Cave of Treasures

Historical source scan page 108

The Cross of Christ And now, my brother Nemesius, be amazed and give praise to God that all the straps (or, ligatures) of the...... of Christ were joined together on the bearing poles of the Ark of the service of God and the covering of the sanctuary of propitiation. This was what God commanded Moses: to make a breast-plate of judgment (Exod. xxviii. 15) and of peace; of judgment for the Jews who crucified Him [Fol. 49b, col. 1], and of peace for the Gentiles who have believed in him. His Cross was made of the wood of the Sanctuary, His grave was a new one, which had been made for the death of Joshua, the son of Nôn, and the stone (or rock), which is Christ, had when in the desert given water to six hundred thousand people, and now it became an altar and gave life to all the Gentiles. And the saying of the Apostle, "that rock was Christ" (I Cor. x. 4) is true and well worthy of belief. Joseph was a councillor in Ramtha, Nicodemus was a teacher of the Law in Jerusalem, and Cleophas was the recorder of the Hebrews in `Amâôs. Nicodemus prepared everything which was required for the Passover in the Upper Chamber; and Joseph made Him ready for burial and buried Him in his own inheritance, and Cleophas received Him into his house. And when [Fol. 49b, col. 2] He had risen from the dead these men became to Him true and faithful brethren. The trilingual inscription above the Cross And when Joseph brought Him down from the Cross, he took away that inscription which was spread out above His head, that is to say, over the head of the Cross of Christ, because it had been written by Pilate in Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew. And why did Pilate write in it no word of the Syrians? Because the Syrians participated in no way whatsoever in the [shedding of the] blood of Christ. And Pilate, a wise man and a lover of the truth, did not wish to write a lie as wicked judges do, but he did according to what is written in the Law of Moses. Pilate wrote in the inscription [the names of the languages of] those who condemned the innocent in the order in which the slayers of Christ laid their hands upon him, and he hung the writing above Him. Herod was a Greek, Caiaphas was [Fol. 50a, col. 1] a Hebrew, and Pilate a Roman. Now the Syrians had no part in the murder of Christ, and to this testifieth Abhgar, king of Edessa, who wished to take Jerusalem and destroy it because the Jews crucified Christ. [Note: See Cureton, Doctrine of Addai, ed. Phillips, page 30; Cureton, Ancient Syrian Documents, page 107; and Wright, Journal of Sacred Literature, No. XX, New Series, January, 1865.] The Harrowing of Hell 108 of 130