Page:The Apocryphal New Testament (1924).djvu/126

 dedicated in the Temple at three years old, and brought up there till she was fifteen.

2. Discourse by Demetrius of Antioch.

p. 653. There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Joakim and he had a wife whose name was Susanna (sic. elsewhere in the discourse it is Anna). They were childless and prayed for a child. A man of light appeared and promised them a daughter whom they were to dedicate to God. She was born on 15th of Athor and dedicated. The description of her habits is almost identical with that in fragment II of Robinson. When she was twelve the priests decided to commit her to the care of a man. The lot fell on Joseph. She sat in his house and weaved the veil of the Temple. Angels ministered to her in the form of doves or some other kind of holy bird. 'They flew about her in the place where she used to sit working at her handicraft, and they would alight upon the window of her room and they longed to hear her holy voice, which was sweet, and pretty, and holy.' We then read of the Annunciation and the salutation of Gabriel&mdash;of great length&mdash;the Visitation, Decree of Caesar, journey to Bethlehem. Joseph looked at Mary and saw her whole body shining, and that she was greatly moved, for the time of the birth drew nigh. A great star appeared and excited much comment. At dawn on the 29th of Khoiak, Mary asked Joseph to seek a woman to help her. He found one on the roof of her house, and asked if she knew a midwife. She said: 'Thou art Joseph the husband of Mary,' and came down, and put on her finest apparel. Before they reached the caravanserai the child was born. The woman's name was Salome. When they entered the house they saw the Child in the manger and the ox and ass protecting him. Salome worshipped him. She was the first who recognized the Christ, and she followed him everywhere throughout his life. 'I wish very much that I might describe unto you fully the life of that woman and her acts and deeds ...' but there is not time.

The story is continued with some few non-Biblical details to the Flight into Egypt, on p. 682. The killing of Zacharias is shortly told in agreement with the account in the Protevangelium.

3. The Discourse of Epiphanius.

This has very few points of contact with the Apocrypha. It