GREEK APOCALYPSE OF EZRA
The Greek Apocalypse of Ezra, also known as The Word and Revelation of Esdras, is a pseudepigraphal work written in the name of the biblical scribe Ezra. It survived in only two Greek copies and is dated between the 2nd century and the 9th century AD. According to R. H. Charles, the text of the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra was influenced by the book of 2 Esdras. The extant version of the Greek Apocalypse is thought to have undergone extensive reworking, if not having been totally written by, Christian editors, mentioning the Apostles Paul and John, King Herod, etc. Like much apocalyptic literature, the Apocalypse of Ezra portrays its author as being granted visions of heaven and of hell, where the punishments meted out to sinners are witnessed in detail. Ezra is first described as visiting heaven, where Ezra raises a question of theodicy - he asks God why humans were given the ability to sin. Unusually, although God argues that humans are to blame if they do sin, due to their having free will, the text has Ezra respond that ultimately the fall of man must be up to God, particularly since God created both Eve and the Serpent and the forbidden tree. Ezra goes on to accuse God of having an appalling idea of justice, to which God doesn't respond, even when Ezra petitions on behalf of sinners. After his petitions and argument with God, Ezra is shown a vision of the tortures in hell, as well as the Antichrist. Finally, when Ezra protests that no one is without sin and hence none will escape such torture, God reveals that he endured the cross in order to save mankind, forgive those who believe, and vanquish death.
Chapter one
It came to pass in the thirtieth year on the twenty-second of the month, I was in my house and I cried out, saying to the Most High, “Lord, grant me glory so that I may see your mysteries.” When night fell the angel Michael, the archangel, came and said to me, “Prophet Ezra, lay aside bread for seventy weeks.” And I fasted just as he told me, And the archistrategos Raphael came and gave me a storax staff, and I fasted twice sixty weeks, and I saw the mysteries of God and his angels. And I said to them, “I wish to plead with God concerning the Christian people. It were better that man were not born than that he entered the world.”
Ezra taken up to heaven: his prayer for mercy
Therefore, I was taken up into heaven and I saw in the first heaven a great command of angels and they led me to the judgments. And I heard a voice saying to me, “Have pity upon us, Ezra elect of God.” Then I began to say, “Woe to the sinners when they see the righteous man elevated above angels, and they are for fiery Gehenna.” And Ezra said, “Have pity upon the works of your hands, merciful and greatly pitying one. Condemn me rather than the souls of the sinners, for it is better to punish one soul and not to bring the whole world to destruction.” And God said, “I shall give rest to the righteous in Paradise and I am merciful.” And Ezra said, “Lord why do you show favor to the righteous? For as a hired man completes his time of service and goes away, and again a slave serves his masters in order to receive his wage, thus the righteous man receives his reward in the heavens. But, have mercy upon the sinners for we know that you are merciful.” And God said, “I have no way to be merciful to them.” And Ezra said, “Be merciful because they cannot sustain your anger.” And God said. “I am wrathful because such are the deserts of such men as these.” And God said, “I wish to keep you as both Paul and John. You have given me uncorrupted the inviolate treasury, the treasure of virginity, the wall of men?
Ezra’s second prayer
And Ezra said. “It were better if man were not born; it were well if he were not alive. The dumb beasts are a better thing than man, for they do not have punishment. You took us and delivered us to judgment. Woe to the sinners in the world to come, for their condemnation is endless and the flame unquenched.”
Chapter two
Ezra remonstrates with God: the sin of Adam
As I said this to him, Michael and Gabriel and all the apostles came and said, “Greetings!” And Ezra said, “Faithful man of God! Arise and come hither with me, O Lord, to judgment,” And God said. “Behold I am giving you my covenant, both mine and yours, so that you will accept it.” And Ezra said, “We shall plead our case in your ears.” And God said, “Ask Abraham your father what kind of son presses suit against his father and come and plead the cast with us.” And Ezra said, “As the Lord lives, I shall never cease pleading the case with you on account of the Christian people. Where are your former mercies, O Lord? Where your long-suffering?” And God said, “As I made night and day I made the righteous and the sinner and it were fitting to conduct yourself like the righteous man.” And the prophet said. “Who made Adam, the protoplast, the first one?” And God said, “My immaculate hands, and I placed him in Paradise to guard the region of the tree of life.: ... “Since he who established disobedience made this man sin.” And the prophet said, “Was he not guarded by an angel? And was life not preserved by the cherubim for the endless age? And how was he deceived who was guarded by angels whom you commanded to be present whatever happened? Attend also to that which I say! If you had not given him Eve, the serpent would never have deceived her. If you save whom you wish you will also destroy whom you wish.”
Ezra remonstrates with God: the sins of men
And the prophet said, “O my Lord, let us continue to a second judgment.” And God said, “I cast fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah.” And the prophet said, “Lord, you bring upon us what we deserve.” And God said, “Your sins exceed my kindness.” And the prophet said. “Remember Scripture, my father, who measured out Jerusalem and rebuilt her. Pity Lord, the sinners, pity your own molding, have mercy upon your works.” Then God remembered his works and said to the prophet, “How can I have mercy upon them? They gave me vinegar and gall to drink and ... They repented.”
The day of judgment
And the prophet said, “Reveal your cherubim and let us go together to judgment, and show me what is the character of the day of judgment.” And God said, “You have digressed, Ezra, for such is the day of judgment upon which there is no rain on the earth, for there is a merciful judgment during that day.” And the prophet said, “I shall never cease to argue the case with you until I see the day of consummation.” And God said, “Count the stars and the sand of the sea and if you will be able to count this, you will also be able to argue the case with me.”
Chapter three
And the prophet said, “Lord, you know that I bear human flesh. And how can I count the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea?” And God said. “O my elect prophet, no man will know that great day and the manifestation which prevails to judge the world. For your sake, O my prophet, I told you the day, but the hour I told you not.” And the prophet said, “Lord tell me also the years.” And God said, “If I see that the justice of the world has become abundant, I will be long-suffering toward them If not, I will stretch out my hand and I will grasp the inhabited world from its four corners and I will gather them all together to the valley of Jehosaphat and I will wipe out the human race and the world will be no more.” And the prophet said. “And how will your tight hand be glorified?” And God said, “I will be glorified by my angels.”
Why was man created?
And the prophet said. “Lord, if this was your calculation, why did you form man? You said to Abraham our father, ‘I will surely multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand along the shore of the sea.’ And where is your promise?”
Signs of the end
And God said, “First I shall cause by shaking the fall of four-footed beasts and men, And when you see that brother delivers brother over to death and children will rise up against parents and a wife abandons her own husband, and when nation will rise up against nation in war, then you shall know that the end is near.
And then brother will not have mercy upon brother, nor man upon his wife, nor children upon parents, nor friends upon friends, nor slave upon master. For the opponent of men himself will come up from Tartarus and will show many things to men. What shall I do to you, Ezra, and will you argue the case with me?”
Chapter four
Ezra descends to Tartarus
And the prophet said, “Lord I shall never cease arguing the case with you.” And God said, “Count the flowers of the earth. If you can count them you also will be able to argue the case with me.”
And the prophet said, “Lord, I cannot count them- I bear human flesh-but neither will I stop arguing the case with you. I wish, Lord, to see the lower parts of Tartarus.” And God said, “Go down and see!” And he gave me Michael and Gabriel and thirty-four other angels, and I descended eighty-five steps and they led me down five hundred steps.
The punishment of Herod
And I saw a fiery throne and an old man seated on it, and his punishment was merciless. And I said to the angels, “Who is this and what is his sin?” And they said to me, “This is Herod, who was king for a time, and he commanded to kill the infants two years old of under.” And I said, “Woe upon his soul!”
The disobedient and the abyss
And again they lad me down thirty steps. And I saw boiling fires there, and a multitude of sinners in them. And I heard their voices, but I did not perceive their forms. And they lad me down deeper many steps which I was unable to count. And I saw old men there, and fiery axles were revolving their ears. And I said, “Who are these and what is their sin?” And they said to me, “These are the eavesdroppers.” And again they lad me down five hundred other steps. And there I saw the unsleeping worm and fire consuming the sinners. And they led me down to the foundation of Destruction and there I saw the twelve-fold blow of the abyss. And they led me away to the south and there I saw a man hanging from his eyelids and the angles were beating him. And I asked, “Who is this and what is his sin?” And Michael the archistrategos said to me, “This man is incestuous; having carried out a small lust, this man was commanded to be hanged.”
The Antichrist
And they lad me away to the north and I saw a man there restrained with iron bars. And I asked, “Who is this?” And he said to me, “This is the one who says, ‘I am the son of God and he who made stones bread and water wine.’” And the prophet said, “Make known to me what sort of appearance he has and I will inform the race of men lest they believe in him.” And he said to me, “The appearance of his face is as of a wild man. His right eye is like a star rising at dawn and the other is unmoving. His mouth is one cubit, his teeth are a span long, his fingers like scythes, the soles of his feet two span, and on his forehead and inscription ‘Antichrist’, He was exalted up to heaven, he will descend as far as Hades. One time he will be a child, another and old man.” And the prophet said, “Lord, how do you permit the race of men to stray?” And God said. “Hear. My prophet! He becomes a child and an old man and let no one believe him that he is my beloved son. And after these things a trumpet, and the graves will be opened and the dead will rise up uncorrupted. Then the opponent, having heard the terrible threat, will hide himself in the outer darkness. Then the heaven and the earth and the sea will perish. Then I shall burn the heaven for eighty cubits and the earth for eight hundred cubits.” And the prophet said. “And in what did the heaven sin?” And God said, “Since... Is the evil.” And the prophet said, “Lord in what did the earth sin?” And God said, “Since the opponent having heard my terrible threat will hide in it, and because of that I shall melt the earth and with it the rebel of the race of men.”
Chapter five
Further punishments
And the prophet said, “Pity, O Lord, the race of Christians.” And I saw a woman suspended and four wild beasts were sucking upon her breasts. And the angels said to me, “She begrudged giving her milk but also cast infants into the rivers.” And I saw terrible darkness and night without stars or moon. There is there neither young of old, neither brother with brother nor mother with child nor wife with husband. And I wept and said. “O Lord, Lord, have mercy upon the sinners.”
Ezra taken to heaven
And as I said these things a cloud came and seized me and took me up again to the heavens. And I saw many judgments and I wept bitterly and I said. “It were better if man did not come forth from his mother’s belly.” Those who were in punishment called out, saying, “Since you came here, holy one of God, we have obtained a slight respite.” And the prophet said, “Blessed are they who bewail their own sins.”
Birth and its purpose
And God said, “Hear Ezra, beloved one! Just as a farmer casts down the seed of corn into the earth, so a man casts down his seed into a woman’s place. In the first month it is a whole, in the second it is swollen, in the third it grows hair, in the fourth it grows nails, in the fifth it becomes milky, in the sixth it is ready and quickened, in the seventh it is prepared, in the eighth...., in the ninth the bars of the gateways of the woman are opened and it is born healthy on the earth.” And the prophet said. “It were better for man not to have been born. Alas, O human race, at that time when you come to judgment!” And I said to the Lord, “Lord, why did you create man and give him over to judgment?” And God said in his exalted pronouncement, “I will not pardon those who transgress my covenant.” And the prophet said, “Lord, where is your goodness?” And God said. “I prepared everything because of man and man does no keep my commandments.”
Punishments and rewards
And the prophet said, “Lord, reveal to me the punishments and Paradise.”
And the angels led me away to the east and I saw the tree of life. And I saw there Enoch and Elijah and Moses and Peter and Paul and Luke and Matthew and all the righteous and the patriarchs. And I saw there the punishment of the air and the blowing of the winds and the storehouses of the ice and the eternal punishments. And I saw there a man hanging by his skull. And they said to me, “This one transferred boundaries.” And there I saw great judgments and said to the Lord, “O Lord, Lord, which of men, having been born, did not sin?” And they led me farther down in Tartarus and I saw all the sinners lamenting and weeping and evil mourning. And I too wept, seeing the race of men punished thus
Chapter six
Then God said to me, “Ezra, do you know the name of the angels who are over the consummation: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Gabuthelon, Aker, Arphugitonos, Beberos, Zebuleon?”
Ezra struggles for his soul
Then a voice came to me, “Come here, die, Ezra, my beloved! Give back that which has been entrusted to you.” And the prophet said, “And whence can you bring forth my soul?” And the angels said, “We can cast it forth through your mouth.” And the prophet said, “I spoke mouth to mouth with God and it will not go forth from there.” And the angels said. “We will bring it forth through your nostrils.” And the prophet said. “My nostrils smelled the glory of God.” And the angels said, “We can bring it forth through your eyes.” And the prophet said, “My eyes have seen the back of God.” And the angels said, “We can bring it forth through your head.” ...And the angels said, “We can bring it forth through your feet.” And the prophet said. “I walked with Moses on the mountain, and it will not come forth from there.” And the angels said, “We can cast it forth through the tips of your toe nails.” And the prophet said, “My feet walked in the sanctuary.” And the angels departed unsuccessful, saying, “Lord, we cannot receive his soul.” Then he said to his only begotten son, “Go down, my beloved son, with a numerous host of angels, taking the soul of my beloved Ezra.” For the Lord, having taken a numerous army of many angels, said to the prophet, “Give me that deposit which I entrusted to you, The crown is readied for you.” And the prophet said, “Lord, if you take my soul from me, who will you have left to plead on behalf of the race of men?” And God said, “You who are mortal and earthly, do not plead the cast with me.” And the prophet said, “I shall never cease pleading.” And God said, “Give, in the mean while, that which is entrusted to you. The crown is readied for you. Come here, die, so that you may attain it.” Then the prophet began to speak with tears, “O Lord, what profits it that I be consumed by worms. Bewail me, all holy and pious ones, I plead greatly and am delivered over to death! Bewail me, all holy and just ones, because I have entered the bowl of Hades.”
Chapter seven
Soul and body
And God said to him, “Hear, Ezra my beloved one. I, being immortal, received a cross, I tasted vinegar and gall, O was set down in a grave. And I raised up my elect ones and I summoned up Adam and Hades so that the race of men ... Therefore, fear not death. For that which is from me, that is the soul, departs for heaven. That which is from the earth, that is the body, departs for the earth from which it was taken.? And the prophet said, “Woe, woe! What shall I do? How shall I act? I know not.”
Concluding prayer
And then the blessed Ezra began to say, “O eternal God, Creator of the whole creation, who measured out the heaven with a span and contained the earth in his hand, who drives the cherubim, who took the prophet Elijah to the heavens in a fiery chariot, who gives nurture to all flesh, whom all things fear and tremble from the face of your power, hear me who pleads greatly and give to all who copy this book and preserve it and recall my name and preserve my memory fully, give them blessing from heaven. And bless all of his things, just as the ends of Joseph. And remember not his previous sins on the day of his judgment. Those who do not believe this book will be burned like Sodom and Gomorrah.” And a voice came to him saying, “Ezra, my beloved, I shall grant to each one the things which you asked.”
Death and burial of Ezra
And at once he gave over his precious soul with much honor on the eighteenth of the month of October. And they buried him with incense and psalms. His precious and holy body provides unceasingly strengthening of souls and bodies for those who approach him willingly.
Doxology
Glory, might, honor, and worship to him for whom it is fitting, for the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever. Amen.
Chapter one
It came to pass in the thirtieth year on the twenty-second of the month, I was in my house and I cried out, saying to the Most High, “Lord, grant me glory so that I may see your mysteries.” When night fell the angel Michael, the archangel, came and said to me, “Prophet Ezra, lay aside bread for seventy weeks.” And I fasted just as he told me, And the archistrategos Raphael came and gave me a storax staff, and I fasted twice sixty weeks, and I saw the mysteries of God and his angels. And I said to them, “I wish to plead with God concerning the Christian people. It were better that man were not born than that he entered the world.”
Ezra taken up to heaven: his prayer for mercy
Therefore, I was taken up into heaven and I saw in the first heaven a great command of angels and they led me to the judgments. And I heard a voice saying to me, “Have pity upon us, Ezra elect of God.” Then I began to say, “Woe to the sinners when they see the righteous man elevated above angels, and they are for fiery Gehenna.” And Ezra said, “Have pity upon the works of your hands, merciful and greatly pitying one. Condemn me rather than the souls of the sinners, for it is better to punish one soul and not to bring the whole world to destruction.” And God said, “I shall give rest to the righteous in Paradise and I am merciful.” And Ezra said, “Lord why do you show favor to the righteous? For as a hired man completes his time of service and goes away, and again a slave serves his masters in order to receive his wage, thus the righteous man receives his reward in the heavens. But, have mercy upon the sinners for we know that you are merciful.” And God said, “I have no way to be merciful to them.” And Ezra said, “Be merciful because they cannot sustain your anger.” And God said. “I am wrathful because such are the deserts of such men as these.” And God said, “I wish to keep you as both Paul and John. You have given me uncorrupted the inviolate treasury, the treasure of virginity, the wall of men?
Ezra’s second prayer
And Ezra said. “It were better if man were not born; it were well if he were not alive. The dumb beasts are a better thing than man, for they do not have punishment. You took us and delivered us to judgment. Woe to the sinners in the world to come, for their condemnation is endless and the flame unquenched.”
Chapter two
Ezra remonstrates with God: the sin of Adam
As I said this to him, Michael and Gabriel and all the apostles came and said, “Greetings!” And Ezra said, “Faithful man of God! Arise and come hither with me, O Lord, to judgment,” And God said. “Behold I am giving you my covenant, both mine and yours, so that you will accept it.” And Ezra said, “We shall plead our case in your ears.” And God said, “Ask Abraham your father what kind of son presses suit against his father and come and plead the cast with us.” And Ezra said, “As the Lord lives, I shall never cease pleading the case with you on account of the Christian people. Where are your former mercies, O Lord? Where your long-suffering?” And God said, “As I made night and day I made the righteous and the sinner and it were fitting to conduct yourself like the righteous man.” And the prophet said. “Who made Adam, the protoplast, the first one?” And God said, “My immaculate hands, and I placed him in Paradise to guard the region of the tree of life.: ... “Since he who established disobedience made this man sin.” And the prophet said, “Was he not guarded by an angel? And was life not preserved by the cherubim for the endless age? And how was he deceived who was guarded by angels whom you commanded to be present whatever happened? Attend also to that which I say! If you had not given him Eve, the serpent would never have deceived her. If you save whom you wish you will also destroy whom you wish.”
Ezra remonstrates with God: the sins of men
And the prophet said, “O my Lord, let us continue to a second judgment.” And God said, “I cast fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah.” And the prophet said, “Lord, you bring upon us what we deserve.” And God said, “Your sins exceed my kindness.” And the prophet said. “Remember Scripture, my father, who measured out Jerusalem and rebuilt her. Pity Lord, the sinners, pity your own molding, have mercy upon your works.” Then God remembered his works and said to the prophet, “How can I have mercy upon them? They gave me vinegar and gall to drink and ... They repented.”
The day of judgment
And the prophet said, “Reveal your cherubim and let us go together to judgment, and show me what is the character of the day of judgment.” And God said, “You have digressed, Ezra, for such is the day of judgment upon which there is no rain on the earth, for there is a merciful judgment during that day.” And the prophet said, “I shall never cease to argue the case with you until I see the day of consummation.” And God said, “Count the stars and the sand of the sea and if you will be able to count this, you will also be able to argue the case with me.”
Chapter three
And the prophet said, “Lord, you know that I bear human flesh. And how can I count the stars of heaven and the sand of the sea?” And God said. “O my elect prophet, no man will know that great day and the manifestation which prevails to judge the world. For your sake, O my prophet, I told you the day, but the hour I told you not.” And the prophet said, “Lord tell me also the years.” And God said, “If I see that the justice of the world has become abundant, I will be long-suffering toward them If not, I will stretch out my hand and I will grasp the inhabited world from its four corners and I will gather them all together to the valley of Jehosaphat and I will wipe out the human race and the world will be no more.” And the prophet said. “And how will your tight hand be glorified?” And God said, “I will be glorified by my angels.”
Why was man created?
And the prophet said. “Lord, if this was your calculation, why did you form man? You said to Abraham our father, ‘I will surely multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven and as the sand along the shore of the sea.’ And where is your promise?”
Signs of the end
And God said, “First I shall cause by shaking the fall of four-footed beasts and men, And when you see that brother delivers brother over to death and children will rise up against parents and a wife abandons her own husband, and when nation will rise up against nation in war, then you shall know that the end is near.
And then brother will not have mercy upon brother, nor man upon his wife, nor children upon parents, nor friends upon friends, nor slave upon master. For the opponent of men himself will come up from Tartarus and will show many things to men. What shall I do to you, Ezra, and will you argue the case with me?”
Chapter four
Ezra descends to Tartarus
And the prophet said, “Lord I shall never cease arguing the case with you.” And God said, “Count the flowers of the earth. If you can count them you also will be able to argue the case with me.”
And the prophet said, “Lord, I cannot count them- I bear human flesh-but neither will I stop arguing the case with you. I wish, Lord, to see the lower parts of Tartarus.” And God said, “Go down and see!” And he gave me Michael and Gabriel and thirty-four other angels, and I descended eighty-five steps and they led me down five hundred steps.
The punishment of Herod
And I saw a fiery throne and an old man seated on it, and his punishment was merciless. And I said to the angels, “Who is this and what is his sin?” And they said to me, “This is Herod, who was king for a time, and he commanded to kill the infants two years old of under.” And I said, “Woe upon his soul!”
The disobedient and the abyss
And again they lad me down thirty steps. And I saw boiling fires there, and a multitude of sinners in them. And I heard their voices, but I did not perceive their forms. And they lad me down deeper many steps which I was unable to count. And I saw old men there, and fiery axles were revolving their ears. And I said, “Who are these and what is their sin?” And they said to me, “These are the eavesdroppers.” And again they lad me down five hundred other steps. And there I saw the unsleeping worm and fire consuming the sinners. And they led me down to the foundation of Destruction and there I saw the twelve-fold blow of the abyss. And they led me away to the south and there I saw a man hanging from his eyelids and the angles were beating him. And I asked, “Who is this and what is his sin?” And Michael the archistrategos said to me, “This man is incestuous; having carried out a small lust, this man was commanded to be hanged.”
The Antichrist
And they lad me away to the north and I saw a man there restrained with iron bars. And I asked, “Who is this?” And he said to me, “This is the one who says, ‘I am the son of God and he who made stones bread and water wine.’” And the prophet said, “Make known to me what sort of appearance he has and I will inform the race of men lest they believe in him.” And he said to me, “The appearance of his face is as of a wild man. His right eye is like a star rising at dawn and the other is unmoving. His mouth is one cubit, his teeth are a span long, his fingers like scythes, the soles of his feet two span, and on his forehead and inscription ‘Antichrist’, He was exalted up to heaven, he will descend as far as Hades. One time he will be a child, another and old man.” And the prophet said, “Lord, how do you permit the race of men to stray?” And God said. “Hear. My prophet! He becomes a child and an old man and let no one believe him that he is my beloved son. And after these things a trumpet, and the graves will be opened and the dead will rise up uncorrupted. Then the opponent, having heard the terrible threat, will hide himself in the outer darkness. Then the heaven and the earth and the sea will perish. Then I shall burn the heaven for eighty cubits and the earth for eight hundred cubits.” And the prophet said. “And in what did the heaven sin?” And God said, “Since... Is the evil.” And the prophet said, “Lord in what did the earth sin?” And God said, “Since the opponent having heard my terrible threat will hide in it, and because of that I shall melt the earth and with it the rebel of the race of men.”
Chapter five
Further punishments
And the prophet said, “Pity, O Lord, the race of Christians.” And I saw a woman suspended and four wild beasts were sucking upon her breasts. And the angels said to me, “She begrudged giving her milk but also cast infants into the rivers.” And I saw terrible darkness and night without stars or moon. There is there neither young of old, neither brother with brother nor mother with child nor wife with husband. And I wept and said. “O Lord, Lord, have mercy upon the sinners.”
Ezra taken to heaven
And as I said these things a cloud came and seized me and took me up again to the heavens. And I saw many judgments and I wept bitterly and I said. “It were better if man did not come forth from his mother’s belly.” Those who were in punishment called out, saying, “Since you came here, holy one of God, we have obtained a slight respite.” And the prophet said, “Blessed are they who bewail their own sins.”
Birth and its purpose
And God said, “Hear Ezra, beloved one! Just as a farmer casts down the seed of corn into the earth, so a man casts down his seed into a woman’s place. In the first month it is a whole, in the second it is swollen, in the third it grows hair, in the fourth it grows nails, in the fifth it becomes milky, in the sixth it is ready and quickened, in the seventh it is prepared, in the eighth...., in the ninth the bars of the gateways of the woman are opened and it is born healthy on the earth.” And the prophet said. “It were better for man not to have been born. Alas, O human race, at that time when you come to judgment!” And I said to the Lord, “Lord, why did you create man and give him over to judgment?” And God said in his exalted pronouncement, “I will not pardon those who transgress my covenant.” And the prophet said, “Lord, where is your goodness?” And God said. “I prepared everything because of man and man does no keep my commandments.”
Punishments and rewards
And the prophet said, “Lord, reveal to me the punishments and Paradise.”
And the angels led me away to the east and I saw the tree of life. And I saw there Enoch and Elijah and Moses and Peter and Paul and Luke and Matthew and all the righteous and the patriarchs. And I saw there the punishment of the air and the blowing of the winds and the storehouses of the ice and the eternal punishments. And I saw there a man hanging by his skull. And they said to me, “This one transferred boundaries.” And there I saw great judgments and said to the Lord, “O Lord, Lord, which of men, having been born, did not sin?” And they led me farther down in Tartarus and I saw all the sinners lamenting and weeping and evil mourning. And I too wept, seeing the race of men punished thus
Chapter six
Then God said to me, “Ezra, do you know the name of the angels who are over the consummation: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael, Gabuthelon, Aker, Arphugitonos, Beberos, Zebuleon?”
Ezra struggles for his soul
Then a voice came to me, “Come here, die, Ezra, my beloved! Give back that which has been entrusted to you.” And the prophet said, “And whence can you bring forth my soul?” And the angels said, “We can cast it forth through your mouth.” And the prophet said, “I spoke mouth to mouth with God and it will not go forth from there.” And the angels said. “We will bring it forth through your nostrils.” And the prophet said. “My nostrils smelled the glory of God.” And the angels said, “We can bring it forth through your eyes.” And the prophet said, “My eyes have seen the back of God.” And the angels said, “We can bring it forth through your head.” ...And the angels said, “We can bring it forth through your feet.” And the prophet said. “I walked with Moses on the mountain, and it will not come forth from there.” And the angels said, “We can cast it forth through the tips of your toe nails.” And the prophet said, “My feet walked in the sanctuary.” And the angels departed unsuccessful, saying, “Lord, we cannot receive his soul.” Then he said to his only begotten son, “Go down, my beloved son, with a numerous host of angels, taking the soul of my beloved Ezra.” For the Lord, having taken a numerous army of many angels, said to the prophet, “Give me that deposit which I entrusted to you, The crown is readied for you.” And the prophet said, “Lord, if you take my soul from me, who will you have left to plead on behalf of the race of men?” And God said, “You who are mortal and earthly, do not plead the cast with me.” And the prophet said, “I shall never cease pleading.” And God said, “Give, in the mean while, that which is entrusted to you. The crown is readied for you. Come here, die, so that you may attain it.” Then the prophet began to speak with tears, “O Lord, what profits it that I be consumed by worms. Bewail me, all holy and pious ones, I plead greatly and am delivered over to death! Bewail me, all holy and just ones, because I have entered the bowl of Hades.”
Chapter seven
Soul and body
And God said to him, “Hear, Ezra my beloved one. I, being immortal, received a cross, I tasted vinegar and gall, O was set down in a grave. And I raised up my elect ones and I summoned up Adam and Hades so that the race of men ... Therefore, fear not death. For that which is from me, that is the soul, departs for heaven. That which is from the earth, that is the body, departs for the earth from which it was taken.? And the prophet said, “Woe, woe! What shall I do? How shall I act? I know not.”
Concluding prayer
And then the blessed Ezra began to say, “O eternal God, Creator of the whole creation, who measured out the heaven with a span and contained the earth in his hand, who drives the cherubim, who took the prophet Elijah to the heavens in a fiery chariot, who gives nurture to all flesh, whom all things fear and tremble from the face of your power, hear me who pleads greatly and give to all who copy this book and preserve it and recall my name and preserve my memory fully, give them blessing from heaven. And bless all of his things, just as the ends of Joseph. And remember not his previous sins on the day of his judgment. Those who do not believe this book will be burned like Sodom and Gomorrah.” And a voice came to him saying, “Ezra, my beloved, I shall grant to each one the things which you asked.”
Death and burial of Ezra
And at once he gave over his precious soul with much honor on the eighteenth of the month of October. And they buried him with incense and psalms. His precious and holy body provides unceasingly strengthening of souls and bodies for those who approach him willingly.
Doxology
Glory, might, honor, and worship to him for whom it is fitting, for the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always and forever and ever. Amen.
VISION OF THE BLESSED EZRA
The Vision of Ezra is an ancient apocryphal text, claiming to have been written by the biblical Ezra. The earliest surviving manuscripts, composed in Latin, date to the 11th Century AD, though textual peculiarities strongly suggest that the text was originally written in Greek. Like the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra, the work is clearly Christian, and features several apostles being seen in heaven. However, the text is significantly shorter than the Apocalypse. The text has a strong dependence on 2 Esdras, an earlier Apocalypse, and portrays God as answering the prayer of Ezra to have courage by sending him seven angels to show him heaven. In the Latin Vision of Esdras, the holy beloved prophet walks down three floors or 72 steps and is shown hell. When arriving in hell, a soul approaches Esdras and says your coming here has granted us some respite. From there he is taken to the fourth underworld where the sinners are shown hanging by their eyelashes.The righteous he sees in heaven are portrayed as passing through a vast scene of flames, and fire-breathing lions, unharmed. The wicked are also seen to be in heaven, but are quickly ripped apart by vicious dogs, and burnt in the fire. Ezra is told by a nearby angel that the crimes of the wicked were that "they denied the Lord, and sinned with women on the Lord’s Day".
Ezra prayed to the Lord, saying “Grant me courage, O Lord, that I might not fear when I see the judgments of the sinners.” And there were granted to him seven angels of hell who carried him beyond the seventieth grade in the infernal regions. And he saw fiery gates, and at these gates he saw two lions lying there from whose mouth and nostrils and eyes proceeded the most powerful flames. The most powerful men were entering and passing through the fire, and it did not touch them. And Ezra said, “Who are they, who advance so safely?” The angels said to him, “They are the just whose repute has ascended to heaven, who gave alms generously, clothed the naked, and desired a good desire.”
And others were entering that they might pass through the gates, and dogs were ripping them apart and fire was consuming them. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” The angels said, “They denied the Lord, and sinned with women on the Lord’s Day.” And Ezra said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!”
And they lad him lower beyond the fiftieth grade, and he saw in that place men standing in torments. Some were throwing fire in their faces, others, however, were whipping them with fiery scourges. And the earth cried aloud, saying, “Whip them and refuse to have mercy on them, because they worked impiety upon me.” And Ezra said, “Who are they, tho are in such torments daily?” The angels said, “They swelled with married women; the married women are those who adorned themselves not for their husbands, but that they might please others, desiring an evil desire.” Ezra said. “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!”
And again they brought him to the south, and he saw a fire, and poor ones and also women hanging, and angels were whipping them with fiery clubs. And Ezra said, “Lord have mercy on the sinners! Who are they?” And the angels said, “They dwelled with their mothers, desiring an evil desire.” And Ezra said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!”
And they led him downward in the infernal regions, and he saw a caldron in which were sulfur and bitumen, and it was roiling just like the waves of the sea. And the just were entering, and in the midst of it they were walking over the fiery waves, praising greatly the name of the Lord, just like those who walk over dew of cold water. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” The angels said, “They are the ones who daily were making better confession before God and the holy priests, freely bringing alms and resisting sins.” And the sinners came, wishing to pass over, and the angels of hell came and submerged them in the fiery stream. And from the fire they cried out, saying, “Lord, have pity on us!” But he did not have pity. A voice was heard, but a body was not seen because of the fire and the anguish. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” The angels said, “They were brought down by lust all their days, they did not receive strangers, they did not give alms; they took unjustly the things of others for them selves; they had an evil desire; therefore, they are in anguish.” And Ezra said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!”
And he walked as before and he saw in an obscure place and immortal worm, its magnitude he was not able to reckon. And in front of its mouth stood many sinners, and when it drew a breath, like flies they entered into its mouth; then when it exhaled, they all exited a different color. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” And they said. “They were full of every bad thing and they went about without confession or penitence.”
And he saw a person witting on a fiery throne, and his counselors stood around him in the fire, and they served him from the fire and out of every side. And Ezra said, “Who is that?” And the angels said, “That man, whose name is Herod, was king for a long time, who, in Bethlehem of Judea, slew the infant males on account of the Lord.” And Ezra said, “Lord judge a right judgment!”
And he walked and saw men who were bound and the angels of hell were pricking their eyes with thorns. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” The angels said, “They showed strange paths to those wandering.” Ezra said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!” And he saw virgins with five-hundred-pound neck irons on, as if near death, coming to the west. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” And the angels said, “They violated their virginity before marriage.” And there was a multitude of old men, lying prostrate, and over them molten iron and lead being poured. And he said, “Who are they?” And the angels said, “They are the doctors of the Law who confuses baptism and the law of the Lord, because they were teaching with words, but they did not spur on to work; and in this they are judged.? And Ezra said, “Lord have mercy on the sinners!”
And he saw visions of a furnace, against the setting sun, burning with great fire, into which were sent many kings and princes of this world; and many thousands of poor people were accusing them and saying, “They, through their power. Wounded us and dragged free men into servitude.” And he saw another furnace, burning with pitch and sulfur, into which sons were cast who acted wretchedly at the hands of their parents and caused injury by means of their mouth. And he saw in a most obscure place another furnace burning, into which many women were cast. And he said, “Who are they?” And the angels said, “They had sons in adultery and killed them” And those little ones themselves accused them, saying, “Lord, the souls which you gave to us these women took away.” And he said, “Who are they?” And the angels said, “They killed their sons.” And Ezra said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!"
Then Michael and Gabriel came and said to him, “Come into heaven!” And Ezra said, “As my Lord lives, I may not come until; I see every judgment of sinners.” And they led him downward in to the infernal regions beyond the fourteenth level. And he saw lions and little dogs lying around fiery flames. And the just came through them and they crossed over into Paradise. And he saw many thousands of the just and their habitations were the most splendid of any time.
And after he saw this, he was lifted up into heaven, and he came to a multitude of angels, and they said to him, “Pray to the Lord for the sinners,” And they put him down within the sight of the Lord. And he said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!” And the Lord said, “Ezra, let them receive according to their works.” And Ezra said, “Lord, you have shown more clemency to the animals. Which eat the grass and have not returned you praise, than to us; they die and have no sin; however, you torture us, living and dead.” Sand the Lord said, “In my image I have formed man and I have commanded that they not sin and they sinned; therefore they are in torments. And the elect are those who go into eternal rest on account of confession, penitence, and largesse in almsgiving.” And Ezra said, “Lord, what do the just do in order that they may not enter into judgment?” And the Lord said to him “just as the servant who performed well for his master will receive liberty, so too will the just in the kingdom of heaven.”
Ezra prayed to the Lord, saying “Grant me courage, O Lord, that I might not fear when I see the judgments of the sinners.” And there were granted to him seven angels of hell who carried him beyond the seventieth grade in the infernal regions. And he saw fiery gates, and at these gates he saw two lions lying there from whose mouth and nostrils and eyes proceeded the most powerful flames. The most powerful men were entering and passing through the fire, and it did not touch them. And Ezra said, “Who are they, who advance so safely?” The angels said to him, “They are the just whose repute has ascended to heaven, who gave alms generously, clothed the naked, and desired a good desire.”
And others were entering that they might pass through the gates, and dogs were ripping them apart and fire was consuming them. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” The angels said, “They denied the Lord, and sinned with women on the Lord’s Day.” And Ezra said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!”
And they lad him lower beyond the fiftieth grade, and he saw in that place men standing in torments. Some were throwing fire in their faces, others, however, were whipping them with fiery scourges. And the earth cried aloud, saying, “Whip them and refuse to have mercy on them, because they worked impiety upon me.” And Ezra said, “Who are they, tho are in such torments daily?” The angels said, “They swelled with married women; the married women are those who adorned themselves not for their husbands, but that they might please others, desiring an evil desire.” Ezra said. “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!”
And again they brought him to the south, and he saw a fire, and poor ones and also women hanging, and angels were whipping them with fiery clubs. And Ezra said, “Lord have mercy on the sinners! Who are they?” And the angels said, “They dwelled with their mothers, desiring an evil desire.” And Ezra said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!”
And they led him downward in the infernal regions, and he saw a caldron in which were sulfur and bitumen, and it was roiling just like the waves of the sea. And the just were entering, and in the midst of it they were walking over the fiery waves, praising greatly the name of the Lord, just like those who walk over dew of cold water. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” The angels said, “They are the ones who daily were making better confession before God and the holy priests, freely bringing alms and resisting sins.” And the sinners came, wishing to pass over, and the angels of hell came and submerged them in the fiery stream. And from the fire they cried out, saying, “Lord, have pity on us!” But he did not have pity. A voice was heard, but a body was not seen because of the fire and the anguish. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” The angels said, “They were brought down by lust all their days, they did not receive strangers, they did not give alms; they took unjustly the things of others for them selves; they had an evil desire; therefore, they are in anguish.” And Ezra said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!”
And he walked as before and he saw in an obscure place and immortal worm, its magnitude he was not able to reckon. And in front of its mouth stood many sinners, and when it drew a breath, like flies they entered into its mouth; then when it exhaled, they all exited a different color. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” And they said. “They were full of every bad thing and they went about without confession or penitence.”
And he saw a person witting on a fiery throne, and his counselors stood around him in the fire, and they served him from the fire and out of every side. And Ezra said, “Who is that?” And the angels said, “That man, whose name is Herod, was king for a long time, who, in Bethlehem of Judea, slew the infant males on account of the Lord.” And Ezra said, “Lord judge a right judgment!”
And he walked and saw men who were bound and the angels of hell were pricking their eyes with thorns. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” The angels said, “They showed strange paths to those wandering.” Ezra said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!” And he saw virgins with five-hundred-pound neck irons on, as if near death, coming to the west. And Ezra said, “Who are they?” And the angels said, “They violated their virginity before marriage.” And there was a multitude of old men, lying prostrate, and over them molten iron and lead being poured. And he said, “Who are they?” And the angels said, “They are the doctors of the Law who confuses baptism and the law of the Lord, because they were teaching with words, but they did not spur on to work; and in this they are judged.? And Ezra said, “Lord have mercy on the sinners!”
And he saw visions of a furnace, against the setting sun, burning with great fire, into which were sent many kings and princes of this world; and many thousands of poor people were accusing them and saying, “They, through their power. Wounded us and dragged free men into servitude.” And he saw another furnace, burning with pitch and sulfur, into which sons were cast who acted wretchedly at the hands of their parents and caused injury by means of their mouth. And he saw in a most obscure place another furnace burning, into which many women were cast. And he said, “Who are they?” And the angels said, “They had sons in adultery and killed them” And those little ones themselves accused them, saying, “Lord, the souls which you gave to us these women took away.” And he said, “Who are they?” And the angels said, “They killed their sons.” And Ezra said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!"
Then Michael and Gabriel came and said to him, “Come into heaven!” And Ezra said, “As my Lord lives, I may not come until; I see every judgment of sinners.” And they led him downward in to the infernal regions beyond the fourteenth level. And he saw lions and little dogs lying around fiery flames. And the just came through them and they crossed over into Paradise. And he saw many thousands of the just and their habitations were the most splendid of any time.
And after he saw this, he was lifted up into heaven, and he came to a multitude of angels, and they said to him, “Pray to the Lord for the sinners,” And they put him down within the sight of the Lord. And he said, “Lord, have mercy on the sinners!” And the Lord said, “Ezra, let them receive according to their works.” And Ezra said, “Lord, you have shown more clemency to the animals. Which eat the grass and have not returned you praise, than to us; they die and have no sin; however, you torture us, living and dead.” Sand the Lord said, “In my image I have formed man and I have commanded that they not sin and they sinned; therefore they are in torments. And the elect are those who go into eternal rest on account of confession, penitence, and largesse in almsgiving.” And Ezra said, “Lord, what do the just do in order that they may not enter into judgment?” And the Lord said to him “just as the servant who performed well for his master will receive liberty, so too will the just in the kingdom of heaven.”
The Revelation of Ezra
|
|
The Story and History of Adam and Eve, the Protoplasts, Revealed by God to Moses His Servant, When He Received the Tablets of the Law from His Hand, Having Been Instructed By the Archangel Michael
The Apocalypse of Moses (literally, the Revelation of Moses) is the usual name for the Greek version of the Life of Adam and Eve. This title was given to it by Tischendorf, its first editor, and taken up by others. In the text, Moses is referred to only in the first sentence as the prophet to whom the story was revealed. The Greek Apocalypse of Moses (not to be confused with the Assumption of Moses) is usually considered to predate the Latin Life of Adam and Eve. Tischendorf used four manuscripts for his edition: A, the heavily Christian-interpolated B, manuscript C, and manuscript D, which has probably the best text. During the 20th century many other manuscripts have been found, of which E1 and E2, which are similar to the Armenian version, merit special mention.
May the Lord be praised.
1.1 This is the story of Adam and Eve after they had gone out of Paradise.
1.2 And Adam took his wife Eve and went to the east and abode there eighteen years and two months.
1.3 And Eve conceived and bore two sons; Adiophotos, who is called Cain and Amilabes who is called Abel.
2.1 And after this, Adam and Eve were with one another and while they were sleeping, Eve said to Adam her lord:
2.2 "My lord, Adam, behold, I have seen in a dream this night the blood of my son Amilabes who is styled Abel being poured into the mouth of Cain his brother and he went on drinking it without mercy. But he begged him to leave a little of it.
2.3 Yet he hearkened not to him, but gulped it down completely; nor did it stay in his stomach, but came out of his mouth.
2.4 And Adam said, "Let us arise and go and see what has happened to them. I fear lest the adversary may be assailing them somewhere."
3.1 And they both went and found Abel murdered by the hand of Cain his brother.
3.2 And God said to Michael the archangel: "Say to Adam: 'Reveal not the mystery that you know to Cain your son, for he is a son of wrath. But do not be sad, for I will give you another son instead of him ; he shall show to you all that you shall do. Do not tell him anything.'"
3.3 Thus God spoke to his archangel. But Adam kept the word in his heart, and with him also was Eve, though they were sad concerning Abel their son.
4.1 And after this, Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Seth.
4.2 And Adam said to Eve: "Behold! we have begotten a son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed, let us give glory and sacrifice to God."
5.1 And Adam begat thirty sons and thirty daughters and Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years; and he fell sick and cried with a loud voice and said, "Let all my sons come to me that I may see them before I die."
5.2 And all assembled, for the earth was divided into three parts.
5.3 And Seth his son said to him: "Father Adam, what is you pain?"
5.4 And he said, "My children, I am crushed by the burden of pain." And they said to him, "What is pain, what is illness?"
6.1 And Seth answered and said to him: "Did you remember, father, the fruit of paradise of which you used to eat, and have you become sad in yearning for it?"
6.2 "If this be so, tell me, and I will go and bring you fruit from paradise. For I will set dung upon my head and will weep and pray that the Lord will hearken to me and send his angel and bring me some fruit from paradise, and I will bring it you that your pain may cease from you."
6.3 Adam said to him: "Nay, my son Seth, but I have much sickness and pain!" Seth said to him: "And how has this come upon you?"
7.1 And Adam said to him: "When God made us, me and your mother, through whom also I die, he gave us power to eat of every tree which is in paradise, but, concerning that one only, He charged us not to eat of it, and through this one we are to die.
7.2 And the hour drew near for the angels who were guarding your mother to go up and worship the Lord, And the enemy gave it to her and she ate from the tree. You know that I was not near her nor the holy angels.
7.3 Then she gave also to me to eat.
8.1 And God was angry with us, and the Lord came into paradise and set up his throne and called me in a terrible voice and said: "Adam, where art you? And why do you hide from my face? Shall the house be able to hide itself from its builder?"
8.2 And he said to me: "Since you have abandoned my covenant, I have brought upon your body seventy-two strokes; first a stroke to the eyes, second a stroke to the hearing, and likewise in turn strokes shall follow upon all parts of the body."
9.1 As he said this to his sons, Adam groaned sore and said: "What shall I do? I am in great distress."
9.2 And Eve wept and said: "My lord Adam, rise up and give me half of your pain and I will endure it; for it is on my account that this has happened to you, on my account you have these troubles."
9.3 But Adam said to Eve, "Arise and go with my son Seth near to paradise, and put earth upon your heads and weep and pray God
9.4 to have mercy upon me and send his angel to paradise, and give me of the tree out of which the oil flows, and bring it me, and I shall anoint myself and shall have rest from my illness.
9.5 And I will show you the way in which we were deceived at first."
10.1 Then Seth and Eve went to area of paradise. And while they were going, Eve saw her son, and a wild beast assailing him,
10.2 and Eve wept and said: "Woe is me; if I come to the day of the Resurrection, all those who have sinned will curse me saying: 'Eve has not kept the commandment of God.'"
10.3 And she spoke to the beast: "You wicked beast, Do you not fear to fight with the image of God ? How was your mouth opened ? How were your teeth made strong? How did you not call to mind your subjection? For long ago you were made subject to the image of God."
11.1 Then the beast cried out and said: "It is not our concern, Eve, your greed and your wailing, but your own; for it is from you that the rule of the beasts has arisen.
11.2 How was your mouth opened to eat of the tree concerning which God commanded you not to eat of it? On this account, our nature also has been transformed.
11.3 Now therefore you cannot endure it, if I begin to reprove you."
12.1 Then Seth spoke to the beast, "Close your mouth and be silent and stand off from the image of God until the day of Judgment."
12.2 Then the beast said to Seth: "Behold, I stand off from the image of God." And the beast fled and left him wounded and went to his hut.
13.1 And Seth went with Eve near paradise, and they wept there praying to God to send his angel and give them the oil of mercy.
13.2 And God sent the archangel Michael and he said to Seth: "Seth, man of God, weary not yourself with prayers and entreaties concerning the tree which flowed with oil to anoint your father Adam.
13.3 For it shall not be your now, but in the end of the times. Then shall all flesh be raised up from Adam till that great day, all that shall be of the holy people.
13.4 Then shall the delights of paradise be given to them and God shall be in their midst.
13.5 And they shall no longer sin before his face, for the evil heart shall be taken from them and there shall be given them a heart understanding the good and to serve God only.
13.6 But do go back to your father since the term of his life is filled in three days, and when his soul goes forth you will see its awesome ascent."
14.1 After the angel said these things it left them. And Seth and Eve came to the hut where Adam was lying.
14.2 And Adam said to Eve: "O Eve, What have you done to us? You have brought great wrath upon us which is death which will rule over our entire race."
14.3 And Adam said to Eve: "Call all our children and the children of our children and tell them the manner of our transgression."
15.1 Then said Eve to them: "Hear all my children and children's children and I will relate to you how the enemy deceived us.
15.2 It befell that we were guarding paradise, each of us the portion allotted to us from God. Now I guarded in my lot, the west and the south.
15.3 But the devil went to Adam's lot, where the male creatures were. For God divided the creatures; all the males he gave to your father and all the females he gave to me. Each of us guarded his own portion.
16.1 And the devil spoke to the serpent saying, "Rise up, come to me and I will tell you a word whereby you may have profit." And he arose and came to him.
16.2 And the devil said to him: "I hear that you art wiser than all the beasts, and I have come to counsel you.
16.3 Why do you eat of the tares of Adam and his wife and not of paradise? Rise up and we will cause him to be cast out of paradise, even as we were cast out through him."
16.4 The serpent said to him, "I fear lest the Lord be wroth with me." The devil said to him: "Fear not, only be my vessel and I will speak through your mouth words to deceive them."
17.1 And instantly he hung himself from the wall of paradise, and when the angels ascended to worship God, then Satan appeared in the form of an angel and sang hymns like the angels.
17.2 And he bent over the wall and I saw him, like an angel. And he said to me: "Are you Eve? "And I said to him, "I am."
17.3 And he said to me, "What art you doing in paradise?" And I said to him, "God set us to guard and to eat of it."
17.4 The devil answered through the mouth of the serpent: "You do well but you do not eat of every plant."
17.5 And I said: "Yea, we eat of all, save one only, which is in the middle of paradise, concerning which, God charged us not to eat of it, for, you shall die the death."
18.1 Then the serpent said to me, "As God lives! I am grieved on your account that you are like animals, for I would not have you ignorant. But arise, come hither, hearken to me and eat and perceive the value of that tree."
18.2 But I said to him, "I fear lest God be angry with me as he told us."
18.3 And he said to me: "Fear not, for as soon as you eat of it, you too shall be as gods, in that you shall know what is good and what is evil.
18.4 But God knew that you would be like Him, so he envied you and said, 'You shall not eat of it.'
18.5 But, do give heed to the plant and you will see its great glory." I gave heed to the plant and saw it great glory. I said to him that it was pleasing to the eyes.
18.6 Yet I feared to take of the fruit. And he said to me: "Come hither, and I will give it you. Follow me."
19.1 And I opened it for him and he entered paradise and went before me. He walked a little way, then turned and said to me: "I have changed my mind and I will not give you to eat." These things he said wishing to trap me in the end. And he said to me: "If you swear to me that you will give also to your husband."
19.2 And I said, "I do not know what sort of oath I should swear to you? Yet what I know, I say to you: By the throne of the Master, and by the Cherubim and the Tree of Life, I will give also to my husband to eat."
19.3 And when he had received the oath from me, he came and entered and placed upon the fruit the poison of his wickedness -- which is the sense of desire, for it is the beginning of every sin -- and he bent the branch on the earth and I took of the fruit and I ate.
20.1 And in that very hour my eyes were opened, and forthwith I knew that I was naked of the righteousness with which I had been clothed upon, and I wept and said to him: "Why have you done this that you has deprived me of the glory with which I was clothed?" But God knew that you would. But I wept also about the oath, which I had sworn. But he descended from the tree and vanished. And I began to seek, in my nakedness, in my part for leaves to hide my shame, but I found none, for, as soon as I had eaten, the leaves showered down from all the trees in my part, except the fig-tree only.
20.5 I took leaves from it and made for myself a girdle and it was from the same plant of which I had eaten.
21.1 And I cried out in that very hour, "Adam, Adam, where are you? Rise up, come to me and I will show you a great mystery."
21.2 But when your father came, I spoke to him words of transgression which have brought us down from our great glory.
21.3 For, when he came, I opened my mouth and the devil was speaking, and I began to exhort him and said, "Come hither, my lord Adam, hearken to me and eat of the fruit of the tree of which God told us not to eat of it, and you shall be as a God."
21.4 And your father answered and said, "I fear lest God be angry with me. "And I said to him, "Fear not, for as soon as you have eaten you shall know good and evil."
21.5 And speedily I persuaded him, and he ate and his eyes were opened and he too knew his nakedness.
21.6 And to me he said, "O wicked woman! what have you done to us? You have deprived me of the glory of God."
22.1 And in that same hour, we heard the archangel Michael blowing with his trumpet and calling to the angels and saying:
22.2 "Thus says the Lord, Come with me to paradise and hear the judgment with which I shall judge Adam." And when we heard the archangel sound the trumpet we said, "Behold God is coming into paradise to judge us." We feared and we hid.
22.3 And God came into paradise, mounted on the chariot of his cherubim with the angels proceeding before him and singing hymns of praises. As God entered paradise, the plants of Adam's portion flowered but all mine were bereft of flowers.
22.4 And the throne of God was fixed where the Tree of Life was.
23.1 And God called Adam saying, "Adam, where are you? Do you think that I won't find you? Can the house be hidden from the presence of its builder?"
23.2 Then your father answered; "It is not because we think we can't be found by you, Lord, that we hide, but I was afraid, because I am naked, and I was ashamed before your might, my Master."
23.3 God said to him, "Who showed you that you are naked, unless you has forsaken my commandment, which I delivered you to keep it."
23.4 Then Adam remembered the word which I spoke to him when I wished to deceive him "I will make you secure before God ";
23.5 and he turned and said to me: "Why have you done this?" And I said, "The serpent deceived me."
24.1 God said to Adam: "Since you transgressed my commandment and hearkened to your wife, cursed is the earth on your account.
24.2 You shall work it and it shall not give its strength: thorns and thistles shall spring up for you and in the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread. You shall be in manifold toils and you shall not rest; you shall be crushed by bitterness, but of sweetness you shall not taste.
24.3 You shall be crushed from toils and constrained by cold. You shall struggle greatly and not become rich and you shall grow fat, but come to no end.
24.4 The beasts, over whom you ruled, shall rise up in rebellion against you, for you have not kept my commandment."
25.1 And the Lord turned to me and said: "Since you has hearkened to the serpent, and transgressed my commandment, you shall suffer torments and intolerable pains;
25.2 you shall bear children in much trembling and in one hour you shall come to the birth, and lose your life, from your sore trouble and anguish.
25.3 But you shall confess and say: "Lord, Lord, save me, and I will turn no more to the sin of the flesh." But even another time you shall so turn.
25.4 And on this account, from your own words I will judge you, by reason of the enmity which the enemy has planted in you. And you shall return again to your husband and he will rule over you."
26.1 After he said these things to me, he spoke to the serpent in great wrath saying: "Since you has done this, and become a thankless vessel until you has deceived the innocent hearts, be cursed more than all beasts.
26.2 You shall be deprived of the food which you ate and you shall eat dust all the days of your life; on your breast and your belly you shall walk and be robbed of hands and feet.
26.3 There shall not be left you ear nor wing, nor one limb of all that with which you ensnared them in your malice and so caused them to be cast out of paradise;
26.4 and I will put enmity between you and their seed: he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise the heel of that one until the day of Judgment."
27.1 After saying these things he commanded the angels to cast us out of paradise:
27.2 and as we were being driven out amid our loud lamentations, your father Adam besought the angels and said: "Leave me a little space that I may entreat the Lord that he have compassion on me and pity me, for I only have sinned."
27.3 And they left off driving him and Adam cried aloud and wept saying: "Pardon me, O Lord, my deed."
27.4 Then the Lord said to the angels, "Why have you ceased from driving Adam from paradise? Is it I who have done wrong? Or have I judged badly? "
27.5 Then the angels fell down on the ground and worshiped the Lord saying, "You are just, O Lord, and you judge righteously ."
28.1 But the Lord turned to Adam and said: "I will not suffer you henceforward to be in paradise."
28.2 And Adam answered and said, "Grant me, O Lord, of the Tree of Life that I may eat of it, before I be cast out."
28.3 Then the Lord said to Adam, "You shall not take of it now, for the cherubim with the flaming sword that turns every way has been stationed to guard it from you that you taste not of it and lived without death forever;
28.4 but you have the war which the adversary has put into you; yet when you have gone out of paradise, if you keep yourself from all evil, as one wishing to die, when again the Resurrection has come to pass, I will raise you up and then there shall be given to you from the Tree of Life and you will be without death forever."
29.1 When the Lord had said these things he ordered us to be cast out of paradise.
29.2 But your father Adam wept before the angels opposite paradise and the angels said to him: "What would you have us to do, Adam?"
29.3 And your father said to them, "Behold, you cast me out. I pray you, allow me to take away fragrant herbs from paradise, so that I may offer an offering to God after I have gone out of paradise that he hear me."
29.4 And the angels approached God and said: "JAEL, Eternal King, command, my Lord, that there be given to Adam incense of sweet odor from paradise."
29.5 And God commanded it to be so for Adam that he might take sweet spices and seeds for his food.
29.6 And as the angels let him go he took four kinds: crocus and nard and calamus and cinnamon and the other seeds for his food: and, after taking these, he went out of paradise. And we were on the earth.
29.7 And we grieved for seven days and after seven days we grew hungry and I said to Adam: "Rise and give some thought to food that we might eat and live and so that we do not die. Let us get up and circle the earth perhaps God will hear us." We arose and went about the entire earth but we did not find food.
29.8 And I answered and said to Adam: "Rise, O Lord and destroy me that I might cease from before you and from before God and the angels and so that they might cease their anger toward you on my account."
29.9 Then Adam answered and said to me, "For what reason do you call to mind this evil that I could commit murder and impose death upon my rib. How could I lift a hand against the image of God which he made? Rather let us repent for forty days so that God may have mercy on us and give to us better food than the animals.
29.10 I will do forty days of penitence whereas you shall do 34 days for you were not made on the sixth day when God made his creation. Arise and go to the Tigris river and take a stone and put it under your feet and stand there covered in the water up to your neck and let not a word come from your mouth for we are not worthy and our lips are unclean."
29.11 Adam went to the Jordan river and the hair of his head was spread out as he prayed in the water. And he cried in a loud voice saying: "I say to the waters of the Jordan stand still and pray with me even all the beasts, all the birds, and all which creeps on the land and the sea." And all the angels and all things made by God circled Adam like a wall around him and cried while praying to God on behalf of Adam so that God might hearken to him.
29.12 But the devil, not finding a place with respect to Adam, came to the Tigris river to me. And assuming the form of an angel he stood before me weeping and his tears flowed upon the ground. And he said to me, "Come forth from the water and cease your crying, for God has heard your request because even we, the angels, and all things made by him, have beseeched God on your behalf.
29.13 And when he said these things, the enemy deceived me a second time. And I came out of the water.
30.1 Now then, my children, I have shown you the way in which we were deceived; and do guard yourselves from transgressing against the good."
31.1 And when Eve had said this in the midst of her sons, while Adam was lying ill and had one more day from the sickness prior to his going from his body.
31.2 Eve said to Adam: "How is it that you die and I live or how long have I to live after you are dead? Tell me."
31.3 And Adam said to her: "Give no thought to this, for you will not tarry long after me, but both of us are to die together. And as to this one he shall set her in my place. But when I die, anoint me and let no man touch me till the angel shall says something concerning me.
31.4 For God will not forget me, but will seek the vessel he made. Now, arise, and pray to God until I give up my soul, which he gave me, into His hands. For we know not how we are to meet our Maker, whether He will be angry with us, or will turn to show mercy on us."
32.1 And Eve rose up and went outside and fell on the ground and said:
32.2 "I have sinned, O God, I have sinned, O Father of All, I have sinned against You. I have sinned against your elect angels. I have sinned against the Cherubim. I have sinned against Your unshakable Throne. I have sinned, o Lord, I have greatly sinned, I have sinned before You and all sin has begun through my doing in the creation."
32.3 Even as Eve prayed on her knees behold, the angel of humanity came to her, and raised her up and said:
32.4 "Rise up, Eve, from your penitence, for behold, Adam your husband has gone out of his body. Rise up and behold his spirit borne aloft to meet his Maker."
33.1 And Eve rose up and put her hand on the face of Adam, and the angel said to her, "Lift up your hand from that which is of the earth."
33.2 And she gazed steadfastly into heaven, and beheld a chariot of light, borne by four bright eagles, and it was impossible for any man born of woman to tell the glory of them or behold their faces and angels going before the chariots
33.3 and when they came to the place where your father Adam was, the chariot halted and the Seraphim were between the father and the chariot.
33.4 And I beheld golden censers and three bowls, and behold all the angels with censers and frankincense came in haste to the incense-offering and blew upon it and the smoke of the incense veiled the firmament.
33.5 And the angels fell down to God, crying aloud and saying, "JAEL, Holy One, have pardon, for he is Your image, and the work of Your holy hands."
34.1 And then I Eve beheld two great and fearful mysteries before the presence of God and I wept for fear, and I cried aloud to my son Seth and said,
34.2 "Rise up, Seth, from the body of your father Adam, and come to me, and see a spectacle which no man's eye has yet beheld and how they supplicate on behalf of your father, Adam."
35.1 Then Seth arose and came to his mother and said to her: "Why do you weep?"
35.2 And she said to him: "Look up and see with your eyes the seven heavens opened, and see how the body of your father lies on its face and all the holy angels are praying on his behalf and saying: 'Pardon him, Father of All, for he is Your image.'"
35.3 Pray, my child Seth, what shall this mean? And will he one day be delivered into the hands of our Invisible God?
35.4 But who are, my son Seth, the two Ethiopians who stand by at the prayers for your father?"
36.1 And Seth said to his mother, "They are the sun and moon and themselves fall down and pray on behalf of my father Adam."
36.2 Eve said to him: "And where is their light and why have they taken on such a black appearance? "
36.3 And Seth answered her, "The light has not left them, but they cannot shine before the Light of all things, the Father of Light; and on this account their light has been hidden."
37.1 Now while Seth was saying this to his mother, behold, an angel blew the trumpet, and all the angels who were lying on their faces rose up, and they cried aloud in an fearsome voice and said:
37.2 "Blessed be the glory of the Lord from the works of His making, for He has pitied Adam, the creature of His hands."
37.3 But when the angels had said these words, behold, there came one of the seraphim with six wings and snatched up Adam and carried him off to the Acherusian lake, and washed him thrice, and led him before God.
37.4 And he stayed there three hours, lying down, and thereafter the Father of all, sitting on his holy throne stretched out his hand, and took Adam and handed him over to the archangel Michael saying:
37.5 "Lift him up into paradise unto the third Heaven, and leave him there until that fearful day of my reckoning, which I will make in the world."
37.6 Then Michael took Adam and left him where God told him. And all the angels sang an angelic hymn being amazed at the pardoning of Adam.
38.1 But after this joyous event of Adam, the archangel Michael cried to the Father concerning Adam.
38.2 And the Father commanded him that all the angels should assemble before God, each in his order, some having censers in their hands, and others lyres, bowls and trumpets.
38.3 And behold, the Lord of Hosts entered and four winds drew Him and cherubim mounted on the winds and the angels from heaven escorting Him and they came on the earth, where was the body of Adam.
38.4 And they came to paradise and all the leaves of paradise were stirred so that all men begotten of Adam slept from the fragrance save Seth alone, because he was born according to the appointment of God.
39.1 And God came to the body of Adam and grieved greatly over him and God said to him: "Adam, what is this you done? Had you kept my commandment, those who born you down to this place would not have rejoiced.
39.2 Yet, I tell you that I will turn their joy to grief and your grief will I turn to joy, and I will return you to your rule, and seat you on the throne of your deceiver.
39.3 But that one the one who sat on it prior to his becoming arrogant shall be cast into this place that he may see you seated upon it. Then he himself shall be condemned along with those who obeyed him and he shall grieve when he see you sitting upon his throne.
40.1 Then God said to the archangel Michael: "Go away to Paradise in the third heaven, and carry away three fine linen clothes."
40.2 And God said to Michael and to Gabriel and Uriel: "Spread out the clothes and cover the body of Adam." And they bore the sweet olive oil and poured it upon him. And the three great angels prepared him for burial.
40.3 When they finished preparing Adam, God said they should bear the body of Abel also. And they brought more linen and prepared him for burial.
40.4 For he was unburied since the day when Cain his brother slew him; for Cain took great pains to conceal him but could not, for the body sprang up from the earth and a voice went out of the earth saying:
40.5 "No other body can be covered until --with respect to the first creature who was taken from me -- the earth from which he was taken is returned to me." And the angels took at that moment and put him upon a rock until Adam, his father, was buried.
40.6 And God commanded that after they had prepared the body of Abel for burial that they bear Abel up also to the area of paradise, to the spot where God had taken the earth and fashioned Adam. And God made them dig the spot for two.
40.7 And God sent seven angels to paradise and they brought many fragrant spices and placed them in the earth, and afterward they took the two bodies and placed them in the spot which they had dug and built a sepulcher.
41.1 And God called and said, "Adam, Adam. "And the body answered from the earth and said: "Here am I, Lord."
41.2 And God said to him: "I told you that earth you are and to earth shall you return.
41.3 Again I promise to you the Resurrection; I will raise you up in the Resurrection with every man, who is of your seed."
42.1 After these words, God made a three-fold seal and sealed the tomb, that no one might do anything to him for six days till his rib should return to him.
42.2 Then the Lord and his angels went to their place.
42.3 And Eve also, when the six days were fulfilled, fell asleep. But while she was living, she wept bitterly about Adam's falling asleep, for she knew not where he was laid. For when the Lord came to paradise to bury Adam all were asleep until he finished the burial of Adam except Seth alone. And no one knew this on the earth, except her son Seth.
42.4 And Eve prayed while weeping that she might be buried in the place where her husband Adam was. And after she had finished her prayer, she said:
42.5 "Lord, Master, God of all virtue, do not alienate me from the body of Adam, from whose members you made me.
42.6 But deem me worthy, even me who is unworthy and a sinner, to enter into his tabernacle. Just as I was with him in paradise, both of us not being separated from the other;
42.7 just as in our transgression, we were both led astray and transgressed your command, but were not separated, even so now, o Lord, do not separate us."
42.8 But after she had prayed, she gazed heavenwards and groaned aloud and smote her breast and said: "God of All, receive my spirit," and she delivered up her spirit.
43.1 And Michael came and taught Seth how to prepare Eve for burial. And there came three angels and they bore her body and buried it where Adam and Abel's bodies were.
43.2 And afterwards Michael spoke to Seth saying; "Lay out in this manner every man that dies until the day of the Resurrection."
43.3 And after giving him this rule he said: "Mourn not beyond six days, but on the seventh day, rest and rejoice on it, because on that very day, God and we the angels rejoice with the righteous soul, who has passed away from the earth."
43.4 After the angel said these things he ascended into heaven, glorifying God and saying: "Allelujah, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father, Amen."
May the Lord be praised.
1.1 This is the story of Adam and Eve after they had gone out of Paradise.
1.2 And Adam took his wife Eve and went to the east and abode there eighteen years and two months.
1.3 And Eve conceived and bore two sons; Adiophotos, who is called Cain and Amilabes who is called Abel.
2.1 And after this, Adam and Eve were with one another and while they were sleeping, Eve said to Adam her lord:
2.2 "My lord, Adam, behold, I have seen in a dream this night the blood of my son Amilabes who is styled Abel being poured into the mouth of Cain his brother and he went on drinking it without mercy. But he begged him to leave a little of it.
2.3 Yet he hearkened not to him, but gulped it down completely; nor did it stay in his stomach, but came out of his mouth.
2.4 And Adam said, "Let us arise and go and see what has happened to them. I fear lest the adversary may be assailing them somewhere."
3.1 And they both went and found Abel murdered by the hand of Cain his brother.
3.2 And God said to Michael the archangel: "Say to Adam: 'Reveal not the mystery that you know to Cain your son, for he is a son of wrath. But do not be sad, for I will give you another son instead of him ; he shall show to you all that you shall do. Do not tell him anything.'"
3.3 Thus God spoke to his archangel. But Adam kept the word in his heart, and with him also was Eve, though they were sad concerning Abel their son.
4.1 And after this, Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Seth.
4.2 And Adam said to Eve: "Behold! we have begotten a son in place of Abel, whom Cain killed, let us give glory and sacrifice to God."
5.1 And Adam begat thirty sons and thirty daughters and Adam lived nine hundred and thirty years; and he fell sick and cried with a loud voice and said, "Let all my sons come to me that I may see them before I die."
5.2 And all assembled, for the earth was divided into three parts.
5.3 And Seth his son said to him: "Father Adam, what is you pain?"
5.4 And he said, "My children, I am crushed by the burden of pain." And they said to him, "What is pain, what is illness?"
6.1 And Seth answered and said to him: "Did you remember, father, the fruit of paradise of which you used to eat, and have you become sad in yearning for it?"
6.2 "If this be so, tell me, and I will go and bring you fruit from paradise. For I will set dung upon my head and will weep and pray that the Lord will hearken to me and send his angel and bring me some fruit from paradise, and I will bring it you that your pain may cease from you."
6.3 Adam said to him: "Nay, my son Seth, but I have much sickness and pain!" Seth said to him: "And how has this come upon you?"
7.1 And Adam said to him: "When God made us, me and your mother, through whom also I die, he gave us power to eat of every tree which is in paradise, but, concerning that one only, He charged us not to eat of it, and through this one we are to die.
7.2 And the hour drew near for the angels who were guarding your mother to go up and worship the Lord, And the enemy gave it to her and she ate from the tree. You know that I was not near her nor the holy angels.
7.3 Then she gave also to me to eat.
8.1 And God was angry with us, and the Lord came into paradise and set up his throne and called me in a terrible voice and said: "Adam, where art you? And why do you hide from my face? Shall the house be able to hide itself from its builder?"
8.2 And he said to me: "Since you have abandoned my covenant, I have brought upon your body seventy-two strokes; first a stroke to the eyes, second a stroke to the hearing, and likewise in turn strokes shall follow upon all parts of the body."
9.1 As he said this to his sons, Adam groaned sore and said: "What shall I do? I am in great distress."
9.2 And Eve wept and said: "My lord Adam, rise up and give me half of your pain and I will endure it; for it is on my account that this has happened to you, on my account you have these troubles."
9.3 But Adam said to Eve, "Arise and go with my son Seth near to paradise, and put earth upon your heads and weep and pray God
9.4 to have mercy upon me and send his angel to paradise, and give me of the tree out of which the oil flows, and bring it me, and I shall anoint myself and shall have rest from my illness.
9.5 And I will show you the way in which we were deceived at first."
10.1 Then Seth and Eve went to area of paradise. And while they were going, Eve saw her son, and a wild beast assailing him,
10.2 and Eve wept and said: "Woe is me; if I come to the day of the Resurrection, all those who have sinned will curse me saying: 'Eve has not kept the commandment of God.'"
10.3 And she spoke to the beast: "You wicked beast, Do you not fear to fight with the image of God ? How was your mouth opened ? How were your teeth made strong? How did you not call to mind your subjection? For long ago you were made subject to the image of God."
11.1 Then the beast cried out and said: "It is not our concern, Eve, your greed and your wailing, but your own; for it is from you that the rule of the beasts has arisen.
11.2 How was your mouth opened to eat of the tree concerning which God commanded you not to eat of it? On this account, our nature also has been transformed.
11.3 Now therefore you cannot endure it, if I begin to reprove you."
12.1 Then Seth spoke to the beast, "Close your mouth and be silent and stand off from the image of God until the day of Judgment."
12.2 Then the beast said to Seth: "Behold, I stand off from the image of God." And the beast fled and left him wounded and went to his hut.
13.1 And Seth went with Eve near paradise, and they wept there praying to God to send his angel and give them the oil of mercy.
13.2 And God sent the archangel Michael and he said to Seth: "Seth, man of God, weary not yourself with prayers and entreaties concerning the tree which flowed with oil to anoint your father Adam.
13.3 For it shall not be your now, but in the end of the times. Then shall all flesh be raised up from Adam till that great day, all that shall be of the holy people.
13.4 Then shall the delights of paradise be given to them and God shall be in their midst.
13.5 And they shall no longer sin before his face, for the evil heart shall be taken from them and there shall be given them a heart understanding the good and to serve God only.
13.6 But do go back to your father since the term of his life is filled in three days, and when his soul goes forth you will see its awesome ascent."
14.1 After the angel said these things it left them. And Seth and Eve came to the hut where Adam was lying.
14.2 And Adam said to Eve: "O Eve, What have you done to us? You have brought great wrath upon us which is death which will rule over our entire race."
14.3 And Adam said to Eve: "Call all our children and the children of our children and tell them the manner of our transgression."
15.1 Then said Eve to them: "Hear all my children and children's children and I will relate to you how the enemy deceived us.
15.2 It befell that we were guarding paradise, each of us the portion allotted to us from God. Now I guarded in my lot, the west and the south.
15.3 But the devil went to Adam's lot, where the male creatures were. For God divided the creatures; all the males he gave to your father and all the females he gave to me. Each of us guarded his own portion.
16.1 And the devil spoke to the serpent saying, "Rise up, come to me and I will tell you a word whereby you may have profit." And he arose and came to him.
16.2 And the devil said to him: "I hear that you art wiser than all the beasts, and I have come to counsel you.
16.3 Why do you eat of the tares of Adam and his wife and not of paradise? Rise up and we will cause him to be cast out of paradise, even as we were cast out through him."
16.4 The serpent said to him, "I fear lest the Lord be wroth with me." The devil said to him: "Fear not, only be my vessel and I will speak through your mouth words to deceive them."
17.1 And instantly he hung himself from the wall of paradise, and when the angels ascended to worship God, then Satan appeared in the form of an angel and sang hymns like the angels.
17.2 And he bent over the wall and I saw him, like an angel. And he said to me: "Are you Eve? "And I said to him, "I am."
17.3 And he said to me, "What art you doing in paradise?" And I said to him, "God set us to guard and to eat of it."
17.4 The devil answered through the mouth of the serpent: "You do well but you do not eat of every plant."
17.5 And I said: "Yea, we eat of all, save one only, which is in the middle of paradise, concerning which, God charged us not to eat of it, for, you shall die the death."
18.1 Then the serpent said to me, "As God lives! I am grieved on your account that you are like animals, for I would not have you ignorant. But arise, come hither, hearken to me and eat and perceive the value of that tree."
18.2 But I said to him, "I fear lest God be angry with me as he told us."
18.3 And he said to me: "Fear not, for as soon as you eat of it, you too shall be as gods, in that you shall know what is good and what is evil.
18.4 But God knew that you would be like Him, so he envied you and said, 'You shall not eat of it.'
18.5 But, do give heed to the plant and you will see its great glory." I gave heed to the plant and saw it great glory. I said to him that it was pleasing to the eyes.
18.6 Yet I feared to take of the fruit. And he said to me: "Come hither, and I will give it you. Follow me."
19.1 And I opened it for him and he entered paradise and went before me. He walked a little way, then turned and said to me: "I have changed my mind and I will not give you to eat." These things he said wishing to trap me in the end. And he said to me: "If you swear to me that you will give also to your husband."
19.2 And I said, "I do not know what sort of oath I should swear to you? Yet what I know, I say to you: By the throne of the Master, and by the Cherubim and the Tree of Life, I will give also to my husband to eat."
19.3 And when he had received the oath from me, he came and entered and placed upon the fruit the poison of his wickedness -- which is the sense of desire, for it is the beginning of every sin -- and he bent the branch on the earth and I took of the fruit and I ate.
20.1 And in that very hour my eyes were opened, and forthwith I knew that I was naked of the righteousness with which I had been clothed upon, and I wept and said to him: "Why have you done this that you has deprived me of the glory with which I was clothed?" But God knew that you would. But I wept also about the oath, which I had sworn. But he descended from the tree and vanished. And I began to seek, in my nakedness, in my part for leaves to hide my shame, but I found none, for, as soon as I had eaten, the leaves showered down from all the trees in my part, except the fig-tree only.
20.5 I took leaves from it and made for myself a girdle and it was from the same plant of which I had eaten.
21.1 And I cried out in that very hour, "Adam, Adam, where are you? Rise up, come to me and I will show you a great mystery."
21.2 But when your father came, I spoke to him words of transgression which have brought us down from our great glory.
21.3 For, when he came, I opened my mouth and the devil was speaking, and I began to exhort him and said, "Come hither, my lord Adam, hearken to me and eat of the fruit of the tree of which God told us not to eat of it, and you shall be as a God."
21.4 And your father answered and said, "I fear lest God be angry with me. "And I said to him, "Fear not, for as soon as you have eaten you shall know good and evil."
21.5 And speedily I persuaded him, and he ate and his eyes were opened and he too knew his nakedness.
21.6 And to me he said, "O wicked woman! what have you done to us? You have deprived me of the glory of God."
22.1 And in that same hour, we heard the archangel Michael blowing with his trumpet and calling to the angels and saying:
22.2 "Thus says the Lord, Come with me to paradise and hear the judgment with which I shall judge Adam." And when we heard the archangel sound the trumpet we said, "Behold God is coming into paradise to judge us." We feared and we hid.
22.3 And God came into paradise, mounted on the chariot of his cherubim with the angels proceeding before him and singing hymns of praises. As God entered paradise, the plants of Adam's portion flowered but all mine were bereft of flowers.
22.4 And the throne of God was fixed where the Tree of Life was.
23.1 And God called Adam saying, "Adam, where are you? Do you think that I won't find you? Can the house be hidden from the presence of its builder?"
23.2 Then your father answered; "It is not because we think we can't be found by you, Lord, that we hide, but I was afraid, because I am naked, and I was ashamed before your might, my Master."
23.3 God said to him, "Who showed you that you are naked, unless you has forsaken my commandment, which I delivered you to keep it."
23.4 Then Adam remembered the word which I spoke to him when I wished to deceive him "I will make you secure before God ";
23.5 and he turned and said to me: "Why have you done this?" And I said, "The serpent deceived me."
24.1 God said to Adam: "Since you transgressed my commandment and hearkened to your wife, cursed is the earth on your account.
24.2 You shall work it and it shall not give its strength: thorns and thistles shall spring up for you and in the sweat of your face you shall eat your bread. You shall be in manifold toils and you shall not rest; you shall be crushed by bitterness, but of sweetness you shall not taste.
24.3 You shall be crushed from toils and constrained by cold. You shall struggle greatly and not become rich and you shall grow fat, but come to no end.
24.4 The beasts, over whom you ruled, shall rise up in rebellion against you, for you have not kept my commandment."
25.1 And the Lord turned to me and said: "Since you has hearkened to the serpent, and transgressed my commandment, you shall suffer torments and intolerable pains;
25.2 you shall bear children in much trembling and in one hour you shall come to the birth, and lose your life, from your sore trouble and anguish.
25.3 But you shall confess and say: "Lord, Lord, save me, and I will turn no more to the sin of the flesh." But even another time you shall so turn.
25.4 And on this account, from your own words I will judge you, by reason of the enmity which the enemy has planted in you. And you shall return again to your husband and he will rule over you."
26.1 After he said these things to me, he spoke to the serpent in great wrath saying: "Since you has done this, and become a thankless vessel until you has deceived the innocent hearts, be cursed more than all beasts.
26.2 You shall be deprived of the food which you ate and you shall eat dust all the days of your life; on your breast and your belly you shall walk and be robbed of hands and feet.
26.3 There shall not be left you ear nor wing, nor one limb of all that with which you ensnared them in your malice and so caused them to be cast out of paradise;
26.4 and I will put enmity between you and their seed: he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise the heel of that one until the day of Judgment."
27.1 After saying these things he commanded the angels to cast us out of paradise:
27.2 and as we were being driven out amid our loud lamentations, your father Adam besought the angels and said: "Leave me a little space that I may entreat the Lord that he have compassion on me and pity me, for I only have sinned."
27.3 And they left off driving him and Adam cried aloud and wept saying: "Pardon me, O Lord, my deed."
27.4 Then the Lord said to the angels, "Why have you ceased from driving Adam from paradise? Is it I who have done wrong? Or have I judged badly? "
27.5 Then the angels fell down on the ground and worshiped the Lord saying, "You are just, O Lord, and you judge righteously ."
28.1 But the Lord turned to Adam and said: "I will not suffer you henceforward to be in paradise."
28.2 And Adam answered and said, "Grant me, O Lord, of the Tree of Life that I may eat of it, before I be cast out."
28.3 Then the Lord said to Adam, "You shall not take of it now, for the cherubim with the flaming sword that turns every way has been stationed to guard it from you that you taste not of it and lived without death forever;
28.4 but you have the war which the adversary has put into you; yet when you have gone out of paradise, if you keep yourself from all evil, as one wishing to die, when again the Resurrection has come to pass, I will raise you up and then there shall be given to you from the Tree of Life and you will be without death forever."
29.1 When the Lord had said these things he ordered us to be cast out of paradise.
29.2 But your father Adam wept before the angels opposite paradise and the angels said to him: "What would you have us to do, Adam?"
29.3 And your father said to them, "Behold, you cast me out. I pray you, allow me to take away fragrant herbs from paradise, so that I may offer an offering to God after I have gone out of paradise that he hear me."
29.4 And the angels approached God and said: "JAEL, Eternal King, command, my Lord, that there be given to Adam incense of sweet odor from paradise."
29.5 And God commanded it to be so for Adam that he might take sweet spices and seeds for his food.
29.6 And as the angels let him go he took four kinds: crocus and nard and calamus and cinnamon and the other seeds for his food: and, after taking these, he went out of paradise. And we were on the earth.
29.7 And we grieved for seven days and after seven days we grew hungry and I said to Adam: "Rise and give some thought to food that we might eat and live and so that we do not die. Let us get up and circle the earth perhaps God will hear us." We arose and went about the entire earth but we did not find food.
29.8 And I answered and said to Adam: "Rise, O Lord and destroy me that I might cease from before you and from before God and the angels and so that they might cease their anger toward you on my account."
29.9 Then Adam answered and said to me, "For what reason do you call to mind this evil that I could commit murder and impose death upon my rib. How could I lift a hand against the image of God which he made? Rather let us repent for forty days so that God may have mercy on us and give to us better food than the animals.
29.10 I will do forty days of penitence whereas you shall do 34 days for you were not made on the sixth day when God made his creation. Arise and go to the Tigris river and take a stone and put it under your feet and stand there covered in the water up to your neck and let not a word come from your mouth for we are not worthy and our lips are unclean."
29.11 Adam went to the Jordan river and the hair of his head was spread out as he prayed in the water. And he cried in a loud voice saying: "I say to the waters of the Jordan stand still and pray with me even all the beasts, all the birds, and all which creeps on the land and the sea." And all the angels and all things made by God circled Adam like a wall around him and cried while praying to God on behalf of Adam so that God might hearken to him.
29.12 But the devil, not finding a place with respect to Adam, came to the Tigris river to me. And assuming the form of an angel he stood before me weeping and his tears flowed upon the ground. And he said to me, "Come forth from the water and cease your crying, for God has heard your request because even we, the angels, and all things made by him, have beseeched God on your behalf.
29.13 And when he said these things, the enemy deceived me a second time. And I came out of the water.
30.1 Now then, my children, I have shown you the way in which we were deceived; and do guard yourselves from transgressing against the good."
31.1 And when Eve had said this in the midst of her sons, while Adam was lying ill and had one more day from the sickness prior to his going from his body.
31.2 Eve said to Adam: "How is it that you die and I live or how long have I to live after you are dead? Tell me."
31.3 And Adam said to her: "Give no thought to this, for you will not tarry long after me, but both of us are to die together. And as to this one he shall set her in my place. But when I die, anoint me and let no man touch me till the angel shall says something concerning me.
31.4 For God will not forget me, but will seek the vessel he made. Now, arise, and pray to God until I give up my soul, which he gave me, into His hands. For we know not how we are to meet our Maker, whether He will be angry with us, or will turn to show mercy on us."
32.1 And Eve rose up and went outside and fell on the ground and said:
32.2 "I have sinned, O God, I have sinned, O Father of All, I have sinned against You. I have sinned against your elect angels. I have sinned against the Cherubim. I have sinned against Your unshakable Throne. I have sinned, o Lord, I have greatly sinned, I have sinned before You and all sin has begun through my doing in the creation."
32.3 Even as Eve prayed on her knees behold, the angel of humanity came to her, and raised her up and said:
32.4 "Rise up, Eve, from your penitence, for behold, Adam your husband has gone out of his body. Rise up and behold his spirit borne aloft to meet his Maker."
33.1 And Eve rose up and put her hand on the face of Adam, and the angel said to her, "Lift up your hand from that which is of the earth."
33.2 And she gazed steadfastly into heaven, and beheld a chariot of light, borne by four bright eagles, and it was impossible for any man born of woman to tell the glory of them or behold their faces and angels going before the chariots
33.3 and when they came to the place where your father Adam was, the chariot halted and the Seraphim were between the father and the chariot.
33.4 And I beheld golden censers and three bowls, and behold all the angels with censers and frankincense came in haste to the incense-offering and blew upon it and the smoke of the incense veiled the firmament.
33.5 And the angels fell down to God, crying aloud and saying, "JAEL, Holy One, have pardon, for he is Your image, and the work of Your holy hands."
34.1 And then I Eve beheld two great and fearful mysteries before the presence of God and I wept for fear, and I cried aloud to my son Seth and said,
34.2 "Rise up, Seth, from the body of your father Adam, and come to me, and see a spectacle which no man's eye has yet beheld and how they supplicate on behalf of your father, Adam."
35.1 Then Seth arose and came to his mother and said to her: "Why do you weep?"
35.2 And she said to him: "Look up and see with your eyes the seven heavens opened, and see how the body of your father lies on its face and all the holy angels are praying on his behalf and saying: 'Pardon him, Father of All, for he is Your image.'"
35.3 Pray, my child Seth, what shall this mean? And will he one day be delivered into the hands of our Invisible God?
35.4 But who are, my son Seth, the two Ethiopians who stand by at the prayers for your father?"
36.1 And Seth said to his mother, "They are the sun and moon and themselves fall down and pray on behalf of my father Adam."
36.2 Eve said to him: "And where is their light and why have they taken on such a black appearance? "
36.3 And Seth answered her, "The light has not left them, but they cannot shine before the Light of all things, the Father of Light; and on this account their light has been hidden."
37.1 Now while Seth was saying this to his mother, behold, an angel blew the trumpet, and all the angels who were lying on their faces rose up, and they cried aloud in an fearsome voice and said:
37.2 "Blessed be the glory of the Lord from the works of His making, for He has pitied Adam, the creature of His hands."
37.3 But when the angels had said these words, behold, there came one of the seraphim with six wings and snatched up Adam and carried him off to the Acherusian lake, and washed him thrice, and led him before God.
37.4 And he stayed there three hours, lying down, and thereafter the Father of all, sitting on his holy throne stretched out his hand, and took Adam and handed him over to the archangel Michael saying:
37.5 "Lift him up into paradise unto the third Heaven, and leave him there until that fearful day of my reckoning, which I will make in the world."
37.6 Then Michael took Adam and left him where God told him. And all the angels sang an angelic hymn being amazed at the pardoning of Adam.
38.1 But after this joyous event of Adam, the archangel Michael cried to the Father concerning Adam.
38.2 And the Father commanded him that all the angels should assemble before God, each in his order, some having censers in their hands, and others lyres, bowls and trumpets.
38.3 And behold, the Lord of Hosts entered and four winds drew Him and cherubim mounted on the winds and the angels from heaven escorting Him and they came on the earth, where was the body of Adam.
38.4 And they came to paradise and all the leaves of paradise were stirred so that all men begotten of Adam slept from the fragrance save Seth alone, because he was born according to the appointment of God.
39.1 And God came to the body of Adam and grieved greatly over him and God said to him: "Adam, what is this you done? Had you kept my commandment, those who born you down to this place would not have rejoiced.
39.2 Yet, I tell you that I will turn their joy to grief and your grief will I turn to joy, and I will return you to your rule, and seat you on the throne of your deceiver.
39.3 But that one the one who sat on it prior to his becoming arrogant shall be cast into this place that he may see you seated upon it. Then he himself shall be condemned along with those who obeyed him and he shall grieve when he see you sitting upon his throne.
40.1 Then God said to the archangel Michael: "Go away to Paradise in the third heaven, and carry away three fine linen clothes."
40.2 And God said to Michael and to Gabriel and Uriel: "Spread out the clothes and cover the body of Adam." And they bore the sweet olive oil and poured it upon him. And the three great angels prepared him for burial.
40.3 When they finished preparing Adam, God said they should bear the body of Abel also. And they brought more linen and prepared him for burial.
40.4 For he was unburied since the day when Cain his brother slew him; for Cain took great pains to conceal him but could not, for the body sprang up from the earth and a voice went out of the earth saying:
40.5 "No other body can be covered until --with respect to the first creature who was taken from me -- the earth from which he was taken is returned to me." And the angels took at that moment and put him upon a rock until Adam, his father, was buried.
40.6 And God commanded that after they had prepared the body of Abel for burial that they bear Abel up also to the area of paradise, to the spot where God had taken the earth and fashioned Adam. And God made them dig the spot for two.
40.7 And God sent seven angels to paradise and they brought many fragrant spices and placed them in the earth, and afterward they took the two bodies and placed them in the spot which they had dug and built a sepulcher.
41.1 And God called and said, "Adam, Adam. "And the body answered from the earth and said: "Here am I, Lord."
41.2 And God said to him: "I told you that earth you are and to earth shall you return.
41.3 Again I promise to you the Resurrection; I will raise you up in the Resurrection with every man, who is of your seed."
42.1 After these words, God made a three-fold seal and sealed the tomb, that no one might do anything to him for six days till his rib should return to him.
42.2 Then the Lord and his angels went to their place.
42.3 And Eve also, when the six days were fulfilled, fell asleep. But while she was living, she wept bitterly about Adam's falling asleep, for she knew not where he was laid. For when the Lord came to paradise to bury Adam all were asleep until he finished the burial of Adam except Seth alone. And no one knew this on the earth, except her son Seth.
42.4 And Eve prayed while weeping that she might be buried in the place where her husband Adam was. And after she had finished her prayer, she said:
42.5 "Lord, Master, God of all virtue, do not alienate me from the body of Adam, from whose members you made me.
42.6 But deem me worthy, even me who is unworthy and a sinner, to enter into his tabernacle. Just as I was with him in paradise, both of us not being separated from the other;
42.7 just as in our transgression, we were both led astray and transgressed your command, but were not separated, even so now, o Lord, do not separate us."
42.8 But after she had prayed, she gazed heavenwards and groaned aloud and smote her breast and said: "God of All, receive my spirit," and she delivered up her spirit.
43.1 And Michael came and taught Seth how to prepare Eve for burial. And there came three angels and they bore her body and buried it where Adam and Abel's bodies were.
43.2 And afterwards Michael spoke to Seth saying; "Lay out in this manner every man that dies until the day of the Resurrection."
43.3 And after giving him this rule he said: "Mourn not beyond six days, but on the seventh day, rest and rejoice on it, because on that very day, God and we the angels rejoice with the righteous soul, who has passed away from the earth."
43.4 After the angel said these things he ascended into heaven, glorifying God and saying: "Allelujah, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord, to the glory of God the Father, Amen."
The Apocalypse of Elijah
The Apocalypse of Elijah is an anonymous apocryphal work presenting itself as a revelation given by an angel. Two versions are known today, a Coptic Christian fragmentary version and a Hebrew Jewish version. The title derives from mentions of Elijah within the text, although there is no other reason to assume that he is meant to be the author. This apocalypse is mentioned in the Apostolic Constitutions, the List of Sixty Books, the Synopsis of Pseudo-Athanasius, the Stichometry of Nicephorus, and the Armenian list of Mechithar. Origen, Ambrosiaster, and Euthalius ascribe I Cor. 2:9 to it: “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” If they are right, the apocalypse is pre-Pauline. The peculiar form in which this quotation appears appears in Clement of Alexandria, Protrepticus x. 94, and the Apostolic Constitutions vii. 32, shows that both have the same source, probably this apocalypse. Epiphanius ascribes to this work Eph. 5:14: “Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” The Christian version is essentially a redaction of five originally separate works: A treatise on fasting and prayer. A prophecy concerning the Assyrians, of events that had actually already happened by the time the text was written. The kings mentioned within the section have not been identified with certainty. An account of the future arrival of a son of lawlessness, later re-edited by a Christian to refer to the Antichrist. It describes the Antichrist/son-of-lawlessness in detail, including mentioning that his eyebrows will reach to his ears, he is skinny legged, young but bald bar a tuft of grey hair at the front, and that he has a bare spot on the front of his hands. An account of martyrdoms of Elijah and Enoch (based on the death of the two witnesses in Revelation), the martyrdom of Tabitha (from the Book of Acts), and sixty other men. An account of the destruction of the son of lawlessness after the last judgment, later re-edited by a Christian to refer to the Antichrist.
I
1. The word of the LORD came to me saying, "Son of man, say to his people, 'why do you add sin to your sins and anger the Lord God who created you?'"
2. Don't love the world or the things which are in the world, for the boasting of the world and its destruction belong to the devil.
3. Remember that the Lord of glory, Who created everything, had mercy upon you so that He might save us from the captivity of this age.
4. For many times the devil desired not to let the sun rise above the earth and not to let the earth yield fruit, since he desires to consume men like a fire which rages in stubble, and he desires to swallow them like water.
5. Therefore, on account of this, the God of glory had mercy upon us, and He sent His Son to the world so that He might save us from the captivity.
6. He did not inform an angel or an archangel or any principality when He was about to come to us, but He changed Himself to be like a man when He was about to come to us so that He might save use from flesh.
7. Therefore become sons to Him since He is a father to you.
8. Remember that He has prepared thrones and crowns for you in heaven, saying, "Everyone who will obey Me will receive thrones and crowns among those who are Mine."
9. The Lord said, "I will write My name upon their forehead and I will seal their right hand, and they will not hunger or thirst.
10. Neither will the son of lawlessness prevail over them, nor will the thrones hinder them, but they will walk with the angels up to My city."
11. Now as for the sinners, they will be shamed and they will not pass by the thrones, but the thrones of death will seize them and rule over them because the angels will not agree with them.
12. They have alienated themselves from His dwellings.
13. Hear, O wise men of the land, concerning the deceivers who will multiply in the last times so that they will set down for themselves doctrines which do not belong to God, setting aside the Law of God, those who have made their belly their God, saying, "The fast does not exist, nor did God create it," making themselves strangers to the covenant of God and robbing themselves of the glorious promises.
14. Now these are not ever correctly established in the firm faith. Therefore don't let those people lead you astray.
15. Remember that from the time when He created the heavens, the Lord created the fast for a benefit to men on account of the passions and desires which fight against you so that the evil will not inflame you.
16. "But it is a pure fast which I have created," said the Lord.
17. The one who fasts continually will not sin although jealousy and strife are within him.
18. Let the pure one fast, but whenever the one who fasts is not pure he has angered the Lord and also the angels.
19. And he has grieved his soul, gathering up wrath for himself for the day of wrath.
20. But a pure fast is what I created, with a pure heart and pure hands.
21. It releases sin. It heals diseases. It casts out demons.
22. It is effective up to the throne of God for an ointment and for a release from sin by means of a pure prayer.
23. Who among you, if he is honored in his craft, will go forth to the field without a tool in his hand? Or who will go forth to the battle to fight without a breastplate on?
24. If he is found, will he not be killed because he despised the service of the king?
25. Likewise no one is able to enter the holy place if he is double minded.
26. The one who is double minded in his prayer is darkness to himself. And even the angels do not trust him.
27. Therefore be single-minded in the Lord at all times so that you might know every moment.
II
1. Furthermore, concerning the kings of Assyria and the dissolution of the heaven and the earth and the things beneath the earth.
2. "Now therefore those who are Mine will not be overcome" says the Lord, "nor will they fear in the battle."
3. When they see a king who rises in the north, who will be called "the king of Assyria" and "the king of injustice," he will increase his battles and his disturbances against Egypt.
4. The land will groan together because your children will be seized.
5. Many will desire death in those days, but death will flee from them.
6. And a king who will be called "the king of peace" will rise up in the west.
7. He will run upon the sea like a roaring lion.
8. He will kill the king of injustice, and he will take vengeance on Egypt with battles and much bloodshed.
9. It will come to pass in those days that he will command a peace and a vain gift in Egypt.
10. He will give peace to these who are holy, saying, "The name of God is one."
11. He will give honors to the saints and an exalting to the places of the saints.
12. He will give vain gifts to the house of God.
13. He will wander around in the cities of Egypt with guile, without their knowing.
14. He will take count of the holy places. He will weigh the idols of the heathen. He will take count of their wealth. He will establish priests for them.
15. He will command that the wise men and the great ones of the people be seized, and they will be brought to the metropolis which is by the sea, saying, "There is but one language."
16. But when you hear, "Peace and joy exist," I will . . .
17. Now I will tell you his signs so that you might know him.
18. For he has two sons: one on his right and one on his left.
19. The one on his right will receive a demonic face, and he will fight against the name of God.
20. Now four kings will descend from that king.
21. In his thirtieth year he will come up to Memphis, and he will build a temple in Memphis.
22. On that day his own son will rise up against him and kill him.
23. The whole land will be disturbed.
24. On that day he will issue an order over the whole land so that the priests of the land and all of the saints will be seized, saying, "You will repay doubly every gift and all of the good things which my father gave to you."
25. He will shut up the holy places. He will take their houses. He will take their sons prisoner.
26. He will order and sacrifices and abominations and bitter evils will be done in the land.
27. He will appear before the sun and the moon.
28. On that day the priests of the land will tear their clothes.
29. Woe to you, O rulers of Egypt, in those days because your day has passed.
30. The violence being done to the poor will turn against you, and your children will be seized as plunder.
31. In those days the cities of Egypt will groan for the voice of the one who sells and the one who buys will not be heard. The markets of the cities of Egypt will become dusty.
32. Those who are in Egypt will weep together. They will desire death, but death will flee and leave them.
33. In those days, they will run up to the rocks and leap off, saying, "Fall upon us." And still they will not die.
34. A double affliction will multiply upon the whole land.
35. In those days, the king will command, and all the nursing women will be seized and brought to him bound. They will suckle serpents. And their blood will be drawn from their breasts, and it will be applied as poison to the arrows.
36. On account of their distress of the cities, he will command again, and all the young lads from twelve years and under will be seized and presented in order to teach them to shoot arrows.
37. The midwife who is upon the earth will grieve. The woman who has given birth will lift her eyes to heaven, saying, "Why did I sit upon the birth-stool, to bring forth a son to the earth?"
38. The barren woman and the virgin will rejoice, saying, "It is our time to rejoice, because we have no child upon the earth, but our children are in heaven."
39. In those days, three kings will arise among the Persians, and they will take captive the Jews who are in Egypt. They will bring them to Jerusalem, and the will inhabit it and dwell there.
40. Then when you hear that there is security in Jerusalem, tear you garments, O priests of the land, because the son of perdition will soon come.
41. In those days, the lawless one will appear in the holy places.
42. In those days the kings of the Persians will hasten and they will stand to fight with the kings of Assyria. Four kings will fight with three.
43. They will spend three years in that place until they carry off the wealth of the temple which is in that place.
44. In those days, blood will flow from Kos to Memphis. The river of Egypt will become blood, and they will not be able to drink from it for three days.
45. Woe to Egypt and those who are in it.
46. In those days, a king will arise in the city which is called "the city of the sun," and the whole land will be disturbed. He will flee to Memphis with the Persians.
47. In the sixth year, the Persian kings will plot an ambush in Memphis. They will kill the Assyrian king.
48. The Persians will take vengeance on the land, and they will command to kill all the heathen and the lawless ones. They will command to build the temples of the saints.
49. They will give double gifts to the house of God. They will say, "The name of God is one."
50. The whole land will hail the Persians.
51. Even the remnant, who did not die under the afflictions, will say, "The Lord has sent us a righteous king so that the land will not become a desert"
52. He will command that no royal matter be presented for three years and six months. The land will be full of good in an abundant well-being.
53. Those who are alive will go to those who are dead, saying, "Rise up and be with us in this rest."
III
1. In the fourth year of that king, the son of lawlessness will appear, saying, "I am the Christ," although he is not. Don't believe him!
2. When the Christ comes, He will come in the manner of a covey of doves with the crown of doves surrounding Him. He will walk upon the heaven's vaults with the sign of the cross leading Him.
3. The whole world will behold Him like the sun which shines from the eastern horizon to the western.
4. This is how He will come, with all his angels surrounding Him.
5. But the son of lawlessness will begin to stand again in the holy places.
6. He will say to the sun, "Fall," and it will fall. He will say, "Shine," and it will do it. He will say, "Darken," and it will do it.
7. He will say to the moon, "Become bloody," and it will do it.
8. He will go forth with them from the sky. He will walk upon the sea and the rivers as upon dry land.
9. He will cause the lame to walk. He will cause the deaf to hear. He will cause the dumb to speak. He will cause the blind to see.
10. The lepers he will cleanse. The ill he will heal. The demons he will cast out.
11. He will multiply his signs and his wonders in the presence of everyone.
12. He will do the works which the Christ did, except for raising the dead alone.
13. In this you will know that he is the son of lawlessness, because he is unable to give life.
14. For behold I will tell you his signs so that you might know him.
15. He is a . . . of a skinny-legged young lad, having a tuft of gray hair at the front of his bald head. His eyebrows will reach to his ears. There is a leprous bare spot on the front of his hands.
16. He will transform himself in the presence of those who see him. He will become a young child. He will become old.
17. He will transform himself in every sign. But the signs of his head will not be able to change.
18. Therein you will know that he is the son of lawlessness.
IV
1. The virgin, whose name is Tabitha, will hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy places. And she will put on her garment of fine linen.
2. And she will pursue him up to Judea, scolding him up to Jerusalem, saying, "O shameless one, O son of lawlessness, O you who have been hostile to all the saints.
3. Then the shameless one will be angry at the virgin. He will pursue her up to the regions of the sunset. He will suck her blood in the evening.
4. And he will cast her upon the temple, and she will become a healing for the people.
5. She will rise up at dawn. And she will live and scold him, saying, "O shameless one, you have no power against my soul or my body, because I live in the Lord always.
6. And also my blood which you have cast upon the temple has become a healing for the people."
7. Then when Elijah and Enoch hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy place, they will come down and fight with him saying,
8. Are you indeed not ashamed? When you attach yourself to the saints, because you are always estranged.
9. You have been hostile to those who belong to heaven. You have acted against those belonging to the earth.
10. You have been hostile to the thrones. You have acted against the angels. You are always a stranger.
11. You have fallen from heaven like the morning stars. You were changed, and your tribe became dark for you.
12. But you are not ashamed, when you stand firmly against God you are a devil.
13. The shameless one will hear and he will be angry, and he will fight with them in the market place of the great city. And he will spend seven days fighting with them.
14. And they will spend three and one half days in the market place dead, while all the people see them.
15. But on the fourth day they will rise up and they will scold him saying. "O shameless one, O son of lawlessness. Are you indeed not ashamed of yourself since you are leading astray the people of God for whom you did not suffer? Do you not know that we live in the Lord?"
16. As the words were spoken, they prevailed over him, saying, "Furthermore, we will lay down before the flesh for the spirit, and we will kill you since you are unable to speak on that day because we are always strong in the Lord. But you are always hostile to God.
17. The shameless one will hear, and he will be angry and fight them.
18. And the whole city will surround them.
19. On that day they will shout up to heaven as they shine while all the people and all the world see them.
20. The son of lawlessness will not prevail over them. He will be angry at the land, and he will seek to sin against the people.
21. He will pursue all of the saints. They and the priests of the land will be brought back bound.
22. He will kill them and destroy them . . . them. And their eyes will be removed with iron spikes.
23. He will remove their skin from their heads. He will remove their nails one by one. He will command that vinegar and lime be put in their nose.
24. Now those who are unable to bear up under the tortures of that king will take gold and flee over the fords to the desert places. They will lie down as one who sleeps.
25. The Lord will receive their spirits and their souls to Himself.
26. Their flesh will petrify. No wild animals will eat them until the last day of the great judgment.
27. And they will rise up and find a place of rest. But they will not be in the kingdom of the Christ as those who have endured because the Lord said, "I will grant to them that they sit on my right hand."
28. They will receive favor over others, and they will triumph over the son of lawlessness. And they will witness the dissolution of heaven and earth.
29. They will receive the thrones of glory and the crowns.
30. The sixty righteous ones who are prepared for this hour will hear.
31. And they will gird on the breastplate of the LORD, and they will run to Jerusalem and fight with the shameless one, saying, "All powers which the prophets have done from the beginning you have done. But you were unable to raise the dead because you have no power to give life. Therein we have known that you are the son of lawlessness."
32. He will hear, and he will be angry and command to kindle altars.
33. And the righteous ones will be bound. They will be lifted up and burned.
V
1. And on that day the heart of many will harden and they will flee from him, saying, "This is not the Christ. The Christ does not kill the righteous. He does not pursue men so that he might seek them, but He persuades them with signs and wonders."
2. On that day the Christ will pity those who are His own. And He will send from heaven his sixty-four thousand angels, each of whom has six wings.
3. The sound will move heaven and earth when they give praise and glorify.
4. Now those upon whose forehead the name of Christ is written and upon whose hand is the seal both the small and the great, will be taken up upon their wings and lifted up before his wrath.
5. Then Gabriel and Uriel will become a pillar of light leading them into the holy land.
6. It will be granted to them to eat from the tree of life. They will wear white garments . . . and angels will watch over them. They will not thirst, nor will the son of lawlessness be able to prevail over them.
7. And on that day the earth will be disturbed, and the sun will darken, and peace will be removed from the earth.
8. The birds will fall on the earth, dead.
9. The earth will be dry. The waters of the sea will dry up.
10. The sinners will groan upon the earth saying, "What have you done to us, O son of lawlessness, saying I am the Christ, when you are the devil?
11. You are unable to save yourself so that you might save us. You produced signs in our presence until you alienated us from the Christ who created us. Woe to us because we listened to you.
12. Lo now we will die in a famine. Where indeed is now the trace of a righteous one and we will worship him, or where indeed is the one who will teach us and we will appeal to him.
13. Now indeed we will be wrathfully destroyed because we disobeyed the LORD.
14. We went to the deep places of the sea, and we did not find water. We dug in the rivers and papyrus reeds, and we did not find water."
15. Then on that day, the shameless one will speak, saying, "Woe to me because my time has passed by for me while I was saying that my time would not pass by for me.
16. My years became months and my days have passed away as dust passes away. Now therefore I will perish together with you.
17. Now therefore run forth to the desert. Seize the robbers and kill them.
18. Bring up the saints. For because of them, the earth yields fruit. For because of them the sun shines upon the earth. For because of them the dew will come upon the earth."
19. The sinners will weep saying, "You made us hostile to the LORD. If you are able, rise up and pursue them."
20. Then he will take his fiery wings and fly out after the saints. He will fight with them again.
21. The angels will hear and come down. They will fight with him a battle of many swords.
22. It will come to pass on that day that the Lord will hear and command the heaven and the earth with great wrath. And they will send for fire.
23. And the fire will prevail over the earth seventy-two cubits. It will consume the sinners and the devils like stubble.
24. A true judgment will occur.
25. On that day, the mountains and the earth will utter speech. The byways will speak with one another, saying, "Have you heard today the voice of a man who walks who has not come to the judgment of the Son of the LORD."
26. The sins of each one will stand against him in the place where they were committed, whether those of the day or of the night.
27. Those who belong to the righteous and . . . will see the sinners and those who persecuted them and those who handed them over to death in their torments.
28. Then the sinners in torment will see the place of the righteous.
29. And thus grace will occur. In those days, that which the righteous will ask for many times will be given to them.
30. On that day, the LORD will judge the heaven and the earth. He will judge those who transgressed in heaven, and those who did so on earth.
31. He will judge the shepherds of the people. He will ask about the flock of sheep, and they will be given to Him, without any deadly guile existing in them.
32. After these things, Elijah and Enoch will come down. They will lay down the flesh of the world, and they will receive their spiritual flesh. They will pursue the son of lawlessness and kill him since he is not able to speak.
33. On that day, he will dissolve in their presence like ice which was dissolved by a fire. He will perish like a serpent which has no breath in it.
34. They will say to him, "Your time has passed by for you. Now therefore you wand those who believe you will perish."
35. They will be cast into the bottom of the abyss and it will be closed for them.
36. On that day, the Christ, the King and all His saints will come forth from heaven.
37. He will burn the earth. He will spend a thousand years upon it.
38. Because the sinners prevailed over it, He will create a new heaven and a new earth. No deadly devil will exist in them.
39. He will rule with His saints, ascending and descending, while they are always with the angels and they are with the Christ for a thousand years.
I
1. The word of the LORD came to me saying, "Son of man, say to his people, 'why do you add sin to your sins and anger the Lord God who created you?'"
2. Don't love the world or the things which are in the world, for the boasting of the world and its destruction belong to the devil.
3. Remember that the Lord of glory, Who created everything, had mercy upon you so that He might save us from the captivity of this age.
4. For many times the devil desired not to let the sun rise above the earth and not to let the earth yield fruit, since he desires to consume men like a fire which rages in stubble, and he desires to swallow them like water.
5. Therefore, on account of this, the God of glory had mercy upon us, and He sent His Son to the world so that He might save us from the captivity.
6. He did not inform an angel or an archangel or any principality when He was about to come to us, but He changed Himself to be like a man when He was about to come to us so that He might save use from flesh.
7. Therefore become sons to Him since He is a father to you.
8. Remember that He has prepared thrones and crowns for you in heaven, saying, "Everyone who will obey Me will receive thrones and crowns among those who are Mine."
9. The Lord said, "I will write My name upon their forehead and I will seal their right hand, and they will not hunger or thirst.
10. Neither will the son of lawlessness prevail over them, nor will the thrones hinder them, but they will walk with the angels up to My city."
11. Now as for the sinners, they will be shamed and they will not pass by the thrones, but the thrones of death will seize them and rule over them because the angels will not agree with them.
12. They have alienated themselves from His dwellings.
13. Hear, O wise men of the land, concerning the deceivers who will multiply in the last times so that they will set down for themselves doctrines which do not belong to God, setting aside the Law of God, those who have made their belly their God, saying, "The fast does not exist, nor did God create it," making themselves strangers to the covenant of God and robbing themselves of the glorious promises.
14. Now these are not ever correctly established in the firm faith. Therefore don't let those people lead you astray.
15. Remember that from the time when He created the heavens, the Lord created the fast for a benefit to men on account of the passions and desires which fight against you so that the evil will not inflame you.
16. "But it is a pure fast which I have created," said the Lord.
17. The one who fasts continually will not sin although jealousy and strife are within him.
18. Let the pure one fast, but whenever the one who fasts is not pure he has angered the Lord and also the angels.
19. And he has grieved his soul, gathering up wrath for himself for the day of wrath.
20. But a pure fast is what I created, with a pure heart and pure hands.
21. It releases sin. It heals diseases. It casts out demons.
22. It is effective up to the throne of God for an ointment and for a release from sin by means of a pure prayer.
23. Who among you, if he is honored in his craft, will go forth to the field without a tool in his hand? Or who will go forth to the battle to fight without a breastplate on?
24. If he is found, will he not be killed because he despised the service of the king?
25. Likewise no one is able to enter the holy place if he is double minded.
26. The one who is double minded in his prayer is darkness to himself. And even the angels do not trust him.
27. Therefore be single-minded in the Lord at all times so that you might know every moment.
II
1. Furthermore, concerning the kings of Assyria and the dissolution of the heaven and the earth and the things beneath the earth.
2. "Now therefore those who are Mine will not be overcome" says the Lord, "nor will they fear in the battle."
3. When they see a king who rises in the north, who will be called "the king of Assyria" and "the king of injustice," he will increase his battles and his disturbances against Egypt.
4. The land will groan together because your children will be seized.
5. Many will desire death in those days, but death will flee from them.
6. And a king who will be called "the king of peace" will rise up in the west.
7. He will run upon the sea like a roaring lion.
8. He will kill the king of injustice, and he will take vengeance on Egypt with battles and much bloodshed.
9. It will come to pass in those days that he will command a peace and a vain gift in Egypt.
10. He will give peace to these who are holy, saying, "The name of God is one."
11. He will give honors to the saints and an exalting to the places of the saints.
12. He will give vain gifts to the house of God.
13. He will wander around in the cities of Egypt with guile, without their knowing.
14. He will take count of the holy places. He will weigh the idols of the heathen. He will take count of their wealth. He will establish priests for them.
15. He will command that the wise men and the great ones of the people be seized, and they will be brought to the metropolis which is by the sea, saying, "There is but one language."
16. But when you hear, "Peace and joy exist," I will . . .
17. Now I will tell you his signs so that you might know him.
18. For he has two sons: one on his right and one on his left.
19. The one on his right will receive a demonic face, and he will fight against the name of God.
20. Now four kings will descend from that king.
21. In his thirtieth year he will come up to Memphis, and he will build a temple in Memphis.
22. On that day his own son will rise up against him and kill him.
23. The whole land will be disturbed.
24. On that day he will issue an order over the whole land so that the priests of the land and all of the saints will be seized, saying, "You will repay doubly every gift and all of the good things which my father gave to you."
25. He will shut up the holy places. He will take their houses. He will take their sons prisoner.
26. He will order and sacrifices and abominations and bitter evils will be done in the land.
27. He will appear before the sun and the moon.
28. On that day the priests of the land will tear their clothes.
29. Woe to you, O rulers of Egypt, in those days because your day has passed.
30. The violence being done to the poor will turn against you, and your children will be seized as plunder.
31. In those days the cities of Egypt will groan for the voice of the one who sells and the one who buys will not be heard. The markets of the cities of Egypt will become dusty.
32. Those who are in Egypt will weep together. They will desire death, but death will flee and leave them.
33. In those days, they will run up to the rocks and leap off, saying, "Fall upon us." And still they will not die.
34. A double affliction will multiply upon the whole land.
35. In those days, the king will command, and all the nursing women will be seized and brought to him bound. They will suckle serpents. And their blood will be drawn from their breasts, and it will be applied as poison to the arrows.
36. On account of their distress of the cities, he will command again, and all the young lads from twelve years and under will be seized and presented in order to teach them to shoot arrows.
37. The midwife who is upon the earth will grieve. The woman who has given birth will lift her eyes to heaven, saying, "Why did I sit upon the birth-stool, to bring forth a son to the earth?"
38. The barren woman and the virgin will rejoice, saying, "It is our time to rejoice, because we have no child upon the earth, but our children are in heaven."
39. In those days, three kings will arise among the Persians, and they will take captive the Jews who are in Egypt. They will bring them to Jerusalem, and the will inhabit it and dwell there.
40. Then when you hear that there is security in Jerusalem, tear you garments, O priests of the land, because the son of perdition will soon come.
41. In those days, the lawless one will appear in the holy places.
42. In those days the kings of the Persians will hasten and they will stand to fight with the kings of Assyria. Four kings will fight with three.
43. They will spend three years in that place until they carry off the wealth of the temple which is in that place.
44. In those days, blood will flow from Kos to Memphis. The river of Egypt will become blood, and they will not be able to drink from it for three days.
45. Woe to Egypt and those who are in it.
46. In those days, a king will arise in the city which is called "the city of the sun," and the whole land will be disturbed. He will flee to Memphis with the Persians.
47. In the sixth year, the Persian kings will plot an ambush in Memphis. They will kill the Assyrian king.
48. The Persians will take vengeance on the land, and they will command to kill all the heathen and the lawless ones. They will command to build the temples of the saints.
49. They will give double gifts to the house of God. They will say, "The name of God is one."
50. The whole land will hail the Persians.
51. Even the remnant, who did not die under the afflictions, will say, "The Lord has sent us a righteous king so that the land will not become a desert"
52. He will command that no royal matter be presented for three years and six months. The land will be full of good in an abundant well-being.
53. Those who are alive will go to those who are dead, saying, "Rise up and be with us in this rest."
III
1. In the fourth year of that king, the son of lawlessness will appear, saying, "I am the Christ," although he is not. Don't believe him!
2. When the Christ comes, He will come in the manner of a covey of doves with the crown of doves surrounding Him. He will walk upon the heaven's vaults with the sign of the cross leading Him.
3. The whole world will behold Him like the sun which shines from the eastern horizon to the western.
4. This is how He will come, with all his angels surrounding Him.
5. But the son of lawlessness will begin to stand again in the holy places.
6. He will say to the sun, "Fall," and it will fall. He will say, "Shine," and it will do it. He will say, "Darken," and it will do it.
7. He will say to the moon, "Become bloody," and it will do it.
8. He will go forth with them from the sky. He will walk upon the sea and the rivers as upon dry land.
9. He will cause the lame to walk. He will cause the deaf to hear. He will cause the dumb to speak. He will cause the blind to see.
10. The lepers he will cleanse. The ill he will heal. The demons he will cast out.
11. He will multiply his signs and his wonders in the presence of everyone.
12. He will do the works which the Christ did, except for raising the dead alone.
13. In this you will know that he is the son of lawlessness, because he is unable to give life.
14. For behold I will tell you his signs so that you might know him.
15. He is a . . . of a skinny-legged young lad, having a tuft of gray hair at the front of his bald head. His eyebrows will reach to his ears. There is a leprous bare spot on the front of his hands.
16. He will transform himself in the presence of those who see him. He will become a young child. He will become old.
17. He will transform himself in every sign. But the signs of his head will not be able to change.
18. Therein you will know that he is the son of lawlessness.
IV
1. The virgin, whose name is Tabitha, will hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy places. And she will put on her garment of fine linen.
2. And she will pursue him up to Judea, scolding him up to Jerusalem, saying, "O shameless one, O son of lawlessness, O you who have been hostile to all the saints.
3. Then the shameless one will be angry at the virgin. He will pursue her up to the regions of the sunset. He will suck her blood in the evening.
4. And he will cast her upon the temple, and she will become a healing for the people.
5. She will rise up at dawn. And she will live and scold him, saying, "O shameless one, you have no power against my soul or my body, because I live in the Lord always.
6. And also my blood which you have cast upon the temple has become a healing for the people."
7. Then when Elijah and Enoch hear that the shameless one has revealed himself in the holy place, they will come down and fight with him saying,
8. Are you indeed not ashamed? When you attach yourself to the saints, because you are always estranged.
9. You have been hostile to those who belong to heaven. You have acted against those belonging to the earth.
10. You have been hostile to the thrones. You have acted against the angels. You are always a stranger.
11. You have fallen from heaven like the morning stars. You were changed, and your tribe became dark for you.
12. But you are not ashamed, when you stand firmly against God you are a devil.
13. The shameless one will hear and he will be angry, and he will fight with them in the market place of the great city. And he will spend seven days fighting with them.
14. And they will spend three and one half days in the market place dead, while all the people see them.
15. But on the fourth day they will rise up and they will scold him saying. "O shameless one, O son of lawlessness. Are you indeed not ashamed of yourself since you are leading astray the people of God for whom you did not suffer? Do you not know that we live in the Lord?"
16. As the words were spoken, they prevailed over him, saying, "Furthermore, we will lay down before the flesh for the spirit, and we will kill you since you are unable to speak on that day because we are always strong in the Lord. But you are always hostile to God.
17. The shameless one will hear, and he will be angry and fight them.
18. And the whole city will surround them.
19. On that day they will shout up to heaven as they shine while all the people and all the world see them.
20. The son of lawlessness will not prevail over them. He will be angry at the land, and he will seek to sin against the people.
21. He will pursue all of the saints. They and the priests of the land will be brought back bound.
22. He will kill them and destroy them . . . them. And their eyes will be removed with iron spikes.
23. He will remove their skin from their heads. He will remove their nails one by one. He will command that vinegar and lime be put in their nose.
24. Now those who are unable to bear up under the tortures of that king will take gold and flee over the fords to the desert places. They will lie down as one who sleeps.
25. The Lord will receive their spirits and their souls to Himself.
26. Their flesh will petrify. No wild animals will eat them until the last day of the great judgment.
27. And they will rise up and find a place of rest. But they will not be in the kingdom of the Christ as those who have endured because the Lord said, "I will grant to them that they sit on my right hand."
28. They will receive favor over others, and they will triumph over the son of lawlessness. And they will witness the dissolution of heaven and earth.
29. They will receive the thrones of glory and the crowns.
30. The sixty righteous ones who are prepared for this hour will hear.
31. And they will gird on the breastplate of the LORD, and they will run to Jerusalem and fight with the shameless one, saying, "All powers which the prophets have done from the beginning you have done. But you were unable to raise the dead because you have no power to give life. Therein we have known that you are the son of lawlessness."
32. He will hear, and he will be angry and command to kindle altars.
33. And the righteous ones will be bound. They will be lifted up and burned.
V
1. And on that day the heart of many will harden and they will flee from him, saying, "This is not the Christ. The Christ does not kill the righteous. He does not pursue men so that he might seek them, but He persuades them with signs and wonders."
2. On that day the Christ will pity those who are His own. And He will send from heaven his sixty-four thousand angels, each of whom has six wings.
3. The sound will move heaven and earth when they give praise and glorify.
4. Now those upon whose forehead the name of Christ is written and upon whose hand is the seal both the small and the great, will be taken up upon their wings and lifted up before his wrath.
5. Then Gabriel and Uriel will become a pillar of light leading them into the holy land.
6. It will be granted to them to eat from the tree of life. They will wear white garments . . . and angels will watch over them. They will not thirst, nor will the son of lawlessness be able to prevail over them.
7. And on that day the earth will be disturbed, and the sun will darken, and peace will be removed from the earth.
8. The birds will fall on the earth, dead.
9. The earth will be dry. The waters of the sea will dry up.
10. The sinners will groan upon the earth saying, "What have you done to us, O son of lawlessness, saying I am the Christ, when you are the devil?
11. You are unable to save yourself so that you might save us. You produced signs in our presence until you alienated us from the Christ who created us. Woe to us because we listened to you.
12. Lo now we will die in a famine. Where indeed is now the trace of a righteous one and we will worship him, or where indeed is the one who will teach us and we will appeal to him.
13. Now indeed we will be wrathfully destroyed because we disobeyed the LORD.
14. We went to the deep places of the sea, and we did not find water. We dug in the rivers and papyrus reeds, and we did not find water."
15. Then on that day, the shameless one will speak, saying, "Woe to me because my time has passed by for me while I was saying that my time would not pass by for me.
16. My years became months and my days have passed away as dust passes away. Now therefore I will perish together with you.
17. Now therefore run forth to the desert. Seize the robbers and kill them.
18. Bring up the saints. For because of them, the earth yields fruit. For because of them the sun shines upon the earth. For because of them the dew will come upon the earth."
19. The sinners will weep saying, "You made us hostile to the LORD. If you are able, rise up and pursue them."
20. Then he will take his fiery wings and fly out after the saints. He will fight with them again.
21. The angels will hear and come down. They will fight with him a battle of many swords.
22. It will come to pass on that day that the Lord will hear and command the heaven and the earth with great wrath. And they will send for fire.
23. And the fire will prevail over the earth seventy-two cubits. It will consume the sinners and the devils like stubble.
24. A true judgment will occur.
25. On that day, the mountains and the earth will utter speech. The byways will speak with one another, saying, "Have you heard today the voice of a man who walks who has not come to the judgment of the Son of the LORD."
26. The sins of each one will stand against him in the place where they were committed, whether those of the day or of the night.
27. Those who belong to the righteous and . . . will see the sinners and those who persecuted them and those who handed them over to death in their torments.
28. Then the sinners in torment will see the place of the righteous.
29. And thus grace will occur. In those days, that which the righteous will ask for many times will be given to them.
30. On that day, the LORD will judge the heaven and the earth. He will judge those who transgressed in heaven, and those who did so on earth.
31. He will judge the shepherds of the people. He will ask about the flock of sheep, and they will be given to Him, without any deadly guile existing in them.
32. After these things, Elijah and Enoch will come down. They will lay down the flesh of the world, and they will receive their spiritual flesh. They will pursue the son of lawlessness and kill him since he is not able to speak.
33. On that day, he will dissolve in their presence like ice which was dissolved by a fire. He will perish like a serpent which has no breath in it.
34. They will say to him, "Your time has passed by for you. Now therefore you wand those who believe you will perish."
35. They will be cast into the bottom of the abyss and it will be closed for them.
36. On that day, the Christ, the King and all His saints will come forth from heaven.
37. He will burn the earth. He will spend a thousand years upon it.
38. Because the sinners prevailed over it, He will create a new heaven and a new earth. No deadly devil will exist in them.
39. He will rule with His saints, ascending and descending, while they are always with the angels and they are with the Christ for a thousand years.
The Apocalypse of Daniel
The Greek Apocalypse of Daniel is a Christian pseudepigraphic text (one whose claimed authorship is unfounded) attributed to the Biblical Daniel and so associated with the Old Testament, but not regarded as scripture by Jews or any Christian group. The canonical Book of Daniel has much apocalyptic imagery, and this apocalyptic-style text deals with a similar subject. It was rediscovered and published at the end of 19th century. It shall not be confused with numerous other medieval works ascribed to Daniel or to Methodius, as the Syriac Apocalypse of Daniel of the seventh century, the Hebrew Apocalypse of Daniel of the twelfth century or the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius. The Apocalypse of Daniel has been written in Greek in the Byzantine Empire on about the early years of the ninth century CE. The original date of certain elements could be centuries earlier than that of the document as a whole. This text can be divided in two sections. The first one (chapters 1-7) predicts the Byzantine–Arab War of the eighth century and the enthronement of Charlemagne. The remaining chapters (8-14) describe the origin and personal characteristics of the Anti-Christ.
Chapter one
According to the God-spoken word which says: “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, plagues and deviations of stars. Then the bush which restrains the sons of Hagar will dry up. And three sons of Hagar will go forth in to great Babylonia whose names are Ouaches, and another Axiaphar, and the third Morphosar. And Ishmael will come down the region of the land of swift passage.
And he will come to Antioch, Cilicia, and Iberian Anatolia, the Thrakysan country and Smyrna and as far as the Seven-hilled city. And he will spill Roman blood. And another will come to the region of Persia and to the Galilean country, the Armenian border, and the city of Trebizond. And he will come to the region of the land of the Meropes. And he will massacre male children from two and three years old and younger. And he will consume them by the sword. And the third one will come down the regions of the north and Mesiaspolis and Synopolis, and Zalichos, the regions of Chrysiapetra, and the well-lit valley and Bithynia, and of Daphousia, Chrysioupolis, and Damoulion and as far as the Seven-hilled city.
********
Chapter two
And therefore all these will slaughter an infinite multitude of Romans from two and three years old and younger. And they will gather together toward the sea. And in their ships will be a myriad myriads. And there will be other infinite and innumerable multitudes. And in that place many will deny our Lord Jesus Christ and the holy gifts and will follow the apostates. And every sacrifice will cease from the churches. And the liturgy of God will be mocked. And the priests will be as laymen. And Ishmael will cry out with a great voice, boasting and saying, “Where is the God of the Romans? There is no one helping them, for we have defeated them completely.” For truly the three sons of Hagar will roar against the Romans. And they will cross over against the Seven-hilled city toward Byznatium. And conferring, they will say among themselves. “Come and let us make a bridge in the sea with boats and transport horses for ourselves to Byzantium, the Seven-hilled city.” But the rulers of the Romans, and the magnates of the Seven-hilled city will flee to the glens of the mountains. And there will be fear and affliction. And there will be much necessity of the mountains. And the people of the Seven-hilled city will be afflicted by the sword. Woe, woe then. How will the orthodox faith of the Christians and the invincible power of the honorable and life-giving cross be overcome?
********
Chapter three
But hear, brethren, that because of their iniquity God forbears. And the first will set up his couch across from Byzantium. And he will strike and they will be stricken. And then the rulers of the Romans blaspheme, saying, “Woe, woe, neither in heaven do we have a king nor on the earth.” And with this word the Lord will incline his mercy toward the Romans and toward their revenge and will repay justice to his enemies. And there will be a great sound from heaven and a fearful earthquake and a voice from the angel from heaven. And the Lord will incline his head and will set his fury against the sons of Hagar and upon the feet of Ishmael. And the Lord will lift up the cowardice of the Romans and put it into the hearts of Ishmael, and the courage of the Ishmaelites into the hearts of the Romans. And the Lord will raise up a king of the Romans, who people say is dead and useful for nothing, who people think died many years before. The Lord is reserving this man in the outer country of Persia. This is his name: that which begins with the letter K of the alphabet. And this man is coming to the Seven-hilled city toward the evening. And he will prepare for his enemies. And on Saturday morning, as the sun rises, he will engage in a great war with the nation and the sons of Hagar, both he and the two small boys. And the rulers of the Romans will gather together in Byznatium. Then even the priests of the Romans and the bishops and abbots who are found will bear weapons of war.
********
Chapter four
And when he has gathered those together with the two small boys, that king also will join in a mighty war with the nation of the sons of Hagar. And he will massacre them like the grass of a reed being burned by fire. And from their blood a three-year-old bull will drowns. And the king alone will pursue a thousand and the two small boys myriads. And Ishmael and the sons of Hagar will be butchered to the end. And there will be war and great bloodshed such as has not been since the foundation of the world, The blood will be mixed in the sea one and a half miles. And in the streets of the Seven-hilled city horses will be submerged, drowning in the blood. And from that nation and from Ishmael there will remain only three tents of men. And the sons of Ishmael will serve the chief donkey drivers of the Seven-hilled city for thirty years. And the nature of Ishmael in the sword and in captivity is more bitter and more grievous beyond that of the Romans. And the Roman race will desire to see a trace of Ishmael and will not find it. And then the prophetic word will be fulfilled that says) “How will one pursue a thousand and two remove myriads unless the Lord God rejected them and the Lord gave them over?”
*******
Chapter five
And the king of the Romans will subdue every enemy and adversary under his feet. And the scepter of that king will be long-lived, likewise that of the two small boys. And his fame will go forth from the east and the west. And there will be one empire. And no one will resist him because this man has come from God and he will cause all war to cease. And there will be great peace. And every city and fortresses will be built. And there will be many altars acceptable to God in all the civilized world. And all the islands and the mountains will be inhabited. And the bread and the wine and the olive oil and the gold and the silver will increase in all the earth. And that king will cause all hostility to cease upon the earth. And they will make their weapons into scythes. And his reign will be for thirty-six years. And the rulers of the Romans will desire to join in war but will not find it. And all the perimeters of the earth will fear them. And that king will glorify God because in his reign God gave to him the good things of the earth which he did not give since the foundation of the world. And the king will fall asleep in peace. And his two small boys will be taken up in peace after thirty-three years.
********
Chapter six
And after him there will arise from the north another king. And working great impurities and many injustices, he will also work great iniquities. And he will couple mother and son and brother and sister. And he will bring the monks out of the holy monasteries and will join the monasteries together and will cause the nuns to lie with his nation. And he will work great transgressions. Woe, woe then to the Christian race. Woe to those who are pregnant. And the praises of God also will cease. And the Lord God will call fire from heaven and will consume them. And after him a foul and alien woman will reign in the Seven-hilled city. And she will settle on the southern side of the Seven-hilled city.
********
Chapter seven
And therefore woe to the Christian race. And woe to you. Seven-hilled Babylon, because the Byzantium of God will flee from you. And your holiness and your temples will flee from you. And your glory will fall. And woe to you, Seven-hilled Babylon, the new Byzantium. And woe to you, the Christian race. Again there will be an inroad of nations, again fear among the Romans, again slaughters and disturbances for the Roman nation. Churches will be destroyed. The faith has been dissolved. Women conceive the babies of non-believers. And therefore woe to you, wretched Babylon, the mother of cities, because God will incline his wrath which emits fire. And your high walls will fall. And there will remain in you only one pillar of Constantine the Great, so that they who sail the sea may lament there. And furthermore the kingdom will be taken up from him and will be given to Rome.
********
Chapter eight
And another great scepter will arise from Judea. And his name is Dan. And then the Jews, the implacable Hebrew race, who are dispersed into cities and countries, will be gathered together. And they will be gathered together there. And they will come into Jerusalem toward their king, And they will afflict the Christian race in all the earth. Woe, woe, good people.
********
Chapter nine
With him reigning, the Antichrist will go forth from the lower regions and the chasms of Hades. And he will come into a small herring fish. And he is coming in the broad sea. And he will be caught by twelve fishermen. And the fishermen will become maddened toward each other. One will prevail over them, whose name is Judas. And he takes that fish for his inheritance and comes into a place named Gouzeth and there sells the fish for thirty silver pieces. And a virgin girl will buy the fish. Her name is Injustice because the son of injustice will be born from her. And her surname will be Perdition. For by touching the head of the fish she will become pregnant and will conceive the Antichrist himself. And he will be born from her after three months. And he will suckle from her for four months. He come into Jerusalem and becomes a false teacher. And he will appear quiet and gentle and guileless. The height of his stature will be fifteen feet. And the hairs of his head will reach as far as his feet. And he will be large and three-crested. And the track of his feet will be large. His eyes will be like the star which rises in the morning, and his right eye will be like a lion’s. His lower teeth will be iron and his lower jaw diamond. And his right arm will be iron and his left copper. And his right hand will be four and a half feet long. He will be long-faced, long-nosed, and disorderly. And he also has upon his forehead three letters; A, K, T. And the A signifies: “I deny,” the K: “And I completely reject,” the T: “The befouled dragon.” And the Antichrist will be teaching and being taught.
********
Chapter ten
At that time there will be an abundance of grain and wine and olive oil such as has not been since the foundation of the world. And in those times the ear will pour out a half measure of grain. And the vine branch will put out a hundred grape clusters. And the grape cluster will bear ten thousand grapes and will pour out a hundred measures. And the seed of the olive tree will be complete. And there will be much fruitfulness of all kinds. And the land will be fruitful and will produce her fruits a hundredfold.
********
Chapter eleven
And the Jewish nation and the Jerusalemites will take counsel saying, “Come, let us make this admirable man king.” And they make him king and crown him after three days, And he will reign for three years. And in his first year all the grass upon the earth will fail. And in the whole world there will not be found a half measure of grain or a half jar of wine nor other fruit. Then there will be a mighty plague. And those on the mainland will flee to the islands and those on the islands to the mainland. And for a time a manner of disease will be upon the whole earth and a great plague which has never occurred until that era. And the people will be deadened. If the just man is barely saved, how will the sinner appear?
********
Chapter twelve
And then the unclean spirits and the demons will go forth like the sand of the sea, those in the abyss and those in the crags and ravines. And they will adhere to the Antichrist and they also will be tempting the Christians and killing the babies of the women. And they themselves will suckle from them. And then the people will be calling upon death and digging up the tombs and saying, “Blessed and thrice blessed are you who have already died, because you did not reach these days.” And they who go down to the sea also will be saying, “May the fury of your waves swallow us also, O holy sea.” And then all flesh of the Romans will lament. And while there will be temporary joy and exultation of the Jews, there will be affliction and oppression of the Romans from every necessity of the evil demons. And the earth will become like copper. And all greenery will dry up. And every tree and every flower upon the earth will fail. And the lakes and the rivers and the wells will dry up. And the moisture of the waters will completely dry up.
********
Chapter thirteen
And then the Antichrist will lift up a stone in his hands and say, “Believe in me and I will make these stones into bread.” And then the Jews will worship him, who are saying, “You are Christ for whom we pray and on account of you the Christian race has grieved us greatly.” And then the Antichrist will boast, saying to the Jews. “Do not be grieved thus. A little while and the Christian race will see and will realize who I am.” And the Antichrist lifts up his voice toward the flinty rock, saying, “Become bread before the Jews.” And disobeying him, the rock becomes a dragon. And the dragon says to the Antichrist. “O you who are full of every iniquity and injustice, why do you do things which you are not able?” And the dragon shames him before the Jews.
********
Chapter fourteen
And then three men will go forth and will condemns him as a liar and a deceiver. And these three men, two from heaven and one from the earth, also walk before the Antichrist and say, “Woe to you, O worker of injustice and inheritor of eternal fire.” And they will walk-in all the earth, crying out and saying to the afflicted Christians, “Hear, O sons of men, and do not worship him, because he is not the Christ nor a God-fearing man, but he is the Antichrist. And many Christians will run to the feet of the saints and say, “What shall we do, O saints? Where shall we Christians hide?” And many of the Christians will hide in the mountains and caves and in the holes of the earth and will be saved, so that the treacherous Samuel might not seize them. And when the Antichrist finds these three men he will kill them by the sword. Then that spoken by the prophet David will be fulfilled. “Then they will offer up bulls upon your altar.” And with the Antichrist reigning and with the demons persecution, the Jews contriving vanities against the Christians, the great day of the Lord draws near. And there will be judgment and recompense. And the deception of the devil will fall. And the light of the world, Christ our Lord and king of glory, will flower, to whom is due all glory and honor and dominion forever. Amen.
Chapter one
According to the God-spoken word which says: “When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, nation will fight against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, earthquakes, plagues and deviations of stars. Then the bush which restrains the sons of Hagar will dry up. And three sons of Hagar will go forth in to great Babylonia whose names are Ouaches, and another Axiaphar, and the third Morphosar. And Ishmael will come down the region of the land of swift passage.
And he will come to Antioch, Cilicia, and Iberian Anatolia, the Thrakysan country and Smyrna and as far as the Seven-hilled city. And he will spill Roman blood. And another will come to the region of Persia and to the Galilean country, the Armenian border, and the city of Trebizond. And he will come to the region of the land of the Meropes. And he will massacre male children from two and three years old and younger. And he will consume them by the sword. And the third one will come down the regions of the north and Mesiaspolis and Synopolis, and Zalichos, the regions of Chrysiapetra, and the well-lit valley and Bithynia, and of Daphousia, Chrysioupolis, and Damoulion and as far as the Seven-hilled city.
********
Chapter two
And therefore all these will slaughter an infinite multitude of Romans from two and three years old and younger. And they will gather together toward the sea. And in their ships will be a myriad myriads. And there will be other infinite and innumerable multitudes. And in that place many will deny our Lord Jesus Christ and the holy gifts and will follow the apostates. And every sacrifice will cease from the churches. And the liturgy of God will be mocked. And the priests will be as laymen. And Ishmael will cry out with a great voice, boasting and saying, “Where is the God of the Romans? There is no one helping them, for we have defeated them completely.” For truly the three sons of Hagar will roar against the Romans. And they will cross over against the Seven-hilled city toward Byznatium. And conferring, they will say among themselves. “Come and let us make a bridge in the sea with boats and transport horses for ourselves to Byzantium, the Seven-hilled city.” But the rulers of the Romans, and the magnates of the Seven-hilled city will flee to the glens of the mountains. And there will be fear and affliction. And there will be much necessity of the mountains. And the people of the Seven-hilled city will be afflicted by the sword. Woe, woe then. How will the orthodox faith of the Christians and the invincible power of the honorable and life-giving cross be overcome?
********
Chapter three
But hear, brethren, that because of their iniquity God forbears. And the first will set up his couch across from Byzantium. And he will strike and they will be stricken. And then the rulers of the Romans blaspheme, saying, “Woe, woe, neither in heaven do we have a king nor on the earth.” And with this word the Lord will incline his mercy toward the Romans and toward their revenge and will repay justice to his enemies. And there will be a great sound from heaven and a fearful earthquake and a voice from the angel from heaven. And the Lord will incline his head and will set his fury against the sons of Hagar and upon the feet of Ishmael. And the Lord will lift up the cowardice of the Romans and put it into the hearts of Ishmael, and the courage of the Ishmaelites into the hearts of the Romans. And the Lord will raise up a king of the Romans, who people say is dead and useful for nothing, who people think died many years before. The Lord is reserving this man in the outer country of Persia. This is his name: that which begins with the letter K of the alphabet. And this man is coming to the Seven-hilled city toward the evening. And he will prepare for his enemies. And on Saturday morning, as the sun rises, he will engage in a great war with the nation and the sons of Hagar, both he and the two small boys. And the rulers of the Romans will gather together in Byznatium. Then even the priests of the Romans and the bishops and abbots who are found will bear weapons of war.
********
Chapter four
And when he has gathered those together with the two small boys, that king also will join in a mighty war with the nation of the sons of Hagar. And he will massacre them like the grass of a reed being burned by fire. And from their blood a three-year-old bull will drowns. And the king alone will pursue a thousand and the two small boys myriads. And Ishmael and the sons of Hagar will be butchered to the end. And there will be war and great bloodshed such as has not been since the foundation of the world, The blood will be mixed in the sea one and a half miles. And in the streets of the Seven-hilled city horses will be submerged, drowning in the blood. And from that nation and from Ishmael there will remain only three tents of men. And the sons of Ishmael will serve the chief donkey drivers of the Seven-hilled city for thirty years. And the nature of Ishmael in the sword and in captivity is more bitter and more grievous beyond that of the Romans. And the Roman race will desire to see a trace of Ishmael and will not find it. And then the prophetic word will be fulfilled that says) “How will one pursue a thousand and two remove myriads unless the Lord God rejected them and the Lord gave them over?”
*******
Chapter five
And the king of the Romans will subdue every enemy and adversary under his feet. And the scepter of that king will be long-lived, likewise that of the two small boys. And his fame will go forth from the east and the west. And there will be one empire. And no one will resist him because this man has come from God and he will cause all war to cease. And there will be great peace. And every city and fortresses will be built. And there will be many altars acceptable to God in all the civilized world. And all the islands and the mountains will be inhabited. And the bread and the wine and the olive oil and the gold and the silver will increase in all the earth. And that king will cause all hostility to cease upon the earth. And they will make their weapons into scythes. And his reign will be for thirty-six years. And the rulers of the Romans will desire to join in war but will not find it. And all the perimeters of the earth will fear them. And that king will glorify God because in his reign God gave to him the good things of the earth which he did not give since the foundation of the world. And the king will fall asleep in peace. And his two small boys will be taken up in peace after thirty-three years.
********
Chapter six
And after him there will arise from the north another king. And working great impurities and many injustices, he will also work great iniquities. And he will couple mother and son and brother and sister. And he will bring the monks out of the holy monasteries and will join the monasteries together and will cause the nuns to lie with his nation. And he will work great transgressions. Woe, woe then to the Christian race. Woe to those who are pregnant. And the praises of God also will cease. And the Lord God will call fire from heaven and will consume them. And after him a foul and alien woman will reign in the Seven-hilled city. And she will settle on the southern side of the Seven-hilled city.
********
Chapter seven
And therefore woe to the Christian race. And woe to you. Seven-hilled Babylon, because the Byzantium of God will flee from you. And your holiness and your temples will flee from you. And your glory will fall. And woe to you, Seven-hilled Babylon, the new Byzantium. And woe to you, the Christian race. Again there will be an inroad of nations, again fear among the Romans, again slaughters and disturbances for the Roman nation. Churches will be destroyed. The faith has been dissolved. Women conceive the babies of non-believers. And therefore woe to you, wretched Babylon, the mother of cities, because God will incline his wrath which emits fire. And your high walls will fall. And there will remain in you only one pillar of Constantine the Great, so that they who sail the sea may lament there. And furthermore the kingdom will be taken up from him and will be given to Rome.
********
Chapter eight
And another great scepter will arise from Judea. And his name is Dan. And then the Jews, the implacable Hebrew race, who are dispersed into cities and countries, will be gathered together. And they will be gathered together there. And they will come into Jerusalem toward their king, And they will afflict the Christian race in all the earth. Woe, woe, good people.
********
Chapter nine
With him reigning, the Antichrist will go forth from the lower regions and the chasms of Hades. And he will come into a small herring fish. And he is coming in the broad sea. And he will be caught by twelve fishermen. And the fishermen will become maddened toward each other. One will prevail over them, whose name is Judas. And he takes that fish for his inheritance and comes into a place named Gouzeth and there sells the fish for thirty silver pieces. And a virgin girl will buy the fish. Her name is Injustice because the son of injustice will be born from her. And her surname will be Perdition. For by touching the head of the fish she will become pregnant and will conceive the Antichrist himself. And he will be born from her after three months. And he will suckle from her for four months. He come into Jerusalem and becomes a false teacher. And he will appear quiet and gentle and guileless. The height of his stature will be fifteen feet. And the hairs of his head will reach as far as his feet. And he will be large and three-crested. And the track of his feet will be large. His eyes will be like the star which rises in the morning, and his right eye will be like a lion’s. His lower teeth will be iron and his lower jaw diamond. And his right arm will be iron and his left copper. And his right hand will be four and a half feet long. He will be long-faced, long-nosed, and disorderly. And he also has upon his forehead three letters; A, K, T. And the A signifies: “I deny,” the K: “And I completely reject,” the T: “The befouled dragon.” And the Antichrist will be teaching and being taught.
********
Chapter ten
At that time there will be an abundance of grain and wine and olive oil such as has not been since the foundation of the world. And in those times the ear will pour out a half measure of grain. And the vine branch will put out a hundred grape clusters. And the grape cluster will bear ten thousand grapes and will pour out a hundred measures. And the seed of the olive tree will be complete. And there will be much fruitfulness of all kinds. And the land will be fruitful and will produce her fruits a hundredfold.
********
Chapter eleven
And the Jewish nation and the Jerusalemites will take counsel saying, “Come, let us make this admirable man king.” And they make him king and crown him after three days, And he will reign for three years. And in his first year all the grass upon the earth will fail. And in the whole world there will not be found a half measure of grain or a half jar of wine nor other fruit. Then there will be a mighty plague. And those on the mainland will flee to the islands and those on the islands to the mainland. And for a time a manner of disease will be upon the whole earth and a great plague which has never occurred until that era. And the people will be deadened. If the just man is barely saved, how will the sinner appear?
********
Chapter twelve
And then the unclean spirits and the demons will go forth like the sand of the sea, those in the abyss and those in the crags and ravines. And they will adhere to the Antichrist and they also will be tempting the Christians and killing the babies of the women. And they themselves will suckle from them. And then the people will be calling upon death and digging up the tombs and saying, “Blessed and thrice blessed are you who have already died, because you did not reach these days.” And they who go down to the sea also will be saying, “May the fury of your waves swallow us also, O holy sea.” And then all flesh of the Romans will lament. And while there will be temporary joy and exultation of the Jews, there will be affliction and oppression of the Romans from every necessity of the evil demons. And the earth will become like copper. And all greenery will dry up. And every tree and every flower upon the earth will fail. And the lakes and the rivers and the wells will dry up. And the moisture of the waters will completely dry up.
********
Chapter thirteen
And then the Antichrist will lift up a stone in his hands and say, “Believe in me and I will make these stones into bread.” And then the Jews will worship him, who are saying, “You are Christ for whom we pray and on account of you the Christian race has grieved us greatly.” And then the Antichrist will boast, saying to the Jews. “Do not be grieved thus. A little while and the Christian race will see and will realize who I am.” And the Antichrist lifts up his voice toward the flinty rock, saying, “Become bread before the Jews.” And disobeying him, the rock becomes a dragon. And the dragon says to the Antichrist. “O you who are full of every iniquity and injustice, why do you do things which you are not able?” And the dragon shames him before the Jews.
********
Chapter fourteen
And then three men will go forth and will condemns him as a liar and a deceiver. And these three men, two from heaven and one from the earth, also walk before the Antichrist and say, “Woe to you, O worker of injustice and inheritor of eternal fire.” And they will walk-in all the earth, crying out and saying to the afflicted Christians, “Hear, O sons of men, and do not worship him, because he is not the Christ nor a God-fearing man, but he is the Antichrist. And many Christians will run to the feet of the saints and say, “What shall we do, O saints? Where shall we Christians hide?” And many of the Christians will hide in the mountains and caves and in the holes of the earth and will be saved, so that the treacherous Samuel might not seize them. And when the Antichrist finds these three men he will kill them by the sword. Then that spoken by the prophet David will be fulfilled. “Then they will offer up bulls upon your altar.” And with the Antichrist reigning and with the demons persecution, the Jews contriving vanities against the Christians, the great day of the Lord draws near. And there will be judgment and recompense. And the deception of the devil will fall. And the light of the world, Christ our Lord and king of glory, will flower, to whom is due all glory and honor and dominion forever. Amen.
Questions of Ezra
The Questions of Ezra is an ancient Christian apocryphal text, claimed to have been written by the Biblical Ezra. The earliest surviving manuscript, composed in Armenian, dates from 1208 CE. It is an example of the Christian development of topics coming out from the Jewish Apocalyptic literature. Due to the shortness of the book, it is impossible to determine the original language, the provenance or to reliably date it. This text has had no influence outside the Armenian Apostolic Church. Two recensions of this text are known: the longer, known as version A, was first published in 1896 by Yovsep'ianc, and translated into English in 1901 by Issaverdens and it is based on a manuscript dated 1208. The shorter recension B was published in 1978 by Stone. The text can be related with 2 Esdras and with the Greek Apocalypse of Ezra. It is a dialogue between Ezra and an angel of the Lord about the fate of human souls after death. The text includes a description of the throne of God surrounded by the angelic host, though the impossibility of seeing the face of God is strongly emphasized. It also mentions the possibility of freeing souls from the hands of Satan by prayers in Church.
What is the fate of the righteous and the sinners?
Ezra the prophet saw the angel of God and asked him one question after another. And the angel approached him and said what will be at the consummation. The prophet asked the angel and said, “What has God prepared for the righteous and the sinners?
And at the time at which the day of the end arrives, what will become of them? Where do they go, to honor or to tortures?” The angel replied and said to the prophet, “Great joy and eternal light have been prepared for the righteous and for the sinners there have been prepared the outer darkness and the eternal fire.? The prophet said to the angel, “Lord, who of the living has not sinned against God? And if that is so, then blessed are the beasts and the birds who do not await resurrection and have not expected the end. If you will crown the righteous, who have endured all tortures, and the prophets and the martyrs when they were taking stones and with a hammer were pounding their faces until their innards were seen, they were tortured for your sake. Have mercy upon us sinners who have been occupied and have been seized by Satan.?
********
The Prophet rebuked
The angel replied and said, “If there is someone above you, do not talk with him anymore. Otherwise great evil will befall you.” The prophet said to the angel, “Lord, I would speak a little more with you, reply to me! When the day of the end arrives and he takes the soul, will he assign it to the place of punishment or to the place of honor until the Parousia ....”
********
The day of the end
The angel replied and said, “Do not wait until the day of the end, but like a flying eagle hasten to do good deeds and mercy. For that day is fearsome, urgent, arrives suddenly like someone merciless and impartial, it takes a captive unexpectedly, surely. Whether he weeps or mourns, it will have no mercy.
********
“But when the day of the end arrives, a good angel comes to the good soul and an evil one to the evil. Just as someone sent by the kings to doers of evil deeds and good deeds recompenses good to the good and evil to the evil, even in the same way a good angel comes to the good soul and an evil one to the evil. Not that the angel is evil, but each man’s deeds are evil. He takes the soul, brings it to the east; they pass through frost, through snow, through darkness, through hail, through ice, through storm, through hosts of Satan, through streams, through the winds of terrible rains, through terrible and astounding paths, through narrow defiles, and through high mountains. O wondrous way, for one foot is behind the other and before it are fiery rivers!” The prophet was amazed and said, “O, that wondrous and terrible way!”
********
The seven steps to the Divinity
The angel said, “To that way there are seven camps and seven steps to the Divinity, if I can make someone pass along it. Because the first lodgings are bad and wondrous; the second fearsome and indescribable; the third hell and icy cold; the fourth quarrels, and wars, in the fifth, then, investigation-if he is just, he shines, and if he is a sinner, he is darkened; in the sixth, then the soul of the righteous man sparkles like the sun; in the seventh, then having brought him I make him approach the great throne of the Divinity, opposite the garden, facing the glory of God where the sublime light is.”
********
God cannot be seen
The prophet said to the angel, “My lord, when you cause him to pass through such terrors, through quarrels, through wars, through burning heat, why do you not cause him to meet the Divinity, rather than causing him to approach only the throne?” The angel said to the prophet, “You are one of the foolish men and you think according to human nature. I am an angel and I perpetually serve God, and I have not seen the face of God. How do you say that sinful man should be caused to meet the Divinity? For the Divinity is fearful and wondrous and who dares to look toward the uncreated Divinity? If a man should look he will melt like wax before the face of God; for the Divinity is fiery and wondrous. For such guardians stand around the throne of the Divinity.
********
Freeing of the soul from Satan
The prophet asked the angel and said, “Lord, what will become of us, for we are all sinners and seized in the hands of Satan? Now, by what means are we delivered or who will bring forth from his hands?” The angel answered and said, “If someone remains after death, father or mother or brother or sister or son or daughter or any other Christian, and he offers prayers, with fasts, for forty days, there will be great rest and mercy through the sacrifice of Christ. For Christ was sacrificed for our sake upon the cross and for six ages he delivered our soul from the hands of Satan. How the soul is delivered through that offered reverently by a priest, if he fulfills the forty days in such a way as is pleasing to god. For forty days he will remain in the church not going in the public places, but from time to time will recite the Psalms of David together with prayers. It is this which brings us forth from the hands of Satan. If not, give to the poor.
********
The nature of prayer
“For your prayers are thus: just as a farmer goes forth, comes to sow, and the shoot comes forth joyous and graceful and desired to produce numerous fruit, and thorn and weeds also come forth and choke it and do not let numerous fruit be assembled. Similarly, also you when you go inside the church and desire to offer prayers before the Divinity, the Ares of this world and the deceit of greatness wealth come forth and choke you and do not let numerous fruit be sown. For if your prayer were such as Moses wept for forty days and spoke with God mouth to mouth, likewise also Elijah was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot, likewise Daniel also prayed in the lion’s den .....”
********
Recension B Shorter Version
He saw the angel of God and asked concerning the righteous and sinners when they go forth from this world. The angel said, “For the righteous there is light and rest, eternal life, but for the sinners, unending tortures.” Ezra said. “If that is so, then blessed are the animals and the beasts of the field and the creeping things and the birds of heaven who do not await resurrection and judgment.” The angel said, “You sin in saying this, for God has made everything for the sake of man and man for the sake of God. And those things in which God finds man, by those is he judged.” Ezra said, “When you take the souls of men, where will you bring them?” The angel said. “I bring the souls of the righteous to worship God and establish them in the upper atmosphere, and the souls of the sinners are seized by the demons who are imprisoned in the atmosphere.” And Ezra said. “And when will the soul which is seized by Satan be delivered?” The angel said, “When the soul has someone as a good memorial in this world, this one releases it from Satan through prayer and acts of mercy.” Ezra said, “By what means?” The angel said, “By prayer, by acts of mercy, and by sacrifices.” Ezra said “If the sinner’s soul has no good memorial, which helps him, what will happen to him?” The angel said to him, “Such a one is in the hand of Satan until the coming of Christ, when the trumpet of Gabriel sounds. Then the souls are freed from the hands of Satan and soar down from the atmosphere. And they come and are united each with its body and aroused and renewed. And it raises it up before Christ our God who comes to judge those on the earth, that is the righteous and the wicked, and requites each for his deeds.”
Through the petition of your divinely narrated prophets, have pity upon the readers of this writing.
What is the fate of the righteous and the sinners?
Ezra the prophet saw the angel of God and asked him one question after another. And the angel approached him and said what will be at the consummation. The prophet asked the angel and said, “What has God prepared for the righteous and the sinners?
And at the time at which the day of the end arrives, what will become of them? Where do they go, to honor or to tortures?” The angel replied and said to the prophet, “Great joy and eternal light have been prepared for the righteous and for the sinners there have been prepared the outer darkness and the eternal fire.? The prophet said to the angel, “Lord, who of the living has not sinned against God? And if that is so, then blessed are the beasts and the birds who do not await resurrection and have not expected the end. If you will crown the righteous, who have endured all tortures, and the prophets and the martyrs when they were taking stones and with a hammer were pounding their faces until their innards were seen, they were tortured for your sake. Have mercy upon us sinners who have been occupied and have been seized by Satan.?
********
The Prophet rebuked
The angel replied and said, “If there is someone above you, do not talk with him anymore. Otherwise great evil will befall you.” The prophet said to the angel, “Lord, I would speak a little more with you, reply to me! When the day of the end arrives and he takes the soul, will he assign it to the place of punishment or to the place of honor until the Parousia ....”
********
The day of the end
The angel replied and said, “Do not wait until the day of the end, but like a flying eagle hasten to do good deeds and mercy. For that day is fearsome, urgent, arrives suddenly like someone merciless and impartial, it takes a captive unexpectedly, surely. Whether he weeps or mourns, it will have no mercy.
********
“But when the day of the end arrives, a good angel comes to the good soul and an evil one to the evil. Just as someone sent by the kings to doers of evil deeds and good deeds recompenses good to the good and evil to the evil, even in the same way a good angel comes to the good soul and an evil one to the evil. Not that the angel is evil, but each man’s deeds are evil. He takes the soul, brings it to the east; they pass through frost, through snow, through darkness, through hail, through ice, through storm, through hosts of Satan, through streams, through the winds of terrible rains, through terrible and astounding paths, through narrow defiles, and through high mountains. O wondrous way, for one foot is behind the other and before it are fiery rivers!” The prophet was amazed and said, “O, that wondrous and terrible way!”
********
The seven steps to the Divinity
The angel said, “To that way there are seven camps and seven steps to the Divinity, if I can make someone pass along it. Because the first lodgings are bad and wondrous; the second fearsome and indescribable; the third hell and icy cold; the fourth quarrels, and wars, in the fifth, then, investigation-if he is just, he shines, and if he is a sinner, he is darkened; in the sixth, then the soul of the righteous man sparkles like the sun; in the seventh, then having brought him I make him approach the great throne of the Divinity, opposite the garden, facing the glory of God where the sublime light is.”
********
God cannot be seen
The prophet said to the angel, “My lord, when you cause him to pass through such terrors, through quarrels, through wars, through burning heat, why do you not cause him to meet the Divinity, rather than causing him to approach only the throne?” The angel said to the prophet, “You are one of the foolish men and you think according to human nature. I am an angel and I perpetually serve God, and I have not seen the face of God. How do you say that sinful man should be caused to meet the Divinity? For the Divinity is fearful and wondrous and who dares to look toward the uncreated Divinity? If a man should look he will melt like wax before the face of God; for the Divinity is fiery and wondrous. For such guardians stand around the throne of the Divinity.
********
Freeing of the soul from Satan
The prophet asked the angel and said, “Lord, what will become of us, for we are all sinners and seized in the hands of Satan? Now, by what means are we delivered or who will bring forth from his hands?” The angel answered and said, “If someone remains after death, father or mother or brother or sister or son or daughter or any other Christian, and he offers prayers, with fasts, for forty days, there will be great rest and mercy through the sacrifice of Christ. For Christ was sacrificed for our sake upon the cross and for six ages he delivered our soul from the hands of Satan. How the soul is delivered through that offered reverently by a priest, if he fulfills the forty days in such a way as is pleasing to god. For forty days he will remain in the church not going in the public places, but from time to time will recite the Psalms of David together with prayers. It is this which brings us forth from the hands of Satan. If not, give to the poor.
********
The nature of prayer
“For your prayers are thus: just as a farmer goes forth, comes to sow, and the shoot comes forth joyous and graceful and desired to produce numerous fruit, and thorn and weeds also come forth and choke it and do not let numerous fruit be assembled. Similarly, also you when you go inside the church and desire to offer prayers before the Divinity, the Ares of this world and the deceit of greatness wealth come forth and choke you and do not let numerous fruit be sown. For if your prayer were such as Moses wept for forty days and spoke with God mouth to mouth, likewise also Elijah was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot, likewise Daniel also prayed in the lion’s den .....”
********
Recension B Shorter Version
He saw the angel of God and asked concerning the righteous and sinners when they go forth from this world. The angel said, “For the righteous there is light and rest, eternal life, but for the sinners, unending tortures.” Ezra said. “If that is so, then blessed are the animals and the beasts of the field and the creeping things and the birds of heaven who do not await resurrection and judgment.” The angel said, “You sin in saying this, for God has made everything for the sake of man and man for the sake of God. And those things in which God finds man, by those is he judged.” Ezra said, “When you take the souls of men, where will you bring them?” The angel said. “I bring the souls of the righteous to worship God and establish them in the upper atmosphere, and the souls of the sinners are seized by the demons who are imprisoned in the atmosphere.” And Ezra said. “And when will the soul which is seized by Satan be delivered?” The angel said, “When the soul has someone as a good memorial in this world, this one releases it from Satan through prayer and acts of mercy.” Ezra said, “By what means?” The angel said, “By prayer, by acts of mercy, and by sacrifices.” Ezra said “If the sinner’s soul has no good memorial, which helps him, what will happen to him?” The angel said to him, “Such a one is in the hand of Satan until the coming of Christ, when the trumpet of Gabriel sounds. Then the souls are freed from the hands of Satan and soar down from the atmosphere. And they come and are united each with its body and aroused and renewed. And it raises it up before Christ our God who comes to judge those on the earth, that is the righteous and the wicked, and requites each for his deeds.”
Through the petition of your divinely narrated prophets, have pity upon the readers of this writing.
THE LATIN TIBURTINE SIBYL
The apocalyptic text of the Tiburtine Sibyl was written around 380 AD. It exists among the Sibylline Oracles. Because it underwent extensive revisions over time, there are scholarly debates about whether certain elements of the text were present in the original version, or if they were added later.
Then will arise a king of the Greeks whose name is Constans. He will be king of the Romans and the Greeks. He will be tall of stature, of handsome appearance with shining face, and well put together in all parts of his body. His reign will be ended after one hundred and twelve years. In those days there will be great riches and the earth will give fruit abundantly so that a measure of wheat will be sold for a denarius, a measure of wine for a denarius, and a measure of oil for a denarius. The king will have a text before his eyes that says: "The king of the Romans will claim the whole Christian empire for himself."
He will devastate all the islands and the cities of the pagans and will destroy all idolatrous temples; he will call all pagans to baptism and in every temple the Cross of Christ will be erected. "Then Egypt and Ethiopia will be eager to stretch their hands to God." Whoever does not adore the Cross of Jesus Christ will be punished by the sword. When the one hundred and twelve years have been completed, the Jews will be converted to the Lord, and "his sepulcher will be glorified by all."
In those days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell with confidence. At that time the Prince of Iniquity who will be called Antichrist will arise from the tribe of Dan. He will be the Son of Perdition, the head of pride, the master of error, the fullness of malice who will overturn the world and do wonders and great signs through dissimulation. He will delude many by magic art so that fire will seem to come down from heaven. The years will be shortened like months, the months like weeks, the weeks like days, the days like hours, and an hour like a moment. The unclean nations that Alexander, the Indian king, shut up will arise from the North. These are the twenty-two realms whose number is like the sand of the sea. When the king of the Romans hears of this he will call his army together and vanquish and utterly destroy them.
After this he will come to Jerusalem, and having put off the diadem from his head and laid aside the whole imperial garb, he will hand over the empire of the Christians to God the Father and to Jesus Christ his Son. When the Roman empire shall have ceased, then the Antichrist will be openly revealed and will sit in the House of the Lord in Jerusalem. While he is reigning, two very famous men, Elijah and Enoch, will go forth to announce the coming of the Lord. Antichrist will kill them and after three days they will be raised up by the Lord. Then there will be a great persecution, such as has not been before nor shall be thereafter. The Lord will shorten those days for the sake of the elect, and the Antichrist will be slain by the power of God through Michael the Archangel on the Mount of Olives.