Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon

Apocryphon Berolinense-Argentiratense

Other titles: Gospel of the Savior, Unknown Berlin Gospel

Standard abbreviation: B-S Ap.

Clavis numbers: ECCA 388; CANT 6 (Strasbourg fragments)

VIAF: 181993174

Category: Pseudo-Apostolic Memoirs

Related literature: Book of Bartholomew, Dance of the Savior, Acts of John

Compiled by Tony Burke, York University

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/berlin-strasbourg-apocryphon/.

Created April 2019. Current as of January 2024.

1. SUMMARY

The Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon is named for its two fragmentary manuscripts: one in Berlin and one in Strasbourg. Some of the pages of the Berlin fragments are numbered, leading scholars to determine that they constitute pp. 97–112 of the original manuscript. Two of the Strasbourg fragments bear the numbers 157 and 158 and provide parallels to portions of Berlin pp. 100, 101, 109–111 and additional material not found in the Berlin manuscript.

The extant text begins with Jesus (consistently referred to only as “the Savior”) on a mountain (perhaps the Mount of Olives) speaking to the apostles prior to his arrest, teaching on the kingdom of heaven and predicting his impending betrayal. After a lacuna, the account resumes with a request from the apostles to be taken out of the world with Jesus. The apostles are then transformed into “spiritual bodies” and witness the heavens open and Jesus traversing them all, with his feet on the mountain and his head piercing the seventh heaven (see also Bk. Bart. 18:1 and Ps.-Cyril of Jerusalem, Hom. Life Pass. 78). They see the powers bow before him and he bows before the Father. Then Jesus speaks to the Father and asks for the cup to be taken from him, expressing grief at having to judge Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (perhaps stand-ins for the Jewish people). Lacunae again disrupt the text from pp. 104–106, except for several lines that feature an anaphora of the wood of the Cross.

The scene shifts again and Jesus is back on earth with the apostles. He reveals that he will return to them and bring them to heaven with him for three days. The apostles ask Jesus what form he will take, concerned that they will not be able to bear it. Then Jesus gathers them all in a circle and they perform a dance and a prayer that recalls the celebration from Acts of John 94–95. The dance culminates in an anaphora to the Cross, much of which is found also in the Dance of the Savior. After a second dance of the Cross, the text breaks off with Jesus telling the apostles again that he will soon be taken from them but they must not be afraid.

Named Historical Figures and Characters: Abraham (patriarch), Andrew (apostle), “Holy Members” (the Apostles), Isaac (patriarch), Jacob (patriarch), Jesus Christ, John (son of Zebedee), Judas Iscariot.

Geographical Locations: Amente, Jerusalem, Mount of Olives.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Coptic (Sahidic; CPC 0870; PAThs entry)

Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum and Papyrussammlung, Staatliche Museen, P. 22220 (7th/8th cent.)

Strasbourg, Bibliothèque nationale et universitaire, Copte inv. no. 5–7(6th cent.)

Emmel, Stephen. “Preliminary Reedition and Translation of the Gospel of the Savior: New Light on the Strasbourg Coptic Gospel and the Stauros-Text from Nubia,” Apocrypha 14 (2003): 9–53 (re-edition of the Berlin manuscript, pp. 46–52).

Hedrick, Charles W. and Mirecki, Paul A. Gospel of the Savior: A New Ancient Gospel. California Classical Library. Santa Rosa, CA: Polebridge Press, 1999 (editio princeps of the Berlin manuscript with English translation, pp. 28-87).

Jacoby, Adolf. Ein neues Evangelienfragment. Strasbourg: Karl J. Trübner, 1900 (editio princeps of the Strasbourg fragment).

Revillout, Eugène. Les apocryphes coptes. Première partie: Les Évangiles des douze apôtres et de saint Barthélemy. PO 2/2. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1904 (republication of Jacoby’s text, pp. 43–45).

Schenke, Hans-Martin. “Das sogenannte ‘Unbekannte Berliner Evangelium’ (UBE).” ZAC 2 (1998): 199–213.

Suciu, Alin. The Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon: A Coptic Apostolic Memoir. WUNT 370. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017 (see pp. 139–64, 170–79 (with English translations).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Emmel, Stephen. “The Recently Published Gospel of the Savior (‘Unbekanntes Berliner Evangelium’): Righting the Order of Pages and Events.” HTR 95 (2002): 45–72.

Emmel, Stephen. “Preliminary Reedition and Translation of the Gospel of the Savior: New Light on the Strasbourg Coptic Gospel and the Stauros-Text from Nubia.” Apocrypha 14 (2003): 9–53 (see pp. 37–46).

Ehrman, Bart. The Lost Scriptures: Books That Did Not Make It into the New Testament. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003 (reprint of Emmel’s translation, 52–56).

Suciu, Alin. The Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon: A Coptic Apostolic Memoir. WUNT 370. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017 (see pp. 139–64, 170–79 (with English translations).

3.2.2 French

Bertrand, Daniel A. “Papyrus Strasbourg copte 5–6.” Pages 425–28 in vol. 1 of Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Edited by François Bovon and Pierre Geoltrain. Paris: Gallimard, 1997.

3.2.3 German

Berger, Klaus and Christiane Nord. Das Neue Testament und frühchristliche Schriften. Frankfurt am Main/Leipzig: Insel, 1999 (revision of Schenke’s 1998 translation, pp. 926–32).

Lüdemannm Gerd, Frank Schleritt and Martina Janßen. Jesus nach 2000 Jahren. Was er wirklich sagte und tat. Lüneberg: zu Klampen, 2000 (see Janßen’s “Apokryphe Jesustraditionen,” pp. 813–87, translation, pp. 868–76).

Plisch, Uwe-Karsten. Verborgene Worte Jesu – verworfene Evangelien. Apockryphe Schriften des frühen Christentums. Berlin: Evangelische Haupt-Biblegesellschaft und von Cansteinsiche Bibelanstalt, 2000 (Berlin fragments, pp. 27–34).

Schneemelcher, Wilhelm. “Der Straßburger koptische Papyrus.” Pages 87–89 in Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung, Bd. 1. Evangelien und Verwandtes. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. 6th ed. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1990. English translation: “The Strasbourg Coptic Papyrus.” Pages 103–105 in New Testament Apocrypha, Vol. 1, Gospels and Related Writings. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by R. McL. Wilson. Rev. ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1991.

Schenke, Hans-Martin. “Das sogenannte ‘Unbekannte Berliner Evangelium’ (UBE).” ZAC 2 (1998): 199–213.

Schenke, Hans-Martin. “Das Unbekannte Berliner Evangelium, auch ‘Evangelium des Erlösers’ genannt.” Pages 1277–89 in volume 1 of Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung. Edited by Christoph Markschies and Jens Schröter. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012.

Wucherpfennig, Ansgar. “Der Straßburger koptische Papyrus (P. Argent. Copt. 5, 6, und 7).” Pages 380–86 in volume 1 of Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung. Edited by Christoph Markschies and Jens Schröter. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012.

3.2.4 Italian

Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (Strasbourg fragments, vol. 1.1 pp. 109–10.

Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Classici delle religioni, Sezione quarta, La religione cattolica 24. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1971 (Strasbourg fragments, vol. 1:448–51).

3.2.5 Spanish

Otero, Aurelio de Santos. Los Evangelios Apócrifos. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Christianos, 1956¹, 1988⁶(Strasbourg fragment, pp. 98–99).

3.3 General Works

Clivaz, Claire. “L’Évangile du Sauveur, Hébreux 5, 7 et la prière de supplication en quête d’autres traditions sur la prière au Mont des Oliviers.” Apocrypha 18 (2006): 109–38.

Crum, Walter Ewing. “Notes on the Strassburg Gospel Fragments.” Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archaeology 22 (1900): 72–76.

DeConick, April D. Voices of the Mystics: Early Christian Discourse in the Gospels of John and Thomas and Other Ancient Christian Literature. JSNTSup 157. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2001 (see pp. 136–51).

Dewey, Arthur J. “The Gospel of the Savior: A gem in a Jigsaw Puzzle.” Proceedings: Eastern Great Lakes and Midwest Biblical Societies 22 (2002): 1–15.

Emmel, Stephen. “The Recently Published Gospel of the Savior (‘Unbekanntes Berliner Evangelium’): Righting the Order of Pages and Events.” HTR 95 (2002): 45–72.

Emmel, Stephen. “Unbekanntes Berliner Evangelium = The Strasbourg Coptic Gospel: Prolegomena to a New Edition of the Strasbourg Fragments.” Pages 353-74 in For the Children Perfect Instruction: Studies in Honor of Hans-Martin Schenke on the Occasion of the Berliner Arbeitskreis für koptisch-gnostische Schriften’s Thirtieth Year. Edited by Hans-Gebhard Bethge et al. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 54. Leiden: Brill, 2002.

Frey, Jörg. “Leidenskampf und Himmelsreise. Das Berliner Evangelien-Fragment (Papyrus Berolinensis 22220) und die Gethsemane-Tradition.” BZ 46 (2002): 71–96.

Hagen, Joost L. “Ein anderer Kontext für die Berliner und Straßburger ‘Evangelienfragmente.’ Das ‘Evangelium des Erlösers’ und andere ‘Apostelevangelien’ in der koptischen Literatur.” Pages 339–71 in Jesus in apokryphen Evangelienüberlieferungen. Beiträge zu außerkanonischen Jesusüberlieferungen aus verschiedenen Sprach- und Kulturtraditionen. Edited by Jörg Frey and Jens Schröter. WUNT 254. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2010.

Hedrick, Charles W. “Dating the Gospel of the Savior. Response to Peter Nagel and Pierluigi Piovanelli.” Apocrypha 24 (2013): 223–36.

Hedrick, Charles W. “A Preliminary Report on Coptic Codex P. Berol. Inv. 22220.” Pages 127–30 in vol. 1 of Ägypten und Nubien in spätantiker und christlicher Zeit. Akten des 6. Internationalen Koptologenkongresses Műnster, 20.–26. Juli 1996. Edited by Stephen Emmel, Martin Krause, Siegfried G. Richter, and Sofia Schaten. 2 vols. Sprachen und Kulteren des Christlichen Orients 6. Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 1999.

Nagel, Peter. “‘Gespräche Jesu mit seinen Jüngern von der Auferstehung’ – Zur Herkunft und Datierung des ‘Unbekannten Berliner Evangeliums’.” ZNW 94 (2003): 215–57.

Nagel, Titus. “Das ‘Unbekannte Berliner Evangelium’ und das Johannesevangelium.” ZNW 93 (2002): 251–67.

Piovanelli, Pierluigi. “Thursday Night Fever: Dancing and Singing with Jesus in the Gospel of the Savior and the Dance of the Savior Around the Cross.” Early Christianity 3 (2012): 229–48.

Plisch, Uwe-Karsten. “Zu einigen Einleitungsfragen des Unbekannten Berliner Evangeliums (UBE).” ZAC 9 (2005): 64–84.

“Researchers say Coptic fragments reveal lost gospel.” Oread. 7 March 1997. Online: http://oread.ku.edu/Oread97/OreadMarch7/page5/researchers.html.

Schmidt, Carl. Review of Jacoby, Evangelienfragment. Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen 162 (1900): 481–506.

Scholer, David M. Nag Hammadi Bibliography 1995–2006. Nag Hammadi and Manichaean Studies 65. Leiden: Brill, 2009 (pp. 68–70).

Yingling, Erik. “Singing with the Savior: Reconstructing the Ritual Ring-Dance in the Gospel of the Savior.” Apocrypha 24 (2013): 255–79.