Today I present a dialogue style gospel. This is a post resurrection text that mainly involves Jesus speaking to Bartholomew. The gospel goes through various situations including another retelling of the harrowing of hell (see my previous post HERE in regards to that story). This text also goes by the name “The Questions of St. Bartholomew” and is not to be confused with “The Book of the Resurrection of Christ by Bartholomew the Apostle”. The gospel is split into 5 sections. With post one, I will cover sections 1 and 2, and the second post will cover sections 3 – 5.
The gospel starts with the resurrection of Jesus. Bartholomew approached Jesus and asks him to reveal the mysteries of the heavens (that’s a mighty tall request!!). Bartholomew tells Jesus that during the crucifixion, he was viewing the event from a distance and saw angels coming down from heaven to worship Jesus, and then without warning, Jesus had disappeared from the cross. A voice from the subterranean depths was heard by him after this disappearance. He asked Jesus where did he go and Jesus responds that he had went to Hell in order to bring up Adam and all those with him. The voice that Bartholomew had heard came from Hell (Hades). Hades said to Beliar, “It looks like God has come here!“ If you recall from my blog post on the Gospel of Nicodemus, it is Hades and Satan that have a quarrel between each other, and a rather humorous one at that! Now based on the translation (GoB), my copy states “Hell” (I am reading from Simon Gathercole’s work) but in other translations, such as the one I have linked at the end of this post, “Hades” is used. Now keep in mind this is a deity and not a location. Hades would be the more appropriate translation in my opinion. Hades and Satan are not the same deity in these apocrypha texts. Hades is more a neutral character who is basically a “warden” of the underworld. Satan is the one who is causing mischief upon humans. In the GoB, Satan is given the name Beliar. Beliar says to Hades that it appears that one of the prophets is descending. Hades is in disbelief and states that 6,000 years has not yet passed and asks why is this happening. Beliar basically tells him not to worry and to secure the gates as God does not come down here. At this moment, a severe pain erupts through Hades’ body and he flees.
Jesus arrives at the gates, demands to be let in and then bounds Beliar up with unbreakable chains. He releases all the patriarchs and went back to the cross. Noticed the difference in this retelling and the one in the Gospel of Nicodemus. In this one, the harrowing takes place during the crucifixion while the Nicodemus version takes place after the event. Bartholomew asks who was the massive man that the angels carried up to heaven and Jesus identifies him as Adam. He states that he had told Adam “I was hanged on the cross because of you and your children.“ (Ouch! A slight burn on Adam there, lol) Adam lamented and said “Such is your will, O Lord.” Other angels came to Adam and were singing as they went into heaven but one colossal angel with a flaming sword did not. The text does not identify this angel here, but earlier in the text, it is mentioned that Michael was among those with Jesus during the Harrowing, so I am assuming this colossal angel is Michael.
Jesus tells the apostles that a sacrifice is being offered in Paradise and he must be present to receive it, otherwise the souls of the righteous would not be able to enter. Bartholomew asks how many souls depart the world each day and Jesus tells him 30,000. He then asks how many souls enter Paradise each day and Jesus responds with 3(!). Bartholomew asks if Jesus was in Paradise at the same time as he was teaching them, and Jesus tells him that he is at both places always. Another question asked is how many righteous souls are found amongst the departed. Jesus tells him that it is 53. The 50 that do not enter Paradise, they go to a place of resurrection. A final question is asked and that is how many souls are born each day, Jesus responds that it is one more than the number of souls that depart each day. This ends section one of the gospel.
The second section deals with Mary and her conception of Jesus. Bartholomew approaches Peter, Andrew and John, and suggests they ask Mary how she conceived, carried and eventually gave birth to ‘one of such great magnitude’. The others are a bit hesitant about this. Bartholomew asks Peter to do this, but Peter deflects to John. Eventually Bartholomew decides to be the one to approach Mary since the others refuse. After asking her, Mary says “Are you really asking me about this mystery? If I begin to tell you, fire will come forth from my mouth and set all the world ablaze.“ Apparently this did not dissuade them from repeatedly asking her. Eventually she decides to answer but first they must pray. After getting in position, she stands before them and begins a rather lengthy prayer. Once she is done, she sits down and has the four men sit around here, bracing her so her body does not break apart (remember her prior warning). She begins to recall that during her time in the temple as a youth, an angel appeared to her. This was the second time an angel had come to her, but this angel was different than the first one. The temple shook and Mary fell to the ground. The angel lifted her up and a cloud of dew touched her face. The angel sprinkled the dew over her body and said “Greetings, you who are highly favored, chosen vessel.” He struck the right-hand side of his garment and a loaf of bread appeared, which he placed on the altar of the temple. He ate a piece of it and then gave some to Mary. Next, he did the same with his left-hand, but this time a cup full of wine, drinking some and then Mary. Obviously, this is an analogy of the Eucharist. Both the loaf of bread and cup of wine returned to complete fullness. The angel tells Mary that in three years she will receive his word and conceive a son, through whom all creation will be saved. He offers her parting words and disappears. As soon as she was done speaking, fire starts coming from her mouth to engulf the world. Jesus suddenly appears and says “Do not speak this mystery or all creation will come to an end today.” The apostles froze with fear as they were concerned Jesus would be angry with them. They done made him mad!
This is the end of the second section. My next post will cover the remaining parts of the gospel. For my review, I used Simon Gathercole’s translation from his book The Apocryphal Gospels. This book is an excellent collection of modern English translations of numerous texts and fragments. I HIGHLY recommend it!
M.R. James translation at gnosis.org: http://gnosis.org/library/gosbart.htm
Featured artwork made with Midjourney.
bP
Culmination of Wisdom 