Epistle of the Apostles

Historical printed page 485

485 EPISTLE OF THE APOSTLES The authorities for the text are : (a) a Coptic MS. of the fourth or fifth century at Cairo, mutilated; (b) a complete version in Ethiopic; (c) a leaf of a fifth-century MS. in Latin, palimpsest, at Vienna. The only edition which makes use of all the authorities is C. Schmidt’s, 1919. The Ethiopic was previously edited by Guerrier in Patrologia orientalis under the title of Testament of our Lord in Galilee. A notice of this text by Guerrier in the Revue de Orient Chrétien (1907) enabled me to identify it with the Coptic text, of which Schmidt had given a preliminary account to the Berlin Academy. As to the date and character of the book, Schmidt’s verdict is that it was writtenin Asia Minor about a. D. 160 by an orthodox Catholic. The orthodoxy has been questioned (see a review by G. Bardy in Revue Biblique, 1921). No ancient writer mentions it, and very few traces of its use can be found: the (third?)-century poet Commodian seems to use it in one place (see § 11). There has so far been no English rendering of the text ; my version depends on Schmidt and Guerrier. In the Ethiopic version another writing, a prophecy of our Lord concerning the signs of the end, is prefixed to the Epistle. Parts of this recur in the Syriac Testament of the Lord and part is repeated in the Epistle itself. It is noteworthy that this prophecy ends with a passage which is identical with one quoted by Clement of Alexandria from a source he does not name—only calling it ‘the Scripture’. Testament 11 in Guerrier. And the righteous, that have walked in the way of righteous- ness, shall inherit the glory of God; and the power shall be given to them which no eye hath seen and no ear heard; and they shall re- joice in my kingdom Clem. Alex. Protrept. ciii. But the saints of the Lord shall inherit the glory of God, and his power. Tell me what glory, O blessed one. That which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it come up upon the heart of man; and they shall rejoice at the king- dom of their Lord for ever. Amen. A similar passage is in the Apostolic Constitutions, vii. 22. On the possible derivation from the Apocalypse of Elias see my Lost Apocrypha of O. T., p. 54. The first four leaves of the Coptic MS. are lost, so we depend on the Ethiopic for the opening of the text. 1 The book which Jesus Christ revealed unto his disciples: and how that Jesus Christ revealed the book for the company (college) of the apostles, the disciples of Jesus Christ, even the book which is for all men. Simon and Cerinthus, the false apostles, concerning whom it is written that no man shall cleave unto them, for there is in them deceit wherewith they bring men to destruction. (The book hath been written) that ye may be steadfast and not flinch nor be troubled, and depart not from the word of the Gospel which ye have heard. Like as we heard