Apocalypse of Elijah Traditions (Earlier / Patristic References)

James1920 historical fragment dossier, printedpage 57

THE OLD TESTAMENT 57 is actually connected with Elijah and is closer to the Latin fra|:;ni('nt than the second. My other fragment was printed in the Joiirnal Asiatiquc, 1917, p. 454, by Abbe F. Nau from a Paris MS. (gr. 4) of the thirteenth century. It occurs along with an extract from the Revelation of (psciido) Methodius, and some descriptions of Antichrist from Chrysostom and from the Bible and elsewhere. " It is contained in apocryphal writings that Elias the prophet spake concerning Antichrist, of what aspect he is to appear at that time. His head a flame of fire : his right eye mingled with blood, but the left bright (xapoTTorr) liaving two pupils : his eyebrows (-lashes) white, and his lower lip large : his right thigh thin and his feet broad, and the great toe of his foot hath been broken." Something nearly identical with this description of Antichrist is to be found in several other places, in the Testament of fhe Lord (Syriac) xi., in the Testament in Galilee (ed. Guerrier and Grebaut, Ethiopic), 6, and in a Latin fragment from Treves printed by me in Apocrypha anecdoia (i., p. 153). I show them in tabular form. Test, of the Lord His head as a burn- ing flame. Kight eye mingled with blood. Left eye of a blue- grey or green colour having tvvo pupils. Eyelashes white. Lower lip large. Right thigh thin. Feet broad. Great toe broken and oblong (or thin). He is the scythe of desolation. Test, in Galilee Head as a flame of fire. Right eye mingled with blood. Left eye dead. The two pupils of the eyes are <gap> White in his eye- lids. Lower lip large. Omitted. Toes and joints of his feet twisted. He is the scythe of perdition. Latin Fragment His eyes "fellini^' like a cat's ( ?). Right eye mingled with blood. Left eye joyful [gaudens — xapoTro'ff) . Eyelashes white. Lower lip large. t His legs lean. Omitted. Great toe broken. He is the scythe of UBbUldUUll,