The Apocryphal Gospels

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The Apocryphal Gospels:

Exploring the Lost Books of the Bible

by Fr. Bertrand Buby, S.M., S.T.D.

LEARN WHILE LISTENING ANYTIME. ANYWHERE. THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS: EXPLORING THE LOST BOOKS OF THE BIBLE WRITTEN G U I D E

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Table of Contents

Topic 1: An Introduction to the Apocryphal Gospels ...... 7

Topic 2: The Protogospel of James (Protoevangelium of Jacobi)...... 10

Topic 3: The Sayings Gospel of Didymus Judas Thomas...... 13

Topic 4: Apocryphal Infancy Gospels of Pseudo-Thomas and Others ...... 16

Topic 5: Jewish Christian Apocryphal Gospels ...... 19

Topic 6: The Gospel of Peter or the Gospel of the Cross...... 22

Topic 7: The Gospel of Judas...... 25

Topic 8: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene ...... 28

Topic 9: The Secret Gospel of Mark ...... 32

Topic 10: The Gospel of Philip (Gnostic Beginnings)...... 35

Topic 11: The History of Joseph the Carpenter...... 38

Topic 12: The Transitus Mariae Texts: Mary’s Dormition and Assumption...... 41

Program Summary

What don’t you know about Jesus?

This question has stirred the world’s imagination in recent years. From blockbuster books like The Da Vinci Code to heated discussions about a new translation of the Gospel of Judas, it’s clear that we are just as fascinated by the gaps in Jesus’ life as were his ancient early followers.

The body of literature known as the Apocryphal gospels evolved in response to questions that could not be found in the canonical New Testament. Some gifted writers, between the 1st and 7th centuries, then tried to create gospels that would address the issues of their community. To give authority to such works, they gave them names of the famous apostles who surrounded Jesus thus we have a gospel for almost every apostle.

The apocryphal gospels are only a small part of the overall apocryphal works of early Christian literature. They display the great diversity among the churches in the early centuries of Christianity and provide us with valuable glimpses of the beliefs of early Christians. This course will address the 40 most important of the gospels and the controversies that surround them.

What You Will Learn

The apocryphal gospels devote many pages to the early years of Jesus and his interaction with Joseph and Mary. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas speaks of the extraordinary miracles of the child Jesus and sometimes shows his mischievous behavior. Mary, the mother of Jesus is also of particular interest in these works. The Proto-Gospel of James which gives us the life of Mary up to her sixteenth year, relates the narrative of her parents, Anna and Joachim, and her presentation in the Jerusalem Temple as a child. Though it is clear that there is no historical evidence for much of this material, like the canonical gospels, there are lessons for our faith within their words.

This 12-lectrure course will also address the famous Sayings Gospel of Thomas that confirms the existence of a collection of sayings of Jesus that we call the Quelle or "Q Source," a source scholars believe was the uniting element of the Synoptic Gospels.

Fr. Bert Buby, S.M., will take you on an adventure through these intriguing stories that influenced the founders of our faith.

About Your Presenter

Fr. Bertrand Buby is a member of the Society of Mary or the Marianists. He teaches courses on Mary at the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton and is Professor Emeritus at the University of Dayton. Fr. Bert is past president of the Mariological Society of America and is a member of the Pontifical International Marian Academy. He is the author of the trilogy Mary of Galilee, Mary Faithful Disciple, With a Listening Heart, and also a book on his founder’s use of Marian texts.

Fr. Bert obtained his licentiate in Scripture from the Pontifical Biblical Institute and his doctorate in Marian Theology from the International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton.

His previous programs with Now You Know Media include Mary, the Mother of Jesus and Revelation.

Topic 1: An Introduction to the Apocryphal Gospels

A) The word apocrypha refers to something that is hidden or obscure. When linked to the gospels that belong to the category of apocryphal writings of the New Testament, the genre taken from the canonical scriptures is applied to a specific type of writing. The other apocryphal writings follow the genres given in the New Testament: Acts, Epistles, and Apocalyptic which refers like the Apocalypse (Revelation) to the last days or the end time. B) There is evidence of about forty such gospels that are given titles such as the Gospel of Mary Magdalene or the Gospel of Peter which may mean they are featured or some may have been supposedly written by a specific apostle like Thomas. He happens to have two works associated with him under the genre of gospel. Pseudonymity is one of the characteristics of these works. One takes the name of a famous person like St. Peter and then applies it to a gospel to give it credibility and authority for the audience or readers. All of these gospels are using names that were not the authors of them. In fact, sometimes a given apocryphal gospel could have another title as we see in the Protoevangelium of James. C) The apocryphal gospels are only a portion of these writings which go beyond one hundred named documents. Some are only remnants of a larger work or a piece of papyrus that is identified with an apocryphal work. Most of the documents have been discovered in the last two centuries in Upper Egypt and Middle Egypt. The most famous discovery is that of the discovery made at Nag Hammadi in December of 1945 where over fifty different tractates or types of apocrypha were found. They may have been preserved by the monks of St. Pachomius (292-348 A.D.) and then hidden in the nearby mounds or hills and discovered by a peasant of the area. D) These gospels are not similar to our canonical ones which primarily are the kerygma that preached the Good News of Jesus consisting of his words and deeds in order to initiate, catechize, and develop the faith of the believers. Among the apocryphal gospels are those that emphasize the early childhood of Jesus and his behavior at five, seven, and twelve. Others are just sayings that are collected and are similar and often very different from the normative gospels. There are some writings that also speak of the Passion and Death of Jesus and are post-Resurrection like the Gospel of Peter called the Gospel of the Cross. And there are dialogues between Jesus and some of the apostles as well as with Mary Magdalene and Peter and Andrew who do not give her any credibility whereas a Levi (Matthew) does. E) There are legends also about the lands in which the apostles labored as missionary preachers of the gospels. Thomas is associated with India; Andrew with Greece and Syria, etc. Some of the devotions and stories we have heard stem from such gospels about the apostles and the early martyrs. F) The Old Testament writings are also helpful in studying the New Testament Apocrypha. James H. Charlesworth has collected the testament and literature surrounding the works of the Old Testament; they, however, are called “pseudoepigrpahy” literature. Several of these are used in the New Testament Apocrypha and the Gnostic quality of these gospels usually

center on stories developed from the early chapters of the Genesis that deal with Adam and Eve and their offspring. “These texts are of great value to all people whose religious heritage focuses on the Bible for insight into development of doctrine. By studying the pseudoepigrapha we can increase our knowledge of the beginnings of the Christian religion, as well as the development of Judaism after the close of the Hebrew Bible.” (back cover of Charlesworth’s Vol.1). G) The eleven presentations that follow were carefully selected to give the listener a type of chronological look at the gospels chosen and to show the life of Jesus from its beginnings (through Protoevangelium of James) to the death of both his foster father Joseph (an apocrypha that covers the dying days and hours of Joseph with Jesus and his mother nearby to console and comfort him). The last presentation covers a look at the Transitus Mariae or her Assumption (Western Catholic Church) or her Dormition (Eastern and Orthodox Churches). H) There are heretical beginnings in some of the gospels treated. Jesus may be only an appearance of a real human person (Docetism) or salvation is not through Jesus’death on the Cross but through “gnosis” or special and secret knowledge given to those chosen who have a spark of fallen Wisdom within them. There are also some things that would remind the reader of the “New Age” religions and their cults and rituals. I) The presenter placed two of the Apocrypha as first and second because of both their chronology as well as their importance for knowing something about the ancestors of Jesus, their names, and, of course, the importance of Mary his mother who is definitely declared virgin both before, during, and after the birth of Jesus in this document from 150 A.D. Next as our third topic we have the great discovery at Nag Hammadi of the Secret Sayings of Jesus given to Thomas Didymus Judas, called the twin of Jesus! There are 114 sayings attributed to Jesus that have a wide range from fidelity to the parables of Jesus to the Gnostic element and maybe to some strange rituals. The monk or monachos is mentioned several times within the Sayings Gospel. J) Similar to the creative and sensational Da Vinci Code, these apocryphal gospels do not reveal the realistic historical memories of those named in the New Testament canonical gospels but are imagined dialogues, events, and words of Jesus or Mary Magdalene. And just as we are enamored of distinguished heroes or saints of the past and present, so, too were these peoples for whom the apocrypha were written. They helped foster a fascination and devotion for those men and women who surrounded Jesus. K) The following will be the sequence for the presentations: Proto-Gospel of James the Less, Secret Sayings Gospel of Thomas, Infancy Gospels of Pseudo-Matthew and of Thomas, Jewish Christian Gospels, Gospel of Peter, Judas, Mary Magdalene, Secret Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Philip, and finally the Dormition-Assumption Traditions about Mary.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What is the meaning of the word Apocrypha? How does it differ from the word Apocalyptic? What is the reason pseudonymity was used in the composting of the apocryphal writings?

2. How did we become aware of the names of so many “gospels” written under the name of almost every apostle?

3. “The canonical gospels provide the only norm by means of which they (the apocryphal gospels) can be tested.” (Encyclopedia Brittanica) Do you agree with this statement and why or why not?

Topic 2: The Protogospel of James (Protoevangelium of Jacobi)

A) Our interest in this apocryphal gospel is the fact that it gives us the family of Jesus and his grandparents, Joachim and Ann, who are the parents of Mary. Their conception of the child comes after a long period of sterility in which both of Mary’s parents though devout are deprived of their own child. Joachim leaves the family for an extended period and it is probably during that time that the miracle of the birth of Mary takes place. There happens to be another name attached to this gospel: “A historical narrative of the birth of the holy Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.” The title is much later than the writing of the work by another unknown author who uses the name James (pseudonym) to give the story a first-hand account coming from James, a son of Joseph the carpenter. B) We may ask what value is there in such an imaginative work about the grandparents, and then Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. It certainly had to be written in a community and social setting in which there was a high esteem and even devotion to the holy family. It, like so many other apocrypha, is written in Greek but there are over one hundred copies of it in multiple sacred and early language traditions. The gospel was greatly revered and honored in the Eastern Churches and probably had its provenance in Syria around the year 150 A.D. It is valuable for honoring the holy persons who surrounded Jesus and it also is the first clear statement in writings about what is called the perpetual virginity of Mary. The fact that the Church has a feast for Mary’s birthday ( Sept.8); for her presentation in the temple (Nov.21) and then for her parents, Joachim and Ann on July 26 speaks for its influence in the churches of both East and West. Another important fact for its early provenance in the East helps bring us closer to the atmosphere of the actual writings of the New Testament in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. It depends upon these two gospels and shows us the social and ecclesial context of early Christian communities which were quite unique and diverse in their stories about Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. C) The gospel centers on the person of Mary and gives us an early portrait of her outside of the gospels of Matthew and Luke. We are entertained by the colorful and devotional dimension of the writing which takes us from the conception of Mary (probably in the mind of the author, a natural conception despite the nuance of a miracle). This conception is that of Ann and is not to be associated with the immaculate conception of Mary a later developed doctrine of the Church. We are led through the story to the death of Zacharia, the priest who is mistakenly to be a martyr who happened to have a similar name and belongs in the Old Testament. D) Though it is important for creating both the names of the parents of Mary and for her perpetual virginity, the Roman Catholic Church and those in union with it, do not develop their marian theology from it, but from the normative gospels of Matthew and Luke. A principle to be remembered is that in Matthew 2:11 the Magi come and find the child Jesus with Mary his mother. This is sound marian theology not dependent on any apocrypha. Some scholars attribute the marian theology to be based on the Proto-Gospel of James, but that is

not the truth. Catholic traditional teaching has always cautioned against any use of apocrypha in establishing a sound theology of Mary, the Theotokos or God-bearer. E) Many of the scenes within the Koran are taken from this apocryphal gospel. The teaching about Mary in the Koran is similar to that of the apocrypha and Mary is highly revered as the mother of the great prophet Jesus. She is pure and defended as such in the forty or more suras dedicated to her. F) Amazingly, many of the mystics who had visions of the life of Mary and Jesus seem to have known about the apocryphal tradition in this respect and thus carried over the revere for Mary into mysticism. One need only read Mary of Agreda (+1665) and that of Catherine Emmerich (+1824). G) The great artist Fra Angelico has captured many of the scenes in this gospel through his paintings in one of the churches of Florence, Italy. H) This Proto-Gospel was cited by theologians, bishops, and saints from the third to the seventh or eighth century among whom are Peter of Alexandria, Gregory of Nyssa, Origen, Epiphanius, Clement of Alexandria and Germanus of Constantinople in the eighth century. I) For an excellent insight into the literary and theological content of the work, Beverly Gaventa’s book has as its last chapter the meaning of sacred place and space. This is the most recent writing on the topic of this apocryphal gospel. J) The full title given to the work by William Postel, S.J. in the sixteenth century is “The Proto- Gospel or the Historical Word of the Inspired James the Less concerning the Births of Jesus Christ and his holy Mother the Virgin Mary.” Postel adds the postscript: “The Historical Gospel which Blessed Mark wrote” and the “Life of Mark the Evangelist collated by Theodore Bibliander at Basel, Switzerland in 1552.” This unruly title helps us to understand why it is called a Proto-Gospel. It was considered (wrongly) to be the introductory narrative of the Gospel of Mark! More accurately, the genius scholar Origen (+254) gave it the title “The Book of James.”

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What marian doctrine is emphasized within this apocryphal text? From whose point of view is the writing? Do you see any docetic tendency within this work?

2. What feasts in the liturgical year are celebrated because of this apocryphal gospel?

3. Do the Fathers of the Church use it in their homilies on Mary and the Incarnation?

Topic 3: The Sayings Gospel of Didymus Judas Thomas

A) Among the many documents of early Christianity found at Nag Hammadi, this particular one dates back to the earliest times, perhaps, in some of the sayings given, to before the formation of the canonical gospels. Both Luke and Matthew have behind their writings a common source called by the scholars and theologians the Q Source (Quelle=Source in German) and the long standing hypothesis of this source is confirmed that there were such collections of sayings. The discovery of the Sayings Gospel of Thomas is a fact and a historical and monumental discovery made in 1945 amidst the usual exciting stories that surround the finding of manuscripts. Intrigue always lurks around the corner in those who find, steal, or hide such treasures that should only be kept in museums and archives for the rest of the world to look at and learn about. The discovery can be considered on a par with that of the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls which have no New Testament documents. It is exclusive a Jewish treasure showing us the life of the first century in Judaism was quite diverse just as we find such diversity in the early Christian communities. B) We have in this manuscript the hint or the beginning of a number of Gnostic texts among the 114 sayings. Other texts mirror the parables that Jesus speaks in the canonical gospels. The discovery gave us a complete Coptic version of the Sayings and helped to confirm that some sayings in Greek in papyrus found a half century earlier were the original language of the Sayings. The Greek is said to be the original language of Thomas’ Sayings, but Coptic was used by the translators and followers of this collection. The find was in Upper Egypt 300 or more miles south of Cairo and was near where one of the first monasteries for the cenobitic life started by St. Pachomius was founded. The fact that there were monasteries in the area accounts for the preserving of the manuscripts as well as their being copied and translated. C) Not all of the Sayings are similar to what is found in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Some are tinged with Gnostic ideas; others seem to be an earlier tradition about the parables of Jesus, and then many are quite similar to what Matthew and Luke present. There may be about fifty sayings that are similar to the two evangelists and another are the “secret sayings” of Jesus meant for Thomas who is called the twin of Jesus! D) In the critical edition of the New Testament parallels that include John’s Gospel, Kurt Aland and his editors have added the Sayings Gospel of Thomas and have translations in Latin, German, and English side by side. This shows the confidence that New Testament exegetes have in the value of the Sayings of Thomas. The nuances of the translations are helps for the student who does not know Coptic or Greek. It is the best way to have access to the modern renderings of the Gospel of Thomas. E) Of the 114 Sayings that only ones that do not have some comparison with the references given as parallels to the New Testament Gospels are 35. These unique texts seem to come from either an ascetic approach to life in the community that used them—even a strain of encratism or disdain for marriage and for the body! Could they be from a group of monks or people similar to the group at the Dead Sea Scroll community? One must judge for oneself after having analyzed the texts with the help of those experts dedicated to commenting upon them.

J.F.K. Elliott in his masterful work based on updating the former work of M.R.James, The Apocryphal New Testament, gives us the most important tool in English for reviewing all of the important apocryphal works. His work is entitled, F) The Apocryphal New Testament: a Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation based on M.R.James. G) As for the parables of Jesus, Joachim Jeremias lists those common to the Synoptic Gospels in his masterful work entitled The Parables of Jesus. Eleven parables are compared among them the parable of the sower, the treasure in the field, the burglar, the rich fool, etc. H) Are there also Gnostic sayings? Those that are considered Gnostic are often comparable to the Wisdom type literature that we have in the Septuagint in Proverbs, Sirach, and Wisdom. We do not find the abstractions of emanations and aeons mentioned—a definite Gnostic vocabulary. This indicates to the exegetes that Thomas is a very early work and some date it in the first century. The Gnostic like nuances have as their aim to free the soul from the body so that the spark of the divine and that of wisdom may be received in the soul and mind. It is the material body that prevents the person for truly being free for the divine. I) In some sense the eschatology of the Fourth Gospel is close to that of Thomas since it emphasizes the person secret knowledge of the Savior as a Revealer. The true disciple is part of those who are “children of the living Father.” Saying # 3 and #19 refer to not tasting death like the phrase in John about the Beloved Disciple remaining without his death being mentioned. Thomas, of course, is one of the apostles who has a significant role in the Gospel of John. J) There are certain sayings that may help the reader to see a certain pattern of continued thought. It is good to remember that the text itself takes precedence over the individual sayings and thus opens us to exploring a world within the text. Saying # 114 is the most shocking and enigmatic saying that may be a key to the Sayings of Thomas.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Would you classify this as an orthodox text? What are your reasons for your answer whether it be a yes or a no?

2. Why are exegetes of the New Testament gospels interested in researching this gospel more than all of the other apocryphal ones? How does this fit in with the Q Source hypothesis?

3. Are there traces of incipient Gnosticism within this text?

Topic 4: Apocryphal Infancy Gospels of Pseudo-Thomas and Others

A) Christians are always interested in knowing more about the early upbringing of the child Jesus and it is only in the Gospel of Luke and Matthew that we have a thin glimpse into this period of the life and events and sayings of Jesus. The Apocryphal Gospels were not completely satisfied with the gaps and the questions that arose in their minds about this stage of the life of Christ. The only written source these anonymous writers had were the two Synoptic Gospels of Matthew and Luke. There were, of course, many stories they read in the Old Testament that also supplied some imaginative and creative ways of trying to fill in the gaps of the canonical gospels. They borrowed from the Proto-Gospel of James and did this rather consistently. B) In the years from 150-250 A.D. these apocryphal infancy gospels sprung up in the diverse communities of Christianity especially those in Egypt and Syria. In paying attention to the most popular and earliest of these creations one can come to see how they spawned many others as time moved on and new questions were asked. In many of the remains that have been discovered there are fragments from these Infancy Gospels, but the Pseudo-Gospel of Matthew is among the origins of some of the fantastic feats of the boy Jesus. Along side of Ps. Matthew is the infancy gospel attributed to Thomas; it is distinct from the Sayings Gospel of Thomas. By our paying attention to the most popular of them we can speculate about the ones that soon followed them and borrowed heavily from them. We learn also some of their names from the corrective eyes of the early theologians, bishops, and saints who knew of their existence and wrote against them. C) The names of the Infancy Gospels are: Pseudo-Matthew, Gospel of Thomas, Arabic Infancy Gospel, History of Joseph the Carpenter, the Gospel of the Traditions of Matthias. Joseph the Carpenter and the sayings found in Philip will be treated in other topics in this presentation. D) We can just mention such gospels as those of Bartholomew, Andrew, and Barnabas. Several of the Gnostic ones like the Gospel of Judas Iscariot will be treated separately and are not strictly infancy gospels. E) The Gospel of Andrew and the Gospel of Thadeues listed in the Gelasian decree are among the forbidden books associated with those apostles. There were sixty such listings in the decree. The Gospel of Eve which was circulated among the heretical Borborites, an Ophite (snake) sect of the Gnostics. The heretical writers also had such gospels for example Basilides who probably reworked the canonical gospels to make them favorable to Gnostic doctrine. There were also a gospel by Cerinthus and Valentinus both heretical and a Gospel of Apelles which is referred to by Jerome and Epiphanius. F) The Pseudo-Gospel of Matthew is focused upon in this presentation. Jesus at five and seven years is a naughty boy who performs strange miracles. He takes revenge on any child who bothers him and corrects the teachers even on their trying to show him the letters of the

alphabet. Perhaps, the author is trying to convince the reader of the great power and even magical works that Jesus is able to do as a boy. G) One notices how Joseph, the foster father of Jesus, has an important role. A later gospel will show the agony and sorrow Jesus feels at the death of Joseph. There are many similarities to the Proto-Gospel of James and there is the symbol of a palm that will influence the last presentations on the topic of the Dormition and Assumption of Mary. Joseph also is capable of performing a miracle and there are statements that say the same about Mary. H) The Infancy Gospel of Thomas is another collection of miracles performed by Jesus before his twelfth year. This was originally written in Greek or Syriac (an eastern Semitic language similar to the Aramaic Jesus himself would have spoken. The stories here are meant to honor and foretell the emergence of the young boy becoming a hero in his future career and mission. Who better than Jesus would be a model for such growing up in a Christian community? The self awareness of Jesus, his wisdom, and his divine identity and destiny are foreshadowed. The writing may be as early as 175 A.D. I) Joseph continues to be the prominent guardian of Jesus in this Infancy Gospel of Thomas. He is mentioned over twenty times. Only near the end of the manuscript does Mary come into a prominent role where the scene of the finding in the Temple is taken from Luke almost verbatim. The stories are similar to Ps. Matthew and may come from the same oral tradition. Much borrowing is evident in these gospels. Gaps are filled but with a type of dependence on a canonical backdrop from Matthew and Luke chapters one and two. One delightful section (11.1) has Jesus doing a miracle for his mother Mary. He receives a kiss from her. J) Certainly the one writing these gospels had a respect for the parents of Jesus and a special devotedness to remembering Joseph. The stories here are gentler than those of Ps.Matthew; they are less vulgar but the retention of miracles that are almost magical continue. They make us smile. K) The Arabic Gospel has more of an emphasis and great reverence for the mother of Jesus. There is borrowing from the Proto-Gospel of James and much fanciful material probably stemming from an Egyptian origin. Mary too performs a number of miracles. Her mediation is strong and great reverence for her continues throughout the work. Both the Armenian version and the Arabic go back to a Syrian archetype of the fifth and sixth century. Devotion to Mary is more developed and may account for this later dating of these types of Infancy stories. Elliott remarks that “Most of them are typical of the racy and vivid style of the book as a whole. They smack of the “Thousand and One Nights” rather than pious Christian literature.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What do we mean when we say some of the Apocryphal Gospels try to “fill in the gaps” of the Synoptic Gospels?

2. What is your assessment of the element of the magical and miraculous works attributed to the boy Jesus? Do these “miracles” have any value for believers? Should we ever mention these stories to children?

3. Comment on the relationship of Jesus to Mary and Joseph in these stories.

Topic 5: Jewish Christian Apocryphal Gospels

A) The Gospel of the Hebrews, the Gospel of the Nazarenes, the Gospel of the Ebionites are among the remains that we have of these early Christian Jewish Gospels. The first to come into the new Judaic dispensation of Christianity were Jesus’ own people from the land in which he grew up and the neighboring ones. Many of the new converts fled from Roman persecution to Pella where they spread to other countries. We know about them through the writings of the early theologians and “fathers’ of the Church who started to classify and condemn these as contrary to the Christian faith. Among the fathers are Epiphanius, Origen, Clement of Alexandria, Eusebius, Didymus the Blind and St. Jerome. B) One of the mysteries behind these Gospels is the statement that Jerome makes that he had translated a copy of Matthew from Aramaic, the language Jesus had used. However, no such translation has ever been discovered. Its name remains attached to some of the so called Jewish Christian writings imitating the genre of a gospel. The Fathers of the Church were focused on confronting such gospel writers who handed these down to their communities. C) The Gospel of the Hebrews was written around the year 100-110 A.D. thus before the last writings of the New Testament, for example, II Peter. Jewish wisdom is characteristic of this gospel. The Gospel touches upon the pre-existent Christ coming into the body of Mary, the descent of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus at his baptism by John the Baptist, and a resurrection appearance to James at a Eucharist or Agape meal. There is a saying that is the same in content as Saying # 2 in the Sayings Gospel of Thomas that appears in the Gospel of Hebrews: “He who wonders shall reign, and he who reigns shall rest.” The logion (saying) in Thomas is: “He who seeks will not rest till he finds, and when he finds he will wonder, and wondering he shall reign, and reigning he shall rest.” D) Another important saying in the Gospel of the Hebrews: “Never be glad unless you are in charity with your brother.” (seen in Jerome on Ephesians 5:4). The greatest of sins therefore is the “one that afflicts the spirit of his brother.” E) Eusebius cites another passage: “The whole fount of the Holy Spirit descend upon him (Jesus)…and it came to pass, as the Lord came up out of the water, the whole fountain of the Holy Spirit descended upon him and rested upon him and said, “My son, in all the prophets I expected that you might come and that I might rest upon you. You are my rest, you are my firstborn son, who reigns in eternity.” ( Eusebius in Ecclesiastical History 3.19.17). F) The Gospel of the Nazareans: Again Jerome cites the following,” Now this Hebrew original (Aramaic) Gospel of Matthew is preserved to this day in the library at Caesarea, which Pamphilius, a martyr, so diligently collated. I also obtained permission from the Nazarenes of Beroea in Syria, who use this volume, to make a copy of it. In this it is to be observed that throughout the evangelist when quoting the witness of the Old Testament, either in his own person or in the of the Lord and Savior, does not follow the authority of the seventy translators (the Septuagint), but the Hebrew Scriptures, from which he quotes these two sayings: “Out of Egypt have I called my son.”, and hence, he shall be called a Nazarene.”

G) Unfortunately, we cannot accept as accurate many of the statements Jerome makes about the so called original Aramaic Gospel of Matthew. H) The Gospel of the Ebionites (The Poor) stems from a Jewish Christian sect that did not accept the virginity of Mary and said Joseph was the natural father of Jesus. It is St. Irenaeus who first mentions this title for the Gospel of the Ebionites and said they did use the Gospel of Matthew (the most Jewish Gospel among the four). They emphasized they were the chosen people of God, they celebrated the Eucharist with unleavened bread. They may be related to the Church of the Circumcision in Jerusalem where James was the overseer. I) The Gospel of the Egyptians most likely has its origin in Egypt around the year 150 A.D. Origen states it is an example of those gospels who attempted to say their writings preceded that of Luke the Evangelist. (See Luke’s 1:1-4). The Egyptian Church accepted it as normative by 200 A.D. Our information about this gospel comes from Origen, Clement of Aleandria, Hippolytus, and Epiphanius. J) It is a secondary gospel with a distinct doctrinal tendency which promotes “encratism” in its rejection of marriage and its insistence on chastity. For example, we read in it as cited by one of the fathers, “Salome is said to ask Jesus how long death would have power. She is told that it is “as long as you women give birth to children.” This Gospel was used to support the heresies of the Sabellians and the Naasenes. K) The Gospel of the Traditions of Matthias (circa 190 A.D.) is considered not orthodox and is condemned by the Gelasian Decree which lists sixty such non-canonical or accepted books. It may also contain Gnostic teachings. We have this from Clement of Alexandria in his Stromateis: “The beginning of truth is to wonder at things, as Plato says in the Theaetetus, and Matthias in the Traditions advising us to “wonder at the things that are before you, making this the first step into further knowledge.” L) The Preaching of Peter or the Kerygma Petrou (circa 150 A.D. emphasizes the superiority of Christian monotheism. We start to see some anti-semitic notions of supersessionism. This will continue in a number of the apocryphal works which should be critically judged and corrected in our own thinking about them.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What role do the Fathers of the Church, especially St. Jerome, have with regard to these gospels?

2. Is there credibility to the thought there is an Aramaic version of Matthew that precedes the canonical gospel?

3. How would you define the Ebionites and what is one of their major heretical statements?

Topic 6: The Gospel of Peter or the Gospel of the Cross

A) The Gospel of Peter is one of the most fascinating among the apocryphal gospels, It has a captivating narrative about the last week of Jesus’life and also a sensational physical description of his Resurrection. We may say that it foreshadows the Gospel of Mark which definitely has been named a Gospel of the Cross by many spiritual writers. Some scholars believe that this Gospel of Peter is earlier than the written canonical ones. B) Peter is associated with both Rome and Antioch in Syria and Jerusalem. The association of Peter and Mark is seen in the Gospel of Mark and in the Gospel of Peter we have something that may have been a part of the pre-history of the Passion Narrative which is a great unit of the tradition found in Mark chapters 14-16. There is not a Resurrection story per se in the official ending of Mark but the attachments to it bring in traditions common to the other three gospels. There is not such a tradition-giving in the Gospel of Peter which stands by itself as a possible forerunner of Mark. C) It starts with Pilate’s washing of his hands and continues from that point on to the real emphasis of the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus. It could be that the composer of this unique gospel account of the Resurrection may have used or been aware of the Diatesseron of Tatian which attempted to put all four gospels into one story. This seems to be more favored recently as the origin of the Gospel of Peter, but the other suggestion or hypothesis is kept alive by Dominic Crossan and others who follow his research. D) There is no doubt that Peter’s Gospel does link the narrative of the crucifixion, the deposition of Jesus from the Cross and the tomb and guards to the sensational description of the Resurrection offered as the climax of this writing. The following paragraph is noteworthy: E) “Early in the morning, when the Sabbath dawned. There came a crowd from Jerusalem and the country round about to see the sealed sepulcher. Now in the night in which the Lord’s Day dawned, when the soldiers were keeping guard, two by two in each watch, there was a loud voice in heaven, and they saw the heavens open and two men come down from there in great brightness and draw near to the sepulcher. That stone which had been laid against the entrance to the sepulcher started of itself to roll and move sideward, and the sepulcher was opened and both young men entered. When the soldiers saw this, they awakened the centurion and the elders, for they also were to mount guard. And while they were narrating what they had seen, they saw three men come out from the sepulcher, two of them supporting the other and a cross following them. And the heads of the two reaching to heaven, but that of him who was being led reached beyond the heavens, and they heard a voice from the heavens crying, ‘Have you preached to those asleep.’ And from the Cross there was heard the answer, ‘Yes.’” F) Unfortunately, the strain of anti-semitism is apparent in this work: “For it is better for us to make ourselves guilty of the greatest sin before God than to fall into the hands of the people of the Jews and be stoned. Plate therefore commanded the centurion and the soldiers to say nothing.” The blood curse if found in Matthew 25:27 and this seems to influence much of the

anti-Jewish flavor of some of these gospels. Pilate is exonerated and as we see later in certain eastern churches is “canonized” as a saint with a feast day!. G) There is much in this gospel that has such reverence for the person of Jesus that it does seem to be a “post-resurrection gospel”. The fact that the first day of the week, a Sunday according to the Jewish calendar is called the Lord’s Day showing separation from the Sabbath and celebrating the new meaning given to the first day of the week when Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus is referred often as the Lord and Pilate declares him to be the Son of God! H) There is nothing considered heretical by the Fathers of the Church in what is seen in this gospel though today it is unacceptable for Jewish- Christian understanding except in a developed dialogue between Christians and Jews. In other words, it could help us to trace the origins of anti-semitism in Christian thought and practices. I) Docetism may be found in this Gospel in the fact that it seems to say that Jesus did not suffer much pain as we see within the texts of his sufferings. There is definitely a miraculous happening in the way the resurrection is depicted and a supernatural bent to the account of the death and resurrection of Jesus compared to the normative and starker Gospel of the Cross, that of Mark the Evangelist. J) Like many of these gospels this one was discovered in Upper Egypt near Achmin in the winter of 1886-1887. It is the only Gospel attached to the name Peter as attested by the fragments that were found (verses 26f and verse30). Along side of it was the discovery of a copy of Enoch in Greek and an Apocalypse of Peter. According to Denker it belongs to the broad streams of Western Syrian tradition. It was used in Egypt as early as 190-200 A.D. K) The Gospel of Peter was used by Christians in Rhossus, the capital city in Syria in those days and was known by Serapion a bishop and theologian who considered it Docetic. Theologically both the Proto-Gospel of James and the Gospel of Peter were open to heretical interpretations that favored encratism ( despising the body and marriage) and docetism separately. We may say that the Gospel of Peter is a popular Christian work that is that of ordinary people not in a major center like Antioch where public reading and preaching would have exercised greater control but in the smaller towns of Syria not unlike Rhossus where Serapion became acquainted with it. (words of Fr. Raymond E. Brown, in Death of the Messiah, p.1335).

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What is stressed in this gospel that differs from the others?

2. How do you see a docetic idea within a few of the texts of Peter?

3. Would you place this gospel chronologically ahead of the canonical gospels? And why would you or would you not?

Topic 7: The Gospel of Judas

A) This most daring of Gospels is the most recent to catch the attention of scholars and students of the ancient Christian documents. The Manuscript was discovered by a farmer in 1970 and since then experts have been working on translations, interpretations, and research on this mid-second century Gospel. It was found in a cavern in Middle Egypt and since then had an adventurous journey in the hands of antiquity collectors and was even carried across three continents: Africa (Coptic language), Europe, and America. Finally less than ten years ago it was put into the hands of experts who carefully reassembled it and restore it for all who were now expecting to learn about it. The original language of it is Coptic but there is a clear prose translation of it into English by Rodolphe Kasser (an excellent Coptic scholar), Marvin Meyer, and Gregor Wurst (whom I was privileged to meet at the U. of Augsburg, Germany five years ago. He gave the students an update conference on the work and the discovery of the Gospel of Judas. B) St. Irenaeus of Lyon (140-200 A.D.) already had been aware of its existence. His mentioning of it helps us to give a very early date to the manuscript that originally contained it. It thus would have to have been written during the active writing period of this apostolic father, Irenaeus, who was adamant about confronting all forms of Gnostic thought. This Gospel of Judas is Gnostic and thus predicates salvation as special mystical wisdom that leads the soul to find itself and thus experience salvation. Jesus would be advocating salvation by imitation of his enlightened mind and not by his sacrificial and cruel death on the cross. Thus it cuts out the orthodox and Catholic understanding of redemption through Jesus’ suffering, death, and resurrection. C) The original language was most probably Greek and the language of the discovery was in Sahidic, the southern dialect, of Coptic. Irenaeus was aware of it through his mentioning of the Gospel of Judas in his treatise on heresies, “Detection and Overthrow of the False Knowledge” (Against Heresies) written in Greek around 180 A.D. The fact that the Gospel of Judas was found with other Gnostic literature: Letter of Peter to Philip, First Revelation of James, and then the third, the Gospel of Judas and finally the Book of Allogenes. D) We are most interested in what Irenaeus says about such literature of the second and maybe even the latter part of the first century. Ireaneus has this in writing: E) “And others say that Cain was from the superior realm of absolute power, and confess that Esau, Korah, the Sodomites, and all such persons are of the same people as themselves: for this reason they have been hated by their maker, although none of them has suffered harm. For Wisdom (Sophia) snatched up out of them whatever belonged to her. And Judas the betrayer was thoroughly acquainted with the truth as no others were, and so accomplished the mystery of the betrayal. By him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thrown into dissolution. And they bring forth a fabricated work to its effect, which they entitle the Gospel of Judas.”

F) Thus for Irenaeus they go against the teachings of the apostles and Jesus and are considered heretical and Gnostic. These followers were also called the Ophites or Snake People based on the Genesis story and they free Cain from his crime of murder and Korah and the Sodomites for their rebellion against the God of the Old Testament who is considered a demiurge and a Evil god. G) The fresh translation used in this presentation consists of 25 pages from a small sized book and only about 10-12 pages in an ordinary printed book to which we are familiar. H) As we will see, these apocryphal gospels are fond of returning to the initial chapter of Genesis-Beginnings or Origin of humankind. The Gospel of Judas would fall under the category of Sethian text—making him a model for the true original Adam, though he is his fourth son. It also is definitely a Gnostic gospel belonging to a Christian sect. The Gospel of the Egyptians would also be listed in the same category. Seth is even called the “Christ” due to the emanation theory of the Gnostics. I) The Gospel of Judas has its own salvation theory that does not accept the death of Jesus as the cause of our salvation. The text does not contain any reference to the death of Jesus and stops at his arrest. The phrase from John’s Gospel “and do what you do quickly” is the key to Judas’ betraying Jesus in order that salvation could be had but according to the Gnostic way of seeing salvation—self knowledge leading to true enlightenment because one belongs to the spark of life left by Seth. J) Some five years ago, I saw a German version of the play “Jesus Christ Super Star” where Judas plays a stronger part in it—even the actor was stronger in comparison to a more emaciated character who played Jesus. Judas is lifted up above the others almost like the Gospel of Judas says. He seemed to have special knowledge of what would happen to Jesus to complete his role in the emanation system of the Gnostics. “The secret account of the revelation that Jesus spoke in conversation with Judas Iscariot. Jesus says to Judas “Lift up your eyes and look at the cloud and the light within it and the stars surrounding it. The star that leads the way is your star.” Also coming back to the play Jesus Christ Super Star the song “With God on our Side, we hear Bob Dylan singing,” You’ll have to decide Whether Judas Iscariot Had God on his side.” K) The name of the manuscript is called Codex Tchacos. It is named after the lady who purchased the papyri on April 3, 2000 Frieda nussberger Tchacos. The sale took place in the United States, then again a further recovery of the same because of Bruce Ferrini’s not able to pay the amount, it came back Switzerland and finally to the Coptic Museum of Cairo on July 24, 2001. From that point on the diagnosis and measurement of it took place, then the restoring and recomposing of it after a few more leaves were suddenly given back by Ferrini that were confirmed as those that had been missing. The material loss of parts of it amount up to fifteen percent of the work.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What is the salvation theory presented in this Gospel that differs from the normative and canonical gospels? How does Judas fit in to this “soteriology” (salvation theology)?

2. Why do you think this is an important addition to the apocryphal gospels?

3. Why is the Gospel a Gnostic gospel? Give an example from what you have heard.

Topic 8: The Gospel of Mary Magdalene

A) This Gospel is not written by Mary Magdalene but it ends with her name attached to it. She is the key person within it who interacts with Jesus and with Peter, Andrew, and Levi—apostles of the Lord. It is a post-resurrection Gospel in its literary presentation and is one of the Gospels that was mentioned by the early theologians of the Great Church (Catholic Church) and has an interesting history as far as the discovery of parts of the Gospel. Unfortunately about a third of it is missing: 6 pages at the beginning 1-6, and 11-14 in the middle. The Gospel would be no more than ten pages of a regular sized printed book. B) The foremost scholar of the Gospel is Karen King who has carefully interpreted it both in her book, The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the first woman apostle. And in the “ Searching the Scriptures: a Feminist Commentary. C) The text is taken from her book. We allow the words to speak for themselves and we then are led to discover the portrait of Mary of Magdala as a woman who meets the criteria for being a disciple and apostle of the Lord. D) The canonical gospels give us the validation of her being a true apostle of the Lord for she does meet the criteria of apostleship presented in Acts 1:21-22: she accompanied Jesus during his public ministry and was the first witness to his resurrection. E) Her role is to be a model and example of what it means to be a leader and a true apostle of Jesus. She does this in the Gospel of Mary in contrast to some of the limits of Peter’s leadership and that of Andrew. Levi who is sometimes identified with Matthew is the one who defends her and confronts Peter while silencing Andrew. F) Using a “participatory hermeneutic” helps us as readers to engage in the historian’s interpretation that is not presented as definitive but who is meaning is open. We are thus responding to the words of this document as readers who are open-minded. This helps us to understand the circumstances that surrounded this gospel and reflect on the community that created it and used it for its own roles within the Church of its time. G) The text was written in the second century, that is , sometime within 100-200 A.D., but was not known for over fifteen hundred years until the discovery of several different fragments first found in 1896; then others were found in the last century in 1945. Karl Reinhardt was the first to discover it and it happened in a market in Cairo where a merchant was selling it! Carl Schmidt then took up the work of publishing it and placing it in a Berlin museum. It was written in Coptic and the papyrus codex was a small one from what would later be discovered. Then in 1917 a Greek fragment of it was discovered and later published in 1938 by C. H. Roberts. Then another fragment in Greek was discovered near Oxyrhynchus along the Nile in lower N. Egypt. Three fragments thus led to putting the Gospel together. It was never copied again after the fifth century. H) The first section 7:1-8:11 consists of the dialogue of Jesus teaching about Matter, Sin, and the Good. A question and answer dialogue is its format. The difference is that Jesus is saying

that there is no sin for those who understand what he is teaching. Matter is what creates the problem for those who do not delve into themselves to find the Good. This teaching differs from what we know as the soteriology (salvation history) of the New Testament writings namely the death of Jesus is what redeems us, that is, in the context of the Paschal Mysteries of his Passion or sufferings, his death, and his resurrection. The topic was cosmology or the question of was matter created or did it exist in itself—a Platonic and Stoic background seems to be part of the community’s historical make-up. Christians at that time were interested in the fate of the world. I) To obtain salvation consists in inner and true knowledge of one’s self. Think of the saying, “Know thyself” and “to thine ownself be true.” Here is where the characteristic of “Gnosticism” is present in this Gospel and it is easily see whenever we probe and interpret the expression “child of humanity” or (son of man) as it is used in the Gospel of Mary. The use differs from the Synoptics and John in that here it means the primordial archetype of Adam as embracing as one both man and woman. To expect a “son of man” to come on the clouds and to save you is not what our text is saying. So the eschatology of Mark and Matthew are not part of this gospel. K. King tells us , “To find and follow the child of true Humanity within requires identifying with the archetypal Image of Humanity as one’s most essential nature and conforming to it as a model. Those who search for it will find it, the Savior assures his disciples.” J) The Savior is sending the apostles on their mission. They are not to be afraid but they are. He reassures them that the “root” and “Good” is within them to be true children of Humanity. They are not to promulgate any laws but what they have heard from them. K) In selection # 5, Mary of Magdala appears for the first time (we are not sure whether she was mentioned in the missing part of the introduction). Here she comforts the apostles and kisses them—a sign of her leadership as well as her Christian love. L) It will result between Mary and Peter as well as Andrew (the antagonists in this dialogue). Here we see Peter becoming interested in what Mary may know about Jesus and his teachings. He invites her to tell them what she has heard from the Savior and what they may not have heard. M) Mary then tells of her vision of the Resurrected Jesus. She says, “Lord, I saw you today.” He says” how wonderful you are” and then gives words that will help the reader to understand the theology and self-salvation of the Gospel of Mary: “The Savior answered “A person does not see with the soul or with the spirit. Rather the mind, which exists between these two, sees the vision..that is what… ( BG 8502). Section 7 of Manuscript. N) What follows is a more difficult section that speaks of the soul and its struggle against four Powers. Each power contains certain vices that try to confuse the soul but it has the ability to see through these lies. The Powers listed in this section are Desire, Ignorance, and Wrath which are dialoguing with the soul and wondering why it is not totally immersed in them, that is in matter. The fact there are four parts ( pages 11-14) of the manuscript that are missing here makes it difficult to interpret the entire response of Mary. The powers may represent the four elements of the material world: earth, water, fire, and air. They represent the vices of the

lower world: desire, ignorance, jealousy and wrath or the excitement of death. The world above consists of light, peace, knowledge, love, and life. If the soul attaches itself to the material elements it is considered adultery for it is united to what it should not be united. O) Section 9 may be entitled the ascent of the soul and it is this part that shows us the self- salvation of the soul as well as a Gnostic approach to life where knowledge or acquaintance is what saves the soul not the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. At most Jesus would be more of a model for the apostles and for Mary. P) Section # 10 is a tension bound response of Peter and Andrew against Mary. Levi enters the scene and tries to calm the hothead Peter and his brother Andrew by acting in defense of Mary. It is here that the relationship of Mary to Jesus is brought out by Levi and that many speculate about. Movie makers love to make of the relationship something that is romantic and even sexual. This does not fit the context of the Gospel of Mary. Allow me to present her best interpreter on this point: Q) “The Savior’s partiality for Mary has received a good deal of comment, much of it suggesting a romantic or sexual involvement. Could that be implied here? I think not. The text again and again bases Mary’s status on her spiritual qualities and stresses that the body and the world have no lasting spiritual value since they will be dissolved. Are we reifying the patriarchal sexualizations of the female body if we insist that whenever a woman is involved, relations must be sexual? On the other hand, the text is quite ambiguous and certainly does not directly condemn sexual relations.” King, p.616 in Searching the Scriptures. R) Summarizing: The Gospel of Mary builds on the fact of Mary witnessing the Resurrected Jesus as we know from the canonical Gospels—especially from John. It however as an apocrypha elaborates on several scenarios that show Mary as a leader and as a preeminent disciple of Jesus because of her visions and the teaching she received from the Lord—not secretive but personal to her. She is a comforter and friend to the apostles and struggles painfully with their lack of confidence in her are reliable in testimony about what Jesus taught. She does have superior spiritual knowledge and a favored status with Jesus thereby is worthy of legitimate authority in leadership among the apostles.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Which names from the New Testament are used in the dialogue given in this work?

2. What role is given to Mary Magdalene in this Gospel?

3. Do you see any struggle with authority arising within the church that espoused this gospel?

Topic 9: The Secret Gospel of Mark

A) The secret gospel of Mark is a fragment from an early edition of the first Gospel. This idea has been maintained by a number of exegetes who state there was a forerunner or first draft of the Gospel that preceded what we now have as our canonical gospel. The fact that at the end of the Gospel we recognize several additions being brought into chapter sixteen shows that several hands were at work in the composition of this Gospel. B) What the fragments give us are a narrative about raising a young man from the dead (is it Lazarus?) a rite of initiation, and a brief notice about Jesus encountering three women. C) Fortunately, scholars were aware of these texts because Clement of Alexandria had written about them in one of his letters. Then in 1958 at the Monastery of Mar Saba about twelve miles from Jerusalem the fragment called the Secret Gospel of Mark was found by Professor Morton Smith. It was what was attached to the composition of Clement and copied into the back of a 1646 edition of the letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch. D) In his letter, Clement responds to certain questions he had received about the text of the Secret Gospel of Mark. He presents the following schema of the various alleged editions of the Gospel of Mark: first, Mark “wrote an account of the Lord’s doings” for catechumens, in which he selected what he thought was most suitable for beginners in the faith; second, Mark also wrote another, “more spiritual gospel” to be used by those who were being perfected in the faith; and third, Mark knew of additional, arcane traditions—which he did not write down—which would lead initiates into the “innermost sanctuary” of the truth. E) The fragments which were discovered at Mar Saba are found in the canonical text of Mark between Mark 10:34 and 35 and after Mark 10:46a. The first fragment is a variation of what we find in John’s gospel dealing with the friend of Jesus named Lazarus. (John 11). The Secret Gospel of Mark seems to be, according to form-critical study,an earlier version of the story found in John 11. The initiation of the young man follows upon the story and describes it as “the mystery of the kingdom of God” or what we could easily relate to the sacrament of Baptism. After Mark 10:46, we seem to have a remnant of an encounter between Jesus and this young man’s immediate family in Jericho. F) Importance of the Secret Gospel of Mark (if authentic): “The Secret Gospel of Mark is an important witness to the history and development of gospel tradition. The close similarity between the stories of the raising of the dead in the Secret Gospel of Mark and in the Gospel of John suggests that Mark and John have drawn upon a shared tradition, and raises the question whether this collection came from a common collection, perhaps written in Aramaic, from which Mark and John have also taken their miracle stories. Moreover, since this story occurs in the same sequence in the structural outline of both the Secret Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of John , it is possible that this story is part of a more comprehensive source used independently by both evangelists.” (Elliott, page 68). G) “The Secret Gospel of Mark is additional evidence of the instability of gospel texts and gospel manuscripts in the first two centuries C.E. Clement of Alexandria states that the Carpocratians

used an edition of the Secret Gospel of Mark which differed in a number of respects from the edition which Clement’s own church used. H) Elliott lists vestiges (possible) in the present Gospel of Mark that may point to the Secret Gospel of Mark: Mark 4:11; 9:25-27; 10:21, 32, 38-39; 12:32-34; 14:51-52. I) We need to separate the words of Clement of Alexandria while reading the excerpts from the Gospel of Mark. The total manuscript is equivalent to pages of a regular text book. J) More recently this gospel has been featured in the Biblical Archaeological Review three times during the past two years. The articles discuss the authenticity of the discovery of Morton Smith and whether there was any forgery involved. In carefully looking at the matter through an expert in manuscript writing the result was that it is an authentic fragment that does use the characteristic vocabulary of Mark. K) Earlier Raymond E. Brown gave a thorough study of its possible relationship to the narrative of John in the story about the raising of Lazarus. This would give a graduate or doctoral student an interesting method and summary of the value of finding such fragments and then seeing how they relate to the canonical Gospels. See Catholic Biblical Quarterly, October 1974 : The Relation of “the Secret Gospel of Mark” to the Fourth Gospel, pages 466-485. We end with the excerpts of the Secret Gospel of Mark: L) And they come to Bethany. And a certain woman whose brother had died was there. And coming, she prostrated herself before Jesus and says to him, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me.’ But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus, being angered, went off with her into the garden where the tomb was, and straightaway a great cry was heard from the tomb. And going near Jesus rolled the stone away from the door of the tomb. And straightaway, going in where the youth was, he stretches forth his hand and raised him, seizing his hand. But the youth looking on him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What is interesting in the discovery of this manuscript? And the bigger question is, do you think it is an authentic fragment of an earlier copy of Mark written before 70 A.D.?

2. What does the white linen garment of the young man and the ritual that is mentioned in the fragment make you think of in reference to the Christian’ baptism?

3. Are the excerpts found on the (written on both sides) similar to the word use of Mark’s canonical gospel?

Topic 10: The Gospel of Philip (Gnostic Beginnings)

A) The story behind the Gospel of Philip is one that is connected with the equally fascinating discovery of the Nag Hammadi Material with that of the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 1945 a peasant discovered the remains of an ancient Coptic library while digging for fertilizer in the side of a hill near ancient Chenoboskion in upper Egypt. Twelve books or codices plus some leaves of a thirteenth were the treasure found. They could be dated to the fourth century (300 A.D.) There were 52 tractates among them were some duplicates which left forty-five distinct titles. It was equivalent to a library and probably was one of the later monastic libraries where monasticism started earlier under Pachomius. B) Some of the tractates were fragments of Plato’s Republic and others were Jewish works with a Gnostic slant. Among them is the Gospel of Philip which contained some of Jesus’ words and deeds, others paralleled the canonical gospels while many did not. C) Meier says, “In the case of the Gospel of Philip, these words and deeds are scattered throughout a rambling document that seems to have as its main object instruction on Christian Gnostic sacraments. The material about Jesus is sometimes on the level of the fanciful apocryphal gospels .”(p123, Vol.1). D) A Christian theologian named Valentinus may have had something to do with this discovered Gospel. Valentinus lived in Rome from 138-158 A.D. and if this is true then we have a very early and ancient group of sayings and deeds that may help us in comparing them with the canonical gospels. E) A word about Valentinus is appropriate here: Valentinus is considered a Gnostic heresiarch who abandoned orthodoxy and founded a school where he propagated his heretical doctrine. He lived in Rome and then in Cyprus but eventually returned to Rome and died in 160 A.D. He is mentioned by Ireanaeus and Clement of Alexandria. He was a biblical theologian who was influenced by Platonism and a great influence on his pupils who branched into six different portraits of his doctrines. F) His main points are that the Divine Pleroma is composed of 30 aeons which are arranged in pairs. The sexual union of Adam and Eve broke down the unity of the pairs after the sexual separation of Adam and Eve. The spiritual man must rebuild the unity that was once there in Adam not separated from Eve by joining with a heavenly partner. The last of the pairs has Sophia or Wisdom who in her immoderate desire to know the unknowable Father (God) brought about the degradation of the divine element into the world which had its origin in the materialization of Sophia’s ignorance or error. Therefore a process of reintegration is necessary for salvation and return to the divine element. This requires the heavenly Savior, the intervention of divine beings; the activity of a Demiurge. There are distinctions among humans into three kinds (pneumatic, psychic, and material or hylic). The integration will eventually come about in the divine element or the Pleroma by complete salvation for the spiritual, partial for the psychics and dissolution for the hylics.

G) The Gospel of Philip is considered to be a Valentinian Anthology with 107 short excerpts taken from various works. Some may have been sermons, treatises, philosophical discourses as well as aphorisms or short sayings. Only some of these may be identified as Valentinian. The lack of a context for these statements makes it impossible to be sure about its Valentinian provenance. Since there are some Semitisms in it there may be a relationship of the work to the Eastern branch of Valentinianism and Edessa in modern Turkey may have been the city of their origin. Greek as well as Syriac was used there. Some excerpts from a student of Valentinus named Theodotus may be of value in assessing the texts. H) The word Gospel does not mean the genre but rather it means kerygma, preaching or Good News. Philip is the only apostle named in this work and thus it is attributed to him by the pseudonymity of most apocryphal works. However Valentinus always wrote his name for his own compositions similar to what we have in the Gospel of Philip. I) We may have an assemblage of several of the six different forms of Valentinus’ thought in them and therefore it is not possible to have a synthesis of the work. A study of keywords and themes is the best that can be done thus far with this work. The words could be listed under larger themes like: the spiritual world; primeval history; the pagan world; Jesus Christ and the foundation of Christianity; the human being; salvation, and sacraments and spirituality. We may have more of a notebook gospel that has collected some of the teachings of the founder Valentinus and others may be taken from the canonical gospels. J) The text speaks for itself and we try to understand it through the themes and key words or through parallels and sources that may be researched. In some ways we may think of the gospel as similar to a disjointed and non-coherent form of the Cloud of Unknowing! K) There are 107 entries given in this collection. We will listen to a chosen dozen of them to get a taste of them. Keep remembering the rule : text without context is pretext . By pretext is meant it is only our speculation and yours without perhaps any foundation based on the reality of what the text actually means.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What value does a Gnostic Gospel like that of the Gospel of Philip have in relationship to the canonical gospels?

2. From the presentations what would you give as your understanding of Gnosticism?

Topic 11: The History of Joseph the Carpenter

A) Early Christians were interested in knowing more about the family of Jesus than what they found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Those two evangelists had two chapters that prefaced the active ministry of Jesus with considerations about his early life as a baby and a child. They do not go beyond the twelfth year of his life and they are called Infancy Narratives by many readers and scholars. The Apocryphal writings have a great interest in recovering, creating, and filling in the gaps of the early life of Jesus up to his leaving his mother Mary and possibly his foster-father Joseph who may already have died before he began his ministry. B) We have seen the great enthusiasm and love for Mary in the Protoevangelium of James where we do learn about some second century thinking about her origin and early life up to the birth of Jesus. This Gospel is remembered whenever we celebrate the feast of the Virgin Mary being presented in the Temple on November 21. The liturgical readings do not use the this text ,but the memorial of Mary being presented in the Temple has a long tradition. The text is the source for the names given to Mary’s parents, Joachim and Anne. Our story of Joseph would lead us to imagine his presence in the home of Nazareth. The History of Joseph however gives us the tender scene of Jesus at the last hours of Joseph as he helps his dear foster-father to face his death. As a good lead in to the value of this thought I have always been impressed with the words of Pope Paul VI I in his reflection on the Holy Family and its days at Nazareth: C) “How I would like to return to my childhood and attend the simple yet profound school that is Nazareth! How wonderful to be close to Mary, learning again the lesson of the true meaning of life, learning again God’s truths. But here we are only on pilgrimage. Time presses and I must set aside my desire to stay and carry on my education in the Gospel, for that education is never finished. But I cannot leave without recalling briefly and in passing, some thoughts I would take with me from Nazareth.” (address of Paul VI on Jan.5, 1964). D) From my own childhood I remember my mother teaching me a prayer to St. Joseph that was offered for those who had died in our family. It was simple and short and I can only remember a few lines from it: Jesus, Mary, Joseph, I give you my heart and my soul; Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I place myself in your company, and then…there was an invocation to Joseph to assist me when I take my last breath… I happened to think of this as I read and researched our topic for this presentation which takes us back to why Joseph was considered the patron of a happy death. E) The History of Joseph the Carpenter is inspired by the Protoevangelium of James. It pertains to the death of Joseph while keeping us aware of what we have learned about him from the Protoevangelium Jacobi. Almost all that is given in the narrative is the voice of Jesus speaking except for chapters 30 and 32.

F) The thoughts upon death probably have their provenance in Egypt for the work is written in Sahidic, a southern dialect of Coptic. A translation has been made in the Bohairic which is a northern dialect of Coptic. G) This helps us place the writing in the fourth or fifth century date for its compostion (300-400 A.D.). It would be natural to think of it stemming from one of the monasteries of monks in Egypt—the keepers of manuscripts, codices, and traditions of early Coptic liturgies and devotions. It could be that the observance of saints’ days had started and thus this one would be a reflection on the feast dedicated to St. Joseph. H) The eschatology has a millenarian approach in chapter 26. Such thought also came about during the third and fourth centuries. There are also Arabic and Latin versions which depended on the Coptic text. I) My citations and readings from this apocryphal work are from the translation offered in the Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol.VIII and from the excerpts on certain passages from New Testament Apocrypha given by J.F.K.Elliott (the rest is more of a summary). Perhaps, reading this in the Spanish translation would capture more of the atmosphere and ethos of the original work because of the romance linguistic flavor in this story. J) We start with the Proem or preliminary comments of the author: This is the going forth from the body of our father Joseph the carpenter, the father of Christ according to the flesh, whose life was one hundred and eleven years. It was told by Christ to the apostles on Mount Olivet, was written down by them, and laid up in the library at Jerusalem. The day of the death was the 26th of the month Epep. (perhaps, Av 26 or August 26). K) Summary: A romantic and devotional narrative about the death of Joseph, the husband of Mary. It shows us the perplexity and anxiety of a holy person approaching death and the fears that accompany one at the hour of death. This even extends to Mary and Joseph in the Apocryphal writings. L) The author is unknown but the atmosphere is Coptic in relationship to death language. M) Jesus is the primary narrator and the apostles also do some narrating.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What is your impression of the relationship of Jesus to his foster-father Joseph in this writing?

2. Do you think the devotion to St. Joseph in this writing influences our devotion to Joseph as the Patron of a happy death?

3. Why do you think the author composed this writing?

Topic 12: The Transitus Mariae Texts: Mary’s Dormition and Assumption

A) The narratives and manuscript evidence of them are quite numerous as we approach this last stage of the Apocryphal Gospels. They are included here though they are not similar to the “gospel genre” that we have seen thus far. They probably stemmed from an original oral rendition of the basic elements found in the narratives that treat of Mary’s Dormition (that is, her falling asleep in death) and her assumption into heaven. They are particularly favored in the Eastern Churches both Orthodox and Catholic churches united with the Roman Church. In the West they developed slowly but had some of the key elements found in the oriental traditions about Mary’s Transitus or passing over to paradise or heaven. B) There are several different groups of them which can be listed according to the language found in the manuscripts, for example, those in Greek, Latin, Ethiopian or Coptic both the southern dialect called Sahidic and the northern group called Bohairic. Then there are manuscripts in Arabic, Armenian, Syriac, Irish, and Slovak. For those interested in reading about these legends and stories of Mary’s passing from this life to the next the following three authors are recommended for us English readers: Stephen Shoemaker, Walter Burkhardt, S.J., and Brian E.Daley, S.J. On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies translated by Daley. C) There may be a Transitus attributed to a certain Leucius from the second century who may have been a disciple of the apostles but this is not certain. The most important narratives stem from the fourth (300 A.D.) to the seventh century (600 A.D.). St. John Damascene may be considered the final one to touch upon the belief in Mary’s dormition and assumption. John of Damascus or Damascene lived from 675-753 A.D. His three homilies on the Assumption or Transitus are to be linked to the narratives under consideration. Listing them according to Shoemaker the following would result for the first seven and my addition of two more to those that may be considered and reflected upon: 1) The Six Books Apocryphon ( 4th century) 2) Pseudo John the Evangelist and Theologian on the Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary 3) Pseudo Melito of Sardis, the Passing of Mary 4) Pseudo Joseph of Arimathea, the Passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary 5) Pseudo Cyril of Jerusalem, Homily on the Dormition 6) Pseuedo Evodius of Rome, Homily on the Dormition 7) Theodosius of Alexandria, Homily on the Dormition 8) Jacob of Serug 9) John Damascene, Homilies on the Dormition of the Virgin.

D) In presenting these thoughts stemming from the listing it would be helpful to put ourselves into the frame of mind that St. John Damascene has in his love for Mary, the Mother of Jesus. His disposition would enable us to understand the great emotion and feeling of exhuberance that were attached to the legends and stories about Mary’s Transitus (whether for her dormtion or her assumption). E) “What is sweeter than the Mother of God? She holds my mind captive; she has seized my tongue; on her, I meditate day and night. Since she is Mother of the Word, she has words abundant.” …”O daughter of Joachim and Anna and lady, receive the prayers of a sinful servant, but one who, none the less, loves and cherishes you ardently, holds you as his only hope of joy, the guardian of his life, his interpreter with your Son, and sure pledge of salvation.” His praise continues almost like a consecration and or dedication to the Virgin Mary: “O Lady, Lady I say and again Lady, binding hope to you as to a most secure and firm anchor, today we offer ourselves to you; to you we consecrate our mind, soul, body, in a word, ourselves entirely, and with psalms, hymns, spiritual canticles, we honour you with all our power.” F) John Damascene is the one who brings the legends and folk stories about Mary’s death and assumption into heaven into a theological and doctrinal development that was only vaguely represented in the apocryphal writings. We will return to him at the conclusion of this presentation. G) From the above nine listings perhaps the most colorful and startling is the narrative given in the story that the evangelist and theologian John tells us in a first person account, a story fantastic and even outrageous at times, but beneath the writing is the great honor and reverence the writer and his community had for the mother of Jesus. H) Mary has the custom of visiting the tomb where Jesus was buried. She does this each day and offers incense and prayers while kneeling near the tomb. The priests become aware of this and ask the guards to make sure this does not happen, but no one of the guards ever sees her at the grave where her son was buried. Mary longs to be with her son and is praying for this grace to be united with him again. On one of these days, a Friday, the archangel Gabriel comes and greets her again as he had done at the Annunciation. He assures her that her prayer has reached her son in heaven and that she will soon be with him. She leaves the tomb accompanied by three virgins who assist her in her prayer requests. I) Mary then prays ardently and intimately to her Son and requests that he send her St. John the one to whom she was entrusted when Jesus died on the Cross. She asks the Son to also send all the other apostles to the place where she will die. Suddenly John does appear riding on a cloud from Ephesus to Bethlehem and he greets Mary and tells her to be happy for she soon will be with her Son. J) John then begins to speak to her (first person narrative) He cites or remembers the words of Jesus, “Behold here is your mother, behold here is your Son.” (John 19:26ff). John listens to Mary and prays with her saying to Jesus that he should save her and take her to himself and conquer those who do not believe in her divinely given birth of Christ.

K) John then assures her that her body will not suffer corruption nor be harmed by the unbelievers (the Jews). Then all of the apostles are told to come to where Mary is and to do so as John did—riding on a luminous cloud. They all come from their respective apostolic missions: Thomas from India, Paul from Tiberias, Peter from Rome, James from Jerusalem. Soon others join them: Andrew, Philip, Luke, Simon the Canaanite, Thaddeus, and even those who have died come to where Mary is just as she had asked John to beg her Son for all of them to be with her at the moment of her departure. Lest we forget, Mark comes from Alexandria and then Bartholomew and Matthew. Each apostle has been told to come by the Holy Spirit and a luminous cloud conveys them there. All give information to Mary about where they were and what they did. Mary is overwhelmed and prays humbly as she did in her Magnificat. L) Her Son also comes in a chariot and amidst a theophany of noise and light. They all go to Jerusalem from Bethlehem and Mary’s miraculous works are then enumerated—they are similar to the miracles that Jesus had performed. There are numerous angels who also come to Jerusalem. There the Jews are enraged and have made attempts to stop them at Bethlehem but are not able. They are blinded in their thinking and are full of rage but cannot arrive where the apostles and saints have gathered around Mary. She is carried to her home in Jerusalem. M) Five days later the governor Tiberius finds out about Mary’s leaving Bethlehem and being now at Jerusalem. Those that try to burn the home are repulsed by a fire which comes from within the house and they are led to praise God and Jesus the Son of Mary. N) The governor sees the fire from a distance and becomes aware of everything that is going on. The narrative speaks of Mary’s giving birth to Jesus through her virginal womb and she is extolled as the mother of God. All this is taking place on a Sunday, the day on which Jesus rose from the dead. The Angel Gabriel came to announce to Mary, the palms were carried by the people on a Sunday, and Jesus was born on a Sunday. (37) O) Amidst all this excitement Jesus comes upon a throne of the cherubim and surrounded by an army of angels. Songs, prayers, and celebration pervades all of Jerusalem. Jesus then speaks to his mother in a most endearing and tender way. He tells her not to fear for her body will soon be in paradise. Jesus blesses her with his right hand and then blesses each of the apostles in the same way. All continue to glorify God. P) Mary responds by kissing Jesus her Son realizing that her body will be in paradise, her soul will be taken to heaven. As the mother falls asleep in death a Jew named Jephonias tries to overthrow her casket but his arms are burned and separated frrm his shoulders. Jephonias cries out in Mary’s name and he is miraculously cured. Peter also is involved in the cure and Jephonias is converted. Q) And after this miracle the apostles carried the bed and laid her precious and holy body in Gethsemane in a new tomb. And lo, an odor of sweet savor came out of the holy sepulcher of Our Lady the Mother of God; and until three days had passed the voices of invisible angels were heard glorifying Christ our God who was born of her. And when the third day was fulfilled the voices were heard no more, and thereafter we all perceived that her spotless and precious body was translated into paradise.

R) Now, after it was translated, lo, we beheld Elizabeth, the mother of the holy John the Baptist, and Anna the mother of our Lady, and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and David singing, “Alleulia,” and all the choirs of saints worshipping the precious body of the Mother of the Lord, and we saw a place of light, than which light nothing is brighter, and a great fragrance came from that place to which her precious and holy body was translated in paradise, and a melody of those who praised him who was born of her; and to virgins is it given to hear that sweet melody wherewith no man can be sated. S) We, therefore, the apostles, while we beheld the sudden translation of her holy body, glorified God who had shown to us his wonders at the departure of the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the prayer and intercession of whom may we all be accounted worthy to come into her protection and succor and guardianship, both in this world and in that which is to come, at all times and in all places glorifying her only-begotten Son with the Father and the Holy Spirit world without end. Amen.

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What are some of the common themes that you picked up from the apocryphal writings about Mary’s death and her assumption into heaven?

2. How would you be able to help a Jewish reader to critique the anti-semitic scenes within in several of the apocrypha’s on Mary’s assumption?