Apocalypsis Pauli
Standard abbreviation: Apoc. Paul.
Other titles: Revelation of Paul, Visio Pauli
Clavis numbers: ECCA 818; CANT 325
Category: Revelatory Dialogues
Related literature: Apocalypse of Peter, Apocalypse of Mary; this work is not related to the Coptic Apocalypse of Paul.
Compiled by: Stephen C. E. Hopkins, University of Virginia
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Hopkins, Stephen C.E. “The Apocalypse of Paul.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/apocalypse-of-paul/.
Created January 2024.
1. SUMMARY
This apocalyptic vision, datable to the third century, begins with a frame narrative reporting the rediscovery of the vision, supposedly written by the Apostle Paul when he was taken up to the third heaven (see 2 Corinthians 2:12). During the reign of Theodosius (ca. 388), a man in Tarsus lived in the house that, tradition maintained, belonged to Paul in his lifetime. The man is told in a vision to break up the foundation of the house and publish a writing he will find there; he does so, and thus we read of Paul’s unutterable vision. After this prologue, probably an addition from the late fourth century, Paul narrates his vision in the first person. He is taken up and witnesses the appeal of various elements in creation that cry out to God against humanity’s sins. For instance, the stars lament having to witness human wickedness and ask God’s permission to destroy humanity “so that they may know that you alone are God.” God replies that he knows human sinfulness but that he forbears to give them time to convert and repent.
Next, Paul witnesses the daily report (around sunset) of guardian angels to God about human behavior, good and evil. He is then shown the terrifying angels that go to the sinner at death and the beautiful golden angels that go to the righteous at death. Paul learns about the judgment of the righteous and of the wicked, especially that one’s deeds will be seen by God upon death, and that souls are judged initially at death. While the righteous are welcomed into heaven, the wicked go to Tartarus to endure punishments until the Final Judgment. Paul is then taken up to the Third Heaven for his first vision of it and is met by a weeping elderly man, who turns out to be Enoch. Since he has not died, Enoch still awaits entry into Paradise. Paul next meets Elijah, who endures a similar condition. Paul then sees and hears things which the angel forbids him from repeating to any on earth, in accordance with 2 Corinthians 2:12. After this he is shown the Second Heaven and the city of Christ, which contains various symbolic divisions in it, from low to high—the righteous inhabit these places according to their purity, devotion, and virtue in life. Paul is taken on a tour of Hell, which contains stratified torments and punishments keyed to the sins of the wicked. Some, such as adulterers, are immersed in fire to varying depths. One who preached the word of God but did not follow it is seen with a demon who slices his lips with a razor blade. Nuns who broke their vows are thrown in a furnace. At horrific sights like these, Paul cries out in dismay, to which his guide replies, “Why do you weep? Are you more merciful than the Lord God who is blessed forever?” After this, Paul is guided to see sights seven times worse. They turn to the north of Hell, to a sealed well, the pit of Hell, where the very worst sinners are plunged into a hole. When the hole is unsealed, the stench is overwhelming, and this horror is reserved for those who deny Christ’s incarnation, those who deny that Mary bore him, or those who deny the legitimacy of the eucharist. Near this, Paul sees the worm that does not sleep and hears great gnashing of teeth in a place of extreme cold; he is told these are those who deny Christ’s resurrection. Paul and Michael the archangel both beg God to have mercy on these image bearers in Hell. Their joint plea moves Christ, who grants Sunday rest from these torments for the damned, so that even in Hell, God’s justice and mercy are proclaimed. In some versions, Paul is then taken back up for a second brief vision of Paradise before being returned to earth.
Despite skepticism expressed by early church authorities about the legitimacy of this text (such as Augustine and Sozomen and a proscription in the Gelasian Decree), Apoc. Paul proved to be almost universally popular and influential for late antique and medieval Christians, especially in the Latin dominant regions of the West and Northwest. It is worth noting the text’s thematic fixations on balance and symmetry between sin and the punishments assigned to sinners. The theme of Sunday Rest (refrigerium) was the seed of the medieval belief in purgatory and limbo. The text also fixates on divine punishment for ecclesiastical and monastic hypocrisy, with church leaders such as corrupt bishops, monks, nuns, and deacons singled out memorably in Hell. This text went on to be enormously influential, especially from the eighth through fifteenth centuries—Dante’s Divine Comedy is probably the best known heir to this tradition. Also, owing to the text’s extreme popularity, it varies widely in manuscript sources; for this extreme textual complexity, see Jirousková’s study and edition.
Named historical figures and characters: Abraham (patriarch), Adam (patriarch), David (king), Elijah (prophet), Enoch (patriarch), Jesus Christ, Mary (Virgin), Michael (angel), Moses (patriarch), Paul (apostle), Theodosius (emperor).
Geographical locations: City of Christ, Hell, Tarsus, Tartarouchos/Tartaros.
2. RESOURCES
2.1 Web Sites
“Apocalypse of Paul.” Wikipedia.
“Bibliography for Jewish and Christian Hells.” Hell-on-line (administered by Eileen Gardner).
Volmering, Nicole. “A Bibliography of Medieval Irish Eschatology and Related Sources.” 2014.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Armenian (BHO 899–901)
Tchérakian, Chérubin. Ankanon girkh arakhelakankh: Thankgaran haykakan hin ew nor deprutheankh. Venice: Òazar, 1904 (editions of four text forms, pp. 62–109).
3.1.2 Arabic
Cairo, Coptic Museum, 702 (Graf 729; Macomber CMB 12-8), fols. 197f. (17th cent.)
3.1.3 Church Slavic (=R; a development of Gr3)
Otero, Aurelio de Santos. Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der altslavischen Apokryphen. 2 vols. PTS 20 and 23. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1978–1981 (manuscripts listed, vol. 1, pp. 170–87).
Turdeanu, Émile. “La vision de saint Paul.” Die Welt der Slaven 1 (1956): 406–30.
3.1.4 Coptic (=C)
London, British Library, Or. 7022, fols. 8r–37v (10th cent.)
Wallis Budge, E. A. Miscellaneous Coptic Texts in the Dialect of Upper Egypt. London: British Museum, 1915 (text from BL O. 7022, pp. 534–74).
3.1.5 Ethiopic (adapted as Apocalypse of Mary)
3.1.6 Garšūnī
Aleppo, Syriac-Orthodox Archdiocese, 52 K, fols. 246v–274r (17th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, syr. 332, fols. 196r–205v (17th cent.)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Sbath 125 + Edgbaston, University of Birmingham, Mingana Syr. 88, fols. 26v–37r (1440)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. sir. 202, fols. 236r–146v (1672–1676)
3.1.7 Greek (BHG 1460); three hypothetical Greek recensions (Gr1, Gr2, and Gr3) now lost; extant Greek text (=G) is a shortening of Gr3
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, C 255 inf., fols. 218r–228v (16th cent.) ~ Pinakes; IMAGES; copy of Munich Cod. graec. 276
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. graec. 276, fols. 132v–148v (14th cent.) ~ Pinakes; IMAGES
Tischendorf, Constantin. Apocalypses apocryphae Mosis, Esdrae, Pauli, Johannis, item Mariae dormito: additis evangeliorum et actuum apocryphorum supplementis. Maiximam partem nunc primum. Leipzig: H. Mendelssohn, 1866 (introduction, pp. xiv–xviii; text based on both manuscripts, pp. 34–69).
3.1.8 Latin (BHL 6580–6582; BHLns 6580–6582a-s)
3.1.8.1 L1 (BHL 6580; a development of Gr3)
P Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, nouv. acq. lat. 1631, fols. 2v–25v (10th cent.) ~ Gallica; Bibliotheca legum
StG St. Gall, Stadtbibliothek (Bibliotheca Vadiana), 317, fols. 56–68 (9th/10th cent.)
El Escorial, Real Biblioteca, a. II. 3, fols. 154–? (10th/11th cent.)
Arnhem, Openbare bibliotheek, 6, fols. 104r–114v (14th cent.) ~ IMAGES
Antolín, Guillermo. “Opúsculos desconocidos de San Jerónimo.” Revista de archivos, bibliotecas y museos II, 12, 2 (1908): 207–26; 20 (1909): 60–80 (text of El Escorial pp. 75–80).
James, Montague Rhodes. Apocrypha Anecdota: A Collection of Thirteen Apocryphal Books and Fragments Now First Edited from Manuscripts. TS 2.3. Cambridge: The University Press, 1893 (edition of BNF NAL 1631, pp. 11–42).
Jirousková, Lenka. Die Visio Pauli: Wege und Wandlungen einer orientalischen Apokryphe im lateinischen Mittelalter unter Einschluß der alttsechischen und deutschsprachigen Textzeugen. Mittellateinische Studien und Texte, 34. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
Kappler, Claude-Claire. “L’Apocalypse latine de Paul.” Pages 237–66 in Apocalypses et voyages dans l’au-delà. Paris: 1987.
Silverstein, Theodore. Visio Sancti Pauli: The History of the Apocalypse in Latin together with Nine Texts. Studies and Documents 4. London: Christophers, 1935 (text of StG, pp. 141–47).
3.1.8.2 L2 (BHL 6580d; a development of Gr2)
F Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 362, fols. 7v–8v (14th cent.)
Gz Graz, Universitätsbibliothek, 856, fols. 1r–6v (15th cent.) ~ manuscripta.at; IMAGES
Z Zürich, Zentralbibliothek, C 101, fols. 70r–74v (15th cent.) ~ Biblissima; e-codices; mirabile
Brandes, Herman. Visio S. Pauli: Ein Beitrag zur Visionslitteratur. Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1885 (text of F, pp. 68–71 and 95–96).
Silverstein, Theodore. Visio Sancti Pauli: The History of the Apocalypse in Latin together with Nine Texts. Studies and Documents 4. London: Christophers, 1935 (text of F, pp. 149–52).
3.1.8.3 Medieval Recensions (I–XI)
Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, 20, fols. 66r–67v (1330–1339) =Rec. III ~ illustrations accompanying Anglo-Norman verse, fols. 61r–66r
London, St. Paul’s Cathedral Library, Ms. 8, fols. 188r–189r, (ca. 1400)
St. Gall, Stiftsbibliothek 682, pp. 193–204 (9th cent.) (=Rec. VI)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 220, fols. 56r–60r (9th cent.)
Brandes, Herman. Visio S. Pauli: Ein Beitrag zur Visionslitteratur. Halle: Max Niemeyer, 1885 (text of Rec. IV, pp. 75–80).
Silverstein, Theodore. Visio Sancti Pauli: The History of the Apocalypse in Latin together with Nine Texts. Studies and Documents 4. London: Christophers, 1935 (texts of each recension; list of manuscripts, pp. 220–22).
Silverstein, Theodore and Anthony Hilhorst, eds. Apocalypse of Paul: A New Critical Edition of Three Long Latin Versions. Cahiers d’Orientalisme 21. Geneva: Patrick Cramer, 1997.
3.1.9 Old English
Oxford, Bodleian Library, MSS Junius 85–86, fols. 3r–11v (11th cent.) ~ catalog
di Paolo Healy, Antonia, ed. and trans. The Old English Vision of St. Paul. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America, 1978.
3.1.10 Old Irish
Breatnach, Caoimhín, ed. and trans. “Aisling Phóil.” Pages 391–413 in Apocrypha Hiberniae II, Apocalyptica 2. Edited by Martin McNamara. CCSA 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019.
Herbert, M. and M. McNamara. Irish Biblical Apocrypha. Edinburgh: 1989 (pp. 132–36).
Seymour, St. John D. “Irish Versions of the Vision of St. Paul.” JTS 24 (1922–1923): 54–59.
3.1.11 Old Norse
AM 681c 4to, 1 leaf (15th cent.)
AMC 624 4to, fols. 147r–149r (16th cent.) ~ IMAGES
Bullita, Dario. Páls leizla: The Vision of St Paul. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, 2017 (synoptic edition alongside the Latin text of St. Paul’s Cathedral Ms. 8).
3.1.12 Provençal
Silverstein, Theodore. “The Source of a Provençal Version of the Vision of St Paul.” Speculum 8.3 (1933): 353–58.
3.1.13 Syriac (development of Gr1)
Baghdad, Chaldean Catholic Church, 291, pp. 91–238 (18th cent.) ~ HMML
Cambridge (Mass.), Harvard Houghton Library, Syr. 59, fols. 117r–159r (1856)
Jerusalem, Monastery of Saint Mark, 201, fols. 8v–33v (1903)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, syr. 377, fols. 89r–123r (1854/1855)
Tehran, Chaldean Church of St. Joseph 8 (Fonds Issayi 18), fols. 135r–172r (1741/1742)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. sir. 159, fols. 197f. (1622/1623)
Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. sir. 597, fols. 44r–49v (17th cent.) ~ fragmentary
Ricciotti, G. “Apocalypsis Pauli Syriace iuxta codices vaticanos.” Orientalia ii. 1, 2 (1933): 1–24, 120–49.
Perkins, Justin. “The Revelation of the Blessed Apostle Paul. Translated from an Ancient Syriac Manuscript.” JAOS 8 (1864): 183–212.
3.1.14 Middle Welsh
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, Peniarth 15, pp. 7–11 (ca. 1375–1425)
Aberystwyth, National Library of Wales, Peniarth 14, pp. 151–161 (ca. 1250–1350)
Shrewsbury, Shrewsbury School, 11, pp. 134–143 (ca. 1375–1425)
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Duensing, Hugo. “Apocalypse of Paul.” Pages 755–98 in New Testament Apocrypha, vol. 2: Writings Related to the Apostles, Apocalypses and Related Subjects. Edited by Edgar Hennecke and Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by Robert McL. Wilson. English translation of the 3rd German edition. London: Luttersworth Press, 1963.
Duensing, Hugo, and Aurelio de Santos Otero. “Apocalypse of Paul.” Pages 712–48 in New Testament Apocrypha. vol. 2: Writings Related to the Apostles, Apocalypses and Related Subjects. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by Robert McL. Wilson. English translation of the 5th German edition, revised. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1991.
Elliott, J. K. The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in English Translation. Oxford: Clarendon, 1993 (pp. 616-44).
Gardner, Eileen, ed. Visions of Heaven & Hell Before Dante. New York: Ialica Press, 1989 (reprint of translation by James, pp. 13–46).
James, Montague Rhodes. The Apocryphal New Testament: Being the Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses. Oxford: Clarendon, 1924; corrected edition, 1953 (pp. 525–55).
Reddish, Mitchell Glenn. Apocalyptic Literature: A Reader. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995 (reprint of translation by Duensing and de Sanots Otero).
Walker, Alexander. Apocryphal Gospels, Acts and Revelations. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1873. Repr. as vol. 16 of The Ante-Nicene Christian Library. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. 24 vols. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1867–1883 (pp. 477–92).
Wallis Budge, E. A. Miscellaneous Coptic Texts in the Dialect of Upper Egypt. London: British Museum, 1915 (English trans., pp. 1043–84).
3.2.2 French
Amiot, François. “Apocalypse de Paul.” Pages 295–331 in La Bible Apocryphe 2: Évangiles Apocryphes. Textes pour l’histoire sacrée 5. Paris: Fayard, 1952.
Leloir, Louis. Écrits apocryphes sur les apôtres. CCSA 3–4. 2 vols. Turnhout: Brepols, 1986–1992 (French translation of Armenian texts, vol. 1, pp. 87–172).
Kappler, Claude-Claire, and René Kappler. “Apocalypse de Paul.” Pages 777–826 in Écrits apocryphes chrétiens 1. Edited by François Bovon, Pierre Géoltrain, and Sever Voicu. Paris: Gallimard, 1997.
3.2.3 German
Duensing, Hugo. and Aurelio de Santos Otero. “Die Paulusapokalypse.” Pages 644–75 in Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung. Vol 2: Apostolisches, Apokalypsen und Verwandtes. E. Hennecke. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. 5th German edition. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1989.
Duensing, Hugo. “Die Paulusapokalypse.” Pages 536–67 in Neutestamentliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung. Vol 2: Apostolisches, Apokalypsen und Verwandtes. E. Hennecke. Edited by Edgar Hennecke and Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1964.
Vetter, Paul. “Die armenische Paulusapokalypse.” TQ 88 (1906): 508–95; 89 (1907): 58–75 (German translation of the Armenian texts).
3.3 General Works
Bauckham, Richard. “The Conflict of Justice and Mercy: Attitudes to the Damned in Apocalyptic Literature.” Apocrypha 1 (1990): 181–96.
_______. “Early Jewish Visions of Hell.” JTS 41 (1990): 355–85.
Bernstein, Alan E. The Formation of Hell: Death and Retribution in the Ancient and Early Christian Worlds. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993 (pp. 292–313).
_______. Hell and Its Rivals: Death and Retribution Among Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Early Middle Ages. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2017.
Bremmer, Jan. “Apocalypse of Paul.” Pages 427–45 in Early New Testament Apocrypha. Edited by J. Christopher Edwards. Ancient Literature for New Testament Studies 9. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2022.
Bremmer, Jan N., and István Czachesz, eds. The Visio Pauli and the Gnostic Apocalypse of Paul. Leuven: Peeters, 2007.
Casey, R. P. “The Apocalypse of Paul.” JTS 34 (1933): 1–32.
Czachesz, Istvan. “Torture in Hell and Reality.” Pages 130–43 in The Visio Pauli and the Gnostic Apocalypse of Paul. Edited by J. N. Bremmer and István Czachesz. Leuven: Peeters, 2007.
Ehrman, Bart. Heaven and Hell: A History of the Afterlife. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2020.
_______. Journeys to Heaven and Hell: Tours of the Afterlife in the Early Christian Tradition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2023.
Hasenfratz, Robert. “Eisegan stefne (Christ and Satan 36a), the Visio Pauli, and ‘ferrea vox’ (Aeneid 6, 626).” Modern Philology 86 (1989): 398–410.
Henning, Meghan R. Educating Early Christians through the Rhetoric of Hell. Mohr Siebeck, 2014.
_______. Hell Hath No Fury: Gender, Disability, and the Invention of Damned Bodies in Early Christian Literature. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2021.
Hillhorst, Anthony. “The Apocalypse of Paul: Previous History and Afterlife.” Pages 1–22 in The Visio Pauli and the Gnostic Apocalypse of Paul. Edited by J. N. Bremmer and István Czachesz. Leuven: Peeters, 2007.
Himmelfarb, Martha. Tours of Hell: An Apocalyptic Form in Jewish and Christian Literature. Philadelphia: 1983.
_______. “The Experience of the Visionary and Genre in the Ascension of Isaiah 6–11 and the Apocalypse of Paul.” Semeia 26 (1986): 97–111.
Hogeterp, A. L. A. “The Relation between Body and Soul in the Apocalypse of Paul.” Pages 105–29 in The Visio Pauli and the Gnostic Apocalypse of Paul. Edited by J. N. Bremmer and István Czachesz. Leuven: Peeters, 2007.
Hopkins, Stephen C. E. Translating Hell: Vernacular Theology and Apocrypha in the Medieval North Sea. Manchester: Manchester University Press, (forthcoming).
Jirousková, Lenka. Die Visio Pauli: Wege und Wandlungen einer orientalischen Apokryphe im lateinischen Mittelalter unter Einschluß der alttsechischen und deutschsprachigen Textzeugen. Mittellateinische Studien und Texte 34. Leiden: Brill, 2006.
Kraeling, C. “The Apocalypse of Paul and the “Iranische Erlösungsmysterium.” HTR 24 (1931): 209–44.
McNamara, Martin. The Apocrypha in the Irish Church. Dublin: Institute for Advanced Study, 1975 (pp. 105–108).
Owen, D. D. R. “The Vision of St. Paul.” Romance Philology 12 (1958): 33–51.
_______. The Vision of Hell. Edinburgh and London: 1970.
O’Sullivan, Tomás. “The Vision of Saint Paul, Redaction XI.” Pages 397–416 in vol. 1 of The End and Beyond: Medieval Irish Eschatology. Edited by John Carey, Emma Nic Cárthaigh, and Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh. Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2014.
Piovanelli, Pierluigi. “The Miraculous Discovery of the Hidden Manuscript, or The Paratextual Function of the Prologue to the Apocalypse of Paul.” Pages 23–49 in The Visio Pauli and the Gnostic Apocalypse of Paul. Edited by Jan N. Bremmer and Istvan Czachesz. Studies on Early Christian Apocrypha 9. Leuven: Peeters, 2007.
Ruiten, J. T. A. G. M. van. “The Four Rivers of Eden in the Apocalypse of Paul (Visio Pauli): The Intertextual Relationship of Genesis 2:10–4 and the Apocalypse of Paul 23:4.” Pages 263–84 in Jerusalem, Alexandria, Rome: Studies in Ancient Cultural Interaction in Honour of A. Hilhorst. Edited by F. García Martínez and G. P. Luttikhuizen. Leiden: Brill, 2003.
Seymour, St. John D. “Irish Versions of the Vision of St. Paul.” JTS 24 (1922): 54–59.
_______. Irish Visions of the Other-World: A Contribution to the Study of Mediæval Visions. London: SPCK, 1930.
Silverstein, Theodore. “Dante and the Visio Pauli.” Modern Language Notes 47.6 (1932): 397–99.
_______. “The Date of the ‘Apocalypse of Paul.’” Mediaeval Studies 24 (1962): 335–48.
_______. “The Graz and Zürich Apocalypse of St. Paul: an Independent Medieval Witness to the Greek.” Pages 166–80 in Medieval Learning and Literature: Essays Presented to Richard William Hunt. Edited by J. J. G. Alexander and C. S. Gibson. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976.
_______. “The Vision of St. Paul: New Links and Patterns in the Western Tradition.” Archives d’histoire doctrinale et littéraire du moyen âge 26 (1959): 199–248.
_______. Visiones et revelationes S. Pauli. Una nuova tradizione di testi latini del Medio Evo. Problemi attuali di scienza e di cultura, fasc. 188. Rome: Accad. Naz. Lincei, 1974.
Tabor, James D. Things Unutterable: Paul’s Ascent to Paradise. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1986.
Wright, Charles D. “Beowulf, Blickling Homily and the Visio Pauli.” Old English Newsletter 22.2 (1989): Appendix 29–39.
_______. “Some Evidence for an Irish Origin of Redaction XI of the Visio Pauli.” Manuscripta 34 (1990): 34–44.