• This would not of itself mean much ; the same title occurs in the earlier Oxyrhynchite fragment (cf. p. 499).
t ayivvTiTOi also occurs in the lacunae.
t In The Oxyrhynchus Loqia and the Apocryphal Gospels, 1899, C. Taylor connects the first series with the Gospel of Thomas ; cf. Scott-Moncrieflf, Paganism and Christianity in Egypt, 1913, p. 64 f.
§ Photiusquotes(Bt6ZtoJ^ecrt, 232)atraditionthatitwa8he, not Peter, who cut off the ear of the high priest's servant (Jn 1810).
II The EgjT)tian colouring comes out in the cry of Lazarus, when he is raised : ' Blessed art thou, Je&us, at whose voice Amenti trembles.' The idea of Jn 11-5- ■is is expressed by say- ing that the multitudes ' gathered together to Lazarus, like bees to a honeycomb, because of the wonder which was come to pass.'
TI It corresponds to a Coptic fra^inent pulilished by Eevillout (Apocryphescoptesdu itoureati Testament, I'aris, 1S76, p. 124 f.), and is assigned by that scholar to his ' Gospel of Gamaliel' (see below, p. 604).
** The anti-Herodian bias is even more marked than in the Gospel of Peter.
'And straightway there was enmity between Herod and Pilate because of Jesus from that day.' On coming down from the mount, the disciples and Jesus meet the devil in the guise of a fisherman, with many demons ' carrying many nets and drag- nets and hooks, and casting nets and hooks on the mount' : Jesus explains this vision in terms of Lk 223i-32_ John, by permission of Jesus, challenges the devil to a fishing-contest. The devil catches ' every kind of foul fish which was in tlie waters — some taken by their eyes, some caught by their enti'ails, others taken by their lips,' The fragment then breaks ofi", before Satan's capture of sinners by their members is outdone by the apostolic cap- ture of the elect.
The Coptic counterpart of this fragment pub- lished by Revillout is apparently followed {op. cit. 184) by a fragment corresponding to Jn 7^^* ***' "* . . . the time is accomplished." When he said these things, he went into Galilee. When his brothers had gone up to Jerusalem for the feast, he went thither also, not openly but in secret. The Jews, however, sought for him, and said, "Where is he ? " Now it was the house of Irmeel which was his place of residence owing to . . . the multitude. Then they said, " What are we to do ? " '
The fifth fragment describes the Resurrection (p, 179 f.). The anti-Jewish tendency* which emerged in the fourth fragment re-appears in the determination of the Jews to bum the very wood of the Cross — a plot thwarted by Joseph of Arima- thsea and Nicodemus, who preserve the Cross, the nails, and the written title. A rich Jew called Cleopas, the cousin of the Virgin Mary, buries his son Rufus near the Saviour's tomb. The imperfect state of the text at this point leaves the course of events obscure, but evidently Rufus was raised from the dead by Jesus, in response to the prayer of Cleopas, who sat with his back to the stone at the tomb of Jesus. Cleopas *saw with his eyes a figure of the Cross come forth from the tomb of Jesus. It rested upon him who Avas dead [i.e. Rufus]; and straightway he arose and sat.' Whereupon Cleopas, who had hitherto been un- able to Avalk, owing to a disease of the feet, leapt up as if he had no disease at all. The description of the Cross recalls the Gospel of Peter.
The fragments are all late ; they profess to quote from Josephus and Irenfeus, and in any case must be placed not earlier than the 3rd century. If there was some connexion between later forms of the Gospel of Thomas on the one hand and a Gospel of the Twelve (see above, p. 486) on the other, these fragments might be placed approxi- mately in this quarter. But as the fragments are embedded in homiletical material, there is always the possibility that such stories were imaginative tales, not necessarily drawn from any written Gospel. They illustrate also the difficulty of assigning material like this to our second or to our third group ; the later fragments tally in several respects with some Coptic fragments which fall to be noted in our third section.
III. Gospels of the Passion and Resurrec- tion.—(a) The Gospel of Philip.— The existence of a Gospel of Philip is attested by the Pistis Sophia, but the only extant quotation occurs in Epiphanius (xxvi. 13): 'The Lord revealed to me what the soul must say when she mounts to heaven, and how she must answer each of the Powers aljove. " I have known myself," she says, "and gathered myself from all quarters, and have not borne children to the Archon, but have torn up his roots and gathered the scattered members. And I know who thou art. For I," she says, "belong to those above." So saying, she is re-
•'The abuse of the Jews is a favourite theme in Coptic apocryphal sermons ' (cf, p. 187).
GOSPELS (UXCA^^OXICAL)
GOSPELS (UXCAXO>s"ICAL) 501
leased. But if it is found that she has borne a son, she is kept below until she is able to recover her children and attract them to herself.'