Chapter 16.
When Joseph had thus spoken, the chief priests cried out to the people: We know that Jesus had a father and mother; how can we believe that he is the Christ? One of the Levites answered and said: I know the family of Jesus, noble-minded men, [1927] great servants of God, and receiving tithes from the people of the Jews. And I know also Symeon the elder, that he received him when he was an infant, and said to him: Now thou sendest away Thy servant, O Lord.
The Jews said: Let us now find the three men that saw him on the Mount of Olives, that we may question them, and learn the truth more accurately. They found them, and brought them before all, and made them swear to tell the truth. And they said: As the God of Israel liveth, we saw Jesus alive on the Mount of Olives, and going up into heaven.
Then Annas and Caiaphas took the three apart, one by one, and questioned them singly in private. They agreed with one another, therefore, and gave, even the three, one account. The chief priests answered, saying: Our Scripture says that every word shall be established by two or three witnesses. [1928] Joseph, then, has confessed that he, along with Nicodemus, attended to his body, and buried him, and how it is the truth that he has risen. [1929]
[1927] Or, literally, men of good family.
[1928] Deut. xix. 15; Matt. xviii. 16.
[1929] This last clause would be better as a question: And how is it the truth that he has risen?
The Gospel of Nicodemus.
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Part II.--The Descent of Christ into Hell.
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Greek Form.
Chapter 1 (17).
Joseph says: And why do you wonder that Jesus has risen? But it is wonderful that He has not risen alone, but that He has also raised many others of the dead who have appeared in Jerusalem to many. [1930] And if you do not know the others, Symeon at least, who received Jesus, and his two sons whom He has raised up--them at least you know. For we buried them not long ago; but now their tombs are seen open and empty, and they are alive, and dwelling in Arimathæa. They therefore sent men, and they found their tombs open and empty. Joseph says: Let us go to Arimathæa and find them.
Then rose up the chief priests Annas and Caiaphas, and Joseph, and Nicodemus, and Gamaliel, and others with them, and went away to Arimathæa, and found those whom Joseph spoke of. They made prayer, therefore, and saluted each other. Then they came with them to Jerusalem, and brought them into the synagogue, and secured the doors, and placed in the midst the old covenant of the Jews; and the chief priests said to them: We wish you to swear by the God of Israel and Adonai, and so that you tell the truth, how you have risen, and who has raised you from the dead.
The men who had risen having heard this, made upon their faces the sign of the cross, and said to the chief priests: Give us paper and ink and pen. These therefore they brought. And sitting down, they wrote thus:--
[1930] Matt. xxvii. 53.
Chapter 2 (18).
O Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection and the life of the world, grant us grace that we may give an account of Thy resurrection, and Thy miracles which Thou didst in Hades. We then were in Hades, with all who had fallen asleep since the beginning of the world. And at the hour of midnight there rose a light as if of the sun, and shone into these dark regions; and we were all lighted up, and saw each other. And straightway our father Abraham was united with the patriarchs and the prophets, and at the same time they were filled with joy, and said to each other: This light is from a great source of light. The prophet Hesaias, who was there present, said: This light is from the Father, and from the Son, and from the Holy Spirit; about whom I prophesied when yet alive, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, the people that sat in darkness, have seen a great light.
Then there came into the midst another, an ascetic from the desert; and the patriarchs said to him: Who art thou? And he said: I am John, the last of the prophets, who made the paths of the Son of God straight, [1932] and proclaimed to the people repentance for the remission of sins. [1933] And the Son of God came to me; and I, seeing Him a long way off, said to the people: Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world. [1934] And with my hand I baptized Him in the river Jordan, and I saw like a dove also the Holy Spirit coming upon Him; [1935] and I heard also the voice of God, even the Father, [1936] thus saying: This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. [1937] And on this account He sent me also to you, to proclaim how the only begotten Son of God is coming here, that whosoever shall believe in Him shall be saved, and whosoever shall not believe in Him shall be condemned. [1938] On this account I say to you all, in order that when you see Him you all may adore Him, that now only is for you the time of repentance for having adored idols in the vain upper world, and for the sins you have committed, and that this is impossible at any other time.
[1931] Isa. ix. 1, 2.
[1932] Matt. iii. 3.
[1933] Mark i. 4.
[1934] John i. 29.
[1935] Or: and I saw, as it were, a dove and the Holy Spirit, etc.
[1936] Or, of the God and Father.
[1937] Luke iii. 22.
[1938] [Mark xvi. 16.]; John iii. 18.