restored to human form by Mary'i — the mule's back.
ire, and, when the found unharmed, witli great honour he wafer in which ni.M \ ellous virtue, 1 lull' witli leprosy .V yoiuig man who mule.
[ilacing Jesuh
This Gospel was the main source of the know- ledge of Jesus among the Mohammedans. For their edification, Kessfeus incorporated its stories, with much embellishment, in his history of patriarchs and prophets-
LrrEKATURE. — Tischendorf, Eiian^ . , .
Apacr. NT; Walker, (Ante-Nicene Library, vol. xvi.); Tasker {I.e.) ; Meyer in Hennecke, Handb. 102.
C. (a) i. History of Joseph the Carpenter.— In
Egypt, where feast-days were multiplied to cele- brate events or to commemorate persons held in high esteem by the Church, the History of Joseijh was written ior tlie purpose of being read on 20th July, the alleged tlay of Joseph's death. The nar- rative is placed in the mouth of Jesus, who dis- courses to His disciples on the Mount of Olives. After an introductory address, which has passages reminiscent of the Psalms, the Gospels, and St. Paul's Epistles, the life of Joseph is sliortly de- scribed, in which evident use is inaile of ( \\>il'rotevan- geliicm or one of its sources (AjwriijiIiHui Ju.i-cphi). The circumstances attending the death of Joseph are described at great length. We are told of his dread of death ; we listen to a bitter lament for his sins (among them his venturing to correct Jesus as a child), and to a prayer to lie delivered from the demons of darkness who lie in wail t',ir his soul. When Death api)roaches will, his ,Iiim,I retinue, Jesus drives them back. In aiiswei I,. His prayer, Michael and Gabriel carry oil the spirit of Joseph to ' the dwelling place of the pious.' Thereafter Christ comforts the mourners, and Himself bewails the death of Joseph. It is plain, from this survey of the contents of the book, that its purpose was less to give the history of Joseph than ' to recom- mend Christianity as the deliverer in the extremity of death, and to teach the true Christian art of dying' (Meyer in Henn. Handb. 103).
The] history, in all probability, was written in Coptic. Recensions of it in the Bohairic and Sahidic dialects exist, the latter fragmentary (Forbes Rob- inson, Coptic Apocryphal Gospels, 130 tt'.). There is also an Arabic text, first printed in 1722.
Tischendorf puts the date of the history in the 4th century.
Literature. — Tischendorf, Meyer, Forbes Robinson (ppp. citt.).
C. (a) 3. The Departure of Mary The growing
veneration of Mary in the Church led to the inven- tion of incidents in her life parallel to those in the life of Christ. This was the motive that gave rise to the Departure of Mary {Transitus Marice), other- wise known as the Kolix-ricn.i (the Falling Asleep), Bormitio, Assumptio. As Christ had risen from the dead and ascended into heaven, so must Mary have risen and ascended. The story runs as follows :
One day, when Mary, according to her custom, had gone to * the holy tomb of our Lord ' to burn incense and pray, the archangel Gabriel announces her approaching death, and informs her that, in answer to her request, she shall ' go to the heavenly places to her Son, into the true and everlasting life." On her return home she pr.ays, and all the Apostles— those who arc already dead and those still alive— are gathered to her bedside at Bethlehem. The Apostles narrate how they were engaged when tlie summons came to them. The heavens are filled with hosts of angels ; miracles of healing happen, and the sick crowd to the house. The Jews endeavour to seize Mary; but the Apostles, carrying the couch on which ' the Lady, the mother of God,' lay. are home on a cloud to Jerusalem. Here Christ appears to her, and in answer to her request declares ; ' Rejoice and be glad, for all grace is given to thee by My Father in heaven, and by Jle, and by the Holy Ghost ; whoever calls on thy name shall not be put to shame, but shall find comfort and support both in this world and in that which is to come, in the presence of My heavenly Father.' Then, while the Apostles sing a hymn, Mary falls asleep. She is laid in a tomb in Gethsemane ; for three days an angel-choir is heard glorifying God, and when they are silent all know that ' her spotless and precious body has been transferred to Paradise.'
In this story, which has had a remarkable influ- ence in the Roman Catholic Church, we have the clear signs of an advanced sta^e of the worship of the Virgin. Prayer to her is here enjoined ; and the tendency disclo.sed, to find parallels between her life and the life of Christ, marks a definite stage of the movement which eventually made her a sharer in the work of redemption. The epithet BearrdKos (mother of God), which was first applied to
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GOSPELS (APOCRYPHAL)
Mary by Cyril of Jerusalem (beginning of 4th cent. ), and played so large a part in the Nestorian contro-
cent. In the Gelasian Decree (496) it was included among those apocryphal writings which are ' non solum repudiata, verum etiam ab omni Romana catholica et apostolica ecclesia eliminata atque cum suis auctoribu.s auctorumque sequacibus sub anathematis indissolubili vinculo in seternum dam- nata.' In spite of this the writing maintained its place, and by the 6th cent, it was held in the highest honour. It was in later days ascribed to Melito of Sardis (c. 170), and even to the Apostle John. Versions of it, in longer and shorter forms, are e.xtant in Greek, Latin, Arabic, Coptic, and Syriac.