Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Apocrypha of the New Testament/Christ's Descent into Hell: Latin. First Version/Chapter 11

Chapter 11 (27).

These are the divine and sacred mysteries which we saw and heard, I Karinus, and Leucius.&#160; More we are not allowed to tell of the other mysteries of God, as Michael the archangel adjured us, and said:&#160; You shall go into Jerusalem with your brethren, and continue in prayers, and you shall cry out, and glorify the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has raised you up again from the dead with Himself.&#160; And with none of men shall you speak; and you shall sit as if dumb, until the hour shall come when the Lord Himself shall permit you to relate the mysteries of His divinity.&#160; And Michael the archangel ordered us to walk across Jordan into a place rich and fertile, where there are many who rose again along with us for an evidence of the resurrection of Christ the Lord; because only three days were allowed to us who have risen from the dead to celebrate in Jerusalem the passover of the Lord, with our living relations, for an evidence of the resurrection of Christ the Lord:&#160; and we have been baptized in the holy river of Jordan, receiving each of us white robes.&#160; And after three days, when we had celebrated the passover of the Lord, all who rose again along with us were snatched up into the clouds, and taken across the Jordan, and were no longer seen by any one.&#160; But we were told to remain in the city of Arimath&#230;a in prayers.

These are the things which the Lord commanded us to relate to you.&#160; Give Him praise and confession, and be penitent, that He may have mercy upon you.&#160; Peace be to you from the same Lord Jesus Christ, and the Saviour of all of us!&#160; Amen.

And after they had finished all, writing on separate sheets of paper, they arose.&#160; And Karinus gave what he wrote into the hands of Annas and Caiaphas and Gamaliel; in like manner also Leucius gave what he wrote into the hands of Nicodemus and Joseph.&#160; And being suddenly transfigured, they became exceedingly white, and were seen no more.&#160; And their writings were found exactly the same, not one letter more or less.

All the synagogue of the Jews, hearing all these wonderful sayings of Karinus and Leucius, said to each other:&#160; Truly all these things have been done by the Lord, and blessed be the Lord for ever and ever.&#160; Amen.&#160; And they all went out with great anxiety, beating their breasts with fear and trembling; and they went away, each to his own house.

All these things which were said by the Jews in their synagogue Joseph and Nicodemus immediately reported to the proconsul.&#160; And Pilate himself wrote all which had been done and said concerning Jesus by the Jews, and he placed all the words in the public records of his pr&#230;torium.