(e) Angels. — While there is no reference to the functions of good angels as mediators or inter- cessors, spiritual powers are conceived of as the true cause of all action. Manasseh and Belchira are only agents of Beliar and Sammael and Satan. Nero Redivivus is only an embodiment of Beliar (4-). Angels, authorities, and powers rule in this world under Beliar their prince (P; cf. Eph P^ 3^" 61-, Col li« 2i»- 15, 1 P 32-). The angel of the Chris- tian Church (cf. Rev 2^- *• 1- etc. ) descends from heaven after our Lord's passion. The Holy .Spirit and the angel of the Holy Spirit (see under 'Trinity') are identical, except perhaps in 3'^ and IP. There is an angel of deatli (Q^^ 10"), and an angel of Sheol (IP**). Each heaven has its angels, with the superior ones to the right of the throne. The sun and the moon also have each an angel (cf. Rev 19'"). The judgment of the angels is referred to in 1' 41s iQi-.
(/) The Seven Heavens. — The conception of the seven heavens which we find e.g. in the Testaments of the Ttcelve Patriarchs and in Slavonic Enoch is not to be found in the Asc. Is. Evil is found only in the firmament and the air ; it is entirely absent from all the heavens. Nor is there any reference to natural phenomena or heavenly bodies in them. Each heaven is merely a duplicate of the one above, with no distinction, except of glory, imtil the sixth and seventh are reached (S'- ''). The sixth is not under any subordinate angel or ' throne,' but is ruled by the Great Glory in the seventh. There is an angel over the praise-giving of the sixth heaven, however, who challenges Isaiah when pro- ceeding to the seventh (9'"^). In the seventh are the Patriarchs, the righteous, the crowns and thrones and garments of the righteous, the Great Glory, the Beloved, and the angel of the Holy Spirit.
(g) The Christian Church and its circtimstances. —
The angel of the Christian Church which is in the heavens will be summoned by God in the last days (315). The Church is the plant planted by the Twelve Apostles (4^). It consists of those who are ' associated together to receive the Beloved ' at His Second Coming (4^*). A great persecution is re- garded as imminent, in which the few faithful remaining will ' flee from desert to desert, awaiting the coming of the Beloved.' For the expectation of the Coming, cf. 1 Th P", 1 Co P, Ph 3-", He 9^. The Neronic Antichrist is regarded as destroying one of the Twelve Apostles (4^), and deceiving many of the faithfid (4^). In S^i-^i -sve have a con- temporary picture of the Christian Church regarded as guilty of serious declension from its high calling. Church organization is not yet developed. We have mention of pastors and elders (3-^- ^). There is a genei-al disbelief in the Second Coming and in prophecy generally (3-^- '-''■ ^i), but prophecy is still existent, though there are ' not many prophets save one here and there in divers places. ' The 'faith' (3-1) is spoken of objectively, as in the Pastoral Epistles {e.g. 1 Ti P«). Faith, love, and purity are the distinctive Christian virtues (as in
1 Ti 41-). There are lawless elders (3-'*), and much hatred exists among the Church leaders (3^). Covetousness and slander are common vices (cf.
2 Ti 31- -). The 'spirit of error' (3-*) is at work among Christians (cf. 1 Jn 4'^, 1 Ti 41). Caesar- worship is already a difRcuIt.y (47-ii).
(h) Apocryphal work. — The only reference to another apocryphon occurs in 4~, where the book ' Words of Joseph the Just ' is probablj- to be identified with the Ylpoaevxh rod 'Icjo-rjcp (Fabricius, Cod. Pseud. V.T. i. 761-769 ; see MBB ii. 778).
3. The text. — (a) In its complete form the Asa. Is. is found only in the Ethiopic Version, and even this needs to be corrected and at times supple- mented by other authorities. Of this Version there are three MSS, one at the Bodleian, and two inferior ones in the British Museum.
(6) Therearetwo Z«<t» Versions. — (i. ) The fuller of the two was printed at Venice in 1522 from a MS now unknown, and reprinted by Gieseler in 1832. — (ii.) The other version occurs in two frag- ments discovered by ]Mai in 1828 in the Codex Rcscriptus of the Acts of Chalcedon, Vat. 5750, of the 5tli or 6th century.
(c) The Greek Versions are likewise twofold : (i.) a lost Greek text on which the Greek Legend Mas based ; (ii. ) the Greek text from which the Slav- onic and the fuller Latin Versions were deriveil. Of this text 2^—4^ have been recovered in the Amherst Papyri bj' Grenfell and Hunt.
The Greek Legend was found by O. von Gebhardt in a Greek MS of the 12th cent. (no. 1534, Biblio- theque Nationale, Paris). This work is really a lection for Church use, and so takes liberties in the way of rearranging and abbreviating the text. The Martyrdom is brought to the end, and other details are added. It is, however, very valuable for correcting and restoring the text.
(d) The Slavonic Version is extant in a MS in the Library of the Uspenschen Cathedral in Moscow. It belongs to c. A.D. 1200.