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

Which also I did; and after my prayer an angel of the Lord came and said unto me: What askest thou, Seth ? askest thou for the oil that raiseth up the sick, or for the tree that floweth with that oil, for the sickness of thy father? this cannot be found at this time. Depart therefore and say unto thy father, that after there are accomplished from the creation of the world five thousand five hundred years, then shall the only-begotten Son of God become man and come down upon the earth, and he shall anoint him with that oil, and he shall arise: and with water and the Holy Ghost shall he wash him and them that come of him. And then

Latin B. IV (XX) and Hell: but as yet they knew not each other among themselves: nevertheless they were at the point to know. But our holy father Adam made answer unto Satan thus: O prince of death, wherefore fearest thou and tremblest ? Behold the Lord cometh which shall destroy all thy creatures, and thou shalt be taken captive of him and be bound, world without end. Adam, how valiantly he made answer unto Satan, were glad and were comforted: and all of them ran together unto father Adam God, even Christ Jesus, come down upon the earth and shall bring in our father Adam into paradise unto the tree of mercy. And when they heard all these things of Seth, all the patriarchs and prophets rejoiced with a great rejoicing. and chief of death said unto Hell: Make thyself ready to receive Jesus who boasteth himself that he is the Son of God, whereas shall he be healed of every disease: but now it is not possible that this should come to pass. And when the patriarchs and prophets heard these things, they rejoiced greatly. darkness cometh and saith unto Hades: O thou that devourest all and art insatiable, hearken to my words. There is one of the

and were gathered about him in that place. Then our father Adam, looking earnestly upon all that multitude, marvelled if they all were begotten of him into the world. And he embraced them that stood near round about him, and shed exceeding bitter tears, and spake unto Seth his son: Declare, my son Seth, unto the holy patriarchs and prophets that which the keeper of paradise said unto thee when I sent thee to bring me of the very oil of mercy that thou mightest anoint my body when I was sick. 3 Then he answered: I, when thou sentest me before the gates of paradise, prayed and besought the Lord with tears, and I called the keeper of paradise to give me thereof. Then Michael the archangel came forth and said unto me: Seth, wherefore mournest thou? know thou before, that thy father Adam shall not receive of this oil of mercy now, but after many generations of the world. For the most beloved Son of God shall come down from heaven into the world and shall be baptized of John in the river Jordan: and then shall thy father Adam receive of this oil of mercy, and all they that believe in him: and the kingdom of them which have believed in him shall endure, world without end.

with great joy, and one of them that stood by, Isaias by name, proclaimed with a loud voice, saying: Father Adam and all ye he is a man that feareth death, and sayeth: My soul is sorrowful even unto death. And he hath been much mine enemy, doing me great hurt, and many that I had made blind, lame, dumb, leprous, and possessed he hath healed with a word: and some whom I have brought unto thee dead, them hath he taken away from thee. 2 Hell answered and said unto Satan the prince: Who is he that is so mighty, if he be a man that feareth death ? for all the mighty ones of the earth are held in subjection by my power, even they whom thou hast brought me subdued by thy power. If, then, thou art mighty, what manner of man is this Jesus who, though he fear death, resisteth thy power ? If he be so mighty in his manhood, verily I say unto thee he is almighty in his god¬ head, and no man can withstand his power. And when he saith that he feareth death, he would ensnare thee, and woe shall be

race of the Jews, Jesus, who calleth himself the Son of God; but he is a man, and by our contrivance the Jews have crucified him. And now that he hath died, be thou prepared that we may make him fast here. For I know that he is a man, and I have heard him saying: My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. And he hath done me much hurt in the world that is above while he walked among men. For wheresoever he found my servants he did persecute them, and as many as I caused to be maimed, or blind, or lame, or leprous, or any such thing, he healed them with a word only: and whereas I made ready many to be buried, them also he quickened again only with a word. 2 Hades saith: And is he indeed so mighty that he can do such things with a word only ? or, if he be such, art thou able to withstand him? it seemeth to me, no man will be able to with- that stand by hearken unto my sayings. While I was upon earth, and the Holy Ghost taught me, I did sing in prophecy concerning this light, saying: The people which sat in darkness have seen a great light: unto them which dwell in the land of the shadow of death hath the light shined. And at his word Father Adam and they all turned unto him and asked him: Who art thou? for that which thou sayest is true. And he answered and said: I am named Isaias.

in the wilderness, and they asked him and said: Who art thou that bearest in thy body such signs? and he answered stoutly: I am John the Baptist, the voice and the prophet of the Most High. I went before the face of the same Lord to make the unto thee for everlasting ages. But Satan the prince of Tartarus said: Why doubtest thou and fearest to receive this Jesus, which is thine adversary and mine? For I tempted him, and I have stirred up mine ancient people of the Jews with envy and wrath against him. I have sharpened a spear to thrust him through, gall and vinegar have I mingled to give him to drink, and I have prepared a cross to crucify him and nails to pierce him: and his death is nigh at hand, that I may bring him unto thee to be subject unto thee and me. stand him: but whereas thou sayest that thou hast heard him fearing death, this he said to mock thee and in sport, willing to seize on thee with a mighty hand: and woe, woe unto thee for everlasting! Satan saith: O thou Hades that devourest all and art insatiable, didst thou fear so much at that thou hast heard concerning our common adversary ? I feared him not, but I did set on the Jews, and they crucified him and gave him also gall to drink mingled with vinegar. Prepare thyself, therefore, that when he cometh thou mayest hold him fast.

desert and rough ways into plain paths. I did show with my finger unto them of Jerusalem the lamb of the Lord and the Son of God, and glorified him. I baptized him in the river Jordan. I heard the voice of the Father out of heaven thundering upon him and proclaiming: This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. I have received an answer from him that he would himself descend into hell. Then Father Adam, when he heard that, cried with a loud voice, and shouted again and again Alleluia, which is, being interpreted: The Lord cometh. with the marks of an emperor, by name David, cried out thus and said: When I was upon earth I did reveal unto the people concerning the mercy of God and his visitation, and prophesied joyful things to come throughout all ages, saying: Let them give thanks unto the Lord, even his mercies: and his wonders unto the children of men. 1 For he hath broken the gates of brass and smitten the bars of iron in sunder. Then did the holy patriarchs and prophets begin to recognize one another, and each one of them to speak words out of their prophecies. Then holy Jeremias, looking upon his prophecies, said to the patriarchs and prophets: Wien I was upon earth 1 So the Latin Psalter has it.

3 Hell answered and said: Thou hast told me that it is he that hath taken away dead men from me. For there be many which while they lived on the earth have taken dead men from me, yet not by their own power but by prayer to God, and their almighty God hath taken them from me. Who is this Jesus which by his own word without prayer hath drawn dead men from me ? Perchance it is he which by the word of his command did restore to life Lazarus which was four days dead and stank and was corrupt, whom I held here dead. Satan the prince of death answered and said: It is that same Jesus. When Hell heard that he said unto him: I adjure thee by thy strength and mine own that thou bring him not unto me. For at that time I, when I heard the command of his word, did quake and was overwhelmed with fear, and all my ministries with me were troubled. Neither could we keep Lazarus, but he like an eagle shaking himself leaped forth with all agility and swiftness, and departed from us, and the earth also which held the dead body of

3 Hades answered: O inheritor of darkness, son of perdition devil, thou saidst but now unto me that many of them whom thou hadst made ready to be buried he did quicken again with a word only: now if he hath set free many from burial, how and by what strength shall he be held by us ? I indeed of late swallowed up a certain dead man named Lazarus, and after a little, one of the living by force snatched him up out of mine entrails by a word only: and I think this is he of whom thou speakest. If, then, we receive him here, I fear lest we be imperilled for the rest also; for I have swallowed up all men from the beginning: behold, I perceive that they are unquiet, and my belly paineth me, and this Lazarus that before was caught away from me I take to be no good sign, for he flew away from me, not like to a dead man but to an eagle, so instantly did the earth cast him out. Wherefore also I adjure thee by thy gifts and by mine own, that I prophesied of the Son of God, saying that he was seen upon earth and conversed among men.

sight of their father Adam, and at the answer of all the patriarchs and prophets, cried out, saying: Alleluia, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. So that at the cry of them Satan feared, and sought a way to flee by, and could not, for Hell and his ministers did hold him bound in hell and fenced in on every side. And they said unto him: Why fearest thou? we will in no wise suffer thee to go out hence; but thou must receive these things Lazarus straightway gave him up alive. Wherefore now I know that that man which was able to do these things is a God strong in command and mighty in manhood, and that he is the saviour of mankind. And if thou bring him unto me he will set free all that are here shut up in the hard prison and bound in the chains of their sins that cannot be broken, and will bring them unto the life of his godhead for ever. suddenly there came a voice as of thunder and a spiritual cry: Remove, O princes, your gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. When Hell heard that he said unto Satan the prince: Depart from me and go out of mine abode: if thou be a mighty man of war, fight thou against the King of glory. But what hast thou to do with him? And Hell cast Satan forth out of his dwelling. Then said Hell unto

thou bring him not to this place, for I believe that he cometh hither to raise up all the dead. And this I say unto thee: by the outer darkness, if thou bring him hither, not one of all the dead will be left in me. came a great voice as of thunder, saying: Lift up, O princes, your gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. When Hades heard, he said unto Satan: Go forth, if thou art able, and withstand him. So Satan went forth. Then said Hades unto his devils: Make fast the gates of brass well and strongly, and the bars of iron, and keep my locks, and as thou art worthy, at his hands whom thou didst fight against every day: and if not, know thou that thou shalt be bound by him and committed unto my keeping for ever. Father, as the voice ofia great thunder, saying: Lift up, O princes, your gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Then Satan and Hell cried out, saying: Who is this King of glory ? And it was answered them by the Lord’s voice: The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.

was as that of a robber, bearing a cross upon his shoulder, who cried without and said: Open unto me that I may enter in. And Satan opened the gate unto him a little way and brought him his wicked ministers: Shut ye the hard gates of brass and put on them the bars of iron and withstand stoutly, lest we that hold captivity be taken captive. spake with a voice of rebuking unto Hell: Open thy gates, that the King of glory may come in. And David cried out, saying: Did I not when I was alive upon earth, foretell unto you: Let them give thanks unto the Lord, even his mercies and his wonders unto the children of men; who hath broken the gates of brass and smitten the bars of iron in sunder ? he hath taken them out of the way of their iniquity. And thereafter in like manner Esaias said: Did not I when I was alive upon earth foretell unto you: The dead shall arise, and they that are in the tombs shall rise again, and they that are in the earth shall rejoice, for the dew which cometh of the Lord is their healing ? And again I said: O death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory?

stand upright, and beware at all points, for if he come in hither, woe will take hold on us. insult him, saying: Thou that devourest all and art insatiate, open, that the King of glory may come in. David the prophet said: Knowest thou not, blind one, that when I lived in the world I did prophesy that word, Lift up, O princes, your gates. Esaias said: This I foresaw by the Holy Ghost and wrote: The dead shall arise, and they that are in the tombs shall awake, and they that are in the earth shall rejoice: and again: O death, where is thy sting ? O Hell, where is thy victory ? within into the house, and shut the gate again after him. And all the saints saw him that he shone brightly, and said unto him straightway: Thine appearance is that of a robber: show us, what is that which thou bearest on thy back ? And he answered humbly and said: Of a truth I was a robber altogether, and the Jews hanged me upon a cross with my Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the most high Father. And at the last I have come hither before him; but himself cometh after me immediately.

he cried aloud: Open, thou most foul one, thy gates, that the King of glory may come in. Likewise also all the saints of God rose up against Satan and would have laid hold on him and parted him among them. And again there was a cry without: Lift up, ye princes, your Hell: Open thy gates: now shalt thou be overcome and weak and without strength. And there came a great voice as of thun¬ der, saying: Remove, O princes, your gates, and be ye lift up ye doors of hell, and the King of glory shall come in. And when Hell saw that they so cried out twice, he said, as if he knew it not: Who is the King of glory? And David answered Hell and said: The words or this cry do I know, for by his spirit I prophesied the same; and now I say unto thee that which I said before: The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, he is the King of glory. And: The Lord looked down from heaven that he might hear the groanings of them that are in fetters and deliver the children of them that have been slain. And now, O thou most foul and stinking Hell, open thy gates, that the King of glory may come in. And as David spake thus unto Hell, the Lord of majesty appeared in the form of a man and lightened the eternal darkness and brake the bonds that could not be loosed: and the succour of his everlasting might visited us that sat in the deep darkness of our transgressions and in the shadow of death of our sins.

3 Then came there again a voice, saying: Lift up the gates. And when Hades heard the voice the second time, he answered as if he knew it not, and said: Who is this King of glory ? The angels of the Lord said: The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. And straightway at the word the gates of brass were broken in pieces and the bars of iron were ground to powder, and all the dead that were bound were loosed from their chains, and we with them, and the King of glory entered in, in fashion as a man, and all the dark places of Hell were enlightened. gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. And again at that clear voice Hell and Satan inquired, saying: Who is this King of glory ? and it was said unto them by that marvellous voice: The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. And lo, suddenly Hell did quake, and the gates of death and the locks were broken small, and the bars of iron broken, and fell to the ground, and all things were laid open. And Satan re¬ mained in the midst and stood put to confusion and cast down,

Latin A. VI (XXII) they were stricken with fear, they and their cruel officers, at the sight of the brightness of so great light in their own realm, seeing Christ of a sudden in their abode, and they cried out, saying: We are overcome by thee. Who art thou that art sent by the Lord for our confusion ? Who art thou that without all damage of corruption, and with the signs (?) of thy majesty unblemished, dost in wrath condemn our power? Who art thou that art so great and so small, both humble and exalted, both soldier and commander, a marvellous warrior in the shape of a bondsman, and a King of glory dead and living, whom the cross bare slain upon it ? Thou that didst lie dead in the sepulchre hast come down unto us living: and at thy death all creation quaked and all the stars were shaken: and thou hast become free among the dead and dost rout our legions. Who art thou that settest free the prisoners that are held bound by original sin and restorest them into their former liberty ? Who art thou that sheddest thy divine and bright light upon them that were blinded with the darkness of their sins ? After the same manner all the legions of devils were stricken with like fear and cried out all together in the terror of their confusion, saying: Whence art thou, Jesus, a man so mighty and bright in majesty, so excellent, without spot and clean from sin ? For that world of earth which hath been alway subject unto us until now, and did pay tribute to our profit, hath never sent unto us a dead man like thee,

1 Hades cried out straightway: We are overcome, woe unto us. But who art thou that hast so great authority and power? and what manner of man art thou that art come hither without sin? thou that appearest small and canst do great things, that art humble and exalted, a bondsman and a master, a soldier and a commander, that exercisest authority over the dead and the living ? thou wast nailed to the cross, and laid in the sepulchre, and now art thou become free and hast destroyed our whole power. Art thou then that Jesus of whom the chief ruler Satan said unto us, that by thy cross and death thou shouldest inherit the whole world ? and bound with a fetter about his feet. And behold, the Lord Jesus Christ coming in the glory of the light of the height, in meekness, great and yet humble, bearing a chain in his hands bound there¬ with the neck of Satan, and also, binding his hands behind his back, cast him backward into Tartarus, and set his holy foot upon his throat and said: Throughout all ages hast thou done much nor ever dispatched such a gift unto Hell. Who then art thou that so fearlessly enterest our borders, and not only fearest not our torments, but besides essayest to bear away all men out of our bonds? Peradventure thou art that Jesus, of whom Satan our prince said that by thy death of the cross thou shouldest receive the dominion of the whole world.

death, and laid hold on Satan the prince and delivered him unto the power of Hell, and drew Adam to him unto his own brightness. Then Hell, receiving Satan the prince, with sore reproach said unto him: O prince of perdition and chief of destruction, Beelzebub, the scorn of the angels and spitting of the righteous, why wouldest thou do this? Thou wouldest crucify the King of glory, and at his decease didst promise us great spoils of his death: like a fool thou knewest not what thou didst. For behold, now, this Jesus putteth to flight by the brightness of his majesty all the darkness of death, and hath broken the strong depths of the prisons, and let out the prisoners, and loosed them that were bound. And all that were sighing in our torments do rejoice against us, and at their prayers our dominions are vanquished ruler Satan, and delivered him unto the angels and said: Bind down with irons his hands and his feet and his neck and his mouth. And then he delivered him unto Hades, saying: Take him and keep him safely until my second coming. Then Hades, when he had taken Satan, said unto him: O Beel¬ zebub, inheritor of fire and torment, adversary of the saints, what need hadst thou to provide that the King of glory should be crucified, so that he should come hither and strip us naked? Turn thee and see that not one dead man is left in me, but all whatsoever thou didst gain by the tree of knowledge thou hast lost by the tree of the cross, and all thy joy is turned into sorrow, and when thou wouldest slay the King of glory thou hast slain thyself: for since I have received thee to keep thee safely, thou

evil and hast never been quiet at any time. To-day do I deliver thee unto eternal fire. And he called Hell quickly and gave him commandment, saying: Take this most evil and wicked one and hold him in thy keeping until that day when I shall command thee. And he took him from beneath the Lord’s feet, and he was cast down together with him into the depth of the bottomless pit. and our realms conquered, and now no nation of men feareth us any more. And beside this, the dead which were never wont to be proud triumph over us, and the captives which never could be joyful do threaten us. O prince Satan, father of all the wicked and ungodly and renegades, wherefore wouldest thou do this? They that from the beginning until now have despaired of life and salvation—now is none of their wonted roarings heard, neither doth any groan from them sound in our ears, nor is there any sign of tears upon the face of any of them. O prince Satan, holder of the keys of hell, those thy riches which thou hadst gained by the tree of transgression and the losing of paradise, thou hast lost by the tree of the cross, and all thy gladness hath perished. When thou didst hang up Christ Jesus the King of glory thou wroughtest against thyself and against me. Hence¬ forth thou shalt know what eternal torments and infinite pains thou art to suffer in my keeping for ever. O prince Satan, author of death and head of all pride, thou oughtest first to have sought out matter of evil in this Jesus: Wherefore didst thou adventure without cause to crucify him unjustly against whom thou foundest no blame, and to bring into our realm the innocent and righteous one, and to lose the guilty and the ungodly and unrighteous of the whole world ?

And when Hell had spoken thus unto Satan the prince, then said the King of glory unto Hell: Satan the prince shall be in thy power unto all ages in the stead of Adam and his children, even those that are my righteous ones. 1 And the Lord stretching forth his hand, said: Come unto me, all ye my saints which bear mine image and my likeness. Ye shalt learn by trial what evils I will practise upon thee. O thou head-devil, the beginning of death, and root of sin, and end of all evil, what ill didst thou find in Jesus that thou wentest about his destruction ? how didst thou dare to do so great wickedness ? how didst thou desire to bring down such an one mto this darkness, whereby thou art bereaved of all them that have died since the beginning. spread forth his right hand and took hold on our forefather Adam Latin B. IX (XXV) gracious, greeted Adam with kindness, saying unto him: Peace that by the tree and the devil and death were condemned, behold now the devil and death condemned by the tree. And forthwith all the saints were gathered in one under the hand of the Lord. And the Lord holding the right hand of Adam, said unto him: Peace be unto thee with all thy children that are my righteous ones. But Adam, casting himself at the knees of the Lord, entreated him with tears and beseechings, and said with a loud voice:

I will magnify thee, O Lord, for thou hast set me up and not made my foes to triumph over me: O Lord my God, I cried unto thee and thou hast healed me; Lord, thou hast brought my soul out of hell, thou hast delivered me from them that go down to the pit. Sing praises unto the Lord all ye saints of his, and give thanks unto him for the remembrance of his holiness. For there is wrath in his indignation and life is in his good pleasure. In like manner all the saints of God kneeled and cast themselves at the feet of the Lord, saying with one accord: Thou art come, O redeemer of the world: that which thou didst foretell by the law and by thy prophets, that hast thou accomplished in deed. Thou hast redeemed the living by thy cross, and by the death of the cross thou hast come down unto us, that thou mightest save us out of hell and death through thy majesty. O Lord, like as thou hast set the name of thy

and raised him up; and then turned himself unto the rest and said: Come with me all ye, as many as have suffered death through the tree which this man touched. For lo, I do raise you all up again through the tree of the cross. And with that he put them all forth, and our forefather Adam was seen full of gladness of soul and said: I give thanks to thy greatness, O Lord, for thou hast brought me up out of the lowest hell. Likewise also all the prophets and the saints said: We give thanks unto thee, O Christ, Saviour of the world, for that thou hast brought up our life from corruption. be unto thee, Adam, and unto thy children unto everlasting ages. Amen. Then Father Adam cast himself at the Lord’s feet, and rose up and kissed his hands, and shed abundant tears, saying: Behold the hands which formed me: testifying unto all. And he said to the Lord: Thou art come, O King of glory, to set men free and gather them to thine everlasting kingdom. Then our mother Eve also in like manner cast herself at the feet of the Lord, and rose up and kissed his hands, and shed tears abundantly, and said: Behold the hands which fashioned me: testifying unto all.

glory in the heavens and set up thy cross for a token of re¬ demption upon the earth, so, Lord, set thou up the sign of the victory of thy cross in hell, that death may have no more dominion. of the cross over Adam and over all his saints, and he took the right hand of Adam and went up out of hell, and all the saints followed him. Then did holy David cry aloud and say: Sing unto the Lord a new song, for he hath done marvellous things. His right hand hath wrought salvation for him and his holy arm. The Lord hath made known his saving health, before the face of all nations hath he revealed his righteousness. And the whole multitude of the saints answered, saying: Such honour have all his saints. Amen, Alleluia. upon his forehead with the sign of the cross, and so did he also unto all the patriarchs and prophets and martyrs and forefathers. And he took them and leaped up out of hell. And as he went the holy fathers sang praises, following him and saying: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Unto him be the glory of all the saints.

2 Then all the saints adoring him cried out, saying: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: God the Lord hath showed us light. Amen throughout all ages. Alleluia, world without end: laud, honour, might, and glory, because thou hast come from on high to visit us. And they gathered them beneath the hands of the Lord, singing always Alleluia, and rejoicing together at the glory. Then the Saviour searched throughout and did bite hell (al. hell was in affliction), forasmuch as he cast down part into Tartarus, and part he brought again with him on high. Then all the saints of God besought the Lord that he would leave the sign of victory —even of the holy cross—in hell, that the wicked ministers thereof might not prevail to keep back any that was accused, whom the Lord absolved. And so it was done, and the Lord set his cross in the midst of hell, which is the sign of victory; and it shall remain there for ever. Then all we went out thence with the Lord, and left Satan and Hell in Tartarus. 3 And thereafter Habacuc the prophet cried out and said: Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people to set free thy chosen. And all the saints answered, saying: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. God is the Lord and hath showed us light. Amen, Alleluia.

Likewise after that the prophet Mieheas also cried, saying: What God is like thee, O Lord, taking away iniquity and removing sins? and now thou withholdest thy wrath for a testimony that thou art merciful of free will, and thou dost turn away and have mercy on us, thou forgivest all our iniquities and hast sunk all our sins in the depths of the sea, as thou swarest unto our fathers in the days of old. And all the saints answered, saying: This is our God for ever and ever, he shall be our guide, world without end. Amen, Alleluia. And so spake all the prophets, making mention of holy words out of their praises, and all the saints followed the Lord, crying Amen, Alleluia. But the Lord holding the hand of Adam delivered him unto Michael the archangel, and all the saints followed Michael the archangel, and he brought them all into the glory and beauty (grace) of paradise. And there met with them two men, ancients of days, and when they were asked of the saints: Who are ye that have not yet been dead in hell with us and are set in paradise in the body? then one of them answering, said: I am Enoch which was translated hither by the word of the Lord, and this that is with me is Elias the Thesbite which was taken up in a chariot of fire: and up to this day we have not tasted death, but we are received unto the coming of Antichrist to fight against him with signs and wonders of God, and to be slain of him in Jerusalem, and after three days and a half to be taken up again alive on the clouds.

He went therefore into paradise holding our forefather Adam by the hand, and delivered him, and all the righteous, unto Michael the archangel. And as they were entering in at the gate of paradise, there met them two aged men, unto whom said the holy fathers: Who are ye, which have not seen death nor come down into hell, but dwell in paradise with your bodies and souls ? And one of them answered and said: I am Enoch that pleased God and was translated hither by him: and this is Elias the Thesbite: and we shall live unto the end of the world, but at that time we shall be sent by God to withstand Antichrist and to be slain of him, and after three days to rise and be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord. Latin A. X (XXVI) And as Enoch and Elias spake thus with the saints, behold there came another man of vile habit, bearing upon his shoulders the sign of the cross; whom when they beheld, all the saints said unto him: Who art thou ? for thine appearance is as of a robber; and wherefore is it that thou bearest a sign upon thy shoulders? And he answered them and said: Ye have rightly said: for I was a robber, doing all manner of evil upon the earth. And the Jews crucified me with Jesus, and I beheld the wonders in the creation which came to pass through the cross of Jesus when he was crucified, and I believed that he was the maker of all creatures and the almighty king, and I besought him, saying:

Remember me, Lord, when thou comest into thy kingdom. And forthwith he received my prayer, and said unto me: Verily I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise: and he gave me the sign of the cross, saying: Bear this and go unto paradise, and if the angel that keepeth paradise suffer thee not to enter in, show him the sign of the cross; and thou shalt say unto him: Jesus Christ the Son of God who now is crucified hath sent me. And when I had so done, I spake all these things unto the angel that keepeth paradise; and when he heard this of me, forthwith he opened the door and brought me in and set me at the right hand of paradise, saying: Lo now, tarry a little, and Adam the father of all mankind will enter in with all his children that are holy and righteous, after the triumph and glory of the ascending up of Christ the Lord that is crucified. When they heard all these words of the robber, all the holy patriarchs

And as they thus spake there came another man, humble of aspect, and bearing also a cross upon his shoulder, unto whom the holy fathers said: Who art thou that hast the appearance of a robber, and what is that cross that thou bearest on thy shoulder? He answered: I as ye say was a robber and a thief in the world, and therefore the Jews took me and delivered me unto the death of the cross together with our Lord Jesus Christ. When, therefore, he hung upon the cross, I beheld the signs which came to pass, and I believed on him and besought him and said: Lord, when thou shalt reign, forget not me. And straightway he said to me: Verily, verily, to-day, I say unto thee, thou shalt be with me in paradise. I came, therefore, bearing my cross, into paradise, and found Michael the archangel, and said unto him: Our Lord Jesus Christ that was crucified hath sent me hither; bring me there¬ fore unto the gate of Eden. And when the flaming sword saw the sign of the cross, it opened unto me and I entered in. Then said the archangel unto me: Tarry a little, for Adam the forefather

and prophets said with one voice: Blessed be the Lord Almighty, the Father of eternal good things, the Father of mercies, thou that hast given such grace unto thy sinners and hast brought them again into the beauty of paradise and into thy good pas¬ tures: for this is the most holy life of the spirit. Amen, Amen. These are the divine and holy mysteries which we saw and heard, even I, Karinus, and Leucius: but we were not suffered to relate further the rest of the mysteries of God, according as Michael the archangel strictly charged us, saying: Ye shall go with your brethren unto Jerusalem and remain in prayer, crying out and glorifying the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, who hath raised you from the dead together with him: and ye shall not be speaking with any man, but sit as dumb men, until the hour come when the Lord himself suffereth you to declare the mysteries of his godhead. But unto us Michael the arch¬ angel gave commandment that we should go over Jordan unto a place rich and fertile, where are many whidi rose again together with us for a testimony of the resurrection of Christ the Lord. For three days only were allowed unto us who rose from the dead, to keep the passover of the Lord in Jerusalem with our kindred (parents) that are living for a testimony of the resurrec¬ tion of Christ the Lord: and we were baptized in the holy river of Jordan and received white robes, every one of us. And after the three days, when we had kept the passover of the Lord, all

of mankind cometh with the righteous, that they also may enter in. And now, having seen you, I am come to meet you. And when the saints heard these things, they cried aloud with a great voice, saying: Great is our Lord, and great is his power. All these things did we see and hear, even we the two brethren which also were sent by Michael the archangel and appointed to proclaim the resurrection of the Lord, but firet to go unto Jordan and be baptized; whither also we went and were baptized, But unto us and many others was it commanded that we should rise again with our bodies, and bear witness in the world of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, and concerning those things that were done in hell. These are the things, brethren beloved, which we have seen, and do testify being adjured of you, as he beareth witness who died for us and rose again. For like as it is written, so was it performed in every point. they were caught up in the clouds which had risen again with us, and were taken over Jordan and were no more seen of any man. But unto us it was said that we should remain in the city of Arimathaea and continue in prayer.

These be all things which the Lord bade us declare unto you: give praise and thanksgiving (confession) unto him, and repent that he may have mercy upon you. Peace be unto you from the same Lord Jesus Christ which is the Saviour of us all. Amen. And when they had finished writing all things in the several volumes of paper they arose; and Karinus gave that which he together with other dead that had risen again. Thereafter we went unto Jerusalem also and accomplished the passover of the resurrection: but now we depart, for we are not able to abide in this place. And the love of God and the Father, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and <the fellowship) of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Amen. When they had thus written and had closed up the books, they gave the one half unto the high priests and the one half unto Joseph and Nicodemus: and they themselves vanished suddenly. To the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Latin B. XI (XXVII) But when the paper was wholly read through, all that heard it fell upon their faces weeping bitterly and smote hard upon their breasts, crying out and saying: Woe unto us: wherefore cometh this to pass unto us wretched men ? Pilate did flee, Annas and Caiaphas did flee, the priests and Levites did flee, and all the people of the Jews beside, lamenting and saying: Woe unto us miserable men; we have shed innocent blood upon the earth.

Therefore for three days and three nights they tasted not at all either bread or water, neither did any of them return unto the synagogue. But on the third day the council gathered together again, and the other paper, to wit of Leucius, was read, and neither more nor less was found in it, even to one letter, than what was contained in the writing of Karinus. Then was the synagogue troubled and they mourned all of them forty days and forty nights, looking for death at the hand of God and for the vengeance of God. But the Most High God, which is merciful and pitiful, destroyed them not immediately, but gave them freely a place of repentance: but they were not found worthy to be turned unto the Lord. These be the testimonies, beloved brethren, of Karinus and Leucius, concerning Christ the Son of God and his holy acts in Hell: unto whom let us all give praise and glory unto ages without end. Amen. had written into the hands of Annas and Caiaphas and Gamaliel; likewise Leucius gave that which he had written into the hands of Nicodemus and Joseph. And suddenly they were transfigured and became white exceedingly and were no more seen. But their writings were found to be the same (lit. equal), neither more nor less by one letter.

And when all the synagogue of the Jews heard all these mar¬ vellous sayings of Karinus and Leucius, they said one to another: Of a truth all these things were wrought by the Lord, and blessed be the Lord, world without end, Amen. And they went out all of them in great trouble of mind, smiting their breasts with fear and trembling, and departed every man unto his own home. And all these things which were spoken by the Jews in their synagogue, did Joseph and Nicodemus forthwith declare unto the governor. And Pilate himself wrote all the things that were done and said concerning Jesus by the Jews, and laid up all the words in the public books of his judgement hall ( praetorium ). This chapter is not found in the majority of copies. After these things Pilate entered into the temple of the Jews and gathered together all the chief of the priests, and the teachers (grammaticos) and scribes and doctors of the law, and went in with them into the holy place of the temple and com¬ manded all the doors to be shut, and said unto them: We have heard that ye have in this temple a certain great Bible; wherefore I ask you that it be presented before us. And when that great Bible adorned with gold and precious jewels was brought by four ministers, Pilate said to them all: I adjure you by the God of your fathers which commanded you to build this temple in the place of his sanctuary, that ye hide not the truth from me. Ye know all the things that are written in this Bible; but tell me now if ye have found in the scriptures that this Jesus whom ye have crucified is the Son of God which should come for the salvation of mankind, and in what year of the times he must come. Declare unto me whether ye crucified him in ignorance or knowingly.

And Annas and Caiaphas when they were thus adjured com¬ manded all the rest that were with them to go out of the temple; and they themselves shut all the doors of the temple and of the sanctuary, and said unto Pilate: Thou hast adjured us, O excel¬ lent judge, by the building of this temple to make manifest unto thee the truth and reason (or a true account). After that we had crucified Jesus, knowing not that he was the Son of God, but supposing that by some chance he did his wondrous works, we made a great assembly (synagogue) in this temple; and as we conferred one with another concerning the signs of the mighty works which Jesus had done, we found many witnesses of our own nation who said that they had seen Jesus alive after his passion, and that he was passed into the height of the heaven. Moreover, we saw two witnesses whom Jesus raised from the dead, who declared unto us many marvellous things which Jesus did among the dead, which things we have in writing in our hands. Now our custom is that every year before our assembly we open this holy Bible and inquire the testimony of God. And we have found in the first book of the Seyenty how that Michael the angel spake unto the third son of Adam the first man con¬ cerning the five thousand and five hundred years, wherein should come the most beloved Son of God, even Christ:

and furthermore we have thought that peradventure this same was the God of Israel which said unto Moses: Make thee an ark of the covenant in length two cubits and a half, and in breadth one cubit and a half, and in height one cubit and a half. For by those five cubits and a half we have understood and known the fashion of the ark of the old covenant, for that in five thousand and a half thousand years Jesus Christ should come in the ark of his body: and we have found that he is the God of Israel, even the Son of God. For after his passion, we the chief of the priests, because we marvelled at the signs which came to pass on his account, did open the Bible, and searched out all the generations unto the generation of Joseph, and Mary the mother of Christ, taking her to be the seed of David: and we found that from the day when God made the heaven and the earth and the first man, from that time unto the Flood are 2,212 years: and from the Flood unto the building of the tower 531 years: and from the building of the tower unto Abraham 606 years: and from Abraham unto the coming of the children of Israel out of Egypt 470 years: and from the going of the children of Israel out of Egypt unto the building of the temple 511 years:

and from the building of the temple unto the destruction of the same temple 464 years: so far found we in the Bible of Esdras: and inquiring from the burning of the temple unto the coming of Christ and his birth we found it to be 636 years, which together were five thousand and five hundred years, 1 like as we found it written in the Bible that Michael the archangel declared before unto Seth the third son of Adam, that after five thousand and a half thousand years Christ the Son of God hath (? should) come. Hitherto have we told no man, lest there should be a schism in our synagogues; and now, O excellent judge, thou hast adjured us by this holy Bible of the testimonies of God, and we do declare it unto thee: and we also have adjured thee by thy life and health that thou declare not these words unto any man in Jerusalem.

1 Really 5430 : no MS. gives a correct calculation. Latin A. XIII (XXIX) And Pilate, when he heard these words of Annas and Caiaphas, laid them all up amongst the acts of the Lord and Saviour in the public books of his judgement hall, and wrote a letter unto Claudius the king of the city of Rome, saying: fThe following Epistle or Report of Pilate is inserted in Greek into the late Acts of Peter and Paul (§ 40) and the Pseudo-Marcellus Passion of Peter and Paul (§19). We thus have it in Greek and Latin, and the Greek is used here as the basis of the version.] Pontius Pilate unto Claudius, greeting. There befell of late a matter which I myself brought to light (or made trial of): for the Jews through envy have punished them¬ selves and their posterity with fearful judgements of their own fault; for whereas their fathers had promises ( al . had announced unto them) that their God would send them out of heaven his holy one who should of right be called their king, and did promise that he would send him upon earth by a virgin; he, then (or this God of the Hebrews, then), came when I was governor of Judaea, and they beheld him enlightening the blind, cleansing lepers, healing the palsied, driving devils out of men, raising the dead, rebuking the winds, walking upon the waves of the sea dry-shod, and doing many other wonders, and all the people of the Jews calling him the Son of God: the chief priests therefore, moved with envy against him, took him and delivered him unto me and brought against him one false accusation after another, saying that he was a sorcerer and did things contrary to their law.

But I, believing that these things were so, having scourged him, delivered him unto their will: and they crucified him, and when he was buried they set guards upon him. But while my soldiers watched him he rose again on the third day: yet so much was the malice of the Jews kindled that they gave money to the soldiers, saying: Say ye that his disciples stole away his body. But they, though they took the money, were not able to keep silence concerning that which had come to pass, for they also have testified that they saw him arisen and that they received money from the Jews. And these things have I reported <unto thy mightiness) for this cause, lest some other should lie unto thee ( Lat . lest any lie otherwise) and thou shouldest deem right to believe the false tales of the Jews. There is a large mass of fragments in Coptic (Sahidic), some relating to the Ministry of our Lord and others to his Passion, which demand some notice here. The largest collections of them (I pass over earlier publications such as those of Zoega and Dulaurier) are in Forbes Robinson’s Coptic Apocryphal Gospels , E. Revillout’s Apocryphes Copies , I (Patrologia Orientalis II. 2), P. Lacau’s Fragments (TApocryphes Copies (Memoires de l’lnstitut Fra^ais d’Arch^ologie Orientale du Caire, 1904).

The fragments relating to the Life of Christ before the Passion are none of them attributed definitely to any author. They are mostly in homiletic form: the writer addresses his readers or congregation from time to time, directly, and not seldom he makes definite mention of the Gospels. In one passage which Forbes Robinson humorously makes to serve as a motto to his volume, we read, ‘But some one will say to me, Art thou then adding a supplement to the Gospels ? Let that beloved one listen attentively and . . the fragment ends. Whatever his defence or explanation may have been, he certainly does add a great many supplements to the Gospels. It seems likely (judging from the analogy of other Coptic documents) that he personated, if not an apostle, a disciple of the apostles. The names of Evodius of Antioch and Gamaliel are found attached to similar writings. It would be quite in order for such a person to postulate the existence of the canonical Gospels, and to profess to offer information which was not contained in them. It is conceivable that some of the narrative matter in these frag¬ ments may be taken from earlier books; but the fragments themselves cannot, I think, be earlier in date than the fifth century.

They will not be translated here in full: but a list, and a brief description of their contents, shall be given. 1. Robinson, p. 162. Birth and childhood of John Baptist. Birth of Christ. His star in the form of a wheel, its figure like a cross, letters on it: This is Jesus the Son of God. The wise men see it and come to Herod. 2. Robinson, p. 163. The Feast at Cana. The wine has failed; the parents of the bridegroom complain to Mary, who is their sister, and ask her to approach Christ. She does so. He orders that the water-pots be filled. We (the servants) hasted and filled them. This, then, belongs to a narrative written by an eyewitness. 3. Revillout no. 1. Herod accuses Philip to Tiberius. Tiberius orders him to confiscate all Philip’s goods. Herod does so: Philip knows not the reason. 4. Revillout no. 2. Robinson, p. 168. This is one of the longest of the fragments. It begins with a passage addressed to the hearers, and quotes John the Evan¬ gelist on the feeding of the 5,000: the story is filled out with dialogue, and tells how Judas was the last to receive the bread and ‘had no inheritance ’ in it. Thomas then says that he wishes to see the power of Christ displayed in the raising of the dead from their tombs, not only from the bier, as at Nain. Jesus replies in a long and rhetorical address of many clauses, beginning, ‘Come with me, Didymus, to the tomb of Lazarus’. Then the raising of Lazarus is told, and the risen man says that when the voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ sounded in Amente (Hades), Adam knew it and bore witness to it.

We then hear of one Carius, a Roman officer appointed to look after the confiscated lands of Philip (see fragment 3). He came to see Jesus and reported his mighty works to Herod, saying that he ought to be made king. Herod threatened any one who consented thereto with death. Annas and Caiaphas went to Carius and accused Jesus—he is a magician, was born of fornication, breaks the sabbath, has abolished the synagogue of the Jews. Joseph and Nicodemus opposed them. (Robinson’s text ends here: Revillout’s (p. 145) continues without break.) Herod cast Joseph and Nicodemus into prison. Carius threatened the Jews with destruction if any ill befell them. Then Herod got a pound of gold from every one of the chiefs of the Jews and bribed Carius with it not to tell Tiberius. And Carius kept silence. Joseph escaped to Arimathaea. Carius sent the apostle John to Tiberius to tell him about Jesus, and the emperor honoured him, and wrote that Jesus should be made king: and as the Gospel (John vi. 15) says, Jesus departed into a mountain alone. After that he summoned the apostles; and now we have a lengthy blessing of Peter on the mountain, at the end of which Peter sees the seven heavens open, and the Trinity. All the armies of heaven and the very stones of the mountain cry out the trisagios to Peter.

5. Revillout no. 4, p. 151. Robinson, p. 176. Jesus is comforting the apostles on the mountain. The messengers of Theophilus come to fetch him to make him king* ‘ My kingdom is not of this world.’ The ‘authorities’ of Tiberius prevailed the second time con¬ cerning Jesus, with Pilate also, to commend Jesus to make him king. Pilate advocated the plan strongly. Herod who was there abused him: ‘Thou art a Galilaean foreign Egyptian Pontus!’ There was enmity between Pilate and Herod, and Herod bribed the Roman authorities and slandered Jesus. Jesus’ address to the apostles, ending ‘let us go hence, for Herod seeketh me to kill me 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. 1 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: 4 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.

(Here follows a fragment given only by Lacau, p. 108.) Jesus told John to tell the devil to cast his nets again. He did so, and a great smoke rose up, and the devil’s power disappeared. John threw a stone at him and he fled, cursing. Bartholomew then asked to be permitted to see ‘him whom thou didst create to laugh at him’ (Leviathan), and Jesus said that the sight was almost too terrible for human eyes; but the request was granted. A cloud—that of the Transfiguration—appeared in the heaven. (Here the piece ends.) And here Revillout would place a few lines which he calls no. 4 bis (p. 189), which paraphrase John vii. 8-11, about Jesus refusing at first to go to the feast, and subsequently going in secret. The only detail worth noting is that (at Jerusalem) Jesus sojourns in the house of Irmeel. We next have a group of pieces relating to the Passion. First we place two fragments relating to Judas and his wife. 6. Revillout no. 5, p. 156. Some speaker tells how Judas used to take his ill-gotten gains home to his wife: sometimes he cheated her of them, and then she mocked him.

She counselled him to betray his Master. He listened to her as Adam did to Eve, and went and covenanted with the Jews. The prophecy (Zech.) was fulfilled. He took the money to his wife: he said to her • • . 7. Lacau, p. 34. Revillout, Suppl. 1, p. 195. Judas received the thirty pieces. His wife was foster-mother to the child of Joseph of Arimathaea, which was seven months old. When the money was brought into the house, the child (fell ill or would not stop crying). Joseph was summoned: the child cried out, begging him to take it away ‘from this evil beast, for yesterday at the ninth hour they received the price (of blood)’. Joseph took the child away. Judas went to the priests. They arrested Jesus and took him to Pilate. . . . He was crowned with thorns and crucified, and 6aid: Father forgive them. 1 Compare with this the Gospel of Bartholomew, iv. 44. 8. Revillout no. 6, p. 157. Lacau, p. 33. Jesus and the apostles at table. The table turned of itself after Jesus had partaken of a dish, to present it to each apostle. Matthias set a dish on the table in which was a cock, and told Jesus how, when he was killing it, the Jews said: ‘The blood of your master shall be shed like that of this cock.’ Jesus smiled and answered that it was true; and after some more words, bade the cock come to life and fly away and ‘ announce the day whereon they will deliver me up’. And it did so.

Here a reference will not be out of place to the Ethiopic ‘Book of the Cock’ which is read in the Abyssinian Church on Maundy Thursday. It has been translated by Marius Chaine, in the Revue Simitique , 1905, p. 276. The contents are as follows : After these things Akrosina, the wife of Simon the Pharisee, brought a cock cut up with a knife, put it in a magnificent dish, and set it on the table before our Lord. Jesus said, ‘My time is at hand’. He blessed the bread and gave it to Judas. Satan entered into him and he went out—without receiving the blessing of Jesus. Jesus touched the slain cock and it stood up whole. He bade it follow Judas and see what he did, and return and report it: he endowed it with human speech. It followed Judas home: his wife urged him to betray Jesus. He went to the temple. The dialogue with the Jews is reported, and Paul of Tarsus, ‘son of Josue Almason, son of Cadafana’, a rough man, says, ‘Now, thou, deliver him into my hands without error’. The cock returned to Bethany, and sat before Jesus and wept bitterly, and told all the story. The disciples wept. Jesus dismissed the cock to mount up into the sky for a thousand years. 1

The fragments 7 and 8 most probably belong to the beginning of the Book of Bartholomew, which has to be noticed hereafter. Certainly this is the case with Revillout no. 12, p. 165 (Lacau 3, p. 34), which narrates the death of Ananias. 9. Revillout no. 10, p. 161. A dialogue between Christ and Pilate expanded from that in St. John. may find mention here. It is noticed in Dillmann’s catalogue of the Ethiopic MSS. in the British Museum (no. 40, Add. 16, 254) under the name of Liber Vivificans (Dirsan Mahyawi), and contains the story of the Passion written by the Evangelists and by three Virgins, Berzeda, Mathilda, and Elisabeth, to whom the Lord revealed his Passion. Another copy, apparently, is in the D’Abbadie MS. 29. The ‘three Virgins’ are evidently SS. Birgitta of Sweden (fourteenth century), Mechtildis (twelfth or thirteenth century), and Elisabeth of Schonau (twelfth century), all of whom had revelations about the Passion. How their writings made their way to Abyssinia it would be curious and interesting to ascertain. 10. Revillout no. 11, p. 163. A further piece of a like dialogue, including long speeches of our Lord, and ending with Ecce homo . The place and order of the two next is uncertain.

11. Revillout no. 13, p. 168. An address of our Lord (to Thomas) reminding him of the signs at the crucifixion, * and exhorting him to touch him. 12. Revillout no. 14, p. 169. Mary (the Virgin) at the sepul¬ chre. Jesus appears to her and addresses her, forbidding her to touch him. The scene is assimilated to that of the appearance to Mary Magdalene (as elsewhere in Coptic writings): see above on the ‘XXth Discourse of Cyril*, pp. 87, 88. 13. Revillout no. 15, p. 170. Lacau, p. 19. Two leaves with a gap of two between them. This fragment has a definite attribution, to Gamaliel. It is a narrative connected with the resurrection. We find Pilate examining four soldiers as to their statement that the body of Jesus was stolen. One (the second: the testi¬ mony of the first is gone) says the eleven apostles took the body; the third says, Joseph and Nicodemus; the fourth, ‘we were asleep*. They are imprisoned, and Pilate goes with the centurion and the priests to the tomb and finds the grave-clothes. He says, ‘If the body had been stolen, these would have been taken too*. They say, ‘These grave-clothes belong to some one else*. Pilate remembers the words of Jesus, ‘Great wonders must happen in my tomb’, and goes in, and weeps over the shroud. Then he turns to the centurion, who had but one eye, having lost the other in battle.

Here is a gap, in which no doubt the centurion’s eye is healed by touching the grave clothes, and he is converted. Also it is clear that Joseph and Nicodemus are sent for, and that the Jews point out to Pilate that in a well in the garden there is the body of a crucified man. The other leaf begins with a dialogue between Pilate and the centurion. Then all go to the well. ‘I, Gamaliel, followed them also among the band.’ They see the body, and the Jews cry, '’Behold the sorcerer*. . . . Pilate asks Joseph and Nicodemus whether this is the body of Jesus. They answer, the graveclothes are his, but the body is that of the thief who was crucified with him. The Jews are angry and wish to throw Joseph and Nicodemus into the well. . . . Pilate remembers the words of Jesus, ‘The dead shall rise again in my tomb’, and says to the Jews, ‘You believe that this is truly the Nazarene*. They say, ‘Yes’. ‘Then’, says Pilate, ‘it is but right to lay his body in his own tomb.’ ... Here the leaf ends; but we can see that when the body is laid in Jesus’ tomb it will revive and declare the truth.

A detached sheet of an Ethiopic MS. which was in private hands in 1892 (see Newbery House Magazine , 1892, p. 641), contains a like story in another form. Here we have the Jews explaining to Pilate that the sweet odour of the sepulchre is due to the spices put on the body by Joseph, and to the flowers in the garden. Pilate rebukes them, and they retort that he has no business to come to the sepulchre. He addresses the centurion. After a gap is a prayer of Pilate’s, in which he asks pardon for having put ‘ another body in the place where they put thy body’. At the end of the prayer a voice comes from the mouth of the dead bidding Pilate remove the stone that he (the dead) may come out. An Arabic Life of Pilate, noticed by De Sacy, extant in manu¬ script at Paris (Arab. 160), seems likely to contain the whole story, of which we here have fragments. It purports to have been written by Gamaliel and Annas (or Ananias). Migne, Diet . des Apocr . I. 1101. This, I believe, completes the list of the fragments of this character which have been published up to date. Nearly all of them are put together by Revillout under the title of the Gospel of the Twelve Apostles. But we have seen that at least one (13) is from a narrative under Gamaliel’s name; and it is also pretty clear that not all the rest can belong to a single writing.

Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5 must go together: they are from the ‘homiletic’ book. 1 is the least certainly pertinent. These pieces have an element which links them together in the motif of the intrigues to make Jesus a king. Their late date is apparent in the long rhetorical speeches, and in the tremendous exaltation of St. Peter. No. 2 is by an eyewitness, assigned by Baumstark to Gamaliel . No. 6 may belong to Gamaliel . Nos. 7, 8 to Bartholomew . Nos. 9, 10, with their interest in Pilate, are probably from Gamaliel . Nos. 11, 12 uncertain. Baumstark refers them to Gamaliel . No. 13, Gamaliel . Baumstark’s article referred to here is in the Revue Biblique Inter - nationale for 1906, p. 245. He would refer nos. 2, 3, 4, 5 to Gamaliel , as well as the later ones. Other Coptic documents will come up for notice when we deal with the Gospel of Bartholomew, the Death of the Virgin, and the Acts of the Apostles: and also with the Apocalypses. It may be as well, however, to register here the statement or warning that the Copts were tireless in producing embroideries upon the Biblical stories, and perhaps in rewriting older documents to suit their own taste. Only fresh discoveries of older texts can enable us to decide how much, if any, of the details which these later fragments supply, is really archaic*

Under this heading may be noticed the various forms of Reports of Pilate to the Emperor, and other Letters attributed to him: of his death, of the Vengeance of the Saviour, and also the Greek writing called the Story of Joseph of Arimathaea, It is probable that some sort of Report of Pilate to Tiberius was concocted very early. Tertullian states it as a fact that Pilate reported all the events of the Passion to Tiberius, and that the Emperor tried, without success, to induce the Senate to declare Jesus a God. 1 What the source of this story was is unknown, but it is a very obvious one to invent. The texts of the apocryphal Reports which we have are all late, but in some of the Greek ones there are faint similarities to the Gospel of Peter. Tischendorf prints a short LETTER OF PILATE TO TIBERIUS, which cannot be traced further back than the fifteenth century. It is written in rather elegant Latin, evidently, I think, by an Italian of the early Renaissance. The tenor of it is this : ‘Jesus Christ of whom I recently wrote to you has been exe¬ cuted against my will. So pious and austere a man has never been seen, nor will be again. But there was a wonderful unani¬ mity in the request of the Jews and their leader that he should be crucified, though their own prophets, and the Sibyls, testified against them, and signs appeared at his death which the philoso¬ phers said threatened the collapse of the whole world. His disciples who still live do not belie their master’s teaching, but are active in good works. Had I not feared a general rising, the man might have been yet alive.’ He ends, feebly excusing his conduct. Date, the 5th of the Kalends of April.

There are two Greek texts of this which do not differ in essentials. In some manuscripts one form is appended to the Acts of Pilate. It is a late document, and not of much interest in its present form: but, as has been said, it contains faint reminders of the Gospel of Peter, and may be based on a briefer document of early date. After the address it begins: ‘I have received a communication, O most mighty, which oppresses me with fear and trembling. ’ He goes on to say that in Jerusalem, a city of his province, the Jews delivered him a man named Jesus, charging him with much that they could not substantiate, and in particular with violating the sabbath. The miracles are then described with some rhetorical ornament, particularly in the case of Lazarus. Chorene (History of Armenia , II, ch. 33) gives exactly the same account of the proceedings in the Senate, and mentions the report of Pilate. Jesus was delivered to him by Herod, Archelaus, Philip, Annas, Caiaphas, and all the people. At his crucifixion the sun was darkened; the stars appeared, and in all the world people lighted lamps from the sixth hour till evening; the moon appeared like blood, and the stars and Orion lamented at the sin of the Jews. (The other recension says that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, and Moses and Job, who were seen by the Jews, and many others ‘whom I, too, saw’, appeared in the body and thus lamented.)

On the first day of the week, at the third hour of night, there was a great light: the sun shone with unwonted brightness, men in shining garments appeared in the air and cried out to the souls in Hades to come up, and proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus. The light continued all night. Many Jews disappeared in the chasms which the earthquake had caused: and all the synagogues except one fell down. Under the stress of the consternation caused by all these portents Pilate writes to Caesar. To this is appended in one recension the ‘Delivering up, Paradosis, of Pilate’, On receipt of the letter there was great astonishment at Rome, and Caesar in wrath ordered Pilate to be brought to him as a prisoner. On hearing of his arrival Caesar took his seat 4 in the temple of the gods before all the senate, and with all his army and all the multitude of his power’, and said to Pilate: How didst thou dare, thou, most impious, to do such a thing, when thou hadst seen such signs concerning that man ? by thy wicked daring thou hast destroyed the whole world. Pilate threw the blame on the Jews, on Herod, Archelaus, Philip, Annas, and Caiaphas (see the Anaphora). Caesar. Why didst thou yield to them? Pilate. The nation is rebellious and disobedient. Caesar. Thou oughtest to have kept him safe and sent him to me, and not have yielded and crucified one who had done all those mighty works of which thou spakest in thy report. It is plain that he was the Christ, the king of the Jews.

When Caesar named Christ, all the images of the gods fell down and became as dust. There was great consternation: Caesar remanded Pilate to prison. Next day he sat in the Capitol with all the senate, and a dialogue similar to the last took place. After it Caesar wrote to Licianus, the chief governor of the East, bidding him enslave all the nation of the Jews, and make them few in number for their wickedness. This Licianus did. Caesar then commanded a ruler named Albius to behead Pilate. He was led forth to death, and prayed: Number me not among the wicked Hebrews. Remember not evil against me or against thy servant Procla which standeth here, whom thou didst make to prophesy that thou must be nailed to the cross. But pardon us and number us among thy righteous ones. A voice from heaven came, saying: All the generations and the families of the Gentiles shall call thee blessed, because in thy days were fulfilled all these things which were spoken by the prophets concerning me; and thou also shalt appear as my witness (or martyr) at my second coming, when I shall judge the twelve tribes of Israel and them that have not confessed my name.

The prefect cut off Pilate’s head, and an angel of the Lord received it: whom when Procla his wife saw, she was filled with joy, and straightway gave up the ghost and was buried with her husband. This extraordinarily favourable view of Pilate is characteristic of the East. From the same workshop as the Report and the Paradosis come two letters—of Pilate to Herod, and Herod to Pilate—which exist in Greek and in Syriac (the latter in a manuscript of the sixth or seventh century). There is some divergence between the two versions. 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 (or twelve) soldiers (who had kept the sepulchre), and went forth and found him ‘sitting in a tilled field’ 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 w as 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 odour. 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 (see above), because in thy days the Son of Man died and rose again.

It is in no small sorrow—according to the divine Scriptures— (i. e. as I might have anticipated from the teaching of Scripture) that I write to you. My dear daughter Herodias was playing upon the water (i. e. 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 or sorrow. I am in great distress of mind at the death of Jesus, and reflecting on my sins in killing John 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.’ Lesbonax 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. Righteous are the judgements 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 honour¬ ably: 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 judgement in this world, but I fear the judgement hereafter much more. This is temporary, that is everlasting. If the Eastern Christians—or at least those of Egypt and Syria— regarded Pilate as a saint and martyr, those of the West thought of him only as a criminal. The biography of him which is given in the Golden Legend (cap. 53, on the Passion) is of too late a date to be reproduced here; but the legends of his death are older. In summarizing them we will begin with one of the few Greek writings which takes the Western, the unfavourable, view of Pilate. It is assuredly not early in date: it has points of connexion with the B recension (Greek) of the Acts of Pilate. It is the This was delivered to Pilate by means of the messenger Raab (cf. Rachaab in Recension B, p. 116), 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 (a reference to the Anaphora), 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, 1 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 1 Cf. Recension B of the Acts of Pilate. might at least have honoured 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. The same tale is told in a Greek life of Mary Magdalene, which I have 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 favourite subject with French mediaeval artists. The Latin legend of Pilate’s death hardly ranks as an apocryphal book. It is printed by Tischendorf from a Milan manuscript of the fourteenth century—the illustrated manuscript mentioned above (p. 66) under the heading of Infancy Gospels, facsimiled under the title of Canonical Histories and Apocryphal Legends . It is also found in the Golden Legend, cap. 53, as the conclusion of the fabulous life of Pilate, and is there said to be taken from ‘a certain history, though an apocryphal one’. This life is found separate—usually in company with a similar life of Judas Iscariot—in manuscripts of an earlier date than the Golden Legend; but the whole composition is thoroughly mediaeval and has nothing antique about it.

The story is this: The Emperor Tiberius, being sorely diseased, heard that there was a wonderful physician in Jerusalem, named Jesus, who healed all sicknesses. He sent an officer of his named Volusianus to Pilate to bid him send the physician to him. Pilate was terrified, knowing that Jesus had been crucified (and begged for fourteen days delay, Golden Legend ). On the way back to his inn, Volusianus met a matron called Veronica and asked her about Jesus. She told him the truth, to his great grief, and, to console him added that when our Lord was away teaching she had desired to have a picture of him always by her, and went to carry a linen cloth to a painter for that purpose. Jesus met her, and on hearing what she wished, took the cloth from her and im¬ printed the features of his face upon it. This cloth, she said, will cure your lord: I cannot sell it, but I will go with you to him. Volusianus and Veronica returned to Rome, and Tiberius, when the likeness was to be brought to him, spread the path with silken cloths. He was instantly healed by looking at the like¬ ness.

Pilate was arrested and brought before the emperor at Rome. Now he was wearing the seamless tunic of Jesus. When he came before the emperor, he, who had been raging against him before, became quite mild. He sent Pilate away and imme¬ diately his rage returned. This happened again. Then, either by divine inspiration or on the suggestion of some Christian, he had him stripped of the tunic, sent him back [to prison, and shortly after sentenced him to die by the basest of deaths. On hearing this, Pilate killed himself with his own knife. Caesar had a millstone tied to his neck and threw him into the Tiber. The demons gathered in crowds, and storms disturbed the place so that all were in great fear. The corpse was taken out of the river and carried off to Vienne (via Gehennae) on the Rhone, with the same result. Thence it was taken to be buried in the territory of Lausanne; but disturbances continued there till the inhabitants dug it up and threw it into a well surrounded by mountains, where diabolical manifestations are still said to occur. The last class of these legends is somewhat older. We have it in several forms in Latin and also in an old Anglo-Saxon version. It has something in common with the Death of Pilate, and it merges into the romances of the Destruction of Jerusalem which were very popular in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The oldest form is that called the Healing of Tiberius (Cura sanitatis Tiberii ), which goes back in manuscripts to the eighth century.

This runs as follows: Tiberius was sorely diseased. He heard from a Jew named Thomas of the miracles of Jesus, and sent a great officer, Volusianus, to bring him from Jerusalem. The voyage took a year and three months. Pilate and the Jews were much frightened. Pilate had to be persuaded by one of his soldiers that it was the crucified Jesus who was meant: the evidence for the resurrection was confirmed by Joseph of Arimathaea and others. Pilate, imprisoned meanwhile, was made to avow his guilt publicly. A young man named Marcius now informed Volusian that a woman of Tyre, Veronica (who is also called Basilla, say some early copies), possessed the likeness of Jesus, who had cured her issue of blood three years before. Denying it at first, she at last produced it under compulsion. Volusian adored it, and threatened with punishment all who had taken part in Jesus’ death. He then set off for Rome with Veronica and Pilate, and reached it in a short time. Tiberius inquired why Pilate had not been executed. Volusian said he did not wish to anticipate the emperor’s judgement. Tiberius banished Pilate, without seeing him, to Ameria in Tuscany. Volusian then brought Veronica and the likeness to Tiberius, who adored it and was healed. He gave money to Veronica, and made a precious shrine for the likeness, was baptized, and died after some years in peace. 1

The next development of the legend is thought to originate in Aquitaine. The manuscripts go back to the tenth century, and the Anglo-Saxon version is not later than the eleventh. The name of this is THE VENGEANCE OR AVENGING OF THE SAVIOUR, and a brief summary of it shall be given. There was a king Titus (or Tyrus) under Tiberius, in Aquitaine, in a city of Libia called Burgidalla (Bordeaux). He had a cancer in his right nostril and his face was eaten away up to his eye. There was also a Jew named Nathan, son of Naum, whom the Jews had sent to Tiberius to bear a treaty to him. Tiberius, too, was ill of fever and ulcers and had nine kinds of leprosy. Nathan’s ship was driven ashore at Titus’s city. Nathan was sent for and told his story. Titus asked if he knew any one who could cure him. Nathan said: If you had been in Jerusalem lately there was a prophet called Emanuel (the miracles are enumerated, and the Passion, descent into hell, and resurrection described). Titus said: Woe to you, Tiberius, in whose realm such things are done. I would have slain these Jews with my own hand for destroying my Lord. At this word the wound fell from his face and he was healed, and so were all the sick who were there. Titus cried out, confessing his belief in Christ, and made Nathan baptize him (and instead of Tyrus he was called Titus, which in our tongue means Pious, Anglo-Saxon ).

Then he sent for Vespasian to come with all his forces, and he came with 5,000 men, and said: What do you want me for ? ‘To destroy the enemies of Jesus.’ So they sailed off to Jerusalem. Archelaus in terror gave his kingdom to his son, and stabbed himself. The son allied himself with other kings and fortified Jerusalem, which was besieged seven years, till the inhabitants had to eat earth. At last they took counsel to surrender, and gave the keys to Titus and Vespasian. Some were slain, some crucified head downwards, or pierced Magus came to Rome and claimed to be the risen Son of God. How Pilate was sent for, and his letter to Claudius read ; how Pilate returned into exile at Ameria, and soon died; and of Nero’s evil end. with lances, sold, cast lots upon, and divided into four parts, and the rest sold at thirty for a penny. Then they made search for the likeness of Jesus and found Veronica, who had it. Pilate they delivered to four quaternions of soldiers. (Veronica was the woman healed of the issue of blood. She abode with Titus and Vespasian till the emperor’s kinsman Velosian came.)

A message was sent by Titus to Tiberius to send Velosian. He told him to go to Jerusalem and bring some one to heal him, to whom he might promise half the kingdom. Velosian arrived after a year and seven days, and first found Joseph and Nicodemus. Joseph told of the burial, of his im¬ prisonment, and his deliverance by Jesus. Then Veronica came and told of her healing. Velosian ar¬ raigned and imprisoned Pilate (put him in an iron cage, AngloSaxon ). He then examined Veronica, who denied that she had the likeness. He threatened her with torture; at last she con¬ fessed that she had it in (or on) a linen cloth and adored it every day. She produced it. Velosian adored it, took it, put it in a gold cloth and locked it in a box, and embarked for Rome. Veronica left all she had and insisted on coming with him. They sailed up the Tiber to Rome, after a year’s journey. Tiberius heard of their arrival and summoned Velosian, who told him all the story at length, including the destruction of the Jews. Then Tiberius asked for the likeness. It was brought, and he adored it, and his flesh was cleansed and he prayed. Then he asked if there were any there who had seen Christ and knew how to baptize. And Nathan was brought, and baptized him, and he blessed God, and was instructed in all the articles of the Christian faith.

Another form of the legend is given in the Golden Legend , l and incorporated, with pictures, in the Milan manuscript referred to before. This begins by telling how Pilate sent a messenger, Albanus, to Caesar to excuse himself for the condemnation of Jesus. Albanus was driven ashore in Galicia and brought to Vespasian, who derived his name from the fact that from his childhood he had been troubled with a wasps’ nest in his nose. Vespasian said to Albanus: You come from the land of the wise; you must cure me. Albanus said: I am not skilled in medicine. Vespasian: You must cure me or die. Albanus: There was a man who could have cured you with a word; he cast out devils, and raised the dead. He was Jesus of Nazareth, whom the Jews killed for envy. If you believed in him you would recover, Vespasian: I do firmly believe that he is the Son of God and that he can cure me. And immediately the wasps fell from his nose 1 Cap. 67, of St. James the Less. and he was healed. Vespasian then vowed to go to Tiberius and get forces wherewith to destroy the city and nation of the Jews. And after some years spent in gathering an army he besieged Jerusalem. The Christians, warned by the Holy Ghost, had fled to Pella.

Then there is a meeting between the historian Josephus and Vespasian; the latter’s elevation to the empire is prophesied and takes place. Then we have the story of Titus falling ill from joy at his father’s triumph, and being cured by having a slave whom he hated set next him at table. This was contrived by Josephus. Thereafter the famine in Jerusalem, and the incident of the woman Mary eating her child. Then the city is taken and the Jews are sold thirty for a penny. Then the discovery of an old man built up in a very massive wall, who is Joseph of Arimathaea. Delivered by Jesus, as the Gospel of Nicodemus tells, he had been imprisoned again by the Jews because he continued to preach the gospel, and had been miraculously sustained ever since with light and food from heaven. The very last of these late fictions which shall be noticed here is the STORY OF JOSEPH OF ARIMATHAEA which we have in Greek only. The earliest manuscript used by Tischendorf is said to be of the twelfth century. I. 1 I, Joseph of Arimathaea, who begged the body of the Lord Jesus from Pilate, was imprisoned by the Jews on that account. These are the people who provoked their lawgiver Moses, and failing to recognize their God crucified his Son.

Seven days before the passion of Christ, two condemned robbers were sent from Jericho to Pilate, whose crimes were these. up women by the feet and cut off their breasts, drink the blood of babes: he knew not God nor obeyed any law, but was violent from the beginning. The other, Demas, was a Galilaean who kept an inn; he despoiled the rich but did good to the poor, even burying them, like Tobit. He had committed robberies on the Jews, for he stole (plundered) the law itself at Jerusalem, and stripped the daughter of Caiaphas, who was a priestess of the sanctuary, and he took away even the mystic deposit of Solomon which had been deposited in the (holy) place. passover. But Caiaphas and the multitude of the Jew r s had no passover but were in great grief because of the robbery of the sanctuary by the thief. And they sent for Judas Iscariot who was brother’s son to Caiaphas, and had been persuaded by the Jews to become a disciple of Jesus, not to follow his teachings, but to betray him. They paid him a didrachm of gold daily; and as one of Jesus’ disciples, called John, says, he had been two years with Jesus.

the Jews: Let us assemble a council and say that it was not the robber who took away the law, but Jesus. Nicodemus, who had the keys of the sanctuary, said No: for he was a truthful man. But Sarra, Caiaphas’ daughter, cried out that Jesus said in public, ‘I can destroy the temple’ (&c.). All the Jews said: We believe you. For they held her as a prophetess. So Jesus was taken. II. 1 On the morrow, being Wednesday, at the ninth hour; they brought him into Caiaphas’ hall, and Annas and Caiaphas asked him: Why didst thou take away the law ? He was silent. Why wouldst thou destroy the temple of Solomon? He was silent. Caiaphas, to burn her with fire, because the law was stolen and they could not keep the passover. But she said: Wait a little, my children, and let us destroy Jesus, and the law will be found and the feast kept. Then Annas and Caiaphas privily gave gold to Judas and said: Say as you said before, that it was Jesus who stole the law. Judas agreed, but said: The people must not know that you have told me this: and you must let Jesus go, and I will persuade them. So they fraudulently let Jesus go.

and 6aid to all the people: What will ye give me if I deliver to you the destroyer of the law and robber of the prophets? They said: Thirty silver pieces of gold (!). But they did not know that it was Jesus of whom he spoke, for many thought him to be the Son of God. And Judas received the thirty pieces. walking in the street. Towards evening he obtained a guard of soldiers. As they went, Judas said: Whomsoever I shall kiss, take him: he it is that stole the law and the prophets. He came to Jesus and kissed him, saying: Hail, Rabbi. They took Jesus to Caiaphas and examined him. ‘Why didst thou do this?’ but he answered nothing. Nicodemus and I left the seat of the pestilent, and would not consent to perish in the council of sinners. III. 1 They did many evil things to Jesus that night, and on the dawn of Friday delivered him to Pilate. He was condemned and crucified with the two robbers, Gestas on the left, Demas on the right. 2 He on the left cried out to Jesus: See what evils I have wrought on the earth; and had I known thou wert the king,

I would have killed thee too. Why callest thou thyself Son of God and canst not help thyself in the hour of need? or how canst thou succour any other that prayeth ? if thou be the Christ, come down from the cross that I may believe thee. But now I behold thee, not as a man but as a wild beast caught and perish¬ ing along with me. And much else he spake against Jesus, blaspheming and gnashing his teeth upon him: for he was caught in the snare of the devil. began to cry out thus: I know thee, Jesus Christ, that thou art the Son of God. I see thee, Christ, worshipped by ten thousand times ten thousand angels; forgive my sins that I have com¬ mitted: make not the stars to enter into judgement with me, or the moon, when thou judgest all the world: for in the night did I work my evil plans: stir not up the sun that now is darkened for thy sake to tell the evil of my heart: for I can give thee no gift for remission of sins. Already death cometh on me for my sins, but pardon belongeth unto thee: save me, Lord of all things, from thy terrible judgement: give not power unto the enemy to swallow me up and be inheritor of my soul, as of his that hangeth on the left; for I see how the devil taketh his soul rejoicing, and his flesh vanisheth away. Neither command me to depart into the lot of the Jews, for I see Moses and the patriarchs weeping sore, and the devil exulting over them. Therefore before my spirit departeth, command O Lord that my sins be blotted out, and remember me the sinner in thy kingdom when thou sittest on the great throne of the Most High and shalt judge the twelve tribes of Israel: for thou hast prepared great punishment for thy world for thy sake.

4 And when the thief had so said, Jesus saith unto him: Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Demas, that to-day thou shalt be with me in paradise: but the sons of the kingdom, the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Moses shall be cast out into the outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. But thou only shalt dwell in paradise until my second coming, when I shall judge them that have not confessed my name. And he said to the thief: Go and say unto the cherubim and the powers that turn about the flaming sword, that keep the garden since Adam the first-created was in paradise and transgressed and kept not my commandments and I cast him out thence—but none of the former men shall see paradise until I come the second time to judge the quick and dead—And he wrote thus: Jesus Christ the Son of God that came down from the heights of heaven, that proceeded out of the bosom of the invisible Father without separation, and came down into the world to be incarnate and to be nailed to the cross, that I might save Adam whom I formed: unto my powers the archangels, that keep the doors of paradise, the servants of

my Father: I will and command that he that Is crucified with me [enter in,] receive remission of his sins for my sake, and being clothed with an incorruptible body enter in to paradise, and that he dwell there where no man else is ever able to dwell. And when this was said, Jesus gave up the ghost on Friday at the ninth hour. And there was darkness over all the land and a great earthquake, so that the sanctuary fell, and the pinnacle of the temple. IV. 1 And I, Joseph, begged the body and laid it in my new tomb. The body of Demas was not found: that of Gestas was in appearance like that of a dragon. The Jews imprisoned me on the evening of the sabbath. fifth hour of the night, Jesus came to me with the thief on the right hand. There was great light; the house was raised up by the four corners and I went forth: and I perceived Jesus first, and then the thief bringing a letter to him, and as we journeyed to Galilee there was a very great light, and a sweet fragrance came from the thief. 3 Jesus sat down in a certain place and read as follows: The cherubim and the six-winged that are commanded by thy God¬ head to keep the garden of paradise make known to thee this by the hand of the robber that by thy dispensation was crucified with thee.

When we saw the mark of the nails on the robber that was crucified with thee and the light of the letters of thy Godhead, the fire was quenched, being unable to bear the light of the mark, and we were in great fear and crouched down. For we heard that the maker of heaven and earth and all creation had come to dwell in the lower parts of the earth for the sake of Adam the first-created. For we beheld the spotless cross, with the robber flashing with light and shining with seven times the light of the sun, and trembling came on us, when we heard the crashing of them beneath the earth, and with a great voice the ministers of Hades said with us: Holy, Holy, Holy, is he that was in the highest in the beginning: and the powers sent up a cry, saying , Lord, thou hast been manifested in heaven and upon earth, giving joy unto the worlds (ages) and saving thine own creation from death.

V. 1 And as I went with Jesus and the robber to Galilee, the form of Jesus was changed and he became wholly light, and angels ministered to him and he conversed with them. I stayed with him three days, and none of the disciples were there. John came, and the robber disappeared. John asked who it was, but Jesus did not answer. John said: Lord, I know that thou hast loved me from the beginning: why dost thou not reveal this man to me? Jesus said: Seekest thou to know hidden things? art thou wholly without understanding? per- ceivest thou not the fragrance of paradise filling the place? knowest thou not who it was ? The thief that was on the cross is become heir of paradise: verily, verily, I say unto you, that it is his alone until the great day come. John said: Make me worthy to see him. earth: for he was now like a king in great might, clad with the cross. And a voice of a multitude was heard: Thou art come into the place of paradise prepared for thee: we are ap¬ pointed to serve thee by him that sent thee until the great day. After that both the thief and I, Joseph, vanished, and I was found in my own house, and I saw Jesus no more.

AD this I saw and have written, that aU might believe on Jesus and no longer serve Moses’ law, but believe in the signs and wonders of Christ, and believing obtain eternal life and be found in the kingdom of heaven. For His is glory, might, praise, and majesty, world without end. Amen. There is a certain amount of inventiveness in this: none of the picturesque detail, however, can be called antique, and several phrases betray the influence of the same workshop that produced the Letters of Herod to Pilate. The ignorance of Jewish customs which it betrays is colossal.

Jerome, in the prologue to his Commentary on Matthew, mentions a number of apocryphal Gospels—those according to the Egyptians, Thomas, Matthias, Bartholomew , the Twelve, Basilides, and Apelles: probably he depends upon Origen, for he himself disliked and avoided apocryphal books, with few exceptions; the Gospel according to the Hebrews, for instance, he hardly reckoned as apocryphal. Of this Gospel of Bartholomew we have no sort of description: we find it condemned in the Gelasian Decree, which may mean either that the compiler of the Decree knew a book of that name, or that he took it on trust from Jerome. In the pseudo-Dionvsian writings two sentences are quoted from ‘the divine Bartholomew , and a third has just been brought to light from the kindred ‘book of HierotheusV But one cannot be sure that these writers are quoting real books. We have, however, a writing attributed to Bartholomew which attained some popularity; the manuscripts do not call it a Gospel, but the Questions of Bartholomew. It contains ancient elements, and I think that MM. Wilmart and Tisserant have made out their claim that it at least represents the old Gospel. I therefore give a translation of it here. It exists in three languages, and not, apparently, in a very original form in any of them : Greek is the original language, of which we have two manuscripts, at Vienna and Jerusalem ; Latin 1, consisting of two leaves of extracts, of the ninth century ; Latin 2, complete : see below ; Slavonic (i-iv. 15). The Greek text may be as old as the fifth century ; the Latin 2 of the sixth or seventh.

In the Revue Biblique for 1918 the Latin fragments and a fresh Greek text were published by MM. Wilmart and Tisserant, with the variants of the other authorities, and in 1921-2 yet another text, a complete Latin one, appeared in the same periodical, edited by Professor Moricca from a manuscript in the Casanatensian library at Rome, in which the text is, in parts, tremendously expanded. This copy is of the eleventh century and came from the monastery of Monte Amiata. The Latin is exceedingly incorrect, and there are many corruptions, and interpolations which extend to whole pages of closely printed text. I cite it as Lat. 2. I take the Greek and Slavonic, where they exist, as the basis of my version, and add some passages from the Latin. The main topics, common to two or more of the texts, are: i. The descent into Hell: the number of souls saved and lost, ii. The Virgin’s account of the Annunciation. iii. The apostles see the bottomless pit. iv. The devil is summoned and gives an account of his doings. v. Questions about the deadly sins. Commission of the apostles to preach. Departure of Christ. (This reads like a late addition.)

1 By the Rev. F. Marsh, Journal of Theol . Studies , 1922. - Greek . 1 After the resurrection from the dead of our Lord Jesus Christ, Bartholomew came unto the Lord and questioned him, saying: Lord, reveal unto me the mysteries of the heavens. 2 Jesus answered and said unto him: If I put <not> off the body of the flesh, I shall not be able to tell them unto thee. Slavonic . 1 Before the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, the apostles said: Let us question the Lord: Lord, reveal unto us the wonders. 2 And Jesus said unto them: If I put <not> off the body of the flesh, I cannot tell them unto you. question him, because it was not <possible> to look upon him, but the fullness of his Godhead was seen. 4 But Bartholomew, &c. Latin 2. 1 At that time, before the Lord Jesus Christ suffered, all the disciples were gathered together, questioning him and saying: Lord, show us the mystery in the heavens. 2 But Jesus answered and said unto them: If I put not off the body of flesh I cannot tell you. apostles, looking upon him, durst not question him, because his countenance was not as it had been aforetime, but showed forth

^ the fullness of power. Greek. 4 Bartholomew therefore drew near unto the Lord and said: I have a word to speak unto thee, Lord. 5 And Jesus said to him: I know what thou art about to say; say then what thou wilt, and I will answer thee. 6 And Bartholomew said: Lord, when thou wentest to be hanged upon the cross, I followed thee afar off and saw thee hung upon the cross, and the angels coming down from heaven and worshipping thee. And when there came darkness, 7 I beheld, and I saw thee that thou wast vanished away from the cross, and I heard only a voice in the parts under the earth, and great wailing and gnashing of teeth on a sudden. Tell me, Lord, whither wentest thou from the cross ? 8 And Jesus answered and said: Blessed art thou, Bartholo¬ mew, my beloved, because thou sawest this mystery; and now will I tell thee all things whatsoever thou askest me. 9 For when I vanished away from the cross, then went I down into Hades that I might bring up Adam and all them that were with him, according to the supplication of Michael the archangel.

10 Then said Bartholomew: Lord, what was the voice which was heard ? 1 I give the opening verses in all three texts. 11 Jesus saith unto him: Hades said unto Beliar: As I per¬ ceive, a God cometh hither. [Slavonic and Latin 2 continue : And the angels cried unto the powers, saying: Remove your gates, ye princes, remove the everlasting doors, for behold the King of glory cometh down. 12 Hades said: Who is the King of glory, that cometh down from heaven unto us ? troubled, saying: I hear the breathing of the Most High, and I cannot endure it. ( Latin 2. He cometh with great fragrance and I cannot bear it.) 14 But the devil answered and said: Submit not thyself, O Hades, but be strong: for God himself hath not descended upon the earth. 15 But when I had descended yet five hundred steps, the angels and the powers cried out: Take hold, remove the doors, for behold the King of glory cometh down. And Hades said: O, woe unto me, for I hear the breath of God.] Greek, 16-17 And Beliar said unto Hades: Look carefully who it is that <cometh>, for it is Elias, or Enoch, or one of the prophets that this man seemeth to me to be. But Hades answered Death and said: Not yet are six thousand years accomplished. And whence are these, O Beliar; for the sum of the number is in mine hands.

[Slavonic . 16 And the devil said unto Hades: Why affrightest thou me, Hades ? it is a prophet, and he hath made himself like unto God: this prophet will we take and bring him hither unto those that think to ascend into heaven. 17 And Hades said: Which of the prophets is it? Show me: Is it Enoch the scribe of righteousness ? But God hath not suffered him to come down upon the earth before the end of the six thousand years. Sayest thou that it is Elias, the avenger ? But before <the end) he cometh not down. What shall I do, whereas the destruction is of God: for surely our end is at hand ? For I have the number (of the years) in mine hands.] Greek, 18 <And Beliar said unto Hades): Be not troubled, make safe thy gates and strengthen thy bars: consider, God cometh not down upon the earth. 19 Hades saith unto him: These be no good words that I hear from thee: my belly is rent, and mine inward parts are pained: it cannot be but that God cometh hither. Alas, whither shall I flee before the face of the power of the great king ? Suffer me to enter into myself (thyself, Latin): for before (of, Latin) thee was I formed.

chains that cannot be loosed, and brought forth thence all the patriarchs and came again unto the cross. 21 Bartholomew saith unto him: [Latin 2, I saw thee again, hanging upon the cross, and all the dead arising and worshipping thee, and going up again into their sepulchres.] Tell me, Lord, who was he whom the angels bare up in their hands, even that man that was very great of stature ? [Slav., Lat. 2, And what spakest thou unto him that he sighed so sore ?] 22 Jesus answered and said unto him: It was Adam the firstformed, for whose sake I came down from heaven upon earth. And I said unto him: I was hung upon the cross for thee and for thy children’s sake. And he, when he heard it, groaned and said: So was thy good pleasure, O Lord. 23 Again Bartholomew said: Lord, I saw the angels ascending before Adam and singing praises. 24 But one of the angels which was very great, above the rest, would not ascend up with them: and there was in his hand a sword of fire, and he was looking steadfastly upon thee only. [Slav. 25 And all the angels besought him that he would go up with them, but he would not. But when thou didst command him to go up, I beheld a flame of fire issuing out of his hands and going even unto the city of Jerusalem.

26 And Jesus said unto him: Blessed art thou, Bartholomew my beloved, because thou sawest these mysteries. This was one of the angels of vengeance which stand before my Father’s throne: and this angel sent he unto me. 27 And for this cause he would not ascend up, because he desired to destroy all the powers of the world. But when I commanded him to ascend up, there went a flame out of his hand and rent asunder the veil of the temple, and parted it in two pieces for a witness unto the children of Israel for my passion because they crucified me. (Lat. 1. But the flame which thou sawest issuing out of his hands smote the house of the synagogue of the Jews, for a testimony of me, wherein they crucified me.)].

Greek . 28 And when he had thus spoken, he said unto the apostles: Tarry for me in this place, for to-day a sacrifice is offered in paradise. 29 And Bartholomew answered and said unto Jesus: Lord, what is the sacrifice which is offered in paradise? And Jesus said: There be souls of the righteous which to-day have departed out of the body and go unto paradise, and unless I be present they cannot enter into paradise. 30 And Bartholomew said: Lord, how many souls depart out of the world daily? Jesus saith unto him: Thirty thousand. 31 Bartholomew saith unto him: Lord, when thou wast with us teaching the word, didst thou receive the sacrifices in paradise ? 1 Jesus answered and said unto him: Verily I say unto thee, my beloved, that I both taught the word with you and continually sat with my Father, and received the sacrifices in paradise every day. 32 Bartholomew answered and said unto him: Lord, if thirty thousand souls depart out of the world every day, how many souls out of them are found righteous ? Jesus saith unto him: Hardly fifty [three] my beloved. 33 Again Bartholomew 4 In Lat. 2, 31 follows 29.

saith: And how do three only enter into paradise? Jesus saith unto him: The [fifty] three enter into paradise or are laid up in Abraham’s bosom: but the others go into the place of the resur¬ rection, for the three are not like unto the fifty. 34 Bartholomew saith unto him: Lord, how many souls above the number are born into the world daily ? Jesus saith unto him: One soul only is born above the number of them that depart. [30, &c., Latin 1. Bartholomew said: How many are the souls which depart out of the body every day? Jesus said: Verily I say unto thee, twelve (thousand) eight hundred, four score and three souls depart out of the body every day.] 1 vanished away from them. Chritir] with Mary. 2 And Bartholomew came and said unto Peter and Andrew and John: Let us ask her that is highly favoured how she conceived the incomprehensible, or how she bare him that cannot be carried, or how she brought forth so much greatness. But they doubted to ask her. 3 Bartholomew therefore said unto Peter: Thou that art the chief, and my teacher, draw near and ask her. But Peter said to John: Thou art a virgin and undefiled (and beloved) and thou must ask her.

unto her with a cheerful countenance and said to her: Thou that art highly favoured, the tabernacle of the Most High, unblemished, we, even all the apostles, ask thee (or All the apostles have sent me to ask thee) to tell us how thou didst conceive the incompre¬ hensible, or how thou didst bear him that cannot be carried, or how thou didst bring forth so much greatness. 5 But Mary said unto them: Ask me not (or Do ye indeed ask me) concerning this mystery. If I should begin to tell you, fire will issue forth out of my mouth and consume all the world. could not refuse to hear the apostles, said: Let us stand up in prayer. 7 And the apostles stood behind Mary: but she said unto Peter: Peter, thou chief, thou great pillar, standest thou behind us? Said not our Lord: the head of the man is Christ <but the head of the woman is the man, Slav., Lat. 2>J now therefore stand ye before me and pray. 8 But they said unto her: In thee did the Lord set his tabernacle, and it was his good pleasure that thou shouldest contain him, and thou oughtest to be

1 Lat. 2, 80-4 has: 0,074 souls depart out of the body every day. Three go into paradise. 33 How three only? Fifty-three go into paradise, but only three into Abraham’s bosom. The rest are in the place of repose, for they are not like the three. 84 One more soul departs every day than is born. the leader in the prayer (al . to go with us to). 9 But she said unto them: Ye are shining stars, and as the prophet said, ‘I did lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence shall come mine help ’; ye, therefore, are the hills, and it behoveth you to pray. 10 The apostles say unto her: Thou oughtest to pray, thou art the mother of the heavenly king. 11 Mary saith unto them: In your likeness did God form the sparrows, 1 and sent them forth into the four corners of the world. 12 But they say unto her: He that is scarce contained by the seven heavens was pleased to be contained in thee. toward the heaven and began to speak thus: Elphue Zarethra Charboum Nemioth Melitho Thraboutha Mephnounos Chemiath Aroura Maridon Elison Marmiadon Seption Hesaboutha Ennouna Saktinos Athoor Belelam Opheoth Abo Chrasar (this is the read¬ ing of one Greek copy: the others and the Slavonic have many differences,* as in all such cases: but as the original words—assuming them to have once had a meaning—are hopelessly corrupted, the matter is not of importance), which is in the Greek tongue (Hebrew, Slav.):

O God the exceeding great and all-wise and king of the worlds (ages), that art not to be described, the in¬ effable, that didst establish the greatness of the heavens and all things by a word, that out of darkness (or the unknown) didst constitute and fasten together the poles of heaven in harmony, didst bring into shape the matter that was in confusion, didst bring into order the things that were without order, didst part the misty darkness from the light, didst establish in one place the foundations of the waters, thou that makest the beings of the air to tremble, and art the fear of them that are on (or under) the earth, that didst settle the earth and not suffer it to perish, and filledst it, which is the nourisher of all things, with showers of blessing: (Son of) the Father, thou whom the seven heavens hardly contained, but who wast well-pleased to be contained without pain in me, thou that art thyself the full word of the Father in whom all things came to be: give glory to thine exceeding great name, and bid me to speak before thy holy apostles.

them: Let us sit down upon the ground; and come thou, Peter the chief, and sit on my right hand and put thy left hand beneath mine armpit; and thou, Andrew, do so on my left hand; and thou, John, the virgin, hold together my bosom; and thou, Bartholomew, set thy knees against my back and hold my 1 See the Infancy Gospels. 1 Lat. 2. Helfoith . Alaritha . arbar . Neniotho . Melitho . Tarasunt • Chanebonos . Umia . Theirura . Marado . Seliso . Heliphomar . Mabon • Saruth . Gefutha • Enunnas . Sacinos . Thatis • Etelelam • Tetheo . abocia . Rusar. shoulders, lest when I begin to speak my bones be loosed one from another. 15 And when they had so done she began to say: When I abode in the temple of God and received my food from 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. 16 And straightway the robe (veil) of the temple was rent and there was a very great earthquake, and I fell upon the earth, for I was not able to endure the sight of him. 17 But he put his hand beneath me and raised me up, and I looked up into heaven and there came a cloud of dew and sprinkled me from the head to the feet, and he wiped me with his robe. 18 And said unto me: Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the chosen vessel, grace inexhaustible. And he smote his garment upon the right hand and there came a very great loaf, and he set it upon the altar of the temple and did eat of it first himself, and gave unto me also.

came a very great cup full of wine: and he set it upon the altar of the temple and did drink of it first himself, and gave also unto me. And I beheld and saw the bread and the cup whole as they were. 1 20 And he said unto me: Yet three years, and I will send my word unto thee and thou shalt conceive my (or a) son, and through him shall the whole creation be saved. Peace be unto thee, my beloved, and my peace shall be with thee continually. and the temple was restored as it had been before. and the world was at the point to come to an end: but Jesus appeared quickly (Lat. 2, and laid his hand upon her mouth) and said unto Mary: Utter not this mystery, or this day my whole creation will come to an end (Lat. 2, and the flame from her mouth ceased). And the apostles were taken with fear lest haply the Lord should be wroth with them. 1 And he departed with them unto the mount Mauria (Lat. 2, Mambre), and sat in the midst of them. 2 But they doubted to question him, being afraid. 8 And Jesus answered and said unto them: Ask me what ye will that I should teach you, and I will show it you. For yet seven days, and I ascend unto my Father, and I shall no more be seen of you in this likeness. 4 But they, yet doubting, said unto him: Lord, show us the deep (abyss) according unto thy promise. 5 And Jesus said unto them: It is

not good (Lat. 2, is good) for you to see the deep: notwithstanding, if ye desire it, according to my promise, come, follow me and behold. 6 And he led them away into a place that is called Cherubim (Cherukt Slav., Chairoudec Gr., Lat . 2 omits), that is the place of truth. 7 And he beckoned unto the angels of the West, and the earth was rolled up like a volume of a book and the deep was revealed unto them. 8 And when the apostles saw it, they fell on their faces upon the earth. 9 But Jesus raised them up, saying: Said I not unto you, ‘It is not good for you to see the deep’. And again he beckoned unto the angels, and the deep was covered up. 2 And Peter said unto Mary: Thou that art highly favoured, entreat the Lord that he would reveal unto us the things that are in the heavens. 3 And Mary said unto Peter: O stone hewn out of the rock, did not the Lord build his church upon thee ? Go thou therefore first and ask him. 4 Peter saith again: O tabernacle that art spread abroad <it behoveth thee to ask>. 5 Mary saith: Thou art the image of Adam: was not he first formed and then Eve ? Look upon the sun, that according to the likeness of Adam it is bright, and upon the moon, that because of the transgression of Eve it is full of clay.

For God did place Adam in the east and Eve in the west, and appointed the lights that the sun should shine on the earth unto Adam in the east in his fiery chariots, and the moon in the west should give light unto Eve with a countenance like milk. And she defiled the commandment of the Lord. Therefore was the moon stained with clay (Lat. 2, is cloudy) and her light is not bright. Thou therefore, since thou art the likeness of Adam, oughtest to ask him: but in me was he contained that I might recover the strength of the female.

Master was withdrawn from them a little space, Peter saith unto Mary: Thou art she that hast brought to nought the transgression of Eve, changing it from shame into joy; it is lawful, therefore, for thee to ask. 7 When Jesus appeared again, Bartholomew saith unto him: Lord, show us the adversary of men that we may behold him, of what fashion he is, and what is his work, and whence he cometh forth, and what power he hath that he spared not even thee, but caused thee to be hanged upon the tree. 8 But Jesus looked upon him and said: Thou bold heart! thou askest for that which thou art not able to look upon. 9 But Bartholomew was troubled and fell at Jesus’ feet and began to speak thus: O lamp that cannot be quenched, Lord Jesu Christ, maker of the eternal light, that hast given unto them that love thee the grace that beautifieth all, and hast given us the eternal light by thy coming into the world, that hastf... t the heavenly essence by a word t • • • t hast accomplished the work of the Father, hast turned the shame¬ facedness of Adam into mirth, hast done away the sorrow of Eve with a cheerful countenance by thy birth from a virgin: re¬ member not evil against me but grant me the word of mine asking. ( Lat . 2, who didst come down into the world, who hast confirmed the eternal word of the Father, who hast called the sadness of <Adam> joy, who hast made the shame of Eve glad, and restored her by vouchsafing to be contained in the womb.)

him: Bartholomew, wilt thou see the adversary of men? I tell thee that when thou beholdest him, not thou only but the rest of the apostles and Mary will fall on your faces and become as dead corpses. 11 But they all said unto him: Lord, let us behold him. looked wrathfully upon the angels that keep hell (Tartarus), and beckoned unto Michael to sound the trumpet in the height of the heavens. And Michael sounded, and the earth shook, and Beliar came up, being held by 660 (560 Gk., 6,064 Lat . 1, 6,060 Lat. 2) angels and bound with fiery chains. 12 And the length of him was 1,600 cubits and his breadth 40 (Lat. 1, 300 ; Slav . 17) cubits (Lat. 2, his length 1,900 cubits, his breadth 700, one wing of him 80), and his face was like a lightning of fire and his eyes full of darkness (like sparks, Slav.). And out of his nostrils came a stinking smoke; and his mouth was as the gulf of a precipice, and the one of his wings was four-score cubits. 14 And straight¬ way when the apostles saw him, they fell to the earth on their faces and became as dead. 15 But Jesus came near and raised the apostles and gave them a spirit of power, and he saith unto Bartholomew: Come near, Bartholomew, and trample with thy feet on his neck, and he will tell thee his work, what it is, and how he deceiveth men.

16 And Jesus stood afar off with the rest of the apostles. 17 And Bartholomew feared, and raised his voice and said: Blessed be the name of thine immortal kingdom from henceforth even for ever. And when he had spoken, Jesus permitted him, saying: Go and tread upon the neck of Beliar: and Bartholomew ran quickly upon him and trode upon his neck: and Beliar trembled. (For this verse the Vienna MS. has: And Bartholomew raised his voice and said thus: O womb more spacious than a city, wider than the spreading of the heavens, that contained him whom the seven heavens contain not, but thou without pain didst contain sanctified in thy bosom, &c.: evidently out of place.

Latin 1 has only: Then did Antichrist tremble and was filled with fury.) 18 And Bartholomew was afraid, and fled, and said unto Jesus: Lord, give me an hem of thy garments (Lat. 2, the kerchief (?) from thy shoulders) that I may have courage to draw near unto him. 19 But Jesus said unto him: Thou canst not take an hem of my garments, for these are not my garments which I wore before I was crucified. 20 And Bartholomew said: Lord, I fear lest, like as he spared not thine angels, he swallow me up also. 21 Jesus saith unto him: Were not all things made by my word, and by the will of my Father the spirits were made subject unto Solomon ? thou, therefore, being commanded by my word, go in my name and ask him what thou wilt. {Lat. 2 omits 20.) 22 1 [And Bartholomew made the sign of the cross and prayed unto Jesus and went behind him. And Jesus said to him: Draw near. And as Bartholomew drew near, fire was kindled on every side, so that his garments appeared fiery. Jesus saith to Bartholomew: As I said unto thee, tread upon his neck and ask him what is his power.] And Bartholomew went and trode upon his neck, and pressed down his face into the earth as far as his ears. 23 And Bartholomew saith unto him: Tell me who thou art and what is thy name.

And he said to him: Lighten me a little, and I will tell thee who I am and how I came hither, and what my work is and what my power is. 24 And he lightened him and saith to him: Say all that thou hast done and all that thou doest. 25 And Beliar answered and said: If thou wilt know my name, at the first I was called Satanael, which is interpreted a messenger of God, but when I rejected the image of God my name was called Satar that is, an angel that keepeth hell (Tartarus). 1 26 And again Bartholomew saith unto him: Reveal unto me all things and hide nothing from me. 27 And he said unto him: I swear unto thee by the power of the glory of God that even if I would hide aught I cannot, for he is near that would convict me. For if I were able I would have destroyed you like one of them that were before you. 28 For, indeed, I was formed ( al . called) the first angel: for when God made the heavens, he took a handful of fire and formed me first, Michael second [Vienna MS. here has these sentences: for he had his Son before the heavens and the earth and we were formed (for when he took thought to create all things, his Son spake a word), so that we also were created by the will of the Son and the consent of the Father. He formed., I say , first me, next Michael the chief captain of the hosts that are above], Gabriel third, Uriel fourth, Raphael fifth, Nathanael sixth, and other angels of whom I cannot tell the names. [.Jerusalem MS., Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Xathanael, and

1 22 [ ] is from Gk. (Jerusalem MS.) and Latin 1. * 25. Lat. 2 adds about seven lines descriptive of Satan’s character: not interesting. other 6,000 angels. Lat. 1, Michael thef honour of power, third Raphael, fourth Gabriel, and other seven. Lat. 2, Raphael third, Gabriel fourth, Uriel fifth, Zathael sixth, and other six.] For they are the rod-bearers (lictors) of God, and they smite me with their rods and pursue me seven times in the night and seven times in the day, and leave me not at all and break in pieces all my power. These are the (twelve, Lat. 2) angels of vengeance which stand before the throne of God: these are the angels that were first formed. 30 And after them were formed all the angels. In the first heaven are an hundred myriads, and in the second an hundred myriads, and in the third an hundred myriads, and in the fourth an hundred myriads, and in the fifth an hundred myriads, and in the sixth an hundred myriads, and in the seventh (an hundred myriads, and outside the seven heavens, Jerusalem MS.) is the first firmament (flat surface) wherein are the powers which work upon men. 31 For there are four other angels set over the winds. The first angel is over the north, and he is called Chairoum (. . . broil, Jerusalem MS .; Lat. 2, angel of the north, 1 Mauch), and hath in his hand a rod of fire, and restraineththe super¬ fluity of moisture that the earth be not overmuch wet.

32 And the angel that is over the north 2 is called Oertha (Lat. 2, Alfatha): he hath a torch of fire and putteth it to his sides, and they warm the great coldness of him that he freeze not the world. 33 And the angel that is over the south is called Kerkoutha (Lat. 2, Cedar), and they break his fierceness that he shake not the earth. 34 And the angel that is over the south-west is called Naoutha, and he hath a rod of snow in his hand and putteth it into his mouth, and quencheth the fire that cometh out of his mouth. And if the angel quenched it not at his mouth it would set all the world on fire.