This is the second post of the Gospel of Bartholomew. What is fascinating about these remaining parts of the gospel is the inclusion of the “fallen angel / Satan” origin story. This is always alluded to in the canon but never fully laid out.
Continuing on with the Gospel of Bartholomew, section 3 begins with Jesus taking his disciples up to Mount Maurei. There he tells them that in seven days he will ascend to his Father and that he will not be seen in this likeness thereafter. So now is the time to get the questions out there! They ask him to show them the abyss. At first Jesus does not recommend this, but proceeds to go along and show them. He led them to Chairoudek, which is the place of truth. He called upon the angels of the west and the world was rolled up like a scroll. The abyss was then presented to the disciples, whom all fell to the ground on their faces in fear. Jesus raised them up and basically said ‘I told you so’ as he called upon the angels to cover up the abyss. Be careful of what you ask!
Section 4 moves to the Mount of Olives. Peter asks Mary (mother) to ask Jesus of what lies in the heavens. Mary tells Peter to ask himself, since he is the “rock” in which the church is to be built upon. I sense a little hostility there, lol. Peter tells Mary that she is the tabernacle that formed the lord, so she should ask. Mary then goes into a pretty long rant regarding Adam and Eve, and their symbolic relationship with the sun and moon. To make a long story short, she does this just to turn around and tell Peter since he is in the image of Adam, he should be the one to ask. When it was said and done, neither of them asks. It is Bartholomew who goes up to Jesus and he asks not what the heavens have, but rather, about the adversary (Beliar/Satan). Jesus was surprised by this and warned against this. Not learning from the past request, Bartholomew insists and begins to praise Jesus to get on his good side. Jesus eventually gives in and the others in the group ask to see the adversary as well. So Jesus takes them down from the Mount of Olives and to the gates of Hell. He calls upon Michael to open the gates. Once opened, the ground begins to shake and hundreds of angels bring up Beliar, whom is bound with fiery chains. This text gives an interesting description of Beliar. Depending on which manuscript you read, there are different specs. Some say his length is 1,600 cubits while other say 1,900 or 17. His breadth is either 40, 300 or 700. All are quite ridiculous in their descriptions, but let’s just say he was a monstrous size being! His face was like lightning of fire, eyes full of darkness, nostrils had smoke coming from them, and wings of various lengths (depending on the manuscript). Noticed there is no mention of horns. That attribute had not yet made itself to the mythology of the devil when this was originally written.
Jesus tells Bartholomew to put his foot upon Beliar’s neck and then ask him whatever he wishes to know. Now if Beliar is a large being, I am not sure how stepping on his neck will do anything. Perhaps it is something like the lasso of truth from the Wonder Woman comics, LOL! Bartholomew proceeds to step upon the neck of Beliar but soon becomes afraid and runs off. He goes to Jesus and requests one of his garments to help him overcome his fear. Jesus tells him that his garments are not of this world and he can not have them. With a little bit more motivation, Jesus urges Bartholomew to go back. He musters up the courage and resumes with his foot onto the neck of Beliar and pushes his face into the ground. He asks who is he and what is his name. Beliar tells him to ease up on the neck so he could speak. Bartholomew relents. Beliar states that he was originally called Satanael, which meant “Angel of God“. But when he rejected the reflection of God, he was called Satanas, which meant “Angel of the Underworld“. Bartholomew demands he tell him everything and keep nothing hidden. Beliar is getting pissed, but goes along with the request and goes into a lengthy detail of events. Here is what he had to say:
For I was formed as the first angel. For when God made the heavens, he took a handful of fire. First, he made me; second, he made Michael; third, he made Gabriel; fourth, he made Raphael; fifth, he made Uriel; sixth, he made Xathanael. He also made six thousand other angels whose names I am not able to speak, for they are God's staff-bearers. They beat me with their staffs seven times a day and seven times a night. They never leave me alone, and they dissipate my power.
He goes on to say that each of the seven heavens have a million angels. Outside the heavens, there are angels who oversee various aspects of the material world. Khairoum oversees the north wind, Ertha oversees the east wind, Kerkoutha the south wind and Naoutha the west wind. Beliar tells Bartholomew he can not say the other angel names as he is not permitted to do so. Bartholomew asks how he punishes the souls of men. A breaking wheel came from the abyss with a jagged-edged sword that flashed fire. Beliar tells him that each of the jags of the sword are for various different sins. Beliar admits that he or his underlings are not permitted to go into the world (if he was able, he’d rampage through it in three days) but have lesser minions go out and tempt men with various sins that will trap them for damnation. Beliar starts naming off other angels before Bartholomew tells him to be quiet. He asks Jesus to have mercy on the sins of men. However, Beliar was not done speaking. He still had quite a bit to say including how he ended up where he is at. This next part is pretty interesting in the mythology of the “fallen angel”. We always hear of this story, but are never really told the full story. Well, this gospel presents a version of that origin.
Beliar said that God told Michael to bring him a clod of earth from each of the four corners of the earth and watch from each of the four rivers of Paradise. Once these elements were brought together, God formed Adam. Michael bowed to Adam, since he was an image of God. When Beliar came to where Adam was, Michael informed him to worship this image of God’s likeness. Beliar said he was fire, made of fire, and would not worship a material clod of earth. Michael told him that God would be angry with him. Beliar said that would not happen, but rather God will make him a throne, opposite of his, and he would be like him. Well, that didn’t go as planned, as God banished him from the heavens. God asked the other 600 angels below Beliar if they would worship Adam, and they refused and thus were banished as well. After being cast down to the earth, they all fell into a deep sleep for forty years. When the sun shone seven times more brightly than fire, this woke Beliar up. He saw the other six hundred angels asleep and began to wake them up. He woke his son, Salpsan, and plot to deceive the ‘man’ (Adam) who caused this mess. Beliar took a jar and poured sweat from his chest and arm hair. He then dipped it in the water sources from which the four rivers flowed. When Eve drank from the water, she discovered desire. If she would not have drank from this water, she would have been impossible to deceive.
So the water aspect is new to the Eve story, an event that lead her to the infamous apple scene. I do think it’s a bit odd that sweat from Beliar’s chest and arm hair is the catalyst for this poisonous water. After this story, Bartholomew ordered Beliar back to Hell and thus ends their conversation. Bartholomew begins a lengthy prayer to Jesus. Once he finished, Jesus offers him an explanation of his name. He tells Bartholomew that the Father gave him the name “Christ” so that he may come down to earth and anoint all men who come to the olive tree of life. He was given the name “Jesus” so that through the power of God, he may heal every sin of the ignorant and enable men to bear divine things. Bartholomew offers another lengthy prayer to Jesus and when he is done, Jesus proclaims various attributes of himself. Once done, all the apostles and Jesus embraced.
The final section is rather short. Bartholomew asks Jesus what is the most serious sin and Jesus responds with that of hypocritical slander. He also states that all sins would be forgiven, except the sin against the Holy Spirit. This harkens to Mark 3:28-29. Bartholomew asks him to explain this sin and Jesus states “Whoever declares a word against anyone who is a servant of my holy Father also blasphemes against the Holy Spirit. But anyone who serves God reverently is worthy of the Holy Spirit, while the person who speaks anything evil against him will not be forgiven. Woe to whoever swears “by God’s Head”! He is not even really forswearing him. For God Most High has twelve peaks, because he is truth and in him there is no deceit or false oath.” Jesus tells Bartholomew to go out and preach to everyone this word. However, Bartholomew has one more question. He asks if someone commits a sin in the body, what is their punishment. Jesus replies that it is better that a baptized person keeps their baptism blameless and warns against the pleasure of the flesh. He states that monogamy is a solemn matter and after a third wife, the sinner is unworthy of God. The text ends with glorification of God by the apostles.
There you have it! This is a rather short Gospel but does have some interesting mythology building aspects. Section 1 has a retelling of the Harrowing of Hell story, section 2 has an origin of Mary’s conception of Jesus and section 4 has an origin story for the adversary. These stories feel like they originated elsewhere and this “gospel” brings them together as a collection of stories that are delivered in a dialogue structure. As I mentioned in the last post, I used Simon Gathercole’s translation for my overview. I will link a public domain translation below but be aware, like all translations, there are differences. I do highly recommend Simon’s book The Apocryphal Gospels.
Public Domain translation: http://gnosis.org/library/gosbart.htm
Artwork made via Midjourney.
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Culmination of Wisdom 