The best edition of the Greek remains is in Bonnet, Acta Apost. Apocr. 11.1, 1898: the Latin is in Book V of the Historia Apostolica of Abdias (Fabricius, Cod. Apoer. N. T.: there is no modern edition).
The beginning of the book is lost. It probably related in some form a trial, and banishment of John to Patmos. A distinctly late Greek text printed by Bonnet (in two forms) as cc. 1-17 of his work tells how Domitian, on his accession, persecuted the Jews. They accused the Christians in a letter to him: he accordingly persecuted the Christians. He heard of John's teaching in Ephesus and sent for him: his ascetic habits on the voyage impressed his captors. He was brought before Domitian, and made to drink poison, which did not hurt him: the dregs of it killed a criminal on whom it was tried: and John revived him; he also raised a girl who was slain by an unclean spirit. Domitian, who was much impressed, banished him to Patmos. Nerva recalled him. The second text tells how he escaped shipwreck on leaving Patmos, swimming on a cork; landed at Miletus, where a chapel was built in his honour, and went to Ephesus. All this is late: but an old story, known to Tertullian and to other Latin writers, but to no Greek, said that either Domitian at Rome or the Proconsul at Ephesus cast John into a caldron of boiling oil which did him no hurt. The scene of this was eventually fixed at the Latin Gate in Rome (hence the St. John Port Latin of our calendar, May 6th). We have no detailed account of this, but it is conjectured to have been told in the early part of the Leucian Acts. If so, it is odd that no Greek writer mentions it.
Leaving for the time certain small fragments which may perhaps have preceded the extant episodes, I proceed to the first long episode (Bonnet, c. 18).
[John is going from Miletus to Ephesus.)
Text
18 Now John was hastening to Ephesus, moved thereto by a vision. Damonicus therefore, and Aristodemus his kinsman, and a certain very rich man Cleobius, and the wife of Marcellus, hardly prevailed to keep him for one day in Miletus, reposing themselves with him. And when very early in the morning they had set forth, and already about four miles of the journey were accomplished, a voice came from heaven in the hearing of all of us, saying: John, thou art about to give glory to thy Lord in Ephesus, whereof thou shalt know, thou and all the brethren that are with thee, and certain of them that are there, which shall believe by thy means. John therefore pondered, rejoicing in himself, what it should be that should befall (meet) him at Ephesus, and said: Lord, behold I go according to thy will: let that be done which thou desirest.
19 And as we drew near to the city, Lycomedes the praetor of the Ephesians, a man of large substance, met us, and falling at John's feet besought him, saying: Is thy name John? the God whom thou preachest hath sent thee to do good unto my wife, who hath been smitten with palsy now these seven days and lieth incurable. But glorify thou thy God by healing her, and have compassion on us. For as I was considering with myself what resolve to take in this matter, one stood by me and said: Lycomedes, cease from this thought which warreth against thee, for it is evil (hard): submit not thyself unto it. For I have compassion upon mine handmaid Cleopatra, and have sent from Miletus a man named John who shall raise her up and restore her to thee whole. Tarry not, therefore, thou servant of the God who hath manifested himself unto me, but hasten unto my wife who hath no more than breath. And straightway John went from the gate, with the brethren that were with him and Lycomedes, unto his house. But Cleobius said to his young men: Go ye to my kinsman Callippus and receive of him comfortable entertainment -for I am come hither with his son- that we may find all things decent.
20 Now when Lycomedes came with John into the house wherein his wife
lay, he caught hold again of his feet and said: See, lord, the withering
of the beauty, see the youth, see the renowned flower of my poor wife,
whereat all Ephesus was wont to marvel: wretched me, I have suffered envy,
I have been humbled, the eye of mine enemies hath smitten me: I have never
wronged any, though I might have injured many, for I looked before to this
very thing, and took care, lest I should see any evil or any such ill fortune
as this. What profit, then, hath Cleopatra from my anxiety? what have I
gained by being known for a pious man until this day? nay, I suffer more
than the impious, in that I see thee, Cleopatra, lying in such plight.
The sun in his course shall no more see me conversing with thee: I will
go before thee, Cleopatra, and rid myself of life: I will not spare mine
own safety though it be yet young. I will defend myself before Justice,
that I have rightly deserted, for I may indict her as judging unrighteously.
I will be avenged on her when I come before her as a ghost 21 And with yet more words Lycomedes addressing Cleopatra came near
to the bed and cried aloud and lamented: but John pulled him away, and
said: Cease from these lamentations and from thine unfitting words: thou
must not disobey him that (?) appeared unto thee: for know that thou shalt
receive thy consort again. Stand, therefore, with us that have come hither
on her account and pray to the God whom thou sawest manifesting himself
unto thee in dreams. What, then, is it, Lycomedes? Awake, thou also, and
open thy soul. Cast off the heavy sleep from thee: beseech the Lord, entreat
him for thy wife, and he will raise her up. But he fell upon the floor
and lamented, fainting. [It is evident from what follows that Lycomedes
died: but the text does not say so; some words may have fallen out.]
John therefore said with tears: Alas for the fresh (new) betraying of
my vision! for the new temptation that is prepared for me! for the new
device of him that contriveth against me! the voice from heaven that was
borne unto me in the way, hath it devised this for me? was it this that
it foreshowed me should come to pass here, betraying me to this great multitude
of the citizens because of Lycomedes? the man lieth without breath, and
I know well that they will not suffer me to go out of the house alive.
Why tarriest thou, Lord (or, what wilt thou do)? why hast thou shut off
from us thy good promise? Do not, I beseech thee, Lord, do not give him
cause to exult who rejoiceth in the suffering of others; give him not cause
to dance who alway derideth us; but let thy holy name and thy mercy make
haste. Raise up these two dead whose death is against me.
22 And even as John thus cried out, the city of the Ephesians ran together
to the house of Lycomedes, hearing that he was dead. And John, beholding
the great multitude that was come, said unto the Lord: Now is the time
of refreshment and of confidence toward thee, O Christ; now is the time
for us who are sick to have the help that is of thee, O physician who healest
freely; keep thou mine entering in hither safe from derision. I beseech
thee, Jesu, succour this great multitude that it may come to thee who art
Lord of all things: behold the affliction, behold them that lie here. Do
thou prepare, even from them that are assembled for that end, holy vessels
for thy service, when they behold thy gift. For thyself hast said, O Christ,
'Ask, and it shall be given you'. We ask therefore of thee, O king, not
gold, not silver, not substance, not possessions, nor aught of what is
on earth and perisheth, but two souls, by whom thou shalt convert them
that are here unto thy way, unto thy teaching, unto thy liberty (confidence),
unto thy most excellent (or unfailing) promise: for when they perceive
thy power in that those that have died are raised, they will be saved,
some of them. Do thou thyself, therefore, give them hope in thee: and so
go I unto Cleopatra and say: Arise in the name of Jesus Christ.
23 And he came to her and touched her face and said: Cleopatra, He saith,
whom every ruler feareth, and every creature and every power, the abyss
and all darkness, and unsmiling death, and the height of heaven, and the
circles of hell [and the resurrection of the dead, and the sight of the
blind], and the whole power of the prince of this world, and the pride
of the ruler: Arise, and be not an occasion unto many that desire not to
believe, or an affliction unto souls that are able to hope and to be saved.
And Cleopatra straightway cried with a loud voice: I arise, master: save
thou thine handmaid.
Now when she had arisen 24 And Cleopatra going with John into her bedchamber, and seeing Lycomedes
dead for her sake, had no power to speak (suffered in her voice), and ground
her teeth and bit her tongue, and closed her eyes, raining down tears:
and with calmness gave heed to the apostle. But John had compassion on
Cleopatra when he saw that she neither raged nor was beside herself, and
called upon the perfect and condescending mercy, saying: Lord Jesus Christ,
thou seest the pressure of sorrow, thou seest the need; thou seest Cleopatra
shrieking her soul out in silence, for she constraineth within her the
frenzy that cannot be borne; and I know that for Lycomedes' sake she also
will die upon his body. And she said quietly to John: That have I in mind,
master, and nought else.
And the apostle went to the couch whereon Lycomedes lay, and taking
Cleopatra's hand he said: Cleopatra, because of the multitude that is present,
and thy kinsfolk that have come in, with strong crying, say thou to thine
husband: Arise and glorify the name of God, for he giveth back the dead
to the dead. And she went to her husband and said to him according as she
was taught, and forthwith raised him up. And he, when he arose, fell on
the floor and kissed John's feet, but he raised him, saying: O man, kiss
not my feet but the feet of God by whose power ye are both arisen.
25 But Lycomedes said to John: I entreat and adjure thee by the God
in whose name thou hast raised us, to abide with us, together with all
them that are with thee. Likewise Cleopatra also caught his feet and said
the same. And John said to them: For tomorrow I will be with you. And they
said to him again: We shall have no hope in thy God, but shall have been
raised to no purpose, if thou abide not with us. And Cleobius with Aristodemus
and Damonicus were touched in the soul and said to John: Let us abide with
them, that they continue without offence towards the Lord. So he continued
there with the brethren.
26 There came together therefore a gathering of a great multitude on
John's account; and as he discoursed to them that were there, Lycomedes,
who had a friend who was a skilful painter, went hastily to him and said
to him: You see me in a great hurry to come to you: come quickly to my
house and paint the man whom I show you without his knowing it. And the
painter, giving some one the necessary implements and colours, said to
Lycomedes: Show him to me, and for the rest have no anxiety. And Lycomedes
pointed out John to the painter, and brought him near him, and shut him
up in a room from which the apostle of Christ could be seen. And Lycomedes
was with the blessed man, feasting on the faith and the knowledge of our
God, and rejoiced yet more in the thought that he should possess him in
a portrait.
27 The painter, then, on the first day made an outline of him and went
away. And on the next he painted him in with his colours, and so delivered
the portrait to Lycomedes to his great joy. And lie took it and set it
up in his own bedehamber and hung it with garlands: so that later John,
when he perceived it, said to him: My beloved child, what is it that thou
always doest when thou comest in from the bath into thy bedchamber alone?
do not I pray with thee and the rest of the brethren? or is there something
thou art hiding from us? And as he said this and talked jestingly with
him, he went into the bedchamber, and saw the portrait of an old man crowned
with garlands, and lamps and altars set before it. And he called him and
said: Lycomedes, what meanest thou by this matter of the portrait? can
it be one of thy gods that is painted here? for I see that thou art still
living in heathen fashion. And Lycomedes answered him: My only God is he
who raised me up from death with my wife: but if, next to that God, it
be right that the men who have benefited us should be called gods -it is
thou, father, whom I have had painted in that portrait, whom I crown and
love and reverence as having become my good guide.
28 And John who had never at any time seen his own face said to him:
Thou mockest me, child: am I like that in form, 29 But do thou become for me a good painter, Lycomedes. Thou hast colours
which he giveth thee through me, who painteth all of us for himself, even
Jesus, who knoweth the shapes and appearances and postures and dispositions
and types of our souls. And the colours wherewith I bid thee paint are
these: faith in God, knowledge, godly fear, friendship, communion, meekness,
kindness, brotherly love, purity, simplicity, tranquillity, fearlessness,
griefiessness, sobriety, and the whole band of colours that painteth the
likeness of thy soul, and even now raiseth up thy members that were cast
down, and levelleth them that were lifted up, and tendeth thy bruises,
and healeth thy wounds, and ordereth thine hair that was disarranged, and
washeth thy face, and chasteneth thine eyes, and purgeth thy bowels, and
emptieth thy belly, and cutteth off that which is beneath it; and in a
word, when the whole company and mingling of such colours is come together,
into thy soul, it shall present it to our Lord Jesus Christ undaunted,
whole (unsmoothed), and firm of shape. But this that thou hast now done
is childish and imperfect: thou hast drawn a dead likeness of the dead.
There need be no portion of text lost at this point: but possibly some
few sentences have been omitted. The transition is abrupt and the new episode
has not, as elsewhere, a title of its own.
30 And he commanded Verus (Berus), the brother that ministered to him,
to gather the aged women that were in all Ephesus, and made ready, he and
Cleopatra and Lycomedes, all things for the care of them. Verus, then,
came to John, saying: Of the aged women that are here over threescore years
old I have found four only sound in body, and of the rest some . . . .
(a word gone) and some palsied and others sick. And when he heard that,
John kept silence for a long time, and rubbed his face and said: O the
slackness (weakness) of them that dwell in Ephesus! O the state of dissolution,
and the weakness toward God! O devil, that hast so long mocked the faithful
in Ephesus! Jesus, who giveth me grace and the gift to have my confidence
in him, saith to me in silence: Send after the old women that are sick
and come (be) with them into the theatre, and through me heal them: for
there are some of them that will come unto this spectacle whom by these
healings I will convert and make them useful for some end.
31 Now when all the multitude was come together to Lycomedes, he dismissed
them on John's behalf, saying: Tomorrow come ye to the theatre, as many
as desire to see the power of God. And the multitude, on the morrow, while
it was yet night, came to the theatre: so that the proconsul also heard
of it and hasted and took his sent with all the people. And a certain praetor,
Andromeus, who was the first of the Ephesians at that time, put it about
that John had promised things impossible and incredible: But if, said he,
he is able to do any such thing as I hear, let him come into the public
theatre, when it is open, naked, and holding nothing in his hands, neither
let him name that magical name which I have heard him utter.
32 John therefore, having heard this and being moved by. these words,
commanded the aged women to be brought into the theatre: and when they
were all brought into the midst, some of them upon beds and others lying
in a deep sleep, and all the city had run together, and a great silence
was made, John opened his mouth and began to say:
33 Ye men of Ephesus, learn first of all wherefore I am visiting in
your city, or what is this great confidence which I have towards you, so
that it may become manifest to this general assembly and to all of you
(or, so that I manifest myself to). I have been sent, then, upon a mission
which is not of man's ordering, and not upon any vain journey; neither
am I a merchant that make bargains or exchanges; but Jesus Christ whom
I preach, being compassionate and kind, desireth by my means to convert
all of you who are held in unbelief and sold unto evil lusts, and to deliver
you from error; and by his power will I confound even the unbelief of your
praetor, by raising up them that lie before you, whom ye all behold, in
what plight and in what sicknesses they are. And to do this (to confound
Andronicus) is not possible for me if they perish: therefore shall they
be healed.
34 But this first I have desired to sow in your ears, even that ye should
take care for your souls -on which account I am come unto you- and not
expect that this time will be for ever, for it is but a moment, and not
lay up treasures upon the earth where all things do fade. Neither think
that when ye have gotten children ye can rest upon them (?), and try not
for their sakes to defraud and overreach. Neither, ye poor, be vexed if
ye have not wherewith to minister unto pleasures; for men of substance
when they are diseased call you happy. Neither, ye rich, rejoice that ye
have much money, for by possessing these things ye provide for yourselves
grief that ye cannot be rid of when ye lose them; and besides, while it
is with you, ye are afraid lest some one attack you on account of it.
35 Thou also that art puffed up because of the shapeliness of thy body,
and art of an high look, shalt see the end of the promise thereof in the
grave; and thou that rejoicest in adultery, know that both law and nature
avenge it upon thee, and before these, conscience; and thou, adulteress,
that art an adversary of the law, knowest not whither thou shalt come in
the end. And thou that sharest not with the needy, but hast monies laid
up, when thou departest out of this body and hast need of some mercy when
thou burnest in fire, shalt have none to pity thee; and thou the wrathful
and passionate, know that thy conversation is like the brute beasts; and
thou, drunkard and quarreller, learn that thou losest thy senses by being
enslaved to a shameful and dirty desire.
36 Thou that rejoicest in gold and delightest thyself with ivory and
jewels, when night falleth, canst thou behold what thou lovest? thou that
art vanquished by soft raiment, and then leavest life, will those things
profit thee in the place whither thou goest? And let the murderer know
that the condign punishment is laid up for him twofold after his departure
hence. Likewise also thou poisoner, sorcerer, robber, defrauder, sodomite,
thief, and as many as are of that band, ye shall come at last, as your
works do lead you, unto unquenchable fire, and utter darkness, and the
pit of punishment, and eternal threatenings. Wherefore, ye men of Ephesus,
turn yourselves, knowing this also, that kings, rulers, tyrants, boasters,
and they that have conquered in wars, stripped of all things when they
depart hence, do suffer pain, lodged in eternal misery.
37 And having thus said, John by the power of God healed all the diseases.
This sentence must be an abridgement of a much longer narration. The
manuscript indicates no break at this point: but we must suppose a not
inconsiderable loss of text. For one thing, Andronicus, who is here an
unbeliever, appears as a convert in the next few lines. Now he is, as we
shall see later, the husband of an eminent believer, Drusiana; and his
and her conversion will have been told at some length; and I do not doubt
that among other things there was a discourse of John persuading them to
live in continence.
37 (continued.) Now the brethren from Miletus said unto John: We have
continued a long time at Ephesus; if it seem good to thee, let us go also
to Smyrna; for we hear already that the mighty works of God have reached
it also. And Andronicus said to them: Whensoever the teacher willeth, then
let us go. But John said: Let us first go unto the temple of Artemis, for
perchance there also, if we show ourselves, the servants of the Lord will
be found.
38 After two days, then, was the birthday of the idol temple. John therefore,
when all were clad in white, alone put on black raiment and went up into
the temple. And they took him and essayed to kill him. But John said: Ye
are mad to set upon me, a man that is the servant of the only God. And
he gat him up upon an high pedestal and said unto them:
39 Ye run hazard, men of Ephesus, of being like in character to the
sea: every river that floweth in and every spring that runneth down, and
the rains, and waves that press upon each other, and torrents full of rocks
are made salt together by the bitter telementt (MS. promise!) that is therein.
So ye also remaining unchanged unto this day toward true godliness are
become corrupted by your ancient rites of worship. How many wonders and
healings of diseases have ye seen wrought through me? And yet are ye blinded
in your hearts and cannot recover sight. What is it, then, O men of Ephesus?
I have adventured now and come up even into this your idol temple. I will
convict you of being most godless, and dead from the understanding of mankind.
Behold, I stand here: ye all say that ye have a goddess, even Artemis:
pray then unto her that I alone may die; or else I only, if ye are not
able to do this, will call upon mine own god, and for your unbelief I will
cause every one of you to die.
40 But they who had beforetime made trial of him and had seen dead men
raised up, cried out: Slay us not so, we beseech thee, John. We know that
thou canst do it. And John said to them: If then ye desire not to die,
let that which ye worship be confounded, and wherefore it is confounded,
that ye also may depart from your ancient error. For now is it time that
either ye be converted by my God, or I myself die by your goddess; for
I will pray in your presence and entreat my God that mercy be shown unto
you.
41 And having so said he prayed thus: O God that art God above all that
are called gods, that until this day hast been set at nought in the city
of the Ephesians; that didst put into my mind to come into this place,
whereof I never thought; that dost convict every manner of worship by turning
men unto thee; at whose name every idol fleeth and every evil spirit and
every unclean power; now also by the flight of the evil spirit here at
thy name, even of him that deceiveth this great multitude, show thou thy
mercy in this place, for they have been made to err.
42 And as John spake these things, immediately the altar of Artemis
was parted into many pieces, and all the things that were dedicated in
the temple fell, and [MS. that which seemed good to him] was rent asunder,
and likewise of the images of the gods more than seven. And the half of
the temple fell down, so that the priest was slain at one blow by the falling
of the (?roof, ? beam). The multitude of the Ephesians therefore cried
out: One is the God of John, one is the God that hath pity on us, for thou
only art God: now are we turned to thee, beholding thy marvellous works!
have mercy on us, O God, according to thy will, and save us from our great
error! And some of them, lying on their faces, made supplication, and some
kneeled and besought, and some rent their clothes and wept, and others
tried to escape.
43 But John spread forth his hands, and being uplifted in soul, said
unto the Lord: Glory be to thee, my Jesus, the only God of truth, for that
thou dost gain (receive) thy servants by divers devices. And having so
said, he said to the people: Rise up from the floor, ye men of Ephesus,
and pray to my God, and recognize the invisible power that cometh to manifestation,
and the wonderful works which are wrought before your eyes. Artemis ought
to have succoured herself: her servant ought to have been helped of her
and not to have died. Where is the power of the evil spirit? where are
her sacrifices? where her birthdays? where her festivals? where are the
garlands? where is all that sorcery and the poisoning (witchcraft) that
is sister thereto?
44 But the people rising up from off the floor went hastily and cast
down the rest of the idol temple, crying: The God of John only do we know,
and him hereafter do we worship, since he hath had mercy upon us! And as
John came down from thence, much people took hold of him, saying: Help
us, O John! Assist us that do perish in vain! Thou seest our purpose: thou
seest the multitude following thee and hanging upon thee in hope toward
thy God. We have seen the way wherein we went astray when we lost him:
we have seen our gods that were set up in vain: we have seen the great
and shameful derision that is come to them: but suffer us, we pray thee,
to come unto thine house and to be succoured without hindrance. Receive
us that are in bewilderment.
45 And John said to them: Men (of Ephesus), believe that for your sakes
I have continued in Ephesus, and have put off my journey unto Smyrna and
to the rest of the cities, that there also the servants of Christ may turn
to him. But since I am not yet perfectly assured concerning you, I have
continued praying to my God and beseeching him that I should then depart
from Ephesus when I have confirmed you in the faith: and whereas I see
that this is come to pass and yet more is being fulfilled, I will not leave
you until I have weaned you like children from the nurse's milk, and have
set you upon a firm rock.
46 John therefore continued with them, receiving them in the house of
Andromeus. And one of them that were gathered laid down the dead body of
the priest of Artemis before the door [of the temple], for he was his kinsman,
and came in quickly with the rest, saying nothing of it. John, therefore,
after the discourse to the brethren, and the prayer and the thanksgiving
(eucharist) and the laying of hands upon every one of the congregation,
said by the spirit: There is one here who moved by faith in God hath laid
down the priest of Artemis before the gate and is come in, and in the yearning
of his soul, taking care first for himself, hath thought thus in himself:
It is better for me to take thought for the living than for my kinsman
that is dead: for I know that if I turn to the Lord and save mine own soul,
John will not deny to raise up the dead also. And John arising from his
place went to that into which that kinsman of the priest who had so thought
was entered, and took him by the hand and said: Hadst thou this thought
when thou camest unto me, my child? And he, taken with trembling and affright,
said: Yes, lord, and cast himself at his feet. And John said: Our Lord
is Jesus Christ, who will show his power in thy dead kinsman by raising
him up.
47 And he made the young man rise, and took his hand and said: It is
no great matter for a man that is master of great mysteries to continue
wearying himself over small things: or what great thing is it to rid men
of diseases of the body? And yet holding the young man by the hand he said:
I say unto thee, child, go and raise the dead thyself, saying nothing but
this only: John the servant of God saith to thee, Arise. And the young
man went to his kinsman and said this only -and much people was with him-
and entered in unto John, bringing him alive. And John, when he saw him
that was raised, said: Now that thou art raised, thou dost not truly live,
neither art partaker or heir of the true life: wilt thou belong unto him
by whose name and power thou wast raised? And now believe, and thou shall
live unto all ages. And he forthwith believed upon the Lord Jesus and thereafter
clave unto John.
[Another manuscript (Q. Paris Gr. 1468, of the eleventh century) has
another form of this story. John destroys the temple of Artemis, and then
'we' go to Smyrna and all the idols are broken: Bucolus, Polycarp, and
Andronicus are left to preside over the district. There were there two
priests of Artemis, brothers, and one died. The raising is told much as
in the older text, but more shortly.
'We' remained four years in the region, which was wholly converted,
and then returned to Ephesus.]
48 Now on the next day John, having seen in a dream that he must walk
three miles outside the gates, neglected it not, but rose up early and
set out upon the way, together with the brethren.
And a certain countryman who was admonished by his father not to take
to himself the wife of a fellow labourer of his who threatened to kill
him -this young man would not endure the admonition of his father, but
kicked him and left him without speech (sc. dead). And John, seeing what
had befallen, said unto the Lord: Lord, was it on this account that thou
didst bid me come out hither to-day?
49 But the young man, beholding the violence (sharpness) of death, and
looking to be taken, drew out the sickle that was in his girdle and started
to run to his own abode; and John met him and said: Stand still, thou most
shameless devil, and tell me whither thou runnest bearing a sickle that
thirsteth for blood. And the young man was troubled and cast the iron on
the ground, and said to him: I have done a wretched and barbarous deed
and I know it, and so I determined to do an evil yet worse and more cruel,
even to die myself at once. For because my father was alway curbing me
to sobriety, that I should live without adultery, and chastely, I could
not endure him to reprove me, and I kicked him and slew him, and when I
saw what was done, I was hasting to the woman for whose sake I became my
father's murderer, with intent to kill her and her husband, and myself
last of all: for I could not bear to be seen of the husband of the woman,
and undergo the judgement of death.
50 And John said to him: That I may not by going away and leaving you
in danger give place to him that desireth to laugh and sport with thee,
come thou with me and show me thy father, where he lieth. And if I raise
him up for thee, wilt thou hereafter abstain from the woman that is become
a snare to thee. And the young man said: If thou raisest up my father himself
for me alive, and if I see him whole and continuing in life, I will hereafter
abstain from her.
51 And while he was speaking, they came to the place where the old man
lay dead, and many passers-by were standing near thereto. And John said
to the youth: Thou wretched man, didst thou not spare even the old age
of thy father? And he, weeping and tearing his hair, said that he repented
thereof; and John the servant of the Lord said: Thou didst show me I was
to set forth for this place, thou knewest that this would come to pass,
from whom nothing can be hid of things done in life, that givest me power
to work every cure and healing by thy will: now also give me this old man
alive, for thou seest that his murderer is become his own judge: and spare
him, thou only Lord, that spared not his father (because he) counselled
him for the best.
52 And with these words he came near to the old man and said: My Lord
will not be weak to spread out his kind pity and his condescending mercy
even unto thee: rise up therefore and give glory to God for the work that
is come to pass at this moment. And the old man said: I arise, Lord. And
he rose and sat up and said: I was released from a terrible life and had
to bear the insults of my son, dreadful and many, and his want of natural
affection, and to what end hast thou called me back, O man of the living
God? (And John answered him: If) thou art raised only for the same end,
it were better for thee to die; but raise thyself unto better things. And
he took him and led him into the city, preaching unto him the grace of
God, so that before he entered the gate the old man believed.
53 But the young man, when he beheld the unlooked-for raising of his
father, and the saving of himself, took a sickle and mutilated himself,
and ran to the house wherein he had his adulteress, and reproached her,
saying: For thy sake I became the murderer of my father and of you two
and of myself: there thou hast that which is alike guilty of all. For on
me God hath had mercy, that I should know his power.
54 And he came back and told John in presence of the brethren what he
had done. But John said to him: He that put it into thine heart, young
man, to kill thy father and become the adulterer of another man's wife,
the same made thee think it a right deed to take away also the unruly members.
But thou shouldest have done away, not with the place of sin, but the thought
which through those members showed itself harmful: for it is not the instruments
that are injurious, but the unseen springs by which every shameful emotion
is stirred and cometh to light. Repent therefore, my child, of this fault,
and having learnt the wiles of Satan thou shalt have God to help thee in
all the necessities of thy soul. And the young man kept silence and attended,
having repented of his former sins, that he should obtain pardon from the
goodness of God: and he did not separate from John.
55 When, then, these things had been done by him in the city of the
Ephesians, they of Smyrna sent unto him saying: We hear that the God whom
thou preachest is not envious, and hath charged thee not to show partiality
by abiding in one place. Since, then, thou art a preacher of such a God,
come unto Smyrna and unto the other cities, that we may come to know thy
God, and having known him may have our hope in him.
[Q has the above story also, and continues with an incident which is
also quoted in a different form (and not as from these Acts) by John Cassian.
Q has it thus:
Now one day as John was seated, a partridge flew by and came and played
in the dust before him; and John looked on it and wondered. And a certain
priest came, who was one of his hearers, and came to John and saw the partridge
playing in the dust before him, and was offended in himself and said: Can
such and so great a man take pleasure in a partridge playing in the dust?
But John perceiving in the spirit the thought of him, said to him: It were
better for thee also, my child, to look at a partridge playing in the dust
and not to defile thyself with shameful and profane practices: for he who
awaiteth the conversion and repentance of all men hath brought thee here
on this account: for I have no need of a partridge playing in the dust.
For the partridge is thine own soul.
Then the elder, hearing this and seeing that he was not bidden, but
that the apostle of Christ had told him all that was in his heart, fell
on his face on the earth and cried aloud, saying: Now know I that God dwelleth
in thee, O blessed John! for he that tempteth thee tempteth him that cannot
be tempted. And he entreated him to pray for him. And he instructed him
and delivered him the rules (canons) and let him go to his house, glorifying
God that is over all.
Cassian, Collation XXIV. 21, has it thus:
It is told that the most blessed Evangelist John, when he was gently
stroking a partridge with his hands, suddenly saw one in the habit of a
hunter coming to him. He wondered that a man of such repute and fame should
demean himself to such small and humble amusements, and said: Art thou
that John whose eminent and widespread fame hath enticed me also with great
desire to know thee? Why then art thou taken up with such mean amusements?
The blessed John said to him: What is that which thou carriest in thy hands?
A bow, said he. And why, said he, dost thou not bear it about always stretched?
He answered him: I must not, lest by constant bending the strength of its
vigour be wrung and grow soft and perish, and when there is need that the
arrows be shot with much strength at some beast, the strength being lost
by excess of continual tension, a forcible blow cannot be dealt. Just so,
said the blessed John, let not this little and brief relaxation of my mind
offend thee, young man, for unless it doth sometimes ease and relax by
some remission the force of its tension, it will grow slack through unbroken
rigour and will not be able to obey the power of the Spirit.
The only common point of the two stories is that St. John amuses himself
with a partridge, and a spectator thinks it unworthy of him. The two morals
differ wholly. The amount of text lost here is of quite uncertain length.
It must have told of the doings at Smyrna, and also, it appears, at Laodicca
(see the title of the next section). One of the episodes must have been
the conversion of a woman of evil life (see below, 'the harlot that was
chaste ')-]
Our best manuscript prefixes a title to the next section:
From Laodicca to Ephesus the second time.
58 Now when some long time had passed, and none of the brethren had
been at any time grieved by John, they were then grieved because he had
said: Brethren, it is now time for me to go to Ephesus (for so have I agreed
with them that dwell there) lest they become slack, now for a long time
having no man to confirm them. But all of you must have your minds steadfast
towards God, who never forsaketh us.
But when they heard this from him, the brethren lamented because they
were to be parted from him. And John said: Even if I be parted from you,
yet Christ is always with you: whom if ye love purely ye will have his
fellowship without reproach, for if he be loved, he preventeth (anticipateth)
them that love him.
59 And having so said, and bidden farewell to them, and left much money
with the brethren for distribution, he went forth unto Ephesus, while all
the brethren lamented and groaned. And there accompanied him, of Ephesus,
both Andronicus and Drusiana and Lycomedes and Cleobius and their families.
And there followed him Aristobula also, who had heard that her husband
Tertullus had died on the way, and Aristippus with Xenophon, and the harlot
that was chaste, and many others, whom he exhorted at all times to cleave
to the Lord, and they would no more be parted from him.
60 Now on the first day we arrived at a deserted inn, and when we were
at a loss for a bed for John, we saw a droll matter. There was one bedstead
lying somewhere there without coverings, whereon we spread the cloaks which
we were wearing, and we prayed him to lie down upon it and rest, while
the rest of us all slept upon the floor. But he when he lay down was troubled
by the bugs, and as they continued to become yet more troublesome to him,
when it was now about the middle of the night, in the hearing of us all
he said to them: I say unto you, O bugs, behave yourselves, one and all,
and leave your abode for this night and remain quiet in one place, and
keep your distance from the servants of God. And as we laughed, and went
on talking for some time, John addressed himself to sleep; and we, talking
low, gave him no disturbance (or, thanks to him we were not disturbed).
61 But when the day was now dawning I arose first, and with me Verus
and Andronicus, and we saw at the door of the house which we had taken
a great number of bugs standing, and while we wondered at the great sight
of them, and all the brethren were roused up because of them, John continued
sleeping. And when he was awaked we declared to him what we had seen. And
he sat up on the bed and looked at them and said: Since ye have well behaved
yourselves in hearkening to my rebuke, come unto your place. And when he
had said this, and risen from the bed, the bugs running from the door hasted
to the bed and climbed up by the legs thereof and disappeared into the
joints. And John said again: This creature hearkened unto the voice of
a man, and abode by itself and was quiet and trespassed not; but we which
hear the voice and commandments of God disobey and are light-minded: and
for how long?
62 After these things we came to Ephesus: and the brethren there, who
had for a long time known that John was coming, ran together to the house
of Andronicus (where also he came to lodge), handling his feet and laying
his hands upon their own faces and kissing them (and many rejoiced even
to touch his vesture, and were healed by touching the clothes of the holy
apostle. [So the Latin, which has this section; the Greek has: so that
they even touched his garments).]
63 And whereas there was great love and joy unsurpassed among the brethren,
a certain one, a messenger of Satan, became enamoured of Drusiana, though
he saw and knew that she was the wife of Andronicus. To whom many said:
It is not possible for thee to obtain that woman, seeing that for a long
time she has even separated herself from her husband for godliness' sake.
Art thou only ignorant that Andronicus, not being aforetime that which
now he is, a God-fearing man, shut her up in a tomb, saying: Either I must
have thee as the wife whom I had before, or thou shalt die. And she chose
rather to die than to do that foulness. If, then, she would not consent,
for godliness' sake, to cohabit with her lord and husband, but even persuaded
him to be of the same mind as herself, will she consent to thee desiring
to be her seducer? depart from this madness which hath no rest in thee:
give up this deed which thou canst not bring to accomplishment.
64 But his familiar friends saying these things to him did not convince
him, but with shamelessness he courted her with messages; and when he learnt
the insults and disgraces which she returned, he spent his life in melancholy
(or better, she, when she learnt of this disgrace and insult at his hand,
spent her life in heaviness). And after two days Drusiana took to her bed
from heaviness, and was in a fever and said: Would that I had not now come
home to my native place, I that have become an offence to a man ignorant
of godliness! for if it were one who was filled with the word of God, he
would not have gone to such a pitch of madness. But now (therefore) Lord,
since I am become the occasion of a blow unto a soul devoid of knowledge,
set me free from this chain and remove me unto thee quickly. And in the
presence of John, who knew nothing at all of such a matter, Drusiana departed
out of life not wholly happy, yea, even troubled because of the spiritual
hurt of the man.
65 But Andronicus, grieved with a secret grief, mourned in his soul,
and wept openly, so that John checked him often and said to him: Upon a
better hope hath Drusiana removed out of this unrighteous life. And Andronicus
answered him: Yea, I am persuaded of it, O John, and I doubt not at all
in regard of trust in my God: but this very thing do I hold fast, that
she departed out of life pure.
66 And when she was carried forth, John took hold on Andronicus, and
now that he knew the cause, he mourned more than Andronicus. And he kept
silence, considering the provocation of the adversary, and for a space
sat still. Then, the brethren being gathered there to hear what word he
would speak of her that was departed, he began to say:
67 When the pilot that voyageth, together with them that sail with him,
and the ship herself, arriveth in a calm and stormless harbour, then let
him say that he is safe. And the husbandman that hath committed the seed
to the earth, and toiled much in the care and protection of it, let him
then take rest from his labours, when he layeth up the seed with manifold
increase in his barns. Let him that enterpriseth to run in the course,
then exult when he beareth home the prize. Let him that inscribeth his
name for the boxing, then boast himself when he receiveth the crowns: and
so in succession is it with all contests and crafts, when they do not fail
in the end, but show themselves to be like that which they promised (corrupt).
68 And thus also I think is it with the faith which each one of us practiseth,
that it is then discerned whether it be indeed true, when it continueth
like itself even until the end of life. For many obstacles fall into the
way, and prepare disturbance for the minds of men: care, children, parents,
glory, poverty, flattery, prime of life, beauty, conceit, lust, wealth,
anger, uplifting, slackness, envy, jealousy, neglect, fear, insolence,
love, deceit, money, pretence, and other such obstacles, as many as there
are in this life: as also the pilot sailing a prosperous course is opposed
by the onset of contrary winds and a great storm and mighty waves out of
calm, and the husbandman by untimely winter and blight and creeping things
rising out of the earth, and they that strive in the games 'just do not
win', and they that exercise crafts are hindered by the divers difficulties
of them.
69 But before all things it is needful that the believer should look
before at his ending and understand it in what manner it will come upon
him, whether it will be vigorous and sober and without any obstacle, or
disturbed and clinging to the things that are here, and bound down by desires.
So is it right that a body should be praised as comely when it is wholly
stripped, and a general as great when he hath accomplished every promise
of the war, and a physician as excellent when he hath succeeded in every
cure, and a soul as full of faith and worthy (or receptive) of God when
it hath paid its promise in full: not that soul which began well and was
dissolved into all the things of this life and fell away, nor that which
is numb, having made an effort to attain to better things, and then is
borne down to temporal things, nor that which hath longed after the things
of time more than those of eternity, nor that which exchangeth 70 And as John was discoursing yet further unto the brethren that they
should despise temporal things in respect of the eternal, he that was enamoured
of Drusiana, being inflamed with an horrible lust and possession of the
many-shaped Satan, bribed the steward of Andronicus who was a lover of
money with a great sum: and he opened the tomb and gave him opportunity
to wreak the forbidden thing upon the dead body. Not having succeeded with
her when alive, he was still importunate after her death to her body, and
said: If thou wouldst not have to do with me while thou livedst, I will
outrage thy corpse now thou art dead. With this design, and having managed
for himself the wicked act by means of the abominable steward, he rushed
with him to the sepulchre; they opened the door and began to strip the
grave-clothes from the corpse, saying: What art thou profited, poor Drusiana?
couldest thou not have done this in life, which perchance would not have
grieved thee, hadst thou done it willingly?
71 And as these men were speaking thus, and only the accustomed shift
now remained on her body, a strange spectacle was seen, such as they deserve
to suffer who do such deeds. A serpent appeared from some quarter and dealt
the steward a single bite and slew him: but the young man it did not strike;
but coiled about his feet, hissing terribly, and when he fell mounted on
his body and sat upon him.
72 Now on the next day John came, accompanied by Andronicus and the
brethren, to the sepulchre at dawn, it being now the third day from Drusiana's
death, that we might break bread there. And first, when they set out, the
keys were sought for and could not be found; but John said to Andronicus:
It is quite right that they should be lost, for Drusiana is not in the
sepulchre; nevertheless, let us go, that thou mayest not be neglectful,
and the doors shall be opened of themselves, even as the Lord hath done
for us many such things.
73 And when we were at the place, at the commandment of the master,
the doors were opened, and we saw by the tomb of Drusiana a beautiful youth,
smiling: and John, when he saw him, cried out and said: Art thou come before
us hither too, beautiful one? and for what cause? And we heard a voice
saying to him: For Drusiana's sake, whom thou art to raise up-for I was
within a little of finding her 74 And Andronicus seeing those corpses, leapt up and went to Drusiana's
tomb, and seeing her lying in her shift only, said to John: I understand
what has happened, thou blessed servant of God, John. This Callimachus
was enamoured of my sister; and because he never won her, though he often
assayed it, he hath bribed this mine accursed steward with a great sum,
perchance designing, as now we may see, to fulfil by his means the tragedy
of his conspiracy, for indeed Callimachus avowed this to many, saying:
If she will not consent to me when living, she shall be outraged when dead.
And it may be, master, that the beautiful one knew it and suffered not
her body to be insulted, and therefore have these died who made that attempt.
And can it be that the voice that said unto thee, 'Raise up Drusiana',
foreshowed this? because she departed out of this life in sorrow of mind.
But I believe him that said that this is one of the men that have gone
astray; for thou wast bidden to raise him up: for as to the other, I know
that he is unworthy of salvation. But this one thing I beg of thee: raise
up Callimachus first, and he will confess to us what is come about.
75 And John, looking upon the body, said to the venomous beast: Get
thee away from him that is to be a servant of Jesus Christ; and stood up
and prayed over him thus: O God whose name is glorified by us, as of right:
O God who subduest every injurious force: O God whose will is accomplished,
who alway hearest us: now also let thy gift be accomplished in this young
man; and if there be any dispensation to be wrought through him, manifest
it unto us when he is raised up. And straightway the young man rose up,
and for a whole hour kept silence.
76 But when he came to his right senses, John asked of him about his
entry into the sepulchre, what it meant, and learning from him that which
Andronicus had told him, namely, that he was enamoured of Drusiana, John
inquired of him again if he had fulfilled his foul intent, to insult a
body full of holiness. And he answered him: How could I accomplish it when
this fearful beast struck down Fortunatus at a blow in my sight: and rightly,
since he encouraged my frenzy, when I was already cured of that unreasonable
and horrible madness: but me it stopped with affright, and brought me to
that plight in which ye saw me before I arose. And another thing yet more
wondrous I will tell thee, which yet went nigh to slay and was within a
little of making me a corpse. When my soul was stirred up with folly and
the uncontrollable malady was troubling me, and I had now torn away the
grave-clothes in which she was clad, and I had then come out of the grave
and laid them as thou seest, I went again to my unholy work: and I saw
a beautiful youth covering her with his mantle, and from his eyes sparks
of light came forth unto her eyes; and he uttered words to me, saying:
Callimachus, die that thou mayest live. Now who he was I knew not, O servant
of God; but that now thou hast appeared here, I recognize that he was an
angel of God, that I know well; and this I know of a truth that it is a
true God that is proclaimed by thee, and of it I am persuaded. But I beseech
thee, be not slack to deliver me from this calamity and this fearful crime,
and to present me unto thy God as a man deceived with a shameful and foul
deceit. Beseeching help therefore of thee, I take hold on thy feet. I would
become one of them that hope in Christ, that the voice may prove true which
said to me, 'Die that thou mayest live': and that voice hath also fulfilled
its effect, for he is dead, that faithless, disorderly, godless one, and
I have been raised by thee, I who will be faithful, God-fearing, knowing
the truth, which I entreat thee may be shown me by thee.
77 And John, filled with great gladness and perceiving the whole spectacle
of the salvation of man, said: What thy power is, Lord Jesu Christ, I know
not, bewildered as I am at thy much compassion and boundless long-suffering.
O what a greatness that came down into bondage! O unspeakable liberty brought
into slavery by us! O incomprehensible glory that is come unto us! thou
that hast kept the dead tabernacle safe from insult; that hast redeemed
the man that stained himself with blood and chastened the soul of him that
would defile the corruptible body; Father that hast had pity and compassion
on the man that cared not for thee; We glorify thee, and praise and bless
and thank thy great goodness and long-suffering, O holy Jesu, for thou
only art God, and none else: whose is the might that cannot be conspired
against, now and world without end. Amen.
78 And when he had said this John took Callimachus and saluted (kissed)
him, saying: Glory be to our God, my child, who hath had mercy on thee,
and made me worthy to glorify his power, and thee also by a good course
to depart from that thine abominable madness and drunkenness, and hath
called thee unto his own rest and unto renewing of life.
79 But Andronicus, beholding the dead Callimachus raised, besought John,
with the brethren, to raise up Drusiana also, saying: O John, let Drusiana
arise and spend happily that short space (of life) which she gave up through
grief about Callimachus, when she thought she had become a stumbling block
to him: and when the Lord will, he shall take her again to himself. And
John without delay went unto her tomb and took her hand and said: Upon
thee that art the only God do I call, the more than great, the unutterable,
the incomprehensible: unto whom every power of principalities is subjected:
unto whom all authority boweth: before whom all pride falleth down and
keepeth silence: whom devils hearing of tremble: whom all creation perceiving
keepeth its bounds. Let thy name be glorified by us, and raise up Drusiana,
that Callimachus may yet more be confirmed unto thee who dispensest that
which unto men is without a way and impossible, but to thee only possible,
even salvation and resurrection: and that Drusiana may now come forth in
peace, having about her not any the least hindrance -now that the young
man is turned unto thee- in her course toward thee.
80 And after these words John said unto Drusiana: Drusiana, arise. And
she arose and came out of the tomb; and when she saw herself in her shift
only, she was perplexed at the thing, and learned the whole accurately
from Andronicus, the while John lay upon his face, and Callimachus with
voice and tears glorified God, and she also rejoiced, glorifying him in
like manner.
81 And when she had clothed herself, she turned and saw Fortunatus lying,
and said unto John: Father, let this man also rise, even if he did assay
to become my betrayer. But Callimachus, when he heard her say that, said:
Do not, I beseech thee, Drusiana, for the voice which I heard took no thought
of him, but declared concerning thee only, and I saw and believed: for
if he had been good, perchance God would have had mercy on him also and
would have raised him by means of the blessed John: he knew therefore that
the man was come to a bad end [Lat. he judged him worthy to die whom he
did not declare worthy to rise again]. And John said to him: We have not
learned, my child, to render evil for evil: for God, though we have done
much ill and no good toward him, hath not given retribution unto us, but
repentance, and though we were ignorant of his name he did not neglect
us but had mercy on us, and when we blasphemed him, he did not punish but
pitied us, and when we disbelieved him he bore us no grudge, and when we
persecuted his brethren he did not recompense us evil but put into our
minds repentance and abstinence from evil, and exhorted us to come unto
him, as he hath thee also, my son Callimachus, and not remembering thy
former evil hath made thee his servant, waiting upon his mercy. Wherefore
if thou allowest not me to raise up Fortunatus, it is for Drusiana so to
do.
82 And she, delaying not, went with rejoicing of spirit and soul unto
the body of Fortunatus and said: Jesu Christ, God of the ages, God of truth,
that hast granted me to see wonders and signs, and given to me to become
partaker of thy name; that didst breathe thyself into me with thy many-shaped
countenance, and hadst mercy on me in many ways; that didst protect me
by thy great goodness when I was oppressed by Andronicus that was of old
my husband; that didst give me thy servant Andronicus to be my brother;
that hast kept me thine handmaid pure unto this day; that didst raise me
up by thy servant John, and when I was raised didst show me him that was
made to stumble free from stumbling; that hast given me perfect rest in
thee, and lightened me of the secret madness; whom I have loved and affectioned:
I pray thee, O Christ, refuse not thy Drusiana that asketh thee to raise
up Fortunatus, even though he assayed to become my betrayer.
83 And taking the hand of the dead man she said: Rise up, Fortunatus,
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And Fortunatus arose, and when he
saw John in the sepulchre, and Andronicus, and Drusiana raised from the
dead, and Callimachus a believer, and the rest of the brethren glorifying
God, he said: O, to what have the powers of these clever men attained!
I did not want to be raised, but would rather die, so as not to see them.
And with these words he fled and went out of the sepulchre.
84 And John, when he saw the unchanged mind (soul) of Fortunatus, said:
O nature that is not changed for the better! O fountain of the soul that
abideth in foulness! O essence of corruption full of darkness! O death
exulting in them that are thine! O fruitless tree full of fire! O tree
that bearest coals for fruit! O matter that dwellest with the madness of
matter (al. O wood of trees full of unwholesome shoots) and neighbour of
unbelief! Thou hast proved who thou art, and thou art always convicted,
with thy children. And thou knowest not how to praise the better things:
for thou hast them not. Therefore, such as is thy way (?fruit), such also
is thy root and thy nature. Be thou destroyed from among them that trust
in the Lord: from their thoughts, from their mind, from their souls, from
their bodies, from their acts) their life, their conversation, from their
business, their occupations, their counsel, from the resurrection unto
(or rest in) God, from their sweet savour wherein thou wilt 85 And having thus said, John prayed, and took bread and bare it into
the sepulchre to break it; and said: We glorify thy name, which converteth
us from error and ruthless deceit: we glorify thee who hast shown before
our eyes that which we have seen: we bear witness to thy loving-kindness
which appeareth in divers ways: we praise thy merciful name, O Lord (we
thank thee), who hast convicted them that are convicted of thee: we give
thanks to thee, O Lord Jesu Christ, that we are persuaded of thy 86 And having so prayed and given glory to God, he went out of the sepulchre
after imparting unto all the brethren of the eucharist of the Lord. And
when he was come unto Andronicus' house he said to the brethren: Brethren,
a spirit within me hath divined that Fortunatus is about to die of blackness
(poisoning of the blood) from the bite of the serpent; but let some one
go quickly and learn if it is so indeed. And one of the young men ran and
found him dead and the blackness spreading over him, and it had reached
his heart: and came and told John that he had been dead three hours. And
John said: Thou hast thy child, O devil.
'John therefore was with the brethren rejoicing in the Lord.' This sentence
is in the best manuscript. In Bonnet's edition It introduces the last section
of the Acts, which follows immediately in the manuscript. It may belong
to either episode. The Latin has: And that day he spent joyfully with the
brethren.
There cannot be much of a gap between this and the next section, which
is perhaps the most interesting in the Acts.
The greater part of this episode is preserved only in one very corrupt
fourteenth-century manuscript at Vienna. Two important passages (93-5 (part)
and 97-8 (part)) were read at the Second Nicene Council and are preserved
in the Acts thereof: a few lines of the Hymn are also cited in Latin by
Augustine (Ep. 237 (253) to Ceretius): he found it current separately among
the Priscillianists. The whole discourse is the best popular exposition
we have of the Docetic view of our Lord's person.
87 Those that were present inquired the cause, and were especially perplexed,
because Drusiana had said: The Lord appeared unto me in the tomb in the
likeness of John, and in that of a youth. Forasmuch, therefore, as they
were perplexed and were, in a manner, not yet stablished in the faith,
so as to endure it steadfastly, John said (or John bearing it patiently,
said):
88 Men and brethren, ye have suffered nothing strange or incredible
as concerning your perception of the For when he had chosen Peter and Andrew, which were brethren, he cometh
unto me and James my brother, saying: I have need of you, come unto me.
And my brother hearing that, said: John, what would this child have that
is upon the sea-shore and called us? And I said: What child? And he said
to me again: That which beckoneth to us. And I answered: Because of our
long watch we have kept at sea, thou seest not aright, my brother James;
but seest thou not the man that standeth there, comely and fair and of
a cheerful countenance? But he said to me: Him I see not, brother; but
let us go forth and we shall see what he would have.
89 And so when we had brought the ship to land, we saw him also helping
along with us to settle the ship: and when we departed from that place,
being minded to follow him, again he was seen of me as having rather bald,
but the beard thick and flowing, but of James as a youth whose beard was
newly come. We were therefore perplexed, both of us, as to what that which
we had seen should mean. And after that, as we followed him, both of us
were by little and little 90 And at another time he taketh with him me and James and Peter unto
the mountain where he was wont to pray, and we saw in him a light such
as it is not possible for a man that useth corruptible (mortal) speech
to describe what it was like. Again in like manner he bringeth us three
up into the mountain, saying: Come ye with me. And we went again: and we
saw him at a distance praying. I, therefore, because he loved me, drew
nigh unto him softly, as though he could not see me, and stood looking
upon his hinder parts: and I saw that he was not in any wise clad with
garments, but was seen of us naked, and not in any wise as a man, and that
his feet were whiter than any snow, so that the earth there was lighted
up by his feet, and that his head touched the heaven: so that I was afraid
and cried out, and he, turning about, appeared as a man of small stature,
and caught hold on my beard and pulled it and said to me: John, be not
faithless but believing, and not curious. And I said unto him: But what
have I done, Lord? And I say unto you, brethren, I suffered so great pain
in that place where he took hold on my beard for thirty days, that I said
to him: Lord, if thy twitch when thou wast in sport hath given me so great
pain, what were it if thou hadst given me a buffet? And he said unto me:
Let it be thine henceforth not to tempt him that cannot be tempted.
91 But Peter and James were wroth because I spake with the Lord, and
beckoned unto me that I should come unto them and leave the Lord alone.
And I went, and they both said unto me: He (the old man) that was speaking
with the Lord upon the top of the mount, who was he? for we heard both
of them speaking. And I, having in mind his great grace, and his unity
which hath many faces, and his wisdom which without ceasing looketh upon
us, said: That shall ye learn if ye inquire of him.
92 Again, once when all we his disciples were at Gennesaret sleeping
in one house, I alone having wrapped myself in my mantle, watched (or watched
from beneath my mantle) what he should do: and first I heard him say: John,
go thou to sleep. And I thereon feigning to sleep saw another like unto
him [sleeping], whom also I heard say unto my Lord: Jesus, they whom thou
hast chosen believe not yet on thee (or do they not yet, &c.?). And
my Lord said unto him: Thou sayest well: for they are men.
93 Another glory also will I tell you, brethren: Sometimes when I would
lay hold on him, I met with a material and solid body, and at other times,
again, when I felt him, the substance was immaterial and as if it existed
not at all. And if at any time he were bidden by some one of the Pharisees
and went to the bidding, we went with him, and there was set before each
one of us a loaf by them that had bidden us, and with us he also received
one; and his own he would bless and part it among us: and of that little
every one was filled, and our own loaves were saved whole, so that they
which bade him were amazed. And oftentimes when I walked with him, I desired
to see the print of his foot, whether it appeared on the earth; for I saw
him as it were lifting himself up from the earth: and I never saw it. And
these things I speak unto you, brethren, for the encouragement of your
faith toward him; for we must at the present keep silence concerning his
mighty and wonderful works, inasmuch as they are unspeakable and, it may
be, cannot at all be either uttered or heard.
94 Now before he was taken by the lawless Jews, who also were governed
by (had their law from) the lawless serpent, he gathered all of us together
and said: Before I am delivered up unto them let us sing an hymn to the
Father, and so go forth to that which lieth before us. He bade us therefore
make as it were a ring, holding one another's hands, and himself standing
in the midst he said: Answer Amen unto me. He began, then, to sing an hymn
and to say:
Glory be to thee, Father.
And we, going about in a ring, answered him: Amen.
Glory be to thee, Word: Glory be to thee, Grace. Amen.
Glory be to thee, Spirit: Glory be to thee, Holy One: Glory be to thy
glory. Amen.
We praise thee, O Father; we give thanks to thee, O Light, wherein darkness
dwelleth not. Amen.
95 Now whereas (or wherefore) we give thanks, I say:
I would be saved, and I would save. Amen.
I would be loosed, and I would loose. Amen.
I would be wounded, and I would wound. Amen.
I would be born, and I would bear. Amen.
I would eat, and I would be eaten. Amen.
I would hear, and I would be heard. Amen.
I would be thought, being wholly thought. Amen.
I would be washed, and I would wash. Amen.
Grace danceth. I would pipe; dance ye all. Amen.
I would mourn: lament ye all. Amen.
The number Eight (lit. one ogdoad) singeth praise with us. Amen.
The number Twelve danceth on high. Amen.
The Whole on high hath part in our dancing. Amen.
Whoso danceth not, knoweth not what cometh to pass. Amen.
I would flee, and I would stay. Amen.
I would adorn, and I would be adorned. Amen.
I would be united, and I would unite. Amen.
A house I have not, and I have houses. Amen.
A place I have not, and I have places. Amen.
A temple I have not, and I have temples. Amen.
A lamp am I to thee that beholdest me. Amen.
A mirror am I to thee that perceivest me. Amen.
A door am I to thee that knockest at me. Amen.
A way am I to thee a wayfarer. 96 Now answer thou (or as thou respondest) unto my dancing. Behold thyself
in me who speak, and seeing what I do, keep silence about my mysteries.
Thou that dancest, perceive what I do, for thine is this passion of
the manhood, which I am about to suffer. For thou couldest not at all have
understood what thou sufferest if I had not been sent unto thee, as the
word of the Father. Thou that sawest what I suffer sawest me as suffering,
and seeing it thou didst not abide but wert wholly moved, moved to make
wise. Thou hast me as a bed, rest upon me. Who I am, thou shalt know when
I depart. What now I am seen to be, that I am not. Thou shalt see when
thou comest. If thou hadst known how to suffer, thou wouldest have been
able not to suffer. Learn thou to suffer, and thou shalt be able not to
suffer. What thou knowest not, I myself will teach thee. Thy God am I,
not the God of the traitor. I would keep tune with holy souls. In me know
thou the word of wisdom. Again with me say thou: Glory be to thee, Father;
glory to thee, Word; glory to thee, Holy Ghost. And if thou wouldst know
concerning me, what I was, know that with a word did I deceive all things
and I was no whit deceived. I have leaped: but do thou understand the whole,
and having understood it, say: Glory be to thee, Father. Amen.
97 Thus, my beloved, having danced with us the Lord went forth. And
we as men gone astray or dazed with sleep fled this way and that. I, then,
when I saw him suffer, did not even abide by his suffering, but fled unto
the Mount of Olives, weeping at that which had befallen. And when he was
crucified on the Friday, at the sixth hour of the day, darkness came upon
all the earth. And my Lord standing in the midst of the cave and enlightening
it, said: John, unto the multitude below in Jerusalem I am being crucified
and pierced with lances and reeds, and gall and vinegar is given me to
drink. But unto thee I speak, and what I speak hear thou. I put it into
thy mind to come up into this mountain, that thou mightest hear those things
which it behoveth a disciple to learn from his teacher and a man from his
God.
98 And having thus spoken, he showed me a cross of light fixed (set
up), and about the cross a great multitude, not having one form: and in
it (the cross) was one form and one likenesst [so the MS.; I would read:
and therein was one form and one likeness: and in the cross another multitude,
not having one form]. And the Lord himself I beheld above the cross, not
having any shape, but only a voice: and a voice not such as was familiar
to us, but one sweet and kind and truly of God, saying unto me: John, it
is needful that one should hear these things from me, for I have need of
one that will hear. This cross of light is sometimes called the (or a)
word by me for your sakes, sometimes mind, sometimes Jesus, sometimes Christ,
sometimes door, sometimes a way, sometimes bread, sometimes seed, sometimes
resurrection, sometimes Son, sometimes Father, sometimes Spirit, sometimes
life, sometimes truth, sometimes faith, sometimes grace. And by these names
it is called as toward men: but that which it is in truth, as conceived
of in itself and as spoken of unto you (MS. us), it is the marking-off
of all things, and the firm uplifting of things fixed out of things unstable,
and the harmony of wisdom, and indeed wisdom in harmony [this last clause
in the MS. is joined to the next: 'and being wisdom in harmony']. There
are 99 This cross, then, is that which fixed all things apart (al. joined
all things unto itself) by the (or a) word, and separate off the things
that are from those that are below (lit. the things from birth and below
it), and then also, being one, streamed forth into all things (or, made
all flow forth. I suggested: compacted all into 100 Now the multitude of one aspect (al. 101 Nothing, therefore, of the things which they will say of me have
I suffered: nay, that suffering also which I showed unto thee and the rest
in the dance, I will that it be called a mystery. For what thou art, thou
seest, for I showed it thee; but what I am I alone know, and no man else.
Suffer me then to keep that which is mine, and that which is thine behold
thou through me, and behold me in truth, that I am, not what I said, but
what thou art able to know, because thou art akin thereto. Thou hearest
that I suffered, yet did I not suffer; that I suffered not, yet did I suffer;
that I was pierced, yet I was not smitten; hanged, and I was not hanged;
that blood flowed from me, and it flowed not; and, in a word, what they
say of me, that befell me not, but what they say not, that did I suffer.
Now what those things are I signify unto thee, for I know that thou wilt
understand. Perceive thou therefore in me the praising (al. slaying al.
rest) of the (or a) Word (Logos), the piercing of the Word, the blood of
the Word, the wound of the Word, the hanging up of the Word, the suffering
of the Word, the nailing (fixing) of the Word, the death of the Word. And
so speak I, separating off the manhood. Perceive thou therefore in the
first place of the Word; then shalt thou perceive the Lord, and in the
third place the man, and what he hath suffered.
102 When he had spoken unto me these things, and others which I know
not how to say as he would have me, he was taken up, no one of the multitudes
having beheld him. And when I went down I laughed them all to scorn, inasmuch
as he had told me the things which they have said concerning him; holding
fast this one thing in myself, that the Lord contrived all things symbolically
and by a dispensation toward men, for their conversion and salvation.
103 Having therefore beheld, brethren, the grace of the Lord and his
kindly affection toward us, let us worship him as those unto whom he hath
shown mercy, not with our fingers, nor our mouth, nor our tongue, nor with
any part whatsoever of our body, but with the disposition of our soul -even
him who became a man apart from this body: and let us watch because (or
we shall find that) now also he keepeth ward over prisons for our sake,
and over tombs, in bonds and dungeons, in reproaches and insults, by sea
and on dry land, in scourgings, condemnations, conspiracies, frauds, punishments,
and in a word, he is with all of us, and himself suffereth with us when
we suffer, brethren. When he is called upon by each one of us, he endureth
not to shut his ears to us, but as being everywhere he hearkeneth to all
of us; and now both to me and to Drusiana, -forasmuch as he is the God
of them that are shut upbringing us help by his own compassion.
104 Be ye also persuaded, therefore, beloved, that it is not a man whom
I preach unto you to worship, but God unchangeable, God invincible, God
higher than all authority and all power, and elder and mightier than all
angels and creatures that are named, and all aeons. If then ye abide in
him, and are builded up in him, ye shall possess your soul indestructible.
105 And when he had delivered these things unto the brethren, John departed,
with Andronicus, to walk. And Drusiana also followed afar off with all
the brethren, that they might behold the acts that were done by him, and
hear his speech at all times in the Lord.
The remaining episode which is extant in the Greek is the conclusion
of the book, the Death or Assumption of John. Before it must be placed
the stories which we have only in the Latin (of 'Abdias' and another text
by 'Mellitus', i.e. Melito), and the two or three isolated fragments.
(Lat. XIV.) Now on the next (or another) day Craton, a philosopher,
had proclaimed in the market-place that he would give an example of the
contempt of riches: and the spectacle was after this manner. He had persuaded
two young men, the richest of the city, who were brothers, to spend their
whole inheritance and buy each of them a jewel, and these they brake in
pieces publicly in the sight of the people. And while they were doing this,
it happened by chance that the apostle passed by. And calling Craton the
philosopher to him, he said: That is a foolish despising of the world which
is praised by the mouths of men, but long ago condemned by the judgement
of God. For as that is a vain medicine whereby the disease is not extirpated,
so is it a vain teaching by which the faults of souls and of conduct are
not cured. But indeed my master taught a youth who desired to attain to
eternal life, in these words; saying that if he would be perfect, he should
sell all his goods and give to the poor, and so doing he would gain treasure
in heaven and find the life that has no ending. And Craton said to him:
Here the fruit of covetousness is set forth in the midst of men, and hath
been broken to pieces. But if God is indeed thy master and willeth this
to be, that the sum of the price of these jewels should be given to the
poor, cause thou the gems to be restored whole, that what I have done for
the praise of men, thou mayest do for the glory of him whom thou callest
thy master. Then the blessed John gathered together the fragments of the
gems, and holding them in his hands, lifted up his eyes to heaven and said:
Lord Jesu Christ, unto whom nothing is impossible: who when the world was
broken by the tree of concupiscence, didst restore it again in thy faithfulness
by the tree of the cross: who didst give to one born blind the eyes which
nature had denied him, who didst recall Lazarus, dead and buried, after
the fourth day unto the light; and has subjected all diseases and all sicknesses
unto the word of thy power: so also now do with these precious stones which
these, not knowing the fruits of almsgiving, have broken in pieces for
the praise of men: recover thou them, Lord, now by the hands of thine angels,
that by their value the work of mercy may be fulfilled, and make these
men believe in thee the unbegotten Father through thine only-begotten Son
Jesus Christ our Lord, with the Holy Ghost the illuminator and sanctifier
of the whole Church,
world without end. And when the faithful who were with the apostle had
answered and said Amen, the fragments of the gems were forthwith so joined
in one that no mark at all that they had been broken remained in them.
And Craton the philosopher, with his disciples, seeing this, fell at the
feet of the apostle and believed thenceforth (or immediately) and was baptized,
with them all, and began himself publicly to preach the faith of our Lord
Jesus Christ.
XV. Those two brothers, therefore, of whom we spake, sold the gems which
they had bought by the sale of their inheritance and gave the price to
the poor; and thereafter a very great multitude of believers began to be
joined to the apostle.
And when all this was done, it happened that after the same example,
two honourable men of the city of the Ephesian sold all their goods and
distributed them to the needy, and followed the apostle as he went through
the cities preaching the word of God. But it came to pass, when they entered
the city of Pergamum, that they saw their servants walking abroad arrayed
in silken raiment and shining with the glory of this world: whence it happened
that they were pierced with the arrow of the devil and became sad, seeing
themselves poor and clad with a single cloak while their own servants were
powerful and prosperous. But the apostle of Christ, perceiving these wiles
of the devil, said: I see that ye have changed your minds and your countenances
on this account, that, obeying the teaching of my Lord Jesus Christ, ye
have given all ye had to the poor. Now, if ye desire to recover that which
ye formerly possessed of gold, silver, and precious stones, bring me some
straight rods, each of you a bundle. And when they had done so, he called
upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and thev were turned into gold.
And the apostle said to them: Bring me small stones from the seashore.
And when they had done this also, he called upon the majesty of the Lord,
and all the pebbles were turned into gems. Then the blessed John turned
to those men and said to them: Go about to the goldsmiths and jewellers
for seven days, and when ye have proved that these are true gold and true
jewels, tell me. And they went, both of them, and after seven days returned
to the apostle, saying: Lord, we have gone about the shops of all the goldsmiths,
and they have all said that they never saw such pure gold. Likewise the
jewellers have said the same, that they never saw such excellent and precious
gems.
XVI. Then the holy John said unto them: Go, and redeem to you the lands
which ye have sold, for ye have lost the estates of heaven. Buy yourselves
silken raiment, that for a time ye may shine like the rose which showeth
its fragrance and redness and suddenly fadeth away. For ye sighed at beholding
your servants and groaned that ye were become poor. Flourish, therefore,
that ye may fade: be rich for the time, that ye may be beggars for ever.
Is not the Lord's hand able to make riches overflowing and unsurpassably
glorious? but he hath appointed a conflict for souls, that they may believe
that they shall have eternal riches, who for his name's sake have refused
temporal wealth. Indeed, our master told us concerning a certain rich man
who feasted every day and shone with gold and purple, at whose door lay
a beggar, Lazarus, who desired to receive even the crumbs that fell from
his table, and no man gave unto him. And it came to pass that on one day
they died, both of them, and that beggar was taken into the rest which
is in Abraham's bosom, but the rich man was cast into flaming fire: out
of which he lifted up his eyes and saw Lazarus, and prayed him to dip his
finger in water and cool his mouth for he was tormented in the flames.
And Abraham answered him and said: Remember, son, that thou receivedst
good things in thy life, but this Lazarus likewise evil things. Wherefore
rightly is he now comforted while thou art tormented, and besides all this,
a great gulf is fixed between you and us, so that neither can they come
thence hither, nor hither thence. But he answered: I have five brethren:
I pray that some one may go to warn them, that they come not into this
flame. And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets, let them
hear them. To that he answered: Lord, unless one rise up again, they will
not believe. Abraham said to him: If they believe not Moses and the prophets,
neither will they believe, if one rise again. And these words our Lord
and Master confirmed by examples of mighty works: for when they said to
him: Who hath come hither from thence, that we may believe him? he answered:
Bring hither the dead whom ye have. And when they had brought unto him
a young man which was dead (Ps.-Mellitus: three dead corpses), he was waked
up by him as one that sleepeth, and confirmed all his words.
But wherefore should I speak of my Lord, when at this present there
are those whom in his name and in your presence and sight I have raised
from the dead: in whose name ye have seen palsied men healed, lepers cleansed,
blind men enlightened, and many delivered from evil spirits ? But the riches
of these mighty works they cannot have who have desired to have earthly
wealth. Finally, when ye yourselves went unto the sick and called upon
the name of Jesus Christ, they were healed: ye did drive out devils and
restore light to the blind. Behold, this grace is taken from you, and ye
are become wretched, who were mighty and great. And where as there was
such fear of you upon the devils that at your bidding they left the men
whom they possessed, now ye will be in fear of the devils. For he that
loveth money is the servant of Mammon: and Mammon is the name of a devil
who is set over carnal gains, and is the master of them that love the world.
But even the lovers of the world do not possess riches, but are possessed
of them. For it is out of reason that for one belly there should be laid
up so much food as would suffice a thousand, and for one body so many garments
as would furnish clothing for a thousand men. In vain, therefore, is that
stored up which cometh not into use, and for whom it is kept, no man knoweth,
as the Holy Ghost saith by the prophet: In vain is every man troubled who
heapeth up riches and knoweth not for whom he gathereth them. Naked did
our birth from women bring us into this light, destitute of food and drink:
naked will the earth receive us which brought us forth. We possess in common
the riches of the heaven, the brightness of the sun is equal for the rich
and the poor, and likewise the light of the moon and the stars, the softness
of the air and the drops of rain, and the gate of the church and the fount
of sanctification and the forgiveness of sins, and the sharing in the altar,
and the eating of the body and drinking of the blood of Christ, and the
anointing of the chrism, and the grace of the giver, and the visitation
of the Lord, and the pardon of sin: in all these the dispensing of the
Creator is equal, without respect of persons. Neither doth the rich man
use these gifts after one manner and the poor after another.
But wretched and unhappy is the man who would have something more than
sufficeth him: for of this come heats of fevers rigours of cold, divers
pains in all the members of the body, and he can neither be fed with food
nor sated with drink, that covetousness may learn that money will not profit
it, which being laid up bringeth to the keepers thereof anxiety by day
and night, and suffereth them not even for an hour to be quiet and secure.
For while they guard their houses against thieves, till their estate, ply
the plough, pay taxes, build storehouses, strive for gain, try to baffle
the attacks of the strong, and to strip the weak, exercise their wrath
on whom they can, and hardly bear it from others, shrink not from playing
at tables and from public shows, fear not to defile or to be defiled, suddenly
do they depart out of this world, naked, bearing only their own sins with
them, for which they shall suffer eternal punishment.
XVII. While the apostle was thus speaking, behold there was brought
to him by his mother, who was a widow, a young man who thirty days before
had first married a vvife. And the people which were waiting upon the burial
came with the widowed mother and cast themselves at the apostle's feet
all together with groans, weeping, and mourning, and besought him that
in the name of his God, as he had done with Drusiana, so he would raise
up this young man also. And there was so great weeping of them all that
the apostle himself could hardly refrain from crying and tears. He cast
himself down, therefore, in prayer, and wept a long time: and rising from
prayer spread out his hands to heaven, and for a long space prayed within
himself. And when he had so done thrice, he commanded the body which was
swathed to be loosed, and said: Thou youth Stacteus, who for love of thy
flesh hast quickly lost thy soul: thou youth which knewest not thy creator
nor perceivedst the Saviour of men, and wast ignorant of thy true friend,
and therefore didst fall into the snare of the worst enemy: behold, I have
poured out tears and prayers unto my Lord for thine ignorance, that thou
mayest rise from the dead, the bands of death being loosed, and declare
unto these two, to Atticus and Eugenius, how great glory they have lost,
and how great punishment they have incurred. Then Stacteus arose and worshipped
the apostle, and began to reproach his disciples, saying: I beheld your
angels vveeping, and the angels of Satan rejoicing at your overthrow. For
now in a little time ye have lost the kingdom that was prepared for you,
and the dwellingplaces builded of shining stones, full of joy, of feasting
and delights, full of everlasting life and eternal light: and have gotten
yourselves places of darkness, full of dragons, of roaring flames, of torments,
and punishments unsurpassable, of pains and anguish, fear and horrible
trembling. Ye have lost the places full of unfading flowers, shining, full
of the sounds of instruments of music (organs), and have gotten on the
other hand places wherein roaring and howling and mourning ceaseth not
day nor night. Nothing else remaineth for you save to ask the apostle of
the Lord that like as he hath raised me to life, he would raise you also
from death unto salvation and bring back your souls which now are blotted
out of the book of life.
XVIII. Then both he that had been raised and all the people together
with Atticus and Eugenius, cast themselves at the apostle's feet and besought
him to intercede for them with the Lord. Unto whom the holy apostle gave
this answer: that for thirty days they should offer penitence to God, and
in that space pray especially that the rods of gold might return to their
nature and likewise the stones return to the meanness wherein they were
made. And it came to pass that after thirty days were accomplished, and
neither the rods were turncd into wood nor the gems into pebbles, Atticus
and Eugenius came and said to the apostle: Thou hast always taught mercy,
and preached forgiveness, and bidden that one man should spare another.
And if God willeth that a man should forgive a man, how much more shall
he, as he is God, both forgive and spare men. We are confounded for our
sin: and whereas we have cried with our eyes which lusted after the world,
we do now repent with eyes that weep. We pray thee, Lord, we pray thee,
apostle of God, show in deed that mercy which in word thou hast always
promised. Then the holy John said unto them as they wept and repented,
and all interceded for them likewise: Our Lord God used these words when
he spake concerning sinners: I will not the death of a sinner, but I will
rather that he be converted and live. For when the Lord Jesus Christ taught
us concerning the penitent, he said: Verily I say unto you, there is great
joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth and turneth himself from his
sins: and there is more joy over him than over ninety and nine which have
not sinned. Wherefore I would have you know that the Lord accepteth the
repentance of these men. And he turned unto Atticus and Eugenius and said:
Go, carry back the rods unto the wood whence ye took them, for now are
they returned to their own nature, and the stones unto the sea-shore, for
they are become common stones as they were before. And when this was accomplished,
they received again the grace which they had lost, so that again they cast
out devils as before time and healed the sick and enlightened the blind,
and daily the Lord did many mighty works by their means.
XIX tells shortly the destruction oi the temple of Ephesus and the conversion
of 12,000 people.
Then follows the episode of the poison-cup in a form which probably
represents the story in the Leucian Acts. (We have seen that the late Greek
texts place it at the beginning, in the presence of Domitian.)
XX. Now when Aristodemus, who was chief priest of all those idols, saw
this, filled with a wicked spirit, he stirred up sedition among the people,
so that one people prepared themselves to fight against the other. And
John turned to him and said: Tell me, Aristodemus, what can I do to take
away the anger from thy soul? And Aristodemus said: If thou wilt have me
believe in thy God, I will give thee poison to drink, and if thou drink
it, and die not, it will appear that thy God is true. The apostle answered:
If thou give me poison to drink, when I call on the name of my Lord, it
will not be able to harm me. Aristodemus said again: I will that thou first
see others drink it and die straightway that so thy heart may recoil from
that cup. And the blessed John said: I have told thee already that I am
prepared to drink it that thou mayest believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
when thou seest me whole after the cup of poison. Aristodemus therefore
went to the proconsul and asked of him two men who were to undergo the
sentence of death. And when he had set them in the midst of the market-place
before all the people, in the sight of the apostle he made them drink the
poison: and as soon as they had drunk it, they gave up the ghost. Then
Aristodemus turned to John and said: Hearken to me and depart from thy
teaching wherewith thou callest away the people from the worship of the
gods; or take and drink this, that thou mayest show that thy God is almighty,
if after thou hast drunk, thou canst remain whole. Then the blessed Jolm,
as they lay dead which had drunk the poison, like a fearless and brave
man took the cup, and making the sign of the cross, spake thus: My God,
and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whose word the heavens were
established, unto whom all things are subject, whom all creation serveth,
whom all power obeyeth, feareth, and trembleth, when we call on thee for
succour: whose name the serpent hearing is still, the dragon fleeth, the
viper is quiet, the toad (which is called a frog) is still and strengthless,
the scorpion is quenched, the basilisk vanquished, and the phalangia (spider)
doth no hurt -in a word, all venomous things, and the fiercest reptiles
and noisome beasts, are pierced (or covered with darkness). [Ps.- Mellitus
adds: and all roots hurtful to the health of men dry up.] Do thou, I say,
quench the venom of this poison, put out the deadly workings thereof, and
void it of the strength which it hath in it: and grant in thy sight unto
all these whom thou hast created, eyes that they may see, and ears that
they may hear and a heart that they may understand thy greatness. And when
he had thus said, he armed his mouth and all his body with the sign of
the cross and drank all that was in the cup. And after be had drunk, he
said: I ask that they for whose sake I have drunk, be turned unto thee,
O Lord, and by thine enlightening receive the salvation which is in thee.
And when for the space of three hours the people saw that John was of a
cheerful countenance, and that there was no sign at all of paleness or
fear in him, they began to cry out with a loud voice: He is the one true
God whom John worshippeth.
XXI. But Aristodemus even so believed not, though the people reproached
him: but turned unto John and said: This one thing I lack -if thou in the
name of thy God raise up these that have died by this poison, my mind will
be cleansed of all doubt. When he said that, the people rose against Aristodemus
saying: We will burn thee and thine house if thou goest on to trouble the
apostle further with thy words. John, therefore, seeing that there was
a fierce sedition, asked for silence, and said in the hearing of all: The
first of the virtues of God which we ought to imitate is patience, by which
we are able to bear with the foolishness of unbelievers. Wherefore if Aristodemus
is still held by unbelicf, let us loose the knots of his unbelief. He shall
be compelled, even though late, to acknowledge his creator -for I will
not cease from this work until a remedy shall bring help to his wounds,
and like physicians which have in their hands a sick man needing medicine,
so also, if Aristodemus be not yet cured by that which hath now been done,
he shall be cured by that which I will now do. And he called Aristodemus
to him, and gave him his coat, and he himself stood clad only in his mantle.
And Aristodemus said to him: Wherefore hast thou given me thy coat? John
said to him: That thou mayest even so be put to shame and depart from thine
unbelief. And Aristodemus said: And how shall thy coat make me to depart
from unbelief? The apostle answered: Go and cast it upon the bodies of
the dead, and thou shalt say thus: The apostle of our Lord Jesus Christ
hath sent me that in his name ye may rise again, that all may know that
life and death are servants of my Lord Jesus Christ. Which when Aristodemus
had done, and had seen them rise, he worshipped John, and ran quickly to
the proconsul and began to say with a loud voice: Hear me, hear me, thou
proconsul; I think thou rememberest that I have often stirred up thy wrath
against John and devised many things against him daily, wherefore I fear
lest I feel his wrath: for he is a god hidden in the form of a man and
hath drunk poison, and not only continueth whole, but them also which had
died by the poison he hath recalled to life by my means, by the touch of
his coat, and they have no mark of death upon them. Which when the proconsul
heard he said: And what wilt thou have me to do? Aristodemus answered:
Let us go and fall at his feet and ask pardon, and whatever he commandeth
us let us do. Then they came together and cast themselves down and besought
forgiveness: and he received them and offered prayer and thanksgiving to
God, and he ordained them a fast of a week, and when it was fulfilled he
baptized them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Almighty Father
and the Holy Ghost the illuminator. [And when thev were baptized, with
all their house and their servants and their kindred, they brake all their
idols and built a church in the name of Saint John: wherein he himself
was taken up, in manner following :]
This bracketed sentence, of late complexion, serves to introduce
the last episode of the book.
[James gives two additional fragments that do not fit in any other place.
These fragments are very broken and are not of much use for this present
project. However, if there is interest in them, they can be found on pages
264-6 of the text.]
The last episode of these Acts (as is the case with several others of
the Apocryphal Acts) was preserved separately for reading in church on
the Saint's day. We have it in at least nine Greek manuscripts, and in
many versions: Latin, Syriac, Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopic, Slavonic.
106 John therefore continued with the brethren, rejoicing in the Lord.
And on the morrow, being the Lord's day, and all the brethren being gathered
together, he began to say unto them: Brethren and fellow-servants and coheirs
and partakers with me in the kingdom of the Lord, ye know the Lord, hovv
many mighty works he hath granted you by my means, how many wonders, healings,
signs, how great spirital gifts, teachings, governings, refreshings, ministries,
knowledges, glories, graces, gifts, beliefs, communions, all which ye have
seen given you by him in your sight, yet not seen by these eyes nor heard
by these ears. Be ye therefore stablished in him, remembering him in your
every deed, knowing the mystery of the dispensation which hath come to
pass towards men, for what cause the Lord hath l accomplished it. He beseecheth
you by me, brethren, and entreateth you, desiring to remain without grief,
without insult, not conspired against, not chastened: for he knoweth even
the insult that cometh of you, he knoweth even dishonour, he knoweth even
conspiracy, he knoweth even chastisement, from them that hearken not to
his commandments.
107 Let not then our good God be grieved, the compassionate, the merciful,
the holy, the pure, the undefiled, the immaterial, the only, the one, the
unchangeable, the simple, the guileless, the unwrathful, even our God Jesus
Christ, who is above every name that we can utter or conceive, and more
exalted. Let him rejoice with us because we walk aright, let him be glad
because we live purely, let him be refreshed because our conversation is
sober. Let him be without care because we live continently, let him be
pleased because we communicate one with another, let him smile because
we are chaste, let him be merry because we love him. These things I now
speak unto you, brethren, because I am hasting unto the work set before
me, and already being perfected by the Lord. For what else could I have
to say unto you? Ye have the pledge of our God, ye have the earnest of
his goodness, ye have his presence that cannot be shunned. If, then, ye
sin no more, he forgiveth you that ye did in ignorance: but if after that
ye have known him and he hath had mercy on you, ye walk again in the like
deeds, both the former will be laid to your charge, and also ye will not
have a part nor mercy before him.
108 And when he had spoken this unto them, he prayed thus: O Jesu who
hast woven this crown with thy weaving, who hast joined together these
many blossoms into the unfading flower of thy cormtenance, who hast sown
in them these words: thou only tender of thy servants, and physician who
healest freely: only doer of good and despiser of none, only merciful and
lover of men, only saviour and righteous, only seer of all, who art in
all and everywhere present and containing all things and filling all things:
Christ Jesu, God, Lord, that with thy gifts and thy mercy shelterest them
that trust in thee, that knowest clearly the wiles and the assaults of
him that is everywhere our adversary, which he deviseth against us: do
thou only, O Lord, succour thy servants by thy visitation. Even so, Lord.
109 And he asked for bread, and gave thanks thus: What praise or what
offering or what thanksgiving shall we, breaking this bread, name save
thee only, O Lord Jesu? We glorify thy name that was said by the Father:
we glorify thy name that was said through the Son (or we glorify the name
of Father that was said by thee . . . the name of Son that was said by
thee): we glorify thine entering of the Door. We glorify the resurrection
shown unto us by thee. We glorify thy way, we glorify of thee the seed,
the word, the grace, the faith, the salt, the unspeakable (al. chosen)
pearl, the treasure, the plough, the net, the greatness, the diadem, him
that for us was called Son of man, that gave unto us truth, rest, knowledge,
power, the commandment, the confidence, hope, love, liberty, refuge in
thee. For thou, Lord, art alone the root of immortality, and the fount
of incorruption, and the seat of the ages: called by all these names for
us now that calling on thee by them we may make known thy greatness which
at the present is invisible unto us, but visible only unto the pure, being
portrayed in thy manhood only.
110 And he brake the bread and gave unto all of us, praying over each
of the brethren that he might be worthy of the grace of the Lord and of
the most holy eucharist. And he partook also himself likewise, and said:
Unto me also be there a part with you, and: Peace be with you, my beloved.
111 After that he said unto Verus: Take with thee some two men, with
baskets and shovels, and follow me. And Verus without delay did as he was
bidden by John the servant of God. The blessed John therefore went out
of the house and walked forth of the gates, having told the more part to
depart from him. And when he was come to the tomb of a certain brother
of ours he said to the young men: Dig, my children. And they dug and he
was instant with them yet more, saying: Let the trench be deeper. And as
they dug he spoke unto them the word of God and exhorted them that were
come with him out of the house, edifying and perfecting them unto the greatness
of God, and praying over each one of us. And when the young men had finished
the trench as he desired, we knowing nothing of it, he took off his garments
wherein he was clad and laid them as it were for a pallet in the bottom
of the trench: and standing in his shift only he stretched his hands upward
and prayed thus:
112 O thou that didst choose us out for the apostleship of the Gentiles:
O God that sentest us into the world: that didst reveal thyself by the
law and the prophets: that didst never rest, but alway from the foundation
of the world savedst them that were able to be saved: that madest thyself
known through all nature: that proclaimedst thyself even among beasts:
that didst make the desolate and savage soul tame and quiet: that gavest
thyself to it when it was athirst for thy words: that didst appear to it
in haste when it was dying: that didst show thyself to it as a law when
it was sinking into lawlessness: that didst manifest thyself to it when
it had been vanquished by Satan: that didst overcome its adversary when
it fled unto thee: that avest it thine hand and didst raise it up from
the things of Hades: that didst not leave it to walk after a bodily sort
(in the body): that didst show to it its own enemy: that hast made for
it a clear knowledge toward thee: O God, Jesu, the Father of them that
are above the heavens, the Lord of them that are in the heavens, the law
of them that are in the other, the course of them that are in the air,
the keeper of them that are on the earth, the fear of them that are under
the earth, the grace of them that are thine own: receive also the soul
of thy John, which it may be is accounted worthy by thee.
113 O thou who hast kept me until this hour for thyself and untouched
by union with a woman: who when in my youth I desired to marry didst appear
unto me and say to me: John I have need of thee: who didst prepare for
me also a sickness of the body: who when for the third time I would marry
didst forthwith prevent me, and then at the third hour of the day saidst
unto me on the sea: John, if thou hadst not been mine, I would have suffered
thee to marry: who for two years didst blind me (or afflict mine eyes),
and grant me to mourn and entreat thee: who in the third year didst open
the eyes of my mind and also grant me my visible eyes: who when I saw clearly
didst ordain that it should be grievous to me to look upon a woman: who
didst save me from the temporal fantasy and lead me unto that which endureth
always: who didst rid me of the foul madness that is in the flesh: who
didst take me from the bitter death and establish me on thee alone: who
didst muzzle the secret disease of my soul and cut off the open deed: who
didst afflict and banish him that raised tumult in me: who didst make my
love of thee spotless: who didst make my joining unto thee perfect and
unbroken: who didst give me undoubting faith in thee, who didst order and
make clear my inclination toward thee: thou who givest unto every man the
due reward of his works, who didst put into my soul that I should have
no possession save thee only: for what is more precious than thee? Now
therefore Lord, whereas I have accomplished the dispensation wherewith
I was entrusted, account thou me worthy of thy rest, and grant me that
end in thee which is salvation unspeakable and unutterable.
114 And as I come unto thee, let the fire go backward, let the darkness
be overcome, let the gulf be without strength, let the furnace die out,
let Gehenna be quenched. Let angels follow, let devils fear, let rulers
be broken, Iet powers fall; let the places of the right hand stand fast,
let them of the left hand not remain. Let the devil be muzzled, let Satan
be derided, let his wrath be burned out, Iet his madness be stilled, let
his vengeance be ashamed, let his assault be in pain, let his children
be smitten and all his roots plucked up. And grant me to accomplish the
journey unto thee without suffering insolence or provocation, and to receive
that which thou hast promised unto them that live purely and have loved
thee only.
115 And having sealed himself in every part, he stood and said: Thou
art with me, O Lord Jesu Christ: and laid himself down in the trench where
he had strown his garments: and having said unto us: Peace be with you,
brethren, he gave up his spirit rejoicing.
The less good Greek manuscripts and some versions are not content with
this simple ending. The Latin says that after the prayer a great light
appeared over the apostle for the space of an hour, so bright that no one
could look at it. (Then he laid himself down and gave up the ghost.) We
who were there rejoiced, some of us, and some mourned. . . . And forthwith
manna issuing from the tomb was seen of all, which manna that place produceth
even unto this day, &c. But perhaps the best conclusion is that of
one Greck manuscript:
We brought a linen cloth and spread it upon him, and went into the city.
And on the day following we went forth and found not his body, for it was
translated by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, unto whom be glory, &c.
Another says: On the morrow we dug in the place, and him we found not,
but only his sandals, and the earth moving (lit. springing up like a well),
and after that we remembered that which was spoken by the Lord unto Peter,
&c.
Augustine (on John xxi) reports the belief that in his time the earth
over the grave was seen to move as if stirred by John's breathing.
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