particularly the connection of anointing with baptism, have been regarded since the discovery of the full text of Hippolytus as showing traces of a relationship to the system of the Elkesaites.

 

     3. In addition, the sentence in chapter 2 of the letter—(For some from among the Gentiles have rejected my legal preaching, attaching themselves to certain lawless and trifling preaching of the man who is my enemy)—is one of the strongest anti-Pauline insinuations in the entire Clementine literature.

 

     It is all the more curious then, that Rufinus of Aquileia (c.345-410) makes no allusion to this letter in his preface to the Recognitions section of his epitome of the Homilies and Recognitions of Clement. Perhaps he chose to delete the document in view of its unorthodox character. It may also be that here we have to do with the survival of one of a pair of letters, the one designed to introduce the Recognitions, the other to account for the late appearance of the Homilies (which nevertheless displays within the Recognitioins the knowledge of a common source in the use of Hippolytus’ work): It has even been suggested that the addition of the letter helped convert the single (though still lost) writing common to both the Homilies and the Recognitions into a constituent part of a Petrine, anti-Pauline tradition.

 

     However that may be, the form in which this work has taken—the letter form—must be regarded in itself as a literary stratagem on the part of its author.

 

     As to who the author was, the intimate association between the letter and the two main documents of the Clementine literature has inclined critical opinion to identify him with the author of the Teaching of Peter (identified by some as the writing common to the authors of both the Homilies and Recognitions; for the Clementines, as we have them, are a secondary witness to a common Greek original, the outlines of which may be traced (so Strecker, NTA, II, 102-127) through three basic levels: (1) The Letter of Peter to James and the Letter of Clement to James; (2) Homilies II.15.2-3; II.16-17; II.38; II.43-44; III.17.1,20-21; III.22.1-2; III.23; III.26; III.47; III.48-52; IX.19;  XI.25-33 (which Strecker further identifiew as Essenic in origin); XVII.13, 16-19; and (3) Recognitions II-III; IV-VII; and VIII-X (which Strecker further identifies as Ebionitic adaptations of what has previously occurred in the Homilies). 

 

     As to the origins of the Teaching of Peter, its beginnings have to do with the conflict of the early church against Marcion (d.c.160), and they seek to defend early church traditions. With these traditions it associates Essenic ideas. Additionally, it is alleged that in the Teaching are literary units which lie still farther back: (1) a commentary of Symmachus (later 2nd century) on the Gospel of the Ebionites; and (2) an Ebionitic Acts of the Apostles, which combined with a narrative of the occurrences in Jerusalem according to Recognitions I.27-72; (3) a Jewish-Christian description of the conversion of Paul; (4) and other anti-Pauline matereial. In this way it was claimed that there is a close connection between the Clementine literature and early Christianity.

 

     If Wilson is correct (ANF,VIII,215) and the purpose of this letter is to introduce the Homilies (or, rather, the Teaching of Peter embedded in the Homilies as we now have them, and further elaborated in the Recognitions), we must think in terms of a tradition approximating the time of the creation of the Teaching of Peter. This would be c.200AD

 

[ANF, VIII, 215-217; NTA, II, 94, 105-106, 534-535]

 

230. A Fragment of a Letter of Peter

 

     Opotatus of Milevis (Against Parmenian the Donatist I.5) writes:—(Since we have read in the letter of the apostle Peter: “Judge not your brother according to prejudice”)

 

     Harnack (Geschichte der altchristlichen literature, 1958 I.2, 788) conjectures that Optatus combined James 2:1—(My brethren, show no partiality as you hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.)—and 4:11—(Do not speak evil against one another, brethren. He that speaks evil against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.)—and then erroneously attributed this saying to Peter.

 

     But it is also possible that we are concerned here with a citation from some lost apocryphon of Peter about which we can say nothing at all.

 

[NTA, II, 91]

 

231. The Letter of Ignatius to the Ephesians 232. The Letter of Ignatius to the Philadelphians 233. The Letter of Ignatius to the Magnesians 234. The Letter of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans 235. The Letter of Ignatius to the Antiochenes 236. The Letter of Ignatius to the Philippians 237. The Letter of Ignatius to the Trallians 238. The Letter of Ignatius to the Tarsians 239. The Letter of Ignatius to the Romans 240. The Letter of Ignatius to Hero 241. The Prayer of Hero 242. The Letter of Ignatius to Polycarp 243. The Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians 244. Fragments of Various Letters of Polycarp 245. The Letter of Ignatius to Mary, the Mother of Jesus 246. The Letter of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, to Ignatius 247. The First Letter of Ignatius to John 248. The Second Letter of Ignatius to John 249. The Letter of Mary of Cassobelae to Ignatius 250. The Letter of Ignatius to Mary of Cassobelae 251. A Fragment of a Letter of Ignatius

 

A General Introduction to Items 231-251: Ignatius/Hero/Polycarp

 

     There are altogether 21 items which may properly belong to this category, 18 bearing the name of Ignatius of Antioch (who, according to Origen of Alexandria, was appointed to his see by the apostle Peter—hence his inclusion at this point in the table of contents); (1) as the product of his apparent deacon and successor, Hero of Antioch; and (2) as the products of Polycarp of Smyrna (with whom Ignatius was on intimate terms; and who, in his own right, according to Irenaeus of Lyons, had intercourse with John and with the rest of those who had seen the Lord). Since 1885, with the appearance of the decisive work in the field, (Lightfoot, ­Ignatius­, 2 vols. in 3, 1885; 2nd ed., 1889) it has been generally accepted that 11 out of 18 of the letters attributed to Ignatius are spurious—i.e., they are not the creations of the people whose names they bear, though in not a few cases they expostulate similar doctrines. [The assignment of pseudonymous authorship (in order to gain an audience for works which otherwise might not achieve popularity and with it widespread circulation) was a common practice in the ancient world. Lightfoot also decided against the authenticity of item 241 and largely against 244; but pronounced in favor of 243.]

 

     The basis for the creation of this entire correspondence was an historical event (so Polycarp of Smyrna, d.c.155, Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians­ 9,11; Irenaeus of Lyons, d.c.220, ­Against All Heresies­ V:xxviii; Origen of Alexandria, d.c.254, ­Homily VI on Luke­; Eusebius of Caesarea, d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxii.22,36 & Chronicon­)—the martyrdom of the Christian bishop Ignatius Theophorus, of the city of Antioch in Syria, at the hands of the Roman authorities in the Colosseum in Rome, where he was torn apart and devoured by wild beasts before mobs of screaming pagans during the tenth year of the emperor Trajan (107AD, so Eusebius of Caesarea in his ­Chronicon­)—for only the harder portions of his holy remains were left­ states one of the five surviving accounts of his martyrdom. Arrested and condemned by the pagan authorities at Antioch, he was taken overland under a guard of ten soldiers through the Roman province of Asia, to be welcomed by groups of Christians from the churches at Philadelphia and Smyrna (which were on his route) and to be honored by delegates sent to Smyrna by the nearby churches at Tralles, Magnesia, and Ephesus. From Smyrna, he wrote letters of exhortation and instruction to the churches of Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles and Rome (the last to prepare its members for his coming and to urge them to make no efforts to procure his release). The leading bishops of Roman Asia, Onesimus of Ephesus and Polycarp of Smyrna, were active in cheering him on his way, and with an Ephesian deacon named Burrhus did all they could to help him with his correspondence (for, as Ignatius seems to have written nothing enduring in the course of an apparently very long episcopate before reaching Smyrna, or after parting with Burrhus at Troas, it seems likely that he wrote largely at their request). Hurried on by his guards to Troas, but still accompanied by the faithful Burrhus, he wrote from that port of embarkation letters to the Philadelphians, to the Smyrnaeans, and to Polycarp. He told Polycarp that though he had intended to write to all the churches he could not do so because he was suddenly sailing from Troas to Neapolis; therefore Polycarp was to write to the churches ahead. From Troas he was probably taken to Neapolis and Philippi; and from there through Macedonia and Illyria to Dyrrhachium, where he would be embarked for Italy. For his own part, Polycarp did not actually write to the Philippians until Ignatius had already passed through Philippi; and it was at that point that he sent them the Ignatian letters to which he refers in his letter to the Philippians. Presumably his collection included copies of the four letters sent from Smyrna, and the two which he and the Smyrnaeans had received from Ignatias while Ignatius was at Troas. He himself says in Polycarp Philippians­ 13:2 that we have sent you, as you asked, the letters of Ignatius, those sent us by him and the others which we had with us. They are attached to this letter, and you will be able to derive great benefit from them. (It is perhaps this rather generalized statement of Polycarp that allowed forgeries to be made under the name of Ignatius of Antioch: H)

 

     The statement by John Malalas (6th century) that Ignatius was martyred at Antioch is wholly without warrant. Similarly, scholars have sometimes supposed that Ignatius himself belongs to a later period, such as during the reign of Hadrian (117-135); but the grounds for this theory lie chiefly in a notion of the development of Christian faith and order, for which there is no evidence. The problem is partly caused by Eusebius—he does not say how he knows that Ignatius died in 107AD—and partly also by the letters themselves, the only date in which is that in Ignatius Romans­—though this is also not of much aid, because it gives the 9th day before the ­kalends­ of September (August 24), but no year. Origen of Alexandria says that Ignatius was the second bishop of Antioch (after the apostle Peter); but this does not help very much, except to suggest that he did not live long past the beginning of the 2nd century; and to further compound the problem, Eusebius of Caesarea makes him the ­third­ bishop of Antioch, after Peter’s appointee, Euodias, c.69AD. The conventional date assigned by most modern historians—in the reign of Trajan, between 110-117—is rather likely to be correct.

 

     The authentic letters of Ignatius—hereafter referred to either as the Eusebian letters or simply as the autographs—are first mentioned by Origen of Alexandria (who has left us two quotations from them); and they are otherwise referred to by Athanasius of Alexandria (d.373), Jerome of Strido (d.420), Theodoret of Cyrrhus (d.c.458), and one Gelasius (but GEF does not further identify this man).

 

     The letters by or attributed to Ignatius are extant, in whole or in part, in three recensions.

 

1. THE LONG RECENSION. The most widely found recension of Ignatian correspondence, the so-called Long Recension—nearly all of whose surviving manuscripts appear to be of Burgundian provenance—contains not only the seven letters of which Eusebius speaks, but also six others attributed to Ignatius of Antioch; or, put another way, all the known manuscripts of the Ignatian letters which contain the Ignatian autographs belong in some degree to the Long Recension. They are concerned with or emanate from the following areas: (a) from Antioch—a letter from Mary of Cassobelae to Ignatius, and a letter from him in reply; (b) from Smyrna—letters to Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, and Rome; (c) from Troas—letters to Philadelphia, Smyrna, and to Polycarp; (d) from Philippi—letters to Tarsus, Antioch, and to Hero; and (e) from Italy--a letter to Philippi. In addition, a manuscript of the Long Recension made by Robert Grossteste, bishop of Lincoln, contains an appendix in which are to be found four other letters alleged to be by Ignatius: two from him to John the Evangelist, and an exchange of one each between him and one Mary of Cassobelae.

 

     Until 1644, the Long Recension of the Ignatian correspondence was the only recension known to exist, and its authenticity was defended ­in toto­ by older Roman Catholic scholars, only to be as vehemently rejected by anti-episcopalian Protestant critics. In that year, the then archbishop of Armagh (1625-1656), James Ussher, observed that Ignatian quotations in Medieval English authors differed from the versions printed in the Long Recension then current (and itself first printed in 1498), but did agree with the quotations as reported by the Fathers noted above. He deduced from this two things: (a) that the current text of the autographs was interpolated; and (b) that the original (i.e., the authentic) text of the autographs was probably to be found in England; but before we continue with this part of the story, a further word about the Short Recension.

 

2. THE SHORT RECENSION. It was early seen that the Long Recension contained several letters which were clearly not genuine; and also that those which had the most claim to acceptance as autographs of Ignatius—the seven mentioned by Eusebius—had been greatly corrupted by obvious interpolations. Fortunately the remnants of an early collection of Ignatian letters have been found which originally contained only the seven letters mentioned by Eusebius (though they have also attached a short form of the Long Recension of the non-autographs).

 

     The text of this recension—known as the Short Recension—is nowhere extant in a pure form (all the known manuscripts of Ignatian letters which contain the seven Eusebian letters belonging in some degree to the Long Recension). This degree, however varies, possessing (a) manuscripts which contain the additional letters of the Long Recension, but which preserve an uninterpolated text of the seven Eusebian letters; or (b) manuscripts which contain the additional letters and the interpolated­ text of the Eusebian letters.

 

     From an examination of these manuscripts, it is possible to conclude that (1) class (b) members are genuine manuscripts of the Long Recension; and (2) that class (a) members are manuscripts of the Short Recension copied from originals containing only the Eusebian autographs, to which the copyists ­themselves­ supplied the additional material of the Long Recension from some other original, but luckily without interpolating the text of the seven Eusebian autographs.

 

     Having, therefore, the information of Eusebius to define the extent of the original collection of letters (the autographs, those actually written by the bishop of Antioch), class (a) of the manuscripts of the Short Recension can be used to determine their correct text.

 

3. THE SYRIAC ABRIDGMENT. In 1845, Dr. William Cureton, Curator of the Department of Syriac at the British Museum, discovered a Syriac text of a collection of three Eusebian letters (­Ignatius/Ephesians­, Ignatius/Romans­, ­Polycarp­); he himself declared them to be the only true and authentic letters of Ignatius of Antioch; and there was for a time a tendency in modern scholarship to think that these Syriac epistles might actually contain their authentic text. Joseph Lightfoot, however, in 1885 the bishop of Durham, and others, demonstrated these letters to be merely abridgements from a Syriac text of the Short Recension. It has therefore more or less disappeared from the field of study, except as evidence for the text of the Short Recension (in the same way as the Long Recension is only valuable for the light which the interpolations it contains throws on the doctrinal development of Christianity); and in a few places as a help in reconstructing here and there the true text where the previously extant text of the Short Recension has been corrupted. [In should perhaps be mentioned in passing that Lightfoot and some other scholars refer to the Syriac material as the Short Recension, and call the Middle Recension that which the overwhelming majority of scholarship refers to as the Short Recension.]

 

     We may now continue with the history of the discovery of the text of the Short Recension. It is worth mentioning, though, that it is here only possible to give it in outline. In the early Middle Ages, the Long Recension was generally current, and in the West this included the correspondence between Ignatius and the Virgin Mary and John. This last addition was soon rejected as a forgery, but until the time of Ussher only the Long Recension was known, though its genuineness was often doubted. In 1644 Ussher published an edition of the Ignatian autographs, in which he restored the text of the Short Recension by the aid of a Latin version made in 1250 by Robert Grossteste (bishop of Lincoln) from a now lost Greek original which belonged to the Long Recension tradition, but which had also in it the uninterpolated text of the Eusebian letters. [In addition, he discovered two Latin manuscripts (codices Magdalensis 76 and Caiensis 395, for which see II, below) which contained texts that agreed exactly with quotations from the seven autographs as reported by Eusebius, Theodoret, and other the Fathers of the 4th to the 6th centuries AD.] In 1646 Isaac Vossius published a Greek text of the Short Recension from Codex ­Medicea Laurenziana­ LXII.7 at Florence (which is, however, not complete and omits Ignatius/Romans­). This deficiency was supplied in 1689 by Ruinart in his ­Acta Primorum Martyrm Sincera et Selecta­, from a Paris manuscript (­Paris Graecae­ 1451) of the 10th century.

 

     In 1783 an Armenian version of the Short Recension was published in Constantinople by bishop Minas from five Armenian manuscripts, some of them not now extant; and this was reprinted and translated by Petermann in 1849. It is not a version made directly from the Greek, but from a lost Syriac version; of which, however, some fragments were published in 1849 in Cureton’s ­Corpus Ignatianum­, and some more by Lightfoot (­Ignatius­, 2nd ed., 1889).

 

     In 1883 Ciasca, and in 1885 Lightfoot (­Ignatius­, 1st ed., 1885) published a Coptic (Sahidic dialect) fragment containing part of ­Smyrnaeans­, from ­Manuscript Borg­. in the Museo Nazionale at Naples. Finally, in 1910, a papyrus fragment of the 5th century (­Berlin Papyrus­ 10581) of ­Smyrnaeans­ 3:3-12:1 was published by Schmidt and Schaubert in their ­Altchristliche Texte­ (­Berliner Klassikertexte, Hist­. VI).

 

     In addition to these forms, there is also extant an Arabic form, consisting of (1) two quotations from Smyrnaeans­ and ­Antiochenes­; and (2) a fragment from apparently an otherwise unknown portion of the Ignatian correspondence. An Ethiopic interpolated translation of (2), above, is also known.

 

     A text based on these sources may be regarded as fairly accurate.

 

*

 

     The history of the Ignatian letters in Western Europe, before and after the revival of learning there, is full of interest, particularly because, in the Middle Ages, it was the ­non­-autographs and the ­interpolated­ autographs, taken together, which ­alone­ had any wide circulation. We now proceed to a five-part general discussion of this phenomena.

 

I

 

     Mention has been made of the alleged correspondence obtaining between Ignatius, John the Evangelist, and the mother of Jesus. This consists of four brief letters: (1) a letter from Ignatius to John, describing the interest aroused in himself and others by the accounts which they have received concerning the marvelous devotion and love of the Virgin; (2) another from Ignatius to John, expressing Ignatius’ earnest desire to visit Jerusalem for the sake of seeing the Virgin, together with James, the Lord’s brother, and other saints; (3) a letter from Ignatius to Mary, asking her to send him a word of assurance and exhortation; and (4) a reply from Mary to Ignatius, confirming the truth of all that John had taught him, and urging him to be steadfast in the faith. This seems to be the correct order of the letters, as it preserves a proper climax, and is to be found in codices Magdalensis 76 and Caiensis 395, mentioned above; on the other hand, the order is reversed in codices Lincolnensis 101 and Laudianus Miscelensis 141, which were discovered after Ussher’s time.

 

     These letters are found only in Latin, and internal evidence seems to demonstrate that this was their original language. [Cotelier states (­On Philadelphians­ 14) that he read in a catalogue of manuscripts belonging to the church of Saint Peter at Beauvais the entry ­Epistolae duae aut tres B. Ignatii martyris ad B. Mariam virginem et ad S. Johannem Evangelistam, quae inventae sunt Lugduni, tempore concilii Innocentii Papae IV, et de Graeco in Latinum conversae­; but Lightfoot says that he is unable to say what foundation in fact this statement may have. The council referred to was held in Lyons in 1245; some special honors were conferred on Mary by it; and contemporary accounts of it—entitled ­Brevis nota eorum quae in primo concilio Lugdunensi Generali gesta sunt—appear in the ­Chronica Majora­ by Matthew Paris (1259AD, of which the ODC says its later pages are his own careful narration of contemporary events and which was published in modern times by Luard (­Matthaei Parisiensis Chronica Majora­, “Rolls Series,” 7 vols., 1872-1883).] As the motive is obviously the desire to do honor to Mary, we are naturally led to connect this forgery with the outburst of Mariolatry, which marked the 11th and following centuries. The workmanship is coarse and clumsy, and could only have escaped detection in an uncritical age.

 

     Indeed, during the Middle Ages the writer succeeded in his aim; for the manuscripts of this correspondence far exceed even those of the Long Recension in number, and the quotations are decidedly more frequent. In some quarters, Ignatius of Antioch was known only through them, the other letters not being possessed of sufficient interest for the age, and therefore gradually passing out of mind. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) himself vouches for their authenticity (­In Psalm XC Serem­. VII.3,4)—(That great Ignatius, the scholar of the disciple whom Jesus loved, our martyr with whose precious reliques our poverty hath been enriched, saluteth a certain Mary in several epistles which he wrote to her, as Christ-bearer. Truly an exceptional title of dignity and a commendation of exceeding honor. For the carrying of Him, to be whose slave is to be a king, is not onerous, but honorable.)—and his authority swayed the judgment of critics for some time after the revival of learning. The passage of Bernard sometimes accompanies the correspondence in their manuscripts, for the purpose of recommending it to the reader.

 

II

 

     After these letters have been set aside, Ignatius was represented in Western Europe by the letters of the Long Recension. Latin manuscripts of this recension are by no means uncommon, the Latin text being printed first (1498), the Greek text of them some sixty years later (1557). At first no doubt appears to have been entertained respecting the genuineness of the entire collection. Ignatius was certainly cited by the ancients, and this was the only Ignatius known (Ignatius Loyola, today perhaps the better known of the two, having been born only in 1491 or 1495, and canonized in 1622; and the other saints of that name invariably Easterns of strictly local interest).

 

     Yet the very suspicious character of even the interpolated Eusebian letters as reported in the Long Recension caused uneasiness to the critical spirit.

 

1. The divergence of the text from the quotations in early Christian writers, such as Eusebius and Theodoret, were in some instances so great that, as Ussher said, it was difficult for one to imagine eundem legere se Ignatium qui veterum aetate legebatur.

 

2. Moreover, it appeared clear that Eusebius was only acquainted with seven letters—those to Polycarp, the Ephesians, the Magnesians, the Trallians, the Romans, the Smyrnaeans and the Philadelphians—and that those besides the seven mentioned by him were not quoted for many generations after his time (ANF and LIG say not until the 6th century).

 

3. Finally, when early Christian history came to be more carefully studied, even the interpolated letters mentioned by Eusebius [as opposed to the others of the Long Recension—those to Hero, the Philippians, the Tarsians, the Antiochians, and a supposed letter from one Mary of Cassobelae to Ingatius (plus one in reply from him to her)]—were found themselves to contain gross anachronisms and other literary blunders. [The author, for example, condemns the heresies of Basilides of Alexandria (fl.c.125-150) and Theodotus the Gnostic (3rd century) among others, at ­Trallians­ 11—(Do ye also avoid those wicked offshoots of his, Simon his firstborn son, and Menander, and ­Basilides­, and all his wicked mob of followers, the worshippers of a man, whom also the prophet Jeremiah pronounces accursed. Flee also the impure Nicolaiatans, falsely so called, who are lovers of pleasure, and given to calumnious speeches. Avoid also the children of the evil one, ­Theodotus­ and Cleobulus, who produce death-bearing fruit, whereof if any one tastes, he instantly dies, and that not a mere temporary death, but one that shall endure for ever.)—though the opinions of the former were not promulgated during the lifetime of Ignatius, and the latter cannot have flourished till considerably more than 50 years after his death. Similarly, the author also presupposes (by the way in which he reports his information) one Ebion of Transjordan at Philadelphians­ 6—(If any one says there is one God, and also confesses Christ Jesus, but thinks the Lord to be a mere man, and not the only-begotten God, and Wisdom, and the Word of God, and deems Him to consist merely of a soul and body, such an one is a serpent, that preaches deceit and error for the destruction of men. And such a man is poor in understanding, even as by name he is an Ebionite.)—as an individual person; but it is now acknowledged that no such individual existed, and that the name was a designation adopted by the members of a sect or community generally.]

 

     It was archbishop Ussher of Armagh who first observed (1644) that the quotations of Ignatius' autographs found in certain English writers from the 13th century onward agreed with those of the ancients; and he further divined that in England, if anywhere, copies of the original form of these letters would be found. He made search accordingly, and discovered two Latin manuscripts--Codex Magdalensis 76 and Codex Caiensis 395--which contained a text in which the Long Recension was obviously an expansion of the Short, but which agreed exactly with the quotations of the authentic letters as stated by Eusebius, Theodoret of Cyrrhus (c.393-c.458), and others. After this discovery, there could be no doubt that this particular Latin translation represented the Ignatius known to the Fathers of the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries; and indeed, the original Greek was soon recovered--by Vossius in 1646 for all the autographs except for ­Ignatius Romans­, in a Florentine manuscript, ­Medicea Laurenziana­ LXII.7; and by Ruinart in 1689 for ­Ignatius Romans­ in his Acta Primorum Martyrum Sincera et Select­, a collection to which, the ODC says, he admitted only those acta­ of the martyrs which seemed to him authentic, though some of its contents are no longer regarded as genuine today.

 

III

 

In considering the relationship between the seven (Ignatian autographs) and the six (spurious letters attributed to Ignatius) of the Long Recension, three questions have to be answered. (1) Are we justified in believing that the non-autograph materials were nevertheless part of the Long Recension: i.e., is the resemblance of these extra six letters of the Long Recension sufficiently close to the (interpolated but otherwise genuine) seven autograph letters to justify an assumption that they are ­all­ by the same author? (2) Does the external evidence outside the Long Recension—the phenomena of manuscripts and the ­catena­ of quotations from the autographs by the Fathers of the 4th-6th centuries—lead to the same, or to an opposite conclusion? (3) At what date and with what object in view was the Long Recension compiled?

 

A

 

     If we had only internal testimony to guide us, the evidence would even then be overwhelming; for we find, in considering the autographs, the same employment of scriptural texts and examples; the same doctrinal complexion and nomenclature; the same literary plagiarisms; and the same general style and phraseology, which differentiate the Long Recension from the Short.

 

1. While the Short Recension autographs are very sparing of Biblical quotations—indeed, they are not, except in one or two instances, formally cited—the Long Recension autographs abound in them. Even in the passages in the Long Recension autographs which are otherwise copied bodily from the Short Recension, they are interpolated at every possible opportunity; and the portions which are peculiar to the Long Recension—most especially, the doctrinal portions—frequently consist of a string of scriptural passages threaded together by explanatory remarks. Such is the case with ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 9, 10, 13, 15, 17, 18; Igantius Romans­ 3, 8; Magnesians­ 1, 8, 9, 10, 12; Trallians­ 7, 8, 10; ­Philadelphians­ 3, 4, 9; and Smyrnaeans­ 2, 3, 6, 9. It is also to be noted that this feature is reproduced in three of the ­non­-autographs of the Long Recension: ­Tarsians­ 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; ­Antiochenes­ 2, 3, 4, 5; and ­Hero­ 1, 5.

 

2. Allied to this feature is the frequent reference to Scriptural characters, which distinguishes six autographs of the Long Recension—­Ignatius Ephesians­ 6, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15; ­Ignatius Romans­ 4; ­Magnesians­ 3, 10, 12; Trallians­ 5, 7; ­Philadelphians­ 1, 4, 9; ­Smyrnaeans­ 7—and four of the six ­non­-autographs of the Long Recension—­Tarsians­ 2, 3; ­Antiochenes­ 7, 10; ­Hero­ 3, 5; ­Marcosians­ 2, 3, 4. Characteristics of this feature in both the autographs and non-autographs are the prominence given to Stephen the Deacon; a special fondness for coordinating Peter and Paul; and a tendency to bring forward, as occasion requires, the early bishops of Rome and Antioch—Linus, Anacletus, Clement, and Euodius. In addition, it should be noted that the supposed letter of Mary, the mother of Jesus, to Ignatius—in which Ignatius defends the youth of a certain bishop by ransacking the ­Received Old Testament­ for named instances of youthful piety and wisdom (Samuel, Daniel, Jeremiah, Solomon, Josiah)—is really from beginning to end simply an expansion of Magnesians­ 3—(For your part, the becoming thing for you to do is to take no advantage of our bishop’s lack of years, but to show him every possible respect, having regard to the power God has conferred on him. My information is that the sacred clergy themselves never think of presuming on the apparent precocity of his rank; they give precedence to him as a sagacious man of God—or rather, not so much to him as to the Father of Him who is the Bishop of us all, Jesus Christ. So for the honor of Him who loved us, propriety requires an obedience from you that is more than mere lip-service. It is not a question of imposing upon a particular bishop who is there before your eyes, but upon One who is unseen; and in such a case it is not flesh and blood we have to reckon with, but God, who is aware of all our secrets.)

 

3. Of the doctrinal features, it must be said that throughout the 13 letters of the Long Recension the same doctrines are maintained, the same heresies assailed, and the same theological terms employed. In this respect no difference can be traced between the authentic and the non-authentic letters (except the instances of Basilides, Theodotus and Ebion mentioned under II, which are perhaps peculiar to the letters involving them: H).

 

4. The same is true of plagiarisms, though naturally they are more frequent and more obvious in the non-autographs—where the forger was left to himself and an Ignatian coloring was wanted—than in the Long Recension autographs, where the Ignatian substratum was already in his hands. (a) From the ­Apostolic Constitutions­ (which probably came into existence between 350-400) Lightfoot notes (­The Apostolic Fathers­ II:ii.1) at least 45 borrowings on the following pages—725, 727, 736, 739, 742, 743, 744, 745, 746, 750, 751, 752, 756, 758, 760, 761, 766, 771, 777, 784, 785, 786, 787, 789, 790, 791, 792, 794, 796, 797, 800, 801, 802, 807, 808, 809, 823, 824, 826, 828, 830, 831, 832, 846, 848. These filchings extend to both the autograph and the non-autograph materials; indeed, the use made of the ­Apostolic Constitutions­ differs in no wise in the two sets of Ignatian letters. (b) Borrowings from Eusebius himself appear in the autographs (­Magnesians­ 6, 8, 9; ­Trallians­ 9; Phila-delphians­ 1, 6) and in the non-autographs (­Marcosians­ 4; Antiochenes­ 1, 7).

 

5. In style and expression also of the Long Recension, the non-autographs are closely linked with the interpolated portions of the autographs. (a) False teachers are described as dumb dogs (­Antiochenes­ 6|Ephesians­ 7); foxes or fox-like (­Antiochenes­ 6|­Philadelphians­ 6); serpents (­Antiochenes­ 6|Philadelphians­ 6); wolves in sheep-skins (Hero­ 2|­Ignatius Ephesians­ 5, ­Philadelphians­ 2). (b) The same words are met with in the two sets of letters—and here and there are listed 15 separate Greek words (only two of which LIG translates) found in each of the following Ignatian letter-groupings: (—in Antiochenes­ 5|­Trallians­ 6, |Smyrnaeans­ 6); (—in ­Marcosians­ 2|Smyrnaeans­ 6); (— in ­Tarsians­ 2|­Smyrnaeans­ 6); (office in ­Antiochenes­ 8, ­Hero­ 1|­Smyrnaeans­ 6); (— in ­Hero­ 6|Ephesians­ 12, Romans­ 4); (— in Antiochenes­ 4|­Philadelphians­ 6); (— in ­Marcosians­ 4|­Philadelphians­ 4); (— in Tarsians­ 3|Trallians­ 11); (— in ­Hero­ 2|­Magnesians­ 11); (— in Marcosians­ 4|­Philadelphians­ 5, ­Ephesians­ 9); (superfluous in Marcosians­ 5, ­Antiochenes­ 11|­Trallians­ 10); (— in ­Marcosians­ inscription|­Ephesians­ 6, 11); (— in Marcosians­ 2|Magnesians­ 3); (— in ­Antiochenes­ 11|Philadelphians­ 4); (— in ­Marcosians­ inscription, ­Hero­ inscription | Magnesians­ 32, ­Smyrnaeans­ 12, |Ephesians­ 6). (c) There is the recurrence of the same phrases, and four are listed (though not translated) as shared between the following groupings of letters: (— in Antiochenes­ 3|Trallians­ 8); (— in ­Antiochenes­ 4|Philadelphians­ 4); (— in ­Marcosians­ 1|­Philadelphians­ 9); (— in ­Marcosians­ 1|Ignatius Romans­ 7).

 

B

 

     With these results obtained from the examination of the letters themselves, external evidence concerning the letters accords.

 

1. It is true that the non-autographs bearing the name of Ignatius are found attached likewise to the autographs of Ignatius in the collection known as the Short Recension; and it is also true that some of the non-autographs are quoted by Fathers who certainly had before them the Short Recension. Thus externally the Short and the Long Recensions are connected.

 

     These facts have resulted in attempts by some to demonstrate that they were produced by a different hand from the interpolations of the autographs of the Long Recension, on the ground that, being found in connection with both the Short and the Long Recensions, they must in their origin have been distinct from either (so perhaps Pearson (­Vindiciae Epistolarum S. Ignatii­, 1672, 58); and by others (e.g., Cureton, Corpus Ignationem­, 338) to discredit the autographs of the Short Form by suggesting that external evidence is decidedly more favorable to the authenticity of the six non-autographs, then to that of the seven Short-Form autographs, because a double testimony, as it were, is thus borne to them.

 

     The fallacy underlying such inferences is transparent: (a) Though it is true that at a later date the six non-autographs were attached to the seven autographs of the Short Form, there can be no reasonable doubt that in the first half of the 4th century, when Eusebius of Caesarea wrote, this was not the case. (i) Eusebius gives a more than usually full account of the career of Ignatius, whom he describes as still widely known. (ii) His account of the letters is obviously meant to be exhaustive; he even quotes references to them in writers of the generations succeeding Ignatius. Elsewhere in the Fathers (e.g., in the case of Clement of Rome, fl.96AD), when they are acquainted with any non-autograph ascription to an author, they are careful to mention that fact. Here there is nothing of the kind. Eusebius enumerates the seven autographs alone; and of them he speaks without a shadow of misgiving as to their authenticity. (b) The testimony of Theodoret of Cyrrhus (d.c.458), if not so decisive, tends in the same direction: he does not quote beyond the limits of the seven autographs. (c) The same is true of Timothy of Alexandria (d.477), who wrote a few years later; (d) and of Severus of Antioch (d.538), whose literary activity belongs to the earlier decades of the 6th century. The silence of this writer is the more significant, as he quotes largely and widely from the autographs of Ingatius.

 

     Indeed, the tenor of external evidence will be sufficiently plain when it is stated that, whereas the Ignatian autographs are quoted by a fairly continuous series of Greek, Latin and Syriac writers (beginning with Irenaeus of Lyons and Origen of Alexandria in the 2nd and 3rd centuries), not a single quotation from the non-autograph Ignatian letters has been discovered prior to the last decade of the 6th century, at the very earliest.

 

2. Moreover, a comparison of the ­positions­ which the non-autographs occupy with reference to the autographs in the collections of both the Long Recension and the Short Recension reveals plainly the history of their connection with both of these forms; and the clear inference is that in each case of the Short form, a person possessing a collection of the autographs in that form came across a copy of the Long Recension which contained both sets, and set about to supply the defect in his own collection by picking out the missing letters from the Long Recension which he had before him, and adding them to his copy. Where only manuscripts of the Long Recension are concerned, the author/compiler has artfully intermingled them all, so that attention may not be attracted to the spurious nature of some of them.

 

C

 

     Both Ussher (­ibid­., lxxix, cxxviii) and apparently Cureton (­ibid­., 338, 341) have argued that Ignatius/Philippians­ was written at a time later than the five other non-autographs of Ignatius, and by a different hand than those. They give as evidence that (a) ­Ignatius/Philippians­ is missing from both the Latin and Greek copies of the Short Recension; (b) that it stands last in the Armenian copy of the Short Recension; (c) that it is deficient in external evidence as compared with the other five; and (d) that distinctive peculiarities of style have been discerned in it.

 

1. The original position of ­Ignatius Philippians­ in the Long Recension stands immediately before Philadelphians­. Its title in Greek is quite similar in its beginning to that of ­Philadelphians­, and a collector, carelessly turning over the pages and supplying the letters missing from his copy of the Short Recension—of which ­Ignatius Philippians­ is certainly one—might easily be deceived, and notice only one letter (Philadelphians­) which was already in his possession. This very obvious explanation is likewise offered by Zahn (­Ignatius von Antiochen­, Gotha, 1873, 114).

 

2. The position of ­Ignatius Philippians­ in the Armenian collection is the most natural position; for though, as already explained, the chronological arrangement is not observed throughout, still it cannot be a surprise that the last letter which professes to have been written some time after the others should be placed last. Indeed, the mere fact that it is included in the Armenian collection irrespective of position is a strong indication of identity of authorship: for, like the others, this letter was certainly translated into Armenian from Syriac, and therefore must itself have formed part of the Syriac collection. Finally, if the opinion which competent judges pronounce respecting the comparatively early date of the Armenian version is correct, we have hardly any alternative but to suppose this letter to have been forged simultaneously with the other non-autographs, since to suppose otherwise cannot allow for enough time to spare for all the textual vicissitudes through which it must otherwise have passed.

 

3. Nor is there any reason to suppose that the external evidence for this letter, when compared with the other letters, is defective. It so happens that Anastasius of Antioch (fl. towards the end of the 6th century) is the earliest source for a quotation from any of the non-autographs; and the fact that he inadvertently misquotes Ignatius Philippians­ as if from ­Tarsians­ is not unimportant, since this shows that the two letters formed part of the same collection. External evidence as a whole in fact favors the identity of authorship.

 

4. While it is true that the expedient of addressing Satan in a long monologue gives ­Ignatius Philippians­ a distinguishing uniqueness, and while it is also true that the author of ­Ignatius Philippians­ has intended here to produce a more complete and systematic exposition of his theological views than in the other non-autographs, such special features do not affect either the complexion of the theology or the characteristics of style. (a) There is the occurrence of the same favorite theological terms (again not translated by LIG into English): — in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 1, with ­Trallians­ 3, ­Philadelphians­ 9, ­Smyrnaenas­ 9, ­Antiochenes­ 3, Hero­ 7, ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 7; — in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 2 and 3, with ­Ignatius\C2­ 2, ­Trallians­ 10, Magnesians­ 6, ­Tarsians­ 6, ­Philadelphians­ 4 and 6, ­Smyrnaeans­ 1, and ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 7, 16 and 20; — in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 2 and 3, with ­Philadelphians­ 4, 5 and 9, and ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 20; and — in Ignatius Philippians­ 2, 3 and 5, with ­Ignatius\C2­ 1, and Antiochenes­ 3 and 5. (b) The same heretics are denounced, and in the same terms: e.g., those who say that Christ suffered only in appearance (compare Ignatius Philippians­ 3 and 4, with ­Trallians­ 9 and 10, ­Tarsians­ 2 and 3, and ­Smyrnaeans­ 2 and 3; or those who are ashamed of the passion in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 4, with ­Trallians­ 6, Philadelphians­ 6, Smyrnaeans­ 7, Antiochenes­ 4 and 5, and ­Hero­ 2; or those who maintain that the Son is a mere man in Ignatius Philippians­ 5 and 6, with ­Trallians­ 6, ­Tarsians­ 2, 4 and 6, ­Philadelphians­ 6, ­Antiochenes­ 2, ­Hero­ 2, and ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 19. (c) The doctrine of the Trinity is also a shared characteristic (between ­Ignatius Philippians­ 2, Trallians­ 6, and ­Philadelphians­ 4, 5 and 6); and the anxiety in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 9 to bring together the names of the three persons of the Trinity, frequently by inserting the mention of the Holy Spirit where the Short Recension speaks only of the Father and the Son (present also in ­Philadelphians­ 9 and 11, Trallians­ 1 and 5, Smyrnaeans­ 13, ­Antiochenes­ 14, ­Hero­ 7, ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 9, 15, 20 and 21, and Ignatius Romans­ 1 and 8), shows how prominent a place it held in the author’s convictions. (d) The Christian observance of certain festivals is directed and the Jewish observance of fasts and Sabbaths denounced (compare ­Ignatius Philippians­ 13 with Trallians­ 9 and ­Magnesians­ 9). (e) The injunctions respecting marriage and virginity are conceived in the same spirit and expressed in similar language (compare ­Ignatius Philippians­ 13 with ­Hero­ 2). (f) There are in ­Ignatius Philippians­ the same stock quotations from and allusions to the ­Received Old Testament­ and the ­Received New Testament­ (note ­I Corinthians­ 4:10 in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 1, ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 2 and 6, Trallians­ 6, and Philadelphians­ 6; Paul Ephesians­ 4:4-6 in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 1 and 2, Ignatius Ephesians­ 6, and ­Philadelphians­ 4; Deuteronomy­ 6:4 in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 2 and ­Antiochenes­ 2; ­I Corinthians­ 8:6 in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 1 and 2, and ­Tarsians­ 4; ­John­ 1:14 in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 3 and 5, Ignatius Ephesians­ 7, ­Trallians­ 9, Smyrnaenas­ 2, and Antiochenes­ 3; ­Paul Ephesians­ 2:2 in ­Ignatians Philippians­ 4, ­Smyrnaeans­ 7 and Philadelphians­ 6; ­I Corinthians­ 2:8 in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 5 and 9, and Trallians­ 11; ­Paul Ephesians­ 5:28 in Ignatius Philippians­ 13, Philadelphians­ 4, ­Tarsians­ 9, and ­Antiochenes­ 9; ­Matthew­ 4:23ff in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 5, and ­Magnesians­ 11; and ­Matthew­ 23:19 in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 2 and ­Philadelphians­ 9). (g) Finally, and above all, the author puts forward the same Christology which appears in the other letters—denying that Christ has a human soul as well as body, and maintaining that the Divine Logos takes the place of the human soul (compare Ignatius Philippians­ 5 with ­Philadelphians­ 7). This one coincidence in itself, if the other resemblances had left the matter at all doubtful, would have been conclusive.

 

IV

 

     At what time, then, and with what purpose in mind, was the collection of six non-autographs bearing the name of Ignatius of Antioch produced?

 

1. The direct external evidence for their existence is not very early. The first Greek writers who distinctly refer to the Long Recension are Anastasius of Antioch and Stephanus Gobarus, almost at the close of the 6th century. However, a long interval might have elapsed before the Long Recension superseded the Short Recension; and this is made more likely as the frequent quotations from the Short Form non-autographs in Monophysite writers secured to these letters a vitality and prominence which might have barred the way to the non-autographs of the Long Form.

 

2. On the other hand, the indirect external evidence—the presence of the six non-autographs in the Armenian version of the Ignatian correspondence—indicates a higher antiquity than the extant Greek quotations might suggest, since (a) the history of the Armenian version obliges us to assume a very considerable lapse of time after the first appearance of the Greek text and before the Armenian translation was made; and (b) if the Armenian scholars are correct in assigning their version to the 5th century AD, we can hardly place the date of the six non-autographs—and therefore of the Long Recension generally—much later than the end of the 4th century.

 

     Fortunately, the letters themselves contain indications which narrow the limits more closely.

 

     (a) The ecclesiastical status, as it appears in these letters, points to a time not earlier than the middle of the 4th century, nor later than its end. (i) A passage in ­Philadelphians­ 4 supposes that the Roman Empire has become Christian—the governors are enjoined to render obedience to the emperor; the soldiers to the rulers; the deacons to the presbyters; and the presbyters and deacons, clergy and laity, soldiers, governors and emperor, to the bishop—a thing which would hardly have been written prior to the conversion of Constantine (c.312), the first Christian emperor. (ii) Passages in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 15 and ­Antiochenes­ 12 multiply the lower ranks of the clergy, and thus point to a mature state of ecclesiastical organization. There are mentioned, besides bishops, presbyters, and deacons, subdeacons, readers, singers, door-keepers, laborers, exorcists, and confessors. Now, in the Eastern church, all the earliest references to these offices occur during the 4th century: for deacons, subdeacons and exorcists, the Council of Antioch (341AD); for singers and door-keepers, the Council of Laodicea (c.363); and for laborers, two rescripts of the emperor Constantius (the first in 357, where he speaks of clerici qui copiatae appellantur, the second in 361, where he speaks of them as hi quos copiatas recens usus instituit nuncupari.) And even though subdeacons, readers, door-keepers and exorcists are mentioned as early as 251AD (Cornelius of Rome in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History­ VI:xliii); and readers indeed as early as 200AD (Tertullian, ­De Praescriptione Haereticorum­ XLI) in the Western church, the very fact that our author can put such official positions into the mouth of Ignatius of Antioch without betraying any consciousness of a flagrant anachronism would seem to show that these offices were not very new when he wrote. (The real Ignatius only knew of bishops, presbyters and deacons: H) (iii) The language of ­Ignatius Philippians­ 14, which warns against Jewish practices, has its closest parallels in the decrees of councils and synods of about 350AD. (iv) It is also thought that the author of the non-authentic Ignatian letters, when he condemns those who celebrate the Passover with the Jews, refers to the Quartodecimans. If so, he ventures on a bold anachronism; for the church in Antioch which Ignatius himself represented—and the churches of Asia Minor, with which he was on intimate terms—themselves observed the Quartodeciman practice from the earliest times, until the Council of Nicaea (325AD) decided against this practice and established uniformity throughout the Received Christian Church.

 

     (b) The rough date which is thus suggested for in these letters accords likewise with the names of persons and places which are introduced by the author into his letters. (i) The name Maris or Marinus (Ignatius\C2­ 1, ­Hero­ 9) becomes prominent in conciliar lists and elsewhere during the 4th century. The Maris of our letters is represented as a bishop of Neapolis on the Zarbus River—meaning, apparently, the city of Anazarbus—and among the victims of the Diocletianic persecution (303-313), one Marinus of Anazarbus is commemorated in three martyrologies (for which see under items 249/250, below). (ii) The name Eulogius (­Ignatius\C2­ 1) also appears in conciliar lists at this epoch; and one Eulogius became bishop of Edessa in 379AD. (iii) The name Vitalis (Ignatius Philippians­ 14; he is called Vitus at Hero­ 8) points in the same direction: one Vitalis was orthodox bishop of Antioch (318 or 319AD); another so named became the Apollinarian bishop of Antioch c.369; yet a third became the Semi-Arian bishop of Tyre, seceding with other Semi-Arian bishops from the Council of Sardica of 343AD; and a Vitus, bishop of Carrhae, was present at the [First] Council of Constantinople (381)—where, incidentally, he stands next in the list to a Eulogius, and not far from a Maris.

 

     (c) Another valuable indication of date is found in the plagiarisms from other writers. (i) The opening sentence of ­Antiochenes­ is, with one insignificant exception, taken verbatim from the commencement of a letter addressed by Alexander of Jerusalem to the church of Antioch early in the 3rd century (so Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History­ VI:xi). (ii) It is also clear that a distinction made in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 12 between Matthew­ 4:10 and ­Matthew­ 16:23 is derived from Origen of Alexandria, and therefore cannot have been written before the middle of the 3rd century. (iii) The notice of Ebion (­Philadelphians­ 6) is taken from Eusebius (­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxvii), as the close resemblances of language demonstrate. (iv) A polemical passage relating to the Logos (­Magnesians­ 8) seems to be suggested by a passage in another Eusebian work (­De Ecclesiastica Theologia­ II:viii.9). (v) The context immediately preceding (iv), above, is apparently itself borrowed from another Eusebian treatise, ­Contra Marcellum­ II:i.4). (vi) The comments on the fall of Satan in ­Ignatius Philippians­ 11 present close resemblances to another Eusebian work (Preparatio Evangelica­ VII:xvi). (vii) The remark on the descent into Hades in Trallians­ 9 is evidently taken from the Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle­ as quoted in Eusebius (­Ecclesiastical History­ I:xiii). (viii) The comparative chronology of the bishops of Rome and Antioch in ­Ignatius\C1­ 4 is derived by inference from the sequence of a narrative in Eusebius (­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxxiv.36,38). (ix) Over 40 plagiarisms from the ­Apostolic Constitutions­ (350-400, and almost certainly of Syrian provenance) exist in the letters, and they are itemized above (Introduction, III:A.4).

 

     (d) Finally, the doctrinal teaching of the non-autographs affords another evidence of date no less decisive than any of the former. There may be some difficulty in fixing the precise theological position of the writer himself; but we can entertain no doubt about the doctrinal atmosphere in which he lived and worked. The Arian, Semi-Arian, Marcellian and Apollinarian controversies of the middle and subsequent decades of the 4th century AD are his main interest. On the other hand, these letters contain nothing which suggest that the writer was acquainted with the Nestorian or Monophysite disputes of succeeding ages. This silence is the more significant when we remember the polemical spirit of our author.

 

3. The rough date, then of the non-autograph letters ascribed to Ignatius of Antioch seems to point to the latter half of the 4th century—or 350-400AD.

 

V

 

     Where were the non-autographs ascribed to Ignatius written? In a moment of forgetfulness, our author betrays his secret. In ­Ignatius Philippians­ 8, referring to the return of Joseph and Mary with the child Jesus from Egypt, he speaks of it as a return thence to these parts. This would naturally apply to Palestine, but might be extended to Syria; and the interest which the writer elsewhere shows in Antioch, and cities ecclesiastically dependent on it—such as Laodicea, Tarsus, and Anazarbus—points to Syria as his home.

 

[LIG, I, 222-266; TAF, I, 166-170; INT, II, 678-679; GOO, 203-205; GRA, 47-51; ODC, 676-677]

 

231. The Letter of Ignatius to the Ephesians

 

     The ancient and wealthy city of Ephesus (the city of ­Received New Testament­ times contained the ­fifth­ Temple of Diana—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—and ­it­ had been erected c.330BC) was the capital of the Roman proconsular province of Asia, the richest province in the empire. The temple itself had been embellished with the offerings of devotees from every land. It was four times the size of the Parthenon in Athens, making it, at approximately four hundred by nine hundred feet, the largest temple ever erected by the Greeks.

 

     Ephesus in 107AD was the metropolis of the Asian churches; and though Ignatius had not visited it himself he had a respectful regard for its illustrious reputation. While he and his party were halted at Smyrna, 40 miles distant, a group of Ephesian representatives, headed by their bishop, Onesimus, had come to greet him; and he gave them this letter to take back to their congregation. The letter contains a number of pertinent identifications which connect it with the literary and cultural events of the age in which it was written.

 

1. Some scholars have thought that the Onesimus mentioned in Ignatius Ephesians­ 1—(Thus I have now been able to play the host, in God’s name, to your whole community in the person of your bishop Onesiums)—is the slave mentioned in ­Philemon­ :10—(I am appealing to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become during my imprisonment.)

 

2. The rhythmical nature of ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 7—(Very Flesh, yet Spirit too | Uncreated, and yet born | God-and-Man in One agreed | Very-Life-in-Death indeed | Fruit of God and Mary’s seed | At once impassable and torn | By pain and suffering here below | Jesus Christ, whom as our Lord we know.)—has tempted some commentators to see it as an excerpt from an early Christian hymn.

 

3. At ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 8—(So long as there are no deep-seated differences among you, of a kind that could do serious harm, your manner of life is just as God would have it; and ­my heart goes humbly out to you­ Ephesians)—the phrase used in Greek for the underscored literally means: I am your off-scouring, dregs, refuse—a phrase used of the lowest of criminals, whose blood was sometimes deliberately shed by the civil authorities as an offering to avert the anger of the gods. Historically only later did it become an epistolary formality meaning little more than your humble servant.

 

4. Similarly, at ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 9—(Again, you are all pilgrims in the same great procession, bearing your God and your shrine and your Christ and your sacred treasures on your shoulders, every one of you arrayed in the festal garments of the commandments of Jesus Christ.)—the metaphor Ignatius uses reveals another vision of the contemporary society: the religious ceremonies of the pagans. These were a familiar spectacle at Ephesus, where processions of worshippers in festal garments paraded in the streets carrying sacred emblems, statues of the gods, model shrines, and precious objects from the temple of Diana. Indeed, as Lightfoot says, in the reign of Trajan, a contemporary of Ignatius’, Gaius Vibius Salutaris, a citizen of Ephesus, gave to the temple of Artemis a large number of gold and silver-gilt images. Among them are mentioned several statues of Artemis herself, one representing her as the Huntress, others as the Torchbearer; images of the Roman Senate, of the Ephesian Council, of the Roman People, of the Equestrian Order, of the Ephebia, etc. One of the ordinances relating to his benefactions bears the date February in the year of the consuls Sextus Attius Suburanus II and Marcus Asinius Marcellus (104AD)—the same year in which, according to one martyrology, Ignatius was put to death. Salutaris provided by an endowment for the care and cleaning of these images; and he ordered that they should be carried in solemn procession from the temple to the theater and back again on the birthday of the goddess, on the days of public assembly, and at such other times as the Council and People might determine. They were to be escorted by the curators of the temple, the victors in the sacred contests, and other officers who are named. The procession was to enter the city by the Magnesian gate and leave by the Coressian, so as to pass through its whole length. On entering the city it was to be joined by the Ephebi who should accompany it from gate to gate. The decrees, recording the acceptance of these benefactions on the conditions named, were set up on tablets in the Great Theater, where they have been recently discovered (Wood’s ­Discoveries at Ephesis­, inscription 6:1ff). The practice of carrying the images and sacred vessels belonging to the temple in solemn procession on the festival of the goddess and on other occasions doubtless existed long before; but these benefactions of Salutaris would give a new impulse and add a new splendor to the ceremonial.

 

5. At ­Igantius Ephesians­ 12—(You are the gateway, through which we are escorted by Death into the presence of God. You are initiates of the same mysteries as our saintly and renowned Paul of blessed memory (may I be found to have walked in his footsteps when I come to God!), who has remembered you in Christ Jesus in every one of his letters.)—the word mysteries is used in the same manner as ­Paul Ephesians­ 1:9, 3:3-4, 3:9, 6:19, Colossians­ 1:26-27, 2:2, 4:3, and ­Paul Philippians­ 4:12—(For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ ... how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, ... and to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in\fn{Or: by.} God who created all things; ... and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, ... the mystery hidden for ages and generations\fn{Or: from angels and men.} but now made manifest to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. ... that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in love, to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, of Christ, ... and pray for us also, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, ... I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound; in any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and want.)

 

6. At ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 16—(No man who is responsible for defiling a household can expect any share in the kingdom of God. Even in the world, defilement of this kind is punishable with death; how much more when a man’s subversive doctrines defile the God-given Faith for which Jesus Christ was crucified. Such a wretch in his uncleanness is bound for the unquenchable fire, and so is anyone else who gives him a hearing.)—there is an allusion to the contemporary punishment for adultery. Just after this, the bishop’s language about the defilement of the Faith by the false teachers is perhaps not wholly figurative, since many of the principal non-Orthodoxies of the day excused sexual immorality on the ground that all material things (including the flesh) were worthless and unimportant.

 

7. The incident referred to at ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 17—(The reason for the Lord’s acceptance of the precious ointment on his head)—is undoubtedly intended to mean that described at ­Matthew­ 26:6-13—(Now when Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head, as he sat at table. But when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? For this ointment might have been sold for a large sum, and given to the poor.” But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. In pouring this ointment on my body she has done it to prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”)—and presupposes a knowledge of that work, which was certainly written in the 1st century AD, perhaps c.80-90.

 

8. Also known to the author is ­I Peter­ 5:5—(Likewise you that are younger be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “­God opposes the proud­, but gives grace to the humble.”)—which is partly quoted in ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 5—(And since it is written that ­God opposes the proud­, let us take care to show no disloyalty to the bishop, so as to be loyal servants of God.) The same may be said of ­I Corinthians­ 1:20—­(Where is­ the ­wise man­? Where is the scribe? Where is the ­debater­ of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?)—which is partly quoted at Ignatius Ephesians­ 18—(As for me, my spirit is now all humble devotion to the Cross: the Cross which so greatly offends the unbelievers, but is salvation and eternal life to us. ­Where is­ your ­wise man­ now, or your subtle ­debater­? Where are the fine words of our so-called intellectuals?)

 

9. The letter also makes reference to two popular conceits of primitive theology. At ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 19, there are two quotations—(Mary’s virginity was hidden from the prince of this world; so was her child-bearing, and so was the death of the Lord. All these three trumpet-tongued secrets were brought to pass in the deep silence of God. ... Everywhere magic crumbled away before it; the spells of sorcery were all broken, and superstition received its death-blow.)—the first of which demonstrates the notion that the devil was completely hoodwinked by the secrecy of the Incarnation; and the second, the equally common belief that magic, which played a large part in the pagan religions, was destroyed by the Incarnation, and that the visit of the Magi typified its capitulation.

 

10. Finally, at ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 20 are recorded the following words—(I hope to write you a further letter)—of which nothing further is known. Perhaps there was no opportunity of composing it during the remaining stages of his journey to execution. Lightfoot notes the hurry of his subsequent movements in Letter of Ignatius to Polycarp­ 8—(As I have to leave Troas by sea for Neapolis at any moment (so the Divine will has ordered it), it is impossible for me to write to all the churches myself)—and perhaps also the direct interference of his guards spoken of at Ignatius Romans­ 5—(All the same, I have already been finding myself in conflict with beasts of prey by land and by sea, by night and by day, the whole way from Syria to Rome; chained as I am to half-a-score of savage leopards (in other words, a detachment of soldiers), who only grow more insolent the more gratuities they are given.)—may have prevented his carrying out his intention.

 

[ECW, 74-84; LIG, II, 17-18]

 

232. The Letter of Ignatius to the Philadelphians

 

     This is the first of the three letters written by Ignatius after his arrival at Troas. Recently, on his way thither from Smyrna, he had passed through Philadelphia and met the members of its church; and affectionate memories of the visit are still fresh in his mind as he writes. Since many of the local Christians were converts from the large Jewish community in Philadelphia (it is called in the Received ­Revelation­ the synagogue of Satan), disturbing signs of Judaism were showing themselves in the church. The main purpose of the letter is to controvert these practices; and here, as elsewhere, Ignatius urges unity and obedience to the bishop as the most efficacious remedy.

 

     During his stay at Troas, news had reached him that the persecution of Christians in his own city of Antioch had now died down. He therefore suggests that the Philadelphians should follow the example of other churches and send one of their deacons to Antioch with a message of congratulation. The length of such a journey and its arduous nature make this a striking instance of the brotherly feelings which linked the Christian churches of the primitive period.

 

     The letter contains three pertinent identifications which connect it with the literary and cultural events of the age in which it was written.

 

1. At ­Philadelphians­ 4—(Make certain, therefore, that you all observe one common Eucharist;)—there is a clear allusion to a local custom of a non-Orthodox body of Christians (whose habit it was to hold separate eucharistic services for men and women). Lightfoot makes further observations on the city’s religious character in Ignatius’ time: It is more important to observe that Philadelphia bore the name of ‘Little Athens.’ This designation was given to the city on account of its religious character. As the great Athens especially prided herself on being the most ‘pious’ city in Greece, while from an opposite point of view the earliest historian of the Christian church describes the place thus (­Acts­ 17:16—Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.) So also this miniature Athens was distinguished by the number of its temples and the frequency of its festivals (so Joannes Laurentius of Lydia, ­De Mens.­ IV.xl). This statement is borne out by the not very numerous extant [Christian] inscriptions found in or near the city. Among the festivals celebrated there we read of the ­Jovialia Solaria­, the Communia Asia­, and the ­Augustalia Anaitea­ (the latter in honor of Artemis or Aphrodite Anaitis, a Persian and Armenian deity worshipped in these parts); while Asiarchs,\fn{The Asiarch was one of a group of civil and priestly officials in the Roman province of Asia who preseided over the public games and religious rites. (WEB, 128)} Panegyriarchs,\fn{A panegyric is a eulogistic oration or writing; a formal or elaborate eulogy or encomium; a laudatory discourse: the Panegyriarch was logically the official in charge of their review and the organization of the ceremonial necessary for their delivery. (WEB, 1629; H)} Xystarchs,\fn{The Xystarch was an Athenian officer who presided over the gymnastic exercises of the Xystus (a long covered portico or court used for athletic exercises among the Greeks). (OED, XX, 680)} Ephebarchs,\fn{The Ephebarch was the director of the diogeneion, the place in Athens where youths under the age of 18 were trained (from c.350BC to the 3rd century AD) for military, constabulary and religious duties commensurate with the defense, public order and piety of that city (which they would formally undertake between the ages of 18-20). (ENC, VIII, 630; TAW, 3370)} Hipparchs,\fn{The Hipparch was a commander of cavalry in ancient Greece. (WEB, 1071)} etc., appear in considerable profusion. More especially mention is made of the ‘priest of Artemis’ who seems to have been the patron-goddess of the city; and the title of ‘high-priest,’ which occurs from time to time, probably belongs to this functionary. It would seem from these facts that paganism had an exceptional vitality in this otherwise not very important place.

 

2. At ­Philadelphians­ 7—(My spiritual self, however, no man can impose upon; for that comes from God, and ­its origin and its destination are alike known to it­, and it can bring hidden things to light.)—the words underscored are clearly a recollection of ­John­ 3:8—(The wind blows where it will, and you hear the sound of it, but ­you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes­; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.) This is one of several indications that the Received ­Gospel of John­ was known to Igantius.

 

3. At ­Philadelphians­ 9—(The priests of old, I admit, were estimable men; but our own High Priest is greater, for He has been entrusted with the Holy of Holies, and to Him alone are the secret things of God committed.)—the author demonstrates an accurate knowledge of Jewish ceremonial. Entrance to the Holy of Holies was indeed the prerogative of the Jewish High Priest alone. The secret things of God is an allusion to the sacred treasures (the Ark of the Covenant, the tables of the Law, a pot of manna, and Aaron’s rod), to which only the priests had access.

 

[ECW, 110, 115-116; LIG, II, 240; WEB, 128, 1071, 1629; OED, XX, 680; ENC, VIII, 630; TAW, 337]

 

233. The Letter of Ignatius to the Magnesians

 

     Magnesia-on-the-Meander (so-called to distinguish it from its neighbor Magnesia-under-Sipylus and from a third Magnesia in Thessaly) was 15 miles from Ephesus, and its church, like that of the Ephesians, had sent a delegation to meet Ignatius at Smyrna, led by their bishop Damas. Writing in acknowledgment of this visit, Ignatius cautions them against presuming upon Damas’ youth and inexperience, and goes on to stress the need for ensuring unity by a complete obedience to the bishop’s authority. In this letter there is a more specific denunciation of the old leaven of Judaistic doctrines and observances than in his other letters.

 

     The letter contains several pertinent identifications which connect it with the literary and cultural events of the age in which it was written.

 

1. At ­Magnesians­ 6—(Let ­the bishop­ preside in the place of God, ­and his clergy in place of the Apostolic conclave­, and let my special friends the deacons be entrusted with the service of Jesus Christ, who was with the Father from all eternity and in these last days has been made manifest.)—there is an allusion to the arrangement of the officers of the primitive church during service. In the services of the early church, the bishop occupied a seat on a dais at the center of a semi-circle of his clergy (an arrangement copied from the position of the judge and his assessors in the existing pagan law-courts). This was supposed to suggest a comparison with the Apostles on 12 thrones arranged around the throne of God—the earthly hierarchy being thus a type of the heavenly. The expression occurs also at ­Trallians­ 3—(Equally, it is for the rest of you to hold the deacons in as great respect as Jesus Christ; just as you should also look on ­the bishops­ as a type of the Father, ­and the clergy as the Apostolic circle­ forming His council; for without these three orders no church has any right to the name.)

 

2. At ­Magnesians­ 9—(That death, ­though some deny it­, is the very mystery which has moved us to become believers, and endure tribulation to prove ourselves pupils of Jesus Christ, our sole teacher. In view of this, how can it be possible ­for us to give Him no place in our lives­, when even the prophets of old were themselves pupils of His in spirit, and looked forward to Him as their Teacher?)—there is a clear reference to Docetism, which denied that Jesus really suffered and died on the cross; and by the last underscored phrase is meant by Ignatius either (a) the Docetic rejection of Jesus’ death and resurrection (through which God and Man are united), or (b) the Judaistic reliance on forms of worship and rules of worship instead of on His grace. Just previous to this at

 

3. ­Magnesians­ 8—(Never allow yourselves to be led astray by the teachings and the timeworn fables of another people.)—lies another clear reference to certain forms of non-Orthodox belief which combined Judaistic with Docetic elements, such as are repeatedly denounced at ­Colossians­ 2:18-23, ­Titus­ 1:14, 3:9, and ­I Timothy­ 1:4—(Let no one disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things which all perish as they are used), according to human precepts and doctrines? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in prompting rigor of devotion and self-abasement and severity to the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh.\fn{Or: are of no value, serving only to indulge the flesh.} ... instead of giving heed to Jewish myths or to commands of men who reject the truth. ... But avoid stupid controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels over the law, for they are unprofitable and futile. ... As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus that you may charge certain persons not to teach any different doctrine, nor to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies which promote speculations rather than the divine training—\fn{Or: stewardship; order.} that is in faith;)

 

4. Also at ­Magnesians­ 9—(when even the prophets of old were themselves pupils of His in spirit, and looked forward to Him as their Teacher? Indeed, that was the very reason why He, whom they were rightly awaiting, came to visit them, and raised them from the dead.)—there is a clear reference to a primitive Christian belief, referred to at ­I Peter­ 3:18-20 and 4:6—(For Christ also died\fn{Other ancient authorities read: suffered.} for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which ­he went and preached to the spirits in prison­, who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. ... For this is why ­the gospel was preached even to the dead­, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God.)—and known in the Middle Ages as the Harrowing of Hell: that when Christ descended into Hell He preached the Christian gospel to the saints of the Old Testament gathered there, and raised them up to live in Heaven.

 

5. At ­Magnesians­ 10—(the Christian faith does not look to Judaism, but Judaism looks to ­Christianity­, in which every other race and tongue that confesses a belief in God has now been comprehended.)—the word Christianity is used as a noun, the earliest known appearance of this form of the word in the whole of literature. Ignatius uses it again in ­Ignatius Romans­ 3 and in ­Philadelphians­ 6—(For the work we have to do is no affair of persuasive speaking; Christianity lies in achieving greatness in the face of a world’s hatred. ... better hear talk of Christianity from a man who is circumcised than from one who is not—though in my judgment both of them alike, if they fail to preach Jesus Christ, are no more than tombstones and graves of the dead, which limit their inscriptions to the names of mere mortal men.)—thus further identifying all three of these letters as works by his own hand.

 

6. Finally, at ­Magnesians­ 15—(The representatives of Ephesus send greetings to you from Smyrna here, where I am writing this. Like yourselves, they are here for the glory of God, and they have been a comfort to me in every way. So too has Polycarp, the Smyrnaean bishop. The other churches add their own greetings as well, for the honor of Jesus Christ.)—the people of Ephesus and Magnesia appear in close connection. This is accounted for by their near neighborhood—only 15 miles apart.

 

[ECW, 86-92; LIG, II, 101]

 

234. The Letter of Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans

 

     This letter, like that to the Philadelphians, was written from Troas, and contains grateful allusions to the welcome given to Ignatius during his recent sojourn in Smyrna. Its chief concern, however, is to combat the perils of Docetism, which Ignatius had observed to be rife in the city of Smyrna. There is also a strong condemnation of the separatism which is bred by such beliefs, and a more vigorous insistence than usual upon the duty of maintaining unity.

 

The letter contains a few important identifications with certain people, places and expressions that help to determine its time-frame.

 

1. There is a phrase at ­Smyrnaeans­ 3—(When He appeared to Peter and his companions, He said to them, ‘Take hold of me; touch me, and see that I am no bodiless phantom­.’ And they touched Him then and there, and believed, for they had had contact with the flesh-and-blood reality of Him.)—which Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­De Viris Illustribus­ XVI; ­Commentary on Isaiah­ XVIII, preface) twice asserts for the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­—(Ignatius ... writes in particular to Polycarp ... in which he also adduces a testimony about the person of Christ from the gospel which was recently translated by me; he says: “And I have also seen him in the flesh after the resurrection and believe that he is. And when he came to Peter and to those who were with Peter, he said to them: ­Behold, handle me and see that I am no bodiless demon­. And forthwith they touched him and believed.” ... Since that is to say the disciples took him for a spirit or according to the Gospel of the Hebrews­, which the Nazaraeans read, for ­a bodiless demon­.) Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, De Principiis­ I:viii) and Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxxvi.2) also assign this text to a non-Received work [Origen to a Teaching of Peter­, Eusebius to an unnamed text (he says he does not know where it comes from).] Whatever the strength of these assertions, it is certain that the phrase bodiless demon (which occurs in all four quotations) is a Greek-original expression: it is simply not found in the existing lexicons of Hebrew and Aramaic. It may be doubted, therefore, whether it actually occurred in Jewish-Christian gospels (though, of course, it may have been borrowed for such a work from a Greek-language treatise).

 

2. At ­Smyrnaeans­ 13—(Greetings to Alce, who is specially dear to me,)—there is made mention of one Alce; and an Alce, who may well be the same person, is mentioned many years later at ­Martyrdom of Polycarp­ 15—(Accordingly he put it into the head of Nicetas (the father of Herod,\fn{This Herod was the Smyrnaean official responsible for Polycarp’s arrest.} and brother of Alce) to make an application to the governor not to release the body; ‘in case,’ he said, ‘they should forsake the Crucified and take to worshipping this fellow instead.’)—a writing universally recognized by critical scholarship as authentic, and therefore written in 155AD, the date of the event.

 

3. There is, at ­Smyrnaeans­ 13—Greetings too, to the families of my brethren who have wives and children; and to ­those virgins whom you call widows­.)—a peculiar phrase, in which Ignatius may be referring, instead of to actual widows, to a distinct class of unmarried women included in the widow-registry kept by the primitive congregations of his time; which if true is an allusion to a practice of the earliest Christian organization.

 

4. Finally, at ­Smyrnaeans­ 10, 11 and 12—(The welcome you gave to Philo and Rheus Agathopous as ministers of God (who have followed me here in His cause) was a credit to you. ... it would be most fitting and would do much honor to God if your church\fn{The church at Smyrna.} were to appoint someone to go as His ambassador to Syria\fn{The church at Antioch.} with your felicitations on the restoration of peace, on the recovery of their proper numbers, and on their re-establishment as a corporate body again. ... This letter comes to you from there by the hand of Burrhus,)—it is noteworthy that the personnel mentioned here are the same as those mentioned in the Letter of Ignatius to the Philadelphians­: Burrhus is again his amanuensis; Philo and Rheus Agathopus are again said to have received a kindly welcome from his correspondents; and directions are again given for the dispatch of a representative to congratulate the church in Antioch. This is a further indication that both letters are by the same hand.

 

[ECW, 117-124; NTA, I, 128-131; LIG, II, 285; TAF, ---]

 

235. The Letter of Ingatius to the Antiochenes

 

     Lightfoot makes a number of associations with this letter in the introductory material to this subsection of XXII: PETER; and ANF also cites four important identifications that help to determine its time-frame.

 

1. ­Antiochenes­ 5—(And he that rejects the incarnation and is ashamed of the Cross for which I am in bonds, this man is Antichrist.)—appears to demonstrate a thought parallel with ­II John­ 1:7—(For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist.)—and thus a knowledge of that work. If so, we are required to believe that use is being made by an Orthodox bishop of a work not generally acknowledged as an apostolic autograph in antiquity.

 

2. At ­Antiochenes­ 7—(Keep in remembrance Euodias, your deservedly-blessed pastor, in whose hands the government over you was first entrusted by the apostles.)—there us a reference which some critics have believe to be to the same person as the Euodias referred to in ­Paul Philippians­ 4:2—(I appeal to Euodias and I appeal to Syntyche to agree in the Lord.) However, as it appears from the Greek, the two persons mentioned by Paul were women­; and this name clearly belongs to a male—he is said in the next clause to be a pastor. Such an error would perhaps not have been made by an author living closer in time to the lifetime of Paul than 350-400AD, when it is thought that this letter was written.

 

3. Just after the first sentence at ­Antiochenes­ 12—(I salute the virgins betrothed to Christ, of whom may I have joy in the Lord Jesus.)—some manuscripts insert this clause referring to widows, indicating a development of this tradition (a feature of the most primitive orthodoxy) beyond the 4th century.

 

4. Later on at ­Antiochenes­ 12, there is enumerated a list of various classes of different people associated with the church—(I salute the sub-deacons, the readers, the singers, the doorkeepers, the laborers,\fn{A class of persons connected with the church whose duty it was to bury the bodies of martyrs and others.} the exorcists, the confessors.\fn{Such as voluntarily confessed Christ before pagan rulers.} I salute the keepers of the holy gates, the deaconnesses, in Christ.) Sub-deacons, doorkeepers and exorcists are apparently first documented in a letter of Cornelius of Rome to Fabius of Antioch written between 251-255AD; and deaconesses (though the institution apparently goes back to the Apostolic Age) were apparently not so identified until some time in the 4th century.

 

[ANF, I, 110-112; ODC, 377]

 

236. The Letter of Ignatius to the Philippians

 

Lightfoot makes a number of associations with this letter in the introductory material to this subsection of XXII: PETER; and ANF also cites three important identifications that help to additionally determine its time-frame.

 

1. At ­Ignatius Philippians­ 2—(There are not then either three Fathers, or three Sons, or three Paracletes, but one Father, and one Son, and one Paraclete.)—there exists a sentence which appears to be borrowed from the Athanasian Creed­—(So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.)—the generally accepted date of which lies between 381-428 (chiefly on the grounds that the doctrines defended and the terminology used point to a time when the controversy over Apollinarianism was acute, and before the outbreak of the Nestorian and Eutychian arguments, to which no reference is made in the letter).

 

2. At ­Ignatius Philippians­ 4—(Wherefore, also, he works in some that they should deny the Cross, be ashamed of the Passion, call the death an appearance, mutilate and explain away the birth of the virgin, and calumniate the human nature itself. ... who are heretical in holding that Christ possessed a mere phantasmal body.)—there are allusions to the primary teachings of certain Gnostic sects who held that matter was essentially evil, and therefore denied the reality of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. These sects, however, first became distinct as separate realities towards the ­end­ of the 2nd century, much beyond the lifetime of Ignatius of Antioch (d.107).

 

3. At ­Ignatius Philippians­ 5 and 7—(Why dost thou say that it is unlawful to declare of the Lawgiver who possesses a human soul, “The word was made flesh,” and was a perfect man, and not merely one dwelling in a man? ... And how, again, does Christ not at all appear to thee to be of the virgin, but to be God over all,\fn{I.e., to have no separate personality from the father.} and the Almighty?)—there are more decisive proofs that this letter was written considerably after the time of Ignatius; for these are references to the Patripassian controversy originated by Praxeas of Asia (fl.c.200AD).

 

[ANF, I, 116-119; ODC, 1096]

 

237. The Letter of Ignatius to the Trallians

 

     Tralles, a busy and affluent city, lay 17 miles to the east of Magnesia, on the highroad from Laodicea to Ephesus. The Trallian church, like its neighbors, had heard that Ignatius would be passing through Smyrna, and its grave and gentle bishop, Polybius, had gone there to greet him. Writing in response, Ignatius opens with his customary recommendation of obedience to clerical authority; and then, excusing himself from a discussion of such loftier themes as had perhaps been expected of him, concentrates on the more urgent danger from the adherents of Docetism, who here receive his most forcible condemnation.

 

     This condemnation of Docetism and docetic tendencies in ­Trallians­ 9-10—(close your ears, then, if anyone preaches to you without speaking of Jesus Christ. Christ was of David’s line. He was the son of Mary; ­He was truly and indeed born, and ate and drank; He was truly persecuted­ in the days of Pontius Pilate, ­and truly and indeed crucified­, and gave up the ghost in the sight of all heaven and earth and the powers of the nether world. He was also truly raised up again from the dead­, for His Father raised him; and in Jesus Christ will his Father similarly raise us who believe in Him, since apart from Him there is no true life for us. It is asserted by some who deny God—in other words, who have no faith—that ­His sufferings were not genuine­ (though in fact it is themselves in whom there is nothing genuine). If this is so, then why am I now a prisoner? Why am I praying for a combat with the lions? For in that case, I am giving away my life for nothing; and all the things I have ever said about the Lord are untruths.)—indicates that the author of the letter is battling a docetism as yet undifferentiated into sectarian peculiarities; for (a) no specific names or schools or schools are mentioned, and (b) the word Docetism is not even used (it will be invented by Serapion of Antioch between 190-203); but the manifestations of this way of thinking are familiar enough to be ticked off like so many items in an inventory.

 

     Note, by way of contrast, the generalizations essentially devoid of detail in the (earlier) three indictments of Docetism which are preserved in the Received letters at ­Colossians­ 2:8-9, ­I John­ 4:1-3 and ­II John­ :7—(See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe and not according to Christ. For ­in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily­, and you have come to fullness of life in Him, who is the head ... Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that ­Jesus Christ has come in the flesh­ is of God, and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of Antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already. ... For many deceivers have gone out into the world, ­men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh­; such a one is the deceiver)—which may indicate less wide-spread or less fully developed Orthodox investigation of docetic concepts during the last half of the 1st century (the approximate date of most of the Received letters).

 

     In addition, the ODC says that although evidence for the existence of Docetism is to be found in the Received New Testament­, Docetism reached its zenith in the next generation. This, if it were not already known that this letter is indeed an autograph of Ignatius, would certainly put its composition between 100-120AD; the more so since ODC also says that these doctrines were especially dear to Gnostics [which the ODC says elsewhere became themselves organized into separate sects by the end of the 2nd century; but which in their Christian-Gnostic phases both (a) had their origins in trends of thought already present in pagan religious circles, and (b) soon established themselves in all the principal centers of Christianity.]

 

     If these proofs of age need further reinforcement, one is available at ­Trallians­ 7—(You will be safe enough so long as you do not let pride go to your head and break away from Jesus Christ and your bishop and ­the Apostolic institutions­.) There is here specifically mentioned by this phrase the institution of episcopacy, which was traditionally established in Asia Minor by the apostle John (d.c.100AD). In fact, the letter was written, together with those to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Romans, Philadelphians, Smyrnaeans and Polycarp between a year and a few months prior to his martyrdom of 19 December 107.

 

[ECW, 94-99; ODC, 409, 564]

 

238. The Letter of Ignatius to the Tarsians

 

Lightfoot makes a number of associations with this letter in the introductory material to this subsection (XXII: PETER); and ANF also cites two important identifications that help to additionally determine its time-frame.

 

1. At ­Tarsians­ 2—(I have learned that certain of the ministers of Satan have wished to disturb you, some of them asserting that Jesus was born only\fn{Some manuscripts omit this word.} in appearance, was crucified in appearance, and died in appearance; others that He is not the Son of the Creator, and others that ­He is Himself God over all.\fn{I.e., so as to have no personality distinct from the father.} ... And that ­He Himself is not God over all­, and the Father, but His Son, He shows when He says, “I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.”)—there is found a plain allusion to the Sabellian belief. More specifically, the underscored material points to a characteristic of the Modalist form of Sabellian Monarchianism; and it is known that this opinion did not arise until after the middle of the 3rd century AD, long after the death of Ignatius of Antioch.

 

2. The repeated condemnation in a detailed format of Docetic dogmatisms evidenced at ­Trallians­ 2, 3, 6 and 7—(some of them asserting that Jesus was born only in appearance, was crucified in appearance, and died in appearance; ... know that Jesus the Lord was truly born of Mary, being made of a woman; and was as truly crucified. And He really suffered, and died, and rose again. ... Nor is He a mere man ... And that our bodies are to rise again, He shows)—seems to betray dealings with fully-developed Gnostic Dualism; and this would also put the authorship of the letter beyond the time of Ignatius of Antioch.

 

[ANF, I, 106-109]

 

239. The Letter of Ignatius to the Romans

 

     This letter, the most personal and moving of all the autographs, is in striking contrast with the other six. For once, the familiar topics are all laid aside; there are no more warnings against unorthodoxy. On the contrary, the Romans are declared to be purified from every alien and discoloring strain. There are no demands for obedience to the bishop (it is the only letter which never even mentions that official); and no references appear to church unity.

 

     Ignatius Romans­ became in later ages the most popular and widely quoted of all the Ignatian autographs. (1) It seems to have been circulated apart from the other Ignatian correspondence, sometimes alone, sometimes attached to the story of his martyrdom, indicating that it appears to have become in some sense an ideal plan to be emulated by martyrs in subsequent ages. (2) It is quoted before any of the other letters by Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200, ­Adversus Omnes Haereses­ V:xxviii.4). (3) Its influence on the earliest genuine acts of martyrdom extant—Polycarp, Perpetua and Felicity—seems to be clearly discernible. (4) Moreover, in the celebration of Ignatius’ feast day in the Eastern church (December 20 in the later Greek liturgical calendar), we meet again and again with expressions taken from it, whereas there is no very distinct coincidence with the other letters of this bishop; and on the other hand, where the interest was doctrinal and not in the martyrdom—e.g., during the Monophysite controversy—the other letters are prominent, and ­Ignatius Romans­ recedes into the background.

 

     In terms of date and location, some number of features should be pointed out.

 

1. A curious phraseology occurs in the ­Ignatius Romans­ prologue—(to the church holding chief place in the territories of the district of Rome)—which seems to indicate a developed Christian organization under which the Roman church possessed a religious and administrative predominance among the other churches of the region.

 

2. At ­Ignatius Romans­ 1, the author’s fantasy that his fetters are an honorable decoration occurs—(since I can now hope to greet you in the very chains of a prisoner of Jesus Christ)—and this, when combined with similar references at ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 3 and 11, and ­Magnesians­ 1—(It is true I am a prisoner for the Name’s sake ... Even these chains I wear are a collar of spiritual pearls to me ... As I go about in these chains, invested with a title worthy of God)—indicate a common author to all three letters. This is reinforced by the appearance of a technical word (meaning essentially purified) used as part of the prologue to this letter, and at Philadelphians­ 3—(and purified from every alien and discoloring stain ... it was only the filtering-out of a few dregs) which consequently ties Ignatius Romans­ to ­Philadelphians­ and their claim to be autographs of Ignatius of Antioch.

 

3. In ­Ignatius Romans­ 2 there appears a euphemistic phrase describing Italy—(for permitting Syria’s bishop, summoned from the realms of the morning, to have reached ­the land of the setting sun­)—and this undoubtedly is how Italy could be easily conceptualized by a bishop from the Middle East.

 

4. Finally, at ­Ignatius Romans­ 5—(All the same, I have already been finding myself in conflict with beasts of prey by land and by sea, by night and by day, the whole way from Syria to Rome; chained as I am to half-a-score of savage leopards (in other words, a detachment of soldiers), who only grow more insolent the more gratuities they are given.)—there appears the earliest known appearance in all of literature of the word leopard. Since leopards were at the time well known in Syria (whence they were sometimes brought for exhibition at Rome), the comparison would come naturally to a Syrian bishop.

 

[ECW, 102-108; LIG, II, 185-187]

 

240. The Letter of Ignatius to Hero

 

Lightfoot makes a number of associations with the ­Letter of Ignatius to Hero­ (hereafter ­Ignatius\H­) earlier in the Introduction to this subdivision of XXII: PETER. ANF makes two observations:

 

1. The letter plainly alludes to Manichaean errors, and could not therefore have been written before the 3rd century AD. By this I suppose is meant the attacks leveled at ­Ignatius\H­ 2—(If anyone denies the cross, and is ashamed of the Passion ... says that the Lord is a mere man)—but these are noted by Lightfoot without any further differentiation then that the same heretics are denounced and in the same terms; and though these were within the realm of teaching by Mani and his followers, they were prominent in many other heterodox religious systems of a partly Christian nature.

 

2. A more important proof of age seems to lie in the name Maris which occurs at ­Ignatius\H­ 9 and elsewhere—(I salute the lord Maris, the bishop of Neapolis, near Anazarbus.)—which Lightfoot mentions as a name prominent in conciliar lists and elsewhere in the 4th century AD.

 

In the introduction of the letter, Hero is called the deacon of Christ, and the servant of God, a man honored by God, and most dearly loved as well as esteemed, who carries Christ and the Spirit with him, and who is mine own son in faith and love. Elsewhere (chapter 3), he is called a young man; and this is reinforced in the conclusion, when God is exhorted to preserve thee in good health, and of high repute in all things, to a very old age. Otherwise, however, this is a letter of exhortation, such as one would expect from an outgoing to an incoming official. The new bishop is to preserve concord in his church; bear the burdens of the weak; fast and pray, but not beyond measure; give attention to reading; honor widows and orphans; beware of false teachers; do nothing without the bishops; not be ashamed of servants or women; flee from haughtiness and envy; keep pure; not be double-minded; watch over virgins; be long-suffering; and not be neglectful of the poor, in so far as thou art prosperous. Do not believe all persons, do not place confidence in all; nor let any man get the better of thee by flattery; and, somewhat mysteriously, do not judge thyself unworthy of those things which have been shown by God to me concerning thee

 

[ANF, I, 106, 113-115]

 

241. The Prayer of Hero

 

     The Hero referred to here was a contemporary of Ignatius of Antioch, reputedly the first bishop of the city of Antioch after him. He was elected some weeks after Ignatius left Antioch for Rome, and since Ignatius may (so the minority of modern critical opinion) have been arrested after the earthquake of December 13, 115AD, Hero (also Heron; Heros) may have become bishop some time in 116AD. Knowledge of the period following Ignatius’ death is scanty, however; and for the most part there exists only a bare list of the bishops of Antioch—Hero (116AD), Cornelius (128), Eros (142), Theophilus (169)—for a discussion of which see Turner (“The Early Episcopal Lists,” ­Journal of Theological Studies­ I, 1900, 1811-200, 529-533; XVIII, 103-104).

 

     Knowledge of Hero comes from the ­Letter of Ignatius to Hero­; and the ­Prayer of Hero­, a laudatory prayer which Hero is said to have written in honor of Ignatius while he was still a deacon (so Stahlin, ­Gesch. d. gr. Lit­. II.2, 1828; Neale calls him a friend and deacon to Ignatius). Hero’s accession date is provided by Eusebius of Caesarea (­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxxvi.15; IV:xx.1); who, however, also says that he occupied the see for 20 years, ending his life as a martyr.

 

     Hero was apparently succeeded by one Cornelius, the third bishop of Antioch, concerning whose career there is no reliable evidence. Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­Chronicle­) gives the date of his accession as 128AD, but Jerome’s dates for events of this type are not to be trusted.

 

     The Latin version of this prayer is found in the manuscripts appended to the Latin translation of the Ignatian letters of the Long Version (on which see the Introduction to this subdivision of XXII: PETER). It was first printed from a Vatican manuscript, by Baronius in his ­Annales Ecclesiastici­ (1588-1607), and has since been reprinted many times. The prayer must also have existed at some time in Greek; but this original language form has been lost. There is also extant a Coptic version, which is somewhat fuller than the Latin. Lightfoot says that it is certain that the first references to Hero [in the Greco-Latin tradition of the Short Form of this correspondence (on which see the Introduction to this subdivision of XXII: PETER)] first saw the light of day towards the latter half of the 4th century AD.

 

     The following is the text of the Latin form:

 

Saceredos et assessor sapientissime Dei, Ignati, immaculata stola indute, percuni fonte saturate, cum angelis laudem canens, primogeniti cerete amice, a peccatis liberate, a diabolo separate: agonista constitutus in stadio veritatis, adquisisti pretiosam salutem; confudisti Traianum et senatum romae, prudentiam tunc non habentem; domesticus factus es Christo in dilectione et fide et vita. memor esto mei, filii tui heronis, ut et ego de hac vita exiens sancte sanctis counumerer et digum nomen neus inveniar. Ter quaterque beate, qui ad talia pervenisti, pater Ignati, currus Israel et equester cius; evasisti mortem fugiendo, et de terris ad caelestia evolasti; coronam deificam et magnam meruisti et in amabili Dei agone vicisti. Memento eius, quem nutristi, beate martyr, et praesta mihi colloquium, sicuti et prius faciebas.

 

[ZZZ, 892-894; DCB, III, 5; DCA, I, 772; GLD, 127,133; DOW, 300]

 

242. The Letter of Ignatius to Polycarp

 

While addressing a letter from Troas to the church of Smyrna generally, Ignatius wrote also a letter to its bishop, Polycarp, who had bestowed upon Ignatius much kindly attention, which he mentions affectionately at Ignatius Ephesians­ 21 and ­Magnesians­ 15—(I am offering my life on your behalf, and also for those whom you sent for the honor of God here to Smyrna, where I am writing this letter. It carries my gratitude to God, as well as my love to Polycarp and yourselves. ... Like yourselves, they are here for the glory of God, and they have been a comfort to me in every way. So too has Polycarp, the Smyrnaean bishop.)

 

     The letter itself contains a number of references—essentially in passing—to ancient cultural practices; and with them, connections to writings contemporaneous with ­Polycarp­.

 

1. At ­Polycarp­ 3 there appears to be a fragment of a primitive Christian hymn—(Whom no senses can reveal | Was for us made manifest; | Who no ache or pain can feel | Was for us by pain oppressed; | Willing all things to endure, | Our salvation to procure.)—which is not unlike another syntactically similar fragment at ­Igantius Ephesians­ 7—(Very Flesh, yet Spirit too; | Uncreated, and yet born; | God-and-Man in One agreed, | Very-Life-in-Death indeed, | Fruit of God and Mary’s seed; | At once impassable and torn | By pain and suffering here below: | Jesus Christ, whom as our Lord we know.)—and contemporaneous with two other fragments at ­Paul Ephesians­ 5:14 and ­I Timothy­ 3:16—(Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, | And Christ shall give you light. ... He was manifest in the flesh, | Vindicated in the Spirit, | Seen by angels, | Preached among the nations, | Believed on in the world, | Taken up in glory.)

 

2. There is apparently a reference in ­Polycarp­ 3 to teachers of heresy—(You must not let yourself be upset by those who put forward their perverse teachings so plausibly.)—as certainly as a similar generalization in Philadelphians­ 2—(There are plausible wolves in plenty seeking to entrap the runners in God’s race with their perilous allurements;)

 

3. At ­Polycarp­ 6—(For a shield take your baptism, for a helmet your faith, for a spear your love, and for body-armor your patient endurance; and lay up a store of good works ­as a soldier deposits his savings­, so that one day you may draw the credits that will be due to you.)—there is a reference to the donatives, prize money, and other items which, over and above a soldier’s regular pay, were deposited in his name in the Roman regimental savings bank, and handed to him at the conclusion of his service.

 

4. At ­Polycarp­ 8—(My good wishes to you all; and also to the Procurator’s­ lady, with her whole household, and her children’s too.)—there occurs a title of ancient derivation, which in the Greek would be translated Epitropus. As Epitropus is a very rare proper name, it seems more likely to be used here (as it is in certain inscriptions which have been found at Smyrna) as the title of an official.

 

5. Finally, at ­Polycarp­ 8—(Remember me to Alce, that very dear person.)—there occurs a proper name mentioned also at ­Smyrnaeans­ 13—(Greetings to Alce, who is especially dear to me,)—thus indicating not only the same person, but an intimate connection in time between the two letters.

 

[ECW, 126-131]

 

243. The Letter of Polycarp to the Philippians

 

     After Ignatius with his guard left Philippi for Rome, the Philippian Christians wrote as he had suggested to Polycarp at Smyrna, asking him to send them such letters of Ignatius as he had in his possession, and this he did with a covering letter of instruction and exhortation, which is abbreviated here as ­Polycarp Philippians­ (to distinguish it from letters of both Ignatius and Paul to the Christians of that city).

 

     Polycarp was bishop of Smyrna early in the 2nd century, and was martyred there on February 13, 155 (so Turner, Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica­ II, 1890, 105-155—Gregoire & Orgels, ­Analecta Bollandiana­ LXIX, 1951, 1-38 defend a much contested date of February 23, 177)—for refusing to recant his faith, when he was over 86 years old. He is one of the best-known personages among the early Christians (ODC calling him the leading Christian figure in Roman Asia in the middle of the 2nd century). Besides being a correspondent of Ignatius and a collector of his letters, he was a teacher of both Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.200) and the Valentinian Gnostic Florinus. Simply because of his very long life and episcopate, he became a primary link between the sub-apostolic church and the church of a much later period.

 

     Both his existence and his writings stand on guard against attempts to claim that during the 2nd century Christianity was completely transformed.

 

1. It is alleged that there are quotations from, or apparent allusions to, ­Matthew­, ­Acts­, ­Romans­, ­I Corinthians­, ­II Corithians­, ­Galatians­, ­Ephesians­, ­II Thessalonians­, ­Hebrews­, ­I Timothy­, and ­I Peter­, but almost nothing indicates that he ascribed Scriptural authority to them.

 

2. In striking contrast to the contemporary Ignatian stress on episcopacy, Polycarp makes no mention at all of the office of bishop. This may mean that there was no bishop at Philippi at this time, even though Philippi was at this time a flourishing and important city of southern Macedonia; or, as some think, it may be because bishops had not yet everywhere come to be distinguished from presbyters. In support of this, the ­First Letter of Clement to the Corinthians­ is quoted as evidence for the ­identity­ of bishops and presbyters; and it is also pointed out that the duties which Polycarp assigns here to presbyters are those which other writers elsewhere attribute to bishops.

 

     This being the case, it is curious that no complete Greek text of Polycarp’s letter has yet been discovered. The Greek of almost the first nine chapters is preserved in a single 11th century manuscript (Codex Vaticanus Graecae 859, and eight manuscript copies derived from it); Eusebius of Caesarea (­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxxvi.13-15) supplies chapter 13 and 14; and there survive a few quotations from various Monophysite or Semi-Monophysite writers of the 5th-7th centuries. For the rest, however, we are dependent upon the Latin version. Moreover, there is no indication of the date of the letter, except what can be inferred from its contents; and here we are presented with another dilemma.

 

1. On the one hand, the allusion in ­Polycarp Philippians­ 9:1-2—(I appeal now to every one of you to hear and obey the call of holiness, and to exercise the same perfect fortitude that you have seen with your own eyes in the blessed Ignatius, and Rufus, and Zosimus; and not in them alone, but in a number of your own townsmen as well—to say nothing of Paul himself and the other Apostles. Be very sure that the course of these men ­was not run­ in vain, but faithfully and honorably; and that they ­have now reached a well-earned place at the side of the Lord­ whose pains they ­shared­. Their hearts ­were not set­ on this world of ours)—to Ignatius and his fellow-martyrs as having run their course and being in a well-earned place at the side of the Lord implies that the fact of their death was already known to Polycarp.

 

2. Later on, however, at ­Polycarp Philippians­ 13:2, which is preserved only in Latin—(And if you should have any certain news of Ignatius himself and his companions, pray let us know.)—his request for the latest news of them suggests that they were still on their way from Philippi to Rome.

 

     Two possibilities are open to resolve this difficulty:

 

1. There really is no difficulty; for it can be argued that the Latin version of this passage is simply a mistranslation of the Greek, which allegedly lacked a verb here. (There is, in fact, a similar Latin mistranslation at ­Polycarp Philippians­ 9:1, where the Greek, verbless, clearly refers to dead martyrs from Philippi, and the Latin translation wrongly reads not in a number of your own townsmen but qui ex vobis sunt.) Or:

 

2. The translation is correct, and that we have here to do with more than one letter from the bishop of Smyrna. The apparent contradiction prompted Harrison (­Polycarp’s Two Epistles to the Philippians­, Cambridge, 1936) to put forth the theory that the present text is in reality a combination of two quite different letters—the one consisting of chapters 13 and 14, with a covering letter accompanying the letters of Ignatius he was forwarding to Philippi; the other consisting of chapters 1-12 plus a later letter, directed against Marcion of Sinope (d.160) written c.135AD and dealing with a much later crisis in the Philippian church. Others, however, argue for the unity of the text on the grounds that (a) the presence of countless allusions and a few explicit quotations in chapters 1-12 clearly shows that Polycarp has a collection of Christian literature (including ­I Timothy­, ­II Timothy­, ­Titus­, ­II Clement­ and probably ­I Clement­) which he regards as authoritative and knows practically by heart; (b) Polycarp, by apparently not including quotations from ­Mark­, ­Luke­ and ­John­, simply demonstrates his ignorance of the existence of these gospels, which were certainly published by 120AD, and probably in nearby Ephesus, and that if this were not the case, it is unlikely that he would not have made use of them in a letter otherwise plentifully supplied with ­Received New Testament­ quotations, but conspicuously devoid of ­Received Old Testament­ citations; and (c) the absence of New Testament allusions or quotations in chapters 13-14 does not prove anything about the date of this letter, for the subject matter simply does not require the presence of such allusions.

 

     Moreover, proof of Polycarp’s internalization of his collection of books, and of the quotations themselves, is abundant.

 

1. At 10:3—(Woe to them through whom the name of the Lord is blasphemed)—there appears a quotation from ­II Clement­ 13:2—(For the Lord also saith, ‘Continually My name is blasphemed among all the gentiles,’ and again, ‘Woe to them on account of whom My name is blasphemed.’) [That this is ultimately traceable to ­Isaiah­ 52:5b is immaterial; for ­Isaiah­ 52:5 reads Now therefore what am I doing here, says the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away without cause? Their rulers howl, says the Lord, and continually, all day long, my name is despised. and it is clear from the quotation as it appears in ­Polycarp Philippians­ that Polycarp has gotten his material from II Clement­, and not from ­Isaiah­.]

 

2. At 1:3—(knowing that it is by His grace you are saved, not of your own doing but by the will of God through Jesus Christ.)—there is a fused memory of ­Paul Ephesians­ 2:5, 2:8 and 2:9—(even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ... For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God— ... not because of works, lest any man should boast.)

 

3. At 4:1—(we brought nothing into this world, and we can carry nothing out,)—there is a memory of ­I Timothy­ 6:7—(for we brought nothing into the world, and\fn{Other ancient authorities insert here: it is certain that.} we cannot take anything out of the world;)

 

4. At 5:1—(God is not mocked,)—appears part of ­Galatians­ 6:7—(Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.)

 

5. At 6:1—(we all of us owe the debt of sin.)—there is a fused memory of ­Matthew­ 6:12, ­Luke­ 11:4, and Paul Romans­ 3:23—(And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors; ... and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive every one who is indebted to us; and lead us not into temptation.' ... since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,)

 

6. At 3:2, and probably also at 11:3 in a play on words with a quotation from ­II Corinthians­ 3:2 (underscored)—(and even after his departure he still sent letters which, if you study them attentively, will enable you to make progress in the faith ... you with whom the blessed Paul labored, and who were his letters of commendation­ in those early days, ... You yourselves are our ­letter of recommendation­, written on your\fn{Other ancient authorities read: our.} hearts, to be known and read by all men;)—it is clear that Polycarp knows that Paul wrote letters to the Philippians.

 

7. At 11:2—(Do we not know, Paul teaches us, that it is God’s people who are to judge the world?)—he can refer to the teaching of Paul at ­I Corinthians­ 6:2—(Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?)

 

8. At 12:1—(I have no doubt you are well versed in Holy Scripture, and that it holds no secrets for you (which is more than has been granted to me). Only, it says there, Do not be angry to the point of sin; do not let the sun go down on your indignation.)—he can even quote from an ­alleged­ letter of Paul’s, ­Ephesians­ 4:26—(Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.)

 

9. Polycarp can also (at 2:3, underscored) speak of remembering what the Lord said when he taught—(and bear in mind the words of our Lord in His teaching, ­Judge not, that you be not judged; forgive, and you will be forgiven; be merciful, that you may obtain mercy; for whatever you measure out to other people will be measured back again to yourselves­. And again, ­Happy are the poor and they who are persecuted because they are righteous, for theirs is the kingdom of God­.)—which turns out to be a combination of gospel sayings (­Matthew­ 5:3, Matthew­ 5:10, ­Matthew­ 7:1-2, ­Mark­ 4:24, ­Luke­ 6:20, ­and Luke­ 6:37—(Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ... Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ... Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. ... And he said to them, ‘Take heed what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you.’ ... And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: ‘Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. ... Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;)—which are also related to ­I Clement­ 13:1-2—(As you judge, so you will be judged. Forgive, so that it may be forgiven you. Pity, so that you may be pitied. With the measure you measure, by it it will be measured to you.)

 

10. At 7:1—(To deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is to be Antichrist.)—he uses the language of ­I John­ 4: 2-3 and ­II John­ 1:7—(By this you know that Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit of which does not confess Jesus is not of God. This is the spirit of Antichrist, of which you heard that it was coming, and now it is in the world already. ... For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh; such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist.)

 

     It is clear that Polycarp is very often not relying ­directly­ upon his available written materials, but making use of his memory either in regard to such written documents or in regard to oral traditions; and it does not always seem to be possible to tell which he is doing. This is also true of the possible allusions to some of the Johannine material—or as Brooke writes (­The Johannine Epistles­, London, 1912, liii) of item 10, above:—The passage may be said to prove the acquaintance of Polycarp with the teaching contained in the Epistles, or with the man who taught it. Perhaps more important is the question as to which sources he used most frequently and significantly.

 

A

 

As for frequency, Polycarp makes use of ­I Peter­ at least 18 times and ­I Clement­ 15 times. There are also 9 possible allusions to the Ignatian autographs: (1) At 1:1—(When you welcomed those copies of the True Love, and took the opportunity of setting them forward on their road, it made me as happy in Jesus Christ as it did you. For those chains they were wearing were the badges of saints; the diadems of men truly chosen by God and our Lord.)—there may be an allusion to ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 11:2—(Apart from Him, nothing else should have any value in your eyes; but in Him, even these chains I wear are a collar of spiritual pearls to me, in which I hope to rise again through the help of your intercessions.) (2) At 5:2—(By the same token, our deacons must never be open to any reproach at the bar of His righteousness, remembering that they are ministers of God and not of men.)—there may an allusion to ­Trallians­ 3:1—(Equally, it is for the rest of you to hold the deacons in as great respect as Jesus Christ; just as you should also look on the bishop as a type of the Father, and the clergy as the Apostolic circle.) (3) At 6:3—(refusing all association with false brethren and those hypocritical bearer’s of the Lord’s name who only lead empty heads astray.)—there may be an allusion to ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 7:1—(Nevertheless, there are some people who persistently bandy the Name about with the grossest hypocrisy,) (4) At 8:2—(Let us imitate that patient endurance of His; and if we do have to suffer for His Name’s sake, why then, let us give glory to Him.)—there may be an allusion to ­Ignatius Ephesians­ 10:3—(Let us show by our forbearance that we are their brothers, and to try to imitate the Lord by seeing which of us can put up with the most ill-usage or privation or contempt.) (5) At 9:2—(Be very sure that the course of these men was not run in vain, but faithfully and honorably; and that they have now reached a well-earned place at the side of the Lord whose pains they shared. Their hearts were not set on this world of ours, but on Him who died for our sakes, and was raised up again for us by God.)—there may be an allusion to ­Ignatius Romans­ 6:1—(All the ends of the earth, all the kingdoms of the world would be of no profit to me; so far as I am concerned, to die in Jesus Christ is better than to be monarch of earth’s widest bounds. He who died for us is all that I seek; He who rose again for us is my whole desire.)—or Smyrnaeans­ 4:3—(Simply because when I am close to the sword I am close to God, and when I am surrounded by the lions I am surrounded by God. But it is only in the name of Jesus Christ, and for the sake of sharing His sufferings, that I could face all this; for He, the perfect Man, gives me strength to do so.) (6) At 13:1—(You and Ignatius have both written to me to ask whether anyone who may be going to Syria could deliver a letter from you there along with ours.)—there may be an allusion to ­Ignatius Polycarp­ 8:1—(As I have to leave Troas by sea for Neapolis at any moment (so the Divine will has ordered it), it is impossible for me to write to all the churches myself; so will you, as one who possesses the mind of God, write ahead to the churches along the route and ask them to follow the same procedure?)—or to Smyrnaeans­ 11:3—(Therefore, to set the seal of perfection on your work both here and hereafter, it would be most fitting and would do much honor to God if your church were to appoint someone to go as His ambassador to Syria with your felicitations on the restoration of peace.) (7) Finally, at 13:2—(I will see that this is done; perhaps by myself personally if I can find a suitable opportunity, or else by someone whom I will send to act for both of us.)—there may be a memory of ­Ignatius Romans­ 10:1-2—(his letter comes to you from Smyrna, by the hands of our praiseworthy men of Ephesus. Crocus, specially dear to me, is here too, and a number of others besides. I believe you have already been told of certain persons who went on ahead of me from Syria to Rome, for the glory of God.

 

B

 

     As for significance: (1) Polycarp echos the ­Letter of Paul to the Philippians­ as he writes to the same community; and when he speaks of Paul as having written letters to them, he may also (so Schweizer, Theologische Zeigschrift­ I, 1945, 90-91) have ­II Thessalonians­ in mind. (2) When he attacks heresy, he uses, as has been said before, the language of the Received Johannine letters (thus indicating that he might have known of the entire Johannine body of Received writings—the gospel, apocalypse, and three letters: H). (3) GRA believes that Polycarp may have used the ­Shepherd of Hermas­ [140-155AD, so also a great number of scholars (ODC, 630)] in his writings. [That he would appear to regard ­II Clement­ as at least in part canonical seems proved by his recourse to it in quotation 1 (above): H] Nor does he show any hesitation about using ­Paul Ephesians­ (a letter allegedly, but most probably not, a Pauline autograph).

 

     Indeed, Polycarp’s reliance upon contemporary materials, oral or written, is so extensive as to thoroughly justify Norden’s comment (­Die Antike Kunstpropsa­ II, Leipzig, 1898, 512) that the language deserves neither praise nor blame; no unusual word, no anacoluthon [syntactical incoherence or inconsistence within a sentence]—but also no original thought, no rhetoric either of heart or of head. The document is so thoroughly ‘traditional’ as to have provoked an occasional suspicion that Polycarp cannot have written it. Scholars have often pointed out that most of what Polcarp allegedly wrote can be regarded as simply a mosaic of quotations; and it is this fact which has lent a measure of plausibility to the theory of Cotterill (Journal of Philology­ XIX, 1891, 241-285) that another mosaic-creator, a 7th century monk named Antiochus, not only quoted from ­Polycarp Philippians­ but actually in fact wrote it. Two arguments present themselves, however, against this: (1) the details of Cotterill’s argument are not very convincing; and (2) everything known about Polycarp of Smyrna suggests that he was just the sort of person who would have created this type of literary expression.

 

[ECW, 141-143; WEB, 32; GRA, I, 64-69; GOO, 237-238]

 

244. Fragments of Various Letters of Polycarp

 

1. Feuardentius (d.1610) in his notes on a passage of Irenaeus of Lyons [d.c.200, ­De Ogdoade­, as quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea (­Ecclesiastical History­ V:xx), in which Irenaeus mentions other letters known by him to have been written by Polycarp]—(And I can bear witness before God, that if that blessed and apostolical presbyter had heard any such thing, he would have cried out, and stopped his ears, exclaiming as he was wont to do: “O good God, for what times hast Thou reserved me, that I should endure these things?” And he would have fled from the very spot where, sitting or standing, had he heard such words. This fact, too, can be made clear, from his Epistles which he dispatched, whether to the neighboring Churches to confirm them, or to certain of the brethren, admonishing and exhorting them.)—published as fragments of lost writings of Polycarp five extracts from a ­catena­ which he had discovered, introducing them with the following words: “Harum epistolarum porro quinque non aspernada fragmenta a me superioris quadragesimae tempore Virduni in quadam vetustissimis characteribus manu descripta super quatuor evangelistas catena inventa, ut a victore espicopo Capuano ante mille et centum annos ibidem laudantur, hoc loco inserere operae pretium visum est. Haec itaque ibidem leguntur: ‘Victor episcopus Capuae ex responsione capitulorum sancti Polycarpi Smyrnensis episcopi, discipuli Joannis evangelistae.’” The fragments are then given, with the following heading:—Divi Polycarpi Smyrnensis episcopi et martyris b. Joannis evangelistae quondam discipuli responsionum fragmenta. Matthaeaus Dominum dixisse testatur etc. After printing them, Feuardentius adds: “Haec Victor Capuanus vir Graece et Latine doctus circa annum Dom. 480 ex Graeco Responsionum capitulorum b. Polycarpi, quem nactus erat, codice a se Latina facta recensuit; et in supra nominata Catena manuscripta, quam penes me habeo et, quum per typogrophos licebit, studiosis communicabo, citantur.”

 

2. Pitra (­Spicilegium Solesmense­, 4 vols., 1853-1858) has published two other fragments as ex libro Responsorum­ inscripto by Polycarp. He says he found them in an ­Expositio in Heptateuchum­ by John the Deacon (9th century), contained in the Paris manuscript known as Codex Sangermensis 60. (This John is the same who wrote a biography of Gregory the Great.)

 

     In fact, the fragments published by Feuardentius are not certified on authority beyond question; and as we shall see, the authenticity of the fragments reported by Pitra should be rejected outright.

 

1. A ­catena­ (a collection of passages derived from previous commentators) is a highly precarious voucher for the authorship of an extract, the displacement of names being frequent in such cases. Moreover in this instance Polycarp’s name is only given in a quotation of a quotation. It is much to be regretted likewise that owing to the loss of this manuscript since Feuardentius’ time, the form in which the Polycarpian extracts were quoted cannot be verified.

 

2. Though Irenaeus in the above quotation speaks of letters which Polycarp wrote to individuals and churches, it may be inferred from his language elsewhere [­Adversus Omnes Haereses­ III:iii.4—(There is also a very powerful Epistle of Polycarp written to the Philippians, from which those who choose to do so, and are anxious about their salvation, can learn the character of his faith, and the preaching of the truth. Then, again, the Church in Ephesus, founded by Paul, and having John remaining among them permanently until the times of Trajan\fn{Emperor, 97-117: H}, is a true witness of the tradition of the apostles.]—that Polycarp Philippians­ alone was actually in his hands.

 

3. Victor’s work is roughly assigned, as we have seen, by Feuardentius to 480AD; and various other dates have been ascribed to this writer by different critics. But it appears from his own epitaph, which is preserved by Ughelli (­Italia Sacra­ VI, Venice, 1720, 306) that Victor died in 554AD, having held the see 13 years (thus making the assignation by Feuardentius impossible: H).

 

4. Ussher, who reprinted in fragments from Feuardentius (­Ignatii et Polycarpi Mart.­, 31) speaks (Polycarpi et Ignatii Epistolae­, 1644) as if the ­catena­ itself was the work of Victor of Capua; but this inference is not justified by the statement of Feuardentius himself.

 

5. It would indeed have been strange that nothing should have been heard elsewhere of an elaborate work by Polycarp, entitled ­Responsorum­, and consisting of more than 21 chapters.

 

6. The first of Pitra’s fragments, a comment on ­Genesis­ 2:7, is introduced with the words Victor episcopus Cauae in libro suo Responsorum capitulo vigesimo primo ... . Here Pitra boldly omits suo in the original, and on the strength of the fragments given by Feuardentius assigns them to this supposed work of Polycarp, the Responsorum­. But if suo be (logically: H) retained, the ­Responsorum­ is distinctly attributed to Victor of Capua; and a correction must be made accordingly [as Zahn (­Prol­., p. xlviif) has pointed out] in the heading of the Feuardentian­ fragments—which should read Victor episcopus Capuae ex Responsorum capitulo, where the word capitulo is a corruption of some numeral, and the words which follow (Sancti Polycarpi Smyrnensis episcopi, discipuli Joannis evangelistae) are indeed the heading of Victor’s extract from his supposed Polycarp. This makes the Responsorum­ the work of Victor, not of Polycarp; and the ­catena­ was therefore compiled by some writer still later than Victor.

 

7. Pitra himself (­ibid­., liii, lviii) suspected that the compiler of the ­catena­ was in fact John the Deacon, quoting the ­Responsorum­ of Victor of Capuae, who himself ascribed the extracts to Polycarp of Smyrna; but it is extremely improbable that writings of Polycarp, which were unknown to Irenaeus or Eusebius, should have been accessible to Victor. [This is perhaps specially true of Irenaeus of Lyons, who writes (ibid­.) most intimately about Polycarp from the point of view as an admiring, respectful, and thoroughly Orthodox eyewitness—(But Polycarp also was not only instructed by apostles, and conversed with many who had seen Christ, but was also, by apostles in Asia, appointed bishop of the church in Smyrna, whom I also saw in my early youth, for he tarried a very long time, and, when a very old man, gloriously and most nobly suffering martyrdom, departed this life, having always taught the things which he had learned from the apostles, and which the Church has handed down, and which alone are true. To these things all the Asiatic churches testify, as do also those men who have succeeded Polycarp down to the resent time,—a man who was of much greater weight, and a more steadfast witness of truth, than Valentinus, and Marcion, and the rest of the heretics. He it was who, coming to Rome in the time of Anicetus (sic.; Anicletus, bishop c.79-c.91, is meant: H) caused many to turn away from the aforesaid heretics to the Church of God, proclaiming that he had received this one and sole truth from the apostles,—that, namely, which is handed down by the Church.\fn{So the Greek. The Latin reads: which he also handed down to the Church.} There are also those who heard from him that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, “Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of truth, is within.” And Polycarp himself replied to Marcion, who met him on one occasion, and said, “Dost thou know me?” “I do know thee, the first-born of Satan.” Such was the horror which the apostles and their disciples had against holding even verbal communication with any corrupters of the truth; as Paul also says, “A man that is an heretic, after the first and second admonition, reject; knowing that he that as such is subverted, and sinneth, being condemned of himself.”\fn{So ­Titus­ 3:10; but it is highly improbable, according to most contemporary scholarship, that Titus­ is a Pauline autograph. (The section III:iii.4 then continues (and concludes) with the quotation ascribed to it six paragraphs above.)}]

 

The two fragments adduced by Pitra may, therefore, be dismissed as not autographs by Polycarp of Smyrna. As to the Feuardentian materials, LIG discusses only two of them: (1) the second one, ending with the words Legitur et in dolio­ etc., which he rejects linguistically as impossible for Polycarp to have written—Halloix (­Illust. Eccl. Orient. Script­. I, Duaci, 1633, 597) who first reprinted the Feuardentian discovery (ibid­., 532), also condemns it as an addition by a strange hand; and (2) the contents of the third, which he feels seems to point to a later date (though cautioning that we ought not to speak with too great confidence on this point.).

 

[LIG, III, 101-103; ODC, 247]

 

245. 246. 247. 248. The Letter of Ignatius to the Virgin Mary; The Letter of the Virgin Mary to Ignatius; The First Letter of Ignatius to John; The Second Letter of Ignatius to John

 

     These four letters (hereafter referred to as ­Ignatius\M1­, Ignatius\M2­, ­Ignatius\J1­, and ­Ignatius\J2­, or collectively as ­Ignatius\M­ and ­Ignatius\J­) appear to have first seen the light of day as an appendix to a life of Thomas Becket, written by Robert Grossteste, bishop of Lincoln (1235-1253AD). ANF says that they presently exist only in Latin. Indeed, it is sufficient to glance at the short letters concerning John and the mother of Jesus to see that they carry the stamp of imposture on their front; and in fact, no sooner were they published than by almost universal consent their authenticity was rejected. They are as follows.

 

Ignatius\J1­—(Ignatius, and the brethren who are with him, to John the holy presbyter. We are deeply grieved at thy delay in strengthening us by thy addresses and consolations. If thy absence be prolonged, it will disappoint many of us. Hasten then to come, for we believe that it is expedient. There are also many of our women here, who are desirous to see Mary [the mother] of Jesus, and wish day by day to run off from us to you, that they may meet with her, and touch those breasts of hers which nourished the Lord Jesus, and may inquire of her respecting some rather secret matters. But Salome\fn{The daughter of Anna.} also, whom thou lovest, who stayed with her five months at Jerusalem, and some other well-known persons, relate that she is full of all graces and all virtues, after the manner of a virgin, fruitful in virtue and grace. And, as they report, she is cheerful in persecutions and afflictions, free from murmuring in the midst of penury and want, grateful to those that injure her, and rejoices when exposed to troubles: she sympathizes with the wretched and the afflicted as sharing in their afflictions, and is not slow to come to their assistance. Moreover, she shines forth gloriously as contending in the fight of faith against the pernicious conflicts of vicious\fn{Literally: of vices.} principles of conduct. She is the lady of our new religion and repentance,\fn{Some manuscripts and editions omit this word.} and the handmaid among the faithful of all works of piety. She is indeed devoted to the humble, and she humbles herself more devotedly than the devoted, and is wonderfully magnified by all, while at the same time she suffers detraction from the Scribes and Pharisees. Besides these points, many relate to us numerous other things regarding her. We do not, however, go so far as to believe all in every particular; nor do we mention such to thee. But, as we are informed by those who are worthy of credit, there is in Mary the mother of Jesus an angelic purity of nature allied with the nature of humanity.\fn{Literally: a nature of angelic purity is allied to human nature.} And such reports as these have greatly excited our emotions, and urge us eagerly to desire a sight of this (if it be lawful so to speak) heavenly prodigy and most sacred marvel. But do thou in haste comply with this our desire; and fare thou well. Amen.)

 

Igantius\J2­—(His friend Ignatius to John the holy presbyter. If thou wilt give me leave, I desire to go up to Jerusalem, and see the faithful\fn{Some omit this word.} saints who are there, especially Mary the mother, whom they report to be an object of admiration and of affection to all. For who would not rejoice to behold and to address her who bore the true God from her own womb, provided he is a friend of our faith\fn{Literally: of herself. Some read, instead of de se, desorum; in which case the translation would be: the true god of gods.} and religion? And in like manner [I desire to see] the venerable James, who is surnamed Just, whom they relate to be very like Christ Jesus in appearance,\fn{Or: face. Some omit the word.} in life, and in method of conduct, as if he were a twin brother of the same womb. They say that, if I see him, I see also Jesus Himself, as to all the features and aspect of His body. Moreover, [I desire to see] the other saints, both male and female. Alas why do I delay? Why am I kept back? Kind\fn{Or: good.} teacher, bid me hasten [to fulfill my wish], and fare thou well. Amen.)

 

Ignatius\M1­—(Her friend Ignatius to the Christ-bearing\fn{Mary is called here Christotokos, and not Theotokos: i.e., Christbearer, as opposed to Godbearer.} Mary. Thou oughtest to have comforted and consoled me who am a neophyte, and a disciple of thy [beloved] John. For I have heard things wonderful to tell respecting thy [son] Jesus, and I am astonished by such a report. But I desire with my whole heart to obtain information concerning the things which I have heard from thee, who wast always intimate and allied with Him, and who wast acquainted with [all] His secrets. I have also written to thee at another time, and have asked thee concerning the same things. Fare thou well; and let the neophytes who are with me be comforted of thee, and by thee, and in thee. Amen.)

 

Ignatius\M2­—(The lowly handmaid of Christ Jesus to Ignatius, her beloved fellow-disciple. The things which thou hast heard and learned from John concerning Jesus are true. Believe them, cling to them, and hold fast the profession of that Christianity which thou hast embraced, and conform thy habits and life to thy profession. Now I will come in company with John to visit thee, and those that are with thee. Stand fast in the faith,\fn{An allusion to I Corinthians 16:13: Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.} and show thyself a man; nor let the fierceness of persecution move thee, but let thy spirit be strong and rejoice in God thy Savior.\fn{An allusion to Luke 1:47S: and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.} Amen.)

 

     That these letters can not be authentic, but are the products of a much later age, seems proven by the following considerations.

 

1. In ­Ignatius\M1­ there occurs in the greeting the word Christotokos instead of Theotokos to describe the relationship of the Incarnated Jesus to his mother. The word Theotokos (God-bearer) had been used of Mary by the Greek Fathers from Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254) onwards [perhaps even by Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236)] and became an increasingly popular term of devotion; but in 429AD it was attacked by Nestorius of Germanicia (d.c.451) and his supporters as incompatible with the full humanity of Christ. It is they who proposed—indeed, seem to have coined—the term Christotokos (Christ-bearer) to replace it; and that it is met with in this letter proves that ­Ignatius\M1­ cannot have originated before the middle of the 5th century AD.

 

2. One would think it highly unlikely on the face of it that any genuine letters exchanged between the most important Christian in the richest province of the Roman empire during the last half of the 1st century, and the mother of the Founder of Christianity, would have been overlooked by the earliest Christian apologists; but if we are to believe ­Ignatius\M­ to be authentic productions, then such was the case.

 

3. The same argument certainly would surely also hold true for any genuine correspondence exchanged between any of the Apostles and their pupils, of which Ignatius was traditionally thought to have been one, in a tradition which there are no good grounds for disputing (ECW, 63); but again, of the ­Ignatius\J­ letters, like the ­Ignatius\M­ material, there is no evidence even of use (let alone comment) by any of the Fathers of the Church (by which is meant the period from the 1st century to the death of John of Damascus in the East (c.749AD) and Isidore of Seville in the West (636).

 

4. That all four letters appear to betray a common author, however, seems equally certain, even if that person cannot have been Ignatius of Antioch. (a) This seems apparent in the wording of their introductions (underscoring): ­Ignatius\J1­—(Ignatius, and the brethren who are with him, ­to John the holy presbyter­ ... Ignatius\J2­—­His friend­ Ignatius ­to John the holy presbyter­ ... ­Ignatius\M1­—­Her friend­ Ignatius to the Christ-bearing Mary ... ­Ignatius\M2­—The lowly hand-maid­\fn{In Ignatius\J1, Mary is described as the handmaid among the faithful of all works of piety.} of Christ Jesus to Ignatius, her beloved fellow-disciple.) (b) It also seems to be the case with regard to their conclusions (underscoring): ­Ignatius\J1­—(But ­do thou in haste comply with this our desire­; and ­fare thee well­. ­Amen­. ... ­Ignatius\J2­—Kind teacher, ­bid me hasten to fulfill my wish­, and ­fare thou well­. ­Amen­. ... ­Ignatius\M1­—Fare thou well­; and let the neophytes who are with me be comforted of thee, and by thee, and in thee. ­Amen­. ... ­Ignatius\M2­—But let thy spirit be strong and rejoice in God thy Savior. ­Amen­.) (c) Moreover, all four letters seem devoid of theological argument; while at the same time demonstrating as their central theme various matters concerning the mother of Jesus, in which he (rather than any of the other protagonists) occupies the most important object of interest for the author.

 

     The problem then seems to be that, if the letters are by the same hand, if they originated beyond the 8th century, if Latin was the language of their origin and an outburst of Mariolatry the reason for their invention, and if their first discoverable evidence was from an English source datable to the first half of the 13th century, could it then be possible that all four of them originated in England, and if so, when?

 

     Both of these questions Lightfoot answers in the affirmative, pointing to an outburst of Mary-worship in England during the 11th century as the probable time of the life of their author.

 

[ODC, 495-496, 857; ANF, I, 105-106, 124-126; ECW, 63-64; LIG, I, 490-493]

 

249. 250. The Letter of Mary of Cassobelae to Ignatius; The Letter of Ignatius to Mary of Cassobelae

 

     These two letters (hereafter referred to as ­Ignatius\C1­ and Ignatius\C2­) are also spurious productions, apparently designed to enlist the authority of the martyr-bishop of Antioch in favor of the legitimacy of certain 4th century clergy dependent upon the see of Neapolis. There are a number of reasons which may be put forth to demonstrate that they can not have been the product of the first decade of the 2nd century AD. The letters are as follows.

 

Ignatius\C1­—(Maria, a proselyte of Jesus Christ,\fn{The heading of Ignatius\C1 reads: Mary of Cassobelita to Ignatius; but nothing can be said with certainty as to the place referred to. Some believe that the name of the town should be emended to Castabilitis, believing the reference to Castabala, a well-known city of Cilicia; but this, and other proposals, rest upon mere conjecture. TAF says it is a neighboring town to Antioch.} to Ignatius Theophorus, most blessed bishop of the apostolic church which is at Antioch, beloved in God the Father, and Jesus: Happiness and safety. We all\fn{Some propose to read: always.} beg for thee joy and health in Him. Since Christ has, to our wonder,\fn{Or: wonderfully.} been made known among us to be the Son of the living God, and to have become man in these last times by means of the Virgin Mary, and of the seed of David and Abraham, according to the announcements previously made regarding Him and through Him by the company of the prophets, we therefore beseech and entreat that, by thy wisdom, Maris our friend, bishop of our native Neapolis, which is near Zarbus, and Eulogius, and Sobelus the presbyter, be sent to us, that we be not destitute of such as preside over the divine word; as Moses also says, “Let the Lord God look out a man who shall guide this people, and the congregation of the Lord shall not be as sheep which have no shepherd.” But as to those whom we have named being young men, do not, thou blessed one, have any apprehension. For I would have you know that they are wise about the flesh, and are insensible to its passions, they themselves glowing with all the glory of a hoary head through their own\fn{Literally: in themselves.} intrinsic merits, and though but recently called as young men to the priesthood.\fn{Literally: in recent newness of priesthood.} Now, call up thy thoughts through the Spirit that God has given to thee by Christ, and thou wilt remember\fn{Literally: know.} that Samuel, while yet a little child, was called a seer, and was reckoned in the company of the prophets, that he reproved the aged Eli for transgression, since he had honored his infatuated sons above God the author of all things, and had allowed them to go unpunished, when they turned the office of the priesthood into ridicule, and acted violently towards thy people. Moreover, the wise Daniel, while he was a young man, passed judgment on certain vigorous old men,\fn{The ancient Latin version translates: cruel old men; which perhaps better suits the reference.} showing them that they were abandoned wretches, and not [worthy to be reckoned] elders, and that, though Jews by extraction, they were Canaanites in practice. And Jeremiah, when on account of his youth he declined the office of a prophet entrusted to him by God, was addressed in these words: “Say not, I am a youth; for thou shalt go to all those to whom I send thee, and thou shalt speak according to all that I command thee; because I am with thee.” And the wise Solomon, when only in the twelfth year of his age, had wisdom to decide the important question concerning the children of the two women,\fn{Literally: understood the great question of the ignorance of the women respecting their children.} when it was unknown to whom these respectively belonged; so that the whole people were astonished at such wisdom in a child, and venerated him as being not a mere youth, but a full-grown man. And he solved the hard questions of the queen of the Ethiopians, which had profit in them as the streams of the Nile [have fertility], in such a manner that the woman, though herself so wise, was beyond measure\fn{Literally: out of her-self.} astonished. Josiah also, beloved of God, when as yet he could scarcely speak articulately, convicts those who were possessed of a wicked spirit as being false in their speech, and deceivers of the people. He also reveals the deceit of the demons, and openly exposes those that are not gods; yea, while yet an infant he slays their priests, and overturns their altars, and defiles the place where sacrifices were offered with dead bodies, and throws down the temples, and cuts down the groves, and breaks in pieces the pillars, and breaks open the tombs of the ungodly, that not a relic of the wicked might any longer exist. To such an extent did he display zeal in the cause of godliness, and prove himself a punisher of the ungodly, while he as yet faltered in speech like a child. David, too, who was at once a prophet and a king, and the root of our Savior according to the flesh, while yet a youth is anointed by Samuel to be king. For he himself says in a certain place, “I was small among my brethren, and the youngest in the house of my father.” But time would fail me if I should endeavor to enumerate\fn{Literally: to trace up.} all those that pleased God in their youth, having been entrusted by God with either the prophetical, the priestly, or the kingly office. And those which have been mentioned may suffice, by way of bringing the subject to thy remembrance. But I entreat thee not to reckon me presumptuous or ostentatious. For I have set forth these statements, not as instructing thee, but simply as suggesting the matter to the remembrance of my father in God. For I know my own place,\fn{Literally: measure, or limits.} and do not compare myself with such as you. I salute thy holy clergy, and thy Christ-loving people who are ruled under thy care as their pastor. All the faithful with us salute thee. Pray, blessed shepherd, that I may be in health as respects God.)

 

Ignatius\C2­—(Ignatius, who is also called Theophorus, to her who has obtained mercy through the grace of the most high God the Father, and Jesus Christ the Lord, who died for us, to Mary, my daughter [in the faith], most faithful, worthy of God, and bearing Christ [in her heart], wishes abundance of happiness in God. Sight indeed is better than writing, inasmuch as, being a part of the company of the senses, it not only, by communicating proofs of friendship, honors him who receives them, but also, by those which it in turn receives, enriches the desire for better things. But the second harbor of refuge, as the phrase runs, is the practice of writing, which we have received, as a convenient haven, by thy faith, from so great a distance, seeing that by means of a letter we have learned the excellence that is in thee. For the souls of the good, O thou wisest\fn{Literally: all-wise.} of women, resemble fountains of the purest water; for they allure by their beauty passers-by to drink of them, even though these should not be thirsty. And thy intelligence invites us, as by a word of command, to participate in those divine draughts which gush forth so abundantly in thy soul. But I, O thou blessed woman, not being now so much my own master as in the power of others, am driven along by the many wills of the adversaries, being in one sense in exile, in another in prison, and in a third in bonds. But I pay no regard to these things. Yea, by the injuries inflicted on me through them, I acquire all the more the character of a disciple, that I may attain to Jesus Christ. May I enjoy the torments which are prepared for me, seeing that “the sufferings of this present time are not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” I have gladly fulfilled the things commanded by thee in the letter, having no doubt respecting those persons whom thou didset prove to be men of worth. For I am sure that thou barest testimony to them by a judgment of God, and not through the influence of carnal favor. And thy numerous quotations of Scripture passages exceedingly delighted me, which, when I had read, I had no longer a single doubtful thought respecting the matter. For I did not hold that those things were simply to be glanced over by my eyes, of which I had received from thee such an incontrovertible demonstration. May I be in place of thy soul, because thou lovest Jesus, the Son of the living God. Wherefore also He Himself says to thee, “I love them that love Me; and those that seek Me shall find peace.” Now it occurs to me to mention, that the report is true which I heard of thee whilst thou wast at Rome with the blessed father Linus, whom the deservedly-blessed Clement, a hearer of Peter and Paul, has now succeeded. And by this time thou hast added a hundred-fold to thy reputation; and may thou, O woman, still further increase it. I greatly desired to come unto you, that I might have rest with you; but “the way of man is not in himself.” For the military guard hinders my purpose, and does not permit me to go further. Nor indeed, in the state I am now in, can I either do or suffer anything. Wherefore deeming the practice of writing the second resource of friends for their mutual encouragement, I salute thy sacred soul, beseeching of thee to add still further to thy vigor. For our present labor is but little, while the reward which is expected is great. Avoid those that deny the passion of Christ, and His birth according to the flesh: and there are many at present who suffer under this disease. But it would be absurd to admonish thee on other points, seeing that thou art perfect in every good work and word, and able also to exhort others in Christ. Salute all that are like-minded with thyself, and who hold fast to their salvation in Christ. The presbyters and deacons, and above all the holy Hero, salute thee. Cassian my host salutes thee, as well as my sister, his wife, and their very dear children. May the Lord sanctify thee forevermore in the enjoyment both of bodily and spiritual health, and may I see thee in Christ obtaining the crown!)

 

1. As ANF puts it, these two letters are of a very peculiar style, utterly alien from that of the other Epistles ascribed to Ignatius.

 

2. Moreover, Lightfoot says that the comparative chronology embedded in ­Ignatius\C2­ of the bishops of Antioch and Rome—(Now it occurs to me to mention, that the report is true which I heard of thee whilst thou wast at Rome with the blessed father Linus, whom the deservedly-blessed Clement, a hearer of Peter and Paul, has now succeeded.)—is derived by inference from the sequence of the narrative in Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxxiv, xxxvi, xxxviii); which means that the letter cannot have been written prior to the publishing date of Eusebius work (the final edition of which was issued in 323AD).

 

3. The name Maris or Marinus, which appears in Ignatius\C2­—(we therefore beseech and entreat that, by thy wisdom, Maris our friend, bishop of our native Neapolis, which is near Zarbus, and Eulogius and Sobelus the presbyter, be sent to us, that we be not destitute of such as preside over the divine word;)—becomes prominent in conciliar lists and elsewhere during the 4th century. This Maris is represented as a bishop of Neapolis on the Zarbus river (meaning, apparently, the city of Anazarbus); and in fact, among the victims of the Diocletianic persecution (303-313), one Marinus of Anazarbus is commemorated in three martyrologies: (a) at ­Roman Martyrology­ 6—(Anazarbi in Cilicia S. Marini senis qui sub Diocletiano); (b) at Hieronymian Martyrology­ 11—(In Antiochia natalis S. Marini); and (c) in a Syriac martyrology published by Wright, where under the twenty-fourth of August there is mentioned by thy wisdom, Maris our friend, bishop of our native Neapolis, which is near Zarbus.

 

4. Finally, the name Eulogius in the above quotation also appears in conciliar lists of this epoch; and one Eulogius actually became bishop of Edessa in 379AD.

 

     There are two indications that the author of these letters may have had a hand in the construction of other of the spurious Ignatian letters.

 

1. At ­Ignatius\C2­ 3—(And the wise Solomon, when only in the twelfth year of his age, understood the great question of)—there appears a statement about the extreme youth of Solomon; and a similar statement made at Magnesians­ 3—(The sacred clergy themselves never think of presuming on the apparent precocity of his rank)—serves to promote the idea that the same person was in fact the author of both letters.

 

2. The possibility of dual authorship may be extended to Ignatius\Hero­, for the name and identity of Maris—(I salute in the Lord, Maris the bishop of Neapolis, near Anazarbus.)—is mentioned at ­Ignatius\Hero­ 9. Moreover, the identity of Mary at Neapolis as the spiritual daughter of Ignatius, mentioned in the preface to that letter—(to Mary, my daughter, most faithful, worthy of God, and bearing Christ,)—is noted in the very next sentence of Ignatius\Hero­ 9—(Salute thou also Mary my daughter, distinguished both for gravity and erudition, as also the Church which is in her house.) Indeed, Cassian, my host, and his most serious-minded partner in life, and their very dear children of ­Ignatius\Hero­ 9 are similarly mentioned at Ignatius\C2­—(Cassian my host salutes thee, as well as my sister, his wife, and their very dear children.); and the reader will note the phraseology—(Cassian my host; very dear children)—duplicated in both.

 

     See on all these interrelationships—and on many more—the proofs of common authorship between the spurious Ignatian correspondence available in the introduction to this subsection of XXII: PETER at the beginning of the discussion on the Ignatian material as a whole.

 

[ANF, I, 106, 114-115, 120-123; LIG, I, 483-489]

 

251. A Fragment of a Letter of Ignatius

 

     The following fragment does not appear in any of the Ingatian material thus far considered. It was edited by Mosinger (­Suppl. Corp. Ignat­., 13ff) from the manuscript Vaticanus Aribacus 101—Mosinger also gives various readings from other Vatican manuscripts. An Ethiopic translation from the Arabic is edited by Dillmann in Cureton’s ­Corp. Ignat­., 257ff: it is somewhat amplified. The English translation below takes into account both the Dillmann and Mosinger variants, but is from an Arabic manuscript discovered in Paris.

 

... God, the Creator of all natures, He it is that possesseth the ordering of nature, being the Trinity on Its throne; and He compriseth the whole; and the fullness thereof was in the womb of the Virgin. But the unity of the Godhead with Manhood is that of which we speak here, that which is in the Son, and does not belong to the other Persons. He is hung upon the Cross, and forgiveth sins; He is in the grave, and raiseth up the dead; He cometh forth from the grave, and leaveth the clothes therein; He went into His disciples while the doors were shut, and gave them the salutation of peace. So the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and the Holy Spirit, this is the Trinity, equal, indivisible, and immutable; three Persons, one Godhead, one Lordship, one essence: one power, one kingdom, one adoration, one glorification, one praise, is due to the Trinity; one glory, one counsel, one dominion, one might, one permanence, one thought, one will, belongeth to the Holy Trinity. The Father is Father, and not Son; and the Son is Son, and not Father; and the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and changeth not unto Fatherhood nor Sonship. This Trinity is perfect on the throne of glory, being bound together by the unity of the one Godhead, which is the one light that shineth from the Trinity and filleth all creation and giveth light upon that which is beneath the earth, as it is written: Behold I fill the heavens and the earth, and they that are in the depth of Hell look upon my glory. But as for thee that sayest that the Godhead suffered and died, we believe that the Christ God suffered in body as a man, while he is impassable as God, and that he tasted death in the body, while he is undying as God. Therefore, when thou hearest that God suffered for us, and the God the Word died on our behalf, understand that we join the Natures into a unity of Godhead and Manhood, and name them by this one name which beseemeth God, just as thou thyself art likewise of two natures, soul and body, and named by this one name which beseemeth man. And thy soul is immortal by nature, but thy soul is not Deity, yet is different from the body. And the honor which we desire to give unto our souls, namely that they die not, how dost thou not desire to give it to the one Godhead which is in the Trinity, that which is in the only begotten Son of our Lord, Jesus Christ? Does thou not know that, when thou sayest that the Godhead died, thou slayest the Trinity and the body of the Lord in the grave, and makest it utterly like a dead body? because to the Trinity belongeth one essence, which is the one Divinity. Where then now is He that conquered Death and led Hell captive? since thou makest Him like one that hath no power along with the dead, and no motion. Nay more, thou mayest find others among the Theomachi, who think thus of the body which God framed for Him of the flesh and blood of the Virgin, as He knoweth how as a maker, that it was a body without a soul, and they say that the Godhead was its soul. Dost thou think then that the Godhead went out of it, and the body died altogether? Let them be put to shame now who thus speak this blasphemy, and let them hear the word of the Lord. Verily my soul is sorrowful even unto death. For whom, O Lord? For the people that perisheth. ...

 

     A number of clues combine to date this piece, which, as we shall see, is a late production, well after the death of Ignatius of Antioch.

 

1. In the introduction with which the fragment is provided—(The holy Ignatius, the Martyr, Patriarch of Antioch, being the second therein after Peter the chief of the Apostles, says in his Epistle)—an ecclesiastical title Patriarch is used, the designation which the ODC says came into existence during the 6th century AD.

 

2. It is obvious from an examination of the text that the entire fragment is taken up with a definition and defense of the Orthodox conception of the Trinity. Again, the ODC suggests a late date of origin, since church dogma on the subject was first defined in the Councils of Nicaea (325AD) and Constantinople (381). Moreover, the ODC says further that Orthodox Trinitarian ideas were first defined here in its simplest form; and it would appear that in the text before us we have here to do with a dogmatic statement of some complexity (and therefore of a post-Constantinopolitan date: H).

 

3. Lightfoot does not say if the Arabic devolves from a Greek (or Syriac) original. Nor apparently has any Coptic form been discovered. If Arabic is the original language of the text, two other known fact may come to our aid: (a) the dates of the historical military conquest of Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia and Libya (636-638; 640-642; 639-646; and 642, respectively); and (b) the appearance of the most fundamental of Christian texts in the Arabic language: the ­Received New Testament­ (8th century, made from the Syriac). Now, it would be unlikely that a tractate of so esoteric a nature would have originated in the mother-tongue of Islam at a time when that religion was experiencing its most triumphant early military conquests, and previous to the existence of the Received Scriptures in the Arabic tongue (the existence of which presupposes a community of Arab Christians of sufficient intellectual and cultural vitality necessary to demand a widespread interest in such matters).

 

4. There are a number of references in the fragment to God dying:—(But as for thee that sayest that the Godhead suffered and died, ... that God the Word died on our behalf ... when thou sayest that the Godhead died,)—and in the ENC there occurs a reference to this point:—The non-Chalcedonians insisted that, in no figurative sense but in reality, ‘God was born’ and ‘God died,’ and they constantly suggested that the Chalcedonian formula of the ‘two natures’ of Christ implied a denial of the reality of God’s birth and death and thus undermined the essential doctrine of the Incarnation. The Greek Orthodox, on the other hand, accused the Monophysites of denying that the humanity of Christ was true and real. It would appear, then, that in this tractate we have to do with the developed form of Monophysitism known as Theopaschitism—the name means those who hold that God suffered (so the ODC) or one of the Trinity suffered in the flesh (so the ENC)—and since the same reference in ENC also says that the then bishop of Rome, John II, settled the Theopaschite controversy, and it is known that John II died in 535AD, then (assuming no Greek, Coptic, or Syriac original to our Ignatian fragment) we cannot have before us a creation of the first five centuries of the Christian Era, but rather something belonging to the 9th or 10th—sufficiently far from the chaos of military invasion; sufficiently near to the time of the first known Arabic translation of the fundamental Christian document-set (the ­Received New Testament­); and of a sufficiency also to account for the passionate intensity of feeling which this fragment conveys.

 

     As to where it was written, we would naturally turn to the Syrian Monophysites (called also Jacobites, after Jacob Baradaeu (d.578), through whose labors they became the national church of Syria). But this is by no means certain, since (1) the ODC also says that the term ‘Jacobites’ is also used in a wider sense to cover the Monophysite Christians in Egypt, and (2) the proper name Theomachi, which occurs briefly in the fragment—(thou mayest find others among the Theomachi, who think thus of the body which God framed for Him of the flesh and blood of the Virgin)—may be either a Greek loan-word, or part of an original Greek, Syriac or Coptic letter now lost, of which the Arabic is merely a translation.

 

     However that may be, the subject matter of the work, the languages in which it has survived, and the evident personal concern of its author point to the beginning of the Dark Ages as the time of its origin; and if there were a Greek original—and if this Arabic work is in some manner a translation from it—not earlier than the 6th century AD.

 

[ENC, VI, 477; XIII, 19; ODC, 77, 708-710, 1025, 1344, 1375-1376; LIG, II, 886-890; PAM, 34]

 

252. The Greek Apocalypse of Peter

 

The ­Greek Apocalypse of Peter­ is perhaps the most important of the apocryphal apocalypses. It is, singularly, not mentioned in the ­Decretum Gelasianum­, which is all the more unusual, for it was at one time popular in Rome—as its semi-Scriptural assignation in the ­Muratori Canon­ bears witness; and undoubtedly elsewhere, as examples of ancient testimony enumerated below testify. In general popularity it ranked second only to the Received Apocalypse of John­—as James puts it, it leads the van in date and importance; and perhaps on that score it is the more unfortunate that a pure and complete text of the work has not as yet been recovered from the literary remains of the destruction of the Antique World.

 

Several citations of or to this apocalypse exist from ancient times; and it has been judged to have some documentary affinity with numerous of the ­Fragments of the New Testament­—James professing, in one place or another, to find direct or indirect influences from it in the ­Greek Apocalypse of Elijah­ (early, but date uncertain); the ­Gospel of Peter­ (c.150); ­Letter of the Apostles to the Christians of the World­ (c.150); the ­Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians­ (c.150 in its original form), book two of the Christian Sibyllines­ (at their earliest in 150; but in their present form from the end of the 2nd century, perhaps the beginning of the 3rd); ­Acts of Thomas­ 55-57 (before 250); and the ­Greek Apocalypse of Paul­ (latter half of the 4th century).

 

1. In the ­Letter of Paul to the Corinthians­ 24-25 (early 2nd century), the following discourse—(And as for that which they say, that there is no resurrection of the flesh, they indeed shall have no resurrection unto life, but unto judgment, because they believe not in him that is risen from the dead, not believing nor understanding, for they know not, O Corinthians, the seeds of wheat or of other seeds, how they are cast bare into the earth and are corrupted and rise again by the will of God with bodies, and clothed.)—appears to have been influenced not only by ­I Corinthians­ 15, but also by the following passage in the ­Greek Apocalypse of Peter­—(Behold and consider the corms of wheat that are sown in the earth. As things dry and without soul do men sow them in the earth: and they live again and bear fruit, and the earth restoreth them as a pledge entrusted unto it. And this that dieth, that is sown as seed in the earth, and shall become alive and be restored unto life, is man.\fn{James says this sentence is probably a gloss.} How much more shall God raise up on the day of decision them that believe in him and are chosen of Him, for whose sake he made the world?)

 

2. The ­Shepherd of Hermas­ (c.140-155, ­Vision­ III:i.9) speaks of those that have already been well-pleasing unto God and have suffered for the name’s sake and this seems to be based on the following passage of the Greek Apocalypse of Peter­—(And therefore shall they that die by his hand be martyrs, and shall be reckoned among the good and righteous martyrs who have pleased God in their life.)

 

3. The ­Muratori Canon­ (c.180) says of it:—(Also of the revelations we accept only those of John and Peter, which some of our people do not want to have read in the Church.)

 

4. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Prophetical Extracts­ XLI:i, XLI:ii, XLVIII:i) reproduces a series of detached sentences excerpted from some larger work (generally thought to be his ­Hypotyposes­) which come from the Greek Apocalypse of Peter­:—(The Scripture saith that the children which have been exposed\fn{I.e., exposed by their parents.} are delivered to a care-taking angel by whom they are educated, and made to grow up; and they shall be, it saith, as the faithful of an hundred years old are here.)\fn{I.e., here in this life.} ... (Wherefore also Peter in the Apocalypse saith: And a flash\fn{Lightning is understood.} of fire leaping from those children and smiting the eyes of the women.) ... (The providence of God doth not light upon them only that are in the flesh. For example, Peter in the Apocalypse saith that the children born out of due time\fn{I.e., abortively.} that would have been of the better part\fn{I.e., would have been saved if they had lived.}—these are delivered to a care-taking angel, that they may partake of knowledge and obtain the better abode, having suffered what they would have suffered had they been in the body. But the others\fn{I.e., those who would not have been saved, had they lived.} shall only obtain salvation, as beings that have been injured and had mercy shown to them, and shall continue without torment, receiving that as a reward. But the milk of the mothers, flowing from their breasts and congealing, saith Peter in the Apocalypse, shall engender small beasts\fn{Snakes is to be understood.} devouring the flesh, and these running upon them devour them: teaching that the torments come to pass because of the sins.)\fn{I.e., the torments that come correspond to the sin done.}

 

5. The ­Codex Claromontanus­ (4th century) reproduces as part of its ­New Testament­ section the Revelation of Peter ... 270 lines.

 

6. Methodius of Olympus (d.c.311, ­Symposium­ II:vi)—(Whence also we have received in inspired writings that children born untimely—even if they be the offspring of adultery—are delivered to care-taking\fn{The word for care-taking in these passages—in Greek, temelouchos—is of such rarity that it was mistaken by later readers for the proper name of an angel; and indeed we find an angel named Temeluchus in the later apocalypses attributed to Paul, John, and others. A similar case is that of the word for the keeper of Hell—tartaruchus—which is applied to angels in this apocalypse, in that attributed to Paul, and in other writings, as a proper name Tartaruchus.}angels. For if they had come into being contrary to the will and ordinance of that blessed nature of God, how could they have been delivered to angels to be nourished up in all repose and tranquillity? And how could they have confidently summoned their parents before the judgment seat of Christ to accuse them, saying: Thou, O Lord, didst not begrudge us this light that is common to all, but these exposed us to death, contemning thy command?)—appears to possess a knowledge of it.

 

7. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxv)—(To the writings that are spurious there must be counted ... the ­Revelation of Peter­)—knows of the existence of this work; and

 

8. Sozomen of Bethelia (early 5th century, ­Ecclesiastical History­ VII:xix) says that to his knowledge the Greek Apocalypse of Peter­ was still read annually in some churches in Palestine on Good Friday.

 

9. Macarius of Magnesia (fl.early 5th century, ­Apocriticus­ IV:vi,vii)—(And by the way of superfluity let this also be cited which is said in the ­Apocalypse of Peter­. He introduces the heaven, to be judged along with the earth, thus: The earth, he says, shall present all men to God to be judged in the day of judgment, being itself also to be judged along with the heaven that encompasseth it.\fn{This book consists of extracts from a heathen opponent’s attack on Christianity (perhaps Porphry or Hierocles), and Marcarius’ (not altogether effective: ODC, 838) answers. The heathen writer is the speaker. The quotation from the Ethiopic Apocalypse of Peter reads: And all things shall the earth restore on the day of decision, for it also shall be judged with them, and the heaven with it.} ... And again he says, which is a statement full of impiety: And every power of heaven shall be melted, and the heaven shall be rolled up like a book, and all the stars shall fall like leaven from the vine, and as the leaves from the fig-tree.)\fn{This very nearly coincides with Isaiah 34:4—All the hosts of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their hosts shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.—and does not occur in our other texts of this apocalypse.} makes use of it.

 

10. The ­Homily on the Ten Virgins­ [an old Latin work, (6th century? H) found and published by Dom Wilmart (Bulletin d’anc. litt. et d’archeol. chret­.):—(The closed door is the river of fire by which the ungodly shall be kept out of the kingdom of God, as is written in Daniel and in Peter, in his Apocalypse. ...That envy of the foolish also shall arise and find the door shut, that is, the fiery river set against them.)\fn{The equivalent of all the above quotations is found in the Ethiopic apocalypse of Peter, except for Apocriticus IV:vi.} also makes use of it.

 

11. In the ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century), the apocalypse is listed under the heading And the following apocryphal: as item 16—The Revelation of Peter.

 

12. In the ­Stichometry of Nicephorus­ (c.850) the apocalypse is listed under the heading And of the New Testament the following are gainsaid: as item 2—The Revelation of Peter ... 300 lines.

 

There are, besides these certain citations the following Greek fragments:

 

1. There is in the Bodleian Library a mutilated leaf of a very tiny (c.2"x3") Greek manuscript (5th century) which supplies a few lines of what may be the original Greek text. It is found in Madan’s ­Summary Catalogue­ 31810.

 

... women holding chains and scourging themselves before those idols of deceit. And they shall unceasingly have this torment. And near them shall be other men and women burning in the burning of them that were mad after idols. And these are they which forsook the way of God wholly and ...

 

2. A fragment of this apocalypse was also included in his book by the author of the so-called ­Akhmim Fragment­ (a Greek manuscript, probably of the 8th century), which James says is also known as the ­Gizeh Manuscript­. It is undoubtedly from the ­Greek Apocalypse of Peter­; but in its present form it may have been taken from the version of this apocalypse which appears in the ­Gospel of Peter­—which is a slightly later book than the apocalypse so named; and if so, took from that volume almost its entire text.

 

Many of them shall be false prophets, and shall teach ways and perverse doctrines of perdition. And they shall become sons of perdition. And then shall God come unto my faithful ones that hunger and thirst and are afflicted and prove their souls in this life, and shall judge the sons of iniquity. And the Lord added and said: Let us go unto the mountain and pray. And going with him, we the twelve disciples besought him that he would show us one of our righteous brethren that had departed out of the world, that we might see what manner of men they are in their form, and take courage, and encourage also the men that should hear us. And as we prayed, suddenly there appeared two men standing before the Lord\fn{Perhaps add: to the East.} upon whom we were not able to look. For there issued from their countenance a ray as of the sun, and their raiment was shining so as the eye of man never saw the like: for no mouth is able to declare nor heart to conceive the glory wherewith they were clad and the beauty of their countenance. Whom when we saw we were astonished,\fn{James has: astonied, an archaic word much akin to astonish, but concentrating on the concepts bewildered or dismayed.} for their bodies were whiter than any snow and redder than any rose. And the redness of them was mingled with the whiteness, and, in a word, I am not able to declare their beauty. For their hair was curling and flourishing,\fn{I.e., flowering.} and fell comely about their countenance and their shoulders like a garland woven of nard and various flowers, or like a rainbow in the air: such was their comeliness. We, then, seeing the beauty of them were astonished\fn{Again, James has: astonied.} at them, for they appeared suddenly. And I drew near to the Lord and said: Who are these? He saith to me: these are our righteous brethren whose appearance ye did desire to see. And I said unto them: And where are all the righteous, or of what sort is the world wherein they are, and possess this glory? And the Lord showed me a very great region outside this world exceeding bright with light, and the air of that place illuminated with the beams of the sun, and the earth of itself flowering with blossoms that fade not, and full of spices and plants, fair-flowering and incorruptible, and borne thence even unto us. And the dwellers in that place were clad with the raiment of shining angels, and their raiment was like unto their land. And the angels ran round about them there. And the glory of them that dwelt there was all equal, and with one voice they praised the Lord God, rejoicing in that place. The Lord saith unto us: This is the place of your leaders,\fn{Or: high priests.} the righteous men. And I saw also another place over against that one, very squalid; and it was a place of punishment, and they that were punished and the angels that punished them had their raiment dark, according to the air of the place. And some there were there hanging by their tongues; and these were they that blasphemed the way of righteousness, and under them was laid fire flaming and tormenting them. And there was a great lake full of flaming mire, wherein were certain men that turned away from righteousness; and angels, tormentors, were set over them. And there were also others, women, hanged by their hair above that mire which boiled up; and these were they that adorned themselves for adultery. And the men that were joined with them in the defilement of adultery were hanging by their feet, and had their heads hidden in the mire, and said: We believed not that we should come unto this place. And I saw the murderers and them that were consenting to them cast into a strait place full of evil, creeping things about in that torment. And upon them were wet worms like clouds of darkness. And the souls of them that were murdered stood and looked upon the torment of those murderers and said: O God, righteous is thy judgment. And hard by that place I saw another strait place wherein the discharge and the stench of them that were in torment ran down, and there was as it were a lake there. And there sat women up to their necks in that liquor, and over against them many children which were born out of due time sat crying: and from them went forth rays of fire and smote the women in the eyes: and these were they that conceived out of wedlock and caused abortion. And other men and women were being burned up to their middle and cast down in a dark place and scourged by evil spirits, and having their entrails devoured by worms that rested not. And these were they that had persecuted the righteous and delivered them up. And near to them again were women and men gnawing their lips and in torment, and having iron heated in the fire set against their eyes. And these were they that did blaspheme and speak evil of the way of righteousness. And over against these were yet others, men and women, gnawing their tongues and having flaming fire in their mouths. And these were the false witnesses. And in another place were gravel-stones sharper than swords or any spit, heated with fire, and men and women clad in filthy rags rolled upon them in torment.\fn{This is suggested by the Septuagint version of two passages in Job: 41:30—his bed is of sharp spits—and 8:17—on a heap of stones doth he rest, and shall live in the midst of gravel-stones.} And these were they that were rich and trusted in their riches, and had no pity upon orphans and widows but neglected the commandments of God. And in another great lake full of foul matter\fn{I.e., pus.} and blood and boiling mire stood men and women up to their knees. And these were they that lent money and demanded usury upon usury. And other men and women being cast down from a great rock fell to the bottom, and again were driven by them that were set over them, to go up upon the rock, and thence were cast down to the bottom and had no rest from this torment. And these were they that did defile their bodies, behaving as women: and the women that were with them were they that lay with one another as a man with a woman. And beside that rock was a place full of much fire, and there stood men which with their own hands had made images for themselves instead of God, ­and beside them other men and women­\fn{James calls the underscored words intrusive.} having rods of fire and smiting one an-other and never resting from this manner of torment. ... And yet others near unto them, men and women, burning and turning themselves about and roasted as in a pan. And these were they that forsook the way of God.

 

3. The third fragment of this work extant are lines 190-333 from book II of the ­Christian Sibyllines­ (in their present form, the end of the 2nd century, or the beginning of the 3rd). It appears in Greek hexameters as a paraphrase­ of a great part of the ­Apocalypse of Peter­. [It may also be remarked that books I and II of the Christian Sibyllines­ really form but one composition, which is Christian, but which also contains ­inter alia­ many lines borrowed from the older Sibylline books, especially III (which is the oldest and mainly Jewish) and VIII (which treats of the nature of Christ and of His second birth).]

 

Woe unto all them that are found great with child in that day, and to them that give suck to infant children, and to them that dwell by the waves. Woe to them that shall behold that day.\fn{The author begins this part of the book after saying that Elijah will descend to earth and do three great signs.} For a dark mist shall cover the boundless world, of the east and west, the south and north. And then shall a great river of flaming fire flow from heaven and consume all places, the earth and the great ocean and the gray sea, lakes and rivers and fountains, and merciless Hades and the pole of Heaven: but the lights of Heaven shall melt together in one and into a desolate shape. For the stars shall all fall from Heaven into the sea, and all souls of men shall gnash their teeth as they burn in the river of brimstone and the rush of the fire in the blazing plain, and ashes shall cover all things. And then shall all the elements of the world be laid waste, air, earth, sea, light, poles, days and nights, and no more shall the multitudes of birds fly in the air nor swimming creatures anymore swim the sea; no ship shall sail with its cargo over the waves; no straight-going oxen shall plough the tilled land; there shall be no more sound of swift winds, but he shall fuse all things together into one, and purge them clean. Now when the immortal angels of the undying God, Barakiel, Ramiel, Uriel, Samiel, and Azael,\fn{These names are from the Book of Enoch.} knowing all the evil deeds that any hath wrought aforetime--then out of the misty darkness they shall bring all the souls of men to judgment, unto the seat of God the immortal, the great. For he only is incorruptible, himself the Almighty, who shall be the judge of mortal men. And then unto them of the underworld shall the heavenly one give their souls and spirit and speech; and their bones joined together, with all the joints, and the flesh and sinews and veins, and skin also over the flesh, and hair as before, and the bodies of the dwellers upon earth shall be moved and arise in one day, joined together in immortal fashion and breathing. Then shall the great angel Uriel break the monstrous bars framed of unyielding and unbroken adamant, of the brazen gates of Hades, and cast them down straightway, and bring forth to judgment all the sorrowful forms, yea, of the ghosts of the ancient titans, and of the giants, and all whom the flood overtook. And all whom the wave of the sea hath destroyed in the waters, and all whom beasts and creeping things and fowls have feasted on: all these shall he bring to the judgment seat; and again those whom flesh-devouring fire hath consumed in the flames, them also shall he gather and set before God's seat. And when he shall overcome Fate and raise the dead, then shall Adonai Sabaoth the high thunderer sit on his heavenly throne, and set up the great pillar, and Christ himself, the undying unto the undying, shall come in the clouds in glory with the pure angels, and shall sit on the seat on the right of the Great One, judging the life of the godly and the walk of ungodly men. And Moses also the great, the friend of the Most High, shall come, clad in flesh, and the great Abraham himself shall come, and Isaac and Jacob, Jesus, Daniel, Elias, Ambacum,\fn{I.e., Habakkuk.} and Jonas, and they whom the Hebrews slew: and all the Hebrews that were with\fn{The text has: with. James thinks this may be wrong, and would substitute: after.} Jeremias shall be judged at the judgment seat, and he shall destroy them, that they may receive a due reward and expiate all that they did in their mortal life. And then shall all men pass through a blazing river and unquenchable flame, and the righteous shall be saved whole, all of them, but the ungodly shall perish therein unto all ages, even as many as wrought evil aforetime, and committed murders, and all that were privy thereto, liars, thieves, deceivers, cruel destroyers of houses, gluttons, marriers by stealth, spreaders\fn{The text has shredders; which makes no sense. I (H) have emended to: spreaders.} of evil rumors, sorely insolent, lawless, idolaters: and all that forsook the great immortal God and became blasphemers and harmers of the godly, breakers of faith and destroyers of righteous men. And all that look with guileful and shameless double faces—reverend priests and deacons—\fn{Something is lost or corrupt here in the text.} and judge unjustly, dealing perversely, obeying false rumors ... more deadly than leopards and wolves, and very evil: and all that are high-minded\fn{I.e., proud (H)}, and usurers that heap up in their houses usury out of usury and injure orphans and widows continually: and they that give alms of unjust gain unto widows and orphans, and they that when they give alms of their own toil, reproach them; and they that have forsaken their parents in their old age and not repaid them at all, nor recompensed them for their nurture; yea, and they that have disobeyed and spoken hard words against their parents: they also that have received pledges and denied them, and servants that have turned against their masters; and again they which have defiled their flesh in laciviousness, and have loosed the girdle of virginity in secret union, and they that make the child in the womb miscarry, and that cast out their offspring against right: sorcerers also and sorceresses with these shall the wrath of the heavenly and immortal God bring near unto the pillar, all round about which the untiring river of fire shall flow. And all of them shall the undying angels of the immortal everlasting God chastise terribly with flaming scourges, and shall bind them fast from above in fiery chains, bonds unbreakable. And then shall they cast them down in the darkness of night into Gehenna among the beasts of Hell, many and frightful, where is darkness without measure. And when they have dealt out many torments unto all whose heart was evil, thereafter out of the great river shall a wheel of fire encompass them, because they devised wicked works. And then shall they lament apart every one from another in miserable fate, fathers and infant children, mothers and sucklings weeping, nor shall they be sated with tears, nor shall the voice of them that mourn piteously apart be heard; but far under dark and squalid Tartarus shall they dry in torment, and in no holy place shall they abide and expiate threefold every evil deed that they have done, burning in a great flame; and shall gnash their teeth, all of them worn out with fierce thirst and hunger,\fn{Alternatively: force and violence.} and shall call death lovely and it shall flee from them: for no more shall death nor night give them rest, and oft-times shall they beseech in vain the Almighty God, and then shall he openly turn away his face from them. For he hath granted the limit of seven ages for repentance unto men that err, by the hand of a pure virgin. But the residue which have cared for justice and good deeds, yea, and godliness and righteous thoughts, shall angels bear up and carry through the flaming river unto light, and life without care, where is the immortal path of the great God; and three fountains, of wine and honey and milk. And the earth, common to all, not parted out with walls or fences, shall then bring forth of her own accord much fruit, and life and wealth shall be common and undistributed. For there shall be no poor man, nor rich, nor tyrant, nor slave, none great nor small any longer, no kings, no princes; but all men shall be together in common. And no more shall any man say night is come, nor the morrow, nor it was yesterday. He maketh no more of days, nor of spring, nor winter, nor summer, nor autumn, neither marriage, nor death, nor selling, nor buying, nor set of sun, nor rising. For God shall make one long day. And unto them, the godly, shall the Almighty and immortal God grant another boon, when they shall ask it of him. He shall grant them to save men out of the fierce fire and the eternal gnashing of teeth: and this will he do, for he will gather them again out of the everlasting flame and remove them elsewhither, sending them for the sake of his people unto another life eternal and immortal, in the Elysian plain where are the long waves of the Acherusian lake exhaustless and deep bosomed. …\fn{The following note, of uncertain date, has been appended here in the manuscript: Plainly false: for the fire will never cease to torment the damned. I indeed could pray that it might be so, whom am branded with the deepest scars of transgressions which stand in need of utmost mercy. But let Origen be ashamed of his lying words, who saith that there is a term set to the torments.}

 

     The time of writing of the ­Greek Apocalypse of Peter­ is very early, certainly the first half of the 2nd century, some say probably in the first quarter of the 2nd century (which would make it contemporary with the earliest (and only) known fragment of the ­Received New Testament­ (a piece of the Received ­Gospel of John­, which has been dated to c.125AD). ANF says it professes to have been written by Clement of Rome (fl.96); ANT states that it ranked next in popularity and probably also in date to the Received ­Gospel of John­ (90-100).

 

[ANF, VIII, 359; ODC, 1050; ANT, 505-524]

 

253. The Unknown Latin Apocalypse in the ­Vision of Adamnan­

 

     James (­Journal of Theological Studies­ XX:9, 1918), Seymour (­Journal of Theological Studies­ XXII:16, 1920), Stokes (no further reference given), and Windisch (­Irische Texte­ I, 167ff), all discuss an apocalypse of which the actual name is unknown, extant partly in Latin and partly in Irish—the latter embodied in the Vision of Adamnan­ [so named after Adamnan of Iona (c.624\28-704), the biographer of Columba of Iona, who was born in county Donegal, Ireland, and in 679AD was elected abbot of Iona, the ninth in succession from Columba, the founder]. Three versions of the work exist, in mediaeval manuscripts. The oldest of them is an Irish manuscript which contains a collection of secular literature, being copied c.1103 from another manuscript probably of c.1050; which was itself compiled from yet earlier writings. The second manuscript, also in Irish, was written towards the end of the 14th century. Both of these are in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy. There is also a partial manuscript in Latin (from a manuscript at Richenau, itself originally an Irish foundation).

 

     The ­Vision­ is not, however, to be included among the works of Adamnan of Iona. (1) The language and style, which belong to a much later period, are conclusive as to this. (2) Several allusions in it (e.g., to the Donation of Constantine, a Frankish fabrication of the 8th-9th century) also point to a later date. (3) Moreover, the work itself never professes to be Adamnan’s own composition; for it invariably speaks of him in the third person, titling him the High Scholar of the Western World, and referring to his legislation at the Mordail and his subsequent preaching as matters of past history.

 

     It remains, then, to be considered how the ­Vision­ came to be associated with Adamnan’s name. Adamnan became the hero of a saga-cycle, into which fiction had made an entrance: whether we must class the doubtful episodes as historical romance merely, or as facts set off by the aid of fiction, is what is to be determined. This, however, brings us little further, for it is certain that his popular reputation was earned by his actual achievements: he adopted the Roman rules on the date of Easter and on the tonsure; he traveled much in Ireland to promote these observances; at the Council of Birr he succeeded in ameliorating the condition of women, particularly by making them exempt from military service; he made regulations protecting children and clerics; and he wrote two valuable works, the ­Vita Sancta Columbae­ (describing Columba’s prophecies, miracles and visions) and the ­De Locis Sanctis­ (an account of the travels of Arculf, a Frankish bishop who visited the Holy Land c.680, and the earliest Christian traveler and observer of any importance in the Near East after the rise of Islam). Again, we are faced with the question of how to distinguish fact from fiction.

 

     It may be that the true author of the ­Vision­ (a) sought for his own teaching the authority of a famous saint; or (b) he may have had before him an anonymous work, and inserted the name of Adamnan from a like motive; or (c) the work may be what it professes to be, and may have for its basis a more or less accurate tradition of Adamnan’s own teaching. This third possibility may engage our interest, and on the following grounds:

 

1. The ­Vision­ is not a forgery. It must be fairly ancient. (a) It has a single mark of date in its use of the word tartaruchos, a word invented by the author of the ­Greek Apocalypse of Peter­ (c.125AD, perhaps slightly earlier), which is also used in the ­Apocalypse of Paul­ (4th century) and others of that class; and it may be that it owes to the ­Greek Apocalypse of Peter­ the concept of a river of fire which spares the good and burns the wicked. (b) It represents most of the heavens as the scenes of purgation or punishment, and in this it agrees with the ­Greek Apocalypse of Baruch­ (2nd or 3rd century AD) and, to a certain extent, with the Slavonic Book of Enoch­ (composed about the same time). (c) There is also a distinct quotation from the Acts of Thomas­ (350-400). But it shows no overwhelming documentary obligation to any of these works.

 

2. The ­Vision­ is also not a polemical work, where the author might wish to shoot forth his darts from behind the shield of some controversy. It merely tells of the sufferings of souls in the several heavens, and of their presentation to the Lord and his judgment of them. It makes no profession, and betrays no purpose, save to give the substance of a vision which Adamnan is alleged to have related to the Mordail, and of Adamnan’s subsequent preaching.

 

3. Neither is the ­Vision­ a mere floating legend, ready to be tacked on to any name indifferently; on the contrary, it is written with great care, and with a literary and constructive skill; and indeed, the fashion of the day renders it highly probably that Adamnan’s teaching may have assumed this format.

 

4. The fame and authority—at the most active period of Irish letters—of such a man as Adamnan might avail to preserve a work for a longer time than the 150-250 years which intervened between the death of Adamnan and the composition of the ­Vision­ as we have it today. For it may be that we have here to do with a composite work; and if that is the case, the latest editor must have had before him materials of an earlier date: a law, a case pertaining to it, and a vision recited by the saint which a later writer worked up into a literary form (during the middle parts of the 9th century); to which other details relating to the same subject-matter, but entirely irrelevant to the original theme, were added at a later time (during the 10th, perhaps the 11th, centuries).

 

[ANT, 505; BOS, 25-27; JTS, XX, 9-16; ENC, I, 121; II, 349]

 

254. The Syriac Revelation of Peter in the ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­

 

     This apocalypse is found in the ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, with the Apocalypse of Each of Them­, and is reviewed in the Gospel section of the ­Fragments of the New Testament­. Although its existence demands an independent note—from the fact that it is an apocalypse and not a gospel, and that it exists in the Syriac language—there appears to be absolutely no evidence that it was ­not­ composed by the author of the ­Gospel of the Twelve­ (and it may contain traditions not elsewhere recorded: H). James says that the work of which it forms a part is in its present form late; and NTA describes it similarly as a creation of very late date. On it see also Nestle (Theo-logische Literaturzeitung­, 1900, 557-559).

 

[ANT, 504; NTA, I, 271]

 

255. The Coptic Apocalypse of Peter

 

     The ­Coptic Apocalypse of Peter­ is a pseudonymous Gnostic-Christian writing which contains an account of a revelation as seen by Peter (who speaks in the first person, receiving it while in a trance-like state); and, moreover, a revelation interpreted by Jesus himself, who is clearly in this work also the Gnostic Savior. The persecution of Jesus is used as a model for understanding early Christian history in which a faithful Gnostic remnant is oppressed by those as many as seven factions which oppose the Gnostic community—Jews, pagans, other Gnostic congregations, Orthodox Christians of various stamps—but this is not seen as surprising, for only the Gnostics (according to this author) possess immortal souls (the rest of the world outwardly resembling them, but existing in an essentially irredeemable state).

 

A

 

     The passages which are thought to define the seven anti-Gnostic groups are as follows, followed by an attempt to more clearly identify who is being described.

 

1. I saw the priests and the people running up to us with stones, as if they would kill us; ... And he said to me again, “Lift up your hands and listen to what the priests and the people are saying.” And I listened to the priests as they sat with the scribes. The multitudes were shouting with their voice. These would seem to be a group of Jews; for nowhere else in the tractate are the words priest or scribe used (see below under group seven, where bishop and deacons are used in a similar manner, to describe what appears to be a contemporaneous Orthodox Christian group.

 

2.For many will accept our teaching in the beginning. And they will turn from them again by the will of the Father of their error, because they have done what he wanted. And he will reveal them in his judgment, i.e. the servants of the Word. But those who became mingled with these shall become their prisoners, since they are without perception. And the guileless good, pure one they push to the worker of death, and to the name of a dead man, thinking that they will become pure. But they will become greatly defiled and they will fall into a name of error, and into the hand of an evil, cunning man and a manifold dogma, and they will be ruled heretically. These may be a group of Orthodox proselytes (since the kingdom of those who praise Christ in a restoration equates to the Orthodox view of the Second Coming; and the name of a dead man equates to the Orthodox view of the Crucifixion of Jesus).

 

3. For some of them will blaspheme the truth and proclaim evil teaching. And they will say evil things against each other. Such will be named: those who stand in the strength of the archons, of a man and a naked woman who is manifold and subject to much suffering. And those who say these things will ask about dreams. And if they say that a dream came from a demon worthy of their error, then they shall be given perdition instead of incorruption.” This would seem to describe a Gnostic sect of considerable licentiousness, such as the Sethians or Bardesanian Gnostics.

 

4.But others shall change from evil words and misleading mysteries. Some who do not understand mystery speak of things which they do not understand, but they will boast that the mystery of the truth is theirs alone. And in haughtiness they shall grasp at pride to envy the immortal soul which has become a pledge. For every authority, rule, and power of the aeons wishes to be with these in the creation of the world, in order that those who are not, having been forgotten by those that are, may praise them, though they have not been saved, nor have they been brought to the Way by them, always wishing that they may become imperishable ones. For if the immortal soul receives power in an intellectual spirit.—But immediately they join with one of those who mislead them. This group is painted in such generalized—but yet, somehow, in such familiar—terminology, that it could be any body of people: it may be yet another form of Gnostic congregation so well known to the author that it needed no special form of identification.

 

5. But many others, who oppose the truth and are the messengers of error, will set up their error and their law against these pure thoughts of mine, as looking out from one perspective, thinking that good and evil are from one source. They do business in my word. And they will propagate harsh fate. The race of immortal souls will go in it in vain until my Parousia. For they shall come out of them—and my forgiveness of their transgressions into which they fell through their adversaries, whose ransom I got from the slavery in which they were, to give them freedom that they may create an imitation remnant in the name of a dead man, who is Hermas, of the first-born righteousness, in order that the light which exists may not be believed by the little ones. But those of this sort are the workers who will be cast into the outer darkness, away from the sons of light. For neither will they enter, nor do they permit those who are going up to their approval for their release. These are probably a congregation of esoteric pagans, who kept a number of Greek and Latin religious and philosophical writings ascribed to Hermes Trismegistus (a later designation of the Egyptian god, Thoth), who was believed to be the father and protector of all knowledge, and which were themselves probably written between c.50-275AD. The aim of the teaching contained in these books was the deification of man through gnosis—the knowledge of God—and the most important of the writings describes the ascent of the soul to God through a number of heavens, together with much cosmological and astronomical information.

 

6. And still others of them who suffer think that they will perfect the wisdom of the brotherhood which really exists, which is the spiritual fellowship with those united in common, through which the wedding of incorruptibility shall be revealed. The kindred race of the sisterhood will appear as an imitation. These are the ones who oppress their brothers, saying to them, `Through this our God has pity, since salvation comes to us through this', not knowing the punishment of those who are made glad by those who have done this thing to the little ones whom they saw, and whom they took prisoner. These are perhaps communities of monks and nuns (the monks of which will begin at least officially c.305AD with Antony of Egypt, who apparently first introduced the idea of organizing them into a community who lived under a rule). The author of this work regards them as practicing a repressive form of exclusivity with those not of a natural predilection to monasticism.

 

7. And there shall be others of those who are outside our number who name themselves bishop and also deacons, as if they have received their authority from God. They bend themselves under the judgment of the leaders. These people are dry canals. This is most obviously the Orthodox Christian clergy, for which the author has no regard, since in his opinion they depend upon human guidance for their inspiration and not upon the Gnostic Supreme Being—which is perhaps what is meant by the derisive phrase dry canals, something of only apparent use.

 

B

 

     A number of characteristics about the congregation itself may be gleaned from the material contained within the work.

 

1. Peter is mentioned in this very short work in what could be construed as an abnormally large number of times:—(he said to me, “Peter, blessed are those above belonging to the ... But you yourself, Peter, become perfect in accordance with your ... And he said to me, “Peter, I have told you many times that they ... “But the immortal souls are not like these, O Peter. But indeed ... And such ones shall become unchangeable, O Peter. ... And you, O Peter, shall stand in their midst.)

 

2. Jesus is referred to as Savior six times:—(And the Savior was sitting in the temple in the three ... Then it came down upon the Savior ... And when I said these things, the Savior said, “I have ... The Savior said, “For a time determined from them in ... The Savior said to me, “He whom you saw on the tree, ... and he is the Savior. And there was a great, ineffable)

 

3. Jesus is also referred to as Lord, Son of Man, Christ, Jesus, and Parousia by name six times:—(“What do I see, O Lord, that it is you yourself whom ... But I, when I had looked, said, “Lord, no one is looking ... the Son of Man who is exalted above the heavens in a fear ... and to the kingdom of those who praise Christ in a ... glad and laughing, this is the living Jesus. But this one ... immortal souls will go in it in vain until my Parousia)

 

4. The other terms of the Orthodox Trinity are mentioned also, the Father being mentioned twice, the Holy Spirit also twice:—(blessed are those above belonging to the Father who revealed life to those who are from the life, ... And they will turn from them again by the will of the Father of their error, ... And he was filled with a Holy Spirit, and he is the Savior. ... But I am the intellectual Spirit filled with radiant light. He whom you saw coming to me is our intellectual Pleroma, which unites the perfect light with my Holy Spirit.)

 

5. There are also at least four blatant allusions to Orthodox Scripture:—(For evil cannot produce good fruit is inspired by ­Luke­ 6:43, For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit;)—(For each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush is inspired by ­Luke­ 6:44, For each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush)—(Therefore I said, ‘Every one who has, it will be given to him, and he will have plenty.’ But he who does not have, that is, the man of this place, who is completely dead, who is removed from the planting of the creation of what is begotten, whom, if one of the immortal essence appears, they think that they possess him—it will be taken from him and added to the one who is is inspired and expanded from Matthew­ 25:29, For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.)—(Therefore be strong until the imitation of righteousness—of him who had summoned you to know him in a way which is worth doing because of the rejection which happened to him, and the sinews of his hands and his feet, and the crowning by those of the middle region, and the body of his radiance which they bring in hope of service because of a reward of honor—as he was about to reprove you three times in this night.” is certainly a memory (by the context in which the last phrase of the text occurs) of Matthew­ 26:33-34—Peter declared to him, ‘Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.’).

 

C

 

     These are certainly too many ostensible Christianisms to permit the conclusion that the author of this work is merely decorating his work with Christian tags in the hope of attracting either a wider audience or local relief from persecution. As NHG notes, it is perhaps the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Peter­ which is the most positive in its evaluation of the person of Peter while presenting some of the clearest insights into the conflicts between Gnostic communities and the ‘orthodox’ Christian churches and writing a text full of synoptic-like material. On the other hand, the mind of the author is clearly steeped in a Gnostic inheritance.

 

1. It was a Gnostic belief that those destined to be saved possessed a spark of Divine immortality like unto that of Jesus; and the author mentions this three times:—(He has now appeared among these, in him who appeared, who is the Son of Man who is exalted above the heavens in the fear of men of like ­essence­. ... For there will be no honor in any man who is not immortal, but only in those who were chosen from an immortal ­substance­ which has shown that it is able to contain him who gives his abundance. ... whom, if one of the immortal ­essence­ appears, they think that they possess him—it will be taken from him and be added to the one who is.)

 

2. There are five references to knowledge, central to the Gnostic belief in salvation through intelligence:—(because from you I have established a base for the remnant whom I have summoned to knowledge. ... For they shall blaspheme you in these ages since they are ignorant of you, but they will praise you in knowledge. ... But I am the intellectual Spirit filled with radiant light. He whom you saw coming to me is our intellectual Pleroma, which unites the perfect light with my Holy Spirit. … For if the immortal soul receives power in an intellectual spirit)

 

3. Certain key words—pleroma, archons, aeons, the imitation of the righteous Savior, the resemblance between the immortal and the mortal souls (though both are different), the counterfeit Orthodox Christians, the substitute who died on the cross in place of Jesus (who nevertheless bore a likeness to Jesus, even as Jesus resembled him—are in some respects shared with Christianity, but here appear to betray basic Gnostic doctrines:—(as being from the height of every word of this Pleroma of ... He whom you saw coming is our intellectual Pleroma, which ... those who stand in the strength of the archons, of a man, for every authority, rule, and power of the aeons wishes to be with these in the ... Therefore be strong until the imitation of righteousness ... The immortal soul shall resemble a mortal one ... Little ones are, in our view, the counterfeit ones, but this one into whose hands and feet they drive the nails is his fleshly part, which is the substitute being put to shame, the one who came into being in his likeness. ... So then the one susceptible to suffering shall come, since the body is the substitute.)

 

4. The portrait of Jesus himself at the time of his crucifixion underscores a Gnostic interpretation of this event through the words glad, laughing, joyfully:—(The Savior said to me, ‘He whom you saw on the tree, glad and laughing, this is the living Jesus. ... Or who is this one, glad and laughing on the tree? ... And I saw someone about to approach us resembling him, even him who was laughing on the tree. ... But he who stands near him is the living Savior, the first in him, whom they seized and released, who stands joyfully looking at those who did him violence, while they are divided among themselves. Therefore he laughs at their lack of perception.)

 

     Certain revelations within the text itself may indicate the approximate date of composition. (1) The ­Coptic Apocalypse of Peter­, while not devoid of interwoven Christian materials, certainly understands its Christology in a docetic manner. (2) The controversy reported in its pages carefully distinguishes a number of groups besides that of the author. The nature of the controversy appears to be well developed, indicating some time has passed between the appearance of this group and the pseudonymous writer itself. (3) The name of Peter being prominently mentioned; the Holy Spirit being dependent in some way upon the Son, Jesus; and the characterization of Elohim as a lesser being than the Son—(Be strong, for you are the one to whom these mysteries have been given, to know them through revelation, that he whom they crucified is the first-born, and the home of demons, and the stony vessel in which they dwell, of Elohim, of the cross which is under the Law.)—are all probable teaching characteristics of Basilidean Gnosticism (whose founder, flourished c.125-150AD and pretended to a secret teaching from Peter). (4) The nature of the text is certainly in part polemical, and this indicates that the Christian-Gnostics have had time to settle and develop in their area of the world.

 

     It would appear from all this that the work was written during the 3rd century, when distinctions between Orthodoxy and heresy was rather clearly drawn; but after its Christian form had come into clear prominence (2nd century).

 

     NTB lists the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various books of the ­Received New Testament­.

 

VII,3;71.12-13­: the Son of Man who is exalted above the heavens

Hebrews 7:26­: For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, blameless, unstained, separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens.

*

VII,3;71.15-21­: But you yourself, Peter, became perfect in accordance with your name with myself, the one who chose you, because from you I have established a base for the remnant whom I have summoned to knowledge.

Matthew 16:18­: And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.

*

VII,3;71.22-72.4­: therefore be strong until the imitation of righteousness— ... —as he was about to reprove you three times in this night.”

Luke 22:31-34­: “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren.” And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” He said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you three times deny that you know me.”

*

VII,3;72.12-13­: they are blind one who have no guide.

Matthew 15:14a­: Let them alone; they are blind guides.

Luke 6:39a­: He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man?

*

VII,3;73:11-16­: The Savior said, “I have told you that these are blind and deaf. Now then, listen to the things which they are telling you in a mystery.

Matthew 13:11,13-15­: And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. … This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. With them indeed is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says: ‘You shall indeed hear but never understand, and you shall indeed see but never perceive. For this people’s heart has grown dull, and their ears are heavy of hearing, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should perceive with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn for me to heal them.’

Mark 4:11-12­: And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables; so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand; lest they should turn again, and be forgiven.”

Luke 8:10­: he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

*

VII,3;75.7-11­: “For evil cannot produce good fruit. For the place from which each of them is produces that which is like itself;

Matthew 7:16-18,20­: You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. … Thus you will know them by their fruits.

Luke 6:43-44­: “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.

*

VII,3;66.4-8­: “For people do not gather figs from thorns or from thorn trees, if they are wise, nor grapes from thistles.

Matthew 7:16b­: Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles?

Luke 6:44b­: For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.

*

VII,3;78.23-24­: But those of this sort are the workers who will be cast into the outer darkness,

Matthew 8:12a­: while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness;

Matthew 22:13a­: Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness;

Matthew 25:30a­: And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.

*

VII,3;78.25-26­: away from the sons of light.

Luke 16:8b­: For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light.

John 12:36­: While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.

*

VII,3;78.26-31­: For neither will they enter, nor do they permit those who are going up to their approval for their release.

Matthew 23:13b­: For you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go into it.

Luke 11:52b­: For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

*

VII,3;80.23-29­: “Come, therefore, let us go on with the completion of the will of the incorruptible Father. For behold, those who will bring them judgment are coming, and they will put them to shame.

Matthew 26:39,42,45-46­: And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.” … Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, thy will be done.” … Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

Mark 14:36,41-42­: And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; remove this cup from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt.” … And he came the third time, and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough; the hour has come; the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

Luke 22:42,46­: “Father, if thou art willing, remove this cup from me; nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” … And he said to them, “Why do you sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

*

VII,3;80.31-33­: And you, O Peter, shall stand in their midst. Do not be afraid because of your cowardice.

Matthew 26;33-34­: Peter declared to him, “Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away.” Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.”

Mark 14:29-30­: Peter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.”

Luke 22:33-34­: And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.” He said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you three times deny that you know me.”

John 13:37-38­: Peter said to him, “Lord, why cannot I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the cock will not crow, till you have denied me three times.

*

VII,3;81.1-3­: Their minds shall be closed, for the invisible one has opposed them.”

II Corinthians 4:4­: In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.

*

VII,3;81.30­: ‘Leave the blind alone!’

Matthew 15:14a­: Let them alone; they are blind guides.

*

VII,3;83.26-84.6­: Therefore I said, ‘Everyone who has, it will be given to him, and he will have plenty’. But he who does not have, ... —it will be taken from him and be added to the one who is.

Matthew 25:28-29­: So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

Luke 19:24,26­: And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the pound from you, and give it to him who has the ten pounds.’ … ‘I tell you, that to every one who has will more be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

 

[ODC, 65, 140, 448, 564; NHG, 117; NHE, 206-207; NAG, 339-340]

 

256. The Arabic Apocalypse of Peter

 

     The ­Arabic Apocalypse of Peter­ (not to be confused by the Arabic version­ of the ­Greek Apocalypse of Peter­ mentioned earlier, and following a discussion of #257) was written in a Christian Arabic which is often peculiar to Coptic books; but the title is not sanctioned by the work itself, though known as such to modern scholars. Several manuscripts in Garshuni are known; and it was translated also into Ethiopic.

 

1. This text contains passages which appear to possess an archaic savor, and seem to precede the time of the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries. Indeed, the following passages—(He became a child and the angels worshipped Him in the Pavilion of the Father, and He spoke to them and answered them. He was on the arms of Mary and I made Him put on humanity in the robes of Baptism and in the fulfillment of my persecutions. I did not wish to place Him in this world. I will finish and perfect Him. ... It is I who lifted Him on the wood of the Cross, and it is I who raised Him from the accursed earth. I did not place Him on it except for the purpose of showing Him in it. I am always in Him, and I shall raise Him above all my creatures.)—Mingana holds, together with some others, to be part of a much older composition that has been embodied by the author of this one in his narrative.

 

2. This text embodies in its matter Syriac words and Syriac expressions which generally stamp a Christian-Arabic composition with a mark of age and originality that is missing in compositions of a later date. Christian-Arabic began mostly in Christian circles belonging to Syrian churches—either of the Nestorian, Monophysite, or Melchite schools of thought—and early Copts seem to have exercised but slight influence of Christian-Arabic lexicography.

 

3. The ­Arabic Apocalypse of Peter­ embodies in itself another apocryphon, an (apparently Jewish: H) apocalypse which in Syriac passes under the name of the ­Testament of Adam­ (see #22, above). If Jewish in origin, it was probably composed c.200BC-100AD.

 

     That an ­Apocalypse of Peter­ was in existence from the first centuries of the Christian Era is certain. But as our work stands, it appears as a genuine though composite Arabic lucubration with different layers of antiquity, the first and most ancient of which came into existence c.800AD. To this ancient layer many authors or copyists have at various times added here and there passages likely to render the original composition more interesting to their readers or hearers, a process which seems to have lasted down to the 14th century. Indeed, it is possible to believe that the first author utilized parts or a version of an ­Apocalypse of Peter­ current in his day, or some other similar works; and then in editing them in Arabic, added to them those sections of the apocryphon that clearly allude to Islam and the first Muslim caliphs.

 

     That the work as presented to us in the manuscripts used here—the basis of this translation centers on a Garshuni text which Mingana believes to be the one likely to give a more ancient version of the story—is an original Arabic composition and not a mere translation from another language (whether Coptic, Syriac, or Greek) will be readily admitted by all Semitic scholars. On the other hand there are very strong reasons for believing that many sentences and whole passages in it are under the influence of a language alien to Arabic, and have a strong savor of a free translation or a close imitation of other works that the author—the work is here and there saturated with sentences the construction of which denotes an Arabic speaking Syrian—may have utilized.

 

1. The source of a large section of the vision of Peter dealing with the heavenly Jerusalem appears to be the Received ­Apocalypse of John­, from which the author borrows freely, but with many modifications.

 

2. The task of translating the section dealing with signs denoting the end of the world and with the appearance of unknown kingdoms and dynasties proved to be unusually difficult. The style of the author is singularly obscure in this part of the work; sometimes the copyist does not seem to have understood what he was transcribing, and at other times he appears to have been unable even to decipher the undotted Arabic text that was lying before him.

 

3. There are also in the work a few apparently genuine Arabic words that are not fully registered in any Arabic dictionary; but we must bear in mind that all Arabic lexicographers were Muslims who would have hardly read Christian-Arabic compositions to extract from them fresh matter for their books. There is, therefore, every possibility that some of these words were Arabic vocables used by Arabs of earlier times in the sense given to them in our document; but since they were not found in that sense in works written by Muslims, they are not sufficiently explained in Arab dictionaries.

 

     From the differing groups of signs that the author gives for the end of the world, one feels tempted to believe that he was drawing upon different sources or transcribing from different authors who had treated the subject from different angles. Indeed, no sooner does the reader get the impression that the writer has once and for all put an end to the series of his signs indicating the end of time than he is confronted with a new section containing fresh sets of such signs. We must, however, admit that often the author’s end-of-time seems to imply simply the end of the tribulations of the special period which he is describing. So far as the section of the new kingdoms and the new kings is concerned, the author counts on all his ­dramatis personae­ by means of the first letters of their names. For one speaking in enigmas and riddles, and writing in an apocalyptic and veiled style, this method of composing a deliberately abstruse account is not open to too much criticism. Did not the author of the Received apocalypse and many other writers of antiquity resort to the alphabet or to the numerical value of letters for the conveyance of ideas which they were either unwilling or afraid to reveal in clear language? Half of the subtlety of the science of the ­Cabbala­ and of white magic is based on a felicitous or fantastic combination of alphabetical letters. A special section of Arabic literature is devoted to what is called the ‘Science of Letters,’ and some of the writers who were interested in it believed it to be true science.

 

     It is often difficult to follow the author for a long time in the historical ground round which the threads of his drama are woven. If we could read his mind, we might probably glean a few historical facts of some interest and importance, but the subject requires very skillful handling, and will certainly make great inroads on the time of any scholar who wishes to grapple with it.

 

     Finally, some isolated points need to be made:

 

1. It seems that our author has borrowed material from the ­Odes of Solomon­ (see #45, above).

 

2. The third part of the book contains some proper names of persons and localities of a rather uncommon occurrence. As such should be counted: Yukiyah (name of a country; Mitaliyah (name of a town); Satafan (town); Katlu (possibly the name of a man); Rawadif (possibly a town); Palikiyah (country); Sarh (name of an idol); Solon (idol); Alinan (name of a mountain or a locality); Hotan (idol); Tibarus (man; but not the emperor Tiberius); Yanshur (man); Layos (town or locality); Kusin (town or locality); and Alabun (town).

 

3. The copyist, in the divisions that he has assigned to the different parts of the work, jumps from part three to part six, thus omitting parts four and five. There are no means of ascertaining whether this omission is to be attributed to a mere slip of the pen on the part of the scribe, or whether the Arabic original from which the present manuscript is derived really lacked two important parts of the apocalypse. Mingana says that since the manuscript appears to be complete in every detail this difference in the number of the headings may be considered to be due to an error of the scribe. The conjecture, however, is open to serious criticism from an unexpected quarter. The Ethiopic Apocalypse of Peter­ contains a special section dealing with heresies. Is it not possible to believe that parts four and five which are completely missing in our text contained in a much more detailed form, this section of the heresies?

 

4. The country in which the present ­Arabic Apocalypse of Peter­ was first written was Egypt. It is also certain that the work itself is thoroughly Coptic in origin.

 

[WO3, 94]

 

257. The Ethiopic Apocalyspe of Peter

 

     There is an ­Ethiopic Apocalypse of Peter­ extant in one of the numerous forms of a writing entitled the Books of Clement­, which was current in both Arabic and Ethiopic, and which purports to contain revelations—of the history of the world from the Creation; of the Last Days, and of guidance for the churches—dictated by Peter to Clement. The version of the ­Greek Apocalypse of Peter­ contained in this book has some extraneous matter at the beginning and the end of the work—i.e., it contains traditions peculiar to the Ethiopic version: (H)—but James has tried to demonstrate (­Journal of Theological Studies­ 1910, 1911; Church Quarterly Review­ 1915) that it affords the best general idea of the contents of the whole ­Greek Apocalypse of Peter­. It was first published by Grebaut (Revue de l’Orient Chretien­, 1910; fresh translation by Duensing, ­Zeitschrift für ntl. Wissenschaft­, 1913). It appears that the maker of the Ethiopic version [or of its Arabic parent (apparently for which, see just below: H) or of another ancestor] has designedly omitted or slurred over some clauses in the passage beginning Then will I give unto mine elect and that in his very diffuse and obscure appendix to the apocalypse, he has tried to break the dangerous (to the Orthodox) doctrine of the ultimate salvation of sinners gently to his readers.

 

     [For the Arabic, see a book apparently forthcoming by Grieveau & Grebaut; this does not appear to refer to the Arabic text above, #256. ANF reports, perhaps, more detail about this text when he says, after The Apocalypse of Peter­ professes to be written by Clement. the following: It is called the ­Perfect Book­, or the Book of Perfection­, and consists of eighty-nine chapters, comprising a history of the world as revealed to Peter, from the foundation of the world to the appearing of Antichrist. Tischendorf prints an abstract of it in his Prolegomena (prologue) to the ­Apocalypses Apocryphae­, 1866.]

 

[ANF, VIII, 359; ANT, 505]

 

***

 

XXIII: PAUL

 

258. The Acts of Paul

 

     The ­Acts of Paul­, of which approximately half (some 1800 lines) has survived to our time, was designed to glorify Paul’s achievements, and was based on the Received ­Acts­ and Pauline letters. It abounds, however, in marvels and personages unhinted at there, and it modifies traits of some of those actually mentioned in the Received Text. Five authorities for it survive: (1) a sadly mutilated Coptic manuscript at Heidelberg, of the 6th century at the latest; (2) the ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­, a single episode of the ­Acts of Paul­ which has been preserved complete in Greek and many versions, parts of which exist also in Coptic; (3) certain non-canonical letters exchanged between Paul and the Corinthians (known to scholarship collectively as ­III Corinthians­), also partly preserved in Coptic, and current separately in Armenian and Latin; (4) the Martyrdom of Paul­ (the concluding episode of the ­Acts of Paul­, extant separately from the ­acta­ (as is the case also of the ­Martyrdom of John­ and others) in Greek and other versions; and (5) detached fragments of the work, or quotations from it.

 

     The attestation of the ­Acts of Paul­ is both early and good.

 

1. Tertullian of Carthage (­De Baptismo­ XVII, the date of which is uncertain, but estimated by Quasten as between 198-200AD) says—(If those who read the writings that falsely bear the name of Paul adduce the example of Thecla to maintain the right of women to teach and to baptize, let them know that the presbyter in Asia who produced this document, as if he could of himself add anything to the prestige of Paul, was removed from his office after he had been convicted and had confessed that he did it out of love for Paul.) Here Tertullian manifestly has in view the Thecla story, which indeed is proved to be part of the ­Acts of Paul­. He probably did not yet know it, however, as an independent work, detached from the ­Acts of Paul­; for his testimony would scarcely fit the ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­ alone, for that work adds but little to the prestige of Paul.

 

2. Hippolytus of Rome (­Commentary on Daniel­ III:xxix, composed c.204) evidently used the work without hesitation—(If we believe that when Paul was condemned to the circus the lion which was set upon him lay down at his feet and licked him, why should we not also believe what happened in the case of Daniel?)—a passage which might refer to the ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­ XXVIII and XXXIII, but only becomes properly intelligible if Hippolytus had also read the scene of Paul’s combat with the lions. We may thus conjecture that Hippolytus knew the whole ­Acts of Paul­ and did not repudiate it, even if he does not name the source for his statement. (See also below in this review, under 14.)

 

3. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254) twice mentions the ­Acts of Paul­—­De Principiis­ I:ii.3, (wherefore also that word seems to me to be truly said, which is written in the ­Acts of Paul­: ‘He is the word, a living creature.’ But John in the beginning of his gospel says more exaltedly and more excellently,); ­and in his Commentary on John­ XX:xii, (If anyone cares to accept what is written in the ­Acts of Paul­, where the Lord says: ‘I am on the point of being crucified afresh.’)—It is clear from the context that Origen in ­De Principiis­ is quoting a work under the title ­Acta Pauli­, for he compared the statement quoted with the prologue of the Received Gospel of John­; unfortunately, the quotation has as yet not come to light in any known text of the ­Acts of Paul­. C. Schmidt (­Acta Pauli Nach dem Papyrus der Hamburger Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek Unter Mitarbeit von W. Schubart­, 1936, 128) says that the author of the ­Acts of Paul­ borrowed this saying as well as the Quo Vadis scene from the Acts of Peter­, and indeed, from Peter’s prayer on the cross (­Acts of Peter­ 38—(For what else is Christ, but the word, the sound of God?) It has also been pointed out that the second quotation appears in slightly different form in all the passions of Peter as Christ’s answer to Peter when he is escaping from Rome:—(Whither goest thou Lord? ‘I come to be crucified again.’) But others say that this remains pure conjecture; and, on the other hand, as the Greek papyrus fragment of the ­Acts of Paul­ shows, Origen’s second attestation is indeed a literal quotation from the Acts of Paul­; and this is taken to be proof that Origen knew this work, and probably valued it. He certainly did not reject it as heretical.

 

4. Commodian of Africa (fl.250, ­Carmen Apologetica­ V) alludes to a lion speaking to the people—(And whatever he willeth he can do: making dumb things to speak; he made Balaam’s ass speak to him when he beat it; and a dog says to Simon: ‘Thou art called for by Peter?’ For Paul when he preached, he caused dumb persons\fn{Or perhaps: mules.} to speak of him:\fn{The manuscript has multi, which may be for muti or muli. Or, keeping multi (with Zahn), we should translate: For Paul when he preached, in order that he might speak [or learn] of him, God made a lion, etc. The miracle was done in order to attract the attention of ‘many’ hearers.} he made a lion speak to the people with God-given voice. Lastly, a thing which our nature does not permit—he made an infant five months old speak in public.)\fn{The incidents of the dog and of the child are from the Acts of Peter; only there the child is seven months old. But the lion and the dumb people (or mules) are not; and it seems that the lion is certainly from the Acts of Paul. Perhaps it was the Ephesian lion. In the Ethiopic life of Paul we do find a talking lion; and Jerome of Strido (below) speaks of that whole fable about the baptized lion.} But even if Commodian’s date were accurately known [on which see most recently Thraede (“Beitrage zur Datierung Commodians” in Jahrb. fur Antike und Christentum­ II, 1959, 90-114) who reaffirms the generally held view that he lived during the 3rd century; as against Brewer (“Kommodian von Gaza” in Arelatensischer Laiendichter aus der Mitte des Funften Jahrhunderts­, Paderborn, 1906; ­Die Frage um das Zeitalter Kommodians­, Paderborn, 1910)] this allusion would signify nothing more than that Commodian knew the legends as they appear in both the ­Acts of Peter­ as well as the ­Acts of Paul­; and this is not of great importance (in determining more precisely which book he had before him: H).

 

5. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:iii.5, III:v.25) affirms that the ­Acts of Paul­ do not belong to the undisputed books, reckons the ­Acts of Paul­ among the spurious writings, and sets them on the same level as the ­Shepherd of Hermas­, the ­Apocalypse of Peter­, the ­Letter of Barnabas to his Sons and Daughters­, the Didache­, and (perhaps) the Received ­Revelation of John­, which nevertheless in certain early Christian congregations all enjoyed Scriptural status.

 

6. The ­Catalogue of the Codex Claromontanus­ (4th century) preserves Eusebius’ attitude, listing the Acts of Paul ... 3560 lines between the ­Shepherd of Hermas­ and the ­Apocalypse of Peter­. (The note of the number of lines shows that the ­Acts of Paul­ lay before the author as part of (perhaps as an appendix to) a Biblical manuscript. Examples of this have survived the destruction of the archaic world.)

 

7. The ­Caena Cypriani­ [end of the 4th century (so Brewer Zeitschrift für Katholische Theologie­, Innsbruck, 1904, 105ff); beginning of the 5th (so Harnack, ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ N.F., IV.3b, Leipzig, 21ff)] uses the ­Acts of Paul­ in its text as a quasi-canonical book.

 

8. In the ­Greek Acts of Titus by Zenas­ (not earlier than the 5th century) there occurs the following sentence:—(They arrived at Antioch and found Barnabas the son of Panchares, whom Paul had raised up.)—this Panchares being the husband of Phila, one of the characters in the ­Acts of Paul­. There may also be, according to James, another reference to the ­Acts of Paul­ in the following sentence from the ­Greek Acts of Titus by Zenas­—(They departed from Crete and came to Asia: and at Ephesus 12,000 believed at the teaching of the holy Paul: there also he fought with beasts, being thrown to a lion.) On this, see below in this entry under 14.

 

9. Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­De Viris Illustribus­ VII) states that the ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­ and the whole fable of the baptized lion is among the apocryphal writings, and affects to quote Tertullian on this points. But since in Tertullian nothing is said about a baptized lion, we may assume that Jerome knew the ­Acts of Paul­ and himself rejected it as apocryphal.

 

10. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century) twice refers (the first time indirectly) to the ­Acts of Paul­:—(All books which Leucius the disciple of the devil has made ... the Book which is called the ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­—as writings which have been compiled or been recognized by heretics or schismatics which the catholic and apostolic Roman church does not in any way receive.)

 

11. The ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century) under the heading And the following apocryphal: lists 19. The Acts of Paul after the enumeration of what it considers to be the canonical books (which does not include the Received ­Revelation of John­).

 

12. The ­Stichometry of Nicephorus­ (c.850), under the heading Apocrypha of the New Testament are the following: notes The Circuit of Paul ... 3600 lines.

 

13. John of Salisbury (­Policraticus­ IV:ix, finished in 1156) tells stories of the self-sacrifice of Codrus and Lycurgus, which he gets from the historian Justin. Then he continues:—(I make use of these examples the more readily because I find that the apostle Paul when preaching to the Athenians made use of them also. That excellent preacher strove so to impress on their minds Jesus Christ and him crucified, that he might show by the example of heathens how the release of many came about through the shame of the cross. And this, he argued, could not happen save by the blood of the just, and of those who bore rule over the people. Further, no one could be found capable of freeing all, both Jews and gentiles, save he unto whom the heathen are given for an inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth assigned for his possession. And such a one he said could be no other than the Son of God Almighty, since no one but God has subjected to himself all nations and lands. As, then he proclaimed the shame of the cross in such a way as gradually to purge away the foolishness of the heathen, little by little he raised the word of faith and the language of his preaching, up to the Word of God, the wisdom of God, and the very throne of the Divine majesty: and, lest the power of the gospel should seem mean in the weakness of the flesh by dint of the slanders of Jews and the folly of heathens, he set forth the works of the crucified, which were confirmed by the witness of common report; since it was plain to all that none but God could do such things. But as report often falsifies, in both directions, report was assisted by the fact that Christ's disciples did even greater works, seeing that by the shadow of a disciple\fn{Paul.} the sick were healed of every kind of disease. What more? The ingenuities of an Apostle, the subtleties of a Chrysippus\fn{Chrysippus of Jerusalem, c.405-409, seems to be meant.}, the gains of all the philosophers were defeated by the rising of one who had been dead.)\fn{This last sentence is borrowed from Jerome of Strido (d.420, Letter to Pammachius LVII or XXXIV). This information about John of Salisbury seems to have been discovered by a Mr. Webb, Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.}—reproducing here a record of an otherwise apocryphal speech of Paul.

 

14. Nicephorus of Constantinople (d.c.1335, ­Ecclesiastical History­ II:xxv) abstracts an episode of the ­Acts of Paul­ not traceable in the Coptic manuscript, but one which undoubtedly formed part of it, for Hippolytus (above) may allude to it, as also the author of the reference reproduced below from the ­Acts of Titus­, though its place within the book is uncertain. The quotation from Nicephorus is as follows:—(Now they who drew up the travels of Paul have related that he did many other things, and among them this, which befell when he was at Ephesus. Hieronymus being governor, Paul used liberty of speech, and he said that he\fn{He … he: Hieronymus … Paul.} was able to speak well, but that this was not the time for such words. But the people of the city, fiercely enraged, put Paul’s feet into irons, and shut him up in the prison, till he should be exposed as a prey to the lions. But Eubula and Artemilla, wives of eminent men among the Ephesians, being his attached disciples, and visiting him by night, desired the grace of the divine washing. And by God’s power, with angels to escort them and enlighten the gloom of night with the excess of the brightness that was in them, Paul, loosed from his iron fetters, went to the sea-shore and initiated them into holy baptism, and returning to his bonds without any of those in care of the prison perceiving it, was reserved as a prey for the lions. A lion, then, of huge size and unmatched strength was let loose upon him, and it ran to him in the stadium and lay down at his feet. And when many other savage beasts, took, were let loose, it was permitted to none of them to touch the holy body, standing like a statue in prayer. At this juncture a violent and vast hailstorm poured down all at once with a great rush, and shattered the heads of many men and beasts as well, and shore off the ear of Hieronymus himself. And thereafter, with all his followers, he came to the God of Paul and received the baptism of salvation. But the lion escaped to the mountains. And thence Paul sailed to Macedonia and Greece, and thereafter through Macedonia came to Troas and to Miletus, and from there set out for Jerusalem. Now it is not surprising that Luke has not narrated this fight with the beasts along with the other Acts: for it is not permitted to entertain doubt because\fn{Or: seeing that.} John alone of the evangelists has told of the raising of Lazarus: for we know that not everyone writes, believes, or knows everything, but according as the Lord has imparted to each, as the spirit divides to each, so does he perceive and believe and write spiritually the things of the spirit.

 

     Evidence for the further history of the ­Acts of Paul­ in the church is to be found in Vouaux (­Les Actes de Paul et Ses Lettres Apocryphes­, 1913, 24-69); and C. Schmidt (­Acta Pauli­, 1904, 108-116). As late as the 14th century, Nicephorus of Constantinople (d.c.1335, ­Ecclesiastical History­ II:xxv) presents a long report about the Ephesian episode in the ­Acts of Paul­.

 

     Seven authorities for the existence of the ­Acts of Paul­, all incomplete, survive:

 

1. Above all, the discovery (1894) of the Coptic papyrus now in Heidelberg, which contains over 2,000 fragments of the whole of the ­Acts of Paul­, considerably increased modern knowledge of this apocryphon, since thereby the Greek ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­ (see below, #272), the ­Martyrdom of Paul­, the ­Letter of the Corinthians to Paul­ and the Letter of Paul to the Corinthians­ (see below, #290 and #291), were all proved to be parts of the ­Acts of Paul­—in other words, that a number of short treatises which had circulated independently of the ­Acts of Paul­ and had been thought of as independent works by earlier scholars were in fact all originally part of the ­Acts of Paul­. Lipsius, who pieced the fragments together, published the first critical work on this papyrus (­Acta Pauli aus der Heidelberger Koptischen Papyrushandschrift­ I, 1904); see also Zusatze (“Ein Neues Fragment der Heidelberger Acta Pauli” in ­Sitzungsberichte der Koniglich Preussichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin­, 1909, 216-220). This manuscript, which was probably written in the 6th century (at the latest, so James), is also described by C. Schmidt (­ibid­., 3-20). Since 1894, several other finds have been made, in particular,

 

2. the Greek papyrus of the Hamburg Staats- und Universitats- Bibliothek (10 leaves of a papyrus book from the period of c.300AD), which contains a large part of the Ephesus episode, Paul’s sojourn in Corinth, the journey from Corinth to Italy, and a part of the ­Martyrdom of Paul­—specifically, ­Acts of Paul­ 8:28 and 30-36. On this see Peterson (“Einige Bemerkungen zum Hamburger Papyrusfragment der Acta Pauli” in Vigiliae Christiane­ III, 1949, 142-162). This is supplemented by:

 

3. the fragments known as Papyrus Berlin 13893 and Papyrus Michigan 1317, which belong together, and which present the text contained in 2 (above), and a few lines more (text and commentary in Sanders, Harvard Theological Review­ XXXI, 1938, 70-90);

 

4. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1602 (also known as Papyrus Ghent 62), not a papyrus leaf, but a page from a parchment codex of the 4th or 5th centuries, which contains ­Acts of Paul­ 8:17-26 (text in Sanders, ­ibid­.); and

 

5. Papyrus Michigan 3788, which presents ­Acts of Paul­ 8:23-27, and on the back probably a further part of Paul’s sermon in Puetoli (text in Kilpatrick & Roberts, ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XLVII, 1946, 196-199).

 

6. The fragment of a Coptic parchment of the 4th century in the John Rylands Library Supplement 44, so far not yet published, presents some lines from the beginning of the ­Acts of Paul­ (on which see C. Schmidt, ibid­., 117-118).

 

7. On a second Coptic papyrus, in very poor condition and likewise not yet published, but which contains the Ephesus episode complete, see Kasser (in ­Revue d’Histoire et de Philosophie Religieuses­, 1960, 45ff).

 

8. The ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­ (as was said before, part of the Acts of Paul­) were first edited by Grabe in 1698 from a Bodleian manuscript, republished by Jones in 1726. A lacunae in the Bodleian manuscript was supplied in 1715 by Thomas Hearne from another Oxford manuscript. Tischendorf later edited the ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­ from a recension of three Paris manuscripts, all from the 11th century (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, 1851; there is at Prolegomena XXVI at the beginning of that work a list of quotations of the Latin and Greek father from the Acts of Paul and Thecla­). Some forty years go by; and then Lipsius (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, 1891, XCIV-CVI, 239-269) edits these ­acta­ freshly on the basis of 11 Greek manuscripts (in which language it exists complete). The ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­ exist also in Latin, Syriac, Slavonic and Arabic versions, and (partly) also in Coptic. To these may be added (a) a small Greek fragment (Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 6, text in Grenfell & Hunt, Oxyrhynchus Papyri­ I, 9-10); and (b) another fragment from Antinoopolis (on which see Roberts, ­The Antinoopolis Papyri­ XIII, 26-28). Important are the Latin translations, of which according to Von Gebhart (“Die Latinischen Ubersetzungen der Acta Pauli et Theclae­” in ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­, New Series VII.2, 1902), there were at least four, independent of one another. Further information on the Latin tradition is in Vouaux (­op.cit­., 12-19). The relation of the witnesses to one another and the value of the individual versions probably requires a fresh investigation. Lipsius’ text is frequently in need of correction. In this respect a special significance attaches to the Coptic version, even if it is not of itself decisive.

 

     It is possible that this short work is actual a local legend, current in the time of the author of the ­Acts of Paul­, of a real Christian martyr by the name of Thecla. It is otherwise difficult to account for the very great popularity of the cult of St. Thecla, which spread over East and West, and made her the most famous of virgin martyrs. Moreover, there is introduced into the narrative at this point a Queen Tryphaena; and according to the researches of Gutschmid (in ­Rheinisches Mauseum fur Philologie­ X, 1864) she was an actual historical personage, proving to be the widow of Cotys, King of Thrace, the mother of Polemo II, King of Pontus, and the great-niece of the emperor Claudius I (d.54AD).

 

9. The correspondence between the Corinthians and Paul (known collectively as ­III Corinthians­, but individually recognized in the table of contents of ­Fragments of the New Testament­) is shown by (1) above to be part of the Acts of Paul­. Even before the discovery of (1), ­III Corinthians­ was known through its appearance in the Armenian Bible, through a place reserved for it in the Syriac collection of Pauline letters, and through the commentary of Ephraem Cyrus (d.373, extant only in Armenian). Many Armenian manuscripts survive. In addition five Latin manuscripts in which it is contained, in part however very fragmentarily, have so far been discovered at Milan, Laon, and Paris. A witness for the Greek text of ­III Corinthians­ was brought to light for the first time in Papyrus Bodmer X (3rd century); and it is known to exist also partly in Coptic. The texts of the different witnesses vary considerably—there are various phrases and whole sentences (especially in the Armenian, and in the Milan manuscript of the Latin) which are absent from the Coptic and the Laon Latin manuscript—so that a reconstruction of the text is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Further information is available in Tesetuz (Papyrus Bodmer X-III­, 1959)

 

10. The ­Greek Martyrdom of Paul­ was edited by Lipsius (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, Leipzig, 1891, LII-LVII, 104-117) according to two Greek manuscripts (of the 9th, and the 10th-11th centuries, respectively) which contain also the ­Acts of Peter­. It also exists in an incomplete Latin version, in Coptic—at the end of which the scribe has written: The Acts of Paul according to the Apostle, and in Slavonic, Ethiopic and Syriac (which last version Lipsius did not take into account, though his text must also be corrected on the basis of (1) and (2), above. It was probably separated from the ­Acts of Paul­ at an early date so that it might be read on the day of Commemoration of his martyrdom. By and large, the ­Martyrdom of Paul­ gives the impression of being a uniform work, complete in and of itself; but some passages admittedly are thoroughly clumsy, and one might conjecture that different traditions which originally had nothing to do with one another—the story of Patroclus, the conversion of Longus and Cestus, and the martyrdom of the Apostle—have been artificially brought together (though NTA concludes that this was probably done by the author of the ­acta­ itself, noting that the author’s creative power decreases towards the end of his work need not be evidence of a temporal sequence for the separate parts. Rather does the whole work seem all of a piece, although the author has certainly built many older traditions into his production, and has not always succeeded in concealing the seams). The question of how far he was able to rely on local Roman tradition cannot be confidently answered; it may be seen, however, how much the author is indebted to the popular narrative style of the day, in which stress is laid upon the individual episode.

 

     The text of this Greek martyrdom I have reproduced below; for it is alleged by most if not all scholarly critics to be the father of many versions in other languages; and it is useful to see how writers from other cultural traditions so transform an original that it may truthfully be called a new work in their hands, so much does it differ by contrast with its parent.

 

There were awaiting Paul at Rome Luke from Gaul and Titus from Dalmatia. When Paul saw them he was glad, so that he hired a barn outside Rome, where with the brethren he taught the word of truth. The news was spread abroad, and many souls were added to the Lord, so that there was a rumor throughout Rome, and a great number of believers came to him from the house of Caesar, and there was great joy.

 

But a certain Patroclus, Caesar’s cup-bearer, came late to the barn and, being unable because of the crowd to go in to Paul, sat at a high window and listened to him teaching the word of God. But since the wicked devil was envious of the love of the brethren, Patroclus fell from the window and died, and the news was quickly brought to Nero.

 

But Paul, perceiving in it the spirit, said: “Brethren, the evil one has gained an opportunity to tempt you. Go out, and you will find a youth fallen from a height and already on the point of death. Lift him up, and bring him here to me!” So they went out and brought him. And when the crowd saw him, they were troubled. Paul said to them: “Now, brethren, let your faith be manifest. Come, all of you, let us mourn to our Lord Jesus Christ, that this youth may live and we remain unmolested.” But as they all lamented the youth drew breath again, and setting him upon a beast they sent him back alive with the others who were of Caesar’s house.

 

When Nero heard of Patroclus’ death, he was greatly distressed, and when he came out from the bath he commanded that another be appointed for the wine. But his servants told him the news, saying: “Caesar, Patroclus is alive and standing at the table.” And when Caesar heard that Patroclus was alive he was afraid, and did not want to go in. But when he had entered he saw Patroclus and, beside himself, cried out: “Patroclus, art thou alive?” And he said: “I am alive, Caesar.”

 

But he said: “Who is he who made thee to live?” And the youth, borne by the conviction of faith, said: “Christ Jesus, the king of the ages.” But Caesar in perplexity said: “So he is to be king of the ages, and destroy all the kingdoms?” Patroclus said to him: “Yes, all the kingdoms under heaven he destroys, and he alone shall be for ever, and there shall be no kingdom which shall escape him”

 

But he struck him on the face and said: “Patroclus, dost thou also serve in that king’s army?” And he said: “Yes, lord Caesar, for indeed he raised me up when I was dead.” And Barsabas Justus of the flat feet, and Urion the Cappadocian, and Festus the Galatian, Nero’s chief men, said: “We also are in the army of that king of the ages.” But he shut them up in prison, after torturing dreadfully men whom he greatly loved, and commanded that the soldiers of the great king be sought out, and he ordered a decree to this effect, that all who were found to be Christians and soldiers of Christ should be put to death.

 

And among the many Paul also was brought bound; to him all his fellow-prisoners gave heed, so that Caesar observed that he was the man in command. And he said to him: “Man of the great king, but my prisoner, why did it seem good to thee to come secretly into the empire of the Romans and enlist soldiers from my province?” But Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, said before them all: “Caesar, not only from thy province do we enlist soldiers, but from the whole world. For this charge has been laid upon us, that no man be excluded who wishes to serve my king. If thou also think it good, do him service! For neither riches nor the splendor of this present life will save thee, but if thou submit and entreat him, then shalt thou be saved. For in one day he will destroy the world with fire.”

 

When Caesar heard this, he commanded all the prisoners to be burned with fire, but Paul to be beheaded according to the law of the Romans. But Paul did not keep silence concerning the word, but communicated it to the prefect Longus and the centurion Cestus.

 

In Rome, then, Nero was raging\fn{ANT translates: Nero therefore went on, and after adds: (was) (perhaps add ‘raging’).} at the instigation of the evil one, many Christians being put to death without trial, so that the Romans took their stand at the palace and cried: “It is enough, Caesar! For these men are ours. Thou dost destroy the power of the Romans!” Then he made an end,\fn{An end of the persecution.} whereupon none of the Christians was to be touched until he had himself investigated his case.

 

Then Paul was brought before him in accordance with the decree, and he adhered to the decision that he should be beheaded. But Paul said: “Caesar, it is not for a short time that I live for my king. And if thou behead me, this will I do: I will arise and appear to thee in proof that I am not dead, but alive to my Lord Christ Jesus, who is coming to judge the world.”

 

But Longus and Cestus said to Paul: “When have you this king, that you believe in him without change of heart, even unto death?” Paul communicated the word to them and said: “Ye men who are in this ignorance and error, change your mind and be saved from the fire that is coming upon the whole world. For we do not march, as you suppose, with a king who comes from earth, but one from heaven, the living God, who comes as judge because of the lawless deeds that are done in this world. And blessed is that man who shall believe in him, and live for ever, when he comes to burn the world till it is pure.”

 

So they besought him and said: “We entreat thee, help us and we will let thee go.” But he answered and said: “I am no deserter from Christ, but a lawful soldier of the living God. Had I known that I was to die, I would have done it, Longus and Cestus. But since I live to God and love myself, I go to the Lord that I may come again with him in the glory of his Father.” They said to him: “How then shall we live, when thou art beheaded?”

 

While they were still saying this, Nero sent a certain Parthenius and Pheretas to see if Paul had already been beheaded; and they found him still alive. But he called them to him and said: “Believe in the living God, who raises up from the dead both me and all who believe in him!” But they said: “We are going now to Nero; but when thou dost die and rise again, then will we believe in thy God.”

 

But when Longus and Cestus questioned him further about salvation, he said to them: “Come quickly here to my grave at dawn, and you will find two men praying, Titus and Luke. They will give you the seal in the Lord.”

 

Then Paul stood with his face to the east, and lifting up his hands to heaven prayed at length; and after communing in prayer in Hebrew with the fathers he stretched out his neck without speaking further. But when the executioner struck off his head, milk spurted upon the soldier’s clothing. And when they saw it, the soldier and all who stood by were amazed, and glorified God who had given Paul such glory. And they went off and reported to Caesar what had happened.

 

When he heard it, he marveled greatly and was at a loss. Then Paul came about the ninth hour, when many philosophers and the centurion were standing with Caesar, and he stood before them all and said: “Caesar, here I am—Paul, God’s soldier. I am not dead, but alive in my God. But for thee, unhappy man, there shall be many evils and great punishment, because thou didst unjustly shed the blood of the righteous, and that not many days hence?” But when Nero heard he was greatly troubled, and commanded the prisoners to be set free, including Patroclus and Barsabas and his companions.

 

As Paul directed, Longus and Cestus went at dawn and with fear approached Paul’s tomb. But as they drew near they saw two men praying, and Paul between them, so that at the sight of this unexpected wonder they were astounded, while Titus and Luke were seized with human fear when they saw Longus and Cestus coming towards them, and turned to flight. But they followed after them, saying: “We are not pursuing you to kill you, as you imagine, ye blessed men of God, but for life, that you may give it to us as Paul promised us, whom we saw but now standing between you and praying.” And when Titus and Luke heard this from them, with great joy they gave them the seal in the Lord, glorifying the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 

     It should be noted that, among the apocryphal acts, the first in point of ­time­ is probably the ­Acts of Paul­. Some believe that the ­Acts of Peter­ were modeled on them; contrarily, the ODC says that it is now established that the work made use of the ­Acts of Peter­; but however that may be, many experts assign it to the last half of the 2nd century; and it has been dated to c.200AD. The author gathered up whatever legends were in circulation, set them in order, and probably elaborated and expanded them; for in so doing he wished to help his church in the struggle against the non-Orthodox, and to confirm the several communities in the Christian faith. Clearly, the ­Acts of Paul­ was already known when Tertullian wrote (c.198-200AD). If it is dependent on the ­Acts of Peter­ (c.150-200?), the period between 185-195 may be regarded as a possible estimate of the time of its composition.

 

     Of the person of the author nothing more can be said. His native land was Asia Minor. This is not only stated by Tertullian, but may also be seen from the work itself; indeed, it is the places visited in Asia Minor about which the author has the most to say, whereas for Corinth he has less to offer, and hence in part perhaps makes use of the Acts of Peter­. A more precise location is scarcely possible, even though we may be inclined, with Rolffs (in Hennecke’s ­Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­, 1924, 196) to think of Iconium or Seleucia; but this remains conjecture.

 

     It is, by the way, recorded in this book, for the first time, that women may teach and baptize.

 

[NTA, II, 322-327, 346-349, 351, 383-387; ENC, II, 116; XVII, 83; CAT, II, 612; ANF, VIII, 355; ODC, 1031-1032; ANT, 293-299, 469-475]

 

259. The Greek Preaching of Paul

 

Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Miscellaneous Studies­ VI:v), who has just been quoting from the Preaching of Peter­, then continues with the following—(But the proposition that, just as God willed the Jews to be saved by giving them the prophets, so he raised up the most approved of the Greeks to be prophets suited to their language, according as they were capable of receiving the benefit from God, and distinguished them from the ruck of men—this, in addition to the Preaching of Peter, the apostle Paul will show when he says: ‘Take also the Greek books, take knowledge of the Sibyl, how she declares one God, and things to come, take and read Hystaspes, and ye will find the Son of God described far more openly and plainly, and how many kings will make war against the Christ, hating him and those that bear his name, and his faithful ones: and his patience and his coming again.’ And then in one word he asks of us: ‘And the whole world and all that is in it, whose are they? Are they not God’s?’)

 

James notes that it has been usual to assume that these sentences are from a ­Preaching of Paul­: but of such a book the very existence is doubtful. He then proceeds to list two passages which are supposed to establish it; but the first of them (from Pseudo-Cyprian, on which see below, #260) is used by NTA to establish the Praedicatio Pauli­ (while at the same time NTA does not refer to the above extract from Clement); and the second of them (from Lactantius, on which see above, #218) NTA (II, 98) credits to a Praedicatio Petri et Pauli­ (Homily of Peter and Paul), also not mentioning here the quotation from Clement. I (H) have therefore, on the grounds that NTA is a later (and therefore more informed) witness than ANT, construed that Clement is, by himself, the only witness to a possible ­Preaching of Paul­, about which nothing else may be discovered.

 

[ANT, 297-298; NTA, 92-93]

 

260. The Latin ­Praedicatio Pauli­

 

     A ­Praedicatio Pauli­ (Homily of Paul) is mentioned by Pseudo-Cyprian (­De Rebaptismate­ XVII, a writing of perhaps the 3rd century)—(Now of this spurious, nay fatal, baptism an especial supporter is a book forged by these same heretics to favor this error, which is entitled the ­Preaching of Paul­. In this book one discovers how Christ, who alone has committed no kind of sin, contrary to all Scripture confessed his own sins and almost against his own will was constrained by his mother to receive the baptism of John. Further it is related that when he was baptized, fire appeared upon the water, a thing that is written in no Gospel. And after the agreement regarding the gospel come to in Jerusalem and consultation and debate together and after arrangements had been made as to what was to be done, after so long a time Peter and Paul finally come to know one another in Rome, as it were for the first time. And there are some other things of that kind, absurd, improper and fictitious, all of which are found collected in that book.)

 

     It seems certain that Pseudo-Cyprian had a definite writing before him, and likewise that the writing has nothing to do with the ­Acts of Paul­, as Zahn (­Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanons­, 1888-1892, II:ii, 881) supposed. The statement that Jesus had received the baptism of John only when constrained, and that at the time of His baptism, fire was seen upon the water, is striking; and it has been concluded that here our text is connected with a fragment of the ­Gospel of the Nazaraeans­—(Behold, the mother of the Lord and his brethren said to him: John the Baptist baptizes unto the remission of sins, let us go and be baptized by him. But he said to them: Wherein have I sinned that I should go and be baptized by him? Unless what I have said is ignorance.)—and with a fragment of the ­Gospel of the Ebionites­—(And after much has been recorded it proceeds: When the people were baptized, Jesus also came and was baptized by John. And as he came up from the water, the heavens were opened and he saw the Holy spirit in the form of a dove that descended and entered into him. And a voice sounded from Heaven that said: thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased. And again: I have this day begotten thee. And immediately a great light shone round about the place. When John saw this, it saith, he saith unto him: Who art thou, Lord? And again a voice from Heaven rang out to him: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And then, it saith, John fell down before him and said: I beseech thee, Lord, baptize thou me. But he prevented him and said: Suffer it; for thus it is fitting that everything should be fulfilled.)

 

     The use of two different Jewish-Christian gospels in the Praedicatio Pauli­ is unlikely; but hardly more then that the possibility of such a use can be made out, the basis for more far-reaching hypotheses being in fact too small. The other statement that Peter and Paul came to know one another properly only in Rome—earlier meetings, it is true, seem according to the text not to be altogether excluded—is also singular. Here also, however, the brevity of the witness allows of no far-reaching conclusion; similarly, nothing can be said with regard to the composition, content and form of the work. It seems only certain that the writing had nothing to do with the ­Kerygma Petrou­, and nothing to do with the ­Acts of Paul­.

 

[NTA ,II, 92-93]

 

261. The Latin ­Martyrium Beati Pauli Apostoli­, after Linus of Rome

 

     This martyrdom (text in Lipsius, ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, Leipzig, 1891, 23-44) represents a later Latin working-up of the concluding portion of the ­Acts of Paul­. On the way to execution, Paul meets Plautilla, a noble matron, and borrows the kerchief from her head to bind his eyes; she is to wait for him and he will give it back. Returning, the soldiers meet Plautilla rejoicing; and when they taunt her, she tells them that Paul, with a celestial company, had come to her, and returned the blood-stained kerchief, which she shows them. There is a passage about Seneca, also, telling how Seneca frequently conversed and corresponded with Paul, admired him greatly, and read some of his writings to Nero; and the speeches are variously altered and amplified. The time of composition can hardly be determined, except it is certain that this text is later than the shorter form of the ­Greek Martyrdom of Paul­ (against Lipsius, ­ibid­., 104-117). See also on this Bardenhewer (­Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, 1913, 559-560).

 

[ANT, 470, 480; NTA, II, 575]

 

262. The Syriac History of the Holy Apostle Paul

 

     This work (text in Bedjan, ­Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum­ I, 1890, 33-34) does not seem to go back to the Acts of Paul­, but to rest above all upon the Received ­Acts­. See also on this Harnack (­Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ I.2, 1958) and Baumstark (­Die Petrus- und Paulusakten in der Literarischen Uberlieferung der Syrischen Kirche­, 1902, 38-40).

 

[NTA, II, 575]

 

263. The Slavonic Wanderings of the Apostle Paul Through the Countries

 

     NTA says that Bonwetsch (in Harnack’s ­Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ I.2, 904) mentions two manuscripts with question marks under the titles Wanderings or Processions of the Apostle Paul through the Countries. They are (stated exactly, and thus preserving the abbreviations):

 

1. Soloveck. Bibliothek no. 89 S. XVI. folio 3-5 (now in Leningrad: Gosudarstvennaja Ord. Trud. Krasn. Znameni Publicnaja bibliotheka imeni M. E. Saltykova-Scedrina); and

 

2. Moskovsk. Sinodal'n. Bibl. no. 51 S. XVI/XVII folio 311v (now in Moscow: Gosudarstvennyj Istoriceskij Muzej).

 

[NTA, II, 574]

 

264. The Coptic Prayer of the Apostle Paul

 

     This little work occupies the front flyleaf of Codex One (also called the Jung Codex, after the Jung Institute for Analytical Psychology at Zurich, who acquired it in 1952) of the Nag Hammadi Library; apparently the scribe added it to the collection there after he had finished copying the ­Tripartite Tractate­, the last work in the manuscript. The title retains the Greek language of the original.

 

     NAG says that its character is Gnostic and probably Valentinian; and buttresses this conclusion by noting supposed resemblances with prayers in the Hermetic literature, parallels with the ­Coptic Gospel of Philip­ and invocations found in magical texts. He also believes that its beginning is rather similar to that of the hymn found on the first stele of the ­Three Steles of Seth­, suggesting the possibility that both works have a common parentage. But NHG believes that the work is intended to be thought of as a clearly Christian text, though the links with Christian Orthodoxy are not to be discovered through the Synoptic tradition of the four Orthodox gospels [making no mention of the discovery by NTB (below) of a parallel with a note in the Revised Standard Version of the Received New Testament­ concerning ­Matthew­, of which, of course, he may not have known]; and even NAG admits the prayer to be heavily indebted to the Pauline letters. Further, there is no doubt about the feeling of the Coptic scribe, who wrote it down so many centuries ago; for he added to it a colophon of his own which reads: In Peace. Christ is Holy.

 

     It is, at any event, extremely beautiful, and it is reproduced below, in its surviving entirety—the first few words are missing, and there is a lacuna at the end of uncertain, but probably rather brief, length.

 

... your light, give me your mercy!

My Redeemer, redeem me, for I am yours: from you have I come forth.

You are my mind: bring me forth!

You are my treasure-house: open for me!

You are my fullness: take me to you!

You are my repose: give me the perfection that cannot be grasped!

I invoke you, the one who is and preexisted, by the name which is exalted above every name, through Jesus Christ the Lord of Lords, the king of the ages: give me your gifts which you do not regret through the Son of man, the Spirit, the Paraclete of truth.

Give me authority when I ask you; give me healing for my body when I ask you through the Evangelist, and redeem my eternal light-soul and my spirit.

And the First-born of the pleroma of grace—reveal him to my mind!

Grant what no angel-eye has seen and no archon-ear has heard and what has not entered into the human heart, which came to be angelic and came to be after the image of the psychic God when it was formed in the beginning, since I have faith and hope. And place upon me your beloved, elect, and blessed greatness, the First-born, the First-begotten, ... and the wonderful mystery of your house; for yours is the power and the glory and the blessing and the greatness for ever and ever. Amen.

 

     A date of composition has been suggested at between 250-400AD. [It may originally, perhaps, be earlier than this, for the ODC says, of the four books of the codex, that all are translations of 2nd century Greek texts. (H)]

 

     NTB lists the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various texts of the ­Received New Testament­:

 

I,1;A.11-12­: I invoke you, the one who is and who pre-existed

Revelation 11:17a­: saying, “We give thanks to thee, Lord God Almighty, who art and who wast,

Revelation 16:5b­: thou who art and wast, O Holy One.

Revelation 1:4b­: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come,

Revelation 1:8­: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

*

I,1;A.12-13­: in the name which is exalted above every name, through Jesus Christ,

Philemon 2:9-10­: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

*

I,1;A.14­: the Lord of Lords, the king of the ages;

Revelation 15:3b­: O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, O King of the ages!

Revelation 17:14b­: and the Lamb will conquer them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings.

*

I,1;A.16-18­: the Son of Man, the Spirit, the Paraclete of truth

John 14:16-17a­: And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth,

John 15:26a­: But when the Counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth.

*

I,1;A.24­: And the First-born of the Pleroma of grace—

Colossians 1:15,18b-19­: He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, … For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

Colossians 2:9­: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

*

I,1;A.25-29­: Grant what no angel-eye has seen and no archon-ear has heard and what has not entered into the human heart

I Corinthians 2:9b­: “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived,

*

I,1;A.31-33­: after the image of the psychic God when it was formed in the beginning.

Colossians 1:15­: He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation;

*

I,1;B.2-6­: for yours is the power and the glory and the praise and the greatness for ever and ever. Amen.

Matthew 6:13b­: [RSV note: Other authorities, some ancient, add, in some form, For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, for ever. Amen.]

Revelation 7:12b­: Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God for ever and ever! Amen.”

 

[NTB, 1-4; NHG, 15; NAG, 27-28; ODC, 755]

 

265. The Arabic ­Praedicatio Apostoli Pauli Electi­

 

     The Arabic ­Praedicatio Apostoli Pauli Electi­—there is also an Ethiopic version—appears as item #49 of Nicoli & Pusey’s catalogue of manuscripts in the Bodlian library of the Christian Arabic manuscript collections. The following title, ­Praedicatio Apostoli Pauli Electi, et Quid per Eum Egerit Deus in Urbe Dicta Ignorantiae­ identifies folios 93-103. In Wright’s ­Catalogue of the Magdala Collection of Ethiopic Manuscripts in the British Museum­, six manuscripts (CII-CVII) contain long lives of Paul prefixed to his Martyrdom [and one of these would seem—Robinson does not say more precisely—to have been at least based upon the Arabic (H)]. The work seems to be founded on material in the Received ­Acts­. The martyrdom is independently translated by Malan (Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­, London, 1871) in the late and corrupt manuscript from which he translated his book.

 

[JAM, 55-56]

 

266. The Arabic Martyrdom of the Blessed Paul

 

     The ­Arabic Martyrdom of the Blessed Paul­ is taken by Mrs. Lewis from Codex Vaticanus Arabicus 694, folios 12a-18a, a paper manuscript of the 14th century, containing in its entirety 161 leaves. It measures 16 x 12cm, each page having 15 lines of writing. The original numeration of the leaves is in Coptic-Arabic cyphers. The script in which the martyrdom is written is larger than that of the rest of the manuscript: a description of it will be found in Mai (­Scriptorum Veterum Nova Collectio­ IV, 1833, 598).

 

     As to when the Arabic work was first produced, we are led to that period of time when the Coptic language largely died out, and translations of works such as these had to be made into the Arabic which supplanted it. The first opportunity this could perhaps have been done was while a Renaissance of learning was taking place in the Patriarchate of Alexandria during the 13th century—perhaps 1250-1300. (The Coptic text itself—assuming it to come originally from the Greek—will probably have been translated from that language during the 5th or 6th century. For a more comprehensive discussion of the position of the Arabic version in the linear history of these materials, see a general statement at the beginning of #146, above.)

 

     The Arabic text is presented in its entirety below. There is a small lacuna in the manuscript, at the bottom of folio 14b; I have endeavored to follow Mrs. Lewis’ estimate of the length involved.

 

The blessed disciples, Luke who was from Barua, and Titus who was from Dalmatia, were waiting in Rome for the arrival of Paul. And when he came to them, and beheld them, and they beheld him, they all rejoiced exceedingly at this. And Paul hired a dwelling outside of the town, and abode in it with the brethren; and he preached in the name of the Lord; and taught every one who came unto him, and his words were reported in the city of Rome; and many people followed him, believing in the Christ, when they saw the wonders which God wrought by his hands. He healed those who were stricken with divers diseases in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ and by the sign of the honored cross. And many of the household of the Emperor Nero followed him; and there was great joy in the city.

 

And a boy whose name was Patricius, the butler at the Emperors table, was present at the place where Paul was teaching during the night to hear his doctrine; and he was unable to approach him because of the multitude of the crowd who were round about him. And he climbed to a high place and leaned over it, and he was overcome with sleep; and he fell from the top of that high place and died. And the news came to the Emperor Nero that Patricius was dead. And he mourned for him with a great grief, for he had been very fond of him.

 

And when Paul knew by the Spirit what had happened, he said unto the brethren and to those about him: “Satan, the enemy, desireth to tempt us. Go forth to the outside of the gate; ye will find a dead boy lying down: carry him and bring him to me.” And they went out and found the dead man as he had said: and they came in with him to Paul the Blessed Disciple.

 

And when the multitude beheld him and knew that it was Patricius, they were greatly perturbed, because they knew that he enjoyed great favor with the Emperor. And Paul said unto them: “O ye brethren! Be not shaken and fear ye not; in this hour your faith will be manifest. Rise, let us make supplication unto the Lord Jesus the Christ, that He may have compassion upon us; and may give life unto this dead man, lest we all die.” And Paul straightway fell prostrate on the ground and besought the Lord with continual supplication and lifted up his head. Thereupon the dead man arose whole, with no pain whatever about him.

 

And Paul sent him to the palace of Nero the Emperor his master. And Nero was in the bath at the time when he heard of the death of Patricius, and after he had come out he went to his house and found that Patricius had already arranged the table as was his wont. And all his retainers came out to him telling the news of Patricius being alive, and that he was at the table as usual.

 

And when the Emperor Nero looked at Patricius, he said unto him: “Art thou alive? And who is it that hath restored thee to life after thy death?” And Patricius’ heart was filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit; and he said unto his master: “The Lord Jesus the Christ, the Eternal King, Who is thy Lord and thy God; He it is Who hath brought me to life.”

 

Nero the Emperor said unto him: “Is that He Who thou dost think shall reign for ever; and He Whom shall abolish all the kingdoms and the kings and those who rule them, which are beneath the heavens?” And Patricius said: “He shall abolish them; and He alone shall endure for ever. And there is none beside Him, and no king shall conquer His dominion!”

 

And Nero struck him on the face\fn{The text has: hands, which makes no sense. The Greek parent of this book, quoted above during the discussion of the Acts of Paul, has: face.} and said unto him: “And thou, Patricius, dost thou believe in that?” And Patricius answered him: “Yea, O my lord! I believe in Him, for it was He Who made me alive from the dead.”

 

And whilst he was saying this, there drew nigh unto the Emperor four noblemen, servants of the Empire, whom he loved, and preferred to all people who were in the palace, those who were never absent from his presence at any time. And these were their names: Farnsas, Festus, Farstus, Kanmastus. They replied unto the Emperor, saying: “Know, O thou Emperor, that from this hour we have enlisted in the palace of the Heavenly, the Eternal King, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And this frightened the Emperor Nero, and he commanded that they should be tortured with a cruel torture, and afterwards be cast into prison.

 

And the Emperor went in the fierceness of his anger and hatred against every one who believed in the Eternal Christ. And he commanded in this manner, saying: “Whosoever shall be found to have enlisted in the palace of the King, Jesus the Christ, shall be slain.” And when all the men of the soldiery heard what the Emperor had commanded them, they dispersed themselves all over the city, and arrested every one who believed in the Lord Jesus the Christ, and brought them before him in chains. And there was a great crowd of prisoners jostling \fn{The text has: hustling, for which jostling would seem to fit the context better.} each other, gazing at Paul and listening to his words, and to all that passed between him and the Emperor.

 

And when the Emperor beheld him in chains, he said unto him: “O thou man who dost belong to the Eternal, the Mighty King! Behold thou hast been delivered unto me in chains. Tell me what hath brought thee to do this deed upon which thou hast ventured, to come into my city, and to collect soldiers from my kingdom for thy King?” Paul replied to him in the presence of them all: “O thou Emperor! It is not from thy kingdom alone that we collect soldiers for my King, but from all the world. Thus hath our Lord commanded us that we should not shut a door before any man; and it would be incumbent on thee also to enlist in His palace. Because this kingdom and this glory will not save thee unless thou fall down and worship this King, and beg Him to grant thee salvation; because He will come to judge the world and give life to all who believe in Him. But those who do not believe in Him, and the sinners will He judge, and will deliver them over to everlasting punishment.”

 

And Nero the Emperor did not believe in what Paul said unto him, and commanded that whosoever believed should be burnt alive with fire, Paul being present in chains, and commanded concerning Paul that his head should be struck off as the law of the Romans enjoins. And he delivered Paul to the chamberlains that they might take off his head. And their names were Ligos and Justus. And they bore him out from the presence of the Emperor.

 

And Paul began to speak unto them in words ……………………………………………the help of God, and to all who followed him. Because many people had gathered themselves together unto him, wishing to behold his martyrdom.

 

And in the city of Rome there was a great power of the Devil assisting in the slaughter of those who believed in Jesus the Christ. And an innumerable multitude of them were slain. And the people of Rome, the chief men of the city, assembled at the palace of the Emperor and cried out to the king, saying: “O thou Emperor! Thou wilt slay those men; and they are Romans. Why dost thou weaken the empire of Rome and her armies?” Then he commanded that the sword should be lifted up and that they should not seek for the Christ in order that he might examine them.

 

And after this commandment the man who had smitten Paul brought him into the presence of the Emperor, in order that he might also hear his words about the people of Rome. And his amazement increased at the number of the multitude who had responded to the preaching of Paul.

 

Paul answered and said unto the Emperor, “This life of mine, which belongeth to my King, is not a life which hath a certain length, but is an eternal life which hath no end. And thou hast commanded that my head should be taken off, and yet I appear unto thee, and I am alive, that thou mayest know the truth of my words; that I live to my King, Jesus the Christ, Who will judge the quick and the dead; and will recompense every one according to his works, whether it be good or evil.” And when Nero heard this from the speech of Paul, he made a sign in anger to the chamberlain that he should be speedily slain.

 

And when Festus and Ligos the chamberlains heard, they bore him out to take off his head and they said unto Paul: “Where is your King, He in Whom ye believe and Whom ye will not reject, but will be patient in all this torture because of Him?” Paul answered them: “O ye men over whom error reigneth, and want of the knowledge of God, turn ye and repent, that ye may be saved from the wrath which is to come upon the unbelievers. It is not as ye imagine: that we collect soldiers like yourselves for an earthly king, but that we enlist them for the palace of the heavenly King, Who because of the sins of the world is coming to judge the earth. And to whosoever believeth in Him He will give life eternal.”

 

And when the chamberlains heard a saying like this, they did obeisance unto him, saying: “Make us meet to be the subjects of this King and we will set thee free so that thou mayest go whithersoever thou wilt.” Paul said unto them: “I am no coward, and I fear not your torture, that I should flee from God; but I am the slave of my master Jesus the Christ, the living King. For if I knew that this death were an eternal death, I should do what ye say. But I shall live with my King for ever. And I am obedient to Him, and I shall go to Him, and with Him I shall return when He cometh in the glory of His Father.”

 

The chamberlains said unto him: “How canst thou, after thy neck hath been struck, be in the second life?” And whilst they were speaking, the Emperor sent two messengers to learn if Paul’s neck had been struck or no. And when they saw him in life, Paul said unto them: “Believe in the living God Who will make alive from the dead whosoever believeth in Him, and will give them life for ever.” They answered him, saying: “Behold, thou shalt die, and if we see thee rise from the dead, we will believe.” And they returned to the Emperor.

 

But Ligos and Festus continued to enquire of Paul, saying unto him: “Teach us the path of life and salvation.” Paul said unto them: “Go ye early tomorrow to the grave in which my body shall be left; ye shall find two men standing praying; they are Titus and Luke; it is they who will give you the token of salvation; and will present you to the Lord Jesus the Christ, the true God.”

 

And Paul looked towards the east in the presence of all who had come to behold his martyrdom, and he lifted up his hands and prayed for a long while in the Hebrew language. And when he had finished his prayer, he spoke again to all the multitude who were present about faith in God, until a great company believed through the sweetness of his words, and the light which was in his face, and the grace which rested upon him.

 

And the two messengers returned to Nero the Emperor, and told him that they had found Paul speaking to Ligos and Festus and teaching them his faith. And the Emperor was very wroth, and sent a brutal swordsman to strike off the head of Paul forthwith. And when the swordsman came the saint stretched out his neck and was silent; he did not speak, and stood for a long time with outstretched neck; and the swordsman standing over against him with his sword drawn, and his hands shaking, being powerless to bring it down upon him.

 

And at last the swordsman stood and struck the saint a blow which made his head fall upon the ground; and milk and blood issued from his holy body, until it left stains on the garments of the swordsman. And the multitude were amazed, and glorified God, Who had given this power and great gifts to His holy disciple. And the swordsman returned and reported to the Emperor what had happened. And Nero wondered at it, he and all the philosophers who were about him, and remained perplexed.

 

And when it was the ninth hour of the day, Paul appeared unto them, and said unto the Emperor: “I am the captain who belongeth to Jesus the Christ, I am he who came to thy city to take from it soldiers for my King. Behold, I am alive, I have not died; but as for thee, many evils shall come upon thee; for thou hast shed much blood of innocent people. And after a few days all that I have said shall come upon thee.” And when Paul had said this, he departed from him.

 

And the Emperor Nero commanded that all who were in prison should be released, who believed in the Lord Jesus the Christ. And Patricius, the page of the Emperor, and another whose name was Ligos, and Festus, of the Emperor’s retainers, went early to the grave of Paul. And when they drew nigh to it, they beheld two men standing and praying, and Paul standing in the midst of them in great glory. And they were afraid, and trembled from fear of what they had beheld of his glory. And as for Titus and Luke, they were afraid, and fled from their presence. But the servants of the Emperor, who have been mentioned already, ran in pursuit of them, and rejoined them and said unto them: “We are not seeking you for death; but rather that ye may give us life eternal, as Paul said, he who hath just stood in the midst of you.” And when Titus and Luke heard words like these from them, they rejoiced greatly, and spake to them with words of exhortation; and made known to them the faith in our Lord Jesus the Christ, and gave them the token of the life everlasting.

 

[MRS, x, xii, 217-222; ODC, 843; COA, viii]

 

267. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Paul

 

     This little work is similar to the Arabic tale mentioned above. It was translated, together with a number of other works, from the British Museum manuscript Oriental 678, and seems to have been copied in the 15th century; the pieces themselves were translated from Arabic during the 14th century; and the Arabic from Coptic, rather than from Syriac—for a comparison of the Arabic with the Syriac version shows that its diversities from the Syriac are more striking and more numerous than its similarities to the Coptic.

 

     As to the work itself: it is like the Arabic; and yet it is not like the Arabic. Here there is no meeting of the Apostles in the city prior to the main action; Patricius, center of the Arabic tale, is here entirely absent; there is nothing here about the emperor bathing or supper being laid or his grief at the death of a favorite; the emperor’s noble friends do not announce their conversion to Christianity in his presence--indeed, it is they who lead Paul to his death; there is no protest to Nero by his courtiers about weakening the empire; Nero nowhere commands that Paul be brought to him; five (and different) men are named in the list of those whom Nero releases from prison, as opposed to three in the Arabic; and there are no chamberlains. On the other hand, Nero sends messengers, as in the Arabic tale, to see whether or not Paul has been slain; the swordsman is miraculously kept from doing so for a while, his hands shake a great deal (though this detail is not in the Greek story), and blood and milk erupt from Paul’s corpse; Paul threatens the emperor, whereupon Nero releases the imprisoned Christians; and the final scene (in the garden, with the glorified Paul—whose glorification also is not in the Greek story)—is to the end—beyond the number of the emperor’s retainers present (5 in the Ethiopic, 3 in the Arabic)—just as it is, item by item, in the Arabic. New to the Ethiopic is the opening speech; that Nero at once hears Paul directly, rather than by way of intermediaries; that the swordsman tells Nero's prefects and governors (as opposed to his philosophers—notice that in both the centurion of the Greek story has disappeared from both the Arabic and the Ethiopic) what has happened, at which everyone is terrified (rather than being merely perplexed); and numerous other ­details of textual arrangement­ within the paragraphs of the Ethiopic work which ­do­ correspond with the Arabic work which it is presumed the Ethiopic translator had before him. (H)

 

     The Ethiopic work is reproduced below in its entirety.

 

And first of all he taught the multitude and said unto them, “O men in whom there is understanding, hearken ye, and know, and lay this to your hearts, so that ye all may know the mystery of the first creation and every work that belonged to the first man which took place. Now, I am in bondage to the Emperor, but this my life belongeth not to my Emperor, even though it be my life which shall have an end; but my life which is for ever shall have no end. And although thou hast commanded that they cut off my head, I shall again appear unto thee and shall be alive again, so that thou mayest know the truth of my words. For I have my life in my King Jesus Christ, Who shall judge the quick and the dead and shall reward every man according to his work, whether it be good or whether it be evil.”

 

And it came to pass that, when the Emperor Nero had heard these words from Paul, he made a sign to his executioner wrathfully, and commanded him to make haste to slay him; and when Keseitos and Likos,\fn{The text translates: Acestus and Longinus.} the Emperor’s nobles, heard these words they took Paul out so that he\fn{The text lacks a direct object; I have supplied the he. (H)} might cut off his head. And they said unto Paul, “Where is thy king in whom thou trustest? Hast thou no wish to forsake him, for whose sake thou bearest all these tortures?” And Paul answered and said unto them, “O men whose object of worship is error, and who lack the knowledge of God, turn ye and repent, so that ye may be saved from the punishment which shall come upon those who deny Him; it is not as ye imagine, that we shall gather together the army of an earthly king like unto yourselves, but we shall be rewarded in the palace of the heavenly King. Because of the sins of the world He Himself will come to judge the world; and unto all those who believe in Him He will give the life which is everlasting.”

 

And it came to pass, when the emperor’s nobles heard this, they bowed down unto him and said, “Work thou on our behalf so that we may be of those who are worthy of this King, and we will set thee free to go whithersoever thou wishest.” And Paul said unto them, “I am neither afraid of nor am I terrified at your torturings, that I should flee from God almighty, nay, I am the servant of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Living King. And, since I know that this King Who liveth for ever died, I cannot do according to that ye say unto me. But I shall live with my God, Who liveth for ever, and I shall do His will, for unto Him shall I return, and with Him I shall dwell when He cometh in His glory.”

 

And the emperor’s nobles said unto him, “How is it possible for thee to do this after they have cut off thy head? Hast thou the power to come alive again?” Now whilst they were conversing together in this wise the Emperor sent men to find out whether Paul’s head had been cut off or not; and it came to pass that they came and saw him alive. And Paul said unto them, “Believe ye in the Living God Who shall deliver all those who believe in Him from death.” And they answered and said unto him, “Behold now, thou must certainly die, and when we see that thou hast risen from the dead we will believe;” and they returned to the Emperor.

 

Now Kistos and Lukas\fn{The text has: Titus and Luke. Later on, both a Kistos and a Lukas are identified as chosen friends of the Emperor.} besought Paul earnestly, saying, “Teach us the way of salvation.” And Paul said unto them, “Tomorrow come ye at daybreak unto the grave wherein they shall have deposited my body, and there ye shall find two men praying; these shall be Tito and Lukas, and they shall teach you the doctrine of salvation, and shall bring you nigh unto our Lord Jesus Christ, our God in truth.”

 

Then Paul, who was standing among all the multitudes that were gathered together to see his martyrdom, looked towards the East, and he spread out his hands, and prayed a long time in the Hebrew tongue. And it came to pass that when he had made an end of his prayer, he spake again unto the multitude of people who tarried there with faithful words in our Lord, and many of them believed by reason of the graciousness of his speech, and the light which was in his countenance, and the grace which was upon him.

 

And the two messengers returned to Nero the Emperor, and told him how they had found Paul and Kistos and Lukas talking together, and how Paul was teaching them the faith. Then was the Emperor exceedingly wroth, and he sent a mighty man of valor with a sword to cut off Paul’s head quickly.

 

And it came to pass that, when the swordsman arrived, the holy man bowed his head, and remained silent and spake no word; and he continued thus with his head bowed for a long time with the swordsman standing before him; and when the swordsman had drawn his sword from its sheath his hands shook to such a degree that he could not bring it down upon Paul. Then finally he strengthened his heart and smote him, and the head of Saint Paul fell upon the ground; and there went forth from the body of the saint milk and blood in such quantities that they reached unto the garments of the swordsman. And those who were gathered together there marveled, and they glorified God Who had given such a great and gracious gift unto His holy disciple Paul.

 

And the swordsman returned and told the Emperor everything which had taken place, and the Emperor Nero marveled, and all his prefects and governors who were sitting with him were greatly terrified. And it came to pass that at the ninth hour of the day Paul appeared unto the Emperor, and said unto him, “I am the disciple of Jesus Christ who came to thy city, and I have taken therefrom certain of the people thereof for my King; behold now, I am alive at this present, and I am not dead. And as for thee, behold, much affliction shall come upon thee because thou hast shed the blood of many righteous people; and after a few days there shall come upon thee everything which I have said unto thee.” And as Paul was saying these words he disappeared from him.

 

Then Nero the Emperor commanded that all those who were shut up in prison and who believed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ should go forth therefrom, together with Batrek,\fn{Possibly Patroclus, a pander of Nero.} the servant of the Emperor, and him who was called Barseyos,\fn{The text has: Justus.} and him who was called Lukas, and Kustos,\fn{The text has: Acestus. It will be observed that the spelling is in the first instance of this name, Keistos, and in the second, Kustos.} and Kistos. And the chosen friends of the Emperor went early in the morning to the grave of Paul, and when they drew nigh thereunto they saw two men standing there praying, and Paul also was standing between them in great glory; and they who saw him were terrified, and they trembled by reason of their great fear at his glorious appearance. And Tito and Lukas were afraid of them, and they took to flight. Now those servants of the Emperor, whom we have already mentioned, sought to find Tito and Lukas again, and when they had found them they said unto them, “We have sought you not to put you to death, but that ye may give us life everlasting, even as Paul, who was standing between you at this hour, commanded us.” And it came to pass that when Tito and Lukas heard these words from them, they straightway rejoiced exceedingly; and they spake unto them the words of instruction, and they taught them the truth in our Lord Jesus Christ, and they gave unto them the doctrine of the life which is for ever and for ever. Amen.

 

[COA, II, vii-ix, 43-48]

 

268. The Ethiopic History of the Contending of Saint Paul

 

     A work with this title exists as one of two books within the same writing: British Museum manuscript Oriental 683, a manuscript the copying of which probably dates from the period of the first half of the 17th century. (The other work it contains is the ­Ethiopic Acts of Saint Peter­.) It is printed by Budge (­Contending of the Apostles­, London, 1901).

 

     The book is introduced with the following preface:—In the Name of God the Father, Whose existence is without beginning, Whose rule hath no end, Whose Being cannot be sought out, Whose years cannot be measured; and in the Name of God the Son, Who was begotten by Him, Who existed before the world and shall endure for ever with Him, Who took upon Himself flesh from Mary the Virgin by His Father’s will, but Whose Divine Nature was not changed into His fleshly nature, nor His fleshly nature into His Divinity; and in the Name of God the Holy Ghost, Who sprang from the Father, without His existence\fn{Or: nature.} being modified or changed; One God coequal, Three in Persons, and One in Divinity; we now begin to write the history of the contending of Saint Paul, by the help of His grace.

 

     The text is very long—in Budge’s volume, it covers 180 pages—and is divided into 17 chapters, of which the following is a brief summary; some noteworthy texts from it are quoted.

 

I. Describes the election of Paul by Christ; is essentially a panegyric. Budge describes it as an encomium of the Apostle’s life.

 

II. Paul’s personal appearance and education. The genealogy of Paul. Paul’s persecution of Christians. His authority from the Jews.

 

III. Paul’s authority from the Jews. Christ appears to Paul. Ananias and Paul. Paul is baptized, and goes to the Apostles. Paul and Barnabas. Paul and Elymas.

 

IV. Paul and Barnabas journey from Paphos to Perga, where John leaves them and goes to Jerusalem. Paul arrives in Antioch. The cripple of Lystra. Paul is stoned. Paul and circumcision. Paul dwells in Antioch. Paul’s vision by night. The women of Thyatria. The release of Paul and Silas.

 

V. Paul and Silas go to Thessalonica, and the Apostle Paul entered into a church wherein there were Jews. And he spake unto them from out of the Scriptures for three Sabbaths. Paul is advised to depart, but enters the city and declares his mission. Timothy’s mother dies. Paul comforts Timothy, and raises up his mother. Timothy is cast into prison, but soon released. He and Paul are thrown into a fiery furnace, but both come out unhurt. Paul baptizes the people. The Prayer of Paul:

 

Bow down thine ear to me, O Thou Who dost hearken unto the words of those who call upon Thee and who make supplication unto Thee, and hear the petition which I make unto Thee before all these people, so that they may believe in Thee, and may know that Thou art He Who hath sent me to preach in Thy Holy Name; for it is Thou who dost reveal Thy wonders and dost make manifest to all the majesty of Thy mysteries, and dost show those who love Thee the greatness of Thy glory. And now, O Lord, teach all these Thy people the glory of Thy Godhead so that they may believe in Thee, and may know that Thou art the Son of God, and that Thy faith is the true one, and that they may find Thy gift which never passeth away. And show Thou them the image of this golden hawk in the similitude of a lion, for Thou art able to do all things, and there is nothing too difficult for Thee, O Thou Who didst bring the world into being out of nothingness, that all these people may know that Thou art God, and that there is no other god besides Thee.

 

The Lion and the Priests. Paul forgives the priests, and works miracles.

 

VI. Christ appears to Paul, and tells him that great suffering awaits him in Thessalonica, but a Heavenly reward will be his if he perseveres. The Divinity also promises that for everyone who shall build a church in thy Name  and shall call upon My name therein I will build in the kingdom of heaven a house not made with hands, and I will destroy the writing of his debt, and I will make him fit to be a child of My kingdom which is in the heavens. And other things are promised.

 

VII. Paul goes to Secundus. Christ again appears to Paul. The Apostle is bound in fetters and tortured, but released by the people. He is re-arrested, however, and thrown into a brazen bull to be roasted alive; but the baptized lion tells the people to worship Paul's God, they do, and he is delivered, baptizes them, and departs for Athens.

 

VIII. Paul preaches in Athens. He goes to Damascus, Caesarea and Antioch.

 

IX. A very long chapter. The story of Demetrius. Paul and Trophimus. Paul feigns to be sick, and preaches to the sick. St. Michael heals the sick. Paul is scourged. Paul and the lions. Paul and the speaking lion. Paul and Trophimus are released. The lion submits to Paul. Trophimus is made a priest. Paul goes to Macedonia. Luke meets Paul. Paul's address to the elders. The prophecy of Agabus. Paul arrives in Jerusalem. The Jews seize Paul, and plot his death. Paul before Felix. Paul appeals to Caesar, and is dispatched to Rome. Paul is shipwrecked; his vision at sea. He arrives in Malta. Paul and the viper. Paul raises up from the dead. The emperor’s cup-bearer, Patroclus. Patroclus believes on Christ. Paul goes before the emperor, and is condemned.

 

X. The story of Paul and Philip in Lystra. Christ appears to Paul and Philip, and they are carried to Lystra. The people there are convinced by Paul; and he and Philip baptize the people.

 

XI. Paul and Philip leave Lystra, and set out for Iconium. The Devil is angry with Paul. The governor of Iconium, Thewodas, invites the Apostles to a feast. Paul and Philip at the feast. Satan stirs up mischief and tells lies to the elders of the city. The letter of Daryanos. Paul and Peter are sought for. Euphemia (Thewodas’ wife) is converted. The soldiers are tortured. The anger of Thewodas. Thewodas and the female devil. The devil and the councilors. Thewodas finds his wife with Paul and Philip and slays her. The grief of Thewodas. Satan seduces the councilors. Christ addresses Paul and Philip. Paul and Philip in the judgment hall. The two are tortured at great length; but they pray to Christ, and are released. Christ protects them against arrows. The governor of Caesarea, Alexander, is sent for, and the Apostles are brought before him. Alexander questions the Apostles, who offer to raise the dead, among whom are Euphemia and her son. The son of Thewodas and the idols. The devil and the councilors. Philip and the black bull. The apostles baptize the people; and return to Jerusalem.

 

XII. On his way to Jerusalem, Paul receives a visitation of Christ, who tells him once again that he will suffer much, but will be amply recompensed with heavenly rewards, as will all those who believe in him.

 

XIII. Paul arrives in the city of Gahleya (Folly). Paul meets Peter and Andrew. Paul and the cloth merchants. Paul enters the city of Folly, and addresses the governor. Peter and Andrew are brought to the city and addressed by Paul. Peter denounces idols, and he and Andrew are scourged. Peter and Andrew in prison. Peter offers to raise the dead, and raises up a man, who tells his story. Peter and Andrew pry for him. Satan also works in the young man before Paul, Peter and Andrew, but is cast out and sent down into Gehenna. Lightning smites the temple; Peter leads the people to baptism; the sick are healed; and the Apostles leave the country.

 

XIV. Paul is preaching on the island of Manafeket. The peculiar malaise of the island—that all who become sick there die—is deduced to have its cause in idol worship. Paul feigns sickness, and is placed with the sick people. He preaches Christ to them and baptizes the people in His name. The sick folk are made whole; and Paul departs for the city of Carthage.

 

XV. Paul meets Peter in Carthage. The talisman of the city and its terrible power are described. Paul sees the Virgin Mary. The vision of Paul. The report of Paul reaches the king who comes to him. Paul builds a church; the talisman is destroyed; and Peter expresses a desire to see the city.

 

XVI. Paul goes to the city of Warikon and sees it, confirms the men there in the Christian faith, and departs on a cloud.

 

XVII. Paul preaches in Rome; Nero made a sign to his soldiers in wrath that they should kill him quickly; the nobles Kistos and Liyukos entreat Paul earnestly that they should be saved; Paul promises that Luke and Titus will come to them; messengers from the emperor Nero tell him how they had found Paul holding converse with Kistos and Lukos and teaching them the faith. Nero sends a swordsman to do the job properly, and he smote him a blow and the head of Saint Paul fell upon the ground; and there went forth from the body of Saint Paul milk and blood which came upon the swordsman and his apparel. A risen Paul appears to the emperor, who orders all those of his household who confess the name of Jesus to go to Titus and Luke; and they taught them the faith which is in our Lord Jesus Christ, and they gave unto them the doctrine of life for ever and ever. Amen.

 

Budge notes over 50 thought parallels with various books of the Received New Testament­, though most of the alleged parallels are with the Received ­Acts­, and virtually all of them occur within the first half of the text. (chapters 1-9).

 

[COA, II, vii, 527-707]

 

269. The Greek Acts of Clement

 

     Of the life and death of Clement of Rome (fl.c.96AD) very little is known. The apocryphal Greek acts of his martyrdom were printed by Cotelier (­Patres Apostolica­ I, 1724, 808). They were reprinted in Migne (Patrolgia Graecae­ II, 162 vol., 1857-1877, 617); but James says that the fullest collection of material, Patristic and modern, is to be had in Lightfoot (­Apostolic Fathers­ I, 2 vol. rev. ed., 1890). See also on this Bardenhewer (Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, end ed., 1913, 116-131); Chapman (in ­Catholic Encyclopaedia­ IV, 1908, 12-17); and Altaner (­Patrologie, Leben, Schriften und Lehre der Kirchenvater­, 1950, 73-77).

 

     The ­Greek Acts of Clement­ relate how Clement converted Theodora, wife of an important Roman by the name of Sesinnius, and 423 other persons of rank. Trajan (emperor, 97-117) banishes the bishop of Rome to the Crimea to work in the mines there, where indeed his missionary labors meet with great success. He slakes the thirst of 2,000 Christian confessors by a miracle; the people of the country are converted; 75 churches are built. Trajan in consequence orders Clement to be thrown into the Black Sea, with an iron anchor for a weight. But the tide every year recedes two miles, revealing a shrine built by angels, which contains the martyr’s bones, and which was shown once a year to the public by a miraculous ebbing of the tide.

 

     Clement of Rome is first mentioned as a martyr by Rufinus of Aquileia (d.410) about the turn of the 5th century. He is also called a martyr by the writer known as Praedestinatus (c.430) and by the Synod of Vaison of 442; and it was known also to Gregory of Tours (d.594). Modern critics think it possible that his martyrdom was suggested by a confusion with his namesake, the martyred Roman consul Clemens, a Christian and a cousin of the emperor Domitian (who was assassinated in 96AD—in a conspiracy led by his wife, among others); but the lack of a tradition that he was buried in Rome is in favor of his having died in exile. At any rate, all this suggests that the story first became known during the 4th century.

 

[TCE, IV, 14; ODC, 297]

 

270. 271. The Greek Homilies of Clement; The Greek Recognitions of Clement

 

     There are many apocryphal writings [(­Acts of Clement­, ­Homilies of Clement­, ­Recognitions of Clement­, First Letter of Clement to the Corinthians­, ­Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians­, ­Apostolic Constitutions­, ­First Letter of Clement on Virginity­, ­Second Letter of Clement on Virginity­, ­Letter of Appion to Clement­, Letter of Clement to Appion­, ­Letter of Clement to James­) which circulated in the early church under the name of Clement of Rome (fl.c.96AD, and said to be the immediately successor in authority in that city to the Apostle Peter himself)]. Indeed, The ­Clementines­ is a name which could generally be given these works, virtually all of which name him as their author. In practice, however, the name is by convention restricted to the ­Homilies­, Recogni-tions­, and epitomes of both; and these particular writings are all, indeed, in their principal traits everywhere cast in the same mold.

 

     The writings have not come down to us as they were originally composed. Today the view is widely entertained that they go back to a Basic Writing (so Rehm, ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestmentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunder der Altern Kirche­ XXXVII, 1938, 155-156). [On the other hand, reserve is needed in regard to the theory advanced above all by Waitz (­Die Pseudoklementinen­, 1904; and in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte­ LVIII, 1940, 327ff), according to which this basic writing itself further rested upon two main source-writings, which in essentials can still be reconstructed: the ­Kerygmata Petrou­, and the ­Acts of Peter­.]

 

     This Basic Writing has not been preserved—or if it has, it has not yet been recovered (though there is some argument about this); but in its general features it can be deduced from the recensions derived from it. The decisive components of the story of Clement already belong to it. Its main attitude is the rationality of the Last Judgment; ­rationabiliter vivere­ is the demand that results from such practical philosophy. Belief plays only a subordinate role; the death of Jesus has no religious significance. The Christological problem scarcely exists. The guarantor of the metaphysical notions is the true prophet, whose call has to be proved by the coming true of his predictions.

 

     The Basic Writing, which it seems likely was not widely disseminated, underwent a first revision at the hands of a speculatively minded theologian, the Homilist. To a profound ethical interest he joined one that was metaphysical, which permitted him to develop a doctrinal system (so Ulhorn, ­Die Homilen und Recognitionen des Clemens Romanus­, 1854, 153ff) entirely on his own; but this, it is true, he was not able to press home everywhere in an entirely consistent way upon the material that already lay before him. The doctrine of the syziges (opposite pairs) which the Homilist finds everywhere, even in the being of God, provides a foundation for the opposition of Peter to Simon which becomes the leading motif of the story. The critical position which the Homilist occupies in reference to the Old Testament is noteworthy (so Rehm, “Zur Entstehung der Pseudoclementinischen Schriften” in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentlichen Wissenschaft und die Kunde des Urchristentums­ XXXVII, 1938, 159); indeed, theologically the Clementines have a Judaistic-Gnostic tendency, and this must also have been part of the Basic Writing, for it is to be found in both the ­Homilies­ (where, however, it is less pronounced), and in the ­Recognitions­, where Christ is in fact a Divine aeon, who had previously been revealed in Adam and Moses—the True Prophet who, among other things, shows his disciples how to detect interpolations in the ­Received Old Testament­. Special emphasis is laid upon the Jerusalem Church (which, under the direction of James, the brother of Jesus, was definitely of a Jewish-Christian cast). There is also a strong ascetic element: Peter is a strict vegetarian, and the use of water alone is allowed in the Eucharist. There is also a definite repudiation of celibacy (another mark of Jewish influence). Daily baptism is encouraged (perhaps a carry-over of ritual purification ceremonies performed at the Temple: H). Arian influences have also been upheld by Chapman (“On the Date of the Clementines” in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde des Urchristentums­ IX, 1908, 21-34, 147-159), who assigns the final edition of the Recognitions­ to a disciple of Eunomius of Cyzicus (d.c.395, Arian bishop there from c.360).

 

     This highly original composition might have been lost altogether had the Ebionites not taken a liking to it. To them this exemplary pattern for their adherence to Jewish tradition must have seemed to have arrived in the nick of time. By appropriate interpolations they further reinforced this tendency; and for the rest, they added alleged letters of Peter and Clement, and instructions for the right use of the book, converting the writing into a constituent part of a Petrine, anti-Pauline secret tradition.

 

     The Basic Writing belongs to Syria, where it may have originated in the first half of the 3rd century (so Waitz, “Die Pseudoklementinen” in Gebbhardt & Harnak’s ­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XXV.4, 1904, 72ff); and Rehm, ­ibid­, 156). Cullman (I have no reference) also assigns it to the early 3rd century, and believes that it was written by a Judaeo-Christian, holding that it was itself dependent upon an Itinerary of Peter­ and a Jewish ­Apology­ dating from c.135AD. It is even possible that this source, or another prior to it and known as the ­Preachings of Peter­, goes back into the 2nd century, for (1) Irenaeus of Lyons (c.180) mentions contendings of the apostles with Simon Magus, and they are reflected in both the ­Homilies­ and Recognitions­; and (2) the Received gospel quotations in the ­Homilies­ and ­Recognitions­ sometime appear to represent a stage in the transmission of the Received gospels before the texts of these reached their present, fixed state. At any rate, it has been suggested that some of the ideas set forth in the ­Clementines­—especially in the Homilies­—may well represent the thought of various kinds of Jewish Christianity as early as the 2nd century AD, though it is extremely doubtful that they reflect 1st century concepts (at least for what was to become the mainstream of Christianity). The attitude of the author to the Trinitarian question (at ­Homilies­ XVI:xvi and XX:vii) certainly ties him down to the time before 381AD; also he must have written in the East, for both Homilies­ and Recognitions­ attempt to exalt the position of the so-called Oriental churches in relation to the see of Rome.

 

     It is possible that this heretical corruption of the ­Homilies­ gave occasion to the writing of the ­Recognitions­, which presuppose the ­Homilies­ in addition to the Basic Writing, and are more closely connected sometimes to the one and sometimes to the other. The Ebionitic presentation of Peter and James is carried still farther; but otherwise the author confines himself to eliminating what contradicts the dogma of the Great Church. The time of composition for the ­Recognitions of Clement­ would be earlier than that of the ­Apostolic Constitutions­, another writing which originated in Syria between 360-380 (so Schwartz, “Unzeitgemasse se Betrachtungen zu den Clementinen” in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde des Urchristentums­ XXXI, 1932, 178) [but which apparently make no mention of this work; or which is itself not reflected in the Recognitions­: my source gives no reason for singling it out. H].

 

     Nevertheless, the ­Recognitions­, like the ­Homilies­, had the misfortune to be interpolated by the non-Orthodox so as to authenticate their teachings. In a way that is nothing short of ingenious a disciple of Eunomius of Cyzicus (d.c.395, Arian bishop there from 359) knew how to make room there for his own conception of the Trinity (Recognitions­ III:ii-xi), with the result that the ­Recognitions­ also became suspect in the Great Church and gradually disappeared from it. Rufinus of Aquelia (d.410), opponent of Jerome of Strido (d.420), who translated the ­Recognitions­ c.400AD into Latin, secured for them acceptance and circulation in the West, omitting in his rendering the portions which gave offense; curiously, no diminution seems to have been felt in its popularity when these parts of the text were later restored to the work by another translator. Such is the history of the text as far as Rehm has worked it out.

 

     The ­Homilies of Clement­, together with the ­Letter of Peter to James­ and the ­Letter of Clement to James­, as well as instruction for the right use of the book, are preserved in Greek in two codices: Parisinus Graecus 930, which is incomplete from XIX:xiv; and Vaticanus Ottobonianus 443, discovered in 1838 by Dressel. In modern times, the ­Homilies­ were apparently first edited by Coteliere (­Apostolic Fathers­ I, 1672, 546-746). The first complete edition comes from Dressel and appeared at Gottingen in 1853 (reproduced by Migne, ­Patrologia Graecae­ II, cols. 19ff). Before that time, it was only known from a single defective Greek codex. Meanwhile it has been surpassed by the editions of de Lagarde (Leipzig, 1865), and Rehm (­Die Grieschisch-Christlichen Schriftsteller der Ersten Jahrhunderte­ XLII, Berlin, 1953).

 

     The ­Homilies­ is a religious and philosophical romance, arranged as a set of 20 discourses, which Clement is supposed to have sent from Rome to James of Jerusalem, Jesus’ brother (put to death by the Sanhedrin in 62AD). They describe Clement’s travels in the East when he met Peter and witnessed his conflict with Simon Magus. The work contains much legendary matter (e.g., about Clement’s family).

 

     The ­Recognitions of Clement­, on the other hand, have come down to us in the Latin rendering—the original Greek has not yet been recovered—of Rufinus of Aquelia (although that is in 10 books), without the instructions for the right use of the book, or the two letters aforementioned; or, to judge from a letter which Rufinus prefaced the text with, an unknown portion of the text itself, for he says he made various curtailments to it. The Recognitions­ also survive in Syriac, in a translation made, like that of Rufinus’, c.400AD. The Latin version, which was, however, preceded by a dedication to bishop Gaudentius of Brescia (fl.390-410), was widely disseminated in the West, as is proved by over 100 manuscripts of it that have been preserved. They have all been drawn upon for the edition of Rhem in ­Die Grieschisch-Christlichen Schriftsteller der Ersten Jahrhunderte­; which had at the time of this notice (1965) not yet been published. In modern times, the ­Recognitions­ appear to have been first edited by Faber (1504), himself a zealous defender of the Roman Catholic sect of Orthodoxy during the Reformation.

 

     The ­Recognitions­ closely resembles the ­Homilies­ in historical setting and theological outlook. Their narrative parts go over much the same ground, with additional details of the vicissitudes of several members of Clement’s family and their final reunion after their recognition (hence the title) by Peter. They have been dated as early as 211-213, on the grounds that they refer to the extension of the Roman franchise throughout the Empire, which took place under Caracalla (212AD); and also because the work is allegedly quoted by Origen of Alexandria (d.c. 254, ­Commentary on Genesis­).

 

     Both the ­Homilies of Clement­ and the ­Recognitions of Clement­ were early translated in Syriac. A manuscript from Edessa of the year 411AD contains a collection of texts from ­Recognitions­ I-IV:iv and Homilies­ X-XIV:xii from the pen of two different translators. This text with a reconstruction of the Greek original has been edited by Frankenberg (­Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XLVIII:iii, 1937).

 

     The interest taken in the narrative portion of the Clementines by a wide circle of readers gave occasion for the drawing up of summaries in which the dogmatic discussion were relegated to the background. Two such epitomes in Greek (edited by Dressel, 1859) have survived; and particularly the older of the two (which has been handed down in about 30 manuscripts) is of importance for the state of the text of the ­Homilies of Clement­. On the other hand, the so-called Cotelierian Epitome, which has also been handed down in numerous codices, represents simply a paraphrase of the older summary. Finally in addition to the Greek epitomes, there is also the so-called Sinai Epitome composed in Arabic (edited by Gibson, ­Studia Sinaitica­ V, 1896), which represents a text of the Recognitions of Clement­ independent of Rufinus; another Arabic epitome beyond the one just mentioned; and fragments in Ethiopic (so Stahlin, ­Die Altchristliche Grieschische Literatur­ S.A., 1924, 1213).

 

     The literary and theological problems raised by the Clementines are still warmly debated. The fact of a literary connection between the ­Homilies­ and ­Recognitions­ is undisputed; but while Hilgenfeld (­Die Klementinischen Recognitionen und Homilien­, 1848) maintained that the ­Recognitions­ were composed earlier than the ­Homilies­, most later scholars (e.g., Cullmann, ­Le Probleme Litteraire et Historique du Roman Pseudo-Clementin­, 1930; Ulhorn; and C. Schmidt) have held that the ­Homilies­ were composed first. The parallels between them are probably not to be explained by direct borrowing, but from a common dependence of both upon the Basic Document previously mentioned.

 

     For the literature (which is immense) Rehm (­ibid­., 77) lists the older compilations down to 1937. This is succeeded by Strecker (­Das Judenchristentum in den Pseudoklementinen, Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ LXX, 1958, 276ff); and the tradition is carried on by Schoeps (“Ifanisches in den Pseudoklementinen” in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ LI, 1960, 1-10); and Ullmann (“The Significance of the Epistula Clementis in the Pseudo-Clementines” in ­Journal of Theological Studies­, N.S. XI, 1960, 295ff). See also Bigg (“The Clementine Homilies” in ­Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica­ II, 1890, 157-193); Headlam (“The Clementine Literature” in Journal of Theological Studies­ III, 1901-1902, 41-58); Schwartz (­ibid­., 151-199); and Rehm (op.cit­., Zur Entestehung, etc., 77-184).

 

[NTA, II, 532-535; ODC, 301; ENC, V, 900]

 

272. The Greek Acts of Paul and Thecla

 

     The ­Greek Acts of Paul and Thecla­ describes the adventures of these two individuals. They tell how Paul, after his flight from Antioch in Pisidia (­Acts­ 13:51—So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium.)—arrives there, where in the house of Onesiphorus Paul preaches the benefits of chastity, thereby winning Thecla away from Thamyris, to whom she was betrothed, and into a life of virginity and missionary activity, becoming a companion of Paul, and preaching the gospel. In consequence, Paul is charged before the civil authorities and beaten, while Thecla is condemned to death by burning, but miraculously saved, both from the fire and from wild beasts in the arena (including bulls and serpents). Other incidents (and characters) in various parts of Asia Minor are described in the lives of both Paul and Thecla, to where there is nothing analogous in the Received material; and the acts conclude with a record of Thecla’s death at Seleucia.

 

     It is not impossible that the ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­ contain a kernel of historical truth. A Christian virgin of that name may well have been converted by Paul at Iconium, and suffered persecution as a result. [Thus it may be that the author of the ­Acts of Paul­ might have had in his possession written ­acta­ of her martyrdom (which have otherwise not survived), which could have been created in much the same manner as those of Ignatius of Antioch, or Polycarp of Smyrna, and which he could have used with other materials in the creation of his own account. H] Also in favor of its basic historicity are the researches of von Gutschmid (in ­Rheinisches Museum für Philologie­ X, 1864) who was able as early as the American Civil War to discover that a Queen Tryphena (mentioned in connection with this part of the ­Acts of Paul­) was herself an historical personage.

 

     The great popularity of the ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­ in the early church is shown by its existence in numerous languages. It doubtless began its life in Greek [for which see Tischendorf (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ XL, 1851); von Gutschmid (“Die Konigsnamen in den Apocryphen Apostelgeschichten” in Reinisches Museum für Philologie­ N.F. XIX, 1873, 177); and finally Lipsius (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, 1891)]. Wright (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­ II, 1871, 116-145) has published a Syriac version made from the Greek; he prints a text taken from four manuscripts, of the 6th, 10th, 11th and 12th centuries, the earliest being older by several centuries than any of the Greek codices used by Tischendorf. An Armenian version has been published by Conybeare (The Apology and Acts of Apollonius and Other Monuments of Early Christianity­, 1894, 49-88). Five separate Latin translations have been also been discovered; and the work is known to exist in Slavonic and Arabic versions as well. Finally, an Ethiopic rendition has been found, for which see Goodspeed (in the ­American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures­ XVII, 1900-1901, 65-95).

 

     This early circulation as an independent piece may be accounted for by ecclesiastical use as a festal lection, as well as for its own inherent romantic and spirited flavor; for, despite an adverse remark made by Tertullian regarding this work, it enjoyed an immense and persistent popularity, and not only throughout the Patristic period, but during the Middle Ages as well. This popularity is also shown by the fact that Thecla is one of the most celebrated saints of the Greek church. She is honored with the special title of protomartyr; a basilica was built near Seleucia to house her remains; and that it was long a popular place of pilgrimage is mentioned in by Basil of Seleucia (d.c.459, ­De Vita et Miraculis S. Theclae Libri II­ in Migne, ­Patrologia Graeca­ LXXXV, 477-618; on this see also Delehaye in ­Analecta Bollandiana­ XLIII, 1925, 49-57).

 

     The relief into which abstention from the marriage-bed is brought into these ­acta­ makes it difficult to escape from the conclusion that they have been colored by Encratite ideas. Nevertheless, the thesis of Lipsius (ibid.) and others, that a Gnostic document basic to it underlies our present document, is not accepted by Harnack, Zahn, Bardenhewer (­Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, end ed., 1913, 561-564), and others. See also on this Ramsay (­The Church in the Roman Empire Before 170AD­, 1893, 375-428); and Holzhey (“Die Thekla-Akten: Ihre Verbreitung und Beurtheilung in der Kirche” in ­Veroffentlichungen aus dem Kirchen-historischen Seminar Munchen­ II.7, 1905; and in Buchberberger’s ­Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche­ X, 1938, cols. 28-30).

 

[ODC, 1032; AAA, xii-xiii; CAT, II, 612; ENC, XXII, 46]

 

273. The Greek Acts of Ananias

 

     ANT reports that the ­Acts of Ananias­ are not of much interest, either as history or legend.

 

[ANT, 471]

 

274. The Greek Acts of Aquila

 

     As with #273, James is content to report these acts as not of much interest, either as history or legend. But he is opposed here by JAM, who urges that they should be examined in relationship to the ­Acts of Paul­, on the grounds that it is to these Acts of apostolic men and of supposed members of the band of the Seventy Disciples, that we must look for further light on the lost Acts of the Apostles. They are to be found in the Codex Paris Graecae 1219, folios 37-45.

 

[JAM, 56; ANT, 471]

 

275. The Greek Acts of Timothy

 

     Usener (“Acta S. Timothei” in ­Natalica Regis Augustissimi Guilelmi Imperatoris Germanie­, Bonn, 1877) has published the original Greek text of these ­acta­ with a Latin translation and notes, plus the following Latin introduction; the underscoring, conventions, capitalizations, and abbreviations in it are all his.

 

Sollemnem GUILELMI IMPERATORIS diem indicturi cum speriore anno ad studiorum graecorum infimum aeuum delati simus, ne nunc quidem in florentium litterarum campos redibimus. Hoc enim anno cum uniuersitatem nostram theologiae profesesor amplissimus regat GUILELMUS MANGOLD, ipso praefandi officio moniti experiundum putauimus, si quam theologis grammatici tesseram sodalitatis studiorumque coniunctionis offerre, oblatam probare possimus. Nam quamuis multis etiam nunc prae Tischendorfii phaleris ingenium Lachmani sordere uideatur, ea theologiae et philologiae est necessitudo, ut sanctorum testimoniorum interpretatio, ut rerum historiaeque exploratio sine arte grammatica cogitari omnio nequeat. Id quidem Scaliger, cuius est aureum illud ­utinam essem bonus grammaticus, sufficit enim ei qui auctores omnes probe uult intellegere esse bonum grammaticum­, tam firmiter sibi persuaserat, ut non aliunde quam ab ignoratione grammaticae uel dissidia in religione pendere diceret. Uerum tamen quid potissimum sibi utile aut necessarium ab arte grammatica petere possit theologia, haud scio nos an non deceat quaerere. A nobis expectatur ut neglecta ex bybliothecarum latebris eruamus, edita perpoliamus. Priorum saeculorum incredibilem admiramur diligentiam endendis ueteris ecclesiae monumentis ac pertractandis adhibitam: quae etsi superari posse non uidetur, eadem non mehercle pauca neque leuia huic quoque saeculo reliquit praestanda. Quis credat esse genus litterarum sacrarum, quod paene totum ad hunc diem contemptum iaceat ac neglectum? Uitas enim et acta sanctorum qui industria admirabili collegerunt ac spatiosis uoluminibus recondiderunt Bollandus sociique pleraque non graeca sed latine uersa proponebant, eique qua—neglegentia dicam an temeritate saepe fidem librorum susque deque habuerint, longum est explicare. Ac paucissima sunt eius generis momumenta, quae alii ea qua opus est cura ediderint, ut nuper Porphyrii Gazensis uitam M. Hauptius opere postumo. Symeonis metaphrases non numero, quales sat multas Mignii, patrologiae quam dicit conpilatoris, operarius ex codicibus Parisiensibus protraxit; quas arripias inuitus, si genuinae uitae praesto non sunt: si sunt, spernas. Valde autem erraret qui actorum illorum pretium ex A. Tougardi abbatis excerptis aestimaret. Uerum est molis tam amplae digerendae maius esse onus quam fructum, esse etiam permulta in eo genere uix digna quae edantur. At cum fabularum tum rerum historia suo iure illud flagitat, ut tandem ea saltem quae memoriam non corruptam mendaciis nec fucatam prae se ferant, ex turba secernantur. Optime olim Theodoricus Ruinart meruit selectis primorum martyrum actis sinceris: hodie et addi non pauca poterunt et sincera non ea tantum quae ab oculatorum testium fide proxime absunt, sed ea quoque censenda erunt, quae fabulas ex uolgi ore exceptas simplici modo credulorum enarrant. Quae cum ita sint, rem spero non prorsus inutilem me agere, si quod integrioris illius generis specimen ex scriniis promam, quod quo magis est tenue, eo facilius angustis huius scriptionis finibus cohibebitur: peruellem luculentius esset, quo procliuiores ad ueniam essent harum rerum peritiores, si quid praetermissum a me aut peccatum erit.

 

POLYCRATIS sub Commodo et Seuro impp. Ephesiorum episcopi tradita est ad Asiae minoris presbyteros de TIMOTHEO apostolo epistula breuis latine scripta. Quae cum primum uitis sanctorum Louanii a. 1485 editis (quod tamen exemplum in instructissima uniuersitatis Georgiae Augustae bybliotheca frustra quaesiui) inserta esset,\fn{Eius rei Iac. Vasserius mihi auctor est, dissertationis de Macedonum et Asianorum anno solari c. 2 p. 21 (ed. Lugd. Bat. 1683)} postea identidem a Surio ac Lipomano, denique conlatis libris manu scriptis in Io. Bollandi actis sanctorum ianuarii t. II (a. 1643) p. 566 typis repetita est. Postermus Cl. Peleterius cum canonem ecclesiae ueteris Romanae a Francisco Pithoeo restitutum ederet (Paris. 1687), apographon epistulae Polycrateae quod Pithoeus fecerat `nono ex passionariis codicibus monasterii s. Germani Parisiensis' usus, eiusdem uoluminis p. 366 sq. publici iuris fecit: quod exemplum, cum codex ille nunc non compareat, instar codicis est. Polycratis nominis quam nulla sit fides, facile apparet nec nisi paucissimos latuit. Eusebius enim Polycratem de Timothei electione et morte testatum esse ignorat hist. eccl. III 4, 5 neque magis quae de Ioanne euangelista narrauisse ille fertur, cognita habet III 18. 23 sq. Altum est eius de hoc opusculo silentium, qui diligentissime uirorum ecclesiasticorum scriptis inlustrium memoriam excussit, Hieronymi de uir. inl. c. 45 t. II p. 885 Vall. (nil enim tradit nisi quae ex Eusebio h. eccl. V 22. 24 sublegerit), altum uel Honorii Augustodunensis de scrr. eccl. c.45. Primus testis est uir ut illis temporibus doctus Sigebertus Gemblacensis, qui cum nefas duceret scriptores uenerandae si dis placet antiquitatis Marcellos Linos Dionysios a litteris sacris procul haberi, haec etiam de Polycrate rettulit de uiris ill. 3 Polycrates passionem s. Timothei apostoli scripsit et alia multa­. Sigberto non dubito quin minor natu fuerit chronographus mihi quidem ignotus,\fn{Saeculo XII antiquiorem eum chronographum fuisse non puto: certe neque Hermannus Contractus neque Marianus Scotus de timotheo quicquam referunt.} cuius ad Neruae imperium adnotationem hanc Vincentius Bellouacensis speculi historialis 1. XI 38 attulit ­eodem anno ut legitur s. Timotheus multa pro ueritate passus ad dominum migrauit. Cuius uitam Policrates presbiter scripsit­. Ipse autem Vincentius eius uitae etiam epitomen loco indicato adiecit. Itaque etsi medio aeuo Polycratis quae fertur epistula satis nota fuit, antiquiores eam scriptores non agnoscunt.

 

At ex graeco sermone hoc opusculum expressum esse nemo fuit quem fugeret. Immo graecum non solum antiquiore tempore Photius legebat (uide infra quae dicentur), sed etiam recentiore tempore Bollandi socii uiderunt. Adeo specimina quaedam cum Petrus Halloix in illustrium ecclesiae orientalis scriptorum uitis et documentis t. I p. 588 ad uitae Polycarpi c. VII et ab eo mutuatus Iac. Vesserius libri supra memorati p. 22 (scil. Libelli infra editi n. 66-69), tum Cangius gloss. Mediae graecitatis t. I p. 607 eumque secutus Lobeckius Aglaophami p. 177 (scil. u. 44 --- usque ad 49 -------) sparserant.\fn{The dashes replace two Greek words, one dash for each letter: (H)} Igitur libellus non uno nomine memorabilis ex bybliothecae alicuius angulis et poterat promi et debebat. Ego uero Italorum thesauros frustra rimabar: in Vaticano fieri potest ut mea culpa; exciderat enim mihi quod iam in Bollandi actis p. 563, 7 obseruatum erat, graeca exempla Polycratis nomine carere. Meliore euentu Parisiis quaesitum iri Cangius fidem faciebat. Precibus igitur adii MAXIMILIANVM BONNETVM nostrum, professorem nuper Parisiensem: quem (parcam uerbis) numquam quicquam rogaui, quin eodem studio eademque cura atque suum ageret; quod quantum dicam, sciunt qui quae de Galeno uel Catullo commentatus est, norunt. Spem superauit euentus. Bonnetus enim in codice Parisiensi gr. 1219 formae minoris, saeculi XI aut XII, cuius indicem satis accuratum uide catalogi codd. Par. t. II p. 257, opusculi exemplar repperit multo integrius quam quo Halloix utebatur necdum ea interpolatione maculatum quam Bollandi socius indicat (cf. adn. ad u. 60). Huius libri apographon accuratissimum cum officiosae Bonneti uoluntati debeam, eidem debeo ut cum reliquis uiris doctis communicem. Quod ut recte fieri posset, etiam ad uersionem latinam emendandam ille optima mihi subsidia parauit, duobus conlatis codicibus Parisiensibus, uno saeculi X inter latinos n. 17625 (olim ­s. Corneille de Compiegne­ n. 40) sanctorum mensis ianuarii uitas amplexo f. 202u, altero saeculi XII eodemque melioris notae n. 5300 (reg. 3864), olim qui Antonii Fabri fuit. His copiis ad meas qualescumque adiectis potui uersionem uterem sic repraesentare, ut simul etiam quam lasciuiens quo usque grassata sit in hoc litterarum genere interpolatio intellegi possit.

 

Iam eis quibus haec legere et tractare animus erit, nil restat nisi ut signa adnotationis criticae explicemus. Igitur in graecae lectionis discrepantia V uersionem latinam tunc indicabit, cum emedationem ea suppeditauit: nam reliqua quo legentes ipsi notare possent, uersionem graecis subieci. In adnotatione uersionis `B' erit Bollandi exemplum; `C' erit codex Parisiensis lat. 17625 olim s. Cornelii; `F' erit codex Parisiensis lat. 5300 olim A. Fabri; `P' erit Pithoeanum apographon codicis SGermanensis; `V' erit Vincentii Bellouacensis epitoma spec. hist. XI.38.

 

     James also passes over these acts as not of much interest; and CAT notes that it must suffice to mention them; though he adds that they were composed by an Ephesian after 425AD.

 

[CAT, II, 613; ANT, 469-475; USE, 3-6]

 

276. The Greek Acts of Titus, after Zenas

 

     Another possible trace of the ­Acts of Paul­ is to be found in the Greek Acts of Titus, after Zenas­. The most complete form of this book is an epitome contained in Codex Paris Graecae 548 (folios 192-196). In them Paul, when preaching at Damascus, casts a devil out of Apphia, the wife of the governor, and a noble matron; Titus accompanies Paul on the first missionary journey; and at Ephesus Paul fights with a lion. There are in these instances and others sufficient instances to determine beyond a doubt that the author made use of the ­Acts of Paul­.

 

1. At ­Titus/Zenas­ 3, after briefly reporting that Paul first preached the word of Christ in Damascus (this may derive from ­Acts­ 9:22—(Saul became increasingly more powerful and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that this was the Messiah.\fn{Or: the Christ.}), the author continues—(and Apphia, the wife of Chrysippus, who was possessed by a demon, was healed by Paul; and after he had fasted seven days he overcame the idol of Apollo.) Now the names Amphion and Chrysippus appear in Papyrus Heidelberg of the ­Acts of Paul­. From this, C. Schmidt (­Acta Pauli Nach dem Heidelberger Koptischen Papyrus-handschrift­ N.R. I, 1904, 114) concluded that the author of ­Titus/Zenas­ had condensed the episode at Tyre in the ­Acts of Paul­, the name Amphion in the Coptic being only a corruption of Apphia. The note about the overcoming of the idol of Apollo would then go back to the Sidon section of the ­Acts of Paul­.

 

2. It is said at ­Titus/Zenas­ 4—(When they reached Antioch, they found Barnabas, the son of Panchares, whom Paul had raised up. ... Thereafter they journeyed to Seleucia and Cyprus, Salamis and Paphos, and from there to Perga in Pamphylia and again to Antioch in Pisidia and to Iconium, to the house of Onesiphorus, to whom Titus had previously related the matter concerning Paul.) Part of this account probably goes back to the Received Acts­, but the name Panchares, as the father of Barnabas, takes us beyond ­Acts­. This name, and the raising from the dead referred to, appear in Papyrus Heidelberg 1-6. It is thus fairly clear that the author also borrowed this from the ­Acts of Paul­.

 

3. The Onesiphorus in Iconium and the role of Titus also derive from the ­Acts of Paul­; indeed, the role described in ­Titus/Zenas­ is probably more precisely to be found in the ­Acts of Paul and Thecla­.

 

4. It is said in ­Titus/Zenas­ that Paul journeyed ­again­ to Antioch in Pisidia. This can only be understood thus: that the author of ­Titus/Zenas­ assumed that the raising of Barnabas took place in Pisidian Antioch, and that Paul after his activity in Cyprus returned thither by way of Perga, and thence came to Iconium. It remains, however, obscure, as to whether in this interpretation of the Antioch in the Panchares episode as the Pisidian city of that name, the author of ­Titus/Zenas­ could really appeal to the ­Acts of Paul­, or whether he hit upon exactly the same conclusion as modern scholarship.

 

     The ­Acts of Titus by Zenas­ take us up to the incident at Ephesus, and from that point is either pure fiction, or local legend. It may be of Cretan origin; if so, it was composed between 400-700AD.

 

     The ­acta­ has been edited by James (in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ VI, 1905, 549-556); but this edition has been superseded by Halkin (“La Legende Cretoise de Saint Tite,” ­Analecta Bollandiana­ LXXXIX, 1961, 241-256).

 

[NTA, II, 329, 336,346; CAT, II, 613; JAM, 55; ANT, 471]

 

277. The Greek Acts of Xanthippe, Polyxena and Rebecca

 

     These ­acta­, according to James, are printed for the first time in Robinson (­Texts and Studies—Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature: Apocrypha Anecdota, A collection of Thirteen Apocryphal Books and Fragments­, Cambridge, 1893, 43-85); and this from what appears to be the only known copy of this work in existence—Codex Parisianus Graecae 1458, a fine folio of the 11th century, written in double columns and containing lives of saints, mostly for the month of December. These ­acta­ are the second item in the volume (the first being the Received Old Testament ­Book of Nahum­); though it does not seem to be any longer possible to determine why, particularly; for the Saints Day properly associated with these martyrs is September 23, rather than at anytime during the month of December.

 

     The following are the authorities for the existence of the ­Acts of Xanthippe, Polyxena and Rebecca­:

 

1. In the ­Menologion­ attributed to Basil of Cappadocia (d.379) there is in chapter 10 a notice that says the Xanthippe lived during the time of the emperor Claudius I (d.54AD), and was the wife of Probos, ruler of Spain. She had a maiden sister, Polyxena. When Paul came to Spain, Xanthippe was baptized and Polyxena converted—and then JAM continues the description in Greek. This account (an abstract of the acts themselves) diverges in two particulars from the acts proper: (a) no mention is made of Rebecca; and (b) Polyxena goes to Greece after Paul left Spain, because she heard that Andrew was preaching there. At (a), however, we have here to do with a case of simple omission; and at (b) merely a careless perversion of the legend. If there had been any rival account of the saints in circulation, more traces of it would most likely have been left in the ­Menologion­; but in fact, the remainder of the account agrees with the unexpurgated acts.

 

2. Symeon the Metaphrast [fl.c.960, apparently in a chronicle and collection of various sayings of Basil of Cappadocia and other Fathers—the title is in Greek, but the work is fully described by Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ II, 1883, 217)]—there is recorded a paragraph (also in Greek) which (so JAM) has something to do with our ­acta­.

 

3. Michael Glycas (c.1150), it is certain, epitomizes an account of the ­acta­ from chapters 7 and 8 the work adduced to Symeon the Metaphrast; for it has as its basis the paragraph recorded in Greek and mentioned just above.

 

4. Geronimo Romana de la Higuera (bn.1538), alleges that one Julianus Petri wrote in chapter 73 of his Adversaria­—Inde profectus est colossos, et venit Patras, ubi reperit Polyxenam Hispanam et anno LXX venit in Hispaniam—; that one Flavius Lucius Dexeter wrote in three separate places (under the years 71, 108 and 109) in his ­Chronica­—S. Onesimus, S. Pauli discipulus, ex urbe Patararum in Achia cum sanctus virginibus Polyxena et Sarra, discipulis Andreae apostoli, per Hispanias praedicat. ... Xantippe et Polyxena eius uxor Virgo sanctissima et eius socia Rebecca, item Virgo, et S. Onesimus, S. Pauli discipulus ... Xanthippe et Polyxena ad meliorem uitam demigrant.—; and also that there was such a person as Tamayo de Salizar, and that ­he­ wrote. All three of these people, however, are apparently characters of his own creation (together, of course, with their books); though that does not lessen the fact that Geronimo himself seems to have known of the ­Acts of Xanthippe, Polyxena and Rebecca­ [although he substitutes the name of Sarra for that of Rebecca in the Dexeter and Salazar falsifications (which accounts for her turning up in the ­Acta Sanctorum­, below)]. The Dexter forgery was printed in 1619, the Salazar in 1650.

 

5. In the ­Acta Sanctorum­ (the enormous series of lives of the saints, arranged in the order of the feasts in the ecclesiastical year, begun in 1643 and apparently not yet complete—my ODC says that by 1930 it had reached November 10)—for February 16 II.855 (or II.887 in an edition of 1863-1868) under the ­Life of Saint Onesimus­, the following passage occurs:—Among the countries imbued with the faith of Christ by S. Onesimus Spain is reckoned by some. For this reason he is included in the Spanish Martyrology of Io. Tamayo de Salazar, in this form:--Hismaniae celebris est memorial S. Onesimi, discipuli B. Pauli, et totius Carpetaniae regionis magistri, qui cum a Philemone hero manu missus, Colossos deveniret, inde ad Patras, ibidem beatam Virginem Polyxenam Hispanam et Sarram pedissequam B. Andrae discipulas adinuenit quibus Hispaniam contendens, post plurima nauigationis dissidia Nostras ingressus, Carpetanos lustrauit, ...

 

     The citations of this work, then, are all (except perhaps for the first) very late, and may be considered of indifferent use in the dating of the ­acta­ itself (H). As to what may be gleaned from the work itself with regard to its date and character of this production, the following information is pertinent.

 

1. The author of these acts demonstrates a knowledge of at least six other books of acts: the ­Acts of Paul­, the Acts of Paul and Thecla­, the ­Acts of Peter­ (after the Vercelli text), the ­Acts of Andrew­, the ­Acts of Philip­ and the ­Acts of Thomas­; and he has introduced those apostles into scenes for which he found authority in their respective ­acta­. Indeed, it appears that the main source of chapters 1-21 is to be found in the ­Acts of Paul­.

 

2. It appears that a sharp line of demarcation may be drawn between chapters 1-21 and 22-42. (a) Paul, Xanthippe and Probos are the principal figures in 1-21; but 22-42 introduce us to Polyxena, Philip, Peter, Andrew, Rebecca, and a host of minor characters. (b) Chapters 22-42 seem much more obviously a mosaic construction than 1-21. (c) Traces of ­Paul­, ­Paul and Thecla­, Peter­ and ­Thomas­ seem to be present throughout, but they are more deftly concealed in 1-21 than in 22-42. (d) ­Philip­ and ­Andrew­ appear for the first time in 22-42; and ­Paul and Thecla­ and ­Peter­ are in this section openly quoted. (e) In 1-21 there are no less than nine speeches or prayers; but in 22-42 there are three at most (in chapters 27 and 32), and the events are more crowded by far, and more briefly treated.

 

     Two conclusions have been drawn from these facts.

 

1. The diversity just indicated between chapters 1-21 and 22-42 may be more apparent than real. (a) Though the mosaic quality of the entire work is obvious upon its scholarly dissection, this approach to the creation of literature would naturally lead to a more homogeneous and coherent presentation in those parts of the work where it was least in evidence (here, for chapters 1-21) than for those parts where it was largely employed (chapters 22-42.) (b) There is no marked diversity of style between chapters 1-21 and 22-42. It would seem, therefore, that we have here to do with but a single author.

 

2. The time at which the ­Acts of Xanthippe, Polyxena and Rebecca­ came into being may be fixed at some time between the date of their last learned borrowing—from the ­Acts of Philip­—and their first trustworthy citation (which, according to JAM, is that of Symeon the Metaphrast, who says that it is possibly earlier than the Menology­ attributed to Basil of Cappadocea. JAM, however places the date of composition at c.250AD, for he dates the ­Acts of Philip­ to somewhere in the first half of the 3rd century, noting also that it is by no means certain that it should not be placed quite early in that century. With this NTA is in fundamental disagreement [he says (below, #398) that this work was probably composed in the 5th century]; and if we adhere to his view of the matter—which we probably should do, inasmuch as NTA is by far the more modern of the two authorities—I should think we have in the ­Acts of Xanthippe, Polyxena and Rebecca­ some composition of the 6th century at the earliest. (H)

 

[JAM, 43-54; CAT, II, 613]

 

278. The Greek Acts of Zenais and Philonilla

 

     All I can find about this book is a statement from James that the subjects were disciples of Paul, and that their acta­ may prove interesting. JAM notes that the names may be borrowed from those sections of the ­Acts of Paul­ still lost to us.

 

[ANT, 469-475; JAM, 56]

 

279. The Coptic Teachings of Silvanus

 

     The ­Coptic Teachings of Silvanus­ forms part of the 52 tractates of the Nag Hammadi Library recovered in 1945 about three miles from the ancient monastic site of Chenoboskian near Thebes in Egypt.

 

     Alone among the books of that collection, it appears that most of its didactic elements do not contradict Orthodox Christian teaching. Its theology is not dualistic, and its Christology is not docetic. God contains all things without being contained by them or located in a certain place (against Stoic Pantheism). God is the Father of Jesus, and difficult to known except through his image, Christ. God is also the Creator of all things (and this does not impinge upon his universality: H). The attainment of the goal of being pleasing to God largely involves the rational control of baser impulses of the flesh; and in order to achieve such control, one acquires a good teacher, the light of truth that Christ provides, and a correct balance of power between mind, soul and body.

 

     Christ, in turn, is viewed as the incarnate Wisdom of God. He descends into the Underworld (here, this earth) to free its captives and vanquish its Ruler (Satan). The humanity of Christ is manifested in his ability to bear affliction for sins; in truly dying; and in dying as a ransom for Sins.

 

     The work is apparently a rare form of Christian Wisdom literature. Many Wisdom forms are used—the address of the reader as my son, negative and positive admonitions, descriptive proverbs, didactic sayings, hymns and prayers, contrasts between wisdom and foolishness—and the work demonstrates influences from the Received Bible­, Philo of Alexandria, Middle Platonism, Late Stoicism, and (overwhelmingly) Hellenized Jewish Wisdom tradition.

 

     The Silvanus to whom the text is attributed is undoubtedly intended to be the colleague of Paul (and also Peter) mentioned at ­Acts­ 15:22 and 18:5 (where the name is abbreviated to Silas), and in the Received letters at ­II Corinthians­ 1:19, ­I Thessalonians­ 1:1, ­II Thessalonians­ 1:1, and ­I Peter­ 5:12. He cannot be the Silvanus known to have been a disciple of the Gnostic heresiarch Audius (who dates from the 4th century, a time later than our document).

 

     That the ­Teachings of Silvanus­ was written much later than the 1st century AD, however, is clear; and internal evidence suggests a date of composition in the late 2nd or early 3rd centuries, probably in Egypt and in the vicinity of Alexandria; for a portion of it is known to have been appropriated later for the Tradition of teachings attributed to Anthony of Egypt, the founder of the anchoritic type of monasticism (c.305); there is evidence that it was known and used in monastic circles; and it is not unreasonable to conjecture that it was actually written by a forerunner of a monastic community.

 

     NTB indicates the following verbal and conceptual parallels with various of the works of the ­Received New Testament­.

 

VII,4;88.13-17­: Accept the light for your eyes, and cast the darkness from you. Live in Christ, and you will acquire a treasure in heaven.

Matthew 6:20-23­: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will you heart be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Luke 12:33-34­: Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

Luke 11:34-35­: Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness.

*

VII,4;89.16-17­: Cast your anxiety upon God alone.

I Peter 5:7­: Cast all your anxieties on him, for he cares about you.

*

VII,4;90.9-21­: The wretched man who goes through all these things will die because he does not have the mind, the helmsman. But he is like a ship which the wind tosses to and fro, and like a loose horse which has no rider. For this man needed the rider which is reason. For the wretched one went astray because he did not want advice.

James 1:5-8­: If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.

James 3:3-4­: If we put bits into the mouths of horses that they may obey us, we guide their whole bodies. Look at the ships also; though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs.

*

VII,4;94.33-95.12­: Certainly you know that the schemes of the Adversary are not few and the tricks which he has are varied? Especially has the noetic man\fn{The thinking man.} been robbed of the intelligence of the snake. For it is fitting for you to be in agreement with the intelligence of these two: with the intelligence of the snake and with the innocence of the dove—lest he\fn{The Adversary.} come into you.

Matthew 10:16­: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

II Corinthians 2:11­: to keep Satan from gaining the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Ephesians 6:11­: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

I Peter 5:8­: Be sober, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking some one to devour.

*

VII,4;96.6-15­: Who will be able to comprehend his thoughts and devices, which are varied, ... My son, how will you be able to comprehend the schemes of this or his soul-killing counsel? For his devices and the schemes of his wickedness are many.

II Corinthians 2:11­: to keep Satan from gaining the advantage over us; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Ephesians 6:11­: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

*

VII,4;96.20-21­: Christ, who is able to set you free,

John 8:36­: So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.

Romans 8:2­: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death.

*

VII,4;96.32-97.1­: The divine teacher is with you always. He is a helper,

John 14:16­: And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper, to be with you for ever,

John 14:26­: But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

John 15:26­: But when the helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me.

*

VII,4;98.22-27­: For he is the true light ... Christ illuminates every mind

John 1:9­: The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

*

VII,4;99.16-20­: This is also the way in which he speaks of our mind, as if it were a lamp which burns and lights up the place. Being in a part of the soul, it gives light to all the parts.

Matthew 5:15­: Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

Mark 4:21­: And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand?

Luke 8:16­: “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, that those who enter may see the light.

Luke 11:33­: “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel, but on a stand, that those who enter may see the light.

Matthew 6:22­: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light;

Luke 11:34­: Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness.

*

VII,4;100.25-29­: Christ who has the image of the Father, for this image reveals the true likeness in correspondence to that which is revealed.

II Corinthians 4:4b­: to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.

Colossians 1:15­: He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation;

Hebrews 1:3a­: He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature.

*

VII,4;102.21-22­: you will be judged on the basis of everything that you say.

Matthew 12:36-37­: I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter; for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

*

VII,4;103.19-26­: For those who walk in the broad way will go down at their end to the perdition of the mire. For the Underworld is open wide for the soul, and the place of perdition is broad. Accept Christ, the narrow way.

Matthew 7:13-14­: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

*

VII,4;103.34-104.1­: Although he was God, he was found among men as a man.

Philippians 2:6,8a­: who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, … And being found in human form

*

VII,4;104.12-13­: might die for you as a ransom for your sin.

Matthew 20:28b­: and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45b­: and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

I Timothy 2:6a­: who gave himself as a ransom for all,

*

VII,4;104.18-24­: Now the fundamental choice, which is humility of heart, is the gift of Christ. ... If you humble yourself, you will be greatly exalted; and if you exalt yourself, you will be exceedingly humbled.

James 4:6,10­: But he gives more grace; therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” … Humble yourselves before the Lord and he will exalt you.

I Peter 5:5-6­: Likewise you that are younger be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that in due time he may exalt you.

*

VII,4;106.21-22­: For the Tree of Life is Christ.

Revelation 2:7b­: To him who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

Revelation 22:2b­: also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

*

VII,4;106.22-23­: He is Wisdom. For he is Wisdom;

I Corinthians 1:24­: but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

I Corinthians 1:30­: He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption;

*

VII,4;106.24­: he is also the Word.

John 1:1­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14­: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

I John 1:1­: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—

*

VII,4;106.24-25­: He is the Life,

John 1:4­: In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 11:25­: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

John 14:6a­: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life;

*

VII,4;106.24-25­: He is ... the Power,

I Corinthians 1:24­: but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

*

VII,4;106.24-26­: He is ... the Door.

John 10:7,9a­: So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. … I am the door;

*

VII,4;106.26­: He is the Light,

John 8:12a­: Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world;

John 9:5b­: I am the light of the world.”

*

VII,4;106.26-28­: He is ... the Good Shepherd.

John 10:11a­: I am the good shepherd.

John 10:14a­: I am the good shepherd;

*

VII,4;107.3-12­: For since he\fn{Christ.} is Wisdom, he makes the foolish man wise. ... The Wisdom of God became a type of fool for you so that it might take you up, O foolish one, and make you a wise man.

I Corinthians 1:18,21,24-25,27,30­: For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. … For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. … but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. … But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. … He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption;

I Corinthians 3:18­: Let no one deceive himself. If any one among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

*

VII,4;107.26-108.3­: Give yourself gladness from the true vine of Christ. Satisfy yourself with the true wine in which there is no drunkenness nor error. For it marks the end of drinking since there is usually in it what gives joy to the soul and the mind through the Spirit of God. But first, nurture your reasoning powers before you drink of it.

Ephesians 5:17-18­: Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit,

John 15:1a­: “I am the true vine,

*

VII,4;108.25-32­: Although he is a man who exists on earth, he makes himself like God. But he who makes himself like God is one who does nothing unworthy of God, according to the statement of Paul who has become like Christ.

Philippians 2:5-6­: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.

*

VII,4;109.7-8­: and the soul which has put on Christ is one which is pure.

Romans 13:14­: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Galatians 3:27­: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

*

VII,4;109.15-17­: Let him enter the temple which is within you so that he may cast out all the merchants.

Matthew 21:12-13­: And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you make it a den of robbers.”

Mark 11:15-17­: And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons; and he would not allow any one to carry anything through the temple. And he taught, and said to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’: But you have made it a den of robbers.”

Luke 19:45-46­: And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.”

John 2:13b-16­: and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers at their business. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all, with the sheep and oxen, out of the temple; and he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; you shall not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”

*

VII,4;109.17-19­: Let him dwell in the temple which is within you,

I Corinthians 3:16­: Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

I Corinthians 6:19­: Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own:

*

VII,4;109.25-27­: But he who will defile the temple of God, that one God will destroy.

I Corinthians 3:17­: If any one destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and that temple you are.

*

VII,4;110.18-19­: This one, being God, became man for your sake.

Philippians 2:6,8a­: who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, … And being found in human form

*

VII,4;110.35-111.15­: he who in his contempt scorned that which is considered an honor so that humility for God's sake might be highly exalted; and he who has put on humanity. And yet, the divine Word is God, he who bears patiently with man always. He wished to produce humility in the exalted. He\fn{Christ.} who has exalted man became like God, not in order that he might bring God down to man, but that man might become like God.

Philippians 2:6-9­: who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,

*

VII,4;111.5­: the divine Word is God,

John 1:1­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

*

VII,4;111.15-16­: O Christ, King who has revealed to men the Great Divinity,

Matthew 11:27­: All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Luke 10:22­: All things have been delivered to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or whom the Father is except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

John 1:18­: No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

*

VII,4;111.18­: King of ages

I Timothy 1:17­: To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Revelation 15:3b­: O Lord God the almighty! Just and true are thy ways, O King of the ages!

*

VII,4;111.22-25­: Where is man who is wise or powerful in intelligence, or a man whose devices are many became he knows wisdom?

I Corinthians 1:20a­: Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age?

*

VII,4;111.29-32­: For he\fn{Christ.} confounded the counsels of guileful people, and he prevailed over those wise in their own understanding.

I Corinthians 1:19b,20b­: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will thwart.” … Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

*

VII,4;112.17-25­: that he\fn{Christ.} may crown those wishing to contend well. Christ, being judge of the contest, is he who crowned every one, teaching every one to contend. This one who contended first received the crown, gained dominion, and appeared, giving light to everyone.

II Timothy 4:7-8­: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

I Corinthians 9:24-25­: Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

*

VII,4;112.31-32­: It is thou who hast given glory to Thy Word

John 1:1­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14­: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

I John 1:1­: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—

*

VII,4;112.33-35­: It is he ... the Wisdom,

I Corinthians 1:24­: but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

I Corinthians 1:30­: He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption;

*

VII,4;112.33-37­: It is he ... the First Light.

John 8:12a­: Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world;

John 9:5b­: I am the light of the world.”

*

VII,4;113.11-12­: He alone was begotten by the Father's good pleasure.

John 1:14­: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

Colossians 1:19­: for in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell,

*

VII,4;113.13­: For he is an incomprehensible Word,

John 1:1­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14­: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

I John 1:1­: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—

*

VII,4;113.14­: he is Wisdom

I Corinthians 1:24­: but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

I Corinthians 1:30­: He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption;

*

VII,4;113.14-15­: he is ... Life

John 1:4­: In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 11:25­: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,

John 14:6a­: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life;

*

VII,4;113.21-22­: For he is the beginning and the end of everyone,

Hebrews 7:3­: He is without father or mother or genealogy, and has neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest for ever.

Revelation 21:6a­: And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

Revelation 22:13­: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

*

VII,4;114.1-10­: Fight the great fight as long as the fight lasts, while all the powers are staring after you--not only the holy ones, but also all the powers of the Adversary. Woe to you if you are vanquished in the midst of every one who is watching you! If you fight the fight and are victorious over the powers which fight against you,

Ephesians 6:10-12­: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

I Timothy 1:18b­: that inspired by them you may wage the good warfare,

I Timothy 6:12a­: Fight the good fight of the faith;

II Timothy 4:7­: I have fought the good faith, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

*

VII,4;114.26-30­: O this patience of God, which bears with every one, which desires that every one who has become subject to sin be saved!

I Timothy 2:4­: who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

II Peter 3:9­: The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

*

VII,4;115.5-18­: For this hand of the Father is Christ, and it forms all. Through it, all has come into being ... the things which have come into being through the Word,

John 1:1-3­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

John 1:10a­: He was in the world, and the world was made through him,

I Corinthians 8:6­: yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

Colossians 1:16­: for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

Hebrews 1:2­: but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

*

VII,4;115.19­: the Son as the image of the Father.

Colossians 1:15­: He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation;

II Corinthians 4:4b­: Christ, who is the likeness of God.

*

VII,4;115.20-21­: For God is nearby; he is not far off.

Acts 17:27b­: Yet he is not far from each one of us,

*

VII,4;117.5-9­: Open the door for yourself that you may know the One who is. Knock on yourself that the Word may open for you.

Revelation 3:20­: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

*

VII,4;117.8-11­: the Word may open for you. For he is ... the Sharp Sword,

Hebrews 4:12a­: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword.

*

VII,4;117.9-10­: For he is the Ruler of Faith

Hebrews 12:2a­: looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith,

*

VII,4;117.14-16­: prepare yourself to escape from the world-rulers of darkness and of this kind of air which is full of powers.

Ephesians 6:12­: For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

*

VII,4;117.28-30­: And be not as the merchants of the Word of God.

II Corinthians 2:17a­: For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God’s word;

 

[NAG, 346; PAG, 152-153, 159, 204; DOR, 141, 219, 306; ODC, 65; NTB, 313-335]

 

280. The Received Letter of Paul to the Romans

 

     This is at once the sixth book of the ­Received New Testament­; the longest of the letters ascribed to Paul; the only Received letter alleged to be by Paul which Paul addressed to a church not of his own foundation; the weightiest letter; the most systematically theological; and the most influential of all the letters supposedly authored by the self-styled Apostle to the Gentiles. Written c.57AD (certainly between 54-58, at least for Romans­ 1-15), it was dispatched from Corinth when Paul was about to leave for Jerusalem at the close of his third missionary journey.

 

     The integrity of the text of ­Romans­ has been much discussed.

 

1. There is evidence of an ancient recension which ended with chapter 14, followed immediately by what is now Romans­ 16:25-27—(Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.)

 

2. ­Romans­ 16:25-27, however, appears in varying places in different manuscript traditions of ­Romans­; and in some manuscripts of ­Romans­ is lacking altogether. It indeed may well be by a different hand, for it certainly contains ideas incompatible with Pauline theology.

 

3. There are also texts of this letter which omit the name Rome at 1:7 and 1:15—(To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ... so I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.)

 

     There is no really satisfactory explanation of these facts.

 

1. It has been suggested that ­Romans­ 16:25-27 may have been written later by Marcionites (followers of Marcion of Sinope, d.c.160AD, who believed that the ­Received New Testament­ was wholly a gospel of love, to the absolute exclusion of the Law).

 

2. It has also been suggested that the remainder of chapter 16 may be part of what was once originally another letter (to the Ephesians); and that further evidence for this lies in the fact that the long list of personal greetings in chapter 16 mark ­Romans­ as sent originally to some community other than Rome, most probably that at Ephesus, in which Paul was personally known.

 

3. It has also been thought that ­Romans­ 1-15 was abbreviated from the full text of an original letter to the Roman congregation.

 

     The letter has always been recognized as a primary contribution to Christian theology. Its influence is perhaps already to be traced in ­I Peter­, ­Hebrews­ and ­James­; and it is quoted or alluded to by the Fathers of the Church from Clement of Rome (fl.c.96AD; he wrote a commentary on it, which survives) onwards. Chrysostom of Constantinople (c.347-487) wrote a commentary on it c.388; and from the 4th century it stood first in the Received canon of genuine Pauline letters. Indeed, from the time of Origen of Alexandria (c.185-c.254) it has been the subject of many commentaries, and its teaching was especially influential in the anti-Pelagian writings—Pelagius of Britain (fl.c.399-418) himself wrote a commentary on it—of Augustine of Hippo Regius (354-430). Ambrosiaster, who flourished during the 4th century, also wrote a commentary on ­Romans­. Augustine (Confessions­ VIII:xxix) says that the reading of ­Romans­ 13:13-14—(let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.)—played a decisive part in his conversion to Christianity (387, age about 33). Meditation on Romans­ 1:16-17—(For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of god is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous will live by faith.”\fn{Or: The one who is righteous through faith will live.})—strongly influenced Martin Luther’s conviction of the truth of the concept of justification by faith. John Calvin (1509-1604) wrote an important commentary on this letter, and John Wesley’s conversion (May 24, 1738, when he was about 35) was also indirectly connected with his study of it, for his conversion experience on that day was as the result of reading Martin Luther’s preface to his commentary on this letter.

 

[OAB, 1350; ODC, 343, 1175-1176, 1446; ENC, XIX, 559-560]

 

281. The Received Letter of Paul to the Galatians

 

     Galatians­ is universally recognized as a genuine autograph of Paul. Traditionally, it is held to be addressed to Christians in the country of Galatia in the interior of Asia Minor, which had been peopled by Gauls in the 3rd century BC (hence its name); but an objection raised against this supposition is that there is no independent evidence that Paul ever preached the gospel in these parts, and hence many modern scholars have argued that Galatia must be taken to mean the Roman province of Galatia, which covered a much wider area than that area occupied by the Gauls, and extended farther south than the Celtic kingdom aforementioned, including the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra, which Paul is known to have visited [Acts­ 13:14—(but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia.)—and Acts 13:51-14:7—(So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. The same thing occurred in Iconium, where Paul and Barnabas\fn{Greek: they.} went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both jews and Greeks became believers. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who testified to the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be done throgh them. But the residents of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles. And when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, the apostles learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country; and there they continued proclaiming the good news.)].

 

     On either side of the argument, there are complex problems concerned with the dating of ­Galatians­. Older scholars were almost unanimous in identifying the journey to Jerusalem mentioned at ­Galatians­ 2:1—(Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.)—with that mentioned in Acts­ 15:1-2—(But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.)

 

     But some students (especially exponents of what has come to be known as the Southern Galatian Theory) have equated the journey reported in ­Galatians­ 2:1 with that in ­Acts­ 11:27-30—(Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world; and this took place in the days of Claudius. And the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brethren who lived in Judea; and they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.)—and explained the absence of any report in Galatians­ concerning the decrees formulated at the Council of Jerusalem [reported in ­Acts­ 15:19-21—(Therefore I\fn{James, the brother of Jesus, is speaking.} have reached the decision that we should not trouble those Gentiles who are turning to God, but we should write to them to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood.\fn{Other ancient authorities lack: and from whatever has been strangled. Some ancient authorities also omit: and from blood.} For in every city, for generations past, Moses\fn{The rabbis taught that meat not ritually butchered, food sacrificed to idols, and fornication, had been forbidden to Noah’s sons, and therefore to the righteous of all nations.} has had those who proclaim him, for he has been read aloud every Sabbath in the synagogues.)—on the assumption that ­Galatians­ was written before the council had taken place.

 

     On this hypothesis, the letter could be dated prior to c.49-50AD (when the council is thought to have taken place), and thus be the earliest of all the Received letters. Supporters of the Northern Galatian Theory, on the other hand, tend to date the letter between c.57-58. OAB dates it c.55; and PER, c.54.

 

[ODC, 535,721; PER, 99; OAB, 1408]

 

282. The Received Letter of Paul to the Ephesians

 

     Ephesians­, apparently written while its author was in prison (and therefore also known as a Captivity Epistle), raises many critical questions with regard to its authorship.

 

1. Considerations of style, as compared with that of the other letters of Paul, and the difficulty of fitting it in with ­I Timothy­, ­II Timothy­, and ­Titus­ (the three latest of the letters ascribed to Paul, for which see items 295, 296, and 297, below), have led some modern scholars to question its genuineness.

 

2. The original destination of the letter is uncertain; for the words ­in Ephesus­ in 1:1—(Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful\fn{The other ancient authorities who lack in Ephesus read: saints who are also faithful.} in Christ Jesus:)—are wanting in both the earliest Patristic quotations as well as manuscripts of the letter (Codices Aleph and Vaticanus 1209, and Chester Beatty Papyrus 45).

 

3. There are also no local allusions or personal greetings in this letter; and this fact, when combined with (2) above, has led some scholars to suppose that this communique was in fact an encyclical, or circular letter, addressed largely to Christians whom the supposed author had not met; that the place was inserted differently in copies sent to different churches; and that the copies were distributed to several churches in Asia Minor by the man named Tychicus at 6:21-22—(Now that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus the beloved brother and faithful minister of the Lord will tell you everything.)

 

4. There are at least two other passages in ­Ephesians­ [1:15—(For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints,)—and 3:2—(assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you,)—the general nature of which tend to support this theory.

 

5. There are close literary parallels between ­Ephesians­ and Colossians­—many common phrases and expressions—which are almost certainly to be explained by a direct connection between the two; and it has sometimes been held that ­Ephesians­ is merely a working up of ­Colossians­ into a more systematic doctrinal treatise.

 

     The traditional dating of the Captivity Epistles is between c.61-63AD, on the grounds that Paul was imprisoned in Rome between these dates, and was executed during the Neronian persecution of Christians following the fire of 64AD, which destroyed much of ancient Rome.

 

[OAB, 1415; ODC, 454]

 

283. The Received Letter of Paul and Timothy to the Philippians

 

Philippians­ is alleged to have been written by Paul to the first Christian community founded by him in Europe (52AD). With ­Colossians­, ­Ephesians­, and ­Philemon­, it is one of the so-called Captivity Epistles, traditionally believed to have been written by Paul towards the end of his life while a prisoner of the Romans in their capital city. Deissman, Lake, and Duncan (­St. Paul’s Ephesian Ministry­, 1929) have, however, argued in widely challenged conclusions that they date from a captivity earlier in Paul’s life (at Ephesus, where also ­Galatians­, ­I Corinthians­ and part of ­II Corinthians­ were written), and where Paul stayed for three years on his third missionary journey; and Loymeyer (­Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentary uber das Neue Testament­ IX.1, 8th ed., 1928) believes it was written at Caesarea-in-Palestine. References in the letter to the Praetorian guard and to members of Caesar’s household, however, and also the fact that the situation reflected in the letter bears some resemblance to that described at the very end of ­Acts­, would seem to favor the traditional opinion: that Philippians­ was written at Rome.

 

Both the beginning of Paul’s imprisonment there, and also at the end of his appeal, have been suggested as the actual time of composition within the time frame c.61-64AD. The majority of critics place its composition at the end of his period of captivity, mainly on the grounds that internal evidence suggests a considerable missionary activity of the self-proclaimed Apostle in Rome, and a long, drawn-out trial, soon to be brought (to his mind at least) a happy conclusion.

 

The unity of ­Philippians­ has been contested, because of a sudden attack on the Judaizers after 3:1—(Finally, my brothers, rejoice\fn{Or: farewell} in the Lord. To write the same things to you is not troublesome to me, and for you it is a safeguard.)—which begins suddenly with the very next verse at 3:2—(Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who multiply the flesh!) But the apparent break in the text at this point has been explained by others as being due to the informal character of the letter, which follows the successive emotions of the writer; or on other grounds.

 

In addition, Polycarp of Smyrna (c.69-c.155) in ­his­ letter to the Philippians, clearly speaks at 3:2—(For I am as far as anyone else of my sort from having the wisdom of our blessed and glorious Paul. During his residence with you he gave the men of those days clear and sound instructions in the word of truth, while he was there in person among them; and even after his departure he still sent letters which, if you study them attentively, will enable you to make progress in the faith which was delivered to you.)—of letters of Paul to the Philippians. This has led some scholars to conclude that our present ­Philippians­ is composed in fact of parts of two or three letters that Paul wrote to Philippi. Many others, however, find that ­Philippians­ is a coherent whole as it stands.

 

The authenticity of the letter is solidly attested by antiquity, and is almost unanimously accepted by modern scholarship as well. Those who do not accept this point of view, argue that the discoverable remains are indicated in the present text in the following three sections: (a) 4:10-20; (b) 1:1-3:1 + 4:4-7 + 4:21-23; and (c) 3:2-4 + 3:8-9. It may be that they were written in this order as well, for they can be so interpreted; but (the argument continues) it can in our time only be conjectured what the temporal relationship is in which the three alleged letters stand.

 

[ODC, 1064; OAB, 1421; MAR, 61-68; ECW, 145]

 

284. The Received Letter of Paul and Timothy to the Colossians

 

     The Christian community at Colossae (a city on the Lycus river of Phrygia, in Asia Minor) had been founded by one Epaphras (a native of Colossae), apparently by way of Paul when Paul was working at Ephesus. Paul is supposed to have written his letter to them while he was in prison (probably at Rome, but perhaps at Ephesus) in part to recall its readers to faith in Jesus as their all-sufficient Redeemer and Lord, and to warn them against erroneous speculations (the description of which—they include angelic mediators, law-keeping, rudiments or elements of the world, and asceticism—has indicated to certain critics the presence of the Essenes, or some other form of Jewish-Christianity, or of Gnosticism). [On the beliefs condemned in this letter see Hort (­Judaistic Christianity­, 1894, 116-129); Murray (in Hastings’ ­Dictionary of the Bible­ I, 1898, 454-456); and Moule (­The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians and Philemon­, 1957, 1-137).]

 

     Although the manner in which support is given the congregation would suggest that the author of Colossians­ is in fact Paul, the self-appointed Apostle to the Gentiles—Epaphras, the present-day leader, is pictured in the letter as being supported by Paul and his foundation-teaching—and although Paul’s name has certainly been attached to Colossians­, there are some reasons for believing that he was in fact not the author of this letter.

 

1. The language is peculiar: 34 words which occur only once elsewhere in the ­Received New Testament­, and 25 which occur only twice elsewhere in alleged Pauline letters, have been counted in this particular letter.

 

2. The interpretation of the ministry with the church as linked with the idea of Tradition points to a later date than the lifetime of Paul (d.64AD; or, according to Eusebius of Caesarea, in 67AD).

 

3. The long list of ­greetings­ is strange; as is

 

4. the suggestion in the body of the text at 4:16—(And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see that you read also the letter from Laodicea.)—that this letter be exchanged for one with Laodicea.

 

5. Paul’s usual argumentative presentation of his thought is replaced by a more liturgical, celebrative style.

 

6. The greatest contrast with letters that most critics believe are certainly written by Paul, is the emphasis on the transformation of the present by faith, instead of the usual Pauline tension between the partly fulfilled present and the future that is hoped for.

 

     Scholars are divided about how to interpret these differences. Some hold that they are strong enough to conclude that ­Colossians­ was not written by Paul, as it claims, but by a disciple of Paul shortly after his lifetime, to give Paul’s authority to the continuing Tradition of his teaching. Others think that the letter was written by Paul, while in prison, presumably at Rome; the particular situation and, perhaps, changes in Paul’s own thinking, accounting for the contrasts aforementioned.

 

     Assuming the Traditional interpretation of events to be the correct one, however, we are led to a time of composition between c.61-64AD.

 

[ODC, 313; NAB, 285; MAR, 184-185]

 

285. The Letter of Paul to the Colossians

 

     The ­Lectionary of Bobbio­ (8th century) mentions such a letter:—epistola Pauli ad Colos—but NTA says that the Lectionary­ denotes by that a section from a later homily; and he is not more specific.

 

[NTA, II, 91]

 

286. The First Received Letter of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the Thessalonians

 

     The authenticity of ­I Thessalonians­, once questioned by Baur (­Paulus, der Apostle Jesus Christi: Sein Leben und Wirken, Seine Briefe und Seine Lehre­, 1845, 480-499) is now generally accepted. But, though the motives for writing ­I Thessalonians­ are clear enough, it is not so easy to place it in its historical setting.

 

     Paul was anxious for news of the Thesesalonians, whom he had visited only once (­I Thessalonians­ 2:17—(As for us, brothers, when, for a short time, we were made orphans by being separated from you—in person, not in heart—we longed with great eagerness to see you face to face.), and he had apparently left Athens just at the time when he sent his friend Timothy to Thessalonica. This situation fits quite well with the events narrated in Acts­ 17:1-18:5—Paul had to flee from Thessalonica to Beroea and from there to Athens, after which he reached Corinth without his companions Silas and Timothy, who joined him soon after. Most scholars therefore think that ­I Thessalonians­ was written in Corinth at some time after Paul’s arrival there from Athens.

 

     The objections to this view, however, are

 

1. that there was hardly time, so soon after Paul left Thessalonica, for several Christians there to have died; and

 

2. that there was also not enough time for news of the Thessalonians’ faith to have spread beyond Greece—(1:8—for the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it.; 4:13—but we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who have fallen asleep, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.).

 

     The scholars who raise these objections suggest that, as the polemic at 2:1 and following is similar to that in the letters to the Corinthians, ­I Thessalonians­ was then written four years ­later­, when Paul, during his stay in Ephesus, was involved in controversy with the Corinthians about the same problems. But there is no ­a priori­ reason against several deaths occurring in Thessalonica during a short space of time; and the reference to Paul’s having for the first time received news from Thessalonica (at 3:6a—(But Timothy has just now come to us from you,)—cannot be reconciled with the theory that the letter was written four years later.

 

     It is therefore more likely that the view of the majority of scholars is correct: that ­I Thessalonians­ was written in Corinth, shortly after Paul first arrived there. According to the usual chronology, the date of the letter would be 50 or 51AD. As there is very little doubt among modern scholars that ­I Thessalonians­ ­is­ the work of Paul, this dating would make this letter Paul’s first, and hence also the earliest surviving Christian document (though this statement still hinges on the dating of ­Galatians­, which is still disputed).

 

     The more valuable Patristic commentaries include those of Chrysostom of Constantinople (c.347-407), Theodore of Mopsuestia (c.350-428), Theodoret of Cyrrhus (c.393-458), and John of Damascus (c.675-749). Others are to be found in the ­Dictionnaire de Theologia Catholique­ XV.1, 1946, cols. 573-618.

 

[ODC, 1346-1347; OAB, 1431; ENC, XXII, 178-179; PER, 119-120]

 

287. The Second Received Letter of Paul, Silvanus and Timothy to the Thessalonians

 

     The authenticity of ­II Thessalonians­ is still rejected by some scholars, despite its early attestation as one of Paul’s letters by the time of Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.200AD), its place in the ­Muratori Canon­ (later 2nd century), and in the collection of Pauline letters made by Marcion of Sinope (fl.c.160), though Marcion himself rejected as non-authentic ­I Timothy­, ­II Timothy­ and ­Titus­. For the majority of scholars, the arguments advanced below in support of non-Pauline authorship are largely regarded as artificial.

 

     Briefly stated, however, the argument against Pauline authorship is that ­II Thessalonians­ is so like ­I Thessalonians­, but yet so different, that it must be an imitation of ­I Thessalonians­ written to meet a later situation. Verbal similarities begin with the first verse and continue throughout; yet there are allegedly very real theological differences between the two, the most important being that of eschatological perspective.

 

1. In ­I Thessalonians­ the Second Coming is imminent; but in ­II Thessalonians­ 2:3-12—(Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness\fn{Other ancient authorities read: the man of sin.} is revealed, the son of destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you? And you know what is now restraining him,\fn{Paul assumes that his readers understand this reference, but we do not. Three main conjectures have been proposed, none of them entirely satisfactory: (a) the Roman Empire and emperor; (b) a supernatural power; (c) Satan himself.} so that he may be revealed when his time comes. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work, but only until the one who now restrains it is removed. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus\fn{Other ancient authorities lack: Jesus.} will destroy\fn{Other ancient authorities read: consume.} with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.)—there is set out an elaborate program of what must first happen before that event can occur. In short, it is argued, the Second Coming has been delayed beyond anything Paul himself envisaged: not only is the apocalyptic imagery changed, but the whole tenor of the expectation is different.

 

2. Another notably non-Pauline feature is the idea that the judgment of God will be a reward for the persecuted Christians and a persecution of the persecutors, a way of thinking which belongs to a generation later than Paul’s. The problem of persecution and the response to it is indicated as having reached the stage known from the Received apocalypse (itself a text from the end of the 1st century AD).

 

3. Furthermore, that generation just mentioned tended to ascribe to Jesus attributes and functions that Paul’s generation reserved to God (which would indeed be the logical consequence of a naturally developing Christology). [For example, ­I Thessalonians­ 3:11-12—(Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.)—and ­II Thessalonians­ 2:16 and 3:5—(Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, ... May the Lord direct your hearts in the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.)—are close enough together to be related; but in II Thessalonians­ (it is argued) the Christology represents a later thinking and a later piety.]

 

     The simplest explanation which accounts for these alleged incompatible eschatologies and tones is that ­II Thessalonians­ represents the church coming to terms with the problems of the generation following Paul’s, though it is a church still conscious of being immensely indebted to him. The Traditional view, however, regards II Thessalonians­ as having been composed shortly after ­I Thessalonians­, during Paul’s first visit to the city of Thessalonica in 51AD.

 

     For Patristic commentary, see under ­I Thessalonians­.

 

[ODC, 1346-1347; OAB, 1431; ENC, XXII, 128-129; OAB, 1435; PER, 119-120]

 

288. The Received Letter of Paul and Sosthenes to the Corinthians

 

     I Corinthians­ is one of the most valuable of Paul’s authentic letters, not only for the light it throws upon the character and mind of the self-appointed Apostle to the Gentiles, and for its vigorous presentation of the Orthodox gospel, but also for the vivid picture it brings to us of actual life in a particular local church of c.50AD.

 

     The text of ­I Corinthians­ in its present form has all the appearance of being a textual unity: it simply appears to be a long letter addressed to the situation in Corinth at the height of Hellenistic religious enthusiasm. Some scholars have questioned its unity, on the grounds of apparent contradictions in Paul’s advice about the eating of sacrificial meat (which, it is true, is both forbidden in some circumstances and permitted in others); and have suggested that we have here to do with a combination of two or three separate letters—a hypothesis which seems to be strengthened by the fact that there is little connection between the different sections of the letter; and also that this letter is so very different in structure from Paul’s other authentic letters. But the difficulties raised by this theory are greater than the seeming inconsistencies which it is supposed to explain; and no one has been able to give a satisfactory reason why ­in this case­ two or three separate letters should have been dovetailed together to make a new one.

 

     It is argued, instead, that the apparent discontinuity in ­I Corinthians­ is simply due to the treatment of many unconnected subjects in succession—party feeling among the Corinthians Christians; their tendency to think too highly of a certain kind of human “wisdom”; Paul’s own position as an alleged Apostle; the sin of fornication at Corinth and the treatment of a particular offender; the question of litigation between Christians; marriage and celibacy in relation to the Christian gospel; problems regarding the relations of Christians with the surrounding paganism; behavior at Christian worship; various spiritual gifts; the resurrection of the dead—and that therefore it is more probable that ­I Corinthians­ actually survived the destruction of the Antique Age in its original form.

 

     It is clear that the letter is written from Ephesus, just across the Aegean Sea from Corinth. The allusion to the contribution for the saints mentioned in 16:1 shows that it must be dated earlier than that to the Romans, but hardly more than two or three years earlier (i.e., between c.50-c.53AD).

 

     Ancient commentaries on this letter include Chrysostom of Constantinople (c.347-407), Theodoret of Cyrrus (c. 393-c.458), Ambrosiaster (fl. during the 4th century), and Pelagius of Britain (fl.399-418).

 

[ENC, VI, 497-498; ODC, 343; OAB, 1378; PER, 101, 104-105]

 

289. The Received Letter of Paul and Timothy to the Corinthians

 

     What has come down to us as ­II Corinthians­ is not widely believed by scholars to be a textual unity. It has been suggested that its contents appear to be the remains of up to six letters, of the following composition—2:13-6:13 + 7:2-4 | 1:1-2:13 + 7:5-16; | 6:14-7:1 | 8:1-24 | 9:1-15 | and 10:1-13:14—and that all six of them were written over a period of time shortly after the writing of ­I Corinthians­, when Paul was based in Ephesus. It certainly appears that fragments of at least four letters (all of them ­Pauline­, but perhaps only two or at the most three of them by the alleged Apostle himself) have been combined into what is now printed as a single item of correspondence. They are as follows:

 

1. Chapters 1-7 (minus 6:14-7:1) seem to form a unity of sorts, being chiefly occupied with Paul’s observation that his station as a true Apostle had been challenged and his conduct had been attacked, followed by a long defense of his past actions and his own allegedly Apostolic office.

 

2. On the contrary, the passage 6:14-7:1 seems to some critics to be a non-Pauline fragment, from the point of its vocabulary and the concepts expressed in it (which appear to some to reflect the influence of ideas characteristic of the Qumran community). The passage is not only an abrupt change of subject, but is also regarded as a textual intrusion, because ­II Corinthians­ 7:2—(In return—I speak as to children—widen your hearts also.)—which comes immediately after it, seems to follow directly upon 6:13—(Open your hearts to us; we have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one.)—which comes directly before it. For those who regard 6:14-7:1 as Pauline, it has been suggested that a fragment of the letter to Corinth mentioned at ­I Corinthians­ 5:9-11—(I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral persons—not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since you would then need to go out of the world.)—was accidentally inserted here when the letters of Paul were first collected and published (towards the end of the 1st century AD).

 

3. Chapters 8 and 9 follow without any clear connection to their predecessors. They contain two parallel summons to collect money for the poor of the Jerusalem church, which collection Paul was in the process of organizing. Perhaps chapter 8 (and by association, chapter 9) is a separate note about the collection written earlier than 6:14-7:1.

 

4. Chapters 10:1-13:10, which constitute a vigorous defense of Paul and his work, are written in a tone so different from that of chapters 1-9 (which, except for 6:14-7:1 seem to many scholars to constitute a sort of unity), have led many critics to believe that they are a fragment of another letter written to Corinth at some other time. The treatment of Paul’s relationship with the Corinthians church is fresh; a severe condemnation of his opponents is called for; the tone is quite different from that of the earlier chapters; and the reconciliation implied in 7:9-13—(Now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance; for you felt a godly grief, so that you were not harmed in any way by us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death. For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves guiltless in the matter. So although I wrote to you, it was not on account of the one who did the wrong, nor on account of the one who was wronged, but in order that your zeal for us might be made known to you before God. In this we find comfort.)—is apparently ignored. Some have identified this section of ­II Corinthians­ with the painful letter referred to in ­II Corinthians­ 2:3-9 and 7:8-12; but it could equally have been written between ­I Corinthians­ and the appearance of ­II Corinthians­ 1-7 minus 6:14-7:1; or after the writing of ­II Corinthians­ 1-7 minus 6:14-7:1. More certain identification of this point remains questionable; but one can still see grounds for holding that 10:1-13:10 was not originally a part of the same letter as chapters 1-9.

 

     For ancient commentaries on this letter, see under ­I Corinthians­.

 

[PER, 101, 104-105; ENC, VI, 497-498; ODC, 343]

 

290. 291. The Letter of the Corinthians to Paul; The Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

 

     These two letters—which, together with the accompanying narrative material have been collectively termed III Corinthians­—are printed, with their accompanying narrative from the text in which they are embedded, in their entirety below. The abbreviations in the accompanying notes stand for: (1) Papyrus Bodmer X (PBdom); (2) Codex Ambrosianus E53 (M); (3) Codex Laon 45 (L); (4) Codex Parisianus Latinus 5388 (P); (5) Codex Zurich C14 (Z); and (6) Codex Berlin Hamburgenses 84 (B). The introductory narrative is supplied only by a Coptic manuscript of the 6th century (for which see below under 2.). The small section of intervening narrative material between the two letters of III Corinthians­ is extant only in Armenian and in Z, E and A of the Latin (for which see below under 4.).

 

[... for the Corinthians were in great distress over Paul, because he was going out of the world before it was time. For men were come to Corinth, Simon and Cleobius, who said that there was no resurrection of the flesh but only of the spirit, and that the body of man is not the creation of God; and of the world they said that God did not create it, and that God does not know the world; and that Jesus Christ was not crucified, but was only a semblance, and that he was not born of Mary, or of the seed of David!\fn{It is improbable that this sentence is intended to be direct speech; the Coptic text of III Corinthians suggests the contrary.} In a word, many were the things which they taught in Corinth ­deceiving many others ... and themselves­.\fn{James translates: deceiving many other men and deceiving also themselves.} Because of this, when the Corinthians heard that Paul was in Philippi they sent a letter to Paul in Macedonia by Threptus and Eutychus the deacons. And the letter was in this form.

 

Letter of the Corinthians to Paul\fn{The titles to these letters are extremely varied in the Tradition.}

 

Sephanus and the presbyters who are with him, Daphnus, Eubulus, Theophilus and Xenon, to Paul ­their brother \fn{MBZAE: the brother. PBodm differs.} in the Lord, greeting.

 

Two men are come to Corinth, named Simon and Cleobius, who pervert the faith of many through pernicious words, ­which thou shalt put to the test­.\fn{James translates: which thou do prove and examine.} For never have we heard\fn{PBodm: heard from the others. This is, however, probably a secondary abbreviation of the text.} such words, either from thee or from the other apostles; but what we have received from thee and from them, that we hold fast. Since now the Lord has shown mercy to us, that while thou art still in the flesh we may hear such\fn{PBodm omits: such. James translates: these things, without comment.} things again from thee, ­do thou write to us or come to us. For we believe, as it has been revealed to Theonoe, that the Lord has delivered thee out of the hand of the lawless one­.\fn{These underscored wordings show variants in the Tradition. James translates: if it be possible, either come unto us or write unto us. For we believe, according as it hath been revealed unto Theonoe, that the lord hath delivered thee out of the hand of the lawless one. In place of the lawless one, L has: enemy.} What they say and teach is as follows: We must not, they say, appeal to the prophets, and that God is not almighty, and that there is no resurrection of the flesh, and that the creation of man is not God's work, and that the Lord ­is not come­\fn{James says the Coptic text reads: is not come; but he prefers: came not down.} in the flesh, nor was he born of Mary, and that the world is not of God, but of the angels. Wherefore, brother,\fn{Here James says A and M have inserted the words: we pray thee.} make all speed to come hither, that the church of the Corinthians may\fn{James inserts here the word always, from the A and M traditions.} remain without offence, and the foolishness of these men be made manifest. Fare thee well in the Lord!

 

The deacons Threptus and Utychus brought the letter to Philippi, and delivered it to Paul, who was in prison because of Stratonice, the wife of Apollophanes;\fn{A and M insert: and he forgot his bonds.} and he began to shed many tears and to mourn, and cried out: “Better were it for me to die and be with the Lord, than to be in the flesh and hear such things,\fn{A and M insert: and the calamities of false doctrine.} so that sorrow after sorrow comes upon me, ­and suffering such things to be bound and have to see how the tools of the evil one run their course.”\fn[James translates this verse: And over and above this so great affliction I am in bonds and behold these evils whereby the devices of Satan are accomplished. Harnack translates: May not the priests of Satan anticipate me while I suffer\fn{Or: after I have sufered.} fetters for the sake of men.] And so Paul in affliction wrote the following letter.

 

Letter of Paul to the Corinthians

 

Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, to the brethren in Corinth—greeting!

 

Since I am in many tribulations, I do not wonder that the teachings of the evil one are so quickly gaining ground. For ­my­\fn{PBodm omits: my.} Lord Jesus Christ will quickly come, since he is rejected by those who falsify his words.\fn[James translates: and will be set at naught\fn{I.e., no longer endure the insolence of.} them that falsify his words.] For I delivered to you in the beginning what I received from the apostles who were before me, who at all times were together with the Lord Jesus Christ, that our Lord Jesus Christ was born of Mary\fn{A and M insert: which is.} of the seed of David,\fn{A and M insert: according to the flesh.} when the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven by the Father into her,\fn{A and M insert: by the angel Gabriel.} that ­he­\fn{A and M have: Jesus.} might come into this world and redeem all flesh through his own flesh, and that he might raise up from the dead us who are fleshly, even as he has shown himself as our example. And since man was molded by his Father, for this reason was he sought when he was lost, that he might be quickened by adoption into sonship.\fn{In M and P there is at this point a longer addition, which agrees with the following which is to be found in our text two paragraphs from this note: in order that the evil one might be conquered through the same flesh by which he held sway, and convinced that he was not God. For by his own body Jesus Christ saved all flesh and brought it to eternal life through faith.}

 

For the almighty God, who made heaven and earth, ­first sent the prophets to the Jews­,\fn[James translates: and sent them unto the Jews first\fn{Or: unto the first Jews.}] that they might be drawn away from their sins; for he had determined to save the house of Israel, therefore he sent a portion of the Spirit of Christ into the prophets, who at many times proclaimed the faultless worship of God. But since the prince who was unrighteous wished himself to be God, he laid hands upon them and slew them­,\fn{L has: banished them from God.} and so fettered all flesh of men to the passions to his will, ­and the end of the world drew nigh to judgment­.\fn{James says this is an addition by A and M; to which NTA concurs, calling it a secondary addition and adding to it witnesses B and P.}

 

But God, the almighty, who is righteous and would not repudiate his own creation,\fn{A and M insert: but had compassion on them from heaven.} sent the ­Holy­\fn{PBodm has: through fire. A, M and P have: holy—but probably it is a secondary addition.} Spirit through fire into Mary the Galilean, ­who believed with all her heart, and she received the Holy Spirit in her womb that Jesus might enter into the world­,\fn{This last stretch of underscoring appears only in A, M, P and B.} in order that the evil one might be conquered through the same flesh by which he held sway, and convinced that he was not God. For by his own body Jesus Christ saved all flesh ­and brought it to eternal life through faith,\fn{This underscoring appears only in A, B and P, where it is an addition.} that he might present a temple of righteousness in his body, ­through whom­\fn{James translates: in whom; and alternatively suggests: whereby.} we are redeemed.\fn{M and P have: in whom if we believe we are set free.}

 

They are thus\fn{So P begins. A begins: Know therefore that. L begins: They therefore who agree with them.} not children of righteousness but children of wrath, who reject the providence of God, saying ­far from faith­\fn{M has: far from faith.} that heaven and earth and all that is in them are not works of the Father. They are themselves therefore children of wrath­,\fn{So A and M.} for they have the accursed faith of the serpent. From them turn ye away, and flee from their teaching! ­For ye are not sons of disobedience but of the Church most dearly beloved. Wherefore the time of the resurrection is proclaimed­.\fn{A, M and P all add the underscored.}

 

As for those who tell you that there is no resurrection of the flesh, for them there is no resurrection,\fn{A and M insert: unto life, but unto judgment,} who do not believe in him who is thus risen.\fn{James adds the words from the dead, plus an insertion immediately after by A and M: not believing nor understanding.} For indeed, ye men of Corinth, they do not know about the sowing of wheat or the other seeds, that they are cast naked into the ground and when they have perished below are raised again by the will of God in a body and clothed.\fn{The influence of the Apocalypse of Peter is visible here (so James).} And not only is the body which was cast into the earth raised up, but also abundantly blessed.}

 

And\fn{This conclusion is to be found in A, M, P and B.} if we must not derive the similitude from the seeds alone, but from nobler bodies­,\fn{A and M add the underscored.} you know that Jonah the son of Amathios, when he would not preach in Nineveh ­but fled­,\fn{A, M and P add: but fled.} was swallowed by a whale, and after three days and three nights God heard Jonah's prayer out of deepest hell, and no part of him was corrupted, not even a hair or an eyelid. How much more, ­O ye of little faith­,\fn{A and M add the underscored.} will he raise up you who have believed in Christ Jesus, as he himself rose up? And if, when a corpse was thrown by the children of Israel upon the bones of the prophet Elisha, the man's body rose up­,\fn{L has here: arose in his body.} so you also who have been cast upon the body and bones and Spirit of the Lord\fn{M and P here insert: how much more, O ye of little faith, shall ye which have been cast on him.} shall rise up on that day with your flesh whole.\fn{Here A, M and P add the following: even as he arose? Likewise also concerning the prophet Elisha: he raised up the widow’s son from death: how much more shall the Lord Jesus raise you up from death at the sound of the trumpet, in the twinkling of an eye?}

 

But if you receive anything else,\fn{A and M insert here: God shall be witness against you, and.} do not cause me trouble; for I have these fetters on my hands that I may gain Christ, and his works in my body that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. And whoever abides by the rule which he received through the blessed prophets and the holy Gospel, he shall receive a reward ­and when he is risen from the dead shall obtain eternal life­.\fn{A, M, P and B add the underscored.} But he who turns aside therefrom—there is fire with him and ­with those who go before him in the way, since they are men without God­,\fn{M and P add the underscored.} a generation of vipers; from these turn ye away in the power of the Lord, and peace, ­grace and love­\fn{M and P add the underscored.} be with you. Amen.\fn{L adds here: this I found in an old book, entitled the third to the Corinthians, though it is not in the Canon.} ...]

 

     III Corinthians is extant in at least five linguistic Traditions.

 

1. GREEK. Papyrus Bodmer X (3rd or 4th century). This is the only Greek witness for the letters, but one which through its great age may lodge a claim to serious consideration for the authority of the translation which it contains.

 

     III Corinthians­ is not preserved by the other great Greek witness to the existence of the ­Acts of Paul­—neither in Papyrus Hamburg, nor Papyrus Hamburg’s allies (Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1602, Berlin 13893, Michigan 1317, or Michigan 3788; for texts of these see above under ­Acts of Paul­). Indeed, the very next episode after the letters is, in Papyrus Hamburg, directly attached to the end of the episode immediately preceding the omitted ­III Corinthians­ section. An entire section has thus been eliminated from the text of the ­Acts of Paul­; but this is variously explained: (a) the writer of Papyrus Hamburg wished only to produce an extract from the ­Acts of Paul­, in which case according to his circumstances, purely external reasons—e.g., the size of the book—might have been decisive in its ultimate exclusion; (b) ­III Corinthians­ had already, before the compiling of Papyrus Hamburg, been detached from the ­Acts of Paul­ to circulate independently, and was therefore not available to be copied by the scribe from the text of the ­Acts of Paul­ which he happened to have before him; (c) offense was taken at particular views or expressions in ­III Corinthians­. In favor of this last possibility is the fact that according to the only surviving Coptic witness of ­III Corinthians­ (#2 in this article, below), ­III Corinthians­ did indeed stand here; and even if it be argued that the superscription to these letters is not preserved in Papyrus Heidelberg—which, indeed, it is not (for, as has been noted, even the titles to the letters vary greatly within the whole of the documentary Tradition about ­III Corinthians­); still it must be pointed out that it is clear beyond mistake from internal evidence within the letters themselves that the letter from Corinth was brought to Paul in Philippi (and it is there where the letters would have to appear anyway: H).

 

2. COPTIC. Papyrus Heidelberg 1 (6th century). The only Coptic witness, it contains extensive fragments of the whole of the ­Acts of Paul­. The introductory narrative to the letters is supplied only in this manuscript; and it is also true that with this ­III Corinthian­ material this particular witness is less fragmentary in its physical preservation than in the preceding pages.

 

3. SYRIAC. ­III Corinthians­ was for a time part of the Received Canon of the Syrian ­New Testament­. It was commented on by Ephraem the Syrian (c.306-373—the only Patristic father to comment on ­III Corinthians­) as if it were a genuine letter of Paul; but the commentary, though originally in Syriac, has survived only in

 

4. ARMENIAN. ­III Corinthians­ was also part of the Received Canon of the Armenian ­New Testament­ (3rd-4th centuries, but brought into conformity with the Lucianic text shortly after the Council of Ephesus in 431AD; the Syrian Canon was certainly in circulation shortly after 150 (for the Received acts, letters, and apocalypse) and c.200 (for the Received gospels). The small section of intervening narrative material between the two letters of III Corinthians­ is extant only in Armenian and in Z, E and A of the Latin. Text in Vetter (­Der Apokryphe Dritte Korintrherbrief­, 1894).

 

5. LATIN. There are at least five Latin manuscripts (10th-13th century) which also witness to the existence of ­III Corinthians­: (1) Codex Ambrosianus E53 ( = Codex Milan, and referred throughout this discussion as M); (2) Codex Laon 45 (L); (3) Codex Parisianus Latinus 5288 (P); (4) Codex Zurich C14 (Z); and (5) Codex Berlin Hamburgenses 84 (B). In both L and M, we have here to do with ­III Corinthians­ treated as an entity separated from the ­Acts of Paul­. There is also a connection between L and the Coptic Papyrus Heidelberg; and between M and the Armenian textual tradition. [Vetter (­ibid­.) prints two of the Latin texts.]

 

     A number of conclusions have been drawn from the evidence within these Traditions.

 

1. The Coptic Tradition of Papyrus Heidelberg suggests the acceptance of the ­Acts of Paul­ as the original locus of ­III Corinthians­. Two factors appear decisive: (a) that the letters themselves are united with the Acts of Paul­ by two stout narrative sections—the introduction in the Coptic text, which refers to ­III Corinthians­ 1; and the intervening historical material, which appears also in the Armenian and in the Latin manuscript traditions of Z, E and A—which itself means both that the Syrian church took ­III Corinthians­ from the ­Acts of Paul­, and that at the time of the translation into Coptic this correspondence was still part of the ­Acts of Paul­ (PBodm not containing the intervening material surely representing a later stage of the Tradition, itself here represented also by Latin M, L, and P); (b) that the kinship in spirit and in tendency between the letters and other parts of the ­Acts of Paul­ is not to be overlooked, both ­III Corinthians­ and the other sections of the ­Acts of Paul­ being pronouncedly anti-Gnostic, a point which comes to expression above all in the realism of their belief in the concept of a personal resurrection.

 

2. The Greek Papyrus Bodmer—the first ­III Corinthian­ Tradition in point of time—is not an infallible witness to the original text, and there are passages in which the very late Latin texts have preserved wording more original than this sole Greek manuscript. In connection with see Klijn (“The Apocryphal Correspondence Between Paul and the Corinthians” in ­Vigiliae Christiane­ XVII, 1963, 2-23).

 

3. There are various phrases and whole sentences, especially in the Armenian and the M traditions, which are absent from the Coptic and L traditions; and which are regarded as interpolations from Armenian/M into Coptic/ L (the latter being the more correct text).

 

4. It appears that only in the Coptic tradition is the introductory narrative to the letters themselves available; and that only in the Armenian/Z/E/A Tradition is the narrative section which intervenes between the two letters extant. This has been interpreted to mean that (a) the letters originated independently of the Acts of Paul­, and (b) that the author of the ­Acts of Paul­ united them to his work by the addition of a few narrative sentences.

 

5. The Latin Tradition is surely to be explained thus: that this apocryphon was imported from Syria and was at some places accepted as material for public reading. Further, it appears from internal evidence that a part of the Latin Tradition probably derives from North Italy.

 

6. The fact that ­III Corinthians­ appears physically directly following another early apocryphon, the ­Infancy Gospel of James­ [c.150; perhaps earlier if it could be more certainly established that Justin of Flavia Neapolis (c.100-c.165) made use of it] has been considered as part of the proof that ­III Corinthians­ originated independently and prior to the ­Acts of Paul­.

 

7. ­III Corinthians­ insists on the authority of the Old Testament prophets, the resurrection of the flesh, the birth of Christ from Mary, and the creation of man, facts which show that its purpose was anti-Gnostic. The remaining parts of the ­Acts of Paul­, however, scarcely permit us to detach such a polemic, but are intended rather to be edifying and entertaining. The primary interest of the letter, however, is theological.

 

     As has been noted, ­III Corinthians­ was commented upon c. 360 by Ephraem the Syrian as though it were a genuine Pauline document.

 

[ANT, 270; NTA, II, 340-342, 374-377; ODC, 344]

 

292. The Letter of Paul to the Macedonians

 

     Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Protrepticus­ IX:lxxxvii.4) mentions once such a letter—(In this sense the apostle of the Lord also exhorted the Macedonians and became an interpreter of the divine word. ‘The Lord is at hand,’ he says, ‘wherefore take care that we be not overtaken empty.’) The citation recalls Philippians­ 4:5—(Let all men known your forbearance. The Lord is at hand.)—but since otherwise nothing is known of a letter of Paul to the Macedonians, either a free citation from the letter, or a mistake, can be assumed. See on this Harnack (Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ I.2, 1958, 788).

 

[NTA, II, 91]

 

293. The Letter of Paul to the Alexandrians

 

     At ­Muratori Canon­ 64, there is named a ­Letter to the Alexandrians­ which was falsely ascribed to Paul—(There is current also a letter to the Laodiceans, another to the Alexandrians, forged in Paul’s name for the sect of Marcion, and several others, which cannot be received in the catholic Church; for it will not do to mix gall with honey.)

 

     There are a number of discussions of its content or purpose; for which see Harnack (­Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­, 1882ff, I.1, 33; ­Marcion­, 1921, 134); Zahn (­Forschungen zur Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanons und der Altkirchlichen Literatur­, 10 parts, 1881-1929, II.2, 586ff); and Vouaux (Les Actes de Paul­, 1913, 327-332).

 

     Schneemelcher says that the letter is known only through the statement of the ­Muratori Canon­, and that every further discussion of its content or purpose leads us into the domain of fantasy.

 

     Zahn believes, however, that he has found a fragment of this letter in the shape of a homily in the Sacramentary and Lectionary of Bobbio­. It is headed ­Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Colossians­, but it is not from that letter or any other:

 

Brethren, we that are under the power of the Lord ought to keep the commandment of God. They that keep the Lord’s precepts have eternal life, and they that deny his commandments get to themselves ruin and thereto the second death. Now the precept of the Lord is this: Thou shalt not swear falsely, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not take gifts against the truth, neither for power. Whoso hath power and denieth the truth, shall be denied the kingdom of God and be trodden down into hell, whence he cometh not forth again. How are we frail and deceitful, workers of sin! We do not repent daily, but daily do we commit sin upon sin. That ye may know this, dearly beloved brethren, that our works are judged, hearken to that which is written in this book: ‘It shall be for a memorial against us in the day of judgment.’ There shall be neither witnesses nor companions; neither shall judgment be given by gifts; for there is nothing better than faith, truth, chastity, fasting, and almsgiving which putteth out all sins. And that which thou wouldest not have done to thyself, do not unto another. Agree thou for the kingdom of God and thou shalt receive the crown which is the Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

[NTA, I, 44; II, 73, 91; ANT, 479-480]

 

294. The Letter of Paul to the Laodiceans

 

     The ­Letter of Paul to the Laodiceans­ is to be found in many 6th-15th century Latin manuscripts of the Received New Testament­, and in early printed editions of the ­Vulgate­. [On this see Berger (­Histoire de la Vulgate Pendant les Premiers Siecles du Moyen-age­, 1893, 341f); Frede (­Pelagius, der Irische Paulustext, Sedulius Scottus­, 1961); and Fischer (in ­Theological Revue­ LVII, 1961, cols. 162ff); for while no complete manuscripts in Old Latin of the Received Pauline letters (except for the ­Book of Armagh)­ are known to exist, yet it is evidently true that this letter to the Laodiceans is one of the Old Latin components with which the whole Vulgate tradition has been enriched in various ways.] Harnack (“Der Apokryphe brief des Apostles Paulus an Die Laodicener, Eine Marcionitische Falschung aus der e Halfte des 2. Jahrhunderts” in Sitzungsberichte der Koniglichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin­, 1923, 235-245) sought to prove, without success, that it was a 2nd century Marcionite forgery; and though it is now to be found almost exclusively in Latin—de Vaux (“L’Epitre aux Laodiceens en Arabe” in ­Revue Biblique­ V, 1896, 221-226) has discovered an Arabic version, and it is known to exist in various European vernaculars—it is possible that it was originally issued in Greek; for later Greek sources speak of a letter to the Laodiceans [see here the compilation of Pink (“Die Pseudo-Paulinischen Briefe III” in ­Biblica­ VI, 1925, 179-192)]; and it must be at least assumed that the existence of such a letter was known in the East. It was probably originally issued to meet the demand suggested by ­Colossians­ 4:15-16—(Give my greetings to the brethren at Laodicea, and to Nympha and the church in her house. And when this letter has been read among you, have it read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and see you read also the letter from Laodicea.)—and it probably came into being in the West; but the situation is somewhat complex.

 

1. In the ­Muratori Canon­ (later 2nd century), a letter to the Laodiceans is mentioned and rejected—(There is current also a letter to the Laodiceans, another to the Alexandrians, forged in Paul’s name for the sect of Marcion, and several others, which cannot be received in the catholic Church; for it will not do to mix gall with honey.) No further mention of the letter is made.

 

2. Tertullian (­Against Marcion­ V:xi,xvii, written between 207 and c.220) reports that the Marcionites regarded Ephesians­ as the letter to the Laodiceans, and that Marcion himself had made this change in the title. This note is confirmed to some extent by

 

3. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Panarion­ XLII:ix.4, XLII:xii.3) who, however, gives no clear information as to whether the source which he copies here (Hippolytus of Rome, d.c.236) recognized ­Ephesians­ as the letter to the Laodiceans, or whether in addition to ­Ephesians­ a letter to the Laodiceans also stood in the Marcionite canon.

 

4. Filaster of Brescia (d.c.397, ­Liber de Haeresibus­ LXXXIX), who briefly mentions the letter to the Laodiceans in the context of his discussion of ­Hebrews­, likewise goes no farther.

 

5. Peregrinus the Priscillianist [4th-5th century, on whom see Dekkers (­Clavis Patrum Lationorum­, 1961, 178) and Fischer (in ­Archivos Leoneses­, 1961)] received the letter to the Laodiceans into his edition of the Received New Testament­. He is perhaps our first unambiguous witness to the existence of this apocryphon.

 

6. Victor of Capua (d.554, in the ­Codex Fuldensis­, written for him in 546) was in possession of the oldest known copy of the ­Letter of Paul to the Laodiceans­.

 

7. Pseudo-Augustine (5th or 6th century, ­De Divinis Scripturis­) quotes verse four of the letter in Latin.

 

8. Gregory I of Rome (d.604, ­Moralia­ XXXV:xx.48) must also be reckoned among the positive witnesses for this letter in its Latin dress. It may be to his influence that it occurs frequently in Received Bibles written in England; for it is commoner in English manuscripts than in others.

 

     Besides these individual witnesses, there came later a series of translations into Western vernaculars [on which see Anger (­Uber den Laodicenerbrief, eine Biblisch-Kritische Untersuchung­, 1843); and Lightfoot (St. Paul’s Epistles to the Colossians and to Philemon­, 1879, 274-300)].

 

     The dating of the letter is difficult. It depends on the positive identity of this apocryphon with the one mentioned in the ­Muratori Canon­ and this is again close connected with the problem of its Marcionite derivation.

 

1. Either the ­Muratori Canon­ means the ­Letter of Paul to the Ephesians­, the name of which was changed by Marcion into the ­Letter of Paul to the Laodiceans­ (so Tertullian); or

 

2. the ­Muratori Canon­ had actually in view a separate letter to the Laodiceans (in which case it must be the Latin letter to the Laodiceans that has come down to us, and not the Greek); or

 

3. the letter is a Marcionite forgery (so Harnack, ­Marcion­, 1921, 149—In the letter to the Laodiceans we salute the only complete writing which has been preserved to us from the Marcionite Church of the earliest time.)

 

     The letter in that case must, however, have come not from Marcion himself—who was very scrupulous in his choice about what Paul did and did not write: H—but from a pupil who, between c.160-190AD, after the title Letter to the Laodiceans­ had again become free (­Ephesians­ having been given back its early name), produced it simultaneously in Latin and Greek.

 

     From the same workshop could also have come the Marcionite prologues to the Received letters of Paul, the Marcionite character of which—they appear in a majority of the best manuscripts of the Vulgate—is now generally admitted (ODC,854). [Lietzmann explains the unexpected introduction of heretical prologues into the Vulgate­ on the supposition that it was Marcionite teachers at Rome who first translated the Pauline letters from Greek into Latin in the latter part of the 2nd century AD. Harnack and de Bruyne (“Prologues Bibliques d’Origine Marcionite” in ­Revue Benedictine­ XIV, 1907, 1-16) have even argued that the Roman church took over Marcion’s prologues to Paul into a counter-Canon; and the Marcionite provenance of the prologues is accepted also by Corssen, Harris, Zahn, Robinson and Souter.]

 

     This thesis, however, is contested by Mundle (in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde de Urchristentums­ XXIV, 1925, 56-77) and Lagrange (in ­Revue Biblique­ XXXV, 1926, 161-173); and NTA believes it to be a fantastic idea arguing that the passages adduced can be drawn upon only with violence as strict proof of a Marcionite origin of the letter to the Laodiceans.

 

     Quispel (“De Brief an de Laodicensen en Marcionitische Vervalsing” in ­Nederlands Theologisch Tijdschrift­ V, 1950, 43-46) thinks that the beginning to the letter to the Laodiceans—which invokes Galatians­ 1:1—proposes that we have here a stylistic expedient that was a convention in antiquity: in literary counterfeits, it was made clear to the readers and hearers through the opening words which stylistic literary model was to be imitated. The beginning of the letter ought then to draw the reader’s attention to the fact that really there speaks here the Paul who—according to Marcion—had expounded in ­Galatians­ the decisive points of his theology. Consequently we should have here a case similar to the one in ­John­ 1:1, where also a connection is intentionally made with another work (in this case, with ­Genesis­ 1:1).

 

     NTA says, however, that this reason does not carry conviction, on the grounds that the letter to the Laodiceans does not purpose to be a rhetorical performance; which he describes as a paltry and carelessly compiled concoction—James says that it is not easy to imagine a more feebly constructed cento of Pauline phrases—when judged by the yardstick of ancient literary practices.

 

     The text of the letter is printed below:

 

Paul, an apostle not of men and not through man, but through Jesus Christ, to the brethren who are in Laodicea: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

I thank Christ in all my prayer that you are steadfast in him and persevering in his works, in expectation of the promise for the day of judgment. And may you not be deceived by the vain talk of some people who tell you tales that they may lead you away from the truth of the gospel which is proclaimed by me. And now may God grant that those who come from me for the furtherance of the truth of the gospel ... may be able to serve and to do good works for the well-being of eternal life.\fn{This verse has been corrupted in transmission; the translation rests on conjecture. James translates: and now shall God cause that they that are of me shall continue ministering unto the increase of the truth of the Gospel, and accomplishing goodness, and the work of salvation, even eternal life.}

 

And now my bonds are manifest, which I suffer in Christ, on account of which I am glad and rejoice. This ministers to me unto eternal salvation, which itself is effected through your prayers and by the help of the Holy Spirit, whether it be through life or through death. For my life is in Christ and to die is joy to me.

 

And this will his mercy work in you, that you may have the same love and be of one mind. Therefore, beloved, as you have heard in my presence, so hold fast and do in the fear of God, and eternal life will be your portion. For it is God who works in you. And do without hesitation what you do. And for the rest, beloved, rejoice in Christ and beware of those who are out for sordid gain. May all your requests be manifest before God, and be ye steadfast in the mind of Christ. And what is pure, true, proper, just and lovely, do. And what you have heard and received, hold in your heart and peace will be with you.

 

Salute all the brethren with the holy kiss.\fn{This sentence is lacking in some manuscripts; it is probably a secondary addition.} The saints salute you. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. And see that this epistle is read to the Colossians\fn{The words this epistle and to the Colossians are lacking in some manuscripts.} and that of the Colossians among you.}

 

[NTA, II, 33, 73, 88-90, 128-132; ODC, 785, 854; ANT, 478-479]

 

295. The Received Letter of (Paul? Barnabas? Apollos? Silvanus? Aquila? Priscilla?) to Certain Christian converts from Judaism

 

     Hebrews­—the above title is intended to be descriptive—remains another of the anonymous productions of the Received New Testament­. The ancient church considered it a Pauline letter, Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, in Eusebius of Caesarea, ­Ecclesiastical History­ VI:xiv) holding the Paul had written it, and that Luke had then translated it from Hebrew into Greek. It was the opinion of Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, in Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History­ VI:xxiv) that it was Paul’s in substance, but committed to writing by someone else; but in the East generally (e.g., the Council of Antioch of 264, the later Eastern Fathers), it was regularly quoted as Paul’s own composition.

 

     In the West, however, Barnabas was first thought to be the author (so Tertullian of Carthage, d.c.220); and though it was known to Clement of Rome (fl.c.96—he quotes from it at ­I Clement­ 36:1-5), it was not until the 4th century AD that Pauline authorship was generally accepted and the letter considered canonical.

 

     Doubt, nevertheless, persisted. Martin Luther (d.1546) ascribed the letter to Apollos. Even the Council of Trent (1546) affirmed its canonicity, but not its Pauline authorship (although the Roman Catholic Biblical Commission ruled in 1914 that it was in substance Paul’s). In more modern times, the author has been identified with Silvanus; Aquila (so Alford and others); or Priscilla (so Harnack).

 

     The problem is that there is nothing to indicate any close connection with Paul.

 

1. Though it has an epistolary close (­Hebrews­ 13:18-25), in content ­Hebrews­ resembles a homily, not a letter.

 

2. Modern scholars almost unanimously consider that the internal evidence marks it as non-Pauline.

 

3. The delay about its acceptance in the West has been thought by some to be because there was here a genuine tradition of its non-Pauline authorship.

 

     Firm ground may also be lacking with regard to its intended recipients. The traditional title (­Letter to the Hebrews­), though found in the earliest manuscripts, is probably an inference from its contents, and may not in fact describe the group to whom it was originally sent. Clearly both the author and his intended readers were thoroughly familiar with Jewish worship, and were probably converts from Judaism. But there are indications that this familiarity came through the reading of Biblical ordinances, as opposed to a direct, personal knowledge of the Temple itself (destroyed in 70AD); and it has been argued, on the basis of Hebrews­ 6:1-3—(Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrines of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, with instruction about ablutions, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.)—that the recipients of the letter were Gentiles.

 

     This argument may be further buttressed by the near-unanimous opinion of modern scholarship that Clement of Alexandria was wrong, and that the style of ­Hebrews­ shows that Greek was its original language, and not Hebrew; and that it is unlikely that its Greek is a translation from Hebrew. Also, the subject matter­ of what is also the longest sustained argument of any work in the Received Bible—indeed, whose theological teaching as well as literary capacity and expository power reaches levels unsurpassed in the ­Received New Testament­—is an elaborate proof of the pre-eminence of Christianity over Judaism, indicating that its recipients (converted Greek-speaking Jews?) were on the point of giving up their Christian faith and returning to Judaism.

 

     Nor is there any firm decision about the date of the composition of ­Hebrews­, except that it must have been written before 96AD, the date of ­I Clement­; for otherwise Clement could not have quoted it.

 

1. It is argued by some that it cannot have been written much before then, as it looks back to persecutions that have taken place; and some have because of this argued for a date of composition under the emperor Domitian (emperor 81-96AD).

 

2. On the other hand, it may also be construed from internal considerations that ­Hebrews­ might have been written prior to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 70AD. Such a date has been supported by several scholars on general grounds; and on the grounds of the relevance of its ideas to those combated in Colossians­, it has been suggested that this letter was written by Apollos before Paul wrote Colossians­ (traditionally in the early 60’s, assuming ­Colossians­ is by Paul, which there is perhaps persuasive evidence that it is not), and sent to the church there.

 

3. However, the use of the letter by Clement of Rome, the delay in the West over its canonicity, and the reference to Italy at ­Hebrews­ 13:24—(Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings.)—have suggested to some scholars that the letter was originally connected with Rome. In that case, Hebrews­ 10:32-34—(But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on the prisoners, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.)—might refer to the Neronian persecution (64AD); and on this basis, the letter might have been written some time ­after­ that event.

 

     Perhaps it is best to conclude that many circumstances surrounding the composition and authorship of Hebrews­ remain obscure.

 

[ODC, 614-615; OAB, 1453; MAR, 221-222]

 

296. 297. 298. The First Received Letter of Paul to Timothy; The Second Received Letter of Paul to Timothy; The Received Letter of Paul to Titus

 

     I Timothy­, ­II Timothy­, and ­Titus­, commonly called the Pastorals (a term coined by the German theologian, Paul Anton, in lectures delivered at Halle in 1726-1727) are similar in character and in the problems they raise concerning authorship. It is difficult to ascribe them in their present form to the alleged apostle Paul; for the vocabulary and style of the letters differ widely from the acknowledged autographs of Paul.

 

1. Some of Paul’s leading theological ideas (e.g., the union of the believer with Christ, the power and witness of the Holy Spirit, freedom from the Law) are entirely absent.

 

2. Some expressions in these letters (e.g., the expression the faith is here used as a synonym for the Christian religion, rather than for the believer’s relationship to Christ as it is in the acknowledged autographs) bear a different meaning from that of his letters that are believed unquestionably his.

 

3. In short, differences in language, style, and theological standpoint from the other letters in the Pauline corpus­ make their ascription to Paul doubtful.

 

     A few scholars, attempting to maintain Pauline authorship of these three letters, account for the differences aforementioned by assuming changes in Paul’s environment, as well as modifications in his vocabulary, style, and thought. But in view of the widespread custom of pseudonymous authority in antiquity, it is easier to assume that a loyal disciple of Paul used several previously unpublished messages of the alleged Apostle, and extended them to deal with conditions confronting the church a generation after Paul’s death (c.64AD; or, so Eusebius of Caesarea, in 67).

 

     The letters themselves were written at a period in Paul’s life not covered by accounts given in ­Acts­; and they presuppose a release from his first imprisonment and further missionary activities. ­I Timothy­ was supposedly sent from Macedonia; ­Titus­ while on a journey to Nicopolis; and ­II Timothy­ from another imprisonment in Rome, shortly before his death. Assuming they were written by Paul, they were all probably written during the last year of his life.

 

Since Schleiermacher (Berlin, 1807) and Bauer (Stuttgart, 1835) published their commentaries on the Pastorals, the authenticity of these letters has been frequently denied by ­Received New Testament­ critics, though their Pauline authorship had been unquestioningly received from the time of Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200) and Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220). The chief arguments brought against them are that they cannot be fitted into the framework of Paul’s life as known from ­Acts­; and their difference of vocabulary from that of the Pauline autographs.

 

In spite of this, however, Pauline elements in them are so evident that a theory was formed by Renan, Harnack, Moffatt, Harrison (­The Problem of the Pastoral Epistles­, 1921, with full bibliography, 179-184) and others, according to which genuine Pauline notes are incorporated into the letters worked up by another hand, in order to give them Apostolic authority. Thus Harrison (­ibid­., below) finds five such fragments; but scholars differ as to what these authentic parts might be.

 

1. ... May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me; he was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me eagerly and found me—may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that Day—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus. ... Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions, my sufferings, what befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, what persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. ... I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke, and exhort. ... Do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already on the point of being sacrificed; the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. ... To him be the glory for ever and ever, Amen. Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. ... Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brethren. The Lord be with your spirit. ...

 

2. ... When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will requite him for his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. ... Erastus remained at Corinth; Trophimus I left ill at Miletus. Do your best to come before winter. ...

 

3. ... At my first defense no one took my part; all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the word fully, that all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil and save me for his heavenly kingdom. ...

 

4. ... Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia,\fn{Other ancient authorities read: Gaul.} Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get mark and bring him with you; for he is very useful in serving me. Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. ... Grace be with you.\fn{This is the last sentence of this letter.}

 

5. ... When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to apply themselves to good deeds, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not to be unfruitful. All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all. ...

 

[ODC, 1023, 1030, 1359-1360; OAB, 1438]

 

299. The Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates

 

     As the ­“Letter of Titus, the Disciple of Paul, on the State of Chastity”­—more conventionally entitled here—there has survived a noteworthy document which was discovered at Wurzburg in 1896, in a Latin manuscript of the 8th century, among the Homilies of Caesarius of Arles (c.470-542), by Morin (announcement in ­Revue Benedictine­ XIII, 1896, 97-111). Only about 30 years later, after lengthy study, was this document published in full by de Bruyne (in ­Revue Benedectine­ XXXVII, 1925, 47-72). Since we are dependent on a single manuscript, the reading of which presents considerable linguistic difficulties, the last word cannot yet be spoken regarding the origin of this letter. Nevertheless, much can already be stated about its character and content.

 

1. This work is composed in barbarous language, the solecisms of which are not to be explained simply through the clumsiness of some scribe, but also go back in large part to the author himself. (a) The hypothesis put forward by de Bruyne, however—that we are concerned here with a Latin translation from the Greek, made apparently by a man who knew neither Latin nor Greek sufficiently (in ­Revue Benedictine­ XXV, 1908, 150)—is today no longer tenable, especially after the investigations of Harnack (“Der Apokryphe Brief des Paulusschulers Titus” in Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil. his. Klasse­ XVII, 1925, 191). (b) To this end, there has to be added the close connection which this letter has with other like-minded Latin writings: (i) Pseudo-Cyprian, ­De Singularitate Clericorum­ (ed. Harnack in ­Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum­ III, 1871); (ii) Pseudo-Cyprian, ­De Centesima, Sexagesima, Trigesima­ (ed. Reitzenstein in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XV, 1914, 60ff); (iii) Jerome of Strido, Epistula 117­ (ed. Hilberg in ­Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum­ LV, 422ff); (iv) Pseudo-Jerome, Epistula XLII ad Oceanum­ (ed. Migne in ­Patrologia Latina­ XXX, 288ff); and (v) Bachiarius, ­De Raparatione Lapsi­ (ed. Migne in Patrologia Latina­ XX, 1038-1062). (c) It also shares with other documents certain legends. (i) The letter records a preaching of the apostle Andrew that certain couples about to marry should rather remain in the single state; and so also does Gregory of Tours in his ­Epitome of the Acts of Andrew­ XI (where, however, it is certain that Gregory either altered the text he found or presents to us an altered text, for the marriage of cousins which he mentions was not forbidden until the time of Theodosius); and (ii) the work also records a story about a gardener’s daughter. Knowledge of this item also appears in Augustine of Hippo Regius (Against Adimantus­ XVII:v); and in a Cambrai manuscript of the 13th century (where it appears together with parts of this letter).

 

2. Most striking is the liberal use that is made in it of all sorts of non-canonical materials, especially of various acts of apostles, and of some apocalypses. In the course of the first half of the 20th century, these numerous quotations have most of all aroused the interest of scholars, and they have led to many arguments regarding the origin of the letter. But this clue (which is especially valuable for the judgment of a writing which contains no dogmatic statements) ought not to be considered apart from

 

3. the ostensible aim of the letter: to commend the life of chastity. Those to whom the letter is addressed (spadones­ and ­virgines­), were members of a special circle made up of ascetics of both sexes who vowed to live in a state of celibacy, but within whose life a number of abuses—among them that of spiritual marriage—had been naturalized.

 

4. The wealth of quotations also from the Received Text, with which the author accompanies his enthusiastic exclamations on the celibate state, themselves reveal a distinct leaning on other ascetic writings which originated in literary circles about Jerome of Strido (d.420), and Cyprian of Carthage (d.258), and which pursued a similar aim [for some of which see (b,i-iv) above].

 

5. The fact that the author has recourse to non-canonical quotations distinguished by their misogamy suggests that this writing may have originated in an environment where the ascetic life especially flourished and where non-canonical writings enjoyed a great reputation. This environment is most probably to be sought in connection with the Priscillianist movement in the ascetic circles of the Spanish church in the course of the 5th century. (a) In favor of this there is first the fact that in this land there was from the beginning a rigorous ascetic tendency, which absorbed with a special enthusiasm both the ascetic writings that have been named and the non-canonical books of apostolic acts. (b) To this there have to be added the official documents of the Received Spanish hierarchy, which denounce the improprieties combated by the author of our letter as things typically Priscillianist, and condemn them in similar terms.

 

6. In the author of this letter, however, we certainly do not need to see a Priscillianist. It is quite possible that he was a member of the Orthodox church, carried away by a considerable enthusiasm; and that he composed this document and had it circulated under Titus’ name (in order to give it an authority beyond his own: H).

 

[NTA, II, 141-144; ANT, 265-266, 303,349]

 

300. 301. The Letters of Paul to Seneca and Seneca to Paul (1-12); The Letters of Paul to Seneca and Seneca to Paul (13-14)

 

     There is in existence an apocryphal correspondence of 14 letters between Seneca (8 letters) and Paul (6 letters). Their commonplace manner and colorless style show that they cannot be the work of either the philosopher, Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c.4BC-65AD), in whose name they were written, or the alleged Apostle. They rather belong to the type of literature, in which letters become not elements of communication in the traditional sense, but tractates the author of which has chosen to cast in the form of a letter in the interest of a definite purpose: propaganda among the educated. Indeed, the spurious correspondence between Seneca and Paul best informs us how at first Christianity became literary material in Italy.

 

     The correspondence was born out of reflection on the extent to which the mentor and minister of the emperor Nero, the philosopher Seneca, could by putting his great literary skill at the service of the Pauline revelation have created for it its fitting place in Latin literature. It presents a mythical expression of the historical process of fusion which came about in Italy, onwards from the end of the period of the Antonines, of Christianity on the one hand and, on the other, the ancient culture of the rhetoricians; and it is also of fundamental importance for the general frame of mind in which the Italian people turned to Christianity—which was that the ordinations and sacramental forms of the foreign cult brought to persuade them were of insufficient power to do the job without some sort of proof of the social tenets of Christianity; which themselves provided the presupposition for the association of Seneca and Paul.

 

1. Perhaps the first testimony from antiquity is to be found in the ­Latin Martyrium Beati Pauli Apostoli­ I (3rd-5th century? H)—(From the house of the emperor there came to him many who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and great gladness and joy increased daily among the believers. Even the emperor’s tutor, recognizing the divine wisdom that was in him, became so united to him in friendship that he could scarcely refrain from conferring with him. As oral discussion was not possible, they frequently entered into mutual correspondence, and he enjoyed his amiability, his friendly talk and his counsel; and so very much was his teaching disseminated and loved through the working of the Holy Spirit that now he taught with express permission and was gladly heard by many. For he disputed with the philosophers of the heathen and refuted them, for which reason also very many followed his teaching. The emperor’s teacher also read some of his writings in his presence over and over again and brought it about that all admired him. The Senate also thought very highly of him.)

 

2. Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­De Vigilius Illustribus­ XII, 392AD) knew of these letters, and on the strength of them reckoned Seneca a Christian—(L. Annaeus Seneca from Cordoba ... lived a very abstemious life. I would not receive him into the list of the saints were I not made to do so by those epistles which are read by very many, the epistles of Paul to Seneca and of Seneca to Paul. In these epistles he who was the teacher of Nero and the most influential man of that time declares that he wishes to occupy among his own people the same place that Paul had among the Christians. This Seneca was put to death by Nero two years\fn{Seneca dies by his own hand, under Nero’s orders, in 65AD; but as Eusebius of Caesarea says that Paul dies in 67, Jerome may be relying here upon Eusebius’ dating. (H)} before the glorious martyrdom of Peter and Paul.) Here the conclusion of the 12th letter is quoted, which was the last letter of the collection which lay before Jerome. Letters 13 and 14 were added only later, as the difference in their style from the others proves. Had the last letter lain before Jerome, he would undoubtedly have made full use of it and by means of it have justified the reception of Seneca into the list of saints.

 

3. Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430, ­Letter­ CLIII:xiv) also offers testimony about the letters: quoting the real Seneca, he says (of whom some letters to the apostle Paul are current.) But he (so Harnack in Theologische Literaturzeitung­ VI, 1881, 447) is dependent upon Jerome.

 

     The correspondence certainly existed in the 4th century and probably originated in the 3rd, though Barlow (“Epistolae Senecae ad Paulum et Pauli ad Senecam quae Vocantur,”­ Papers and Monographs of the American Academy in Rome X) dates it to shortly before 392AD, and some critics have denied an identity between the letters known to Augustine and those known to Jerome, and have assigned to the writings a much later date. They are preserved in very many manuscripts from the 9th century onward—particularly from the 12th to the 15th—admittedly in nothing short of a shocking state of corruption. Peter of Cluny (d.1156, ­Tractatus Adversus Petrobrusianos­ in Migne, ­Patrologia Latina­ CLXXXIX, 737C) and Peter Abelard (d.1152, ­Introduction ad Theologiam­ I:xxiv; ­Expositio in Epistolam Pauli ad Romanos­ I:i) show acquaintance with this correspondence. Even Petrarch (d.1374, ­Epistola ad Senecam­) refers to the letters, as does no less a scholar than Erasmus of Rotterdam (d.1536) who prepared the ­editio princeps­ of them at Basel in 1515.

 

The correspondence is reproduced below, in the order in which it was written. They are all prefaced by the following headings: (1) Seneca greets Paul; (2) Paul greets L. Annaeus Seneca; (3) Seneca greets Paul; (4) Paul greets Annaeus Seneca; (5) Seneca greets Paul; (6) Paul greets Seneca and Lucilius; (7) Annaeus Seneca greets Paul and Theophilus; (8) Paul greets Seneca; (9) Seneca greets Paul; (10) Paul greets Seneca; (11) Seneca greets Paul; (12) Seneca greets Paul; (13) Seneca greets Paul; (14) Paul greets Seneca.

 

1

 

Paul, you have been told, I believe, that yesterday we had a conversation with our Lucilius\fn{Lucilius Junior, contemporary governor of Sicily, poet, philosopher, and Epicurean. Seneca did address himself to Lucilius in various letters upon the subject of suicide: This is one reason why we cannot complain of life; it keeps no one against his will. ... You have had veins cut for the purpose of reducing your weight. If you would pierce your heart, a gaping wound is not necessary; a lanced will open the way to freedom, and tranquillity can be purchased at the cost of a pinprick. ... Wherever you look, there is an end to troubles. Do you see that precipice? It is a decent to liberty. Do you see that river, that cistern, that sea? Freedom is in their depths. ... But I am running on too long. How can a man end his life if he cannot end a letter. ... As for me, my dear Lucilius, I have lived long enough. I have had my fill. I await death. Farewell.} about the Apocrypha\fn{Apparently a reference to those parts of the Greek Received Old Testament which were not a part of the Hebrew Received Old Testament—I Esdras; II Esdras; Tobit; Judith; Rest of the Book of Esther; Book of Solomon; Ecclesiasticus; I Baruch; Letter of Jeremiah; Prayer of Azariah and the Son of the Three Holy Children; History of Susannah, Bel and the Dragon; Prayer of Manasses; I Maccabees; and II Maccabees.} and other things. There were with me some members of your school. For we had retreated in Sallust’s\fn{Gaius Sallustius Crispus (86-c.34 BC); the gardens were attached to the mansion he built c.45 BC, whither he was forced by Julius Caesar to retire from public life, to engage in the writing of history.} garden, where, by a happy chance for us, the people I have just mentioned, although they meant to go elsewhere, caught sight of us and joined us. We certainly longed for your presence, and I would like you to know that after the reading of your booklet, i.e. of a number of letters which you have addressed to city churches or to the chief cities of provinces and which contain wonderful exhortations for the moral life, we are thoroughly refreshed; and I believe that these statements have been uttered not by you but through you, although indeed at some time they were expressed both by you and through you. For so great is the majesty of these things and by such an excellent character are they distinguished that, in my opinion, generations of men would scarcely suffice to be instructed and perfected by them. Brother, I wish you prosperity.

 

2

 

Yesterday I received your letter with joy. I would have been able to answer it at once had the young man whom I purposed to send to you been at hand. You well know when and through whom and at what moment and to whom a thing ought to be given for transmission. I beg you, therefore, not to look upon it as negligence that in the first place I have regard to the trustworthiness of the person. But since you write that you were somehow agreeably touched by my letter, I consider myself honored by this judgment of a sincere man. For being the censor, philosopher and teacher of so distinguished a prince\fn{Nero (37-68AD, emperor from 54); Seneca became his tutor from c.49 until the emperor told him to commit suicide in 65; which it is reported he did with dignity.} and also at the same time of the public, you would not say that if what you say was not true. I wish you prolonged prosperity.

 

3

 

I have arranged some scrolls and have brought them into a definite order corresponding to their several divisions. Also I have decided to read them to the emperor. If only fate ordains it favorably that he shows new interest, then perhaps you too will be present; otherwise I shall fix a day for you at another time when together we may examine this work. And if only it could be done safely, I would not read this writing to him before meeting you. You may then be certain that you are not being overlooked. Farewell, most beloved Paul.

 

4

 

As often as I hear your letters, I think of your presence and imagine nothing other than that you are always with us. As soon then as you set about coming, we shall see one another and do so at close quarters. I wish you prosperity.

 

5

 

Your staying away, being all too long, distresses us. What then is wrong? What keeps you away? If it is the empress’s\fn{Poppaea Sabina (empress, 62-65), first the mistress of Nero, and then his wife; Tacitus said about her that she had everything she could want ... except goodness. She encouraged Nero to instigate the murder of his mother (59AD); he kicked her to death, though she was pregnant, in 65.} displeasure because you have wandered away from the ancient rites and beliefs and become a convert elsewhere, then may you find opportunity to convince her that this has resulted from deliberation and not from levity.

 

6

 

I may not express myself with pen and ink regarding the matters about which you have written to me, of which the first indicates something distinctly whilst the last shows it too apparently, especially as I know that under you, i.e., among you and in your midst, there are people who understand me. We must treat all with respect, particularly when they strain after an opportunity to express their displeasure. If we have patience with them, we shall overcome them in every way and in every respect, provided only they are men who can show that they regret what they have done. Farewell.

 

7

 

I frankly confess that the reading of your epistles to the Galatians, to the Corinthians and to the Achaians\fn{The reference is not to a separate letter to the Achaians, but to the inclusive address at I Corinthians 1:1b—(to the church of God that is in Corinth, including all the saints throughout Achaia).} has touched me agreeably, and we desire to live together even as also with sacred awe you act in them. For the Holy Spirit is in you, and moreover through your elevated speech brings to expression high and truly reverend thoughts. Wherefore I desire that when you utter such high thoughts, a beautiful form of discourse answering to the elevation of the thoughts may not be lacking. And that nothing may be concealed from you, beloved brother, or burden my conscience, I confess that your thoughts have made an impression on Augustus.\fn{Nero.} When I had read to him in the beginning of your letter about the power that is in you, he expressed himself in the following way: he could only wonder how a man who had not had the usual education was capable of such thoughts. I answered him that the gods are wont to discourse through the mouths of the guiltless and not through those of such as pride themselves ever so much on their erudition, and as an instance I mentioned to him Vatienus, a wholly uneducated man, to whom two men appeared in the region of Reate, who later were called Castor and Pollux, and with that he seemed to be sufficiently informed. Farewell.

 

8

 

Whilst I well know that when he is despondent, our emperor occasionally finds delight in what is wonderful, yet he does not admit that he is displeased, but only that he is admonished. For I believe that your design to bring to his notice what contradicts his belief and tenets was misplaced. Since he worships the gods of the heathen, I do not see what purpose you can have in view in desiring that he should know this; I am thus obliged to believe that you do it all out of a love of me that is much too great. I beg you for the future not to do any such thing again. For you must be wary lest in loving me you offend his mistress;\fn{Poppaea Sabina.}—her disfavor will indeed do not harm if she continues in it, nor will it avail anything if that does not happen; as queen she will not feel displeasure, but as a woman she will take offense.

 

9

 

I know that you are not so much excited for your own sake over the letter which I have addressed to you regarding the edition of your epistles for the emperor as you are over the nature of the things which withhold the minds of men from all the arts and from real culture, and so it is that today I do not wonder, especially since this is now known to me quite definitely from pieces of evidence of many sorts. Let us then set to work afresh; and if in the past a mistake has been made, you will grant me forgiveness. I have sent you a book on verbosity.\fn{So the Latin: de verborum copia.} Farewell, most beloved Paul.

 

10

 

As often as I write to you and set my name behind yours,\fn{Only in the unctuous letter #14 is Paul set in front.} I make a grievous mistake, one that is in fact out of keeping with my status.\fn{In the Christian school.} Certainly I ought, as I have often explained, to be all things to all men, and as concerns your person I ought to have respect to what Roman law has conceded for the honor of the Senate, namely after the perusal of a letter to choose the last place;\fn{When the letter has been completed and read through once more, the address is inscribed on the outside.} else I could wish only with embarrassment and shame to carry through what conforms to my own judgment. Farewell, my highly revered teacher. Given on 27 June in the consulate of Nero III and Messala.\fn {58AD.}

 

11

 

Greetings, my dearest Paul! Can you possibly think that I am not distressed and grieved that capital punishment is still visited upon you innocent persons? As also that all the people are convinced of your cruelty and criminal malignity, believing that all evil in the city is owing to you? But let us bear it with equanimity and make use of favorable circumstances, as fate provides us with them, until invincible good fortune makes an end of evildoers. The time of the ancients suffered the Macedonian, the son of Philip,\fn{Alexander III the Great. No statesman known to us, says Durant, much less any general, ever surpassed him in simple trustfulness and warmheartedness, in open sincerity of affection and purpose, or in generosity even to acquaintances and enemies. Plutarch remarks “upon what slight occasions he would write letters to serve friends.” He endeared himself to his soldiers by his kindliness; he risked their lives, but not heedlessly; and he seemed to feel all their wounds. ... The sound and sight of battle intoxicated him; he forgot his duties as a general, and plunged ahead into the thickest of the fight; time and again his soldiers, fearful of losing him, had to plead with him to go to the rear. He was not a great general; he was a brave soldier whose obstinate perseverance marched on, with boyish heedlessness of impossibilities, to unprecedented victories. He supplied the inspiration; probably his generals, who were able men, contributed training, tactics, and strategy. He led his troops by the brilliance of his imagination, the fire of his unstudied oratory, the readiness and sincerity with which he shared their hardships and griefs. Without question he was a good administrator: he ruled with kindness and firmness the wide domain which his arms had won; he was loyal to the agreements which he signed with commanders and cities; and he tolerated no oppression of his subjects by his appointees. Amid all the excitement and chaos of his campaigns he kept clearly at the center of is thoughts the great purpose that even his death would not defeat: the unification of all the eastern Mediterranean world into one cultural whole, dominated and elevated by the expanding civilization of Greece.} the Cyruses, Darius and Dionysius,\fn{“The Cyruses” may mean any of three members of the Achaemenid ruling house of Persia by that name, only one of which (Cyrus II the Great, reigned 559-530BC) actually ruled in the sense normally meant. Cyrus I (one of the sons of the founder of this dynasty, and the grandfather of Cyrus II) actually governed only a small portion of his grandson’s domains during the latter half of the 7th century BC, and was forced to accept Assyrian over-lordship c.639, sending his eldest son to Nineveh as a hostage for his good behavior. The third Cyrus—who has come down in history as Cyrus the Younger, rather than Cyrus III—was a son of Darius II, born after the accession of his father in 423; and upon the latters death (405) fought his elder brother for supreme power, but was slain in battle by the latter in 401, never having achieved his aim. “Darius” is probably Darius I the Great (reigned 522-486); but it could be a reference to Darius II Ochdus (reigned 423-404), for he was ultimately successful in his foreign policy towards Greece, and was in fact the first Persian king to (briefly) impose a political hegemony over the entire realm of the Greek city states. On the other hand, it is certainly not meant to refer to Darius III (reigned 335-330), the last of his line, the ruler from whom Alexander took his empire, and who was subsequently murdered by one of his own provincial governors: he was definitely not one of the men to whom everything they wished was legitimate. Of a “Dynosius” as a ruler of such power as indicated by the previous quotation, I know nothing. (H)} and our own time the emperor Gaius,\fn{Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus (12-41AD, emperor from 37), better known to history by his nickname, Caligula, whose actions, according to Bowder, ranged from the bizarre and ostentatious to the verge of the demented. He was murdered by Cassius Chaerea, a tribune of the Imperial Guard, at the Palatine Games, on January 24, 41.} men to whom everything they wished was legitimate. As regards fire, it is clear as the day at whose hands the Roman capital has to suffer it so often. but if human baseness could state what the first cause of it is, and in this darkness was free to speak with impunity, then no doubt all would see everything. Christians and Jews are—worse luck!—executed as fire-raisers, as commonly happens. this rowdy, whoever he is that finds pleasure in murder and uses lies as a disguise, is destined for his own time; and as the best is sometimes sacrificed as one life for many, so also will this accursed one be burned in the fire for all. 132 palaces, 4,000 apartment houses were burned down in six days; the seventh day brought a pause. I wish you good health, brother. Written on 28 March in the consulate of Frugi and Bassus.\fn{64AD.}

 

12

 

Greetings, my dearest Paul! If you, a man so distinguished and in every way beloved by God, are I say not united but necessarily incorporated with me and my name, then it will go very well with your Seneca. being now the crown of the head and the highest peak of all mountains, do you not wish me to rejoice if I am so very near to you that I count as your second self? You can believe then that you are not unworthy to be named first in the letters; otherwise it might look as if you desired to tempt rather than to praise me; all the more since you are a Roman citizen. For I desire that my place be yours with you\fn{In your letters.} and that yours be as mine. Given on 23 March in the consulate of Apronianus and Capito.\fn{59AD.}

 

13

 

Everywhere you join together many subjects allegorically and enigmatically, and therefore the power granted to you, that is in your material and in your office, ought to be adorned not with verbal trappings, but with a certain refinement. And be not afraid because of what, so far as I recollect, I have often said already, that many who strive after this sort of thing debase the thought and weaken the power of the material. May you at least make me the concession that you have regard to the Latinity and that you make use of outward form for beautiful words, so that you may worthily accomplish the work of a noble service. Good-bye! Written on 6 July in the consulate of Lurco and Sabinus.\fn{58AD.}

 

14

 

When you engage in thorough reflection, things are revealed to you which the Deity has granted only to few. Entertaining no doubts, I sow in a field that is already fertile most powerful seed, not stuff that seems to be decaying, but the unshakable word of God, the well-head from him that grows and remains for ever. What your discernment has appropriate d will unfailingly hold good, namely that superficial observances of the Gentiles and of the Israelites must be avoided. Make yourself a new herald of Jesus Christ and in your rhetorical proclamations bring the irrefutable wisdom to expression. Having already almost attained to this, you will procure an access for it to the temporal king and his servants and true friends, although what you are persuaded of will be to them hard and incomprehensible and the majority of them will not in the least be brought round by your expositions, through which the instilled word of God brings about the blessing of life, namely a new man without corruption, an imperishable soul that hastens from here to God. Good-bye to you, our most beloved Seneca! Written on 1 August in the year of the consulate of Lurco and Sabinus.\fn{58AD.}

 

[ODC, 1240; NTA, II, 73, 88, 133-141; ANT, 480; DUR, II, 540-542; III, 304, 306]

 

302. The Received Letter of Paul and Timothy to Philemon

 

     Philemon, the recipient of Paul’s brief letter of that name, was a Christian of Colossae or the neighborhood, whose slave, Onesimus, had run away, and somehow came to meet Paul, either in Rome (or, as some believe in Ephesus). Paul sent Onesimus, now Christian and therefore a beloved brother, back to his master (who held according to Roman law absolute authority over the person and life of his slave), with this tactful plea for forgiveness. The letter was undoubtedly written and sent with ­Colossians­; it appears to have been written while Paul was under house arrest at Rome (c.61-64AD).

 

     According to tradition, Philemon and his wife, Appia, were martyred at Colossae.

 

[OAB, 1451; ODC, 1061]

 

303. The Letter of Dionysius the Areopagite to Timothy

 

     According to James, there exists as one of a set of ten letters in the body of mystical literature accredited to one Dionysius the Areopagite, (an otherwise almost unknown person whose conversion by Paul at Athens is recorded in ­Acts­ 17:34—(But some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.). Later (so Dionysius of Corinth, fl.c.170) he became the first bishop of Athens.

 

     Though at an early date this letter (as part of a body of theological writings) was rejected by Hypatius of Ephesus (bishop c.520-540) as an authentic production of Paul’s convert, it was generally accepted until (and here and there, even after) the 16th century. Since the author draws on Proclus (411-485), and is first cited by Severus of Antioch (c.513), he is believed to have written about 500AD, probably in Syria. There appears to be an English translation of this letter in a two volume set by J. Parker (London-Oxford, 1897-1899).

 

[ANT, xxv; ODC, 402-403]

 

304. The Letter of His Father to Rheginos

 

     This letter—it appears to be really a treatise, cast in the form of a letter—was written by an anonymous teacher to his son, Rheginos, in response to questions regarding death and the afterlife. The importance of the work lies in its illumination of Christian-Gnostic thought of the later 2nd century, concerning the resurrection; and its most striking feature is the similarity in its teaching to the views of Hymenaeus and Philetus (combated in ­II Timothy­ 2:17b-2:18—(Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth by claiming that the resurrection has already taken place. They are upsetting the faith of some.).

 

     The main teaching of the work, however, seems clear: that the resurrection, though philosophically undemonstrable and seemingly fantastic, is both necessary and real. In this work, it is alleged that immediately after death a spiritual resurrection of the believer occurs, involving the ascension of a spiritual body, composed of invisible members covered with a spiritual flesh; a continuity of identification between the deceased and the resurrected person is insisted upon; and the believer is exhorted to live as if already resurrected.

 

     It has been suggested that the author may have been Valentinus of Egypt (2nd century) himself; most scholars now deny this, preferring an otherwise unknown late 2nd century Christian-Gnostic, influenced by Valentinianism, it is true, but in several points more heavily influenced by Pauline teaching.

 

     Synoptic tradition is allegedly presupposed at times, though it is not often used. One famous example is its use of the Transfiguration story to prove the reality of the Resurrection—(For if you remember reading in the gospel that Elijah appeared and Moses with him, do not think the resurrection is an illusion.)—the only question being which version the author had in mind. The text many are lacking in faith in it but there are few who find it may reflect Matthew 7:13f; or it may reflect special source material. The allusion at 45.6-9—(so as not to leave anything hidden, but to reveal all things openly)—is not unlike Mark 4:22 and parallels; but there are certain Pauline texts (­I Corinthians­ 2:6; 4:5; ­Colossians­ 1:26; ­Ephesians­ 3:9) which are equally close.

 

     It can, in any case, be demonstrated that the author of this letter knew the finished Orthodox gospel attributed to Matthew; and though it may be considered less certain, the reference to the transfiguration story implies knowledge of the ­Received Gospel of Mark­.

 

     NTB lists the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various texts of the ­Received New Testament­.

 

I,4;44.8-10­: To be sure, many are lacking faith in it, but there are few who find it.

Matthew 7:13-14­: “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Luke 13:23-24­: And some one said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

*

I,4;44.21-29­: Now the Son of God, Rheginos, was Son of Man. He embraced them both, possessing the humanity and the divinity, so that on the one hand he might vanquish death through his being Son of God,

Hebrews 2:14-15­: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature, that through death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.

*

I,4;45.14-23­: The Savior swallowed up death ... having swallowed the visible by the invisible, and he gave us the way of our immortality.

I Corinthians 15:54­: When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

II Corinthians 5:4b­: so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

*

I,4;45.23-28­: Then, indeed, as the Apostle said, “We suffered with him, and we arose with him, and we went to heaven with him.”

Romans 6:5,8­: For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.

Romans 8:17­: and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

II Corinthians 4:10-14­: always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we too believe, and so we speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.

Ephesians 2:5-6­: even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Colossians 2:12-13­: and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses,

Colossians 3:1,3-4­: If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

II Timothy 2:11-12a­: The saying is sure: If we have died with him, we shall also live with him; if we endure, we shall also reign with him;

*

I,4;45.39-46.2­: This is the spiritual resurrection which swallows up the psychic in the same way as the fleshly.

I Corinthians 15:44,54­: It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. … When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

*

I,4;48.6-10­: For if you remember reading in the Gospel that Elijah appeared and Moses with him,

Mark 9:4­: And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses; and they were talking to Jesus.

Matthew 17:3­: And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.

Luke 9:30-31­: And behold, two men talked with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem.

*

I,4;48.34-49.7­: It is the revelation of what is, and the transformation of things, and a transition into newness. For imperishability descends upon the perishable; the light flows down upon the darkness, swallowing it up; and the Pleroma fills up the deficiency. These are the symbols and the images of the resurrection.

I Corinthians 15:42­: So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.

I Corinthians 15:50-54­: I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

 

[NTB, 42-47; NAG, 50; NHG, 68-71]

 

305. The Letter of Pelagia

 

     Under the name of Pelagia a number of saints and martyrs were venerated by the mediaeval church, and various Pelagia legends are extant in Greek, Latin, and Syriac (for which see Usener, ­Legenden der Heiligen Pelagia­, 1879; Lewis, “Select Narratives of Holy Women” in ­Studia Sinaitica­ IX, X; ­Acta Sanctorum­). The Ethiopic Pelagia, however, differs materially from all of these, and while it presents resemblances of two of them, it is chiefly interesting as relating a legendary episode in the life of Paul, very like one for which Jerome of Strido (d.420) has hitherto been the chief sponsor.

 

     The Ethiopic story of Pelagia, represented by this tractate, is briefly as follows. Paul visits Caesarea and preaches the gospel, but is arrested as an innovator and after being examined is suffered to depart from the city. Going into the mountains, he encounters a huge lion, which accosts him, and asks for Christian instruction (or perhaps baptism). After teaching the lion, Paul returns to the city and restores a dead man to life. The interest thus aroused leads him to resume his preaching, and many believe, including Pelagia, the king’s daughter, who renounces her husband to follow Paul’s teaching. The king is incensed at this and orders Paul arrested and thrown to a lion in the theater. The lion proves to be the one Paul has lately taught, and instead of devouring him, he joins him in prayer and praise. Amazed, the authorities release Paul and the lion, and they depart together. Pelagia is seized and cast into a brazen cow. She goes in willingly, but rain extinguishes the fire. Her husband, seeing her resolve, kills himself by falling on his sword. The narrative closes abruptly, with no hint of Pelagia’s fate; with whom, indeed, the letter has very little to do.

 

A

 

     The best known of the Pelagia legends is that of Pelagia of Antioch, also called Margarita (from her pearls), a rich courtesan who became a Christian and later, under the name of Pelagius, a hermit. This story falls about the middle of the 5th century AD, but with it the Ethiopic Pelagia betrays no relationship.

 

B

 

     Another concerns Pelagia of Tarsus, who was beloved by the son of Diocletian (whose father was emperor from 284-305). She left Tarsus in search of the fugitive bishop Clinon, from whom she received baptism. Her lover, in despair at her Christian profession, killed himself, and she suffered martyrdom in a brazen bull, a form of execution found in other acts of martyrdom (e.g., those of Irene). While insuperable differences of time and place distinguish the Ethiopic Pelagia of Caesarea from this Pelagia of Tarsus, some parallels must not be overlooked.

 

1. In both, the fugitive Christian leader (Clinon in the Tarsian story, Paul in the Caesarean) flees into the country where he meets and teaches a Christian inquirer (Pelagia in the Tarsian story, the lion in the Caesarean).

 

2. In the Tarsian legend, Pelagia declines to marry the emperor’s son; in the Caesarean, she is herself the king’s daughter and renounces her husband.

 

3. In both legends the brazen cow or bull appears as a means of execution.

 

4. In both legends the lover or husband kills himself.

 

C

 

     A third legend is that of a Margarita, a betrothed maiden, who flees, disguised as a man, to a monastery, and becomes a monk under the name of Pelagius. She becomes abbot, but is degraded and expelled on a false charge, and becomes a hermit. Revealing her innocence just before her death, she is thenceforth known as Reparata. While this tale bears no resemblance to the Ethiopic, its heroine, Margarita\Pelagius\Reparata, may serve as a slender link between the Ethiopic Pelagia of Caesarea, and the only Caesearean heroine in any way associated with the name of Pelagia—Reparata of Caesarea, an historical person—a girl of twelve years of age, who professed Christianity before Decius (emperor 249-251), and was beheaded.

 

     While it is clearly impossible to derive the Ethiopic Pelagia in all its details, or even in its general outline, from any of these legends, it is to the story of Pealgia of Tarsus (B, above) that the Ethiopic Pelagia owes the most.

 

1. The substitution of Caesarea for Tarsus as the scene of the story is probably due to the greater familiarity of the former name, rather than to any influence of the legend of Reparata (Pelagia) of Caesarea.

 

2. The comparison of the Ethiopic with the Tarsian story, too, suggests that some at least of the differences may be due to corruption of the text incident to the successive translations through which the story has passed.

 

     Perplexing as is the problem presented by the Pelagia of the Ethiopic story, that suggested by its references to Paul is not less so. As ordinarily conceived, Paul’s history has no place for a ministry and arrests at Caesarea in Palestine; but the Ethiopic martyrologists were seldom hampered by historical or geographical considerations. The quaint story of the converted and friendly lion however assumes something like importance when read in the light of Jerome of Strido (d.420AD, ­De Viris Illustribus­ 7—(igitur Paul et Theclae et totam baptizati leonis fabulam inter apocrypha conputemus.).

 

     Did Jerome know this story? Did he have vaguely in mind, not the Acts of Paul and Thecla­ alone (which, as Harnack points out, has no reference to a baptized lion) but the ­Acts of Paul­ as a whole; and did the ­Acts of Paul­ once contain, not simply Paul’s fight with the beasts at Epehsus but also a deliverance out of the mouth of the lion? The fight with beasts has been recognized as a legendary elaboration of Paul’s words in ­I Corinthians­ 15:32—(What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus?) Certainly a similar process might have made of ­II Timothy­ 4:17 this—(But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength to proclaim the word fully, that all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth.)—which story the Ethiopic Pelagia preserves. And to no one can such a composition be more naturally attributed than to the imaginative author of the ­Acts of Paul­ (c.150-c.200AD).

 

     At the same time, a story of a fight with beasts given by Nicephorus Callistus (d.c.1335, ­Ecclesiastical History­ 11:25), and a similar one by Hippolytus of Rome (­d.c.236, Commentary on Daniel­ III:xxix),\fn{The story is that a hungry lion is let loose upon Paul in the amphitheater at Ephesus, but instead of rending him it fawns upon him Paul is set at liberty, and the lion escapes. Hippolytus evidently believes the story.} bears some resemblance to our story, and may adequately account for it (although there are striking elements in the Ethiopic for which Nicephorus affords no parallel). But even though the previous meeting of Paul with the lion, and the conversion of the latter, are wanting in Nicephorus, and even though the Ethiopic letter does not precisely speak of a baptism of a lion, it is highly probable that its failure to do so is due to an error in translation, and that the version lying in back of it described the lion as seeking and receiving baptism at the hands of Paul.

 

     The main elements, then, of the Ethiopic Pelagia are derived from the story of Pelagia of Tarsus, and from some lost legend of Paul and the lion, of much the same sort as the ­Acts of Paul.

 

     The legend of Pelagia is preserved in three manuscripts in the British Museum: (1) ­Oriental 689­, 15th century; (2) ­Oriental 687-688­, 18th century; and (3) ­Oriental 686­, 18th century.

 

[PEL, 95-98; NTA, II, 337, note 2]

 

306. The First Letter of Clement to the Corinthians

 

     In the year 1628 an ancient manuscript of the Greek Received Bible was presented to King Charles I of England by Cyril, Patriarch of Jerusalem. In addition to the Received Text, this manuscript was also found to contain two further documents, which were collectively described as ­“The Letters of Clement­.” Until this discovery the letters themselves—abbreviated in this discussion as ­I Clement­ and ­II Clement­—had been unknown to Western scholars, though there are frequent references to them in the works of early Christian writers.

 

     In ­I Clement­ we now possess the earliest and most valuable surviving example of Christian literature outside the Received New Testament­. It takes the form of a long letter addressed by the church of Rome to the church of Corinth, where it alleges that certain church officials had been illegally deposed. The letter issues a call to repentance, insisting the God requires due order in all things and that the deposed presbyters must be reinstated and legitimate superiors be obeyed. The Apostles appointed bishops and deacons in every place, and it was they who gave directions how the ministry should perpetuate itself, etc.

 

     Clement calls the higher clergy indifferently bishops and presbyters or elders. He refers to offering the gifts (i.e., the Eucharist) as one of their functions, and to some or all of them as rulers of the church. Here and elsewhere he affords valuable evidence of the state of the ministry in his time, on the history of the Roman Orthodoxy and (it has also been held) the martyrdoms of Peter and Paul.

 

     There are in the text of this letter two important reasons for regarding it as a product of primitive Christianity.

 

1. ­I Clement­ describes the messengers entrusted with its delivery by the use of a Greek idiomatic expression restricted to a definition of the sub-Apostolic generation—men whose lives have been irreproachable from youth to age. This alone indicates that they must have been of the second generation of Christians; and that in its turn brings us to the closing years of the 1st century.

 

2. Such a time-frame also explains the mention in the opening chapter of the Roman church’s recent misfortunes as a clear allusion to the notorious persecutions of the Christians under the emperor Domitian (95AD); and the most reasonable assumption therefore is that the letter was written shortly after that persecution had been brought to an end by the assassination of the emperor in September, 96.

 

     Though the author does not disclose his name, the unanimous opinion of the ancients attributed the composition to Clement, the contemporary bishop of Rome, and fourth in the traditional line of bishops from Peter—Peter, 37-67AD; Linus, 67-78; Cletus, 78-90; Clement, 90-100—and there is no reason to deny the accepted view that in this person we have the author of the letter. There have been various attempts to discover more about him through information supplied in his letter; or otherwise, from historical sources.

 

1. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xv) states, on the authority of Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254) that this Clement is the Clement mentioned by Paul as one of his fellow-laborers at Philippi (Philippians­ 4:3c—(together with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are in the book of life.); but though this is not chronologically impossible, it is in the highest degree unlikely that a member of the Philippian church and the head of the Roman community should be one and the same individual—more especially since the name Clement was a far from uncommon one at the time (and it would be on this ground alone much simpler to assume that we have here to do with two individuals who happened to share the same name. H)

 

2. Another old tradition identifies him with a certain Titus Flavius Clemens, a distinguished Roman nobleman who held the consulship in 95 and was a nephew of the emperor Vespasian (ruled 69-79) and a cousin of the two succeeding emperors, Titus (79-81) and Domitian (81-96). The belief in this identity rests mainly on a statement by the historian Dio Cassius [d.c.235, ­Romaika­, which probably survives in the epitome made of a section of his work (otherwise lost) by Joannes Xiphilinus, an 11th century Byzantine monk] that this Titus Flavius Clemens was executed by Domitian on the charge of atheism (a common appellation of Christianity in the heathen world). It is difficult to believe, however, that the position of a 1st century Roman consul could be compatible with the office of a Christian bishop (for it is not until the legalization of Christianity that the upper classes of the Roman people began to adhere to the Christian faith in large numbers H); to say nothing of the further objection that the letter of a cultured Roman of the imperial court circle would undoubtedly have been written in a more classical and less Jewish style than ­I Clement­. Nevertheless, this legendary association of Clement with the Imperial Family of the Roman Empire may very well conceal a clue to the real state of the case. For if we accept the suggestion that the future church leader was in fact a freedman belonging to the house of Titus Flavius Clemens, and that in accordance with custom he assumed the name of his patron at his liberation, the subsequent confusion of Clement the bishop with Clement the consul can be readily explained; and most critics are now inclined to take this view.

 

3. The author was deeply versed in the ­Received Old Testament­—he quotes widely and profusely from this collection, and his familiarity with it has colored his style with occasional Hebraisms. On the other hand: (a) he knows them only in the Greek translation (of the ­Septuagint­); and (b) he betrays no actual knowledge of Hebrew. From this we may perhaps assume that Clement was of Greek, rather than of Jewish, descent.

 

4. Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200, ­Against All Heresies­ III:iii, in Eusebius’ ­Ecclesiastical History­ V:vi) says that the author had met some of the Apostles and heard them preach. Certainly he is familiar with ­Romans­, ­I Corinthians­, ­II Corinthians­, ­Ephesians­, ­I Peter­, ­James­ and ­Hebrews­; but nowhere in ­I Clement­ does he credit these writings with the authority of being Scripture. (Indeed, it appears that they did not enjoy this authority until about the middle of the 2nd century, thus indicating an early date for ­I Clement­. H)

 

5. The precise nature of Clement’s position in the church of his day is not clear from what is said about it in the work. So far as one can tell, monarchial bishops—people who were sole rulers of their local congregations—were in Clement’s day as yet unknown at Rome. Indeed, Clement himself in this very letter appears to speak of bishops and presbyters as though they were identical. Moreover, there is an interesting statement in the Shepherd of Hermas­ (written 140-155AD), at ­Visions­ II:iv, which says that, of two copies of a certain revelation, one is to be sent to Clement and the other to Grapte; and Clement shall then send it to the cities abroad, for that is his business. Now, the sharing of this commission between Clement and some otherwise unknown female servant of the church (presumably a deaconess) does not suggest that his office at this period of time was one of pre-eminent dignity. It seems therefore a plausible conjecture that Clement may have been one—though possibly the principal one—among several leaders of the Roman church, and that he was especially charged with its relations with other churches; in other words, that his functions were those of a sort of Secretary of State.

 

6. Clement also betrays a habit of presenting under the appearance of a continuous quotation a collection of extracts from various sources; and as these are sometimes loosely and inaccurately cited from memory, their identification is not always easy. On occasions, indeed, they are so unlike anything to be found in the Received Bible that despairing critics are reduced to supposing that Clement has taken some of them from some lost apocryphal source (i.e., from some non-canonical source: H). A good example of this is the long passage quoted in chapter 8:

 

... All those who were ministers of the grace of God have spoken, through the Holy Spirit, of repentance. The very Lord of all Himself has spoken of it, and even with an oath. “By my life,” the Lord declares, “it is not the sinner’s death that I desire, so much as his repentance.” And He adds this gracious pronouncement: “Repent, O house of Israel, and turn from your wickedness. Say to the children of my people, Though your sins may stretch from earth to Heaven, and though they may be redder than scarlet and blacker than sackcloth, yet if you turn wholeheartedly to me and say, ‘Father,’ I will listen to you as I would to a people that was holy.” And he says somewhere else, “Wash yourselves, and be clean; put away the evil of your souls from my eyes. Leave off your wickedness, and learn to do right. Seek justice, relieve the oppressed, do right by the fatherless, act fairly to the widow. Come, let us reason together, says the Lord; though your sins are crimson-red, I will make them as white as snow; though they are like scarlet, I will make them white as wool. If you are willing, and listen to me, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse, and will not listen, a sword shall devour you. These words are from the Lord’s own mouth.” Thus, by His own almighty will, He has confirmed His desire that repentance should be open to every one of His beloved. ...

 

     I Clement­ was widely known and held in very great esteem by the early church.

 

1. At ­Letter of the Apostles to the Christians of the World­ III (c.150AD—(who by his word commanded the heavens and built the earth and all that is in it and bounded the sea that it should not go beyond its boundaries)— there occurs a thought parallel with ­I Clement­ 20:6f—(Nor does the illimitable basin of the sea, gathered by the operations of His hand into its various different centers, overflow at any time the barriers encircling it, but does as He has bidden it.)

 

2. It was publicly read in numerous churches, and regarded as being almost on a level of inspiration with the Received Text. The was certainly the case with the church at Corinth, where it is known to have been read along with the Received Text c.170AD. ENC says this was also true in the Egyptian Christian church, and generally throughout Christian antiquity.

 

3. Apparently so great was the respect accorded to this genuine letter of Clement of Rome that a late Canonical collection (the ­Apostolic Canons­, 6th century) still actually includes it among the books of the Received New Testament­ (though there are reasons for believing this ascription to be an interpolation).

 

4. Widespread use of ­I Clement­ is also attested by its survival in four languages: (a) in Greek [two manuscripts, Codex Alexandrinus (British Museum; text imperfect; early 5th century) and Codex Hierosolensis (which includes the ­Didache­; 1056AD)]; (b) in ancient Latin translation (ed. Morin, Maredsous, 1894); (c) in ancient Syriac translation (ed. Bensly and Kennett, London, 1899); and (d) in some Coptic fragments (ed. Rosch, Strassburg, 1910).

 

[ECW, 17-22; NTA, I, 192; ODC, 296-297; ENC, V, 898]

 

307. The Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians

 

     II Clement­ (for so this letter is customarily known) is in reality a homily, and is assigned on stylistic grounds to an author other than that of ­I Clement­. It is, in fact, the earliest surviving Christian sermon, and probably does belong to Corinth (so Funk, Kruger), though some scholars have assigned it to Rome [so Harnack, who attributed it to Soter of Rome (c.166-c.175)], or Alexandria (so Harris, Bartlet, Streeter).

 

     There is evidence, however, both favorable and unfavorable as regards its canonicity; but it also clearly appears that what we have here to do with is a speech delivered in church, but published as a letter.

 

1. Eusebius of Caesearea (c.315) is the first writer who mentions it, and he questions its authenticity on the grounds of its use of uncanonical writings and the silence concerning its existence in writers prior to him.

 

2. Photius of Constantinople (c.854), however, though criticizing it, finds it canonical; and in the Biblical Codex Alexandrinus (5th century) and in the later Syrian church, it was also so regarded. Between the time of Eusebius and Photius, it was occasionally cited by both Monophysite and Orthodox writers, but it was never a popular writing.

 

3. No title, not even a letter of one, is preserved in the surviving Greek manuscript texts. In fact, the first time this letter is credited to Clement of Rome is in the Syriac tradition—in a Syriac manuscript at Cambridge, there is a subscription to the letter ascribing it to Clement, followed by these words—(Of the same as the Second Epistle to the Corinthians.); and at the close of this letter, there is the following subscription: (Here endeth the Second Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians.)

 

4. When we consider ­II Clement­ 17:4, however—(And let us not think to give head and believe now only, while we are admonished by the presbyters, but also when we have returned home, remembering the commandments of the Lord)— we seem certainly to have come across a passage which impresses us as if it is being read from a pulpit.

 

5. And when we consider ­II Clement­ 19:1—(wherefore, brethren and sisters, after the God of truth hath been heard, I read to you an entreaty that ye may give heed to the things that are written, in order that he may save both yourselves and him that readeth among you.)—there is proof within the letter itself that this writing forms a part of a Divine service. The passage is elliptical, but there seems no doubt as to its meaning. The Scripture was read, and listening to it was regarded as hearing the voice of God, whose words of truth were spoken. Then followed the sermon or exhortation [compare Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165, ­First Apology­ 67)]. That lessons from some at least of the ­Received New Testament­ were enclosed at the date of this homily, seems quite certain. It is here implied that this sermon was written and read to an assembled congregation.

 

6. Finally, when we consider the doxology of ­II Clement­—(To the only God invisible, the Father of truth, who sent forth to us the Savior and Prince of incorruption, through whom also He manifested to us the truth and the heavenly life, to Him be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.)—we find that its very presence indicates the primitive custom of thus closing a homily. The practice, of course, naturally follows if one is also going to imitate the example of the Received letters.

 

     There are a number of suggestions within the manuscript of ­II Clement­ as to the identity of its author.

 

1. It appears that the author of ­II Clement­ was familiar with 17 of the 27 books of the ­Received New Testament­—Mark­, ­Matthew­, ­Luke­, ­John­, ­Acts­, ­Romans­, ­I Corinthians­, ­II Corinthians­, ­Galatians­, ­Ephesians­, ­Philippians­, ­I Timothy­, ­Hebrews­, ­James­, ­I Peter­, ­II Peter­, and ­Revelation­; with 10 of the 36 books of the Received Old Testament­—­Genesis­, ­Psalms­, ­Proverbs­, ­Ecclesiastices­, ­Isaiah­, ­Jeremiah­, ­Ezekiel­, ­Daniel­, Hosea­, ­Malachi­, and the apocryphal book ­Tobit­; and perhaps also with ­Didache­ V:iii; ­Apostolic Constitutions­ VII:xviii; ­Letter of Barnabas­ XX and opening sentence; ­I Clement­; and the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­. There is also contact with at least four works the nature of which appears to be otherwise unknown:

 

     (a) For II Clement­ 4:5—(Wherefore, if you do this, the Lord says: Though you should be joined to me in my bosom and keep not my commandments, I will cast you out and say to you: Depart from me, I known you not, whence you are, you doers of lawlessness.)—no direct parallels can be adduced from the Received gospels. Reminiscences of ­Luke­ 13:27—(But he will say, ‘I do not know where you come from; go away from me, all you evildoers!’)—and Matthew­ 7:25—(Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’)—can only be discovered for single words; and the altered form of these passages in Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165, ­First Apology­ 15:11; ­Dialogue with Trypho­ 76:5) cannot be drawn upon in explanation. Here extra-Received Tradition must indeed be assumed, but the source must have been very similar to the Synoptic Tradition. The idea also occurs in the ­Gospel of the Nazaraeans­—(If ye be in my bosom and do not the will of my Father in heaven, I will cast you out of my bosom.”)

 

     (b) ­II Clement­ 5:2-4—(For the Lord says: You will be as sheep in the midst of wolves. But Peter answered him and said: What if the wolves tear the sheep in pieces? Jesus said to Peter: Let the sheep not fear the wolves after death; you also fear not them who kill you, but otherwise cannot do anything to you; but fear him who after your death has power over body and soul to cast them into hell-fire.) In spite of reminiscences of ­Matthew­ 10:16, 10:28—(“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” ... Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.)—as also of such passages as appear in Justin of Flavia Neapolis (­First Apology­ 19:7), Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Excerpts of Theodotos­ 14:3, 15:1), and Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200, ­Adversus Haeresis­ III:xix.4)—a special Tradition can be traced. (i) The form of the dialogue between Jesus and Peter certainly points to a special form of the evangelical Tradition; and (ii) the fact that the saying in ­II Clement­ 12:1-2—(Let us now every hour expect the kingdom of God in Love and righteousness, since we know not the day of God’s appearing. For the Lord himself, on being asked by some one when his kingdom should come, said: When the two shall be one and that which is without as that which is within, and the male with the female neither male nor female.)—also has the form of a dialogue and also cannot be brought forward in support of the view that 5:2-4 is likely derived from the Gospel of the Egyptians­.

 

     (c) ­II Clement­ 8:6—(This, then, is what He means: “Keep the flesh holy and the seal undefiled, that ye may receive eternal life.”)—has been thought to be merely an explanation of the words preceding it; but some have thought it to be taken from an otherwise unknown apocryphal book.

 

     (d) ­II Clement­ 13:3b—(and again, “Woe to him on account of whom My name is blasphemed.)—is also open to speculation as to source. Lightfoot thinks it probable, for example, that the preacher used two different forms of Isaiah­ 52:5—(Now therefore what have I here, says the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail, says the Lord, and continually all the day my name is despised.) On the other hand, compare ­Ezekiel­ 36:20-23—(but when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that men said of them, “These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land.” But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel caused to be profaned among the nations to which they came. Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations will know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.)

 

2. At ­II Clement­ 2:4—(Our people seemed to be outcast from God, but now, through believing, have become more numerous than those who are reckoned to possess God.)—it has been remarked that the writer here implies that before his conversion to Christianity, he was a Gentile.

 

3. At ­II Clement­ 7:1 occurs a pair of phrases (underscored)—(Wherefore, then, my brethren, ­let us strive­ with all earnestness, knowing that the contest is in our case close at hand, and that many undertake long voyages ­to strive for a corruptible reward­)—which may refer to the concourse at the Isthmian games at Corinth, likewise a thing which would have meaning to a Hellenized individual.

 

4. ­II Clement­ 14—(for this flesh is the copy of the spirit. No one then who corrupts the copy shall partake of the original)—has a Platonic basis, a philosophy perhaps inherent in a Greek-speaking author.

 

5. At ­II Clement­ 20:2—(We are striving in the contest.)—there is definitely used a figure of speech common to all Greek literature from the Classical period.

 

6. At ­II Clement­ 13:6-7—(For the Gentiles, when they hear from our mouth ­the oracles of God­, marvel at them as beautiful and great; afterwards, when they have learned that our works are not worthy of the words we speak, they then turn themselves to blasphemy, saying that it is some fable and delusion. For when they hear from us that ­God in His oracles­ saith, “There is no thank unto you, if ye love them that love you; but there is thank unto you, if ye love your enemies and them that hate you”)—there is used of the Christian Scriptures what appears to be a pagan idiomatic expression (underscored), a thing that would perhaps occur most readily to a pagan convert.

 

7. The Greek expression for utter sinner occurs just once at ­II Clement­ 18:2—(for I myself also, being an utter sinner­, and not yet escaped)—and it may be that the author of ­II Clement­ familiar with this wording through the Didache­, the ­Apostolic Constitutions­, or the ­Letter of Barnabas­, in all of which the phrase is to be found, and from all of which material may be found in ­II Clement­.

 

8. The use of the ­Didache­, the ­Apostolic Constitutions­ and the Letter of Barnabas­—all early to mid-2nd century works—indicates that our author wrote at the earliest towards the end of the 2nd century, or the beginning of the 3rd. (H)

 

9. The important position of almsgiving, stressed in chapter 16 of ­II Clement­—(Almsgiving therefore is a good thing, as repentance from sin; fasting is better than prayer, but almsgiving than both)—was a characteristic of the most primitive church in many areas, and is a reminder of the intimacy of the author’s Christianity. We have here to do, then, with a former pagan of Corinthian extraction now converted to Christianity, a presbyter who has compiled his sermon from as many as 36 different works, much of it by memory, and whose work, perhaps during the author’s lifetime, was attached to ­I Clement­ by a Syriac translator at some time during the late 2nd or early 3rd century. The author himself (so NTA,I,168) will have written his work c.150AD.

 

[ANF, VII, 517-523; NTA, I, 168-173; ENC, V, 900]

 

308. 309. The First Letter of Clement on Virginity. The Second Letter of Clement on Virginity

 

     Among the components of the Clementine Literature are also two letters—actually treatises—alleged to be by Clement of Rome on the subject of virginity. The evidence against the genuineness seem conclusive, even though, with the exception of the homily usually styled ­II Clement­, no spurious writings attributed to Clement I of Rome can be assigned an earlier date than these two letters. Their basic purpose is to denounce the abuses of spiritual marriage, the kiss of peace, and violations of asceticism in general.

 

     Evidence from the letter itself points to a date later than the sub-Apostolic age.

 

1. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.404, ­Panarion­ XXX:xv) is the first Father to mention them (c.375).

 

2. They were both used in Egypt during the 4th and 5th centuries; and this is proven by the existence of Coptic fragments of one of them.

 

3. Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­Ad Jovinum­ I:xii) certainly, were acquainted with these letters.

 

4. It is generally admitted that Greek was the original language of these letters; for extracts from the original Greek have been found preserved in the homilies of the monk Antiochus of Palestine (c.620)

 

     At the same time, they may not be placed too early in point of time.

 

1. In ­I Virginity­ V:vi, the concluding words—(If so be, then, that thou longest for all these things, conquer the body; conquer the appetites of the flesh; conquer the world in the spirit of God; conquer these vain things of time, which pass away and grow old, and decay, and come to an end; conquer the dragon; conquer the lion; conquer the serpent; conquer Satan;—through Jesus Christ, who doth strengthen thee by the hearing of His words and the Eucharist of the Godhead­.)—are clear evidence of a later date than the sub-Apostolic age of Clement of Rome.

 

2. In ­I Virginity­ V:x, the concluding word—(Dost thou understand and know how honorable a thing is sanctity?)—is at issue; for the use in the limited sense of continency, chaste, etc., is strong evidence of later origin.

 

3. The very minuteness of the precepts in ­II Virginity­ II:i-iv—(And if, moreover, it chanced that we are distant from our homes and from our neighbors, and the day decline and the eventide overtake us, and the brethren press us, through love of the brotherhood and by reason of their affection for strangers, to stay with them, so that we may watch with them, and they may hear the holy word of God and do it, and be fed with the words of the Lord, so that they may be mindful of them, and they set before us bread and water and that which God provides, and we be willing and consent to stay through the night with them; if there be a holy man, with him we turn in and lodge, and that same brother will provide and prepare whatever is necessary for us; and he himself waits upon us, and he himself washes our feet for us and anoints us with ointment, and he himself gets ready a bed for us, that we may sleep in reliance on God: all these things will that consecrated brother, who is in the place in which we tarry, do in his own person. He will himself serve the brethren, and each one of the brethren who are in the same place will join with him in rendering all those services which are requisite for the brethren. But with us may no female, whether young maiden or married woman, be there at that time; nor she that is aged, nor she that has taken the vow; not even a maid-servant, whether Christian or heathen; but there shall only be men with men.)—is of itself suspicious. The simplicity of the earlier age had evidently passed when these prohibitions were penned.

 

4. At ­I Virginity­ X:ii—(But we speak thus ­concerning those things which we speak­ in consequence of the vile rumors and reports concerning shameless men, who, under pretext of the fear of God, have their dwelling with maidens, and so expose themselves to danger, and walk with them along the road and in solitary places alone—a course which is full of dangers, and full of stumbling-blocks and snares and pitfalls; nor is it in any respect right for Christians and those who fear God so to conduct themselves.)—and at ­I Virginity­ XII:xvii—(For this is comely before God and before men, that we should remember the poor, and be lovers of the brethren and of strangers, for the sake of God and for the sake of those who believe in God, as we have learnt from the law and from the prophets, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, concerning the love of the brotherhood and the love of strangers: for ye know the words which have been spoken concerning the love of the brotherhood and the love of strangers; because this same thing is pleasant and agreeable to you: because ye are all taught of God­; powerfully are the words spoken to all those who do them.)—there appear to be interpolations in the original text of this letter, a thing which might have happened before its translation into Syriac, but with certainty after its creation in Greek.

 

5. Early works of this character would not have disappeared from notice to such an extent, had they been authentic writings of Clement. Supporting, as they do, the ascetic tendency prevalent in the Western church at and after the date when they are first noticed by Christian writers, they would have been carefully preserved and frequently cited, had they been autographs. The name of the great Roman Father would have been so weighty, that the advocates of celibacy would have kept the documents in greater prominence. The silence of Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340) respecting the letters is an important factor here.

 

6. Indeed, another argument against the genuineness of the letters is derived from their ascetic tone itself. Such pronounced ascetic statements are not, as a rule, to be found in the Christian literature of the sub-Apostolic age. This historical argument is further sustained by other indications in the letters, which point to a stage of ecclesiastical development which belongs to a much later period than that of Clement of Rome.

 

7. The use of Scripture in these letters seems to be conclusive against Clementine authorship. Of the 36 books in the ­Received Old Testament­, the author of ­I Virginity­ and ­II Virginity­ quote from only 9—­Genesis­, ­Exodus­, Judges­, ­I Samuel­, ­II Samuel­, ­II Kings­, ­Psalms­, ­Proverbs­, ­Ecclesiastes­, ­Isaiah­, and Ecclesiasticus­. There are, however, allusions to 19 of the 27 books of the ­Received New Testament­—­Mark­, Matthew­, ­John­, ­Acts­, ­Romans­, ­I Corinthians­, ­II Corinthians­, ­Galatians­, ­Ephesians­, ­Philippians­, ­Colossians­, ­II Thessalonians­, ­I Timothy­, ­II Timothy­, ­Titus­, ­Hebrews­, ­James­, ­I Peter­, and ­Revelation­. A comparison with the citations in ­I Clement­ shows that ­I Virginity­ and ­II Virginity­ make much greater use of the Pauline (particular the Pastoral—which many contemporary scholars consider to be non-Pauline) letters than does ­I Clement­; that the ­Received Old Testament­ is less frequently cited here than in ­I Clement­; and that the mode of handling proof-texts in ­I­ and ­II Virginity­ is that of a later age.

 

     Their dating by modern scholarship has vacillated, from those who initially embraced them as genuine, to those who regard them as the products of a later time than that of Clement I of Rome. Originally, numerous Roman Catholic writers maintained their genuineness with great ingenuity and learning. Wetstein, the Protestant who first edited them—he unexpectedly discovered them appended to a copy of the Syriac Peshitta­ (from the early 5th century, the official text of the Bible in Syriac-speaking Christian lands) furnished to him by Sir James Porter, then British ambassador at Constantinople, and who soon afterwards (1752) published them—also defended them as autographs of Clement I. Almost immediately, however, Lardner (1753, 1754) disputed their authenticity; and though in the 19th century both Villecourt (1853) and Beelen (1856) have very carefully edited them and argued strenuously for their genuineness, it may be doubted if they have repelled all the objections of Lardener. The judgment of the most candid Patristic scholars is now against their authenticity, including virtually all the Protestant scholars, and Mohler, Champagny, Bruck, Mansi, Hefele, Alzog and Funk among the Roman Catholics.

 

     Ulhorn, in view of the reference to the ­subintroductae\fn{female ascetics who lived together with men although both parties had taken the vow of celibacy with earnest intent, a practice widely prevalent throughout Christian antiquity)­ spoken of in the literature of the 3rd century, believes that it is probable that they were composed in the Oriental church about that time. The Coptic version of one of the letters itself ascribes them to Athanasius of Alexandria (d.373); and the time says ENC, if not the person, is surely correct. They seem to have been first translated into English c.1890.

 

[ANF, VIII, 53-66; ODC, 301; ENC, V, 900]

 

310. 311. The Letter of Appion to Clement. The Letter of Clement to Appion

 

     These letters exist as an intimate part of the ­Homilies of Clement­ (at V:x-ix and V:xxi-xxvi), and cannot be properly regarded as having been previously separate from it (i.e., as having a separate literary history of their own). Their introduction into the ­Homilies­ is an ingenious literary artifice, admitted as artificial by the author at Homilies­ V:xxii—(I therefore, having received this billet from Appion, as though I were really going to send it to a beloved one, pretended as if she had written in answer to it; and the next day, when Appion came, I gave him the reply as if from her, as follows)—and at ­Homilies­ V:xxvii.1—(When Appion heard the pretended answer.)

 

     Also, there are parallels of text to both letters within the works in which they appear: (1) for ­Homilies­ V:x-ix at Recognitions­ X:xx-xxiii; and (2) for ­Homilies­ V:xxi-xxvi at ­Homilies­ VI:xxi and ­Recognitions­ X:xxiv. In one of these parallels (that at ­Homilies­ VI:xxi-xxvi) the author of the ­Homilies­ admits that he was the creator of a similar discussion at ­Homilies­ V:xxiii—(For instance, as I have mentioned already,); and, as ­Homilies­ V:xxiii turns out to be part of the ­Letter of Clement to Appion­, it is logical to infer that the author of the ­Homilies­ was also the author of this supposed Clementine letter.

 

     The Appion referred to is evidently Appion of Libya, the original source for the story of Androcles and the lion (in his ­Aiguptiaka­); but here for leading a deputation sent in 38AD by certain Alexandrians to Caligula, emperor of Rome, to complain about the Jews in their city (references to which are to be found in Philo’s Legatio ad Gaium­, who led a Jewish deputation from Alexandria to Rome in 39-40). Josephus of Palestine (d.c.100AD, Contra Apionem­) also wrote a small work against Apion’s charges.

 

[ANF, 252; ENC, II, 111-112; ODC, 746]

 

312. The Letter of Clement to James

 

     This letter is one of two found prefixed to the ­Homilies of Clement­. That its recipient is understood to be James, the brother of Jesus, is quite certain.

 

     The design of this letter, evidently known to Rufinus of Aquila (d.410, from his Latin translation of its original Greek, now lost), was to authenticate the ­Homilies of Clement­; indeed, the language Rufinus uses may fairly imply that this letter, known to be of later origin, was also sometimes prefixed to the Recognitions of Clement­.

 

     The entire literature gives James of Jerusalem a marked supremacy. Consider chapter 22 (the final chapter of the Letter of Clement to James­)—(Whence I, my lord James, having promised as I was ordered, have not failed to write in books by chapters the greater part of his\fn{Peter is meant.} discourse in every city, which have been already written to you, and sent by himself, as for a token; and thus I dispatched them to you, inscribing them “Clement’s epitome of the Popular Sermons of Peter.” However, I shall begin to set them forth, as I was ordered.) Consider also ­Recognitions­ 3, where a summary is given of previous writings sent to James—(The first book, therefore, of those that I formerly sent to you, contains an account of the true Prophet, and of the peculiarity of the understanding of the law, according to what the tradition of Moses teacheth. The second contains an account of the beginning, and whether there be one beginning or many, and that the law of the Hebrews knows what immensity is the third, concerning God, and those things that have been ordained by Him. The fourth, that though there are many that are called gods, there is but one true God, according to the testimonies of the Scriptures. The fifth, that there are two heavens, one of which is that visible firmament which shall pass away, but the other is eternal and invisible. The sixth, concerning good and evil; and that all things are subjected to good by the Father; and why, and how, and whence evil is, and that it cooperates with good, but not with a good purpose; and what are the signs of good, and what those of evil; and what is the difference between duality and conjunction. The seventh, what are the things which the twelve Apostles treated of in the presence of the people in the Temple. The eighth, concerning the words of the Lord which seem to be contradictory, but are not; and what is the explanation of them. The ninth, that the law which has been given by God is righteous and perfect, and that it alone can make pure. The tenth, concerning the carnal birth of men, and concerning the generation which is by baptism; and what is the succession of carnal seed in man; and what is the account of his soul, and how the freedom of the will is in it, which, seeing it is not unbegotten, but made, could not be immovable from good. Concerning these several subjects, therefore, whatever Peter discoursed at Caesarea, according to his command, as I have said, I have sent you written in ten volumes.)

 

     This is a remarkable chapter, and evidence of Jewish-Christian origin. NTA says, moreover, that it was fashioned after its companion ­Letter of Peter to James­, which it says is also Jewish-Christian. (On that basis, we are led to a time of composition of this letter to the 2nd century AD. H)

 

[ANF, VIII, 134, 218, 222; NTA, II, 105, 535]

 

313. The Greek Apocalypse of Paul

 

     The ­Greek Apocalypse of Paul­ was designed as a literary sequel to II Corinthians­ 12:1-4—(I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I known a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows—and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.) Though it is not an early book, it is constructed largely out of early material. In it Paul is led into Paradise, where in the city of God he meets all the blessed—in one quarter, the Prophets, in another the Holy Innocents, in a third, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in a fourth, those who have wholeheartedly devoted themselves to God. The climax of the book is reached when Sunday is granted as a day of rest from torment. Paul has seen Paradise and Hell, and there is nothing more for him to do.

 

     There appear to be at least ten surviving ancient citations to this apocalypse.

 

1. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254) is quoted by Abu-l-Farag of Melitene (Bar Hebraeus, d.1286, Nomocanon­ VII: ix) as saying that the ­Apocalypse of Paul­, with other apocalypses and other early church writings (which are then enumerated) was accepted by the church. NTA says that if Origen knew of this work, he knew of it not in its present form.

 

2. Paul of Samosata (3rd century) is alleged by an otherwise unnamed authority (so ANF) to have written this apocalypse.

 

3. Prudentius of Spain (d.c.410, ­Cathemerinon­ V.125ff) expounds the idea of the relaxation of the fate of damned souls in the day of the Lord; and this is one of the teachings of the ­Apocalypse of Paul­.

 

4. Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430, ­On John­ 98.8) says that some have concocted an ­Apocalypse of Paul­ which the true church does not accept; however, the same Father (­Enchiridion ad Laurentium­ 112, written between 423-424AD), where he expounds the idea of the relaxation of the fate of damned souls in the day of the Lord, will have drawn this idea from the ­Apocalypse of Paul­.

 

5. Sozomen of Bethelia (early 5th century, ­Ecclesiastical History­ VII:xix), says:—(The book now circulated as the Apocalypse of Paul­ the apostle, which none of the ancient ever saw, is commended by most monks; but some contend that this book was found in the reign we write of.\fn{That of Theodosius I (379-395AD).} For they say that by a Divine manifestation there was found underground at Tarsus of Cilicia, in Paul’s house, a marble chest, and that in it was this book. However, when I inquired about this, a Cilician, a priest of the church of Tarsus, told me it was a lie. He was a man whose gray hairs showed him to be of considerable age, and he said that no such thing had happened in their city, and that he wondered whether the tale\fn{Or: the book.} had not been made up by heretics.)

 

6. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (early 6th century) lists the Revelation which is ascribed to Paul as apocryphal.

 

7. Caesarius of Arles (d.542) is believed by Fischer (in ­Vigiliae Christianae­ V, 1951, 84-87) to have used the Greek Apocalypse of Paul­.

 

8. The ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century), lists under the heading And the following apocryphal the entry: 20. The Revelation of Paul.

 

9. Abu-l-Farag (d.1286, ­Homily on Psalms­) also demonstrates a knowledge of at least the subject matter of this book; for he describes the destiny of the soul after death in a way closely related to ­Greek Apocalypse of Paul­ 13ff.

 

10. Dante of Florence (d.1321, ­La Divinia Commedia­ II:xxviii) quotes from this work—(There later went the Vessel of Election | To render confirmation of that faith (Andovvi poi lo Vas d'elezione | Per recarne conforto a quella fede.)—when he mentions the Vessel of Election. Both here and in hundreds of earlier mediaeval visions of the next world, the influence of this work is perceptible, sometimes faintly, often very plainly. The use of it by Dante is discussed by Silverstein (“Did Dante Know the Vision of St. Paul?” in Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature­ XIX, 1937, 231-247)

 

     The apocalypse became very popular, to judge from the depth of its linguistic survival.

 

1. GREEK. This, the allegedly original language, has only been passed down in an abbreviated form, or summary. As the other linguistic versions show, it has received additions (e.g., at 62:5ff, there are interpolated statements directed against the Nestorians); and the texts are disfigured by many omissions as well. The Greek versions stop at chapter 44—one form stopping even earlier, at the point where Mary has gained for the Lost Souls respite from perpetual torture during the days of Pentecost—thus omitting further material about Paradise (chapter 44 to the end of the work in most other versions). This may indicate that we have here to do with the first of two editions of the apocalypse, the first one being shorter than the other; for in none of the copies of the full­ text is there to be found one that stops at chapter 44. The Greek version was discovered by Tischendorf in 1843, in a Milanese manuscript (not earlier than the 15th century) and subsequently published by him (Apocalypses Apocryphae­, Leipzig, 1866, 34-69; critically edited by James, ­Apocrypha Anecdota: Texts and Studies­ II.3, Cambridge, 1893, 11-42.) Another manuscript exists (13th century); but they both seem to be copied from the same original (now lost). There is also a Greek text in Manuscript 317 of the Stadtbibliothek of St. Gall (reproduced by Silverstein in his ­Visio Sancti Paul­i, below), which NTA says is one of the best Greek witnesses. Two other manuscripts exist in Paris; and NTA lists a third thus: MS. Nouv. acq. lat. 1631.

 

2. LATIN. This is the most complete—and at the same time, the oldest surviving—witness to the ­Greek Apocalypse of Paul­ (although these texts, too, are abridged). A whole series of recensions exist; and from these were made the many vernacular versions which were current in almost every European language. The oldest Latin version has been edited by James (­ibid­; on pp. 4-7 of his work there is a comparison of the Greek, Syriac and Latin). The Latin text has also been edited in several recensions, with full discussion, by Silverstein [(­Visio Sancti Pauli­ in Lake’s ­Studies and Documents­ IV, 1935; and “The Vision of St. Paul: New Links and Patters in the Western Tradition” in ­Archives d’Histoire Doctrinale et Litteraire du Moyen Age­ XXXIV, 1959, 199-248), for eight new Latin texts which have appeared since 1935 that (so de Santos Otero) throw light on the transmission of the work from the 11th to the 16th centuries in Italy, and on the basis of which the development of the abridged forms can be followed more exactly]. Caminal, Archivist of the Cathedral of Barcelona (in ­Scriptorium­ I, 1946-1947, 240-242) has published a text from Codex 28 of the Cathedral in Barcelona coinciding in essentials with the section of Vienna Codex 362 printed by Silverstein (­ibid­., 1935, 153-155). James says that, in order to restore the ­Apocalypse of Paul­ in its original form, it is a matter of keeping to the Latin, and using the others to correct it; and with this NTA substantially agrees, though urging a consideration of the Slavonic, but doubting that it can be done.

 

3. COPTIC. This is the most important witness next to the Latin. Budge (­Miscellaneous Coptic Texts­, London, 1915, English translation on 1043-1084) published a Coptic text which begins with chapter 15 and has been expanded in places with a long continuation. Part of this is original; but it tails off into subject matter which cannot be part of the original document.

 

4. SYRIAC. A Syriac recension exists (Codex Vaticanus Syriacus 180 and elsewhere). One of the Syriac versions, from an Urumiyeh manuscript, was translated into English by an American missionary in 1864; and Tischendorf (­op. cit.­) prints the greater portion of it along with his edition of the text. James considers it the best of the Eastern versions; but it also is incomplete, ending abruptly in a speech of Elijah’s, and seems to be later than the Greek and fuller in detail. The text was edited by Riciotti (“Apocalypsis Pauli Syriace” in ­Orientalia­ II, Rome, 1933, 1-25, 120-149): he used the Syriac text according to Codex Vaticanus Syracus 180, compared with and completed according to Codex Borgianus Syriacus 39.

 

5. ARMENIAN. Four forms of an Armenian recension, made from the Syriac, have survived.

 

6. SLAVONIC. Slavonic editions of the work have also been preserved. The available material is mostly listed by Bonwetsch (in Harnack’s ­De Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ I.2, 1958, 910f); on newly discovered manuscripts to be added, see Jacimirskij (­Opisanie Juzno-slavjanskich i Russkich Rukopisej Zagranicnich Bibliotek­ I, St. Petersburg, 1921) and Konusov and Pokrovskaja (­Opisanie Rukopisnogo Otdelenija Biblioteki Akademii Naul SSSR­ IV, Moscow-Leningrad, 1951).

 

7. ETHIOPIC. The Ethiopic work entitled ­Apocalypse of the Virgin Mary­ (see above under #136) is almost entirely borrowed from the ­Apocalypse of Paul­. It was edited by Chaine (­Corpus Script. Cirsit. Orient­. I.7, 1909); he believed it to have been translated from an Arabic version; and the Arabic, he believed, was translated from the Greek. It has the virtue of copying the old apocalypse very literally, ending at chapter 44 (apparently in conformity with the original text, for this is the point at which the shorter Latin recensions stop, and the Greek also). It may have originated in the 7th century, but is probably later.

 

8. OLD RUSSIAN. There exists an Old Russian translation, made from the Slavonic.

 

     The ­Greek Apocalypse of Paul­ has borrowed from ­Mark­, ­Matthew­, Luke­, ­John­, ­Acts­, ­Romans­, ­I Corinthians­, II Corinthians­, ­II Thessalonians­, ­I Timothy­, ­Hebrews­, ­I John­ and ­Revelation­ (for the ­Received New Testament­); from ­Isaiah­, ­Jeremiah­, ­Genesis­, ­Job­, ­Ezekiel­, ­Exodus­, ­Psalms­, the ­Wisdom of Sirach­, ­IV Esdras­, ­Zechariah­, ­I Kings­ and ­Daniel­ (for the ­Received Old Testament­); and elsewhere from the Apocalypse of Peter­, the Apocalypse of Elijah­, the ­Apocalypse of Zephaniah­ (if the additional material at the end of the Coptic version is original), and perhaps also from the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­, the ­Ascension of Isaiah­ and the Infancy Gospel of James­. NTA says that the large number of borrowings undertaken by the author of the ­Greek Apocalypse of Paul­ render a later date probable. Tischendorf ascribes it to the year 380, and with this ANF agrees. The opening sentence of the book itself says that the alleged marble box alluded to by Sozomen (#5 of the citations, above) was discovered in the consulate of Theodosius Augustus the Younger and of Cynegius; and James, who restored this portion of the text (NTA says correctly) has calculated this to be 388AD. The ODC also dates it from the latter half of the 4th century.

 

[ODC, 1031; ANT, 504, 525-555; NTA, II, 74, 599, 610, 755-798; ANF, VIII, 358-359, 575-581]

 

314. The Coptic Apocalypse of Paul

 

     The ­Coptic Apocalypse of Paul­ is one of 52 tractates comprising the Coptic Nag Hammadi Library, discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi, not far from ancient Thebes, and near the Roman garrison town of Diospolis Parva, just over three miles from the site of the ancient monastery of Chenoboskeia. It is the second of five books bound into Codex V, all of which are apocalypses. The book treats of the ascent of Paul from the fourth to the tenth heaven (the basis for which is to be found in ­II Corinthians­ 12:2—(I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.)—but it is thought that this work is unique in describing Pauline ascent through so many heavens.

 

     The precise circumstances surrounding the composition of the document remain uncertain.

 

1. The polemic against the apocalyptic old man in the seventh heaven may indicate that the work comes from a Gnostic group with an anti-Jewish tendency; however,

 

2. as Paul ascends, he witnesses in the fourth and fifth heavens a scene of the judgment and punishment of souls, reminiscent of similar pictures in Jewish apocalyptic literature,

 

3. but which also could serve to illustrate popular syncretism.

 

     NHG believes the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Paul­ to be clearly a Christian text, but notes that the links it possesses with the Received Tradition are not with the synoptic gospels. Nevertheless, the Gnostic character of the present ascent narrative is obvious; and it has been suggested that we have here to do with a portrait of Paul as expressed by Valentinian Gnosticism of the mid-2nd century AD [perhaps as an outgrowth of the allegation that Valentinus had some sort of connection with Paul through an alleged disciple, Theodas, as mentioned by Clement of Alexandria (­Miscellaneous Studies­ VII:cvi.4—(They\fn{The Valentinians.} say that Valentinus heard Theodas—but he was an acquaintance of Paul.)

 

     NTB lists the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various texts of the ­Received New Testament­.

 

V,2;18.4-5­: “By which road shall I go up to Jerusalem?”

Galatians 1:17-18­: nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days.

­Galatians 2:1a­: Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas,

*

V,2;18.14-17­: “I know who you are, Paul. You are he who was blessed from his mother’s womb.

Galatians 1:15a­: But when he who had set me apart before I was born

*

V,2;18.17-19­: For I have come to you that you may go up to Jerusalem to your fellow apostles.

Galatians 2:1-2­: Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up by revelation; and I laid before them (but privately before those who were of repute) the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, lest somehow I should be running or had run in vain.

Acts 9:26-27b­: And when he had come to Jerusalem he attempted to join the disciples; and they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles,

*

V,2;19.22-24­: caught him up on high to the third heaven,

II Corinthians 12:2­: I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows.

*

V,2;23.2-4­: Paul, O blessed one and the one who was set apart from his mother’s womb?”

Galatians 1:15a­: But when He who had set me apart before I was born,

*

V,2;23.13-16­: “I am going down to the world of the dead in order to lead captive the captivity that was led captive

Ephesians 4:8b-10­: “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

 

[NTB, 238-240; NHG, 15; NAG, 239; NTA, II, 85-86; NHE, 216-217]

 

315. The Apocalypse of Saint Paul

 

     Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Against All Heresies­ XXXVIII:ii) mentions an Apocalypse of St. Paul (so ODC; the remainder of my sources refer to the same work as the ­Ascension of Paul­: H) in use among the Cainites or Caianites during the 2nd and 3rd centuries; but this appears to have been a citation of a work independent of items #313 and #314 (above), of which nothing has survived (though ANF says that it was adopted by the Cainites and the Gnostics, thus distinguishing the two). ANT adds that it is a mere name to us.

 

[ODC, 1031; ANT, 21; ANF, VIII, 358; NTA, II, 74]

 

316. The Shepherd of Hermas

 

     The ­Shepherd of Hermas­—so named after the Angel of Penance who, in the form of a shepherd, communicated to one Hermas (the author of the treatise) some of its contents—is the title of a apocalypse (in form and style, if not in content)—alleged to have been written as the consequence of an series of visions. The work is divided into three parts—five Visions, twelve Mandates, and ten Similitudes—though the versions that have survived the destruction of the Antique Age have not preserved the book in the order in which it was originally written. Its main purpose is to teach the necessity of penance, and of the possibility of the forgiveness of sins at least once after baptism (a condition unknown to the earliest Christians, who believed that the Second Coming would be fulfilled within their lifetimes). The Mandates present various teachings on Christian behavior and virtue. The Similitudes present various Christian principles under a series of sometimes very forceful images.

 

1. GREEK. The Greek text of the ­Shepherd­ is not extant in its entirety. The most extensive text (­Vision­ I:i-Similitude­ IX:xxx.2) is contained in Manuscript 96 from the Monastery of St. Gregory on Mt. Athos [14th or 15th century, edited by Tischendorf (Leipzig, 1856)]. The Biblical Codex Sinaiticus (4th century) provides the text of Vision­ I:i-­Mandate­ IV:iii.6; and in 1936 there appeared Papyrus 129 of the papyrus collection of the University of Michigan (­Similitude­ II:viii-­Similitude­ IX:v.1) edited by Bonner (below). There are also a great many papyral and parchment fragments in Greek which include larger or smaller pieces from all sections of the book. These have been (at least partly: H) edited by Wessely (in Graffin and Nau, ­Patrologia Orientalis­ IV, 1908, 195-199; and XVIII, 1924, 468-481); and Bonner (“A Papyrus Codex of the Shepherd of Hermas (Similitude 2-9) with a Fragment of the Mandates” ­University of Michigan, Humanistic Series­ XXII, 1934). Von Gebhardt and Harnack (below) have also edited the Greek texts known to them.

 

2. LATIN. Two Latin versions also exist, made from the Greek: (a) the ­Versio Vulgata­ (an Old Latin translation which exists in a number of manuscripts and which includes the conclusion of the book, not extant in Greek); and (b) the ­Versio Palatina­ (which exists in two manuscripts of the 15th century). The Vulgata­ was first published by Stapulensis (Paris, 1513); the ­Palatina­ by Dressel [Leipzig, 1857; it was re-edited, together with the main Greek texts, by von Gebhardt and Harnack (“Hermae Pastor Graece Addita Versione Latina Recentiore e Codice Palatino” in ­Patrologia Apostolica Opera­ III, 1877)].

 

3. COPTIC. Two Coptic versions exist (one in Achmimic and one in Sahidic); but these are only fragments.

 

4. ETHIOPIC. There is an Ethiopic version of the ­Shepherd­ (probably made in the 6th century).

 

5. MIDDLE PERSIAN. A fragmentary Middle Persian translation is also extant (the only time this language appears in ­Fragments of the New Testament­).

 

     A critical edition apparently embracing all this material was issued by Whittaker (“Der Hirt des Hermas,” Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller der Ersten Drei Jahrhunderte­ XLVIII, Berlin, 1956). The only all-embracing English translations appear to be those of Lightfoot (in Harmer’s ­The Apostolic Fathers­, 1891) and Lake (­The Apostolic Fathers­ in the Loeb Classical Library, 1912-1913).

 

     The testimony by ancient witnesses is both early and consistent.

 

1. The ­Muratori Canon­ (c.180AD) mentions the ­Shepherd of Hermas­ as follows:—(But Hermas wrote the Shepherd quite lately in our time in the city of Rome, when on the throne of the church of the city of Rome the bishop Pius, his brother, was seated. And therefore it ought indeed to be read, but it cannot be read publicly in the Church to the people either among the prophets, whose number is settled, or among the apostles to the end of time.)

 

2. Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200, reference in ODC not given) regarded the ­Shepherd­ as Scripture.

 

3. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Miscellaneous Studies­) makes five separate references to the ­Shepherd­, which he also regards as Scripture: (a) II:i—(For the power that appeared in the vision to Hermas said, “Whatever may be revealed to you, shall be revealed.”)\fn{From the close of Vision III.} (b); II:ix—(And the Shepherd, speaking plainly of those who had fallen asleep, recognizes certain righteous among the Gentiles and Jews, not only before the appearance of Christ, but before the law, in virtue of acceptance before God,—as Abel, as Noah, as any other righteous man. He says accordingly, “that the apostles and teachers, who had preached the name of the Son of God, and had fallen asleep, in power and by faith, preached to those that had fallen asleep before.” Then he subjoins: “And they gave them the seal of preaching. They descended, therefore, with them into the water, and again ascended. But these descended alive, and again ascended alive. But those, who had fallen asleep before, descended dead, but ascended alive. By these, therefore, they were made alive, and knew the name of the Son of God. Wherefore also they ascended with them, and fitted into the structure of the tower,\fn{In the Visions section, the organized church is symbolized by a white tower.} and unhewn were built up together: they fell asleep in righteousness and in great purity, but wanted only this seal.”)\fn{In the Similitudes.} (c); II:xii—(And if you consider the truth, you will find man naturally misled so as to give assent to what is false, though possessing the resources necessary for belief in the truth. “The virtue, then, that encloses the Church in its grasp,” as the Shepherd says, “is Faith, by which the elect of God are saved; and that which acts the man is Self-restraint. And these are followed by Simplicity, Knowledge, Innocence, Decorum, Love,” and all these are the daughters of Faith. And again, “Faith leads the way, fear upbuilds, and love perfects.” Accordingly he says, the Lord is to be feared in order to edification, but not the devil to destruction.)\fn{From Vision III:viii and Mandate IV:ii.} (d); IV:ix—(For instance, the Shepherd says; “You will escape the energy of the wild beast, if your heart become pure and blameless.”)\fn{Probably a memory from the beginning of Vision V.} (e) VI:xiii—(Did not the Power also, that appeared to Hermas in the Vision, in the form of the Church, give for transcription the book which she wished to be made known to the elect? And this, he says, he transcribed to the letter, without finding how to complete the syllables.)\fn{In Vision II:i.}

 

4. Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, reference in ODC not given) regarded the ­Shepherd­ as Scripture in his pre-Montanist days (prior to c.206); but after his conversion to this form of apocalyptic rigorism, he termed it the Shepherd of the adulterers [from its declaration that repentance from sin after conversion and baptism—hitherto impossible—could now be undertaken once prior to death (­Mandate­ IV:iii—(If after this great and holy calling \fn{Of the individual to Christianity.} anyone, being tempted by the devil, falls into sin, there shall be only one repentance for him. But if he sin over and again and repent, it is unprofitable for him: he will reach life\fn{Life with God in Paradise.} with difficulty.)

 

5. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, reference in ODC not given) believed that the Hermas mentioned in Romans­ 16:14—(Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them.)—as the author of the ­Shepherd­.

 

6. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:iii, III:xxv) mentions the work twice:—(Since the apostle in the closing salutations of the Epistle to the Romans has made mention among others of Hermas to whom the book called The Shepherd is ascribed ... To the writings that are spurious there must be counted the Acts of Paul, the so-called Shepherd, the Revelation of Peter, also the so-called Epistle of Barnabas and the so-called Teachings of the Apostles and also, as has been said, the Revelation of John, provided that is considered proper; which some, as has been mentioned, reject but which others reckon among the recognized writings.)

 

7. The Chronographer of 354 (­Catalogue Liberianus­) mentions that Hermas was a brother of Pius I of Rome (bishop c.140-c.155).

 

8. Athanasius of Alexandria (­Festal Letter XXXIX­, 367AD) writes the following:—(But for the sake of greater accuracy I add, being constrained to write, that there are also other books besides these,\fn{The books of the Received Canon, of which, by the way, this letter is the first extant witness in the Western church to their present number and chronological order.} which have not indeed been put in the canon, but have been appointed by the fathers as reading matter for those who have just come forward and wish to be instructed in the doctrine of piety: the Wisdom of Solomon, the Wisdom of Sirach, Esther, Judith, Tobias, the so-called Teaching of the Apostles and the Shepherd.)

 

9. The ­Catalogue­ in the Codex Claromontanus (4th century, of Western origin) presents it as part of the Received New Testament­ and lists it thus: Shepherd ... 4000 lines.

 

10. Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­De Viris Illustribus­ X) says that the ­Shepherd­ in his day was almost unknown in the West.

 

11. The ­Liber Pontificalis­ (the earliest form of which appears to have been the work of a Roman presbyter at the time of Boniface II of Rome, 530-532, and is dependent upon the ­Catalogus Liberianus­) also mentions Hermas as the brother of Pius I of Rome.

 

12. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century) identifies the work as follows: Book which is called by the name of the Shepherd ... apocryphal.

 

13. The ­Stichometry of Nicephorus­ (c.850AD) presents it under the heading Apocrypha of the New Testament are the following: as follows: Of Ignatius, of Polycarp and of Hermas.

 

14. Pseudo-Athanasius (9th century, ­Praecepta ad Antiochum­) issued a criticism of the text (ed. by G. Dindorf, 1857).

 

15. NTA also says one Antiochus Monachus (­Homilae­, in Migne, Patrologia Graeca­ LXXXIX, 1413ff) also issued a criticism of the ­Shepherd of Hermas­. (Could this be the early 7th century abbot of Mar Sabba named Antiochus, whose Greek work Pandect of the Holy Scriptures presents in its last chapter a list of heretics, beginning with Simon Magus? H)

 

     On the basis of internal criteria, the date of composition of the book may be placed in the third or, at the outside, the fourth decade of the 2nd century (so Dibelius, “Der Hirt des Hermas” in Lietzmann’s ­Handbuch zum Neuen Testamentum, Supplemental Volume­, 1923, 442); Weinel (in Hennecke’s ­Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­, 1924, 331); and Molland (­Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwar­ III, 1957-1962, col. 242). A slightly later date (140-155) is acceptable to a great number of modern scholars, including Harnack, Bardenhewer, and Batiffol. This would fit the internal evidence, which seems to suggest that the work was written after a considerable period of peace.

 

[NTA, II, 629-642; ODC, 629-630, 919; ANT, 23, 24]

 

***

 

XXIV: JOHN

 

The Received Gospel of John

 

     According to an unbroken tradition going back to c.150AD, and represented by Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.200AD), Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215), the ­Muratori Canon­ (later 2nd century), Theophilus of Antioch (later 2nd century), and Tertullian of Carthage (c.160-c.220), this gospel was written by John, the son of Zebedee, and given to the various churches while its author was still alive.

 

     This opinion, however, is subject to a number of serious qualifications.

 

1. Since the criterion of admission to the Received Canon was (at least for the church leadership: H) Apostolic authorship, to claim anything less was, ­ipso facto­, to admit defeat.

 

2. The opinion of antiquity is not unanimous. The Roman orthodoxy, certainly during the 2nd century AD and perhaps later, exercised caution in relation to a gospel which within its area stood in high favor with several people (Heracleon the Gnostic, f.c.145-180; Ptolemais of Egypt, 2nd century; Tatian of Assyria, fl.c.160) whom the Romans felt, not without cause, were opposed to them. This attitude is personified by the Roman presbyter, Gaius (early 3rd century), who believed that ­John­ was written by Cerinthus of Ephesus (fl.c.100); and somewhat earlier, also by the sect of Asia Minor known as the Alogi (fl.c.170).

 

3. The locus of Jesus’ activities is shifted in ­John­ from the one year of ­Mark­, ­Matthew­, and ­Luke­ (collectively known as the Synoptic Gospels, from certain shared characteristics), to three.

 

4. ­John­ says that the dates of the Last Supper and the Crucifixion were the thirteenth and fourteenth of the Hebrew month of Nissan; but the Synoptics say, respectively, the fourteenth and fifteenth of that month.

 

5. In ­John­, Jesus’ teachings are given in the form of long discourses, not in their Synoptic linguistic-types of parables and pithy sayings.

 

6. The exalted theology (notable in the I am ... sayings of Jesus), together with certain allegedly strongly Hellenistic elements, would indicate a writing by someone other than one of the Twelve.

 

7. The institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper is present in the Synoptics, but not in ­John­.

 

8. Perhaps more surprising, neither the resurrection of Lazarus (apparently an intimate friend of the Lord), nor the foot-washing of the Disciples, found in ­John­, are to be found in the Synoptics.

 

9. Notwithstanding the traditional identification of John, the son of Zebedee, with the disciple whom Jesus loved (mentioned at ­John­ 13:23, 19:26-27, 20:2-10, 21:7, and 21:20-24), the identity of this person is never disclosed: not a word in the gospel itself indicates that John, the son of Zebedee, is intended. Indeed, John­, and certainly Matthew­, ­Luke­ and ­Acts­, were published anonymously; for, according to the earliest Christian conviction, the author of an inspired work was the Holy Spirit, and the human writer was only a Divine instrument. This leads to the conclusion that the present gospel titles are an invention of the 2nd century AD [specifically by the author of Bodmer Papyrus II­ (written c.200AD), which, in this case, has the inscription: Gospel according to John].

 

     Then there is the problem of the form of the gospel in which we have it today.

 

1. There is some disorder in the text as it now stands. The geographical data demand that chapter 6 precede chapter 5; 7:15-24 belongs with chapter 5; 10:19-21, with its reference to the healing of the blind, appears to be in the wrong place; 12:44-50 is unconnected with what precedes and follows it in the text; 14:31 leads naturally into chapter 18; chapters 15 and 16 seem originally to have preceded chapter 14; and chapter 21 (except its last two verses) seems also to be a later addition.

 

2. ­John­ 7:53-8:11 cannot have been part of the original text. It is missing from most of the best Greek codices; and even though it is found in the Codex Bezae (a 5th century Graeco-Latin manuscript of the Received gospels, and the principal representative of the so-called Western Text of the Received gospels), it is there almost certainly an interpolation.

 

3. It is noteworthy that none of the Synoptic gospels carry any internal indication (except perhaps for Mark), direct or indirect, concerning the identity of their authors. This has led some scholars to suppose that the ascription “the disciple Jesus loved” (mentioned at ­John­ 13:23, 19:26-27, 20:2-10, 21:7, and 21:20-24) is in fact an editorial insertion, indicating that the person or persons who left traces of their editing in (1) and (2) above, were anxious for the acceptance of the authenticity and veracity of a work which, on its face, is so remarkably different in exposition and style from the Synoptic gospels of ­Mark­, Matthew­, and ­Luke­.

 

     We are left, then, with two conclusions:

 

1. that the anonymous gospel credited to John, the son of Zebedee, is in fact not by him; and

 

2. that the version as it has come down to us has been edited, and is not even in its original form.

 

     Consequently, many scholars believe that it was originally authored by one of John’s disciples, who recorded his masters’ preaching as Mark did the preaching of Peter. Many others have considered that the Traditional ascription by Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.200), recorded by Eusebius of Caesarea c.303—in his Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxxix.4, where there is a reference to John in the list of the Apostles, and immediately after his name another mention of a John, called the Elder—should be interpreted to mean that in fact only one John was then living in Ephesus (John the Elder), who was also the author of the gospel bearing his name; and that Tradition confused him with the Apostle. (Eusebius himself concluded from it that there were two men with this name living in Ephesus at the same time—one the Apostle, the other the Elder.)

 

     An approximate dating of the work, on the other hand, may be discovered with some certainty.

 

1. That the work was known already in the first half of the 2nd century seems probable from the texts of Ignatius of Antioch (c.35-c.107) and Polycarp of Smyrna (c.69-c.155), many of which are engaged in the reproduction of Johannine ideas.

 

2. The earliest of all New Testament papyrus fragments yet discovered is, in fact, a fragment of this gospel. It has been dated to c.125AD, and by itself demonstrates that the book was composed at least as early as the end of the 1st century AD.

 

3. The tone of the gospel itself—its deep sense of maturity and meditative reflection, its allusiveness and subtlety, its reflection of the richness of experience of the Christian community—make it hard to regard it as a young man’s work, and more likely that its composition was a long process.

 

4. According to Christian writers of the end of the 2nd century, John­ was the last gospel to be written, and was intended as a supplement to the Synoptics.

 

     All these indications would seem to point to the close of the 1st century; and since it is alleged to postdate Luke­ (whose date of authorship is itself very late), the decade 90-100 has been commonly suggested as the most likely time in which it came into being.

 

[ENC, XIII, 32-34, 294-295: XVII, 294; ODC, 62, 729, 731-732; ECC, 18; NTA, II, 54-55; OAB, 1284]

 

318. The Repose of Saint John the Evangelist and Apostle.

 

     The text was written in the 706th year of Diocletian\fn{Or 706AD (Era of Diocletian). Instead of using as the first year of its counting system the year in which Jesus Christ was born (now in use by most of the non-Jewish and non-Islamic world), people who count their days in this manner use as the first year of their system the year in which Diocletian ascended the throne as emperor of the Romans (284AD). The reign of Diocletian is historically memorable as initiating the last period of sustained persecution of the Christians by pagan Imperial authority (303-313AD, when the terror was suspended by the emperor Constantine I). In Egypt, there was a civil war, which may explain why even today the Christian areas of Egypt and Ethiopia still follow a calendar which uses as its point of origin the beginning of the reign of a Roman emperor. It should also be remembered that (1) there is evidence that Diocletian was pressured into instigating a persecution by his Caesar, Galerius; and (2) for the greater part of the reign (284-305), the Christians seem to have enjoyed the tranquillity which had been theirs since the Rescript of Gallienus (160): up to the time of the Diocletianic persecution, only the Manichees had been suppressed (31 March 296).} (990AD) and in Coptic. Ethiopic and Arabic versions probably existed. Budge says:—(To the student of Egyptian Christianity they are highly important, for they record traditions and legends hitherto unknown, many of which must be very old. The manuscripts from which they are edited are also of unusual importance from a paleographic point of view, for three out of the four are dated, and thus firm guides for the approximate dating of undated manuscripts. The quotations from the Received Old and New Testaments appear to have been made from memory, and some of them are difficult to identify.) Budge notes that all seven works quoted in his book are written in the dialect of Upper Egypt, and all are published for the first time.

 

[COP,---; MPE, 368; ODC, 401]

 

319. Fragments of a Dialogue Between John and Jesus

 

     Crum has published (­Journal of Theological Studies­ XLIV, 1943, 176-182) a parchment leaf found at Deir el-Bala’izah (probably the ancient monastery of Apa Apollo) to the west of Assyut; and two small fragments of other leaves belonging to the same manuscript. The manuscript, dated by Crum in the 4th or 5th century, and by Kahle (­Bala’izah: Coptic Texts from Deir el-Bala’izaph in Upper Egypt­ I, London, 1954, 473-477, text number 52) in the 4th century, is written in the Sahidic dialect, with some archaic linguistic forms.

 

     The ­Fragments­ consist of a series of questions posed by John, to each of which Jesus replies. Both for this reason and because of its themes, it is to be linked with the ­Apocryphon of John­ (below, #323). It is not, however, to be identified with it, or considered as one of its different versions. On the other hand, it has no connection with the various other apocrypha (Apocalypse, Mysteries of John, etc.) current under the name of the same Apostle.

 

     That said, however, it appears for two important reasons that the essential Gnostic character of the work is beyond doubt (though perhaps there is also a Christian connection).

 

1. Certain themes of the ­Received Bible­ treated in the Bala’izah fragments of this work are familiar from allegedly Gnostic literature or references to Gnostic literature: (a) ADAM, PARADISE, THE TREES OF EDEN, ABEL AND CAIN, NOAH, THE ARK AND THE FLOOD: Apocryphon of John­. (b) ABEL AND CAIN: Epiphanius (Panarion­ xxxviii:ii.6-7, XXXIX:ii.1-7, XL:v.3-4). (c) NOAH AND THE FLOOD: Hypostasis of the Archons­, Sophia of Jesus Christ­, The ­Thought of Noria­, The ­Teachings of Silvanus­, ­On Baptism B­, Panarion­ XXVI:i.3-9; and (d) MELCHIZEDEK: Schmidt, ­Koptische-Gnostische Schriften­, Leipzig, 1905, 397 and in the Index.

 

2. Certain expressions and details found in this work are known to belong to the terminology and mythology of Gnosis: (a) THE FIVE POWERS, THE SEALING OF THE FIVE POWERS (perhaps THE FIVE SEALS): Apocryphon of John­, long version (in Labib, ­Coptic Gnostic Papyri­ I:lxxix.24); ­Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians­ LV:xi.63.3 and LV:xi.66.2-4; an anonymous work in the Codex Brucianus, chapter 4, p. 339.30; and Schmidt (in Baynes, ­A Coptic Gnostic Treatise­, 1933, 70); (b) THE FIVE TREES: Schmidt-Till (Koptisch-Gnostische Schriften­, in the Index to the second edition of this book); and in the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, logion 19 (in Labib, ­Coptic Gnostic Papyri­ I:lxxxiv.21-25):—(You have five trees in Paradise, which are unmoved in summer or in winter and their leaves do not fall. Whoever knows them will not taste death.)

 

     To judge from what remains, the writing must have been a revelation in which John himself was presumed to relate the secret teaching which he had received from the Savior in the course of a conversation with Him. The following is a translation of the papyrus from Deir el-Bala’izah as it appears in NTA; a (*) indicates the presence of considerable lacuna between the restored portions.

 

... the body ... naked ... without sin ... the spiritual power, ere it\fn{She.} had been revealed, its\fn{Her.} name was not this, but its\fn{Her.} name was ----.\fn{An untranslated Greek word of four letters appears here.} For all they that were in the heavenly Paradise were sealed in silence. But such as shall partake thereof\fn{Paradise, or the Tree of Knowledge?} will become spiritual having known all; they shall seal the five powers in silence. Lo, I have explained unto thee, O Johannes, concerning Adam and Paradise and the Five Trees, in an intelligible allegory.” When I, Johannes, heard these things, I said: “I have made a good beginning; I have completed knowledge and a hidden mystery and allegories of truth, having been encouraged by Thy love. Now I desire further to ask Thee that Thou wouldst explain unto me in Thy will concerning Cain and Abel: according to what fashion did Cain slay Abel? And not this only, but he was asked by him that spoke with him, saying, Where is Abel, thy brother? But Cain denied, saying, Am I the keeper ...”

*

... of the fullness he\fn{Or: it.} being completed. Lo, I have explained unto thee, O Johannes, concerning Noah and his ark and ...”

*

... Now I desire further to ask Thee what Thou wouldst explain unto me concerning Melchizedek. Is it not said concerning him: being without father, being without mother, his generation was not mentioned, having no beginning of days, having no end of life, being like to the Son of God, being a priest for ever. It is also said concerning him ...”

 

[NTA, I, 331-333]

 

320. A Fragment of an Unknown Gospel with Johannine Elements

 

     The text of this work consists of the fragments of four pericopes preserved on two imperfect leaves and a scrap of papyrus, of which the first bears Johannine marks, the second and third exhibit parallels to Synoptic stories, and the fourth (the text of which has been recovered in a particularly fragmentary condition) describes an otherwise unknown miracle wrought by Jesus on the bank of the Jordan. The papyrus at present lies in the British museum, where it is known as Papyrus Egerton 2.

 

     All four narratives are incomplete; and all four relate to the period of Jesus’ ministry. Their closeness to the Received gospels may imply that the author was acquainted with them; on the other hand, it seems likely that he had access to independent historical material derived from genuine Tradition: for it seems that the writings consists of passages from a Greek book akin to, but distinct from, the Received gospels.

 

1. The Johannine fragment presents first the conclusion of a trial, the occasion of which was an alleged transgression of the law on the part of Jesus. Since two sayings follow from ­John­ 5 (5:39, 5:45) the matter dealt with may be a violation by Jesus of the Sabbath law. There follows a controversial discourse, made up of Johannine logia (9:29, 12:31, 10:31, 7:30, and 10:39) with the rulers of the people, which reaches its climax in a veritable storm of violent threatening. If, as is likely, the narrative continued in the missing portion of this fragment (such a break occurs at this point) a self-assertion by Jesus will have occupied this space—an assertion which was felt by the authorities to be blasphemous and so provoked the attempt to stone him.

 

2, 3. The Johannine fragment is followed by two Synoptic pericopes—the healing of the leper and the discourse about tribute money—which are distinguished by the fact that they show contacts with all three Synoptic gospels, the material of which is simultaneously reduced and enlarged. In five places—(­Mark­ 1:40-44, ­Matthew­ 8:2-4, and Luke­ 5:12-14); (­Mark­ 12:13-15, ­Matthew­ 22:15-18, and ­Luke­ 20:20-23); ­(Mark­ 1:43 and Luke­ 6:46); and (LXX Isaiah­ 19:13, ­Mark­ 7:6f, and ­Matthew­ 15:7f)—so Jeremias, ­Theol. Blatter­ XV, 1936, cols. 40-42—there are transitions to other Received Synoptic passages occasioned by verbal reminiscences, and this leads to the conclusion that both stories have been reproduced from memory. In addition, material is also borrowed from John­ 3:2 and John 10: 25.

 

4. The Synoptic material is followed by a scene at the Jordan, which begins with a question by Jesus which clearly has as its subject the mystery of the Resurrection as typified in a grain of seed (­John­ 12:24). Jesus answers the question by a miracle on the bank of the Jordan, causing, as it seems, the sowing and ripening of grain to follow immediately upon one another, as an index to the omnipotence of God which brings forth life out of death.

 

     The value which we assign to the text is determined by our judgment as to its relation to the Received gospels, especially to ­John­ (though there are contacts with all four gospels). The juxtaposition of Johannine (1) and Synoptic material (2,3), and the fact that the Johannine material is shot through with Synoptic phrases and the Synoptic with Johannine usage, permits the conjecture that (a) the author knew all and every one of the Received gospels, but that (b) he had none of them before him as a written text. On the contrary, the above-mentioned digressions in (2) and (3), which were occasioned by verbal reminiscences and which also occur in (1), show that the material has been reproduced from memory. Consequently we may have before us an instance of the overlapping of written and oral tradition. For, though the tradition was already fixed in writing, it was still widely reproduced from memory, and in this way, enriched with extra-Received material, it found new expression in writing—i.e., in (4).

 

     Dating of this material is arrived at through a combination of four considerations.

 

1. The text shows no historical knowledge that carries us beyond the Received gospels.

 

2. The reproduction of the story of the healing of the leper shows in its beginning (wandering with lepers) and at its end (the priests, thus plural), that Palestinian circumstances were not well know to the author.

 

3. The question about tribute-money is robbed of its typically Jewish tone through being worded in general terms.

 

4. On paleographic grounds the papyrus on which the information was written—which was part of a codex, and not a roll—must be dated not later than c.150AD, perhaps considerably earlier.

 

     The actual date of composition, then, of this otherwise unknown gospel is presumably considerably earlier than that of the remains of the codex in which it was found, as there is no reason to suppose it to be a composition of the compiler of the codex of which it was at one time a part.

 

     The text was first published, with an English translation, by Bell and Skeat (­Fragments of an Unknown Gospel and Other Early Christian Papyri­, London, 1935); ­The New Gospel Fragments­, London, 1935 (with corrections).

 

     The following translation appears in NTA, I, 96-97. An attempt has been made to indicate the length of certain of the lacunae in the manuscript.

 

... to the lawyers “ ... every one who acts contrary to the law, but not me! ... what he does, as he does it.” And having turned to the rulers of the people he spoke the following saying; “Ye search the scriptures in which ye think that ye have life; these are they which bear witnesses of me. Do not think that I came to accuse you to my Father! There is one that accuses you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope.” And when they said: “We know that God hath spoken to Moses, but as for thee, we know not whence thou art,” Jesus answered and said unto them: “Now\fn{I.e., already.} accusation is raised against your unbelief. No one otherwise ......................... ” .........................\fn{One line is missing.} to gather stones together to stone him. And the rulers laid their hands on him that they might arrest him and deliver him to the multitude. But they were not able to arrest him because the hour of his betrayal was not yet come. But he himself, the Lord, escaped out of their hands and turned away from them.\fn{Here begins the second pericope.} And behold a leper drew near to him and said: “Master Jesus, wandering with lepers and eating with them was I\fn{This can also be understood to read: eating with publicans art thou.} in the inn; I also became a leper. If thou therefore wilt, I am made clean.” Immediately the Lord said to him: “I will, be thou made clean.” And thereupon the leprosy departed from him. And the Lord said to him: “Go thy way and show thyself to the priests ............” ..........\fn{Two lines are missing. Here also begins the third pericope.} came to him to put him to the proof and to tempt him, whilst they said: “Master Jesus, we know that thou art come from God, for what thou doest bears a testimony to thee which goes beyond that of all the prophets. Wherefore tell us: is it admissible to pay to the kings the charges appertaining to their rule? Should we pay them or not?” But Jesus saw through their intention, became angry and said to them; “Why call ye me with your mouth Master and yet do not what I say? Well has Isaiah prophesied concerning you saying: This people honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me; their worship is vain. They teach precepts of men.”\fn{Here begins the fourth pericope.} The grain of wheat ... place shut in ... it was laid beneath and invisible ... its wealth imponderable. And as they were in perplexity at his strange question, Jesus on his way came to the bank of the river Jordan, stretched out his right hand, filled it with ... and sowed ... on the ... . ... And then ... water ... . And ... before their eyes, brought fruit ... much ... to the joy ... .

 

[ODC, 441-442; NTA, I, 94-97]

 

321. The Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians

 

     This work, though it exists in two versions among the tractates of the Nag Hammadi Library, has nothing to do with the Jewish-Christian ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ discussed earlier (above, #75). Also entitled the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit­, this treatise sees Orthodox Christianity from a clearly Gnostic point of view. The Coptic gospel deals with the origin of the heavenly world. From the supreme God, represented as a transcendent Great Invisible Spirit, a series of beings evolved and emanated, which eventually included one Seth—father and savior of the Gnostics of this world—who comes from heaven, puts on Jesus as a garment, and accomplishes a work of salvation on behalf of his children. This life of Seth (so NAG) is presented in a manner analogous to that in which the [Received] New Testament­ gospels proclaim the life of Jesus including his pre-history, the origin and preservation of his seed by heavenly powers, and his arrival in and work with the world (especially through baptism).

 

     It is through a baptism that the Logos-begotten body called Jesus is created; and the baptismal hymns have been thought to be strongly Christian in flavor (particularly the first one which mentions Jesus several times). Jesus is mentioned here and elsewhere in the work with great respect: the glories of the great Christ (IV,2;55.5-7); the great Christ whom the great invisible Spirit had anointed (III,2;44.22-25); the unconquerable power which is the great Christ of all the incorruptible ones (IV,2;56.25); the great Christ, who is from silence, who is the incorruptible child (IV,2;59.16-19); the great Christ, who is the son of the ineffable silence, who came forth from the great invisible and incorruptible Spirit (IV,2;60.8-12); The greatness came forth, the whole greatness of the great Christ. (III,2;54.20-21); the incorruptible, Logos-begotten one, even Jesus the living one (III,2;64.1-2); and Jesus, who possesses the life and who came and crucified that which is in the law (III,2;65.18-19). But Jesus is a subsidiary deity of sorts, however necessary to the Sethian cosmology; and it is another being, Seth—hence the name of this Gnostic sect—who is the center of their interest; and who, indeed, supposedly wrote this very book and placed in high mountains on which the sun has not risen, nor is it possible (III,2;686.3-5).

 

     One is led, then, to postulate this work as a Gnostic creation with Christian influence. (H)

 

     The writing is said to have considerably affinity with works critically regarded—the ­Apocryphon of John­, the Hypostasis of the Archons­, the ­Apocalypse of Adam­, the ­Thought of Norea­, ­Allogenes­, ­Zostrianos­, Marsanes­, the ­Three Steles of Seth­, ­Melchizedek­—as specially belonging to Sethian gnosticism. NHE has dated it to between 150-200AD, on the grounds that it seems to presuppose the present versions of the Apocryphon of John­ and Trimorphic Protennoia­; the baptismal nomenclature of the ­Apocalypse of Adam­; and the material with which its five doxologies (IV,2;59.13-29 | III,2;49.22-50.17 | III,2;53.12-54.11| III,2;55.16-56.3 | III,2;61.23-62.13) are composed.

 

     NTB draws the following verbal and conceptual parallels with various texts of the ­Received New Testament­, mostly from ­John­.

 

III,2&IV,2:IV,2;60.1-3­: the great self-begotten living Word came forth, the true God.

John 1:1,14­: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

*

III,2&IV,2:IV,2;61.11+III,2;49.10-12­: For this is the first man, he through whom and to whom everything be-came, and without whom nothing became.

John 1:3­: all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

John 1:10a­: He was in the world, and the world was made through him,

Colossians 1:15-16­: He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

*

III,2&IV,2:III,2;58.26­: and apart from me nothing has come into being,”

John 1:3­: all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

John 1:10a­: He was in the world, and the world was made through him,

*

III,2&IV,2:III,2;64.3-4­: And through him he nailed the powers of the thirteen aeons,

Colossians 2:14b-15­: He armed them with an armor of knowledge of this truth, with an unconquerable power of incorruptibility.

*

III,2&IV,2:III,2;66.7-8­: These will by no means taste death.

John 8:51­: Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death."

John 8:52b­: ‘If any one keeps my word, he will never taste death.’

 

[NTB, 223-226; NHE, 77-79; NAG, 195-205]

 

322. The Book of John the Evangelist

 

     The ­Book of John the Evangelist­—in its full title, ­Interrogatio Johannis et Apostoli et Evangelistae in Cena Secreta Regni Coelorum de Ordinatione Mundi Istius et de Principe et de Adam­—is one of the very few works preserved from the literature common to the Bogomils (so named after their founder, who taught in Bulgaria between 927-950) and the mediaeval Cathari (who first came to be so-called in Germany between 1150-1200). It has survived in two Latin versions (printed in Reitzenstein, ­Die Vorgeschichte der Christlichen Taufe­, Leipzig-Berlin, 1929, 299-311; a more recent study has been made by Tardenau, “Apocryphes Bogomiles et Apocryphes Pseudo-Bogomiles,” ­Revue d’Historie Ecclesiastique­ CXXXVIII, 1950, 204-213). The manuscripts are (1) of the 14th century, rather imperfect at the end, printed by Dollinger (­Beitrage zur Mittelalterlichen Sektengeschichte­ II) and now in Vienna—it has in it this Latin annotation: This is the secret book of the heretics of Concoreze (Concorezzo) brought from Bulgaria by their bishop Nazarius; full of errors.; and (2) one found in the archives of the Inquisition at Carcassone—a city in the south of France, the seat of what ultimately became 11 bishoprics devoted to spreading Catharism—and printed by Benoist (­Historie des Albigeois­ I, Paris, 1691, 283-296).

 

     The book was brought c.1190 from Bulgaria to Northern Italy by Nazarius, later bishop of the Cathar community in Concorezzo (near Milan) and passed thence to Languedoc; but it cannot be said with any certainty

 

1. whether it presupposes a Greek rather than a Slavonic prototype; or

 

2. whether it was not already known between 1111 and 1118 to Euthymius Zigabenus (­Panoplia Dogmatica­ XXVII, in Migne’s ­Patrologia Graeca­ CXXX, cols. 1293D-1296B), who had been ordered by the Roman Emperor, Alexis Comnenus, to write his work, and from which is taken almost all that is presently known about the Bogomils. [Between 1204 and 1210, Zigabenus’ work was supplemented by Nicetas Akominatos (d.1215), entitled ­Treasury of Orthodoxy­.]

 

     This Nazarius was examined by Rainer (­Contra Waldenses VI­, printed in ­Bibl. Patr. Max­ 25.271). He said that the mother of Jesus was an angel; that Jesus did not take upon himself a human nature but an angelic or heavenly one; and that he had this teaching from a bishop and elder son of the church of Bulgaria almost 60 years previous. The book itself professes to reproduce secret teachings made by Jesus in reply to questions from John. It denies that the world was made by God, attributing creation to the devil. Orthodox Christians are said to be disciples of John the Baptist. Baptism itself has no value, nor probably the Eucharist (although the statement about this has dropped out of the surviving text). The law of sacrifices promulgated by Enoch and the Mosaic law are considered works of the devil.

 

     The ­Book of John the Evangelist­ differs in framework and in scenery from the ­Apocryphon of John­ (next entry); and the doctrines expounded in the two writings, although dealing by and large with the same themes, have nothing in common. Indeed, the ­Book of John the Evangelist­ is related to the apocalypse of John published by Tischendorf (­Apocalypses Apocryphae­, 1866), and belongs apparently among the apocrypha of the ordinary type. The account of the Last Judgment (so Thilo, ­Codex Apocryphus Novum Testamentum­, Leipzig, 1832) seems too orthodox and conventional a piece to square with the rest of the volume. One suspects dilution from another source; and Doresse (­Bulletin de l’Institute d’Egypte­ XXXI, 1949, 418) says that the Audians (a 4th century rigorous sect who were banished by Constantine I to Scythia, where they carried on missionary activity among the Goths) were to modify the ­Book of John the Evangelist­ a little further, and perhaps in their turn handed it on in its mediaeval form to the different Manichean groups of the Balkans and the West. In its Latin dress the work can hardly be older than the 12th century; however, the original composition might be of the 6th or 7th century.

 

[NTA, I, 319-320; ODC, 104, 247, 476; ANT, 187; ENC, V, 71]

 

323. The Apocryphon of John

 

     The ­Apocryphon of John­ is an important work of mythological Gnosticism, composed in both a long and a short recension. It offers a remarkably clear description of the creation, fall and salvation of humanity, developed largely in terms of the early chapters of ­Genesis­. It begins with a dialogue between John and a Pharisee, but quickly merges into Gnostic technicalities.

 

     The text of the ­Apocryphon of John­ has survived only in Coptic (Sahidic dialect); but in that language it is preserved in four copies in the following manuscripts:

 

1. Papyrus Berolensis 8502 (the beginning of the 5th century, or during it). This was found in the cemetery of Akhmim (or in the neighborhood of that town), and was acquired in 1896 by Reinhardt for the Egyptian section of the British Museum. In this codex, the ­Apocryphon of John­ stands between the ­Gospel of Mary­ and the Wisdom of Jesus Christ­.

 

2. Codex III of the Nag Hammadi Library (first dated in the middle or first half of the 3rd century, but rather to be assigned to the 4th or 5th century). It is also in the Coptic Museum of Old Cairo and is also the first writing of its codex, immediately followed by the ­Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians­. Both (1) and (2) represent the short version of the work.

 

3. Codex II of the Nag Hammadi Library (middle or second half of the 4th century). This was found c.1945 in the neighborhood of Nag Hammadi, and acquired by Togo Mina for the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo, where it has since been preserved. It is the first writing in the codex, immediately followed by the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­.

 

4. Codex IV of the Nag Hammadi Library (end of the 3rd or beginning of the 4th century?). Also in the Coptic Museum of Old Cairo; also the first writing of its codex; also immediately followed by the ­Coptic Gospel of the Egyptians­. Both (3) and (4) represent the long version of the work.

 

Of these texts, the following observations have been made.

 

A

 

It is clear that the text of (2) is parallel even to details with that of (1), without, however, corresponding to it word for word. The two documents represent, as Till has explained (­Texte und Untersuchunge zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ LX, 10), independent translations of Greek versions of the same work which here and there were distinctly different from one another.

 

B

 

     The version of this work in (3) bears a title slightly different from that given in (1) and (2). By and large the text is parallel to that of (1) and (2), but here and there (3) presents fairly considerable divergences: (a) passages displaced; (b) peculiar or supplementary developments; (c) a longer and less incoherent ending.

 

C

 

     The title of (4) is the same as that of (3). So far as can be ascertained, (4) like (3) contains (though in a fragmented form) a version of the book which is more developed than that represented by (1) and (2).

 

D

 

     At least three of the versions have been discovered in damaged physical condition. In (2), the first pages are missing, as are pages 19 and 20. Of the first three leaves of (3), only fragments or shreds remain: the two following leaves are seriously impaired by lacunae (though these soon become fewer and scarcely occur at all on the remaining pages. (4) is in very bad condition: the leaves are broken, and their remains require considerable restoration to their proper order.

 

     It appears that at least four ancient commentaries on this gospel have survived.

 

1. Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.200, ­Adverses Omnes Haeresis­ I:xxix-xxxi) made use of the first part of the Apocryphon of John­ for his account (written between 180-185) of what he called Barbelo-Gnostics. This fact is beyond dispute, and was established by Schmidt (“Ein Vorirenaisches Gnostisches Originalwerk in Koptischen Sprache” in ­Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften­, 1896, 839-847). There are, however, certain differences between Irenaeus’ version and the text of this gospel as it is now known. These differences may go back to errors in the Coptic translation, or to mistakes on Irenaeus’ part, but they may also be explained on the assumption that the version used by Irenaeus was an older and more primitive form of the work, perhaps not yet ascribed to John, and possibly pre-Christian (so Doresse, Vigiliae Christiane­ II, 1948, 157f). The testimony of Irenaeus remains of the first importance for questions of date, language and origin of this document.

 

2. John of Parallos (4th century, ­Homily­) mentions a Preaching of John as extant in his time (so van Lantschoot, “Fragments Coptes d’une Homelie de Jean de Parallos” in ­Studi e Testi­ CXXI, Rome, 1946, 296-326); but it is not certain that this reference is to the ­Apocryphon of John­.

 

3. Theodoret of Cyrrus (d.c.458, Compendium of Heretical Fables I:xiii in Migne’s Patrologia Graeca LXXXIII, 361C-364C) has preserved in part the original Greek text, which he assigns to the sects which he believed sprang from Valentinianism: the Barbeliotae (or Borborians), the Naassenes, and the Stratiotics (or Phemionites).

 

4. Theodore bar Konai (near the end of the 8th century, ­Book of Scholia­ XI) mentions a Revelation or Apocalypse in the name of John, used by the Audians, from which he quotes two extracts:—(And in the Revelation which is in the name of John he\fn{Audi, founder of the sect.} said:These powers which I have seen, from them comes my body.’ And he enumerates these holy creators which he says: ‘My Wisdom made the hair, Understanding the skin, Elohim made the bones, and my Sovereignty made the blood. Adonai made the nerves, and Zeal made the flesh, and Thought made the marrow.’) This passage has an almost exact parallel in three of the four copies of the work available to us. The conclusion is of great interest for the history—and indeed for establishing the correct text—of the work. It shows the remarkable prestige which this gospel enjoyed from the 2nd to the 8th centuries, as far afield as Mesopotamia: for, even if Theodore is here only copying an older source (as opposed to the work itself), his statement is proof that the Apocryphon of John­ was highly esteemed for a long time, and elsewhere than in the West or in Egypt.

 

     The ­Apocryphon of John­ first saw the light of day before 180AD, the date at which it was quite certainly used by Irenaeus. It is also certain that the original was composed in Greek: Irenaeus could only have known it in that language; and that the Coptic text that has survived is a translation is proven by the presence of numerous Greek terms in the long version of (3).

 

     As to the place of origin, Schmidt (­Pistis Sophia­, 1925, XCI) declared the work to be a product in particular of the Sethians, a branch of Gnosticism whose different groups were widely spread in Syria, Palestine and Egypt; and it was from Egypt that the document originated, for it was there that the Sethians had developed from a religious society into a school. It appears that everything points to the correctness of this surmise.

 

1. The Audians, to whom Theodore bar Konai ascribes the use of a gospel identical with our document, may be equated with the Sethians.

 

2. At least three of the surviving Coptic manuscripts of the work belong to a collection formed for the most part of Sethian works which probably derived from a Sethian (or Archontic) community in Upper Egypt.

 

3. Some features of the system expounded in the writing—in particular the place of Seth and those of his race, the Sethians—likewise favor the hypothesis.

 

     NTB lists the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various of the books of the ­Received New Testament­. The text appearing as it does in a restored manner, and there being no telling from it which version—II,1, III,1, IV,1, or BG8502,2—the final restoration in any case was taken, more specific identity than “Apocryphon” must be dispensed with.

 

Apocryphon 2.4-5­: And he changed his likeness again becoming like a servant.

Philippians 2:7­: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

*

Apocryphon 2.9-14­: He said to me, “John, John, why do you doubt, or why are you afraid? ... —that is, do not be timid!—I am the one who is with you\fn{Plural.} always. I am the Father, I am the Mother, I am the Son.

Matthew 28:10a,17,19b,20b­: Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; … And when they saw him they worshipped him; but some doubted. … baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, … and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age.”

*

Apocryphon 2:16-19­: Now I have come to teach you what is and what was and what will come to pass, that you may know the things which are not revealed and those which are revealed,

Revelation 1:19­: Now write what you see, what is and what is to take place hereafter.

*

Apocryphon 2.29-32­: One who is above everything, who exists as incorruption, which is in the pure light into which no eye can look.

I Timothy 6:16a­: who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see.

*

Apocryphon 4:21-24­: namely the spring of the water of life. And it is he who gives to all the aeons and in every way, and who gazes upon his image which he sees in the spring of the Spirit.

Revelation 21:6b­: To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment.

Revelation 22:1,17­: Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb … The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let him who hears say, “Come.” And he him who is thirsty come, let him who desires take the water of life without price.

John 7:38-39a­: He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.’” Now this he said about the Spirit,

*

Apocryphon 6:15-18­: This was an only-begotten child of the Mother-Father which had come forth; it is the only offspring, the only-begotten one of the Father, the pure Light.

John 1:14­: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

*

Apocryphon 7.25-26­: And he subjected to him every authority, and the truth which is in him,

I Peter 3:22­: who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

I Corinthians 15:24-25,27­: Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. … “For God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection under him,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things under him.

Ephesians 1:20-22­: which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come; and he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church,

Colossians 2:15­: He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.

Hebrews 2:8­: putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.

*

Apocryphon 7.27-29­: that he may know the All which had been called with a name exalted above every name.

Philippians 2:9­: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,

Ephesians 1:20-21­: which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come;

*

Apocryphon 13.8-13­: ‘I am a jealous God; ... . But by announcing this he indicated to the angels who attended him that there exists another God. For if there were no other one, of whom would he be jealous?

I Corinthians 10:22­: Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

*

Apocryphon 13.9-13­: there is no other God beside me.’ But by announcing this he indicated to the angels who attended him that there exists another God. For if there were no other one, of whom would he be jealous?

I Corinthians 8:4b­: and that “there is no God but one.”

*

Apocryphon 14.21-24­: the image of the invisible one who is the Father of the all and through whom everything came into being, the first Man. For he revealed his likeness in a human form.

Colossians 1:15-18­: He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.

Colossians 2:9­: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

*

Apocryphon 26.3-7­: For they endure everything and bear up under everything, that they may finish the good fight and inherit eternal life.”

II Timothy 4:5,7­: As for you, always be steady, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

I Corinthians 13:7­: Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I Timothy 6:12­: Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

*

Apocryphon 27.11-14­: And I said, “Lord, how can the soul become smaller and return into the nature of its mother or into man?”

John 3:4­: Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?”

*

Apocryphon 27.21-30­: And I said, “Lord, these also who did not know but have turned away, where will their souls go?” Then he said to me, “To that place where the angels of poverty go they will be taken, the place where there is no repentance. And they will be kept for the day on which those who have blasphemed the spirit will be tortured, and they will be punished with eternal punishment.”

Matthew 12:31-32­: Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven me, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Mark 3:29­: But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—

Luke 12:10­: And every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

*

Apocryphon 28.26-29­: And thus the whole creation was made blind, in order that they may not know God who is above all of them.

II Corinthians 4:4­: In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.

Romans 8:20a­: for the creation was subjected to futility,

Romans 8:22­: We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now;

*

Apocryphon 30.4-7­: And thus the whole creation became enslaved forever, from the foundation of the world until now.

Romans 8:20­: for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope;

Romans 8:22­: We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now;

*

Apocryphon 30.7-11­: And they took women and begot children out of the darkness according to the likeness of their spirit. And they closed their hearts, and they hardened themselves through the hardness of the counterfeit spirit until now.

Ephesians 4:18­: They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart

*

Apocryphon 31.5-6­: I said, ‘He who hears, let him get up from the deep sleep.’

Ephesians 5:14­: Therefore it is said, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.”

 

[NTA, I, 314-331; ANT, xxii; NAG, 98; NTB, 75-87]

 

324. A Gospel Fragment from the Strasbourg Coptic Papyrus

 

     There exist two sheets of a fragmentary papyrus of the 4th or 5th century at Strasbourg, apparently first edited by Jacoby in 1900, but also included in Hennecke’s ­Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­, 1904, and used here by James became it seems better than Jacoby’s. The scene is evidently the garden of Gesthemene. (This garden was the one to which Jesus retired with his disciples after the Last Supper, and in the Received Text it was the scene of His agony and betrayal. It is in the valley between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, just across the brook named Cedron, and is now under the care of the Franciscans.) Jesus utters a hymn to the Father: a faint resemblance to the ­Acts of John­ is perceptible. In it are clear reminiscences of ­I Corinthians­ 15. Further reminiscences of the Received ­Gospel of John­ occur just after this. The second of the six fragments certainly implies a vision of the glorified Christ as seen by the Apostles.

 

     The writing of which these are fragments cannot have been a very early production. The Apostles speak in the first person plural: but we need not infer that the book was ­a­ gospel, or ­the­ ­Gospel According to the Twelve­ (though this is Revillout’s view). As in other cases (e.g., the ­Gospel of Peter­) a single Apostle would most likely have figured as the author some other part of it.

 

     The remains are very fragmentary. James’ rendering is below. Division between the fronts and backs of the sheets of papyrus manuscript are indicated by a (*); an attempt has been made to indicate the length of the fragments within the text itself.

 

............................ I am become king through thee, Father. Thou wilt subject all things unto me. Amen. Through whom shall the last enemy be destroyed? Through Christ. Through whom shall the sting of death be destroyed? Through the only-begotten. Amen. Unto whom belongeth the dominion? Unto the Son. Amen. .......................... ...................

*

........................................... Now when he had ended all the song of praise to his Father he turned himself to us and said unto us: the hour is come when I shall be taken from you. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak: stay and watch with me. But we the Apostles wept, saying: .................. He answered and said unto us: Fear not because of the destruction of the body but fear much more ... the power of darkness. Remember all that I have said unto you: If they have persecuted me, they will persecute you also. ... Ye rejoice because I have overcome the world. .....................................................

*

that I may reveal unto you all my glory and show you all your strength and the mystery of your apostleship. .............

*

Our eyes penetrated through all places. We beheld the glory of his Godhead and all the glory of his dominion. He clothed us with the power of our apostleship.

 

[ANT, 30-31]

 

325. The Acts of John

 

     The ­Acts of John­ has not been passed down in a complete form. The Stichometry of Nicephorus­ gives as its length 2500 lines, or about the same number as for ­Matthew­. Large portions of the work have survived in the original Greek; together with a Latin version (purged of all traces of unorthodoxy) of some lost episodes; several detached fragments which appear in the quotations of the Fathers, various other Fragments of the New Testament­, and in the ­Acts of the Second Council of Chalcedon 787­; and numerous ancient and vernacular versions: all of which have been used to reconstruct the probable table of contents of the ­Acts of John­. Like other apocryphal acts, this work was a loose amalgam of stories; it tended to break up in transmission, but can be partially restored by piecing together separate episodes from different Greek manuscripts. Unhappily the beginning of the work is lost, and the first extant section opens with John landing at Miletus and forthwith going on, in obedience to a vision, to evangelize Ephesus. (Ephesus, it is repeatedly emphasized, is in John’s prime care; but eventually he yields to a pressing invitation to visit Smyrna.) After a lacuna, the story brings John from Laodicea back to Ephesus, where after resurrecting a dead woman and expounding esoteric and highly unorthodox doctrines, John arranges the digging of his grave, lies down in it, and dies.

 

     Only the Ephesian portions of the narrative survive; but probably the lost beginning told of John’s exile to Patmos. A tantalizing fragment of these ­acta­ in a 4th century papyrus from Oxyrhynchus contains John’s arrest by a proconsul with letters from the emperor; the papyrus does not name the emperor and breaks off immediately.

 

     In what follows, italics are used to indicate missing sections of the ­Acts of John­.

 

A. First travel narrative.

 

1. Journey from Jerusalem in several stages, ending with

2. From Miletus to Ephesus.

 

B. First stay in Ephesus: actions apart from preaching.

 

3. Lycomedes and Cleopatra

4. The portrait of John

5. Healing of an old woman\fn{Incomplete. Some say also of this table of contents that the surviving evidence points toward the conclusion that, until more of the Acts of John is recovered, it cannot be more than a probable conjecture that the Departure Narrative was originally part of this book.}

6. Conversation of Drusiana, and her dispute with Andronicus

7. Imprisonment of Drusiana in a tomb, and that of John

8. Conversion of Andronicus, and release of Drusiana and John

 

C. First stay in Ephesus: John’s preaching.

 

9. Introduction

10. Christ's earthly appearance

11. The Hymn of Christ

12. Revelation of the mystery of the Cross

13. Concluding Exhortation

 

… \fn{Break, whose length cannot be determined.}

 

14. Destruction of the temple of Artemis

15. Resurrection of the priest of Artemis

16. Encounter with a parricide

17. Call to Smyrna

 

D. Second travel narrative.

 

18. Journey from Ephesus to Smyrna\fn{Perhaps Pergamum, Theateria and Sardis also fell in the lacuna mentioned here; the order of the cities in the missionary itinerary corresponds to that in Revelation 1-3.}

19. John and the partridge

20. Journey from Laodicea to Ephesus

21. The obedient bugs

 

E. Second stay in Ephesus.

 

22. Arrival in Ephesus

23. Drusiana and Callimachus

 

F. The death of John: the departure narrative.

 

24. John's last Act of Worship

25. Death of John

 

     There is a wealth of ancient witnesses to testify to the existence of the ­Acts of John­.

 

1. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Adumbrationes­) has often been thought to be the earliest witness to this book. Commenting on ­I John­ 1:1—(We declare to you what was heard from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life)—Clement says:—(It is reported in the Traditions that John, when he touched Jesus’ outward body, put his hand deeply in; and that the solidity of the flesh did not resist him, but made room for the hand of the disciple.) This sentence corresponds to a passage at ­Acts of John­ LXCIII—(I will tell you another glory, brethren; sometimes when I meant to touch him I encountered a material, solid body; but at other times again when I felt him, his substance was immaterial and incorporeal, and as if it did not exist at all.)

 

     Elsewhere, a fragment of the ­acta­ in a 4th century papyrus from Oxyrhynchus contains John’s arrest by a proconsul with letters from the emperor; the papyrus does not name the emperor and breaks off immediately, but it is likely that Clement of Alexandria, whose probable knowledge of these acts is otherwise attested, drew on them for his legend which is no legend but a true story concerning John and a robber. It happened, Clement says, when, after the tyrant’s death, John removed from the island of Patmos to Ephesus and used to go off by request to neighboring places. Origen also explains that ­Mark­ 10:39—(And they said to him, ‘We are able.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized—) was fulfilled when Herod killed James and when the Roman emperor (as Tradition tells us) condemned John, witnessing for the word of truth, to the island of Patmos. Neither Clement nor Origen name the emperor; Irenaeus, however, identifies him with Domitian (d.96AD).

 

2. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, in Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History­ II:i) gives the impression that he knew a collection of five apocryphal books of apostolic acts:—(The holy Apostles and Disciples or our Savior were dispersed about the whole world. Thomas, as the tradition has it, was allotted Parthia, and Andrew Scythia, and John Asia; and here he remained till he died at Ephesus. Peter must have preached in Pontus, Galatia, Bithynia, Cappadocia and Asia, among the Jews of the Dispersion; and when at last he came to Rome he was crucified head downwards, since he had requested that he might suffer in this manner. What need is there to speak of Paul, who ‘accomplished the Gospel of Christ from Jerusalem as far as Illyria’ and afterwards was martyred at Rome under Nero?—These are the express terms which Origen uses in the third book of his commentaries on Genesis.) (There is a further reference to Origen’s knowledge of the ­Acts of John­ in the paragraph just above.)

 

3. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxv.6) mentions the ­Acts of John­ thus:—(We have felt ourselves in a position to know these writings as also those which have been adduced under apostolic names by the heretics, including e.g. the Gospels of Peter and Thomas and Matthias or of any others besides, or the Acts of Andrew and of John as also of other Apostles.)

 

4. The ­Manichaean Psalm Book­ (c.340) contains a passage in its sixth part concerning the suffering of holy men, which makes it clear that the author knew certain acts of Peter, Andrew, John, Thomas and Paul; and some characters which appear in these ­acta­ are also mentioned in other contexts.

 

5. The ­Monarchian Gospel Prologue­ (4th century), prefixed in many manuscripts of the ­Vulgate­ to the Received Gospel of John­, appears to relate two passages from the ­Acts of John­: (a) the description of himself at the beginning of the ­Acts of John­; and (b) the essential theme of ­Acts of John­ CXI-CXII.

 

6. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Panarion­ XLVII:i.5, c.384AD) says that the Encratites used the so-called ­Acts of Andrew­, of ­Thomas­, and of ­John­.

 

7. Amphilochius of Iconium (d.395, ­On the Pseudonymous Writings Used by Heretics­)\fn{See Ficker (Amphilochiana I, Leipzig, 1906, 137ff) on the question whether it is in this work that the quotation belongs, or whether it belongs to the Attack on False Ascetical Practice.} says—(This would not have been said by the Apostle John, who wrote in the Gospel that the Lord spoke from the Cross, saying, ‘Behold, thy Son,’ so that from that day St. John took her to himself. How does he then say here\fn{I.e., in the ­Acts of John­. The allusion is to Acts of John­ LXCVII, a reference confirmed by the fact that Amphilochius’ words were quoted during a discussion at the Nicene Council of 787 (on which see in this list below) about the ­Acts of John­, in the course of which this chapter was read shortly before Amphilochius’ opinion of them.} that he was never present with her?)

 

8. Philaster of Brescia (d.c.397, ­Liber de Haeresibus­ LXXXVIII) mentions the ­Acts of John­ in an incomplete account (the ­Acts of Thomas­ are missing) of the Manichaean corpus of holy books. He ascribes them to one Leucius.

 

9. Faustus of Mileve (late 4th century, apparently in Augustine of Hippo Regius’ ­Contra Faustum Manichaeum­) treats the ­Acts of John­ as part of the Manichaean collection.

 

10. Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430, ­Contra Adversus Legis et Prophetics­ I:xx) once names the ­Acts of John­ where he says that there are mentioned apocrypha which are composed under the names of the Apostles Andrew and John. In his ­Letter to Certius­ (­Epistula­ CCXXXVII) he quotes some passages from the hymn at ­Acts of John­ LXCIV:—(I will save, and I will be saved. | I will loose and I will be loosed. | I will be born. | I will sing, dance all of you. | I will lament, beat you all yourselves. | I will adorn, and I will be adorned. | I am a lamp to you who see me. | I am a door to you who knock on me. | You who see what I do, keep silence about my works. | By the Word I mocked at all things, and I was not mocked at all.) Finally, at ­Tractatus in Joannis Evangelium­ CXXIV:iv, he clearly refers to the Departure Narrative at Acts of John­ CVI. He also relates at length the story of John going down alive into his grave, and of the fact of his being alive being shown by his breath stirring about the dust on his tomb.

 

11. Innocent I (d.417, ­Letters­ VI and VII) mentions the ­Acts of John­. He ascribes them to Leucius.

 

12. Turribius of Astorga (c.450, ­Epistula ad Idacium et Cepionum­ V) mentions the ­Acts of John­, and knew them himself personally. He ascribes them to Leucius.

 

13. Evodius of Uzala (5th century, ­De Fide Contra Manichaeos­ XL) seems to clearly presuppose that a story in the ­Acts of John­ involving the transformation of hay into gold:—(And yet, though flesh itself is called hay because of its present weakness, you believe that John made gold out of hay, but you do not believe that almighty God can make a spiritual body out of a carnal body)—was familiar to his Manichaean hearers as part of a book which they regarded as authoritative.

 

14. In the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­ (5th century) there is reproduced a part of the departure narrative from the ­Acts of John­—(Hearken to the thanksgiving of John, the disciple of the Lord, how in the prayer at his passing he said: ‘Lord, who hast kept me from my infancy until this time untouched by woman, who hast separated my body from them, so that it was offensive to me even to see a woman.’)—and perhaps two other portions of the ­Acts of John­ as well.

 

15. Ephraim of Antioch (d.545, in Photius of Constantinople’s Myrobiblion­ 229) may be referring to the Acts of John­, where he briefly reproduces the contents of the departure as expanded by the legend of John’s empty grave and the dust pouring out of it, naming as his source the Acts of the beloved John and the Life which is used by not a few.

 

16. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century) does not specify the Acts of John­, but it should perhaps be included under the rubric All books which Leucius, the disciple of the devil, has made.

 

17. At ­Virtutes Joannis­ XIV-XVIII and XX-XXI (end of the 6th century) there are recorded two narratives which have often been attributed to the ­Acts of John­, the texts of which appear in Fabricius (­Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­ II, 1703, 557-573, 575-580). ANF says, however, that the only passages here that appear to have any connection with the ­Acts of John­ are those which refer to the Apostolic burial.

 

18. John of Thessalonica (d.c.630, ­Dormitio Mariae­), appeals in the preface of that book to the example of similar works:—(We have indeed established that our most recent predecessors and the holy Fathers long before them used this procedure, the former with the various so-called Travels of the holy Apostles, Peter, Paul, Andrew and John, the latter with most of the writings about the Christ-bearing martyrs.)

 

19. The ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century) probably intends the ­Acts of John­ to be included under the heading And the following apocryphal: the item 17. The Circuits and Teachings of the Apostles.

 

20. The ­Acts of the Council of Nicaea of 787­ reports that, in its fifth session, from the pseudonymous Travels of the Holy Apostles there were read out chapter XXVII, the first half of chapter XXVIII, and a great part of chapters XCIII-XCVIII of the ­Acts of John­; whence it was considered as a document of iconoclastic sympathies. There is a collation of relevant passages in Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898, xxxi).

 

21. The ­Stichometry of Nicephorus­ (c.850) in its account of the Apostolic travel-narratives lists under the heading Apocrypha of the New Testament are the following: the following: 3. The Circuit of John ... 2500 lines

 

22. Photius of Constantinople (d.895, ­Myriobiblion­ CXIV) gives an analysis of the entire Manichaean body of acta­; which, however, seems to depend primarily upon the ­Acts of John­:—(a book, the so-called journeyings of the Apostles, in which are contained the ­Acts of Peter­, ­John­, ­Andrew­, ­Thomas­, ­Paul­. These were written, as the book itself makes clear, by Leucius Charinus.) Photius also knows of the story of John going down alive into his grave, and of this being demonstrated by his breath stirring about the dust on his tomb.

 

     The ­Acts of John­ has survived in part in the following languages.

 

1. GREEK. There exists an isolated Greek fragment (Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 850, 4th century) edited by Grenfell and Hunt (­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus­ VI, 12-18); and by Wessely (in Graffin and Nau’s ­Patrologia Orientalis­ XVIII.3, 483-485), which combines the fragments of two episodes. That this fragment belongs to the ­Acts of John­ is suggested both by the style and the name Andronicus, which occurs often among the characters found in chapters 31, 37, 46, 59, 61-63, 65-66, 70, 72-74, 76, 79-80, 82-83, 86, and 105 of the Acts of John­. Where in the book this fragment actually belongs, however, cannot at the present time be determined. The best edition of the Greek remains is perhaps in Bonnet (­Acta Apostolica Apocrypha­ II.k, 1898). Besides Papyrus Oxyrhunchus 850, and the fragments of the ­Acts of John­ preserved in the ­Acts of the Second Council of Chalcedon 787­, NTA records 10 other Greek fragments (NTA abbreviations preserved): (1) Codex Ambros. A 63 inf. (10th-11th century); (2) Paris gr. 520 (11th century); (3) Vatic. Gr. 654 (11th century); (4) Paris. Gr. 1468 (11th century); (5) Athos Vatop. 379 (12th century); (6) Vanet. Marc. gr. 363 (12th century); (7) Vatic. gr. 866 (13th century); (8) Vindob. hist. gr. 63 (1324AD); (9) Patm. 198 (14th century); (10) Vindob. hist. gr. 126 (15th century). Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 850 reads as follows:—

 

... for him ... groanings and ... but John ... to Zeuxis, having risen and taken up a cup ... who didst compel me with thinking to strangle himself: that dost turn things despaired of unto thee: that makest known ... the things that are known to no man: that weepest for the afflicted, that raisest up those that have been put to death ... of the helpless: Jesus the comforter of the ... we praise thee and worship and give thanks for all thy gifts: and for thy present dispensation and ministry. And unto Zeuxis only he gave of the Eucharist, and afterward gave to them that would receive looking on him durst not: but the proconsul, sending a centurion in the midst of the assembly,\fn{The text reads: (?sending a) centurion in the midst of the assembly (church?) saith to John.} saith to John ... : Servant of the unnamable God ... hath brought letters from Caesar in which is contained: Domitianus Caesar and the senate ... departure.

 

Andronicus and His Wife\fn{This title occurs here in the manuscript, as the title of the episode that follows it.}

 

And when a few days had passed, John went forth with many of the brethren to ... to cross a bridge under which a deep river ran. And as John went to the brethren, behold a man came towards him clad in the manner of a soldier and standing before him said: John, into my hands thou shall shortly come. And John in wrath said: the Lord shall quench thy threatening and thy wrath and thy transgression. And lo he vanished away. When therefore John was come to those to whom he went, and found them gathered together, he said: Rise up my brethren let us bow our knees unto the Lord and brought to naught the unseen working of the great enemy bowed his knees together with them ... said ... God ...

 

2. LATIN. A Latin translation of the ­Acts of John­ is shown by the attestations to have been current by the end of the 4th century AD at the latest, and perhaps as early as 250; but of this text, it appears that nothing has survived. Apart from the few lines cited by Augustine of Hippo Regius (10, above) only two sections of the ­Acts of John­ are preserved (and those in a revised form): (a) the story of Drusiana and Callimachus (chapters 63-86); and (b) the Departure Narrative (chapters 106-115). They are found at ­Virtutes Joannis­ V, after Abdias of Babylon [text in Fabricius, ­Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­ II, Hamburg, 1703 (2nd ed., 1719), 542-557, 581-590; there is no modern edition]. The Departure Narrative circulated widely in separation from the ­Acts of John­, and eventually found its way into all the languages of the Eastern church.

 

     Two narratives—the first connected with the story of Drusiana and Callimachus, the second with the Departure Narrative (Fabricius, pp. 557-573 and 575-580), from ­Virtutes Joannis­ 14-18 and 20-21—have also been thought to be connected with the ­Acts of John.­

 

1. The first narrative tells how Craton, a philosopher, gave in the forum at Ephesus a demonstration of the contempt for riches. He had persuaded two brothers to see their inheritance and buy each of them a jewel, and then publicly to destroy these jewels. John pronounces this demonstration an act of vanity and quotes Mark­ 10:21 (or parallels). Craton replies that he should restore the jewels in God’s honor; the Apostle invokes Christ, and the jewels are reconstituted, upon which Craton with his disciples is converted and preaches Christ, and the two brothers sell the gems to help the poor. Two prominent Ephesians follow their example and attach themselves to the Apostle, but upon seeing richly dressed slaves in Pergamum they regret their action. John recognizes their change of mind, tells them to fetch bundles of sticks and pebbles, and after calling upon the Lord changes this into gold and jewels. He then dismisses the back-sliders with a long speech, saying that they now have perishable riches again, but have lost the eternal. He quotes the story of Lazarus at ­Luke­ 16:19ff, as expanded by an apocryphal narrative of the rising of a dead man, and refers to the resuscitations and healings which he, John, has performed, saying that the back-sliders have lost these spiritual gifts, concluding with pronouncements about the service of Mammon. At this point there comes a widow whose son Stacteus, married only 30 days before, is dead. Supported by the funeral procession, she begs that he be resurrected. The Apostles performs this miracle, and causes the resurrected man to impress upon the back-sliders that their one remaining hope of salvation is another resurrection—from their spiritual death—performed by the Apostle. Thereupon the people, Stacteus and the backsliders (whose names are now given as Atticus and Eugenius) implore John’s intercession. He counsels them to do penance for 30 days and then to pray that the gold and jewels revert to their former state. Meeting with no success they entreat John to intercede for them. His petition is heard, the gold and jewels are transformed, and Atticus and Eugenius receive their spiritual gifts again.

 

2. The second narrative tells how the high priest at Ephesus, Aristodemus, incites the people to violence. On being questioned by John he demands of them an ordeal by a poisoned cup. He then requests of the proconsul two condemned men who are compelled to drink the poison and die on the spot. Then John, after calling upon Christ, drinks up the poisoned cup himself; and when after three hours he remains unharmed, the people call out: There is but one true God, he whom John worships. Even so, Aristodemus does not yet believe, but demands that the two poisoned men be first resurrected, at which the people threaten to burn him. But John quiets the mob and gives Aristodemus his cloak, instructing him to lay it upon the dead men and say, The Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ has sent me so that in his name you may rise again, that all may know that life and death are servants to my Lord Jesus Christ. This is done, and the dead men stand up, whereupon Aristodemus hastens to the proconsul and tells him everything, and both are converted and received baptism. They build a basilica—and this forms the scene of the Departure, which is narrated immediately afterwards.

 

Three other Latin fragments alleged to be portions of the ­Acts of John­ are preserved in the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­. The first of them is certainly derived from the Departure:—(Hearken to the thanksgiving of John, the disciple of the Lord, how in the prayer at his passing he said: ‘Lord, who hast kept me from my infancy until this time untouched by woman, who has separated my body from them, so that it was offensive to me even to see a woman.’)—the second comes from an early part of the book (James thinks from the beginning), perhaps preceding John’s first visit to Ephesus—(Or is that outside the law which we are taught, how the very devils when they confessed to Dyrus\fn{Verus.} the deacon as to the coming of John: consider what they said: Many will come to us in the last times to turn us out of our vessels, saying that they are pure and clean from women and are not held by desire of them: while if we desired, we could possess them also.)—and the third, the most avowedly Encratite passage in the ­Acts of John­, deals with the institution of marriage as such in a speech which belongs to an episode of which we know nothing (though Schmidt thinks it is to be classified with the Andronicus/Drusiana material)—(Receive into thine hear the admonitions of the blessed John, who, when he was invited to a wedding, came only for the sake of chastity. And what did he say? ‘Little children, whilst your flesh is still pure and you have a body that is still untouched and are not in a state of moral corruption and are not besmirched by Satan, the extremely hostile and shameless opponent of chastity, understand in fuller measure the mystery of the matrimonial association: it is an attempt of the serpent, ignorance of doctrine, violence done to the seed, a gift of death, an office of destruction, instruction in division, an office of moral corruption, a tarrying ... , a sowing between them of the enemy, an ambush of Satan, a device of the malevolent one, dirty fruit of birth, a shedding of blood, a passion of the heart, a desertion of reason, the earnest of punishment, a deed of torment, a work of fire, a sign of the enemy, the deadly malice of eagerness, a kiss of deceit, an association in bitterness, an excitement of the heart, an invention of corruption, a craving for a phantom, a worldly curse of life, the devil’s stage-play, an enemy of life, a fetter of darkness, intoxication ... , mockery by the enemy, a stumbling-block to life which separates from the Lord, a beginning of disobedience, the end of life, and death. Hearing this, little children, bind yourselves each one in an inseparable, true and holy marriage whilst ye await the one incomparable and true bridegroom from Heaven, Christ the eternal bridegroom.). They are edited by de Bruyne (­Revue Benedictine­ XV, 1908, 149-160); de Bruyne (­Revue Benedictine­ XXXVII, 1929, footnotes to text on 58-59); Schmidt (in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte­ XLIII, 1924, 337-338); and Harnack (­ibid­., 187-188, 198).

 

3. SYRIAC. In this language the ­Acts of John­ is transmitted as an appendix to a life of John originally composed in Syriac (text in Wright, ­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­ II, London, 1871, 61-68). The Syriac has a secondary version in Arabic (see below).

 

4. ARMENIAN. An Armenian translation (of the 5th century, based on a Greek original) enjoyed a wide circulation and has made its way into Armenian Biblical manuscripts (of which there is a text in Malan, Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­, London, 1871, 244-248). The Armenian translation formed the basis of a secondary Georgian version.

 

5. GEORGIAN. There are two Georgian versions, including the one derived from the Armenian referred to just above. See Tarchnisvili (“Geschichte der Kirchlichen Georgischen Literatur” in ­Studi e Testi­ CLXXXV, Rome, 1955, 342-343) for editions.

 

6. OLD SLAVONIC. Manuscripts containing the Departure Narrative of the ­Acts of John­ are listed by Bonwetsch (in Harnack’s ­Geschichte der Kirchlichen Georgischen Literatur­ I.ii, 2nd ed., 1958, 903).

 

7. COPTIC. A version in Coptic (Sahidic dialect, of the 5th or 6th centuries) is preserved in a complete text and in six fragments. Textual variants which point to development within the Coptic tradition give evidence of a vigorous circulation. There are available (a), a complete Coptic text (edited by Budge, ­Coptic Apocrypyha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt­, London, 1913, 233-240); (b) a fragment corresponding to Bonnet, p. 203, 8-11, edited by Guidi (“Di Alcune Pergamene Saidiche Dells Collezione Borgiana, Rendiconti della reale Academia dei Liceni, Classe di Scienzi Morali,” ­Stori e Filologiche­, V:ii.7, Rome, 1893, 5-6.); (c) a fragment corresponding to Bonnet (pp. 204:1-206:6), text in Crum (­Catalogue of the Coptic Manuscripts in the British Museum­, London, 1905, 130, 295); (d) a fragment corresponding to Bonnet (pp. 204:9-206:7) and printed by Wessely (­Studien zur Paleographie und Papyruskunde XV: Griechische und Koptische Texte Theologischen Inhalts­ IV, Leipzig, 1914, 131-132, no. 242 cd); (e) a fragment corresponding to Bonnet (pp. 207:1-214:5) and printed by Guidi (“Gil Atti Apocrifi Degli Apostoli nei Testi Copti, Arabi ed Etiopici” in ­Giornale Della Societa Asiatica Italiana­ II, 1888, 38-41); (f) a fragment corresponding to Bonnet (pp. 210:8-212:12) and edited by Leopoldt [in ­Aegiptische Urkunden aus den Koniglichten Museen zu Berlin­ (published by the Directorate-Generalverwaltung of the Berlin Museum: ­Koptische Urkunden­ I, Berlin, 1904, 173-175, no. 182)]; and (g) a fragment corresponding to Bonnet (pp. 211:5-213:3) and printed by Guidi (­Di Alcune Pergamene­, 6-7).

 

8. ARABIC. In Arabic there are two secondary versions of the departure-Narrative, edited by Lewis (Mythological Acts of The Apostles­, London, 1904). One of these (168-171) has been translated from a Syriac original along with the Syriac life of St. John; the other (54-59) is based on a Coptic original, and is connected with a homogeneous collection of late apocryphal ­acta­. According to Graf (­Geschichte der Christlichen Arabischen Literatur I: Studi e Testi­ CXVIII, Rome, 1944, 259) the Arabic text was current in the second half of the 13th century; he gives also a list of Arabic manuscripts including the Departure Narrative independently of this collection (­ibid­., 263ff). See also on this Guidi (“Gli Atgti Apocrifi Degli Apostoli nei Testi Copti, Arabi ed Etiopici,” ­Giornale della Societa Asiatica Italiana­ II, 1888, 1ff); Lipsius (Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden, Erganzezungsheft­, Brunswick, 1890, 89ff); Grossouw (“Die Apocriefen van het Oude en Nieuwe Testament in de Koptische Letterkunde,” ­Studia Catholica­ II, 1934-1935, 22ff); and Graf (­op.cit­., 258ff).

 

9. ETHIOPIC. The translation of the Departure Narrative into Ethiopic was made from the Arabic as part of the whole Egyptian and Arabic corpus of ­apostolica­, not earlier than the first half of the 14th century AD. Text in Budge (­Contendings of the Apostles­ II, 253-263). An older English translation than this actually exists, based on the analysis of a single manuscript by Malan (Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­, London, 1871, 137-145).

 

     Though the earliest of the apocryphal ­acta­ is probably the ­Acts of Paul­, next in age is the ­Acts of John­, written by a certain Leucius Charinus (a supposed disciple of John of Zebedee) in Asia Minor during the 2nd century. As they were probably known to Clement of Alexandria, they may be dated before 180 (though just how much before is disputed). An early date of composition is also suggested by the fact that (so DAN) they provide a source of valuable data concerning important elements derived from Jewish-Christianity; because of their undeniable Gnostic and Docetic touches; and on account of their format, which has been criticized as being very close to the ideal of the Hellenistic Romance.

 

     They must have belonged to the distinctive tradition of encratite sects, probably located in Syria and Asia Minor, and must have been adopted from them by the Manichaeans. In the West, they became known by the 4th century through the Manichaean corpus of Acts, and seem to have met with approval primarily among the Priscillianists and other representatives of rigorous ascetic discipline, especially in Spain. Here they can only be traced down to the 6th century; whereas in the East, they long survived in traditions underlying or running parallel to the literature of the Orthodox church. For their closeness to Jewish-Christianity, Gnosticism, and Hellenistic literature notwithstanding, it is noteworthy that the order of the cities in the missionary itinerary corresponds to that of ­Revelation­ 1-3; and since in one passage the author speaks of John as leaning on Jesus’ breast, it seems clear also that the author made use of the Received ­Gospel of John­ as well as the Received apocalypse.

 

     Further, the ­Acts of John­ are also the earliest known witness to the Tradition connecting the Apostle with Ephesus. Indeed, the scene of Apostolic activity is Asia Minor; and the pronounced Monarchianism of this acta may also point to that district. Many scholars believe that there are critical reasons for associating the author of these acts with the ­Acts of Peter­ and the ­Acts of Andrew­.

 

     All of these considerations point to an early date for the emergence of the ­Acts of John­.

 

[ANF, VIII, 358; NTA, II, 189-215; ECC, 83; DAN, 53; ENC, XIII, 33-34; CAT, I, 611; ANT, 228-270; ODC, 730]

 

326. The Greek Acts of John, after Prochorus the Deacon

 

     This is a Greek romance of considerable length. By far the greater part of it is taken up with miracles wrought by John on the island of Patmos. It was supposedly composed by the Prochorus mentioned in Acts­ 6:5-6:—(And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the Apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them.); but some of the manuscripts have been found to contain large excerpts from the ­Acts of John­ as known from Lucius Charinus—in fact, all except the discourse on Jesus’ life and passion, and the death of John.

 

     The ­Greek Acts of John, after Prochorus the Deacon­ are essentially a Catholic working-over of the ­Acts of John­; for the author has used these ­acta­, but has molded the material very freely. The represent a later development of the ­Acts of John­, and were probably composed at some time during the 5th century.

 

     It has been edited in full by Zahn (­Acta Joannis­, Erlangen, 1880); and there is a summary in Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­, 1883, 366-397). See also Bardenhewer (­Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, 1913, 578); Musikides (­Nea Sion­, Jerusalem, 1947, 245-246; ­ibid­., 1948, 121-122); and Quasten (Patrology­ I, Utrecht, 1950, 134-136).

 

[ANT, 469-475; ODC, 730; NTA, II, 575; CAT, I, 611]

 

327. The Preaching of John

 

     John of Parallos [6th century, in a Coptic sermon against heretics; text in van Lantschoot (“Fragments Coptes d’Une Homelie de Jean de Parallos,” ­Miscellanea Giovanni Mercati I: Studi e Testi­ CXXI, Rome, 1946, 296-326; see also Muller, ­Die Alte Koptische Predigt­, dissertation at Heidelberg, 1954, 151)] cites the titles of five blasphemous writings disseminated in his time by the heretics in the Orthodox churches. Beside the ­Investiture of Michael­, the ­Jubilation of the Apostles­, the ­Teachings of Adam­ and the Counsel of the Savior­ the bishop of Parallos mentions the ­Preaching of John­.

 

     Of most of the documents mentioned above nothing is known—unless the ­Teachings of Adam­ be linkable to the Second Treatise of the Great Seth­ in Codex VII,2 of the Nag Hammadi Library; and the ­Counsel of the Savior­ be linked with the ­Dialogue of the Savior­ in Codex III,5 of the Nag Hammadi Library. From what is known of the Investiture of Michael­, the character is legendary rather than heterodox or specifically Gnostic, and does not favor the identification of this work with the ­Apocryphon of John­.

 

[NTA, I, 317-318]

 

328. The Latin ­Virtutes Joannis­, after Abdias of Babylon

 

     The ­Virtutes Joannis­ [text in Fabricius (­Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­ II, 1703, 531-590)] is a part of the so-called Abdias Compilation (which came into being not prior to the end of the 6th century), and has made a large use of the ­Acts of John­. It occurs as a decorated Latin text, purged of heresy, also in the Historia Apostolica­, another text in that set of literature accredited to Abdias of Babylon.

 

     See also on this Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­, 1883, 408-431); and Zahn (­Acta Joannis­, 1880, passim­).

 

[ANT, 228; NTA, II, 575-576; ENC, XIII, 33]

 

329. The Latin ­Passio Joannis­, after Mellitus of Laodicea

 

     Fabricius has published a Latin document with the title Pseudo-Melitionis Liber de Passione S. Johannis Evangelistae­ (in which the author says that he is transcribing the original, which is before him) it is a shorter and later redaction of the ­Virtutes Joannis­ (above, #328). It has been frequently edited: Heine, Bibliotheca Anacdotorum­ I, Leipzig, 1848, 108ff); Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden­ I, 1883, 427ff); Deeleman (“Acta Joannis” in ­Geloof en Vrijheid­ XLVI, 1912, 22ff, 123ff); and James (Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924, 257-270). See also Zahn (­Acta Joannis­, 1880, cxii ff); and Bardenhewer (­Gesechichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, 1913, 578-579).

 

[ANF, VIII, 358; NTA, II, 204-205, 576]

 

330. The Latin ­Liber Sancta Joannis­

 

The ­Liber Sancta Joannis­ belongs to a fairly large class of books, early and late, which consist essentially of questions addressed to Jesus and his answers to them. This is one of the later ones, in company with the Greek Apocalypse of John the Theologian­ (below, #346) and the ­Questions of James­(above, #140). It is also thought to have something to do with the ­Dispute of the Devil with Christ­ (above, #100).

 

[FNT, 38; ANT, xxvi, 187]

 

331. The Syriac History of John, after Eusebius of Caesarea

 

     The ­Syriac History of John­ at Ephesus, after Eusebius of Caesarea (who says he found it in a Greek book), takes place mainly in that city. John takes service at a bath (as he does also in the ­Acts of John after Prochorus­), and there is a tale of the death and raising of a young man, Menelaus. There is also a general baptism and a destruction of idols, in consequence of which Nero banishes John, but under stress of a threatened rising recalls him. Finally, at the request of Peter and Paul, John writes the ­Received Gospel of John­ in one hour. He dies at the age of 120.

 

     Wright has published the work (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­, London, 1871; 2nd ed., Amsterdam, 1968, 3-60). It is taken from two vellum manuscripts, the one of the 6th century, the other of the 9th century. The former is in the Imperial Public Library of St. Petersburg, the latter is in the British Museum.

 

     The St. Petersburg manuscript contains 142 leaves, written in a fine, regular Estrangela, in double columns. In it folio 54 is misplaced (and is also a later addition, of about the 11th century). The manuscript contains a number of texts (the underscored of which are not included in this study): the ­Doctrine of Addai at Edessa­, the ­Doctrine of Simon Peter at Rome­, the ­History of Saint John at Ephesus­, the ­Invention of the Holy Cross­ (by the empress Helene), the ­Martyrdom of Judas­ (who here becomes bishop of Jerusalem by the name of Cyriacus), the ­History of the Eight Youths of Ephesus­, the ­Life of Gregory Thaumaturgus­ (bishop of Neo-Caesarea, c.213-c.270), and the Life of Basil of Caesarea (c.330-379) by Amphilochius of Iconium (c.340-395). According to a note on folio 142ab, the volume containing these texts belonged at one time to the convent of Saint Mary Deipara in the desert of Scete (the southern portion of the Nitrian desert, celebrated during the 4th and 5th centuries as a center of monasticism).

 

     Of the manuscript in the British Museum, it was one of the 250 volumes which were collected and conveyed by the abbot Moses of Nisibis to the convent of Saint Mary Deipara in the year 932AD.

 

     These ­Acts­, which are obviously translated from the Greek, being of comparatively late date, and to all appearances destitute of any historical basis, are chiefly valuable from the linguistic point of view. The fact of Eusebius of Caesarea being named as the author, combined with the mention of Urhai of the Parthians suffices to show that the work was written after the story of the conversion of Abgar, king of Edessa, by Addai (Thaddaeus), had become generally known; i.e., after the publication of Eusebius’ Ecclesiastical History­, or c.350AD. The Greek original, however, may still be unpublished, or unrecovered; there is extant, however, an Arabic version.

 

[AAA, vii-ix; ANT, 469-475]

 

332. 333. The Syriac Decease of Saint John; The Greek Decease of Saint John

 

     The Greek text of this work appears in Tischendorf (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, Leipzig, 1851). The Syriac is in fact a translation of the latter portion of Tischendorf’s Greek text, from the beginning of chapter 15 in his book (p.272) to the end. The Syriac is taken from a vellum manuscript in the British Museum (Add­. 12,174), which is dated 1197AD.

 

[AAA, ix-x, 61-68]

 

334. The Coptic Martyrdom of John

 

     The ­Coptic Martyrdom of John­ is simply a version of the ­Acts of John­ and consists of familiar stories. It exists in Coptic, Arabic, and Ethiopic.

 

[ANT, 471]

 

335. The Arabic Story of John, the Son of Zebedee

 

     Our Arabic text is probably a translation of the Syriac version of this story, which has been edited by Wright (Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­, London, 1871; 2nd ed., Amsterdam, 1968, 3-60), and is attributed to Leucius Charinus. Lipsius considers it less valuable than some of the other legends concerning John. The incident of the fire which flashed from the four limbs of John’s cross (folio 101b) and the description of John’s means of living Lipsius considers (­op. cit­., 437) to be quite in accordance with Gnostic ideas; but that the story of John writing his Received gospel in a single night (folio 106a; the Syriac version says in one hour) cannot be ascribed to Gnostic influence, but must have sprung from a desire to emphasize the opinion that the Received ­Gospel of John­ is an amplification of the first three Received gospels. He also thinks that the Tradition of John living to the age of 120 years is merely an imitation of the story of Moses at ­Deuteronomy­ 34:7:—(Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.) In folio 104b, the number of those whom John baptized in one day is given as 39,005—less by 200 than that in the Syriac version.

 

     Tradition says that Eusebius of Caesarea was the translator of it from Greek into Syriac, and it claims for itself that he found it in the Archives of the emperor Nero (so folio 98a).

 

     Lipsius places the date of its composition between the first half of the 5th century and the beginning of the 6th. He further thinks that the tale must have been composed before the alleged hut of John (or the little church on its site), which stood on a hill to the east of the city above the Temple of Artemis at Ephesis (mentioned in the ­Acts of the Council of Epheseus 431­ and ­Acts of the Council of Ephesus 449­, and which was replaced by the basilica of Justinian (emperor 527-565).

 

1. The Syriac version contains traces of the Nicene Creed which are less distinct in the Arabic, such as Light of light ... the Son of God, Who was eternally with His Father ... the Spirit of holiness, Who proceeded from the Father.

 

2. The baptism of children, described in the Syriac (Wright, 42), but wanting in the Arabic, was not yet customary in the East at the close of the 4th century.

 

3. The anointing with oil before baptism (mentioned in folios 104a-104b) is in accordance with a Catholic form of the rite only in use since the 4th century (so Lipsius, ­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden­ I, 1883, 434).

 

4. The Lord’s Supper is called the Body of God, here and in the Syriac version of Wright’s.

 

     These things, together with the greater conciseness of the Arabic, suggest that our Arabic text is translated from a Syriac manuscript older than ­Add­. 17,192 of the British Museum, or even than the 6th century St. Petersburg manuscript used by Wright.

 

[MRS, xxxiii]

 

336. 337. The Arabic Travels of John, the Son of Zebedee; The Arabic Death of John, the Son of Zebedee

 

     Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden­ I, 1883, 355ff) says that the Greek text of this work was first published by Neander [in an appendix to Martin Luther’s ­Small Catechism­ (Basel, 1567, 526-663)], with a Latin translation by Castalio. Two fragments in Coptic were published by Mingarelli in 1785. Thilo, Tischendorf, and Usener have all worked at the Greek text, and critical editions of it have been published by Zahn (­Acta Joannis­, Erlangen, 1880, 3-44) and Bonnet (in Lipsius’ ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898). The Ethiopic version appears in Budge (­Contendings of the Apostles­, London, 1901).

 

     The Greek of this story is said to have been written by Prochorus, one of the seven deacons whose election by the multitude of the disciples and ordination by the Apostles is recorded at ­Acts­ 6:5. The Ethiopic version says Prochorus was a member of Stephen’s family, and the Arabic versions say that he wrote his tale because of St. Stephen; but as Stephen died before John was established in Ephesus, this may mean that Prochorus had become aware, through the early death of his colleague, that all the disciples were not to remain until the Second Coming; and so for the benefit of posterity he recorded in a written document the narrative of his experiences with John. The discrepancy between the Arabic and the Ethiopic in this passage shows the kind of alteration to which these legends have been subjected in the process of translation from one language into another.

 

     This legend is fundamentally different from the work ascribed to Leucius Charinus, whose Syriac version was published by Wright (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles: Text and Translation­, 1871). Yet at least five features appear in common: (1) both begin with an address of Peter to the assembled Apostles; (2) both narrate the arrival of John at Ephesus, and how he became a servant to the keeper of a bath-house (though in one tale the keeper is male, in the other female); (3) in both a young man is slain and then restored to life; and (4) the death of John is substantially the same in both texts, and this makes us hope that underneath both there may be a common document. Finally, (5) there is also a Gnostic borrowing in the disappearance of the body of John.

 

     There is difference, however, in details. (a) The tale in these travels of the youth, Damis, has nothing in common with that of the youth Menelaus. (b) The tale in these travels of the blazing oil is not in the least like that of the weeping devil. (c) John’s evident dislike in these tales of going to Asia when commanded by the Lord to do so was pointed out by Lipsius as a stereotyped Gnostic idea, and might have been borrowed by the author of these much later ­acta­ from the Acts of Thomas­, ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias­ or the ­Syriac Acts of Philip­ (see Wright, op.cit­., 69), in which it also appears. (d) In addition, Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden­ I, 1883, 535) considers that the prayer of John whilst breaking the bread—(Who permitteth Himself to be called by that name)—is a deliberate and unmistakably Docetic pointing to the doctrine that the union of the Godhead with the Manhood of Jesus was only a temporary arrangement for the benefit of man.

 

     Zahn (­op.cit­., ii, cxlviii) places the first written form of this story some 400 years after the death of John, but considers that it certainly arose verbally before 160AD, and probably before 140AD; the liturgy of the Lord’s Supper he also believes (­op.cit­., cl) to be of equal antiquity with the oldest prayer of the church and the oldest known sermon.

 

[MRS, xxi-xxiv]

 

338. The Arabic Death of Saint John

 

     Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden­ I, 1883, 355) considers that this story is a Gnostic one, but that it has been revised by the hand of more than one Orthodox Christian. (Perhaps it is from this latter source that we have a description of a Eucharist celebration in one kind only.) Lipsius also finds Gnostic doctrine in the idea expressed distinctly in the Greek of this work (which is to be found in Zahn, ­Acta Joannis­, 238-248; in Bonnet, ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898, 203-215; and Syriac versions—that Jesus is said to have revealed Himself even among the beasts. But in our Arabic text of folio 108a, this may be taken metaphorically, as about men who had the nature of brutes.

 

     Zahn thinks that the basis of this legend must be ascribed to the 2nd century, before 160AD, perhaps c.130. The common possession and use of these ­acta­ among Catholics and Gnostics alike show that the texts allegedly by Leucius Charinus and known as the ­Acts of John­, ­Acts of Andrew­, and ­Acts of Thomas­, are an heirloom from the time when both parties still existed in the bosom of the same Mother Church.

 

     There are further considerations with regard to the dating of these ­acta­.

 

1. Both Zahn (­op.cit­., clii) and Fabricius (­Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­, 1703, 584) call attention to the fact that the name Byrrhus (Berus/Verus in Greek) in folio 107b is identical with the name of an Ephesian deacon mentioned in certain letters of Ignatius of Antioch (­Ignatius to the Ephesians­ 2; ­Ignatius to the Philadelphians­ 11; ­Ignatius to the Smyrnaeans­ 12) who accompanied the writer on a journey through Asia Minor. No sensible person, says Zahn, would take this man and the deacon who helped to dig the grave of the Apostle John in the year 100AD for two separate persons. This, then, may be an example of undesigned coincidence.

 

2. Zahn also thinks it impossible that Leucius Charinus, the presumed author of what eventually was modified into the legend of Prochorus, should have borrowed from Ignatius (or ­vice versa­); and that Byrrhus should have been a young deacon in 100AD, but that in 138, when perhaps about 70 years old, should not have been advanced to the dignity of a presbyter. The difficult disappears, however, if we remember that the diaconate was not originally instituted as a step to the presbyterate, but for a totally different and distinctive service. (Nor would it be impossible for Leucius Charinus to have borrowed from Ignatius, Ignatius having died c.107AD. H)

 

3. Zahn (­op.cit­.) also considers that these Ephesians legends of the Apostle John, originating as they did before 160AD, may perhaps have given a mortal blow to the Eusebian myth\fn{[Eusebius says that Papias of Hierapolis (c.60-130AD, of whom Irenaeus of Lyons said that he was a man from long ago and a disciple of John the Apostle), here at ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxxix.4 lists a reference to a John in the list of the Apostles, and immediately afterwards mentions another John, called the Elder—and elsewhere notes the death of one John at the hands of the Jews, and also a notice on the death of John and James in several martyrologies. From this, Eusebius concludes that there were living in Ephesus at the same time two men of this name, John the Apostle and John the Presbyter. This is a further argument also for the idea that Leucius Charinus is a 3rd century person; and that it is not he, but an altogether different individual who was the author of an ­Acts of John­ more primitive than the Charinus text, and which was also the one recognized by all the alleged witnesses to the ­Acts of John­ ­previous­ to that recognized by Eusebius of Caesarea. H] of a John the Presbyter, who is supposed to have shared in the authorship of the Received gospel of John; on the grounds that if such a person had existed, side by side with the Apostle, Leucius Charinus, the author of this legend, who probably lived in the 2nd century, could not have failed to mention him.

 

4. Lipsius (­op.cit­., 519) remarks that notwithstanding the fall of the temple of Artemis, reported in folios 64b and 110b, this temple remained standing long after the time of John, and was finally destroyed by the Goths in 262AD. [We are led, then, to suppose (with NTA) a deliberate intellectual intrusion here from the imagination of the author; or perhaps a modification by a future editor living in a time when these facts will have been forgotten and the two events blurred into one—a man called Lucius Charinus. H]

 

5. The partial litany or hymn in folio 104a, which was sung or spoken on the occasion of the Governor’s baptism, is especially interesting as a record of some early form of that service:—(And John, the noble man, worshipped upon the ground, and looked towards heaven and said: “Holy be the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.” And the people said: “Amen.” And then he made the sign of the cross over the oil, and cried out with a loud voice: “Praise be unto the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen.” ... And when the oil was consecrated, he approached the water, and said: “In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, to all eternity.” And the people said: “Amen.” ... And John said unto the people: “Arise by permission of God.” And they arose, and lifted up their hands towards heaven, and said: “We believe and we confess the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost.” And the Governor drew near and stripped off his clothes, and John signed him with the oil. Then he went down into the water, and the Apostle laid his hand upon his head and said: “In the name of the Father.” And they said: “Amen.” And he said the second time: “In the name of the Son.” And they said: “Amen.” And he said: “In the name of the Holy Ghost.” And they said: “Amen.”)

 

6. In folio 108B, the reference to John having been blind for two years—(And in the third hour of the day Thou didst appear to me on the sea, and didst say, ‘O John, if I had not taken Thee to Me, I would have allowed thee to marry,’ Thou, O Lord, art He Who didst make me blind for two years, and didst make me call on Thee weeping. And in the third year Thou didst open my eyes and my heart, and I obtained my outward sight, and Thou didst put a veil over my eyes after Thou hadst healed my heart from beholding the face of a woman.)—has been thought to be at least partly in imitation of the blindness suffered by Paul in the supposed miracle of his conversion (­Acts­ 9: 9-18).

 

     All this leads to the following assumptions:

 

1. There were two versions of the ­Acts of John­: (a) one of them, apparently the original one, was known to witnesses of the ­Acts of John­ prior to that of Eusebius of Caesarea (2nd-beginning of the 4th century); and (b) a version which appeared in Eusebius’ time (c.260-c.340), in Coptic and Syriac, authored by one Leucius Charinus, associated with Manichaean and Gnostic circles, and commented on or in some other way witnessed to by the authorities for the text of the ­Acts of John­ from Eusebius onward.

 

2. The second wave of literature concerned with the Apostle John—the acts after Prochorus, the ­Virtutes Joannis­, ­Passio Joannis­, and ­Liber Sancta Joannis­, the Decease material as a separate entity—comes into being during the 5th-8th centuries AD, and seems to reflect the version by Leucius Charinus.

 

3. The third wave of literature—the Arabic and Ethiopic productions—are actually composed at some time during the 13th century (for the Arabic, the time at which Coptic was beginning to be seriously endangered as being the language of Christian Egypt), and only slightly later (14th) for the Ethiopic.

 

4. The popularity of this material is proven by its existence in the Arabic and Ethiopic tongues, as well as its spread into the European vernaculars, where the last recorded Western copy of certain of its Greek-based legends was made as late as 1384.

 

5. Further, the strength of its popularity may be used to increase the argument that we have in these tales about John the Apostles a core of historical truth, elaborated down through the centuries but still recognizably traceable to Greek parents.

 

[MRS, xxxiv-xxxv]

 

339. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint John the Evangelist

 

     The preface to this work indicates that the set of legends it encompasses are about John, the son of Zebedee, the good Evangelist, and of his departure from this world ... written by St. Prochorus,\fn{See Lipsius (Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden I, 366ff)} who was of the family of Stephen, the Archdeacon and Protomartyr, and who was of the seven messengers\fn{I.e., Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Parmenas, Timon and Nicolas.} whom the Apostles appointed for service among the new-comers.

 

     Budge notes four comparisons of proper names with the Latin form of the ­Greek Acts of John, after Prochorus the Deacon­:

 

1. And there arrived from Antioch a certain officer, who was one of the king’s guards, (now his name was Salawegyos)\fn{In the Latin text this man is called Selemnis; in the Greek, Seleukos. See Lipsius (op. cit­., 368 note 2).}

 

2. My opinion of thy doings is that thou hast come hither that thou mayest overcome Romna,\fn{The Latin text of Prochorus has: mulier quaedam Romana, Romeca nomine; see Lipsius (ibid.).} whose fame hath reached even unto the city of Rome;

 

3. saying, ‘O Artemis, help me, and hearken thou unto my petition, and bring back to life for me my master Domos,\fn{In the Latin, he is called Domnos.} for all we who are Ephesians know

 

4. Now there was with them a certain Jew named Marawan,\fn{Or: Mareon. See Lipsius (­ibid­., 373) for the various forms of this name.}

 

     The work opens with a speech by Peter. John is to evangelize Asia—it is his by lot—and he arrives at Joppa. He is shipwrecked shortly afterwards, at Salawegya (Seleucia), where he is accused of sorcery and the life of Prochorus is threatened. Prochorus and John meet again; and John encounters the bath-woman. He becomes the firman of the bath, where he is scolded and beaten by Romna. Romna’s further displeasure and abuse of John are detailed. The bath is haunted by devils, and the son of the governor is killed. John raises him to life, Romna’s penitence is noted, and she asks John who he is. He says he is neither God, nor the Son of God, as thou sayest, but I am the servant of the Son of God; and if thou wilt believe upon Him thou shalt become His handmaiden.

 

     The governor dies, but is also raised up by John and becomes a Christian. Romna gives John his freedom. The people stone John; but suddenly there is heard a voice which went round about over the ground, and the voice struck terror into the people, and two hundred of them fell upon the ground and became like dead men. John restores them all to life.

 

     Satan assumes the form of an officer, and accuses John and Prochorus of being runaway criminals, and sorcerers. They are rescued from death, however, by Romna. The people threaten Dioscorides, but John expels Satan from the temple. The Apostles are cast into prison, afterwards expelled from the city, and go back to Ephesus: and as soon as we had come there, all the temples in that place fell down, and not one of them remained standing.

 

     The book proceeds to the following conclusion:—(Now all these things did John do in the city of the Ephesians before they carried him to the island. And the false accusations which came upon him from the Jews, and the written paper concerning him which Satan made people to be certain they had seen, and all the wonderful things which were made manifest by him, and the beatings which fell upon him in the Island of Patmos, are written in an exceedingly large book, the name of which is Kamadagi. Therefore praise be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit now, henceforth, and for ever. Amen, Amen, and Amen.)

 

[COA, II, 222-252]

 

340. The Ethiopic History of the Death of Saint John the Evangelist

 

     The preface to this set of legends indicates that they are about John, the son of Zebedee, the disciple and friend of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Virgin and Evangelist.

 

     John overthrows the temple of Artemis in Ephesus. The author then pauses to tell us that John lived on and on, seventy years after the Resurrection of our Lord. And he became an exceedingly old man, and he tasted death neither by the sword nor by any violence whatsoever, for God loved him exceedingly because of his purity.

 

     The Apostle exhorted the people at some length, and prayed to Christ. He ordered a grave dug for himself, and when it was finished, he put off his apparel and laid it in the grave, and he stood above it; and he put on a fine linen garment, and stretched out his hands upwards, and he looked toward the east, and prayed, engaging in a long prayer to Jesus.

 

     This done, he dismissed the people; and the legendary materials conclude with the following:—(Now from this time forward John dwelt not with them in the flesh. And when we had heard these words from him, we embraced his hands, and feet, and wept bitterly; and we left him in the grave and departed to the city, and we told the brethren everything that had happened. Then they went forth quickly with us unto the place where we left Saint John, and we could not find him, but we did find in the earth his apparel, and also his sandals filled with dust. Now the grave which we had dug was not visible, and we were unable to make certain where its place had been, because of the dust which had filled it up and which lay about over it in abundance. And we came back to the city and were giving thanks unto God Who had bestowed the gifts of grace upon those who were worthy thereof, and especially because He had shown honor unto His beloved John, the Evangelist, and had delivered him by his wonderful death. Therefore let us ascribe the praise which is meet to the Lord, and to His Father, and to the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen, Amen, and Amen.)

 

[COA, II, 253-263]

 

341. The Received Letter of John to an Unspecified Number of His Fellow Christians

 

     There are three letters which Tradition ascribes to John, the son of Zebedee and the author of the Received Gospel of John­. ­I John­ is the longest and most important of them. The document has come down to us anonymously; but its authenticity is attested by Papias of Hierapolis (d.130, ­Fragments of Papias­); Polycarp of Smyrna (d.c.155); the ­Muratori Canon­ (latter 2nd century—(first an epistle of Jude and two with the title John are accepted in the catholic Church); Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Miscellaneous Studies­ II:lxvi.4); Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, ­De Anima­, c.210; ­De Idololatria­ II, c.211-212, where for certain he only quotes ­I John­; and De Pudicitia­, c.217-220); Eusebius of Caesarea (­Ecclesiastical History­ II:xxv, published before 303—(place must be given to the so-called first epistle of John); and Cassidorus of Rome (in a Latin translation of part of Clement of Alexandria’s ­Hypotyposeis­, made c.540).

 

     Modern scholars who defend the apostolic authorship of the received ­Gospel of John­ commonly also believe the Apostolic authorship of ­I John­. In the way, however, of such an identification is

 

1. the poverty of style of this letter, compared to that of the Received ­Gospel of John­;

 

2. the apparently real differences in thought between ­I John­ and the ­Gospel of John­ (e.g., ­John­ is concerned with faith vs. unbelief, but ­I John­ is concerned with faith vs. heresy); and

 

3. the fact that ­I John­ is also in no small part designed to combat Docetism (the notion that the world and the flesh were essentially evil and that the Heavenly Redeemer could not therefore ­truly­ have come to earth in the flesh, but must have maintained his Heavenly nature while only ­appearing­ to be in the flesh); and that the strength of the attack (if accurate as a measurement of the challenge felt by the author if ­I John­) indicates that ­I John­ must have been written after the son of Zebedee was dead, for fully developed Docetism appears to be a product of the years 100-150AD.

 

     Though it is impossible to date ­I John­ with precision, most scholars believe that it was written toward the end of the 1st century AD. Whether its circulation preceded, accompanied, or followed that of the Received ­Gospel of John­ cannot be determined now; but it is evident to many that the two are in some sense companions. Their relationship has been compared with that between Paul and the pseudo-Pauline letters; which suggests that ­I John­ is to be seen as a Johannine pastoral letter which betrays a number of early Catholic features [so at least Conzelmann (“Was von Anfang War” in ­Neutestamentliche Studien für R. Bultmann­, 1957, 201)].

 

     Patristic commentaries included Clement of Alexandria [d.c.215, in the Adumbrationes­; and Augustine of Hippo Regius (­Decum Tractatus­, c.416)].

 

[ODC, 108, 729-730, 1431; OAB, 1482; MAR, 261, 265; PER, 247-248; NTA, II, 56]

 

342. 343. The Received Letter of John to an Unspecified Church in Asia Minor; The Received Letter of John to Gaius

 

     II John­ and ­III John­ are intimately connected with each other, but unlike ­I John­ were not generally admitted as authentic in antiquity.

 

1. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, in Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History­ VI:xxv.10, published before 303) tells of doubt as to the Johannine apostolic origin of II and III John.

 

2. Eusebius himself (­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxv.3-4) placed them in a group of works the claim of which to belong to the canon of the ­Received New Testament­ was disputed.

 

3. Only during the 3rd century does the canonical disposition towards them become more and more favorable.

 

4. Jerome of Strido (d.420) reports that many attributed them to one John the Presbyter, because of their opening words.

 

5. They are not contained in the Syriac version of the ­Received New Testament­, the official text of the Received Bible in Syriac-speaking Christian lands.

 

6. Many modern critics do not assign them to the same author as ­I John­.

 

If they are not by the son of Zebedee, or by the author of ­John­ (presuming him also not to be the son of Zebedee), it is probable that they were written by a member of the Johannine school who called himself the Presbyter (perhaps the title of his church office). Their date of composition is commonly put at the turn of the 1st century AD.

 

[ODC, 730, 1048; OAB, 1487-1488; NTA, II, 56; PER, 248-249]

 

344. A Fragment of a Letter of John

 

     A quotation from a letter of John is met with in pseudo-Cyprian (­De Montibus Sina et Sion­ XIII, 3rd century). Jesus instructs and exhorts us in the letter of his disciple John to the people: ‘So see me in you as one of you sees himself in water or in a mirror.’

 

     Zahn (­Forschungen zur Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanons und der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ VI, 1900, 196 note 1; literature also there) has maintained that we are concerned here with a quotation from a letter of John which belonged to the ­Acts of John­. He refers above all to a passage from the Hymn of Christ in chapter 95 of that book:—(I am a mirror to you who know me. Amen.)

 

     Hennecke (­Neutestamentliche Apokryphon­ II, 1924, 173 note 1) has recourse to ­Acts of Andrew­ XIII, where also a mirror is spoken of:—(I therefore hold blessed those who obey the words preached to them and who through them see as in a mirror the mysteries of their own nature, for the sake of which all things were built.)

 

     The contentions proposed by Zahn are ingenious; unfortunately, nothing beyond the citation in Pseudo-Cyprian is known of such a letter, and consequently its attribution to either the acts of John or Andrew remains purely hypothetical.

 

[NTA, II, 91-92]

 

345. The Received Apocalypse of John

 

     Revelation­ (the Received apocalypse: at least 90 of this type of book were produced by Christian writers alone—there are also a large number of Jewish apocalypses—during the first five centuries of the Christian Era) was probably

 

1. known to Papias of Hierapolis (c.60-130AD)—he says, in an extract preserved by Andreas of Caesarea (bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia c.500AD)—(With regard to the inspiration of the book (Revelation), we deem it superfluous to add another word; for the blessed Gregory Theologus and Cyril, and even men of still older date, Papias, Irenaeus, Methodius, and Hippolytus, bore entirely satisfactory testimony to it.)

 

2. It was ascribed by Justin of Flavia Neapolis (c.100-160, Dialogue with Trypho­ LXXXI) to John, the son of Zebedee:—(And further, there was a certain man with us, whose name was John, one of the Apostles of Christ, who prophesied, by a revelation that was made to him, that those who believed in our Christ would dwell\fn{Or: live.} a thousand years in Jerusalem; and that thereafter the general, and, in short, the eternal resurrection and judgment of all men would likewise take place.)

 

3. This earliest known attribution was accepted, in the West, by the author of the ­Muratori Canon­ (later 2nd century, which makes two references to it:—(For John also in the Revelation writes indeed to seven churches ... Also of the revelations we accept only those of John and Peter, which latter some of our people do not want to have read in the church.)

 

4. Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.200, ­Against All Heresies­ V:xxx.1-3) says thus:—(Such, then, being the state of the case, and this number being found in all the most approved and ancient copies,\fn{Of the Received Apocalypse of John.} and those men who saw John face to face bearing their testimony to it; while reason also leads us to conclude that the number of the name of the beast, according to the Greek mode of calculation by the value of the letters contained in it, will amount to six hundred and sixty and six ... But, knowing the sure number declared by Scripture, that is, six hundred sixty and six ... We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist; for if it were necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this present time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic vision. For that was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian’s reign.)

 

5. Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, citations in Zahn, Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments­ I, 203-204); acknowledges it and assumes it was written before ­I John­.

 

6. Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236, citations in Bousset, ­Die Offenbarung Johannis­, 1906, 25, 30, 50-51), says also that it was written after the Received ­Gospel of John­.

 

7. Cyprian of Carthage (d.258, citations in Lucke, ­Versuch Einer Vollstandigen Einleitung in die Offenbarung des Joannes­ II, 1852, 597) knows of its authorship by John of Zebedee; as does

 

8. Victorinus of Pettau (d.c.304, ­De Fabricia Mundi­ X); who adds that it was written on the Island of Patmos.

 

     The book was generally accepted in the West. [Indeed, only Gaius of Rome (an early 3rd century presbyter, so Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History II:xxviii) seems to have rejected it, and he believed that it was composed by Cerinthus of Rome (fl.c.100).] Some Easterns also accepted its alleged Apostolic origin. They included

 

1. Melito of Sardis (d.c.190) who seems also to have used and highly esteemed it;

 

2. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, citations in Zahn, ­op.cit­., 205);

 

3. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, citations in Bousset, ­op.cit­., 22);

 

4. Methodius of Olympus (d.c.311, citations in Bousset, ­op.cit­., 19, 28 note 1); and

 

5. Theopohilus of Antioch (d.412), who also seems to have used and highly esteemed it.

 

     In the East, however, the Received apocalypse­ was widely rejected, notably by

 

1. Marcion of Sinope (d.c.160);

 

2. by the sect known as the Alogi (fl.c.170: more details on their attitude are available in Bousset, ­op.cit­., 22-25);

 

3. by Dionysius of Alexandria (d.c.264, in Eusebius of Caesrea's Ecclesiastical History­ VII:xxv, who argued against its apostolic authorship on the grounds of differences in style and content from the Received ­Gospel of John­, and believed it to have been composed by some other person named John);

 

4. in the Armenian version of the ­Received New Testament­ (3rd-4th centuries);

 

5. by Eusebius of Caesarea himself (d.c.340, who apparently calls it spurious);

 

6. by the Council of Laodicea (probably c.365);

 

7. by Cyril of Jerusalem (d.386);

 

8. by Chrysostom of Constantinople (d.407);

 

9. by Theodoret of Antioch (d.c.458); and

 

10. in the Syrian version of the ­Received New Testament­ (5th century). That this attitude of rejection persisted for a long time in various parts of the East is proven by

 

11. the ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­, a 7th century list transmitted in several manuscripts and reflecting the view, widely held in the Greek church at a later time, of a canon of 26 books in the ­Received New Testament­ (i.e., without ­Revelation­); and

 

12. by the ­Stichometry­ of Nicephorus of Constantinople (patriarch, 806-818) in which a New Testament canon of 26 books which does not include ­Revelation­ still presents itself, this time at the beginning of the 9th century AD.

 

     The reasons for this massive rejection of canonicity for the Received apocalypse from the original home of Christianity are not hard to discover:

 

1. Although there are points of contact with the Received ­Gospel of John­—notably in the use of the titles Lamb of God­ and ­Word of God­ applied to Christ and not found elsewhere in the ­Received New Testament­—there are also wide differences of outlook which seem to many modern scholars conclusive against a common authorship.

 

2. The author of ­Revelation­ nowhere claims to be an eye-witness of Jesus in the flesh, an unusual consideration for an intimate companion of the Savior of the World.

 

3. At ­Revelation­ 21:14—(And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.)—the author refers to the Apostles in a detached and reverential manner, indicating that he is writing at a time far removed from any personal knowledge of them.

 

4. Unlike the Received ­Gospel of John­, the Greek of ­Revelation­, in both grammar and vocabulary, is often barbarous.

 

     For modern scholars, all these indications point to an otherwise unknown Christian of Jewish descent living somewhere in Asia Minor as the author of ­Revelation­.

 

     Irenaeus, Hippolytus, and Victorinus put the actual writing of Revelation­ in the time of the emperor Domitian (81-96AD); and Tertullian assumes the book was written before ­I John­. Its bitterly hostile attitude to Rome indicates that the work cannot be earlier than the persecution of Christians initiated by the emperor Nero in 64AD. However, as it is unlikely that this persecution affected Asia Minor (where Revelation­ was probably written, according to internal evidence within the document itself), the apocalypse probably dates from some later persecution, and most modern scholars believe that it was probably written at the beginning of the Domitianic persecution (c.95AD). [A small number of scholars have tried, without much success, to place the composition of the text during the reign of Nero prior to his death (by suicide, June 9, 68).]

 

[ODC, 1161-1162; NTA, I, 49-51: II, 55-56, 620-626; PAT, 212-213]

 

346. The Greek Apocalypse of John the Theologian

 

     Tischendorf (­Apocalypses Apocryphae­, 1866, xviii-xix, 70-94) prints this apocalypse of John from five manuscripts (two of which were from Paris—one dated in the 15th century, and one in 1523; and three from Vienna, an extract of one of which is printed below; all manuscripts 14th-16th centuries). Its format was that of disclosure of information by means of question-and-answer, consisting of many details of the next world. Antichrist is described; the fate of individuals in the Resurrection is discussed in detail; and the punishments of Hell and the joys of Heaven are represented. A specimen of its eschatology follows: it is from one of the Vienna manuscripts, and is clearly an interpolation.

 

... Here, righteous John: All these shall be assembled, and they shall be in the pit of lamentation; and I shall set my throne in the place and shall sit with the twelve Apostles and the four and twenty elders, and thou thyself an elder on account of thy blameless life; and to finish three services thou shalt receive a white robe and an unfading crown from the hand of the Lord, and thou shalt sit with the four and twenty elders ... And after this the angels shall come forth, having a golden censer and shining lamps; and they shall gather together on the Lord’s right hand those who have lived well, and done His will, and He shall make them to dwell for ever and ever in light and joy, and they shall obtain life everlasting. And when He shall separate the sheep from the goats, that is, the righteous from the sinners, the righteous on the right, and the sinners on the left; then shall He send the angel Raguel, saying: Go and sound the trumpet for the angels of cold and snow and ice, and being together every kind of wrath upon those that stand on the left. Because I will not pardon them when they see the glory of God, the impious and unrepentant, and the priests who did not what was commanded. You who have tears, weep for the sinners. And Temeluch shall call out to Taruch: Open the punishments, thou keeper of the keys; open the judgments; open the worm that dieth not, and the wicked dragon; make ready Hades; open the darkness; let loose the fiery river, and the frightful darkness in the depths of Hades. Then the pitiful sinners, seeing their works, and having no consolation, shall go down weeping into streams as it were of blood. And there is none to pity them, neither going against them, and saying: Ye poor wretches, why are you weeping? In the world you had no compassion on the weak, you did not help them. And these go away into everlasting punishment. There you will not be able to bear the sight of Him who was born of the virgin; you lived unrepenting in the world, and you will get no pity, but everlasting punishment. And Temeluch says to Taruch: Rouse up the fat three-headed serpent; sound the trumpet for the frightful wild beasts to gather them together to feed upon them; to open the twelve plagues, that all the creeping things may be brought together against the impious and unrepenting. And Temeluch will gather together the multitude of the sinners, and will kick the earth; and the earth will be split up in diverse places, and the sinners will be melted in frightful punishments. Then shall God send Michael, the leader of His hosts; and having sealed the place, Temeluch shall strike them with the precious cross, and the earth shall be brought together as before. Then the angels lamented exceedingly, then the all-holy Virgin and all the saints wept for them, and they shall do them no good. And John says: Why are the sinners thus punished? And I heard a voice saying to me: They walked in the world each after his own will, and therefore are they thus punished. Blessed is the man who reads the writing: blessed is he who has transcribed it, and given it to other Catholic churches: blessed are all who fear God. Hear, ye priests, and ye readers; hear ye people, ...

 

     In the scholia to the ­Grammar­ of Dionysius the Thracian, ascribed to the 9th century AD, immediately after the designation of the ­Apocalypse of Paul­ to Paul of Samosata (mid 3rd century), there occurs the following statement:—(And there is another called the ­Apocalypse of John the Theologian­. We do not speak of that in the Island of Patmos, God forbid, for it is most true; but of a suppositious and spurious one.)

 

     This is the oldest reference to this apocalypse. It was first edited by Birch (­Auct. cod. apocr. Fabr­, Havn, 1804, from two manuscripts, one from Vienna, the other from the Vatican); Assemani [apparently Simon Assemani (1752-1821) in ­Catalogue of the Naniana Library­ (Italian) which contain important manuscript extracts and essays on Arabic literature)] says he found an Arabic version of the book in three manuscripts.

 

     Bousset (­Der Antichrist­, 1895, 26) says that the writing probably makes use of Ephraem Syrus (d.373), and consequently was probably first composed during the 5th century AD. James calls it a representative of a later stratum of literature, beyond the time of the ­Greek Apocalypse of Peter­ (above, #252), the ­Greek Apocalypse of Paul­ (above, #313), or the ­Apocalypse of Thomas­ (below, #369).

 

[NTA, II, 753; ANT, xxi, 187, 504; ANF, VIII, 359, 582-586]

 

347. The Syriac Revelation of John in the ­Gospel of the Twelve Apostles­

 

     This apocalypse is found in the (to give it its complete title) “Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, with the Apocalypse of Each of Them­.” James says that the work of which it forms a part is in its present form late; and NTA describes it similarly as a creation of very late date. See on it Nestle (­Theologische Literaturzeitung­, 1900, 557-559).

 

     As with the ­First Letter of Clement on Virginity­ and the ­Second Letter of Clement on Virginity­ (above, #'s 308 and 309), there is no evidence that this apocalypse is other than by the author of the gospel of which it forms a part. It is nevertheless listed because it is an apocalypse, it is in Syriac, and it may contain Traditions from that culture not found elsewhere. That there must at one time have been some Syriac witness independent of a general Graeco/Latin/Coptic/Armenian/Syriac/Arabic/Ethiopic Tradition for this Apostle at about this time is probable, but perhaps as yet unrecovered from manuscripts as yet unexamined. In the absence of such a Tradition, this is a contemporary offering from a parallel time period set down as part of another writing, but in the same language.

 

[ANT, 504; NTA, I, 271]

 

348. The Coptic Apocalypse of John

 

     NTA (II, 801 note 5) mentions in the course of a discussion concerning virtual or conceptual thought parallels with the ­Apocalypse of Thomas­, what may be interpreted to mean a ­Coptic Apocalypse of John­. Of the works mentioned in the ­Fragments of the New Testament­ that are listed as parallels with this work and the Apocalypse of Thomas­ there are included the ­Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah­, the ­Ascension of Isaiah­, the Fourth Book of Ezra­, Mark­, ­Matthew­, ­Luke­, ­John­, ­I Corinthians­, ­II Corinthians­, ­I Thessalonians­, ­II Peter­, the ­Infancy Gospel of Matthew­, the ­Arabic Infancy Gospel­, and the ­History of Joseph the Carpenter­.

     The note reads precisely:—(Cf. Copt. Apocalypse of Elijah (ed. Steindorff, p. 154) and Apocalypse of John, ch. 17 (ed. Tischendorf, Apa, p. 85.) This can be taken to mean:—See also the Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah [the one edited by Steindorff (Die Apokalypse des Elias, eine Unbekannte Apokalypse, und Bruchstucke der Sophonias-Apokalypse: Koptische Texte, Ubersetzung, Glossar­ in ­Texte und Untersuchungen­ XVII, N.F. 2, 3a, Leipzig, 1899, 154]; and see also chapter 17 of the ­Coptic Apocalypse of John­ as edited by Tischendorf (Apocalypses Apocryphae­, 1866, 85). This is discussed above, under #346; and so it would seem that we may not assume that both apocalypses are Coptic; for it is with the ­Greek Apocalypse of John the Theologian­ that this reference to Tischendorf is identified; and the note mentions only an Apocalypse of John (by which it evidently means the Tischendorf text). It is also illogical that an otherwise unmentioned Coptic Apocalypse of John should be found in such illustrious company that it would have left no trace of itself beyond this perhaps overstrained connection within a single citation.

 

     In short, it is likely that we have here to do with a misinterpretation of a footnote, and no hitherto unknown mass of Coptic devotional material alleging Traditions of one of the Twelve. I will keep this number open in case there has been published something of a Joannine apocalyptic in Coptic since my last update in November, 1997. To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing forthcoming from the Nag Hammadi Coptic Library. H

 

[NTA, II, 801]

 

349. The Audian Revelation of John

 

     Theodore bar Konai (­Book of Scholia­ XI, in a chapter about the Adjae or Audians), mentions a Revelation or Apocalypse in the name of John, from which he quotes the two following extracts:—(and in the Revelation which is in the name of John he\fn{Audi, the lay founder of the 4th century rigorist sect, which separated from the Great Church on the grounds that their clergy had become too secularized. They were accused also of holding an anthropomorphic view of the Godhead.} said, ‘These powers which I have seen, from them comes my body.’ And he enumerates these holy creators which he says, ‘My Wisdom made the hair, Understanding the skin. Elohim made the bones, and my Sovereignty made the blood. Adonai made the nerves, and Zeal made the flesh, and Thought made the marrow.’)

 

     Since 1936, Puech has twice published his opinion (“Fragments Retrouves de l’Apocalypse d’Allogene,” Ann. Inst. Phil. Et Hist. Or. et Slav­. IV, Brussels, 1936, 942, 952; ­Coptic Studies in Honor of W. E. Crum­, 1950, 113) that the ­Apocryphon of John­ (above, #323) and this work are in fact one and the same book. He notes that in 1936, only the first part of the ­Apocryphon of John­ was known, and a relationship between the two works could only be suggested as a hypothesis which could not be controlled. When the complete text of the ­Apocryphon of John­ became better known (though still imperfectly), through the Nag Hammadi library, the conjecture of an identity between the two could be maintained with greater assurance. In 1962, Peuch stated that the identity seemed absolutely certain and definitely proved, from the following reasoning: the passage in the ­Audian Revelation of John­ relating to the creation by the seven Archons of the seven parts of Adam’s body (second of the above quotations) has an almost exact parallel in three of the four copies of the ­Apocryphon of John­ now accessible. If true, this conclusion is of great interest for the history of the ­Apocryphon of John­; for it can only further demonstrate the remarkable prestige which that work enjoyed from the 2nd-8th centuries, as far afield as Mesopotamia; and at the very least, if Theodore bar Konai is here only copying an older source, the ­Apocryphon of John­ was still highly esteemed for a long time, and elsewhere than in the West and Egypt.

 

[NTA, II, 319]

 

350. The Apocalypse of John, after Nau

 

     Nau (“Une Deuxieme Apocryphe Grecque de S. Jean” in ­Revue Biblique­ XXIII, 1914, 209-221) has published a shorter apocalypse of John. According to him, the apocalypse had its origin in Cyprus between the 6th and the 8th centuries.

 

[NTA, 753]

 

351. The Mysteries of Saint John the Holy Virgin

 

     Budge (­Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt­, 1913, 59-74; English translation 241-257) has published from a Coptic manuscript of the 11th century, a work entitled the “­Mysteries of Saint John the Apostle and Holy Virgin­.” According to it, Jesus sent a cloud into all parts of the world wherein were the apostles in order that it might bring them to him on the Mount of Olives. When all the Apostles had arrived, John asked Jesus to explain to him the mysteries of the heavens, the laws which regulated the fall of dew and rain, and other natural phenomena. Having summoned a cherub, Jesus committed John to its care, and told it to answer fully all John’s questions.

 

     The angel, having set John upon its wing of light, bore him up through seven heavens and described to him their construction. It showed him the Twelve Rulers of the Worlds of Light, and the fountain from which fell rain upon the earth; it described to him the laws which govern the succession of day and night, the various classes of stars, and similar matters. In the eastern part of the earth, it showed him Paradise, and Adam walking about in it, burying in the ground heaps of leaves which fell from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The angel impressed upon John the sacredness of oaths sworn by water and by wheat (because the former existed before the heavens and the earth were created, and the latter was formed from portions of the invisible body of God and the body of God’s son).

 

     Having explained to John why Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and wept, and having answered his questions about predestination (presupposed in the Received gospels and the Received ­Letter of Paul to the Romans­), and whether animals have souls, and whether they will live again after they die, the angel brought John down from Heaven to the disciples who were waiting for him on the Mount of Olives.

 

     Prior to 1962 there had been no careful investigation whether this Coptic writing goes back to a Greek substratum. Budge (­op.cit­.) similarly offered no hypothesis with regards to its date of origin. Its date of composition is unknown.

 

[ANT, 504-505; NTA, II, 753; COA, 241-257]

 

***

 

XXV: THOMAS

 

352. The Egyptian Gospel of Thomas

 

     The ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ was recovered in 1945 as part of the Nag Hammadi Library of manuscripts, discovered in Upper Egypt, and now for the most part preserved in the Coptic Museum in Old Cairo. The first edition of the printed text, with an English translation, was first accomplished by Guillaumont (London, 1959). A French version was first published by Quispel (“L’Evangile Selon Thomas et le Texte Occidental du Nouveau Testament” in ­Vigiliae Christiane­ XIV, 1960, 204-216).

 

     The ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ is not, like the Received gospels, historical in format, but consists of a collection of traditional sayings, prophecies, proverbs, and parables of Jesus, allegedly written down by Didymus Judas Thomas.

 

1. Some of its 114 items have points of contact with the sayings of Jesus as recorded in ­Q­, though where parallels exist, the sayings in this gospel are thought to be secondary; and there are significant literary parallels with certain of the Greek Oxyrhunchus Papyri (1, 654, 655).

 

2. Significant literary parallels with Jewish-Christianity have been noticed. Use of the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­ and the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ has been traced, and the following features typical of Jewish-Christianity are felt to be present. (a) James is given a prominent role (logion 12: The disciples said to Jesus, ‘We know that you will depart from us. Who is to be our leader?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Wherever you are, you are to go to James the righteous, for whose sake heaven and earth came into being.’). (b) There are allusions to the apocryphal accounts of the childhood of Christ (logion 4: Jesus said, ‘The man old in days will not hesitate to ask a small child seven days old about the place of life, and he will live. For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same.’). (c) The symbolism of the lion (logion 7: Jesus said, ‘Blessed is the lion which becomes man when consumed by man; and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man.’) has a Jewish Christian parallel. (d) The symbolism of the wood and stone (logion 77: Jesus said, ‘It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the All. From Me did the All come forth, and unto Me did the All extend. Split a piece of wood, and I am there. Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.’) has a Jewish-Christian parallel. The Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ can be properly considered a lineal descendant of a group of texts clustered around Jewish-Christian gnosis.

 

3. On the other hand, it has also been thought that it may preserve a few sayings of Jesus not found in the Received Gospels which ultimately go back to Orthodox Tradition. That there are a great number of connections with the ­Received New Testament­ seems proven from the number of probable verbal or conceptual citations cited by NTB from 16 books of the Received Canon: ­Mark­, ­Matthew­, ­Luke­, ­John­, Acts­, ­Romans­, ­I Corinthians­, II Corinthians­, ­Galatians­, ­Philippians­, ­I Timothy­, ­Hebrews­, ­James­, ­I John­, ­II John­, ­Revelation­ (for which see below). A comparison of the Thomas sayings with these parallels suggests that the Thomas sayings either are present in a more primitive form, or are developments of a more primitive form of the Synoptic Tradition. In fact, the ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ for some scholars represents the Synoptic sayings source (often called ­Q­), which was the common source of the sayings of Jesus used by ­Matthew­ and ­Luke­. (It is at any rate certain that the Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ and its sources are collections of sayings and parables which are closely related to the sources of the Received gospels.)

 

4. In addition, the book exhibits traces of a fairly pronounced Dualism, which seems to indicate that at least in its final recension as attested by the Coptic text, it has been retouched by the Gnostics who used it. (a) The condemnation of marriage would not of itself be decisive, for the same feature appears in the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­. But other points (so Grant, ­The Secret Sayings of Jesus According to the Gospel of Thomas­, London, 1960, 180-191) are more conclusive: (b) There is emphasis on esoteric doctrine, (c) on the completely interior nature of the Kingdom of God, (d) on the final condemnation of the material world, and (e) on the condemnation of the ­Received Old Testament­. At least part of this gospel may therefore be said to occupy a position halfway between Jewish-Christian gnosis and heterodox gnosticism.

 

     On the other hand, it is not possible to ascribe the work to any particular school or sect. The collected sayings are described as the secret sayings: thus the collection intends to be esoteric, the key to understanding it being the proper interpretation of the sayings; for according to much that is in this gospel, the basic religious experience is not only the recognition of one’s divine identity, but also the recognition of one’s origin and destiny.

 

5. Also: it should be pointed out that Christians who follow only the way to God as outlined in the Received New Testament­ believe that Jesus is Lord and Son of God in a unique way—and that he remains forever distinct from the rest of humanity whom he came to save. Yet this gospel says (logions 13, 108) that as soon as Thomas recognized him, Jesus said to Thomas that they have both received their being from the same source:—(Jesus said, ‘I am not your master. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring which I have measured out ... Jesus said, ‘He who will drink from My mouth will become like Me. I myself shall become him, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him.’) Does not such teaching—the identity of the divine and human, the concerning with illusion and enlightenment, the founder of who is presented not as Lord, but as a spiritual guide—sound more Eastern than Western? Some scholars have suggested that if the names were changed, the Living Buddha could appropriately say what the ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ attributes to the living Jesus.

 

     Could Hindu or Buddhist tradition have influenced gnosticism? Conze (“Buddhism and Gnosis” in ­Le Origini Dello Gnosticismo: Colloquio di Messina, 13-18 April 1966­, Leiden, 1967, 665), a British scholar of Buddhism, suggests that it had, pointing out (a), that Buddhists were in contact with Thomas Christians in South India, (b) that trade routes between the Greco-Roman world and the Far East were opening up at the time when gnosticism flourished (80-200AD), and (c) that for generations, Buddhist missionaries had been proselytizing in Alexandria. Hippolytus of Rome knows of the Indian Brahmins c.225:—(There is ... among the Indians a heresy of those who philosophize among the Brahmins, who live a self-sufficient life, abstaining from eating living creatures and all cooked food ... They say that God is light, not like the light one sees, not like the sun or fire, but to them God is discourse, not that which finds expression in articulate sounds, but that of knowledge through which the secret mysteries of nature are perceived by the wise.).

 

     Some conclusions about this volume have been drawn concerning all this.

 

A

 

The fact that the ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ includes a number of logia found elsewhere, either in the papyral remains, or in citations by various author, suggests that the writer/compiler drew on a variety of sources in compiling his text (so Doresese, ­L’Evangile Selon Thomas et les Paroles de Jesus­, Paris, 1959).

 

B

 

It seems also true that some passages are related to sayings of Christ as these have been preserved in the Received New Testament­, but they seem to have come down by way of a different Tradition closer to the original Aramaic (so Guillaumont, “Semitismes Dans les Logia de Jesus Retrouves a Nag Hammadi” in Journal Asiatique­, 1958, 113-120; and Quispel, “The Gospel of Thomas and the New Testament” in Vigiliae Christianae­ XI, 1957, 189-207).

 

C

 

Christianity contemporary to Modern Times, diverse and complex as it appears to be, actually may show more unanimity of belief than the Christian churches of the 1st and 2nd centuries. For nearly all Christians since that time have shared three basic premises: (1) they accept as canonical the ­Received New Testament­; (2) they affirm specific forms of church institutions; and (3) they all confess similar Apostolic Creeds. Before that time, as Irenaeus of Lyon (d.c.200) can attest, numerous gospels circulated among various Christians groups, ranging from those of the ­Received New Testament­ to such writings as the Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­, the ­Gospel of Philip­, and the ­Gospel of Truth­, as well as many other secret teachings, myths, and poems attributed to Jesus or his disciples. Those who identified themselves as Christians entertained many at times radically differing religious beliefs and practices; and the Christian communities scattered throughout the pagan world organized themselves in ways that differed widely from group to group.

 

     As regards its place of provenance the text itself affords one clue. Memories of the Apostle Thomas are especially connected with the region of Edessa (so Doresese, ­op.cit­., 40-48), and there is extant an ­Acts of Thomas­ written in Syriac at Edessa in the 3rd century. This document states that Thomas was initiated into the secret teaching of Christ, a comment which may well be an allusion to the ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­. Adiabene had been converted to Judaism c.30AD, and it is likely that this gospel was originally the work of the Jewish- Christians of Adiabene, fulfilling here the part played by the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ and the Gospel of the Hebrews­ in Egypt.

 

     The ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ is best dated in the first half of the 2nd century, and associated with the Odes of Solomon­, another document for which Edessa is the likeliest place of origin. That we have here to do with a translation into Coptic from Greek is certain; indeed, several fragments of this Greek version have been preserved, and can be dated to c.200AD. Thus the Greek [or perhaps even the Syriac—the author is said to be Didymos Judas Thomas (Judas the Twin) who was identified particularly within the Syrian Christian church as the Apostle and twin brother of Jesus—or Aramaic] original collection was composed in the period before c.200 AD, or possibly as early as 50-100AD (for which see below), and either in Syria, Palestine, or Mesopotamia. The Greek original of our Coptic text perhaps dates from c.150; Quispel and his collaborators (Malanine, McL. Wilson, Puech, and Till, ­Evangelium Veritatis­, Zurich and Stuttgart, 1961, Introduction) suggested the date of c. 140 for the Greek.

 

     On the other hand, some have reasoned that since these gospels were heretical, they must have been written later than the gospels of the ­Received New Testament­ (which are to be dated c.65-c.100AD). Recently Professor Helmut Koester of Harvard University (“Introduction to the Gospel of Thomas” in Robinson’s The Nag Hammadi Library­, New York, 1977, 117) has suggested that the collection of sayings in this work, although compiled c. 140, may include some traditions even ­older­ than the gospels of the ­Received New Testament­, possibly as early as 50AD. Those sayings, then, would reflect a tradition as early or earlier than the Received gospels.

 

     The Coptic text, which contains some additions, was probably written c.400.

 

     NTB lists the following verbal or conceptual parallels between the ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ and various texts of the ­Received New Testament­:

 

II,2;32.12-14­: And he said, “Whoever finds the interpretation of these sayings will not experience death.”

John 8:51­: Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death.”

John 8:525b­: ‘If any one keeps my word, he will never taste death.’

Matthew 16:28­: Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”

Mark 9:1b­: ‘Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

Luke 9:27­: But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

*

II,2;32.14-16­: Jesus said, “Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds.

Matthew 7:7­: “Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Luke 11:9­: And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

*

II,2;32.16-19­: When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the all.”

Romans 10:6-8­: But the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?” (that is, to bring Christ down) or “Who will descend into the abyss?” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach);

Luke 17:20-22­: Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Lo, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it.

Matthew 24:4-5,23-26­: And Jesus answered them, “Take heed that no one leads you astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. … Then if any one says to you, ‘Lo, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Lo, I have told you before hand. So, if they say to you, ‘Lo, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; if they say, ‘Lo, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.

Mark 13:5-6,21-23­: And Jesus began to say to them, “Take heed that no one leads you astray. Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. … And then if any one says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. False Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take heed; I have told you all things beforehand.

*

II,2;32.26-33.5­: When you came to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.”

I Corinthians 8:1-3­: Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” “Knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. If any one imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if one loves God, one is known by him.

Galatians 4:6-9­: And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir. Formerly, when you did not know God, you were in bondage to beings that by nature are no gods; but now that you have come to know god, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits, whose slaves you want to be once more?

*

II,2;32.26-27a­: When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known.

I Corinthians 13:12­: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then fact to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.

*

II,2;33.1-5­: and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty.”

John 6:57­: As the living Father sent me, and I live became of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me.

Romans 9:26­: “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”

*

II,2;33.9-10­: For many who are first will become last, and they will become one and the same.”

Matthew 19:30­: but many that are first will be last, and the last first.

Mark 10:31­: But many that are first will be last, and the last first.”

Matthew 20:16­: So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Luke 13:30­: And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first will be last.”

*

II,2;33.10-14­: Jesus said, “Recognize what is in your\fn{Singular.} sight, and that which is hidden from you\fn{Singular.} will become plain to you.\fn{Singular.} for there is nothing hidden which will not become manifest.”

Matthew 10:26­: “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

Mark 4:22­: For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.’

Luke 8:17­: For nothing is hid that shall not be made manifest, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light.

Luke 12:2­: Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

*

II,2;33.14-16­: His disciples questioned him and said to him, “Do you want us to fast? How shall we pray? shall we give alms?

Matthew 6:1-2,5,16­: “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. … “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. … “And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Luke 11:1­: He was praying in a certain place, and when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

*

II,2;33.21-23­: For nothing hidden will not become manifest, and nothing covered will remain without being uncovered.”

Matthew 10:26­: “So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

Mark 4:22­: For there is nothing hid, except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.

Luke 8:17­: For nothing is hid that shall not be made manifest, nor anything secret that shall not be known and come to light.

Luke 12:1­: Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.

*

II,2;33.28-34.2­: And he said, “This man is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of small fish. Among them the wise fisherman found a fine large fish. He threw all the small fish back into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty.

Matthew 13:47-48­: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net which was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; when it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into vessels but threw away the bad.

*

II,2;34.2-3­: Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Matthew 11:15­: He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

Matthew 13:9­: He who has ears, let him hear.”

Mark 4:9­: And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Luke 8:8b­: “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Matthew 13:43b­: He who has ears, let him hear.

Mark 4:23­: If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Mark 7:16­: [RSV note: Other ancient authorities add verse 16, “If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.”]

Luke 14:35b­: He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Revelation 2:7a­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 2:11a­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 2:17a­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Revelation 23:29­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Revelation 3:6­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Revelation 3:13­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Revelation 3:22­: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

Revelation 13:9­: If any one has an ear, let him hear:

*

II,2;34.3-13­: Jesus said, “Now the sower went out, took a handful of seeds, and scattered them. Some fell on the road; the birds came and gathered them up. Others fell on rock, did not take root in the soil, and did not produce ears. And others fell on thorns; they choked the seed(s) and worms ate them. And others fell on the good soil and it produced good fruit: it bore sixty per measure and a hundred and twenty per measure.”

Matthew 13:3-8­: And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away. Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

Mark 4:3-8­: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had not much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil; and when the sun rose it was scorched, and since it had no root it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. And other seeds fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty-fold and sixty-fold and a hundredfold.”

Luke 8:5-8a­: “A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell along the path, and was trodden under foot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns grew with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew, and yielded a hundredfold.

*

II,2;34.14-16­: Jesus said, “I have cast fire upon the world, and see, I am guarding it until it blazes.”

Luke 12:49­: “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled!

*

II,2;34.16-17­: Jesus said, “This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away.

Matthew 24:35­: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Mark 13:31­: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Luke 21:33­: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Matthew 5:18­: For truly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

Luke 16:17­: but it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one dot of the law to become void.

*

II,2;34.225-27­: The disciples said to Jesus, “We know that you will depart from us. Who is to be our leader?”

Mark­ 9:31-34: for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of man will be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and they were afraid to ask him. And they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they were silent; for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest.

Luke 9:43b-46­: But while they were all marveling at everything he did, he said to his disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this saying, and it was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask him about this saying. And an argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest.

Luke 22:22-24­: For the Son of man goes as it has been determined; but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!” And they began to question one another, which of them it was that would do this. A dispute also arose among them, which of them was to be regarded as the greatest

*

II,2;34.30-35.4­: Jesus said to his disciples, “Compare me to someone and tell me whom I am like.” Simon Peter said to him, “You are like a righteous angel.” Matthew said to him, “You are like a wise philosopher.” Thomas said to him, “Master, my mouth is wholly incapable of saying whom you are like.”

Matthew 16:13-16­: Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and other Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Mark 8:27-29­: And Jesus went on with his disciples, to the villages of Caesrea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”

Luke 9:18-20­: Now it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him; and he asked them, “Who do the people say that I am?” and they answered, “John the Baptist; but others say, Elijah; and others, that one of the old prophets has risen.” And said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.

*

II,2;34.4-5­: Jesus said, “I am not your\fn{Singular.} master.

John 15:15­: No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

*

II,2;35.15-19­: Jesus said to them, “If you fast, you will give rise to sin for yourselves; and if you pray, you will be condemned; and if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits.

Matthew 6:1-18­: “Beware of practicing your piety before men in order to be seen by them; for then you will have no reward from your Father who is heaven. Thus, when you give alms, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that our alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; And forgive us our debts, As we also have forgiven our debtors; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you; but if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. And when you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by men. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and our Father who sees in secret will reward you.

*

II,2;35.19-23­: When you go into any land and walk about in the districts, if they receive you, eat what they will set before you, and heal the sick among them.

Luke 10:8-9­: Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you; heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

*

II,2;35.24-27­: For what goes into your mouth will not defile you, but that which issues from your mouth—it is that which will defile you.”

Matthew 15:11,18,20­: not what goes into the mouth defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. These are what defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

Mark 7:15,18,20­: there is nothing outside a man which by going into him can defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him.” And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him, And he said, “What comes out of a man is what defiles a man.

*

II,2;35.31-36.3­: Jesus said, “Men think, perhaps, that it is peace which I have come to cast upon the world. They do not know that it is dissension which I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword, and war. For there will be five in a house: three will be against two, and two against three, the father against the son, and the son against the father.

Luke 12:49,51-53­: “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it were already kindled! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division; for henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Matthew 10:34-36­: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household.

*

II,2;36.5-9­: Jesus said, “I shall give you what no eye has seen and what no ear has heard and what no hand has touched and what has never occurred to the human mind.”

I Corinthians 2:9­: But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him.”

*

II,2;36.9-10­: The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us how our end will be.”

Matthew 24:3­: As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”

*

II,2;36.14-17­: Blessed is he who will take his place in the beginning; he will know the end and will not experience death.”

Matthew 16:28­: Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”

Mark 9:1­: And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

Luke 9:27­: But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

John 8:51­: Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death.”

John 8:52b­: ‘If any one keeps my word, he will never taste death.’

*

II,2;36.25­: Whoever becomes acquainted with them will not experience death.”

Matthew 16:28­: Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.”

Mark 9: 1­: And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

Luke 9:27­: But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

John 8:51­: Truly, truly, I say to you, if any one keeps my word, he will never see death.”

John 8:52b­: ‘If any one keeps my word, he will never taste death.’

John 6:50­: This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die.

John 11:26a­: and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.

*

II,2;36.26-33­: The disciples said to Jesus, “Tell us what the kingdom of heaven is like.” He said to them, “It is like a mustard seed. It is the smallest of all seeds. But when it falls on tilled soil, it produces a great plant and becomes a shelter for birds of the sky.”

Mark 4:30-32­: And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

Matthew 13:31-32­: Another parable he put before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

Luke 13:18-19­: He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it?” It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in h is garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

*

II,2;37.6-15­: Therefore I say, if the owner of a house knows that the thief is coming, he will begin his vigil before he comes and will not let him dig through into his house of his domain to carry away his goods. You, fn{Plural.} then, be on your guard against the world. Arm yourselves with great strength lest the robber find a way to come to you, for the difficulty which you expect will surely materialize.

Matthew 24:42-44­: Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Luke 12:39-40­: But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready; for the Son of man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Matthew 12:29­: Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

Mark 3:27­: But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.

Luke 11:21-22­: When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in Peace; but when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil.

*

II,2;37.17-18­: When the grain ripened, he came quickly with his sickle in his hand and reaped it.

Mark 4:29­: but when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

*

II,2;37.20-24­: Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, “These infants being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom.” They said to him, “Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?”

Matthew 18:2-3­: And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

*

II,2;37.24-35­: Jesus said to them, “When you make the two one, ... and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; ... then will you enter the kingdom.”

Galatians 3:28­: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

*

II,2;37.26-27­: when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside,

Matthew 23:25-26­: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity. You blind Pharisee! first cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

Luke 11:39-40­: And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?

*

II,2;38.1-3­: Jesus said, “I shall choose you, one out of a thousand, and two out of ten thousand, and they shall stand as a single one.”

Matthew 22:14­: For many are called, but few are chosen.”

*

II,2;38.4-6­: His disciples said to him, “Show us the place where you are, since it is necessary for us to seek it.”

John 7:34­: you will seek me and you will not find me; where I am you cannot come.”

*

II,2;38.7-10­: There is light within a man of light, and he lights up the whole world. If he does not shine, he is darkness.”

Matthew 5:14-16­: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 6:22-23­: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Luke 11:34-36­: Your eye is the lamp of your body; when our eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light.”

John 1:4-5,9­: In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the dark-ness has not overcome it. … The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.

John 8:12­: Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 12:35-36­: Jesus said to them, “The light s with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.”

John 12:46­: I have come as light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

*

II,2;38.10-11­: Jesus said, “Love your\fn{Singular.} brother like your soul,

Matthew 19:19b­: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Matthew 22:39­: And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Mark 12:31­: The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Luke 10:27­: And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all our strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”

Mark 12:33­: and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

*

II,2;38.12-17­: Jesus said, “You\fn{Singular.} see the mote in your brother’s eye, but you do not see the beam in your own eye. When you cast the beam out of your own eye, then you will see clearly to cast the mote from your brother’s eye.”

Matthew 7:3-5­: Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.

Luke 6:41-42­: Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

*

II,2;38.21-22­: Jesus said, “I took my place in the midst of the world, and I appeared to them in flesh.

Luke 24:39b­: handle me, and see; for a spirit has not flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

John 1:14­: And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.

Romans 8:3b­: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

Philippians 2:7­: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men

I Timothy 3:16b­: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

Hebrews 2:14a­: Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same nature,

I John 4:2b­: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,

II John :7a­: For many deceivers have gone out into the world, men who will not acknowledge the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh;

*

II,2;38.24-25­: And my soul became afflicted for the sons of men,

Matthew 26:38a­: Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death;

Mark 14:34a­: and he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death;

*

II,2;38.27-28­: for empty they came into the world, and empty too they seek to leave the world.

I Timothy 6:7­: for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world;

*

II,2;39.4-5­: Where there are two or one, I am with him.”

Matthew 18:20­: For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

*

II,2;39.5-7­: Jesus said, “No prophet is accepted in his own village; no physician heals those who know him.”

Luke 4:23-24­: And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Physician, heal yourself; what we have heard you did at Capernaum, do here also in your own country.’” And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.

*

II,2;39.5-6­: Jesus said, “No prophet is accepted in his own village;

Matthew 13:57­: And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.”

Mark 6:4­: And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.”

Luke 4:24­: And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.

John 4:44­: For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.

*

II,;39.7-10­: Jesus said, “A city being built on a high mountain and fortified cannot fall, nor can it be hidden.”

Matthew 5:14b­: A city set on a hill cannot be hid.

Matthew 7:24-25­: “Every one then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been rounded on the rock.

Luke 6:47-48­: Every one who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep, and laid the foundation upon rock; and when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shale it, because it had been well built.

*

II,2;39.10-12­: Jesus said, “Preach from your” housetops that which you\fn{Plural.} will hear in your\fn{Singu-ar.} ear.

Matthew 10:27­: What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops.

Luke 12:3­: Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

*

II,2;39.13-18­: For no one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, nor does he put it in a hidden place, but rather he sets it on a lampstand so that everyone who enters and leaves will see its light.”

Luke 11:33­: “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a bushel, but on a stand, that those who enter may see the light.

Matthew 5:15­: Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

Mark 4:21­: And he said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a bushel, or under a bed, and not on a stand?

Luke 8:16­: “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, that those who enter may see the light.

*

­II,2;39.18-20­: Jesus said, “If a blind man leads a blind man, they will both fall into a pit.”

Matthew 15:14­: Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

Luke 6:39­: He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?

*

II,2;39.20-24­: Jesus said, “It is not possible for anyone to enter the house of a strong man and take it by force unless he binds his hands; then he will be able to ransack his house.”

Mark 3:27­: But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.

Matthew 12;29­: Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his books, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

*

II,2;39.24-26­: Jesus said, “Do not be concerned from morning until evening and from evening until morning about what you will wear.”

Matthew 6:25­: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

Luke 12:22-23­: And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Matthew 6:31­: Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’

Matthew 6:34­: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day.

*

II,2;39.27-29­: His disciples said, “When will you become revealed to us and when shall we see you?”

Matthew 24:3­: As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”

John 14:22­: Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”

John 16:16-17­: “A little while, and you will see me no more; again a little while, and you will see me.” Some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?”

*

II,2;39.29-40.2­: Jesus said, “When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garments and place them under your feet like little children and tread on them, then will you see the son of the living one, and you will not be afraid.”

Matthew 21:8-9,15-16­: Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and what followed him shouted, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” … But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant; and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast brought perfect praise’?”

Mark 11:8-9­: And many spread their garments on the road, and other spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Luke 19:36-38­: And as he rode along, they spread their garments on the road. As he was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

*

II,2;40.1­: the son of the living one,

Matthew 16:16­: Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

*

II,2;40.2-5­: Jesus said, “Many times have you desired to hear these words which I am saying to you, and you have no one else to hear them from.

Matthew 13:17­: Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

Luke 10:24­: For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

*

II,2;40.5-7­: There will be days when you will look for me and will not find me.”

Luke 17:22­: and he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it.

John 7:34­: you will seek me and you will not find me; where I am you cannot come.”

John 7:36­: What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

*

II,2;40.7-10­: Jesus said, “The Pharisees and the scribes have taken the keys of knowledge and hidden them. They themselves have not entered, nor have they allowed to enter those who wish to.

Luke 11:52­: Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

Matthew 23:13­: “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in.

*

II,2;40.40.11-13­: You, however, be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.”

Matthew 10:16­: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

*

II,2;40.13-16­: Jesus says, “A grapevine has been planted outside of the father, but being unsound, it will be pulled up by its roots and destroyed.”

Matthew 15:13­: He answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.

*

II,2;40.16-18­: Jesus said, “Whoever has something in his hand will receive more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little he has.”

Matthew 13:12­: For to him who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

Mark 4:25­: For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

Luke 8:18­: Take heed then how you hear; for to him who has will more be given, and from him who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.”

Matthew 25:29­: For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

Luke 19:26­: ‘I tell you, that to every one who has will more be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

*

II,2;40.20-24­: His disciples said to him, “Who are you, that you should say these things to us?” Jesus said to them, “You do not realize who I am from what I say to you, but you have become like the Jews,

John 14:9-10­: Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

Mark 2:7­: “Why does this man speak thus? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God only?”

Luke 5:21­: And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Why is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

John 8:24-27­: I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he.” They said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Even what I have told you from the beginning. I have much to say about you and much to judge; but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” They did not understand that he spoke to them of the Father.

*

II,2;40.23-26­: but you have become like the Jews, for they either love the tree and hate its fruit or love the fruit and hate the tree.”

Matthew 12:33­: “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.

Matthew 7:17-20­: So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. thus you will know them by their fruits.

Luke 6:43-44­: “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.

Matthew 6:24­: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Luke 16:13­: No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

*

II,2;40.26-31­: Jesus said, “Whoever blasphemes against the father will be forgiven, and whoever blasphemes against the son will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the holy spirit will not be forgiven either on earth or in heaven.”

Matthew 12:31-32­: Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Mark 3:28-29­: “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—

Luke 12:10­: And every one who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

*

II,2;40.31-41.6­: Jesus said, “Grapes are not harvested from thorns, nor are figs gathered from thistles, for they do not produce fruit. A good man brings forth good from his storehouse; an evil man brings forth evil things from his evil storehouse, which is in his heart, and says evil things. For out of the abundance of the hear the brings forth evil things.”

Luke 6:43-35­: “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of the his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the hear this mouth speaks.

Matthew 12:33-353­: “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! how can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the hear the mouth speaks. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

Matthew 7:16,18­: You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? … A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

*

II,2;41.6-12­: Jesus said, “Among those born of women, from Adam until John the Baptist, there is no one superior to John the Baptist that his eyes should not be lowered before him. Yet I have said, whichever one of you comes to be a child will be acquainted with the kingdom and will become superior to John.”

Matthew 11:11-12­: Truly, I say to you, among those born of woman none is greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and men of violence take it by force.

Luke 7:28­: I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

Luke 16:16­: “The law and the prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and every one enters it violently.

*

II,2;41.10-11­: Yet I have said, whichever one of you comes to be a child will be acquainted with the kingdom

Matthew 18:3­: and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Mark 10:15­: Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

Luke 18:17­: Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

*

II,2;41.12-17­: Jesus said, “It is impossible for a man to mount two horses or to stretch two bows. And it is impossible for a servant to serve two masters; otherwise, he will honor the one and treat the other contemptuously.

Matthew 6:24­: “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Luke 16:13­: No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

*

II,2;41.17-23­: No man drinks old wine and immediately desires to drink new wine. And new wine is not put into old wineskins, lest they burst; nor is old wine put into a new wineskin, lest it spoil it. An old patch is not sewn into a new garment, because a tear would result.”

Luke 5:36b-39­: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it upon an old garment; if he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine desires new; for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

Matthew 9:16-17­: And no one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; if it is, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.

Mark 2:21-22­: No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; if he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but new wine is for fresh skins.

*

II,2;41.24-27­: Jesus said, “If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, ‘Move away,’ and it will move away.”

Matthew 18:19­: Again I say to you, if two of your agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

Matthew 17:20b­: For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”

Matthew 21:21­: And Jesus answered them, Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and never doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will be done.

Mark 11:23­: Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

*

II,2;42.7-12­: His disciples said to him, “When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?” He said to them, “What you look forward to has already come, but you do not recognize it.”

Luke 17:20-22­: Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Lo, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it.

*

II,2;42.7-10­: His disciples said to him, “When will the repose of the dead come about, and when will the new world come?”

Matthew 24:3­: As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?”

Mark 13:3-4­: And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign when these things are all to be accomplished?”

Luke 21:7­: And they asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign when this is about to take place?”

Acts 1:6­: So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

*

II,2;42.13-15­: His disciples said to him, “Twenty-four prophets spoke in Israel, and all of them spoke in you.”

John 5:39­: You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me;

Luke 24:27­: And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

Luke 24:44­: Then he said to them, “These are my words which I spoke to you, while I was with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.”

*

II,e;42.16-18­: He said to them, “You have omitted the one living in your presence and have spoken only of the dead.”

Luke 24:5b­: the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?

*

II,2;42.18-23­: His disciples said to him, “Is circumcision beneficial or not?” He said to them, “If it were beneficial, their father would beget them already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become completely profitable.

Romans 2:25,29-32a: Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. … He is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart, spiritual and not literal. His praise is not from men but from God. Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way.

*

II,2;42.23-24­: Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of heaven.”

Luke 6:20­: And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Matthew 5:3­: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

*

II,2;42.25-29­: Jesus said, “Whoever does not hate his father and his mother cannot become a disciple to me. And whoever does not hate his brothers and sisters and take up his cross in my way will not be worthy of me.”

Luke 14:26-27­: “If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 10:37-38­: He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

*

II,2;42.33-43.7­: Jesus said, “The kingdom of the father is a like a man who had good seed. His enemy came by night and sowed weeds among the good seed. The man did not allow them to pull up the weeds; he said to them, ‘I am afraid that you will go intending to pull up the weeds and pull up the wheat along with them.’ For on the day of the harvest the weeds will be plainly visible, and they will be pulled up and burned.”

Matthew 13:24-30­: Another parable he put before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. And the servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then has it weeds?’ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ but he said, ‘No; lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’

*

II,2;43.7-9­: Jesus said, “Blessed is the man who has suffered and found life.”

James 1:12­: Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him

*

II,2;43.9-12­: Jesus said, “Take heed of the living one while you are alive, lest you die and seek to see him and he unable to do so.”

John 8:21­: Again he said to them, “I go away, and you will seek me and die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.”

*

II,2;43.19-23­: He said to them, “You too, look for a place for yourselves within repose, lest you become a corpse and be eaten.”

Hebrews 4:11­: Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, that no one fall by the same sort of disobedience.

*

II,2;43.23-25­: Jesus said, “Two will rest on a bed: the one will die, and the other will live.”

Luke 17:34­: I tell you, in that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left

*

II,2;43.28-30­: Jesus said to her, “I am he who exists from the undivided. I was given some of the things of my father.”

John 10:29-30­: My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. I and the Father are one.

*

II,2;43.30­: I was given some of the things of My father.”

Matthew 11:27a­: All things have been delivered to me by my Father;

Luke 10:23a­: All things have been delivered to me by my Father;

John 3:35­: the Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.

John 13:3a­: Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands.

*

II,2;43.31-34­: “Therefore I say, if he is destroyed he will be filled with light, but if he is divided, he will be filled with darkness.”

Matthew 6:22-23a­: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is not sound, your whole body will be full of darkness.

Luke 11:34­: Your eye is the lamp of your body; when your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light; but when it is not sound, your body is full of darkness.

*

II,2;43.34-44.1­: Jesus said, “It is to those who are worthy of my mysteries that I tell my mysteries.

Matthew 13;11­: And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

Mark 4:11­: And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables;

Luke 8:10­: he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

*

II,2;44.1-2­: Do not let your\fn{Singular.} left hand know what your\fn{Singular.} right hand is doing.

Matthew 6:3­: but when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.

*

II,2;44.2-9­: Jesus said, “There was a rich man who had much money. He said, ‘I shall put my money to use so that I may sow, reap, plant, and fill my storehouse with produce, with the result that I shall lack nothing.’ Such were his intentions, but that same night he died.

Luke 12:16-20­: And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this; I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?

*

II,2;44.10-35­: Jesus said, “A man had received visitors. And when he had prepared the dinner, he sent his servant to invite the guests. He went to the first one and said to him, ‘My master invites you.’ He said, ‘I have claims against some merchants. They are coming to me this evening. I must go and give them my orders. I ask to be excused from the dinner.’ He went to another and said to him, ‘My master has invited you.’ He said to him, ‘I have just bought a house and am required for the day. I shall not have any spare time.’ He went to another and said to him, ‘My master invites you.’ He said to him, ‘My friend is going to get married, and I am to prepare the banquet. I shall not be able to come. I ask to be excused from the dinner.’ He went to another and said to him, ‘My master invites you.’ He said to him, ‘I have just bought a farm, and I am on my way to collect the rent. I shall not be able to come. I ask to be excused.’ The servant returned and said to his master, ‘Those whom you invited to the dinner have asked to be excused.’ The master said to his servant, ‘Go outside to the streets and bring back those whom you happen to me, so that they may dine.’ Businessmen and merchants will not enter the places of my father.”

Luke 14:16-24­: But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many; and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for all is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them; I pray you, have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ So the servant came and reported this to his master. Then the householder in anger said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lands of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.’ And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

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II,2;45.1-15­: He said, “There was a good man who owned a vineyard. He leased it to tenant farmers so that they might work it and he might collect the produce from them. He sent his servant so that the tenants might give him the produce of the vineyard. They seized his servant and beat him, all but killing him. The servant went back and told his master. The master said, ‘Perhaps he did not recognize them.’ He sent another servant. The tenants beat this one as well. then the owner sent his son and said, ‘Perhaps they will show respect to my son.’ Because the tenants knew that it was he who was the heir to the vineyard, the seized him and killed him.

Matthew 21:33-39­: “Hear another parable. There was a householder who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the season of fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants, to get his fruit; and the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first; and they did the same to them. Afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

Mark 12:1-8­: And he began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed. Again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed. He had still one other, a beloved son; finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.

Luke 20:9-15a­: And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, that they should give him some of the fruit of the vineyard; but the tenants beat him, and set him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant; him also they beat and treated shamefully, and set him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third; this one they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; it may be they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir; let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

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II,2;45.17-19­: Jesus said, “Show me the stone which the builders have rejected. That one is the cornerstone.”

Matthew 21:42a­: Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures; ‘The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner;

Mark 12:10­: Have you not read this scripture: ‘The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner;

Luke 20:17­: But he looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner’?

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II,2;45.21-22­: Jesus said, “Blessed are you when you are hated and persecuted.

Matthew 5:11­: “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Luke 6:22­: “Blessed are you when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man!

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II,2;45.25-26­: Jesus said, “Blessed are they who have been persecuted within themselves.

Matthew 5:10­: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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II,2;45.28-29­: Blessed are the hungry, for the belly of him who desires will be filled.”

Luke 6:21a­: “Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.

Matthew 5:6­: “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

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II,2;45.29-33­: Jesus said, “That which you have will save you if you bring it forth from yourselves. That which you do not have within you will kill you if you do not have it within you.”

Luke 19:26-27­: ‘I tell you, that to every one who has will more be given; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them before me.’”

Matthew 25:292-30­: For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’

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II,2;45.34-35: ­Jesus said, “I shall destroy this house, and no one will be able to build it ...”

Matthew 26:61b­: ‘I am amble to destroy the temple of god, and to build it in three days.’”

Mark 14:58­: “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days, I will build another, not made with hands.’”

­John 2:10­: Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,”

Matthew 27:40a­: and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days,

Mark 15:29b­: “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days,

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II,2;46.1-6­: A man said to him, “Tell my brothers to divide my father's possession with me.” He said to him, “O man, who has made me a divider?” He turned to his disciples and said to them, “I am not a divider, am I?”

Luke 12:13-14­: One of the multitude said to him, “Teacher, bid my brother divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man who made me a judge or divider over you?”

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II,2;46.6-9­: Jesus said, “The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Beseech the lord, therefore, to send out laborers to the harvest.

Matthew 9:37-38­: then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Luke 10:2­: And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

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II,2;46.11-13­: Jesus said, “Many are standing at the door, but it is the solitary who will enter the bridal chamber.”

Matthew 25:10­: And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast; and the door was shut.

John :29a­: He who has the bride is the bridegroom; the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice;

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II,2;46.13-18­: Jesus said, “The kingdom of the father is like a merchant who had a consignment of merchandise and who discovered a pearl. that merchant was shrewd. He sold the merchandise and bought the pearl alone for himself.

Matthew 13:45-46­: “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

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II,2;46.19-22­: You too, seek his unfailing and enduring treasure where no moth comes near to devour and no worm destroys.”

Luke 12:33b­: provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

Matthew 6:20­: but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.

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II,2;46.23-26­: Jesus said, “It is I who am the light which is above them all. It is I who am the all. From me did the all come forth, and unto me did the all extend.

John 1:3-4,9,10a­: all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him,

*

II,2;46.23-24­: Jesus said, “It is I who am the light which is above them all.

John 8:12­: Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 9:5­: As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

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II,2;46.28-47.3­: Jesus said, “Why have you come out into the desert? To see a reed shaken by the wind? And to see a man clothed in fine garments like your kings and your great men? Upon them are the fine garments, and they are unable to discern the truth.”

Luke 7:24-25,30­: When the messengers of John had gone, he began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. … but the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the purpose of god for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

Matthew 11:7-8­: As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to behold? A reed shaken by the wind? Why then did you go out? To see a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, those who wear soft raiment are in kings’ houses.

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II,2;47.3-8­: A woman from the crowd said to him, “Blessed are the womb which bore you and the breasts which nourished you.” He said to her, “Blessed are those who have heard the word of the father and have truly kept it.

Luke 11:27-28­: As he said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that you sucked!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

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II,2;47.9-12­: For there will be days when you\fn{Plural.} will say, ‘Blessed are the womb which has not conceived and the breasts which have not given milk.’”

Luke 23:29­: For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!’

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II,2;47.17-19­: Jesus said, “He who is near me is near the fire, and he who is far from me is far from the kingdom.”

Mark 12:34a­: And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”

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II,2;47.19-24­: Jesus said, “The images are manifest to man, but the light in them remains concealed in the image of the light of the father. He will become manifest, but his image will remain concealed by his light.”

II Corinthians 4:4­: In their cast the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the likeness of God.

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II,2;47.34-48.4­: Jesus said, “The foxes have their holes and the birds have their nests, but the son of man has no place to lay his head and rest.”

Matthew 8:20­: And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.”

Luke 9:58­: And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.”

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II,2;48.13-16­: Jesus said, “Why do you wash the outside of the cup? Do you not realize that he who made the inside is the same one who made the outside?”

Luke 11:39-40­: And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of extortion and wickedness. You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also?

Matthew 23:25-26­: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of extortion and rapacity. You blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

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II,2;48.16-20­: Jesus said, “Come unto me, for my yoke is easy and my lordship is mild, and you will find repose for yourselves.”

Matthew 11:28-30­: Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

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II,2;48.20-25­: They said to him, “Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you.” He said to them, “You read the face of the sky and of the earth, but you have not recognized the one who is before you and you do not know how to read this moment.”

Luke 12:56­: You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky; but why do you not know now to interpret the present time?

Matthew 16:1-3­: And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather; for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.

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II,2;48.20-21­: They said to him, “Tell us who you are so that we may believe in you.”

John 6:30­: So they said to him, “Then what sign do your do, that we may see, and believe you? What work do you perform?

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II,2;48.26­: Jesus said, “Seek and you will find.

Matthew 7:7­: “Ask, and it will be give you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Luke 11:9­: And I tell you, Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find, knock, and it will be opened to you.

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II,2;48.30-33­: Jesus said, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, lest they throw them on the dung heap. Do not throw the pearls to swine, lest they ... it ... .”

Matthew 7:6­: “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.

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II,2;48.30-31­: Jesus said, “Do not give what is holy to dogs, lest they throw them on the dung heap.

Luke 14:35a­: It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill; men throw it away.

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II,2;48.33-34­: Jesus said, “He who seeks will find, and he who knocks will be let in.”

Matthew 7:8­: For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

Luke 11:10­: For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

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II,2;48.35-49.2­: Jesus said, “If you have money, do not lend it at interest, but give it to one from whom you will not get it back.”

Luke 6:343-35a­: And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return;

Matthew 5:42­: Give to him who begs from you, and do not refuse him who would borrow from you.

Luke 6:30­: Give to every one who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again.

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II,2;49.2-5­: Jesus aid, “The kingdom of the father is like a certain woman. She took a little leaven, concealed it in some dough, and made it into large loaves.

Matthew 13:33­: He told them another parable, “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

Luke 13:20-21­: And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? It is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”

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II,2;49.15-20­: Jesus said, “The kingdom of the father is like a certain man who wanted to kill a powerful man. In his own house he drew his sword and stuck it into the wall in order to find out whether his hand could carry through. The he slew the powerful man.”

Luke 11:17,20-22­: But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. … but if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace; but when one stronger than he assails him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoil.

Matthew 12:25,28-29­: Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand; … but if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

Mark 3:24,27­: If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. … But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man; then indeed he may plunder his house.

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II,2;49.21-26­: the disciples said to him, “Your brothers and your mother are standing outside.” He said to them, “Those here who do the will of my father are my brothers and my mother. It is they who will enter the kingdom of my father.”

Luke 8:20-21­: And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” but he said to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”

Matthew 12:47,50­: [RSV note: Other ancient authorities insert verse 47: Some one told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to you.”] for whosoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Mark 3:32,35­: And a crowd was sitting about him; and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, asking for you.” … Whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Matthew 7:21­: “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

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II,2;49.27-31­: they showed Jesus a gold coin and said to him, “Caesar’s men demand taxes from us.” He said to them, “Give Caesar what belongs to Caesar, give God what belongs to God, and give me what is mine.”

Matthew 22:17-21­: Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the money for the tax.” And they brought him a coin. And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Mark 12:14b-17a­: Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, nor not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a coin, and let me look at it.” And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

Luke 20:22-25­: Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Show me a coin. Whose likeness and inscription has it?” They said, “Caesar’s.” He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

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II,2;49.32-33­: Jesus said, “Whoever does not hate his father and his mother as I do cannot become a disciple to me.

Luke 14:26­: “If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 10:37a­: He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me;

*

II,2;49.34-36­: And whoever does not love his father and his mother as I do cannot become a disciple to me.

Matthew 10:37a­: He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me;

Luke 14:26­: “If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciples.

*

II,2;50.2-5­: Jesus said, “Woe to the Pharisees, for they are like a dog sleeping in the manger of oxen, for neither does he eat nor does he let the oxen eat.

Matthew 23:13­: “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you shut the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who would enter to go in.

Luke 11:52­: Woe to you lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge; you did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

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II,2;50.5-10­: Jesus said, “Fortunate is the man who knows where the brigands will enter, so that he may get up, muster his domain, and arm himself before they invade.

Luke 11:21­: When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace;

Luke 12:37-39­: Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes; truly, I say to you, he will gird himself and have them sit at table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them so, blessed are those servants! but know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into.

Matthew 24:43­: But know this, that if the householder had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched and would not have let his house be broken into.

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II,2;50.11-16­: They said to Jesus, “Come, let us pray today and let us fast.” Jesus said, “What is the sin that I have committed, or wherein have I been defeated? But when the bridegroom leaves the bridal chamber, then let them fast and pray.”

Luke 5:33-35­: And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” And Jesus aid to them, “Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”

Matthew 9:14-15­: Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Mark 2:18-20­: Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come, when the bridegroom is taken away with them, and then they will fast in that day.

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II,2;50.12-13­: Jesus said, “What is the sin that I have committed, or wherein have I been defeated?

John 8:46­: Which of your convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?

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II,2;50.16-18­: Jesus said, “He who knows the father and the mother will be called the son of a harlot.”

John 8:41,55­: You do what your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” … but you have not known him; I know him. If I said, I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him and I keep his word.

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II,2;50.20-22­: and when you say, ‘Mountain, move away,’ it will move away.”

Matthew 17:20b­: For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.”

Matthew 21:21­: And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and never doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even f you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will be done.

Mark 11:23­: Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

*

II,2;50.22-27­: Jesus said, “The kingdom is like a shepherd who had a hundred sheep. One of them, the largest, went astray. He left the ninety-nine and looked for that one until he found it. When he had gone to such trouble, he said to the sheep, ‘I care for you more than the ninety-nine.’”

Luke 15:3-7­: So he told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Matthew 18:12-14­: What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

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II,2;50.28-30­: Jesus said, “He who will drink from my mouth will become like me. I myself shall become he, and the things that are hidden will be revealed to him.”

John 6:56­: He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

*

II,2;50.31-51.2­: Jesus said, “The kingdom is like a man who had a hidden treasure in his field without knowing it. And after he died, he left it to his son. The son did not know about the treasure. He inherited the field and sold it. And the one who bought it went plowing and found the treasure.

Matthew 13:44­: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

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II,2;51.6-7­: Jesus said, “The heavens and the earth will be rolled up in your presence.

Hebrews 1:10-12­: And, “Thou, Lord, didst found the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of thy hands; they will perish, but thou remainest; they will all grow old like a garment, like a mantle thou wilt roll them up, and they will be changed. But thou art the same, and thy years will never end.”

Revelation 6:14­: the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

*

II,2;51.13-18­: His disciples said to him, “When will the kingdom come?” Jesus said, “It will not come by waiting for it. It will not be a matter of saying ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is.’ Rather, the kingdom of the father is spread out upon the earth, and men do not see it.”

Luke 17:20-23­: Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; nor will they say, ‘Lo, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and you will not see it. And they will say to you, ‘Lo, there!’ or ‘Lo, here!’ Do not go, do not follow them.

Matthew 24:3,23­: As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, ``Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age?” … Then if any one says to you, ‘Lo, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it.

Mark 13:4,21­: “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign when these things are all to be accomplished?” … And then if any one says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it.

Luke 21:7­: And they asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign when this is about to take place?”

 

[NTB, 88-144; TJC, 23-25; TGG, xv-xvi, xx-xxi, xxiii; NAG, 117]

 

353. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1, 654, 655

 

     The papyral fragments discussed in this section are part of a collection of many thousands of fragments, discovered in excavations undertaken for the Graeco-Roman branch of the Egyptian Exploration Fund from 1897 onwards at Oxyrhynchus, a center of Christian culture in 4th century Egypt, some 10 miles west of the Nile River, near the modern town of Behnesa. They consist of sayings of Jesus, and at the time they were first published (Grenfell and Hunt, ­Sayings of Our Lord From an Early Greek Papyrus­, 1897; ­ibid­., New Sayings of Jesus and Fragments of a Lost Gospel­, 1904), they were believed to stand in a close relationship with the Received gospels. It was even suggested that fragments 1 and 654 were part of the supposed lost common source of ­Matthew­ and Luke­: ­Q­. Let us be more specific about these fragments and their interrelationship.

 

A

 

PAPYRUS 1. This is a papyrus leaf, written soon after 200AD, and discovered in 1897 in Egypt, as were similar leaves after it. It comes from Behnesa, the ancient Oxyrhynchus in Middle Egypt, and is part of a codex, for its verso has been provided by a later hand with a page number. Since the page number was normally placed on the right-hand page of the opened book, the content of the verso preceded that of the recto. [Further proof is demonstrated by: (1) the filling out, on the verso only, of the end of short lines with ornament, a thing that has meaning only on the outer margin of a page; (2) the ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­, which confirms this conclusion by giving the sayings of the verso of ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1­ before those of the recto; and (3) the broken margin at the bottom of the page. The whole leaf now contains seven sayings of Jesus (or rather eight, since the lost bottom lines of the verso contained the beginning of a saying the last word of which can still be read in the first line of the recto).]

 

     There also follow one another in the ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ eight sayings which, on the whole, correspond to the text of ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1­. [In connection with this, however, it should be noted that the fifth saying of ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1­ appears in the ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ in two parts in two different passages (at logion 30 and logion 87); and this fact must warn us against seeing in the papyri simply the Greek original of the Coptic text, and proceeding without the necessary caution to fill up the gaps in the papyri with only the help of the Coptic text.] The unvarying concise introductory formula in the present tense (Jesus says) is used in a similar way in ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654­; and this goes to prove that both it and ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1­ are transcriptions from one and the same book. Only three of the seven surviving sayings are known from the Synoptics; the hitherto unknown sayings are of quite a different stamp. Evelyn-White (­The Sayings of Jesus from Oxyrhynchus­, Cambridge, 1920) believes they and those from ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654­ may be extracts from the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­.

 

     The following is a translation of ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1­ as it appears in NTA (I,105-110) followed by that of James (ANT,26-27). The dotted lines are indications of amount of text lost, as well as indications that text has been lost.

 

... and then thou mayest see clearly to pull out the mote that is in the eye of thy brother. Jesus says: If you do not fast as to the world, you will not find the kingdom of God, and if you do not keep the Sabbath as Sabbath, you will not see the Father. Jesus says: I stood up in the midst of the world, and in the flesh I appeared to them and found all drunken, and none found I athirst among them, and my soul is troubled\fn{Or: feels pain.} for the sons of men, because they are blind in their heart and do not see (............................................................................ ............... ) the poverty. Jesus says: wherever there are ........... without God, and where one is alone, I say: I am with him. Lift up the stone and there thou wilt find me; cleave the wood, and I am there. Jesus says: A prophet is not acceptable in his own country, neither does a physician work cures on those who know him. Jesus says: A city which is erected on the top of a high mountain and firmly stablished, can neither fall nor remain hidden. Jesus says: Thou hearest in thy one ear the ...

 

James translates as follows:

 

... And then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote which is in thy brother’s eye. Jesus saith: If ye fast not from the world ye shall not find the kingdom of God, and if ye keep not Sabbath for the whole week, ye shall not see the Father. Jesus saith: I stood in the midst of the world, and in flesh appeared I unto him: and I found all men drunken, and none did I find thirsting among them and my soul is afflicted for the sons of men, because they are blind in their heart and see not ( ................................. )\fn{ANT has here: Bottom of the column gone.} Jesus saith: Wheresoever there are two, they are not without God: and where there is one alone I say I am with him. Lift up the stone and there shalt thou find me: cleave the wood, and I am there. Jesus saith: A prophet is not acceptable in his own country, nor doth a physician do cures upon them that know him. Jesus saith: A city built upon the top of an high mountain and established can neither fall nor be hidden. Jesus saith: Thou hearest within thy one ear but the other thou hast closed. ...

 

B

 

PAPYRUS OXYRHYNCHUS 654. On the back of a property writ there were written—towards the end of the 2nd or beginning of the 3rd century, and in good uncial—a series of sayings which from time to time are introduced with the formula Jesus says. That undoubtedly ought to be assumed for all the sayings even though this formula is not everywhere legible in the fragments that have been preserved. The text has been copied from an earlier original, as can be demonstrated by the presence of slips of the pen.

 

     The discussion of this fragment that set in after its discovery (1903) has fostered many attempts at reconstruct-tion—efforts which are today in part confirmed and in part seriously called into question by the discovery of the Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­. That in this compilation of the sayings of Jesus we are not dealing with the source of a gospel (like the source ­Q­ for the Received gospels of ­Matthew­ and ­Luke­) is indeed just as clear as the fact that here a fragment of a gospel lies before us.

 

     Wessely (­Patrologia Orientalis­ IV, 57f, 64f) has referred to the formal parallel of the Greek maxim literature and from this has attempted to explain both ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1­ and ­654­. This reference must be taken seriously, even if in ­1­, ­654­ and ­655­ we are actually concerned with what remains of the Greek vorlag­ of the Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­. For, since the first saying is attested by Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, Stromatesis­ V:xiv.96) for the ­Gospel of the Hebrews­, it has been thought that the whole collection is derived from this Egyptian ­Gospel of the Hebrews­ (so Waiz in Hennecke’s ­Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­, 1924, 49f); but this assignation is on various grounds just as little tenable as Harnack’s conjecture that here there lies before us a remnant of the Gospel of the Egyptians­.

 

     However the problems which are set us, especially by the far-reaching agreements of our text with the Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­, may be solved, it may assuredly be said that the sayings handed down here show a considerable nearness to the Synoptic sayings of Jesus, but at the same time a highly characteristic tendency to further development of the Synoptic Tradition.

 

     The following text of ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 654­ is from NTA (100-110), followed by ANT (26). Again, the dittography indicates length of missing text.

 

... These are the words which ..... Jesus the Living One spoke and ... and Thomas and spoke ...... these words ......... will he not taste. Jesus says: Let not him cease who is seeking ...... has found, and when he has found ..... has been amazed, he will reign and ......... find rest. Says Jesus ...... who draw us ........... the kingdom in heaven ... the birds of the heaven ... what is under the earth ....... the fish of the sea .................. you. And the kingdom ... is within you ................. he who knows, will find this ........ you will know yourselves ...... you are of the Father, of the ... you know yourselves in ........ And you are poverty? Jesus says: a man will not hesitate ..................... to ask a child ................. about the place of the .................. Then many first will be the last and the last the first and ................................... Jesus says ... lies before thine eye and ......... from thee, will be revealed ... nothing is hidden that will not be manifest, and buried that will not be raised up. His disciples ask him and say: How should we fast and how should be pray and how .................... and what should we observe of the traditions? Jesus says .................... do not ......................... truth ......................... hidden ................. blessed is ...

 

     James translates as follows:

 

... These are the ( ......... ) words which Jesus that liveth and ( .......... ) spake to ( ........ ) and to Thomas. And he said: Whosoever heareth these words shall not taste of death. Let not him that seeketh cease seeking till he find, and when he findeth he shall marvel, and having marveled he shall reign, and having reigned he shall rest. (......... ) saith, Who are they that draw us ( ............. ) the kingdom that is in heaven ( ........... ) the fowls of the heaven whatsoever is under the earth the fish of the sea. These are they that draw you; and the kingdom of heaven is within you: and whosoever knoweth ( ....... ) shall find it ( ....... ) know yourselves ( ........ ) ye are (.......... ) of the Father ( ....... ) ye shall know yourselves to be in ( ........ ). And ye are the city of God.\fn{See below for suggested restorations, according to ANT (27-28).} A man shall not hesitate ( .............. ) [having found to ask of ( ................. ) concerning the place of ( ................ ) for ye shall find that many first shall be last and the last first and they shall ( ....................... ) Jesus saith (....................... ) before thy face and that which is hidden from thee shall be revealed to thee: for there is nothing hid that shall not be manifested and buried that shall not be found or raised up ( .......... his disciples question him and say: How shall we fast and how shall we ..... and how shall we ...... and what shall we observe ( ............................... ). Jesus saith ( ............................... ). Do not do ( .................. ) of the truth (..................................... ) hidden ( .............................. ) blessed is he (............... ) ...

 

     Lagrange (­Revue Biblique­, 1922, 432) would restore as follows:

 

Judas\fn{The interrogator, the ‘not Iscariot.’} saith: Who then are they that draw us unto heaven above, if the kingdom is in heaven? Jesus saith: The fowls of the heaven, the beasts and if there be anything beneath the earth or upon the earth, and the fishes of the sea are they that draw you into God and the kingdom of heaven is within you and whosoever knoweth God shall find it: for if ye know him ye shall know yourselves and shall know that ye are sons of the Father that is perfect: and likewise ye shall know yourselves to be citizens in heaven. And ye are the city of God.\fn{Or: the city that affrighteth Satan.}

 

     Evelyn-White would restore as follows:

 

Judas saith: Who then are they that draw us, and when shall come the kingdom that is in heaven? Jesus saith: The fowls of the heaven and of the beasts whatever is beneath the earth or upon the earth, and the fishes of the sea, these are they that draw you: and the kingdom of heaven is within you: and whosoever knoweth himself shall find it: and having found it ye shall know yourselves, that ye are sons and heirs of the Father the Almighty, and shall know yourselves that ye are in God and God in you. And ye are the City of God.

 

C

 

PAPYRUS OXYRHYNCHUS 655. Among the Oxyrhynchus papyri edited in 1904 by Grenfell and Hunt there were also several fragments which were the remains of a papyrus roll of the 2nd or 3rd century (James thinks the 3rd century), the contents of which proved to be a compilation of the sayings of Jesus. There was subsequently much discussion as to whether these sayings came from a gospel and, if so, from which one or ones. Hennecke (Neutestamentliche Apokryphen­, 1924, 56f) and Jeremias (“Unbekannte Jesusworte” in ­ET­ XVII) are of the opinion that the similarity of one part to a citation in Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Stromateis­ III:xiii.92) indicates that the sayings of Jesus come from the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­. Apart from the fact that the same saying may have occurred in different gospels, it is here to be noted that the agreement between our text and the citation in Clement is by no means word for word, and that its derivation from the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ could not be proved.

 

     It has also been suggested (in consequence of the discovery of the ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­) that the sayings preserved in ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 655­ also come from the ­Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ in its Greek vorlag­; but the situation is somewhat more difficult here than in the case of ­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1­ and 654­, because the text of ­655­ is very fragmentary—for while the recto of the leaf is in excellent condition, only the sense of the lower part of the verso can be made out with certainty (since, from the rest of the column, only the beginnings of words remain).

 

     Two fragments of this roll have been deciphered. They are as follows:

 

1. ... From early until late nor from evening until early neither about food for you, what you should eat nor about clothing for you, what you should put on. Much better are you than the lilies which grow but to not spin. If you have a garment ........ also you? Who can add to your age? He himself will give to you your garment. His disciples say to him: When wilt thou be manifest to us and when shall we see thee? He says: When you undress and are not ashamed ...

 

2. ... they have obtained the keys of the kingdom and them they have hidden, they themselves go not in and those who wish to go in they have not allowed to go in. But you, be wise as serpents and without guile as doves ...

 

     James translates as follows:

 

1. ... (Take no thought) from morning until evening nor from evening to morning, either for your food, what ye shall eat, nor for your raiment, what ye shall put on. Much better are ye than the lilies which do not card nor spin ... having one garment, what ... and ye, who can add unto your stature? He shall give you your raiment. His disciples say unto him, When wilt thou be manifest unto us and when shall we see thee? He saith: When ye have put off your raiment and are not ashamed. ...

 

2.\fn{The sense of the lower part only can be made out with certainty.} He said, The key of knowledge have ye hidden: yourselves ye entered not it, and to them that were coming in ye opened not\fn{After two lines.} harmless as doves.\fn{The other little pieces of the leaf give no sense.}

 

     As a special group among the papyral fragments of apocryphal gospels there must be included papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1­, ­654­, and ­655­, since the sayings preserved on them come before us in a Coptic rendering as part of the Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ (i.e., as a part of the Nag Hammadi Library, and known to have been translated from the Greek). (Indeed, by their very existence, these three papyral fragments have caused the Greek fragments of the Egyptian Gospel of Thomas­ to appear in a new light.) [The connection between the three forms of this material was first perceived by Quispel (1952); evidently in independence of Peuch, Gariette (­Le Museon­ LXX, 1957, 59-73) had detected that they belonged to one another, but in a note he has acknowledged the priority of Peuch’s discovery.]

 

[NTA, I, 92, 97-99, 104-105, 110-111, 113-114, 115-116; ANT, 25-28]

 

354. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1224

 

     This is the remains of a papyrus book, the writing of which points to the beginnings of the 4th century. It was published by Grenfell and Hunt (­Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1224­, 1914, 1-10). The pages were numbered: there can still be recognized the numbers 139, 174 and 176. The condition of the pages permits only a partially trustworthy reading of them. In the present state of our knowledge the identification of the fragments with a gospel is not possible. The following text is based on that of Wessely (­Patrologia Orientalis­ XVIII, 266ff); Klostermann (“Apocrypha II” in ­Kleine Texte für Vorlesungen und Ubungen, hrsg. von H. Leitzmann­ VIII, Berlin, 1929, 26); and Bonaccorsi (­Vangeli Apocrifi­ I, Florence, 1948, 40).

 

... And the scribes and Pharisees and priests, when they saw him, were angry that with sinners in the midst he reclined at table. But Jesus heard it and said: The healthy need not the physician. And pray for your enemies. For he who is not against you is for you. He who today is far-off—tomorrow will be near to you ...

 

[NTA, I, 113-114]

 

355. The Fayyum Fragment

 

     In the collection of papyri of the Archduke Rainer at Vienna, Bickell (­Mittheilungen aus der Sammlung der Papyrus Erzh. Ranier I­, 1887, 54-61) discovered in 1885 a fragment of the 3rd century which caused a considerable sensation, the opinion of the day being that it provided a first step to the formation of the Synoptic gospels. The publication of the papyrus was followed by a wealth of hypotheses. But here also a secondary, indeed an abridged rendering of the Synoptic material has to be assumed, and the text must be considered an excerpt or fragment of a gospel that hitherto has been unknown to us.

 

     The brevity of the fragment forbids sure statements of any kind: there have been many attempts to restore the missing words and letters, but they remain questionable. The fragment is below:

 

... As he led them out, he said: All ye in this night will be offended, as it is written: I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered. When Peter said: Even if all, not I, Jesus said: Before the cock crows twice, thrice will thou deny me today. ...

 

     James restores as follows:

 

... all ye in this night shall be offended according to the scripture: I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. And when Peter said: Even if all, not I, the Lord said: Before the cock crow twice today thou shalt thrice deny me.\fn{Or: The cock shall twice crow and thou first shalt thrice deny me.}

 

     It is not for many critics beyond all doubt that this is a fragment of a gospel. Some hold that it is a slightly abridged quotation made by a preacher or commentator. It omits, for instance, the clause: After I am risen I will go before you into Galilee—and it is reasoned by some that if the preacher or expositor wished to emphasize Peter’s denial, he might easily pass over these words.

 

     On the other hand, the first editor of it, and others, have thought that the omission was a mark of an early date. The ODC says: It may be either an extract from a lost gospel or (perhaps more probably) a fragment of some early ecclesiastical writer who was making a free quotation from the canonical gospels.

 

[ANT, 25-28; NTA, I, 115-116; ODC, 407]

 

356. Lost Material in Sanskrit About Thomas the Apostle

 

     Surely a collection of this nature would be remiss not to include a space for a Thomas Sanskrit Tradition; perhaps the evidence for its existence is concealed in the pages of the following bibliography: (1) Geddes (History of the Church of Malabar From the Time of its First Being Discovered by the Portugese in the Year 1501­, London, 1694); (2) Raulin (­Historia Ecclesiae Malabaricae cum Diamperitana Synodo­, Rome, 1745); (3) Howard (­The Christians of St. Thomas and Their Liturgies­, 1864); (4) Germann (­Die Kirche der Thomaschristen­, Gutersloh, 1877); (5) Logan (­Malabar­, Madras, 1887, 199-213); (6) Rae (­The Syrian Church in India­, 1892); (7) Fortescue (The Lesser Eastern Churches­, 1913, 353-379); (8) Panjikaran (­The Syrian Church in Malabar­, Trichinopoly, 1914); (9) Conolly, “The Work of Menerzes on the Malabar Liturgy” in ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XV, 1914, 396-425, 569-593; (10) Maclean (“Syrian Christians” in ­Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics­, 1921, 178-180); (11) Ayyar (­Anthropology of the Syrian Christians­, Ernakulam, 1926); (12) Farquhar (“The Apostle Thomas in South India” in ­Bulletin of the John Rylands Library­ X, 1926, 80-111); (13) Panjikaran (“Christianity in Malabar” in ­Orientalia Christiana­ XXIII, 1926; (14) Tisserant [“Syro-Malabare (Eglise)” in Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique­, 1927, cols. 1704-1745] (15) Amann [“Malabres (Rites)” in Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique­, 1927]; (16) Farquhar (“The Apostle Thomas in South India” in ­Bulletin of the John Rylands Library­ XI, 1927, 20-50); (17) Joseph (­Malabar Christians and their Ancient Documents­, Trivandrum, 1929); (18) Attwater (­The Catholic Eastern Churches­, Milwaukee, 1937, 243-255); (19) Keay (­A History of the Syrian Church of India­, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1938); (20) Brown, (­The Indian Christians of St. Thomas­, 1956).

 

[ODC, 135, 688, 845]

 

357. The Acts of Thomas

 

     The ­Acts of Thomas­ is an apocryphal book of great length which recounts in 13 acts the missionary activities of Thomas the Apostles (whom the Syrians call Judas Thomas). It tells how Gundaphorus, one of the kings of India, wishing for a magnificent palace, sends his merchant Abbanes to Syria to obtain a skilled architect. At Jerusalem Abbanes meets Jesus, the carpenter’s son, who recommends to him his slave Thomas, and Thomas reluctantly agrees to go back with the king to Syria. Thomas gives away large sums of money which Gundaphorus gives him for his palace to the poor, and soon convinces Gundaphorus that his money is being used to build a far more noble palace in Heaven than the earthly building for which it had been intended. Gundaphorus and many others are thereupon converted. After further missionary work, accompanied by healing miracles, in the neighboring lands of King Misdaeus, Thomas is persecuted for his success in persuading the wife (Mygdonia) of one of Misdaeus’ nobles (Charisius) to abandon sexual relations with her husband, and is finally killed by being repeatedly pierced with spears. The Apostolic remains are taken back shortly afterwards to Mesopotamia. Contained in the ­acta­ are four poems—an ­Ode to Sophia­, two hymns relating to Baptism and the Eucharist, and the Hymn to the Redeemer­ (originally, but incorrectly, called the ­Hymn to the Soul­).

 

     The earliest book to be called an ­Acts of Thomas­ is now thought to have been called into existence by an historical event—the translation of the Apostle’s relics from India to Edessa in 232AD—and that in the edition of this work as it is presently known, there were also added, ­inter alia­, a number of Gnostic compositions [though there is much critical opposition to this from those who would regard the ­Acts of Thomas­ as an originally Gnostic composition of 200-250AD, the edition which we now possess having been pruned of its unorthodoxy, saving a few set pieces—the ­Hymn to the Redeemer­, the ­Ode to Sophia­ (Wisdom)]. This conclusion accords well with the almost universal observation from textual critics that (1) in the surviving Greek texts of the ­Acts of Thomas­ we have to do with Greek translations from a Syriac original, rather than a Greek original (indicating that it is the Syrian culture, heavily influenced by Gnosticism, that is the background of the author’s experience); (2) that nothing is known in the (Greek) Fathers of the book prior to the 4th century; and (3) that this would certainly not have been the case in a work of such evident popularity, being translated into six languages (from which, it would appear by the surviving texts, the Gnostic elements have been largely removed in the interests of Orthodoxy, though its origin is betrayed by its continual deprecation of marriage).

 

1. There is in existence, as it happens, a manuscript copy of the Acts of Thomas­ written in Syriac in Edessa in the 3rd century. [This document states that Thomas was initiated into the secret teaching of Christ, a comment which may well be an allusion to the ­Gospel of the Egyptians­ (and an indication that therefore the author of the ­Acts of Thomas­ knew of a Jewish-Christian gospel from the early 2nd century still in circulation in his time, some 150 years after its composition: H).]

 

2. Eusebius of Caesarea (d. 340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxv) may make reference to the ­Acts of Thomas­ as follows: or the Acts of Andrew and of John as also of other apostles.

 

3. Ephrem of Syria (d.373) refers to apocryphal ­Acts of Thomas­ as in circulation among the Bardesanites.

 

4. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Against All heresies­ LVII:i; LXI.i) testifies to the use of the ­Acts of Thomas­ by various Gnostic sects.

 

5. Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430, ­Contra Faustum Manichaean­ XX.79; ­Contra Adimantius­ XVII:ii.2; De Sermone Domini in Monte­ I:xx.65) thrice attests the use of the ­Acts of Thomas­ in Gnostic sects.

 

6. Turribius of Astorga (fl.c.440, ­Epistula ad Idacius et Ceponius­ V) affirms that the ­Acts of Thomas­ are in use among Manichees and Priscillianists.

 

7. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century) lists the book thus: Acts under the name of the apostle Thomas ... apocryphal; and this is distinct from a listing later on: All books which Leucius, the disciple of the devil, has made ... apocryphal.

 

8. The ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century) may know of its existence collectively, under the heading: And the following apocryphal: 17. The Circuits and Teachings of the Apostles.

 

9. The ­Stichometry of Nicephorus­ (c.850) lists under the heading Apocrypha of the New Testament are the following: the item 4. The Circuit of Thomas ... 1600 lines. James remarks that this is far too little, and may probably apply only to a portion of the ­Acts of Thomas­, single episodes of which, in addition to the Martyrdom of Thomas­, may have been current separately.

 

     None of the ancient apostolic ­acta­ have reached Modern Times in anything like a completeness equal to that of the ­Acts of Thomas­. The text is extant, at least in part, in six languages.

 

1. GREEK. (first edited by Thilo in 1823; best edition in Lipsius & Bonnet, ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.2, Leipzig, 1903, 99-291, edited from 21 manuscripts; there is an English translation in ANF, based upon five manuscripts, the oldest of the 10th century). Many Greek manuscripts survive. The text of them is thought to be nearer in form to the original Syriac, as opposed to the Syriac which has survived to our time, which betrays modifications in the interests of Orthodoxy.

 

2. SYRIAC. (first edited and translated by Wright, ­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­ I, 1871, 171-333, English translation 146-298; older fragments containing minor variations (on the basis of a Berlin manuscript) by Lewis, Mythological Acts of the Apostles­, Horae Semiticae IV, 1904, 223-241. Several Syriac manuscripts also survive. The oldest is from the 3rd century; unfortunately according to Klijn (“­The Acts of Thomas­,” a supplement to Novus Testamentum­ V, 1962) and NTA, the extant Greek text stands nearer to the lost Syriac original and its tradition than does the extant Syriac, which has many very puristic passages and allows us to recognized a growing Orthodoxy. See also on this Burkitt (in ­Studia Sinaitica­ IX, 1900, appendix vii, 23ff). It is today scarcely disputed that the ­Acts of Thomas­ was originally composed in Syriac; but the surviving Syriac text displays numerous Catholicizing revisions (though this does not exclude the possibility that the Syriac in many particular cases has preserved material certainly older, and that both it and the Greek manuscripts may therefore go back to a common Syriac text, now lost.

 

     Certain hymns occur in the syriac which were undoubtedly composed in that language: most notable is the Hymn of the Soul (edited separately by Bevan and others) which is not relevant to the context. It has been ascribed to Bardaisan.

 

3. ARMENIAN. ANT says there is an Armenian text of which little use has been made.

 

4. LATIN. Latin exists for the ­Acts of Thomas­ only for the martyrdom.

 

5. ARABIC. Edited by Mrs. Lewis (­Mythological Acts of the Apostles­, ­Horae Semiticae­ IV, 1904, 80-9).

 

6. ETHIOPIC. Budge (­The Contending of the Apostles­, London, 1901, 404-465) provides an Ethiopic version of the first six episodes of the Greek acts.

 

     A number of conclusions can be drawn from the evidence of these remains.

 

1. The facts that (a) textual remains of the ­Acts of Thomas­ have been discovered in six languages; (b) that the book is mentioned by either various of the Fathers or surviving canonical lists from the 4th century onward; (c) that the work is reported to have been among the favorite reading material of numerous heterodox or Gnostic congregations; and (d) that there is considerable indication from the extant Syriac texts of an ecclesiastically-inspired effort to edit away all mention of unorthodoxy (in order to permit the Orthodox to read the ­narrative­ of the book): all of these indicate widespread circulation of the ­Acts of Thomas­ in the ancient world, the consequence of its apparently enormous popularity with the ancient religious mind of the Great Church.

 

2. That the Syriac manuscript version exists, testifies to the creation of the ­Acts of Thomas­ at some time during the 3rd century; as does its possible allusion in Eusebius’ ­Ecclesiastical History­ (before 303AD); the inclusion in its text of Gnostic hymns of a fully developed 2nd century character (the ­Hymn of the Pearl­ and the ­Ode to Sophia); and the additional stimulus of the translation of Thomas’ relics from India to Edessa in 232 (an historical event which, according to some critics, could have served in itself have called forth the composition).

 

3. The ­Acts of Thomas­ is intimately connected with some form of Gnostic or Manichaean dualistic worship: Their Gnostic traits, says CAT, pierce through the Catholic retouching; in fact, the contents show a conscious purpose to exalt the dualistic doctrine of abstention from conjugal intercourse. This leads us to Gnostic Christianity of the 3rd century which was domiciled in the region of Mesopotamia (somewhere between Edessa and Mesene) and was only Orthodocized at a relatively late date [4th or 5th centuries; so Bauer (­Rechtglaubigkeit und Ketzeri­, 1934, 6ff)].

 

4. The figure of Lucius Charinus (said from the 5th century on to be the author of a collection of Gnostic acts of five of the Apostles) seems cojoined in importance with the fact that the ancient authorities appear to refer to different combinations of books of acts as they appeared in differing editions:—

 

     a. one of five books (Andrew, John, Peter, Paul, Thomas) at Manichaean Psalm Book­ VI (written c.340);

 

     b. one of five books (Andrew, John, Peter, Paul, Thomas) by Faustus of Milevus (late 4th century, in Augustine of Hippo Regius’ ­Contra Faustum Manichaeum­ (33 books, 397-398);

 

     c. one of four books (Andrew, John, Peter, Paul) by Philaster of Brescia (d.c.397, ­Liber de Haeresibus­ LXXXVIII:vi);

 

     d. one of four books (Andrew, John, Peter, Thomas), but apparently published separately—under the names of Peter and John, which were composed by a certain Leucius: and that under the name of Andrew, by the philosophers Xenocarides and Leonidas, and that under the name of Thomas—by Innocent I of Rome (d.417, Patrologia Latina­ XX, 205);

 

     e. one of three books (Andrew, John, Thomas), by Turribius of Astorga (mid-5th century, ­Letter to Idacius and Ceponius­ V);

 

     f. perhaps one of an undetermined number of books—(so-called Acts of the twelve Apostles, especially those of Andrew)—by Agapius the Manichaean (5th century, according to Photius of Constantinople (­Myrobiblion­ CLXXIX);

 

     g. one of four books (Andrew, Peter, Thomas, Philip) mentioned in the same context in the ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century: Acts under the name of the apostle Andrew; Acts under the name of the Apostle Thomas; Acts under the name of the apostle Peter; Acts under the name of the apostle Philip), with the word apocryphal written after each title in the list;

 

     h. one of four books (Andrew, John, Peter, Paul) by John of Thessalonica (d.c.630, ­Dormitio Mariae­, preface); and

 

     i. one of, again, five books (Andrew, John, Peter, Paul, Thomas) by Photius of Constantinople (d.895, Myrobiblion­ CXIV).

 

—and this in turn calls forth some discussion about what to many critics is the more than faintly Gnostic past of the ­Acts of Thomas­.

 

          (i) There is considerable reason to see them as the product of someone in the circle around Bardesanes of Edessa (154-222). Close connections with the Bardesanian Gnosis can be seen in the ­Wedding Hymn of Sophia­ and in the “Mother” ­epicleses­. There is in addition a long free quotation from the Bardesanian “­Book of the Laws of the Lands­,” in a speech in chapter 91 (so Bauer, ­op.cit­., 46-47). At the same time, Lipsius (Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ I, 1891, 345) would distinguish the form of Gnosticism (which he called vulgar) from Bardesanes himself. Schaeder (“Bardesanes von Edessa” in ­Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte­ LI, 1932, 21ff) characterized this form as radically dualistic and severely encratite, and noted that it could not be separated from the school surrounding Bardesanes.

 

          (ii) Radical dualism and severe encratism were also, however, characteristic of Manichaeism (after Mani, its founder, c.215-275) which itself took its origin from the Bardesanian Gnosis and made its appearance in the latter’s sphere of influence in the century in which the ­Acts of Thomas­ came into being. This is shown by the canon of asceticism which is expressly formulated at several points in the ­Acts of Thomas­—the rejections of the pleasures of the table, of avarice, and of sexual intercourse—and which was adopted by the Manichees in their precepts for the Electi. This ascetic canon is certainly pre-Manichaean. The same holds for numerous particular ideas and conceptions, which have their exact parallels indeed in Manichaeism but derive in fact from the older gnosticism. From this point of view we can understand the diffusion and appreciation of these Acts among the Manichees, and the fact that traces of Manichaean redaction are almost certainly to be found in the doxology to the ­Wedding Hymn­ (chapter 7), in the Eucharistic Prayer­ (chapter 27), and in the ­Hymn of the Pearl­.

 

          (iii) The ­Acts of Thomas­ as a whole, then, prove to be a connecting link between the older Gnosticism and Manichaeism. They allow us to recognize a pre-Manichaean Syrian gnosticism, out of whose elements Mani shaped his own doctrine. Possibly, as Schaeder (­Gnomon­, 1933, 351-352) has conjectured, the very figure of Thomas, the Apostle of Syria, played an extremely important role for Mani. According to the Arabian Fihrist, he was called by an angel at-Tum. This angelic name is only the transposition of the Aramaic word toma, which is at one and the same time the proper name Thomas and the noun twin.

 

5. That in Catholic circles also these ­acta­ could be widely read and valued, without concern, is not surprising, since the translation of the Gnostic myths into legend seems to have made the heretical teachings largely ineffective for uncritical readers.

 

     In the ­Acts of Thomas­, then, there is reflected the highly complex image of Syrian Christianity at the beginning of the 3rd century. [But it must always be remembered that this observation is the reflection of a particular group within a wider local world of which it is perceived for many years by the much larger pagan population surrounding it as essentially an insignificant part. It will not be until 313—or the beginning of the 4th century—that the great ­Edessene Chronicle­ considers the advent of Christianity in Edessa a fact of even momentary importance; for under the year 313 there is noted—(The Bishop Kune laid the foundation of the Church of Urhai.\fn{Edessa.} And Bishop Scha’ad, his successor, built it and completed the building.). From the period prior to 313 it can name as personalities significant in religious history Marcion, Bardesanes, and Mani, thereby clearly showing that it was the Gnostics or Christians of a heterodox nature who exercised decisive influence on the earliest history of Christianity in the city of Edessa. The ­Acts of Thomas­ may have come into being some 80 years prior to the first mention of Christianity in the official history of Edessa; but such an event would have been beneath the notice of most of the people living in the city itself. H]

 

[CAT, II, 611; HAS, IV, 754; ENC, II, 117; ECC, 125; ODC, 1351; ANT, 469-475; NTA, II, 426-429,441-442; ANF, VIII, 357; HAS, IV, 754; DAN, 24]

 

358. The Syriac Acts of Thomas

 

     Wright (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­ II, London, 1871, 146-298) calls this book the “Acts of Judas Thomas (or the Twin), the Apostle,” and takes it from the same manuscript as his source for the Syriac texts of the ­Acts of Andrew and Matthew­ and the ­History of Paul and Thecla­, which is dated 936 AD. A version appears in Clark (Ante-Nicene Christian Library­ XVI, 408). On the origin and composition of the whole document, see von Gutschmid (“Die Konigsnamen in den Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten” in Rheinnisches Museum für Philologie­ N.F. XIX, 161, 179). An older version at minor variations with Wright’s text is published by Mrs. Lewis (Mythological Acts of the Apostles­, Horae Semeticae IV, 1904, 223-241).

 

     Wright felt the following three conclusions applied to this text.

 

1. In the first place we have here the Syriac version of a Greek text very similar to that from which the Latin translation, which passes under the name of Abdias, was made (i.e., Book IX of the ­Latin History of the Apostles, after Abdias­). Notwithstanding sundry notable differences, the two works are substantially the same, allowance being made for a constant tendency to abridgment on the part of the Latin translator [e.g., the omission of the third and fourth acts in the Latin; or the variations in the account of the examination of Thomas by King Mazdai as reported in the Latin of Fabricius (­Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­, 1703, 714-718); or the transposition of the prayer of Thomas to a different place in the Latin version (­ibid­., 731)].

 

2. On the other hand, the Syriac text offers us two hymns of Thomas of which there is not a trace in the Latin redaction. The former of these hymns is a most curious document, and savors rather of Gnosticism or Mandaism than of Orthodox Christianity. It is certainly wholly out of place in the mouth of the Apostle, and we need not therefore wonder at its absence from the Latin text.

 

3. The Syriac text, even in its present shape, is of great antiquity—not later than the 4th century—and this can be proven by the occurrence in it of rare and curious words, some of which are as yet (1870) unknown to informed scholarship. Such are the Syriac expressions for shaking, lictors, officers, selfish, a lash or stripe, a splendid robe, toga, the form of the verb to go, satrap, viceroy, downcast, and elegance.

 

4. It should also be pointed out that the entire fourth act of the Syriac (below) is altogether wanting in the Greek:

 

... And whilst the Apostle was standing in his place on the road, and speaking with those multitudes concerning the kingdom of God, and concerning their conversion and repentance unto our Lord,—whilst the Apostle was standing on the road, and speaking with those multitudes, an ass’s colt came and stood before him. And Judas said: ‘It is not without the direction of God that this colt has come hither. But to thee I say, O colt, that, by the grace of our Lord, there shall be given to thee speech before these multitudes who are standing here; and do thou say whatsoever thou wilt, that they may believe in the God of truth, whom we preach.’ And the mouth of the colt was opened, and it spake like a man by the power of our Lord, and said to him: ‘Twin of the Messiah, and Apostle of the Most High, and sharer in the hidden word of the Life-giver, and receiver of the secret mysteries of the Son of God; freeborn, who didst become a slave, to bring many to freedom by thy obedience; son of a great family, who became bereaved, that by the power of thy Lord thou mightest deprive the enemy of many, so that thou mightest become the cause of life to the country of the Indians; who didst come against thy will to men who were straying from God, and, lo, by the sight of thee and by thy godly words they are turned into life; mount, ride upon me, and rest until thou enterest the city.’ And Judas lifted upon his voice and said: ‘O Jesus, Son of perfect mercy; O Thou quiet and Silent One, who speakest by animals that have not speech; O hidden One, that art seen in Thy works; our Nourisher and Guardian; the Giver of life to our bodies and the Giver of life to our souls; sweet spring that never faileth, and clear fountain that is never polluted; Thou who art a help to Thy servants in the contest, and crushest the enemy before them; Thou who standest up in contests for us, and makest us victorious in them all; our true Athlete, who cannot be hurt, and our holy General, who cannot be conquered; Thou who givest to Thine own joy that passeth not away, and rest in which there is no more affliction; Thou good Shepherd, that giveth his life for his flock, who hath overcome the wolf and rescued his lambs; we glorify Thee, and we exalt through Thee Thy exalted Father, who is not seen, and the Holy Spirit that broodeth over all created things.’ And when the Apostle had said these things, all the multitudes that were assembled there were looking to see what answer he was about to give to the colt. And after the Apostle had stood a long time wondering and looking up to Heaven, he said to the colt: ‘Who art thou? And what is thine errand, that by thy mouth wonders are uttered and great things that are more than many?’ The colt said to him: ‘I am of that stock that served Balaam the prophet, and God thy Lord rode upon my kin; and I am sent unto thee to give thee rest, and that thereby the faith of these might be confirmed,\fn{Or: built up.} and that that other portion might be added to me, which I have got today in order to serve thee and which will be taken away from me when I have served thee.’ Thomas saith to him: ‘God, who has given thee this gift now, is to be relied on to give it hereafter too in full to thee and thy kindred; for I am too little and weak for this mystery.’ And he would not ride upon it. And the colt was begging of him and supplicating him that it might be blessed by his riding upon it. And he mounted and rode upon it. And the people were going after and before the Apostle, and were running to see what would happen to him, and how he would let the colt go. And when he reached the gate of the city, he dismounted from it, and said to it: ‘Go, be preserved as thou hast been.’ And at that moment the colt fell down and died. And all who were there were sorry for it, and were saying to the Apostle: ‘Bring it to life again.’ The Apostle says to them: ‘It is not because I am unable to bring this colt to life, that I do not bring it to life,\fn{The text has here the words of the ending: but this is a benefit to it. Wright has omitted them, probably sensing a scribal confusion. (H)} for He who gave it speech was able to make it not die; but this is a benefit to it.’ And the Apostle commanded those who were with him to dig a place and bury its body; and they did as he commanded them. ...

 

5. Finally, about a third of the way through the third act in the Syriac, the Greek and Syriac accounts differ widely from one another.

 

[AAA, xiii-xv; MRS, xxvi-xxvii; ANT, 364, 469-475; ODC, 1351; NTA, II, 427-428]

 

359. The Armenian Acts of Thomas

 

     James says that there is such a book, of which little use has been made. The ODC also notes that there exists an Armenian version; as does NTA, which calls it a later adaptation of the ­Acts of Thomas­.

 

[ANT, 364; ODC, 1351; NTA, II, 427]

 

360. 361. The Arabic Acts of Thomas. The Arabic Martyrdom of Thomas

 

     The story of Thomas in this cycle of legends has many points of resemblance to that of Bartholomew. Both are sold into slavery, the one by Peter, the other by Jesus. Both are skilled workmen, the one as a vine-dresser, the other as an architect and carpenter. One story has evidently borrowed something from the other, but it would be difficult to apportion their mutual indebtedness.

 

     The appearance of Jesus and His speech to Thomas in folio 97b contains the remarkable allusion, which is more fully developed in the ­Syriac Acts of Judas Thomas­, as edited by Wright:—(For thou art called the Twin.) This points to the strange tradition that Thomas, the doubting disciple, bore that ­cognomen­ (tauma—the Twin) because he was a twin-brother of Jesus, Judas being his proper name. By far the most satisfactory way of accounting for the origin of this idea is the theory put forth by Harris (in ­The Discouri in Christian Literature­, London, 1903) that we have here a recrudescence of Paganism; that wherever the cult of the heavenly Twins, Castor and Pollux, had prevailed, a pair of Christian saints came to take their place in a system of baptized Paganism: and so at Edessa, in Macedonia, in Parthia, in Media, in India, and wherever the feet of the apostle Judas Thomas are supposed to have gone, one need not try to verify either statements or personal names in the light of true history, for the whole legend is a myth and nothing else.

 

     The Syriac form of the story, the full text of which has been edited by Wright, contains many points of resemblance to the Arabic text, but also many differences of detail:

 

1. Both narratives begin with the division of the world among the Apostles;

 

2. both make Thomas travel to India and recount how he was sold as a slave;

 

3. both make him a mason and a carpenter (a strong point of resemblance to the Dioscuri); and

 

4. both make him build a spiritual instead of a material palace. On the other hand, (a) there is nothing in the Arabic work about the ass that spoke; (b) nor about a black snake; (c) nor about a demon which dwelt in a woman; (d) nor about a team of wild asses.

 

     Similarly, the ­Syriac Acts of Thomas­ make no mention of Thomas’ flayed-off skin, whereas the Arabic version does”

 

And it came to pass, after Thomas the disciple had gone forth to the city of India, and had proclaimed the faith amongst them, and had preached to them the precepts of the Holy Gospel, and Leucius the magistrate had flayed off his skin; and he had remained for some time carrying it on his shoulder; and had gone about in all the countries laying it upon the dead and upon the sick; and the Lord had opened their hearts and they had believed; and he had built them a church; and had established for them the precepts of religion; and had appointed them a bishop and priests; and had given them the Holy Mysteries; he went forth from amongst them in peace. And the Lord appeared unto him and restored his skin as it had been. …

 

     As their beginnings are similar, however, so are their endings. (1) There is a great similarity in proper names: Tertia = Tartanai; Sifur = Sirfur; Mastaus/Matthaus = Mazdai. (2) In both the Syriac and the Arabic the saint is taken up to a high mountain and stabbed by several soldiers at once. (3) His last words are nearly the same, and (4) he is buried by the brethren in the graves of the ancient kings. (5) Judas reappears after his death in both stories (6) with the same message and (7) casts a devil out of the king’s son; who (8) is in consequence converted; (9) with which event both stories end.

 

     Thus we have here to do with two versions which begin and end in the same manner, but are very dissimilar in the main course of their narrative. The Greek published by Thilo does not correspond with this text, but with Wright’s Syriac one to the end of the sixth act.

 

[MRS, xxvi-xxvii, 95]

 

362. The Greek Acts of Thomas, after James

 

     There is a working-up in Greek of the ­Acts of Thomas­ from a manuscript in the British Museum (James, Apocrypha Anecdota­ II, 1897, 28-45). The age of this text can, however, scarcely be determined. Related to this writing is a medieval Ethiopic work: the ­Acts of Saint Thomas in India­ (text in Budge, ­Contending of the Apostles­ II, London, 1901, 404-464); English translation by Malan in James’ ­Apocrypha Anecdota­ II, 1897, 46-63). See also Bardenhewer (­Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, 1913, 584). ANT says that it is probably a version of the ­Acts of Thomas­ of the so-called Egyptian cycle, which we have also in Ethiopic.

 

[ANT, 470; NTA, II, 576-577]

 

363. The Greek Consummation of Thomas

 

     The ­Consummation of Thomas­ is properly a portion of the ­Greek Acts of Thomas, after James­. Pseudo-Abdias (Latin History of the Apostles­) follows it very closely; but the Greek of some chapters of his translation or compilation has not yet been recovered. Tischendorf (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, 1851, LXVIII-LXIX) edits it for the first time (from a manuscript of the 11th century) and makes the following introductory remarks about it, which, not understanding, I must transcribe word for word as I found it:

 

Haec Consummatio Thomae quam prope accedat ad reliquas de Thoma traditiones apocryphas, ex iis clarum erit quae maximae similitudinis caussa ex Pseudo-Abdiae historiis graeco textui subiunximus. Neque practera desunt quae indicent, ex eodem foute cum Actis Consummationem Thomae manasse: quemadmodum etiam in cod. Par. num. 881. Consummation inscriptione in margine interiecta continuo excipit actorum sectionem vicesimam nonam, et in cod. Par. num 1556, eadem illa in pauca verba contracta ipsis actis adnectitur. Adest etiam in Consummatione Thomae puerulus ille Leucianus, ‘quem,’ ut auctor libri de fide contra Manichaeos cap. 38. de actis Andreae disserens dicit, ‘vult Leucius vel deum vel certe angelum intelligi.’ Comparatis autem latinis Abdiae historiis et graecis apparet quae sectionibus VIII, usque XV. latine traduntur, ea tantum non de esse is graecis, nexo vero tam arcto cum Consummatione cohaerere, ut perequam probabile sit etiam haec aliquando in graecis repertum iri monumentis. Hunc igitur libellum nunc primum editum ad scripturam unius codicis Parisiensis num 881. saeculi undecimi, de quo aliquoties iam dictum est, conformavimus. Pauca ea fragmenta quae sub siglo E (vidae ad acta Thomae) addidimus, ex codice Reg. nunc Nat. num. 1556. saeculi XV. desumta sunt, in quo quidem ad sectionem actorum Thomae 27. trahuntur, quemadmodum eo loco pag. 213. adnotavimus.

 

[ANF, VIII, 357; PRO, LXVIII-LXIX]

 

364. The Latin Martyrdom of Thomas, after Abdias.

 

     Two centuries after Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430), Pseudo-Abdias made a recension of the ­Acts of Thomas­, rejecting the more heretical portions and adapting it generally to Orthodox use. The martyrdom is much adulterated. James’ summary of its contents and his editorializing is quoted below:

 

i. I\fn{Supposedly Abdias, bishop of Babylon.} remember to have read a book in which his journey to India and acts there are set forth; but as it is by many not received because of its worldliness, I will omit what is superfluous and record what is plainly true, agreeable to the reader, and can edify the church. ii-iv. The sale to Abbanes and the marriage feast. v,vi. The palace. vii. Cure of possessed woman. The youth who killed the woman. viii,ix. Siphor’s wife and daughter. ix-xi. Mygdonia and Charisius. xii. Tertia (Treptia) and Zuzanes (who goes with his mother to Mygdonia and is converted with her). xiii. Thomas before Misdaeus. xiv. The iron plates. Thomas is put into the bath-furnace for a night: it cannot be heated: he is brought to the temple of the sun, with its gold four-horsed chariot. xv. Virgins enter, singing and playing. Thomas speaks with the demon in the image. The image is melted. Thomas and the rest are imprisoned. (These chapters are an interpolation.) xvi-xxv, epitomize the old Acts. The great prayer of Thomas immediately precedes his death.

 

[ANF, VIII, 357; ANT, 364, 468-469; ODC, 1351; NTA, II, 427]

 

365. The Latin Martyrdom of Thomas, after Gregory of Tours

 

     A statement by James is the sole authority for this entry: Parts of the ­Acts of Thomas­—one probably composed by Gregory of Tours\fn{Aka Georgius Florentius (538-594), Gallic bishop}—have been much adulterated.

 

[ANT, 364]

 

366. The Ethiopic Acts of Saint Thomas in India

 

     The legend translated by Malan from the Ethiopic is the same as the Arabic of Lewis, and as the first six episodes of the ­Latin Acts of Thomas, after Abdias­, but in the passage which corresponds to folio 91a of the Arabic, Jesus directs the purchaser of Thomas, whose name is not given, to dress him as a guardsman of Cantacoros, king of India (Malan, ­Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­, 190). Leucius becomes Vecius, and Arsanui, Arsenia; and the city of Cantoria, Quantaria. Zabadka becomes Actabodi in Macedonia; Margita, Marna; Masasawi, Maiturnos; Matthaus, Mastius; Hersanus, Ziriaos; Tartani, Tartabania; Atbania, Athona. To Malan’s legend a portion of the Syriac Acts of Thomas­ is appended.

 

     NTA says that the ­Greek Acts of Thomas, after James­ is related to an Ethiopic work which is medieval and entitled “The ­Contending of Thomas­,” for which we are directed to Budge (­Contending of the Apostles­, London, 1901). No title with that wording, however, appears in the English translation of 1901; but of the two works the remains of which have there been preserved—the ­Preaching of Saint Thomas in India­ and the ­Acts of Saint Thomas in India­—it would seem that NTA is referring to the latter, as its text seems clearly based upon the surviving Syriac/Greek/Latin story line.

 

[ANT, 364; ODC, 1351; NTA, II, 576-577; MRS, xxvii]

 

367. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint Thomas in India

 

     The preface to this set of Ethiopic legends identifies the author as Thomas, the Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he preached in India. Budge notes that the Gundaforus mentioned in the text as a king of India is undoubtedly meant to be understood as referring to a ruler of Parthian descent who reigned over Areia, Dragiana and Archosia, in the 1st century AD. The Old Persian form of his name is Vindafra.

 

     Peter and Matthias set out for India, and meet an officer of Gundaforus. Jesus appears to them, and arranges the sale of Thomas. The apostle describes his skill as a carpenter and stonemason: and he is hired by the king to build him a palace.

 

Now after these things Lukiyos (Vecius, the king’s servant) departed to the city of the king, but before he went he commanded his wife Arsonwa (Arsenia) and said unto her, “Let not this man who has come unto us in these last days (i.e., recently) do work like the other slaves, but let him work at his handicraft until I come back from the presence of the king.”

 

     But Thomas asks Arsenia to take him into her temple, which she does. He prays there, the idols fall down and are smashed, and the governor’s wife is terrified. But she is convinced, believes, and is baptized. The Apostle then heals many who are ill in the city, and baptizes all the men of the city who became believers and Christians. And the Apostle used to read unto them the gospel, and the books of the Prophets, and to teach them the Law of Faith, and after these things he baptized them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

 

Meanwhile, Vecius returns, and speaks to his wife according to the custom of the men of this world, concerning union with her but she rejects him. He asks Thomas for the palaces and temples he has been promised, but Thomas blithely tells him that the temples and palaces which I have built are the souls who have made themselves pure and have believed; those are the palaces which I have made beautiful for the Heavenly King who liveth in them.

 

     Lukiyos/Vecius is not impressed, however, and throws Thomas into prison, threatening to flay him alive. Arsonwa/Arsenia eventually sees this happening and dies on the spot. Her parents and brethren weep at this, but Thomas says he will raise her from the dead. Mad with rage, Arsenia’s husband orders salt and vinegar to be rubbed into Thomas’ wounds. In agony, the Apostle cries out to Jesus to save him; and Jesus comes and makes him whole. He heals Arsenia, the governor believes, and is baptized.

 

     And it came to pass after this that Thomas meets in Quantaria an old man, who tells him the story of his life. In the course of time his sons are slain, but Thomas raises them up. The men of the city seize him to stone him as a sorcerer; but he performs a miracle on the priest—he suspends him in mid-air. The priest confesses Christ; Thomas baptizes everybody; and the temple is converted into a church.

 

Thomas appointed the priest of Apollo to be bishop over them, and the seven brethren, the sons of the old man, whom he had raised from the dead, he appointed to be priests and deacons. And Thomas is borne away on a cloud as the Lord had commanded him, and it bore him along and brought him to Mount Iyaonadin-Ensis, and he found the Apostles gathered together there, and Paul, and Mary, who gave birth to God, were among them. And he embraced them with a spiritual embrace, and they made mention of the wonderful things which God had wrought through them, and they remained assembled there for eighty days, and they glorified God among themselves.

 

[COA, II, 319-345]

 

368. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Thomas in India

 

     The author of this set of legends in the ­Contending of the Apostles­ is identified in the preface to the work as Thomas, the Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ. It follows the set of stories entitled the ­Preaching of Saint Thomas in India­ [and may indicate by this a separate existence from the ­Acts of Saint Thomas in India­ (Budge, Contendings of the Apostles­ II, London, 1901, 404-465), as well as an attachment to the Preaching of Saint Thomas in India­: H].

 

     The Apostle is thrown into prison for preaching the knowledge of God. But he leaves the prison to address some of his female disciples, and then deliberately re-enters the prison, seeking martyrdom. The king grants his request. Before he is killed, Thomas makes a great prayer; and finishing it, the soldiers pierced him with spears, whereupon he fell upon the earth and yielded up his spirit. Later on the king anoints his son with some dust taken from the place where Thomas had been buried, and so cures him of madness.

 

[COA, II, 346-356]

 

369. The Apocalypse of Thomas

 

     The ­Apocalypse of Thomas­ is an apocryphal eschatological treatise, the only apocryphal apocalypse which apportions the events of the end of the world into seven days. Two literary forms of it have been passed down, a long and a short. In its long form, it is closely dependent upon the Received apocalypse, and in this form it seems to be a blend of two sorts of apocalypse: that akin to ­Daniel­ (which under the form of prophecy describes events contemporary with the author and continuing into the future) and that akin to the Received apocalypse (in its description of the end of the world).

 

     The actual text of this apocalypse had long been lost. For centuries, it was known entirely through the notice of it in the ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (early 6th century), where it appears just after an apocalypse ascribed to Paul: Revelation which is ascribed to Thomas ... apocryphal. In 1908, Frick (in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Altern Kirche­ IX, 1908, 172) drew attention to another ancient reference, which is contained in Jerome of Strido (d.420, ­Chronicle­, in the Codex Philippsianus 1829, Berlin, 8th-9th century) where it says in the reference to the eighteenth year of the reign of Tiberius I (32AD):—(In a certain apocryphal book, said to be of Thomas the apostle, it is written that the Lord Jesus told him that from his Ascension into heaven to his second advent the time comprised is nine jubilees.)

 

     The story of the rediscovery of the ­Apocalypse of Thomas­ is worthwhile describing in brief detail.

 

1. 1732. Maffei (presumably in his ­Verona Illustrata­, 1731-1732) notices the existence of the beginning of the Apocalypse of Thomas­ from a Veronese manuscript of the 8th century.

 

2. 1755. Dionisi prints the manuscript Maffei indicates in a now forgotten volume. There the matter rested for 152 years.

 

3. 1907. Wilhelm (in ­Deutsche Legenden und Legendare­, 1907) prints a text from a Munich manuscript [Codex Clm. 4585 (folios 66v-67v), 9th century] which attracts little attention, but is in fact another part of the long version of this apocalypse.

 

4. 1907. De Bruyne (“Apocryphes Priscillianistes” in ­Revue Benedictine­ XXIV, 1907, 318-335) prints some quotations from the ­Apocalypse of Thomas­ which he discovers in some Irish homilies from a Richenau manuscript at Carlsruhe.

 

5. 1908. Frick (­ibid­.) draws attention to the reference in Jerome (above).

 

6. 1908. Bick (in ­S.W.A­. CLIX, 1908, 90-100) first discovers a fragment of the ­Apocalypse of Thomas­ in folios 60r-60v of the Viennese Codex Vindobonus Palatinus XVI (5th century).

 

7. 1908. Hauler (­Wiener Studien­ XXX, 1908, 308-340) identifies Bick’s discovery as a fragment of the short form of the ­Apocalypse of Thomas­.

 

8. 1910. James (“Revelatio Thomae­Journal of Theological Studies­ XI, 1910, 288-290) prints the beginning of the book noted (above) by Maffei and Dionisi (a manuscript of the 8th century from the library of the cathedral chapter of Verona, and another fragment of the long version).

 

9. 1910. Suchier (­L’Enfant Sage­, 1910, 272) prints a shortened Latin form of the ­Apocalypse of Thomas­ in a dialogue.

 

10. 1911. Bihlmeyer (“Un Texte non Interpole de l’Apocalypse de Thomas” in ­Revue Benedictine­ XXVIII, 1911, 270-282) prints another uninterpolated text from Munich from Manuscript Monacensis Clm 4563 (11th/12th century). It is an example of the short form, and agrees pretty closely with Hauler’s Viennese fragment of the 5th century.

 

11. 1913. Forster (“Der Vercelli Codex CXVII Nebst Abdruck Einiger Altenglischer Homilien der Handschrift” in ­Festgabe für Lorenz Morsbach: Studien zur Englischen Philologie­ L, 1913, 20-179) demonstrates that the fifteenth sermon in the famous Anglo-Saxon manuscript at Vercelli (9th century) is in fact an Old English version of the ­Apocalypse of Thomas­; and that a manuscript at Hatton and the so-called ­Blickling Homilies­ also contain matter drawn from it. They are, in fact, two Anglo-Saxon revisions of the text. He also shows that Suchier’s form is a shortened Latin form of the work.

 

12. 1950. See also on this Quasten (­Patrology­ I, Utrecht, 1950, 149f).

 

     The shorter version of the ­Apocalypse of Thomas­ is the oldest witness to the original of this work, which would have been subject in the course of time to various revisions, both orthodox and heterodox. It is represented by two manuscripts, the first of which (5th century, 6 above) represents the oldest known text of the work, and the second of which (11th-12th century, 10 above) has been preserved perfectly and reveals no interpolations.

 

     The longer version is perhaps best represented by the Vercelli text (11 above) and consists of two different parts: (a) a first part, concerned with the events and signs which are to precede the Last Judgment; and (b) a second part, which corresponds, both in range and content, to the shorter form mentioned above.

 

     Several considerations are important with regards to the dating of this work.

 

1. The development of this apocalypse must be associated in large part with Manichaean and Priscillianist currents of thoughts. In favor of that there is not only the adverse mention of the work in the ­Decretum Gelasianum­, but also some parallel pieces in Priscillianist and Manichaean writings [on which see de Bruyne (op.cit­.) and Bihlmeyer (­op.cit­., 279, 282)]. Some typical Manichaean ideas (e.g., that of light) appear again and again in our apocalypse; and Bihlymeyer points to the name Thomas which (according to the ­Acts of Archaelaeus, after Hegemonius­) was born by one of the three greatest disciples of Mani.

 

2. Bihlymeyer (­op.cit­., 280) has noticed traces of Monarchian influence, which was a theological movement of the 2nd-3rd centuries.

 

3. Latin appears to have been the original language of at least the longer version of this work. This is at least certain for the passage about the Roman emperors Theodosius I and his sons, Arcadius and Honorius—(On a sudden there shall arise near the last time a king, a lover of the law, who shall hold rule not for long: he shall leave two sons. The first is named of the first letter, the second of the eighth. The first shall die before the second.)—which perfectly fits the requirements of the passage: (a) Arcadius and Honorius were sons of Theodosius I; (b) Theodosius I reigned only 17 years as opposed to Theodosius II (who reigned for 42, 408-450; and though it was he who promulgated the Theodosian Code, Arcadius and Honorius were not his sons, but his nephews; (c) ­A­ and ­H­ are the first and eighth letters of the Latin alphabet, respectively; and (d) Arcadius dies in 408, Honorius in 423. The sentence is omitted in the Anglo-Saxon version and may be an interpolation; on the other hand, the data of the longer version also point to the days of Arcadius and Honorius

 

4. The first part of Wilhelm’s text, with its clumsy indication of Arcadius and Honorius by means of their initials, is constructed much in the manner of the later ­Sibylline Oracles­, in which this particular literary device is pushed to an absurd length, and used for quite imaginary personages as well as historic ones. Also, the second part of Wilhelm’s text departs widely from the Viennese fragment, and here again shows itself as probably of a secondary nature.

 

5. None of the Latin texts seem to be complete—not even Bihlmeyer’s, where something seems to have preceded its opening sentences. The numerous textual variants of the Latin Tradition of this work point to different versions of an original Greek text.

 

     The ODC says that the Latin text is probably the original, and believes it was probably written by an otherwise unknown Manichaean at the close of the 4th century. NTA states that both the longer and shorter versions of this work suggest that it was composed prior to the 5th century. The long version probably first saw the light of day in the first or second half of the 5th century, (a) because of the Theodosius/Arcadius/ Honorius section, and (b) because of the evidently close dependence on the later Sibylline Oracles­ (4th century) for its descriptions concerning the events and signs which are to precede the Last Judgment.

 

[ODC, 1351; NTA, II, 798-803; ANT, 555-562]

 

370. The Book of Thomas the Contender

 

     The ­Book of Thomas the Contender­ is found in Volume II, the most beautiful—complete with decorated binding bands at the top and extremities, in an Egyptian cross motif—as well as the most voluminous of the Nag Hammadi codices. It is the last of seven works, written in a flexible hands without heaviness, the most beautiful hand that appears in all the codices, and a hand which wrote only this particular manuscript.

 

     The work is divisible into two parts: (1) a dialogue between the resurrected Jesus and his brother, Judas Thomas (so-called in the Syriac Tradition); and (2) a homily (142.46-145.16) delivered by Jesus himself. It is allegedly recorded by one Mathaias (Matthew?) as he heard them speaking together.

 

     As for the special importance assigned to Thomas as the supposed twin brother of Jesus, the Manichaeans have a tradition that the founder of their Church had received revelations from an angel named at-Taum in Aramaic—a name which can be pretty exactly translated as twin. The Manichaeans identified this angel with the Holy Spirit; but they made use, also, of the apocrypha which bore the name of Thomas. Schaeder (so Puesch, ­Le Manicheisme­, notes 164-165) has suggested that this angel at-Taum may have been a legendary figure derived from that of the Apostle Thomas—a tempting, but perhaps rather rash, hypothesis. The strong tradition which attributes to Thomas the role of special confidant of the Savior and heir to his most secret teachings is expressed quite clearly in this work, making Thomas the original source of its teaching—(The Savior, brother of Thomas, said to him: Hear! I will reveal to thee ­what thou thinkest­ in thy heart; how they say that thou art truly my twin and my companion, how they call thee my brother). This is in direct contrast to the ­Received New Testament­, where Thomas hardly appears at all, except at ­John­ 11:16, 20:24 and 21:2—(Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’ ... Now Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. ... Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.)—where he is surnamed Didymus (which in Greek has the same literal sense of twin as the Aramaic at-Taum).

 

     It has been suggested by Puech (­Le Nouveaux Ecrits­, 120) that this work may be identical with the ­Gospel of Matthias­, a work mentioned by Origen of Alexandria and Eusebius of Caesarea; or perhaps confused with the Traditions of Matthias­, cited by Clement of Alexandria as a book used by the Nicolaitans and Basilideans. Clement wrote in the ­Philosophumena­ that Basilides (fl.125-150) and his son, Isidore, said Matthias had left them secret discourses which he himself had received from the Savior in personal conversations; and this agrees perfectly with the beginning of this text.

 

     It seems established that the ­Book of Thomas the Contender­ is in its literary character of the type known as Gnostic-Revelation, typically occurring between the resurrected Savior and a trusted apostle or apostles during the time between the Savior’s resurrection and Ascension. PAG also calls the book Gnostic, observing that (1) Jesus in his capacity as a teacher is identified simply as the knowledge of the truth, and (2) that the treatise calls the search for interior self-knowledge the key to understanding universal truths: whoever has not known himself has known nothing, but he who has known himself has at the same time already achieved knowledge about the depths of all things.

 

     NHG notes that the ­Book of Thomas the Contender­ appears to be almost totally lacking in Synoptic-type material, saying that there is no need to postulate a literary relationship between the motif of the ignorance of the disciples which it portrays, and that revealed by ­Mark­ 4:13, 4:41, 6:51f, 7:17f, and 8:17-21; on the grounds that (1) such a portrait of the Apostles is extremely common in the Nag Hammadi texts, and (2) it provides the situation necessary for the display of esoteric teaching in the first place. Similarly, the themes of seeking/finding and rest were so widespread as to exclude a direct dependence on the Synoptic Tradition; and other possibilities depend upon reconstructions of fragmentary text which may not be trustworthy. He supports NTB’s conclusions about 145.3-8 (below); but he notes that placement of the words finding and rest, and the further connection between rest and reigning (at 145.8-9) shows that this pattern of motifs is witnessed elsewhere in Christian tradition, and is not necessarily directly dependent on the Synoptic Tradition. Either the author of the ­Book of Thomas the Contender­ was ignorant of any primitive tradition concerning the sayings of Jesus; or he does not care to use them; or he all but obliterates original sayings by his ascetic interpretation of them.

 

     NAG believes that the treatise presents traditions about the Apostle Thomas prevalent within the ascetic Christianity of Syrian Edessa, and was probably written in Syria during the first half of the 3rd century AD.

 

     NTB indicates the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various of the ­Received New Testament­:

 

II,7;138.13­: I am the knowledge of the truth.

John 14:6a­: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life;

*

II,7;138.27-30­: The Savior answered, saying, “If the things that are visible to you\fn{Plural.} are obscure to you, how can you hear about the things that are not visible?”

John 3:12­: If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

*

II,7;139.18-20­: Yet when the light comes forth and hides the darkness, then the work of each will appear. And you, your light, enlighten, O Lord.”

John 3:20-21­: For every one who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does what is true comes to the light, that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been wrought in God.

*

II,7;140.3-4­: fleeing the lust that scorches the spirits of men.’

I Peter 2:11­: Beloved, I beseech you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh that wage war against your soul.

*

II,7;145.3-5­: “Blessed are you\fn{Plural.} who are reviled and not esteemed on account of the love their Lord has for them.

Matthew 5;11­: “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Luke 6:22­: “Blessed are you\fn{Plural.} when men hate you, and when they exclude you and revile you, and cast out your name as evil, on account of the Son of man!

*

II,7;145.5-8­: “Blessed are you\fn{Plural.} who weep and are oppressed by those without hope, for you will be released from every bondage.

Luke 6:21b­: “Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh.

Matthew 5:4­: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

*

II,7;145.8-9­: “Watch and pray that you\fn{Plural.} not come to be in the flesh,

Matthew 26:41­: Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Mark 14:38­: Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Luke 22:40b­: “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”

 

[NAG, 188; DOR, 141, 144, 226-227, 339; PAG, 22, 78-79, 157, 162; NTB, 218-222]

 

371. The ­Saltair Na Rann­

 

     James says this is a work of the 11th century, which is dependent on the ­Apocalypse of Thomas­ in its description of the signs of the end of the world at the Second Coming. He credits an article by a Rev. St. J. Seymour, which appears in a journal which he unfortunately abbreviates—Proc. R.I.A. (Proceedings of the Royal Institute of Archaeology?)—and that is all I (H) can discover about the Saltair Na Rann­.

 

[ANT, 562]

 

372. The Fifteen Signs of The Last Days

 

     The ­Apocalypse of Thomas­ was known in England at least by the 9th century; and it must be regarded as the ultimate parent of this little piece which is found in innumerable manuscripts and has often been reprinted. Jerome of Strido (d.420) is cited in the beginning of the work as having found it in the annals of the Hebrews.

 

     Its popularity was very great. Illustrations of the fifteen signs are occasionally to be found in manuscripts, and James says that he has seen them on alabaster tablets carved at Nottingham in the 14th and 15th centuries. The best-known representation of them is in a window at All Saints Church, North Street, York, where they are accompanied by mottoes taken from a book known as the ­Prick of Conscience­ (which used to be attributed to Richard of Hampole)

 

     The Anglo-Saxon version (item #15 in the Vercelli text, 5th century) begins thus: We are told in this book how Saint Thomas the apostle of God asked our Lord when the time of Antichrist should be. Then the Lord spake unto him and said thus: It behoveth that it be in the next days. Then shall be hunger and war, etc. The Anglo-Saxon text generally conforms to the longer versions of this work; but the signs of the fifth day are omitted, and the conclusion diverges from the Latin, and tells how Mary, the mother of Jesus, Michael, and Peter successively intercede with God, and God forgives a third part of the sinners at the prayer of each of them.

 

[ANT, 562]

 

***

 

XXVI: ANDREW

 

373. The Acts of Andrew

 

     Acts of Andrew­, originally the most voluminous (though no ancient record of its length has survived) of the ancient ­acta­, has been handed down, in comparison with the other major apostolic ­acta­, in an extremely fragmented state. A long series of texts relating the fate of Andrew point mutely to the existence of the original work; but they derive mainly from the time of the later Roman empire, and, reflecting later theological Orthodoxy, present the original in a much altered form. From what has survived, it is possible to deduce that the chief theme of the work is the turning away from a world of transitoriness, illusion, multiplicity and movement, and the realization of true existence in returning to God. The discourse of the Apostle is the real reason for the creation of this book. In it, the teaching is of a conventional kind, and becomes more and more perfunctory as one goes on, while the miracles grow more and more sensation, until we reach the climax in the conversion and baptizing of an archangel. In form, the book consisted of two parts: (1) a journey, which led through Amasea, Sinope, Nicaea and Nicomedia, over to Byzantium, across Thracia to Perinthus, on to Macedonia, and finally to Patrae in Achaea (during which the Apostle performed numerous miracles); and (2) the martyrdom of the Apostle (which, as in other cases, existed separately, in many texts).

 

     There are altogether at least a dozen source documents for the Acts of Andrew­:

 

1. the ­Martyrium Andreae Prius­ (text in Bonnet, ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898, 46-57);

 

2. the ­Martyrium Andreae Alterum­ (text in Bonnet, ­ibid­., 58-64);

 

3. the ­Martyrium Sancti Apostoli Andreae­ (text in Bonnet, Analecta Bollandiana­ XIII, 1894, 353-372);

 

4. the ­Vita Andreae­ of Epiphanius Monachus (text in Migne, Patrologia Graecae­ CXX, cols. 218-260);

 

5. the ­Acta Andreae Apostoli cum Laudatione Contexta­ (text in Bonnet, ­Analecta Bollandiana­ XIII, 1894, 311-352);

 

6. the fragmented ­Codex Vaticanus Graeca­ 808 (10th-11th century, text in Bonnet, ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898, 38-45);

 

7. the fragment ­Coptic Papyrus Utrecht­ I (text in Quispel, Vigiliae Christianae­ X, 1956, 129ff);

 

8. the ­Passio Sancti Andreae Apostoli I­ (text in Bonnet, ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1894, 1-37);

 

9. the ­Passio Sancti Andreae Apostoli II­ (text in Bonnet, Analecta Bollandiana­ XIII, 1894, 374-378);

 

10. the ­Liber de Miraculis Beati Andreae Apostoli­ (text in Bonnet, ­Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptorum Rerum Merovingicarum­ II.ii, 1885);

 

11. some fragments transmitted by Evodius of Uzala (d.426), for which see below (text in Zycha, ­Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum­ XXV.ii.968.24-969.6); and

 

12. a fragment transmitted by Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430), for which see below also (text in Zycha, ­ibid­., 833.13-17).

 

     In addition one should also consult Pick (­The Apocryphal Acts of Paul, Peter, John, Andrew and Thomas­, Chicago, 1909); Hennecke (“Zur Christlichen Apokryphenliteratur” in ­Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte­ XLV, 1926, 309-315); and Blumenthal (“Formen und Motive in den Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten” in Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ XLVIII.1, 1933, 38-57).

 

     The following ancient writers witness to the ­Acts of Andrew­.

 

1. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxv.6) notes:—(We have felt ourselves called upon to draw up this catalogue in order that we may be in a position to know these writings as also those which have been adduced under apostolic names by the heretics, including e.g. the Gospels of Peter and Thomas and Matthias or of any others besides, or the Acts of Andrew and of John as also of other apostles.)

 

2. The ­Manichaean Psalm Book­ (written c.340) mentions by name not only Andrew, but also the women Maximilla and Iphidamia, known from their appearance in the ­Acts of Andrew­:—(Andrew the Apostle,—they set fire to the house beneath him. He and his disciples—all hail to them, they were crucified. ... Maximilla and Aristobula—on them was great torture inflicted. What need for them to suffer these things? It is purity for which they fight. ... A shammer of the serpent is Maximilla the faithful. A receiver of good news is Iphidama, her sister also, imprisoned in the prisons.)

 

3. Philastrius of Brescia (d.c.397, ­Diversarum Hereseon Liber­ LXI) states that he came upon the ­Acts of Andrew­ in the possession of the Manichaeans:—(Nam Manichei apocrypha beati Andreae apostoli, id est Actus quos fecit veniens de Ponto in Graeciam quos conscripserunt tunc discipuli sequentes beatum apostolum unde et habent Manichei et alii tales Andreae beati ... Actus.)

 

4. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Panarion­ XLVII:i.5, LXI:i, LXIII:ii) knows that the ­Acts of Andrew­ are in the possession of three groups which he names Encratites, Apotactites, and Originests of the First Order.

 

5. Innocent I of Rome (d.417, in a letter to the bishop of Toulouse) mentions the Acts drawn up sub nomine Andreae ... quae a Xenocharide et Leonida philosophis.

 

6. Evodius of Uzala (fl.385-426, ­De Fide Contra Manichaeos­ XXXVIII) has transmitted some fragments of the Acts of Andrew­:—(In the Acts of Leucius, which he composed in the names of the apostles, consider what kind of things you accept in regard to Maximilla the wife of Egetes. When she refused to pay the due proper to her husband (though the apostle had said: Let the husband pay the due to the wife and likewise: ­I Corinthians­ 7:3), and foisted on him her maid Euclia, supplying her, as is written there, with enticements and cosmetics; she substituted her in the night for herself, so that he slept with her as if she were his wife, without knowing it. Here it is also written that when Maximilla and Iphidamia went away together to hear the Apostle Andrew a handsome little boy, whom Leucius took to be either God or at least an angel, handed them over to the Apostle Andrew; and he departed to the Praetorium of Egetes, went into the bedroom and imitated a woman’s voice, as if Maximilla were complaining about the suffering of the female sex and Iphidamia were answering her. When Egetes heard this conversation he believed that they were within and went away.) (James thinks these incidents must have intervened between chapters 35-36 of the epitome of Gregory of Tours.)

 

7. Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430, ­De Actis cum Felice Manichaeo­ II.6) reports a fragment of the ­Acts of Andrew­ which he found in actibus scriptis a Leucio—Etenim speciosa figmenta et ostentatio simulata et coactio visibilium nec quidem ex propria natura procedunt, sed ex eo homine, qui per se ipsum deterior effectus est, per seductionem.

 

8. In the ­Letter of Titus to His Fellow Celibates­ (5th century) James has discovered the following allusion to the Acts of Andrew­:—(When, finally, Andrew also had come to a wedding, he too, to manifest the glory of God, disjoined certain who were intended to marry each other, men and women, and instructed them to continue holy in the single state.)

 

9. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century) mentions the Acts under the name of the apostle Andrew ... apocry-phal.

 

10. Gregory of Tours (d.594, ­Liber de Miracuiis Beati Andreae Apostoli­) presents a long epitome of the Acts of Andrew­, wherein he mentions also the episode about incendiarism. His prologue to this work is as follows:—(The famous triumphs of the apostles are, I believe, not unknown to any of the faithful, for some of them are taught us in the pages of the gospel, others are related in the ­Acts of the Apostles­, and about some of them books exist in which the actions of each apostle are recorded; yet of the more part we have nothing but their Passions in writing. Now I have come upon a book on the miracles of St. Andrew the apostle, which, because of its excessive verbosity, was called by some apocryphal. And of this I thought good to extract and set out the ‘virtues’ only, omitting all that bred weariness, and so include the wonderful miracles within the compass of one small volume, which might both please the reader and ward off the spite of the adverse critic: for it is not the multitude of words, but the soundness of reason and the purity of mind that produce unblemished faith.)

 

11. Epiphanius Monachus (10th century, ­Vita Andrae­) has written a life of Andrew in which material from the Acts of Andrew­ is used.

 

12. Later testimony and references to the ­Acts of Andrew­ appears in Dvornik (“The Idea of Apostolicity in Byzantium and the Legend of the Apostle Andrew,” ­Dumbarton Oaks Studies­ IV, Cambridge, 1958, 188ff); and Peterson (“Andrew, Brother of Simon Peter, His History and His Legends” ­Supplements to Novum Testamentum­ I, Leiden, 1958, 9ff).

 

     On the basis of alleged contacts which he has pointed out with Neoplatonism, Flamion (“Les Actes d’Andre et les Textes Apparantes,” ­Recueil de Travaux d’Histoire et de Philologie­ XXXIII, Louvain, 1911, 268) regards the Acts of Andrew­ as originating between 150-200AD. With this James (­Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924, 337) and Dvornik (“The Idea of Apostolicity in Byzantium and the Legend of the Apostle Andrew,” ­Dumbarton Oak Studies­ IV, Cambridge, 1958, 193) agree. Peterson (“Andrew, Brother of Simon Peter, His History and His Legends,” ­Supplements to Novum Testamentum­ I, Leiden, 1958) assumes a common encratite milieu for the ­Acts of Andrew­, the ­Acts of John­, and the ­Acts of Thomas­—the same three ­acta­ which Epiphanius of Salamis (­op.cit­, XLVII:i.5) says were in use among the Encratites—and believes that they came into being during the period when the sect of the Encratites sprang up, or was known—which was the case under the emperor Hadrian (117-138).

 

     In any case, the mutual agreement in religious symbolism, the (in part) very far-reaching similarity of ideas and of linguistic expression, and certain obvious analogies of circumstance and situation [on which see Peterson (“Bemerkungen zum Hamburger Papyrus-Fragment der Acta Pauli,” ­Fruhkirche, Judentum und Gnosis­, 1959, 183ff)] enforce the conclusion that there are close links with the ­Acts of Andrew­ and these other ­acta­, and render it impractical to separate the ­Acts of Andrew­ very far from them in regard to date. In addition, Quispel [“An Unknown Fragment of the Acts of Andrew (Pap. Copt. Utrecht I),” ­Vigiliae Christianae­ X, 1956, 145ff] notes close contacts with the ­Acts of Paul­, and believes that these are of such an intimate nature as to indicate a dependence by their author upon the ­Acts of Andrew­; and upon this basis, and knowing the ­Acts of Paul­ to have been composed [so C. Schmidt (­Acta Pauli nach dem Papyrus der Hamburger Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek unter Mitarbeit von W. Schubart hrsg.­, 1936, 127-130)] between 190-200, he would date the work prior to 190. NTA (­New Testament Apocrypha­ II, Philadelphia, 1965, 397) says that there is likewise a close material and stylistic relationship with the ­Acts of Peter­ [which C. Schmidt (­op.cit­, 130) dates to between 180-190]. All this points to a time of origin at some point between the reign of Hadrian and the emergence of the ­Acts of Peter­ (or c.120-c.180: H). The ODC, however, points out that in its original form the ­Acts of Andrew­ no longer survives (except, so ANT, for the fragment preserved as ­Codex Vaticanus Graeca­ 808; and, so CAT, for a few patristic quotations); and the surviving fragments of the work appear, for most scholars, to point to an Orthodox revision of c.260AD.

 

     Nothing, apparently, can be said with certainty as to the identity of the author. ANF (­The Anti-Nicene Fathers­ VIII, 1908, 356) states that it was probably composed by Leucius Charinus, and that it was afterwards edited by an (otherwise unknown) Orthodox writer for use among the adherents of that form of Christianity. NTA says that the statement by Innocent I about the authors (5) is valueless. See Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden­ II.2, 1883, 430; and in Hennecke’s Handbuch zu den Neutestamentlichen Apokryphen­, 1904, 546); Flamion (­op.cit­., 163, note 1); and Dvornik (­op.cit­., 188, note 24).] Dvornik considers it possible that the names refer to two people mentioned in the original form of the ­Acts of Andrew­, who had been heathens converted by the Apostle and were later regarded in certain circles as the authors of the acta­.

 

     The place of composition is similarly disputed. According to Flamion (­op.cit­., 266-267) they were composed in Achaea; and in favor of that is the almost exclusive use of Greek names by the author. On the other hand, it is not necessary to conclude that, because of this, Greece was the place of origin.

 

     The tradition, by the way, of the crucifixion of the Apostle upon a cross shaped like the letter X still cannot be traced back beyond the 14th century, although since c.750 Andrew has been regarded as the patron saint of Scotland. That he died by crucifixion is described by the various forms of the martyrdom of the Apostle (which, like that of many of the other Apostles, encountered a life of its own separate from the various acta­ devoted to these people) as early as the 4th century; but though this is said to have taken place in the year 60AD, in Patras in Greece, under the governor Aegeates, and on November 30, the form of the instrument of death is not mentioned.

 

[ANF, VIII, 356; ANT, 337-363, 469-475; ODC, 50; ECC, 83; CAT, I, 611; NTA, II, 390-392, 396-397; ENC, I, 908; II, 116]

 

374. The Greek ­Martyrium Andreae Prius­

 

     This version of the martyrdom of Andrew is contained in ­Codex Vaticanus Graecae­ 807, and is of great value in reconstructing the original martyrdom. It was edited by Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898, 46-57). It is a fragment of some pages in length, containing many speeches and highly tedious in parts, and tells (after speaking of the dispersion of the Apostles) of the cure and conversion of one Lesbius, the destruction of temples, the dismissal of Lesbius by Caesar, a vision of Andrew that Aegeates is to put him to death, and the Apostle’s arrest and martyrdom. Scholars refer to it in their shorthand as Martyrium I­.

 

[ANT, 357; NTA, II, 390]

 

375. The Greek ­Martyrium Sancti Apostoli Andreae­

 

     This work was edited by Bonnet (­Analecta Bollandiana­ XIII, 1894, 353-372). Chapters 1-8 of it recount the journeys of the Apostle, and the martyrdom proper occupies chapters 9 and following, combining it with a good deal of material from the original ­Acts of Andrew­. Scholarly shorthand: ­Narratio­.

 

[NTA, II, 390; ANT, 357]

 

376. The Greek ­Martyrium Andreae Alterum­

 

     This tale of the martyrdom of Andrew exists in two versions: Parisianus Graecae­ 770 and ­Parisianus Graecae­ 1539 (which in places diverge very much from one another). Bonnet also edited this (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898, 58-64). They both begin at once with the arrest of the apostle by Aegeates—after he has spent the night in discourse with the brethren.

 

[NTA, II, 390; ANT, 357]

 

377. The Greek ­Vita Andreae­, after Epiphanius Monachus

 

     Migne (­Patrologia Graecae­ CXX, cols. 218-260) has edited this life of the Apostle written by Epiphanius Monachus (10th century).

 

[NTA, II, 390]

 

378. The Greek ­Vita Andreae Apostoli cum Laudatione Contexta­

 

     This is one of the source documents for the ­Acts of Andrew­. It is commonly known to scholarship as the Laudatio­, and is edited by Bonnet (­Analecta Bollandia­ XIII, 1894, 311-352). It recounts the journeys at considerable length, and some of the miracles which appear also in the epitome of the ­Acts of Andrew­ published by Gregory of Tours, followed by the martyrdom (chapters 44-49) and a recounting of the translation of the Apostolic relics (357AD) to Constantinople [decreed by Constantius II (emperor 337-361)].

 

[ANT, 357; NTA, II, 390; ENC, I, 908; WWW, 69]

 

379. The Greek Codex Vaticanus Graecae 808

 

     This work, edited by Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898, 38-45), reproduces a genuine part of the Acts of Andrew­. On this see Hennecke (­Handbuch zu den Neutestamentlichen Apokryphen­, 1904, 551ff). ANT says it appears to have been a separate martyrdom cut off from the end of the original ­acta­.

 

[ANT, 357; NTA, II, 390]

 

380. The Coptic ­Acts of Andrew­

 

     This is a papyrus fragment (Papyrus Utrecht I) containing a part of the text of the original ­Acts of Andrew­, in Coptic translation. The text with an English translation and commentary was published for the first time by Quispel (­Vigilia Christianae­ X, 1956, 129ff).

 

     Barns (“A Coptic Apocryphal Fragment in the Bodleian Library,” Journal of Theological Studies­ N.S. XI, 1960, 70-76) has edited with translation and commentary a hitherto unpublished Coptic text, which is certainly part of an ancient apocryphon, and which perhaps should be ascribed to the ­Acts of Andrew­. The manuscript [Bodleian Manuscript Coptic F 103 (P)] consists of a badly preserved extract of a, probably longer, conversation between Andrew and Jesus.

 

[NTA, II, 390-391, 424-425]

 

381. 382. The Latin ­Passio Sancti Andreae Apostoli­. The Greek ­Passio Sancti Andreae Apostoli­

 

     This is a Western text of the martyrdom of Andrew, in the form of a letter (­Presbyterorum et Diaconorum Achaiae de Martyrio Sancta Andreae Apostoli Epistola Encyclia­), first edited in Greek by Woog (­Epist. ... de Martyrio S. Andreae­, Leipzig, 1747, 401ff), and by him considered to be a genuine writing of the Apostolic Age, composed c.80AD. It was edited by Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898, 1-37), in both Latin and Greek; and HAS says that he has proved (in ­Byzantinische Zeitschrift­, 1894) that the Latin version is the original of the two Greek versions which he prints below it (one of which being a faithful word-for-word translation of the Latin, the other containing a number of insertions taken from the original ­acta­). The greater part of it consists of a dialogue between Andrew and Aegeates: the narrative of the actual martyrdom is rather brief.

 

[ANT, 357; NTA, II, 391]

 

383. The Latin Martyrdom of Andrew, after Abdias of Babylon

 

     This martyrdom of Andrew has been edited by Bonnet (­Analecta Bollandiana­ XIII, 1894, 374-378). It was known to Gregory of Tours and forms the end of Book III of (Pseudo-) Abdias’ ­Latin History of the Apostles­. Scholars usually cite it according to its introductory words: Conversante et docente. ANT is of the opinion that the text of it was greatly altered in the 16th century by one Wolfgang Lazius.

 

[NTA, II, 391; ANT, 337, 357]

 

384. The Latin ­Liber de Miraculis Beati Andreae Apostoli­, after Gregory of Tours

 

     This work was edited by Bonnet (­Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptorum Rerum Merovingicarum­ I.2, 1885). It is a fairly comprehensive abridgment, in 38 books, of the original 2nd century ­Acts of Andrew­, brought out by Gregory of Tours (d.594, bishop of Tours from 573). There exist Greek fragments which cover much of the same ground. The greater part of it also exists as Book III of the ­Latin History of the Apostles, after Abdias of Babylon­ [reprinted in Fabricius (­Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­, Hamburg, 1719)].

 

     The scene of Andrew’s preaching is laid in the land of the Anthropophagi (Myrmidonia), then in Amasea, Sinope, Nicaea, Nicomedia, Byzantium, Thrace, Macedonia, and Patrae in Achaia, where the martyrdom takes place. Some of the miracles in Gregory’s epitome are also mentioned in the ­Laudatio­ (#378, above); and there is also a connection with the Latin ­Passio Sancti Andreae Apostoli­ (#381, above).

 

     Flamion (­Les Actes Apocryphes de l’Apotre Andre­, Louvain, 1911) considered that it gave on the whole the best idea of the contents of the original ­Acts of Andrew­. It begins with a short abstract of the ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias­, which Gregory either found prefixed to his copy of the ­Acts of Andrew­, or else thought himself obliged to notice, because of the popularity of the story. Gregory finishes his book with an allusion to the martyrdom of the Apostle only:—(I have not set out his Passion at length, because I find it well done by some one else.) [The version of the martyrdom which Gregory knew was the ­Latin Martyrdom of Andrew, after Abdias of Babylon­ (#383, above).]

 

[NTA, I, 391; HAS, I, 93; ANT, 337,357]

 

385. The Arabic Martyrdom of Saint Andrew

 

     The text of this work appears as part of Codex Parisianus Fonds Arabe 81, a paper manuscript of 241 leaves, written in a script of the 16th century. In it the name Aknis bears a very distant resemblance to Askatya (so Malan, ­Ascatia­, 113). Behind Arganque or Argyanos we are told by Lipsius (Die Apokryphe Apostelgeschichten­ I, Brunswick, 1883, 621-622) to find Achaia. The Safras of the Arabic version and the Sukes or Sakos of the Ethiopic one mean the same place, but cannot as yet be identified.

 

     [The text of this martyrdom of Andrew has almost nothing to do with that of the Greek or Latin martyrdoms. None of the Greek or Latin personal names appear in it; there is no great prayer to the cross; there is no delay of three days in the Apostolic death, nor any speeches by him on the instrument of his death; and the behavior of the crowd is completely different. The text is below. (H)]

 

1. And it came to pass that Andrew had journeyed to the city of Aknis, and the city of Arganyus, and the city of Safras, the rebellious and wicked cities which were neighbors one to the other; and they were united in his lot wherein he was to preach the good news of the Gospel. And these were the last of the cities to which he journeyed. And his departure from this world drew near.

 

2. And when he entered these cities he preached to them with a loud voice, thus: “Whoso forsaketh not father or mother, and sons, and daughters, and brothers, and sisters, and wife, and silver, and gold, and raiment, and treasures, and goods, and fields, and everything in this world, and followeth not after Me, is not worthy of Me.” And he commanded them about it, that they should believe in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ with the right faith. And they begged him earnestly for more about it; because he had mentioned before that he who did not do it would have no right to the kingdom of heaven, and would not have everlasting life.

 

3. And the people of this country were a very wicked folk, and they had little religious faith. And when they heard Andrew speak in this way, they were wroth against him with a great wrath. And in many places they heard of the wonders which he did in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ; and everyone who asked him was cured by him, and he bestowed the cure without price. And many of the people spread his name abroad in that region; and he brought them near unto God, Who receiveth everyone that cometh unto Him with all his heart.

 

4. Then it entered into the heart of the people of this city in which Andrew was preaching about the knowledge of God to assemble themselves and take counsel together about the disciple. And the magistrates said unto each other: “Come, let us unite and agree concerning the killing of this deceiver, who hath corrupted our religion and hath come to us in the name of a new god, whose name we know not, neither we nor our fathers.”

 

5. One of them said: “Let us go out to him and entreat him to go out of our country that no discord may happen; for many men of the city have believed by his speech; and if we do not make haste and do something by our own will, there will be some ruin to the inhabitants of the city.” And they sent trusty folk to him of those who were of noble race. And they went to him joyfully. And this was by the will of God, that the envoys also who had gone to him might believe.

 

6. And when they had entered into where the disciple was, he began and said: “The peace of the Lord be with you.” They replied unto him: “May thy peace be with us.” And they spoke in words of peace. The disciple said unto them: “Sit ye down, O ye good brethren, whom the good Lord hath called to the Holy City.” They replied unto him, saying: “Forgive us, O servant of the good God, in whom we have found the knowledge of God. O thou just one, about whom we took counsel for the evil, which Satan had sown in our heart. O thou innocent man, who art like a lamb playing and submissive to him who is seeking to kill it. Truly we, since we have seen thy person, every thought of evil is put far from us; and thou hast made our hearts new by the fear of God. Have we not commanded evil concerning thee, and brought it upon thee? We have come to entreat thee to go out of our city; and we have said in the ignorance of our minds that thou art he who didst trouble our city. But now we know certainly that thou art he who shall save us from the enemy, and shalt intercede for us with the Lord, that He may forgive our sins. And now, O holy father, we will not separate ourselves from thee, and we desire thee to make us thy disciples.”

 

7. And Andrew blessed them, and sent them to their houses in peace, and exhorted each of them to learn the faith of the Lord Jesus the Christ. And they went away from him praising God; and they went about in all the marketplaces of the city, and in its streets, reciting the praises of God. And they left the blessed Apostle Andrew.

 

8. And when the company of evil men who had sent them on that business heard these things, they were greatly perplexed. And they took counsel about it amongst themselves: and they said, “Let us go together to the place where Andrew is, and let us burn him alive in the fire; so that he may not return to our city, and everyone who hath believed in him may hear of us and be afraid of us.” And they went out to the place where he was, and they surrounded him and said unto him, “We will burn thee alive.”

 

9. And when the disciple saw that they were endeavoring to do evil, he looked at them, and spake to them in words of peace; and said unto them: “O ye rebellious men, do not fulfill the evil which ye have determined, which Satan its father hath taught you. And return unto God. And if ye will not receive this from me, I have entreated God about the fire in which ye have purposed to burn me, and He will send fire from heaven from Himself to burn you and your city; that ye may know that there is no God who is mighty in heaven and earth, save Jesus the Christ my Lord.” And they reviled the Lord Jesus the Christ, and the holy disciple.

 

10. And when he heard their reviling he was wroth with a fierce wrath, and he lifted up his hand towards heaven and made supplication, saying: “O my Lord and my God, Jesus the Christ! Hearken unto my supplication, and send fire from heaven to burn these wicked people who have reviled Thy holy name.” And before he had finished his supplication fire fell from heaven and burnt up this wicked multitude. And the saint became known in all the town and its district because of the wonder which had come forth from his hands.

 

11. And the rest of the wicked never ceased, but they plotted evil again. And they said: “If this man remains in our city he will ruin us with his sorcery, and there is worse in store for us from his doing, for he will separate us from our wives.” They sent treacherously to him with soft speech until he came into their midst; and they gathered themselves together against him and beat him with heavy blows. And they went round about the city with him, he being naked, and cast him into prison until they had taken counsel against him how they should kill him. And the custom of this city was, that whomsoever they wished to slay they hanged him on a piece of wood in the form of a cross, and threw stones at him.

 

12. And when they had thrown Andrew into prison he arose and prayed earnestly; and entreated the Lord that He would send fire from heaven and burn these three cities as He did the first time, because of the beating and the acts of violence which they had done to him. Then the Lord appeared unto him in the prison and said unto him: “Peace be unto thee, O Andrew! My beloved disciple; be not anxious, for thou hast finished thy course, and hast attained to thine apostleship. And this is the place in which thou shalt complete thy testimony, and shalt inherit the kingdom of heaven with the just ones who have pleased Me.”

 

13. And when Andrew heard it he rejoiced and was glad; and he remained for the rest of the night praising God. And when it was the morrow he went forth out of the prison; and they hanged him upon the cross, and stoned him till there was an end of him. And believing folk took him and left his body in a grave. And this was the completion of his testimony on the fourth day of the month of Khoiak; and praise be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[MRS, x, xix-xx, 26-29]

 

386. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Andrew in Scythia

 

     The Ethiopian version of the martyrdom of Andrew follows scene for scene the Arabic version mentioned above. Two of the three cities are different—­Aknis­, Arganyus and ­Safras­ become ­Askatya­, Argyanos and Sukes­ (which Budge translates as Scythia, Garanius and Axis). The Ethiopian editing is printed below. The material is keyed to the numbered paragraphs of the Arabic version (#385, above). For a brief summary of the historical emergence of the various Apostolic traditions, see at the beginning of #146.

 

1. A has here, for his first words: And it came to pass that.—which is one of ­E­’s favorite emendations. E has: And the blessed Andrew. | A has: the city of; but E has: in the country of Sukes. | Expansion in E: went to preach.

 

2. Expansion in E: And it came to pass that. | A: those cities; E: these countries. | A: and his silver, and his gold; E: and his gold, and his silver. | A: and treasures, and goods, and fields; E: and his lands, and his estates. | Expansion in E: the gain of this world, whosoever I say hath not left them. | A: the Lord Jesus the Christ; E: our Lord Jesus Christ. | E edits in an explanatory expansion-text for A (who here has: for more about it.) E reads: and they inquired of him much concerning what they remembered of their past life.

 

3. Expansion in E: wicked, and they were puffed up with pride. | A has: little religious faith; E has: little understanding. | Expansion in E: And it came to pass that. | Expansion in E: all countries, and many believed in him. | A has: God, Who receiveth everyone that cometh unto Him; E has: God, all those who turned unto him.

 

4. Expansion in E: Now by reason of these things Satan. | Expansion in E: together, and sent wicked messengers to attack him. | A has: unite and agree concerning the killing of this deceiver; but E has: join ourselves together in one counsel because of the commandment of this perverted man. | Expansion in E: his name, and they never spake unto us concerning him.

 

5. A has: Let us go out to him and entreat him; E has: Let us send a message unto him and tell him. | A has: this city; E has: this country. | A has: there will be some ruin to the inhabitants of the city; but E changes this to: we shall be destroyed by these people who dwell in this city. | Immediately after, there is an expansion in E: And having thus spoken of the matter in their assemblies.

 

6. A has: when they; E has: when the messengers. | A has: blessed disciple; but E has: blessed Apostle. | A has: They; but E (a) expands, by instituting the greeting: O brethren, and (b) defines, by inserting into the text the words: those men who were there. | A has: Then the disciple; E has: Then Andrew. | Expansion in A: us, O good man. | E edits out A (italics) in the very next clause, thus: thou servant of the good God. | A has: thou righteous one; but E has: thou righteous man. | A has at this point: playing and submissive to him who is seeking to kill it. E has: without blemish, who dost wish to heal those who wish to slay thee. | A has: God, Have we not commanded evil concerning thee, and brought it on thee; but E has: God, though we took counsel against thee wickedly. | A has: in the ignorance of our minds; but E says: in the madness of our hearts. | A has: didst trouble; E has: didst lead into error. | A has: with the Lord; E has: with God.

 

7. A has: unto the Lord Jesus the Christ; E has: unto our Lord Jesus Christ. | E edits out A (italicized) thus: in all the marketplaces of the cities and in its streets and.

 

8. Expansion in E: And it came to pass that. | A has: sent them on their business; but E says: sent the messengers unto Andrew. | Expansion in E: Rise up, and let us. | A has: burn him alive in the fire; E just: burn him with fire. | A has: then shall everyone; but E has: then shall every man of the people.

 

9. A has: O ye rebellious men; E has: O ye perverted men. | Expansion in E: unto me, and ye refuse to do as I say. | E deletes the following words of A (in italics): fire from Heaven from Himself, which shall burn up both you and your city, so that ye may know that there is no God Who is mighty, either in. | A has: Jesus the Christ my Lord; but E has: our Lord Jesus Christ, our God. | A has: Then they; E has: Then those men. | Expansion in E: and to curse and revile. | A has: His holy disciple; but E has: His holy Apostle.

 

10. Expansion in E: And it came to pass that. | A has: these wicked people; but E has: these wicked men. | E edits out the entire last sentence of this paragraph as it appears in A: And the saint became known in all the town and its district because of the wonder which had come forth from his hands.

 

11. A begins the paragraph: And the rest of the wicked never ceased, but they plotted evil again; but E begins it: And Andrew preached the story of the holy Gospel in all cities and countries, but those of the wicked who remained unbelievers again took counsel to work evil against him. | E edits out the following (italicized) words of A: by his sorcery, and there is worse in store for us from his doing, and he. | Immediately following there is this expansion in E: will work strenuously against us in separating wives | A has: they sent treacherously; E has: they sent cunning letters. | Expansion in E: with sweet words, and at length he. | A has: they went round about the city with him, he being naked; but E has: they dragged him round about on the highway of the city naked.

 

12. Expansion in E: And it came to pass that. | A has: prayed earnestly; E has: prayed in anger. | A has: as he did the first time; but E says: even as He had done in times of Old. | A has: My beloved disciple; E has: My beloved Apostle. | A has: be not anxious; E has: be not wroth | A has: and has attained unto thine apostleship; but E has: and thou hast brought thy service to a close.

 

13. Expansion in E: And it came to pass that. | E inserts a definition here into the text: Andrew heard these words of our Lord Jesus Christ. A has here: it. | A has: praising God; but E expands: through unto our Lord, the Maker of all, God Almighty. | Expansion of E: And it came to pass that. | Before this last expansion, E edits out the following sentence of A: And when Andrew heard it he rejoiced and was glad; and he remained for the rest of the night praising God. | Expansion in E: accomplished, and he gave back his soul unto his Creator, and after these things. | A has: believing folk; but E has: believing men. | Expansion in E: took him down and laid his body in a grave. | The last sentence of the Arabic now follows; but it is in the Ethiopic indicated as a scribal colophon to an otherwise finished work.

 

     There are no great expansions or contractions of the Arabic text; and but for the statements in both that the Apostle is to be killed by crucifixion, and because he has persuaded the wives of some of the nobility to desert conjugal relationships with their husbands—which latter fact in the Greek martyrdom happens only to the pagan governor, Aegeates, and occurs in a single phrase—(and to corrupt a wife who prior to that satisfied me)—no one would know that either of these works were related to a remote parent of the 2nd century AD—some 1,200 years prior to the emergence of the Ethiopic record of (ostensibly) the same events. (H)

 

     MRS adds that either Parthia or Thrace would be in harmony with the statement at the beginning of the Ethiopic version of Andrew’s martyrdom, that he continued to travel about in the country of Askatya.

 

[MRS, xx; COA, II, 215-221]

 

387. The Arabic Acts of Andrew and Bartholomew

 

     For a brief summary of the historical emergence of the Apostolic legends, see at the beginning of #146.

 

     The city in which these two Apostles together preached bears in the Ethiopic version the name of Bartos. This is evidently a corruption of Parthos, which is found in Coptic manuscripts (so Lipsius, Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.2, 1903, 76). The Arabic name is always either Barbaros or El-Barbar.

 

     We meet again with the name El’Barbar, as the city where Andrew preached; in the ­Arabic Acts of Matthew­; in the ­Arabic Preaching of Saint Matthias­; and by Abu-l-Barakat ibn Kabar (­Manuscript Vaticanus Arabicus­ CVI): so Guidi (“Gli Atti Apocrifi Degli Apostoli nei Testi Copti, Arabi, ed Etiopici” in Gornale Della Societa Asiatica Italiana­ VII, Rome, 1893). Here, the Ethiopic version has the country of the Greeks (so Budge, Contendings of the Apostles­ II, London, 1901, 269, 287) [by which it may be that Egypt (i.e., Alexandria) is meant: (H)] In favor of this is the identification by Budge of the country of the Oases—rendered in the Ethiopic as the city\fn{Or: country­.—with the Oasis of Siwah, or of Jupiter Ammon (as it was called by the pagans), in the Libyan desert, not from Asyut in Egypt (­Ibid­., 183).} of Sewa which is called ‘Alwah.’

 

     On the other hand, perhaps the Achaian peninsula is meant by the country of the Greeks. We find the name of Macedonia, in both the Arabic and the Ethiopic versions of the acts of these two apostles. And even if El-Barbar be the true name, it may possibly apply to Thrace, whose inhabitants were still at that period notorious for their ferocity. Either Parthia or Thrace would be in harmony with the statement at the beginning of the Ethiopic version of Andrew’s martyrdom, that he continued to travel about in the country of Askatya (Scythia).

 

     There exist close parallels between the names goes to prove that the Ethiopic texts were translations from the Arabic. (1) Besides the shared name of Macedonia in both, (2) Mactaran of the Arabic is evidently the same as Makatran of the Ethiopic; (3) Gharyanus of the Arabic as Azreyanos of the Ethiopic; (4) Aknis of the Arabic as Askatya of the Ethiopic (so Malan, ­Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­, London, 1871, 113); (5) Safras of the Arabic and Sukes or Sakos of the Ethiopic; and perhaps even (6) Arganqus or Argyanos of the Arabic with Achaia of the Greek (so Lipsius, ­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ I, 1883, 621-622).

 

     The story of the Arabic version is as follows.

 

1. After the Resurrection, Jesus appeared to Bartholomew, in the city of the Gentiles, in the regions of Mactaran, which is the city of Gharyanus and spoke to him as follows—

 

2.Peace be unto thee, O Bartholomew, and love, and victory, in every place where thou shalt dwell. Fear not; for he who worketh is worthy of reward, and layeth up for himself everlasting life. Ye are the trusty reapers who reap the field of their Lord; and when ye go out of this period of time, ye shall receive our wages. Arise, O my chosen Bartholomew! Go to the city of El-Barbar. Preach the Gospel in it; and thou shalt teach the way of salvation; that they may leave off their wicked works and the service of idols; and repent, that they may inherit everlasting life. Behold, I will tell thee beforehand what shall come upon thee in this city. Before thou shalt enter in thy body shall be burnt with fire three times. Thou shalt be crucified many times; thy body shall be sawn asunder with saws; thou shalt be thrown to the wild beasts that they may eat thee. Thy feet shall be tied with stones, and thou shalt be thrown into the sea. But take heed lest thou fear; rather be strong; thou art the conqueror; no one can prevail over thee. Be patient, O my chosen One, and remember what the tribe of the Jews did unto me; these wicked things which they did unto Me, when I was hanging upon the Cross. And I did not recompense them, for I am a merciful Lord. I forgive the sins of those who return unto Me; and I will accept their repentance. Behold, I will direct Andrew towards thee; he shall bring thee to this city; and many mighty deeds and wonders shall be shown by you; and many people shall believe by means of you.”

 

3. —after which the Divinity gave him the salutation of peace, and ascended to Heaven in glory.

 

4. The following midnight, God appears to Andrew, and tells him to go and collect Bartholomew at Gharyanus, the two of them then proceeding to the city of Barbaros to preach the Gospel

 

5. which I have given them, that they may leave off the evil of their deeds and their worship of idols, and repent, so that they may inherit everlasting life. And beware lest thou be alarmed by them, but increase thy patience, and use long-suffering. Remember that I am thy Master and thy Lord—thou knowest all the pains that came upon Me from the Jews; and I did not requite them for what they did unto Me, but I was long-suffering with them, that they might be saved from their sins. And fear not now, O my child, and let not thy spirit be oppressed; be patient, until thou shalt have turned them from error to faith by the greatness of thy patience with them. But I will send you a man fearful in appearance like the face of a dog. And through fear of him they will believe; and through your speech he will follow you, and will be come your disciple all the days of your preaching the Gospel. And when the people of Barbaros have believed, take them out with you to the city of El-Betas, and they also shall believe through the number of the wonders and the mighty deeds which shall take place through you.

 

6. And God ascended into Heaven in glory.

 

7. Andrew, Rufus and Alexander begin their journey the following morning. Finding themselves arrived at the seashore, and having no means of transportation across this water barrier to where Bartholomew was, the men offer the matter in a prayer in the Hebrew language to God for a solution. God causes them to be overcome with sleep; whereupon he permitted a large fish to come up out of the sea; and it opened its mouth and swallowed Andrew and his two disciples, whilst they were asleep: and they were not aware of it. And they remained in its inside for three days and three nights, and it journeyed with them by the will of God and threw them out outside the harbor of the city of Gharyanus, at a distance of forty days’ journey before it arrived there and they awoke and were not aware of it.

 

8. The men, unaware of what has happened, think they are still on the seashore in front of the body of water separating them from the place they were going to. After considerable conversation between themselves and also with Jesus over where they geographically are (during the course of which Jesus appears on the scene disguised as a ship’s captain, and messengers arrive from the Governor of Macedonia requesting that they cure his wife)—

 

And Andrew said unto his two disciples, “O my brethren! How long shall we remain, and no boat come towards us to convey us to the city of Gharyanus? And my spirit is oppressed.” And he spake thus; “Was it not thou, O Lord, who didst appear unto me and didst command me to journey to the city of Gharyanus?” And he said unto his two disciples, “Return to the city until the Lord permit us to go, and direct a boat towards us that will carry us.” They said unto him: “Let it be as He willeth.” And while he was talking with them, Rufus, one of the two disciples, looked, and lo, a ship approached in the midst of the sea. And he told it to Andrew his master. And he rejoiced at it with great joy. And they all arose to welcome it. And when it reached the shore, they asked the owner of the ship, “Where dost thou wish to go?” But the Lord had made for them a spiritual ship: and in it there were sailors and a captain of the boat, before it came unto them. And Andrew arose and welcomed the boat, and gave a greeting of peace to the captain: “The Lord be with thee, O thou good captain of the ship!” The Lord Jesus the Christ, who was like the captain of the boat, replied unto him: “On thee be the peace of the Lord, O thou beloved brother!” Andrew said unto him: “To what town art thou going?” The man, who was our Lord Jesus the Christ, replied unto him: “By the will of God, to the city of El-Barbar.” Andrew said unto him: “O thou good man, hast thou not lost thy way in the sea? This is the city of El-Barbar, thou art in it.” He replied unto him: “This is not the city of El-Barbar: this is the city of Gharyanus, and this is the third day since I arrived at it.” And while they were continuing the conversation men came from Macedonia, seeking to go to the city of Gharyanus, directed to Bartholomew, that he might go with them and cast out a devil with which the wife of the King of Macedonia was possessed. And they saw the Lord and Andrew on the shore of the sea. And he said: “What is this city?” The men replied unto him: “This is the city of Gharyanus.” He replied unto them: “What is the reason of your presence in it?” They said: “The chief of the city hath sent us to Bartholomew, that he may go with us to Macedonia and cast out a devil by which his wife is possessed.” And the astonishment of Andrew increased; and the men went into the city, and they remained only for a little, until they came, and Bartholomew with them. And when Bartholomew and the men arrived at the ship and saw the Savior sitting in it, they thought that it was he who conveyed people over to Macedonia. Jesus replied unto them, saying: “We want to go to the district of Barbaros, but go ye to those men who are sitting under the tree, perhaps they are the ferry-men.” And Bartholomew went to the tree; and he saw Andrew and his two disciples sitting. And when Andrew saw him, he hastened to meet him; and he kissed him and said unto him: “Whence comest thou? And what city is this?” Bartholomew said unto him: “This is the city of Gharyanus, which came out as my lot that I should preach in it.” And Andrew was greatly astonished, and said unto Bartholomew: “What thanks and what praise shall my tongue pay to the noble Lord, who hath done this great deed unto me, and hath brought me to this far-off city in one night; and hath brought me and thee together that I might go to the city of Barbaros and El-Betas, that we may preach in them the good news of the Gospel.” Then the Lord came from the ship, and they asked what would be their fare to the coast of Macedonia, because the wife of the chief had assembled to herself the poor and needy of the city to give them alms; and whilst she was among them, a wicked spirit took possession of her; and she brought together and stoned with stones every one who was in her house. “And the chief laid hold of her and put her into a strong place; and he hath sent us to this city, to Bartholomew, a disciple of the Lord, that he may come and cast the devil out of Her.” The Lord said unto Andrew: “Every man who forsaketh what is in this world, and followeth the Lord Jesus and becometh His disciple, he shall cast out devils like you.” Andrew said unto him: “Truly it is so, and if he saith to this mountain ‘Be removed,’ it shall indeed be removed.” The Lord said: “And if I renounce this world with all that is in it, and carry my cross, shall I be able to cast out this devil from this woman?” Andrew said unto him: “The Holy Ghost the Teacher, hath not rested upon thee; but sell this boat, and distribute its price among the poor, and the widows, and the orphans, and follow us to any place whither we are going. Thou shalt do whatsoever we do.” The Lord said in answer: “Arise, and let us entreat in the name of Jesus that each one of us may do his miracle.”

 

Andrew stretched out his hands, and prayed thus, saying: “In the name of our Lord Jesus the Christ, transport me, O thou sea, and every one who is with me here, and make us reach the coast of Macedonia.” And straightway the water of the sea overflowed; and it came to where they were, and it circled round them, they being in the midst of it like a boat, and it made them reach the shore. Everyone is impressed; hereupon Bartholomew makes a speech, saying in part: “O my Lord and my God, Jesus the Christ, send Thy good angel to the abode of the chief in Macedonia; and may he cast the devil out of the woman and bring her to us before we arrive at the city.” At this moment Michael the archangel came down from heaven; and taking the woman and her husband and the people of her household, brought them all to where Andrew and Jesus were. The woman is healed. Then the Lord said: “I also will do a miracle in the name of your God.” Then He said: “In the name of Jesus the Christ, let the wind carry me and Andrew, and Bartholomew, and their disciples, and make us reach the place whither they desire to go.” And straightway the disciples received shining wings, and they arrived at the city of Barbaros.

 

9. Jesus and His retinue (though they still do not know it is Jesus with them) depart for the theater, which belonged to the city where the crowd was assembled. The people were greatly amazed to see them. At this moment, Andrew asks Jesus who he really is. And the Lord smiled and said unto him: “Were not your hearts heavy?\fn[This is the reading of the Old Syriac and the Coptic (Sahidic dialect) version of Luke 24:32. NOAB reads this verse: They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us\fn{Other ancient authorities lack: within us.} while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”}] Open your eyes, and know that I am He. And he revealed himself, saying: Be strong and brave, O my holy disciples! I will dwell with you wheresoever ye are. I commanded the whale to snatch you away whilst you were asleep; and ye did not know it until it made you arrive at the coast of the city of Barbaros. Be ye patient and long-suffering with the great people which is in this city, for they will not all believe quickly, but by many signs which shall be done by you.” And he gave them the greeting of peace, and revealed Himself, going up to Heaven in great glory.

 

10. Suddenly the disciples were standing on the top of the theater, and all the crowd gazing at them and saying: “How are these people at such a great height?” And some of them said: “These are the gods of this city; they wish to do wonderful things. Or the priests have neglected them, and they are angry, and wish to go out of the city; but let us tell the Governor speedily about their affair.” They do so, saying that if they go out of our city our foes will conquer us, and slay us, and there will be none to help us.

 

11. The Governor, Gallion, commanded the priests and the gods (all four of them) to be brought before him. And they put on their finest raiment. And they carried the four idols, and brought them to the theater; and their trumpets in their hands, till they had seated them according to their rank. And when the crowd saw them they lifted up their voices, and gave them glory. And when the crowd saw the disciples, they laid hold of them, and brought them into the presence of the Governor.

 

12. The Governor inquires as to who they are, and they tell him; but some of the multitude said: “These are the twelve wizards who journey among the cities, and separate women from their husbands. Put them away from us, lest they should bewitch us, and separate us from our wives and our children.” The Governor said to the crowd: “Be patient, and I will go up; and do not make a disturbance until I have proved them with questions.”

 

13. And he said unto the disciples: “If your god be God in truth, doing what He will, do a sign or a miracle before me, that I may know the truth of your speech.” Andrew responds by asking the idols, Are ye gods, as this multitude thinks about you?” Loud voices from them replied unto him, saying: “We are no gods, but false things, the work of men’s hands, they deceive by means of us.” Andrew banishes them to the top of this theater until I command you to come down to Gehenna.” And immediately they went up. And Andrew said to the crowd: If they were gods and if they had power, and hearkened to their priests, they could return and remain in their places.

 

14. Upon this the multitude were greatly ashamed. The Governor directs the priests to call upon the gods and direct them to go to their appropriate places in their temples; and they try, but fail, the Devil speaking from their mouths:

 

15. O people of the city! If ye lay not hold of these men and burn their bodies with fire, we will go out from this city. hearken not unto the speech of these seditious men, who have turned the world upside down. And if we go forth from amongst you, the city will be laid waste. And do not receive their words.”

 

16. Angered, the crowd stones the disciples, and at the Governors command binds them with chains of iron and hangs them upon the gallows to burn them in the fire in the presence of their idols. They are rescued by an angel, who also loosed them from the chains. And the devils request the people to cast them into a furnace; but the angel of the Lord came down to the furnace and rescued them from the burning.

 

17. The Governor appeals to the crowd: What shall we do with these men? Lo! Three times I hath burnt them with fire; and it hath not consumed them nor hath it hurt them at all. Behold! They are going far from us; we shall not find them to accomplish our will with them.

 

18. Andrew and his companions, hitherto invisible, reveal themselves with a challenge: Lo! We are standing in your midst; either overcome us, or we shall overcome you, by the power of our Lord.

 

19. Arguing that it is not meet for us to corrupt this law of the gods, the pagan commandant and all the soldiers laid hold of them and took them before the tribunal of justice and the multitude threw many stones at them. And Andrew waxed wroth in spirit, and would fain have cursed the city and all who were within it that they should go down to hell for their little faith; but he was patient and remembered the commandment of the Lord, which He spake: “Do not requite them for their little faith.”

 

20. The Governor threatens to strip off your skins, and will throw you to the ravening wild beasts, that they may eat you. Andrew asks why, and the Governor says: Because ye have come into our city, and when our gods saw you, they went forth out of it. Andrew says: Your gods are no gods, as ye suppose, but are made by men’s hands. There is no God but the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

 

21. Upon hearing this, the crowd insists upon their death, saying to the Governor: Either thou shalt slay these men, or if not, we shall slay thee and all thy household. He asks them what he should do, and they advise: Thou shalt saw them with saws, or cast them into a copper furnace till their bodies melt, and thou shalt throw them into the sea. The Apostles are bound to a wooden wheel; but while they were busy sawing, their hands were withered and they could not move them. Again they tried; but when the servants of the king wanted to take hold of the ropes, their bodies were dislocated and their hands were cut off from their elbows, and fell upon the ground. A second time the Governor asked the people what he should do; and this time they direct him to go with them to ask Andrew and his companions simply to leave the city in peace.

 

22. The Governor and the crowd meet Andrew and his party; and the Governor says: O ye blessed brethren, what money do ye wish that we should pay you, and go ye out of our city; so that our gods may return unto us? And if ye will not do it, all our city will perish. The disciples reply: We have no need of gold nor of silver; and at this the crowd lost its head and drove the disciples outside of the city. And they pelted them with stones and left them thrown down like dead men.

 

23. But Jesus appears to them and says: Arise, O my holy disciples! Be patient and fear not, for in this city there is a great tumult because of you; but go ye out to this desert, I am abiding with you, fear ye not, I will direct a man towards you whose face is like the face of a dog, and whose appearance is frightful exceedingly. Take him with you to the city.” And having said this, the Lord departed from them, going up to heaven in glory.

 

24. Grieving because the city did not believe, Andrew’s party goes out into the desert. They eat and fall asleep. And the angel of the Lord lifted them up and brought them to the city whose people were cannibals, and left them beneath a rock of the mountain, and departed from them. Astonished, they begin to talk among themselves, when suddenly a man with a dog’s face, who had just passed the day without eating anything, came out of that city, seeking a man whom he might eat. And an angel of the Lord appeared to him and directed him to where Andrew and Philemon and their two disciples were, warning that nothing unpleasant from thee come to them; for they are the servants of God; lest their God be wroth with thee and cut thee in twain.

 

25. The dog-headed man trembled exceedingly and he replies, saying Who art thou? I know thee not; and I know not the Lord; but tell me who is God the Lord, of whom thou speakest unto me? The angel replies: He it is Who created the heaven and the earth, He is God of a truth. This heaven is a tabernacle above thy head, and thou treadest on the earth, and He created them, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the sea, and all that is therein; the wild beasts, and the birds, and all the cattle, and the fowls, He created them all. And He hath power to take away the breaths of them all.”

 

26. The dog-headed man desires a sign: and straightway fire came down from heaven and surrounded the dog-headed man, and he could not get out of it. And he cried out: O thou God whom I have not known: save me from this affliction in which I am,. and I will believe in Thee. The angel of the Lord says that in addition he must promise to follow His disciple to every place whither they shall journey and hearken unto all that they shall say unto thee. The man-beast says:

 

27. O my Lord, I am not like most men; for my appearance is not like the appearance of most people; and I know not their talk. And if I were to walk with them, what could they do about my food? And if I were hungry, where shall I find men to eat? I should turn around upon them and eat them. Lo! I have made known my state unto thee, lest I should do them evil, and their God should be angry with me.

 

28. The angel says: God will give unto thee the nature of man, and will strip from thee the nature of the wild beast. And immediately the angel stretched out his hand, and pulled the man-beast out of the fire, and signed him with the sign of the cross, and called on the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And then the nature of the wild beast went out of him, and he became gentle as a lamb. The angel then directs him to find Andrew and his party, and leaves the scene.

 

29. The man-beast finds the Apostolic party; and his appearance—his height was four cubits; his face was like the face of a large dog, and his eyes like lamps of burning fire, and his back teeth like the tusks of the wild boar; and his front teeth like the teeth of a lion; and the nails of his feet like a curved scythe; and the nails of his hands like the claws of a lion—is terrifying. Alexander became like a dead man from fear of him. And the disciples thought that he was possessed with a bad spirit, and they made a sign upon him in the name of the Lord, and traced a cross over his face. Making a sign to Bartholomew, they ran away together, and left the two disciples under the cliff.

 

30. The man-beast found the disciples like dead men from fear of him; but taking their hands, he says: Fear not, O my spiritual fathers! And at that moment God took away the fear of him from their hearts, and sent upon them the power of the Holy ghost, and they were not afraid of his appearance. The man-beast asks them to send for Andrew And Bartholomew; they do so, saying to them: The man whose face hath made you sorrowful is calling you. The Apostles come to him; but were not able to look at his person, for he was very fearful. The man-beast tells them not to fear him, but that they may direct him to do whatever they wish. Andrew says: May the Lord bless thee, O my child! I believe that we shall have a great consolation in thee; but tell us thy name.”

 

31. The man-beast says: My name is ‘Bewitched.’Andrew responds: Truly a secret is hidden in thy name. And it is sweet and it is honorable, but from this day thy name shall be ‘Christian.’ They pray and, together with the angel, leave the city of Barbaros.

 

32. Three days later they arrive\fn{According to the text, at Barbaros; but this is clearly an error for another name, which has dropped out of the text; for according the preceding narrative, they were leaving Barbaros and going elsewhere. The Ethiopic means to have Mekos here, but the scribe copies the Arabic error and transliterates it—Barbaros\Bartos—instead: (H)} at a now unknown city.

 

33. And they sat down outside the city to rest. And Satan got to the city before them, and he was in the likeness of a rich man of the city, and he went into the presence of the Governor, and with him were all the chief men of the tribe. And he said unto him: “The men whom ye have driven out of the city with stones have appeared again, seeking to enter it. And if our gods were to know of their approach they would go forth out of our city. And the nations will hear, and will rise up against us and take us captive, we and our children.” Hearing this, the Governor ordered the city gates barred and guarded.

 

34. The Apostolic party comes up to the city walls, seeking entry; and the man beast says to them: Cover up my face before I go into the city, lest the people see me and flee from me. They do so, and Andrew utters the following prayer: O Lord! Hearken unto my supplication. In the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ, Who hath broken the gates of brass, and cut in pieces the bars of iron, let this city be speedily opened. The gates fall, and the party enter the city, the gate-keepers hastening to tell the Governor and all the people of the city what had happened.

 

35. Hearing what had happened, they all hastened, bearing the weapons of war—he who had a sword, and he who had a spear, each man according to his ability. And they went out to meet the disciples that they might slay them. The Governor commands that the disciples be brought forth, so that they might let loose seven lions and three lion-whelps, and a lioness which was bringing forth young, and two tigers, against them. And the guards of the king seized Andrew that the wild beasts might kill him. Thereupon the man-beast, face covered, utters the following prayer:

 

36. I entreat thee, O my Lord Jesus the Christ, Who didst turn me from hardness of heart into meekness, and didst make me fit to be the companion of Thy disciples. I entreat Thee that thou wouldst restore to me my original nature, so that this crowd may see me: and strengthen me by Thy power, that they may know that there is no God beside Thee.

 

37. And straightway he returned to his original nature which was in him; and he waxed exceeding wroth, and was filled with rage, and he uncovered his face, and looked upon the crowd with great anger. And he sprang upon all the lions that were amongst the multitude, and began to slay them; and tore their hides, and ate their flesh. And when the people of the city saw this they trembled greatly, and were disturbed and fled, and sought to get out of the city. Because of the violent pressure of the crowd one against the other 600 men and three noblemen died. And of the remainder, he who was safe sought for a place to hide himself; and they went out of the city. And the Lord sent a great fire which surrounded the city; and not one of them could flee from it.

 

38. The Governor and his aides, weeping in fear and trembling, said to the Apostolic party: We believe and we know that there is no God in heaven nor on earth, save your God, the Lord Jesus the Christ. We entreat you to have compassion on us, and deliver us from this death which surroundeth us from two sides, from the fire, and from the dread of the dog-headed man.

 

39. The disciples suspend the fire; and Bartholomew says to the Governor: Assemble the people of the town unto us, men and women. And let them bring to us whatsoever idols are in their houses; that they may know that they are no gods, but are made by men’s hands; stones, there are no souls in them. The Governor does this; and the disciples pray, and their feet smote the earth, and they said:

 

40. O God, who at that time didst command the earth, and it opened and swallowed up Dathan and Abiram and all their house who withstood Thy name, let the earth open at this hour, and may these idols be swallowed up; and bring them down to Gehenna, whilst this multitude are witnessing it. This is done; and the Governor, and the crowd of women and men lifted up their voices and said: “There is one God, the God of the Nazarenes, Jesus the Christ.” Hearing this confession, the disciples suggest that everyone adjourn to the theater so that all may be baptized. The pagans tell Andrew of their fear of the man-beast, lest he should eat us, as he ate the wild beasts. Bartholomew tells them not to worry, but to follow them, that they may see the glory of God and great wonders in this city today. And all adjourn to the theater.

 

41. Once there, the disciples laid their hands on the man-beast and say: In the name of the Jesus the Christ, let the nature of wild beasts leave thee, and return to the nature of man. It is enough for thee, O my child! Thou hast completed the service in which thou wast sent. And the man-beast returned to be like what he was before, meek as a lamb; and he came and did obeisance to the disciples. When the pagans saw this, they took in their hands branches of olive, and did obeisance to the disciples. And they said unto them: “Let your blessing abide on us; and baptize us.” And the disciples said unto them: “Possess ye your souls in patience; the gift of God hath remained upon you.”

 

42. As they reached a pillar beside the city theater, Andrew kicked it, the pillar was opened, and sweet water gushed from it. And the disciples stood in the midst of the water, and baptized the multitude in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. After this, the man-beast entreated Andrew: O thou good father, let thy mercy lighten upon those who have died, that they may live, and be baptized, and may rejoice with their brethren. And that they may know that the Lord hath power to give life unto the dead.

 

43. Andrew does so: and a loud voice from heaven says: At length it shall come unto the beloved man-beast: that I shall give unto him the gift of giving them life, for they died through fear of thee; and by thy hands shall their life come.

 

44. And the disciple did many miracles and wonders in the name of the Lord. The blind opened their eyes; the lame walked; the deaf heard; the dumb spake; the devils were cast out. And in all the city there remained not one who had a disease who was not cured in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ. And after these things he built them churches; and ordained for them a bishop, and presbyters and deacons. And he made them all the servants of the temple, and taught them the Holy Gospel and all the rites of the Holy church. And they offered up the pure Mysteries, and finished the prayers about them; and gave the multitude the offering and the Holy Mysteries. And there was great joy in this city at their being held worthy of the joy of baptism and of receiving the Holy Mysteries, which are the Body of the Lord and His precious Blood. And they confirmed them in the holy faith in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ. And they went out from amongst them, praising God; to Whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[MRS, xix-xx, 11-25]

 

388. The Ethiopic Acts of Saints Andrew and Bartholomew Among the Parthians

 

     The preface of this work says that it contains a set of legends about the two Blessed disciples Andrew and Bartholomew the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, which they wrought in the city of Bartos\fn{On this see Lipsius (Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten II.2, 1883, 77ff.)} after their return from the city\fn{Or: country.} which is called Alwah.\fn{I.e., Jupiter Ammon, in the Egyptian language: Sekht Amt.}

 

     The following is a list of the major (in view of the comparatively extensive nature of this acta) differences between the Ethiopic texts used by Budge (­Contendings of the Apostles­ II, London, 1903, 183-214) and the Arabic text translated by Lewis (­Mythological Acts of the Apostles­, Cambridge, 1904, 11-25). The numbers refer to the paragraphs of the Arabic text (#387, above). A = Arabic; E = Ethiopic.

 

1. A has: Mactaran; E has: Makatran. | A has: Gharyanus; but E has: Azreyanos.

 

2. In A, they go to the city of El-Barbar; but in E, they go unto the country of the Greeks. | Expansion in E: saw for a long time.

 

3. Expansion in E: a great glory—one of his characteristic textual modifications.

 

4. In A Jesus appears at midnight; but in E it is simply in the night.

 

5. A has: the people of Bartos; but E changes this to: the men of Barbaros | A has El-Betas; E has: Al-Mekos.

 

6. Nothing in six.

 

7. A has: Rufus, A has: Rokos. | In A, God commands a fish; but in E, God commands a whale. | Both A and E report the same time in the belly of three days and three nights. | Both A and E report that the distance from where they were to meet Bartholomew was a journey of 40 days.

 

8. In both A and E, Andrew has two disciples. | Expansion in E: And it came to pass that,--another of his characteristic expressions. | Expansion in E:—go, O good man?” | A has here: He replied unto him. E inserts the following expansion-clarification: Bartos. Then the captain of the ship, that is to say, our Lord, said. Immediately after the following connective material—unto him, “This city is not Bartos, but Azreyanos, and today is the third day since I was at Bartos,—there is the following considerable expansion by E:

 

Bartos, whither I went seeking to sell the goods which God had given unto Me. Now if ye are seeking the city of Bartos it is a journey of forty days and forty nights, for I have been there many times.” Then Andrew said unto him, “O good Man, from what country comest thou?” And our Lord answered and said unto Him, “I am from Bethlehem of Judaea.” And Andrew spake with Him, saying, “Dost Thou not think that we might preach for this day in the city? We would rise up at the earliest dawn and come to the shore, and would seek a ship which would bring us across to Azreyanos.”

 

A has here: city of Gharyanus, directed to Bartholomew, that he might go with them. E inserts the following explanation: Azreyanos, the men whom the governor of the country of Macedonia had sent unto Bartholomew to bring him with them to their city, that he might. | Expansion in E: said unto them when they had arrived. | Expansion in E: city which is opposite to us. | The chief of the city in A has become the governor of the country of Macedonia in E. | Expansion in E: astonished and said in his heart, “I marvel whether these men are speaking the truth. | Expansion in E: Him, The peace of God be with Thee, good Master! | Expansion in E: Jesus, Who was in the form of the captain of the ship. | Expansion in E: went, even as our Lord had commanded him. | Expansion in E: God, the Merciful One. | Expansion in E: the Holy Gospel. | Immediately after this—we are still in paragraph 8 of the Arabic—E inserts the following enormous expansion of the text:

 

Now whilst Andrew was conversing with Bartholomew, the pilot of the ship went up from the crew and came unto them. And he said unto Andrew, “O good man, knowest thou of a certainty that this city is Azreyanos?” And Andrew said unto him, “O Master, forgive me, for I spoke against thy words in ignorance.” Then the Captain of the ship answered and said unto him, “How many days is it since thou didst come from the country of the Greeks?” And Andrew said unto Him, “As my Lord and Redeemer liveth, (for we are Thy servants) did we not live in that country? And behold, as Thou seest, we only arrived in this city this day.” Then the Captain of the ship answered and said unto him, “What god dost thou worship? And in whom dost thou believe, O man? Now I see a manifestation of thy God in the majesty which dwelleth upon thee.” Then Andrew said unto him, “We are the servants of the Good God, Whose Name is Jesus.” Then the Savior, that is to say, the Captain of the ship, said unto him, “True, thy God is God Almighty in very truth! But what is thy purpose in coming into this city, and what seekest thou to do?” And Andrew answered and said unto Him, “Behold I have found him whom I sought; I found him before I sought him, and when as yet I had not come into the city.” And our Lord Jesus answered and said unto him, “He who hath delivered thee, and that brought thee unto the city of Azreyanos, will also bring thee unto the cities of Bartos and Matyas.\fn{Mekos is meant.} And it came to pass that when the two disciples heard these words, they rejoiced and said unto Him, “We desire to go unto the cities of Bartos and Matyas.” Then the master of the ship answered and said unto them, “Verily a great gift of grace hath descended upon Me, seeing that I have become worthy for disciples of Christ to embark with Me in My ship; and if your God bringeth you unto these great cities in safety I shall thank Him. Now, if ye have any thing to do in this city which must be done, hasten ye to do it, and meanwhile I will make the ship ready for you by the time ye return unto Me.” And Bartholomew answered and said unto Him, “We desire that Thou wilt set out with us forthwith on the journey and bring us unto the coast of Macedonia; but there is a matter which we must first finish before we go unto these cities.” And the master of the ship said unto them, “For what purpose do ye go thereto?” Then those men who had been sent from Macedonia answered and said unto him,” the.

 

Expansion in E: was standing among. | Expansion of E: them, and was giving alms unto them. | In the Arabic, the woman also kills her children, but not in the Ethiopic. | Expansion in E: Bartholomew, “Since your God is God indeed, and there is no other God besides Him, I entreat you to give Me instruction also that I may become like unto you. | Expansion in E: God, and may become a disciple unto Him. | A has: shining wings; E has: wings of light.

 

9. E inserts the following text to clarify A: coast of Azreyanos, and then I brought you unto the.

 

10. Nothing in 10.

 

11. A has: seated them according to their rank; but E enriches with: set them down upon their thrones.

 

12. Nothing in 12.

 

13. Nothing in 13.

 

14. Expansion in E to modify A—where it is only the Devil who speaks;—Then the Satans who dwelt in the images of the gods spake.

 

15. Nothing in 15.

 

16. In A the people are merely angry; but in E they are perturbed and were exceedingly afraid as well.

 

17. Nothing in 17.

 

18. Nothing in 18.

 

19. Nothing in 19.

 

20. A has: ravening wild beasts; but this is changed by E into fierce lions.

 

21. For the Holy Ghost of the Arabic, the Ethiopic, editing that out, substitutes: Who is the Living God. | The punishment in A is: their bodies were dislocated and their hands were cut off from their elbows, and fell upon the ground. In E, this becomes: their flesh melted, and their hands were cut off from their arms and fell upon the ground.

 

22. Nothing in 22.

 

23. Expansion in E: with great glory.

 

24. Nothing in 24.

 

25. Expansion in E: sea, and the rivers. | Expansion in E: heavens, and all the things which creep, and all green herbs and plants.

 

26. Expansion in E: not, have compassion upon me.

 

27. Nothing in 27.

 

28. Expansion in E: of the children of men.

 

29. Expansion in E: lion, and the hair of his head came down over his arms like unto the mane of a lion. | E has: an unclean spirit; while A has: a bad spirit. | E has: cross before his face; while A has: cross over his face.

 

30. A has: A man whose face hath made you sorrowful; but E substitutes for this: A man whom God hath sent.

 

31. In A the dog-faced man is called Bewitched; but in E he is called Abominable.

 

32. In E at the following—And on the third day they arrived at the city of Bartos—the Ethiopic scribe has mistakenly copied the Arabic name without thinking: he meant to copy Mekos instead.

 

33. Expansion in E: men on whom thou didst pass sentence of death.

 

34. Nothing in 34.

 

35. Expansion in E: spears, and their shields, and their bows. | It is seven lions, three young lions, one lioness and two tigers in both the Arabic and the Ethiopic, to whom the Apostles are thrown. | Expansion in E:—him and the other men.

 

36. Nothing in 36.

 

37. The lions of A become the wild beasts of E. | The beasts tore their hides in A, but tore out their bowels in E. | Six hundred men and three nobles die in A, but 700 and 3 in E.

 

38. Nothing in 38.

 

39. Nothing in 39.

 

40. A has: and bring them down to Genenna, whilst this multitude are witnessing it.” E has:—and take them down into Gehenna;” and even whilst the people were looking on this thing.

 

41. Nothing in 41.

 

42. It is a pillar in A and a statue of lodestone in E that is located next to the theater. | The statue is kicked in A, but the ground is smitten in E. | Expansion in E: O beloved Christian, thou. A does not have it.

 

43. Expansion in E: thee.” And in that same hour God Almighty gave the command, and the spirit of life returned unto them, and they received baptism, together with the other men of the city.

 

44. Expansion in E: praise, and thanksgiving, to the Father, and to the Son, and to the life-giving, Holy Spirit, now. | Expansion in E: Amen, Amen, and Amen. So be it. Here the Ethiopic text comes to an end.

 

[COA, II, 183-214]

 

389. The Arabic Acts of Andrew and Philemon in Scythia

 

     MRS notes that the Arabic text of these ­acta­ is not the same as the ­Acts of Andrew­ edited by Tischendorf (Acta Apocrypha Apostolica­, 1851, 105-131); and indeed, it bears no relationship at all to the Greek or Latin books discussed heretofore by ANT or NTA. ANT, however, says it makes some impression.

 

     For a brief summary of the historical emergence of the Apostolic legends, see at the beginning of #146.

 

     The Arabic text, summarized and directly quoted below, agrees with the Ethiopic one (#390, below) in placing Andrew’s missionary activity among the Kurds. But it differs from it in sending both Andrew and Philemon to Lydda in the Plain of Sharon, as against the Leda or Lydia of the Ethiopic version—[Malan’s text (­Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­, 1851) has: Acradis.]—and in many other details.

 

1. And when the disciples went out into the world to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, the Lord appeared unto them, and spake unto them, saying thus: “Peace be unto you, O my brethren, and my beloved, heirs of the Kingdom. Know that I will never separate myself from you, I will strengthen you.” And He turned to Matthias and commanded him to go to the city of the Cannibals; and Andrew his brother was to pass to Lydda to preach in it, he and his disciple Philemon, the son of Philip; “for I have many people in it whom I have chosen.” And the disciples replied, saying, “Be Thou with us, O Lord, in every place whither Thou hast commanded us to go.” And the Lord gave them the salutation of peace, and ascended to Heaven whilst they were looking at Him. Thereafter Peter went to the place which the Lord had commanded him to go to. And Matthias asked Andrew if he would allow his disciple Rufus and Alexander to go with him to Tintaran. But Andrew and Philemon went to Lydda. Now Philemon had a melodious voice, there was none like it, and he had learned wisdom by the strength of the Holy Spirit which rested upon him; and there was not one among the disciples superior to him in wisdom, except Peter and John.

 

2. Andrew and Philemon go to Lydda, where one half of the city had believed through the instrumentality of Peter, and the other half remained unbelievers. They come to the church of the Nazarenes and are met by the congregation with branches of trees in their hands, rejoicing. Andrew sat down on the Bishop’s chair; and he commanded Philemon to mount into the pulpit, and recite the hymn Alleluia, and the congregation repeated it after him.

 

3. Upwards of 50,000 people, and 50 pagan priests, repair to the church. And they took their swords and appeared in the church that they might listen, so that if the Christians should insult their gods they might kill them. And they heard the sweetness of Philemon’s voice reading and saying thus: “The gods of the nations are gold and silver, the work of men’s hands. Having eyes, they see not; and ears, they hear not; and noses, they smell not; and feet, they walk not. They have mouths, and they speak not; and like unto them are they who worship them.” But overcome by the sweetness of his voice, they wept and went into the church: and they embraced Philemon’s feet.

 

4. Andrew asks them why they have come; for, he observes, every day, when the Nazarenes pass you, ye draw away your garments lest ye should touch theirs. The priests tell him of their plan to kill every man in the church; but when they heard the sweetness of this youth’s voice, our hearts were turned towards him, and we came unto thee. We ask thee, O disciple, that thou wouldst give us today what thou hast given to this congregation: that we may be worthy to approach thy God; and we shall be glad if we are not separated from this youth.

 

5. And when Andrew knew this he kissed the head of Philemon, saying, “Truly thou art he about whom the Holy Spirit spake aforetime, that a sweet voice shall gather the multitude to itself. Truly it is meet that thou shouldest be called a Savior of souls. As the Lord hath changed our names and made others for us, so is it with thee also.” Everyone adjourns to the seashore; whereupon Andrew issues a call to baptism—Whoso amongst you desireth to please God, let him come and be bathed by my hand—and 4,450 people are baptized (including all the pagan priests).

 

6. After this Satan came to the town and found two young men playing. One of them was the son of John, sheikh of the city, and the other was the son of a nobleman of the city. And whilst they were playing, the young man, the son of John, struck the other a blow, and he straightway fell down dead. And his father laid hold of John and said unto him, “Deliver to me thy child that I may slay him as he slew my child. And if not, I will deliver thee up to Rufus the Governor, that he may kill thee in the stead of my son whom thy son hath slain.”

 

7. John weeps; the surrounding crowd offers their help; and John asks one of them to give a pledge for my presence until I go to Andrew in Lydda, that he may appear and raise him from the dead.” The people do so; the father sits down and mourns his loss; and John goes to find Andrew, and found him baptizing the multitude. And he fell down and did obeisance unto him and said, “Have pity on my great age, and let me not die.” Andrew asks him what is wrong; he tells him; Andrew says he is too busy baptizing people to come; but take Philemon with thee, and he will raise the dead man.”

 

8. Meanwhile, Satan took the likeness of an old man, and went to the Governor of the city, and cried unto him, saying: “O Rufus! Art thou sitting, and murdered people are thrown down in the streets of the city? Rise, and seek the murderer; and if not, lo, I appeal and go to the king, and will tell him of it.” Rufus starts out in anger for the city; the people hear of it and they all leave, save the dead man. John and Philemon encounter them on the road, and they confess their fear, saying that the Governor has made captive the city.”

 

9. And John wept, saying, “Alas! What shall I do? The dead one is not buried.” Philemon replied: “Weep not, I will go and raise him.” The people beg him not to risk his life; but he declines, saying: “I am not able to oppose my master; nay, I will go and I will raise him up; as my teacher commanded. Sit ye down in your places, and if ye hear that I have been killed, sent to my master, that he may appear and raise me up, me and the dead man.”

 

10. Philemon enters the city, and immediately complains about the matter to Rufus, who commands his soldiers to lay hold of him and hang him in the place of punishment, thinking to himself that Philemon is he who hath slain the dead man, and therefore his blood will not leave him alone. Philemon begs Rufus not to torture him, for I am an infant, I have not sinned, and I do not deserve a condemnation. He appeals to the Governor for mercy, and then to the soldiers, saying: Is there no merciful man amongst you, to have pity on me, and to go to Lydda, to my master Andrew, and tell him that his disciple has been set up for torture? The soldiers weep; and Philemon immediately appeals to the birds for help:

 

11.Is there no bird in this city which I could send to Lydda to my master Andrew, that he may come and that I may see him before I die.” And when he had said this, many birds assembled about him and they talked to him as they did to Noah of old. And they said unto him: “Here we are, which of us dost thou wish to send?” And a little sparrow came near him and said, “I am lighter in body than these, I will go, and will bring thy master to thee.” Philemon said unto him: “Thou art a fornicator, thou wilt not hasten thy return, for if thou meet a hen of thy kind thou wilt stop with her, and wilt not hasten thy return.” And the raven arose and said unto him: “I will go.” Philemon said unto him: “The first time that thou wast sent thou didst not return with thy report to Noah who had sent thee, and I shall not send thee.” And he called the dove, and said unto her, “O thou of honorable race whom God hath called gentle beyond all other birds, who didst come with the news to Noah when he was in the ship, at the time of the flood, and the Just One blessed her, go to Lydda, to my master Andrew and say unto him: ‘Come and see thy disciple Philemon, for he is set up for torture.’” And the dove answered him, saying, “Be strong. Lo, Andrew will come; he is here, and he will hear thy speech.”

 

12. Rufus, hearing all this, loosed Philemon with his own hands, saying: Truly if there were ten murdered men in this city I would leave off inquiring about them for thy sake. Satan notes this, and realizing that this means that Rufus had believed, commands of his host that one of you shall go to the house of Rufus, and shall lay hold of his wife that she may become like a mad woman, with no sense in her: and incite her to attack her children, and kill them. This is done.

 

13. And when her servants knew what she had done, they came together and laid hold of her, and put her into a strong place, and they sent to their master and told him what had happened. Rufus, vowing if the house had fallen upon them and all who were in the court were dead, I would not forsake this boy, begs Philemon to come with him and save the situation. Philemon agrees to do so, after we finish what we are doing here.

 

14. And Philemon called the dove, and said unto her: “Go to the house of Rufus, and say to those in his abode: ‘Do nothing in my house, till I am present.’” And the dove went, and brought the message. And when the crowd heard the dove speaking, they wondered greatly.

 

15. And Philemon asked the Governor to send and bring the people of the city, that he might raise the dead man. This is done; and they go together to the place of the dead man. And they found Andrew within the city. Philemon asks him to raise up the child; but Andrew says that it is Philemon who shall do it.

 

16. And Philemon went to where the dead man was, and knelt upon his knees, and entreated the Lord thus: “Hearken unto me, O Lord our God, the Good Shepherd, who will not leave us as a pledge in the hand of the Enemy, but has delivered us by His pure blood. Hearken unto me, I am thy servant, I ask from the abundance of Thy mercy that my prayer may be heard; and that this dead man may arise in the power of Thy name.” Then he lifted up his head, and stood, and cried with a loud voice: “In the name of Jesus the Christ, the Nazarene, arise, O dead man!” And straightway the dead man arose.

 

17. Everyone is impressed with this; whereupon Philemon told Andrew the state of the Governor’s wife and her deed to his children. All adjourn to Rufus’ palace: and the widows, and the orphans followed them, hoping that they would receive alms. The boy is found, with mourners and the dove standing at his head.

 

18. And Andrew said unto the dove, “What age art thou?” She said unto him, “Sixty years.” Andrew said unto her, “Since thou hast hearkened to the voice of Philemon my disciple, go out into the desert, and thou shalt be allowed to go free from the service of the people of the world; no man amongst men shall have power over thee.” And she went out into the desert as he had commanded her.

 

19. Andrew raises up the boy with the words: In the name of Jesus the Christ who has sent us into the world to preach in His holy name; arise, live. The boy begs Andrew that he might relate a vision he has seen while dead. He said, “Speak.” And the boy said unto his father,

 

20.O my father! If thou wouldest give the half of what thou possessest to the orphans and to the widows and the poor. Wilt thou not repay something of what is fitting for the gift of God which abides with thee? For what thou hast given to the needy, thou hast given it for thyself. Know, O father, in the hour when my mother rose up against me and slew me there was a great good in it for us. For people came to me who had wings like the eagles; and they took my soul to a place which is called Gehenna. And I looked at a large house being built with sulphur and pitch. And the number of the builders was thirty; and they had great burning lamps. And some people called out commanding them about the building. ‘How long shall be build this house? We are commanded to set it on fire with these lamps.’ He said unto them: ‘Will ye burn it before its building is finished? For by the time that its owner dies then you shall burn it.’ Said the angel who had charge of my soul, ‘Hast thou seen these things?’ I said unto him, ‘Yea,’ and I asked him for whom this house was built, and why it was built with sulphur and pitch. And he said unto me, ‘These are the sins of thy father which he hath committed; and it will be built until the time when he shall die. They will toss him into it.’ And when I heard these things about thee, I wept sore and I said: ‘Woe is me! How shall I let my father know the like of this?’ And while I was weeping, he who was walking with me said unto me, ‘Weep not.’ And when he had spoken, he approached with an aged man, and a hundred men followed him, and a young man followed him whose age was twelve years, very beautiful in appearance, and he conversed with the master of the builders in a speech which I did not understand. And thereafter he commanded that the house should be pulled down; and he commanded the angel who was walking with me to bring me out to a very wide place. And another man came with a golden reed in his hand of three colors, and he laid the foundations of a large house in thy name, the height of each of its walls was a hundred reeds at the further end; and its breadth and its length the same. And the angel said unto him: ‘Are the hundred reeds finished?’ The master of the building replied: ‘It is not yet finished; for the wheat has not come into the storehouse, and when it arrives we will finish it.’”

 

21. Andrew tells Rufus to listen closely to what his own son is telling him; and Rufus replies: “Andrew, I ask thee, O thou true man, that thou wouldest take all that belongs to me, and divide it amongst the poor and the needy.” And Andrew said unto him: “Arise, take this my disciple to that house, that he may cure thy wife.”

 

22. Philemon and Rufus go to the palace, and there they find the governor’s wife standing, passive as a statue, her hand holding a black man by the hair; and he was running away from her hands, and she would not let him go. And he took hold of her right hand, and came with her to where Andrew was; she holding the black man with her left hand. And when the multitude saw the black man they were greatly agitated, and they cried out and became like a flock of sheep when the wolf has come into their midst. And Andrew said unto them: “Fear not, come near to me and let your hearts be strong until we learn who he is.”

 

23. And Andrew commanded her to let him go, and made the sign of the cross in her face. And he laid his hand upon her head, and said: “In the name of Jesus the Nazarene, Whose name I preach, let thy senses be silent, and let thy reason return.” And she became quiet and sat down before the disciple.

 

24. And the disciple turned to the Negro, (who is the angel Magan in disguise, one of the 200 who rebelled against the authority of God, and so were cast out of Heaven until the end of time itself, to establish under the direction of Satan and the supremacy of God, the administrative bureaucracy of evil in the world, and Hell after it) and said unto him: “What is thy name? And what is the reason that this woman hath clung to thee?” The Negro said unto him: “I will be true with thee. When a strong youth dwelleth with a weak king and he maketh war with him, and the strong youth is victorious in the war, the victory belongeth not to him, but to the king. Thus I have great power among the devils, and behold, I sojourn in thy house.” And Andrew said unto him: “What shall I say about thee, O thou unclean one, and thy wicked character? For the time of prayer is come. But thou shalt be hung up outside the city tomorrow.” And Andrew began his prayer, and finished it; and gave of the holy mysteries to the believers. And he sent them away in peace.

 

25. In the morning, Andrew exposes Magana as follows: And Andrew was present, and called to the Negro, saying: “I will expose thee, O thou foul unclean black man! Thou unjust spirit, I will reveal thy state to this multitude that they may all see thee.” The black man answered him: “Thou art not he who shall judge me, or do this thing to me. Yet my deeds are evil, for I have lost my glory, and have ruined my honor.” Andrew said unto him: “O unclean one, unjust one! Had thou any honor?” He said unto him: “Thou sayest that I am black, unjust. Dost thou not know my nature, whence it is? And if it be thy will to show this multitude who I am, woe is me! What will save me from this plight in which I am?” And he began to call on the names of the powers in the height. Andrew said unto him: “Be quiet, and refrain from speaking, except thou sayest to this multitude who thou art.” He replied saying: “I am one of the two hundred angels who were sent to see the earth. And when we had seen it, we disturbed it, we rebelled; and we did not return to Him who had sent us. And my name is Magana.” The Apostle casts Magana into Genenna, with the command that he never show himself again. And from that hour no person has ever seen him.

 

26. The Governor asks Andrew: Dost thou command me to distribute all my property to the poor and needy? Answered in the affirmative; the Governor acts accordingly; and news of it reaches the king—also that the Governor had distributed his property amongst the poor, and had resigned his office, and he doth not oversee any of the citizens nor judge between them, but saith, “Would that I could judge mine own self, for what I have done ignorantly.”

 

27. Meanwhile in the palace, Seleucus, the vizier of the king, saw that the king desired his ruin and to kill him, and he tried to discourage the king from this project, saying that if the Governor hath gone with good man who is one of the servants of God, who worketh miracles, who is from the cities of the Hebrews, then he, the king, could not harm this governor. Seleucus writes to Rufus; but he was not found in his dwelling; and messengers were sent to where he was with Andrew, who was teaching a new learning, not the learning of the Romans.

 

28. The messengers appear in the street of the city; and they discover the Apostle with Rufus, Andrew being in the process of casting a devil out of a man who had been possessed by it for seventy years. Seeing this, the envoys of the king believe in God, and they delivered up the letters to Rufus, and he read them.

 

29. And when he heard that all his goods were taken to the king’s treasury, Andrew laughed and said to Rufus: “Is thy heart sad because the king is taking all thy property?” Rufus answered him: “Thou knowest how my heart is, and that I will not separate from thee, to whatsoever place thou mayest go. What need have I of the things that perish? From destruction they are gathered; and unto it is their return.” Andrew said unto him: “All the waters return unto the sea, and it is not filled, and everything which is put into the stomach goeth to the dust.”

 

30. And while Andrew was conversing with Rufus, a voice called him, commanding him to dismiss the assembly, and to go into the city which was before him; knowing that in it there was a great community for him, and a noble and glorious service. And afterwards he returned to this city; and it was revealed to him that there would be toil in it for him, and great persecution from the king; because of the messengers who had believed: “And let your hearts be strengthened by My name, and you shall learn that I am with you, and dwell within you.”

 

31. And Andrew blessed the multitude, saying: “May the Lord make you firm in the right faith, you and your sons and your daughters to the uttermost end, Amen.” The multitude answered, “Go in peace; but do not prolong thine absence from us; for we have heard the voice calling thee that great persecution from the king shall come upon this city, because of the messengers who have believed.” And Andrew strengthened their hearts and said: “Fear not; the Lord, in Whom ye have believed, is strong, and He hath power to keep it from you.” And when he had said this he went forth away from them in peace.

 

[MRS, xix, 1-10; ANT, 471]

 

390. The Ethiopic Preaching of Andrew and Philemon Among the Kurds

 

The preface of this work states that the legends therein contained have to do with the blessed disciple Andrew (Philemon not being mentioned). On this see also Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostolgeschichten­ I, 1883, 617).

 

Towards the end of the work, Budge notes a lacuna where he says: either some words have been omitted in the above sentence, or the text is corrupt.

 

The following major variants were noted between the Arabic and the Ethiopic, listed according to the numbered paragraphs of the summarized Arabic version (#389, above). For a brief digest of the historical emergence of the various Apostolic traditions, see at the beginning of #146.

 

1. A has Lydda; E has Lydia. | A has: his disciple Rufus; but E has: the two men Rufus | Expansion in E: voice, and his speech was soft. | A has: and he had learned wisdom by the strength of the Holy Spirit; but E has: and he taught unto all men the wisdom and the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

2. In A it is the church of the Nazarenes; while in E it is church of the Christians. | In A, the entire congregation comes to receive Andrew; but in E, two men only. | In A it is the bishop’s chair; but in E his throne. | A has: and recite the hymn Allelujah; E has: to sing praises, and to cry out Hallelujah. | In the very next phrase, E has: so that the people might receive the word from him; but A has: and the congregation repeated it after him.

 

3. A has: and kill them; but E has: and cut off their heads. | Expansion in E: hands have they, but they feel not.

 

4. E has: For on every other day whenever; and A has: For on every day whenever. | Expansion in E: even as thou hast given it unto this multitude.

 

5. The number of baptized and priests agree in both A and E. | A has: two young men playing; but E defines expansively: two young men who were fighting together and struggling each to overcome the other. | In A the father is a sheikh, but in E a priest. | The father, is in A called a nobleman, but in E is otherwise undescribed.

 

6. A reads: unto Andrew in Lydda; but E does not say where Andrew is.

 

7. Expansion in E: die this evil death.

 

8. A has: the Governor has made captive the city; but E modifies this to: the governor will make the men of the city prisoners.

 

9. A says simply: the dead one is not buried; but E enriches the saying: For I sorrow very greatly because of the dead man who lieth unburied. | Expansion in E: and the young man who is dead with me.

 

10. A has: and to hang him; but E modifies this: and to crucify him. | Expansion in E: towards the captain and his soldiers. | Expansion in E: They have crucified thy disciple and.

 

11. In the Ethiopic, the bird become female, and so a her and a whore, to whom E says: Haste not to come back to me, but if thou canst find one of thy kith and kin abode with him, and hast not to return unto me. A, in contrast, makes of this merely an observed behavior inherent in male sparrows, instead of E’s militant command to stay away. | E translates: O beautiful wanderer to A’s O those of honorable race. | E edits: In days of old when; to A’s the first time when. | Expansion in E: by our father Noah the. | Expansion in A: Philemon, for they have crucified him. | E has deleted the following clause in A: come; he is here and.

 

12. A has: attack her children, and kill them; but E has: rise up against her own son and slay him.

 

13. Expansion in E: they sent messengers unto their lord.

 

14. Expansion in E: do nothing of any kind whatsoever. | Expansion in E: the dove went as he had commanded her. | Expansion in E: And it came to pass that.

 

15. Nothing in 15.

 

16. E had deleted the italicized clause in A: mercy, that my prayer may be heard to let this young man. | A has: he lifted up his head; E has:—he lifted himself up. | A has: rise up, O dead man;” and the dead man rose up; but E modifies this to: rise up, O young man;” and the young man rose up.

 

17. In A it is the murder of the children; but in E it is the murder of her son. | In A, the widows are passively hoping that they would receive alms; but in A, the widows are actively asking them to give gifts.

 

18. Expansion in E: sixty years are the days of my life.

 

19. Expansion in E: In the Name of our Lord Jesus. | Expansion in E: rise up and live in this same hour.

 

20. A has: unto the widows, and to the orphans, and to the poor; but E reverses widows and poor. | Expansion in E: and to the widows, and to those who are in want, a characteristic expansion of his. | A makes a statement: For what thou has given to the needy, thou hast given it for thyself; but E turns it into a question: And wilt thou not give unto those who are in affliction for thy soul’s sake? | A has: killed me, there was a great good in it for us; but E has: killed me, many most pleasant things happened unto me. | A has: many people; but E has:—there came to me many men. | I A, the number of tradesmen are 30 and they had great burning lamps; but in E, the number of workmen on the building is 40 and there were with them men with lighted (or: brilliant) lamps. | In A it is: And he said; but in E this is changed to: And the builders said. | Expansion in E:—said unto them, What is this? Ye would.

 

A has here:—He said unto them: ‘Will ye burn it before its building is finished? For by the time that its owner dies then you shall burn it.’ E has reworded this as follows: And they said unto them, ‘By what time will the building thereof be finished?’ And they said, ‘By the time the master of the house shall die, and then they will burn him therein.’”

 

Expansion in E:—bitumen been built?’ And he answered and said unto me, ‘Dost thou see this great house?’ And I said unto him, ‘Yea, my lord.’ | A has:—These are the sins; but E has:—This is the sin. | Expansion in E:—and this house will continue to be built. | Expansion in E:—cast him into it, and consume him. | Expansion in E:—Woe is me! Woe is me! How. | Expansion in E:—an exceedingly wide and open place.

 

Finally, for paragraph 20 of the Arabic, A words the following section thus:—And another man came with a golden reed in his hand of three colors, and he laid the foundations of a large house in thy name, the height of each of its walls was a hundred reeds at the further end; and its breadth and its length the same. And the angel said unto him: ‘Are the hundred reeds finished?’ The master of the building replied: ‘It is not yet finished; for the wheat has not come into the storehouse, and when it arrives we will finish it.’”; but E words this section thus:—Then two men came, each of whom had in its hands a threefold rod of gold which he laid upon the great house in thy name; now the breadth and the height of the house were equal, and the length of each face was twelve rods. And the angel said, ‘Fill the house.’ And a builder answered and said, ‘I cannot fill it now, for the grain hath not yet come into the granary; when the grain hath come into the granary I shall be able to fill it a hundred times over.’”

 

21. Expansion in E:—to give them unto those who are in want.

 

22. Passive as a statue in A becomes like a pillar in E. | In A it is:—her hand holding a black man by the hair; in E it is and holding in her hands a black hairy devil. | A has:—Then he took; but E has:—Then Philemon took. | It A it is through a black man; but In E it is, throughout, a black devil.

 

23. A has:—In the Name of Jesus the Nazarene; but E changes this to:—In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. | A has:—in whose name I preach; but this is changed in E to:—in whose name we preach.

 

24. E deletes the following in A:—and said to him, What is thy name? With what. | A has here:—the victory belongeth not to him, but to the king; but E offers by way of explanation:—and it is not to be wished that the king should vanquish the young man, on the contrary, it is to be wished that the young man should conquer the king. | A has:—O thou unclean one, and thy wicked character; and E has:—O thou foul author of evil works. | E has:—The time for thee to go forth hath come; but A has:—The time of prayer hath come. | A has:—But thou shalt be hung up outside the city tomorrow; and E has:—But thou shalt be crucified, and thou shalt not go forth unto the outside of this city until tomorrow.”

 

25. Expansion in E:—and evil being, thou spirit of darkness, I say. | Once again, A has here:—O unclean one, unjust one; but E has:—O thou foul being of darkness. | A has here:—Thou callest me black, unjust.; but E has:—Thou calls me black devil. | Immediately after this, E expands with the following additional clause:—and black indeed I am. | Immediately after ­this­, E has:—but thou knowest well that my nature was not thus at the time when I was created; but A has:—Dost thou not know my nature, whence it is? | A has:—And he; E has:—And the black devil. | A has:—we had seen it, we disturbed it, we rebelled; but E has:—we had seen it, we loved it. | In Arabic, the evil one is named Magana; in Ethiopic it is named Makar. | Expansion in E:—now I am their chief, and.

 

26. Expansion in E:—the poor and unto those who are in want.

 

27. In A it is the vizier Seleucus; but in E the nobleman Selkiyos. | Expansion in E:—Who worketh miracles and marvelous things in. | A has:—and messengers were sent to where he was with Andrew; but E has:—then they sought for him, and a certain man guided them and told them where he was, saying, | Expansion of E:—And it came to pass that.

 

28. Nothing in 28.

 

29. A has:—which perish. From destruction they are gathered; and unto it is their return. E has:—which perish, and which turn unto corruption, and which cause him that gathereth them together to be destroyed?

 

30. A has:—knowing that in it there was a great community for him, and a noble and glorious service. E has:—and he knew that it was the voice of a great and honorable message. | A has:—and let your hearts be strengthened by my name. E has:—for he feared lest the believers would be strengthened ...... in my name.\fn{Budge has here: either some words have been omitted in the above sentence, or the text is corrupt.}

 

31. A has:—you and your sons and your daughters to the uttermost end. E has:—and may He make you to be strong in His perfection! | Expansion in E:—them in peace, giving praise unto God. May his prayer and his blessing be with us, and may it protect us for ever and ever! Amen. At this point, E ends.

 

[COA, II, 163-182]

 

391. The Greek Acts of Andrew and Matthias

 

     In the ­Greek Acts of Andrew and Matthias­, Matthias—so the oldest manuscript; but see below—evangelizes a people known as ­anthropophagi­ (man-eaters). In it Jesus calls upon Andrew to rescue him; but then assumes a disguise as a seaman, and takes Andrew and his disciples (Alexander and Rufus) to the country of the man-eaters. Matthias is rescued, and Andrew is tormented by the savage natives for several days. He then causes a flood to overwhelm the city (the result being the general conversion of the inhabitants). Among the miracles narrated by Andrew during the voyage is an account of one done by Jesus.

 

     NTA argues that the ­Greek Acts of Andrew and Matthias­ are a straightforward account of the fortunes of these two apostles which is extant in different translations—for a summary, see Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ I, 1883, 550-553)—and which may well go back to the early ­Acts of Andrew­.

 

1. GREEK. The text of these acts in their earliest language is first edited by Thilo (­Acta Andreae et Matthiae­, Halle, 1846); he is followed by Tischendorf (­Actas Apostolorum Apocrypha­, 1851, xlvii-lix); Wright [who considers the Greek with his translation into English of a Syriac text which he presents in volume I (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­ II, London, 1871)]; and Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898, 65-116), of which there is a pre-Bonnet summary in Lipsius (­op.cit­., 550-553). Thilo assigns the authorship of these ­acta­ to Leucius, and the use of them to the Gnostics, the Manichaeans, and other non-Orthodox. NTA believes they came into existence in this language during the 2nd century.

 

2. LATIN. The ­Latin History of the Apostles, after Abdias of Babylon­ (not before the end of the 6th century) may derive its account of the activities between Andrew and Matthias in book III from the ­Greek Acts of Andrew and Matthias­. The book may thus have survived in a Latin version in part in this manner. It is this late authority which first calls it the ­Acts of Andrew and Matthew­, followed by all the Latin writers on the subject.

 

3. ANGLO-SAXON. Material from these acts appears in the poem Andreas­, by Cynewulf of Northumbria (fl.c. 750AD, #395, below), preserved in the Vercelli Text. Grimm (­Andreas u. Elena­, Kassel, 1840, has printed the Anglo-Saxon form of the ­Acts of Andrew and Matthew­, the argument of which in great part coincides with that of the ­Greek Acts of Andrew and Matthias­.

 

4. SYRIAC. Wright (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­ II, London, 1871, 93-115) calls his version of this book The History of Mar Matthew and Mar Andrew, the Blessed Apostles when they Converted the City of Dogs, the Inhabitants of which were Cannibals­. He makes use of a manuscript dated 936AD. On this see Tischendorf (op.cit­., 132); and compare von Gutschmid’s article (“Die Konigsnamen in den Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten” in ­Rheinisches Museum für Philologie­, N.F., XIX, 390). Wright says he presents here a translation from the Greek; but he prints a Syriac manuscript, and appears to base his English translation on that, using the Greek as a corrective. (H) [Elsewhere, it may be that a fragment of the story of certain signs alluded to in verse 12 may be found in the Syriac ­Obsequies of the Holy Virgin­ (#129, above. Also, at ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias (Matthew)­ XX, there is an allusion to something (the reference is not more specific) in the ­Syriac Testament of Adam­ (#22, above).]

 

5. Epiphanius the Monk (10th century) gives extracts from these acta­.

 

6. ETHIOPIC. Malan (­Conflicts of the Apostles­, Leipzig, 1871, 147-163) has edited an Ethiopic version of this work. Budge (­Contending of the Apostles­ II, London, 1901, 267-288) identifies the ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias­ (or Matthew as given by some authorities) as being an Orthodox recension of an original Gnostic ­Acts of Andrew­. Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ III, 1883, 258) regards these traditions as really referring to Matthew.

 

     At one time there was considerable doubt as to whether it is Matthias or Matthew that is spoken of. It is Tischendorf (­op.cit­.) who first edits Matthias; but he does so on the authority of his oldest manuscript—he and Lipsius after him, made use chiefly of three manuscripts, the oldest of which was an uncial manuscript of about the 8th century, and only one of which (of the 15th century) contained the whole book.

 

     There is also some discrepancy as to the name of the town. Some manuscripts say Sinope, others Myrmene or Myrna. They generally coincide in calling it a town in Ethiopia.

 

     Also at one time, it was thought that the ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias (Matthew)­ was an episode from the (still very large) missing section of the ­Acts of Andrew­; but Flamion’s study of that book (­Les Actes d’Andre et Les Textes Apparantes­, 1911) has finally made it clear that there is no place for the tale in those acta­; and that our tale is rather an early member of that which is known in scholarship as the Egyptian Cycle—a tale of wonder with no doctrinal purpose—of Apostolic romances. It was also at one time believed that the ­Acts of Matthew­ were at one time part of the ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias­; but NTA denies this, despite admitting a certain dependence upon the latter by the former.

 

     See also on this: Bardenheweer (­Gesechichten der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, 1913, 570ff); and Blatt, ­Die Latinischen Bearbeitungen der Acta Andreae et Matthiae apud Anthropophagews mit Sprachlichem Kommentar hrsg­. (supplement to ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XII), 1930.

 

[ANF, VIII, 356; ANT, 453-458; AAA, II, xii, 93-115; HAS, I, 93: III, 306; CAT, 611; NTA, II, 576-577; ENC, I, 116]

 

392. The Syriac ­History of Mar Matthew and Mar Andrew, the Blessed Apostles­

 

     Wright (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­ II, London, 1871, 83-115) calls this book “The ­History of Mar Matthew and Mar Andrew, the Blessed Apostles, when they Converted the City of Dogs, the Inhabitants of Which Were Cannibals­.” He makes use of a manuscript dated 936AD. On this see Tischendorf (­Acta Apostolica Apocrypha­, 1851, 132); and compare von Gutschmid’s article (“Die Konigsnamen in den Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten” in Rheinisches Museum for Philologie, N.F., XIX, 390).

 

     Wright says he presents here a Syriac translation from the Greek, and appears to base his English translation on that, using the Greek as a necessary corrective or illustrious of the Syriac—e.g., he cites variant Greek text as opposed to a Syriac normative.

 

     Elsewhere, it may be that a fragment of the story of certain signs alluded to in verse twelve may be found in the Syriac ­Obsequies of the Holy Virgin­ (#129, above). Also, at ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias (Matthew)­ XX, there is an allusion to something in the ­Syriac Testament of Adam­ (#22, above).

 

[AAA, II, xii, 93-115; ANT, 453-455; HAS, I, 93: III, 306]

 

393. The Ethiopic Acts of Andrew and Matthias

 

Malan (­Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­, London, 1871, 147-163) has edited an Ethiopic version of this work. Budge (in Herbermann, ­The Catholic Encyclopaedia­, New York, 1907, 611) identifies the ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias­ (or Matthew as given by some authorities) as being an Orthodox recension of an original Gnostic ­Acts of Andrew­, and says nothing more about this work.

 

Acts of Andrew were rejected by Eusebius and, according to Epiphanius, were used by Gnostics. Such acts are extant in various forms, including several versions of martyrdoms of Andrew, ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias Among the Cannibals­, and ­Acts of Peter and Andrew­.

 

All the versions of these tales generally coincide in placing the town in which the action takes place in Ethiopia.

 

[ANF, VIII, 356; HAS, I, 93: III, 306; CAT, 611; ENC, I, 116]

 

394. The Coptic Acts of Andrew and Paul

 

     The text of this work is preserved only in Coptic [by Zoega (­Catalogus Codicum Copticorum­, 1810, 230-235); partially also in Steindorff (­Kruzer Abriss der Koptischen Grammatik­, 1921, 34-47)]. James, who is quoted below, presents a summary (­Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924, 472-474). It is based upon the theory that perhaps just two fragments of the work survive. The first one is as follows, itself divided into two parts, through the loss of two leaves; the underscored material (portions of the actual acta) are in James cast in italics

 

The beginning is gone. We find the captain of a ship which has brought Andrew and Paul to some city. Andrew has gone towards the city; Paul has plunged into the sea to visit the underworld, and leaves a message for Andrew to bring him up again. The shipman’s mother—dim of sight—comes to meet her son, and he, having Paul’s cloak to bring to Andrew, accidentally touches her eyes with it, and she sees clearly. Andrew takes the cloak and goes to the city with the multitude: a man meets him and begs him to visit and cure his only son, twelve years old, who is dying. But the Jews oppose his entrance; he tells the father to return home: his boy will die, but he must not bury him till the morrow. The father goes home and finds his son dead.

 

Andrew returns to the ship and makes the shipman point out the place where Paul dived into the sea. He takes a cup of fresh water, prays, and pours it into the sea, bidding the salt water retreat and the dry land appear. The abyss cleaves, and Paul leaps up, bearing a fragment of wood in his hand.

 

He has visited Amente and seen Judas and heard his story. Judas had repented and given back the money, and seen Jesus and pleaded for forgiveness. Jesus sent him to the desert to repent, bidding him fear no one but God. The Prince of Destruction came to him and threatened to swallow him up, and Judas was afraid and worshipped him. Then in despair he thought to go and ask Jesus again for pardon: but he had been taken away to the praetorium. So Judas resolved to hang himself and meet Jesus in Amente.

 

Jesus came and took all the souls but Judas’. The powers of Amente came and wept before Satan, who said: After all, we are stronger than Jesus; he has had to leave a soul with us. Jesus ordered Michael to take away Judas’ soul also, that Satan’s boast might be proved vain, and told Judas how he had destroyed his own hopes by worshipping Satan and killing himself. Judas was sent back till the Day of Judgment. Paul tells also how he saw the streets of Amente desolate, and brought away a fragment of the broken gates to Amente in his hand. There were still some souls in punishment—the murderers, sorcerers, and those who cast little children into the water.

 

The apostles land, with Apollonius the shipman, go up to the city. The Jews refuse to let them in. They see ­a bird which is called True­ digging in a wall. This is really a ­scarabaeus­. Andrew says, ­Thou bird, go into the city to where the dead boy is, and tell him that we are at the gate and cannot enter; let them open to us­. The ­Scarab­ gives the message and the people threaten to stone the Jews.

 

At this point the governor comes out. The matter is explained to him by the people and by the Jews, who add, ­if they are the disciples of the living God, why does he not open the gate for them?­ The governor is impressed by this and calls on the apostles to open for themselves. They consult, and Paul, suddenly inspired, strikes the gates with the fragment of wood which he brought away with him from Amente, and they are swallowed up in the earth.

 

     Two leaves are lost at this point from the manuscript. There then follows a description of the text of the second part of the first fragment:

 

We gather that the Jews had practiced some fraud about a dead, or supposedly dead, man, and had tied up his face with grave cloths, ­so that he could not breathe­. One guesses that the apostles bade the dead man rise, but he was so tightly bound that nothing happened.

 

We find a dispute going on when we rejoin the continuous text. The apostles say that the only thing is to order the dead to be loosed. The Jews seek to flee, but they are held by the soldiery till the grave cloths are loosed. The apostles pray; the dead man rises, and falls at the apostle’s feet, saying ­forgive me for my folly­ and tells everything that had happened­

 

Andrew says to the Jews: ­Who is now the deceiver of the people? We or you?­ It appears from this that the dead man in question has been an accomplice of the Jews in their trick, and is not the dead child whom the apostles were to raise, and doubtless did raise when they first entered the city. This is confirmed by the next words of the Jews (fragmentary): they fall at the apostolic feet and say, ­we killed him in folly, thinking that he would not rise­. They ask for baptism. And the acts concludes with a general conversion—apparently, 27,000 souls.

 

     James summarizes the second fragment as follows:

 

The other story, yet more fragmentary, tells of a woman who bore a child in the desert, killed it, cut it in pieces, and gave it to a dog to eat, to conceal her crime. At this moment, Andrew and his companions came up. The woman fled, and the dog came to Andrew and spoke, and called him to come and see what had been done. Andrew consulted with Philemon (who figures as his companion in the Ethiopic acts) and prayed. In his prayer he alludes to a miracle wrought by Christ on Mount Gebal—­when, a great multitude being gathered, thou didst command that all the scattered stones and grains of sand should be gathered together, and we marveled­—whereon the dismembered pieces of the child are joined together, and, from words of Andrew which follow, it seems that it was made to weep and laugh; but we have no more of it.

 

     The text seems to be connected with the ­Acts of Paul­ rather than with the ­Acts of Andrew­. See also on this Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten: Supplement­, 1890, 95-96); and Morenz (“Der Apostel Andreas als ---- -------“ in ­Theologische Literaturzeitung­ LXXII, 1947, 295-297). (The dashes represent two words of so many Greek letters: H)

 

[NTA, II, 576; ANT, 472-474; HAS, I, 93]

 

395. ­Andreas­, after Cynewulf of Northumbria

 

     The poem ­Andreas­, a work of 1,722 lines, is found in the Vercelli Codex, folios 29b-52b, where it immediately precedes the ­Fates of the Apostles­. It follows with some freedom and additions, a Latin version of an originally Oriental-­Greek Acts of Andrew and Matthias­

 

     As was first pointed out by Grimm (­Andreas und Elene­, Kassel, 1840), who was disposed to assign Andreas­ to another poet than the author of ­Elene­ [possibly to Aldhelm of Sherbourne (d.709)], the general source of the poem is to be found in the ­Greek Acts of Andrew and Matthias­ printed by Tischendorf (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, Leipzig, 1851, 132-166), though Bourauel (­Bonne Beitrager­ XI, 65ff), after careful investigation, concludes that both Latin and Greek manuscripts may have been used by Cynewulf.

 

     The events of the poem, which are more varied in nature than is usually the case in the poems of Cynewulf, have to do with the journey of Andrew to Mermedonia, or the land of the Ethiopians, and his fortunes there. Few poems in Anglo-Saxon are more readable than this, a fact largely due to the changing incidents, many images, and swift, varied movement, to which Brooke (­History of Early English Literature­, 413) calls attention.

 

     Andreas­ has always been the poem about which, in the Cynewulf controversies, the bitterest struggle has been waged. Fritzsche’s views (­Anglia­ II, 441ff) upon this poem, while not absolutely convincing, went far to shake belief in its Cynewulfian authorship, for Fritzsche was inclined to assign it to an imitator of Cynewulf. Dietrich (Commentatio de Aetate Kynewulfi­), on the other hand, had thrown the weight of his opinion in favor of the authorship of Cynewulf. Wulker (­Grundriss­, 1885, 189) was disposed to accept the conclusions of Fritzsche, and regarded the theory that Cynewulf was the author of ­Andreas­ as very improbable; and Sievers (­Paul und Braune’s Beitrage­ X, 209ff) was led to the same opinion by linguistic evidence.

 

     With Napier’s discovery of the rune passage of the ­Fates of the Apostles­, the whole question of the authorship of ­Andreas­ was reopened with new vigor. The runic passage seemed to determine the question of the authorship of the ­Fates­; would it not be possible to prove the ­Fates­ an epilogue to ­Andreas­ and so secure Cynewulf’s own testimony that both poems were his? This was the line upon which the controversy began anew and along which it has since proceeded. Sarrazin (­Anglia­ XII, 375, 379), whose studies had led him to the view the Cynewulf was also the author of ­Beowulf­\fn{An Old English epic poem of 3,182 lines, generally considered to be by an otherwise unknown Anglian of the 8th century.}—Wrenn (­A Study of Old English Literature­, London, 1967) notes most frequent and obvious echos of ­Boewulf­ in its heroic diction; believes the Cynewulf was often a conscious imitator of ­Boewulf­ words; and used freely the common epic formulaic diction—was quick to take up the argument from the new standpoint, being particularly desirous of proving ­Andreas­ to be Cynewulf’s, since in its style and language it was nearer to Beowulf­ than was any other of the Cynewulfian poems, and would afford, therefore, a link of great strength in his chain of argument—if it could be assigned with any degree of probability to Cynewulf. His view was that there was no inconsistency in the fact that, if the ­Fates­ were joined to the ­Andreas­, Matthew and Andrew would be twice treated in the course of the poem. For he argues that, since the ­Andreas­ had to do with Andrew’s work of conversion among the Meremedonians, and ended with his departure back to Achaia, it was but natural that the poet should feel a need to bring his poem to a final ending by a few words about the death of these two apostles; and that, having determined upon this, it was only natural again that he should include in a few words the fates of the other apostles. Also, the argument brought forth by Wuilker—that, were the ­Fates­ an epilogue to the Andreas­, it is likely that Andrew and Matthew would have been treated together in the Fates­, and not separately as is the case—is refuted by Sarrazin, who points out that in a martyrology, such as this practically is, the accepted order in which the passions of the Apostles are usually treated would naturally be followed, and that in this accepted order Matthew and Andrew are never found together.

 

     In the following year, Sievers (­Anglia­ XIII, 1-25), in considering the relation of the two poems, held the view that not only does the ­Fates­ not constitute an epilogue to the ­Andreas­, but that it is even doubtful whether the runic passage discovered by Napier belongs to the ­Fates­. He closed his essay by the stating his belief that the Andreas­ is not by Cynewulf, and that in this negative is to be found one of the few certain results of investigation in the Cynewulfian problem. Sievers finds his main support for the theory that Napier’s runic passage does not belong to the ­Fates­, lies in the fact of what he calls the double ending of the ­Fates­. From line 88-95, that is, the last eight verses of the original ­Fates­, the meaning runs as follows:—And now I pray that man, whosoever hath joy in the course of this lay, that he entreat that holy band for me in my affliction, for health and peace and succor. How great a need have I of gentle friends upon my way, when I seek out alone my long home, that unknown dwelling place, and leave behind the body, this bit of earth, to be a spoil and solace unto worms.

 

     Immediately after this begins the acrostic passage with Cynewulf’s signature, and line 108 begins again:—May that man who hath pleasure in the course of this lay be mindful thereof, and for me seek aid and comfort. For I shall fare far hence alone, unto an alien land; set out upon a journey, I myself know not whither, out of the world. Unknown are those courts, that land and realm.

 

     In the close proximity of two passages so similar, not only in thought but in actual word and phrase, Sievers finds a serious objection to the theory that the acrostic passage is part of the ­Fates­. He would regard it as having been composed as a signature to some other poem, which was afterwards misplaced; and offers the suggestion that possibly the diagonal flaw which mars the runic passage in the manuscript may have been an intentional blot or erasure by the scribe, who realized that he had misplaced this portion of another poem and wished to cancel the fact. (This view was contested later by Wulker on the grounds that the blemish was not an intentional blot or erasure, but the result of the action of some strong reagent.)

 

     Some years later Trautmann (“Der Andreas Doch von Cynewulf” in Anglia Beiblatt­ VI, 17-23) asserted that the Andreas­ was Cynewulf’s. In the double ending, which Sievers had used as an argument ­against­ joining Napier’s rune passage to the 95 lines of the ­Fates­, he finds as evidence ­in favor­ of making this conjecture, as he considers that by the repetition the two sections are more closely linked or bound together. Again in Sievers’ argument that it was unlikely that Cynewulf would have 34 lines of personal ending to a poem 87 lines long, a proportion well over a third, while in ­Juliana­ this section constituted approximately one-twentieth of the total poem (and in the Elene­ one-sixteenth), Trautmann finds another support for his own view. Join the ­Fates­ and Andreas­, and this discrepancy disappears! He restates the view that the narrative of the ­Fates­ constitutes a most natural ending for a poem dealing with the heroic achievement of two of their number. He also regards it as unlikely that Cynewulf would have taken the trouble to mark so slight a poem as the ­Fates­ by an elaborate runic signature, and finally brings forward an argument for joining Andreas­ and the ­Fates­: he points out that in the phrase The course of this lay, one of the words has an implication of long or broad extent, since it is usually found with such words as sea and time. As Krapp (Andreas and Fates of the Apostles­, introduction, 44) points out, however, in such phrases this word secures its implication of wide extent from the words dependent upon it.

 

     Bourauel (­Bonner Beitrage­ XI, 129) attempts to connect the two poems by making an expression in the Fates­ refer back to ­Andreas­; but though such an interpretation is possible, there is no other single reference in the Fates­ which would indicate that the expression is plural as opposed to singular in significance. And under these circumstances the natural interpretation would be to consider it as singular referring to the poem in which it occurs.

 

     These are the main arguments which have been brought forward on this question. Gollancz (­The Christ­, 1892) also suggested an epilogual relationship between the ­Fates­ to ­Andreas­; but Brooke (­History of Early English Literature­, 488, note D) regards the suggestion with suspicion, because of its very attractiveness, unless more definite evidence is secured. That the question of the relationship of these two poems is still far from determined is easily seen. Fritzsche and Ramhorst (­Das Alteng. Gedicht vom hlg. Andreas: Dissertation­, Berlin, 1885), working along generally similar lines, came to opposite conclusions regarding Andreas­; Sarrazin and Trautmann in certain cases use the same arguments on opposite sides of the question, Sarrazin regarding them as supporting his view, and Trautmann finding in them only a strength for his own position.

 

     If no definite conclusion may be drawn in the matter, however, at least it may be said that it is almost certain that Napier’s runic passage does belong to the ­Fates­, and that there is some probability that the Fates­ is an epilogue to ­Andreas­, and therefore both poems signed poems of Cynewulf. The unlikelihood that Cynewulf should have taken the trouble to sign with an acrostic and a personal passage of 34 lines a poem of 87 lines—and particularly a poem which Brooke (­History of Early English Literature­, 487, note D) calls marrowless as a bleached bone—; the relation of the subjects of the two poems; their position in the manuscript and the fact that nothing there argues against the unity of the two; and the fact that any apparent inconsistencies between the two poems vanish when closely tested: all these things would seem on the whole to favor the supposition that the Fates of the Apostles­ does constitute an epilogue to ­Andreas­, and that this long combined poem was signed by Cynewulf with the runic signature on folio 54a of the Vercelli manuscript.

 

     In assuming some degree of probability that ­Andreas­ may be Cynewulf’s, however, we join to his certain poems one which differs somewhat in style from any of them. There is not the tranquillity of mood which allows the author to take a quiet satisfaction in the narration of legends which may in their course contain much tedious matter. Rather there is a conscious striving after effect, a search for color in the narrative, which gives a slight effect of strain to the style. Moreover, there is an evident attempt to reproduce as clearly as may be the heroic atmosphere of the Saga. That it is a conscious attempt striving for effect, rather than a quiet putting forth of those powers of the imagination which make for force, is shown by the fact that, even at its highest points, the narrative of ­Andreas­ lacks the brilliant surety of the imaginative pictures in The Christ­, as well as the quiet power of the better portions of ­Elene­.

 

     Yet while the effect of all this is to produce in ­Andreas­ a poem with somewhat greater tension of style than in the signed poems of Cynewulf, there are some excellent situations, and a sincerity of feeling throughout. And in the description of the story during Andrew’s voyage we find that feeling for the sea which we have noticed in this connection elsewhere in Cynewulf:—

 

The sea was stirred; | The hornfish played, gliding through the deep, | And above circled the gray sea-mew, greedy of prey. | The sun was darkened and the wind arose; | Waves broke and seas ran high; | the rigging moaned. | Billows swept them and water-terror rose with night.

 

     In this passage speaks a man whose knowledge of the sea was won in wintry nights and days of tempest, and the description of the storm-tossed ship here given us shows that some truth of observation which drew for us the vivid picture of Elene’s (Helena’s) ship scudding before a brisk wind toward its Grecian haven.

 

     The name of the Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf, spelled out in runic letters, is found in the epilogues of four Anglo-Saxon poems which are therefore certainly his work. They are all religious in content: (1), ­The Christ­, which celebrates the three mysteries of the Incarnation, the Ascension, and the Last Judgment; (2) Juliana­, which is the account of the martyrdom of the saint of that name; (3) ­Elene­, which tells the story of the finding of the True Cross by Constantine’s mother, Helena; and which many scholars consider Cynewulf’s masterpiece; and (4) the Fates of the Apostles­, which is a fragment of legendary character.

 

     The poems, which are obviously inspired by great devotion to the mysteries of the Christian faith and to the saints, have many passages of great beauty and show considerable knowledge. Besides the authentic four, others have been attributed to Cynewulf, among them ­Andreas­, ­Guthlac­, the ­Phoenix­, and the ­Dream of the Rood­ (some verses from the last of which are carved on the Ruthwell Cross); but all these assignations are conjectural.

 

     Of the author himself nothing is known. He has been identified with Cynewulf, bishop of Lindisfarne (d.783AD), and also with Cynulf, an otherwise unknown priest whose signature is appended to the decrees of the Council of Clovesho (803AD). Though resting on doubtful evidence, an identify between the poet and the bishop of Lindisfarne seems the more probable of the two.

 

[KEN, 42-51; ODC, 363; WRE, 133-134; SAR, 12-15]

 

***

 

XXVII: PHILIP

 

396. The Gospel of Philip

 

     Describing an incident alleged to have taken place after the Resurrection, ­Books of the Savior­ (books I-III, c.250-300AD; book IV, c.200-250) in chapter XLII introduces Philip as the writer of all the words which Jesus spake, and of all that he did. Jesus says to Philip:

 

Hear, Philip, thou blessed one, that I may speak, for you and Thomas and Matthew are they to whom the charge is given by the first mystery, to write down all the things which I shall say and do, and all the things which ye shall see. But so far as thou art concerned, the number of the things which thou shalt write is not yet complete; when they are complete, thou shalt go forth and preach that which pleases thee. But now shall ye three write down all the things that I shall say and do, and all the things which ye shall see, that ye may testify to all the things of the kingdom of heaven.

 

     These words are explained in chapter XLIII by Mary:

 

With regard to the word which thou hast said to Philip: ­Thou and Thomas and Matthew are the three to whom the charge is given by the first mystery, to write down all the things of the kingdom of light, and to testify thereto­. Hear now, that I may proclaim the interpretation of this word—this is what thy power of light once prophesied through Moses: ­Through two and three witnesses shall every thing be established­. The three witnesses are Philip and Thomas and Matthew.

 

     Shortly afterwards in chapter XLIV, Jesus commands Philip:—(Well done, Philip, thou beloved one. But now come, sit down and write thy share of all the things that I shall say and do, and all the things which thou shalt see.) This account—or rather, the Philip Tradition upon which it draws—presupposes a consideration that, at least in certain circles, the Apostle Philip was considered to be the author of one of the three chief gospels held in honor by certain Gnostic schools.

 

     There is some Patristic evidence that a ­Gospel of Philip­ existed from archaic times.

 

1. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, ­Miscellaneous Studies­ III:ix.25), according to Zahn (­Gesechichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanons­ II, 1892, 761-768; ­Forschungen zur Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanons­ VI, c.1900, 26f) was influenced by the ­Gospel of Philip­ when, in connection with Marcion and the Marcionites, he identifies as Philip the man (in the Synoptics, unnamed) to whom Jesus turns in ­Matthew­ 8:18-22 and ­Luke­ 9:57-61, who pleads leave to follow Him after he has buried his father:—(Another of the disciples said to him, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ But Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.’ ... To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ But he said to him, ‘Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’) Harnack (Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur­ I, 1882, 15) questions Zahn’s theory.

 

2. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, ­Panarion­ XXVI:xiii.2-3) says that a gospel bearing either the title ­Gospel of Philip­ or the ­Gospel According to Philip­ was in use among the Gnostics, and he reproduces a quotation from it:—(The Lord revealed to me what the soul must say in its ascent to heaven, and how it must answer each of the powers above: ­I have recognized myself and gathered myself together from all sides and have not sown children to the Archon but have uprooted his roots and have gathered the scattered members, and I know thee who thou art; for I belong to those from above­. And so it is set free. But if it should prove that the soul has borne a son, it is kept beneath until it is in a position to recover its children and bring them back to itself.)

 

3. Timothy of Constantinople (d.517, ­De Receptione Haereticorum­) names a ­Gospel of Philip­ immediately after the ­Gospel of Thomas­ as a work used by the Manichees.

 

4. Pseudo-Leontinus of Byzantium [who is perhaps Theodore of Raithu, (fl.c.550), ­De Sectis­ III.2] names a Gospel of Philip­ also immediately after a ­Gospel of Thomas­ as a work used by the Manichees.

 

     There seems to be considerable evidence that a ­Gospel of Philip­ was definitely in use among the Gnostics, and that it might have been in the form of that most recently discovered (1945) in Nag Hammadi in Egypt; also that much of its content would have been happy in the broadly-based Gnostic community; and that the author was familiar with the Synoptics and the Received Letters.

 

1. Evidence of Manichean use: NTA notes that, while it is not yet possible to determine whether or not this Gospel of Philip­ is identical with the ­Gospel of Philip­ mentioned by Epiphanius—the text he quotes does not seem to occur in it, and the form in which it is rendered is not that of a gospel—the fact that it, like the copies used by Timothy of Constantinople and Pseudo-Leontinus of Byzantium, was found immediately after a ­Gospel of Thomas­ strongly persuades one that the ­Gospel of Thomas­ discovered in Coptic translation as part of the Nag Hammadi Coptic Library in 1945 is in fact the apocryphon of the same name which was in use among the Manichees (and so by extension may be the same as that used by Epiphanius; though NTA suggests the opposite; or as a provisional conjecture that we have here to do with two revised versions of one and the same original: H).

 

2. Evidence from Epiphanius of Salamis: in connection with otherwise unnamed Gnostics of his day living in Egypt.

 

3. Evidence from Clement of Alexandria: in connection with Marcion and the Marcionites (presumably those of Egypt).

 

4. Evidence of Sethian or Severan use: indirectly present in the high praise given Philip in the 3rd century ­Books of the Savior­, which are of Egyptian and Sethian or Severan provenance.

 

5. Evidence of translation: the Nag Hammadi ­Gospel of Philip­ was quite evidently composed in Greek, and could be dated in the 2nd century, or at the latest in the beginning or the middle of the 3rd century. Similarly, Epiphanius would have used a Greek text; and Zahn (­op.cit­., 768) thought that the Gospel of Philip­ he quoted emanated from early Gnostic circles in Egypt in the first decades of the 2nd century.

 

6. Evidence of vocabulary: Gnostic influence is traceable here and there in the vocabulary—Ekhamoth is one thing, Ekhmoth another. Ekhamoth is simply Sophia; Ekhmoth is the Sophia of death, that is the one who knows death, whom they call ‘the little Sophia’ (III,3;108.10-15)—and is also to be seen in the frequent use of the metaphysical and mystical symbols of the bridal chamber, the bridegroom and the bride.

 

7. Evidence of documentary dependency: Some of the theories presented are close in thought and language to the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­—with 118.9-17 and 121.19-26, compare ­Thomas­ 11; with 112.9-11, compare Thomas­ 19; with 115.30-34, compare ­Thomas­ 22—a work dated at some time during the 2nd century.

 

8. Evidence of theological persuasion: A very leading Gnostic doctrine was that the soul contained sparks of the Divine, which were dispersed about among the world of matter, and must be collected, destined as they were some day to be removed out of the influence of matter and taken up into the higher world. This is enunciated here.

 

     On the other hand, there is enormous evidence for the use of the Received New Testament­, and an argument has been made that the author of this work was dependent upon the ­Received Gospel of Matthew­ for one of his sources. NTB presents the following verbal or conceptual parallels with various of the ­Received New Testament­:

 

II,3;52.2-15­: The slave seeks only to be free, but he does not hope to acquire the estate of his master. But the son is not only a son but lays claim to the inheritance of the father. Those who are heirs to the dead are themselves dead, and they inherit the dead. Those who are heirs to what is living are alive, and they are heirs to both what is living and the dead. The dead are heirs to nothing. For how can he who is dead inherit? If he who is dead inherits what is living he will not die, but he who is dead will live even more.

Galatians 4:1-7­: I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no better than a slave, though he is the owner of all the estate; but he is under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. So with us; when we were children, we were slaves to the elemental spirits of the universe. But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you were sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.

*

II,3;52.25-28­: Those who sow in winter reap in summer. The winter is the world, the summer the other eternal realm. Let us sow in the world that we may reap in the summer.

Galatians 6:7-9­: Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.

*

II,3;53.3-6­: He ransomed those who were strangers and made them his own. And he set his own apart, those whom he gave as a pledge, according to his plan.

Ephesians 1:4,7,11,13-14­: Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. … In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace … In him, according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will, … In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and have believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, which is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

Ephesians 2:12-13,19­: remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near in the blood of Christ. … So then you are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God.

*

II,3;53.4-13­: And he set his own apart, those whom he gave as a pledge according to his plan ... it had been given as a pledge. It fell into the hands of robbers and was taken captive, but he saved it.

Luke 10:30,34­: Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

*

II,3;53.6-9­: It was not only when he appeared that he voluntarily laid down his life, but he voluntarily laid down his life from the very day the world came into being.

John 10:17-18­: For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again; this charge I have received from my Father.”

I Peter 1:18-20­: You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake.

Revelation 13:8b­: every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.

*

II,3;54.6-7­: the name which the father gave to the son; it is the name above all things:

Philippians 2:9­: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,

*

II,3;55.6-13­: Before Christ came there was no bread in the world, ... but when Christ came, the perfect man, he brought bread from heaven in order that man might be nourished.

John 6:51­: I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

*

II,3;55.23-24­: Some said, “Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit.” They are in error.

Matthew 1:18,20b­: Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit;

Luke 1:35b­: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.”

*

II,3;55.35-36­: And the Lord would not have said “My father who is in heaven” unless he had had another father, but he would have said simply “My father.”

Matthew 7:21­: “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 10:32­: So every one ho acknowledges me before me, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven;

Matthew 10:33­: but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 12:50­: For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Matthew 16:17b­: For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 18:10b­: for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 18:19­: Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

*

II,3;56.25-26­: It is a precious thing and it came to be in a contemptible body.

II Corinthians 4:7­: But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us.

*

II,3;56.26-32­: Some are afraid lest they rise naked. Because of this they wish to rise in the flesh, and they do not know that it is those who wear the flesh who are naked. It is those who ... to unclothe themselves who are not naked.

II Corinthians 5:1-4­: For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

*

II,3;56.32-34­: “Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

I Corinthians 15:50­: I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of god, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

*

II,3;57.4-7­: “He who shall not eat my flesh and drink my blood has not life in him.” What is it? His flesh is the word, and his blood is the holy spirit.

John 6:53­: So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you;

John 6:63­: It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh is of no avail; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

*

II,3;58.5-10­: but when he appeared to his disciples in glory on the mount he was not small. He became great, but he made the disciples great, that they might be able to see him in his greatness.

Matthew 17:1-2­: And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain apart. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became white as light.

Mark 9:2-3­: And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them, and his garments became glistening, intensely white, as no fuller on earth could bleach them.

Luke 9:28-29­: Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white.

*

II,3;58.14-17­: Do not despise the lamb, for without it it is not possible to see the king. No one will be able to go into the king if he is naked.

Matthew 22:12-13­: ``But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment; and he said to him, `Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, `Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.'

*

II,3;58.17-22­: The heavenly man has many more sons than the earthly man. If the sons of Adam are many, although they die, how much more the sons of the perfect man, they who do not die but are always begotten.

I Corinthians 15:45,47-49­: Thus it is written, `The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Romans 5:15­: But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.

*

II,3;60.1-6­: What the father possesses belongs to the son, and the son himself, so long as he is small, is not entrusted with what is his. But when he becomes a man his father gives him all that he possesses.

Galatians 4:1-2­: I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no better than a slave, though he is the owner of all the estate; but he is under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father.

*

II,3;62.17-22­: When the pearl is cast down into the mud it become greatly despised, nor if it is anointed with balsam oil will it become more precious. But it always has value in the eyes of its owner.

Matthew 7:6­: “Do not give dogs what is holy; and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot and turn to attack you.

*

II,3;62.26-32­: If you\fn{Singular.} say, “I am a Jew,” no one will be moved. If you say, “I am a Roman,” no one will be disturbed. If you say, “I am a Greek, a barbarian, a slave, a free man,” no one will be troubled. If you say, “I am an Christian,” the ... will tremble.

Colossians 3:11­: Here there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all, and in all.

*

II,3;63.24­: for Jesus came to crucify the world.

Galatians 6:14­: But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

*

II,3;64.11-12­: For he who is, has been and shall be.”

Revelation 1:4b­: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come.

Revelation 1:8­: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

*

II,3;67.36-68.2­: Those who say, “There is a heavenly man and there is one above him,” are wrong. For it is the first of these two heavenly men, the one who is revealed, that they call “the one who is below”;

I Corinthians 15:47-49­: The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

*

II,3;68.6-7­: Because of this the lord called destruction “the outer darkness”

Matthew 8:12­: while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.”

Matthew 22:13­: Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’

Matthew 25:30­: And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth.’

*

II,3;68.9-12­: “My father who is in secret.” He said, “Go into your\fn{Singular.} chamber and shut the door behind you, and pray to your father who is in secret”

Matthew 6:16­: But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

*

II,3;68.26-28­: “My God, my God, why, O lord, have you forsaken me?” It was on the cross that he said these words, for he had departed from that place.

Matthew 27:46b­: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

Mark 15:34b­: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”

*

II,3;69.4-6­: Through the holy spirit we are indeed begotten again,

John 3:5,8­: Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. … The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.”

*

II,3;69.34-70.3­: those called “the holy of the holies” ... the veil was rent ... bridal chamber except the image ... above. Because of this its veil was rent from top to bottom.

Matthew 27:51a­: And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom;

Mark 15:38­: And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

*

II,3;70.22-24­: The soul of Adam came into being by means of a breath. The partner of his soul is the spirit.

I Corinthians 15:45­: Thus it is written, “the first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

*

II,3;71.18-19­: Christ, therefore, was born from a virgin

Matthew 1:23a­: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

Luke 1:27­: to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

*

II,3;72.33-73.1­: For he said, “Thus we should fulfill all righteousness”

Matthew 3:15­: But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”

*

II,3;73.22-27­: Therefore no one nourished by truth will die. It was from that place that Jesus came and brought food. To those who so desired he gave life, that they might not die.

John 6:27,32-33,35,38,41,48,50-51,53-58­: Do not labor for food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of man will give to you; for on him has God the Father set his seal.” … Jesus then said to them, ``Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.” … Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. … For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.” … The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” … I am the bread of life. … This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh.” … So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.”

*

II,3;74.22-23­: The father was in the son and the son in the father.

John 10:38b­: that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

John 14:10-11a­: Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me;

John 17:21­: that they may all be one; even as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that thou has sent me.

*

II,3;75.14-17­: The cup of prayer contains wine and water, since it is appointed as the type of the blood for which thanks is given.

I Corinthians 10:16a­: The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ?

I Corinthians 11:24-25­: and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

*

II,3;75.22-24­: It is necessary that we put on the living man. Therefore, when he is about to go down into the water, he unclothes himself, in order that he may put on the living man.

Romans 13:14­: But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

II Corinthians 5:4b­: not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

Galatians 3:17­: For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Ephesians 4:24­: and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Colossians 3:10­: and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

*

II,3;76.10-11­: they are superior to every name that is named

Philippians 2:9­: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,

Hebrews 1:4­: having become as much superior to angels as the name he has obtained is more excellent than theirs.

*

II,3;77.15-18­: He who has knowledge of the truth is a free man, but the free man does not sin, for “he who sins is the slave of sin.”

John 8:32,34­: and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” … Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, every one who commits sin is a slave to sin.

*

II,3;77.22-26­: “Knowledge” of the truth merely “makes such people arrogant,” which is what the words “it makes them free” mean. It even gives them a sense of superiority over the whole world. But “love builds up”

I Corinthians 8:1­: Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” “Knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up.

*

II,3;77.22-24­: “Knowledge” of the truth ... “it makes them free”

John 8:32­: and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

*

II,3;77.27-29­: In fact, he who is really free through knowledge is a slave because of love for those who have not yet been able to attain to the freedom of knowledge.

I Corinthians 9:19­: For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, that I might win the more.

*

II,3;77.31-35­: Love never calls something its own, ... it ... possess ... . It never says “This is yours” or “That is mine,” but “All these are yours.”

I Corinthians 13:4-5­: Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

*

II,3;78.79-9­: The Samaritan gave nothing but wine and oil to the wounded man.

Luke 10:33-34­: But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

*

II,3;78.11­: for “love covers a multitude of sins”

I Peter 4:8b­: since love covers a multitude of sins.

*

II,3;79.22-25­: God’s farming likewise has four elements—faith, hope, love, and knowledge

I Corinthians 13:12-13­: For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

*

II,3;82.8-10­: It belongs not to the darkness or the night but to the day and the light.

I Thessalonians 5:5­: For you are all sins of light and sons of the day; we are not of the night or of darkness.

*

II,3;82.21-23­: and let them feed from the crumbs that fall from the table, like the dogs.

Matthew 15:27­: She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

Mark 7:28­: But she answered him, ``Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

*

II,3;82.26-27­: When Abraham ... that he was to see what he was to see,

John 8:56­: Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad.

*

II,3;83.11-16­: That is why the word says, “Already the ax is laid at the root of the trees.” It will not merely cut—what is cut sprouts again—but the ax penetrates deeply until it brings up the root.

Matthew 3:10a­: Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees;

Luke 3:9a­: Even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees;

*

II,3;83.25-28­: It masters us. We are its slaves. It takes us captive, to make us do what we do not want; and what we do want we do not do.

Romans 7:14-15,19,23­: We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. … For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. … But I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.

*

II,3;84.8-9­: “If you\fn{Plural.} know the truth, the truth will make you free”

John 8:32­: and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

*

II,3;84.25-34­: but when the veil is rent and the things inside are revealed, this house will be left desolate, or rather will be destroyed. ... but will be under the wings of the cross and under its arms.

Matthew 23:37-38­: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate.

Luke 13:34-35a­: O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!

Matthew 27:51a­: And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom;

Mark 15:38­: And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

Luke 23:45b­: and the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

*

II,3;85.10­: but it was rent from top to bottom.

Matthew 27:51a­: And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom;

Mark 15:38­: And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.

*

II,3;85.29-31­: “Every plant which my father who is in heaven has not planted will be plucked out.”

Matthew 15:13­: He answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.

 

     NAG, the original edition of these works in English, believes that in this gospel, we have to do with a collection of excerpts which seem to derive largely from the Christian-Gnostic sacramental catechesis. In fact, the voice of the original author may still be heard as he speaks to catechumens preparing for the initiation rite. The sacraments exhibited are similar to those used by Christians in the Great church for the initiation of candidates. Thus the Gnostics who wrote and used the present text had not departed radically from Orthodox sacramental practice; yet the interpretation provided for the sacraments clearly remains Gnostic.

 

     With its emphasis on the place of the sacraments, its concern with the bridal chamber—(The Lord did everything in a mystery, a baptism and a chrism and a Eucharist and a redemption and a bridal chamber)—and its determination that the existential malady of humanity results from the differentiation of the sexes, the nature of its gnosticism is revealed. The original androgynous unity of man was broken when Eve separated from Adam; and it is the purpose of Christ to reunite man to this essential unity of being. Just as a husband and wife unite in the bridal chamber, so also the reunion effected by Christ takes place in a bridal chamber—a spiritual and sacramental bridal chamber in which a person receives a foretaste and assurance of ultimate union with an angelic, heavenly counterpart. Christ came to repair the separation which was from the beginning and again unite the two so that restoration might be accomplished and rest achieved.

 

     Generally Valentinian in character, its line of thought, though often rambling and disjointed, is maintained by means of an association of ideas or through catchwords. NAG believes that it was probably written in Syria in the second half of the 3rd century (250-300AD). The manuscript itself seems to belong to the 4th or 5th century.

 

[NTB, 145-171; NTA, I, 271-272; ANT, 12; NAG, 131]

 

397. A Fragment of an Unknown Gospel with Philippine Elements

 

     James (­Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924, 31-32) prints the text of a single leaf of a Gospel narrative which he found preserved in the remains of the ancient manuscript of the ­Acts of Paul­. The burden of its message—which is not very instructive—is that greater works than these will everyone see. Nothing in it goes outside the sphere of the Received gospels, save for Philip’s anger. This anger is also emphasized in the ­Acts of Philip­ (itself written at the earliest at the end of the 4th century, and probably not until the 5th). The text of James’ fragment is as follows:

 

... the works ... they wondered greatly and pondered in their hearts. He said unto them: Why marvel ye that I raise the dead, or that I make the lame to go, or that I cleanse the lepers or raise up the sick, or that I have healed the palsied and the possessed, or that I have parted a few loaves and satisfied many, or that I have walked on the sea or that I have commanded the winds? If ye believe this and are convinced, then are ye great. For verily I say unto you: If ye say unto this mountain Lift thyself and be cast into the sea without having doubted in your soul, it shall happen unto you ... as one of them was convinced whose name was Simon, and who said: O Lord verily great are the works which thou doest. For we have never heard, nor have we seen ever a man that hath raised the dead, save thee. The Lord said unto him: Ye shall pray for the works, which I myself shall do ... . But the other works will I do straightway. For these I do for the sake of a momentary salvation in time, in these places where they are, that they may believe on him who hath sent me. Simon said unto him: O Lord, command me, that I may speak. He said unto him: Speak, Peter. For from that day he did call them by name. He said: What then is this work which is greater than these ... except the raising of the dead and the feeding of such a multitude? The Lord said unto him: There is somewhat that is greater than this, and blessed are they, that have believed with their whole heart. But Philip lifted up his voice in wrath saying: What manner of thing is this, that thou wilt teach us? But he said unto him: Thou ...

 

[ANT, 31-32]

 

398. The Acts of Philip

 

     In the ­Acts of Philip­, Upper Hellas is said to be the scene of his labors prior to his settlement in Hierapolis, particularly in Athens (where he is said to have lived for two years, and to have founded a church, appointing presbyters and deacons); and afterwards in Parthia and the land of the Ophians (apparently Naassene Gnostics), followed by his martyrdom. In it, the teaching is of a conventional kind, and becomes more and more perfunctory as it continues, while the miracles grow more and more sensational, until we perhaps reach the climax in the conversion and baptizing of an archangel. Spun out of legend and folklore, attention is also paid to Philip’s martyrdom by crucifixion head downward. It has also been noted, however, that if grotesque, the work is yet a Catholic novel.

 

     The material survives as follows:

 

1. GREEK. In Greek the account is divided into fifteen acts, of which we have the first nine and the martyrdom (which latter, as was true of all this type of writing, circulated separately in several recensions. The best critical edition of the reconstructed text is still Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.2, 1903, 1-90; there is also a later digest, printed on pages 91-98). The Greek was first published from two manuscripts: one from the 11th century and from Paris, and one from Venice. The one from Venice is superscribed: From the fifteenth Act to the end, leaving us to infer that we have only a portion of the book extant. (An epitome of Philip’s life has also been written in this language.) The extant Greek fragments comprise a farrago of various legends, each, it would seem, with an independent history. Chapters 8-14 is a unit, which forms a parasitic growth on the ancient but somewhat confused Philip Traditions of the missionary activity of an Apostle Philip in Hierapolis of Phrygia. The largest fragment was first published by Batifol (in ­Analecta Bollandiana­ IX, Paris, 1890).

 

2. LATIN. An epitome of Philip’s life has been written in this language.

 

3. SYRIAC. Wright (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­, London, 1871, 69-92) has published a Syriac version, which he got from a manuscript in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society of London, a paper manuscript, consisting of 188 leaves, all more or less stained by water, written in a good, regular, Nestorian hand, with many vowel-points, and dated 1569AD. He calls it a later revision of the ­Acts of Philip­. It is entitled “The History of Philip, the Apostle and Evangelist.” Its chief importance lies in its containing an act extant only in Syriac, in addition to a Syriac version of the extant Greek text.

 

4. ARMENIAN. Peterson (“Die Philippus-Akten in Armenischen Synaxar” in ­Theological Quarterly­ CXIII, 1932, 289-298) seems to know of an Armenian version of this work.

 

     James believes the acts as they have presently survived represent an edited and shortened form of the original. The first ­Acts of Philip­ cannot have begun so abruptly as it does now; and the second is equally abrupt in its introduction. The third is linked to it by the mention of Parthia; but there is a great inconsequence in it, for it presupposes that Philip has done nothing as yet. The fourth act is linked to the third by the scene at Azotus; but the fifth, sixth and seventh (at Nicatera) are wholly detached from what has gone on before; and with the ninth act a fresh start is made—though into what is as yet unknown, for chapters 10-14 have not survived.

 

     The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century) condemns the Acts under the name of the apostle Philip ... apocryphal. It is not mentioned in the ­Muratori Canon­, or by Origen of Alexandria or Eusebius of Caesarea or Athanasius of Alexandria; but equally it is absent from important catalogues of a later date, for it is not in the canon catalogue of the ­Codex Claromontanus­ (6th century); or the ­Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century); or the Stichometry of Nicephorus­ (c.850). Its absence from the earlier material, however, together with its general lack of coherence and its obvious dependence upon older legends, has led to Zahn’s view—that this book is the work of an ill-informed Catholic monk of the 4th century—and this has received some support. NTA feels that at their earliest the ­Acts of Philip­ originated at the end of the 4th century, and probably not until the 5th century.

 

     See also on this Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ II.2, 1903, 1-53); Bardenhewer (­Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Litteratur­ I, 1913, 584-588; Flamion (­Les Trois Recensions Greques du Martyre de l’Apotre Philippe­, 1914); Peterson (“Die Haeretiker der Philippus-Akten” in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XXXI, 1932, 97-111; “Zum Messalianismus der Philippus-Akten” in Oriens Christianus­ XXIX, 1932, 172-179); and Kurfess (“Zu den Philippusakten” in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutesta-mentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Altern Kirche­ XLIV, 1953, 145-151).

 

[ANF, VIII, 355; HAS, III, 835; ANT, 439-453, 469-475; NTA, II, 577; INT, V, 786; CAT, II, 612; ENC, II, 117]

 

399. The Greek Journeyings of Philip the Apostle

 

     This 3rd century work represents Hierapolis as the chief scene of Philip’s labors, and associates him significantly with Bartholomew (who is described as one of the Seventy). Further, Polycrates of Ephesus (2nd century, quoted by Eusebius of Caesarea, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:xxxi.3) states that Philip, one of the twelve, lived as one of the great lights of Asia and is buried at Hierapolis along with his two aged virgin daughters. He adds that another daughter, who lived in fellowship with the Holy Spirit was buried at Ephesus. The statement of Polycrates is supported by the ­Journeyings­, which represents the Apostle as traveling through Lydia and Asia. It represents him as crucified head downwards during the reign of Trajan (97-118AD).

 

[HAS, III, 835-836]

 

400. The Greek Acts of Philip in Hellas

 

     Tischendorf (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, 1851, xxxviii-xl) published this work for the first time. It is obviously a later document than the preceding, though composed in the same style. It is from a Parisian manuscript of the 11th century. Tischendorf also published an introduction to his translation of this document (both of which are in Latin). As they not very long, I have undertaken to copy both the introduction and the acta out, exactly as I found it, together with its footnotes (inserted into the text), below. The material underscored is printed in the book text I have before me in italics.

 

De his alteris Philippi qactis possumus breves esse. Cognata ea esse actis illis quae modo recensuimus, quum ex aliis tum ex eo clarum fit quod in utrisque formulae quaedam mysticae syriacis vel chaldaicis verbis expressae habentur. Cf. Acta Philippi sect. 26; item Act. Philippi in Hellade sect. 18. Hinc aliquis coniecerit, et haec et illa videri ad eundem olim pertinuisse actuum Philippi librum, de cuius ambitu tesetem vidimus codicem Venetum ad priora Philippi acta. Cui coniecturae altera opponi potest. Possit enim antiquorum aliquis posteriorem fabulam ad prioris modum composuisse putari: certe enim prior libellus egregiam antiquitatis laudem habet, quam eaudem in posteriore inesse dubium est.

 

Haec altera Philippi acta hagiographi in libro ms. Vaticano repererunt: quod referunt ad diem VI. mens. Iunii pag. 620. et ad I. mens Maii pag. 9. Sed in iis quae in hanc rem disputant ambiguum nescio quid inest. Ad primam enim Maii 1. 1. a G. H. (i.e. Godfr. Henschenio) in hunc modum scriptum est: ­Minus edenda hoc loco videntur miracula quae sub nomine Philippi apostoli habentur in Graecorum Menaeis indeque apud Maximum Cytheraeum. Decipit enim apostoli nomen, etiam apostolorum discipulis commune, et (si finem excipias in quo continentur aliqua Hierapoli gesta) omnia spectant ad Philippum c septem primis diaconis unum, de quo infra, uti ad VI. Inuii apparebit. Idem intelligo de actis Philippi apostoli in ms. graeco Vaticano reperiendis, velut continentibus gesta Athenis in Graecia, cum Adenae in Arabia potius conveniant­. Altero vero loco D. P. (i. e., Dan. Papebrochius) haec adnotavit: ­Egimus I. Maii de S. Philippo apostolo ex duodecim, et post illius acta quaedam, primum edita ex antiquis mss. latinis, deinde ex Metaphraste, descripsimus miracula nonnulla ex Menaeis; quae quia Hierapoli facta narrabantur, ad ipsum iudicabamus pertinere qui ibi praedicavit et obiit: priora vero omnia ibidem relata Philippum diaconum potius spectare arbitrati ad Iunium reiecimus. Movebat nos quod post longum coram Atheniensibus de fide certamen cum principe scribarum ad illum redarguendum Hierosolymis accersito Advectoque in Graeciam, et post socios eius pertinacissimo isto a dehiscente terra paulatim absumpto baptizatos,\fn{Quae hucusque recensita sunt, inveniuntur omnia in alteris Philippi actibus nostris.} diceretur Sanctus percurrisse Candacum civitates et conscensa navi pervenisse Azotum, ubi caecutientem hospitis sui filiam a gravibus oculorum doloribus liberaverit. Videbantur siquidem reginae Candacis ditiones indicari, quas ab eunucho iam instrui coeptas Philippus porro confirmaverit: cum antea non Athenis in Graecia sed Adenae in Arabia praedicasset et praedictum certamen sustinuisset, atque fudatae ibi ecclesiae Narcissum quemdam praefecisset. Nec incredibile apparebat, eumdem Philippum aliquando revertisse Azotum, ubi olim inventus fuerat cum eum ab eunuchi latere spiritus rapuit. Nunc, re iterum et accuratius examinata, adeo insula ac fabulosa videtur narratio tota, ut aegre persuaderi possim aliquid ipsi veritatis subesse. Quid enim a vero potest alienius esse quam quod scribarum princeps praedictus fingatur ab Atheniensibus seu mavis Adenensibus Philippum postulare deducendum in Ierusalem, ubi Archelaus rex eum essel ad multorum exemplum interfecturus,\fn{Etiam haec in alteris actibus nostris relata leguntur.} cum post herodis infanticidae filium adolescente adhuc Christo privatum regno nullus Archelaus in Iudaea regnarit? Igitur farraginem illam indignam censuimus quae hoc loco proferretur, ac multo magis prolixiorem aliam quam reperimus in Vaticano sub hoc titulo:—then there follows a long title in Greek, then:—­Actiones S. Philippi apostoli secundum in Helladem Atheniensium, subintellige profecti, ubi triginta philosophi aestimatiioni suae metuentes a nova eius doctrina miraculis grandibus confirmata magno pontifici Iudacorum Ananiae de eo scripisse feruntur; quem caecitate perecussum frustraque sanatum terra denique paulatim absumpscrit; ipse vero Philippus dicitur post biennium Athenis actum et episcopum presbyterosque ordinatos in Parthiam praedicaturus abiise­.\fn{Haec omnia rursus ex alia farragine allata in iisdem alteris Philippi actibus nostris habentur, etsi ea a prioribus Papebrochius satis distinguit dicens prolixiorem aliam farraginem. Hinc tota haec Papebrochii disputatio ad duas narrationes his actibus simillimas spectare iudicanda erit; neque enim pricora eius verba ad eos actus quadrant de quibus, ut vidimus ad primam Maii G. Henschenius breviter explicuit.} Ad edenda vero acta Philippi in Hellade uti nobis non licuit nisi uno codicem Parisiensi saeculi undecimi. Signatus is est in bibliotheca Reg. nunc Nation. numero 881., ex quo codem desecriptsimus alteros Philippi actus, quos hi in codice continuo excipiunt.

 

[ORF, XXXVIII-XL]

 

401. The Greek ­Translatio Philippi­

 

     Tischendorf (­Apocalypses Apocryphae­, 1866, 151-156) presents (not extensively) an interesting text of the concluding portion of the ­Acts of Philip­; from which, indeed, he omits two portions which may have formed part of a Greek ­Translatio Philippi­.

 

1. The first of these fragments occurs in the course of the text, in a discourse of Philip’s dealing with the Serpent. Its place is in chapter 23 (Tischendorf’s edition). The drift of it is not very plain; but it seems to be a version of the well-known legend (which occurs in the ­Latin Vita Adae­, among other places) that the angels were called upon to adore the newly-created Adam, and that certain of them through pride and envy refused to do so. In this passage, their jealousy is materialized, and takes the form of a serpent.

 

2. The section portion of the text is an account of the translation of Philip’s body. It follows continuously upon the ­Martyrdom­. It does not seem to come from the author of the ­Acts of Philip­, however: to take one crucial point, it distinguishes between the towns of Ophiorymus and Hierapolis in Egypt (which in the ­Acts of Philip­ are identical).

 

     Enough has remained of the text, however, to deduce the fact that the Greek ­Translatio Philippi­ has points of interest of its own.

 

1. Like the ­Acts of Xanthippe, Polyxena and Rebecca­ (#277, above), it shows a knowledge of more than one Gnostic romance. (a) In chapter 2, there is a reference to a visit paid by John to Hierapolis on his way to Laodicea. This journey appears to have been recorded in the ­Acts of John­ [so Zahn, (­Acta Johannis­, Erlangen, 1880, 225)]. (b) In chapter 4, the various countries mentioned by the demons who are flying from Hierapolis point to a knowledge of these same apocryphal romances—Rome, Apamea, Galilee, Achaia, India, and Persia occur first; and of these the mention of Rome, Achaia and India at once recall the names of Peter, Andrew, and Thomas; while Persia may point to Bartholomew’s labors, or to those of Simon and Jude. (c) We naturally find that the author of the Greek ­Translatio Philippi­ is familiar with the compete Acts of Philip­. The following countries and cities are mentioned in the passage just referred to as having been visited by that apostle—Greece, Ophiorymus, Gaza, Azotus, Samaria, and the land of the Candacenes; and while it is true that the ­Received Acts­ are the ultimate source of most of these names, it is far more likely that our author had in his mind the ­Acts of Philip­, which give detailed accounts of Philip’s journeys and miracles in these regions. See the newly-discovered portions of these ­acta­ [Batiffol (­Analecta Bollandiana­ IX)]. (d) Finally, the ten Athenian philosophers, who figure in the Greek ­Translatio Philippi­ are borrowed from that section of the Philippian romance which is printed by Tischendorf under the name of Acta Philippi in Hellade­.

 

2. In the second place, this short story contains an interesting illustration of an episode in the ­Gospel of Peter­. In that document we have the fantastic image of a cross which follows the risen Christ and gives utterances to a mysterious word. Here in ­Translatio Philippi­ 3, we have an apparition of a cross which accompanies the glorified form of Philip:—(And many voices in the heavens sounded the Amen and Alleluia: and the cross was taken up and spake unto Philip: Behold the place of thy rest until I come in the glory of my Father and awake thee; and now receive thou the crown of thine apostleship in the heavens, where I am sitting at the right hand of my Father)—and even if we do not press an identification of the cross with the Son (this does not seem to be intended by the author of the acts themselves, for in many places the cross of light is described), the occurrence of a speaking cross is by no means a common feature, and any document which contains it is worth some notice.

 

3. The reader of this narrative should compare it with the latter part of the ­Acts of Matthew­ in Tischendorf’s collection. He will find that the two documents throw some light upon one another, and both show the growth of a tendency among later Gnostics to attach great importance to the burial-places and relics of departed saints.

 

[ANE,158-160]

 

402. The Latin ­Passio Philippi­

 

All my single reference will say about this title is that it reports Philip as having died by natural causes at the age of 87. However, the way the reference is cast—

 

in the apocryphal ­Acts of Philip­, Upper Hellas, particularly Athens (where he is said to have abode for two years, and to have founded a Church, appointing presbyters and deacons), and afterwards Parthia, are the scenes of his ministry; while later Latin documents attribute to him the evangelization of the Gauls (Galatians?) and Scythians (Lipsius, iii.26, 50, E.19; Fabricius, Cod. Apoc­. ii.726). Similarly conflicting are the traditions regarding the manner of Philip’s death. A natural decease appears to be indicated by Clement of Alex. (Strom. iv.9), pseudo-Doroth., pseudo-Epiphan., and the Latin ­Passio Philippi­ (according to the last-mentioned, at the age of 87). Other ancient authorities …

 

—make it appear that ­Passio Philippi­ is one of the later Latin documents; and this would make it post-5th century.

 

     The references cited by Hastings are: Lipsius (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.2, 1903); Fabricius (­Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­ II, Hamburg, 1743, 726); and Clement of Alexandria (­Miscellaneous Studies­ IV.ix).

 

     The people cited by Hastings are apparently Pseudo-Dorotheus (the 9th century editor of the standard edition of the ­Instructions­ on the ascetic life by the 6th century ascetical writer, Saint Dorotheus); and one other individual acting in presumably a similar manner to Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403).

 

     As to what these later Latin documents might be besides the Passio Philippi­, all I can make out from this reference is that there appear to be certainly two and possibly three other documents yet to be heard from: for there appear to be two separate entries in Lipsius and two in Fabricius, if 26, 50 and 726 turn out to page numbers (what E.19 is I have no idea). Their nature can scarcely be deduced; indeed, the use of the word documents to describe them indicates that they may not be all ­acta­, else why not say straight away that they were books of acts and be done with it.

 

[HAS, III, 835]

 

403. The ­Evangelium­ of Philip

 

     The heading of a book cited as Ev. Philip 115:30-34 (by which I make out Ev­angelium of­ Philip followed by chapter and verse numbers), appear to make use of logion 22 of the ­Coptic Gospel of Thomas­, remembered by the author as follows:—(And some ran to take him down: but he refused and spoke to them. ... “Be not grieved that I hang thus, for I bear the form of the first man, who was brought upon earth head downwards, and again by the tree of the cross made alive from the death of his transgression. And now do I fulfill the precept. For the Lord said to me: Unless ye make that which is beneath to be above, and the left to be right (and the right left), ye shall not enter into my kingdom. Be like me in this: for all the world is turned the wrong way, and every soul that is in it.”)

 

[FNT, 468, 470]

 

404. The Syriac Acts of Philip

 

Wright (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­, London, 1871, 69-92) prints what he calls a section from the Acts of Philip­ which is either not extant or at least unpublished, from the original Greek. It narrates the conversion of the Jew Hananiah (or Ananias) and by this means the city of Carthage in North Africa. It forms part of a Syriac manuscript in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society of London, a paper manuscript of 188 water-stained leaves, the writing of which is in a good, regular, Nestorian hand, and dated 1569. The name of the scribe was Elias.

 

NTA believes that Wrights manuscript is in fact a later revision of the ­Acts of Philip­; but it is difficult to fit it into the framework of the ancient ­acta­. The third act—which has a voyage to Azotus, to which the characters in the Syriac material are going—seems a possible place. But a glance at the ­Acts of Philip­ shows that in spite of the appearance of method imparted by a division of the work into acts, there is no coherence at all in them, until we get to the city of the snake—in other words, this may be a Tradition entirely separate from the ­Acts of Philip­ as we presently known them: H).

 

[NTA, II, 577; ANT, 439, 453; AAA, x-xii]

 

405. The Coptic Acts of Philip

 

     This is my only witness to the existence of this book, in its entirety: A ­Coptic Acts of Philip­ is also to be noted.

 

[CAT, II, 612]

 

406. The Armenian Acts of Philip

 

     Peterson (“Die Philippus-Akten im Armenischen Synaxar” in ­Theol. Quartalschr­. CXIII, 1932, 289-298) seems to have discovered an Armenian ­Acts of Philip­.

 

[NTA, II, 577]

 

407. The Arabic Preaching of Philip

 

     This book actually treats of the preaching of Philip and Peter, but is not so titled in Mrs. Lewis Arabic version. She says it has no resemblance to the Greek text published by Tischendorf (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, 1851), nor to the ­Acta Philippi­ published by Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.2, 1903), nor to the Syriac text of Wright (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­ II, 1871: for though here we are told that Philip preached in the city of Carthagena in Azotus, Wright says that though the name is written as if the city in Spain is meant, it is clear from the context that Carthage is intended; and that Azotus is evidently an echo of ­Acts­ 8:40—(But Philip was found at Azotus, and passing on he preached the gospel to all the towns till he came to Caesarea.)—and that we have here to do with the natural muddle arising from Philip the Apostle and Philip the Deacon-Evangelist being treated as the same person.

 

     The ­acta­ contain no local names, except those of Africa, the scene of Philip’s labors, and Martagena or Cartagena as the place of his martyrdom. If these localities point to an historical Tradition, the legends which place his ministry in Hierapolis of Phrygia possibly refer to Philip the deacon-evangelist, father of the four prophetical virgins (­Acts­ 6:5, 21:8-9—(And what they said pleased the whole multitude, so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. ... On the morrow we departed and came to Caesarea; and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. And he had four unmarried daughters, who prophesied.). [Lipsius (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.2, 1903) by the way records an ancient Greek menologium which gives their names as Hermione, Charitine, Irais and Eutychiane.]

 

1. The disciples were gathered together at the Mount of Olives, and they were reciting among themselves the commandments when Jesus appears, asks them why they are not preaching the Good News. “Behold now, cast lots among yourselves, and make the world into twelve lots, that ye may go forth and preach in it.” They do so, and the lot of Philip came out that he should go forth to the country of Africa. He asks Peter to go with him, and Peter agrees. On their way, Jesus appears to them and says:

 

2.Peace be to you both, O My chosen disciples! Go ye and preach unto all mankind, that ye may draw them away from the hand of Satan. Verily I say unto you, that if ye labor at this until ye make them turn from error to the knowledge of the truth, verily I say unto you, that your reward shall be great, and ye shall attain unto rest, and shall forget the toil.”

 

3. The two reach the gates of the (unnamed) city of Africa, on the top of which was a very tall pillar. Peter asks Jesus “to throw down this gate and this high pillar which is above it to the ground, that my hand may reach unto it and lay hold of it.” Peter directs a man from which he has just driven out an unclean spirit to climb to the top of the pillar and to speak of what was happening unto him, so that fear might come upon the people of the city. He does this; Peter commands the gates to resume their former place and height, and the man cries out: “O men, inhabitants of this city! Gather yourselves together unto the place wherein are the disciples of the Lord Jesus the Christ, that they may bless you, and may entreat that your sins be forgiven.”

 

4. At this there was thunder and lightning. And the people of the city trembled and were much afraid; and they went into the caves and the holes and the islands; and the lightning followed them whither they had gone, until many men died and women, from the sounds of the thunder and the flashings of the lightning. Upon a second call from the spirit, the people gather round the two disciples with their hands outstretched, making supplication unto God. And they fell on their faces and wept, saying: “O servants of God! We entreat you to have compassion on us. O ye new gods, whom we did not know, have mercy upon us, and teach us what is your will; and what is your sacrifice, so that we may bring it unto you. And we beseech you that this thunder may cease from us, and this terror.” And it comes to pass.

 

5. The man comes then descends from the pillar, and the people say to him: “Thou art a god, and we did not know thee.” The man replied, saying: “I am not a god. I am a man like unto you. The Holy Spirit hath spoken by my mouth, through the commandment of His pure disciples. But come ye nigh unto the holy disciples Peter and Philip, and whatsoever they shall say unto you hearken unto it, and know it that ye may be saved.” They came and kissed their feet and said: “Who are ye?”

 

6. Philip said unto them: “Which of the gods do ye worship?” They said: “We worship the statue of a man.” Philip said unto them: “Go, bring him to me.” And they did what he had commanded them. And it was of gold. And the priests cried, saying: “Do not destroy the gods who save you at all times. For if war rise up against you, and ye seek safety with them, they will not help you.” The citizens said unto them: “It is better for us to accept the sayings of the disciples than your sayings. This god is the work of men’s hands; he seeth not; he heareth not; he smelleth not; he walketh not.” And when they brought him to the two disciples, the priests cried, saying unto the disciples: “Ye lead the people astray by your sorcery. Ye say of a man, that he is God. Mary gave birth to Him, and Pilate put Him to death. Hast thou ever seen a god die? But nevertheless these are gold and silver; we worship them, and we call them gods; they see not, and they are of no profit.”

 

7. Philip prays: “O my Lord Jesus the Christ! Let fire come down from Heaven by Thy will, and burn up these wicked, evil priests, that they may know them to be deceivers until this day.” And straightway there came down a cloud of fire, circling round them, apart from the multitude. And they remained in the midst of the fire weeping from the fierceness of its burning. Philip said unto them: “Why do ye weep and howl? Have ye not said that if war should rise up against you ye would make supplication unto your gods, and they would save you and your city?” Upon this, Peter flung the image into the fire; whereupon it said:

 

8.O disciples of the Christ! Do not punish me, but have mercy upon me; and judge between me and these sinful men. I am one of the instruments of the earth; these men have taken me and smelted me, and have made me what you see; and they have set me up in the temple. And they sacrifice beasts and mingle their blood with wine, and deceive the people; and they say unto them that it is I who have eaten those sacrifices, and I neither eat nor drink, nor speak to any man. And it is not I who am speaking to you, but the power which rests upon you, it hath made me able to speak these things to the multitude, and to rebuke them for the wickedness of their deeds.”

 

9. The statue stops speaking, and the priests beg for their lives, promising the disciples to do whatever they wish. Philip said: “If ye will leave off your impure worship and say: ‘We believe in the Lord Jesus the Christ,’ we will say: In His name let this cloud of fire depart from us.” They do so: and straightway the heat of the fire was lifted up from them: and it became like a lake of sweet water, white as milk, so that the two disciples were astonished. And the multitude asked them what it was their duty to do that they might make sure of their faith. Philip said unto them: “We command you to build a church in this place: and we will teach in it, for this is the place in which ye have believed.”

 

10. The people acquiesce; and he commanded them to bring him plenty of straw; and the quantity of it was to be what would be for the foundation. And he commanded some of the men to dig until they had laid the foundation. When they had finished, Philip commanded the gate and its pillar in the name of Jesus the Christ the Nazarene, Who is raised high above heaven ... to be removed hence to the site of the church which hath been called by the name of the Lord. This is done, whereupon the people say: There is no God but the God of Peter and Andrew and Philip, the servants of Jesus the Christ.

 

11. And Philip said unto the multitude: “We have begun to build the house of the Lord: and I desire you to bring together the girls who are maidens, that they may carry water; and the adult men and the young men, and all the citizens, every one according to his ability, that they may work in the house of the Lord. And let none of the multitude refuse what I have commanded.” And the disciples were lodging in the house of Marwan, a governor of the city. And they were rejoicing that the multitude had responded to the faith so promptly.

 

12. Jesus appears to the disciples in the house in the likeness of a man of shining countenance and says: “The peace of the Lord be with you, O ye two blessed disciples. Ye have seen the beauty of the faith in the people of this city; and why do ye sit still in the house? Go ye out unto them; and teach them the commandments of God, and life. And be not careless about them and whatsoever ye shall ask Me, I will give it to you.” Upon this He disappeared into heaven with glory. And their faces shone with the glory of the Lord Jesus the Christ. The people seeing this radiance did obeisance to them on the ground. And they blessed them; and raised them up; and taught them, and confirmed them in the faith of the Lord Jesus the Christ. And they commanded them not to return to any of their former sins.

 

13. The people are amazed; and a man amongst them who was possessed with a devil cried out with a loud voice, saying: “I entreat you, O servants of the Christ, do not punish me. I will go out of him.” And the evil spirit threw the man down upon the ground and came out of him. And Peter and Philip commanded that devil to go out of him, and never to return to him. And the man who had been cured threw himself at their feet and kissed them. Then they gathered the multitude together to that lake which had been a cloud of fire, surrounding the priests at that time, and had become water. And they baptized them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And the disciples said unto the multitude, “God hath forgiven you your sins which ye have committed without knowledge: and begin ye to become worthy of the kingdom of heaven with good works; and of everlasting good things.” And they cried with a very loud voice, saying: “We thank Thee, O God, the God of Peter and of Philip, that Thou hast had mercy upon us; and hast been compassionate to us.”

 

14. The disciples consecrated the church, and the people gathered themselves together to it with joy and gladness. And they listened to the word of God; and Philip read to them from the Law and the Prophets, and Peter interpreted it to them by the Spirit of Lord Jesus the Christ. And when they had preached to the multitude with the doctrines of religion and had made them worthy to receive the holy Mysteries; then they stood up in holy prayer, and finished it, and allowed each of the multitude to approach and receive that honored Body in faith.

 

15. The Apostles stayed with them for six days teaching them the commandments of the Lord until they knew them. And they appointed unto them a bishop and presbyters, and deacons. And they went out from amongst them, bidding them farewell, giving glory to God, and wondering at the miracles which they had wrought in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ; unto Whom be glory and honor with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[MRS, xxv, 60-65]

 

408. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint Philip and Saint Peter

 

     Budge (­Contendings of the Apostles­, 1903, 146) suggests that the (otherwise unknown) country of the Ethiopic version is Phrygia. However that may be, the Ethiopian translator clearly has the above-mentioned Arabic text before him; and while expanding the text is natural with him, he makes also a number of subtle editings for clarity, together with some outright modifications of his Arabic original (theological, liturgical, or explanatory). Some of these are as follows, organized for the purposes of comparison under the numbered paragraphs of the Arabic (#407, above)

 

1. E expands:—people thereof, and give them peace."

 

2. A makes a choice of the following expression:—if ye labor at this until ye make them turn from error to the knowledge of the truth, verity I say unto you, that your reward shall be great. E, however, rewords this into a command:—ye shall toil in this world until ye shall have brought the people thereof out from darkness into the knowledge of righteousness.

 

3. E expands:—this high pillar, and the things which are upon it, etc., a recurring expansion in E for which there is absolutely no warrant in A. | Somewhat later, E has:—and to utter with his mouth certain words whereby awful things might come upon the people of the city, but A has:—and to speak of what was happening unto him, so that fear might come upon the people of the city.

 

4. E expands:—the sound of the thunders, and the earthquake, and the lightnings. This earthquake intrusion also comes up again, like the things on the tall pillar. | E says:—and may the new gods whom we know not have mercy upon us.; but A has:—O ye new gods, whom we did not know, have mercy upon us. | Instead of removing us from these fearful and terrible things, A has:—this thunder and this terror. | E’s earthquake again:—God Almighty on their behalf, and the earthquake ceased, and the lightning. It is not in A.

 

5. E expands:—is God.” Then they cried out with one voice, saying, “Art thou God Almighty or not? Let us know who thou art.” And the. | A has:—the commandment of His pure disciples.; but E has:—the commandment of the holy Apostles. | E expands:—and Philip, O all ye who dwell here, and hearken unto them, and gain knowledge, and ye. | A says:—and kissed their feet; but E has: and embraced their feet.

 

6. E has intruded a new text:—“We worship the image of an eagle of gold in place of A:—“We worship the statue of a man. | This sentence soon after from A is edited out in E:—command them. And it was of gold. Then the. | Expansion in E:—do not destroy the gods of the city who bring. | A has:—This god is the work of, but E has:—These gods are the work of. | E expands:—“He is God. Hath there ever been a god whom a man could scourge? Hath there. | A has:—we call them gods, they see not and they are of no profit, but E changes this to:—we fashion and call gods, they cannot suffer pain, and they cannot feel.”

 

7. A has:—there came down a cloud of fire, circling round them, apart from the multitude. E expands the text to explain it:—a cloud of fire came down from heaven, and encircled those wicked and unjust priests, that the people might know them to be deceivers; and it smote them without doing any harm to the people. | E expands:—their tribulation and fear. | A has here:—Why do ye weep and howl? Have ye not said that if war should rise up against you ye would make supplication unto your gods, and they would save you and your city?”; but E changes this to:—“Why weep ye?” And they cried out and said, “Because when war riseth up against you, and ye cry out unto your gods to save you and your cities\fn{Or: countries} they will not do so.” | Expansions in E:—Then Peter took up the image of gold and cast it into the fire to the place where were the priests.

 

8. A words this segment:—I am one of the instruments of the earth; these men have taken me and smelted me, and have made me what you see; and they have set me in the temple; but E has:—I am of the matter of the earth, but these men had fashioned me, and purified me, and they have made me by their skill into the form in which ye now see me. | A has:—And it is not I who am speaking to you; but E changes this to:—and verily I am not a being who should hold converse with you. | A says:—(power) hath made me able to speak; E says:—(power) that maketh me worthy to speak.

 

9. E consistently edits A's phrase: the Lord Jesus the Christ to our Lord Jesus Christ, here and elsewhere. | Ex-pansion of E: we will, in this same hour, speak the. | A has: so that they all marveled; but E changes this to: so that the two disciples were astonished. | A has: And the multitude asked them; but E hypes this: And those who were assembled there fervently entreated the Apostles.

 

10. A has: he commanded them to bring him plenty of straw; E has: Then Philip commanded them to bring unto him dried grass\fn{Or: reeds}. | E here edits out a phrase from A: I command thee, Who is raised high above heaven, to depart. | A has: There is no God but the God of Peter and Andrew and Philip, the servants of Jesus the Christ. This appears in E as follows: There is no god except the God of Peter and Philip, the servants of Jesus Christ.

 

11. A has an imperative here:—And let none of the multitude refuse what I have commanded; but E has:—and there was no man among the multitudes who refused to do that which Philip commanded him, and does not make it part of a quotation. | Place name:—in A, Marwan; in E, Keron.

 

12. A has:—“The peace of the Lord be with you, O ye two blessed disciples. Ye have seen the beauty of the faith in the people of this city; and why do ye; but E edits to:—My peace be with you, O My chosen Apostles! Behold, I have seen that the faith of the men of this city is good, why then do ye. | Expansion in E:—Christ had spoken these words unto them (now He was in the form of a man radiant with light) | A has—they did obeisance to him; and E changes this to:—they fell down prostrate before him upon the ground. | A has:—the Lord Jesus the Christ; but E has:—Our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

13. A has:—And the man who had been cured threw himself at their feet and kissed them; but E modifies this to:—And the man who had been made whole bowed down at the feet of the Apostles, and embraced Peter and Philip. | Immediately after this, A has:—Then they gathered the multitude together to that lake which had been a cloud of fire, surrounding the priests at that time, and had become water; but E edits this to:—Then the people gathered themselves together unto the lake which had formed in the place, where had been the cloud of fire that had surrounded the priests, which had now become water. | Expansion in E:—compassion upon us, and hast taught us, and because.

 

14. A has:—by the Spirit of the Lord Jesus the Christ; E makes this:—unto the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ. | A has:—And when they had preached to the multitude with the doctrines of religion and had made them worthy to receive the holy Mysteries; then they stood up in holy prayer, and finished it, and allowed each of the multitude to approach and receive that honored Body in faith. E rewords, expands and clarifies:—Then straightway did the people of the multitudes rejoice in the knowledge of the faith, and they were prepared to receive the Mysteries, and the Apostles having first of all prayed the prayer of consecration and brought it to an end, gave unto the people of their Body of our Lord, and of His precious Blood. And the multitudes came forward and received the Body and the precious Blood in faith.

 

15. A has:—and presbyters; E has:—and priests. | E edits out the italicized phrase from A:—and they departed from them, bidding them farewell, glorifying God. | The Arabic ends:—and wondering at the miracles which they had wrought in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ; unto Whom be glory and honor with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost for ever and ever. Amen. The Ethiopic ends:—and marveling at the mighty acts which they had wrought in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be the glory and honor which are meet for Him, and for His Father, and for the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[COA ,II, 146-155]

 

409. The Arabic Martyrdom of Philip

 

     This is a very short text. It is quoted in its entirety below. For an historical time-frame in which these acts would have made their appearance, see before #146.

 

1. And when Philip went into the city of Africa to the people of this country, and preached unto them a new God whose name they did not know, Jesus the Christ, they hastened unto him with all who belonged to them and listened to his speech. And they replied unto him: “Who is Jesus the Christ? We have never heard this name save from thee.” For they had been serving the Devil.

 

2. Philip replied unto them: “Gather yourselves together unto me, O all ye blessed men! For I see that the grace of the Living God resteth upon you. The God Whom I preach unto you—He is the Living God; and He giveth life unto all who believe in Him. And the Son, dwelling in the Father, and the Father in the Son; and the Holy Ghost proceeding from the Father, Who is in the Father and the Son; One God, One in substance, Three in Persons; before all time, and unto all ages; Who is invisible; Who created all things by His wisdom; Who hath restrained the sea and the rivers and the springs; and unto Whom all that is within them is subject. He brought into being all that is seen, and all that is unseen, in the beginning. And He took dust from the earth, and made of it a man in the likeness of His own image; and called him Adam. And He it was Who blessed him, and made him the father of all reasoning creatures; and said unto him: “Grow and multiply and fill the earth with thy seed; and have dominion over all that is in it.”

 

3. The multitude said unto him: “Where is that God Who hath created all of which thou speakest?” The disciple said unto them: “He is in heavens and upon the earth; He dwelleth in every man who doeth His will.”

 

4. And when the Devil saw that Philip was trying to turn the multitude to the knowledge of God, Jesus the Christ, the Lord, he made haste and sowed wicked thoughts in their hearts, and stirred up the evil within them; and made them spring upon the disciple Philip; and they chained him, and were intent on killing him. And the eyes of every one who laid a hand upon Philip became blind. And when the multitude saw it they cried with a loud voice, saying: “There is One God, the God of Philip. Why are ye killing this blessed disciple by whom God hath delivered us from error unto faith?” And thus the crowd saved Philip from the hands of those who wished to kill him.

 

5. And he went forth preaching in all the country round about and proclaimed the Word of God every day. And he healed every one who had a sickness; until all the people of the city and in its borders gathered themselves together unto him. And he taught them, and preached unto them about the kingdom of Heaven. And the blind drew near unto him and he opened their eyes, and the lame became straight by the word of his mouth. And the deaf heard with their ears; and the dumb spake by the power of the Lord Jesus the Christ Who was dwelling in him. And the lepers were cleansed when he raised his hand and entreated God on their behalf. And those in whom there were devils—he cast them out by the sign of the cross, thanking God for what He had given him in this noble gift until he had healed them all from every disease.

 

6. And when the magistrates of the city saw what Philip was doing, the wonders which were made manifest by his hands, and how he healed divers sicknesses and other things; for they saw that their brethren, and their friends, and their sons, and their daughters, and their companions had not faith in their worship, and had entered into the faith of the Lord Jesus the Christ; then those who did not believe in what pleased Philip gathered themselves together, and withdrew to a place, and took counsel how they might lay hold of the disciple, and bind and kill him secretly, so that the city might not perish, and they might boast to the king that an alien could not enter their city and destroy their religion. And if they were to tarry until that was accomplished, he would send men to slay them and to lay waste their city, and to say unto them: “Are ye waiting for this my commandment?”

 

7. And they covenanted together concerning it. And they laid hands upon the saint and bound him, and lectured him to his face with insulting words; and the disciple laughed in their faces, and rejoiced. And they said one to another: “See how he is laughing: he is mocking us; perhaps he desireth to lead us astray and deceive us like the multitude whom he hath left, who rejected the decree of the king; and he hath separated them from their wives.”

 

8. And when he heard that he said unto them: “Truly this is falsehood if it be completed. And ye ought to return unto God, and He will forgive you your sins; and will make you meet for His kingdom, which never faileth.” And another of them answered and said: “Kill him; if we leave him he will lead us all astray.” Then their wrath waxed hot against him, and they laid hold of him and hanged him upon a cross, and they bound him head downwards, saying: “lest he should move his body.” And they tortured him with cruel torments; and they never ceased following him and torturing him with the worst of torments, until he gave up the ghost upon the cross. And they took him down, and took counsel together and said: “Let us kindle a huge fire, and fling his body into it, that it may be burnt up, and may not be found.”

 

9. And when they had kindled the fire that they might throw his pure body into it, the Lord Jesus the Christ, Who had given patience to the saint for that torture, sent an angel, and took his pure body out of the fire before them at noon-tide out of the city, and all its inhabitants beheld it; and he ascended up on high with it, with joy and glory and honor, till he vanished from their eyes. And he arrived with it at Jerusalem; and he hid it in a tree.

 

10. And when all the crowd beheld this wonder, and remembered the multitude of wonders and of signs which God had caused to happen by his hands, of the healing of divers sicknesses, they all raised their voices, women and men, saying: “There is one God, the God of Philip the servant of Jesus the Christ. He is God, the God of heaven and earth, and the great, the High God, blessed by heavenly beings and earthly beings, and by all the city and its surrounding districts together, Jesus the Christ. And they sent people who feared God to the top of the mountains; and they remained many days in the desert, going round about. And the citizens fasted and prayed, and humbled themselves before God, that He might restore to them the body of the saint.

 

11. And when God beheld the beauty of their dispositions, and their regret for what they had exceeded in the ugliness of their deeds, He sent that angel to tell them the place of the body of the disciple. And they took it, and journeyed with it to the city, with praise and glory and honor. And they wrapped it in fine raiment, and left it in a new coffin. And the completion of the martyrdom and conflict of the holy Philip was on the eighteenth day of Hathor,\fn{November 14} and he was left in Martagena\fn{Mrs. Lewis suggests (MRS,68) with Budge saying the same thing for the Ethiopic, that we read here: Carthagena} in peace. And glory be to Jesus the Christ, and His Father, and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen. And praise be to God always and for ever.

 

[MRS, 66-68; COA, II, 157]

 

410. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Philip in Phrygia.

 

     When compared against Mrs. Lewis’ text, it is clear that the Ethiopian translator was working from the above Arabic version; but that he made the following textual expansions, or theological adjustments, or outright deletions of the original material. The emendations are below, numbered according to the paragraphs of the Arabic (#409, above). For a brief summary of the time in which these and the various other Apostolic linguistic traditions came into being, see before #146.

 

1. A has:—whose name they did not know, Jesus the Christ; but E has:—Whose Name was not known unto them, that is to say, Jesus. | Expansion in E:—his words. Now when they heard him preaching in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, the God of heaven and of earth, the multitudes. | A has:—For they had been serving the Devil; E has:—and they were wont to worship the gods of the heathen and devils. | E has here (possibly accidentally) deleted the italicized Arabic text:—the grace of the Living God will.

 

2. Expansion in E:—God Almighty, and besides Him there is no other god; He is the Living God, and. | E has deleted the italicized Arabic:—And there is a Son with the Father, and the Father in the Son, and a Holy. | Here A has:—Who is in the Father and the Son; One God, One in substance, Three in Persons; before all time; and unto all ages. E has at the same place but in place of this text the following:—but the Spirit and the Father and the Son are One, that is to say, One God. He existed before all days, and He shall endure for ever; He is the First, and He is the Last. | A has:—father of all reasoning creatures; but E has:—father of all created things which talk; and Budge has here the following footnote:\fn{I.e., “all rational beings”.}

 

3. A has: And the disciple said; but E has:—And Philip said.

 

4. Expansion in E:—when Satan saw how valiantly Philip was contending, and how. | A has:—God, Jesus the Christ, the Lord; but E has:—the Lord Jesus Christ. | A has:—the disciple Philip; but E has:—the Apostle Philip. | A has:—chained him; and E has:—shut him up in the prison house. | A has:—There is One God, the God of Philip; but E theologically redistributes its sections to:—The God of Philip is One God. | Expansion in E—brought us out from the darkness into the light of the truth faith?”

 

5. Expansions in E in this first clause of A:—And Philip went forth and preached the Name of Christ in all that country through which he traveled round about. | Expansion in E:—and he taught them, and made them to believe, and. | At the text where it says in A:—and he opened their eyes and in E that:—he made their eyes to see, Budge has a note saying:\fn{Literally, he illumined their eyes.} | E edits the text of A from:—by the words of his mouth to:—by his word. | A has:—And the deaf heard with their ears; and E has edited this to:—and when he went round about those who were deaf they heard. | E edits out the following word in A:—our Lord Jesus the Christ. | A has:—he raised his hands; E has:—he stretched out his hands. | Expansion in E:—possessed of devils drew nigh unto him, and. | E expands this clause in the three following places:—and those who were possessed of devils drew nigh unto him, and he drove them out from them by the sign of the most honorable Cross. | E edits A—for what He had given him in this noble gift—for clarity, thus:—for the gift of grace which He had given him.

 

6. E edits out the following italicized words from A:—any disease whatsoever and other things. | Expansion in E:—and how the people were relieved from suffering of every kind. | E deletes the following clause in A:—beloved ones, and their friends, and their. | A has:—and their companions; E has:—and their acquaintances. | Expansion in E:—Jesus Christ, because Philip had commanded them so to do, because of these things, I say, those. | Expansion in E:—hold upon Philip, and to shut him up in prison, and. | At the italicized word in E—and to destroy their Law, Budge has:\fn{Or: religion.} | Expansion in E:—they tarried in his presence until. | In a footnote at the end of the Ethiopic sentence—And they were making a boast to the king that they would not allow an alien to enter into their city, and to destroy their Law, and they tarried in his presence until this thing was accomplished.—Budge says the following:\fn{The meaning seems to be that the men who were hostile to Philip made representations to the king that their custom always had been never to allow an alien to live in their city, and they waited in his presence until the king admitted their statements to be true and was ready to give orders for the destruction of Philip.} | A has:—to slay them; E has:—to slay the Apostles. | A has:—Are ye waiting for this one man, until he hath chosen from this multitude those who will resist my commandment?; but E rewords this to:—“Why are ye doing nothing whilst this man is leading astray the people, and paying no heed unto my command?”

 

7. Expansion in E:—Philip and shut him up in prison. | Immediately after this, A has:—And lectured him to his face with insulting words which E alters to:—And they spake words of cursing and blasphemy against him, but the Apostle. | A has:—and deceives us like the multitude whom he hath left, who rejected the decree of the king; but E has at this point:—and to make us to depart from the right way, even as he did the people whom he made to forsake the imperial gods.

 

8. A has:—he said unto them, “Truly this is falsehood if it be completed; but E has at this point:—he said unto them, “Indeed, I speak my words that I may perfect my work upon you, and not that I should offend you. | E edits out the following Arabic italicized word:—he will lead us all astray. | Expansion in E:—placed his head downwards and his feet upwards. | Immediately in the next clause, A has—and they bound him head downwards; but E has:—and they tied him to it. | A has—following him and torturing him with cruel tortures; but E has:—beat him with cruel blows. | Expansion in E:—gathered together in crowds and spake among themselves, saying. | A has:—that it may be burnt up; but E transforms this to:—that we may consume him utterly.

 

9. A has:—to cast his pure body, the Lord Jesus the Christ, Who had given patience to the saint for that torture, sent; but E edits this to:—to cast the body of the saint, our Lord Jesus Christ, sent. | Expansions in E:—and with great glory, and honor, until it went up from their sight into heaven. | A has:—and he brought; E has:—and the angel brought. | At the point in E where the text is italicized—and hid it in a tree—Budge notes:\fn{Or: wood.} | A has:—women and men; but E has:—both men and women. | A has:—“There is one God, the God of Philip the servant of Jesus the Christ; but E rewords this to:—“The God of Philip, the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, is One God. | In this same quote, A has:—and the great the High God; at which point E has:—He is the Mighty One, and He is the exalted God. | Expansion in E:—And the men of the city. | Deletion of A by E:—in our Lord Jesus the Christ. | A has:—and they sent people who feared God to the top of the mountains which E alters to:—and the God-fearing men of the city sent messengers into the heights of the mountains. | Expansion in E:—for many days seeking the body of Saint Philip. | A has:—and the citizens fasted; but E alters this to:—and the men of the city fasted.

 

10. A has:—women and men; but E has:—both men and women. | A has:—The one God, the God of Philip the servant of Jesus the Christ; but E rewords this to:—The God of Philip, the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, is One God. | A has:—and the great, the High God; but E expands this to:—He is the Mighty One, and He is the exalted God. | A has:—And they sent people who feared god to the top of the mountains; but E has:—and the God-fearing men of the city sent messengers into the heights of the mountains. | A says:—they remained many days in the desert, going round about; but E says:—they continued to go round about in the desert for many days seeking the body of saint Philip. | In A, it is the citizens who fasted and prayed; but in E, it is the men of the city.

 

11. A has:—saw the beauty of their disposition which E rewords to:—saw their faith and their repentance. | Immediately after this, A has:—and their regret for what they had exceeded in the ugliness of their deeds; but E rewords:—and that the evilness of their works had passed away. | Expansion in E:—the body of Philip the Apostle. | Expansion in E:—And it came to pass that when they saw it they rejoiced with great joy, and. | Expansion in E:—laid it in a new and beautiful sarcophagus. | E edits away the italicized in A:—martyrdom and conflict of Saint Philip. | A has:—And he was left in Martagena in peace; but at this point E has:—In the peace of God the Father. Amen. No mention is made in E of Martagena (which has been suggested is really Cartagena in Spain). | Expansions in the last words of E—Glory and Honor be unto our Lord Jesus Christ,—A has here:—be to Jesus the Christ,—and unto His Father, and unto the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

     Hastings [Hastings and Selbie (­A Dictionary of the Bible Dealing with its Languages, Literature and Contents Including the Biblical Theology­ III, Edinburgh, 1898, 836)] indicates the existence of this book with the following note:—(The Ethiopian book with this title represents Philip as crucified head downwards, under the emperor Domitian)—but there is no mention of this emperor (reigned 81-96AD) in either the Arabic or the Budge’s Ethiopic version. Perhaps it occurs in Malan (­The Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­, London, 1871).

 

[COA, II, 156-162; HAS, III, 836]

 

411. The Irish Martyrdom of Philip

 

     There exists an Irish ­Passio­, which says that Philip was first stoned, then crucified. It is an ancient Irish work. Lipsius prints it (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.2, 1903, 25-26, 48, 50, E.73); also Atkinson (Passions and Homilies from Lebhar Breac­, 112, 358).

 

[HAS, III, 836]

 

412. The Greek Acts of Hermione

 

     All that ANT says of the ­Acts of Hermione­ is that they may prove interesting. According to Robinson (Texts and Studies—Contributions to Biblical and Patristic Literature: Apocrypha Anecdota, A Collection of Thirteen Apocryphal Books and Fragments­, Cambridge, 1893, 56) this work is epitomized in the Menalogion of Basil­ (apparently of Caesarea) on September 4. He notes them in passing in a reference to Petronius, saying that the Acts of Paul­ may also be the source of the information noted by the author of the Acts of Saint Hermione­ (daughter of Philip) that Petronius was a disciple of Paul.

 

[ANT, 471; ANE, 56]

 

413. The Martyrdom of Julitta and Quiricus

 

     Wright (­Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­, London, 1871), in his discussion of the ­Syriac Acts of Philip­ (#404, above), mentions as part of the contents of the Syrian (Nestorian) paper manuscript (dated 1569, manuscript last bound in 1605) from which he abstracted the aforementioned, a work entitled the ­ martyrdom of Julitta and Quiricus­ (or: Cyriacus); a volume presently a part of the Royal Asiatic Society in London.

 

     About Julitta and Quiricus—under the heading Cyricus and Julitta in Coulson (­The Saints: A Concise Biographical Dictionary­, Amsterdam, 1957, 141)—there occurs the following in the aforementioned reference:—Third century? The story of the widow Julitta is probably a fabrication. To escape the enforcement of the edicts of Diocletian against Christians, she fled to Tarsus with her three-year old son Cyriacus. There she was recognized and arrested. In his rage, the governor killed her son, while Julitta was first tortured and then executed.) Neither of the names appear in Frend (­Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church: A Study of a Conflict from the Maccabees to Donatus­, New York, 1967).

 

[AAA, x-xii; COU, 141]

 

414. The Irish Apocalypse of Philip

 

     James says there are surviving three texts of this work: (1) the oldest and longest (in the ­Book of Lismore­, 15th century); (2) a more modern and shorter (in manuscripts at Renes and elsewhere); and (3) a third version (in a manuscript transcribed in 1817). All three are in Irish. In it Philip’s tongue, which has been cut out seven times by his persecutors, discourses to an assembly of kings and prelates at Jerusalem, and tells them wonderful secrets of nature. An account of it has been written by James (­Journal of Theological Studies­ XX, 1918).

 

     There is cause for regarding this work as a version of an older document, and that the work was originally composed in Latin.

 

1. Passages occur in the Irish text of (1) in Latin that are entirely absent from (2) and (3); and with some frequency. The Latin appears (a) several times as a rendering of ‘angelic language’; (b) six times as the questions of the Wise Men; (c) as prefaces (Dixerunt sapientes Ebreorum; plebs Ebreica; and the like); and (d) as a long paragraph at the end of the work, descriptive of the joys of Heaven, and written wholly in Latin.

 

2. The writing is to some extent learned. The descriptions of marvelous fountains, stones, trees, races of men are such as are met with in Solinus (Gaius Iulius Solinus, fl. early 3rd century), Isidore of Seville (d.636), and other borrowers of ancient lore. None of these descriptions can in their present form be recognized as quotations; but they are near to the old sources.

 

     There was, then a Latin ­Apocalypse of Philip­ which presently exists in Irish, and it seems in no other language. The relationship between this and other legends of Philip is obscure. The Eastern ­acta­, Greek and Syriac, form a most extravagant romance, with stories of a talking ox, a converted leopard and goat, and so forth. The Greek acta­ represent the apostle as having been crucified at Hierapolis. The Latin, on the other hand, which form the last (the tenth) book of the ­Latin History of the Apostles, after Abdias of Babylon­, are short and tame: Philip performs one miracle, and dies a peaceful death at Hierapolis at the age of 86.

 

     One episode in the Greek ­acta­—in the ­Acts of Philip in Hellas­—superficially resembles this work. In it the apostle converts an assembly of 300 philosophers, and causes an unbelieving Jewish high-priest to be swallowed up in the earth by installments; and here also, as in the ­Martyrdom of Philip­, are sentences of so-called Hebrew which recall the ‘angelic language’ of the ­Apocalypse of Philip­. The ­Irish Martyrdom of Philip­ (Atkinson, Passions and Homilies Lebher Breac­, 356) contains a legend of Philip’s tongue being cut out and renewing itself; and that passage may have been borrowed from the ­Apocalypse of Philip­ (though on the whole it seems clear that the Irish author was conscious of a story of Philip’s martyrdom which is characteristic of the Eastern as opposed to the Western ­acta­). On the other hand, the ­Irish Hymn to Philip­ (Atkinson and Bernard, ­Liber Hymnorum­, II, 83) is no more than a paraphrase of ­Apocalypse of Philip­ 92-96.

 

     James says that he finds it impossible to discern a reasonable setting for the ­Apocalypse of Philip­. All one can safely say is that in some particulars the Irish embellisher has been taking great liberties with his original. That there was an original, and that it was comparatively brief and simple, is not to be doubted. A parallel instance is afforded by the poetical ­“Salomon and Saturn­,” an elaboration of a much shorter ancient document—and not improbably the Contradiction Salomonis—(NTA translates the entry itself: Writing which is called Interdiction (Exorcism?) of Solomon ... apocryphal)—condemned in the Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century).

 

[ANT, 505; JTS, XX, 9-13]

 

***

 

XXVIII: BARTHOLOMEW

 

415. The Gospel of Bartholomew

 

     The following allusions to the ­Gospel of Bartholomew­ exist among the witnesses of the Classical Age:

 

1. Jerome of Strido [d.420, ­Commentary on Matthew­, prologue (in Patrologia Latina­ XXVI.17-18)] mentions among other apocryphal writings an Evangelium Iuxta Bartholomaeum. It is uncertain, however, whether this reference is derived from a secondary source (perhaps Origen of Alexandria, d.c.254) or is due to personal knowledge of the work by Jerome himself. Jerome disliked and avoided apocryphal books, with few exceptions.

 

2. Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite (c.500, in ­Patrologia Graecia­ III.1000B) makes reference to a ­Gospel of Bartholomew­. Two sentences are quoted from the divine Bartholomew; but one cannot be certain (so James) that Pseudo-Dionysius is quoting a real book.

 

3. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ (6th century) mentions such a gospel: Gospels under the name of Bartholomaeus ... apocryphal. (The text reads: Evangelia nomine Bartholomaei; but perhaps Evangelium nomine Bartholomaeus was intended by the author.) It is also uncertain whether the compiler of the Decrectum­ knew himself of a book of that name, or that he took its existence on trust from Jerome.

 

4. Bede of Jarrow [d.735, ­In Luc ev. expos­. I, prologue (in Migne, Patrologia Latina­ XCIII.307C)] makes the following statement:—(We learn from Heinrich von Herford that Ludwig the Bavarian was acquainted with the gospel of Bartholomew.) NTA says that Bede is here copying Jerome: and this is possible for the place- and personal-names, since (a) according to RHC (837) Bavaria was with Thuringia one of the eastern provinces of the Frankish Empire, established between c.500-751; and (b) according to Talbot (­The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany­, 1954, vii), those two states had become almost independent by the time of the battle of Tertry (687AD) which gave the preponderance of power to the more German parts of the kingdom. When it is remembered that Bavaria, Saxony, Franconia and Swabia are also known as Stem Dutchies (from the German Stamme, meaning a distinct people, tribe, or ethnic group), a fair case may be made for some sort of personal knowledge of Bavaria by Jerome (d.420). See also Hennecke (in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte­ XLV, 1927, 311 note 1).

 

5. Epiphanius the Monk (10th century, in ­Patrologia Graecia­ CXX.213B-D) makes reference to a ­Gospel of Bartholomew­.

 

6. The ­Book of Hierotheos­ (so Marsh, ­Journal of Theological Studies­ XXIII, 1922, 400f) also mentions a Gospel of Bartholomew­. On this book see Baumstark (­Geschichte der Syrischen Literatur­, 1922, 167).

 

     We can only conjecture that both the Greek-Latin-Slavonic and the Coptic-Ethiopic streams of the Bartholomew literature go back to a special Tradition of the 3rd or 4th centuries. Possibly there was at that time a shorter ­Gospel of Bartholomew­, which was the starting point for this material; but even this primitive version is probably not to be dated too early, for almost nothing at all is known from the first centuries of the Christian Era about a special reverence for Bartholomew. Only in the Coptic Church does this apostle come to play a more prominent role; and the surviving texts of even this Tradition are not any older than the 5th century. Even so, James believes that the ­Gospel of Bartholomew­ was probably written during the 2nd century; and NTA (I,488) says that there is really no objection to assigning the original form of this work—which, he says, lay before Greek (b) of the following entry—to the 3rd century.

 

     Unfortunately, no sort of description of the work survives. The book has perhaps been incorporated into the Questions of Bartholomew­, which survives in a number of Greek, Latin and Slavonic manuscripts.

 

[NTA, I, 484-508; TWE, 266; RHC, 837; ASM, vii; ANT, xix, 22, 166; ODC, 136]

 

416. The Questions of Bartholomew

 

     The document entitled in its surviving manuscripts the ­Questions of Bartholomew­ is extant in no less than six recensions:

 

1. GREEK. Two recensions exist: (a) that represented by Codex Vindobonensis Graecae Historicus 67; and (b) that represented by Codex Hierosalem Sabaiticus 13. Greek is the original language of the work; in this speech it may be as old as the 5th century. The text of (a) consists of just two fragments; that of (b) appears to be the most valuable, but it contains barely a third of the text. Certainly the original ­Gospel of Nicodemus­ lay before the author of (b).

 

2. LATIN. Two recensions exist: (a) that represented by Codex Vaticanus Reginensis 1050; and (b) that represented by Codex Casanatensis 1880. The complete text of the work is preserved only in (b), but this version is very late (11th century), and is in parts in a very expanded form, full of extensive interpolations (especially towards its end) which at times extends to whole pages of closely printed text. The original of this version, however, may be as old as the 6th-7th centuries. It was discovered in the Casanatensian library at Rome, and was originally the property of the monastery of Monte Amiata. The text of (a) consists of just three fragments in two leaves of extracts, and is of the 9th century.

 

3. SLAVONIC. Two recensions exist: (a) that represented by an otherwise unnamed codex in St. Petersburg; and (b) that represented by Codex Vindobonus Slav. 125. James says that the Slavonic text reproduces chapters I-IV.5, but gives no further information about this linguistic variety.

 

     Vassiliev (­Questiones Sancti Bartholomaei Apostoii: Anecdota Graeco-Byzantina­ I, 1893) and Bonwetsch (Die Apokryphen Fragen des Bartholomaus:­ Gottingische Gelehrte Nach., 1897) have printed editions of Greek (a) and Slavonic (a) and (b). The fragments of Greek (a) and a fresh Greek text, together with the variants of Latin (b), was published by Wilmart and Tisserant (“Fragments Grecs et Latins de l’Evangile de Barthelemy,” Revue Biblique­, 1913, 161ff). [Latin (b) has also been published by Moricca (“Un Nuovo Testo dell Evangelo di Bartolomeo,” ­Revue Biblique­ 1921, 481ff; 1922, 20ff.)] James believes that Wilmart and Tisserant have made a case for equating this work with the ­Gospel of Bartholomew­. Latin (b) was first published in the ­Revue Biblique­ for 1921-1922.

 

     Altogether, there are five main topics common to two or more of the six recensions: (1) the descent of Christ into Hell, and the number of souls saved and lost; (2) an account of the Annunciation by Mary, the mother of Jesus; (3) the scene where the Apostles see a bottomless pit; (4) a scene where the devil is summoned to give an account of his doings; and (5) questions about the deadly sins, a commission of the Apostles to preach, and the departure of Christ. (This last reads to James like a late addition; but James is also of the opinion that none of the surviving texts represent a very original form of the work.)

 

     The compiler of the ­Questions of Bartholomew­ demonstrates several contacts with other Christian works (the approximate date of whose original composition appears at the beginning of each paragraph):

 

1. c.52-55AD. At ­Questions of Bartholomew­ II.7—(And the apostles stood behind Mary. And she said to Peter, ‘Peter, chief of the apostles, the greatest pillar, do you stand behind me? Did not our Lord say, ­The head of the man is Christ, but the head of the woman is the man­: therefore stand in front of me to pray.)—there is in the underscored a phrase borrowed directly from a memory of ­I Corinthians­ 11:3—(But I want you to understand that ­the head of every man is Christ, the head of a woman is her husband, and the head of Christ is God­.)

 

2. c.80. There appear to be three references to the ­Received Gospel of Matthew­. (a) At ­Questions­ I.21—[(And Bartholomew said to him: Lord, I saw you again hanging on the cross and all the dead arising and worshipping you. (omitted in Greek b)]—there is preserved a memory of ­Matthew­ 27:52—(the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out to the tombs after his resurrection they went into the Holy City and appeared to many.) (b) At ­Questions­ III.49—(And Bartholomew fell on his face, and scattered earth on his head, and began: O Lord Jesus Christ, the great and glorious name. All the choirs of the angels praise you, Lord; and I also, who am unworthy in my lips, praise you, Lord. Hear me, your servant, and as you called me from the custom-house and did not allow me to remain to the end in my former manner of life, hear me, Lord Jesus Christ, and have mercy on the sinners.)—the mention of the custom-house has been transferred from ­Matthew­ 9:9—(As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax office; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he rose and followed him.) (c) At ­Questions­ V.5—(Woe to him who swears by the head of God, even if he does not commit perjury, but speaks the truth.)—there is a partial quote of Matthew­ 5:36—(And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.)

 

3. c.150. At ­Questions­ II.11—(Mary said to them: In you God formed the sparrows and sent them to the four corners of the world.)—Tischendorf (­Evangelia Apocrypha­, 1876, 135) sees a parallel with part of Infancy Gospel of Thomas­ II:—(When this boy Jesus was five years old he was playing at the ford of a brook, and he gathered together into pools the water that flowed by, and made it at once clean, and commanded it by his word alone. He made soft clay and fashioned from it twelve sparrows. And it was the Sabbath when he did this. And there were also many other children playing with him. Now when a certain Jew saw what Jesus was doing in his play on the Sabbath, he at once went and told his father Joseph, ‘See, your child is at the brook, and he has taken clay and fashioned twelve birds and has profaned the Sabbath..’ And when Joseph came to the place and saw it, he cried out to him, saying, ‘Why do you do on the Sabbath what ought not to be done?’ But Jesus clapped his hands and cried to the sparrows, ‘Off with you!’ And the sparrows took flight and went away chirping. The Jews were amazed when they saw this, and went away and told their elders what they had seen Jesus do.)

 

4. c.150. At ­Questions­ II.15—(And when they had done that, she began: ‘When I lived in the temple of God and received my food from the hand of an angel, on a certain day there appeared unto me one in the likeness of an angel, but his face was incomprehensible, and he had not in his hand bread or a cup, as did the angel which came to me aforetime.)—there appears to be a partial memory of ­Infancy Gospel of James­ 8:1—(And Mary was in the temple nurtured like a dove and received food from the hand of an angel.) (James suggests that a parallel may be found in the appearance of the angel to Asenath in the ­History of Joseph and Asenath­, a word which may predate the ­Infancy Gospel of James­.)

 

5. 2nd century? At ­Questions­ III.17—(And Bartholomew raised his voice and said: O womb more spacious than a city! | O womb wider than the span of heaven! | O womb that contained him whom the seven heavens do not contain. | You contained him without pain and held in your bosom him who changed his being into the smallest of things. | O womb that bare, concealed in your body, | the Christ who has been made visible to many. | O womb that became more spacious than the whole creation.)—the author of the Questions­ has inserted a known Gnostic hymn, enlarged to cosmic proportions.

 

6. 343-381. At ­Questions­ IV.70:—(And when Bartholomew spoke thus, Jesus put off his mantle and took the kerchief from Bartholomew’s neck and began joyfully to say: I am good to you.)—there is a reference (so NTA, I, 502 note 2) to the priest’s stole, first used in this sense at the Council of Laodicea (between 343 and 381AD). There the use of the kerchief is only permitted to clergy from the grade of deacon upwards, and so not to the subdeacon, reader, or singer. In the West it is first attested for Spain in the 6th century. It came to Rome in the 8th century.

 

7. 5th century. At ­Questions­ IV.44, where Satan says:—(If I were able to go forth by myself, I would have destroyed the whole world in three days: but neither I nor any of the six hundred go forth. For we have other swift ministers whom we command, and we furnish them with a hook of many points and send them forth to hunt, and they catch for us souls of men, enticing them with sweetness of divers baits, that is by drunkenness and laughter, by backbiting, hypocrisy, pleasures, fornication, and the rest of the trifles that come out of their treasures.)—James notes a parallel in the hook of many points with a Coptic fragment published by Revillout (“Apocryphes Coptes I” in Graffin and Nau, Patrologia Orientalis­ II.2, 151) and Robinson (“Coptic Apocryphal Gospels,” Texts and Studies­, Cambridge, 1896, 176); as James paraphrases:—[They came down from the mountain and met the devil in the form of a fisherman with attendant demons carrying nets and hooks, &c.: and they cast their nets and hooks on the mount. The apostles questioned Jesus about this: John, Philip, and Andrew, in particular. John was sent to speak to the devil and ask him what he was catching. The devil said: “It is not a wonder to catch fish in the waters: the wonder is in this desert, to catch fish there.” He cast his nets and caught all manner of fish (really men), some by their eyes, others by their lips, &c.]

 

     The mention of the kerchief (above, 6) means that the ­Questions of Bartholomew­ cannot have come into being prior to the middle of the 4th century AD. Greek, as we have seen, was its original language; in this tongue, it may be as old as the 5th century.

 

     The theological standpoint, according to the ODC, is Gnostic.

 

[ODC, 136; NTA, I, 484-503; ANT, 166-180]

 

417. The Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ by Bartholomew the Apostle

 

     The text of this most important apocryphal work was found, unfortunately, in a much mutilated state, and published by Budge (­Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt­, 1913, 1-48, 179-215). The book was ultimately acquired with other manuscripts from a native dealer in Upper Egypt, who had himself purchased it from an Arab who found them while working on his land near the ruins of an old Coptic monastery outside Edfu. The original was written in Greek, but nothing seems to be known about it.

 

     To this certainly belong various fragments in the national Library in Paris, and one leaf in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, published by Lacau (“Fragments d’Apocryphes Coptes,” ­Memoires Publies par les Membres de l’Institut Francais d’Archeologie Orientale du Caire­ IX, 1904, 39-77) of which there is an English translation in Budge (op.cit­., 216-230). These leaves collected by Lacau present two recensions of this work, differing from one another, while Budge’s discovery represents a third. In addition to these fragments—which clearly are related to Budge’s text—Revillout (“Les Apocrypha Coptes I,” in Griffin and Nau’s ­Patrologia Orientalis­ II.2, Paris, 1904, 117-198) published a large number of leaves (mostly from the Paris National Library, but partly from other libraries), a few of which may be considered for a connection with this book:

 

1. REVILLOUT #5 and APPENDIX #1.In these two fragments, the subject is the betrayal by Judas. The first relates that Judas' wife induced her husband to treachery. The second describes how the seven month old child of Joseph of Arimathaea, to whom Judas' wife served as nurse, besought his father to send the woman away since she and her husband had accepted the blood-money. To this is added a short description of the incidents at the Crucifixion.

 

     Connection with a Barthlomew-document is more than questionable here; for the second part of the second fragment especially points to a different relationship—in particular it is much more concise in its presentation. This argument is not decisive, however, since similar summaries also occur in Budge’s text.

 

2. REVILLOUT #6.Jesus is sitting with His disciples at the Last Supper. Matthias brings a cock which he has killed, and reports how the Jews observed that the blood of his master would be shed like that of the cock. Jesus recalls the cock to life again as an indication of His Resurrection.

 

     In this case, the possibility may be admitted that such a narrative of the Last Supper, developed in very legendary fashion, belonged to it.

 

3. REVILLOUT #12.This tells of a man named Ananias, who hurries to the cross and cries out to the Jews that they ought to crucify him and not the Christ. A voice from the cross promises him that his soul shall not enter into Amente, nor his body decay. The high priests seek to stone Ananias, but the attempt fails. In the fire into which he is then cast he remains three days and three nights unharmed. Finally he is slain with a spear, and Jesus takes his soul with him into heaven.

 

     That this fragment belongs to the ­Book­ is probable, because there is a reference to this incident at the present beginning of Budge’s manuscript:—(After they had crucified the Savior, they laid him in a grave; on the completion of the third day he rose up from the dead; he took the soul of the holy Apa Ananias with him into heaven.)

 

4. LACAU IV. (Published also by Revillout, but he gives a shorter text.)—The text begins with the conquest of Hell and the deliverance of the children of Adam. Then follows the cursing of Judas. After a gap, it is related how Death (who previously had remained with the body of Jesus at the grave) sends his son Pestilence to secure Amente (Hell). But when Death with his six deacons comes to Amente, he finds only three voices left: Judas, Cain and Herod. All the rest have been set free by Christ. After a short transitional passage the narrative begins afresh. The holy women go to the grave—they are enumerated in detail—and Mary falls into conversation with Philogenes, the gardener, who relates the events at the resurrection of Jesus. Jesus Himself now appears and speaks with Mary, whom He first favors with words of blessing and then charges to inform His disciples of His Resurrection. Mary asks for Jesus’ blessing, and receives the promise that she will be with Christ in His kingdom. Here the account suddenly changes to the first person: Believe me, my brethren, ye apostles, I Bartholomew, the apostle of the Son of God, saw the Son of God; and after a description of what Bartholomew saw, the promise to Mary is continued: it may be that two traditions have grown together here. Mary then goes to the apostles, who are celebrating the Eucharist on the Mount of Olives;—at which point there occurs a broad lacunae of several pages.

 

The text begins again with the bringing of Adam and Eve and their children before God: ­Believe me, O my brethren, ye apostles, I Bartholomew have never since my birth seen such a human form as was comparable with the form of Adam, save that of the Savior­. The description of the figures of Adam and Eve is followed by their acquittal by God and by the angel’s song of praise. All this is given by Bartholomew as an eye-witness account, and for this he is praised by the apostles, but for his part stresses his unworthiness. A new appearance follows: Christ takes the apostles with him into Heaven, where they are blessed one after the other by God. This too is the account of Bartholomew! In a new scene Christ is sent by God to comfort the apostles. He finds them in Galilee, and bestows on them the Holy Spirit—and here the fragment breaks off.

 

     The text of this fragment represents either one or two recensions of the ­Book­. The question is firmly decided by the appearance of corresponding passages in Budge’s text (though these are more detailed, and may by this indicate yet a third recension in circulation of the ­Book­.)

 

     NTA says that other fragments from Revillout’s collection cannot be adduced here, since there are no indications of any kind that they belong to the Bartholomew literature. Indeed, Baumstark (“Les Apocryphes Coptes,” ­Revue Biblique­ III, 1906, 245-265), Ladeuze (“Apocryphes Evangelizues Coptes: Pseudo-Gamaliel, Evangile de Barthelemy,” ­Revue d’Histoire Ecclesiastique­ VII, 1906, 245-268), and Puech (in Hennecke and Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha I: Gospels and Related Writings­, Philadelphia, 1963, 271) have all demonstrated or deduced that both association and title of his collection are completely arbitrary. The texts are of very diverse origin—some can be assigned to Bartholomew, but others to a Gospel of Gamaliel­—and in part they do not belong to any apocryphal gospel at all, but are the remains of a homiletic work. Haase (in ­Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche­ XVI, 1915, 93-112) has brought a certain order to these fragments (which can be achieved in cooperation with Budge’s text); and James (­Apocryphal New Testament­, Cambridge, 1924, 147-152, 181-186) has provided a survey of the fragments in question and a summary of the text.

 

     Budge himself says that although nowhere in his manuscript is there a date of composition given, there is little doubt that it was written in the 10th or 11th century. The Coptic texts are not older than the 5th-7th centuries; and in any event they are only partially descendants of older versions, for this literature was in its time enormously popular, and it is in the nature of popular literature that its development—its accretion of new legends, its discarding of old ones, their juxtaposition within the matrix of the book—is never allowed to cease. The impression is that the various scenes in the book are strung together without any real logical connection between them, the delight of the author being simply in the expression of a broad narrative style, rather than a literary concern to produce a finished work. This book and others like it, Budge says, are proof that the Egyptian Christians never succeeded in removing from their heads a number of religious ideas which were the product of their pagan ancestors; and that this was possible because in the Egyptian mind the barrier between the worlds of the living and the dead were so slight that he sincerely believed that he could describe both of them with the same accuracy of detail. [After all, his intelligence spoke through the Coptic language, which is the last form of the ancient Egyptian language (still preserved as the liturgical speech of the Coptic church); and his recorded history alone stretched back some 30 dynasties from the emergence of Christianity in his country to c.3100BC, and was (and is) literally visible around him, in the form of hundreds of square miles of hieroglyphs painted and carved upon the walls and ceilings of innumerable manuscripts, tombs and public monuments, as familiar to him as the air he breathed. How could he not participate in the intellectual adventures of the past? He would have to be literally deaf, dumb and blind not to do so. H]

 

[ODC, 136; NTA, I, 486-508; COP, introduction]

 

418. The Life of Saint Bartholomew, after the Ethiopian Synaxarion

 

     I have been unable to recover the source for my information about this apocryphon. I believe it was in a collection of stories about Aba Pachomius and other anchorites of Egyptian monasticism. The title is descriptive of the contents; and I remember that the work itself was quite short, barely two pages in length. Perhaps there is information about this in Wustenfeld (Synaxarium, 1879), who published the Synaxarium of the Coptic church (upon which patriarchate the Ethiopic church was at one time dependent).

 

[H]

 

419. 420. The Greek Martyrdom of Bartholomew. The Latin Martyrdom of Bartholomew

 

     Tischendorf (­Acta Apostlorum Apocrypha­, Leipzig, 1851, LXIX-LXX, 243-260) presents the ­editio princeps­ of the Greek text of this book, together with the following introduction in Latin (including footnotes), the italicized material of which is so indicated by Tischendorf. It was later edited by Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898, 128-150). The Greek text is taken from a Venetian manuscript dated 1279, which in its present form dates from the 5th or 6th century. The Latin manuscripts go back to the 8th or 9th century.

 

Hoc Bartholomaei martyrium simillimum est narrationi de Bartholomaeo quam Pseudo-Abdias historiarum apostolicarum libro VIII. praebet. Quaeritur quae inter utrumque ratio intercedat. Sunt aliquot graeci textus loci qui interpretem latini proder videantur; alii rursus contrarium suadent. Quodsi graeca nostra ex latinis versa dixeris, interpres graecus non ex historiis Pseudo-Abdiae, sed ex fonte latino antiquiore, quem et ipse Pseudo-Abdias adiit, hausisse putandus erit. Cui caussae nescio an quid lucis afferat mentio Cratonis quam fecit auctor historiarum apostolicarum libri VI. capite XX. Vult enim Cratonem, apostolorum ipsorum discipulum, res Simonis et Iudae comitumque in Perside gestas longa narratione seripsisse in decem librorum voluminibus: ea ab Africano in latinam translata esse linguam, indeque se ipsum, ex multis pauca seligentem, hausisse. Rursus Stephanus Praetorius affert quaedam de Bartholomaeo quae satis congruunt cum graecis nostris et Abdiae latinis, eaque dedisse se scribit Ex Cratone horum apostolorum (i.e., Simonis et Iudae) discipulo. Sunt autem haec: Bartholomaeus pallio albo incessit ornatus annulis ac gemmis, semper hilaris, eodem vultu. Centies flexis genibus interdiu, centies noctu Deum invocavit. Omnium gentium linguas intellexit et locutus est. Verbum spiritus vitue praedicavit in Lycaonia, ubi ab impiis decoriatus est ad modum follis.\fn{Cf. Libellum (20 paginarum in 4.), cui titulus est: Pauli apostoli ad Laodicenses epistola, latine et germanice edita studio et opera Stephani Praetorii. Adiecta sunt fragmenta apostolorum et patriarcharum testamenta, pio lectori non iniucunda futura. Hamburgi 1595.} Quae conferenda sunt cum sect. 2. pag. 245. Sed quid sit de Cratone illo, satis latet. Praetorius quidem sua desumsisse videtur ex collectione aliqua rerum historicarum antiqua manuscripta, cuiusmodi in bibliothecis passim vidi parum cognitas aut excussas.

 

Traditiones vero veterum de Bartholomaei rebus magnopere fluctuant. De quibus qui accuratius videre voluerint, inprimis adeant Tillemontium: Memoires pour servir a l'histoire eccles. des 6 premiers siecles I. pag. 960 sqq. et 1160 sqq. Plura etiam eiusmodi indicat Fabricius Cod. apocr. H. pag. 686. et 669 sq. Illud quidem quod in graeco martyrio, non item in latino est, reliquias apostoli in Liparim insulam translatas esse, iam Gregorius Turonensis narrat in lib. I. de miraculis martyrum cap. 34. pag. 78 sq. (Parisiis 1640.) Qui quidem martyrii graeci locus non eam vim habet ut inde pendeat actas ipsius de martyrio libelli eaque Abdiae libello inferior videatur vel potius esse debeat; satis enim constat extremas maxime talium actorum partes postea retractari atque amplificari solitas esse.

 

In editione nostra huius libri adhuc inediti secuti sumus codicem Venetum in bibliotheca S. Marci numero CCCLXII. signatum, saeculo decimo tertio, ut in subscriptione codicis est, ex aliis detritis membranis a duobus monachis descriptum. Praetera, quo facilius utriusque textus ratio perspici posset, ubique sub graeco addidimus Pseudo-Abdiae latinum textum.

 

     The text is very similar to the account of Bartholomew in book VIII of the ­Latin History of the Apostles, after Abdias of Babylon­ (#173, above). The editor is inclined to believe, not that the Greek text is a translation of the Latin in Abdias (which it probably is), but that both are derived from the same source. Tischendorf seems inclined to lay some weight upon the mention made by Abdias of a certain Crato, said to be a disciple of the Apostles Simon and Jude, having written a voluminous history of the Apostles, which was translated into Latin by Julius Africanus (d.c.240AD). The whole story, however, is legendary. It is very improbable that Julius Africanus knew any Latin (against Suidas who, c.1000AD, believed he was a native of Libya); but it is possible that he may have compiled some stories of the Apostles, that these may have been translated into Latin, and that Crato and Abdias—(i.e., the men writing under their names: H)—may have derived some of their materials from this source.

 

     James (­Apocryphal New Testament­, Cambridge, 1924, 468) gives a synopsis of the Latin acts:

 

India is divided into three parts. Bartholomew came thither to a temple of Astaroth, who ceased to answer his worshippers. So they went to another city; and inquired of Beireth (Berith), who said Bartholomew was the cause. What is he like? they asked. He has black curly hair, white skin, large eyes, straight nose, his hair covers his ears, his beard long and grizzled, middle height: he wears a white colobium­ with a purple stripe, and a white cloak with four purple gems at the corners: for twenty-six years he has worn these and they never grow old: his shoes have lasted twenty-six years; he prays 100 times a day and 100 times a night: his voice is like a trumpet: angels wait on him: he is always cheerful and knows all languages. For two days they could not find him, but then he cast a devil out of a man. King Polymius heard of it and sent for him to heal his lunatic daughter who bit every one. She was loosed—the Apostle having reassured her keepers—and cured. The king sent camels laden with riches, but the Apostle could not be found. Next day, however, he came to the king and expounded the Christian faith, and offered to show him the devil who inhabited his idol. There was a dialogue, in which the demon explained his doings. Bartholomew made the people try to pull the statue down, but they could not. The ropes were removed and he bade the demon leave the statue, which was instantly broken. After a prayer of the Apostle, an angel appeared and signed the four corners of the temple with the cross; and then showed them the devil: black, sharp-faced, with long beard, hair to the feet, fiery eyes, breathing flame, spiky wings like a hedgehog, bound with fiery chains; and then the angel sent him away howling. The king and the rest were baptized. But the heathen priests went and complained to his brother Astribes (Astyages), who had Bartholomew brought bound, and questioned him. It was told him that his idol Vualdath had fallen and was broken to pieces, and in anger he had Bartholomew beaten with clubs and beheaded (the Greek puts in ­flayed­, in accordance with the late tradition). And the people buried him honorably, and built a basilica over him. After twenty days Arstriges was seized by a devil, and he and all the priests died. And there was great fear, and all believed: the king (Polymius) became bishop and presided twenty years.

 

     MRS (­The Mythological Acts of the Apostles­, London, 1904, xxvi) points out that the legends contained here are very different from those of the ­Arabic Martyrdom of Bartholomew­ (#425, below); it has also been pointed out that both Greek and Latin forms are tainted with Nestorianism. See also on them Hoffmann (in Herzog’s Realencyklopadie für Protestantische Theologie und Kirche­ I, 1877, 525); Lipsius (“Acts, Apocryphal” in Smith & Wace’s ­Dictionary of Christian Biography­ I, 1880, 30; Die Apocryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden­ II.2, 1884, 54-108; op.cit­., ­Supplement­, 1890, 130—see the index under “Bartholomausakten”); and Soder (“Die Apokryphen Apostolgeschichten und die Romanhaste Literatur der Antike,” ­Wurzburger Studien zur Altertumswissenschaft­ III, 1932, 18).

 

[ANF, VIII, 357; ANT, 468; ORF, lxix-lxx; MRS, xxvi; CAT, II, 611, NTA, II, 577; ODC, 755]

 

421. The Coptic Preaching of Bartholomew

 

     Mrs. Lewis (­Mythological Acts of the Apostles­, London, 1904, xxv) mentions in passing that her Arabic version of the preaching of Bartholomew (below, #423) has come to us through the Coptic; but the only other reference to a ­Coptic Preaching of Bartholomew­ is from Budge (­Contendings of the Apostles­ II, London, 1901, 90)—who, however, identifies the Coptic title of the oasis as the Oasis of Al-Bahnasa (presently the Oasis Parva) where there was a church named after Bartholomew. He adds the information that Abu Salih says that Bartholomew was martyred there, and that his body is in the church of Karbil. The Oases are described, Budge says, by Yakut (tome 4); and we are to see on this Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ I.ii, 1893, 86). It is probably of the 5th century.

 

[MRS, xxv]

 

422. The Armenian Martyrdom of Bartholomew

 

     A Latin translation, from the Armenian, is available in Mosinger (­Vita et Martyrium Sancti Bartholomaei Apostoli, ex Sinceris Fontibus Armeniacis in Linguam Latinam Conversa­, Salsburg, 1877).

 

[NTA, II, 577; ANF, X, 103]

 

423. The Arabic Preaching of Bartholomew

 

     Several nations and localities—Phrygia, Lycaonia, Parthia, Media, Persia, Armenia, India—claim the honor of having been evangelized by Bartholomew. Some legends connect his missionary activity with Matthew, some with Andrew, this one with Peter, who agrees to be his guide to the (unnamed) land of the Oases. This Arabic version (so MRS) has been passed down from the Coptic; and has very little to do with that published by Tischendorf (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, Leipzig, 1851, 243-260) and apparently nothing at all to do with that published by Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.1, 1898, 128-150). It is quoted below in its entirety.

 

1. And it came to pass, when the disciples were gathered together and they divided amongst themselves the cities of the world, and the lot of Bartholomew was to go forth to the land of the Oases, to preach amongst them in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ, that he said unto Peter, the chief of the Apostles: “O my father Peter! I have neither gone into this city, nor do I know the language of its people. I entreat thee to remain with me until thou shalt have brought me unto it; and what is His will, shall come to pass.” Peter replied, saying: “I shall not go out with thee alone but with the company; I am commanded by the Lord to bring each one to his city.” And Peter arose and Bartholomew, and they both went forth, seeking the city of the Oases.

 

2. And they traveled in the desert, and they met a rich man who had slaves, and ten camels with him. And when Peter and Bartholomew saw him, they rejoiced at it, and went on to meet him; and they said unto him: “Peace be on the owner of the camels.” He said unto them: “Peace be unto you.” Peter said unto him: “O thou man, unto what country art thou journeying with these camels?” The man said unto him: “To the city of the Oases.” Peter said unto him: “Do us a favor, and carry us with thee, and bring us to the city.” The owner of the camels said unto him: “And what cause hath led thee thither, when thou has nothing to sell in it?”

 

3. Peter said unto him: “We are not going to see nor to buy; we are servants of a good God, Whose name is Jesus. He hath chosen twelve men, and hath taught us commandments, and hath put into our hands the healing of all diseases. And He hath commanded us to go round about in the farthest countries, and to preach in His name, and exhort the people not to persist in their error, but to turn unto Him, that He may forgive their sins, and make them meet for His kingdom. And therefore we seek to enter the city, that we may bring these commandments unto them, which our Master hath taught us, that they may hearken unto them, and may forsake their former deeds, and may repent, so that they may live for ever.”

 

4. And when the man heard that speech, he said unto them: “If ye be some of the friends of Jesus, of Whom ye have spoken, we will not allow you to enter our city; because we have heard that ye lead the people astray, and ye separate women from their husbands; and ye say that except a man live in purity he cannot see God. And I am just coming from a friend who loves me greatly. When he saw me coming to meet him, he rejoiced over me, but this time he did not lift his head to greet me, on account of the grief in which he was. And I asked him what was the cause. And he told me that he had been in sorrow for ten days about his wife; for some of your people had come into the city, and had commanded the people to do all that you have said. And his wife had followed their speech, and had forsaken her husband. And I am afraid about myself, that if I bring you into my city, and you teach its people what your Master hath commanded you, my wife would hearken unto you, and would believe in your words, and would separate herself from me.”

 

5. And when they had heard this from him, they resolved on going away, and they were grieved. And Bartholomew said unto Peter: “What shall we do, that we may succeed in entering the city? Give me counsel.” Peter said unto him: “I will give thee counsel. But I fear that thou wilt meet with great trouble in this business, and thou wilt say: ‘Peter counseled it.’ But this is thy lot, and I will not separate myself from thee by the will of the Lord Jesus the Christ, Who desireth the salvation of every man, until I bring thee unto it.” Bartholomew said unto him: “Arise, O thou beloved father! The Lord is helping us. Let us disguise ourselves, and gird our loins, and get before this man without his knowing it; and when he gets up to us, let us ask him to carry us on his camels to the city. And if he should inquire about our business in it, say: ‘This slave who belongs to me, I will sell him in it.’ And if he should say unto thee: ‘What is his handicraft?’ say: ‘A vine-dresser.’ And when I shall have entered the city which the Lord gave unto me to speak in it, I will do what He hath commanded me.”

 

6. Peter said unto him: “The view which thou hast stated is good.” And they did that about which they had agreed; and they preceded the man in the journey until he got up to them. And Peter said unto him: “O thou good man, carry us with thee on these camels to the city of the Oases.” He said unto them: “And what is your business in it?” He said unto him: “I wish to enter it that I may sell this boy who belongs to me.” And when the man heard this speech from him he rejoiced with great joy, and he tied up the feet of his camels. And he said unto him: “This is a blessed day, for I have been away from my home for many days, I and those who are with me, with these camels, seeking for a boy whom I might buy, and I have not found one; and God hath made thee pass near me.” Then he said unto Peter: “Tell me what is his handicraft, that I may buy him from thee, and I will pay thee the price.” Peter said unto him: “He is a dresser of blighted vines, skilled in their cultivation.” The man said unto him: “I am seeking one like that, for I have many vineyards. I want him to be chief man in them.” And they agreed with each other about the price—thirty dinars. The man paid them to Peter; and he delivered Bartholomew to him. And he said unto Peter: “Wilt thou go with me to my house? Thou hast taken the price from me, and hast delivered up the boy to me, but I would fain honor thee in my home.” Peter said unto him: “May God repay thee with a rich reward for what thou hast done unto me. Do thou it unto this boy, and do not tire him out, but be gentle unto him, and thou wilt praise the result of it greatly.” And when Peter found how kind the owner of the camels was, he paid the money, which was the price of Bartholomew, to himself; and said unto him: “Let this be in thy keeping; if thou findest a needy man, pay some of it;” and he commanded him what was needful, and gave him the salutation of peace, and bade him farewell. And Peter returned.

 

7. And Bartholomew traveled with the owner of the camels, seeking the city. Then they went astray from the path, and all the water which they had with them came to an end, and the camels were tired, and some of them became separated from them, and died on the road. And the man wept, and those who were with him, saying: “Woe unto us! What hath befallen us because of this boy! Perhaps he was not a good boy when he was in his own country, and his master drove him away to this far-off land, where he is of no use to any one. And I do not grieve for the camels as I do for myself and for those who are with me, for we shall die of thirst in this desert.” And Bartholomew wept openly. And he prayed in his heart, and did not wish that they should know that he was a disciple of the Lord, lest they should prevent him from entering the city. And he took hold of the camels and said: “In the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ, the true God, let these camels rise, that these men may know who I am, and that they may not imagine what is not convenient for them.” And immediately the camels rose up, and returned to life as they had been. And the men were astonished and they said nothing; and they rode upon them, and journeyed.

 

8. And as they drew nigh unto the city Bartholomew dismounted, and girded up his loins, and went on in front of his master. And when they reached the city, lo, there was a blind man beside the gate, on whom the spirit of God descended. And he cried with a loud voice: “Have compassion on me, O Bartholomew, disciple of Jesus the Christ! Give me the light of mine eyes; for thou art able to do this.” And when Bartholomew heard the speech of the blind man he was silent. The man who had bought him said unto him: “Art thou one of the disciples of the Christ? And I have entered the city with thee? And I did not know thee?” Bartholomew said unto him: “I will not say unto thee that I am a disciple of the Christ until thou shalt have seen the wonders which shall appear in this city at my hand.” And the blind man repeated his saying: “Have compassion upon me, O disciple of the Christ! Give me the light of mine eyes.” He said unto him: “May He Who hath commanded thee to speak give thee the light of thine eyes!” And straightway his eyes were opened; and the astonishment of the man and of those who were with him increased.

 

9. And when that magistrate went into his house, he called his friends the magistrates, and said unto them: “Come, see this boy, whom I have bought, and who sayeth that he is a vine-dresser, skilled in the treatment of the vines. And a great wonder hath been shown by him on the way. Whilst we were journeying in the desert, we mistook the path, and the camels perished; and he raised them up alive, as they had been. And when we drew nigh unto the gate of the city he made that blind man see whom ye know sitting at the gate of the city. What would ye advise me to do with him? It is said that he is a clever worker, skilled in vines which are blighted, so that their cultivation may be restored.” His friends said unto him: “If he be a worker skilled in the treatment of the vines, let him remain with thee, and try his workmanship, if it be as hath been said; and if it be not, thou canst sell him, and take his price.” Then he called all the laborers who tended his vines, and sent to bring Bartholomew, and made him stand in the midst of them. And he said unto them: “I have made this man chief over you, and all that he sayeth unto you, hearken unto him.”

 

10. And Bartholomew went out to the vineyard in which he was to work, and he was busy all the day amongst the vines. And he entered the city at eventide, and remained teaching for the rest of the night, whom he could, for forty days; and not a single man harkened unto him. And after the forty days Bartholomew besought the Lord, and said: “O my Lord Jesus the Christ! How long shall I remain in this city and not a single man listen to my speech? Put me to death, O my Lord, in this city, this day.” And he stood and prayed in faith that it might be given unto him that a miracle might be shown at his hand. And after his prayer was ended, he said unto the blind man whom he had made to see—for he was with him, and had never left him: “Go into the city, and tell the magistrate, my master, to call thy friends, and go out to the vineyards, and thou shalt see this new handicraft which I have done today.” And the man went as he had commanded him, to the city. Then the disciple took three roots from the vines and laid them upon canes, and at once when he had suspended them, they bore good fruit. And when the magistrate went with his friends, they saw the wonder which the disciple had done, every root which he had taken bearing leaves before he had left it upon the canes, and the grapes coming. And they threw themselves down before the disciple, and worshipped him, saying: “O our Lord! Who art thou? Art thou God who hath appeared on the earth? Tell us which of the gods thou art, that we may bring thee a sacrificial offering. If thou art a man, tell us what sacrifice thou desirest that we should offer for thee.”

 

11. The disciple replied: “I am not one of those whom ye imagine; I am a servant of Jesus the Christ.” And he commanded them to bring canes, that he might put the rest of the vines upon them. And the magistrates went, and brought him canes, and a huge snake which was amongst the canes fastened itself on his hand and bit him; and he fell upon the ground in great pain. And they wept.

 

12. Bartholomew said unto them: “Why do ye weep? Is there no physician in this city to whom ye can send, that he may come and treat him?” And one of the slaves of the magistrate hastened and told his wife, and they came with a doctor to take care of him, and they found that he was dead. And his friends rent their garments; and they all wept for him. And the disciple was working amongst the canes, and he was singing. And some of those who were present said: “Look at this bad servant, he doth not weep for his lord; but he is very glad. And as for these sayings which he utters, we know not what it is.” Others said: “He is not a bad servant, for we have seen wonders from him which our fathers neither saw nor heard about.” And Bartholomew was diligent in his work until he finished it and washed his hands. And he said to those who were weeping: “Ye have wept enough. Go far away, that ye may see and behold the glory of our Lord and His strength.” And they did as he commanded them, and withdrew from him. And he stretched out his hands, saying: “O God, Who ruleth all things, Who sitteth on the throne of His glory, Who hath created the heaven, and the earth, and all that therein is, by his beloved Son, Jesus the Christ, Who hath not left us as pledges in the hand of our enemy Satan, and hath delivered us by His precious blood in Jesus the Christ, the pure Seed which beareth fruit in pure seeds; Who went out into the wilderness to seek the lost sheep until He restored it to the good fold. I entreat Thee, O my Lord Jesus the Christ! And I beseech Thee on behalf of this man whom a serpent hath bitten, that the serpent may return and take the poison which it has thrown into his body; and that he may live, to the glory of Thy name in this city.”

 

13. And while Bartholomew was praying, the serpent appeared from the place in which it was, and stood before Bartholomew. And it said: “Thou hast charged me to take the poison out of this man; and I shall die, and he will live.” Bartholomew replied to it: “Thou wast not called in order to multiply talk, but that we may know who thou art and who is thy father.” Then the serpent came near to the man, and took the poison out of him. Then the man arose alive, as he had been. And when they saw this wonder, they fell at the feet of the saint, saying, “Truly thy God is a mighty God. He hath power to make the dead live.” And the magistrate who was alive stood and said: “Have ye seen this wonder which I have seen from this man whom I have bought, a God, thinking that he was a man; I have bought a lord, saying that he was a slave.”

 

14. And he returned to the disciple and said unto him: “I adjure thee by the name of the God, Jesus the Christ, thy God, Whom I saw standing with thee when thou didst raise me up from death, I adjure thee by His name; do not refuse the request which I make unto thee, but respond to it.” The disciple said unto him: “If it be a good request, I will respond to thee, but tell me what it is.” The magistrate said unto him: “I desire that thou shouldest do away with this vineyard, and destroy it; for it is the place in which they blessing hath rested; and I will build a fine church, for this is the place in which I have died and come to life.”

 

15. Bartholomew said unto him: “Let it be as thou hast said.” Then he commanded the vineyard to be cleansed; and he brought straw, and drew a line upon the surface of the ground to the extent of the foundations of the church. And he commanded them to bring masons and all the architects, and the church was built with fine masonry until it was completed. And Bartholomew commanded that the multitude should be gathered together unto him, and he baptized them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost. And he took some of the grapes which were in the vine which bore leaves and fruit at the hands of the saint, and he squeezed it in a cup, and asked for clean bread, and made supplication, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave to the multitude of the Body and pure Blood of the Lord. And he appointed unto them the magistrate whom he had brought to life as presbyter, and he appointed unto them deacons, and he abode for three months preaching unto them; and he healed all the sick who were amongst them, and committed them to the Lord, and went out from amongst them; they bidding him farewell in peace, saying: “There is no God but God, the God of Bartholomew, Jesus the Christ, He Who sent thee unto us that thou mightest deliver us from our sins.” And he went forth from the city of the Oases, and journeyed to the city of Adinus, that he might preach in it in the name of the Christ, to Whom be praise and glory for ever and ever.

 

[MRS, xxv-xxvi, 69-75]

 

424. The Ethiopic Preaching of Saint Bartholomew in the Oasis

 

     Budge (­Contending of the Apostles­ II, London, 1902, 90) notes that the oasis referred to is probably that of Al-Bahnasa; but that the Coptic version has the Oasis Parva, where there was a church named after Bartholomew. Abu Salih says that this saint was martyred there, and that his body is in the church of Karbil. See on this Lipsius (­Die Apokryphen Apostelchichten­ I.ii, 1893, 86).

 

     In the following paragraphs, numbered to correspond with the Arabic text reported above, there are listed many of the emendations made in the Arabic text by its Ethiopic translator.

 

1. The ever-inclusive E has:—our Lord Jesus Christ; A has: the Lord.

 

2. A words its first sentence:—And they traveled in the desert, and they met a rich man who had slaves, and ten camels with him; but E expands this to:—And it came to pass that, as they were journeying through the desert country, they found a certain man who was the possessor of [merchandise]; now he had servants with him, and ten camels.\fn{Budge spells the word: merchandize.}

 

3. Expansion in E:—“It is not with us as thou thinkest, for we have no merchandise to sell. | A has:—and to preach; E has:—and to tell the story in His Name.

 

4. In the Ethiopic, at *—[is not able to see God Almighty ...* formerly when I]—Budge notes:\fn{A number of words have been dropped by the scribe here.} A has at this point: and I am just coming from a friend who loves me greatly. | E changes and expands A’s to greet me to:—to say unto me, ‘Peace be unto thee,’ by reason of.

 

5. In the Ethiopic sentence: And Bartholomew said unto him, “Rise up, O beloved father,* let us change our apparel and disguise ourselves, and let us gird up our loins, and [journey quickly along the road, so that we may] get in front of the master of the camels without his knowing who we are. the Arabic inserts at *:—the Lord is helping me,; but lacks the bracketed material. | The Ethiopic deletes A’s bracketed text:—‘I have a desire to sell this slave [who belongs to me] therein.’ | The vine-dresser of A has become the vineyard-keeper of E.

 

6. The Ethiopic deletes A’s bracketed text: to sell this my slave [who belongs to me.] | E has:—and he made his camels to kneel down; but A has:—and he tied up the feet of his camels. | In the Ethiopic, the price is thirty staters; in the Arabic it is thirty dinars. | A has:—but I would fain honor thee in my home; E expands to:—[there remaineth one other thing which I wish to do unto thee, and that is] to show thee kindness and hospitality in my habitation. | The bracketed ([]) E material (deal well now with this thy slave, [and sell him not,] and vex him not) is not in A. | Where E has:—Then Peter gave unto Bartholomew secretly the whole of the price which he had received for him, so that the master of the camels might not see him do it, and he said unto him, “If thou findest any poor man, take him with thee, and give unto him thereof. A has:—And when Peter found how kind the owner of the camels was, he paid the money, which was the price of Bartholomew, to himself; and said unto him: “Let this be in thy keeping; if thou findest a needy may, pay some of it.” Indeed, there is nothing in E about the kindness of A’s owner; but also, there is no secrecy to this action in A, as there is in E.

 

7. The bracketed material ([]) of E—(And Bartholomew departed with the master of the camels, [who was wishing to go to the city, and he was journeying along through the desert with the master of the camels] they wandered out of the path, and the water came to an end; [and the men of the caravan were weary,] and the camels strayed hither and thither, and died upon the road.)—is not found in A. | Where E has:—his god thrust him out therefrom unto this country, which is afar off, or else he was altogether useless there. A has:—his master drove him away to this far-off land, where he is of no use to any one. | Later on in the same paragraph, where E has:—that these men may not know who I am, and that they may not think about me except what they please.” A words the passage:—that these men may know who I am, and that they may not imagine what is not convenient for them.” | Expansion of E:—when on their journey [to the city.]

 

8. In E, the blind man is sitting in the city gate; in A, he is sitting beside it. | Later on E the blind man asks Bartholomew if he is an apostle, Bartholomew demurs, and the blind man cried out with a loud voice to Bartholomew to have mercy on him. In A, it is the man who had bought him who inquires about his apostolic identity, and the blind man who repeated his (i.e., Bartholomew's purchasers’) saying. | E ends this section with the phrase:—and they marveled greatly, and told the story unto those who were with him. Here A has:—and the astonishment of the man and of those who were with him increased.

 

9. At the start of this section, E has:—“Come and look at the slave whom I have bought, for his master declared that he was a vineyard keeper, and that he was able to make wine, but many marvelous things have been revealed unto us by him.; but A makes this:—“Come, see this boy, whom I have bought, and who sayeth that he is a vine-dresser, skilled in the treatment of the vines. And a great wonder hath been shown by him on the way. | E has:—His master declared that; but A has:—It is said that. | A has simply:—Then he; but at this point E has:—Now by reason of this (advice the nobleman)—the bracketed lines so indicated in E by Budge.

 

10. The following ([] bracketed) expansions of A, and ({} bracketed) deletions of A appear in E (using E’s text):—and he dwelt there forty days, [and was teaching in this wise,] but there was no man who listened unto him. And after forty days Bartholomew [wept,] and spake unto God, saying, “O Jesus Christ, how long shall I abide here in this city {and not a single man listen to my speech? Put me to death, O my Lord, in this city, this day.”} | A has the following text:—And after his prayer was ended, he said unto the blind man whom he had made to see—for he was with him, and had never left him: “Go into the city, and tell the magistrate, my master, to call thy friends, and go out to the vineyards, and thou shalt see this new handicraft which I have done today.” And the man went as he had commanded him, to the city.; but E both expands ([]) and reinterprets the passage (itself edited {} by Budge), as follows:—And it came to pass that, when he had finished his prayer, he spake unto the blind man, whose eyes he had opened, who was with Bartholomew, and who had never separated from him [during the whole time in which he had dwelt in the city, even from the time when he first came therein,] {saying, “Go into the city.”}\fn{Budge notes: Some lines have dropped out of the text here.} And the nobleman {i.e., the master of the camels} said unto Bartholomew, “When shall I invite my friends to come to the vineyard and see the new method by which thou art treating the grapes this day?” Now the {blind} man departed into the city even as he had commanded him. | A has:—Then the disciple took three roots from the vines and laid them upon canes, and at once when he had suspended them, they bore good fruit; but E emends this to:—[And it came to pass that when he had departed,] the Apostle took three [branches of a withered vine] and suspended them upon [props of wood] forthwith, and immediately he had suspended them they bore [fine] fruit. | E edits out A’s text (indicated by [] in E’s text):—and saying unto him, “Thou art our Lord. [O our Lord, who art thou?] Art thou a god who has revealed thyself upon the earth? Who art thou among the gods, [that we may bring thee a sacrificial offering. If thou art a man,] peradventure thou art Kuronos?\fn{Budge notes here: Kronos?}

 

11. Compare the way E words this paragraph with that of A:—And the Apostle answered and said unto them, “I am not one of these beings [as] ye imagine, but I am a servant of Jesus.” And Bartholomew commanded that they should bring canes (or reeds) unto him so that he might suspend the rest of the [branches of the] vines upon them, and the nobleman went to fetch canes for him; and a great snake which was among the canes coiled itself round his hands and bit him, and he fell down upon the ground in great pain, and his servants wept. I have no explanation as to why the bracketed editings should be in different forms: I assume they are all by Budge. (The word or is, in Budge’s text, italicized.)

 

12. E has:—Is there not a physician [here] who can heal him?, and Budge notes that the bracketed word is added from B. A has in place of “here”, in this city to whom ye can send. | The information underlying the following text appears here in E, but in A in paragraph 15; this is E’s text:—Then Bartholomew commanded that all the people should be gathered together unto him, and he baptized them, saying, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” And he took a bunch of grapes from the vine which had sprouted, and had borne fruit through him, and he squeezed out the juice thereof into a cup; and he brought forth pure bread, and he made a prayer and gave thanks, and he break the bread, and gave unto the multitudes the Body of our Lord and His precious Blood. And all the friends of the nobleman rent their garments and wept for him. | The Ethiopic has:—this wicked slave; but the Arabic has:—this bad servant. | E has:—the glory of my God; but A has:—the glory of our Lord. | Expansion in E:—Who dwellest in the habitation of Thy glory, Who hast created the heavens, and the earth, [and the sea,] and all that therein is.

 

13. A has:—the nobleman who was alive; but E says:—the nobleman who had returned to life. A has:—this man whom I have bought? a God, thinking that he was a man; I have bought a lord, saying that he was a slave.” E words this:—This man whom I have bought, thinking that he was a man, is a god; and he whom I bought and declared to be a slave is a nobleman.”

 

14. Expansions of E ([]); deletions from A ({}): Then the nobleman went to the Apostle, and said unto him, [“O master,] I adjure thee ... I will deal with thee [in a fair manner;] but tell me now, what is thy request?” And the nobleman said unto him, “I wouldst that thou didst command me to do away with the vineyard, {and destroy it; for it is the place where thy blessing hath rested,} and to build. | E has:—and to build a fair church in the place thereof, for in that place I learned to know God, and in that place I died, and in that place I came to again.”; but A has:—and I will build a fine church, for this is the place in which I have died and come to life.

 

15. A has:—straw; but E translates:—dry reeds (or) stubble. | The information underlying the text bracketed [] in chapter 15 of the Arabic would have appeared here (*) in A, had A not transferred it to chapter 11 of A; but at this point E continues to the end as follows:— and a beautiful church was built from the beginning even unto the completion thereof. * And Bartholomew appointed as priest the nobleman whom he had raised from the dead, and he appointed deacons [for the congregation]. And he dwelt in the city for [three] months teaching the people, and he healed all those who were sick therein, and he brought them unto God Almighty; and [when] he went forth [from] them they sent him away in peace, saying unto him, “There is no God but Jesus Christ Who hath sent thee unto us to cleanse us from our sins.” So Bartholomew departed from Elwah, and journeyed to the country of N’indos (Naidas) to preach therein in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to Whom be glory and honor for ever and ever! Amen, and amen.

 

[COA, II, 90-103]

 

425. The Arabic Martyrdom of Bartholomew

 

The Arabic version of this tale is quoted in its entirety below.

 

1. And when Bartholomew, the disciple of the Lord, went to the great cities built upon the shore of the sea, whose people knew not God, but were like the wandering sheep in the greatness of their ignorance; the blessed Bartholomew went in unto them and proclaimed unto them the Gospel of the Lord. And when he entered the city, he preached thus unto them: “Hearken, all ye inhabitants of the city, ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they are those that shall be filled. Blessed are they that give to the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and they lend unto God. Blessed is he who hath a wife, and is as he who hath no wife, they are those who shall inherit the earth’”

 

2. And when they heard this from the holy Bartholomew, God, the Sustainer of all, opened their hearts, and they received the commandments of God, Who desireth the life of the sinner, and his repentance, and his return unto Himself, that He may forgive him. Thus He gave unto all the people of this city a strong character, and a right conscience, from the eldest to the youngest of them. And they obeyed, and believed in God and the Gospel. And all the words of Bartholomew were sweet to their hearts like honey, and the honeycomb in the heart of all who listened to him. And all the city and all the region forsook the worship of idols and believed in God Who loveth the salvation of the race of Adam; Who formed their hearts for the sweetness of faith that He might save their souls and forgive them; and every one amongst them remitted all his friend's debts to him.

 

3. And when the people of the city and all the district called to Bartholomew he blessed their multitude, and many of the men and women loved God and obeyed His commandments, and forsook all the works of the devil and this fleeting world, and they loved purity.

 

4. And the call of the saint was spread abroad to every place that was near. And all who heard the preaching of the Gospel believed in God with all their hearts and all their souls. And the name of Bartholomew and his preaching reached Agrippus the king. And when Iphia, the king’s wife heard it, she withdrew herself from the company of the king and from all contamination with him.

 

5. And when the king heard that his wife had withdrawn her self from him and had accepted the words of Bartholomew who had commanded every one in the knowledge of the truth and the faith of Jesus the Christ to do so, he went in haste and brought him to his presence. And when he appeared, the king said unto him: “Art thou Bartholomew the wizard—a friend of Jesus?”

 

6. The disciple replied to him with great boldness and courage: “I am not a wizard as thou hast affirmed, O thou king! But all sorcery and every deed that is done becomes vain when Jesus the Christ is mentioned.”

 

7. And the king commanded that he should be removed from his presence; and he said to those who were beside him to bring to him his wife. And Bartholomew went a little way aside from the king and stretched out his hands, and prayed the prayer of the Gospel, and said, “Amen.”

 

8. Then a blind man came to him, who could see nothing with his right eye, and one of his hands had been withered since he was born, and entreated him to heal him. And when the disciple looked into the blind man’s face, his eye was promptly opened, and it became like its fellow. And the disciple said unto him: “Give me thy hand, that I may speak unto thee, that the power of my Lord Jesus the Christ may appear, that every one may see and may believe in His name.” And when the man pulled his hand out from his raiment, he found that it was straight like the other. And he went forth from the crowd, praising God and thanking Him, and preaching in the name of the blessed disciple. And he went about in all the countries, preaching in them, and telling their people about the beauty of God’s dealing with him; and about the power which had been shown forth at the hand of Saint Bartholomew.

 

9. And Agrippus said unto the nobles of his kingdom and to all his servants: “If this disciple should remain alive in this country he will turn us all to his faith. And it will be best for us to kill him and to destroy his body so that it may no more be found.” They answered him, saying: “As the king hath commanded,” for their hearts were sorrowful; they did not wish him to be slain, for they rejoiced in him from what they had seen of the many wonders which God had done by his hands. They said unto the king: “If the king desireth this, let him drive him away from our country.” And the people of the country were anxious for his deliverance from his hands. And he was wroth with a great wrath, and swore with great oaths that he would not hearken unto their speech, but would slay him in a cruel manner; and no one could answer him anything.

 

10. And Bartholomew continued to go about in all the neighborhood, and to preach the good news of the Gospel in it, and to exhort the multitude, and to command them and teach them faith in the Lord Jesus the Christ.

 

11. After these things, a wicked man came to the king and said unto him: “Thou carest not that Bartholomew should go throughout all the country and contradict thy commandments and insult thy gods.” And when he heard it he was wroth with a great wrath and sent two of the captains of his army and his men to seek for Bartholomew; and he commanded them that in whatever place he should be found, they should bind his hands and his feet, and throw him into the sea, so that his body might not be found. And the messengers journeyed on their way, and they found Bartholomew casting a devil out of a man who had been possessed with it for a long time, and teaching the multitude, and commanding them to believe in the Lord Jesus the Christ. And when the messengers drew nigh to the blessed disciple, he called to them with the greeting of peace, and said unto them: “The peace of the Lord be upon you, O brethren!” And they stood gazing at one another, wondering at his meekness and the beauty of his love. They answered him, saying: “Wilt thou go with us to the presence of the king; for he calleth for thee? And if thou dost not wish it, we will not compel thee to appear with us without thy consent; for we are sure that God dwelleth with thee in all thy circumstances.” And the disciple said to himself: “I must not resist the commandment of the Lord, which He said, ‘Ye shall be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake,’ and this is His will.” And he went with them to Agrippus the king. And when he looked at him, he said unto him: “Art thou he who hath raised a sedition in this city and all its districts, and doth separate women from their husbands?” The holy disciple answered and said unto him: “It is not I who have raised a sedition in the city, and who separates women from their husbands; but God in Whom they have believed with all their hearts and souls, He it is Who hath given them purity. And thou, O Agrippus, if thou wilt receive thy soul from me, thou shalt be saved, and shall inherit the kingdom of heaven instead of this fleeting sovereignty.”

 

12. And when Agrippus heard this from him, he was wroth with a great wrath, because of what Satan had made him understand about the separation from his wife. And he commanded the guards to fill a hair-sack with sand, and to put the saint into it, and throw him into the sea. And they did as the king commanded them.

 

13. And this came to pass on the first day of Thoth. And this was his death and he rested. And afterwards the water cast him on the shore of the city on the second day. And people who had believed in the Lord by means of him, took him and swathed him in a fine shroud, and put him into a good place. And praise be to the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen. And praise be unto God always and for ever.

 

[MRS, xxv-xxvi; 77-79]

 

426. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Bartholomew in Naidas

 

     The Ethiopic version of the martyrdom of Bartholomew is dependent upon the Arabic text as a source, but makes very free with it, expanding or contracting it at will. These modifications are listed in conformity with the numbered paragraphs of the Arabic text above, as follows:

 

1. The Ethiopic expands the Arabic (E’s text used):—And [it came to pass that] when Bartholomew, [the disciple of the Lord, had journeyed to Nasmefin and Niendos,] which were two great cities built upon the sea shore,; A has only:—And when Bartholomew, the disciple of the Lord, went to the great cities built upon the shore of the sea, | E words the second beatitude:—for unto them shall men show mercy; A has, more generally:—for they shall obtain mercy. | E words the fourth beatitude:—for they shall be satisfied; but A has:—for they shall be called the children of God.

 

2. The following expansions ([]) of the Arabic are noticeable in E (text of E used):—Now as the people were listening unto this doctrine from Saint Bartholomew, God [Almighty, the Father and] the Sustainer of all things, opened their hearts, and they accepted the commandments of God [Almighty the Sustainer of all things,] Who desireth that the sinner shall receive life.\fn{A has here: the life of the sinner.} and shall return unto Him that He may forgive him, In this wise He gave unto the people of that city [the power of the knowledge of Him,]\fn{A has here: a strong character.} and a right mind, from the greatest of them even unto the least, and they hearkened and believed in God [Almighty] and in His Gospel, and in the word of Bartholomew, which was become sweet in the hearts, even as is honey [in the belly,] of all those who listened thereto.

 

3. A has blessed their multitude, and many of the men and women in place of the bracketed ([]) material in E:—Then the people of the city and of the regions round about it called upon Bartholomew to [bless them, and all the inhabitants thereof, both male and female, and they] loved God,.

 

4. Expansions ([]) to A and a deleting of it ({})—And [it came to pass that] the story of Saint Bartholomew and of his preaching went forth into every place, and all those who heard the preaching of the Gospel believed in God [Almighty] with all their hearts, {and all their souls.} | A has Agrippus instead of E’s Akrepas (which Budge spells ‘Acarpus’); and Iphia as Agrippus’ wife (in E, unnamed, although the accompanying descriptive Arabic phrase—And when Iphia, the king’s wife heard it,— is cited in the parallel place in the Ethiopic text—and when the wife of the king heard thereof.)

 

5. E has:—the man of Jesus Christ, which Budge footnotes as follower, and A transliterates as friend.

 

6. E expands thus ([]):—I am not, O king, a sorcerer as thou sayest, [for sorcery cannot be wrought in the Name of Jesus;] but all sorcery,.

 

7. E words its version of the Arabic very similarly:—Then the king commanded them to take him out of his presence, and he ordered those who were with him to bring his wife unto him. Then Saint Bartholomew stood up at a little distance from the king, and he stretched out his hands, and prayed the prayer of the Gospel, and said “Amen.”

 

8. The following expansions ([]) and contractions ({}) of A by E are bracketed (E’s text used):—who was blind in his right eye, [(now he could see nothing whatever therewith)] and whose hand and arm had been dried up from the day of his birth, came towards the Apostle, [and drew nigh unto him,] and besought him to heal him; and immediately the apostle had looked upon the man his eye was opened and it became like unto its fellow. And the Apostle said unto him, [“I say unto thee,] Give me thy hand [and arm, {that I may speak unto thee,}] that the might of Christ may be revealed, and that all men may see and may believe in His holy Name;” and as the man was putting them forth from his apparel, he found that the withered hand and arm [were living and] were like unto the other hand and arm.

 

9. E has:—he will lead us all into his fair path; which Budge defines as fair path of life, but which A states is:—faith. | Expansion in E:—and they answered [and said unto] him, ... hearken unto their words, and that, [on the contrary,] he wished. | E has:—swore with a mighty oath; but A has:—swore great oaths.

 

10. E words this paragraph very similarly to A:—And Bartholomew went round about through the country and preached unto them the preaching of the Gospel, and he taught the multitudes, and commanded them to learn the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

11. Expansion and emendations in E:—And [it came to pass that] when the king heard thereof, he was wroth with a great wrath because of this thing, and he sent [certain captains of his host, together with a large number of; A has: two of the] men, to seek out ... so that he might not again be found [on the earth.] And [it came to pass that,] when ... subject unto him for a [very long time past,; A has: long time] and he was teaching the multitude and commanding them to believe in [God, our Lord Jesus Christ.; A has: in the Lord Jesus the Christ.] ... for My Name’s sake.’” [therefore they desired this thing] and he went. | For A, they were wondering at his meekness and the beauty of his love; for E they were marveling at his simplicity, and at the beauty of his appearance. | A has:—And the disciple said to himself; E has:—Then the Apostle said within himself\fn{Budge footnotes: Or: in the spirit.} | A has: Thou shalt be saved; but E translates this: Thou shalt deliver thyself.

 

12. E expanded ([]) or deleted ({}) or otherwise edited A for the rest of the work as follows:—And [it came to pass that] when [Akrepos; A has: Agrippus] heard these words from him, he was angry with a great anger, [for he had kept in his mind how his wife had separated herself from him.; A has: because of what Satan had made him understand about the separation from his wife.] Then he commanded the officers of his guards to fill a [sack; A has: hair-sack] with sand, and to put [Saint Bartholomew; A has: the saint] therein and to cast him into the sea; and they did as the king had commanded them.

 

13. Now he died on the first day of [the month Maskarram,; A has: of Thoth. {And this was his death and he rested.}] and afterwards the waves [of the sea] cast him up, and on the day following certain believing men, who had confessed the faith in God through him, swathed him in [swathings,; A has: a fine shroud] and laid him in a fair place. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, [now, henceforth, and] for ever and ever. Amen, [and Amen. So be it!; A has for this: And praise be unto God always and for ever. Amen.]

 

[COA, II, 104-110]

 

***

 

XXIX: MATTHEW

 

427. The Received Gospel of Matthew

 

     The ­Received Gospel of Matthew­ is an account of Jesus’ deeds and words, drawn from Christian sources both oral and written, and arranged in a generally biographical order; and all of it set in a manual of Christian teaching in which Jesus Christ is described particularly as the fulfiller and fulfillment of God’s will as disclosed in the Received Old Testament­. The subject matter of the book features an infancy narrative (Matthew­ 1:18-25) quite independent of the one in ­Luke­; and from 3:1 onwards, ­Matthew­ appears to derive the bulk of its narrative material from ­Mark­ (almost all of which gospel is incorporated into Matthew’s text). There is also (mainly conversational) material which is paralleled in ­Luke­ ( = the ­Q­ material); and there are considerable sections peculiar to ­Matthew­ himself.

 

     Among the characteristics of this gospel, one may mention: (1) its tendency to group together similar material which is scattered in ­Luke­ (e.g., the contents of the Sermon on the Mount); (2) the fullness with which this gospel records Jesus’ teachings; (3) its special interest in the relation of the gospel to Jewish law, with its stress on Christianity as the ‘New Law;’ (4) the special commission given to Peter (16:17-20); and (5) the record of the post-Resurrection appearances in Galilee (­Matthew­ 28).

 

     The work has at least ten ancient witnesses. It was probably known to (1) the author of the ­Didache­ (perhaps c.100AD), and (2) Ignatius of Antioch (d.c.110). (3) Papias of Hierapolis (d.c.130) records that Matthew wrote the Sayings, in the Hebrew tongue; and if the reference is to the Received gospel of that name, this is yet more early evidence for its ascription to the Apostle. (4) From the time of Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.220), ­Matthew­ was regularly ascribed to the Apostle by name. Commentaries exist on ­Matthew­ by (5) Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254); (6) Hilary of Poitiers (d.367); (7) Chrysostom of Constantinople (d.407); (8) Jerome of Strido (d.420); (9) Augustine of Hippo-Regius (d.430); and (10) Peter of Laodicea (c.7th-8th centuries).

 

     But despite this strong witness for an early date, the fact that it stands first in the Received canon, and that it was the preferred gospel of Orthodox Christianity since the 2nd century, there is reason to suppose that the work may not be dated very early in the 1st century AD.

 

1. With its strong emphasis upon the Law and its constant dispute with the leaders of Judaism, ­Matthew­ certainly would seem to have been written for a Jewish-Christian church in a strongly Jewish environment. But, though the uniquely Matthean Tradition presupposes the scholarly work of teachers acquainted with the Hebrew language, the gospel itself belongs to Greek-speaking Christianity. (a) Its main sources are Greek writings (Mark­ and ­Q­), and (b) its author often substitutes more fluent Greek idioms for the clumsy sentences of his sources.

 

2. The fall of Jerusalem (70AD) is clearly presupposed in Matthew­ 22:6-7—(while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.)—and perhaps also at ­Matthew­ 23:37-39—(O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under here wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate. \fn{Other ancient authorities omit: and desolate.} For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”)

 

3. The name of Levi the tax collector at ­Mark­ 2:14—(As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.)—is changed to Matthew in ­Matthew­ 9:9—(As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ``Follow me." And he got up and followed him.)—indicating the name in Mark­ is the older of the two authorities.

 

4. There is critical opposition to naming Matthew as the author of the gospel, chiefly on the grounds that the Apostle Matthew would have no need for such extensive recourse to works by even his fellow Apostles.

 

5. Modern scholars commonly hold that ­Matthew­ draws extensively on ­Mark­, which he expanded with the aid of Q­. If so, the early tradition that ­Matthew­ was written in Hebrew (by which Aramaic is probably meant) is untenable.

 

6. The author is sometimes regarded as the most “ecclesiastical” of the Evangelists—for the only two occurrences of the Greek word for church in the Received gospels occur at ­Matthew­ 16:18—(And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.)—and at Matthew­ 18:17—(If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.) and this, coupled with the fact that of the four Received gospels, ­Matthew­ is the one best adapted to public reading, argues for its authorship at some time later than the comparatively unsettled nature of the most primitive forms of Christianity.

 

7. Evidence of developed Christological, doctrinal and liturgical formulations have also been alleged for Matthew­, indicating a later 1st century date.

 

8. The Greek of the gospel is correct, if rather colorless (so Moulton); and this could indicate a man of mature years as the author.

 

     This evidence would seem to belie the statement of Papias that the gospel was written first in Hebrew by the disciple Matthew. Indeed, all the evidence would seem to indicate that its otherwise unknown author was a third-generation Christian teacher active during the last third of the 1st century. ­Matthew­ is perhaps to be dated c.80 AD, but all the evidence is so indirect that it is consistent with any date between c.65 and 100AD (though the ENC, it is true, prefers a date more narrowly drawn to anything between 75-100). In time—perhaps almost at once—a title containing Matthew’s name, and signifying Apostolic authority, came to identify the work.

 

     Matthew­ could have been written somewhere outside Palestine in a strong Greek-speaking Jewish community. Since it was probably used first by Ignatius of Antioch (d.c.110AD), the coastal district of Syria is perhaps the best suggestion of a possible place of origin, although the city of Antioch itself is unlikely because Antioch also was influenced by Pauline teachings, which are lacking in ­Matthew­.

 

[ODC, 874-875; OAB, 1171, 1179; ENC, XIV, 1117-1118]

 

428. 429. 430. The Greek Martyrdom of Matthew. The Latin Martyrdom of Matthew. The Coptic Acts and Martyrdom of Matthew.

 

     Tischendorf (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, 1851, LX-LXIII, 243-260) edits the Greek text of this work for the first time; but it appears that both the Greek and the Latin were later edited by Bonnet (­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­ II.2, 1903, 217-262). The Coptic version was edited by Wustenfeld (­Synaxarium­, 1879, 65ff). There is representing this work also an Arabic version (#431, below); and CAT also notes that there is a Coptic-Ethiopic martyrdom legend of St. Matthew, on which see #432, below.

 

     Of Tischendorf’s introduction, in Latin and Greek—in which language he includes comments by Nicephorus of Constantinople (d.c.829) on this text—I have reproduced the Latin portions below:

 

Horum Matthaei actuum et actuum Petri et Andreae, quorum fragmentum Woogius ex codice Barocciano 180. Hausit, a Thilone quoque repetitum), eadem cum actis Andreae et Matthiae, de quibus iam explicuimus, neces-situdo est: utrisque enim continuantur acta Andreae et Matthiae. Arctissime autem cohaerent cum eo quod in actis Andr. et Matth. exeunte sectione 21. dictum est:

 

     [The appropriate part of the ­Acts of Andrew and Matthew­ 21 is then quoted in Greek; and the Latin then continues—]

 

Huc enim spectat quum actorum Petri et Andreae initium, tum id quod ab initio actuum Matthaei legitur:

 

     [A few words—6—in Greek appear; and the Latin then continues—]

 

De nominum quidem Matthaei et Matthiae, frequenti confusione modo diximus. Ut autem in actis iis quae praecedunt ubique edidimus Matthiam ([there is a single Greek proper name printed in this bracket]) pro auctoritate antiquissimi codicis eius quem maxime per totum libellum secuti sumus, ita in his alteris Matthaeum scripsimus pro utriusque codicis nostri scriptura. Quae inconstantia eo magis improbari poterit quoniam idem Parisiensis codex, ex quo Matthaei acta petivimus, etiam in actis Andreae et Matthiae (signatus siglo B) plerumque, etsi non ubique, Matthaeum habet. Haec utriusque nominis confusio nescio an nonnihil fecerit ad magnam varietatem atque inconstantiam ipsarum de Matthaeo traditionum. De quibus accuratius quaesituros ut nobis liceat inprimis ad Acta SS. tom. VI. mens. Septembr. d. 21. pag. 194-227., item ad Menaea Graecorum mens. Novembr. die 16. delegare, atque item ad Pseudo-Abdiae historiarum apostolicarum librum VII. (apud Fabricium Cod. apocr. tomo II. pag. 636-668. editum), in quo quidem praeter morem paene nihil reperitur quod cum libello nostro componi queat: satis habebimus locum adscribere Nicephori, egregiae testantem quantam ad narrationes de Matthaeo ab ipso traditas vim habuerint acta nostra: nimirum penitus ille ab his vel horum simillimis pendere videtur. Locus est in Nicephori hist. eccles. II, 41. atque sic habet:

 

     [There then follows a considerable citation from Nicephorus, in Greek; then the Latin continues—]

 

Huius libelli hucusque inediti ac paene ignoti duo ad edendum invenimus documenta, alterum Parisiense, alterum Vindobonense, satis illa quidem inter se diversa. Parisiensem scripturam plerumque antiquiorem proptereaque Vindobonensi praeferendam duximus, sed utriusque comparandae doctis lectoribus plenam in commentario copiam fecimus.

 

Parisiensis (Par) codex idem est de quo iam identidem vidimus, signatus in bibliotheca Reg. nunc Nation. Num-ero 881., saeculi undecimi, ubi folio 281. verso loco decimo acta Matthaei incipiunt.

 

Vindobonensis (Vind) is est quem Lambecius et Kollarius ``pervetustum elegantem et optimae notae" dicunt, recensentes commentariorum libro VIII. num XIX. loco 21. pag. 590 sq.

 

     Any discussion of the traditions concerning Matthew the Apostle must take into account that we have in it to do with at least four distinct works concerned with this Apostle: (1) the Received tradition, certainly from the 1st century AD, perhaps c.80; (2) a tradition concerning the acts alone, or a fused acts/martyrdom; (3) a tradition concerning the martyrdom as a separately published entity; and (4) a tradition, represented by a single work, concerned with James, Matthew’s brother. In these, number 427 represents the first of these traditions, numbers 428, 429, 430, 431, and 432 are part of the second tradition; numbers 433, 434 and 435 are concerned with the third; and number 436 represents the fourth. (H)

 

     The long extract from Nicephorus reproduced by Tischendorf shows that this patriarch of Constantinople was acquainted with the Greek of this tradition, or something very like it. Its text is edited from two manuscripts: a Parisian one of the 11th century, and a Viennese one of an unspecified but later date.

 

     Of this tradition, however, there is preserved in Greek and Latin only the martyrdom with the story in which it is enframed. The Coptic material is an (even shorter) digest of the Arabic version; and it is on this Arabic digest that the Ethiopic is dependent, however much it may hearken back to the version represented by the Coptic text. This does not bother Lipsius, however, for he considers (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ II.2, 1883, 117) that there is no connection between the story represented by the ­martyria­ of this tradition, and that represented by the acta­ tradition of numbers 433, 434 and 435 (below); reasoning so because in the ­martyria­ the scene of operations is transferred from the city of Kahenat to the kingdom of Parthia (in which the giving of ones body for food to the birds was quite in accord with the customs of the country of Zoraster).

 

     Critical opinion, however, say that it is a much later production than the Greek ­Acts of Andrew and Matthias­ (6th century?, #391) above), upon which a certain literary dependency has been noticed by some; but there are those who disagree with this, and see no relationship between this Matthew tradition and that with which the Greek Acts of Andrew and Matthias­ is connected. Others have seen a dependence upon the Acts of Andrew­ (not later than the early 6th century AD). (The fact that it is written in barbarous Greek may also point to the 6th or 7th century, a time of political unsettlement in the Roman Empire. It seems also certain that there is an indication that both the Arabic and the Ethiopic versions of this tradition were made after the Council of Chalcedon of 451AD, for the translator could not refrain from explaining that the two natures in the God-man were not confounded. H)

 

     On the entire aspect of the acts of Matthew, see (1) Fabricius (­Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­ II, 1703, 636-668), who prints the Latin account discussed under #433 (below) which has nothing to do with #429 (above) but which leads more toward the Arabic or Ethiopic legends; (2) Tischendorf (­op.cit­.), who edits the Greek text for the first time; (3) Walker (in ­The Anti-Nicene Christian Fathers­ XVI, 1873, xvii, 373-378), who produces the first English translation; (4) Hoffmann (in Herzog’s ­Realencyklopadie für Protestantische Theologie und Kirche­ I, 1877, 525); (5) Wustenfeld (­Synaxarium­, 1879, 65ff), who publishes the ­Coptic Acts and Martyrdom of Matthew­; (6) Coxe (in ­The Anti-Nicene Christian Fathers­ VIII, 1886, 528-534), who produces a fresh English translation; (7) Bonnet (­Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden­ II.2, 1903, 109-141); (8) Bardenhewer (in Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, 1913, 588-589); (9) James (­Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924, 460-462), who produces the most recent English text of the work—a summary of the Latin Passio Sancti Matthaei­ (#433, below); (10) Soder (“Die Apockryphen Apostelgeschichten und Die Romanhaste Literatur der Antike,” Wurzburger Studien zur Alterwiss­ III, 1932, 17-18); (11) Atenolfi (­I Testi Meridionali Degli Atti di S. Matteo l’Evangelista­, 1958) and (12) Hennecke, Schneemelcher and Wilson (­New Testament Apocrypha­ II, 1965, 577).

 

[ANF, VIII, 356; PRO, LX-LXIII; ANT, 460-462; NTA, II, 577; CAT, II, 611; MRS, xxviii]

 

431. The Arabic Martyrdom of Matthew

 

     The text of the ­Arabic Martyrdom of Matthew­ appears below in its entirety. Lipsius (­Die Appokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ II.2, 1883, 117) thinks that the Egyptian tale of this martyrdom strengthens the tradition that the Apostle preached in Parthia. See before #146, where there is a brief sketch of when the various linguistic traditions came into being.

 

1. And when Matthew the Evangelist had come to Jerusalem and the land of Judea, he wrote his Gospel in the Hebrew tongue; and he went out to Parthia, and preached the Gospel of the Christ to them; and confirmed them in the true faith. And when he knew that their faith was strengthened, and that of all who were in that country, he went out from amongst them rejoicing and exulting in what God had given him of their faith. And he journeyed in that country from the frontier of Berinat, and preached amongst them, and evangelized them with the Word of God the Life-giver; and His birth from the pure Virgin, the Lady Mary, the mother of God in truth; and His death; and the beginning of the genealogy which was the Christ's; teaching every one that God dwelt in the body which He received from the Virgin Mary without intercourse with a man. And He was united with it, but He was not confounded, and was not mingled, and was not divided.

 

2. And Saint Matthew visited the prison and cured all who were in it without recompense. And the cure which he gave to every one was his saying: “In the name of Jesus the Christ may you have healing.” And straightway his saying was accomplished. And he healed all who believed in God by his means.

 

3. And once upon a day Matthew went into the prison, and he found in it a man of whom much money was required, on whom the gaolers inflicted a severe punishment. And when he looked at him and at his torture, and his much weeping, he had compassion on him, and said unto him: “Why do I see thee in this great grief and much weeping?” He said unto him: “I am the slave of Festus, and I was trusted and acceptable in speech with him. And he committed much property to me; and commanded me to go over the sea, and trade with the same. And I fulfilled his commandment and went forth; and sailed on the sea. And the sea was tempestuous against me, and a mighty wind was stirred up in it; and the boat sank, and all that was in it. And I despaired of life in this tribulation. And God sent a little boat which brought me out to the shore of the sea. And I returned to my lord, Festus, to tell him all that had happened. And he said unto me in wrath: ‘Whence hast thou come?’ And I told him all that had befallen me on the sea. And he was wroth with a fierce wrath, because of his great love of money. And therefore he threw me into the prison and required of me that I should repay him some of the money.”

 

4. And when Matthew had heard this from him, he was very sorrowful and said unto him: “Weep not, and be not grieved; but believe that God dwelleth in the heart of every man who believeth in Him.” The man said unto him: “And what dost thou desire me to do, for I am in great sorrow? Verily I say unto thee, O good servant of God, that many times I have wanted to kill myself for the greatness of the torture which is inflicted on me.” The disciple said unto him: “I will tell thee this great secret; but swear to me that if what I tell thee be fulfilled thou wilt believe in God all the days of thy life.” And the man threw himself down before the Apostle, and said unto him: “God be my witness, that if a bit of bread should come to me by thy hands through what thou hast commanded me, I will believe in the Christ who was crucified.”

 

5. The disciple said unto him: “If on the morrow thy lord Festus should inquire for thee, and should bring thee out of the prison to punish thee as is his wont, and if when thou seest him he commanded concerning thee that thou be punished, say unto him: ‘I entreat thee, O my lord, to spare me today; and perhaps God will open a way to me, and the hearts of the people of this city will have compassion on me to help me to my deliverance.’ And perchance there will appear in his judgment-hall someone who will be surety for thee for two days. And if he release thee, go to the place where the boat sank; thou wilt find everything of thine that perished lying, take it and deliver it to him. And pay what thou owest. And be free, thou and thy household.”

 

6. And on the morrow Festus sent and brought him out of the prison, and commanded that he should be set up for punishment, in anger. And he entreated him for a respite, as the disciple had commanded him. And he consented to what he asked for. And he went out to the place in which the boat had sunk, trusting that all which the disciple had said unto him would be fulfilled. And he looked to the right on the shore of the sea and he found a great bag\fn{Or: ragged cloth.} filled with dinars; and he took it, and returned to the city blessing God, and thanking the holy disciple.

 

7. And he went in unto Festus and delivered the bag to him. And he opened it, and counted up what was in it, and found therein two thousand dinars. And Festus said unto him: “What is this?” He said unto him: “This is the price of the boat which sank in the sea, and of all that was in it.”

 

8. And he said unto him: “And whence hast thou got this money?” And he told them the story; his condition, and what the disciple said unto him, and his discovery of the money; and Festus said unto him: “What is this silly talk which I hear from thee? Perhaps thou hast gone out to a place where thou hast bored into it and plundered it, and thou hast come hither with it?”

 

9. The man said unto him: “Nay, by the truth of my Lord the Christ, the God of Matthew, I have not bored through any place except the one I have told thee of. This is the truth. And if thou desire to see him, behold he is in the prison healing every sickness, and casting out devils.”

 

10. And while he was saying this, behold, a bad man came who hated good, and cried, saying, “Hearken, O company of Romans! I will tell you about the sedition which hath appeared in this city. A man, a foreigner, preaches in its streets about a new god, whose name is Jesus the Christ, the Nazarene. And if thou dost permit him to do this, O Festus, chief of the city, he will ruin the city and all who are in it.”

 

11. And Festus reported this to the king. And when the king heard it, he was wroth with a fierce wrath against the disciple. And he said unto those of the guards who were present: “Go out quickly to where ye will find him; take off his head, and throw his body on the ground, that it may be food for the fowls of heaven.” And they went out from his presence; and they did as the king had commanded them; and they took off his head, and left his body prostrate for the birds of the heavens to eat. And God, Who loveth mankind, sent two good men to take his sacred pure head with his body; and they wrapped it in a clean shroud and put it in a tomb which belonged to their fathers.

 

12. And when the man whom the disciple had been the means of delivering from Festus heard that the disciple had endured all this and had died, he remained three days mourning for him. And when twelve days after the death of Saint Matthew the Evangelist, disciple of the Lord Jesus the Christ, were fulfilled, the completion of his martyrdom was on the twelfth day of Phaophi. And praise be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the Life-giver, now and at all times, throughout all ages. Amen.

 

[MRS, xxviii, 110-112]

 

432. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Matthew in Parthia.

 

     CAT briefly notes that there is also a Coptic-Ethiopic martyrdom legend of St. Matthew; and this is confirmed in the preface to the Ethiopic ­Martyrdom of Saint Matthew in Parthia­, wherein it says that the legends are about Matthew the good Evangelist; and also in the colophon to this work, where he is called the Apostle. The major variants between the Ethiopic and the Arabic texts are listed below, the numbering corresponding to the Arabic text above. See before #146, where there is a brief sketch of when the various linguistic traditions came into being.

 

 

1. E:—his rather than a Gospel. | The Ethiopic text spells the name of the place of martyrdom as Apayange; which Budge notes as A district or country in Parthia (?). | E expands A’s their faith to the faith of all those who were in the city and in the districts thereof. | E deletes ([]) A:—And he [journeyed in that country from the frontier of Berinat,] declared and preached unto them the vivifying Word of God [the Life-giver]. | E deletes the phrase:—and the beginning of the genealogy which was the Christ’s; and substitutes:—which, indeed, maketh men to live, and concerning His resurrection;.

 

2. E expands ([]) A:—without [either payment or] recompense. [And he used to heal all those who were sick,] for he gave healing unto every one. | In place of the quotation, E has:—“May ye have salvation.” | E deletes ([]) from A:—And healed all who believed in God [by his means.]

 

3. A begins And once upon a day Matthew; but E begins Now in that hour Matthew. | A has:—he had compassion but A has:—the Saint had compassion. | A has:—and much weeping, but E has:—and in such trouble and tears. | Before the next quotation in A, E inserts the following:—Hearken unto me, O my lord, and I will tell thee everything which hath befallen me. | A has:—I am the slave of Festus; but E has:—I was a servant of one Kestos, which Budge footnotes: Augustus, or Festus (?). | A contains no mention of a ship as the method of transportation for Festus’/Kestos’ servant/slave; and this oversight is added to the text by E ([]) thus:—And I went forth [and went up into a ship,] and as it was sailing in its way, the sea. | E expands ([]) and deletes ({}) A:—mighty wind [which blew upon it, and great waves rose up upon it,] and the ship went to the bottom of the sea {and all that were in it}. | E expands A:—God [Almighty showed compassion upon me, and He] sent a little ship. | A has:—to tell him all that had happened, which E expands to:—I told him everything which had happened, and all that had befallen me. | A has:—because of his great love of money; but E has:—for he loved his possessions dearly, and this is repeated in the last word of the quotation, which A says is money but E says is goods.

 

4. Here and elsewhere, E cannot resist inserting ([]) into A—And [it came to pass that,] when Matthew. | A has:—Believe that God dwelleth in the heart of every man who believeth in Him; but E has:—believe in God almighty, Who will put strength into the hearts of all those who believe in Him. | E deletes ([]) from A, but also ({}) rewords:—and, [Verily I say unto thee,] O servant of God, {for years past} (A saying here:—that many times). | E expands ([]) A:—[Hearken unto me, and] I will tell thee. | A says the man threw himself down before Matthew; but E says he bowed low to the ground. | A begins the quotation:—God be my witness, that if a bit of bread should come; but E begins it:—I hear and obey; and may God be upon me! If good come.

 

5. A makes the entire quotation conditional: if something happens, then something else will happen. E takes away the conditionality of the first part of the quotation:—Then the Apostle said unto him, “On the morrow thy master Akustos will enquire for thee and he will have thee brought out according to his wont, that he may scourge thee. When he hath seen thee, and hath given orders to the men to scourge thee, speak unto him, etc. | E deletes ([]) from A:—take it [and deliver it to him.]

 

6. E deletes ([]) from A:—Akustos sent [for the man,] and. | For And he entreated him for a respite in A, E has:—Then the man answered and spake unto him everything. | E expands ([]) A:—commanded him, [and all that the Apostle had told him came to pass, as he said;] and Akustos. | A has:—a great bag filled with dinars, but E has:—a bag filled with gold.

 

7. E expands ([]) A:—the bag [which was full of gold,] and.

 

8. A has:—And he said, but E says:—Then Akustos said. | A reads:—And he told him the story; his condition, and what the disciple said unto him, and his discovery of the money; but E substitutes for this as follows:—And the man said unto him, “When they had cast me into prison I found there a man full of compassion for me, and he saw that I was in trouble, and he said unto me, ‘Why do I see thee in this trouble?’ Then I told him everything which had befallen me. And all the words which he spake unto me have come to pass, for he commanded me to go to the place where the ship went down, and I went, and I found this money; and I testify unto thee, O my lord, that no man like unto him can be found on all the earth.”

 

9. A has:—my Lord the Christ, but E rewords this to:—my Lord Jesus Christ. | E expands ([]) the quotation in A:—casting out devils [from all who are possessed of them.]

 

10. E expands ([]) A:—man who hated good [works]. | A calls the man:—a foreigner, but E calls him:—a wandering stranger, who preaches on his journey instead of in the streets, and whose name is Jesus the Nazarene instead of Jesus the Christ, the Nazarene.

 

11. E carefully defines Akestos/Festus as the governor of the city; this is absent in A. | In A, the king gives his commands to those of the guards who were present, but in E they become the captains of his guard. | God sends two good men to bury Matthew; but in E they become two of the elect.

 

12. In A, Festus heard that the disciple had endured all this and had died, but in E he merely heard how he had slain the Apostle. | Three days of mourning are then prescribed in both; but E ends the martyrdom thus:—and fifteen days after the death of Saint Matthew, the man died also. | The ending in A is much longer; but the Ethiopian scribe includes the information contained in the last 36 words as part of his colophon.

 

[COA, II, 130-136]

 

433. The Latin ­Passio Sancti Matthaei­

 

     In chapter seven of the Latin ­History of the Apostles, after Abdias­ (not earlier than the 6th century), there appears to be set forth the earliest known witness to the ­acta­ of Matthew represented by this work, and the Arabic and Ethiopic versions noticed below (#434, #435). James has provided us with a summary of chapter seven; it is quoted below exactly as it appears. See before #146, where there is a brief sketch of when the various linguistic traditions came into being.

 

 

Book VII, of St. Matthew. i. He came to Naddaver in Ethiopia, where King Aeglippus reigned. There were two magicians, Zaroese and Arfaxat, who could make men immovable, blind, or deaf as they pleased, and also charmed serpents, like the Marsi. ii. Matthew counteracted all these acts, sent the snakes to sleep, and cured their bites with the cross. A eunuch named Candacis, whom Philip had baptized, took the apostle in, and he did many cures. iii. Candacis asked him how he, a Hebrew, could speak other tongues. Matthew told him the story of Babel and of Pentecost. iv. One came and announced that the magicians were coming with two crested dragons breathing fire and brimstone. Matthew crossed himself and rose to meet them. ‘Speak from the window,’ said Candacis. ‘You can be at the window; I will go out.’ When the dragons approached, both fell asleep at Matthew’s feet, and he challenged the magicians to rouse them. They could not. Then he adjured them to go quietly and hurt no man, and so they did. v. The apostle then spoke, describing Paradise at length, and (vi) the Fall (the description of Paradise is rather interesting). vii. It was now announced that Euphranor the king’s son was dead. The magicians, who could not raise him, said he had been taken up among the gods, and an image and temple ought to be built. Candacis said: Keep these men till Matthew comes. He came: the queen Euphenissa fell at his feet. He consoled her and raised Euphranor. viii. The people came to sacrifice to him as a god. He persuaded them to build a church: 11,000 men did it in thirty days: it was called the Resurrection. Matthew presided there twenty-three years, ordained clergy and founded churches; I baptized the king, queen, prince, and princess Ephigenia, who vowed chastity. Zaroes and Arfaxat fled the country. It would be long to tell of all Matthew’s cures and miracles: I will proceed to his martyrdom.

 

ix. Aeglippus was succeeded by his brother Hyrtacus, who wished to marry Ephigenia, now presiding over more than 200 sacred virgins. He offered Matthew half his kingdom to persuade her. Matthew said: Assemble all the virgins tomorrow, and you shall hear what good things I will speak of marriage. x. His address on the divine institution and merits of matrimony. xi. Loudly applauded by Hyrtacus and his followers; he then pointed out that it would be sacrilege to marry Ephigenia. Hyrtacus went away in a rage. xii. But Matthew exhorted them not to fear man. xiii. Ephigenia prayed him to consecrate her and the other virgins. And he veiled them (with a long prayer). xiv. And as he stood at the altar praying, a soldier sent by Hyrtacus pierced him in the back and he died. The people threatened to burn the palace, but the clergy restrained them. xv. Ephigenia gave all her wealth to the church. Hyrtacus sent the nobles’ wives to her, then tried to send demons to carry her off, then surrounded her house with fire. But an angel, and Matthew, appeared and encouraged her. And a great wind rose and drove all the fire on the palace, and only Hyrtacus and his son escaped. The son was seized by a devil, and rushed to Matthew’s tomb and confessed his father’s crimes. Hyrtacus was attacked with elephantiasis, and stabbed himself. Beor, the brother of Ephigenia, a Christian, succeeded and reigned twenty-five years, dying at 88, and appointing successors in his lifetime, and he had peace with the Romans and Persians, and all Ethiopia was filled with churches, unto this day.

 

[ANT, 466-467]

 

434. The Arabic Acts of Matthew

 

     MRS translates these ­acta­ on pages 100-109 of her book, from which they are reproduced in their entirety below. She also says that the Arabic text corresponds to the Ethiopic version published by Budge (below, #435), and to Malan’s translation; but while both the Arabic and the Ethiopic place Matthew’s activity in the country of Kahenat (i.e., the priests), in the Ethiopic it is stated that Peter and Andrew meet with him on their return from Greece (Malan says Syria), while the Arabic says this takes place when Peter and Andrew return from the country of El-Barbar (i.e., the country of the Blessed.)

 

1. And Peter and Andrew were on their return from the country of El Barbar. And they had established them in the faith, and had taught them the precepts of religion. While they were journeying on the road Matthew met them. And they embraced one another with a spiritual kiss; and he said unto them: “Whence have ye come?” They said unto him: “From the country of El Barbar.” Matthew said unto them: “And I also have come from the country of the Blessed.” And each one of them told him what sufferings had befallen him. Matthew said unto them: “The city in which I have been, the Lord Jesus the Christ is present with them every day: and He keepeth a feast with them. He setteth up His throne in the midst of their church in the early morning, and He teacheth them His precepts. And when I entered their city, and preached amongst them, and proclaimed the Gospel in His name, they said: ‘We know this Name.’ I said unto them: ‘Who hath taught it to you?’ They said unto me: ‘Be patient, and trouble not thyself until the morning; thou shalt look on Him Whom thou has preached unto us.’ And when the morrow came the Lord Jesus the Christ came riding upon a shining cloud, and all the powers of heaven praising Him. And when I saw Him in the abundance of joy I exulted in the Holy Ghost, and cried, saying: ‘Ascribe ye glory to the King of kings; and exalt His greatness to all generations.’ And we remained three days praising Him in the church. And when the three days were ended He blessed us and ascended to heaven with great glory.

 

2. Then I said unto them, ‘How have ye become worthy of this honor, that the Lord Jesus the Christ should keep a feast with you?’ They said unto me: ‘Hath not the tale of the nine tribes and a half reached thee, which the Lord caused to enter the Land of Promise? We are they. When it is midday, Gabriel, the angel of the Lord, cometh unto us; and there come with him the hundred and the four and forty thousand infants whom Herod slew; they defiled not their garments in the world. And when they sing praise we sing praise with them, and when they say Alleluia, we say it with them. But as for gold and silver we do not wish for it in our country. We eat no flesh and drink no wine in our country; but honey is our food and our drink. We do not look on the faces of our women with desire; the first boy who is born we present him as an offering to God, that he may serve the temple all his life, when he is three years old. Our drink is not the water from wells dug by the hands of men; but the water which we drink is the water which overfloweth from Paradise. We do not wrap ourselves in clothing made by the hands of men; but our clothing is from the leaves of trees. Our country heareth no lying speech, and no one knoweth of it. No man weds two wives in our country; and no boy dieth before his father. And the younger speaketh not in the presence of the elder. Lions dwell with us in our country; they hurt us not, and we hurt them not. When winds blow, we smell from them the scent of the garden of Paradise. There is no cold in our country, and no snow, but a breath of life; and it is temperate.’ And when I had heard this from them, I longed to dwell in their country; and my eyes were dazzled from hearing the sweetness of their speech.”

 

3. And Peter and Andrew praised God for this, and besought Him to reveal unto them to what place they should go. And the Lord appeared to them and said unto them, “My peace be upon you, O My pure disciples, whom I have chosen before all mankind. Be strong, and believe; for I am dwelling with you always; I will never be absent where ye are.” And they worshipped down to the ground. And they said: “We bless Thy name, O Lord, and we thank Thee always. Command us on which way we should go.” And the Lord commanded Peter to go forth to the city of Rome, and Andrew to the city of Masya, and Matthew to the city of Kahenat. Matthew said unto the Lord: “I know it not, and I have never entered it.” The Lord said unto him: “Art thou still of little faith? Go on this path, which will bring thee to their city.” And then a cloud arrived, and carried Peter and Andrew until it brought each one of them to his place wherein the Lord had commanded him to preach. And Matthew walked a little way, and he lifted up his eyes to heaven and prayed, and said: “O Thou, the Holy Lord, Jesus the Christ, my Lord, Who taught Abraham, and fulfilled His oath to Isaac; and established His testimony to Jacob, and His grace to Joseph, and Thou didst keep the nation forty years in the desert; a cloud overshadowed them by day, and the pillar of fire shone for them by night; and didst destroy their enemies beneath their feet; and Thou didst bring them up out of the Red Sea; and didst bring them into the Land of Promise, which Thou didst swear to their father, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, be Thou a guide to me on this destined road.”

 

4. And immediately a cloud came and bore him until it arrived at the city of Kahenat. And when he saw the city, he rejoiced and resolved to enter it. And he saw before him a young man, a shepherd; and he overtook him. Matthew said unto him: “Tell me, O thou young man, thou shepherd, which is the road that leadeth into this city?” And he said: “This is the road; but thou canst not enter it when thou art in this dress; for it is not like the dress of our countrymen. Thy garments are not clean. If thou art fain to enter it, strip from thee this dress, and put on the dress of the priests. And shave the hair of thy head and of thy beard. And gird up thy loins and take the bough of a palm-tree in thy right hand. And put palm-leaf sandals on thy feet, that thy dress may be like theirs, and thou mayest enter the city.” And when he heard this his heart was grieved, and he returned on the path by which he had come. And he did not wish to go into the city.

 

5. And the young man who had conversed with him was Jesus the Christ. And when he had returned a little on his way He stretched out His hand and turned him backwards, and said unto him: “Matthew, whither goest thou?” He said unto him: “How dost thou know me, and who told thee my name?” The young man said unto him: “I know thee, O Matthew! Turn and go into the city. I am Jesus, thy God. Do what I have told thee. And let not thy heart be sorrowful. For if thou doest it not thou wilt not be able to enter the city.” And he did as Jesus had commanded him; and He walked along with him till He brought him to the gate of the city. And He said unto him: “Be strong, O Matthew My disciple, and be steadfast and patient. Severe tortures shall come upon thee from this city, and long imprisonment; and afterwards they will burn thee with fire. Fear not, and be not troubled, and tremble not and despair not. For the king will turn and believe in Me, and all the inhabitants of the city, by means of thee. And the fire which they shall kindle wherewith to burn thee shall delight in burning Apollo their god. And be thou patient, and call upon My name; and I will answer thee. And I am with thee always; and I am not far from thee nor from thy brethren the disciples, wherever they may be.” And the Lord said this, and departed from him to heaven with glory.

 

6. And Matthew arose and entered the city, and he asked its people: “Where is the temple?” They said unto him: “From what country art thou?” He said unto them: “I am from Egypt.” They said unto him: “What is the reason of thy coming, and what seekest thou?” He said unto them: “I shall look at your gods, and at how they teach you.” They said unto him: “Our god teacheth us nothing, and we do not hear a sound from him; and we know not who eateth the sacrifices which we offer unto him, but people who are entrusted with his service take them from us.” And he said unto them: “Are ye not of the priesthood?” They said unto him: “Yea, but not of the foremost in the service of the gods.” He said unto them: “Are all your gods of one rank?” They said: “Nay, the greatest is Apollo.” He said unto them: “Apollo loveth the rich, and hateth the poor, these are scales in which there is nothing even. And I would fain speak with him, and say unto him: Why doth he love the rich and hate the poor; and they all worship thee, and thou shouldst respect them all.” And when they had heard his words they separated into two companies: and the said: “Let us accompany him, that we may hear his words.”

 

7. And they walked with him till they brought him to the temple. And they brought the priest who was in it. They said unto him: “This man hath arrived from Egypt; come out and talk with him.” And when Matthew looked at him he embraced him with a spiritual kiss, and he was anxious for his salvation. And when the lips of Matthew touched the lips of Armis the priest, the hand of God rested upon him and he said unto the disciple: “Whence art thou? And whence hast thou come? For since thy kiss and the grip of thy hand great grace hath rested upon me. Tell me who thou art, O my lord?” The disciple said unto him: “I am of a good tribe, priests of the Living God.” And Matthew rejoiced at the grace which had rested upon Armis by his words. And Armis said unto him: “I would fain know how thou didst find the road to arrive at this city.” He said unto him: “My God made me reach it.” He said unto him: “How was that?” He said: “He took my hand, and made me stop at the gate of the city.” He said unto him: “I would fain see thy God.” He said unto him: “If thou dost believe on Him and dost keep my precept, and art certain about all that I say unto thee, and art convinced that it is true, I will allow my God to converse with thee; for my God looketh not on an impure person, only on him who is pure both without and within.”

 

8. He said unto him: “And where is the place of thy God?” He said unto him: “He is in my country.” He said unto him: “And where is thy country?” Matthew said unto him: “He is in a clean country; whose streets are justice, and its roads righteousness. My country is a country of righteousness, and its inhabitants die not. There is no darkness in my country, but it is all light. And my God is He Who giveth light to all who are in it. And death hath no power over my countrymen. My country is all furnished with seats; the sweet scent in the midst of it is great; the trees never wither; not one of the inhabitants of my country hath a wish to sin, but they are all just men. There is no slave, but all of them are freemen. My God is merciful and pitiful; a giver to the poor until He maketh them rich. There is no anger in my country, but they are all in harmony; there is no hatred in my country, but they are all united. There is no rebellion in my country, but they are all of one mind. There is no deceit in it, but they are all humble. There is no sound of wailing in it, but joy and delight.” And when Armis heard this he said unto Matthew: “How sayest thou, ‘There is nothing that defileth in my country’?” Matthew said unto him: “Because my God is pure.” He said unto him: “I would fain go out with thee to thy country.” Matthew said unto him: “Thou shalt enter my country, and thou shalt see my God, partaking with me in the faith of my Father, and in His Holy Mysteries!”

 

9. And at the end of the day Armis said unto Matthew: “Wait for me until I go and light the lamp of Apollo before we go and sup.” Matthew said unto him: “Is it thou who dost light the lamp of thy god?” Armis said unto him: “It is not the lamp only, but I wash him and bedeck him that he may be beautiful. And I carry him from place to place.” Matthew said unto him: “It is my God ho giveth light unto me, and all who serve Him shine with the light at all times, and whoso feareth Him, the light surroundeth him; and every one who glorifieth Him is clothed with the light.” Armis said unto him: “I will go with thee to thy city.” Matthew said unto him: “We need not go forth, for I called on my God, He appeared unto me, and when He cometh unto me the temple shineth with light.” Armis said unto him: “I would fain see this wonder.” And Matthew raised his eyes to heaven and spake thus: “I entreat Thee, O my Lord, my God, Ruler of all things, Father of my Lord and my God Jesus the Christ, King of Glory, Robe of the pure and King of just men, and Light of the blind, and Brightness of the world; the quenchless Lamp, the Light which is never overtaken by darkness, the Ax which breaketh every fruitless tree, the Fire that destroyeth all fabricated gods; Tree of Life, Giver of life to all mankind; my God and my Lord, Jesus the Christ, may Thy mercy overtake me, and hearken unto my entreaty. Send Thy light upon us to comfort our souls, and may Thy mercy arise upon us all.” And when Matthew had finished his prayer, a great light dawned upon them. And when Armis saw it he fell upon his face.

 

10. And there was a great earthquake in the city, from the abundance of the light. And in the earthquake Apollo fell upon his face and was broken to pieces. And nothing remained of all the images that were in the temple; for they were all shattered. And Matthew took hold of the hand of Armis, and raised him up, and said unto him: “Look at thy god, he could not be saved; how can he save others?” And Armis arose, and went into the place of Apollo, and found that he had fallen and was broken. And he trampled on him with his feet and said unto him: “Apollo! Couldest thou not be saved? How canst thou save others? It is good that thou has called on this Name which is that of thy God.” Matthew said unto him: “Come out and leave this contemptible thing fallen on its face.”

 

11. And Armis came out and laid hold of the hand of Matthew and said unto him: “Come with me into my dwelling, and let us eat bread.” Matthew said unto him: “We will eat, but tell Apollo to prepare something for us that we may eat.” Armis said unto him: “When he was in his glory and majesty, he did nothing of this kind; and how when he is shattered and has been trampled and spoiled under the feet of man can he do it?” Matthew said: “My God can send us something to eat.” Armis said unto him: “I believe thee in all thou sayest, because of the light which I have seen resting upon us; but I desire to see this food which He will send to us.” Matthew said unto him: “I will bring thee what thou hast asked for.”

 

12. And Matthew raised his eyes and his hands, and made supplication, saying: “O God of the sinners who repent, Who turnest erring souls to the knowledge of Himself; purifier of souls and of bodies together; the Word which came down from heaven, the Manna which fell from the sky in the desert; the loud Voice which resounded over all; the Guide of wanderers; the Ladder which reacheth to the sky; the Food which the children of Israel ate in the wilderness in the Fast and the Passover; Quickener of souls and of bodies; Thou, O my Lord Jesus the Christ, art He who has made me meet for this spiritual service. Send Thy glory and Thy blessing and Thine honor upon me for ever and ever.” Then a shining table appeared unto them, and upon it were three loaves white as snow, and a skin of wine. Matthew said unto him: “Thou art not allowed to eat of this food until thou become a partaker in the faith and the Holy Mysteries.” Armis said unto him: “Haste thee and make me fit to receive it.” And he preached unto him the Word of life; and prescribed to him the knowledge of the faith; and baptized him in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and gave him some of that sacred bread. And Matthew prayed, and the table was lifted up to where it had been.

 

13. And Matthew and Armis went out, and came to where Apollo was, and they closed the temple. And they went together unto the house of Armis. And Matthew preached unto them about the faith, and baptized them all in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And there was great joy in the house of Armis. And on the morrow the king came to enter the temple, and he found the door closed, and he commanded Armis the priest to come. And when he stood before him, the king said unto him: “How has thou dared to lock the door of the temple, and shut up the place of Apollo the great god?” Armis said unto him: “Apollo is not able to save himself, how shall he save any one else?” The king said unto him: “And who is able to save?” Armis said unto him: “He, Jesus the Christ, Son of the Living God, the Savior of souls, the Resurrection of the dead, the Glory of the righteous, Who hath destroyed all the wickedness of the enemy, and the deceit of Satan under His feet.” The king said unto Armis: “Whence hast thou learnt the name of Jesus?” He said unto him: “Matthew, his disciple, is he who brought to me the knowledge of Him: and caused His light to shine on me and on all my household.”

 

14. And when the king heard this from him he was wroth with a fierce wrath; and he commanded that Armis and Matthew should be bound with ropes on their feet; and they were dragged through all the city until their bodies were wounded, and the blood flowed from them, and their flesh stuck in the streets. And they were beaten with rods. And the king commanded that they should be thrown into prison. And the king went into the temple, and found all the statues in it shattered, and Apollo broken in pieces. And he rent his clothes, and cried with a loud voice, and so did all those who were with him. And he commanded Armis and Matthew to be brought, and to be burnt with fire. And immediately there was a great earthquake. And all the images which were in the houses of the citizens fell from their pedestals, and were shattered. And a loud voice cried out, “There is no God but Jesus the Christ, Son of the eternal God.” And the city became two factions, one faction of Apollo, and the other of Jesus. And the faction of Apollo said: “Let these wizards be burnt with fire.” And those who believed in Jesus said: “Ye have no power over them.” And the king commanded plenty of wood to be brought, and fire to be kindled in it, to burn Matthew and Armis therein alive. And those who believed brought all weapons of war, and kept them away from Armis and Matthew. And they said: “Ye have no power to burn the disciples of the Lord except it were just.” The king said unto them: “Why have ye rejected Apollo?” They said unto him: “Because he is unable to save himself from the destruction which came upon him; he and all the idols which were in our dwellings have been shattered. How can he save anyone else?” And the king commanded that the two disciples should be burnt, and should not be spared for a single hour. And the friends of Jesus and the friends of Apollo made an uproar in the city, and immediately Matthew cried with a loud voice, speaking thus: “O ye brethren! It is not meet that ye should please men, and provoke God to wrath.”

 

15. And whilst he was speaking, a man came from the palace of the king, and told him that his only son had died. And he made haste to go to his dwelling, he and those who believed in Apollo. But the friends of Matthew, those who believed in the Christ, stayed with the disciples, and there were four hundred persons with them, and Matthew preached to them and exhorted them and said unto them, “Let your faith be genuine, that ye may see a new wonder.” And Matthew went to the place where the king was, and said unto him: “I see that thou art sad at heart for the death of thy son. Call on Apollo that he may make him alive for thee.” The king said unto him: “Which of the gods is able to raise the dead?” Matthew said unto him: “My God, Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God, if thou wilt believe in Him, shall raise thy son alive.” And the king swore with a mighty oath and said unto him: “If I should see this wonder from Jesus thy Lord, and the resurrection of my son from the dead, I will not worship Apollo, or any one of all the idols.”

 

16. And when Matthew had heard the saying of the king, he glowed with the power of the Holy Ghost; and he raised his eyes to heaven; and stretched out his hands; and made supplication thus, saying: “I bless thee O Lord of all time, who never failest: I worship the high dwelling above all height; I give Thee glory, Thou who didst not spare Thine own self, but didst give Thyself up for our sins; unto Thou hadst redeemed us and made us partakers in the truth. I thank Thee alone, Who canst raise the dead. I beseech Thee, O Father of our Lord Jesus the Christ! Ruler of all, send from Thy height and Thy sublime power and break the sting of death; shatter all its power; may the shield-bearers of Hell fall, and its guards fail; and its deceits and its temptations be confounded. Crush the seed of the serpent. Send Thy high power, O my Lord Jesus the Christ, and raise this youth; that this king may believe, and all the inhabitants of this city.” And when Matthew had finished his prayer, he stood where the dead man was and took hold of his hand, saying: “I say unto thee in the Name of Jesus the Christ, arise in health.” And straightway the lad sprang up, and laid hold of Matthew’s feet, and said unto him: “I beseech thee, O good servant of God, to baptize me, and make me partaker in the Holy Mysteries. And do not make me return, O my lord, to Hell.”

 

17. And when the king saw this wonder, he sprang up in haste, and commanded every one who was in the city to be baptized; and all his own household, by the hand of Matthew, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And there was great joy in the city. And the king took Apollo out and burnt him in the fire which he had kindled to burn Saint Matthew in. And the fire never ceased with Apollo till it had made him ashes. And this is the cause of the faith of the citizens in the Lord by means of the blessed Matthew.

 

18. And afterwards the Lord Jesus the Christ appeared to him, and said unto him: “Be strong, O blessed Matthew, and let thy faith be confirmed. Dost thou not remember the words which I spake unto thee? Be not troubled, and be patient, and fear not. For I have souls in this city who shall believe in me by means of thee.” Matthew said unto Him: “Yea, O Lord!” The Lord told Matthew and Armis to baptize the multitude and to purify them. And when the Lord had finished His sayings, He departed to Heaven with glory. And all the citizens saw Him. And they did this, and baptized them. And the king and the citizens overthrew the temple of Apollo. And they built a church in place of it; and Matthew consecrated it. And he appointed them a priest and deacons; and gave them the Gospel. And he remained amongst them for some time, until their faith was strengthened, and he went away from them in peace. And when he was outside of the city, he turned back with his face to them and said unto them: “The grace of the Lord and His peace rest upon you for ever and ever. Amen.”

 

[MRS, xxvii-xxviii, 100-109]

 

435. The Ethiopic Acts of Saint Matthew in the City of Kahenat

 

     The Ethiopic text is printed in Budge, pp. 110-129. The following is a list of the major variants, the paragraph numbers corresponding to the Arabic text printed above. See before #146, where there is a brief sketch of when the various linguistic traditions came into being.

 

 

1. Expansion in E:—And [it came to pass that] Peter. | In A, Peter and Andrew return from El-Barbar, here and elsewhere, which is footnoted to mean the country of the Blessed; but in E they simply return from Greece. | In A they greet Matthew with a spiritual kiss, but in E this becomes a spiritual embrace. | In A, Jesus sets up His throne in the midst of their church in the early morning, but in E He hath stablished His seat in their church, in the east thereof. | In A, Christ arrives riding on a cloud; in E He is seated. | A quotes Matthew as saying:—Ascribe ye glory to the King of kings; but in E he begins:—Ascribe praise and glory unto the king.

 

2. A numbers the infants killed by Herod as the hundred and the four and forty thousand, but these become for E the four hundred and forty thousand and four hundred.\fn{Budges says here in a note: The number should, of course, be 144,000.} | A says the babes had not defiled their garments in the world; but E says they had not defiled their hearts in the world. | In A, honey is our food and our drink, but in E our food is honey and our drink is the dew. | In A, the inhabitants of Kahenat do not look on the faces of our women with desire, and the first boy who is born is offered to God as a priest that he may serve the temple all his life, when he is three years old; but in E the inhabitants do not look upon the face of women with sinful desire, and our firstborn children are offered that they may minister in the church and in the sanctuary all the days of their life until they be thirty years of age. | In A, Kahenat hears no lies, and no one knoweth of it; but in E, Kahenat hears no lies, and no man knoweth another who speaketh that which is false. | In the Kahenat of A, there is no cold in our country, and no snow, but a breath of life; and it is temperate; in E, there is neither spring, nor cold, nor ice; but there are winds and they are always pleasant. | In A, Matthew finds somewhat curiously that my eyes were dazzled from hearing the sweetness of their speech; but E supplies what appears to be a missing phrase: my eyes were weary with the sight of them, and mine ears with listening unto the sweet sound of their voice.

 

3. In A, Christ addresses his prayer to his holy disciples, but in E it is to his pure disciples. | It is My Father who has chosen them in E, but I who did so in A. | Twice in this paragraph in A (and only here), the scribe substitutes Matthias for Matthew. | E expands A:—go on this path, [and it shall bring thee unto two roads; of these journey thou upon that which is on thy right hand, and it] will bring. | E expands A:—And [as they were talking together in this wise] then a cloud. | Matthew begins his prayer in A:—O Thou, the Holy Lord, Jesus the Christ, my Lord, Who; but in E begins it:—O Thou Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who.

 

4. In A, a cloud bore away him, but in E, Matthew specifically. | Similarly, in A it is he who identifies the proper road for Matthew to take to the city; but E specifies the young man. | E expands A:—And [next] shave. | E expands A:—a palm branch [of Hosanna].

 

5. A has he where E has the proper name:—and when Matthew was going back along the road. | E deletes A:—and turned him backwards, [and said unto him: “Matthew, whither goest thou?”]. | E expands A:—Turn [back, and travel on to the city,] and go into it. | A has:—if thou doest it not, thou wilt not be able to enter the city; but E has:—if, however, thou dost not do as I have said unto thee, thou wilt not be able to enter into the city. | Where A has he, Jesus and He, respectively, E substitutes the proper names Matthew, our Lord Jesus Christ and our Lord Jesus in the phrase:—And he did as Jesus had commanded him; and He walked. | E deletes A:—with all those who dwell in the city, [by means of thee.] | E expands A:—to heaven with [great] glory, here and elsewhere.

 

6. Expansion in E:—I am [a handicraftsman] from [the country of] Egypt. | A has:—I shall look at your gods, and at how they teach you; but E has:—I have come to learn the doctrine of your god, and what he teacheth you. | A has:—but not of the foremost in the service of the gods; but E has:—we are of the great ones among the priests who minister unto the gods. | E deletes A:—[Nay,] the greatest is Apollo. | A has:—there are scales in which nothing is even; but E has:—this God Apollo is a balance which doth not act justly. | E expands A:—Let us accompany him [into the temple,] that we.

 

7. A has:—with a spiritual kiss, and he was anxious for his salvation. And when the lips of Matthew touched the lips of Armis the priest, the hand of God; but E rewords:—with a spiritual embrace, for he desired to save him. Now when Matthew had embraced Armis the priest, the hand of God. | A has:—And whence hast thou come? For since thy kiss and the grip of thy hand great grace hath rested upon me; but E expands and rewords:—Whence comest thou? And who art thou? For when I had been embraced by thee there came down upon me great grace. | A has:—priests of the Living God; but E says:—and I am a priest of God. | A has He, He, and He said for Matthew, Armis the priest, and the Apostle in the phrase of E:—and Matthew said unto him, “My God brought me herein.” And Armis the priest said unto him, “How did it happen?” And the Apostle said. | A has:—made me stop; but E has:—set me down. | A has:—my precept; but E has:—His commandment. | A has:—it is true; but E has:—He is. | A has:—for my God looketh not on an impure person, only on him who is pure both without and within; but E has here:—for my Lord is a righteous God, and He revealeth not Himself unto the man of folly, on the contrary, from the man who is impure He is hidden, and not manifest.

 

8. A has:—He is in a clean country, whose streets are justice, and its roads righteousness; but E has:—My country is in the holy country, and all the ways of the people are in righteousness. | A says it is a country of righteousness; but E calls it a country of light. | A says it is a place where the trees never wither; but E ignores this and has in its place: and in it are very many gardens into which the righteous may enter. | In A Armis asks Matthew: How sayest thou, ‘There is nothing that defileth in my country’?; but in E he asks: How can it be that there is no unclean person in thy country? | E expands A:—Because my God [Himself] is pure. | A has:—in the faith of my Father, and in His Holy Mysteries; but E has:—in the faith of Christ and in the Holy Mysteries.

 

9. E expands A:—And when the evening was come [Matthew said unto Armis the priest, “Hasten thy work;” and] Armis said. | A has:—We need not go forth, for I called on my God, He appeared unto me; but E has here:—Seek not to go forth with me into my city, for I call upon the Name of my God, and when I have called He cometh unto me. | In the beginning of the long prayer, A says:—O my Lord, my God, Ruler of all things, Father of my Lord and my God Jesus the Christ, King of Glory, Robe of the pure; but E has:—O my Lord, Thou Sustainer of all things; Who dwellest in the habitation of the glory of Thy Father; my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the King of glory; Who clothest the naked with raiment. | At the close of this prayer, A has:—and send Thy Light upon us to comfort our souls, and may Thy mercy arise upon us all; but E has:—and send Thy light and Thy righteousness upon me; and drive away sorrow from my soul; and make Thy light, and Thy righteousness, and Thy mercy to rise like the Sun upon me. | E expands A:—he fell on his face [upon the ground.]

 

10. A has:—And Matthew took hold of the hand of Armis, and raised him up, and said unto him; but E has:—Then Matthew lifted up Armis from the ground, and said unto him. | A has:—It is good that thou hast called on this Name which is that of thy God; but E has:—Good is the name which this man hath called thee.

 

11. E expands A:—Armis said unto him, [“I entreat thee to ask Him to do so, for] I believe.

 

12. A has:—And Matthew raised his eyes and his hands; but E has only:—And he stretched out his hands. | A words the beginning of this prayer thus:—O God of the sinners who repent, Who turnest erring souls to the knowledge of Himself; but E words it:—O God of the sinners who repent and turn away from their sin; Who convertest the souls which have been cast away unto the knowledge of Himself. | About midway in the prayer, A has:—Manna which fell from the sky in the desert; the loud Voice which resounded over all; the guide of wanderers; the Ladder which reacheth to the sky; the Food which the children; and in E this becomes:—manna that wast made to come down from the sky in the desert; Thou Word who art exalted above all things; Thou Guide of the souls which have been lost; Who did bring the celestial food into the desert which the children. | E adds an Amen to the prayer, which does not appear in A. | E expands A:—[And it came to pass that by reason of this prayer] there came unto him a table. | A has—three loaves white as snow upon the table; but E has only:— bread as white as snow: both mention wine. | E expands A:—And Matthew prayed [a second time,] and.

 

13. A has:—And Matthew and Armis went out, and came to where Apollo was, and they closed the temple; but E has:—Then Matthew and Armis went out and covered over with earth the place where Apollo was, and they closed the doors of the temple. | E deletes A:—baptized them [all] in the name. | A has:—and he commanded Armis the priest to come; but E introduces a crowd:—and he commanded them to bring Armis the priest there. | A has:—shut up the place of Apollo the great god; but E has:—covered over with earth the place of Apollo the great god. | E expands A:—Armis said unto the king,\fn{A has here: him.} [“Apollo hath not the power to save himself. Only] Jesus. | E expands A:—all the counsel\fn{A has here: wickedness.} of the enemy, [Who hath seized Satan] and [hath set him] under His feet, [can do this.] | A says that Matthew brought me to the knowledge of Him; but at the same place E says that Matthew found me out and made me worthy to know it\fn{I.e., the Name of Jesus.}

 

14. A has:—until their bodies were wounded; but E has:—until their limbs were cut to pieces. | E expands A:—and [when the people had done this] the king commanded. | E expands A:—the king went into the temple, [wherein Apollo was,] and. | E expands ([]) and deletes ({}) A:—broken in [small] pieces. [Then by reason of this thing was the king dismayed,] and he {cried with a loud voice,} and. | A has:—And immediately there was a great earthquake. And all the images which were in the houses of the citizens fell from their pedestals, and were shattered. And a loud voice cried out, “There is no God but Jesus the Christ, Son of the Eternal God.”; but E has here:—And there was a great tumult in the city, for an earthquake took place, and all the images fell down upon their faces and were dashed in pieces; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “There is no god but Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, the First and the Last.” | In A, the followers of Apollo say:—Let these wizards be burnt with fire; but in E they say:—Let them bring these sorcerers forth and burn them in fire. | In A, the Christians reply:—Ye have no power over them; but in E they say:—We will not give these men up to you. | Later in the same paragraph, the order of the names is Matthew and Armis; but in E the order is Armis and Matthew. | In A, those who believed brought all weapons of war; but in E, those who believed in our Lord Jesus Christ armed themselves with weapons. | E expands A:—rejected Apollo [and all the gods.] | In A the king commanded that the two disciples should be burnt; but in E the king commanded them to burn the bodies of the disciples Armis and Matthew.

 

15. A words this paragraph as follows:—And whilst he was speaking, a man came from the palace of the king, and told him that his only son had died. And he made haste to go to his dwelling, he and those who believed in Apollo. But the friends of Matthew, those who believed in the Christ, stayed with the disciples, and there were four hundred persons with them, and Matthew preached to them and exhorted them and said unto them, “Let your faith be genuine, that ye may see a new wonder.”; but E transforms it, as follows:—Now whilst they were conversing together messengers came from the house of the king, and told Matthew that the only son of the king was dead; and he hastened back into his habitation, he and all those who dwelt therein. And those who believed in Apollo, and those who believed in Christ stood up with the Apostle, (now they were in number about four thousand souls) and Matthew taught them and spake unto them, and commanded them, saying, “Your belief shall be made perfect, and ye shall see new wonders.” | E deletes A:—Matthew went to [the place where] the king [was,] and said. | A has:—My God, Jesus the Christ; but E has:—My Lord Jesus Christ. | E expands A:—the king swore [with] a mighty oath [unto the Apostle] and said unto him.

 

16. A has—O Lord of all time; but E has:—O my Lord Jesus Christ, at all times. | A has:—who never failest; but E has:—groweth not old. | A has:—but didst give Thyself up for our sins; until Thou hadst redeemed us and made us partakers in the truth; but E has:—but didst give Thyself for sinners, and didst make us to be participators in the faith. | A has:—send from Thy height and Thy sublime power and break the sting of death; but E has:—send Thy exalted and sublime power to break the thorn of death. | A has:—may the shield-bearers of Hell fall, and its guards fail; and its deceits and its temptations be confounded. Crush the seed of the serpent. E has at this place:—may the guardians thereof be destroyed and put to shame; and may all the deceits of devils be brought to nought, and may the head of the Serpent be broken! | E expands A:—And [it came to pass that] when [Saint] Matthew had. | A has:—stood where the dead man was; but E says that:—he rose up and went to the place wherein was the dead man. | In A, the dead man takes hold of Matthew’s feet; but in E, it is his hand. | The dead man says in part in A to Matthew:—I beseech thee, O good servant of God, to baptize me, and make me partaker in the Holy Mysteries; but in E this appears as:—I beseech thee, O servant of God almighty, to baptize me, and I entreat thee, O good one, to make me a participator in the Holy Mysteries.

 

17. E expands A:—And [it came to pass that,] when the king saw this [wonderful thing which God had brought forth in the days of the Apostle Saint Matthew,] he rose up without delay, and [in that same hour he] commanded. | E deletes A:—and the king [took Apollo out, and] burnt.

 

18. A has:—Be strong, O blessed Matthew, and let thy faith be confirmed; but E collapses this to:—Strengthen and fortify thy faith. | E expands A:—I have in this city [certain elect] souls. | A has:—The Lord told Matthew and Armis to baptize the multitude and to purify them. E makes this into a quotation:—And He said unto Matthew and unto Armis, “Baptize ye the people, and strengthen them against their sins.” | Once again E expands: Jesus departs into heaven with [great] glory. | E deletes this sentence in A:—And they did this and baptized them. | E expands A:—and they built a church [in place of it,] which Matthew consecrated. | Immediately after this, E says that Matthew appointed Armis to be their Bishop (which A does not know); that he gave them priests and deacons (whereas A says that it was a priest and deacons; and that he dwelt with them until their faith grew strong (whereas A says that he remained amongst them for some time, until their faith was strengthened). | E expands the final ejaculation:—Amen, [and Amen.]

 

[COA, II, 111-129]

 

436. The Arabic Martyrdom of James, the Brother of Matthew

 

     This brief martyrdom is apparently the only known survival of any legends connected with James, the brother of Matthew the Apostle. (This is the accreditation in Codex Siniaticus Arabicus 539, which adds the words brother of Matthew to the sentence:—And the blessed disciple entered into rest, James the son of Halfai, brother of Matthew, on the tenth day of Machir.) MRS says, however, that this James is, as the name is almost everywhere else, confused with James, the brother of Jesus, and so it is impossible to say that the tradition reported here is trustworthy; and also that she has adopted Mrs. Gibson’s translation so far as the variants will allow me. See before #146, where there is a brief sketch of when the various linguistic traditions came into being.

 

 

1. It came to pass when James the disciple had gone into Jerusalem, to preach the Holy Gospel in it, and all the wonders of the Godhead; that every one who heard his words might believe in God with a pure heart, and that his soul might be saved, he thought in his heart how the crowd might hear him and believe. And he went into the temple where the multitude were assembled. And he found a great crowd of the Jews gathered together; and he began to preach the Gospel in the midst of them with great joy and gladness in the presence of them all.

 

2. And he continued his speech, and explained about faith in God, testifying that the Only Son of God is the Word of life, the God of all ages; Jesus the Christ He is the Son of God in truth; eternally with the Father before all ages. And He is in the Father, and the Father in Him. He it is Who is the Word of the Father when He said: “Let us make man in our likeness and our image”; and He dwelleth in heaven with His Father; and He is upon the throne of the cherubim; and the seraphim ascribe glory to Him. And He it is Who is on the right hand of power on high. And He dwelt in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And He is the Lord Jesus the Christ, to Whom Mary the Virgin gave birth; and He is the God Who was made man.

 

3. And this is his confession amongst the assembly without the fear of any man. He testified about His birth, and he testified about His death, and His resurrection from amongst the dead; and His Ascension to His Father Who is in heaven. And He taught to every one who was present faith in the Christ.

 

4. And when the multitude heard that from him they were angry with a great anger, which was from their father the Devil who dwelt in them, against the disciple of the Lord Jesus the Christ. And they all helped one another; and took his blood upon themselves; every one who was present and heard his words. And they seized him and brought him before the emperor Claudius, and false witnesses rose up against him. And they said unto the emperor: “This man is a seducer, he goeth about the country and the cities and saith: ‘I am the slave of Jesus the Christ’; and he prevents them from obeying the Emperor.” And when the Emperor heard this about the blessed disciple, he commanded that he should be stoned with stones that he might die. And the Jews stoned him as the Emperor had commanded. And such was his martyrdom. And the blessed disciple entered into rest, James the son of Halfai, brother of Matthew, on the tenth day of Machir. And he was buried beside the temple in Jerusalem. And praise and glory be to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[MRS ,xxviii, 113-114]

 

***

 

XXX: MATTHIAS

 

437. The Gospel of Matthias

 

     A ­Gospel of­ (or ­According to­) ­Matthias­ is mentioned by the following ancient authorities, but no text thereof is mentioned.

 

1. Origen of Alexandria [d.c.254, ­First Homily on Luke­]:—That is to say there are also in circulation the Gospel According to Thomas­ and the ­Gospel According to Matthias­ and some others. [So some Greek fragments of Origen:—I know a certain gospel which is called ­The Gospel According to Thomas­ and a Gospel According to Matthias­, and many others have we read—lest we should in any way be considered ignorant because of those who imagine that they possess some knowledge if they are acquainted with these.]

 

2. Eusebius of Caesarea [d.c.340, ­Ecclesiastical History­ III:25.6]:—We have felt ourselves called upon to draw up this catalogue in order that we may be in a position to know these writings as also those which have been adduced under apostolic names by the heretics, including e.g. the Gospels of Peter and Thomas and Matthias or of any others besides, or the Acts of Andrew and of John as also of other apostles.

 

3. Ambrose of Milan [d.397, ­Expositio Evangelii Lucae­ I.2] who may simply repeat Origen;

 

4. Jerome of Strido [d.420, ­Commentary on Matthew­, prologue] who may also repeat Origen;

 

5. The ­Decretum Gelasianum­ III.1 (6th century), where it appears after the Acts under the name of the apostle Philip:—Gospel under the name of Matthias ... apocryphal.;

 

6. The ­Index of the Sixty Canonical Books­ (7th century), where it appears after The Gospel according to Barnabas as the last item:—25. The Gospel according to Matthias; and

 

7. Bede of Jarrow [d.735, ­In Lucae Evangelii Expositio­ I, prologue].

 

     On the other hand, Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215), Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236), and Haimo of Auxerre (c.850) all make mention of a ­Traditions of Matthias­; and the problem facing scholars is whether or not there is to be understood an identity between this work and the Gospel of Matthias­.

 

     The most widely different solutions have been proposed. Harnack (­Litg­. II.1, 595-598) believed that two distinct works were involved, as did Stahlin (“Die Altchristliche Grieschische Literatur” in Christ’s ­Gesch. der Griech. Literatur­, Munich, 1924, 1192 note 3) and Tixeront (­Precis de Patrologie­, Paris, 1928, 83); and, with some hesitation, Puech (­Histoire de la Litterature Grecque Chretienne­ I, Paris, 1928, 169). Zahn (­Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanons­ II, 1892, 751-761), Bardenhewer (Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, 1913, 529f), James (­Apocryphal New Testament­, 1924, 12) and Bonaccorsi (­Vangeli Apocrifi­ I, Florence, 1948, XVIf, 23-31) decide more or less confidently for their identity.

 

     See also Amann (“Apocryphes du Nouveau Testament. II.2. Evangile de Matthias” in Pirot’s Dictionnaire de la Bible: Supplement­, 1928, cols. 478f), also with bibliographic references.

 

     See under ­The Traditions of Matthias­ (just below) for dating.

 

[NTA, I, 308-313; ANT, 12-13, 22-23; ODC, 876]

 

438. The Traditions of Matthias

 

     Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215), Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236) and Haimo of Auxerre (c.850) all either make reference to or actually quote passages from a ­Traditions of Matthias­, as follows:

 

1. Clement of Alexandria (­Stromateis­ II:9.45):—The beginning thereof\fn{The beginning of the knowledge of truth.} is to wonder at things, as Plato says in the ­Theaetetus­ and Matthias in the ­Traditions­ when he warns, ‘Wonder at what is present,’ establishing this as the first step to the knowledge of things beyond.

 

2. Clement of Alexandria (­Stromateis­ III:4.26):—They\fn{The gnostics.} say that Matthias also taught as follows: ‘To strive with the flesh and misuse it, without yielding to it in any way to unbridled lust, but to increase the soul through faith and knowledge.’

 

3. Clement of Alexandria (­Stromateis­ IV:6.35):—Zacchaeus then (but some say Matthias), a chief tax-gatherer, when he heard that the Lord had seen fit to be with him, said, ‘Behold, the half of my goods I give in alms, O Lord; and if I have extorted anything from any man, I restore it fourfold.’ Whereupon the Savior also said, ‘The Son of man is come today, and has found that which was lost.’

 

4. Clement of Alexandria (­Stromateis­ VI:13.82):—They\fn{The Gnostics.} say that Matthias the Apostle in the Traditions­ explains at every turn: ‘If the neighbor of one of the chosen sin, then has the elect sinned; for if he had so conducted himself as the Word commends, the neighbor would have had such awe at his way of life that he would not have fallen into sin.’

 

5. Clement of Alexandria (­Stromateis­ VII:17.108):—Of the sects, some are called from a personal name, as that of Valentinus and of Marcion and of Basilides, even if they boast to present the doctrine of Matthias; for as there was only one doctrine of all the apostles, so there is only the one tradition.

 

6. Hippolytus of Rome (­Refutation of All Heresies­ VII:20.1):—Basilides and Isidore, the true son and disciple of Basilides, say that Matthias spake to them secret words which he heard from the Savior when he was taught in private. Let us see, then, how manifestly Basilides and Isidore also and all their crew calumniate not simply Matthias only but also even the Savior Himself.

 

7. Haimo of Auxerre (­On Hebrews­ 13:4):—Hence the blessed Matthew\fn{My text has here after the word Matthew: (1. Matthias?); which I interpret as: but perhaps Matthias is meant.} the Apostle says in a certain place that lawful wedlock and the bed undefiled\fn{The reference is to Hebrews 13:4—Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for God will judge the immoral and adulterous.} have in a sense something vile, in the mingling of seed, but that they do not have the stain of sin.\fn{So Klostermann (Apokrypha II­ in ­Kleine Texte für Vorlesungen und Ubungen­ VIII, Berlin, 3rd. ed., 1929, 18), but with great reserve.}

 

     NTA says that there seems to be nothing against Bardenhewer’s dating the work (­Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur­ I, 1913, 530) to the first decade or the first half of the 2nd century; and that further it could only have been composed before the beginning of the 3rd century AD.

 

[NTA ,I ,308-313; ANT, 12-13;]

 

439. The Greek Preaching of Matthias

 

     Tischendorf (­Acta Apostolica Apocrypha­, 1851, 132-166) publishes a Greek preaching of Matthias (see item #391 of this book, where a discussion of it appears with his title, ­The Greek Acts of Andrew and Matthias­); so at any rate MRS, who says (1) that it is the same story as her Arabic preaching (below, #441), and (2) that both Tischendorf and Malan (­Conflicts of the Holy Apostles­, 1871) have adopted the name of Matthias in this legend, in spite of the very surprising fact (in view of #’s 437 and 438 above) that Lipsius (Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten­ II.ii, 1883, 136, 259) was of the opinion that no special tradition about Matthias has ever existed in the Greek church. Since there is still some confusion in this matter, I have reproduced the Latin and German portions of Tischendorf’s prologue below (which does not appear under #391), on the assumption that we have here to do with a paucity of information about this work (as opposed to that for #391); but that there are actually two separate works being discussed.

 

Quemadmodum acta Andreae ea de quibus modo egimus ex actibus Andreae a Leucio Charino conscriptis et apud veteres magnopere celebratis originem traxisse probabile visum est, ita atque magis etiam haec Andreae et Matthiae acta ex eodem Leucii scripto derivanda sunt. Qua de re copiosius nuper exposuit Thilo in programmate Halensi,\fn{Programma hoc prodiit in academia Halensi anno 1846. hoc titulo: Acta SS. apostolorum Andreae et Matthiae et commentatio de eorundem origine, quaestiones novas litterarias in annum 1847. Positas promulgandi causa edita. Pagg. XII et 36.} ubi plures veterum locos attulit, quibus et ipse supra usus sum, et originem Leucianam et usum Gnosticis Manichacis aliisque haereticis comprobatum testantes. Addidit praeterea locum ex Pseudo-Abdiae historiis apostolicis petitum, quemadmodum scriptum invenerat in vetustis membranis Guelferbytanis, de quibus iam supra ad acta Petri et Pauli dictum est. Non dubium est quin Pseudo-Abdias ex iisdem Leucii actibus historiam illam de Andrea suam hauserit. Quam ad nostrum comparare libellum quum eorum intersit qui rationes variarum Leuciani libri retractationum indagare voluerint, locum ipsum, quemadmodum ex Florentinio apud Fabricium (Cod. apocr. II. pag. 457.) et apud Thilonem (l. l. pag. VII.) ex mss. Guelff. legitur, adscribamus.

 

     [The following Latin quotation is printed by Tischendorf in a single paragraph of italics. It appears to be the original text corrected by him through (1) the use of certain symbols—om, etc., and add (which I suppose to mean “omit, and so on” and `”add”—and (2) clarifications of certain phrases or corrections of certain words—which he encloses in parenthesis (). It is reproduced exactly, except that, to avoid visual confusion, no attempt has been made to indicate that the symbols are not italicized. H]

 

At vero (Igitur) post illum dominicae ascensionis nobilem gloriosumque triumphum cum beati apostoli praedicare verbum domini per diversas regiones incepissent (dispersi fuissent), tum et (om tum et) Andreas apostolus apud Achaiam provinciam adnuntiare dominum Iesum Christum exorsus est. Eodem tempore (om Eod. temp.) Matthaeus (add autem) apostolus, qui et evangelista, Myrmidoni (-donae) urbi verbum salutis adnuntiaverat (avit): sed incolae civitatis illius (om ill.) graviter (dure) et indigne ferentes quae de redemptoris nostri virtutibus audiverant (-iebant) ac sua nolentes destruere templa, beatum (apprehensum beatum) apostolum erutis oculis, catenisque oneratum carceri incluserunt, eo animo ut (circumdatum catenis in carcerem detruserunt, ut) paucis interpositis diebus iterficerent. Quod antequam fieret, angelus a domino missus ad (Venit autem angelus domini ad) Andream apostolum ut in Myrmidonem civitatem maturaret et fratrem Matthaeum de squalore carceris erueret monuit (ut in etc: dicens Surge et vade ad Myrmidonam civitatem et erue fratrem tuum de squalore carceris quo tenetur.) Cui ille ait Domine, ecce viam nescio, et quo ibo? Et ille Vade, inquit, ad littus maris, et invenies navem quam (in quam) statim conscende (ascende): ego enim ero dux itineris tui. Paruit Andreas, inventamque navem ascendens (Fecit Andreas iuxta verbum domini, et invenit in litore navem ascendensque in eam) flantibus ventis congruis prospere navigavit ad urbem. Quam ut ingressus est, ad publicum se illico carcerem contulit (Ingressusque portam civitatis venit ad carcerem.), inveniensque cum reliquis vinctis Matthaeum (Videns autem Matthaeum apostolum in squalore carceris cum vinctis aliis residentem,) amarissime flevit, et facta oratione haec verba locutus est (oratione simul ait Andreas) Domine Iesu Christe, quem fideliter praedicamus et ob cuius nomen tanta perferimus, qui caecis visum, surdis auditum, paralyticis gressum, leporsis mundiatiam, mortuis vitam, immensa clementia largiri dignatus es, aperi (add quaeso) oculos servi tui ut eat ad adnuntiandum verbum tuum. Et statim locus ille contremuit, et lumen refulsit in carcere, et oculi beati apostoli restaurati (add sunt), et cunctorum catenae confractae sunt, et trabes in qua pedes eorum coarctati erant scissa est. Quibus factis (Et) omnes magnificabant dominum dicentes quia magnus est deus quem praedicant servi eius. Ita (Tunc) educti per beatum Andream de squalore carceris (de carcere) omnes qui capti fuerant (om omnes q. c. f.), abiit unusquisque ad propria sua (om sua) cum quibus et Matthaeus recesserat (Matth. autem recessit a loco illo). Ipse vero (Denique) Andreas (add apostolus) manens apud Myrmidonem (ommanens ap. Myrm.) praedicabat incolis verbum domini. Quod cum minus audirent (Cognoscentes autem homines illi [illius civitatis] de carceris vinctis quae acta fuerant), adprehensum Andream ligatis pedibus per plateas civitatis trahebant. Quibus in tormentis cum iam sanguis efflueret et capilli vellerentur, apostolus ad dominum in haec verba orationem habuit Aperi (Iam enim capilli capitis eius evellebantur et sanguis defluebat a capite, et oravit ad dominum dicens Aperi quaeso) domine Iesu Christe (om I. Chr.) oculos cordis (cordium) eorum, ut cognoscant te deum verum et desistant ab hac iniquitate; neque velis hoc illis peccatum statuere (et ne statuas illis hoc peccatum), quia nesciunt quod (quid) faciunt. Haec cum dixisset (Et statim) timor subitus invasit incolas (tim. magnus factus est super habitatores) civitatis illius, ut (et) dimisso apostolo peccatum agnoscerent (om pecc. agn.) dicentes (dicebant) Peccavimus in iustum. Cumque se ad pedes apostoli demitterent, remissionem delicti et sibi ostendi viam salutis petebant. (Peccavimus in te nescientes quid faceremus: rogamus ergo, domine, ut remittas nobis delictum et demonstres nobis viam salutis, ne descendat ira dei super civitatem hanc. Haec enim dicentes prostrati erant solo ante pedes Andreae.) Quibus ille erectis praedicabat dominum Iesum Christum et miracula quae facerat (fecit) in hoc mundo ostendi (om ost.) et quemadmodum (qualiter) ipsum mundum iam pereuntem proprio cruore redemerit (redemit). Ita vendicatis domino incolis eius civitatis, cunctos in (At illi credentes baptizati sunt in) nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti, concessa (accepta) peccatorum remissione, baptizavit (om bapt.). Quibus gestis recedens ab eo loco, venit in regionem suam.

 

     [The quotation stops here, and Tischendorf resumes his commentary.]

 

De Graecis praeter alios idem apud quem ex prioribus nostris Andreae actibus plurima ad verbum desumta probavimus (cf. p. XLV.), Epiphanium dico monachum et presbyterum, in eadem illa Andreae vita nonnulla habet quae ad hanc de Andrea et Matthia anthropophagorum apostlis fabulam spectant. Cf. l. l. pag. 47 sqq.

 

     [There follows then a long passage in Greek, forming the rest of this paragraph, containing the following footnote indicated after the first four words:]

 

Sinope igitur teste Epiphanio nomen est urbis qua res Andreae inter anthropophagos gestae sunt: ipsi actus nostri eiusmodi nomen non habent, nisi quod idem Sinopes nomen unus de codicibus nostris Parisiensibus in libri inscriptione praebet. Alii vero veterum, ut etiam poeta Anglosaxonum (vide infra), non in Scythia sed in Aethiopia sitam asserunt terram anthropophagorum, ubi cum Matthia sive Matthaeo Andreas aliique apostoli fuisse crediti sunt. Quaesivit Thilo (l. l. pag. X sqq.) utrum ipse Leucius in actis suis certum urbis nomen posuerit necne. Statuit vero illum pro tanta iugenii protervitate ipsum Sinopes nomen posuisse. [The paragraph concludes with the English expression``Etc."]

 

     [The next paragraph is a mixture of normal and italicized words (in German), two words in Greek, and a footnote.]

 

Sed discedamus paullulum a graecis latinisque hominibus: nam aliorsum quoque ab illis antiqua haec de Andrea et Matthia traditio manavit. Reperta est enim in carmine apud Anglosaxones propagato, quod nuper edidit vir illustris Iacobus Grimmius. Orta hinc est apocrypho huic scripto singularis quaedam gravitas, quam Iacobus Grimmius in prolegomenis libri sui: Andreas und Elene, postquam retulit communicata sibi a Thilone de actis Andreae et Matthiae graecis manuscriptis, testatus est verbis his: Das ist unverkennbar die quelle aus welcher dieser mythus den Angelsachsen vielleicht unmittelbar zufloss, da sie noch mit byzantinischer sprache und literatur nahere bekanntschaft unterhielten. Wer sollte nicht wunschen dass in die lang ersehnte fortsetzung seines eod. apocr. Thilo auch die [here two Greek words] vollstandig aufnehme, denn wie sehr hangt jede grundliche erforschung des mittelalters mit den erzeugnissen und uberlieferungen der grieschischen kirch zusammen.\fn{In iis quae sequuntur Iac. Gr. eo erravit quod Leucium Charinum, cui fabula de Andrea et Matthia adscribenda videtur, pro Manichaeo sexti saeculi a Thilone habitum dixit. Quod propterea grave est quoniam a Leucii aetate proficiscendum est ut illustres magnam eius fabulae propagationem. Pro sexto omnio substituendum est secundum saeculum.} Cf. l. l. p. XVIII. Antea vero se intellexisse dixit dass, nachst Beovulf, Andreas und Elene die altesten und lehrreichsten erzeugnisse der angelsachsichen poesie sind. Tanta quum sit anglosaxonici carminis dignitas, viris doctis non molestum erit legere quomodo in eo tractata sit actuum nostrorum fabula. Cf. Andreas und Elene, herausgegeben von Jacob Grimm. Cassel 1840. pag. VI sqq. ubi celeberrimus editor ita enarrat carminis de Andrea argumentum:

 

     [There now follows a very long disquisition in German, which (for consistency) I will indicate in italics, and which contains two footnotes.]

 

Jedem der zwolf boten des heilands war ein eignes loos angewiesen worden. Matthaeus, der das evangelium zuerst niedergeschriben hatte,\fn{Accurate in hoc carmine significatur ipse evangelista Matthaeus. Neque aliter apud Latinos fieri videtur, quemadmodum etiam Pseudo-Abdias ubique Matthaei nomen habet. Apud Graecos vero inter Matthaeum et Matthiam traditio fluctuat. In vetustissimis Parisiensibus membranis, quas in edendo textu inprimis secuti sumus (vide infra), constanter [here is a Greek word] scriptum est. Idem nomen Epiphanius monachus tuetur; Nicephorus praeter Matthaeum, de quo uberius exponit, etiam Matthiam apud anthropophagos versatum esse significat hist. eccles. II, 40. extr. In antiquis libris mss. graecis, quibus haec acta continentur, plerisque [another Greek word] invenitur; sed fit ut in eodem codice scriptura inter hoc et illud fluctuet. Cf. commentarium nostrum.} empfieng den gottlichen auftrag sich nach der insel Mermedonia zu verfugen, wo grausame heiden wohnten. Statt brotes und wassers war fleisch und blut der fremden, die zu ihnen verschlagen wurden, ihre nahrung. Solche ungluckliche pflegten sie vorher noch zu blenden und ihnen einen des verstands beraubenden zaubertrank einzugiessen, dass sie thieren gleich umhergiengen und heu und gras frassen. So fesselten sie bei seiner aukunft den den mann gottes und stiessen ihm die augen aus, er fuhr fort den herrn zu preisen, auch nachdem er jenen giftigen trank genommen hatte. Unter heissen zahren nachts im kerker spricht er fromme gebete gott ergeben; da leuchtet plotzlich der kerker und eine himmlische stimme gelobt ihm beistand und erlosung von aller schmach durch Andreas, der zur bestimmten zeit in der burg erscheinen werde. Alle dreissig tage hielten die heiden feierliche versammlung, in welcher sie festsetzten welcher reihe nach jeder ihrer gefangenen ihnen zur speise dienen sollte. Matthaeus harrte geduldig der nahenden geschicke. Unterdessen war an Andreas, der in Achaia lehrte, vom himmel befehl erschollen sich nach Mermedonia\fn{Nota Grimmius l. l. pag. XIX. Die Mirmedo-nier, unter denen Matthaus und Andreas auftreten, sind nicht mit den aginetischen Myrmidonen zu verwechseln. Jenes Myrmidon oder Myrmene war eine stadt in Aethiopien etc.} aufzumachen, wo sein bruder und gefahrte binnen drei tagen in lebensgefahr schwebe. Anfangs zauderte er, die unkunde des weiten wegs vorschutzend, aber gott gebot ihm mit fruhstem morgen des folgenden tags nach dem meeresufer zu eilen. Als Andreas zur bestimmten zeit sich mit seinem gefolge am strande einfindet, sieht er einen nachen mit drei schiffern bemannt, es war dere allmachtige selbst, und zwei seiner engel die sich bier in menschlicher gestalt und unerkannt zur uberfahrt anbieten. Ein gesprach zwischen Andreas und dem steuermann hebt an, der sich erst nur gegen erlegung des fahrgeldes zur aufnahme der reisenden bereit erklart, nach des apostels ofner erklarung aber, dass er kein geld und gut besitze und auf des heilands geheiss ohne solches die welt befahren solle, freundlich sie eintreten lasst. Mutig besteigen die helden den nachen. Andreas wundert sich ob der jugendlichen schonheit und geschicklichkeit des schiffers, der seinen engeln befiehit die armen pilgrime mit speise zu laben. Unterdessen steigt ein heftiges unwetter auf und Andreas leute verfallen in furcht. Der schiffer meint, man konne sie ans land setzen, was aber die leute, die es fur schmahlich erachten im augenblick dere noth von ihrem herrn zu weichen, eifrig ablehnen. Andreas redet ihnen trost ein und erinuert sie daran, wie der heiland ahnlichen sturm 0plotzlich beschwichtigte. Wahrend er sie so beruhigt, fallen die ermatteten in schlaf, die wellen werden still, Andreas und der himmlische steuermann wechseln erbauliches gesprach. Dieser fordert dem apostel genauere erzahlung von den thaten und wundern des heilands ab. Es ist zumal eine begebenheit, die Andreas ausfuhrlicher vortragt. Einst habe Christus vor der unglaubigen, immer zeichen verlangenden menge ein grosses wunder verrichtet, und die an der mauer des tempels ausgehauenen bilder der Cherubim und Seraphim geheissen herabzusteigen, nach Membre zu fahren und von dort die drei erzvater aus ihren grabern zu holen, damit sie ein ofnes unwiderelegliches zeugnis fur seine gottliche macht ablegten. In solchen unterredungen verstrich der tag und auch Andreas von mude bewaltigt sant in schlaf. Den (Die?) entschlafenen liess gott durch die engel sanft ans gestade tragen, wo er andern morgens im angesicht der feindlichen burg erwachte. Neben ihm schlafen noch seine diener; er weckt und benachrichtigt sie, der mann, welcher sie gestern uber meer gefahren, konne niemand anders als das hochste wesen selbst gewesen sein. Uns, da wir, versetzten sie, entschlummeert waren, nahten adler, entzuckten unsere seelen und trugen sie durch die lufte gen himmel, wo wir gott den herrn von zahllosen engeln tausendstimmig preisen horten, vor gottes solm aber die zwolf boten stehn und engel euch dienen sahen. Froh dieses traumgesichts ergoss sich Andreas in ein dankgebet und flichte des schopfers verzeihung fur alles was er zu chiffe, ohne den allmachtigen zu erkennen, geredet hatte. Da erzeigte sich gott von neuem sichtbar und verkundete seinen frieden: eines grosseren fehltritts schuldig wurdest du in Achaia, als du an dem fernen weg und der weiten seereise verzweifeltest, da doch gott alle dinge ausfuhrbar sind; auf nun zur burg, erlose deinen bruder und seine mitgefangenen. Dann werden deine marter beginnen, erleide sie standhaft und eingedenk der von mir am kreuze geduldeten qual! Unvermerkt, denn gottes hand bedeckte seine schritte, stieg Andreas zur burg hinan, sieben wachter standen vor des kerkers thor, ein plotzlicher tod rafte sie dahin. Von selbst sprang die thur auf, bluttrunken schliefen die heiden, Matthaeus sass einsam in der mordergrube. Da erschauten sich die gefahrten, kusten und unmarmten einander, dann knieten sie und beteten. Ungesaumt rustete sich nun Matthaeus die festung zu verlassen, er und 240 manner, die sich der reise freuten und von gott mit wolken umhullt wurden, dass ihnen kein schnelles aufgebot der feinde nacheile. Andreas geleitet sie aus und kehrt froh in die stadt zuruk, neben einer ehernen seule sich niedersetzend, und was kommen sollte erwartend. Mittlerweile war die zeit jener heidnischen versammlung herangeruckt, sie gedachten einen der fremden gefangenen dem tode zu weihen, doch ihre hofnung schlug fehl. Man fand den kerker offen, die wachter todt. Als die schreckenskunde erscholl, faste hunger und furcht das volk. Alle burgbewohner werden zusammengerufen und ein loos geworfen, welcher von ihnen den andern zur speise gereichen solle? Das loos fallt auf einen angesehnen greis, den sie sogleich in bande legen. Wehklagend bietet er fur sich seinen jungen sohn an, was die hungernde menge gern genehmigt. Nun erhebt der gefesselte jungling lauten jammer und Andreas, der alles von der seule her mit ansieht, wird davon innig geruhrt. Man erwartet dass er fur den unschuldigen zu gott betete und erhort wurde, denn das gedicht erzahlt, alle gegen den kuaben gerichteten waffen seien gleich wachs geschmolzen. Der knabe wird frei gegeben, dafur bricht tobender hunger von neuem aus. Jetzt erscheint schwarz und hasslich, in gestalt eines elenden menschen, der teufel, und verrath die gegenwart des heiligen, der die gefangenen aus der burg entfuhrt habe: gegen ihn solle sich die rache des vols kehren. Andreas verhohnt den bosen feind, der das volk noch heftiger aufreizt. Eine gottliche stimme ermahnt den apostel (hinter der seule) hervorzutreten und sich selbst den leuten zu verkunden. Nun wurden ihm die hande gebunden und er der menge gezeigt, dann schleiften sie ilm uber strasse, felsen und steinklippen den ganzen tag bis der abend einbrach, sein leib war zerstossen und von blute triefend, seine seele blieb aber standhaft und glaubig. Die nacht bringt Andreas im kerker zu, harter frost ist ausgebrochen, fruhmorgens dringen sie wieder ein und beginnen die marter von neuem. Klagen des dulders steigen jetzt zum himmel empor, der teufel lockt die menge desto heftiger; abends naht er sich mit sechs andern den Andreas zu verhohnen, muss aber vor dem zeichen des kruzes weichen. Dieser teufel wird als sohn des alten feindes vorgestellt, denn es folgt ein gesprach zwisehen beiden, worin dieser jenem seine flucht vorwirft, der sohn aber den vater auffordert, selbst sein heil zu versuchen und Andreas anzugreifen. Doch auch der alte teufel kann nicht vor dem heiligen stand halten und ist zu flichen gezwungen. Am dritten morgen hebt die marter von vornen an und wahrt den ganzen tag durch. Andreas betet und sehnt sich nach dem tod, sein blut sei uber den boden ergossen, seine locken auf dem wege zerstreut. Da hiess ihn der himmlische konig umzuschauen und Andreas sah bliihende baume emporwachsen an den stellen wo die blustropfen niedergefallen waren. Und als die widersacher zum viertenmal den heiligen zum kerker leiteten, nahte sich gott, grusste ihn und verlieh seinem verwundeten liebe starke und gesundheit wie von aufang. Da trug es sich zu dass er an der mauer zwei grosse verwitterte steinseulen erblickte und eine derselben so anredete: du marmorstein, es ist gottes, des allmachtigen wille, dass sich aus dir wasserstrome unter dies heidnische volk ergiessen sollen. Du glanzest von golbe und auf dich geruhte der herr von alten zeiten seine zehn gebote zu schreiben, heute aber widerfahrt dir noch grossere ehre, da du gottes rathschluss verkunden sollst. Kaum hatte der heilige diese worte geendet, als sich der stein spaltate und endlose fluten aus sich zu ergiessen begann; der strom wuchs und deckte die weite flur. Viele kinder ertranken, die manner suchten nach den bergen zu fliehen; doch ein engel mit feurigem schwerte wehrte den zugang, wogen wuchsen, walder rauschten und feuerfunken flogen. In allen burgen erscholl jammerruf und endlich rief einer laut: nun sehet selbst, dass wir den schuldlosesten fremden in bande legten, dafur nahet uns schreckliche strafe; eilt, entfesseln wir ihn und flehen um seinen beistand. Da saumten sie nicht ihn zu losen, schon war flut zu solcher hohe gestiegen, dass sie den mannern uber die brust bis zu den achseln reichte. Andreas aber besprach den wasserstrom, alsbald ward der himmel heiter, die erdschluchten ofneten sich und nahmen das wassere auf; vierzehn der ubelsten misserthater wurden mit in den abgrund gerissen und schwanden von der erde. Alles volk bebte vor angst und erkannte dass gott diesen heiligen mann gesandt hatte. Andreas warnte und ermahnte; zu gott sprach er eine bitte fur die seelen der kinder, die in der flut den tod gefunden hatten. Das gebet war dem hochsten angenehm; er gebot dass sie wieder auferstehn sollten; alsbald nach ihrer ruckkehr ins leben empfiengen sie die taufe und wurden in gottes schutz aufgenommen. An der stelle, wo die flut entsprungen und die taufe ergangen war, liess Andreas eine kirche bauen; und aus allen gegenden sammelten sich manner und frauen, wurden getauft, und entsagten allem teufelsdienst und den heidnischen opferstatten. Nachdem ihnen aber Andreas einen frommen bischof namens Plato bestellt hatte, sehnte er sich selbst das land zu verlassen und uber see wegzufahren. Alle ergrif schmerz, dass er sobald von ihnen scheiden wollte, eine himmlische stimme befahl ihm noch sieben tage bei der neuen heerde zu verharren und ihren glauben zu befestigen. So lange lehrte und bestarkte er sie zum verdrusse des teufels, der diese menge der holle entfuhrt sah. Nach ablauf der gesetzten frist rustete sich Andreas zur reise, die bewohner geleiteten ihn traurig zum ufer, schauten dem schiffe nach, so weit sie es mit ihren augen verfolgen konnten, und priesen den ewigen gott.

 

Affert praeterea Grimmius l. l. pag. XIII sq. etiam ea quae ex eadem fabula in legendam auream Iacobi de Voragine transierunt.

 

     [Tischendorf then appears to turn to a detailed examination of Thilo’s commentary on the three Paris codices which he used in his edition of this work—which James (ANT,xxix) notes as containing excellent commentaries, and which was printed in 1832 in Leipzig under the title ­Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti­. Tischendorf continues in Latin:]

 

Restat ut de Thilonis editione et nostra dicamus.

 

Thilo ad edendum adhibuit codices Parisienses tres, qui apud illum aeque ac apud nos siglis A B C insigniti sunt. A significat aliquot folia membranacea pessime affecta, litteris uincialibus octavi fere saeculi scripta, praefixa codici Reg. nunc Nation. 1556: B codicem Reg. nunc Nation. num 881\fn{Per errorem in Notitia Thilonis in Prolegg. ad Act. Thom. p. LXIV sqq. (non item in progr. Halensi p. XI.) atque hinc etiam in Grimmii prolegg. Ad librum Andreas und Elene pro num. 881. legitur num. 808.} saeculi undecimi: C codicem Reg. nunc Nation. num. 1556. chartaceum, saeculi decimi quinti. Ex his integrum libellum non continet nisi codex C. B vero et in fine mutilus est, inde a sect. 30 [two Greek words] et lacunam habet sect. 15. et seq. a verbis [two Greek words] usque [two Greek words]. Denique codex A fragmenta tantum continet. Iam vero hoc accidit ut cl. Thilo quae ex codice B sua manu descripta haberet Parisios mitteret, ut ad ea, postquam et ipsa ad codicem unde fluxerant recognita essent, adderetur codicis C collatio, rursusque ad utrumque antiqua codicis A fragmenta conferrentur. Mandata suscepit homo natione Graecus, huic laborum generi satis assuetus: quem non dubito in excutiendis codicibus B et C perspicue scriptis diligenter versatum esse. Aliter vero res ei cessit antiqua illa folia conferenti satum esse. Aliter vero res ei cessit antiqua illa folia converenti lectu difficillima. Locis enim quam plurimis plane non legit quae ibi scripta sunt, nisi quod ea modo cum B modo cum C consentire significavit; neque paucis locis aliis de antiquissima scriptura graviter falsus est. Hoc intellexi quum ad ea quae ipse ex codice exscripsi exigebam litellum Thilonis indiligentiam collatoris sui non suspicati. Poterit autem id quod dixi ad haec exempla iudicari.

 

     [There follows about a page of Greek; then:]

 

Hos tot tantosque errores in apparatu non notavi: nusquam vero poterunt mea quae a Thiloneis differunt in dubium vocari; accuratissime enim quaecumque legi poterant ex codice mea manu exscripsi. In mea enimvero editione hoc potissimum praestitum est quod codicem A, quem magna ex parte etiam Thilo sequi sibi videbatur, revera secutus sum, postquam difficillimam corum fragmentorum scripturam summo studio legi atque ad versum descripsi. Hinc non abs re erit h. l. indicare quam textus partem quodvis folium quod legi potuit contineat.

 

     [There follows about half a page of Greek; and Tischendorf concludes his commentary as follows:]

 

Servavi in his magnam scripturae vitiositatem, in plerisque eiusdem saeculi codicibus conspicuam; ea vero etiam pertinet ad accentus plerum que positos, quemadmodum in extremis vocibus [one Greek word] legitur. Illud aegre fero quod aliquam fragmentorum partem non animadverti, quam Thilo ad sectiones 14 et 15. indicavit. Nimirum falsus sum fragmentis interiectis iis quae ad [four Greek words, which appear to be a title] pertinent. Quod igitur ex hac parte edidimus, item quidquid ex codd. B\fn{Per incuriam non notavimus fabulae inscriptionem ex codice B, quae sic habet: (nineteen Greek words, which appear to be a title).} et C adhibuimus, ex Thilonis libello etsi passim correcta hausimus perpauca enim a nobis ipsis ex his codd. exscripta sunt.

 

Praeterea vero nobis ad manus erant notae ex duobus codicibus italicis petitae. Horum alterum diximus D, qui est Venetus Marcianus cl. VII. num. XXXVIII., chartaceus, ni fallor, nec vetustate insignis. In eo duplex fabulae initium legitur; alterum nobis est Da, alterum Db, sed alterum non procedit ultra verba [two Greek words; followed by a period; followed by a sentence of four Greek words.] Descripsimus autem inde praeter initia et finem totius fabulae argumentum, notatis passim ipsis vocabulis graecis: hinc passim etiam in commentarium recipi poterant. Codex alter (noster E) est Ambrosianus C92., Veneto haud dubie antiquior, ubi fol. 48-57. haec alta continentur. Ex eo nihil praeter initium et finem adnotavi.

 

[PRO, XLVII-LIX; MRS, xxx;]

 

440. The Syriac Preaching of Matthias

 

     This work, as far as I know, has yet to be discovered. It is not to be confused with Wright’s Syriac material (which in any event he says pairs Andrew and Matthew together, and for a discussion of which see under #392). However, there were two very early Greek traditions involving Matthias alone (#437 and #438 above); there are no less than five Arabic and Ethiopic productions involving only Matthias in their titles (#'s 441-445, below); and there is also a Latin tradition under this apostle (supposedly based upon a Hebrew original, #446 below) This would strongly indicate there was at one time a Syriac tradition dedicated solely to Matthias, which has yet to be recovered from the surviving archives of antiquity. This space is reserved for its future inclusion.

 

[H]

 

441. The Arabic Preaching of Saint Matthias

 

     MRS translates these ­acta­ on pages 126-136 of her book. She says that it is the same story as that published by Tischendorf on pages 132-166 of ­Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha­, and Wright on pages 126-136 of Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles­. It is transcribed below in its entirety. See before #146, where there is a brief sketch of when the various linguistic traditions came into being.

 

1. It came to pass when the disciples divided the cities of the world, that Matthias took out the city whose people are cannibals. And in it they neither eat bread nor drink water; and they have no food save the flesh of men, and their blood. And they seize every foreigner who enters this city, and they tear out his eyes, and they weave spells about him that his reason may go, and they feed him on grass like the cattle, and the put him in a dark place for thirty days; then they bring him out and eat him. And when the Blessed Matthias entered this city, they laid hold of him and blinded him by a treatment of theirs which they knew; and they fed him on grass. But he did not eat it because the power of God was with him, dwelling in him. And they cast him into prison.

 

2. And he prayed and besought the Lord Jesus the Christ, and said: “O my Lord, for Whose sake we have renounced the world and have followed Thee, verily we know that there is no helper but Thee. Behold what they have done to Thy servant; they have made him like the beasts. Thou, O Lord, knowest what hath been, and shall be. And if thou willest that I should die in this city, let Thy will be done. but, O Lord, give me light of mine eyes; and do not give them power over me to eat my flesh like that of the beasts.” And when he had finished his prayer, his eyes were opened, and he saw all the world as it had been; and a voice called to him, saying unto him: “Be strong, O Matthias, and fear not; I will not depart from thee: but I abide with thee in every place whither thou shalt go. But be patient until six days are completed. I will send Andrew unto thee, and he shall bring thee out of prison.” And he thanked God and glorified Him, and his soul rejoiced.

 

3. And he remained in the prison as the Lord had commanded him. And when the citizens entered the prison to take some one out to sacrifice, he closed his eyes that they might not see him. And they had a custom when they put a man in the prison, the first day they put him in, they wrote a label and hung it on his neck. And when thirty days were accomplished for him, they sacrificed him according to the custom. And they did thus to Matthias.

 

4. And on the thirty-sixth day of his imprisonment the Lord appeared unto Andrew in the city of El Barbar and said unto him: “Arise, go out to Matthias in the City of the Cannibals, that thou mayest bring him out of prison, for in three days the citizens will seek to eat him.” Andrew said, “I cannot reach him in this time, but send an angel to bring him out of the prison, for I shall not reach it in these three days.” The Lord replied unto him, “Hearken, O thou, whom I have chosen, who canst say unto the city, ‘Come hither, and all its inhabitants.’ Arise, thou and thy disciple, tomorrow ye shall find a ship ready, embark in it; it will bring you thither.” And the Lord gave him the greeting of peace, and ascended to heaven in glory.

 

5. And Andrew stood, as the Lord had commanded, on the shore of the sea. And the Lord had prepared for him a spiritual ship; and He was sitting in it like the captain; and angels were the sailors. And when Andrew drew nigh to the ship, and perceived the Lord sitting (and he did not know it), he said unto Him: “Peace be unto thee, O captain of the ship!” The Lord said unto him: “May the peace of the Lord rest upon thee!” Andrew said unto him: “Wilt thou carry us with thee to the country whose people are cannibals?” And the Lord, Who was like the captain, sad unto him, “Every one fleeth from that city, and ye are going to it.” He said unto him, “We have business, and because of it we must go thither.” Andrew said unto him: “I beseech thee, O beloved brother, to convey us, and we have no means to pay thee for it, but we will eat with thee of thy food.” The Lord, Who was in the likeness of the captain of the ship, said: “If ye two will eat of our bread, and ye have nothing wherewith to pay us the fare of the boat, tell me who ye are,” Andrew said unto him: “We are disciples of a good Lord, whose name is Jesus the Christ, twelve disciples. He chose us, and gave us commandments, and sent us to preach in His name in the world, and commanded us not to possess gold nor silver, nor anything of the currency of this world: and not to be anxious about bread. And therefore we are as thou seest us. And if thou dost consent to us, and wilt convey us, thou wilt do us a kindness. And if thou wilt not do it, tell us, that we may seek another ship.” He said unto them: “Embark in the ship, I am willing to carry you, rather than people who would pay me the fare. This is a great joy, if I am worthy that ye should sail with me, O disciples of the Christ!” Andrew said unto him: “God bless thee with spiritual blessings!” And Andrew and his disciple embarked and sat in the ship. And the Lord said unto one of the angels who resembled sailors, “Bring bread to these two brethren that they may eat, for they are come from a far country.” And he did as He had commanded him. And the Lord said unto Andrew: “Arise, O my brother, and thy disciple; eat bread before we go out to sea.” And the disciple of Andrew could not speak for fear of the sea. And Andrew turned and said unto him: “May my Lord Jesus the Christ make thy reward good in the kingdom of heaven! Be patient with me for a little while, and I shall not eat until my disciple shall eat.”

 

6. And they went upon the sea; and they had never before sailed on it. Andrew said: “Arise and go down to this place, that thou mayest go wither thou has been sent.” And the lord said unto one of the angels who were in the likeness of sailors: “Put up the sail of the ship.” And he did it. And the Lord took hold of the rudder like the captain of the ship; the angels standing at His side, with Andrew and his disciple sitting in the middle, and he consoled them and said: “Fear not, O my child, the Lord will not forsake us. As for the sky, He hath lifted it up, and the sea, He hath raised all its water; and everything, He hath created it. Fear not, for He is present with us, as far as the place whither we are going; as He hath promised us.” And when Andrew had said this, he prayed, entreating the Lord that his disciple might sleep, and that they might not fear the sea. And this took place speedily. And while they slept he took their souls up to Paradise, and they ate of its fruit. And when he knew that they were sleeping, he said unto the Lord, “I entreat thee, O good man, to tell me about this voyage which thy boat is making; for I have not seen anything like it; and I have sailed on the sea many times; but I never have sailed in a boat like this. Truly I am as if I were sitting on the land, and the ship doth not rock; though we have come out into the midst of the sea. The sailors can do nothing with the gear of the ship, and neither can others.” The Lord Jesus the Christ said: “All the time we have sailed over the sea, no voyage like this hath been seen. When the ship knoweth that a disciple of the Christ is in it, it is not shaken as at all other times.” Andrew said: “Blessed be the name of my Lord Jesus the Christ, Who in His merciful kindness hath enabled me to sail with a man who knoweth His name.” The Lord said: “If thou art a disciple of the Christ, tell me why the children of Israel do not believe in Him, and do not say that He is God. I have heard of Him, that He hath shown wonders to His disciples on the Mount of Olives.” Andrew said unto Him: “I will tell thee His miracles. He opened the eyes of the blind; and the dumb spake; and He made the deaf hear; and He cast out devils; and raised the dead; and He placed five loaves of barley bread upon the grass, till they became enough to satisfy five thousand men, besides the women and the children. And beyond that afterwards, the twelve baskets of the superabundance of the bread. And with all this they did not believe in Him.” The Lord said unto him: “Perhaps He did not do these wonders in the presence of the chief priests, and heretofore they did not believe, but they rose up against Him.” Andrew said unto Him: “But in their presence He did not show His power, and also in secret He worked amongst them.” The Lord said unto him: “What was the secret thing?”

 

7. And whilst they were talking they drew nigh to the city. And Andrew slept. And the Lord commanded the angels to carry him and his two disciples, and the provender on to the shore of the sea; and He ascended to heaven in His glory. And when he awoke he beheld the city, and he did not see a trace of the ship. He said: “Have I been sitting with the Lord, and I knew it not? I will look, and the Lord will speak unto His servant. This is a blessed day for me. When my ship shall sail I shall behold Him who hath humbled himself for whom?” Then his disciples awoke; and he said unto them both: “Arise, we have been sailing with the Lord, and we knew it not.” His disciples said unto him: “Once when I prayed we saw shining eagles; they overshadowed us, and took our souls up to Paradise; and we saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, and the angels round about Him. And I saw you, the twelve disciples, and the twelve angels round about you. And since then until the time we awoke we have seen many wonders.” And Andrew rejoiced when his two disciples had seen this spiritual vision. And he arose and drew a circle on the ground, and said: “O my Lord Jesus the Christ! I will not depart from this place until Thou shalt appear, for I know that Thou art not far from me. Forgive me for what my heart hath thought in my folly. I entreat Thee that Thou wouldest appear unto Thy servant.”

 

8. And the Lord appeared unto him outside of the city like a youth fair of face; and said unto him: “Abraham, my beloved.” And Andrew fell upon the ground, and said: “I thank Thee, O my Lord Jesus the Christ! What have I done, that Thou shouldest appear unto me on the sea?” The Lord said unto him: “Fear not, I have done this unto thee because thou hast said: ‘We shall not reach the city in three days.’ I wished to teach thee that I am Almighty; and that nothing is too hard for Me. Arise, go into the city, take Matthias out of prison and all who are with him there. And much suffering shall come upon you in it. Be patient, for I shall abide with you. Remember that I am compassionate; and be ye like unto Me: and remember that it hath been said, that by Ba’elzebul I cast out devils. I could, more quickly than in the twinkling of an eye, command the earth to open and take them down to the depths, but I was long-suffering, for I know that the Evil One dwelleth with you upon the earth; and I know by your patience in suffering in this city many in it will believe in Me.” Andrew said unto Him: “Be with me, O Lord, and I will do all that Thou dost command me.” And the Lord gave him the greeting of peace, and ascended to heaven with great glory.

 

9. And Andrew arose and his two disciples, and they went into the city, and no one perceived them. And they came to the gates of the prison. And when they took hold of the prison gates they were opened unto them, and they entered and found Matthias sitting, singing psalms, and they greeted him. Andrew said unto him: “Sayest thou that after two days thou shalt go out and be sacrificed like the beasts, and thy flesh shall be eaten? And hast thou forgotten these mysteries which we saw from the Lord, which if we were to speak about it the very heaven would be shaken?” Matthias said: “I have known that, O my brother, but I said: Perhaps the Lord hath willed thus, that I should finish my conflict in this city. Hath not His voice been heard in the Holy Gospel, when He saith, ‘I send you forth as ewe-lambs among wolves’? But as for me, on the day I was thrown into prison, I called on the Lord, and he appeared unto me and said unto me: ‘Fear not; when the days are fulfilled, I will send Andrew unto thee; he shall bring thee out of prison—thee and those who are with thee.’ And lo, thou art come, and I see what thou hast done.” And Andrew saw in the midst of the prison the men who were tied up like the beasts: and he cursed Satan and all his hosts. And Andrew and Matthias began to supplicate the Lord, and He heard them. And they laid their hands upon the men who were in the prison; and opened their eyes, and their senses returned unto them. And they commanded them to go out of the city; and they told them that they would find a fig-tree in the path, under which they might sit until the disciples returned unto them. And the men said unto them: “Come ye out with us, lest the citizens should come and make us return.” The disciples said unto them: “Go ye out in peace; nothing unpleasant shall befall you.” And they went forth outside of the city; and they found a fig-tree, as the disciples had told them. And the number of them was a hundred and forty-nine men. And the two told Rufus and Alexander, disciples of Andrew, to go out of the city. And Andrew and Matthias and their disciples arose and prayed, and entreated the Lord to send a cloud to convey Rufus and Alexander, the disciples, and to bring them to Peter. And the lord sent a cloud; it carried them.

 

10. And Andrew and Matthias went forth into the midst of the streets of the city, and they sat down beneath the covering of the street that they might know what was going to happen. And the citizens sent officers to the prison to bring them the men whom they were about to sacrifice, as their custom was, every day. And they found the doors of the prison opened, and the guards dead, and their number was six men, and there was no one in the prison. And they returned and told the magistrates. And they said: “What shall we do? Can we remain today without anything to eat?” And they took counsel about what troubled them. Either we shall eat the dead, or we shall bring out the old men of the city and they shall cast lots, and on whomsoever the lot falleth he shall be sacrificed and eaten, until the messengers return to us.” For they had persons whom they sent in a ship to gather people together from every place to their country, that they might eat them. And they had a lake in the city; so that when they wished to sacrifice a man or a woman, they might be slain in it, and the blood might filter away into a pool in the midst of it. And when they brought them to the place, and had taken up knives to cut them up, Andrew saw them. And he stood and made supplication: “O my Lord Jesus the Christ, Lover of mankind! May these knives which are in their hands be broken.” And straightway their hands were withered, and they could not move them. And when the magistrates saw what had happened, they wept and said: “The wizards who brought the men out of the prison are they who have bewitched these men, so that we have no power over them.”

 

11. And the old men of the city, whose number was three hundred and sixteen men, came together. And they made them cast lots, and the lot fell upon six, that they should be sacrificed and eaten. And one of the six whom the lot had constrained said: “I have a son, take him and release me.” And the officers said: “We will not take him unless we inform the magistrates.” And they informed them and they said unto them: “If he should deliver his son unto you instead of himself, release him.” And he delivered his son unto them. And when they had laid hold of the boy to slay him, he wept in his father’s face, and said unto him: “I entreat thee, O my father! Let me not be killed while I am a boy; but let me live that I may become like thee. And when I am an old man like thee, let them eat me.” And the boy cried and said unto the officers: “Ye are hard of heart; but it is my father who hath delivered me over unto death.” And it was the law of their city that every one who died should be cut up and eaten. And they brought those upon whom the lot had fallen. And Andrew made supplication unto the Lord and said: “I entreat Thee, O my Lord Jesus the Christ! As Thou hast answered me about the dead; hearken to my supplication about these living ones, and let no one have power to slay them.” And their swords became as wax before the fire. And when the magistrates saw that, they wept bitter tears and said: “Woe unto us! What hath befallen us?”

 

12. Then Satan appeared unto them like an old man, and cried and said: “Woe unto you! Ye will die of hunger; for ye cannot eat your dead after this; they will remain lying in the midst of your streets until they are decayed; and ye will not be able to eat them. Arise, seek for this man Matthias and kill him. For if ye kill him not, ye will not be able to do what ye want. For he it is who brought the people out of the prison; and he is in this city; seek for him and slay him, so that your condition may be prosperous.” And when Andrew saw Satan talking thus with them, he said unto him: “O Enemy of our Lord! May God, Whose name is exalted, put thee down under our feet.” And when Satan heard these words he said “I hear the voice, but I do not see the body.” And Andrew appeared to him and said unto him: “Yea, is not thy name called Samil? O thou blind one, for thou art blind; thou dost not see the servants of God.” And Satan cried with a loud voice and said: “Behold the men! Lay hold of them.” And the multitude went before and locked the gate of the town while they were seeking and saying: “Matthias and Andrew! Seize them for us, that we may do unto them what we will.” And the Lord commanded the two disciples, saying: “Arise and appear, that they may know the weakness of their power.” And they went out from under the covering and they said unto them: “We are those whom ye seek.” And they rose up against them and laid hold of them, and said unto them: “We shall do unto you as ye have done unto us.” Some people said: “Let us take your heads and give them to the chief priests.” And others said: “Nay, but let us cut them into small pieces, and distribute their flesh among all the citizens.” And they dragged them through all the city until their blood flowed on the path; and they cast them into prison, and bound them, and left them in a dark place. And they set many strong men to guard them.

 

13. And when the two entered the prison they prayed and said: “O our Lord Jesus the Christ! Let not Thy help be far from us. Thou has commanded us not to hasten; and let not the enemy rejoice over us.” Then the Lord appeared unto them and said: “I am abiding with you.” And He said: “Fear not.” And whilst they were in the prison Satan took with him six of his friends; and they appeared unto them, and spake forcible words against them, and said: “Ye have fallen into my hands; and who shall save you from me? Where is your power wherewith ye prevailed over me in all the cities, and laid waste the temples which were mine? I shall allow them to slay you as I slew your Master.” And he said unto his friends: “Arise, slay these people who have resisted you; so that ye may have rest from them, and that every place may be yours.” And the devils rose up against the disciples, desiring to kill them. And they made the sign of the cross on their faces; and they fell upon the earth. And their father Satan said unto them: “What hath befallen you?” They said unto him: “We saw a sign in their hands, and we were afraid of it. And if thou hast power against them, act, for we are frightened.” And they went away ashamed.

 

14. And when the citizens awoke in the morning they brought out the two disciples, and dragged them through the city. And they made supplication to their Lord, saying: “Have compassion on us, O Lord! For we are flesh and blood, and we know that Thou art not far from us.” And they heard a voice calling them, in Hebrew, saying: “Andrew and Matthias, the heaven and the earth shall pass away; but My word shall not pass away.” And the citizens went with them to the prison; and they said: “They shall die this time.” And the disciples made supplication, while their blood was streaming on the ground, saying: “O our Lord Jesus the Christ! Help us and save this city and all who are in it.”

 

15. And immediately they saw the image of an idol of stone standing on a pillar in the midst of the prison, and they made the sign of the cross over it. And they spread out their hands and prayed; and they drew near to the pillar on which was the idol. And they said unto it: “Be afraid of the sign of the cross, which we make over thee, and make water to flow out from beneath it abundantly like the water of the Flood upon that city and all its inhabitants.” And Water gushed out at once from beneath it in abundance intensely salt, and it began to drown the city and all its inhabitants. And the citizens took their children and their cattle and they tried to get out of it. And Matthias said: “O my Lord Jesus the Christ! Give an answer to the supplication of Thy servant; and send Michael the Archangel with a dark cloud upon this city; so that no man may go out of it.” And when Matthias knew that the Lord had answered him, he struck the pillar and said: “Finish what I have commanded.” And the water rose higher until it reached to the necks of the people, and it almost drowned them. And they wept and said: “Woe unto us! Perhaps this wrath that abideth on us is because of the two good men, the servants of God, whom we have thrown into prison; and of our cruel conduct to them. Behold! We shall die an evil death in this water; but come along with us, let us cry out to their God and let us say: ‘We believe in Thee, O God, the God of these two foreign men. Save us from this water.’”

 

16. Then Andrew answered and said unto the pillar: “The time of the flood is gone; and now is the time for sowing in the hearts of the citizens. Truly I say, that when I shall have built a church in this city I will put thee in it.” And the water straightway stood still which was gushing from beneath the pillar. And when the citizens saw it, six of the elders of the city with some young men accompanying them rose up and went to the prison—the water being up to their necks. And when they saw the two disciples, their hands were stretched out making supplication to God. And they went out to them, and the water was divided before them. And when the elders saw this they were afraid and cried, saying: “Have compassion on us, O servants of God!” And amongst them was the old man on whom the lot fell that he should be sacrificed; and who had delivered up his son and saved himself. And Matthias said unto him: “I am amazed at thee when thou sayest: ‘Have compassion on me,’ and thou hadst no compassion on thy son. In this hour the water shall return to the depth of the earth and thou shalt go down with it, and the six men who sacrificed the people; so that the state of him who hated his son, and of those who slew the people, may be seen.” And he said unto the young men who accompanied the elders: “Go ye to the spot in which the people were sacrificed, so that the water may return unto its place.” And they went with the disciples, the water flowing away from before them. And they stood beside the lake and prayed. And straightway the earth was opened, and it swallowed up the men who had been sacrificing the people, and the old man who had delivered up his son to death, and all the water which was in the city; and all the citizens saw this, and were greatly afraid. And they said: “They will say: ‘Let fire come down from heaven to burn us up because of the wrong which we have done unto them.’” And they said unto them: “Fear not, and believe with a true faith. Ye shall see the glory of God. And we shall not leave those whom the earth hath swallowed in it; but we shall raise them up.” And Matthias and Andrew commanded that every one who had died from the water should be brought unto them, that they might pray over them, and that they might rise. And they could not do it because of the multitude of the dead.

 

17. And the disciples made supplication unto the Lord, and He sent a rain from Himself upon the dead; and they all arose. And after these things the foundation of the church was laid; and they built it. And they gave them the commandments of the Gospel, and the Law and the Gospel; and they baptized them all in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. And they gave them the holy mysteries; and they healed all the sick. And they said unto them: “Take heed to what we have commanded you till the end of your lives; and teach your children who shall come after you. And make supplication unto the Lord that He may take away from you the custom which ye have of eating man’s flesh.” And he gave them the right feeling that their food should be like the food of men. And afterwards they departed from amongst them; and they bade them farewell, saying unto them: “O good servants of God! Abide with us for a while, so that we may rejoice in you: for we are new plants.” They said unto them: “Grieve not, and fear not; we shall not stay long away from you, by the will of God.”

 

18. And as they were going out from the city the Lord appeared unto them like a youth fair of face. And he said unto them: “Have pity on the inhabitants of this city; and accept their request; and abide with them for some days. For I have heard their petition unto you when they said: ‘We are new plants.’ And why did ye command the six men and send them into the depths?” And they said: “Forgive us, O our Lord! We will return unto them, and will make them rise from the depths by Thy name.” The Lord said unto them: “Return unto the city, and abide in it for seven days; and go forth from it; and thou Andrew, go unto the city of El-Barbar.” And they both said: “O Lord, bless us!” And He blessed them; and ascended to Heaven with glory. And they entered the city, as the Lord had commanded them; and they abode in it for seven days. And they raised up those whom the earth had swallowed; and they confirmed their faith, and strengthened their knowledge of the Lord’s commandments. And they went out from amongst them as they were giving glory to God, Who had not left them in error. And the men went out with them, bidding them farewell and saying: “There is one God, the God of Andrew and Matthias, Jesus the Christ, to Whom be glory and honor; and to His Father, Who upholdeth all things, and to the Holy Ghost, the Giver of life for ever and ever. Amen.”

 

[MRS, 126-136]

 

442. The Ethiopic Preaching of Matthias

 

     Budge says that this work is a fuller account of the Preaching of Saint Matthias than the one at #443, and bids us to see Lipsius, Apostelgeschichten, vol. I. P. 550ff. Both texts are given here in their entirety; such footnotes as are given are his, unless marked with my (H). The work is preceded by the following introductory: In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, [One God.] The paragraphs are numbered; but this is merely for the readers’ convenience and is not intended to apply to the Arabic version. These two versions are given so that they may be compared with each other. See before #146, where there is a brief sketch of when the various linguistic traditions came into being.

     I am reasonably certain that the bracketing ([]) in the text represent emendations of the text by Budge.

 

1. And it came to pass in those days that the holy Apostles were gathered together in Jerusalem (now they were all assembled in one place), and they divided the countries of the world among themselves, and they cast lots, so that each of them might go unto the place which fell to him by his lot; and it fell upon the blessed Matthias to go to the city of the cannibals. Now in that city the people eat neither bread nor drink water, but only the flesh of men do they eat, and their drink is the blood of men. And whensoever any man goeth into their country they put out his eyes, and give him certain medicine to drink whereby he becometh bewitched, and when he hath drunk the poison for seven days his heart changeth, and his mind changeth, and his understanding becometh like unto that of a beast. | Then they carry him to prison, and bring him grass\fn{Or: hay.} to eat, and he dwelleth there for thirty days; and after this time they bring him out, and slay him, and then they divide his flesh [among] the people of the city.

 

2. Now when Matthias had come into the gate of the city, the people thereof laid hold upon him, and put out his eyes, and made him to drink enchanted medicines, and they put him into the prison-house, and brought him grass \fn{Or: hay.} to eat, but Matthias would not eat thereof; and although he had drunk their medicine his heart \fn{Or: understanding.} remained unchanged, and his mind was in no wise altered. And Matthias began to weep, and said, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, for Whose sake we have left all and followed Thee, I know that Thou wilt be my helper. Look and see what they have done unto Matthias Thy servant, and how they have treated me like a beast of the field; but Thou knowest everything. Since Thou didst command me to come into this city, if the sinful men thereof [wish] to devour my flesh [let them do so], and I shall not flee from Thy command; but give only light unto mine eyes so that I may see what the sinful men of this city will do unto me. Be not deaf unto my petition, O my Lord Jesus Christ, and deliver Thou me not over unto a cruel death.” And saying these words Matthias wept and groaned aloud. Then straightway there came a great light which illumined the inside of the prison-house, and a Voice went forth from that light which said, “O Matthias, My beloved, look with thine eyes;” and Matthias looked, and he was able to see, and he rejoiced with an exceedingly great joy, and he fell upon his face and worshipped that light. Then again a Voice went forth from that light which said, “Be strong, O Matthias, and fear not, for I will not forsake thee, and I, even I, will deliver thee; and not thyself only, but all those who are with thee, for I will be with thee every day, and for ever. And now, wait thou patiently seven and twenty days for deliverance by man, and after this period I will send unto thee thy brother Andrew, and he shall bring thee out from this place, and not thyself only but all those who are with thee here.” Then the Voice said unto him, “Peace be unto thee, O Matthias,” and the light passed away into the heavens. And Matthias, being full of joy said, “Let Thy grace come to me and be with me, O Jesus Christ, my Lord;” and having said these words he sat down.

 

3. And the officers of the prison-house came to bring out men for the food of the people of the city; and Matthias was there, and he kept his eyes shut so that they should not see that he had the power of sight. And the officers came to where he was, and they read out the writing of the tablet which was on his hand, and said among themselves, “Three days are still left unto him, and then we will bring him out, and slay him for the food [of the people].” Now it was the custom of that country for the people thereof whenever they seized a stranger\fn{Or: traveler.} to cast him into the prison-house, and they kept account of the day wherein they had brought him in [there], by tying a written tablet to his hand for thirty days; and then, when he had become fat, they would bring him out, and kill him and eat him. And when Matthias had completed [his thirty days] they laid hold upon him [to bring him out, and to kill and eat him]. Then our Lord appeared unto Andrew and his disciples in the country wherein they were teaching, and He said unto Andrew, “Andrew.” And Andrew answered and said unto Him, “What is it, Lord?” Then the Lord said unto him, “Rise up and depart unto the city of the Cannibals,\fn{The city of the Cannibals was probably situated in the wild country which lay to the east and north of the Black Sea, and it has been identified with Sinope. That the country to which Andrew went was Scythia seems tolerably certain, and we know from Strabo (IV:v.4) that cannibals were thought to live there; the place identified with the city varied at various dates.} unto the place which I will show thee, and bring out Matthias from thence. Three days are [still] left unto him, but after that time sinful men will lay hold upon him, so that they may perform the work of wickedness and kill him.” Then Andrew answered and said unto him, “Lord, how can I perform the journey, and arrive [there], and find him in three days? And besides, I know not the road, for I have never traveled thereon. Send an angel [endowed] with power to bring him forth thence, for I am only a being of flesh, and Thou knowest what the flesh of man is, and I am afraid to go thither.” And our Lord answered and said unto Andrew, “Hearken, O Andrew, if I had the wish I could speak one word unto Matthias and his disciples, and I could bring them hither forthwith. But now, rise up and depart at daybreak unto the seacoast, where thou shalt find a ship ready [to sail]; and thou shalt ask those who are in the ship where they are going, so that thou mayest go [with them] and fulfill My command.” Then Andrew rose up at daybreak and went to the sea, and he saw a little ship and three men sitting therein; now it was our Lord Jesus Christ and His power that had made the ship, and He had caused His glory to be hidden, and He appeared in the form of a man. And our Lord had brought three angels [with Him] and He made [them to appear] as if they were wishing to treat the Apostles with roughness. Then Andrew said unto them, “We may not give slumber [unto our eyes], for we are the disciples of Jesus Christ, and servants of the Good God. When He chose us Twelve He gave us a commandment, saying, ‘When ye travel ye shall preach and teach, and ye shall not take with you nor shall ye carry either gold, or silver, or wallet, or staff, or two changes of raiment, or any piece of money in your wallet, except that which [is sufficient to buy] one loaf of bread;’ therefore we have no [money] in our hand. Now, if ye will deal graciously [with us], tell us quickly; and if ye will not, behold, we will go and enquire [if we can sail] in other ships.”

 

4. And Jesus answered and said, “Is the command which your Lord hath given you indeed thus? Verily I say unto you, Get ye up into My ship, O ye Apostles of Jesus Christ, for I would rather have you in it than those who would give Me money. Is it not meet for Me [to be] with the Apostles of the Lord God, and to travel with them unto Mine own country?” Then Andrew answered and said unto Him, “May Jesus Christ keep thee, and give Thee glory and praise, O my beloved Brother;” and Andrew went up into the ship with his disciples, and [stood on] the deck. And Jesus answered and said unto the angels, “Rise up and go down into the body of the ship, and bring up three loaves of bread which [these men] may eat;” and they brought [them] unto Him. And Jesus answered and said, “O my brother Andrew, rise up and take [this] bread, so that ye may be able to bear the waves of the sea;” and Andrew said unto his disciples, “We have found in this Man great love for His fellow creatures.” Then Andrew answered and said, “O my Brother, may God give unto Thee bread in the kingdom of heaven! And now, leave me, O my Brother.” And Jesus answered and said unto Andrew, “Compel these thy men to take some food,” but a voice answered Him, saying, “They are not able to eat anything whatsoever, for they have been greatly frightened since they saw the sea, and they are not accustomed to travel thereon.” Then Jesus answered and said unto Andrew, “Fear thou not, for nothing [shall harm] thy disciples in passing over the sea. But enquire of them if they wish to descend to the land [again], and to wait there until thou hast gone and performed what thou hast been commanded [to do], after which thou wilt return unto them.” So Andrew asked his disciples, saying, “O my children, do ye desire to descend to the land, and to wait there whilst I go and fulfill my mission and return unto you?” Then Andrew’s disciples answered and said [unto him], “If we were to dissemble in our heart, and were to say with our mouth ‘We are not afraid,’ we should be liars; but inasmuch as if we were remote from thee we should become strangers to the good things which thou hast given unto us, we will go with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

 

5. Then Jesus answered and said unto him, “If thou art the disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, teach thy disciples with sweet words how to make their hearts to rejoice, and to forget the billows of the sea, for behold, we are going to take the ship away some distance from the land.” And Jesus commanded the angels, saying, “Let go the ship from the land,” and they let the ship go from the land. Then Jesus went and sat down upon the place for steering that He might steer the ship, and meanwhile Andrew admonished and taught his disciples, and encouraged them, saying, “O my children who have delivered yourselves over [to tribulation] for the sake of Christ, let not your hearts be moved, for our Lord will not forsake us, and He will be with us and will preserve us for ever. Now, in times past, we the Twelve Apostles embarked in a ship, and our Lord was with us; and our Lord went down into the body of the ship, and lay down to sleep, wishing to try us, but He did not go to sleep. And a very mighty wind arose, and the waves of the sea dashed over the ship, and great fear laid hold upon us; then He arose and rebuked the sea and the winds, and there came a great calm over the sea, for all things fear Him because they are the work of His hands. Fear not then, O my children, for God will not neglect you.” Then whilst Andrew was praying on their behalf his disciples fell into a slumber, and slept a deep sleep, and when Andrew knew that they were asleep he rejoiced with an exceedingly great joy.

 

6. Then Andrew turned towards Jesus, Who was in the form of the master of the ship, and he began to hold converse with Him; now He knew not that the Man was Jesus. And he said unto Him, “O my Brother, verily Thou art cunning in Thy craft, and the steering of a ship is well suited to Thee, for no man can steer a ship as thou canst. Verily, I say unto thee, I have crossed the sea seventeen times, behold, seventeen times, and I never saw a mariner as skilled as Thou art, for Thou steerest this ship as well on the sea as if it were upon land.” Then Jesus answered and said unto Andrew, “O my brother, in traveling over this sea we have been in tribulation many times, but the sea knoweth that thou art a disciple of Christ and a righteous man, and it doeth honor unto thee [now], and it will not lift up its waves against thee. Then Andrew cried out with a loud voice, saying, “I give thanks unto Thee, and I bless Thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ, that I am holding converse with a Man Who doth glorify Thee.” And Jesus answered and said unto Andrew, “Tell Me, O disciple of the Lord Jesus, why the unbelieving Jews did not believe in Jesus, and why they said, ‘He is not the Son of God, but a man.’ Reveal the matter to Me then, O thou who art a disciple of Jesus, for we have heard that He made Himself manifest to His disciples in the mountain.” Then Andrew answered and said unto Him, “Yea, He did, O my Brother, and I will tell thee how God revealed Himself unto us. It was He Who made man, and Who for our salvation became Man, and was crucified, and rose in the form of God, for He is God.” And Jesus answered and said unto him, “Why then was it that the Jews did not believe? Dost thou know whether it was because He did not work [miracles] before them?” Then Andrew answered and said unto Him, “Hast thou never heard how our Lord wrought mighty deeds before them? How He opened the eyes of the blind, and made the lame to walk, and the deaf to hear, and how He raised the dead, and cleansed the lepers, and turned water into wine, and how He took five [loaves] of bread, and two fishes, and commanded the multitudes of the people to sit down upon the grass, and how having broken the bread [He gave it to them,] and they were all filled? Now the number of those people was five thousand, but even after this [the Jews] did not believe.” And Jesus answered, and said unto him, “I think that this miracle which He wrought [was done] among the people and not before the priests.” Then Andrew said unto Him, “Not only openly did He work [miracles], but He did so in secret also; and still they did not believe in Him.” And Jesus answered and said unto him, “Tell me now, truly, what your Master did in secret.” Then Andrew answered and said, “I believe that Thou wouldst put me to the test.” And Jesus answered and said unto him, “Tell Me, O my brother, so that My soul may rejoice.”

 

7. Then Andrew answered and said unto Him, “O my son, may God perfect for Thee every good work! And now, hearken unto [the story of] the miracle which our Lord Jesus Christ wrought in secret. The Twelve Apostles were with our Lord, and when the chief priests saw us following Him, they said unto us, ‘Woe be unto you, O accursed ones, for ye follow after this Man who saith, I am the Son of God. Who among you hath seen God and conversed with Him? Is not Mary His mother? And are not James and Simon His brethren?’ Now when we heard these words our hearts turned towards unbelief. Then Jesus knew that our hearts were turning away from Him, and our Lord took us and carried us away into a desert place, and He wrought a mighty miracle and performed a most wonderful thing before us, and made manifest His Divinity unto us. Then we said unto the chief priests, ‘Come ye and see for yourselves if ye will not believe us;’ and the chief priests came with us, and we went with them into one of their heathen temples. And when we had entered in we saw a similitude of the heavens\fn{Perhaps a figure, or statue, of a god is here meant.} [which was so exact] that we believed that it was God [Who had made it]; and there came in with us three men from among the people, and four of the chief priests. Then, having come inside the temple, Jesus saw two images which were hewn out of stone, the one on the right hand, and the other on the left of the temple. And our Lord made us to turn round and said unto the men, ‘Do you see the similitude\fn{Or: figure.} of the heavens? Those which ye see are the figures of the Seraphim and Cherubim, which are in heaven above, but they are the work of men upon the earth.’ Then Jesus turned to the figure which was at the right of the place where the cunning work was, and said unto it, ‘I say unto thee, O thou figure of a heavenly being which hath been fashioned by handicraftsman, remove thyself, and come down from the place whereon thou art, and tell the chief priests whether I am God or no, and rebuke them.’ Then straightway, in that same hour, the statue leaped down, and spake after the manner of a man, and said, ‘O ye foolish Jews, who live always in blindness, and are never able to cease therefrom! Moreover, there are others who wish to be as blind as ye are, and who say that [He Who is] God is [only] a man. But it is He Who fashioned man in the beginning, and Who gave unto him His own breath of life; it is He Who causeth to move everything which moveth; it is He Who held converse with Abraham; it is He Who brought Jacob back to his own country; it is He Who is the God of the living and of the dead; it is He Who is ready [to bestow] blessings upon those who call upon Him; and it is He Who is ready to punish those who do not submit unto Him. Can ye not see that I am only a [piece of] carved stone? I say unto you that we are [pieces of] carved stone which have been hewn into shape by the hand of the handicraftsman, and yet they call us, and give us the name of ‘gods!’ But this they say because they know not God; and their priests who minister with sacrifices make themselves pure that they may minister at their altars because they are afraid of devils; and for this reason they have given us the name of ‘gods,’ and they call us by this name because they know not God. For when the priests have had intercourse with devils (i.e., women) they purify themselves [for seven days], and then they bring in offerings to me through fear. Ye commit fornication, and then ye take the Law of God into your hand, and come into your synagogues, and perform the service, and read the services, and yet fear not the glorious Word of God. Therefore shall your synagogues be destroyed, and they shall become churches to the Name of the One Who is the Son of the Lord God.’

 

8. And having said these things the image held its peace. Then we answered and said unto the chief priests, ‘Do ye believe? Behold, ye must speak what is right [before] this stone image, and ye must show yourselves to be ashamed.’ And the chief priests answered and said, ‘Ye must see and understand that this stone speaketh only by means of [your] sorceries, and ye must not imagine that it is God Who speaketh unto us; and if ye think that it is the stone itself which speaketh, [ye err] and ye must know that it is only by means of [your] sorceries that [it doeth so]. For behold, ye heard the stone say, It was He Who spake with Abraham. Where now, did the stone find Abraham? It is not a few days since Abraham died, nay, it must have been before he (i.e., the figure in the stone) was born. How then could he have known Abraham?’ And having again turned Himself towards the statue, Jesus said unto it, ‘Inasmuch as they do not believe what thou didst say unto them concerning Abraham, whose body is in the grave, and whose soul is in the Garden of Joy (i.e., Paradise), go thou and speak unto them, saying, ‘Thus saith He Who fashioned man at the creation, and Who made thee to be [His] friend,\fn{The allusion here is to the Bible passages in which Abraham is called the Friend of God: II Chronicles XX:7; Isaiah XLI:8.} Rise up, and come forth, thou and thy son Isaac, and Jacob, thy son’s son, and come into the three temples of Basyos, and rebuke the priests, and let them know that I know thee, and that thou knowest Me.’

 

9. And when the image heard these words from our Lord it straightway passed by us, as we were all looking on, and it departed and journeyed unto the land of the Canaanites, and came unto the grave of Abraham;\fn{Among the Arabs Abraham is usually called Ibrahim al-Khalil; see Sale, Koran, 67.} and it stood up outside the grave, and cried out and declared the command which [it had received] from our Lord. Then straightway the twelve patriarchs came forth alive from the grave, and they said unto the image, ‘Unto whom among us hast thou been sent?’ And the statue answered and said unto them, ‘Unto three of the patriarchs [only]; get ye in and sleep until the time of the resurrection;’ and when they [the nine other patriarchs] heard [this] they went into their graves. Then the [three] patriarchs departed with the image, and they came unto the chief priests, and rebuked them; and after this Jesus said unto them, ‘Depart ye unto your places and sleep, O fathers.’ And having turned Himself towards the image, Jesus said unto it, ‘Return thou unto thy place;’ and straightway it returned to its place, and remained as it had been aforetime. Now the chief priests, although they had seen these things, did not believe. And besides this thing there were many other things which our Lord showed unto us in secret, and if I were to tell [them] to Thee, O my Brother, Thou wouldst not be able to understand them.” And Jesus answered and said unto him, “I am able to understand every hidden thing, and everything which belongeth unto faith; for a few words suffice for the wise man, but the soul of the fool will not believe whatsoever a man telleth him until the day of his death."

 

10. And Jesus knew within Himself that the ship was nigh to arrive at the shore, and He ceased to talk with Andrew, and having laid down his head he also fell asleep. Now when Jesus knew that Andrew was asleep, He said unto His angels, “Make flat your hands, and lift up Andrew and his disciples, and depart, and set them down outside the City of the Cannibals, and when ye have set them down, then come back to me.” Then they laid flat [their hands], as Jesus had commanded them, and they lifted up Andrew and his disciples, and they flew up into the air [with them], and laid them down outside the City of the Cannibals; then Jesus went back into heaven, together with His angels. And when the morning had come Andrew awoke, and opened his eyes, and he saw that he was upon dry land, and he seat and gazed at the gates of the city; and turning round he saw that his disciples were [still] sleeping. Then he woke them up, and said unto them, “Rise up, O my children, and learn ye concerning the work of mercy which the Lord wrought for us on the sea, but we did not recognize Him, for He turned away his face; and He appeared in the form of a man [wishing] to try us.” Then Andrew said, “O Lord, I know the beauty of Thy works and word, but Thou didst not reveal Thyself unto me, and therefore I did not recognize Thee.” And Andrew’s disciples answered and said unto him, “We know that whilst thou was talking with Him we fell asleep, and three eagles swooped down and snatched away our souls into heaven. And we saw a great marvel, for we saw our Lord Jesus Christ sitting on the throne of His glory, and all His angels were round about Him. And we saw Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the saints, and David singing psalms to his harp, and we saw you, and the [other] apostles, standing before our Lord Jesus Christ; and by the side of you were [twelve] angels, and behind you was [one] angel in your form. And we heard God saying unto His angels, ‘Hearken ye unto whatsoever My Apostles shall say unto you.’ This is what we saw, O our father Andrew, and at length thou didst wake us up, and we arose, and our souls returned into our bodies.” Then when Andrew had heard these words he rejoiced with an exceedingly great joy, because God had made his disciples worthy to see this wonderful thing. And Andrew lifted up his eyes into heaven, and cried out with a loud voice, saying, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, show Thou thyself unto me that I may know Thou art not far from Thy servants. And O my Lord Jesus Christ, forgive thou me in that when I was on the ship I held converse with Thee pridefully, thinking that Thou wast a man whom I could teach; and now, O my Lord, appear Thou unto me and make Thyself manifest.”

 

11. And whilst Andrew was speaking thus the Lord came unto him, and He appeared in the form of a beautiful Child. Then Jesus answered and said unto him, “Hail, My friend Andrew!” And Andrew looked and saw great majesty, and the Child standing there, and he knew that He was Jesus; and Andrew bowed low before Him, saying, “Forgive me, O my Lord Jesus Christ, in that I thought Thee to be a man on the ship, and because I held converse with Thee [as such]. How could I help sinning against Thee, O Lord? For Thou didst not reveal Thyself openly unto me.” Then Jesus answered and said unto him, “Thou hast not sinned, O Andrew, but I have done all these things unto thee because thou didst say that thou couldst not go to this city in three days. Therefore have I shown thee that I am able to do everything, and that I can make Myself to appear in any form I please. And now, rise up, and enter into the City of the Cannibals, and go to the prison-house wherein Matthias is, and bring him and all the other men out therefrom. Behold, I tell Thee what shall happen [unto thee]. Thou shalt endure suffering, and in this city they shall treat thee with contumely and disgrace; and they shall bring judgments upon thee, and shall strew the flesh of thy body about in the streets and open places in the city. They shall pour out thy blood like water, but they shall not be able to slay thee, and they shall bring many judgments upon thee, but bear thou them patiently, O My friend Andrew, and act not as do those who have no faith. Remember how they scourged Me, and spat in My face, saying, ‘He casteth out devils by means of Beelzebub.’\fn{Matthew XII:24.} Was I not able, in the twinkling of an eye, to shake down the heavens and the earth upon those who sinned against Me? Yet I endured patiently that I might give the example of Myself unto you. But know, O Andrew, and endure, for those who will show themselves hostile to thee in this city are those who have no understanding.” And having said these words Jesus went up into heaven.

 

12. Then Andrew rose up and came into the city, together with his disciples, and there was none who saw them. And when they arrived at the prison-house, Andrew saw seven men standing by [and guarding] the door of the prison-house, and he prayed a prayer, and these men fell down upon the ground, and died; and the Apostles drew nigh unto the doors, and by the might of Christ they opened wide of themselves. Then Andrew went into the prison-house with his disciples, and they saw Matthias sitting and singing psalms; and when Matthias saw him, he rose up, and they embraced each other. And Andrew answered and said unto him, “O my brother Matthias, how findest thou thyself [here]? Behold, there are only three days left unto thee before they bring thee out to eat thee. What hath become of the mighty deeds which [our] Master hath wrought? If I were to tell thee the earth would quake.” And Matthias said unto him, “O my brother, hast thou not heard our Lord say, ‘Behold, I send you forth like sheep among wolves?’\fn{Matthew X:16.} Now, our Lord came and entered into the prison-house, and appeared unto me, and said unto me, ‘Bear patiently for seven and twenty days, and after that time I will send Andrew to bring thee out of the prison-house, and not thee only, but all those who are with thee;’ and behold, according as our Lord spake unto me I see thee this day. Look at these things and see, O Andrew.” Then Andrew turned and saw men and women naked, and they were all eating hay like animals. And Andrew smote his breast, and said, “Look and see how they treat these people who are like unto ourselves, for they treat them like the beasts.” Then Andrew began to curse the Devil, and he said unto him, “Woe be unto thee, O thou Devil, thou enemy of God, thou foe of all the saints, for these rational beings have done no evil whatsoever! How couldst thou bring upon them this cruel treatment? How long hast thou fought [with us]? Even from the time of the Garden of Delight [which was] in [this] earth. Thou hast given them to eat of hay which was sown in the earth, and thou hast placed a stone upon the table in the place of bread. And, moreover, thou didst enter into the minds of the angels in such wise that they desired women wherewith they might work uncleanness, and they begot sons [who were] giants. And besides, thou didst enter into the heat of the giants in such wise that they devoured men upon the earth, and God was wroth with them, and brought a flood and blotted out everything which He had created upon the earth, except the righteous man Noah and his house. And besides, thou hast come hither and hast made [the people] to devour men. Dost thou imagine that God cannot blot thee out because the waters of a flood shall not come [again] upon the earth? But beyond doubt thy doom shall come upon thee.”

 

13. Then Andrew and Matthias prayed, and after they had prayed, Andrew laid his hand on the faces of those who were in the prison-house, both men and women, and straightway they were able to see; and then, again, he laid his hand upon their bodies,\fn{Literally: livers.} and their hearts turned again into those of men. And Andrew answered and said unto them, “Rise up and depart unto the lower parts of the city, and ye shall find on the way a large fig tree; sit ye down under it, and eat of the fruit thereof, until I come unto you. And however long I tarry [in coming], ye shall find thereon food for you to eat, for the fruit which is upon that fig tree is without number, and the more ye eat of the fruit of that fig tree the more will the fruit thereof increase, according as God hath commanded.” Then those people answered and said unto Andrew, “Come thou also with us, lest, when the people of the city see us, they treat us again as enemies and inflict upon us much more injury than they have hitherto done.” And Andrew said unto them, “Verily I say unto you, that as ye go on your way not even a dog shall lift up his tongue against you.” So they all went forth from the prison-house, even as the blessed Andrew had told them [to do]. Now those people who were in the prison-house were both men and women, and the number of the men was one thousand and forty-nine, and that of the women was forty-nine,\fn{Lipsius gives 27 Manner und 49 Frauen (I, 551).} and [all] these Andrew made to go forth from the prison-house. And Matthias and his disciples set out to go towards the eastern part of the city. Then Andrew said, “Let a cloud descend and take up Matthias and the disciples of Andrew, and carry them unto the place where Peter sitteth and teacheth [the people];” and the cloud brought them unto him.\fn{At this point, Matthias permanently leaves the scene of the acta named after him. Andrew carries on all alone. (H)}

 

14. And Andrew went forth from the prison-house and departed unto the market-place of the city, and no man saw him; and as he was going along he saw a pillar of brass whereon [stood] an image, and he went and sat down by the side of it in order that he might see what it was. Then certain men departed to go unto the prison-house to bring forth people for the food of the [men of the] city, according to their ancient wont and usage, and they found the doors thereof wide open, and the keepers lying dead outside them; and when they had come into the prison-house they found no one there at all, and they departed and told the magistrates of the city what had happened. And they said unto them, “We went to the prison-house, and found the doors wide open, and those who had guarded them were lying dead upon the ground; and when we went inside we found no one at all [there].” Now when the magistrates of the city heard this, they said, “What hath happened? Many people had gone into the prison-house, and where shall we find our food?” Then they gave orders unto the soldiers of the guard, and said unto them, “Bring hither unto us those seven men who died, and let them be our food this day. Tomorrow we will gather together the aged men of the city and they shall cast lots, and the seven men upon whom the lot shall fall shall be our tribute, and they shall be our food, until we can send and gather together stranger folk and people from the districts and borders of the city, and bring them [here] that we may eat them.” So the soldiers of the guard went to fetch the men who were dead.

 

15. Now there was in the middle of the city a burning, fiery furnace, above which was a huge stone in the form of a shallow trough, and upon this stone they slaughtered men and women, and distributed their blood; and they brought the [seven] dead men and laid them upon the stone slab to cut them up. Then Andrew heard a voice which said, “Andrew, see what [great] sin is committed in this city!” And when Andrew had seen it, he prayed to the Lord God, and said, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, I have come to live in this city, and let not the deeds of violence which are wrought therein be multiplied in any way. Let the slaughtering knives slip out of their hands, and, as wax melteth at the fire, even so let [the bodies of the slaughterers] melt away.” Then the soldiers of the guard of the city put forth their hands to cut up the dead bodies, but their knives fell from them.\fn{Note there is no mention of the melting of the bodies. (H)} Now when the magistrates saw these things they wept, and said, “Woe be unto us! Sorcerers have come into our city and have wrought all these things, and they have caused the knives to fall from their hands; what shall we do? Let us gather together the aged men of the city, for we are hungry.” Then the guards of the city went and gathered together all the aged men (now the number of those who were thus gathered together was two hundred and ten),\fn{Lipsius (ibid.) gives 217.} and they brought them to the magistrates, and they made them to cast lots for seven men. And [one] of those upon whom the lot fell said unto the guards of the city, “I have a son, prithee, take him, and slaughter him instead of me, and let me go free;” and the guards said unto him, “We may not take thy son without first of all telling the magistrates.” So the guards went and told the magistrates, and they answered and said unto the guards, “If he will give you his son in his place, take him, and let the father go free.” And the guards came and told the old man what the magistrates had said, and he said unto them, “I have a daughter [also]; take them both and slaughter them, and let me go free.” And he gave his children to the guards that they might slaughter them, and they took the children to the stone slab to do so. Then the children of the man wept and cried out, and made supplication unto the guards, praying, “We beseech you not to kill us at this season of our lives, but let us be free for a little while longer, and let us live until we arrive at our maturity, and then ye can slaughter us;” but the guards would not consent [to this]. And, moreover, these people had yet another sinful habit: if anyone died belonging to them they used to eat them and did not bury them, and for this reason they have no graves in their country. Now the guards would not consent to what the children asked them, but they made them go forth to the place where they intended to slaughter them without mercy.

 

16. And when Andrew saw what had taken place, he wept, and said, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, hasten Thy mercy, for Thou seest [these] children weeping and groaning.” And Saint Andrew wept, and looked up into heaven, saying, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, Who didst hear me in the matter of the seven dead men, and didst not permit these guards to lift up their hands against them, hear me now, I beseech Thee, and permit not these guards to lift up their hands against these children.” Then when the guards lifted up their hands against the children their slaughtering knives fell from their hands, and they (i.e., the men) melted away as doth wax before the face of the fire.\fn{Note that it is here the slaughterers melt away, but not before, when the prayer was originally uttered. Perhaps it was because these were living beings, where the others were dead. (H)} Now when the magistrates saw [these things] they feared exceedingly; and when Andrew saw the miracle which had taken place, he blessed God with a salutation of peace. Amen.

 

17. And when the magistrates saw what had taken place, they wept with a great weeping, saying, “Woe unto us! Woe unto us! What shall we do?” And behold, the Devil came in the form of an old man, and stood up in their midst, and he began to say unto them, ‘Woe unto you! Woe unto you! Now shall ye die for want of food, for what shall sheep and ox profit you, seeing that ye cannot eat them? And now, rise up, and seek in the city for a man whose name is Andrew, and slay ye him, for if ye do not this there is nothing whatsoever left for you to do. He it is who hath entered into the prison-house and set free the strangers whom ye had shut up therein, and he hath been living in the city, yet ye knew him not! And now, deal cunningly with him and seek him out, and rise up and kill him, so that henceforth ye may be able to gather together your food [without hindrance].” Then Andrew, who was listening, said unto the Devil, “Woe unto thee, O Berahel, thou enemy of all created beings, who dost wage war [against them] continually, for our Lord Jesus Christ shall bring thee down into Sheol [and] Gehenna.” And when the Devil heard [these words], he said, “I hear his voice, but I see no man.” Then Andrew answered and said unto him, “It is because thou art blind that thou hast been named ‘Semael,’ and thou shalt never see the saints.” And on hearing this the Devil said unto the men of the city, “Now, seek ye after him that speaketh unto me, for he is the man [who hath bewitched the men of the guard];” and the people of the city ran and shut the gates. Then Andrew said unto them, “Here am I whom ye seek;” and they all ran towards him, and they came up to him and laid hold upon him, and said unto him, “According as thou hast done evil unto us even so will we do evil unto thee.” And they said among themselves, “If we cut off his head his death will not be [sufficiently] cruel.” Then one of them, whose heart had been entered and filled by the Devil, answered and said, “Hearken unto me, all of you. Let us tie a rope round his neck and drag him through the market-place of the city and through the squares thereof, and let us drag him about the streets until he die, and [then] we will divide his body among the people of the city.” And when they heard these words they did even as the Devil had said unto them, and they tied a rope round the neck of the blessed Andrew, and began to drag him about through the squares and the market-place of the city. Now as they were dragging him about [portions of] his flesh clave unto the ground, and his blood flowed down like water upon the earth; and when the evening had come they bound him in chains, and fastened his hands in fetters, and cast him into the prison-house, where they inflicted grievous sufferings and cruel injuries upon him. And as soon as the morning was come they tied a rope round his neck and dragged him about the streets, and again [portions of] his flesh clave unto the ground. Now whilst they were dragging him about the second time, the blessed Andrew wept, saying, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, look upon me, and see what these sinful men are doing unto me; but I am bearing [all] patiently because of the command which Thou didst give me, saying, ‘Act not like unto those who have no faith.’ And now, O my Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen thou my soul, for the sufferings which these men are inflicting upon me are not a few. And behold, my soul waxeth weak, and thou Thyself knowest well what the flesh of man is, and how if but a small wound be made in his body he suffereth pain in every part thereof. O my Lord, my whole body hath become dead because of the multitude of tortures [which it hath endured]. But make strong my soul and see what they have done unto me, for I know that Thou wilt be remote neither from me nor from Thy servants, and I will not refuse [to obey] the command which thou hast given unto me. And if it be that Thou wilt not make these men to go down into the abyss, even then far be it from me to forsake thy commandment until I die. For Thou art my God, therefore let not mine adversary the Devil have me in derision, and smite thou him upon the mouth, so that he may not be able to speak.”

 

18. And as soon as the evening was come they again bound him in chains, and cast him into the prison-house. Then the Devil went unto the prison-house to the blessed Andrew, taking seven devils with him, and they went in before Andrew, and began to laugh and to mock at him exceedingly. And the seven devils and the Devil answered and said unto Andrew, “Andrew, now hast thou come into our hand[s]. Where is thy strength, and thy might, and the glory, and [the greatness] wherewith thou hast magnified thy face? Thou hast disgraced us, and driven us away and hast declared our works unto all men. Thou hast made our altars houses of desolation, and no offerings wherein we might delight ourselves enter therein, and because of this thing we are going to kill thee, even as was killed thy Master Jesus Christ, Whom the Jews slew.” And the Devil said unto his devils, “Go ye and slay this man who put us to shame, that all countries [of the world] may be ours;” so the devils came before Andrew wishing to kill him. Now when they saw in his forehead the mark which our Lord had given him, they were afraid, and were not able to draw nigh unto him; and Andrew blew at the devils, and they fled. And the Devil said unto them, “Why do ye flee without having slain him?” Then the devils answered and said unto him, “We were not able to kill him, for we saw the sign of the cross in his forehead, and we were afraid, for we know that without [it] he must have suffered this pain. But do thou thyself go and kill him, if thou art able so to do, for we cannot obey thee; and unless God shall give us strength he (i.e., the Apostle) will be the victor.” And one who dwelt in the devils answered and said unto them, “To kill him we are not able, but we will go and make a mock of him.” Then the devils went with the Devil, and they stood up before Andrew, and made a mock of him, and said unto him, “Behold, O Andrew, thou hast come into shame and disgrace; who is able to deliver thee?” Then a voice came unto Andrew which said, “Wherefore weepest thou?” Now that voice was the voice of the Devil who had turned (i.e., changed) his voice, and had made it to appear to be that of another man, but it was that of the Devil. And Andrew answered and said, “I am not weeping, for my Lord gave me [His] commandment, saying, Bear patiently, for no evil whatsoever shall be done unto thee by them, and if it be otherwise then ye shall see what I will do unto them.” Then the Devil answered and said, “Whatsoever thou canst do, that do.” And Andrew answered and said, “Now ye would kill me, but your will shall not be performed unless it be the will of my Lord Jesus Christ. Ye would make me to forsake the commandment of my God, but my Lord keepeth watch over me in this city, and He will judge you according as it shall be necessary for you to be judged.”

 

19. And when the seven devils and the Devil had heard [these things] they took to flight. And when the morning had come they brought forth Andrew, and again they tied a rope round his neck and dragged him about [thereby]. Now as they were dragging him along he wept, and cried out, and said, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, [this] torture consumeth me; O my Lord, my body becometh feeble, and my soul waxeth faint. Behold, O my Lord, Thou seest how the Enemy hath acted towards me with his devils. O my Lord, when Thou wast being killed, and Thy soul was waxing faint, Thou didst say, ‘Father, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’\fn{Mark XV:34; Matthew XXVII:46.} thou thyself hast tried and hast had experienced of the flesh of the children of men, and Thou knowest well what is the suffering which is upon me; O command Thou, my Lord, that my soul be taken away from me, and then let me rest. Where are Thy words, O Lord, wherewith Thou didst speak to give me strength, saying, ‘If ye come unto Me not one hair of your heads shall be destroyed?’\fn{Luke XXI:18.} and behold, both my flesh and my hair are mingled [with] the dust, and behold, [I have endured] this torture for three days, and yet thou hast not appeared unto me to strengthen my soul, for it waxeth very faint.” Now he spake thus whilst they were dragging him [round about the city].

 

20. Then a voice came unto Andrew which spake unto him in the Hebrew tongue, saying, “Andrew, heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Word shall not pass away. Look in front of thee and see what thy members, and the hairs of thy head which have fallen to the ground, have become upon the earth;” and Andrew turned, and saw a mighty tree which was full of fruit. Then Andrew said, “I know, O Lord, that Thou wilt not forsake me.” And when the evening was come they cast him into the prison-house. Now when they saw that he was becoming weaker and weaker, they said among themselves, “His body is perishing little by little, and presently he will die; we think that it may be this night.” Then our Lord Jesus Christ came into the prison-house, and stretching out His right hand He said unto Andrew, “Give Me thine hand, O My beloved, and rise up whole.” And when Andrew saw Him he rejoiced greatly, and he gave Him his hand, and he rose up, having been made whole. Then Andrew fell down and worshipped the Lord and said, “I thank Thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ, Who hast appeared unto me and given me strength.” And Jesus said unto him, “Peace be unto thee, O Andrew;” and He departed into heaven.

 

21. And Andrew turned round from the prison-house and saw a pillar, which was like unto marble, standing [there], and he stretched out his hand, and said unto the pillar, “Pour forth water upon the ground, and let the mouth of the image which is on the top of the pillar send out water in abundance, like unto the waters of a flood, so that those who are in the city may be rebuked and may turn unto God. Fear thou not, O pillar, and say not, ‘I am a stone, and it is not meet for me to praise God.’” And Andrew said, “Yea, ye are stone[s] which have been hewn, but God made you in the earth, and ye are pure. For God gave the Law unto Israel [written] upon stone; and it was not written with gold and silver, but it was [cut] upon tables of stone, therefore shalt thou perform this command, O thou image.” And when Andrew had said these words water poured forth in abundance from the image which was on the top of the pillar, like unto the waters of a river which had overflowed, and the waters rose to a [great] height in the city. Now the water was exceedingly bitter, and it consumed the flesh of the people, and killed their children and their wives; and they all wished to flee from the city. Then Andrew said unto God, “O Lord, since thou art performing this sign, forsake me not, O my Lord Jesus Christ, but send Thine angel Michael with a cloud of fire that he may surround this city with fire as with a wall, so that he who wisheth to escape from the fire may not be able so to do.” Then straightway fire came down and surrounded the whole city as with a wall, from the one side thereof even unto the other; and Andrew knew then that God [had wrought] a miracle, [and] he blessed Him. And the marble pillar [continued] to pour out water from its mouth like a torrent, and the water rose up to the height of the necks of men, and it swallowed them up; now it was very bitter. Then the people cried out in lamentation, and wept, and said, “Woe be unto us by reason of all the things which have come to pass and which have befallen us because of the stranger in the prison-house who hath come unto us, and because of the multitude of the judgments which have come upon us! What shall we do? Let us go and bring him out from the prison-house, lest we die in this place through the waters of this flood, and let us cry out, saying, ‘We believe in the God of this stranger,’ so that He may remove from us this flood of waters.” And they all cried out unto God, and they went forth wailing with loud voices, and the sound of their outcries came in unto Andrew, and he knew that their souls had been made subject unto him. And Andrew said unto the marble image, from the mouth of which the water was flowing, “Thou hast poured forth sufficient [water], for behold, the time of [thy] service hath passed. Behold, I will go forth, and I will preach concerning the word, and behold, O pillar, I say unto thee, that if the people in this city believe, I will build a church and will carry thee into it because thou hast fulfilled for me my work, O marble pillar, from the mouth of which water has poured.” [And thereupon water ceased to flow from the mouth of the statue].

 

22. And the people of the city came unto the door of the prison-house, and they all cried out, saying, “O God of this stranger, have compassion upon us, and do not unto us according as we have done unto this stranger, and remove from us this water.” Then Andrew went forth from the prison-house and thrust aside the water with his feet; and all the multitude came unto him, and there came also the old man who had given his children to be slaughtered instead of himself and on his behalf, and he made supplication unto Andrew, and said unto him, “Have compassion upon me.” Then Andrew answered and said unto him, “I marvel how thou canst say unto me, ‘Have compassion on me,’ seeing that in the time past thou hadst no compassion on thine own son, for when the lot to die fell upon thee thou didst give thy son unto death instead of thyself. Behold, I tell thee that thou and the soldiers of the guard who put strangers to death every day shall dwell in Gehenna, until the time when I shall return and bring you out therefrom. And now, depart ye that ye may see the men of the guard and the place of their slaughter, and the place of peace; and this old man shall [see] the place where are the children whom he loveth; follow ye me, then, all of you.” Then Andrew departed, and they all followed him. And Andrew, thrusting aside the water with his foot, came unto the slab where they slaughtered the people, and he stretched out his hands, and looking up into heaven he began to pray, and all the multitude was looking on; and the earth opened herself and swallowed up the water, and the old man and the men of the guard went down into Sheol. Then when the people saw what had happened they were afraid, and they began to say, “Woe unto us! for this man is a man of God, and behold, he will kill us because of the evil which we did unto him; for behold, what he said unto the men of the guard and unto the old man [was true], and see what hath come upon them.”

 

23. And when Andrew heard these words he said unto them, “O my children, fear not, for it is not an evil reward which hath come through me, but good. And as for those who have gone down into Sheol I will not leave them there; for they have only departed thither that ye might believe.” Then Andrew commanded the people to bring [unto him] all those who had died through the water, but they were unable to do so because those who had died, both men and women, and children, and animals, were very many; and Andrew prayed, and they all came to life [again]. And he marked out a church upon the ground and commanded them to build [on there], and he gave unto them the commandments of the Law, and said unto them, “Stand ye in these, and after ye have kept these I will give unto you the hidden things of God; at this present I cannot give them unto you, because your works are more [evil] than those of all other men, but when I return I will give them unto you.” And they made supplication unto him, saying, “We beseech thee to be graciously pleased to abide with us for a few days, so that we may flourish in the faith, for [at this present] we are new plants.” And although they besought him to do so he refused them, saying, “I must go forthwith unto my disciples and children,” and although they followed after him, and made supplication unto him, and cast ashes upon their heads, he did not consent. Then he said unto them, “I must go unto my disciples, but afterwards I will come [again] unto you;” and so Andrew departed on his way.

 

24. Then Jesus Christ came down from heaven in the form of a little child, and He said unto Andrew, “Why dost thou depart from and forsake these little children who make supplication unto thee, and the men of the city who cry out unto thee, saying, ‘Stay with us a few days’? Behold, their voice, and their cry, and their weeping, have ascended into heaven, and when I heard their cry and their weeping I came down, and Mine eyes shed tears before My Father because of their repentance. And now, come back into the city, and tarry there seven days, until the faith of the people shall wax strong; after this time thou shalt go forth from their city, and depart unto the country Barbaros,\fn{I.e., the land of the Barbarians.} both thou and thy disciples, and after thou hast entered into the country thou shalt depart and come hither, and bring out those people who are in Sheol.” Then Andrew returned [to the city], saying “Blessed art Thou, O my Lord Jesus Christ, Who dost desire the salvation of all created beings, and Who hast not permitted me to depart in mine anger.” So Andrew came into the city, and when the people saw him they rejoiced with a great joy, and they [i.e., Andrew and his disciples]\fn{So the text; whether the bracketing be [] (and so from Budge) or () (and so apparently part of the text originally) must remain unknown to me. (H)} dwelt there for seven days, teaching them and strengthening them [in the faith] of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when the [seven] days were fulfilled Andrew set out upon his way, and all the people, from the greatest unto the least, came together and sent him and his disciples on their way, saying, “Praise be unto the God of Andrew for ever and for ever! Amen.”

 

[COA, II, 370-403]

 

443. The Preaching of Saint Matthias in the City of the Cannibals

 

     Like the work immediately preceding it, the text of this tractate is reproduced in its entirety; and all footnotes are by Budge, unless otherwise indicated by my (H). The work is introduced by the following heading: Here beginneth the Preaching of Saint Matthias, the Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he preached in the City of the Cannibals; who finished his contending on the eighth day of the month Magabit.\fn{I.e., March 4.} In the peace of God the Father. Amen.

 

1. And it came to pass that, when the Apostles were dividing the countries of the world [among them], and they were casting lots concerning them, the lot of Matthias went forth that he should go unto the City of the Cannibals.\fn{Literally: the city, the eater of men. See Lipsius, Apostelgeschichten I, 546ff.} Now in that city they neither eat bread nor drink water, nor any other kind of food, but they feed upon the flesh and blood of men. And every traveler who cometh into that city they seize and put out his eyes, and then they bind him in fetters until he hath lost his senses, and they they put him in a dark place and feed him upon grass like an animal for forty\fn{Read: thirty.} days, and after this period they bring him out and devour him.

 

2. And when the blessed Matthias had come unto this city, they seized him and blinded his eyes by means of a certain drug\fn{Probably the juice of a plant or shrub.} with which they were acquainted, and they gave him grass to eat, (now he would not eat thereof because the power of God was in him), and they cast him into prison. Then he prayed and made supplication unto the Lord Jesus Christ, and said, “O my Lord, for Whose sake we have rejected the world and followed Thee so that we might know Thee, besides Whom we have no helper, look and see what they have done to Thy servant, and how they have treated him like the beast of the field. Thou, O Lord, knowest what hath been, and what shall be; if it be Thy will that I shall die in this city, let Thy good pleasure be done. But if this be not Thy will, then grant graciously light unto my eyes, and let not [these men] gain the victory over me in such wise that they may be able to eat my flesh like that of the beast of the field.” And when he had ended his prayer his eyes were opened, and he could look about everywhere, and he could see even as he did before. Then a voice came unto him, and said unto him, “Be strong, O Matthias, and fear thou not, for I will not forsake thee; nay, I will be with thee in every place whithersoever thou goest. Bear patiently until ten days be ended, and then I will send unto thee Andrew, and he shall bring thee out from this prison.”

 

3. Then Matthias gave thanks unto God and ascribed praise unto Him, and his soul rejoiced and was glad; and he remained in the prison even as our Lord had commanded Him. And it came to pass that, when the men of the city came into the prison-house to take out a man to kill, Matthias shut\fn{Or: covered up.} his eyes so that they might not see [that they had been opened]. Now the people had the custom, when they placed a man in the prison-house, of writing on the first day when they brought him there a tablet which they hung round his neck; and when thirty\fn{Budge has here: (sic). (H)} days were ended they brought him out according to their habit [and ate him]. In this wise did they treat Matthias also. And when Matthias had been in the prison-house for seven and twenty days, our Lord revealed Himself unto Andrew when he was in the country of the Greeks, and said unto him, “Rise up and go unto Matthias in the City of the Cannibals that thou mayest bring him out from the prison-house, for the people of that city will in three days’ time lead him out therefrom and eat him.” And Andrew said unto Him, “If it be only three days [before they eat him] I cannot come unto him; but send Thine angel and let him bring him out quickly from the prison-house, for how can I get there in the next three days?” And our Lord answered and said unto Andrew, “Hearken, O thou who art one of those whom I have chosen.\fn{The text here is corrupt.} If I were to say unto this city, ‘Come unto Me forthwith’, it would come, together with all those who dwell therein. When the morrow hath come, do thou and thy two disciples rise up, and thou shalt find a ship ready to sail; embark therein, and it shall bring thee [unto the place where Matthias is].” Then He gave Andrew the salutation of peace, and ascended into heaven with great glory.

 

4. And Andrew rose up even as our Lord had commanded him, and came unto the seacoast; and our Lord had made for him a beautiful ship, and He Himself was sitting there as the captain of it, and two angels were with Him in the forms of sailors. And Andrew went to the ship and found our Lord sitting therein, and although he looked at Him he did not know Him to be our Lord. And he said unto Him, “Peace be unto Thee, O captain of the ship;” and our Lord said unto him, “Peace! Our Lord be with thee.” Then Andrew said unto Him, “Whither goest thou in this ship?” And our Lord said unto him, “To the City of the Cannibals.” And Andrew said unto Him, “Everyone fleeth from this city, and will ye go thither?” And the captain of the ship said unto him, “We have business in that city, and we must needs go thither.” Then Andrew said unto Him, “I entreat thee, O beloved brother, to carry us to that city;” and He said, “Come [up into the ship].” And Andrew said unto Him, “[Know Thou] before Thou dost take us that we have no money wherewith to pay Thee Thy fare; nay, we must eat of Thy food with Thee.” And our Lord, Who was in the form of the captain of the ship, said unto him, “Since ye must eat of our bread and ye cannot give us the hire of the ship, tell us how it happeneth that ye have no bread with you, and why ye have no money wherewith to pay your fare.” And Andrew said unto Him, “We are not men of high estate, neither are we drunkards or gluttons, but we are the servants of the Good God Whose Name is Jesus: He hath chosen us Twelve Apostles, and He hath given us commandments, and hath sent us to preach in His Name in the world. He hath commanded us to possess neither gold, nor silver, nor any of the goods of this world, nor food, and he hath commanded us not to labor therefor; it is for this reason that we are even as Thou seest us. Now if Thou art pleased to allow us to embark Thou wilt do good\fn{Or: a kindness.} unto us, but if thou wilt not do this thing then tell us, so that we may seek out another ship.” And He said unto them, “Had ye been able to pay your fare I should have wished you to embark in another ship, [but as ye cannot] ye are better with me, for it is a great joy for Me [to know] that I am worthy that the Apostles of Jesus Christ should embark with me.” Then Andrew said unto Him, “May God bless Thee with a spiritual blessing;” and Andrew and his two disciples embarked in the ship.

 

5. And our Lord said unto one of the angels who were in the form of sailors, “Bring bread and let these brethren eat, for they have come from a place which is afar off;” and he did as our Lord had commanded him. Then our Lord said unto Andrew, “Stand up, O My brethren, ye disciples of Christ, and eat bread before we put out to sea in the ship;” so Andrew said unto his disciples, “Rise up, and let us eat,” but they were not able to speak unto him through fear of the sea. Then Andrew returned to the captain and said unto Him, “May Jesus Christ give thee a good reward in the kingdom of heaven! Bear with me a little in that I do not eat, and in that my disciples do not eat with me, for they are afraid of the sea, and they have never before embarked in a ship.” And our Lord said unto Andrew, “Rise up and journey unto the place to which thou hast been sent, and make thy way thither by thyself.” And Andrew said unto his two disciples, “Get ye up to the sea-shore, and abide there, until I go to the place whither I have been sent and come back to you;” and they said unto him, “We will not separate ourselves from thee, that we transgress not the commandment of God.” And our Lord said unto Andrew, “If thou art a disciple of Christ, command them not to be afraid of the sea, for we wish to set out.” Whereupon our Lord said unto one of the angels who were in the form of sailors, “Unfurl\fn{Literally: let down.} the sails of the ship,” and our Lord Himself went and took hold of the rudder of the ship as if He had been the captain thereof, and the two angels stood one on each side of Him. Now Andrew and his disciples were sitting in the ship, and he was trying to still their grief, and he said unto them, “O my children, fear ye not, for our Lord will not forsake us. He hath stablished the heavens, and hath gathered together the waters of the sea, and He is the Creator of them all. Fear ye not, for He will abide with us in every place withersoever we may go, even as he hath commanded us.”

 

6. And it came to pass that when Andrew had spoken in this wise he prayed unto God, and asked that his disciples might sleep, and that they might not be afraid of the sea; and they fell asleep quickly; and while they were sleeping He made their souls to ascend into Paradise, and they ate of the fruit thereof. Then when Andrew knew that his disciples were asleep, he said unto our Lord—now he knew not that the captain was our Lord—“I beseech thee, O good Man, to tell me what manner of ship thine is, for I have never seen the like thereof. I have embarked in a ship many times, but never before have I embarked in a ship like unto this. Verily, I am sitting in it as if I were on land, for the ship rolleth not, even though we have come out on the open sea; there can be no sailors who are better than thine in working the ship out on its course and in bringing it back.” And our Lord Jesus Christ said unto him, “We have sailed often and often in this ship on the sea, but we never before saw it behave in this manner; since it knoweth that an Apostle of Christ is in it it doth not roll as formerly.” And Andrew said, “May the Name of Jesus Christ be blessed, Whose abundant mercy hath made it possible for me to sail\fn{Literally: dwell.} with a man who knoweth His name.” Then our Lord said unto him, “If thou art an Apostle of Christ, tell me why the children of Israel did not believe in Him, and why they did not call him Lord? I have heard concerning Him that He made manifest marvelous things unto His disciples in the Mount of Olives.” And Andrew said unto Him, “Hearken unto me and I will tell you of His work. He opened the eyes of the blind, the dumb spake, He made the deaf to hear, he cast out devils, He raised the dead, He placed a few loaves of bread upon the grass, and the grass became bread, and He satisfied five thousand [men with food], besides women and children, and He filled twelve baskets with what remained of the bread; all these things did the children of Israel see, and yet they did not believe upon Him.” And our Lord said unto him, “Perhaps He did not do all these wonderful things before the chief priests, and on that account they would not believe on Him, but rose up against Him, and slew Him?” Then Andrew said unto Him, “It was in their own assemblies that He worked [these miracles for them], and not only openly did He work miracles, but also in secret.” And our Lord Jesus said unto him, “What now is it that [He did] in secret?” And Andrew said unto Him, “Tell me, O Thou that askest: wishest Thou to know for truth’s sake, or that thou mayest scoff?” And our Lord Jesus said unto him, “If thou didst know the joy which was in My heart [thou wouldst not speak thus]; but if thou dost not tell Me I shall laugh at thee, for I am glad and I rejoice with all those who remember the Name of Jesus.” And Andrew said, “May God bless Thee! hearken unto me, and I will tell Thee;” and whilst Andrew was conversing with our Lord they arrived at the city. Then our Lord Jesus laid Himself down as if He were about to sleep, and when Andrew looked at Him and saw that He was asleep, he returned unto one of his disciples, and they slept. And in that same hour our Lord commanded His angels to lift up Andrew and his two disciples, and to lay them down upon the sea shore; and He went up to heaven in great glory with His angels.

 

7. And when Andrew woke up from his sleep and looked towards the sea shore, and found no ship [there] his heart beat fast, and he said, “I must have been sitting with our Lord, but I knew it not, although I was looking at our Lord whilst He was talking unto me, His servant; verily this is a blessed day for me. When I embark on my ship, I will look at the place where He humbled himself to His servant.” And thus saying Andrew roused up [his] disciples from their sleep, and said unto them, “Rise up, O my servants. We have been in the ship with our Lord, and we knew Him not.” Then his disciples said unto him, “At the time when thou didst pray we saw [two] shining eagles which overshadowed us, and they took our souls up into Paradise, and we saw our Lord sitting \fn{Literally: speaking.} upon His throne, and the angels surrounding it. And we saw the Twelve round about you, and from that time until this moment when we rose up from our slumber we have seen many wonderful things.”

 

8. And Andrew rejoiced when [he knew] that his disciples had seen this spiritual vision, and he rose up and bowed low on the ground and said, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, I will not move from this place until Thou comest unto me, for I know that Thou art not far from me; forgive Thou that which I have spoken in my folly, and I beseech Thee, O my Lord, to reveal Thyself unto Thy servant.” And when he had said these words our Lord Jesus Christ appeared unto him in the form of a young Man of beautiful appearance Who was coming out of the city, and He said unto Andrew, “O My beloved one.” And Andrew fell upon his face on the ground, and said unto Him, “I give thanks unto Thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ, for what have I done that Thou shouldst appear unto me on the sea?” And our Lord said unto him, “Fear not. This hast thou done. Thou didst say, ‘We cannot come unto the city in three days’; therefore did I wish thee to know that I am mighty [to do] all things, and that there is nothing which is too hard for Me. Rise up, and come into the city, and bring Matthias and all those who are with him out of the prison-house. In [this city] there shall come upon you much suffering, but bear it patiently, for I will be with you. Remember ye the mercy [which] My Father [showeth] unto His creatures, and make yourselves like unto Him, and remember how they said of Me, ‘He casteth out devils by Beelzebub’.\fn{Mark III:22; Matthew XII:24; Luke XI:15.} I had the power to command the earth to rend itself asunder and to carry them down into its depths quickly, as it were in the twinkling of an eye, but I bore with them, for I knew that evil should be with you upon the earth, and I knew that by means of your patient endurance of suffering in this city, many should believe therein.” And Andrew said unto Him, “Only be Thou with me, my Lord, and I will do even as Thou shalt command me”; and our Lord gave him the salutation of peace, and went up into heaven with great glory.

 

9. Then Andrew and his two disciples entered into the city, and there was none who saw them, and they came unto the gate of the prison-house wherein was Matthias. And when they had laid hold upon the gate it opened unto them, and they went inside and found Matthias sitting down and singing psalms, and they embraced him. And Andrew said unto him, “Dost thou say, O Matthias, that, ‘After the second day (i.e., on the third day) they will take me out, and slay me, and devour my flesh like [that of] a beast?’ Hast thou forgotten the mystery which we saw from our Lord wherein I spake [unto Him], and wherein the heavens quaked?” Then Matthias said unto him, “Behold, I know thereof, O my brother; but I say that if it be the will of God that I come to an end in this city [it shall come to pass]. Hast thou not heard His voice in the Holy Gospel, saying, ‘I send you forth like lambs among wolves?’\fn{Matthew X:16.} As for me, when they threw me into the prison-house I cried out unto our Lord, and revealed my heart unto Him, and He said unto me, ‘Fear not. At the end of [certain] days I will send Andrew unto thee, and he shall bring thee, and all those who are with thee,\fn{The text has: Thee.} out of the prison-house;’ and behold thou hast come to do this.”

 

10. Then Andrew looked at the men who were in the prison-house, and saw that they were bound like animals; and he straightway anathematized Satan, and all his host; and he and Matthias began to make supplication unto God, Who hearkened unto their petition. And they laid their hands upon the men who were in the prison-house, and their eyes were opened, and their minds returned unto them. And Andrew commanded them to go out from the city, and he told them that they would find on their road a certain fig-tree, and that they were to sit down under it until the Apostles came to them; now the fruit which was on the tree could not be counted. And the men who were in the prison-house said unto them, “Come ye also out with us, lest the people of the city find us, and bring us back again here.” Then the apostles said unto them, “Go ye forth in peace, for ye shall not be evilly entreated.” So they departed from the city, and they found the fig-tree even as the Apostles had told them; now the number of the men who went forth from the prison-house was one hundred and twenty and three. And Andrew and Matthias told the two disciples Rufus and Alexander to go forth from the city. Then the two Apostles Andrew and Matthias, and their two disciples with them rose up, and prayed and entreated God to send a cloud to carry away Rufus and Alexander, and to bring them unto the place where Peter was; and God heard their entreaty, and sent a cloud, and it bore them away. And Andrew and Matthias went out into the highway of the city, [and waited there] until they knew what would take place.

 

11. Now meanwhile the soldiers of the guard had been sent to take men into the prison-house to slay [those who were therein], according to their rule daily, and they found the doors of the prison-house wide open, and the keepers, who were seven in number, were dead, and there was no one left in the prison-house. And they went back and told the magistrates, and the magistrates said, “What shall we live upon? How can we live this day without food?” And they took counsel among themselves, and they said, “Shall we be obliged to eat the dead? Or shall we gather together the aged men in the city, and let lots be cast, and according as the lot shall fall upon each of them let him be killed on his day? We shall then have food to eat until the messengers return.” Now they had certain men whom they used to send away in a ship to gather together men from every region unto their city, that they might eat them; but meanwhile they took the people who were dead to eat for food. And they had in their city a certain place which was full of water, and whensoever they wished they used to kill a man, or a woman, in the water and pour their blood into a stone bowl in the water, and when they had brought the bodies into that place they took a knife to cut them in pieces. And Andrew saw them [doing thus], and he made supplication, and said, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, Thou Lover of men, let these knives be broken in their hands;” and in that same hour their hands dried up and they were unable to move [them]. And when the magistrates saw what had happened, they wept and said, “The men who have come forth from the prison-house are sorcerers, and they have escaped by means of their sorceries, and we are unable to do them any harm.” Then the old men of the city, who were twelve in number, were gathered together, and they cast lots, and the lot fell upon seven of them to be killed and eaten. And one of the seven upon whom the lot had fallen said, “I have a son, take him, and let me go free;” and the soldiers of the guard said unto him, “We cannot take thy son until we have spoken to the magistrates.” [And when they had spoken to the magistrates] they said unto them, “Since he hath given you his son instead of himself, take him, and let the old man go;” so the old man delivered unto them his son. And when they laid hold upon the boy to kill him, he wept before the face of his father, and said unto him, “I beseech thee, O my father, let them not slay me, for I am only a child; but let me live until I become as old as thou art, and when I have become an old man, let them eat me.” And the boy cried out and said to the soldiers of the guard, “Why are ye so hard of heart? But, alas, it is my father who hath delivered me over unto death.” Now the custom of the people of the city was to cut in pieces every one who died, and to eat him, and they brought those upon whom the lot had fallen [to do thus unto them]. And Andrew prayed unto our Lord, and said, “I praise Thee, and I beseech Thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ, that, inasmuch as Thou didst hearken unto me in respect of the dead, Thou hear me also in respect of these living ones, and let them not be delivered over to be slain;” and through these words the swords [of the soldiers] became like wax before the fire. Now when the magistrates saw this they wept bitterly, and said, “Woe unto us by reason of that which hath come upon us.”

 

12. Then Satan appeared unto them in the form of a wise and aged man, and he cried out, and said, “Woe be unto you! Ye shall die of hunger, for ye shall not be able to eat anything after today, and your dead shall be cast abroad in your streets, and shall remain there until they become rotten, and ye shall not be able to eat them. Rise up, and seek ye this man whose name is Matthias, and kill him, for if ye do not kill him ye will not be able to do as ye desire. It was he who brought the men who believe [in Christ] out of the prison-house; he is in the city, therefore seek ye him, and slay him, so that your works may prosper.” And when Andrew saw Satan conversing with them in this wise he said unto him, “O thou Enemy of our Lord, O thou Enemy of His creatures, God the Most High shall bring thee down under our feet.” Now when Satan heard these words from him, he said, “I hear his voice, but I do not see his body.” And Andrew appeared unto him and said, “O blind one, for indeed thou art blind if thou art not able to see the servants of Christ and the messengers of God!” And Satan cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Behold, these [are] the men, seize them.” Then the multitudes of the people scattered themselves about the city, and they shut the gates thereof, and began to make a search, saying, “Where are Matthias and Andrew? Seize them for us, so that we may work our will upon them.” And our Lord commanded the Apostles, and said unto them, “Rise up and show yourselves unto them, so that they may know the littleness of their power;” and they went forth from under the roof [where they were], and said unto the people, “Behold, we are those whom ye seek.” Then the people rose up against them, and seized them, and they said unto the Apostles, “We will deal with you as ye have dealt with us.” And certain men among them said, “Let us cut off their heads and give them unto the elders of the city;” but others said, “Nay, do not do thus, but let us cut them up into very small pieces, and distribute their bodies among the people of the city.” Thereupon they dragged the Apostles along the highways of the city until their blood dropped from them in the streets, and after this they cast them into the prison-house and bound them in fetters, and they put them in a dark place, and set a large number of strong men to keep guard over them.

 

13. And it came to pass that when the Apostles had entered into the prison-house they prayed, and said, “O Lord Jesus Christ, be not Thou far from us. We are Thy disciples, and Thou hast commanded us not to make haste; do not Thou let the Enemy rejoice over us.” Thereupon our Lord appeared unto them, and said unto them, “I will be with you; fear not.” And whilst they were in the prison-house Satan, having taken with him seven of his servants, appeared unto the Apostles and spake unto them words of violence, and heaped curses upon them, and said unto them, “ehold, I have brought you into my hand. Who can deliver you from me? Where [now] is the power wherewith ye overcame me in all the cities and destroyed [my] temples? I will let them kill you, even as they killed your Master.” And Satan said unto his servants, “Rise up, and slay these men who have fought against you, that ye may have rest from them, and that the whole neighborhood may be your own.” Then the devils rose up against the Apostles, and wished to slay them, but the Apostles waited patiently, and then made the sign of the honorable cross over them, and blew in their faces, when they fell upon their backs. And their father Satan said unto them, “What hath happened to you?” And they said unto him, “We saw in their hands a sign, and we were afraid of them. Act thou, if thou art able, against them, for we are afraid; act thou, for we are afraid;” and they departed, having been put to shame.

 

14. And it came to pass that when the men of the city had arrived [at the prison-house] they took out the Apostles, and dragged them through the city, and Andrew and Matthias cried out to God, saying, “Have mercy upon us, O Lord, for we are [only] flesh and blood, and we know that Thou art not far from us.” And when Andrew and Matthias had said these words they heard a voice near them speaking in the Hebrew tongue, and saying unto them, “O Andrew and Matthias, heaven and earth shall pass away, but My word shall not pass away.” \fn{Mark XIII:31; Matthew XXIV:35; Luke XXI:33.} Then the men of the city cast the Apostles into the prison-house, saying, “They shall die immediately.” And the Apostles said, whilst their blood was dripping upon the ground, “O Lord Jesus Christ, help us, and deliver this city and all those who are therein.” And at that moment the Apostles looked upon a stone image\fn{Or: statue.} which was upon\fn{Literally: sitting upon, i.e., mounted upon.} a pillar in the prison-house, and they made the sign of the cross over it, and stretched out their hands and prayed, and when they had ended their prayer they drew nigh unto the pillar whereon was the image and said unto it, “Be thou afraid at the sign of the cross which we have made over thee, and send out from thy lowermost part water as abundant as the waters of the Flood upon this city and upon all those who dwell therein.” Thereupon [the pillar] was rent asunder in its lowermost part, and water poured out in abundance, and it was exceedingly bitter, and like gall, and it at once flooded the city, and all those who were therein. And the men of the city took their sons and their daughters, and wished to depart therefrom. And Matthias said, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, accept the petition of Thy servants, and send Michael the Archangel upon a cloud of darkness wherewith [to cover] over this city, so that no one may escape therefrom.”

 

15. And it came to pass that, when Matthias knew God had received his petition, he smote the pillar, and said, “Fulfill now the command with which I commanded thee.” Then the pillar poured forth more water until it came up to the necks of the people, and it was about to drown them. And the people wept and said, “Woe unto us! This wrath hath come upon us through the two men who are chosen servants of God, whom we have thrown into the prison-house, and because of our evil acts towards them. Behold, we shall die a terrible death in this water; make haste then and let us cry out unto their God, and say, ‘We believe in Thee, O Thou Lord God of these two strangers; deliver Thou us from this water.’” Thereupon Andrew answered and said unto the pillar, “It shall suffice for thee, and behold, the time for the flood hath passed, and the season for sowing in the hearts of the men of this city the right [faith] hath arrived. I declare unto thee that, when I have built a church in this city, I will place thee therein, and they shall put a roof over thee;” and because of these words the water which was flowing out from under the pillar ceased to flow. And when the men of the city saw that the water had ceased to flow, some of the elders of the city, together with a number of the young men thereof, rose up and went unto the prison-house (now the water [reached] up to their necks), and they saw the Apostles with their hands stretched out, and they were making supplication unto God. And Andrew and Matthias went out to them, and the water was divided before them; and when the elders saw this they were afraid, and they cried out, saying, “Have compassion upon us, O servants of God.”

 

16. Now among the elders was the old man upon whom the lot was to be slain had fallen, who had given his son over [unto death] instead of himself and had saved himself thereby; and he came with them, saying, “Have compassion upon me, O servants of God.” And Matthias said unto him, “I marvel that thou canst say unto me, Have pity upon me, seeing that thou hadst no mercy on thy son. I say unto thee that, on the day when the water shall return into the depths of the earth, thou and the seven men who slay men shall go down [therewith]; and ye shall be in the depths of the earth, until thou hast seen what befalleth him that hateth his own son, and the seven men also [shall be there], until they have seen what befalleth those who slay men.” And Andrew said unto the young men who were holding the old man, “Go ye unto the place where they slay men, until the water shall return unto its place;” and they went with the Apostles, and the water fled from before them. And when they had come unto the place which was full of water, they stood up and prayed, and because of their prayer the earth was rent asunder, and it swallowed up the men who slew men and the old man who had delivered over his son unto death.

 

17. And all the people were looking at the water which was in the city, and they feared greatly, and said, “Let fire come down and consume us for the evil which we have done unto them” (i.e., the Apostles). Then the Apostles said unto them, “Fear ye not, but confess the true faith and ye shall see the glory of God, for we will not leave in the earth those whom it hath swallowed up, but will bring them forth therefrom.” Then Matthias and Andrew commanded them to bring unto them all the people who were dead in the water, that they might pray over them and raise them up, but they were not able to gather them together there because of their great number; so the Apostles entreated our Lord to send a cloud and rain from Himself over the dead, and they all rose up. And after this Andrew placed the sick folk in the church which he had built, and he gave them the commandments of the Law and of the Gospel, and he baptized them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and he administered unto them the Holy Mysteries, and he healed all the sick folk. And he said unto them, “Keep ye all the commandments which we have given unto you until the end of your days, and teach [them] unto your children who shall come after you. And make supplication unto God that He will take away from you the custom which ye have had of eating human flesh;” and he made them to know how to eat the [common] food of man.

 

18. And after these things the Apostles departed from them, and as the people were sending them away they said unto them, “O servants of the Good God, abide ye with us for a little space that we may rejoice in you, for we are but new plants.” Then the Apostles said unto them, “Fear ye not, and be not grieved, for by the good pleasure of God we shall not be far from you.” And as the Apostles were going forth from the city our Lord appeared unto them in the form of a young man of beautiful appearance, and said unto them, “Have compassion upon those who dwell in this [city], and accept their petition, and tarry with them some days, for I have heard their supplications unto you, and the words which they have spoken, saying, ‘We are new plants.’ Why have ye given unto the men the commandments of the Law and sent them forth into the deep?” Then the Apostles said unto Him, “O Master, forgive us. We will return to the city, and will bring them forth in Thy Name from the deep.” And our Lord said unto them, “Go back into the city and dwell therein for seven days, and then depart therefrom.” And Andrew, together with his disciples, went to the country of the Greeks, and he said unto our Lord, “Bless me, O Lord;” and our Lord blessed them, and then went up into heaven with great glory. Then the Apostles entered into the city, even as our Lord had commanded them, and they dwelt therein for seven days; and the men whom the earth had swallowed up came up [therefrom], and they made their faith to prosper, and they strengthened their knowledge in the commandments of God. And the Apostles departed from them glorifying God, Who had not left the people in error. And a number of men went forth with them to set them on their way, and they were saying, “One is the Lord God of Andrew and Matthias, [that is to say] Jesus Christ, to Whom, and to the Father, the Sustainer of all things, and to the Holy and Vivifying Spirit, be glory and honor for ever and ever. Amen, Amen, and Amen. So be it! So be it.”

 

[COA, II, 267-288]

 

444. The Arabic Martyrdom of Saint Matthias

 

     MRS says of this martyrdom that the scene is Damascus in the Ethiopic text, but that the place of his death is Pelwon in Budge’s Ethiopic text, Phalaon in Malan’s, and Malawan here in the Arabic; and that they are very difficult to identify. The Arabic text is quoted below in its entirety. She also points out that the introduction to the text by the scribe who copied it—The Martyrdom of Matthias, disciple of the Lord Jesus the Christ, and his conflict which he finished on the eighth day of Pharmouthi; in the peace of the Lord. Amen.—is what led her to prefer to attach the name of Matthias to this story. The Arabic is quoted below in its entirety.

 

1. It came to pass, when Judas Iscariot had betrayed our Lord Jesus the Christ to be crucified, that Satan and his hosts might be vanquished by the sufferings of the Lord Jesus the Christ, King of the heaven and the earth, unto the wicked Jews; he went and hanged himself; and lost his honor; and fell from the rank of the Apostles. And Matthias was appointed in his place.

 

2. Matthias went out to preach in the city of Damascus, because his lot came out to preach in it. And he said: “O ye men who have gone astray and are wandering in your sins, who know not God your Creator, why have ye left the true God, and ye serve stones made by the hands of men? And ye would like all men to go astray like you. Give up the worship of idols; and put error and the vileness of your deeds far from you. And come unto God your Creator; and accept my words. I will bring you near unto God your Lord; and He will make you meet for His kingdom. Come unto me, I will teach you the way of the angels; and I will feed you with the Bread of Life; that ye may live for ever. Renounce the gods which are made by the hands of men; and awake from the deceit of Satan, that ye may be truly the servants of God, Jesus the Christ, the Lord of heaven and of earth, the Everlasting Word; the Word of the Living God; Who dwelt in Mary the Virgin; without seed or union of man; Who bore the sufferings until He saved mankind from slavery to Satan; who is unseen in His glory and His height; Who hath no father upon earth as in the bodily birth of children; but He is always in heaven with His Father without separation; and He ruleth all by His wisdom; Who took dust from the ground and made thereof our father Adam, the first father; the God in Whose hands are the spirits of all creatures; He Who loveth you and will make you meet to approach Him. And if ye return with a true faith, and whole mind, He, and His Father, and the Holy Ghost—for He is a Trinity in Persons, One single Godhead; One in substance.; And the first thing that He hath commanded you is, that ye keep yourselves free from pollution, and that ye do not increase your intercourse with women; so that God may look upon your purity, and may bless you with heavenly blessings, and may have compassion on you in the day of judgment.”

 

3. And when the people of the city heard this from him, Satan took possession of their hearts by his deceit and his wicked deeds. And they said one to the other: “Certainly this man is one of the twelve wizards who go about in the countries and separate women from their husbands.” And they took counsel together, and laid hold of the disciple, and bound him, and placed him on an iron bed. And they kindled a fire beneath him, until the smell of his body issued from it. And each of them saw it, and they wondered with the flame of the fire shot up above the bed to a height of fifteen cubits. And those who were around him said: “If he were a wizard he would have perished. And after three days the evil of his deeds will appear.”

 

4. And after three days they found him on the top of the bed with his eyes open. And they felt his body, and they found it whole; no decay had reached it. And no smell of burning was in it; and his clothes were not singed. And when they saw this wonder which was from God, many of the citizens believed in God, and said: “This man is a god.” And seven days passed away; and on the eighth day the saint was lying on the bed; and all the citizens saw him; and they believed with a true faith; and trusted the words of Matthias the disciple. And those who did not believe his sayings remained for four-and-twenty days stirring up the fire below the bed, day and night. And the Lord Jesus the Christ did not allow anything unpleasant to reach His disciple, Who had preached in His name; for he had suffered for His name. And after these things they took him out from the midst of the fire, and they saw that his body remained; and his face was a bright as the body of an infant, and all who beheld him said: “This man hath not been in the fire;” for his body was whole from the hair of his head to the nails of his feet. And all who were in the city believed, and in all its borders they cried: “There is no God in Heaven and upon the earth, but God, the God of Matthias, disciple of Jesus the Christ; who saveth all who trust in Him, and believe in His holy name.”

 

5. And Matthias the blessed disciple commanded that they should destroy all the temples of the idols and that these should be thrown into the sea, that nothing more of them might be found; because of the wicked works which had been done in them. And he built a church for them; and he baptized all the citizens, men and women and youths in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, the United Trinity, the Undivided, the Unchangeable. And after the baptism he consecrated the church for them. And he preached to them the laws of life; and taught them the true faith; and the commandments of the Gospel. And he went out from amongst them; and they all bade him farewell in peace; for he had taught them the way of truth, and had brought them out of error to the guidance of the religion of our Lord Jesus the Christ. And after his preaching and his teaching the Gospel, he fell asleep in one of the cities of the Jews which is called Malawan on the eighth day of Pharmouthi, by the grace of God, Who loveth mankind; the Father of our Lord Jesus the Christ; to Whom be glory and honor, and praise henceforth, and at all times, and for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[MRS, 137-139]

 

445. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Matthias

 

     For an approximate time in which the material concerned with Matthias came into being in Ethiopic, together with its relationship in history to other linguistic versions, please consult the statement at the beginning of item #146 (above). What follows is a listing of the main variants between the Ethiopic and the Arabic text upon which it is based. The numbering of the paragraphs corresponds to the numbering of the Arabic text in tractate #444.

 

1. E expands A thus:—And when Judas, the most miserable and shameful being in all creation, | In A, Judas is hanged; in E he is killed. | A says he lost his honor; but E that he destroyed his honor. | A says Judas fell from the rank of the Apostles; but E that he was driven forth from their company.

 

2. A introduces Matthias’ preaching by the simple phrase:—And he said; but in E this becomes:—and he preached to them the story of the Holy Gospel. And it came to pass that when Matthias had entered into the city, he preached unto the people and said, | A has:—the true God; but E makes this:—the Lord Who is God indeed. | A has:—stones; but E has:—your gods of stone. | For A’s to go astray like you, E has:—should be even as ye are, that is to say, cast away in sin? | Just after this, E expands:—Hearken ye unto my words, O ye men who dwell in the city of Damascus, and. | A has:—the vileness of your deeds; but E makes this:—your evil deeds. | A’s God your Lord becomes E’s the Lord your God. | A has:—and I will feed you with the Bread of Life; but E expands this to:—Turn ye unto me, and I will give you the Bread of Life. | A has:—that ye may be truly the servants of God, Jesus the Christ, the Lord of heaven and of earth, the Everlasting Word; the Word of the Living God; but E modifies or expands this as follows:—that ye may become the servants of God, Who is the Lord in truth, Jesus Christ, the lord of heaven and of earth, the Word, Who was in the beginning, the Word of God. | A says God dwelt in Mary the Virgin, without seed or union of man; but in E God came down into the womb of Mary the Virgin, who was not united unto man. | For A, Jesus is always in heaven with His Father; but for E, He simply existed with His Father in heaven. | In A, the Father ruleth all by His wisdom; in E, He comforteth all by His wisdom. | For A, the Father loves you, and makes it possible for you to have faith in Him; but for E, the Father loves them in both cases. | For A, men are by God transformed into a whole mind; but in E this becomes the condition of mind which is good. | In A it is He (God) who commands the people to keep yourselves free from pollution; but in E, it is I (Matthias) who command you to make yourselves to be remote from all uncleanness.

 

3. In A, it is the people of the city; but in E, the men of the city. | In A, Satan took possession of their hearts; but in E Satan entered into their hearts. | E expands A:—and separate wives from their husbands; [consider ye now how ye shall treat him].” | In A, Matthias is bound (the form binding is used), and there is no mention of prison; but in E, they put him in prison and his binding is not mentioned. | In A, the fire leaps 15 cubits above the bed; but in E it is twelve cubits, and a footnote here reads:\fn{See Lipsius, op. cit., vol. ii. Part 2, p. 260.} | A words the final quotation:—“If he were a wizard he would have perished. And after three days the evil of his deeds will appear”; but E has here:—“If this man be a sorcerer, behold, he will be destroyed;” but after three days their evil acts became known and made manifest (they being the torturers of Matthias).

 

4. A begins this section with And after three days; but E has here:—And it came to pass that when the three days had gone by, the people came to the place where was the bed of iron on which they had set the holy man and burnt him with fire. | A says they found Matthias on top of the bed; but E only that he was found alive. | A says: And they felt his body, and they found it whole; no decay had reached it; but E has here:—and the fire had not touched his body; and they found him safe and sound, and harm had not in any way touched him. | A has:—And when they saw this wonder which was from God; but E has here:—And when the men of the city had seen this wonderful thing, and how God had shown compassion upon His Apostle. | In A, all the citizens saw him; they believed with a true faith; but this is changed by E to and all the men of the city who were of the truth faith believed. | In A, the people bring Matthias out of the midst of the fire; but in E He brought him out of the fire. | A says the people said “This man hath not been in the fire"; for his body was whole from the hair of his head to the nails of his feet; but E is here restored by Budge to read:—“This [man] who was in the fire [is not a sorcerer], for his whole body is unharmed, from the hair of his head even unto the nails of his feet.” | A has:—And all who were in the city believed; but E has:—And in that same hour all the men of the city and of the districts round believed.

 

5. A begins this section:—And Matthias; but E begins it:—And after these things Matthias, the blessed Apostle. | In A, the people destroy all the temples of the idols; but in E, they destroy all the temples of the gods. | In A, nothing more of them might be found; because of the wicked works which had been done in them; but in E, no remnant whatsoever of them could be found by reason of the evil which the people wrought upon them. | In A, Matthias built a church for them; and he baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, the United Trinity, the Undivided, the Unchangeable. In E he built a church in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and he baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity, consubstantial, indivisible, and unchangeable. | He then consecrated a church in A, and he preached to them the laws of life; and taught them the true faith; and the commandments of the Gospel; in E, he admonished them and gave them the commandments of life, and he taught them the Law and the Gospel. | In A, Matthias had taught them the way of truth, and had brought them out of error to the guidance of the religion of our Lord Jesus the Christ; in E, Matthias had taught them the knowledge of the truth, and he had taught them the path of righteousness, and he had brought them forth out of error into the knowledge of the faith of Jesus Christ our Lord. | In A, Matthias dies in one of the cities of the Jews which is called Malawan; but in E, Matthias dies in one of the cities of Judaea which was called Pelwon, and a footnote here says:\fn{I.e., Phalaeon.} | A concludes:—by the grace of God, Who loveth mankind; the Father of our Lord Jesus the Christ; to Whom be glory and honor, and praise henceforth, and at all times, and for ever and ever. Amen. E concludes:—in the grace of God and of the Lover of men, our Lord and God Jesus Christ, to Whom be praise and honor for ever and ever! Amen, Amen, and Amen.

 

[COA, II, 289-294]

 

446. The Latin Gesta Matthiae

 

     This is the latest of the apocryphal acta, having been composed by a monk of Treves, in the 12th century, as a prelude to an account of the translation of the sacred relic, and the body of Matthias to that city, and their subsequent rediscoveries. It pretends to have derived its history of the apostolic career from a Hebrew original.

 

[CAT, II, 613]

 

***

 

XXXI: THADDAEUS

 

447. The Greek Acts of Thaddaeus

 

     The English editio princeps of this work is to be found in ANF (1873, 440-443; later in Coxe’s edition, 1886, 558-559). It first appears in Greek in Tischendorf (Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, 1851, 261-265); later it will be printed by Lipsius (Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha I, 1891, 273-283). It centers around the Edessene legends of the mission of Abgar V to Jesus; the miraculous portrait of him procured by Ananias, Abgar’s messenger; and the preaching of one Addai in the city of Edessa (whom it identifies with Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus, one of the Twelve).

 

     INT says they are local Edessene legends about Thaddaeus; ANT calls it strictly local. There is considerable variety in the texts of the letters, which ANF says were probably written in Syriac in the 3rd century by some native of Edessa, who wished to add to the importance of his city and the antiquity of his church.

 

     The story of the portrait is a later invention, found in the Latin History of the Apostles, after Abdias of Babylon [apparently in chapter one of Book X, which James says is dedicated to Philip: (H)]; but with greater detail in Nicephorus (Ecclesiastical History II.vii)].

 

     ANF says that the Greek text, which is probably of the 6th or 7th century, seems, from allusions to the synagogue, the hours of prayer, the Sabbath Day, etc., to have been of Jewish origin. It is edited in ANF from a Paris manuscript of the 11th century, and a Vienna one of a later date. The Vienna manuscript has as the title: Acts of the Holy Apostle Thaddaeus, One of the Seventy instead of One of the Twelve; the same confusion exists in the writings of Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340) and Jerome of Strido (d.430).

 

     Tischendorf (op cit., LXXI-LXXIII) published the following introduction to the work in the Prolegomena to his book:—

 

Magnus iam apud antiquos rumor erat de epistolis mutuis Christi et Abgari Edessenorum regis. Ipsorum mani-bus scriptas in archivis Edessenis eas se reperisse narrat Eusebius hist. eccles. I, 13., atque e Syrorum lingua graece versas cum lectoribus communicat. Idem Eusebius l. l. testatur, post reditum Christi in coelos Thaddaeum a Thoma ex mandato Christi ab Abgarum regem missum esse: quemadmodum etiam in Pseudo-Abdiae historiis IX, 1. de S. Thoma legitur: Thaddaeum unum ex septuaginta discipulis ad Abgarum regem Edessenae civitatis transmisit, ut eum ab infirmitate curaret, iuxta verbum quod ei a domino scriptum erat. Quam de epistola Christi traditionem post Eusebium auxerunt eo quod praeter litteras etiam imaginem Christi ad Abgarum missam dixere. Quam alteram traditionem non ad eandem cum altera antiquitatem referri posse iam inde clarum est quod Euse-bius nihil eiusmodi habet. Constantini vero Porphyrogennetae celebris est oratio historica de eadem imagine Christi eaque Constantinopolin translata.\fn{De hac imperatoris oratione praeter alios plura disseruit Lambecius in commentariis de bibl. Caes. lib. VIII. pag. 410 sqq. (ed. Kollar.)} Neque inter alios plures aetatis mediae de eadem imagine testes, de quibus consulendus est Fabric. Cod. apocr. III. pag. 514 sq., deest Nicephorus: qui quidem quum ipsam rem similiter atque in nostris actis est gestam esse referat, inprimis differt eo quod demum post acceptam Christi epistolam missum esse a rege pictorem Christi pingendi caussa dicit. Locus eius hist. eccles. II, 7. sic habet:

 

     —and there here follows a quotation from Nicephorus in Greek, after which Tischendorf continues—

 

Atque haec quidem et ipsa ex archivis Edessenis desumta esse, Nicephorus eum gravitate asserit verbis his:

 

     —and there is more Greek (this is all in the same paragraph) after which Tischendorf concludes—

 

Sed de his accuratius videre nec nostrum nec huius loci est. Haec enimvero acta Thaddaei a nobis nunc primum edita propterea luce digna videbantur quoniam nihil fere continent quin ad apocryphas easque antiquas de apostolis traditiones pertineat; quid quod, quamvis tota libelli ratio multo recentior sit, nonnihil ab ipso Eusebio ita differt ut ex antiquissimo aliquo fonte haustum videri possit. Comparationis caussa utramque epistolam apponam, quemadmodum apud Eusebium in editione Gulielmi Reading legitur.\fn{(Ipsi ex permultis antiquis cood. graecis has Christi et Abgari epistolas in usum futurae editionis descripsimus.)}

 

     The next two paragraphs are in Greek; Tischendorf then ends the entire work as follows:—

 

In edendis his Thaddaei actis inprimis secuti sumus codicem Parisiensem in biblioth. Reg. nunc Nation. num. 548. signatum, undecimi ut videtur saeculi. Quo codice recensio actorum antiquior continetur quam codice Vindobonensi\fn{(Differt Vindobonensis a Parisiensi etiam eo quod Thaddaeum non unum ex duodecim apostolis, sed unum de septuaginta discipulis facit. Eadem differentia iam inter Eusebium et Hieronymum est, cf. Euseb. hist. eccl. ed. Reading pag. 38. in notis 5 et 6., itemque inter plures qui de Thaddaeo scripserunt.)} de quo Lambec. Et Kollar. Commentar. Lib. VIII. Pag. 428 sqq. Exponunt. Adhibuimus vero hunc alterum codicem, praeter locos duo a Lambecio exscriptos, inde a verbis sect. 6.

 

     —and the passage finishes up with seven Greek words.

 

     What follows is the complete text of this work, as found in ANF.

 

Lebbaeus, who also is Thaddaeus, was of the city of Edessa—and it is the metropolis of Osroene, in the interior of the Armenosyrians—and Hebrew by race, accomplished and most learned in the divine writings. He came to Jerusalem to worship in the days of John the Baptist; and having heard his preaching and seen his angelic life, he was baptized, and his name was called Thaddaeus. And having seen the appearing of Christ, and his teaching, and His wonderful works, he followed Him,. and became His disciple; and He chose him as one of the twelve, the tenth apostle according to the Evangelists Matthew and Mark.

 

In those times there was a governor of the city of Edessa, Abgarus by name. And there having gone abroad the fame of Christ, of the wonders which He did, and of His teaching, Abgarus having heard of it, was astonished, and desired to see Christ, and could not leave his city and government. And about the days of the Passion and the plots of the Jews, Abgarus, being seized by an incurable disease, sent a letter to Christ by Ananias the courier, to the following effect:—To Jesus called Christ, Abgarus the governor of the country of the Edessenes, an unworthy slave. The multitude of the wonders done by thee has been heard of by me, that thou healest the blind, the lame, and the paralytic, and curest all the demoniacs; and on this account I entreat thy goodness to come even to us, and escape from the plottings of the wicked Jews, which through envy they set in motion against thee. My city is small, but large enough for both. Abgarus enjoined Ananias to take accurate account of Christ, of what appearance He was, and His stature, and His hair, and in a word everything.

 

And Ananias, having gone and given the letter, was carefully looking at Christ, but was unable to fix Him in his mind. And He knew as knowing the heart, and asked to wash Himself; and a towel was given Him; and when He had washed Himself, He wiped His face with it. And His image having been imprinted upon the linen, He gave it to Ananias, saying: Give this, and take back this message, to him that sent thee: Peace to thee and thy city! For because of this I am come, to suffer for the world, and to rise again, and to raise up the forefathers. And after I have been taken up into the heavens I shall send thee my disciple Thaddaeus, who shall enlighten thee, and guide thee into all the truth, both thee and thy city.

 

And having received Ananias, and fallen down and adored the likeness, Abgarus was cured of his disease before Thaddaeus came.

 

And after the passion, and the resurrection, and the Ascension, Thaddaeus went to Abgarus; and having found him in health, he gave him an account of the incarnation of Christ, and baptized him, with all his house. And having instructed great multitudes, both of Hebrews and Greeks, Syrians and Armenians, he baptized them in the name of the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, having anointed them with the holy perfume; and he communicated to them of the undefiled mysteries of the sacred body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, and delivered to them to keep and observe the law of Moses, and to give close heed to the things that had been said by the apostles in Jerusalem. For year by year they came together to the Passover, and again he imparted to them the Holy Spirit.

 

And Thaddaeus along with Abgarus destroyed idol-temples and built churches; ordained as bishop one of his disciples, and presbyters, and deacons, and gave them the rule of the psalmody and the holy liturgy. And having left them, he went to the city of Amis, great metropolis of the Mesechaldeans and Syrians, that is, of Mesopotamia-Syria, beside the river Tigris. And he having gone into the synagogue of the Jews along with his disciples on the Sabbath day, after the reading of the law the high priest said to Thaddaeus and his disciples: Men, whence are you, and why are you here?

 

And Thaddaeus said: No doubt you have heard of what has taken place in Jerusalem about Jesus Christ, and we are His disciples, and witnesses of the wonderful tidings which He did and taught, and how through hatred the chief priests delivered Him to Pilate the procurator of Judaea. And Pilate, having examined Him and found no case, wished to let Him go; but they cried out, If thou let Him go, thou art not Caesar’s friend, because He proclaims himself king. And he being afraid, washed his hands in the sight of the multitude, and said, I am innocent of the blood of this man; see ye to it. And the chief priests answered and said, His blood be upon us and our children. And Pilate gave Him up to them. And they took Him, and spit upon Him, with the soldiers, and made a great mock of Him, and crucified Him, and laid Him in the tomb, and secured it well, having also set guards upon Him. And on the third day before dawn He rose, leaving His burial-cloths in the tomb. And He was seen first by His mother and other women, and by Peter and John first of my fellow disciples, and thereafter to us the twelve, who ate and drank with Him after His resurrection for many days. And He sent us in His name to proclaim repentance and remission of sins to all the nations, that those who were baptized, having had the kingdom of the heavens preached to them, would rise up incorruptible at the end of this age; and He gave us power to expel demons, and heal every disease and every malady, and raise the dead.

 

And the multitudes having heard this, brought together their sick and demoniacs. And Thaddaeus, having gone forth along with his disciples, laid his hand upon each one of them, and healed them all by calling upon the name of Christ. And the demoniacs were healed before Thddaeus came near them, the spirits going out of them. And for many days the people ran together from different places, and beheld what was done by Thaddaeus. And hearing his teaching, many believed, and were baptized, confessing their sins.

 

Having therefore remained with them for five years, he built a church; and having appointed as bishop one of his disciples, and presbyters, and deacons, and prayed for them, he went away, going round the cities of Syria, and teaching, and healing all the sick; whence he brought many cities and countries to Christ through His teaching. Teaching, therefore, and evangelizing along with the disciples, and healing the sick, he went to Berytus, a city of Phoenicia by the sea;\fn{The Vienna manuscript here adds: And having tone into it, he preached Christ, saying to them all with tears, Ye men who have ears to hear, hear from me the word of life: hear attentively, and understand. Cast off your many opinions, and believe and come to the one living and true God, the God of the Hebrews. For He only is the true God and Maker of the whole creation, searching the hearts of mankind, and knowing all about each one before their birth, as being the Maker of them all. To Him alone, fixing your eyes upon heaven, fall down evening and morning, and at noon, and to Him alone offer the sacrifice of praise, and give thanks always, refraining from what you yourselves hate; because God is compassionate and benevolent, and recompenses to each one according to his works.} and there, having taught and enlightened many, he fell asleep on the twenty-first\fn{The Paris manuscript has: twentieth.} of the month of August. And the disciples having come together, buried him with great honor; and many sick were healed, and they gave glory to the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[INT, IV, 614; ANT, 469-472; ANF, VIII, 357, 558-559; NTA, II, 578; CAT, II, 612; ENC, II, 117; ORF, LXXI-LXXIII]

 

448. The Syriac Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle

 

     This is a Syriac writing, preserved in toto only in a single Petrograd manuscript, which describes how king Abgar was brought into contact with Christ, and how Addai was sent to convert him. It probably dates from c.400AD (so also NTA, who says it was composed in Edessa); but seems to depend on older sources, notably the document used in Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History I:13; II:1.6-8). It is closely parallel with the Eusebian text; but is considerably enlarged. Part of the Syriac text was published by Cureton (Ancient Syriac Documents, 1864); and the whole by Philipps (The Doctrine of Addai the Apostle, 1876). ANF (1886) prints two fragments of this work in volume VIII of the Anti-Nicene Fathers (pp. 657-665), the first of which the age is certainly not later than the beginning of the fifth century, the second of which appears to be of the sixth century.

 

     Since, however, the surviving narrative of a pilgrim from Gaul who visited Edessa c.390 contains no allusion to the miraculous picture which Christ is supposed to have created for king Abgar, we may reasonable conclude that the work is of a date later than the known time of his pilgrimage. The historicity of his narrative, defended by many older scholars (e.g., Baronius, Tillemont, Cave, Grabe, Cureton, Phillips) has now been generally abandoned; but critics have accepted the period between 399-430 as the time in which the Syriac work came into being.

 

     The Thaddaeus legend has many ramifications and has undergone a number of variations. ANF (651-656) prints some of them, including the Eusebian material; a Canticle of Mar Jacob the Teacher on Edessa; and what it calls “Extracts from Various Books Concerning Abgar the King and Addaeus the Apostle.” According to the ENC, incorporation of Edessa into the Roman Empire in 216AD brought a share in persecutions. There were martyrs under Decius and Valerian in the mid-3rd century, most famous being bishop Barsamya, and in the final persecutions (303-311), when Shamona, Guria and Habib came to be commemorated. [See below, however; for an introduction to the Syriac Martyrdom of Barsamya (#455) says that he was martyred in 105AD, just two years before Sharbil (107), and contemporaneous with that of Ignatius of Antioch (c.107)—the last of whom is definitely attested as an apostolic disciple. These titles are made part of my study on the logical supposition that both Sharbil and Barsamya were in some way intimately connected with Thaddaeus, the apostle who is said to have evangelized the area—on the theory that someone who was not would not be so commemorated; and that the assignation of Barsamya to the 3rd century in the entry above this one is incorrect: H]

 

     See on this Tixeront (Les Origines de l’Eglise d’Edesese et la Legende d’Abgar, 1888, 20-150); Bardenhewere (Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur I, 2nd ed., 1913, 591-596; and ibid. IV, 1924, 326); and Altaner (“Leben, Schriften und Lehre der Kirchenvater” in Patrologie, 1950, 57-58).

 

[ANT, 469-475; ODC, 17; NTA, I, 438; ANF, VIII, 657-665; CAT, II, 612; ENC, VII, 969]

 

449. The Armenian Acts of Thaddaeus

 

     ANF has published the following testimony to the existence of this work:

 

     I found at the Armenian Convent of St. Lazarus, near Venice, a version of the Letter of Abgar, translated into French “from the Armenian version of the 5th century,” and published in 1868, which is now before me. It ascribes the original to Laboubnia, and adds: “The name Leroubna, mentioned only by Moses of Chorene, was not repeated after him by any one else, save, perhaps, Mekhitar d’Airivank (one of our chroniclers of the 13th century), who puts him among our historians, between Tatian and Mar Ibas Gadina, but without affirming whether he knew him only by name or also by his writings.” The editor goes on to speak of his correspondence with Dr. Cureton (1864) where, in a letter from the Armenian Convent of St. Lazarus, Venice, he says that he has found an Armenian manuscript, of probably the 12th century, which he believes to be a translation of the present Syriac original. It is a history of Abgar and Thaddaeus, written by Gherubnia with the assistance of Ananias (=Hanan), confident of king Abgar.

 

     He notes the incomplete and mutilated character of the Syriac copies used by Cureton, and congratulates himself on the entire and integral condition of the Armenian, which he found in 1852 in the Imperial Library at Paris, as Codex No. 88, MSS. Armen. Here the name of the author is given as Laboubnia, and agrees with the Syriac. The interpolations he regards as made after the 4th century.

 

[ANF, VIII, 689; ODC, 17]

 

450. The Latin Acta Thaddaei, after Abdias of Babylon

 

     This Passio, which purports to be the work of Abdias, a disciple of Thaddaeus and first bishop of Babylon, is printed in Lipsius & Bonnet (Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha I, Leipzig, 1891, 273-278), with introduction cvi-cx. See also Peake (“Jude, the Lord’s Brother” in Hastings’ Dictionary of the Apostolic Church I, 1915, 658).

 

[ODC, 1337]

 

451. The Arabic Preaching of Thaddaeus

 

     Tradition links Simon and Thaddaeus together in their missionary activity, and these legends in particular give to both the additional name of Judas, intending to identify them with Jude, one of the brothers of Jesus. They assign to Thaddaeus the regions of Syria and Mesopotamia; and though they say nothing about Abgar, king of Edessa, they are not in any discrepancy with the Syriac tradition concerning him. There is a local tradition which would place the death of Thaddaeus at Ararat in Armenia. The Acta Thaddaei edited by Lipsius and by Tischendorf are a totally different legend, but the Conflict of St. Judas (Thaddaeus), translated by Malan (Conflict of the Holy Apostles, 1871, 221-229) is the same.

 

     The incidents of Peter making the old man’s field to sprout, of the woman being suspended in the air, and of the camel passing through the needle’s eye, will be found in the Acts of Peter and Andrew published by Bonnet [Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha II.i, 1884, 117-127—a fact also noted by ANT (p. 471) who calls them identical with those acta, but shorter]. There the deeds of Thaddaeus are attributed to Andrew.

 

     The saying of Jesus (folios 125a and 127b)—(What thou wouldest not that men should do unto thee, do it not to any man like thyself. ... And what thou wouldest not that men should do unto thee, do not thou unto them.)—which gives the negative form of Matthew 7:12:—(So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.)—is a Western reading found in Codex Bezae Acts 15:29. It is attributed to Hillel (an influential rabbinical teacher of the time of Christ), in the Talmud of Babylonia (tractate Sabbath, folio 31a); and will be found in Tobit 4:15a:—(Do not do to anyone what you yourself would hate.)

 

     For a comprehensive statement about the historical appearance of the various linguistic tradition concerning Thaddaeus, see above at the beginning of tractate #146. I have reproduced the Arabic in its entirety.

 

1. It came to pass when the disciples were assembled on the Mount of Olives, and had divided the world, that they might go out and preach amongst them the Gospel of our Lord Jesus the Christ, the lot of Thaddaeus was to the cities of Syria. Thaddaeus said unto Peter: “Go with me to this country.” Peter said unto him: “Be patient with me; and I will make thee to arrive in peace.” And while they were talking, the Lord Jesus the Christ stood amongst them like a young man, beautiful of countenance, and said, “Peace be unto thee, O Peter, Ruler of My Church! Peace be unto thee, O Thaddaeus the beloved! Go and fear not. Why dost thou doubt? I will dwell with you until ye shall have finished your administrations.” He said unto Him: “Yea, O Lord! Thou wilt be with us while we are preaching in every place.” And the Lord gave them the salutation of peace; and departed from them, ascending to heaven in glory. And they took counsel together, and journeyed in the peace of the Lord Jesus the Christ.

 

2. And when they drew nigh unto the city, Thaddaeus said unto Peter: “I would fain know what shall befall us in this city.” Peter said unto him: “I have no knowledge; but behold, I see an old man ploughing in the field. Let us go to him and say unto him: ‘If thou hast a bit of bread, give us something that we may eat.’ And if he shall say unto us: ‘I will give it you,’ know that good will befall us. And if he shall say ‘Nay,’ know that we shall have trouble in this town.” And when we came up to him, Peter said unto him: “Peace be upon thee, O thou old man! If thou hast bread, give us something that we may eat.” The old man replied to him: “I have nothing here, but sit ye down with these oxen while I go and bring you what ye need.” Peter said unto him: “If thou wilt bring us what we may eat, we will sit beside the oxen.” And he said unto him: “Are the oxen thine?” He said: “Nay, but I have borrowed them.” He said: “Tell me, is the field thine?” He said unto him: “Yea, it is mine.” Peter said unto him: “Go in peace.”

 

3. And when the man was gone, Peter said: “It is unbecoming in us to stand idle here with these oxen; while the man has gone to deal kindly with us.” And Peter girded up his loins, and laid hold of the plough, and called to the oxen to plough. Thaddaeus said unto him: “O my father! What great work is this that thou doest? Thou art an old man; and thou art exalted to a high position, and there is a great heavy burden on thy shoulder. Thou canst not accomplish it thus. As for us, O my father, thou art the greater and thou dost work whilst I sit and rest.” And he took the plough from Peter and ploughed; and Peter took a basket of wheat and blessed it; and said: “O my Lord Jesus the Christ! Let Thy blessing descend upon this field.” Thaddaeus said: “O my Lord Jesus the Christ! Let Thy blessing rest upon the earth and appear in this field.” And they worked over thirty paces, until the old man returned. And straightway the seed sprouted and became ears full of wheat corn.

 

4. And the old man returned to the field and saw what the two disciples had done. He said unto them: “O my lords! Who are ye? Tell me whence ye have come, that I may follow you to every place whither ye may go.” And he fell at the feet of the disciples, and said unto them: “Truly ye are both gods who have come down from heaven to earth.” And Peter raised him up, and said unto him: “Stand up, O man! We are not gods, but disciples of God. He hath given to us a spiritual doctrine, that we should teach it to the people; and should proclaim among mankind that they may repent of their sins, and inherit everlasting life.” The man said unto them: “What shall I do, that I may have everlasting life?” Peter said unto him: “Love thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy mind. Hast thou a wife?” He said unto him: “Yea.” He said unto him: “And sons?” He said: “Yea.” He said also: “Thou shalt not kill; and thou shalt not commit adultery; and thou shalt not swear falsely. What thou wouldest not that men should do unto thee, do it not to any man like thyself. And if thou doest what I have commanded thee, thou shalt inherit life everlasting.” The old man said unto him: “Though I have done this, what shall I do for you as a reward for the good which ye did unto me? Ye have made my field to sprout in such a way out of its season. I will leave these oxen standing and will follow you to every place whither ye may go.” Peter said unto him: “This is not the way in which thou shouldest act. Take the oxen, and return them to their owners; and tell thy wife about thy state; and prepare something for us to eat in thy house. For we wish to stay in this city today; and we have made supplication unto our Lord Jesus the Christ for it.”

 

5. And the man took a bundle of ears in his hand from the field which the two had sown; and he went into the city with the oxen. And when he entered its gate the people saw him with a bundle of ears in his hand. They said unto him: “Whence hast thou these green ears, this being the time for ploughing?” And he returned them no answer. And he drove the oxen joyfully until he had returned them to their owners. And he returned to his dwelling, and prepared in it what was needful for the coming of the two disciples.

 

6. And his story came to the magistrates of the city; and they sent to him, saying unto him, “Whence comes this bundle, these green ears, to thee? Tell us the tale, or else thou shalt die an evil death.” He said unto them: “It matters not to me, since I have found life. And if ye desire to know the truth, hearken. Two men passed by me while I was ploughing, and they said unto me: ‘If thou hast any bread, give it us that we may eat.’ I said unto them: ‘I have nothing here, but sit ye down beside my oxen until I go and bring you what ye want.’ And when I had gone to my house, and had got bread for them, and had returned to the field, I found that they had sown it, and full green ears had sprouted, and I gathered this from it. And they are outside of the town.” And the magistrates said unto him: “Go and bring them to us.” The man said unto them: “Have patience with me for a little while, for I have prepared my dwelling for them, that they may go in and rest in it. And when they appear ye will see them.” And he returned to his dwelling.

 

7. And Satan disturbed the hearts of the magistrates; and they wept\fn{The Sinai manuscript omits: wept.} and said: “Woe unto us!\fn{The Suriani manuscript says: unto them.} Perhaps these two men are some of the twelve wizards of whom we have heard that they go about in every place and deceive the people with their magic. What shall we do? We shall not allow them to enter our city.” And some of them said: “Rise, let us go out unto them and slay them.” Others said: “We cannot slay them; for we have heard that Jesus their God doeth for them what they ask from Him; lest they bring down fire upon us, or a flood to destroy us. But though we cannot slay them, let us not allow them to enter the city. We have heard of them that they hate fornication. Let us take a woman, a harlot, and strip her, and place her at the gate of the city. And if they wish to enter the city, they will look on her, and they will go out, and will not return to destroy us in entering it.” And they brought her, and did this thing.\fn{The Sinai manuscript has here: And they brought the harlot, and stripped off her clothes, and placed her at the door.}

 

8. And when the disciples arrived at the gate they looked at the naked woman standing opposite them, with her evil deeds. And Thaddaeus said unto Peter: “O my father! Look at this woman, how Satan hath deceived her, that she should tempt the Lord and His servants.” Peter said unto him: “The matter concerneth thee, command what thou wouldest about her.” And Thaddaeus prayed and said: “O my Lord Jesus the Christ! I entreat thee to send Michael the archangel to suspend this woman in the air by the hair of her head, that we may enter the city. And when we desire to go out, let her down.” And straightway the woman was suspended by the hair of her head, and the magistrates saw her; and they did not perceive who was holding her. and she cried out with a great cry, and said: “May God do me right against the magistrates of this city! It is they who have taught me this evil. and if I had been sitting in my house, being in my sins, so that the Lord’s two disciples might enter the city, and save all the sinners. they would have saved me also from my sin. Come, O ye young men whom I have hurt by my fornication! Arise and beseech the Lord’s disciples on my behalf. Perhaps they will have compassion on me.” And while the woman was saying this, not one of the citizens believed; because Satan had hardened their hearts. And Peter said unto Thaddaeus: “Rise with us, let us pray and beseech God to help us; for Satan hath led the hearts of the multitude astray.” And they arose and prayed and said: “O God the Lord, Ruler of all Who hast taught us to call upon Thee in the time of tribulation, and hast said that Thou wouldest answer us. Be gracious, O Lord, and have compassion upon us; and strengthen us for the war with Satan who hath risen up against us in this place.” And while they were entreating, Michael the archangel came down to them, and chased away the bad spirits who filled the souls of the citizens.

 

9. And Peter went out, and Thaddaeus, and walked in the streets of the city, and preached in the name of Jesus the Christ. Then all the citizens believed, for no one who was corrupting their hearts remained. And the woman who had been suspended in the air believed. And after this they appointed them a bishop and priests; and they baptized them all in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. And they made the woman who had been suspended in the air to serve the church. And they healed the sick, and opened the eyes of the blind, and they made the dumb to speak, and the deaf to her, and the lame to walk.\fn{The Sinai manuscript adds: and the dead arose, so that they all believed and entered into the knowledge of God—may His name be glorified!}

 

10. And they drove away a devil, and he returned to his craft, and crept into the heart of a boy, a rich young man, who loved money, and excited him against the two disciples, and sent him to them. And when he appeared he did obeisance to them, saying: “O good servants of God! What do you wish me to do, that I may live?” Peter said: “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul; and do not steal, and do not kill, and do not commit impurity, and do not swear falsely. And what thou wouldest not that me should do unto thee, do not thou unto them.” The youth said: “If I keep all this, shall I be able to work miracles like you?” They said unto him: “Tell us thy condition. Hast thou a wife?” He said: “No, I am a man, a merchant, and I have much property, tell me what is my duty to do with it.”

 

11. Peter said unto him: “Go and renounce thy property, and distribute it amongst the poor.” And when the youth heard that, he was wroth against him with a fierce wrath, and he rushed on Thaddaeus and tried to choke him. And he said unto him: “Dost thou advise concerning me, that I should destroy my property?” Thaddaeus said unto him: “The Lord spake in this wise about one who was like thee, ‘That a camel could go into the eye of a needle, but not a rich man into the kingdom of heaven.’” And his wrath against Thaddaeus increased, and he choked him most violently, seeking to kill him. And had it not been for the power of God preserving him, his eyes would have flown out from the force of the choking.

 

12. And Peter said unto him: “Why dost thou strangle the disciple of Christ because of a true word which he hath said unto thee? Dost thou wish to renounce what is thine? Renounce what thou wilt, no man forceth thee. If thou swayest that it is not true about the camel and the eye of the needle, bring a camel and a needle.” And immediately a man passed by them having a camel with him. And they laid hold of him and asked for a needle from a man who sold needles.\fn{The Sinai manuscript adds: And the man wished to help the disciples. And he sought for a needle with a wide eye. Peter said unto him: ‘God bless thee, my son, and accept thy faith from thee. I seek a needle with a very narrow eye, that the glory of God may appear, and His power in this city.’ And he did as he had commanded until he found a needle, as it had been said unto him, with a very narrow eye.} And the two stood and stretched out their hands and prayed and said: “O our Lord Jesus the Christ, unto Whom belongeth power over all things, we beseech Thee to hearken unto our entreaty, and to manifest Thy power, so that the multitude may learn that all things are obedient unto Thee. Yea, O Lord! Hearken unto the supplication of Thy servants, and may this camel go into the eye of the needle, that Thy name may be glorified.” And Peter said unto the man who held the came: “In the name of my Lord Jesus the Christ the Nazarene, enter thou and thy camel into the hole of the needle.” And straightway the man and the came went into the eye of the needle.

 

13. And when the multitude saw this wonder, they lifted up their voices and said: “There is no God but God, the God of these two disciples, Peter and Thaddaeus.” And when the rich youth saw this, he rent his garments, and smote his face, and said: “Woe is me, what have I done?” And he put his face upon the ground at the feet of the two disciples, weeping, and he begged them to take all that he possessed, and to distribute it amongst the poor and the needy, and to seek pardon for him from God. And they consented to what he asked; and they exhorted him and taught him the commandments, and the precepts of religion, and they baptized him in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, him and all his household.\fn{The Sinai manuscript has: all the citizens.} And they gave him the holy Mysteries, the Body of the Lord, and His pure Blood. And they built a church for the citizens, and they appointed them a bishop and priests, and they wrote the Gospel for them, and all the commandments, and they went out from amongst them, they bidding them farewell in peace. And this is the reason of their faith in the Lord Jesus the Christ.

 

14. And as for Thaddaeus, he fell asleep after a while on the second of Abib,\fn{MRS has the following note here: = July. The Sinai MS. has “on the nineteenth day of Haziran” = June. The Ethiopic: “on the second day of the month Hamle.”} praising the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, henceforth and always, and for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[MRS, xxix, 120-125; ANT, 471]

 

452. The Ethiopic Preaching of Judas Thaddaeus in Syria

 

     For a comprehensive statement about the appearance of the various linguistic traditions about the Apostles, see at the beginning of tractate #146. What follows is a listing of the main variants of the Ethiopic text, keyed to the numbered paragraphs of the Arabic text printed above as tractate #451.

 

1. In A, the disciples divide up the world; but in E, it is the Apostles who divide up the whole world. | In A Thaddaeus goes to the cities of Syria; but in E, the country of Syria. | In A, Thaddaeus says to Peter:—Go with me to this country; but in E this becomes:—O my father Peter, come thou with me into that country. | In A, Peter is Ruler of My church; in E governor of the Church. | In A, Thaddaeus is the beloved; in E, he is My beloved. | In A, Thaddaeus is asked:—Why dost thou doubt?; but in E this becomes:—Why are ye cast down? | In A, Christ says:—I will dwell with you until ye shall have finished your administrations; but in E—I will be with you, and will be your Comforter until ye finish your strife. | In A, Jesus ascends with glory; in E with great glory. | In A, They took counsel together, and journeyed in the peace of the Lord Jesus the Christ; but in E this sentence reads:—So Peter and Thaddaeus departed in the peace of God.

 

2. In A the two draw nigh unto the city; in E, nigh unto the country. | In A, the old man ploughing in the field says:—‘Nay’; but in E:—‘I have none.’| In A, the disciples shall have trouble in this town; but in E they shall be aweary in this country. | In A, the old man will go and bring you what ye need; but in E he will bring you bread which ye can eat here. | In A, the man borrowed the oxen; in E he hired them. | In A, Peter asks him if the field is his; but in E if the fields are his. | Peter finally says:—Go in peace; but in E:—Go in peace, and return in peace.

 

3. Expansion in E:—And [it came to pass that] when | In A, the first part of Peter’s statement reads:—It is unbecoming in us to stand idle here with these oxen; but E is restored to read:—It is shameful for us to sit down here, and keep the oxen standing idle. | A begins Thaddaeus’ reply with O my father, not found in E. | The last part of the speech in E reads:—and there is a great heavy burden on thy shoulder: in A this becomes:—and many matters of weight rest on thine arms. | The rest of the speech in A reads:—Thou canst not accomplish it thus. As for us, O my father, thou art the greater and thou dost work whilst I sit and rest; but in E it reads:—It is not for thee to work in this wise whilst I remain here idle. Shalt thou, who art a great man, toil whilst I take my rest? | In A, Thaddaeus takes the plough from Peter; but in E he takes the handle of the plough. In A, Peter takes a basket of wheat; in E the baskets which were full of wheat. | In A, Thaddaeus says:—let Thy blessing rest upon the earth and appear in this field; but in E:—let the blessing of the earth be upon these fields. | The last two sentences of A read:—And they worked over thirty paces, until the old man returned. And straightway the seed sprouted and became ears full of wheat corn. In E, they read:—Now in the time during which the man had gone to bring bread for the Apostles they ploughed thirty furrows, and in that same hour the seed sprouted, and the ears became full of wheat.

 

4. In A, the old man returned and fell at the feet of the disciples; in E, he fell down at the feet of the Apostles. | Peter says that he and Thaddaeus are simply disciples of God; but in E he says they are only servants and Apostles of our Lord. | In A, God hath given us a spiritual doctrine; but in E, God hath graciously bestowed upon us spiritual knowledge. | In A, the disciples are to teach it to the people; and should proclaim among mankind: in E, they are to teach it unto men, and unto the children of men. | In A, the farmer is to Love thy God; in E he is to Love the Lord thy God. | In E, Peter asks him:—Hast thou a wife and children?, and there is no mention of A’s sons. | The first commandment in A is worded:—Thou shalt not kill; but in E:—Thou shalt not commit murder. | In A, the second part of the negative Golden Rule reads:—do it not to any man like thyself; but in E this reads:—that thou shalt not do unto men. | E intrudes a descriptive codicil:—(i.e., brought bread) | In A, my field is made to sprout in such a way out of its season; in E, my fields are made to sprout with corn in this wise, and out of season. | In A, Peter says:—This is not the way in which thou shouldest act; but in E merely:—It is not necessary for thee to do thus. | In A, the farmer is instructed to take the oxen and return them to their owners; but in E to lead them back to their master. | In A, he is to tell thy wife about thy state; and prepare something for us to eat in thy house; but in E, he is to make known unto thy wife that we are here, and let her make ready for us to eat in her house. | In A, Peters says—For we wish to stay in this city today; and we have made supplication unto our Lord Jesus the Christ for it; but in E, he says—for we desire to enter into this city this day and to dwell therein, for our Lord Jesus Christ calleth unto us so to do.

 

5. In A the man took a bundle of ears in his hand; in E the man took an ear of corn in his hands. | The people ask him in A:—Whence hast thou these green ears; and in E:—Where didst thou find this ear of green corn. | In A he drove the oxen joyfully until he had returned them to their owners; in E he drove the oxen, and he rejoiced as he went, and he brought them back to their owner. | Having returned to his house, in A he prepazred in it what was needful for the coming of the two disciples; but in E with such things as he had he courteously entreated the Apostles.

 

6. In A, the magistrates ask him about these green ears and threaten him: or else thou shalt die an evil death; in E, they ask him about this green ear of corn and threaten him: we will kill thee by a cruel death. | In A, he says hearken; but E expands this to:—hearken unto the testimony which I will declare unto you. | In A, the farmer reports the first half of the disciples conversation as:—If thou hast any bread, give it us that we may eat; but in E this becomes:—If thou hast with thee bread which we can eat, give it unto us, and let us eat. | In A, the farmer rejoins:—I have nothing here; but in E he says:—I have nothing of any kind whatsoever here. | When he returns in A, he found that they had sown it: and full green ears had sprouted, and I gathered this from it; in E, he found that it had been sown, and that it was full of green corn in the ear which had shot up, and I plucked this green ear from among them. | In A, the magistrates instruct him to bring them to us; but in E into our presence. | In A, the farmer tells the magistrates:—And when they appear ye will see them. And he returned to his dwelling; in E this is rendered:—And if ye will come ye yourselves can see them; and having said these words unto them he returned unto his habitation.

 

7. In A, Satan disturbed the hearts of the magistrates; but in E he defiled the hearts of the magistrates with an evil intent. | In A, the magistrates wept and said: “Woe unto us!; in E, they said, “Woe be unto us! Woe be unto us!, and there is no mention of weeping. | In A, they deceive the people with their magic; in E, they corrupt men by their sorceries. | In A, some of them said: “Rise, let us go out unto them and slay them.”; but in E some of the magistrates said, “If they be sorcerers, let us rise up and go forth against them and slay them.” | In A, they bring down fire upon us, or a flood to destroy us; but in E, He brings down upon us fire, or a flood of water which shall destroy us. | In A, the magistrates say let us not allow them to enter the city; but in E, this become—we need not let them enter into our city. | In A, the disciples hate fornication; but in E, they hate fornicators\fn{Or: adulterers.} | In A, they strip her, and place her at the gate of the city; but in E, they strip off her apparel and set her naked outside the city. | In A, this is done so that when they will look on her, they will go out, and will not return to destroy us in entering it; but in E so that when they wish to come into the city they may see the woman and not come in. | In the printed text of A—they brought her, and did this thing; but E follows the Sinai manuscript tradition of A, and says—Then they brought a woman who was a harlot, and having stripped off her apparel from her they set her by the gate.

 

8. In A, the apostles looked at the naked woman standing opposite them, with her evil deeds; but in E they saw the naked woman, and she herself made known unto them her evil deeds. | In A, Peter says:—The matter concerneth thee; but in E he says:—The power is thine. | In A, the magistrates did not perceive who was holding her; but in E, they could not see what it was which held her fast. | The woman cried out with a great cry in A; but in E she was crying out with loud cries. | She says in A:—May God do me right against the magistrates of this city! It is they who have taught me this evil; but in E, she says:—O God, judge Thou the magistrates of this city, for it is they who have done me this evil. | In A, she calls upon the young men whom I have hurt by my fornication to arise and beseech the Lord’s disciples on my behalf: perhaps they will have compassion on me; but in E she calls upon the young men whom I have corrupted by my fornications, and repent, and make supplication unto the Apostles of God on my behalf, that they may show mercy upon me. | In A Peter says to Thaddaeus:—Rise with us, let us pray and beseech God to help us; but in E:—Let us rise up, and pray and entreat God to help us. | In A, God is called the Ruler of all; but in E the upholder of all things. | In A, God is to strengthen us for the war with Satan; but in E to give us strength so that we may be able to contend against Satan. | In A, Michael chased away the bad spirits who filled the souls of the citizens; in E, he drove away the evil spirits which had afflicted the souls of the people of the city.

 

9. In A, all the citizens believed; but in E all the men of the city believed. | In A, the woman who had been suspended in the air believed; but in E Michael also brought down the woman who was suspended in the air and no mention is made of her conversion. | In A, they appoint a bishop and priests; but in E Peter appoints bishops and priests. | Following the Sinai manuscript, E reads:—and they cast out devils, and they raised the dead, and at length all the people of the city believed and entered into the knowledge of God, Whose Name is most glorious.

 

10. This section begins in A:—And they drove away a devil, and he returned to his craft; but in E—Then was Satan wroth, and he returned to his wiles and crafts. | In A, a devil crept into the heart of a boy, a rich young man, who loved money; but in E, Satan simply entered into the heart of a rich young man. | In A, the rich young man begins his speech:—O good servants of God; but in E, he begins it:—O ye chosen servants of God. | In A, Peter says:—Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul; and do not steal, and do not kill, and do not commit impurity, and do not swear falsely. And what thou wouldest not that men should do unto thee, do not thou unto them.; but E emends this to:—Love God thy Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul. Thou shalt not kill. thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not swear falsely. What thou wouldst not that men should do unto thee that thou shalt not do unto others. | In A, the rich young man says:—No, I am a man, a merchant, and I have much property, tell me what is my duty to do with it; but in E he says:—I have no wife. I am a handicraftsman,\fn{Or: carpenter.} and I have great possessions. Tell me what ye would have me to do.

 

11. In A, he rushed on Thaddaeus; but in E, he leaped on Thaddaeus. | A remembers Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25 and Luke 18:25 as:—That a camel could go into the eye of a needle, but not a rich man into the kingdom of heaven; but in E this is:—It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. | In A, Thaddaeus’ eyes would have popped from their sockets from the force of the choking; but in E through the pain of the rich man’s grip upon his neck.

 

12. Expansion of A by E:—Why dost thou strangle the disciple of Christ [in this manner] because. | A’s question Dost thou wish to renounce what is thine? becomes in E the statement I also would that thou didst cast away thy possession. | A then says—Renounce what thou wilt, no man forceth thee; but E has:—But if thou wilt not cast away even one of the things which are thine, and wilt not hate them, thou canst not possess life. | E, following the Sinai manuscript of the Arabic tradition, presents the following version of the needle-seller:—and they asked a man who sold needles for a needle; and the seller of needles wished to help the Apostles, and he sought for a needle with a large eye. Then Peter said unto him, “God shall bless thee, O my son, and thy faith shall be accepted; but look thou for a needle which hath an exceedingly small eye, so that the glory and the majesty of God may be made manifest in this city.” And the man did as Peter had commanded him, and he found a needle with a very small eye. | E expands A—we beseech Thee to hearken unto our entreaty, [and supplication,] and to. | A has:—so that all things are obedient unto Thee; but E changes this to:—that everything which Thou sayest is true. | E expands A:—Yea, O Lord! hearken unto the supplication of Thy servants. [Behold, Thou seest what Thine Apostles would do, be pleased then, O God, that] this camel. | E adds after the end of A in this paragraph the following text:—Then Peter said unto him, “Go in a second time, so that all these people may know the matter of a certainty, and may glorify God, and may understand that there is nothing which is too hard for His power to do.”

 

13. A has:—There is no God but God, the God of these two disciples; but E reads:—There is no god save the Lord God of these two Apostles, Peter and Thaddaeus. | A has:—Woe is me, what have I done!; but E has:—Woe is me! Woe is me, because of what I have done unto this righteous man. | In A they exhorted him and taught him the commandments, and the precepts of religion; but in E they admonished him and taught him the commandments of the Law of Faith. | Following the Sinai manuscript tradition, E reads:—and they baptized them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, that is to say, him and all the people of the city. | The pure Blood of A becomes the precious Blood of E. | In A, they appoint a bishop and priests and write all the commandments; in E they appoint bishops and priests and write a Book of commandments. | In A:—they went out from amongst them, they bidding them farewell in peace. And this is the reason of their faith in the Lord Jesus the Christ. In E—they departed from them and were accompanied a short distance on their way by them in peace. Thus was the work of making them to believe performed by our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

14. E has for this paragraph in A:—and immediately after they had made their confession of faith Thaddaeus died, on the second day of the month Hamle, glorifying the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Who shall endure for ever and ever. Amen, Amen, and Amen.

 

[COA, II, 357-368]

 

453. 454. 455. 456. The Greek Acts of Sharbil; The Syriac Acts of Sharbil; The Syriac Martyrdom of Barsumya; The Armenian Martyrdom of Barsumya

 

     The Syriac Acts of Sharbil is abstracted from two manuscripts: Codex Add. 14, 644; and Codex Add. 14, 645, which is a compilation to be dated some three or four centuries after the first. Both were first taken down by shorthand-writers, called notarii, actuarii, or—rather later—expectores, by which title they are mentioned in the Syriac Acts of Sharbil. The use of certain Greek words seems to demonstrate that these acta were originally written in Greek. It also appears that Paganism and Christianity were tolerated together in Edessa when this piece was first written: and there is also a similar statement in the Acts of Addaeus the Apostle—Neither did king Abgar compel any man by force to believe in Christ.

 

     The martyrdoms of Sharbil and Barsumya are said to have occurred in 115AD, the year in which the Roman emperor Trajan conquered the Parthian kingdom of which Edessa was a part. The Martyrdom of Barsumya also exists in Armenian, apparently (H) in the Imperial Library at Paris (Codex No. 88, MSS. Armen.). According to ANF, the passage in the martyrdom of Barsumya, which purports to be the following copy of an imperial edict—

 

Since our Majesty commanded that there should be a persecution against the people of the Christians, we have heard and learned, from the Sharirs whom we have in the countries under the dominion of our Majesty, that the people of the Christians are persons who eschew murder, and sorcery, and adultery, and theft, and bribery and fraud, and those things for which the laws of our Majesty also exact punishment from those who commit them. We, therefore, in our impartial justice, have commanded that on account of these things the persecution of the sword shall cease from them, and that there shall be rest and quietness in all our dominions, they continuing to minister according to their custom and no man hindering them. It is not, however, towards them that we show clemency, but towards their laws, agreeing as they do with the laws of our Majesty. And, if any man hinder them after this our command, that sword which is ordered by us to descend upon those who despise our command, the same do we command to descend upon those who despise this decree of our clemency.

 

is probably the most authentic copy of the edict of Trajan commanding the stopping of the persecution of the Christians, as it was taken down at the time by the reporters who heard it read.

 

     Both the Sharbil and Barsumya materials contain small additions to their conclusions. For example: it is stated at the beginning of the Greek Acts of Sharbil that the transactions reported therein took place in 112AD; but the ‘Fabianus’ alluded to in the addition to these acta is probably a deliberate reference to the pope who instituted notaries for the express purpose of searching for and collecting acts of martyrdom; and he was not made bishop of Rome till the reign of Maximinus Thrax (c.236AD).

 

[ANF, VIII, 649, 676-689]

 

***

 

XXXII: JAMES OF ZEBEDEE

 

457. The Greek Acts of James, the Son of Zebedee

 

     The Greek text of this acta was probably written during the 8th century AD. It has been edited by Ebersolt (Paris, 1902); and perhaps also appears in the Bollandists (Acta Sanctorum, July VI, 1729, 5-124). See also Mayor (in Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible II, 1899, 540-541); Leclercq (“Jacques le Majeur” in Cabrol & Leclercq’s Dictionnaire d’Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie VII.2, 1927, cols. 2089-2109); Leclercq (“Espagne V: La Legende de Jacques” in Cabrol & Leclercq’s Dictionnaire d’Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie V.1, 1922, cols. 412-417); and Eikenhauser (“Jakobus der Altere” in Buchberger’s Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche V, 1933, cols. 268-269). (This book of acts apparently has nothing to do with that immediately below. H)

 

[ODC, 711]

 

458. 459. The Greek Acts of James the Great; The Latin Acts of James the Great

 

     These books are two of the many romances styled acta, purporting to set forth the adventures and martyrdom of James, the son of Zebedee, in amplification of the bare notice in the Received Acts. It is extant in its entirety only in Latin, as Book IV of the Latin History of the Apostles, after Abdias of Babylon; but it is possible—indeed, James says doubtless—that there was an earlier Greek original, of which no trace has come down save an apparent quotation by Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215, in Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History II:9.1-3, where there are two quotations concerning James the son of Zebedee from Clement’s lost book entitled Hypotyposes, in the last of which James forgives his accuser while on his way to his Apostolic martyrdom):

 

To James the Just, and John and Peter, the Lord after His resurrection imparted knowledge. These imparted it to the rest of the apostles, and the rest of the apostles to the Seventy, of whom Barnabas was one. ... And of this James, Clement also relates an anecdote worthy of remembrance in the seventh book of the Hypotyposes, from a tradition of his predecessors. He says that the man who brought him to trial, on seeing him bear his testimony, was moved, and confessed that he was a Christian himself. Accordingly, he says, they were both led away together, and on the way the other asked James to forgive him. And he, considering a little, said, “Peace be to thee,” and kissed him. And so both were beheaded together.

 

     James, for his part, presents the following synopsis of the Latin material, which he says is only found here, and which Abdias apparently divides into nine chapters (indicated with bracketed numbers): I have followed James’ rendering exactly.

 

(1) Describes James’ preaching. (2) In the course of it he was opposed by Hermogenes and Philetus. Philetus was converted by James, and told Hermogenes he should leave him. Hermogenes in anger bound him by magical incantations and said: We will see if James can free you. Philetus found means to send a servant to James, who sent back his kerchief, and by it Philetus was freed and came to James. (3) Hermogenes in anger sent devils to fetch both James and Philetus to him: but when they got there they began to howl in the air and complain that an angel had bound them with fiery chains. James sent them to bring Hermogenes bound. They tied his arms with ropes and brought him, mocking him. You are a foolish man, said James, but they shall not hurt you. The devils clamored for leave to avenge themselves on him. Why do you not seize Philetus? said James. We dare not touch so much as an ant in your chambers, they said. James bade Philetus loose Hermogenes, and he stood confounded. Go free, said James, for we do not render evil for evil. I fear the demons, he said. And James gave him his staff to protect him. (4) Armed with this, he went home and filled baskets with magical books and began to burn them. Not so, said James, lest the smoke vex the unwary; cast them into the sea. He did so, and returned and begged for pardon. James sent him to undo his former work on those he had deceived, and spend in charity what he had gained by his art. He obeyed, and so grew in faith that he even performed miracles. (5) The Jews bribed two centurions, Lysias and Theocritus, to seize James. And while he was being taken away, there was a dispute between him and the Pharisees. He spoke to them first of Abraham, (6) and went on to cite prophecies. Isaiah: Behold a virgin ... Jeremiah: Behold, thy redeemer shall come, O Jerusalem, and this shall be the sign of him: He shall open the eyes of the blind, restore hearing to the deaf, and raise the dead with his voice. Ezekiel: Thy king shall come, O Zion, he shall come humbly, and restore thee. Daniel: As the son of man, so shall he come and receive princedoms and powers. David: The Lord said unto my Lord ... Again: He shall call me, thou art my Father ... I will make him my first-born. Of the fruit of thy body ... Isaiah again: Like a sheep to the slaughter. David: They pierced my hands ... They gave me gall ... My flesh shall rest ... I will arise and be with thee ... the comfortless trouble’s sake ... He is gone up on high ... God is gone up. He rode on the cherubim ... The Lord shall come, and shall not keep silence, ... (7) Isaiah: The dead shall rise. David: God spake once ... They rewarded me evil for good ... He that did eat my bread ... The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan. (8) The people cried out: We have sinned. Abiathar the high priest stirred up a tumult, and a scribe cast a rope about James’ neck and dragged him before Herod, who sentenced him to be beheaded. On the way he healed a paralytic. (9) The scribe, named Josias, was convinced, and prayed for pardon. And Abiathar procured that he should be beheaded with James. Water was brought, James baptized him, they exchanged the kiss of peace, and were beheaded.

 

     Lipsius assigns the Latin version of this work to about the 3rd century AD; James adds that the tale of James forgiving his accuser is as old as Clement of Alexandria, who quotes it.

 

[INT, II, 800; ANT, 463-464; CAT, II, 612; ANF, II, 579]

 

460. 461. The Coptic Acts and Death of James the Great; The Armenian Acts and Death of James the Great

 

     CAT notes simply that there are Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, and Armenian histories of the missions and death of James the Great, the son of Zebedee.

 

[CAT, II, 612]

 

462. The Arabic Acts of James, the Son of Zebedee

 

     For a brief commentary on the approximate dates of the various collections of Apostolic acta, see before tractate #146 (above). MRS says of these that there is a grain of historical truth in the statement that the lot of James’ brother, John, was Asia; but that James is evidently confused with his namesake, Jesus’ brother, for he goes out to the scattered Twelve Tribes, who still remain under the dominion of Herod, and is put to death in accordance with the narrative at Acts 12:2. The linking of the names of Nero (who did not succeed to the Imperial throne until 54AD) and Herod (who died in 44AD) is another anachronism (a certain indication of their having been composed some centuries after the events discussed: H) Nor is there present the incident in the Greek Tradition of these acta mentioned by Clement of Alexandria (above).

 

     The text of the Arabic acts is reproduced below in its entirety.

 

1. It came to pass when the disciples divided the cities of the world, and each of them knew his lot given to him by the Lord, they praised His name greatly. And the lot of James was the city of India; and of John his brother the city of Asia. And James said unto Peter, “O my father Peter, go forth with me until thou hast brought me to my city.” And Peter said unto him, “Not thee alone, but all of you will I bring to your cities, as the Lord hath commanded me.” And Peter and James went towards this country; reciting on their way the praises of God, and rejoicing their souls with what the Lord had taught them about the abundance of their reward in the kingdom of heaven. And they said: “It is meet that no sloth should overtake us and no laziness, but let us hasten and be watchful in zeal for proclaiming the Gospel and preaching in the world, so that we may be worthy of the everlasting promises.” These words did Peter and James speak strengthening one another in effort.

 

2. And whilst they were talking in this way, the Lord appeared unto them like a young man of fair face, rejoicing in their conversation, smiling in their faces. And He said unto them: “Come unto Me, O ye good laborers! I am your Master, and Strengthener, and the Payer of your reward. Know, O My disciples, that all your toil in this world will not be like a single hour of the rest which will be in the kingdom of heaven.” And He enlightened the eyes of their hearts; and showed them all the just men who have gone to their rest from Adam to John, and they were shining in glittering raiment. And they drew nigh to them and embraced them with a spiritual kiss, and departed from them in peace. And when the disciples had seen this spiritual vision their hearts were strengthened, and they were glad, and fell to the earth and worshipped, saying: “We thank Thee, O our Lord and our Master, Jesus the Christ, for the beauty of Thy work to us poor men.” And the Lord made them rise, and gave them the greeting of peace. And He said unto James, “Be strong and finish thy service with a true\fn{A word seems to have dropped from the text.} heart, and preach in the world in the name of the Lord, to those who are His image and likeness. And in this thou shalt have a great reward.” And the disciples arose, with faces shining like the sun, and the Lord disappeared from them into heaven with great glory.

 

3. And Peter said unto James, “It is meet that we should be diligent in our journey so as to bring back all the lost sheep of the race of Israel, for this great reward is certain to be ours.” And they journeyed together. And as they drew nigh to the city, behold, there was a blind man on the path eating bread. And when he knew that the disciples were approaching, he went, by the grace of God, and cried with a loud voice and said: “O servants of the Christ! Give me light on my eyes.” James said unto Peter: “Take pity on him, O my father, that he may not cry behind us.” Peter said unto him: “It is thou who shalt give healing in this city.” James said: “Bless me, O my father!” Peter said unto him: “The Lord Jesus the Christ will effect his cure by thy hand.” And James called the blind man and said unto him: “If thine eyes be opened, and thy sight established, wilt thou believe in the Lord Jesus the Christ, the Crucified?” The blind man said unto him: “I believe in Him with a true faith.” James said unto him: “In the name of Jesus the Christ, in whom thou hast believed, the true God, let thine eyes be opened, and do thou see with the full sight.” And this happened as he had said. And when the multitude saw it, they cried out and gave glory to God. And a company of them believed.

 

4. But some of them said: “These are wizards.” And they went to the magistrates of the city, and told them what they had witnessed; and the magistrates commanded them to be brought. And when they stood before them, one of them asked them, “From what country are ye? Whence are ye, and what do ye want?” Peter answered him, saying: “We are the servants of a good Lord, whose name is Jesus the Christ.” And when the magistrates heard the name of Jesus, they rent their garments, and cried out with loud voices and said: “O ye men, ye inhabitants of this city, beware of these folk, for they are wizards. For many days we have heard no news of them. Twelve men went forth from Jerusalem, disciples of a good man whose name was Jesus; this was the name they called him.”

 

5. And the magistrates commanded that they should put ropes on their necks, and drag them through all the city. And when the guards were about to throw the ropes on their necks, their hands withered, and they stood still on their feet. And the magistrates chided them, saying: “Ye have not fulfilled what we commanded you.” They said unto them: “We cannot move, and we have become like stones.” The magistrates said unto them: “Did we not tell you that they are wizards?” The disciples said: “We are not wizards; but servants of a good Lord.” And the man whose hands were withered entreated the disciples, saying: “O servants of God, have compassion on us.” They said unto them: “God hath commanded us that we should not requite evil with evil, but good instead of evil.” And they drew nigh unto the men, saying: “In the name of Jesus the Christ, Whose disciples we are, and Whose name we preach, we command you by faith that ye return to what ye were, whole.” And straightway the guards rose up whole, as they had been, and did obeisance to them, crying out: “There is no God but Jesus the Christ, the Lord of these good men.” And when the multitude saw it they returned the cry like the speech of the guards, “There is one God, Whom these two blessed men proclaim.” And the magistrates did not believe; for their hearts were hard.

 

6. And there was a magistrate among them who had a son, and his feet were withered; he could not walk. The magistrate said: “I will bring my son to them, and if they have power to make his feet whole like those of all men, I will believe in their God.” And he commanded one of his servants to bring his son to them. And he hastened and left him in the presence of the disciples. And they both arose, and stretched out their hands, and prayed, saying: “Our Lord Jesus the Christ, Resurrection of souls and bodies, the Good Shepherd Who restoreth every good soul, we entreat Thee, O Thou Lord Who art near with an answer, that Thou wouldest hearken unto Thy servants, for Thou hast promised that Thou wilt not separate Thyself from us; to show Thy glory at this hour in this city; that they may know that Thou art God; there is no God beside Thee.” And when the two disciples had finished the prayer, James said unto the lame boy: “In the name of Jesus the Christ, the Nazarene, in Whose name I preach, rise, walk like all men.” Then he sprang up and stood, whole, and walked. And when the multitude saw this wonder which had been done by the disciples, they cried out, saying: “God is one, the God of these two men.”

 

7. And the magistrate, the father of the boy, did obeisance at the feet of the disciples, saying unto them: “I entreat you to come into my house to eat bread”; and he sent to his wife with the son who had been cured. And when his wife saw her child walking, she cried out, saying: “God is one, the God of these two men who have cured my son.” And she cried in her dwelling for the presence of the disciples, and she sent back her child to his father, insisting on his bringing them. And when they were with the magistrate’s house, the idols which he had in his house straightway fell down. And when the magistrate and his wife saw this wonder, their faith was strengthened, and they brought much goods unto the disciples. And they said unto them: “Accept these goods from us, and distribute them amongst the poor.” James said unto him: “Distribute it with thine own hand.” And he did as James had commanded him. And he laid the table for them, and they ate. And the name of the magistrate was Theophilus.

 

8. And he entreated them to baptize himself and his wife and his children. And when the disciples saw the strength of their faith, they gave him the commandments of life, and baptized him and his wife and his children in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, the one God, and every one in his dwelling. And their number was thirty souls. And after this James said unto Peter: “Arise with us, O my father! Let us go hence and journey round about the rest of the cities and warn their inhabitants, and preach amongst them the good news of the gospel; and perhaps they will receive it and repent.”

 

9. And they went forth into the midst of the city to a famous spot where the magistrates of the district were sitting. And they began to teach the multitude the spiritual commandments. And they testified to them about the sufferings of the Lord, and about His Resurrection, and about His Ascension to heaven, and about His second coming to judge the quick and the dead. And the multitude heard their words and marveled at the sweetness of their speech. And when the rest of the magistrates of the city saw that their friend had believed, they came forward and did obeisance at the feet of the disciples. And they said unto them: “We entreat you, O good servants of God, to give us the gift of God, which ye have given to our friend.” And when the news was spread abroad in the city that all the magistrates had believed in the message of the disciples, they all cried out, saying with a loud voice: “We entreat you, O disciples of the Christ, that ye would make us meet for the gift of the Christ; and give us the token of faith.”

 

10. And when they saw the power of their faith, they said unto them: “Whoso truly believeth, let him follow us.” And the multitude went before until they arrived at a mighty river in the midst of the city. And they prayed; and after the prayer they preached unto them and taught them the laws of God. And they baptized them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And when they had received baptism, they rejoiced with exceeding joy and were very glad. And they commanded them to build a church; and they abode with them until their faith had become strong; and they appointed them priests, and gave them the holy mysteries. And James read the Law and the Prophets unto them; and Peter interpreted into the language which they knew. And he abode with them many days until their faith had been strengthened. And they appointed them a bishop; and all the servants of the temple; and they went forth from amongst them with the praise of God, the One in substance, the Three in Persons, to Whom belongeth praise and glory and honor and worship for ever and ever. Amen. And praise be to God always and for ever.

 

[MRS, xx-xxi, 30-34]

 

463. The Ethiopic Acts of Saint James in India

 

     The preface to this work says that the set of legends contained in it are about James, the Son of Zebedee, the brother of John the Evangelist and his works in the country of Hendake [See on this Lipsius (Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten II.2, 1883, 212ff; Budge notes that the country which is usually said to have fallen to the lot of James of Zebedee was Lydia; but here, the city of Lydd near Joppa must be the place intended.] Malan’s translation from the Ethiopic gives Antioch as the scene of James’ preaching.

 

     The major variants of the Ethiopic text are listed below. The paragraphs are keyed to their opposite number in the Arabic text (above). For an indication of the place in time of their emergence, please consult the brief discussion of the history of these legends at the beginning of tractate #146.

 

1. A states that they praised His name greatly; but in E this is reduced to a bracketed editorial comment: (may His Name be blessed exceedingly!) | In A it is the city of India; but in E the country of India. | In A, John draws Asia; but in E, Dasya (which COA footnotes as the name of the Roman province of Dacia). | A has:—it is meet that no sloth should overtake us and no laziness; but E words this merely:—it is meet for us not to be slothful. | Let us hasten and be watchful in zeal for proclaiming the Gospel and preaching in the world, so that we may be worthy of the everlasting promises says A; but E says the Apostles should hasten to continue our journey, and to declare Him and to preach Him in the world, that we may be worthy to find our hope and our deliverance from the tribulation of fire.

 

2. In A, Jesus appears like a young man of fair face; and in E in the form of a young man of beautiful appearance. | In A, Jesus is smiling in their faces; but in E He laughed before their faces. | In A, He calls them good laborers; but in E devoted and chosen ones. | He then says in A:—I am your Master, and Strengthener, and the Payer of your reward; but in E:—I will teach you, and will give you your reward. | In A, the disciples labors are called toil; but in E, sufferings. | In A, Jesus enlightened the eyes of their hearts; in E, He made bright the eyes of their understanding. | After Adam to John in A, E inserts:—and from John until the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ. And being radiant and brilliant with light. | In A, they drew nigh to them and embraced them with a spiritual kiss, and departed from them in peace; but in E, He drew nigh unto them, and embraced them with a spiritual embrace; and then He disappeared from them in peace. | In A, the disciples were glad; but in E they rejoiced and were glad. | In A, they thank Jesus for the beauty of Thy work to us poor men; but in E, because Thou hast dealt graciously with us. | The word true, inserted in A (see the footnote to paragraph 2 of the Arabic) as having dropped out of the text, is upright in E. | In A, they are instructed to preach to those who are His image and likeness; but in E they themselves are to preach in His image and in His likeness.

 

3. In A, Peter says we should be diligent in our journey; but in E to contend in this glorious manner. | In A, they are to bring back all the lost sheep of the race of Israel; but in E to gather together all the sheep of the race of Israel which are scattered abroad. | The blind man in A is eating bread; in E he is begging for bread. | In A, he shouts:—O servants of the Christ; but in E:—O ye Apostles of Jesus Christ. | In A, James asks Peter to heal him that he may not cry behind us; in E, for he crieth out after us. | In A, James says:—Bless me, O my father!; but in E:—If the command be according as thou sayest, bless me, O my father. | Peter responds in A:—The Lord Jesus the Christ will effect his cure by thy hand; but in E more equivocally:—May our Lord Jesus Christ effect a healing by thy hands. | In A, the blind man responds:—I believe in Him with a true faith; but in E:—I will confess Him with a perfect faith. | In A:—James called the blind man and said unto him; but in E it is only:—James said unto him. | As for the crowd A says:—And when the multitude saw it, they cried out and gave glory to God; but E has here:—And when the people who were gathered together came and saw him, they glorified God.

 

4. In A, the unbelievers tell the magistrates what they had witnessed; in E, what they had heard and seen. | In A, Peter says:—We are servants of a good Lord, whose name is Jesus the Christ; but in E:—We are the servants of the Good God Whose Name is Jesus. | In A, the magistrates cry with loud voices; but in E with a loud voice. | A says:—For many days we have heard no news of them; but in E:—we have heard the report for many days past. | In A, they are described as disciples of a good man whose name was Jesus; but in E as servants of the sorcerer whose name is Jesus.

 

5. In A the guards were to drag them through all the city; but E expands this to drag them through all the highways of the city. | In A, the magistrates declare:—Ye have not fulfilled what we commanded you; but in E, they question:—Why do ye not do as we commanded you? | In A, the guards reply:—We cannot move; but in E:—We have not the power to move. | In A, the disciples reply that they are servants of a good Lord; but in E that they are servants of the Good God. | In A, the disciples command you by faith that ye return to what we were, whole; but in E, they command you to become sound and well, even as ye were formerly. | The guards confess Christ in A as the Lord of these good men; but in E as the God of these chosen men. | Hearing the guards, the people in A returned the cry like the speech of the guards; but in E they were dismayed, and they repeated the words of the soldiers of the guard. | In A, they say:—There is one God, Whom these two blessed men proclaim; but in E this becomes:—One is the God Whom these blessed men preach.

 

6. The son’s feet are withered in A; his two feet are withered in E. | Expansion [], contraction (), and emendation of A by E—The magistrate said [in his heart,] “I will bring my son unto them, and if they have power to make his feet\fn{A has here: my son, instead of his feet.} whole (like all men), I will believe in their God.” | In A, the servant left him in the presence of the disciples; in E, the servant brought him unto them, and set him down in front of the Apostles. | In A, Jesus restoreth every good soul; but in E, He bringest back the souls which have been cast away wholly. | In A:—I beseech; but in E:—we entreat. | In A, God is near with an answer; but in E merely nigh unto him that calleth upon Thee. | In A, God’s glory is to be revealed this hour; but in E this day. | In A, it is the two disciples who finish the prayer; but in E, the Apostles. | In A, James speaks unto the lame boy; but in E, unto the young man who was helpless. | In A, the people saw this wonder; but in E they saw the wonderful things. | In A they say:—God is One, the God of these two men; but in E:—One is the Lord God of these men.

 

7. The father of the boy in A is the father of the young man in E. | He invites the disciples in A to eat bread; but the Apostles in E eat food. | In A his wife saw her child walking; but in E the mother of the young man saw her son walking along the road. | E expands A after the words insisting on his bringing them with:—and the magistrate sent two of his servants to make ready their abode, and thus it came to pass even as he had desired. | A says that the idols which he had in his house straightway fell down; but E says in that same hour the gods which were in his house fell down and were broken in pieces. | Those two in A see this wonder; but in E they see these wonderful things. | In A they brought much goods unto the disciples; but in E many possessions unto the Apostles. | In A they are to go to the poor; but in E to the poor and needy.

 

8. In A, the disciples see the strength of their faith; but in E the strength of his faith. | In A they give him the commandments of life; but in E the commandment of life. | In A James and Peter tell the people the story of the Holy Gospel; but in E they warn them, and preach the good news of the gospel. | In A, they hope they will receive it and repent; and in E they hope they may hear and repent.

 

9. In A, they go into the midst of the city to a famous spot; but in E unto an open space; and Budge supplies the footnote:\fn{Or: hall}. | Here in A they find the magistrates of the district; but in E only the magistrates. | In A, they teach the spiritual commandments; but in E the commandments of the Holy Spirit. | In A the text reads—And the multitude heard their words and marveled at the sweetness of their speech; but E eliminates the last clause, saying:—Then the people who heard their words, and also the remainder of the magistrates of the city when they saw that their companions had believed etc. | In A, they are good servants of God; but in E chosen servants of God. | In A, they are asked to give us the gift of God, which ye have given to our friend; but in E to give unto us of that grace which ye have bestowed upon our companions. | In A, the news was that all the magistrates had believed in the message of the disciples; but in E, it is that the magistrates of the city had believed through the preaching of the Apostles. | In A, the multitude asks that ye would make us meet for the gift of the Christ; and give us the token of faith; but in E to give us the grace of Christ, and to bestow upon us the signs of the belief which is in Him.

 

10. In A they prayed; in E they offered up a prayer. | After the prayer in A they preached unto them and taught them the laws of God; in E they gave them the gracious gift of faith. | In A, James read the Law and the Prophets unto them; but in E he read unto them the Book of the Law and the Book of the Prophets. | In A, they abode with them until their faith had become strong; and they appointed them priests, and gave them the holy mysteries; in E they dwelt with them many days, that is to say, until their faith had become strong, and they appointed a bishop over them, and they became ministers of the church. | A ends with this statement:—And they went forth from amongst them with the praise of God, the One in substance, the Three in Persons, to Whom belongeth praise and glory and honor and worship for ever and ever. Amen. And praise be to God always and for ever. E ends with this statement:—And James and Peter went forth from them ascribing praise unto the God Who is One, and Who is a Trinity of Three, to Whom praise, and thanksgiving, and honor are meet for ever and ever. Amen, Amen, and Amen.

 

[MRS, xx-xxi, 30-34; CAT, II, 612; COA, II, 295-303]

 

464. The Arabic Martyrdom of James, the Son of Zebedee

 

     There is a statement about the historical emergence of the Arabic and Ethiopic Apostolic legends at the beginning of tractate #146. MRS notes that Malan’s translation from the Ethiopic gives Bagte and Marke as the place of James’ burial. In Bagte we recognize our Arabic Niqta; in Marke, Budge’s Mamreke. There is no mention of the Greek story related by Clement of Alexandria through Eusebius of Caesarea (above, #458).

 

     The title of the Arabic martyrdom credits its story to the son of Zebedee; and the Ethiopic legend in 465 is certainly based upon this or a very similar text; but it his Herod who executes this James, and it seems clear that the authors of both have confounded these two men, both of them saints of the same name, and perhaps conflated legends at one time peculiar to one or the other of them into these accounts. To further complicate the issue, the ODC (p. 711) mentions a tradition (which it says is unlikely) that James the Less (James of Alphaeus, mentioned at Mark 3:18 and parallels) is also identified with James, Jesus’ brother. Elsewhere, my sources say that the activities of James, the brother of Jesus and James, the son of Zebedee were confounded in the written Christian Tradition. Of course, this sort of thing could only have become possible in an uncritical age, and long after the true relationships between these three was commonly known; and this further strengthens the argument that the traditions that have survived in these languages probably does not, in many cases, represent historical truth. Nevertheless, it is here, and certainly deserves to be recorded as part of the all-embracing concept inherent in Fragments of the New Testament, which set out to discover the full extent of the literary impact of the Christian religion from its most ancient beginnings to the emergence of modern European languages. (H)

 

     The text of the Arabic martyrdom is reproduced below in its entirety.

 

1. And when James the son of Zebedee, the disciple of Jesus the Christ, went out to the scattered Twelve Tribes, and preached the Gospel to them in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ, the True God, all the tribes did not worship the One God; but each tribe of them had chosen a god, and each of their idols had a false teaching which led them astray. And they were under the dominion of Herod; they paid him service in different ways; and the property which came to him from these sources was very great, until his authority increased and his kingdom became larger.

 

2. And it came to pass that when James drew nigh and preached to every tribe in its own language, because the Lord inspired them with the knowledge of all languages; not only the tongues of man, but the tongues of the birds and the beasts, and the creeping things, and the wild beasts; when they chattered in their own language, the disciple knew what they were saying by the help of the Holy Ghost. And James preached amongst them and commanded them to leave off their ugly deeds, and believe in God the Father, and His Only Son Jesus the Christ; and in the Holy Ghost, Who giveth life to every creature; in Whose hand are all their spirits; He will judge the quick and the dead. And he said unto them: “Give not all your goods unto earthly kings; but give some of them to the poor, for the salvation of your souls.”

 

3. And immediately the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelt in them, and the fear of God was firmly fixed in their hearts. And the news spread in all their borders; and they believed in the word of James the disciple; and were confirmed in the faith of the Lord Jesus the Christ, King of the heaven and the earth; Who doth not refuse those who seek Him and turn to Him with a sincere conscience. And they renounced all they had worshipped; and their wicked deeds which they had done. And they approached the Lord with a sincere mind; and received the word of James which he preached unto them. And James taught them much because of the quickness with which they received his preaching and forsook the false doctrine in which they were, and the error. And he made haste and built them churches in all their borders, when he saw the beauty of their faith. And he baptized them in the name of the Holy Trinity. And they were glad and rejoiced.

 

4. And he commanded them the precepts of the Gospel; and the laws of religion; and said unto them: “Hearken, O ye blessed children, who have returned from error unto the knowledge of the truth; whom the Lord hath chosen and made meet to receive His clean Body, and pure Blood. Behold, I deliver unto you the truths of God, which He entrusted unto us and hath commanded us to convey to the nations. And they received them with joy, so that they might be always joyful and triumphant in the Paradise of the Eternal Lord. Behold, the Lord hath made you meet, every tribe, that in Him ye may be ready and that your fruits, and your vineyards, and your fields, and your sheep may be the Lord’s.” The multitude consented; and they said: “We will fulfill all that thou hast commanded us. We believe in God with all our hearts; the eldest of us and the youngest.” And thus every tribe offered all of what it possessed to the Church.

 

5. And when Herod heard all about their faith, and about their offerings to their churches, his wonder grew, and he learnt from a wicked man that a disciple of Jesus the Christ had come to them, and had taught them not to give gifts to the kings of the earth, nor tribute to Nero the Emperor, nor to Herod the Governor; but to pay it to Jesus the Christ the Lord, King of the heaven and of the earth. And when the king heard the like of this, he commanded them to bring James the disciple to him. And when he saw him, he said unto him: “Of what nation art thou, and in whom dost thou believe, O thou man whose deeds are worthy of death!”

 

6. The blessed disciple replied to him, saying: “I believe in the Lord of the Nazarenes, Jesus the Christ, Son of the Living God, He Who is Lord of all that is in the heaven and upon the earth; and their spirits are in His hand. And thou, O Herod, and Nero the Emperor, your spirits are in His hand; and He hath authority over your kingdom.”

 

7. And when he heard this he was wroth with a fierce wrath against James, the holy disciple, and he said unto him: “I cannot suffer thee to return me another answer”; for Nero the Emperor and Herod had heard about James the disciple, that he scorned their royalty, and reviled their idols. And he arose in haste and struck the saint with a sword on his shoulders; and in that hour he gave up the ghost; and thus Saint James, the son of Zebedee, finished his testimony on the twenty-seventh day of Pharmouthi; and he was buried in Niqta, which is called Ravina. May his prayer preserve us for ever. Amen. And praise be to God always and for ever.

 

[MRS, xxi, 35-36]

 

465. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint James.

 

     A statement about the historical emergence of the Ethiopian Apostolic legends appears at the beginning of tractate #146. Below are listed the main variants in the Ethiiopic text to the Arabic text, numbered in accordance with the Arabic paragraphs (above). See also the second paragraph in the notes preceding #464.

 

1. In A, James preaches in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ, the True God; but in E in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is God in truth. | In A each tribe of them had chosen a god, and each of their idols had a false teaching; but in E belonging unto every tribe were idols which they had chosen for themselves as gods, and each tribe had graven images of false gods. | In A the property which came to him from these sources was very great, until his authority increased and his kingdom became larger; in E the possessions which they brought to him as tribute were so many, that at length his rank was magnified and his kingdom became exceedingly great.

 

2. In A James preached to every tribe in his own language; in E he preached unto the people of each tribe in the tongue of their native land. | In A the Lord inspired them with the knowledge of all languages; in E our Lord had given unto the Apostle the knowledge of every tongue. | A reads:—not only the tongues of man, but the tongues of the birds and the beasts, and the creeping things, and the wild beasts; but in E this reads—and by the help of the Holy Spirit understood the languages not only of men, but also those of the beasts, and of the animals of the wilderness, and of the birds of heaven. | In A, James commands the people to believe in God the Father, and His Only Son Jesus the Christ; and in the Holy Ghost, Who giveth life to every creature; but in E, he commands them to believe in the Living God, and in His Only Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy and Vivifying Spirit, Who giveth life unto all created beings. | In A, He tells them to give to the poor; but in E to the poor and needy.

 

3. In A, it is the gift of the Holy Spirit; but in E, the gracious gift of the Holy Spirit. | In A, fear of God was firmly fixed in their hearts; but in E it merely entered into their hearts. | In A the news spread in all their borders; but in E the story of the Gospel was preached in all their countries. | In A, they were confirmed in their belief; but in E their faith was strengthened. | In A, it is a sincere conscience which attracts Jesus; but in E, a right mind. | In A, the people renounced all they had worshipped; but in E they cast aside all those idols which they had worshipped. | In A, they approached the Lord with a sincere mind; in E, they turned unto God with a true mind. | In A, they received the word of James which he preached unto them; but in E, they received the words which James had declared unto them. | In A, James taught them much; but in E, he loved them exceedingly. | In A, this was in part because they forsook the false doctrine in which they were, and the error; but in E, this is worded:—because they had forsaken the evil deeds which they had done in their error. | In A, he built them churches when he saw the beauty of their faith; but in E, when he saw the beauty of their faith he baptized them. | In A, this is done in the name of the Holy Trinity. And they were glad and rejoiced; but in E, this is done in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and they rejoiced and were glad together.

 

4. In A, James commanded them the laws of religion; but in E, the Law of faith. | He calls them ye blessed children in A, my blessed children in E. | In A, they have returned to the knowledge of the truth; but in E to the knowledge of righteousness. | In A, they receive His clean Body, and pure Blood; but in E merely His Body and Blood. | In A, James gives them the truths of God; in E, the righteousness of God. | In A, the people received this so that they might be always joyful and triumphant in the Paradise of the Eternal Lord; in E, so that at His Second Coming they may be prepared for the Garden of God. | In A, God has made this ready for every tribe; but in E, each tribe of the Church. | James makes an oblique request for an offering in A:—that your fruits, and your vineyards, and your fields, and your sheep may be the Lord’s; but in E, this is explicitly desired—I beseech you, O each tribe, to give of your income unto the church, of the first fruits of your crops, and of your vineyards, and of your fields, and of your cattle, so that through God they may become the food of the poor and needy among you. | In A, the people say:—We will fulfill all that thou hast commanded us; but in E merely We wish to do whatsoever thou commandest us. | All believe in A, the eldest of us and the youngest; but in E this becomes:—both those who are the greatest among us and those who are the least. | In A, every tribe offered all of what it possessed to the Church; but in E each tribe brought of the first-fruits of their riches unto the church.

 

5. The wicked man of A does not appear in E. | In A, Herod is a governor; but in E, an Imperial Governor. | In A, Nero commands James the disciple to be brought to him; but in E, James the Apostle. | The bracketed material in A:—O thou man [whose deeds are worthy of death]! does not appear in E.

 

6. In A, James says—I believe in the Lord of the Nazarenes, Jesus the Christ, Son of the Living God, He Who is Lord of all; but E subtly changes this to:—I believe in the Lord God of the Christians, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, Who is the God of all. | In A, it is their spirits which are in God’s hand; but in E, their souls. | In A, your (i.e., Nero’s and Herod’s) spirits are in His hand; but this is absent in E.

 

7. In A, Herod says:—I cannot suffer thee to return me another answer; but in E:—I will not wait for thee to utter a word against me a second time. | In A, James scorned their royalty; but in E he spake words of contempt against their kingdom. | In A he arose in haste and struck the saint with a sword on his shoulders; but in E a certain man rose up quickly and smote Saint James with a sword and cut off his head. | In A, James was martyred on the twenty-seventh day of Pharmouthi; and he was buried in Niqta, which is called Ravina; but in E, on the seventeenth day of the month Miyazya; and they buried him in Kot of Mamreke—though according to the notes, this means April 12 in both cases. | A concludes thus:—May his prayer preserve us for ever. Amen. And praise be to God always and for ever.; but E greatly expands this:—May his prayer and blessing preserve all of us children of baptism for ever and ever! Amen, and Amen. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, now and for ever and ever. Amen, Amen, and Amen.

 

[COA, II, 304-308]

 

***

 

XXXIII: MARK

 

466. The Received Gospel of Mark

 

     The Received Gospel of Mark was known in the 1st century, and, according to the view at present most widely held, was the earliest of the four Received gospels and has preserved a text which, in its presentation of the life of Christ, sets the facts of history down with a minimum of disarrangement, interpretation, and embellishment. \fn{See below under: The Marcan Hypothesis.} The earliest definite tradition is from Papias of Hierapolis [c. 60-130, in Eusebius of Caesarea (c.260-c.340, Ecclesiastical History III:xxxix)—(But now, to the extracts already made, we shall add, as being a matter of primary importance, a tradition regarding Mark who wrote the Gospel, which he\fn{Papias.} has given in the following words: And the presbyter said this. Mark having become the interpreter of Peter, wrote down accurately whatever he remembered. It was not, however, in exact order that he related the sayings or deeds of Christ. For he neither heard the Lord nor accompanied Him. But afterwards, as I said, he accompanied Peter, who accommodated his instructions to the necessities of his hearers, but with no intention of giving a regular narrative of the Lord’s sayings. Wherefore Mark made no mistake in thus writing some things as he remembered them. For of one thing he took especial care, not to omit anything he had heard, and not to put anything fictitious into the statements. This is what is related by Papias regarding Mark.]—Eusebias taking his material from a work of Papias entitled The Exposition of the Oracles of the Lord, of which only fragments survive. There is also independent testimony of an early connection between Mark and Peter in I Peter (c.50AD, though this date has often been disputed as being too early).

 

     Later Tradition [e.g., Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215, Hypotyposes VI, in Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History VI:xiv.5-7)—(After Peter had proclaimed the word publicly in Rome and preached the gospel in the Spirit, the numerous hearers who were present requested Mark, since he had already for a long time accompanied Peter and remembered his words, to write down his preaching. Mark did this and delivered the Gospel to those who had requested it. When Peter learned of this, he neither hindered it with a word of admonition nor encouraged it.] follows the statements of Papias; and although the gospel is anonymous, the Tradition may in this case be correct in ascribing it to an otherwise unimportant Biblical character.\fn{In the Received New Testament Mark is mentioned several times, but even an uncritical combination of this information produces only a very fragmentary picture. The only unquestionably reliable information is to be found in Philemon :24—and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers—but there is no indication there as to any more about the identity of this person other than his name.} It has been suggested that the account of the young man in Gesthemane—[Mark 24:52—(And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body; and they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.)]—is the artist’s signature, and that Mark himself is intended.

 

     It seems that the author, whoever he was, had considerable knowledge of Palestinian localities (to judge from the internal evidence within the book itself), but even so was not bound by narrow Jewish sympathies. The same double background is reflected in the traces of both the Aramaic and the Latin languages, which the Greek of the gospel betrays. The Latinisms that are present support the presumption, based on the traditional connection of the gospel with Peter, that the book was written in Rome; as also does Mark’s dating of the Crucifixion on the 15th of Nisan, which is in agreement with the Roman view of the matter in subsequent controversies.\fn{Whether or not there is to be found in the Received gospel such a particular interest in Peter as might have been expected if the Petrine origin described by Papias is to be successfully maintained is still a matter of dispute among critics.} On the other hand, the ENC says that it is just as reasonable to hold that Mark was written somewhere in the Greek-speaking church in the East (Syria or Asia Minor), where Matthew and Luke found and used it.

 

     The date of the writing, though uncertain, was probably prior to the fall of Jerusalem (70AD). The text of the gospel itself suggests an early composition: not all those who had known Jesus personally were dead yet, a logical inference from the statement of Jesus made at Mark 9:1:—(Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power.) All attempts have failed, however, to establish a close connection between the Neronian persecution (64AD), or the First Jewish Revolt (66-72AD), and the writing of this gospel. A time shortly before 70AD, but certainly after Paul, would be possible, unless Mark 13:2 and 13:14:—(And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another, that will not be thrown down.” ... “But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains;)—are to be taken as prophecy arising from the event (i.e., prophecy formulated after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem). If that is true, the years 70-80AD would fit best.

 

     The Gospel of Mark was written in Koine Greek, the Greek dialect which was at the time the most popular language (the lingua franca) of the Eastern Mediterranean. The book is not written in the style of a well-educated Hellene: Mark is the least cultured and the least grammatical of the Received gospels, and contains many colloquialisms, though at the same time it should also be noted that the author shows considerable talent and power in the writing of narrative prose. His style is Semitic in its coloring, and it may be that in places Mark was translating an Aramaic document. In any case, much of the material of the gospel seems to bear a Palestinian stamp.

 

     The work is arranged as a continuous narrative which concludes itself rather abruptly at Mark 16:8; and Mark 16:9-20 is one of two early supplements added to the gospel. They do not appear to be in the best and oldest manuscripts, but though they are both of very early date\fn{In an Armenian manuscript dated 986AD, Mark 16:9-20 is attributed to the Presbyter Ariston; but Conybeare’s theory (“Ariston the Author of the Last Twelve Verses of Mark’ in The Expositor IV,viii, 1893, 241-254; and “On the Last Twelve Verses of St. Mark’s Gospel” in The Expositor V,ii, 1895, 401-421) that the manuscript preserves a genuine tradition which recognized Papias’ Aristion as their real author, has received little following. OAB says also that other ancient authorities add after 16:8 the following shorter ending:—But they reported briefly to Peter and those with him all that they had been told. And after this, Jesus himself sent out by means of them, from east to west, the sacred and imperishable proclamation of eternal salvation.—but ENC notes that it is likewise spurious.} they are clearly a summary compiled later. Their originality already was doubted in the ancient church by Eusebius and Jerome of Strido (c.342-420). Scholars are divided about whether the peculiar last sentence of the authentic text—(But they were afraid.)—was intended to be the original ending; whether Mark was perhaps prevented from completing the gospel; or whether he wrote another ending that is now lost.\fn{See below for further information about Ariston\Aristion.}

 

     The Patristic and medieval commentators paid scant attention to Mark’s gospel, probably because of its brevity, and the fact that nearly all\fn{Neither Matthew nor Luke contain anything to correspond with Mark 4:26-29—(And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise at night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how. The earth produces of itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”)—Mark 8:22-26—(And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man, and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the village; and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands upon him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see men; but they look like trees, walking.” Then again he laid his hands upon his eyes; and he looked intently and was restored, and saw everything clearly. And he sent him away to his home, saying, “Do not enter the village.”)—or Mark 14:51-52—(And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body, and they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.)} of its material has been included within the text of the Received Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Indeed, although it is not impossible that Justin of Flavia Neapolis (c.100-c.165) knew of it, it is not until Tatian of Assyria (who composed a harmony of the four Received gospels in Syriac c.170AD), Tertullian of Carthage (c.160-c.220, Against Marcion IV:v.3f—(The Gospel which Mark published can be regarded as that of Peter, whose interpreter Mark was. ... We do well in ascribing to teachers what their pupils have published.), and Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.220, Adversus Omnes Haereses III:i.1, who values Mark as one of the four canonical gospels), there is virtually no trace of Mark’s being used, except by Matthew, Luke, and the Gospel of Peter (probably written in Syria c.150). Those who commented on it include Victor of Antioch (5th century), Bede of Jarrow (c.673-735), Theophylact of Euboea (11th century), and Euthymius of Constantinople (early 12th century).

 

The Marcan Hypothesis

 

     The Marcan Hypothesis (for this is how the theory is known among scholars) was first put on a secure footing by Lachmann (“Die Ordine Narrationum in Evangeliis Synopticis” in Theologische Studien und Kritiken VIII, 1835, 570-590), who based his case on an analysis of the literary relationship between the Received gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke.\fn{Briefly put, the reasons for regarding the Gospel of Mark as one of the sources of Matthew and Luke, together with the certainty of its priority, rest on the following information: (a) Apart from details Mark contains very little that is not in Matthew or Luke. (b) When Mark and Matthew differ as to sequence of matter, Luke agrees with Mark, and when Mark and Luke differ as to sequence, Matthew agrees with Mark. (c) Matthew and Luke never agree as to sequence against Mark.} This theory became very generally accepted during the latter part of the 19th century. Later study, though leaving the literary priority of Mark generally unchallenged, has tended to discover a much greater element of theological interpretation in the gospel than was earlier supposed. It is also certain that Mark borrowed from earlier traditions (though whether his sources were already fixed in writing cannot be now strictly proved—except for Q—but must be considered likely).\fn{At some points there is contact between the Gospel of Mark and its (as yet literally, i.e., physically, undiscovered) prototype, Q; and it is virtually certain that Q was known to Mark. The detection of other sources can only be a matter of conjecture, but it may be that the parallel narratives of Mark 6:32-7:37 and Mark 8:1-26 come from written sources, while in Mark 13 there are traces of earlier (and perhaps Jewish) material. It is also very possible that Mark has derived his self-contained Passion narrative from a previously written document. It is likely that Mark had to collect for himself the material of which his writing is composed; but even if Papias was wrong in ascribing the Marcan material to Peter, he was no doubt correct in describing it as having first existed in the form of oral teaching. (To further complicate the source picture in our time, there is some evidence that the edition of Mark used by the compilers of Matthew and Luke was not identical with the Mark in our possession, even though it is also clear that it was only slightly different from the present known text.)} And, despite its historical layout, the gospel is intended not merely as an abiding remembrance of earthly things, but also as a vivid proclamation and address,\fn{Indeed, the Received Gospel of Mark presents Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God, whose ministry was characterized by a succession of mighty works which, to those who had eyes to see, were signs of the presence of God’s power and kingdom (Mark 1:1, 1:11, 5:7, 9:7, 14:61-62, 15:39). The work is largely a collection of narratives that depict Jesus as being almost constantly active (a favorite action modifier in Mark is the word immediately, which occurs some 40 times in sixteen chapters); and this despite the fact that Mark records fewer words of Jesus than does any of the other Received gospels.} thus securing for its author the creation of a literary genre known as Gospel.

 

Ariston\Aristion

 

     There is about this person a reference in Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History III:xxxix), where he says:—(Papias, who is now mentioned by us, affirms that he received the sayings of the apostles from those who accompanied them, and he moreover asserts that he heard in person Aristion and the presbyter John. ... When any one came who had been a disciple of the elders, I questioned him regarding the words of the elders: what Andrew or what Peter or Philip or Thomas or James or John or Matthew or any other of the disciples of the Lord had said and what Aristion and the elder John, the disciples of the Lord, say.)

 

     This person is also mentioned in Apostolic Constitutions VII:46 (compiled c.350-400), where he is said to have been ordained by John the Evangelist; and he is also closely associated in the following extensive reference with the church in Rome by the Acts of Peter (composed c.150-200, where the name is spelled Ariston)—(And when they had brought up at Puteoli, Theon\fn{Theon is the name of the captain of the ship on which Paul has taken passage to Rome. Just before this scene, Paul has baptized him in the Christian faith.} sprang down from the ship and came to the lodging-house where he used to stay, to prepare it to receive Peter. Now the man with whom he stayed was called Ariston; this man had always feared the Lord, and Theon entrusted himself to him on account of the Name.\fn{The Name, i.e., for being a Christian.} When he had come to the lodging-house and seen Ariston, Theon said to him, ‘God, who counted you worthy to serve him, has imparted his grace to me also through his holy servant Peter, who has just sailed with him from Judaea, being commanded by our Lord to come to Italy.;’ And when Ariston heard this, he fell on Theon’s neck and embraced him and asked him to take him to the ship and show him Peter; for Ariston said that since Paul had set out for Spain, there was no one of the brethren with whom he could refresh himself; and moreover that a certain Jew named Simon had invaded the city—‘and he by incantation and by his wickedness has altogether perverted the entire brotherhood, so that I also fled from Rome, hoping that Peter would come. For Paul had told us of him, and I have seen many things in a vision. Now therefore I believe in my Lord that he is rebuilding his ministry, for all deception shall be uprooted from among his servants. For our Lord Jesus Christ is faithful, who can restore our minds.’ Now when Theon heard this from Ariston, who was weeping, his spirit was restored and he was the more strengthened, because he knew that he had believed on the living God. But when they came together to the ship, Peter looked at them, and being filled with the Spirit he smiled; so that Ariston fell on his face at Pete’'s feet and said, ‘Brother and Lord, partaker of the holy mysteries and teacher of the right way which is in Jesus Christ our God; he has openly shown us of your coming; for we have lost all those whom Paul entrusted to us, through the power of Satan. But now I hope in the Lord, who sent his messenger and told you to come quickly to us, since he has counted us worthy to see his great and wonderful works done at your hands. I beg you, therefore, to go quickly to the city; for I left the brethren who were causing distress, whom I saw falling into the temptation of the Devil, and retired to this place and I said to them, “Brethren, stand fast in the faith; for it must be that within two months from now the mercy of our Lord will bring his servant to you.” For I had seen a vision of Paul saying to me, “Ariston, retire from the city.” When I heard that I believed without delay and departed in the Lord, although I bear great infirmity of the flesh, and I arrived at this place; and day by day I stood by the seashore and asked the sailors “Has Peter sailed with you?” But now that the Lord’s grace abounds towards us, I beg you that we may go up to Rome without delay, or the teaching of this most wicked man may prevail yet further.’ And as Ariston said this with tears, Peter gave him his hand and raised him up from the ground, and Peter also groaning said with tears, ‘He has forestalled us, he who tempts the whole world by his angels; but God shall quench his deceits and subdue him beneath the feet of those who have believed in Christ whom we preach, who has power to deliver his servants from all temptation.’ And as they went in at the gate, Theon entreated Peter and said, ‘You did not refresh yourself on board on any day in all that long sea voyage; and now will you set out straight from the ship over such a rough road? No, stay and refresh yourself, and then you shall set out. It is a flinty road from here to Rome, and I am afraid you may take some harm from the shaking.’ But Peter answered them saying, ‘Suppose it should be my fate, like the enemy of our Lord, to have a millstone hung about me, as my Lord said to us, if one should offend any of the brethren, and be drowned in the sea? But it might be not only a millstone, but what is worse, it would be far away from those who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, that the opponent of this persecutor of his servants would find his end.’ And Theon could not induce him by any persuasion to remain there even for a single day. But Theon for his part handed over all his ship’s cargo to be sold for its fair price and followed Peter to Rome; and Ariston brought them to the house of the presbyter Narcissus.)

 

     Maximus the Confessor (d.662) identifies Ariston/Aristion with Aristo of Pella (whom Eusebius later cites as an authority for the Bar-Cochba revolt against Roman rule in Palestine (132-135AD).

 

[ODC, 82, 853, 859; NTA, I, 7679: II, 36, 67, 68, 78, 285-287; OAB, 1167-1168, 1213; ENC, XIV, 904-905; ANT, 309]

 

467. The Variant Gospel of Mark in the Koridethi Codex

 

     The Koridethi Codex is a manuscript of the Received gospels, written in rough uncials and dating probably from the 9th century. It is now at Tiflis, in Georgia, but it formerly belonged to the monastery of Koridethi, near the Caspian Sea. Its text of Mark, which differs widely from that of this gospel in other uncial manuscripts, was named by Streeter (The Four Gospels, 1924, especially chapter IV), in the belief that its text of Mark represented that current at Caesarea-in-Palestine in the 3rd century AD (the so-called Caesarean Text). The Koridethi text is akin to that of two groups of minuscules (those designated in scholarship by the numbers 1-118-131-209 and 13-69-124-346). The manuscript was found in the church of St. Kerykos and Julitta at Koridethi, and was first published (in facsimiles) by the imperial Moscow Archaeological Society at Moscow, in 1907. See also a later edition by Beermann and Gregory (Leipzig, 1913), which contains a study of the history of the manuscript based on its numerous marginal notes in Greek and Gruse.

 

     For the text, see Lake and Blake (“The Text of the Gospels and the Koridethi Codex” in Harvard Theological Review XVI, 1923, 267-286). It is also discussed by Botte (in the Dictionnaire de la Bible, Supplement V, 1950, cols. 192-196).

 

[ODC, 773]

 

468. The Secret Gospel of Mark

 

     Morton Smith (The Secret Gospel: the Discovery and Interpretation of the Secret Gospel According to Mark, 1960) has claimed as part of an apparently otherwise unknown work by Mark the Evangelist, a portion of the contents of an equally unknown letter of Clement of Alexandria (itself discovered in the library of the monastery of Mar Saba—near Jerusalem—written in a 1646 edition of the letters of Ignatius of Antioch. He has reached the following tentative conclusions.

 

1. The text of the work was at least in part drawn from an older Aramaic gospel, a source also used by the Received gospels of Mark and John.

 

2. The extant Greek is a translation from an Aramaic original, produced by a translator who took the phraseology of the Received Gospel of Mark as his model, and imitated it closely.

 

3. The translator lived in Egypt, almost certainly before 125AD, and probably well before that date, perhaps c. 100AD.

 

4. Traces of the work probably appear in the so-called Western Text of the Received gospels (which originated in Egypt shortly before 150AD); in Theodotus the Gnostic (who wrote in Egypt during the 160's); and in other parallels which can be found in early Christian apocrypha—especially some of those from Egypt—and in a few of the early works of the Church fathers some of which may indicate knowledge of the text, but most of which merely reflect similar traditions.

 

5. It appears certain that the document was used by Carpocrates of Alexandria (fl.c.125AD).

 

6. The supposed letter in which, inter alia, the Secret Gospel is quoted, most likely dates from the same time as the third book of the Stromateis of Clement of Alexandria (composed 190-200AD).

 

7. The fragmentary condition of the Clementine letter may be explained by supposing it to be a copy of a loose manuscript leaf. There was much copying of old manuscripts at Mar Saba in the 17th and 18th centuries. Some-body’s attention was caught by the surprising content of this leaf. He studied the text, corrected it as best he could, and then copied it into the back of the monastery’s collection of the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, since it resembled them in being a letter from an early father attacking gnostic heretics ... probably a little after 1750.

 

[SGM, 12-13, 14-17, 39-44, 138-148]

 

469. Papyrus Gospel Fragment A, after James

 

     Bound up with the 5th century manuscript which contains the Books of the Savior I-IV is a slightly later leaf on which is the end of a book that may have been a gospel. It has echoes of the last twelve verses of Mark. The fragment is in Coptic:

 

... the righteous man. They went forth by threes to the four regions of the whole world, Christ working with them and the word of strengthening and the signs and wonders which accompanied them. And so have men learned of the kingdom of God in all the earth and in the whole world of Israel for a testimony for all nations that are from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.

 

[ANT, 31]

 

470. 471. The Greek Acts of Mark; The Latin Acts of Mark

 

     Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History II:24) says that Anianus, or Annianus, succeeded Mark in the see of Alexandria in 62AD. Jerome of Strido (c.342-420, De Viris Illustribus VIII) places Mark’s death in the same year. He does not speak of any martyrdom. The earliest mention of a martyrdom is in the Acta Marci, which, according to Lipsius (Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten II.2, 1884, 344-353) were written in Alexandria towards the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th century.

 

     Mark is there spoken of as a native of the five cities of the Pentapolis of North Africa (to which Cyrene belonged). The legend which names him as the founder of the church at Aquileia in North Italy first makes its appearance in the 7th century; still later arises a similar legend which associates him with Venice (ENB,2941). Elsewhere, it is said that Migne reprints the Greek Acts of Mark (in Patrologia Graecae CXV,164-170); that they were translated into Latin, Arabic, and Ethiopic; and that they are according to James, not of much interest, either as history or legend. CAT contents himself with saying that it must suffice to mention the Acts of Mark, and that they were of Alexandrian origin.

 

     ENC contains the following paragraphs—[Later tradition assumes that Mark was one of the Seventy (Luke 10:1), and identifies him with the young man fleeing naked at Jesus’ arrest (Mark 14:515-52). The tradition first mentioned in Hippolytus of Rome (c.170-c.236, Refutation of All Heresies VII:xxx.1) metaphorically calls Mark ‘shortfingered,’ since his Gospel is the shortest of the (Received) Gospels, and says that this opinion was widely spread abroad; but the Anti-Marcionite Prologue to Mark (text in de Bruyne, Revue Benedictine X, 1928, 193ff; Huck-Leitzmann, Synopse der Drei Ersten Evangelien, 1950, VIII) gives the explanation that it was because his fingers were too small in comparison with the length of the rest of his body. (On this see Harnack in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche III, 1902, 165 note 1; and Nestle, ibid. IV, 1903, 347.)

 

      Mark also was claimed by the Egyptian church as its founder, and from the 4th century AD the Alexandrian see has been called Cathedra Marci. Dependent on the tradition that connected Mark with Peter and Rome, the church of the once important city of Aquileia traced its origin back to Mark. After the destruction of Aquileia by Attila in 452AD, its refugees founded Venice, of which Mark became the patron saint (a fantastic legend tells how Venetian merchants stole Mark’s remains from Alexandria), and Venice’s glory and predominance gave Mark’s winged lion widespread fame throughout the middle ages.]

 

     See on this Julicher (in New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge II, 1910); and Parker (in Journal of Biblical Literature LXXIX, 1960, 20-31). The view deduced from I Peter 5:13—(She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you greetings; and so does my son Mark.)—that Mark was Peter’s own son is found only later, and not yet in Clement of Alexandria (c.150-c.215). According to the Monarchian prologue to his Received gospel (so Kleine Texte für Vorlesungen und Ubungen I, hrsg. von H. Leitzmann, 15) Mark was a Levite—clearly as the cousin of the Levite Barnabas—was converted and baptized by Peter, and later became bishop of Alexandria. According to Harnack (Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur bis Eusebius II.i, 123f) this fact also stood in the Chronography of Julius Africanus (c.160-c.240).

 

[ANT, 469-475; CAT, II, 613; ENC, XIV, 903; NTA, II, 47, 68-69; ENB, 2941]

 

472. The Arabic Martyrdom of Mark

 

     For a brief overview of the historical emergence of the Apostolic legends, see before #146. The Arabic text is reproduced in its entirety below.

 

     MRS says that this legend appears to have more historical fact behind it than any of the others; even so, there is no mention of Mark’s travels in Cyprus with Paul and Barnabas (Acts 13:5-13), nor of his sojourn in Rome (Colossians 4:10); nor does it explain from which of the three cities which have been identified with Babylon, Peter sent his salutations to the strangers scattered about in Asia Minor (I Peter 5:13). But, as Mark is said to have been martyred under Tiberius I (who dies in March, 37), the period of Mark’s activity cannot have exceeded four years (assuming Jesus died in 33AD, which is the assumption of the majority of modern scholarship: H).

 

     Chase (in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible III, 248) thinks that the description of Mark’s person is partly borrowed from that of Paul in the Acts of Paul and Thecla (a work very popular in the ancient church in which it is not unreasonable to suppose there resides some historical truth).

 

1. Our Lord Jesus the Christ, the Word of the Father, Who was before the ages, Who became flesh for our sake, Who is the God who made us, Who redeemeth mankind and ruleth them by His grace, appeared unto His pious disciples at His resurrection from the dead; and said unto them: “Go ye and teach the world, and all the nations; and baptize them on the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.” And they were scattered among the cities, and the villages; and distributed all the world among themselves. And amongst them there was a man named Mark; and his lot came out unto Egypt. And he went forth preaching the Gospel of our Lord Jesus the Christ, as the blessed Apostles had commanded him, the pillars of the Holy Church. And this saint began to preach in Libya and the cities around it, and to proclaim the Gospel of our Savior the Christ. And all the people of this country were worshippers of idols, drunkards, with every impurity, busied with vice, going to destruction by the works of the enemy. And the Blessed Mark the Evangelist preached in the power of the Lord Jesus the Christ, and enlightened them in those five cities.

 

2. In the beginning he spoke to them the word of God. And he did great wonders amongst them. He healed their sick, he cleansed their lepers, he chased away the evil spirits by the grace of our Lord. And many believed in the Lord Jesus the Christ by his means. And he broke down their idols on the spot; and baptized them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. And grace was made manifest upon them: and he resolved upon a journey to Alexandria, that he might sow the good seed from the treasures of the divine word of God. And he bade the brethren farewell, and saluted them, and said unto them: “The Lord hath said unto me in a vision, ‘Go unto the city of Alexandria.’” And the brethren were blessed by him, and they made him embark in a ship and they said unto him: “The Lord Jesus the Christ be with thee in all thy ways.”

 

3. And on the second day the Blessed Mark arrived at Alexandria, and he descended from the ship, and went into [a place called Pentapolis; and from there he entered]\fn{MRS prints the following note: The words in brackets are an insertion on the margin of the manuscript, so far as I can judge, in the same hand.} the city. And in that place his sandal was torn; and the blessed Apostle saw a man sewing up rags, and repairing. And he gave up his sandal to him that he might mend it. And while the shoemaker was sewing at his sandal he pierced his left hand deeply with the awl in passing it through. And he said, “In the name of God. There is one God.” And when the Blessed Mark heard the shoemaker say, “There is one God,” he said to himself, “The Lord hath prepared my way.” And straightway he spat on the ground and kneaded clay with his spittle, and anointed the hand of that shoemaker, and said: “In the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ, Son of the Living God for ever.” And straightway the man drew back his hand, and it was made whole.

 

4. And he understood the power of the word, and knew that he\fn{Mark is meant.} was a foreigner and was not of the country. And he said unto him: “I entreat thee, O man, that thou wouldest come and alight at the house of thy servant, that we may eat bread together, for thou hast done a merciful deed to me this day.” And the Blessed Mark rejoiced and said: “The Lord give thee the Bread of Life from Heaven.” And the man took the Apostle and went with him joyfully to his dwelling. And when Saint Mark entered the shoemaker’s home, he said: “The Lord make a blessing rest here.” And they prayed together; and after the prayer they reclined and ate and drank and rejoiced exceedingly.

 

5. And the man, the master of the house, said: “O my father! I would fain have thee tell me who thou art; and what is that powerful word which I have heard from thee.” And Saint Mark said unto him: “I am a slave of the Lord Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And the man said unto him: “I am longing to see Him.” The Blessed Mark said unto him: “I will tell thee about Him.” And Saint Mark began to preach, and said: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ, Son of God, son of David, son of Abraham.” And he told him also about the prophets. And the shoemaker said unto him: “I my Lord! I never heard of this book before, out of which thou dost preach. Will the sons of the Copts be wise?” And the Blessed Mark gave him instructions about the Christ. and he said unto him: “The wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.” And the man believed in God by the word of Mark.

 

6. And he\fn{Mark is meant.} continued to do wonders and signs; and he enlightened him and all his household. And the man was called Anianus. And because of him many people believed in the Lord. And the citizens heard that a Galilean man had come. And they said, “A man hath arrived in this city who will destroy the sacrifices of the gods and their worship.” And they sought for him that they might kill him. And they hid an ambush for him, and traps. And the Blessed Mark knew of what they had resolved about him. And he made Ananius a bishop, and three presbyters with him; the first was called Melian, and Sabinus, and Kerdona. And seven deacons; and he appointed eleven for the service of the church. And he took them, and fled with them to these five cities; and abode there for two years. And he strengthened the brethren and appointed bishops over them also, and priests in all the five cities.

 

7. And he returned unto Alexandria, and these brethren arrived who had been enlightened by the grace of God. And they built a church for them, which was upon the shore of the sea, lower down than the Canal.\fn{MRS has here a note: The Khalig.} and the Just One rejoiced in his work, and he knelt in worship and praised God. And he abode there for a time. And those who believed in the Christ increased; and they mocked the heathen and the worshippers of idols. And the heathen learned about the affairs of the Christians, and they waxed wroth against them exceedingly because of the wonders which they had done. The sick were healed, the lepers were cleansed, the deaf heard, and the blind were made to see. And they meditated the destruction of Mark the Evangelist; but they could do nothing against him. And they squeezed their tongues with their teeth from hatred.

 

8. And they assembled in the temple of their idols; and they cried and said: “What shall we do with this sorcerer?” And the Blessed Mark was present on the first day of the Holy Passover. And that was on the twenty-ninth day of Pharmouthi. And the heathen were seeking him, and they did not at first find him. And on that day the messengers of the multitude came to him; and he was standing offering a divine prayer at the time of the mass. And they took him and put a rope on his neck, and they dragged him along the ground and the pavement, and they said: “Drag the Buffalo to the field.” And Saint Mark was praising and thanking the Christ, saying: “I thank thee, O my Lord Jesus the Christ because I have been counted worthy of this pain for thy Name.” And his flesh was strewn upon the ground; and his blood was flowing on the pavement; and the stones were wet with it.

 

9. And in the evening they cast him into prison that they might consider by what death thy might destroy him. And when it was midnight, and the doors were locked upon him, and the guard sleeping at the doors, behold! the prison was illumined, and there was a mighty earthquake. And the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and touched him, and said unto him: “O Mark, servant of the Lord! Thy name is written in the book of life in heaven. And thy memory shall never be forgotten, and the angels are protecting thy spirit, and thy bones shall not go down into the earth.”

 

10. This vision appeared to Mark, and he raised his hands toward heaven and said: “I thank Thee, O my Lord Jesus the Christ, because Thou hast not rejected me, but hast made me meet to be with Thine Apostles. I entreat Thee, O my Lord Jesus the Christ, that Thou wouldest receive my spirit in peace, and not shut me out from Thy grace.” And when he had finished his prayer, the Lord Jesus the Christ appeared unto him as He had seen him among the disciples in the light which taketh away pains; and said unto him: “Peace be unto thee, O Mark the Evangelist!” The Blessed Mark replied and said: “Praise be unto Thee, O Jesus the Christ, my Lord!”

 

11. And when the morrow came, a multitude of the citizens again assembled; and they brought him out of the prison, and put a rope on his neck; and they also dragged him and said: “Drag the Buffalo to the field.” And they dragged the Blessed Mark; and he was thanking God even more than the first time; the strong God. And he said: “Into Thy hands I commit my spirit, O Lord.” And then the Blessed Mark gave up his ghost. And the multitude of the heathen kindled a fire to burn his body. And by the guidance of the Lord Jesus the Christ, there was a great sandstorm and a very violent wind, until the rays of the sun were covered over; and the sound of loud thunder. And there was rain, and sleet with hail till the evening, until it flowed down the valleys, and many people of the heathen perished. And they were terrified, and they left the bones of the saint, and fled.

 

12. And chosen men came from the priests, and took the body of the Blessed One from the place where it had been thrown; and went with it to the spot in which they had finished the prayer. And this pure one was of middle height, with dark blue eyes, and large eyebrows, with curly hair, full of divine grace. And the priests put him on a bier, and they buried him according to the custom of the city; and they put him in a place hewn out; and made a commemoration for him and a rejoicing in the Christ. And they placed him in the eastern side of the city. And the Blessed Mark, the first Evangelist, suffered in Alexandria, which is in the province of Egypt. And he finished his martyrdom for the name of our Lord Jesus the Christ on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Nisan, and of the Greek months in April; and of the Coptic months in Pharmouthi; in the days of the Emperor Aghayun, Tiberius Caesar. Because of this may the Father be praised, and the Son and the Holy Ghost, henceforth and for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[ODC, 1032; MRS, xxxii, 147-151]

 

473. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Mark the Evangelist in Alexandria.

 

     The scribe who set down this text says in a small introductory paragraph that the end of his martyrdom took place in the thirtieth year after the suffering of our Lord and Redeemeer Jesus Christ. In the peace of God. Amen.; and the scribe who set down his Arabic text says that the completion of his martyrdom and his conflict was on the twenty-fifth of the month of Nisan, in the peace of the Lord. Amen. I note these entries (which in both cases are clearly not part of the text itself) to underscore the at times wide divergence of text between the Arabic and Ethiopic versions; but the reader can see this for himself, by comparing the numbered paragraphs of the Ethiopic text with their approximate alternatives in the Arabic material above; for the differences between the two are so numerous—and the texts themselves so brief—that in this case it has been thought simpler to quote the entirety of both texts and let the impartial spectator draw his own conclusions.

 

     The footnotes are by Budge and quoted in the text just as he wrote them.

 

1. And it came to pass that, when the countries of the world were divided, the lot came to Saint Mark to go unto the countries of Egypt, and the Evangelist, by the good pleasure of God, dwelt therein for the establishing of the Church in peace. Now he was the first who preached in all the cities of the Land of Egypt, and in Lonya, and in Markiya,\fn{He is said to have preached also in the Oasis of Jupiter Ammon, and in Pentapolis; he was a native of Cyrene of Pentapolis, and there he first went.} and he preached the Gospel unto the people therein, and declared unto them the faith of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer. And the people of all those countries were hard\fn{Or: dense.} of heart, and they used to worship with impurity the gods which could be felt with the hands in the dominion of Satan, and in every place, and in every highway, they built temples, and houses of gods, and images of magicians and adulterers; and they used to slay children and work magic by means of their blood.

 

2. And it came to pass that when Mark left the Apostles he set out and came unto the Balka, for his kinsmen belonged unto that tribe; and he preached unto them the knowledge of God, and he wrought in their midst miracles and wonderful deeds in abundance, for he healed the sick and he cleansed the lepers, and by means of the gracious gift which descended upon them he cast out multitudes of unclean spirits. Then many believed in our Lord Jesus Christ through him, and they broke their gods in pieces, and were baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Now in that place the Holy Spirit revealed unto them that he should go forth unto the city of Alexandria, unto the Takwam,\fn{This word means a support, candlesetick, &c.; the famous Pharos [lighthouse] of Alexandria may be referred to.} and that the good seed, which is the word of God, should be sown therein. Now the blessed Mark the Evangelist was like unto a young man who was ready to be slain, and he embraced the brethren, and said unto them, “Our Lord hath commanded me, and Jesus Christ hath told me to go unto the city of Alexandria, and to preach the Gospel in that place.” And the brethren sent him off on his journey, and he embarked on a ship and went unto the city of Alexandria.

 

3. And it came to pass that when he had arrived at Alexandria, and had entered into the gate of the city, the latchet of his sandal broke, and he said, “Truly it hath sped my way;” and he looked out for a leather dresser that he might sit down, and he gave him his sandals to mend. And the leather dresser pierced his left hand with the awl, and he cast aside the tool and the sandals and grasped his hand and said, “In the Name of God, the One God.” And it came to pass that when the blessed Mark heard the man say “One God” he smiled, and he looked towards the east and said, “O Master, Jesus Christ, prosper Thou my way.” Then he turned his face unto the leather dresser, and said unto him, “If thou knowest that God is One, why dost thou serve these many gods?” And the leather dresser said unto him, “We say ‘In the Name of God’ with our mouth, but we do not know who the One God is.” Then Saint Mark put a little spittle on his fingers, and took a little dust, and anointed the left hand of the leather dresser therewith, and said, “In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, let thy hand be healed;” and because of these words it became whole forthwith.

 

4. Now when the leather dresser had seen the wonderful and mighty deed which the Apostle had wrought by his word, he said unto him, “I entreat thee, O servant of the Good God, to come and rest this day in the house of thy servant; and let us eat together, for thou hast dealt graciously with thy servant.” And the blessed Mark rejoiced, and said unto him, “May God give unto thee the heavenly bread of life;” then the leather dresser took the Apostle and brought him into his abode with rejoicing. And it came to pass that when the Apostle had entered into the house he said unto the man, “May the blessing of God be in this house;” then the brethren prayed, and after the prayer they sat down, and ate, and rejoiced.

 

5. And the leather dresser said unto the blessed Mark, “I entreat thee, O good father, Who is this Being of Whom thou speakest, and what is His Name?” Then Saint Mark spake unto him, saying, “I am the servant of Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God.” And the leather dresser said unto him, “I wish to see Him,” and the holy man said unto him, “I will show Him unto you.” And Saint Mark began to recite the beginning of the Gospel, saying, “The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham;”\fn{St. Matthew 1:1.} and he told him about the prophecies which the prophets had prophesied concerning Him in the Scriptures. And the leather dresser said unto him, “I beseech thee [to give me] this book concerning which thou speakest, for I have not heard [it read] at any time, and I only know that the children of the Egyptians are instructed therein.” Then Saint Mark began to converse with him concerning the word of God, saying, “The wisdom of the world is that which is with the word of God.”\fn{The meaning must be, ‘the wisdom of this world is foolishness in the sight of God;’ compare I Corinthians 3:19—For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. for it is written, ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness,’ and again, ‘The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.’} And the leather dresser believed in God when he heard the words of Saint Mark.

 

6. And as soon as he knew him and had seen the mighty and wonderful deeds, he, and all his house, and many of the people of the city, were baptized. Now the name of the leather dresser was Anianus. And when the believers in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ had increased in number, and the men of the city heard that a Galilean had come thereunto, and that he had changed the offerings unto the gods, and had diminished the worship which was offered unto them, they sought him that they might kill him, and they multiplied their search for him that they might overthrow him. Now when the blessed Mark had learned their plans he appointed Anianus to be bishop, and three priests whose names are Malyos, Kordonos, and Barimos,\fn{Milos, Sabinos, and Kerdon; see Lipsius (Die Apokryphen, Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden II.2, 333).} together with seven deacons, and fourteen men for the service of the church. And Mark departed unto Barka\fn{Pentapolis.} and dwelt there for some years, and he appointed bishops and priests in all the districts thereof;

 

7. Then he returned to Alexandria and multiplied grace therein. And the people thereof believed in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and they built a church in the spot which is called the “Field of the Ox,”\fn{Or: Bull; the square called ‘Bukolos’ (see Lipsius, ibid.); the Bull of Sereapis is probably referred to here.} in a place above the sea shore, in a large [open] place in a stone quarry beneath the rocks. And the righteous man praised God because of the beauty of His faith. And it came to pass that, when many days were ended, and the Christians had multiplied, and the people treated the gods of the heathen with contempt, and the Gentiles knew that Saint Mark had come unto the city, their hearts were filled with wrath by reason of the many wonderful things which they heard he had wrought (for he healed the sick, and cleansed the lepers, and made the deaf to hear, and the blind received their sight, and he preached unto them the Gospel of good hope) and they sought to lay hold upon him.

 

8. And they gnashed their teeth upon him in their assemblies and in their temples, and they cried out therein, saying, “We will overcome this sorcerer.” And when the feast of the blessed Passover had come (now the Sabbath whereon the believers kept the festival that year fell on the seventeenth day of the month Miyazya,\fn{I.e., Easter Sunday fell on April 12.} and the festival of the birthday of Serapis\fn{Serapis = the Egyptian Ausar Hap, i.e., Osiris-Apis, a name given to Apis, the sacred bull of Memphis, which was regarded as the incarnation of Osiris.} took place on the selfsame day), the heathen found that day to be favorable, and they sent men unto him to seize him as he was finishing the prayer of consecration, and they bound him with cords and dragged him into the road, saying, “We will drag the bull into the Field of the Ox.” Now whilst they were dragging Saint Mark along he was giving thanks unto God, and saying, “I thank Thee, O my Lord and God Jesus Christ, that Thou hast made me worthy to suffer for Thy holy Name’s sake;” and the flesh of his body was torn to pieces by the ground, and his blood besmeared the stones of the streets.

 

9. And when it was night they cast him into prison, until they could take counsel together how to kill him. And it came to pass that at midnight, when the doors were shut fast and the guards were asleep, a great earthquake took place, and the angel of the Lord came down from heaven and touched the body of Saint Mark. And the angel said unto Mark, “Thou art the servant of God, and the master who dost give consolation unto all the countries of Egypt. Behold, thy name is written in the Book of Life in the heavens, and thou art numbered among the number of the Apostles; and men shall not forget the commemoration of thee, for behold, God hath given thee upon the earth dominion, and grace, and power which cannot be reckoned, and thy soul is in heaven, and thy body shall not perish in the earth.”

 

10. And when Saint Mark had seen this vision he lifted up his hands to heaven, and said, “I thank Thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ, that Thou hast not cast me away from before Thy face, and hast placed me in the assembly of Thy saints. I beseech Thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ, to receive my soul in peace, and let not Thy grace forsake me.” And when he had said these words, our Lord appeared unto him in the form in which He was when He was among the Apostles, before His life-giving Passion and before they had placed Him in the grave, and He said unto him, “My peace be with thee, O thou Mark, My chosen one, who preachest My Gospel! Behold, I have appeared unto thee in the form in which I was with thy brethren the Apostles, before [My Passion], when I was not at anytime separated from them.” And the saint said, “I give thanks unto Thee, O My Lord Jesus Christ, for Thy great act of grace, in that Thou hast held me to be worthy to see Thee as Thou wast in Thy flesh, and because [Thou] hast given me patience [to endure] suffering for Thy holy Name’s sake;” and our Lord gave him the salutation of peace and went up into heaven with great glory.

 

11. And when the morrow had come, the men of the city gathered together and brought Mark out from the prison-house, and they bound him with cords, and dragged him through the city, saying, “Let us again drag the bull into the Field of the Ox;” and the blessed Mark was sending thanksgivings into the heights of heaven. And after they had made an end of dragging him about, all the city was filled with his blood, and all the highways of the city were full thereof, and the borders round about it were full of his precious blood; and he said, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, into Thy hands I commit my spirit,” and having said these words he died. Now when all the heathen saw that Saint Mark was dead, they kindled a great fire in the place which is called Awbakalyon,\fn{Latin: in loco qui vocatur ad angelos; see Lipsius (ibid., 334).} that they might burn up his body there. Then by the good pleasure of our Lord Jesus Christ, darkness came on, and a cold wind [blew], and the sun hid his light, and there were lightnings and thunders, and rain, and hail, until the evening of that day; and a great number of the noblemen of the city fell down headlong, and many of them died. Then straightway the people of the city became afraid, and they went and laid the body of the holy man [on the fire], and some of them who had mocked him said, “The great Serapis hath received the soul of this man this day, which is the birthday of the god.”

 

12. And certain believing men came and took the body of the saint from the fire, and they bore it unto a place wherein they used to make their prayers, and they made supplications over him and thanksgivings, and they buried him according to the custom of the people of the city, and they laid him in a place which they had chosen for him. And they celebrated the commemoration of him frequently with gladness, and with prayers, and with sanctifications, as a great storehouse [of good things] which they had found in him. Now they laid him [in a grave] to the east of the city. Thus Saint Mark the Evangelist was the first of the martyrs who died and shed their blood in the country of Egypt, in the Name of our Lord and God Jesus Christ, in the great city of Alexandria. And he ended his martyrdom on the thirtieth day of the month Miyazya,\fn{I.e., April 25.} that is to say, on the twenty-seventh day of the Hebrew month Nisan\fn{Lipsius (ibid., 335) gives Nisan 17.} in the reign of the Emperor Tiberius. Thus Saint Mark finished his contending, and fulfilled his testimony, and he is in the nights of heaven, together with the righteous, praising the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. May his prayer and blessing protect us for ever and ever! Amen, Amen, and Amen.

 

[COA, 309-318]

 

***

 

XXXIV: SIMON OF CLEOPAS, AND JUDE

 

474. The Coptic Preaching of Simon, the Son of Cleopas

 

     The only reference I can find to this is from ANT, who says that we have also pieces of stories which are not, so far, known to exist save in Coptic: for example, part of a Martyrdom of Simon Zelotes. The inference, from this, is that this entry has nothing to do with the Arabic and Ethiopic material quoted or outlined below. I have indicated it with this title, however, on the supposition that some preaching of the Apostle may be included in the available text of the martyrium (which is often the case). (H)

 

[ANT, 472]

 

475. The Arabic Preaching of Simon, the Son of Cleopas

 

     Please see before #146 for the historical emergence of each of the Apostolic linguistic traditions. What follows is a reproduction of the Arabic tradition; who is said by some to be identical with Simon Zelotes, by others to be a nephew of Joseph, but not an Apostle; and by some to have preached on the shores of the Black Sea, by others in Babylonia and Persia, by others in Egypt and North Africa, and by still others in Britain (so Lipsius, Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten II.ii, 1883, 143). This text calls him in its scribal introduction the holy Simon, the son of Cleophas, called Jude, who is Nathanael called the Zealot. And he became bishop of Jerusalem after James the Lord's brother. MRS is the authoress of the single footnote.

 

1. It came to pass when the disciples were gathered together to the Mount of Olives, that they might divide all the cities of the world, and while they prayed and blessed God, the Lord Jesus the Christ was present in the midst of them, and said unto them: “May the peace of My Father rest upon you, O My pure disciples!” And they cast lots, and the lot of Jude the Galilean came out that he might go to the country of Samaria; and preach amongst them about the Gospel of the Lord Jesus the Christ.

 

2. Simon answered and said unto the Lord: “Thou wilt be with us, O our Lord, in every place wherein we dwell, and we will be patient in all that may happen unto us. And let my father Peter go out with me; that he may bring me to the land of Samaria.” The Lord said unto him: “Peter’s lot is to go out to the city of Rome, that he may preach in it. But let him go out with thee until he bring thee thither in peace. And after thy proclaiming the Gospel, and thy preaching amongst them, thou shalt return to Jerusalem after the death of James the Just, and thou shalt be bishop in it after him. And thou shalt finish thy conflict as James the Just finished his in that place. Behold now, O my friend Simon! Go out with him in strength, for I shall be thy companion.” And the Lord blessed him and all the disciples; and He ascended to heaven in great glory.

 

3. And after the Ascension of the Lord to heaven, Simon arose and prayed; and he went down to Jerusalem, and Peter was with him, and he journeyed to Samaria, and preached amongst them in the name of Jesus the Christ, and the good news of the Gospel. And Simon went into the midst of their synagogue, and preached amongst them in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ. And when the Jews who dwelt there heard they rose up against him and smote him with painful blows, and returned with him to the outside of the city. And Peter kissed him and took leave of him, and went out from his presence. And Simon returned and remained in their synagogue for three days, and preached amongst them in the name of the Christ. And some of these people did not believe.

 

4. And at the end of the third day, the son of the ruler of the synagogue fell sick, and his name was James, and he died. And one of the men who believed in what Simon had said went to the father of the dead boy, and said: “Behold! A disciple of the Christ is here; call him that he may pray over the lad.” And the man went in haste, and called the disciple of Jesus the Christ. And he came joyfully and stood over the dead boy; and said unto his father: “Believe in Him Who was crucified, that He is the Son of God, and thou shalt see the glory of God.” The father of the boy said unto him: “If my son should rise from the dead, so that I may see him alive, I will believe in the crucified Jesus, that He is the Son of the Living God.”

 

5. And the disciple turned away his face to the east, and said: “O my Lord Jesus the Christ, Who was crucified under Pontius Pilate, Thou art He Who hast made me worthy of this—that I should preach in Thy blessed name, and Thy suffering for our sakes, that Thou mightest redeem us from the hand of the Enemy; and look upon this dead boy; and by Thy will command him to rise, that Thy name may be glorified today in the midst of the multitude in this city that they may believe in Thy holy name.” And when Simon the blessed disciple said this he turned to where the dead boy was, and said: “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, rise, and stand up alive. And be thou whole, so that every one who is present may believe in the name of my Lord Jesus the Christ.”

 

6. And straightway the boy opened his eyes, and rose, and sat up. And he commanded that they should offer him something to eat. And when the crowd saw this wonder, they all came forward and bowed down to the earth to the disciple; and they believed in God, saying: “There is one God, Simon is the disciple of Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And the parents of the boy threw themselves at the feet of the disciple, and said: “O our lord! How may we be saved?” He said unto them: “Believe with all your hearts and ye shall be saved.” And he exhorted them from the holy Scriptures; and he baptized them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and he gave them the Holy Mysteries; and commanded them to build the church; and appointed them a bishop, who was the ruler of the synagogue, whose name was Marcellus,\fn{The Sinai manuscript has: Cornelius.} and a presbyter and deacons; and he gave them the holy Gospel.

 

7. And he stayed with them a month, teaching them the word of God; then he returned to Jerusalem. And when the Jews killed James the Just, the disciples were in Jerusalem. They took Simon and made him bishop in Jerusalem. And he taught them the word of God; and made known to them what was in the Gospel, and the salvation of their souls. And the Jews were angry with him; and he was in Jerusalem praising the Lord at all times and all seasons. Amen, Amen, Amen.

 

[MRS ,xxix, 113-117]

 

476. The Ethiopic Preaching of Simon, the Son of Cleopas

 

     This work, like the Arabic preceding it, is quoted below in its entirety, its paragraphs keyed to the Arabic version (above, #475). In the introductory paragraph, Simon is called the son of Cleopas, who was surnamed Judas, which is interpreted Nathaniel, who became Bishop of Jerusalem after James, the brother of our Lord. On that see Lipsius (Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten II.i, 1883, 142ff, 152).

 

     For a brief summary of the historical emergence of each of the literary Apostolic traditions, see before #146.

 

1. And it came to pass that, when the Apostles were gathered together on the Mount of Olives that they might divide all the countries of the world among them, and as they were praying and blessing God Almighty, our Lord Jesus Christ came among them and said unto them, “May the peace of My Father dwell upon you, O My holy disciples.” And they cast lots, and the lot went forth to Judas the Galilean to go to the country of Samaria, and to preach therein the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

2. And Simon answered and said unto our Lord, “Be Thou but with us, O Master, in whatever place we may be, and we will endure whatsoever cometh; only let our father Peter go with us, so that he may bring me unto the country of Samaria.” And God said unto him, “Peter’s lot is to go to the country of Rome and to preach therein; but he shall go with thee until he shall have brought thee to thy country in peace. And after thou hast made an end of thy preaching and of thy tidings which thou shalt proclaim among the people thereof, thou shalt return to Jerusalem; and after the death of James the Just thou shalt be appointed bishop therein; and after him thou shalt finish thy strife, even as James the Just finished his strife in that same place. Behold now, O My chosen one Simon, go forth in peace; and may the might of My Father give thee help;” and our Lord blessed him and all the Apostles, and He went up into heaven with great glory.

 

3. And it came to pass after our Lord had gone up into heaven that Simon rose up and prayed; and he came to Jerusalem, and Peter also was with him. And they went first of all to Samaria and preached unto the people there the story of the Gospel; and Simon the Apostle went among their assemblies and preached unto them in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it came to pass that, when the Jews who dwelt in that place heard, they rose up against him, and they beat him sorely and with many stripes, and then they dragged him outside the city; and Peter laid hold upon him and went forth therefrom. But Simon returned unto the people, and stood up among those who were gathered together, and he dwelt with them for three days and preached unto them the Name of Christ; and among them were certain men who would not believe.

 

4. Now at the end of the three days the son of the chief of the synagogue, whose name was James, fell sick and died. And a certain man among those who had believed upon the word of Simon came unto the father of the young man who was dead, and said unto him, “Behold, there is an Apostle of Christ here; let him pray over the young man.” And the man went quickly and called the Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he came with joy, and stood over the young man who was dead. And he said unto the father of the young man who was dead, “Dost thou believe in Him Whom they crucified, and that He is the Son of God, and that through Him thou wilt see the glory of God?” And the father of the young man who was dead said unto him, “If thou raise up my son from the dead, and I see him alive, I will believe in Jesus Christ Who was crucified, and that He is the Son of the Living God.”

 

5. Then the Apostle turned his face to the East and prayed, saying, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, Who was crucified in the days of Pontius Pilate, Who didst prepare me for this work that I might preach in Thy blessed and Holy Name, Who didst suffer for our sakes that Thou mightest redeem us out of the hands of those that hate us, look now upon this young man who hath died, and in Thy good pleasure command that he may be raised up; and let him praise Thy Name this day among the people of this city, so that they may believe in Thy holy Name.”

 

6. And it came to pass that when Simon, the blessed Apostle, had said those words he turned his face towards the place where the young man was, and he said, “In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, rise up, so that all those who are gathered together may see thee alive, and may believe in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Then straightway the young man opened his eyes and rose up and sat down; and Simon commanded that they should bring unto him food that he might eat. Now when those who were gathered together saw this wonderful thing they marveled; and they all drew nigh and bowed down to the ground before the Apostle, and they all believed in God, and said, “O God, the God of Simon, the Apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ, we believe in Jesus Christ, and we believe that He is the son of the Living God.” And the father of the young man and all those who were gathered together there bowed down at the feet of the holy man, the Apostle, and said unto him, “O master, how shall we be saved?” And he said unto them, “Believe ye with all your hearts, and ye shall be saved.” Then he taught them the Holy Scriptures, and he baptized all those who dwelt in the city in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and he administered unto them the Holy Mysteries, and commanded them to build churches. And he appointed the chief of the synagogue, whose name was Cornelius, to be their Bishop; and he set over them priests and deacons, and he gave them the Holy Gospel, and he dwelt with them for thirty days, teaching them the Law of God.

 

7. And it came to pass after these things that he returned to Jerusalem. And when the Jews had slain Saint James, his disciples who were in Jerusalem took Simon, and appointed him to be bishop in Jerusalem; and he taught them the Word of God, and declared unto them that which was in the Gospel, and he brought salvation unto their souls. Now the Jews were exceedingly angry with him; but he continued in Jerusalem, glorifying God our Lord Jesus Christ at all seasons and every day. Amen, Amen, and Amen.

 

[COA, II, 70-74]

 

477. The Arabic Martyrdom of Simon, the Son of Cleopas

 

     This text, like the one at #475, is very short and quoted in its entirety. For a summary of the historical emergence of each of the Apostolic literary traditions, see before #146. According to the Arabic, Simon of Cleopas was martyred on 9 Abib (July). The Sinai manuscript says: in the tenth day of the month of May. MRS is the authoress of the sole footnote.

 

1. And after the death of James the Just, Simon the son of Cleophas, who was called Jude, was made bishop of Jerusalem. And he lived a hundred and twenty years, and he loved to have his blood shed at the end of his life for the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ.

 

2. And he built churches in every place in Jerusalem; and he appointed them a presbyter\fn{The Sinai manuscript has: presbyters.} and deacons. The first church which he built was in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ; and the second in the name of the virgin Mary, who gave birth to the Lord upon earth, that He might deliver mankind from the slavery of Satan, and make them meet for His kingdom. And the third was in the name of Michael the Archangel, the Interceder for mankind, that wrath may be turned away from them, and mercy may rest upon them. And the fourth was in the name of the disciples.

 

3. And he wished that the faith of the Jews might be brought to nought, and their polluted worship, and their wicked synagogue. And he preached the Word of God to every one, until the churches which he had built were frequented; and the knowledge of God appeared to all the people, from the oldest to the youngest, both men and women. And all of them believed by means of the disciple; until all the people of the city forsook the synagogue of the Jews, and followed the truth which the disciples taught them with the authority of the Lord Jesus the Christ.

 

4. And when they heard of the work of the blessed disciple, and that he wished to destroy their religion and their idol, they gathered themselves together, both old and young: and they took counsel together to slay him, as if he was an evildoer. And they assembled in wrath and anger; and they put him in chains, and delivered him over to the Emperor Trajan. And they together bore witness against him before the Emperor and said: “He is a wizard.”

 

5. The Emperor trusted them in all that they said; and he was wroth with the disciple, and said unto him: “I say unto thee, O evildoer! It hath been told me that thou art a wizard, thou hast bewitched every one in this city.” The disciple said unto him: “O thou Emperor! I am no wizard; and I know not how to practice the art of witchcraft; but I am a slave to my Lord Jesus the Christ, the God of all creation, and the King of kings; the great, the mighty God, Who destroyeth all the gods of the heathen.”

 

6. And when the Emperor heard that, he was wroth with a fierce wrath; and delivered him over to wicked people that they might crucify him. And the Jews gathered themselves together against him. And they brought the blessed disciple out to be crucified, as the godless Emperor had commanded, upon the cross. And they tortured him until he died. And he finished his martyrdom on the ninth day of Abib, by the will of God, the Ruler of all; to Whom be glory and honor for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[MRS, 118-119]

 

478. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Simon, the Son of Cleopas

 

     Equally brief is the Ethiopian martyrdom of this Apostle. In the introduction by the Ethiopic translator, it is said that this took place on the tenth day of the month Hamle (July 4). It is copied out below, word-for-word and keyed to the numbering of the Arabic martyrdom (#477, above), that the reader may observe the differences in the two texts. Budge is the author of the notes, unless otherwise indicated.

 

1. And it came to pass after the death of Saint James the Just, Simon, the son of Cleopas (now his name was Judas), was appointed Bishop in Jerusalem after him, and his days were one hundred and twenty years; and at the end of his days he said, “I wish that my blood may be shed in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

2. And he built churches in Jerusalem, and he appointed priests and deacons to them, that they might redeem the children of men from the dominion of Satan, and make them ready for God’s kingdom. The first church which he built he called by the name of Mary, the holy Virgin, the bearer of our Lord; the second church which he built he called by the name of ...;\fn{The text is here corrupt.} the third church he called by the name of Michael, the Archangel, who intercedeth for the whole race of the sons of men, that God may put away punishment from them and that His blessing and mercy may descend upon them; and the fourth church he called by the name of the Apostles.

 

3. And it came to pass that Simon wished to destroy the faith of the Jews, and their polluted worship, and their evil rule; therefore he continued to teach all the people the Word of God, and admonished them to fill the churches which he had built, and instructed them in the knowledge of God, and it was plain unto all alike, from the greatest even unto the least. Then all their men believed in the preaching of the Apostle, and at length all the people of the city forsook the assembly of the people of the Jews and followed after the righteousness which the Apostle taught them from God Almighty.

 

4. And when the Jews heard the fair words of the story of the blessed Apostle, and how he desired to put an end to their Law and their gods, they gathered themselves together, both great and small, and they all came together against the Apostle that they might kill him. Now the Jews were a people who wrought evil, and therefore they all gathered themselves together against Simon in anger and indignation; and they bound him and brought him before Daryanos\fn{Trajan is meant.} the governor. And they were all testifying against him before the governor, and they said unto him, “Hearken unto us, and we will tell thee what this sorcerer hath been doing.”

 

5. Then the governor believed all the words which they spake unto him, and he was angry with the Apostle, and said unto him, “Unto thee I speak, O worker of iniquity. Tell me, art thou not a magician, and dost thou not work sorceries upon all the people of the city?” And the Apostle said unto him, “Hearken thou unto what I shall say unto thee, O governor. Thou hast a heart, but it is without understanding. I am not a magician, and I have no knowledge of the art of sorcery, but I am a servant of Jesus Christ, the God of all creation, the King of kings, the mighty God, Who hath power over all the gods of the nations to destroy them.”

 

6. And it came to pass that when the governor heard these words from the Apostle he was angry with him with a great anger, and he delivered him over unto evil men that they might crucify him. Then the Jews gathered themselves together against him, and they took out the blessed Apostle Simon, the son of Cleopas, that they might crucify him, even as the wicked governor had commanded; and they hung him upon a cross, and scourged him with scourgings until he died. Now he finished his testimony on the tenth day of the month Hamle, by the good pleasure of God Almighty, the Sustainer of all, to Whom be glory and honor for ever and ever! Amen, Amen, and Amen.

 

[COA, II, 75-77]

 

479. The Latin Acts of Simon and Jude

 

     There exists a Latin Passio, the Acts of Simon and Jude (text in Fabricius, Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti II, 1703, 608ff) which is doubtless a portion of a larger compilation on the Apostles and describes the activity of Simon and Jude and Babylonia and Persia. NTA believes that it was composed at the earliest in the 6th century; but Lipsius (Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden II.2, 1884, 164-178) attributes it to the 4th or 5th century; and it has also been recognized that the historical setting of these acta agrees remarkably with what is known of the conditions in the Parthian empire during the 1st century after Christ.

 

     In the Western Church, the two saints are commemorated together; and it is not surprising that their legend is to be found as book VI of the Latin History of the Apostles, after Abdias of Babylon. James identifies these acta as occupying chapters 7-23 of book VI (indicated by the parenthesized numbers)—chapters 1-6 being the Latin Acts of James the Less—and his summary of this material is quoted in its entirety below.

 

(7) SS. Simon and Jude, going to Persia, found there two magicians, Zaroes and Arfaxat, whom Matthew had driven out of Ethiopia (see the next book). Their doctrines were that the God of the Old Testament was the god of darkness, Moses and the Prophets deceivers, the soul the work of the good God, the body the work of the god of darkness, so that the soul and body are contrary to each other: that the sun and moon are gods, and also water: that the incarnation of Christ was in appearance only (in fact, Manichaean doctrine). (8) On entering the country they met Varardach, the general of King Xerxes, with an army preparing to repel an invasion of India. He had many priests and diviners with him; their gods explained that they could give no answers because of the presence of Simon and Jude. Varardach sent for them and they offered to expound their teaching; he said he would hear them after the campaign. Jude urged him to hear now. He asked them to foretell his success or failure. (9) Simon said: We will allow your gods to answer your diviners. So they prayed, and the prophets said: There will be a great battle, and many will fall on either side. The apostles laughed, though Varardach was impressed; and they said: The truth is that tomorrow the Indians will send and offer you peace and become tributaries to Persia. After some dispute with the priests it was agreed (10) that both parties should be kept in custody till the morrow; (11) when the apostle’s prediction was fulfilled. But they interceded for the priests, whom Varardach would have killed. At least, said he, you will receive their goods. Their pay was reckoned up: 120 talents in all, besides the chief priest’s, who had four pounds of gold a month; and much raiment, &c. (The apostle’s refusal to take this has dropped out, it seems.) (12) On his return, Varardach reported all this to the king; but Zaroes and Arfaxat made light of it, and proposed a test before the apostles came. The lawyers of the land were to be summoned to dispute with them. And first they made them unable to speak, then restored their speech but took away their power of motion, and then made them unable to see. The lawyers retired in confusion. (14) Varardach told the apostles, and they asked him to send for the lawyers, and proposed a second trial. If the lawyers would believe on their God, they would sign them with the cross and enable them to overcome the wizards. The lawyers were at first inclined to despise them for their mean appearance; but, convinced by Simon’s words, believed. (15) The apostles prayed over them: O God of Israel, who didst do away with the magic illusions of Jannes and Mambres and give them over to confusion and sores and cause them to perish: let thine hand be also on these magicians Zaroes and Arfaxat, &c. The contest took place and the magicians were powerless. One of the lawyers, Zebeus, explained to the king how they were the instruments of the evil angel; and defied them to do as they had done the day before. (16) They were enraged and called in a host of snakes. The apostles were hastily summoned, and made the snakes all turn on the magicians and bite them: they howled like wolves. Kill them outright, said the king; but the apostles refused, and instead made the serpents suck out all their venom, which hurt still more, (17) and for three days, in the hospital, the wizards continued screaming. When they were on the point of death, the apostles healed them, saying: Our God does not ask for forced service; if you will not believe, you may go free. They wandered about Persia, slandering the apostles and telling the people to kill them when they came. (18) The apostles stayed in Babylon, healing the sick, and ordaining clergy. A deacon was accused of incontinence by the daughter of a satrap who had been seduced by another. The parents clamored against the deacon Euphrosinus. The apostles sent for the infant who had been born that day, and on their bidding it spoke and cleared Euphrosinus: but the apostles refused to question it about the guilty man. (19) Two fierce tigers had escaped from their cages and were devouring everybody they met. The apostles, appealed to, made the beasts follow them home, where they stayed for three days. Then the apostles called the people together, and announced that they were going to leave them to visit the rest of Persia. On the urgent prayer of the people they stayed fifteen months longer, baptized 60,000 people, (20) ordained Abdias bishop, and set out, accompanied by many disciples. For thirteen years they traveled, and Craton their disciple recorded their acts in ten books, which Africanus the historian translated into Latin, and from which we have here made extracts. Zaroes and Arfaxat always went before the apostles and warned people against them, but were as regularly confuted. At Suanir there were seventy priests who received a pound of gold apiece from the king at each of the feasts of the sun (at the beginning of each of the four seasons). The magicians warned those men that two Hebrews were coming, who would deprive them of all their gains; they should be compelled to sacrifice immediately on their arrival. (21) After traveling through all the twelve provinces, the apostles came to Suanir and lodged with a chief citizen, Sennes. The priests and mob flocked thither, crying out: Bring out the enemies of our gods. So they were taken to the temple of the sun; and as they entered the devils began to cry out that they were being burned. In the east, in the temple, was a four-horsed chariot of the sun in silver, and on the other side a four-oxed chariot of the moon, also silver. (22) The priests would now compel the apostles to sacrifice. Jude said to Simon: I see the Lord calling us. Simon: I see him also among the angels; moreover, an angel has said to me: Go out hence and the temple shall fall, but I said: Choose either the death of all here or the palm of martyrdom. They chose the palm. As the priests pressed on them, they demanded silence. After a few words Simon commanded the devil to leave the chariot of the sun and break it, and Jude spoke likewise to the moon. Two hideous black men appeared and fled howling. The priests and people attacked the apostles and slew them. (23) This was on the first of July. Sennes suffered with them. Lightning struck the temple and split it into three pieces and burnt Zaroes and Arfaxat to coal. After three months Xerxes sent and confiscated the priests’ goods and translated the bodies to his city, and built a marble basilica, octagonal, and eight times eighty feet in circumference and 120 feet high, plated with gold inside, and the sarcophagus of silver in the middle. It took three years to build.

 

     See on this also van Hecke (in Acta Sanctorum, October XII, 1867, 437-499); Sinker (“Jude the Apostle, St., Legend and Festival of” in Smith and Cheetham’s Dictionary of the Bible I, 1875, 891-893); Plummer (“Jude” in Smith and Fuller’s A Dictionary of the Bible I, 1893, 1835); Purves (“Jude” in Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible II, 1899, 799); Tasker (“Jude” in Hasting’s Dictionary of Christ and the Gospels I, 1906, 906-907); and Soder (“Die Apokryphen Apostolgeschichten und Die Romanhaste Literatur der Antike,” Wurzburger Studien zur Altertums-wissenschaft III, 1932, 19).

 

[ANT, 464-467; CAT, II, 613; NTA, II, 577; ODC, 750]

 

***

 

XXXV: JAMES OF ALPHAEUS

 

480. The Gospel of James, the Son of Alphaeus

 

     There is mentioned in the Decretum Gelasianum (6th century):—(Gospel under the name of James the Less.) James says that this is probably a reference to the Infancy Gospel of James; but he notes that a lesson on the circumcision of Jesus Christ [printed by Bannister (Journal of Theological Studies, 1908, 417)], in a fragment of a 10th century service book in an Irish hand, is entitled:—Lesson of the Gospel according to James son of Alphaeus.

 

[ANT, 22]

 

481. 482. The Coptic Acts and Martyrdom of James the Less; The Armenian Acts and Martyrdom of James the Less

 

     James says that the martyrdom of James of Alphaeus depends ultimately upon a tradition reported by Hegesippus—which CAT says is preserved in Coptic and Armenian martyrdoms of the Apostle whose ultimate authority is in Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History IV.22); and which ENC describes as having taken place in Persia.

 

[ANT, 471; CAT, II, 612; ENC, XII, 855]

 

483. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint James, the Son of Alphaeus

 

     For a brief summary of the historical appearance of the various Apostolic acta, see before #146. There are no Arabic acta or martyria for James the Less in Mrs. Lewis’ texts. The Ethiopic legends must carry the full weight of this (unless Malan has found something; but of him I am ignorant, not having before me a copy of his book). The Ethiopic text appears in its entirety below.

 

     According to this tradition, James of Alphaeus suffered on February 4. See on this Lipsius (Die Apokryphe Apostelgeschichten II.2, 1883, 234ff).

 

1. And it came to pass that, when James the Apostle was coming into Jerusalem to preach therein the Holy Gospel, and all the wonderful things of the Divinity, so that all those who heard thereof from him might believe in God with a pure heart, and obtain salvation, he meditated within himself, and said, “How shall these people hearken unto these words from me and believe?”

 

2. Then he came into the synagogue wherein the multitudes were gathered together, and there were very many Jews sitting there, and he began to tell the story among them all, with great joy and gladness, and he multiplied his words and revealed the faith without fear. And he testified concerning the Only Son of God, the Word of Life, the Lord of all the world, Jesus Christ, Who is the Son of God in very truth, for He existed with the Father before all the world, and He was with the Father and the Father was in Him, and He was the Word, even as it saith, “Let us make man in Our own image and likeness.” It is He Who dwelleth in heaven, and it is He Who existeth with His Father, and He sitteth upon the chariots of the Cherubim and of the Seraphim who praise Him. It is He Who sitteth at the right hand of the Majesty in the heights of heaven. It is He Who was carried in the womb of the Virgin Mary. It is He Who is the God Jesus Christ, to Whom the Virgin Mary gave birth. It is He Who is the Lord, Who rose from the dead.

 

3. These are the words which the Apostle spake in the midst of the multitudes who were gathered together, and he was afraid of no man. And he was testifying concerning the birth of the only son of God, and His Death, and His Resurrection, and His Ascension to His Father in heaven, and he taught all the people who were together there the faith which is in Christ.

 

4. And it came to pass that, when the multitudes heard the words of the Apostle, they became exceedingly angry with the anger which is of Satan, who was with them against the Apostle of God Jesus Christ, and all the people were seeking after his blood. Then those who had heard his speech laid hold upon the blessed Apostle, and they brought him before Claudius the king, and they set up against him lying witnesses who said unto the king, “This is the man who corrupteth men, and who goeth round about in the provinces and in the cities and saith unto the people, ‘I am a servant of Jesus Christ,’ and he preventeth them from being subject unto the king.”

 

5. And when the king heard these things concerning the blessed Apostle he commanded them to stone him with stones until he died, and the Jews (may God curse them!) stoned him with stones, even as the king had commanded them. In this wise did the martyrdom of the blessed Apostle, James the son of Alphaeus, take place, on the tenth day of the month Yakatit; and he was buried by the sanctuary in Jerusalem.

 

[COA, II, 264-266]

 

484. The Coptic Revelation of James, the Son of Alphaeus

 

     According to James, Budge (Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt, 1913, 343) prints such a work; though when I looked in that book, I could not find it. He says it tells how Jesus revealed the glory of John the Baptist in the other world, where he figures as the ferryman of the blessed souls; and says nothing more about this text.

 

[ANT, 504]

 

***

 

XXXVI: BARNABAS

 

485. 486. The Greek Acts of Barnabas; The Latin Acts of Barnabas

 

     The Greek and Latin Acts of Barnabas—they were originally composed in Greek, but there is also extant a Latin version—are of strictly local interest: they describe the Apostle’s travels and death in Cyprus; but the narrative is based, at least in part, upon the mutual relations and activities of Barnabas, Mark, and Paul, as recorded in the Received Acts. There is not much extravagance in the details, and the geography and local coloring is correct, showing that the writer knew Cyprus well, and was in fact a Cypriot. ANF says that the Greek acta has more of an air of truth about it than any of the others; but however that may be—CAT, for example, calls them historically worthless—it seems clear that their purpose was to glorify Cyprus, where Barnabas was believed to be buried, in its struggles with Antioch for ecclesiastical independence from that see. With them must be classified the lives of other Cypriot saints of the Apostolic Age: Heraclides of Tamasus and Auxibius of Soli. They are ascribed to Mark the Evangelist, who is described as formerly a servant of one Cyril, high priest of Zeus, previous to his conversion to Christianity.

 

     Papebroche (Acta Sanctorum, 1698) are to be credited with the editio princips, together with Latin translation, from an imperfect Vatican manuscript. Tischendorf (Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, 1851, 64-74) appears to have next edited them, from a Parisian manuscript of the 9th century; he has provided the book with a Latin introduction, which is taken from the Prolegomena to his book (pp. XXVI-XXXI) and quoted below. They seem to have also been printed by Duchesne (“Saint Barnabe” in Melanges G. B. de Rossi; Supplement aux melanges d’Archeologie et d’Histoire Publies par l’Ecole Francaise de Rome XII, 1892, 41-71); and there is a critical edition of the Greek text in Lipsius & Bonnet (“Acta Philippi et Acta Thomae Accedunt Acta Barnabae” in Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha II.2, Leipzig, 1903, 292-302). See also on them Lipsius (Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten II.2, 1884, 270-320); and Bardenhewer (Geschichte der Altkirchlichen Literatur I, 1913, 116).

 

     Lipsius places the date of their composition late in the 5th century, probably between 485-488; but ANF thinks they seem to have been written at all events before 478, in which year the body of Barnabas is said to have been found in Cyprus. NTA believes they doubtless originated at the end of the 5th or the beginning of the 6th century; but ENC is satisfied with the blunt statement 5th century acts; and ANT believes that they originated not earlier than the 5th century.

 

     Tischendorf’s Latin introduction is exactly transcribed below . The footnotes are his. The indicated gaps in the text are in the original. As is true elsewhere, the presence of untranslated Greek words is noted.

 

Ad haec acta endenda usi sumus maxime et quidem primi codice Parisiensi signato in bibl. Reg. nunc Nation. numero 1470. De insigni eius vetustate supra diximus ad Acta Petri et Pauli, ubi nobis est codex A; vide pag. XVI sq.: scriptus est enim anno Christi 890. Adhibuimus vero etiam alterum codicem eumque Vaticanum num. 1667., quemadmodum Dan. Papebrochius exscripsit in Actis Sanctorum, mensis Iunii tomo secundo, Antverp. 1698., pag. 431-436., ubi est: ­[S. Barnabae apostoli] Acta et passio in Cypro, sub nomine Ioannis Marci, Barnabae consobrini, edita, ex Ms. Vaticano et Guitielmi Card. Sirleti interpretatione.­ Cuius Vaticani codicis scriptura raro sed tamen aliquoties praestare visa est scripturae Parisiensi, ut ex apparatu nostro videre licet. Inprimis vero male habebat Papebrochii editio Vaticana propterea quod fere omnia praetermiserat quae apud nos sectionibus 6. et 7. leguntur. Quo loco una intelligitur, Sirleti versionem latinam Vaticano codice 6187. servatam pependisse maxime ab codem Papebrochii codice graeco.

 

Ex notis Papebrochii, unde iam nonnihil sub textu adscripsimus, etiam haec apponere placet.

 

Ad verba sectionis 5. (five Greek words): Vide Actor. XV, 35. Cui loco nihil hic contrarium dicitur, etsi aliter res narretur. Nescio igitur quaenam et ubi invenienda sint Baronio contempta ­quaedam Barnabae Acta, quae nomine Ioannis ab aliquo nebulone scripta circumferuntur et ab imperitis magno applausu excipiuntur, multis et apertissimis coagmentata mendaciis, ut sunt ea potissimum quae Actorum Apostolorum historiae a Luca conscriptae repugnant. ... Sed in his non immoramur: reiectum enim prorsus esse librum illum Abdiae nomine praenotatum, in quo haec Ioannis Marci nomine de rebus gestis Barnabae scriptis mandata sunt, dictum est.­ Ita ille ad annum 51.\fn{Lege 51. Pro 31.} Habeo Historiam Apostolicam sub nomine Abdiae Babylonii ex interpre-tatione Iulii Africani editam Parisiis ---; habeo eamdem cum praefatione Melitonis episcopi ---: sed nulla ibi acta S. Barnabae: ut alia esse oporteat quae dictae Historiae subiuncta vidit Baronius.\fn{Erravit Baronius quod haec Acta Barnabae, de quibus ipsis vel aliis similibus omnio dicere videatur, in Abdiae libro haberi existimavit. Nec vero magis Abdiae Historiae apostolicae in decreto Gelasiano notissimo illo damnatae sunt.}

 

Ad (two Greek words) sect. 11: Distat Antiochia Laodicaea Syriae, amplo gaudens portu, paucis leucis versus meridiem; unde triginta circiter leucarum est navigatio in Cyprum.

 

Ad (three Greek words) sect. 11: Puta septemtrionalis, quo repellente praetervecti Cyprum eoque tandem in meridionalem converso appulerint in confiniis Pamphyliae, ubi Coracesium, hic dictum Corasium.

 

Ad (three Greek words) sect. 12: Anemurium oppidum et promontorium Ciliciae, unde proximus in Cyprum traiectus, Coracesio circiter viginti leucis in ortum distans, ut littore interposito obiectas oporteat concipere hic nominatas insulas, Pitiusam et Aconesias, quarum alibi nulla mentio nec locus in tabulis circa istas partes valde imperfectis: neque enim huc faciunt Pitiusae Balearibus proximae et toto mediterraneo remotae a Cilicia.\fn{Sed cf. Stephani Thesaur. gr. ling. VI. sub voce (three Greek words) pag. 1131.; item sub voce (one Greek word), pag. 1129.}

 

Ad (one Greek word) sect. 14: Ciceroni lib. 12. Epist. Cromnyon, alias Ceparum, promontorium Cypri ex adver-so Anemurii.\fn{Ciceron. epist. ad div. XII, 13. est subscriptum: Data Cypro, a Crommyu-acride. De quo Cypri promontorio contra Anemurium Ciliciae promontorium sito, quod Graecis dici solet (two Greek words), cf. Strabo XVI. p. 669. 682. 683.}

 

Ad (two Greek words) sect. 16: Lapithus, aliis etiam Lapathus et Lapethus (one Greek word) urbs, ad sinum eumdem ad quem et Soli, aeque ac hi regionis sibi adiectae caput, Lapathia inde dictae.\fn{Cf. Stephan. Thesaur. gr. ling. V. sub voce (one Greek word).}

 

Ad (one Greek word) sect. 17: Tamassus urbs olim mediterranea Cypri, nunc vicus exiguus prope Nicosiam, inquit Boudran in lexico geographico. Tamesia Polybio.

 

Ad (one Greek word) ibidem: Cithium urbs et promontorium in meridionali latere insulae: ubi etiam hodie vicus dictus Chiti et Capo-chiti.

 

Similes notae spectant Olympum, Paphum, Curium (Plinio Curias), Amathuntem, Salamina, item insulas ante Salamina. Porro ad (three Greek words) sect. 23. haec notantur: Graecum (one Greek word), Pius, in Eusebii nomen convertit Mombritiana et Ultraiectina Legenda, quibus consonat Petrus de Natalibus; addunt autem quod Barnabae necem praecipitaverint Iudaei, verentes ne hunc ille eriperet de manibus eorum. Suspicor revera genuinam esse horum lectionem, scriptumque fuisse (four Greek words), Eusebio autem quodam Iebussaeo, eo quod infra dicatur ibi olim habitasse gens Iebusaeorum, expulsa scilicet ex Palaestina a Davide.

 

Ad (four Greek words) sect. 25. haec adduntur: Sirletus pro (one Greek word), usque, videtur legisse (one Greek word), extra. (one Greek word) autem seu potius (one Greek word) Ledrensium episcopatus adscribitur S. Triphyllio, crediturque postea Nicosiae nomen adeptus: quae est urbs olim etiam regia et mediterranea, distans Salamine p. m. 30 circiter.

 

Denique hoc de istis Barnabae Actis iudicium addit Papebrochius:

 

Hactenus Itinerarium istud, in quo nihil mendaciter dictum invenias, solumque errasse arguitur auctor, ante corporis inventionem ex vulgi opinione scribens illud in cineres redactum fuisse, eoque demonstrans se non esse quem prae se fert Ioannem Marcum. Sicut autem accurate prosequitur praecipua nomina civitatum Cypri, sic non dubitem quin Timon, Ariston, Heraclites, Rhodon, Aristoclianus, vera sint nomina Sanctorum a Barnaba ibidem ordinatorum, quibus suus olim cultus fuerit, fortassis et nunc sit. Verosimile est etiam media et ultima apostoli acta in Cypro fuisse coniuncta ab auctore, ignorante quid interim ille in Italia egerit, quoniam eius rei nulla vigebat apud Cyprios memoria cum istaec scriberentur; necdum etiam natus erat supposititius Dorotheus, unde de adscripto illi Mediolanensium episcopatu aliquid discerent Cyprii.

 

Praeterea in Actis SS., antequam acta Barnabae adscripta Io. Marco ex ms. Vaticano et Sirleti interpretatione exhibentur, vario modo in horum actuum originem atque auctoritatem inquiritur. Auctorem eius qui ibi habetur commentarii de Barnaba rese potissimum duae occupabant: altera indicatioinem spectat temporis quo Barnabas ex compustione in ms. Vatic.\fn{In Parisiensi codice, quem eo loco sequi maluimus, ea temporis indicatio plane desideeratur. Cf. sect. 24.} sepultus dicituraltera in eo versatur quod Barnabas combustus et ipsa ossa eius dicuntur in cineres redacti, invita traditione celebratissima de reliquiis Barnabae saeculo V. in Cypro insula inventis multisque saeculis post in Mediolanensem civitatem translatis. Afferuntur ibidem, pag. 422. C, etiam verba Iacobi de Voragine in ­Historia Lombardica­ sive ­Legenda aurea­ de actis nostris dicta: ­Eius­ (i.e. Barnabae) ­Passionem compilavit Ioannes qui et Marcus, eius consobrinus, maxime a visione illius Ioannis usque fere in finem, quam Beda de graeco in latinum creditur transtulisse­.

 

Quae de Beda illorum actuum interprete opinio a pluribus confirmata est, sed frustra. Quam in rem recte Papebrochius l. l. pag. 422. E: ­Si Beda auctor esset Mombritianae legendae (quam potius alicui Mediolanensi adscripserim propter eius urbis apostolatum ibidem S. Barnabae operose adscriptum), non omisisset hunc referre in suo genuio Martyrologio, vel solo non fuisset contentus nomine, solitus addere elogia nominibus Sanctorum quorum acta nancisci potuerat, imo eos fere solos fastis suis inscribere.­ Addit idem quantopere Mombritianus interpres pepercerit Mediolanensium praesumtioni, integrum se caput apostoli habere iactantium. Tacuit enim ille, quod in graeco est, redacta in cinerem ossa, additis modo his: Impii Iudaei non satiati de nece illius­ (i.e. Barnabae) ­zelo odii concitati tulerunt sacratissimum corpus eius et in locello plumbeo concludentes in mare praecipitare disponebant.­ Porro ad testimonium actis contrarium provocatur ­Alexandri monachi, qui non adeo diu post inventiionem corporis scribens in Cypro, certe cum adhuc recens esset haeresis a Petro Fullone anno 474. suscitatae.­ Cui Alexandro consonare probantur Theodorus Lector et Georgius Cedrenus. Cedreni enim verba ad Theodorum composita ad annum Zenonis quartum sive Christi 478. haec laudantur: (twenty-nine Greek words) etc. Denique is commentarius in hunc modum concluditur: ­Quisquis tamen Periodos scripsit, procul dubio scripsit ante praedictam corporis inventionem ex traditione indigenarum; cui de mortis tempore credi possit, veluti ex vetustioribus monumentis firmato, et quoad locorum nomina, apostolica praedicatione intra ipsam insulam illustrata.­ Etc.

 

Subiunguntur autem commenatrio I: ­Acta vitae prioris ex vetusta editione Mombritii, collata cum membranacco codice nostro­.\fn{Hic codex in nota dicitur videri in Gallia ante annos septingentos scriptus.} II: Embolismus: an et quando romae, Alexandriae ac Mediolani Barnabas praedicarit?­ 1: ­Examinatur excursus in urbem ante mortem Christi, et alexandriam post illam: ex libro­ 1. ­Recognitionum.­ 2: ­Reliqua Barnabae et Clementis acta in Syria, ex usdem libris Recognitionum; et horum quae fides esse possit?­ 5: ­De Romano ac Mediolanensi S. Barnabae apostolatu eiusque fundamentis­. Iam sequuntur acta nostra ex cod. Vatic. et Sirleti interpretatione. Quem ilbellum excipit ­Laudatio S. Barnabae apostoli, auctore Alexandro monacho Cyprio­. Ex graeco ms. Vatic. et interpretatione Franc. Zeni. Incipit prologus: (eleven Greek words). Cap. I. inscribitur: Barnabae ortus et educatiio, conversio ad Christum. Paulus exceptus­. Item cap. II: ­Evangelium socio Ioanne Marco Praedicatum, martyrium in Cypro­. Item cap. III: ­De Petro Fullone Antiocheni patriarchatus invasore, Cyprum sibi subiicere volente­. Denique cap. IV: ­Inventio corporis S. Barnabae, et huius exinde celebris cultus­.

 

[HAS, III, 248; ANF, VIII, 355; ANT, 470; ODC, 132; NTA, II, 578; CAT, II, 613; ENC, II, 116; ORF, XXVI-XXXI]

 

487. 488. The Greek Life of Auxibius of Soli; The Greek Life of Heraclides of Tamasus

 

     With the Greek Acts of Barnabas must be classified the lives of other saints of the Apostolic Age: Heraclides of Tamasus, and Auxibius of Soli.

 

     The Benedictine monks of St. Augustine’s Abbey at Ramsgate (The Book of Saints, London, 1921) make the briefest of reference to Auxibius of Soli, but it is enough to demonstrate an intimate connection between Auxibius and Paul; and in conjunction with the entry below, with Barnabas:—(1st cent. Said to have been the first Bishop of Soli in the Island of Cyprus, and to have been consecrated to that See by the Apostle St. Paul. Feb. 19.)

 

     Holweck (A Biographical Dictionary of the Saints, London, 1924) mentions both Auxibius of Soli and Heraclides of Tamasus. The number of details are greatly increased:

 

     Auxibius of Soli:—(Native of Rome; he fled to Rhodes, from here to Cyprus, to become a Christian. S. John Mark, his uncle, baptized him; S. Heraclides, by the authority of S. Paul, consecrated him bishop of Soli (Lerka). d.c.102.)\fn{The entry goes on to say that the Saint’s Day is celebrated on February 17 in the Greek Menologion, and on February 18 in the Roman Martyrium.}

 

     Heraclides of Tamasus:—(He was converted at Kition, Cyprus, by Ss. Paul and Barnaby; later on he was consecrated by St. Barnaby bishop of Tamasus, where he died a martyr; 1st cent. Perhaps he was primate of the entire island of Cyprus. Sept. 17. H.L.)\fn{H.L.: Stadler (Heiligen-Lexikon, oder Lebensgeschichten aller Heiligen, Augsburg, 1861).}

 

[ANT, 470; BEN, 36; HOL, 124, 472]

 

489. The Letter of Barnabas to His Sons and Daughters

 

     In the Letter of Barnabas to His Sons and Daughters—the recipients of the epistle are stated in its brief introduction (Greetings to you, my sons and my daughters. In the name of the Lord who loved us, peace.)—we have here to do with a strong attack on Judaism from very early Christian times. It explains animal sacrifice, the distinctive enactments of the Mosaic Law, and the Temple in Jerusalem as mistakes due to Jewish blindness, denying that they were ever God’s will. The writer also maintains that the Old Testament, so far from enjoining Judaic practice, had an esoteric sense, which he professes to reveal through allegorization (a method of Scriptural exegesis much esteemed in ancient times); and in this way he succeeds (for his purposes) in discovering in the Old Testament convincing testimony for the existence of Christianity and against that of Judaism.

 

     Upon analysis [so Windisch (in Handbuch zu den Neutestamentlichen Apokryphen, 1904; supplementary volume Die Apostolischen Vater III, 1920, 411)], however, this document cannot really be called a letter. Strictly speaking, only sections 1:1—(Greetings to you, my sons and my daughters. In the name of the Lord who loved us, peace.—and 21:7-9—(Farewell, my children of love and peace. May the Lord of glory and of all grace be with your spirit.)—bear the character of a letter. On the whole, the work is a theological treatise, in which only a few epistolary elements are used.

 

     The writing was originally composed in Greek: this is made certain by the use throughout of the only Bible familiar to the Greek-speaking world, the Septuagint translation of the original Hebrew books of the Old Testament; and by its numerous citations in Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis II:xxxi.2; xxxv.5 and often) [an author who wrote as far as is known only in Greek (H)]. Knowledge of its continuous text in modern times, however, was otherwise limited until 1859 to a Latin version of the first seventeen chapters; and it is possible that the seventeen chapters of the Latin version may have represented the original form of the letter, since (a) the writer’s treatise against Judaism comes to an end with the last of them, and (b) the part discovered in the Codex Sinaiticus at once enters upon a completely new theme, introducing it by the words Now let us pass on to quite a different sort of instruction and knowledge, and then laying out a set of moral precepts for Christian living, largely transcribed from the Didache. This second portion, which has indeed very little apparent connection with the first, may perhaps have been added by another hand a generation or so later.

 

     Nothing is known of the identity of the author; and there is nothing in the letter itself to give us any information upon this point. From ancient times it was held (e.g., Clement of Alexandria, d.c.215, Stromateis II.6) to be the work of the Apostle Barnabas—as Clement puts it, him who preached in company with Paul. On the other hand, two considerations stand firmly against this possibility: (a) the attitude towards it of Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History III.25) who includes the letter among a group of writings which were not generally regarded as of Divine inspiration (it being improbable that the Father of Church History would have adopted such an opinion if the letter had been widely believed to be of Apostolic origin); and (b) evidence in the letter itself [for (to consider only one piece of evidence) it would have been impossible that the Apostle Barnabas, who was a Levite, and had even been criticized by Paul for his too great attachment to the Judaizing party—(Galatians 2:13: And with him\fn{Peter; the question was whether Jews and Gentiles should seek each others’ company upon an equal footing.} the rest of the Jews acted insincerely, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their insincerity.)—could have been capable of attributing the Law of Moses (as this letter does) to the wiles of a demon]. It is possible that the writer, whoever he was, was in fact named Barnabas; but his style of writing, together with his allegorical method of interpreting the Received Text, suggest that, like Apollos, he was most probably a learned Jew of Alexandria who had been converted to Christianity.

 

     As to the date of its composition, internal evidence with the letter itself narrows the time frame with reasonable certainty to a period of some sixty years. Since it mentions the destruction of Jerusalem (70AD), it cannot have been written before that year; but it makes no reference to the revolt of Simeon Bar-Cocheba in 132, when Jerusalem was devastated by the Romans for a second time—a revolt, moreover, which the ODC describes as a fierce guerrilla war, waged from 132 to 135 in which both sides suffered severe losses—and which the author, had he known of it, could hardly have ignored, since it would have been so apt an illustration for his literary purposes. It may be assumed, therefore, that his composition was already in existence before this event.

 

     Recent critics have suggested an even closer approximation as to the date. It is known that before the outbreak of Bar-Cocheba’s rebellion the emperor Hadrian I (117-138) had been inclined to reverse the harsh policy of his predecessor Trajan (97-117) towards the Jews and to treat them with a new leniency. It is easy to believe that this would lead to a prompt revival of their national aspirations and a vigorous resurgence of proselytizing, which might well have tended to shake the new-found allegiance of some of their brethren to Christianity. In such circumstances, if the situation had seemed to our author to call urgently for a counter offensive, his letter would have been issued around the year 130; and this, in fact, is the date now preferred by most scholars. The ODC, however, believes that it was written between 70 and 100AD, thus making it contemporary in time with the Received Gospels [and prior to the composition of II Peter, and II and III John (H)].

 

     The Letter of Barnabas to His Sons and Daughters was highly esteemed in the early Church. This is proved in its Apostolic ascription by Clement of Alexandria; the tacit admission by Eusebius of Caesarea that it was treated as of Divine authority in certain places of earliest Christendom (whatever he may have personally thought: H); and its presence in the Codex Sinaiticus (a later 4th century manuscript of the Greek Bible), with the Shepherd of Hermas and the Didache as a kind of appendix to the Received Text, as though to indicate a quasi-Scriptural authority of these writings.

 

[ODC, 130, 132; NTA, II, 67, 94, 627; ECW, 189-192, 197]

 

***

 

XXXVII: LUKE

 

490. The Received Gospel of Luke

 

     The Gospel of Luke—one of the four Received gospels, and the third of its Synoptics—has from the end of the 2nd century been attributed to the Apostle Luke (so Tertullian of Carthage and Irenaeus of Lyons; and also on the grounds that there would be no reason why such an important work should have been falsely assigned to such an otherwise relatively unimportant personage). The date of its composition, however, is doubtful; and its attribution to the Apostle Luke is likewise questionable.

 

1. Some scholars, among them Harnack, put it before the death of Paul (64AD), because the Received Book of Acts (also composed by the author of the Gospel of Luke) supposedly contains evidence of a date just prior to the martyrdom of its author.

 

2. A serious objection to this view, however, is the prediction in Luke of the fall of Jerusalem (70AD) in terms much more precise than in any of the other Received gospels; and this has determined many scholars to assign a date of composition between 70-100. If the supposed dependence of passages in it on Josephus could be established, this would seem to require a date at the end of the 1st century AD—as the ODC puts it, during the last third of the 1st century, although the precise date of its composition is unknown.

 

3. It also seems clear that Luke was written by a man who knew about Jesus only through traditions of the primitive church and written sources. The original language of the gospel is Greek—and idiomatic Greek at that (indicating the type of language spoken by a person to whom it is a native tongue: H). The author may share with other Received New Testament writings the flavor of 1st century Greek: but his language is more literary than that of his sources; he repeatedly improves Mark’s wording; he avoids foreign words, whether Latin or Aramaic, used by his sources; he connects single narratives much more smoothly than either Mark or Matthew; and, realizing that a monotonous sequence of single stories would result in a rather unconvincing picture of Jesus’ life, he makes single incidents appear as illustrations of the whole of a continuous history—this purpose is served by the frequent introductory phrase, and it came to pass,—often connected with a date. In the words of NOAB:—(Of all four Evangelists, he is preeminently a person of broad culture, capable of adapting his Greek diction to different occasions, writing sometimes formal, classical prose, sometimes a racy narrative style in the vernacular of his own day, and sometimes a Semitic ‘Bible Greek’ in which the Septuagint was written.

 

4. Moreover, the tendency shown by the author to omit whatever might offend pagan readers, his comparatively little stress on the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, or quotations from that book (for the Received Old Testament would have been a strange and almost unknown book to most non-Jews), his careful translation of all Hebrew terms—he is the only New Testament author who employs the classical Greek equivalent for the Jewish word meaning rabbi (a word which means master)—and also the fact that in Luke the Christ is pre-eminently the Savior of all men, the Greek terms for this not occurring in the other Synoptic gospels,—all this has led to the conclusion that the author must also have been a Gentile.

 

5. Support for the authorship of Luke by the companion of Paul mentioned at Colossians 4:14, II Timothy 4:11, and Philemon :24—(Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you. ... Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you; for he is very useful in serving me. ... and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.)—is hampered by four other considerations: (a) that II Timothy may not actually be by Paul; (b) that though the terminology used in Luke-Acts is fully consistent with medical authorship, the argument from the use of medical language to prove that the writer was a physician is insufficient (so Cadbury, apparently in The Making of Luke-Acts, 1927); (c) testimony that Luke was the author of the gospel named for him makes its first appearance only from the end of the 2nd century [on the authority of Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-c.220) and Tertullian of Carthage (c.160-c.220)]; and (d) that in any case, the kernel of the New Testament Canon—the four Received gospels, and the alleged letters of Paul—had come to be accepted as such only by c.130AD, or some 100 years after the death of Jesus himself [quite enough time for the admission into the cultural thought processes of error or wishful thinking (the actual participants in the event being, after all, long in their graves): H].

 

6. Whether he was a Jewish Hellenist, or a Gentile by birth, his Greek style and vocabulary were as educated as that of such Greek writers as Xenophon, and he lived in a time for which not only the life of Jesus but also the Apostolic Age belonged to past history. This is evident in the contradictions between the narratives in Acts (which are by the same author) about Paul, and Paul’s own letters—which should not have arisen if the author had actually been Paul’s assistant—and helps point to the last two decades of the 1st century as probably the best date for its authorship.

 

7. Neither Luke nor Acts, however, are used before their appearance in the Second Letter of Clement to the Corinthians (c.150AD), or the writings of Justin of Flavia Neapolis (c.100-c.165) and Marcion of Sinope (d.c. 160); and this has led some scholars to prefer the beginning of the 2nd century as the time when the Received Gospel of Luke was written.

 

     According to most modern critics, this gospel is made up of four main sources:

 

1. Mark and Q;

 

2. the stories attached to the birth of Jesus (chapters 1 and 2), which many believe to be from a Jewish-Christian source, but whom conservative scholars commonly see Jesus’ mother as the principal authority;

 

3. the Passion narrative; and

 

4. the material unique to Luke (which scholars refer to as L).

 

     The character of the L source has been though by some to have consisted of what they have termed a Proto-Lucan gospel [so Streeter (The Four Gospels, 1924, 199-270) and Taylor (Behind the Third Gospel: A Study of the Proto-Luke Hypothesis, 1926); there is a commentary on this by A.R.C. Leaney (London, 1958; nothing more available)]. The following passages in Luke are the L passages:

 

Luke 1:5-66:—(In the days of Herod, king of Judea,\fn{Herod the Great, reigned 37-4BC. The literal date intended here is c.7-6BC.} there was a priest named Zechariah,\fn{Greek: Zacharias.} of the division of Abijah;\fn{There were 24 priestly orders, of which Abijah’s was the eighth.} and he had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless. But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years. Now while he was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty, according to the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense. And Zechariah was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. But the angel said to him, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for our prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. And you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth; for he will be great before the Lord, and he shall drink no wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. And he will turn many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will make ready for the Lord a people prepared.’ And Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.’ And the angel answered him, ‘I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God; and I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news. And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things come to pass, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.’ And the people were waiting for Zechariah, and they wondered at his delay in the temple. And when he came out, he could not speak to them,\fn{He was unable to pronounce the priestly blessing, for which the people were waiting.} and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he made signs to them and remained dumb. And when his time of service was ended, he went to his home. After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she hid herself, saying, ‘Thus the Lord has done to me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach\fn{Among the Jews, barrenness was regarded as a sign of Divine disfavor.} among men.’ In the sixth month\fn{After the conception of John the Baptist.} the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!’\fn{Other ancient authorities add: Blessed are you among women!} But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.\fn{Jesus, the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua.} He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ And Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I have no husband?’\fn{In Greek: I do not know a man.} And the angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born\fn{Other ancient authorities add: of you.} will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.’ And Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her. In those days Mary arose and went with haste into his country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of our greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be\fn{Or: believed, for there will be.} a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.’ And Mary\fn{Other ancient authorities read: Elizabeth.} said, ‘My soul magnifies\fn{I.e., declares the greatness of.} the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity for ever.’ And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her home. Now the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered, and she gave birth to a son. And her neighbors and kinsfolk heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechariah after his father, but his mother said, ‘Not so; he shall be called John.’ And they said to her, ‘None of your kindred is called by this name.’ And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, ‘His name is John.’ And they all marveled. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear\fn{Indicating a limitation of the limits of human power and understanding before God.}came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea; and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, ‘What then will this child be?’ For the hand of the Lord was with him.)

 

Luke 7:11-17:—(Soon afterwards\fn{Other ancient authorities read: Next day.} he went to a city called Nain,\fn{About 25 miles southwest of Capernaum.} and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. As he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, a man who had died was being carried out,\fn{No burial was allowed within the walls of a Jewish city or town.} the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a large crowd from the city was with her. And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, ‘Do not weep.’ And he came and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, ‘Young man, I say to you, arise.’ And the dead man sat up, and began to speak. And he gave him to his mother. Fear seized them all; and they glorified God, saying, ‘A great prophet has arisen among us!’ And ‘God has visited his people!’ And this report concerning him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.)

 

Luke 7:37-50:—(And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was sitting at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.’ And Jesus answering said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ And he answered, ‘What is it, Teacher?’ ‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii,\fn{A single denarius was about the usual daily wage of a laborer.} and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘The one, I suppose, to whom he forgave more.’ And he said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.’ And he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this, who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’)

 

Luke 11:27:—(As he said this,\fn{He had just finished a teaching about demons, after having exorcised one that was mute.} a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!’ But he said, ‘Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.’)

 

Luke 15:11-32:—(And he said, “There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that falls to me.’ And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine.\fn{Perhaps the culminating indignity for a Jew or Moslem.} And he would gladly have fed on the pods\fn{Other ancient authorities read: And he would gladly have filled his belly with.} that the swine ate; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’\fn{Other ancient authorities read: treat me as one of your hired servants.} But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring\fn{The ring is a symbol of authority.} on his hand, and shoes\fn{For slaves would have been unshod.} on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to make merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked him what this meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.’ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed for him the fatted calf!’ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”)

 

Luke 16:19-31:—(There was a rich man,\fn{Though unnamed, he is commonly called Dives, after the Latin word for rich man.} who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus,\fn{Not to be identified with the man Jesus raised from the dead at John 11:1-44.} full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him in my father’s house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.’)

 

Luke 23:27-31:—(And there followed him a great multitude of the people, and of women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never gave suck!” Then they will begin to say to the mountains, “Fall on us;” and to the hills, “Cover us.” For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’\fn{A proverbial saying which, in this context, probably means: If the innocent Jesus meets such a fate, what will be the fate of the guilty Jerusalem.})

 

Luke 23:43:—And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’\fn{Paradise, like Abraham’s bosom, was a contemporary Jewish term for the lodging place of the righteous dead prior to resurrection.})

 

     About where Luke was written, nothing can be said with certainty. If Luke’s geographical picture of Palestine is really incorrect (as some think), it is more likely that he wrote in Asia Minor or Greece than in Syria. Nor is anything known about the Theophilus, to whom both gospel and acta are addressed; though NOAB thinks that he was probably a Roman of high rank.

 

[ODC, 13-14, 829; OAB, 1239; ENC, XIV, 410-411; NOAB, NT, 76-120]

 

491. The Coptic Acts of Luke

 

     CAT mentions a Coptic Acts of Luke, which came into existence not earlier than the end of the 4th century. James refers to it, as he does of others, as not of much interest, either as history or legend. The ODC knows about the acta of his alleged martyrdom and calls them legendary. See also on this Harnack (Luke the Physician, 1911); Foakes-Jackson & Lake (The Beginnings of Christianity II, 1922, 207-359; Dupont (Les Problemes du Livre des Actes d’Apres les Travaux Recents, 1950); and McNeile (An Introduction to the Study of the New Testament, 2nd ed., 1953).

 

[CAT, II, 613; ANT, 471; ODC, 829; ENC, XIV, 410]

 

492. The Arabic Martyrdom of Saint Luke

 

     Lipsius (Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten II.2, 1884, 356) tells us that this legend of Luke is quite peculiar to the Arabic Synaxarium of the Coptic Church, and to the Ethiopic Conflicts of the Holy Apostles; which, as we have already seen, were translated from the original Greek, not directly, but through the Coptic and Arabic. According to that text, Luke, in prospect of death, gave his writings for safe custody to an old fisherman named Silas (see Budge, Contendings of the Apostles II, 141, where the man’s name is also given as Silas). It might be possible to read the word Silas into the Arabic text of folio 206a, but MRS says that my own conviction is that it is ‘Theophilus’ and goes on to say that this person was evidently not a fisherman but a man of distinction; also, with reference to the Ethiopic version, if the word Thabilaus were written in Arabic without its diacritical points, the Ethiopic translator might easily have read Silaus, and then have dropped the last long vowel.

 

     Lipsius (ibid.) thinks that the passage where, in the Ethiopic version, Titus is said to be of the city of Galila, and Luke of the country of Dalmatia (this is evidently recorded somewhere in the Syriac History of John, in Wright, Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, 1871, 22-60), is simply an amazing misreading of II Timothy 4:10—(For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia,\fn{Other ancient authorities read: Gaul.} Titus to Dalmatia.—;but this remark cannot apply to the Arabic text, for in folio 204B of our manuscript, Luke is said to be from the city of Antioch, and this agrees with the statement of Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History III.4), to which the wording of Acts 11:28 in the late 4th century Codex Bezae—revertentibus autem nobis, in Latin translation—is supposed to indirectly conform. Also, the Parefatio Lucae (given in Wordsworth-White’s Vulgate (p. 269), and ascribed by Harnack to the 3rd century) says very clearly: ­Lucas Syrus natione Antiochensis arte medicus discipulus apostolorum­. On the other hand, the Arabic version of his death puts this event in Rome; and it is said just as clearly elsewhere that he died in Bithynia.

 

     The Arabic martyrdom is quoted in its entirety below. For a brief summary of the historical appearance of the Apostolic literary materials, see before #146.

 

1. It came to pass that when the disciples had divided the cities of the world, the lot of Peter was the city of Rome; and some of the disciples abode with him. These were their names: Titus, from the city of Galilee and Luke from the city of Antioch. And when the blessed Peter fell asleep in Rome, in the time of Nero the Emperor, they were scattered to preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus the Christ in all these countries. And Nero Caesar, the Emperor, seized Paul, and took off his head in Rome.

 

2. And as for Luke, he fled from the face of the Emperor: and he preached in the countries and all the cities which were in these coasts. And he was the scribe of Peter, to write about all the good acts with which he preached in the name of the Lord Jesus the Christ. And God wrought many wonders by his hand. He healed the sick; he opened the eyes of the blind; and the lame walked; and he cleansed the lepers; and he made the deaf hear; and he healed all the divers kinds of sickness in the name of our Lord and our God Jesus the Christ. And when his hearers went out into these countries, the believers were multiplied in them by means of him. And he built many churches and monasteries in every place; and those who believed in our Lord Jesus the Christ were multiplied every day; and they were devoted to the worship and the teaching of Saint Luke.

 

3. And when the priests of the idol temples saw the beauty of the faith of the Gentiles, the devil entered into them, and they took counsel—they and the Jews who dwelt in that city. And they assembled in the temple which is in the great city of these countries, and it was on the twentieth day of Thoth. And when they were gathered together with the Jews in the temple, the priests adorned their idols with the pictures, and the lamps and all the scents. And all the nobles of the palace were present, and the chiefs of the palace sat upon thrones.

 

4. And the eldest of their priests came forward and said: “Some sorcerers of the twelve men and some of the seventy whom Jesus who is called the Christ made His disciples, have entered our city, and they have preached about miracles in every place; and all the Romans have been led away to their teaching, by the abundance of their deceitfulness and their sorcery. And the Emperor Nero hath slain a multitude of them. And this Luke fled from the presence of the Emperor; and he hath led astray many people of the cities and the provinces.”

 

5. Then a Jew stood up, his name was Isaac, and he was conspicuous among the community of the Jews who were in that district. And he said: “Before I came into these countries I was in Jerusalem with an excellent man whose name was Gamaliel, and the chiefs of the nation, Hannas and Caiaphas and Alexander, and Decalius, had seized a man named Jesus, and had sentenced Him to death; and they hung Him upon the cross, and slew Him, and left Him in the tomb. And He rose from amongst the dead on the third day. He it is whose name this man, whose name is Luke, preacheth.”

 

6. All the people replied to him with one voice and said: “How could this man whose name was Jesus, arise from the dead?” And when the name of Jesus was named by them in the temple, the idols all fell and were broken like earthen vessels. And when the priests saw the destruction of their gods, they rent their garments, and tore out their hair, and went out into the city of Rome to seek help from the Emperor, saying: “How many more sorceries will he do in the name of Him who is called Jesus?”

 

7. The Emperor said unto them: “I have slain every one who believes in this name in all my countries, except one man named Luke, and he escaped from my hand.” The multitude answered him: “Behold! He is in our city; he hath led its inhabitants astray by his teaching faith in Jesus. And in the city he healeth the sick of divers diseases; with many cures.” And when the Emperor heard, he was very wroth, and gnashed his teeth, and commanded that some of his captains should come and go out with two hundred soldiers of his army, and should bring him forth into his presence.

 

8. And Saint Luke was sitting teaching the multitude the precepts of the Gospel. And when he had finished his speech, the multitude dispersed to their business, and the saint arose and went forth towards the sea. And on the shore of the sea he met an old man seated for catching fish. And he said: “Come near unto me that I may speak unto thee about what it is thy duty to do.” And when he drew nigh unto him, and perceived the grace of God which was in his face, he knelt down and did obeisance unto him. And the saint raised him up and said unto him: “Behold! The Emperor hath sent his friends and his soldiers to me to bring me unto him. And I have learnt that he is commanding that I should be slain. And the will of God, may His name be glorified, shall be done. And these books—take them, and put them in thy house, in a clean place; and they will teach thee the path of life.” And the man received the books from him in trust. And the power of God rested upon him, and he went and preached in the name of God in every place. And his name was Theophilus. And he became beloved and chose of God in all things.

 

9. And while Luke the disciple was in this sate, the army of the Emperor arrived at the city, and they laid hold of the saint, and went with him to Rome to the presence of the Emperor, he being chained. And Saint Luke was blessing the name of God in his soul. And the Emperor commanded that he should be imprisoned in the gaol till the morrow. And when the morrow came, he commanded him to be brought; and he stood before him, being chained. And he never ceased from singing praises at all times and saying: “I thank thee, O my Lord Jesus the Christ, that Thou hast made me meet for this honorable station.”

 

10. And when he reached the Emperor he said unto him: “Art thou Luke who has made a sedition in all the cities of the Romans, and hast destroyed the worship of the gods by thy sorcery?” Saint Luke replied to him and said: “Our Lord Jesus the Christ said in His Holy Gospel: ‘When they persecute you, and every idle word is said about you for My name’s sake, rejoice and exult, for your reward is great in heaven.’ The works of my father Peter are good works, those which I have learnt from him. But as for sorcery; I know it not; and what I do know is the name of my Lord Jesus the Christ.” The Emperor said unto all the people of his kingdom who were present, “Let not the name of Jesus be mentioned in my Council.” And when he named the name of Jesus the Christ, immediately all the images and the talismans which were in his council-chamber fell down which he believed to be gods.

 

11. And when the Emperor and all who were present with him saw the miracle which Saint Luke had wrought, they cried and said: “Put this man out of our country.” And the Emperor straightway commanded that he should be set up for torture; and that he should be beaten with whips until his blood flowed like water upon the ground; and that his right arm should be cut off; and he struck his arm with a blow and severed it. And the Emperor said unto him: “This is the hand with which thou hast written the books wherewith thou hast led the Romans, the people of my kingdom, astray.”

 

12. Saint Luke said unto him: “Think not that my God is weak; I will show thee His power.” And he prayed and said: “My Lord Jesus the Christ, for Whose sake we have renounced the world and have followed Thee, Thou art the Savior of souls. Think not of what error goeth forth from me, whether I know it or know it not, for I am but flesh, and do not work this miracle for which I ask Thee because of me, who am a sinner; but for Thy holy name and Thy supreme power: that the gentiles may not say, ‘Where is their God on whom they call?’ Grant this favor unto Thy servant, that my arm may return whole as it was; for Thine is the power for ever and ever. Amen.” And when the saint had finished his prayer, he stretched out his left hand, and took hold of his right hand which had been cut off, and fastened it in its place, and it became whole again as it had been, by the power of our Lord and our God, Jesus the Christ.

 

13. And when the Emperor beheld this wonder, he and all who were present, they were confounded and said: “See the power of the art of this wizard!” The saint said unto him: “May God keep me from being a wizard! But I would fain have thee know the power of my Lord Jesus the Christ. And I do not loathe the death of this world.” And the saint turned and took hold of his right hand with his left hand, and made it to be again cut off. And when Anatolius the vizier saw this wonder, he believed in the Lord Jesus the Christ, he and his wife and his household and all his servants; and their number was two hundred and sixty-seven men.

 

14. And the Emperor commanded that their names should be written down. And he passed the sentence upon them that their necks should be struck off in one day. And this happened on the eighteenth day of the month of Phaophi. And he commanded that the head of St. Luke should be struck, and that it should be put into a hair sack filled with sand, and be thrown into the sea. And when the Blessed One heard this sentence, they went forth with him to the seashore to take off his head. And he said unto the officer, “I entreat you by the right of one over the other, that ye wait for me a little while, that I may pray to my God.”

 

15. And thus did he make supplication and say: “My Lord Jesus the Christ, Who hath created all things in His wisdom according to His will, the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all that moveth in them, grant power unto Thy servant and give him pardon; and place my portion and fortune with my father Peter.” And when the saint had finished his prayer, one of the officers who was blind of one eye drew nigh unto him. And he approached the saint that he might take off his head. Then was his eye opened. And he knelt down on the ground and said unto the saint: “Forgive me, O good servant of God! For I have sinned against thee.”

 

16. And the swordsman drew his sword and struck off the head of Saint Luke, and separated it from his body, and that of the other officer whose eye had been opened. And they finished their testimony together. And they put the body of Saint Luke in a hair sack, and made it heavy, and flung it into the sea. And God made it possible, may His glory be exalted, that the waves should throw it on an island. And a man who believed in God found it and took it out, and wrapped it in a fine shroud. And the martyrdom of Saint Luke the Evangelist was finished on the eighteenth day of the first Teshrin,\fn{I.e., October.} in the time of the accursed Emperor Nero. To our Lord and our Savior Jesus the Christ be dominion and power and praise and glorification and holiness and the everlasting eternal kingdom for ever and ever. Amen.

 

[MRS, xxxii, 152-156]

 

493. The Ethiopic Martyrdom of Saint Luke

 

     The text is this martyrdom is quoted below in its entirety, its paragraphs keyed for reference purposes to the Arabic text (above, #492). For a brief statement of the historical emergence of the various literary Apostolic traditions, see at be beginning of tractate #146. The footnotes are in the text.

 

1. And it came to pass that, when the Apostles divided the countries of the world amongst them, the city of Rome became the portion of Peter; and certain of the Apostles dwelt with him; their names were Titus of the country of Galila, and Luke of the country of Dalmatya.\fm{I.e., Gaul and Dalmatia, respectively.} Now when the blessed Peter died in the city of Rome, in the days of Nero the Emperor, the Apostles were scattered abroad, and they preached the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ in all countries. And Nero, the Emperor, who was surnamed Caesar, laid hold upon Paul and cut off his head in the city of Rome.

 

2. But Saint Luke fled from before the face of the Emperor and escaped, and he was preaching in all the countries and in all the cities which were in those regions. Now he was the scribe of the blessed Peter, and he wrote the history of all the beautiful acts which he did wherein he preached in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; many marvelous things, and God cast out devils through him, and he healed the sick, and he opened the eyes of the blind, and the lame walked, and he cleansed the lepers, and he made the deaf to hear, and he healed those who were sick, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And it came to pass that, when the story of him went forth into all lands, believers were multiplied therein. And he built with his own hands many churches and places for prayer in all the lands wherein the people believed in our Lord Jesus Christ; and the believers increased daily, and they observed the rule and the teaching of Saint Luke. And it came to pass that, when the priests of the temple of the gods of the heathen saw the beauty of the faith of the multitude, Satan entered into their hearts, and they took counsel with the Jews who dwelt in those regions; and they gathered themselves together in the temple which was in the great city that was in that region. Now this gathering took place on the twentieth day of the month Maskarram.\fn{I.e., September 17} And it came to pass that, when they were gathered together with the Jews in the temple, the priests and their gods were adorned with rich apparel, and in the temple were draperies, and lamps, and sweet scents of every kind; and all the nobles of the kingdom came and took their seats upon their thrones.

 

3. Then the high priest came unto them, and said, “A certain man, a sorcerer, one of the Twelve men of Galilee, and some of the Seventy-two whom Jesus, Who is called Christ, appointed to be Apostles unto Himself, have come into our city, and they have multiplied marvelous acts, and all of Rome have turned unto their doctrine because of their manifold errors and sorceries. Now behold, the Emperor Nero slew many of them, but this man Luke fled and escaped from the Emperor, and he hath led astray many of the people of this region.”

 

4. Thereupon rose up a certain Jew, whose name was Isaac (now he was the chief among the Jewish folk who were in that district), and he said “Before I came unto this country I lived in Jerusalem with a good man whose name was Gamaliel; and Annas, and Caiaphas, and Alexander, and Rayoleyos,\fn{Aurelius.} were elders of the people. And they laid hold upon a certain man Whose Name was Jesus, and they passed upon Him sentence of death, and they crucified Him upon a tree, and they killed Him, and they laid Him in the grave; but He rose from the dead on the third day, and it is this Man in Whose Name Luke preacheth.”

 

5. Then all the people answered with one voice, and said unto him, “How could this Man, Whose Name was Jesus Christ, rise from the dead?” And it came to pass that when all the gods that were in the temple heard the Name of Jesus they fell down and were dashed to pieces. And when the priests saw the destruction of their gods, they rent their garments, and plucked out the hair of their heads, and went forth into the city of Rome. And they cried out unto the Emperor, saying, “Behold, these men whom they call after Jesus work many sorceries.”

 

6. And the Emperor said unto them, “I have killed all those who believe in this Name, except one man who is called Luke, and he hath escaped out of my hands.” Then the people answered and said unto him, “Behold, he hath led astray all the people who live in our country by his teaching, and by making them to believe on Jesus; in our city he healeth those that are sick, whatsoever be their disease, and he healeth multitudes.” And it came to pass that, when the Emperor heard these words, he was exceedingly angry, and he gnashed his teeth, and he commanded one of his captains to go with two hundred soldiers to the place where saint Luke was, and to bring him before him.

 

7. Now Saint Luke was sitting and teaching the multitude the commandments of the Gospel, and when he had finished his discourse the people dispersed unto their handicrafts. Then the holy man rose up and went forth to the sea, and he found upon the sea-shore an aged man seated catching fish. And he said unto him, “I say unto thee, O man who dost catch fish, come unto me, and I will tell thee what it is necessary for thee to do;” and when the old man had drawn nigh unto him, he saw the grace of God in his face, and he fell down and bowed himself before him. Then the holy man lifted him up, and said unto him, “Behold, the Emperor hath sent unto me a captain with soldiers to bring me unto him, and behold, I know that he hath commanded them to slay me; and I must fulfill the will of god. Take now this book, and lay it up in thy habitation in a pure place, and it shall teach thee the way of life.” And the old man took the book from him in faith, and the power of God came down upon him; now his name was Silas, and he was a bold man, and was chosen of God, and he preached in God’s Name throughout all the land.

 

8. Now while Saint Luke was holding converse the soldiers of the Emperor came, and they laid hold upon him, and he went with them to Rome, and came into the presence of the Emperor; now he had been put in bonds, but he was blessing the Name of God Almighty in his heart. Then the Emperor commanded them to cast him into prison until the morrow. And it came to pass that when the morrow had come he ordered them to bring him into his presence, and to make him to stand bound before him; but Saint Luke ceased not to ascribe praise unto God the whole time, saying, “I give thanks unto Thee, O my Lord Jesus Christ, because Thou hast made me worthy of this honorable position.”

 

9. Now when Saint Luke had come into the presence of the Emperor, he said unto him, “Art thou Luke who hast destroyed all the cities of Rome, and who wouldst restrain the worship of the gods by thy sorcery?” Then Saint Luke answered and said unto him, “Our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ saith in the Gospel, If they drive you out from one city go ye unto another. Blessed are ye when they shall speak against you all manner of evil falsely, for My sake. Rejoice and be glad: for great shall be your reward in heaven.\fn{Matthew 10:23; 5:11, 12.} The work of my father Peter is a good work, and this have I learned from him; as for sorcery I have no knowledge thereof, but I do know the Name of my Lord Jesus Christ.” And the Emperor said unto the men of his kingdom who were gathered together round about him, “Make ye no mention of the Name of Jesus before my throne;” whereupon straightway all the graven images and idols, which the emperor used to think were gods and which were about the throne, fell down quickly. And it came to pass that, when the Emperor and all those who were with him saw the mighty deed which Saint Luke had wrought, they cried out, and said, “Drive out this man from our country.”

 

10. And in that same hour the Emperor commanded that they should make Saint Luke to stand up to be scourged, and they beat him with whips of untanned leather until his blood flowed upon the ground like water. Then the Emperor commanded them to cut off his right hand and arm; and straightway the swordsman came and smote at his right hand and arm and cut them off. And the Emperor said unto Saint Luke, “Is this the hand and arm wherewith thou didst write books and lead into error Rome and the people of my kingdom?”

 

11. And Saint Luke said unto him, “Do not imagine that my God is One Who hath no strength, for I will show thee His power.” And he prayed and said, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, Whom the world hath rejected and Whom we have followed, Thou art the Savior of souls; Thou dost not desire that error should go forth from me knowingly or unknowingly; now, I am of the children of men, do not Thou therefore perform this mighty act which I beseech Thee to do for my sake, for I am a sinner, but for the sake of Thy holy Name, and for the sake of Thine exalted power, so that the multitudes may not say, ‘Where is their God?’ Grant now this act of grace unto Thy servant, and let his arm be healed, and let it become even as it was formerly, for Thine is the glory, and the power for ever. Amen.” Then, having made an end of his prayer, he stretched out his left hand and laid hold of his right hand, which had been cut off, and made it to adhere to its proper place; and by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ it became alive again.\fn{Or: it healed.}

 

12. And it came to pass that, when the Emperor and all those who were sitting with him saw this wonderful thing, they marveled and said, “Observe ye the might of the work of this sorcerer;” and Saint Luke said unto him, “O my lord, I am not a sorcerer; may my God keep me from becoming one! But I would that thou mightest know the power of my Lord Jesus Christ, and that I am not unwilling to suffer the death of this world;” then Saint Luke took hold of his right hand with his left and cut it off again. Now when Inatole,\fn{Anatolius.} a prefect of the Emperor, saw this marvel, he, and his wife, and the men of his house, and all his servants (now they were in number two hundred and eighty-seven souls), believed in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

13. And the Emperor commanded his servants to write down their names, and he passed an order for them all to be executed in one day; and this order was carried out on the twenty-second day of the month Tekemt.\fn{I.e., October 19.} Then the emperor commanded them to cut off the head of Saint Luke, and to put it in a sack made of dark wool,\fn{Or: hair.} and to fill the sack with sand and to cast it into the sea. Now when the blessed man had heard this command the Emperor’s servants took him out to the sea, so that they might cut off his head, and he said unto the captain of the soldiers, “I entreat you by him that is the greatest, and by him that is the least among you, to bear patiently with me for a little while, until I have prayed unto my God.”

 

14. Then he prayed, saying, “O my Lord Jesus Christ, Who didst create everything by Thy wisdom and according to Thy will; that is to say, the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and everything which moveth therein, grant unto Thy servant power, and grace, and forgiveness of sins and offenses, and make him to inherit a portion together with my father Peter.” And it came to pass that when the saint had ended his prayer, one of the captains of the soldiers, who was blind in one of his eyes, drew nigh unto him, and came to the saint to cut off his head before he had finished his prayer; and because of this thing he saw with his blind eye, and he fell down upon the ground, and said unto the saint, “Forgive me, O thou servant of the good God, for I have blasphemed thee.”

 

15. And the other swordsman drew his sword, and smote Saint Luke on the head and cut it off from his body; and he cut off the head of his fellow captain who had believed also, thus the captain and Saint Luke finished their testimony together. And they placed the body of the saint in a sack made of hair, and cast it into the sea, but by the commandment of God the waves washed it up upon an island; and a certain man who believed in God found it, and took it up out of the water, and buried it, having swathed it in fine linen. Now Saint Luke finished his testimony on the twenty-second day of the month Tekemt, in the days of the Emperor Nero. Glory be unto God, and unto our Lord and God Jesus Christ, and sovereignty, and power, and honor, and holiness be unto His kingdom, which shall never, never, change; and unto the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be praise for ever and ever! Amen, Amen, and Amen. So be it. So be it. Hallelujah.

 

[COA, II, 137-145]

 

***

 

XXXVIII: VALENTINUS

 

494. 495. The Latin Gospel of Truth; The Coptic Gospel of Truth

 

     Ancient commentary upon this work is sparse.

 

1. Irenaeus of Lyons (­Adversus Omnes Haereses­ III:xi.12, c.180) reports that not long before the composition of his own work, the Valentinians had produced a kind of fifth gospel, entirely different from the Received gospels and entitled ­Veritatis Evangelium­. Of it he says:—(the Valentinians, again, outstep all bounds of reverence in producing their own writings, and boast that they possess more gospels than there really are. Indeed they have advanced to such a pitch of audacity that they give the title Gospel of Truth to a work composed by them not long ago, which agrees in no respect with the gospel of the apostles,\fn{I.e., with the Word as reported in the Received Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.} so that among them not even the (Received) gospel is without blasphemy. For if what they produce is the Gospel of Truth, yet is different from those handed down to us by the Apostles, than any who will may learn—as is manifest from the writings themselves—that what has been handed down by the Apostles is not the Gospel of Truth.)

 

2. Tertullian of Carthage (­De Praescriptione Haereticorum­ XXV, c.200AD) perhaps writes a further allusion to the Gospel of Truth. In a passage in which he has certain unnamed Gnostics in view, he says that they\fn{The Valentinians.} will not admit that they\fn{The Apostles.} revealed all things to everyone; for some of them delivered openly and to the world at large, some in private and to a few, because Paul makes use of this saying to Timothy: ‘O Timothy, that which was committed to thee, keep\fn{OAB has: guard.} the truth that has been entrusted to you by the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.’ But not even the fact that he wished him ‘to commit these things to faithful men, who may be fit to teach others also’ is ground for interpreting that also as proof of a hidden gospel.)

 

3. Pseudo-Tertullian (in Adversus Omnes Haereses; 3rd century?) writes:—(He\fn{Valentinus.} approves some parts of the Law and the prophets, but rejects others. Also he has a gospel of his own in addition to these of ours. After him arose Ptolemaeus and Secundus.)

 

     Since the document was so poorly attested, the efforts of scholars to gain some idea of its form and content were doomed to failure from the outset. Numerous hypotheses were nevertheless advanced, all of which today are to be regarded as more or less worthless or erroneous.

 

     For now we possess two copies (one complete) of what may be the actual text of the Gospel of Truth, translated from Greek into Coptic (Subachmimic dialect). It is the second of the four or five writings (all of them translations of 2nd century Greek texts and probably of Valentinian origin) contained in the Codex Jung (middle of the 4th century), discovered c.1945 at Nag Hammadi, Egypt, some 60 miles below Luxor, and acquired in 1952 by the Jung Institute for Analytical Psychology in Zurich, Switzerland. In spite of the title—which might be merely traditional and in any case is here supplied only by implication—the treatise does not belong to the ordinary type of a gospel, whether Received or Gnostic. It contains no account of the life or works of Jesus, nor any mention of the words or sayings of the Lord. On the contrary, it presupposes acquaintance with the Synoptics, of which it expounds episodes and parables, and with the Received Gospel of John. In addition it makes use of the Received apocalypse and letters of Paul, and probably also of some of the Received narrative of the infancy of the Savior. In short, it shows acquaintance with most of the books of the Received New Testament.

 

     Nor is the work constructed on the pattern usual in Gnostic gospels. It does not profess to record, in the form of a vision or a dialogue, the sublime teaching imparted by Christ to some privileged person, an Apostle, a group of disciples, or the disciples and the holy women as a body. It has on the contrary the character of a public address, a lecture, interrupted by admonitions to the audience, present or imagined, and closes with a personal statement. An initiate, who possesses the authority of a master and the warmth and unction of a preacher, here speaks to his brethren, offering them a kind of meditation or devotional homily on the gospel. In short, it might be reckoned among pieces of the same kind which [so Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, Stromateis IV:xiii.89:1-3 and VI:vi. 52:3-4)] belonged to the literary work of Valentinus.

 

     Far from pretending to be a new gospel, this discourse treats only of the truth of the Received gospel: its purpose is only to unfold and explain the significance and bearing of the Good News proclaimed by Christ, which came into the world with Him. On the other hand, in the sense that it relates the Good News about Jesus, about the eternal and Divine Son, the Word who reveals the Father and passes on knowledge, particularly self-knowledge, it could be called a gospel. For through this self-knowledge the Gnostics knew who they were, where they had come from, and where they were going; they realized that they themselves were sons of the Father, that they were of Divine origin, that their past and future rested in the Divine. Hence it could be said that this gospel is a joy for those who had received the gift of knowing the Father: the nightmare of living in ignorance is thus transformed into the joyful life in union with the Father. The claim has thus been made that the Gospel of Truth uses and interprets the Received Text as a witness to Christian Gnosticism.

 

     It seems, accordingly, that we must abandon the idea that our treatise is a gospel in the proper sense, or that it was intended to be a kind of fifth gospel, designed to correct or to complete them. There is no reason for allowing ourselves to be influenced in this respect by the testimony of Irenaeus, who may well have had no more than a superficial or indirect knowledge of the work (so Harnack, Litg. I.176), and may not have even read it for himself (so Hennecke, Neutestamentliche Apokryphen, 1924, 68; and Loisy, La Naissance du Christianisme, Paris, 1933, note 3). On the basis of the title alone, or the little he knew of the book, Irenaeus may have been led to think of it as a gospel fabricated over and above the Received gospels in order to replace them—a work of which the very name seemed to express the view that in it Truth was opposed to Error, Falsehood, and Inaccuracy.

 

     However that may be, the document is probably of Valentinian origin, and was written earlier than 180AD (so Peuch and Quispel, Vigiliae Christianae VIII, 1954, 27-32). It is even possible that it should be ascribed to Valentinus himself, rather than to his disciple Marcus, and that it was composed towards the middle of the 2nd century. Van Unnik (“The Gospel of Truth and the New Testament” in The Jung Codex, London, 1955, 97-104) would be still more precise: Valentinus wrote the Gospel of Truth in Rome between 140 and 145AD, shortly before or after his breach with the Orthodox Christian community of that city.

 

     The interest in the document would in that case be considerably increased: not only would we now possess at last a complete work by the founder and head of the Valentinian school, but also we should be in a position to comprehend the first efforts toward the formation of the system of this man, still only in part detached from the more Orthodox envelope in which he had first tried to formulate it.

 

     Moreover, the numerous and diverse Biblical citations would make the work a very valuable witness for the state of the Received New Testament at that date.

 

     It is true, however, that some of the arguments which van Unnik has advanced are open to question—such as the argument from the method of finger-reckoning referred to in the gospel, which van Unnik himself has now withdrawn (Newly Discovered Gnostic Writings, London, 1960, 64 note 1); and one may well still hesitate to adopt in their entirety the conclusions which he draws. Also, Schenke and others have claimed that the Gospel of Truth shows nothing specifically Valentinian, and that its central ideas represent a theory of gnosis akin to that of the Odes of Solomon.

 

     That said, Puesch and Quispel still believe that the writing should rather be linked with Valentinianism; and this is also the opinion of Nock (Journal of Theological Studies IX, 1958, 323), Jonas (Gno-mon XXXII, 1960, 327f), Braun, Orbe, Grant, Grobel and others.

 

     NTB lists the following major thought parallels with various portions of the Received Text.

 

I,3;18.11-19: Through this, the gospel of the one who is searched for, which was revealed to those who are perfect through the mercies of the Father, the hidden mystery, Jesus, the Christ, enlightened those who were in darkness through oblivion. He enlightened them;

Colossians 1:25-27: of which I became a minister according to the divine office which was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 2:2b-3: to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Ephesians 3:2-5,9-10: assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace that was given to me for you, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; … and to make all men see what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things; that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places.

*

I,3;18.19-21: he showed them a way; and the way is the truth which he taught them.

Matthew 22;16: And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men.

Mark 12:14: And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?

Luke 20:21: They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God.

John 14:6: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.

*

I,3;18.24: He was nailed to a tree

Acts 2:23: this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of god, you crucified\fn{In Greek: to nail.} and killed by the hands of lawless men.

Acts 5:30: The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.

Acts 10:39b: They put him to death by hanging him on a tree;

Galatians 3:13: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, “Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree”—

Colossians 2:14: having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

*

I,3;18.24-31: he became a fruit of the knowledge of the Father. It did not, however, cause destruction because it was eaten, but to those who ate it it gave to become glad in the discovery, and he discovered them in himself, and they discovered him in themselves,

John 6:53-58: So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live forever.”

I Corinthians 11:28-32: Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. But if we judged ourselves truly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are chastened so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

*

I,3;18.32-35: the Father, the perfect one, the one who made the totality, within him is the totality and of him the totality has need.

Colossians 1:16-17: for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

*

I,3:18.38-40: the Father was not jealous. What jealousy indeed could there be between himself and his members?

I Corinthians 10:22: Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

*

I,3: 19:7-10: It is he who fashioned the totality, and within him is the totality and the totality was in need of him.

Colossians 1:16-17: for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

*

I,3;19.10-17: As in the case of a person of whom some are ignorant, he wishes to have them know him and love him, so—for what did the totality have need of if not knowledge regarding the Father?—he became a guide,

I Timothy 2:4-5: who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

*

I,3:19.27-30: After all these, there came the little children also, those to whom the knowledge of the Father belongs.

Matthew 19:13-14: Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people; but Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Mark 10:13-14: And they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them, “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

Luke 18:15-16: Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God.

*

I,3:19.34-20.14: There was manifested in their heart the living book of the living--the one written in the thought and the mind of the Father, which from before the foundation of the totality was within his incomprehensibility—that book which no one was able to take, since it remains for the one who will take it to be slain. No one could have become manifest from among those who have believed in salvation unless that book had appeared. For this reason the merciful one, the faithful one, Jesus, was patient in accepting sufferings until he took that book, since he knows that his death is life for many.

Revelation 5:1-9: And I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals; and I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it, and I wept much that no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it. Then one of the elders said to me, “Weep not; lo, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders, I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth; and he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; and they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.

Revelation 13:8: and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.

*

I,3;20.10-14: For this reason the merciful one, the faithful one, Jesus, was patient in accepting sufferings until he took that book, since he knows that his death is life for many.

Hebrews 2:17-18: Therefore he had to be made like his brethren in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make expiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered and been tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

*

I,3:20.13-14: his death is life for many.

Matthew 20:28: even as the Son of man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45: For the Son of man also came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

*

I,3:20.15-27: Just as there lies hidden in a will, before it is opened, the fortune of the deceased master of the house, so it is with the totality, which lay hidden while the Father of the totality was invisible, being something which is from him, from whom every space comes forth. For this reason Jesus appeared; he put on that book; he was nailed to a tree; he published the edict of the Father on the cross.

Galatians 3:13-18: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree”—that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. To give a human example, brethren: no one annuls even a man’s will, or adds to it, once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings.” Referring to many; but, referring to one, “And to your offspring,” which is Christ. This is what I mean: the law, which came four hundred and thirty years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance is by the law, it is no longer by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

Hebrews 9:15-17,26b: Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred which redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant. For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. … But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

*

I,3:20.19-22: the Father of the totality was invisible, being something which is from him, from whom every space comes forth.

Colossians 1:15-16: He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.

*

I,3:20.23-27: For this reason Jesus appeared; he put on that book; he was nailed to a tree; he published the edict of the Father on the cross.

Clossians 2:14: having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

*

I,3:20.30-32: Having stripped himself of the perishable rags, he put on imperishability, which no one can possibly take away from him.

I Corinthians 15:53-54: For this perishable nature must put on the imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”

II Corinthians 5:2-4: Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

*

I,3:22.2-12: Therefore, if one has knowledge, he is from above. If he is called, he hears, he answers, and he turns to him who is calling him, and ascends to him. And he knows in what manner he is called. Having knowledge, he does the will of the one who called him, he wishes to be pleasing to him, he receives rest.

John 3:31-32: He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth belongs to the earth, and of the earth he speaks; he who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony;

John 4:34: Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.

John 5:30: “I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

John 6;38: For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me;

John 8:28-29: So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority but speak thus as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what is pleasing to him.”

*

I,3:22.13-15: He who is to have knowledge in this manner knows where he comes from and where he is going.

John 3:8: The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or whither it goes; so it is with every one who is born of the Spirit.”

John 8:14: Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness to myself, my testimony is true, for I know whence I have come and whither I am going, but you do not know whence I come or whither I am going.

*

I,3:24.9-18: The Father reveals his bosom.—Now his bosom is the Holy Spirit.—He reveals what is hidden of him--what is hidden of him is his Son—so that through the mercies of the Father the aeons may know him and cease laboring in search of the Father,

I Corinthians 2:10-12: God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what person knows a man's thoughts except the spirit of the man which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.

*

I,3:25.25-26.15: It is as in the case of some people who moved out of dwellings having jars that in spots were not good. They would break them, and the master of the house would not suffer loss. Rather he is glad because in place of the bad jars there are full ones which are made perfect. For such is the judgment which has come from above. It has passed judgment on everyone; ... —a great disturbance took place among the jars because some had been emptied, others filled; that is, some had been supplied, others poured out, some had been purified, still others broken up.

II Timothy 2:20-21: In a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and earthenware, and some for noble use, some for ignoble. If any one purifies himself from what is ignoble, then he will be a vessel for noble use, consecrated and useful to the master of the house, ready for any good work.

*

I,3:26.1-6: It has passed judgment on everyone; it is a drawn sword, with two edges, cutting on either side. When the Word appeared, the one that is within the heart of those who utter it—

Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

*

I,3:27.5-8: since this is the manifestation of the Father and his revelation to his aeons. He manifested what was hidden of him; he explained it.

John 1:18: No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

*

I,3:30.14-26: And blessed is he who has opened the eyes of the blind. And the Spirit ran after him, hastening from waking him up. Having extended his hand to him who lay upon the ground, he set him up on his feet, for he had not yet risen. He gave them the means of knowing the knowledge of the Father and the revelation of his Son.

Ephesians 1:17: that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,

*

I,3:30.27-32: For, when they had seen him and had heard him, he granted them to taste him and to smell him and to touch the beloved Son.

I John 1:1,3: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— … that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us; and our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.

*

I,3:30.32-31.1: When he had appeared instructing them about the Father, the incomprehensible one, when he had breathed into them what is in the thought, doing his will, when many had received the light, they turned to him.

John 20:19b,21-22: Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” … Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

*

I,3:31.4-8: For he came by means of fleshly form, while nothing blocked his course because incorruptibility is irresistible.

Romans 8:3: For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,

*

I,3:31.35-32.16: He is the shepherd who left behind the ninety-nine sheep which were not lost. He went searching for the one which had gone astray. He rejoiced when he found it, for ninety-nine is a number that is in the left hand which holds it. But when the one is found, the entire number passes to the right hand. As that which lacks the one--that is, the entire right hand--draws what was deficient and takes it from the left-hand side and brings it to the right, so took the number becomes one hundred.

Matthew 18:12-13: What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.

Luke 15:4-6: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’

Matthew 25:33: and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left.

*

I,3:31.35: He is the shepherd

John 10:11a: I am the good shepherd.

John 10:14a: I am the good shepherd.

*

I,3:32.18-25: Even on the Sabbath, he labored for the sheep which he found fallen into the pit. He gave life to the sheep, having brought it up from the pit in order that you might know interiorly—you, the sons of interior knowledge--what is the Sabbath, on which it is not fitting for salvation to be idle,

Matthew 12:11-12: He said to them, “What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Luke 14:5: And he said to them, “Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull him out on a Sabbath day?”

*

I,3:32.20-21: He gave life to the sheep,

John 10:10b-11: I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

John 10:15: as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.

John 10:28: and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of my hand.

*

I,3:33.11-18: Be concerned with yourselves; do not be concerned with other things which you have rejected from yourselves. ... Do not be moths. Do not be worms, for you have already cast it off.

Matthew 6:19-20: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Luke 12:33: Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.

*

I,3:33.15-16: Do not return to what you have vomited to eat it.

II Peter 2:22b: The dog turns back to his own vomit,

*

I,3:33.19-32: Do not become a dwelling place for the devil, for you have already destroyed him. ... So you, do the will of the Father, for you are from him.

Ephesians 4:27: and give no opportunity to the devil.

Matthew 12:43-45a: “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none. Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man become worse than the first.

Luke 11:24-26: “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest; and finding none he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.”

*

I,3:33.37-39: For by the fruits does one take cognizance of the things that are yours

Matthew 7:16a: You will know them by their fruits.

Luke 6:44a: for each tree is known by its own fruit.

Matthew 7:20: Thus you will know them by their fruits.

Matthew 12:33b: for the tree is known by its fruit.

*

I,3:33.39-34.5: because the children of the Father are his fragrance, for they are from the grace of his countenance. For this reason the Father loves his fragrance and manifests it in every place.

II Corinthians 2:14-15: But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

*

I,3:38.7-12: Now the name of the Father is the Son. It is he who first gave a name to the one who came forth from him, who was himself, and he begot him as a son. He gave him his name which belonged to him;

John 17:11b-12a: Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in thy name, which thou hast given me;

*

I,3:38.16-24: The name, however, is invisible because it alone is the mystery of the invisible which comes to ears that are completely filled with it by him. For indeed, the Father's name is not spoken, but it is apparent through a Son.

John 17:6a: “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world;

John 17:26a: I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known,

*

I,3:39.20-24: He did not, therefore, hide it in the thing, but it existed; as for the Son, he alone gave a name. The name, therefore, is that of the Father,

John 17:6a: “I have manifested thy name to the men whom thou gavest me out of the world;

John 17:26a: I made known to them thy name, and I will make it known,

*

I,3:39.23-24: as for the Son, he alone gave a name. The name, therefore, is that of the Father,

John 17:11b-12a: Holy Father, keep them in thy name, which thou hast given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in thy name, which thou hast given me;

*

I,3:42.27-30: the Father is within them and they are in the Father, being perfect, being undivided in the truly good one,

John 14:20: In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.

John 17:22-23a: The glory which thou hast given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may become perfectly one,

*

I,3;43.6-7: those upon whom the love of the Father is poured out

Romans 5:5b: because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.

*

I,3;43.9-21: They are the ones who appear in truth, since they exist in true and eternal life and speak of the light which is perfect and filled with the seed of the Father, ... And his children are perfect and worthy of his name,

I John 3:9: No one born of god commits sin; for God's nature abides in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.

 

[NTA, I, 233-241; ODC, 755; NAG, 37; CAT, XV, 256; NTB, 19-41]

 

496. The Letter of Ptolemy to Flora

 

     Ptolemaeus, the disciple of Valentinus (2nd century) stated that he had received a special Apostolic tradition. Towards the end of his Epistula ad Floram (so Epiphanius of Salamis, c.315-403, Panarion XXXIII:vii.9) he says to Flora:—(If God permit, you will learn in the future about their origin and generation, when you are counted worthy of the apostolic tradition which we also have received by succession, because we can prove all our statements from the teaching of the Savior.) Since he does not bring it into association with the names of particular Apostles, it would appear as if Ptolemaeus had recourse to a general Apostolic tradition; but it remains an insoluble problem whether he actually knew of a definite Apostolic tradition, or whether the succession he claims to stand in is nothing more than a fiction intended to impart a higher degree of authority to his words.

 

     Pseudo-Tertullian of Carthage (3rd century? Adversus Omnes Haeresis IV) also refers to him—(He\fn{Valen-tinus.} approves some parts of the law and the prophets, but rejects others. Also he has a gospel of his own in addition to these of ours. After him arose Ptolemaeus and Secundus.)—and the Orthodox church at Rome (of which his teacher, Valentinus, had been a member from c.136-c.165, when he seceded) exercised caution in relation to its acceptance of the Received Gospel of John, because within its area it stood in high favor with Ptolemaeus, Heracleon the Gnostic (fl.c.145-180) and Tatian of Assyria (fl.c.150-180).

 

     Quispel (Lettre a Flora par Ptolemee, Paris, 1966) has published a bilingual copy of this letter (Greek/French), and identified it as primarily Gnostic in character and probably composed in the Egypt of the 2nd century. In it, a Gnostic teacher named Ptolemy explains to Flora, a woman he sees as a potential initiate, that ‘we too have received’ Apostolic tradition from a succession of teachers—one that, he says, offers an esoteric supplement to the Received collection of Jesus’ words. Very clearly constructed and requiring no commentary, the letter is a document through which a lady, not yet initiated into Valentinianism, obtains instruction on a certain point, from which it will be possible to develop the system proper.

 

     For us, however, the letter has this significance, that it shows that Ptolemaeus was certainly no libertine and no ascetic, but adhered to the Sermon on the Mount. Alongside it stands the metaphorical significance of the Received Old Testament commandments. the world, in short, is regarded by them not as the work of the devil, but of a righteous God, who hates evil.

 

[NTA, I, 233: II, 54, 86-87; ODC, 626, 1322, 1404; TGG, 26; GNO, 154-155; QUI,---]

 

497. A Coptic Valentinian Exposition

 

     NAG says that a comparison with the heresiological accounts indicates that the author’s viewpoint differs from that of Valentinus and his disciple Ptolemy on major issues; but that nevertheless the most likely identification concerning the author’s affiliation among known schools seems to be a western group of Valentinian theologians, such as the group represented by Heracleon.

 

     NHG calls the Valentinian Exposition somewhat fragmentary, but identifies at least two Synoptic traditions in it: (1) the text at 36.32ff, which says:—(The will of the Father is: always produce and bear fruit.); and (2) that at 40:10-16:—(It is fitting for thee at this time to send thy Son Jesus Christ and anoint us so that we might be able to trample on the snakes and the heads of the scorpions and all the power of the Devil.) The first, he says, seems a clear allusion to Matthew 7:16ff, where an exhortation about fruits is placed next to a reference to the will of the father (Matthew 7:16-21); and the second to Luke 10:19. Certainty, he says, is not possible with the material at 41.15ff, believing that it is not really clear whether the reference to the forgiveness of sins is due to an underlying text which is being interpreted, or whether it is the author’s own interpretative addition to his source (which would then have simply spoken of John’s baptism). Because of the fragmentary nature of the text, although the author probably knew of Matthew and Luke, the evidence for this is minimal.

 

     NTB offers the following major though parallels with various of the texts of the Received New Testament.

 

XI,2;24.22-25: For he is the projector of the All and the very hypostasis of the Father, that is, he is the Thought and his descent below.

Hebrews 1:2-3a: but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature, upholding the universe by his word of power.

*

XI,2;24.26-25.22: When he willed, the First Father revealed himself in him. ... I for my part call the thought “Monogenes.” ... thus it is he who revealed himself in Monogenes, and in him he revealed the Ineffable One ... He first brought forth Monogenes and Limit.

John 1:18: No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.

*

XI,2;25.30-36: the Son. He is ... the true High Priest, the one who has the authority to enter the Holies of Holies,

Hebrews 9:11a,12a: But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent … he entered once for all into the Holy Place,

*

XI,2;33.30-32: Son, whose alone is the fullness of divinity.

Colossians 2:9: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

Colossians 1:19: For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.

*

XI,2;36.32-34: Again, the will of the Father is: always produce and bear fruit.

John 15:1-2,8,16a: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. … By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. … You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide;

*

XI,2;37.25-28: Indeed they are spiritual and carnal, the heavenly and the earthly.

I Corinthians 15:40,46-49: There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. … But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

*

XI,2;40.12-17: send thy Son Jesus Christ and anoint us so that we might be able to trample upon the snakes and the heads of the scorpions and all the power of the Devil

Luke 10:19: Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt you.

*

XI,2;40.18-20: he is the shepherd of the seed. Through him we have known thee.

John 10:2,14: but he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. … I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me,

*

XI,2;40.33-34: Lord Jesus Christ, the Monogenes.

John 1:14b: glory as of the only Son from the Father.

John 1:18b: the only Son,

John 3:16a: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

John 3:18b: because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

I John 4:9a: In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world.

*

XI,2;41.10-38: The first baptism is the forgiveness of sins ... who said, ... you to the ... your sins ... the first baptism is the forgiveness of sins. We are brought from those by it into those of the right, that is into the imperishability which is the Jordan. But that place is of the world. So, we have been sent out of the world into the Aeon. For the interpretation of John is the Aeon, while the interpretation of that which is the Jordan is the descent which is the upward progression, that is, our exodus from the world into the Aeon.

Mark 1:4: John the Baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Luke 3:3: and he went into all the region about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

*

XI,2;43.34-35: They are complete in every spiritual gift

I Corinthians 1:7a: so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift,

*

XI,2;44.181-35: ... food and drink ... food and drink.

John 6:55: For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.

 

[NAG, 435; NTB, 392-397; NHG, 81-83]

 

***

 

XXXIX: JUDAS ISCARIOT

 

498. The Gospel of Judas Iscariot

 

     There are several sources attesting to the existence of such a work:

 

1. Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.220, Against All Heresies I:xxxi:1) is the most important and the oldest source. Among other things, he says that the Cainites (elsewhere identified with the Gnostics of Epiphanius, the Nicolaitans, Ophites, Sethites, or Carpocratians) possessed, in addition to other works of their own composition, a gospel under the name of Judas Iscariot (Iudae evangelium):—(Others again declare that Cain derived his being from the Power above, and acknowledge that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons, are related to themselves. On this account, they add, they have been assailed by the Creator, yet no one of them has suffered injury. For Sophia was in the habit of carrying off that which belonged to her from them to herself. They declare that Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the Gospel of Judas.)—and he reproduces a formula which accompanied an alleged sexual rite practiced by the sect for the attainment of the perfect gnosis as part of the paragraph immediately following I:xxxi.2:—(I have also made a collection of their writings in which they advocate the abolition of the doings of Hystera. Moreover, they call this Hystera the creator of heaven and earth. They also hold, like Carpocrates, that men cannot be saved until they have gone through all kinds of experience. An angel, they maintain, attends them in every one of their sinful and abominable actions, and urges them to venture on audacity and incur pollution. Whatever may be the nature of the action, they declare that they do it in the name of the angel, saying, “O thou angel, I use thy work; O thou power, I accomplish thy operation!” And they maintain that this is “perfect knowledge,” without shrinking to rush into such actions as it is not lawful even to name.

 

2. Filastrius of Brescia (d.c.397, Liber de Haeresibus XXXIV) apparently also describes the book as in substance an exposition of a secret licentious and violently antinomian\fn{I.e., that one is justified in ones actions by faith alone, and that moral law has consequently no validity or application.} doctrine revealed by Judas Iscariot as the nature of the perfect gnosis which he was supposed to possess.

 

3. Epiphanius of Salamis (c.315-403, Panarion XXXVIII:i.5) also attests the existence and title of the book; and (Panarion XXXVIII:ii.4) is alleged to have preserved a single quotation:—(This is the angel who blinded Moses, and these are the angels who hid the people about Korah and Dathan and Abiram, and carried them off.) He also reproduced (Panarion XXXVIII:i.5) Irenaeus’ formula for perfect gnosis (note 1, above).

 

4. Theodoret of Cyrrhus (c.393-c.458, Haereticorum Fabularum Compendium I:xv) identifies the work by title and user.

 

     NTA says that it is possible, but far from certain, that this gospel contained a Passion story setting forth the mystery of the betrayal, and explaining how Judas Iscariot, by his treachery, made finally possible the salvation of all mankind—either by forestalling the destruction of the truth proclaimed by Christ, or thwarting the designs of evil powers (the Archons) who wished to prevent the crucifixion, since they knew that it would deprive them of their feeble power and bring salvation to men. These are, however, conjectures, though drawn from Cainite doctrine as known from Pseudo-Tertullian (Adversus Omnes Haeresis II), Epiphanius of Salamis (Panarion XXXVIII:iii.3-5), Filastrius of Brescia (Liber de Haeresibus XXXIV), Augustine of Hippo Regius (De Haeresibus XVIII), and Pseudo-Jerome of Strido (Indiculus de Haeresibus VIII).

 

     The gospel will have been composed in the 2nd century.

 

[NTA, I, 313-314; ENC, II, 116: XIII, 117; ANF, I, 358]

 

499. The Martyrdom of Judas Iscariot

 

     The work is contained in a vellum manuscript of the 6th century in the Imperial Public Library of St. Petersburg, containing 142 leaves, and written in a fine, regular Estrangela in double columns. Here Judas becomes bishop of Jerusalem by the name of Cyriacus. According to a note on folio 142b, the volume at one time belonged to the convent of Saint Mary Deipara in the desert of Scete, in Egypt.

 

[AAA, vii-ix]

 

***

 

XL: APELLES

 

500. The Gospel of Apelles

 

     The following sources have been cited as possessing authority, however faint, for the existence of a gospel according to Apelles the Marcionite (2nd century), a disciple of Marcion of Sinope (d.160AD).

 

1. Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, De Carne Christu VII) says that the parable of the lost sheep, and Luke 8:2:—(But he said to them, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.’)—were cited by Apelles, in a passage that presupposes (so Harnack, Marcion, 1924) that Apelles rejected the Received Gospel of John. Elsewhere (Against All Heresies VI) Tertullian reports more specifically on his teachings:—(He introduces one God in the infinite upper regions, and states that He made many powers and angels; beside Him, withal, another Virtue, which he affirms to be called Lord, but represents as an angel. By him he will have it appear that the world was originated in imitation of a superior world. With this lower world he mingled throughout a principle of repentance, because he had not made it so perfectly as that superior world had been originated. The Law and the prophets he repudiates. Christ he neither, like Marcion, affirms to have been in a phantasmal shape, nor yet in substance of a true body, as the [Received] Gospel teaches; but says, because He descended from the upper regions, that in the course of His descent He wove together for Himself a starry and airy flesh; and, in His resurrection, restored, in the course of His ascent, to the several individual elements whatever had been borrowed in His descent: and thus—the several parts of His body dispersed—He reinstated in heaven His spirit only. This man denies the resurrection of the flesh. He uses, too, one only apostle;\fn{So the text; but from the rest of the sentence, perhaps gospel is meant.} but that is Marcion’s, that is, a mutilated one. He teaches the salvation of souls alone. He has, besides, private but extraordinary lections of his own, which he calls ‘Manifestations,’ of one Philumene, a girl whom he follows as a prophetess. He has, besides, his own books, which he has entitled books of Syllagisms, in which he seeks to prove that whatever Moses has written about God is not true, but is false.)

 

2. Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236, Refutation of All Heresies VII:xxxviii.2) says that Apelles took out of the Received gospels and Pauline letters whatever pleased him.

 

3. Origen of Alexandria [d.c.254, Epistula ad Quosdam Amicos Alexandrinos; in Rufinus of Aquileia (d.410, De Adulteratione Librorum Origenis)]:—[You see with what a purging he hath cleansed our disputation, such a purging indeed as that with which Marcion cleansed the (Received) Gospel and the Apostle, or his successor Apelles after him. For just as they overturned the truth of the (Received) scriptures, so he also, subtracting the things that were truly spoken, inserted for our condemnation things that are false.]

 

4. Epiphanius of Salamis (c.315-403, Panarion XLIV:ii.6) says that Apelles quoted as a saying of Jesus:—(Be good money changers!)—as standing within his gospel; and NTA (I,88) says that he also quoted as a saying of Jesus:—(Save thyself and thy soul!)

 

5. Jerome of Strido [d.420, Commentary on Matthew, prologue; in Bede of Jarrow (c.675-735, In Luc. Ev. Expos. I, prologue)] says that Apelles, at first a disciple of Marcion, composed a gospel which bore his name. Jerome mentions it after the Gospel of the Egyptians, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Matthias, the Gospel of Bartholomew, the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles, and the Gospel of Basilides. Bardenhewer (in Litg. I, 2nd ed., 374 note 1) has proved that when Jerome wrote this, he had under his eyes Origen’s First Homily on Luke, and that it must have been he himself—or perhaps some unknown hand after his—who added this name as a supplement to Origen’s list; for such a name does not occur in the Greek text of this homily; nor in Jerome’s own Latin translation of this text of Origen; nor in a text of Ambrose of Milan (d.397, Expositio Evangelii Lucae I:ii), which follows Origen’s text very closely.

 

     The existence of such a work is made more plausible, however, by the fact that Marcion, his teacher, certainly composed a work of this nature; and that Apelles was the most famous and original of Marcion’s disciples. Moreover, Ambrose of Milan (c.339-397, De Parad. V.28f), probably following Origen, cites three questions from his thirty-eighth tome; and, according to Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History V:xiii) Apelles committed countless impieties against the law of Moses, blaspheming the divine words in a multitude of books. Nothing more, however, appears to be known about it.

 

[NTA, I, 349-350; ENC, II, 116; DCB, I, 127; ANF, III, 653-654]

 

501. The Manifestations of Philumene

 

1. Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, Against All Heresies VI; De Praescriptione Haereticorum VII, XXX) is the first to mention Philumene. He identifies her book in the first reference—(He (Apelles) has, besides, private but extraordinary lections of his own, which he calls ‘Manifestations’ of one Philumene, a girl whom he follows as a prophetess. He has, besides, his own books,)—and in chapter VII of the second reference, he calls her an angel of deceit, transformed into an angel of light, by whose miracles and illusions Apelles was led when he introduced his new heresy. According to Tertullian (chapter XXX) she was discovered in the following manner: Apelles forsook the continence of Marcion, by resorting to the company of a woman, and withdrew to Alexandria, out of sight of his most abstemious master. Returning therefrom, after some years, unimproved, except that he was no longer a Marcionite, he clave to another woman, the maiden Philumene (whom we have already mentioned), who herself afterwards became an enormous prostitute. Having been imposed on by her vigorous spirit, he committed to writing the revelations which he had learned of her. Persons are still living who remember them,—their own actual disciples and successors,—who cannot therefore deny the lateness of their date.

 

2. Augustine of Hippo Regius (354-430, On Heresies XXIV) adds the following details:—(He moreover used to say that a certain girl named Philumene was divinely inspired to predict future events. He used to refer to her his dreams, and the perturbations of his mind, and to forewarn himself secretly by her divinations of presages. ... The same phantom showed itself to the same Philumene in the form of a boy. This seeming boy sometimes declared himself to be Christ, sometimes Paul. By questioning this phantom she used to supply the answers which she pronounced to her hearers. She was accustomed to perform some miracles, of which the following was the chief: she used to make a large loaf enter a glass vase with a very small mouth, and to take it out uninjured with the tips of her fingers, and was content with that food alone, as if it had been given her from above.)

 

     Apelles attributed special authority to the Manifestations of Philumene and may [so Pseudo-Tertullian (3rd century?, Libellus C. Omn. Haer. XIX; the passage is obscure] even have had lessons from it read publicly; but when it is said that he himself wrote it [so Tertullian (De Praescription Haereticorum XXX); Theodoret of Cyrrhus (c.393-c.458, Compendium of Heretical Fables I:xxv)] the meaning probably is that Philumene dictated to him her oracles, and he wrote them down.

 

     Other material on Philumene (so ANF, 246, note 4) is to be found in Jerome of Strido (Epist. Adv. Ctesiph IV; Commentary of Galatians II); but of the Manifestations, it seems, there is no more.

 

[ANF, III, 246, 257, 528-529; DCB, I, 127]

 

***

 

XLI: SINGLE CITATIONS

 

502. The Gospel of Bardesanes

 

     In this entry as in the others of this section, an attempt has been made to answer two questions: (1) does the individual who is the subject of the entry pretend to Apostolic contact; (2) did this result in the production of a gospel.

 

     Like Marcion of Sinope (d.160), Bardesanes of Edessa (154-222) is accused here and there in the heresiological tradition of having composed or possessed for his own use a special gospel. Bardesanes was born and died at Edessa in Syria, lived at court, and wrote scholarly treatises and hymns in Syriac, becoming in a sense the creator of Syriac literature. His works were sufficiently popular after his death to induce Ephraem of Nisibis (d.373) to write some of his poems to counteract what he believed to be their theological errors; and as to his historical existence there is absolutely no doubt.

 

1. The Odes of Solomon (2nd century, perhaps 1st century), according to Newbold (Journal of Biblical Literature XXX, 1911, 161-204) were written by Bardesanes; but the reasons advanced (so Bauer, NTA, II, 810) are not decisive.

 

2. A Bardesanian dialogue (with a Greek title of two words) underlies the original Kerygmata Petrou, and was composed about 220AD.

 

3. The Acts of Thomas (written before 250, most likely in Edessa) contains a number of hymns which (so Wright, Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles I, London, 1871, 247) are to be traced to Bardesanes. [The reference by SCI, however, is incorrect for my 1968 reprint of the 1871 book by Wright; nor could I discover even Bardesanes’ name anywhere mentioned therein. (H)]

 

4. Eusebius of Caesrea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History IV:xxx) mentions a treatise on fate, and (in Praeparatio Evangelica) quotes considerable passages of it in Greek translation. This is usually identified with Bardesanes’ Dialogue of Destiny (or The Book of the Laws of the Nations), which Eusebius identifies as dialogues against the teachings of Marcion of Sinope. It is still extant, and though apparently revised by one of his disciples, remains his only complete text to survive to our time. Eusebius also mentions that he wrote an apologia.

 

5. Ephraem of Nisibus (d.373, Sermon Against Heretics LIII) knew of a book of 150 psalms or hymns composed by Bardesanes, by which he, and his son, Harmonius, became the creators of the Syriac church hymn.

 

6. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, Panarion LVI:i) notes that Bardesanes wrote an apology, and also mentions that he wrote dialogues on Fate.

 

7. Jerome of Strido (d.420, De Viris Illustribus) mentions the Dialogue of Destiny—he speaks of it as a book on Fate.

 

8. Theodoret of Cyrrhus (d.c.458, Compendium of Heretical Fables I:xxii) also mentions a book on Fate.

 

9. The Edessene Chronicle (6th century) can name as personalities significant for the religious history of the city of Edessa for the period before 313AD only Marcion of Sinope, Bardesanes, and Mani of Seleucia-Ctesiphon, thereby clearly showing who exercised the decisive influences on the earliest history of Christianity in that city.

 

10. George of Antioch (c.640-727, bishop of the Arabian nomads of Mesopotamia from 686) quotes a passage from a work of Bardesanes entitled The Mutual Synodi of the Stars of Heaven.

 

11. Moses of Chorene (8th century, History of Armenia) used an Armenian church history composed by Bardesanes during his exile in that country, as a source for his own work.

 

12. Al-Biruni (973-1048) says in Kitab al-Athar al-Baqiya (so Sachau, The Chronology of Ancient Nations, London, 1879, 27) that every one of the sects of Marcion, and of Bardesanes, has a special gospel, which in some parts differs from the (Received) gospels we have mentioned.

 

     NTA says, however, that despite this evidence, the testimony as to whether or not Bardesanes did in fact compose a gospel of his own is so slight that nothing can be derived from it. On this see Bauer (Richglaubigund Ketzerei im Altesten Christentum, Tubingen, 1934, 35-37); who is inclined to assimilate the gospel in question to the Syriac Diatessaron of Tatian of Assyria (fl.160).

 

[NTA, I, 269, 350, 439-440: II, 111, 441,810; ENC, II, 116: III, 157-158; SCI, I, 483]

 

503. The Gospel of Basilides

 

     There is no doubt here as to the profession of Apostolic communion. Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215, Stromateis VII:xvii) states that during the reign of Antoninus the Elder [by which is apparently meant the emperor (138-161) Antoninus Pius] Basilides claims (as they\fn{Basilides’ disciples.} boast) for his master, Glaucias, the interpreter of Peter. He is supported by Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236, Refutations of All Heresies IX:viii), who says that Matthias communicated to him secret sayings—logoi apocryphoi—he had heard from Jesus Christ—(Basilides, therefore, and Isidorus, the true son and disciple of Basilides, say that Matthias communicated to them secret discourses, which, being specially instructed, he heard from the Savior.)

 

     Similarly, there is no doubt that Basilides produced a gospel based upon it.

 

1. Clement of Alexandria [Stromateis IV:vii (so INT; but I cannot find it in my copy: H)] cites a passage from the twenty-third book of this gospel, which he styled Exegetica.

 

2. Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, First Homily on Luke I) mentions such a gospel as follows:—(Basilides dared to write a gospel ‘According to Basilides.’)

 

3. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesaistical History X:vii.6-7) refers to Agrippa Castor’s refutation of Basilides, who in expounding the mysteries compiled twenty-four books on the gospel.

 

4. Ambrose of Milan (d.397, Expositio Euangelii Lucae I.2) mentions this as follows:—Ausus est etiam Basilides euangelium scribere, quod dicitur secundum Basilidem.

 

5. In the Acta Disputationis Archelai et Manetis (4th century) there appears a fragment of Basilides gospel—an exposition of the parable of Dives and Lazarus.

 

6. Jerome of Strido (d.420, reference not given) mentions this in two places:—Ausus fuit et Basilides scribere euangelium et suo illud nomine titulare.)—and in the prologue to his Commentary on Matthew, where besides noting a Gospel of Apelles, he notes:—(euvangelium Basilidis.)

 

7. Philip of Side [early 5th century, Ecclesiastical History (in Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur V.2, 1888, 169 note 4)] echoes Origen’s testimony.

 

8. Bede of Jarrow (d.735, in the prologue to his In Lucae Euangelium Expositio) reproduces Jerome’s note in the latter’s Commentary on Matthew.

 

     It seems very difficult to frame any conception of the form and content of this gospel, assuming that it really was an original and independent work. Libertine doctrines are ascribed to Basilidians by Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis III:i.1-4), Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.220, Against All Heresies I:xix.3), Filastrius of Brescia (d.c.397, Liber de Haeresibus XXXII:vii), and Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, Panarion XXIV:iii.7); but the statements given by Clement (who quotes several passages from the twenty-third book of his gospel, dealing with the problem of suffering), and by Origen, contradict those of Hippolytus and Irenaeus, so it is impossible to get a clear idea of Basilides’ doctrine. It is also impossible to determine the sources from which he drew. There is certainly influence of Platonism, of other Gnostic systems, and of the Received New Testament, but much remains obscure. (A theory that his doctrine was influenced by Buddhism, however, seems improbable.)

 

1. Hilgenfeld (Historische-Kritische Einleitung in das Neue Testament, Leipzig, 1875, 46f; Zeitschrift für Wissenschaft Theologie XXI, 1878, 234; Die Ketzergeschichte des Urchristentums, Leipzig, 1884, 201) said that the Gospel of Basilides was a gospel related to that of the Received Gospel of Luke.

 

2. Windisch (“Das Evangelium des Basilides” in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche VII, 1906, 236-246) saw in it a redaction of Luke, which would thus represent a counterpart to Marcion of Sinope’s gospel.

 

3. Zahn (“Basilides und die Kirchliche Bibel” in Gesch. d. ntl. Kanons I, 764-774) said, however, that it was a kind of gospel harmony, in which passages from the four Received gospels were arranged in a tendentious fashion.

 

4. Buonaitui (Frammenti Gnostici, London, 1924, 6) followed Zahn’s opinion:—(The Gospel of Basilides was very probably a patchwork derived from the canonical gospels.)

 

5. Hennecke (Neutestamentliche Apokryphen, 1924, 68) thought that the book made use of the Received Gospel of Matthew, as well as of a number of esoteric traditions:—(But according to the text of the title this cannot have been merely an abbreviated older gospel, it also very probably contained in a variant form the independent saying Matthew 19:11-12,\fn{But he said to them, ‘Not all men can receive this precept but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.’} and in addition possibly some accounts which rested upon the familiar alleged relationship of Basilidees to Matthias, and to Glaucias, an interpreter of Peter.)

 

6. Hendrix (De Alexandrinjnsche Haeresiarch Basilides. Eeen Bijdrage tot de Geschiedenis der Gnosis, Amster-dam, 1926, 82) came to the following conclusion:—(This Gospel of Basilides must have shown some relationship with the writings of the same name which lies before us, and must have agreed at many points with our Fourth Gospel, since indeed at different places in Basilides’ doctrine a passage from the last-named writing may already be adduced. To reconstruct the content is no longer possible. We may only here and there conjecture what may have stood therein.)

 

     Basilides had many disciples, among whom was his son Isidorus, and the sect he founded still existed in Egypt in the 4th century. His followers were the first to keep the day of Christ’s baptism on January 6 or 10, celebrating it with an all-night vigil.

 

[NTA, I, 311, 346-348: II, 85; ODC, 140; ENC, III, 243; INT, I, 364]

 

504. The Gospel of Cerinthus

 

     Cerinthus of Edessa (fl.100AD) was active in Western Asia Minor. The heresiological tradition seems both sparse and confused, on one hand reckoning his disciples (called Cerinthians) as among the Gnostics, occasionally treating them as akin to the Carpocratians, and attributing to them gnosticizing doctrines, but linking them also with Jewish-Christianity.

 

1. Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.220, Against All Heresies I:xxvi; III:ii), and according to the ODC, the chief (and apparently the oldest: H) source of information about Cerinthus, states the following:—(Cerinthus, again, a man who was educated in the wisdom of the Egyptians, taught that the world was not made by the primary God, but by a certain Power far separated from him, and at a distance from that Principality who is supreme over the universe, and ignorant of him who is above all. He represented Jesus as having not been born of a virgin, but as being the son of Joseph and Mary according to the ordinary course of human generation, while he nevertheless was more righteous, prudent, and wise than other men. Moreover, after his baptism, Christ descended upon him in the form of a dove from the Supreme Ruler, and that then he proclaimed the unknown Father, and performed miracles. But at last Christ departed from Jesus, and that then Jesus suffered and rose again, while Christ remained impassable, inasmuch as he was a spiritual being. Those who are called Ebionites agree that the world was made by God; but their opinions with respect to the Lord are similar to those of Cerinthus and Carpocrates. They use the Gospel according to Matthew only, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, maintaining that he was an apostate from the law. As to the prophetical writings, they endeavor to expound them in a somewhat singular manner: they practice circumcision, persevere in the observance of those customs which are enjoined by the law, and are so Judaic in their style of life, that they even adore Jerusalem as if it were the house of God. ... According to their idea, the truth properly resides at one time in Valentinus, at another in Marcion, at another in Cerinthus, then afterwards in Basilides, or has even been indifferently in any other opponent.)

 

In neither of these cases does Irenaeus say that Cerinthus wrote a gospel; though Irenaeus reports elsewhere a story about Cerinthus and Polycarp of Smyrna:—(III.iii.4: There are also those who heard from him\fn{Polycarp.} that John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, “Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within.”)—and that John wrote his (Received) Gospel in order to refute Cerinthus’ doctrines:—(III:xi.1: John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith, and seeks by the proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error which by Cerinthus had been disseminated among men, and a long time previously by those termed Nicolaitans, who are an offset of that ‘knowledge’ falsely so called, that he might confound them, and persuade them that there is but one God, who made all things by His Word; and not, as they allege, that the Creator was one, but the Father of the Lord another; and that the Son of the Creator was, forsooth, one, but the Christ from above another, who also continued impassable, descending upon Jesus, the Son of the Creator, and flew back again into His Pleroma; and that Monogenes was the beginning, but Logos was the true son of Monogenes; and that this creation to which we belong was not made by the primary God, but by some power lying far below Him, and shut off from communion with the things invisible and ineffable.)

 

2. Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, De Praescriptione Haereticorum III) says:—(Carpocrates, furthermore, introduced the following sect. He affirms that there is one Virtue, the chief among the upper regions: that out of this were produced angels and Virtues, which, being far distinct from the upper Virtues, created this world in the lower regions: that Christ was not born of the Virgin Mary, but was generated—a mere human being—of the seed of Joseph, superior (they admit) above all others in the practice of righteousness and in integrity of life; that He suffered among the Jews; and that His soul alone was received in heaven as having been more firm and hardy than all others: whence he would infer, retaining only the salvation of souls, that there are no resurrections of the body. After him brake out the heretic Cerinthus, teaching similarly. For he, too, says that the world was originated by those angels; and sets forth Christ as born of the seed of Joseph, contending that He was merely human, without divinity; affirming also that the Law was given by angels; representing the God of the Jews as not the Lord, but an angel. His successor was Ebion, not agreeing with Cerinthus in every point; in that he affirms the world to have been made by God, not by angels; and because it is written, ‘No disciple above his master, nor servant above his lord,’ sets forth likewise the law as binding, of course for the purpose of excluding the gospel and vindicating Judaism.) But there is no mention of a Gospel of Cerinthus.

 

3. Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236, Refutation of All Heresies VII.contents; VII.xxi; X.xvii) says the following:—(That Cerinthus, in no respect formed his system from the Scriptures, but from the tenets propounded by the Egyptians. ... But a certain Cerinthus, himself being disciplined in the teaching of the Egyptians, asserted that the world was not made by the primal Deity, but by some virtue which was an offshoot, from that Power which is above all things, and which yet is ignorant of the God that is above all. And he supposed that Jesus was not generated from a virgin, but that he was born son of Joseph and Mary, just in a manner similar with the rest of men, and that Jesus was more just and more wise than all the human race. And Cerinthus alleges that, after the baptism of our Lord, Christ in form of a dove came down upon him, from that absolute sovereignty which is above all things. And the, according to this heretic, Jesus proceeded to preach the unknown Father, and in attestation of his mission to work miracles. It was, however, the opinion of Cerinthus, that ultimately Christ departed from Jesus, and that Jesus suffered and rose again; whereas that Christ, being spiritual, remained beyond the possibility of suffering. ... Cerinthus, however, having been trained in Egypt, determined that the world was not made by the first God, but by a certain angelic power. And this power was far separated and distant from that sovereignty which is above the entire circle of existence, and it knows not the God that is above all things. And he says that Jesus was not born of a virgin, but that He sprang from Joseph and Mary as their son, similar to the rest of men; and that He excelled in justice, and prudence, and understanding above all the rest of mankind. And Cerinthus maintains that, after Jesus' baptism, Christ came down in the form of a dove upon Him from the sovereignty that is above the whole circle of existence, and that then He proceeded to preach the unknown Father, and to work miracles. And he asserts that, at the conclusion of the passion, Christ flew away from Jesus, but that Jesus suffered, and that Christ remained incapable of suffering, being a spirit of the Lord.) Again, no mention of a Gospel of Cerinthus.

 

4. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History III:xxviii.6) repeats Origen’s story about Cerinthus and John (above); but apparently mentions nothing about a gospel composed by Cerinthus.

 

5. It is in the Apostolic Constitutions (written between 350-400, a collection of ecclesiastical law) where (at VI: ii.8) we find what appears to be the first mention of a gospel by Cerinthus; the reference, in passing, is as follows:—(Afterwards also others were the ­authors­ of absurd doctrines: Cerinthus, and Marcus, and Menander, and Basilides, and Saturnilus. Of these some own the doctrine of many gods, some only of three, but contrary to each others, without beginning, and ever with one another, and some of an infinite number of them, and those unknown ones also. And some reject marriage; and their doctrine is, that it is not the appointment of God; and others abhor some kinds of food: some are impudent in uncleanness, such as those who are falsely called Nicol-aitans.)

 

6. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, Panarion LI:viil.3) is the first identifiable person for the idea that Cerinthus himself wrote a gospel; but he says also (at Panarion L:iv) that the Alogi (a group of Asiatics who flourished c.170, and who are accused of denying the divinity of the Holy Ghost and of the Logos) considered Cerinthus the author of the all the Johannine writings; and in another place (Panarion XXVIII:v; XXX:iii; XXX:xiv) he indicates that the gospel used by Cerinthus and also by one Carpocrates of Alexandria (2nd century) was in fact identical with that of the Ebionites and was apparently a truncated version of the Received Gospel of Matthew. [At Panarion XXX:iii he says:—[And they too receive the Gospel of Matthew. For this they too use, as do the followers of Cerinthus and Merinthus, to the exclusion of all others. But they call it the Gospel of the Hebrews, for, to speak truthfully, Matthew alone of the (Received) New Testament writers presents and proclaims the gospel in Hebrew and in the Hebrew script.] At Panarion XXVIII, Epiphanius says that Cerinthus was a Jewish-Christian heretic, at first the arch-opponent of Paul, and later of John.

 

     ANF (V,114) says that Jerome of Strido (d.420, Letter LXXIX), Augustine of Hippo Regius (d.430, De Haeresibus VIII), and Theodoret of Cyrrhus (d.c.458, Compendium of Heretical Fables II:3) all expostulate on Cerinthus; but they all postdate Epiphanius; and according to INT, say nothing about a Gospel of Cerinthus (though ANF says that we have here to do with Irenaeus’ original Greek, as opposed to Hippolytus Latin version of Irenaeus’ work).

 

     Modern interpretation of this testimony divides on the opinion that Cerinthus did write a gospel; for (as INT points out), (1) Epiphanius statements that Cerinthus wrote a gospel and that the Alogi considered him the author of all the Johannine writings are otherwise unsupported; and (2) nothing from the pen of Cerinthus is known to have survived to our time.

 

1. Wurm (“Cerinth—ein Gnostiker oder Judaist?” in Theol. Quartal-schr. LXXXVI, 1904, 20-38) speaks of a Gospel of Cerinthus; but calls it a Judaizing, and not a Gnostic, gospel.

 

2. Schmidt and Wajnberg (“Gesprache Jesu mit Seinen Jungern nach der Auferstehung” in Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur XLIII, 1919, 403-454) point to the confusion, noticeable in Epiphanius, between certain Jewish-Christians, arbitrarily associated with a legendary Cerinthus; and the adherents of a Gnostic of the same name whose historical existence is much more probable and who worked in Asia Minor.

 

3. Bardy (“Cerinthe” in Revue Biblique XXX, 1921, 373) believes Cerinthus wrote a gospel, and, with Wurm, calls it a Judaizing rather than Gnostic gospel.

 

4. Quasten (in Patrology I, 1950, 128) also speaks of a Gospel of Cerinthus.

 

5. The ODC (1963) has concluded that the source of his opinions is uncertain, but he seems to have had connections both with the Ebionites and with Alexandrine Gnosticism. ... His fantastic doctrines created distress among the orthodox. It says nothing about the authorship of a gospel peculiar to him.

 

6. NTA (I,1963) says that We cannot speak well (as does e.g. Quasten I p. 128) of a Gospel of Cerinthus, nor can we appeal to Epiphanius (Pan. 51. 7. 3; II pp. 257. 6f Holl) in support of the claim that the Cerinthians, or Merinthians, composed an independent gospel of their own.

 

     See on this also: Fuller (in Dictionary of Christian Biography I, 1877, 447-449, with bibliography); Zahn (Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanonis I, 1888, 220-262; II.2, 1892, 973-991); and Peterson (in Encyclopedia Cattolica III, 1950, 1319f).

 

[ODC, 38, 258; NTA, I, 124, 345-346; ENC, II, 116: V, 207; INT, I, 549]

 

505. 506. The Gospel of Hesychius; The Gospel of Lucianus

 

     In its list of New-Testament-Form literature, the Decretum Gelasianum (6th century) mentions:—(Gospels which Lucianus falsified ... Gospels which Hesychius falsified.) James says of this that these are recensions of the text of the (Received) gospels, of which we know little.

 

[ANT, 22]

 

507. The Gospel of Mani

 

     By a Gospel of Mani, we ought, strictly speaking, to understand a work by the founder of Manichaeism, the original gospel composed by Mani of Seleucia-Ctesiphon (c.215-275). It is one of the four, five or seven canonical works (depending upon the reference) entitled variously The Living Gospel, The Gospel of the Living, The Great Gospel, or simply The Gospel; and as such appears most often at the head of the list of the different canons of the Scriptures transmitted either by the Manichees themselves, by their opponents, or by neutral witnesses; which are as follows:

 

1. Homilies of Clement XXV:ii; XLIII:xvi; XCIV:xviiif.

 

2. Kephalaia, introduction, p. 5.23 and chapter CXLVIII (in Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse, 1933, 35).

 

3. The Coptic Manichaean Psalm-Book XLVI:xxi; CXXXIX:lvi.

 

4. Compendium of the Religion of the Buddha of Light, Mani (a Chinese Manichaean catechism; in Asia Major III.ii (New Series) 1952, 194f; where it is described as the first: the great ying-lun, interpreted ‘book of wisdom’ which thoroughly understands the roots and origins of the entire doctrine.

 

5. Acts of Archelaus LXII:vi.

 

6. Cyril of Jerusalem (d.336?, Catecheses VI:xxii).

 

7. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, Panarion LXVI:ii.9).

 

8. Timotheus of Constantinople (De Receptione Haereticorum, in Patrologia Graecae LXXXVI:i.21C).

 

9. Germanus of Constantinople (d.c.733, De Haeresibus et Synodis IV, in Patrologia Graecae XCVIII).

 

10. Testimony of al-Razi (in Isis V, 1923, 31; reproduced by al-Biruni).

 

11. Testimony of al-Jaqubi (found in Kessler, Mani, 329).

 

12. Testimony of al-Biruni (d.1048, Chronology of Ancient Nations).

 

     Living, the epithet applied to this gospel, is frequently employed in the language of Manichaeism, and was inherited from gnosticism (e.g., the living Spirit, the living soul, Jesus, the Living One, perhaps also Mani the Living—see on this Schaeder, Urform und Fortbildungen des Manichaischen Systems, 88 note 1, where the name is rendered Mani-haija, meaning Mani the Living). The term might imply that the document was presented and considered as of divine origin or nature, as emanating from the higher world of Light, Truth and Life. Mirkhond (in Kessler, Mani, 379) reports a tradition or legend according to which, to prove his prophetic claims, Mani produced a book, the Gospel, and said:—(This book has come down from Heaven.) It means in any case that the work brought to its readers a message of regenerating truth, which could bring about and accomplish their spiritual resurrection and thus procure for them salvation.

 

     The work was divided into 22 books (an arrangement designed to correspond to one of the 22 letters of the Syriac alphabet, each section being designated by one of these letters). This system is confirmed by the following sources:

 

1. Al-Jaqubi (in Kessler, Mani, 206, 329):—(two and twenty gospels, of which he\fn{Mani.} named each gospel after one of the letters of the alphabet.

 

2. Al-Biruni (in Kessler, Mani, 206, 317f); but the citation is not given.

 

3. Epiphanius of Salamis (Panarion LXVI:xiii.3-5); where, however, it is wrongly attributed to Mani’s Book of Mysteries.

 

4. The Coptic Manichaean Psalm Book (Psalm CCXLI); where the gospel is describe as an antidote composed of twenty-two ingredients.

 

5. Fragments [S1 (see Salemann, “Ein Bruchstuck Manichaischen Schrifttums im Asiatischen Museum” in Memoires de l’Academie Imperiale des Sciences de Saint-Petersbourg VI.6, 8eme serie, 1-7):—(The Gospel ‘alaph is taught ... the Gospel tau is taught ... The Gospel of the 22 is taught)—and M17 (see Muller, “Handschriften-Rete in Estrangelo-Schrift aus Turfan, Chinesisch-Turkistan,” II Teil, Abh. d. pr. Akad. d. Wissensch. 1904, Anhang, Phil.-hist. Abh., Abh. II, 25-27)—(The Gospel ‘arab\fn{I.e., ‘alaph.} is taught.)] from the Chinese site of abandoned Manichaean monasteries at Turfan.

 

6. In one of the volumes of the Manichean library discovered in 1930 in the Fayyum, where reference is made (in Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften, Phil.-hist. Klasse, Berlin, 1933, 30, 37) to the third Logos of the Living Gospel; and (so Bohlig, Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der martin-Luther-Universitat, Halle-Wittenberg VI, 1957, 485) to the first or the ninth Logos.

 

     It was very difficult in 1963 form any very precise or exact idea of the content of the work.

 

1. Photius of Constantinople (c.810-895, Contrea Manicheum I:xii, in Patrologia Graeca CII:xxxvi.A) said that it contained a falsified account of the life or of certain acts of Jesus in which certain destructive and ill-omened acts of Christ our God are invented by a disposition hostile to God.

 

2. Peter of Sicily (Historia Manichaeorum XI, in Patrologia Graeca CIV.1257.C), on the contrary, affirms that it did not touch on any such subject.

 

3. Al-Biruni (973-1048, Chronology of Ancient Nations, p. 23, translation of Sachau; p. 207, of Kesslere) actually had the writing in his hands and says:—(The adherents of Mani have a gospel of a special kind, which from the beginning to the end contains the opposite of what the (Received) Christians hold. And they confess what stands therein, and declare that it is the genuine gospel, and its demands that to which the Messiah held and which he brought; everything outside this gospel is invalid, and its adherents speak lies about the Messiah.)

 

     The little that was known in 1963 about the subjects treated in The Living Gospel allows one to suppose that the writing was either (1) a standard gospel of the Gnostic type; (2) a commentary on the Received gospels designed to correct them; or (3) more probably, a work of didactic and dogmatic character expounding the Manichean system as a whole or at least some of its main points:

 

1. The first book was devoted to the description of the Kingdom of Light which regularly opens every exposition of the doctrinal myth. Al-Murtada (in Kessler, Mani, 349, 351) says:—[Mani declares in his Gospel and in the Shaburakan that the King of the world of Light dwells in the navel of his earth. He declares further, in the section ‘alif of his Gospel and in the first part of the Shaburakan, that he (the God of the world of Light) is present on his whole earth (i.e., not only in its inmost part), from without as from within; he has no limits, save on the side where his earth abuts on that of his enemy (the Kingdom of Darkness).]

 

2. Elsewhere, according to the Kephalaia (LXI,i,153.29-31), an episode belonging to a later part of the same myth was dealt with: the swallowing and absorption of water, one of the five elements of light, by the Archons of matter or of darkness.

 

3. As the work continues, a further theme [so al-Jaqubi (Chronicle I, in Kessler, Mani, 206, 329)] was that of prayer and of what must be employed for the liberation of the spirit.

 

4. In another passage (attested by the allusion in Turfan fragment T.II.D.173C), Jesus was praised and blessed before the Father, the supreme God:—And the disciples, thus speaking their doubts, said to their teacher: ‘On what ground does one in the great Gospel-book praise and bless first the Moon-god\fn{Jesus Christ is meant.} and only thereafter the great princely king of the Gods, the God Zarwan?’

 

5. A quotation from the work itself is announced (but not reproduced) in Turfan fragment M.733:—(And in the gospel ‘alaph of the Living he\fn{Mani.} says.)

 

6. Finally, we learn from al-Biruni (Chronology of Ancient Nations in Kessler, Mani, 318) that Mani, no doubt to authenticate his gospel and guarantee its authority as superior to any other, affirmed therein that he himself was the Paraclete announced by the Messiah, and the seal of the prophets.

 

     ANF reproduces (VI,179-235) the Acts of Archelaus, a disputation which Archelaus of Lycopolis (so Cyril of Jerusalem, Catecheses VI:xxvii,xxx) held with Mani and which was written down (so Photius of Constantinople, Biblioth., LXXXV) by one Hegemonius, apparently in 277AD; and also (VI,241-252) a work by Alexander of Lycopolis (301AD, Of The Manichaeans), which gives a general discussion of Mani, the history of his teaching, and its beliefs as understood by that orthodox bishop. The sources of documentation for the Manichaean faith are of a great variety. Until recently they consisted of the indirect, apologetic, and often untrustworthy testimonies of the Greek and Roman church fathers, Christian Syriac chroniclers, and Persian and Arabic Muslim authors. In the beginning of the 20th century, documents unearthed in Central Asia, and written in three Iranian languages (Middle Persian, Middle Parthian, Sogdian), Chinese, and Uigur (Old Turkish), have yielded fragments of The Great Living Gospel, beautifully and precisely written, chiefly in the characteristic Manichaean script, akin to Estrangelo. Information about their nature (and no doubt about the remaining works, apparently seven in num-ber) may be found from the following monographs:

 

SOURCES IN UIGUR:—von Gabin (Altturkische Grammatik, 2nd ed., 1950, for a bibliography); von Gabin and Winter (“Turkische Turfantexte IX, Ein Hymnus an den Vater Mani auf Tocharisch B mit Altturkischer Ubersetzung” in Abhandlungen der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Klasse fur Sprachen, Literatur und Kunst, 1956, 43).

 

SOURCES IN CHINESE:—Waldschmidt & Lentz (“Die Stellung Jesu im Manichaismus” in the Abhandlungen of the Koniglich Preussiche Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1926); Waldschmidt & Lentz (“Manichaische Dogmatik aus Chinesischen und Iranischen Quellen” in the Sitzungsberichte of the Koniglich Preussische Akademie der Wisseschaften, 1933); Haloun & Henning (“The Compendium of the Doctrine and Styles of the Teaching of Mani, the Buddha of Light” in Asia Major III, New Series, 1952, 184-212).

 

SOURCES IN IRANIAN:—Andreas & Henning (“Mitteliranische Manichaica aus Chinesisch Turkestan” in the Sitzungsberichte of the Koniglich Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1932, 1933, 1934); Henning (“Ein Manichaisches Bet- und Beichtbuch” in the Abhandlungen of the Koniglich Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1936); Boyce (The Manichaean Hymn-Cycles in Parthian, 1954); Boyce (A Catalogue of the Iranian Manuscripts in Manichaean Script in the German Turfan Collection, 1960).

 

     The first critical study of the subject “Mani and Manichaeism” was made by Isaac de Beausobre (Histoire Critique de Manichee et du Manicheisme, Amsterdam, 1734-1739) in two volumes. Important later works include: (1) Baur (Das Manichaische Religionssystem, 1831); (2) Flugel (Mani, Seine Lehre, Seine Schriften, 1862); (3) Rochat (Essai sur Mani et sa Doctrine, 1897); (4) Cumont & Kugener (Recherches sur le Manicheisme, 1908-1912, two volumes); (5) Alfaric (Les Ecritures Manicheennes, 1918-1919, two volumes); (6) Burkitt (“The Religion of the Manichees,” Donnellan Lectures for 1924 and 1925); (7) Jackson (“Researches in Manichaeism,” Columbia University Indo-Iranian Series XIII, 1932); (8) Puech (Le Manicheisme, 1949); (9) Kessler (“Mani, Manichaer” in Realencyklopadie für Protestantische Theologie und Kirche, 3rd ed., III, 1903, 193-228); (10) Harnack & Conybeare (“Manichaeism” in Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th ed., XVII, 1911, 572-578; (11) Polotsky (“Manichaismus” in Real-Encyclopadie der Classichen Altertumswissenschaft, supplementary band VI, 1935, cols. 240-271; and (12) Obolensky (“Manichaeism” in Chambers’s Encyclopaedia, IX, 1950 ed., 61).

 

[ANF, 175-253; NTA, I, 124, 345-346; ENC, II, 116: XIV, 785; INT, III, 258-259; ODC, 848-849]

 

508. The Gospel of Marcion

 

     There is twice mentioned in the ancient Tradition a Gospel of Marcion.

 

1. An-Nadim (d.988AD, Fihrist al-’ulum):—(Marcion composed a book which he called Evangelium.)

 

2. Al-Biruni (973-1048, Chronology of Ancient Nations):—[Everyone of the sects of Marcion, and of Bardesanes, has a special gospel, which in some parts differs from the (Received) gospels we have mentioned.]

 

     This work, together with his version of ten Pauline letters (he rejected I Timothy, II Timothy and Titus as non-Pauline) and his own Antitheses (in which he expounded especially the doctrine that the Christian Gospel was wholly a Gospel of Love, to the absolute exclusion of Law), formed for Marcion of Sinope (d.c.160) and his followers a canon of Scripture in place of the Received Old Testament, which latter he rejected completely, as containing a fickle, capricious, ignorant, despotic and cruel God constantly involved in contradictory courses of action. This work, however, which Marcion adopted and to which he himself added no further designation, is commonly regarded as a version of the Received Gspel of Luke, purged of what Marcion believed to be accretions and Jewish interpolations, notably the birth story, and thus restored to its primitive form. It began:—(In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Jesus Christ\fn{Or perhaps: God.} came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught in the synagogue.) [The standard modern work, with full analysis of sources and attempted reconstruction of Marcion’s Biblical text, is Harnack (“Marcion: Das Evangelium vom Fremden Gott” in Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur XIV, 1921)]

 

1-2. This theory appears to have been put forth succinctly by Bauer (Neutestamentliche Apokryphen, 1924, 71-72), supported by James (Apocryphal New Testament, 1924):—(The gospel of Marcion is of a different class: it was an edition of Luke, from which all that went counter to Marcion’s views was removed.) James says further that Marcion was the noblest exponent in hatred for the Old Testament.

 

3. Knox, however (“On the Vocabulary of Marcion’s Gospel” in Journal of Biblical Literature LXVIII, 1939, 193-201; Marcion and the New Testament: An Essay in the Early History of the Canon, Chicago, 1942, 84-88 and chapter 4) refuses to admit that Marcion simply abbreviated the text of Luke as we know it. He conjectures that Marcion used an ­urlukas­—an original and shorter version of Luke, called by scholars Proto-Luke—which was later expanded by the primitive orthodox Christians in the interests of anti-Marcionite apologetics.

 

4-7. Semler, Eichorn, the Tübingen School and Couchod (“Is Marcion’s Gospel one of the Synoptics?” in The Hibbert Journal, January 1936, 265-277) actually maintain that the Received Gospel of Luke is dependent on the Gospel of Marcion; and that the primitive Christian orthodoxy expanded a gospel narrative taken over from Marcion and placed it under the authority of Luke.

 

8. Loisy in particular (“Marcion’s Gospel: A Reply” in The Hibbert Journal, April 1936, 378-387) rejected this thesis.

 

9. Zahn (Forschungen zur Geschichte des Neutestamentlichen Kanons I.ii, 673-680) and others have claimed that Marcion made occasional use of the other three Received gospels; but

 

10. Harnack (Marcion, Leipzig, 1924, 249-255) rejected this.

 

11-13. Wilson (Marcion, London, 1933), Blackman (Marcion and His Influence, London, 1948) and Klijn (A Survey of the Researches into the Western Text of the Gospels and Acts, dissertation, Utrecht, 1949, especially 61-67) discuss the relationship of the Gospel of Marcion to the so-called Western Text (or a pre-canonical stage of this text); the relationship between Marcion and Tatian of Assyria (fl.c.160); the influence of the Gospel of Marcion on the Old Syriac form of the Received New Testament; and other subjects.

 

[NTA, I, 348-349; ANT, 14, 20-21; INT, III, 262-263; ODC, 854]

 

509. The Gospel of Perfection, associated with Nicolas

 

     All that is known of this gospel goes back to two sources from the ancient Tradition:

 

1. Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, Panarion XXVI:ii.5), who is content to name the work and to condemn it, attributing its composition to the Gnostics; and

 

2. Filastrius of Brescia (d.c.397, Liber de Haeresibus XXXIII:vii), who is also content to name it—evangelium consummationis—and to attribute its authorship to the Nicolaitans. Filastrius, however, derives his notation from Panarion XXVI:ii.6-iii.2 (so NTA—as the immediate context shows).

 

     Harnack (Litg. I, 167f) and Hennecke (Neutestamentliche Apokryphen, 1924, 69) propose (with reservations) to explain title and content by the aid of a Naassene saying quoted by Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236, Refutation of All Heresies V:vi.6; V:viii.38):—(The beginning of perfection is the knowledge of man, the knowledge of God is complete perfection.) [I cannot find this in my copy: H] This suggestion remains doubtful. It would be as plausible to appeal to Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.220, Adversus Omnes Haereses I:xxviii.7) and thus to conjecture that the gospel related to ­consummationem futuram­ (future consummation), which is to take place ­quando tota humectatio spiritus luminis colligatur­ (when all the dispersed spiritual seed of light is finally gathered together).

 

     This theme recurs in other allegedly Gnostic gospels, notably in the Gospel of Eve and the Gospel of Philip. By concentration, by focusing himself upon himself, the Gnostic regains knowledge and possession of himself, recovers his perfection and his state of being saved: on each such occasion, a morsel or part of the spiritual sub-stance now scattered among the elect (the men of a superior race, who are born from above) is recovered, and at the same time is detached from its admixture of matter and brought back to the transcendent place of its origin; thus the greater part of this light-substance is progressively restored. When in the fullness of time this collection process is complete, a final consummation will take place; the visible world will pass away; the perfection of the elect will be brought to a close; and the universal salvation of this spiritual race will be finally assured.

 

     It is possible that our document described the manner, theoretical and practical, of this process. In more general and less specific terms, it must have been either a gospel teaching an ideal of perfection and the means of attaining thereto; or a gospel destined for the perfect—the elect; or perhaps a gospel perfect in itself, the supreme gospel containing in itself the sum total of revelation or of gnosis. However, owing to the paucity of sources, all hypothesis can only be inadequate; and for the same reason it is pure conjecture to date its composition, as Harnack does (Litg. II:ii.178f) in the 2nd century.

 

     As to those who may have used this work, they have perhaps come down to posterity as the Nicolaitans of Revelations 2:6 and 2:14:—(Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ... But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel, so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice fornication. So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.)—who are associated (perhaps erroneously, so NOAB,NT,366) by Irenaeus of Lyons (d.c.220) with the Nicolas of Antioch mentioned at Acts 6:5:—(What they\fn{The Apostles.} said pleased the whole community, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, together with Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a proselyte of Antioch.)

 

     Clement of Alexandria (d.c.215) and Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220) also allude to the Nicolaitans as a Gnostic sect; but (so the ODC) it is not impossible that all references to them in Christian tradition are merely deductions from Revelation; and that there, the word itself is allegorical, being a Greek form of the Hebrew Balaam­, and that the persons referred to in Revelation had no real existence as a sect. Whatever their reality, they seem to have finished their course by c.200AD

 

[NTA, I, 232-233; ENC, II, 116; ODC, 958; NOAB, NT, 366]

 

510. The Book of Elchasai

 

     Of the Book of Elchasai only 12 fragments remain, preserved in the writings of Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236, Refutation of All Heresies IX:xiii-xvii; X:xxix), Origen of Alexandria (d.c.254, in Eusebius of Caesarea’s Ecclesiastical History VI:xxxviii), and Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, Panarion XIX, XXX). [ANF says (V,131) to consult also Theodoret of Cyrrhus (d.c.458, Compendium of Heretical Fables II.vii).]

 

     All mention the book as having been written by one Elchasai, which was used by several sects and in particular by the Elchasaites, who were named after him. Hippolytus and Epiphanius (the latter clearly uninfluenced by the former) adduce extracts from the work itself, the only remains of it to have survived. Origen and Hippolytus were acquainted with it at first-hand in Alexandria and Rome.

 

     The author’s name is given as Elchasai by Hippolytus of Rome, or his authority Alcibides, the disciple of Elchasai:—(A cunning man, and full of desperation, one called Alcibiades, dwelling in Apamea, a city of Syria, examined carefully into this business. And considering himself a more formidable character, and more ingenious in such tricks, than Callistus, he repaired to Rome; and he brought some book, alleging that a certain just man, Elchasai, had received this from Serae, a town of Parthia, and that he gave it to one called Sobai.)—and later also by the Arabic writer En-Nedim (on which see Chwolson, Die Ssabier und Ssabismus II, 1856, 543); while Epiphanius names him Elaxi. The first is the better-attested form and deserves preference; but both forms of the name go back to an Aramaic parent, which Epiphanius correctly translates with the phrase hidden power. It is not possible to decide whether Elchasai was his own name or a sobriquet, like that, e.g., of Simon Magus in Acts 8:9-10:—(But there was a man named Simon who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the nation of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all gave heed to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, ‘This man is that power of God which is called Great’.)

 

     According to his own account, Elchasai came forward with his message in the third year of Trajan (101AD); and this date is fully confirmed by the archaic character of his doctrine—the setting of the vision is typical of the end of the 1st century. He seems to have composed his book during the reign of the same emperor, as is suggested by the prophecy—given in fragment 9, but not fulfilled—of a universal conflict blazing up three years after the Parthian war (114-116), but still under Trajan’s rule. The reports about Elchasai’s homeland are contradictory; the most worthy of credit being some references in Epiphanius (Panarion XIX:ii.10f; LIII:i.1f) which point to the region east of Jordan. The work was dedicated to the Sobiai—which means the baptized, as the adherents of Elchasai called themselves, and not a person of that name, as Hippolytus wrongly assumed. The book was, however, disseminated also among other religious groups, both Jewish and Jewish-Christian, and for this Epiphanius once again affords the evidence (Panarion XIX:i; XXX:xviii; LIII). It was brought in a Greek version to the congregation of Callistus I of Rome (bishop 217-222) c.220, by Alcibiades of Apamea, who was active as a missionary in the Imperial capital. A propagandist advance by the sect to Caesarea in the year 247 is mentioned by Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History VI:xxxviii); but it seems to have met with only slight success, and in general the sect’s proselytizing power soon flagged, although it lingered on in isolated places for centuries to come.

 

     When Hippolytus states at Refutation IX:viii:—(And, in the first place, we shall expose his life, and we shall prove that his supposed discipline is a mere pretence. And next, I shall adduce the principal heads of his assertions, in order that the reader, looking fixedly on the treatises of this Elchasai, may be made aware what and what sort is the heresy which has been judiciously attempted by this man.)—that he intends to go through the book, we may conclude that he presents his extracts in the sequence in which he found them in his own source. Checking through them, we come upon a meaningful and progressive development of thought; thus the work must have been more than a mere collection of aphorisms. The introduction may have related that it was imparted to Elchasai by Divine revelation. Following this vision and connected with it was the proclamation of a remission of sins. This is valid in particular for even the gross sinners, and is linked to a rebaptism. Ritual immersions are also commended as a means of healing for all kinds of sickness, and in addition a Jewish legalistic way of life is prescribed. Sacrifice and the sacerdotal actions associated with it, however, are forbidden. Thereafter the apocalyptist promises a war among the powers of godlessness; if the adherents of Elchasai should fall into danger during it, an outward denial will be forgiven them provided only that they remain constant at heart. In such a case one need only pray a magic formula, Elchasai’s promise:—(I will be witness over you on the day of the great judgment)—and for the rest, it is essential to keep the book hidden from the eyes of intruders.

 

     The basic character of the book is Jewish—Epiphanius says that Elchasai came from Judaism and thought as a Jew—but it is a syncretistic and not a pure Judaism. Jewish elements are in particular the requirements of circumcision, of Sabbath observance, and of prayer in the direction of Jerusalem. Contrary to Judaism, however, are the rejection of sacrifice, forbidding the use of meat, and also the criticism of the Received Old Testament associated with it. Christian, with a strong tinge of Gnosticism, are the ideas of the Son of God or Christ and the Holy Spirit as heavenly beings, and also the promises of the forgiveness of sins, of eternal salvation, and the ethical requirements of sanctification; but contrary to the usage of ecclesiastical Christianity is the prescription of a second baptism; and of heathen origin are the immersions with the invocation of the seven elements, and also the astrological conceptions of the influence of malevolent stars.

 

     The next to the last of the following fragments of the work contains a cryptogram which—read outwards from the middle word, and inverting the order of the letters—produces an Aramaic formula. Such a play on words presupposes readers who understood Aramaic, and makes it probable that the book in its original form was written in that language. The fragments are as follows:

 

... A certain Alcibiades, who lived in Apamea in Syria ... came to Rome and brought with him a book. Of it he said that Elchasai, a righteous man, had received it from Seres in Parthia and had transmitted it to a certain Sobiai. It had been communicated by an angel, whose height was 24 ­schoinoi­, which is 96 miles, his breadth four ­schoinoi­, and from shoulder to shoulder six schoinoi­, and the tracks of his feet in length three and one half schoinoi­, which is 14 miles, and in breadth one and one half ­schoinoi­, and in height half a schoinos­. And with him there was also a female figure, whose measurements Alcibiades says were commensurate with those mentioned; and the male figure was the Son of God, but the female was called Holy Spirit. ...

*

... “And whence,” he said, “did I know the measurements? Because,” he said, “I saw from the mountains that their heads reached up to them, and when I had learned the measure of the mountain I knew the measurements both of Christ and of the Holy Spirit.” ...

*

... He affirms the following: That the gospel of a new forgiveness of sins was preached to men in the third year of Trajan’s reign. And he appoints a baptism ... of which he says that through it anyone who is defiled by any licentiousness and pollution and lawlessness receives forgiveness of sins ... if he be converted and listen to the book and believe in it. ...

*

... “If then, children, anyone has had relations with any animal whatsoever, or a male or a sister or a daughter, or has practiced adultery or fornication, and wishes to receive forgiveness of his sins, let him, as soon as he has heard this book, be baptized a second time in the name of the great and most high God, and in the name of his Son, the great king. And let him purify himself and sanctify himself, and call to witness the seven witnesses written in this book, heaven and water and the holy spirits, and the angels of prayer, and the oil and the salt and the earth.” ...

*

... Again I say, ye adulterers, adulteresses and false prophets, if you wish to be converted, that your sins may be forgiven you, to you also there will be peace and a share with the righteous, from the time you hear this book and are baptized a second time with your clothing. ...

*

... If then any man or woman or youth or maid is bitten, torn or touched by a mad and raving dog, in which is a spirit of destruction, let him run in the same hour with all he wears, and go down into a river or spring, wherever there may be a deep place, and let him baptize himself with all he wears and pray to the great and most high God with a faithful heart. Then let him call to witness the seven witnesses written in this book: “Behold, I call to witness the heaven and water and the holy spirits, and the angels of prayer and the oil and the salt and the earth. These seven witnesses I call to witness, that I will no more sin, nor commit adultery, nor steal, nor do wrong, nor claim more than is due, nor hate, nor transgresses, nor take pleasure in any wickedness.” Let him, then, say this and baptize himself with all he wears, in the name of the great and most high God. ... The consumptive also are to baptize themselves in cold water forty times in seven days, and likewise also those possessed by demons. ...

*

... He forbids prayer towards the east, saying the one ought not to pray thus, but from every region have one’s face towards Jerusalem, those in the east to turn westwards to Jerusalem, those in the west eastwards to the same place, those in the north southwards, and those in the south northwards, so that from every quarter the face may be opposite Jerusalem. ...

*

... He rejects sacrifices and priestly rites as being alien to God and never offered to God at all according to the fathers and the law. ... But that water is acceptable to God and fire alien, he explains in the following words: “Children, go not according to the form of the fire,\fn{R. McL. Wilson says the Greek might be better translated: follow not the will-o-the-wisp of the fire.} because ye go astray; for such is error. For you see it, he says, very near and yet it is far away. Go not according to its form, but go rather according to the sound of the water.” ...

*

... These are evil stars of godlessness. This now is spoken to you, ye pious and disciples: Beware of the power of the days of their dominion, and do not make a start to your works in their days! Baptize neither man nor woman in the days of their authority, when the moon passes through from them and travels with them. Await the day when it departs from them, and then baptize and make a beginning with all your works! Moreover, honor the day of the Sabbath, for it is one of these days! But beware also not to begin anything on the third day of the week, for again when three years of the emperor Trajan are complete, from the time when he subjected the Parthians to his own authority, when these three years are fulfilled, the war between the godless angels of the north will break out; because of this all kingdoms of godlessness are in disorder. ...

*

... He says that it is not a sin even if a man should chance to worship idols in a time of imminent persecution, if only he does not worship in his conscience, and whatever he confesses with his mouth he does not in his heart. ... Phineas, a priest of the tribe of Levi and Aaron and the ancient Phineas, in Babylon in the time of the captivity worshipped Artemis in Susa, and so escaped death and destruction in the time of Darius the king. ...

*

... Let none seek after the interpretation, but let him only say in his prayer these words: ­Abar anid moib nochile daasim ana dassim nochile moib anid abar. Selam.­\fn{Read from the middle outwards in either direction, the following Aramaic sentence is formed:--I am witness over you on the day of the great judgment.—on which see Levy (in Zietschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft XII, 1858, 712).} ...

*

... Do not read this word to all men, and keep these commandments carefully, because not all men are faithful, nor all women upright. ...

 

     Elchasim is fairly closely related to Essenism. There are numerous points of contact between them [whom, Cullmann says (“Die Neuentdeckten Qumrantexte und das Judenchristentum der Pseudo-Klementinen” in Neutestamentliche Studien für R. Bultmann, 35-51) rallied to the person of Christ after the fall of the Temple]—the obligation to be circumcised, to live according to the Law, to pray facing toward Jerusalem, the prohibition against sacrifice or the use of meat. Origen, however says that the group rejects certain portions of Scripture; but for the rest makes use of texts drawn from every part of the Old Testament and the Gospels; the Apostle it rejects entirely—and this is strictly in accordance with the Ebionite method and its theory of the false pericopes, while its Judaising character is clearly seen in the rejection of Paul. Its Christology is equally Ebionitic. Hippolytus says:—(According to Elkesai, Christ was a man like every other man, nor was this the first occasion on which he was born of a virgin. This event had already happened in the past, for Christ has been born, and continues to be born, many times)—and here we have the two doctrines of Christ as a simple prophet, and of the reincarnation of the true prophet, as in Ebionism (whom, according to Epiphanius, they believed Adam to have been the first incarnation).

 

     Also, Elchasai appears, like Hermas in the Shepherd of Hermas (#316, above), as a prophet (though a heterodox prophet). And the resemblance to Hermas goes deeper than this, extending not only to the form of the revelation, but also to its content. The appearance of an angel and the communication of a book by that angel are both directly reminiscent of the visions of Hermas. The book is also concerned with the announcement of a remission of sins committed after baptism—a second repentance—and this is precisely the content of the book allegedly given to Hermas by the aged woman who appeared to him. If the first part of the Shepherd of Hermas dates from the end of the 1st century and the beginning of the 2nd, then it was contemporary with Elchasai’s vision. Both were dealing with a problem which was especially important in the Jewish-Christian community at that time. Hermas seems to have come from Essenism and Elchasai from Ebionitism, but both had a Trinitarian theology; and in this regard Elchasai was theologically closer to Orthodox Christianity than the Ebionites.

 

     Nor must the presence of Gnostic elements be forgotten. Elchasai attests the use of baptismal rites and of anointings apart from the first baptism, as a ritual of reconciliation; and elsewhere there is mention of baptism for the deliverance of the possessed. [On this see especially Peterson (“Le Traitement de la Rage par les Elkasites” in Recherches de Science Religieuse, 1947, 232f); and Fruhkirche (Judentum und Gnosis, 227-228).] Similar features are to be found among the Gnostics. There was practiced by Valentinians a kind of baptism in preparation for death [see Orbe (Los Primeros Herejes Ante la Persecution, 134)]. Epiphanius also notes that the Elchasites had a veneration for water.

 

     But the primary observation to be made from this is that the system of Elchasism drew upon certain elements present in what was known as the Great Church [that broad embrace of religious practice characteristic of the Christian experience prior to the Imperial protection under Constantine I of one of its forms—that which has come down to our time under the term “Orthodoxy”—shortly after he became senior ruler of the Roman Empire on October 28, 312 (H)]. The anointing with oil in their baptismal rite concurs with what is already known of Jewish-Christian ritual. The presence of angels of prayer also provide a link with Jewish-Christian speculative theology. Quispel (“L’inscription de Flavia Sophie” in Mel. de Ghellinck I, 214) has noted that speculations on the Name and the Angel of Baptism have a very ancient Christian basis. This Angel of Baptism also occurs in Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, De Baptismo VI); and it is the angels who build the church upon the water—i.e., preside over baptism—in the Shepherd of Hermas (Vision III:304). Bernard (The Odes of Solomon, 51-52) points out what may also be an allusion to the presence of angels at baptism at Odes of Solomon IV:viii (a collection of probably wholly Christian hymns almost certainly of Syrian or Palestinian ­provenance­ and of the 1st or 2nd century AD). The doctrine was to reappear in Origen, and in the 4th century as an inheritance from the old theology. Kretschmar (Studien zur Fruhchristlichen Trinitas-theologie, 213) says that the conception of angels as witnesses of baptism was widespread from the earliest times.

 

     The Book of Elchasai, then, emerges as closely akin to the Ascension of Isaiah (#49, above), the Gospel of Peter (#193, above) and the Shepherd of Hermas (#316, above). It seems to have presented a kind of Ebionism influenced by the theology of the Great Church, its primary unorthodoxy lying in the fact that it regarded Jesus as a mere prophet.

 

     For further commentary see: Hilgenfeld (Novum Testamentum Extra Canonum Receptum III.2, 1881, 227-240); Brandt (Elchasai, ein Religionsstifter und Sein Werk, 1912); Harnack (in Theologische Literaturzeitung XXVII, 1912, cols. 683ff); Waitz (“Das Buch des Elchasai” in Harnack-Ehrung, 1921, 87-104); Thomas (Le Mouvement Baptiste en Palestine et Syria, 1935); Strecker (“Elkesai” in Reallexikon für Antike und Christentum V, 1941ff, cols. 1171-1186); Schoeps (Theologie und Geschichte des Judenchristentums 1949, 325ff); and Schoeps (“Elkesaiten” in Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart II, 1957-1962, col. 435).

 

[NTA, II, 745-750; DAN, 64-67; ODC, 1269; ANF, V, 131]

 

511. The Letter From an Unknown Person to Diognetus

 

     This letter is from an unknown Christian to an apparently otherwise unknown inquirer (but see below); and probably dates from the 2nd century AD, or perhaps (at least in part) from the 3rd. It purports to be the reply to an inquiring heathen’s desire for information about the beliefs and customs of Christians. [The identity of Diognetus has been thought to be a pagan of high rank. There is a Diognetus mentioned among the many personages to whom the emperor Marcus Aurelius (161-180), in his Meditations, has recorded his gratitude:—(From Diognetus, not to busy myself about trifling things, and not to give credit to what miracle-workers and jugglers say about incantations and the driving away of demons and such things; and not to breed quails or to give myself up passionately to such things; and to tolerate freedom of speech; and to become intimate with philosophy; and to be a hearer, first of Bacchius, then of Tandasis and Marcianus; and to write dialogues in my youth; and to like a plank bed and skin, and whatever else of the kind belongs to the Grecian discipline.)—and some critics, including Lightfoot, have been inclined to think that he was recipient of the letter. The more recent theory of Dom P. Andriessen, however, would identify Diognetus as an honorific title (not a proper name) of the earlier emperor Hadrian (117-138); for Andriessen has argued strongly that this letter is in reality the supposedly lost Apology of Quadratus of Asia Minor (a defence of Christianity known to have been addressed to Hadrian in the eleventh year of his reign). Diognetus means Heaven-born; and if Andriessen’s views are accepted, we must date the letter c.124, a period with which the writer’s description of contemporary church life, and the simplicity of is theology, is perfectly consistent.]

 

     The concluding chapters (11-12), which contain a Logos-doctrine and a comparison of the church to Paradise, are widely regarded as a fragment of another work [Otto believing they might be part of an Easter homily; TAS that they may be part of an Epiphany homily; Bonwetsch (Nachrichten d. Gesellschaft d. Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, 1902) and Schwartz arguing that they are to be ascribed to Hippolytus of Rome (c.170-c.236)], for they clearly have no connection with the preceding chapters.

 

     It is only by the most improbable good fortune that the letter has come to our knowledge at all. No mention of it or quotation from it has been found anywhere in the rest of Patristic literature. Indeed, the letter survived antiquity until the 16th century in but a single manuscript (which was itself destroyed in a fire at Strassburg in 1870 during the Franco\Prussian War), in which it followed certain treatises wrongly ascribed to Justin of Flavia Neapolis (c.100-c.165). Happily, the copies made from it had been carefully collated with it only a short time before its destruction. There are gaps in the text in chapters 7 and 10, and at the end of the chapter 10 the letter breaks off abruptly, the remaining two chapters being by quite a different hand.

 

     The work is commonly included in editions of the Apostolic Fathers (e.g., those of Lightfoot, von Gebhardt and Harnack, Funk, and Lake); but its claim to be there rests on custom rather than right, for it is probably later than any of the other writings in this group—the Letter of Barnabas (whose anonymous author wrote between 70-100AD); those of Clement of Rome (fl.c.96AD); the Didache (1st century or slightly later); those of Ignatius of Antioch (d.c.107); the surviving fragments of Papias of Hierapolis (d.c.130); the sermon known as II Clement (c.150); the Shepherd of Hermas, by Hermas of Aquileia (fl.140-155); and the writings of Polycarp of Smyrna (d.c.155)—and if it were judged by the character of its contents, it would more probably be placed among the works of the Christian Apologists [Aristides of Athens (fl.c.125-150); Tatian of Assyria (fl.160); Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165); Athenagoras of Athens (fl.c.160-190); Theophilus of Antioch (later 2nd century); Minuncius Felix of Africa (2nd or 3rd century); and Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220)].

 

     Like many early apologia, it begins by expounding the foolishness of the worship of idols, and the inadequacy of the Jewish religion. It then proceeds to give a short sketch of Christian belief, a panegyric on Christian character, and a description of the benefits which Christianity offers to converts. In this respect it resembles the Apology of Aristides [probably delivered to the emperor Antonius Pius early in his reign (138-161), though Eusebius of Caesarea (Ecclesiastical History IV:iii.3 or Chronicle a.d.a.2140; my reference is not more specific) says it was delivered to the emperor Hadrian in 124]; and it has been suggested that Aristides himself wrote it.

 

     Its style, however, is extremely rhetorical; and it may be doubted whether it was not originally an academic treatise, or possibly the exercise of some young theologian rather than an actual Apology sent to a living person. The general impression made by the document is unfavorable to any theory of an early date; and quite decisive against the tradition which seems to have been preserved in the long lost and now destroyed manuscript in which the letter was found (which attributed it to Justin of Flavia Neapolis). Harnack thinks that it more probably belongs to the 3rd than to the 2nd century, and indeed, early Tradition does not mention the letter; but there is nothing within the document itself to justify any certainty of opinion.

 

     The best authority for the text is Otto (Corpus Apologeticum III, 3rd ed., 1879), for the unique manuscript of the letter in the library at Strassburg was twice collated for Otto’s edition prior to its destruction. The manuscript itself, probably written in the 13th or 14th century, was formerly the property of Johannes Reuchlin (1455-1522), passed c.1560 to the Alsatian monastery of Maursmunster, and came to Strassburg between 1793-1995. Earlier copies were made of it by Stephanus (1586, now preserved in Leiden as Codex Voss. Gr. 30); and by Erurer (c.1590, a collation of whose copy, itself no longer extant, was published by Stephanus at the end of his edition of 1592). There is also a third copy, made by Hausius for Martin Crucius (c.1580, now preserved in Tübingen as Codex Mis. M. b. 17). The fullest account of these manuscripts and the proof that none of them are more than copies of the Strassburg manuscript is given by Gebhard (in his edition of the Apostolic Fathers, I.ii, 1878).

 

[ODC, 401; TAS, 348-349; ECW, 171-172]

 

512. The Prophecy of the Montanists

 

     Montanism was the last great prophetic movement of the early church. It took place during the latter half of the 2nd century, and can be traced back to one Montanus (hence its name), who was active in Phrygia, and who began to prophesy either in 172AD (so Eusebius) or 156-157 (so Epiphanius), proclaiming that the Heavenly Jerusalem would soon descend near Pepuza in Phrygia. Closely associated with him were two women, Prisca (or Priscilla), and Maximilla. Three points concerning them should be emphasized:

 

1. Montanus considers himself to be exclusively an instrument of God. Through him God or the spirit of God, speaks (sayings 1-4). We should probably not argue from (1) to some special Trinitarian teaching—Montanism, at the time of its beginning, was considered Orthodox—but should understand it only as a testimony or the spirit-filled character of the prophet. Saying (11) and (14) should be explained in this direction, too. It is quite clear from (14) that the prophetess was impelled against her will. This means that Montanism, in its beginning, was a prophetic movement which stood in a not very closely demonstrable relationship to early Christian prophecy.

 

2. Montanism does not appear to have been especially strongly influenced by apocalyptic thoughts; at any rate, specifically apocalyptic notions do not appear in the forefront in the sayings preserved below. Only the imminent expectation of the End (12) and the hope of the appearance of the heavenly Jerusalem in Pepuza (11) allow us to conclude that in Montanism apocalyptic ideas were effective. Yet the Received apocalypse would have suggested such ideas. On the whole, early Montanism seems to have been a prophetic, but not a strictly apocalyptic, movement.

 

3. Even if rigorist ethics first appeared in the forefront in the later stages of Montanism (as exemplified by Tertullian, who was for some time converted to it), some of these prophetic sayings (4,5,6) indicate that such a pressure for ethical renewal was not lacking in its early stages. Even the trouble taken by opponents to disparage the morality of the Montanists means that a part of Montanus’ preaching did relate to ethical renewal and repentance. The Spirit produces not only ecstasy, but a new heart as well (4). This feature also belongs quite satisfactorily within the pattern of the prophetic movement, for the prophetic charisma is revealed in hortatory sayings as well. Apocalyptic, too, naturally did not lack ­paraenesis­, but there it is not a specific feature and it is not strictly rigorist, in the Montanist sense. All in all, we must understand Montanism as a restoration of early Christian prophecy in which the Apocayptic world of ideas falls into the background.

 

     The movement soon developed ascetic traits which became especially prominent in an offshoot of Montanism in Roman Africa. Here, where it won the allegiance of Tertullian of Carthage (c.206), it disallowed second marriages, condemned the existing regulations on fasting as too lax (imposing a discipline of its own), and forbade flight in times of persecution. Tertullian himself condemned the penitential discipline current at Rome for its leniency and termed the Orthodox Christians psychics or animal men—[De Labriolle says the word means gross, carnal beings]—as opposed to their own members, who were called pneumatics or spirit-filled. Certain elements in Montanism (enthusiasm, prophecy) had their parallels in primitive Christianity; and in modern times, Montanism has sometimes been regarded as an attempt to revert to primitive fervor in the face of a growing institutionalism and secularization of the church; but more probably Montanism is to be understood as an early instance of the apocalyptic groups which have constantly sprung up in Christian history. Tertullian (Contra Marcionem III,xxiv) said of their belief:—(We confess that a kingdom is promised to us upon the earth, before the entry into Heaven and in a different state of existence; but after the Resurrection, and for a period of a thousand years in the divinely-built city of Jerusalem, a kingdom come down from Heaven. And the word of the new prophecy which is part of our faith bears witness to this Jerusalem, telling us even that there will be a vision of the city as a sign before its actual coming.)

 

     Montanism was attacked by a large number of Orthodox writings, most of which have been lost [among them those of Apollinarius of Hierapolis (fl.c.150-200); Miltiades of Asia Minor (2nd century); and Rhodo of Asia Minor (wrote 180-192)]. It was formally condemned by Asiatic synods before 200AD; and also, after some hesitation, by Zephyrinus of Rome [bishop 198-217, described by Hippolytus of Rome (d.c.236) as a simple man without education who was too lax in enforcing discipline and who failed to assert his authority sufficiently in repressing heresies)]. Aland (“Bemerkungen zum Montanismus” in Kirchengeschichtliche Entwurfe, 1960, 105-106) says there is evidence for certain later political legislation against Montanism, which is made responsible for the disappearance of the Montanist literature. The chief sources for Montanism among Patristic writers include Hippolytus (Syntagma, lost in its original form, but in substance preserved by later writers); Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History V:xvi-xvii); Epiphanius (Panarion XLVIII)l; and the later writings of Tertullian.

 

     According to Hippolytus (Refutation of All Heresies VIII:xix.1) and Eusebius (Eccleseiastical History VI:xx.3), Montanus, Priscilla and Maximilla all composed numerous writings. Unfortunately, there is nothing any longer extant except the following 15 prophetic sayings whose authenticity seems to be secure:

 

1. I am the Father and I am the Son and I am the Paraclete.\fn{Didymus the Blind (c.313-398, De Trinitatis III: xli.1) in Ficker (“Dialogue of a Montanist with an Orthodox” in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte XXVI, 1905, 452). Montanus is speaking.}

 

2. I the lord, the Almighty God, remain among men.\fn{Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403, Against All Heresies XLVIII:xi.9). Montanus is speaking.}

 

3. Neither angel, nor ambassador, but I, the Lord God the Father, am come.\fn{Epiphanius, ibid. Montanus is speaking.}

 

4. Behold, man is like a lyre and I rush thereon like a plectrum. Man sleeps and I awake. Behold, the Lord is he who arouses the hearts of men, throws them into ecstasy, and gives to men a new heart.\fn{Epiphanius (ibid., XLVIII:iv.1). Montanus is speaking.}

 

5. Why dost thou call the super-man saved? For the righteous man, he says, will shine a hundred times more strongly than the sun, but the little ones who are saved among you will shine a hundred times stronger than the moon.\fn{Epiphanius (ibid., XLVIII:x.3). Montanus is speaking.}

 

6. The Church can forgive sins but I will not do it, lest they sin yet again.\fn{Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, De Pudicitia XXI:vii). The Paraclete in the new prophets is speaking.}

 

7. Thou wilt be publicly displayed: that is good for thee; for whosoever is not publicly displayed before men will be publicly displayed before God. Let it not perplex thee! Righteousness brings thee into the midst of men. What perplexes thee about winning glory? Opportunity is given, when thou art seen by men.\fn{Tertullian (De Fuga IX:iv). The Spirit is speaking.}

 

8. Desire not to die in bed, nor in delivery of children, nor by enervating fevers, but in martyrdom, that He may be glorified who has suffered for you.\fn{Tertullian (ibid.; De Anima LV:v). The Spirit is speaking.}

 

9. They are flesh and yet they hate the flesh.\fn{Tertullian (De Resurrectione Carnis XI:ii). The Paraclete is speaking through the prophetess, Prisca.}

 

10. A holy minister must understand how to minister holiness. For if the heart gives purification, says she, they will also see visions, and if they lower their faces, then they will perceive saving voices, as clear as they were obscure.\fn{Tertullian (On Exhortation to Chastity X:v). The prophetess Prisca is speaking.}

 

11. In the form of a woman, says she, arrayed in shining garments, came Christ to me and set wisdom upon me and revealed to me that this place\fn{I.e., Pepuza, in Phrygia.} is holy and that Jerusalem will come down hither from Heaven.\fn{Epiphanius (Panarion XLIX:i.2-3). Quintilla or Priscilla is speaking.}

 

12. After me, says she, there will be no more prophets, but only the consummation.\fn{Epiphanius (ibid., XLVIII: ii.4). Maximilla is speaking.}

 

13. Listen not to me, but listen to Christ.\fn{Epiphanius (ibid., XLVIII:xii.4). Maximilla is speaking.}

 

14. The Lord has sent me as adherent, preacher and interpreter of this affliction and this covenant and this promise; he has compelled me, willingly or unwillingly, to learn the knowledge of God.\fn{Epiphanius (ibid., XLVIII: xiii.1). Maximilla is speaking.}

 

15. I am chased like a wolf from the flock of sheep; I am not a wolf; I am word and spirit and power.\fn{Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History V:xvi.17). The Spirit is speaking through Mxcimilla.}

 

     See also Bonwetsch (Die Geschichte des Montanismus, 1881; Slamon (“Montanus” in Smith & Wace’s Dictionary of Christian Biography III, 1882, 935-945); Gry (Le Millenarisme, Paris, 1904, 81-82); De Labriolle (Les Sources de l’Histoire du Montanisme, 1913); De Labriolle (La Crise Montaniste, 1913, with full bibliography); Bardy (“Montanus” in Vacant, Mangenot & Amaan’s Dictionnaire de Theologie Catholique X:ii, 1929, cols. 2355-2370); Waszink (De Anima, Amsterdam, 1933; 1947 edition, 591-593); Poschmann (Paenitentia Secunda: Die Kirchliche Busse im Altesten Christentum bis Cyprian und Origenes, 1940, 261-348); Freeman-Grenville (“The Date of the Outbreak of Montanism” in Journal of Ecclesiastical History V, 1954, 7-15); Aland (“Der Montaismus und die Kleinasiatische Theologie” in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft LIV, 1955, 113-114); Aland (“Bemerkungen zum Montanismus” in Kirchengeschichtliche Entwurfe, 1960, 105-106); De Labriolle (History and Literature of Christianity from Tertullian to Boethius, New York, 1968, 56, 59, 62-65, 89-91, 99-100); and Grant (Augustus to Constantine, 1970, 131-144).

 

[ODC, 918-919; NTA, II, 665-689; DAN, 353,389; PAT, 29,39]

 

***

 

XLII: OFFICIALS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

 

513. 514. The Greek Acts of Pilate; The Latin Acts of Pilate

 

     The existence of written documents taken down by Imperial court recorders at the time of Jesus’ trial has powerful advocates.

 

1. Justin of Flavia Neapolis (d.c.165AD, First Apology XXXV, XLVIII) twice refers to documents of the trial of Jesus before Pilate:—(And as the prophet spoke, they tormented Him, and set Him on the judgment-seat, and said, Judge us. And the expression, “They pierced my hands and my feet,” was used in reference to the nails of the cross which were fixed in His hands and feet. And after He was crucified they cast lots upon His vesture, and they that crucified Him parted it among them. And that these things did happen, you can ascertain from the Acts of Pontius Pilate. ... And that it was predicted that our Christ should heal all diseases and raise the dead, hear what was said. There are these words: “At His coming the lame shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the stammerer shall be clear speaking: the blind shall see, and the lepers shall be cleansed; and the dead shall rise, and walk about.” And that He did those things, you can learn from the Acts of Pontius Pilate.)

 

2. Tertullian of Carthage (d.c.220, Apologeticus V, XXI) also twice speaks about a dispatch from Pilate to Tiberius I:—(Tiberius accordingly, in whose days the Christian name made its entry into the world, having himself received intelligence from Palestine of events which had clearly shown the truth of Christ’s divinity, brought the matter before the senate, with his own decision in favor of Christ. The senate, because it had not given the approval itself, rejected his proposal. Caesar held to his opinion, threatening wrath against all accusers of the Christians. ... All these things Pilate did to Christ; and now in fact a Christian in his own convictions, he sent word of Him to the reigning Caesar, who was at the time Tiberius.)—and, moreover, also mentions that the miraculous turning of day into night upon Christ’s death was also documented (Apologeticus XXI):—(In the same hour, too, the light of day was withdrawn, when the sun at the very time was in his meridian blaze. Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse. You yourselves have the account of the world-portent still in your archives.)

 

     There are, however, two cogent reasons for evaluating the testimony of Justin and Tertullian as based upon something other than an Acts of Pilate known to have been produced very early in the 3rd century—long after both of them had fallen asleep—as a propaganda tool against a pagan, anti-Christian Acts of Pilate, entitled The Memoirs of Pilate and produced by agents of the persecuting emperor Maximin (305-313AD); and with which this entry is concerned.

 

1. Justin, in the same terms, invites us to examine the schedules of the census under Quirinius; and as it seems certain from scholarly investigation that these did not exist,\fn{My source is not specific as to why; but it would seem that as the normal Roman practice was to collect their taxes in the form of a gross percentage through professional tax-gatherers—Matthew, prior to his conversion, is said to have been such a person—it would be these people, rather than officials of the Empire, who would have kept such records; and that in the natural course of time the documents, without Imperial protection, would have perished.—(H)} one is led to suspect that Justin’s reference to the Acts of Pilate rests solely on the fact that he simply assumed that such a document must have existed.

 

2. Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History I:ix, II:ii, IX:v.1), referring to Tertullian, comments at length on the Letter of Pilate to Claudius I (#534, below), but makes no reference to any Acts of Pilate, although (a) given his reference here to Tertullian on this subject, some mention of them would have been natural; (b) Eusebius certainly does know about the anti-Christian acta fabricated under Pilate’s name by order of Maximin, and which at his command had to be read in the schools and committed to memory—he styles them a malicious pagan forgery full of every kind of blasphemy against Christ; [and (c), it is to Eusebius that the honor of writing the first Church History falls, and as such he would hardly have ignored the existence of official pagan records of the trial of the founder of his religion—(H)].

 

     These facts have led to the following conclusions, which are followed by the majority of scholarly opinion.

 

1. Christian Acts of Pilate were first devised and published as a counterblast to the pagan acta before mentioned, and that previously there had been nothing of the sort.

 

2. Tertullian must have known an apocryphal Christian document under Pilate’s name, which must have stood in some relation to the Roman procurator, and it was probably the Letter of Pilate to Claudius I.

 

3. Justin’s testimony may be set aside, on the grounds that he never saw the material he simply assumed existed. (Attempts, it should be noted, to date this writing in the 2nd century, on the assumption that it is to genuine acta that Justin of Flavia Neapolis refers in his mention of Pilate’s report to the emperor, have occasionally been made; but they are adjudged quite unconvincing by modern scholarship.)

 

     The Acts of Pilate as we have it now before us consists of three parts in two formerly independent documents: (I) an account of the trial of Jesus before Pilate and of his crucifixion (chapters 1-11), followed by various acts of the Sanhedrin which lead to positive proofs of His Resurrection and Ascension (chapters 12-16); and (II) an account by two eyewitnesses—the sons of Symeon, who had themselves returned from the land of the dead—of Christ’s descent into Hell and rescue of those held there as captives (chapters 17-29). (Both documents together were much later given the completely different title Gospel of Nicodemus.) Document I is an imaginative amplification of the accounts of the trial, passion, and resurrection of Jesus, heavily dependent upon the four Received gospels, and the early Christian confidence that Pilate must­ have made an official report to his superiors of the trial. It heightens the apologetic tone, already present in the Received gospels, that Pilate’s act was forced upon him, against his better judgment, by the hostility of the Jews. Document II, which was added to it later (as we shall see) is clearly independent of it: as NTA says, document I was still not expanded by the addition of the second part of the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Decensus Christi ad InfernosThe addition is thoroughly out of keeping, since the work is complete and does not admit of any expansion.

 

     Epiphanius of Salamis (writing in 375 or 376 against the Quartodecimans at Panarion L:i) mentions that these people believed that with the aid of the Acts of Pilate they could determine exactly the date of the Passion, namely that it was the eighth day before the ­kalends­ of April. This is precisely what we read in our Acts of Pilate. At this time, therefore, the grundschrift of the Acts of Pilate, at any rate, was in existence, though possibly already in an expanded version as compared with the original (which would have been produced about 70 years earlier). We shall proceed now to a closer examination of the Greek tradition.

 

A Closer Examination of the Greek Tradition of the Acts of Pilate

 

     For the editions of this document now before us are further adaptations of the text used by Epiphanius. Two Greek versions exist; and the older of the extant Greek recensions (A) goes back, according to statements in the prologue, to the year 425. This is Greek A; and to it the Latin, Coptic, Syriac and Armenian versions conform, and so to it regard must be paid as being the most original form of the Acts of Pilate known to exist.

 

     The second Greek version (B) describes the mother of Jesus six times in close succession as ­theotokos­, and thus presupposes the Council of Ephesus (431AD), but may indeed be considerably later. To discover in it, with Bardenhewer (Litg. I, 2nd ed., 545 note 3), the original recension of the Acts of Pilate is impossible. B is a redaction of A. The changes made by B’s editor are in part by no means skillful; and indeed Greek B is merely a late and diffuse working-over of the same material as Greek A.

 

1. B is expanded where A left Biblical material unconsidered, especially in chapters 10 and 11, which deal with the crucifixion and death of Jesus. Here Simon of Cyrene, who bore the cross, is introduced; the three words of Jesus on the cross are expanded by a further two; reference is made to the breaking of the legs of the robbers crucified with Jesus, and to the thrusting of the lance into His side; there is added a lamentation for Jesus, in which one after the other of the participants—His mother, Mary Magdalene, Joseph of Arimathaea—present expressions of their grief; and Joseph’s visit to Pilate to ask for the body of Jesus is developed into an extended scene. Thus chapters 10 and 11 in B take up more than three times as much room as they do in A.

 

2. At other points we find ourselves faced with editorial abbreviation on the part of B, particularly in the final chapter, 16, which is reduced to about 50% of its extent in A. It is clear, however, that this is done simply to add to document I the text of document II—the Descent of Christ into Hell (#99, above)—which is the distinguishing character of Greek B.

 

     [Chapter 16 in A is quoted in its entirety below: I have divided it at the point chosen by B (carefully indicated below), at which point he intervenes with this following speech by Joseph of Arimathaea:—(Joseph said: “Why then do you marvel at the resurrection of Jesus? It is not this that is marvelous, but rather that he was not raised alone, but raised up many other dead men who appeared to many in Jerusalem. And if you do not know the others, yet Symeon, who took Jesus in his arms, and his two sons, whom he raised up, you do know. For we buried them a little while ago. And now their sepulchers are to be seen opened and empty, but they themselves are alive and dwelling in Arimathaea.”)—the purpose of which is to bring the story around to the sons (here still nameless) of the aged Symeon (who shared in Christ’s descent into Hell, and who was raised from thence with Him into Heaven).]

 

And when the rulers of the synagogue and the priests and the Levites heard these words from Joseph, they became as dead men and fell to the ground and fasted until the ninth hour. And Nicodemus and Joseph comforted Annas and Caiaphas and the priests and Levites, saying: “Get up and stand on your feet, and taste bread and strengthen your souls. For tomorrow is the Sabbath of the Lord.” And they rose up and prayed to God, and ate and drank, and went each to his own house. And on the Sabbath our teachers and the priests and the Levites sat and questioned one another, saying: “What is this wrath which has come upon us? For we know his father and his mother.” Levi the teacher said: “I know that his parents fear God and do not withhold their prayers and pay tithes three times a year. And when Jesus was born, his parents brought him to this place, and gave God sacrifices and burnt offerings. And the great teacher Symeon took him in his arms and said: Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to thy people Israel. And Symeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother: I give you good tidings concerning this child. And Mary said: Good, my lord? And Symeon said to her: Good. Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.” They said to Levi the teacher: “How do you know this?” Levi answered them: “Do you not know that I learned the law from him?” The council said to him: “We wish to see your father.” And they sent for his father. And when they questioned him, he said to them: “Why did you not believe my son? The blessed and righteous Symeon taught him the law.” The council said: “Rabbi Levi, is the word true which you have spoken?” He answered: “It is true.” Then the rulers of the synagogue and the priests and the Levites said among themselves: “Come, let us send to Galilee to the three men who came and told us of his teaching and of his being taken up, and let them tell us how they saw him taken up.” And this word pleased them all. And they sent the three men who before had gone to Galilee with them, and said to them: “Say to Rabbi Adas and Rabbi Phinees and Rabbi Angaeus: Peace be with you and all who are with you. Since an important inquiry is taking place in the council, we were sent to you to call you to this holy place Jerusalem.” And the men went to Galilee and found them sitting and studying the law, and greeted them in peace. And the men who were in Galilee said to those who had come to them: “Peace be to all Israel.” They answered: “Peace be with you.” And again they said to them: “Why have you come?” Those who had been sent replied: “The council calls you to the holy city Jerusalem.” When the men heard that they were sought by the council, they prayed to God and sat down at table with the men and ate and drank, and then arose and came in peace to Jerusalem. And on the next day the council sat in the synagogue and questioned them, saying: “Did you indeed see Jesus sitting on the mountain Mamilch, teaching his eleven disciples? And did you see him taken up?” And the men answered them and said: “As we saw him taken up, so we have told you.” Annas said: “Separate them from one another, and let us see if their accounts agree.” And they separated them from one another. And they called Adas first and asked him: “How did you see Jesus taken up?” Adas answered: “As he sat on the mountain Mamilch and taught his disciples, we saw that a cloud overshadowed him and his disciples. And the cloud carried him up to heaven, and his disciples lay on their faces on the ground.” Then they called Phinees the priest and asked him also: “How did you see Jesus taken up?” And he said the same thing. And again they asked Angaeus, and he said the same thing. Then the members of the council said: “At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every matter be established.”

 

     [Greek B proceeds from here to the speech of Joseph of Arimathaea (quoted in its brief entirety above), which leads to document II: The Decent of Christ Into Hell. Greek A finishes this chapter to his conclusion—and that of document I—as follows:]

 

Abuthem the teacher said: “It is written in the law: Enoch walked with God, and was not, for God took him.” Jairus the teacher said: “Also we have heard of the death of the holy Moses, and we do not know how he died. For it is written in the law of the Lord: And Moses died as the mouth of the Lord determined, and no man knew of his sepulcher to this day.” And Rabbi Levi said: “Why did Rabbi Symeon say, when he saw Jesus: Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against?” And Rabbi Isaac said: “It is written in the law: Behold, I send my messenger before your face. He will go before you to guard you in every good way. In him my name is named.” Then Annas and Caiaphas said: “You have rightly said what is written in the law of Moses, that no one knows the death of Enoch and no one has named the death of Moses. But Jesus had to give account before Pilate; we saw how he received blows and spitting on his face, that the soldiers put a crown of thorns upon him, that he was scourged and condemned by Pilate and then was crucified at the place of a skull; he was given vinegar and gall to drink, and Longinus the soldier pierced his side with a spear. Our honorable father Joseph asked for his body; and, he says, he rose again. And the three teachers declare: We saw him taken up into heaven. And Rabbi Levi spoke and testified to the words of Rabbi Symeon: Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against.” And all the teachers said to all the people of the Lord: “If this is from the Lord, and it is marvelous in your eyes, you shall surely know, O house of Jacob, that it is written: Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree. And another passage of scripture teaches: The gods who did not make the heaven and the earth shall perish.” And the priests and the Levites said to one another: “If Jesus is remembered after fifty years, he will reign for ever and create for himself a new people.” Then the rulers of the synagogue and the priests and the Levites admonished all Israel: “Cursed is the man who shall worship the work of man’s hand, and cursed is the man who shall worship created things alongside the Creator.” And the people answered: “Amen, amen.” And all the people praised the Lord God and sang: “Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to the people of Israel according to all his promises. Not one word remains unfulfilled of all the good which he promised to his servant Moses. May the Lord our God be with us as he was with our fathers. May he not forsake us. May he not let the will die in us, to turn our heart to him, and walk in all his ways, and keep his commandments and laws which he gave to our fathers. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth on that day. And there shall be one God and his name shall be one, our Lord and king. He shall save us. There is none like thee, O Lord. Great art thou, O Lord, and great is thy name. Heal us, O Lord, in thy power, and we shall be healed. Save us, Lord, and we shall be saved. For we are thy portion and inheritance. The Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, for the Lord has begun to make us his people.” After this hymn of praise they all departed, every man to his house, glorifying God. For he is the glory for ever and ever. Amen.

 

     Thus ends the oldest Greek version of the Acts of Pilate. Maury (in Memoire de la Societe des Antiq. de France XX) places it in the beginning of the 5th century, from 405-420; and Renan (in Etudes d’Hist. Relig., 177) concurs in this opinion. The author of the article “Pilate” (in Smith’s Bible Dictionary, Boston, 1879) gives the end of the 3rd century as the probable date. ANT says it is not earlier than the 4th century AD; and that its object, in the main, is to furnish irrefragable testimony to the Resurrection. Something like c.350AD would appear a not unlikely date for their original composition—for there are those who say that it is a reasonable (if not an absolutely certain) conjecture that the book was written to provide a Christian counterblast to the pagan forgery which Eusebius says had been recently produced by the order of Maximin.

 

     The author (so ANF) was probably a Hellenistic Jew converted to Christianity; or, as Tischendorf and Maury concluded, a Christian imbued with Judaic and Gnostic beliefs.

 

     Opinions likewise differ as to the relative ages of documents I and II, although most agree that they were not joined together until the 5th century. A prologue to the joint work, the so-called Gospel of Nicodemus—appearing in many of the manuscripts—claims that the translator (variously named Ananias, Aeneas, Emaus) had discovered the work in Hebrew, as Nicodemus had written it, and had translated it into Greek in 425AD. This, together with the conspicuous prominence of Nicodemus in the narrative, may account for the title Gospel of Nicodemus, which the writing regularly has in the Latin tradition after the 14th century. On the other hand, many older manuscripts bear the title: Memorials of Our Lord Jesus Christ Done in the Days of Pontius Pilate. Never to Pilate, by the way, is ascribed the composition of the book, but only always its preservation. Epiphanius, for his part, styled it: Acts of Pilate. It is in Latin that document II has chiefly flourished, having become the parent of versions in every European language. Greek copies of that exist, but they are rare; and it does not appear in any of the Oriental versions. We shall proceed now to a discussion of the Latin.

 

A Closer Examination of the Latin Tradition of the Acts of Pilate

 

     The book appears also in Latin, and here also in two versions. Here is to be discovered both parts I and II; the older of the two versions commonly ascribed to the 5th century. Latin A does not differ materially from the Greek, apart from the conclusion, though the sons of Symeon are given names in the Latin tradition (Karinus and Leucius, which are probably in some manner connected with Leukos Charinos, the Gnostic author of the Acts of John). The speeches, however, are greatly expanded, and not to their advantage, so that one gets the impression that the author is fascinated by his phraseology.

 

     In Document II of the Greek (extant in Greek B only) there is no description of the effect produced on the Jews by the disclosures of the sons of Symeon. In Latin A, however, (so NTA) the Jews go home in great distress, beating their breasts in fear and trembling. But Joseph of Arimathaea and Nicodemus inform Pilate of what they have heard, and he orders everything to be recorded and stored in the archives. Then he summons the chief priests and scribes of the Jews, and adjures them to tell him truthfully whether Jesus is really the promised Messiah. And behind closed doors they recount to him how in the first book of the Seventy the archangel Michael revealed to Seth that 5,500 years would pass before the advent of the Messiah, and how the same number emerges from a correct interpretation of the measurements of the ark of Noah, and how these 5,500 years have now run their full course. And they say that they have hitherto told no one this, and ask Pilate urgently not to make it known.

 

     More peculiar and more interesting says NTA is Latin B of Document II of the Acts of Pilate as we have it now. It begins thus:

 

When we came from Galilee to Jordan, there met us a great multitude of men clothed in white, who had died before this time. Among them we saw also Karinus and Leucius, and when they came up to us we kissed one another, for they were dear friends of ours, and asked them: “Tell us, friends and brethren, what is this soul and flesh? And who are these with whom you go? And how is it that you, who died, remain in the body?” They answered: “We rose with Christ from hell, and he himself raised us from the dead. And from this you may know that the gates of death and darkness are destroyed, and the souls of the saints are set free and have ascended to heaven with Christ the Lord. But we have also been commanded by the Lord himself to walk on the banks and hills of Jordan for a set time, without being visible to all and speaking with all, except for those with whom he permits it. And even now we should not have been able to speak to you nor to be seen by you, unless we had been permitted by the Holy Spirit.” Then Caiaphas and Annas said to the council: “Now shall it be made plain concerning all that these men have testified, formerly and later. If it is true that Karinus and Leucius remain alive in the body, and if we can see them with our eyes, then the testimony of these men is true in all points. If we find them, they will explain everything to us. If not, then know that all is false.”

 

     [It having been established that the graves of Karinus and Leucius are empty, the narrative continues:]

 

Then all the council was greatly troubled and distressed, and they said to one another: “What shall we do?” Annas and Caiaphas said: “Let us have recourse to the place where they are reported to be, and send to them men from among those of rank, to implore them: perhaps they will condescend to come to us.” Then they directed to them Nicodemus and Joseph and the three Galilaean rabbis who had seen them, who were to entreat them to condescend to come to them. They set forth and wandered through all the region of Jordan and the mountains, but did not find them and returned home again. And, behold, there suddenly appeared a very great multitude coming down from Mount Amalech, about 12,000 men, who had risen with the Lord.

 

     [It is ordered that Karinus and Leucius be sought for in their house; and there they are found in prayer. They return to the synagogue, where the priests adjure them by the God Heloi and by the God Adonai, and by the Law and the prophets to tell them how they rose from the dead; whereupon]

 

Karinus and Leucius beckoned to them with their hands to give them paper and ink. This they did because the Holy Spirit did not allow them to speak with them. They gave each of them a papyrus roll and separated them one from the other in different cells. And they made with their fingers the sign of the cross of Christ and began each one to write on his roll. And when they had finished, they cried out as with one voice each from his cell: “Amen.” Then they rose, and Karinus gave his roll to Annas and Leucius to Caiaphas; and they saluted one another and went out and returned to their sepulchers.

 

     [The content of their writing is not essentially different, except from the order of events, from the account in Greek B or Latin A; and the narrative resumes:]

 

And again the voice of the Son of the most high Father sounded, like great thunder: “Open your gates, O princes; open, ye everlasting doors. The King of glory shall come in.” Then Satan and Hades cried out: “Who is this King of glory?” And the Lord’s voice answered them: “The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.” After this voice there came a man who had the appearance of a robber, carrying a cross on his shoulder and crying without: “Open to me that I may enter in.” Satan opened the gate to him a little and brought him in to the house, and shut the gate after him. And all the saints saw him shining brightly, and said to him immediately: “Your appearance is that of a robber. Tell us, what is the burden you bear on your back?” He answered humbly: “Truly, I was a robber, and the Jews hanged me on a cross with my Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the most high Father. I come thus as his forerunner, but he himself comes immediately after me.” Then the holy David was enraged against Satan, and cried aloud: “Open your gates, most foul one, that the King of glory may come in.” Likewise also all the saints rose up against Satan and tried to seize him and tear him in pieces. And again the cry rang out within: “Open your gates, O princes, open, ye everlasting doors. The King of glory shall come in.” Again at this clear voice Hades and Satan asked: “Who is this King of glory?” And that wonderful voice replied: “The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.”

 

     [Christ enters; and at the request of the saints, sets up his cross in the midst of Hades as the sign of his victory. The journey to Paradise and the meeting with Enoch and Elijah of Latin A are omitted; and chapter 11 of Latin B reads as follows:]

 

But when the roll was completely read through, all who heard it fell on their faces weeping bitterly and relentlessly beating their breasts, and cried out repeatedly: “Woe to us! Why has this happened to us wretched men?” Pilate fled, Annas and Caiaphas fled, the priests and Levites fled, and all the people of the Jews, lamenting and saying: “Woe to us miserable men! We have shed innocent blood.” Therefore for three days and three nights they tasted no bread or water at all, and none of them returned to the synagogue. But on the third day the council assembled again, and the second roll, that of Leucius, was read, and there was found in it neither more nor less, not even to a single letter, than what was contained in the writing of Karinus. Then the synagogue was filled with dismay, and they all mourned for 40 days and 40 nights, and expected destruction and punishment from God. But he, the gracious and merciful one, did not destroy them immediately, but gave them generously an opportunity for repentance. But they were not found worthy to turn to the Lord. These, beloved brethren, are the testimonies of Karinus and Leucius, concerning Christ the Son of God and his holy acts in Hades. To him let us all give praise and glory always and for ever. Amen.

 

     Latin is also the form in which parts I and II made their largest number of contacts in the West. It exerted there a very wide influence, being regarded in many circles as a fifth witness to the Passion and the Resurrection of Jesus; and, as such, virtually a Received Text. It was taken over very nearly completely by James de Voragine (Historia Lombardica, 1255-1266, LII:ii); Vincentius Belvacensis (Speculum Historiale, 1473-1476, VII:i); greatly influenced the Passion plays of the 15th century; and has left many other impressions both in literature and in art. In the course of time, many appendices came to be joined to it.

 

Epilogue

 

     The standard edition of the Greek and Latin texts is that by Tischendorf (Evangelia Apocrypha, 2nd ed., 1876, 210-286, 323-332); who, however, attributed it to the 2nd century. He used 39 documents for his edition (of which he gives a full account in the introduction, pp. LXXI-LXXXVI); Greek A he published using eight manuscripts; for the Latin tradition he used twelve, and some old editions; and he also published Greek B. The editio princeps of the Latin text is without place or date, and it has been edited by Fabricius (Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti III 1719, 238-298), Jones (Canon N. T. II, 1798, 262-328), Birch (Havn., 1804, 1-154), Thilo (Lips., 1832, prolegomena and 487-795), and others. (Thilo, in the latter part of his introduction to the work, contains a full account of the English, French, Italian, and German translations.)

 

     Greek was most probably its original language, though, as in the case of the Infancy gospel of Matthew, the History of Joseph the Carpenter, and other works, the original language in many of the prefaces is stated to have been Hebrew. Some have thought that Latin was the original language, on the ground that Pilate would have made his report to the emperor in that—the official—language; but the Latin text of the Acts of Pilate that we have is obviously a translation; and made (so ANF) by a man to whom Greek was likewise not very familiar, as is obvious from his grammatical usage.

 

     There is an English translation in James (ANT, 94-146, which gives also a conspectus of the different versions); and there are further editions of Latin and Greek in parallel columns by Vannutelli (Rome, 1938). For further literature, see: Lipsius (Die Pilatusakten, 1871, 2nd ed., 1886); Dobschutz (“Dere Process Jesu Nach den Acta Pilati” in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche III, 1902, 89-114); Mommsen (“Die Pilatus-Akten” in Zeitschrift für die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der Alteren Kirche III, 1902, 98-205); Stulcken (“Pilatusakten” in Hennecke’s Handbuch zu den Neutestamentlichen Apokryphen, 1904, 143-153); Kroll (Gott und Holle. Der Mythos vom Descensuskampfe, 1932, 83ff); Vannutelli (Actorum Pilati Textus Synoptici, Rome, 1938); Santos (Ciclo de Pilato, 418-569; Escritos Complemantarios, 501ff: my source does not appear to give any more publishing information); and Quasten (Patrology I, 1950, 118, where there is given a well selected bibliography of editions and studies.)

 

[INT, V, 814; NTA, I, 444-481; ODC, 1072; ANT, 94-95; LAB, 59]

 

515. The Coptic Acts of Pilate

 

     The Coptic tradition of this work does not appear ever to have been connected with the Descent of Christ Into Hell, but only with part I of the Acts of Pilate as it is known today; i.e., it conforms to Greek A of the Acts of Pilate (which alone of the two Greek and the two Latin versions of this work does not contain the Descent of Christ Into Hell, or part II of the Acts of Pilate in its present form). Preserved in an early papyrus at Turin, and in some fragments at Paris, it was last edited by Revillout (“Apocryphes Coptes” in Graffin & Nau’s Patrologia Orientalis IX.ii, 1913, 57-132). [The Turin material had already been used by Tischendorf (Evangelia Apocrypha, 1876, LXXIII).]

 

[ODC, 1072; ANF, VIII, 353; ANT, 94; NTA, I, 447,449]

 

516. The Syriac Acts of Pilate

 

     The Syriac translation of the Acts of Pilate was discovered by the Syrian Catholic Patriarch, Ignatius Ephraim II Rahmani, under the title Hyponemata of Our Lord, in two manuscripts, one in Mosul, the other at Mardin in Media. He published them with a Latin translation (Studia Syriaca II, 1908). This translation was rendered into German by Sedlacek (“Neue Pilatusakten” in Sitzungsberichte der Kgl. Bohm. G. d. W. XI, 1908).

 

     At the time, both Rahmani and Sedlacek stated their belief that the Greek original of this Syriac version presented an older and more original text of the Acts of Pilate than Greek A; but it appears that this is not the case.

 

1. The Syriac translator undertook abridgments of the text, and these abbreviations relate often to such charming thoughts as that Pilate’s wife inclined to the Jewish faith, and to lively scenes like those described at XIII.2.

 

2. In II.2, Jesus makes no reply to Pilate’s questions; whereupon Pilate says:—(Dost thou not speak? Dost thou not know that I have power to crucify thee, and to set thee free?’ Jesus said to him: ‘If thou hadst the power, yet is this power given thee only from above. For every man has the power in his mouth to speak good and evil. Yet the Jews have their lips and bring accusations.’)—and there is clearly involved here a citation from John 19:10-11:—(Pilate therefore said to him, ‘You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have power to release you, and power to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore he who delivered me to you has the greater sin.’)—which additionally does not fit the context into which it is deliberately inserted.

 

3. According to II.4, the whole Jewish people was present at the wedding of Joseph and Mary (truly an unskillful addition).

 

4. The conclusion of the Greek version at II.5 reads:—(Pilate said to Annas and Caiaphas: ‘Do you not answer these things?’ And Annas and Caiaphas said to Pilate: ‘These twelve men are believed who say that he was not born of fornication. But we, the whole multitude, cry out that he was born of fornication, and is a ­sorcerer­, and claims to be the ­Son of God­ and a ­king­, and we are not ­believed­.)—which the Syriac renders as follows:—(And Pilate called Annas and Caiaphas and said to them: How do you defend yourselves against these? Those twelve said to him: We speak the truth when we say that it was not of adultery that he came, that men of whom all the people cry out that he was born of adultery. These are liars, and say he was a ­magician­ and made himself ­Son of God­ and a ­king­; they do not merit any ­confidence­.)

 

     The speech is clumsily put into the mouth of the twelve apostles; the crime here is adultery, not fornication; [and the underscored words indicate direct borrowing and secondary development of the borrowed material. (H)]

 

     ANT says the Syriac version, like the Coptic, conforms to Greek A (thus further enhancing the reputation of the primary antiquity of that version). Document II of the Acts of Pilate as it is known to us is absent from the Syriac version.

 

[ANT, 94; NTA, I, 447-449; ODC, 1072; ANF, VIII, 353]

 

517. The Armenian Acts of Pilate

 

     These seem to last have been edited by Conybeare (“Acta Pilati” in Studia Biblica et Ecclesiastica IV, Oxford, 1896, 59-132). He retranslated them into Latin and Greek on this occasion, giving a Latin version of one Armenian manuscript and a Greek version of another. The Armenian, like the Coptic and the Syriac versions, also conforms to Greek A; which must be regarded as the most original form of the Acts of Pilate. Document II of the Acts of Pilate as it is presently known to us is absent from the Armenian version.

 

[ODC, 1072; ANT, 94; ANF, VIII, 353; NTA, I, 448-449]

 

518. The Anglo-Saxon Acts of Pilate.

 

     I have found but a single reference to this:—(In: Heptateuch. Oxf. 1698.)—and I take this to mean that a version of the Acts of Pilate in Anglo-Saxon will be found in a book entitled Heptateuch and published in Oxford in 1698. The word itself is sometimes used, on the analogy of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Received Old Testament, viz. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), to refer to the first six thereof (i.e., the Pentateuch + Joshua and Judges, on account of their supposedly being a unity); but whether that is what is meant by ­this­ reference is, of course, another question. (H)

 

     It may be further sorted out in Thilo (Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti I, Leipzig, 1832; which ANT (xxix) says contains excellent commentaries, and ANF (X,98) says contains a full account of the English translations. See also Goodwin (Anglo-Saxon English, Cambridge, 1851). [The Anglo-Saxon Acts of Pilate will probably not in any case have appeared prior to the 8th century. (H)]

 

[ANF, X, 98; ENC, VIII, 538; ODC, 626]

 

519. The Greek Acts of Cornelius

 

     A single reference appears on this also:—(The Acts of Cornelius are not of much interest, either as history or legend.)

 

[ANT, 471]

 

520. 521. The Greek Acts of Nereus and Achielleus; The Latin Acts of Nereus and Achielleus

 

     The Acts of Nereus and Achielleus tell the story of Petronilla, Peter’s daughter. According to them, Nereus and Achilleus were two eunuchs of the household of Domitilla (probably Flavia Domitilla, d.c.100AD, a Roman matron of the Imperial family who became a Christian). The document asserts that all three were transported to the island of Terracina, where Nereus and Achilleus were beheaded and Domitilla burnt. It takes place in the time of Domitian and Trajan.

 

     The acta is a combination of different accounts. In the first portion, the Acts of Peter are the basis of the story, and the account of the martyrs is connected with the Peter-Simon legend. The author also knew the portion of the Acts of Peter which is preserved only in the Coptic fragment of that tradition (on which see also Schmidt, “Studien zu den Alten Petrusakten” in Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte XLIII, 1924, 340ff). It is difficult to decide whether he relied on the Greek or Latin version; but he also used the Linus texts of the Passions of Peter and Paul.

 

     The Greek text was first edited by Wireth (Leipzig, 1890); also edited, with a German translation, by Achelis (in Gebhardt & Harnack’s Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literatur XI.ii, Leipzig, 1893). The time of composition of the Greek text is variously determined: 5th or 6th century. The Latin translation (on which see Lipsius, Die Apokryphen Apostelgeschichten II.i, 1883, 106ff) came doubtless from the 7th century.

 

     Achelis has published the following introduction in German:

 

Die Nereus-Achilleus-Akten Erzahlen das Leiden der Flavia Domitilla und ihrer Kammerer Nereus und Achilleus. Sie wurden schon deswegen eine Untersuchung auf ihre Quellen und ihren historischen Wert hin rechtfertigen.

 

Sie enthalten ferner eine Reihe topographischer Notizen uber Romische Cometerien, und berichten von der Verehrung mancher Romischer und mittelitalischer Heiligen, zahlen somit zu den Quellen der Katakomben—und Martyrologienforschung. Auch wenn die historische Untersuchung mit negativem Resultate abschliessen musste, wurde dieser Umstand den Akten ihren Wert sichern.

 

Dass sie endlich fur die apokryphe Petrus-Paulus-Literatur durch ihre daher entnommenen Stoffe von Bedeutung sind, hat noch jungst R. A. Lipsius in seinem grossen Werke gezeigt.

 

Der lateinsche Text der Akten ist langst bekannt und mehrfach gedruckt; den griechischen Originaltext in Vatikanischen Handschriften wiedergefunden zu haben, ist das Verdienst Albercht Wirth’s. Seine Ausgabe kann ich ihm nicht zum Verdienste aurechnen. Wenn ich bemerke, dass er einige 20 Worter seiner Handschriften nicht zum Abdruck bringt, dass seine Augaben uber die Lesarten derselben in ausserordentlich vielen Fallen falsch und irrefuhrend sind, dass seine Quellenuntersuchung jedes Haltes entbehrt, durfte eine neue Augsbage und Untersuchung berechtigt erschieinen.

 

     See on this also: Di Rossi (“Scoperta della Basilica di S. Petronilla, Col Sepolero dei Martiri Nero ed Achielleo nel Cimitero di Domitilla” in Bulletino di Archeologia Christiana II:v, 1874, 5-35); Di Rossi (“Insigni Scoperte nel Cimitero di Domitilla: I, Notizie Preliminari sul Sepolcro di S. Petronilla: Scoperta d’ un Singolare Monumento del Sepolcroaltare dei Martiri Nero ed Achilleo” in Bulletino di Archeologia Christiana II:vi, 1875, 5-11); Schaefer (“Die Acten der Heiligen Nereus und Achilleus” in Romische Quartalschrift für die Christliche Alterthums-kunde und fur Kirchengeschichte VIII, Rome, 1894, 89-119); De Cavalieri (“I SS. Nereo ed Achilleo nell’ Epigramma Damasiano” in Studi e Testi XII, Rome, 1909, 43-55); Kirsch (“Titulus de Fasciola oder SS. Nerei et Achillei” in Studien zur Geschichte und Kulter des Alteretums I-II:ix, 1918, 90-94); and Leclercq (“Nereee et Achielee” in Cabrol & Lecercq’s Dictionnaire d’ Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie XII.1, 1935, cols. 1124-1250).

 

[ODC, 945; NTA, II, 572; ANT, 471; ACH, i]

 

522. 523. The Greek Martyrium Sancti Longini Centurionis, after Hesychius of Jerusalem; The Greek Martyrium Sancti et Glorioso Martyris, after Simeon the Metaphrast

 

     Longinus is the name traditionally given to the soldier who, at John 19:34 (the incident is otherwise unrecorded; and even here he is nameless) pierced the side of Christ with his spear:—(Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.) It can be traced back to the Acts of Pilate, one version of which also gives it to the centurion who, standing by the Cross, confessed varying degrees of sympathy for Jesus: at Mark 15:39:—(Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he\fn{Other ancient authorities add: cried out and.} breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”\fn{Or: a son of God.}; at Matthew 27:54:—(Now when the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was God’s Son!”\fn{Or: a son of God.}; and at Luke 23:47:—(When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.”\fn{Or: righteous.} [Note that in all three instances the centurion is likewise nameless. (H)]

 

     Tillemont (Memoires pour servir a l’Histoire Ecclesiastique, Paris, 1693, I, note xxxviii, 477f) comments with irony on the statement made by the Bollandists that all the Greek lives of Longinus are drawn from Hesychius of Jerusalem (d. after 451), and especially that of Simeon the Metaphrast (a Byzantine hagiographer who flourished c.960, and of whose life nothing else is known) has Hesychius as its source (considering it as a history that contains few facts and many words, deliberately reworked, as the ODC says, to make them acceptable in style and manner of presentation to the taste of his time). James also says that they, too, are not of much interest, either as history or legend.

 

     On the other hand, Gregory of Nyssa (d.c.395, Letter XVII, in Patrologia Graeca XLVI, 1061) knows of the cultus of a centurion (unfortunately unnamed) which survived in his day in Cappadocia. And see also Burdach (“Der Longinus-Speer in Eschatologischen Lichte” in Sitzungsberichte der Koniglichen Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Berlin, 1920, 294-321); and also Dolger (“Die Blutsalbung des Soldaten mit der Lanz im Passions-spiel Christus Patiens” in Antique und Christentum IV, 1934).

 

     However that may be, Peebles (“The Legend of Longinus in Ecclesiastical Tradition and in English Literature and its Connection with the Grail” Bryn Mawr College Monograph Series IX, Baltimore, 1911) describes the Greek acts of Longinus the centurion as follows:

 

Longinus, the centurion, is sent to serve at the sepulchre of Christ. He believes in Jesus through wonders, renounces his military service, and with two companions retires to his father’s home at Tyania in Cappadocia. There he is beheaded by messengers of Pilate, and his head is taken by them to Jerusalem, where it is thrown outside into a refuse heap. A blind woman comes to Jerusalem from Cappadocia with her only son. Her son dies, and she mourns her misfortune. Longinus appears to her, and tells her that if she will find and bury his head, he will bring her son to glory. She does so, and is rewarded with sight, and a vision of her son with Longinus in Heaven. She buries her son and Longinus’ head together.

 

     The life of Longinus the common soldier he describes as follows:

 

Longinus, a soldier sent by Pilate, pierced the side of Christ, and when he saw the sun obscured and the earth quake, believed in Jesus Christ and exclaimed with a loud voice: Vere filius Dei est hic. He was instructed by the apostles, and went into Caesarea in Cappadocia, where he led a quiet life for 28 years, converting many. When word of his success came to Octavius, the emperor sent for Longinus, and asked him who he was. Longinus responded, ‘Christianus sum.’ Asked his province, he answered, ‘Isauria.’ When asked if he was free, he replied that he had been a slave to sin, but had been released by the mercy of Christ. Octavius urged him to worship the Roman gods, but Longinus responded that his God was one of sobriety and righteousness, but those of Octavius were gods of iniquity, and that he could not serve two masters. Though Octavius had Longinus’ tongue cut out, and his teeth knocked out, Longinus continued to speak. Longinus cast devils out of the idols and broke their altars. Recognizing Longinus, the devils confessed that they knew his God to be the true one. When asked why they had chosen such resting-places, they gave as a reason that those idols had never been blessed, nor had they had the sign of the cross made on them. Many of the people believed; but Octavius, whose heart the devil had corrupted, accused Longinus of having used magic arts. Aphrodisius told Octavius that Longinus was right and his God the true one, and in consequence Aphrodisius’ tongue was cut out. Thereupon, at the prayer of Longinus, the Lord punished Octavius by striking him blind. After Longinus had suffered martyrdom, Octavius repented and received his sight.

 

     He also gives a precis of a variant of the last part of this story, printed by the Bollandists and found in Manuscript Paris 797:

 

A widow, Christina by name, was possessed by a wicked spirit, which tore her cruelly. Longinus appeared to her without his head, and told her to go to Jerusalem, to the house of the prefect Lucian, to seek the head of Longinus the centurion, and to replace it with his body; saying that if she did so she should be made well and her son should be taken into his military service. Christina started on her way. When she came to the tomb of the saint, she cried out, and a voice told her that Christ would be her helper. She obtained the head from Lucian, the prefect, for which she paid him 200 denarii. She and her son took the head to the tomb, which opened with a great light. After the youth had replaced the head, it was as if it had never been cut off. Longinus appeared to Christina that night, told her she should have her health restored, and asked her to choose which she preferred for her son—earthly or Heavenly service. She chose Heavenly service. The next day, accordingly, Longinus appeared to the son in the vineyard, and told him to follow his name, Christian, and be a soldier of Christ. Notwithstanding her choice, when the mother found her son dead, she was overcome with grief. She was comforted, however, by an angel. She then went to Paphnutius,\fn{An unusual name. Perhaps it reflects a memory of one Paphnutius of the Upper Thebaid (d.c.360AD), an Egyptian monk, a disciple of Antony of Egypt, the Father of Monasticism; at the Council of Nicaea (325) his mutilated body was an object of wonder and veneration to the assembled bishops, for he had suffered great hardship and cruelty during the persecution of the emperor Maximin (305-313). Both Socretes of Constantinople (d.450, Ecclesiastical History I:xi) and Sozomen of Bethelia (fl. early 5th century, Ecclesiastical History I:xxiii) say that Paphnutius dissuaded the Council from ordering all clergy to put away their wives. See on this Bickell (“Der Celibat eine Apostolische Anordnung” in Zeitschrift für die Alttestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde des Nachbiblischen Judentums II, 1878, 26-64); and Leclercq (“Paphnuce” in Dictionnaire d’Archeologie Chretienne et de Liturgie XIII:i, 1937, cols. 1358-1361).} the bishop of Tyania and told him her story. They buried the son with Longinus. In a vision Christiana was shown her son in Heaven with Longinus. After a life of service, she died and was buried in the tomb of Longinus.

 

     It seems clear that the two stories have developed along different lines. The legend of the soldier retains the conversion by miracles, which is found also in the centurion’s story. Both also serve in Cappadocia; but the legend of the centurion adds, however, still other incidents more or less common to saint’s lives.

 

The acta of Longinus the centurion, and of Longinus the soldier, together with a discussion as to whether both were in fact the same person, appear in the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists (March 11, 1688, 376-390). None of the manuscripts which they used, however, is older than the 10th century. The Greek martyrdom after Hesychius (d. after 451AD) is printed in Migne (Patrologia Graeca XCIII, 1545-1560); and the Greek text of the Martyrium ... Sancti Longini Centurionis appears in Simeon Metaphrastes (Mensis Martius CXV, 32-41). It seems clear from the sources that only two separate Greek documents were originally involved (but see just below). It seems incredible not to have discovered any evidence of an old Latin version of this legend, though doubtless one must have been created, for the ODC says of them:—[Texts (many only in mod. Lat. trss.) collected in J. P. Migne, PG, cxiv-cxvi. For general orientation, see B.H.G. (ed. 1909), esp. pp. 267-92 (‘Synopsis Metaphrastica’); but since 1909 several more Gk. texts have been publd.]

 

[ODC, 820, 1011, 1256-1257; ANT, 471; RJP, 16-20]

 

524. The Arabic Martyrdom of Longinus

 

     Peebles says that there is an Arabic version of the Martyrdom of Longinus published and translated by Rene Basset:

 

Cf. Le Synaxaire Arabe Jacobite, 5th Hatour (1st Nov.) (Patrol. Orientalis, pub. and trans. by Rene Basset, III, Fasc. 3, 252). The story differs slightly: the soldier who had borne the order, brought the head to Jerusalem, and gave it to Pilate, who showed it to the Jews, thus rejoicing them, and had it interred in a monticule\fn{A little hill.} outside Jerusalem. After some time a woman of Cappadocia who had become a Christian through the preaching of Longinus, and who had wept when he was decapitated, became blind by design of God. She went to Jerusalem to pray at the sacred monument in the hope of regaining her sight, etc.

 

[RJP, 19]

 

525. The Letter of Pilate to Tiberius I

 

     Tischendorf (Evangelia Apocrypha, 2nd ed., 1876, 433f) prints a letter with this title [except the `I', which I have inserted to differentiate between this emperor (ruled 14-37AD), Tiberius II (578-582) and Tiberius III (698-705). (H)] which cannot (so James) be traced further back in time than the 15th century; and is written in rather elegant Latin, evidently by an Italian of the early Renaissance. Goodspeed, however (Modern Apocrypha, 43) appears to place the letter much earlier:—

 

Mahan perhaps knew something of the amazing discoveries made by Tischendorf in the 1850’s in the libraries of the Levant. He may have known of the short but striking apocryphal pieces dating from the 4th and 5th centuries, the Letter of Pontius Pilate to Tiberius and the Report of Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius.

 

     However that may be, it should also be pointed out that ANF says that its text (quoted below) is formed from four authorities, none of which are ancient; it goes on to say that on p. 480 a translation of the Greek text of the same letter will be found; and with that position R. McL. Wilson concurs (480 note 2). [But it seems obvious—at least from a comparison of their English translations—that this is in fact not the case at all, but that Pilate-to-Tiberius is a composition independent of the Pilate-to-Claudius letters, the two surviving versions of which ANF prints on pages 454 and 480. (See below under #534, where they are discussed; not for the first time have I wished for a personal fluency in a language other than English.) (H)]

 

     The text of the Letter of Pilate to Tiberius I is as follows:

 

Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar the emperor, greeting. Upon Jesus Christ, whose case I had clearly set forth to thee in my last, at length by the will of the people a bitter punishment has been inflicted, myself being in a sort unwilling and rather afraid. A man, by Hercules, so pious and strict, no age has ever had nor will have. But wonderful were the efforts of the people themselves, and the unanimity of all the scribes and chief men and elders, to crucify this ambassador of truth, notwithstanding that their own prophets, and after our manner the sibyls, warned them against it: and supernatural signs appeared while he was hanging, and, in the opinion of philosophers, threatened destruction to the whole world. His disciples are flourishing, in their work and the regulation of their lives not belying their master; yea, in his name most beneficent. Had I not been afraid of the rising of a sedition among the people, who were just on the point of breaking out, perhaps this man would still have been alive to us; although, urged more by fidelity to thy dignity than induced by my own wishes, I did not according to my strength resist that innocent blood free from the whole charge brought against it, but unjustly, through the malignity of men, should be sold and suffer, yet as the Scriptures signify, to their own destruction. Farewell. 28th March.

 

     See on this letter: Fabricius (Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti III, 1719, 298-301); Altmann (De Epistula Pilatus ad Tiberius, Berlin, 1755); Birch (Auctarium Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti Fabriciani: Continens Plura Inedita, Alia ad Fidem Codd. Mss. Emendatius Expressa I, Havniae, 1804, 154); Thilo (Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti I, Leipzig, 1832, 796f); Tischendorf (Evangelia Apocrypha, Leipzig, 1853, lxxvi-lxxvii, 411-412); Wright (Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament, London, 1865, 12f); Cowper (Apocryphal Gospels, 1867, 389-399); Hoffmann (in Herzog’s Realenciklopadie für Protestantische Theologie und Kirche I, 1877, 518.

 

[ANT, 153; ANF, VIII, 459:X,99]

 

526. The Report of Pilate to Tiberius I

 

     This work (also known by its familiar Greek title, Anaphora) survives in two Greek versions. They are both quoted (in parallel) below in their entirety, the numbered paragraphs in the second Greek version keyed to those in the first Greek versions, which it closely parallels, yet differs from [forming, in fact, part of a later Greek form of the Acts of Pilate, known to scholars as Greek B (the first form being known as Greek A; see the discussion under numbers 513 and 514, above)].

 

1A. To the most mighty, venerable, most divine, and most terrible, the august\fn{Or: Augustus.} Caesar, Pilate the governor of the East sends greeting.

1B. To the most mighty, venerable, awful, most divine, the august,—Pilatus Pontius, the governor of the East:

*

2A. I have, O most mighty, a narrative to give thee, on account of which I am seized with fear and trembling.

2B. I have to report to thy reverence, through this writing of mine, being seized with great trembling and fear, O most mighty emperor, the conjuncture of the present times, as the end of these things has shown.

*

3A. For in this government of mine, of which one of the cities is Jerusalem, all the people of the Jews have delivered to me a man named Jesus, bringing many charges against him, which they were not able to convict him of by the consistence of their evidence.

3B. For while I, my lord, according to the commandment of thy clemency, was discharging the duties of my government, which is one of the cities of the East, Jerusalem by name, in which is built the temple of the Jewish nation, all the multitude of the Jews came together, and delivered to me a certain man named Jesus, bringing against him many and groundless charges; and they were not able to convict him in anything.

*

4A. And one of the heresies they had against him was, that Jesus said that their Sabbath should not be a day of leisure, and should not be observed.

4B. And one heresy of theirs against him was, that he said that the Sabbath was not their right rest.

*

5A. For he performed many cures on that day: he made the blind receive their sight, the lame walk; he raised up the dead, he cleansed the lepers; he healed paralytics that were not at all able to make any movement of their body, or to keep their nerves steady, but who had only speech and the modulation of their voice, and he gave them the power of walking and running, removing their illness by a single world.

5B. And that man wrought many cures, in addition to good works. He made the blind see; he cleansed lepers; he raised the dead; he healed paralytics who could not move at all, except that they only had their voice, and the joining of their bones; and he gave them the power of walking about and running, commanding them by a single word.

*

6A. another thing again, more powerful still, which is strange even with our gods: he raised up one that had been dead four days, summoning him by a single word, when the dead man had his blood corrupted, and when his body was destroyed by the worms produced in it, and when it had the stink of a dog. And seeing him lying in the tomb, he ordered him to run. Nor had he anything of a dead body about him at all; but as a bridegroom from the bridal chamber, so he came forth from the tomb filled with very great fragrance.

6B. and another mightier work he did, which was strange even with our gods: he raised up a dead man, Lazarus, who had been dead four days, by a single word ordering the dead man to be raised, although his body was already corrupted by the worms that grow in wounds; and that ill-smelling body lying in the tomb, he ordered to run; and as a bridegroom from the bridal chamber, so he came forth out of the tomb, filled with exceeding fragrance.

*

7A. And strangers that were manifestly demonaic, and that had their dwelling in deserts, and ate their own flesh, living like beasts and creeping things, even these he made to be dwellers in cities, and by his word restored them to soundness of mind, and rendered them wise and able and reputable, eating with all the enemies of the unclean spirits that dwell in them for their destruction, which he cast down into the depths of the sea.

7B. And some that were cruelly vexed by demons, and had their dwellings in deserts, and ate the flesh of their own limbs, and lived alone with reptiles and wild beasts, he made to be dwellers in cities in their own houses, and by a word he rendered them sound-minded; and he made those that were troubled by unclean spirits to be intelligent and reputable; and sending away the demons in them into a herd of swine, he suffocated them in the sea.

*

8A. And again there was another having a withered hand; and not the hand only, but rather half the body of the man, was petrified, so that he had not the form of a man, or the power of moving his body. And him by a word he healed, and made sound.

8B. Another man, again, who had a withered hand, and lived in sorrow, and had not even the half of his body sound, he rendered sound by a single word.

*

9A. And a woman that had an issue of blood for many years, and whose joints\fn{Codex A in Paris (dated 1315 AD) has a better reading: arteries.} and veins were drained by the flowing of the blood, so that she did not present the appearance of a human being, but was like a corpse, and was speechless every day, so that all the physicians of the district could not cure her. For there was not any hope of life left to her. And when Jesus passed by, she mysteriously received strength through his overshadowing her; and she took hold of his fringe behind, and immediately in the same hour power filled up what in her was empty, so that, no longer suffering any pain, she began to run swiftly to her own city Kepharnaum,\fn{So the text. The word is properly spelt: Capharnaum; whence it is found in the best Greek manuscripts of the Received New Testament, and also in the Vulgate.} so as to accomplish the journey in six days.

9B. And a woman that had a flow of blood for many years, so that, in consequence of the flowing of her blood, all the joinings of her bones appeared, and were transparent like glass; and assuredly all the physicians had left her without hope, and had not cleansed her, for there was not in her a single hope of health: once, then, as Jesus was passing by, she took hold of the fringe of his clothes behind, and that same hour the power of her body was completely restored, and she became whole, as if nothing were the matter with her, and she began to run swiftly to her own city Paneas.\fn{This is a conjecture of Thilo’s. The manuscripts have: Spania.}

*

10A. And these are the things which I lately had in my mind to report, which Jesus accomplished on the Sabbath.

10B. And these things indeed were so. And the Jews gave information that Jesus did these things on the Sabbath.

*

11A. And other signs greater than these he did, so that I have perceived that the wonderful works done by him are greater than can be done by the gods whom we worship.

11B. And I also ascertained that the miracles done by him were greater than any which the gods whom we worship could do.

*

12A. And him Herod and Archelaus and Philip, Annas and Caiaphas, with all the people, delivered to me, making a great uproar against me that I should try him.

12B. Him then Herod and Archelaus and Philip, and Annas and Caiaphas, with all the people, delivered to me to try him.

*

13A. I therefore ordered him to be crucified, having first scourged him, and having found against him no cause of evil accusation or deeds.

13B. And as many were exciting an insurrection against me, I ordered him to be crucified.

*

14A. And at the time he was crucified there was darkness over all the world, the sun being darkened at mid-day, and the stars appearing, but in them there appeared no luster; and the moon, as if turned into blood, failed in her light.

14B. And when he had been crucified, there was darkness over the whole earth, the sun having been completely hidden, and the heaven appearing dark though it was day, so that the stars appeared, but had at the same time their brightness darkened, as I suppose your reverence is not ignorant of, because in all the world they lighted lamps from the sixth hour until evening. And the moon, being like blood, did not shine the whole night, and yet she happened to be at the full.

*

15A. And the world was swallowed up by the lower regions, so that the very sanctuary of the temple, as they call it, could not be seen by the Jews in their fall; and they saw below them a chasm of the earth, with the roar of the thunders that fell upon it.\fn{The text here is very corrupt.}

15B.\fn{There is no parallel in the version in Greek B.}

*

16A. And in that terror dead men were seen that had risen, as the Jews themselves testified; and they said that it was Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs, and Moses and Job, that had died, as they say, three thousand five hundred years before.

16B.\fn{The parallel to this in the version in Greek B is to be found below at 23B.}

*

17A. And there were very many whom I also saw appearing in the body; and they were making a lamentation about the Jews, on account of the wickedness that had come to pass through them, and the destruction of the Jews and of their law.

17B. And the stars also, and Orion, made a lament about the Jews, on account of the wickedness that had been done by them.\fn{Instead of this last sentence, one manuscript has: And the whole world was shaken by unspeakable miracles, and all the creation was like to be swallowed up by the lower regions; so that also the sanctuary of the temple was rent from top to bottom. And again there was thunder, and a mighty noise from heaven, so that all our land shook and trembled. Another manuscript has: And there began to be earthquakes in the hour in which the nails were fixed in Jesus’ hands and feet, until evening.}

*

18A. And the fear of the earthquake remained from the sixth hour of the preparation until the ninth hour.

18B.\fn{There is no parallel in the version in Greek B.}

*

19A. And on the evening of the first day of the week there was a sound out of the heaven, so that the heaven became enlightened seven-fold more than all the days.

19B.\fn{There is no parallel in the version in Greek B.}

*

20A. And at the third hour of the night also the sun was seen brighter than it had ever shone before, lighting up all the heaven.

20B. And on the first of the week, about the third hour of the night, the sun was seen such as it had never at any time shone, and all the heaven was lighted up.

*

21A. And as lightnings come suddenly in winter, so majestic men appeared\fn{Or: so men appeared on high.} in glorious robes, an innumerable multitude, whose voice was heard as that of a very great thunder, crying out: Jesus that was crucified is risen: come up out of Hades, ye that have been enslaved in the underground regions of Hades.

21B. And as lightnings came on in winter, so majestic men of indescribable splendor of dress and of glory appeared in the air, and an innumerable multitude of angels crying out, and saying: Glory in the highest to God, and on earth peace, among men goodwill: come up out of Hades, ye who have been kept in slavery in the under-ground regions of Hades.

*

22A. And the chasm of the earth was as if it had no bottom; but it was as if the very foundations of the earth appeared along with those that cried out in the heavens, and walked about in the body in the midst of the dead that had risen.

22B. And at their voice all the mountains and hills were shaken, and the rocks were burst asunder; and great chasms were made in the earth, so that also what was in the abyss appeared.

*

23A.\fn{The parallel to this in the version in Greek A is to be found above at paragraph 16A.}

23B. And there were seen in that terror dead men raised up,\fn{One manuscript adds: to the number of 500.} as the Jews that saw them said: We have seen Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve patriarchs, that died two thousand five hundred years ago; and we have seen Noah manifestly in the body.

*

24A. And he that raised up all the dead, and bound Hades, said: Say to my disciples, He goes before you into Galilee; there shall you see him.

24B.\fn{There is no parallel to this in the version in Greek B.}

*

25A.\fn{There is no parallel to this in the version in Greek A.}

25B. And all the multitude walked about, and sang praises to God with a loud voice, saying: The Lord our God that has risen from the dead has brought to life all the dead, and has plundered Hades, and put him to death.

*

26A. And all that night the light did not cease shining.

26B. All that night therefore, my lord, O king, the light ceased not.

*

27A. And many of the Jews died, swallowed up in the chasm of the earth, so that on the following day most of those who had been against Jesus could not be found.

27B. And many of the Jews died, and were engulfed and swallowed up in the chasms in that night, so that not even their bodies appeared. Those, I say, of the Jews suffered that had spoken against Jesus.

*

28A. Others saw the appearing of those that had risen, whom no one of us had ever seen.\fn{This sentence has been transmitted in a very corrupt state.}

28B.\fn{There is no parallel to this in the version in Greek B.}

*

29A. And only one\fn{Another and more probable reading (in a Paris manuscript of the 14th century) is: not one.} synagogue of the Jews was left in this Jerusalem, since all disappeared in that fall.

29B. And one synagogue was left in Jerusalem, since all those synagogues that had been against Jesus were engulfed.

*

30A. With that terror, being in perplexity, and seized with a most frightful trembling, I have written what I saw at that time, and have reported to thy majesty.

30B. From that fear, then, being in perplexity, and seized with much trembling, at that same hour I ordered what had been done by them all to be written; and I have reported it to thy mightiness.

*

31A. Having set in order also what was done by the Jews against Jesus, I have sent it, my lord, to thy divinity.

31B.\fn{There is no parallel to this in the version in Greek B.}

 

     Eusebius of Caesarea (d.c.340, Ecclesiastical History II:2, written before 303) devotes an entire chapter to the existence of some form of procuratorial message. (The bracketed numbers refer to footnotes, listed below. I have distinguished Tertullian’s remarks from those of Eusebius by leaving the former in regular typeface:H)

 

And when the wonderful resurrection and Ascension of our Savior were already noised abroad, in accordance with an ancient custom which prevailed among the rulers of the provinces, of reporting to the emperor (1) the novel occurrences which took place in them, in order that nothing might escape him, Pontius Pilate informed Tiberius of the reports which were noised abroad through all Palestine concerning the resurrection of our Savior Jesus from the dead. He gave an account also of other wonders which he had learned of him, and how, after his death, having risen from the dead, he was now believed by many to be a god. (2) They say Tiberius referred the matter to the Senate, (3) but that they rejected it, ostensibly because they had not first examined into the matter (for an ancient law prevailed that no one should be made a god by the Romans except by a vote and decree of the Senate), but in reality because the saving teaching of the divine gospel did not need the confirmation and recommendation of men. But although the Senate of the Romans rejected the proposition made in regard to our Savior, Tiberius still retained the opinion which he had held at first, and contrived no hostile measures against Christ. (4) These things are recorded by Tertullian, (5) a man well versed in the laws of the Romans, (6) and in other respects of high repute, and one of those especially distinguished in Rome. (7) In his apology for the Christians, (8) which was written by him in the Latin language, and has been translated into Greek, (9) he writes as follows: (10) —But in order that we may give an account of these laws from their origin, it was an ancient decree (11) that no one should be consecrated a god by the emperor until the Senate had expressed its approval. Marcus Aurelius did thus concerning a certain idol, Alburnus. (12) And this is a point in favor of our doctrine, (13) that among you divine dignity is conferred by human decree. If a god does not please a man he is not made a god. Thus, according to this custom, it is necessary for man to be gracious to God. Tiberius, therefore, under whom the name of Christ made its entry into the world, when this doctrine was reported to him from Palestine, where it first began, communicated with the Senate, making it clear to them that he was pleased with the doctrine. (14) But the Senate, since it had not itself proved the matter, rejected it. But Tiberius continued to hold his own opinion, and threatened death to the accusers of the Christians. (15) — Heavenly providence had wisely instilled this into his mind in order that the doctrine of the gospel, unhindered at its beginning, might spread in all directions throughout the world.

 

Key

 

(1) That Pilate made an official report to Tiberius is stated also by Tertullian, and is in itself quite probable.

(2) The existing Report of Pilate answers well to this general Eusebian description, containing as it does a detailed account of Christ’s miracles and of his Resurrection. According to Tischendorf, however, the Report is in its present form of a much later date, but at the same time very likely based upon the form which Eusebius saw, being changed by interpolations and additions.

(3) Tiberius might indeed have done this. Tertullian of Carthage lived quite early (the ODC says c.160-c.220, but Lipsius pushes the date back toward the beginning of the 150’s, and some even into the 140’s); and perhaps more important, his father was a Roman centurion and he himself became a lawyer and rhetorician in Rome. He was thus in a good position to verify what he talks about.

(4) This is certainly true: Tiberius did not persecute the Christians during his reign. But whether this was simply because they attracted no notice during his reign or administrative custom—the Romans normally practiced religious toleration—as opposed to motivation by personal preference, must remain at best an open question. There is apparently no evidence that Tiberius either believed in Christ, or had any respect for His followers. ENC (XXII,177) notes that he came to brood over mysteries and superstitions, but that all his feelings, desires, passions and ambitions had to be interpreted by the very uncertain light of his external acts, and that it is a question whether he ever liked or was liked by a single being. Another reference (WWW,213) goes so far as to say that he was reserved, cold, introverted and proud: hardly the virtues of a Christian enthusiast.

(5) Apologeticus V:xxi.

(6) Actually, Tertullian’s ­accurate­ acquaintance with the laws of the Romans is not particularly conspicuous in his writings. His books lead us to think that as a lawyer he must have been noted rather for brilliance and fertility of personal resource than for erudition. This conclusion is further born out by his own description of his life before his conversion, which seems to have been largely devoted to pleasure, and thus to have hardly admitted the acquirement of extensive and accurate learning.

(7) From his work De Cultu Feminarum I:vii we know that he had spent some time in Rome, and his acquaintance with the Roman records would imply a residence of some duration there. He very likely practiced law and rhetoric in Rome until his conversion (c.195).

(8) The date of the Apologeticus has been fixed as almost certainly during the summer or fall of the year 197AD [so Bonwetsch (Die Schriften Tertullian’s, Bonn, 1878); Harnack (Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte, 1878, 572 ff); Noldechen (in V.2 of Gebhardt and Harnack’s Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der Altchristlichen Literature, 1882ff); and Cross (The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 1963, 1334).

(9) Some have contended that Eusebius himself translated this passage from Tertullian, but his words show clearly that he quotes from an already existing (but very poor) translation.

(10) Apologesticus V.

(11) Havercamp, in his edition of Tertullian’s Apologeticus (p.56) remarks that this law is stated in the second book of Cicero’s De Legibus (begun in 52BC, but published after his murder in 43BC) in the following words: Separatim nemo habessit deos, neve novos; sed ne advenas nisi publicae adscitos privatim colunto­.

(12) It does not appear that any writer except Tertullian mentions this ­deus Alburnus­. In Against Marcion I:xviii (composed after 207) he mentions this name again: ­Alioquin si sic homo Deum commentabitur, quomodo Romulus Consum, et Tatius Cloacinam, et Hostilius Pavorem, et Metellus Alburnum, et quidam ante hoc tempus Antinoum; hoc aliis licebit; nos Marcionem nauclerum novimus, non regem nec imperatorem­.

(13) Literally: This has been done in behalf of (or, for the sake of) our doctrine; but the freer translation given in the text better expresses the actual sense.

(14) There are those who say that this entire account bears all the marks of untruthfulness, and cannot for a moment be thought of as genuine. Tertullian was probably, as Neander suggests (Church History I, 1826-1852, 93ff) deceived by falsified or interpolated documents from some Christian source. [It should be pointed out in this context that Eusebius himself was apparently deliberately so confused—by contemporary Orthodox religious living in Edessa—in his assertions about the Abgar materials; for which see the discussions under #528 below. (H)] He cannot have secured his knowledge from original state records. The falsification probably took place long after the time of Tiberius. Tertullian is the first writer to mention these circumstances, and Tertullian was not by any means a critical historian. See also the next note.

(15) Were this conduct of Tiberius a fact, Trajan’s rescript of 112AD:—(You have followed the correct course, my dear Pliny, (16) in investigating the cases of those denounced to you as Christians. It is not possible to lay down any universal rule which can be applied as the fixed standard in all cases of this nature. No search should be made for these people; but if they are denounced and found guilty, they must be punished; with this proviso, that when the party denies that he is a Christian, and shall give proof that he is not, by worshipping the gods, he shall be pardoned for his penitence, even though he may have formerly incurred suspicion. But anonymously written accusations must not be admitted in evidence against anyone, for they form the words precedent and are not in keeping with the spirit of the age)—and all subsequent negative action upon the subject (involving the emperors Hadrian, Antonius Pius, Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, Maximinus Thrax, Decius, Valerian, Aurelian, Diocletian, Galerius, Constantius, Maximin, Licinius and Julian) would become inexplicable. (17)

(16) Pliny (the Younger) wrote to Trajan as one of the emperor’s Imperial governors, c.112AD.

(17) James, however, also says that in some of the surviving Greek manuscripts, the Report of Pilate to Tiberius I bears faint similarities to the Gospel of Peter, a work known to Serapion of Antioch c.190, and probably written in Syria c.150; and that our Report may be based on a briefer document of an earlier date.

 

     ANF says that the first version of the Report of Pilate to Tiberius I was published by Fabricius (Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti III, 1719, 456f); and that both versions were later published by Birch (Auctarium Codex Apocryphus Novi Testimenti Fabriciani I, Havniae, 1804), Thilo (Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti I, 1832), Tischendorf (Evangelia Apocrypha, Leipzig, 1853, lxxvii-lxxviii, 413-425); and Cowper (Apocryphal Gospels, 1867, cv-cvi, 400-409). See also Hoffmann (in Herzog’s Realencyklopadie für Protestantische Theologie und Kirche I, 1877, 518-519); and Waite (Hist. Chr. Rel., 1881, 177-179, 218).

 

[ECC, 77; WWW, 140-141; ODC, 942, 1047, 1084; ANF, VIII, 353-354: X, 99; NTA, I, 444-445, 447,481; ANT, 153]

 

527. The Letter of Tiberius I to Pilate

 

     NTA confines itself to a single, brief statement about this letter: that it was a harsh reply from Tiberius; may be found in a Spanish translation in de Santos Otero (Los Evangelios Apocryfos, 1956, 502ff); and is a much later work than the Descent of Christ Into Hell. James is slight more effulgent in his estimate. He says it is one of the few Greek writings which takes the Western—that is, the unfavorable—view of Pilate; that it is assuredly not early in date; that it has points of contact with Greek B of the Acts of Pilate, (5th century, see #’s 513 and 514, above); and that it is actually a part of a longer work, a report of the death of Pontius Pilate which was itself under strong Western influence. Moreover, he has included in his discussion a precis to the letter and a synopsis of the death-report which follows it; and because the one serves, as it were, to date the other (see footnotes to both), I have reproduced them below, bracketing them within the letter itself.

 

This was delivered to Pilate by means of the messenger Raab,\fn{In a single manuscript of the Greek B of the Acts of Pilate, the author has Pilate give his mantle to a messenger named Rachaab. The inference is that the Raab mentioned here is but a contraction of Rachaab, and a further proof that this letter is of late provenance.} who was sent with 2,000 soldiers to bring him to Rome.—Since you have given a violent and iniquitous sentence of death against Jesus of Nazareth, showing no pity, and having received gifts to condemn him, and with your tongue have expressed sympathy,\fn{A reference to the Report of Pilate to Tiberius I ( = Anaphora), wherein Pilate certainly does express such sympathy.} but in your heart have delivered him up, you shall be brought home a prisoner to answer for yourself. I have been exceedingly distressed at the reports that have reached me: a woman, a disciple of Jesus, has been here, called Mary Magdalene,\fn{See also Greek B of the Acts of Pilate, where Mary Magdalene says: Who shall make this known unto all the world? I will go alone to Rome unto Caesar: I will show him what evil Pilate hath done, consenting unto the wicked Jews. James also notes that this story of Mary Magdalene going to Rome appears in Byzantine chronicles and other late documents.}out of whom he is said to have cast seven devils, and has told of all his wonderful cures. How could you permit him to be crucified? If you did not receive him as a god, you might at least have honored him as a physician. Your own deceitful writing to me has condemned you. As you unjustly sentenced him, I shall justly sentence you, and your accomplices as well.—Pilate, Archelaus, Philip, Annas, and Caiaphas were arrested. Rachaab and the soldiers slew all the Jewish males, defiled the women, and brought the leaders to Rome. On the way Caiaphas died in Crete: the earth would not receive his body, and he was covered with a cairn of stones. It was the old law that if a condemned criminal saw the face of the emperor he was spared: so Tiberius would not see Pilate, but shut him up in a cave. Annas was sewed into a fresh bull’s-hide, which, contracting as it dried, squeezed him to death. The other chiefs of the Jews were beheaded: Archelaus and Philip were crucified. One day the emperor went out to hunt, and chased a hind to the door of Pilate’s prison. Pilate looked out, trying to see the emperor’s face, but at that moment the emperor shot an arrow at the hind, which went in at the window and killed Pilate.\fn{The same tale is told in a Greek Life of Mary Magdalene (see under #160, above) which James transcribed from a manuscript at Holkham (apparently Holkham Hall, Norfolk, England) which was evidently under strong Western influence, since it tells the story of her mission to Marseilles—she, Martha and Lazarus are supposed to have come to the south of France by sea and founded churches at Marseilles, Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, and other places—and of a miracle wrought on a prince there, which was a very favorite subject with French mediaeval artists. ENC (XIV,1005) further says that her cult flourished in the West after the time of Gregory I of Rome (d.604).}

 

The tales of Mary Magdalene’s missions to Rome and Marseilles must be taken as proof of the lateness of this letter. Unless the sojourn in Rome is a later interpolation into an otherwise earlier document (and when combined with the other evidence and the views of the scholarly authorities, this appears unlikely: H) a date in the 7th century should be considered as the earliest time of the composition of this letter.

 

[ODC, 864, 869; NTA, I, 481; ANT, 117, 156-157; ENC, XIV, 1005]

 

528. 529. 530. 531. The First Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I; The Second Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I; The Third Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I; The Letter of Tiberius I to Abgar V

 

The first of these four letters of the Abgar/Tiberius Tradition—they are so designated to account for their collective uniqueness—appears in at least two places: The Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle (c.400AD), and the History of Armenia, after Moses of Chorene (8th century). The second occurs embedded in the text of The Departure of My Lady Mary from this World (5th or 6th century), and apparently has nothing to do with any of the other Abgar letters. The same may be said of the third, which appears only in the History of Armenia. The Letter of Tiberius I to Abgar V appears both in The Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle and the History of Armenia

 

These four letters are all quoted below in their entirety. After the quotations, they are discussed together with the Abgar/Jesus letters, which have already been discussed under #’s 108 and 109, above.

 

*

 

528. The First Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I

 

     As it appears in The Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle:

 

King Abgar to our Lord Tiberius Caesar: Although I know that nothing is hidden from thy Majesty, I write to inform thy dread and mighty Sovereignty that the Jews who are under thy dominion and dwell in the country of Palestine have assembled themselves together and crucified Christ, without any fault worthy of death, after he had done before them signs and wonders, and had shown them powerful mighty-works, so that He even raised the dead to life for them; and at the time that they crucified Him the sun became darkened and the earth also quaked, and all created things trembled and quaked, and, as if of themselves, at this deed the whole creation and the inhabitants of the creation shrank away.

 

     As it appears in the History of Armenia by Moses of Chorene.

 

Abgar, king of Armenia, to my lord Tiberius, emperor of the Romans, greeting.\fn{Moses has embroidered the Letter of Abgar V to Jesus Christ (item #108, above) as found in the Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle, to reflect Eusebius of Caesarea (Ecclesiastical History II:ii), where Pilate’s letter is discussed. (See above under #526, where Eusebius’ material is quoted word-for-word.} Although I know that nothing is hidden from your Majesty, yet as your friend I am informing you even more precisely in writing. For the Jews who live in the provinces of Palestine gathered together and crucified Christ without His committing any transgressions and despite the tremendous benefits that He had worked among them, signs and wonders, even on occasion raising the dead. Know that these miracles are not a mere man’s\fn{‘Mere man’; a catch-word for Docetism, but here certainly meant to convey a comparison between people or human beings (finite) and God (infinite).}For at the time when they crucified Him, the sun was darkened and the earth moved and was shaken. He himself after three days rose from the dead and appeared to many. And now in every place His name accomplished great miracles through his disciples. He indicated that to me myself clearly. So consequently your majesty knows whatever is right to command concerning the people of the Jews who have done this, and that you should write throughout the whole universe that they should worship Christ as the true God. Be well.

 

529. The Second Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I

 

     As it appears in The Departure of My Lady Mary From This World.

 

From Abgar, the king of the city of Edessa. Much peace to thy Majesty, our lord Tiberius! In order that thy Majesty may not be offended with me, I have not passed over the river Euphrates: for I have been wishing to go up against Jerusalem and lay her waste, forasmuch as she has slain Christ, a skillful healer. But do thou, as a great sovereign who hast authority over all the earth and over us, send and do me judgment on the people of Jerusalem. For be it known to thy Majesty that I desire that thou wilt do me judgment on the crucifiers.\fn{The text of the work of which this letter is a part continues:—And Sabina received the letters, and sent them to Tiberius the emperor. And, when he had read them, Tiberius the emperor was greatly incensed, and he desired to destroy and slay all the Jews. And the people of Jerusalem heard it and were alarmed. And the priests went to the governor and said to him: My lord, send and command Mary that she go not to pray at the sepulcher and Golgotha. The judge said to the priests: Go ye yourselves, and give ye what command and what caution ye please. A long abusive speech of the Jews to Mary follows.}

 

530. The Third Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I

 

     As it appears in the History of Armenia by Moses of Chorene.

 

Abgar, king of Armenia, to my lord Tiberius, emperor of the Romans, greetings.\fn{A second letter of Abgar to Tiberius is not mentioned in the Syriac doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle. This picks up the comments of Tertullian quoted by Eusebius and included in Moses’ version of Tiberius’ letter.} I have seen the letter written by your worthy majesty and I have rejoiced at your considered command. And if you will not be angry at me, the action of your Senate is most ridiculous. For according to them it is by the scrutiny of men that divinity is conferred. So, consequently, if God does not please me, He cannot be God; and on this reasoning it is right for men to pardon God. But may it please you, my lord, to send someone else to Jerusalem in place of Pilate, so that the latter may be removed with ignominy from the authority to which you appointed him because he did the will of the Jews and crucified Christ unjustly without your permission. I desire your health.

 

531. The Letter of Tiberius I to Abgar V

 

     As it appears in The Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle.

 

The letter of thy Fidelity towards me I have received, and it hath been read before me. concerning what the Jews have dared to do in the matter of the cross, Pilate\fn{It was Pilate’s duty, as governor of Judea, to send an accounting to the Roman government of what had occurred in respect to Jesus; and his having done so is mentioned by Justin of Flavia Neapolis, Tertullian of Carthage, and several other writers.} the governor also has written and informed Albinus\fn{The word in the text is Aulbinus, evidently an incorrect spelling. The name intended may have been confused with that of the Albinus who was made governor of Judea at a later period by Nero (62AD). The same person is apparently referred to in the Syriac Doctrine of Addaeus the Apostle:—Sabinus, the governor who had been appointed by the Emperor Tiberius; and even as far as the river Euphrates the governor Sabinus has authority.—but the person meant can only be Vitellius, who was then governor of Syria, who removed Pilate from the administration of Judea, sending Marcellus in his stead, and ordering him to appear before Tiberius I at Rome. The emperor died before Pilate reached Rome—a fact rather important when considering the autography of Tiberius’ letters to Pilate and to Abgar V.} my proconsul concerning these selfsame things of which thou hast written to me. But, because of a war with the people of Spain,\fn{No mention is made by historians of any war with Spain. But about this time Vitellius (mentioned in the previous note) was involved in the wars with the Parthians and Hiberians; and as Hiberi is a name common to Spaniards as well as Hiberians, the apparent error may have arisen in translating the letter out of Latin into Syriac.} who have rebelled against me, is on foot at this time, on this account I have not been able to avenge this matter; but I am prepared, when I shall have leisure, to issue a command according to law against the Jews, who act not according to law.\fn{Baronius says Pilate violated the law by crucifying Jesus so soon after sentence had been passed; for a law had been passed in the reign of Tiberius I whereby a delay of ten days was required before sentence could be executed.} And on this account, as regards Pilate also, who was appointed by me governor there--I have sent another in his stead, and dismissed him in disgrace, because he departed from the law, and did the will of the Jews, and for the gratification of the Jews crucified Christ, who, according to what I hear concerning Him, instead of suffering the across of death, deserved to be honored and worshipped\fn{As we have seen, Tiberius I is said by Tertullian (Apologeticus) to have referred to the Senate of Rome the question of admitting Christ among the gods; and this has been interpolated into the Letter of Tiberius I to Abgar V as given in the Armenian version of this correspondence.} by them: and more especially because with their own eyes they saw everything that He did. Yet thou, in accordance with thy fidelity towards me, and the faithful covenant entered into by thyself and by thy fathers, hast done well in writing to me thus.

 

     As it appears in the History of Armenia by Moses of Chorene.

 

Tiberius, emperor of the Romans, to Abgar king of Armenia, greetings. Your friendly letter has been read before me, for which please accept my thanks. Although we had previously heard of this from many people, Pilate informed us accurately about His miracles and that after His resurrection from the dead many were persuaded that He was God. Therefore I also wished to do what you planned. But because the Romans have a custom not to recognize a god by the emperor's command alone until he has been examined and investigated by the Senate, therefore I revealed this affair to the Senate. But the Senate rejected it because the matter had not been previously been investigated by it. But we commanded everyone to whom Jesus seemed pleasing that they should accept Him among the gods. And we threatened with death those who spoke evil of the Christians. And as for the people of the Jews who presumed to crucify Him, of whom I hear that He was worthy neither of the cross nor of death but rather of honor and worship, when I have a respite from the war with the Spaniards who revolted against me, I shall examine the matter and inflict on them their just deserts.\fn{As in the Armenian version of I Abgar/Tiberius, Moses has elaborated on the Syriac version of Tiberius/Abgar, in light of the report in Eusebius of Tertullian’s account of Pilate’s letters, and Tiberius’ reported recommendations to the Senate of Rome.}

 

*

 

It appears that we have here to do with six letters—Abgar/Jesus; Jesus/Abgar; I Abgar/Tiberius; II Abgar/Tiber-ius; III Abgar/Tiberius; Tiberius/Abgar—which form a datable unity (c.400-the 8th century) and which, with the exception if II Abgar/Tiberius, form also a Syriac/Armenian bond, one which has no Greek forebearers, but which ­is­ dependent upon a Greek tradition as reported by Justin of Flavia Neapolis (c.100-c.165), Tertullian of Carthage (c.160-c.220), and Eusebius of Caesarea (c.260-c.340)—but ­not­ upon any extant form of the information contained in the Abgar/Jesus letters beyond the knowledge that they exist.

 

There is certainly also a connection between the Report of Pilate to Tiberius and the Abgar/Jesus letters, as proven in the following parallel between the third sentence of the Abgar/Jesus letter and the third sentence of the oldest version of the Report of Pilate (note the underscoring):

 

A/J:For, as it is reported, thou makest the blind to see, and the lame to walk; and Thou healest the lepers, and thou castest out unclean spirits and demons, and Thou healest those who are tormented with lingering diseases, and Thou raisest the dead.

R/P:For he performed many curse on that day: he made the blind receive their sight, the lame walk; he raised up the dead, he cleansed the lepers; he healed paralytics that were not at all able to make any movement of their body, or to keep their nerves steady, but who had only speech and the modulation of their voice, and he gave them the power of walking and running, removing their illness by a single word.

 

     We are thus led to the following conclusions (H):

 

1. The whole of the Abgar Tradition has its bilateral hub in the two reports by Eusebius of Caesarea in his Ecclesiastical History: (a) the Abgar/Jesus letters and (b) the Justin/Tertullian material.

 

2. The Abgar/Jesus letters originated with bishop Kune and his ecclesiastical cohorts in Edessa in the first decade of the 4th century.

 

3. The extant Report of Pilate to Tiberius I, the intelligence from Justin and Tertullian, the otherwise unattached II Abgar/Tiberius I letter, the Herod/Pilate exchange, and the Letter of Pilate to Claudius I all testify to what must be certain knowledge of (though still based, as far as we are concerned, on as yet undiscovered evidence) genuine traditions based on documents actually exchanged between Pontius Pilate and his employer­. It remains, however, to discuss the remainder of the Pilate material before any further conclusions in this regard may be reached. Suffice it to say for the Abgar/Tiberius I material that it came into being between the earliest part of the 5th century, and the 8th century.

 

[ANF, VIII, 460, 662; RWT, 171-172; JSL, ---; ANT, 219-220]

 

532. 533. The Letter of Pilate to Herod; The Letter of Herod to Pilate

 

     James says these letters exist in Greek and Syriac (in the latter in a manuscript of the 6th or 7th century). He identifies them with the authors of the Anaphora and Paradosis. Moreover, he presents the following synopsis of their contents, the only text I can find in English. (The bracketed numbers refer to footnotes listed below the Letter of Herod to Pilate.)

 

*

 

532. The Letter of Pilate to Herod

 

It was no good thing which I did at your persuasion when I crucified Jesus. I ascertained from the centurion and the soldiers that he rose again, and I sent to Galilee and learned that he was preaching there to above five hundred believers. My wife Procla took Longinus, the believing centurion, and ten (1) soldiers (who had kept the Sepulcher), (2) and went forth and found him “sitting in a tilled field” (3) teaching a multitude. He saw them, addressed them, and spoke of his victory over death and hell. Procla and the rest returned and told me. I was in great distress, and put on a mourning garment and went with her and fifty soldiers to Galilee. We found Jesus: and as we approached him there was a sound in heaven and thunder, and the earth trembled and gave forth a sweet odor. (4) We fell on our faces and the Lord came and raised us up, and I saw on him the scars of the Passion, and he laid his hands on my shoulders, saying: All generations and families shall call thee blessed, (5) because in thy days the Son of Man died and rose again.

 

533. The Letter of Herod to Pilate

 

It is no small sorrow—according to the divine Scriptures— (6) that I write to you. My dear daughter Herodias (7) was playing upon the ice and fell in up to her neck. And her mother caught at her head to save her, and it was cut off, and the water swept her body away. My wife is sitting with the head on her knees, weeping, and all the house is full of sorrow. I am in great distress of mind at the death of Jesus, and reflecting on my sins in killing John the Baptist and massacring the Innocents. ‘Since, then, you are able to see the man Jesus again, strive for me and intercede for me: for to you Gentiles the kingdom is given, according to the prophets and Christ.’ (8) Lesbonax (9) my son is in the last stages of a decline. I am afflicted with dropsy, and worms are coming out of my mouth. My wife's left eye is blinded through weeping. (10) Righteous are the judgments of God, because we mocked at the eye of the righteous. Vengeance will come on the Jews and the priests, and the Gentiles will inherit the kingdom, and the children of light be cast out. And Pilate, since we are of one age, bury my family honorably: it is better for us to be buried by you than by the priests, who are doomed to speedy destruction. Farewell. I have sent you my wife's earrings and my own signet ring. I am already beginning to receive judgment in this world, but I fear the judgment hereafter much more. this is temporary, that is everlasting.

 

Key

 

(1) Or: twelve.

(2) I am certain, since James has taken pains in the notes relating to these letters to deliberately enclose two quotations from the text in double inverted commas, that the material within the brackets is a simply a precis of the words which, in the text itself, it actually contains.

(3) Enclosed by James in quotation marks, and so presumably directly taken from the actual text of this letter.

(4) In the Report of Pilate to Tiberius I, Lazarus came forth from his tomb “filled with very great fragrance.” It is tempting to see here an earlier legend about a tomb filled with a sweet odor transferred to the aroma coming out of a fissure in the ground caused by an earthquake—particularly with regard to the next note.

(5) James says this detail appears in the Death of Pilate ( = Paradosis; see above under #'s 103, 104 and 105, for a discussion of the literary remains of the death of the Procurator of Judea); which, he also notes, is appended to at least one version of the Report of Pilate to Tiberius I ( = Anaphora). What we have, then, is a document which in part devolves from both of the writings which together formed what NTA (I,481) calls the genesis of the Acts of Pilate—itself probably not datable in its earliest form before the first decade of the 4th century. The effect is to push the Herod/Pilate material yet further back in time, but also to identify two fairly early documents (Anaphora and Paradosis) of which our author or authors made use.

(6) James notes here in brackets:—(i.e., as I might have anticipated from the teaching of Scripture.)—are probably not to be treated as an editorial comment by himself, but as a precis of the text.

(7) The name Procla occurs in the Report of Pilate to Tiberius I; the name Longinus can be traced back to the Acts of Pilate; and the name Herodias has been known since the time of the Received New Testament.

(8) The second of James’ two actual quotations from the text of these letters; strangely he puts this one in single quotes.

(9) I am not acquainted with the name Lesbonax as one of the sons of Herod Antipas. Antipas is treated in the Received New Testament as childless: for although Salome is brought into a relationship with him as his daughter at Mark 6:22:—(For when Herodias’ daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will grant it.’)—and at Matthew 14:6:—(But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and pleased Herod.)—it is clear from the text that this is a child by Philip: she is Herod’s daughter only by marriage. Of course, it is entirely possible that Herod had a number of children of which the Received Text takes absolutely no notice.

(10) These exceptionally vivid, adult images would seem more suitable to a passionately imaginative Syriac-speaker.

 

*

 

     Goodspeed (Modern Apocrypha, 112) says that these two letters are not earlier than the Middle Ages—by which he probably would not admit their composition before c.650AD. The Syriac version of these letters, however, is known to exist in a manuscript of the 6th ­or­ 7th century (ANT,155). The Greek version of these letters demonstrates a knowledge of the Acts of Pilate (certainly of the Anaphora and the Paradosis, the two documents of its substratum); but the wealth of detail which is embedded in the Acts of Pilate surely testifies to a considerable secondary development of the tradition; with the result that the Greek version of the Herod/Pilate letters (upon which the Syriac is presumed to be dependent) must be dated somewhat after the creation of the Acts of Pilate, yet prior to the Syriac creation. We are therefore led to a time of composition between the 5th-6th centuries. James says additionally that the Greek version probably came from Egypt. I (H) think he suspects a learned Jewish convert to have been behind it.

 

[ANT, 155-156; GOO, 112; NTA, I, 481; ENC, XV, 403-404: VII, 78]

 

534. The Letter of Pilate to Claudius I

 

The Letter of Pilate to Claudius I\fn{The incorrect substitution of Claudius I [emperor, 42-54AD—I have added the ‘I’ in order to differentiate him from the emperor Claudius II (emperor 268-270)—is explained by Lipsius as due to the fact that the dispute between Peter and Simon Magus, in which this letter was read, took place in the original legend under the emperor Claudius I, who consequently became the recipient of the letter.} is found in two versions: in the Descent of Christ into Hell (as part of Latin A—the first version of the Acts of Pilate in that language as we have them now)\fn{It is not found in Latin B of the Descent of Christ into Hell (document II of the Acts of Pilate as we now have them). [The already complex interrelationship of these versions and titles is not, it seems to me, helped by the occasional—and piously gratuitous—renaming (from the 13th century onward) of parts I and II of the Acts of Pilate (which is the Acts of Pilate as we now know them, irrespective of the fact that the Acts of Pilate originally consisted only of what is now document I of that work) with the title Gospel of Nicodemus; and so I have studiously tried to avoid its use, in order to bypass needless complication. It is necessary to note its existence, however, for the reader will encounter it in works of the past; but it is not necessary to propagate the species.]) in Latin; and in Greek, in the late Acts of Peter and Paul,\fn{I assume this is the version appearing in Tischendorf (Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, Leipzig, 1851, XIV-XXI, 1-39); there is what appears to be a reference to this letter on page XVI of his prologomenaFinitur prior particula ultimis epistolae Pilati ad Claudium verbis-then five Greek words, then—cf. apud nos sect. 42.} some parts of which may date from as early as 200-250AD. They are both quoted below in their entirety, the numbered paragraphs of the second version (the Greek) corresponding to those of the first version (the Latin).

 

1A. Pontius Pilate to Claudius, greeting.

1B. Pontius Pilate to Claudius his king, greeting.

*

2A. There has lately happened an event in which I myself was concerned in.

2B. It has lately happened, as I myself have also proved,

*

3A. For the Jews through envy have inflicted on themselves, and those coming after them, dreadful judgments.

3B. that the Jews, through envy, have punished themselves and their posterity by a cruel condemnation.

*

4A. Their fathers had promises that their God would send them his holy one from heaven, who according to reason should be called their king, and he had promised to send him to the earth by means of a virgin.

4B. In short, when their fathers had a promise that their God would send them from heaven his holy one, who should deservedly be called their king, and promised that he would send him by a virgin upon the earth:

*

5A. He, then, when I was procurator, came into Judea.

5B. when, therefore, while I was procurator, he had come into Judea,

*

6A. And they saw him enlightening the blind, cleansing lepers, healing paralytics, expelling demons from men, raising the dead, subduing the winds, walking upon the waves of the sea, and doing many other wonders, and all the people of the Jews calling him Son of God.

6B. and when they saw him enlightening the blind, cleansing the lepers, curing the paralytics, making demons flee from men, even raising the dead, commanding the winds, walking dry-shod upon the waves of the sea, and doing many other signs of miracles; and when all the people of the Jews said that he was the Son of God,

*

7A. Then the chief priests, moved with envy against him, seized him, and delivered him to me; and telling one lie after another, they said that he was a wizard, and did contrary to their law.

7B. the chief priests felt envy against him, and seized him, and delivered him to me; and, telling me one lie after another, they said that he was a sorcerer, and was acting contrary to their law.

*

8A. And I, having believed that these things were so, gave him up, after scourging him, to their will;\fn{Or: to their council.}

8B. And I believed that it was so, and delivered him to be scourged, according to their will.

*

9A. and they crucified him, and after he was buried set guards over him.

9B. And they crucified him, and set guards over him when buried.

*

10A. But he, while my soldiers were guarding him, rose on the third day.

10B. And he rose again on the third day, while my soldiers were keeping guard.

*

11A. And to such a degree was the wickedness of the Jews inflamed against him, that they gave money to the soldiers, saying, Say his disciples have stolen his body.

11B. But so flagrant was the iniquity of the Jews, that they gave money to my soldiers, saying, Say that his disciples have stolen his body.

*

12A. But they, having taken the money, were not able to keep silence as to what had happened; for they have testified that they have seen him after he was risen, and that they have received money from the Jews.

12B. But after receiving the money they could not keep secret what had been done; for they bore witness both that he had risen again, that they had seen him,\fn{Or: that they had seen that he rose from the dead.} and that they had received money from the Jews.

*

13A. These things, therefore, have I reported, that no one should falsely speak otherwise, and that thou shouldest not suppose that the falsehoods of the Jews are to be believed.

13B. This accordingly I have done, lest any one should give a different and a false account of it, and lest thou shouldest think that the lies of the Jews are to be believed.

 

     The dating of this letter involves the dating of the documents within which it is found. As to the Acts of Peter and Paul, this has been discovered in four different versions:

 

1. a Greek version entitled The Acts of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul;

 

2. a Greek and Latin version entitled Passio Sanctorum Apostolorum Petri et Pauli;

 

3. a Latin compilation entitled Passio Apostolorum Peteri et Pauli; and

 

4. an Ethiopic version (title unreported) from van Lantschoot (“Contributions aux Actes de S. Pierre et de S. Paul” in Museon LXVIII, 1955, 17-46, 219-233).

 

     Of these, NTA (II,575) says that (3) undoubtedly belongs to the 6th or 7th century. ANF (from whence our text) prints (1) and suggests that the dating of the original be based upon the oldest Greek manuscript apparently then known: one of six Greek copies edited by Tischendorf for his version [mentioned above under note (3)], the oldest of which was written at the end of the 9th century.

 

     As to its connections with the Descent of Christ Into Hell, we must be involved in something prior to the 4th century; for the ODC (391) reports that the earliest known occurrences of the idea in the Christian Creeds are in that century (Fourth Creed of Sirmium, 359AD; the Council of Nike, 360; the Council of Constantinople, 360; the Creed of Rufinus of Aquileia, probably 397-410; the Athanasian Creed, between 381-428; and the Apostles Creed, first found c.390): so it is logical that this document would have originated earlier than c.350. That the Descent of Christ Into Hell is probably an older document than the Acts of Pilate is the opinion of James (ANT, 117); and this is confirmed by ODC (1072), which says that the two were probably not united to form what we know as the Acts of Pilate—and what was much later named the Gospel of Nicodemus—before the 5th century. That puts the creation of the Descent of Christ Into Hell before c.300AD, and thus within the time of the progenitor documents of the Acts of Pilate—the Anaphora and the Paradosis. Indeed, Scheidweiler (NTA,I,481) goes so far as to identify it with the Anaphora, text for text, only more detailed—the earthquake at the death of Jesus and the darkness receive special emphasis. He calls it substantially older than the Acts of Pilate (NTA,I, 449); he says that most of the Pilate literature is of a much later stamp.

 

Nor is this all.

 

NTA (I,180) knows of at least two alleged connections with the Gospel of Peter (probably written in Syria c.150: ODC), in which it is stated that Pilate was guiltless of the death of Jesus and that the Jews alone were answerable for it, and NTA dates the Gospel of Peter at c.150—which is about the same time as the date of the Received letter known as II Peter.

 

NTA (I,83) says it is certain that the Pilate literature is in general heavily stamped with secondary elements. But Maurer (NTA,I,180) may no longer be correct when he charges that the different strata within the Pilate materials cannot be clearly delimited; and he is certainly in error to say that the connections between the Gospel of Peter and the Letter of Pilate to Claudius I are of no consequence, since the different strata within the Pilate literature cannot be clearly delimited. These connections—of which he is not more specific—are of consequence in and of themselves; and in any case, as the following table demonstrates, it is possible to organize all twelve documents—the entirety of the known Abgar/Pilate material (so-called because it is only these two names which the whole of this material has in common)—as follows:

 

THE ABGAR/PILATE LITERATURE

 

   1. The Report of Pilate to Tiberius I             ... second/third century

   2. The Letter of Pilate to Claudius I              ... third century

   3. The Letter of Abgar V to Jesus Christ       ... c.300-313

   4. The Letter of Jesus Christ to Abgar V       ... c.300-313

   5. The First Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I   ... c.400

   6. The Letter of Tiberius I to Abgar V                      ... c.400

   7. The Letter of Pilate to Tiberius I               ... fifth century

   8. The Second Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I          ... fifth/sixth century

   9. The Letter of Pilate to Herod                    ... fifth/sixth century

   10. The Letter of Herod to Pilate                  ... fifth/sixth century

   11. The Letter of Tiberius I to Pilate                         ... seventh century

   12. The Third Letter of Abgar V to Tiberius I           ... eighth century

 

     As may be seen from this table, the Abgar/Pilate materials kept coming out at regular intervals, in a fairly tight series beginning probably during the 2nd century and continuing until sometime in the 8th (and the date of the History of Armenia of Moses of Chorene). Four sections are approximately discernable: (I) the immediate exchanges between the Imperial governor and his boss; (II) the Abgar V/Jesus Christ letters, written at a later stage than their contents would have one believe; (III) the Abgar V/Tiberius communications; and (IV) the much later Herod/Pilate traditionalisms. Interspersed (third/fifth/seventh centuries) are the Pilate/Claudius/Tiberius materials, with a final letter from Abgar V rounding out the dozen documents. The Table of Contents lists them as they might have been written had they been autographs of the people whose names they bear. The listing in this table, however, is probably not too far away from the time of their actual composition. (H)

 

[ANF, VIII, 454, 480-481; NTA, I, 83, 180, 449, 481: II, 575; ODC, 391, 1072; ANT, 117]

 

535. The letter of Lentulus to the Senate of the Roman People

 

     James (my only authority) says that this letter can hardly be earlier than the 13th century. It was probably written in Italy, in the presence of one of the two\fn{One was so-called the Western Portrait, the other the Eastern; and they differed in the presence or absence of a forelock of hair on the head; whether there was or was not a beard; and whether the shape of the eyes was more or less oval. Much earlier than either of them, however, is a 2nd century painting of the face of Jesus on cloth, presently in the church of St. Bartholomew, Genoa, Italy; and this is the earliest portrait I know of the founder of the Christian religion. My source (ENC, XII, plate I facing p. 1016) credits its reproduction by courtesy of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge; perhaps they may be of further help in those interested in this sort of thing.} Traditional portraits of Jesus Christ, which it follow closely. The surviving manuscripts differ a good deal, especially in their introductory lines. The oldest of them does not present the document as a letter at all, but begins thus:—(It is read in the annal-books of the Romans that our Lord Jesus Christ, who was called by the Gentiles the prophet of truth, was of stature ...; others, however, make a letter of it, with a prefatory note. The letter is as follows; I have included its text as James prints it:—

 

A certain Lentulus, a Roman, being an official for the Romans in the province of Judaea in the time of Tiberius Caesar, upon seeing Christ, and noting his wonderful works, his preaching, his endless miracles, and other amazing things about him, wrote thus to the Roman Senate: There hath appeared in these times, and still is, a man of great power named Jesus Christ, who is called by the peoples\fn{I.e., the Gentiles.} the power of truth, whom his disciples call the Son of God: raising the dead and healing diseases, a man in stature middling tall, and comely, having a reverend countenance, which they that look upon may love and fear; having hair of the hue of an unripe hazelnut and smooth almost down to his ears, but from the ears in curling locks somewhat darker and more shining, waving over his shoulders; having a parting at the middle of the head according to the fashion of the Nazareans; a brow smooth and very calm, with a face without wrinkle or any blemish, which a moderate color\fn{I.e., red.} makes beautiful; with the nose and mouth no fault at all can be found; having a full beard of the color of his hair, not long, but a little forked at the chin; having an expression simple and mature, the eyes gray, glancing and clear; in rebuke terrible, in admonition kind and lovable, cheerful yet keeping gravity; sometimes he hath wept, but never laughed; in stature of body tall and straight, with hands and arms fair to look upon; in talk grave, reserved and modest so that he was rightly called by the prophet fairer than the children of men.

 

     The Greeks, it may be added, had similar minute descriptions of the Mary, the mother of Jesus, and of the Apostles.\fn{Of the notorious photographic negative of the face and body imprinted on the relic known as the Holy Shroud of Turin—venerated by many honest men and women as the actual winding sheet in which Joseph of Arimathea allegedly wrapped the body of the Christ for burial—it seems that all that can be said of it with certainty is (1) that it is presently housed in the cathedral of St. John the Baptist (built 1492-1498), just behind and several feet above the high altar in the chapel of St. Sudario (or perhaps St. Sidone); (2) that it has been preserved in the cathedral since 1578; and (3) that it has been known to exist since the 14th century. A carbon-14 dating of a fragment of the cloth, of which I heard in 1988, does not bear out the claims of the faithful that it is indeed the burial cloth of Jesus (d.c.33AD). The best theory concerning its arrival in Europe seems still to be that it was brought back by a crusader from the Holy Land. It seems equally true, however, that the negative image it bears is certainly that of what was at one time a living male human being. God alone knows under what circumstances this thing was made. (H) I add on 10 August 2006 that I have seen since the year 2000 a television program which attempted to support the authenticity of the shroud by saying that embedded in the cloth were discovered microscopic plant (and I believe also animal) remains which correspond to known plant and animal life indigenous to the area where Jesus is known to have carried out his ministry; on the other hand, it is difficult to see how such discoveries can be legitimately used to claim any date earlier than a speculative one in the Middle Ages, since it is doubtful that a mere thirteen centuries is a sufficient time to allow for geologic species differentiation of the type alleged; and in any case, this argument is clearly open to a charges of fraud perpetrated in Modern Times by person or persons unknown connected with either the cathedral itself or the examining team—or, indeed, of some entirely unrelated provenance—who have vested psychological or economic interests in perpetuating the Traditional interpretation of how this relic came to be. (H)}

 

[ANT, 477-478; ENC, XII, opposite 1016: XXII, 587]

 

***

 

XLIII: WORKS STILL PRESENTLY UNASSIGNED

 

536. Papyrus Cairensis 10735

 

     Grenfell and Hunt (Catalogue General des Antiquites Egyptiennes du Musee du Caire X, Oxford, 1903) have claimed as a survival from a non-canonical gospel the content of a page of papyrus of the 6th or 7th century. But Deissmann (`Das Angebliche Evangelien-frament von Kairo' in Archiv fur Religionswissenschaft VII, 1904, 387-392; reprinted in English translation in Licht vom Osten, 1927, 430-434) brought forward objections to this assumption, and was of the opinion that here it is a matter rather of a text from a commentary or from a homily. The text is Deissman's reconstruction; it appears also in Klostermann (`Apocrypha II' in Kleine Texte fur Vorles-ungen und Ubungen, hrsg. von H. Leitzmann VIII, Berlin, 1929, 24); and Bonaccorsi (Vangeli Apocrifi I, Flor-ence, 1948). The dotted lines attempt to show linear space in the text that is undecipherable.

 

The angel of the Lord spake: Joseph, arise, take Mary, thy wife and flee to Egypt .................................. every gift and if ............ his friends .................. of the king ......................................\fn{This marks approximately the end of the first page of the single page of papyrus.} ....... should interpret to thee. The archistrategus\fn{The word archistrategus is a Greek term and means Commander-in-Chief.} however, said to the virgin: Behold, Elisabeth, thy relative has also conceived, and it is the sixth month for her who was called barren. In the sixth, that is in the month Thoth, did his mother conceive John. But it behoved the archistrategus to announce beforehand John, the servant who goes before his Lord’s coming ......\fn{End of the second page of the single papyral leaf.}

 

     Deissmann’s objections (so NTA,I,115) still stand; however, his completions and explanations have not been accepted, and an identification of the text has also not so far (1963) been possible. Only this is settled: that the text has to do with the proclamation of the birth of Jesus and the flight into Egypt—i.e., that here material from a gospel is presented, but whether as excerpt or homily remains open.

 

     With the first page of the leaf should be compared Matthew 2:13:—(Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”)—and with the reverse of this page, compare Luke 1:36:—(And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.)

 

[SOU, 22; NTA, I, 114-115]

 

537. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 210.

 

     Grenfell and hunt (Oxyrhynchus Papyrii II, 1899, 9-10), this fragment’s editors, have advanced the conjecture that in it we have before us the remains of, or excerpts from, an apocrypal gospel, possibly the Gospel of the Egyptians. But Deismann (in Theologische Literaturzeitung XXVI, 1901, col. 72) pointed out that because of the fragmentary character of the scanty remains a near guess as to the provenance of this text is out of the question. NTA says this judgment still holds good.

 

     This certainly is a leaf from a papyrus book containing a theological work; but the nature of that work, whether historical or homiletic, is doubtful. Lines 14-17 of the ­verso­ have an obvious connection with Matthew 7:17-19 and Luke 6:43-44:—(So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ... for no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush.)

 

     In the parallel passage in the papyrus, the words are put into the mouth of Jesus; and this points to the work having been an apocryphal gospel, possibly the Gospel of the Egyptians. but the passage may of course only be a quotation from such a work, and the writing on the recto contains no indication that the book was of a narrative character. In line 19 of the verso there is perhaps a reference to Philippians 2:6:—(who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.)

 

     Lines 11ff of the recto begin a little further out than the preceding four (the beginnings of the first six lines are lost), an arrangement which, if it is not a mere accident, suggests that the longer lines are a quotation. The handwriting is a good-sized, rather irregular uncial, that on the recto being somewhat larger than that on the verso, and may be assigned to the 3rd century of our era.

 

[OXY, II, 9-10; NTA, I, 92]

 

538. Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 1384

 

     The beginning and end of this remarkable papyrus consist of medical recipes, the first for a purge, the others for curing stranguary and wounds, while the middle portion is taken up with two theological extracts, which have evidently been inserted on account of their medical interest, perhaps as a kind of charm:

 

... men met us in the desert and said to the Lord, “Jesus, what cure is possible for the sick?” And he saith to them, “I gave olive-oil and poured forth myrrh to them that believe in the name of the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son.” The angels of the Lord went up to mid-heaven, suffering in their eyes and holding a sponge. The Lord saith to them, “Why came ye up, ye holy and all-pure?” “We came up to receive a remedy, Jehovah Sabaoth, for thou art mighty and strong.” ...

 

     The rather large, irregular semi-uncial hand and numerous mistakes of spelling indicate an uncultivated writer of, probably the 5th rather than the 6th century. A few corrections are all by the scribe himself, who employed the brown ink common at this period.

 

     The lines are apparently derived from an uncanonical gospel. Jesus meets some persons, who ask Him how the sick can be relieved. The answer is that He has provided olive-oil and myrrh for those who believe in the name (or the power) of the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son, a notable inversion of the usual order of the second and third persons of the Trinity.

 

     Possibly the background was suggested by Matthew 8:2-4, Mark 1:40-45, or Luke 5:12-16:—(And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And he stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. And Jesus said to him, “See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” ... And a leper came to him beseeching him, and keeling said to him, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. And he sternly charged him, and sent him away at once, and said to him, “See that you say nothing to any one; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that he could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter. ... While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and besought him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And he stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one; but “Go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But so much the more the report went abroad concerning him; and great multitudes gathered to hear and to be healed of their infirmities. but he withdrew to the wilderness and prayed.)

 

     Again, if the persons who met Jesus were lepers there might be a connection with Luke 17:11-14:—(On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices and said, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ When he saw them he said to them, ‘Go and show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed.)—or perhaps the background may have been provided by Matthew 14:13-14:—(Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a lonely place apart. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. As he went ashore he saw a great throng: and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick.)

 

     The second extract is quite different from the first, being concerned with the angels of the Lord who are represented as having gone up to heaven to seek a remedy for their eyes from Jehovah Sabaoth, to whose power they appeal. The story seems to be incomplete, and this suggests that the first extract too perhaps broke off prematurely, though it ends at a more intelligible point than the second. The link connecting the excerpts with the medical prescriptions is probably not so much the mention of the olive-oil and myrrh as relieving sickness, and the sponge as relieving the eyes, but in the implied virtue of an appeal by name in the one case to the Trinity, in the other to Jehovah Sabaoth, who is often invoked in Gnostic prayers.

 

     The second extract, then, is clearly not taken from any gospel like that of Peter and (apparently) that of the Twelve Apostles—which covered the same ground as the Synoptics—but rather the Gospel of Philip, which was a document of a different class and seems a possible source for both excerpts. It is, however, safer to regard them as independent of each other, and in that case the second extract may well be from a Jewish, rather than a Christian, work of an apocalyptic character, similar to, for example, the Apocalypse of Baruch, or the Ascension of Isaiah.

 

     The first excerpt, considered by itself, can hardly be assigned with any confidence to a particular gospel, especially as it is uncertain what term was used in the narrative in speaking of Jesus. The unorthodox order of the persons of the Trinity seems to point us in the direction of that early conception which found expression in a curious fragment of the Gospel of the Hebrews; and since that gospel is not itself a suitable source for the first extract, there is something to be said in favor of assigning the passage to the Jewish-Christian Gospel of the Twelve Apostles.

 

     NTA, however, says that Grenfell and Hunt have indulged in guesswork as to where these texts come from. The text is so short and its situation is so difficult to understand that every assignation of it should be disregarded. Even if it should be the case that its source is some apocryphal writing, the latter can only be one of the later popular creations: the papyrus was written in the 5th or 6th century.

 

[NTA, I, 92; OXY, XI, 238-240]

 

     [Finished at 5:22PM, March 29, 1997; on the last chord of the Russian Easter Overture, by Rimsky-Korsakov. Now I shall go out for a small celebratory dinner; for the text is now in the computer for both books for the first time in their history; and there is only one deadline remaining—December 24, 1997, at which time I would like to have finished adjusting and polishing the text for the Internet, that the whole world may enjoy the fresh air I have discovered.] [Additional note: the corrections for the text of the book were finished at 2:47PM, July 29, 1997, in the public computer section of South Hall. Now I am going out for a beer.] [Additional note: the polishing of the text was finished at 11:52AM, October 9, 1997, in the public computer section of South Hall; except for a review of file 31, which I will do at a later date. I am going out for lunch.] [Additional note: the polishing was, as it happens, not finished on October 9; but rather provisionally on November 13 at 10:20AM in South Hall. This largely consisted of centering the references enclosed by []; during which time I discovered five other imperfections in items 327, 394, 439, 473 and 520; which I can probably research from my library tonight and correct tomorrow morning. Then I will make an end of it—at least for now.] [Additional note: for a period of two weeks prior to and including August 10, 2006, I reviewed the entire text of this book—which I had saved in 43 files on 18 floppy discs from 1997—and made several superficial alterations to the format thereof, corrected a few mistakes in spelling and grammar, and strove to make clearer certain relationships between the documentary evidence underlying a few of the documents as they are presently known. This was initiated as a result of the disappearance of the free web site www.geocities.com./athens/cyprus/9531 which had hosted the material, together with a much larger document, since 2000AD; and a simultaneous period of two weeks during which I was forced to suspend work on a vast collection of world fiction, through lack of material to scan and edit, and corresponding transportation to sources from which such material could be borrowed. I am beginning this morning to add to this the following appendices which were themselves included on that web sites as a document in its own right; they consist mostly of handy lists of non-Orthodox forms of Christianity, religious leaders and documents, all organized by century.] [Final additional note: This (hopefully ultimate) polishing of the complete text was undertaken about six weeks ago, and completed this morning (Sunday, April 21, 2013, at 9:47AM). This afternoon just after 1:00PM I am off to Cornell for another load of 20 books for extracts applicable to The Protocol for World Peace, so I will be a very tired boy when I get back, and shall probably go straight for a nap. But it’s been fun. This is obviously a labor of love, this straightening out of a muddle—well, to me it’s a muddle, to a scholar probably not. I am a compiler. I am in a direct line from the Middle Ages, hopefully not the last of my race. The world needs people like me. We can sort things out.]