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HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY
T. and T. Clark's Publications.
Just published, m Two Volume*, demy Svo, price 21s.t
COMMENTARY, EXE6ETICAL AND CRITICAL, ON THE
ACTS OF THE APOSTLES.
By the Rev. Paton Gloag, D.D., Minister of Blantyre.
• Dr. f th>ag's aim has been to supply a growl exesretical commentary, and in this he has thoroughly succeeded. . . . We cannot be expects! in all points to accept his conclusion*, but we must do justice to the cam and thouirhtfulncss with which th.y have been formed, and tho ability by which they arc supported. ... To the card' u I student of the Acts the book will be a most important help/ — English [itdp*nd nt.
4 Hi* expositions arc centrally sound and judicious. His work will prreatly assist mini>tf rs iu *tudyinir this most iutero>tinp: U»ok of Scripture with a vi.-w to its exposition from the pulpit. \W cordially recommend it to them.' — Ecrtngrlintt Wit it* an.
"This commentary is a model; wo could not name imy writer, certainly not any excrorical writer, who gives his meaning with so littl** effort. * It is extremely interest iui; to read ; quite devoid of mannerism or affectation, simple, strong, aud to the" point. We know i.i no cotiuneLtary on the Acts which we could so coulideutly recommend to a rniui»ter projH»>injj to lecture through that book.' — I'rtshyterittn.
J tut published. Firth Edition, in Ttco \'**iutn>s, d* my Sro. price *2ls.%
THE TYPOLOGY OF SCRIPTURE,
VIEWED IN CONNECTION WITII TIIE WHOLE SEMES OF TIIE DIVINE
DISPENSATIONS.
By Principal Fairbairn.
• One of the most sober, profound, and thorough treatises which we possess on a subject • •f irreut importance in its bearing on Christian doctrine.' — Abciideacox Dexison's Church ami state Herieic.
• I now say, no Biblical student should be without Professor Fairbairn's " Typology.'" — Dr. S. Lek. isi his ' Ecents and Timet of the Visions of Daniel*
4 The elaborate scope of Dr. Fairbairn's work can otily be fairly estimated by a close personal examination of it, which it fairly merits both for its subject's »ake, and its own. It has had the repeated revision of the writer, and his friends, and may be taken as an authoritative treatise.' — Literary Churchman.
Just published, Tliird Edition, in crown Svo, price 6*.,
THE SINLESSNESS OF JESUS:
AN EVIDENCE FOR CHRISTIANITY.
By Dr. C. Ullmann.
4 We welcome it in English as one of the most beautiful productions of Germany, as not only readable for an English public, but as possessing, along with not a few defects, many distinguished excellencies. . . . We warmly recommend this beautiful work as eminently fitted to diffuse, among those who peruse it, a higher appreciation of the sin- lessne* s and moral eminence of Christ. The work has been blessed already : and may have its use also to an English public/ — British and Foreign Ectutyeliral IUvitw.
In Three Volumes, royal 8ro, price 36*.,
HISTORY OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.
By Philip Schaff, D.D.,
Author of 'The History of the Apostolic Ciu'rcii.*
From the Birth of Christ to Gregory the Great, A.D. 1—600.
*We can heartily commend this work, as learned, scholar-like, and thorough. . . . There is throughout a breadth of view, a calmness of spirit, an occasional beauty of reflection, and above all a religiousness of tone, which prove that the writer has not* lost his vigour in mere minuteness ; nor has his heart become cold or dull through what may have been found to be a soul-hardening study/ — Fretman,
/
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3
^
APOCRYPHAL
GOSPELS^ ACTS, AND REVELATIONS.
TRANSLATED BY
ALEXANDER WALKER/ Esq
ONE OF
IIEU MAJESTY'* ixspectors of schools for Scotland.
•)
EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38, GEORGE STREET.
MDCCCLXX.
C 5Lt, 47. /4
• 1/
HARVARD UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
JUL 9 1987
CONTENTS.
FA<M
fNTRODrcnoN. ....... vii
The Piiotevanqelium of James, ..... 1 The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, . .16
The Gospel of the Nativity of Mart, .... 53
The History of Joseph toe Carpenter, .... 62
The Gospel of Thomas —
First Greek Form : The Infancy of the Lord, ... 78
Second Greek Form : The Childhood of the Lord, 86
Latin Form : The Boyhood of Jesus, .... 90
The Arabic Gospel of the Infancy of toe Saviour, 100
The Gospel of Nicodemus —
The Acta of Pilate- First Greek Form, ..... 125 Second Greek Form, ..... 149
The Descent of Christ into Hell—
Greek Form, ...... 169
The Acta of Pilate- Latin Form, ...... 177
The Descent of Christ into Hell- First Latin Version, ..... 198 Second Latin Version, ..... 213 The Letter of Pontius Pilate, which he wrote to the Roman
Emperor concerning our Lord Jesus Christ, . . 223 The Report of Pilate the Procurator concerning our Lord
Jesus Christ, sent to Rome to Tiberius CjEsar —
First Greek Form, ..... 224 Second Greek Form, .228
VI
CONTENTS.
Tub Giving up of Pontics Pilate, The Death of Pilate, The Narrative of Joseph ok Arimathea, P The Avenging of the Saviour, The Acts of the Holt Apostles Peter and Paul
The Story of Pcrpetua, The Acts ok Paul and Thecla, The Acts of Barnabas, . The Acts op Philip,
The Acts ok Philip when he went to UprER Hellas, The Acts and Mautyrdom ok the Holy Apostle Andrew,
The Acts ok Andrew and Matthias in tue City ok the Man- eaters, ......
The Acts ok Peter and Andrew,
The Acts and Martyrdom ok Matthew the Apostle,
The Acts ok the Holt Apostle Thomas,
The Consummation of Thomas the Apostle,
The Martyrdom of the Holt and Glorious Apostle Bartholomew,
The Acts ok the Holy Apostle Thaddj:us,
The Acts op the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John. .
The Revelation ok Moses, .....
The Revelation of Esdras, ....
TnE Revelation ok Paul, .....
The Revelation ok John, .....
The Book ok John concerning the Falling Asleep of Mary,
TnE Passing of Mary —
First Latin Form, ..... Second Latin Form, .....
PAOS
231 234 237 245
256 276 279 293 301 317 335
343
368 373 389 423 429 440 444 454 468 477 493 504
515 522
Indexes —
Texts of Scripture quoted or referred to. Principal Matters,
531 534
APOCRYPHAL WRITINGS.
INTRODUCTION.
Uli aim in these translations has been to give a rendering of the original as literal as possible ; and to this we have adhered even in cases — and they are not a few — in which the Latin or the Greek is not in strict accordance with grammatical rule. It was thought advisable in all cases to give the reader the means of forming an accurate estimate of the stvle as well as the substance of these curious documents.
PART 1.— ATOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
The first part of the volume, extending to page 255, com- prising the Apocryphal Gospels properly so called, consists of twenty-two separate documents, of which ten are written in Grefek and twelve in Latin, These twenty-two may be classed under three heads : (a) those relating to the history of Joseph and of the Virgin Mary, previous to the birth of Christ ; (6) those relating to the infancy of the Saviour; and (c) those relating to the history of Pilate. The origincs of the traditions are the Protevangelium of James, the Gospel of Thomas, and the Acts of Pilate. All or most of the others can be referred to these three, as compilations, modifications, or amplifications.
There is abundant evidence of the existence of many of these traditions in the second centurv, though it cannot be made out that any of the books were then in existence in their present form. The greater number of the authorities on the subject,
viii INTRODUCTION.
however, seem to agree in assigning to the first four cen- turies of the Christian era, the following five books: 1. The Protevangelium of James ; 2. The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew ; 4. The History of Joseph the Carpenter; 5. The Gospel of Thomas ; 9. The Gospel of Nicodemus.
We proceed to give a very brief notice of each of them.
I. TIic Protevangelium of James. — The name of Protevan- gelium was first given to it by Postcl, whose Latin version was published in 1552. The James is usually referred to St. James the Less, the Lord's brother ; but the titles vary very much. Origen, in the end of the second century, mentions a book of James, but it is by no means clear that he refers to the book in question. Justin Martyr, in two passages, refers to the cave in which Christ was born ; and from the end of the fourth century down, there are numerous allusions in ecclesias- tical writings to statements made in the Protevangelium.
For his edition Tischendorf made use of seventeen mss., one of them belonging to the ninth century. The Greek is good of the kind, and free from errors and corruptions. There are trans- lations of it into English by Jones (1722) and Cowper (1867).
II. The Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. — The majority of the MSS. attribute this book to Matthew, though the titles vary much. The letters prefixed, professing to be written to and by St Jerome, exist in several of the mss. ; but no one who is ac- quainted with the style of Jerome's letters will think this one authentic. There are, however, in his works many allusions to some of the legends mentioned in this book. Chapters i.-xxiv. were edited by Thilo, chapters xxv. to the end are edited for the first time by Tischendorf. It is not very clear whether the Latin be original, or a direct translation from the Greek. In most part it seems to be original. The list of epithets, how- ever, applied to the triangles of the Alpha in chapter xxxi. are pretty obviously mistranslations of Greek technical terms, which it might not be difficult to reproduce.
III. Gospel of the Nativity of Mary. — This work, which is in substance the same as the earlier part of the preceding, yet
INTRODUCTION. . ix
differs from it in several important points, indicating a later date and a different author. It has acquired great celebrity from having been transferred almost entire to the Historia Lombardica or Legtnda Aurea in the end of the thirteenth cen- tury. Mediaeval poetry and sacred art have been very much indebted to its pages.
The original is in Latin, and is not a direct translation from the Greek. In many passages it follows very closely the Vul- gate translation.
IV. Tlit History of Joseph the Carpenter. — The original lan- guage of this history is Coptic. From the Coptic it was trans- lated into Arabic. The Arabic was published by Wallin in 1722, with a Latin translation and copious notes. Wallin's version has been republished by Fabricius, and later in a some- what amended form by Thilo. This amended form of Wallin's version is the text adopted by Tischendorf. Chapters xiv.-xxiii. have been published in the Sahidic text by Zoega in 1810 with a Latin translation, and more correctly by Dulaurier in 1835 with a French translation.
Tischendorf employs various arguments in support of his opinion that the work belongs to the fourth century. It is found, he says, in both dialects of the Coptic : the eschatology of it is not inconsistent with an early date : the feast of the thousand years of chapter xxvi. had become part of heretical opinion after the third century. The death of the Virgin Mary in chapter v. is inconsistent with the doctrine of the assumption, which began to prevail in the fifth century.
V., VI., VIL Hie Gospel of Tliomas. — Like the Protevange- lium of James, the Gospel of Thomas is of undoubted anti- quity. It is mentioned by name by Origen, quoted by Irenseus and the author of the Philosophumena, who says that it was used by the Nachashenes, a Gnostic sect of the second cen- tury. Cyril of Jerusalem (f 386) attributes the authorship not to the apostle, but to a Thomas who was one of the three disciples of Manes. This fact, of course, indicates that Cyril knew nothing of the antiquity of the book he was speaking of. This Manichaean origin has been adopted by many writers,
x INTRODUCTION.
of whom the best known ore in recent times R Simon and MingarellL
The text of the first Greek form is obtained from a Bologna MS. published by Mingarelli with a Latin translation in 1764, a Dresden MS. of the sixteenth century edited by Thilo, a Viennese fragment edited by Lambecius, and a Parisian fragment first brought to light by Coteler in his edition of the Aposto- lical Constitutions, and translated into English bv Jones.
The second Greek form is published for the first time by Tischendorf, who got the MS., which is on paper, of the four- teenth or fifteenth ceiiturv, from one of the monasteries on Mount Sinai.
The Latin form is also published for the first time, from a Vatican ms. There is another Lit in text existing in a palimpsest, which Tischendorf assigns to the fifth centurv, and asserts to be much nearer the ancient Greek copy than any of the other mss.
It seems pretty clear, from the contents of the book, that its author was a Gnostic, a Docetist, and a Marcosian ; and it was held in estimation bv the Xachashenes and the Mauichaeans. Its bearing upon Cliristian art, and to some extent Christian dogma, is well known.
The Greek of the original is by no means good, and the Latin translator has in many cases mistaken the meaning of common Greek words.
VIII. Arabic Gospel of the Saviour's Infancy. — Chapters i.-ix. are founded on the Gospels of Luke and Matthew, and on the Protevangelium of James ; chapters xxxvi to the end are compiled from the Gospel of Thomas ; the rest of the book, chapters x. to xxxv., is thoroughly Oriental in its character, reminding one of the tales of the Arabian Nights, or of the episodes in the Golden Ass of Apuleius.
It is evident that the work is a compilation, and that the compiler was an Oriental. Various arguments are adduced to prove that the original language of it was Syriac.
It was first published, with a Latin translation and copious notes, by Professor Sike of Cambridge in 1697, afterwards by Fabricius, Jones, Schmid, and Thilo. Tischendorfs text is Sike's Latin version amended by Fleischer.
INTRODUCTION. xi
There are not sufficient data for fixing with any accuracy the time at which it was composed or compiled
\
IX.-XIV. Tlte Gospel of Nicodemus. — The six documents in- serted under this name are various forms of two books — two in Greek and one in Latin of the Acts of Pilate ; one in Greek and two in Latin of the Descent of Christ to the world below. Of twelve mss., only two or three give the second part con- secutively with the first, nor does it so appear in the Coptic translation. The title of Gospel of Xieodemus does not appear before the thirteenth centurv.
Justin Martvr mentions a lx>ok called the Acts of Pilate, ami Kusehius informs us that the Kmp<Tor Maxiinin allowed or ordered a book, composed by the pagans under this title, to be published in a certain portion of the empire, and even to be taught in the schools ; but neither of these could have been the work under consideration.
Tischendorf attributes it to the second century, which is pro- bably too early, though without doubt the legend was formed by the end of the second century. Maury (Mem. de la Societe des Antiq. de France, t. xx.) places it in the beginning of the fifth century, from 405 to 420 ; and Kenan (Etudes d'Hist. Bclig. p. 177) concurs in this opinion. An able writer in the Quarterly Review (vol. cxvi.) assigns it to 439 ; the author of the article Pilate, in Smith's Bible Dictionary, gives the end of the third century as the probable date.
The author was probably a Hellenistic Jew converted to Christianity, or, as Tischendorf and Maury conclude, a Chris- tian imbued with Judaic and Gnostic beliefs. The original language was most probably Greek, though, as in the case of Pseudo-Matthew, the History of Joseph the Carpenter, etc., the original language is, in many of the prefaces, stated to have been Hebrew. Some think that Latin was the original language, on the ground that Pilate would make his report to the Emperor in that, the official, language. The Latin text we have, however, is obviously a translation, made, moreover, by a man to whom Greek was not very familiar, as is obvious from several instances specified in our notes to the text
The editio princeps of the Latin text is without place or date,
xii INTRODUCTION.
and it has been re-edited by Jones, Birch, Fabricius, Thilo, and others. The Greek text of Part I., and of a portion of Part II., was first published by Birch, and afterwards in a much im- proved form, with the addition of copious notes and prolego- mena, by Thilo. The latter part of his prolegomena contains a full account of the English, French, Italian, and German translations. For his edition Tischendorf consulted thirty-nine ancient documents, of which a full account is given in his pro- legomena, pp. lxxL-lxxvi
For an interesting account of these documents, see the in- troduction to Mr. B. II. Cowper's translation of the Apocryphal Gospels, pp. Ixxxv.-cii.
XV. The Letter of Pontius Pilate. — The text is formed from four authorities, none of them ancient. A translation of the Greek text of the same letter will be found at p. 264.
XVI., XVII. TJie Report of Pilate.— The first of these docu- ments was first published by Fabricius with a Latin transla- tion ; the second by Birch, and then by Thilo. Tischendorf has made use of five mss., the earliest of the twelfth century. It does not seem possible to assign the date.
XVIII. The Paradosis of Pilate. — It has been well remarked by the author of the article in the Quarterly Review above referred to, that the early church looked on Pilate with no unfavourable eye ; that he is favourably shown in the cata- combs ; that the early fathers interpreted him as a figure of the early church, and held him to be guiltless of Christ's death; that the creeds do not condemn him, and the Coptic Church has even made him a saint. He remarks also that Dante finds punishments for Caiaphas and Annas, but not for Pilate.
The text was first edited by Birch, and afterwards by Thilo. Tischendorf makes use of five mss., of which the earliest belongs to the twelfth century.
XIX. TJie Death of Pilate. — This is published for the first time by Tischendorf from a Latin MS. of the fourteenth cen-
INTRODUCTION. xiii
tuiy. The language shows it to be of a late date. It appears almost entire in the Legenda Aurea.
XX. TIu Narrative of Joseph. — This history seems to have been popular in the middle ages, if we may judge from the number of the Greek mss. of it which remain.
It was first published by Birch, and after him by Thilo. For his edition Teschendorf made use of three mss., of which the oldest belongs to the twelfth century.
XXI. 77/r Avenging of the Saviour. — This version of the L\ufcnd of Veronica is written in very barbarous Latin, pro- bablv of the seventh or eighth centurv. An Ani;lo-Saxon version, which Teschendorf concludes to be derived from the Latin, was edited and translated for the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, by C. "W. Goodwin, in 1851. The Anglo-Saxon text is from a MS. in the Cambridge Library, one of a number presented to the Cathedral of Exeter by Bishop Leofric in the beginning of the eleventh century.
The reader will observe that there are in this document two distinct legends, somewhat clumsily joined together — that of Nathan's embassy, and that of Veronica.
PART II.— THE APOCRYPHAL ACTS OF THE
APOSTLES.
This portion of the volume, extending from page 256 to page 454, presents us with documents written in a style consider- ably different from that of the Apocryphal Gospels properly so called. There we have without stint the signs that the Jews desired; here we begin to have some glimpses of the wisdom which the Greeks sought after, along with a consider- able share of
Quidquid Graecia mendax Audet in historia.
We have less of miracle, more of elaborate discourse. The Apocryphal Gospels were suited to the vilis plebecula, from
b
xiv INTRODUCTION.
which, as Jerome said, the church originated ; the Apocryphal Acts appeal more to the Academia.
We have in ancient literature, especially Greek literature, a long series of fabulous histories attached to the names of men who made themselves famous either in arts or arms. This taste for the marvellous became general after the expedition of Alexander; and from that time down we have numerous examples of it in the lives of Alexander, of Pythagoras, of Apollonius of Tyana, of Homer, of Virgil, ami others without number ; and we all know how much fabulous matter is apt to gather round the names of popular heroes even in modern times.
It is not to be wondered at, then, that round the names of Christ and His apostles, who had brought about social changes greater than those effected by the exploits of any hero of old, there should gather, as the result of the wondering awe of simple-minded men, a growth of the romantic and the fabulous.
These stories came at length to form a sort of apostolic cycle, of which the documents following are portions. They exist also in a Latin form in the ten books of the Acts of the Apostles, compiled probably in the sixth century, and falsely attributed to Abdias, the first bishop of Babylon, by whom it was, of course, written in Hebrew.
We shall now give a brief account of each of the thirteen documents which make up this part of the volume.
I. TJie Acts of Peter and Paul. — This book was first pub- lished in a complete form by Thilo in 1837 and 1838. A portion of it had already been translated into Latin by the famous Greek scholar Constantine Lascaris in 1-490, and had been made use of in the celebrated controversy as to the situa- tion of the island Melita, upon which St. Paul was shipwrecked. For his edition Tischendorf collated six mss., the oldest of the end of the ninth century.
Some portions at least of the book are of an early date. The Domine quo vadis story, p. 275, is referred to by Origen, and others after him. A book called the Acts of Peter is con- demned in the decree of Pope Gelasius.
INTRODUCTION. xv
IL Acts of Paul and Thccla. — This book is of undoubted antiquity. There seems reason to accept the account of it given by Tertullian, that it was written by an Asiatic pres- byter in glorification of St. Paul (who, however, unquestion- ably occupies only a secondary place in it), and in support of the heretical opinion that women may teach and baptize. It is expressly mentioned and quoted by a long line of Latin and Greek fathers. The quotations are inserted in Tisehendorfs Prolegomena, p. xxiv.
The text was first edited in 1G98 bv Grabe from a Bodleian MS., republished by Jones in 1726. A blank in the Bodleian MS. was supplied in 1715 by Thomas llearne from another Oxfunl Ms. Tisehendorfs text is from a recension of three Paris mss., each of the eleventh century.
III. Acts of Barnabas. — This book has more an air of truth about it than any of the others. There is not much extrava- gance in the details, and the geography is correct, showing that the writer knew Cyprus well. It seems to have been written at all events before -478, in which year the body of Barnabas is said to have been found in Cyprus.
Papebroche first edited the book in the Acta Sanctorum in 1698, with a Latin translation. The Vatican MS. which he used was an imperfect one. Tischendorfs text is from a Parisian MS. of the end of the ninth century.
IV. Acts of Philip. — A book under this name was condemned in the decree of Pope Gelasius ; and that the traditions about Philip were well known from an early date, is evident from the abundant references to them in ancient documents. The writings of the Hagiographers also, both Greek and Latin, con- tain epitomes of Philip's life.
The Greek text, now first published, is a recension of two Mss., — a Parisian one of the eleventh century, and a Venetian one. The latter is noticeable, from being superscribed From the Fifteenth Act to the end, leaving us to infer that we have only a portion of the book.
V. Acts of Philip in Hellas. — This also is published for the
xvi INTRODUCTION.
first time by Tischendorf. It is obviously a later document than the preceding, though composed in the same style. It is from a Parisian MS. of the eleventh century.
VI. Acts of Andrew. — In the decree of Pope Gelasius (t 49 6), a book under this name is condemned as apocryphal. Epiphanius (f 403) states that the Acts of Andrew were in favour with the Encratites, the Apostolics, and the Origenians ; Augustine (t 430) mentions that the Acts of the Apostles written by Leucius Charinus — discipulus diaboli, as Pope Gelasius calls him — were held in estimation by the Manichscans. The authorship generally is attributed to Leucius by early writers; Innocentius I. (f 417), however, says that the Acts of Andrew were composed by the philosophers Nexocharis and Leonidas. This book is much the same in substance with the celebrated Pre&byterorum ct Diaconorum Achaicc dc martyrio S. Andrccc apostoli cpistola encyclica, first edited in Greek by Woog in 1749, and by him considered to be a genuine writing of the apostolic age, composed about A.D. 80. Thilo, while dissenting from this opinion of Woog's, concludes that it is a fragment from the Acts of Leucius, expurgated of most of its heresy, and put into its present shape by an orthodox writer. Cardinals Baronius and Bellarmine assign the epistle to the apostolic age ; Fabricius thinks it much later.
The probability is that the book was written by Leucius, following earlier traditions, and that it was afterwards revised and fitted for general reading by an orthodox hand.
Though some of the traditions mentioned in the book are referred to by authors of the beginning of the fifth century, there does not seem to be any undoubted quotation of it before the eighth and the tenth centuries. Some portions of Pseudo- Abdias, however, are almost in the words of our Greek Acts.
The text is edited chiefly from two mss., — the one of the eleventh, the other of the fourteenth century.
The Greek of the original is good of the kind, and exhibits considerable rhetorical skill.
VII. Acts of Andrew and Matthias. — Thilo assigns the authorship of these Acts also to Leucius, and the use of them
INTRODUCTION. xvii
to the Gnostics, Manichaeans, and other heretics. Pseudo- Abdias seems to have derived his account of Andrew and Matthias from the same source. Epiphanius the monk, who wrote in the tenth century, gives extracts from the history. There is, besides, an old English — commonly called Anglo- Saxon — poem, Andrew and Ilelene, published by Jacob Grimm in 1840, the argument of which in great part coincides with that of the Acts of Andrew and Matthias.
There is considerable doubt as to whether it is Matthias or Matthew that is spoken of. Pscudo-Abdias, followed by all the Latin writers on the subject, calls him Matthew. The Greek texts hesitate between the two. Tischendorf edits Matthias, on the authoritv of his oldest MS. There is also some discrepancy as to the name of the town. Some MSS. say Sinope, others Myrmene or Myma : they generally, how- ever, coincide in calling it a town of ^Ethiopia.
Thilo, and Tischendorf after him, made use chiefly of three MSS., only one of which, of the fifteenth century, contains the whole book. The oldest is an uncial MS. of about the eighth century.
The Acts of Peter and Andrew, from the Bodleian MS., are inserted as an appendix to the Acts of Andrew and Matthias.
VIII. Acts of Matthew. — This book is edited by Tischendorf for the first time. It is a much later production than the last, written in bad Greek, and in a style rendered very cumbrous by the use of participial phrases.
On the authority of the oldest MS., Matthew, not Matthias, is the name here. It is probably owing to this confusion between the names, that there is much uncertainty in the traditions regarding St. Matthew.
Tischendorf gives, in his Prolegomena, a long extract from Nicephorus, which shows that he was acquainted with this book, or something very like it.
The text is edited from two mss., — a Parisian of the eleventh century, and a Viennese of a later date.
IX. Acts of Tltomas. — The substance of this book is of great antiquity, and in its original form it was held in great estima-
xviii INTRODUCTION.
tion by the heretics of the first and second centuries. The main heresy which it contained was that the Apostle Thomas baptized, not with water, but with oil only. It is mentioned by Epiphanius, Turribius, and Nicephorus, condemned in the decree of Gelasius, and in the Synopsis of Scripture ascribed to Athanasius, in which it is placed, along with the Acts of Peter, Acts of John, and other books, among the Antilcgomena. St. Augustine in three passages refers to the book in -such a way as to show that he had it in something very like its present form. Two centuries later, Pseudo-Alnlias made a recension of the book, rejecting the more heretical portions, and adapting it generally to orthodox use. Photius attributes the authorship of this document, as of many other apocryphal Acts, to Leucius Charinus.
The Greek text was first edited, with copious notes and pro- legomena, by Thilo in 1823. The text from which the present translation is made is a recension of five mss., the oldest of the tenth centurv.
X. Consummation of TJwmas. — This is properly a portion of the preceding book. Pseudo-Ahdias follows it very closely, but the Greek of some chapters of his translation or compilation has not yet been discovered.
The text, edited by Tischendorf for the first time, is from a MS. of the eleventh centurv.
XL Martyrdom of Bartholomew. — This Greek text, now for the first time edited by Tischendorf, is very similar to the account of Bartholomew in Pseudo-Abdias. The editor is inclined to believe, not that the Greek text is a translation of Abdias, which it probably is, but that both it and Abdias are derived from the same source. Tischendorf seems inclined to lay some weight upon the mention made by Abdias of a certain Cnito, said to be a disciple of the Apostles Simon and Judas, having written a voluminous history of the apostles, which was translated into Latin by Julius Africanus. The whole story, however, is absurd. It is very improbable that Julius Africanus knew any Latin ; it is possible, however, that he may have compiled some stories of the apostles, that these may have
INTRODUCTION. xix
been translated into Latin, and that Pseudo-Crato and Pseudo- Abdias may have derived some of their materials from this source.
The Greek text is edited from a Venetian MS. of the thir- teenth century.
XII. Acts of TJiadderus. — This document, of which our text is the cditio princcps, is of some consequence, as giving in another form the famous letters of Christ to Ab^arus. Eusebius (II. E. i. 1.1) says he found in the archives of Edessa the letters written by their own hands, and that he translated them from the Svriac. The storv of the portrait was a later invention. It is found in Pseudo-Abdias (x. 1), and with great detail in Xieephorus (//. E. ii. 7). There is considerable variety in the texts of the letters. Thev were probablv written in Svriac in the third centurv bv some native of Edessa, who wished to add to the importance of his city and the antiquity of his church. See the whole subject discussed in Dr. Cureton's Ancient Syriac Documents relative to the earliest establishment of Christianity in Edessa.
The Greek text, which is probably of the sixth or seventh century, seems, from allusions to the synagogue, the hours of prayer, the Sabbath-day, etc., to have been written by a Jew. It is edited from a Paris MS. of the eleventh century, and a Vienna one of a later date.
XIII. Acts of John. — A book under this title is mentioned by Eusebius, Epiphanius, Photius, among Greek writers ; Augus- tine, Philastrius, Innocent I., and Turribius among Latin writers. The two last named and Photius ascribe the authorship to Leucius, discipnlv.s diaboli, who got the credit of all these here- tical brochures. It is not named in the decree of Gelasius.
Augustine (Tractat. 124 in Johannem) relates at length the story of John going down alive into his grave, and of the fact of his beinr' alive beins shown bv his breath stirring about the dust on the tomb. This story, which has some resemblance to the Teutonic legend of Barbarossa, is repeated by Photius.
There is a Latin document published by Fabricius, Psciido- Melitonis liber de Passione S. Johannis Evangelists, which the
xx INTRODUCTION.
author professed to write with the original of Leucius before his eyes. It has considerable resemblances in some passages to the present text The only passages in Pseudo-Abdias that appear to have any connection with the present document are those which refer to the apostle's burial
The text is edited from a Paris MS. of the eleventh century, and a Vienna one, to which no date is assigned
It is doubtful whether the narrative part of the Acts of John be by the same hand as the discourses.
PART III.— APOCRYPHAL APOCALYPSES.
This portion of the volume, extending from page 454 to the end, consists of seven documents, four of which are called Apocalypses by their authors. Of these, the Greek text of the first three is edited for the first time; the fourth, the Apocalypse of John, has appeared before. The fifth, The Falling Asleep of Mary, appears for the first time in its Greek form, and in the first Latin recension of it.
The mss. of these documents are characterized by extreme variety of readings ; and in some of them, especially the earlier portion of the Apocalypse of Esdras, the text is in a very corrupt state.
I. The Apocalypse of Moses. — This document belongs to the Apocrypha of the Old Testament rather than to that of the New. We have been unable to find in it any reference to any Christian writing. In its form, too, it appears to be a portion of some larger work. Parts of it at least are of an ancient date, as it is very likely from this source that the writer of the Gospel of Nicodemus took the celebrated legend of the Tree of Life and the Oil of Mercy. An account of this legend will be found in Cowper s Apocryphal • Gospels, xcix.-cii. ; in Maury, Croyanccs ct Legendcs de C Antiquity p. 294 ; in Renan's commentary to the Syriac text of the Penitence of Adam, edited and translated by Renan in the Journal Asiatique for 1853. There appeared a poetical rendering of the legend in Black- woods Magazine ten or twelve years ago.
INTRODUCTION. xxi
Teschendorf s text is made from four mss. : A, a Venice MS. of the thirteenth century ; B and C, Vienna mss. of the thir- teenth and twelfth centuries respectively ; and D, a Milan MS. of about the eleventh century.
II. Tlte Apocalypse of Esdras. — This book is a weak imita- tion of the apocryphal fourth book of Esdras. Thilo, in his prolegomena to the Acts of Thomas, p. lxxxii., mentions it, and doubts whether it be the fourth book of Esdras or not. Portions of it were published by Dr. Hase of the Paris Library, and it was then seen that it was a different production. The ms. is of about the fifteenth century, and in the earlier portions very difficult to read.
— III. Hie Apocalypse of Paul. — There are two apocryphal books bearing the name of Paul mentioned by ancient writers : The Ascension of Paul, adopted by the Cainites and the Gnostics ; and the Apocalypse of Paul, spoken of by Augus- tine and Sozomen. There seems to be no doubt that the pre- sent text, discovered by Tischendorf in 1843, and published by him in 1866, is the book mentioned by Augustine and Sozo- men. It is referred to by numerous authorities, one of whom, however, ascribes it to the heretic Paul of Samosata, the founder of the sect of the Paulicians.
There appear to be versions of it in Coptic, Syriac, and Arabic One of the Syriac versions, from an Urumiyeh ms., was translated into English by an American missionary in 1864. This translation, or the greater portion of it, is printed by Tischendorf along with his edition of the text.
Tischendorf, upon what seems to be pretty good evidence, ascribes it to the year 380. It is from a Milan MS. of not earlier than the fifteenth century. There is another MS. two centuries older ; but they both seem to be copied from the same original. The Syriac seems to be later than the Greek, and, according to Eastern fashion, fuller in details.
IV. The Apocalypse of John. — In the scholia to the Grammar of Dionysius the Thracian, ascribed to the ninth century, im- mediately after the ascription of the Apocalypse of Paul to
xxii INTRODUCTION.
Paul of Samosata, there occurs the following statement : c And there is another called the Apocalypse of John the Theologian. We do not speak of that in the island of Patmos, God forbid, for it is most true ; but of a supposititious and spurious one.9 This is the oldest reference to this Apocalypse. Asseman says he found the book in Arabic in three mss.
The document was first edited by Birch in 1804, from a Vatican MS., collated with a Vienna MS. For his edition Tischeudorf collated other five mss., two of Paris, three of Vienna, of from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century.
Of other Apocalypses, Tischendurf in his Prolegomena gives an abstract of the Apocalypse of Peter, the Apocalypse of Bartholomew, the Apocalypse of Mary, and the Apocalypse of Daniel. The Apocalypse of Peter professes to he written by Clement. There is an Arabic MS. of it in the Bodleian Librarv. It is called the Perfect Book, or the Book of Perfection, and consists of eighty-nine chapters, comprising a history of the world as revealed to Peter, from the foundation of the world to the appearing of Antichrist.
The Apocalypse of Bartholomew, from a MS. in the Paris Librarv, was edited and translated bv Dulaurier in 1835. The translation appears in Tischendorfs Prolegomena.
The Apocalypse of Mary, containing her descent to the lower world, appears in several Greek mss. It is of a late date, the work of some monk of the middle ages.
The Apocalypse of Daniel, otherwise called the Revelation of the Prophet Daniel about the consummation of the world, is also of a late date. About the half of the Greek text is given in the Prolegomena. We have not thought it necessary to translate it.
V., VI., VII. Tlic Assumption of Mary. — It is somewhat strange that the Greek text of this book, which has been trans- lated into several languages both of the East and the West, is edited by Tischendorf for the first time. He assigns it to a date not later than the fourth century. A book under this title is condemned in the decree of Gelasius. The author of the Second Latin Form (see p. 522, note), writing under the name of Melito, ascribes the authorship of a treatise on the
INTRODUCTION. xxiii
same subject to Lcucius. This, however, cannot be the book so ascribed to Leucius, as Pseudo-Melito affirms tliat his book, which is in substance the same as the Greek text, was written to condemn Leucius* heresies.
There are translations or recensions of our text in Svriac, Sahiilic, and Arabic. The Syriac was edited and translated by Wright in 1805, in his Contributions to the. Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament. Another recension ol it was published in the Jo urnnl of Sacred Literature fur January and April ISO I. An Arabic version of it, resembling more the Svriac than the Greek or Latin, was edited and translated bv Knger in 1S51. The Sahidie recension, published and trans- lated bv Zoeira and Ihduurier, is considerablv diileivnt from our present texts. The numerous Latin recensions also dilfer considerably from each other, as will be seen from a comparison of the First Latin Form with the Second. They are. all, how- ever, from the same source, and that probably the Greek text which we have translated. The Greek texts, again, exhibit considerable variations, especially in the latter portions.
In the end of the seventh century, John Archbishop of Thessalonica wrote a discourse on the falling asleep of Mary, mainly derived from the book of Pseudo-John ; and in some mss. this treatise of John of Thessalonica is ascribed to John the Apostle. Epiphanius, however, makes distinctive mentior of both treatises.
For his edition of the Greek text, Tischendorf made use » five mss., the oldest of the eleventh century.
The First Latin Form is edited from three Italian mss., t . oldest of the thirteenth centurv.
The Second Latin Form, which has been previously published elsewhere, is from a Venetian MS. of the fourteenth century.
We have now concluded our notices, compiled chiefly from Tischendorf *s Prolegomena, of the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament.
While these documents are of considerable interest and value, as giving evidence of a widespread feeling in early times of the importance of the events which form the basis our belief, and as affording us curious glimpses of the str
XXIV
INTRODUCTION.
the Christian conscience, and of modes of Christian thought, in the first centuries of our era, the predominant impression which they leave on our minds is a profound sense of the immeasurable superiority, the unapproachable simplicity and majesty, of the Canonical Writings.
St. Andrews, 20*A March 1370.
THE PROTEVAXGELIUM OF JAMES.
THE BIRTH OF MARY THE HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, AND VERT GLORIOUS MOTHER OF JESUS CHRIST.
X the records of the twelve tribes of Israel was Joachim, a man rich exceedingly ; and he brought his offerings double,1 saying : There shall be of my superabundance to all the people, and there shall be the offering for my forgiveness 2 to the Lord for a propitiation for me.3 For the great day of the Lord was at hand, and the sons of Israel were bringing their offerings. And there stood over against him Eubim, saying : It is not meet for thee first to bring thine offerings, because thou hast not made seed in Israel.4 And Joachim was exceedingly grieved, and went away to the registers of the twelve tribes of the people, saying: I shaU see the registers of the twelve tribes of Israel, as to whether I alone have not made seed in Israel And he searched, and found that all the righteous had raised up seed in Israel And he called to mind the patriarch Abraham, that in the last day5 God gave him a son Isaac. And Joachim was exceedingly grieved, and did not come into the presence of his wife ; but he
1 Susanna L 4.
2 The readings vary, and the sense is doubtful. Thilo thinks that the sense is : "What I otter over and above what the law requires is for the benefit ot the whole people ; but the offering I make for my own forgiveness (according to the law's requirements) shall be to the Lord, that He may be rendered merciful tome.
3 The Church of Rome appoints March 20 as the Feast of St Joachim. His liberality is commemorated in the prayers, and the lessons to be read ore Wisd. xxxi and Matt. i.
4 1 Sam. L 6, 7 ; Hos. ix. 14.
* Another reading is : In his last days.
A
2 TEE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
retired to the desert,1 and there pitched his tent, and fasted forty days and forty nights/ saying in himself: I will not go down either for food or for drink until the Lord my God shall look upon me, and prayer shall be my food and drink.
2. And his wife Anna3 mourned in two mournings, and lamented in two lamentations, saying: I shall bewail my widow- hood ; I shall bewail my childlessness. And the great day of the Lord was at hand ; and Judith 4 her maid-servant said : How long dost thou humiliate thy soul? Behold, the great day of the Lord is at hand, and it is unlawful for thee to mourn. But take this head-band, which the woman that made it gave to me; for it is not proper that I should wear it, l>ecausc I am a maid-servant, and it has a royal appearance.3 And Anna said : Depart from me ; for I have not done such things, and the Lord has brought me very low. I fear that some wicked person has given it to thee, and thou hast come to make me a sharer in thy sin. And Judith said : "Why should I curse thee, seeing that6 the Lord hath shut thy womb, so as not to give thee fruit in Israel ? And Anna was grieved exceedingly, and put off her garments of mourning, and cleaned her head, and put on her wedding garments, and about the ninth hour went down to the garden to walk. And she saw a laurel, and sat under it, and prayed to the Lord, saying: 0 God of our fathers, bless me and hear my prayer, as Thou didst bless the womb of Sarah, and didst give her a son Isaac.7
3. And gazing towards the heaven, she saw a sparrow's nest in the laurel,8 and made a lamentation in herself, saying: Alas ! who begot me ? and what womb produced me ? because I have become a curse in the presence of the sons of Israel, and I have been reproached, and they have driven me in derision out of the temple of the Lord. Alas ! to what have I been likened ?
1 Another reading is : Into the hill-country.
2 Moses : Ex. xxiv. IS, xxxiv. 2S ; Deut. ix. 9. Elijah : 1 Kings xix. 8. Christ : Matt. iv. 2.
3 The 26th ot July is the Feast of St. Anna in the Church of Home.
4 Other forms of the name are Juth, Juthin.
4 Some mss. have : For I am thy maid-servant, and thou hast a regal appear- ance.
* Several mss. insert : Thou hast not listened to my voice ; for. " Cf. 1 Sam. i. 9-15. « Tobit ii. 10.
THE PR0TEVA2TGELIUM OF JAMES. 3
I am not like the fowls of the heaven, because even the fowls of the heaven are productive before Thee, 0 Lord. Alas ! to what have I been likened ? I am not like the beasts of the earth, because even the beasts of the earth are productive be- fore Thee, 0 Lord. Alas ! to what liave I been likened ? I am not like these waters, because even these waters are pro- ductive before Thee, 0 Lord. Alas ! to what have I been likened ? I am not like this earth, because even the earth bringeth forth its fruits in season, and blesseth Thee, 0 Lord.1
4. And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by, saying: Anna, Anna, the Lord hath heard thy prayer, and thou shalt conceive, and shalt bring forth ; and thy seed shall he spoken of in all the world. And Anna said: As the Lord mv ("Jot I liveth, if I heuet either male or female, I will bnn«r it as a jnft to the Lord mv God ; and it shall minister to Him in holy things all the days of its lite.8 And, behold, two angels came, saying to her : Be- hold, Joachim thy husband is coming with his flocks.3 For an angel of the Lord went down to him, saying : Joachim, Joachim, the Lord God hath heard thy prayer. Go down hence ; for, be- hold, thy wife Anna shall conceive. And Joachim went down and called his shepherds, saying : Bring me hither ten she-lambs without spot or blemish, and they shall be for the Lord my God; and bring me twelve tender calves, and they shall be for the priests and the elders ; and a hundred goats for all the people. And, behold, Joachim came with his flocks ; and Anna stood by the gate, and saw Joachim coming, and she ran and hung upon his neck, saying : Now I know that the Lord God hath blessed me exceedingly; for, behold, the widow no longer a widow, and I the childless shall conceive. And Joachim rested the first day in his house.
5. And on the following day he brought his offerings, saying in himself: If the Lord God has been rendered gracious to me, the plate4 on the priest's forehead will make it manifest to me.
1 Manv of the mss. here add : Alas ! to what have I heen likened ? I am not like the waves of the sea, because even the waves of the sea, in calm and storm, and the fishes in them, bless Thee, 0 Lord.
■ 1 Sam. i. 11.
3 One of the mss.: With his shepherds, and sheep, and goats, and oxen.
4 Ex. xxviii. 32. For traditions about the petition, see Euseb. H. £. ii. 23, iii. 31, r. 2i ; Epiph. liar. 73.
4 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
And Joachim brought his offerings, and observed attentively the priest's plate when he went up to the altar of the Lord, and he saw no sin in himself. And Joachim said : Now I know that the Lord has been gracious unto me, and lias remitted all my sins. And he went down from the temple of the Lord justified, and departed to his own house. And her months were fulfilled, and in the ninth1 month Anna brought forth. And she said to the midwife : What have I brought forth ? and she said : A girL And said Anna : My soul lias been magnified this day. And she laid her down. And the days having been fulfilled, Anna was purified, and gave the breast to the child, ami2 called her name Mary.
6. And the child »rew strong dav bv dav: and when she was six 3 months old, her mother set her on the ground to try whether she could stand, and she walked seven steps and came into her bosom ; and she snatched her up, saying : As the Lord my God liveth, thou shalt not walk on this earth until I bring thee into the temple of the Lord. And she made a sanctuary in her bed-chamber, and allowed nothing common or unclean to pass through her. And she called the undefiled daughters of the Hebrews, and they led her astray.4 And when she was a year old, Joachim made a great feast, and invited the priests, and the scribes, and the elders, and all the people of Israel. And Joachim brought the child to the priests ; and they blessed her, saying: 0 God of our fathers, bless this child, and give her an everlasting name to be named in all generations. And all the people said : So be it, so be it, amen. And he brought her to the chief priests ; and they blessed her, saying : 0 God most high, look upon this child, and bless her with the utmost blessing, which shall be for ever. And her mother snatched her up, and took her into the sanctuary of her bed-chamber, and gave her the breast. And Anna made a song to the Lord God, saying : I will sing a song to the Lord my God, for He hath looked upon me, and hath taken away the reproach of mine enemies ; and the Lord hath given me the fruit of His
1 Various readings are : Sixth, seventh, eighth.
2 One of the Mas. inserts : On the eighth dav.
3 One of the mss. lias nine.
* This is the reading of most mss. ; but it is difficult to see any sense in it. One ais. reads : They attended on her. Fabricius proposed : They bathed her.
THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES. 5
righteousness, singular in its kind, and richly endowed before Him. Who will tell the sons of Eubim that Anna gives suck ? Hear, hear, ye twelve tribes of Israel, that Anna gives suck. And she laid her to rest in the bed-chamber of her sanctuary, and went out and ministered unto them. And when the supper was ended, they went down rejoicing, and glorifying the God of Israel.1
7. And her months were added to the child. And the child was two years old, and Joachim said : Let us take her up to the temple of the Lord, that we may pay the vow that we have vowed, lest perchance the Lord send to us,2 and our offering be not received. And Anna said: Let us wait for the third vear, in order that the child mav not souk for father or mother. And Joachim said : So let us wait. And the child was three years old, and Joachim said : Invite the daughters of the Hebrews that are undetiled, and let them take each a lamp, and let them stand with the lamps burning, that the child may not turn back, and her heart be captivated from the temple of the Lord. And they did so until they went up into the temple of the Lord. And the priest received her, and kissed her, and blessed her, saying : The Lord has magnified thy name in all generations. In thee, on the last of the days, the Lord will manifest His redemption to the sons of Israel. And he set her down upon the third step of the altar, and the Lord God sent grace upon her; and she danced with her feet, and all the house of Israel loved her.
8. And her parents went down marvelling, and praising the Lord God, because the child had not turned back. And Mary was in the temple of the Lord as if she were a dove that dwelt there, and she received food from the hand of an angel And when she was twelve s years old there was held a council of the priests, saying: Behold, Mary has reached the age of twelve years in the temple of the Lord. What then shall we do with
1 Two of the Mss. add : And they gave her the name of Mary, because her name shall not fade for ever. This derivation of the name — from the root mar, lade — is one of a dozen or so.
2 This is taken to mean : Send some one to us to warn us that we have been too long in paying our vow. One Ms. reads, lest the Lord depart from us ; another, lest the Lord move away from us.
3 Or, fourteen. Pastel's Latin version lias ten.
/ J
j
6 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
her, lest perchance she defile the sanctuary of the Lord ? And they said to the high priest : Thou standest by the altar of the Lord ; go in, and pray concerning her; and whatever the Lord shall manifest unto thee, that also will we do. And the high priest went in, taking the robe l with the twelve bells into the holy of holies ; and he prayed concerning her. And behold an ancrel of the Lord stood bv him, saving unto him : Zacharias, Zacharias, go out and assemble the widowers of the people, and let them bring each his rod ; and to whomsoever the Lord shall show a sign, his wife shall she l>e. And the heralds went out through all the circuit of Jiulea, and the trumpet of the Lord sounded, and all ran.
9. And Joseph, throwing away his axe, went out to meet them ; and when they had assembled, they went away to the high priest, taking with them their rods. And he, taking the rods of all of them, entered into the temple, and prayed ; and having ended his prayer, lie took the rods and came out, and gave them to them : but there was no sign in them, and Joseph took his rod last ; and, behold, a dove came out of the rod, and flew upon Joseph's head. And the priest said to Joseph, Thou hast been chosen by lot to take into thy keeping the virgin of the Lord. But Joseph refused, saying : I have children, and I am an old man, and she is a young girl. I am afraid lest I become a laughing-stock to the sons of Israel. And the priest said to Joseph : Fear the Lord thy God, and remember what the Lord did to Dathan, and Abiram, and Korah ; * how the earth opened, and they were swallowed up on account of their contradiction. And now fear, 0 Joseph, lest the same things happen in thy house. And Joseph was afraid, and took her into his keeping. And Joseph said to Mary : Behold, I have received thee from the temple of the Lord ; and now I leave thee in my house, and go away to build my buildings, and I shall come to thee. The Lord will protect thee.
10. -bid there was a council of the priests, saying: Let us make a veil for the temple of the Lord. And the priest said : Call to me undefiled virgins of the family of David. And the officers went away, and sought, and found seven virgins. And the priest remembered the child Mary, that she was of the
1 Ex. xxviii. 2S ; Sirach xlv. 9 ; Justin, TrypL xliL 2 2Cum. xvL 31.
THE PEOTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES. 7
family of David, and undefiled before God. And the officers went away and brought her. And they brought them into the temple of the Lord. And the priest said : Choose for me by lot who shall spin the gold, and the white,1 and the fine linen, and the silk, and the blue,3 and the scarlet, and the true purple.3 And the true purple and the scarlet fell to the lot of Mary, and she took them, and went away to her house. And at that time Zacharias was dumb, and Samuel was in his place until the time that Zacharias spake. And Mary took the scarlet, and span it.
11. And .she took the pitcher, and went out to fill it with water. And, K*h<>ld. a voice savin": Hail, thou who hast re- ceived grace ; the Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou among women !* And she looked round, on the right hand and on the left, to see whence this voice came. And she went away, trembling, to her house, and put down the pitcher ; and taking the purple, she sat down on her seat, and drew it out. And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood before her, saying : Fear not, Hary ; for thou hast found grace before the Lord of all, and thou shalt conceive, according to His word. And she hearing, reasoned with herself, saying : Shall I conceive by the Lord, the living God ? and shall I bring forth as every woman brings forth ? And the angel of the Lord said : Not so, Mary ; for the power of the Lord shall overshadow thee : wherefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of the Most High. And thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. And Mary said : Behold, the servant of the Lord before His face : let it be unto me according to thy word.
12. And she made the purple and the scarlet, and took them to the priest. And the priest blessed her, and said : Mary, the Lord God hath magnified thy name, and thou shalt be blessed in all the generations of the earth. And Mary, with great joy, went away to Elizabeth her kinswoman,5 and knocked at the door. And when Elizabeth heard her, she threw away the
1 Lit, undefiled. It is difficult to say what colour is meant, or if it is a colour at all. The word is once used to mean the sea, but with no reference to colour. It is also the name of a stone of a cT^nish hue.
* Lit, hyacinth. 3 Ex. xxv. 4. * Luke i 23. 5 Luke i. 39.
8 TEE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
scarlet,1 and ran to the door, and opened it ; and seeing Mary, she blessed her, and said: Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me ? for, behold, that which is in me leaped and blessed thee.3 But Mary had forgotten the mysteries of which the archangel Gabriel had spoken, and gazed up into heaven, and said : Who am I, 0 Lord, that all the generations of the earth should bless me ?3 And she re- mained three months with Elizabeth ; and day by day she grew bigger. And Mary being afraid, went away to her own house, and hid herself from the sons of Israel. And she was sixteen* years old when these mysteries happened.
13. And she was in her sixth month; and. behold, Joseph came back from his building, and, entering into his house, he discovered that she was bi'p with child. And he smote5 his face,6 and threw himself on the ground upon the sackcloth, and wept bitterly, saying : With what face shall I look upon the Lord my God ? and what prayer shall I make about this maiden ? because I received her a virgin out of the temple of the Lord, and I have not watched over her. Who is it that has hunted meT down ? Who has done this evil thing in my house, and defiled the virgin ? Has not the history of Adam been repeated in me ? For just as Adam was in the hour of his singing praise," and the serpent came, and found Eve alone, and completely deceived her, so it has happened to me also. And Joseph stood up from the sackcloth, and called Mary, and said to her: 0 thou who hast been cared for by God, why hast thou done this, and forgotten the Lord thy God ? Why hast thou brought low thy soul, thou that wast brought up in the holy of holies, and that didst receive food from the hand of an angel ? And she wept bitterly, saying : I am innocent, and have known no man. And Joseph said to her : Whence then is that which is in thy womb ? And she
1 Other readings are : the wool — what she had in her hand.
* Luke i. 43. 3 Luke i. 56.
4 Six mss. have sixteen ; one, fourteen ; two, fifteen ; and one, seventeen.
5 The Latin translation has hung down,
6 Ezek. xxi. 12 ; Jer. xxxL 19.
7 Two mss. : her.
8 Another reading is : As Adam was in Paradise, and in the hour of the sing- ing of praise (doxology) to God was with the angels, the serpent, etc.
THE PROTEVAXGELIUM OF JAMES. 9
said: As the Lord my God liveth, I do not know whence it is tome.
14. And Joseph was greatly afraid, and retired from her, and considered what he should do in regard to her.1 And Joseph said: If I conceal her sin, I find myself fighting against the law of the Lord ; and if I expose her to the sons of Israel, I am afraid lest that which is in her be from an angel,3 and I shall be found giving up innocent blood to the doom of death. "What then shall I do with her ? I will put her away from me secretly. And night came upon him ; and, behold, an angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream, saying : Be not afraid for this maiden, for that which is in her is of the Holy Spirit ; and she will bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.3 And Joseph arose from sleep, and glorified the God of Israel, who had given him this grace ; and he kept her.
15. And Annas the scribe came to him, and said : Why hast thou not appeared in our assembly ? And Joseph said to him : Because I was weary from my journey, and rested the first day. And he turned, and saw that Mary was with child. And he ran away to the priest,4 and said to him : Joseph, whom thou didst vouch for, has committed a grievous crime. And the priest said : How so ? And he said : He has defiled the virgin whom he received out of the temple of the Lord, and has married her by stealth, and has not revealed it to the sons of Israel And the priest answering, said : Has Joseph done this ? Then said Annas the scribe : Send officers, and thou wilt find the virgin with child. And the officers went away, and found it as he had said ; and they brought her along with Joseph to the tribunal. And the priest said : Mary, why hast thou done this ? and why hast thou brought thy soul low, and forgotten the Lord thy God? Thou that wast reared in the holy of holies, and that didst receive food from the hand of an angel, and didst hear the hymns, and didst dance before Him, why hast thou done this ? And she wept bitterly, saying : As the
1 Matt, i 13.
1 Lit, angelic; one MS. has holy ; the Latin translation, following a slightly different reading, that it would not be fair to her. 1 Matt L 20. 4 Three mss. have high priest.
10 TEE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
Lord my God liveth, I am pure before Him, and know not a man. And the priest said to Joseph : Why hast thou done' this ? And Joseph said : As the Lord liveth, I am pure con- cerning her. Then said the priest : Bear not false witness, but speak the truth. Thou hast married her by stealth, and hast not revealed it to the sons of Israel, and hast not bowed thy head under the strong hand, that thy seed might be blessed. And Joseph was silent
10. And the priest said: Give up the virgin whom thou didst receive out of the temple of the Lord. And Joseph burst into tears. And the priest said : I will give you to drink of the water of the ordeal of the Lord,1 and He shall make manifest your sins in your eyes. And the priest took the water, and gave Joseph to drink, and sent liim away to the hill-country ; and he returned unhurt. And he gave to Mary also to drink, and sent her away to the hill-country ; and she returned unhurt. And all the people wondered that sin did not appear in them. And the priest said : If the Lord God has not made manifest your sins, neither do I judge you. And he sent them away. And Joseph took Mar}', and went away to his own house, re- joicing and glorifying the God of Israel.
1 7. And there was an order from the Emperor Augustus, that all in Bethlehem of Judea should be enrolled.* And Joseph said: I shall enrol my sons, but what shall I do with this maiden ? How shall I enrol her ? As my wife ? I am ashamed. As my daughter then ? But all the sons of Israel know that she is not my daughter. The day of the Lord shall itself bring it to pass3 as the Lord will. And he saddled the ass, and set her upon it ; and his son led it, and Joseph followed.4 And when they had come within three miles, Joseph turned and saw her sorrowful; and he said to himself: Likely that which is in her distresses her. And again Joseph turned and saw her laughing. And he said to her : Mary, how is it that I see in thy lace at one time laughter, at another sorrow ? And Mary said to Joseph : Because I see two peoples with my eyes ; the
1 Xnm. v. 11. * Luke ii. 1.
3 Or : On this Jay of the Lord I will do, etc
4 Another reading is : And his son Samuel led it, and James and Simon followed.
THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES. 11
one weeping and lamenting, and the other rejoicing and exult- ing. And they came into the middle of the road, and Mary said to him : Take me down from off the ass, for that which is in me presses to come forth. And he took her down from off the ass, and said to her : Whither shall I lead thee, and cover thy disgrace ? for the place is desert.
18. And he found a cave1 there, and led her into it; and leaving his two sons beside her, he went out to seek a midwife in the district of Bethlehem.
And I Joseph was walking, and was not walking; and I looked up into the sky, and saw the sky astonished; and I looked up to the pole of the heavens, and saw it standing, and the birds of the air keeping still. And I looked down upon the earth, and saw a trough lying, and work-people reclining : and their hands were in the trough. And those that were eating did not eat, and those that were rising did not carry it up, and those that were conveying anytliing to their mouths did not convey it ; but the faces of all were looking upwards. And I saw the sheep walking, and the sheep stood still ; and the shepherd raised his hand to strike them, and his hand re- mained up. And I looked upon the current of the river, and I saw the mouths of the kids resting on the water and not drinking, and all things in a moment were driven from their course.
19. And I saw a woman coming down from the hill-country, and she said to me : 0 man, whither art thou going ? And I said: I am seeking an Hebrew midwife. And she answered and said unto me: Art thou of Israel? And I said to her: Yes. And she said: And who is it that is bringing forth in the cave ? And I said : A woman betrothed to me. And she said to me : Is she not thy wife ? And I said to her : It is Mary that was reared in the temple of the Lord, and I obtained her by lot as
1 Bethlehem . . . used to be overshadowed by a grove of Thammuz, i.e. Adonis ; and in the cave where Christ formerly wailed as an infant, they used to mourn for the beloved of Venus {Jerome to Paulinus). In his letter to Sabinianus the cave is repeatedly mentioned : " That cave in which the Son of God was bom;" "that venerable cave," etc., "within the door of what was once the Lord's manger, now the altar." "Then you run to the place of the shepherds.** There appears also to have been above the altar the figure of an angel, or angels. See also Justin, Tnjph. 78.
12 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
my wife. And yet she is not my wife, but has conceived of the Holy Spirit
And the midwife said to him: Is this true ? And Joseph said to her : Come and see. And the midwife went away with him. And they stood in the place of the cave, and behold a luminous cloud overshadowed the cave. And the midwife said: My sold has been magnified this day, because mine eyes have seen strange things — because salvation has been, brought forth to Israel. And immediately the cloud disappeared out of the cave, and a great light shone in the cave, so that the eyes could not bear it And in a little that light gradually decreased, until the infant appeared, and went and took the breast from his mother Mary. And the midwife cried out, and said : This is a great dav to me, because I have seen this strange sight And the midwife went forth out of the cave, and Salome met her. And she said to her : Salome, Salome, I have a strange sight to relate to thee : a virgin has brought forth — a thing which her nature admits not of. Then said Salome: As the Lord my God liveth, unless I thrust in my finger, and search the parts, I will not believe that a virgin has brought forth.
20. And the midwife went in, and said to Mary: Show thy- self; for no small controversy has arisen about thee. And Salome put in her finger, and cried out, and said : Woe is me for mine iniquity and mine unbelief, because I have tempted the living God; and, behold, my hand is dropping off as if burned with fire. And she bent her knees before the Lord, saving : 0 God of mv fathers, remember that I am the seed of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob ; do not make a show of me to the sons of Israel, but restore me to the poor; for Thou knowest, 0 Lord, that in Thy name I have performed my services, and that I have received my reward at Thy hand. And, behold, an angel of the Lord stood by her, saying to her : Salome, Salome, the Lord hath heard thee. Put thy hand to the infant, and carry it, and thou wilt have safety and joy. And Salome went and carried it, saying : I will worship Him, because a great King has been born to Israel. And, behold, Salome was immediately cured, and she went forth out of the cave justified. And be- hold a voice saying : Salome, Salome, tell not the strange things thou hast seen, until the child has come into Jerusalem.
THE PROTEVANGELIUM OF JAMES. 13
21. And, behold, Joseph was ready to go into Judea. And there was a great commotion in Bethlehem of Judea, for Magi came, saying : Where is he that is born king of the Jews ? for we have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him. And when Herod heard, he was much disturbed, and sent officers to the Magi. And he sent for the priests, and examined them, saying : How is it written about the Clirist ? where is He to be born? And they said: In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written.1 And he sent them awav. And he examined the Magi, saying to them : What sign have you seen in reference to the kin*' that has been born ? And the Magi said : We have seen a star of threat size shining among these stars, and obscuring their light, so that the stars did not appear; and we thus knew that a king has been born to Israel, and we have come to worship him. And Herod said : Go and seek him ; and if you find him, let me know, in order that I also may go and worship him. And the Magi went out. And, behold, the star which they had seen in the east went before them until they came to the cave, and it stood over the top of the cave. And the Magi saw the infant with His mother Mary ; and they brought forth from their bag gold, and frank- incense, and myrrh. And having been warned by the angel not to go into Judea, they went into their own country by another road.2
22. And when Herod knew that he had been mocked by the Magi, in a rage he sent murderers, saying to them : Slay the children3 from two years old and under. And Mary, having heard that the children were being killed, was afraid, and took the infant and swaddled Him, and put Him into an ox-stall. And Elizabeth, having heard that they were searching for John, took him and went up into the hill-country, and kept looking where to conceal him. And there was no place of conceal- ment. And Elizabeth, groaning with a loud voice, says : 0 mountain of God, receive mother and child. And imme- diately the mountain was cleft, and received her. And a light
1 Two MSS. here add: And thou Bethlehem, etc., from Mic. v. 2. * Matt ii. 1-12. One of the mss. here adds Matt. ii. 13-15, with two or three slight variations. 3 Four mss. have all Uie male children, as in Matt ii. 16.
H THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
shone about them, for an angel of the Lord was with them, watching over them.
23. And Herod searched for John, and sent officers to Zacha- rias, saying: Where hast thou hid thy son ? And he, answer- ing, said to them: I am the servant of God in holy things, and I sit constantly in the temple of the Lord: I do not know where my son is. And the officers went away, and reported all these things to Herod. And Herod was enraged, and said : His son is destined to be king over Israel. Ahd he sent to him again, saying: Tell the truth ; where is thy son ? for thou knowest that thy life is in my hand. And Zacharias said : I am God's martyr, if thou sheddest my blood ; for the Lord will receive my spirit, because thou sheddest innocent blood at the vestibule of the temple of the Lord. And Zacharias was murdered about davbreak. And the sons of Israel did not know that he had been murdered.1
24. But at the hour of the salutation the priests went away, and Zacharias did not come forth to meet them with a blessing, according to his custom.2 And the priests stood waiting for Zacharias to salute him at the prayer,3 and to glorify the Most High. And he still delaying, they were all afraid. But one of them ventured to go in, and he saw clotted blood beside the altar ; and lie heard a voice saying : Zacharias has been mur- dered, and his blood shall not be wiped up until his avenger come. And hearing this saying, he was afraid, and went out and told it to the priests. And they ventured in, and saw what had happened ; and the fretwork of the temple made a wailing noise, and they rent their clothes4 from the top even to the bottom. And they found not his body, but they found his blood turned into stone. And they were afraid, and went out and reported to the people that Zacharias had been murdered. And all the tribes of the people heard, and mourned, and lamented for him three davs and three nights. And after the three days, the priests consulted as to whom they should put
1 Another reading is : And Herod, enraged at this, ordered him to be slain in the midst of the altar before the dawn, that the slaying of him might not be prevented by the people.
- Lit., the blessing of Zacharias did not come forth, etc.
3 Or, with prayer.
4 Another reading is : And was rent from the top, etc.
THE PROTEVAHGELIUM OF JAMES. 15
in his place ; and the lot fell upon Simeon. For it was he who had been warned by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death until he should see the Christ in the flesh.1
25. And I James that wrote this history in Jerusalem, a commotion having arisen when Ilerod died, withdrew myself to the wilderness until the commotion in Jerusalem ceased, dorifving the Lord God, who had given me the gift and the wisdom to write this history. And grace shall be with them that fear our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory to ages of ages. Amen.2
1 Luke ii. 26. One of the mss. here adds Matt ii. 19-23, with two or three rcrbal changes. - The Ms*, vary much in the doxolo*.nr.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW.
"EKE beginneth the book of the Birth of the Blessed Mary and the Infancy of the Saviour. Written in Hebrew by the Blessed Evangelist Matthew, and translated into Latin by the Blessed Pres- byter Jerome.
To their well-beloved brother Jerome the Presbyter, Bishops Cromatius and Heliodorus in the Lord, greeting.
The birth of the Virgin Man*, and the nativity and infancy of our Lord Jesus Christ, we find in apocryphal books. But considering that in them many things contrary to our faith are written, we have believed that they ought all to be rejected, lest perchance we should transfer the joy of Christ to Anti- christ. "While, therefore, we were considering these things, there came holy men, Parmenius and Yarinus, who said that your Holiness had found a Hebrew volume, written by the hand of the most blessed Evangelist Matthew, in which also the birth of the virgin mother herself, and the infancy of our Saviour, were written. And accordingly we entreat your affec- tion bv our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, to render it from the Hebrew into Latin,1 not so much for the attainment of those things which are the insignia of Christ, as for the exclusion of the craft of heretics, who, in order to teach bad doctrine, have mingled their own lies with the excellent nativity of Christ, that by the sweetness of life they might hide the bitter- ness of death. It will therefore become your purest piety, either to listen to us as your brethren entreating, or to let us have as bishops exacting, the debt of affection which you may deem due.
1 Lit, to Latin ears.
1£
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 17
Reply to tluir Letter by Jerome.
To my lords the holy and most blessed Bishops Cromatius and Heliodorus, Jerome, a humble sen-ant of Christ, in the Lord greeting.
He who digs in ground where he knows that there is gold,1 does not instantly snatch at whatever the uptorn trench may pour forth ; but, before the stroke of the quivering spade raises aloft the glittering mass, he meanwhile lingers over the sods to turn them over and lift them up, and especially he who has not added to his gains. An arduous task is enjoined upon nie, since what your Blessedness has commanded me. the holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew himself did not write for the purpose of publishing. For if he had not done it somewhat secretly, he would have added it also to his Gospel which he published. But he composed this book in Hebrew ; and so little did he publish it, that at this day the book written in Hebrew by his own hand is in the possession of very religious men, to whom in successive periods of time it has been handed down by those that were before them. And this book they never at any time gave to any one to translate. And so it came to pass, that when it was published by a disciple of Maniclueus named Leucius, who also wrote the falsely styled Acts of the Apostles, this book afforded matter, not of edification, but of perdition ; and the opinion of the Synod in regard to it was according to its deserts, that the ears of the church should not be open to it. Let the snapping of those that bark against us now cease ; for we do not add this little book to the canonical writings, but we translate what was written by an apostle and evangelist, that we may disclose the falsehood of heresy. In this work, then, we obey the commands of pious bishops as well as oppose im- pious heretics. It is the love of Christ, therefore, which we fulfil, believing that they will assist us by their prayers, who through our obedience attain to a knowledge of the holy infancy d our Saviour.
There is extant another letter to the same bishops, attributed to Jerome :—
1 Lit. , conscious of gold. O
18 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
You ask me to let you know what I tliink of a book held by some to be about the nativity of St Mary. And so I wish you to know that there is much in it that is false. For one Seleucus, who wrote the Sufferings of the Apostles, composed this book. But, just as he wrote what was true about their powers, and the miracles they worked, but said a great deal that was false about their doctrine ; so here too he lias invented many un- truths out of his own head. ' I shall take care to. render it word for word, exactly as it is in the Hebrew, since it is asserted that it was composed by the holy Evangelist ilatthew, and written in Hebrew, and set at the head of his Gospel ' Whether this be true or not, I leave to the author of the preface and the trustworthiness of the writer : as for myself, I pronounce them doubtful ; I do not affirm that they are clearly false. But this I say freely — and I think none of the faithful will deny it — that, whether these stories be true or inventions, the sacred nativity of St. Mary was preceded by great miracles, and suc- ceeded by the greatest ; and so by those who believe that God can do these tilings, they can be believed and read without damaging their faith or imperilling their souls. In short, so far as I can, following the sense rather than the words of the writer, and sometimes walking in the same path, though not in the same footsteps, sometimes digressing a little, but still keep- ing the same road, I shall in this way keep by the style of the narrative, and shall say nothing that is not either written there, or might, following the same train of thought, have been written.
Chap. I.1 — In those days there was a man in Jerusalem, Joachim by name, of the tribe of Judah. He was the shepherd of his own sheep, fearing the Lord in integrity and singleness of heart. He had no other care than that of his herds, from the produce of which lie supplied with food all that feared God, offering double sifts in the fear ot God to all who laboured in
1 Two of the mss. have this prologue : I James, the son of Joseph, living in the fear of God, have written all that with my own eyes I saw coming to pai>s in the time of the nativity of the holy virgin Mary, or of the Lord the Saviour ; giving thanks to God, who has given me wisdom in the accounts of His Advent, show- ing His abounding grace to the twelve tribes of Israel.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 19
doctrine, and who ministered unto Him. Therefore his lambs, and his sheep, and his wool, and all things whatsoever he pos- sessed, he used to divide into three portions : one he gave to the orphans, the widows, the strangers, and the poor ; the second to those that worshipped God ; and the third he kept for himself and all his house.1 And as he did so, the Lord multiplied to him his herds, so that there was no man like him in the people of Israel. This now he began to do when he was fifteen years old. And at the age of twenty he took to wife Anna, the daughter of Acliar, of his own tribe, that is, of the tribe of Judah, of the family of David. And though they had lived together for twenty years, he had by her neither sons nor daughters.2
Chap. 2. — And it happened that, in the time of the feast, among those who were offering incense to the Lord, Joachim stood getting ready his gifts in the sight of the Lord. And the priest, Euben by name, coming to him, said : It is not law- ful for thee to stand among those who are doing sacrifice to God, because God has not blessed thee so as to give thee seed in IsraeL Being therefore put to shame in the sight of the people, he retired from the temple of the Lord weeping, and did not return to his house, but went to his flocks, taking with him his shepherds into the mountains to a far country, so that for five months his wife Anna coidd hear no tidings of him. And she prayed with tears, saying : 0 Lord, most mighty God of Israel, why hast Thou, seeing that already Thou hast not given me children, taken from me my husband also ? Behold, now five months that I have not seen my husband; and I know not where he is tarrying ? nor, if I knew him to be dead, could I bury him. And while she wept excessively, she entered into the court of His house ; and she fell on her face in prayer, and poured out her supplications before the Lord. After this, rising from her prayer, and lifting her eyes to God, she saw a sparrow's nest in a laurel tree,4 and uttered her voice to the
1 Tobit i. 7.
5 One of the mss. has : Only they vowed that, if God should give them off- spring, they would devote it to the service of the temple ; and because of this, they were wont to go to the temple uf the Lord at ench of the yearly festivals.
2 Another reading is : Where he haa died — reading mortuiut for moralus.
4 CC Tobit iL 10.
20 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
Lord with groaning, and said: Lord God Almighty, who hast given offspring to every creature, to beasts wild and tame, to serpents, and birds, and fishes, and they all rejoice over their young ones, Thou hast shut out me alone from the gift of Thy benignity. For Thou, 0 God, knowest my heart, that from the beginning of my married life I have vowed that, if Thou, 0 God, shouldst give me son or daughter, I would offer them to Thee in Thy holy temple. And while she was. thus speaking, suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared before her, saying : Be not afraid, Anna, for there is seed for thee in the decree of God; and all generations even to the end shall wonder at that which shall 1>e born of thee. And when he had thus spoken, he vanished out of her sight. But she, in fear and dread because she had seen such a sight, and heard such words, at length went into her bed-chamber, and threw herself on the bed as if dead. And for a whole day and night she remained in great trembling and in prayer. And after these thing3 she called to her her servant, and said to her: Dost thou see mc deceived in mv widowhood and in great perplexity, and hast thou been unwill- ing to come in to me ? Then she, with a slight niurmur, thus answered and said : If God hath shut up thy womb, and hath taken away thy husband from thee, what can I do for thee ? And when Anna heard this, she lifted up her voice, and wept aloud.
Chap. 3. — At the same time there appeared a young man on the mountains to Joachim while he was feeding his flocks, and said to him : "Why dost thou not return to thy wife ? And Joachim said : I have had her for twenty years, and it has not been the will of God to give me children by her. I have been driven with shame and reproach from the temple of the Lord : why should I go back to her, when I have been once cast off and utterly despised ? Here then will I remain with my sheep; and so long as in this life God is willing to grant me light, I shall willingly, by the hands of my servants, bestow their portions upon the poor, and the orphans, and those that fear God. And when he had thus spoken, the young man said to him : I am an angel of the Lord, and I have to-day appeared to thy wife when she was weeping and praying, and have consoled
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 21
her ; and know that she has conceived a daughter from thy seed, and thou in thy ignorance of this hast left her. She will be in the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit shall abide in her ; and her blessedness shall be greater than that of all the holy women, so that no one can say that any before her has been like her, or that any after her in tills world will be so. Therefore go down from the mountains, and return to thy wife, whom thou wilt find with child. For God hath raised up seed in her, and for this thou wilt give God thanks ; and her seed shall be blessed, and she herself shall be blessed, and shall be made the mother of eternal blessing. Then Joachim adored the angel, and said to him: If I have found favour in thv .«i«jjht, sit for a little in mv tent, and bless thv servant.1 And the an«'el said to him: l)o not .say servant, but fellow-servant ; for we are the servants of one Master.8 But my food is invisible, and my drink can- not be seen by a mortal Therefore thou oughtest not to ask me to enter thy tent ; but if thou wast about to give me any- thing,3 oiler it as a burnt-offering to the Lord. Then Joachim took a lamb without spot, and said to the angel : I should not have dared to offer a burnt-offering to the Lord, unless thy command had given me the priest's right of offering.4 And the anirel said to him : I should not have invited thee to offer unless I had known the will of the Lord. And when Joachim was offering the sacrifice to God, the angel and the odour of the sacrifice went together straight up to heaven with the smoke.5
Then Joachim, throwing himself on his face, lay in prayer from the sixth hour of the day even until evening. And his lads and hired servants who were with him saw him, and not knowing why he was lying down, thought that he was dead ; and they came to him, and with difficulty raised him from the ground. And when he recounted to them the vision of the angel, they were struck with great fear and wonder, and ad- vised liim to accomplish the vision of the angel without delay, and to go back with all haste to his wife. And when Joachim was turning over in his mind whether he should go back or
1 Gen. xviii. 3. * Rev. xix. 10. 3 judg. ^ii. 16>
4 Faustus the Manichxan said that Joachim was of the tribe of Levi (August.
sxiiL 4, Contra Faust um). As belonging to the tribe of Judah, he had not the
right of sacrifice. * Cf. Judg. xiiL 20.
22 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
not, it happened that he was overpowered by a deep deep; and, behold, the angel who had already appeared to him when awake, appeared to him in his sleep, saying: I am the angel appointed by God as thy guardian : go down with confidence, and return to Anna, because the - deeds of mercy which thou and thy wife Anna have done have been told in the presence of the Most High ; and to you will God give such fruit as no prophet or saint has ever had from the beginning, or ever will have. And when Joachim awoke out of his sleep, he called all his herdsmen to him, and told them his dream. And thev worshipped the Lord, and .said to him : See that thou no farther despise the words of the angel. But rise and let us go hence, and return at a quiet pace, ieeding our flocks.
And when, after thirty days occupied in going back, they were now near at hand, Ijehold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Anna, who was standing and praying, and said :! Go to the gate which is called Golden,3 and meet thy husband in the way, tor to-day he will come to thee. She therefore went towards him in haste with her maidens, and, praying to the Lord, she stood a long time in the gate waiting for him. And when she was wearied with long waiting, she lifted up her eves and saw Joachim afar off coming with his flocks : and she ran to him and hung on his neck, giving thanks to God, and saying : I was a widow, and behold now I am not so : I was barren, and behold I have now conceived. And so they wor- shipped the Lord, and went into their own house. And when this was heard of, there was great joy among all their neigh- bours and acquaintances, so that the whole land of Israel congratulated them.
Chap. 4. — After these things, her nine months being fulfilled, Anna brought forth a daughter, and called her Mary. And having weaned her in her third year, Joachim, and Anna his wife, went together to the temple of the Lord to offer sacrifices to God, and placed the infant, Mary by name, in the community of virgins, in which the virgins remained day and night praising
* Ct. Acts is. 11.
* This is the Beautiful gate of Acts iii. 2, to which, according to Josephus, there was an ascent by many steps from the valley of KeJron.
THE GOSPEL OF* PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 23
God. And when she was put down before the doors of the temple, she went up the fifteen steps l so swiftly, that she did not look back at all ; nor did she, as children are wont to do, seek for her parents. Whereupon her parents, each of them anxiously seeking for the child, were both alike astonished, until they found her in the temple, and the priests of the temple themselves wondered.
Chap. 5. — Then Anna, filled with the Holy Spirit, said before them all : The Lord Almighty, the God of Hosts, being mindtid of His word, hath visited I lis people with a good and holy visitation, to bring down the hearts of the Gentiles who were rising against us. and turn them to Himself. He hath opened His ears to our prayers: He hath kept away from iu> the exult- ing of all our enemies. The barren hath become a mother, and hath brought forth exultation and gladness to Israel. Behold the gifts which I have brought to offer to my Lord, and mine enemies have not been able to hinder me. For God hath turned their hearts to me, and Himself hath given me ever- lasting joy.
Chap. 6. — And Mary was held in admiration by all the people of Israel ; and when she was three years old, she walked with a step so mature, she spoke so perfectly, and spent her time so assiduously in the praises of God, that all were astonished at her, and wondered; and she was not reckoned a young infant, but as it were a grown-up person of thirty years old. She was so constant in prayer, and her appearance was so beautiful and glorious, that scarcely any one could look into her face. And she occupied herself constantly with her wool-work, so that she in her tender vears could do all that old women were not able to do. And this was the order that she had set for herself : 2 From the morning to the third hour
1 Corresponding with the fifteen Songs of Degrees, Ps. cxx.-cxxxiv. See Smith's Did. — art. Songs of Degrees. Another reading is: And there were about the temple, according to the fifteen Psalms of Degrees, fifteen steps of ascent: the temple was on a mountain, and there had been there built the altar of burnt-offering, which could not be reached but by steps.
1 For the hours of prayer, see Ajiost. Const, ch. xl. ; Jerome's letters to Lata, Demetrias, etc.
24 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
she remained in prayer ; from the third to the ninth she was occupied with her weaving; and from the ninth she again applied herself to prayer. She did not retire irom praying until there appeared to her the angel of the Lord, from whose hand she used to receive food ; and thus she became more and more perfect in the work of God. Then, when the older virgins rested from the praises of God, she did not rest at all ; so that in the praises and vigils of God none were found before her, no one more learned in the wisdom of the law of God, more lowly in humility, more elegant in singing, more perfect in all virtue. She was indeed stedtast, immoveable, unchangeable, and daily advancing to perfection. Xo one saw her angry, nor heard her speaking evil. All her speech was so full of grace, that her God was acknowledged to be in her tongue. She was always engaged in prayer and in searching the law, and she was anxious lest by any word of hers she should sin with regard to her companions. Then she was afraid lest in her laughter, or the sound of her beautiful voice, she should commit any fault, or lest, being elated, she should display any wrong-doing or haughtiness to one of her equals.1 She blessed God without intermission ; and lest perchance, even in her salutation, she might cease from praising God ; if any one saluted her, she used to answer bv wav of salutation : Thanks be to God. And from her the custom first began of men say- ing, Thanks be to God, when they saluted each other. She refreshed herself only with the food which she daily received from the hand of the angel ; but the food which she obtained from the priests she divided among the poor. The angels of God were often seen speaking with her, and they most dili- gently obeyed her. If any one who was unwell touched her, the same hour he went home cured.
Chap. 7. — Then Abiathar the priest offered gifts without end to the high priests, in order that he might obtain her as wife to his son. But Mary forbade them, saying: It cannot
1 One of the mss. has: She was anxious about her companions, lest any of them should sin even in one word, lest any of them should raise her voice in laughing, lest any of them should be in the wrong, or proud to her lather or her mother.
THE GOSPEL OF. PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 25
be that I should know a man, or that a man should know me. For all the priests and all her relations kept saying to her: God is worshipped in children and adored in posterity, as has always happened among the sons of Israel. But Mary answered and said unto them : God is worshipped in chastity, as is proved first of all.1 For before Abel there was none righteous amoni* men, and he by his offerings pleased God, and was without mercy slain by him who displeased Him. Two crowns, there- fore, he received— of oblation and of virginity, because in his flesh there was no pollution. Elias also, when he was in the flesh, was taken up in the ilesh, because he kept his tlesh un- spotted. Xow I, from my infancy in the temple of God, have learned that vinrinitv can be suttieientlv dear to God. And so, because I can oiler what is dear to God, I have resolved in my heart that I should not know a man at all
Chap. 8. — Xow it came to pass, when she was fourteen l years old, and on this account there was occasion for the Pharisees' savins? that it was now a custom that no woman of that ao:e should abide in the temple of God, they fell upon the plan of sending a herald through all the tribes of Israel, that on the third day all should come together into the temple of the Lord. And when all the people had come together, Abiathar the high priest rose, and mounted on a higher step, that he might be seen and heard by all the people ; and when great silence had been obtained, he said : Hear me, 0 sons of Israel, and receive my words into your ears. Ever since this temple was built by Solomon, there have been in it virgins, the daughters of kings and the daughters of prophets, and of high priests and priests ; and they were great, and worthy of admiration. But when they came to the proper age they were given in marriage, and followed the course of their mothers before them, and were pleasing to God. But a new order of life has been found out by Mar}' alone, who promises that she will remain a virgin to God. Wherefore it seems to me, that through our inquiry and the answer of God we should try to ascertain to whose keeping she ought to be entrusted. Then these words found favour with all the synagogue. And the lot was cast by the priests upon
1 Or, l»y the first of all. * Or, twelve.
26 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
the twelve tribes, and the lot fell upon the tribe of Judah. And the priest said : To-morrow let every one who lias no wife come, and bring his rod in his hand. Whence it happened that Joseph1 brought his rod along with the young men. And the rods having been handed over to the high priest, he offered a sacrifice to the Lord God, and inquired of the Lord. And the Lord said to him: Put all their rods into the holy of holies of God, and let them remain there, and order them to come to thee on the morrow to get back their rods ; and the man from the point of whose rod a dove shall come forth, and flv towards heaven, and in whose hand the rod, when given back, shall exhibit this sign, to him let Mar}' be deli- vered to be kept.
On the following day, then, all having assembled early, and an incense-offering having been made, the high priest went into the holv of holies, and brought forth the rods. And when he had distributed the rods,2 and the dove came forth out of none of them, the high priest put on the twelve bells3 and the sacer- dotal robe ; and entering into the holy of holies, he there made a burnt-offering, and poured forth a prayer. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him, saying : There is here the shortest rod, of which thou hast made no account : thou didst bring it in with the rest, but didst not take it out with them. When thou hast taken it out, and hast given it him whose it is, in it will appear the sign of which I spoke to thee. Now that was Joseph's rod ; and because he was an old man, he had been cast off, as it were, that he might not receive her, but neither did he himself wish to ask back his rod.4 And when he was humbly standing last of all, the high priest cried out to him with a loud voice, saying : Come, Joseph, and receive thy rod ; for we are waiting for thee. And Joseph came up trembling, because the . high priest had called him with a very loud voice. But as soon as he stretched forth his hand, and laid hold of his rod, imme-
1 One of the mss. adds : Seeing that he had not a wife, and not wishing to slight the order of the high priest. 3 One of the mss. inserts : To the number of three thousand.
3 See Protev. James 8.
4 Another and more probable reading is : And this was Joseph's rod ; and he was of an abject appearance, seeing that he was old, and he would not ask back his rod, lest perchance he might be forced to receive her.
THE GOSPEL OF* PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 27
diately from the top of it came forth a dove whiter than snow, beautiful exceedingly, which, after long flying about the roofs of the temple, at length flew towards the heavens. Then all the people congratulated the old man, saying : Thou hast been made blessed in thine old age, 0 father Joseph, seeing that God hath shown thee to be fit to receive Mary. And the priests having said to him, Take her, because of all the tribe of Judah thou alone hast been chosen by God ; Joseph began bashfully to address them, saying : I am an old man, and have children ; why do you hand over to me this infant, who is younger than my grandsons ? Then Abiathar the high priest said to him : Kemember, Joseph, how Dathan and Abimn and Core perished, because they despised the will of God. »So will it happen to thee, if thou despise this which is commanded thee by God. Joseph answered him : I indeed do not despise the will of God ; but I shall be her guardian until I can ascertain concerning the will of God, as to which of my sons can have her as his wife. Let some virgins of her companions, with whom she may meanwhile spend her time, be given for a consolation to her. Abiathar the high priest answered and said: Five virgins indeed shall be given her for consolation, until the appointed day come in which thou mayst receive her ; for to no other can she be joined in marriage.
Then Joseph received Mary, with the other five virgins who were to be with her in Joseph's house. These virgins were Bebecca, Sephora, Susanna, Abigea, and Cael; to whom the high priest gave the silk, and the blue,1 and the fine linen, and the scarlet, and the purple, and the fine flax. For they cast lots among themselves what each virgin should do, and the purple for the veil of the temple of the Lord fell to the lot of Mary. And when she had got it, those virgins said to her : Since thou art the last, and humble, and younger than all, thou hast deserved to receive and obtain the purple. And thus saying, as it were in words of annoyance, they began to call her queen of virgins. While, however, they were so doing, the angel of the Lord appeared in the midst of them, saying : These words shall not have been uttered by way of annoyance, but prophesied as a prophecy most true. They trembled,
1 Or, hyacinth.
23 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
therefore, at the sight of the angel, and at his words, and asked her to pardon them, and pray for them.
Chap. 9. — And on the second day, while Mary was at the fountain to fill her pitcher, the angel of the Lord appeared to her, saying: Blessed art thou, Mary; for in thy womb thou hast prepared an habitation for the Lord. For, lo, the light from heaven shall come and dwell in thee, and by means of thee will shine over the whole world.
Again, on the third day, while she was working at the purple with her finders, there entered a young man of ineffable beaut}*. And when Marv saw him, she exceedingly feared and trembled. And he said to her : Hail, Mary, full of grace ; the Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thv womb.1 And when she heard these words, she trembled, and was exceedingly afraid. Then the an™el of the Lord added : Fear not, Mary ; for thou hast found favour with God : Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a King, who fills not only the earth, but the heaven, and who reigns from generation to generation.
Chap. 10. — While these tilings were doing, Joseph was occu- pied with his work, house-building, in the districts by the sea- shore; for he was a carpenter. And after nine months he came back to liis house, and found Mary pregnant. Where- fore, being in the utmost distress, he trembled and cried out, saying : 0 Lord God, receive my spirit ; for it is better for me to die than to live any longer. And the virgins who were with -Mar>' said to him : Joseph, what art thou saying ? We know that no man has touched her ; we can testify that she is still a virgin, and untouched. We have watched over her ; always has she continued with us in prayer ; daily do the angels of God speak with her ; daily does she receive food from the hand of the Lord. We know not how it is possible that there can be any sin in her. But if thou wishest us to tell thee what we suspect, nobody but the angel of the Lord2 has made her pregnant. Then said Joseph : Why do you mislead me, to believe that an angel of the Lord has made her pregnant?
1 Luke L 28. 2 Another reading is : The Holy Spirit
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 29
But it is possible that some one has pretended to be an angel of the Lord, and has beguiled her. And thus speaking, he wept, and said : With what face shall I look at the temple of the Lord, or with what face shall I see the priests of God ? What am I to do ? And thus saying, he thought that he would flee, and send her away
Chap. 11. — And when he was thinking of rising up and hiding himself, and dwelling in secret, behold, on that very night, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in sleep, saying : Joseph, thou son of David, fear not; receive Mary as thy wife: for that which is in her womb is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son, and II is name shall be called Jesus, for He will save His people from their sius. And Joseph, rising from his sleep, gave thanks to God, and spoke to Mary and the virgins who were with her, and told them his vision. And he was comforted about Mary, saying : I have sinned, in that I suspected thee at all
Chap. 12. — After these things there arose a great report that Mary was with child. And Joseph was seized by the officers of the temple, and brought along with Mary to the high priest. And he with the priests began to reproach him, and to say : Why hast thou beguiled so great and so glorious a virgin, who was fed like a dove in the temple by the angels of God, who never wished either to see or to have a man, who had the most excellent knowledge of the law of God ? If thou hadst not done violence to her, she would still have remained in her virginity. And Joseph vowed, and swore that he had never touched her at all. And Abiathar the high priest answered him : As the Lord liveth, I will give thee to drink of the water of drinking of the Lord, and immediately thy sin will appear.
Then was assembled a multitude of people which could not be numbered, and Mary was brought to the temple. And the priests, and her relatives, and her parents wept, and said to Mary: Confess to the priests thy sin, thou that wast like a dove in the temple of God, and didst receive food from the hands of an angel. And again Joseph was summoned to the altar, and the water of drinking of the Lord was given him to
30 TEE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
drink. And when any one that had lied drank this water, and walked seven times round the altar, God used to show some sign in his face. When, therefore, Joseph had drunk in safety, and had walked round the altar seven times, no sign of sin appeared in him. Then all the priests, and the officers, and the people justified him, saying : Blessed art thou, seeing that no charge has been found good against thee. And they sum- moned JIary, and said : And what excuse canst thou liave ? or what greater sign can appear in thee than the conception of thy womb, which betrays thee ? Tliis only we require of thee, that since Joseph is pure regarding thee, thou confess who it is that has beguiled thee. For it is better that thy confession should betrav thee, than that the wrath of God should set a mark on thy face, and expose thee in the midst of the people. Then ilary said, stedfastly and without trembling: 0 Lord God, King over all, who knowest all secrets, if there be any pollution in me, or any sin, or any evil desires, or unchastity, expose me in the sight of all the people, and make me an example of punishment to all. Thus saying, she went up to the altar of the Lord boldly, and drank the water of drinking, and walked round the altar seven times, and no spot was found in her.
And when all the people were in the utmost astonishment, seeing that she was with child, and that no sign had appeared in her tace, they began to be disturbed among themselves by con- flicting statements : some said that she was holy and unspotted, others that she was wicked and defiled. Then Mary, seeing that she was still suspected by the people, and that on that account she did not seem to them to be whollv cleared, said in the hearing of all, with a loud voice, As the Lord Adonai liveth, the Lord of Hosts before whom I stand, I have not known man; but I am known by Him to whom from my earliest years I have devoted myself. And this vow I made to my God from my infancy, that I should remain unspotted in Him who created me, and I trust that I shall so live to Him alone, and serve Him alone ; and in Him, as long as I shall live, will I remain unpolluted. Then they all began to kiss her feet and to embrace her knees, asking her to pardon them for their wicked suspicions. And she was led down to her house with
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 31
exultation and joy by the people, and the priests, and all the virgins. And they cried out, and said : Blessed be the name of the Lord for ever, because He hath manifested thy holiness to all His people Israel.
Chap. 13. — And it came to pass some little time after, that an enrolment was made according to the edict of Ca?sar Augustus, that all the world was to be enrolled, each man in his native place. This enrolment was made by Cyrinus, the governor of Spa.1 It was necessary, therefore, that Joseph should enrol with the blessed Marv in Bethlehem, because to it they belonged, being of the tribe of Judah, and ot the house and family of David. "When, therefore, Joseph and the blessed Mary were going along the road which leads to Bethlehem, Mary said to Joseph: I see two peoples before me, the one weeping, and the other rejoicing. And Joseph answered : Sit still on thy beast, and do not speak superfluous words. Then there appeared before them a beautifid boy, clothed in white raiment, who said to Joseph : Why didst thou say that the words which Mary spoke about the two peoples were superfluous ? For she saw the people of the Jews weeping, because they have departed from their God ; and the people of the Gentiles rejoicing, because they have now been added and made near to the Lord, according to that which He promised to our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob : for the time is at hand when in the seed of Abraham all nations shall be blessed.2
And when he had thus said, the angel ordered the beast to stand, for the time when she should bring forth was at hand ; and he commanded the blessed Mary to come down off the animal, and go into a recess under a cavern, in which there never was light, but always darkness, because the light of day could not reach it. And when the blessed Mary had gone into it, it began to shine with as much brightness as if it were the sixth hour of the day. The light from God so shone in the cave, that neither by day nor night was light wanting as long as the blessed Mary was there. And there she brought forth a son, and the angels surrounded Him when He was being born. And as soon as He was born, He stood upon His feet, and the
1 Luke ii. 1-<J. 8 Gen. xii. 3.
32 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
angels adored Him, saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good pleasure.1 Now, when the birth of the Lord was at hand, Joseph had gone away to seek mid- wives. And when he had found them, he returned to the cave, and found with Mary the infant which she had brought forth. And Joseph said to the blessed Mary: I have brought thee two xnidwives — Zelomi* and Salome ; and they are standing outside before the entrance to the cave, not daring to come in hither, be- cause of the exceeding brightness. And when the blessed Mary heard this, she smiled; and Joseph said to her: Do not smile; but prudently allow them to visit thee, in case thou shouldst require them for thy cure. Then she ordered them to enter. Anil when Zelomi had come in, Salome having stayed without, Zelomi said to Mary : Allow me to touch thee. And when she had permitted her to make an examination, the midwife cried out with a loud voice, and said : Lord, Lord Almighty, mercy on us ! It has never been heard or thought of, that any one should have her breasts full of milk, and that the birth of a son should show his mother to be a virgin. But there has been no spilling of blood in his birth, no pain in bringing him forth. A virgin has conceived, a virgin has brought forth, and a virgin she remains. And hearing these words, Salome said: Allow me to handle thee, and prove whether Zelomi have spoken the truth. And the blessed Mary allowed her to handle her. And when she had withdrawn her hand from handling her, it dried up, and through excess of pain she began to weep bitterly, and to be in great distress, crying out, and saying: 0 Lord God, Thou knowest that I have always feared Thee, and that with- out recompense I have cared for all the poor; I have taken nothing from the widow and the orphan, and the needy have I not sent empty away. And, behold, I am made wretched because of mine unbelief, since without a cause I wished to fry Thv vinrin.
And while she was thus speaking, there stood by her a young man in shining garments, saying : Go to the child, and adore Him, and touch Him with thy hand, and He will heal thee, because He is the SawQur of the world, and of all that hope in Him. And she went to the child with haste, and
1 See Alford's Greek Testament on Luke ii. \i. 'Or Zelcmi.
TIIE GOSPEL OF TSEUDO-MATTUEW. 3
o
adored Him, and touched the fringe of the cloths in which He was wrapped, and instantly her hand was cured. And going forth, she began to cry aloud, and to tell the wonderful things which she had seen, and which she had suffered, and how she had been cured ; so that many through her statements believed.
And some shepherds also affirmed that they had seen angels singing a hymn at midnight, praising and blessing the God of heaven, and saving: There has been born the Saviour of all, who is Christ the Lord, in whom salvation shall be brought back to Israel.1
Moreover, a great star, Larger than any that had been seen fc since the beginning of the world, shone over the cave from the evening till the morning. And the prophets who were in Jerusalem said that this star pointed out the birth of Christ, who should restore the promise not only to Israel, but to all nations.
Chap. 14. — And on the third day after the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the most blessed Mary went forth out of the cave, and entering a stable, placed the child in the stall, and the ox and the ass adored Him. Then was fulfilled that which was said by Isaiah the prophet, saying : The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib.2 The very animals, therefore, the ox and the ass, having Him in their midst, incessantly adored Him. Then was fulfilled that which was said by Abacuc the prophet, saying:3 Between two animals thou art made manifest In the same place Joseph remained with Mary three days.
Chap. 15. — And on the sixth day they entered Bethlehem, where they spent the seventh day. And on the eighth day they circumcised the child, and called His name Jesus ; for so He was called by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.4 Now, after the days of the purification of Mary were fulfilled according to the law of Moses, then Joseph took the infant to the temple of the Lord. And when the infant had re-
1 Luke ii. 8-12. » Isa. i. 3.
• Hab. iii. 2, according to the LXX. reading, D**n DW two living crea- tures, for Wn D*2S% years make alive.
3 Lake ii. 21-24.
0
34 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
ceived parhithomus l — parhithomus, that is, circumcision — they offered for Him a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons.2
Now there was in the temple a man of God, perfect and just, whose name was Symeon, a hundred and twelve years old. He had received the answer from the Lord, that he should not taste of death till he had seen Christ, the Son of God, living in the flesh. And having seen the child, he cried out with a loud voice, saying : God hath visited His people, and the Lord hath fulfilled His promise. And he made haste, and adored Him. And after this he took Him up into his cloak and kissed His feet, and said : Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word : for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples, to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people Israel.3
There was also in the temple of the Lord, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher, who had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity; and she had now been a widow eighty-four years. And she never left the temple of the Lord, but spent her time in fasting and prayer. She also likewise adored the child, saying: In Him is the redemption of the world.4
Ciiap. 16. — And when the second year was past,5 magi came from the east to Jerusalem, bringing great gifts. And they made strict inquiry of the Jews, saying : Where is the king who has been born to vou ? for we have seen his star in the east, and have come to worship him. And word of this came to King Herod, and so alarmed him that he called together the scribes and the Pharisees, and the teachers of the people, asking of them where the prophets had foretold that Christ should be born. And they said : In Bethlehem of Judah. For it is written : And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art by no means the least among the princes of Judah ; for out of thee shall come forth a Leader who shall rule my people Israel.6
1 This shows the extent of the writer's, or transcriber's, knowledge of Greek.
2 Lev. xii. S. 3 Luke ii. 22-35. 4 Luke ii. 36-38.
5 One m.s. has : "When two (lavs were past. Another : On the thirteenth day. • Mic. v. 2.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 35
Then King Herod summoned the magi to him, and strictly inquired of them when the star appeared to them. Then, sending them to Bethlehem, he said: Go and make strict inquiry about the child ; and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also. And while the magi were going on their way, there appeared to them the star, which was, as it were, a guide to them, goins before them until they came to where the child was. And when the magi saw the star, they rejoiced with great joy ; and going into the house, they saw the child Jesus sitting in His mother's lap. Then they opened their treasures, and presented great gifts to the blessed Mary and Joseph. And to the child Himself they oilcrcd each of them a piece of gold.1 And like- wise one gave gold, another frankincense, and the third myrrh.2 And when they were going to return to King Herod, they were warned by an angel in their sleep not to go back to Herod ; and they returned to their own country by another road.3
Chap. 1 7. — And when Herod 4 saw that he had been made sport of by the magi, his heart swelled with rage, and he sent through all the roads, wishing to seize them and put them to death. But when he could not find them at all, he sent anew to Bethlehem and all its borders, and slew all the male children whom he found of two years old and under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the magi.5
Now the day before this was done Joseph was warned in his sleep by the angel of the Lord, who said to him : Take Mary and the child, and go into Egypt by the way of the desert. And Joseph went according to the saying of the angeL6 •
Chap. 18. — And having come to a certain cave, and wishing to rest in it, the blessed 7 Mary dismounted from her beast, and sat down with the child Jesus in her bosom. And there were
1 The siclus aurnt*, or gold shekel, was worth £1, 16s. 6d.
2 One MS. has : Caspar gave myrrh, Melchior frankincense, Balthusor gold.
3 Matt, ii 1-12.
4 One MS. has : And when Herod, coming back from Rome the year after, saw. * Matt iL 16. • Matt ii. 14.
7 One of the mss. has : Then Joseph put the "blessed virgin and the boy upon a beast, and himself mounted another, and took the road through the hill country
36 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
with Joseph three boys, and with Mary a girl, going on the journey along with them. And, lo, suddenly there came forth from the cave many dragons ; and when the children saw them, they cried out in great terror. Then Jesus went down from the bosom of His mother, and stood on His feet before the dragons ; and they adored Jesus, and thereafter retired. Then was fulfilled that which was said by David the prophet, saying : Traise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons ; ye dragons, and all ye deeps.1 And the young child Jesus, walking before them, commanded them to hurt no man. But Mary and Joseph were very much afraid lest the child should be hurt by the dragons. And Jesus said to them : Do not be afraid, and do not consider me to be a little child ; for I am and always have been perfect ; and all the beasts of the forest must needs be tame before me.
Chap. 19. — Lions and panthers adored Him likewise, and accompanied them in the desert. Wherever Joseph and the blessed llary went, they went before them showing them the way, and bowing their heads; and showing their submission by wagging their tails, they adored Him with great reverence. Xow at first, when Mary saw the lions and the panthers, and various kinds of wild beasts, coming about them, she was very much afraid. But the infant Jesus looked into her face with a joyful countenance, and said : Be not afraid, mother ; for they come not to do thee harm, but they make haste to serve both thee and me. With these words He drove all fear from her heart. And the lions kept walking with them, and with the oxen, and the asses, and the beasts of burden which carried their baggage, and did not hurt a single one of them, though they kept beside them ; but they were tame among the sheep and the rams which they had brought with them from Judea, and which they had with them. They walked among wolves, and feared nothing ; and no one of them was hurt by another. Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the prophet : Wolves shall feed with lambs ; the lion and the ox shall eat straw together.2 There were together two oxen drawing a
and the desert, that he might get safe to Egyrt J f°r ^e7 ^ no* wan* *° S° tyr the shore, for fear of being waylaid.
1 Pa. cxlviiL 7. * Isa. Ixr. 25.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 37
waggon with provision for the journey, and the lions directed them in their path.
Chap. 20. — And it came to pass on the third day of their journey, while they were walking, that the blessed Mary was fatigued by the excessive heat of the sun in the desert ; and seeing a palm tree, she said to Joseph : Let me rest a little under the shade of this tree. Joseph therefore made haste, and led her to the palm, and made her come down from her beast. And as the blessed Mary was sitting there, she looked up to the foliage of the palm, and saw it full of fruit, and said to Joseph : I wish it were possible to get some of the fruit of this palm. And Joseph said to her: I wonder that thou sayest this, when thou seest how high the palm tree is ; and that thou thinkest of eating of its fruit. I am thinking more of the want of water, because the skins are now empty, and we have none where- with to refresh ourselves and our cattle. Then the child Jesus, with a joyful countenance, reposing in the bosom of His mother, said to the palm : 0 tree, bend thy branches, and refresh my mother with thy fruit. And immediately at these words the palm bent its top down to the very feet of the blessed Mary ; and they gathered from it fruit, with which they were all re- freshed. And after they had gathered all its fruit, it remained bent down, waiting the order to rise from Him who had com- manded it to stoop. Then Jesus said to it : Raise thyself, 0 palm tree, and be strong, and be the companion of my trees, which are in ilic paradise of my Father ; and open from thy roots a vein of water which has been hid in the earth, and let the waters flow, so that we may be satisfied from thee. And it rose up immediately, and at its root there began to come forth a spring of water exceedingly clear and cool and sparkling. And when they saw the spring of water, they rejoiced with great joy, and were satisfied, themselves and all their cattle and their beasts. Wherefore they gave thanks to God.
Ciiap. 21. — And on the day after, when they were setting out thence, and in the hour in which they began their journey, Jesus turned to the palm, and said: This privilege I give thee, 0 palm tree, that one of thy branches be carried away by my
38 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
angels, and planted in the paradise of my Father. And this blessing I will confer upon thee, that it shall be said of all who conquer in any contest, You have attained the palm of victory. And while He was thus speaking, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared, and stood upon the palm tree ; and taking off one of its branches, Hew to heaven with the branch in his hand. And when they saw this, they fell on their faces, and became as it were dead. And Jesus said to them : Why are your heart3 possessed with fear ? Do you not know that this palm, which I have caused to be transferred to paradise, shall be prepared for all the saints in the place uf delights, as it has been prepared for us in this place of the wilderness ? And they were filled with joy ; and being strengthened, they all rose up.
Chap. 22. — After this, while thev were £oincj on their journey, Joseph said to Jesus: Lord, it is a boiling heat; if it please Thee, let us go by the sea-shore, that we may be able to rest in the cities on the coast. Jesus said to him: Fear not, Joseph ; I will shorten the way for you, so that what you would have taken thirty days to go over, you shall accom- plish in this one day. And while they were thus speaking, behold, they looked forward, and began to see the mountains and cities of Egypt.
And rejoicing and exulting, they came into the regions of Hermopolis, and entered into a certain city of Egypt which is called Sotinen;1 and because they knew no one there from whom they could ask hospitality, they wcuu into a temple which was called the Capitol of Egypt. And in this temple there had been set up three hundred and fifty-five idols,2 to each of which on its own day divine honours and sacred rites were paid. For the Egyptians belonging to the same city entered the Capitol, in which the priests told them how manv sacrifices were offered each dav, according to the honour in which the god was held.
Chap. 23. — And it came to pass, when the most blessed
1 Or Sotrina.
2 No nation was so given to idolatry, and worshipped such a countless num- ber of monsters, as the Egyptians. — Jerome on haiah.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. SO
Mary went into the temple with the little child, that all the idols prostrated themselves on the ground, so that all of them were lying on their faces shattered and broken to pieces ; 1 and thus they plainly showed that they were nothing. Then was fulfilled that which yas said by the prophet Isaiah : Behold, the Lord will come upon a swift cloud, and will enter Egypt, and all the handiwork of the Egyptians shall be moved at His presence.2
Ciur. 24. — Then AfFrodosius, that governor of the city, when news of this was brought to him, went to the temple with all his army. And the priests of the temple, when they saw Affrodosius with all his army coming into the temple, thought that he was making haste only to see vengeance taken on those on whose account the gods had fallen down. But when he came into the temple, and saw all the gods lying prostrate on their faces, he went up to the blessed Mary, who was carrying the Lord in her bosom, and adored Him, and said to all his army and all his friends: Unless this were the God of our gods, our gods would not have fallen on their faces before Him ; nor would they be lying prostrate in His presence : wherefore they silentlv confess that He is their Lord. Unless we, therefore, take care to do what we have seen our gods doing, we may run the risk of His anger, and all come to destruction, even as it happened to Pharaoh king of the Egyptians, who, not believ- ing in powers so mighty, was drowned in the sea, with all his army.3 Then all the people of that same city believed in the Lord God through Jesus Christ.
Chap. 25. — After no long time the angel said to Joseph : Return to the land of Judah, for they are dead who sought the child's life.4
Chap. 26. — And it came to pass, after Jesus had returned out
1 Ct 1 Sara. ▼. 3. 2 Isa. xix. 1. 'Ex. xv. 4.
4 Matt. ii. 26. One of the mss. here has : And Joseph and Mary went to live in the house of a certain widow, and spent a year there ; and for the events of the year it gives a number of the miracles recorded in the early chapters of the Latin Gospel of Thomas.
40 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
of Egypt, when He was in Galilee, and entering on the fourth year of His age, that on a Sabbath-day He was playing with some children at the bed of the Jordan. And as He sat there, Jesus made to Himself seven pools of clay, and to each of them He made passages, through which at His command He brought water from the torrent into the pool, and took it back again. Then one of those children, a son of the devil, moved with envy, shut the passages which supplied the pools with water, and overthrew what Jesus had built up. Then said Jesus to him : Woe unto thee, thou son of death, thou son of Satan ! Dost thou destroy the works which I have wrought ? And im- mediately he who had done this died. Then with great uproar the parents of the dead boy cried out against Mary and Joseph, saying to them : Your son has cursed our son, and he is dead. And when Joseph and Mary heard this, they came forthwith to Jesus, on account of the outcry of the parents of the boy, and the gathering together of the Jews. But Joseph said privately to Mary: I dare not speak to Him; but do thou admonish Him, and say : Why hast Thou raised against us the hatred of the people ; and why must the troublesome hatred of men be borne by us ? And His mother having come to Him, asked Him, saying : My Lord, what was it that he did to bring about his death? And He said : He deserved death, because he scattered the works that I had made. Then His mother asked Him, saying: Do not so, my Lord, because all men rise up against us. But He, not wishing to grieve His mother, with His right foot kicked the hinder parts of the dead boy, and said to him : Rise, thou son of iniquity ; for thou art not worthy to enter into the rest of my Father, because thou didst destroy the works which I had made. Then he who had been dead rose up, and went away. And Jesus, by the word of His power, brought water into the pools by the aqueduct.
Chap. 27. — And it came to pass, after these things, that in the sight of all Jesus took clay from the pools which He had made, and of it made twelve sparrows. And it was the Sab- bath when Jesus did this, and there were very many children with Him. When, therefore, one of the Jews had seen Him doing this, he said to Joseph : Joseph, dost thou not see the
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 41
child Jesus working on the Sabbath at what it is not lawful for him to do ? for he has made twelve sparrows of clay. And when Joseph heard this, he reproved him, saying: Where- fore doest thou on the Sabbath such things as are not lawful for us to do ? And when Jesus heard Joseph, He struck His hands together, and said to His sparrows : Fly ! And at the voice of His command they began to fly. And in the sight and hearing of all that stood by, He said to the birds : Go and lly through the earth, and through all the world, and live. And when those that were there saw such miracles, thev were filled with great astonishment. And some praised and admired Him, but others reviled Him. And certain of them went away to the chief priests and the heads of the Pharisees, and reported to them that Jesus the son of Joseph had done great signs and miracles in the sight of all the people of Israel. And this wc.s reported in the twelve tribes of Israel.
Chap. 28. — And again the son of Annas, a priest of the temple, who had come with Joseph, holding his rod in his hand in the sight of all, with great fury broke down the dams winch Jesus had made with His own hands, and let out the water which He had collected in them from the torrent. More- over, he shut the aqueduct by which the water came in, and then broke it down. And when Jesus saw this, He said to that boy who had destroyed His dams : 0 most wicked seed of iniquity ! 0 son of death ! 0 workshop of Satan ! verily the fruit of thy seed shall be without strength, and thy roots without moisture, and thy branches withered, bearing no fruit. And immediately, in the sight of all, the boy withered away, and died.
Chap. 29. — Then Joseph trembled, and took hold of Jesus, and went with Him to his own house, and His mother with Him. And, behold, suddenly from the opposite direction a boy, also a worker of iniquity, ran up and came against the shoulder of Jesus, wishing to make sport of Him, or to hurt Him, if he could. And Jesus said to him : Thou shalt not go back safe and sound from the way that thou goest. And immediately he fell down, and died. And the parents of the dead boy, who had seen what happened, cried out, saying : Where does this child
42 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
come from ? It is manifest that every word that he says is true; and it is often accomplished before he speaks. And the parents of the dead boy came to Joseph, and said to him : Take away that Jesus from this place, for he cannot live with us in this town ; or at least teach him to bless, and not to curse. And Joseph came up to Jesus, and admonished Him, saying : Why doest thou such things ? For already many are in grief and against thee, and hate us on thy account, and we endure the reproaches of men because of thee. And Jesus answered and said unto Joseph : No one is a wise son but he whom his father hath taught, according to the knowledge of this time ; and a father's curse can hurt none but evil-doers. Then they came together against Jesus, and accused him to Joseph. When Joseph saw this, he was in great terror, fearing the vio- lence and uproar of the people of Israel. And the same hour Jesus seized the dead boy by the ear, and lifted him up from the earth in the sight of all : and they saw Jesus speaking to him like a father to his son. And his spirit came back to him, and he revived. And all of them wondered.
. Chap. 30. — Xow a certain Jewish schoolmaster named Zachyas l heard Jesus thus speaking ; and seeing that He could not be overcome, from knowing the power that was in Him,8 he became angry, and began rudely and foolishly, and without fear, to speak against Joseph. And he said : Dost thou not wish to entrust me with thy son, that he may be instructed in human learning and in reverence ? But I see that Mary and thyself have more regard for your son than for what the elders of the people of Israel say against him. You should have given more honour to us, the elders of the whole church of Israel, both that he might be on terms of mutual affection with the children, and that among us he might be instructed in Jewish learning. Joseph, on the other hand, said to him : And is there any one who can keep this child, and teach him ? But if thou canst keep him and teach him, we by no means hinder him from being taught by thee those things which are learned by alL And Jesus, having heard what Zachyas had
1 Other forms of the name are : Zachias, Zachameus, Zachcus, Zochxus.
2 Or, seeing that there was in Him an insuperable knowledge of virtue.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 43
said, answered and said unto him: The precepts of the law which thou hast just spoken of, and all the things that thou hast named, must be kept by those who are instructed in human learning; but I am a stranger to your law-courts, because I have no father after the ilesh. Thou who readest the law, and art learned in it, abidest in the law ; but I was before the law. But since thou thinkest that no one is equal to thee in learning, thou shalt be taught by me, that no other can teach anything but those things which thou hast named. But he alone can who is worthy.1 For when I shall be exalted on earth, I will cause to cease all mention of your genealogy For thou knowest not when thou wast born: I alone know when you were born, and how long your life on earth will be. Then all who heard these words were struck with astonish- ment, and cried out : Oh ! oh ! oh ! this marvellously great and wonderful mystery. Never have we heard the like! Never has it been heard from any one else, nor has it been said or at any time heard by the prophets, or the Pharisees, or the scribes. We know whence he is sprung, and he is scarcely five years old ; and whence does he speak these words ? The Pharisees answered: We have never heard such words spoken bv auv other child so young. And Jesus answered and said unto them : At this do ye wonder, that such things are said by m a child ? Why, then, do ye not believe me in those things which I have said to you? And you all wonder because I said to you that I know when you were born. I will tell you greater things, that you may wonder more. I have seen Abraham, whom you call your father, and have spoken with him ; and he has seen me.1 And when they heard this they held their tongues, nor did any of them dare to speak. And Jesus said to them: I have been among you with children, and you have not known me ; I have spoken to you as to wise men, and you have not understood my words ; because you are younger than I am,3 and of little faith.
1 TUckendorf thinks that the text is corrupt. But the meaning seems to be : You are not a whit better than your neighbours ; for all of you teach what you hare named, and you can teach nothing else. But he alone {ipse, i.e. Christ) can teach more who is worthy.
' CI. John viii. 56-53. z Or, literally, inferior to me.
44 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
Chap. 31. — A second time the master Zachvas, doctor of the law, said to Joseph and Mary : Give me the boy, and I shall hand him over to Master Levi, who shall teach him his letters and instruct him. Then Joseph and Mary, soothing Jesus, took Him to the schoob, that He might be taught His letters by old Levi And as soon as He went in He held His tongue. And tbe master Levi said one letter to Jesus, and, beginning from the first letter Aleph, said to Him : Answer. But Jesus was silent, and answered nothing. Wherefore the preceptor Levi was angry, and seized his storax-tree rod, and struck Him on the head. And Jesus said to the teacher Levi : Why dost thou strike me ? Thou shalt know in truth, that He who is struck can teach him who strikes Him more than He can be taught by him. For I can teach you those very things that you are saying. But all these are blind who speak and hear, like sounding brass or tinkling cymbal, in which there is no perception of those things which are meant by their sound.1 And Jesus in addition said to Zachvas: Ever}- letter from Aleph even to Thet 2 is known by its arrangement. Say thou first, therefore, what Thet is, and I will tell thee what Aleph is. And acrain Jesus said to them : Those who do not know Aleph, how can they say Thet, the hypocrites ? Tell me what the first one, Aleph, is ; and I shall then believe you when you have said Beth. And Jesus began to ask the names of the letters one by one, and said : Let the master of the law tell us what the first letter is, or why it has many triangles, gradate, subacute, mediate, obduced, produced, erect, prostrate, curvi- strate.3 And when Levi heard this, he was thunderstruck at such an arrangement of the names of the letters. Then he
• 1 Cor. xiii. 1, xiv. 7.
2 Tail, and not Teth, is the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
3 The original — trianyulos gradatos, subaciito*y mediator, obdudos, productof, ercclos, stratos, curvistratos — is hopelessly corrupt. Compare the passages in the following Apocrypha. It obviously, however, refers to the Pentalpha, Pentacle, or Solomon's Seal, celebrated in the remains of the magical books that have come down to us under the names of Hermes ami the Pythagoreans. The Pentalpha was formed by joining by straight lines the alternate angles of a regular penta- gon, and thus contained numerous triangles. The Pythagoreans called it the Hygita or symbol of health, and it was frequently engraved on amulets and coins. It is still, if the books are to be trusted, a symbol of power in the higher grades of freemasonry.
THE GOSPEL OF TSEUDO-MATTHEW. 45
began in the hearing of all to cry out, and say : Ought such a one to live on the earth ? Yea, he ought to be hung on the great cross. For he can put out fire, and make sport of other modes of punishment. I think that he lived before the flood, and was born before the deluge. For what womb bore him ? or what mother brought him forth ? or what breasts gave him suck ? I flee before him ; I am not able to withstand the words from his mouth, but my heart is astounded to hear such words. I do not think that any man can understand what he says, except God were with him. Now I, unfortunate wretch, lic.ve given myself up to be a laughing-stock to him. For when I thought I hail a scholar, I, not knowing him, have luund mv master. What shall I sav ? I cannot withstand the words of this child : I shall now llee from this town, be- cause I cannot understand them. An old man like me has been beaten by a boy, because I can find neither beginning nor end of what he says. For it is no easy matter to find a beginning of himself.1 I tell you of a certainty, I am not lying, that to my eyes the proceedings of this boy, the com- mencement of his conversation, and the upshot of his inten- tion, seem to have nothing in common with mortal man. Here then I do not know whether he be a wizard or a god ; or at least an angel of God speaks in him. Whence he is, or where he comes from, or who he will turn out to be, I know not Then Jesus, smiling at him with a joyful countenance, said in a commanding voice to all the sons of Israel standing by and hearing : Let the unfruitful bring forth fruit, and the blind see, and the lame walk right, and the poor enjoy the good things of this life, and the dead live, that each may re- turn to his original state, and abide in Him who is the root of life and of perpetual sweetness. And when the child Jesus had said this, forthwith all who had fallen under malignant diseases were restored. And they did not dare to say anything more to Him, or to hear anything from Him.
Chap. 32. — After these things, Joseph and Mary departed thence with Jesus into the city of Nazareth ; and He remained
1 i.e., It is not wonderful that we do not understand what he says, for we do not know what he is.
46 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
there with His parents. And on the first of the week, when Jesus was playing with the children on the roof of a certain house, it happened that one of the children pushed another down from the roof to the ground, and he was killed. And the parents of the dead hoy, who had not seen this, cried out against Joseph and Mary, saying : Your son has thrown our son down to the ground, and he is dead. But Jesus was silent, and answered them nothing. And Joseph and. Mary came in haste to Jesus; and His mother asked Him, saying: My lord, tell me if thou didst throw him down. And immediately Jesus went down from the roof to the ground, and called the boy by his name, Zeno. And he answered Him : My lord. And Jesus said to him : Was it I that threw thee down from the roof to the ground ? And he said : No, my lord. And the parents of the boy who had been dead wondered, and honoured Jesus for the miracle that had been wrought. And Joseph and Mary departed thence with Jesus to Jericho.
Chap. 33. — Xow Jesus was six years old, and His mother sent Him with a pitcher to the fountain to draw water with the children. And it came to pass, after He had drawn the water, that one of the children came against Him, and struck the pitcher, and broke it. But Jesus stretched out the cloak which He had on, and took up in His cloak as much water as there had been in the pitcher, and carried it to His mother. And when she saw it she wondered, and reflected within her- self, and laid up all these things in her heart.1
Chap. 34. — Again, on a certain day, He went forth into the field, and took a little wheat from His mother's barn, and sowed it Himself. And it sprang up, and grew, and multiplied exceed- ingly. And at last it came to pass that He Himself reaped it, and gathered as the produce of it three kors,2 and gave it to His numerous acquaintances.3
Chap. 35. — There is a road going out of Jericho and leading
1 Luke ii. 19.
2 The kor or chomer was, according to Jahn, equal to 32 pecks 1 pint
3 Multipllcibits suis.
THE GOSPEL OF'PSEUDO-MATTHEVf. 47
to the river Jordan, to the place where the children of Israel crossed: and there the ark of the covenant is said to have rested. And Jesus was eight years old, and He went out of Jericho, and went towards the Jordan. And there was beside the road, near the bank of the Jordan, a cave where a lioness was nursing her cubs ; and no one was safe to walk that way. Jesus then, coming from Jericho, and knowing that in that cave the lioness had brought forth her young, went into it in the sight of all. And when the lions saw Jesus, they ran to meet Him, and adored Him. And Jesus was sitting in the cavern, and the lion's cubs ran hither and thither round His feet, fawning upon Him, and sporting. And the older lion?, with their heads bowed down, stood at a distance, and adored Him, and fawned upon Him with their tails. Then the people who were standing afar off, not seeing Jesus, said : Unless he or his parents had committed grievous sins, he would not of his own accord have offered liimself up to the lions. And when the people were thus reflecting within themselves, and were lying under great sorrow, behold, on a sudden, in the sight of the people, Jesus came out of the cave, and the lions went before Him, and the lion's cubs played with each other before His feet. And the parents of Jesus stood afar off, with their heads bowed down, and watched ; likewise also the people stood at a distance, on account of the lions ; for they did not dare to come close to them. Then Jesus began to say to the people : How much better are the beasts than you, seeing that they recognise their Lord, and glorify Him ; while you men, who have been made after the image and likeness of God, do not know Him ! Beasts know me, and are tame ; men see me, and do not acknowledge me.
Chap. 3G. — After these things Jesus crossed the Jordan, in the sight of them all, with the lions; and the water of the Jordan was divided on the right hand and on the left.1 Then He said to the lions, in the hearing of all : Go in peace, and hurt no one; but neither let man injure you, until you return to the place whence you have come forth. And they, bidding Him farewell, not only with their gestures but with their
1 Josh. iii. 16 ; 2 Kings ii. 8.
48 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
voices, went to their own place. But Jesus returned to His mother.
Ciiap. 37. — Now Joseph1 was a carpenter, and used to make nothing else of wood but ox-yokes, and ploughs, and imple- ments of husbandry, and wooden beds. And it came to pass that a certain young man ordered him to make for him a couch six cubits long. And Joseph commanded his servant9 to cut the wood with an iron saw, according to the measure which he had sent. But he did not keep to the prescribed measure, but made one piece of wood shorter than the other. And Joseph was in perplexity, and began to consider what he was to do about this. And when Jesus saw him in this state of cogita- tion, seeing that it was a matter of impossibility to him, He addresses him with words of comfort, saying : Come, let us take hold of the ends of the pieces of wood, and let us put them together, end to end, and let us fit them exactly to each other, and draw to us, for we shall be able to make them equal. Then Joseph did what he was bid, for he knew that He could do whatever He wished. And Joseph took hold of the ends ot the pieces of wood, and brought them together against the wall next himself, and Jesus took hold of the other ends of the pieces of wood, and drew the shorter piece to Him, and made it of the same length as the longer one. And He said to Joseph : Go and work, and do what thou hast promised to do. And Joseph did what he had promised.3
Chap. 38. — And it came to pass a second time, that Joseph and Mary were asked by the people that Jesus should be taught His letters in school. They did not refuse to do so; and according to the commandment of the elders, they took Him to a master to be instructed in human learning. Then the master began to teach Him in an imperious tone, saying : Say
1 One of the mss. tells the story, not of Joseph, but of a certain builder, a worker in wood.
- Lit, boy.
3 One of the mss. here inserts : And when Jesus was with other children. He repeatedly went up and sat down upon a balcony, and many of them began to do likewise, and they fell down and broke their legs and arms. And the Lord Jesus healed them alL
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 49
Alpha.1 And Jesus said to him : Do thou tell me first what Betha is, and I will tell thee what Alpha is. And upon this the master got angry and struck Jesus ; and no sooner had he struck Him, than he fell down dead
And Jesus went home again to His mother. And Joseph, being afraid, called Mary to him, and said to her : Know of a surety that my soul is sorrowful even unto death on account of this child. For it is very likely that at some time or other some one will strike him in malice, and he will die. But Mary answered and said : O man of God ! do not believe that this is possible. You may believe to a certainty that He who has sent him to be born amoncj men will Himself cmard him from all mischief, and will in His own name preserve him from evil.
Chap. 30. — Again the Jews asked Mary and Joseph a third time to coax Him to go to another master to learn. And Joseph and Mary, fearing the people, and the overbearing of the princes, and the threats of the priests, led Him again to school, knowing that He could learn notliing from man, because He had perfect knowledge from God only. And when Jesus had entered the school, led by the Holy Spirit, He took the book out of the hand of the master who was teaching the law, and in the sight and hearing of all the people began to read, not indeed what was written in their book ; but He spoke in the Spirit of the living God, as if a stream of water were gushing forth from a living fountain, and the fountain remained always full And with such power He taught the people the great things of the living God, that the master himself fell to the ground and adored Him. And the heart of the people who sat and heard Him saying such things was turned into astonish- ment And when Joseph heard of this, he came running to Jesus, fearing that the master himself was dead. And when the master saw him, he said to him : Thou hast given me not a scholar, but a master ; and who can withstand his words ? Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the Psalmist: The river of God is full of water : Thou hast prepared them corn, for so is the provision for it.2
1 Note that the letters arc Greek here. » Pa. \xv. 9.
D
50 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
Chap. 40. — After these things Joseph departed thence with Mary and Jesus to go into Capernaum by the sea-shore, on account of the malice of his adversaries. And when Jesus was living in Capernaum, there was in the city a man named Joseph, exceedingly rich. But he had wasted away under his infirmity, and died, and was lying dead in his couch. And when Jesus heard them in the city mourning, and weeping, and lamenting over the dead man, He said to Joseph : Why dost thou not afford the benefit of thy favour to this man, seeing tliat he is called by thy name ? And Joseph answered him : How have I any power or alulity to afford him a benefit ? And Jesus said to him : Take the handkerchief which is upon thy head, and go and put it on the face of the dead man, and say to liim : Christ heal thee : and immediatelv the dead man will be healed, and will rise from his couch. And when Joseph heard this, he went away at the command of Jesus, and ran, ami entered the house of the dead man, and put the handkerchief wliich he was wearing on his head upon the face of him who was lying in the couch, and said : Jesus heal thee. And forth- with the dead man rose from his bed, and asked who Jesus was.1
Chap. 41. — And they went away from Capernaum into the city which is called Betlilehem ; and Joseph lived with Mary in his own house, and Jesus with them. And on a certain day Joseph called to him his first-born son James,2 and sent him into the vegetable garden to gather vegetables for the purpose of making broth. And Jesus followed His brother James into the garden; but Joseph and Mary did not know this. And while James was collecting the vegetables, a viper suddenly came out of a hole and struck his hand,3 and he began to cry out from excessive pain. And, becoming exhausted, he said, with a bitter cry : Alas ! alas ! an accursed viper has struck my
1 In place of this chapter, one of the mss. has a number of miracles copied from the canonical Gospels — the walking on the sea, the feeding of the live thousand, the healing of a blind man, the raising of Lazarus, and the raising of a certain vounjj man.
- According to the tradition preserved by Hegesippus and Tertullian, James and Jud-is were husbandmen. See Const. Apost. ch. lxvii.
3 Cf. Acts xxviii. 3.
THE GOSPEL OF PSEUDO-MATTHEW. 51
hand. And Jesus., who was standing opposite to him, at the bitter ciy ran up to James, and took hold of his hand ; and all that He did was to blow on the hand of James, and cool it : and immediately James was healed, and the serpent died. And Joseph and Mary did not know what had been done ; but at the cry of James, and the command of Jesus, they ran to the garden, and found the serpent already dead, and James quite cured.
Chap. 42. — And Joseph having come to a feast with his son.?, James, Joseph, ami Judah, and Simeon and his two daughters. Jr.sus met them, with Marv His mother, alornj with her sister Mar}* of Cleophas, whom the Lord God had given to her lather Cleophas and her mother Anna, because they had offered Mary the mother of Jesus to the Lord. And she was called by the same name, Mary, for the consolation of her parents.1 And when they had come together, Jesus sanctified and blessed them, and He was the first to begin to eat and drink ; for none of them dared to eat or drink, or to sit at table, or to break bread, until He had sanctified them, and first done so. And if He happened to be absent, they used to wait until He should do this. And when He did not wish to come for refreshment,
1 One of the mss. lias : And when Joseph, worn out with old age, died and was buried with his parents, the blessed Mary [lived] with her nephews, or with the children of her sisters ; for Anna and Emerina were sisters. Of Emerina was born Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. And as Anna, the mother of the blessed Mary, was very beautiful, when Joachim was dead she was married to Cleophas, by whom she had a second daughter. She called her Mary, and gave her to Alphxus to wife ; and of her was born James the son of Alphseus, and Philip his brother. And her second husband having died, Anna was mar- ried to a third husband named Salome, by whom she had a third daughter. She called her Mary likewise, and gave her to Zebedee to wife ; and of her were born James the son of Zebedee, and John the Evangelist.
Another passage to the same effect is prefixed to the Gospel. It reads Emeria for Emerina, and Joseph for Philip. It ends with a quotation from Jerome's sermon upon Easter : — We read in the Gospels that there were four Marys — first, the mother of the Lord the Saviour ; second, His maternal aunt, who was called Mary of Cleophas ; third, Mary the mother of James and Joseph ; fourth, Mary Magdalene — though some maintain that the mother of James and Joseph was HL* aunt.
The same MS. thus concludes : The holy Apostle and Evangelist John with his own hand wrote this little book in Hebrew, and the learned doctor Jerome rendered it from Hebrew into Latin.
52 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
neither Joseph nor Mary, nor the sons of Joseph, His brothers, came. And, indeed, these brothers, keeping His life as a lamp before their eyes, observed Him, and feared Him. And when Jesus slept, whether by day or by night, the brightness of God shone upon Him. To whom be all praise and glory for ever and ever. Amen, amen.
THE GOSPEL OF THE NATIVITY OF MARY.
CHAPTER I.
TIE blessed and glorious ever-virgin Mary, sprung from the royal stock and family of David, born in the city of Nazareth, was brought up at Jeru- salem in the temple of the Lord. Her father was named Joachim, and her mother Anna. Her father's house was from Galilee and the city of Nazareth, but her mothers family from Bethlehem. Their life was guileless and right before the Lord, and irreproachable and pious before men. For they divided all their substance into three parts. One part they spent upon the temple and the temple servants ; another they distributed to strangers and the poor; the tlurd they reserved for themselves and the necessities of their family. Thus, dear to God, kind to men, for about twenty years they lived in their own house, a chaste married life, without having any children. Nevertheless they vowed that, should the Lord happen to give them offspring, they would deliver it to the sendee of the Lord ; on which account also they used to visit the temple of the Lord at each of the feasts during the year.
Chat. 2. — And it came to pass that the festival of the dedication1 was at hand; wherefore also Joachim went up to Jerusalem with some men of his own tribe. Now at that time Isaschar - was high priest there. And when he saw Joachim
1 1 Mace. ir. 52-59 ; 2 Mace. x. 1-8 ; John x. 22 ; Josephus, Antiq. xii. 7.
* The spelling in the text is that in the Hebrew, the Samaritan Codex, the Targnms, and the Textus Reccptus. There is no Issachar in the list of high priests.
53
54 TUE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
with his offering among his other fellow-citizens, he despised him, and spurned his gifts, asking why he, who had no off- spring, presumed to stand among those who had ; saying that his gifts could not by any means be acceptable to God, since He had deemed him unworthy of offspring : for the Scripture said, Cursed is every one who has not begot a male or a female in Israel.1 He said, therefore, that he ought first to be freed from this curse by the begetting of children; and then, and then only, that he should come into the presence of the Lord with his offerings. And Joachim, covered with shame from this reproach that was thrown in his teeth, retired to the shep- herds, who were in their pastures with the Hocks ; nor would he return home, lest perchance he might be branded with the same reproach by those of his own tribe, who were there at the time, and had heard this from the priest.
Chap. 3. — Xow, when he had been there for some time, on a certain day when he was alone, an angel of the Lord stood bv him in a creat licjht. And when he was disturbed at his appearance, the angel who had appeared to him restrained his fear, saying : Fear not, Joachim, nor be disturbed by my appear- ing ; for I am the angel of the Lord, sent by Him to thee to tell thee that thy prayers have been heard, and that thy charitable deeds have gone up into His presence.2 For He hath seen thy shame, and hath heard the reproach of unfruitfulness which has been unjustly brought against thee. For God is the avenger of sin, not of nature : and, therefore, when He shuts up the womb of any one, He does so that He may miraculously open it again ; so that that which is born may be acknowledged to be not of lust, but of the gift of God. For was it not the case that the first mother of your nation — Sarah — was barren up to her eightieth year ? 3 And, nevertheless, in extreme old age she brought forth Isaac, to whom the promise was renewed of the blessing of all nations. Rachel also, so favoured by the Lord, and so beloved by holy Jacob, was long barren ; and yet she brought forth Joseph, who was not only the lord of Egypt,
1 This statement docs not occur in Scripture in so many words ; but sterility was looked upon as a punishment from God. * Compare Acts x. \. * Gen. xvii. 17. Sarah was ninety years old.
THE GOSPEL OF THE NATIVITY OF MARY. 55
but the- deliverer of many nations who were ready to perish of hunger. Who among the judges was either stronger than Sampson, or more holy than Samuel ? And yet the mothers of both were barren. If, therefore, the reasonableness of my words does not persuade thee, believe in fact that conceptions very late in life, and births in the case of women that have been barren, are usuallv attended with something wonderful. Accordinglv thv wife Anna will bring forth a daughter to thee, and thou shalt call her name Mary : she shall be, as you have vowed, consecrated to the Lord from her infancv, and she shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from her mother's womb. She shall neither eat nur drink anv unclean thing, nor shall she spend her life among the crowds of the people without, but in the temple of the Lord, that it may not be possible either to say, or so much as to suspect, any evil concerning her. Therefore, when she has grown up, just as she herself shall be miraculously born of a barren woman, so in an incom- parable manner she, a virgin, shall bring forth the Son of the Host High, who shall be called Jesus, and who, according to the etymology of His name, shall be the Saviour of all nations. And this shall be the sign to thee of those things which I announce : When thou shalt come to the Golden gate in Jeru- salem, thou shalt there meet Anna thy wife, who, lately anxious from the delay of thy return, will then rejoice at the sight of thee. Having thus spoken, the angel departed from him.
Chap. 4. — Thereafter he appeared to Anna his wife, saying : Pear not, Anna, nor think that it is a phantom which thou t-eest, For I am that angel who has presented your prayers and alms before God: and now have I been sent to vou to announce to you that thou shalt bring forth a daughter, who shall be called Mary, and who shall be blessed above all women. She, full of the favour of the Lord even from her birth, shall remain three years in her father's house until she be weaned. Thereafter, being delivered to the service of the Lord, she shall not depart from the temple until she reach the years of dis- cretion. There, in fine, serving God day and night in fastings and prayers, she shall abstain from every unclean thing ; she shall never know man, but alone, without example, immaculate,
56 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
uncomipted, without intercourse with man, she, a virgin, shall bring forth a son ; she, His handmaiden, shall bring forth the Lord — both in grace, and in name, and in work, the Saviour of the world. Wherefore arise, and go up to Jerusalem ; and when thou shalt come to the gate which, because it is plated with gold, is called Golden, there, for a sign, thou shalt meet thy husband, for whose safety thou hast been anxious. And when these things shall have so happened, know that what I announce shall without doubt be fulfilled.
Chap. 5. — Therefore, as the angel had commanded, both of them setting out from the place where they were, went up to Jerusalem ; and when they had come to the place pointed out by the angel's prophecy, there they met each other. Then, rejoicing at seeing each other, and secure in the certainty of the promised offspring, they gave the thanks due to the Lord, who exalteth the humble. And so, having worshipped the Lord, they returned home, and awaited in certainty and in gladness the divine promise. Anna therefore conceived, and brought forth a daughter ; and according to the command of the angel, her parents called her name Mary.
Chap. 6. — And when the circle of three years had rolled round, and the time of her weaning was fulfilled, they brought the virgin to the temple of the Lord with offerings. Now there were round the temple, according to the fifteen Psalms of Degrees,1 fifteen steps going up ; for, on account of the temple having been built on a mountain, the altar of burnt- offering, which stood outside, could not be reached except by steps. On one of these, then, her parents placed the little girl, the blessed virgin Mary. And when they were putting off the clothes which they had worn on the journey, and were putting on, as was usual, others that were neater and cleaner, the virgin of the Lord went up all the steps, one after the other, without the help of any one leading her or lifting her, in such a manner that, in this respect at least, you would think that she had already attained full age. For already the Lord
1 Vs. cxx.-cxxxiv. The fifteen steps led from the court of the women to that of the men.
THE GOSPEL OF THE NATIVITY OF MARY. 57
in the infancy of His virgin wrought a great thing, and by the indication of this miracle foreshowed how great she was to be. Therefore, a sacrifice having been offered according to the custom of the law, and their vow being perfected, they left the virgin within the enclosures of the temple, there to be educated with the other virgins, and themselves returned home.
Chap. 7. — But the virgin of the Lord advanced in age and in virtues ; and though, in the words of the Psalmist, her father and mother had forsaken her, the Lord took her up.1 For daily was she visited by angels, daily did she enjoy a divine vision, which preserved her from all evil, and made her to abound in all good. And so she reached her fourteenth year ; and not only were the wicked unable to charge her with any- thing worthy of reproach, but all the good, who knew her life and conversation, judged her to be worthy of admiration. Then the high priest publicly announced that the virgins who were publicly settled in the temple, and had reached this time of life, should return home and get married, according to the custom of the nation and the ripeness of their years. The others readily obeyed this command ; but ilary alone, the virgin of the Lord, answered that she could not do this, saying both that her parents had devoted her to the service of the Lord, and that, moreover, she herself had made to the Lord a vow of virginity, which she would never violate by any intercourse with man. And the high priest, being placed in great per- plexity of mind, seeing that neither did he think that the vow should be broken contrary to the Scripture, which says, Vow and pay,2 nor did he dare to introduce a custom unknown to the nation, gave order that at the festival, which was at hand, all the chief persons from Jerusalem and the neighbourhood should be present, in order that from their advice he might know what was to be done in so doubtful a case. And when this took place, they resolved unanimously that the Lord should be consulted upon this matter. And when they all bowed them- selves in prayer, the high priest went to consult God in the usual way. Nor had they long to wait : in the hearing of all a voice issued from the oracle and from the mercy-seat, that, according
1 Pa. xxvii. 10. * Ps. lxxri. 11.
58 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS*
to the prophecy of Isaiah, a man should he sought out to whom the virgin ought to be entrusted and espoused. For it is clear that Isaiah savs : A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall ascend from his root; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and under- standing, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of wisdom and piety; and he shall be filled with the spirit of the fear of the Lord.1 According to tliis prophecy, therefore, he predicted that all of the house and familv of David that were unmarried and fit for marriage should bring their rods to the altar ; ami that he whose rod after it was brought should produce a flower, and upon the end of whose rod the Spirit of the Lord should settle in the form of a dove, was the man to whom the virgin ought to be entrusted and espoused.
Chap. 8. — Now there was among the rest Joseph, of the house and familv of David, a man of CTeat acje : and when all brought their rods, according to the order, he alone withheld his. Wherefore, when nothing in conformity with the divine voice appeared, the high priest thought it necessary to consult God a second time ; and He answered, that of those who had been designated, he alone to whom the virgin ought to be espoused had not brought his rod. Joseph, therefore, was found out. For when he had brought his rod, and the dove came from heaven and settled upon the top of it, it clearly appeared to all that he was the man to whom the virgin should be espoused. Therefore, the usual ceremonies of betrothal having been gone through, he went back to the city of Bethlehem to put his house in order, and to procure things necessary for the marriage. But Mary, the virgin of the Lord, with seven other virgins of her own age, and who had been weaned at the same time, whom she had received from the priest, returned to the house of her parents in Galilee.
Chap. 9. — And in those days, that is, at. the time of her first coming into Galilee, the angel Gabriel was sent to her by God, to announce to her the conception of the Lord, and to explain to her the manner and order of the conception. Accordingly,
1 Isa. xi. 1, 2.
THE GOSPEL OF THE NATIVITY OF MART. 59
.going in, he filled the chamber where she was with a great light ; and most courteously saluting her, he said : Hail, Mary ! O virgin highly favoured by the Lord, virgin full of grace, the Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou above all women, blessed above all men that have been hitherto born.1 And the virgin, who was already well acquainted with angelic faces, and was not unused to the light from heaven, was neither terrified by the vision of the angel, nor astonished at the greatness of the light, but only perplexed by his words ; and she began to consider of what nature a salutation so unusual could be, or what it could portend, or what end it could have. And the antrel, divinely inspired, taking up this thought, says : Fear not. Marv. as if anything contrarv to thv chastitv were hid under thi3 salutation. For in choosing chastitv, thou hast found favour with the Lord; and therefore thou, a virgin, shalt conceive without sin, and shalt bring forth a son. He shall be great, because He shall rule from sea to sea. and from the river even to the ends of the earth ;* and He shall be called the Son oi the Most High, because He who is born on earth in humilia- tion, reigns in heaven in exaltation; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end;3 forasmuch as He is King of kings and Lord of lords,4 and His tlirone is from everlasting to everlasting. The virgin did not doubt these words ot the angel ; but wishing to know the manner of it, she answered : How can that come to pass? For while, according to my vow, I never know man, how can I bring forth without the addition of man's seed ? To this the angel says : Think not, Mary, that thou shalt conceive in the manner of mankind: for without any intercourse with man, thou, a virgin, wilt conceive ; thou, a virgin, wilt bring forth ; thou, a virgin, wilt nurse : for the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee,5 without any of the heats of lust; and therefore that which shall be born of thee shall alone be holy, because it alone, being conceived and born without sin, shall be called the Son of God. Then Mary stretched forth her hands, and raised her eyes to'
1 Luke i. 25-33. * Ps. Ixxii. S. 3 Luke i. 32, 33.
« Rev. xix. 10. * Luke i. 35.
u \
60 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
heaven, and said : Behold the handmaiden of the Lord, for I am not worthy of the name of lady; let it be to me according to thy word. "1
It will be long, and perhaps to some even tedious, if we in- sert in this little work everything which we read of us having preceded or followed the Lord's nativity : wherefore, omitting those things which have been more fully written in the Gospel, let us come to those which are held to be less worthy of being narrated.
Chap. 10. — Joseph therefore came from Judea into Galilee, intemlincr to marrv the virgin who had Leen betrothed to him; lor already three months had elapsed, and it was the beginning of the fourth since she had been betrothed to him. In the meantime, it was evident from her shape that she was pregnant, nor could she conceal this from Joseph. For in consequence of his being betrothed to her, coming to her more freely and speaking to her more familiarly, he found out that she was with child. He began then to be in great doubt and perplexity, because he did not know what was best for him to do. For, being a just man, he was not willing to expose her ; nor, being a pious man, to injure her fair fame by a suspicion of fornica- tion. He came to the conclusion, therefore, privately to dis- solve their contract, and to send her away secretly. And while he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying: Joseph, thou son of David, fear not ; that is, do not have any suspicion of fornica- tion in the virgin, or think any evil of her ; and fear not to take her as thy wife : for that which is begotten in her, and which now vexes thy soul, is the work not of man, but of the Holy Spirit. For she alone of all virgins shall bring forth the Son of God, and thou shalt call His name Jesus, that is, Saviour ; for He shall save His people from their sins. Therefore Joseph, according to the command of the angel, took the virgin as his wife ; nevertheless he knew her not, but took care of her, and kept her in chastity.1 And now the ninth month from her conception was at hand, when Joseph, taking with him his wife along with what things he needed, went to Bethlehem, the city
1 Matt. i. 18-24.
THE GOSPEL OF TH& NATIVITY OF MARY. 61
from which he came. And it came to pass, while they were there, that her days were fulfilled that she should bring forth ; and she brought forth her first-born son, as the holy evangelists have shown, our Lord Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Son1 and the Holy Ghost lives and reigns God from ever- lasting to everlasting.
1 Thus in the original.
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE CARPENTER.
X the name of God, of one essence and three persons. The History of the death of our father, the holy old man, Joseph the carpenter.
May his blessings and prayers preserve us all, 0 brethren ! Amen.
His whole life was one hundred and eleven years, and his departure from this world happened on the twenty-sixth of the month Abib, which answers to the month Ab. May his prayer preserve us ! Amen. And, indeed, it was our Lord Jesus Christ Himself who related this history to His holy disciples on the Mount of Olives, and all Joseph's labour, and the end of his days. And the holy apostles have preserved this conversation, and have left it written down in the library at Jerusalem. "May their prayers preserve us ! Amen.1
1. It happened one day, when the Saviour, our Master, God, and Saviour Jesus Christ, was sitting along with His disciples, and thev were all assembled on the Mount of Olives, that He said to them : 0 mv brethren and friends, sons of the Father who has chosen you from all men, you know that I have often told you that I must be crucified, and must die for the salva- tion of Adam and his posterity, and that I shall rise from the
1 The Coptic has : The 2Gth day of Epep. Tins is the departure from the body of our father Joseph the carpenter, the father of Christ after the flesh, who was 111 years old. Our Saviour narrated all his life to His apostles on Mount Olivet ; and His apostles wrote it, and put it in the library which is in Jeru« salem. Also that the day on which the holy old man laid down his body was the -Oth of the month Epep. In the peace of God, amen.
His day is the 19th ot March in the Roman calendar.
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE CARPENTER. 63
dead. Now I shall commit to you the doctrine of the holy gospel formerly announced to you, that you may declare it throughout the whole world. And I shall endow you with power from on high, and fill you with the Holy Spirit1 And you shall declare to all nations repentance and remission of sins.3 For a single cup of water,3 if a man shall tind it in the world to come, is greater and better than all the wealth of this whole world. And as much ground as one foot can occupy in the house of my Father, is greater and more excellent than all the riches of the earth. Yea, a single hour in the joyful dwell- ing of the pious is more blessed and more precious than a thou- sand years among sinners:4 inasmuch as their weeping ami lamentation shall not come to an end, and their tears shall not cease, nor shall they find for themselves consolation and repose at any time for ever. And now, 0 my honoured members, go declare to all nations, tell them, and say to them : Verily the Saviour diligently inquires into the inheritance which is due, and is the administrator of justice. And the angels will cast down their enemies, and will fight for them in the day of con- flict And He will examine every single foolish and idle word which men speak, and they shall give an account of it.5 For as no one shall escape death, so also the works of every man shall be laid open on the day of judgment, whether they have been good or evil.6 Tell them also this word which I have said to you to-day : Let not the strong man glory in his strength, nor the rich man in his riches; but let him who wishes to glory, glory in the Lord.7
2. There was a man whose name was Joseph, sprung from a family of Bethlehem, a town of Judah, and the city of King David. This same man, being well furnished with wisdom and learning, was made a priest in the temple of the Lord. He was, besides, skilful in his trade, which was that of a carpenter ; and after the manner of all men, he married a wife. Moreover, he begot for himself sons and daughters, four sons, namely, and two daughters. Xow these are their names — Judas, Justus, James, and Simon. The names of the two daughters were
1 Luke xxiv. 49. 2 Luke xxir. 47. 3 Cf. Matt. x. 42.
4 C£ Ps. lxxxiv. 10. * Matt. xii. r;n. o 2 Cor. v. 10.
* Jer. ix. 23, 24 ; 1 Cor. i 31 ; 2 Cor. x. 17.
64 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
Assia and Lydia. At length the wife of righteous Joseph, a woman intent on the divine glory in all her works, departed this life. But Joseph, that righteous man, my father after the flesh, and the spouse of my mother Mary, went away with his sons to his trade, practising the art of a carpenter.
3. Now when righteous Joseph became a widower, my mother Mary, blessed, holy, and pure, was already twelve years old. For her parents offered her in the temple when she was three years of age, and she remained in the temple of the Lord nine years. Then when the priests saw that the virgin, holy and God-fearing, was growing up, they spoke to each other, saying : Let us search out a man, righteous and pious, to whom Mary may be entrusted until the time of her marriage ; lest, it* she remain in the temple, it happen to her as is wont to happen to women, and lest on that account we sin, and God be angry with us.
4. Therefore they immediately sent out, and assembled twelve old men of the tribe of Judah. And they wrote down the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. And the lot fell upon the pious old man, righteous Joseph. Then the priests answered, and said to my blessed mother : Go with Joseph, and be with him till the time of your marriage. Righteous Joseph there- fore received my mother, and led her away to his own house. And Mary found James the Less in his father s house, broken- hearted and sad on account of the loss of his mother, and she brought him up. Hence Mary was called the mother of James.1 Thereafter Joseph left her at home, and went away to the shop where he wrought at his trade of a carpenter. And after the holy virgin had spent two years in his house her age was exactly fourteen years, including the time at which he received her.
• 5. And I chose her of my own will, with the concurrence of my Father, and the counsel of the Holy Spirit. And I was made flesh of her, by a mystery which transcends the grasp of created reason. And three months after her conception the righteous man Joseph returned from the place where he worked at his trade ; and when he found my virgin mother pregnant, he was
greatly perplexed, and thought of sending her away secretly.
1 Luke xxW. 10. * Matt. i. 19.
THE HISTORY OF JOSEPH THE CARPENTER. 65
But from fear, and sorrow, and the anguish of his heart, he could endure neither to eat nor drink that day.
6. But at mid-day there appeared to him in a dream the prince of the angels, the holy Gabriel, furnished with a com- mand from my Father; and he said to him: Joseph, son of David, fear not to take Mary as thy wife: for she has conceived of the Holy Spirit ; and she will bring forth a son, whose name shall be called Jesus. He it is who shall rule all nations with a rod of iron.1 Having thus spoken, the angel departed from him. And Joseph rose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord had said to him : and Man* abode with him.2 •
7. Some time after that, there came forth an order from Augustus C;esar the kinir, that all the habitable world should be enrolled, each man in his own citv. The old man therefore, righteous Joseph, rose up and took the virgin Mary and came to Bethlehem, because the time of her bringing forth was at hand. Joseph then inscribed his name in the list ; for Joseph the son of David, whose spouse Mary was, was of the tribe of Judah. And indeed Mar}*, my mother, brought me forth in Bethlehem, in a cave near the tomb of Rachel the wife of the patriarch Jacob, the mother of Joseph and Benjamin.
8. But Satan went and told this to Herod the Great, the father of Archelaus. And it was this same Herod3 who ordered my friend and relative John to be beheaded. Accord- ingly he searched for me diligently, thinking that my kingdom was to be of this world.4 But Joseph, that pious old man, was warned of this by a dream. Therefore he rose and took Mary my mother, and I lay in her bosom. Salome 5 also was their fellow-traveller. Having therefore set out from home, he retired into Egypt, and remained there the space of one whole year, until the hatred of Herod passed away.
9. Now Herod died by the worst form of death, atoning for the shedding of the blood of the children whom he wickedlv cut off, though there was no sin in them. And that impious
1 Ps. ii. 0 ; Rev. xii. 5, six. 15. 2 Matt. i. 20-24.
3 It was Herod Anttpas who ordered John to be beheaded.
4 John xviii. 36.
5 The Salome here mentioned was, according to two of the mss. of Tseudo- Matthew, tho third husband of Anna, Mary's mother, and the father of Mary the wife of Zebedec. But compare Matt, xxvii. 50 with Mark xv. 40.
£
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66 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
tyrant Herod being dead, they returned into the land of Israel, and lived in a city of Galilee which is called Nazareth. And Joseph, going back to his trade of a carpenter, earned his living by the work of his hands ; for, as the law of Moses had commanded, he never sought to live for nothing by another's labour.1
10. At length, by increasing years, the old man arrived at a very advanced age. He did not, however, labour under any bodily weakness, nor had his sight failed, nor had any tooth perished from his mouth. In mind also, for the whole time of his life, he never wandered ; but like a boy he always in his business displayed youthful vigour, and his limbs remained unimpaired, and free from all pain. His life, then, in all, amounted to one hundred and eleven years, his old age being prolonged to the utmost limit.
11. Xow Justus and Simeon, the elder sons of Joseph, were married, and had families of their own. Both the daughters were likewise married, and lived in their own houses. So there remained in Joseph's house, Judas and James the Less, and my virgin mother. I moreover dwelt along with them, not other- wise than if I had been one of his sons. But I passed all my life without fault, Hary I called my mother, and Joseph father, and I obeyed them in all that they said ; nor did I ever contend against them, but complied with their commands, as other men whom earth produces are wont to do; nor did I at any time arouse their anger, or give any word or answer in opposition to them. On the contrary, I cherished them with great love, like the pupil of my eye.
12. It came to pass, after these things, that the death of that old man, the pious Joseph, and his departure from this world, were approaching, as happens to other men who owe their origin to this earth. And as his body was verging on dissolution, an angel of the Lord informed him that his death was now close at hand. Therefore fear and great perplexity came upon him. So he rose up and went to Jerusalem ; and going into the temple of the Lord, he poured out his prayers there before the sanctuary, and said :
13. 0 God! author of all consolation, God of all compas-
1 Gen. iii. 19.
TIIE niSTORY OF J0SEPI1 THE CARPENTER. 67
sion, and Lord of the whole human race ; God of my soul, body, and spirit ; with supplications I reverence thee, 0 Lord and my God. If now my days are ended, and the time draws near when I must leave this world, send me, I beseech Thee, the great Michael, the prince of Thy holy angels : let him remain with me, that my wretched soul may depart from tliis afflicted body without trouble, without terror and impatience. For great fear and intense sadness take hold of all bodies on the dav of their death, whether it be man or woman, beast wild or tame, or whatever creeps on the ground or ilies in the air. At the last all creatures under heaven in whom is the breath of life are struck with horror, and their souls depart from their bodies with strong fear and irreat depression. Xow therefore,
0 Lord and my Gud, let Thy holy angel be present with his help to my soul and body, until they shall be dissevered from each other. And let not the face of the angel, appointed my guardian from the day of my birth,1 be turned away from me ; but may he be the companion of my journey even until he bring me to Thee : let his countenance be pleasant and glad- some to me, and let him accompany me in peace. And let not demons of frightful aspect come near me in the way in which
1 am to go, until I come to Thee in bliss. And let not the door- keepers hinder my soul from entering paradise. And do not uncover my sins, and expose me to condemnation before Thy terrible tribunal Let not the lions rush in upon me ; nor let the waves of the sea of fire overwhelm my soul — for this must every soul pass through 2 — before I have seen the glory of Thy Godhead. 0 God, most righteous Judge, who in justice and equity wilt judge mankind, and wilt render unto each one according to his works, 0 Lord and my God, I beseech Thee, be present to me in Thy compassion, and enlighten my path that I may come to Thee ; for Thou art a fountain overflowing with all good things, and with glory for evermore. Amen.
14. It came to pass thereafter, when he returned to his own
1 On the subject of gnanlian angels, sec Shepherd of JTermas, iii. 4 ; Justin, Apol. ii. 5, Tryph. 5 ; Athena^oras, Legat. 10, 20 ; Clem. Alex. Strom, vi. 17.
* This clan°e looks like an interpolation. But the doctrine of purgatory was held from an early date. Clem. Alex. Pacing, iii. 9 ; Strom, vii. 6 ; Origen against Celsus, r. 14, 15.
G8 THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS.
house in the city of Nazareth, that he was seized by disease, and had to keep his bed And it was at this time that he died, according to the destiny of all mankind. For this disease was very heavy upon him, and he had never been ill, as he. now was, from the day of his birth. And thus assuredly it pleased Christ l to order the destiny of righteous Joseplu He lived forty years unmarried ; thereafter his wife remained under his care forty-nine years, and then died. And a year after her death, my mother, the blessed Mary, was entrusted to him by the priests, that he should keep her until the time of her marriage. Shu spent two years in his house ; and in the third year of her stay with Joseph, in the fifteenth year of her age, she brought me forth on earth by a mystery which no creature can penetrate or understand, except myself, and my Father and the Holy Spirit, constituting one essence with myself.8
15. The whole age of my father, therefore, that righteous old man, was one hundred and eleven years, my Father in heaven having so decreed. And the day on which his soul left his bodv was the twentv-sixth of the month Abib. For now the fine gold began to lose its splendour, and the silver to be worn down bv use — I mean his understanding and his wisdom. He also loathed food and drink, and lost all his skill in his trade of carpentry, nor did he any more pay attention to it. It came to pass, then, in the early dawn of the twenty-sixth day of Abib, that Joseph, that righteous old man, lying in his bed, was giving up his unquiet souL Wherefore he opened his mouth with many sighs, and struck his hands one against the other, and with a loud voice cried out, and spoke after the following manner : —
1 6. Woe to the dav on which I was born into the world ! "Woe to the womb which bare me ! "Woe to the bowels which admitted me ! "Woe to the breasts which suckled me ! Woe to the feet upon which I sat and rested ! Woe to the hands
1 Note the change from the first person.
5 Here the Coptic lias : This is the end of the life of my beloved father Joseph. When forty years old he married a wife, with whom he lived nine (? forty-nine) year?. After her death he remained a widower one (or two) year ; and my mother lived two years