Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume VIII/Apocrypha of the New Testament/Descent of Christ into Hell: Greek Form/Chapter 10

Chapter 10 (26).

While they were thus speaking, there came another lowly man, carrying also upon his shoulders a cross, to whom the holy fathers said:&#160; Who art thou, who hast the look of a robber; and what is the cross which thou bearest upon thy shoulders?&#160; He answered:&#160; I, as you say, was a robber and a thief in the world, and for these things the Jews laid hold of me, and delivered me to the death of the cross, along with our Lord Jesus Christ.&#160; While, then, He was hanging upon the cross, I, seeing the miracles that were done, believed in Him, and entreated Him, and said, Lord, when Thou shalt be King, do not forget me.&#160; And immediately He said to me, Amen, amen:&#160; to-day, I say unto thee, shalt thou be with me in paradise.&#160; Therefore I came to paradise carrying my cross; and finding the archangel Michael, I said to him, Our Lord Jesus, who has been crucified, has sent me here; bring me, therefore, to the gate of Eden.&#160; And the flaming sword, seeing the sign of the cross, opened to me, and I went in.&#160; Then the archangel says to me, Wait a little, for there cometh also the forefather of the race of men, Adam, with the just, that they too may come in.&#160; And now, seeing you, I came to meet you.

The saints hearing these things, all cried out with a loud voice:&#160; Great is our Lord, and great is His strength.