Investiture of the Archangel Gabriel

Institutio Gabrielis

Standard abbreviation: Invest. Gab.

Other titles: none

Clavis numbers: ECCA 618

Category: Pseudo-Apostolic Memoirs

Related literature: Investiture of Abbaton the Angel of Death; Investiture of the Archangel Michael; Attiri Book of Michael; Papyrus Bala’izah 27; Encomium on the Four Bodiless Creatures; Homily on the Archangel Gabriel, by Pseudo-Archelaos of Neapolis

Compiled by: Lance Jenott, Washington University in St. Louis

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style):  Jenott, Lance. “Investiture of the Archangel Gabriel.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/investiture-of-the-archangel-gabriel/.

Created October 2018. Current as of January 2024.

1. SUMMARY

Invest. Gab. is extant in a single manuscript—pages 61–100 of Pierpont Morgan Codex M593 (MICH.AW)—where it follows the text similarly entitled The Investiture of the Archangel Michael. The text presents a dialogue between the risen Jesus and his apostles on an unnamed mountain, where they ask Jesus to reveal secrets about the angels and especially the archangel Gabriel. In the first half of the book, a series of angels greet the apostles and tell them their names and what role they play in the administration of the universe (e.g., “I am Anatole . . . I dwell over the aeons so that they do not change”). In one lengthy speech, the angel appointed over the Day of Judgement delivers an apocalyptic sketch of what will transpire in the Valley of Josaphat (cf. Joel 3) on that fateful day, and how the good will be distinguished from the wicked through an eschatological Eucharist presided over by “Peter the great apostle and great high priest.” The angel’s speech provides an opportunity to exhort the text’s audience to acts of charity and moral uprightness. In the second half of the book, Gabriel himself delivers two long speeches to the apostles. The first summarizes his credentials as an archangel, detailing the glorious tasks to which he has been appointed in salvation history: aiding Adam while he did penance in the Jordan River, bringing the good news to Abraham, announcing the birth of John to Elizabeth and Zechariah, and the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph. One tradition, evidently unique to this text, is the story of Gabriel’s rescuing the virgin Sibla, sister of Enoch, from the sinister advances of the Devil. In Gabriel’s second speech, he delivers a lengthy exhortation to acts of charity and promises great rewards in this life and the next for those who feed the hungry, clothe the needy, care for prisoners, and even donate money so that the book of his investiture may be copied and proliferated. In a final set of speeches, Jesus teaches the apostles about the devil’s fall from his original station as the chief archangel (a condensed version of the story told in the Invest. Mich. earlier in the codex), and the days on which God appointed the other archangels in his place. These mythic events thus establish the two archangels’ feast days on the Coptic Church’s calendar, arranged in such a sequence that the days of Michael and Gabriel are celebrated as important precursors to Christmas. Finally, Jesus commissions the apostles to evangelize the Nations, commanding them to preach not only the good news of his resurrection, but also the feast day of Gabriel and the rewards in store for the charitable. One can imagine the important role the book played in the life of the medieval Coptic Church, being read aloud to the congregants on the archangel’s annual feast day both for moral edification and as a key means of ecclesiastical fundraising.

Named Historical Figures and Characters: Abraham (patriarch), Adam (patriarch), Afdeleel (angel), Alpha, Anael (angel), Anatole, Aramatha, Arithael (angel), Daveithael (angel), David (king), Eiezeos, Elizabeth, Enoch (patriarch), Gabriel (angel), Hormosiel (angel), Jacob (patriarch), Jesus Christ, John (the Baptist), Joseph (of Nazareth), Kadiel (angel), Lithargoel/Litharkoel (angel), Mary (Virgin), Michael (angel), Nabouthai, Nazorath, Othrithea, Ouriel (angel), Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle),Raphael (angel), Sabaoth, Saklataboth, Sanabouthouel (angel), Sibla, Sourathiel (angel), Souriel (angel), Stephen (martyr), Thersem, Thomas (apostle), Thriel, Yeremiel (angel), Zalathiel (angel), Zechariah (priest), Zedekiel (angel).

Geographical Locations: Valley of Jehoshaphat/Josaphat, Jerusalem.

2. RESOURCES

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Coptic (Sahidic) (CPC 0378; PAThs entry)

New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M593 (MICH.AW), pp. 61–100 (892/893)

New York, Morgan Library and Museum, M668(1), 2 fols. (undated)

Depuydt, Leo. Catalogue of Coptic Manuscripts in the Pierpont Morgan Library. 2 vols. Corpus of Illuminated Manuscripts 4–5. Leuven: Peeters, 1993 (text of M668(1), vol. 1, pp. 189–90).

Hyvernat, Henri. Bibliothecae Pierpont Morgan codices coptici photographice expressi. 56 Vols. Rome: 1922 (includes a facsimile edition of M593).

Müller, C. Detlef G. Die Bücher der Einsetzung der Erzengel Michael und Gabriel. 2 vols. CSCO 225–26, Copt. 31–32. Leuven: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, 1962 (Coptic text and German translation of M593).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Jenott, Lance. “The Investiture of the Archangel Gabriel.” Pages 559–79 in vol. 2 of New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. Edited by Tony Burke. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020.

3.2.2 German

Müller, C. Detlef G. Die Bücher der Einsetzung der Erzengel Michael und Gabriel. 2 vols. CSCO 225–26, Copt. 31–32. Leuven: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, 1962 (Coptic text and German translation of M593).

3.3 General Works

Dochhorn, Jan. “Der Sturz des Teufels in der Urzeit: Eine traditionsgeschichtliche Skizze zu einem Motiv frühjüdischer und frühchristlicher Theologie mit besonderer Berücksichtigung des Luzifermythos.” ZTK 109 (2012): 3–47.

Emmel, Stephen. “The Library of the Monastery of the Archangel Michael at Phantoou (al-Hamuli).” Pages 63–70 in Christianity and Monasticism in the Fayoum Oasis: Essays from the 2004 International Symposium of the Saint Mark Foundation and the Saint Shenouda the Archimandrite Coptic Society in Honor of Martin Krause. Edited by Gawdat Gabra. Cairo: The American University in Cairo Press, 2005.

Gero, Stephen. “Henoch und die Sibylle.” ZNW 73 (1982): 148–50.

Lundhaug, Hugo and Lance Jenott. The Monastic Origins of the Nag Hammadi Codices. Studies and Text in Antiquity and Christianity 97. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015 (see pp. 159–60).

Müller, C. Detlef G. Die Engellehre der koptischen Kirche: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der christlichen Frömmigkeit in Ägypten. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1959.