The fragments are evidently based upon the Gospels of Matthew and John ; so much is clear even from Avhat can be deciphered. Possibly they belonged to some uncanonical Gospel current in Egypt during the 3rd or even the 2nd cent., but the internal data are too slender to support any hypothesis which would connect them with the Gospel of the Egyptians (Jacoby) or even with tlie Gospel of the Ebionites = the Gospel of the Twelve (Schmidt, Zahn, Revillout). The ' Gnosti- cism ' of the fragments is mild.
Special Literature. — A. Jacoby, Ein neues Evangelienfrag- ment, Strassburg, 1900; C. Schmidt {GGA, 1900, pp. 481-506); Za.hn(NKZ, 1900, 361 f.); Revillout, Patr. Orient. 1907, pp. 159- 161 ; Haase, 1-11 (where further literature is discussed).
(iii. ) Another Coptic fragment from a narrative of the trial is edited by Revillout (Pair. Orient. ,IQI f. ) : ' ... to Jesus who was in the prsetorium. He said to him, "Whence do you come and what do you say of yourself ? I am sore put to it in de- fending you, and I . . save you. If you are king of the Jews, tell us definitely." Jesus answered and said to Pilate, " Do you say this of yourself, or have other people told you about me ?" Pilate said to him, " Am I a Jew ? — I ! Your own people have handed you over. What have you done ? " Jesus replied, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would tight to prevent anyone handing me over to the Jews. However, my kingdom is not of this world." Pilate said to him, " Then you are a king?" Jesus replied, "It is you who say so; I am a king." Filate said to him, "If you are a king, let me learn the truth from your own lips so that you may be relieved of these troubles and these revolu- tions." Tlien he said to him, "Behold, jou confess, you say with your own lips that I am a king. 1 was bom and I have come into the world for this thing, to bear witness to the truth. He who be- longs to me hears my voice." Pilate said to him, " What is truth ? " Jesus said to him, "Have you not seen — you ! — that he who speaks to you is Truth ? Do you not see in his face that he has been born of the Father ? Do you not hear from liis words that he does not come from this world? Know then, 0 Pilate, that he whom you judge,
* According to Revillout, these ' Amens' are not final but in- troductory =' Truly.'
he it is who shall judge the world with justice. These hands which you seize, O Pilate, have formed you. This body you see and this flesh which they . . ." '
The fragment is also assigned by Revillout to Ills Gospel of the Twelve, but it may be no more than a paraphrase of Jn 18^^'* from some early Egyptian homily. The rest of Revillout's frag- ments (cf. above, p. 503) are plainly from an Egyp- tian treatise which belongs as much to the Mary literature as to the category of the uncanonical Gospels.
(k) An unidentified fragment. — In Augustine's treatise contra Adversarium Legis et Proiyhctarum (ii. 14), he quotes a saying from some apocryphal scripture — evidently a Gospel, since he proceeds : ' but in the Gospel of the Lord, which is not apocryphal' (i.e. esoteric), he taught the disciples after the Resurrection about the prophets (Lk 24^'). The quotation is as follows : ' But when the apostles asked what view should be taken of the prophets of the Jews, who were thought to have sung something about his arrival in the past, our Lord, vexed that they still took such a view, replied, " You have sent away the living One who is before you, and you make up stories about the dead!"' Tliis may have come from some Marcionite or Ebionitic (cf. above, p. 493) Gospel. J. H. Ropes [TU xiv. 2 [1896], 119-120) suggests that it would fit in with the story of Mt S'^^, but the context in Augus- tine points rather to a post-Resurrection dialogue between Jesus and the disciples.
{I) The Fayyum fragment. — The Fayyftm frag- ment, first published by G. Bickell (cf. Zeitschrift fiir kath. Theologie, 1885, pp. 498-504, 1886, p. 208 f.), is a 3rd cent, scrap of papyrus which has received more attention than it deserves ; it is no more than a loose quotation of Mk l4-8--^- ^^-^^ (so Zahn, as against Bickell, Harnack [TU v. 4, 481-497], Resch [TU x. 2, 1894, pp. 28-34], P. Savi [EB, 1892, 321-344], and others), and cannot be assigned with any probability to tlie Gospel of the Egyptians or any other uncanonical Gospel. The fragment runs : ' And in departing he spoke thus. " You will all be ofl'ended (o-/cai'5aXt<r0^creo-^e) this night, as it is written : / will smite the shep- herd, ami the sheep shall be scattered." Peter said, "Though all [are offended], not I!" The Lord said, " The cock will crow twice, and thou shaltbe the first to deny me three times."' Revil- lout (Les Apocryphes copies, 158-159) places it as a sequel to the Matthias fragment quoted above (pp. 501-502), assigning it to his ' Gospel of the Twelve.' But it may have come from some Gospel of our third group, if it came from any Gospel at all.