First Apocryphal Apocalypse of John

With my last post, I mentioned how there are several “Apocalypses of John” texts out there besides the canonical version. In the book New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures Vol 2 (edited by Tony Burke) there are 3 more texts with this title. This post will be going over what the book refers to as the “First Apocryphal” Apocalypse of John. Kind of hard to distinguish them all if they use the same name, lol. I guess that is about as good as you can do in this instance. The date of this text is unclear but there is mention of it back in the ninth century. The book mentions that it’s probably from the 700s-900s CE time period, but could be earlier. The translation is by Rick Brannan. Since the translation is in copyright, I’ll do my usual synopsis and commentary notes.

The text starts after the ascension of Christ. John is alone upon Mount Tabor. He prayed for seven days to hear from the Lord in regards of what is to come for the world. After this week of prayer, a cloud carried John away from the mountain and towards the face of heaven. A voice told John to look up and understand. When John looked up, an outpouring of light shined upon him. It was greater than that of the sun. Also a strong odor was noticed. The voice told him to “look” and suddenly a book, wider than seven mountains and longer than the human mind can imagine (!), which had seven seals upon it, was revealed to John.

John asked what was in the book and he was told it contained what is in heaven, earth, the abyss, judgment and the righteousness of all mankind. John asked when are these things going to happened and was answered with a parable about famine, using corn and wine as it’s symbols. John asked what will you (the Lord) do after this famine occurs, the voice tells him that the “denier will appear, who is called the antichrist”. John asks that this figure be revealed to him.

So like the previous post, this one has a description of the Antichrist. This one isn’t quite as absurd as the other one, but there are some interesting aspects. Here is a list of attributes:

• Face is dark
• Hairs of his head are sharp as arrows
• Eyebrows are like a field (i.e. wildness)
• Right eye like the morning star rising
• Other eye like a lion
• His mouth is one cubit length
• Teeth a broad span
• Fingers are like sickles
• Footprint is two spans
• Upon his forehead, an inscription “Antichrist”

That last part I found interesting. In Islam, the Dajjal (Antichrist) has the Arabic inscription of “k-f-r”, which means “unbelief”, written upon it’s forehead. The Dajjal’s arrival is also preceded by a famine and lack of rain. His eyes are both unusual as well, though different from this description. Hmm, do I sense a source / inspiration for the Dajjal lore?

The voice tells John that the Antichrist will make false visions. The Lord states that there will be no rain or wind upon the earth during this time. John asks about how long the Antichrist will be active and the answer is “I will make the three years like three months, and the three months like three weeks, and the three weeks like three days, and the three days like three hours, and the three hours like three minutes….” It is mentioned that Enoch and Elijah are both sent to prove this person is the Antichrist, and upon doing so, both will be killed. This happened in the previous story I wrote about.

John asks what will happen after that and the Lord tells him that ALL human beings will die! That’s quite the departure from this type of story where at least some people survive. After the death of all mankind, the angels will will raise up ram horns to the heavens, and the Archangels Michael and Gabriel will sound them. This sound will be heard throughout the world and thus resurrect the dead.

The next part is pretty interesting on how these resurrected bodies will appear. It states that everyone will be resurrected as thirty year olds and that everyone will look the same. This includes ALL of humanity from the very beginning to the time this happens. There will be no different characteristics among anyone. They will also be bodiless, in that they will be angelic in nature. All the angels will take everything that is holy upon the earth and transport it all into the heavens. This will cause the evil spirits to arise from the abyss and merge with the Antichrist. They too will ascend into the heavens.

At this time the world gets annihilated. The planet basically becomes a “clean slate” where the landscape will be flat as a table and white as snow. The great sign of the Son of Man will appear and all the angels will start worshipping it. The Antichrist and his minions will also see it but will be unable to do anything about it. This leads to Christ coming down from the heavens (there’s quite a bit of descriptive detail in relation to this).

John asks what will become of the heavens, the sun, the moon and the stars. The voice tells him that a lamb with seven eyes and seven horns will appear and open the book that has seven seals upon it. The text describes what will happen when each seal is open. Here is the result:

• #1 – Stars of the sky will fall
• #2 – The Moon will be hidden
• #3 – The light of the Sun will be hidden
• #4 – The heavens will be dissolved and the sky will be chaotic
• #5 – The earth will be ripped apart and judgment will be revealed upon all
• #6 – 2/3 of the sea will vanish
• #7 – Hades will be uncovered

Well that was quite the interesting take on what the seven seals are! Now judgement begins. First the Antichrist and his minions are judged and sent to Hades (a depth of which one could fall for twenty years and still not reach the bottom). The second to be judged are the idol worshippers and heretics. The third to be judged are the “race of Hebrews” who crucified Jesus. Those people will not go into the abyss but rather to Tartarus. The next to be judged are the baptized Christians. It is of note that they are still judged by their sins, so if a king, priest, patriarch, etc… was not repentant and of bad nature, they will not get a free pass. Those who are deemed worthy, they will live on earth which has been turned into paradise. The text describes this paradise until it’s conclusion, but nothing different stands out from other such descriptions.

And there you have it! I did not mention it during my synopsis but at various sections, the voice quotes various bible scriptures when something happens. That alone tells you that the bible is used as a means to push the narrative. Like the previous story, I appreciate the description of the Antichrist. I always find these details to be fascinating even if they are a bit ludicrous. The emergence of everyone as 30 year olds, androgynous and the fact they are essentially “light entities” was an interesting take.

Featured artwork from the Dublin Apocalypse folio, circa 14th century

bP