Another Apocalyptic John text that appears in the New Testament Apocrypha Volume 2 (edited by Tony Burke) is titled “Apocalypse of holy John the Theologian” or “3 Apocryphal Apocalypse of John”. The exact date of this work can not be pinpointed, but it looks like 1300s CE-ish. It survives in Greek and Church Slavic manuscripts. I will be going over the Greek translation (by Tony Burke and Chance E. Bonar). Since the translation is in copyright, I will not reprint the text. I will give my brief thoughts on it as a whole.
This “Apocalypse” story is a bit different than the other two I previously posted about. This one is a dialogue narrative between John the Evangelist/Theologian and Abraham! Also, there is no mention of the anti-Christ.
The story starts with “God” going up the Mount of Olives. The text states that “having risen from the dead 6530 years from the time of Adam, on March 27”. Now that’s awfully specific! In the Slavonic version of the text, no span of time is mentioned. At the top of the Mount, “God” brought out Adam and the other prophets. He then appeared to the disciples and told them now they will receive the Kingdom of Heaven. He spoke to Abraham and informed him that he (Abraham) will be diving the souls of the departed into two groups, one for heaven and the other for hades. The disciple Peter asked when the end will come and the Lord answered with the typical response of hate being born in the midst of humanity, nation against nation, famines, wars, brother versus brother, etc…. The usual answer given in these apocalyptic texts. The Lord was taken up into heaven at the seventh hour of the fifth day. His mother, Mary, followed soon after and the apostles then welcomed all of the righteous and Abraham.
Now begins a back and forth between Abraham and John the Evangelist/Theologian. A shorter version of this dialogue has appeared as it’s own text titled “The Questions of John to Abraham” (which is also featured in this book in case you pick it up). A lot of the answers to these questions are Abraham first scolding John for not listening to when so and so prophet said “insert bible verse”. Some of the questions that John asks are “Are the Jew going to find mercy?”, “Will the impious be judged with the Christians?”, “Who will recognize their family in the resurrection?”, etc… A lot of the questions seem to be going over the church’s stance on various issues. There are some topics covered such as how to treat priests and monks, wealth, baptism, forgiveness/confession, etc…
After reading the previous two, I was rather disappointed with this one. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s just a text presenting dogma in a narrative dialogue between two biblical figures. The end of times scenario that usually plays out in these works is sorely missing. However if you like reading dogma presented to you in a different fashion, then this text is for you. 😉
The book I got this story from also features another Apocalypse of John story. However, it deals with John Chrysostom, and not John the Evangelist/Theologian. It too is a dialogue work but this time between John C. and Jesus. If you are fond of Byzantine Liturgies, then you’ll want to check out that story.
Artwork is an 18th century Russian icon of “The Bosom of Abraham”.
bP
Culmination of Wisdom 