RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
F seudepigr apha
12-31. Other Apocalypses: Nicephorus, Ambrosiaster, and Jerome mention ( 12) an Apocalypse of Elijah or a book of his, and Origen seems to make I Cor. ii. 9 a citation of it, though Jerome combats this, and he seems to refer it to an Ascension of Isaiah. A Hebrew Apocalypse of Elijah, placed by one editor in the post-Talmudic period and by another in the third century, was published by Jellinek in 1855 (Bet-ha Midrasch III., xvii. 65 sqq.) and by Buttenwieser in 1897 (13) The Apocalypse of Zephaniah, a work "of the Prophet Zephaniah," is mentioned by Nicephorus, and was known to Clement of Alexandria, who mentions it as containing both an " Ascension of Isaiah " and descriptions of a journey in the heavens and hells; the seer is caught up and led up through the various heavens, in the fifth of which he sees the angels called by him kurioi, " lords." Possibly to this Zephaniah apocalypse are to be traced a writing extant in two Coptic dialects, also two others mentioned by Steindorff (see Bibliography) which deal with an establishment of a Messianic kingdom to last a thousand years upon a renewed earth. The unity of the first part (i.-xviii.) appears in the general relations. So the anonymous apocalypse of Steindorff and his fragment of a Zephaniah book together agree with the character of the apocalypse known to Clement of Alexandria. The second part, though it speaks of Elijah (in the third person), is not really an Elijah apocalypse, and goes well with the first part to complete a Zephaniah apocalypse. The whole is either a Christian work or a Jewish production worked over by a Christian, and in its present form is probably later than Clement of Alexandria, possibly of the second half of the third century. (14) From an Apocalypse of Jeremiah Jerome derives Matt, xxvii. 9, while Origen ascribes it to a Secreta Elice. The Coptic Bible contains a short prophecy ostensibly by Jeremiah. Eph. v. 14 is by Epiphanius attributed to an Apocalypse of Elijah, but others — e.g., Euthalius and Syncellus — ascribe it to an Apocryphon Jeremiw. (15) An Apocalypse of Zachariah is named by Nicephorus, a Christian writing based on Luke i. 67. ( 16- 18) Nicephorus speaks also of a Habakkuk writing, one of Ezekiel, and one of Daniel. (19) An Apocalypse of Moses is named by Syncellus as the basis of Gal. v. 6, vi. 15. (20) In the anonymous list of canonical books a writing of Lamech finds mention. (21) Nicephorus speaks of a writing of Abraham, possibly the Slavonic Apocalypse of Abraham published by Bonwetsch in German in 1897, in which Abraham is taught by an angel to offer an acceptable sacrifice, is taken to heaven and there receives revelations regarding the history of his people. It is of Jewish origin, is used by the Clementine Recognitions, before which therefore it was composed. Possibly to be distinguished from this is the book of the same name used by the Sethite Gnostics (Epiphanius, Hcer., xxxix. 5), possibly the Inquisitio Abrahamce of Nicetas; also the Testament of Abraham published by James in 1892 (TS, ii. 2) and by Bassilyew in 1893 (Anecdota Grceco-Byzantina, i.) in Greek, English in ANF, of which Slavonic, Rumanian, Ethiopic, and Arabic versions are extant.
22-23. Protoplasts and Twelve Patriarchs:
Anastasius Sinaita makes mention of a (22) Testament of the Protoplasts which said that Adam on the fortieth day after his creation went to Paradise. This report is in both the Book of Jubilees and in the Book of Adam and Eve. (23) The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs is cited by Origen, is probably referred to in Nicephorus and the synopsis of Athanasius. The Greek text was edited by Grabe, 1698, 1714, repeated by Fabricius 1713, Gallandi 1788, and Migne 1857; comparative edition by Sinker 1869, 1879, critical edition by Charles, London, 1908, also English translation of the same. The book is known in Old Slavonic, Armenian, and Latin versions. The contents are in substance the history told by each of the morbescent patriarchs to their descendants, with warnings and exhortations which fit with the character of the person speaking, and are drawn from the personal experience of the speaker as revealed in the Old Testament. With curious unanimity nearly all the patriarchs speak of the leadership of Judah and Levi. There seems to be a reference to Christ as savior, and one to Paul as the apostle to the heathen; consequently, since 1810 it has been customary to attribute this work to a Christian, the. only controversy being over the type of Christianity represented. The author has been called an Essene, an Ebionite, a Nazarene, a Pauline Christian, and so on. But the work has a ground work of Jewish provenance; the Christian references are interpolations. While special emphasis is not laid upon the Law, and when spoken of it is rather as morals than as ritual, yet the development is in general such as would interest only a Jew. The Christian interpolations, on the other hand, are very definite, and the Christology is patripassian. There appear, however, at least two strata of these interpolations, and the Jewish basis is not a unit, traces of a double recension appearing. The work had probably a long history in the synagogue before it came into the possession of the Church. The time of composition is indicated by portions which are closely parallel with passages in the Book of Jubilees. The earlier author is clearly a partizan and adherent of the Maccabean house, especially in its phase of priestprinces, on account of which it of right rules the other tribes, as well as because of its success in its conflicts with the heathen in which it won religious and political liberty. Other parts show as clearly the breach between the Hasmoneans and the Pious — thus the stock of Levi has through its wickedness led astray the whole of Israel (Testament of Levi, xiv. sqq.). The times of Aristobulus II. and of Hyrcanus II. are clearly referred to. The love for the Maccabees which in some parts of the book shines out has in others turned to hate. Thus it appears that the origin of the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs must be placed along the way from c. 166 to 64 b.c. For the Christian interpolations therein the terminus ad quern is Irenaeus, to whom the reference to Christ as sprung from the tribes of Judah and Levi was known.
24-32. Other Testaments: Only the title is known of (24) a book Of the Three Patriarchs. (25) On a Coptic Testament of Abraham cf. I.
Pseudepigrapha