The Apocryphal New Testament (Hone 1820: Protevangelion, Infancy Gospels, Nicodemus, Paul & Thecla, Apostolic Fathers incl. Hermas)

taking of it from his wife did eat, and death entered into the world. And he showed me another tree in the midst of Paradise, and saith unto me: This is the tree of life. from afar off, and two hundred angels before her singing hymns: and I inquired and said: Lord, who is this that cometh in such glory ? and he said unto me: This is Mary the virgin, the mother of the Lord. And she came near and saluted me, and said: Hail, Paul, dearly beloved of God and angels and men. For all the saints have besought my son Jesus who is my Lord, that thou shouldest come here in the body that they might see thee before thou didst depart out of the world. And the Lord said to them: Wait and be ye patient: yet a little while, and ye shall see him, and he shall be with you for ever. And again they all with one accord said unto him: Grieve us not, for we desire to see him while he is in the flesh, for by him hath thy name been greatly glorified in the world, and we have seen that he hath excelled (done away with) all the works whether of the lesser or the greater. For we inquire of them that come hither, saying: Who is he that guided you in the world? and they have told us: There is one in the world whose name is Paul;

he declareth Christ, preaching him, and we believe that by the power and sweetness of his speech many have entered into the kingdom. Behold, all the righteous are behind me, coming to meet thee. But I say unto thee, Paul, that for this cause I come first to meet them that have performed the will of my son and my Lord Jesus Christ, even I come first to meet them and leave them not as strangers until they meet with him in peace.

afar, very beautiful, after the appearance of Christ, and their forms were shining, and their angels; and I asked: Who are these, Lord? And he answered: These are the fathers of the people, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And they came near and greeted me, and said: Hail, Paul, dearly beloved of God and men: blessed is he that endureth violence for the Lord’s sake. And Abraham answered me and said: This is my son Isaac, and Jacob my best beloved, and we knew the Lord and followed him. Hail, Paul, dearly beloved of God and men. The Lord hath not grieved us, that we might see thee yet being in the body, before thou departedst out of the world. And every one of them signified his name unto me in order, from Ruben unto Benjamin; and Joseph said unto me: I am he that was sold; and I say unto thee, Paul, that for all that my brethren did unto me, in nothing did I deal evilly with them, not in all the labour which they laid upon me, nor did I hurt them in any thing (Copt, kept no evil thought against them) from morning until evening. Blessed is he that is hurt for the Lord’s sake and hath endured, for the Lord will recompense him manifold more when he departeth out of the world.

beautiful, and his angels singing hymns, and I asked: Who is this, Lord, that is fair of countenance? And he said unto me: Dost thou not know him ? And I said: No, Lord. And he said to me: This is Moses the lawgiver, unto whom God gave the law. And when he was nigh me, straightway he wept, and after that he greeted me; and I said unto him: Why weepest thou? for I have heard that thou excellest all men in meekness. And he answered, saying: I weep for them whom I planted with much labour, for they have borne no fruit, neither doth any of them do well. And I have seen all the sheep whom I fed that they are scattered and become as having no shepherd, and that ail the labours which I have endured for the children of Israel are come to nought, and however great wonders I did in their midst [and] they understood not: and I marvel how the strangers and uncircumcised and idolaters are converted and entered into the promises of God, but Israel hath not entered in: and now I say unto thee, O brother Paul, that in that hour when the people hanged up Jesus whom thou preachest, God the Father of all, which gave me the law, and Michael and all the angels and archangels, and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the righteous wept over the Son of God that was hanged on the cross. And in that hour all the saints waited upon me, looking on me and saying: Behold, Moses, what they of thy people

l-J__ ai _o__ r n_3 mi_ r _i_i_ j_j. n_ to save the children of Israel: and I say unto thee that after the toils which they laid upon me I would cast myself down upon my face before the Lord, praying for them and bowing my knees unto the second hour of the Lord’s day, even until Michael came and raised me up from the earth. Blessed art thou, Paul, and blessed is the people that hath believed through thee. And as they passed by, I saw another, fair of countenance, and asked: Who is this, Lord ? [And when he saw me he was glad] and he said unto me: This is Lot, which was found righteous in Sodom. And he came near and greeted me and said: Blessed art thou, Paul, and blessed is the generation unto whom thou hast ministered. And I answered and said unto him: Art thou Lot, that wast found righteous in Sodom ? And he said: I enter¬ tained angels in mine house as strangers, and when they of the city would have done them violence I offered them my two daughters, virgins, that had never known man, and gave them to them, saying: Use them as ye will, only do no ill unto these men, for therefore have they entered under the roof of mine house. Therefore ought we to have confidence, and know that whatsoever any man hath done, God recompenseth him manifold more when he cometh (they come) unto him. Blessed art thou, Paul, and blessed is the generation which hath believed thy word.

When therefore he had ceased speaking unto me, I saw another coming from afar off, very beautiful in the face, and smiling, and his angels singing hymns, and I said unto the angel that was with me: Hath, then, every one of the righteous an angel for his fellow? And he saith to me: Every one of the saints hath his own, that standeth by him and singeth hymns, and the one departeth not from the other. And I said: Who is this, Lord ? And he said: This is Job. And he drew near and greeted me and said: Brother Paul, thou hast great praise with God and men. Now I am Job, which suffered much for the season of thirty years by the issue of a plague; and in the beginning the blains that came forth of my body were as grains of wheat; but on the third day they became like an ass’s foot, and the wnrmc tliot fpll fpAm tKom wo no f*/-»iiT» finrroi»c 1 on rr . onrl tVirioo afar off and saying: Blessed art thou, Paul, and blessed am I that have seen thee the beloved of the Lord. And I asked the angel: Who is this, Lord? and he answered and said unto me: This is Noe of the days of the flood. And straightway we greeted one another, and he, rejoicing greatly, said unto me: Thou art (or, Art thou) Paul the best beloved of God.

And I asked him: Who art thou ? And he said: I am Noe that was in the days of the flood: but I say unto thee, Paul, that I spent an hundred years making the ark, not putting off the coat (tunic) which I wore, and I shaved not the hair of mine head. Furthermore I kept continence, not coming near mine own wife, and in those hundred years the hair of mine head grew not in greatness, neither was my raiment soiled. And I besought men at that time, saying: Repent, for a flood of waters cometh upon you. But they mocked me and derided my words; and again they said unto me: This is the time of them that would play and sin as much as they will, that have leave to fornicate not a little ( Lat . confused; other versions omit): for God looketh not on these things, neither knoweth what is done of us men, and moreover there is no flood of waters coming upon this world. And they ceased not from their sins until God blotted out all flesh that had the breath of life in it. But know thou that God loveth one righteous man more than all the world of the wicked. There¬ fore blessed art thou, O Paul, and blessed is the people that hath believed by thy means.

from afar off, and I asked the angel: Who are these, Lord ? and he answered me: These are Elias and Eliseus. And they greeted me, and I said unto them: Who are ye? And one of them answered and said: I am Elias the prophet of God. I am Elias that prayed, and because of my word the heaven rained not for three years and six months, because of the iniquities of men. Righteous and true is God, who doeth the will of his servants; for often¬ times the ahgels besought the Lord for rain, and he said: Be patient until my servant Elias pray and entreat for this, and I will send rain upon the earth. seen: and in life I had not rest that I might reveal this mystery, but I wrote it and deposited it under the ground and the founda¬ tions of the house of a certain faithful man with whom I used to be in Tarsus a city of Cilicia. And when I was released from this life of time, and stood before my Lord, thus said he unto me: Paul, have we shown all these things unto thee that thou shouldst deposit them under the foundations of a house ? Then send and disclose concerning this revelation, that men may read it and turn to the way of truth, that they also may not come to these bitter torments.

And thus was this revelation discovered. . . . Then follows the history of the finding, which in the other texts is prefixed to the book.] But this conclusion can hardly be the original one. The Coptic seems in part better. After the words ‘rain upon the earth’, it continues: The sufferings which each endureth for God’s sake will God requite unto him twofold. Blessed art thou, Paul, and blessed are the heathen who shall believe through thee. And whilst he was speaking, Enoch (here Enoch replaces Elisha) also came and saluted me and said unto me: The man who endureth suffering for God’s sake, God will not afflict when he goeth out of the world. Then there are similar meetings with Zacharias and John Baptist, and Abel. Zacharias says: ‘ I am he whom they killed when I was offering up the offering unto God: and when the angels came for the offering, they carried my body up to God, and no man found my body whither it had been taken.’ Then Adam, taller than the rest, appears. And this seems a suitable finale to the procession of saints. After this Paul is carried into the third heaven. The angel who is with him changes in appearance and bursts into flames of fire, and a voice forbids Paul to reveal what he has seen.

There is a description of a mysterious vision of an altar with seven eagles of light on the right and seven on the left. And Paul. He promised blessings to those who should write or read the Apocalypse, and curses on those who should deride it. Peter and Paul should end their course on the fifth of Epiphi (29 June). He then bade a cloud take the apostles to the various countries allotted to them, and commanded them to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. And a doxology follows. I am disposed to think that nothing after the appearance of Adam in this version can be original. The rest is to a great extent, I think, a pasticcio from other Coptic apocrypha. It is quite possible, of course, that the original end of the Apocalypse was lost at an early date: but the supposition is probable that after the appearance of Adam a short conclusion followed in which Paul returned to earth. With so ill-proportioned and inartistic a book it is not perhaps worth while to spend much time on conjectural restoration. Yet another possibility should be pointed out. The climax of the Apocalypse is reached when the Sunday is granted as a day of rest from torment. Paul has seen Paradise and hell, and there is no more for him to do. Everything after ch. 44 is an otiose appendix.

And we do find in the Ethiopia Apocalypse of the Virgin, which copies that of Paul very literally, that the end comes at ch. 44, when the Virgin procures rest from Friday evening to Monday morning for the lost. The Greek Apocalypse—one form at least—ends when she has gained for them the days of Pentecost. It may be the case, then, that the Apocalypse of Paul as first issued ended here, and that it was reissued with the appendix about Paradise (45-end). In the shorter Latin recensions there is no trace of anything after ch. 44: but this does not furnish a conclusive argument. More to the point would be the discovery of a copy of the full text ending with 44.

The emergence of this book has been recent. The Gelasian Decree condemns the book ‘called the Revelation of Thomas’ as apocryphal, and that was all that was known of it. In 1908 a quotation in the Berlin MS. (eighth-ninth century) of Jerome’s Chronicle was noticed by Dr. Frick. At the eighteenth year of Tiberius, the manuscript has edition of the Apocalypse based on manuscripts at Munich and Rome, which has not yet appeared. In the Journal of Theological Studies for 1910 I printed the beginning of the book from a Verona MS. (of eighth century). Maffei had noticed this, and in 1755 Dionisi had printed it in a forgotten volume. In 1911 Dom Bihimeyer printed another ‘uninterpolated* text from Munich in the Revue Benedictine. Yet more: in 1913 Max Forster (Studien z. engl . Philol .: Der Vercelli-Codex) showed that the fifteenth sermon in the famous Anglo-Saxon MS. at Vercelli is an Old English version of this Revelation; that a Hatton MS. and the Blickling Homilies also contain matter drawn from it; and that a shortened Latin form is to be found in a dialogue printed by Suchier ( VEnfant sage , 1910, p. 272). Lastly, there are quotations from it in some odd—I think Irish—homilies in a Reichenau MS. atCarlsruhe, printed by Dom de Bruyne as ‘Apocryphes Priscillianistes* in the Revue Bened. f 1907.

There is, then, a quantity of material which we shall look to Professor Dobschiitz to co-ordinate. Latin appears to have been the original language, 1 and the data of the fuller text point to the days of Arcadius and Honorius. How much earlier the shorter text may be it is not easy to say: and I would not commit myself to the assertion that there is not a Greek document at the back of that. A. Verona fragment (eighth century) and Wilhelm's text (Munich Clm . 4585, ninth century). Here beginneth the epistle of the Lord unto Thomas. Hear thou, Thomas, the things which must come to pass in the last times: there shall be famine and war and earthquakes in divers places, snow and ice and great drought shall there be, and many dissensions among the peoples, blasphemy, iniquity, envy and villainy, indolence, pride and intemperance, so that every man shall speak that which pleaseth him. And my priests shall not have peace among themselves, but shall sacrifice unto me with deceitful mind: therefore will I not look upon them. Then shall the priests behold the people departing from the house of the Lord and turning unto the world (?) and setting ud

For there shall be great disturbance throughout all the people, and death. 1 The house of the Lord shall be desolate, and their altars shall be abhorred, so that spiders weave their webs therein. The place of holiness shall be corrupted, the priesthood polluted, distress (agony) shall increase, virtue shall be overcome, joy perish, and gladness depart. In those days evil shall abound: there shall be respecters of persons, hymns shall cease out of the house of the Lord, truth shall be no more, covetousness shall abound among the priests; an upright man (aZ. an upright priesthood) shall not be found. 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 (A, Arcadius), the second of the eighth (H, Honorius). The first shall die before the second (Arcadius died in 408; Honorius in 423). a Thereafter shall arise two princes to oppress the nations, under whose hands there shall be a very great famine in the right-hand part of the east, so that nation shall rise up against nation and be driven out from their own borders.

Again another king shall arise, a crafty man (?), and shall command a golden image of Caesar (?) to be made ( al . to be worshipped in the house of God), wherefore (?) martyrdoms shall abound. Then shall faith return unto the servants of the Lord, and holiness shall be multiplied and distress (agony) increase. The mountains 8 shall fbe comfortedf and shall drop down sweetness -fof fire from the facet, that the number of the saints may be accomplished. After a little space there shall arise a king out of the east, a lover of the law, who shall cause all good things and necessary to abound in the house of the Lord: he shall show mercy unto the widows and to the needy, and command a royal gift to be given unto the priests: in his days shall be abundance of all things. And after that again a king shall arise in the south part of the speak freely (boldly). Grey hairs shall be seen upon boys, and the young (?) shall not give place unto the aged. After that shall arise another king, a crafty man, who shall hold rule for a short space: in whose days there shall be all manner of evils, even the death of the race of men from the east even unto Babylon. And thereafter death and famine and sword in the land of Chanaan even unto (Rome ?). 1 Then shall all the fountains of waters and wells boil over (?) and be turned into blood (or, into dust and blood).

The heaven shall be moved, the stars shall fall upon the earth, the sun shall be cut in half like the moon, and the moon shall not give her light. There shall be great signs and wonders in those days when Antichrist draweth near. These are the signs unto them that dwell in the earth. In those days the pains of great travail shall come upon them. (al. In those days, when Antichrist now draweth near, these are the signs. Woe unto them that dwell on the earth; in those days great pains of travail shall come upon them .) 2 Woe unto them that build, for they shall not inhabit. Woe unto them that break up the fallow, for they shall labour without cause. Woe unto them that make marriages, for unto famine and need shall they beget sons. Woe unto them that join house to house or field to field, for all things shall be consumed with fire. Woe unto them that look not unto (?) themselves while time alloweth, for hereafter shall they be condemned for ever. Woe unto them that turn away from the poor when he asketh.

[Here is a break: the text goes on: For I am <Jhe Sony of the high and powerful: I am the Father of all. (al. And know ye: I am the Father most high: I am the Father of all spirits.) This, as we shall see, is the beginning of the older (?) and shorter text, and of the Vienna fragment: only, in the latter, some words now unintelligible precede it: not the words, however, which are in Wilhelm’s text. I will continue with Wilhelm.] These are the seven signs <before> the ending of this world. There shall be in all the earth famine and great pestilences and firmament of the heaven, and the earth shall be moved out of its place: and the gates of heaven shall be opened in the firmament of heaven toward the east, and a great power shall be sent (belched) forth by the gates of heaven and shall cover all the heaven even until evening (al. and there shall be fears and tremblings in the world). These are the signs of the second day. And on the third day, about the second hour, shall be a voice in heaven, and the abysses of the earth shall utter their voice from the four corners of the world. The first heaven shall be rolled up like a book and shall straightway vanish. And because of the smoke and stench of the brimstone of the abyss the days shall be darkened unto the tenth hour. Then shall all men say: I think that the end draweth near, that we shall perish . 1 These are the signs of the third day.

And on the fourth day at the first hour, the earth of the east shall speak, the abyss shall roar: then shall all the earth be moved by the strength of an earthquake. In that day shall all the idols of the heathen fall, and all the buildings of the earth. These are the signs of the fourth day. And on the fifth day, at the sixth hour, there shall be great thunderings suddenly in the heaven, and the powers of light and the wheel of the sun shall be caught away, and there shall be great darkness over the world until evening, and the stars shall be turned away from their ministry. In that day all nations shall hate the world and despise the life of this world. These are the signs of the fifth day. And on the sixth day there shall be signs in heaven. At the fourth hour the firmament of heaven shall be cloven from the east unto the west. And the angels of the heavens shall be looking forth upon the earth <through> the opening of the heavens. And all men shall see above the earth the host of the angels looking forth out of heaven. Then shall all men flee.

(Here Wilhelm's text ends abruptly.) Then shall there be in the world sharings (participations) between king and king, and in all the earth shall be great famine, great pestilences, and many distresses, and the sons of men shall be led captive among all nations and shall fall by the edge of the sword (and there shall be great commotion in the world: Vienna omits). Then after that when the hour of the end draweth nigh, there shall be for seven days great signs in heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be moved. Then shall there be on the first day the beginning: at the third hour of the day a great and mighty voice in the firmament of heaven and a bloody cloud coming up (down, Vienna) out of the north, and great thunderings and mighty lightnings shall follow it, and it shall cover the whole heaven, and there shall be a rain of blood upon all the earth. These are the signs of the first day. And on the second day there shall be a great voice in the firmament of heaven, and the earth shall be moved out of its place, and the gates of heaven shall be opened in the firmament of heaven toward the east, and the (smoke of a great fire shall break forth through the gates of heaven and shall cover all the heaven until evening. In that day there shall be fears and great terrors in the world. These are the signs of the second day. Vienna is defective here).

But on the third day about the third hour shall be a great voice in heaven, and the abysses of the earth (Vienna ends) shall roar from the four corners of the world; the pinnacles (so) of the firmament of heaven shall be opened, and all the air shall be filled with pillars of smoke. There shall be a stench of brimstone, very evil, until the tenth hour, and men shall say: We think the time draweth nigh that we perish. These are the signs of the third day. And on the fourth day at the first hour, from the land of the east the abyss shall melt (so) and roar. Then shall all the earth be shaken by the might of an earthquake. In that day shall the and all these that are on the earth shall behold the host of the angels looking forth out of heaven. Then shall all men flee unto the monuments (mountains ?) and hide themselves from the face of the righteous angels, and say: Would that the earth would open and swallow us up! And such things shall come to pass as never were since this world was created. Then shall they behold me coming from above in the light of my Father with the power and honour of the holy angels. Then at my coming shall the fence of fire of paradise be done away—because paradise is girt round about with fire. And this shall be that perpetual fire that shall consume the earth and all the elements of the world.

Then shall the spirits and souls of all men come forth from paradise and shall come upon all the earth: and every one of them shall go unto his own body, where it is laid up, and every one of them shall say: Here lieth my body. And when the great voice of those spirits shall be heard, then shall there be a great earthquake over all the world, and by the might thereof the mountains shall be cloven from above and the rocks from beneath. Then shall every spirit return into his own vessel, and the bodies of the saints which have fallen asleep shall arise. Then shall their bodies be changed into the image and likeness and the honour of the holy angels, and into the power of the image of mine holy Father. Then shall they be clothed with the vesture of life eternal, out of the cloud of light which hath never been seen in this world; for that cloud cometh down out of the highest realm of the heaven from the power of my Father. And that cloud shall compass about with the beauty thereof all the spirits that have believed in me. Then shall they be clothed, and shall be borne by the hands of the holy angels like as I have told you aforetime. Then also shall they be lifted up into the air upon a cloud of light, and shall

rejoicing and running upon the air beneath the heaven to deliver the elect that have believed in me. And they shall rejoice that the destruction of this world hath come. The words of the Saviour unto Thomas are ended , concerning the end of this world. None of the Latin texts seem to be complete. But we see that Wilhelm’s text is a blend of two sorts of Apocalypse—that akin to Daniel which, under the form of prophecy, describes events contem¬ porary with the author and continues them into the future: and that which is more akin to John and describes the signs of the end. Bihlmeyer’s text has only the latter element, and as it agrees pretty closely with our oldest authority, the Vienna fragment (though in that, as I have said, something did precede Bihimeyer’s opening), I judge it to be the older of the two forms. The first part of Wilhelm’s text with its clumsy indication of Arcadius and Honorius by means of their initials is much in the manner of the later Sibyllines, in which this particular trick is pushed to an absurd length, and used for quite imaginary personages as well as historic ones. In the second part Wilhelm’s text departs widely from the Vienna fragment, and here again shows itself as probably inferior.

The Apocalypse, we see, was known in England in the ninth century at least: and I think it must probably be regarded as the ultimate parent of a little piece which is found in innumerable manuscripts and has often been printed: I mean Jerome on the Fifteen Signs of the last days before the judgement. The beginning of this states that Jerome 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 I have seen them on the alabaster tablets carved at Nottingham in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, but the best-known representation of them is in a window at All Saints’, North Street, York, where they are accompanied by mottoes taken from the ‘Prick of Conscience’, which used to be attributed to Richard of Ham pole. The Anglo-Saxon version in the Vercelli Book (no. xv) begins thus: We have this in Greek in a great many texts. The oldest I have found was edited by me in 1893. A very brief summary of it will suffice, for it is a late and dreary production. The Virgin at the Mount of Olives prays to be told about the torments of hell and the next world. Michael is sent. He takes her to the west: the earth opens and discloses the lost who did not worship the Trinity.

She sees a great darkness. At her prayer it is lifted and she sees souls tormented with boiling pitch. No one has yet inter¬ ceded for them, neither Abraham, John Baptist, Moses, nor Paul. They are unbelievers. They go to the south: there is a river of fire with souls im¬ mersed at various depths. Gursers of their parents. Causers of abortion. False swearers. A man hung by the feet and devoured by worms is a usurer. A woman hung by the ears, with serpents coming out of her mouth and biting her, is a backbiter and gossip. They go (again!) to the west. In a cloud of fire lie those who lay late on Sunday. 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 hands and feet is the evil steward ( oeconomus ) of a church. Wicked priests, readers, bishops, widows of priests who married again, an 4 archdeaconess covetous women, are severally described. They go to the left-hand of paradise. In a river of pitch and fire are the Jews who crucified Jesus, those who denied baptism, those guilty of various impurities, sorcerers, murderers, they who strangle their children. In a lake of fire are bad Christians.

A great appeal of the Virgin 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 the lost. In some texts a visit of the Virgin to paradise follows this ; but it is usually short and uninteresting. In one of the Eastern books on the Assumption (see p. 222) there is a very diffuse account of paradise as seen by the Virgin. This is wholly different from the Greek. It was edited with a Latin version by Chaine in 1909 (Corpus Scriptt, Christ, Orient, i. 7) with texts of the Protevangelium and a story of the Assumption. The Apocalypse is almost wholly borrowed from that of Paul. Chaine takes it to be a version from Arabic, and the Arabic he thinks was translated from Greek; John is the narrator. The Virgin called him to listen to a wonderful mystery which had 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. The Son appeared and said that he would show her a great mystery. ‘Look upon the earth beneath.* (Here we have ch. 13 or Paul , and from this point we continue with the text of Paul sometimes amplified with quotations from the Bible.)

At Paul 31 we have the addition—doubtless correct—that the souls who were neither hot nor cold sit beside the river of fire. There are several variations and additions to the list of torments, not worth specifying, but the section which corresponds to Paul 40 must be quoted (unpleasant as the topic is) on account of its affinity with Peter . Women are seen, bitten by serpents, dogs, lions, and leopards of fire. They 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 born, or their fathers gave poison to the mothers. ‘But these children cry out before the throne of my Father, and say: Lord, they have not suffered us to grow up to do good or evil: the half of us they gave to the dogs and cast the other half to the swine. And when we heard the words of these children, I and my Father and the Comforter were grieved, and I commanded Temliaqos to set them in a beautiful abode. But for their fathers and mothers this is their torment for ever.* The Virgin says: If they repent wilt thou not forgive them? Yes, if they do so from their heart. But as for their pastors who did not admonish them, their part shall be with Eli and Fola. Eli did not reprove his sons, Fola sold his daughters for an ox.

I do not know who Fola was. The Apocalypse ends with ch. 44 of Paul. There is no trace in it of Paul 1-12 or 45-51.

The ‘Revelation called of Stephen’ is condemned, like that of Thomas, in the Gelasian Decree. Sixtus Senensis, Bibliotheca Sancta (1593), p. 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.’ Serapion of Thmuis, he elsewhere says (p. 299), wrote a large and very notable work against the Manichaeans in Greek ‘which I have lately read’. Our texts of Serapion contain no mention of the Apocalypse of Stephen. But no Manichaean would have cared about the book which 1 am going to speak of. 1 It has been usually guessed that the writing so described was the account of the finding of St. Stephen’s body, the whereabouts of which was revealed by Gamaliel in a vision to Lucian. With Stephen were found the bodies of Gamaliel and his son Abibas, and of Nicodemus. Lucian’s narrative was known to Augustine: it purports to be of the year 415, and there is little in it, as compared with similar ‘inventions’ of relics, which justifies its being solemnly condemned as apocryphal. So says I. Franko, who in 1906 ( Zeitschr . /. Ntl. FPtss.) published a Slavonic romance which, he says, is the real beginning of Lucian’s narrative.

The substance of it is this: Two years after the Ascension there was a contest about Jesus. Many learned men had assembled at Jerusalem from Ethiopia, the Thebaid, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Asia, Mauretania, and Babylon. There was a great clamour among them like thunder, lasting till the fourth hour. Stephen, a learned man of the tribe of Benjamin, stood on a high place and addressed the assembly. Why this tumult? said he. Blessed is he who has not doubted concerning Jesus. Born of a pure virgin he filled the world with light. By Satan’s contrivances Herod slew 14,000 (144,000) children. He spoke of the miracles of Jesus. Woe to the unbelievers when he shall come as judge, with angels, a fiery chariot, a mighty wind: the stars shall fall, the heavens open, the books be brought forward. The twelve angels who are set over every soul shall unveil the deeds of men. The sea shall move and give up what is in it. The mountains fall, all the surface of the earth becomes smooth. Great winged thrones are set. The Lord, and Christ, and the Holy Spirit take their seats. The Father bids Jesus sit on his right hand. At this point the crowd cried out: Blasphemy! and took Stephen before Pilate.

Pilate stood on the steps and reproached them: You com¬ pelled me to crucify the Innocent; why rage against this man ? Why gnash your teeth ? Are ye yet foolish ? They led Stephen away. Caiaphas ordered him to be beaten till the blood ran. And he prayed: Lay not this sin to their charge. We saw how angels ministered to him. (Cod. Apocr . N . T., i, p. 965) cites Sixtus Senensis as saying (on the authority of Serapion) that the Manichaeans so prized the Revelation of Stephen as to carry it in the skin of their thighs! This long puzzled me, and I could not find it in Sixtus. But at last I noticed that at the end of the article just preceding Stephanus , Victor Vitensis is quoted to this effect: The Manichaeans so honoured their teacher that they used to have these words inscribed on the skin of their thighs, *Manu chaeusy disciple of Christ Jesus ’. Perhaps some one has already explained this in print; if so, I have not seen it. In the morning Pilate called his wife and two children: they baptized themselves and praised God. Three thousand men now assembled and disputed with Stephen for three days and three nights. On the fourth day they took counsel and sent to Caesarea of Palestine for Saul of Tarsus, who had a commission to seize upon Christians. He took his place on the judgement seat and said: I wonder that thou, a wise man, and my kinsman, believest all this. None of the Sanhedrin have given up the Law. I have been through all Judaea, Galilee, Peraea, Damascus, and the city of the Jesitites to seek out believers.

Stephen lifted up his hands and said: Silence, persecutor! Recognize the Son of God. Thou makest me doubt of my own descent. But I see that thou shalt ere long drink of the same cup as I. What thou doest, do quickly. Saul rent his clothes and beat Stephen. Gamaliel, Saul’s teacher, sprang forth and gave Saul a buffet, saying: Did I teach thee such conduct? know that what this man saith is acceptable and good. Saul was yet more enraged, and looked fiercely on him, saying: I spare thine old age, but thou shalt reap a due reward for this. Gamaliel answered: I ask nothing better than to suffer with Christ. The elders rent their clothes, cast dust on their heads, and cried: Crucify the blasphemers. Saul said: Guard them until the morrow. Next day he sat on the judgement seat and had them brought before him, and they were led away to be crucified. An angel came and cast away the cross, and Stephen’s wounds were healed. Seven men came and poured molten lead into his mouth and pitch into his ears. They drove nails into his breast and feet, and he prayed for their forgiveness. Again an angel came down and healed him, and a great multitude believed.

Next day all assembled and took him out of the city to judge him. He mounted upon a stone and addressed them: How long will ye harden your hearts? The Law and the Prophets spake of Christ. In the first Law, and the second, and the other books it is written: When the year of the covenant cometh I will send my beloved angel, the good spirit of sonship, from a pure maiden, the fruit of truth, without ploughshare and without seed, and an image of sowing (?), and the fruit shall grow after the ... of planting for ever from the word of my covenant, and signs shall come to pass. And Isaiah saith: Unto us a child is born, &c. And again: Behold, a virgin shall con¬ ceive, &c. And the prophet Nathan said: I saw one, a maiden and without touch of man, and a man child in her arms, and that was the Lord of the earth unto the end of the earth. And again the prophet Baruch saith: Christ the eternal appeareth as a stone from the mountain and breaketh in pieces the idol temples of the . .. David also said: Arise, O Lord, unto thy resting place,

&c. Understand then, O foolish ones, what the prophet saith: In this word shalt thou judge. And he looked up to heaven and said: I see the heaven opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God. Then they laid hands on him, saying: He blasphemeth! Gamaliel said: Wherein? This righteous man hath seen the Son saying to the Father: Lo, the Jews rage against me and cease not to ill-treat them that confess my name. And the Father said: Sit thou on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Then they bound Stephen and took him away to Alexander, the reader, who was a chief of the people, and of the troop in Tiberias. In the fourth watch of the night, a light as of lightning shone round about him, and a voice said: Be strong. Thou art my first martyr, and thine hour is nigh. I will write the record of thee in the book of everlasting life. The Jews took counsel and decreed that he should be stoned. There were with him Abibas, Nicodemus, Gamaliel, Pilate, his wife and two children, and a multitude of believers. Saul stood forth and beckoned, and said: It would have been better that this man should not be slain, because of his great wisdom: but forasmuch as he is an apostate, I condemn Stephen to be stoned. The people said: He shall be stoned: but those who stood in the front rank with staves looked on each other and durst not lay hands on him: for he was renowned among the people.

Saul was wroth, and stripped those servants of their garments and laid them on the table; and commanded the men to stone Stephen. Stephen looked round and said: Saul, Saul, that which thou doest unto me to-day, that same will the Jews do unto thee to-morrow. And when thou sufferest, thou shalt think on me. The people cast stones upon him so thickly that the light of the sun was darkened. Nicodemus and Gamaliel put their arms about him and shielded him, and were slain, and gave up their souls to Christ. Stephen prayed, saying: Forgive them that stone us, for by their means we trust to enter into thy kingdom. And at the tenth hour he gave up the ghost. Then beautiful youths ap¬ peared, and fell upon the bodies and wept aloud: and the people beheld the souls borne up by angels into heaven, and saw the heavens open and the hosts coming to meet the souls. And the people mourned for three days and three nights. Pilate took the bodies and put each one into a silver coffin with his name upon it: but Stephen’s coffin was gilt: and he laid them in his secret sepulchre. But Stephen prayed: Let my body be buried in my land of Serasima in Kapogemala (Caphargamala) until the revealing, when the martyrs that

follow me shall be gathered together. And an angel came and removed the bodies thither. But Pilate rose early to burn incense before the bodies, and found them not; and rent his clothes, saying: Was I then not worthy to be thy servant? On the night following, Stephen appeared and said to him: Weep not. I prayed God to hide our bodies. In the time of our revealing one of thy seed shall find us after a vision, and thy desire shall be fulfilled. But build a house of prayer and celebrate our feast in the month of April. After seven months thou also shalt rest. And Pilate did so: and he died, and was buried at Kapartasala: and his wife also died in peace. But the holy martyrs appeared thrice to venerable and believing men, speaking to them, and revealing divine words: for after their death many believed. One of Franko’s two manuscripts omits all mention of Pilate, who is indeed not necessary to the story. The statements about him are quite irreconcilable with other legends, even those of the Eastern Church which take the favourable view of him. Franko is clearly right in saying that this romance implies a con¬ tinuation, and most likely right in holding that the Lucian-narrative implies a previous story. But the extravagance of the Slavonic text is such that one cannot but think it has been improved by the trans¬ lator: and if Pilate could be gratuitously inserted—as I think he has been—by one redactor, others may equally well have been at work.