Page:The Apocryphal New Testament (1924).djvu/593

 Paul. He promised blessings to those who should write or read the Apocalypse, and curses on those who should deride it. Peter and Paul should end their course on the fifth of Epiphi (29 June). He then bade a cloud take the apostles to the various countries allotted to them, and commanded them to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom. And a doxology follows.

I am disposed to think that nothing after the appearance of Adam in this version can be original. The rest is to a great extent, I think, a pasticcio from other Coptic apocrypha: It is quite possible, of course, that the original end of the Apocalypse was lost at an early date: but the supposition is probable that after the appearance of Adam a short conclusion followed in which Paul returned to earth. With so ill-proportioned and inartistic a book it is not perhaps worth while to spend much time on conjectural restoration. Yet another possibility should be pointed out. The climax of the Apocalypse is reached when the Sunday is granted as a day of rest from torment. Paul has seen Paradise and hell, and there is no more for him to do. Everything after ch. 44 is an otiose appendix.

And we do find in the Ethiopic Apocalypse of the Virgin, which copies that of Paul very literally, that the end comes at ch. 44, when the Virgin procures rest from Friday evening to Monday morning for the lost. The Greek Apocalypse&mdash;one form at least&mdash;ends when she has gained for them the days of Pentecost.

It may be the case, then, that the Apocalypse of Paul as first issued ended here, and that it was reissued with the appendix about Paradise (45–end). In the shorter Latin recensions there is no trace of anything after ch. 44: but this does not furnish a conclusive argument. More to the point would be the discovery of a copy of the full text ending with 44.

 

In a certain apocryphal book, said to be of Thomas the apostle, it is written that the Lord Jesus told him that from his ascension into heaven to his second advent the time comprised is nine jubilees.

