Eugnostos the Blessed

Eugnostos, the Blessed, to those who are his.

Rejoice in this, that you know. Greetings! I want you to know that all men born from the foundation of the world until now are dust. While they have inquired about God, who he is and what he is like, they have not found him. The wisest among them have speculated about the truth from the ordering of the world. And the speculation has not reached the truth. For the ordering is spoken of in three (different) opinions by all the philosophers; hence they do not agree. For some of them say about the world that it was directed by itself. Others, that it is providence (that directs it). Others, that it is fate. But it is none of these. Again, of three voices that I have just mentioned, none is true. For whatever is from itself is an empty life; it is self-made. Providence is foolish. Fate is an undiscerning thing.

Whoever, then, is able to get free of these three voices I have just mentioned and come by means of another voice to confess the God of truth and agree in everything concerning him, he is immortal dwelling in the midst of mortal men.

He-Who-Is is ineffable. No principle knew him, no authority, no subjection, nor any creature from the foundation of the world, except he alone. For he is immortal and eternal, having no birth; for everyone who has birth will perish. He is unbegotten, having no beginning; for everyone who has a beginning has an end. No one rules over him. He has no name; for whoever has a name is the creation of another. He is unnameable. He has no human form; for whoever has human form is the creation of another. He has his own semblance – not like the semblance we have received and seen, but a strange semblance that surpasses all things and is better than the totalities. It looks to every side and sees itself from itself. He is infinite; he is incomprehensible. He is ever imperishable (and) has no likeness (to anything). He is unchanging good. He is faultless. He is everlasting. He is blessed. He is unknowable, while he (nonetheless) knows himself. He is immeasurable. He is untraceable. He is perfect, having no defect. He is imperishably blessed. He is called ‘Father of the Universe’.

Before anything is visible among those that are visible, the majesty and the authorities that are in him, he embraces the totalities of the totalities, and nothing embraces him. For he is all mind, thought and reflecting, considering, rationality and power. They all are equal powers. They are the sources of the totalities. And their whole race <from first> to last is in the foreknowledge of the Unbegotten, for they had not yet come to visibility.

Now a difference existed among the imperishable aeons. Let us, then, consider (it) this way: Everything that came from the perishable will perish, since it came from the perishable. Whatever came from imperishableness will not perish but will become imperishable, since it came from imperishableness. So, many men went astray because they had not known this difference; that is, they died.

But this much is enough, since it is impossible for anyone to dispute the nature of the words I have just spoken about the blessed, imperishable, true God. Now, if anyone wants to believe the words set down (here), let him go from what is hidden to the end of what is visible, and this Thought will instruct him how faith in those things that are not visible was found in what is visible. This is a principle of knowledge.

The Lord of the Universe is not rightly called ‘Father’ but ‘Forefather’. For the Father is the beginning (or principle) of what is visible. For he (the Lord) is the beginningless Forefather. He sees himself within himself, like a mirror, having appeared in his likeness as Self-Father, that is, Self-Begetter, and as Confronter, since he confronted Unbegotten First Existent. He is indeed of equal age with the one who is before him, but he is not equal to him in power.

Afterward he revealed many confronting, self-begotten ones, equal in age (and) power, being in glory and without number, who are called ‘The Generation over Whom There Is No Kingdom among the Kingdoms That Exist’. And the whole multitude of the place over which there is no kingdom is called ‘Sons of Unbegotten Father.’

Now the Unknowable is ever full of imperishableness and ineffable joy. They are all at rest in him, ever rejoicing in ineffable joy, over the unchanging glory and the measureless jubilation that was never heard or known among all the aeons and their worlds. But this much is enough, lest we go on endlessly. This is another principle of knowledge from <Self->begotten.

The First who appeared before the universe in infinity is Self-grown, Self-constructed Father, and is full of shining, ineffable light. In the beginning, he decided to have his likeness become a great power. Immediately, the principle (or beginning) of that Light appeared as Immortal Androgynous Man. His male name is ‘Begotten, Perfect Mind’. And his female name is ‘All-wise Begettress Sophia’. It is also said that she resembles her brother and her consort. She is uncontested truth; for here below, error, which exists with truth, contests it.

Through Immortal Man appeared the first designation, namely, divinity and kingdom, for the Father, who is called ‘Self-Father Man’ revealed this. He created a great aeon for his own majesty. He gave him great authority, and he ruled over all creations. He created gods and archangels and angels, myriads without number for retinue.

Now through that Man originated divinity and kingdom. Therefore he was called ‘God of gods’, ‘King of kings’.

First Man is ‘Faith’ (‘pistis’) for those who will come afterward. He has, within, a unique mind and thought – just as he is it (thought) – reflecting and considering, rationality and power. All the attributes that exist are perfect and immortal. In respect to imperishableness, they are indeed equal. (But) in respect to power, there is a difference, like the difference between father and son, and son and thought, and the thought and the remainder.

As I said earlier, among the things that were created the monad is first, the dyad follows it, and the triad, up to the tenths. Now the tenths rule the hundredths; the hundredths rule the thousandths; the thousands rule the ten thousands. This is the pattern <among the> immortals. First Man is like this: His monad […].

Again it is this pattern that exists among the immortals: the monad and the thought are those things that belong to Immortal Man. The thinkings are for <the> decads, and the hundreds are the teachings, and the thousands are the counsels, and the ten thousands are the powers. Now those who come from the […] exist with their […] in every aeon […].

[…] In the beginning, thought and thinkings appeared from mind, then teachings from thinkings, counsels from teachings, and power from counsels. And after all the attributes, all that was revealed appeared from his powers. And from what was created, what was fashioned appeared. And what was formed appeared from what was fashioned. What was named appeared from what was formed, while the difference among begotten things appeared from what was named, from beginning to end, by power of all the aeons. Now Immortal Man is full of every imperishable glory and ineffable joy. His whole kingdom rejoices in everlasting rejoicing, those who never have been heard of or known in any aeon that came after them and its worlds.

Afterward another principle came from Immortal Man, who is called ‘Self-perfected Begetter.’ When he received the consent of his consort, Great Sophia, he revealed that first-begotten androgyne, who is called, ‘First-begotten Son of God’. His female aspect is ‘First-begotten Sophia, Mother of the Universe,’ whom some call ‘Love’. Now, First-begotten, since he has his authority from his father, created angels, myriads without number, for retinue. The whole multitude of those angels are called ‘Assembly of the Holy Ones, the Shadowless Lights.’ Now when these greet each other, their embraces become like angels like themselves.

First Begetter Father is called ‘Adam of the Light.’ And the kingdom of Son of Man is full of ineffable joy and unchanging jubilation, ever rejoicing in ineffable joy over their imperishable glory, which has never been heard nor has it been revealed to all the aeons that came to be and their worlds.

Then Son of Man consented with Sophia, his consort, and revealed a great androgynous Light. His masculine name is designated ‘Savior, Begetter of All things’. His feminine name is designated ‘Sophia, All-Begettress’. Some call her ‘Pistis’ (faith).

Then Savior consented with his consort, Pistis Sophia, and revealed six androgynous spiritual beings who are the type of those who preceded them. Their male names are these: first, ‘Unbegotten’; second, ‘Self-begotten’; third, ‘Begetter’; fourth, ‘First begetter’; fifth, ‘All-begetter’; sixth, ‘Arch-begetter’. Also the names of the females are these; first, ‘All-wise Sophia’; second, ‘All-Mother Sophia’; third, ‘All-Begettress Sophia’; fourth, ‘First Begettress Sophia’; fifth, ‘Love Sophia’; sixth, ‘Pistis Sophia’.

From the consenting of those I have just mentioned, thoughts appeared in the aeons that exist. From thoughts, reflectings; from reflectings, considerings; from considerings, rationalities, from rationalities, wills, from wills, words.

Then the twelve powers, whom I have just discussed, consented with each other. <Six> males (and) females (each) were revealed, so that there are seventy-two powers. Each one of the seventy-two revealed five spiritual (powers), which (together) are the three hundred and sixty powers. The union of them all is the will.

Therefore our aeon came to be as the type of Immortal Man. Time came to be as the type of First Begetter, his son. The year came to be as the type of Savior. The twelve months came to be as the type of the twelve powers. The three hundred and sixty days of the year came to be as the three hundred and sixty powers who appeared from Savior. Their hours and moments came to be as the type of the angels who came from them (the powers), who are without number.

And when those whom I have discussed appeared, All-Begetter, their father, very soon created twelve aeons for retinue for the twelve angels. And in each aeon there were six (heavens), so there are seventy-two heavens of the seventy-two powers who appeared from him. And in each of the heavens there were five firmaments, so there are (altogether) three hundred sixty firmaments of the three hundred sixty powers that appeared from them. When the firmaments were complete, they were called ‘The Three Hundred Sixty Heavens’, according to the name of the heavens that were before them. And all these are perfect and good. And in this way the defect of femaleness appeared.

The first aeon, then, is that of Immortal Man. The second aeon is that of Son of Man, who is called ‘First Begetter’ (“who is called ‘Savior'” added in Codex V). That which embraces these is the aeon over which there is no kingdom, (the aeon) of the Eternal Infinite God, the aeon of the aeon of the immortals who are in it, (the aeon) above the Eighth that appeared in chaos.

Now Immortal Man revealed aeons and powers and kingdoms and gave authority to everyone who appeared from him, to make whatever they desire until the days that are above chaos. For these consented with each other and revealed every magnificence, even from spirit, multitudinous lights that are glorious and without number. These received names in the beginning, that is, the first, the middle, the perfect; that is, the first aeon and the second and the third. The first was called ‘Unity and Rest’. Since each one has its (own) name, the <third> aeon was designated ‘Assembly’, from the great multitude that appeared in the multitudinous one. Therefore, when the multitude gathers and comes to a unity, they are called ‘Assembly’, from the Assembly that surpassed heaven. Therefore, the Assembly of the Eighth was revealed as androgynous and was named partly as male and partly as female. The male was called ‘Assembly’, the female, ‘Life’, that it might be shown that from a female came the life in all the aeons. Every name was received, starting from the beginning.

From his concurrence with his thought, the powers appeared who where called ‘gods’; and the gods from their considerings revealed divine gods; and the gods from their considerings revealed lords; and the lords of the lords from their words revealed lords; and the lords from their powers revealed archangels; the archangels revealed angels; from <them,> the semblance appeared, with structure and form for naming all the aeons and their worlds.

All the immortals, whom I have just described, have authority – all of them – from the power of Immortal Man and Sophia, his consort, who was called ‘Silence’, who was named ‘Silence’ because by reflecting without speech she perfected her own majesty. Since the imperishabilities had the authority, each provided great kingdoms in all the immortal heavens and their firmaments, thrones (and) temples, for their own majesty.

Some, Indeed, (who are) in dwellings and in chariots, being in ineffable glory and not able to be sent into any creature, provided for themselves hosts of angels, myriads without number for retinue and glory, even virgin spirits, the ineffable lights. They have no sickness nor weakness, but it is only will: it comes to be in an instant. Thus were completed the aeons with their heavens and firmaments for the glory of Immortal Man and Sophia, his consort: the area which <contained the pattern of> every aeon and their worlds and those that came afterward, in order to provide the types from there, their likenesses in the heavens of chaos and their worlds.

And all natures from the Immortal One, from Unbegotten to the revelation of chaos, are in the light that shines without shadow and (in) ineffable joy and unutterable jubilation. They ever delight themselves on account of their glory that does not change, and the rest that is not measured, which cannot be described or conceived among all the aeons that came to be and their powers. But this much is enough. All I have just said to you, I said in the way that you might accept, until the one who need not be taught appears among you, and he will speak all these things to you joyously and in pure knowledge.

On the Eucharist (A & B)

A

We give thanks to you and we celebrate the eucharist, O Father, remembering for the sake of thy Son, Jesus Christ that they come forth […] invisible […] thy [Son….] his [love…] to [knowledge ……] they are doing thy will through the name of Jesus Christ and will do thy will now and always. They are complete in every spiritual gift and every purity. Glory be to thee through thy Son and they offspring Jesus Christ from now and forever. Amen.

B

[…] in the […] the word of the [….the] holy one it is […] food and [drink…] Son, since you […] food of the […] to us the […] in the [life ..] he does [not boast…] that is[…] Church […] you are pure […] thou art the Lord. Whenever you die purely, you will be pure so as to have him […] everyone who will guide him to food and drink. Glory be to thee forever. Amen.

The Remaining Chapters of Esther

PART OF THE TENTH CHAPTER AFTER THE GREEK

THEN Mardocheus said, God hath done these things.

5 For I remember a dream which I saw concerning these matters, and nothing thereof hath failed.

6 A little fountain became a river, and there was light, and the sun, and much water: this river is Esther, whom the king married, and made queen:

7 And the two dragons are I and Aman.

8 And the nations were those that were assembled to destroy the name of the Jews:

9 And my nation is this Israel which cried to God, and were saved: for the Lord hath saved his people and the Lord hath delivered us from all those evils, and God hath wrought signs and great wonders, which have not been done among the Gentiles.

10 Therefore hath he made two lots, one for the people of God, and another for all the Gentiles.

11 And these two lots came at the hour, and time, and day of judgment, before God among all nations.

12 So God remembered his people, and justified his inheritance.

13 Therefore those days shall be unto them in the month Adar, the fourteenth and fifteenth day of the same month, with au assembly, and joy, and with gladness before God, according to the generations for ever among his people.

[ The rest of Esther: Chapter 10: | Verses: 10 | Words: 205 ]

CHAPTER 11

N the fourth year of the reign of Ptolemeus and Cleopatra, Dositheus, who said he was a priest and Levite, and Ptolemeus his son, brought this epistle of Phurim, which they said was the same, and that Lysimachus the son of Ptolemeus, that was in Jerusalem, had interpreted it.

[PLACED IN THE GREEK BEFORE CHAP. 1. 1 OF THE HEBREW]

2 In the second year of the reign of Artaxerxes the great, in the first day of the month Nisan, Mardocheus the son of Jairus, the son of Semei, the son of Cisai, of the tribe of Benjamin, had a dream;

3 Who was a Jew, and dwelt in the city of Susa, a great man, being a servitor in the king’s court.

4 He was also one of the captives, which Nabuchodonosor the king of Babylon carried from Jerusalem with Jechonias king of Judea; and this was his dream:

5 Behold a noise of a tumult, with thunder, and earthquakes, and uproar in the land:

6 And, behold, two great dragons came forth ready to fight, and their cry was great.

7 And at their cry all nations were prepared to battle, that they might fight against the righteous people.

8 And lo a day of darkness and obscurity, tribulation and anguish, affliction and great uproar, upon the earth.

9 And the whole righteous nation was troubled, fearing their own evils, and were ready to perish.

10 Then they cried unto God, and upon their cry, as it were from a little Fountain, was made a great flood, even much water.

11 The light and the sun rose up, and the lowly were exalted, and devoured the glorious.

12 Now when Mardocheus, who had seen this dream, and what God had determined to do, was awake, he bare this dream in mind, and until night by all means was desirous to know it.

[ The rest of Esther: Chapter 11: | Verses: 12 | Words: 292 ]

CHAPTER 12

ND Mardocheus took his rest in the court with Gabatha and Tharra, the two eunuchs of the king, and keepers of the palace.

2 And he heard their devices, and searched out their purposes, and learned that they were about to lay hands upon Artaxerxes the king; and so he certified the king of them.

3 Then the king examined the two eunuchs, and after that they had conFessed it, they were strangled.

4 And the king made a record of these things, and Mardocheus also wrote thereof.

5 So the king commanded Mardocheus to serve in the court, and for this he rewarded him.

6 Howbeit Aman the son of Amadathus the Agagite, who was in great honour with the king, sought to molest Mardocheus and his people because of the two eunuchs of the king.

[ The rest of Esther: Chapter 12: | Verses: 6 | Words: 132 ]

CHAPTER 13

[PLACED IN THE GREEK AFTER CHAP. 3. 13 OF THE HEBREW]

HE copy of the letters was this: The great king Artaxerxes writeth these things to the princes and governors that are under him from India unto Ethiopia, in an hundred and seven and twenty provinces,

2 After that I became lord over many nations, and had dominion over the whole world, not lifted up with presumption of my authority, but carrying myself always with equity and mildness, I purposed to settle my subjects continually in a quiet life, and making my kingdom peaceable, and open for passage to the utmost coasts, to renew peace, which is desired of all men.

3 Now when I asked my counsellers how this might be brought to pass, Aman, that excelled in wisdom among us, and was approved for his constant good will and stedfast fidelity, and had the honour of the second place in the kingdom,

4 Declared unto us, that in all nations throughout the world there was scattered a certain malicious people, that had laws contrary to all nations, and continually despised the commandments of kings, so as the uniting of our kingdoms, honourably intended by us, cannot go forward.

5 Seeing then we understand that this people alone is continually in opposition unto all men, differing in the strange manner of their laws, and evil affected to our state, working all the mischief they can, that our kingdom ma not be firmly established:

6 Therefore have we commanded, that all they that are signified in writing unto you by Aman, who is ordained over the affairs, and is next unto us, shall all, with their wives and children, be utterly destroyed by the sword of their enemies, without all mercy and pity, the fourteenth day of the twelfth month Adar of this present year:

7 That they, who of old and now also are malicious, may in one day with violence go into the grave, and so ever hereafter cause our affairs to be well settled, and without trouble.

[PLACED IN THE GREEK AFTER CHAP. 4. 17 OF THE HEBREW]

8 Then Mardocheus thought upon all the works of the Lord, and made his prayer unto him,

9 Saying, O Lord, Lord, the King Almighty: for the whole world is in thy power, and if thou hast appointed to save Israel, there is no man that can gainsay thee:

10 For thou hast made heaven and earth, and all the wondrous things under the heaven.

11 Thou art Lord of all things, and there is no man that can resist thee, which art the Lord.

12 Thou knowest all things, and thou knowest, Lord, that it was neither in contempt nor pride, nor for any desire of glory, that I did not bow down to proud Aman.

13 For I could have been content with good will for the salvation of Israel to kiss the soles of his feet.

14 But I did this, that I might not prefer the glory of man above the glory of God: neither will I worship any but thee, O God, neither will I do it in pride.

15 And now, O Lord God and King, spare thy people: for their eyes are upon us to bring us to nought; yea, they desire to destroy the inheritance, that hath been thine from the beginning.

16 Despise not the portion, which thou hast delivered out of Egypt for thine own self.

17 Hear my prayer, and be merciful unto thine inheritance: turn our sorrow into joy, that we may live, O Lord, and praise thy name: and destroy not the mouths of them that praise thee, O Lord.

18 All Israel in like manner cried most earnestly unto the Lord, because their death was before their eyes.

[ The rest of Esther: Chapter 13: | Verses: 18 | Words: 594 ]

CHAPTER 14

UEEN Esther also, being in fear of death, resorted unto the Lord:

2 And laid away her glorious apparel, and put on the garments of anguish and mourning: and instead of precious ointments, she covered her head with ashes and dung, and she humbled her body greatly, and all the places of her joy she filled with her torn hair.

3 And she prayed unto the Lord God of Israel, saying, O my Lord, thou only art our King: help me, desolate woman, which have no helper but thee:

4 For my danger is in mine hand.

5 From my youth up I have heard in the tribe of my family, that thou, O Lord, tookest Israel from among all people, and our fathers from all their predecessors, for a perpetual inheritance, and thou hast performed whatsoever thou didst promise them.

6 And now we have sinned before thee: therefore hast thou given us into the hands of our enemies,

7 Because we worshipped their gods: O Lord, thou art righteous.

8 Nevertheless it satisfieth them not, that we are in bitter captivity: but they have stricken hands with their idols,

9 That they will abolish the thing that thou with thy mouth hast ordained, and destroy thine inheritance, and stop the mouth of them that praise thee, and quench the glory of thy house, and of thine altar,

10 And open the mouths of the heathen to set forth the praises of the idols, and to magnify a fleshly lung for ever.

11 O Lord, give not thy sceptre unto them that be nothing, and let them not laugh at our fall; but turn their device upon themselves, and make him an example, that hath begun this against us.

12 Remember, O Lord, make thyself known in time of our affliction, and give me boldness, O King of the nations, and Lord of all power.

13 Give me eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion: turn his heart to hate him that fighteth against us, that there may be an end of him, and of all that are like-minded to him:

14 But deliver us with thine hand, and help me that am desolate, and which have no other helper but thee.

15 Thou knowest all things, O Lord; thou knowest that I hate the glory of the unrighteous, and abhor the bed of the uncircumcised, and of all the heathen.

16 Thou knowest my necessity: for I abhor the sign of my high estate, which is upon mine head in the days wherein I shew myself, and that I abhor it as a menstruous rag, and that I wear it not when I am private by myself,

17 And that thine handmaid hath not eaten at Aman’s table, and that I have not greatly esteemed the king’s feast, nor drunk the wine of the drink offerings.

18 Neither had thine handmaid any joy since the day that I was brought hither to this present, but in thee, O Lord God of Abraham.

19 O thou mighty God above all, hear the voice of the forlorn, and deliver us out of the hands of the mischievous, and deliver me out of my fear.

[ The rest of Esther: Chapter 14: | Verses: 19 | Words: 517 ]

CHAPTER 15

ND upon the third day, when she had ended her prayer, she laid away her mourning garments, and put on her glorious apparel.

2 And being gloriously adorned, after she had called upon God who is the beholder and saviour of all things, she took two maids with her:

3 And upon the one she leaned, as carrying herself daintily;

4 And the other followed, bearing up her train.

5 And she was ruddy through the perfection of her beauty, and her countenance was cheerful and very amiable: but her heart was in anguish for fear.

6 Then having passed through all the doors, she stood before the king, who sat upon his royal throne, and was clothed with all his robes of majesty, all glittering with gold and precious stones; and he was very dreadful.

7 Then lifting up his countenance that shone with majesty, he looked very fiercely upon her: and the queen fell down, and was pale, and fainted, and bowed herself upon the head of the maid that went before her.

8 Then God changed the spirit of the king into mildness, who in a fear leaped from his throne, and took her in his arms, till she came to herself again, and comforted her with loving words, and said unto her,

9 Esther, what is the matter? I am thy brother, be of good cheer:

10 Thou shalt not die, though our commandment be general: come near.

11 And so he held up his golden sceptre, and laid it upon her neck,

12 And embraced her, and said, Speak unto me.

13 Then said she unto him, I saw thee, my lord, as an angel of God, and my heart was troubled for fear of thy majesty.

14 For wonderful art thou, lord, and thy countenance is full of grace.

15 And as she was speaking, she fell down for faintness.

16 Then the king was troubled, and all his servants comforted her.

[ The rest of Esther: Chapter 15: | Verses: 16 | Words: 313 ]

CHAPTER 16

[PLACED IN THE GREEK AFTER CHAP. 8. 12 OF THE HEBREW]

HE great king Artaxerxes unto the Princes and governors of an hundred and seven and twenty provinces from India unto Ethiopia, and unto all our faithful subjects, greeting.

2 Many, the more often they are honoured with the great bounty of their gracious princes, the more proud they are waxen,

3 And endeavour to hurt not our subjects only, but not being able to bear abundance, do take in hand to practise also against those that do them good:

4 And take not only thankfulness away from among men, but also lifted up with the glorious words of lewd persons, that were never good, they think to escape the justice of God, that seeth all things, and hateth evil.

5 Oftentimes also fair speech of those, that are put in trust to manage their friends’ affairs, hath caused many that are in authority to be partakers of innocent blood, and hath enwrapped them in remediless calamities:

6 Beguiling with the falsehood and deceit of their lewd disposition the innocency and goodness of princes.

7 Now ye may see this, as we have declared, not so much by ancient histories, as ye may, if ye search what hath been wickedly done of late through the pestilent behaviour of them that are unworthily placed in authority.

8 And we must take care for the time to come, that our kingdom may be quiet and peaceable for all men,

9 Both by changing our purposes, and always judging things that are evident with more equal proceeding.

10 For Aman, a Macedonian, the son of Amadatha, being indeed a stranger from the Persian blood, and far distant from our goodness, and as a stranger received of us,

11 Had so far forth obtained the favour that we shew toward every nation, as that he was called our father, and was continually honoured of all men, as the next person unto the king.

12 But he, not bearing his great dignity, went about to deprive us of our kingdom and life;

13 Having by manifold and cunning deceits sought of us the destruction, as well of Mardocheus, who saved our life, and continually procured our good, as also of blameless Esther, partaker of our kingdom, with their whole nation.

14 For by these means he thought, finding us destitute of friends, to have translated the kingdom of the Persians to the Macedonians.

15 But we find that the Jews, whom this wicked wretch hath delivered to utter destruction, are no evildoers, but live by most just laws:

16 and that they be children of the most high and most mighty living God, who hath ordered the kingdom both unto us and to our progenitors in the most excellent manner.

17 Wherefore ye shall do well not to put in execution the letters sent unto you by Aman the son of Amadatha.

18 For he, that was the worker of these things, is hanged at the gates of Susa with all his family: God, who ruleth all things, speedily rendering vengeance to him according to his deserts.

19 Therefore ye shall publish the copy of this letter in all places, that the Jews may freely live after their own laws.

20 And ye shall aid them, that even the same day, being the thirteenth day of the twelfth month Adar, they may be avenged on them, who in the time of their affliction shall set upon them.

21 For Almighty God hath turned to joy unto them the day, wherein the chosen people should have perished.

22 Ye shall therefore among your solemn feasts keep it an high day with all feasting:

23 That both now and hereafter there may be safety to us, and the well affected Persians; but to those which do conspire against us a memorial of destruction.

24 Therefore every city and country whatsoever, which shall not do according to these things, shall be destroyed without mercy with fire and sword, and shall be made not only unpassable for men, but also most hateful to wild beasts and fowls for ever.

– THE END OF THE REST OF ESTHER –

Revelation of Esdras

It came to pass in the thirtieth year, on the twenty-second of the month, I was in my house. And I cried out and said to the Most High: Lord, give the glory, in order that I may see Your mysteries. And when it was night, there came an angel, Michael the archangel, and says to me: O Prophet Esdras, refrain from bread for seventy weeks. And I fasted as he told me. And there came Raphael the commander of the host, and gave me a storax rod. And I fasted twice sixty weeks. And I saw the mysteries of God and His angels. And I said to them: I wish to plead before God about the race of the Christians. It is good for a man not to be born rather than to come into the world. I was therefore taken up into heaven, and I saw in the first heaven a great army of angels; and they took me to the judgments. And I heard a voice saying to me: Have mercy on us, O you chosen of God, Esdras. Then began I to say: Woe to sinners when they see one who is just more than the angels, and they themselves are in the Gehenna of fire! And Esdras said: Have mercy on the works of Your hands, Thou who art compassionate, and of great mercy. Judge me rather than the souls of the sinners; for it is better that one soul should be punished, and that the whole world should not come to destruction. And God said: I will give rest in paradise to the righteous, and I have become merciful. And Esdras said: Lord, why do You confer benefits on the righteous? for just as one who has been hired out, and has served out his time, goes and again works as a slave when he come to his masters, so also the righteous has received his reward in the heavens. But have mercy on the sinners, for we know that You are merciful. And God said: I do not see how I can have mercy upon them. And Esdras said: They cannot endure Your wrath. And God said: This is the fate of such. And God said: I wish to have you like Paul and John, as you have given me uncorrupted the treasure that cannot be stolen, the treasure of virginity, the bulwark of men. And Esdras said: It is good for a man not to be born. It is good not to be in life. The irrational creatures are better than man, because they have no punishment; but You have taken us, and given us up to judgment. Woe to the sinners in the world to come! because their judgment is endless, and the flame unquenchable. And while I was thus speaking to him, there came Michael and Gabriel, and all the apostles; and they said: Rejoice, O faithful man of God! And Esdras said: Arise, and come hither with me, O Lord, to judgment. And the Lord said: Behold, I give you my covenant between me and you, that you may receive it. And Esdras said: Let us plead in Your hearing. And God said: Ask Abraham your father how a son pleads with his father, and come plead with us. And Esdras said: As the Lord lives, I will not cease pleading with You in behalf of the race of the Christians. Where are Your ancient compassions, O Lord? Where is Your long-suffering? And God said: As I have made night and day, I have made the righteous and the sinner; and he should have lived like the righteous. And the prophet said: Who made Adam the first-formed? And God said: My undefiled hands. And I put him in paradise to guard the food of the tree of life; and thereafter he became disobedient, and did this in transgression. And the prophet said: Was he not protected by an angel? And was not his life guarded by the cherubim to endless ages? And how was he deceived who was guarded by angels? for You commanded all to be present, and to attend to what was said by You. But if You had not given him Eve, the serpent would not have deceived her; but whom You will Thou savest, and whom You will Thou destroyest. And the prophet said: Let us come, my Lord, to a second judgment. And God said: I cast fire upon Sodom and Gomorrha. And the prophet said: Lord, Thou dealest with us according to our deserts. And God said: Your sins transcend my clemency. And the prophet said: Call to mind the Scriptures, my Father, who hast measured out Jerusalem, and set her up again. Have mercy, O Lord, upon sinners; have mercy upon Your own creatures; have pity upon Your works. Then God remembered those whom He had made, and said to the prophet: How can I have mercy upon them? Vinegar and gall did they give me to drink, Matthew 27:34 and not even then did they repent. And the prophet said: Reveal Your cherubim, and let us go together to judgment; and show me the day of judgment, what like it is. And God said: You have been deceived, Esdras; for such is the day of judgment as that in which there is no rain upon the earth; for it is a merciful tribunal as compared with that day. And the prophet said: I will not cease to plead with You, unless I see the day of the consummation. And God said: Number the stars and the sand of the sea; and if you shall be able to number this, you are also able to plead with me. And the prophet said: Lord, You know that I wear human flesh; and how can I count the stars of the heaven, and the sand of the sea? And God said: My chosen prophet, no man will know that great day and the appearing that comes to judge the world. For your sake, my prophet, I have told you the day; but the hour have I not told you. And the prophet said: Lord, tell me also the years. And God said: If I see the righteousness of the world, that it has abounded, I will have patience with them; but if not, I will stretch forth my hand, and lay hold of the world by the four quarters, and bring them all together into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will wipe out the race of men, so that the world shall be no more. And the prophet said: And how can Your right hand be glorified? And God said: I shall be glorified by my angels. And the prophet said: Lord, if You have resolved to do this, why did You make man? Thou said to our father Abraham, Genesis 22:17 Multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand that is by the sea-shore; and where is Your promise? And God said: First will I make an earthquake for the fall of four-footed beasts and of men; and when you see that brother gives up brother to death, and that children shall rise up against their parents, and that a woman forsakes her own husband, and when nation shall rise up against nation in war, then will you know that the end is near. Matthew xxiv

For then neither brother pities brother, nor man wife, nor children parents, nor friends friends, nor a slave his master; for he who is the adversary of men shall come up from Tartarus, and shall show men many things. What shall I make of you, Esdras? And will you yet plead with me? And the prophet said: Lord, I shall not cease to plead with You. And God said: Number the flowers of the earth. If you shall be able to number them, you are able also to plead with me. And the prophet said: Lord, I cannot number them. I wear human flesh; but I shall not cease to plead with You. I wish, Lord, to see also the under parts of Tartarus. And God said: Come down and see. And He gave me Michael, and Gabriel, and other thirty-four angels; and I went down eighty-five steps, and they brought me down five hundred steps, and I saw a fiery throne, and an old man sitting upon it; and his judgment was merciless. And I said to the angels: Who is this? And what is his sin? And they said to me: This is Herod, who for a time was a king, and ordered to put to death the children from two years old and under. Matthew 2:16 And I said: Woe to his soul! And again they took me down thirty steps, and I there saw boilings up of fire, and in them there was a multitude of sinners; and I heard their voice, but saw not their forms. And they took me down lower many steps, which I could not measure. And I there saw old men, and fiery pivots turning in their ears. And I said: Who are these? And what is their sin? And they said to me: These are they who would not listen. And they took me down again other five hundred steps, and I there saw the worm that sleeps not, and fire burning up the sinners. And they took me down to the lowest part of destruction, and I saw there the twelve plagues of the abyss. And they took me away to the south, and I saw there a man hanging by the eyelids; and the angels kept scourging him. And I asked: Who is this? And what is his sin? And Michael the commander said to me: This is one who lay with his mother; for having put into practice a small wish, he has been ordered to be hanged. And they took me away to the north, and I saw there a man bound with iron chains. And I asked: Who is this? And he said to me: This is he who said, I am the Son of God, that made stones bread, and water wine. And the prophet said: My lord, let me know what is his form, and I shall tell the race of men, that they may not believe in him. And he said to me: The form of his countenance is like that of a wild beast; his right eye like the star that rises in the morning, and the other without motion; his mouth one cubit; his teeth span long; his fingers like scythes; the track of his feet of two spans; and in his face an inscription, Antichrist. He has been exalted to heaven; he shall go down to Hades. Matthew 11:23 At one time he shall become a child; at another, an old man. And the prophet said: Lord, and how do You permit him, and he deceives the race of men? And God said: Listen, my prophet. He becomes both child and old man, and no one believes him that he is my beloved Son. And after this a trumpet, and the tombs shall be opened, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible. 1 Corinthians 15:52 Then the adversary, hearing the dreadful threatening, shall be hidden in outer darkness. Then the heaven, and the earth, and the sea shall be destroyed. Then shall I burn the heaven eighty cubits, and the earth eight hundred cubits. And the prophet said: And how has the heaven sinned? And God said: Since …there is evil. And the prophet said: Lord, and the earth, how has it sinned? And God said: Since the adversary, having heard the dreadful threatening, shall be hidden, even on account of this will I melt the earth, and with it the opponent of the race of men. And the prophet said: Have mercy, Lord, upon the race of the Christians. And I saw a woman hanging, and four wild beasts sucking her breasts. And the angels said to me: She grudged to give her milk, but even threw her infants into the rivers. And I saw a dreadful darkness, and a night that had no stars nor moon; nor is there there young or old, nor brother with brother, nor mother with child, nor wife with husband. And I wept, and said: O Lord God, have mercy upon the sinners. And as I said this, there came a cloud and snatched me up, and carried me away again into the heavens. And I saw there many judgments; and I wept bitterly, and said: It is good for a man not to have come out of his mother’s womb. And those who were in torment cried out, saying: Since you have come hither, O holy one of God, we have found a little remission. And the prophet said: Blessed are they that weep for their sins. And God said: Hear, O beloved Esdras. As a husbandman casts the seed of the corn into the ground, so also the man casts his seed into the parts of the woman. The first month it is all together; the second it increases in size; the third it gets hair; the fourth it gets nails; the fifth it is turned into milk; and the sixth it is made ready, and receives life; the seventh it is completely furnished; the ninth the barriers of the gate of the woman are opened; and it is born safe and sound into the earth. And the prophet said: Lord, it is good for man not to have been born. Woe to the human race then, when You shall come to judgment! And I said to the Lord: Lord, why have You created man, and delivered him up to judgment? And God said, with a lofty proclamation: I will not by any means have mercy on those who transgress my covenant. And the prophet said: Lord, where is Your goodness? And God said: I have prepared all things for man’s sake, and man does not keep my commandments. And the prophet said: Lord, reveal to me the judgments and paradise. And the angels took me away towards the east, and I saw the tree of life. And I saw there Enoch, and Elias, and Moses, and Peter, and Paul, and Luke, and Matthias, and all the righteous, and the patriarchs. And I saw there the keeping of the air within bounds, and the blowing of the winds, and the storehouses of the ice, and the eternal judgments. And I saw there a man hanging by the skull. And they said to me: This man removed landmarks. And I saw there great judgments. And I said to the Lord: O Lord God, and what man, then, who has been born has not sinned? And they took me lower down into Tartarus, and I saw all the sinners lamenting and weeping and mourning bitterly. And I also wept, seeing the race of men thus tormented. Then God says to me: Do you know, Esdras, the names of the angels at the end of the world? Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Gabuthelon, Aker, Arphugitonos, Beburos, Zebuleon.

Then there came a voice to me: Come hither and die, Esdras, my beloved; give that which has been entrusted to you. And the prophet said: And whence can you bring forth my soul? And the angels said: We can put it forth through the mouth. And the prophet said: Mouth to mouth have I spoken with God, Deuteronomy 34:10 and it comes not forth thence. And the angels said: Let us bring it out through your nostrils. And the prophet said: My nostrils have smelled the sweet savour of the glory of God. And the angels said: We can bring it out through your eyes. And the prophet said: My eyes have seen the back parts of God. Exodus 33:23 And the angels said: We can bring it out through the crown of your head. And the prophet said: I walked about with Moses also on the mountain, and it comes not forth thence. And the angels said: We can put it forth through the points of your nails. And the prophet said: My feet also have walked about on the altar. And the angels went away without having done anything, saying: Lord, we cannot get his soul. Then He says to His only begotten Son: Go down, my beloved Son, with a great host of angels, and take the soul of my beloved Esdras. For the Lord, having taken a great host of angels, says to the prophet: Give me the trust which I entrusted to you; the crown has been prepared for you. 2 Timothy 4:8 And the prophet said: Lord, if Thou take my soul from me, who will be left to plead with You for the race of men? And God said: As you are mortal, and of the earth, do not plead with me. And the prophet said: I will not cease to plead. And God said: Give up just now the trust; the crown has been prepared for you. Come and die, that you may obtain it. Then the prophet began to say with tears: O Lord, what good have I done pleading with You, and I am going to fall down into the earth? Woe’s me, woe’s me, that I am going to be eaten up by worms! Weep, all you saints and you righteous, for me, who have pleaded much, and who am delivered up to death. Weep for me, all you saints and you righteous, because I have gone to the pit of Hades. And God said to him: Hear, Esdras, my beloved. I, who am immortal, endured a cross; I tasted vinegar and gall; I was laid in a tomb, and I raised up my chosen ones; I called Adam up out of Hades, that I might save the race of men. Do not therefore be afraid of death: for that which is from me— that is to say, the soul— goes to heaven; and that which is from the earth— that is to say, the body— goes to the earth, from which it was taken. Ecclesiastes 12:7 And the prophet said: Woe’s me! woe’s me! what shall I set about? what shall I do? I know not. And then the blessed Esdras began to say: O eternal God, the Maker of the whole creation, who hast measured the heaven with a span, and who holdest the earth as a handful, who ridest upon the cherubim, who took the prophet Elias to the heavens in a chariot of fire, who givest food to all flesh, whom all things dread and tremble at from the face of Your power—listen to me, who have pleaded much, and give to all who transcribe this book, and have it, and remember my name, and honour my memory, give them a blessing from heaven; and bless him in all things, as You blessed Joseph at last, and remember not his former wickedness in the day of his judgment. And as many as have not believed this book shall be burnt up like Sodom and Gomorrha. And there came to him a voice, saying: Esdras, my beloved, all things whatever you have asked will I give to each one. And immediately he gave up his precious soul with much honour, in the month of October, on the twenty-eighth. And they prepared him for burial with incense and psalms; and his precious and sacred body dispenses strength of soul and body perpetually to those who have recourse to him from a longing desire. To whom is due glory, strength, honour, and adoration,— to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and to ages of ages. Amen.

Sixth Book of Esra

Introduction

Tradition: in the texts of the Latin Bible, the Fourth Book of Esra has two additional chapters at the beginning and at the end; these are missing in the Oriental translations. Chapters 1 and 2 are a Christian Apocalypse which is introduced in the MSS before or after 4 Esra, and is known to some extent as the Fifth Book of Esra. Chapters 15 and 16 form an appendix: these chapters, in point of style, are prophecies filled with sayings of woe in the fashion of the OT, and, like the introductory chapters as a whole, they are available only in Latin.

1 Linguistic observations point to a Greek original2 and this is confirmed for chs. 15-16 by the discovery of a small Greek fragment of ch. 15, vv. 57-59, among the Oxyrhynchus papyri. The manuscript tradition is divided into two groups: a Frankish, represented by S, the Codex Sangermanensis of the year 822, and the Codex A Ambianensis, also from the 9th century, and a Spanish, represented by C Complutensis from the 9th-10th century and M Mazarinaeus, from the 11th-12th century, and in addition some other secondary witnesses among which the C. Legionensis L. has a sharply divergent text; according to Violet, this text is indebted to the modifying treatment of a writer of independent spirit. The group S A as a rule has a higher value than C M (NVL).

2. Contents: the prophecy of the two introductory chapters falls into two parts. The first turns against the Jewish people, the second is concerned with the Christians who must take their place. It is possible that in the first section material from a Jewish text has been used and has been worked over by a Christian hand (see 1.11; 1.24; 1.30 and especially 1.35-40) to provide an invective against the Jewish people. On the other hand, the second part, 2.10-48, which brings comforting promises to the Christians, is purely Christian, in spite of 2.33, 42, etc., which are decoration. The Sixth Book of Esra, comprising chs. 15 and 16, contains descriptions of the dissolution of the world which comes to its fulfilment in terrible wars and natural events by which Babylon, Asia, Egypt and Syria in particular are threatened, but which will admonish, strengthen and comfort the people of God who will have suffered the afflictions of persecution.

3. Time of composition: in 2.42-47 an innumerable company of Christian martyrs are crowned. This takes us beyond the 1st century. The young man of great stature has a parallel in the Gospel of Peter, in the Acts of Perpetua and Felicitas, and also in the Shepherd of Hermas. This feature points to the 2nd century, but, since the argument with Judaism still clearly possesses topical significance, we ought not to place the writing too late. We may adhere to a date around A.D. 200.3 It is different with the appendix, chs. 15-16. In this a persecution is assumed, stretching over the entire eastern half of the Roman empire, a persecution in which the Christians, driven from their homes, robbed of their goods and imprisoned, are compelled to eat flesh offered to idols. For this there is available the long space of time from about 120 to the end of the persecutions under Constantine. On the basis of some particular features which it has been thought possible to fix in time, the writing has been dated in the 3rd century. But a precise decision as to the time of writing is no more possible than is a fixing of the place of origin, although the western regions of the Orient have the greatest degree of probability.

4. Significance: the extent to which the apocalyptic material of 5th Esra attracted Christians in later times can be seen in addition to other references and reminiscences in the offical Roman Catholic liturgy in the fact that in a fragment of a Missal from the 11th century the passage 2.42-48 is communicated in complete text as the epistle for the Mass de communi plurimorum martyrum. Many separate points as well have special significance: the twelve angels with flowers 1.40, the people of God who come from the east, 1.38; the tree of life in Paradise, 2.12; the twelve fruit-trees in 2.18; the resurrection in 2.31 and the exceedingly tall son of God in 2.43 (on the growth-motif, cf. the material in E. Hammerschmidt, Studies in the Ethiopic Anaphoras, 1961, p. 98). On the other hand, 6th Esra provides threats of judgment, comfort and exhortation within the definite circumstances of a period of persecution. Everything is earth- bound here. Nevertheless this work was also deemed suitable for use in warning and exhortation, as is shown by the letter of the Anglo-Saxon writer Gildas (dated in the 7th or 6th century), in which the text of ch. 15.21-27 and 16.3f., 5-12 is reproduced

5. Literature: O.F. Fritzsche, Libri apocryphi Veteris Testamenti, Leipzig, 1871 (pp. 640ff.); R.L. Benaly, The Fourth Book of Ezra (with an introduction by M.R. James), Texts and Studies III 2, 1895, the above-mentioned Fragment of 4 Esra 15.57-59 in The Oxyrhynchus Papyri, Part VII (ed. A. Hunt), 1910, 11ff.; older literature in E. Schürer, The Jewish People in the time of Jesus Christ, ET, Div. II, vol. III, 1131. (German ed.4 1909, III 330f.; rev. English ed. 1986, III 1, 301ff.); in addition, M.J. Labourt, ‘Le cinquième livre d’Esdras’, Rev. Bibl. 17, 1909,412-434; D.de Bruyne, ‘Fragments d’une apocalypse perdue’, Rev Bénéd. 33,1921,97- 109, A. Oepike, ‘Ein bisher unbeachtetes Zitat aus dem 5. Buche Esra’, Coniect. Neotestament. XI, 1947, 179-195 (reprinted in ZNW 42, 1949, 158-172); O. Plöger, Article ‘Daa 5. and 6. Esrabuch’, in RGG II, 1958, cols. 699f; also the introduction to 4 Esra (cha. 3-14) by B. Noack in De Gammeltestamentlige Pseudepigrapher, Heft 1, 1953, 1-13. W. Schnoemeicher, art. ‘Esra’, RAC 6, 1966, cols. 604-606; Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam Versionem, ed. R. Weber et. al., 1969, Moraldi 11, 1917ff. (Italian trans.); M.D. Brocke, ‘On the Jewish Origin of the “Improperia” (V Ezra 1,5-25), Immanuel 7, 1977, 44-51.

Sixth Esra

15:1. Behold, speak thou in the ears of my people words of prophecy which I will put in thy mouth, saith the Lord,
2. and let them be written on paper, for they are faithful and true.
3. Fear not the schemes (which are devised) against thee; let not the unbelief of the adversary perplex thee,
4. for he who is unbelieving will die in his unbelief.
5. Behold I will bring evils on the whole round earth, saith the Lord, sword, famine, death and destruction,
6. since wickedness has covered the whole earth, and their abominable works are completed.
7. Therefore, saith the Lord:
8. No more will I be silent on their wickedness which they outrageously commit, nor will I tolerate the unrighteousness they practice. Behold innocent and righteous blood cries out unto me, and the souls of the righteous cry unceasingly.
9. Terrible vengeance will I exact from them and all innocent blood will I visit upon them.
10. Behold my people are led like a flock to the slaughter. No longer will I let them dwell in the land of Egypt,
11. but I will bring them out with a strong hand and an upraised arm, and will visit Egypt with plagues as before, and destroy its entire land.
12. Let Egypt mourn and her foundations for the shock of the chastisement and punishment which the Lord will bring upon her.
13. Let the husbandmen mourn who till the soil, for their grain shall fail and their trees be destroyed by burning and hail and a terrible storm.
14. Woe to the world and all who dwell therein!
15. For the sword and its destruction draws near. And one nation shall rise up against another in battle with their swords in their hands.
16. For dissension shall break out among men: they shall rise up one against another, and in the consciousness of power they will not be concerned for their king and the leader of their rulers.
17. For a man shall desire to go into a city and he will not be able to do so.
18. For on account of their arrogance will the cities be brought into confusion, their houses will be destroyed, the men afraid.
19. No man shall show pity to his neighbors; they will break into their houses with the sword to plunder their goods by reason of hunger for bread and great tribulation.
20. Behold, saith the Lord, I call together all kings of the earth, to rouse those who come from the north and from the south, and from the east and from the west, that they may turn against one another and give back (in recompense) what they have given to the former.
21. As they have done till this present to my chosen, so will I do and recompense in their bosom. Thus, saith the Lord God:
22. My right hand will not spare the sinners, and my sword will not cease from those who shed innocent blood on the earth.
23. And a fire shall go forth from his wrath and consume the foundations of the earth, and sinners like kindled straw.
24. Woe to them that sin and keep not my commandments, saith the Lord.
25. I will not spare them. Away from me, rebellious sons! Defile not my sanctuary!
26. For the Lord knoweth all who trespass against him; therefore, hath he delivered them to death and destruction.
27. For now, hath evil come upon the whole round earth and ye must remain therein, for God will not deliver you, since you have trespassed against him.
28. Behold a vision, and it was terrible! And the appearance of it came from the East.
29. And the nations of the dragon of Arabia shall set forth in many chariots, and from the day of their setting forth, their hissing shall sound over the earth, so that all who hear them fear and tremble.
30. The raging Carmonians shall break forth in fury, like a boar from the wood; they shall come with great power and struggle with them in a conflict and shall waste a part of the land of the Assyrians.
31. And then shall the dragons, remembering their origin, have the upper hand, and if they shall turn to pursue them, snorting with great power,
32, then these latter shall be troubled and shall keep silent before their power and tum their feet to flight.
33. And from the land of the Assyrians shall he who lies in wait for them lay an ambush and shall destroy one of them. Then will fear and trembling fall on their hosts and powerlessness on their kings.
34. Behold-clouds from the east and from the north right to the south! And their appearance was exceedingly terrible, full of wrath and storm.
35. And they will dash against one another, and they shall pour a mighty storm over the earth. And the blood from the swords shall reach even to the belly of the horses,
36. to the thighs of a man, to the hocks of a camel. And great fear and trembling will be upon the earth.
37. All who see that wrath shall be terrified and fear shall take hold of them. And after that many clouds
38. from the south and from the north and another part from the west shall rise up.
39. But mighty winds will come from the east and shall shut it up and the clouds which he had allowed to rise in wrath; and the storm which arose from east and west to cause destruction will be damaged.
40. And there shall rise up great and strong clouds, full of wrath and storm, to destroy the whole earth and its inhabitants. They will pour out over every high and exalted one terrible storms,
41. fire, hail, flying swords and great streams of water, so that all fields and valleys are filled with the abundance of their waters.
42. And they will destroy cities and walls, mountains and hills, the trees of the wood, the hay of the meadows and their com.
43. And they will rush on their course even unto Babylon and destroy it.
44. They shall be gathered about it and shall encircle it and pour out all their storm and all their anger upon it till they rase it to the ground. Then will the dust and smoke rise to the heaven and all around will bewail it.
45. And those who survive will be the servants of those who have destroyed it.
46. And thou, Asia, who sharest in the splendour of Babylon and in the glory of her station,
47. woe to thee, thou wretch! For thou hast become like to her, thou hast decked thy daughters for works of obscenity that thou might be pleased and praised among thy lovers who always desire thee.
48. The hateful harlot hast thou copied in all her works and devices. Therefore saith God:
49. I will send evils upon thee, widowhood, poverty, famine, sword and pestilence, which will waste thy houses, will destroy and slay.
50. And the glory of thy power will fade like a flower, when the heat shall arise which is sent against thee.
51. Thou wilt become weak and miserable by blows and bruised by stripes, so that thou wilt not be able to receive thy mighty ones and lovers.
52. Would I have been jealous against thee, saith the Lord,
53. if thou hadst not on every occasion slain my chosen, exulting with clapping of hands, and laughing at their death, when thou wast drunken?
54. Deck out the beauty of thy countenance;
55. the reward of harlotry dost thou bear in the bosom of thy raiment; therefore, shalt thou receive recompense in thy bosom!
56. As thou doest to my chosen, saith the Lord, so will God do to thee and will cast thee down into suffering.
57. Thy children will die of hunger, thou wilt fall by the sword, thy cities will be destroyed, and all thy servants shall fall by the sword in the field.
58. And all who are in the mountains shall perish of hunger, they shall eat their own flesh and drink their own blood, because of hunger for bread and thirst for water. Unhappy one!
59. Miserable shalt thou become above all others, and suffering shall fall upon thee for recompense.
60. As they pass by. they will fall on the hated city and will destroy a portion of thy land and a portion of thy glory, when they return again from Babylon. And when thou art destroyed
61. and wasted, thou wilt be to them as straw, and they to thee as fire!
62. They will consume thee and thy cities, thy land and thy mountains, all thy woods and thy fruit trees will they bum with fire.
63. Thy children will be carried away captive, thy treasure will they take for booty and destroy the glory of thy splendor.

16:1. Woe to thee, Babylon and Asia! woe to thee, Egypt and Syria!
2. Gird yourselves with sackcloth and fabric of hair, and bewail your children, and lament, for your destruction is near.
3. The sword is sent against you!
4. Who is there that shall ward it off? The fire is sent against you,
5. and who is there that shall quench it? Sufferings are sent against you, and who is there that shall drive them away?
6. Can a man drive away the hungry lion in the wood, or quench the fire when the straw is kindled?
7. Can a man turn back the arrow which is shot by a strong archer?
8. God the Lord sends the evils and who can drive them away?
9. Fire shall go forth from his wrath and who is there that may quench it?
10. He shall send his lightning, and who will not be afraid? He shall thunder and who will not be alarmed?
11. The Lord shall threaten and who will not utterly dissolve before his face?
12. The earth and its foundations quake, and the sea rises up from the deep, its waves will be troubled and its fish, at the presence of the Lord and the glory of his power.
13. For strong is his right hand which bends the bow! Sharp the arrows which are sent by him! They shall not turn back when he begins to send them upon the earth.
14. Behold, evils are sent forth and shall not return till they come upon the earth.
15. Fire has been kindled and will not be quenched till it consumes the foundations of the earth.
16. As the arrow, shot by the mighty archer, turns not back, so will the evils not turn back which are sent on the earth.
17. Woe is me! woe is me! who will deliver me in these days?
18. The beginning of sorrows (comes) – and many groan; the beginning of famine-and many will perish; the beginning of wars and powers are alarmed; the beginning of evils-and all will tremble.
19. What will they do (then) when the suffering (itself) comes?
20. Behold, hunger and plagues, confusion and affliction, are sent as scourges to bring amendment.
21. But in all this, they will not turn from their wickedness, nor ever remember the scourges. Behold corn will be cheap in the earth, so that they will believe that peace has been granted them.
22. But then will evils spring forth on the earth, sword, famine and great confusion.
23. Most of the inhabitants of the earth will die of hunger, and the sword will destroy the others who have survived the famine.
24. The dead will lie on the streets like dung, and no one will be there to lament (?) them. For the earth will be left desolate and its cities will be cast down.
25. There will be no one left to till the soil and sow seeds in it.
26. The trees will yield their fruit, but who will harvest it?
27. The grapes will ripen, but who will tread them? For there will be deep desolation everywhere.
28. For a man will passionately desire to see another man, and to hear his voice.
29. For of a city there shall be ten left surviving, and of a hamlet two who had hidden themselves in thick woods and in the clefts of the rocks.
30. As three or four olives remain on the several trees in an olive-garden,
31. and as in a vineyard, after the harvesting, some berries are left by those who carefully search through the yard,
32. so in these days, three or four will be left by those who search their houses with the sword.
33. And the land will be left desolate, and its fields will be for briers; its paths and its ways let thorns grow up, for no flock of sheep will pass through any more.
34. The young women will weep because they have no fiancés; the women will weep because they have no husbands; their daughters will weep, because they are robbed of their helpers.
35. The fiancés will be destroyed in the war and the husbands will be destroyed by famine.
36. But hear this and understand it, ye servants of the Lord.
37. Behold, a word of the Lord (it is); receive it! Do not doubt what the Lord has said.
38. Behold, evils come and are not long time in coming!
39. As a woman who is pregnant with child in the ninth month, when the hour of her delivery draws near, for two or three hours before feels woeful pains in her body, and when the child leaves her body, there is not a moment of delay
40. so shall the evil not tarry to come upon the earth. and the world will suffer misery and sorrows will encompass it.
41. Hear the word, O ye my people! Prepare yourselves for the struggle, and in the evils behave yourselves as strangers on the earth.
42. He that selleth, let him be as one in flight; he that buyeth as he who is about to lose;
43. he that dealeth as he who has no more profit; he that builds as he who will not inhabit;
44. he that soweth as he that will not reap; likewise he that prunes (his vines) as he that will not gather the harvest;
45. they that marry as those who will not beget children; and they that marry not as those who are widowed.
46. Hence they that work, work in vain.
47. Strangers will harvest their fruits and they will deprive them of their property, destroy their houses and take their children into captivity. Therefore those who marry should know that they will bring forth their children in captivity and famine.
48. Those who traffic in business do it as those who plunder. For the more they adorn their cities and houses and their possessions and their persons,
49. the more will I be angry with them because of their sins, saith the Lord.
50. For as a beautiful and noble woman hates a harlot,
51. so shall righteousness hate iniquity when she adorns herself, and accuses her to her face, when he comes that defends her, seeking out every sin on the earth.
52. Therefore, be not like to them and their works!
53. For behold, a moment, and iniquity will be destroyed from the earth and righteousness will reign among us.
54. Let not the sinner say that he has not sinned, nor the unrighteous man that he has acted righteously; for coals of fire will burn on the head of him who says, ‘I have not sinned, before God and his glory! Behold the Lord knoweth all the works of men,
55. their imaginations, their aspirations, their thoughts and their hearts.
56. (He) who said, “Let the earth be made and it was made, ‘let the heaven be made and it was made,
57. through whose word the stars were established, who knoweth the number of the stars –
58. who searches the deeps and their treasures who hath measured the sea and its contents –
59. who has shut up the world in the midst of the waters and hath hung the earth over the waters by his word –
60. who has stretched out the heaven like a chamber and founded it upon the waters –
61. who has made in the desert springs of water and pools on the peaks of the mountains, to send forth rivers from on high to water the earth –
62. who has formed man and given him a heart in the midst of the body, and has poured into him breath and life and understanding,
63. even the breath of Almighty God who made all things and has sought out the hidden things in hidden places:
64. surely he knoweth our imaginations and aspirations and what you think in your hearts! Woe to the sinners and to those who would hide their sins.
65. For the Lord will certainly search out all your works and openly put you all to shame.
66. And you will be put to confusion when your sins are brought before the eyes of men and your iniquities will rise up as accusers on that day.
67. What will ye do? How will you hide your sins before God and his angels?
68. Behold, God is the judge! Fear him! Cease from your sins and forget your iniquities to do them now forever, so God will lead you forth and deliver you from all tribulation.
69. For behold, the wrath of a great multitude will burn against you and they will carry away captive some of you and make you eat food that is offered to idols.
70. And those who are led astray by them will be ridiculed, reproached and mistreated.
71. For there shall be in adjoining cities a great rebellion against those who fear God.
72. For men will suffer want and, through their need, will be like madmen, sparing none, that they may plunder and destroy those who fear God.
73. For they shall destroy and plunder their goods and banish them from their homes.
74. Then shall the tried quality of my elect come to the light, like gold which is tried by fire.
75. Hear, my elect, saith the Lord! Behold, the days of tribulation are near, and I will deliver you from them.
76. Fear not and flinch not; for God is your leader.
77. And you who observe my commandments and precepts, saith the Lord God, let not your sins gain the upper hand over you, nor your iniquities lord it over you.
78. Woe to them that are bound fast by their sins and over-run by their iniquities, like as a field, to which no one goes, is fast bound with bushes, and its con overgrown with thorns: it is rooted out and thrown into the fire, that it may be utterly consumed.

Notes

1. The fact that such texts are also to be found in the Armenian versions of the Bible (cf. M.Ε. Stone, The Apocryphal Literature in the Armenian Tradition [The Israel Acad. of Sciences and Humanities-Proceedings IV, 4), Jerusalem 1969, [6]64), is not in conflict with the above statement, since the Armenian versions concerned go back to Latin sources.
2. Following Labourt (see Lit.), J. Danielou on the contrary pleads for a Latin original for 5th Esra (Studies in the History of Religions [Supplement 21 to Numen), 1972, 162-171). His argument however presents no new proofs, but concentrates on the noting of certain analogies which are supposed to link this document with other Latin works from the end of the 2nd century (e.g. Passio Perpetuae and the adv. Judaeos of ps.-Cyprian)
3. G.N. Stanton recently argues (JTS 28, 1977, 67-83) for an origin as early as the middle of the 2nd century in a Jewish-Christian milieu for 5th Ears. The arguments for this he draws from the supposed exclusive influence which-within the NT-the Gospel of Matthew has exercised upon this document, and from the typically Jewish-Christian features of the community in which 5th Esra came into being.

References

1. No Biblical citations and references are given for the following section (1.4-2.9), for the text is nothing but a mosaic of innumerable OT passages.
2. Lk 16:9
3. Rev. 22:2
4. Cf. Mt. 7:7 and par
5. Cf. Is. 26:19.
6. Exod. 3:8, etc.
7. Enoch 24
8. Cf. Is. 1:17; 58:6f.; Jer. 7:51. James 1:27: Tob. 1:17.
9. Cf. Heb. 4:9.
10. Cf. Jn. 17:12: also 10:28.
11. Jer. 3:12.
12. 1 Thess. 2:12.
13. Cf. Rev. 7:4f7; Lk 14:15.
14. Cf. Rev. 6:11; 7:9.
15. Cf. ibid.
16. Cf. Hermas, Sim. IX 6.1
17. Cf. Rev. 7:131
18. Rev. 7:9.

Fifth Book of Esra

Bonwetsch, Texte zur Geschichte des Montanismus (KIT 129), 1914; K. Aland, ‘Bemerkungen zum Montanismus und zur frühchristlichen Eschatologie’, Kirchengeschichtliche Entwürfe. 1960, 105-148. On the significance of Montanism for the history of the Canon, see vol. 1, p. 24ff. by Hugo Duensing † and Aurelio de Santos Otero

Introduction

Fifth Esra

1:4 The word of God which came to Esra, the son of Chusis, in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, thus:
5. Go and make known to my people their misdeeds, and to their sons the evil which they have committed against me, that they may recount it to their children’s children.
6. For the sins of their fathers are increased in them (still); they have forgotten me and sacrificed to strange gods.
7. Have not I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage? But they have provoked me to wrath and despised my counsels. 8. Shake thou therefore the hair of thy head and let all evils fall upon them, for they have not obeyed my law, the stiff-necked people!
9. How long shall I tolerate them? So many benefits have I shown to them!
10. Many kings have I overthrown for their sakes; Pharaoh and his servants and all his hosts have I thrown violently down.
11. Have I not for your sake destroyed the city of Bethsaida and burned with fire two cities in the east, Tyre and Sidon?
12. Speak thou then unto them: Thus saith the Lord:
13. Of a truth, I have brought you through the sea and in the pathless desert I provided for you prepared roads. As a leader I gave to you Moses and Aaron as a priest.
14. Light have I granted you by the pillar of fire and great wonders have I done among you. But you have forgotten me, saith the Lord.
15. Thus saith the Lord, the Almighty: The quails were for a sign to you; a camp did I give you for shelter, and there you murmured.
16. And you triumphed not in my name over the destruction of your enemies; no, even to this day, you still murmur.
17. Where are the benefits which I have shown to you? Have you not cried unto me in the desert, when you suffered hunger and thirst:
18. ‘Why hast thou brought us into this desert to kill us? Better that we had been slaves to the Egyptians than to die in this desert!’
19. Your sufferings made me sorrowful and I gave you manna for food; the bread of angels have you eaten.
20. When you suffered thirst, did I not cleave the rock and water flowed to your fill? Because of the heat I covered you with leaves of the trees.
21. Fertile lands did I apportion to you; the Canaanites, the Perizites, the Philistines did I cast out before you. What shall I yet do for you? saith the Lord.
22. Thus saith the Lord, the Almighty: When you were in the wilderness, thirsting at the bitter waters and blaspheming my name,
23. there I let not fire rain upon you for your blasphemies, but casting a tree into the waters, I made the river sweet.
24. What shall I do to thee, Jacob? Thou wouldst not obey me, Judah! I will turn to other nations and give to them my name, that they may keep my statutes.
25. Since you have forsaken me, I will also forsake you. When you implore me for mercy, I will have no mercy upon you.
26. When you call on me, I will not hear. For you have defiled your hands with blood and your feet are swift to commit acts of murder.
27. You have not, as it were, left me in the lurch, but your own selves, saith the Lord.
28. Thus saith the Lord, the Almighty: Have I not admonished you with prayers, as a father his sons, as a mother her daughters, as a nurse her infants,
29. that you should be a people for me and I should be your God, that you should be sons to me and I a father to you?
30. I gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wing. But now, what shall I do to you? I will cast you forth from my presence!
31. When you bring offerings to me, I will turn my face from you; for your feasts and new moons and circumcisions of the flesh have I not asked.
32. I sent to you my servants the prophets, whom you have taken and slain and torn their bodies in pieces. Their blood will I visit upon you again, saith the Lord.
33. Thus saith the Lord, the Almighty: Your house is desolate; I will cast you forth as the wind does stubble.
34. And your children will not produce offspring, for they have with you despised my commandment and done that which is evil in my sight.
35. I will give your dwellings to a people which shall come, who, though they have not heard of me, yet believe; to whom I have shown no wonderful signs. They will do what I have commanded.
36. They have not seen the prophets, but they will hold in remembrance their history.
37. I testify to the grace which shall meet the people to come, whose children jump for joy, though they see me not with the eyes of the body, yet in their spirit they believe what I have said.
38. And now, O Father, behold in glory and see thy people who come from the rising of the sun!
39. To them will I give the dominion with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Elias and Enoch, Zachariah and Hosea, Amos, Joel, Micah, Obadiah,
40. Zephaniah, Nahum, Jonah, Mattathias, Habakkuk and the twelve angels with flowers.
2.1. Thus saith the Lord: I have brought this people out of bondage and have given them commandments by my servants the prophets, but they would not hear them, but threw my counsel to the wind.
2. The mother who bare them saith to them, Go, my sons, for I am widowed and forsaken.
3. I have brought you up with joy, and with sadness and sorrow have I lost you, since you have sinned before the Lord and done what is evil in my sight.
4. But now, what shall I do to you? I am widowed and forsaken. Go, my children, and ask the Lord for mercy.
5. But I call upon thee, O Father, as a witness upon the mother of these children, for they would not keep my covenant:
6. Let destruction come upon them, and looting upon their mother, so that no offspring may come after them.
7. Let them be scattered among the heathen, let their names be banished from the earth, for they have despised my covenant.
8. Woe to thee, Asshur, who shelterest in thee the unrighteous. Wicked city, remember what I have done to Sodom and Gomorrah,
9. whose land lies in clods of pitch and heaps of ashes; thus will I do to those who have not listened to me, saith the Lord, the Almighty.
10. Thus saith the Lord unto Esra: Tell my people that I will give to them the kingdom of Jerusalem which I would have given to Israel.
11. I will take unto me the glory of these (the Israelites) and give to those (my people) the everlasting tabernacles2 which I had prepared for them (Israel).
12. The tree of life3 will be to them for an ointment of sweet fragrance and they shall not labour nor weary.
13. Ask and ye shall receive4; plead for few days for yourselves, that they may be shortened. The kingdom is already prepared for you: watch!
14. I call heaven and earth to witness: I have given up the evil and created the good for (=so surely as) I live, saith the Lord.
15. (Good) mother, embrace thy children, bring them up with joy like a dove (CM: give them joy like a dove who tends her young), establish their feet, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord.
16. I will raise up the dead from their places and bring them forth out of the tombs,5 for I have known my name in them.
17. Fear thou not, O mother of the children, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord.
18. I will send for thy help my servants Isaiah and Jeremiah (CM + and Daniel) according to whose counsel I sanctified (CM+thee) and have prepared for thee twelve trees, heavy laden with many kinds of fruit,
19. and as many fountains which flow with milk and honey,6 and seven measureless mountains,7 filled with roses and lilies, wherein I will fill thy children with joy.
20. Do right to the widow, assist the fatherless to his right; give to the needy; protect the orphan, clothe the naked;
21. tend the cripple and the feeble, laugh not at the lame, defend the frail and let the blind man behold my glory.8
22. Guard the aged and the young within thy walls, preserve thy little children, let thy slaves and freemen rejoice and thy whole company live in cheerfulness.
23. Wherever thou findest the dead, there commit them to a grave, marking it; so will I give to thee the first place in my resurrection.
24. Rest and be at peace, my people, for your repose will come.9
25. Good nurse, nourish thy children, and establish their feet.
26. The (SA: servants) which I have given thee-none of them shall perish,10 for I will require them according to thy number.
27. Be not anxious; for when the day of affliction and anguish is come, others will weep and be sorrowful, but thou shalt be gay and rich.
28. The nations will envy thee, and prevail not against thee, saith the Lord.
29. My hands will shelter thee, that thy children see not Gehenna.
30. Be joyful, O mother, with thy children, for I will deliver thee, saith the Lord.
31. Remember thy sleeping children, for I will bring them from the hidden graves in the earth and show mercy to them: for I am merciful, saith the Lord.11
32. Embrace thy children till I come, and proclaim mercy to them, for my wells run over and my grace will not cease.
33. I, Esra, received the command of the Lord on the mountain Horeb that I should go to Israel: when I came to them, they rejected me and received not the commandment of God.
34. Therefore I say unto you, ye nations (= heathen), you who hear and understand: Wait for your shepherd! He will give you everlasting rest, for he is near who shall come at the end of the world.
35. Be ready for the rewards of the kingdom, for everlasting light shall shine upon you for evermore.
36. Flee the shadow of this world; receive the joy of your glory; I call to witness my Saviour openly.
37. Receive that which is offered you by the Lord and be joyful, giving thanks to him who has called you to his heavenly kingdom.12
38. Arise and stand and behold the number of those who are sealed at the banquet of the Lord.13
39. Those who have withdrawn from the shadow of this world have received shining garments from the Lord.14
40. Receive, O Zion, thy number (see 26) and embrace those who are clothed in white,15 who have fulfilled the law of the Lord.
41. The number of thy children, whom thou desirest, is complete; beseech the rule of the Lord that thy people, whom I have called from the beginning, may be sanctified.
42. I, Esra, saw upon mount Zion a great company, which I could not number, and they all praised the Lord with songs.
43. In the midst of them was a young man, tall of stature, towering above all the rest, and he set a crown upon the head of each one of them and he waxed ever taller. But I was absorbed by the wonder.16
44. So I asked the angel, saying, ‘Who are these, Lord?’
45. He answered and said to me. “These are they who have laid aside their mortal clothing and put on the immortal and have confessed the name of God.17 Now are they crowned and receive palms.
46. And I said to the angel, ‘Who is that young man who setteth crowns upon them and giveth them palms in their hands?
47. He answered me and said, “This is the Son of God whom they have confessed in the world. And I began to praise them who had appeared so valiant for the name of the Lord.
48. Then the angel said unto me, ‘Go! Proclaim to my people what wonders of the Lord thy God thou hast seen and how great they are.

Notes

References

Epistula Apostolorum

EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLES

The authorities for the text are: (a) a Coptic MS. of the fourth or fifth century at Cairo, mutilated; (b) a complete version in Ethiopic; (c) a leaf of a fifth-century MS. in Latin, palimpsest, at Vienna. The only edition which makes use of all the authorities is C. Schmidt’s, 1919. The Ethiopic was previously edited by Guerrier in Patrologia orientalis under the title of Testament of our Lord in Galilee. A notice of the text by Guerrier in the Revue de l’Orient Chretien (1907) enabled me to identify it with the Coptic text, of which Schmidt had given a account to the Berlin Academy. As to the date and character of the book, Sehmidt’s verdict is that it was written in Asia Minor about A.D. 160 by an orthodox Catholic. The orthodoxy has been questioned (see a review by G. Bardy in Revue Biblique, 1921). No ancient writer mentions it, and very few traces of its use can be found: the (third ?)-century poet Commodian seems to use it in one place (see 11).

There has so far been no English rendering of the text; my version depends on Schmidt and Guerrier.

In the Ethiopic version another writing, a prophecy of our Lord concerning the signs of the end, is prefixed to the Epistle. Parts of the this recur in the Syriac Testament of the Lord and part is repeated in the Epistle itself. It is noteworthy that this prophecy ends with a passage which is identical with one quoted by Clement of Alexandria from a source he does not name he does not name – only calling it ‘the Scripture’.

The first four leaves of the Coptic MS. are lost, so we depend on the Ethiopic for the opening of the text.

1 The book which Jesus Christ revealed unto his disciples: and how that Jesus Christ revealed the book for the company (college) of the apostles, the disciples of Jesus Christ, even the book which is for all men. Simon and Cerinthus, the false apostles, concerning whom it is written that no man shall cleave unto them, for there is in them deceit wherewith they bring men to destruction. (The book hath been written) that ye may be not flinch nor be troubled, and depart not from the word of the Gospel which ye have heard. Like as we heard it, we keep it in remembrance and have written it for the whole world. We commend you our sons and our daughters in joy <in the grace of God (?)> in the name of God the Father the Lord of the world, and of Jesus Christ. Let grace be multiplied upon you.

2 We, John, Thomas, Peter, Andrew, James, Philip, Batholomew, Matthew, Nathanael, Judas Zelotes, and Cephas, write unto the churches of the east and the west, of the north and the south, the declaring and imparting unto you that which concerneth our Lord Jesus Christ: we do write according as we have seen and heard and touched him, after that he was risen from the dead: and how that he revealed unto us things mighty and wonderful and true.

3 This know we: that our Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ is God the Son of God, who was sent of God the Lord of the whole world, the maker and creator of it, who is named by all names, and high above all powers, Lord of lords, King of kings, Ruler of rulers, the heavenly one, that sitteth above the cherubim and seraphim at the right hand of the throne of the Father: who by his word made the heavens, and formed the earth and that which is in it, and set bounds to the sea that it should not pass: the deeps also and fountains, that they should spring forth and flow over the earth: the day and the night, the sun and the moon, did he establish, and the stars in the heaven: that did separate the light from the darkness: that called forth hell, and in the twinkling of an eye ordained the rain of the winter, the snow (cloud), the hail, and the ice, and the days in their several seasons: that maketh the earth to quake and again establisheth it: that created man in his own image, after his likeness, and by the fathers of old and the prophets is it declared (or, and spake in parables with the fathers of old and the prophets in verity), of whom the apostles preached, and whom the disciples did touch. In God, the Lord, the Son of God, do we believe, that he is the word become flesh: that of Mary the holy virgin he took a body, begotten of the Holy Ghost, not of the will (lust) of the flesh, but by the will of God: that he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem and made manifest, and grew up and came to ripe age, when also we beheld it.

4 This did our Lord Jesus Christ, who was sent by Joseph and Mary his mother to be taught. [And] when he that taught him said unto him: Say Alpha: then answered he and said: Tell thou me first what is Beta (probably: Tell thou me first what is <Alpha and then will I tell thee what is> Beta. Cf. the Marcosian story quoted by Irenaeus (see above, Gospel of Thomas, p. 15). The story is in our texts of the Gospel of Thomas, and all the Infancy Gospels). This thing which then came to pass is to true and of verity.

5 Thereafter was there a marriage in Cana of Galilee; and they bade him with his mother and his brethren, and he changed water into wine. He raised the dead, he caused the lame to walk: him whose hand was withered he caused to stretch it out, and the woman which had suffered an issue of blood twelve years touched the hem of his garment and was healed in the same hour. And when we marvelled at the miracle which was done, he said: Who touched me? Then said we: Lord, the press of men hath touched thee. But he answered and said unto us: I perceive that a virtue is gone out of me. Straightway that woman came before him, and answered and said unto him: Lord, I touched thee. And he answered and said unto her: Go, thy faith hath made thee whole. Thereafter he made the deaf to hear and the blind to see; out of them that were possessed he cast out the unclean spirits, and cleansed the lepers. The spirit which dwelt in a man, whereof the name was Legion, cried out against Jesus, saying: Before the time of our destruction is come, thou art come to drive us out. But the Lord Jesus rebuked him, saying: Go out of this man and do him no hurt. And he entered into the swine and drowned them in the water and they were choked.

Thereafter he did walk upon the sea, and the winds blew, and he cried out against them (rebuked them), and the waves of the sea were made calm. And when we his disciples had no money, we asked him: What shall we do because of the tax-gatherer? And he answered and told us: Let one of you cast an hook into the deep, and take out a fish, and he shall find therein a penny: that give unto the tax-gatherer for me and you. And thereafter when we had no bread, but only five loaves and two fishes, he commanded the people to sit them down, and the number of them was five thousand, besides children and women. We did set pieces of bread before them, and they ate and were filled, and there remained over, and we filled twelve baskets full of the fragments, asking one another and saying: What mean these five loaves? They are the symbol of our faith in the Lord of the Christians (in the great christendom), even in the Father, the Lord Almighty, and in Jesus Christ our redeemer, in the Holy Ghost the comforter, in the holy church, and in the remission of sins.

6 These things did our Lord and Saviour reveal unto us and teach us. And we do even as he, that ye may become partakers in the grace of our Lord and in our ministry and our giving of thanks (glory), and think upon life eternal. Be ye steadfast and waver not in the knowledge and confidence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he will have mercy on you and save you everlastingly, world without end.

Here begins the Coptic text.

7 Cerinthus and Simon are come to go to and fro in the world, but they are enemies of our Lord Jesus Christ, for they do pervert the word and the true thing, even (faith in) Jesus Christ. Keep yourselves therefore far from them, for death is in them, and great pollution and corruption, even in these on whom shall come judgement and the end and everlasting destruction.

8 Therefore have we not shrunk from writing unto you concerning the testimony of Christ our Saviour, of what he did, when we followed with him, how he enlightened our understanding…

9 Concerning whom we testify that the Lord is he who was crucified by Pontius Pilate and Archelaus between the two thieves (and with them he was taken down from the tree of the cross, Eth.), and was buried in a place which is called the place of a skull (Kranion). And thither went three women, Mary, she that was kin to Martha, and Mary Magdalene (Sarrha, Martha, and Mary, Eth.), and took ointments to pour upon the body, weeping and mourning over that which was come to pass. And when they drew near to the sepulchre, they looked in and found not the body (Eth. they found the stone rolled away and opened the entrance).

10 And as they mourned and wept, the Lord showed himself unto them and said to them: For whom weep ye? weep no more. I am he whom ye seek. But let one of you go to your brethren and say: Come ye, the Master is risen from the dead. Martha (Mary, Eth.) came and told us. We said unto her: What haw we to do with thee, woman ? He that is dead and buried, is it possible that he should live? And we believed her not that the Saviour was risen from the dead. Then she returned unto the Lord and said unto him: None of them hath believed me, that thou livest. He said: Let another of you go unto them and tell them again. Mary (Sarrha, Eth.) came and told us again, and we believed her not; and she returned unto thc Lord and she also told him.

11 Then said the Lord unto Mary and her sisters: Let us go unto them. And he came and found us within (sitting veiled or fishing, Eth.), and called us out; but we thought that it was a phantom and believed not that it was the Lord. Then said he unto us: Come, fear ye not. I am your master, even he, O Peter, whom thou didst deny thrice; and dost thou now deny again? And we came unto him, doubting in our hearts whether it were he. Then said he unto us: Wherefore doubt ye still, and are unbelieving? I am he that spake unto you of my flesh and my death and my resurrection. But that ye may know that I am he, do thou, Peter, put thy finger into the print of the nails in mine hands, and thou also, Thomas, put thy finger into the wound of the spear in my side; but thou, Andrew, look on my feet and see whether they press the earth; for it is written in the prophet: A phantom of a devil maketh no footprint on the earth.

12 And we touched him, that we might learn of a truth whether he were risen in the flesh; and we fell on our faces (and worshipped him) confessing our sin, that we had been unbelieving. Then said our Lord and Saviour unto us: Rise up, and I will reveal unto you that which is above the heaven and in the heaven, and your rest which is in the kingdom of heaven. For my Father hath given me power (sent me, Eth.) to take you up thither, and them also that believe on me.

13 Now that which he revealed unto us is this, which he spake: It came to pass when I was about (minded) to come hither from the Father of all things, and passed through the heavens, then did I put on the wisdom of the Father, and I put on the power of his might. I was in heaven, and I passed by the archangels and the angels in their likeness, like as if I were one of them, among the princedoms and powers. I passed through them because I possessed the wisdom of him that had sent me. Now the chief captain of the angels, [is] Michael, and Gabriel and Uriel and Raphael followed me unto the fifth firmament (heaven), for they thought in their heart that I was one of them; such power was given me of my Father. And on that day did I adorn the archangels with a wonderful voice (so Copt.: Eth., Lat., I made them quake–amazed them), so that they should go unto the altar of the Father and serve and fulfil the ministry until I should return unto him. And so wrought I the likeness by my wisdom; for I became all things in all, that I might praise the dispensation of the Father and fulfil the glory of him that sent me (the verbs might well be transposed) and return unto him. (Here the Latin omits a considerable portion of text without notice, to near the beginning of c. 17.)

14 For ye know that the angel Gabriel brought the message unto Mary. And we answered: Yea, Lord. He answered and said unto us: Remember ye not, then, that I said unto you a little while ago: I became an angel among the angels, and I became all things in all? We said unto him: Yea, Lord. Then answered he and said unto us: On that day whereon I took the form of the angel Gabriel, I appeared unto Mary and spake with her. Her heart accepted me, and she believed (She believed and laughed, Eth.), and I formed myself and entered into her body. I became flesh, for I alone was a minister unto myself in that which concerned Mary (I was mine own messenger, Eth.) in the appearance of the shape of an angel. For so must I needs (or, was I wont to) do. Thereafter did I return to my Father (Copt. After my return to the Father, and run on).

15 But do ye commemorate my death. Now when the Passover (Easter, pascha) cometh, one of you shall be cast into prison for my name’s sake; and he will be in grief and sorrow, because ye keep the Easter while he is in prison and separated from you, for he will be sorrowful because he keepeth not Easter with you. And I will send my power in the form of mine angel Gabriel, and the doors of the prison shall open. And he shall come forth and come unto you and keep the night-watch with you until the cock crow. And when ye have accomplished the memorial which is made of me, and the Agape (love-feast), he shall again be cast into prison for a testimony, until he shall come out thence and preach that which I have delivered unto you.

And we said unto him: Lord, is it then needful that we should again take the cup and drink? (Lord, didst not thou thyself fulfil the drinking of the Passover? is it then needful that we should accomplish it again? Eth.) He said unto us: Yea, it is needful, until the day when I come again, with them that have been put to death for my sake (come with my wounds, Eth.).

16 Then said we to him: Lord, that which thou hast revealed unto us (revealest, Eth.) is great. Wilt thou come in the power of any creature or in an appearance of any kind ? (In what power or form wilt thou come? Eth.) He answered and said unto us: Verily I say unto you, I shall come like the sun when it is risen, and my brightness will be seven times the brightness thereof! The wings of the clouds shall bear me in brightness, and the sign of the cross shall go before me, and I shall come upon earth to judge the quick and the dead.

17 We said unto him: Lord, after how many years shall this come to pass ? He said unto us: When the hundredth part and the twentieth part is fulfilled, between the Pentecost and the feast of unleavened bread, then shall the coming of my Father be (so Copt.: When an hundred and fifty years are past, in the days of the feast of Passover and Pentecost, &c., Eth.: . . . (imperfect word) year is fulfilled, between the unleavened bread and Pentecost shall be the coming of my Father, Lat.).

We said unto him: Now sayest thou unto us: I will come; and how sayest thou: He that sent me is he that shall come? Then said he to us: I am wholly in the Father and my Father is in me. Then said we to him: Wilt thou indeed forsake us until thy coming? Where can we find a master? But he answered and said unto us: Know ye not, then, that like as until now I have been here, so also was I there, with him that sent me? And we said to him: Lord, is it then possible that thou shouldest be both here and there? But he answered us: I am wholly in the Father and the Father in me, because of (in regard of) the likeness of the form and the power and the fullness and the light and the full measure and the voice. I am the word, I am become unto him a thing, that is to say (word gone) of the thought, fulfilled in the type (likeness); I have into the Ogdoad (eighth number), which is the Lord’s day. (In place of these sentences Eth. has: I am of his resemblance and form, of his power and completeness, and of his light. I am his complete (fulfilled, entire) Word.

18 But it came to pass after he was crucified, and dead and arisen again, when the work was fulfilled which was accomplished in the flesh, and he was crucified and the ascension come to pass at the end of the days, then said he thus, &c. It is an interpolation, in place of words which the translator did not understand, or found heretical.) But the whole fulfilment of the fulfilment shall ye see after the redemption which hath come to pass by me, and ye shall see me, how I go up unto my Father which is in heaven. But behold, now, I give unto you a new commandment: Love one another and [a leaf lost in Copt.] obey one another, that peace may rule alway among you. Love your enemies, and what ye would not that man do unto you, that do unto no man.

19 And this preach ye also and teach them that believe on me, and preach the kingdom of heaven of my Father, and how my Father hath given me the power, that ye may bring near the children of my heavenly Father. Preach ye, and they shall obtain faith, that ye may be they for whom it is ordained that they shall bring his children unto heaven.

And we said unto him: Lord, unto thee it is possible to accomplish that whereof thou tellest us; but how shall we be able to do it? He said to us: Verily I say unto you, preach and proclaim as I command you, for I will be with you, for it is my good pleasure to be with you, that ye may be heirs with me in the kingdom of heaven, even the kingdom of him that sent me. Verily I say unto you, ye shall be my brethren and my friends, for my Father hath found pleasure in you: and so also shall they be that believe on me by your means. Verily I say unto you, such and so great joy hath my Father prepared for you that the angels and the powers desired and do desire to see it and look upon it; but it is not given unto them to behold the glory of my Father. We said unto him: Lord, what is this whereof thou speakest to us?

Copt. begins again: words are missing.He answered us: Ye shall behold a light, more excellent than that which shineth… (shineth more brightly than the light, and is more perfect than perfection. And the Son shall become perfect through the Father who is Light, for the Father is perfect which bringeth to pass death and resurrection, and ye shall see a perfection more perfect than the perfect. And I am wholly at the right hand of the Father, even in him that maketh perfect. So Eth.: Copt. has gaps).

And we said unto him: Lord, in all things art thou become salvation and life unto us, for that thou makest known such a hope unto us. And he said to us: Be of good courage and rest in me. Verily I say unto you, your rest shall be above (?), in the place where is neither eating nor drinking, nor care (Copt. joy) nor sorrow, nor passing away of them that are therein: for ye shall have no part in (the things of earth, Eth.) but ye shall be received in the everlastingness of my Father. Like as I am in him, so shall ye also be in me.

Again we said unto him: In what form? in the fashion of angels, or in flesh ? And he answered and said unto us: Lo, I have put on your flesh, wherein I was born and crucified, and am risen again through my Father which is in heaven, that the prophecy of David the prophet might be fulfilled, in regard of that which was declared concerning me and my death and resurrection, saying:

Lord, they are increased that fight with me, and many are they that are risen up against me.

Many there be that say to my soul: There is no help for him in his God.

But thou, O Lord, art my defender: thou art my worship, and the lifter up of my head.

I did call upon the Lord with my voice and he heard me (out of the high place of his temple, Eth.).

I laid me down and slept, and rose up again: for thou, O Lord, art my defender.

I will not be afraid for ten thousands of the people, that have set themselves against me round about.

Up, Lord, and help me, O my God: for thou hast smitten down all them that without cause are mine enemies: thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.

Salvation belongeth unto the Lord, and his good pleasure is upon his people (Ps. iii. 1-8).

If, therefore, all the words which were spoken by the prophets have been fulfilled in me (for I myself was in them), how much more shall that which I say unto you come to pass indeed, that he which sent me may be glorified by you and by them that believe on me?

20 And when he had said this unto us, we said to him: In all things hast thou had mercy on us and saved us, and hast revealed all things unto us; but yet would we ask of thee somewhat if thou give us leave. And he said unto us: I know that ye pay heed, and that your heart is well-pleased when ye hear me: now concerning that which ye desire, I will speak good words unto you. 21 For verily I say unto you: Like as my Father hath raised me from the dead, so shall ye also rise (in the flesh, Eth.) and be taken up into the highest heaven, unto the place whereof I have told you from the beginning, unto the place which he who sent me hath prepared for you. And so will I accomplish all dispensations (all grace, Eth.), even I who am unbegotten and yet begotten of mankind, who am without flesh and yet have borne flesh <and have grown up like unto you that were born in flesh, Eth.>: for to that end am I come, that (gap in Copt.: Eth. continues) ye might rise from the dead in your flesh, in the second birth, even a vesture that shall not decay, together with all them that hope and believe in him that sent me: for so is the will of my Father, that I should give unto you, and unto them whom it pleaseth me, the hope of the kingdom.

Then said we unto him: Great is that which thou sufferest us to hope, and tellest us. And he answered and said: Believe ye that everything that I tell you shall come to pass ? We answered and said: Yea, Lord. (Copt. resumes for a few lines: then another gap. I follow Eth.) He said unto us: Verily I say unto you, that I have obtained the whole power of my Father, that I may bring back into light them that dwell in darkness, them that are in corruption into incorruption, them that are in death into life, and that I may loose them that are in fetters. For that which is impossible with men, is possible with the Father. I am the hope of them that despair, the helper of them that have no saviour, the wealth of the poor, thc health of the sick, and the resurrection of the dead.

22 When he had thus said, we said unto him: Lord, is it true that the flesh shall be judged together with the soul and the spirit, and that the one part shall rest in heaven and the other part be punished everlastingly yet living? And he said unto us: (Copt. resumes) How long will ye inquire and doubt?

23 Again we said unto him: Lord, there is necessity upon us to inquire of thee–because thou hast commanded us to preach–that we ourselves may learn assuredly of thee and be profitable preachers, and that they which are instructed by us may believe in thee. Therefore must we needs inquire of thee.

24 He answered us and said: Verily I say unto you, the resurrection of the flesh shall come to pass with the soul therein and the spirit. And we said unto him: Lord, is it then possible that that which is dissolved and brought to nought should become whole? and we ask thee not as unbelieving, neither as if it were impossible unto thee; but verily we believe that that which thou sayest shall come to pass. And he was wroth with us and said: O ye of little faith, how long will ye ask questions? But what ye will, tell it me, and I myself will tell you without grudging: only keep ye my commandments and do that which I bid you, and turn not away your face from any man, that I turn not my face away from you, but without shrinking and fear and without respect of persons, minister ye in the way that is direct and narrow and strait. So shall my Father himself rejoice over you.

25 Again we said unto him: Lord, already are we ashamed that we question thee oft-times and burden thee. And he answered and said unto us: I know that in faith and with your whole heart ye do question me; therefore do I rejoice over you, for verily I say unto you: I rejoice, and my Father that is in me, because ye question me; and your importunity (shamelessness) is unto me rejoicing and unto you it giveth life. And when he had so said unto us, we were glad that we had questioned him, and we said to him: Lord, in all things thou makest us alive and hast mercy on us. Wilt thou now declare unto us that which we shall ask thee? Then said he unto us: Is it the flesh that passeth away, or is it the spirit? We said unto him: The flesh is it that passeth away. Then said he unto us: That which hath fallen shall rise again, and that which was lost shall be found, and that which was weak shall recover, that in these things that are so created the glory of my Father may be revealed. As he hath done unto me, so will I do unto all that believe in me.

26 Verily I say unto you: the flesh shall arise, and the soul, alive, that their defence may come to pass on that day in regard of that that they have done, whether it be good or evil: that there may be a choosing-out of the faithful who have kept the commandments of my Father that sent me; and so shall the judgement be accomplished with strictness. For my Father said unto me: My Son, in the day of judgement thou shalt have no respect for the rich, neither pity for the poor, but according to the sins of every man shalt thou deliver him unto everlasting torment. But unto my beloved that have done the commandments of my Father that sent me will I give the rest of life in the kingdom of my Father which is in heaven, and they shall behold that which he hath given me. And he hath given me authority to do that which I will, and to give that which I have promised and determined to give and grant unto them.

27 For to that end went I down unto the place of Lazarus, and preached unto the righteous and the prophets, that they might come out of the rest which is below and come up into that which is above; and I poured out upon them with my right hand the water (?) (baptism, Eth.) of life and forgiveness and salvation from all evil, as I have done unto you and unto them that believe on me. But if any man believe on me and do not my commandments, although he have confessed my name, he hath no profit therefrom but runneth a vain race: for such will find themselves in perdition and destruction, because they have despised my commandments.

28 But so much the more have I redeemed you, the children of light, from all evil and from the authority of the rulers (archons), and every one that believeth on me by your means. For that which I have promised unto you will I give unto them also, that they may come out of the prison-house and the fetters of the rulers. We answered and said: Lord, thou hast given unto us the rest of life and hast given us <joy?> by wonders, unto the confirmation of faith: wilt thou now preach the same unto us, seeing that thou hast preached it unto the <righteous> and the prophets? Then said he unto us: Verily I say unto you, all that have believed on me and that believe in him that sent me will I take up into the heaven, unto the place which my Father hath prepared for the elect, and I will give you the kingdom, the chosen kingdom, in rest, and everlasting life.

29 But all they that have offended against my commandments and have taught other doctrine, (perverting) the Scripture and adding thereto, striving after their own glory, and that teach with other words them that believe on me in uprightness, if they make them fall thereby, shall receive everlasting punishment. We said unto him: Lord, shall there then be teaching by others, diverse from that which thou hast spoken unto us ? He said unto us: It must needs be, that the evil and the good may be made manifest; and the judgement shall be manifest upon them that do these things, and according to their works shall they be judged and shall be delivered unto death.

Again we said unto him: Lord, blessed are we in that we see thee and hear thee declaring such things, for our eyes have beheld these great wonders that thou hast done. He answered and said unto us: Yea, rather blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed, for they shall be called children of the kingdom, and they shall be perfect among the perfect, and I will be unto them life in the kingdom of my Father.

Again we said unto him: Lord, how shall men be able to believe that thou wilt depart and leave us; for thou sayest unto us: There shall come a day and an hour when I shall ascend unto my Father?

30 But he said unto us: Go ye and preach unto the twelve tribes, and preach also unto the heathen, and to all the land of Israel from the east to the west and from the south unto the north, and many shall believe on <me> the Son of God. But we said unto him: Lord, who will believe us, or hearken unto us, or (how shall we be able, Eth.) to teach the powers and signs and wonders which thou hast done ? Then answered he and said to us: Go ye and preach the mercifulness of my Father, and that which he hath done through me will I myself do through you, for I am in you, and I will give you my peace, and I will give you a power of my spirit, that ye may prophesy to them unto life eternal. And unto the others also will I give my power, that they may teach the residue of the peoples.

(Six leaves lost in Copt.: Eth. continues.)31 And behold a man shall meet you, whose name is Saul, which being interpreted is Paul: he is a Jew, circumcised according to the law, and he shall receive my voice from heaven with fear and terror and trembling. And his eyes shall be blinded, and by your hands by the sign of the cross shall they be protected (healed: other Eth. MSS. with spittle by your hands shall his eyes, &c.). Do ye unto him all that I have done unto you. Deliver it (? the word of God) unto the other. And at the same time that man shall open his eyes and praise the Lord, even my Father which is in heaven. He shall obtain power among the people and shall preach and instruct; and many that hear him shall obtain glory and be redeemed. But thereafter shall men be wroth with him and deliver him into the hands of his enemies, and he shall bear witness before kings that are mortal, and his end shall be that he shall turn unto me, whereas he persecuted me at the first. He shall preach and teach and abide with the elect, as a chosen vessel and a wall that shall not be overthrown, yea, the last of the last shall become a preacher unto the Gentiles, made perfect by the will of my Father. Like as ye have learned from the Scripture that your fathers the prophets spake of me, and in me it is indeed fulfilled.

And he said unto us: Be ye also therefore guides unto them; and all things that I said unto you, and that ye write concerning me (tell ye them), that I am the word of the Father and that the Father is in me. Such also shall ye be unto that man, as becometh you. Instruct him and bring to his mind that which is spoken of me in the Scripture and is fulfilled, and thereafter shall he become the salvation of the Gentiles.

32 And we asked him: Lord, is there for us and for them the self-same expectation of the inheritance? He answered and said unto us: Are then the fingers of the hand like unto each other, or the ears of corn in the field, or do all fruit-trees bear the same fruit? Doth not every one bear fruit according to its nature? And we said unto him: Lord, wilt thou again speak unto us in parables? Then said he unto us: Lament not. Verily I say unto you, ye are my brethren, and my companions in the kingdom of heaven unto my Father, for so is his good pleasure. Verily I say unto you, unto them also whom ye teach and who believe on me will I give that expectation.

33 And we asked him again: When shall we meet with that man, and when wilt thou depart unto thy Father and our God and Lord? He answered and said unto us: That man will come out of the land of Cilicia unto Damascus of Syria, to root up the church which ye must found there. It is I that speak through you; and he shall come quickly: and he shall become strong in the faith, that the word of the prophet may be fulfilled, which saith: Behold, out of Syria will I begin to call together a new Jerusalem, and Sion will I subdue unto me, and it shall be taken, and the place which is childless shall be called the son and daughter of my Father, and my bride. For so hath it pleased him that sent me. But that man will I turn back, that he accomplish not his evil desire, and the praise of my Father shall be perfected in him, and after that I am gone home and abide with my Father, I will speak unto him from heaven, and all things shall be accomplished which I have told you before concerning him.

34 And we said unto him again: Lord, so many great things hast thou told us and revealed unto us as never yet were spoken, and in all hast thou given us rest and been gracious unto us. After thy resurrection thou didst reveal unto us all things that we might be saved indeed; but thou saidst unto us only: There shall be wonders and strange appearances in heaven and on earth before the end of the world come. Tell us now, how shall we perceive it? And he answered us: I will teach it you; and not that which shall befall you only, but them also whom ye shall teach and who shall believe, as well as them who shall hear that man and believe on me. In those years and days shall it come to pass.

And we said again unto him: Lord, what shall come to pass? And he said unto us: Then shall they that believe and they that believe not hear (see, Eth.) a trumpet in the heaven, a vision of great stars which shall be seen in the day, wonderful sights in heaven reaching down to the earth; stars which fall upon the earth like fire, and a great and mighty hail of fire (a star shining from the east unto this place, like unto fire, Eth. 2). The sun and the moon fighting one with the other, a continual rolling and noise of thunders and lightnings, thunder and earthquake; cities falling and men perishing in their overthrow, a continual dearth for lack of rain, a terrible pestilence and great mortality, mighty and untimely, so that they that die lack burial: and the bearing forth of brethren and sisters and kinsfolk shall be upon one bier. The kinsman shall show no favour to his kinsman, nor any man to his neighbour. And they that were overthrown shall rise up and behold them that overthrew them, that they lack burial, for the pestilence shall be full of hatred and pain and envy: and men shall take from one and give to another. And thereafter shall it wax yet worse than before. (Bewail ye them that have not hearkened unto my commandments, Eth. 2.)

85 Then shall my Father be wroth at the wickedness of men, for many are their transgressions, and the abomination of their uncleanness weigheth heavy upon them in the corruption of their life.

And we asked him: What of them that trust in thee? He answered and said unto us: Ye are yet slow of heart; and how long? Verily I say unto you, as the prophet David spake of me and of my people, so shall it be (?) for them also that believe on me. But they that are deceivers in the world and enemies of righteousness, upon them shall come the fulfilment of the prophecy of David, who said: Their feet are swift to shed blood, their tongue uttereth slander, adders’ poison is under their lips. I behold thee companying with thieves, and partaking with adulterers, thou continuest speaking against thy brother and puttest stumbling-blocks before thine own mother’s son. What thinkest thou, that I shall be like unto thee? Behold now how the prophet of God hath spoken of all, that all things may be fulfilled which he said aforetime.

36 And again we said unto him: Lord, will not then the nations say: Where is their God? And he answered and said unto us: Thereby shall the elect be known, that they, being plagued with such afflictions, come forth. We said: Will then their departure out of the world be by a pestilence which giveth them pain? He answered us: Nay, but if they suffer such affliction, it will be a proving of them, whether they have faith and remember these my sayings, and fulfil my commandments. These shall arise, and short will be their expectation, that he may be glorified that sent me, and I with him. For he hath sent me unto you to tell you these things; and that ye may impart them unto Israel and the Gentiles and they may hear, and they also be redeemed and believe on me and escape the woe of the destruction. But whoso escapeth from the destruction of death, him will they take and hold him fast in the prison-house in torments like the torments of a thief.

And we said unto him: Lord, will they that believe be treated like the unbelievers, and wilt thou punish them that have escaped from the pestilence? And he said unto us: If they that believe in my name deal like the sinners, then have they done as though they had not believed. And we said again to him: Lord, have they on whom this lot hath fallen no life? He answered and said unto us: Whoso hath accomplished the praise of my Father, he shall abide in the resting-place of my Father.

37 Then said we unto him: Lord, teach us what shall come to pass thereafter? And he answered us: In those years and days shall war be kindled upon war; the four ends of the earth shall be in commotion and fight against each other. Thereafter shall be quakings of clouds (or, clouds of locusts), darkness, and dearth, and persecutions of them that believe on me and against the elect. Thereupon shall come doubt and strife and transgressions against one another. And there shall be many that believe on my name and yet follow after evil and spread vain doctrine. And men shall follow after them and their riches, and be subject unto their pride, and lust for drink, and bribery, and there shall be respect of persons among them.

38 But they that desire to behold the face of God and respect not the persons of the rich sinners, and are not ashamed before the people that lead them astray, but rebuke (?) them, they shall be crowned by the Father. And they also shall be saved that rebuke their neighbours, for they are sons of wisdom and of faith. But if they become not children of wisdom, whoso hateth his brother and persecuteth him and showeth him no favour, him will God despise and reject.

(Copt. resumes.)But they that walk in truth and in the knowledge of the faith, and have love towards me–for they have endured insult–they shall be praised for that they walk in poverty and endure them that hate them and put them to shame. Men have stripped them naked, for they despised them because they continued in hunger and thirst, but after they have endured patiently, they shall have the blessedness of heaven, and they shall be with me for ever. But woe unto them that walk in pride and boasting, for their end is perdition.

39 And we said unto him: Lord, is this thy purpose, that thou leavest us, to come upon them? (Will all this come to pass, Eth.) Hc answered and said unto us: After what manner shall the judgement be? whether righteous or unrighteous? (In Copt. and Eth. the general sense is the same: but the answer of Jesus in the form of a question is odd, and there is probably a corruption.)

We said unto him: Lord, in that day they will say unto thee: Thou hast not distinguished between (probably: will they not say unto thee: Thou hast distinguished between) righteousness and unrighteousness, between the light and the darkness, and evil and good? Then said he: I will answer them and say: Unto Adam was power given to choose one of the two: he chose the light and laid his hand thereon, but the darkness he left behind him and cast away from him. Therefore have all men power to believe in the light which is life, and which is the Father that hath sent me. And every one that believeth and doeth the works of the light shall live in them; but if there be any that confesseth that he belongeth unto the light, and doeth the works of darkness, such an one hath no defence to utter, neither can he lift up his face to look upon the Son of God, which Son am I. For I will say unto him: As thou soughtest, so hast thou found, and as thou askedst, so hast thou received. Therefore condemnest thou me, O man? Wherefore hast thou departed from me and denied me? And wherefore hast thou confessed me and yet denied me? hath not every man power to live and to die? Whoso then hath kept my commandments shall be a son of the light, that is, of the Father that is in me. But because of them that corrupt my words am I come down from heaven. I am the word: I became flesh, and I wearied myself (or, suffered) and taught, saying: The heavy laden shall be saved, and they that are gone astray shall go astray for ever. They shall be chastised and tormented in their flesh and in their soul.

40 And we said unto him: O Lord, verily we are sorrowful for their sake. And he said unto us: Ye do rightly, for the righteous are sorry for the sinners, and pray for them, making prayer unto my Father. Again we said unto him: Lord, is there none that maketh intercession unto thee (so Eth.)? And he said unto us: Yea, and I will hearken unto the prayer of the righteous which they make for them.

When he had so said unto us, we said to him: Lord, in all things hast thou taught us and had mercy on us and saved us, that we might preach unto them that are worthy to be saved, and that we might obtain a recompense with thee. (Shall we be partakers of a recompense from thee? Eth.) 41 He answered and said unto us: Go and preach, and ye shall be labourers, and fathers, and ministers. We said unto him: Thou art he (or, Art thou he) that shalt preach by us. (Lord, thou art our father. Eth.) Then answered he us, saying: Be not (or, Are not ye) all fathers or all masters. (Are then all fathers, or all servants, or all masters? Eth.) We said unto him: Lord, thou art he that saidst unto us: Call no man your father upon earth, for one is your Father, which is in heaven, and your master. Wherefore sayest thou now unto us: Ye shall be fathers of many children, and servants and masters? He answered and said unto us: According as ye have said (Ye have rightly said, Eth.). For verily I say unto you: whosoever shall hear you and believe on me, shall receive of you the light of the seal through me, and baptism through me: ye shall be fathers and servants and masters.

42 But we said unto him: Lord, how may it be that every one of us should be these three? He said unto us: Verily I say unto you: Ye shall be called fathers, because with praiseworthy heart and in love ye have revealed unto them the things of the kingdom of heaven. And ye shall be called servants, because they shall receive the baptism of life and the remission of their sins at my hand through you. And ye shall be called masters, because ye have given them the word without grudging, and have admonished them, and when ye admonished them, they turned themselves (were converted). Ye were not afraid of their riches, nor ashamed before their face, but ye kept the commandments of my Father and fulfilled them. And ye shall have a great reward with my Father which is in heaven, and they shall have forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, and be partakers in the kingdom of heaven.

And we said unto him: Lord, even if every one of us had ten thousand tongues to speak withal, we could not thank thee, for that thou promisest such things unto us. Then answered he us, saying: Only do ye that which I say unto you, even as I myself also have done it. 43 And ye shall be like the wise virgins which watched and slept not, but went forth unto the lord into the bridechamber: but the foolish virgins were not able to watch, but slumbered. And we said unto him: Lord, who are the wise and who are the foolish? He said unto us: Five wise and five foolish; for these are they of whom the prophet hath spoken: Sons of God are they. Hear now their names.

But we wept and were troubled for them that slumbered. He said unto us: The five wise are Faith and Love and Grace and Peace and Hope. Now they of the faithful which possess this (these) shall be guides unto them that have believed on me and on him that sent me. For I am the Lord and I am the bridegroom whom they have received, and they have entered in to the house of the bridegroom and are laid down with me in the bridal chamber rejoicing. But the five foolish, when they had slept and had awaked, came unto the door of the bridal chamber and knocked, for the doors were shut. Then did they weep and lament that no man opened unto them.

We said unto him: Lord, and their wise sisters that were within in the bridegroom’s house, did they continue without opening unto them, and did they not sorrow for their sakes nor entreat the bridegroom to open unto them? He answered us, saying: They were not yet able to obtain favour for them. We said unto him: Lord, on what day shall they enter in for their sisters’ sake? Then said he unto us: He that is shut out, is shut out. And we said unto him: Lord, is this word (determined?). Who then are the foolish? He said unto us: Hear their names. They are Knowledge, Understanding (Perception), Obedience, Patience, and Compassion. These are they that slumbered in them that have believed and confessed me but have not fulfilled my commandments. 44 On account of them that have slumbered, they shall remain outside the kingdom and the fold of the shepherd and his sheep. But whoso shall abide outside the sheepfold, him will the wolves devour, and he shall be (condemned?) and die in much affliction: in him shall be no rest nor endurance, and (Eth.) although he be hardly punished, and rent in pieces and devoured in long and evil torment, yet shall he not be able to obtain death quickly.

45 And we said unto him: Lord, well hast thou revealed all this unto us. Then answered he us, saying: Understand ye not (or, Ye understand not) these words? We said unto him: Yea, Lord. By five shall men enter into thy kingdom <and by five shall men remain without>: notwithstanding, they that watched were with thee the Lord and bridegroom, even though they rejoiced not because of them that slumbered (yet will they have no pleasure, because of, Eth.). He said unto us: They will indeed rejoice that they have entered in with the bridegroom, the Lord; and they are sorrowful because of them that slumbered, for they are their sisters. For all ten are daughters of God, even the Father. Then said we unto him: Lord, is it then for thee to show them favour on account of their sisters? (It becometh thy majesty to show them favour, Eth.) He said unto us: <It is not mine,> but his that sent me, and I am consenting with him (It is not yours, &c., Eth.).

46 But be ye upright and preach rightly and teach, and be not abashed by any man and fear not any man, and especially the rich, for they do not my commandments, but boast themselves (swell) in their riches. And we said unto him: Lord, tell us if it be the rich only. He answered, saying unto us: If any man who is not rich and possesseth a small livelihood giveth unto the poor and needy, men will call him a benefactor.

47 But if any man fall under the load <because> of sin that he hath committed, then shall his neighbour correct him because of the good that he hath done unto his neighbour. And if his neighbour correct him and he return, he shall be saved, and he that corrected him shall receive a reward and live for ever. For a needy man, if he see him that hath done him good sin, and correct him not, shall be judged with severe judgement. Now if a blind man lead a blind, they both fall into a ditch: and whoso respecteth persons for their sake, shall be as the two <blind>, as the prophet hath said: Woe unto them that respect persons and justify the ungodly for reward, even they whose God is their belly. Behold that judgement shall be their portion. For verily I say unto you: On that day will I neither have respect unto the rich nor pity for the poor.

48 If thou behold a sinner, admonish him betwixt him and thee: (if he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother, Eth.) and if he hear thee not, then take to thee another, as many as three, and instruct thy brother: again, if he hear thee not, let him be unto thee

(Copt. defective from this point.)as an heathen man or a publican.

49 If thou hear aught against thy brother, give it no credence; slander not, and delight not in hearing slander. For thus it is written: Suffer not thine ear to receive aught against thy brother: but if thou seest aught, correct him, rebuke him, and convert him.

And we said unto him: Lord, thou hast in all things taught us and warned us. But, Lord, concerning the believers, even them to whom it belongeth to believe in the preaching of thy name: is it determined that among them also there shall be doubt and division, jealousy, confusion, hatred, and envy? For thou sayest: They shall find fault with one another and respect the person of them that sin, and hate them that rebuke them. And he answered and said unto us: How then shall the judgement come about, that the corn should be gathered into the garner and the chaff thereof cast into the fire?

50 They that hate such things, and love me and rebuke them that fulfil not my commandments, shall be hated and persecuted and despised and mocked. Men will of purpose speak of them that which is not true, and will band themselves together against them that love me. But these will rebuke them, that they may be saved. But them that will rebuke and chasten and warn them, them will they (the others) hate, and thrust them aside, and despise them, and hold themselves far from them that wish them good. But they that endure such things shall be like unto the martyrs with the Father, because they have striven for righteousness, and have not striven for corruption.

And we asked him: Lord, shall such things be among us? And he answered us: Fear not; it shall not be in many, but in a few. We said unto him: Yet tell us, in what manner it shall come to pass. And he said unto us: There shall come forth another doctrine, and a eonfusion, and because they shall strive after their own advancement, they shall bring forth an unprofitable doctrine. And therein shall be a deadly corruption (of uncleanness), and they shall teach it, and shall turn away them that believe on me from my commandments and cut them off from eternal life. But woe unto them that falsify this my word and commandment, and draw away them that hearken to them from the life of the doctrine and separate themselves from the commandment of life: for together with them they shall come into everlasting judgement.

51 And when he had said this, and had finished his discourse with us, he said unto us again: Behold, on the third day and at the third hour shall he come which hath sent me, that I may depart with him. And as he so spake, there was thunder and lightning and an earthquake, and the heavens parted asunder, and there appeared a light (bright) cloud which bore him up. And there came voices of many angels, rejoicing and singing praises and saying: Gather us, O Priest, unto the light of the majesty. And when they drew nigh unto the firmament, we heard his voice saying unto us: Depart hence in peace.

Epiphanes on Righteousness

On Righteousness

The rightousness of God is a kind of sharing along with equality. There is equality in the heaven which is stretched out in all directions and contains the entire earth in its circle. The night reveals all the stars equally. The light of the sun, which is the cause of the daytime and the father of light, God pours out from above upon the earth in equal measure to all who have power to see. For all see alike, since here is no distinction between rich and poor, people and governor, stupid and clever, female and male, free men and slaves. Even the irrational animals are not accorded any different treatment; but in just the same way God pours out from above sunlight equally upon all the animals. He establishes his justice to both good and bad by seeing that none is able to get more than his share and to deprive his neighbor, so that he has twice the light his neighbor has.

The Sun causes food to grow for all living beings alike; the universal justice is given to all equally. In this respect there is no difference between the species of oxen and particular oxen, between the species of pigs and particular pigs, between the species of sheep and particular sheep, and so with all the rest. In them universiality is manifest in justice. Furthermore all plants after their kind are sown equally in the earth. Common nourishment grows for all beasts which feed on the earth´s produce; to all it is alike. It is regulated by no law, but rather is harmoniously available to all through the gift of him who gave it and commanded it to grow.

And for birth there is no written law; otherwise it would have been transcribed. All beings beget and give birth alike, having received by justice an inate equality.The Creator and father of all with his own justice appointed this, just as he gave equally the eye to all to enable them to see. He did not make a distinction between female and male, rational and irrational, nor between anything else at all; rather he shared out sight equally and universially. It was given to all alike by a single command. As the laws could not punish men who were ignorant of them, they thaught man to transgress. For particularity of the laws cut up and destroyed the universal equality of the divine law…

The ideas of Mine and Thine crept in through the laws which cause the earth, money, and even marriage no longer to bring forth fruit of common use. For God made vines for all to use in common, since they do not refuse the sparrow or the thief; and similarly wheat and other fruits. But outlawed sharing and the vestiges of equality generated the thief of domestic animals and fruits. For man God made all things to be common property. He brought the female to be with the male in common and in the same way united all the animals. He thus showed rightousness to be a universal sharing along with equality. But those who have been born in this way have denied the sharing which is the corollary of their origin and say Let him who has taken one woman keep her, whereas all can share her, just as the other animals show us. With view to the permanence of the race, he has implanted in males a strong and ardent desire which neither law nor custom nor any other restraint is able to destroy. For it is God´s decree……

Consequently one must understand the saying You shall not desire as if the lawgiver was making a jest, to which he added the even more comic words Your neighbors goods. For he himself gave the desire to sustain the race orders that it is to be supposed, though he removes it from no other animals. And by the words Your neighbors wife he says something even more ludicrous, since he forces what should be common property to be treated as private posession.

Ephraim of Syria – The Pearl: Seven Hymns on the Faith

HYMN I.

1.

On a certain day a pearl did I take up, my brethren;
I saw in it mysteries pertaining to the Kingdom;
Semblances and types of the Majesty;
It became a fountain, and I drank out of it mysteries of the Son.

I put it, my brethren, upon the palm of my hand,
That I might examine it:
I went to look at it on one side,
And it proved faces on all sides.
I found out that the Son was incomprehensible,
Since He is wholly Light.

In its brightness I beheld the Bright One Who cannot be clouded,
And in its pureness a great mystery,
Even the Body of Our Lord which is well-refined:
In its undivideDness I saw the Truth
Which is undivided.

It was so that I saw there its pure conception,
The Church, and the Son within her.
The cloud was the likeness of her that bare Him,
And her type the heaven,
Since there shone forth from her His gracious Shining.

I saw therein his Trophies, and His victories, and His crowns.
I saw His helpful and overflowing graces,
And His hidden things with His revealed things.

2.

It was greater to me than the ark,
For I was astonished thereat:
I saw therein folds without shadow to them
Because it was a daughter of light,
Types vocal without tongues,
Utterances of mystery without lips,
A silent harp that without voice gave out melodies.

The trumpet falters and the thunder mutters;
Be not thou daring then;
Leave things hidden, take things revealed.
Thou hast seen in the clear sky a second shower;
The clefts of thine ears,
As from the clouds,
They are filled with interpretations.

And as that manna which alone filled the people,
In the place of pleasant meats,
With its pleasantnesses,
So does this pearl fill me in the place of books,
And the reading thereof,
And the explanations thereof.

And when I asked if there were yet other mysteries,
It had no mouth for me that I might hear from,
Neither any ears wherewith it might hear me.
O Thou thing without senses, whence I have gained new senses!

3.

It answered me and said,
“The daughter of the sea am I, the illimitable sea!
And from that sea whence I came up it is
That there is a mighty treasury of mysteries in my bosom!
Search thou out the sea, but search not out the Lord of the sea!

“I have seen the divers who came down after me, when astonied,
So that from the midst of the sea they returned to the dry ground;
For a few moments they sustained it not.
Who would linger and be searching on into the depths of the Godhead?

“The waves of the Son are full of blessing,
And with mischiefs too.
Have ye not seen, then, the waves of the sea,
Which if a ship should struggle with them would break her to pieces,
And if she yield herself to them, and rebel not against them,
Then she is preserved?
In the sea all the Egyptians were choked, though they scrutinised it not,
And, without prying, the Hebrews too were overcome upon the dry land,
And how shall ye be kept alive?
And the men of Sodom were licked up by the fire,
And how shall ye prevail?

“At these uproars the fish in the sea were moved,
And Leviathan also.
Have ye then a heart of stone
That ye read these things and run into these errors?
O great fear that justice also should be so long silent!”

4.

“Searching is mingled with thanksgiving,
And whether of the two will prevail?
From the tongue
The incense of praise riseth
Along with the fume of disputation
And unto which shall we hearken?
Prayer and prying from one mouth,
And which shall we listen to?

“For three days was Jonah a neighbor in the sea:
The living things that were in the sea were affrighted,
Saying, ‘Who shall flee from God?
Jonah fled,
And ye are obstinate at your scrutiny of Him!'”

HYMN II.

1.

Whereunto art thou like?
Let thy stillness speak to one that hears;
With silent mouth speak with us:
For whoso hears the stammerings of thy silence,
to him thy type utters its silent cry concerning our Redeemer.

Thy mother is a virgin of the sea, though he took her not:
She fell into his bosom, though he knew her not;
She conceived thee near him, though he did not know her.
Do thou, that art a type, reproach the Jewish women
That have thee hung upon them.
Thou art the only progeny of all forms
Which art like to the Word on High,
Whom singly the Most High begot.
The engraven forms seem to be the type of created things above.
This visible offspring of the invisible womb
Is a type of great things.
Thy goodly conception was without seed,
And without wedlock was thy pure generation,
And without brethren was thy single birth.

Our Lord had brethren and yet not brethren,
Since He was an Only-Begotten.
O solitary one, thou type exact of the Only-Begotten!
There is a type of thine in the crown of kings,
Wherein thou hast brothers and sisters.
Goodly gems are thy brethren,
With beryls and unions as thy companions:
May gold be as it were thy kinsman,
May there be unto the King of kings
A crown from thy well-beloved ones!
When thou camest up from the sea, that living tomb,
Thou didst cry out,
Let me have a goodly assemblage of brethren, relatives and kinsmen.
As the wheat is in the stalk,
So thou art in the crown with princes:
And it is a just restoration to thee, as if of a pledge,
That from the depth thou shouldest be exalted to a goodly eminence.
Wheat the stalk bears in the field;
Thee the head of the king upon his chariot carries about.

O daughter of the water,
Who hast left the sea, wherein thou wert born,
And art gone up to the dry land, wherein thou art beloved:
For men have loved and seized and adorned themselves with thee,
Like as they did that Offspring Whom the Gentiles loved
And crowned themselves withal.

It is by the mystery of truth that Leviathan is trodden down of mortals:
The divers put him off, and put on Christ.
In the sacrament of oil did the Apostles steal Thee away, and came up.
They snatched their souls from his mouth, bitter as it was.
Thy Nature is like a silent lamb in its sweetness,
Of which if a man is to lay hold,
He lifts it in a crucial form by its ears, as it was on Golgotha.
He cast out abundantly all His gleams upon them that looked upon Him.

2.

Shadowed forth in thy beauty is the beauty of the Son,
Who clothed Himself with suffering when the nails passed through Him.
The awl passed in thee since they handled thee roughly,
As they did His hands;
And because He suffered He reigned,
As by they sufferings thy beauty increased.

And if they showed no pity upon thee,
Neither did they love thee:
Still suffer as thou mightest,
Thou has come to reign! Simon Peter showed pity on the Rock;
Whoso hath smitten it, is himself thereby overcome;
It is by reason of Its suffering
That Its beauty hath adorned the height and the depth.

HYMN III.

1.

Thou dost not hide thyself in thy bareness, O pearl!
With the love of thee is the merchant ravished also,
For he strips off his garments;
Not to cover thee —
(thy clothing is thy light, thy garment is thy brightness,
O thou that art bared!)

Thou art like Eve who was clothed with nakedness.
Cursed be he that deceived her and stripped her and left her.
The serpent cannot strip off thy glory.
In the mysteries whose type thou art,
Women are clothed with Light in Eden.

2.

Very glistening are the pearls of Ethiopia, as it is written,
Who gave thee to Ethiopia of black men.
He that gave light to the Gentiles,
Both to the Ethiopians and unto the Indians did His bright beams reach.

The eunuch of Ethiopia upon his chariot saw Philip:
The Lamb of Light met the dark man from out of the water.
While he was reading, the Ethiopian was baptized
And shone with joy, and journeyed on!

He made disciples and taught,
And out of black men he made men white.
And the dark Ethiopic women became pearls for the Son;
He offered them up to the Father, as a glistening crown from the
Ethiopians.

3.

The Queen of Sheba
Was a sheep that had come into the place of wolves;
The lamp of truth did Solomon give her,
Who also married her when he fell away.
She was enlightened and went away,
But they were dark, as their manner was.

The bright spark which went down home with that blessed [Queen],
Held on its shining amid the darkness,
Till the new Day-spring came.
The bright spark met with this shining,
And illumined the place.

4.

There are in the sea divers fishes of many cubits,
And with all their greatness they are very small;
But by thy littleness the crown is made great,
Like as the Son, by whose littleness Adam was made great.

For the head is thy crown intended:
For the eye thy beauty,
For the ear thy goodliness.
Come up from the sea, thou godliness to the dry land,
And come and sojourn by the [seat of] hearing.
Let the ear love the word of life as it loveth thee!

In the ear is the word,
And without it is the pearl.
Let it as being warned by thee,
By thee get wisdom, and be warned by the word of truth.
Be thou its mirror:
The beauty of the Word in thine own beauty shall it see:
In thee it shall learn how precious is the Word on High!
The ear is the leaf:
The flesh is the tree,
And thou in the midst of it are a fruit of light,
And to the womb that brings forth Light,
Thou art a type that points.

Thee He used as a parable of that kingdom, O pearl!
As He did the virgins that entered into it, five in number,
Clothed with the light of their lamps!
To thee are those bright ones like, thou that art clad in light!

5.

Who would give a pearl to the daughter of the poor?
For when it hangs on her, it becomes her not.
Gain without price that faith, all of which becomes all the limbs of men.
But for no gold would a lady exchange her pearl.

It were a great disgrace
If thou shouldst throw thy pearl away into the mire for nought!

In the pearl of time
Let us behold that of eternity;
For it is in the purse, or in the seal, or in the treasury.
Within the gate there are other gates with their locks and keys.
Thy pearl hath the High One sealed up as taking account of all.

HYMN IV.

1.

The thief gained the faith which gained him,
And brought him up and placed him in paradise.
He saw in the Cross a tree of life;
That was the fruit,
He was the eater in Adam’s stead.

The fool, who goes astray,
Grazes the faith, as it were an eye,
By all manner of questions.
The probing of the finger blinds the eye,
And much more doth that prying blind the faith.

For even the diver pries not into his pearl.
In it do all merchants rejoice
Without prying into whence it came ;
Even the king who is crowned therewith
Does not explore it.

2.

Because Balaam was foolish,
A foolish beast in the ass spoke with him,
Because he despised God Who spoke with him.
Thee too let the pearl reprove
In the ass’s stead.

The people that had a heart of stone,
By a Stone He set at nought,
For lo, a stone hears words.
Witness its work that has reproved them ;
And you, ye deaf ones,
Let the pearl reprove to-day.

With the swallow and the crow did He put men to shame ;
With the ox, yea with the ass, did He put them to shame ;
Let the pearl reprove now,
O ye birds and things on earth and things below.

3.

Not as the moon does thy light fill or wane ;
The Sun whose light is greater than all,
Lo! of Him it is that a type is shadowed out in thy little compass.
O type of the Son,
One spark of Whom is greater than the sun!

The pearl itself is full,
for its light is full ;
Neither is there any cunning worker who can steal from it ;
For its wall is its own beauty,
Yea, its guard also!
It lacks not,
since it is entirely perfect.

And if a man would break thee
To take a part from thee,
Thou art like the faith which with the heretics perishes,
Seeing they have broken it in pieces and spoiled it :
For is it any better than this
To have the faith scrutinized?

The faith is an entire nature
That may not be corrupted.
The spoiler gets himself mischief by it:
The heretic brings ruin on himself thereby.
He that chases the light from his pupils
Blinds himself.

Fire and air are divided when sundered.
Light alone, of all creatures,
As its Creator, is not divided;
It is not barren, for that it also begets
Without losing thereby.

4.

And if a man thinks that thou art framed [by art]
He errs greatly;
Thy nature proclaims that thou, as all stones,
Art not the framing of art;
and so thou art a type of the Generation
Which no making framed.

Thy stone flees
From a comparison with the Stone [which is] the Son.
For thy own generation is from the midst of the deep,
That of the Son of thy Creator is from the highest height;
He is not like thee,
In that He is like His Father.

And as they tell,
Two wombs bare thee also.
Thou camest down from on high a fluid nature;
Thou camest up from the sea a solid body.
By means of thy second birth
Thou didst show thy loveliness to the children of men.

Hands fixed thee, when thou wast embodied,
Into thy receptacles ;
For thou art in the crown as upon the cross,
And in a coronet as in a victory ;
Thou art upon the ears, as if to fill up what was lacking ;
Thou extendest over all.

HYMN V.

1.

O gift that camest up without price for the diver!
Thou laidest hold upon this visible light,
That without price rises for the children of men:
A parable of the hidden One
That without price gives the hidden Dayspring!

And the painter too paints a likeness of thee with colors.
Yet by thee is faith painted in types and emblems for colors,
And in the place of the image
By thee and thy colors is thy Creator painted.

O thou frankincense without smell,
Who breathest types from out of thee!
Though art not to be eaten,
Yet thou givest a sweet smell unto them that hear thee!
Though art not to be drunk,
Yet by thy story, a fountain of types art thou made unto the ears!

2.

It is thou which art great in thy littleness, O pearl!
Small is thy measure and little thy compass with thy weight;
But great is thy glory:
To that crown alone in which thou art placed, there is none like.

And Who hath not perceived of thy littleness, how great it is;
If one despises thee and throws thee away,
He would blame himself for his clownishness,
For when he saw thee in a king’s crown he would be attracted to thee.

3.

Men stripped their clothes off and dived and drew thee out, O pearl!
It was not kings that put thee before men,
But those naked ones who were a type of the poor
And the fishers and the Galileans.

For clothed bodies were not able to come to thee;
They came that were stript as children;
They plunged their bodies and came down to thee;
And thou didst much desire them,
And thou didst aid them who thus loved thee.

Glad tidings did they give for thee:
Their tongues before their bosoms did the poor [fishers] open,
And produced and showed the new riches among the merchants:
Upon the wrists of men they put thee as a medicine for life.

4.

The naked ones in a type saw thy rising again by the sea-shore;
And by the side of the lake they,
The Apostles of a truth,
Saw the rising again of the Son of thy Creator.
By thee and by thy Lord the sea and the lake were beautified.

The diver came up from the sea and put on his clothing;
And from the lake too Simon Peter came up swimming on his coat;
Clad as with coats, with the love of both of you, were these two.

5.

And since I have wandered in thee, pearl,
I will gather up my mind
And by having contemplated thee,
Would become like thee,
In that thou art all gathered up into thyself;
And as thou in all times art one,
One let me become by thee!

Pearls have I gathered together that I might make a crown for the Son
In the place of stains which are in my members.
Receive my offering, not that Thou art shortcoming;
It is because of mine own shortcoming that I have offered it to Thee.
Whiten my stains!

This crown is all spiritual pearls,
Which instead of gold are set in love,
And instead of ouches in faith;
And instead of hands, let praise offer it up to the highest!

HYMN VI.

1.

Would that the memory of the fathers would exhale from the tombs;
Who were very simple as being wise;
And reverend as believing.
They without cavilling searched for, and came to the right path.

He gave the law;
The mountains melted away;
Fools broke through it.
By unclean ravens He fed Elijah at the desert stream;
And moreover gave from the skeleton honey unto Samson.
They judged not, nor inquired why it was unclean,
Why clean.

2.

And when He made void the Sabbaths,
The feeble Gentiles were clothed with health.
Samson took the daughter of the aliens,
And there was no disputing among the righteous;
The prophet also took a harlot,
And the just held their peace.

He blamed the righteous,
And He held up and lifted up their delinquencies:
He pitied sinners,
And restored them without cost:
And made low the mountains of their sins:
He proved God is not to be arraigned by men,
And as Lord of Truth.
That His servants were His shadow;
And whatsoever way His will looked,
They directed also their own wills;
And because Light was in Him,
Their shadows were enlightened.

3.

How strangely perplexed are all the heretics by simple things!
For when He plainly foreshadowed this New Testament
By that of the Prophets,
Those pitiable men rose, as though from sleep,
And shouted out and made a disturbance.
And the Way, wherein the righteous held straight on,
And by their truths had gone forth therein,
That [Way] have these broken up, because they were besotted:
This they left and went out of;
Because they pried into it, it fell, and was lost.
Of the pearl they made a stone, that they might stumble upon it.

4.

O Gift, which fools have made a poison!
The People were for separating Thy beauteous root from Thy fountain,
Though they separated it not:
Teachings estranged Thy beauty also from the stock thereof.

By Thee did they get themselves estranged,
Who wished to estrange Thee.
By Thee the tribes were cut off,
And scattered abroad from out of Zion,
And also the teachings of the seceders.

Bring Thyself within the compass of our littleness,
O Thou Gift of ours.
For if love cannot find Thee out on all sides,
It cannot be still and at rest.
Make Thyself small,
Thou Who art too great for all,
Who comest unto all!

5.

By this would those who wrangle against our Pearl be reproved;
Because instead of love,
Strife has come in and dared to essay to unveil thy beauty.
It was not graven,
Since it is a progeny which cannot be interpreted.

Thou didst show thy beauty among the objects
To show whereto thou are like,
Thou Pearl that art all faces.
The beholders were astonied and perplexed at thee.
The separatists separated thee in two,
And were separated in two by thee,
Thou are of one substance throughout.

They saw not thy beauty,
Because there was not in them the eye of truth.
For the veil of prophecy,
Full as it was of the mysteries,
To them was a covering of thy glistering faces:
They thought that thou wast other [than thou art],
O thou mirror of ours!
And therefore these blind schismatics defiled thy fair beauty.

6.

Since they have extolled thee too much,
Or have lowered thee too much,
Bring them to an even level.
Come down,
Descend a little that height of infidelity and heathendom;
And come up from the depth of Judaism, though thou art in Heaven.

Let our Lord be set between God and men!
Let the Prophets be as it were His heralds!
Let the Just One, as being His Father, rejoice!
That Word it is which conquered both Jews and Heathen!

7.

Come, Thou Gift of Holy Church, stay, rest in the midst of Her!
The circumcised have troubled Thee,
In that they are vain babblers,
And so have the [false] doctrines in that they are contentious.
Blessed be He that gave Thee a good company which bears Thee about!

In the covenant of Moses is Thy brightness shadowed forth:
In the new covenant Thou dartest forth:
From those first Thy light shineth forth unto those last.
Blessed be He that gave us Thy gleam
As well as Thy bright rays.

HYMN VII.

1.

As in a race saw I the disputers,
The children of strife,
[Trying]
To taste fire,
To see the air,
To handle the light:
They were troubled at the gleaming,
And struggled to make divisions.

The Son,
Who is too subtle for the mind,
Did they seek to feel:
And the Holy Ghost
Who cannot be explored,
They sought to explore with their questionings.
The Father,
Who never at any time was searched out,
Have they explained and disputed of.

The sound form of our faith is from Abraham,
And our repentance is from Nineveh and the house of Rahab,
And ours are the expectations of the Prophets,
Ours of the Apostles.

2.

And envy is from Satan:
The evil usage of the evil calf is from the Egyptians.
The hateful sight of the hateful image of four faces is from the Hittites.
Accursed disputation, that hidden moth, is from the Greeks.

The bitter one read and saw orthodox teachings,
And subverted them;
He saw hateful things,
And sowed them;
He saw hope,
And he turned it upside down and cut it off.
The disputation that he planted,
Lo! it has yielded a fruit bitter to the tooth.

3.

Satan saw that the Truth strangled him,
And united himself to the tares,
And secreted his frauds,
And spread his snares for the faith,
And cast upon the priests the darts of the love of pre-eminence.

They made contests for the throne,
To see which should first obtain it.
There was that meditated in secret and kept it close:
There was that openly combated for it:
And there was that with a bribe crept up to it:
And there was that with fraud dealt wisely to obtain it.

The paths differed,
The scope was one,
And they were alike.
Him that was young, and could not even think of it,
Because it was not time for him;
And him that was hoary and shaped out dreams
For time beyond;
All of them by his craftiness did the wicked one persuade and subdue.
Old men, youths, and even striplings, aim at rank!

4.

His former books did Satan put aside,
And put on others:
The People who was grown old
Had the moth and the worm devoured and eaten and left and deserted:
The moth came into the new garment
Of the new peoples:

He saw the crucifiers who were rejected and cast forth as strangers:
He made of those of the household, pryers;
And of worshippers, they became disputants.
From that garment
The moth gendered
And wound it up and deposited it.

The worm gendered in the storehouse of wheat,
And sat and looked on:
And lo! the pure wheat was mildewed,
And devoured were the garments of glory!
He made a mockery of us,
And we of ourselves, since we were besotted!

He sowed tares,
And the bramble shot up in the pure vineyard!
He infected the flock,
And the leprosy broke out,
And the sheep became hired servants of his!
He began in the People,
And came unto the Gentiles, that he might finish.

5.

Instead of the reed which the former people made the Son hold,
Others have dared with their reed to write in their tracts
That He is only a Son of man.
Reed for reed does the wicked one exchange against our Redeemer,
And instead of the coat of many vineyard, wherewith they clothed Him,
Titles has he dyed craftily.
With diversity of names he clothed Him;
Either that of creature or of a thing made, when He was the Maker.

And as he plaited for Him by silent men speechless thorns that cry out,
Thorns from the mind has he plaited [now] by the voice, as hymns;
And concealed the spikes amid melodies
That they might not be perceived.

6.

When Satan saw that he was detected in his former [frauds];
That the spitting was discovered, and vinegar,
And thorns, nails and wood,
Garments and reed and spear,
Which smote him, and were hated and openly known;
He changed his frauds.

Instead of the blow with the hand, by which our Lord was overcome,
He brought in distractions;
And instead of the spitting,
Cavilling entered in;
And instead of garments,
Secret divisions;
And instead of the reed,
Came in strife to smite us on the face.

Haughtiness called for rage its sister,
And there answered and came envy,
And wrath, and pride, and fraud.
They have taken counsel against our Redeemer
As on that day when they took counsels at His Passion.

And instead of the cross,
A hidden wood hath strife become;
And instead of the nails,
Questionings have come in;
And instead of hell, apostasy:
The pattern of both Satan would renew again.

Instead of the sponge which was cankered with vinegar and wormwood,
He gave prying, the whole of which is cankered with death.
The gall which they gave Him did our Lord put away from Him;
The subtle questionings, which the rebellious one hath given,
To fools is sweet.

7.

And at that time there were judges against them,
Lo, the judges are, as it were, against us,
And instead of a handwriting are their commands.
Priests that consecrate crowns,
Set snares for kings.

Instead of the priesthood praying for royalty
That wars may cease from among men,
They teach wars of overthrow,
Which set kings to combat with those round about.

O Lord, make the priests and kings peaceful;
That in one Church priests may pray for their kings,
And kings spare those round about them;
And may the peace which is within Thee become ours, Lord,
Thou that art within and without all things!

Ephraim of Syria – Hymn Against Bar-Daisan

The Great Lenten Prayer of St Ephraim

O Lord and Master of my life, take from me the spirit of sloth, despondency, lust for power and idle talk.
(Prostration)

But grant unto me, Thy servant, a spirit of chastity, humility, patience and love.
(Prostration)

Yea, O Lord and King, grant me to see mine own faults and not to judge my brothers and sisters. For blessed art Thou unto ages of ages. Amen.
(Prostration)

O God, cleanse Thou me a sinner (12 times, with as many bows, and then again the whole prayer from the beginning throughout, and after that one great prostration)

A Prayer of Glory to Christ

Glory to Thee, Lord. What shall I give Thee, Lord, in return for all Thy kindness?
Glory to Thee for Thy love.
Glory to Thee for Thy mercy.
Glory to Thee for Thy patience.
Glory to Thee for forgiving us all our sins.
Glory to Thee for coming to save our souls.
Glory to Thee for Thine incarnation in the Virgin’s womb.
Glory to Thee for Thy bonds.
Glory to Thee for receiving the cut of the lash.
Glory to Thee for accepting mockery.
Glory to Thee for Thy crucifixion.
Glory to Thee for Thy burial.
Glory to Thee for Thy resurrection.
Glory to Thee who were preached to men and women.
Glory to Thee in whom they believed.
Glory to Thee who were taken up into Heaven.
Glory to Thee who sit in great glory at the Father’s right hand.
Glory to Thee whose will it is that the sinner should be saved through Thy great mercy and compassion.

A

B

Introduction

Sixth Esra

Notes

References

Introduction

Fifth Esra

Notes

References

On Righteousness

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