Page:Apocryphal Gospels and Other Documents Relating to the History of Christ.djvu/56

lii calls Gabriel an archangel, as here, chap. xii. (c. Hæres.); and he has a phrase resembling that in chap. xix., "A virgin hath brought forth," etc. (de Divin. Christi). It is very likely that when Athanasius wrote, this false Gospel was well known. Much earlier Origen mentions a Gospel of Peter or Book of James as containing the assertion that Joseph already had sons when he was espoused to Mary (chap. ix.; Origen on Matthew). Tertullian mentions the congealing of the blood of Zacharias, but as this was a Jewish tradition, I cannot attach much importance to what he says on the subject.

After examining all the genuine passages in ancient writers, which seem to bear upon the Protevangelium, I cannot find one which unmistakeably proves its existence before the fourth century. Part of an ancient Syriac version of it has been published by Dr. W. Wright, of the British Museum.

The Protevangel was used by the compilers of the Pseudo-Matthew, the Nativity of Mary, the History of Joseph the Carpenter, and the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy.

The author aimed to produce a consecutive