Book of Bartholomew

Liber Bartholomaei

Standard abbreviation: Bk. Bart.

Other titles: Book on the Resurrection of Christ

Clavis numbers: ECCA 195; CANT 80

Category: Apostolic Memoirs

Compiled by Christian H. Bull, University of Bergen and Alexandros Tsakos, University of Bergen

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Bull, Christian H. and Alexandros Tsakos. “Book of Bartholomew.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/book-of-bartholomew/.

Created October 2018. Current as of February 2024.

1. SUMMARY

Bk. Bart. comprises a prologue set before the resurrection and three major parts: Jesus’ encounter with Death in his tomb and the Harrowing of Hell; visions of the heavenly host by the tomb of Jesus and in heaven during his resurrection, containing angelic hymns; and the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to the apostles, during which Thomas was away, resurrecting his son Siophanes. Much of the middle section seems to be narrated by Bartholomew to his fellow apostles.

In the prologue, Jesus resurrects a rooster at the (last?) supper as a symbol of his own resurrection; Judas’s wife becomes the wet-nurse of Joseph of Arimathea’s son, but apparently she does not feed him, so Joseph comes to take him away. The canonical events of Judas betraying Jesus and the judgement of Pilate are briefly summarized, as is the crucifixion, though here we are also told how a certain Apa Ananias embraces the body of the crucified Jesus and is promised direct passage to heaven in return. Ananias is martyred and brought up to heaven with the arisen Savior.

Section 1 begins on the Sabbath after the crucifixion. Death comes to the tomb of Jesus with his six sons, who comically cannot find the soul of the dead body and are confused about who the dead man is. Jesus reveals himself to the terror of Death and his sons, and he laughs at Death several times during a dialogue showing how Death has no power over Jesus. Presumably on the night of Sunday, Jesus descends to Hell, breaks its gates, and frees all the souls there, except for those of Judas, Cain, and Herod. A curse against Judas is related, along with a list of the thirty worms who gnaw at him. Next, on Sunday morning, nine biblical women come with Mary, the mother of Jesus, to the garden in which the tomb of Jesus is located. The gardener Philogenes tells the women that he came to the tomb late at night after Jesus had been placed there and witnessed a great heavenly host, and he saw the Father come down to resurrect Jesus. As Philogenes is relating this, Jesus suddenly appears and delivers a blessing on his mother Mary, then tells her to go and tell the apostles that he will appear to them the next day.

Section 2 begins with a shift in the narrative to direct speech by the apostle Bartholomew to his fellow apostles. Apparently, Bartholomew was present during the epiphany in the garden, no doubt due to the fact that we later learn that he himself is a gardener. Bartholomew tells further how Mary was blessed by the Holy Trinity and all the angels, before the text shifts suddenly back to a third person narrative of how Mary rushed to Peter and the apostles to tell them of her apparition. Again, Bartholomew tells the apostles how he witnessed the ascension of Jesus to the manifold blessings of the heavenly host. Six or seven hymns sung by the angels are recounted, and then a hymn sung by Adam and one sung by the righteous ones about to enter the city of Christ. Bartholomew goes on to remind the apostles of how they followed the Savior up to the Mount of Olives and ascended with him to the tabernacle of the Father in the seventh heaven, where each apostle was individually blessed. We then return to the Monday after the Passion: the apostles offer up a Eucharist together with Mary, and the Savior appears to them as promised, blesses them, makes Peter their spiritual father, and seals them with his blood.

Section 3 focuses on Thomas, who was not present during this post-resurrection appearance of Christ. He had gone to a city where his son Siophanes had recently died. There he resurrects Siophanes, who then relates the heavenly geography he saw as his soul was brought up by the angels: Twelve thrones have been prepared there for the apostles. Siophanes returns alive to the astounded city, and brings the multitude to his father Thomas, who baptizes twelve thousand people in a day and makes Siophanes their bishop. Thomas then mounts a cloud that takes him back to the Mount of Olives and is sorely distressed to hear that he missed the appearance of the risen Jesus, which he refuses to believe until he can see it himself. Jesus duly appears and lets him touch his wounds. Thomas is blessed and believes, and the Savior once again ascends to heaven in great glory. Finally, the apostles celebrate the Eucharist.

Named historical figures and characters: Abbaton (angel), Abraham (patriarch), Abrazath (angel), Adam (patriarch), Ananias (of Bethlehem), Andrew (apostle), Asuel (angel), Authronios (angel), Balsamos (angel), Bartholomew (apostle), Beliar, Berenice, Cain, Daueid (angel), Death, devil, Eve (matriarch), Gabriel (angel), Gaios (son of Death), Harmosiel/Harmouser (angel), Herod Antipas, Hierokates, Holy Spirit, Isaac (patriarch), Jacob (patriarch), Jacob (father of Judas), James (son of Alphaeus), James (son of Zebedee), Jesus Christ, Job, Joseph of Arimathea, Judas (not Iscariot, apostle), Judas Iscariot, Kadiel (angel), Komfion (son of Death), Lia (widow of Nain), Martha (of Bethany), Mary (daughter of Jacob), Mary (of Bethany), Mary Magdalene, Mary (Virgin), Matthew (apostle), Matthias, Melchir (demon), Michael (angel), Moses (patriarch), Noah (patriarch), Ophiath (son of Death), Pestilence (son of Death), Peter (apostle), Philip (apostle), Philogenes, Phthinon (son of Death), Rakouel (angel), Raphael (angel), Sarufel/Saraphouel (angel), Sareiou/Sausiou (angel), Satan, Simon (the Canaanite/Zealot), Simon (boy with a spirit), Siophanes (son of Thomas), Sotomis (son of Death), Souriel/Ouriel (angel), Susanna (wife of Chuza), Thaddaeus (apostle), Thomas (apostle), Tryphon (son of Death), woman with alabaster jar.

Geographical locations: Bethlehem, Capernaum, Egypt, Galilee, Gehenna, hell, Mount of Olives, temple (Jerusalem), Tartarouchos/Tartaros.

2. RESOURCES

2.1 Documentaries

Remme, Tilman, dir. The Bible Hunters, Episode 2: The Search for Lost Gospels. 2014. BBC2. Segment: 22–24 (Host Jeff Rose visits the White Monastery and a fragment of Bk. Bart.).

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Coptic (PAThs entry)

Manuscript A (see link for editions):

MONB.EZ (10th cent.)

Manuscript B (see link for editions):

MONB.FP (9th/10th cent.)

Manuscript C (MERC.AO):

London, British Library, Or. 6804 (10th/11th cent.)

Budge, Ernest A. W. Coptic Apocrypha in the Dialect of Upper Egypt. London: British Museum, 1913 (introduction, pp. xiv–xxix, edition, pp. 1–48, photographs, and English translation, pp. 179–215 of BL Or. 6804; English translation of Lacau’s Paris fragments, pp. 216–30).

Crum, Walter E. “8. Paper MS in Coptic.” Pages 110–36 in Robert de Rustafjaell. The Light of Egypt from Recently Discovered Predynastic and Early Christian Records. London: Kegan Paul, 1909 (English translation of BL Or. 6804).

Manuscript D:

Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, uncataloged

Gardner, Iain. “A Codex Leaf from a Short Recension (Rec. D) of the Liber Bartholomaei (LB).” Pages 19–28 in Sixty-Five Papyrological Texts Presented To Klaas A. Worp on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday. Edited by Francisca A. J. Hoogendijk and Brian P. Muhs. Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava 33. Leiden: Brill, 2008.

Westerhoff, Matthias. Auferstehung und Jenseits im koptischen “Buch der Auferstehung Jesu Christi, unseres Herrn”. Orientalia Biblica et Christiana 11. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1999 (critical edition based on ABC discoveries up to 1999).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Bull, Christian H. and Alexander Tsakos. “The Book of Bartholomew.” Pages 87–126 in vol. 2 of New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. Edited by Tony Burke. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2020 (translation based on all available manuscript evidence).

Elliott, J. Keith, trans. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993 (summary only, pp. 668–72).

James, Montague Rhodes. The Apocryphal New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon, 1925. 2nd. ed. 1953 (summary only, pp. 147–52, 181–86).

3.2.2 French

Kaestli, Jean-Daniel, and Pierre Cherix. L’évangile de Barthélemy d’après deux écrits apocryphes. Apocryphes. Turnhout: Brepols, 1993.

__________. “Livre de la résurrection de Jésus-Christ par l’apôtre Barthélemy.” Pages 299–356 in volume 1 of Écrits apocryphes chrétiens. Edited by François Bovon and Pierre Geoltrain. Bibliothèque de la Pléiade 515. Paris: Gallimard, 1997.

Lacau, Pierre. Fragments d’apocryphes coptes. Mémoires publiés par les membres de l’Institut français d’archéologie orientale 9. Cairo: Imprimerie de l’IFAO, Paris: Firmin Didot, 1904 (editions and translations of Paris, Copte 129¹⁷, fol. 32 and Copte 78, pp. 57–66; French translation, pp. 67–77).

Revillout, Eugène. Les apocryphes coptes. Première partie: Les Évangiles des douze apôtres et de saint Barthélemy. PO 2/2. Paris: Firmin Didot, 1904 (edition and translation of BNF Copte 129¹⁷ fol. 59 and 63 on pp. 185–86, 195–96).

3.2.3 German

Schenke, Hans-Martin. “Die koptischen Bartholomaeustexte: ‘Das Buch der auferstehung Jesu Christi, unseres Herrn.’” Pages 852–85 in vol. 1 of Antike christliche Apokryphen in deutscher Übersetzung. 2 vols. AcA I/1-2. Edited by Christoph Markschies and Jens Schröter. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012.

3.2.4 Italian

Erbetta, Mario. Gli Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. in 4. Turin: Marietti, 1966–1981 (vol. 1.2: 301–19).

Moraldi, Luigi. Apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 2 vols. Classici delle Religioni 24.5. Turin: Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese, 1971 (vol. 1:387–405).

3.3 General Works

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

__________. “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.

Haase, Felix. “Zur Rekonstruktion des Bartholomäusevangeliums.” ZNW 16 (1915): 93–112.

Kaestli, Jean-Daniel. “Où en est l’étude de l’Évangile de Barthélemy?” RB 95 (1988):5–33.

Lucchesi, Enzo. “Feuillets coptes non identifiés du prétendu Évangile de Barthélemy.” VC 51 (1997): 273–75.

__________. “Encore un fragment copte de l’‘Évangile de Barthélemy.’” OLP 31 (2000–2005): 79–81.

Piankoff, Alexandre. “La descente aux enfers dans les textes égyptiens et dans les apocryphes coptes.” BSAC 7 (1941): 33–46.

Schneemelcher, Wilhelm. “Coptic Bartholomew Texts.” Pages 553–37 in New Testament Apocrypha. Vol. 1: Gospels and Related Writings. Edited by Wilhelm Schneemelcher. Translated by R. McLachlan Wilson. 2 vols. Rev. ed. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1991–1992.

Suciu, Alin. “The Book of Bartholomew: A Coptic Apostolic Memoir.” Apocrypha 26 (2015):211–37.

__________. The Berlin-Strasbourg Apocryphon: A Coptic Apostolic Memoir. WUNT 370. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017.