Apocalypse

JAN N. BREMMER

PEETERS
0 2003, Uitgeverij Peeters, Bondgenotenlaan 153, 3000 Leuven
ISBN 90-429-1 375-4
D. 2003/0602/127

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording,
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher.
Contents

Preface vii

List of abbreviations ix
...
Notes on contributors xlll

I J.N. Bremmer, The Apocalypse of Peter: Greek

or Jewish? 1

I1 P. van Minnen, The Greek Apocalypse of Peter 15

I11 M. Pesthy, "Thy mercy, 0 Lord, is in the heavens;

and thy righteousness reacheth unto the clouds" 40

IV J. Bolyki, False Prophets in the Apocalypse

o f Peter- 52

V E. Tigchelaar, Is the Liar Bar Kokhha? Considering

the Date and Provenance of the Greek (Etlziopic)
Apocalypse of Peter 63

VI T. Adamik, The Description of Paradise in the

Apocalypse of Peter 78

VII K.B. Copeland, Sinners and Post-Mor-tem 'Baptism '

in the Aclzerusian Lake 91

VIII I. Czachesz, The Grotesque Body in the

Apocalypse of Peter 108
 CONTENTS

IX L. Roig Lanzillotta, Does Punishment Reward the

Righteous? The Justice Pattern Underlying the
Apocalypse of Peter 127

X J. van Ruiten, The Old Testament Quotations in

the Apocalypse of Peter 158

XI A. Jakab, The Reception of the Apocalypse of

Peter in Ancient Christianity 174

XII G. Luttikhuizen, The Suflering Jesus and tlze

Invulnerable Christ in the Gnostic Apocalypse
of Peter 187

XIII J.N. Bremmer, Bibliography of tlze Apocalypse

of Peter 200

Index of names, subjects and passages 204

Preface

After the fall of the Berlin Wall the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen

decided to intensify contacts with universities in Eastern Europe. In
1991 the then Head of the Department of Church History of the Fac-
ulty of Theology and Science of Religion, Professor Hans Roldanus,
took this opportunity to forge links not only with the theologians of
the Kholi Gispfir University of Budapest but also with the classicists
of the Lorint-Eotvos University of Budapest. The initiative seemed
highly promising, as the world of early Christianity was receiving
ever increasing attention from New Testament and patristic scholars
as well as from ancient historians. Initially, it was decided to focus
on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles, a genre of which various
representatives had recently been re-edited or were (are!) in the
process of being re-edited. After completing the study of the major
Acts, we have decided to proceed with the major Apocalypses. With
the widening of the scope of our series we have also changed the title
to Studies in Ear-ly Christian Apocl-ypha. The series will continue to
publish the results of our conferences, but the editors also welcome
other studies in this field, be they proceedings or monographs.
Following the volumes on the Acts of John (1995), Paul and
Tllecla (1996), Peter (1998), Andrew (2000) and Thonlas (2001), this
volume is dedicated to the Apocalypse of Peter-. The volume starts
with a short survey of the Forsckungsgeschichte and a discussion of
the old question regarding its eventual inspiration: Greek or Jewish.
It is followed by a new look at the circumstances of its finding, the
composition of the codex and its character, and also by a new edition
of the Bodleian and Rainer fragments. The major part of the book
studies various aspects and passages of the Apocalypse: the nature of
the Ethiopic pseudo-Clementine work that contained the Apocalypse,
false prophets, the Bar Kokhba hypothesis, Paradise, the post-mortem
'baptism' of sinners, the grotesque body, the pattern of justice under-
 ...
Vlll PREFACE

lying our work, the Old Testament quotations, and the reception of
the Apocalypse in ancient Christianity. The book concludes with a
study of the Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter. As has become customary,
the volume is rounded off by a bibliography and a detailed index.
The conference that formed the basis of this book took place at
the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen in the autumn of 2000. We would
like to thank the Faculty of Theology and Science of Religion and the
Onderzoekschool Rudolf Agricola, which is the Groningen Research
School for the Humanities, for their financial support towards the
conference. Alan Dearn helped to correct the English; Ton Hilhorst
and Gerard Luttikhuizen assisted in correcting the proofs, and Birgit
van der Lans was a great help in making the index. We are grateful
to them all.

Jan N. Bremmer Groningen, June 2003

IstvAn Czachesz
List of abbreviations

AAA Apoc~yphalActs of the Apostles

ANRW Azrfstie,p und Niedergang d e romischen
~ Welt
JAC Jal7rbuch fur- Antike ~ ~ Christentum
n d
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JECS Journal of Early Chi-istian Studies
JTS Journal of Tl~eologicalStudies
NTA W. Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrvpha, tr.
and ed. R. McL. Wilson, 2 vols (Cambridge, 1992')
PG Patrologia Graeca
PL Parrologia Latirla
RAC Realle.~ikonfiir Antike und Christentum
RE Realenc~~clopiidieder classische17 Alter.t~rms~' 'issen-
schaft
SBL Society of Biblical Lite~.ature
SEG Supplen7er~tuinEpigrapkicun~Graecum
TWNT Tl7eologisches Worterbuch zlr~nNeslen Tesran7ent
VigClzI-is Vigiliae Clzristianae
zhw Zeitschrifr fiir die ne~ltestan7entlickeWissenschaji
ZPE Zeitschrift f i i ~Papyrologie und Epigraphik
Notes on Contributors

Tamas Adamik b. 1937, is Professor Emeritus of Latin at the

LorBnt-Eotvos University of Budapest. He is the author of the fol-
lowing studies in Hungarian: A Commenta~yon Catullils (1971),
Martial and His Poetry (1979), Aristotle 's Rhetoric (1982), Jerome's
Selected Works (1991), A Histo~yo f Roman Literature I-IV (1993-
96), Ancient Theories of Style fr-om Gorgias to A~rgustine(1998),
Martial: Selected Epigrams (2001), and translator of Ioannes Sares-
heriensis: Metalogicon (2003). He is also the editor of new Hungar-
ian translations of the Apoc13plial Acts of the Apostles (1996), the
Apoc13phal Gospels ( 1996), the Apocryphal Apocalypses ( 1997), and
the Apocryphal Epistles (1999).

Janos Bolyki b. 1931, is Professor Emeritus of New Testament Stud-

ies at the KBroli GBspBr University of Budapest. He is the author of
Jes~lTischgenieirlschaften (1998), and of the following studies in
Hungarian: The Questions of the Sciences in the History of Tlieologj~
in the 20th Centu~y(1970), Faith and Science (1989) and T17e Tahle
Fellowships of Jes~is(1992), Principles and Methods of New Testa-
n~eiltInterpretation (199g2), The Ecological Crisis in Tl7eological
Perspective (1999), True Witness: Con7rnentary to the Gospel of
John (2001), and The Gospel of Johrl in the Mirror of the Greek
Tragedy (2002). He co-authored, in Hungarian, Codes D in the Book
of Acts (1995) and Revelation: Two Approaches (1997).

Jan N. Bremmer b. 1944, is Professor of History and Science of

Religion at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. He is the author of Tl7e
Early Greek Concept of the Soul (1983), Greek Religion (1999') and
The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife (2002); co-author of Roman Myth
and Mythography (1987), editor of Interpretations o f Greek Mythol-
ogy (1987), From Sappho to de Sade: Moments in the History of Se,i--
 CONTRIBUTORS xi
uality (1989), The Apocryphal Acts of John (1995), The Apocrvphal
Acts of Paul and Tlzecla (1996), The Apoclyphal Acts of Peter
(1998), The Apoc~yplralActs of Andrew (2000) and The Apocryphal
Acts of Thomas (2002), and co-editor of A Cultural Histo~yof Ges-
ture (1991), Between Poverty and the Pyre. Moments in the history of
widowhood (1995), A Cultural Histo~yof Humour (1997) and The
Metamorphosis of Magic (2003).

Kirsti Copeland b. 1971, is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at the Uni-

versity of Redlands in southern California. She completed her disser-
tation, Mapping tlie Apocalypse of Paul: Geography, Genre and His-
toly, at Princeton University in 2001. She is the author of 'The
Earthly Monastery and the Transformation of the Heavenly City in
Late Antique Egypt', in A. Yoshiko Reed and R. Abusch (eds), In
Heaven as it is on Earth (2003) and of 'Paulusapokalypse' in Reli-
gion in Geschichte und Gegenwart, fourth edition (2003).

Istvan Czachesz b. 1968, is a postdoctoral fellow of the Netherlands

Organisation for Scientific Research at the Rijksuniversiteit Gronin-
gen. He is the author of Con7missior7 Narratives: A Comparative
Studv of rlze Canonical and Apocryphal Acts (2003), in Hungarian, of
Gaia's Two Faces (1996), co-author of Codes D in the Book of Acts
(1995), editor of Disciples, Wonde~workers,Martyrs (1997: a vol-
ume of essays on the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles), and transla-
tor of Tyconius' Book of Rules (1997).

Attila Jakab b. 1966, teaches Geopolitics of Religions at the Inter-

national Centre for GeopoliticaI Studies of Geneva (www.geopoli-
tics.ch). In addition to numerous articles, he is the author of 20 sii-
cles de prieres ckre'tiennes (1999) and Ecclesia alesandrina.
Evolution sociale et ii7stitutio1111elle
du christianisme alexandrin (IF
er I F siecles) (2001).

Gerard Luttikhuizen b. 1940, is Professor of Early Christian Liter-

ature and New Testament Studies at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen.
He is the author of The Revelation of Elchasai (1985), Gnostische
Geschriften I (1986) and De veelvoimigheid van her vroegste chris-
rendom (2002). He is the editor of Paradise I~lterpreted(1999) and
The Creation of Man and Woman (2000), and co-editor of Stories of
the Flood ( 1 998).
xii CONTRIBUTORS

Peter van Minnen, b. 1959, is Assistant Professor of Classics and

Ancient History at the University of Cincinnati. In addition to numer-
ous articles, he is the (co-)author of Papjlri, 0st1-aca,Parchments and
Waxed Tablets in the Leiden Papyro10,qical Instit~ite(1991), Settling
a Dispute: Toward a Legal Anthropology of Late Antique Egypt
(1994), the Duke Papyrus Archive (1996; electronic address:
htt~://scri~torium.lib.duke.edu/vav~rusf)and Zij die stelven gaan,
groeten u (1998). He is editor, in Dutch, of Kleio goes Cleo (2001).

Monika Pesthy b. 1954, teaches Theology at the Vilmos Apor

Catholic College. She is, in Hungarian, the author of Origen: Com-
mentaly on the Songs of Songs (1993), Origen, Interpreter of the
Bible (1996), and translator of Origen: De Principiis N (1998) and
Moses Bar Kepha: Paradise Commenra~y(2001).

Lautaro Roig Lanzillotta b. 1967, is Research Assistant at the

Department of New Testament and Early Christianity at the Rijk-
suniversiteit Groningen. In addition to several articles on Classical
and Late Antiquity, he is the author of La envidia en el pensamiento
griego. De la kpocca arcaica a1 heler~ismo(Diss. Univ. Complutense,
1997) and is about to complete his Groningen dissertation on the
Apoc~yphalActs of Andl-ew.

Jacques van Ruiten b. 1956, is Associate Professor of Old Testa-

ment Exegesis and Early Jewish Literature at the Rijksuniversiteit
Groningen. He is author of Eel7 begin zonder einde. De doo~werking
van Jesaja 65 in de interrestarnentaire literatz~za-en her Nieuwe Tes-
tament (1990) and Prin7aeval H i s t o ~ yInterpreted. The Re~lritingof
Genesis 1-11 in the Book of Jubilees (2000), and co-editor of Studies
in Deutel-onomy (1994) and Srzrdies in the Book of Isaiah (1997).

Eibert Tigchelaar b. 1959, is Research Fellow at the Qumran Insti-

tute of the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen. He is the author of Prophets
of Old a i ~ dThe Day of The End. Zechariah, the Book of Warche~r
ar7d Apocalyptic (1996) and T o Increase Learning for the Under-
standir~gOnes. Reading and Reconst~vctingthe Fragmentary Early
Jewish Sapienrial Text 4Qinstruction (2001), and co-editor of Dis-
coveries in the Judaean Desert XXIII: Qumran Cave I 1 II (1998),
The Dead Sea Sc~.ollsStudy Edition (20002), and The Sacrifice of
Isaac. The Aqedah (Genesis 22) and Its I~~rerprerarions (2002).
1. The Apocalypse of Peter:
Greek or Jewish?

JAN N. BREMMER

When in the winter of 1886-87 a French archaeological team opened

a grave near Akhmim in Upper Egypt, they struck gold. In the grave
they found a parchment codex with fragments of the Book of Enoch,
the Gospel of Peter and the Apocalvpse of Peter (ApPt). The texts
immediately drew the attention of the foremost patristic and classical
scholars of the time. In 1892 the meritorious J.A. Robinson (1858-
1933) and M.R. James (1862-1936) published a 'pirate' edition based
upon an unpublished version by the excavators'. In the next year the
French team came with an official facsimile, but they had retouched
the photographs, thus making their editio prirqceps somewhat unreli-
able'. On the basis of the English edition, the greatest patristic
scholar of the late nineteenth century, Adolf von Hamack (1851-
1930), published his own edition, which he followed one year later
with a revised and expanded version3. The text also drew the interest

J.A. Robinson and M.R. James, The Gospel according to Peter and the
Revelation of Peter- (London, 1892). For the codex, see now Van Minnen,
this volume, Ch. 11.
U. Bouriant, 'Fragments du texte grec du livre d ' ~ n o c het de quelques
Ccrits attribuCs $ saint Pierre', Mhnzoires publihs par les Menzbres de la Mis-
sion Al.chPologique Fr-a~zcaiseall Caire I X . 1 (Paris, 1892: editio princeps);
for photogravures of the manuscript, see A. Lods, ibidem, IX.3 (1893). For
more reliable photographs see 0. von Gebhardt, Das E~~angelbm urzd die
Apokalypse des Petr-us (Leipzig, 1893).
A. von Hamack, 'Bmchstiicke des Evangeliums und der Apokalypse des
Petrus', SB Berlin 44 (1892) 895-903, 949-65, repr. in his Kleirze Schr-jfte~z
zur alter^ Kir-che: Berliner- Akademieschr.ifre17 1890-1907 (Leipzig, 1980)
I. The Apocalypse of Peter:
Greek or Jewish?

JAN N. BREMMER

When in the winter of 1886-87 a French archaeological team opened

a grave near Akhmim in Upper Egypt, they struck gold. In the grave
they found a parchment codex with fragments of the Book of Enoch,
the Gospel of Peter and the Apocalvpse of Peter (ApPt). The texts
immediately drew the attention of the foremost patristic and classical
scholars of the time. In 1892 the meritorious J.A. Robinson (1858-
1933) and M.R. James (1862-1936) published a 'pirate' edition based
upon an unpublished version by the excavators'. In the next year the
French team came with an official facsimile, but they had retouched
the photographs, thus making their editio prirqceps somewhat unreli-
able'. On the basis of the English edition, the greatest patristic
scholar of the late nineteenth century, Adolf von Hamack (1851-
1930), published his own edition, which he followed one year later
with a revised and expanded version3. The text also drew the interest

J.A. Robinson and M.R. James, The Gospel according to Peter and the
Revelation of Peter- (London, 1892). For the codex, see now Van Minnen,
this volume, Ch. 11.
U. Bouriant, 'Fragments du texte grec du livre d ' ~ n o c het de quelques
Ccrits attribuCs $ saint Pierre', Mhnzoires publihs par les Menzbres de la Mis-
sion Al.chPologique Fr-a~zcaiseall Caire I X . 1 (Paris, 1892: editio princeps);
for photogravures of the manuscript, see A. Lods, ibidem, IX.3 (1893). For
more reliable photographs see 0. von Gebhardt, Das E~~angelbm urzd die
Apokalypse des Petr-us (Leipzig, 1893).
A. von Hamack, 'Bmchstiicke des Evangeliums und der Apokalypse des
Petrus', SB Berlin 44 (1892) 895-903, 949-65, repr. in his Kleirze Schr-jfte~z
zur alter^ Kir-che: Berliner- Akademieschr.ifre17 1890-1907 (Leipzig, 1980)
 THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER: GREEK OR J E W I S H ? 3

Norden was not a member of the Religionsgeschichrliche Schule

strict0 sensu, but his ambitions were closely related and he main-
tained contacts with some of its most prominent representatives, es-
pecially Richard Reitzenstein (1861-193 1)". As Norden observed,
unlike in Rome, the absence of a central authority made it possible
for the Greek world to have competing eschatologies. One of these,
Orphism, had become very popular with the masses, according to
Norden, due to the clever organisation of the movement by schlaue
Priesrer". Orphism had originated in competition with the Eleusinian
mysteries, but already at an early stage both mysteries started to in-
fluence one another, just like Orphism and Pythagoreanism often be-
came indistinguishable. Important innovations as regards the tradi-
tional picture were the ideas of a judgement on moral basis,
wonderful banquets for the righteous, and a paradise-like afterlife.
These new ideas, as Norden claimed, constituted the basis of Vergil's
description of the underworld in Aeneid VII2.
Unfortunately, so still Norden, the first two centuries of the
Christian era were strongly characterised by a superstition ('Aber-
glaube'), in particular influenced by oriental religions, which was
greatly interested in a blessed life after death. That is why we find
descriptions of the afterlife by such differing authors as Apuleius and
Plutarch. It is in this context that we have to read the ApPt. Norden

lo
See K. Rudolph, 'Norden und die Religionsgeschichtliche Schule', in B.
Kytzler et a1 (eds), Edua1.d Norden (1868-1941) (Stuttgart, 1994) 83-105 at
95-105. For Reitzenstein see C. Koch, 'Richard Reitzensteins Beitrage zur
Mandaerforschung', Zs. f. Religioizs~~issenschnfta 3 (1995) 49-80; add the
observations by G. Wissowa, in G. Audring (ed), Gelehr-tenalltag. Der
Briefiechsel z~~ischerl Eduar-d Meyer lrnd Georg W i s s o ~ ~(1890-1927)
a
(Hildesheim, 2000) 12f.
" This idea of the deceiving priests, the Priestertrug, originated in En-

lightenment circles in the eighteenth century and had a long and influential
life, but I do not know of a substantial treatment of the theme.
Norden already betrays here his interest in apocalyptic literature which
would later culminate in his authoritative commentary on the Aeneid VI, cf.
E. Norden, P. Vergilius Maro Aeneis VI (Leipzig, 19273).For a more recent
view of Vergil's sources see R. Schilling, Duns le sillage de Rome (Paris.
1988) 89-100.
4 JAN N. BREMMER

did not present the whole of the treatise to his readers, however. He
refused to insult them with the 'wirklich grauenhafter, nach meiner
Meinung nur bei einem Orientalen moglicher Phantasie erdachten
Hollenstrafen' (p. 229). In a similar manner, Harnack had already left
the most cruel passage untranslated in a preliminary translation in the
Preussische Jahrbiicher in order not to offend the sensibility of his
readers13. Instead, Norden enumerated typically Greek elements in
the ApPt. Successively, he noted the stream of fire (27), the wallow-
ing in burning mire (23), the watching of the murderers by the souls
of the murdered (25) and the suicides who cast themselves from a
high slope, but, having landed at the bottom, were driven up again by
their torturers (32). In this continuing punishment, Norden recog-
nised an imitation of the mythological punishments of Ixion and
Sisyphus. Norden concluded by observing that there was a great dif-
ference between the Greek spirit of this Christian Apocalypse and
that of Jewish ones, as anybody reading the Book of Enoclz immedi-
ately would notice.
One can only speculate to what extent Norden was moved to
stress the perverse imagination of Orientals or the opposition be-
tween Christian and Jewish Apocalypses by his own Jewish origin.
At the age of seventeen, Norden had converted to Christianity and he
never came back on his decision. Can it be that he thought it neces-
sary to demonstrate his definitive farewell to his own originI4? How-
ever this may be, his interest in the Greek elements of the ApPt had
been independently shared by another German scholar, who even
dedicated a complete book to it, published only shortly after
Norden's article.

l3
A. Hamack, 'Die neuentdeckten Bruchstiicke des Petrusevangeliums
und der Petmsapokalypse', Preussische Jahrh. 71 (1893) 36-58.
l4 For Norden see most recently Kytzler et al., Eduard Norden: W.M.
Calder I11 and B. Huss, "Sed sen~iendilmofficio.. ." The Corr-espondence
between Ulrich von Wi1amo~)itz-Moellendorff and Eduar-d Norden (1892-
1931) (Berlin, 1997); W.A. Schroder, Der Altertumswissensckaftler Eduard
Norden. Das Schicksal eines deutscken Gelehrten jiidisclzer Ahkunft
(Hildesheim, 1999).
 T H E APOCALYPSE OF PETER: GREEK OR JEWISH? 5

Later in 1893, too late to take fully notice of Norden's article,

Albrecht Dieterich (1866-1908) published his views on the newly
discovered ApPtlS. Dieterich, too, was highly sympathetic to the aims
of the Religio~~sgeschichtlicke Schule. He had started his studies with
theology, but in 1886 he changed to classical philology at Bonn,
where he gained his doctorate in 1888 under the aegis of Hermann
Usener. It was the time that Usener prepared his famous analysis of
Christmas, Das Weihnachtsfest (1888), and increasingly paid atten-
tion to what he considered the pagan elements of Christianity in order
to 'carry out the purification and elucidation of our religious con-
s c i o u ~ n e s s ' ~Dieterich
~. was greatly inspired by Usener, his later fa-
ther-in-law, and until the end of his life he always had a keen eye for
pagan roots of early Christianity1'.
It is therefore not surprising that, like Norden, Dieterich also
looked for the Greek roots of the ApPt. In order to prove his point he
painted with a wide brush. He started with a survey of Greek popular
belief in the afterlife, then analysed the Eleusinian and Orphic mys-
teries and completed his first part with a sketch of Orphic descents
into the underworld. In the second part he discussed the sinners in
Hades and their punishments, but in the penultimate part Dieterich fi-
nally came to speak of Jewish apocalypticism. Although he had an
eye for Greek elements in Jewish life at the beginning of the Chris-
tian era, he stressed that the author of the Apocalypse of Peter did not
use Jewish writings to compose his picture of the hell. In his last
chapter, Dieterich concluded that the Egyptian Christian community
derived its picture of heaven and hell from Orphic-Pythagorean tradi-
tions, since most Christians would have been Orphics. In Dieterich's
view, then, Orphism stood in many ways at the cradle of Christianity.

A. Dieterich, Nekyia. Beitrage zur Erklarurzg der neuentdeckten Petrus-

apokabpse (Leipzig, 1893), who mentions Norden's article on p. 152. The
second edition of 1913, edited by R. Wunsch, contains corrections, sugges-
tions and additions from Dieterich's own copy and the various reviews. For
Dieterich see the biography by Wunsch in A. Dieterich, Kleine Schriften
(Leipzig and Berlin, 191 1) ix-xlii; F. Pfister, 'Albrecht Dieterichs Wirken in
der Religionswissenschaft', ARW 35 (1938) 180-5.
. "I Usener, Vortrage urzd Aufsatze (Leipzig and Berlin, 1907) 65.
l7 For a good summary of his views see Dieterich, Kleine Sckrifen, vi.
6 JA N N. BREMMER

Dieterich's book was well received, but the lack of new data meant
that interest soon shifted to other areas of early Christianity.
A second phase in the study of the ApPt was inaugurated with
the publication of the Ethiopic text in 1910, a pseudo-Clementine
composition in which the ApPr was embedded18. The nature of the
text immediately raised the problem as to how the Ethiopic version
was related to the Greek fragment from Akhmim. The modem con-
sensus is that the Ethiopic tradition is 'authentic and offers the origi-
nal text of the ApPt, albeit in parts somewhat distorted'19. The Greek
version is therefore always to be used with caution for the establish-
ment of the original text. For our problem it is important to note that
the Ethiopic tradition added a few more references to the Greek tradi-
tion. In c. 14, of which the Greek version was found only later (the
so-called Rainer fragment), we find 'the field Akrosja (= Acherusia)
which is called Aneslesleja (= Elysium)' and in c. 13 we hear of an
angel Tatirokos (= Tartarouchos), but in this second phase the old
question - Jewish or Greek? - no longer played a role, and we have
to wait until the 1980s before the question was raised again.
Naturally, the scholarly and spiritual climate had now radically
changed from that at the turn of the century. New questions were be-
ing asked and new approaches came to the forefront. In 1983 the
American Jewish scholar Martha Himmelfarb published a detailed
analysis of what she calls 'tours of hell' in Jewish and Christian lit-
eratureZ0.Naturally, the ApPr receives plenty of attention as the old-
est surviving specimen of the genre. However, instead of considering
it to be 'the successor to archaic and classical descents into Hades,
far removed from Jewish literature', she puts forward the thesis that
these tours of hell 'find their proper context in Jewish and Christian
apocalyptic literature' (3). Naturally, Dieterich is now the 'bad guy',
whose work is regularly lambasted for his neglect of Jewish tradi-

S. GrCbaut, 'LittCrature Cthiopienne pseudo-clCmentine. La seconde

venue du Christ et la resurrection des morts', Revue de I'Orient Clire'tien 15
( 1 9 10) 198-214, 307-23 (text), 425-39 (translation).
l9
C.D.G. Miiller, in NTA 11, 625.
20 M. Himmelfarb, To11r.sof Hell. An Apocalyptic Form in Je~lishand
Christian Literature (Philadelphia, 1983).
 THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER: GREEK OR J E W I S H ? 7
tions and who is even suspected (accused?) of 'a certain kind of his-
tory-of-religions anti-Christian (and Jewish), pro-Greek feeling'
(4.412'.
Himmelfarb shrewdly observed that in these apocalypses a ques-
tion of a seer (prophet) is followed by a demonstrative explanation
from a supernatural guide. This distinctive formal feature of the tours
must have developed from the cosmic tour apocalypses, of which the
oldest specimen is Enoch's cosmic tour in the Book of Watchers. The
latter Book also displays the same interest in rewards and punish-
ments after death as many later apocalypses. These features, then,
with certainty locate the ApPt in the Jewish apocalyptic tradition.
Bauckham has added the observation to Himmelfarb's argumentation
that in these apocalypses the active punishment of the wicked begins
not at the last judgement, but already at death, probably a minority
view among the Jews until well into the second century AD22.HOW-
ever, Bauckham also returned to the questions posed by Dieterich.
While admitting that Himmelfarb rightly observes that the tours of
hell developed within the Jewish apocalyptic tradition, he also
stresses that some of the punishments have clear precedents in Greek
and Roman descriptions of Hades. Moreover, as in the apocalypses,
in the Greek Hades the punishments take place now and not at a later
stage in history2'.
The conclusions of Bauckham seem in general unassailable. Yet
while happily conceding his main points, we are still faced with the
problem raised by Dieterich as to whether the ApPt stands in the
Orphic-Pythagorean tradition. Admittedly, Bauckham himself has
presented us with a large survey of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Syrian,
Israelite, Iranian, Greek and Roman descents into the ~ n d e r w o r l d ~ ~ .
However, this survey is not targeted at the problem of the ApPt and
neglects recent insights into the origin and development of the
Orphic-Pythagorean ideas about the underworld. A balanced view

" Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell, 3, 5-6, 41-5,48, 67-8, 71, 116, 119-21.
22 R. Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead. Studies on the Jewish and Chris-
tian Apocalypses (Leiden, 1998) 49-80 at 70f.
23 Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead, 35-6, 71-2, 208-9.
" Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead, 9-48.
8 JAN N. BREMMER

about Dieterich's ideas still remains a desideratum. It is therefore the

aim of my contribution in the following pages to reconsider the
Greek elements in the ApPt with special attention to their possible
Orphic origins.
Let us start with the evidently Greek names of the angels
Tartarouchos (13 E) and Temelouchos (8 E)25.The first name means
'Keeper of the Tartarus' and is a strange name for an angel. It is
fairly unique and, not surprisingly, occurs only in Christian literature
clearly depending on the ApPr, such as the Apocalvpse of Paul (16)26,
but also in the Book of TI7omas the Contender. This treatise derives
from East Syria, but its basic document probably originated in Egyp-
tian Alexandria2'; in fact, the connection between Edessa and the
Egyptian Hermetica is well e~tablished*~. In any case, it is interesting
to note that the name has more recently turned up as female in a
third-century Cypriote curse tablet and in a second- or third-century
erotic charm from O x y r r h y n c h u ~ ~The
~ . latter text mentions the
'bronze sandal of Tartarouchos', and the same sandal recurs in the fa-
mous magical papyrus from Paris (PGM IV.2335) and in a Greek
spell in Marcellus Empiricus' D e m e d i c a r n e n t i ~ ~Apparently,
~. the
early Church borrowed this angelic name from its pagan environment
by letting the 'mistress of the Tartarus' undergo a sex-change. Its
early appearance in an Egyptian milieu may point to Egypt as the
place of origin of the ApPt3'.
25 For a full discussion see J.-M. Rosenstiehl, 'Tartarouchos-Temelou-
chos: Contribution B 1'Ctude de I'Apocalypse apocryphe de Paul', in
Deusiknle Journhe d'Et~rdesCoptes (Louvain and Paris, 1986) 29-56.
"s.' Paris has angelo Tartalvcllo, St Gall angelo tartari and Arnhem
angel0 n~aliciae.I quote from the new authoritative edition by Th. Silver-
stein and A. Hilhorst, Apocalypse of Paul. A new critical edition o f three
1 0 1 7 ~ Latin versions (Geneva, 1997).
"
B. Layton, Nag Hanln7adi code,^ 11, 2-7: togetl~er~ 4 t hXIII. 2*, Brit.
Lib. 0r.4926(1),and P.OXY. 1, 654, 655: ~ ~ i tcor1trih~rtions
l? by 171an.vschol-
ars (Leiden, 1988).
8'
G. Fowden, The Egyptian Hernles (Princeton, 1993') 203f.
29
Cyprus: SEG 44.1279. Oxyrrhynchus: R.W. Daniel and F. Maltomini,
Supplen7entum Magictrn7 I (Opladen, 1990) no. 49.58 = SEG 38.1837.
30
See Dieterich, Kleine Schrifren, 101f.
"
For the date and place of origin of our Apocalypse see most recently
Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead, 185-94.
 THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER: GREEK OR JEWISH? 9

The case of Temelouchos is more ~ r o b l e m a t i c ~Bauckham

~.
writes that in 'chapter 34 of the Apocalypse of Paul he wields a three-
pronged fork, surely modelled on the trident of the Greek god
Poseidon', but, in this chapter we only find the angel Tartarouchos,
not Temelouchos, who extracts intestines with a three-pronged
fork33.Temelouchos does occur in the Greek version of the Apoca-
lypse of Paul as the name of the angel to whom the evil soul is en-
trusted after leaving the body (16) and who participates in the torture
of a gluttonous elder (34). In the later Ethiopic Apocalypse of Mary
and Apocalypse of Baruch the angel occurs at the end of the infanti-
cide as in the ApPt. It is unclear how this coincidence has to be ex-
plained, and Himmelfarb thinks of an influence by the Coptic Apoca-
lypse of Paul, which in turn would have been influenced by our
Apocalypse. However, the Coptic Apocalypse of Paul calls the angel
Aftemelouchos and the question still remains to be solved34. In a
learned article, Rosenstiehl has argued that Temelouchos derives
from an epithet of Poseidon, Themeliouchos, 'in charge of the foun-
dation'. However, the other earliest sources for this angelic name,
Clement (Eclog. 48) and Methodius (Symp. 2.6), give the name as
T q p ~ h o G ~'in
o ~charge
, of care'. As Poseidon's epithet is rather rare
and occurs only in Attica and on D e l o ~ it~ seems
~, unlikely to have
given birth to the name of our angel.
Other striking Greek imports are the mention of the Acherusian
Lake and the Elysian fields as quoted above. The Ethiopic translation
is here less trustworthy than the Rainer fragment which gives 'Lake
Acherusia, which they say is situated in the Elysian Field'. The same
combination of Acheron and Elysium, although unidentified as such,
occurs in 3 Baruch. Here the angel takes Baruch to the third heaven
where he sees 'an unbroken plain and in the middle of it was a lake
of water' (10.2). The location is followed by those treatises that used
the ApPt, such as the Oracula Sihyllina I1 (335-8) and the Apoca-

32
In addition to Rosenstiehl (note 25) see also C.D.G. Miiller, Die
Engellehre der Koptischerl Kircke (Wiesbaden, 1959) 314; J. Michl, RAC 5
(Stuttgart, 1962) no. 239 on col. 237.
33 Contra Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead, 224.
34
Hirnrnelfarb, Toirllr of Hell, 101-3.
35
SEG 30.93 (Eleusis): I. Delos 290.
10 JAN N.BREMMER

lypse of Paul (22-3). From a traditional Greek point of view, the geo-
graphical location is rather curious, since in Homer the Acheron was
located in northern Thesprotia, but the Elysian Fields at the ends of
the earth. Apparently, the close combination derives from the belief
that after baptism in the Acheron a straight transition into Paradise
was possible, such as we find in the first-century Apocalypse of Mo-
ses (37.3), imitated perhaps by the late Coptic Book of the Resurrec-
tion of Jesus Christ, by Bartholomew the Apostle (46.3 Westerhoff).
However, the reason why Hellenistic Jews used this Greek terminol-
ogy still remains obscure36.
So far then we have found some Greek terminology but no
Orphics. It is time therefore to pay attention to this elusive move-
ment. Himmelfarb rather disparagingly talks about Dieterich's use of
the term 'Orphic-Pythagorean' and stresses that we know so little
about 0rphism3'. Given the relative dearth of data about Orphism at
the time of her book's publication, Himmelfarb's scepsis about
Orphism is understandable to some extent. However, since her book
we have had a steady stream of new discoveries, such as the publica-
tion (albeit preliminary) of the Demeni papyrus3', new Orphic Gold
Leaves39,new bone tablets40, and Apulian vases with new representa-
tions of Orpheus and the afterlife4'. These new discoveries enable us

36
For a discussion of the passage see E. Peterson, Friihkirche, Judentum
urid Gnosis (Freiburg, 1959) 310-32; T.J. Kraus, 'Acheron and Elysion:
Anmerkungen im Hinblick auf deren Venvendung auch im christlichen
Kontext', Mnemosyne 46 (2003) 145-64; Copeland, this volume, Ch. 111.
"
Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell, 43f.
3R For a new text and translation see now R. Janko, 'The Derveni Papyrus:

an Interim text', ZPE 141 (2002) 1-62.

39
For the Gold Leaves see most recently C. Riedweg, 'Initiation - Tod -
Unterwelt. Beobachtungen zur Kommunikationssituation und narrativen
Technik der orphisch-bakchischen Goldblattchen', in F. Graf (ed),
Ansicliten RI-iecliischerRituale. Fiir Walter Burke]? (Stuttgart, 1998) 360-
98; G. Pugliese Carratelli, Le lamitie d'oro orfiche (Milano, 2001'); A.
Bemabe and A. JimCnez CrisMbal, I~wtr~rcciones para el mds a116. Las
laminillas drflcas de or-o (Madrid. 2001).
'O L. Dubois, Inscriprions grecques dialectales d'Olbia du Pont (Geneva,
1996) 154-5.
'' See most recently J.-M. Moret, 'Les departs des enfers dans I'imagerie
Apulienne', Rev. Arch. 1993, 293-351; S.I. Johnston and T. McNiven,
 THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER: GREEK OR JEWISH? 1I

to speak about Orphism with much more certainty than previous gen-
erations of scholars4*. It is now clear that in the early fifth century
BC, Orphism originated from Dionysiac mysteries but very soon also
became indebted to Pythagoreanism; indeed, in some respects it re-
mains difficult to separate the
One of the major interests of Orphism is salvation. To that end,
Orphism adopted the just invented Pythagorean doctrine of reincar-
nation, but it also designed a new view of the afterlife. According to
the Orphics, after death there is a strict separation between the good
and the bad. The bad are penalised, but the good enjoy a life of eter-
nal sunlight, play on green meadows and feast on sumptuous ban-
quets. This new picture of the afterlife completely modified the tradi-
tional Homeric picture of a sombre afterlife with a stay on the
Elysian fields for a few elect. The Orphic world view never became
very popular and certainly in its initial stages was limited to the rich
who could pay for their religious instruction and the gold for their
passports into the underworld. In this respect, one can only conclude

'Dionysos and the Underworld in Toledo', Mus. Helv. 53 (1996) 25-36; M.

Schmidt, 'Aufbruch oder Verharren in der Unterwelt? Nochmals zu den
apulischen Vasenbildem mit Darstellungen des Hades', Antike K~tnst43
(2000) 86- 101.
42 For the most recent views on Orphism see R. Parker, 'Early Orphism',

in A. Powell (ed), The Greek World (London and New York, 1995) 483-
510; W. Burkert, 'Die neuen orphischen Texte: Fragmente, Varianten, "Sitz
im Leben"', in W. Burkert et al. (eds), Fragn7et~tsamt~~lunger1 philo-
sophischel- Texte der Antike (Gottingen, 1998) 387-400 and Die Griechen
lrtlcl die Orient (Munich, 2003) 79-106; J.-M. Roessli, 'Orpheus, Orphismus
und die Orphiker', in M. Erler and A. Graeser (eds.), Philosophet~ des
Altertunzs I. Von cler Friihzeit bis zur Klassik (Darmstadt, 2000) 10-35; C.
Calame, 'Orphik, Orphische Dichtung', in Der neue Palrly 9 (2000) 58-69;
Bremmer, The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife (London and New York, 2002)
15-24 (text), 141-4 (notes); a new translation of the main fragments, A.
BernabC, Hieros logos. Poesia drf7ca sobre 10s dioses, el alma y el m6s all6
(Madrid, 2003).
43 For an attempt at separating the two, see Bremmer, 'Rationalization and
Disenchantment in Ancient Greece: Max Weber among the Pythagoreans
and Orphics', in R. Buxton (ed), From Myth to Reasotl? (Oxford, 1999) 71-
83 at 79.
12 JAN N. BREMMER

that Dieterich's picture of a popular cult with great followings, espe-

cially in Egypt, as a praeparario evangelica is highly imaginative,
but also highly fantastic. Everything we know about the early centu-
ries of our era points into the direction of little interest in the afterlife
among the Greco-Roman population and even less belief in punish-
ments after death44.
Does this mean that Dieterich was completely wrong? That con-
clusion would perhaps go too far. In fact, there is at least one detail in
the imaginative world of the ApPt, which can hardly be separated
from the Orphic tradition. In cc. 23, 24 and 31 of the Akhmim frag-
ment we hear of burning or boiling mire, P6pPopo~.It is interesting
to note that this term does not occur in the corresponding chapters of
the Ethiopic translation. This raises the question as to whether it was
dropped by the Ethiopic translation or at a later stage introduced into
the Greek version. Now the idea of 'boiling mire' is strange enough
to be dropped by a translator. This seems particularly clear in c. 31
where the Greek 'another great lake, full of discharge and blood and
boiling mire' is replaced by the bland Ethiopic 'another place near
by, saturated with filth'. I take it therefore that the mire was part of
the original ApPt.
Now mire is not a totally unknown part of the underworld in
Greek tradition. In Aristophanes' Frogs, Heracles sees a number of
sinners lying in the mire, such as those who have wronged a guest,
struck their parents or committed perjury (145-51, 273). The mire re-
turns in Plato's Phaedo where Socrates says '...and so those who
have established initiations really do seem not so far from the mark,
but have long been saying in their riddling fashion that he who enters
the Hades uninitiated and unenlightened shall lie in the mire. How-
ever, he who arrives there purified shall live with the gods, for there
really are, as those of the rites say, "many carriers of the fennel-stalk,
but few bacchoi (true initiates)"' (69C). In his authoritative discus-
sion of early Orphism, Fritz Graf seems to be a bit wavering about
the interpretation of this passage. On the one hand, he argues that the
lines point to Eleusis, but on the other, he suggests that they also in-

44
R. MacMullen, Paganisn~in the Roman Enlpire (New Haven and Lon-
don, 1981) 53-7.
 THE APOCALYPSE O F PETER: GREEK OR JEWISH? 13

clude Orpheus and friends45.The whole context, though, with its ref-
erence to 'riddling', the repetition of 'rites' and bacchoi can hardly
be interpreted otherwise than as Bacchic mysteries. And in the Re-
public Plato ascribes to 'Musaeus and his son' (Orpheus) the view
that in Hades the just celebrate a symposium but 'they bury the impi-
ous and unjust in mud in Hades and compel them to fetch water in a
sieve' (363D)46. Unfortunately, the text is not fully clear to whom
this latter view can be ascribed, but it seems reasonable to accept that
Plato here again means Musaeus and Orpheus. As in Aristophanes,
the sinners are characterised by ethical faults, a characterisation that
is typical of Orphism but not Eleusis4', it seems reasonable to con-
clude that mire played a big role in the Orphic picture of the under-

We can also say that Orphic(-Pythagorean?) literature is the first

in which we find ethical categories in the underworld, like the sinners
in Aristophanes' Frogs (above). Moreover, it fits the presence of
morally devious categories in the underworld that it is Orphic-Py-
thagorean literature in which we first find the mention of judges in
the ~ n d e r w o r l d Finally,
~~. it certainly seems to fit this picture that in
Orphic circles several poems about a descent into the underworld, the
so-called katabaseis, circulated. Apparently, they had to enlighten
people about the bad fate of the morally unjust and the happy life of
the righteous in the new afterlife. From the various karabaseis written
in the fifth century we can get some idea of those by Orpheus and

F. Graf, Ele~rsisur~ddie orphische Dicht~tr~g Athens it1 vorhellenisti-

scher Zeit (Berlin and New York, 1974) 101f.
J6
Note that this water carrying also occurs in what may be a remnant of a
very early Jewish apocalypse, the so-called Isaiah fragment, cf. Himmelfarb,
To~rrsof Hell, 94-6, 136-7.
" Graf, Eleusis, 120.
For the theme of the mud and its long lasting influence see M.
Aubineau, 'Le thkme du "Bourbier" dans la littkrature grecque profane et
chrktienne', Rev. Sc. Rel. 47 (1959) 185-214; P. Courcelle, Connais-toi toi-
nle^n~ede Socrate r j Saint Bernard, 3 vols (Paris, 1974-75) II, 502-19.
49 Bremmer, Rise and Fall, 91-2; A. Lardinois, 'Het oordeel van Minos:
boetes en beloningen na de dood', Hemeneus 75 (2003) 149-60.
14 JAN N. BREMMER

Heracles. In the case of the latter we can also see that at an early
stage Eleusis appropriated parts of the Orphic picture50.
This is as far as we can go. With Bauckham I would conclude
that Himmelfarb has demonstrated the Jewish origin of the genre of
the tours of hell. At the same time I also agree with Bauckham that
behind these Jewish apocalypses there looms in the shadowy back-
ground the genre of Orphic and Eleusinian descents and pictures of
the underworld, as the presence of mire strongly suggests. The place
where Jews were most likely to read Orphic literature must have been
Alexandria. And indeed, we now know with certainty that the so-
called Testament of Orpkezcs is an Egyptian-Jewish revision of an
Orphic poem5'. It may be one more pointer to an Egyptian origin for
the Apocalypse of Peter-.

50 Graf, Eleusis, 142-9.

51
C . Riedweg, Jiidisch-hellenistische Imitation eirtes orphischen Hieros
Logos (Munich, 1993).
II. The Greek Apocalypse of Peter

PETER VAN MINNEN

In this chapter I discuss the Greek fragments of the Apocalypse of

Peter ( A p P t ) from Egypt from a palaeographical, codicological, and
philological point of view. I hope some basic insights will follow
from this discussion with implications for the historical and theologi-
cal interpretation of the text.
First, I want to describe the codex containing the most substan-
tial Greek fragment of the ApPt. This has not been done before in
sufficient detail. Without recourse to the original, now kept in the
Coptic Museum in Cairo, part of what I am going to say will remain
hypothetical. Second, I want to reconsider briefly in what sense this
Greek text represents an edited version of the original text of the
ApPt, known very imperfectly through the Ethiopic text and a few
other Greek fragments. In an appendix I present revised texts of these
fragments.
When the first substantial fragment of the ApPt was published in
1892', little attention was paid to the physical aspects of the parch-

U. Bouriant, Fragments grecs du livre d ' ~ n o c h(Paris, 1892) 91-147.

The subscription is dated to November 1891. D.D. Buchholz, Your Eyes
Will Be Opened. A Study of the Greek (Ethiopic) Apocalypse of Peter (At-
lanta, 1988) 84, says that James had access to the text before it was pub-
lished, but this is incorrect. 0. von Gebhardt, Das Evangeliun~und die
Apokal.ypse des Petrus (Leipzig, 1893) remarks in his preface that
Bouriant's edition was available in September 1892. James and other schol-
ars in Europe apparently began studying the text in November 1892. Thus,
J.A. Robinson and M.R. James, The Gospel According to Peter, and the
Revelation of Peter (London 1892), state in their preface that Bouriant's edi-
tion arrived in Cambridge on November 17, 1892 (their own preface is
dated December 1, 1892: they wrote their booklet, which is still useful, in
16 PETER VAN MINNEN

ment codex that contained it. This is quite understandable: the dis-
covery of substantial fragments of both the Gospel of Peter ( G P t ) and
the ApPt as well as the first part of I Elloch in Greek caused great
excitement. Scholars focused on the text of the fragments and more
particularly on the content of the G P t and of the ApPt. The circum-
stances of the find, the composition of the Akhmim codex, and the
date of the manuscripts (plural) contained in it are very hard to pin
down in the literature2. The limited palaeographical analysis focused
on the date of the manuscripts, which could not be established at the
time for lack of parallels. Hundred years ago few comparable manu-
scripts from late antique Egypt had been published. Although this
situation began to change soon after the publication of the Akhmim
codex, the dating of the manuscripts continued to trouble scholars.
Suggested dates range from the fourthififth century (C. Wessely)
through the late fifth (H.A. Sanders), fifthisixth (B.P. Grenfell and
A.S. Hunt,) and sixth century (E.G. Turner) to the eighthitwelfth cen-
tury with a preference for the eighthininth century, first suggested on
the basis of the earliest minuscule manuscripts by H. Omont. Only in
1987, in their pioneering study on the Greek bookhands of late antiq-
uity', G. Cavallo and H. Maehler redated the manuscripts to the late

two weeks). Plates were published by May of next year (Gebhardt refers in
his preface, which is dated to May 13, 1893, to these plates as having been
published a few days earlier) by A. Lods, ~ ' ~ v a n g ietl e/'Apocalypse de
Pierre (Paris, 1893), who provides retouched images of all pages of the
codex except pp. 11-12, followed closely by Gebhardt, who gives photo-
graphic images of pp. 1-20 only. Lods also gives an image of the inside of
the cover, but not of the outside. Only Gebhardt provides a sustained
palaeographical description of both the Gospel and the Apocalypse of Peter
in the Akhmim codex. We had to wait until 1987 for the next palaeogra-
phical analysis of the codex (see note 3 below).
For a brief statement see L. Vaganay, L'~vangi1ede Pierre (Paris, 1930)
14-6.
G. Cavallo and H. Maehler, Greek Bookhands of the Early B-yzantine
Period. A.D. 300-800 (London, 1987) no. 41, with three illustrations of the
hands represented in the codex. The hand of the fragment of the Martyrdom
of Julian of Anazarhus also contained in the codex is not taken into consid-
eration by Cavallo and Maehler. They provide a brief bibliography on ear-
lier suggestions for the date of the codex.
 T H E G R E E K APOCALYPSE OF PETER 17

sixth century. It is important to restate the case for such a date, be-
cause their study may not be in the hands of all those interested in the
Greek ApPt.
But first I want to say something about the circumstances of the
find. The codex was found in the winter of 188611887 about 200 me-
ters north-east from the top of a cemetery at Akhmim, ancient
Panopolis in Upper Egypt. In this particular area of the cemetery
Middle Kingdom tombs had also been found. On the map (fig. the
three cemeteries to the north-east of Akhmim are clearly marked.
Cemeteries B and C were not yet explored in 188611887, so that the
codex was found in the central cemetery A. Cemeteries B and C con-
tain tombs cut in the rock dating from the Middle Kingdom to the
Graeco-Roman period. Cemetery A is quite different, being a low
ridge of over two kilometers. This area has been used as a cemetery
from the pre-dynastic period onwards. The tombs were dug in the
surface and are generally not well preserved. This is the result not
only of the wear of time, but also of human intervention. In 1884 the
then director of the Egyptian antiquities service G. Maspero started
digging there, but he did not exercise the supervision in person. The
result is that no reliable information exists on anything that was
found there. For five years the antiquities service worked on the site,
but so did the local population. Both retrieved masses of objects that
were carted off to the museum in Gizeh or to the antiquities market.
From 1884 onwards many objects, especially textiles, from cemetery
A were sold to museums around the world.
Somewhere in this mess the codex containing a substantial frag-
ment of the ApPt in Greek was found. Looking at the map and at
photos from cemetery A, I would guess that the find was made in the
central part of the cemetery, near Dayr al-Wastani. Where the Middle
Kingdom tombs were found is unknown. The antiquities service had
started from the north and was working its way to the south, which it
did not reach until 1888. The first editor of the Akhmim codex claims
that it was found in the tomb of a monk. This was no doubt merely an
inference from the content of the codex, not based on actual indica-

Taken from K.P. Kuhlmann, Materialien zur Archaologie iind Ge-

schichte des Raunles von Achnzim (Mainz, 1983) 53, Abb. 14.
18 PETER V AN MINNEN

J)L,Dayr al- Bahri

A = al-Hawsw~S- B = (Bayt) al-Madina

- C = as-Salimfini
Fig. 1 The Akhmim cemeteries (see n. 4)

tions in the tomb itself. The inference may be correct, but it should
not be used as an independent fact in discussing the codex. As one
can tell from the map, there are nowadays three monasteries in cem-
etery A. In Arabic they are appropriately called the Northern, the
Middle and the Southern monastery. These are only a couple of cen-
turies old, but they may ultimately go back to late antiquity. There
were, however, many other monastic sites in the Akhmim area, and
monks are certainly not the only candidates for the ownership of
early Christian texts. Any Greek-speaking inhabitant of Panopolis
with a penchant for apocalyptic literature may have been buried in
 T H E G REEK APOCA LYPSE O F PETER 19

cemetery A. It would have been natural to include a codex with his or

her5 favourite apocalyptic texts in the tomb.
The composition of the codex is not satisfactorily discussed by
the first editor. Unfortunately, E.G. Turner in his monograph on the
typology of the early codex does not pay much attention to the codex
pel- se6. The codex is in fact made up of several parchment manu-
scripts and the leftovers of other parchment manuscripts. Although
the first editor does not say anything about the quires, I have recon-
structed the codex physically with the help of paper, glue, and com-
mon sense7.
The first quire containing a fragment of the GPr in Greek is a
binio consisting of two bifolia or four leaves or eight pages to which
a bifolium consisting of two leaves or four pages has been added (a
new photo shows that pages 9-12 are one bifolium). The f i s t page
contains an illustration, an ornamental cross. The second page is
headed by a small cross to indicate the beginning of the text. The
fragment of the Greek text of the GPr occupies nine pages, which
leaves the last two pages of the added bifolium blank. At the bottom
of page ten we find an ornamental border with three small crosses to
indicate the end of the text. The text ends abruptly in mid-sentence.
This has usually been taken as an indication that the text was copied
from a defective exemplar, just as the text of the ApPr contained in
the next quire. But both texts begin with a proper sentence and the
ApPt ends with one, so I do not think the inference is correct. I rather

This is not merely deference to feminism on my part. The only documen-

tary attestation of a Greek reading public for apocalyptic texts in Egypt hap-
pens to relate to a woman. P. 0,iy. 63.4365 is a fourth-century letter in
which the writer asks a woman to lend him/her a copy of 4 Ezra in exchange
for a copy of the Book of Jubilees (the 'Little Genesis'). On this text see D.
Hagedom, 'Die "kleine Genesis" in P. Oxy. XLIII 4365', ZPE 116 (1997)
147-8.
".G. Tumer, The Typology of the Ear1.y Codes (Philadelphia, 1977) 185,
dating it to the sixth century.
' Making a mock-up of a codex helps one to get a clear physical grasp of
it. Detailed descriptions can only take one so far. In this case detailed de-
scriptions are lacking. T.J. Kraus kindly showed me some new photos of the
codex.
20 PETER VAN MINNEN

think that the fragments of the GPt and the ApPr were considered
complete in themselves, but that in the case of the GPt there was no
room left at the bottom of page 10 to finish the fragment. It seems as
if the scribe drew the ornamental border first and that he could not
continue the text beyond it on the next page. Originally he used a
binio, as in the case of the fragment of the ApPt, but towards the end
of page eight he realised that he had to add more text. He must have
calculated the length of the remainder and found that the text would
occupy another two pages. He added a bifolium of which he thought
he could use only two pages, because the other two pages would be
folded before page one, thus creating a ternio. The binder, however,
folded the other two pages after page ten, so that page one with the
illustration remained up front. The scribe apparently could not fore-
see this, so he drew the ornamental border on page ten, which he ex-
pected to be the last page. He continued to copy the Greek text on
page nine. When he had almost reached the end on page ten he found
that there was not enough room. He put as many words in the last
line as possible, but the sentence could not be completed. Presumably
there was not much text left to copy. The fragment of the GPt he
wanted to copy consisted of a selection from the larger text which
started with a proper sentence and ended with one. This selection will
not have been much longer than what we now have. I score an impor-
tant point here, because the selection we have was made on purpose.
What dictated the choice of this particular section will be considered
later when I deal with the fragment of the ApPt, which also seems to
be a selection rather than a leftover.
The handwriting of the fragment of the GPt and the ApPr is the
same. It is a carefully written documentary hand, which is difficult to
date precisely. The scribe uses traditional capital letterforms along-
side more recent cursive letterforms. The latter (occasional delta and
pi, occasional final upsilon) in conjunction with telltale cursive com-
binations of letters (epsilon-iota, epsilon-rho, tau-epsilon) date the
hand to the sixth or seventh century. Cavallo and Maehler put the
hand in the late sixth century, the date they assign to the hands used
for 1 Enock contained in the same codex. The hand of the GPr and
the ApPt is highly individual because of its unusual but not unparal-
 THE GREEK APOCALYPSE OF PETER 21

leled leftward slant. Because it tries to produce the regularity of a

bookhand and avoids the flourish of the contemporary documentary
hand, it uses more traditional capital letterforms and only occasion-
ally more recent cursive letterforms. This is in fact the same process
as that which produced the Greek minuscule hand in the eighth cen-
tury, but the process is here seen in an early stage. Most documents
of the sixth and seventh centuries were written by professional
scribes such as notaries. The hand of the GPt and the ApPt in the
Akhmim codex is not a typical notarial hand, but the most direct par-
allels are in fact found in notarial documents of the late sixth cen-
tury8. The most remarkable features are the triangular delta and espe-
cially the enlarged sigma, usually in final position. The latter is
occasionally but never so consistently found in documents of the
sixth and seventh century. It is odd that the scribe did not use con-
temporary literary letterforms for these two literary texts. One would
rather have expected something in the order of the biblical majuscule
used by the two scribes who wrote the fragment of I Enoch con-
tained in the same codex. Yet the scribe knew what he was doing, be-
cause, as we have seen, he calculated the length of the text before-
-- -- ----
hand. Nonzina sacra are strictly limited to KC, OC, and ANOC for
~ l j p t o 0~ , ~ and
6 Gv0ponoq
~ respectively (occasionally ~ G p t and
o~
0 ~ 6 are
5 written out in full)9.
The second quire is a binio consisting of two bifolia or four
leaves or eight pages. It was bound upside down in the codex. The
first page is left blank. No doubt it was intended for an illustration
such as the one adorning the first page of the first quire, but this was
never added. The second page is headed by a small cross to indicate
the beginning of the text just as in the first quire. The Greek text of
the ApPt occupies seven pages. On page 7 the text is headed by an-
other small cross. Something went wrong here, because the text ends
at the bottom of page 8, where one might have rather expected the
V. Munch. I. 1 and 7 of 574 and 583 respectively. P. Miinch. 1.14 of 594
and P. Lond. 3.1012 of 633 use even more capital letterforms, but show less
general similarity with the hand of the GPt and the ApPt.
In the GPt and the ApPt there are no nomina sacra for 'I~pouoahjp,
'Iopajh, oBpav6<, o o r j p , and ~ 1 6 5 .
22 PETER VAN MINNEN

cross. There is no ornamental border there either, and the writing

stops in the middle of the line. The last sentence is complete as it
stands, and the letters in the last line are larger than in the rest of the
text, indicating that it is the end.
The third quire is written in a different hand. It is a quatemio
consisting of four bifolia or eight leaves or sixteen pages. The first
leaf is missing now, but my reconstruction of the quires presupposes
its presence. It must have fallen out before the codex was deposited
in the tomb. This may be an indication that the codex was used be-
fore it ended up in the tomb and that it was therefore not specifically
made for the tomb, but the quire may also have been incomplete
when it was first put in the codex. The text starts with a section of 1
Enoch repeated from further down. Only on the third preserved page
does chapter 1, verse 1 start without any indication that it does, right
in the middle of a line. How much text preceded this we cannot tell,
because yet another quire may have preceded originally. The mistake
probably arose because the exemplar had skipped sections 20 and
following and added them at the front. The scribe copied this addi-
tion supposing it was the beginning of the text, but he also copied it
at its proper place where the exemplar had no doubt added a marginal
note refening to the addition at the front.
The fourth quire is written in the same hand as the third. It is
again a quaternio consisting of four bifolia or eight leaves or sixteen
pages. The text continues that of the preceding quire.
The fifth quire is written in yet another hand. It is again a
quatemio consisting of four bifolia or eight leaves or sixteen pages.
The text continues that of the preceding quire, but breaks off at the
end. This is indicated by a small symbol that fills the space at the end
of the line. Clearly, the person who put the Akhmim codex together
had only the first three quires of a larger codex with 1 Elloch at his
disposal. Such codices with incomplete texts are quite common in
late antiquity.
The last leaf of the codex was glued to the inside of the cover.
That is at least what the first editor claims. Perhaps the leaf merely
stuck to the inside. Originally this may have been another quatemio
consisting of four bifolia or eight leaves or sixteen pages. The miss-
ing leaves could in that case have fallen out before the codex was
 THE GREEK APOCALYPSE O F PETER 23
deposited in the tomb, but it is also possible that a stray leaf was used
to strengthen the back cover. The Greek text is from the Martyrdom
o f Julia11 of AnazarbuslO.The handwriting is the most literary in the
codex and can be securely dated to the first half of the seventh cen-
tury. The ornamental roundels underneath delta and the sling to the
left at the bottom of beta are features that do not occur before the end
of the sixth century. If this leaf was used to fasten the inside of the
cover, as the first editor claimed, it might have been added to the
codex at a later date. The size of the leaf, the pricking holes, and the
ruling in any case suggest a link between it and the preceding three
quires, which have a similar make-up.
The last leaf therefore must stem from the same scriptorium as
the preceding three quires. It employed three different scribes or
styles, but not necessarily concomitantly. The fragment of the Mar-
tyrdom of Julian of Anazarbus may have been written at a slightly
later date. The first scribe of the fragment of I Enoch is rather
clumsy and sticks to the ruling even if the lines are not straight. His
letterforms are slightly more difficult to date than those of the other
scribe of the fragment of I E17ock and those of the scribe of the Mar-
tyrdom o f Julian of Anazarbus. Cavallo and Maehler assign the hand
of the first fragment of I Enock with a small margin of error to the
late-sixth century. It could conceivably be contemporary with the
hand of the last leaf in the codex, which I put in the f i s t half of the
seventh century. The second scribe of I Enoch is more careful", dis-
regards the ruling if necessary and embellishes his letters with orna-
mental roundels at the end of thin letter-strokes but not underneath
delta. The literary letterforms suggest a rather late date in the devel-
opment of this type of script. Cavallo and Maehler put it also in the
late sixth century, but again the script could also be slightly later and
contemporary with that of the last leaf in the codex. The first half of

'O
A. Ehrhard, her-liefer~rng urld Bestarrd der hagiograpl~ischerz urzd
honziletischen Liter-atur der- griechischen Kirche vorl den Arlfiirzgen his zum
Ende des 16. Jahrlz~rnderts1 (Leipzig, 1937) 70-2, is confused about the
identification.
" Cavallo and Maehler, Greek Bookhands, no. 41, claim that the writing is

equally crude as that of the first scribe, but this seems excessive.
24 PETER V A N MINNEN

the seventh century is the latest possible date for the composition of
the portions of the codex written in bookhands. The traditional date
assigned to the codex (eighthlninth century) is in any case too late.
The hand of the first two quires with the fragments of the GPt
and the ApPt may be contemporary or a little earlier than those of the
other quires and the last leaf. It looks as if the codex was composed
of leftovers. The three quires with 1 Enoch and the leaf of the Mar-
ordon? of Julia17 of Aizazarbus are clearly incomplete and were cer-
tainly not written for the present codex. The first two quires, how-
ever, although they do not give a complete text, were nevertheless
regarded as selections complete in themselves. Were they specifically
written for the codex or were they available before it was put to-
gether just as the leftovers of 1 Enoch and the M a r ~ r d o mo f Julian of
Anazarbus? If they were written specifically for this codex, they
were presumably copied from an exemplar in a different size, which
did not fit the codex, and perhaps also on different material (papy-
rus). The exemplar may in any case have been written in a reformed
documentary hand, as most of the earliest Christian literary texts on
papyrus were until the fourth century. While copying such a text, a
scribe might have preferred using documentary letterforms himself,
because it would have been easier to calculate beforehand how much
space the fragments would take up. The exemplar must have con-
tained both the GPr and the ApPt, because the latter was edited to fit
the former, as we can tell from a comparison with the Ethiopic. Yet
the exemplar must also have clearly distinguished the two texts. The
ApPt was not incorporated into the GPt, and the first two quires in
the Akhmim codex do not represent detached fragments of a single
composite text, but selections complete in themselves, as I have sug-
gested.
The first two quires may have been available for some time be-
fore the codex was put together. This may seem less likely on the
surface. The first quire with its illustration seems to have been made
for the opening of a codex and does not seem large enough by itself
to form a separate codex, but there were other such small booklets in
late antique Egypt. The second quire also seems rather small for an
independent booklet that was only incorporated into a larger codex at
a later date, but the blank page on its cover strongly suggests that it
 T H E G R E EK APOCA LYPSE O F PETER 25

was also meant to form a separate booklet. It never received an illus-

tration such as the one found on the first booklet because it was kept
with the first booklet. The two booklets were no doubt made at the
same time and by the same scribe and in the order in which the two
booklets were later incorporated into the composite codex. The script
is most careful at the beginning of the GPt, but becomes less careful
later on. The ApPt continues this less careful script, which shows that
the same scribe wrote it immediately after the GPt. Whoever made
up the booklets transferred two older, but related fragments onto
parchment leaves in a size similar to that of the fragments of I Enoch
and the Martyrdom of Julian of Anazar-b~uwith which they were
eventually joined in a composite codex. These were written on rather
small and squarish leaves (about 12 x 15 cm), which are otherwise
rare at such a late dateI2. This format must have been current in the
scriptorium where the various components of the codex were written.
The first two texts were also written on quires of this size but without
any ruling and in a documentary hand13. This must have happened at
about the same time as the leftovers of I Enoch were written. When
the codex was put together is not known. The owner did not mind the
incomplete state of the texts. The GPt and the ApPt were incomplete,
but they represented already edited chunks of the original composi-
tions. After the codex was constructed, it may not have been used
much. There are no certain signs of use. The occasional correction
seems original, that is, made by the scribes themselvesI4. The leaf of
the Martyrdom of Julian of Anazar-bus, which was glued to the back
cover, perhaps to strengthen it, may have been added at a later stage,
which would indicate that the codex was not immediately deposited
in the tomb in which it was found.

l2 A fifth-century parallel from Panopolis is the famous Berlin gnostic pa-

pyrus codex (inv. 8502).
l3 The size of the individual leaves can only be established with the origi-
nal in hand. The plates of Lods, ~ v a n ~ iand
l e Gebhardt, Evangeli~tm,do not
seem to be consistently printed in natural size.
IJ I think the correction of pavtorat to pa\oa/v~oraiin section 23 is also

original, but Gebhardt, Evangelilmz, 33, thought this could be in a later

hand.
26 PETER V AN MINNEN

In late antiquity, leftovers of several manuscripts were often put

together in a bundle to create a new codex, or selections from various
texts were made to create a composite manuscript. Both phenomena
seem to be at work in our codex15.The last three quires and the last
leaf are clearly leftovers. The first two quires are complete as they
stand, but their texts are selections of larger compositions. We may
be tempted to look for a specific reason why the different parts were
thus combined. The common denominator in the codex is Greek, and
the combination of two apocalypses (that of Peter and 1 Enoch)
seems deliberate. The Martyrdom of J~lliallof Anazarhus may well
be connected with the GPt, which records the trial of Christ just as
much as it records the trial of Julian. The GPt naturally joins the
ApPt. The parallel between the Jews who condemned Jesus with
whom the Gospel fragment opens and the false prophets with whom
the Apocalypse fragment opens may well be deliberate. Why were all
these texts put together in the seventh century or even later? There
may be a link with the great upheavals in Egypt at the time, notably
the Arab conquest, but I do not want to speculate on this.
What does this interpretative description tell us about the ApPt?
If the text was copied from a defective exemplar, which was incom-
plete, there is no use speculating about the selection of this particular
portion of the text. But if the selection was made already in the ex-
emplar the choice itself becomes the subject of historical inquiry. The
fact that the order of the text is inverted compared to the Ethiopic text
is also intriguing. Both the GPt and the ApPt begin with a proper sen-
tence, even if the sentences seem to refer back to something that
originally preceded it. The Gospel fragment ends abruptly, but this
may well have been the result of lack of space, as I have suggested.
The Apocalypse fragment ends with a proper sentence. If the selec-
tion of these texts was made specifically for the two booklets, it
would be one of the last creative acts in Greek on the part of Egyp-
tian Christians. It is not impossible to identify Egyptian Christians
literate in Greek at this late date, even in monasteries, but if they

Is A. Petrucci has discussed this for Latin manuscripts in A. Giardina (ed),

della cultur-a (Rome and Bari, 1986)
Tr-adizione dei classici, tr-asfor-n~azior~i
173-87.
 THE GREEK A PO CALYPSE O F PE T E R 27

were not writing documents but creative works of literature, they

would no longer do so in Greek. There may still have been pockets of
Greek-speaking Origenists in Egypt, who may not have been unsym-
pathetic towards this kind of early Christian literature, but even they
would be preserving, not creating, such selections by this date.
If the selection of the first two texts in the codex was already
made in the exemplar or earlier still, this would push its date back to
a time when Greek was still in active use among Egyptian Christians.
The Greek text of the ApPt inverts the order of the original as we can
tell from the Ethiopic. To make the text intelligible a few sentences
had to be added at the beginning and between the two portions. This
was the work of whoever made the selection from the ApPt. It is dif-
ficult to decide when this happened.
Most intriguing is the fact that the first two quires are related, not
in the sense that they are detached fragments of the same book, as
many have thoughtI6, but in that the selection of both texts together
was a coordinated effort which resulted in a set of two distinct texts
transmitted together. The scribe of the exemplar and the scribe of the
first two quires in the Akhmim codex knew that they were dealing
with two distinct texts, but the scribe of the exemplar (or an even ear-
lier scribe) had edited the fragment of the ApPt to conform it to the
Gospel fragment. Because we do not have another text of the GPt,
we cannot tell whether the Gospel fragment was also edited in the
process. I think that the opening sentence of the Apocalypse frag-
ment, for which there is no parallel in the Ethiopic text, was added
when the selection was made and edited. 'Many of them will be
pseudo-prophets' cannot refer back to a previous portion of the text
of the ApPt, because there is nothing in the Ethiopic to link it with. I
think that it should be read in light of the opening of the GPt. There
the first sentence begins with a clear reference to the Jews. It is an
anti-Jewish text and blames the Jews and king Herod while it let
Pilate off the hook: 'Of the Jews no one washed his hands'. The ref-
erence to the Jews is picked up in the added opening of the Apoca-
(vpse fragment: 'Many of them will be pseudo-prophets'. Here

l6 E.g. M.R. James, 'The Rainer Fragment of the Apocalypse of Peter',

JTS 32 (1931) 275-8, criticising Vaganay, ~ v a n ~ i l187-92.
e,
28 PETER V AN MINNEN

'them' cannot refer to a group of people mentioned earlier in the

ApPt, as we know from the Ethiopic. Because it was added when the
selection was made, it must refer to a group of people the editor had
in mind when selecting the fragment of the ApPt, which immediately
follows the fragment of the GPt.
If the slant put on the ApPt derives from the anti-Jewish slant of
the GPt, we can understand why the text of the ApPt was edited the
way it was. Everywhere the positive references to things Jewish have
been deftly edited away. An originally Jewish Christian text has thus
been changed to an anti-Jewish text. This may have been done in the
second or third century. It may have been done in Egypt and more
particularly in Alexandria, where anti-Jewish feelings were strong.
We know that the original version of the ApPt was available to Clem-
ent of Alexandria, but not necessarily in Alexandria itself". If the
edited version was made in the second century in Egypt, it must have
been done in Alexandria, because it would be too early for Christian
literary activity in the Egyptian chora. But it may also have been
made in the third century, in which case it might have been made in
the chora. The reference to animal worship in section 10.5 of the
Ethiopic text does not point to an original composition of the ApPt in
Alexandria. This was general knowledge (cf. Romans 1.23). It is re-
markable that section 33 of the Akhmim text drops this reference, but
then it drops many more precise references as well.
Another startling feature of the edited version of the ApPt repre-
sented by the Akhmim text is the suppression of the section on the
generic 'guardian' (rqp&hoGxo<) angel". This is the only section of
the ApPt actually quoted by Christian authors of the second and third
century19. This was its trademark, so to speak, yet it was suppressed
in the edited version represented by the Akhmim text. This version

I7
Origen does not mention it, but by his time the Apocalypse of Paul may
have replaced the ApPr.
'' Section 26 of the Akhmim text as against section 8.10 in the Ethiopic,
where T q p ~ h o C x ois~ regarded as a proper name. For the angel, see also
Bremmer, this volume. 10f.
l9 Clement of Alexandria, Eclogne P I-opheticae 41 and 48 and Methodius
of Olympus. Sytllposilrrli 2.6. where rqp~hoijxoqappears in the plural.
 T H E G REEK APOCALYPSE O F PETER 29

was probably meant to be more orthodox than the Jewish Christian

original. The mention of the angel Ezrael (sections 7.10, 9.1 and 10.5
of the Ethiopic text) has also been removed in the version attested in
the Akhmim text (sections 25, 27 and 33).
R. Bauckham claims that the original ApPt was a Jewish Chris-
tian tract from Palestine written during the persecution of Christians
by Bar Kokhba, the false messiah20. This is way too precise for the
very general references to martyrs, false messiahs, and Jews, the very
stuff of this kind of eschatology, to be accepted 2'. But it is neverthe-
less clear from the vision at the end (sections 15-17 of the Ethiopic
text) that the original text was written from a Jewish Christian per-
spective2'. The focus on 'pagan' sins does not necessarily point to a

'O
R. Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead. Studies or7 the .le~~isll ar~dCkris-
riarl Apocalypses (Leiden, 1998) 160-258, which is taken from Apocrypha 5
(1994) 7-1 11. Cf. Tigchelaar, this volume, Ch. IV.
?' Bauckham, The Fate, 183-4, claims that the reference to the punishment
of those who have persecuted or betrayed martyrs is unique. But that does
not mean that it can only refer to Jewish Christians persecuted under Bar
Kokhba (cf. Matthew 25.31-46 for the punishment of those who have failed
to help martyrs, where the reference cannot be to Jewish Christians perse-
cuted under Bar Kokhba). Note in this connection that Bauckham, op. cit.,
184 and 241, adopts the translation of Muller (not Buchholz, as Bauckham,
op. cir., 241, note 95, claims) for section 16.5 of the Ethiopic text ('those
who are [or will be] persecuted for my righteousness' sake' instead of 'those
who pursued my righteousness'. as in Buchholz, Your Eyes, 238). See
C.D.G. Muller in W. Schneemelcher (ed), Ne~rtestar71er7tlicI7e Apokrypherl 2
(Tiibingen 19895)577, who regards the phrase 'those who are persecuted for
my righteousness' sake' as a direct quotation of Marrhe~l5.10. The corre-
sponding Greek text (section 20) just has 'the righteous'. Immediately fol-
lowing, the Ethiopic text (16.6) identifies 'those who pursued my righteous-
ness' as a quotation from 'the book of my Lord Jesus Christ'. Cf. also E.
Norelli, 'Situation des apocryphes pktriniens', Apocrypha 2 (1991) 31-83 at
45-6. note 43.
" It is therefore remarkable that the ApPt assumes a 'high christology',
notwithstanding the strictures of Buchholz, Yolrr Eyes, 392-3. The false
messiah claims in section 2.8 of the Ethiopic text: 'I am the Christ who has
come into the world'. This implies that the true Christ has come into the
world in the Johannine sense. The ApPt does not develop this idea further,
but then it did not have to.
30 PETER VAN MRVNEN

place of composition outside Palestine, but certainly does not rule it

out either. Perhaps Rome should be considered a good candidate. The
martyrdom of Peter in Rome is here unequivocally mentioned for the
first time in an early Christian text23. Moreover, the ApPr is first
mentioned in the Canon Muratori. Bauckham places special emphasis
on the absence of any mention of the imperial which in his
view would be strange anywhere but in Palestine, but even if we al-
low this argument from silence, it would not rule out Rome, where
the imperial cult was not very intrusi~e'~.In section 14.4 of the
Ethiopic text the enemy of the faithful is at any rate clearly identified
with the Roman state embodied by the emperor Nero ('the son of the
one in Hades'), as in Revelation. The original question with which
the final vision in the ApPt grappled was the present fate of the Jew-
ish believers before the coming of Christ. In the edited version of the
Akhmim codex this has been carefully changed to a question about
the present fate of the Christian believers who had passed away in the
meantime. References to Moses, Elijah, and the patriarchs have been
carefully removed26. The Apocalypse of Paul (ApPI) follows the

23
My confirmation of James's reading of the Rainer fragment (see the ap-
pendix) puts this beyond doubt.
24 Bauckham, The Fate, 185.
25
In Alexandria or Antioch one would perhaps have expected a reference
to the imperial cult. For Antioch as a possible place of composition of the
ApPt, see Norelli, 'Situation', 62.
'" The only problem seems to be the possible reference to Jewish high-
priests in section 20 of the Akhmim text. The reading there, a p x ~ p o ( v )can
,
be variously explained. In light of section 5 of the Akhmim text, which has
no counterpart in the Ethiopic text, but is one of the sections added in the
revision, we would expect &6&hq6(v) here with Wilamowitz, but
apxepo(v) looks rather like a misspelling for & p x ~ ~ p e o ( v'highpriests',
),
as Harnack thought. There were officers within some Christian communities
called 'highpriests' (see Lampe, A Patristic Greek Lesicon, s . ~&p~1&p&6<),
.
but I suspect that apx&po(v)is a misreading for &pxaio(v), 'ancients'. This
could refer to the previous generation(s) of Christians who had died in the
meantime. The difficulty glossed over by the revision is that at the dramatic
date of the vision itself there were as yet no Christian 'brethren' about
whose fate the disciples might be worried. At any rate the 'brethren' of sec-
tions 5 and 13 of the Akhmim text are meant here. The Ethiopic text refers
 T H E GREEK APOCALYPSE O F PETER 31

Akhmim version of the ApPt in presenting the fate of the sinners also
as a vision rather than as a prophecy as in the Ethiopic version and
the other Greek fragments2'.
After the detailed description of the future punishments of the
sinners follows the brief description of the future bliss of the believ-
e r ~ In~ the
~ . Ethiopic text this occupies section 14.1-3. This is fol-
lowed by a prophecy for Peter personally and then, in sections 15-17,
by a vision of the present fate of Jewish believers from before Christ
came, which the Akhmim text has changed into a vision of the
present fate of the previous generation(s) of Christian believers who
have died in the meantime. Section 14.1-3 of the Ethiopic text is gar-
bled, but a Greek fragment (see the appendix) preserves what seems
a more correct version of this part of the text2" In it the claim is
made that believers can ask for the release of sinners out of punish-
ment. This is a startling statement in full contradiction with the rest
of the ApPt as it is known from the Ethiopic. The Ethiopic text is
consistent in itself and makes a careful distinction between the eter-
nal punishments of the sinners and the eternal bliss of the believers,
both future. Section 13 of the Ethiopic text contains the final demon-
stration of the idea that the punishment of sinners is fully justified,
and the righteous are witness to this. They are even said to be content
with the punishment of the sinners, not in the sense that they are sat-
isfied so that they can subsequently plead for mercy. Not all sins
committed by the sinners were directed specifically at the righteous,
but all sins were directed against God (see section 3.7 of the Ethiopic
text). In the Ethiopic text there is no room for last-minute transfers of
sinners at the request of the righteous as there seems to be in the
Greek fragment. This has been interpreted by Buchholz in such a
way that the Ethiopic text has been edited, whereas the Greek frag-

to 'fathers' at this point and to Moses and Elijah in the text corresponding to
section 13 of the Akhmim text, which was also revised.
It would be odd if the ApPl would have preceded the edited version of
the ApPr. In that case the publication of the ApPl would have triggered the
revision of the ApPr.
'8 S O in the Ethiopic; the punishments are in the present in the Akhrnim
text.
29 Cf. Adamik, this volume, Ch. VI.
32 PETER VAN MINNEN

ment would preserve the original sense. This is hardly credible. The
Ethiopic text is consistent in itself so that it is difficult to believe that
this is the result of editing. If we would read section 14.1-3 in the
Ethiopic text as Buchholz does, it would be very odd and terse. In
fact, it is difficult to believe that the Greek text is completely under-
standable as it stands. The correct reading, iiv Eav Erljoovrai (for
a i r l j o o v r a ~ )ps EK rTjq K O ~ ~ ~ G E is
O Scompletely out of tune with
the rest of the text, even with what little remains of the Greek, be-
cause the punishments are clearly eternal and moreover future, thus
the reference is not to some kind of 'intermediate' state out of which
sinners might still be extracted through the good offices of the right-
eous30.
Moreover, I think that the original Greek texts read just 6 Eav
airljoovrai p ~ which , makes perfect sense and is compatible with
the Ethiopic. The first thing said about the future bliss of believers is
that they will receive what they have asked for. Although this is one
step down from the New Testament, where believers receive what
they ask for right now, it is understandable. In some of the parallels
adduced by James this is in fact what is meant". In the Coptic
Apocalypse of Elijak the believers will receive what they have asked
for while the unbelievers will be punished32. One of the things be-
lievers have asked for is revenge (cf. section 13.2 of the Ethiopic text
of the A P P ~ )In ~ ~other
. texts the thought that believers can ask for the

30 Cases of prayers for deceased sinners are not particularly common early
on. See on this generally E. Peterson, Friikkirche, Juder7t~rr?i~rildGi70sis
(Freiburg, 1959) 310-2; J.A. Trumbower, Rescue for the Dead. The Posth~r-
rvocrs Salvatiori of Non-Christians in Early Christianity (Oxford, 2001).
Consider such cases as the Acts of Pall1 arid Tl7ecla 28-29. Here Thecla
prays for the soul of the dead girl Falconilla. who had commissioned her
mother in a dream to ask Thecla to do so. Strictly speaking, Falconilla is in
an 'intermediate' state.
31 James 'Rainer Fragment', 272-3; cf. Buchholz, Your Eyes, 43-79 (a dis-

cussion of the indirect witnesses of the ApPt), and Bauckham, The Fate,
232-5.
3'
Section 5.27-29 in the recent edition of this text by D. Frankfurter,
Elijah it1 Upper Egypt (Minneapolis, 1993).
33 James interpreted the Coptic to mean that believers could ask in the fu-
 T H E GREEK APOCALYPSE OF PETER 33
salvation of sinners clearly applies to the present, not to some future
time. In the Epistula A p o ~ t o l o r u r nand
~ ~ even in the Sibylline Oracles
this is the case. In the latter text, however, there is an important addi-
tion. Believers can indeed request the salvation of sinners now, but
this will in some cases be granted only at the end of time and not
right away (e.g. through the conversion of the sinner prayed for). In
SibOr 2.334-8 the release of sinners from punishments they are al-
ready experiencing is spoken of (note the use of Eoau015, 'later', in
line 334). As James has suggested, this idea must have been taken
from the ApPt. But not from the original version, which we know
through the Ethiopic and which I assume to have read 6 Eav
airfioovrai p ~ but , from a version represented by the Greek frag-
ment. What probably happened very early on in the transmission of
the text was an alteration from 6 to 6v, a difference of just one letter.
To make sense of the new reading, it had to be specified in what
sense God would give 'whomsoever' at the request of the believers.
This specification is lacking in the Ethiopic and it presumably also
lacked in the original text, because it needed no further specification
when it said that believers would receive 'whatsoever' they asked
for". Buchholz incorrectly states that the verb airfioovrat is in the
future36.It is an aorist subjunctive and refers to requests made by be-
lievers now which are to be finally granted at the end of time (no
doubt including requests for revenge). By changing 6 to 6v and add-
ing that believers would receive 'whomsoever they asked for' our of
pzrnishnient, the Greek fragment changes the meaning of the phrase -
without, however, transposing the requests themselves to the future3'.
This rewriting of the ApPt gave rise to the idea that the requests of
believers would save some sinners out of punishment at the end of

ture for the release of those punished. but this is incorrect in light of Frank-
furter's new edition.
3J In section 40 the righteous promise to evangelise the sinners, so this
clearly refers to the present.
35 Most scholars assume the specification was removed from the Ethiopic;

see, e.g., Buchholz, Your Eyes, 349; Trumbower, Rescue, 51.

36 Buchholz, Yo~rrEyes, 349.
37
Future requests are. however, assumed by the n7isericordes mentioned
by Augustine, De Ci~itateDei 21.18.1.
34 PETER VAN MINNEN

time (and not now, e.g. through the conversion of the sinner prayed
for). This idea is found in the Sibylline Oracles, which probably used
an already corrupt text of the ApPt. It is not found in other early
texts. There are other ideas about the ultimate salvation of sinners
even out of punishment, such as Origen's idea that eventually all sin-
ners would have served their time, but this is not what the Greek text
of the ApPt implies3*.
The conclusion must be that the idea that through the interces-
sion of believers some sinners can be saved out of (rather than from)
eternal punishment arose from a misreading of a text regarded as al-
most scripture in the second century. In section 14.1-3 of the
Ethiopic text, which in my view fairly represents the original ApPt,
only one kind of people is meant: the elect who will experience fu-
ture bliss. First it is stated that they will be granted whatever they
have asked for, next that they will be purified, which is apparently a
necessary prerequisite for entering bliss. Even in the Greek text it is
clearly the elect who will be purified. Although it had changed 6
6av airljoovzai P E to 8v 6av Ezfpovzai P E , it kept the plural
a6zoiq in the next sentence, in which Christ says he will give them
(i.e. the elect of the previous sentence) their baptism in the
Acherusian Lake39. Thus they will be able to enjoy their rightful
share of bliss.

Appendix: The Bodleian and Ruiner Fragments

Two fragments of a fifth-century Greek manuscript have survived40,

which contained a version of the ApPt much closer to the Ethiopic

3R
In the Mystery of tlze Jud,qement of Sinners, which is included in the
same Ethiopic manuscript as the ApPt, it is Jesus who will plead for the re-
lease of sinners out of punishment, but this must be kept a secret. This is a
late version of the idea that ultimately all sinners will be saved, but this is
not the selective salvation of sinners implied by the Greek fragment of the
ApPt.
39
See on this Copeland, this volume, Ch. VTT.
" This is James's date for the Bodleian fragment. For a parallel see
 THE GREEK APOCALYPSE OF PETER 35

than the Akhmim text. The Bodleian fragment was first published by
James4', the Rainer fragment by W e ~ s e l y who~ ~ , did not recognise it
as a fragment of the ApPr. James correctly surmised that the frag-
ments were from the same manuscript. From photographs of both
fragments I can confirm that they are indeed from the same manu-
script. There is a distinct possibility that other fragments lie undetec-
ted in other collections. In what follows I give a revised version of
the Bodleian and Rainer fragments, which contain different sections
of the ApPP3. The photographs do not always allow one to check
the readings of the previous editors, especially in the case of the
verso of the Bodleian fragment. From a comparison between the
Bodleian fragment and the corresponding Akhmim text, which I
have included for convenience, it follows that the latter is a rewriting
of the Greek text. The Bodleian and Rainer fragments are much
closer to the Ethiopic text and retain the future character of the pun-
ishments, whereas in the Akhmim text the punishments are in the
present.

Cavallo and Maehler, Greek Bookhands, no. 24a (the Cotton Genesis). This
would point to the second half of the fifth century. The tiny format of the
codex is compatible with such a date, not with Wessely's date for the Rainer
fragment (third century), which is in any case too early. To the lower stroke
of the epsilon a small stroke is often added so that it looks as thick as the
upper stroke. Sometimes this small stroke is detached from the lower stroke
of the epsilon. Wessely inadvertantly interpreted these detached strokes as
'commas'.
J' M.R. James, 'A New Text of the Apocalypse of Peter I-111', JTS 12
(1911) 367-9 (addenda to p. 157).
42 C. Wessely, Les pl~rs anciens nioi~~ln~ents du ckristianisme 2 (Paris,
1924) 258-9. It was recognised as a fragment of the ApPr by K. Priimm,
Biblica 10 (1929) 77-80, and subsequently republished by James, 'Rainer
Fragment', 270-9.
43 1 do not give a revised version of the Greek text in the Akhrnim codex.
For this see E. Klostermann, Apocrypha I. Reste des Petrusevangeliums, der-
Petrusapokalypse L I I I ~des Kerygma Petri (Berlin, 1933, a reissue of the 2nd
edition of 1908). Further work on this text has been spotty. See my note on
section 20 ( a p ~ ~ p o ( vabove
)) and L. Radermacher, Wiener Studien 32
(1910) 157, on section 21 (xtr6v' EvF~Gupivo~ for ahr6v EvG~Gupiva).
 36 PETER V A N ~ N E N

Bodleian Ms. The corresponding

Gr.th. f. 4 (P) Akhmim text (33):

Recto ( ~ anap'
i EK&ivot<6 v S p ~ qETEPOI ~ a i )
[Y~]VQ?K&S K[P~]- y u v a i ~ ~
birpGouq
q xupoq Exovr~q
[ro]6vr&q&h[G]- ~ a fihhqhouq
i rljnrovr~q(skipping
[ o ~ ] t q~ apa-
i Epxpoo9~vrobrov ciGhhov nhavhv)
4 [(3~]1')'06~~&[<] ~ a pqFkxors
i nauopevot rijq
[Ealurobq E[p]- rotacrqq Kohao&oq
[np]oo9&vr[06]-
[T]OV&%h- James: siGh[hov]
8 [hlov xhav[h(v)] r 5 v xhavhv - Presumably xhav[a] MS
~ a fivava-
i
xcrcoroq [El-
~ O U O ~TV~ [ v ]
12 ~ 6 h a o t'>--
~' High dot and paragraph mark in MS
- Paragraph mark in MS
~ a Ey'yiq
i [a6]- Apostrophe in MS

Verso The corresponding Akhmim text (34):

[TI@!'~ ? E P [ o ~ ] ~ aEmpot
i xirhtv Eyybq ~ K E ~ V O V
[Eloov~a!h[v]- y u v a i ~ ~ q a hv6peq
i cphey6p~vot
[ ~ I P E~S ~~ [lu li- ~ a ( Ji Z P E ~ ~ ~ ~ ~E VaO i~
4 [ v ] ~ ~ K at]-
E< .cqyavt<op&vot(skipping
[ ~ I ~ E v r?l
?! ~5 K ~ ~ C TT E ~~ ~18ohopavhv).
V
[KI~G(~E! T@[v] ofrot Fi: q o a v oi dcpkvrcq
[&136whop[al- r q v 660v roc 8&oG
8 [ v ] ~ v0f'T0[t]
.
[6]6 ~ i o t vo[il-
[T~]v&< Ka-
[rklhtnov James: 6-
12 [T~]V TOG 8(&0)68- [Fo]v - & MS - James: 6-
[Folv ~ a Xi~ O E - [hoql

Recto, 7-8: There is no room for James's reading. The ~ i ' 8 o h aare the
S o a v a mentioned just before in the Akhmim text.
Verso 11-13: James's reading is odd. If there is a trace after ~ a ~ i h m o itv ,
is most likely a line filler (read as omicron by James). The present reading
was already suggested by Bartlett apird James.
 THE GREEK APOCALYPSE OF PETER

F. 1, recto On preceding page: nap-

ikopat rois
Khr)roi< pou. Dot in MS
~ a E iK ' K ~ E - Apostrophe in MS - Read: E K ~ E -
.i ~ r o pou i ~6v ~ r o i -s bv MS - Wessely: O(EO)V
Eav Erjoov- Eav o r j o o v -
ra\i/ p& E K r i j ~ ra\i/ - Iota added above the line - Read:
KO~~GEOS ~ a i a1rjoovrat
s S h o o a6roiq
K ~ O pd17T5t-
V
o p a Ev o o r q -
pig ' A ~ ~ p o u o i a [ c J
12 hipvqq YV Ka- q v MS
hoGotv Ev T@

F. 1, verso
'Hhuoiq 7cs6iq
pipes S I K ~ I O -
oljvqs p s r a
4 r 6 v &yiov
pow ~ a dim- i High dot in MS
he6oopat E-
y b ~ a01i E K ~ E -
8 ~ r o pou
i dlyah-
htGvrss ps-
r a rGv narpt-
a p ~ G v&isr$v) MS
12 aioviav pou
[P]aothciav. >- Dot (?) and paragraph mark in MS

The inventory number has not been reported before. See also the photo
and text in Adamik, this volume. Ch. VI.
 38 PETER V AN MINNEN

F. 2, recto
>- Paragraph mark in MS
~ anotfioo
i p ~ -
T' a b ~ i i v
~ a Exa[y]-
q
~ h i a qpov 8q E-
4 7~qy'y~thapqv Apostrophe in MS
a d ~ o i qEyk ~ a b i
-
n(at)fip pov 6 Ev n q p M S - b MS
~ o i qob(pav)oiq. >- mq MS - Dot and paragraph mark in MS
>- Paragraph mark in MS
8 i6ou EFfihooa Y6ou MS
oot l l i r p ~
~ a E i6 ~ 8 i -
pqv xhvra. Dot in MS
12 ~ a ~ Oi ~ E O O U
~ i nohtv
q Pip:- Dots in MS

F. 2, verso
Xovoav 6 6 0 ~ - Wessely: 6 x O o ~ -
o q ~ a ni- i w5
E TO ~ 0 T f i p l -
ov 6 Envy- Wessely: line filler in MS
4 y ~ t h a p q vc o t
EV X E ~ P ETo6 ~ Read: x ~ l p-i Wessely: x ~ t p o i v
u(lo)6 r o c Ev "At- uuMS
60u ~ i ' v adp- Read: i'va
8 xilv hapq ad-
t o 6 ildcpa- Read: Bcpb-
v t a ~ aoh i v u a - High dot in MS - Wessely: line filler
GEKTOS ~ i i q in MS
12 Enay'y~h~i- Apostrophe in MS
On next page: -aq - Read: Enayychiaq

F. 1, recto 4-6: James's correction of Wessely's reading is confirmed by the

photograph. There is no horizontal bar in the omicron in bv, but there is one
in the epsilon in E~flowvrat.H. Harrauer confirmed the existence of a
rough breathing above bv.
 THE GREEK APOCALYPSE O F PETER 39

F. 1, recto 10 - f. 1, verso 1: Translate: 'in the salvation of what is called

the Acherusian Lake in the Elysian Field'. This was correctly translated by
James, but not by more recent editors such as Buchholz and Miiller.
F. 2, verso 1-2: James's correction of Wessely's reading is confirmed by the
MS. What Wessely read as ox is nothing but no shining through from the
back (f. 2, recto 1). H. Harrauer confirmed the existence of delta, which is
visible in ultraviolet light.
F. 2, verso 6-8: Not: 'the son who is in Hades', which the Greek would al-
low, but 'the son of the one who is in Hades'. The emperor Nero is in-
tended: Peter's execution was the beginning of the end for Nero.

Apperzdix: Photos of the Bodleiart Fragmertt

Bodleian Library Ms. Gr. Th. f. 4 (P) '+"

111. "Thy mercy, 0 Lord, is in the
heavens; and thy righteousness
reacheth unto the clouds"

MONIKA PESTHY

The aim of the present contribution is to examine the pseudo-Clem-

entine work that contains the Apocalypse of Peter (ApPt) and investi-
gate the relation of the ApPt to the rest of this work. Before entering
the subject, it will perhaps not be superfluous to clarify the situation.
As we know, the full text of the ApPt is left to us only in Ge'ez (old
Ethiopic). We have two manuscripts: d'Abbadie 51 (BN Paris) and
Tanasee 35 (catalogued by Hammerschmidt); the ApPt is embedded
in a pseudo-Clementine work entitled Tlie Second Coniing of Christ
a i d the Resurrection of the Dead, edited by Grkbaut in ROC, 1910,
198-214, 307-23, 425-39, the ApPt occupies pp. 199-208, 307-09
(text) and 208-14, 316-17 (translation). This treatise is followed by
another pseudo-Clementine writing, The Myste~yof the Judgement of
Sinners also edited by GrCbaut in ROC 1907, pp. 139-51 and 1908,
pp. 285-87. For his editions, GrCbaut was able to use only one of the
manuscripts: that of d'Abbadie 5 1. I deem it necessary to invoke
these well-known facts, since none of the manuals (Altaner',
Quasten2, Vielhaue13), or the modem translations (Hemecke-
Schneemelche?, allegedly based on the Ethiopic) are reliable in their

' B. Altaner, Patr-ologie (Freiburg, 19513)62.

J. Quasten, Initiation atcx PPr-es de 1 ' ~ ~ l i1s e(Paris, 1955) 166.
' Ph. Vielhauer, Gescliichte der ur-chr-istlichenLiteratur- (Berlin and New
York, 19854)507.
NTA 11, 620.
 PSEUDO-CLEMENTPEAND THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER 41
indication as to where the ApPt is to be found. They seem to be una-
ware of the fact that it is not identical with Grkbaut's whole text. For
the ApPt we now possess a modem edition compiled by Buchholz on
the basis of both manuscriptss.
While the ApPt has received a good deal of attention, the
pseudo-Clementine work that contains it has never been examined to

'
I the best of my knowledge6. Cowley, however, in his brief note con-
cerning the second manuscript of our text states that the two pseudo-
Clementine works must be considered together as a whole and the
ApPt as an integral part of them. According to him, 'if the potentially
misleading title Ethiopic Apocalypse of Peter is used, it is better
used' of the two works 'together".
The second pseudo-Clementine work, published by Grkbaut in
1907 and 1908, will not be treated here, because, on the one hand, the
limits of the present paper would not permit it, on the other hand, it
seems to be only loosely connected to the first (though evidently con-
nected). Thus my investigations are concerned with the treatise enti-
tled The Second Coming of Christ and the Resul-rection of the Dead,
edited by Grkbaut in 1910.

First of all, I shall make a few remarks:

1. I consider this work as a rounded whole. Though we know
that the ApPt ends in the middle of the text, we are not justified in
cutting the work in two. In the Ethiopic text there is no division and it
was read through and considered as a whole.

D.D. Buchholz, Your Eyes Will Be Opened. A Study of the Greek

(Etlliopic) Apocalypse of Peter (Atlanta, 1988).
At the Colloquium Origenianurn Octa~umheld at Pisa (27-31 August
2001), G. Lusini in his lecture 'Tradition origknienne en ~ t h i o ~ idiscussed
e'
the two Ethiopic pseudoClementine works: Tlle Second Coming of Christ
and the Resurrection of the Dead and The Mystery of the Judegemerzt of the
Sinners, considering them as containing Origenian traditions. Unfortunately
I was not able to be present at this lecture. The text will appear in the Acts
of the congress.
' R. W. Cowley, 'The Ethiopic Work which is Believed to Contain the
Material of the Ancient Greek Apocalypse of Peter', JTS 36 (1985) 151-53.
42 MONIKA PESTHY

2. My studies are based strictly on the Ethiopic text as we have

it. Buchholz in his book Your Eyes Will Be Opened reconstructs an
Ethiopic version from the Greek fragments. I do not think it permissi-
ble to correct the Ethiopic text from the Greek: we cannot know what
the underlying text of the Ethiopic translation was; we do not know
whether or not it was directly translated from Greek or through the
intermediary of other languages. Hence, this work was read in
Ethiopic as it is, without taking account of the underlying original.
3. As to the second part of the text, I can rely only on Grkbaut's
edition, made from manuscript d'Abbadie 51. The other manuscript
remains unknown to me.
As far as I know, the only work which treats even tangentially
the relations of the ApPt to the pseudo-Clementine writing is the
aforementioned book by Buchholz. According to him, 'the author of
the Ps.-Cl. was not afraid to use ApPt creatively in his own work. He
did not go back into the material of the apocalypse and harmonise it
with his own later ideas. He had a text before him upon which he
commented by taking ideas from it and changing them or expanding
them as he saw fit. We may say, then, that the work as a whole (ApPt
and Ps.-Cl.) is a midrash, for it attempts to make an older text rel-
evant to its own age' (pp. 383-5). In his opinion 'the main theme [of
the whole work] is God's mercy to sinners'. We shall reflect on these
ideas after having examined the treatise.
In my opinion, the text consists of three major parts with a rev-
elation of Christ at the center of each. The first part is our ApPt, the
second extends from p. 309,l. 5 to p. 316 'end' in Grebaut's edition,
the third from p. 425 to the end. I quote the ApPt according to the
chapters used by the modem editors, the rest according to the pagina-
tion of the manuscript d' Abbadie 51. We shall now examine the parts
one by one (the ApPt only briefly, because it is well-known to every-
body), and finally we shall try to draw some conclusions conceming
the main ideas and the structure of the whole work.
The first part contains a revelation of Jesus conceming 'his com-
ing and the end of the world'. The revelation takes place on the
Mount of Olives and is initiated by a question or remark from Peter:
it were better for the sinners that they had not been created. Christ
answers rebuking Peter: 'Thou resistest God. Thou wouldest not
 PSEUDO-CLEMENTINE AND THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER 43
have more compassion than he for his image.. .' and promises Peter
to show him the works of the sinners 'in which they have sinned
against the Most High' (c. 3). There follows the description of the
judgement, Christ being established judge by God: 'my Father will
place a crown upon my head, that I may judge the living and the dead
and recompense every man according to his work'. For the sinners
there is eternal torture (in chapters 6 to 13 the idea of eternal punish-
ment appears at least ten times), in accordance with their sins, while
the righteous are introduced into a sort of Paradise. The message of
this revelation is expressed by the tortured sinners themselves:
'Righteous is the judgment of God: for we have heard and perceived
that his judgment is good, since we are punished according to our
deeds'. The central notion of this part is God's justice, meaning retri-
bution to everyone according to his own deeds. I would emphasise
that the idea of mercy does not appear. I do not want to enter into the
question whether or not it was present in the Greek; in any case it is
totally absent from the Ethiopic.
This revelation is for everybody. All the apostles are present and
ask Jesus questions in order that they can teach those coming after
them (1). At the end of c. 14, Peter is charged to send out this story
into all the world. The revelation itself ends with c. 14. Chapters 15-
17 constitute a sort of closure to the Apocalypse: the transfiguration
scene on the Holy Mountain connected with the ascension of our
Lord. There the ApPt ends, but the text continues without intemp-
tion.
The second part begins with Peter speaking to Clement (137r b -
138v b) about the glory of God: everything was created for the glory
of God, even the revolt of the devil could not diminish it. This pas-
sage can be considered as a transition between the preceding scene
and the following revelation. On p. 139r begins the second revela-
tion, which takes place on the Holy Mountain during the transfigura-
tion scene. Thus, on the one hand, a connection with the closing
chapters of the ApPt is created, on the other, a parallel is established
between the first revelation on the Mount of Olives and this one. Fur-
ther on, as the place and the situation are now holy to an increased
extent, it is to be expected that the revelation will also be of a higher
order. This is also suggested by the fact that while all the apostles
44 MONIKA PESTHY

were present when the first revelation took place, this time only the
chosen ones (Peter, John, and James) can hear the words of Jesus.
This revelation, just as the first one, concerns the second coming of
Christ, but the underlying ideas are not the same. 'The Father will
judge nobody, but he will give the judgement to his Son (John 5.22)
in order that he might give eternal life to those who believe in him.'
The judgement aims no more at judging everyone according to their
deeds but rather rewarding the believers (the believers, and not the
righteous!). This second revelation again is initiated by Peter asking
a question, and the question is the same: would it not have been bet-
ter for the sinners if they had not been created at all. For this time,
however, Peter adds, 'because they die a second death' - and this
second death is Peter's main concern throughout the whole work. Pe-
ter's idea is that everybody has to die, which is the first death. Every-
body will be condemned according to their sins, which is the first
judgement, a righteous one. After the resurrection, however, comes
the second judgement, which means a second death for sinners. Peter,
a sinner himself, is greatly afraid of the second death.
Jesus replies as follows (140r a): 'Did you understand what I
told you at first? It is permitted to you not to know in your heart what
you have asked. It would not be useful to tell the sinners what you
have heard so that they should not multiply their sins and evil deeds.'
Hearing this, Peter falls to the feet of the Lord crying and imploring
to him for a long time. At last Jesus has pity on him and answers his
question, but his answer is an enigmatic one (140r b): "'for he
maketh his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on
the just and on the unjust" (Mt 5.45). Because the mercy of my Fa-
ther is like this: as the sun rises and the rain falls in the same way, so
shall we have mercy and compassion for all of our creatures.'
Peter does not understand the parable and asks for an explana-
tion. Having admonished Peter once again not to tell sinners any-
thing, Christ gives him a revelation, which is what I consider as the
second revelation of the treatise (140v b - 141v b). Its content is the
following: as the sun shines on everybody, so it is with God's mercy.
Satan will be destroyed, but before the glorious coming of Christ the
demons will reign on earth, making many martyrs. Christ will come
in his glory with his saints. Righteous and sinners will be separated
 PSEUDO-CLEMENTINEAND THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER 45

and Christ will judge them, his throne standing in the middle of the
river of fire. The sinners will be transfixed in a moment and to be tor-
tured by angels who are without mercy. While being tortured, they
will cry 'until death', which Gribaut understands '2 en mourir' -that
is, those hearing it are nearly dying - but I think the meaning is 'until
they die', because this is the second death Peter speaks about.
The sense of this revelation is not clear: though the beginning
suggests that mercy is for everybody, the end presents a judgement
scene in which the sinners are punished mercilessly. The second,
longer part of the treaty ends here.
The third part begins again with Peter crying and imploring Jesus
with the words: 'this is the second death which I am afraid of! ' Jesus
gives the same answer as at the beginning of the first revelation:
mhb : l%4-% : H.~-~"VC- : APrh? : hTZf : 'you will have no more
mercy on the sinners than I do' (141v b). Gribaut translates: 'ce n'est
pas toi qui enseigne mieux les picheurs.. .' In Ethiopic the verbs 'to
teach' (mud) and 'to have mercy' (@Ad) differ only in their middle
letter, which in both cases is an 'h', but a different one8. There are
three characters for 'h', different in writing but not in pronunciation,
which often leads to confusion, as is the case with our manuscripts.
Therefore, it seems evident to me that we should read 'to have mercy
on the sinners', the more so because we have the parallel text in
c. 3 of the ApPt, and the reading 'to teach the sinners' does not give
a good sense in our context. Then Jesus adds, 'for I was crucified
because of the sinners, in order to obtain mercy for them by my
Father'.
Seven lines are lacking here in the manuscript, and then the third
revelation begins (142r a). This one is only for Peter. The mystery
Jesus now reveals to him is not known to anybody, except Jesus and
the Father, not even to the angels, the righteous, the martyrs, or the
prophets. Jesus admonishes Peter to hide it in a box and not to tell it
to anybody, except the sages.
Then Jesus reveals that at the Last Judgement the sinners who
believe in Christ will be pardoned, because Christ assumed their
body and they ate his body and drank his blood. 'The Father will

Cf. 136r b where maLS means 'have mercy on us' and not 'teach us'.
46 MONIKA PESTHY

grant to all of them life, glory and eternal kingdom, and his judgment
will not be divided' (142r a). This is the mystery revealed to Peter:
had he not cried and wept, Jesus would not have told him. Peter must
not speak about this to the sinners: even when they hear about the
punishment of the fire, they kill one another, so if they knew about
the mercy, nobody would do what is right (142v b). Better to threaten
them with fire.
The revelation continues: God created Adam for his glory; he
surely does not want to destroy him. Jesus quotes here Psalms
36(35).6: 'Thy mercy, 0 Lord, is in the heavens; and thy righteous-
ness reacheth unto the clouds' (143r b).
Adam sinned and was punished for it: he was expelled from
Paradise and death came on him (common death, that is, the separa-
tion of the soul from the body). But God will not destroy by a second
death that which he has created.
Only Satan and his demons will descend into Sheol, and those
who did not believe in Christ. Those who believed in him will not see
the judgement of fire. It is a mystery that those who partook of the
body and blood of Jesus will not descend a second time into the un-
derworld, into the faith of Satan and his demons (143r a-b).
After revealing all this, Jesus asks Peter whether he has any
doubts left. Peter answers: 'Really, when I asked you concerning the
sinners who are like me, you told me and explained to me very care-
fully the words of David, indicating that God's mercy is great. My
heart was burning when I was thinking of it that after the resurrection
of the dead there would be a second death for the sinners [which
means] descending into the Sheol. Because of this you explained this
word to me, and I am convinced and I have no more doubts' (143v b
- 1 4 4 a).
Grkbaut translates Peter's reply in the present or in the future: 'le
coeur me brule [...I, explique-moi cette parole. Je croirai et je n'aurai
plus de doutes'. I think we should take Peter's words in the past
tense: Peter had learnt what he wanted to know and he is now satis-
fied. This translation is absolutely justified. The verbs are in the per-
fect, the only problem is 'you have explained to me', the Ethiopic
verb in the manuscript being an imperative: 'explain it to me'
(Am$!&). But the difference between the two forms is so slight ('you
 PSEUDO-CLEMENTINE AND THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER 47

have explained to me' should be hmP+k), that in a manuscript like

ours, not copied with due care, they can very easily become mixed
up9.
Thus the central question is settled, but Jesus continues to give
some more indications concerning the final events. I translate the
passage which seems the most important to me: 'The children of
Adam who have been resuscitated into life will then receive the rank
and the throne of the devil and all his (Adam's) children will be-
come the armies of the angels instead of the armies of the devil. But
as to the demons, God will enclose them into the terrible Gehenna
together with their lord, the devil, and with everybody who had be-
come a host for them, each one according to his inhabitant will be
enclosed with them into the depths of the Sheol' (144v a). In these
lines, I think, there are two ideas which escaped Grkbaut's attention.
The first is that the resuscitated human beings will become the ar-
mies of the angels instead of the armies of the devil. Grkbaut com-
pletes: 'instead of being the armies of the devil', but probably this is
not the point. According to several Christian writers, the thrones of
the devil and his demons remained empty in the heavens after their
fall, and these seats will be occupied by the blessed after the resur-
rection (consequently there are to be as many blessed as there had
been fallen angels). Our text seems to allude to this concept. The
other problem is the difficult phrase with the dwelling place of the
demons, which sounds in GrCbaut's translation: 'avec tous les etres
qui sont dans leur propre demeure', which does not make much
sense. In my opinion this phrase means that those human beings will
be condemned forever, along with the demons who gave a place in
themselves to a demon, that is, who became the prey of a demon.
These souls will descend into the underworld, according to the de-
mon that acted in them - an allusion probably to the demons of the
sins.
The treatise ends with some indications concerning the religious
feasts.

To mix up P and fi is considered as a minor fault.

 MONIKA PESTHY

1. The structure of the work

The work is based on three revelations, which are strictly con-
nected: their subject is the same, but the message contained in them
is more 'esoteric' with each one. Thus they can be considered as
three degrees in the acquisition of a secret knowledge, or three
phases of initiation into a mystery. The description makes it clear
how the revelations are based on one another: the setting is the same,
but the details clearly indicate the progress in the knowledge commu-
nicated.
Each revelation is provoked by a question from Peter: 'Were it
not better for the sinners, that they had not been created?' in the first
revelation and 'Would it not have been better for the sinners if they
had not been created at all, because they die a second death?' in the
second one. The question remains the same, but the second time Pe-
ter's reason for asking is added: the question is about the second
death, which is Peter's real problem. In the third case there remains
only Peter's desperate cry: 'This is the second death I am afraid of! '
Progress is also found in Jesus' answers. The first time, he rebukes
Peter, 'Thou resistest God. Thou wouldest not have more compassion
than he for his image'. Then Jesus shows Peter how the punishment
of the sinners is in accordance with their sins - but this is no real an-
swer to Peter's question, neither do we understand what it has to do
with God's compassion. The second time, Christ gives no direct an-
swer, only warns Peter of the dangers of higher knowledge. The real
answer comes only on the third occasion, 'You will have no more
mercy on the sinners than I do, for I was crucified because of the sin-
ners, in order to obtain mercy for them by my Father'.
The progress in the work can also be measured by Peter's behav-
iour. In the first part he plays no special role. He is one of the apos-
tles and asks a question which any of them could have asked. It is
only in the second part that we learn why Peter is so interested in the
fate of the sinners: it is because he himself is the greatest of the sin-
ners. While the first revelation is given by Jesus quite willingly, Peter
has to implore him for the second. The scene is presented as exces-
sively as with oriental tales: Peter lying before Christ for long hours,
 PSEUDO-CLEMENTINEAND THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER 49

weeping, wetting with his tears the feet of Jesus and liclung them
with his tongue. Finally, Jesus has pity on him and grants him a sec-
ond revelation which is, however, not quite clear. Peter weeps and
cries again until he gets what he wants. 'Had you not cried [I would
not have told you this]' (142 v b), says Jesus, and a little further he
adds, 'You have wept and cried and molested me very much when
you wetted my feet with your tears and you molested me greatly with
your questions and supplications.. .' ( 1 4 4 a). The situation is very
much like that of a child vexing his father till he gives in and lets him
have his ways just to be left in peace. Jesus was reluctant to tell Peter
the truth concerning divine mercy, but finally he gave in only to stop
Peter crying and aslung questions. This is similar to the parable in Lk
11.5-8, where prayer is compared to a man who is so persistent in
asking his friend for help that in the end the other gives him what he
wants, only to get rid of him.
The circle of those for whom the revelations are intended is also
a clear indication of the way in which the ideas are getting increas-
ingly mysterious. At the first revelation, all the apostles are present
and they are sent out to tell the story all over the world. The second is
only for the chosen, Peter, John and James, and they are admonished
not to tell anything to the sinners, which means that it can be re-
vealed only to the righteous. At the third revelation Peter alone is
present. The mystery Jesus is about to reveal to him is hidden from
everybody, except for Jesus and the Father. Peter is allowed to speak
about it only to the sages - and these are not identical with the right-
eous.
Thus we can establish that the treatise is very carefully com-
posed, the three parts being built logically one upon the other, and all
the details arranged according to the progress of the ideas.

2. What is the real meaning of the work?

As we have seen, in Buchholz' opinion the main theme of the
work is God's mercy to the sinners. This is undoubtedly true, but let
us examine the question more closely. The real teaching of our trea-
tise seems to be the following. There are two judgements, and the
first one takes place directly after death. It is just: everybody is con-
demned according to his or her sins. Mercy has no place in it; it is
50 MONIKA PESTHY

God's justice that prevails. Adam, too, when he sinned, was punished
accordingly: death came upon him and he was expelled from Para-
dise. But as God created everything for his glory, it would not be
logical for him to destroy it afterwards. (We now understand the rea-
son of Peter's long discourse about God's glory at the beginning of
the second part.) If something does not work as it should, God will
reconstruct and not annihilate it. This means that sins are requited,
but the sinners themselves will not be destroyed by a second death
meaning eternal torture in the underworld. The notion comes from
Rev 20.14-15, 'And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake of fire.' The second judgement
takes place after the resurrection, and this time mercy will reign: in
this judgement there will be no division, all believers in Christ will
receive eternal life and enter God's kingdom.
Thus our treatise gives a perfectly clear definition of the respec-
tive places of justice and mercy in divine economy: in this world and
as well as in the first judgment, justice reigns, but at the end of the
world mercy will prevail. This is the very idea expressed by quota-
tion from Psalrns which I chose for the title of my paper: 'Thy
mercy, 0 Lord, is in the heavens; and thy righteousness reacheth
unto the clouds'. It is probably not by accident, that in the second
half of the phrase the original word 'faithfulness' (Hebrew) or 'truth-
fulness' (Greek) was replaced by 'righteousness'.
It is not quite clear what it means that everybody who believes in
Christ will be saved. Who are those who did not believe? The logical
answer would be that they are the non-Christians, but this does not
seem to be the idea of our treatise. Those who do not believe in
Christ are Satan, his demons, and probably those human beings who
hosted demons in themselves, if we correctly understand the phrase
concerning the dwelling-places of the demons.

3. The relation of the ApPt to the whole treatise

Instead of describing the work as a midrash, I would rather con-
sider it as a treatise consisting of three chapters. Its author used the
ApPt as the first chapter but then he probably found the ideas ex-
pressed in it too cruel, so he wrote a continuation to it. In the light of
 PSEUDO-CLEMENTINE AND THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER 51

these additional parts, the meaning of the first part has also changed:
what is contained in it is no more the final truth about divine judge-
ment, but only a preparatory teaching meant for sinners to restrain
them from more sinning. Thus for the writer of our Pseudo-Clemen-
tine work, the ApPr was no more than an instrument of divine peda-
gogy.
IV. False Prophets in the Apocalypse
of Peter

JANOS BOLYKI

'Among the apocalypses, we acknowledge those by John and Peter.

However, as far as the latter is concerned, some of us do not want to
allow its public reading in the church.' This comment in the Canon
Muratori shows that the Apocalypse of Peter- (ApPt)' was almost in-
cluded in the New Testament canon. In the following, we shall deal
with a part of the Greek version (the so-called Akhrnim marked A)
that brings up a temporal-historical theme: the appearance of and
havoc brought about by false prophets in the church. These verses are
translated as follows:
1. Many of them shall be false prophets and shall teach ways and di-
verse doctrines of perdition. 2. And they shall become sons of perdi-
tion. 3. And then God will come to my faithful ones who hunger and
thirst and are afflicted and prove their souls in this life, and shall judge
the sons of iniquity.

In order to understand the theme, we shall first attempt to place the

text within the framework of the history of the Biblical motif of
'false prophets'. This will provide information for the analysis of the
text itself. Second, we shall venture to propose a hypothesis as to
whom the expression 'false prophet' was meant to refer to by the au-
thor of the writing and to what extent this is reflected in the extant
text.

I
Textual editions: 0. von Gebhardt, Das Evan~eliumund die Apokalypse
des Petrus (Leipzig, 1893); E. Klostermann, Apocrypha I. Reste des
Petrusevangeliums, der Perrusapokalypse und des Kerygma Petri (Berlin,
1908').
 FALSE PROPHETS

Review of the History of the Motif

The figure of the false prophet ( y r ~ u 6 ~7cpocpil~qq)

jq is known in the
OT, in fact, already in the Torah. In Deur 13.2-6, Moses commands
the people that if a prophet were to entice them to turn away from
the Law, he would have to be put to death even though, or all the
more so because, he gives signs and wonders. Deut 18.20-22 de-
mands death upon the prophet who speaks in the name of other gods
or speaks words in the name of the Lord that he has not commanded
him to say to the people. In Nun? 22-25, we encounter the ambiva-
lent figure and role of the prophet Balaam. According to Num 31.8
and 16, it was upon the counsel of Balaam that the pagan women
tempted the sons of Israel to apostatise and, therefore, the prophet
had to die. This is reported in Josh 13.22. The LXX text refers to the
enticement by the Greek verb n h a v a o (stray, in the passive: be
strayed) and to the apostasy by the noun & n o o r a o q . Both words
will be a constant element in the characterisation of false prophets.
Finally, we mention two examples from Jeremiah. According to
verse 14.14, fraudulent prophets deceiving people with illusions of a
peaceful future do not follow the call of the Lord. And 23.13 men-
tions prophets who have misled the people (Enhhvqoav). To sum-
marise, the legitimacy of the prophet lies in that he remains faithful
to Mosaic Law and that he does not lead his people astray from the
ways of the Lord neither by his teaching and prophetic words, nor by
his wondrous deeds.
The NT uses the expression 'false prophet' eleven times, among
them Marthew and Revelation three times each, and 2 Peter once
(2.1). A false prophet is someone who considers himself a prophet
but is not one, or who proclaims lies, delivers false teachings, and
thus misleads the congregation. Mt 7.15-20 characterises them as
coming disguised as sheep, but underneath being ravenous wolves;
that is, they are destructive to the congregation. These prophets can
be known by their fruits, that is their deeds and their consequences.
In verses 21-23 of the very same chapter, Jesus mentions people who
would address him by the liturgical confession 'Lord, Lord' ( K ~ P I E ,
K~PLE and
) boast of having worked many miracles in his name;
nonetheless, he would not accept them because they lived their life
without obeying him. According to Ulrich Luz2, Matthew speaks up
against fanatic-enthusiastic prophecy here and contrasts it with obe-
7
dience to Jesus law. Since prophecy and apocalypse went hand in
hand in the ancient Church3, we encounter the figures of false proph-
ets in the apocalyptic-eschatological sermons of Jesus (Mk 13.22 and
Mt 24.1 1,24).
Scholars have traditionally emphasised the relation between the
ApPr and 2 PP. There are, indeed, many affinities between 2 Pt 2.1-2
and ApPt 1.1-3 (A). An important parallel is the emergence of false
prophets as an apocalyptic theme. The expressions common to both
writings in connection to false prophets are as follows: 'way, de-
struction, to teach, blasphemy, righteousness' (6805, dnhhsta,
6 t 8 a o ~ o phaocpqpia,
, BhfiQsta).The vocabulary suggests that false
prophecy in the congregation appears as false and misleading teach-
ing, relying on signs and miracles worked by false prophets. False
prophesy can cause part of the congregation to go astray, relinquish
the true teaching and way of life, and contempt, or even blaspheme
righteousness.
The parallels in Revelation bring us closest to our subject, the
eschatological role of false prophets in ApPt 1.1-3 (A). The designa-
tion ~psuFonpocpfi.rqqappears in Rev 16.13, 19.20, and 20.10. Rev
13.11-17 should also be listed here. In the preceding verses we read
about the dragon-Satan, and the emergence of the beast-Antichrist
from the sea. Then the 'second beast' rises from the ground, showing
unmistakable traits of the false prophets. He 'was like the Lamb but
spoke like the dragon' and his aim was to make all the people of the
earth worship the beast-Antichrist. His description contains the con-
cepts 'working miracles' and 'leading astray', which we have previ-
ously identified in the biblical passages about false prophets. How-
ever, most characteristic of Revelation is that in it the persons o f the
false Christ, or Antichrist (the first beast), and the false prophet, or
?
U. Luz, Das Evangeli~in~r7aclz Matthaus 1 (Ziirich and Neukirchen,
1989), 405-7.
E. Hennecke and W. Schneemelcher, Ne~itesmrnentlicheApokryphen I1
(Tiibingen, 19714)181.
' W. Grundmann, Der Brief des Judas und der zweite Brief des Perms
(Berlin, 1974) 87ff.
 FALSE PROPHETS 55

false teacher- (the second beast), appear- togethe15. According to

Ellul, the f i s t beast personifies Power, while the second beast, sym-
bolising the false prophet, personifies Propaganda. The false prophet
has the appearance of the Lamb because he imitates non-violence;
his words, however, are those of the dragon, whom he glorifies, and
whose worship he supports by way of ideological arguments. His role
is diabolic since the first beast, whose propagator he is, is the double
of the dragon-diabolos. False prophet and false messiah thus belong
together.

After studying the historical background of some motifs, especially

the false-prophet motif in 1.1-3 A, analysing and understanding the
text should now prove easier. It should first of all be noted that we
are dealing with a fragment. The phrase 'many of them shall be false
prophets' implies a longer text, which would clarify those from
whom the author thinks false prophets would arise. Albrecht
Dieterich formulated an interesting theory on why this text has come
down to us in a fragment6. He suggested that in the original text,
which was longer, the eschatological focus appeared in this passage.
Due to this feature, the text was copied from this point when it was
used as a magic formula, buried with the corpse of a monk in the
Akhmim grave. This, however, implies that our- text corltains the end
of a longer- work. This conforms, for example, with the Didache, in
which eschatological themes provide the closure. The end (20.34) of
the surviving Akhmim text discusses those who have (in the end)
'forsaken the way of the Lord'. This idea also occurs in the Ethiopic
version, beginning from chapter 10: 'these have forsaken the law of
God and are haunted by. .. demons'. Thus the idea of apostasy im-
bues the extant and missing parts of the text and connects the
Ethiopic and Greek versions.

J.J. Ellul, Apokalypse. Die Offetlharun,p der Joharlnes - Entkiill~l17gder-

Wirklichkeit (Neukirchen, 1981) 81-7.
A. Dieterich, Nelqia. Beitrage zur- Erklarung der rzeuentdecktetl
Petrusapokalypse (Leipzig, 19132) 16.
 False prophets - as we have seen in canonical and extracanonical
texts -bring havoc to the congregations by their teaching. They teach
various things. 'The way' (q 6605) is equivalent to the Jewish
Halakha and concerns the way of life as well as 'diverse doctrines'
( F o y p a ~ ax o t ~ i h a ' ) that - according to the context - are related to
beliefs and convictions about eschatological events. The text charac-
teristically places 'the way' ahead of the doctrines, witnessing to a
Jewish-Christian background. In Matthew, too, the way (of life) is
more important than doctrine (5.19; 7.15-23). Both the Ethiopic and
the Greek versions refer to the fact that the false prophets and their
followers have not only deviated from the true way but have also
slandered it. 'They were the ones who blasphemed the way of right-
eousness ... they spoke ill of it ... they forsook the way of the Lord'
(7 E = 22, 28, 34 A). The terminology of 'the way' appears in other
works belonging to the Petrine tradition (Acts of Petel- 6, 7, 12) and
was characteristic of the Palestinian and Syrian Jewish Christiansx.
For them 'the true way' meant the true religion and belonging to the
true religious trend. The common denominator of 'the way' and 'di-
verse doctrines' is 8xhhs1a (corruption, destruction, perdition).
They will thus bring destruction upon themselves, 'they shall become
the sons of perdition' (2 A); they will die, bringing damnation on
themselves and others.
It is at this point that divine intervention is to occur: 'And then
God will come' (3 A). The use of the noun 'God' in this context is
wholly unusual. Most often 'the Lord' is used, known from OT es-
chatology and used by Christians as an honorific title for Christ. Why
does a different word appear in this passage? One may argue that in
this passage Jesus is speaking to Peter and he does not call himself
'the Lord' in his eschatological sermons. This is very well, but why
does he not call Him that shall come 'my Father', as he did in the
eschatological parts of the NT, or why does he not refer to himself as
'the son of man'?

' W. Bauer, Wol-terh~rch,s . ~ 6665.

.
R. Bauckham, 'The Apocalypse of Peter: An Account of Research', in
ANRW 11.25.6 (Berlin, 1988) 4712-50 at 4737.
 FALSE PROPHETS 57

This question has not yet been adequately answered by previous

scholarship. It is certain that by 'Him that shall come' Jesus did not
mean himself; in the subsequent phrase, however, he does refer to
himself. The phrase is meant to answer the question whom God is to
come to: 'to my faithful ones' (Eni robq 7c1oro6q pou) - that is, to
the members of the Church who are faithful to the true way of life
and teaching, not falling to the lures of false prophets. Of them, the
text says: 'they thirst and hunger' (cf. the beatitude in Mt 5.6) - that
is, the truth the false prophets adumbrated, but the faithful ones still
desire. Nonetheless, their faithfulness is rewarded by affliction: Jesus
calls them the 'afflicted' ( B h t P o p ~ v o ~They
). probably remained a
minority within the congregation or they were persecuted by the au-
thorities on account of their behaviour. Finally, the revelation to Pe-
ter states that the faithful ones 'proved their souls in this life' (Ev
r o 6 t q t@piq raq y u x a ~'saurov 6o~~pC1~ovraq). The verb 6 0 ~ 1 -
p a r a may mean 'try' or 'tempt'. The activities of the false teachers
meant both a trial and a temptation for the faithful. Faith and faithful-
ness tried is more valuable than that which is untried (Jam 1.2,12).
The reward of the faithful will not fail to be given when God comes
in judgment. But the punishment of the unfaithful will also not be
delayed. The text calls them 'the sons of iniquity' (01 u I o ~rijq
dvopiaq), that is, those who have trespassed against the Law. 'Law'
may refer this time to the procedure against false prophets, or the op-
position to them (Deur 13.2-6; 18.20-22). It is what the 'sons of iniq-
uity' have failed to fulfil. God will therefore pass judgement upon
them. The author speaks in the name of those who consider them-
selves faithful and think of their fellows as fallen to the lure of false
teachers.

Historical Events and Personalities Behind the Text

Recent scholarship has maintained that the ~ ~ u 6 6 x p t o s oand t

~ s u 6 o x p 1 o r o q(false Christ) mentioned in c. 1 E stand for Sinion
hen Koseha9, the leader of the Jewish uprising against Rome in AD

R. Bauckham, 'The Two Fig Tree Parables in the Apocalypse of Peter',

JBL 104 (1985) 269-87; 'The Apocalypse of Peter', 4712.
58 JANOS BOLYKI

132-135, who was given the Messianic name 'Bar Kochba' (the Son
of the Star) on the basis of the prophecy in Num 24.17 by the famous
Rabbi Akiba, who at that time was well in his eighties. He was called
Bar Koziba (the Son of Falsehood, Y i b so6 ~ y&hFouq) by Chris-
tians, including Jewish Christians whom he persecutedI0. He is rela-
tively well known from the coins he minted, rabbinical as well as
Christian literature, and Roman records. The inscription of his coins
reads 'Simon Nasi' (Simon the Prince), which can be understood to
refer to the Messianic prince. He was ruthless with his opponents,
even if they were Jews; there is evidence that he had the town of
Tekoa burned down because it refused to obey his conscription or-
ders". He was fundamentally opposed to Jewish Christians because
they refused to acknowledge him as the Messiah and renounce Jesus'
Messiahship. Justin Martyr complained of this a few decades later:
'in the Jewish war of not long ago, Barchochebas, the leader of the
Jewish uprising, commanded the ruthless punishment of Christians
until they deny and blaspheme Jesus Christ' (I Apology 31.6). Ac-
cording to Roman history (Vita Hadriani 14.2) Bar Kochba's upris-
ing broke out in response to the prohibition on circumcision and, af-
ter its suppression, 580,000 men perished as a result of the ensuing
executions, famine, disease, and fires, which sounds rather unbeliev-
able.
Let us briefly review the evidence that Bauckham quotes in sup-
port of his identification of the false messiah in c. 1 E as Bar Kochba.
(a) It is characteristic of all eschatological literature to call one who
persecutes Christians a false messiah (Christ). This is true enough in
respect of Bar Kochba. In addition to Justin Martyr, this is found in
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.8.4 and Hieronymus, a d Rufinum 3.31. Apart
from Bar Kochba, there was no other Jewish personage who made
messianic claims and persecuted Christians between AD 80 and 160.
'The redaction can be seem to be controlled by a Sitz am Leben of
persecution under the Antichrist figure, specifically the situation of
Jewish Christians during the Bar Kochba revolt'". (b) The descrip-

lo P. Schafer, Gesclzichte der Juden in der Antike (Stuttgart, 1983) 162-3.

" Schafer, Geschichte, 168.
'?
Bauckham, 'Apocalypse of Peter', 4724.
 FALSE PROPHETS 59

tion in cc. 1-2 E could only have been valid for the period of the Bar
Kochba revolt. The author's word makes it clear that he still hopes
for the conversion of a significant portion of the Jews to Christianity.
He calls them 'the sprouted buds and fruit of the fig tree'. However,
their conversion is hindered by the activity of the Antichrist who tries
to sway Christianised Jews into renouncing Jesus' Messiahship.
Faithful Jewish Christian congregations did not comply, and thus be-
gan a period of martyrdom for them. (c) The text of cc. 1-2 E reca-
pitulates everything from former Christian tradition that has to do
with pseudo-messiahs, especially Jesus' eschatological sermons (Mt
24.4-5; 11.25-36). The passage calls on Christians to resist such de-
ception. All of a sudden, however, it modifies the plural to singular
and merely talks of one pseudo-messiah (Antichrist). According to
Bauckham, the author of ApPt must refer to Bar Kochba: 'That this
false messiah is Bar Kochba now seems a necessary conclusion'13
and 'The false messiah of E 2 is best identified with Bar Kochba'I4.
From the fact that after a series of false messiahs only one is men-
tioned, we may conclude that from the series of false prophets one
single false prophet emerges. One may compare the process of a col-
lective literature emerging from the activities of the rabbisI5.
Based on Bauckham's conclusions, we will demonstrate or at
least make plausible our hypothesis that if the false messiah in ApPt
was Bar Kochha, then the false prophet mentioned in A 1-3 must be
Rabbi Akiha hen Josef. We adduce the following arguments in sup-
port of our hypothesis:
(a) According to NT apocalyptic tradition, especially Revelation
(13.1 1-17 ; 16.13; 19.20; 20. lo), where there is a false messiah there
must also be a false prophet, who disseminates propaganda on behalf
of the false messiah among the believers and promotes misleading
ideology to persuade the believers to follow and worship him. This is
precisely what Rabbi Akiba did when, referring to Num 24.17, he
named Bar Koseba Bar Kochba, that is, a legal messiah from the
house of Jacob according to the messianic prophecy. 'Upon seeing

l3
Bauckham, 'Fig Tree Parables', 275-79, 286-87.
IJ Bauckham, 'Apocalypse of Peter', 4733.
IS E.P. Sanders, Pal11and Palestinian Judaism (London, 1977) 71.
60 JANOS BOLYKI

Bar Koseba, Rabbi Akiba said: "This is the messiah king! "' (j.Taan
4,7 and 68d)I6. Three independent rabbinical sources have statements
concerning this.
(b) A false prophet should have considerable authority in the
eyes of believers to grant credit to his deceptive words. Rabbi Akiba
could perfectly fulfil this requirement: he was one of the leading fig-
ures of the rabbinical reform movement in Jabne, the main author of
the Midrashim explicating the Pentateuch, the best-known exponent
of the Mishnah tradition and Taanaitic theology. He was a charis-
matic personality, and believed to be a seer1'. i
(c) Apart from Akiba's straightforward declaration that Bar
Koseba was the messiah, several of his indirect comments refer to the
fact that he saw his own eschatological-messianic hopes realised in
Bar Koseba. Schafer summarises this as follows: 'It appears from the
few messianic statements which Akiba made, apart from the so-
called messiah proclamations, that he held national-earthly as well as
politically coloured views concerning the events of the near future.
Though our sources have no direct reference to the Bar Kochba up-
rising, these messianic statements seem to prove that Akiba saw the
realisation of his messianic hopes in the Bar Kochba revolt (at least
temporarily)'18. Furthermore, we can be certain of his opposition to
Rome, for he identified it with Esau and Edom, the ancient enemies
of Israel. In explicating Gen 27.22 ('the voice is Jacob's voice but the
arms are the arms of Esau'), he deliberated on what the 'arms' of
Rome had done to his peopleI9.
(d) Rabbi Akiba was known as an enthusiast and mystic, and
wondrous signs were attributed to him. Such characters are easily in-
fused with the qualities of unique personages, and are prone to dedi-
cate themselves to the service of crediting their messages and aims.
'On the basis of what we know about Akiba's being an ecstatic, we
l6
P. Schafer, 'R. Aqiva und bar Kochba', in idem, Srlidien zlcr Gesclzichte
lrtld Tlzeologie des rabhit~ischenJlrder~tllrns(Leiden, 1978) 65-121 at 86.
l7
J. Neusner, art. 'Akiba ben Josef', in TRE 2 (Berlin, 1978) 146-74; C.H.
Hunzinger. art. 'Akiba', in RGG3 1 (Tiibingen, 1957) 209.
l 8 Schafer, 'R. Aqiva', 120.
l9 L.H. Feldman, Jew and Gentile it1 the Ancient World (Princeton. 1993)
493-94. note 57.
 FALSE PROPHETS 61

may well assume that his realisation about Num 24.17 [i.e. the recog-
nition of Bar Koseba as Bar Kochba] must have seemed to him a
pneumatic in~piration"~.Tradition handled his enthusiasm with a
certain irony. It is reported that after Akiba's declaring Bar Koseba
the messiah his companion and colleague Jochanan ben Torta said to
him: 'Akiba, you will have grass growing on your jaws but the son
of David still will not have come!' Concerning his mystical nature
and miraculous powers, tradition has it that when he studied the To-
rah he seemed to have fire above him as at the giving of the Law on
Mt Sinai. The one who was seen to have such fires above him must
also have seen fires glowing above Bar Koseba whom he claimed as
the messiah. Characteristic of his mysticism was his relish for the
Song of Songs. Not only did he attempt everything to support its can-
onisation, but also used the colours, lights and odours describing the
beauty of the bridegroom in Song 5.10-14 to depict the messiah king
bringing salvation - the same features that appear in the description
of the redeemed in the ApPt (15-16 E, 7-11 A). The end result, how-
ever, did not justity Akiba's enthusiasm: the revolt was brutally sup-
pressed. 'From then on, the Jewry refrained from all prophetic enthu-
~iasm'~'.
(e) It might also have been Akiba's eschatological and political
optimism that led him to identify Bar Koseba, who had at first
achieved military success, with the messiah king. Concerning his op-
timism, it was recorded that during a visit to Jerusalem he and his
companion saw a fox jumping out of the ruins of the Temple. His
companion began to cry, whereas Akiba began to laugh. He ex-
plained that he laughed because if the prophecy of Jer 26.18 about
the Temple becoming a wooded height is fulfilled, so will be Zech
8.4-5, where God promises that aged people and children shall live in
Jerusalem again, thereby foretelling peace and welfare2'.
(f) The accounts of Akiba's imprisonment and execution after
the suppression of the uprising are regarded as authentic. True

?" R. Meyer, art. y~u8onpocpfirq$,

in TIiWNT 6 (Stuttgart, 1959) at 824ff
and 835ff.
" Hunzinger, 'Akiba', 209.
" Schafer, 'R. Aqiva', 92-3.
62 JANOS BOLYKI

enough, the accounts do not connect this to his relation with Bar
Kochba but rather to the fact that he continued to teach the Law even
during Hadrian's persecutions when it was banned. It is, however,
certain that the measures against Jewish religious practice were taken
as retaliation for the revolt; by refusing to obey, Akiba expressed his
solidarity with the uprising. 'To Pappas ben Judah who urged him to
desist from studying and teaching the Tora, he answered with the
parable of the fox which urged a fish to come upon dry land to es-
cape the fisherman's net. The fish answered: "If we are afraid in the
element in which we live, how much more should we be afraid when
we are out of that element. We should then surely die." So it is with
us with regard to the study of the Tora, which is "thy life and the
length of thy days"' (Ber- 61b).

In view of the above, we can also better understand cc. 1-3 A. The
Jewish Christians who are addressed here suffered much during the
few years of Bar Kochba's revolt, who tried to force them to re-
nounce Jesus, for people cannot believe in two messiahs at the same
time. The uprising was still being fought when the redactor of the
ApPt combined the visions of heaven and hell, belonging to an earlier
tradition, with cc. 1-2 E and 1-3 A, which provide the framework to
the visions and refer to historical events of the period. Whereas cc. 1-
2 E sought to unmask the false messiah and urges readers to remain
faithful to Jesus, cc. 1-3 A likely did the same with respect to the
false prophet. We have several reasons to identify the false prophets
of the text with Rabbi Akiba and (possibly) his disciples. Jewish
Christian readers may well have seen the punishment of false proph-
ets, the & n h h ~ of~ athe text, fulfilled in the execution of Rabbi
Akiba.
V. Is the Liar Bar Kokhba? Considering
the Date and Provenance of the Greek
(Ethiopic) Apocalypse of Peter

EIBERT TIGCHELAAR

But this liar is not the Christ. And when they have rejected him, he will
kill with the sword, and many will become martyrs (ApPt 2.10).

In the past century scholars have been divided about the date and
provenance of the Apocalypse of Peter (ApPt). According to one
group, chapter 2 of the Ethiopic ApPt reflects the events of the
Judaean revolt of AD 132-135, and the liar and deceiver should be
identified with Bar Kokhba. In that case, the text may have a Pales-
tinian Jewish Christian provenance. Whereas older scholars took this
revolt as the terminus a quo, recent scholars argue that the text was
written during the revolt. The other group of scholars argues that the
description of ApPt 2 is of a general apocalyptic nature, not of neces-
sity refemng to Bar Kokhba. In fact, references to specifically Egyp-
tian elements, such as idols representing cats or reptiles, rather sug-
gest an Egyptian provenance. In that case, the Jewish revolt of AD
115-117 may be the background of ApPt 2.
In the last decades, the Bar Kokhba hypothesis has been resusci-
tated in the dissertation of Buchholz', and especially in a series of
publications by Bauckham2. Buchholz's discussion is to some extent

D.D. Buchholz, Your Eyes Will Be Operzed. A Study of the Greek

(Ethiopic) Apocalypse of Peter (Atlanta, 1988) 408-13.
* R. Bauckham, 'The Two Fig Tree Parables in the Apocalypse of Peter',
JBL 104 (1985) 269-87; 'Apocalypse de Pierre. Introduction', in F. Bovon
and P. Geoltrain (eds). ~ c r i r sapocryphes chre'tiens I (Paris, 1997) 747-49;
Tile Fate of tlze Dead. Studies on the Jewislz and Christian Apocalypses
 64 EIBERT TIGCHELAAR

marred by an incorrect understanding of the Ethiopic text3.

Bauckham, on the other hand, has presented the hitherto most thor-
ough and comprehensive statement of the Bar Kokhba hypothesis.
Not reflecting on Bauckham, but on earlier statements of the hypoth-
esis, Schafer questioned the identification4. More recently, Lietaert
Peerbolte dismissed the identification and date as tempting but not
compelling5.
Bauckham's arguments, which he first unfolded in 1985, and
elaborated on in 1998, may be summarised as follows6. Chapters 1
and 2 of the Ethiopic text are primarily based on Matthew 24, which
speaks of false messiahs and false prophets (24.24). The ApPr, how- I

ever, is only concerned with false messiahs, not with false prophets.
Moreover, the transition from multiple false messiahs in ApPr 2.7 to
a single false messiah in ApPr 2.8 and following suggests that the
author describes an actual messianic claimant. The concern with mar-
tyrdom in ApPt 2.10-1 l , 13 indicates that the author wrote in a situa-
tion of persecution. The only known figure who was regarded as a
messiah in the period in which the text could have been written was
Bar Kokhba, and there is evidence that he punished or killed Chris-
tians. Since the author expects Enoch and Elijah to come to denounce
the false messiah, he must have expected them to come before the
war was ended, i.e., between AD 132-135. It is unlikely that
Alexandrian Christians were very much concerned with the Bar
Kokhba revolt; therefore one may assume that the text was written in
Palestine. Other details fit nicely within this interpretation. The de-
scription of the messianic claimant as a liar fits with the nickname

(Leiden, 1998) 160-258: 'The Apocalypse of Peter: A Jewish Christian

Apocalypse from the Time of Bar Kokhba'. Earlier proponents of the Bar
Kokhba identification are discussed in Bauckharn, 'Two Fig Tree Parables',
286, note 58, and P. Schafer, Der Bar Kokhba-A~rfstand.Stlrdien z~m7
z~~eiterijiidischer7 Krieg geger7 Rot71(Tiibingen, 198 1 ) 6 1-2.
See the discussion of J.V. Hills, 'Parables, Pretenders, and Prophecies:
Translation and Interpretation in the Apocalypse of Peter 2', RB 98 (1991)
560-73.
"chafer, Bar Kokhba-A~rfstartd,62, 'mehr als unwahrscheinlich'
L.J. Lietaert Peerbolte, The Ar7tecederlts of Antichrist (Leiden, 1996) 55-
61.
Bauckham, The Fate, 176-94, 285-87: 'Two Fig Tree Parables'.
 IS THE LIAR BAR KOKHBA? 65
given to Bar Kokhba, namely Bar Koziba. The rebuke of Peter in
ApPr 16.8-9 for his proposal to make three tabernacles, and the em-
phasis that there is one tabernacle, not made by human hand, may
imply a criticism of Bar Kokhba's purported aspirations to rebuild
the temple in Jerusalem.
The evidence for the identification of the liar with Bar Kokhba is
cumulative. None of the arguments are in themselves compelling, but
the elements taken together seem to be strongly indicative of the
identification. The present contribution will comment on some of the
suppositions and arguments related to the identification of the liar
with Bar Kokhba.

Date

1. On The Use of a Frequently C o m p t Text

Most of the arguments concerning the identification of the liar with
Bar Kokhba and the dating of the text during the 132-135 war are
based on the text of ApPt 2 which is only preserved in the Ethiopic
manuscripts7. The comparison of the Ethiopic manuscripts with the
Greek Bodleian and Rainer fragments shows that in general the
Ethiopic corresponds to the Greek, but that the Ethiopic is less reli-
able in detail. Thus, the translation is said to be somewhat careless,
and the text not infrequently corrupt or confuseds. Bauckham ac-
knowledges that this makes it difficult to draw diffident conclusion
from the details of the Ethiopic text9.
Nonetheless, Bauckham argues that the transition from multiple
false messiahs in ApPt 2.7 to a single liar and deceiver in ApPr 2.8b
('his evil deeds"') and following indicates that the author is con-

' See the descriptions of the two manuscripts, one in Paris (= P) and one in
a monastery of Lake Tana (= T), in Buchholz, Your Eyes, 119-34. On the
relation, see Bauckharn, The Fate, 254.
"auckharn, 'Two Fig Tree Parables', 270-71; The Fate, 254. See also P.
Marrassini, 'Note sur le texte Cthiopien', in Bovon and Geoltrain, ~ c r i t s
apocrypkes I, 750-52 at 751, note 8: 'confusion continuelle entre masculin
et firninin et entre singulier et pluriel'; Buchholz, Your Eyes, 127.
' Bauckham. 'Two Fig Tree Parables', 270.
lo For the translation of c. 2, see Hills, 'Parables, Pretenders', whose gram-
66 EIBERT TIGCHELAAR

cerned with one specific pretendent. Perhaps one may emend the
plural of ApPt 2.7 to a singular'l, or consider the plural as deriving
from Mt 24.24, and the singular forms as portraying one specific
messiah". One should also note that the Ethiopic manuscripts differ
with regard to the number of several verbal forms (ApPt 2.8, 10)13,
and that in general Ethiopic does not always sharply distinguish be-
tween singular and plural forms14. The differences between the
manuscripts show that both Ethiopic copyists had difficulties with
determining the subjects of the verbs in ApPt 2.8-10, and that they
sometimes failed to understand the text. Yet, in spite of these
incongruences, the manuscripts do agree in using third person singu-
lar forms in ApPt 2.1 1- 13. One cannot rule out the possibility that ,
the switch from plural to singular was prompted by the statement
'and heithey will assure: I am the Christ'. The singular 'I am the
Christ' may have prompted the use of a singular 'he' throughout the
rest of the section.

2. Martyrdom and the Killing False Messiah

Whereas several elements of ApPt 1-2 are derived from Mr 24, the
motif of a false messiah killing many with the sword has no parallel
in Matthew. Mt 24.9 does mention martyrdom, 'but it is not a major
theme and is not connected with the false Messiahs'". The statement
that 'many' (ApPt 2.10, 11) will die and be martyrs may, however, be
derived from Mr 24.10 'many shall stumble' (wai T ~ T Eowav6ahto-
Ofloovscr~xohhoi), quoting Dan 11.41 (MT 15~3'M371; LXX wai

matical remarks are on the whole sound, though his attempt to make sense
of the probably corrupt text of ApPt 2.9 is not entirely convincing. For 'his
evil deeds' (or: 'the wickedness of his deeds') see Hills, 565, and the He-
brew expression 19VYn Y V l (for example 4Q417 2 i 8).
Hills, 'Parables, Pretenders', 573; Bauckham, 'Apocalypse de Pierre',
756.
l2
Lietaert Peerbolte, Antecedents of A~iticl~rist,57-8.
l3 ApPt 2.8 P 'he will assure'; T 'they will assure'; 2.10 P 'he will kill'; T
'they will kill him'.
l4 In the two ApPt manuscripts incongruence of number is found in 10.6
and 15.6, and differences between T and P in the Prologue 2, and 15.3.
Bauckham, The Fate, 183.
 IS THE LIAR BAR KOKHBA? 67

nohhai o~av6ahtoo1joovsat).This expression has been interpreted

in several ways, for example in the Ethiopic translation of Daniel in
mss 0 and P (ed. Lofgren) as 'many will be killed'. The motif of
martyrdom is also implicit in the remainder of Mr 24.10, which in a
minority reading includes 'giving over to death' ( ~ i qOavasov),
whilst the Ethiopic text of Mt 24.10 reads 'and they will be killed'
instead of 'and they will hate one another'.
Still, the element that a false messiah will kill many, has no prec-
edent. Even Lietaert Peerbolte, who questions the identification of
the liar with Bar Kokhba, believes that it 'most likely reflects the his-
torical reality out of which it originated'I6. The problem of the identi-
fication with Bar Kokhba is that whereas Eusebius tells that he killed
Christians, there is no evidence that 'many' were killed by Bar
Kokhba. Bauckham therefore suggests that a 'small number of mar-
tyrs would sufficiently explain the expectation that many more
martyrdoms would soon follow'". Buchholz's incorrect understand-
ing of ApPr 2.8-9 leads him to think that some Christians initially fol-
lowed Bar Kokhba, but then deserted his cause". This interpretation
is rightly criticised by Lietaert Peerbolte because the sources do not
characterise the Christians killed by Bar Kokhba as his former fol-
lower~'~.
With regard to Justin Martyr's and Eusebius' comments, one
should note that neither author views Bar Kokhba as a persecutor par
excellence. Justin Martyr observes in an aside to a description of the
Hebrew Prophets, that the Jews, like the Romans, 'kill and punish us
whenever they have the power' (I Apology 31). He then gives the
example of Bar Kokhba. The lack of any further attention to Bar
Kokhba in Justin's First Apology, may be due to the nature of this
work, or to the fact that Bar Kokhba did not stand apart in this re-
spect. One should also note that Eusebius, in his most extensive de-
scription of Bar Kokhba, calls him murderous and a bandit (Hist.

Ih
Lietaert Peerbolte, Antecedents of Antichrist, 60.
I' Bauckham, The Fate, 189.
'' Buchholz, Your Eves, 409. See Hills. 'Parables, Pretenders', for a dis-
cussion of the Ethiopic.
'' Lietaert Peerbolte, Antecedents of Antichrist, 59.
68 EIBERT TIGCHELAAR

eccl. 4.6), but does not mention persecution of Christians20. Only

where Eusebius gives a series of quotations from Justin Martyr (Hist.
eccl. 4.8.3ff), he includes the side-remark on Bar Kokhba. Finally we
have the short report in the Chronicle, that Bar Kokhba killed Chris-
tians who did not support his revolt. In short, persecutions by Bar
Kokhba are mentioned by these authors, but they do not suggest the
martyrdom of many.

3. The Liar and Deceiver

ApPt 2.10 refers to the false messiah as a 'liar', and in 2.12 he is
called a 'deceiver'. Bauckham argues that 'the idea of the Antichrist
as a deceiver was, of course, thoroughly traditional', and that '1 John
2.22 may well indicate that the Antichrist was sometimes known spe-
cifically as 'the liar' ( b yr&6o~qq)',
and that the use of the term 'liar'
might reflect a pun on the name of Bar Kosiba2'. Bauckham's refer-
ence to the 'Antichrist' is apparently influenced by I and 2 John, but
the point is that both in the Johannine Epistles and in earlier Jewish
texts 'lying' and 'deceiving' are terms which are commonly used for
both false prophets and (eschatological) opponents. This traditional
language is, for example, reflected in several biblical pesharim or
commentaries from Qumran which designate specific individuals as
'the liar' (3733 W'N), or 'spreader of lies who deceives many'
(1QpHab X 9 P'31 ;rYn;l 1 W N 3133 TIDb); 'the liar who deceives
many' (4QpPsa I 2 6 D l 3 1 ;rYn;l 1 W N 3133 WIN). Note also that texts
found at Qumran have Hebrew and Aramaic terms parallel to Greek
y~uFonpocpflrq~: lQH a XI1 17 (= Sukenik IV 16) 313 'N'33 and
4Q339 1 Nlp[W] lN131.
In other words: not only 'deceiver', but also 'liar' are traditional
terms, both of which are used by the author of the ApPt 2. These are
general designations for false prophets, and, presumably by exten-
sion, for false messiahs. As such these terms may be applied to spe-

O' Note that Josephus too refers to 'bandits' when referring to the groups
of 'impostors' related to the sign prophets such as the Egyptian (JW2.264).
" Bauckham, Tlze Fate, 190. Note the contrast between 'of course, thor-
oughly traditional', and 'may well indicate that ... sometimes known spe-
cifically'.
 IS THE LIAR BAR KOKHBA? 69

cific historical figures, as in 44339, the so-called 'List of False

prophet^'^^. The use of the name Bar Koziba ('son of the lie' = 'liar')
in Rabbinic texts is likely to be a pun on his real name Ben or Bar
K ~ s i b abut , does not mean that the term 'liar' in ApPt 2.10 is a
~ ~this
pun on Bar Kosiba. Because of the traditional use of the term 'liar'
one cannot know whether ApPt 2.10 should be interpreted generi-
cally or specifically.

4. Evil Deeds and Signs and Wonders

The seeing of the evil deeds of the liar in ApPt 2.8 is not commented
on by Bauckharn, whereas Buchholz, because of his incorrect inter-
pretation of the end of the verse, fails to understand the clause. A dis-
tant parallel to ApPt 2.8 may be found in 44169 (4QpNah) 3-4 iii 2-
5 which comments on Nah 3.7 'all those who see you will run away
from you'. The Qumran interpretation of the verse says that at the
end of time 'their evil deeds will be exposed', after which the simple
people of Ephraim 'will leave those who misdirected them'. The ref-
erence is to those looking for easy interpretations (generally inter-
preted as the Pharisees) who 'walk in treachery and lies'. Though the
pesher is not concerned with false prophets or messiahs, it describes
false teachers in terms which are remarkably similar to those found in
the ApPt.
The 'doing of signs and wonders to deceive' (ApPr 2.12) is de-
rived from Mr 24.24, which in turn depends on Deut 13.2-4. Note,
however, that we are dealing with the common topic of sign prophets
who promised to perform signs and wonders. This is clear from
Josephus' description of the sign prophets who try to deceive and to
delude the people with signs and wonders (Ant. 20.167-168)24.Some
'' See Discoveries in the Judaean Desert XIX (Oxford, 1995) 77-9.
"
R.G. Marks, The Image of Bar Kokkba in Traditional Jewish Literature
(University Park, Pa., 1994) 15, argues that later generations may not have
known that Koziva was not the original name.
2J Also other descriptions in Josephus' works describe these prophets as
mendacious, deceiving, deluding, and promising signs. See Ant. 18.85-87;
20.97-98; 20.167-171; 20.188; JW 2.259-263; 2.283-287; 7.437-450. See
for example R. Gray, Prophetic Figures in Late Second Temple Jewish Pal-
estine (New York, 1993) l 12-44.
70 EIBERT TIGCHELAAR

of these sign prophets, such as the Egyptian (Ant. 20.169-171; JW

2.261-263), claimed to be prophets but apparently also had messianic
aspirations. The fact that this motif of the 'false prophet' (JW 6.285)
or 'impostor' (yoqc,) who deceives and promises signs surfaces both
in the New Testament and in Josephus, shows that the similar terms
and phrases in the ApPt do not of necessity refer to a specific liar
who deceived and did signs.

5 . Ex eventu Prophecy
Bauckham and Buchholz point out that the text does not record Bar
Kokhba's defeat, and that therefore the work can be dated during the
132-135 revolt2'. ApPt 2.12 (the coming of Enoch and Elijah who
will denounce the Deceiver) refers to an event still in the future. In
fact, Bauckham seems to place the transition from the author's
present to the future in ApPt 2.11 between 'there will be martyrs by
his hand' and the next clause 'many will die and become martyrs' (or
perhaps, between the parallel clauses in ApPt 2.10). In other words,
the text is treated as a kind of ex eventci prophecy, although it is very
unspecific compared to such prophecies in other a p o c a l y p ~ e s The
~~.
prophecy consists of no more than three or four main movements2'.
First, a false messiah will arise who will try to deceive. Second, he
will kill those who reject him. Third, Enoch and Elijah will come to
denounce him, and, perhaps, fourth, the day of judgment will appear.
Ultimately, the argument of a specific ex eventu prophecy depends on
'the killing of those who reject him'. The evidence for this killing is
the short report in Eusebius' Chronicle, Hadrian's Year 17 (= AD
25
Bauckham, Tlze Fate, 184-185; Buchholz, Your Eyes, 412.
2h
Compare Dan 10-12 which like the ApPt, has been dated to a very spe-
cific period. Dan l l , however, gives a series of detailed descriptions which
can easily be correlated to the historical events preceding the Maccabaean
Revolt.
27
Buchholz, Your Eyes, 409-11, describes two more movements between
the first and second, namely that 'a group of Jewish Christians supported the
revolt at first and then turned against him'. Bauckham, 'Two Fig Tree Para-
bles', 279 and The Fare, 182, distinguishes between the killing of Christians
(ApPr 2.10), and Jews becoming Christians (ApPt 2.1 1) who too will be-
come martyrs.
 IS THE LIAR BAR KOKHBA? 71

133): 'Cochebas, duke of the Jewish sect, killed the Christians with
all kinds of persecutions, (when) they refused to help him against the
Roman troops', as well as Justin Martyr's statement (I Apol. 31) that
Bar Kokhba commanded to punish the Christians severely if they did
not deny Jesus as the Messiah and blaspheme him. We do not know
of any other persecution by a messianic claimant, but Bauckham ac-
knowledges that Lucuas, the leader of the 115-1 17 revolt must have
been seen as a messianic figure, and that it 'is likely enough that Jew-
ish Christians who refused to join the revolt wouId also have suf-
fered'2R.
In other words: it is possible to relate the first two movements of
the prophecy to the Bar Kokhba revolt. Yet, the descriptions are gen-
eral to such a degree that they may also refer to, for example, the
115-117 revolt.

6. Categories of Sinners
The catalogue of sins and accompanying punishments in hell (ApPt
7-12) includes some sins which are thought to shed light upon the
provenance of the text. On the one hand, the sin of making idols
'which resemble cats, lions and reptiles' (ApPt 10.5) strongly points
to an origin of the text in Egypt, though denunciations of animal idols
are not entirely absent from texts of Palestinian p r ~ v e n a n c e On
~ ~ .the
other hand, the unique groups of sinners in ApPt 9.2-4, namely perse-
cutors and betrayers of my righteous ones (9.2), blasphemers and be-
trayers ,of my righteousness (9.3), and false witnesses who kill (9.430)
may 'indicate a situation of persecution and martyrdom as the Sifz im
Lehen of the Apocalypse of Peter'31.
This catalogue of sinners seems to be a haphazardly assembled
collection of diverse sins, without a clear systematisation or an area
of special attention. However, one should note that the sins of ApPt

?' Bauckham, The Fate, 186.

"
See references in Bauckham, The Fate, 186-87.
'' The text seems to be corrupt, and probably should be emended to 'these
are the false witnesses'; see the Akhmim text and P. Marrassini's notes in
Bovon and Geoltrain, ~ c r i t apocryphes
s I, 766.
" Bauckham, The Fate, 184.
72 EIBERT TIGCHELAAR

9.2 and 9.3 stand apart for several reasons. First, the sins are quite
similar to those already mentioned in ApPt 7.2 and 3. Secondly, con-
trary to many other cases, there is no clear correspondence between
sin and p ~ n i s h m e n t ~Thirdly,
~. the Ethiopic text has here two first
person singular pronouns, in 'my righteous ones' and 'my righteous-
ness'. In the present text these first person forms should refer to
Christ, but in the catalogue of sinners there are no other first person
references, nor, for that matter, any specifically Christian elements at
all.
The present poor state of the text does not allow for a detailed
source-critical analysis of the ApPt. Yet, the combination of the three
elements mentioned above which put ApPt 9.2 and 9.3 apart, strongly
suggests that these sins were inserted into an already existing cata-
logue. This would mean that ApPt 7-12 was by and large an already
existing source which was reused and modified by the author of the
ApPt.
I suggest that the author modified an existing source or tradi-
tion3" Presently, the catalogue of sinners is part of a prophecy of the
judgment of the sinners, but its original visionary language is still
present in the visionary description of again and again 'place' after
'place', and perhaps in the 'behold' of ApPt 7.3.
Because of the references to cat-idols, the original catalogue, or
some of the elements, may have an origin in Egypt. The assumption
of an inserted or modified source in ApPt 7-12 does not help us to
determine to what extent the smaller framework of this section,
namely ApPt 3-6 and 13-14, were the work of the author whb incor-
porated ApPt 7-12. For example, ApPt 13 may in part also have be-
longed to the author's source, which was slightly modified by adding
'my' in ApPt 13.1.
The question is whether the additions or modifications to the as-
sumed original source (such as in ApPt 9.2 and 9.3) 'indicate a situa-
tion of persecution and martyrdom as the Sitz im Leben' of the text.

32
But Bauckham, The Fare, 218, finds a measure-for-measure punishment
in only eleven out of twenty-one cases.
33 See also Bauckham, TIze Fare, 184, and especially 207-8. Bauckham

only speaks of a 'tradition', and not of a 'source'.

 IS THE LIAR BAR KOKHBA? 73

The phrase 'blaspheme the way of righteousness' has a close parallel

in 2 Peter- 2.2 'blaspheme the way of truth', when discussing false
prophets and teachers. The references to martyrdom may be implied
in ApPt 9.2 which mentions those who persecute, and perhaps in 9.4
if one interprets the Ethiopic as 'those who put to death the martyrs
with a lie'. This would imply that the author added the sinners of
ApPt 9.2 and 9.3, and perhaps those of 9.4, in order to include those
who persecuted Christians.

7. The Heavenly Temple

In the transfiguration scene of ApPt, based upon M t 17, Peter asks the
same question as in Mr 17.4: 'do you wish that I make three taber-
nacles here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah?'. Mr
17.5 continues with the voice from the cloud which announces that
Jesus is the beloved son; in ApPr 16.8, however, Jesus severely re-
bukes Peter: Satan has veiled his understanding. Peter should not
build tabernacles, since there is one tabernacle, not made by hands,
'which my Heavenly Father had made for me and for my elect'. The
text carries on in ApPt 17.1 with a parallel to Mr 17.5.
Bauckham reads the severe rebuke in the light of Bar Kokhba's
presumed intention to rebuild the temple34.It would serve as a warn-
ing to those Jewish Christians who may have been tempted to partici-
pate in the attempts to rebuild the temple. Moreover, the following
verse would explicitly identify Christ (and therefore not Bar Kokhba)
as the true Messiah. It is clear that the text refers to the idea of a tran-
scendent temple (such as in Heb 9.11 or Rev 21.3). The point is how
one should read the expansion to the text of Mr 17. In Mr 17.4-8 there
is no explicit answer to or rebuke of Peter's question. One may imag-
ine that the author wanted to explain why Peter's question was inap-
propriate, expanding the text in the same manner as the text expands
on the physical appearance of Moses and Elijah. The main reason to
expect more than a mere expansion is the harshness of the rebuke.
Yet, even this may be a literary reworking of Mr 16.233'.

Bauckham, TIie Fate, 192-4.

3s The two points in common are the references to Satan, and to 'the things
of men' respectively 'the things of this world'.
74 EIBERT TIGCHELAAR

The main motif of ApPt 15-17 is life after death. The text elaborates
on the angelic appearance of Moses and Elijah, describes the paradi-
siacal abode of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the other righteous fa-
thers, and promises that thus will be the future glory of those who
pursue 'my righteou~ness'~~. The emphasis on the one tabernacle 'for
me and for my elect' (ApPt 16.9) makes here more sense as a refer-
ence to the future abode of the elect, then as a veiled warning against
Bar Kokhba's aspirations.

8. Conclusion Regarding the Bar Kokhba Identification

The interpretation of the text of the ApPt is hindered by the uncer-
tainties of the Ethiopic translation which is in many places problem-
atic or even corrupt. In ApPt 9.4 and 16.5, Bauckham interprets a dif-
ficult text as refening to persecution, whereas the Ethiopic can also
be explained differently. The same may go for the transition from
plural messiahs to a singular 'he' in ApPt 2. Comparison of the Greek
Rainer and Bodleian fragments show that the Ethiopic differs in
many details from the Greek. Therefore, all hypotheses based on de-
tails of the text should be considered uncertain.
The Parables of the Fig Tree in ApPt 2 describe a false messiah
in rather general terms which are also used in other texts (Qumran
pesharim, New Testament, Josephus) to denounce opponents or false
prophets. It comes as no surprise that some of these terms were also
applied to Bar Kokhba. The only element which is not common
apocalyptic stock is the emphasis on martyrdom. This may be a reac-
tion to persecutions during the Bar Kokhba revolt, but we do not
have any evidence of large-scale martyrdom in that specific period,
whereas Justin Martyr even states that whenever the Jews had the
power they killed Christians.
In short: the identification of the liar with Bar Kokhba is possi-
ble and tempting, but the arguments are not conclusive. However, the
issue is not only whether this identification is compelling or not, or

36 Bauckham, The Fate, 184 adopts the translation of Miiller: 'this is the
honour and glory of those who will be persecuted for my righteousness'.
Here, once again, the Ethiopic is problematic, but 'those who will pursue
my righteousness' seems preferable.
 IS THE LIAR BAR KOKHBA? 75

whether the text should be dated exactly to the years between 132
and 135, but also whether this particular identification should serve
as a hermeneutical key to the understanding of the composition.

Provenance

9. The Location of ApPr 15-7

An Egyptian provenance has been suggested on the basis of ApPr
10.5, whereas, more generally, Hellenistic influence is evident in, for
example, ApPt 14.1. However, ApPt 7-12 is likely to preserve older
traditions or an edited source which was incorporated by the author
into the work. On the other hand, a Palestinian Jewish Christian prov-
enance would be implied if the composition was written during the
Bar Kokhba revolt. Also Sozomen's report that the ApPt was still
read in some churches of Palestine in the 5th century, fits well with
the supposition of a Palestinian origin3'. Even if one questions the
Bar Kokhba identification, a Palestinian provenance need not be ex-
cluded.
The framework of the ApPr presents three events which are lo-
cated in the Gospels and Acts on three mountains. Both ApPr 1.1 and
Mr 24.3 locate Jesus' speech on the Mount of Olives. In ApPr 15.1
the scene is transferred to 'the holy mountain', commonly interpreted
as Mount Zion38.This seems to be consistent with 2 Peter 1.18 which
locates the transfiguration on 'the holy mountain', but not with the
location of the mountain of the transfiguration in Mr 17. The Gospels
do not specify which mountain is involved, but the pericope is lo-
cated in between events in the temtory of Caesarea Philippi (Mt
16.13) and Galilee (Mt 17.22). Ancient traditions therefore identify
the mountain with Mount Hermon. In ApPt 15-17 the transfiguration
and ascension are merged into one event. The Gospels indicate a
Galilean setting of the post-resurrection christophanies, Mr 28.16 re-
ferring to 'the mountain where Jesus had told them to go', but the
Acts account of the ascension indicates that the ascension was also

j7
See text and discussion in Buchholz, Your Eyes, 39-40.
Bauckham, Tlle Fate, 192-93; 300-301
76 EIBERT TIGCHELAAR

located on the Mt of Olives (Acts 1.12). There is, however, no evi-

dence that the author of the ApPt used either Luke or Acts.
One should consider the possibility that 'the holy mountain' of
ApPt 15.1, and perhaps also of 2 Peter 1.18, does not refer to Mt
Zion, but to Mt H e r m ~ n Or,
~ ~ .stated more cautiously, that the ac-
count was originally based upon traditions connected with Mt Her-
mon, rather than with Mt Zion or the Mt of Olives. First, whether or
not the name 'Hermon' means 'sacred mountain', the area around
Dan and Banias were cultic centres from Bronze Age times up to the
Late Roman period. Second, Nickelsburg has argued that the Book of
Watchers, the Testament of Levi, and Mt 16, relate sacred revelation
to Enoch, Levi, and Peter, in this particular tenitorqPO.I Enoch 6-16
and Test. Levi view Mt Hermon as the gate to heaven, through which
angels and some human beings go up and down.
A comparison of ApPt 15-17 to the New Testament accounts of
the transfiguration and the ascension show that though there are some
resemblances, the narrative and theological meaning has been
changed. Specific connections with the Enochic literature or the Test.
Levi are found in those elements of ApPt 15-17 which are not found
in the Matthean account of the transfiguration or the Acts account of
the ascension4'. These are the description of paradise (ApPt 16.2-4;
see 1 Enock 32), the opening of (the gates of) heaven, and the refer-

39 Not only Mt Zion is called a 'holy mountain'. See Ezek 28.14 which
calls the mountain of the gods a 'holy mountain'. On the other hand, the
combination of 'holy mountain' and God's announcement of his son, sug-
gests a relation with Psalm 2.6-7 which identifies the mountain as Mt Zion.
" G.W.E. Nickelsburg, 'Enoch, Levi, and Peter: Recipients of Revelation
in Upper Galilee', JBL 100 (1981) 575-600; 'Excursus: Sacred Geography
in 1 Enoch 6-16' in his 1 Enoch 1. A Comn7entary on the Book of I Enoch,
Chapters 1-36; 81-108 (Minneapolis, 2001) 238-47. See also C.H.T.
Fletcher-Louis, 'The Revelation of the Sacral Son of Man. The Genre, His-
tory of Religions Context and the Meaning of the Transfiguration', in F.
Avemarie and H. Lichtenberger (eds), Aufersrehung - Resurrectiorl
(Tiibingen, 200 1 ) 247-98 at 261-71.
41 More in general, Nickelsburg, 'Enoch, Levi, Peter', 600 already referred
to the fact that the ApPt, like 1 Enoch 17-19, records a vision of the places
of eternal punishment, and that there are parallels between the ApPt and the
Similitudes.
 IS THE LIAR BAR KOKHBA? 77
ence to the second heaven (ApPt 17.3,6; see I Enoch 13-16; Test.
Levi 2.6-12; 5.1). Note also that the description of Moses and Elijah
in ApPt 15.2-7 closely resembles the description of Noah in I Enoch
106. The reference to the one heavenly temple, and the short notice
that 'we saw and were rejoiced' (ApPt 16.9) makes sense if one lo-
cates the event in the same area where Enoch was brought to the
heavenly temple, and Levi saw the holy temple. In other words: the
reference to the heavenly temple belongs to the tradition of reveia-
tions in Upper Galilee. This, of course, does not exclude the possibil-
ity that the text also scorned Bar Kokhba's assumed attempts to re-
build the temple in Jerusalem. It does show that the Bar Kokhba
hypothesis should not serve as a hermeneutical key that veils other
possible explanations of sections of the composition.
VI. The Description of Paradise in the
Apocalypse of Peter

1. I decided to discuss the description of paradise in the Apocalypse

of Peter- (ApPt) for two reasons. First, because, according to R.J.
Bauckham, paradise has been even 'less studied" then hell; paradise
did not excite the fantasy of the artists and writers as much as hell
did'. The second reason why I chose this subject is because, accord-
ing to Ph. Vielhauer, apart from the unanimous praise of God, this
picture of paradise lacks any religious character, nevertheless it has a
pastoral idea: 'die Vorstellung, dass die "Envahlten und Gerechten"
Verdammte aus ihren Hollenqualen durch Fiirbitte befreien k ~ n n e n ' ~ .
The main purpose of my paper is to test Vielhauer's position. I at-
tempt to settle the issue by analyzing the description of paradise in
the ApPt and comparing it with other descriptions.
Vielhauer bases his statements on c. 14 of the Ethiopic text and
on chapters 15-20 of the Akhmim text. The Ethiopic manuscript reads
as follows:

R.J. Bauckham, 'The Apocalypse of Peter: An Account of Research', in

W. Haase (ed), Aufstieg lrnd Niedergarzg der romischen Welt 11.25.6 (Berlin
and New York, 1988) 4712-50 at 4733.
P. Bouet, Le fantastique duns la litte'rature latine du Moyen Age. La
na~~igation de saint Brendan (Caen, 1986): 'Si I'iconographie du monde
cCleste se rCvble froide et conformiste, les representations des dCmons et du
monde infernal manifestent avec eclat le talent des artistes et la vigueur de
I'imagination.'
Ph. Vielhauer, Geschichte der urchristlicken Literatur (Berlin, 1975)
512-3.
 THE DESCRIPTION O F PARADISE 79

And then I will give my elect, my righteous, the baptism and salvation
which they requested of me. In the field of Akerosya which is called
Aneslasleya a portion of the righteous have [sic Buchholz] flowered,
and I will go there now. I will rejoice with them. I will lead the peoples
into my eternal kingdom and I will make for them what I have prom-
ised them, that which is eternal, I and my heavenly Father. 1 have told
you, Peter, and informed you. Leave, therefore, and go therefore, (to)
the city which is in the west, to the vineyard (or: wine) (about) which I
have told you, that his work of destruction might be made holy from
the sickness of my Son who is without sin4.

Akhmim text:
15. And the Lord showed me a widely extensive place outside this
world, all gleaming with light, and the air there flooded by the rays of
the sun, and the earth itself budding with flowers which fade not, and
full of spices and plants which blossom gloriously and fade not and
bear blessed fruit. 16. So great was the fragrance of the flowers that it
was borne thence even unto us. 17. The inhabitants of that place were
clad with the shining raiment of angels and their raiment was suitable
to their place of habitation. 18. Angels walked there amongst them. 19.
All who dwell there had an equal glory, and with one voice they
praised God the Lord, rejoicing in that place. 20. The Lord said unto
us, 'This is the place of your high-priests <brothers?>, the righteous
men'5.

2. Concerning paragraphs 15-20 of the Akhmim text, Vielhauer

claims that it would lack any religious character, were it not for the
inhabitants who with one voice praised God. His statement is true but
the reason for this is that the description of paradise has a Greek
background - as Albrecht Dieterich demonstrated at the end of the
nineteenth century6. However, chapter 14 of the Ethiopic text has a
Greek background, too, as the terms 'Acherusian Lake' and 'Elysian
Fields' suggest.

I quote the English translation of D.D. Buchholz, Your Eyes Will Be

Opened. A Study of the Greek (Ethiopic) Apocalypse of Peter (Atlanta,
1988) 345, because his translation seemes to me to be more coherent than
those of others.
NTA 11, 634-5.
A. Dieterich, Nekyia. Beitrage zlir Erklarung der tleuentdeckterl Petrus-
apokalypse (Leipzig, 1893, 191 3') 19-62.
 The Acheron is a river of Thesprotia in southern Epirus, which
breaks through an impenetrable gorge into the Acherusian plain
where there was a lake in ancient times. The entrance to Hades was
reputed to be there at the confluence of the Cocytus and Pyriphle-
gethon streams. The setting of Odysseus' convocation of the dead in
Odyssey draws on the scenery of the Acherusian plain. Circe de-
scribes the immediate surroundings of the entrance to Hades (Odys-
sey 10.513-515). But the description belongs to the realm of folk-
tale: both the people and their country 'are part of the irrational
world which lies beyond the confines of the real world and surrounds
it, itself being bordered by the circumambient Oceanus. Helios rises
at the eastern shore of the river which encircles the world (12.4) and
sets at the western edges, where we find the pylai of Helios (24.12)
and the entrance to the Underworld (24.1 1 - 14)".
The Acheron is mentioned by Herodotus, too, concerning
Periander's divination for buried treasure: 'Periander had mislaid
something which a friend had left in his charge, so he sent to the ora-
cle of the dead, amongst the Thesproti on the river Acheron, to ask
where he had put it' (9.92)$.W.W. How and J. Wells comment on
this place as follows: 'The Acheron flows through profound and
gloomy gorge, one of the darkest and deepest of the glens of Greece.
... Hence it was a spot likely to be accounted a descent into hell,
where the ghost might be summoned back as was Samuel by the
witch of Endor (1 Sam. 28)'9.
We find the Acherusian Lake in Plato's Phaedo in a context
which is similar to that of the ApPt: 'Now these streams are many
and great and of all sorts, but among the many are four streams, the
greatest and outermost of which is that called Oceanus, which flows
round in a circle, and opposite this, flowing in the opposite direction,
is Acheron, which flows through various desert places and, passing
under the earth, comes to the Acherusian Lake. To this lake the souls
of most of the dead go and, after remaining there the appointed time,
' A. Heubeck and A. Hoekstra, A Commentary on Homer's Odyssev 2
(Oxford, 1989) 78.
Trans. A. de Stlincourt and A.R. Bum (Penguin Books).
W.W. How and J. Wells. A Conlnlentaly on Herodorus 2 (Oxford, 1912)
54.
 THE D E S C R I ~ I O NOF PARADISE 81

which is for some longer and for other shorters, are sent back to be
born again into living beings' (112e-11 3a)I0.
A. Dieterich collected almost all texts about the Elysian Fields in
Greek literature and some in Latin literature". He did not mention
Tibullus and Virgil's descriptions of the Elysian Fields; therefore I
treat them because they are important for our subject.
In elegy 1.3, Tibullus provides the first surviving description of
the Elysian Fields in Roman literature. He adapts the common Greek
and Roman picture of the Elysian Fields to the young lovers. Venus
will lead Tibullus to the Elysian Fields because he was always ad-
dicted to gentle love. There are dances, singing, the birds wander
freely; there are aromatic shrubs, sweet-smelling roses. There is no
more labour in Elysium than there was in the golden age. Groups of
youths hold hands and dance with garlands on their heads. Hell is
described as a deep night, contrasting with the dancing series and the
reds and greens of the preceding lines i2. So the phrase refering to
hell, at scelerata iacet sedes in nocte profunda (1.3.67), means that in
hell there is deep darkness; it suggests that in the Elysian Fields, in
turn, there is brightness and lightness. In elegy 1.10 Tibullus shortly
describes hell: 'there is no crop of standing corn below, no cultivated
vineyard' (non seges est in$-a,non vinea culta, 35). Putnarn is right
when he comments on this statement, 'The sentiment suits the poet's
present mood of devotion to the quiet life on the land and comple-
ments his description of the Elysian Fields at 1.3.61''3. Putnam's
reading of Tibullus parallels the Apocalypse of Peter, which also
mentions a vineyard in the description of paradise (14 E).
In Virgil's description, the Elysian Fields are flourishing, there is
a charming area of greenery and joyful places, all brilliantly illumi-
nated by rich celestial light, a special sun, and stars. Here the heroes,
statesmen, and artists - such as Orpheus - practise their former pro-
fession (Aeneid 6.637-50). This Elysium is particular because only a
few distinguished souls remain there forever; the rest, after complet-

' Trans. H.N. Fowler (Loeb).

I' Dieterich, Nekyia, 19-62.
"
M.C.J. Putnam, Tibullus. A Comnzeritary (Norman, 1973) 82-5.
I' Putnam, Tib~rllus,149.
ing their period of cleansing, accept their tainting bodies again
(Aeneid 6.742-7). The concept of the body as a prison for the soul is
of Orphic origin, and entered literature through Plato's works. It is
philosophy and contemplation that is able to set us free from the con-
taminating effect of the bodyI4. Plato, too, teaches the purification of
some souls: 'And those who are found to have lived neither well nor
ill, go to the Acheron and, embarking upon vessels provided for
them, arrive in them at the lake; there they dwell and are purified'
(Plzaedo 1 13a).
If we now compare the Elysian Fields of the ApPt with those of
Greek and Roman writers and poets, we find that the description of
the scene is Greek, but the inhabitants and their activities are differ-
ent. The inhabitants of the Elysian Fields of the ApPt are clad with
shining raiment and praise God. The special emphasis on light and
the praise of God is Jewish-Christian. Both motifs appear in Psalms
104.1-2: 'Bless the Lord, 0 my soul. 0 Lord, my God, thou art very
great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty. Who coverest thy-
self with light as with garment' (King James Version) and Ezekiel
1.28: 'As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of
rain so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was
the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I
saw it, I fell upon my face'. On the last day the righteous will shine:
'And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament;
and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and
ever' (Daniel 12.3); 'and the light of God shall shine unto them'
(1 Enoch 10.8)15; 'But for the elect there shall be light' (1 Enoch
5.7); 'And the Great Glory was sitting upon it - as for his gown,
which was shining more brightly than the sun, it was whiter than any
snow' (1 Enoch 14.20)16.

'' Cf. M.C.J. Putnam, Virgil's Aeneid. Interpretatiorz and Injlrterice.

(Chapel Hill and London, 1995) 287-9; J.N. Bremmer, Tlie Rise and Fall of
tlze Afterlife (London and New York, 2002) 60.
l5 Trans. J.H. Charlesworth, Tlte Old Testament Pseudepi~raplta,2 vols
(New York, 1985) vol. 1.
l6 Cf. H. Bietenhard, Die himmlisclte Welt im Urchristenrum und Spat-
judentum (Tiibingen, 1951) 137-42.
 THE DESCRIPTION OF PARADISE 83

3. As was mentioned above, according to Ph. Vielhauer the descrip-

tion of paradise in the ApPt has a pastoral concern: the elect and
righteous can free the wicked from the torture of hell. Vielhauer re-
fers to c. 14 of the Ethiopic text in order to demonstrate this idea. The
idea cannot be found, however, in that passage. Nor can we find it in
the Akhmimfi-agment. The structure of this fragment is quite different
from that of the Ethiopic text. The beginning of the fragment is simi-
lar to that of the Ethiopic text: it is about the false prophets. Then
heaven is mentioned, and the two righteous men and paradise are de-
scribed. If the original text discussed the elect, as c. 14 of the
Ethiopic text does, such a passage must have stood before the story
of the two men. But there is nothing comparable in the text. From
this I conclude that in the copy from which the fragment was tran-
scribed there was no mention of the elect requesting mercy for the
wicked.
The idea that the elect request mercy from Jesus for the wicked
in hell originates from a textual emendation of the so-called Rainer
Ft.agment made by M.R. James. The Rainer Fragment was first
printed by Wessely in 1924". K. Priimm wrote an interesting essay
on it in 1929IR,under the influence of which James emended the first
sentence of the fragment which originally read as follows:
Egoput r o i ~ I shall grant
~ h q r o i qpoll to my called
~ aE i K K ~ ~ and my
K T 0 1 S pOU ~ E O V chosen God,
tav o r ~ o o v if they call to
rui PE EK r i j ~ me in the
~ohaoeo~ t~rment'~

The text is written in vulgar Greek, nevertheless it can be interpreted

on the basis of Plato's following statement: 'And those who are found
to have lived neither well nor ill, go to the Acheron and, embarking

'' Ch. Wessely, Les pl~rsnncieris nioriunients hr ckr-istianisme P'cr-itsslrr-

pnpJ1rlrs(Paris, 1924) 482-3.
"'. Priimm, 'De genuino Apocalypsis Petri textu. Examen testium iam
notorum et novi fragmenti Raineriani', Bihlicn 10 (1929) 77-80.
l9
NTA 11, 637, note 43.
upon vessels provided for them, arrive in them at the lake; there they
dwell and are purified, and if they have done any wrong they are ab-
solved by paying the penalty for their wrong doings, and for their good
deeds they receive rewards, each according to his merits' (Phaedo
113d-e). Here is a case of those who have lived neither well nor ill and
therefore after death their souls go to the Acherusian Lake as to Purga-
tory where they are purified. The idea of Purgatory is to be found both
in the Old and New Testament, for example, inZechariach 13.9: 'And
I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as sil-
ver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried; they shall call on my
name, and I will hear them; I will say, It is my people, and they shall
say, The Lord is my God'; in Matthew 12.32: 'And whosoever
speaketh against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whoso-
ever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, nei-
ther in this world, neither in the world to come'20.The first sentence of
the Rainel- Fragrneilt can be interpreted in its original form in a satis-
factory manner; therefore we have no right to rectify it.
James emended the above sentence as follows: <nap>SSopat
toiq ~ h q z o i qpou ~ a Ei~ h S ~ t o pou t q 3v Eav a i r f p o v z a i p s E K
rijq K o h a ( ~ &-~ 'Then
q will I give unto my called and my chosen
whomsoever they shall ask me for, out of t ~ r m e n t ' ~This ' . emenda-
tion is problematic because its dogmatic content contradicts the tor-
ments in hell, about which the ApPr says they are eternal, for exam-
ple: 'they shall be punished forever' (6 E); 'and this is their
judgment forever' (10 E); 'therefore shall they be punished eter-
nally' (11 E) and so on. In spite of this contradiction, James' emen-
dation was taken over without any comment by P e t e r ~ o n ~ ~ ,
V i e l h a ~ e r ~and
~ , B a ~ c k h a m ~James
~ . explains his reading in this

'O Cf. art. 'Purgatorium', in H. Haag, Bihel-le.~ikoti(Einsiedeln, 1968).

21 M.R. James, 'The Rainer Fragment of the Apocalypse of Peter', JTItS
32 (1931) 271.
22 E. Peterson, 'Die "Taufe" im Acherusischem See', in Friihkircke,

Judentunl urld Gr~osis(Rome, 1959) 310-32 at 31-2.

23 Vielhauer, Geschickte, 513.
24
R. Bauckham, T l ~ eFate of the Dead. Studies on tlte J e ~ ~ i sand
l z Chris-
tiarl Apocalypses (Leiden, 1998) 147-8; J.A. Trumbower, Rescue for- the
Dead. The Posthunlus Salvation of Non-Christians in Early Christianity
(Oxford, 200 1 ) 50-1.
 THE DESCRIPTION OF P ARAD IS E 85

way: 'I have no doubt of the correctness of my restoration of the

opening lines, for they are closely paraphrased in the following lines
of Sib. Orac. 11'25:
And for them will almighty. eternal God provide (nap65~1)yet more.
To the pious, when they ask eternal God (OEOV ... alrfioovra~),
He will grant them to save men out of the devouring fire
And from everlasting torments. This also he will do.
For having gathered them again from the unwearing flame
And set them elsewhere, he will send them for his people's sake
Into another life and eternal with the immortals,
In the Elysian plain, where are the long waves
Of the ever-flowing, deep-bosomed Acherusian Lake26.(330-38)

According to James, these lines paraphrase the Rainer Fragment.

Therefore, he corrects the Rainer Fragment on the basis of this pas-
sage. In my opinion, these lines of the Sibyllines have to do with the
Rainer Fragment only inasmuch as they both originate from Plato.
The above lines of the Sibyllines are reminiscent of Plato's following
text: 'Those, however, who are curable, but are found to have com-
mitted great sins - who have, for example, in a moment of passion
done some act of violence against father or mother and have lived in
repentance the rest of their lives, or who have slain some other per-
son under similar conditions - these must needs be thrown into
Tartarus, and when they have been there a year the wave casts them
out, the homicides by way of Cocytus, those who have outraged their
parents by way of Pyriphlegeton. And when they have been brought
by the current to the Acherusian Lake, they shout and cry out, calling
to those whom they have slain or outraged, begging and beseeching
them to be gracious and to let them come out into the lake; and if
they prevail they come out and cease from their ills, but if not, they
are borne away again to Tartarus and thence back into the rivers, and
this goes on until they prevail upon those whom they have wronged;
for this is the penalty imposed upon them by the judges' (Phaedo
113e-114b).

lS James, 'Rainer Fragment'. 272.

?' Trans. U. Treu in NTA 11, 663.
86 TAMAS ADAMIK

4. From our investigation we can draw the conclusions that the back-
ground of the description of paradise is Greek, and the idea of the
Acherusian Lake as a place of purification of the souls originates in
Plato's Phaedo, just as the idea that the souls which are neither good
nor bad may receive salvation after purification. This idea is mirrored
in the first sentence of the Rainel- Fragment in its original form.
James' emendation, viz. that the called and chosen can free from tor-
ment 'whomsoever they shall ask Jesus for', is an impossible
thought. Bauckham is right when he writes: 'In such situations an
easy universalism which extends benevolent mercy equally to the
oppressors and the oppressed would be an affront both to the op-
pressed and to the divine righteousness for which they long'". In
spite of this statement, Bauckham accepts James' emendation with-
out any comment.
Nowhere can we find this idea except in the Sibyllines quoted
above. James is confident that the Sibyllines paraphrase the text of
the ApPt. Nevertheless, it could also be the other way round, as far
as chronology is concerned. The ApPt could have parapharased the
text of the Sibyllines because 'Kurfess dates the Jewish stage of the
Sibyllines I1 about the turn of the era and the Christian stage before
AD 150'28. In theory, it is more plausible that the Sibvllines influ-
enced the ApPt than inversely, because the Sibyllines were more im-
portant documents in antiquity than the ApPr. Above I proposed Pla-
to's Phaedo 114a-b as the source of the Sibyllines. Bauckham
perhaps thought the same when he wrote:
Some part in the origin of this idea must have been played by Plato,
Phaedo 114 A-B, according to which a certain class of sinners, who
have committed serious crimes but are curable, can escape from tor-
ment into purifying waters of the Acherusian Lake only by seeking and
obtaining forgiveness from those they have injured3.

" Bauckham, 'Conflict', 186.

'8
Charlesworth, Old Testament Pse~rdepigr-aphaI , 331; cf. A. Kurfess,
Sibyllische Weissagungen (Nordlingen, 1951) 285-6.
'9 Bauckham, op. cit. 196.
 THE DESCRIPTION OF PARADISE

Appendix

Since a photo of the Rainer fragment was never published, its publi-
cation will probably be welcome. I d o it with the permission of the
0ster-reichische Natiorzalbibliothek to which I express my gratitude. I
also print the Greek text of the fragment and its English and Latin
translation^^^.
Ekopat roiq Khqroiq pou ~ a E i~ h b ~ r o tpou c ; 0(cd)v Eav orfioovra'
p~ E K rijq Kohao&oq~ aGhoo i ahoic; Kahov panrtopa Ev omrqpiq
' A ~ ~ p o u o i ahipvqc;
q iiv ~ a h o G o t vEv r@
'Hhuoio n s G i ~pbpoq Gt~a~ooGvqq psra rGv &yiov pou ~ a i
cinsh~fioopat 2yh ~ a oii iKh&Kroi pou dyahhtGvr~qp&ra TGV
narptapxGv ~ i rq<v>
q [alioviav pou [palothsiav
~ a nio ~ f i o oPET' abrGv r a Ena[y]&hiaq
~ pou Bq EnqyystMpqv
abroiq Eyh ~ a 6i n(ar)fip pou 6 E[v] roiq 06(pa)voic;. iGou
EGfihwoa c o t n i r p ~ a Ek~0bpqv
i navra. ~ a nop~Gou
i ~ i n6htv
q
tip-

English translation 3 ' :

Then will I grant to my called and chosen God, if they call to me in the
torment and I will give to them a precious baptism unto salvation from
the Acherusian Lake which men call in the
Elysian Field the portion of the righteous with my holy ones. And I
shall depart, I and my exulting chosen, with the patriarchs, into my
eternal kingdom,
and I will perform for them the promises which I promised them, I and
my Father who is in heaven. Lo, I have manifested unto thee, Peter, and
have expounded all this. And go thou into a city that ruleth
over the fornication, and drink the cup which I promised thee, at the
hands of the son of him that is in Hades, that his destruction may have a
beginning, and thou mayest be worthy of the promise.. .

30
See also the text as established by Van Minnen, this volume, Ch. 11.
' I print James' English translation without his correction of the original;
cf. NTA 11, 637, note 43.
Latin translation3':
Praebebo vocatis et electis meis deum, si me vocaverint ex supplicio, et
dab0 eis pulchmm baptisrna in salute lacus Achemsii, quam in
campo Elysio partem iustitiae cum sanctis meis vocant. Et abibo ego et
electi mei iubilantes cum patriarchis in aetemum regnum meum,
et faciam cum eis promissa rnea, quae promisi eis ego et pater meus qui est
in caelis. Vide, declaravi tibi, Petre, et exposui omnia. Et proficiscere in
urbem, quae prae-
est fomicationi, et ebibe poculum, quod promisi tibi, in manibus filii qui est
in Orco, ut principium capiat destructio eius, et tu acceptus promissi[onis...

32
I translate the Rainer fragment into Latin because I am not satisfied with
Priimm's translation, 'De genuino', 77.
THE DESCRIPTION OF PARADISE 89
VII. Sinners and Post-Mortem 'Baptism'
in the Acherusian Lake

KIRSTI B. COPELAND

The Apocalypse of Peter (ApPt, early 2nd century AD) is one of the
earliest extant works to depict the 'baptism' of sinners in the
Acherusian Lake as a vital part of the Christian afterlife1. Through an
examination of other Christian apocrypha that mention a post-
mortem 'washing' in the Acherusian Lake, Peterson rightly raises the
question of whether the ApPt's 'baptism' is really a baptism at all.
Washing in the Acherusian Lake is closely tied to baptismal cult only
in the latest of the apocryphal works that includes the lake in its
otherworldly landscape: the Book o f the Resurrection o f J e s ~ i sChrist
lly Bartholomew the Apostle (ResJC, 8-9th c. AD)=.The majority of
the other Christian texts of the first four centuries AD to mention the
' The most important work to date on this topic is the now classic article
by E. Peterson, 'Die "Taufe" im Achemsischen See', in his Friihkirche,
J~rdent~rnzund Gnosis. Studien und Untersuch~~ngen (Rome, 1959) 310-32.
Also valuable on this topic is R. Bauckham, 'The Conflict of Justice and
Mercy', in his The Fate of the Dead. Studies on the Jewish and Clrristian
Apocalypses (Leiden, 1998) 132-48. And of course, any current work on
ApPt must be indebted to R. Bauckham, 'The Apocalypse of Peter: An Ac-
count of Research', ANRW 11.25.6 (1988) 4713-50.
A translation and edition of ResJC are found in E.A. Wallis Budge,
Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt (London, 1913) 1-48, 179-
215 and in M. Westerhoff, Auferstek~rngund Jetzseits im koptischen 'Buch
der At!ferstehung Jesu Christi. unseres Herrn' (Wiesbaden, 1999) 48-197.
On the dating, I follow Westerhoff, 226-7. Earlier dates from the 5th-7th c.
have been suggested. See J.-D. Kaestli and P. Cherix, ~ ' ~ v a n g i de le
BarthPlen~yd'aprks d e u e'crits apocryphes (Turnhout, 1993) 172 and M.R.
James, The Apocr~yplzalNew Testament (Oxford, 1924) 186.
92 KIRS T I B. COPELAND

Acherusian Lake, namely the second book of the Sibylline Oracles

(SibOr.2, mid 2nd century AD), the Apocalypse of Moses (ApMos,
1st-3rd c. AD)3, Paul of Tamma's Cell (late 4th century AD), and the
Apocalypse of Pazd (ApPl, late 4th century AD)4, suggest that the
connection between baptismal cult and the Acherusian Lake is very
weak in early Christianity5. The primary significance of the
Acherusian Lake for these texts must be sought elsewhere. This
'washing' is indicative of three other aspects of early Christianity:
the post-mortem washing of the dead, the need for an otherworldly
rite to mark completed repentance, and the ability of martyrs to grant
the remission of sins.
ApPt 14 refers specifically to 'baptism' (baptisma) in the
Acherusian Lake both in the Ethiopic manuscripts and in the Greek
Rainer fragment that preserves this passage6. However, among the re-

I am currently of the opinion that the ApMos is a Christian text. However,

many scholars have been inclined to see the ApMos as a Jewish text, see
Peterson, 'Die "Taufe"', 320-2, and L.S.A. Wells, 'The Books of Adam and
Eve', in R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseridepigrapha of the Old Testa-
ment (Oxford, 1963) 123-30. The ApMos is used extensively in the recon-
struction of the Jewish Adam legends in Louis Ginzberg, The Legends of the
Jews (Philadelphia, 1961). I.M. Stone, A History of the Literatul-e of Adam
and Eve (Atlanta, 1992) 57 seems to consider the work Jewish, but he is very
tentative. D.A. Bertrand, La vie gr-ecque d'Adan1 er d'Eve (Paris, 1987) 36
writes of the provenance of the ApMos that, 'il est sans conteste juif'.
On the dating of ApPl see P. Piovanelli, 'Les origines de I'Apocal-ypse de
Pazrl reconsidCrkes', Apocrypha 4 (1993) 25-64 and now K. Copeland, Map-
ping tlze Apocalypse of Palrl. Geograp17yy,Ger1r-e and History, Dissertation
(Princeton, 2001) 21-35. Both date ApPl by the consular date in its preface,
AD 388, arguing against a third-century date suggested by R. Casey, 'The
Apocalypse of Paul', JTS 34 (1933) 1-33.
It is worth noting that, to my knowledge, no text from Nag Hammadi
mentions the Acherusian Lake. Thus, the magical text London Ms. Or. 5987
remains the only text with gnostic associations to mention the Acherusian
Lake; see A.M. Kropp, Airsgewalrlte Koptische Zauherte-rre (Brussels,
1931) 1.22-8,II.149-60. It does not, however. refer to washing or baptism in
the Acherusian Lake. Thus. there is no evidence of a particular connection
to gnosticism as Peterson, 'Die "Taufe"', 332, conjectured.
M.R. James, 'The Rainer Fragment of the Apocalypse of Peter', JTS 32
(1931) 270-9. For the Ethiopic, I rely on D.D. Buchholz, Your Eyes Will Be
 SINNERS AND POST-MORTEM 'BAPTISM' 93

maining Christian apocrypha that mention the Achemsian Lake, only

the Latin version of ApPl uses the same technical term, ' b ~ p t i z a t ' ~ .
Although the long Latin manuscripts of ApPl are generally the best
indication of its contents, the late Greek abbreviations and the Coptic
version are often more reliable witnesses to the original Greek vo-
cabulary. Notably, none of these manuscripts refers to baptism. The
Greek manuscripts of ApPI describe the soul being cast (ballouein)
into the Acherusian Lake8. And the Coptic manuscript says that
Michael washes ( i ~ k m the
) ~ soul in the Acherusian Lakelo. The other
apocryphal texts agree with the Coptic version of ApPI. In ApMos, a
seraph washes (apolouein, apoplounein) Adam's soul in the
Acherusian Lake". Even ResJC, which uses baptizein in a different
context, again records that Michael washed (iokm) the soul in the
Acherusian Lake. Thus, ApPr is in the minority of these Christian
texts in referring specifically to a 'baptism' and not to a 'washing' in
this otherworldly lake.
Peterson contrasts the use of 'baptism' in the Christian ApPt and
the Latin ApPI with 'washing' in ApMos, a text he considers to be
Jewish. He attempts to show that 'baptism' in the Acherusian Lake is
Opened. A Study of the Greek (Ethiopic) Apocalypse of Peter (Atlanta,
1988) 345.
' ApPl 22 ( L l : P, StG, Am), ed. T. Silverstein and A. Hilhorst. Apoca-
!\yse of Paul. A New C~iticalEdition of Tllree Long Latin Versions (Ge-
neva, 1997) 118-9. The language of the earliest Latin manuscript (P, 8th c.
AD) is usually dated to the 6th c. AD.
V p P l 22 (Greek), ed. C. von Tischendorf, Apocalypses Apoclypkae
(Lipsiae, 1866) 51.
Although jokrn can be used in reference to baptism, baptizein would nor-
mally be rendered in Coptic by ti joknl, ti on7s or baptize. Without the helper
verb ti, jokm generally means to wash. See W.E. Crum, A Coptic Dictionary
(Oxford, 1939) 762-3.
In ApPI 22 (Coptic), ed. Copeland, 262. Also edited by E.A. Wallis Budge,

Miscellaneo~tsTexts in the Dialog~reof Upper Egypt (London, 1915).

" There are three main editions of the Greek ApMos. Bertrand, La vie

RI-ecque; M. Nagel in A.-M. Denis (ed), Concordance grecqlie des

pse~rd6pi,qrapkesd'Ancien Testan~erlt(Louvain, 1987) 815-8, reprinted in G.
Anderson and M. Stone, A Synopsis of the Books ofAdan? ard Eve (Atlanta,
1994); C. von Tischendorf, 'Apocalypsis Mosis', in Apocalypses Apocry-
phae, 1-23.
94 KIRSTI B. COPELAND

a secondary Christianisation of a Jewish motifI2. Peterson's argument

has been challenged by Marinus de Jonge and Johannes Tromp, who
highlight his failure to find Jewish parallels to the use of the
Achemsian Lake outside of ApMos13.
Peterson claims that Louis Ginzberg has found and noted several
Jewish parallels to washing in the Acherusian LakeI4. However,
Ginzberg's suggested parallels demonstrate his own mistaken as-
sumptions about the Acherusian Lake in ApMos; they do not demon-
strate that ApMos reflects common Jewish lore. First of all, Ginzberg
writes that Adam is washed in the 'river Acheron'Is, when ApMos
clearly states, the 'Acherusian Lake'. Ginzberg does not then adduce
Jewish texts that mention either the Acherusian Lake or the river
Acheron. Instead he draws parallels to the river of fire, wrongly as-
suming that the Achemsian Lake, the river Acheron, and the river of
fire are all the same otherworldly bodyI6.
In fact, although many modem scholars believe that early Chris-
tians conflated the Acherusian Lake and the river of fireI7, none of
the Christian apocrypha that mention the lake describes it as a lake of
fire. Furthermore, many of these Christian apocryphal works contain
a river of f i e in addition to the Achemsian Lake, and this river of fire
invariably has a very different function from that of the lake. In ApPt
and ApPI, the river of f i e eternally torments the damnedIx. As a

l2 Peterson, 'Die "Taufe"', 322.

l3 M. de Jonge and J. Tromp, The Life of Adam and Eve and Related Lit-
erature (Sheffield, 1997) 67-75.
l4 Peterson, 'Die "Taufe"', 322.
j5 Ginzberg, Legends 1, 100.
l6
Ginzberg, Legends 1, 125, note 134. See also K. Kohler, 'Acheron, or
Acherusian Lake', Jewish Encyclopedia 1, 165. Kohler equates the river of
fire in 1 Etzock 17 with Acherusia.
l7 See, for example, C.-M. Edsman, Le haptEme de feu (Uppsala, 1940)
57-66. Edsman argues that the baptism in the Acherusian Lake in ApPt and
ApPI corresponds to the many examples of post-mortem baptism by fire. So
also V. MacDemot, The Cult of the Seer in the Ancient Middle East
(Berkeley, 1971) 175.
Of course, the presence of rivers of fire comes as no surprise given the
fiery nature of the Greek Hades and the Hellenistic Jewish hell inherited by
Christian authors. See A. Dieterich, Nekyia. Beitrage zur Elsl-larung der
 SINNERS AND POST-MORTEM 'BAPTISM' 95

means of punishment, the river of fire is distinct from the Acherusian

Lake, a means of forgiveness. In ResJC, the river of fire does not in-
flict eternal torment, instead it tests the soul, becoming like a river of
water to the righteous. The soul first passes through the river of fire,
and then, it is washed in the Acherusian Lake; the two bodies of wa-
ter are separate, even if proximate. Moreover, related texts that de-
scribe baptism of the righteous in the river of fire never, to my
knowledge, refer to that fiery river as the Acherusian Lake19.
Since Ginzberg's parallels to the river of fire are insufficient,
there is little evidence at this point to suggest that the post-mortem
washing in the Acherusian Lake derives from a Jewish source. Yet
there is good evidence that this is primarily a 'washing' and only sec-
ondarily a 'baptism', raising the question of what other significance
this post-mortem washing might have held for early Christians.

I . Washing of the Dead, Repentant Sinners, and Martyr Cult

Notably, early Jews and Christians both washed their dead for
burial2'. In Acts 9.37, before Peter came to raise Tabitha, 'they had
washed (lousantes) her and laid her in a room up stair^'^'. The Gospel
of Peter (mid-2nd c. AD) adds a detail to the burial of Jesus not

neuentdeckten Petrusapokalypse (Berlin, 1893, 191 3') and M . Himmelfarb,

Tours of Hell. An Apocalyptic Form in Jewish and Christian Literature
(Philadelphia, 1983) 1 10-3.
Iy An argument could be made that the baptism in the river of fire in the
Coptic Encomium on Saint John the Baptist by Saint John Ch~ysostom,
which claims at this point to be quoting an Apocalypse of Janles
(EncApocJa), derives in part from the washing of the soul in the Acherusian
Lake of ApPI. EncApocJa can claim to know ApPI on at least two other ac-
counts: the golden boat and the fruitful date-palms of Paradise that yield
ten-thousand clusters. If, in fact, EncApocJa does know ApPI, it is all the
more intriguing that the author does not expressly conflate baptism in the
river of fire with washing in the Acherusian Lake; he does not mention the
latter at all. An edition and translation of EncApocJa is found in Budge,
Coptic Apocrypha, 128-45, 335-5 1 .
*O See A. Rush, Death and Burial in Christian Antiquity (Washington,

"1941)Trans.
112-7.
The Holy Bible. New Re~~ised
Standard Version (Grand Rapids,
Michigan, 1989).
96 KIRSTI B . COPELAND

found in any of the canonical gospels in that Joseph of Arimathea

'washed' (louein) Jesus before he wrapped his body in a linen
~ 1 0 t h Tertullian
~~. and Dionysius of Alexandria also refer to post-
mortem baths for the dead23.The Acts of Peter (Apt, late 2nd c. AD)
has Marcellus take Peter down from the cross and bathe him in milk
and wine. The washing of the dead in milk may be reflected in ApPl
22, which describes the Acherusian Lake as 'a river whose waters
were very white, whiter than milk'24.
The washing of the corpse certainly did take on deeper religious
meaning for many of those who performed the act. Gregory of
Nazianzus, for example, warns people not to defer baptism until the
corpse is washed (louein) for burial2{ preaching against those who
linked the washing of the corpse to the washing of the soul. In the
Sacramentaly of Gellone (6th c. AD), monastic practitioners in late
antique Gaul ask God to wash the soul with indulgence as they wash
the body with water2< Although neither of these is directly related to
the traditions around the Acherusian Lake, they demonstrate that the
washing of the corpse and the washing of the soul were linked in the
Christian imagination.
Among the texts that deal explicitly with the Acherusian Lake,
the connection to burial practices is best seen in ApMos. In ApMos,
the archangel Michael expressly asks God about funeral rites. Al-
though Abel dies before Adam, he has not yet been prepared for
burial, so this is uncharted territory for everybody, angels included.
God tells Michael and the others, 'Go away to Paradise in the third
heaven, and strew linen clothes and cover the body of Adam and
bring oil of the "oil of fragrance" and pour it over him'27. Because
the washing of Adam in the Acherusian Lake takes place before this

" GPt 6.24, NTA I , 224, compare Mt 27.59, Mk 15.46, Lk 23.53, Jn 19.40.
23 Tertullian, Apol. 42.2; Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 7.22.9.
" ApPl 22, trans. H . Duensing and A. de Santos Otero, NTA 11, 726.
l5 Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 40.1 1 (PG 36.372-373).
26 Sacranrentary of Gellorre 2895, ed. A. Dumas, CCSL 159 (Tumhout,

1981) 462. See P. Brown, 'The Decline of the Empire of God', in C.W.
Bynum and P. Freedman (eds), Last Things. Death and the Apocalypse irr
the Middle Ages (Philadelphia, 2000) 41-59 at 48.
27 ApMos 40.1-2, trans. Wells, 151.
 SINNERS AND POST-MORTEM 'BAPTISM' 97

exchange between God and his archangel, De Jonge and Tromp ar-
gue that it is not related to burial practices2x.Granted, it is Adam's
soul that is washed in the Acherusian Lake and not specifically his
corpse. But it seems unnecessary to separate the care of the soul from
the care of the body, as evidenced by Gregory of Nazianzus' oppo-
nents. Adam is already dead and washing of the body would natu-
rally take place before any other rite. In fact, to have described the
washing of the soul in the Acherusian Lake and then the washing of
the body would have been redundant.
Although comparison to burial practices provides one answer to
the question of what these texts mean by washing in the Acherusian
Lake, it does not exhaust the relevant associations. 'Baptism' in ApPt
is, in a sense, a Christianisation of a pre-Christian washing in the
Acherusian Lake. This pre-Christian Acherusian Lake is not Jewish,
as Peterson hoped to prove, but classical. Of the many classical
sources that mention the Acherusian Lake, either as an earthly body
of water or as an underworld lake, Plato's mythic description of the
world in the Phaedo 11 le-114c provides the closest parallel to the
Christian ap~crypha'~.
In Plato's Phaedo, souls are judged and divided into four differ-
ent categories. Those who are incurable are sent to their appropriate
fate in Tartarus from which they will never reemerge (1 13e). Those
who have lived a life of surpassing holiness pass upward to pure re-
gions on the earth's surface (1 14b-~)~O. Two categories of souls fall
in between these two extremes: those who have lived neutrally and
e"' Jonge and Tromp, The LLife of Adan1 and Eve, 70.
'9
For descriptions of the Acherusian Lake as a real world location, see
Thucydides 1.46; Livy, 8.24; Strabo 5.243-5, 6.256, 7.324; etc. For the
Acherusian Lake as an underworld lake, see Homer, Od. 10.513; Strabo
1.26; Virgil, Aeneid 6.107; etc. See 'Acheron' and 'Acherusia' in RE 1
(Stuttgart, 1894) 217-9 and 'Acheron' in Der KIeirle Paulv 1 (Stuttgart,
1964) 45-6; J.G. Frazer. Pa~rsanias'sDescription of Greece 2 (London,
1913) 160-2; J.N. Bremmer, The Rise and Fall of the Afterlife (London and
New York, 2002) 71-3.
Plato also mentions a sub-category of this fourth group, namely those
who purify themselves by philosophy, who will live in even more exquisite
surroundings. For the separation of post-mortem souls into four separate cat-
egories, cf. 1 Elloch 22 and Augustine, Enchiridion, passim.
98 KIRSTI B. COPELAND

those whose sins are great but curable. Both of these are purified of
their sins in the Achemsian Lake, which frees (apoluein)" them
through punishment (1 13d)32.The former, those who have lived a
neutral life, are purified as a matter of course. But the latter group,
which consists of souls who misused others in anger and then spent
the rest of their lives in repentance (metamelon), can only enter
the Acherusian Lake from their less enviable positions in the
Pyriphlegethon or the Cocytus if they can convince those whom they
have wronged to invite them to do so (113e-114b). For Christian au-
thors, this final category, the curable sinners, maintains the strongest
association with purification in the Achemsian Lake.
The majority of the Christian apocrypha that refer to the washing
of the deceased in the Achemsian Lake agree with the Phaedo in that
righteous souls are never washed in the lake, only the souls of sin-
ners. This is true for the Rainer Fragment of ApPt, ApMos, ApPl, and
SibOl-2. ApPt and SihOl-2 both allow sinners to be brought into the
Achemsian Lake solely through the intervention of others, while
ApMos and ApPl require the soul's own repentance.
ApPt and SibOl-2 are markedly similar to the Phaedo because a
soul cannot be washed in the Achemsian Lake without the benefi-
cence of another soul. This reading of ApPt is based not on the
Ethiopic version, but on M.R. James' reconstruction of the Greek
Rainer fragment. James emends the passage to read, '1 will grant
(par-exomai) to my called and my elect whomever they ask of me
(hon ean ait&sontai)from out of punishment. And I will give (dbso)
them a beautiful baptism in salvation of the Acherousian lake which
is said to be in the Elysian Field, a share in righteousness with my
saints.. . '33. James corrects theon ean st2sontai to read hon ean

31 It is possible that apolouein in the ApMos is a variant of or a wordplay

on the Phaedo's apoluein.
3 q l t h o u g h Plato's Acherusian Lake frees 'through punishment,' there is
no punishment associated with the Acherusian Lake in any of the Christian
apocrypha, as I mention above.
33 James, 'Rainer Fragment', 271; see also the contributions of Adamik

and Van Minnen in this volume. However, I have primarily followed the
more fluid English translation of Buchholz, 345. I have made small changes,
which I note through italics.
 SINNERS AND POST-MORTEM 'BAPTISM' 99

a i t e ^ ~ o n t a an
i ~ ~emendation
, he justifies on the basis of SibOr2, which
he rightly reads as deeply indebted to A P P ~ApPt ~ ~ .14 is paraphrased
beautifully in the poetic verses of SibOr 2.330-3836:
And to them will almighty, eternal God grant (parexei) yet more.
To the pious, when they ask eternal God (hopotan theon aphthifon
aite^sontai),
He will give (d6sei) them to save men out of the devouring fire
And from everlasting torments. This also he will do.
For having gathered them again from the unwearying flame
And set them elsewhere, he will send them for his people's sake
Into another life and eternal with the immortals,
In the Elysian plain, where are the long waves
Of the ever-flowing, deep-bosomed Acherusian Lake.

James' reconstruction of the Greek fragment of ApPt on the basis of

SihOr2 has been widely accepted3'. It is safe to say, then, that in the
earliest versions of ApPt, as in SibOr2, souls are washed in the
Acherusian Lake only on account of others. These souls are much
like those in the Phaedo who are allowed to leave the Pyriphlegethon
and the Cocytus because they have been forgiven by those whom
they injured.
ApPr and SibOr2 do differ from the Phaedo in one very signifi-
cant way: they grant the ability to rescue individuals from torment to
a different class of souls. In the Phaedo, on the one hand, it is the
right of an injured soul to forgive its injurer. The injured soul is itself
a neutral or curable sol11 who is in the Acherusian Lake, not one of
those who have led a holy life and passed upward. ApPt and SibOr2,
on the other hand, grant the ability to rescue other souls to 'my called
James' reconstruction is to be preferred to reading the manuscript as it
stands: 'I will give to my called and my elect God, if they will raise me
from the punishment'. Or, as C.D.G. Miiller, NTA 11, 637, note 42, translates
it: ' I will grant to them God, if they call to me in the torment.'
" 5 . R James, The Testan7ent of Abraham (Cambridge, 1892) 23-4, con-
jectured that SihOr2 was based on ApPr even before the fuller Ethiopic
manuscripts were discovered.
36 Sib. Or. 2 330-8, trans. Ursula Treu, NTA 11.663. Where I have modified
the translation, I have used italics.
" See, for example, Peterson, 'Die "Taufe"', 310; Miiller, NTA 11, 637,

note 42; Buchholz, Your Eym, 344; Bauckham, The Fate, 145.
100 KIRSTI B. COPELAND

and my elect' and the 'pious' respectively. These righteous souls do

not wait in or tarry near the Acherusian Lake. Their reward is else-
where; according to the ApPt, the elect 'will go rejoicing with the
patriarchs into my eternal l~ingdom"~.The Acherusian Lake is
merely a 'share in righteousness', fit only for those whom the elect
remove from the punishments - not the proper abode for the elect
themselves. Thus, although ApPt and SibOl-2 agree with the Phaedo
that the souls of the righteous do not bathe in the Acherusian Lake,
they grant the ability to intercede to the righteous, not to the other
neutral or curable souls.
Bauckham suggests that it is 'tempting to think that the idea of
the salvation of the damned by the intercession of the righteous ap-
pealed to the author of the Apocalypse of Peter because of its congru-
ence with the Christian tradition of praying for enemies and persecu-
tors ( M t 5.44)'39. Bauckham's conjecture is related to the emphasis
placed in ApPt 2 on martyrs and martyrdom and the inclination of
martyrs to pray for the forgiveness of their persecutors (Acts 7.60;
Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.2.5; Augustine, De civ. Dei 21.18)40. In sug-
gesting that the elect rescue only their persecutors, Bauckham seems
to be over-influenced by the parallel text in the Phaedo. Neither ApPt
nor SihOd limits whom the elect are able to save from fiery torment.
Bauckham is, however, very likely correct that the elect of ApPr de-
rive their ability to secure the release of others through their status as
martyrs. If the elect of the ApPt are martyrs, they can release, as ApPt
suggests, whomever they choose4'.
38
ApPt 14, trans. Buchholz, 345.
39 Bauckham, Tlie Fate, 235.
Bauckham, T l ~ eFate, 147, 153-9.
4' Peterson, 'Die "Taufew', 315-6, suggests that the function of the
Acherusian Lake in ApPr and SibOlZ is a Christianised version of the Rab-
binic notion that all Israel has a share in the world to come. He bases much
of his argument on God saving men out of the torments for 'his people's
sake' (SibOr 2.335). The texts, however. do not suggest that all Christians
will be baptised in the Acherusian Lake, only those whom the pious choose.
In fact, SihOr 2.339-41 does not express confidence that all Christians will
be saved. for the narrative voice bemoans his own future: 'Ah, unhappy me,
what will become of me in that day! For that in my folly, labouring more
that all, I sinned, taking thought neither for marriage nor for reason'. trans.
Treu, 663.
 SINNERS AND POST-MORTEM 'BAPTISM' 101

Already in the second century, martyrs and confessors could

grant the remission of sins to their fellow C h r i ~ t i a n s For
~ ~ . instance,
the account of the martyrs of Lyons and Vienne states: 'They de-
fended all and accused none; they loosed all and bound none; they
prayed for those who treated them so cruelly, as did Stephen, the ful-
filled martyr: "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." If he pleaded
for those who were stoning him, how much more for brother-chris-
ti an^?'^^ The intercession of a confessor on behalf of another Chris-
tian also appears in the Acts of Paul and Thecla (APTh) 28-944.
Falconilla seeks Thecla's intercession from beyond the grave, and
Thecla prays on her behalf so that she may go to the place of the just.
The prayer is efficacious since Thecla is now facing a martyr's death.
For early Christians, martyrdom was seen as a second baptism, since
the first could not be repeated45.The blood of the martyrs could wash
clean not only the sins of the martyrs themselves, but of others as
well 6. The use of the term 'baptism' in ApPt may, in fact, have de-
J

rived through an association of both re-baptism through blood and

the Acherusian Lake with martyr cult and not through a connection
with baptismal cult 7.
J

The ability of the martyr-elect in ApPr to forgive sins makes it

unnecessary for the sinning souls to repent during their own lives, as
they must in the Phaedo. In ApPr, these souls repent only after dying,
"
See R.L. Fox, Pagans and Cltristiarzs (London, 1986) 338, 448-9, 458-
9.
'' Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.2.5, trans. G.A. Williamson, Eusebius: The His-
tor-y of the Churchfronl Christ to Corlstarltii~e(London, 1965) 204.
The APTIT can be securely dated between AD 160 and 200, see J. N.
Bremmer, 'The Novel and the Apocryphal Acts: Place, Time, and Reader-
ship', in H. Hofmann and M. Zimmerrnan (eds), GI-oningen Colloqlria on
the Novel 9 (Groningen, 1998) 157-80 at 161 and 'The Apocryphal Acts:
Authors, Place, Time and Readership', in idem (ed), The Apocryphal Acts of
Tl~onias(Leuven, 2001) 149-70 at 153.
45 See, for example, Tertullian, Scorp. 6.10-11. See also C. Straw, 'Escha-
tology in the Church of the Martyrs', in C.W. Bynum and P. Freedman
(eds), Last Tl~ings.Death and the Apocalypse in the Middle Ages (Philadel-
phia, 2000) 32.
46 See Origen, Mart 30.
'' This connection would be more certain if the Acherusian Lake were
ever described as a lake of blood, which it is not.
102 KIRSTI B. COPELAND

'when there is no time for repentance and life did not remain'48.
However, in certain other texts, namely ApMos and ApPI, repentance
is essential in order for a soul to be washed in the Acherusian Lake.
Thus, it is likely that for these texts, the ability of martyrs to forgive
sins is not operative. What seems to be at work is an otherworldly
rite that marks the completed penance of an individual.
In ApMos, Adam repents when he is being driven from Para-
d i ~ eHis
~ ~great
. fault is, of course, that he listened to Eve and ate of
the tree that was forbidden him50. As in the Phaedo, repentance is
only the first step, and it must be followed by the intercession of an-
other being. In Adam's case, intercession does not come through
anyone he wronged or the pious dead, but the holy angels them-
selves5'. ApMos marks the acceptance of Adam's repentance and the
success of the angels' prayers through his washing in the Acherusian
Lake.
ApPI, on the other hand, makes no mention of intercession at all.
The crucial act is the repentance of the soul prior to death. Repent-
ance of souls after they are already experiencing the punishments,
even when coupled with the intercession of Paul and the archangel
Michael, does not lead to the baptism of these souls in the
Acherusian Lake. These souls gain only a brief annual ease from
their torments52. The souls that are washed in the Acherusian Lake
are those souls who repent while they are still alive53:
This is the Acherusian Lake; the city of the Saints, which the father
built for his only begotten son Jesus Christ, is east of all these things. It
is not allowed for everyone to go into it. It is on account of this that the
Acherusian Lake is on the way. If (one is) a fornicator or a sinner and
4R
ApPt 13, trans. Buchholz, Your Eyes, 227.
49 ApMos 27. Eve repents in ApMos 32; she takes most of the blame upon
herself for causing Adam to eat.
ApMos 7, 21-25; cf. Get1 3.
51 ApMos 35, trans. Wells, 149.
52 ApPl 43-44. The long Latin grants this ease only on Easter day, while
the Coptic grants not only Easter, but also the 50 days following Easter and
every Sunday.
53 ApPl 22, trans. Copeland, 200-1. I have followed the Coptic here be-
cause Michael 'washes' the soul. In the Latin, Michael 'baptises' the soul.
Otherwise, the two versions are quite similar.
 SINNERS AND POST-MORTEM 'BAPTISM' 103
he tums and repents (metanoein) and produces fruit worthy of repent-
ance (n~etanoia)and (then) he leaves the body, he first worships God
and (then) he is given into the hands of Michael. He (Michael) washes
him in the Acherusian Lake, and he is taken into the city to those who
have not sinned.

Repentance is a recurring motif throughout ApP1. Elsewhere in ApPI,

when the soul is brought before God in heaven, God does not allow
the angel to relate the soul's bad deeds from its youth, only from the
last year of its life. If the soul repents in that final year, God forgives
it54. The repentant soul is washed in the Acherusian Lake and
brought into the city of Christ. The overarching emphasis placed on
repentance in ApPl suggests that this text describes a final ritual ablu-
tion of the repentant soul, a mark that, unlike the first baptism, cannot
be undone through sin since the soul is now dead.
Although the role of the intercessor is not as powerful in ApPl as
in our other texts, ApPl agrees with them that only the souls of sin-
ners are washed in the Acherusian Lake. There is no mention of those
'who have not sinned' being washed into the Achemsian Lake. They
are merely led into the city of Christ55, sailing, no doubt, over the
Acherusian Lake as Paul does in his otherworldly tour: 'And the an-
gel answered and said to me: Follow me and I shall lead you into the
city of Christ. And he stood by Lake Acherusia and put me in a
golden boat and about three thousand angels were singing a hymn
before me until I reached the city of Christ'56.
Paul's journey over the Acherusian Lake recalls another fourth
century text, Paul of Tarnma's treatise on the Cell. Paul of Tamma
tells his spiritual son5': 'My son, obey God and keep his command-
ments and be wise and remain in your dwelling place, which is dear
to you, as your cell remains with you in your heart while you are
seeking after its grace. And the labor of your cell will come with you
to God. Your cell will take you over the Acherusian Lake, and it will
take you into the church of the firstborn' (cf. Heh 12.23). Here, as in
SJ ApPl 17. Greek, Coptic, Latin (StG, Am; P: five years; Esc not extant).
s5 ApP122.
" ApPl23, trans. Duensing, 727.
57 Paul of Tamma, Cell 1-2, ed. T. Orlandi, Paolo di Tanma Oper-e
(Rome, 1988) 88 (trans. mine).
104 KTRSTIB. COPELAND

the other Christian texts, there is no mention of the Achemsian Lake

being a lake of fire or a place of punishment, yet Paul of Tamma
teaches his spiritual son that it is necessary to pass over it. Reading
the Cell in the light of the aforementioned Christian apocrypha
raises the strong possibility that, for Paul of Tamma, the goal is to be
righteous enough not to require washing in the Achemsian Lake58.
In all of these texts, the washing has been reserved only for sinners.
Devotion to one's cell should render one's soul pure enough to pass
over the Achemsian Lake, as Paul is able to in ApPI. In texts such
as ApPl and the Cell, washing in the Acherusian Lake is only a last
resort, not because there is any implication of punishment, but be-
cause the washing would demonstrate that one had not led a right-
eous life.
ApPt, SihOr2, ApMos, ApPI, and the Cell all present Christian-
ised views of Plato's Phaedo. ApPt and SihOl-2 rewrite the interces-
sion of others in the Phaedo in light of the ability of Christian mar-
tyrs to forgive sins. ApMos and ApPl connect the repentance of the
sinners in Plato's Achemsian Lake with Christian penance, a theme
that is negatively represented in the Cell. The question must be
asked, did any of these draw independently from the Phaedo, or do
the later texts merely repeat themes from the earlier texts?
Although the exact relationship among these texts is uncertain, a
few observations can be made. First, this portion of the Plzaedo,
known independently as the Dialogue of the Soul, was well known to
early Christians and met with considerable approval. Eusebius, for
example, quotes the entirety of Phaedo 113a5-114c9 to prove that
Plato held beliefs about the afterlife of the soul parallel to his reading
of the Hebrew scripture^^^. Thus, the image of the Acherusian Lake

58
Orlandi, Paolo, 15, writes, 'In primo luogo I'accenno all'attraver-
samente della palude Acherusia (De Cella, 2), che rinvia probabilmente alla
cultura "magica" dell'epoca, piuttosto che a fonti classiche'. Although
Orlandi is certainly right that Paul of Tamma does not draw his reference to
the Acherusian Lake directly from classical sources, it seems that Christian
apocalyptic has a better case for being Paul of Tamma's source than 'la
cultura "magica"'.
59 Eusebius, Praep. ell. 11.38. See also Clement, Srroni. 14; Amobius,
2.14, and Eusebius, Or. Const. 9.
 SINNERS A N D POST-MORTEM 'BAPTISM' 105

could have entered the Christian apocrypha directly from the Phaedo
and continued to be informed by the Phaedo, even as it started to de-
velop primarily within the Christian tradition. Second, the only one
of the Christian texts to maintain an interest both in individual re-
pentance and the intercession of others is ApMos. This may suggest,
as Peterson claims it does, that ApMos is the source for ApPt and
A ~ P I ~This
' . would support the argument made by Himmelfarb that
ApPt should not be seen so readily as the literary source of ApPI6'.
Third, even if these texts choose to emphasise only one aspect of how
the sinner anives in the Acherusian Lake, i.e. either through repent-
ance or intercession, all of them maintain that only sinners are
washed in the Acherusian Lake. ResJC breaks with this tradition and
describes the washing of a righteous man in the lake.
In ResJC, the disciple Thomas' son Siophanes dies. When he is
raised from the dead by his father, he tells of his ascension into
heaven, including his washing in the Achemsian Lake by Michael.
Siophanes is not a sinner; on the contrary, he is called 'beloved' and
'blessed' by his father Thomas. Furthermore, when Siophanes comes
to the river of fire prior to being washed in the Achemsian Lake, the
former becomes like a river of water to him, implying that he is a
worthy The Acherusian Lake is now for the righteous and not
merely - or perhaps, not even - for the sinners.

2. Acherusian Lake, the Righteous, and Baptismal Cult

Also in ResJC, the Christian tradition of the Acherusian Lake has, for
the first time, a true association with baptismal cult. Siophanes' ac-

"' Peterson, 'Die "Taufe"', 320.

'' Hirnmelfarb, Tours of Hell, 140-7, 169-71.
h?
Of a parallel nature, although not directly related, is the myth of under-
world lakes and streams that prove whether or not an individual is innocent
and chaste. Notably, the chastity test in the River Styx in Achilles Tatius'
Cleitophon and Le~rcippeand Bardaisan's lake that rises if the accused is
guilty and remains at knee-height if innocent. Cf. J.N. Brernmer, 'Achilles
Tatius and Heliodorus in Christian East Syria', in H.L.J. Vanstiphout et al.
(eds), All Those Nations... Cultural Encounters Within and With the Near
East (Groningen, 1999) 21-29 at 21-23.
106 KIRSTI B. COPELAND

count of his post-mortem adventure leads to the baptism of a large

number of people63:
And when the crowd heard these things, they cast themselves upon
their faces and worshipped him, saying, 'We beseech you, show us the
place where the servant of Christ is [.. .]'. [...] And he took them to the
place where the Apostle was. [...I And when the whole multitude had
cried out these things, the Apostle blessed them, and he baptised
(baptizein) twelve thousand men among them on that day. And he
marked out for them the foundations of a church, and he appointed
Siophanes the bishop of the church.

ResJC implies that those who want to experience Siophanes' fate -

including his heavenly baptism - must first be baptised on earth. The
fact that both of these departures from the earlier tradition, the wash-
ing of a righteous soul in the Acherusian Lake and the explicit asso-
ciation with baptismal cult, occur in the same text strengthens the ar-
gument that the earlier texts are not concerned primarily with
baptismal cult. It also implies that a connection between baptismal
cult and the Acherusian Lake requires that righteous are washed in
the lake.
There is one final text in which the link between the Achemsian
Lake and sinners is erased from the tradition, namely in the Ethiopic
version of ApPt. In this version of ApPt, the righteous are baptised in
the Achemsian Lake, not those whom they choose out of tormentM:
And then I will give my elect, my righteous, the baptism and salvation
which they requested of me. In the field of Akerosya which is called
Aneslasleya a portion of the righteous have flowered, and I will go
there now. I will rejoice with them. I will lead the peoples into my eter-
nal kingdom and I will make for them what I have promised them, that
which is eternal, I and my heavenly Father.

In the Ethiopic ApPt, only the elect deserve baptism in the

Acherusian Lake. By this stage in its history, ApPt rejected the idea
that sinners could find a post-mortem release through the intercession
of the martyr elect. In this version, 'baptism' in the Acherusian Lake

63 ResJC, fol. 20a-20b, ed. Budge, Coptic Apocrypha, 39-40 (trans. mine);
Westerhoff's section 71, pp. 184-5.
ApPt 14 E, trans. Buchholz, 345.
 SINNERS A N D POST-MORTEM 'BAPTISM' 107

is more deeply related to baptismal cult since now it is the righteous

who are baptised. This transformation was already beginning to take
place in the Rainer fragment, which testifies to the intercession of the
martyr elect only in James' reconstruction. No doubt, this passage
owes its instability to the fact that the intercession of martyrs on be-
half of others was a contested practice in the early churchh5. Thus, as
the Ethiopic version of the ApPt demonstrates, ultimately baptismal
cult was a far less controversial referent for the Acherusian Lake.
We have come full circle, from the Rainer fragment of the ApPt
to the Ethiopic version of the ApPt. In between, there are a number of
images of the Acherusian Lake in various Christian sources. Al-
though Plato's Socrates ends his tale with the caveat, 'Of course, no
reasonable man ought to insist that the facts are exactly as I have de-
scribed them'hh, the image of the Acherusian Lake in the Christian
visions remains surprisingly close to his description. Despite the debt
to the Phaedo and the remarkable stability of the theme over several
centuries, the Acherusian Lake has been Christianised in a number of
ways. First, it is linked to the washing of the dead, most easily seen
in ApMos. Second, for the early Greek ApPt and SihOR, it has strong
associations with the ability of the martyrs to forgive sins. Third, for
ApPI and Paul of Tamma's Cell, it becomes an otherworldly rite
marking the completion of penance. In the majority of the texts,
washing in the Acherusian Lake is reserved for sinners. Only in
ResJC and the Ethiopic version of ApPt, does the Acherusian Lake
become a place for the baptism of the righteous, breaking completely
from the Phaedo and assimilating to baptismal cult6'.

'' The abuse of the confessors' ability to forgive sins was scorned by
Tertullian ( D e pud. 22, Ad ux. 2.4.1, Ad Mart. 1.6, De paen. 9.4, Scorp.
10.8) and Cyprian (Ep. 27.1, 15.4, 20.1).
" Plato, Pkaedo 114d, bans. H . Tredennick in E. Hamilton and H. Cairns
(eds), The Collected Dialog~reso f Pluto (Princeton, 1961) 94.
h7 I would like to thank Peter Brown, Martha Himmelfarb, Elaine Pagels,
Jan Bremmer, Ra'anan Abusch, Annette Reed. and Mychal Rosenbaum for
their comments and suggestions.
VIII. The Grotesque Body in the
Apocalypse of Peter

'Didymon the flute-player, on being convicted of adultery, was

hanged by his namesake.' This ancient Greek joke is quoted as an
example of a chreia in Aelius Theon's Progymnasnzatal. It makes
use of at least two correspondences. On the one hand, two different
meanings of the word didymos are involved. First, it is the flute play-
er's name, meaning 'a twin brother' (as with Jesus' disciple 'Thomas
called D i d y m u ~ ' ) ~the
; second half of the joke evokes the plural of
the word in the meaning of testicle^'^. On the other hand, the flute-
player's punishment corresponds to the sin that he committed. Be-
yond these primary and obvious sources of humor, the anecdote im-
plies several other levels of meaning. For example, it can be
interpreted in the framework of widespread associations of flute-
players with gaietf. Our text adds an unexpected twist to the popular

Aelius Theon (1-2 centuries AD), Progymnasmata 99.2. The joke is also
recorded (in different forms) by Diogenes Laertius, Lives of eminent pki-
losoplzers 6.51 and 68.
John 20.24.
It was probably a slang expression, cf. R.F. Hock and E.N. O'Neil, The
Chreia in Ancient Rhetoric I (Atlanta, 1986) 313.
According to J. Neils, 'Others Within the Other: An Intimate Look at
Hetairai and Maenads', in B. Cohen (ed), Not the Classical Ideal. Athens arid
the Constrrtction of the Other in Greek Art (Leiden, 2000) 203-26 at 225,
'[Aulos] was an instrument that produced bawdy music and deformed the
face and so was not proper for free women, or even citizen men. Plato (Re-
public 399d) banned it from his ideal city, and according to Aristotle (Poli-
tics 1341), citizens could listen to it, but should not learn to play it for it was
image of flute-players: whereas in most literary references they ap-
pear as instruments or objects of ecstasy and lust5, the Didymon joke
characterises its protagonist as the originator of sexual transgression.
Thus the text confirms as well as generates prejudice.
The point involved in the punishment itself, the comical position
of hanging upside down from one's testicles, affects the listener in a
different way. Whereas the puns and intertextual references generate
satisfaction, the indication of the punishment brings about a certain
ambivalent inconvenience, rather than relief. Although it can be seen
as humorous, it is better called grotesque. The image of the human
body evoked in the joke is abnormal, distorted, and disturbing6.
The sorrowful fate of Didymon is not unparalleled in Jewish and
Christian literature, where it normally belongs to the scenario of hell.
In Jewish apocalypses, men and women are often hanged by their
genitals or nipples7, whereas the Apocalypse of Peter- (ApPt) uses the
euphemistic expression 'hanged by the feet' (Ethiopic: thigh^')^. In

not considered a "moral" instrument'. For flute-players, see H. Stephanus et

a/., Tl7esaurus Graecae Iittguae (Paris, 1805-71) S.V. aulPtCs; A. Forcellini et
LII.,Le,~ic017totills Latinitatis (Padua, 1864-19264)),S.V. rihicen.
Playing the auloi raised associations with fellatio, cf. R.F. Sutton, Jr.,
'The Good, the Base, and the Ugly', in Cohen, Not tlze Classical Ideal, 180-
202 at 191. For a flute-playing young shepherd and satyr, see M. Pipili,
'Wearing an Other Hat: Workmen in Town and Country', in op. cit., 153-79
at 169; for flute-players raped by Tiberius, see Suetonius, Tiherius 44.
For the origin of the concept of the grotesque, see A.K. Robertson, The
Grotesque Interface (Vervuert, 1996) 1-14. The expression was coined from
the Italian grotto in the fifteenth century when Nero's Domus Aurea was ex-
cavated in Rome. The walls of this palace were decorated with 'graceful
fantasies, anatomical impossibilities, extraordinary excrescences, human
heads and torsos' (10). In this article the term 'grotesque' is especially used
to designate the combination of ludicrous and fearful, cf. op. cit., 6. For gro-
tesque bodies in classical Greek art and comedy, see H.P. Foley, 'The
Comic Body in Greek Art and Drama', in Cohen, Not the Classical Ideal,
275-311.
' Texts are quoted by S. Lieberman, 'On Sins and Their Punishment', in
idem, Texts and Studies (New York, 1974) 29-51 at 33, 41-3, 47; M.
Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell. An Apoclyptic Form in Jewish arzd Christian
Literature (Philadelphia 1983) 82-92.
V p P t 24 A, 7.7 E.
110 ISTVAN CZACHESZ

those sources, the punishment is meant dead earnest rather than hu-
morous. Hanging by the genitals also appears as a punishment for
adultery in the hell of Lucian's True Story. Cinyras, one of Lucian's
travelling companions, abducts the wife of another member of the
crew. The adulterer is whipped with mallow, bound by the genitals,
and taken off to the abode of the wicked, where he is later seen
'wreathed in smoke and suspended by the testicle^'^. Comparing the
occurrences of the same motif in Lucian's hell and the Jewish
apocalypses confirms that whereas the former exploited the humor-
ous aspects of grotesque body images, the latter used them to homfy
the readers.
Images of the grotesque body fill the infernal landscape of the
ApPt. It has been argued that they usually follow the rule of retalia-
tion: 'punishment fits the crime, like repays like'''. Many of the pun-
ishments have parallels in Greek and Jewish sources". They can also
reflect the actual sufferings of Christians, or punishments used other-
wise in the ancient worldI2. In this chapter we will pursue a literary
analysis of the grotesque body in the ApPr, focusing on compositional
structures as well as literary parallels, leaving the investigation of the
historical context of torture to our contribution on the Visio Pauli in
this series.

I . Sins and Puniskn~ents

The narrative frame, constituting the first major division of the extant
text of the ApPt, is preserved in the Ethiopic text (E)". On the Mount

Lucian, True Story 2.25-26 and 31, trans. B.P. Reardon in idem (ed),
Collected Ancient Greek Novels (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1989). Also
quoted by R. Bauckham, The Fate o f the Dead. Studies on the Jewish and
Christian Apocalypses (Leiden, 1998) 216.
lo D. Fiensy, 'Lex talior~isin the Apocalypse of Peter', Hanlar-d Tlzeologi-
cal Review 76 (1983) 255-8 at 256; cf. below.
For Greek parallels see esp. A. Dieterich, Nekyia. Beitrdge zur
Elllarung der rzeuerztdeckten Petrusapokalypse (Leipzig, 1893, 19132);
A.E. Bernstein, The Formation of Hell (Ithaca and London, 1993). For Jew-
ish parallels see Lieberman, 'On Sins' and Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell.
l2
Cf. Liebennan, 'On Sins', 50-1 and Dieterich, Nehyia, 205.
l3
In discussing the Ethiopic text, I use the English translations by
of Olives, the disciples approach Jesus and ask him to tell them about
the signs of the last days and the end of the world. Most of Jesus'
answer ( c c . 1-2 E) echoes eschatological passages from Mattlzew
2414. In the next part of the Ethiopic text ( c c . 3-6 E), Jesus shows
Peter 'in his right hand ... and on the palm of his right' everything
that shall be fulfilled on the last day: resurrection, Jesus' coming
with glory on the clouds, and the final judgment. This is followed by
the second main unit, dealing with sins and punishments, on which
our article focuses. In this part of the book, the Ethiopic (cc. 7-13 E)
and the Akhmim textI5 ( c c . 31-34 A) run basically in parallel, the
Ethiopic version being somewhat longer. The third main unit deals
with the fate of the righteous, resembling to a great extent the synop-
tic transfiguration scene16. This section is found at the end of the
Ethiopic version (cc. 14-17 E), but it is placed before the description
of hell in the Akhmim text ( c c . 1-20 A).
After this quick overview of the extant parts of the book, let us
look at the list of sins and punishments found in the ApPtI7:

Sin
Blaspheming the way of
righteousness. (22 A; 7.1-2 E)
Tuming away from
righteousness. (23; 7.3-4)
Women who beautified
themselves for adultery. (24a; 7.5-6)
Men who committed adultery
with those women. (24b; 7.7-8)
Murderers and their accessaries.
(25; 7.9-11)
Punishment
Hanged from the tongue, fire.
Pool of burning mud.
Hanged from the hair over
bubbling mud.
Hanged from the legs, head in
the mud, crying, 'We did not
believe that we would come to
this place'.
Tormented by reptiles and insects,
their victims watching them and

D.D.Buchholz, Your Eyes Will Be Opened. A Study of the Greek (Ethiopic)

Apocalypse of Peter (Atlanta, 1988) 162-244 and C.D.G. Miiller, NTA 11,
625-35. When not noted otherwise, I quote the latter.
Cf. Bauckham, The Fate, 175-83.
IS Text in E. Klostermann, Apocrypha I. Reste des Petrusevangeli~~n~s,
der
Petr-~rsapokalypseurid des Kerygnzata Petri (Bonn, 1908') 8-13.
Ih Mark 9.2-13 and parallels.
l 7 Cf. Buchholz, Your Eyes, 308-11; Bauckham, The Fate, 166-7.
 ISTVAN CZACHESZ

saying, '0 God, righteous is

thy judgment'.
Women who concieved children Sit in a pool of discharge and
outside mamageI8 and procured excrement, with eyes burned by
abortion. (26; 8.1-4) flames coming from their children.
Infanticide. (8.5-10 E) Flash-eating animals come forth
from the mothers' rotten milk and
torment the parents.
Persecuting and giving over the Sit in a dark place, burned waist-
righteous ones. (27; 9.1-2) high, tortured by evil spirits,
innards eaten by worms.
Blaspheming and speaking ill of Biting one's lips, getting fiery rods
the way of righteousness. (28; 9.3) in the eyes.
False witnesses. (29; 9.4) Biting one's tongue, having burning
flames in the mouth.
Those who trusted their riches, Wearing rags and driven (dancing)
did not have mercy on the orphans on sharp and fiery stones.
and widows, and were ignorant of
God's commandments. (30; 9.5-7)
Lending money and taking interest Stand in a pool of blood, pus and
on the interest. (31; 10.1) bubbling mud.
Men behaving like women, women Endlessly throwing themselves
having intercourse with each other. into an abyss.
(32; 10.2-4)19
Those who made idols in place of Stand in a place filled with great
God. (33a; 10.5-6) fire.
? ? ? (33b A)20 Man and women hitting each other
with fiery rods.
Those who abandoned the ways Burned, turned around and roasted.
of God. (34; 10.7)
Those who did not obey their Slip down from a fiery place
parents. (11.1-5 E) repeatedly2'. Hanged and tormented
by flesh-eating birds.
l8 The Greek text is fragmentary; for different emendations, see
Klostermann, Apocrypha, 11, notes. The Ethiopic has infanticide as a sepa-
rate sin. Cf. Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell, 96-7.
l9 One of the Ethiopic manuscripts adds idolatry. Both Ethiopic mss. con-
tain a remark on 'those who cut their flesh', cf. Buchholz, Your- Eyes, 212-5.
For cultic tattooing and cutting in antiquity, see D.E. Aune, Re\~elation6-16
(Dallas, 1998) 465-9; W. Burkert, Ancient Mystery Cults (Cambridge,
Mass., 1987) 81; and note 56 below.
20 This group is mentioned only in the Akhmim text. The sins are not

specified.
" Cf. the punishment of the homosexuals above.
 THE GROTESQUE BODY IN THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER 1 13

Maidens who did not retain their
virginity until marriage. (11.6-7 E)
Slaves who did not obey their
masters. (11.8-9 E)
Those who do charity and regard
themselves righteous. (12.1-3 E)
Sorcerers and sorcereresses.
(12.4-7 E)
Their flesh is tom in pieces.
Chewing their tongues, eternal fire.
Blind and deaf pushing each other
onto live coal.
Wheel of fire.

First of all, we can discem that the punishments of the ApPt present a
distorted picture of the whole body. The head is in the mud; hair is
used to hang up women by it; eyes are burned; there is a bumirig
flame in the mouth; people bite their tongues and are hanged up by
it. Innards are eaten by worms; flames bum people waist-high; men
are hanged up by their thighs (or by their genitals). Legs are also in-
volved when the rich ones dance on sharp pebbles. The whole body
is dressed in rags, roasted on flames, and often hanged upside down.
These images can be compared to the appearance of the righteous (or
'Moses and Elijah'), where many of the body parts (hair, faces,
shoulders, also clothing) are described as beautiful and harmonic.
The beautiful bodies of the saints are contrasted with the distorted
bodies of the condemned.
The whole body is at the same time distracted. As the Ethiopic
text writes of the fallen maidens: 'Their flesh will be tom in pieces'.
In most cases, only certain parts of the body are tortured, which has
been compared to the law of retribution (lex talionis) in the Torah2*.
The famous principle of talion is read in Exodus 21: 'YOU are to take
life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
bum for bum, bruise for bruise'23. However, if we take a closer look

I'
Fiensy, 'Lex talionis', applies this rule as the main hermeneutical key to
the text. The term les talionis originates from talis, 'such'. The principle of
measure for measure punishment is known from the Ancient Near East as
well as from Greece and Rome, yet it seems to have played the most impor-
tant role in Jewish tradition, cf. Dieterich, Nekyia, 205-8; Lieberman, 'On
Sins', 36 note 56, 47 note 106; Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell, 75-8;
Bauckham, The Fate, 195-221.
' Esodus 21.23-25; cf. Genesis 9.6; Leviticus 24.20; De~lteronorny19.19.
When not otherwise indicated, translations of Biblical books follow The
Holy Bible. New Revised Standard Version (Grand Rapids, Michigan,
1989).
at the tortures, we find that their order is similar to but not identical
with the /ex talionis. The principle of measure for measure retribution
is realised in its proper sense only in two cases in the ApPr: (1) the
persecutors of Christianity are burned on fire and eaten by worms;
(2) victims are watching their murderers' being eaten by reptiles and
insects. Even in these passages some interpretation is required to
clearly identify the principle of ta1ionz4.
I suggest that the punishments of the ApPt rather follow a spe-
cific variation of the talion, a principle that is formulated in Jesus'
advice in the Sermon on the Mount: 'If your right eye causes you to
sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one
part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away.
It is better for you to lose one part of body than for your whole body
to go into hell''? The concept behind this utterance is that certain
crimes are committed by certain parts of the body. The idea occurs
also in rabbinical Judaism: 'Those bodily members which commit
transgression are punished in Gehenna more than the rest of the
mernber~'~? In the hell of the ApPt, too, the members which commit-
ted specific sins are often punished rather than the whole body: blas-
phemy is attributed to the tongue and lips, false witness to the tongue
and mouth, adultery to women's hair and men's genitals. In the To-
rah, the person as a whole is made responsible for his deeds, and pays
with the body part he hurt in other persons. In Mattlle~land the ApPt,
individual members of the body get out of control, cause people sin,
and therefore have to be punished.

2. The Grotesqzre Picture of Hell

The contrast between heaven and hell is particularly suggested by the

head downward position of bodies. In the New Testament, Judas -

'I Bauckham, The Fare, 217-8, identifies the principle of talion in eleven
punishments (out of a total of twenty-one).
IS M n t t h e ~5.29-30.
~
? v i e b e r m a n , 'On Sins', 39-40, translates Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg's
quotation from an unknown midrash.
 THE GROTESQUE BODY IN THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER 115

who evidently has a satanic character in the Lucan writings2' -, 'falls

head downwards', 'his body bursts open', and 'all his intestines spill
out' (Acts 1.18). Apart from that case, hanging head downwards is
z
not explicitly mentioned in the Bible g. It also appears as a punish-
ment in the Acts of Peter, where Peter is hanged on the cross head
downward. There it is interpreted as the symbol of heavenly, rather
than infernal, realities". In the ApPt, however, the upside down posi-
tion of the body expresses the idea of hell as the realm of a negative
reality. This is meant in the sense of 'being the opposite' rather than
'the place of non-being'. Whereas in Jewish Scriptures the nether
world is populated by shadows in the stage of half- or non-exist-
ence30, in the ApPt the inhabitants of the hell are as active as they
were in their existence of this world. The hell in our text is as real as
the present world, being a grotesque variation of the latter.
Ridiculing the rich and mighty of this world is also found in ref-
erences to hell in Jewish Scriptures. The shadows of Sheol are mock-
ing the king of Babylon at his arrival3':
You have also become weak, as we are; You have become like us. All
your pomp has been brought down to the grave, along with the noise of
your harps; maggots are spread out beneath you and worms cover you.
[. . .] Is this the man who shook the earth, and made kingdoms tremble,
the man who made the world desert, who overthrew its cities and
would not let his captives go home?

Ridiculing the rich in the underworld is found also in Greek authors.

Lucian dedicates a great part of his Menipplrs to describing the post-
'' Cf. Luke 22.3, 'The Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot'.
"f'. G. Bertram, art. b v n ~ a t ~ t ~ uin
t nG.
i , Kittel et a/. (eds), Tl~eologisckes
Wiir-tetSuch xrnl Neuen Testat??et?t3 (Stuttgart, 1938) 915-20 at 916-8;
Himmelfarb. TOLILY of Hell, 82-85.
'" Acts o f Peter 38. Cf. J. Bolyki, 'Head Downwards', in J.N. Bremmer
(ed), TIie Apoct-ypl~alActs of Peter (Leuven, 1998) 111-22.
'" E.g. Job 10.21, 26.5; Psaln~s88.10, 94.17; Ecclesiastes 9.10; Isaiah
26.14; Ezekiel 32.21. Cf. T.J. Lewis, 'Abode of the Dead', in D.N. Freed-
man (ed), Tlfe Atichor Bible Dictionat:y 2 (New York, 1992) 101-5; J.
Jarick. 'Questioning Sheol', in Stanley E. Porter et a/. (eds), Resurrection
(Sheffield, 1999) 22-32; C. Houtman. 'Holle 11. Altes Testament', in RGG"
3 (Tiibingen, 2000) 1846-7.
31 Isaiall 14.10-1. 16-7.
mortem fate of the rich. When they die, Menippus reports after re-
turning from Hades, Tyche takes back their costumes into which she
dressed them in their earthly lives (cc. 12, 16). Later Menippus de-
scribes Hades as the opposite of earthly reality, a social utopia32:
But you would have laughed much more heartily, I think, if you had
seen our kings and satraps reduced to poverty there, and either selling
salt fish on account of their neediness, or teaching the alphabet, and
getting abused and hit over the head by all comers, like the meanest of
slaves. In fact, when I saw Philip of Macedon, I could not control my
laughter. He was pointed out to me in a comer, cobbling worn-out san-
dals for pay. Many others, too, could be seen begging at the cross-roads
- your Xerxeses, I mean, and Dariuses, Polycrateses.

Had early Christians been interested in such utopias, they could have
created similar upside down underworld^^^. But the only approximate
parallel we can quote here is the parable of the rich man and the beg-
gar Lazarus in Luke's Gospel3". After both of them die, the beggar is
carried to Abraham's bosom, whereas the rich man goes to the nether
world and is tortured with fire. When he cries to Abraham, Abraham
replies to him: 'Son remember that in your lifetime you received
your good things, while Lazarus received bad things. But now he is
comforted here, and you are in agony'35.One is reminded of this pas-
sage when reading about the unmerciful rich people in the ApPt, who
enjoyed all luxury in their lives, but are condemned to wearing rags
and being dragged on fiery pebbles in the nether world. The latter
punishment is certainly grotesque, but not ridiculous in the same way
as Lucian's underworld. Lucian depicts the rich in situations in which
we find the poor in this world; Luke gives the rich man a 'stock'
penalty, as it were; the ApPt, notwithstanding, creates a sophisticated
and absurd punishment, where the rich actually continue what they
32 Lucian, Menippus 17, trans. A.M. Harmon in LCL.
33
J. Perkins, The Suffering Self (London 1995) 132, 137, 141, interprets
Peters' hanging head downwards in the Acts of Peter. as a symbol of social
utopism. Cf. Bolyki, 'Head Downwards'; I. Czachesz, 'Who is Deviant?',
in Bremmer, Acts of Peter, 84-96.
34 Luke 16.19-31 ; for the connection of this passage with the Jewish tradi-

tion of talion, see Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell, 79-80. For its Greek literary
parallels, see Bauckham, The Fate, 97-1 18.
35 Luke 16.25
did in their earlier life. They neither beg nor do humiliating jobs, nor
sit in mud or excrement. As a grotesque imitation of their earthly
luxury and festivals, they wear filthy rags and dance on fiery
stones36,eternally driven by demons and tormenting angels.
The medieval 'dance of death' is anticipated in this picture. In
the 'dance of death' or 'danse macabre', a series of characters repre-
senting members of different social classes and groups are shown
dancing with a figure representing death3'. The 'dance of death' con-
tains relentless criticism against all strata of society38.
What the Greek authors and the Christian texts have in common
is the sorrowful post mortem fate of the rich of this world. There are,
however, major differences between the two kinds of texts. Lucian,
on the one hand, selects well-known earthly rulers to display them in
inferior situations. He does not condemn their earlier behaviour, and
ridicules them without the slightest interest in moral issues, with the
only purpose of raising laughter among his readership. What he dis-
plays is at most some lofty irony at the pride of the rich of this world.
This is a social utopia with hardly any serious social considerations.
The passages in Luke and the ApPt, on the other hand, do not picture
any known persons in hell. They do not take an interest in the per-
sons themselves, but rather in their moral qualities, especially as
measured against the background of Jewish and Christian values.
They display moral allegories in hell rather than real people: 'These
are they who were rich and trusted in their riches ...' The same ap-

-'" The passive of the Greek kuli6 has an active meaning: 'roll, whirl
along', 'grovel' (of bees), 'roll about' (in pantomime), cf. Liddell-Scott, A
Greek-E11glishLe.~icorlWith a Revised S~rppler~~etlt (Oxford 1996) S.V. The
ApPt 34 uses strep116 for rotating people on fire.
"
Already Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1 153) pomays the 'death proces-
sion'; cf. L. Kurz, The Dance of Death arid the Macabre Spirit in Eliropean
Literatrrre (New York, 1934) 11-2. The genre is especially widley attested in
poetry and fine arts from the fourteenth century. Cf. H. Rosenfeld, Der
Mittelalterliche Toterltar~z(Miinster and Cologne, 1954) 56-79; L. Silver,
'Danse Macabre', in J.R. Strayer (ed), Dictionar?l of t l ~ eMiddle Ages, vol 9
(New York, 1987) 93; M. Grams Thieme et a/., 'Totentanz', in N .
Angermann et al., (eds), Le-vikor~des Mittelalters, vol 8 (Munich, 1997) 898-
901 ; C. Vincent, 'Danse Macabre', in A. Vauchez et a / . (eds), Encyclopedia
of the Middle Ages, vol I, trans. M. Lapidge (Cambridge, 2000) 407-8.
plies to all kinds of sinners mentioned: 'these were they who blas-
phemed the way', 'these were they who had adorned themselves for
adultery', etc. Lucian uses flesh and blood figures of this world and
places them into his fantastic landscapes. The hell of the ApPt is
populated by moral allegories.
Another grotesque notion about hell is that people are sitting in
filth there. The idea that people sit in dirt in hell seems to be an ar-
chaic one. It has been compared with the purifying rituals of the mys-
tery sinners are dirty and they remain eternally in dirt in the
nether world. The general term used in such passages is 'mud' or
'filth' (horhor-os),but there is frequent reference to bodily materials
and discharges: blood, sweat, pus, and excrement, the latter occuring
especially frequently.
In Aristophanes' Frogs, when Heracles prepares Dionysos to his
tour of hell, he describes the infernal landscape to him4":
Then you'll see lots of mud (bor-boros)
and ever-flowing shit (sk8r);in it lies
anyone who ever wronged a stranger,
or snatched a boy's fee while screwing him
etc.

In a fragment, Aristophanes also writes of a 'river of diarrhoea' in the

nether world4'. Lucian writes about three rivers: 'One of slime
(horhoros), another of blood, and a third of fire'42. In the renaissance,
the motif was picked up and elaborated on by Frangois Rabelais
(c. 1494-1553)43. Rabelais predicts the fate of the sinful poet
Raminagrobis in his novel: 'His soul goeth to thirty thousand carts
full of devils. Would you know whither? Cocks-body, my friend,
straight under Proserpina's close stool, to the very middle of the self-

38
See esp. J.M. Sola-Sole, 'Dan~ageneral de la muerte', in J.R. Strayer
(ed), Dictionary of the Middle Ages, vol 9 (New York, 1987) 85-6.
39 See Dieterich, Nekyia, 72-3; Bremmer, this volume, Ch. I.

Aristophanes, Frogs 145-8, trans. J. Henderson in LCL.

J1
Aristophanes, Gervtades, fr. 146.13 Kassel-Austin.
" Lucian, True Story 2.30.
d3
M. Bakhtin, Rahelais and His World, trans. H . Iswolsky (Cambridge,
Mass. 1968) 388, remarks that 'at the head of the medieval presentations of
the underworld we must place the so-called 'Apocalypse of Peter'.'
 THE GROTESQUE BODY IN THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER 119

same infernal pan, within which, she, by an excrementitious

excuation, voideth the fecal stuff of her stinking clysters [..
In our contribution on the Acts of Andrew we have called atten-
tion to the particular interest of early Christian writings in various
aspects of the human body'". We also highlighted parallels with the
language and thought world of Aristophanes, Plautus, and RabelaisJ6.
Topics related to the human body in the AAA include (1) the ideal of
chastity, (2) mystical eroticism 7, (3) torture and bodily suffering (of
J

the martyrs and the enemies of Christianity), (4) drastic humour, (5)
the bodies of Jesus and the saints48.These subjects also appear in the
ApPt, the most important being torture in hell and the beautiful bod-
ies in heaven.
In his comedies, Aristophanes frequently offers grotesque pic-
tures of the human body and applies drastic humour related to me-
tabolism ( ~ c a t o l o g y ) This
~ ~ . tradition was carried on by Plautus and
the popular form of comedy, minzusS0.Rabelais in the Renaissance
reached back to this heritage5'. The history of European literature
provides us with a framework of drastic humour and grotesque im-
ages of the human body. The grotesque and scatological elements of
early Christian literature certainly belong to this trajectory. Similarly
to Aristophanes' spectators, the readers of the AAA were amused by
scatological gags, in which the enemies of Christianity were ridi-
culed: chamber pots were emptied on their heads, and they were in-
stantly struck by diarrhoea at the apostle's prayeg'. We should notice

F. Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel 3.22, trans. Th. Urquhart and P.

Motteux (Chicago, 1952) 171 ; cf. Bakhtin, Rahelais, 377.
I. Czachesz, 'Whatever Goes into the Mouth', in J.N. Brernrner (ed),
The Apocryphal Acts of Andrew (Leuven 2000) 56-69.
4h Czachesz, 'Whatever Goes into the Mouth', 61-4.
." E.g. Passion of Andrew 23.
4X E.g. Acts of Jokri 90; Acts of Tlzomas 80, 129, 149.
'" For a detailed analysis, see J. Henderson, Tlze Maculate Muse. Obscene
Larzg~ragein Attic Comedy (New Haven and London 1975) 187-203.
K. DCr, Plautus vilhga (Budapest 1989); H . Wiernken, Der griechische
Minl~rs.Dokurner~te zur Geschichte des arztiken Volkstheaters (Brernen
1972) 165-8.
5' Bakhtin, Rabelais, 457-543.
" Acts of Peter 14; Passiorz of Andrew 13.
that getting dung in the face is known as a divine punishment also in
the Old Testaments3; Luther also made use of scatology in his pam-
phlets against the popeS4.
Excrement in the hells of Aristophanes and Rabelais induced
laughter in the readers and spectators. But laughter was, at the same
time, coupled with fear. The underworld was real: it could be ridi-
culed but not ignored. When we call these images 'grotesque' rather
than 'ridiculous', we indicate that hell was comical as well as threat-
ening. We have traced the grotesque, among others, in the upside
down position of the body, the lower body parts, the distracted mem-
bers, and the discharged fluids. Excrement is not infernal only be-
cause it is dirty or disgusting, but rather because it is the final product
of the body. In other words, it belongs to the lower part of the bodily
universe5s.
Scatology is only one of the tools in the drastic repertoire of
comedy. Although such language is not characteristic of the Bible,
Paul can be caught on making an obscene joke at his enemies. In his
epistle to the Galatians, arguing against the teachers who require that
Christians be circumcised, he writes: 'As for those agitators, I wish
they would go the whole way and emasculate (apokopr6) themselves'
(Galatiarzs 5.19)56.The joke also has a secondary edge, alluding to
the false teachers' 'cutting in' (enkoptd) on the Galatians who 'were
running a good race' (5.7). The sequence of puns and allusions is
made up quite in the fashion of Aristophanes. In the same epistle
Paul calls the Galatians his little children to whom he has given birth
(4.19). In sum, Paul's claim on the Galatian church is expressed with
the help of a series of sexual metaphors.

53
Malachi 2.3, ' I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your
faces, the dung of your offerings, and I will put you out of my presence'.
On Luther's solicitation, Lukas Cranach, Jr. composed scatological
etchings ridiculing the pope. Cf. D.M. Wulff, Psychology of Religion. Clas-
sic arzd Contemporary (New York and Chichester 1997) 390-1.
55
This connotation is indicated in Modem Greek, where esckatia can also
mean 'excrement'. I thank L. Roig Lanzillotta for this remark.
56 Paul's pun may have been inspired by the famous self-castrating galloi
(eunuch priests) in the Anatolian cult of Attis and Cybele; cf. Burkert, An-
cient Myste~yCults, 6 and 77-8.
 THE GROTESQUE BODY IN THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER 121

The topics of castration and childbirth also occur in the ApPt.

We have already discussed the former, which is evoked when men
are hanged by the genitals. As for childbirth, we especially have to
mention the place in hell for unmarried women who procured abor-
tion. They are sitting in a pool of blood and fecal matter; their eyes
are burned by the flames that come out of their children. This scene
presents us with a riddle. Clement of Alexandria seems to refer to
this passage three times in his Eclogues5'. His comments concentrate
on the role of 'protecting angels' (te^melo~~choi angeloi), who bring
up and nourish aborted foetuses and exposed children. Clement, how-
ever, does not reflect on the role of these children in the punishment
of the parents58. In the ApPt, the foetuses are handled similarly as
I
murdered victims (c. 25 A). They also watch the punishment of their
1 murderers, but rather than praising God for his justice, they take an
active part in torturing thems9. They resemble the tormenting angels
I
and evil spirits active at other places of hell, and seem to be some
I kinds of demons or dwarfs. It seems that in early Christian literature
only the ApPt assignes an active role to children in punishing their
parents who committed abortion or infanticide, or exposed them.
Many other texts mention that children accuse such parents while the
latter are punished, but the children never (except in our passage) be-
come instruments of the punishrnent60.
Early medieval folklore traditions about Herlequin's army con-
tain similar images. The earliest written source of this tradition is
probably the Ecclesiastical History of Ordericus Vitalis (1075-ca.
1143), reporting the vision of a priest6' :

57
Clement of Alexandria, Eclogues 41,48,49; trans. R.P. Casey in idem,
The Excapta e,u Tlwodoto of Clement of Alexandria (London, 1934).
According to him, this is accomplished by the 'tiny flesh-eating beasts'
(tktr-ia lepta sar-kophaga) that come forth from the milk of the mothers.
59
In ApPt 8.5-10 (E) on infanticide, the victims are accusing their parents
but do not play an active role in their punishment. This is similar to the
function of the murderers in c. 25 (A).
" For a survey of relevant passages, see Himmelfarb, Tours of Hell, 96-
101.
h' Ordericus Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History 8.17. For text and translation,
see M. Chibnall (ed. and trans.), The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic
 A great crowd on foot appeared. [...] All lamented bitterly and urged
each other to hurry. The priest recognized among them many of his
neighbours who had recently died, and heard them bewailing the tor-
ments they suffered because of their sins. Next came a crowd of bearers.
[...] They were carrying about five hundred biers, two men to each bier.
On the biers sat men as small as dowarfs, but with huge heads like bar-
rels. One enonnous tree-trunk was borne by two Ethiopians, and on the
trunk some wretch, tightly trussed, was suffering tortures, screaming
aloud in his dreadful agony. A fearful demon sitting on the same trunk
was mercilessly goading his back and loins with red-hot spurs while he
streamed with blood. Walchelin at once recognized him as the slayer of
the priest Stephen, and realized that he was suffering unbearable tor-
ments for his guilt in shedding innocent blood not two years earlier, for
he had died without completing his penance for this temble crime.
Next came a troop of women, who seemed to the priest to be without
number, riding in women's fashion on side-saddles which were studded
with burning nails. Caught by gusts of wind they would rise as much as
a cubit from the saddle, and then fall back on the sharp points. S o their
buttocks were wounded by the red-hot nails, and as they suffered tor-
ments from the stabs and burning they cried out, 'Woe, woe', loudly
bewailing the sins for which they endured such punishment. Indeed it
was for the seductions and obscene delights in which they had wal-
lowed without restraint on earth that they now endured the fire and
stench and other agonies too many to enumerate.

The procession is closed by great troops of priests and knights,

among whom Walchelin identifies a number of notable persons. 'Hu-
man judgment', he comments, 'is often in error, but nothing is hidden
from ~ o d ' ssight. For men judge from outward appearances; God
looks into the heart.'
The tradition quoted by Ordericus Vitalis focuses on the same
basic idea as the description of hell in the ApPt (and the Apocalypse
of Paul): both provide a list of sins and punishments. The ApPt
seemingly offers a topography of hell, but in reality it only contains a
plain list without relating the different places (or sins) to each other.
The account of Herlequin's army describes a few sins and punish-
ments in detail. However it takes more interest in the groups and per-
sons who suffer punishments in hell. Through the eyes of Walchelin,

Vitalis, vol 4 (Oxford 1973) 239-49. Chibnall, ibidem, xxxviii-xxxxix, calls

the tradition 'of great antiquity and widespread occurrence'.
it describes typical social groups of the time and mentions several
known figures by name. This feature of the text reminds us of
Lucian's Menippus 11-18. The grotesque but at the same time very
earnest report of sins and punishments cames on the tradition of the
ApPt.
The most grotesque part of Walchelin's vision is the image of
women on horseback6" The description of their riding contains
overtly obsence references. The tiny beings with large heads on the
coffins are not explicitly identified as aborted foetuses. They are ob-
viously associated with the fearful torturers, although do not play a
role in enacting the punishments. If we add the women's position in
the army immediately after the murderer on the gibbet, we cannot ex-
clude that Walchelin's vision, similarly to the ApPt, refers to abor-
tion.
In the ApPt, the children are members of the infernal court, shar-
ing the job of the tormenting angels and evil spirits. They are mix-
tures of birth and death, unborn and still alive, eternally torturing
their own mothers. The women are sitting in blood and excrement up
to their necks. Is this a distorted image of child-birth, symbolising
abortion as the birth of death? Below we will argue that the represen-
tation of women and aborted children is the central image of the in-
fernal landscape in the ApPt.

3 . Pregnailt Death

In order to understand the infernal imagery of the ApPt we have to

look at the introductory parts contained in the Ethiopic text. Let us
begin with the parables of the fig tree. The text combines two differ-
ent sayings on the fig tree by Jesus. According to the first saying, as
the sprouting of the fig tree marks the coming of the summer, so the
events depicted by Jesus mark the coming of the last days6'. The sec-
ond saying is about the man who wants to cut out his barren fig tree,
but his servant asks him to leave it there for one more year". In ApPt

" Cf. Bakhtin, Rabelais, 392.

'' Matthew 24.32-6; Mark 13.28-9; Luke 21.29-3 1 .
Luke 13.6-8.
2 (E), the sprouting of the fig tree is the sign of the last days, whereas
the second parable is only introduced to interpret the first one so that
the fig tree would refer to Israel. This is the conclusion concerning
the last days (2.11 E):
Then shall the boughs of the fig-tree, i.e. the house of Israel, sprout,
and there shall be many martyrs by his hand: they shall be killed and
become martyrs.

The interesting outcome of the fig tree passages is that in the last
days there will be a mixture of birth and death. The house of Israel
will bring sprouts but will immediately kill them. In the last days, Is-
rael will give birth to martyrs. Or, using the pivotal image of the
ApPr, Israel will be like a woman procuring abortion.
In the next section, everyone, including the righteous, the angels,
and Jesus, weep when they see the distress and sorrow of the sinners.
Peter quotes a saying of Jesus from the New Testament: 'It were bet-
ter for them that they had not been created'". But Jesus refutes him
(3.5-6 E): 'Thou resistest God. [. ..] For he has created them and has
brought them forth when they were not'. Creation is good and neces-
sary, the text argues, even if it falls into sin, death and suffering.
The next passage also deals with birth and death. It describes the
resurrection to judgment, also mentioned in Revelation, when God
will 'command hell to open its bars of steel and to give up all that is
in it'. All the beasts and fowls shall be commanded to give back all
flesh that they devoured. The prophecy of Ezekiel on the revivifica-
tion of the bones is quoted, and then the picture of the corn sown in
the earth66:
As something dry and without a soul does a man sow (them) in the
earth; and they live again, bear fruit, and the earth gives (them) back
again as a pledge entrusted to it. And this which dies, which is sown as
seed in the earth and shall become alive and be restored to life. is man.

We should notice that it is not only the righteous to whom this meta-
phor applies. On the day of judgment there will be a birth of all peo-

65 ApPr 3.4b E ; cf. Mark 14.21. The New Testament passage has 'be born'
instead of 'be created'.
ApPt 4.10-1 E ; cf. I Corinrhia17s15.35-49.
ple from the nether world. In Revelation 21.14-15, sinners are thrown
into the lake of fire, together with Hades and death. The ApPr does
not know such a radical solution. Envisaging sinners in the different
areas of Hades is much more spectacular than simply throwing all
evil into a trash can. Thereby hell retains its ambiguous and transient
nature. It remains in motion eternally, populated with damned souls,
demons, and tormenting angels, who live their lives in this upside
down world.
Hell also retains its ambivalent function of birth and death. It ap-
pears as a huge Gargantuan belly, where people are smoked and
roasted, all different kinds of bodily fluids are flowing constantly
here and there, fire completes the digestion, and excrement is pro-
duced in huge masses.
Passages by Lucian and Rabelais contain similar allusions to the
nether world. Lucian in his True Story (1.30-2.2) narrates his adven-
ture in the belly of a whale before visiting the islands of the saved
and the condemned. The group spends more than a year and a half in
the whale (1.39). The innards of the whale are populated by the city-
states of different grotesque creatures: smoked people with eel-eyes
and crab-faces, tritons with the lower bodies of sword-fishes, crab-
handed, tunny-headed and other strange figures (1.34). Two humans,
father and son, have lived for twenty-seven years in this world. The
association with the nether world is made explicit when the two men
say they 'feel they have died but still believe to live'67. Their hope is
fulfilled in the end: after defeating the army of the infernal creatures
and killing the whale, Lucian and his associates get out to the sun-
light.
In Rabelais' novel the narrator descends into Pantagruel's mouth
and throat6x. There he finds great rocks (the teeth), fair meadows,
large forests, great and strong cities. The history of the latter he
writes in a book. This is a 'new world', which is in fact more ancient
than the earth out there. He meets people who hunt pigeons coming
from the nether world. Dangerous fumes break up from the depth -

" Lucian, True Story 1.33, tethr7anai men gar eikazomen. ~$17 de
pisteriomen.
'' Rabelais, Gargantlra and Panta~ruel2.32.
that is, from Pantagruel's stomach - and kill more than twenty-two
thousand citizens. The narrator does not intrude further into the he-
ro's body. But the mouth and throat, which he visits, are evidently
characterised as the entrance of the u n d e r ~ o r l d ~ ~ .
We have seen that the ApPr also associates hell with a huge
belly, swallowing and digesting people, but also giving them back in
the last days at God's command. The fearful and the grotesque walk
hand in hand in the description of hell. Death is a strange carnival, an
upside-down universe, where earthly life continues in unexpected
ways. The imagery of hell is based on the vision of the distorted, dis-
membered and oversize human body or body-parts. Instead of the all-
consuming lake of fire in Revelation, the ApPr envisages everlasting
hell as a complex structure, a grotesque and sensual synthesis of birth
and death.

69
According to E. Auerbach, Minzesis. Tlze Representation of Reality in
Western Literature, trans. W . Trask (New York, 1957) 233-5, Rabelais used
Lucian, but notwithstanding Lucian's fabulous creatures, Rabelais depicted
a familiar world, 'everything just as home'.
IX. Does Punishment Reward the
Righteous?
The Justice Pattern Underlying
the Apocalypse of Peter

LAUTARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

In a famous part of his Zur Genealogie der Moral Nietzsche criti-

cised Dante's naivety in writing the inscription 'auch mich schuf der
ewige Liebe' above the entrance of his inferno'. According to him,
the motto 'auch mich schuf der ewige Hass' above the gateway to the
Christian Paradise might have been much more fitting to describe the
retaliatory morals of Christianity. The statement by Thomas Aquinas2
I
A rather free translation of Irlfer-no III.5-6, 'fecemi la divina potestade, /
la somma sapienza e '1 primo amore'. See Zur- Ger~ealogieder- Mor-a11.15.
Aquinas' statement in Sumn~a Tl~eologica,Suppl. 94.1 (similarly in
Sentent. IV, 50.2.4) is surprising. Firstly, he does not seem to be at all con-
cerned by the fact that if the other's suffering is necessary to complete it, the
bliss of the blessed cannot be perfect. Perfection is complete in itself with-
out the need of external stimuli to improve it. Secondly, it is also surprising
that he is not even made uneasy by the idea that rejoicing at the suffering of
others might diminish this perfection. The only reference to the issue is an
indirect one, since it appears in his second objection and is, actually, related
to the perfection of vision. He states, indeed, that since Aristotle (EN X.4)
affirms that the perfection of vision depends on the perfection of the visible
object, it might seem odd to assume that the perfection of the blessed can be
affected by the extreme deformity of the suffering of the damned. His solu-
tion to this objection is far from convincing. He begins by stating that
'Nothing should be denied the blessed that belongs to the perfection of their
128 LAUTARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

that the torment of the damned will enhance the happiness of the
blessed in heaven and the mockery at the gruesome suffering of the
pagan on the day of the Last Judgement imagined by Tertullian (De
spectac. 30) illustrate, in his view, the continuity of a mode of think-
ing already present in Revelation3.
Although Nietzsche's polemical analysis of Christian morals and
his interpretation of Christian love as arising from 're~sentiment'~
have been challenged in several important works during the past cen-
tury5, none of them has objected to his premises. Nietzsche's sharp
criticism of the misanthropic psychological background of Tertul-
lian's and Aquinas' utterances indeed holds true. If the idea of right-
eousness or bliss is not based on any objective notion but on a com-
pensatory inversion of the present situation of injustice and despair, it
is dangerously apt to take the form of a triumphant elevation over the
suffering of others6.

beatitude' and proceeds to argue that '...everything is known the more for
being compared with its contrary, because when contraries are placed beside
one another they become more conspicuous'. However, the function of
comparison as a basis for knowledge is only valid for imperfect mortals
who, as such, must base their understanding on always partial perceptions.
Given that the blessed have already achieved their perfection, comparison is
likely to be unnecessary, since complete understanding of everything in one
single act of apprehension is inherent to perfect knowledge. See Bayle's
opinion, note 55 below.
Nietzsche, Zur Gerlealogie der- Moral I. 15-6.
For Nietzsche's conception of 'ressentiment' see W. Kaufmann,
Nietische. Philosopher. Psyckologist. Antichrist (Princeton, 1974" 371-8.
See, for example, M. Scheler, 'Das Ressentiment im Aufbau der
Moralen', in Vonl Umst~irzder Werte = Gesanlrnelte Werke 3 (Munich,
19725)33-147 at 70ff, esp. 75; M. Weber, Wirtschaf? urld Gesellsclzalfr.Die
Wirtschafr und die gesellschaftlichen Ord~~urzgeri und Mackte 2 (Tiibingen,
2001) 257ff, 263ff; cf. A. Camus, L'homme re'11olte'(Paris, 1951) 23-36, 50-
3. All three works reject, on solid grounds, Nietzsche's interpretation of
Christian love as arising from 'ressentiment', but accept his discovery that
'ressentiment' can be a source of moral value-judgements.
See Kaufmann, Nietische, 275. In situations of injustice or suffering ac-
companied by the feeling of incapacity to overcome by other means what
he positively experiences as injustice, the suffering individual comforts
himself with the imaginary and future inversion of the current situation, in
 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 129

As a matter of fact, the relevance of the issue restated by

Nietzsche goes far beyond the strict borders of Christianity. Pleasure
at the other's misfortune has indeed been a central problem in ancient
(and modem) Western culture and seems to be characteristic of socie-
ties with a competitive structure. As the individual's social and self-
esteem are not pre-established but are largely dependent on his own
skills in acquiring status tokens, in the long run comparative value
tends to replace intrinsic value. In such an axiological context, objects
are no longer valued according to an autonomous scale of values that
measures the relationship between the individual's expectations and
achievements. Rather they are valued according to a heteronomous
and social scale of values that measures not the value of the object in
itself but what it represents for the social whole. Even if deceitful,
since the other's desires cannot be our own desires, such a value
structure reveals itself as positive insofar as it responds to social dyna-
mism and this in turn redounds to cultural change and development.
However, it also has negative sides. Once started, the inertia of
comparative evaluations is difficult, if not impossible, to stop. As in-
dividuals are used to valuing both objects and themselves on the ba-
sis of comparative processes, they are apt to extend these compara-
tive criteria to domains where their application is rather questionable.
The evaluation of the happiness or misfortune of others is one of
these domains. Blinded by their comparative D l w ~ g and , obsessed
with preserving and improving their status, individuals are likely to
perceive the bliss or despair of others as obstacles in their quest for
social (and self-) esteem. Envy and Schadenfreude are the concomi-
tant effects of such a misanthropic evaluation of reality in which indi-
viduals experience the life of others as an obstacle to, or as an imple-
ment for, their self-realisation. Human joy or pain, qua joy and pain,
no longer count, since they are valued not intrinsically but compara-
tively. The other's joy diminishes our own joy and gives us pain; the
other's pain in turn gives us joy7. Such is the psychological structure
criticised by Nietzsche.

which his wrongdoers become the victims and he in turn contemplates their
suffering.
' For a thorough analysis both of this evaluative structure and its psycho-
logical implications, see D. Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, 2.2.8-9.
130 LAUTARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

Although all Nietzsche's critics adhere to his reproving of this deceit-

ful value-structure, they all exclusively comment on Tertullian's
morbid malice, as though his case was exceptionalR. Such compensa-
tory pleasure at the other's misfortune, however, is not as isolated as
some might think. One of the most obvious examples of a compensa-
tory kind of justice, the Lazarus parable, appears already in the New
Testament9, and there are also enough references documenting its
presence both in patristic texts and in later medieval theologianslO.In
the same tenor as Tertullian and Aquinas, all these passages insist
that the punishment of the damned is offered as a spectacle to the
blessed either as a compensation for their sufferings on earth or as a
means to fully understand both God's justice and their own bliss".

Tertullian is the favourite scapegoat for those who comment on the issue.
See, for example. Scheler, Das Ressentiment, 57-8 and note; Camus,
L'Homme, 30-1. Furthermore, Thomas Burnet, De statu mortuorum &
resurger~tiumtractatits (London, 1733) 307, quoted by D.P. Walker, The
Decline of Hell (London, 1964) 30. As Tertullian offers the most exagger-
ated and aggressive version of the idea, and as his personality presents
enough pathological traits, commentators seem to consider him a rather ex-
ceptional case of hatred and impotence. Scheler even takes Tertullian's case
as the most obvious example of one of his categories of resentful types ('the
apostate', see Scheler, Das Resser~timent,57ff).
Lk 16.19-31. The inconsistency of the justice pattern defended by this
parable is obvious from the fact that the attitude of the rich man in the after-
life seems to be morally superior to that of Lazarus. Indeed, his concerns re-
garding the future of his brothers seem to contradict the orthodox view, ac-
cording to which the damned are irrecoverable. The problem did not escape
the attention of Bonaventure and Aquinas, who attempted an explanation of
this peculiarity: the rich man actually desired everyone's condemnation, but
knowing that this was not possible, he wanted his brothers to be saved rather
than anyone else. However, as Leibniz, Tli6odicPe 111, 154, pointed out, the
argument is rather weak. See Walker, The Decline, 34.
lo See G. Bardy, 'Les Pkres de 1'~gliseen face des problkmes poses par
l'enfer', in M. Carrouges et a/., L'Etfer (Paris, 1950) 152-3; Walker, The
Decline, 29-32; W.J.P. Boyd, 'Apocalyptic and Life after Death', Studia
Evangelica 5 (1968) 39-56 at 50-6; R. Joly, CI11.istianisrne et Philosophie.
t tildes s11r Justin et les Apologistes grecs dii deu.~i?me siecle (Bmssels,
1972) 171-82.
" Cyprian, Ad Denletr. 30.2; Tertullian, De spectac. 10; John Chrysosto-
 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 131

The obvious conclusion for all these authorities is, therefore, that this
spectacle cannot but produce pleasure. That the idea is not restricted
to the Middle Ages is further supported by the testimony of similar
utterances in B e l l m i n e , Francis de Sales, and even Pascali2.
Now the question arises whether apocalyptic literature, by con-
trasting the sinners' despair with the bliss of the righteous, pursues
the spectacle of the other's suffering as a means of providing a simi-
lar compensatory or vindictive kind of justice. This goal is indeed ex-
plicitly or implicitly presupposed by numerous texts and it has been
suggested that the idea originates in the context of oppression due to
persecutions suffered by the Jews in the last two centuries BCI3. The
theme, however, also appears in later Christian apocalyptic texts, in
which case the Sitz im Lehen can hardly be adduced to explain its
appearanceIJ. Moreover, the emergence of vengeance desires in a
Christian context is rather peculiar, since they seem to contradict the
principle of neighbourly loveI5, which sought to supersede the an-
thropological dualism that in antiquity ruled the individual's relation-
ship with the other.
The aim of this paper is to consider the position adopted by the
original Apoca/ypse of Peter. (ApPt) with regard to these issues. Is the
reversal of fortune displayed by ApPt a simple compensatory inver-

mos, In 2 Cor. (PC 61, 471.49ff); Jerome, Hotn. in LC 16.26; Augustine,

Civ. Dei 22.22; Enchr-. 94.24; Gregory the Great, Hom. 40.291-301 (CCSL
161, 405); Petrus Lombardus, Sent. IV, 50.7 (PL 192.962).
'? Bellmine, De aeterna felicitate Sanctor~imIV.2; Francis de Sales, De
I'amour- de Dieu IX.8; Pascal, Provinciales IX.
l3 1 Enoclz 108.14-5; Juh 23.30; 4 Ezra 7.36-8; ApAb 31.4; TestMos
10.10; ApEli 5.27-8; cf. Boyd, 'Apocalyptic', 44.
IJ The most obvious example appears in the Arabic Apocalypse of Peter, a
rather late text without any connection with the Apocalypse of Peter. See A.
Mingana, Apocalypse of Peter-, Woodhroke Studies 312 (Cambridge, 1931)
141: 'Who avoid the sins of the body and shine with the qualities of heart -
I mean the priests and deacons, who fear me and keep my commandments -
I have prepared for them gorgeous garments and diadems, and I will place
them in the mansions of heaven which overlook the sufferings of the abyss,
in order to double in that day their joy and their pleasures'.
l5 See Mt 5.38ff.
132 LAUTARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

sion of the injustice experienced by its writer and its intended reader-
ship? Or is it rather an effect of the triumph of justice, which, substi-
tuting an unjust system for a just one, extends punishment and re-
ward to sinners and the righteous? Within this scope, the first section
evaluates the psychological impact of this reversal on the reader in
order to determine whether it is reactive or not. Attention is conse-
quently paid to the question of whether the value system of the reader
is so intrinsically mixed with what he reads that a compensatory in-
version is strictly necessary in order for him to reorganise his own
values and self-esteem. The second section analyses the notion of
justice underlying ApPt on the basis of the emotional responses to the
other's suffering appearing in the text. The third section, finally, at-
tempts an explanation of the varying attitudes to the other's suffering
attested in different versions of ApPt.

I. Is the Revel.sal of For-tunes Necessarily Reactive?

One of the most profound analyses of the individual's response to the

'spectacle' of the other's misfortune handed down from antiquity is
without doubt the Platonic analysis of the pleasure provided by the
comedy in the Pi~ilebus'~. For our present study the interest in Plato's
approach arises from the fact that, in analysing the spectator's re-
sponses to what he sees on stage, he transcends the mere representa-
tion searching for an explanation in his vital experience. From the
point of view of the individual's emotional responses, the line sepa-
rating fiction from fact seems to be rather irrelevant. Accordingly,
the effect of the reversal of fortune ( m p ~ n i r ~ tdisplayed
a) by the
plot of comedy on the psyche of the spectator is strongly determined
by the same evaluative structure that governs his daily life. His
evaluation of the hero's misfortune is intrinsically mixed with his
own experience, namely with his self-esteem, with his fears' and ex-
pectations''.
l6 Plato, Phlh. 48a ff. For an analysis of the section see M. Migliori,
L'Uon~o,fiapiacere, irttelligellza e Bene. Cornn~e~ltario
storico-filosofico a1
'Fileho' di PIatol7e (Milano, 1993) 249-56.
" As has been pointed out by H.G. Gadamer, PIatos dialektische Ethik.

Phanonienologische Illterpretationen zlrm Philehos (Hamburg, 1983 [I93 11)

 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 133

This approach determines Plato's condemnation of the pleasure

provided by the ridiculous (zb yehoiov). In his view, this pleasure is
clearly malicious, for our soul experiences a peculiar mixture of
pleasure and pain when laughing at the misfortune of others. The
idea behind such a statement seems to be that, as individuals estab-
lish their values on the basis of comparative processes, their emo-
tional responses are inversely proportional to the fortune of others.
Due to the competitive spirit that dominates his idea about his neigh-
bour, the individual's subjective evaluation of the suffering of others
transforms into pleasure what, from an objective point of view, is
clearly evil. Whereas, considered in itself, the pain of others cannot
but produce distress, when compared with our own situation it en-
hances our happiness. This psychological structure explains why at
the scenic representation and at the 'tragedy and comedy of life'
(Phlh. 50b) the individual I-e-acts by envying the other's fortune and
rejoicing at his suffering. This latter statement implies that the pleas-
ure of the ridiculous, namely the pleasure at the suffering of others, is
necessary in order to remove the pain that their apparent happiness
had arousedIR.
Is it possible to establish a parallel between the emotional re-
sponses aroused in the spectator by the plot of comedy and those ex-
perienced by the reader of ApPt? Is the system of values of the reader
so involved in the reversal as it is in the case of the spectator of the
comic n e p ~ n k ~ ~At acomparison
? of both genres will help us in es-
tablishing similarities and differences.

1.1. Similarities Between the Scope of Comic nsptxkzsta and the

Reversal of Fortune in ApPt
The moral educational purpose of apocalyptic literature seems to be
evident from its subjects, its characters, and its scenarios. The oppo-

150, the Platonic analysis is certainly pertinent to the question of the aes-
thetics of the comic, but his paramount importance arises from his subtle un-
derstanding of the individual's attitude to the circumstances of others.
IR See R. Hackforth, Pluto 's Exan7ination of Pleuslu-e (Cambridge, 1945)

93. Furthermore G. Papini, 'I1 significato del riso', in Fornie del essistere.
Tlrtte le opere di Giovarzno Papirli 7: Prose morali (Verona, 1959) 978-82 at
978.
134 LAUTARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

sition between good and evil, and their consequent reward or punish-
ment, seems to be its most visible goal. An Bya005 or 'righteous in-
dividual', with whom the readerhistener identifies himself, is ac-
quainted, thanks to a divine figure (in ApPt, Jesus), with the future of
humankind, the description of which mostly focuses on the impend-
ing suffering and punishment of a mean character. The scenario of
the Last Judgement in ApPt displays before the eyes of the righteous
a complete inversion of the unjust state of things according to a sys-
tem of values implicitly defended by the text. Despite the apparent
advantages and success of the wicked, and the visible disadvantages
of the righteous, ultimately reward and punishment bring about the
moral triumph of the latter. The eventual fall of the unrighteous
brings to order the preceding chaos of an inverted system of values
by means of appropriate retribution for their injustice. A fake
&yaeo<,actually a true K ~ K o ~is, brought
, down to his real condition.
In comedy, as Plato envisages it in the Philebus, we see the develop-
ment of a mean character who, due to Gyvota or 'ignorance', over-
values himself at the beginning of the playI9. Even if during the rep-
resentation the spectator becomes aware of the ignorance that causes
the hero's over-evaluation, not so the hero who persists in his error.
At the end of the play, however, his fall returns the hero to his proper
place in the current scale of values. In his xeptxkrsta, his position
moves from extreme happiness to its opposite, disgrace. Although at
the beginning of the play the spectator feels momentarily brought
down to an inferior position, at the end, and thanks to the inversion,
he occupies a superior one. His feelings consequently move in an in-
verse direction to those of the protagonist, going from the extreme of
(p06vog or 'envy' of the threatening superior position to the opposite
malicious pleasure of seeing this danger disappear. Although for
Plato this pleasure is just another aspect of envy, in Aristotelian ter-
minology h ' t t ~ C Z t p & ~is~ the
~ i aterm used to name this ,emotional
response, namely 'the pleasure of seeing the destruction of that which
had aroused envy'20.
l9 See W. Szilazi, Macltt und Oknmacht des Geistes (Bern, 1946) 94. Fur-
thermore, M. Mader, Das Problem des Lachens und der Komodie bei Platon
(Stuttgart, 1977).
'O Aristotle, Rh. 1386b34-1387a2. The Platonic analysis received defini-
 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 135

Different though they may be, we must admit, at a general level,

certain parallels in the nature of the apocalyptic and the comic. The
obvious reversal in the positions occupied by spectatorlreader and
protagonist in the current system of values in both genres brings them
close to each other. Both in comedy and in apocalyptic literature,
spectator and reader represent the normative value in the displayed
value systems, this standard measure being the touchstone for correct
behaviour. Consequently, the original arrogance due to Piyvota,
which characterises both the fallen hero of comedy and the punished
sinner of apocalyptic literature, is corrected eventually through the
knowledge they acquire by their suffering.

1.2. Differences Between Comic 7csptxkr~taand the Reversal of

Fortune in ApPr
However, once these general parallels have been established, we
must refine the analysis, focusing on the relationship between the dis-
played value system and that of the society in which the spectator/
reader lives. This issue is essential, for the spectator's frame of refer-
ence is what determines his evaluation of the reversal and the psy-
chological impact it may have on him. A closer analysis from this
point of view reveals certain differences concerning the degree of in-
volvement of the spectator/reader in the development of the plot.
To begin with, the nat6t~bqcp6po5 exploited by the plot of
comedy is not as natFt~65or 'unreal' in apocalyptic literature. Com-
edy recreates, within a stable value system, the whole development
of a character from his original arrogance to his ultimate fall. The fall

tive support from the Aristotelian statement that ET~IxCII~EKCIK~CI or

'Schadenfreude' (together with aioxvvria or 'shamelessness' and cpO6voq
or 'envy'), unlike other affections, do not admit a mean (EN 1107a8 ff).
Ever since, the condemnation of 'Schadenfreude' has been unanimous, not
only among pagan writers (Plautus, Stichus 207ff; Cicero, TD 4.20; Horace,
Sat. 1.4.78-9; Seneca, De ir.a 3.5.5; Plutarch, De Herod. malign. 15, p. 858;
Epictetus, Diatr.. 2.16.45; Alcinous, Didasc. 32.4) but also among Christian
authors such as Jerome (see P. Antin, 'Textes de S. JerBme [et d'autres] sur
la joie du malheur d'autrui', Vigiliae Ckristianae 18 [I9641 51-6; cf., how-
ever, Joly, Christianisn~e,175 and note 10 above); Ambrose, In Luc. 8.14
and Augustine, Etiar. in Ps. 96.1 1, In Ps. 108.20.
136 LAUTARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

of the comic hero restates the legitimacy of the current system of val-
ues, since the discrepancy between his self-esteem and his real per-
sonal value is corrected on the basis of the normative value that pro-
ceeds from the very same system of values. Ln this sense comedy can
be described as conservative2', since it purports and protects the sta-
tus quo with regard to values. In the case of apocalyptic literature,
however, the day of the Last Judgement describes the fall of a real
danger, namely the fall of the transgressors of God's law, persecutors
and oppressors. This fall of the unrighteous implies the superseding
of the unjust current system of values by a righteous one. Apocalyp-
tic literature might, from this perspective, be called revolutionary,
since it suggests a radically different system of values based on a
new normative value. The intrinsic differences are easy to perceive.
Concerning values, comedy defends the current system denounc-
ing the futility of those who pretend to surpass the 'golden mean'
with which the spectator identifies himself and on which his social
universe is based. Apocalyptic literature, on the other hand, de-
nounces the injustice of the current system of values, aiming at its
substitution by an ideally righteous one.
Concerning the implication of the spectatorlreader, comedy is
complete in itself. It represents a situation familiar to the spectator
from his daily experience and, accordingly, he only has to place him-
self in effiigie in the action. His position does not change from begin-
ning to end and it is precisely this apathy that explains his need of the
other's suffering. By contrast, in apocalyptic writing, the reader is di-
rectly involved in the action. The 7csp17c6~~1a displayed in the text is
the imaginary inversion of the current situation of injustice; it is the
desired reversal of a perverted system of values that will make possi-
ble not only the punishment of the unrighteous but also the proper ac-
knowledgement of the reader's own value.
Consequently, it is not the reversal itself that is malicious, but
rather its objective. In comedy the correction of the overvaluation is
not satisfying enough, because the ultimate goal is not an attack on
the system of values but rather on the very arrogant individual. The

" J. Ortega y Gasset, Meditaciones del Qlrijote (Madrid, 1981 [1914])

111-5 at 114.
 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 137

malicious laugh of the spectator is strictly necessary in order for him

to remove the pain produced by the apparent superiority of the hero.
Similarly, Tertullian imagines his mockery at the pagans' suffering
together with the reintroduction of Justice in the Last judgement. It
must be noted, however, that in the latter case, his malicious mockery
seems to compromise the justice he is claiming. By revengefully (or
pleasantly) laughing at the suffering of others, the individual actually
gives his assent to the injustice he is apparently denouncing and sim-
ply implies an inversion of roles between wrongdoers and victims.
In apocalyptic texts, however, the case seems to be different,
since it is the injustice of the current system that is questioned. In the
case of ApPt, therefore, the main goal of the reversal may not be the
unrighteous suffering individual, but rather the injustice of the world
in which righteous and unrighteous live. Naturally, the substitution of
a perverted system by a righteous one implies reward for the former
and punishment for the latter; but these might be simple effects con-
comitant with the restitution of justice.

2. The Concept of Justice Underlying ApPt

It seems obvious that before proceeding to state or reject pleasure at

the other's suffering as a constituent moment of ApPt's concept of
justice we must consider the ideal righteous system the text implies.
In order to do so I will focus on the emotional responses of those
who witness the punishments. As the seers represent the community
of the righteous protected by God's justice, the reader necessarily
identifies himself with them and consequently their reactions are
equal to his reactions.

2.1. Emotional Responses to the Other's Suffering

ApPt pays special attention to the spectators' responses to the suffer-
ing of the wicked. In ApPt 3 ED, the righteous, the angels and Jesus

" References follow D.D. Buchholz, Yoiir- Eyes Will Be Opened. A Study
o f the GI-eek (Ethiopic) Apocalypse of Peter- (Atlanta, 1988). English trans-
lations follow Buchholz's free translation.
138 LAUTARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

see the punishment of the damned. In 7.10 victims of murder view

the punishment of murderers; in 8.3-4 aborted children not only wit-
ness but also participate in the chastisement of their parents and,
similarly, in 8.5-7, victims of infanticide take part in the prosecution.
Furthermore, in ApPt 11.4 E, children and virgins see the chastise-
ment of sins committed by children and, finally, in a somewhat dif-
ferent tone, 13.2 states that the righteous will see the torture of the
damned.
Strikingly, however, the attitude of the spectators is far from be-
ing unanimous. On the basis of their responses two groups may be
distinguished: those who a priori reject the suffering of the damned
and those who, implicitly or explicitly, accept it.
2.1.l. Rejection of the Other's Suffering: Compassion in ApPt 3 E.
" E ~ E OorS'compassion' is the first emotional response to the others'
suffering we encounter in the Ethiopic text. In c. 3, after Jesus has
shown the future of both the righteous and sinners, the torments of
the latter distress all those present (3.3): 'We saw further how the
sinners will grieve in intense torment and anguish so that all of us
watching it began to weep, the righteous, the angels, and even Jesus
himself'. Although the latter weep, it is only Peter who is impelled to
act by his feelings. His protest is not delayed (3.4): 'Lord, let me re-
peat what you said about these sinners, that it would have been better
for them if they had never been created'. If this idea is a paraphrase
of Jesus' words in Mt 26.24", its contents and implications are, as we
will see, rather different. Jesus' severe rebuke shows that Peter seems
to be questioning the sense of the creation of evil if some are exclu-
sively destined to undergo eternal punishment (3.5): 'Peter! Why
would you say such a thing, that they should never have been cre-
ated? You are rebelling against God!' Peter's compassion at the
sight of human suffering and existential protest against the need for
pain rely on a sense of cpthavOponia or 'humanity', a sympathy with
his fellow humans that a priori rejects a dualistic view of man, op-
posing the righteous against the unrighteous.
In his answer, Jesus urges Peter to check himself until he has
considered whether these punishments happen to be deserved or not:

" Similarly Mk 14.21.

 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 139

'When you saw how the sinners will lament on the final day it made
you sad. But now I will show you how by their actions they have
transgressed against the most High' (ApPr 3.7 E). The measure of the
punishment, according to Jesus, strictly correlates with the measure
of their transgressions. His urging Peter to pay attention not only to
the sufferings but also to the nature of the sins that provoked them
relies on the notion of distributive justice.
The passage consequently displays three different notions or de-
grees of E ~ E O S .The first kind, a rather passive and pathological com-
passion, is represented by the weeping of the seers. In this case, the
emotional response does not necessarily impel the person to act, be-
cause the suffering individual is not the one who provokes it. Rather,
it is the objective idea of pain and suffering that moves the person.
A second kind, Peter's E ~ E O Sinvolves
, both the pain and the
suffering individual. His compassion presents an active character as a
result of a rational process aiming to understand the circumstance of
the other and the character of his ~uffering'~. The result of this proc-
ess is an emotional response that combines. the act of 'being troubled
along with' the pain of the other (ouva~8opa1)with a kind of 'fel-
low feeling' or oupxCl8~1a'~.
The third kind of E ~ E O Sis the measured emotional response de-
fended by Jesus' words. Whereas the first kind was defective and
Peter's is excessive, the third kind represents, in his view, the only
proper emotion, for it considers not only the pain and the suffering
individual, but also the notion of merit upon which distributive jus-
tice is based. According to this notion of justice, E h s o ~is only likely
to appear in those cases where the other's disgrace happens to be un-
deserved. It is interesting to note that Jesus' restriction presents a
strict parallel to the Aristotelian definition of E h s o ~in the Rhetorics
as 'a kind of pain excited by the sight of evil, deadly or painful,

'4
For a similar differentiation see Aquinas, Sumrna Tlzeol. II/II, 3 0 . 1 2c,
~
and 3c. Compassion is an affection if it is simply a motus appetitirs sensitivi,
but in turn is a virtue if its appearance is accompanied by reason, namely if
it is a mottis uppetitus irztellectivi.
25 See W. Burkert, Zlrm altgrieckischerz Mitleidshegriff (Erlangen. 1955)
61.
140 LAUTARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

which befalls one who does not deserve it'26. But the notion of merit
or &cia,which is the only normative value permitting the distinction
between justice and injustice27,is also essential to the notion of re-
tributive justice that seems to assign punishment or reward. Since Je-
sus' words focus on this principle of merit, one may assume that his
demonstration aims to arouse in Peter the proper satisfaction of see-
ing justice fulfilled. Aristotle calls this emotional response V ~ ~ E G I G
or 'righteous indignation' and defines it as 'feeling pain at unde-
served adversities and prosperities and pleasure at those that are de-
served'28.
One should keep in mind, however, that Peter expresses his com-
passion even before he has been acquainted with the sins that, in Je-
sus' words, justih the punishments. He consequently not only ques-
tions the meaning of evil in the context of God's creation but also the
meaning of a justice that for some implies unceasing torture.
2.1.2. Approval of the Other's Sufferirzg. In his gruesome sightseeing
Peter is not only allowed to witness the punishments; he can also see
how other seers contemplate their application. Rather differently than
Peter and the righteous, this group of seers is not moved by the sight
of the punishments and approves, whether implicitly or explicitly, of
the torment that is taking place. Sometimes their attitude is silent
contemplation - as it is, for example, in 7.10: 'The angel Ezrael
brings the spirits of the murdered victims so they can watch the pun-
ishment'. The absence of any explicit reaction by the seers clearly
indicates, in my opinion, that the objective of their presence is not so
much satisfying their revenge desires as letting them see that, despite
appearances, justice at last prevails.
Another curious example is ApPt 11.4 E, where children and vir-
gins, who are not directly involved in the crimes, contemplate the
punishment of sins committed by children. In this case,athe presence
of a public seems to be intended to achieve a corrective or preventive
goal: 'Again the angel Ezrael brings children and virgins to show
them those who are being punished'. As in the former case, the seers
are simply spectators of a rather mechanical functioning of justice

'6 Aristotle, Rh. 1385b13 ff.

27
Aristotle, Rh. 1386b14-5, 6 6 1 ~ yap
0 ~ rZ, napa rflv &@avytyvop~vov.
'' Aristotle. EE 1233b24-5.
 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 141

that gives to each according to his deeds.

At other times, participation by the seers is more active. This is
the case with the aborted children (8.3-4), who participate in the pun-
ishment of their mothers, and with the victims of infanticide, who
personally accuse their murderous parents (8.6-7). These are the only
two exceptional cases where justice seems to slide into personal re-
taliation, and this shift may be due to the horrible nature of the
crime^'^.
Within this group of approving reactions one may also include
those utterances by the damned themselves admitting their guilt and
the justice of their punishment. The first passage appears in 7.1 1:
'The killers will say to them together, "God's sentence was just and
right because we heard that we would come to this place of retribu-
tion, but we did not believe it".' Similarly in ApPt 13.6 E: 'God's
decision is correct for we heard and learned about the goodness of his
decision and each of us has been paid back matching what we have
done'.

2.2. Are These Attitudes Incompatible?

Now the question arises whether these seemingly opposite attitudes
by the seers are dealt with as incompatible with one another or rather
as compatible. Do approving reactions seek to rule out compassion or
are both emotional responses conceived of as legitimate responses to
the sight of punishment? Scholars are normally inclined to accept the
former possibility. On the a priori assumption that Jesus' answer in-
tends to rebuke Peter's compassion, they seem to consider that ap-
proving reactions by the seers are a suitable support for this rebuke.
This is the case, for example, in R. Joly's approach to the issue3'. In a
large collection of patristic medieval texts documenting what he calls
'compensatory sadism', namely the pleasure at the other's suffering,
he includes a version of ApPt 13.2 E, according to which the sight of
the torment of the damned will avenge the righteous3'. As Joly does
not mention the problem of 'compassion' in chapter 3, one might

" Cf. section 3.2 below.

30 Joly, Christianisnie, 171-82.
3' Joly, Cl1ristianisn7e,173. See below, however, for the correct reading of
the passage according to more recent editions.
142 LAUTARO ROIG LANZLLOTTA

conclude that for him approving reactions rebuke compassion and

that, consequently, they were directed at stating the need, even the
right, of the righteous to take revenge on the sinners. As, one may
presume, compassion and revenge exclude each other, he tacitly im-
plies that Peter's compassion (that is, human compassion) is over-
ruled by divine justice. Oppression and persecution account, in his
view, for this peculiarly vindictive conception of divine justice.
Other scholars have attempted an inclusive interpretation: al-
though approving reactions do not completely rebuke Peter's com-
passion, they do correct it. According to Buchholz, for example,
ApPr tried to solve the dilemma over mercy and justice. The ques-
tion, implicit in ApPt 3 E, as to whether God is merciful, receives, in
his view, a proper answer when the righteousness of punishment is
acknowledged even by the sinners: God is merciful but he is also

A similar approach is to be found in Bauckham's most thorough

and erudite studies on our text33. In an effort to integrate what for
him are incompatible attitudes toward the application of justice, this
scholar takes the salvation granted by the Rainer fragment (R) to be a
solution for an assumed 'conflict between justice and mercy'34. In his
view, mercy can only be fair after the victims have received a com-
pensation for their suffering through the suffering of the unrighteous.

32 Buchholz, Your Eyes, 338.

33 R. Bauckham, 'The Conflict of Justice and Mercy: Attitudes to the
Damned in Apocalyptic Literature', in his The Fate of the Dead. Studies O I I
Jewish and Christian Apocalypses (Leiden, 1998) 132-48; 'The Apocalypse
of Peter: A Jewish Christian Apocalypse from the Time of Bar Kohba', The
Fate, 160-258.
34 This document is a fragment of ApPt that belongs to the Rainer Collec-

tion. It was first published by C. Wesseley, 'Les plus anciens monuments du

Christianisme: ~ c r i t ssur papyrus II', Patrologia Orientalis' 1812 (1924)
345-511 at 482-3, who thought it belonged to the Acts of Peter. It was first
identified as a section of ApPt by K. Priimm, 'De genuino Apocalypsis Petri
textu: Examen testium iam notorum et novi fragmenti Raineriani', Bihlica
10 (1929) 62-80 at 77-8. It has also been published and translated by M.R.
James, 'The Rainer Fragment of the Apocalypse of Peter', JTS 32 (1931)
270-9; see also, idem, The Apocryplzal New Testament (Oxford, 1955) 521.
For more recent interpretations of the fragment see below.
 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 143

Furthermore, he thinks that it is only the victims themselves who can

request mercy for their oppressors. Therefore, instead of a desire for
personal vengeance, it is the Sitz im Leben of persecution that ex-
plains the need for such a peculiar solution to the problem of
theodicy. Punishment of the damned and rejoicing by the righteous
are, in his view, nothing but the fulfilment of God's justice.
2.2.1. Problems With These Views. This approach to ApPt's concep-
tion of justice presents, in my view, some problems.
2.2.1.1. Restrictive Interpretations of Peter's Compassion. Common
to all these views is the fact that they apply a minimising interpreta-
tion of Peter's compassion in which his emotional response is exclu-
sively evaluated from the perspective of the justice pattern implied
by Jesus' answer. Since Peter's compassion appears to be excessive
when compared with the v6p~o15stated by Jesus, interpreters at-
tempt to integrate it into the framework of distributive justice. Obvi-
ously, as soon as compassion and justice are considered as polarities
within a relationship, the following are the only possible solutions:
justice overrules compassion, or mercy is subordinated to justice, or
mercy is interpreted as forgiveness.
2.2.1.2. Textual Problems: 'Compensatory Sadism' in ApPt? At the
same time, Joly's interpretation of ApPt's concept of justice is based
on an erroneous scholarly correction of a copyist error in ms P of the
Ethiopic text. As Buchholz has shown, the text in 13.2 does not read:
'(Les justes) verront ceux qui les auront hays, alors que le supplice les
vengera pour toujours', as Joly wants35,but rather: '... and they will
look at the one(s) who cursed it (scil. eternal life) while he takes re-
venge on them'36. In this sense, the text does not suggest the satisfac-
tion of vindictive desires in the righteous, but simply states that they
witness the punishment of the wicked.
2.2.1.3. Conceptual Problems: A Justice Owed to the Victims? AS
far as the conception of a justice owed to the victims is concerned,

35
Joly, Christianisrne, 173, based on S. GrCbaut, 'The second coming of
Christ and the resurrection of the dead', Revue de ['Orient chre'rien 15
(1910) 214.
36
See Buchholz, Your Eves, 340-1.
144 LAUTARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

such an interpretation of the theodicy dangerously slides, in my view,

from a general to a particular notion of justice. From this perspective,
God's justice is no longer the materialisation of righteousness, but
simply a compensation owed to particulars. And, naturally, this im-
plies that punishment and reward are no longer effects of the restitu-
tion of justice, but rather its cause.
As Jesus' programmatic words to Peter already announce, how-
ever, viewing the punishments is intended to demonstrate the correla-
tion between sin and retribution. Jesus' urging Peter to consider the
notion of merit is not a statement about the need of revenge for the
victims of injustice, but rather a claim for the righteousness of pun-
ishing transgressions of the law. Consequently, a strict distinction
must be made between vengeance and retributive justice.
Revenge as a form of retrib~tion'~, on the one hand, establishes a
polarity between injured and offender that concerns them as individu-
als, and it is ruled by the principle of harm done, not of culpability,
since it is the act itself and not responsibility for it that provokes re-
venge. As far as retributive justice is concerned, on the other hand,
the guilty party is considered as a member of a legal community.
Since a given body of law regulates retribution through punishment,
retributive justice punishes not the harm done against individuals but
transgressions of this law. The application of the so-called 'mirror
punishments' in ApPt3Rshows that it is not the acts that are punished,
37
Vengeance is sometimes considered an archaic form of retribution; see
E. Klinger, 'Revenge and Retribution', in M. Eliade (ed), The Encyclopedia
of Religion 12 (New York and London, 1987) 362-8 at 363. A first step to-
wards the regulation of justice appears in the ills talionis that, even if his-
torically related to vengeance, was directed at regulating the unmeasured ap-
plication of retaliation. The application of talio was restricted to cases of
non-fatal bodily injuries and referred to a codified numerical equality in
every punishment, which assured a strict correlation between injury and
punishment.
3R The talio therefore should not be confused with the so-called 'mirror

punishments'. A strict differentiation between both was first urged by J.

Weismann, Talion und offentliche Strafe im mosaiscl7en Rechte (Leipzig,
1913) 337 and more recently by B.S. Jackson, 'The Problem of Exod XXI
22-5 (ius talionis)', VT 23 (1973) 273-304 at 281 note 1; and H.-W.
Jungling, ',,Auge fiir Auge, Zahn fur Zahn". Bemerkungen zu Sinn und
 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 145

but the guilt that sinners have acquired through their transgressions.
The precise correlation between sin and punishment reveals a clear
codification of norms of behaviour as well as the stipulation of a suit-
able chastisement for contravening them. But punishment, it must be
clear, is intended to chastise not so much the harm done against indi-
viduals as the harm done against the community. The fulfilment of
1 God's justice concerns the injured individual only insofar as he be-
longs to the legal community that protects him with its body of law.
This distinction between mere revenge and retributive justice is
essential, I think, in order not to confuse the application of justice,
which as such is only concerned with righteousness, with the poten-
tial satisfaction of the injured party when seeing justice fulfilled. The
justice of hell and the concomitant suffering of the damned are not a
justice owed to the righteous, but rather a justice owed to righteous-
ness. The suffering of the damned is nothing but a consequence of
the restitution of justice that extends reward and punishment to the
righteous and u n r i g h t e ~ u s ~ ~ .
2.2.2. Implications of These Approaches. In spite of the scholarly ef-
forts to exclude personal vengeance from the motivation of the
apocalyptists, the above interpretations of theodicy at work in our
text seem to imply the existence of a vindictive notion of justice in
ApPt and its intended readership. If God's justice is a justice owed to
the righteous (= oppressed) and if, hence, they ought to rejoice to see

Geltung der altestamentlichen Talionsformeln', Tl~eologieund Philosophie

59 (1984) 1-38 at 4-5 with note 10. In spite of D. Fiensy, 'Lex Talionis in
the Apocalypse of Peter', HTR 76 (1983) 255-8, ApPt does not display the
1e.u talionis, but rather 'mirror punishments' and these were not exclusive to
the Jewish world. For the distinction between genuine and false taIio, see R.
Haase, 'Korperliche Strafen im altorientalischen Recht', RIDA III, 10
(1963) 73.
39 In addition, if the final restitution of God's justice in ApPt equals the
moral triumph of the righteous, the moral superiority of the latter cannot be
simply established on the basis of the suffering of the unrighteous without
becoming an elevation over the pain of others. As this restitution of justice
implies the righteous' axiological promotion, they are now too far above the
suffering of the damned to rejoice at their punishment. Instead, this suffer-
ing is likely to diminish their joy at seeing justice fulfilled.
 146 LAUTARO ROlG LANZILLOTTA

God's justice done (= suffering of the damned), it seems to me that

this justice is on the verge of becoming simple revenge4'. From this
perspective ApPr might seem to pursue a compensatory goal, namely
that it would provide the satisfaction of seeing oppressors and perse-
cutors finally vanquished and humiliated.
It must be noted, however, that if this were indeed the case, this
peculiar conception of the theodicy would confirm malicious pleas-
ure as a constitutive element of its sense of justice. True, the argu-
ment of external pressure might explain why vindictive justice takes
place, but it does not excuse its existence. On the contrary, such a
statement actually supports Nietzsche's argument of the 'hate creat-
ing value^'^' making justice equivalent to Max Scheler's description
of 'ressentiment' as a soul's poisoning, resulting from the long re-
pressed wish to avenge oneself combined with the consciousness of
being incapable of carrying this outJ2.

2.3. An Alternative Explanation for the Different Attitudes of the

Seers
2.3.1. The Attitildes of the Seers are Compatible. However, the atti-
tudes of the seers are not necessarily incompatible. This is proven by
the fact that approval by some seers does not actually rule out com-
passion by others. Despite all utterances stating the righteousness of
punishment, compassion finally prevails and punishment is remitted.
Thus, one might rightly conclude that compassion and approval, far
from excluding, actually complement each another. As a matter of

O'
Bauckham himself seems to acknowledge this equation. See 'The con-
flict', 136: 'It is important to realise that, difficult though it may be to ex-
clude altogether a desire for personal vengeance from the motives of the
apocalyptists, the essential motive was the wish to see God's justice done. If
hell is the triumph for God's justice, setting to rights the idjustice of this
world, then the righteous ought to rejoice to see it' [Similar difficulties in
defending this joy of the righteous are in Thomas Aquinas, Sentent. IV,
50.2.4~1;'The Apocalypse', 234: 'We should also remember the overriding
context of persecution, so that, especially in the author's mind, justice is due
to the martyrs against those who have persecuted and betrayed them.
41
Nietzsche, Z N Genealo,yie
~ der Moral 1.8.
Scheler, Das Ressentirnent, 38ff.
 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 147

fact the incompatibility of these attitudes disappears as soon as one

challenges the assumption that Jesus' answer intends to rebuke Pe-
ter's emotional response (below).
It is my conviction, therefore, that in the original ApPt compas-
sion was not dealt with as a mere counterpoint to retributive justice,
but rather as a central issue that could seriously challenge the mean-
ing, the measure, and the duration of punishment. The essential sig-
nificance of compassion in our text is certainly indicated by the thor-
ough treatment of the issue in ApPr 3 E. Its pivotal function,
however, is further emphasised by the fact that the motif of compas-
sion is placed before and after the sight of the torments of hell. The
compassion of the righteous at work in ApPr 3 E and in R, by intro-
ducing and closing, respectively, the sight of pain and the suffering
of hell, intentionally functions as a frame intended to mitigate the
predominance of punishment and suffering in the application of di-
vine justice.
2.3.2. Peter's Z ~ E O In~ . order to understand the horizon of Peter's
EAEOS properly, one must keep in mind that, as stated above, he ex-
presses his compassion even before he has been acquainted with the
alleged reason for suffering. Even if Jesus urges him to observe the
principle of merit, he must already be aware of the fact that the suf-
fering of the damned is due to punishment, for he tells him (3.4):
'Lord, let me repeat what you said about the sinners'. In so doing, his
use of Jesus' words about Judas presents an obvious shift"'. AS has
been pointed out, nowhere except here is the idea applied to all those
being punished4?. More important, however, is the fact that the scope
of Jesus' words is radically changed. Whereas in the New Testament
they express the severe and certain punishment that will come upon
the traitor, here they express rather the opposite, that is, they question
the meaning of the punishment itselfj5. Peter's words (3.4) 'it would
have been better for them if they had never been created' represent
an existential protest against the meaning of suffering. If the damned
were created, just as he was, by a merciful God, how is it possible

-'3See section 2.1.1 above.

Buchholz, Your Eyes, 290.
-" Similarly in 1 Clem 46.7-8 and Hermas vis. 4.2.6.
148 LAUTARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

that, whereas he will enjoy the bliss of the righteous, his fellow crea-
tures will have to endure unceasing suffering? Peter's preoccupation,
consequently, concerns the problem of suffering and pain within the
context of God's creation and not the question of whether this suffer-
ing is deserved or not.
2.3.3. Jesus' Rebuke. It is obvious, however, that Jesus' answer is
especially concerned with the second issue. Does this mean that he
rebukes Peter's compassion? It has been pointed out that this is in-
deed the case. According to some scholars, compassion is rebuked
either because it is cheap (for it does not consider the demands of jus-
tice) or because it is p r e ~ i p i t a t e d But
~ ~ . is this really so? It must be
noted that, if this is the scope of Jesus' words, his reply fails to give a
proper answer to Peter's preoccupation. Jesus does show him the cor-
relation between guilt and punishment, but this does not properly sat-
isfy his existential concerns.
The solution to this problem is that Jesus' words are not directed
at rebuking Peter's E h ~ o 5 but, at showing him that his concerns re-
garding God's compassion are unfounded. Instead of rebuking Pe-
ter's compassion, Jesus intends to show him that God is certainly
merciful, although his mercy is essentially different from human
compassion. According to Jesus' words, Peter's protest is simply due
to his lack of insight into its working and development. Whereas hu-
man compassion is concerned with pain and suffering, God's mercy
is primarily concerned with justice. As a guarantee of righteousness,
God gives to everyone according to their deeds, thus reward for the
righteous and punishment for the unrighteous. His law a priori estab-
lishes a norm of behaviour that assures bliss for those who respect it.
Transgressions of this norm, however, automatically generate
unrighteousness and punishment. Bliss for the righteous and punish-
ment for the unrighteous are but effects of the same measured appli-
cation of justice.
God's impartial and righteous attitude, however, is not that of an
inflexible judge and his vSpsotq thus does not exclude mercy. As he
is aware of the compassion of the righteous, he grants them the possi-

46
Buchholz, Your- Eyes, 292; Bauckham, 'The Apocalypse', 233.
 THE JUSTICE P A E R N 149

bility of interceding for the damned. Mercy, therefore, can rather be

seen as the very culmination of his restitution of righteousness.
Since the salvation granted by R is the result of intercession by
the righteous due to their compassion, it seems clear that Peter's
compassion cannot be rebuked. Rather divine v k p s o q and % h e oby~
the righteous are two sides of the same conception of justice.
2.3.4. Approval for Punishment: The Role o f the Audience in Judici-
ary Ceremonies. But if Peter's compassion is not rebuked and if, con-
sequently, approval for punishment both by victims and guilty is not
intended to correct or restrict the horizon of his feelings, one must
explain why it appears in our text.
The most obvious explanation comes from the meaning, applica-
tion and scope of justice by punishment and from the essential role
played by an audience in legitimating its functioning. As the public
represents the community, both as potential source for and as a po-
tential victim of transgressions, its presence is important not only to
assure the exemplary function of punishment, but also, and espe-
cially, to complete with its testimony and approval the materialisa-
tion of justice. In his study on the modem conception of justice and
imprisonment, Michel Foucault has pointed out that the presence of
the public and admission of culpability by the guilty are essential ele-
ments by means of which justice is self-legitimated4'. Regarding the
role of an audience, he recognises that the status of the public is an
ambiguous one. On the one hand, the audience is a passive spectator
of the exemplary punishment; on the other, it is an active participant
inasmuch as its testimony is a guarantee of the fulfilment of justice,
in which the public to a certain extent participates. Regarding the ad-
mission of culpability by the guilty, its function is so important that
medieval and latter chronicles frequently include such self-inculpa-
ti on^^^, whether real or composed ad Itoc, in order to suit an inherent
necessity in the fulfilment of justice".

j7
M. Foucault, Sur-veille~-et punir. Naissarlce de la prison (Paris, 1975)
61ff.
JX
For ancient parallels to this, see Bauckham, 'The Apocalypse', 232.
j9
Foucault, Su~~jeiller, 68ff. The suitable effect of these confessions by
the guilty is proved by the existence of a genre of 'last words of a con-
150 LAUT ARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

Both elements are clearly exemplified in our text. ApPtE

presents the viewers both as passive spectators and as more active
participants in the administration of justice. At the same time, admis-
sion by the guilty appears at least in two passages. We may conclude
that approval for punishment in ApPrE is not intended as a counter-
point to Peter's compassion. It is simply an inherent element in the
development of the justice at work in ApPt.

3. Different Conceptions of Jzistice in ApPt's Transmission

3.1. Salvation for the Damned in the Rainer Fragment

It was M.R. James who, by comparing ApPt 14 E with R and SihOr2
330-8, first suggested that the maker of the Ethiopic version had con-
sciously altered the 'dangerous doctrine' of the sinners' salvation.
The idea that the sinners will be recipients of grace and will eventu-
ally be saved, which also appears in the Coptic Apocalypse of Elias,
Epistle o f the Apostles 40, and in Thecla's intercession for Falconilla
in the Acts o f Paul, might have been rejected on the grounds of theo-
logical objection^^^.
Ever since, his view has been widely accepted. Buchholz, for in-
stance, canies out a meticulous comparison of R and ApPr 14 E, in
which he shows how the Ethiopic text succeeds in eliminating the
theory of salvation by applying a small number of changes. These
involve, firstly, the suppression of the words EK rfjq ~ o h d l o ~ w q
'from out of punishment' and PET& rGv &yiwv 'with the saints', for
these last words implied that others besides the saints would receive a
share in righteousness. Secondly, they also affect the verbal tense of
the future a i r q o o v m ~'they will ask', which appears in Ethiopic as
the past tense 'they have asked from me', and the phrase paxrtopa

demned' and by the importance of leaflets as a means of propaganda con-

cerning the righteousness of justice in a given process (ihid., 69): 'La justice
avait besoin de ces apocryphes pour se fonder en vCritC. Ses dCcisions Ctaint
ainsi entourCes de toutes "preuvres" posthumes'.
50 James, Apocrypha, 521 and 'Rainer Fragment', 270-9; J.A. Trumbower,
Rescue for- the Dead. Tlie Posth~rnzusSalvariotl of Non-Chr-istians in Ear-!,,
Christianity (Oxford, 2001) 49-55.
 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 151

Ev o m ~ q p i q'baptism in salvation', which was changed to 'baptism

and salvation' by the Ethiopic text in order to avoid the idea that the
damned could be saved5'. Bauckham also accepts the text provided
by R as original for ApPr and the salvation granted in R is essential
for his interpretation of the notion of justice in ApPt5*.
Disagreement, however, concerns the way in which salvation
should be interpreted. The text of R reads:
I will give to my called and my elect whomsoever they request of me
out of punishment. And I will give them a beautiful baptism in salva-
tion from the Acherousian lake, which is said to be in the Elysian field,
a share in righteousness with my saints.

Two readings of this salvation have been proposed. The first interpre-
tative line construes it as a form of universal salvation. Although the
request for pardon might be interpreted as proceeding from friends
and relatives only, the text seems to imply that no saved person could
be happy as long as any are being punisheds3. The second interpreta-
tive line is represented by a restrictive construction of salvations4.
According to this view, punishment of the wicked can only be remit-
ted if the victims of persecution and oppression, by forgiving their
oppressors, ask for it. Thus, salvation is limited to those unrighteous
who are forgiven by their victims. Note, however, that this last read-
ing implies a considerable interpretation that restricts the meaning of
two key references in R. On the one hand, the words ~ o i qKhqroiq
pou ~ a E Ki ~ E K T O ~('to< my called and elect') are taken to mean 'vic-
tims of oppression'; on the other hand, the words 8v Eav
a i t f i o o v ~ a ip~~~('whomsoever they request of me') are interpreted

5' Buchholz, Your- Eyes, 349.

" Bauckham. 'The Conflict', 145-8; 'The Apocalypse'. 232-5.
53 Buchholz, Your. Eyes, 348. See Bayle. Euvr-es Div. 111, p. 863: 'I1 y a
m&me je ne sais quoi qui choque notre raison dans I'hypothkse que les
Saints du Paradis tirent en partie leur f6licit6 de ce qu'ils savent que d'autres
hommes son tourmentez & le seront Ctemellement'. For the idea that pun-
ishment of the damned diminishes the joy of the righteous see the arguments
by the 'Choir of Innocents' in G. Papini's Judizio Ut~iver.sale(Florence,
1957) 1257-9.
54 Bauckham, 'The Apocalypse', 210.
55
Emendation by James ('Rainer Fragment', 271) confirmed by SihOr.2
331.
152 LAUT ARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

as 'oppressors'. Furthermore, the motivation of the righteous when

requesting salvation for the damned does not seem to arise from for-
giveness but rather from compassion, as clearly implied by the thor-
ough treatment of the issue in ApPt 3 E.
Since our text includes no explicit restrictions with regard to sal-
vation, one might rather expect it to be as comprehensive as the com-
passion of the righteous.

3.2. The Emphasis on Vengeance in the Ethiopic Text

The document provided by R clearly shows that the maker of the
Ethiopic version was especially interested in eliminating from chap-
ter 14 every trace of the idea of the sinners' salvation. That this idea
was not theologically acceptable to all is also reflected by a scholion
to SihOr 2.331, which rejects it on grounds of 0rigenisms6.
One is therefore likely to think that this tendency to affirm the
need of an everlasting vengeance also affected other sections of the
text. This might indeed be the case in those passages of ApPtE that
insistently state that punishment will last forever. Thirteen passages
of the Ethiopic text present such an assertion57.Seven of these cases,
however, do not appear in the parallel sections of the Akhmim Greek
fragment (A)s8.Most interesting is the fact that the Bodleian fragment
(B)'%upports A in two of these cases. In spite of its shortness and
precarious condition, B exactly corresponds with ApPt 10.6-7 E, a
section in which two of these statements, without parallel in A, ap-
pear. Thanks to the testimony of B, which is supported by A, it is pos-
sible to see how a reference to the incessant character of punishment
(B: K a 1 CIV(TV~~~C(TU(STO<[E]I~ou(S~V Z ~ [ VI ]Koha(31v; A 33: K U ~

56 The refutation of SibOr 2.331 (quoted by Bauckham, 'The Conflict',

148 and note 53) appears in ms Y . Polemic undertones also appear in the
passages by Chrysostomos. Jerome, Augustine and Aquinas referred to
above in notes 2 and 11.
j7 ApPtE 3.2, 6.6, 6.9 (twice), 7.8 (by the damned), 7.1 1 (by the damned).
8.9. 8.10, 10.3. 10.6. 10.7, 11.9, and 13.3.
58 ApPt 7.8 E / 24 A; ApPt 7.1 1 E / 25 A; ApPt 8.9 E / 25 A; ApPt 8.10 E
/ 25 A: ApPt 10.3 E / 32 A; ApPt 10.6 E / 32 A, ApPt 10.7 E / 34 A.
59 See M.R. James, 'A New Text of the Apocalypse of Peter', .ITS 12
(1911) 367-9.
 T HE JUSTICE PATTERN 153

pqFS7coze 7 c a u 6 p ~ v or~i j z~ o ~ a l j z q~ohClosoq)

~ is transformed by
ApPtE in an affirmation of the eternity of punishment. Likewise, 10.7
E introduces a similar statement without any correspondence in
Greek60.
It must also be noted that the two passages quoted above, pre-
senting a curious slide from retributive justice to personal retaliation,
are missing from the parallel passages of A as well. Of course, this
does not necessarily imply that they are an original addition by
ApPtE, but this possibility cannot be excluded.

3.3. The Discordant Position of ApPt 13 E

Accepting the correction of ApPt 14 E according to the mentality of
R puts ApPt 13 E in a rather discordant position. In the first place,
this chapter affirms that the righteous impassively witness the pun-
ishment of the damned, and this punishment is explicitly described as
vengeance (Ethiopic). In addition it includes one of the references to
the everlasting character of punishment, which, as stated above, have
a doubtful status in ApPtE. Furthermore, the request for mercy by the
damned is severely rejected by Tatirokos, who instead applies in-
creasing torment. Although all these elements perfectly fit within the
framework of ApPtE, and consequently in the Ethiopic version of
chapter 14, they hardly agree in general with the mentality of R and
in particular with the theory of salvation.
Since ApPt 13 E and 14 E present one and the same mentality
and conception of justice, one might assume that c. 13 underwent re-
vision as well. Despite the lack of textual evidence, this hypothesis
gains some support, suggesting a possible Platonic influence on the
whole section. Platonic traces are evident both in the corrective func-
tion of punishment and in the consequent eventual remission of the
sinners. The conception of injustice as an infirmity and chastisement
as a cure, which appears already in Protagoras 324a-b, is further de-
veloped by Gorgias 526b-c, which divides the guilty into curable and
incurable and attributes an exemplary and corrective function to pun-
ishment. All these elements are blended in a more precise scene

60 James, 'A New Text', 367-8 already compared the three texts; see also
Buchholz, Your Eyes, 145ff, Bauckham, 'The Apocalypse', 210.
154 LAUT ARO RO IG LANZILLOTTA

by Pkaedo 112e-114b, where the purificatory function of the

Acherousian Lake is brought to the foreground. It has been suggested
that the doctrine of the sinners' salvation in R might have been in-
spired by the purification of the curable sinners in Pkaedo 1 14b6'.
Similarly, the contrast between the righteous and unrighteous in ApPt
13 E might have presented, before its revision, a scene inspired by
Phaedo 113d where all souls, whether righteous or unrighteous, are
conducted to the place of judgement before the subsequent consign-
ment of the guilty to the Acherousian Lake62.
It might be objected that retributive justice, as stated in ApPt,
and corrective justice, as implied in these Platonic passages, rely on
different conceptions of guilt and responsibility. Whereas the former
is directed at punishing transgression as such, the latter is concerned
with correction and prevention. We must admit, however, that, as
soon as the possibility of salvation appears, the function of punish-
ment is essentially changed. The prayers of the martyrs asking for
forgiveness for their persecutors instead of punishment (Acts 7.60)
rely on a similar concept of guilt conceived as a deficient condition
that might be improved with proper care. This approach to injustice
is parallel to Peter's E h ~ o 5in ApPt 3 E. Based on a different notion
of guilt, Peter simply rejects the pain in itself as a possible solution
for it. His compassion implies a holistic view of man (cf. Mt 5.44)
that rejects a division of humanity into two groups on the basis of the
principle of merit and on the concept of guilt as a stigma.

3.4. Possible Intention(s) of the Original ApPt

Given the obvious transformations undergone by ApPtE, and the lack
of a reliable touchstone to prove all key passages, it is difficult, if not
61
See Bauckham, 'The Conflict', 145-7, who also quotes parallels from
apocalyptic literature (ApMos 37.3; ApPazrl 22-3). where the Acherousian
Lake also presents a purificatory function; see Copeland, this volume, Ch.
VII.
" According to E. Peterson, 'Die "Taufe" im Acherousischen See', Friih-
kir-cke, Jirdenturn lrr~dGnosis (Rome/Freiburg/Vienna, 1959) 3 10-32 at 323-
4, the imprecision concerning the consignment to the Acherousian Lake in
the Elysian field is due to the fact that it replaces here the river of the water
of life in the Jewish Paradise.
 THE JUSTICE PAlTERN 155

impossible, to establish a definitive explanation for the goal and

meaning of the other's suffering in the original ApPt. Notwithstand-
ing, it is evident that the vindictive pleasure of rejoicing at the sin-
ners' suffering hardly fits in text that focuses on the notions of E ~ E O S
and vSpeoq and eventually grants the sinners salvation. As the em-
phasis on vengeance and on everlasting punishment seems to proceed
from later stages of the text's transmission, two hypothetical interpre-
tations might be considered:
According to the first interpretation, ApPt considered punish-
ment and suffering as strictly necessary in order to provide the expia-
tion of guilt. This first hermeneutic line is easier to argue and to sup-
port on the basis of the textual evidence. By emphasising the notion
of merit, Jesus stresses the idea of responsibility and consequently
the freedom to act right or wrong. If Eheoq is only likely to appear
when the other's suffering happens to be undeserved, v S p ~ o or t~
'righteous indignation' is the only possible attitude of the righteous
when suffering is due to punishment. This conceptual context implies
the notion of community and the need to correct and prevent trans-
gressions of the law therein. Utterances by the damned refemng to
their ignorance63 or to their incredulityM concerning the future appli-
cation of justice might point in this direction. These two mentions,
together with the admission of their injustice by the guilty in ApPt
7.11 E and 13.6 E and the explicit example of preventive punishment
in 11.4, might be easily reconciled in a text defending the corrective
goal of punishment. The final salvation, granted in R, is a suitable
conclusion for such a text.
According to the second (more radical) interpretation, Peter's
compassion intended to reject altogether the idea that any man de-
serves eternal suffering. Although weaker attested and more difficult
to demonstrate, this interpretation is nonetheless interesting. Peter's
compassion and existential protest in ApPt 3 E might reflect a reac-
tion against the application of justice by means of punishment and a
step towards an inversion of the principle of retribution as stated in
Mt 5.44-865. Such an attitude might be evidence of a new concept of
'' ApPt 7.8 E.
" ApPt 7.1 1 E.
65 Klinger, 'Revenge', 366, interprets this new principle in line with Rom
156 LAUTARO ROIG LANZILLOTTA

justice that intended to supersede by means of the principle of neigh-

bourly love a dualistic division of humanity. From a legal point of
view, this new notion of justice might reflect the effort to overcome
both particular applications of justice intending to chastise the harm
done by means of retaliation or by talio and a more general concep-
tion of justice intending to chastise culpability by means of retribu-
tion. From the point of view of theodicy, the Early Christian idea of
neighbourly love might have tried to supersede the dualistic division
of humanity into two irreconcilable groups, viz. the righteous vs. the
unrighteous, on the basis of the notion of merit. By a prior; stating an
existential community of mankind, and by considering that injustice
originates in ignorance, the text might have rejected the idea that pain
and suffering can be a solution to the problem of injustice.
It is important not to overlook the fact that, according to both in-
terpretations, the text presents the conflict between the notion of pun-
ishment and suffering and the Christian principle of love. In both
cases, either the corrective function of punishment or the a priol-i
neighbourly love tries to limit the duration and prominence of pain in
the fulfilment of justice. Far from defending a reactive notion of jus-
tice, the original text might have rejected suffering in itself as a solu-
tion to the problem of injustice. And this attitude is exactly the oppo-
site of E n l x a ~ p & ~ aor~ 'malice'.
ia

4. Closirlg Remarks

These last considerations show that a distinction between 'justice'

and 'reactive justice' exclusively on the basis of those who claim it is

12.20 and thinks that retribution continues to be retribution but is put on a

new level: the guilt of the guilty party becomes a means of conversion.
However, as Max Scheler has pointed out, the combination of Jesus' precept
about offering the other cheek with Salomo's metaphor that 'coals of fire'
are thus heaped on the enemy's head, implies a rather different objective.
See Scheler, Das Resser~timerzt,61 : '.. .wie auff'alig sehen wir hier die von
Jesus ganz anders gemeinte Demut und Feindesliebe in den Dienst eines
Hasses gestellt, dem Rache nicht geniigt, der erst in der tiefen Beschamung
des Feindes und deren aul3eren Zeichen, dem Erroten bis zur Stirne usw., in
einem Ubel vie1 tieferer Schicht also, als es der Schmerz des Gegenschlages
ware, seine Befriedigung findet'.
 THE JUSTICE PATTERN 157

rather narrow. The only difference between the sense of justice of the
oppressors and the oppressed concerns the real or ideal character of
the value systems they defend. In the so-called 'right' kind of justice
the measure is stated according to the current system of values. In the
so-called 'reactive' one it is stated according to an ideal system.
However, the fact that the restitution of justice is accompanied by a
reversal of fortunes does not imply a reactive or compensatory notion
of justice, since this inversion might very well be a simple effect of
the triumph of justice and not its first cause. Attention consequently
must be paid to the underlying justice pattern and to the question of
whether reversal of fortunes is a precondition or an effect of right-
eousness.
Camus has rightly remarked that not every rebellion implies a re-
sented view of reality. Only when it aims at a simple inversion of the
roles might one call it resented. By contrast, in real rebellion rejec-
tion of injustice and suffering is not accompanied by the wish to see
others suffering the same. It simply offers a new alternative accord-
ing to its new view of the world'j6. AS an example of the former we
may recall the quoted passages of Tertullian, of Aquinas, and the
psychological background of comedy. As an example of the latter we
may take the case of the ApPr.
Regrettably enough, the principle of neighbourly love, by a
pi-iori stating the existential community of the individual with his fel-
low men, goes against the prii~cipiumcontradictionis so pleasant to
our polar thought. If this was in fact the doctrine defended by the
original ApPr, its hypothetical perversion down through history is not
difficult to understand.

66
Camus, L'Homme, 31: 'La rkvolte, au contraire, dans son principe, se
borne B refuser l'humiliation, sans la demander pour I'autre. Elle accepte
mCme la douleur pour elle-mCme, pourvu que son intCgritC soit respectee'.
X. The Old Testament Quotations in the
Apocalypse of Peter

JACQUES VAN RUITEN

The author of the Apocalypse ofPeter- (ApPt) uses frequently existing

texts and traditions to express his own thoughts. One can point to lit-
erary connections with the Gospel of Peter, the New Testament (es-
pecially 2 Peter and M a t t l ~ e ~ several
t), early Jewish writings and also
the Old Testament'. Mostly, the references are inlplicit. The words
are assimilated into the own discourse of the author. However, on
three places in ApPt the author refers explicitly to another text2. He
uses an introduction formula to introduce a quotation. The first one is
in ApPt 4.7b: 'And therefore it says in Scripture'. The other two are
at the end of the book, i.e., ApPr 17.4a: 'And the word of Scripture
was fulfilled'; and ApPt 17.5b: 'That the word of Scripture might be
fulfilled which said'. The first reference seems to be to Ezekiel 37,
the other two are to Psalnl 243. In this paper, I will restrict myself to

' For an inventarisation of the links of ApPt with Jewish and Christian
themes and traditions, see R. Bauckham. 'The Apocalypse of Peter. An Ac-
count of Research', ANRW, 11,2516, (Berlin, 1988) 4712-50; see also: idem,
'The Apocalypse of Peter. A Jewish Christian Apocalypse from the Time of
Bar Kokhba', Apocrypha 5 (1994) 7-1 11, reprinted in R. Bauckham, TIw
Fate of the Dead. Studies or1 the J e ~ ~ i arzd
s h Clzrisrian Apocalypses (Leiden,
1998) 160-258.
Bauckham speaks about only one explicit citation to scripture, i.e. ApPt
4.7-9. See his 'A Quotation from 4Q Second Ezekiel in the Apocalypse of
Peter', R Q 15 (1991-92) 437-64 (= Fate of the Dead, 259-68).
In the Ethiopic text of the ApPt, I could find only one other e,rplicit r-ef-
erence to a textual source outside the text itself, i.e., ApPt 16.5: 'And I un-
derstood what is written in the book of my Lord Jesus Christ'. This refers to
 THE OLD TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS 159

these explicit quotations from the Old Testament. How, in what way,
and why makes the autor use of the quoted texts. In all three cases,
we are left with the Ethiopic version of the Apocalypse, because the
original Greek version is not extanp. This means that one has to be
very cautious as far as the form of the quotations is concerned.

1. Apocalypse of Peter 4.7-9 arid Ezekiel 37

The first text of interest is ApPr 4.7-95:

7a For everything is possible for God
b and therefore it thus says in Scripture:
c 'The son of man prophesied to each of the bones.
8a And you said to the bone:
b "Bone (be) to bones in limbs, tendons and nerves, and flesh and
skin and hair on it".'
9a And soul and spirit the great Uriel will give at the command of
God,
b for him God has appointed over his resurrection of the dead at the
day of judgment.

At first sight, it seems clear that the explicit quotation of Scripture in

ApPr 4.7-8, contains a reference, most probably to Ezek 37.1-14.
Firstly, the expression 'the son of man' (ApPt 4 . 7 ~ )refers to Ezek
37.3~.It is a phrase that is used frequently in the book of Ezekiel.
Secondly, the phrase '(he) prophesied to each of the bones' (ApPt
4 . 7 ~ refers
) to Ezek 37.4b ('Prophesy to these bone^')^. The enumera-

what the author has just quoted, probably the Gospel o f Matthew, cf. D.D.
Buchholz, You1 Ejles Will Be Opened. A St~rdyo f the Greek (Etl~iopic)
Apoocal~pseof Peter (Atlanta, Georgia, 1988) 370-1.
.I For a description of the Ethiopic manuscripts and the Greek fragments,

see Buchholz. Your Eyes, 119-56. Bauckham points to a paraphrase of ApPr

in Sibylline Oracle 2.194-338, which can be used as a check on the accuracy
of the Ethiopic version. See Bauckham, 'Quotation', 438.
The translation is according to the literal translation of Buchholz, Your
Eyes, 183-5. Buchholz presents also a free translation, which is not useful
for our presentation.
"he translation of the quotations from scripture is according to the Re-
vised Standard Version (RSV).
160 JACQUES VAN RUITEN

tion of the components of the resurrected people (ApPt 4.8b: 'Bone

(be) to bones in limbs, sinews and nerves, and flesh and skin and hair
on it7)does refer to Ezek 37.6 ('I will lay sinews upon you, and will
cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin...'), to Ezek
37.7 ('.. And the bones came together, bone to its bones'), and to
Ezek 37.8 (...there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon
them, and skin had covered them'). Finally, the words 'and soul and
spirit' (ApPt 4.9a) might refer to the word n i l (nvacpa), which is
used several times in Ezek 37 (see vv. 1, 5, 6, 8, 9 [3 times], 10, 14)
and which is translated in the RSV by 'spirit', 'breath' and 'wind'.
This m i finally enters into the resurrected people.
Although the references to Ezek 37 are reasonably clear, the ex-
tent of the quotation is subject to debate7. The problem with regard to
the demarcations of the quotation is related to some text-critical and
syntactical problems. The quotation begins in ApPt 4.7~-8a:'The son
of man prophesied (tanabaja) to each of the bones. And you said
(watbela) to the bone'. The word tanabaja is found in both Ethiopic
manuscripts8. It is a perfect form of the verb 'to prophesy', whereas
watbela is an irregular perfect-form, 2nd person singular, of 'to say'
('and you said'). There is not only a somewhat peculiar transition
from the 3rd singular ('He prophesied') to the 2nd singular ('You
said'), but, moreover, these forms do not correspond with the impera-
tive-form in Ezek 37.4: ; 1 ? ~ 3n1135Y;l ?Y El313 ('prophesy to these
bones'), followed by a consecutive perfect, which has in the
consec~rtioten~polwmthe value of an imperative: ~ 3 nl13Ell ~ ('and
5 ~
say to them'). Because of the irregularities and because of peculiar
punctuation marks in manuscript T, Buchholz suggests to understand
the first line after the introduction formula (ApPt 4 . 7 ~ not
) yet as part
of the quotation. In his eyes, the actual quotation starts from the sec-
ond line onwards (ApPt 4.8: 'And you said etc.'). This, does not seem
to me a convincing solution, since a new problem rises, i.e., the dis-
tance between the introduction formula and the beginning words of
the actual quotation. Moreover, the problem of the strange transition
between 3rd and 2nd person singular remains.
' Cf. Buchholz, Yo~rr-Eyes, 296; Bauckham, 'Quotation', 438-40.
' For a description of the Ethiopic manuscripts, see Buchholz, Your- Eyes,
1 19-39.
 1 THE OLD TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS 161

I
In his 1910 edition of the ApPt, Grebaut already emended
tanabaja into tanahaj, which is the imperative form of the verb
(pr~phesy')~. He is followed by othersi0. Moreover, most of them
consider wathela as an imperative, as if it were in the consecutio

~ temporum. In their eyes, therefore, the quotation starts in ApPt 4.7:

'Son of man, prophesy to each of the bones and say to the bone'. Al-
though the author of the Apocalypse has not the intention to quote a
text, which corresponds literally with Ezek 37, it is not necessary to
harrnonise with the biblical text; however, it is difficult to get around
I
the emendation of Grebaut at this point".
Also the end of the quotation is not completely clear. The
Ethiopic text of the first part of ApPt 4.9 reads: wanafas wan~anfas
wajekuh 'ahij 'Uraef hat'ezaz 'egziaheher, which is rendered liter-
ally: '. .. and soul and spirit, and the great UrieI gave at the command
of God'. If we take the conjunction wa ('and') in wajelzuh ('and he
gave') seriously, then the first two words of ApPt 4.9a ('and soul and
spirit') should be added to the list of ApPt 4.8 ('bone [be] to bones in
limbs, tendons and nerves, and flesh and skin and hair on it, and so~il
and spirit'). In that case, however, the verb jehlrh ('he gave') has no
object, and it is not clear what Uriel gave at the command of God.
Buchholz considers these first two words of ApPt 4.9 ('soul and
spirit') as object of the verb jehuh, although he has to ignore the con-
junction". In that case ApPt 4.9a could belong to the quotation of

See S. Grkbaut, 'LittCrature ~ t h i o ~ i e n nPseudo-CICmentine.

e La seconde
venue du Christ et la rksurrection des morts'. R e ~ ~ udee /'Orient Ckritien 15
(1910) 198-214, 307-23,425-39 (at 201).
lo E.g., C.D.G. Muller, 'Offenbarung des Petrus', in W. Schneemelcher

(ed), Nelrtestan~et~tlichen Apokiypherl in deutscher ~ b e r s e t z u n5.

~ . A~!flage
der on Edgar Hennerke Degriindeten Sammlung. II. Apostolisches Apoka-
Ivpsen lrnd Vetwandtes (Tubingen, 1989) 562-78; Bauckham, 'Quotation',
439.
" I have no clue as to the reason of the mistake in both manuscripts. It

could be a mistranslation from the Greek. But it is also possible that the
Ethiopic copyist made a mistake in a manucript preceding both remaining
manuscripts. The difference in Ethiopic beween -ja- (jaman in the first or-
der) and -jc- ljanlan in the sixth order) is only very small.
See the literal translation of Buchholz, Your Eyes, 296-7: 'And soul and
spirit the great Uriel will give...'.
162 JACQUES VA N RUIT E N

Ezek 37. It can be considered as an interpretation of Ezek 37.12-14,

where it is God who put the spirit into the resurrected bodies, so that
they shall live. In ApPt this action is attributed to the angel U~-iel'~.
One could go one step further. When one ignores the conjunction
'and' before '(he) will give' in ApPt 4.9a, then one could consider
also all the elements of the list of ApPt 4 . 8 ~
as objects of the verb. In
this case, we consider ApPt 4 . 8 ~as an enumaration of several ele-
ments and not as a nominal clause. However, this is in conflict with
the view that the resurrection in Ezek 37 takes place in two stages.
First, there is the physical resurrection, then the psychological.
I am therefore inclined to consider the end of ApPt 4.8 ('and hair
on it') as the end of the quotation of Ezekiel, whereas the author of
the Apocalypse refers in ApPt 4.9 to another tradition of interpreta-
tion of Ezekiel14.The second part of ApPr 4.9 ('For him God has ap-
pointed over his resurrection of the dead at the day of judgement') is
clearly an explanation of the role of Uriel.

2 . The Conte.vt of the Quoratioi7

The reference in ApPt 4.7-8 to Ezek 37 is far from literal. ApPt does
use words and phrases that occur in E;ek 37, but their grammatical
form and syntactical function is different in both texts. Also the liter-
ary context of the quotation shows substantial differences with Ezek
37. As fas as the aspect of rime is concerned, the moment of the res-
urrection in Ezek 37 is not specified, although it seems to be in the
present or in the near future. In ApPt the resurrection will take place
in the 'last days when the day of God comes' (ApPt 4.1, 6). This is
'the day of judgement, the day of punishment' (cf. ApPt 4.2, 5, 9,
12, 13). As far as the aspect of space is concerned, the place of the
resurrection is in Ezekiel 'in the midst of the valley' (Ezek 37.1),
whereas Ezek 37.12 speaks about 'your graves'. In ApPt it is said
that it will take place 'before my father who lives forever' (ApPt
4.2). As far as the slrhject of the ~.esur-rectionis concerned, Ezek 37
speaks about 'bones' (vv. 1, 3, 5, 7, 11) and 'dry bones' (vv. 4, 11).

l3 Baukharn. 'Quotation', 439.

'" Bauckham, 'Quotation', 439.
 i THE OLD TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS 163
1 In Ezek 37.1 1, these bones are identified with the 'house of Israel'.
This shows that 'bones' and 'resurrection' are used as metaphors.
1 ApPt speaks about 'all the children of men' (ApPt 4.2), all the dead,
which is 'each of the bones'. However, in ApPt 4.12, the resurrec-
~ tion seems to be limited to 'those who believe in him, and his elect
ones'. In the Apocalypse, the (dry) bones are not used as methaphor,
whereas the resurrection is understood as a literary resurrection of
the dead. As far as the aim of the resurrection is concerned, Ezekiel
speaks about the spirit, or the breath, that may enter in men so that
they may live. Elsewhere in Ezek 37, this new life is interpreted as

i the return to the landI5. ApPt just speaks about a resurrection, which
is revivification, a literally life giving to man. Finally, Ezekiel seems
to speak about two stages in the resurrection. First, there is a physi-
cal resurrection (bone to bone; sinews; flesh; skin) prophesied by
the prophet (= the son of man). Secondly, there is a spiritual resur-
rection (breath / spirit) also prophesied by the prophetI6. This phas-
ing of the resurrection seems to be a rhetorical way to highlight the
most important aspect of the enterprise, i.e., the giving of the spirit.
Depending on the interpretaton of the beginning of ApPt 4.9, it is
also possible to assume these two stages in ApPt. First, we have the
physical resurrection (bone to the bones in limbs, sinews, nerves,
flesh, skin, hair) prophesied by the son of man. Secondly, there is a
spiritual resurrection (soul and spirit) given by Uriel at the command
of God.

3. 4Q385 as a r ~Intermediary behveer~Ezekiel 37 arid Apocalypse

of Peter 4.7-9?

Although the reference to Ezek 37 is marked off by an explicit quota-

tion mark, the actual wording is very much different from the text of
Ezekiel. As far as I can see, this can mean three things. Firstly, the

" Cf. W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1969) 888; M.

Greenberg, Elekiel21-37 (New York, 1983) 747.
Ih E.R. Wendland, "'Can These Bones Live Again?" A Rhetoric of the
Gospel in Ezekiel 33-37, Part 11'. Afzdre~lsUniv. Semin. Stud. 39 (2001)
241-72 at 263-5.
164 JACQUES VA N RUI TE N

author has no intention to quote Ezekiel verbatim. He needs the text

as proof-text, but is not concerned with the actual wording. He para-
phrases and summarises the text". Although I cannot rule out the
possibility completely, I consider it unlikely. We have to do here
with one of the few explicit quotations from Scripture. One may as-
sume that the author refers to Scripture with the actual words of
Scripture. Secondly, it is possible that the author quotes a text-form
that deviates from the Massoretic Text of Ezekiel. However, I did not
find such a text-form. Thirdly, the author possibly does not intent to
quote from Ezek 37 at all, but from another text that is authoritative
to him. He uses it as proof-text, and calls it 'Scripture'. I think this
last option is possibly most likely the case here, although it is diffi-
cult, if not impossible, to identify an intermediary between Ezekiel
and ApPt 4.7-9.
Bauckham has pointed to the Ezekiel apocalypse from Qumran
Cave 4 as the source text of ApPt 4.7-9''. This text, the so-called
4QPseudo-Ezekiel, is preserved in five or six fragments, and three of
them (4Q385, frg. 2; 4Q386, frg. 1 , col.1; 4Q388, frg. 8) reproduce
partly a quotation of Ezekiel 37, which shows some resemblance
with ApPr 4.7-919. I would like to go into the question if this text
could have possible functioned as intermediary between Ezek 37 and
ApPt 4. I first briefly discuss the relation between 4Q385 with Ezek
37 and, subsequently, the relationship between 4Q385 and the
Apocalypse of Peter-.
I give here the translation of Deborah Dimant in the official edi-
tion of 4Q385, with my own lay-out, and line-counting20:

'' Cf. Bauckham, 'Quotation', 440.

'"auckham, 'Quotation', 437-45.
l9
See D. Dimant, Parabii>lical Tests, part 4: Pseudo-Prophetic Texts.
Disco~~eries in the Judaean Desert X X X . Q~rn7r.017Cave 4 - X X I (Oxford,
2001) 17-51, pl. I. See also D. Dimant. 'Ezekiel, Book of: Pseudo-Ezekiel',
in L.H. Schiffman and J.C. VanderKam (eds), Encyclopedia o f the Dead
Sea Scrolls. 2 vols (Oxford, 2000) 1.282-4.
'' Dimant, Parabiblical Texts, 24. The translation is slightly different from
the previously published edition in D. Dimant and J. Strugnell, 'The
Merkabah Vision in Second Ezekiel (49385 4)', RQ 14 (1989) 331-48.
 THE OLD TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS

1.1 (3)... And thelse (things) when will they come to be,
1.2 and how will they be recompensed for their piety?
1.3 and the Lord said (4) to me:
1.4 'I will make it manifest [ ] to the children of Israel to see,
1.5 and they shall know that I am the Lord'.
1.6 (5) And He said:]
1.7 'Son of Man, prophesy over the bones,
1.8 and speak
1.9 and let them be j[oi]ned bone to its bone and joint (6) [to its
joint.'
1.10 And it wa]s so.
1.11 And He said a second time:
1.12 'Prophecy,
1.13 and let arteries come upon them,
1.14 and let skin cover them (7) [ from above'.
1.15 And it was so].
1.16 And He said:
1.17 'Prophecy once again over the four winds of heaven,
1.18 and let them blow breath (8) [into the slain'.
1.19 And it was so,]
1.20 and a large crowd of people came [to lilfe,
1.21 and blessed the Lord Sebaoth wh[o (9) had given them life'.]

The parallel with Ezek 37 can be found in 4Q385.5-8 (1.6-21). This

passage seems to be an answer to the question how they will be re-
warded for their piety (cf. 1.2). The answer is in short that they will
live again, i.e., they will be resurrected. The first question, i.e., when
they will be (cf. line l), seems to be answered in the next section, i.e.,
from line 22 onwards, but this section is preserved only fragmentary.
When one compares 4Q385 with Ezek 37, a few things catch the
eye. In the first place, only the commandment of God is given,
whereas the realisation is summarised (73 '3'1: 'and it was so'; 'and
so it happened'). Secondly, the phasing of the process of resurrection
is made explicit: 'and he said' (1.6-lo), 'and he said a second time'
(1.11-15), and finally: 'And he said' (1.16-21). In the first stage, the
command over the bones is given. This probably refers to Ezek 37.7
('... and the bones came together, bone to its bone'), although the
phrasing is somewhat different. In the second stage, the covering of
the bones with sinews and skins is described. It refers to Ezek 37.6
166 JACQUES VAN RUITEN

('And I will lay sinews upon you, and I will cause flesh to come upon
you, and cover you with skin') and 37.8 (' ... there were sinews on
them ... and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them').
The third stage continues with a prophesy regarding the four winds,
and refers clearly to Ezek 37.9-10 (' ... Come from the four winds, 0
breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live .. .')2'. The
true meaning of the vision is given by a nonbiblical detail added to
the biblical description. According to it, the resurrected people came
to life and blessed the Lord who had given them life (1. 20-21)22.
This means that the author interpreted the vision of Ezekiel literally,
as referring to a real resurrection of the righteous in the eschatolo-
gical futurez3.
Bauckham gives three arguments for the dependency of the
Apocalypse of Peter on 4Q Second Ezekiel. First, both texts use the
words 'son of man' in combination with the divine command to
prophecy over the bones. However, this argument is not of great
value since the formula 'son of man, prophecy over ... and say' is
characteristic of Ezekiel. It occurs about 13 times in the book (Ezek
6.2-3; 13.2, 17-18; 21.7-8, 14, 33; 28.21-22; 29.2-3; 30.2; 34.2;
35.2-3; 38.2-3; 39.1). Secondly, both transfer the account of the res-
urrection of the bones in the command of YHWH to the prophet to
prophecy. This argument seems to be decisive for B a ~ c k h a mHow-
~~.
ever, the argument is of not great value either, since the composi-
tional technique to put something in the divine command what is said
only in the narrative execution of the command in the biblical text
occurs quite often in the literature of early Judaism, especially in the
the so-called rewritten Bible2'. Thirdly, the words lp79 5~ 779
" M. Kister and E. Qimran, 'Observations on 4QSecot7d Ezekiel (4938.5
2-3)', RQ 15 (1991-92) 595-602, have proposed a slightly different restora-
tion of 1. 18-19: 'And let the wind blow upon them and,they will live. And
it was so'. According to this restoration the breath is blown into the bones.
Dimant, Parahihlical Tests, 28, considers this unlikely.
" Cf. Dimant, 'Ezekiel', 283.
23 According to Dimant, 'Ezekiel', 283, this is the earliest witness for such

an understanding of Ezekiel 37.1-14. Later, this understanding became

widespread among Jews and Christians.
I4 Bauckham, 'Quotation', 441-3.
25 P.S. Alexander, 'Retelling the Old Testament', in D.A. Carson and
 THE OLD TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS 167
! ('joints to its joints') have no counterpart in the biblical text (Ezek
I
37.7), but do seem to have a counterpart in westa rnelajaled ('in
joints' or 'in limbs') in ApPt 4.8.

E;ek 37.7 MT Ezek 37.7 L X X 4Q385, 2.5-6 ApPt 4.8

1 2 n rpoofiyays [127p];1 -
n l n x ~ ra bur6 - -
1 7 3 5~
~ ~ PSY E~arspov 1nPY Y H PPY 'asem haba
' a 'esmet
- r p b rqv
~ &p- 1p13 +N p13 westa melajaled
poviav ab-roii

As I have said before, both in 4938.5 and in ApPt, the words of the
account are transferred into a command. Both in 4Q38.5 and ApPt,
the word n l n 5 seems~ to be skipped over, although it is significant
that the second word in ApPt ('a'esrnet) is put into the plural. It
might reflect therefore MnYY of the biblical text. In any case, 4Q38.5
has a singular form (1nYY). It is unlikely that ApPt is at this point de-
pendent on the Septuagint, because this version renders the odd ex-
pression l D S Y % DYY with a more intelligible expression ~ K ~ T E ~ O V
npoq r q v &ppoviav afiroc ('each one to its joint'), in which
k ~ a r s p o vreflects the odd expression, whereas ApPt retains this ex-
pression. The expression westa rnelajaled could be dependent on
4Q38.5, although this proposal is not unambiguous. The f i s t i)73 is
omitted, the word 5 R is rendered by westa, which is possible, and the
third word 1?73 is taken over, but without the suffix. Moreover, the
fact that 'joint' is already in the Septuagint suggests that this reading
reflects an ancient tradition. It refutes the claim that ApPt 4.8 should
be quoting 4Q38.5 at this point26.

H.G.M. Williamson (eds), It Is Written. Scriptlire Citing Scripture. Essays

in Honour of Barnabas Lindars (Cambridge, 1988) 99-121, at 116-7; G.
Vermes, Post-Biblical Jewish Studies (Leiden, 1975) 60-91 ('Bible and
Midrash. Early Old Testament Exegesis'); see also J.T.A.G.M. van Ruiten,
Primaeval Histoly Interpreted. The Re~~riting of Genesis 1-11 in the Book
of Jubilees (Leiden, 2000) 3-5.
0
"' also recently Dimant, Parabiblical Tests, 26 note 7.
168 JACQUES VAN RUITEN

My conclusion is therefore a rather negative one. One cannot say

for sure that ApPt 4.8 is depending on 4QSecond Ezekiel. Rather, it is
depending on a tradition of interpretation of Ezek 37, of which
4QSecond Ezekiel is also a witness2'.

4. Psalm 24 a17d Apocalypse of Peter 17.2-6

The second explicit reference to the Old Testament occurs in the final
chapter of the book (ApPt 17). It is the last of five visions of the re-
ward of the righteous. Visions which were granted to the disciples,
once they went with Jesus to 'the holy mountain'. After the vision of
the true Temple, and the accompanying audition of the true Messiah
(ApPt 16.9-17. l), ApPt 17.2-6 describes the Ascension. The disciples
witness the ascension of Jesus, with Moses and Elijah, first to the
first heaven, where they meet people 'who were in the flesh'. Jesus
took with him these people and entered the second heaven. I quote
ApPt 1 7.2-628:
2a And a cloud large in size came over head
b and (it was) very white
c and it lifted up our Lord and Moses and Elijah,
d and I trembled
e and was astonished.
3a And we watched
b and this heaven opened
c and we saw men who were in the flesh
d and they came
e and went to meet our Lord and Moses and Elijah
f and they went into the second heaven.
4a And the word of scripture was fulfilled:
b 'This generation seeks him
c and seeks the face of the God of Jacob'.

" Dimant, Parabiblical Texts, 26 note 7 adds that the gap of date and lan-
guages which separates the two documents makes a direct quotation un-
likely.
?' The translation is according to the literal translation of Buchholz, Youi-
Eyes. 240-2.
 THE OLD TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS 169
5a And there was great fear and great amazement in heaven.
b The angels flocked together that the word of scripture might be
fulfilled which said:
c 'Open the gates, princes'.
6a And then this heaven which had been opened was closed.
After the ascension, the disciples descended from the mountain, glo-
rifying God, who has written the names of the righteous in the book
of life in heaven. The description of the ascension is connected with
the Transfiguration scene in the Gospel of Matthew. In ApPt 17.1,
which describes the audition of the true Messiah, Mt 17.5b is quoted
literally. Also the cloud in ApPt 17.2 ('And a cloud large in size
came over head and (it was) very white') could be connected with the
same verse. However, in Matthew the cloud overshadows the disci-
ples who were with Jesus on the mountain, whereas in the ApPt the
cloud became the instrument of an ascension, which is not described
in chapter 17 of Mt. This might be due to the influence of the ascen-
sion scene in Acts 1.1-11, where the cloud functions as a means to
deprive the sight of the disciples, but seems to be at the same time the
instrument of the ascension: 'He was lifted up, and a cloud took him
out of their sight'2y.
In addition to these implicit references to the New Testament,
the passage also contains a twofold explicit quotation from the Old
Testament. The first one is a rather literal quotation of Ps 24.6 ('This
generation seeks him and seeks the face of the God of Jacob'). Ps
24.6 is the end of the second strophe of the Psalm, which starts in Ps
24.3 with a question about who may be admitted to the temple ('Who
shall ascend the hill of YHWH? And who shall stand in his holy
place?'). Ps 24.4-6 give an answer to this question3'. First, it sets out
the ethical requirements ('He who has a clean hand and a pure heart,
who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear de-
ceitfully'). Secondly, it gives words of blessing to those who are
qualified to enter the temple ('He will receive blessing from YHWH,
and vindication from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation
of those who seek the face of the God of Jacob'). Finally, the anwer

'9
Cf. Buchholz, Your Eyes, 373.
-" See J. Day, Psalms (Sheffield, 1990) 60.
170 JACQUES V A N RUITE N

to the question 'who' is made concrete: it is this 'generation'. It is

'Jacob', that is Israel. The second strophe may have its Sitz in? Lehen
in the liturgy and is often called an 'entrance liturgy'". The worship-
per seeks to enter the Temple and is instructed as to the necessary
conditions. In the actual Psalm, this so-called entrance liturgy is part
of a larger liturgical piece, which might involve a kind of procession
into the Temple (the third strophe of the Psalm, Ps 24.7-10)32. It
sings the praise of YHWH. the King of glory, the Lord of Hosts, who
has been victorious over the waters at the creation (cf. the first stro-
phe, Ps 24.1-2).
In the following table, the Hebrew text of Ps 24.6 is compared with
the actual quotation of it in ApPr 17.4:

Psalnt 24.6 ApPt 17.4

1 1 117 3 :atitu~eledtakes lot~r
350 Ili?Y9 7-35 -Wi?3n ~ ~ t a h s a gaso
s a la'antlnk ja'eqoh
Such is the generation of those This generation seeks him,
who seek him,
who seek your face, (it is) Jacob. and seeks the face of the God of
Selah. Jacob.

The most important difference beween the Hebrew text of Ps 24.6

and ApPt 17.4 can be found in the closure of the verse. In Ps 24.6
'your face' is object of the verb 'to seek', whereas 'Jacob' is n0t.a
vocative, but explains 'the generation'. According to the Psalm, this
generation is Jacob. The structure of the parallelism in the Masoretic
text of Ps 24.6 is fine: it has a clear chiastic pattern3'. The actual text,
however, contains some problems. In the first place, there is a transi-
tion from 3rd person singular ('who seek him') to 2nd person singu-
lar ('your face'). This incongruence could indicate that the Psalmist
addresses himself directly to God at the end of his wor~hip"~. Al-

3' See, e.g., Day, Psalms, 13, 60

3' Cf. H.-J. Kraus, Psalmen I (Neukirchen-Vluyn, 197g5) 343-4; J.
Ridderbos, De Psalmert I, Ps 1-41 (Karnpen, 1955) 208.
33 The structure is according to the pattern ab b'a', in which a (117 37)

corresponds with a' (3pY9), and b (lWl7) with b' (1-35 -Wp2n).
34 S O Ridderbos, Psalmen. 2 13.
 THE OLD TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS 171

though this transition is not impossible, it is unexpected and surpris-

ing. The second problem is the syntactical function of Jacob at the
end of the verse, which can not function as a vocative. It should
therefore be taken as explaining ' g e n e r a t i ~ n ' ~Although
~. also this
solution is not impossible either, one would have expected something
like Xl;l ('he is') or ;lT ('this is') before 'Jacob'. These problems are
reflected in the history of the text. Whereas the Targum changes the
2nd person into the 3rd person ('who seek his face, (it is) Jacob'), the
Septuagint and the Peshitta omit the suffix of the 2nd person singu-
lar. They add 'God', and connect it with 'Jacob': 'That is the genera-
tion of those who seek him, who seek rhe face of the God of Jacob'.
All these changes in the textual history of Ps 24.6 can be considered
as attempts at clarifying the difficult Hebrew text which underlies the
Masoretic version. I think therefore that the Masoretic text reflects
the more original reading.
ApPt 17.4 has a syntactical structure somewhat different from
the massoretic text of Ps 24.6. It has the verb ('he seeks') and an ob-
ject ('the face of the God of Jacob'). It may be clear that ApPt 17.4
reflects the alternative reading of the Septuagint and the Peskitta.
Whereas in the biblical text 'Such is the generation' refers to the
worshipper with clean hands, who is about to enter the temple (cf. Ps
24.4), in ApPt 'this generation' refers to 'the men who were in the
flesh', waiting in the first heaven before entering the second heaven.
Although the text does not explain who these men in the flesh are,
the reference to Ps 24 makes clear that they are the rigtheous, prob-
ably not yet covered with their heavenly clothes, and not yet having
entered the sanctuary. They are waiting in a kind of hall, before they
enter, in the following of Jesus, into the real sanctuary. It is clear that
Ps 24 does not receive a historical interpretation. It is neither David36
nor Solomon3', nor any other worshipper, who asks himself if he is
able to enter the sanctuary38, but the text is eschatologically and

35 See N.A. van Uchelen, Psalnzei7 II (Nijkerk, 1977) 168.

36 Cf. Krauss. Psalmen, 348.
" Cf. Day. Psalms. 74.
3"idderbos, Psalinen, 208, 214, opts for a post-exilic date of the psalm.
172 JACQUES VAN RUITEN

cosmologically interpreted39. The righteous people are waiting after

their death in the first heaven.
The last explicit quotation (ApPr 17.6: 'Open the gates, princes')
refers also to Ps 24, i.e., Ps 24.7a, 9a ('Lift up your heads, o gates').
Also here ApPt does not follow a text that is identical with the
Masoretic text. It comes close to the Septuagint. The Sepruagint of Ps
24 (23).7a, 9a reads: 'Lift up the gates, your princes' (Piparc nbhaq
oE Pipxovrsq 6pi3v). The wording of the Vorlage of the Septuagint
seems to be the same as the massoretic text of Ps 24.7a, 9a: lNW
O3'WNl P57YW, but the syntactical construction of the verse is inter-
preted differentlfO. The vocative 097YW ( ' 0 gates') is read by the
Septuagint as an accusative, whereas the accusative of the Hebrew
text (O3'WNl: 'your heads') is interpreted by the translator as a
nominative. Morover, the reference of D3'WN'l ('your heads') is in-
terpreted as referring to a 'person' (01 Pipxovrsq). In the Sepruagint,
the word Pipxov seems to be used especially with regard to people
who exercise power over other people, the 'princes of the people',
the enemies, the adversaries of the people of God. In the Sepruagint
version of Ps 24.7-10 the princes function as adversaries of the right-
eous, and especially as the adversaries of the might of YHWH. They
try to prevent him from entering the holy city, from showing his
power and kingdom. Because &pxovreq belongs to the same seman-
tic field as Paothsbq (cf. Ps 24 [23].7a, 8a, 9b, lOa), and the princes
are the adversaries of the King YHWH, it is not surprising that ih
certain interpretations of Ps 24.7-10 the hpxovrsq are understood as
supernatural beings. This is also the case in ApPt. However, it is not
completely clear whether 'the princes' does refer to foreign powers,
adversaries of the rigtheous, or not. It is not completely impossible

39 The Fathers interpreted Ps 24 as a Messianic psalm. Especially, they in-

terpreted it typologically as the entrance of Christ after his ascension to
heaven, cf. Ridderbos, Psalmen, 24. According to E. Kahler, Studien zum Te
Deum lrnd i u r Gesclrichte des 24. Psalm in der Alten Kirche (Gottingen,
1958) 53-5, ApPt 17.2-6 reflects the first christological interpretation of
Psalm 24; cf. Buchholz, Your- Eyes, 115. In rabbinic exegesis, one can find
traces of a messianic interpretation of this psalm as well. See Midlnsk
Leqalr Tob 130a and Targum Psalm 24.7-10, cf. Kahler, Studien, 47-8.
40 Kihler, Studien, 48-9.
 THE OLD TESTAMENT QUOTATIONS 173

that the princes of the quoted text from Ps 24.7a, 9a are the same as
the angels mentioned in ApPt 17.5. In that case, the flocking together
of the angels is the same action as the opening of the gates. However,
it is more probable that they refer to another sort of group, adversar-
ies of the angels, servants of Beliar, Satan. Comparable to the
massoretic text of Ps 24, where the gates are closed for the entrance
of YHWH, or the Sept~~agint version of Ps 24 (23), where the
princes, the foreign kings, try to prevent YHWH from entering the
city of his throne, Jerusalem, in the ApPt they try to prevent the Lord
and the righteous people from entering into the higher heavens. The
author of ApPt does not quote only Ps 24.7a, 9a, but he presupposes
the whole Psalm. The quotation makes clear that it is the princes, the
servants of Satan, who kept closed the gates. Most probably these are
the gates that give entrance from the second into the third heaven".

The ApPt contains three explicit quotations, all from the Old Testa-
ment. All three have an introduction formula, a phenomenon that is
exceptional in the ApPt. The form and function of the quotation dif-
fer in these places. In the first one, the reference to Ezek 37 is frag-
mentary. It may be called a summarising quotation. We did not ex-
clude the possibility that ApPt did not make direct use from the
biblical text, but from an intermediary text, although we did not ac-
cept this text as 4Q385, as others have done. It is therefore safer to
say that the ApPt depends on a tradition of interpretation of Ezek 37.
The second and third references are both to P s 24. The whole Psalm,
in the version of the Septuagint, is presupposed, although only very
few phrases are actually taken over. It is an eschatological and
cosmological interpretation of the Psalm. The Psalm is taken as a
prophecy to the Ascension of the Lord during which adversary pow-
ers should be conquered.

." The text does not state this explicitly. However, it is unlikely that the

gates between the first and second heaven are meant, since the crowd is al-
ready in the second heaven.
XI. The Reception of the Apocalypse of
Peter in Ancient Christianity

A T n A JAKAB

According to Richard Bauckham', the Apocalypse of Peter (ApPt)

'deserves to be studied for the following reasons':
1) 'It is probably the most neglected of all Christian works writ-
ten before' the middle of the second century.
2) It 'derives from Palestinian Jewish Christianity during the
Bar Kokhba war of 132-135 C.E. 1. ..I It deserves an important place
in any attempt to consider the very obscure matter of what happened
to Jewish Christianity in Palestine in the period after 70 C.E.' The
date and provenance suggested by Bauckham are generally accepted
by scholars (Dennis D. Buchholz', Paolo Marrassini3 and Enrico
Norelli4).
3) 'Outside Palestinian Jewish Christianity, the Apocalypse of
Petel- evidently became a very popular work in the church as a
whole, from the second to the fourth centuries'.
4) And finally, this work should be studied because it 'preserves
Jewish apocalyptic traditions'.
This paper provides a chronological and geographical analysis of
the reception of the ApPt, following Buchholz' distinction 'between

I R. Bauckham, Tlte Fate of the Dead. Studies on the Jewish and Cltristian
Apocalypses (Leiden, 1998) 160- 1.
D.D. Buchholz, Your Eyes Will Be Opened. A St~rdy of tlte Greek
(Ethiopic) Apocalypse of Peter (Atlanta. 1988) 398-412.
P. Marrassini, 'L'Apocalisse di Pietro', in Y. Beyene et al. (eds), Etiopia
e oltre. Stlrdi in onore rli Lanfr-anco Ricci (Naples, 1994) 17 1-232.
E. Norelli, 'Pertinence thCologique et canonkite: les premibres
apocalypses chretiennes', Apocrypha 8 (1997) 147-64 at 157.
 RECEPTION 175

direct and indirect witnesses'" Our survey will enable us to test

Bauckham's third thesis, namely, that the ApPr was 'a very popular
work in the church' with a 'considerable influence in the early Chris-
tian c e n t ~ r i e s ' ~ .

2nd century

Direct Witness
The Muratorian Canon 71-72 writes, 'We receive only the
apocalypses of John and Peter (scripta apocalypse etian7 lolzanis et
Petri tanturn recipimus) although some of us are not willing that the
latter be read in church".
From this fragment we can conclude that the ApPt was known
before 200 in Rome and read in churchR. For the author of the cata-
logue there is no difference between the two texts (John and Peter).
Some Christians, however, objected to its liturgical use. The reasons
for their objection are unknown. We do not know if they rejected
the text because of its content, its authenticity, or for some other rea-
son.

Indirect Witnesses
1) The Sibylline Oracles 2 (Syria, ca. AD 150) probably used
the ApPt as a source. Buchholz proposed ten parallels between the
two texts9.
2) There are also parallels between the Epistula apostolorum
(Syria, second half of the second century) and the ApPt:

Buchholz, Your Eyes, 20, writes, 'Direct witnesses are references in

which the document is mentioned by name or quoted directly. Actual texts
of the apocalypse are also included here. Indirect witnesses are those which
use, refer to, or allude to the apocalypse without revealing that this is their
source.' In my contribution I quote the ApPt in Buchholz' translation.
"auckham, The Fate, 6.
' B.M. Metzger, The Canon o f the New Testament (Oxford, 1987) 307.
J.-D. Kaestli, 'La place du Fragment de Murarori dans I'histoire du
canon. A propos de la thbse de Sundberg et Hahneman', Cristianesimo nella
stor-ia 15 ( 1 994) 609-34.
"uchholz, Your Eyes, 45.
176 ATTILA J A K A B

Epist. upost. 16 ApPt 1.6-7

Epist. apost. 26 ApPt 4-6
Epist. apost. 39 ApPt 14.1-3
Epist. upost. 51 ApPt 17

Conclusion: In the second century the ApPt was known only in

Rome and Syria. It was probably read in the Christian assembly in
Rome, but some Christians disapproved of its use. There is no wit-
ness to its use in Syria.

3rd century

Direct Witnesses
1) Clement of Alexandria, Eclogue pr-opheticae (Ecl. pl-oph.).
This work consists of quotations and was written after the author's
departure from Alexandria (202), probably in Palestine (Jerusalem).
Ecl. pr-opk. 41 : According to Clement, 'The Scripture says that
the children exposed by parents are delivered to a protecting (t2me-
louckos) angel, by whom they are brought up and nourishedlO. [...I
Wherefore Peter also says in his Apocalypse (ni.rpo5 Ev .ti
' A X O K ~ ~ (~pI~~l ~E i"and
L) : a flash of fire, coming from their chil-
dren and smiting the eyes of the women"'".
Ecl. pl-oplz. 48: 'Peter in the Apocal~psesays that the children
born abortively receive the better part. These are delivered to a pro-
tecting (t2melo~~chos) angel'".
Ecl. pr-oph. 49: 'the milk of the mothers which flows from their
breasts and congeals, says Peter in the Apocalvpse, shall beget tiny
flesh-eating beasts and they shall run over them and devour them'I3.

lo Cf. ApPt 8.10.

'I ApPt 8.4: 'When the babies call out to God, lightning comes out from
them, burning into the eyes of the women who managed their destruction
with this adultery'. Akhmim Greek Fragment 26: 'and flames of fire came
out from them and struck the women in the eyes'.
l 2 Cf. ApPt 8.10.
l3
ApPt 8.8-9: 'Their mother's milk runs from their breasts. It thickens and
becomes putrid. Meat-eating animals are in it, and they go in and out of it,
and they are punished forever, with their husbands.'
 RECEPTION 177

For Clement of Alexandria, the ApPt had a certain authority in some

moral questions, especially concerning the attitude to the undesirable
children. But it is not so clear if he considered this work as Scripture.
Nevertheless, the difference between Clement and Eusebius of
Caesarea is important. According to Eusebius (Hist. eccl. 6.14.1)
Clement included the ApPt in the books ( z ? ~&v&taefl~ou ypacpijq)
upon which he commented in his Hypotyposeis. For Eusebius, how-
ever, the ApPt was a disputed writing (&vzth&y6p~vov), together
with the Epistle of Jude, the remaining Catholic Epistles, and the
Epistle of Barnabas.
2) A further witness is the 'pagan writer', quoted by Macarius
Magnes. Macarius was probably the bishop of Magnesia (Asia
Minor) at the beginning of the fifth century14. In the Apocr-iticus,
written in a dialogue form, there is a debate between a pagan phi-
losopher and a Christian. The attack on Christianity provides a sum-
mary of the fifteen books of Porphyry's Against the Chrisrians, writ-
ten sometime before AD 270. According to B u ~ h h o l z ' ~'while ,
quoting passages from the New Testament, after he has repudiated
the saying from the Synoptics "Many will come in my name saying
I am the Christ" and before he attacks some of Jesus' parables, Por-
phyry digresses to treat the topic of the destruction of heaven and
earth. He quotes twice from the ApPt in order to refute two of its
teachings'.
Apocriticus 4.6: 'By way of superfluity let this word also be
quoted from the Apocalypse of Peter. He introduces the view that the
heaven will be judged along with the earth in the following words,
"The earth will present before God on the day of judgment all men
who are to be judged and itself also will be judged with the heaven
that encompasses it"'I6.
Apocriticus 4.7: 'And again he says this statement which is full
of impiety, saying "And every power of heaven shall bum, and the

l4 S.J. Voicu, 'Makarios Magnks', in Dictionnaire Encyclopddique du

Christianisme Ancien, vol 2 (Paris, 1990) 1520.
l5 Buchholz, Your Eyes, 30-1.
l6 ApPt 4.13: 'The earth will return everyone on judgment day because
then it will have to be judged at the same time, and heaven too.'
178 ATTILA JAKAB

heaven shall be rolled up like a book and all the stars shall fall like
leaves from a vine and like leaves from a fig-tree"'17.
Provided that these references are from Porphyry, it can be con-
cluded that the ApPt was known in the West (in Rome) in the second
half of the third century, and still used as a work with authority (as
Scripture) by some Christians. It is possible that Macarius never read
the ApPt (see Apocriticus 4, 16). In any case, he did not consider it as
Scripture.

Indirect Witnesses
1) In Hippolytus of Rome (died AD 235) we can find two allu-
sions. The first allusion is found in his 0 1 7 the U17iverse (llspi TOG
n a v ~ 6 q ) ' written
~, before 225. The second reference is found in The
Refirtation of all Heresies (Elenchos) 10.34.2, written after 222,
where the author uses the adjective r a p z a p o G ~ o q 'These
~. two refer-
ences suggest that Hippolytus knew the ApPt.
2) The Acts of T l ~ o m a 5s 1-58 (Edessa, first half of the third cen-
tury). The 'sixth act' of the book is about a young Christian who
killed his girlfriend because she refused to live in celibacy with him.
The girl is raised from the dead by the apostle and gives (chs. 55-57)
a description of the hell, which she had visited. This description sug-
gests that the author of the Acts of Thonlas was acquainted with ApPt
7-12.
3) Pseudo-Cyprian, De laude marh~r-ii( O n the G l o ~ of y ~ar-or--'
dorn) 19-2120.This is a sermon attributed to Cyprian and presently
dated to the early 250s2I. Judging by the details of the punishments,
the author probably knew the ApPt.

l7 Cf. ApPt 5.4-5.

Is Hippolytus, 'Against Plato, on the cause of the Universe', in T l ~ eAnte-
Nicene Fatl~er-s5, 22 1-3.
l9
M. Marcovich (ed). Hippolytw. Reficturio ornniun? haeresi~rnl(Berlin,
1986) 415: ~ a rapraporjxwv
i byyihwv Kohaorov cpop~pov6ppa. Cf.
ApPt 13.5.
?O The Ante-Nicene Fathers 5, 579-87.
" For date and place see the concise discussion by .I.Doignon in R.
Herzog and P.L. Schmidt (eds), Hai~dhucllder- lateiilischerl Literatzcr- der-
Antike IV (Munich, 1997) 578.
 RECEPTION 179

4) Pseudo-Cyprian, Adver-sos aleatores (Against Dice-Throw-

er-s) 8. The dependence of this sermon from North Africa at the end
of the third century on the ApPt (cf. 12.5-6: 'wheels of fire') is likely
but cannot be proven2'.
5) The author of the Coptic Apocalypse of Elijah (3rd century)
was acquainted with the ApPtn. This is suggested by the following
parallels:
Apoc. of Elijah 13.10-14.9 ApPt 1.5-7
Apoc. of Elijnh 18.1-20.15 ApPt 2.7-13
Apoc. of Elijalz 23.1-10 ApPt 6.3
Apoc. of Elijah 23.1 1-24.2 ApPt 14.1-3; 13.1-2

Conclusion: In third century Christianity the ApPt was better known

than it had been a hundred years earlier. We have witnesses for
Rome, Palestine (Clement), Edessa, North Africa and Egypt. But we
can also see that our treatise is not really a bestseller. In Rome the
community no longer read it in the assembly. If we consider the other
testimonies we can infer that the use of the ApPt was limited. There
is no witness in the greatest centres of ancient Christianity, such as
Alexandria, Carthage, or Antiochia. We have only one witness from
Syria.

Direct Witnesses
1) The Bodleian (ApPt 10.67) and Rainer (ApPt 14.2-5) fragments of
the Greek ApPt derive from the same codex and show that the ApPt
was known in Egypt in the fourth century. 'The manuscript is in the
same tradition as our Ethiopic text, but the Greek by this time already
shows signs of being corrupt"'.
2) According to Jerome (De vir-is illustr-ihus83, written at Beth-
lehem in 393), Methodius was bishop of Olympus, then of Tyre, and

'* For date and provenance see J. Doignon in Herzog and Schmidt,
Handhuch IV. 505-8.
D. Frankfurter, Elijall in Upper Egypt (Minneapolis, 1993).
'' Buchholz, Your Eyes, 34.
180 A'TTILA JAKAB

died a martyr's death in Chalcia in AD 31 1-312. We do not know

any more details of his life. It is possible that he was not a bishop but
only a Christian teacher and writer in Lycia at the end of the third
and the beginning of the fourth century2s.
In his Symposium (2.6) Methodius quoted the ApPt 'to defend
the proposition that all human generation is the work of God, even
the births which result from ad~ltery''~:
Whence, also, we have received from the inspired writings, that those
who are begotten, even though it be in adultery, are committed to
guardian angelsz7. But if they came into being in opposition to the will
and the decree of the blessed nature of God, how should they be deliv-
ered over to angels, to be nourished with much gentleness and indul-
gence? And how, if they had to accuse their own parents, could they
confidently, before the judgment seat of Christ, invoke Him and say,
'Thou didst not, 0 Lord, grudge us this common light; but these ap-
pointed us to death, despising Thy

Even if Methodius knew the ApPt and highly regarded it, it is uncer-
tain whether this writing was very widely known by Christians in
Asia Minor. Methodius fails to identify the title of his source.
3) Eusebius of Caesarea. The church historian, who discusses
the writings of Peter, accepts only the first Epistle. He notes that 'the
so-called second Epistle we have not received as canonical, but nev-
ertheless it has appeared useful to many, and has been studied with
other Scriptures' (Hist. eccl. 3.3.1). Eusebius continues:
On the other hand, of the Acts bearing his name, and the Gospel named
according to him and the Preaching called his and the so-called Revela-
tion ( T ~ V~ahoup6vqv'Ano~ahuynv).we have no knowledge at all in
the Catholic tradition, for no orthodox writer of the ancient time or of
our own has used their testimonies. (Hist. eccl. 3.3.2)z9

25
C. Moreschini and E. Norelli, Histoire de la litte'rature chre'tienne an-
tique grecque et latine, vol 1 (Geneva, 2000) 364-5.
26 Buchholz, Your Eyes, 35.
l7
Cf. the quotations of ApPt 8.10 by Clem. Alex., Ecl. Proph. 41 and 48
(see above).
IR
The Ante-Nicene Fathers 6, 316. Cf. ApPt 8.7; Marrassini, 'L'Apoca-
lisse di Pietro', 206.
29 Trans. K. Lake (Loeb).
1 RECEPTION 18 1
Later in the Church History (3.25.1-3), Eusebius summarises the
writings of the New Testament. Following the list of disputed books
(&wth&y6p&va) which are 'the Epistle called of James, that of Jude,
the second Epistle of Peter, and the so-called second and third Epis-
tles of John', Eusebius continues with the v60ot, 'the books which
are not genuine'.
[They are] the Acts of Paul, the work entitled the Shepherd, the Apoca-
lypse of Peter, and in addition to them the letter called of Barnabas and
the so-called Teachings of the Apostles. And in addition, as I said, the
Revelation of John, if this view prevails. For as I said, some reject it,
but others count it among the Recognized Books. Some have also
counted the Gospel according to the Hebrews in which those of the
Hebrews who have accepted Christ take a special pleasure. These
would all belong to the disputed books, but we have nevertheless been
obliged to make a list of them, distinguishing between those writings
which, according to the tradition of the Church, are true, genuine, and
recognized, and those which differ from them in that they are not ca-
nonical but disputed, yet nevertheless are known to most of the writers
of the Church. (Hist. eccl. 3.25.4-6)

We must notice the difference between the author of the Muratorian

Fragment and Eusebius. The first accepted both the Apocalypse of
John and the ApPt as writings with authority: they were read in the
church assembly in Rome. For Eusebius, more than a century later,
they belong to the disputed books that must be rejected.
4) Like Eusebius, Jerome, De vir-is illustribus 1.5, considered
the ApPt as a rejected writing.
Libri autem, e quibus urz~tsActorum eius inscribitur, alius Evangelii,
tertius Praedicationis, quartus 'Ano~ahuyfio~, q~ririt~rsIudicii inter
apocryphas script~rrasrepudiantur30.

5) The Hontilv on the Parable of the Ten Virgins is an allegorical ex-

planation of Matthew 25.1-13. According to Andr6 Wilmart, its dis-
coverer, this is a Latin sermon from the 4th century, probably from
North Africa3'. This homily quotes the ApPt by title.
30 A. Ceresa-Gastaldo (ed), Gerolanzo. Gli uonzirzi illustri (Florence, 1988)
72-4.
31 A. Wilmart, 'Un anonyme ancien De X Virginibus', B~rlletind'ancierzne
litte'rature et archbologie ckrbtiennes 1 (1910) 35-49, 88-102.
182 ATTILA JAKAB

The closed door is the river of f i e by which the ungodly will be kept
out of the kingdom of God, as it is written in Daniel and by Peter in his
Apocalypse. (lines 58-60)
That party of the foolish shall also arise and find the door shut, that is,
the river of fire lying before them3'. (lines 77-78)

The author of the homily, an unknown member of a North African

church, provides us with an important witness to the use of the ApPr
as Scripture.

Indirect Witness
1) Cyril of Jerusalem, Carecherical Lectures (towards AD 350).
Lecture 15 contains, two parallels with the ApPt, namely, 15.20 (ApPt
6.1-2) and 15, 21 (stream of fire as an instrument of punishment).
The bishop of Jerusalem witnesses the use of this writing in Palestine
in the middle of the 4th century.
Conclusion: In the fourth century the ApPt was known in Pales-
tine, Egypt, North Africa and probably in Asia Minor (Methodius of
Olympus). There is no longer a witness from Rome.

5th ceritury and hevorld

Direct Witnesses
1) Sozomen, in his Church History 7.19 (compiled between 439 and
450 in Constantinople), writes about the customs of different nations
and churches :
Thus the book entitled 'The Apocalypse of Peter', which was consid-
ered altogether spurious by the ancients. is still read in some churches
of Palestine. on the day of preparation, when the people observe a fast
in memory of the passion of the Saviour [on Good Friday]33.

According to this statement our Apocalypse was read as Scripture in

the first half of the 5th century.

3' Cf. ApPt 5.8-6.5, 12.4-7.

33 A Select Lihraly of Nicerle and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian
Church, series 2. vol 2 (repr. Grand Rapids, 1976) 390.
 RECEPTION 183

2) In the stichometry of the biblical writings in the Codes

Claromo~itanus(Paris gr. 107, a bilingual Greek and Latin manu-
script) the ApPr appears in last place. The catalogue was written in
Latin between the fourth and sixth centuries. It is probably Western,
but we do dot have any closer information about its p r ~ v e n a n c e ~ ~ .
3) The List of tlie Sixry Books names 60 canonical and 25
apocryphal books. This list, which we find in several manuscripts,
may be from 600. The ApPt is the 16th on the list of apocryphal
writingP.
4) The Akhmim fragment of the Greek text of the ApPt was dis-
covered in Egypt in 1886-1887. It probably dates from the sixth cen-
tury3? It is different from our Ethiopic text and the texts quoted by
earlier Christian writers. The Akhmim fragment demonstrates that
the ApPt was known in sixth-century Egypt.
5) The Stichometly of Nicephorzrs is a list of canonical books. It
probably dates from the middle of the ninth century. The catalogue
divides the writings in three groups: recognised, disputed (antile-
gomena) and apocryphal. The disputed books of the New Testament
are: the Apocalypse of John, the ApPt, the Epistle of Barnabas, and
the Gospel of the Hebrews. Apparently in ninth-century Palestine our
writing was valued higher than the apocrypha3'.

Indirect Witnesses
1) The Apocalypse of Paul, probably written in Palestine between
395 and 41638, shows the influence of the We can discern
that the Apocalypse of John is interested in the destiny of the Church
in the last days; the ApPt in judgement at the end of the world; and
the author of the ApPI in personal judgement immediately after
death. The success of the ApPI is probably due to this feature.
NTA 1, 37.
3s NTA 1, 42-3.
3h
See Van Minnen, this volume, Ch. 11.
37 NTA 1, 41-2.
38
P. Piovanelli, 'Les origines de I'Apoca~pse de Pa~cl reconsidtrkes'.
Apocrypha 4 (1993) 25-64. This dating is accepted by C. Moreschini - E.
Norelli, Storia della letrerat~rracristia11a antica greca e latir~a,vol 211
(Brescia. 1996) 326-7.
39
For the parallels see Buchholz, Your Eyes, 67-70.
184 ATTILA JAKAB

2) The Apocalypse of Thomas is a fifth-century document, sur-

viving in two Latin recensions40. The shorter text (Cod. Vindob.
Palatinus 16) is generally accepted as the earlier and more original
version. According to Buchholz, the 'combination of similarity in
form and in details of expression makes it virtually certain that the
author of the Apocalypse of Thomas knew, and used the Apocalypse
of Peter-'. Further, 'the Apocalypse of Thomas is a witness that hereti-
cal, probably Manichean-related groups were interested in the Apoca-
lypse o f Peter-' towards 4004'.
Conclusion: In the fifth century and beyond, the ApPr was
known in Palestine and Egypt, around Constantinople, and probably
in the West. We can say with certainty that it was read in a few local
churches, but then it.disappears before our eyes.

Final conclusior~

As a result of this geographical and chronological survey it cannot be

concluded that the ApPt was 'a very popular It was only
known in some parts of ancient Christianity, and its circulation was
limited in time and space. Only in second-century Rome and in some
local churches of fifth-century Palestine was this writing read in con-
gregations. As far as its geographical circulation is concerned, it was
known in Rome (2nd-3rd centuries), Syria (2nd century), Palestine.
and Egypt (3rd-5th centuries), Edessa (3rd century), North Africa
(3rd-4th centuries), and Asia Minor (probably by Methodius of
Olympus at the beginning of the 4th century).
The history of the reception of the ApPt shows that canonicity is
not a specific (intrinsic) value of a text. In this respect, Enrico Norelli
is right when he claims that canonicity is the result of a historical
process rather than being a condition of that p r o c e ~ sIt~ is
~ .necessary,
in my view, to establish periods and contexts in the examination of
early Christian literature. If we want to gain an appropriate picture of

40
J.K. Elliott, The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford, 1993) 645-51.
41 Buchholz, Your- Eyes, 73.
42 See the 'Appendix' below.
43
Norelli, 'Pertinence thCologique', 152: 'La canonkit6 est le rksultat
d'un processus historique, non pas la condition de ce processus'.
 RECEPTION 185

the development and evolution of Christianity in its first centuries,

we should study not only the reception of the canonical writings but
also of other texts, such as the apocrypha and the authors before the
Council of Nicea. In this way we can better understand how Christi-
anity developed its institutions and doctrine, until it became the Reli-
gion of the Roman Empire at the end of the fourth century.

Appendix: Geographical and chronological o v e r v i e ~ j

Rome
2nd century:
Direct witness: Murator-ian Canorz 71-72
3rd century:
Direct witness: The 'pagan writer' quoted in Macarius Magnes
Indirect witness: Hippolytus of Rome

Syria
2nd century:
Indirect witness: Sihyllirze Oracles 2; Epist~rlaApostolorunl

Edessa
3rd century:
Indirect witness: Tlze Acts of Thomas

Palestine
3rd century:
Direct witness: Clement of Alexandria, Eclogue Propheticae
4th century:
Direct witnesses: Eusebius of Caesarea, Ecclesiastical History 3.3.2,
3.25.4; Jerome, De viris illustribus 1.5
Indirect witnesses: Cyril of Jerusalem, Carechetical Lect~~res
15 (20 &
21)
5th century:
Direct witnesses: Sozomen, Ecclesiastical History 7.19; Stichonzetry of
Nicepkol-us
Indirect Witnesses: Apocalypse of Pall1

3rd century:
Indirect witness: The Coptic Apocalypse of ElijaA
186 A ~ JA KA B

4th century:
Direct witnesses: The Ruiner and Bodleian Fragments of the Greek
ApPt
5th century:
Direct witness:The Akhrninl Fragnlent of the Greek ApPt

North Africa
3rd century:
Indirect witnesses: Pseudo-Cyprian, De laude martyr-ii; Pseudo-
Cyprian, Ah~ersusAleator-es
4th century:
Direct witness: Homily on the Parable of the Ten Virgins

Asia Minor
4th century:
Direct witness: Methodius of Olyrnpus, Synlposium 2.6
XII. The Suffering Jesus and the
Invulnerable Christ in the Gnostic
Apocalypse of Peter

GERARD P. LUITKHUIZEN

This final chapter deals with a Gnostic writing of the same name as
the Greek-Ethiopic Apocalypse of Peter. The Gnostic text is con-
tained in one of the fourth-century Coptic manuscripts of Nag
Hammadi (codex VII, 3)'. What the two Petrine apocalypses have in
common is that they speak of revelations granted by Jesus Christ to
Peter at some time during the Holy Week2. However, the actual con-
tents of the two texts are entirely different. The Gnostic text discloses
how, through several visions, Peter was led to full understanding of
the nature and the mission of Christ, the mediator of the revelation.
In the course of his teaching, Christ refutes the 'errors' of non-Gnos-
tic Christian groups, notably the early orthodox Christians.
The Coptic papyrus manuscript contains the complete text of the
Gnostic Apocalypse of Peter (GApPt) in a clear legible handwriting.
However, in other respects, it is a poor copy. Almost every page con-
tains one or more grammatically unclear phrases3. These obscurities

' This writing was the subject of the Groningen dissertation of H.W.
Havelaar, The Coptic Apocalypse of Peter, 1993. It was published as vol-
ume 144 of Teste lrrld Untersltch~rrigenzur Geschickte &r altchristlicken
Literatur (Berlin, 1999).
I assume that the so-called synoptic apocalypse (MI24 and parallels) is
in the background of the revelation in the Greek-Ethiopic writing. The set-
ting of the Coptic-Gnostic revelation will be discussed below.
Virtually all grammatical problems are discussed in Havelaar, Coptic
Apocabpse, 54-69 ('Grammatical Annotations').
188 GERA RD P. LUTTIKHUIZEN

may be due to the incompetence of the translator or to an inaccurate

transmission of the Coptic text. In some cases, the transcriber is
likely to have inserted his own comments into the text. This could ex-
plain some of the convoluted sentences (see e.g. the opening lines
quoted below). On several occasions we have no other choice than to
accept that the text of the only surviving manuscript is corrupt.

I . Date of Origin

In their attempts to date the hypothetical Greek original of the

GApPt, James Brashler and Henriette Havelaar rightly concentrate on
the terminus post quem 4. The text can hardly be earlier than the end
of the second century. The many references to texts that later became
part of the New Testament preclude this5. Brashler and Havelaar also
point to the polemics directed at emerging mainstream Christians,
notably the rejection of their claim that 'the mystery of truth' be-
longed to them alone6. In the third century, the exclusive claims of
the great Church were increasingly pressed upon minority groups that
did not accept orthodox teaching and practice.
The dating of the Greek original to the end of the second century
or the beginning of the third century means that it was written 50 to
100 years after the original version of the Greek-Ethiopic Apoca-
lypse'. To Schneemelcher this seems reason enough to rank the
GApPt with the later apocalypses and the Greek-Ethiopic writing
with the earlier ones8. In my opinion, this is a somewhat arbitrary
decision. It should be noted that the preserved manuscripts of the

J. Brashler, The Coptic 'Apocalypse of Peter': A Genre Analysis

and Interpretation (dissertation, Claremont Graduate School, 1977) 217;
Havelaar, Coptic Apocalypse,l6.
See Havelaar, Coptic Apocalypse, ch. 6 ('The Apocalypse o f Peter and
the New Testament').
GApPt 76.31-34, quoted below, n. 2q.
' For the dating o f the Greek-Ethiopic Apocalypse see C.D.G. Muller,
'Offenbarung des Petrus', in W . Schneemelcher, Neutestarnentliclze
Apokrypken II (Tubingen, 19895)563f = NTA 11, 622; Tigchelaar, this vol-
ume, Ch. IV.
Schneemelcher, NTApokS II, 628-33 = NTA II, 700-12.
Greek-Ethiopic Apocalypse are centuries younger than the Coptic
text of the GApPt. This is important if we bear in mind that we are
dealing with 'living texts19.

2. The Literary Setting of the Revelation

The clzronological setting of Christ's revelations to Peter is extraordi-

nary. Christ speaks to Peter dza-ing the events of Good Friday, not
shortly before the day, as he does in the synoptic apocalypse and in
the Greek-Ethiopic ApPt. In comparison with other Gnostic revela-
tion texts, the setting of Christ's teaching is also exceptional. The Se-
cret Book of John, The Wisdom of Jesus Christ, The Letter of Peter to
Philip, and comparable Gnostic revelation texts typically refer to
post-Easter appearances of Christ io. These writings pretend to reveal
the full and definitive teaching of Christ granted to a select group of
followers; Christ manifests himself to them - or his voice speaks -
from the world above".
It is more difficult to determine the exact location of Christ's
revelation in the Gnostic ApPt. The opening lines give us a hint. Un-
fortunately, this occurs in one of the aforementioned obscure pas-
sages in the Coptic manuscript. In all editions, this passage has been
emended. I quote Brasher's translation of 199612:
APOCALYPSE OF PETER. As the Saviour was sitting in the temple,
in the inner part of the hcrilding at the convergence of the tenth pillar,
and as he was at rest above the congregation of the living incorruptible
Majesty, he said to me: 'Peter, (...).'I3

Texts that were constantly revised and adapted to new situations.

lo K. Rudolph, 'Der gnostische "Dialog" als literarisches Genus', in P.
Nagel (ed), Probleme der koptischen Literatur (Halle, 1968) 85-107 at 91:
'Die Szene (Hintergrund, Ort) ist stets in die Zeit nach der Auferstehung
Jesu verlegt.' Cf. Ph. Perkins, The Gnostic Dialogue. The Early Church and
the Crisis of Gnosticism (New York, 1980) 37-58.
I' G.P. Luttikhuizen, 'The Evaluation of the Teaching of Jesus in Gnostic
Revelation Dialogues', NovTest 30 (1988) 158-68.
In B.A. Pearson, Nag Hammadi Codex VII (Leiden, 1996) 219.
l3 GApPt 70.13-20.
190 GERARD P. LUTTIKHUIZEN

The translation: 'the inner part of the building', is an emendation of a

combination of Coptic words that does not make sense14. However, if
we assume that this emendation and its translation are correct, what
does the text mean?I5 Is this a reference to the earthly temple in Jeru-
salem or, rather, to a spiritual temple in the divine world? It is quite
probable that the reference is to both places at the same time. As we
will see, GApPt frequently directs the attention to a spiritual dimen-
sion in visible reality. In particular, the subsequent phrase, 'and as he
was at rest above the congregation of the living incorruptible Maj-
esty', suggests that the Saviour is in his true spiritual environment
together with all those who belong to the FatherI6.

3. Physical and Spiritual Realities

In our text, Peter speaks about teachings revealed to him by Jesus

Christ on Good Friday. An important part of the revelation concerned
the true meaning of the events of that day. Christ explained to Peter
that he himself - the divine and, allegedly, impassible Saviour -
would not be arrested and crucified, but only the physical body of
Jesus. The apostle also intimates that Christ used special didactics to
teach him. For instance, after the first words had been addressed to
him, Peter noticed that the priests and the people were running to-

l4 GApft 70.15-16: ii <ME? i r e n l c i i ~ Brashler:

~ ; ii<n> METi r e
nlcii~e (the gender of the definite article is changed before MET).In his
dissertation (note 4 above) and in his subsequent translation in J.M.
Robinson (ed), The Nag Hamnladi Library in English (Leiden, 19883),
Brashler suggested reading: 'in the three hundredth (year) of the covenant';
A. Werner proposes, in Schneemelcher, NTApok5 11, 637: 'im drei-
hundertsten (Jahr) der Emchtung'; English translation, 705: 'in the three
hundredth (year) of the foundation'; Havelaar: 'in the threehundredth <.. .>
of the construction'.
Is J.-D. Dubois, 'Le Prkambule de 1'Apocalypse de Pierre (Nag Harnmadi
VII, 70.14-20)', in Gnosticisme et nlonde helle'nistique: Actes du Colloque
de Louvain-la-Neuve (11-14 mars 1980) (Louvain-la-Neuve, 1982) 384-93,
and the grammatical annotation by Havelaar, Coptic Apocalypse, 54.
l6 Havelaar, Coptic Apocalypse, 73-5.
,
wards them. Christ used this occasion to instruct the apostle how he
could inwardly transcend visible reality":
I
And as he was saying these things, I (Peter) saw the priests and the
people running toward us with stones, as if they were about to kill us. I
was afraid that we were going to die1'.

Christ summoned the apostle to put his hands over his eyes and to
describe what he could see. At first, Peter did not understand the in-
struction, for he said that he could not see anything in this way. How-
ever, when Christ asked him to do it once more, something changed.
Peter reports :
Fear and joy came over me, for I saw a new light brighter than the light
of day. Thereupon it came down upon the Saviour19.

This experience was repeated with Peter's auditory senses. Christ

asked him to listen to what the priests and the people said. Peter de-
scribes what he heard:
I heard the priests as they sat with the scribes. The crowds were shout-
ing with a loud voice (73.2-4).

When Christ insisted that he listen with his spiritual ear, Peter heard
something quite different, for he said to Christ:

I 'You are glorified while you are seatedY2O.

With his physical eyes and ears Peter heard chaotic and threatening
things but the inner self perceived the joyful truth about the Saviour.
In this way, the apostle was prepared for what he would experience
shortly later on that day.

I' Cf. U. Schoenbom, Diverbium Salutis. Literarische Struktur und

theologische Ir~terztiondes gnostischen Dialogs am Beispiel der koptischen
'Apokalypse des Petrus ' (Gottingen, 1995) 110-12.
l8 GApPf 72.4-8 (trans. Brashler 1996, 223).
l9 GApPt 72.21-27 (apart from a few minor points I adopt Havelaar's
translation).
20
GApPt 73.9-10. This statement recalls the opening lines of the text
speaking about the Saviour sitting in the temple. In both cases the reference
is to a spiritual temple in the divine world as well as to the earthly temple.
192 GERARD P. LU'ITIKHUIZEN

4 . Jesus' Arrest and Crucifixion

The actual arrest and the crucifixion of Jesus are reported on the last
pages of the text. First Christ encouraged Peter:
'Peter, come! Let us go and fulfill the will of the incorruptible Father.
Behold, those who will bring judgment upon themselves are coming.
They will put themselves to shame. But me they cannot touch. And
you, Peter, will stand in their midst. Do not be afraid because of your
cowardice. Their minds shall be closed for the Invisible One has op-
posed them.' When he had said these things, I saw him seemingly be-
ing seized by them (80.23-81.6).

In the last sentence of this quotation, the attention is shifted from the
arrest (still in the temple?) to the crucifixion scene. Curiously
enough, even during the crucifixion Christ remained Peter's angelus
interpres and answered the questions posed by the apostle:

And I said, 'What am I seeing, 0 Lord?

Is it you yourself whom they take? And are you holding on to me?
Who is the one who is glad and laughing above the cross?
Do they hit another one on his feet and on his hands?'
The Saviour said to me,
'The one you see above the cross, glad and laughing, is the living Jesus.
But the one into whose hands and feet they are driving the nails is his
fleshly part (sarkikon), which is the substitute.
They put to shame that which came into existence after his likeness'
(...). The son of their glory, instead of my servant, they have put to
shame'".

An essential feature of this vision account is the distinction made be-

tween the suffering Jesus and the impassible Saviour. What is more,
the two figures are related to conflicting powers. The Saviour is an
agent of the incorruptible Father, whereas the human body of Jesus
supposedly is a product ('the son') of the cosmic powers". Such an

GApPt 81.6-23, 82.1-3.

22 Cf. Havelaar, Coptic Apocalypse, 102. This body 'came into existence
after his likeness'. The idea that the human body was formed after a heav-
enly archetype by cosmic powers is elaborated in the Secret Book
(Apocrypphon) of John and in other Gnostic texts.
interpretation implies that the wrongdoers who arrested and crucified
Jesus, did not torture the Saviour but a human body. Above the cross,
'the living Jesus' laughs at their blindness. Thereupon, Peter reports,
he perceived another figure:
And I saw someone about to approach us who looked like him and like
the one who was laughing above the cross. He was woven in holy
Spirit. He was the Saviour. And there was a great ineffable light, sur-
rounding them, and the multitude of ineffable and invisible angels,
blessing them. And I saw that the one who glorifies was revealed (82.3-
17).

After this vision of what seems to be a higher dimension of the Sav-

iour, Christ resumed his explanations to Peter:
And he said to me, 'Be strong! For you are the one to whom these
mysteries have been given through revelation in order that you will
know that the one they crucified is the first-born, the home of the de-
mons, the clay vessel in which they dwell; it belongs to Elohim and to
the cross that is under the law.
- But he who stands near him, is the living Saviour, he who was in him
before, (in) the one who was seized. And he was released. He stands
joyfully, looking at those who treated him violently. They are divided
among themselves. Therefore, he laughs at their inability to see. He
knows that they are born blind.
- So, the one who suffers will stay (behind), because the body is the
substitute.
- But the one who was released is my incorporeal body.
- I am the intellectual spirit filled with radiant light.
- The one you saw coming to me is our intellectual Pleroma, who
unites the perfect light with my holy spirit' (82.17-83, 15).

Peter's visions are characterised as 'mysteries' given exclusively to

himz3. In his explanations, Christ paid special attention to the tempo-
ral dwelling of the Saviour in the physical Jesus: until the arrest of
Jesus, the Saviour was in him ('he was in him before'); after his 're-
lease' from Jesus, he witnessed how 'the one staying behind' was
seized and treated violently.
23 Cf. 71.8-21, where Christ says to Peter, 'from you I have made a begin-
ning for the others whom I have called to knowledge', and 71.25-27, where
Peter is reminded that he was called 'to know him (Christ) in the proper
way'.
194 GERARD P. L U ~ I K H U I Z E N

Actually, the vision accounts and the subsequent interpretations refer

to two different aspects of the impassible Christ. Like the physical
Jesus, these higher forms were seen by Peter as more or less inde-
pendent figures :
1) 'the living Jesus' or 'living Saviour', also designated by Christ as
his 'servant' and his 'incorporeal body'
2) 'the intellectual Pleroma', who in Peter's vision looked like 'the liv-
ing Jesus'

These two distinctions within the concept of the Saviour indicate that
GApPr does not conceive of two 'natures' (one human and one divine,
as in later orthodox Christology) but of three. In particular, 'the living
Saviour' deserves closer examination. His position between Christ's
intellectual, or pleromatic, spirit and the physical body of Jesus re-
minds us of the role of the soul in a trichotomous concept of reality.
In this view of man and the world, the innermost centre of the
human being (designated as the mind, nous, the spirit, pneuma, or
also the soul, i.e. the rational part of the soul) is related to the
supramundane realm of God. In contrast, the soul (or its irrational
part) is, supposedly, of the same ethereal substance as the stars and
the planets. In this concept, the soul mediates between the incorpo-
real spirit and a body composed of the four elements.
Ethel-, the fine-material substance of the soul, was regarded as
the fifth element (qirinta essentia) and was seen as a special kind of
'body'24. In Hellenistic and Roman times, it was thought that when
the immaterial soul or spirit left the supramundane world, it was
wrapped in ethereal 'clothes'. The function of this ethereal 'body'
was to protect the spiritual principle, to bridge the distance between
the spirit and the earthly body, and, more specifically, to serve as a
vehicle (och6ma) for the spirit. In this 'body', the spirit descended to
the lower world and, after the death of the eaqhly individual, re-
turned to the world above25.

24
P. Moraux, 'Quinta essentia', in RE 47 (Suttgart 1963) 1171-1263 at
1245-56. According to the Gnostic Apocryphon of John, humans have a
'psychic body' (made of the fine-material substance of the planetary
spheres) as well as a carnal body.
25 Cf. Galen, De placitis Hippocratis et Platonis VII.7.25-26: 'if we must
 The cryptic designations, 'my incorporeal body' and 'my serv-
ant', that Christ used to refer to the figure who left the body of the
earthly Jesus before he was arrested and later appeared to Peter above
the cross, become more comprehensible if we relate them to the
speculations about an ethereal soul-body and its mediating role be-
tween the spiritual and the earthly-material components of man.

5. Peter's Example

GApPt claims that the Saviour was immune to the attacks by the
forces of it was not he who was tortured and humiliated but
his temporal 'substitute': the human body of Jesus. This claim is also
voiced in the sections dealing with the 'future' errors of other Chris-
tian groups2'.
Orthodox followers of Jesus are criticised for worshipping 'a
dead man128and for imposing their belief in redemption, through Je-
sus' death (?), on others:

speak of the substance of the soul, we must say (. ..) either that it is this, as it
were, luciform and ethereal body (...) or that it is an incorporeal substance,
and (that) this body is its first vehicle, by means of which it establishes part-
nership (koindnia) with other bodies'; similar views are expressed by Philo
( Q ~ l irel-~rn~
s dill. her. 281-2), Cicero, Plutarch, and also by Patristic authors.
According to Irenaeus, Adv. kael-. 1.6-7, the Valentinian Gnostics had very
definite ideas about the three levels of being. Among others things, they be-
lieved that when Christ's spirit came down it was wrapped in a 'body hav-
ing psychic substance'. See further H.S. Schibli, 'Origen, Didymus, and the
vehicle of the soul', in R.J. Daly (ed), Origeniana Quinta (Louvain, 1992)
381-91, and A.P. Bos, The Soul and its Instrvmentaf Body (Leiden, 2003),
ch. 14; cf. idem, De ziel en kaar veer-ruig (Leende, 1999) 99-116.
26 This is already alluded to in the first words addressed to Peter (GApPt

71.5-7): 'the principalities sought him but they did not find him'.
27 For this aspect of GApPt see K. Koschorke, Die Polemik der- Gnostiker-
gegen das kirchliche Chr-istent~rrn(Leiden, 1978), and Havelaar, Coptic
Apocalypse, 193-204.
28 GApPt 74.13-15: 'they adhere to the belief in a dead mean, thinking that

they wiIl become pure'; Havelaar, Copric Apocalypse, 89: 'The belief in the
name of a dead man will appear to be the core of the conflict between the
Petrine Gnostics and their opponents'.
196 GERARD P. L U ~ K H U I Z E N

They are the ones who suppress their brothers saying to them: 'through
this our God has mercy, because salvation comes to us through this'".

The Christians in question are depicted as victims of the archontic

powers :
Many will accept our teaching in the beginning but turn away again in
accordance with the will of the father of their erroPO,because they have
done what he wanted3'.

Peter feared that in this way many of 'the living ones' would be led
astray, but Christ reassured him:
For a period of time determined for them in proportion to their error,
they will rule over the little ones. But, after the completion of the error,
the ageless (race) of immortal understanding will be renewed, and they
(the little ones) will rule over their rulers32.

When the text was written, the Petrine Gnostics were still in conflict
with other Christian groups and they had reasons to believe that they
lived in a world dominated by cosmic rulers. They could feel encour-
aged by the last words addressed to Peter and by Peter's exemplary
reaction:
'You. therefore. be brave and do not fear anything, for I will be with
you so that none of your enemies will domineer over you. Peace be
with you. Be strong! '
When he had said these things, he (Peter) came to his senses (84.6-13).

The translation of the concluding words was proposed by Alexander

Bohlig and adopted by Brashler and Ha~elaar?~.I suggest that the rel-
I9 GApPt 79.1-16; cf. 76.31-34: 'they will boast that the mystery of truth

is with them alone'.

30 This seems to be a designation of the demiurge, the chief archon, who in

several Gnostic texts is seen as the cause of evil andoasthe enemy of spir-
itual humanity. Cf. GApPt 74.29-30: 'they (nowGnostic Christians) stand in
the power of the archons'.
3' GApPt 73.23-27; cf. 74.22: 'they will be ruled in a heretical manner'.
32 GApPt 80.8-16 (trans. Brashler, 1996, 239; I added 'race' between

brackets). The designation of the Gnostics as 'the little ones' recalls the ex-
pression 'these little ones' used by Jesus to refer to his followers in Mat-
thew's Gospel (10.42; 18.6,10,14). See Havelaar, Coptic Apocalypse, 97,
152, 179f.
33 A. Bohlig, 'Zur Apokalypse des Petrus', Gottirlger Miszellen 8 (19731,
 THE SUFFERING JESUS AND THE INVULNERABLE CHRIST 197

evant Coptic phrase is laden with far more meaning34: after Christ's
teachings Peter 'came to himself (i.e. to his true self)'. This interpre-
tation means that when the Saviour had completed his teachings, Pe-
ter achieved the state of perfection to which he was called before by
Christ:
You, too, Peter, become perfect (...) just like me, the one who has cho-
sen you. For from you I have made a beginning for the others whom I
have called to knowledge (7 1.5-21).

The Gnostic ApPr claims to contain Peter's own account of the rev-
elations granted to him by Jesus Christ on Good Friday. The revela-
tions pertain first and foremost to the true meaning of the things seen
and events experienced by the apostle on that day. It is remarkable,
and somewhat confusing, that Christ, the Saviour, is both the subject
and object of the revelation. Peter saw different forms of Christ,
while at the same time Christ was with him and spoke to him.
Christ insisted that the suffering Jesus should not be mistaken for
the divine Saviour. In Christ's explanation, the human body of Jesus
was merely a temporary dwelling-place. Moreover, he repudiated this
sarkikol~as the product ('the son') of quasi-glorious cosmic powers.
In GApPr, the cosmic powers are the attackers and enemies of Christ
and the Gnostics. As Christ disclosed in his first words addressed to
Peter, 'the principalities' sought him but could not find him3'. Christ
himself was fully immune to the attacks of the forces of evil. His fol-
lowers could attain this level of protection if they allowed themselves
to be enlightened by Christ's teaching and, accordingly, were pre-
pared to live in this world as 'strangers' and 'children of light'
(78.25-6, 83.17-9).
Actually, Christ predicted that some of his followers would turn
away from the truth and accused their leaders, 'the messengers of er-

11-3. For the use of the third person style in this interpretation of the last
sentence of the text see Havelaar, Coptic Apocalypse, 68-9 and 78f.
34 aq y w n e Z P A I N Z H T ~ ~
35 GApPt 71 5 7 ; cf. note 26 above.
198 GERARD P. LUTTIKHUIZEN

ror', of siding with his enemies (77.24ff, 80.2-6). The 'children of

this age' would do what 'the father of their error' wanted them to

Christ made great demands on Peter (and, through, him on the

others whom he had called to knowledge3'). He frequently encour-
aged and reassured the apostle. Peter's fears concerned the future as
well as the present. He was afraid of what might happen to Christ,
and to himself, when he saw what the priests and the people wanted
to do. But he also feared future oppression by the cosmic forces and
the people 'in their power'38. Only gradually did the apostle over-
come his fears; and through Christ's revelations he was led, finally,
to full understanding. Of course, the inner transformation of Peter
was meant to set an example to the Gnostic readers of this writing39.
In conclusion, it has to be noted, that GApPt's interpretation of
Jesus' arrest and crucifixion does not deviate substantially from what
we find in some of the other early-Christian Gnostic writings. For in-
stance, the Letter of Peter to Philip in codex VIII of Nag Hammadi
contains a sermon by Peter in which the apostle first summarises the
well-known account of Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection, but
subsequently he says: 'My brothers, Jesus is a stranger to this suffer-
ing'40. His argument was that it was not the divine Saviour, the
bringer of the Truth, who suffered but rather the Gnostics who, be-
fore his coming, had lived in darkness and were in need of Christ's
redemptive message.
We could also compare the Gnostic chapters of the Acts of John
(99-101), where a distinction is made between the 'wooden cross in
Jerusalem' and the 'cross of light' revealed to John when he fled
from the crucifixion scene to the Mount of Olives. John was asked by
the Saviour to scorn the 'humble' and 'unworthy' beliefs of those
who assumed that he had been crucified in Jerusalem. The story ends

36 Cf. note 30 above.

37 GApPt 7 1.20f.
3"ApPt 73.17-18.
39 This aspect of the GApPt is particularly highlighted in Schoenborn,
Diverbium Salutis.
Letter of Peter to Philip 139.13-25.
with an account of how John laughed at the people around the
wooden cross.
In these, and other Gnostic writings4', Christ is viewed as an 11-
luminator from the transcendent world. The idea that he could suffer
as a physical being, is explicitly and vehemently rejected42.

4' Cf. the Treatise of Seth, the writing that precedes GApPr in NHC VII,
esp. 51.20-52.3 and 55.16-56.20: Christ laughed at the ignorance of the ex-
ecutioners when they crucified 'their man'.
42 See further the discussions in G. Luttikhuizen, 'The thought pattern of
Gnostic mythologizers and their use of biblical traditions', in J.D. Turner
and A. McGuire (eds), The Nag Hammadi Library after Fifry Years (Leiden
1997) 89-101 at 90-93; idem, 'A Gnostic reading of the Acts of John', in
J.N. Bremmer (ed), Tile Apocryplzal Acts of John (Louvain 1995) 119-52 at
127-47. I thank dr. A. Hilhorst for his critical comments and for several
valuable suggestions.
XIII. Bibliography of the
Apocalypse of Peter

The Greek Apocaljpse of Peter

Bouriant, U., 'Fragments du texte grec du livre d ' ~ n o c het de quelques
Ccrits attribuCs B saint Pierre', Me'moires publikes par les Memhres de
la Missiorl Arche'ologiq~reFratlgaise alr Cair-e IX.1 (Paris, 1892: editio
princeps) 142-7; A. Lods, photogravures of the manuscript, ibidem,
IX.3 (1893) 224-8
Buchholz, D.D., Yolrr Eyes Will Be Opened: A Study of the Greek
(Ethiopic) Apocalypse of Peter (Atlanta. 1988)
Gebhardt, 0. von, Das E~rangeliirnilitid die Apokaljpse des Petivs (Leipzig,
1893)
James, M.R., 'A New Text of the Apocalypse of Peter I-111', JTS 12 (191 1)
36-54 (with addenda at p. 157). 362-83 (the actual new text at 367-9),
573-83
- , 'The Rainer Fragment of the Apocalypse of Peter', JTS 32 (1931) 270-9 -
Preuschen. E., Alltilegor71ena (Giessen, 1905') 84-8 (with patristic citations)

Etkiopic
Buchholz, Your Eyes Will Be Opened
GrCbaut, S., 'LittCrature Cthiopienne pseudo-clCmentine. Texte et traduction
du trait6 "La seconde venue du Christ et la rCsurrection des morts",'
Revire de I'Orienr Chrf'tien 15 (1910) 198-214, 307-23 (text), 425-39
(translation)

Sallmann, K. (ed), Handbuch der lateinischen Literatur der Antike, N , Die

Liter-atur des Umbrvchs: Vorz den I-on~ischelizur christlichen Litera-

l I am grateful to Ton Hilhorst for suggestions and corrections.

 BIBLIOGRAPHY 20 1

tur: 117 bis 284 n. Chr. (Munich, 1997) 406 (on early Latin transla-
tion)

Translations
Bauckham, R., in F. Bovon and P. Geoltrain (eds), ~ c r i t sapoctyplzes
chre'tiens I (Paris, 1997) 745-74
Duensing, H., 'Ein Stiicke der urchristlichen Petmsapokalypse enthaltender
Traktat der athiopischen pseudoclementinischen Literatur', ZNW 14
(1913) 65-78 (with philological notes)
Elliott, J.K., The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford, 1993) 593-615
Erbetta, M., Gli Apocri' del Nuovo Testamento Ill (Torino, 1966) 209-33
James, M.R., The Apocryphal New Testament (Oxford, 1953) 505-24
Klijn, A.F.J. (ed), Apokr-iefen van her Nieuwe Testament, 2 vols (Kampen,
1984-85) 11.205-9
-, Apocriefe openharingen, orakels en brieven. Buitenhijhelse aanl~ullin-
gen op het Nieuwe Testament (Baarn, 2001) 4 1-56
Marrassini, P., 'L'Apocalisse di Pietro', in Y. Beyene et a/. (eds), Etiopia e
oltre (Naples, 1994) 17 1-232
Mingana, A., Woodhrooke studies: Christian documents in Syriac, Arabic,
and Garskuni, 7 vols (Cambridge, 1927-34) I11 (1931): Vision of
Tlzeophilus. Apocalypse of Peter
Moraldi, L., Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento I1 (Torino, 1971) 1803-48
Preuschen, Antilegometfa, 188-92
Schneemelcher, NTA 11, 101-51
Starowieyski, M. (ed), Apokr-yfi Nowego Testanzerzta I n (Cracow, 2000)
225-41

Apocalypse of Peter
Bauckham, R., 'The Two Fig Tree Parables in the Apocalypse of Peter',
JBL 104 (1985) 269-87
-, 'The Apocalypse of Peter: An Account of Research', ANRW 11.25.6
(Berlin, 1988) 4712-50.
- , 'The Conflict of Justice and Mercy: Attitudes to the Damned in Apoca-
lyptic Literature', Apocrypha 1 (1990) 181-96, repr. in The Fate of the
Dead, 132-48
-, 'The Apocalypse of Peter: A Jewish Christian Apocalypse from the
Time of Bar Kokhba', Apocr:yplra 5 (1994) 7-1 11, repr. in The Fate of
the Dead, 160-258
-, 'A Quotation from 4Q Second Ezekiel in the Apocalypse of Peter', Re-
vue de Qunlran 59 (1992) 437-46, repr, in The Fare of the Dead, 259-68
-, 'The Martyrdom of Peter in Early Christian Literature', ANRW 11.26.1
(Berlin, 1992) 539-95
-, The Fate of the Dead (Leiden, 1998)
202 BREMMER

Berger, K., 'Unfehlbare Offenbarung. Petrus in der gnostischen und

apokalyptischen Offenbarungsliteratur', in Korttinuitat und Einheit,
Festsclzrift F. Mussner (Freiburg, 1981) 261-326
Cowley, R., 'The Ethiopic Work Which Is Believed to Contain Material of
the Ancient Greek Apocalypse of Peter', JTS 36 (1985) 151-3
Dieterich, A., Nehyia (Leipzig, 1893, 19132)
Edsman, C.M., Le baptgme de feu (Uppsala, 1940) 53-63
Gray, P., 'Abortion, Infanticide, and the Social Rhetoric of the Apocalypse
of Peter', JECS 9 (2001) 313-37
Hamack, A., BI-uchstiicke des Evangeliums ~rndder Apokalypse des Petrus
(Leipzig, 1893)
- , Die Petrusapokalypse in der abendlandiscl~ettKirche (Leipzig, 1895)
Hams, J.R., 'The Odes of Solomon and the Apocalypse of Peter', E.rposi-
tory Times 42 (1930) 21-2
Hills, J.V., 'Parables, Pretenders and Prophecies: Translation and Interpreta-
tion in the Apocalypse of Peter', Revue Biblique 98 (1991) 560-73
Himmelfarb, M., Tours of Hell: An Apocalyptic Fornt in Jewish and Chris-
tian Literature (Philadelphia, 1983)
James, M.R., 'The Revelation of Peter: A lecture on the newly recovered
fragment', in J.A. Robinson and M.R. James (eds), The Gospel Accord-
in,? to Peter and the Revelation to Peter-: Two lectures on the newly re-
covered,fr-agments together with the Greek texts (London, 1892) 37-82
-, 'The Rediscovery of the Apocalypse of Peter', The Church Quarterly
re vie^^, April 1915, 1-37
Kraus, T.J., 'Acheron and Elysion: Anmerkungen im Hinblick auf deren
Venvendung auch im christlichen Kontext', Mnentosyrie 46 (2003)
145-64 *
-, 'Die griechische Petrus-Apokalypse und ihre Relation zu ausgewahlten
~berlieferun~stragem apokalyptischer Stoffe', Apoctypha 14 (2003)
Marnorstein, A., 'Jiidische Parallelen zur Petrusapokalypse', ZNW 10
(1909) 297-300
Norelli, E., 'Situation des apocryphes pktriniens', Apoctypha 2 (1991) 31-83
Priimm, K., 'De genuino apocalypsis Petri textu, examen testium iam
notorum et novi fragmenti Raineriani', Biblica 10 (1929) 62-80
Quispel, G., and R.M. Grant, 'Note on the Petrine Apocrypha', VigChris 6
(1952) 31-2, repr. in R.M. Grant, Christian Beginnin~s:Apocalypse to
History (London, 1983)
Rodriguez, M., 'Tres apdcrifos non gndsticos sobre Pedro (el Apocalipsis de
Pedro, el Evangelio de Pedro y 10s Hechos de Pedro', in R. Aguirre
Monasterio (ed), Pedro en la Icqlesiaprimitiva (Estella, 1991) 141-84
Schmidt, D.H., The Peter Writings: Their Redactol-s and Their Relation-
ships (Diss. Northwestern University. Evanston, Ill., 1972)
Spitta, F., 'Die Petrusapokalypse und der zweite Petrusbrief', ZNW 12
( 1911) 237-42
 BIBLIOGRAPHY 203
Tardieu, M., 'HCrCsiographie de I'Apocalypse de Pierre. Histoire et con-
science historique dans les civilisations du Proche Orient ancien',
Cahiers du Centre d' ~ t u d e du
s Proche-Orient Ancien 5 (1991) 33-9
 Index of Names, Subjects and Passages

Abel96
Abraham 74, 116
Acheron/Acherusia(n Lake) 6, 9-10, 79-80, 85-86, 91-107, 153
Achilles Tatius 105
Acts of Andrew 119
Acts of John 90: 119; 99-101: 198
Acts of Paul and Thecla 28-29: 32, 101, 150
Acts of Peter 6, 7,12: 56; 14: 119; 38: 115
Acts of Thomas 51-58,55-57: 178; 80, 129, 149: 119
Adam 93-94, 96-97, 102; Jewish legends 92
Aelius Theon, Progymnasmata 99.2: 108
Aftemelouchos 9
afterlife 11
Akhmim 16-18
Akiba 58-62
Alcinous, Didasc. 32.4: 135
Alexandria 8, 30
Ambrose, In Luc. 8.14: 135
Antichrist 54
Apocalypse of Abraham 31.4: 131
Apocalypse of Baruch 9
Apocalypse of Elias 150
Apocalypse of EIijalz 5.27-8: 131 ; 5.27-9: 32; 13.10-14.9, 18.1-20.15,23.1-
10, 23.1 1-24.2: 179
Apocalypse of James 95
Apocalypse of Mary 9
Apocalypse of Moses 92-93, 104, 107; 7, 21-25, 27,' 32, 35: 102; 37.3: 10,
154; 40.1-2: 96
Apocalypse of Paul 16: 8; 34: 9
Apocalypse of Paul (Coptic version) 17: 103; 22: 102; 22-3: 9, 154
Apocalypse of Pal11 (Greek version) 16: 9; 17: 103; 22: 93; 34: 9; date:
92, 183
Apocalypse of Paul (Latin version) 17: 103: 22: 93, 96, 102; 23: 102-3
Apocalypse of Peter 1-3: 62; 1-20: 11 1; 1.1: 75; 1.1-3: 54-5; 1.5-7: 179;
1.6-7: 176; 2: 56; 2.7-13: 179; 3-6: 72; 3: 56; 4-6: 176; 5: 30; 5.4-5:
 INDEX 205

178; 5.8-6.5: 182; 6.1-2: 182; 6.3: 179; 7-11: 61; 7-12: 72, 75; 7.2:
72; 7.3-4: 111; 7.3: 72; 7.5-6.7.7-8,7.9-11: 111; 7.10: 29, 138, 140;
7.12: 71; 8.1-4: 112; 8.4: 176; 8.7: 180; 8.8-9: 176; 8.10: 176, 180;
9.1-2: 112; 9.2: 71-73; 9.2-4: 7; 9.3: 71-73, 112; 9.4: 71, 74, 112;
9.5-7, 10.1, 10.2-4, 10.5-6: 112; 10.5: 71,75; 10.6-7: 179; 10.7: 112;
12.4-7: 182; 12.5-6: 179; 13: 30-1, 102; 13-14: 72; 13.1: 72; 13.1-2:
179; 14: 92, 100; 14.1: 75; 14.1-3: 176, 179; 14.2-5: 179; 15-7: 75;
15-17: 75-76; 15-20: 78; 15-27: 15; 15.1: 75-76; 15.2-7: 77; 16.2-4:
76;16.5: 74; 16.9: 74, 77; 17: 176; 17.1: 73; 20: 29; 20.34: 55; 22:
56, 111; 23: 4, 12, 111; 24: 12, 109, 152; 24a,b: 111; 25: 4,29, 111,
121, 152; 26: 28, 112; 27: 4,29, 112; 28: 56, 112; 29: 112; 30: 112;
31: 12, 112; 31-34: 111; 32: 4, 112, 152; 33: 28, 29; 33a: 112; 33b:
112; 34: 56, 112, 117, 152; abortion 121; and Antioch 30; Arabic
131 ; baptism of sinners 91-107; and Bar Kochba 29,57-59.61-65,67-
71, 73-74, 77, 174; Bodleian fragment 35; castration in 121; childbirth
in 121; Egyptian origin 14, 75, 71 ; finding 17-19: 17; and Gospel of
Perer 158; grotesque body in 108-126; hell in 114-23; infanticide in
121; justice in 127-57; origin of text 75-7; and Palestine 30; Palestin-
ian origin 75; and Paradise 83; and 2 Perer 54; Rainer fragment 35,
83-88, 107; reception in ancient Christianity 174-86; and Rome 30;
and the Sinlilit~tdes76; sinslsinners and punishment 71-73, 110-14; and
temple 77
Apocalypse of Peter (Ethiopic) 6; 1: 57,58; 1-2: 59,64, 111; 2: 59,63,65,
68, 74, 124; 2.7: 64-66; 2.8: 29, 64, 66, 69; 2.8-9: 67; 2.8-10: 66;
2.8b: 65; 2.9: 66; 2.10: 68-70; 2.10-11, 13: 64, 66; 2.11: 70, 124;
2.12: 68-69; 3: 137-8, 142, 147, 152-3; 3-6: 111; 3.2: 152; 3.3: 138;
3.4: 138, 147; 3.4b, 3.5-6: 124; 3.5: 138; 3.7: 31, 139; 4.1: 162; 4.2:
162-3; 4.5,4.6: 162; 4.7: 161 ; 4.7-8: 159, 162; 4.7b: 158; 4 . 7 ~ :159-
60; 4.7~-8a:160; 4.7-9: 158-9, 163; 4.8: 160-1, 167-8; 4.8b: 160;
4 . 8 ~ 162;
: 4.9: 161-3; 4.9a: 160, 162; 4.10-1: 124; 4.12: 162-3; 4.13:
162; 5: 30; 6: 84; 6.6, 6.9: 152; 7: 56; 7-13, 7.1-2, 7.3-4, 7.5-6, 7.7-
8: 111; 7.7: 109; 7.8: 152, 155; 7.9-11: 111; 7.10: 29; 7.11: 141,
152, 155; 8: 8; 8.3-4: 138, 141; 8.5-7: 138; 8.5-10: 112, 121; 8.6-7:
141; 8.9: 152; 8.10: 28, 152; 9.1: 29; 9.1-2: 112; 9.3: 112; 9.4: 73,
112; 9.5-7: 112; 10: 55, 84; 10.1: 112; 10.2-4: 112; 10.3: 152; 10.5:
28, 29; 10.5-6: 112; 10.6-7: 152; 10.7: 112, 153; 11: 64; 11.4: 138,
140, 155; 11.6-7, 11.8-9: 113; 11.9: 152; 12.1-3, 12.4-7: 113; 13: 6,
8, 31, 153-4; 13.2: 32, 138, 141, 143; 13.3: 152; 13.6: 141, 155; 14:
6, 78-79, 81, 83, 106, 150, 153; 14-17: 111 ; 14.1-3: 31, 32; 14.4: 30;
15-16: 61; 15-17: 29, 31; 16.5: 29, 158; 16.6: 29; 16.8-9: 65; 16.9-
17.1: 168; 17.1, 17.2: 169; 17.2-6: 168, 172; 17.3-6: 77; 17.4: 170-1;
17.4a: 158; 17.5: 173; 17.5b: 158; 17.6: 172; 20: 30; 23, 24a, 24b,
 INDEX

25: 111; 26,27,28,29,30: 112; 31: 12, 112; 32,33a, 34: 112; origin
of text 64; temple in 168; vengeance 152-3
Apocalypse of Peter (Gnostic) 187-99;; 70.13-20: 189; 70.15-16: 190;
71.5-7: 195, 197; 71.5-21: 197; 71.20f.: 198; 71.25-27: 193; 72.4-8,
72.21-27, 73.2-4, 73.9-10: 191; 73.17-18: 198; 73.23-27: 196; 74.13-
15: 195; 74.22: 196; 74.29-30: 196; 76.31-34: 188, 196; 77.24ff.:
198; 78.25-6: 197; 79.1-16: 196; 80.2-6: 198; 80.8-16: 196; 81.6-23,
82.1-3: 192; 82.17-83, 15: 193; 83.17-9: 197; date of origin 188-9;
literary setting 189-90; location 189-90
Apocalypse of Thornas 184
Apuleius 3
Aristophanes 13, 119-20; Frogs 145-8: 118; 145-51, 273: 12-3; Gerytades
fr. 146.13: 118
Aristotle, Politics 1341: 108; Rh. 1386b34-1387a2: 134
Arnobius, 2.14: 104
Attis 120
Augustine, De Chitate Dei 21.18: 100; 21.18.1: 33; 22.22: 131; EE
1233b24-5: 140; Enar. in Ps. 108.20: 135; Enchiridion 97; 94.24:
131; Rh. 1385b13ff., 1386b14-5: 140

Bacchic mysteries 13
Balaam 53
Banias 76
Bardaisan 105
3 Barrtck 10.2: 9
Bauckham, R. 6, 14,29
Bayle, CEuvres Div. 111, p.863: 151
Beliar 173
Bellmine, R., De aeterna felicitate Sanctorum IV.2: 131
Bernardus of Claimaux 117
Bible: Gen 3: 102; 9.6: 113; 27.22: 60; Ex 21.23-25: 113; Lev 24.20: 113:
Num 22-25: 53; 24.17: 58-59, 61; 31.8: 53; Deut 13.2-4: 69; 13.2-6:
53, 57; 18.20-22: 53, 57; 19.19: 113; Josh 13.22: 53; 1 Sam 28: 80;
Job 10.21, 26.5: 115; Ps 2.6-7: 76; 24: 158, 168-73; 24.3: 169; 24.4:
171; 24.4-6: 169; 24.6: 169-71; 24.7-10: 170; 24.7a, 9a: 172-3;
88.10, 94.17: 115; 104.1-2: 82; Sorzg 5.10-14: 61; 23.30: 131; Eccl
9.10: 115; Is 14.10-1, 16-7, 26.14: 115; Jer 14.14: 53; 23.13: 53,
26.18: 61; Ezek 1.28: 82; 6.2-3, 13.2, 17-18, 21.7-8, 14: 166; 28.14:
76; 28.21-22, 29.2-3, 30.2: 166; 32.21: 115; 34.2, 35.2-3: 166; 37:
158-73; 37.1-14: 159-60, 166; 37.1, 37.3: 162; 3 7 . 3 ~ 159;
: 37.4: 160,
162; 37.4b: 159; 37.5: 162; 37.6: 160, 165; 37.7: 159, 162, 165,167;
37.8: 159, 166; 37.9-10: 166; 37.11: 162-3; 37.12-14, 37.12: 162;
 INDEX 207

38.2-3, 39.1: 166; Dan 10-12, 11: 70; 11.41: 66; 12.3: 82; Nah 3.7:
69; Zech 8.4-5: 61; 13.9: 84; Ma1 2.3: 120; Mt 15; 5.6: 57; 5.10: 29;
5.19: 56; 5.29-30: 114; 5.38ff.: 131; 5.44: 100, 154; 5.44-8: 155;
5.45: 44; 7.15-20, 21-23: 53, 56; 10.42: 196; 11.25-36: 59; 12.32:
84; 16: 76; 16.13: 75; 16.23: 73; 17: 73, 75; 17.4, 17.4-8, 17.5: 73;
17.5b: 169; 17.22: 75; 18.6, 10, 14: 196; 24: 111; 24.3: 75; 24.4-5:
59; 24.9: 66; 24.10: 66-67; 24.11,24: 54; 24.24: 64, 66, 69; 24.32-6:
123; 25.1-13: 181; 25.31-46: 29; 26.24: 138; 27.59: 96; 28.16: 75;
Mk9.2-13: 111; 13.22: 54; 13.28-9: 123; 14.21: 124, 138; Lk 13.6-8:
123; 16.19-31: 130; 21.29-31: 123; 22.3: 115; 23.53: 96; John 5.22:
44; 19.40: 96; 20.24: 108; Acts 1.1-11: 169; 1.12: 76; 1.18: 115;
7.60: 100, 154; 9.37: 95; Rom 1.23: 28; ICor 15.35-49: 124; Gal
4.19, 5.19, 5.7: 120; Heb 9.11: 73; 12.23: 103; Jam 181; 1.2, 12: 57;
2 Peter 158, 181; 1.18: 75-76; 2.1: 53; 2.1-1-2: 54; 2.2: 73; 1 John
2.22: 68; 1 and 2 John 68; 2 and 3 John 181; Jude 181; Rev 30, 128;
13.11-17, 16.13, 19.20, 20.10: 54, 59; 21.3: 73; 21.14-15: 125
Bonaventure 130
Book of Enoch 1 , 4
Book of Jubilees 19
Book of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, by Bartholomew the Apostle 91,
95, 105-7; fol. 20a-20b: 106; 46.3: 10
Book of Thomas the Contender 8
Book of Watchers 6, 76
horboros 118
Bucholz, D.D. 3 1-3, 42

Camus, A. 157
Caesarea Philippi 75
Cicero, T~isc.Disp. 4.20: 135
confessors 101, 107
Canon Muratori 30,52
Cavallo, G. 16, 20, 23
1 Clem. 46.7-8: 147
Clement of Alexandria 28; Eclogue Propheticae 41: 28, 121, 176, 180; 48:
9, 28, 121, 176, 180; 49: 121, 176; Stromata 14: 104
Cocytus 80, 85, 98-9
Codex Claromontanus 183
crucifixion 192-5
Cybele 120
Cyprian, Ad Demetr. 30.2; Adversos aleatores 8: 179; De laude martyrii
19-21: 178; Ep. 27.1, 15.4, 20.1: 107
Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 15.20, 15, 21 : 182
 INDEX

Dan 76
danse macabre 117
Dante 127
David 171
Dead Sea Scrolls: IQpHah X 9: 68; 4QpPs a 126: 68; lQHa XI1 17: 68;
4Q339: 69; 4Q169: 69; 4Q38.5: 163, 167; 4Qpseudo-Ezekiel: 164;
4Q385, frg.2: 164-8; 4Q385.5.8: 165; 4Q386, frg. 1, col.1: 164-8;
49388, frg. 8: 164-8; 4QSecond Ezekiel: 166, 168
Didache 55
Didimon 108-9
Diels, H. 2
Dieterich, A. 5-7, 10, 12, 55, 78
Diogenes Laertius 6.51 and 68: 108
Dionysiac mysteries 1 1

Edessa 8
Edom 60
Eleusinian mysteries 5
Eleusis 12-4
Elijah 30, 64, 70, 73-74, 77, 113
Elysian fields 6, 9-10, 79, 154; in Rome 8 1
Encon1ilrnl on Saint John the Baptist by Saint John Chrysostonz 95
Enoch 64, 70, 76-77
I Erioch 16, 20. 23-5; 5.7: 82; 6-16: 76; 10.8: 82; 13-16: 77; 14.20: 82;
17-19: 76; 17: 94; 22: 97; 32: 76; 106: 77; 108.14-5: 131
Ephraim 69
Epictetus, Diatr. 2.16.45: 135
Epistlrla Apostolor~m~ 150, 175; 16, 26, 39: 176; 40: 33; 51: 176
Epistle of Barnabas 177, 183
Epistle of Jude 177
Esau 60
eschatia 120
Ethiopic translation of Daniel 67
Eusebius 67; Chronicle 68, 70; Hist. eccl. 3.3.1-2: 180; 3.25.1-3, 3.25.4-6:
181; 4.6, 4.8.3ff.: 68; 4.8.4: 58; 5.2.5: 100-101; 6.14.1: 177; 7.22.9:
96; Or. Const. 9: 104; Praep. elt. 11.38: 104
Eve 102
4 Ezra 19; 7.36-8: 131
Ezrael 29. 140

Falconilla 32, 101, 150

false messiahs 68
 INDEX

false prophet 53, 68, 70

fate 106
flute 108
Foucault, M. 149
Francis de Sales, De Isamour de Dieu IX.8: 131

Galen, De placitis Hippocratis et Platonis VII.7.25-26: 194

Galilee 75, 77
galloi 120
Ginzberg, L. 94-5
Good Friday 190. 197
Gospel of Peter 1, 16, 95; 6.24: 96; anti-Jewish 28
Gospel of tlw Hebrvws 183
Graf, F. 12
Gregory of Nazianzus 97; Oratio 40.1 1: 96
Gregory the Great, Horn. 40.291-301: 131
Grenfell, B.P. 16
grotesque, concept of 109

Hades 6, 12-3, 116, 125

Hadrian 62
Hamack, A. von 1-2, 4, 30
Heavenly Temple in ApPt 73-74
hell 120-1, 125
Heracles 14
Herlequin 121-2
Hermas vis. 4.2.6: 147
Hermetica 8
Herod 27
Herodotus 9.92: 80
Hieronymus, ad Rlrfirurnz 3.3 1: 58
Himmelfarb, M. 6-7, 9-10, 14
Hippolytus, 017the Uni\~erse178; Ref~rtatio10.34.2: 178
Homer, Odyssey 10.513-5, 12.4, 24.11-4, 24.12: 80; 10.513: 97
Homily on the Parable of the Ten Virgins 181
homosexuals 112
Horace, Sat. 1.4.78-9: 135
Hunt. A.S. 16

Imperial cult 30
impostor 70
inscriptions: I Delos 290: 9; SEG 30.93: 9; 38.1837: 8; 44.1279: 8
210 INDEX

Irenaeus, Adv. haer. 1.5-7: 195

Isaac 74
Isaiah fragment 13
ius talionis 144

Jabne 60
Jacob 74, 17 1
James, M.R. 32-3, 35, 98, 150
Jerome, De viris illusrribus 1.5: 181; 83: 179; Horn. in LC 16.26: 131
Jesus Christ 144, 147-8, 187-99
John Chrysostomos, In 2 Cor. 130
Josephus, Ant. 18.85-87, 20.97-98, 20.167-7 1, 20.167-68, 20.188: 69;
20.169-71: 70; JW 20.261-263: 70; 2.264: 68; 2.259-63, 2.283-87,
7.437-50: 69; 6.285: 70
Judas 114
Justin Martyr, 1 Apology 31: 71 ; 31.6: 58, 67, 74

katabaseis 7, 13-4
Klostermann, E. 2

Lazarus 116, 130

Letter of Peter to Philip 139.13-25: 198
Levi 76-77
lex talionis 113
List of the Sixty Books 183
Livy 8.24: 97
Lucian 117-18, Menippus 115; 11-8: 121; 12, 16, 17: 116; True S t o ~ y1.30-
2.2, 1.33-4 and 1.39: 125; 2.25-26 and 31: 110; 2.30: 118
Lucuas 7 1
Luther 120

Macarius Magnes, Apocriticus 4: 178; 4.6,4.7: 177; 16: 178

Maehler, H. 16, 20, 23
Marcellus Empiricus, De medicamentis 8
martyrdom 66-68
Martyrdom of Julian of Anazarbus 23-5
martyrs 101; intercession of 107
Maspero, G. 17
Messiah 73, 168-9
Methodius of Olympus 197, Synzp. 2.6: 9, 28, 180
Michael 96, 103, 105
Midrash Leqak Tob 130a: 172
 INDEX

mimirs 119
mire 12
Moses 30, 73-4, 77, 113
Mount Hermon 75-6
Mount of Olives 76
Mount Zion 75-6
mud 13
Muratorian CanonFragment 181 ; 71-2: 175
Musaeus 13

Nero 30; Domus Aurea 109

Nietzsche 127-30, 146
Noah 77
Norden, E. 2-4

Omont, H. 16
Oracula Sibyllina 86,91; 11: 86, 100, 104, 107, 175; 11. 194-338: 159; 330-
8: 85,98, 150; 331: 151-2; 335: 100; 339-41: 100; and Apocalypse of
Peter 34
Ordericus Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History 8.17: 121
Origen. Mart 30: 101
Origenists 27
Orpheus 13, 81
Orphism 1-14. 82; Gold Leaves: 10

Pantagmel 125-26
papyri: Detveni papyrus 10; P. Berlin mu. 8502: 25; PGM IV.2335: 8;
P.Lotid. 3.1012: 21; P. Miinch. 1.1: 21; 1.7: 21; 1.14: 21; P. Oxy.
63.4365: 19
paradise 86
Pascal, PI-ovincialesIX: 13 1
Passior~of Andrew 13, 23: 119
Patriarchs 30
Paul 103-104
Paul of Tamma, Cell 92, 103-104, 107; 1-2: 103; 2: 104
Periander 80
Peter 3 1, 76, 95, 138-9, 144, 148, 189-99
Petrus Lombardus, Sent. IV, 50.7: 131
Philo, Qiris I-erum div. her. 281-2: 195
Pilate 27
Plato, Gorgias 526b-c: 153; Plzaedo 86, 99, 102; 96C: 12; 1l le-14c: 97;
112e-13a: 80, 112e-14b: 153; 82; 113a5-14c9: 104; 113d-e: 84,97-8;
212 INDEX

113e-14b: 85, 98; 114a-b: 86; 114b-c: 97; 114d: 107; Philebus 134;
48a ff.: 132; 50b: 133; Protagoras 324a-b: 153; Republic 363D: 13;
399d: 108
Plautus 119; Stichus 207ff.: 135
Plutarch 3; De Herod. malign. 15: 135
Porphyry, Against the Christians 177-8
Poseidon 9
prayers for deceased sinners 32
Preuschen, E. 2
Priestertrug 3
purgatory 84
Pyriphlegethon 80, 85, 98-99
Pythagoreanism 3, 7, 11

Rabelais, F. 118-20, 125

Reitzenstein, R. 3
Religionsgeschichtliche Schule 2-3, 5
river of fire 94-95
Rosenstiehl, J.-M. 9

Sacrarnentary of Gellone 2895: 96

salvation 153
Sanders, H.A. 16
Satan 173
scatology 120
Scheler, M. 146, 156
Secret Book of John 189, 192
Seneca, De ir-a 3.5.5: 135
Sheol 115
sins, remission 101
Siophanes 105
Socrates 107
Solomon 171
Sozomen 75, Church History 7.19: 182
Strabo 1.26, 5.243-5, 6.256, 7.324: 97
Stichometry of Nicephorus 183
Suetonius, Tiberius 44: 109
Styx 105

Tabitha 95
Talmud, Ber- 61b: 62; j.Taan 4,7 and 68d: 60
Targum Psalm 24.7-10: 172