Three years ago I wrote about the oldest known Dormition story titled “The Book of Mary’s Repose” and had did a review of the Ge’ez version (see post #1 here). Recently I found an old book published by my favorite early 20th century translator, E.A. Wallis Budge, titled “History of the Blessed Virgin Mary“, which …
Author Archives: bP
Sayings of John the Baptist from the Ginza Rabba
Sorry for the lack of updates in the past two months. Real life gets in the way sometimes. With this post, I am bringing forth a collection of sayings from John the Baptist (Yuhana) from the Mandaean holy book, the “Ginza Rabba”. These are taken from the English translated version by Prof. Dr. Qais Mughashghash …
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An Encomium on St John the Baptist
Another full Coptic tale for you with this post! This particular text is titled “An Encomium on Saint John the Baptist, by Saint John Chrysostom.” Now was this actually written by John Chrysostom? I have read online that it’s more likely a “pseudo-” attribution. I will leave that up to you, the reader, to decide …
Mary Magdalene in the Psalms of the Lord Heracleides
Earlier this year I presented a Manichaean Psalm that mentioned Salome. Now I will present you a Psalm involving Mary Magdalene. This Psalm comes from the collection titled “Psalms of the Lord Hercleides”. These are dated back to around the mid 4th century. I am pulling this translation from the 1938 book “A Manichaean Psalm …
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The Virgin Mary and the Woman who was about to bring forth
Sorry for the month long departure. I try to post at least twice a month however Lent / Pascha season had my attention, but now I am back with another Theotokos Ethiopian short story. This story is another incession story, this time involving a pregnant woman. The English translation is provided by E. A. Wallis …
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The Virgin Mary and the Egyptian Priest John
I am digging back into the Ethiopian tradition with this short tale about the Theotokos and her encounter with an Egyptian Priest named John Bakansi (at least that is how it’s translated). It has an odd turn of events, and I’m always up for quirky tales. What I really like about this short story is …
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Jesus sayings in 2 Clement
I wrote previously regarding one of the sayings in 2 Clement and it’s correlation to the Gospel of Thomas, but have decided to do a deep dive into all the sayings. There are quite a few quotes from Jesus in this writing that is attributed to Clement of Rome, but that attribution is questionable and …
John the Baptist’s family and his death
Here is an interesting tidbit regarding John the Baptist speaking of wanting a wife (and obtaining one, then having children) and on his own death; from the Mandaean tradition. This comes from the G.R.S. Meade book “Gnostic John the Baptizer”, which takes from the Mandaean Book of John, and I have included it in full …
The flying head of John the Baptist
On February 24 and 25 in the Orthodox tradition there are two feast days about discovering the head of John the Baptist (commemorating two different dates, and there is a third feast day for another finding later in the year; the head kept getting lost!). The head of John the Baptist is quite the fascinating …
Salome built a tower
I have featured Salome on my blog in the past, but wanted to share this Manichaean psalm. There are numerous psalms from the Manichaean faith, but in a particular group titled “Psalms of Thom(as)”, number 16 is titled “Salome built a tower.” I did not see this posted online elsewhere, so I want to share …
Culmination of Wisdom 