Lost scriptures: books that did not make it into the New Testament (27 page)

in your faith towards him, for we must at

gry because I spoke with the

the present keep silent about his mighty

Lord and beckoned me to come to them

and wonderful works, inasmuch as they

and leave the Lord alone. And I went,

are mysteries and doubtless cannot be

and they both said to me, ‘Who was

uttered or heard.

speaking to the Lord when he was on top

of the mountain, for we heard both of

them speaking?’ And I, when I considered his great grace and his unity which 3Gap in text.

THE ACTS OF JOHN

105

“Now, before he was arrested

94

‘I will mourn, lament all of you!’

by the lawless Jews, who re

‘Amen.’

ceived their law from a lawless serpent,

‘An Ogdoad4 is singing with us.’

he gathered us all together and said, ‘Be

‘Amen.’

fore I am delivered up to them, let us

‘The Twelfth number is dancing

sing a hymn to the Father, and go forth

above.’ ‘Amen.’

to what lies before us.’ So he commanded

‘The whole universe takes part in

us to make a circle, holding one another’s

the dancing.’ ‘Amen.’

hands, and he himself stood in the mid

‘He who does not dance, does not

dle. He said, ‘Respond Amen to me.’ He

know what is being done.’

then began to sing a hymn, and to say:

‘Amen.’

‘Glory be to you, Father!’

‘I will flee and I will stay.’ ‘Amen.’

And we circling him said, ‘Amen.’

‘I will adorn, and I will be

‘Glory be to you, Word! Glory be

adorned.’ ‘Amen.’

to you, Grace!’ ‘Amen.’

‘I will be united, and I will unite.’

‘Glory be to you, Spirit! Glory be

‘Amen.’

to you, Holy One! Glory be

‘I have no house, and I have

to the glory!’ ‘Amen.’

houses.’ ‘Amen.’

‘We praise you, O Father. We give

‘I have no place, and I have

thanks to you, light, in

places.’ ‘Amen.’

whom darkness does not

‘I have no temple, and I have temabide.’ ‘Amen.’

ples.’ ‘Amen.’

‘I am a lamp to you who see me.’

‘Amen.’

‘Now we give thanks, I say:

95

‘I am a mirror to you who per

I will be saved, and I will save.’

ceive.’ ‘Amen.’

‘Amen.’

‘I am a door to you who knock on

‘I will be loosed, and I will loose.’

me.’ ‘Amen.’

‘Amen.’

‘I am a way to you, wayfarer.’

‘I will be pierced, and I will

‘Amen.’

pierce.’ ‘Amen.’

‘I will be born, and I will bear.’

‘Amen.’

‘I will eat, and I will be eaten.’

96 “ ‘Now if you respond to my

‘Amen.’

dancing, see yourself in me

‘I will hear, and I will be heard.’

who speak; and when you have seen what

‘Amen.’

I do, keep silence about my mysteries!

‘I will be understood, being wholly

You who dance, perceive what I do; for

understanding.’ ‘Amen.’

yours is this passion of mankind which I

‘I will be washed, and I will wash.’

am to suffer! For you could not at all

‘Amen.’

have comprehended what you suffer if I

had not been sent to you as the Word by

the Father. When you saw what I suffer,

you have seen me as one suffering; and

Grace
is
dancing.

‘I will pipe, dance all of you!’

‘Amen.’

4i.e. the eightfold power.

106

NON-CANONICAL ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

seeing that, you have not stood firm but

“And having said this, he

98

were wholly moved. Moved to become

showed me a cross of light set

wise, you have me for a support. Rest

up, and around the cross a great multitude

upon me! Who am I? You shall know

which had no one form; and in the cross

when I go away. What I am now seen to

was one form and one likeness. And the

be, that I am not. You shall see when you

Lord himself I beheld above the cross,

come. If you knew how to suffer, you

not having a shape, but only a voice, and

would have had the power not to suffer.

a voice not such as was familiar to us,

Learn suffering, and you shall have the

but a sweet and kind voice and one truly

power not to suffer. That which you do

divine, and it said to me, ‘It is necessary

not know, I will teach you. I am your

that one man should hear these things

God, not that of the betrayer. I will that

from me, O John, for I have need of

there be prepared holy souls for me.

someone who will hear. This cross of

Know the word of wisdom! Say again

light is sometimes called the Word by me

with me:

for your sakes, sometimes Mind, some

Glory be to you, Father; glory be

times Jesus, sometimes Christ, someto you, Word;

times Door, sometimes Way, sometimes

Glory be to you, Holy Ghost!

Bread, sometimes Seed, sometimes Res

Now concerning me, if you would

urrection, sometimes Son, sometimes Faknow what I was: with a word I once ther, sometimes Spirit, sometimes Life,

deceived all things, and was not put to

sometimes Truth, sometimes Faith,

shame at all. I have leaped; but undersometimes Grace. Thus it is called for stand the whole, and having understood

man’s sake. But in truth, as known in

it say, ‘Glory be to you, Father!’

itself and as spoken to us, it is the mark

‘Amen.’

ing off of all things and the uplifting and

foundation of those things that are fixed

“After this dance, my beloved

97

but had been unstable, and the harmony

the Lord went out; and we were

of the wisdom and indeed the wisdom of

as men gone astray or dazed with sleep,

the harmony. But there are on the right

and we fled all ways. Even I, when I saw

and on the left, powers, principalities,

him suffer, did not abide at his passion

dominions and demons, operations,

but fled to the Mount of Olives, weeping

threatenings, wrath, devils, Satan and the

over what had taken place. And when he

inferior root, from which the nature of

was hung upon the cross on Friday, at

the transient things proceeded.

the sixth hour of the day, there came

darkness over all the earth. And my Lord

stood in the middle of the cave and lit it

up, and said, ‘John, to the multitude down

below in Jerusalem I am being crucified,

and pierced with lances and reeds, and

gall and vinegar is given me to drink. But

to you I am speaking, and pay attention

to what I say. I put it into your mind to

come up to this mountain, so that you

might hear matters needful for a disciple

to learn from his teacher, and for a man

to learn from his God.’

THE ACTS OF JOHN

107

99 “ ‘This, then, is the cross which that which is my own, and that which is has united all things by the

yours you must see through me. As for

Word, and marked off things transient

seeing me as I am in reality, I have told

and inferior, and then compacted all into

you this is impossible unless you are

one. But this is not the cross of wood

able to see me as my kinsman. You hear

which you will see when you go down

that I suffered, yet I suffered not; that I

here, neither am I he who is upon the

suffered not, yet I did suffer, that I was

cross, whom now you do not see but only

pierced, yet was I not wounded; hanged,

hear a voice I was reckoned to be what I

and I was not hanged; that blood flowed

am not being what I was to many others;

from me, yet it did not flow; and, in a

but they will call me something else,

word, those things that they say of me I

which is vile and not worthy of me.

did not endure, and the things that they

Therefore, just as the place of rest is

do not say those I suffered. Now what

neither seen nor spoken of, much less

they are I will reveal to you for I know

shall I, the Lord of this place, be seen or

you will understand. Perceive in me the

spoken of.

slaying of the Logos, the piercing of the

Logos, the blood of the Logos, the

“ ‘Now the multitude about

100

wounding of the Logos, the hanging of

the cross which is the lower

the Logos, the passion of the Logos, the

nature is not of one form; and those

nailing of the Logos, the death of the

whom you see in the cross, do not have

Logos. And thus I speak, discarding

one form. That is because every member

manhood. Therefore, in the first place

of him who came down has not yet been

think of the Logos, then you shall pergathered together. But when the nature of ceive the Lord, and thirdly the man, and

man shall be taken up, and the race which

what he has suffered.’

comes to me in obedience to my voice,

then he who now hears me shall be united

“When he had spoken to me

with it and shall no longer be what it now

102 these things and others

is, but shall be above them, as I am now.

which I know not how to say as he would

For as long as you do not call yourself

have me, he was taken up, without any

mine, I am not that which I was. But if

of the multitude having seen him. And

you hear and hearken to me, then you

when I went down, I laughed them all

shall be as I am, and shall be what I was,

to scorn, inasmuch as he had told me

when I have you with myself. For from

the things which they said about him;

this you are.6 Therefore, ignore the many,

and I held firmly this one thing in my

and despise those who are outside the

mind, that the Lord contrived all things

mystery! Know that I am wholly with the

symbolically and as a dispensation to

Father, and the Father with me.

ward men, for their conversion and

salvation.

“ ‘Therefore I have suffered

101 none of the things which

they will say of me: that suffering

which I showed to you and to the rest in

103 “Therefore, brethren, having seen the grace of the dance, I wish it to be called a mystery.

For what you are, you see that I showed

you; but what I am, that I alone know,

and no one else. Let me, therefore, keep

6Text obscure.

108

NON-CANONICAL ACTS OF THE APOSTLES

Lord and his affection toward us, let us

bringing help to us by his own

worship him as those to whom he has

compassion.

shown mercy, not with our fingers, nor

with our mouths, nor with the tongue,

“ ‘You therefore must also

104

nor with any part of our body whatsoever,

be persuaded, beloved, that

but with the disposition of our soul: let

it is no man that I preach to you to worus worship him, who became man apart ship, but God unchangeable, God invinfrom this body. And let us watch because cible, God higher than all authority, and

he keeps watch even now over prisons

all power, and older and mightier than all

for our sakes, and in tombs, in bonds and

the angels and creatures that are spoken

dungeons, in shame and reproaches, by

of, and all ages. If then you abide in him,

sea and land, at scourgings, condemnaand are built up in him, you shall possess tions, conspiracies, plots, punishments,

your soul indestructible.”

and, in a word, he is with all of us, and

suffers with us when we suffer, brethren.

And when he had delivered

105

When he is called by any one of us he

these things to the brethren,

does not allow himself to shut his ears to

John departed with Andronicus to walk;

us, but being everywhere he hearkens

and Drusiana also followed afar off toto all of us, and just now has hearkened gether with all, that they might behold

to both me and Drusiana—as he is the

the acts that were done and at all times

God of those who are imprisoned—

hear his word in the Lord . . .

The Acts of Paul

The “Acts of Paul” is not preserved in its entirety, but only in large fragments that are difficult to piece together. The complete book is usually thought to have included the Acts of Thecla and the pseudonymous letter of 3 Corinthians (see below). Together, the various fragments narrate legendary episodes from Paul’s life, including the account, not excerpted here, of a talking lion whom Paul converts and baptizes, who then, at a later time, spares Paul when loosed upon him in the arena.