University of Groningen the Apocryphal Acts of John Bremmer

University of Groningen

The Apocryphal Acts Of John Bremmer, Jan N.

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Download date: 27-09-2021 X. The reception of the Acts of John in Anglo-Saxon England

ROLF H. BREMMER JR

Events from the Acts of John have been known to Anglo-Saxon theologians in one way or another from fairly soon after the introduction of Christianity into England around 600.' Almost simultaneously, missionary activities were launched from Rome and Ireland. St Augustine was sent by Pope Gregory the Great and arrived in Kent in 597. St Aidan landed in Iona early in the seventh century, and from there he spread the faith and ecclesiastical customs as shaped by a Celtic frame of mind and a century-long isolation from developments on the Continent. The two traditions clashed in the middle of the seventh century and the famous Synod of Whitby (664) settled the controversies in favour of Rome. This outcome led to a withdrawal of Irish ecclesiastics from England with quite a few followers. However, their spiritual legacy proved of tremendous importance. The Anglo-Saxon Christian literature, whether vernacular or Latin, is intricately linked up with Irish works or echoes thereof.' Particularly, the Irish taste for the apocryphal and the fantastic found a fertile soil among Anglo-Saxon theologian^.^

1 Anglo-Saxon England is the term for England from the invasion and settlements of Germanic tribes in the course of the fifth century to one generation after the Norman Conquest of 1066. 2 For a concise survey, see M. Lapidge, 'The Anglo-Latin Back- ground', in S.B. Greenfield and D.G. Calder, A New Critical Histoiy of Old English Literature (New York, 1986) 5-37. 3 A recent survey: C.D. Wright, The Irish Tradition in Old English Literature (Cambridge, 1993). 184 ACTS OF JOHN IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND

This is not to say that the Acta. Johannis was introduced in England by Irish monks, although the possibility should not be dismissed off-hand. The first Anglo-Saxon to show knowledge of incidents from John's extra-biblical adventures is Aldhelm (c. 640- 709), who received his education in the monastery of Malmesbury from Maildhub, its Irish founder. Intrigued by the new impulses of learning that were being given to the school of Canterbury, he moved to the capital of Kent about 670. Theodore of Tarsus and Hadrian, appointed by the Pope in 669 as archbishop of Canterbury and abbot of its monastery of SS Paul and Peter, in an effort to reorganize the Anglo-Saxon church, had brought an impressive amount of books with them, including a number of Greek texts. To what extent Greek was read by Anglo-Saxon monks is hard to assess, but some knowledge was current for some time.4 Aldhelm, then, included several events from the Acts in the prose version of his De Virginitate: John's miraculously restoring of the crushed precious stones to their former state, his bringing an unnamed matron - the widow Drusiana - back to life, and his accepting the challenge to drink poison and subsequent resurrection of two victims of the poison.' Several sources could have been used by Aldhelm for his information. The apocryphal life of St John became first known in the West in a collection of lives translated from Greek in the sixth century in Gaul, known as Pseudo-Abdias' Historiae Apo~tolicae.~No manuscripts of this

4 Cf. B. Colgrave and R.A.B. Mynors (eds and transls), Bede's Eccle- siastical History of the English People (Oxford, 199 1 ; impr. edn.) IV.2. It is relevant to mention this fact, for it leaves a possibility for the Acta Johannis to have been known in its original Greek version ascribed to Abdias, although I do not think this very likely. 5 Cf. De Virginitate, ed. R. Ehwald, Aldhelmi Opera Omnia (Berlin, 1919) 254115-17, 254117-25513 and 25513-8. For a translation of Ald- helm's text, see Aldhelm: The Prose Works, trsl. and ed. M. Lapidge and M. Herren (Cambridge and Totowa, NJ, 1979) 80f. 6 J.A. Fabricius (ed), Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti, 2 vols (Hamburg, 17 19*) 11, 402-742. ROLF H. BREMMER JR 185 work survive from Anglo-Saxon England, which reduces its claim for Aldhelm's source.' Aldhelm's contemporary, the Venerable Bede, was familiar but not very pleased with the Pseudo-Abdias.= A more likely candidate is Pseudo-Mellitus' Passio Johanni~,~ which was certainly known in Anglo-Saxon ~n~1and.I'As the order of events is not synchronous with those in the Pseudo-Mel- litus," Aldhelm must have used another source, perhaps Isidore of Seville's De Ortu et Obitu Patrum.I2 Despite Aldhelm's im- mense popularity, no one after him seemed to have been interested in using the legendary exploits of St John for a long time, at least if we rely on manuscript evidence. Renewed interest in the apocryphal life of St John appears during the Benedictine Revival, a movement which had started in Flanders and Northern France and reached England in the middle

7 Cf. F.M. Biggs, T.D. Hill, P.E. Szarmach (eds), Sources of Anglo- Saxon Literary Culture. A Trial Version (Binghampton, NY, 1990) 5 If, s.v. Ps Abdias (C.D. Wright). However, a manuscript of the Pseudo- Abdias, produced in an Anglo-Saxon monastery on the Continent in the eighth century, survives in the University Library of Wiirzburg, cf. J.E. Cross, 'Cynewulf s Tradition about the Apostles in Fates of the Apos- tles', Anglo-Saxon England 8 (1979) 163-75, esp. 166. 8 Bedae Venerabilis, Expositio Actuum Apostolorum et Retractio, ed. M.L.W. Laistner (Cambridge, MA, 1939) Retractio 1.13195-6 and VIII.11 120., cf. Cross, 'Cynewulf s Tradition', 165 n.3. 9 Edited in Patrologia Graeca 5, cols 1241-50. The author's name also occurs as Melitus and Miletus. 10 See Biggs et al., Sources, 57, s.v. Ps Mellitus (C.D. Wright), a very usehl survey. 11 Aldhelm's passages correspond to the contents (not the text) of Ps Mellitus' Passio Johannis, 1242120-1243122, 1241132-1242120, and 1247138- 124916. 12 PL 83, ch. 72, cols. 151-2, as suggested by Lapidge and Herren, Aldhelm: The Prose Works, 176, but Aldhelm gives details which are not to be found in isidore's text. Cross, 'Cynewulf s Tradition', 165, sug- gests the Pseudo-Mellitus as Aldhelm's source, which for reasons of narrative order seems unlikely. Neither work therefore can be Aldhelm's immediate source. 186 ACTS OF JOHN lN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND of the tenth century. A strong concem for religious instruction becomes clear from cycles of homilies that are linked with this movement. Two Latin homiliaries from the turn of the millennium survive that both include a version of the Passio Johannis, which in turn have served as the source for a vernacular sermon by Elfric (c. 955-1017?), abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Eynsham near Oxford. Both Pseudo-Abdias' and Pseudo-Mellitus' accounts of St John were used for two sermons (items 9 and 10) in an eleventh century collection of Latin homilies preserved in Cambridge. Quite a few vernacular sermons go back to items included in this cycle (though not necessarily this manuscript), and thus testify to its popularity. The collection itself may have been compiled either in the British Isles or on the Continent, probably sometime during the ninth century.I3 Item 9, preceded and concluded by homiletic matter, gives the opening parts of the Ps Mellitus text which deals with the resurrection of Drusiana and the conversion of Graton and his two pupils (PG 5, 1241117-1243122). Item 10 treats of John's assumption, and, besides a passage taken from the Mellitus (12491- 27-39), is mainly taken from the Pseudo-Abdias with some omissions and adaptations. l4 Another witness to the Mellitus text is found in the so-called Cotton-Corpus legendary, a collection of Latin hagiographical texts covering some 160 feasts of the ecclesiastical year, and thus the largest representative of its kind. The legendary has been preserved in five manuscripts, though not always complete nor always in the same order and recension. Most of these manuscripts date from between 1060 to 1150175, but the collection must have been known in England before 1000, as the extensive use shows that Elfric made of it for his cycle of Old English Catholic Homilies. Elfric is one of the most prominent representatives of the Benedictine Revival in England and exerted himself to reach the

13 On these matters, cf. Cross, 'Cynewulf s Tradition', 88-93. 14 For a full description see J.E. Cross, Cambridge Pembrohz College MS. 25: A Carolingian Sermonary used by Anglo-Saxon Preachers (Lon- don, 1987) 22, items 9 and 10. ROLF H. BREMMER JR 187 goals of his monastic order by using the vernacular for his many writings. He was especially concerned with the propagation of orthodox doctrine and did much to discredit heterodox and apocryphal matter. One of his homilies is on the Assumption of St John." Long ago it was observed that underlying the Old English text was that of Ps Mellitus, though the introduction which iden- tifies the bridegroom at Cana with John, as well as the passage on the genesis of the Gospel of St John (see the Appendix) are not to be found in Mellit~s.'~It now appears that Elfric did not use an individual version of Ps Mellitus, but relied on the text as it is found in one of the manuscripts of the Cotton-Corpus legendary." Elfric's sermons were highly popular and the one on the assumption of St John survived in no less than nine manuscripts, an impressive testimony to the proliferation of this apocryphal account." But how is it that the orthodox Elfric included the apocryphal account of St John's life in his cycle of homilies? Had not Bede expressed his doubts as to the value of this text? Elfric does not identify the source of his text, but elsewhere he refers to Jerome, who in his Ecclesiastical History also wrote about St John. It would appear then that Elfric on the authority of this Church Father included the sermon into his ~ycle.'~

15 P.H. Zettel, 'Saints' Lives in Old English: Latin Manuscripts and Vernacular Sources: Elfric', Peritia 1 (1982) 17-37. Elfric's Old English sermon is found in B. Thorpe (ed), The Homilies ofthe Anglo- Saxon Church. The First Part, Containing the Sermones Catholici or Homilies ofRljiric (2 vols, 1844-46) 1.4. 16 M. Forster, ~berdie Quellen von Rrfric's Homiliae Catholicae. I. Legenden (Berlin, 1892) 17f. The same reason (against heretics) for John to write his Gospel is briefly mentioned by Isidore, De Ortu 72.127. 17 Zettel, 'Saints Lives', 33-6. 18 N. Ker, Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon (Oxford, 1957) items 1516, 4314, 4813, 5618, 22016, 235 (fragments), 25714, 30913, 331135. 19 M.R. Godden, 'Elfric's Saints' Lives and the Problem of Miracles', Lee& Studies in English N.S. 26 (1985) 83-100, esp. 90-2. Elfric's attribution of this Ecclesiastical History is erroneous. He refers to 188 ACTS OF JOHN IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND

Appendix

Translation of Abbot Elfiic's Homily on the Assumption of St John the Apostle for December 27th

VI. Kal. Jan. ASSUMPTIO SCI IOHANNIS APOSTOLI

John the Evangelist, Christ's favourite, was taken on this day, through God's visitation, to the joy of the heavenly kingdom. He was the son of Christ's maternal aunt, and he loved him especially - not so much because of their kinship ties but because of the purity of his perfect chastity. In a state of virginity he was chosen by God, and he persisted in undefiled chastity until the end. It is read in historical narratives that he wanted to many, and Christ had been invited to his wedding feast. It then happened that they got short of wine at the wedding feast. The Saviour then ordered the servants to fill six stone vessels with pure water, and with his blessing he turned the water into excellent wine. This is the first sign which he openly performed in his state of man. Then John was so inspired by that sign that he straight away left his bride in virginal state, and ever afterwards followed the Lord, and was deeply loved by him, because he had withdrawn himself fiom sexual desires. Indeed, when the Saviour hanged on the cross redeemed mankind, he entrusted his mother to this dear disciple so that his pure way of life would take care of the pure virgin Mary, and that she would carry on to serve her sister's son. After some time had elapsed, after Christ's ascension to heaven, a cruel emperor ruled the Roman empire after Nero, called Domitian, a persecutor of Christian men. He ordered a tub to be filled with boiling oil and the famous evangelist to be thrown into it. But through God's protection he got out of that hot bath

Rufinus' translation and extension of Eusebius' work, which often went under the name of Jerome. ROLF H. BREMMER JR 189 unharmed. Afterwards, when the cruel man could not prevent the blessed apostle from preaching, he sent him into exile to an island called Patmos so that he would die there from bitter hunger. Yet the Almighty Saviour did not abandon his beloved apostle in neglect, but in his exile showed him the revelation of the future, about which he wrote the book called Apocalyps. And in the same year the cruel Domitian was killed by the hands of his counsellors. And they all unanimously advised that all his decrees should be annulled. Then Nerva, a very honourable man, was chosen to become emperor. With his permission, the apostle returned home with many regards - he who had been sent away into exile with scorn. Men and women joyfully ran to meet him, and said: 'Blessed is he who has come in the name of God.' Just when the apostle John was entering the city of Ephesus, they carried towards him the corpse of a widow in order to bury it; her name was Drusiana. She had been a woman of great faith and eager in almsgiving, and the poor, whom she had indeed fed with a generous heart, followed her corpse, sad with weeping. Then the apostle ordered the bier to be set down, and said: 'My Lord, Saviour Christ! Raise yourself, Drusiana! Arise, and go back home and prepare a meal for us in your house!' Drusiana then arose as if she had been woken up from sleep, and mindful of the apostle's command, went back home. On the second day the apostle went along the street when he saw where a philosopher was guiding two brothers who had turned all their parents' treasures into precious stones, and they wanted to crush these in the sight of all the people as a spectacle to show their contempt of worldly possessions. It was a custom in those days for those who diligently wanted to learn secular wisdom to change their property for gems, and to break them into pieces; or for a bar of gold, and to throw it into the sea so that the thought of those riches should not hinder them in their studies. Then the apostle called the philosopher Graton to him, and said: 'It is stupid for anyone to despise worldly riches for praise of men, and be humiliated in God's judgement. Useless is the medicine that cannot heal the sick; equally useless is the doctrine which does not heal the sins and vices of the soul. As a matter of fact, my teacher 190 ACTS OF JOHN M ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND

Christ instructed a young man who wanted to have eternal life with these words, that he should sell all his wealth and divide the proceeds amongst the poor, if he wanted to be perfect, and from then on he would have his treasure in heaven and, on top of that, eternal life.' Graton the philosopher then answered him: 'Those precious stones have been crushed because of empty bragging, but if your teacher is the true God, join the fragments to complete stones, so that their value can benefit the poor.' John then gathered the fragments of the precious stones, looked up to heaven and spoke as follows: 'Lord Saviour, nothing is difficult for you; you have restored this broken world for your believers through the sign of the holy cross. Restore now the precious stones through the hands of your angels so that these ignorant men realize your power and believe in YOU.'Well, suddenly the precious stones then became whole so that you could not see even a trace of their having been broken. Then the philosopher Graton together with the boys fell at John's feet, and believed in God. The apostle baptized him with all his household, and he began publicly to preach the faith in God. The two brothers, Atticus and Eugenius, sold their gems, and divided all their wealth amongst the poor, and followed the apostle, and also a large crowd of believers joined him. Then the apostle arrived one day at the city of Pergamum, where the aformentioned boys used to live, and they saw their servants dressed in purple cloth and shining with wordly splendour. Then they got shot through by the devil's arrows and became sad at heart that they as poor men travelled with only one, miserable, coat, and that their servants were shining in wordly splendour. Then the apostle perceived the fiendish fraud, and said: 'I see that your heart and your face have changed, because you have divided your riches amongst the poor and followed my Lord's teaching. Therefore, go now to the wood and chop a burden of rods, and bring that to me.' They did according to his command, and he blessed the green rods in God's name, and they were turned into red gold. Again the apostle John said: 'Go to the sea shore and fetch me pebbles.' So they did; John then blessed them by God's majesty, and they were turned into expensive gems. Then the apostle said: 'Go to the smithy, and examine this ROLF H. BREMMER JR 191 gold and these gems.' They then went, and came back again, saying: 'All the goldsmiths say that they have never seen such pure and red gold before. Also the jewelers say that they have never before run accross such valuable gems.' Then the apostle said to them: 'Take this gold and these gems, and go and buy landed property, because you have lost the heavenly riches. Buy yourselves purple tunics, so that for a short time you will shine like roses to quickly wither. Be flourishing and rich for the time being to be poor for ever. I say, cannot the Almighty Ruler bring about to make his servants rich before the world, swimming in wealth, and shine without compare? But he has ordained a war for the believing souls so that they believe in order to possess the eternal riches, those people who despise temporary riches for the sake of his name. You have healed the sick in the name of the Saviour, you have put devils to flight, you have given blind people back their sight, and healed every kind of disease. Mind you, now this gift has been taken away from you and you have become poor wretches, you who were excellent and strong. You radiated so much awe to the demons that they left the possessed demoniacs at your command; now you fear the demons yourselves. The heavenly possessions are for all of us to share. Naked we were born and naked we will depart. The brightness of the sun, the light of the moon and of all the stars are common to the powerful and the underdogs. Rainshowers and the church door, baptism and for- giveness of sins, holy communion and access to God are common to all, to poor and rich. But the unhappy miser wants to have more than is sufficient for him, even though he does not enjoy freedom of care in his plenty. The miser has one body and many cloths; he has one belly and the sustenance of a thousand men. Indeed, what he cannot give away to any other man because of the vice of greed, he hoards, and does not know for whom. Just as the prophet says: "Every man is vexed in vain who hoards and does not know for whom he saves it." He certainly is not the lord of his possessions when he cannot share it; but he is the slave of these possessions, when he wholly serves them. And, on top of that, dis- eases develop in his body so that he cannot enjoy food or drink. He worries day and night whether his money is safe. He greedily 192 ACTS OF JOHN M ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND watches over his profit, his rent, his buildings. He robs the desti- tute, he satisfies his pleasures and his delight. Then all of a sudden he departs from this world, naked and guilty, carrying only his sins with him. Therefore he must suffer eternal punishment.' While the apostle was still giving this instruction, a certain widow was carrying her son's corpse to be buried - he had been married a month before. Then the grieving mother, together with the mourners, fell down crying at the feet of the holy apostle and begged him to raise her son in God's name just as he had done with the widow Drusiana. John then took pity with the grief of the mother and the mourners and stretched his body on the ground in a long prayer and finally got up and again for a long time prayed with his hands raised high. When he had done this three times, he ordered the son's corpse to be unwrapped, and said: 'Young man, you who have lost your life too soon because of the pleasures of your flesh; young man, who didn't know your Creator; you didn't know the Saviour of men; you didn't know the true friend; and therefore you have run over to the worst enemy. Now I have shed my tears, and I have eagerly prayed because of your ignorance that you would rise from death, and would inform these two brothers, Atticus and Eugenius, how great glory they have lost and what punishment they have won.' Right then the young man Stacteus arose and fell at John's feet, and began to rebuke the brothers who had erred in these words: 'I saw the angels who had charge of you sadly weeping while the cursed demons were exulting in your ruin. The heavenly kingdom was ready for you as well as radiant buildings filled with meals and the eternal light. Those things you have lost through folly, and you have obtained instead dark dwell- ings filled with serpents and with crackling flames, filled with unspeakable torments and with repulsive smells. There groaning and wailing will cease neither day nor night. Therefore, pray with earnest heart to this apostle of God, your teacher, that he will raise you from eternal destruction, just as he raised me from death. And he will lead your souls, which now have been erased from the book of life, back to God's favour and mercy.' Then the young man Stacteus, who arose from death, together with the brothers, stretched himself in John's footsteps, and all the ROLF H. BREMMER JR 193 people with them, praying resolutely that he would intercede for them with God. The apostle then ordered the two brothers to sacrifice as penance to God thirty days of remorse, and during that time pray eagerly for the golden rods to turn back to their former nature and the precious stones to their insignificance. After the period of thirty days, when they had been unable to restore the gold and the gems to their nature with prayers, they came weeping to the apostle, and said: 'You have always taught mercy, and that people should have mercy on others. And if one has mercy on another, how much more God will be merciful on men, the work of his hands. What we did wrong with covetous eyes, we now repent with weeping eyes.' Then the apostle answered: 'Carry the rods to the wood, and the stones to the beach: they have been restored to their nature.' When they had done this they received God's favour again, so that they expelled demons and healed the blind and the sick, and did many signs in God's name just as they had formerly done. The apostle then converted to God the entire region of Asia, which is reckoned to be one half of the world. And he wrote the fourth book of Christ, which deals especially with Christ's divine nature. The other three evangelists, Matthew, Mark and Luke, rather wrote of Christ's human nature. Then heretics emerged in God's church and said that Christ did not exist before he was given birth to by Mary. Then all the sufiagan bishops asked the apostle to compose the fourth book and to crush the audacity of the heretics. John then ordered a general fast of three days. And after that fast he was so much filled with the Ghost of God that he surpassed all God's angels and all creatures with an exalted mind, and he began the evangelical narrative with these words: In princi- pio erat uerbum, et uerbum erat apud Deum, et Deus era? uerbum, et reliqua, that is in English: 'In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things have been made through it, and nothing has been created without it.' And so on, in the entire evangelical narrative he made many things known about Christ's divine nature, how he was born from the Father eternally without a beginning, and reigns with him in unity with the Holy Ghost, 194 ACTS OF JOHN M ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND forever without end. He wrote only a few'things about his human nature, because the other three gospel writers had composed their books sufficiently about that topic. It happened at a certain time that the idol worshippers who were as yet not believing, said that they wanted to force the apostle to their pagan religion. Then the apostle said to these idolaters: 'Go all together to God's church, and all of you call to your gods that the church may fall down through their power. If that happens I will convert to your pagan religion. But if the power of your god cannot throw down the holy church, I will throw down your temple through the power of the Almighty God, and I will crush your idols. And it will seem right then that you abandon your error, and believe in the true God, who alone is Almighty.' The idolaters agreed with this proposal, and John with kind words urged the people to go further up, away from the devil's temple. And with a clear voice he called in front of all of them: 'In God's name, may this temple fall down with all the idols that dwell in it, so that this crowd will realize that this pagan religion is the worship of the devil.' Indeed, then the temple all of a sudden fell to the ground, with all its statues turned to dust. On that same day twelve thousand pagans were converted to faith in Christ, and consecrated with baptism. Then the oldest of the idolaters still refused with great ob- stinacy, and said that he wouldn't believe unless John would drink poison, and would overcome the lethal drink through God's power. Then the apostle said: 'Even though you'd give me poison, it wouldn't harm me through God's name.' Then the idolater Aristo- demus said: 'You must first see another man drink it, and die on the spot, so that at least your heart will be afraid because of that lethal drink.' John answered him: 'If you want to believe in God, I will receive this drink without fear.' Then Aristodemus went to the prefect and took two thieves from his prison, and gave the poison to them in the presence of all the people before John's eyes. And immediately after the drink they died. Then the idolater also gave the poisonous drink to the apostle, and he armed his mouth and all his body with the sign of the cross, and exorcized the poison in God's name, and then with a firm heart drank it all. Then Aristo- ROLF H. BREMMER JR 195 demus and the people watched the apostle for three hours of the day, and saw him having a glad face, without any paleness and fear. And they all cried: 'There is one true God, he whom John worships.' Then the idolater said to the apostle; 'Still I doubt. But if you will raise these dead criminals in the name of your God, then my heart will be cleansed from any doubt.' Then John said: 'Aristodemus, take my tunic, and lay it over the corpses of the dead men, and say: "The apostle of the Saviour Christ has sent me to you so that you may rise from death in his name, and each man may realize that death and life are subservient to my Saviour."' He then took his tunic at the apostle's command and laid it upon the two dead men. And they immediately arose sound and well. When the idolater saw this, he prostrated himself at John's feet and then went to the prefect, and with a loud voice made the miracles known to him. Both of them then went to seek the apostle, and begged for his mercy. Then the apostle ordered them to fast for seven days, and afterwards baptized them. And after having been baptized they threw down all their idols, and with the help of their relatives and with all skills they erected a famous church for God in honour of the apostle. When the apostle was ninety-nine years old, the Lord God appeared to him with the other apostles whom he had taken from this life, and said: 'John, come to me. It is time that you with your brothers should feast at my banquet.' John then stood up and went towards the Saviour. But he said to him: 'Now on Sunday, the day of my resurrection, you will come to me.' And after these words he returned to heaven. The apostle was very glad with this prom- ise, and on the Sunday morning early awake came to the church, and from cock-crow to nine o'clock he instructed the people in God's law, and sang mass for them, and said that the Saviour had invited him to heaven on that day. He then ordered his grave to be dug near the altar, and to carry away the sand. And he went alive and sound into his grave, and called with outstretched hands to God: 'Lord Christ, I thank you that you have invited me to your banquet. You know that I want you with all my heart. Often I have begged you to allow me to go to you, but you said that I should stay to gain more people for you. You have kept my body 196 ACTS OF JOHN M ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND from all pollution, and you have always enlightened my soul, and nowhere forsaken me. You have placed your reliable word in my mouth, and I have written down the teaching which I have heard from your mouth, and the miracles which I have seen you per- form. Now I entrust to you, Lord, your children, those whom your church, virgin and mother, through water and the Holy Ghost have gained for you. Receive me to my brothers with whom you came and invited me. Open before me the gate of life, so that the prin- ces of darkness won't encounter me. You are Christ, the son of the living God, you who have saved this world at your Father's command and sent the Holy Ghost to us. It is you we praise and thank for your manifold benefits throughout the world without end. Amen.' After this prayer, a heavenly light appeared above the apostle within the grave, and shone so brightly for one hour that no man's sight could look on the rays of light. And with that light he gave up his spirit to the Lord who had invited him to his kingdom. He went so happy from the pain of death from this present life as he was free from bodily decay. Truely, his grave was afterwards found filled with manna. Manna was the name of the heavenly bread which for forty years fed the people of the Israelites in the desert. Now this food was found in John's grave, and nothing else. And the food is growing in it until the present day. Many signs have been shown there and sick people have been healed, and set free from all harms through the apostle's intercession. This the Lord Christ has granted to him, to whom is glory and honour with the Father and the Holy Ghost, forever without end. Amen.