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GOSPEL  ACCORDING 


*EVE. 


?W 

£• 


Ex  LlBRIS 

Rev.  William  Barnett  Cooper,  M.A.,  D.D. 

General  Secretary  to  the 

CANADIAN  BIBLE  SOCIETY. 

Representative  in  Canada  for  the 

BRITISH  &  FOREIGN  BIBLE  SOCIETY 
1907—1927. 


THE  LIBRARY 

of 
VICTORIA  UNIVERSITY 

Toronto 


THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO  PETER 


AND 


THE    REVELATION    OF    PETER. 


C.  J.  CLAY  AND   SONS, 
CAMBRIDGE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS   WAREHOUSE, 
AYE   MARIA   LANE. 


Cambrttige:  DEIGHTON,  BELL  AND  CO. 

ILetpjig:    F.   A.   BROCKHAUS. 
$Efo  !orfc:    MACMILLAN   AND  CO. 


THE  GOSPEL 

ACCORDING  TO  PETER,  AND 
THE  REVELATION  OF  PETER 


TWO     LECTURES 

ON   THE   NEWLY   RECOVERED  FRAGMENTS 
TOGETHER   WITH   THE   GREEK  TEXTS 


BY 
J.    ARMITAGE    ROBINSON    B.D. 

FELLOW  AND  ASSISTANT   TUTOR   OF   CHRIST'S   COLLEGE 
AND 

MONTAGUE   RHODES   JAMES   M.A. 

FELLOW  AND   DEAN   OF  KING'S   COLLEGE 


LONDON:     C.   J.   CLAY  AND  SONS, 

CAMBRIDGE    UNIVERSITY   PRESS  WAREHOUSE, 

AYE   MARIA   LANE. 

1892 


[36 


G?G7 


Cambridge: 

PRINTED   BY   C.    J.    CLAY,    M.A.    AND   SONS, 
AT  THE   UNIVERSITY   PRESS. 


475/3 


TO 
FENTON  JOHN  ANTHONY  HORT  D.D. 

THE   LADY  MARGARET'S   READER   IN  DIVINITY 


PREFACE. 

THE  Lecture  on  the  'Gospel  according  to  Peter' 
was  given  in  the  Hall  of  Christ's  College  on  the 
2Oth  of  November,  three  days  after  the  text  was  first 
seen  in  Cambridge,  in  response  to  a  general  desire 
for  information  as  to  the  new  discovery.  It  has  since 
been  corrected  and  enlarged  by  the  addition  of 
some  notes,  which  are  placed  at  the  foot  of  the 
page,  with  a  view  to  guiding  students  to  various 
sources  of  information  which  may  yet  throw  further 
light  upon  the  interpretation  of  the  fragment. 

The  Lecture  on  the  'Revelation  of  Peter'  was 
given  before  the  Divinity  Faculty  shortly  afterwards, 
and  was  at  the  time  already  in  the  press. 

These  editions  must  be  regarded  as  tentative. 
Our  object  has  been  to  place  the  texts  without  delay 
in  the  hands  of  other  students.  We  hope  that  here 
after  they  may  be  expanded  in  the  series  of  Texts 
and  Studies. 

We  have  to  express  our  best  thanks  to  M. 
Bouriant,  not  only  for  the  scholarly  way  in  which 
he  has  published  the  transcription  of  the  MS.,  but 
also  for  the  generosity  with  which  he  has  placed  the 
documents  at  the  disposal  of  scholars :  see  p.  147  of 


3  PREFACE. 

vol.  ix.  fasc.  I.  of  the  Memoirs  of  the  French  Archaeo 
logical  Mission  at  Cairo. 

For  the  rapidity  with  which  this  book  has  been 
published,  without  (we  would  fain  believe)  any  con 
sequent  loss  of  accuracy  in  the  printing,  our  thanks 
are  due  to  the  officers  and  workmen  of  the  University 
Press. 

POSTSCRIPT.  This  little  book  was  finally  corrected 
for  the  press  when  we  heard  that  he,  whose  latest 
message  to  us  was  permission  to  dedicate  it  to  him, 
had  gone  to  his  rest.  It  was  not  without  expressions 
of  misgiving  that  we  had  asked  to  prefix  to  this  hur 
ried  work  a  name  which  must  always  be  connected 
with  the  minutest  accuracy  and  the  most  cautious 
utterances.  It  is  quite  unworthy  to  be  dedicated  to 
his  memory.  But  we  feel  that  we  cannot  draw  back 
or  alter  now.  As  here,  so  there,  his  gentle  spirit  will 
'  make  allowance  for  us.'  To  his  voice  we  had  looked 
forward  as  the  one  voice  which  should  tell  us,  as  no 
other  could,  where  we  were  right  or  wrong.  Now  we 
must  learn  it  in  a  harder  school.  But  it  will  remain 
a  sacred  duty  to  carry  out  these  investigations  with 
the  patience  and  deliberateness  which  his  example 
enjoins  and  his  removal  has  made  more  than  ever 
necessary. 

J.  A.  R. 

M.   R.  J. 

CAMBRIDGE, 

Dec.   i,  1892. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

LECTURE  ON  THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO  PETER  n 

LECTURE  ON  THE  REVELATION  OF  PETER 37 

GREEK  TEXT  OF  THE  GOSPEL  83 

GREEK  TEXT  OF  THE  REVELATION  89 


THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO  PETER 
A   LECTURE 

ON   THE   NEWLY   RECOVERED   FRAGMENT 

BY 

J.    ARMITAGE   ROBINSON   B.D. 


'ErepON  eyArreAiON,  d  OYK  ecriN 


AAAo. 


THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO  PETER, 


WE  live  in  an  age  of  surprises — of  surprising  recoveries, 
no  less  than  of  surprising  inventions.  Not  to  go  further 
back  than  the  last  ten  years,  our  knowledge  of  the  early 
literature  of  Christianity  has  been  enriched  beyond  all 
expectation.  In  1883  the  Greek  Bishop  Bryennius  gave 
us  the  'Teaching  of  the  Apostles  ; '  and  in  1891  Mr  Rendel 
Harris  gave  us  the  'Apology  of  Aristides.'  We  knew  the 
fame  of  both  of  them  with  our  ears,  and  when  at  last  we 
saw  them  we  found  that  all  the  time  they  had  both  been 
lurking  among  us  in  disguise. 

During  the  past  week  fragments  of  three  early  docu 
ments  have  come  to  the  light :  fragments  of  the  Book  of 
Enoch,  of  the  Gospel  of  Peter  and  of  the  Apocalypse  of 
Peter.  The  Book  of  Enoch  is  prae-Christian;  it  is  quoted 
by  S.  Jude  :  we  knew  it  in  an  Ethiopic  Version1,  but  we 
doubted  whether  we  could  trust  the  Version  :  now  we  have 
the  first  30  chapters  in  the  Greek  itself.  The  Apocalypse 
of  Peter  may  go  back  almost  to  the  end  of  the  first 
century  of  our  era :  Mr  M.  R.  James,  of  King's,  had  told 
some  of  us  what  it  would  contain,  if  it  were  ever  found  : 

1  There  is  also  an  Old-Sclavonic  Version  of  the  Book  of  Enoch : 
and  a  critical  edition  based  on  the  Versions  is  now  in  preparation  at 
Oxford. 


I4  THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO   PETER. 

now  we  have  a  large  fragment  of  it,  and  we  know  that  he 
was  right. 

But  perhaps  the  most  startling  of  our  recoveries  is  that 
of  the  'Gospel  according  to  Peter1.'  What  was  known  of 
this?  Eusebius,  'the  Father  of  Church  History,'— who 
seems  so  well  to  have  divined  what  would  be  of  interest 
to  readers  who  lived  fifteen  centuries  later  than  his  time — 
mentioned  its  name,  and  gave  us  too  a  letter  of  Serapion  on 
its  use  in  church.  This  letter  we  must  read.  It  runs  as 
follows  (Eus.  H.  E.  vi.  12): 

'We,  brethren,  receive  Peter  and  the  other  Apostles 
even  as  Christ;  but  the  writings  that  go  falsely  by  their 
names  we  in  our  experience  reject,  knowing  that  such 
things  as  these  we  never  received.  When  I  was  with  you 
I  supposed  you  all  to  be  attached  to  the  right  faith ;  and 
so  without  going  through  the  Gospel  put  forward  under 
Peter's  name  I  said :  If  this  is  all  that  makes  your  petty 
quarrel2,  why  then  let  it  be  read.  But  now  that  I  have 
learned  from  information  given  me  that  their  mind  was 
lurking  in  some  hole  of  heresy,  I  will  make  a  point  of 
coming  to  you  again :  so,  brethren,  expect  me  speedily. 
Knowing  then,  brethren,  of  what  kind  of  heresy  was 
Marcion ' — then  follows  a  sentence  where  the  text  is  faulty  : 
I  read  'Marcion'  with  the  Armenian  Version3,  against 

1  I  take  the  title  from  Origen,  Comm.  in  Matth.  x.    17,  'As  to  the 
1    brethren  of  Jesus,  some  say  on  the  authority  of  the  Gospel  according 
;    to  Peter  (as  it  is  entitled)  or  of  the  Book  of  James,  that  they  were 

sons  of  Joseph  by  a  former  wife.'     Cf.  Eus.  H.  E.  iii.  3,  2  and  25,  6. 

2  Trap^x""  fJ-LKpo\j/vxia.v,  perhaps  'causes  you  ill-feeling.' 

3  The  Armenian  Version,  made  from  a  Syriac  Version  which  at 
this  point  is  no  longer  extant,  runs  literally  as  follows,  'Now,  brethren, 
that  (or,  'for')  ye  see  and  understand  of  what  heresy  was  Marcion, 
that   (or  'for')  he  contradicted  himself  and  that  which   he  spake  he 


THE   GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO   PETER.  15 

*  Marcianus,'  an  unknown  person,  of  the  Greek  text 
'  From  others,'  he  goes  on,  '  who  used  this  very  Gospel, — 
I  mean  from  the  successors  of  those  who  started  it,  whom 
we  call  Docetae ;  for  most  of  its  ideas  are  of  their  school — 
from  them,  I  say,  I  borrowed  it  and  was  able  to  go  through 
it  and  to  find  that  most  of  it  belonged  to  the  right  teaching 
of  the  Saviour,  but  some  things  were  additions.'  Thus 
much,  says  Eusebius,  for  Serapion. 

Serapion  was  Bishop  of  Antioch  190 — 203,  and  his 
letter  was  addressed  to  the  Church  of  Rhossos,  on  the  coast 
just  below  Antioch.  Now  if  our  Gospel  be  the  one  referred 
to  by  Serapion — and  we  shall  see  that  it  bears  out  his 
description — we  take  it  back  at  once  to  the  2nd  century; 
and  we  must  allow  some  years  at  least  for  it  to  gain  autho 
rity,  so  that  it  should  be  read  in  church  at  Rhossos. 

Hippolytus,  who  wrote  a  Refutation  of  All  Heresies, 
suggested  that  the  Docetae  were  well  named,  because  they 
had  a  SOKOS,  or  beam  of  timber,  in  their  eye1.  A  more 
charitable  philology  derives  their  name  from  8o/cetv,  'to 
seem.'  They  held  that  the  sufferings  of  Christ  were  but 
seeming  sufferings.  As  our  Gospel  fragment  contains  just 
the  Passion  and  Resurrection  of  the  Lord,  we  shall  have 
ample  opportunity  of  seeing  whether  it  harmonizes  with 
what  we  can  learn  of  these  early  Docetae. 

It  is  now  time  to  come  to  the  document  itself.  It  was 
dug  up  six  years  ago  in  an  ancient  cemetery  at  Akhmim 
(Panopolis)  in  Upper  Egypt,  and  it  now  rests,  I  believe,  in 
the  Gizeh  Museum  at  Cairo.  The  French  Archaeological 
Mission  at  Cairo  have  the  honour  of  its  discovery,  of  its 
identification,  and  of  its  somewhat  tardy  publication. 

did  not  comprehend,  this  same  thing  ye  learn  from  those  things  which 
are  written  to  you,'  &c. 

1  Hipp.  Ref.  viii.  ad  init. 


16  THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO   PETER. 

The  first  page  of  the  little  parchment  book,  which 
contains  our  Gospel  together  with  the  portions  of  the 
Apocalypse  and  the  Book  of  Enoch,  contains  no  writing. 
It  seems  that  the  scribe  had  nothing  but  a  fragment  to  copy 
from.  Thus  we  are  taken  back  at  once,  we  cannot  say  how 
far,  beyond  the  scribe  himself,  who  is  judged  to  have  lived 
not  earlier  than  the  eighth  century. 

The  second  page  begins  : 

1.  "But  of  the  Jews  none  washed  his  hands,  neither 
Herod  nor  any  one  of  His  judges.     And  when  they  wished 
to  wash  them  Pilate  rose  up.     And  then  Herod  the  king 
commandeth   that   the   Lord   be  taken1,   saying  to   them, 
What  things  soever  I  commanded  you  to  do  unto  Him,  do." 

We  begin  then  after  the  incident  of  Pilate  washing  his 
hands,  an  incident  found  only  in  S.  Matthew's  Gospel. 
Notice  the  use  to  which  our  writer  puts  it.  Pilate  is  exone 
rated  :  the  Jews  must  bear  the  blame ;  they  cannot  wash 
their  hands.  Herod's  share  in  the  Trial  is  mentioned  only 
by  S.  Luke.  Here  the  responsibility  is  shifted  from  Pilate's 
shoulders  on  to  his.  Our  writer  hates  the  Jews:  his  whole 
account  is  a  commentary  on  the  brief  sentence  of  Aristides' 
Apology,  '  He  was  pierced  by  the  Jews.' 

2.  "And  there  was  come  there  Joseph,  the  friend  of 
Pilate  and  of  the  Lord  ;  and,  knowing  that  they  were  about 
to  crucify 2  Him,  he  came  to  Pilate  and  asked  the  body  of 
the  Lord  for  burial.     And  Pilate  sent  to  Herod  and  asked 
His  body.     And  Herod  said,  Brother  Pilate,  even  if  no  one 
had  asked  Him,  we  should  have  buried  Him ;  since  indeed 
the  sabbath  draweth  on3:  for  it  is  written  in  the  law,  that 

1  irap[a\r)[JL]<j)9ijvai  is  perhaps  supported  by  TrapaXajSovres,  Matt. 
xxiv.  27.  2  I  know  no  other  instance  of  crravplcrKeiv. 

3  Cf.  Jn.  xix.  31,  where  Syr.  Pesch.  reads :  'They  say,  These  bodies 
shall  not  remain  on  the  cross,  because  the  sabbath  dawneth.' 


THE   GOSPEL   ACCORDING  TO   PETER.  I/ 

the  sun  go  not  down  on  him  that  is  put  to  death,  on  the 
day  before  the  unleavened  bread." 

Here  is  a  strange  perversion  in  the  narrative.  Joseph  is 
made  to  come  to  Pilate  before  the  Crucifixion.  This  is  ex 
plained  when  we  observe  the  anxiety  displayed  throughout 
this  document  lest  the  sun  should  set  before  the  burial  took 
place.  According  to  our  writer  Herod  has  assumed  re 
sponsibility,  and  so  the  body  must  be  asked  from  him. 
This  would  mean  further  delay,  if  the  request  be  put  off  till 
the  hour  of  the  Death.  We  have  here  incidentally  two 
details  helping  to  exculpate  Pilate  :  Joseph  is  his  'friend'; 
Pilate  can  do  nothing  without  Herod's  leave. 

"The  sabbath  draweth  on":  literally  'dawneth' :  an  ex- 
pression  in  S.  Luke  xxiii.  54,  where  the  commentators  ex 
plain  that  the  Jewish  sabbath  '  dawned '  when  Friday's  sun 
was  setting.  '  Let  not  the  sun  go  down  upon  your  wrath ' 
is  S.  Paul's  command  in  Eph.  iv.  26.  This  may  illustrate 
the  form  of  the  command  :  the  substance  of  it  is  in  Deut. 
xxi.  23  (cf.  Josh.  x.  27),  but  it  there  applies  to  all  days  alike. 

3.  "  And  they  took  the  Lord  and  pushed  Him  as  they 
ran,  and  said,  Let  us  drag  away1  the  Son  of  God,  having 
obtained  power  over  Him.  And  they  clothed  Him  with 
purple,  and  set  Him  on  the  seat  of  judgement,  saying, 
Judge  righteously,  O  king  of  Israel.  And  one  of  them 
brought  a  crown  of  thorns  and  put  it  on  the  head  of  the 
Lord.  And  others  stood  and  spat  in  His  eyes,  and  others 
smote  His  cheeks :  others  pricked  Him  with  a  reed ;  and 
some  scourged  Him,  saying,  With  this  honour  let  us  honour 
the  Son  of  God." 

1  Mr  Rendel  Harris  suggests  cypWMeN  for  eypWMeN,  from  Justin 
AP-  i-  35>  Staatpovres.  Cf.  too  the  cry  in  Acts  of  Philip  (Tisch.  p.  143), 
Zvpare  TOI)J  fmyovs  TOIJTOVS  (just  before  the  cod.  has  evpovres  for  a-tfpojres). 
"Apw/xei/  would  have  the  support  of  Isa.  iii.  10,  "Kpupev  rbv  SLKOLLOV, 
as  Justin  read  it  (Tryph.  137). 

R-  J-  2 


1 8     THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO  PETER. 

For  the  illustration  of  this  passage  we  turn  to  Justin 

Martyr  (Apol.  i.  35)'  'For>  as  the  Pr°Phet  said'  the^ 
dragged  Him  and  set  Him  on  the  judgement  seat,  and  said, 
Judge  for  us1.'  This  depends  on  Isa.  Iviii.  2,  quoted  by 
Justin  just  before:  'They  ask  of  me  judgement,  and  dare 
to  draw  nigh  to  God.'  The  Septuagint  Version  (and  indeed 
the  Hebrew  text)  has,  'They  ask  of  me  just  judgement,' 
which  is  still  closer  to  our  Gospel.  But  whence  came  to 
Justin  or  to  our  author  the  conception  that  the  Lord  was 
set  upon  the  judgement  seat  ?  Whence,  but  from  the  Gospel 
of  S.  John?  There  we  read  :  'When  Pilate  therefore  heard 
these  words,  he  brought  Jesus  out,  and  sat  upon  the  judge 
ment  seat2.'  But  Archbishop  Whately  used  to  translate 
the  words,  '  and  set  Him  on  the  judgement  seat  '—a  per 
fectly  legitimate  rendering  of  the  Greek.  So  it  seems 
Justin  Martyr  read  them  :  and  so  too  the  writer  of  our 
Gospel,  or  the  source  from  which  he  borrowed. 

4.  "  And  they  brought  two  malefactors,  and  they  cruci 
fied  the  Lord  between  them.  But  He  held  His  peace,  as 
having  no  pain.  And  when  they  had  raised  the  cross  they 
wrote  upon  it,  This  is  the  king  of  Israel.  And  having  set 
His  garments  before  Him  they  parted  them  among  them, 
and  cast  a  lot3  for  them.  And  one  of  those  malefactors 
reproached  them,  saying,  We  have  suffered  thus  for  the 
evils  that  we  have  done,  but  this  man,  having  become  the 
Saviour  of  men,  what  wrong  hath  He  done  to  you?  And 
they,  being  angered  at  him,  commanded  that  his  legs  should 
not  be  broken,  that  he  might  die  in  torment." 

1  Aiaffvpovres  avrbv  tKa.di.ffav  eirl  TOV  jS^/xaros  /cat  etirov  TZpcvov  rjfjuv. 

2  Jn.  xix.  13  /cat  e/cdtficrej'  iirl  /Scares.     Cf.  Salmon,  Introd.  to  N.  T. 
ed.  4.  p.  74  n. 

3  AaxMd"  tpaXov.     The   word  Xa%^t6s  is  a  rare   one:   the   earliest 
authority  seems  to  be  Justin,  who  uses  it  in  this  connection,  Tryph.  97. 


THE   GOSPEL   ACCORDING   TO    PETER.  19 

'  He  held  His  peace,  as  having  no  pain'  is  our  first  sign 
that  this  is  the  Gospel  of  the  Docetae.  Observe  that,  to 
make  room  for  this,  the  words  'Father,  forgive  them  ;  for 
they  know  not  what  they  do '  must  be  omitted.  Our  writer 
is  no  friend  of  the  Jews :  he  would  willingly  omit  a  prayer 
for  their  forgiveness.  But  it  is  worthy  of  notice  that  the 
words  in  question,  which  are  found  only  in  S.  Luke  xxiii. 
34,  are  omitted  there  by  some  very  important  MSS.1,  and 
may  not  have  been  present  in  our  author's  copy  of  S.  Luke. 

Note  here,  too,  one  of  the  many  strange  perversions  in 
this  Gospel :  in  S.  Luke  one  malefactor  chides  the  other  : 
here  the  reproach  is  addressed  to  the  Jews.  Again,  'the 
breaking  of  the  legs '  is  strangely  perverted :  but  it  is 
another  echo  of  S.  John. 

5.  "And  it  was  noon,  and  darkness  covered  all  Judaea: 
and  they  were  troubled  and  distressed,  lest  the  sun  had 
gone  down,  since  He  yet  lived  :  [for]  it  was  written  for 
them,  that  the  sun  go  not  down  on  him  that  is  put  to  death. 
And  one  of  them  said,  Give  Him  to  drink  gall  with  vinegar. 
And  they  mixed  and  gave  Him  to  drink,  and  fulfilled  all 
things,  and  accomplished  their  sins  against  their  own  head." 

'  Fulfilled  all  things '  takes  us  again  to  S.  John  (xix.  28): 
'Jesus,  knowing  that  all  things  were  already  finished,  that 
the  Scripture  might  be  accomplished  (a  respectable  number 
of  MSS.,  headed  by  Codex  Sinaiticus,  reads  'fulfilled'), 
said,  I  thirst... they  set  on  hyssop  a  sponge  full  of  vinegar' 
(again  a  respectable  group  of  MSS.  adds  'with  gall').  This 
last  addition  is  clearly  based  on  Ps.  Ixix.  21,  'They  gave 
me  gall  for  my  meat;  and  in  my  thirst  they  gave  me 
vinegar  to  drink.'  S.  Matthew  also  mentions  '  wine  mingled 

1  E.g.  the  Vatican  MS.,  the  Codex  Bezae  at   Cambridge,  and  an 
early  corrector  of  the  Sinaitic  Codex. 


20  THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING  TO   PETER. 

with  gall '  (xxvii.  34) ;  but  that  is  before  crucifixion,  and  is 
his  version,  based  upon  the  Psalm,  of  words  which  S.  Mark 
preserves  to  us  more  precisely  as  '  myrrhed  wine,'  offered  to 
lull  the  pain  and  refused  by  the  Lord.  It  seems  as  though 
the  draught  here  given  was  intended  to  hasten  death. 

If  there  is  one  word  in  the  Canonical  narratives  of  the 
Passion  which  is  calculated  to  set  our  minds  at  rest  on  the 
question  whether  our  Blessed  Lord  truly  felt  the  pain  of 
Crucifixion,  it  is  the  word  from  the  Cross,  'I  thirst.'  During 
the  hours  of  darkness  it  would  seem  that  a  great  spiritual 
struggle  was  taking  place,  and  this  is  marked  by  the  quota 
tion  of  the  first  verse  of  the  twenty-second  Psalm.  At  its 
close  the  tortured  body  for  a  moment  claims  and  receives 
attention  ;  and  the  cry  of  thirst  is  heard  from  the  parched 
lips  of  the  Sufferer.  The  value  of  this  word  to  us  receives 
fresh  illustration  from  the  fact  that  it  can  find  no  place  in  a 
Docetic  Gospel,  although  the  writer  uses  words  which  come 
before  and  after  it  in  S.  John's  narrative. 

"And  many  went  about  with  lamps,  supposing  that  it 
was  night,  and  fell  down1.  And  the  Lord  cried  out,  saying, 
My  power,  My  power,  thou  hast  forsaken  Me.  And  when 
He  had  said  it  He  was  taken  up.  And  in  that  hour  the 
vail  of  the  temple  of  Jerusalem  was  rent  in  twain2." 

1  In  a  document  purporting  to  be  an  account  of  the  Crucifixion 
sent  by  Pilate  to  the  Emperor  Tiberius,  Pilate  is  made  to  say  that  not 
even  the  Emperor  could  be  ignorant  '  that  in  all  the  world  they  lighted 
lamps  from  the  sixth  hour  until  evening':  Anaphora  Pilati,  B.  c.   7 
(Tisch.  Ew.  Apocr.  ed.  2  p.  446  f.).     For  irfoarro,  at  the  end  of  the 
sentence,  I  have  written  tireadi>  re:   cf.   Isa.  lix.    10  /cat  ireffovvrai  ev 
HCffwpptq,  w$  ev  fj-evovvKTlu.     It  also  seems  an  echo  of  Jn.  xviii.  3,  6 
tpXerai  fifra  (f>a.vuv  /cat  Aa/x7ra5wi/.../cal  tireaav  xa/W. 

2  For  atfros  upas  we  must  read  atfr^s  uipaj,  or  perhaps  avrijs  rfc 
cfyas:  ai)r^  is  the  equivalent  in  later  Greek  literature  of  hclvy  (as  in  the 
modern  tongue);  cf.  Lc.  x.  7,  at,  and  xii.  12  (||  e/cetVr;  Mt.  Me.). 


THE   GOSPEL   ACCORDING   TO    PETER.  21 

This  is  the  most  startling  passage  in  the  document. 
The  view  that  underlies  it  is  that  the  Divine  Christ  came 
down  upon  the  Human  Christ  at  the  Baptism  in  the  form 
.of  a  Dove,  and  departed  from  the  Human  Christ  upon  the 
Cross.  Irenaeus,  a  contemporary  of  Serapion,  denounces 
the  doctrine  '  that  one  Christ  suffered  and  rose  again,  and 
another  flew  up  and  remained  free  from  suffering1.' 

'The  power'  then,  so  often  emphasised  in  S.  Luke's 
Gospel  in  connection  with  the  person  of  our  Lord8,  is  here, 
by  a  strange  perversion  of  our  Lord's  quotation  from  Ps. 
xxii.  i,  described  as  forsaking  Him  :  the  Divine  Christ  is 
'taken  up,'  the  Human  Christ  remains  upon  the  Cross. 
Eli,  Eli  is  rendered  as  '  My  power,  My  power3.'  We  are 
thus  confirmed  in  the  belief  that  this  was  the  Gospel,  as 
Serapion  tells  us,  of  the  Docetae^. 

1  Iren.  ill.    12.  2,  where  he  seems  to  have  Cerinthus  specially  in 
mind,  cf.  ill.   n.  i.     Compare  too  his  description  of  the  Valentinian 
doctrine  in  I.  7.  2. 

2  Compare  especially  Lc.  i.  35  'the  power  of  the  Most  High  shall 
overshadow  thee,'  iv.  14  '  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit,'  v.  17  'the  power 
of  the   Lord  was  present  that  He  should  heal,'  vi.   19  'power  came 
forth  from  Him  and  healed  them  all ';  also  viii.  46  (||Mc.  v.  30)  :  and 
note  besides  Lc.  xxiv.  49;  Acts  i.  8,  viii.  10. 

3  Eusebius,  in  an  interesting  note  upon  the  Psalm  (Dem.  Ev.  x.  8, 
p.  494),  tells  us  that  Aquila,  who  strove  to  give  a  more  literal  transla 
tion  than  the   LXX,  rendered  the  words  '  My  strong  one,  My  strong 
one '  (iff-xypt  MOU,  l^xvpe  /xou),   but  that  the  exact  meaning  was  '  My 
strength,  My  strength '  (urx^s  f*ov,  t'crx^s  fJ-ov).     The  rendering  in  our 
text  must  be  added  to  the  list  of  authorities  that  support  the  form  Eli, 
as  against  Eloi,  in  the  New  Testament.     In  interpreting  '  Israel '  Justin 
(Tryph.  125)  says:  rb  8t  rfK  Svva/jus. 

-*  For  the  use  of  the  text  in  question  among  the  Valentinians,  cf. 
Iren.  I.  8.  2.  We  must  distinguish  these  early  Docetae  from  the  later 
heretics,  who  denied  the  reality  of  Christ's  body:  see  Dr  Salmon's 
articles  Docetae  and  Docetism  in  Diet.  Christ.  Biogr. 


22  THE  GOSPEL  ACCORDING    TO   PETER. 

6.  "And  then  they  drew  out  the  nails  from  the  hands 
of  the  Lord,  and  laid  Him  upon  the  earth,  and  the  earth  all 
quaked,  and  great  fear  arose.  Then  the  sun  shone,  and  it 
was  found  the  ninth  hour  :  and  the  Jews  rejoiced,  and  gave 
His  body  to  Joseph  that  he  might  bury  it,  since  he  had 
seen  what  good  things  He  had  done.  And  he  took  the 
Lord,  and  washed  Him,  and  rolled  Him  in  a  linen  cloth, 
and  brought  Him  into  his  own  tomb,  which  was  called  the 
Garden  of  Joseph." 

Here  again  we  have  echoes  of  S.  John.  He  alone 
mentions  the  Nails1:  he  alone  mentions  the  Garden. 

The  Jews  rejoiced,  when  the  sun  shone  out  again,  be 
cause  they  found  that  it  was  only  the  ninth  hour,  and  not 
sunset :  so  that  the  law  might  still  be  complied  with. 

7.  "Then  the  Jews  and  the  elders  and  the  priests, 
seeing  what  evil  they  had  done  to  themselves,  began  to 
lament  and  to  say,  Woe  for  our  sins :  for  the  judgement 
and  the  end  of  Jerusalem  hath  drawn  nigh.  And  I  with 
my  companions  was  grieved ;  and  being  wounded  in  mind 
we  hid  ourselves :  for  we  were  being  sought  for  by  them 
as  malefactors,  and  as  wishing  to  set  fire  to  the  temple. 
And  upon  all  these  things  we  fasted  and  sat  mourning  and 
weeping  night  and  day  until  the  sabbath." 

The  cry  of  Woe  is  found  in  Tatian's  Diatessaron,  a 
Gospel  Harmony  made  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
century  and  chiefly  known  to  us  through  an  Armenian 
version  of  S.  Ephrem's  Syriac  Commentary  upon  it.  Thus 

1  It  is  curious  that  neither  here  nor  in  Jn.  xx.  25,  2;  is  there  any 

reference  to  Nails  through  the  Feet.     In  the  Anaphora  Pilati    B    7 

US  .reads:  'And  there  began  to  be  earthquakes  in  the  hour  in 

which  the  na,k  were  fixed  in  the  hands  and  feet  of  Jesus,  until  the 

S   ITS,         T'   ^°WeVer'   the  earth1uake  is   P^ced  later  than   in 
S.  Matthew,  who  alone  mentions  it. 


THE  GOSPEL   ACCORDING   TO   PETER.  23 

we  read l :  '  Woe  was  it,  Woe  was  it  unto  us :  this  was  the 
Son  of  God:  ...the  judgements  of  the  desolation  of  Jeru 
salem  have  come.'  The  Old  Syriac  Version  adds  to  Lc. 
xxiii.  48,  'Woe  to  us:  what  hath  befallen  us?  Woe  to  us 
from  our  sins.'  And  one  Latin  Codex  (S.  Germanensis,  g,) 
has :  '  Woe  to  us  :  what  hath  happened  this  day  for  our 
sins?  for  the  desolation  of  Jerusalem  hath  drawn  nigh2.' 

8.  "  But  the  scribes  and  Pharisees  and  elders  being 
gathered  together  one  with  another,  when  they  heard  that 
all  the  people  murmured  and  beat  their  breasts  saying,  If 
by  His  death  these  most  mighty  signs  have  come  to  pass, 
see  how  just  He  is, — the  elders  were  afraid  and  came  to 
Pilate,  beseeching  him  and  saying,  Give  us  soldiers,  that  they 
may  watch  His  sepulchre  for  three  days,  lest  His  disciples 
come  and  steal  Him  away,  and~The  people  suppose  that  He 
is  risen  from  the  dead  and  do  us  evil.  And  Pilate  gave 
them  Petronius  the  centurion  with  soldiers  to  watch  the 
tomb.  And  the  elders  and  scribes  came  with  them  to  the 
sepulchre,  and  having  rolled  a  great  stone  together  with3 
the  centurion  and  the  soldiers  they  all  together  who  were 
there  set  it  at  the  door  of  the  sepulchre ;  and  they  put 
upon  it  seven  seals,  and  they  pitched  a  tent  there  and  kept 
watch." 

Longinus  is  the  name  of  the  centurion  at  the  Cross  in 
the  'Acts  of  Pilate.'  It  is  of  course  not  necessary  to 
identify  the  two  centurions :  but  we  shall  see  presently 
that  the  words  attributed  in  our  Gospels  to  the  centurion 

1  Eph.  Diat.  p.  224  (Moesinger  pp.  245  f.,  cf.  p.  248).     The  word 
for  '  desolation  '  is  that  used  for  epij^wuts  in  the  Armenian  Gospels. 

2  Vae  nobis,  quae  facta  sunt  hodie  propter  peccata  nostra  :    appro- 
pinquauit  enim  desolatio  Hierusalem. 

3  The  text  is  here  corrupt :  for  it  says  that   '  they  rolled  the  stone 
upon  the  centurion  (KCITCI  roO  KfVTvplwvos).'     I  have  ventured  to  sub 
stitute  /nera,  'together  with:'  cf.  Mt.  xxvii.  66. 


24  THE   GOSPEL  ACCORDING   TO    PETER. 

at   the  Cross  are  here  assigned  to  the  centurion  at    the 
Sepulchre1. 

9.  "And   early   in   the  morning  as  the  sabbath  was 
drawing  on2  there  came  a  multitude  from  Jerusalem  and 
the  region  round  about,  that  they  might  see  the  sepulchre 
that  was  sealed.     And  in  the  night  in  which  the  Lord's  day 
was  drawing  on,  as  the  soldiers  kept  watch  two  by  two  on 
guard,  there  was  a  great  voice  in  the  heaven  ;  and  they  saw 
the  heavens  opened,  and  two  men  descending  thence  with 
great  light  and  approaching  the  tomb.     And   that   stone 
which  was  put  at  the  door  rolled  away  of  itself  and  de 
parted  to  one  side;   and  the  tomb  was  opened  and  both 
the  young  men  entered  in. 

10.  "When  therefore  the  soldiers  saw  it,  they  awakened 
the  centurion  and  the  elders,  for  they  too  were  hard  by 
keeping  watch ;  and,  as  they  declared  what  things  they  had 
seen,  again  they  see  coming  forth  from  the  tomb    three 
men,  and  the  two  supporting  the  one,  and  a  cross  following 
them.     And  of  the  two  the  head  reached  unto  the  heaven, 
but  the  head  of  Him  that  was  led  by  them  overpassed  the 
heavens.    And  they  heard  a  voice  from  the  heavens,  saying, 
Hast  thou  preached  to  them  that  sleep3?    And  an  answer 
was  heard  from  the  cross,  Yea." 

1  Petronius  is  a  disciple  of  S.   Peter  in  the  Acts  of  S.   Hermione 
(Sept.  4). 


The  same  phrase  as  in  §  2;  eTrt^wcr/covroj  rov  ffappdrov,  and 
immediately  afterwards  lirtywrKcv  T?  Kvpmicf) ;  but  here  apparently  from 
Mt.  xxviii.  i. 

3  When  a  document  of  this  kind,  where  the  text  is  frequently 
corrupt,  first  comes  to  light,  it  is  difficult  to  assign  to  individuals  the 
true  share  of  credit  for  emendations  that  sometimes  arise  in  common  • 
but  I  must  mention  that  I  owe  to  Mr  F.  C.  Burkitt  the  suggestion 
that  the  Voice  from  heaven  should  be  taken  as  a  question.  To  him 
and  to  other  friends  I  am  very  deeply  indebted. 


THE   GOSPEL   ACCORDING   TO   PETER.  25 

No    subject   had   a   greater   fascination    for   the    early 
Christian  mind  than  the  Descent  of  Christ  into  Hades  and 
'the  Harrowing  of  Hell.'     The  only  unmistakeable  refer 
ence   to   it  in  the  New  Testament  is  in  S.   Peter's  First 
Epistle  (i  Pet.  iii.  19,  iv.  6),  '  He  went  and  preached  to  the 
spirits  in  prison,'  and  'The    gospel  was  preached  to  the 
dead.'     But  it  is  also  possible  that  the  ancient  hymn,  from 
which  S.  Paul  quotes  in  Eph.  v.  14,  'Wherefore  it  saith, 
Awake,  thou  that  sleepest, 
And  arise  from  the  dead, 
And  Christ  shall  shine  upon  thee,' 

was  intended  to  represent  the  triumph-song  with  which  the 
Lord  entered  the  Under-world. 

In  seeking  the  source  of  the  actual  words  of  the  Voice 
from  heaven,  we  may  note  that  S.  Matthew  says  that  at  the 
moment  of  Christ's  Death,  '  many  bodies  of  the  saints  that 
had  fallen  asleep  arose'  (xxvii.  52).  But  we  must  also  com 
pare  a  passage  which  Justin  Martyr  says  the  Jews  cut  out 
from  the  prophecy  of  Jeremiah  in  their  copies  of  the  LXX. : 
*  The  Lord  God,  the  Holy  One  of  Israel,  remembered  His 
dead  that  had  fallen  asleep  aforetime  in  the  earth  of  burial, 
and  descended  to  them  to  proclaim  to  them  the  good  news 
of  His  salvation1.'  Irenaeus  also  quotes  this  passage  several 
times :  but  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  it  ever 
formed  part  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures.  But  yet  it  is 
important,  if  only  to  shew  how  much  these  thoughts  were  in 
the  air  in  early  times :  a  fact  to  which  further  witness  is 
borne  by  the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus2,  an  apocryphal  work 

1  See  Bp.  Lightfoot's  note  on  Ign.  Magn.  ix.     I  read  with  Irenaeus 
TrpoKeKOifj.-rjfj.^wi'.     This   is   supported   also   by    Hermas,   who   says   of 
the    Apostles    (Sim.    ix.    16,    5)    Koi^BevTes...(.KT]pv^a.v    /ecu   rots    irpoKe- 

KOL/J.TJ/J.^J'OIS. 

2  In  the  Gospel  of  Nicodemus  II.   10  (Tisch.  p.  430),  the  Cross  is 


26  THE   GOSPEL  ACCORDING   TO    PETER. 

containing  a  full  description  of  the  Descent  into  Hell,  and 
by  the  Anaphora  of  Pilate,  to  which  reference  has  been 
already  made.  A  few  sentences  of  this  last  book  are  worth 
quoting  here,  as  their  thoughts  are  closely  akin  to  those  of 
our  document.  '  And  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  about 
the  third  hour  of  the  night,  the  sun  was  seen  as  never  it 
had  shone  before,  and  all  the  heaven  was  brightened.  And 
even  as  lightnings  come  in  a  storm,  so  certain  men  of  lofty 
stature,  in  adornment  of  apparel  and  of  glory  indescribable, 
appeared  in  the  air,  and  a  multitude  of  angels  crying  aloud 
and  saying,  Glory  in  the  highest  to  God,  and  upon  earth 
peace,  among  men  good  will :  come  up  out  of  Hades,  ye 
that  have  been  enslaved  in  the  under-world  of  Hades1.' 

In   a   heretical   book   called    '  the   Wanderings   of  the 
Apostles,'  which  Dr  Zahn  says2  'must  have  been  written 

left  in  the  Under-world:  'and  the  Lord  placed  His  Cross  in  the  midst 
of  Hell  (in  medio  inferni),  which  is  the  sign  of  victory  and  shall  remain 
there  even  for  evermore. ' 

1  Anaph.  PH.,  B.  8  (Tisch.   p.   447).     This  book  has  clearly  some 
close  connection  with  our  document.     Beside  the  striking  resemblances 
already  cited,  we   may  note  that   Pilate  makes  Herod  and  the  Jews 
responsible  for  the  Death  of  Christ ;  and,  whereas  here  the  disciples  were 
supposed  to  wish  to  set  fire  to  the  Temple,  there  all  the  Synagogues 
in  Jerusalem  save  one  are  swallowed  up  in  the  earthquake.     A  small 
coincidence  of  language  is  found  in  A.   10  (Tisch.  441)  r\v  dea<rd/j.ei>os, 
cf.  supra  §  6.     We  may  even  wonder  whether  the  earlier  part  of  the 
Anaphora  does   not   preserve   details   from  the   still   missing   part   of 
our   Gospel:  e.g.  there  is  the  same   use   of  S.  John,  and   the   same 
strange  perversion,  in   the  account  of  Lazarus,  who  is   said   to   have 
been  in  an  advanced  state  of  corruption,  and  yet  to  have  come  forth 
from  the  tomb  like  a  bridegroom  from  his  chamber. 

2  Zahn  Ada  Johannis  p.  cxliv.     On  p.  216  he  gives  the  passage 
of  Photius,  Cod.  114,  on  these  Leucian  Acts,  which  I  have  cited  here. 

Hermas  Sim.  ix.  6,  i  introduces  the  Lord  as  'a  Man  of  lofty 
stature,  so  as  to  overtop  the  tower':  and  in  S.  Perpetua's  Vision 
(Passio  x.)  He  is  represented  as  'a  Man  of  marvellous  greatness,  so 


THE   GOSPEL   ACCORDING   TO   PETER.  2/ 

before  160,'  and  of  which  fragments  are  preserved  to  us,  we 
are  told  that  Christ  appeared  in  various  forms  to  His  dis 
ciples,  sometimes  as  a  young  man,  then  as  an  old  man, 
then  again  as  a  boy ;  and  sometimes  small,  and  sometimes 
'very  large,  so  that  at  times  His  head  reached  even  unto 
heaven.'  Further  coincidences  tend  to  shew  that  this  book 
too  stands  in  some  near  relation  to  our  Gospel. 

ii.  "They  therefore  considered  one  with  another 
whether  to  go  away  and  shew  these  things  to  Pilate.  And 
while  they  yet  thought  thereon  the  heavens  again  appear 
opened,  and  a  certain  man  descending  and  entering  into  the 
sepulchre.  When  the  centurion  and  they  that  were  with  him 
saw  these  things,  they  hastened  by  night  to  Pilate,  leaving  the 
tomb  which  they  were  watching,  and  declared  all  things 
which  they  had  seen,  being  distressed  and  saying.  Truly  He 
was  the  Son  of  God.  Pilate  answered  and  said,  I  am  pure 
from  the  blood  of  the  Son  of  God:  but  ye  determined  this. 
Then  they  all  drew  near  and  besought  him  and  entreated 
him  to  command  the  centurion  and  the  soldiers  to  say 
nothing  of  the  things  which  they  had  seen:  For  it  is  better, 
say  they,  for  us  to  owe  the  greatest  debt  of  sin  before  God, 
and  not  to  fall  into  the  hand  of  the  people  of  the  Jews  and 
to  be  stoned.  Pilate  therefore  commanded  the  centurion 
and  the  soldiers  to  say  nothing."  •; 

The  hatred  of  the  writer  to  the  Jews,  which  stands  in 
striking  contrast  to  the  just  and  measured  terms  of  our 
Evangelists,  is  nowhere  more  marked  than  in  the  keen  satire 

as  to  overpass  the  top  of  the  amphitheatre.'  With  reference  to  the  two 
men  who  support  the  Lord  it  is  interesting  to  note  a  representation  in 
early  art,  in  which  'our  Lord  in  glory  stands  by  and  supports  a  large 
cross,  having  the  angels  Michael  and  Gabriel  on  either  hand.'  Diet. 
Christ.  Antiqq.  vol.  i.  p.  497.  Michael  and  Gabriel  come  for  the  soul 
of  B.V.  Mary  in  Transitus  Mariae  B.  8  (Tisch.  p.  130). 


28  THE   GOSPEL  ACCORDING   TO    PETER. 

of  this  passage.     Pilate  once  more  is  freed  as  far  as  possible 
from  blame1. 

12.  "And  at  dawn  upon  the  Lord's  day  Mary  Magdalen, 
a  disciple  of  the  Lord,  [who]  fearing  because  of  the  Jews, 
since  they  were  burning  with  wrath,  had  not  done  at  the 
Lord's  sepulchre  the  things  which  the  women  are  wont  to  do 
for  those  that  die  and  that  are  beloved  by  them,  took  her 
friends  with  her  and  came  to  the  sepulchre  where  He  was 
laid.     And  they  feared  lest  the  Jews  should  see  them,  and 
they  said,  Even  if  on  that  day  on  which  He  was  crucified 
we  could  not  weep  and  lament,  yet  now  let  us  do  these 
things  at  His  sepulchre.     But  who  shall  roll  away  for  us  the 
stone  that  is  laid  at  the  door  of  the  sepulchre,  that  we  may 
enter  in  and  sit  by  Him  and  do  the  things  that  are  due? 
For  the  stone  was  great,  and  we  fear  lest  some  one  see  us. 
And  even  if  we  cannot,  yet  let  us  set  at  the  door  the  things 
which  we  bring  for  a  memorial  of  Him;  let  us  weep  and 
lament,  until  we  come  unto  our  home. 

13.  "And  they  went  away  and  found  the  tomb  opened, 
and  coming  near  they  looked  in  there ;  and  they  see  there  a 
certain  young  man  sitting  in  the  midst  of  the  tomb,  beautiful 
and  clothed  in  a  very  bright  robe ;  who  said  to  them,  Why 
are  ye  come?   whom  seek  ye?     Is  it  that  crucified  One? 
He  is  risen  and  gone  away.     But  if  ye  believe  not,  look  in 
and  see  the  place  where  He  lay,  that  He  is  not  [here]2;  for 

The  white-washing  of  the  unhappy  Roman  governor  was  some 
times  carried  further  still.  In  the  Paradosis  Pilati  (Tisch.  p.  455) 
in  answer  to  Pilate's  prayer  for  forgiveness  before  his  execution  by 
Tiberius  a  voice  comes  from  heaven  saying,  'All  generations  shall 
call  thee  blessed. ..for  under  thee  all  these  things  were  fulfilled':  and 
an  angel  of  the  Lord  receives  his  head. 

•  In  Lc.  xxiv.  6  we  have  'non  est,  surrexit'  in  Cod.  Sangerm.  (g2): 
and  perhaps  we  ought  not  to  add  'here'  in  this  place. 


THE   GOSPEL  ACCORDING   TO   PETER.  29 

He  is  risen  and  gone  away  thither,  whence  He  was  sent1. 
Then  the  women  feared  and  fled." 

This  passage,  which  opens  with  clear  traces  of  S.  John, 
(compare  especially  xix.  40,  'as  the  custom  of  the  Jews  is  to 
bury'),  is  also  full  of  the  peculiar  phrases  of  S.  Mark.  The 
correspondence  ends  too  with  the  abrupt  conclusion  of 
S.  Mark's  Gospel,  as  we  now  have  it:  and  there  is  no  trace 
of  the  twelve  disputed  verses2. 

'N^.  "Now  it  was  the  last  day  of  the  unleavened  bread, 
and  many  went  forth  returning  to  their  homes,  as  the 
feast  was  ended.  But  we,  the  twelve3  disciples  of  the  Lord, 
mourned  and  were  grieved :  and  each  one  grieving  for  that 
which  was  come  to  pass  departed  to  his  home.  But  I 
Simon  Peter  arid  Andrew  my  brother  took  our  nets  and 
went  away  to  the  sea;  and  there  was  with  us  Levi  the  son  of 
Alphaeus,  whom  the  Lord — " 

1  With  this  we  must  compare  the  2oth  Homily  of  Aphrahat   (ed. 
Wright,  p.  385),  'And the  angel  said  to  Mary,  He  is  risen  and  gone 
away  to  Him  that   sent   Him'   (cf.   Jn.  xvi.   5).     There  is  reason   to 
believe  that  Aphrahat,  a  Syrian  writer,  used  Tatian's  Harmony :  and 
thus  we  seem   to   have  a  second  link   between   our  Gospel  and  that 
important  work. 

Whatever  be  the  origin  of  the  addition,  it  is  in  direct  contrast  to 
Jn.  xx.  17,  'I  am  not  yet  ascended  to  the  father.'  In  our  Book 
however  the  Ascension  of  both  Christs  has  taken  place  already. 

2  Cf.  in  Me.  xvi.  3  ff.  rtj  cnro/cuX/cm  T)/JUV . . .yv  yap  fj.eyas...veaviaKov 
Ka0rj/j.evoi'...Tr€pi(3el3\ri/uiti>ov  ffro\i]v :  and_  compare  the  last  words  Z(pvyov 
. .  .tyofiovvTO  yap  with  this  document  ^o^QeiffaL  tyvyov.     Here  as  in 
S.    Mark  there  is  no  record   of  an  appearance  of  the   Lord    to    the 
women. 

3  'The   twelve  disciples'  is  perhaps  a  mere  slip  of  the  author  or 
of  a   copyist :   but  it    is  conceivable  that  Judas  too  as  well  as  Pilate 
underwent  a  cleansing  process,  if  indeed  he  was  ever  mentioned,  in 
our   writer's   narrative.     The    reading    'twelve'   is   confirmed   by   the 
Apocalypse  (§  2)  which  has  the  same  phrase,  'we  the  twelve  disciples.' 


3O  THE   GOSPEL   ACCORDING   TO    PETER. 

This  broken  sentence  must  remain  unfinished,  till  some 
new  discovery  tells  us  what  we  long  to  know — whether  in 
this  Gospel  the  Disciples  ever  see  the  Lord.  Meanwhile 
we  may  be  grateful  that  it  adds  a  final  proof  of  what  indeed 
is  clear  enough  already  to  a  reader  of  the  original  Greek, 
namely  our  writer's  use  of  the  Fourth  Gospel.  It  is  probable 
enough  that  if  we  knew  what  followed  we  should  find  that 
he  'had  honoured  it  with  the  honour'  which  he  has  given  to 
it  already  with  the  same  impartiality  as  to  the  other  three — 
the  honour  of  misrepresentation.  Perversion  is  a  form  of 
witness  to  the  thing  perverted. 


Now  that  we  have  read  our  new  Gospel,  what  are  we  to 
think  of  it  ? 

The  document  will  doubtless  be  subjected  to  the  most 
searching  criticism  both  in  England  and  elsewhere,  and  it 
would  be  presumptuous  to  pretend  to  give  the  final  verdict. 
But  a  few  general  remarks  may  not  be  out  of  place  at  the 
close  of  this  Lecture. 

And,  first,  I  would  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  all  our 
most  recent  recoveries  are  not  entire  surprises.  Nothing 
wholly  new  and  unheard  of  turns  up  as  we  explore  neglected 
libraries  or  dig  in  disused  cemeteries.  The  range  of  Chris 
tian  literature  in  the  second  century  was  limited.  Eusebius, 
to  whose  researches  we  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  which  can 
never  be  too  generously  acknowledged,  covered  it  practi 
cally  all  by  his  own  reading  or  by  the  reports  of  others. 
It  is  true  that,  now  that  we  have  entered  upon  a  new  field 
of  exploration  in  the  tombs  of  Egypt,  there  is  nothing  that 
we  need  despair  of  finding — be  it  the  Expositions  of  Papias, 
or  the  Memoirs  of  Hegesippus,  or  the  Chronicle  of  Julius 
Africanus.  But  again  and  again  our  new  friend  has  proved 


THE   GOSPEL   ACCORDING   TO   PETER.  31 

to  be  an  old  one,  whom  we  knew  at  least  by  name.  And 
he  has  fitted  in  at  once  into  the  old  surroundings.  The 
second  century  was  a  book-making  age ;  but  the  books 
were  very  often  not  original.  As  Spurgeon  used  to  say  of 
many  modern  books,  '  They  stir  up  our  pure  minds  by  way 
of  remembrance.'  Books  were  made  out  of  books.  The 
literary  imagination  played  around  the  old  facts  or  the  old 
records.  The  Teaching  of  the  Apostles  used  an  earlier, 
perhaps  a  Jewish,  manual :  the  Apology  of  Aristides  was 
indebted  to  a  book  still  unrecovered,  the  Preaching  of 
Peter.  Each  of  these  in  turn  was  embodied  in  later  works  : 
the  Teaching  was  '  used  and  used  up,'  as  we  are  told,  in 
the  Shepherd  of  Hermas,  besides  the  more  obvious  places 
where  we  trace  it :  the  Apology  of  Aristides  lies  embedded 
in  a  religious  novel.  Similarly,  there  can  be  no  manner  of 
doubt  as  to  whence  our  new  Gospel  derived  the  main  bulk 
of  its  facts  and  of  its  language.  But  as  it  was  a  true 
*  Apocryphon,'  the  secret  book  of  a  sect  and  not  the 
common  property  of  the  Catholic  Church,  its  circulation  was 
but  limited  and  we  cannot  expect  to  find  it  largely  used 
in  the  later  writings  which  have  come  down  to  us.  Indeed 
it  is  surprising  that  it  should  have  so  many  points  of  contact 
as  we  have  already  noted  with  the  surrounding  literature. 

The  second  point  to  which  I  would  call  attention  is  a 
very  different  one.  We  are  sometimes  told  that  certain  of 
the  Books  of  the  New  Testament  are  Tendenz-schriften : 
that  is  to  say,  they  are  composed  with  the  aim  of  setting 
forth  at  any  cost  the  peculiar  view  of  some  special  school 
of  Christian  thought.  Well,  here  we  have  a  good  example 
of  a  'Tendency- Writing.'  It  is  worth  careful  study  from 
this  point  of  view.  Old  statements  are  suppressed,  or 
wilfully  perverted  and  displaced  :  new  statements  are  intro 
duced  which  bear  their  condemnation  on  their  faces.  No- 


32  THE   GOSPEL   ACCORDING  TO   PETER. 

thing  is  left  as  it  was  before.  Here  is  '  History  as  it  should 
be':  'Lines  left  out'  of  the  old  familiar  records.  And  no 
one  who  will  take  the  pains  to  compare  sentence  by  sen 
tence,  word  by  word,  the  new  '  Lines  left  out '  with  the  old 
*  Line  upon  Line,'  will  fail  to  return  to  the  Four  Gospels 
with  a  sense  of  relief  at  his  escape  from  a  stifling  prison  of 
prejudice  into  the  transparent  and  the  bracing  atmosphere 
of  pure  simplicity  and  undesigning  candour. 

Thirdly,  I  must  try  to  say  a  word  about  the  date  of  our 
new  Book.  The  points  in  which  our  writer  seems  to  coin 
cide  with  Tatian,  together  with  the  use  of  the  Four  Gospels 
side  by  side,  suggesting  that  the  work  is  based  upon  a 
previous  Harmony,  might  make  us  hesitate  to  place  it 
earlier  than  c.  170.  But  on  the  other  hand  its  seeming 
coincidence  with  the  Leucian  Acts,  which  deserves  a  full 
investigation,  tends  to  push  it  back  before  160.  For  the 
whole  style  of  the  narrative  is  much  less  complex,  and 
indeed  suggests  at  once  a  very  early  date.  In  all  the 
instances  of  similarity  with  other  books  we  cannot  prove  as 
yet  that  our  author  has  borrowed,  save  from  the  Four 
Gospels.  In  every  other  case  he  may  have  used  some 
source  used  also  by  the  other  writers  and  now  entirely  lost : 
nay,  in  some  cases  he  may  be  the  original  authority  him 
self.  The  main  views  here  expounded  may  be  traced  back 
even  to  Cerinthus  the  opponent  of  S.  John :  and  we  know 
that  S.  Ignatius  strenuously  combated  Docetic  teachers. 
So  that  we  need  not  be  surprised  if  further  evidence  shall 
tend  to  place  this  Gospel  nearer  to  the  beginning  than  to 
the  middle  of  the  second  century. 

Lastly,  the  unmistakeable  acquaintance  of  the  author 
with  our  Four  Evangelists  deserves  a  special  comment1.  He 

1  In  the  margin  of  the  Greek  text  I  have  placed  references  only  to 
those  lines  in  which  some  statement  or  phrase  occurs  which  is  peculiar 


THE   GOSPEL   ACCORDING   TO    PETER.  33 

uses  and  misuses  each  in  turn.  To  him  they  all  stand  on  an 
equal  footing.  He  lends  no  support  to  the  attempt  which  has 
been  made  to  place  a  gulf  of  separation  between  the  Fourth 
Gospel  and  the  rest,  as  regards  the  period  or  area  of  their 
acceptance  as  Canonical.  Nor  again  does  he  countenance 
the  theory  of  the  continued  circulation  in  the  second  cen 
tury  of  an  Urevangelium,  or  such  a  prae-canonical  Gospel  as 
we  feel  must  lie  behind  our  Synoptists.  He  uses  our  Greek 
Gospels ;  there  is  no  proof  (though  the  possibility  of  course 
is  always  open)  that  he  knew  of  any  Gospel  record  other 
than  these. 

And  so  the  new  facts  are  just  what  they  should  be,  if 
the  Church's  universal  tradition  as  to  the  supreme  and 
unique  position  of  the  Four  Canonical  Gospels  is  still  to  be 
sustained  by  historical  criticism.  The  words  of  Irenaeus 
(in.  n.  7),  as  the  second  century  was  drawing  to  a  close, 
are  as  true  as  ever  to-day,  and  they  have  received  a  new 
and  notable  confirmation  by  our  latest  recovery  : 

'  So  strong  is  the  position  of  our  Gospels,  that  the  heretics 
themselves  bear  witness  to  them,  and  each  must  start  from 
these  to  prove  his  own  doctrine. ...Since  therefore  those  who 
contradict  us  lend  us  their  testimony  and  use  our  Gospels, 
the  claim  which  we  have  made  on  their  behalf  is  thereby 
confirmed  and  verified.' 

to  one  of  our  Four  Gospels.     Thus  the  use   made    of  the  distinctive 
parts  of  each  Gospel  may  be  seen  at  a  glance. 


R.  J. 


ADDITIONAL   NOTES. 


1.  ON  §  5  AND  CODEX  BOBBIENSIS.     It  seems  as  though  we  had 
at  last   a   parallel    to   the  extraordinary   interpolation   at    Me.    xvi.   4 
in  cod.   Bobbiensis   (k),  an  Old   Latin  MS.,  which  reads,  after  'Who 
shall  roll  away  for  us  the  stone  from  the  door,'  as  follows  instead  of 
our  verse  4:    'But  suddenly,  at  the  third  hour  of  the  day,   darkness 
came  over  the  whole  world,  and  angels  descended  from  heaven,  and 
rising  in  the  glory   of  the  living  God  ascended   with    Him;   and  im 
mediately  it  became  light.'     This  passage  clearly  cannot  belong  to  its 
present  context :  but  it  closely  corresponds  with  the  Ascension  of  the 
Divine  Christ  from  the  Cross ;  even  to  the  mention  of  the  reappearance 
of  the  sun.     The  'hour'  may  have  been   changed,  so   as   to   be   less 
inconsistent  when  the  passage  had  got  into  its  new  context. 

2.  ON  THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  THIS  GOSPEL.     The  notes  of  time 
are  as  follows : 

i.     ffdfifiaTov    €TTL(f)uffKei....Trpb   /cuas  r<2v    dtyfAWv.     The    Body    must 
not  remain  unburied  after  sunset  on  this  day. 

i.     TJV  8e  /j.eaTj/j.(3pia.     The  darkness  covers  Judaea. 

3.  eup^dr}  upa  emrTj.     The  light  returns. 

4.  VVKTOS    KO.I    •tyuepas    ews    rov  (rafipdrov.     The  Disciples  fast  and 
mourn. 

5.  eirl  rpets  r//iepa?.     The  Jews  propose  to  watch  the  Tomb. 

6.  Trponas  Se  CTTL^UO-KOVTOS  rov  ffapftdrov.     The  multitude  come  to 
see  the  Tomb. 

7.  rrj  5£  VVKTI  y  ewtyuaKev  77  KvpiaK-f).     The  Voice  and  the  Vision. 

8.  VVKTOS.     They  hasten  to  tell  Pilate. 

9.  ftpdpov  Se  rrjs  KvpiaKTJs.     Mary  Magdalen  comes  to  the  Tomb 
with  the  other  women. 

10.  r\v    8£    TcXevraia    r)fj.epa    rwv    d£v(j.wv...Tijs    eoprrjs    7rai;<7a/u6'7?s. 
Many  return  to  their  homes.     The  Disciples  go  to  the  sea. 

3—2 


36  ADDITIONAL   NOTES. 

We  may  perhaps  arrange  them  in  order  thus : 
Abib  14.     Preparation         .         .         .         .         .         .         .     i,  2,  3, 

At  even  Passover  killed.     Period  of  unleavened 
bread  begins. 

15.  Sabbath.     Sheaf  waved [4],  6 

1 6.  First  day  of  the  week.         .         .         .         .  5,  7,  8,  9 

17.  Second      ,,  ,, 

1 8.  Third 

19.  Fourth      ,,  ,, 

20.  Fifth 

21.  Preparation         .         .         .         .         .         .         .10 

At  even  Period  of  unleavened  bread  ends. 

22.  Sabbath [4] 

In  §  13  the  Disciples  are  still  'weeping  and  mourning':  so  that  we 
may  explain  4  perhaps  as  meaning  all  the  days  until  the  second  sabbath. 
In  fact  a  w-shaped  j3  may  have  fallen  out  after  rou:  so  that  we  might 
possibly  restore  rov  (3'  aapfiarov.  But  this  is  not  necessary,  as  the  first 
sabbath  had  begun  at  the  time  referred  to.  It  is  remarkable  then  that 
the  Disciples  remain  a  week  in  hiding  at  Jerusalem,  and  then  leave 
it  for  Galilee  without  having  seen  the  Lord  at  all.  The  first  of  these 
statements  may  be  suggested  by  Jn.  xx.  26 ;  but  the  second,  while  it 
might  be  suggested  by  the  silence  of  S.  Matthew  and  S.  Mark,  is  in 
direct  contrast  with  Lc.  xxiv.  34,  36  and  Jn.  xx.  19,  26. 

3.  ON  THE  RECONSTRUCTION  OF  THIS  GOSPEL.  I  have  already 
suggested  (pp.  20,  22,  26)  that  the  Anaphora  Pilati  has  used  this  Gospel : 
and  this  view  is  confirmed  by  some  Coptic  fragments  (Revillout,  1876), 
as  yet  untranslated,  my  knowledge  of  which  is  gained  from  Mr  James. 
In  these  the  same  stress  is  laid  on  the  corruption  of  the  body  of  Lazarus ; 
and  Philip  appears  together  with  Herod  as  plotting  against  the  Lord, 
as  in  Anaph.  Pil.  Moreover  these  fragments  seem  to  be  connected  in 
method  with  others  which  correspond  to  the  Historia  Josephi,  in  which 
we  find  the  one  statement  which  Origen  preserves  to  us  from  this  Gospel 
(see  above  p.  14  n.)  set  forth  in  full. 


THE    REVELATION    OF    PETER 
A   LECTURE 

ON   THE   NEWLY    RECOVERED   FRAGMENT 

BY 

MONTAGUE    RHODES   JAMES  M.A. 


ET  APPAREBIT  LACVS  TORMENT!  ET  CONTRA 
ILLVM  ERIT  LOCVS  REQVIETIONIS  :  ET  CLIBANVS 
GEHENNAS  OSTENDETVR  ET  CONTRA  EVM  IOCVN- 
DITATIS  PARADISVS 


THE    REVELATION    OF   PETER. 


OF  the  two  fragments  of  early  Christian  literature  which 
have  just  been  called  out  of  Egypt,  the  extract  from  the 
Gospel  of  Peter  is  no  doubt  the  more  immediately  interest 
ing  :  and,  in  the  excitement  caused  by  that,  the  Apocalyptic 
fragment,  which  follows  it  in  the  Gizeh  MS.,  runs  some 
chance  of  being  overlooked.  And  yet,  had  this  latter 
stood  by  itself,  its  discovery  would  have  caused  a  very 
considerable  stir  in  the  theological  world.  No  one  in 
terested  in  the  history  of  the  Canon  of  the  New  Testament 
could  have  failed  to  be  excited  when  nearly  half  of  the  text 
of  the  Revelation  of  Peter  was  laid  before  him. 

For  this  book  was  one  of  which  we  heard  much  and 
saw  very  little.  It  always  seemed  strange  that  we  were 
constantly  encountering  its  name  in  early  documents,  and 
yet,  when  we  came  to  inquire  about  its  character  and 
contents,  there  were  exactly  six  passages  which  gave  us  any 
idea  on  the  subject,  while  the  total  amount  of  the  text 
which  they  preserved  may  have  been  eight  lines.  Curiously 
enough,  moreover,  modern  writers  on  the  subject  had  hardly 
ventured  more  than  the  most  general  conjectures  on  these 
fragments,  and  had  not  succeeded  in  drawing  from  them 
by  any  means  all  the  information  which,  scanty  as  they 
were,  they  could  be  made  to  afford. 


40  THE    REVELATION    OF    PETER. 

For  myself,  they  had  always  possessed  a  curious  interest, 
as  being  the  remains  of  a  book  once  highly  prized  in  several 
important  Christian  communities,  and,  more  than  that,  as 
being  the  relics  of  the  earliest  Christian  Apocalypse,  save 
one,  that  was  ever  written:  and,  in  the  year  1886,  I  had 
taken  some  pains  in  collecting  and  commenting  on  these 
poor  relics,  and,  in  particular,  in  attempting  to  reconstruct 
by  their  aid  the  probable  contents  of  the  book,  and  to 
estimate  its  influence  on  later  works  of  the  same  class. 

In  the  course  of  these  investigations  it  became  clear 
that  the  book  must  have  contained  at  least  two  ele 
ments,  one  a  prophetical  or  predictive  section,  relating  to 
the  end  of  the  world,  the  other,  a  narrative  of  visions; 
and  more  particularly,  a  vision  of  the  torments  of  the 
wicked,  in  which  various  classes  of  sinners  were  represented 
as  punished  in  a  manner  suitable  to  their  offences.  It 
became  clear,  moreover,  that  certain  books  showed  more 
or  less  clear  traces  of  obligation  to  this  old  Apocalypse  : 
in  particular,  this  was  true  of  the  second  book  of  the 
Sibylline  oracles,  the  Apocalypse  of  Paul,  and  the  later 
Apocalypse  of  Esdras.  And,— what  was  interesting  from 
the  literary  point  of  view, — we  could  trace  the  influence  of 
the  Apocalypse  of  Paul  upon  almost  all  the  mediaeval 
visions,  even  in  the  Divina  Commedia  of  Dante.  So  that 
through  the  medium  of  the  Pauline  vision,  the  Apocalypse 
of  Peter  had  had  a  share  in  moulding  the  greatest  poem 
of  the  middle  ages.  In  my  recent  edition  of  the  Testament 
of  Abraham1  I  took  occasion  to  set  forth  the  main  lines  of 
this  view  :  but  it  was  not  possible  there  (nor  will  it  be,  I  fear, 
on  the  present  occasion)  to  set  forth,  with  all  the  necessary 
detail,  the  steps  which  led  me  to  the  conclusions  which 
I  have  just  stated.  But  perhaps  I  have  said  enough  to 

1   Texts  and  Studies,  ii.  2,  pp.  23,  24. 


THE    REVELATION    OF    PETER.  41 

show  that  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter  had  for  some  time 
occupied  no  small  share  of  my  attention ;  and  I  hope  this 
will  justify  the  precipitation  with  which  I  have  ventured  to 
attack  the  newly-discovered  fragment. 

It  is  time,  however,  to  leave  generalities  and  to  approach 
details.  I  propose  to  divide  this  paper  into  three  heads — 
a  practice  for  which  I  fancy  there  are  precedents.  Under 
the  first  I  shall  arrange  my  account  of  what  was  known 
about  the  book  previous  to  this  late  discovery.  Under  the 
second  I  shall  give  a  translation  of  the  new  fragment,  with 
a  few  notes.  Under  the  third  I  shall  try  to  state  what 
new  light  this  discovery  throws  upon  the  book  as  a  whole. 

It  is  perhaps  simplest  to  tell  the  story  of  our  book  in 
the  words  of  the  writers  who  speak  of  it,  arranging  them  in 
order  of  date.  The  first  mention  (real  or  apparent)  of  an 
Apocalypse  of  Peter  is  found  in  the  Muratorian  Fragment, 
dated  circ.  170 — 200  A.D.  The  writer  has  mentioned  the 
Wisdom  of  Solomon:  he  goes  on  to  say:  "The  Apocalypses 
of  John  and  Peter  only  do  we  receive :  which  (in  the  singular) 
some  of  our  number  will  not  have  read  in  the  churches." 
Most  critics  have  understood  this  sentence  to  mean  that  the 
only  Apocalypses  (and  the  number  of  Apocalypses  was  large) 
which  the  Roman  Church  received  were  those  of  John  and 
Peter;  and  that  the  latter  was  repudiated  by  some  Roman 
Christians.  But  it  has  been  lately  urged  with  great  inge 
nuity  by  Dr  Zahn,  that  there  is  no  reason  to  believe  that 
the  Petrine  Apocalypse  was  known  at  all  at  Rome;  and  that 
we  ought  to  suppose  that  a  line  has  here  dropped  out  of 
our  undoubtedly  corrupt  fragment,  and  to  read:  "(There  is) 
the  Apocalypse  of  John  and  of  Peter  one  epistle,  which 
alone  we  receive :  there  is  also  a  second  (epistle\  which  some 
of  our  number  will  not  have  read  in  church1." 
]  Zahn,  N.  T.  Kanon,  ii.  105  sqq. 


42  THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER. 

I  do  not  feel  convinced  that  Dr  Zahn  is  right,  more  par 
ticularly  as  it  seems  that  we  have  some  reason  to  believe  that 
Hippolytus  used  our  book. 

Of  Clement  of  Alexandria,  at  the  beginning  of  the  third 
century,  Eusebius  tells  us1  that  in  his  great  lost  work,  the 
Hypotyposes  or  Outlines,  he  commented  on  all  the  Canonical 
Scripture,  'not  even  omitting  the  disputed  scriptures,  I 
mean  the  Epistle  of  Jude  and  the  rest  of  the  Catholic 
Epistles,  and  that  of  Barnabas,  and  the  so-called  Apocalypse 
of  Peter.' 

When  we  turn  to  Clement's  works,  in  the  collection  of 
extracts  (either  from  a  lost  book  of  his  Miscellanies,  or  from 
the  Outlines]  which  are  called  Eclogae  ex  Scripturis  Pro- 
pheticis,  we  find  three  separate  quotations  (and  a  fourth 
passage  repeating  one  of  the  three)  from  this  Apocalypse2, 
in  one  of  which  it  is  called  *  the  Scripture.' 

I  shall  reserve  for  the  present  the  translation  of  these 
fragments. 

S.  Methodius  of  Olympus  in  Lycia,  living  at  the  end  of 
the  third  century,  has  a  fairly  long  passage  identical  in  part 
with  one  of  the  Clementine  quotations;  and  the  material 
of  this  passage  is  taken,  he  says,  from  'divinely -inspired 
writings3.' 

So  far,  then,  Lycia,  Alexandria,  and  probably  Rome,  are 
witnesses  to  the  early  popularity  of  the  Apocalypse. 

In  the  fourth  century  we  have  a  critical  estimate  of  the 
book, — where  we  naturally  expect  to  find  it, — in  the  Eccle 
siastical  History  of  Eusebius  of  Caesarea.  Twice  over  he 
gives  us  his  view  of  the  book,  based  largely  on  the  use  or 
non-use  of  it  by  earlier  Church  writers:  and  it  is  by  no 
means  a  favourable  view. 

1  H.E.  vi.  14,  i.  2  See  Fragments  3—6. 

3  See  Fragment  5  l>. 


THE    REVELATION    OF    PETER.  43 

In  the  former  of  the  two  passages  he  enumerates  the 
writings,  genuine  and  spurious,  which  were  current  under 
the  name  of  S.  Peter;  of  the  spurious  writings  he  says:  "the 
book,  so  entitled,  of  his  Acts,  and  the  so-called  Gospel 
according  to  him,  and  what  is  known  as  his  Preaching,  and 
what  is  called  his  Apocalypse — these  we  know  not  at  all  as 
having  been  handed  down  among  catholic  scriptures;  for  no 
ancient  Church  writer,  nor  contemporary  of  our  own,  has 
made  use  of  testimonies  taken  from  them1."  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  we  know  that  Clement  of  Alexandria  used  both 
Preaching  and  Apocalypse :  still,  in  its  broad  lines,  the  state 
ment  is  no  doubt  correct. 

The  second  of  Eusebius's  estimates  of  this  book  is  to  be 
found  in  his  famous  classification  of  the  New  Testament 
writings2.  The  place  assigned  to  it  is  below  the  limbo  of 
disputed  books,  but  in  the  uppermost  circle  of  the  abode  of 
spurious  ones,  among  those  which,  though  certainly  spurious, 
or  outside  the  pale,  were  not  of  distinctly  heretical  tendencies. 
'Among  spurious  books  let  there  be  classed:  the  writing  of 
the  Acts  of  Paul,  and  the  book  called  the  Shepherd,  and  the 
Apocalypse  of  Peter,  and,  besides  these,  the  Epistle  of  Bar 
nabas,  and  what  are  called  the  Teachings  of  the  Apostles : 
and  besides,  if  you  take  that  view,  as  I  said  above,  the 
Apocalypse  of  John... "^m^.  some  include  in  this  class  the 
Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews.  All  these  will  be  of 
the  number  of  disputed  books.'  So  that  Eusebius  himself 
applies  to  this  class  both  the  terms  spurious  and  disputed: 
but  I  think  the  former  more  truly  represents  his  own  opinion, 
and  the  softening  down  of  it  is  a  concession  to  the  opinions 
of  many  of  his  contemporaries. 

Macarius  Magnes,  a  writer  of  the  beginning  of  the  fifth 
century,  furnishes  us  with  two  more  fragments  of  our  book. 
1  H.E.  iii.  3,  2.  -  H.  R.  Hi.  25,  4. 


44  THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER. 

The  nature  of  his  evidence  requires  a  word  of  explanation. 
His  book,  called  Apocritica,  gives  a  series  of  objections 
brought  by  a  heathen  against  Christianity,  and  the  answers 
to  these  by  Macarius.  Now  the  objections  are  evidently 
genuine,  and  seem  to  be  taken  out  of  a  written  work.  And 
it  is  thought  very  likely  that  the  author  of  them  may  be 
Porphyry.  In  that  case,  the  quotations  must  be  set  down  as 
a  testimony  to  the  currency  of  our  book  in  the  third  century. 
The  heathen  objector  adduces  the  book  'by  way  of  super 
fluity,'  apparently  not  attaching  much  importance  to  it. 
Macarius,  when  he  comes  to  explain  the  matter,  takes  no 
pains  to  defend  the  source  of  the  quotation  :  'Even  if  we 
repudiate  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter,  we  are  forced  by  the 
utterances  of  prophecy  and  of  the  Gospel,  to  agree  with  the 
Apocalypse  of  Peter.' 

More  light  on  the  reception  of  the  book  is  given  us  by 
Sozomen  in  the  first  half  of  the  fifth  century.  'For  instance,' 
he  says,  'the  so-called  Apocalypse  of  Peter,  which  was 
stamped  as  entirely  spurious  by  the  ancients,  we  have  dis 
covered  to  be  read  in  certain  churches  of  Palestine  up  to 
the  present  day,  once  a  year,  on  the  Friday  during  which 
the  people  most  religiously  fast  in  commemoration  of  the 
Lord's  passion1.' 

This  exhausts  the  list  of  notices  of  the  book :  it  is  true 
that  Rufinus  in  his  version  of  Eusebius  retains  the  Apo 
calypse  of  Peter  (in  H.  E.  vi.  14)  and  omits  the  Catholic 
Epistles:  but  this  is  because  Eusebius  calls  the  latter  dis 
puted  in  that  place. 

Jerome,  again,  merely  translates  Eusebius  (H.  E.  in.  3) 
when  he  enumerates  the  works  attributed  to  Peter:  Ni- 
cephorus,  too,  copies  Eusebius  and  Sozomen. 

1  Hist.  Eccl.  vii.  19. 


THE    REVELATION    OF    PETER.  45 

But  a  certain  amount  of  evidence  remains  :  we  have 
three  lists  of  apocryphal  books  which  mention  our  Apo 
calypse.  The  list  which  goes  by  the  name  of  Nicephorus, 
and  may  be  placed  about  SSOA.D.,  is  interesting  as  con 
taining  the  name  \ve  are  in  search  of,  and  as  being  a  pro 
duction  of  some  one  writing  at  Jerusalem1.  One  division 
of  this  list  is  set  apart  for  '  disputed  books  of  the  New 
Testament.'  These  are  : 

The  Apocalypse  of  John  containing  1400  lines. 

The  Apocalypse  of  Peter  300  

The  Epistle  of  Barnabas  ..  1360  

The  Gospel  according  to  the  Hebrews  ..  .    2200  .. 

This  list  gives  us  really  valuable  information  as  to  the 
length  of  the  book.  We  will  put  next  to  it  a  statement 
of  similar  character  from  a  different  source.  The  Codex 
Claromontanus  D.2,  of  St  Paul's  Epistles,  of  the  sixth  century, 
has  a  catalogue  in  Latin  of  all  the  Scriptures,  remarkable 
for  many  reasons,  which  Dr  Zahn  takes  to  be  of  Alexan 
drian  origin  (it  is  undoubtedly  rendered  from  a  Greek 
original)  and  of  the  third  or  fourth  century  in  date.  The 
concluding  items  in  this  are  : 

Epistle  of  Barnabas      850  verses  (i.e.  lines). 

Revelation  of  John    1 200  

Acts  of  the  Apostles  2600  

The  Shepherd  4°°°  •• 

Acts  of  Paul  3560  

Revelation  of  Peter      270  

A  third  list,  which   may    be  of  A.D.  600,  and  is  very 
commonly  called  the  List  of  the  Sixty  Books,  is  less  in 
teresting.     It  gives  us,  among  New  Testament  Apocrypha  : 
1  Zahn,  N.  T.  Kanon,  ii.  290  sqq. 


46  THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER. 

The  History  of  James  (i.e.  the  '  Protevangelium  '). 

The  Apocalypse  of  Peter. 

The  Travels,  and  Teachings,  of  the  Apostles. 

The  Epistle  of  Barnabas. 

The  Acts  of  Paul. 

The  Apocalypse  of  Paul. 

&c.  &c. 

Let  us  summarise  the  information  we  have  gained  from 
all  these  passages.  The  Apocalypse  of  Peter  was  a  Greek 
book  containing  270  or  300  lines  of  the  average  length 
of  a  line  of  Homer  (36  to  38  letters)  and  about  a  quarter 
as  long  as  the  Revelation  of  S.  John ;  or,  in  other  words, 
about  the  length  of  the  Didache  as  we  have  it  (316  lines) 
or  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  (311  lines). 

It  probably  found  a  partial  reception  at  Rome  in  the 
second  century ;  certainly  it  did  in  Egypt,  and  in  Lycia ; 
in  Palestine  it  survived  and  was  still  read  in  church  on 
Good  Friday  in  the  fifth  century. 

It  continued  to  be  copied  down  to  the  ninth  century 
in  Jerusalem  (for  the  list  of  Nicephorus  was  made  for 
practical  purposes) :  and  as  we  are  told  that  the  Gizeh  MS. 
is  of  a  date  between  the  eighth  and  twelfth  centuries,  we 
may  say  the  same  of  Egypt. 

But  all  this  while  the  popularity  and  reception  of  the 
book  were  not  universal.  If  the  Muratorian  Fragment 
does  mention  it,  it  is  with  a  caution  :  if  Methodius  quotes 
it,  he  does  so  without  naming  his  source  :  while  Eusebius 
and  Sozomen  are  unqualified  in  their  repudiation  of  it  as 
a  genuine  work  of  the  Apostle,  and  tell  us  that  the  use 
made  of  it  by  the  great  writers  who  had  preceded  them 
was  practically  nil.  Macarius  would  not  at  all  object  to 
throwing  it  over :  one  of  our  lists  calls  it  a  disputed  book, 
another  places  it  among  Apocrypha,  and  the  third,  whose 


THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER.  47 

author  probably  might  have  accepted  it,  gives  it  a  place 
among  writings  which  form  a  sort  of  appendix  to  the  un 
doubted  portion  of  the  New  Testament  Canon. 

So  that,  though  no  doubt  it  was  a  popular  book,  its 
popularity  seems  to  have  been  almost  confined  to  the  less 
educated  class  of  Christians.  Clement  is  no  doubt  an  ex 
ception  to  this  statement :  but  few  writers  are  less  dis 
criminating  than  he,  though  there  are  few  who  are  better 
informed;  while,  if  I  read  Methodius  rightly,  he  is  un 
willing  to  lay  much  stress  on  the  source  which  he  uses,  and 
uses  sparingly. 

I  cannot  attempt  to  give  anything  like  a  full  account  of 
what  modern  writers  have  written  about  this  Apocalypse, 
albeit  the  bulk  of  matter  is  not  very  large.  J.  E.  Grabe 
first  collected  the  fragments  in  his  Spidlegium,  i.  74.  Fa- 
bricius  added  some  notes  in  Cod.  Apocr.  N.  T.,  i.  940. 
Liicke,  in  his  Introduction  to  the  Revelation  of  S.  John, 
Lipsius,  Diet.  Chr.  Biogr.,  art.  'Apocalypses,'  Hilgenfeld, 
Nov.  Test,  extra  Can.  rec.,  iv.  74  (1866  and  1883),  Dr 
Salmon  in  a  lecture  on  Uncanonical  Books,  now  embodied 
in  his  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,  Zahn,  N.  T. 
Kanon,  n.  810 — 820,  Robinson,  Passion  of  S.  Perpetua, 
pp.  37 — ^j,  should  be  consulted:  they  contain  practically 
all  that  has  as  yet  been  said  about  the  Apocalypse  of 
Peter. 

It  is  necessary  before  we  pass  to  the  second  section  of 
my  paper  to  call  special  attention  to  two  hypotheses :  one, 
put  forward  by  Bunsen  in  his  Analecta  Ante-Nicaena,  is  a 
suggestion  that  one  source  which  was  used  by  Hippolytus 
in  his  fragment  '  Concerning  the  Universe '  was  the  Apoca 
lypse  of  Peter  :  the  other,  which  is  Mr  Robinson's,  is  that 
we  may  find  traces  of  this  same  Apocalypse  in  the  Passion 
of  S.  Perpetua,  and  in  Barlaam  and  Josaphat.  I  think  the 


48  THE    REVELATION   OF   PETER. 

new  discovery  goes  some  way  towards  confirming  both  con 
jectures. 

We  will  now  read  the  new  fragment,  which  I  have 
divided  into  twenty  short  sections  ;  and  short  notes  will  be 
given  on  such  points  as  suggest  themselves.  My  rendering 
will  be  literal  and  bald. 

1.  " '  Many  of  them  will  be  false  prophets,  and  will 
teach  ways  and  various  doctrines  of  perdition :   and  they 
will  be  sons  of  perdition.     And  then  will  God  come  unto 
my   faithful    ones    that    are    hungering   and    thirsting    and 
suffering  oppression,   and  proving  their  own  souls  in  this 
life  ;  and  He  will  judge  the  sons  of  lawlessness.' 

2.  And  the  Lord  said  furthermore  '  Let  us  go  unto  the 
mountain  and  pray/     And  as  we  twelve  disciples  went  with 
Him,  we  besought  Him  that  He  would  shew  us  one  of  our 
righteous  brethren  that  had  departed  from  the  world,  that 
we  might  see  of  what  form  they  were  and  so  take  courage 
and  encourage  them  also  that  should  hear  us. 

3.  And  as  we  were  praying,  there  suddenly  appeared 
two  men  standing  before  the  Lord  towards  the  east,  whom1 
we  could  not  look  upon :  for  there  came  from  their  counte 
nance  a  ray  as  of  the  sun  and  all  their  raiment  was  light, 
such  as  never  eye  of  man  beheld,  nor  mouth  can  describe, 
nor  heart  conceive  the  glory  wherewith  they  were  clad,  and 
the  beauty  of  their  countenance. 

And  when  we  saw  them  we  were  amazed :  for  their 
bodies  were  whiter  than  any  snow,  and  redder  than  any 
rose,  and  the  red  thereof  was  mingled  with  the  white,  and, 
in  a  word,  I  cannot  describe  the  beauty  of  them :  for  their 
hair  was  thick  and  curling  and  bright,  and  beautiful  upon 
their  face  and  their  shoulders  like  a  wreath  woven  of  spike- 

1  Italics  indicate  words  supplied  where  a  gap  occurs  in  the  MS. 


THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER.  49 

nard  and  bright  flowers,  or  like  a  rainbow  in  the  sky,  such 
was  their  beauty. 

4.  When,  therefore,  we  saw  their  beauty,  we  were  all 
amazement  at  them,  for  they  had  appeared  suddenly :  and 
I  came  near  to  the  Lord  and  said  :    'Who  are  these?'    He 
saith  to  me  :  '  These  are  your  brethren  the  righteous,  whose 
forms  ye  wished  to  behold.'     And  I  said  to  Him  :    '  And 
where  are  all  the  righteous,  or  of  what  sort  is  the  world 
wherein  they  are  and  possess  this  glory  ? ' 

5.  And  the  Lord  shewed  me  a  very  great  space  outside 
this  world  shining  excessively  with  light,  and  the  air  that 
was  there  illuminated  with  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  the 
earth   itself  blooming   with    unfading   flowers,  and  full  of 
spices  and  fair-flowering  plants,  incorruptible  and  bearing 
a  blessed  fruit :  and  so  strong  was  the  perfume  that  it  was 
borne  even  to  us  from  thence.     And  the  dwellers  in  that 
place  were  clad  in  the  raiment  of  angels  of  light,  and  their 
raiment    was    like   their   land :   and   angels  ran  about  (or 
encircled)  them  there.     And  the  glory  of  the  dwellers  there 
was  equal,  and  with  one  voice  they  praised  the  Lord  God, 
rejoicing  in  that  place.     The  Lord  saith  unto  us  :  '  This  is 
the  place  of  your  predecessors  (perh.  brethren)  the  righteous 
men.' 

6.  And    I    saw   also   another   place  over  against  that 
other,  very  squalid,  and  it  was  a  place  of  chastisement ;  and 
those  that  were  being  chastised,  and  the  angels  that  were 
chastising,  had  their  raiment  dark,  according  to  the  atmo 
sphere  of  the  place. 

7.  And  there  were  some  there  hanging  by  their  tongues ; 
and  these  were  they  that  blaspheme  the  way  of  righteous 
ness  :   and  there  was  beneath  them  fire  flaming  and  tor 
menting  them. 

8.  And  there  was  a  certain  great  lake  full  of  flaming 

R.  J.  4 


5<D  THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER. 

mire,  wherein  were  certain  men  that  pervert  righteousness ; 
and  tormenting  angels  were  set  upon  them. 

9.  And  there  were  also  others,  women,  hung  by  their 
hair  over  that  mire  that  bubbled  up  :  and  these  were  they 
that  had  adorned  themselves  for  adultery :  and  the  men 
that    had    been    joined   with   them   in   the   defilement   of 
adultery  were  hanging  by  their  feet,  and  had  their  heads 
in  the  mire:  and  all  were  saying  'We  believed  not  that 
we  should  come  into  this  place.' 

10.  And  I  saw  the  murderers  and  them  that  had  con 
spired  with  them  cast  into  a  certain  narrow  place  full  of 
evil  reptiles  and  being  smitten  by  those  beasts  and  wallow 
ing  there  thus  in  that  torment :  and  there  were  set  upon 
them  worms  as  it  were  clouds  of  darkness.     And  the  souls 
of  them  that  had  been  murdered  were  standing  and  looking 
upon  the  punishment  of  those  murderers,  and  saying  'O 
God,  righteous  is  thy  judgment.' 

11.  And   hard   by  that   place    I    saw  another  narrow 
place  wherein  the  gore  and  the  filth  of  them  that  were 
tormented  ran  down,  and  became  as  it  were  a  lake  there. 
And  there  sat  women  having  the  gore  up  to  their  throats, 
and  over  against  them  a  multitude  of  children  which  were 
born  out  of  due  time  sat  crying :  and  there  proceeded  from 
them  flames  (or  sparks)  of  fire,  and  smote  the  women  upon 
the  eyes1.     And  these  were  they  that  destroyed  their  children 
and  caused  abortion. 

12.  And  there  were  other  men  and  women  on  fire  up 
to  their  middle  and  cast  into  a  dark  place  and  scourged  by 
evil  spirits  and  having  their  entrails  devoured  by  worms 
that  rested  not :  and  these  were  they  that  persecuted  the 
righteous  and  delivered  them  up. 

13.  And  hard  by  them  again  were  women  and  men 

1  See  Fragment  4. 


THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER.  51 

gnawing  their  lips,  and  being  tormented,  and  receiving  red- 
hot  iron  upon  their  eyes  :  and  these  were  they  that  had 
blasphemed  and  spoken  evil  of  the  way  of  righteousness. 

14.  And  over  against  these  were  again  other  men  and 
women  gnawing  their  tongues  and  having  flaming  fire  in 
their  mouths :  and  these  were  the  false  witnesses. 

15.  And  in  a  certain  other  place  were  pebbles  sharper 
than  swords   or  than  any  spit,   red-hot,  and   women   and 
men  clad  in  filthy  rags  were  rolling  upon  them  in  torment : 
and  these  were  the  wealthy  that  had  trusted  in  their  wealth 
and  had  not  had  pity  upon  orphans  and  widows,  but  had 
neglected  the  commandment  of  God. 

1 6.  And  in  another  great  lake  full  of  pitch  and  blood 
and  boiling  mire  stood  men  and  women,  up  to  their  knees  : 
and  these  were  they  that  lent  money  and  demanded  interest 
on  interest. 

17.  And  there  were  other  men  and  women  being  hurled 
down  from  a  great  cliff,  and  they  reached  the  bottom  and 
again  were  driven  by  those  that  were  set   upon  them    to 
climb  up  upon  the  cliff,  and  thence  they  were  hurled  down 
again,  and  they  had  no  rest  from  this  torment. 

[These  were  guilty  of  lewdness.] 

1 8.  And  beside  that  cliff  was  a  place  full  of  much  fire, 
and  there  stood  men  who  had  made  for  themselves  images 
instead  of  God  with  their  own  hands. 

19.  And  beside  them  were  other  men  and  women  who 
had  rods,  smiting  each  other,  and  never  resting  from  this 
manner  of  torment. 

20.  And  others  again  near  them,  women  and  men  were 
burning,  and  turning  themselves  and  being  roasted:   and 
these  were  they  that  had  forsaken  the  way  of  God." 

Here  we  have  a  fragment  of  sufficient  length  to  give  us 
a  fair  idea  of  the  contents  of  the  whole  Apocalypse.     As 

4—2 


52  THE   REVELATION    OF    PETER. 

a  fact,  it  does  contain  something  like  140  out  of  the  original 
300  lines  of  which  the  book  consisted. 

It  falls  into  three  parts:  the  first  is  the  eschatological 
discourse,  §  i  :  the  second,  the  vision  of  Paradise,  §§  2  —  6  : 
the  third,  the  Inferno,  §§  7  —  20. 

We  will  take  them  separately.  The  first  gives  the  con 
cluding  lines  of  a  speech  of  our  Lord  concerning  the  end  of 
the  world. 

The  opening  clause  recalls,  and  is  doubtless  indebted  to, 
Matt.  xxiv.  24;  Mark  xiii.  22,  'For  there  shall  arise  false 
Christs  and  false  prophets?  But  both  this  and  the  words 
which  follow  contain  the  first  of  a  remarkable  series  of 
resemblances  to  the  Second  Epistle  of  Peter,  which  I  pro 
pose  to  collect  in  a  note,  in  order  that  we  may  be  the  better 
able  to  realise  them1. 

1  Apoc.  §  I.     Tro\\ol...£crovTa.i  i/'eu5o7r/3o0r?rai. 

i  Pet.  ii.  I  eyevovro  5e  KCU  \j/ev8oirpo(j)TJTa.i  ev  ry  Xay,  wj  /ecu  ev 
vfjuv  Zffovrai,  i/'euSoStSoWaXot,  and  iii.  3. 


1  Pet.  ii.  I  OLTives  7ra/)ei<ra£oi>(rij>  cupeVeis  CiTrcoXeias. 

TC\S    eavruv       i^xaj.     2     Pet.    ii.     8    ^vxty    8i.Ka.Lav... 


6  6ebs...Kpu>el  rovs  vtoi)s  TTJS  avo/j.ias. 

1  Pet.  ii.  3  ois  TO  Kpifj-a  ^/CTraXcu  OVK  apyei. 

§  2.       TO  8pOS. 

2  Pet.  i.  1  8  ffvv  avrf  oVres  ev  T$  ayiy  8pei. 
TUV  i£e\06vTuv  OTTO  TOU  Kbcr^ov. 

1  Pet.  i.  15  fJ-era  rj}v  efj.r]v 

TTOTdTTOl  flffl  TT]V  fJ.Op(p-r]V. 

2  Pet.  iii.  1  1  7TOTa7roi)j  Set 


§  7.     TOTTOv...avxfJ-'r]p6v. 

i  Pet.  i.  19  ev  ai/XMPV  TOTT^. 

§  7  (and  §  13).     o(  f3\acr<j>'t)fj.ovvTes  rty  686v 

1  Pet.  ii.  2  Si'  ofis  i]  686j  TTJS  aXydeias  j3\a.<T<t>T)[ji.'r]6ri<TeTaL 

ibid.  2i  eTreyvuKevai  rrjv  odbv  TT^S 


THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER.  53 

What  the  bearing  of  these  resemblances  may  be  upon 
the  vexed  question  of  the  authenticity  of  2  Peter,  I  will  not 
take  it  upon  myself  to  determine  :  only,  it  must  be  re 
membered  that  three  explanations  of  them  are  possible. 
Either  the  author  of  the  Apocalypse  designedly  copied  the 
Epistle  (as  S.  Jude  may  also  have  done),  or  the  Apocalypse 
and  Epistle  are  products  of  one  and  the  same  school,  or 
the  resemblances  do  not  exist. 

We  will  return  to  the  consideration  of  the  text. 

Have  we  any  parallel  to  the  fragment  of  the  discourse 
put  into  our  Lord's  mouth?  No  doubt  it  is  ultimately 
modelled  on  the  discourse  in  Matt.  xxiv.  ;  Mark  xiii.;  Luke 
xxi.  But  there  is  an  Apocryphal  document  which  helps  us 
here  very  considerably.  It  is  a  book  which  exists  in 
Syriac,  Carshunic,  and  Ethiopia.  It  has  been  published 
in  Syriac  by  Lagarde,  who  has  also  made  a  retranslation  into 


2  Pet.  ii.  9  older  Ktfpios.  .  .ddixovs.  .  .  els  wtpav  /cpt'crewj  KoXafo/tt^ous  TT]peiv. 

§  8.        /36pj3opOS.       §    15.        eKV\ioVTO. 

2  Pet.  ii.  22  els  KV\icrfj.6v  popfiopov. 
§§9,  IT,  17.     Punishment  of  impurity. 
2  Pet.  ii.  10  sqq.     Denunciations  of  impurity. 
§  15.     d^X-^crai/Tes  TTJS  ecroX^J  TOV  0eov. 
2  Pet.  ii.  21  vTroarpe^a.i.  eK  T7)s...ayias  ^TO\TJS. 
iii.  2  ei>TO\Tjs  TOV  Kvpiov. 

To  these,  the  following  resemblances  in  the  smaller  fragments  must 
be  added. 

Fragments  i,  2. 

The  heaven  and  earth  are  to  be  judged. 

2  Pet.  iii.  to  ovpavoi  poifr56i>  Trape\ev<rovTai.. 

1  2  ovpavol  TTvpovfJ-evoi  XuflTjcroi/rcu. 

Fragment  6. 

€K  TUV  a/JLapriuv  yevvaff&cu  (rat  /coXdcreis)  </>?7<nV. 

2  Pet.  ii.  19  y  yap  TIS  r/TTTjTCU,  Tovry 


54  THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER. 

Greek,  the  original  language1.  Its  proper  name  is  'The 
first  book  of  Clement,  which  is  called  the  Testament  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ :  the  words  which  He  spake  to  His  holy 
Apostles  after  He  had  risen  from  the  dead.' 

Now,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  this  book,  or  at  least  the 
first  fourteen  chapters  of  it,  gives  us  a  very  fair  idea  of  the 
lost  first  part  of  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter.  It  is  expanded 
by  various  rhetorical  additions,  from  prophecy  and  gospel, 
but  the  resemblances  are  constant,  and,  I  think,  striking. 
Let  us  examine  them. 

In  the  first  place,  the  general  complexion  of  both  books 
is  the  same.  Both  contain  a  speech  of  our  Lord  dealing 
with  the  last  things :  only,  that  in  the  Testament  is  more 
complete. 

Secondly,  the  situation  seems  to  be  the  same  in  both  : 
namely,  that  our  Lord  is  addressing  the  disciples  after  the 
Resurrection.  In  the  Testament,  He  is  questioned  by  Peter 
and  John,  in  presence  of  the  other  Apostles.  In  the 
Apocalypse,  Peter  is  the  questioner;  the  other  Apostles 
are  present.  But  it  is  not  made  absolutely  clear  at  what 
point  in  our  Lord's  career  the  vision  is  being  revealed. 
The  portion  of  the  book  which  would  have  told  us  is  gone : 
yet  one  touch  makes  it  likely  that  the  time  meant  is, — in 
the  Apocalypse  as  in  the  Testament, — the  time  after  the 
Resurrection.  For  the  Apostles  ask  to  see  the  glory  of 
Paradise,  in  order  that  they  may  thereby  be  enabled  to 
encourage  their  hearers 2.  This  implies  that  at  that  moment 
they  had  already  received  their  commission  to  preach. 
(Such  a  commission,  be  it  noted,  is  given  in  the  opening 
section  of  the  Testament.)  The  words  of  Christ  '  Let  us 

1  Syriac  in  Reliquiae  Juris  Eccl.  Antiqiiiss.  Syriace:  Greek  in 
Rel.  Jur.  Eccl.  Ant.  Graece.  1856. 


THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER. 


55 


go  to  the  mount  and  pray'  (§  2),  point  in  the  same 
direction.  The  date  imagined  by  our  author  can  hardly 
be  that  of  Matt,  xxiv.,  for  there  the  discourse  was  delivered 
on  the  Mount  of  Olives  :  here  the  transition  to  the  Mount 
takes  place  after  the  discourse  is  over. 

Thirdly,  there  are  coincidences  of  language  : 


Apocalypse. 

i.  Many  of  them  will  be  false 
prophets,  and  will  teach  ways  and 
various  doctrines  of  perdition  :  and 
they  will  be  sons  of  perdition. 


Testament. 

8.  There  shall  rise  up  shep 
herds  who  shall  be  lawless,  etc. 
etc.,  men  of  much  talk1,  opposing 
the  ways  of  the  Gospel,  dishonour 
ing  all  the  way  of  piety :  they 
shall  appoint  commandments  to 
men  not  according  to  the  scripture 
and  the  commandment  which  the 
Father  would  have. 

3,  etc.  The  expression  'son  of 
perdition  '  is  used  of  Antichrist. 

10.  '  Sons  of  destruction'  used 
of  the  Phoenicians,  in  the  sense  of 
'doomed.' 

8.  They  shall  be  upright,  pure, 
contrite... many  shall  be  oppressed 
and  shall  call  on  their  God  that 
they  may  be  saved. 

They  shall  teach  them  that  if 
they  prove  their  spirit*  they  will 
be  fit  for  the  kingdom. 

14.  I  therefore  have  told  you 
this,  that  wherever  ye  go  ye  may 
prove  the  holy  souls3. 

In  both  documents  the  actual  coming  of  God  is  de 
scribed  in  the  most  unemphatic  way. 

1  TTo\u\a\oL,  Lagarde. 

2  lav  doKL/j.dcrw<ri.  rb  irvev/J-a  avruv,  Lag. 

3  SoKi/j.d(n)TC  ras  i/'uxas  rds  6<r(ay,  Lag. 


And  then  shall  God  come  unto 
my  faithful  ones  that  hunger  and 
thirst,  and  are  oppressed,  and 
prove  their  souls  in  this  life. 


$6  THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER. 

Apocalypse.  Testament. 

i.     God  shall  come.  12.     The  harvest  is  come,  that 

the  guilty  may  be  reaped  and  the 
Judge  appear  suddenly  and  con 
front  them  with  their  works. 

Both  discourses  end  at  the  same  point.  After  the  dis 
course  in  the  Apocalypse,  the  Lord  says  '  Come  to  the 
mount;'  and  then  the  vision  is  seen.  In  the  Testament, 
after  the  mention  of  the  judgment,  He  says,  'Turn  therefore 
unto  the  churches,  and  administer  them ' ;  and  the  rest  of 
the  book  is  occupied  with  legislation. 

I  think  that  considering  that  the  merest  shred  of  the 
discourse  survives  in  the  Apocalypse,  these  coincidences 
are  remarkable.  But  there  is  more  evidence  to  come.  I 
shall  ask  you  to  examine  with  me  the  Second  Book  of  the 
Sibylline  Oracles,  a  book  which  is  assigned  either  to  the 
3rd  or  early  4th  century1. 

Of  this  book,  11.  6 — 30,  154 — 213,  contain  a  description 
of  the  signs  of  the  end,  of  which  one  source  is  evidently,  I 
think,  a  document  resembling  the  Testament. 

Sib.  Orac.  Testament. 

21  —  38.       General     slaughter,          3,  4,  5.     Plagues,  famine,  unjust 

plagues,    famine,    destruction    of  rulers,  slaughter:   a  wicked  king 

unjust  rulers.  in  the  West :  slaughter : 

Sudden  peace  and  plenty.  '  Silver  shall  be   despised  and 

A  great  star  in  heaven  like  a  gold  honoured. '    Also  cf.  8  sub  Jin. 
crown3.  6.     Signs  in   heaven:    a  bow, 

[39 — 154.      Poem    of    Pseudo-  a  horn,  and  a  torch. 
Phocylides  with  introduction  and          7.     Signs  on  earth:  monstrous 

epilogue.]  births:    children   whose   'appear- 

1  I  shall  make  use  of  the  excellent  edition  of  Rzach,  1891. 

2  The  star  is  modified  into  a  crown,  as  it  seems,  in  order  to  introduce 
the  poem  attributed  to  Phocylides  (56 — 148):  this  poem  is  a  collection 
of  moral  precepts,  and  the  star  represents  the  crown  given  to  the  keeper 
of  the  law  of  God. 


THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER.  57 

Sib.  Orac.  Testament. 
155.    Children  born  grey-headed  ance  shall  be  as  of  those  advanced 
(cf.  Hesiod,  Op.  181).  in  years:    for  they  that  are  born 
General  affliction.  shall  be  white-haired.' 
False  prophets.  8.     Evil  shepherds. 
Beliar  (Antichrist).  General  confusion  and  wicked- 
Return  of  the  lost  tribes.  ness  :  the  remnant  remain  faithful. 
The  faithful  servants  keep  watch.  9,    10.     The   son   of  perdition 
Elias  comes.  described. 

The  Sibylline  book  goes  on  to  describe  the  destruction 
of  the  world  by  fire,  the  resurrection,  and  the  judgment : 
and  in  this  second  half  has  many  points  of  connexion  with 
our  Apocalypse:  as  the  Testament  does  not  treat  of  these 
matters  we  can  follow  it  no  further  just  now. 

Only,  let  the  point  which  I  am  trying  to  enforce  be 
borne  in  mind  :  the  Testament  may  represent  the  lost  first 
part  of  the  Apocalypse  :  the  Sibyl  does  use  the  second  part, 
as  I  hope  to  shew  :  also,  the  Sibyl  in  her  first  part  resembles 
the  Testament.  Is  it  not  a  priori  likely  that  she  uses  the 
Apocalypse  all  through  ? 

Two  more  points  in  connexion  with  the  Testament,  and 
I  have  done :  first  it  comes  to  us  in  a  Petrine  form,  for  it 
is  attributed  to  Clement  the  companion  of  Peter.  (And 
there  exists  in  Arabic  and  Ethiopic  an  Apocalypse  of  Peter 
of  which  Clement  is  the  ostensible  redactor1.)  So  that  it  is 
linked  by  this  fact  with  the  spurious  Petrine  literature :  and 
additionally  by  the  fact  that  the  two  Apostles  who  are 
specially  named  as  speakers  are  Peter  and  John. 

Secondly,  though  there  is  as  yet  no  trace  of  the  spread 
of  the  Testament  in  the  West,  I  have  recently  come  upon 

i  This  book  is  being  examined  and  analysed  for  me:    I  hope  to 
produce   parts    of  it   at   a   later   time.     It   is   my  hope   that   the   , 
Apocalypse  will  be  found  imbedded  in  it. 


58  THE    REVELATION   OF   PETER. 

a  fragment  in  Latin,  containing  the  exact  equivalent  of 
§§  1 1  and  7  (in  that  order),  namely,  the  description  of  Anti 
christ,  and  the  signs  upon  earth.  This  exists  in  an  Uncial 
MS.  of  the  8th  century,  and,  though  I  possibly  ought  to 
include  it  in  this  essay,  I  propose  to  print  it  in  a  forth 
coming  number  of  Texts  and  Studies.  My  own  belief  is 
that  it  is  a  fragment  of  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter :  and  that 
belief  I  base  mainly  on  analogies  in  late  Apocalypses  which 
seem  plainly  dependent  upon  that  book,  and  upon  the 
great  unlikeliness  that  the  Testament  was  ever  known  in  the 
West. 

Returning  to  the  text  of  the  Apocalypse,  we  find  that 
§§  2 — 5  are  occupied  with  a  short  vision  of  Paradise  and 
of  its  inhabitants  :  and  here,  if  anywhere,  our  author  attains 
to  a  certain  standard  of  literary  excellence,  although  it 
does  not  seem  as  if  Paradise  were  his  favourite  subject  of 
contemplation. 

Our  illustrative  parallels  are  less  numerous  here :  the 
most  striking  one  is  a  vision  in  which  Mr  Robinson1  con 
jectured  that  some  trace  of  the  influence  of  the  Apocalypse 
was  discoverable,  —  namely,  the  vision  of  Josaphat  in 
the  History  of  Barlaam  and  Josaphat 2.  I  will  translate 
the  passages,  and  call  attention  (in  the  notes)  to  such  coin 
cidences  of  language  as  exist. 

Josaphat  "saw  himself  caught  away  by  certain  terrible 
beings,  and  passing  through  places  which  he  had  never 
seen,  and  arriving  at  a  plain  of  vast  extent3,  flourishing 
with  fair  and  very  sweet-smelling  flowers4,  where  he  saw 

1  Passion  of  S.  Perpetua,  p.  37. 

2  Boissonade,  Anecd.  Graeca  iv.  pp.  280,  360. 

3  /j.eyia'T'rjv  7re5m5a:  cf.  ^yivrov  x^pov  Apoc.  §  5. 

4  wpaiois  dvdecri  /cat  \tav  eut65e<ri /co/utxrg :  cf.  yr)v.,.avdou(rav  a^a/xuTou 
ftvdecri  /cat  dpufj.aTwv  TrXriprj  ibid. 


THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER.  59 

plants  of  all  manner  of  kinds,  loaded  with  strange  and 
wondrous  fruits,  most  pleasant  to  the  eye  and  desirable 
to  touch  l.  And  the  leaves  of  the  trees  made  clear  music 
to  a  soft  breeze  and  sent  forth  a  delicate  fragrance,  whereof 
none  could  tire,  as  they  stirred2.... And  through  this  won 
drous  and  vast  plain  these  fearful  beings  led  him,  and 
brought  him  to  a  city  which  gleamed  with  an  unspeakable 
brightness  and  had  its  walls  of  translucent  gold,  and  its 
battlements  of  stones  the  like  of  which  none  has  ever 
seen.... And  a  light  from  above  ever  darted  its  rays  and 
filled  all  the  streets  thereof :  and  certain  winged  hosts,  each 
to  itself  a  light3,  abode  there  singing  in  melodies  never 
heard  by  mortal  ears ;  and  he  heard  a  voice  saying  :  This 
is  the  rest  of  the  righteous  :  this  is  the  joy  of  them  that  have 
pleased  the  Lord4." 

Again  in  a  later  part  of  the  book5,  the  vision  is  con 
tinued,  thus  : 

"  He  saw  those  fearful  men,  whom  he  had  seen  before, 
coming  to  him,  and  taking  him  away  to  that  vast  and 
wondrous  plain,  and  bringing  him  into  the  glorified  and 
exceeding  bright  city6.  And  as  he  was  entering  into  the 
gate,  others  met  him,  all  radiant  with  light,  having  crowns 

1  cpvra  Tra.vTo5a.ira.  /cat  7roi/ei'\a,  Kapirols  &voa...Kal  BaviMffroa  ppl0ovTa  : 
cf.  <pvTwt>  evavOwv  /ecu  d<p6a.pTWv  Kal  Kapirbv  euXoyrj^vov  QtpovTa  ibia 

2  cf.  Toaovrov  dt  TJV  TO  &i>8os  cbs  /cat  <?<£'  was  <?/cet0ev  &pc(r0(u  ibid. 

rvvrj  is  the  word  for  'joy'  in   the  Vision 


of  Tosaphat)  ibid. 

4  cf.  euro?  ecrrtr  6  TOTTOJ  T^  d5c\0wi'  (?)  ^v  TW  5iKatu»  toepu* 


ibid. 

5  p.  360. 

6  virtpXa/j-Trpov  :  cf.  vwipkapirpov  ry  (purl  ilnct. 


60  THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER. 

in  their  hands  which  shone  with  unspeakable  beauty ',  and 
such  as  mortal  eyes  never  beheld 2 :  and  when  Josaphat 
asked  :  *  Whose  are  the  exceeding  bright 3  crowns  of  glory 
which  I  see  ? '  '  One '  they  said  '  is  thine '." 

I  think  the  obligation  is  really  unmistakable  here.  But 
it  may  perhaps  be  remembered,  that,  in  the  place  where  he 
quotes  this  vision,  Mr  Robinson  establishes  a  connexion 
between  it  and  the  Vision  of  Saturus.  Does  that  vision 
help  us  here  ?  I  will  quote  some  lines  from  it  which  seem 
clearly  to  do  so.  '  And  when  we  had  passed  the  first 
world,  we  saw  an  infinite  light.'  How  does  this  compare 
with  the  words  '  the  Lord  shewed  me  a  vast  space  outside 
this  world'1}  (§  5).  Again:  'and  whilst  we  were  being 
borne  along  by  those  four  angels,  there  was  made  for  us 
(we  came  upon)  a  great  space,  which  was  like  a  garden, 
having  rose-trees  and  flowers  of  all  sorts.  The  height  of  the 
trees  was  after  the  manner  of  a  cypress,  and  the  leaves  of 
them  sang  without  ceasing.'  The  flowers  and  plants  of  §  5 
will  be  remembered  in  this  connexion. 

After  they  had  passed  over  the  'violet-grown  stadium' 
and  come  to  the  city  built  of  light,  four  angels  '  clothed  us 
as  we  entered  in  with  white  garments'  (§  5  the  dwellers 
had  the  garb  of  angels  of  light,  §  3  all  their  raiment  shone). 
'We  heard  an  united  voice  saying  Holy,  Holy,  Holy 
without  ceasing'  (§  5  all  with  one  voice  were  praising  the 
Lord  God) :  again  '  we  began  there  to  recognise  many 
brethren '  (cf.  §2). 

Lastly,  at  the  end  of  the  vision,  it  is  said,  '  we  were 
nourished  by  an  unspeakable  perfume,  which  satisfied  us,' 

1  cf.  ov  d6i>afj.ai  ^-rjyriffaffOai  r6  /cctXXos  avruv  §  3. 

2  o'iovs  6(f>da\/j.ol   ovd^irore  /SporeioL    tQedcravro :    cf.    biroiov 
6<f>0a\/j.6s  avdpuir\_uv  eupaKfv  or  e#ecuraro]  §  3. 

see  above. 


THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER.  6 1 

(§  5  ' so  great  was  the  perfume  that  it  was  borne  even  to  us 
from  thence'). 

Surely,  with  these  proofs  before  us,  we  may  safely  affirm 
that  the  Martyrs  of  Africa  had  read  the  Apocalypse  of 
Peter,  and  that  Mr  Robinson's  hypothesis  is  confirmed  by 
the  new  discovery. 

We  must  pass  to  the  consideration  of  the  Inferno. 

First,  I  will  examine  the  contribution  of  the  Vision  of 
Josaphat  to-  the  elucidation  of  this  part.  After  he  has  seen 
the  beautiful  city,  he  is  removed1,  much  against  his  will,  to 
the  infernal  regions.  'And  when  they  had  passed  through 
that  great  plain,  they  brought  him  to  certain  places,  dark, 
and  full  of  all  foulness 2,  whose  horror  counterbalanced  the 
brightness  which  he  had  seen.  Here  was  a  furnace  kindled 
and  aflame  with  fire3 ;  and  a  sort  of  worm,  fashioned  for 
punishment,  crept  about  there4.  And  chastising  powers5 
stood  over  the  furnace,  and  there  were  certain  men  being 
miserably  burned  in  the  fire.  And  a  voice  was  heard 
saying  'This  is  the  place  of  sinners6:  this  is  the  punishment6 
of  them  that  have  defiled  themselves  with  shameful  deeds7.' 
And  thereupon,  they  led  him  forth.' 

The  resemblances  here  are  not  so  striking,  perhaps,  as 
in  the  vision  of  Paradise,  but  they  are  real  resemblances, 
notwithstanding. 

We  will  take  next  the  evidence  of  the  Second  Book 
the  Sibylline  Oracles.     The  poet  has  described  the  destruc- 

1  I.e.  p.  281. 

2  cf.  a£xMP*>*  ™vv...<TKaTiv6v,  Kara  rbv  Mpa  rov  roirov  ApOC.  0. 

3  cf  irvp  <p\ev6/*evov  /ecu  Ko\d{ov  otfrorfs  7,  and  passim. 

*cf.     *€ir\ipu&ov    epTrercD,     *ovr,pw  ...  ««5\^«    <3»«P    "^A( 
er/cdrovs  10 :    and  virb  cr/coA^  teoiptrruv   12. 

5  cf.  oi  /coXa^res  ayyeXoi  7  :  ^ro  avrols  ac\OL  ?ao 

6  cf.  xal  TJV  TOTTOS  /coXaaew?  7- 

7  cf.  §§  10,  17- 


62  THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER. 

tion  of  heaven  and  earth,  the  resurrection,  and  the  judg 
ment  :  all,  it  is  then  said,  will  pass  through  a  fiery  stream  : 
the  good  will  be  saved,  but  the  bad  will  perish  for  *  whole 
aeons'  :  and  then  the  classes  of  sinners  are  enumerated1. 

'  Those  who  did  murder,  or  who  were  privy  to  it3,  liars, 
deceitful  thieves,  violent  house-plunderers,  gluttons,  un 
faithful  in  wedlock,  those  who  pour  forth  wicked  words3, 
the  terrible  ones,  the  violent,  the  lawless,  the  idolaters4'  and 
those  who  have  forsaken  the  great  immortal  God*,  and 
become  blasphemers  and  harmers  of  the  pious6,  and  breakers 
of  faith  and  destroyers  of  just  men1' :  deceitful  priests  and 
deacons  who  judge  unjustly... worse  than  leopards  and 
wolves,  the  proud,  '  and  usurers  who  collect  interest  on 
interest*  in  their  houses  and  injure  orphans  and  widows9  in 
every  way':  fraudulent  or  grudging  almsgivers,  those  who 
forsake  their  aged  parents,  or  disobey  or  curse  their  parents, 
deniers  of  a  trust  committed  to  them,  servants  who  turn 
against  their  masters,  those  who  defile  their  flesh10,  unchaste 
maidens,  causers  of  abortion^,  and  those  who  expose  their 
children 12,  and  sorcerers,  male  and  female. 

These  all  shall  be  brought  to  the  pillar  round  which  runs 
the  fiery  stream:  'and  them  all  shall  the  undying  angels  of 
the  immortal  and  eternal  God,  having  bound  them  fast  with 
unbreakable  chains,  chastise™  most  terribly  with  scourges  of 
flame  and  chains  of  fire:  and  then  shall  cast  them  into  the 

1  1.  255  sqq. 

2  cf.  §  10  murderers,  and  those  who  were  their  accomplices : 
Stb.  =  <TVJ>ei.d6Tas  Apoc. 

3  cf.  §§  7,  13.  4  cf.  §  18. 

5    Cf.  §  20.  6    Cf.  §  I3. 

7  cf.  §  12.  8  cf.  §  1 6. 

9  cf.  §15.  10  cf.  §§9,  17. 

11  cf.  §  ii.  12  cf.  Fragments  3,  5. 

13  Cf.  the  tormenting  angels  in  §§  6,  8,  17. 


THE   REVELATION    OF    PETER.  63 

of  night1  in  Gehenna  among  the  beasts  of  Hell*,  many 
and  terrible,  where  the  darkness^  is  infinite':  then  follows 
the  fiery  wheel  and  river:  they  suffer  triple  torment  for  each 
sin,  but  eventually  a  hope  of  salvation,  by  means  of  the 
prayers  of  the  good,  is  held  out  (11.  330—335). 

The  resemblances,  or,  as  I  hold  them  to  be,  the  traces 
of  obligation  to  our  Apocalypse  in  the  Sibylline  book,  are 
fully  made  out,  I  venture  to  think,  in  the  case  of  the  classes 
of  sinners:  they  are  not  so  striking,  though  they  exist,  in 
the  description  of  torment.  But  it  is  clear  that  in  a  poem 
which  is  dealing  in  prediction  and  not  describing  things 
seen,  details  of  this  kind  would  be  out  of  place. 

Let  us  pass  next  to  a  vision  contained  in  the  early  3rd 
century  novel  (if  it  be  not  of  the  2nd  century)  the  Acts  of 
Thomas3.  In  this,  a  woman  whom  S.  Thomas  has  raised  from 
the  dead,  narrates  what  she  has  seen  in  the  infernal  regions. 
Here  again  the  borrowings  from  our  Apocalypse  are  so  con 
siderable,  that  I  must  translate  nearly  the  whole  passage. 
The  woman  says:  'A  certain  man  took  me,  who  was  hateful 
to  look  upon,  entirely  black,  and  his  raiment  very  foul4: 
and  he  brought  me  to  a  place  wherein  were  many  chasms, 
and  much  stench5  and  a  horrible  exhalation  proceeded  from 
thence.  And  he  made  me  look  into  every  chasm :  and  in 
the  (first)  chasm  I  saw  flaming  fire,  and  wheels  of  fire  were 
turning  there*,  and  souls  hung  upon  those  wheels,  and  wer 
dashed  against  each  other:  and  there  was  a  great  cry  in. 
and  howling  there,  but  there  was  none  to  help, 
man  said  to  me:  'These  souls  are  of  thy  race,  and 

1    cf<§6>  2   Cf.  §§  10,    12- 

3  Ada  Thomae,  ed.  Bonnet,  p.  39. 

*  The  dark  raiment  of  the  tormentors  §  6.     The  pao,  purapa  * 
5  5v<ru8ia:  so  §  11.  „ 

eSre:   cf.  &y**  ire^rpexo*  **™'  (K 


64  THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER. 

number  of  days  they  have  been  delivered  over  into  torment 
and  breaking,  and  then  others  are  brought  in  in  their  stead, 
and  they  likewise  are  transferred  to  another  place:  these 
are  they  that  have  perverted  the  union  of  man  and  woman1. 
And  I  looked  and  saw  infants  heaped  upon  one  another  and 
struggling  with  one  another,  and  lying  on  each  other2. 
And  he  answered  and  said  to  me:  These  are  their  children, 
and  therefore  they  are  set  here  as  a  testimony  against 
them. 

'He  brought  me  to  another  chasm,  and  I  looked  in  and 
saw  mirez  and  the  worm^  bubbling  upb  and  souls  wallowing 
there,  and  a  great  gnashing  of  teeth  was  heard  from  them, 
and  that  man  said  to  me:  These  are  the  souls  of  women 
that  have  forsaken  their  husbands  and  committed  adultery 
with  other  men,  and  have  been  brought  into  this  torment6. 

'He  shewed  me  another  chasm  whereinto  I  looked,  and 
saw  souls,  some  hanging  by  their  tongue1,  some  by  their 
hair*,  some  by  their  hands,  some  by  their  feet,  head  down 
wards9,  and  being  smoked  with  fire  and  brimstone;  con 
cerning  whom  that  man  that  was  with  me  answered  me: 
These  souls  that  are  hung  by  their  tongue  are  slanderers, 
and  uttered  false  and  shameful  words ;  and  those  that  hang 
by  their  hair,  it  is  further  explained,  were  bold-faced  people 
who  went  about  bare-headed  in  the  world:  those  hung  by 
their  hands  were  cheats  and  never  gave  to  the  poor :  those 
hung  by  their  feet  ran  after  pleasure,  but  did  not  visit  the 
sick  nor  bury  the  dead.' 

The  woman  then  sees  the  cave  where  souls  are  imprisoned 

1  cf.§§9,  17.  «  cf.  §  ii. 

3  §§  8,  9,  16.  4  §§  10,  12. 

5  avafiptovTa  :  cf.  dvaira(p\a.{oi>Tos  §  9,  avatfovros  §  16. 

6  cf.  §  9.  7  cf.  §  7. 
«  Cf.  §  9.  >>  cf.  §  9. 


THE    REVELATION   OF   PETER.  65 

before  torment,  and,  after  a  short  colloquy  between  her  guide 
and  the  other  chastising  spirits,  is  taken  back  to  the  world. 

I  hope  my  readers  will  take  the  trouble  to  compare  for 
themselves  my  translation  of  this  vision  with  the  references 
to  the  Apocalypse  which  I  have  printed.  To  my  mind,  they 
are  conclusive  in  favour  of  an  obligation  to  the  Apocalypse 
of  Peter. 

The  next  witness  to  be  examined  is  the  Apocalypse  of 
Paul;  which  I  may  be  forced  to  call  simply  'Paul'  for 
shortness'  sake.  This  book  we  have  in  a  rather  shortened 
text  of  the  original  Greek,  in  a  fuller  Syriac  version,  and 
in  a  Latin  version  which  is  the  fullest  of  all.  This  last  is  in 
print,  and  I  hope  it  will  be  published  shortly  in  a  forth 
coming  number  of  Texts  and  Studies.  It  is  of  course 
advisable  to  quote  the  Greek  where  we  have  it;  but  it  will 
probably  be  necessary  to  refer  to  the  Latin  too.  The 
abbreviations  G  and  L  will  serve  to  show  which  is  meant. 

Paul  is,  as  I  have  elsewhere  remarked  \  a  book  of  the 
fourth  or  early  fifth  century,  and  a  mosaic  made  out  of 
more  than  one  earlier  book:  and  it  has  already  been 
noticed  (by  Hilgenfeld  and  Salmon)  that  the  use  of  the 
name  'Temeluchus'  as  the  name  of  an  angel  is  a  mark 
that  the  writer  had  seen  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter.  For  this 
word  occurs  in  Fragments  3  and  5 ;  it  is  really  an  ad 
jective,  and  means  'caretaking' :  but  it  is  quite  peculiar  to 
this  book,  and  might  well  have  been  misunderstood  by  a 
later  writer.  But  this  mistake  of  Paul  does  not  seem  to 
have  been  followed  up  by  those  who  have  called  attention 
to  it.  Had  this  been  done,  it  would  have  been  clear  that 
Paul  had  borrowed  much  more  than  one  word  from  our 
Apocalypse;  and  this  we  shall  see  when  we  come  to  examine 

1   Texts  and  Studies  ii.  2.  11. 

R.J.  5 


66  THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER. 

the  Fragments.    At  present  we  are  to  look  for  resemblances 

to  the  text  of  the  Apocalypse. 

Paul  G  19  'the  place  of  the  just1.'     Apoc.  Pet,  5  'the  place 

of  your  brethren  (?)  the  just  men.' 
„     „    22  'trees  planted,  full  of  different  fruits.'     Pet.  5. 
„     „    23  'the  light  (of  the  city)  was  beyond  the  light  of  the 

world.'     Pet.  5  'exceeding  bright  with  light2.' 
„     ,,    27  'when  he  passes  out  of  the  world.'    Pet.  5  'out 

side  this  world3.' 

„     „    17,  1  8  'great  is  thy  judgment.'     Pet.  10. 
,,     „    1  8  the  souls  of  the  murdered  are  introduced,     cf. 

Pet.  10. 

,,     ,,31  'there  was  no  light  there,  but  darkness.'   Pet.  6. 
,,     ,,    1  6  'a  multitude  of  men  and  women  cast  therein.' 

Pet.  10  '  murderers...  cast  in  a  certain  place4.' 
„     ,,31  'some  up  to  their  knees.'     Pet.  16  'up  to  their 

knees.' 
„     ,,    32  'but  trusted  in  the  vanity  of  their  wealth.'     Pet. 

15  'that  trusted  in  their  wealth.' 
,,     ,,35  'the  widow  and  orphan  he  did  not  pity.'     Pet. 

15  'that  pitied  not  orphans  and  widows.' 
„     ,,37  'eating  their  tongues.'     Pet.  14  'gnawing  their 

tongues.' 
„     ,,    39  'being  led  away  into  a  dark  place.     Pet.    12 

'cast  into  a  dark  place5.' 
„     „    40  'standing  upon  fiery  spits.'     Pet.   15  'sharper 

than  any  spit  heated6.' 


rv  TOTTOV  TWV 
2 


. 
0c3s...i'7rep  TO  0c3s  rou  /cooyxov:  cf.  VTrtpXa/ATrpov  TO?  0om. 

3  ^£e/>x6/ie»'os  £K  rov  KOCT/JI.OV  :  cf.  ^cros  TOV  KOffftov  rotirov. 

4  jSe/SXTj/n^ovs  iv  aura?  :  cf.  ^Se/SX^^j/oDS  £v  rivi  TOTTOJ,  and  §  12. 

5  airayofj-^vas  ev  TOTTQ  ffKorwip  ;  cf.  /3e/3X?7/^j'oi  iv  TOTT^  GKQTI.V($. 

6  tiravu  6/3eXi'cr/ca>i>  irvplvuv:    cf.  d£irrepoi...7raj'T6s  djSeXt'cr/cou  ireirvpw- 


THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER.  67 

Paul  G  40  '  these  are  they  that  corrupted  themselves  and 

killed  their  children1.'     Pet.   u   'these  were 

they  that  destroyed  and  made  abortive  their 

children.' 

„    L   37  and  39  'and  worms  devouring  them.'     Pet.  10 

and  12. 

,,  „  'these  are  they  that  demanded  interest  on  in 
terest  and  trusted  in  their  riches.'  Pet.  10 
and  is2. 

,,     „    38  'into  this  pit  flow  all  the  punishments.'   Pet.  n3. 
„     ,,40  'and   beasts    tearing   them.'      Pet.    10    'being 

smitten  by  these  beasts.' 
,,     ,,41  'there  was  straitness,  and  the  mouth  of  the  well 

was  strait.'     Pet.  10,  u  'a  strait  place4.' 
„     „    42  'the  worm  that  is  restless'.     Pet.  12*. 
»     »    39  'girls  in  black  raiment,'  40  'men  and  women 
clothed  in  rags  full  of  pitch  and  sulphur.'   Pet. 
15  'men  and  women  clothed  in  foul  rags,' 
and  6  'raiment  like  the  atmosphere  of  the 
place.' 

Some  little  time  back  I  called  attention  to  a  conjecture  of 
Bunsen's  that  in  the  fragment  Concerning  the  Universe  Hip- 
polytus  might  have  made  use  of  our  Apocalypse.  In  his 
Missing  Fragment  of  the  Fourth  Book  of  Ezra,  Professor 


1  avrai  daw  ai  (pOelpaffai  eaimxs  /rat  TO. 
The  text  of  Peter  here  is  partly  conjectural. 

"  Hii  sunt  qui  usuras  usurarum  exigentes  et  confidentes  in  diuiciis 
suis.  Cf.  oCrot..  01..  airaiTOvvrfS  TOKOVS  TOKWV  (16)  and  r$  irXoury 
avruv  TreTrotflores  (15). 

3  In  istam  foueam  iniluunt  omnes  pene:  cf.  ("  <?  o  ix^P  ™v  /coXa' 


4  angustia,  et  angustum  erat  :  cf.  tv  roirtp  Tt$\ipfi6>V. 

5  uermem  inquietum  :  cf.  tr/coA^/cup  a,Koi.fj.-f]Twv. 

5—2 


68  THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER. 

Bensly  has  shown  that  one  of  Hippolytus'  sources  is 
4  Esdras.  But  I  think  it  is  fairly  clear  that  the  Apocalypse 
of  Peter  was  another. 

'Hades1  is  a  place  in  the  creation  which  is  unfurnished2, 
a  locality  underground  wherein  the  light  of  the  world  does 
not  shine/  so  far  there  is  nothing  Petrine.  'Now  since  no 
light  shines3  in  this  place,  darkness  must  constantly  prevail 
there.  This  place  is  appointed  as  a  prison  for  souls,  and 
over  it  are  appointed  angel-warders,  who  administer  the 
temporary  chastisements  of  the  places  in  accordance  with 
the  deeds  of  each  soul4.' 

*  There  is  one  way  down  to  the  place,  and  at  the  gate, 
as  we  have  learned  to  believe,  there  stands  an  archangel 
with  his  host... the  just  are  escorted  in  light  to  the  right... 
and  led  to  a  shining  place  wherein  dwell  the  righteous  that 
were  from  the  beginning.'  And  there  they  enjoy  the  ex 
pectation  of  complete  joy.  '  But  the  wicked  are  dragged  to 
the  left  by  chastising  angels,  not  going  any  longer  willingly, 
but  being  haled  by  force  as  captives,  and  the  angels  deride 
and  reproach  them  and  thrust  them  downwards'  to  a  place 
where  they  dwell  in  sight  of  Paradise  and  of  Gehenna,  but 
with  a  great  gulf  between  them  and  the  righteous.  Peter's 
Inferno,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  '  over  against  Paradise ' 
(§  6),  and  was  full  of  chastising  angels  (§§  6,  8).  At  the  last 
judgment  all  men  and  angels  and  demons  will  join  in  saying 
'Just  is  thy  judgment5.'  Emphasis  is  laid  on  the  'worm  of 
fire,  not  dying  nor  destroying  the  body,  but  continually  pro- 


1  S.  Hippolyti  Opera,  ed.  Lagarde,  p.  68. 

2  TOTTOS  aKaTaffKetiaffTos  from  Enoch  xxi.  i,  2  (Gizeh  fragment). 

3  (fxujrbs  fJ.T]  KaTaXd/AirovTos :  cf.  Pet.  5. 

4  &yye\oi  <j>povpoi,  Trpos  rds  eKaffruv  7rpo£eis  diavt/j-ovres  rds  TiJav  T 
/coXcurets:  cf.  Pet.  6,  8. 

5  /mlav  <t><t)vty  d.Tro(f>d£yt;ovTat....&iKaia.  <rov  TJ  Kpicris'  cf.  Pet.  5,  ro. 


THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER.  69 

ceeding  from  the  body  with  ceaseless  pain.'  And  in  general 
it  may  be  said  that  though  Peter  is  not  the  only  source 
employed,  he  is  most  likely  one  source. 

There  are  yet  two  other  Apocalypses  of  a  considerably 
later  date  than  Paul,  which  bear  almost  as  clear  traces  of 
the  influence  of  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter:  these  are  the 
Apocalypse  of  Esdras1  and  that  of  the  Virgin.  The  former 
contains  an  Inferno  scattered  in  various  parts  of  the  book, 
if  so  confused  a  patch- work  as  this  document  is  can  be  dig 
nified  with  the  name  of  a  book.  The  torments  and  sins 
described  show  one  remarkable  coincidence  with  the 
Apocalypse2.  The  latter3  is  one  long  dreary  Inferno  of  the 
weakest  kind,  but  shows  a  large  number  of  coincidences. 
It  may  be  worth  while  to  cite  some  passages  when  we  come 
to  discuss  the  Fragments :  but  I  will  ask  my  readers  to  trust 
for  the  present  my  assertion  of  the  obligations  of  these  two 
documents  to  our  Apocalypse  :  the  evidence  which  I  could 
adduce  is  not  different  in  kind  from  that  of  which  I  have 
already  given  a  good  deal. 

One  additional  proof  of  the  influence  of  the  description 
of  Paradise  may  here  be  given.  It  comes  from  a  book 
variously  called  the  Narrative  or  Apocalypse  of  Zosimas4,  a 
hermit  who  went  to  visit  the  Blessed  Ones,  the  descendants 
of  the  Rechabites,  in  their  earthly  Paradise.  He  was  carried 
over  the  river  which  separates  the  heavenly  land  from  ours 
by  two  trees  which  bent  down  and  wafted  him  over :  these 
trees  were  'fair  and  most  comely,  full  of  sweet-smelling  fruit5.' 

1  Tischendorf,  Apocall.  Apocr.  24—33. 

2  See  below,  on  the  Fragments. 

3  Not  yet  printed,  so  far  as  I  know:  it  is  very  common  in  MSS.,  and 
I  have  transcribed  it  for  publication. 

4  To  be  published  in  Texts  and  Studies  with  other  like  documents. 
r>  ytfjiovra.  Kapirbv  evwtiias. 


7O  THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER. 

When  he  arrived  in  the  land  he  found  it  to  be  a  place  *  full 
of  much  fragrance  ;  and  there  was  no  mountain  on  one  side 
or  the  other,  but  that  place  was  a  plain  full  of  flowers,  all 
begarlanded,  and  all  the  land  was  fair1.' 

The  first  man  whom  he  met  wore  no  garments,  and 
when  Zosimas  asked  the  reason  of  this,  he  bade  him  look 
up  into  the  sky  and  behold  his  raiment :  '  and  I  looked  and 
saw  his  face  as  the  face  of  an  angel  and  his  garment  as  the 
lightning  which  shineth  from  east  to  west,  and  I  feared  that 
he  was  the  Son  of  God2.'  Compare  this  with  the  description 
of  Paradise  and  its  inhabitants  in  Pet.  3,  5.  It  should  be 
recorded  here  that  the  author  of  Zosimas  elsewhere  borrows 
a  sentence  from  the  Protevangelium ;  which  shows  his  pro 
clivities. 

In  the  Ethiopic  'Conflict  of  Matthew3,'  the  dwelling- 
place  of  the  lost  9!  tribes  is  described  (in  a  passage  which 
practically  recurs  in  Commodian's  poems4) :  and  it  is  said 
that  '  when  the  wind  blows,  we  smell  through  it  the  smell  of 
gardens.  In  our  land  there  is  neither  summer  nor  winter, 
neither  cold  nor  hoar-frost,  but  on  the  contrary  a  breath  of 
life5.' 

We  must  now  turn  to  the  discussion  of  the  Fragments. 
Fragments  i  and  2  are  those  furnished  by  Macarius  Magnes, 

1  171'  6  TOTTOS  Selves  7rX?7/)T7S  evudias  TTO\\TJS,  Kal  OVK  rjv  6'poj  ZvOa  Kal 
frda,  d\\'  riv  6  TO'TTOS  ^/cetvos  TreSti/os  dvdo(J>6pos,  o\os  ecrTetpa.vwfj.tvos,  Kal 
iracra  i)  777  euTrpeTTTjj. 

2  Oea<rai  TO  Zv8v/j.d  /J.QV  TTOLOV  ianv.     Kal  Beacra/ULevos  £v  ry  ovpavf  elSov 
TO  irpoffuirov  avTov  wcret  Trpoffuirov  ayy£\ov  (Act.  vi.  15)  Kal  Tb  Zvovna. 
avTOv  cos  affTpair'rjv,  TJ  <f£  dvaTo\<j}v  et's  dvcr/j.as  iropevo^vT). 

3  Malan,  Conflicts  of  the  Holy  Apostles,  p.  44. 

4  Instr.  ii.  i,  Carm.  Apol.  940  sqq. 

5  I  believe  it  to  be  the  case  that  the  author  of  the  Carmen  de  ludicio 
Domini  used  our  book;  and  Commodian  may  have  done  so  as  well; 
but  in  his  case  the  number  of  sources  used  is  considerable. 


THE   REVELATION    OF    PETER.  71 

or  rather,  by  the  heathen  writer  whom  he  undertakes  to 
confute.  I  will  translate  and  comment  on  them  in  order. 

"  Let  us  by  way  of  superfluity  cite  also  that  saying  in  the 
Apocalypse  of  Peter.  It  introduces  the  heaven  as  being 
about  to  undergo  judgment  along  with  the  earth,  in  these 
terms.  'The  earth,'  it  says,  'shall  present  all  men  before 
God  at  the  day  of  judgment,  being  itself  also  to  be  judged 
along  with  the  heaven  also  which  encompasses  it'."  And 
he  goes  on  to  inquire  why  the  heaven  is  to  be  destroyed 
seeing  that  it  is  the  Creator's  noblest  work.  Then,  in  the 
following  chapter,  we  find:  "This,  moreover,  it  says,  which 
is  a  saying  full  of  impiety:  'And  every  power  of  heaven 
shall  be  melted,  and  the  heaven  shall  be  rolled  up  like 
a  scroll,  and  all  the  stars  shall  fall  like  leaves  from  a  vine, 
and  as  leaves  fall  from  a  fig  tree'."  With  this  we  should 
compare  Isa.  xxxiv.  4,  where  the  words  are  identical,  save 
that  the  'powers  of  heaven'  are  in  the  plural;  and  in  view 
of  this  fact,  the  passage  has  been  looked  upon  by  some 
(e.g.  Hilgenfeld)  as  merely  a  quotation  from  Isaiah,  and  not 
from  the  Apocalypse.  Yet  the  way  in  which  the  heathen 
objector  brings  it  forward,  the  way  in  which  Macarius 
answers  it,  the  fact  that  we  find  it  partially  quoted  in  our 
Lord's  eschatological  discourse  (Luke  xxi.  26)  and  in  the 
Apocalypse  of  John  (vi.  13,  14),  are  considerations  which, 
when  combined,  lead  me  to  think  that  Zahn  does  right 
when  he  includes  it  among  the  fragments. 

In  this  prophecy  of  the  destruction  of  heaven  and 
earth,  we  have,  as  Dr  Salmon  has  pointed  out,  a  trait 
which  is  prominent  in  another  Petrine  work,  the  Second 
Epistle,  which,  alone  among  New  Testament  books,  predicts 
the  destruction  of  the  world  by  fire.  And,  further,  we 
have  a  gap  at  the  beginning  of  our  Apocalypse  to  which 
a  prophecy  of  this  sort  would  be  the  best  possible  supple- 


72  THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER. 

ment.  It  must  have  found  a  place  in  the  prophetic  speech 
of  our  Lord,  of  which  we  have  the  scanty  remains  in  §  i. 

Moreover,  a  book  which,  we  have  seen  reason  to  believe, 
has  used  our  Apocalypse,  devotes  some  space  to  a  descrip 
tion  of  the  destruction  of  the  world  by  fire,  namely,  the 
Second  Book  of  the  Sibylline  Oracles1.  Again,  S.  Methodius, 
who  quotes  the  Apocalypse,  lays  stress  on  this  point  too2. 
The  third  century  poet  Commodian  has  a  line  which  seems 
an  echo  of  the  prophecy  that  the  heaven  is  to  be  judged: 
'the  stars  of  heaven  fall,  the  stars  are  judged  with  us3,'  and 
certainly  Commodian  used  several  apocryphal  sources. 

Fragments  3 — 6  all  bear  on  one  and  the  same  subject, 
and  may  be  translated  together. 

3.  "The  scripture  says  that  the  infants  that  have  been 
exposed  (i.e.  cast  out  in  the  street  at  their  birth)  are  de 
livered  to  a  caretaking  angel,  by  whom  they  are  educated, 
and  so  grow  up;  and  they  will  be,  it  says,  as  the  faithful  of 
an  hundred  years  old  are  here." 

Then,  in  what  I  take  to  be  a  separate  extract,  though 
hitherto  it  has  been  printed  continuously  with  the  last4,  there 
follows : 

4.  "Wherefore  also  Peter  in  the  Apocalypse  says:  'And 
a  flash  of  fire  darting  from  those  children,  and  smiting  the 
eyes  of  the  women  V 

Here  we  have,  in  slightly  different  language,  an  extract 


1  11.  190 — 213. 

2  De  Resurr.  ap.  Epiph.  Haer.  Ixiv.  31. 

3  Carm.  Apol.  1004. 

4  My  reasons  for  making  the  division  are  these:  (i)  the  unique  MS. 
does  not  itself  divide  the  extracts.     (2)  §§  39,  40  are  plainly  divided 
wrongly  by  the  editors.     (3)  The  particle  Aid  has  no  sense,  if  connected 
with  the  preceding  sentence.     As  an  extract  detached  from  the  context, 
the  fragment  is  intelligible :  §  48  begins  with  aurt/ca. 


THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER.  73 

from  our  text  (§  1 1).  It  is  the  only  one  which  is  identifiable 
as  such  among  the  fragments. 

5  a.  "For  instance,  Peter  in  the  Apocalypse  says  that 
the  children  who  are  born  untimely  shall  be  of  the  better 
part :  and  that  these  are  delivered  over  to  a  caretaking  angel 
that  they  may  attain  a  share  of  knowledge  and  gain  the 
better  abode,  after  suffering  what  they  would  have  suffered 
if  they  had  been  in  the  body :  but  the  others  shall  merely 
obtain  salvation  as  injured  beings  to  whom  mercy  is 
shewn:  and  remain  without  punishment,  receiving  this  as 
a  reward." 

5  b.  "Whence  also  we  have  received  in  divinely  inspired 
Scriptures  that  untimely  births  are  delivered  to  caretaking 
angels,  even  if  they  be  the  offspring  of  adultery.  For,  had 
they  come  into  existence  contrary  to  the  will  and  ordinance 
of  that  blessed  nature  of  God,  how  could  they  have  been 
delivered  to  angels  to  be  brought  up  in  great  quietness 
and  refreshment?  and  how  could  they  with  boldness  have 
summoned  their  own  parents  to  the  Judgment-seat  of 
Christ,  to  accuse  them?  saying:  'Thou,  O  Lord,  didst  not 
grudge  us  that  light  which  is  common  to  all:  but  these 
exposed  us  to  death,  despising  Thy  commandment'." 

6.  "'But  the  milk  of  the  women,  flowing  from  their 
breasts  and  congealing,'  says  Peter  in  the  Apocalypse,  '  shall 
engender  small  beasts  (perhaps  serpents)  that  consume 
flesh  :  and  these  run  up  upon  them  and  devour  them  '  : 
teaching  us  that  the  punishment  comes  on  account  of  the 
sin  (i.e.  is  suited  to  the  nature  of  the  sin).  He  says  that 
they  (the  punishments)  are  born  of  the  sins,  just  as  for 
its  sins  the  people  was  sold,  and  because  of  their  unbelief 
towards  Christ,  as  the  Apostle  says,  they  were  bitten  by 
serpents  (i  Cor.  x.  9)." 

In  Fragments  3  and  5  we  have  some  puzzling  problems. 


74  THE  REVELATION   OF  PETER. 

Let  us,  if  possible,  set  out  quite  clearly  the  assertions  which 
are  made. 

1.  Exposed  infants  are  given  to  an  angel,  and  educated, 
and  attain  a  condition  like  that  of  an  aged  Christian. 

(Fr.   3-) 

2.  Untimely  births   are   given   to   an   angel,    and   go 
through  the  experience  of  life. 

Another  class  is  merely  not  punished.     (Fr.  5  a.} 

3.  A  certain  class  of  children  (probably  untimely  births) 
is  given  to  angels,  even  if  born  of  adultery ;  and  is  educated 
in  a  place  of  peace  :  they  accuse  their  parents  of  exposing 
them  to  death. 

And  for  these  facts  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter,  the  '  Scrip 
ture  ',  and  '  divinely-inspired  writings '  are  given  as  autho 
rities. 

Our  text  of  the  Apocalypse  tells  us  about  the  punish 
ment  of  the  causes  of  untimely  births,  but  it  says  nothing 
of  infants  exposed  to  death  after  birth. 

First,  can  we  find  reason  for  supposing  that  all  the  frag 
ments  which  I  have  quoted  here  came  from  the  Apocalypse? 
Zahn  denies  that  they  do :  he  attributes  Fr.  3  and  Fr.  5  b 
to  some  unknown  book  l :  principally  on  the  ground  that, 
reading  §  xli.  of  Clement  as  one  paragraph,  we  have 
the  same  book  quoted  twice,  once  without  a  name,  once 
under  its  proper  name  :  which  is  impossible  :  therefore  two 
books  are  quoted. 

But  I  have  already  shewn  sufficient  reason  for  dividing 
the  paragraph  into  two,  as  I  think ;  and  with  this  division, 
the  difficulty  to  a  large  extent  disappears.  Clement,  in 
two  adjacent  passages  of  a  continuous  text  (in  which  he 

1  He  also  reads  TrapaSLSorai  for  Trapadidocrdai  in  5  a,  so  as  to  confine 
the  Petrine  quotation  to  the  first  sentence  of  the  paragraph:  but  this 
is  really  quite  arbitrary. 


THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER.  75 

was  very  probably  commenting  on  the  Book  of  Wisdom) 
has  twice  quoted  our  Apocalypse,  introducing  his  quota 
tions  in  slightly  different  terms.  I  think  there  is  no  other 
reason  for  denying  the  Petrine  origin  of  the  passage. 

Let  me  give  my  own  theory  of  the  reconstruction  of  the 
Fragments.  They  belong  to  the  lost  part  of  the  Inferno, 
and  to  the  explanations  of  things  seen  which  must  there  have 
been  given  to  Peter  either  by  our  Lord  or  by  an  angel. 
Peter  has  seen  the  women  and  the  children  born  untimely 
(as  in  §  n):  later  on  he  sees  women  who  have  exposed 
their  children,  instead  of  suckling  them  :  the  milk  of  these 
unnatural  mothers,  which  ought  to  have  been  given  to  their 
children,  has  engendered  small  serpents,  which  devour 
their  flesh  (Fr.  6). 

After  the  vision  is  over,  Peter  asks  for  explanation  of 
certain  parts  of  it.  He  is  told,  in  particular,  of  the  destinies 
of  the  two  classes  of  children,  untimely  births,  and  exposed 
children.  The  untimely  births  are  given  over  to  a  care- 
taking  angel,  and  attain  experience,  and  mature  condition 
(Fr.  3,  5  a  b).  They  accuse  their  parents  at  the  bar  of 
Christ  (Fr.  5^).  The  exposed  children  only  gain  salvation 
in  the  shape  of  immunity  from  punishment  (Fr.  50),  pre 
sumably  because  they  have  been  actually  born,  and  have 
consequently  entered  the  ranks  of  human  life. 

Now  to  comment  on  the  fragments,  and  see  what  can 
be  drawn  from  them  in  justification  of  this  reconstruction. 

Fr.  3  speaks  of  the  exposed  infants  being  given  over  to 
the  angel,  and,  in  fact,  treated  in  the  way  elsewhere  pre 
dicated  of  the  untimely  births.  I  am  forced  to  regard  t 
word  exposed1  as  an  inaccuracy  of  Clement's,  or  else  as 
a  wrong  reading  for  abortive,  which  latter  word  can  be 
obtained  by  a  slight  change.  But  the  theory  that  i 

1  tKTtQivTQ. :  what  is  wanted  is 


76  THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER. 

inaccuracy  is  preferable;  because  the  whole  quotation  is 
made  in  the  most  general  terms  possible  :  we  have  the 
same  passage  accurately  (or  more  accurately)  reproduced 
by  Clement  himself  in  Fr.  50  and  by  Methodius  in  $b. 

Very  likely  Clement  is  here  commenting  on  a  passage 
of  Ecclesiastes  (vi.  3,  4)  where  a  long  life  and  an  untimely 
birth  are  compared  together1.  The  words  of  Isaiah  'the 
child  shall  die  an  hundred  years  old2'  may  be  also  in  his 
mind.  Notice  that  the  word  faithful  occurs  in  §  i  of  our 
text.  The  clause  in  which  this  word  occurs  corresponds  to 
the  clause  in  50,  which  is  a  paraphrase  by  Clement,  'in 
order  that  they  may  attain  a  share  of  knowledge,  etc.' 

4.  The  difference  of  language  between  this  fragment 
and  our  text  might  lead  one  to  suspect  that  the  latter  is  a 
shortened  one,  or  that  Clement  is  quoting  from  memory. 
If  the  word  '  'flash'  be  original  it  can  be  paralleled  from 
Paul  G  35  3.  Clement  goes  on  to  quote  a  text  from 
Wisdom  (iii.  7,  8)  comparing  the  righteous  to  a  spark 
among  the  stubble. 

50,  b.  The  unique  word  for  '  earetaking  **  is  made  into 
a  proper  name  in  Paul  and  in  the  later  'Apocalypse  of 
John5,'  and  is  applied  to  a  chastising  angel6.  But,  in 
effect,  Paul  has  done  much  more  than  borrow  a  single 
word  :  in  G  40  we  have  the  following  passage,  which  at 
once  takes  us  back  to  the  source  of  Fr.  5  b. 

"  And  the  angel  said  to  me  '  These  are  they  that  defile 
themselves,  and  that  killed  their  children.  The  children 

1  £av  yevi>r](rri  a.vT)p  e/caroi',  /ecu  &nj  TroXXa  ^aeraL...aiyaidbv  virep  avrbv 
rb  £KT/)w/m. 

2  Isa.  Ixv.  7. 


5  Tischendorf,  ApocalL  Apocr.  70  —  94  :  see  p.  94. 

6  §§  16,  34- 


THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER.  77 

therefore  came  crying :  '  Avenge  us  of  our  parents.'  And 
they  were  given  to  an  angel,  that  they  should  be  taken  to  a 
place  of  ease,  but  their  parents  to  eternal  fire."  In  L  40, 
the  text  is  fuller  (the  Syriac  omits  the  whole  section). 

''And  he  answered  me :  '  These  are  women  that  defiled 
the  image  of  God,  (untimely)  bringing  forth  infants  from  the 
womb,  and  these  are  the  men  that  caused  the  sin.  But 
their  children  appeal  unto  the  Lord  God  and  the  angels 
which  are  over  the  punishments,  saying :  '  Avenge  us  of  our 
parents  :  for  they  have  defiled  the  image  of  God,  having  the 
name  of  God,  but  not  keeping  his  commandments :  they 
gave  us  to  be  devoured  of  dogs  and  trampled  upon  by  swine, 
and  others  they  cast  into  the  river.'  But  those  children 
were  given  to  the  angels  of  Tartarus  which  were  over  the 
punishments,  that  they  should  take  them  to  a  place  of  ease 
and  mercy.  But  their  fathers  and  mothers  were  taken  to 
eternal  punishment1." 

Paul  does  not  make  it  quite  clear  whether  he  is  speaking 
of  infants  bora  untimely  or  exposed  after  birth  :  his  words 
would  apply  to  both  classes.  But  this  is  of  little  moment, 
for  we  are  not  dealing  with  a  quotation,  but  with  a  plagiarism, 


1  Et  respondit  mihi :  Haec  sunt  mulieres  commaculantes  (00«'pa<roi) 
plasmam  dei  proferentes  (e/crpoWcu)  ex  utero  infantes,  et  ii  sunt  uiri 
concubentes  cum  eis.      Infantes  autem   earum   interpellant   dominum 
deum  et  angelos  qui  super  penas  erant,  dicentes :  Nefanda  ora  (sif. 
read :  Vindica  nos  a)  genitoribus  nostris :  ipsi  enim  commaculauerunt 
plasma  dei,   nomen  dei  abentes,  sed  praecepta  eius  non  obseruantes 
dederunt  nos   in   escam   canibus   et   in    conculcationem   porcis: 
proiecerunt  in  flumine.      Infantes  autem  illi  traditi  sunt  angelis  tartari 
qui  erant  super  penas  (the  Latin   invariably  changes  Temelu 
Tartaruchus),  ut  ducerent  in  locum  spaciosum  misericordia 
autem  et  matres  eorum  strangulabantur  in  perpetuam  poenam. 
gulabantur'  seems  to  be  a  rendering  of  dirtfrxfr^w,  whu 
reading  for  dm7X0i?<rai>,  the  word  indicated  in  the  Greek. 


78  THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER. 

and  a  certain  amount  of  intentional  variation  is  to  be  ex 
pected.  An  authority,  cited  earlier  as  having  made  use  of 
our  book,  mentions  both  classes  ;  this  is  the  Sibyl1. 

The  two  offences  are  specially  forbidden  in  the  Didache, 
and  in  Barnabas'  Epistle.  And  no  doubt  it  would  be  pos 
sible  to  collect  a  good  deal  of  somewhat  unsavoury  evidence 
to  show  the  common  occurrence  of  them  in  the  ancient 
world.  The  writer  of  the  Letter  to  Diognetus  makes  especial 
mention  of  the  freedom  of  Christians  from  this  form  of  guilt. 
'  They  marry  and  beget  children,  like  all  the  world  :  but 
they  do  not  cast  out  the  children  when  born.'  And  the 
Apostolical  Constitutions  (vii.  3),  in  amplifying  the  prohibition 
of  these  sins  in  the  Didache,  add  words  which  recall  those 
of  Paul  and  of  Clement  (Fr.  5  a)  '  For  everything  that  is 
fashioned  in  the  likeness  of  man,  and  has  received  a  soul 
from  God,  if  it  be  murdered  shall  be  avenged,  having  been 
unjustly  slain2.' 

I  may  note  that,  in  the  tract  which  Hilgenfeld  calls  the 
'  Judgment  of  Peter  '  and  others  the  '  Ecclesiastical  Canons/ 
the  prohibition  of  these  sins  is  put  into  the  mouth  of  Peter, 

1  Sib.  Or.  ii.  280.       6Wat  5'  tvi  yavrtpi  06/>rovs 

CKTpuffKovaiv,  ocroi  ro/ceroi)j  plTrrovaw  a^oytws. 

And  in  the  Pseudo-Phocylides,  part  of  which  is  interpolated  in  the 
same  book,  we  have  the  same  two  sins  mentioned,  in  a  way  which  recalls 
the  Latin  Paul,  viz.  1.  184. 

/x7/5^  yvvr)  (pdeipoi  (3pe<pos  fyftpvov  ZvSodi  yaarpos, 


Cf.  'in  escam  canibus,  etc.'  of  Paul. 

2  (povevdtv  ^KdiKf]6r)ff€TaL,  dSt/cws  avaipedtv.  It  should  be  remarked, 
lastly,  that  the  use  of  so  strange  a  word  as  r^eXoOxos  suits  well  with  the 
habit  of  our  author.  Other  uncommon  words  used  by  him  are  vap- 


THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER.  79 

which,    whether   the   author   intended  a   reference   to  the 
Apocalypse  or  not,  is  a  very  appropriate  attribution. 

Fr.  6.  This  belongs  to  a  description  of  torment  seen 
by  Peter  in  a  part  of  the  Inferno  which  either  followed  our 
text,  or  has  dropped  out  of  it.  It  almost  certainly  refers  to 
the  punishment  of  those  mothers  who  exposed  their  children. 
Compare  the  following  fragment  from  the  Apocalypse  of 
Esdras  (p.  29)  "And  I  saw  a  woman  hanging,  and  four 
beasts1  (or  serpents)  sucking  her  breasts.  And  the  angels 
said  to  me :  '  This  woman  grudged  to  give  her  milk,  and 
also  cast  her  children  into  rivers.' " 

This  quotation  throws  a  good  deal  of  light  on  our  frag 
ment.  We  see  at  once  that  the  meaning  of  it  is  that  the 
milk  of  those  women  who  exposed  their  children  became 
the  means  of  their  punishment.  They  refused  it  to  their 
children,  and  it  engendered  the  serpents  which  devoured 
them.  And  the  principle  here  inculcated,  that  the  nature  of 
the  sin  determines  the  nature  of  the  punishment,  is  one  which 
runs  through  a  large  part  of  our  Apocalypse,  and  through 
almost  all  the  later  visions.  It  is  an  important  one,  specially 
prominent  in  Dante's  Inferno,  and  I  believe  that  it  origi 
nated  with  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter. 

Fr.  7.  I  have  added  this  to  the  list,  without  any  mis 
givings,  for  it  appears  to  me  to  contain  a  distinct  reminis 
cence  of  §§  7  and  9  of  our  Apocalypse2. 

Hilgenfeld  includes  among  the  fragments  a  quotation 
twice  made  by  Hippolytus  from  'the  prophet,'  and  found 
also  in  Commodian's  Carmen  Apologeticum  (886—90).  If 
it  is  really  from  our  Apocalypse,  which,  judging  from  the 

1  Oripia.     The  Apocalypse  of  the  Virgin  contains  two  or  three  very 
similar  descriptions. 

2  Cf.  especially  p\aff<j>rifuui>,  and  ras  5ta  K6ff/Ji.ov  rpixw  M  iropvdav 


8O  THE    REVELATION    OF   PETER. 

terms  in  which  it  is  introduced,  I  am  rather  inclined  to 
doubt,  it  must  have  formed  part  of  the  introductory  section 
in  which  the  end  of  the  world  was  predicted.  It  runs  thus : 
"And  another  prophet  also  says:  'He  (Antichrist)  shall 
gather  all  his  forces  from  the  East  even  unto  the  West: 
those  whom  he  hath  summoned  and  those  whom  he  hath 
not  summoned1  shall  go  with  him:  he  shall  whiten2  the  sea 
with  the  sails  of  his  ships  and  blacken3  the  plain  with  the 
shields  of  his  weapons:  and  every  one  that  shall  encounter 
him  in  battle  shall  fall  by  the  sword'  (Of  Antichrist,  c.  15 
and  54). 

During  all  this  discussion,  I  have  taken  it  for  granted 
that  the  fragment  before  us  is  part  of  the  Apocalypse  of 
Peter ;  yet  the  seer's  name  is  nowhere  given.  Is  it  certain 
that  it  is  not  meant  for  the  work  of  someone  else?  The 
reasons  which  lead  me  to  suppose  that  it  does  belong  to  the 
Apocalypse  of  Peter  are  as  follows : 

(1)  It  is  attributed  to  one  of  'us  the  twelve  disciples' 
(an  expression  which,  by  the  way,  occurs  in  the  Gospel  also, 
and  is  inaccurate  in  both  places)  §  2. 

(2)  The  author  is  the  spokesman  of  the  twelve  disciples 

§4- 

(3)  A  passage  occurs  in  it  which  is  substantially  iden 
tical  with  a  quotation  from  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter. 

(4)  We  know  of  no  other  Apocalypse  attributed  to  an 
Apostle  which  it  would  be  possible  to  identify  with   this 
fragment,  save,  perhaps,  the  Revelation  of  Thomas :  and  it 
is  really  very  doubtful  whether  that  book  ever  existed. 

It  is  probable  that  the  lost  end  of  the  book  contained 

1  ofls  K€K\r)KOi  Kal  oOs  ou  /ce/c\77/coi.  2  "\evKavei. 

3  yiceXccj/e?.  The  vocabulary  is  curious,  and,  so  far,  is  an  argument 
for  the  Petrine  origin.  The  use  of  K€K\^Kot  is  so  odd  that  one  is  tempted 
to  guess  that  it  is  a  rendering  of  a  Latin  'uocauerit.' 


THE   REVELATION   OF   PETER.  8 1 

the  substance  of  Fr.  6,  some  explanations  of  the  vision  given 
by  our  Lord  to  Peter,  and  less  certainly,  some  account  of 
what  happens  to  souls  immediately  after  death. 

I  have  thus  brought  to  an  end  a  long  and  perhaps 
desultory  investigation  of  this  very  interesting  fragment. 
Many  questions  of  high  importance  I  have  designedly  left 
on  one  side1:  many  more  I  have,  no  doubt,  failed  through 
ignorance  to  ask.  But  I  have  tried  to  put  into  the  hands  of 
students  the  main  results  of  a  somewhat  laborious  examina 
tion  of  Christian  Apocalyptic  literature.  And  I  hope  that, 
however  unattractive  may  be  the  subjects  treated  by  Pseudo- 
Peter  and  by  myself,  and  whatever  the  defects  of  their 
treatment,  I  have  made  it  clear  to  students  both  of  theology 
and  of  literature  that  they  have  in  this  book  a  document  of 
the  highest  importance.  How  many  of  our  popular  notions 
of  heaven  and  hell  are  ultimately  derived  from  the  Apoca 
lypse  of  Peter,  I  should  be  sorry  to  have  to  determine.  But 
I  think  it  is  more  than  possible  that  a  good  many  of  them 
are;  and  that  when  we  sing  in  church  of  a  land  where 

everlasting  spring  abides, 
And  never-withering  flowers, 

we  are  very  likely  using  language  which  could  be  traced 
back  with  few  gaps,  if  any,  to  an  Apocalypse  of  the  second 
century. 

1  The  relation  of  the  classes  of  sinners  named  in  the  Apocalypse 
to  those  found  in  the  Didache ;  the  connexion  of  the  Ritual  of  the.  D 
the   Pistis  Sophia,  and  the  Apocalypse  of  Zephaniah  with  our   b 
are  among   these,  as  also  the  questions  whether  we  have  reason  1 
suppose  that  our  text  of  the  Apocalypse  is  a  shortened  one,  and  whei 
the  author  of  the  Apocalypse  did  not  write  the  '  Gospel'  as  well. 


R.  J. 


82  THE   REVELATION    OF   PETER. 

I  append  a  short  note  on  resemblances  between  the  Didache  and  our 
Apocalypse. 

Didache.  Apoc. 

i.     ov  (f>ovevo~fis  10 

ov  /jt,oixevcreis  9 

ov  ira.idofidop'/io'eis  .  .  .  17 

ov   <povevo~eis   T£KVOV    tv  (frdopq,,   ovot   yevvr)6ev    airo- 

Kreveis...  ii 

ov  \f/evdofji.a.pTVpr)0~eis...  14 

OVK  £<7?7  TrXeoveKTTjs  16 

3-     °P7^  ?  19 

<f)OV03  10 

9 
18 

(f>i\dpyvpos  1  6 

/3\a0-0T7/^a  7,  13 

5.        001/01  IO 

Tropvetai...  9 

18 
\{/ev5ofj.apTvplai...  14 


eXeouvres  TTTUXOV  1  5 

T^KVUV,    (pdopels   TrXafffJ-aros    deov    (cf.    Paul, 
Lat.  40)  1  1 

TOJ*   tvfeopevov,    KaTcurovovvTes    rbv 

15 

TrXofcr^wj'  TrapdK\rp-oi  1  5 

The  jPz^'j  Sophia  has  a  certain  number  of  coincidences  in  vo 
cabulary  (especially  in  pp.  117—243  of  the  Latin  translation):  the 
words  aidv,  dpxovres  (possibly  in  Apoc.  5  we  should  read  apxpvTuv 
for  apxtpw)i  TOTTOS,  fj.optpr},  Koayuoj,  /c6Xcto"ts,  are  all  prominent.  In 
pp.  237_243  a  series  of  sins  and  their  punishments  is  described  :  the 
sins  are,  abusive  language,  slander,  murder,  theft,  pride,  blasphemy, 
impurity.  The  punishments  do  not  correspond  with  those  in  our 
book.  However,  the  general  situation  is  the  same;  revelations  are 
imparted  by  the  Lord  to  the  disciples  after  the  Resurrection.  I 
have  little  doubt  that  the  Apocalypse  is,  like  the  Pistis  Sophia,  of 
Egyptian  origin,  and  that  both  have  connexions  with  the  Ritual  of 
the  Dead. 


EYAfrEAION    KATA    T7ETPON. 


1  ...T[OJV]   Se  'louSatwv   ouSeis  tvLif/aro   Tas   ^ttpa?,  Mt  xxviii  24 
ouSe  'HpwS^s  ovS"  ets  TWV  KpiTtiJv  avTOi).     /cat  fiov\r)9f.vrit)v 
vi\l/acr8ai  avicrTYf  IleiXdTOS.      Kat  TOTC  KeXevet  'HpcoSvys  o  Lc  xxiii  n 
/3acrtXet>s  7rap[aAry/x]^>^^vat  TOV   Kvpioi'.  CITTCOI/  avrots  ort 

5  "O<ra  e/<eA.eucra  vyiui/  Troti^crai  aurai,  TroiTycrare. 

2  f/H/cei    Se   eKe^  'Icocn)^)   o  <£i'A.os   JletXarou   Kat  roO 
Kvpt'ov,  /cat  eiSws  on  crTavptV/cctv  awrov  /xeAXoucrtv  iyX^ev 
?rpo5  TOV  IletXaTOV  /cat  ^rr/cre  TO  o"(o//,a  TOU  Kvpt'ou  ?rpos 
ra.^fjv.      /cat  o5  UetAaros  Tre^ti^as   Trpo?    'HpcoS^v    rjT^crfv  Lc  xxiii  7 

10  avroi)  TO  O-W/JLO.'   /cat  o  'HptoS^s   e^  'ASeAc/)e   HctXaTt,  ei 
/cat  jio;  Tts  avTov  T^Trf/cet,  7^/xet?  avVoi/  e^a-TTTo/xei/,  eVct  Kat 
o-d/SfSarov   €7rtc/)ojo-/cet.     yeypaTTTat  yap   ev  TW  royu.a)  lyXtoi'  Lc  xxiii  54 
/xTy    8£'j/at   eTTt    Trec^oveu/xeVa)    Trpo    /uas    TWV'    d^vfjiutv    rrj<i  '  kpj1  'v.2< 


»  x'x 


3      Ot    8e    Xa/?oi/Tes   TOI/    Kv'piov    co^ovi/    avToV    Tpe- 
/cat   eAcyov   ^vpwfjifv  TOV  viov   TOV  Otov,  t^ovcriav  J 
eo~^KdTeS'    Kat  7rop<f)vpav  avToV  Trepte^SaXXov,   Kat  Mcxvi; 
avrov  CTTI    Ka^e'Spav    KptVeaJS    XeyovTes    AtKatw?  Jn  xix  13 
tve,    /3aa-L\€v     TOV     'IcrparjX.      Kat    Tt?    airrwf    evey/cwv 
20  o"T€^>avoj/  aKavOivov  eOrjKfv  e?rt  T^?  Kec^aXi^?  TOU  Kvptou.  || 

Kat  eVepot  ecTTtoTes  eve-rrTvov  avrov  Tats  oi/^eo-t,  Kat  aXXot  Ta5  Mt  xxvi  67  f. 


2     oi)5'    els]    oi)5eij  /cat]    /cat    [rcD^]  3 

eiXdrris    /cat  5     ei<t\ev(r))ffa  16 

forsitan   legendum   evpo/m,fj>   uel   dpufJLff 

6—2 


84          EVANGELIVM   SECVNDVM   PETRVM. 

Jn  xbc  34  o~tayovas  avrov  epaTrtcrav  •  erepoi  KaXa/xw  evvo'crov  avVov  • 
Kat  Ttves  avYoV  e/xao-Ti£ov  Xeyon-es  Tairn?  TT;  Tt/XT?  Tt/x??- 
crayxej'  TO>  vtov  TOV  $eov. 

4      Kat  vJj/eyKov  Svo  KttKOvpyovs  Kat  ecrravpcocrav  ava 
fj.€<rov  avruiv  rov    Kvptov.      avros  8e   ecrtwVa   <Js  /u,7/8ei/a  5 
rrovov  e^wv.      Kat    ore    upOaxrav  TOV  (rravpov 
on  OTTO'S  eo-Tiv  o  ySacriAevs  TOU  'IcrpaTyX.      Kai 
ra    evSv/Aara    t/ATrpocrOtv  avrov  Ste/xcpto-avro 

Lcxxiiisgff.  e^aXov   €TT'   avrots.      ets    8e    TIS    rwi/    Ka/covpycuv 
(OV€tot(7€V  avrov?  Xeywi/  'H//,€t9  8ta  ra  KaKa  a  €Tr 

OVTCU   TTf.TTOvOo.^V'     OVTO5   Se    (TWTrjp    y€VO/X€l/O§    T(OV 

TToav  rt   T^St/cTycrev    v/xas;     Kat    ayavaKTT/o-avres    CTT'    avraJ 
Jn  xix  32        €KeXo;<Tav  tVa  yu,7^  o'KeX.OKOTrrjB'fl,  OTTOOS  /^acra^t^o/xevos  aVo- 


/cat 


5     *Hv  Se  /i€o->7/x/?pta,  Kat  CTKOTOS  Kare'cr^e  Tracrav  TT)V  15 
lovSatav    Kat  eOopv/Sovvro   KCU  rjywviuiv  fjLTJTrore  6  17X105 
eSv,   eTrciSTy  In    €^17  •    yeypaTrrat   [ya'p]    avrots   lyXtov   yaTy 
Swat  €7rt  7re^>ovei;/x€va).      Kat  TIS  avrajv  [|   etTrev  IToTtcrare 
29  auroV  ^o^-^  A'-fTa  o^ovs-    Kat    KcpacravTes  eVo'ricrav,   Kat 

Travra,    Kat    ereXetwcrav    Kara    rrjs    Kec^aX^?  20 
a'/xapr^/Aara.      Trcpt^p^ovro    8e    TroXXot    /xera 

Jn  xviii  3,  6     Xv^VCJV     VOyU,t^OVT€9     OTt     VV^      eCTTtl/,      CTTCCrai/     T€.          Kttt      O 

Kuptos     aveySoiycre    Xeycoi/    'H    Swattts    /^oi>,    7y 

/xe.      Kat   cnrwv  dv€\ijcf>0rj.      KCU    avrrj<; 
TO    KaTaTreracr/xa   TOV   j/aoO   T^S  'lepovo'aX^/x    €ts  25 
Svo. 

Jn  xx  25  6      Kat  TOTE  a-Treo-Trao-av  TOVS  17X0^5  aVo  TWI 

TOV  Kvptov,  Kat  ZOrjKav  avrov  CTTI  Tiys  yrys*   Kat  77 


2    TLjj.-fiffa.fJ.ev  ,  fors.  leg. 

5    fffiwira  ws  /i^S^ya]  ^(TtWTracraj  fJL-rjd^v  6 

10  divetStjaev          15  fieee  fj.fi  pla          16  tdopovfiovvTO 
17  £5ve  fors.  leg.  ^Sycre  17  om.   7<ip  18 

21    Trepiepxovro          22    Zireyav  re]  eirfaavro          24    aur^s] 


EVANGELIVM   SECVNDVM   PETRVM.          85 

eWo-#>7,    Kai   <£o/3os   p-e'yas   lyevero.      rare  ^Atos  |\a/«/re  Mt  xxvii  5, 
Kai  cvpeO-r]  wpa  Ivdrrj-    e^ap^aav  Se  ot  'lovSatot,  Kai  SeSu- 
Kacri  TO)  'Iaja-^0  TO   <rc5/xa   auToO   u/a   avro  0a'^,   tTretSi) 
0cao-a/x€vos     ^v     oVa     aya#a    eVoi^crei/.      \a(3w    Sc    TOI/ 
5  Kvptoi/     eXovo-e     xat    ctA-^cre    o-ivSo'vi    Kat    eio-^'yayev    ets  Me  xv  46 
iStov  ra(/)ov,  KaXovyaevoi/  K.-TJTTOV  'lajo-T/^).  ,      . 

7      Tore  ot   lovSauoc  Kat  ot  Trpecr^Surepot  Kat  ot  tcpcts, 
tSo'vres  otoi/   ||   KaKoV  eaurots  eVoa/crai/,  yp^avro  KO7rreo-^at 
Kat  Aeyetv   Ouat  rats  a/aapriais  yjJuSv   ^yyto-ev  T)  K/atats  Lc  xxiii  48 
10  Kat  TO   T€'A.os    'Ie/30uo-aA.7;/>t.      eyw    Se    /xera    TO>I/    CTatpcov 
Kat   T€T/ow/xeVot    KaTa    Stavotav    €Kpv/36- 


yap   VTT    auT<m/   (os    KttKovpyoi,    Kat    (us 
ToV  vaov  ^e'A.oi/T€s  ep,7rprjarat.      CTTI  8e  TOVTOIS  7rao"tv   evry- 


Kat  eKaeoxea  TTCVOWTCS  Kat 


15  Kat  r/xepa?  eo?  TOT   (rarov.  cf  jn  xx  2fi 

8      5ura^^eVT€s   8e  ot   ypap,/xaT€ts   Kat  4>apto"tttot  Kat  Mt  xxvii 


7rpeo-y3uTepot     Trpo's     dXXtjXovs,    aKovo-avrcs    OTI    o'    Aaos 

a?ras  yoyyu^et   Kat    Ko7TT€Tat   TCI   CTTT]6r)  XcyovTes  OTI    Et  Lc  xxiii  48 

TO)  $ai/aVa>  at'ToG  TaCra  Ta  /x,eyto*Ta  o^/ma  yeyovev,  tSeTC 

20  OTt  TTOCTOV  StKatos  eo"Ttv  •  I(f)o(3ij0rj(rav  ot  ?rp€cr/?i)T€poi,  Kat 
77/V$oT'  Trpos  HetXaTov  8eo/xevot  avTOt)  Kat  AeyovTcs  Ilapa- 
809  ?^u.tv  o"TpaTtojTas,  tva  <^>vA.a^(joo"t  TO  fjLvrjfMa  avrov  frrl 
Tpets  77/x[epas],  /X^TTOTC  eA.^o^Tes  ||  ot  fiaOTfjral  avrov 
K\€if/a>(rw  avrov,  Kat  vTro\d/3r)  o  Aaos  OTI  CK 

25  ai/ecTTry     Kai     TTOIT^O'OJO'IV     T^/xtv     KO.KO..       o     Sf. 
TrapaSeScoKev     aiJTOts     TIeTpcai/tov     TOV     K€VTVpt'u>va 
o~TpaTta)Tc5v  (frvXdcro'fW  TOV  rdffrov    Kat  o"vv  afTots  rj\0ov 
7rpf(T/3vT€poL  Kat  ypapyxaTCts  CTTI  TO  p,v^//.a,  Kat  KiAto~avT€S 
At^ov   (jLcyav  /XCTO,  TOT)  KerruptWos   Kai   TOJV 

30  o'jLtov  ?ravT6s  ot  ovTes   eKet  eOfjKav  €7ri  rrj   aupa  TOU 

i   eyeiorOv)  i  evpr)Qr)  5  <ni>36j>t[i'] 

13  evrjo'Tevo^ev  1  6  e^vax^vres  22  0yX 

27   crrpaTiwrov  29  /xera]  /cara  30  o^iol 


86          EVANGELIVM   SECVNDVM   PETRVM. 
/xaros-   Kai  €7rexpio-av    CTTTCI   o-<£payiSav,   Kai   (TK.t]vrjv  e/cet 


9  Ilpo/ias    Se    €7Tt(^ojcrKOvro5    TOV    o-a/3/3a.Tov    TjXOfv 
o^Xos  aVo  'lepovcraX^/x  Kai  -n/s  Trepi^ajpov,  iva  180x71  TO 

Mtxxviiii     fj.v7]fj,eiov    ecr^paytcr/xeVoi/  •      777   Se  VVKTI    77    cTrc^ajcrKei/    77'  5 
r),  ^vXacro'oi/Ttov  TCOV  orpaTtwroji/  ava  8uo  Svo  Kara 
zyo,\.v]   <j>u>vr)   eyevero   ev  r<3  ovpavw, 
TOVS  ovpavovs  /cat  Svo  ai/Spas   ||   Ka 
TroXi;  <^eyyo5  e^ovras,    Kai  eTriVravras  TO)   rct^xi)  • 

vos  o  ySe^SXry/xevos  c?rt  -ny  ^vpa  a</>'    eavrov  10 
e7r€^ojp?;a-e  Trapa  /xepos*   Kai  o'  rac^os  yvoi-yirj,  KOL 
ot  veavicrKOi  €io"fj\0ov. 

10  'iSoVreg  ovi/  01  o-rpanwrai  tKeivoi  e^vTri/io'ai'  rov 

Kai    TGI;?   7rp€(rf3vT€pov<;'     TTdprjcrav    yap    Kai 
avroi    <^>i;Xao'cro^Tes.      Kai    ecpyyoiyicvwv    avrcov    a     €i8ov,  15 
7raA.iv  opwo-iv  e^cX^ovras  aTro  ro£  ra^>ov  rpeis  ai/Spas,  || 
Kai  TOVS  Swo  TOV  eVa  vVop^owTas,   Kai  o-raupdj/  aKoAov- 
OOVVTO.    at/rois*    Kai    TOJV    /xev   Suo   TT)V  Ke(f>a\rjv    xwpov- 
arav   /xe^pi    TOU     oupaj/ov,    TOI!    8e    ^eipaywyo^/xevoi;    vV' 
avTtuv  vTrepySaiVovcrav  rovs  ovpai/ou?'    Kai  ^XJDJ/T^S  T^KOVOV  20 
[i  Pe  iii  19]    ^K  T(3V   ovpavuv   Xeyovays    'EK7ypv£as   rois 

Kttl  UTraKOT/  T]KOV€TO  ttTTO  TOV   CTTCLVpOV  OTl  Nat. 

11  5weo-Ke7TTO^TO   ow    aXA^Aois   cKeivoi 
/cai  ev^avicrai  ravra  TW  ZleiXara).      Kai  In  S 

<^aiVoi/rai    7raA.iv  dvoi^^eVres    01    ovpavoi,    Kai   aV-  25 
Ti5  KareA^tuv  Kai  eicreA^cov  tis  TO    jLvrJia.      ravra 


s  9 

IO  \eldos  II  fors.  leg.  virex^p^cre             61/01777 

15  atf-rot]   ai>    ot  1  6    6'pa(rii'    €%e\66vTOS             Avdpes 

17  a,KO\o0oi'VTa  ig   TOV    de   xeipayu'yovfji.ti'ov]  TOV   5e 

Xetpa  r£  TOV^VQV  20  0wv7?                   -21,22  Koivu[j.ei>oi$ 

Kai   i}TTo.Kor).    -fjKoteTO  22  ort  Nat]  rti/at 
26 


EVANGELIVM    SECVNDVM   PETRVM.         8/ 


ot    ?rept    TOV    KevTvpiu>va    VVKTOS    ccrTrcwav 
IleiXaTOV,   a<£evT€S  TOV  Tac^ov  ov  e(£vXao"o"ov  •   Kat  € 
o~avTO  TravTa  aVep  etSov,  ctywviuJvTes  /xeya'Xa)?  Kai  Xe-j 
'AXTy&Gs  vid<>  r)v  6eov.      aVoKpi^eis  d  IIeiXaTO5  €(£77  'Eyco 
5  Ka6a.pf.vu  TOV  at/xaTOS  TOL  mov  TOV  0eov-    v/xtv  8e  TOVTO  Mt  xxvii  24 
«;8o£ev.    ctra  Trpoo-cX^dvTes  TravTes  eSeovTO  avTov  Kai  Trapc- 

KttXoVV   K«XeVO"at  TO)   KCVTVplOOVt   Kttt  TOtS  O~TpaTlWTat5  /X^SfV 

etTTctv  a  eTSov.  ^v^ix^epei  ya'p,  ^>ao~tv,  yjfjJiv  d<^>Xi^crat  /xe- 
yi'crTryv  a/xapTiav  €p-7rpoo"0€V  TOV  ^eov,  Kai  /XT/  c/xTrco'etv  cis 
10  yct^pas  TOV  Xaov  T(3v  'lovoatwv  Kai  A.iuao'u'rjvQ.i,  tKtXcv- 
o*€V  ovv  d  IlctXaTO?  T(3  KevTvpta)v[t]  Kai  TOIS  o"TpaTiwTats 
jixrySev  eivreiv. 

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KXavcrat  Kat  KO^ao-Oai,  Kai  vvv  €7ri  TOV  /XKJ;- 

TroiT/o-w/xev   TavTa.      Tts  8c   aVoKvXicrei  TJ/XII/  Me  xvi  3  ff. 
Kai  TOV   Xitfov  TOV  Te^eVTa   cvri   TT/S  ^v'pa?   TOV  /x^/xeiov, 
iva    €to-eX#ovo-ai    TrapaKa^eo-^w/xev    avVw    Kai 
25  TCL  o'^eiXo'/xei'a;    ^cyas   yap    T^V   d    Xt'flos,    Kat 

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13  ^?™     r"Ma75aXt4  ^  '4  om.  ^m  17  «>»« 

«j      ,,^Lffrfini  '27.     l8     forS. 


88          EVANGELIVM   SECVNDVM    PETRVM. 

Me  xvi  5  f.  veavtcTKOV  Ka0e£o/xevov  ju,eo~a>  TOV  Ta<f>ov,  oopatov  Kat  Trept- 
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r/XBcLTf.;  Ttva  ^TCITC;  /X7y  TOVV  crTavpwOevTa  CKCIVOV;  dvicrTt] 
Kat  aTr^A^ev  et  Se  /xr;  Trto-TeutTe,  TrapaKvi^aTC  Kat  tSeTe 
TOV  TOTTOV  tv^a  €K£tTO,  OTt  ovK  lorTtv  dv€.arTf]  yap  Kat  5 
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Me  ii  14        ^tv  Aevets  o'  TOV  'AAxjWov,  ov  [d]  Kuptos....  15 


4  TTto-reiyerat          I'Sare  5  ^mi/]  forsitan  addendum  cS5e 

6  0o/3??0e?s  15  om.  6 


ATTOKAAYYI!    TTETPOY. 


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2      Kat  Trpoo-^ets  d   Kvptos  e^r;  vAyw/i,ev  ct?  TO  opos  Mt  xxvi  30, 
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QO  REVELATIO   PETRI. 

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tSo'vTes  €@a/j./3<a6r)iAW  rd  /xev  yap  craj/xaTa  avToov  77 

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Apoc  vii  13     Kvpto)   cTTrov   Ttves   etcriv   OUTOI  j   Aeyet  /xot   O^TOt  eurtv  ot 

aSeAc^oi  v/xtov  ot  StKatot  (Si/  rJ^eA^o"aTe  Tas  /xop^as  tSetv. 

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5      Kai    d   Kuptos   eSet^e    /u,ot  /xeyto-TOv   \wpov    CKTOS 

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cf.  Mt  xxii     /xevot  ^O"av  €v8v/xa   ayye'Aoov   ^(oTtvalv,    Kai   o/x.otov  ?yv   TO 

30;  Mcxii      v  .  ,    „         ^         ,  ,    «         „  ^v  , 

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i/'ews  2  XevKorepov 

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22   S^  ot'/c.]  dioucfjTopes        evdedvpfros  26  roC  Kvpiov  deov 

28  dpx^pwi']  fors.  apxie/^wj',  uel  ade\(f)uv  ut  supra 


REVELATIO   PETRI.  91 

6  ElOOI/  OC   Kttl   €T€pOV  TOTOV   KaTttVTlKpVS   CKeiVOV  O.VV- 

prjpov  TTavv,  /cat   rjv  TOTTOS  KoAao-ews-    /cat   ot   KoAa^d^evot 
e/cet   Kat   ot  KoAa£ovTcs  ayycAot  o~KOTtvoV  etvov  avVuji/  TO 
Kara  TOV  acpa  TOV  TO'TTOV. 

7  Kat  Ttves  rjcrav  CKtt  CK  T^?  -yXwcro-T;?  /cpe/xa/xevot- 

Se  7]<rav  ot  ^Aao"<^>y/xowT6?  TT)V  oSov  TT^S  St/catoo"uv^s'  Mt  x.\i  32 
/cat  vTrtKeLTO  avrot?  Trvp  (^Aeyo'/xcvov  /cat  KoXa'^oi/  auTou?. 

8  Kat  Xt/xvT^  Tt?  -^i/  fJifydX-r]  7re7rX7ypa)/xeV7y  ||  fiopfiopov  Apoc  xix  20 
^Xcyo/xeVov,  cv  a>  ^o-av  avOpwTroi,  Tivt?  a7roo-Tpec/)orT€s  T?;I/ 

10  St/catoo"vy>yi',  Kat  eTre/cetyro  avrots  ctyyeA.ot  ^8acravto"Tat. 

9  Ho*av  8e  Kat  aXAat  ywatK€9  TWV  TrXoKa/xoJi/  e£r]p-  cf.  i  Pet  iii  3 
rrjfJievai    txvcorepio    TOV  (3op/36pov    CKCIVOV    TOV    a^a7rac/)Aa- 

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8e  o~v/XjU.t[^^evTes]  avTcov  TO)  /Mtaa/xaTt  Ti75  /xot^cta?  CK  TOJV 

15  TToSoov  [lycrav]    K[pe/xa/xevot,   Kat]   Tas   Ke^aXa?  cT^ov  ei'  TW 

/3op(3op\u>,  Kat  TravTe?]  eAeyov  OVK  CTTto'Tevo^cv 

€t5  TOVTOV  TOV  T07TOV. 

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avTOts   /?€ySA7iaeVovs   ei/  Ttvt  TOTTOJ  Te^Atu/x,€i'aj  Kat  Trc-rrXr)-  cf.  Mt  vii  14 
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CTKOTOV?.      at    Se    i^vvat   TWV    7rec/)ovev/jiei/cov    €o~Tojo-at    Kat 
eciopd)0-at  TT^V  Ko'Aao-tv  eKCtVcoi/  TOJJ/  c/>oveojv  eA«yov  'O  ^co'?,  cf.  Apoc  xyi 

c          r  7  (*=>•  xvilt 

25  oiKata  o~ov  77  Kptcrts. 

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eW,  ev  [w]  o'  tx<*Jp  «at  ^  SvcrwSia  TWV  KoAa£o/xeV<oi/ 


I   eratpov  TOTTWI/  I,   2 

3  (T/coXafoi/Tej  3,   4  r6  fr8u/*a]  ivdedvf^va 

13  ot]   ^  H    cri'MMt[tai'Tts]  /uotx«aj] 


15  7ro         .  .  .  .  K  .........  ras  16 

otK  Mffrevov  tvc\.  18,  ig  ffvvetfforas  atrofo  11  ovrw 

27  om-  V 


92  REVELATIO    PETRI. 

Kareppee    Kat    wcnrep    XI/JLVT)    eytvero  e/cet'    /cctKCt 

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eracrcu. 

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13      Kat  7r\r)(Tiov  eK€tVa>i'  TraXtv  yvi^aiKCS  Kat  avSpes 

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14  Kat  KaravTtKpu  TOUTO)!/  aXXot  TraAtv  avSpes  Kat 
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Kat  atyLtaros  Kai  fiopfidpov  ava^eovros  to~T7JKCto"ai/  ai/Spes 

3  TralSes  o  .....  era  .  wpot  4  au  .......  ey  irvpos 

6    rjaav  apa  .............  v<7at  8  Zrepoi  ......  /cai 

17  TrapaS/vres  28  Trt'crcrT/j]  TTO'LOV     fors.  Triffffrjs  /cat  #e/oi; 

29  popjSopu)  dvaftovres 


REVELATIO   PETRI.  93 

Kal  ywawces  /xe'xpt  yovdrw   ovrot  8e  ^aav  ot  Sai/i'£ovT€S 
Kai  aTrarroiWes  TOKOUS  TOKODV. 

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KpTfJfAVOV,     KOI     KaT€(TTpe^)OVTO     fKfWfV     KO.TU,     KCU     TyCTV^t'aV  cf.  Apoc.  xi 

OV'K    eT^ov    CXTTO   ravT^?   r^5    KoXacrcoJS'   ourot   8e   >;o-av   ot  Rom  j  26 
/xtavavres  ra  o-w/xara  eaurcov  ws  yvi/aiK€9  o.va(rrp^6^voi' 
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10  aAAr/'Aais  oJs  av  av>}p  Trpos  ywatKct. 

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X«po-t  ^oava  eavrois  e-Trot^crav  avri  ^eov. 

19  Kat    Trap'    e/ccivois    avSpe?    crepot    Kat 
15  paySSovs    IXOVTCS   Kat   aXA.r/Xovs    TVTrrovre?   «at 

Travo/xcvot  T^S  TOtavTTys  /coXacrecos. 

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ovrot  Se  "^(rav  ot  a'^e^re?  TT)^  oSov  rov  ^coii.  ...  Me  vh  8 


3   [/cat]  #XXot]  aXXa  6  /caracrrp^oi'To 

i'tSi'  19 


FRAGMENTS  OF  THE  REVELATION. 


1.  [This   and   the  following  fragment  probably 
preceded  our  text.] 

a.  Ilcpioucrias  8'  eveKev  XeXex$a>  Ka/ceti/o  TO  XeXey- 
l*.ivov  iv  rrj  'ATroKaXvi/'ei  TOV  IleYpou.  eicmyet  rov  ovpa- 
vov  a//,a  rrj  yrj  KpiBr)ar£cr6a.i  ourcos'  *H  yfj,  t^crt,  Trapa- 
Travras  TO)  ^€(5  ev  7^/xepa  /cpicreoos  /cai  avTTy  /u-eA.- 
Kptvfo-OaL  (rvv  KOL  rco  Trepte^oirt  ovpavip.  Ma- 
carius  Magnes  Apocritica  iv.  6,  p.  164. 

$.  'H  y^ — 0ew  /cpii/o/aeVous — KptVews,  /xc'XXovo-a  /cat 
O.-UTI; —  ovpavio.  ut  supra,  ^/.  «V.  iv.  16,  p.  185. 

2.  Kcu  c/c€tvo  8'  av$ts  Xeyet,  o  Kai  ao-e/3eias  /xecrroi/ 
vVap^et  TO  piy/xa  <£ao-/coV      Kat  TaK7;o-eTat  7rao-a   8i;va/xts 
ovpavov,  /cat  f.\L^Brj(Tf.Ta.i  o  ovpavos  ws  y8t^8Atov,  Kat  7raj/Ta 
Ta  ao-T/oa  Treo-eiTat  ws  <f>v\\a  e^  a/u,7reA.oi;,   /<at  a5s  TTLTTTCL 
<f>vX\a  aTro  0-UKT79.      <^.  «V.  iv.  7,  p.  165. 

Compare  Isa.  xxxiv.  4. 

3.  [Probably  this  and  the  following  fragments  are 
to  be  placed  either  in  or  after  our  text.] 

'H  ypo.<fnj  (£770-1  Ta  j3pe<f>r)  ra  cKTf.6f.VTa.  Try/xeXou^o) 
7rapa8t'8oo-^at  ayyeXa),  i;<£'  ou  7rat8eveo-^at  Te  Kat  av^cw 
Kat  eVovTat,  <pr]crlv,  cJs  ot  €KaTov  €T(ui/  ei/Tav^a  TrtcrTOt. 

Clem.  Alex.  Eclogae  ex  Script f.  Proph.  xli. 

4.  Ato  Kat  IleTpos  ei/  T^  'ATroKaXvi/^et  <^77crt'      Kat 

eK£tI/COI/     Kttt 


FRAGMENTS   OF   THE   REVELATION.         95 

TrXrjcrcrovcra  rows  o^>$aX/Aous  ruV  yuvaiKtSi/.  Clem.  Alex. 
I.e.  Cf.  §  ii  of  our  text.  This  4ist  section  of 
Clement's  Eclogae  has  been  hitherto  looked  upon  as 
one  and  continuous:  it  appears  to  me  clear  that  it 
consists  of  two  parts. 

5  a.      (cf.  3)      AvTtKa  o   Herpes   eV   rfj  ' 
O.  /3pe<^77  [TCI]  e£a/A/3Xa>$eVra  rrj<;  d/xeivo 
\j:od.  Trctpasj'      ravra  ayye'Xcp  T^/xeAou^a)  TrapaSt- 
BoarOai,    iva    yi/a>o"eu>s    /xeraXa/3oj/Ta    T^S    a/Aci'voi/os    rv^ 
fjLovfjs,  TraOovra.  a  av  evra^ev  /cat  ei/  crco/xart  yevo/xci/a'      ra 
S'  crepa  /AOVV^S  7-175  (Tcor^ptas  rcu'^erat,   o5s  7;SiK7;/xeVa  e\€- 
yOevTa,  Kol  [Atvei   (or  /xevet)  at'eu   KoXafjews,  TOUTO  ye'pas 
\af36vra.     Clem.  Alex.  I.e.  xlviii. 

5  ^.      "O^ev    817    /cat    T^eXou^ots    ayyeXots,    Kav     CK 
/itot^et'as  (Scri,  ra   cxTroriKTO/xcva  TrapaStSocr^ai  7rapetX^(/)a- 
/A6V  ev  ^eoTrj/evcrTots  ypo.jj.fjiO.cnv.      ei  yap  Trapa  ri)i/  yi/w/xr/i/ 
eytVovro  /cat  TOV  ^ecr/xoi/  TT^S  /xaKapias  6K€tV^s  </)t'o-6o)s  TOU 
^eoi),  TTwg  ayye'Xot5  raura  TrapeStSoro 
?roXX^5  avaTravcrews  Kat  pao-rcoVr/s ;   TTOJS  Se 
(rovra    <T(f)<j)v   CLVTWV   TOV5   yovet5 
8iKao"T7yptov   e.KiK\rj(TKOv  rov  Xptcrrov*    2i> 
,   <S   Kwpte,   TO  Koti/dv,  XeyovTa,   TOUTO 
6a.va.Tov    f&Oevro,    K 
S.  Methodius,  Conviv.  Virg.  ii.  6. 
6.      To  8e  yaXa  TOJV  ywaiKciov  peoi/  avro  TOOV 
7rr/yvi;'^evoj/,    (frrjcrlv    6    Herpes    eV    TT}   ' 

O'rjpia.  XCTTTCI   crapKO<^>aya,    Kat    avaTpe^oyTa    ets 
Sta  ras  a/xaprtas  ytvco-^at  ras  /coXao-cts 
8t8ao-/<a)i/.      €K  TCOJ/  a/xapTiwi'  yevvdo-0at  auTa's  ^crti/,  ws  Sap  Sal  xv 
8ta  ras  a/xapTtas  tTrpdOr]  6  Xads,  Kat  Sta  T^y  €ts  XptcrToi'  2  pet  ii  19  6 

aVlO-Tl'ttV,     OJS     (f>7]0-lv    O     'ATTo'o-ToXoS,    U7TO     TO>1/    O<f>(U)V    tStt- 

KVOVTO  (i  Cor.  x.  9).     Clem.  Alex.  <?/.  «?.  xlix. 


96         FRAGMENTS   OF  THE  REVELATION. 

7.     The  following  passage  may  probably  contain 
an  allusion  to  the  Apocalypse : 

Ei7ro/iev  ok  KoXacrets  curt  /^Aacr^/zicov,  <£\vapias,  aVo- 
XaVrwv   prj/JLaTaiv,    A.oya>   KoAa£o//,ei/a>v  /cat 

8e   [^.  o  Trpecr/^irnys  :  cf.  §  1.]  /cat  Sta  ras 

KCU  TOV  KOCT/XOV  ras  yvvatKas  VTTO  Swa/xeco? 
r^s  €7ri  TOVTOt?  TCTay/xeDys,  -^  Kai  T(3  2a/xi^(ov  8wayu.iv 
Trapet^e  rats  6pi£tv,  17x15  KoAa£ei  ras  Sta  KocrfJiov  rpt^wv 
CTTI  Tropvfiav  opfiwo-a?. 

Clem.  Alex.  <?/.  «V.  xxxix.,  xl.     The  latter  half  of 
§  xxxix.  should  evidently  be  joined  to  §  xl. 


CAMBRIDGE  :   PRINTED   BY   C.  J.  CLAY   &   SONS,   AT   THE  UNIVERSITY   PRESS. 


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