Book of Mary’s Repose

Liber Requiei Mariae

Standard abbreviation: Bk. Repose

Other titles: Liber Requiei

Other designations: E1, S1, C1, and I1 in van Esbroeck’s classification of Dormition traditions

Clavis numbers: ECCA 299; CANT 120; CANT 154; CANT 171; CANT 172

VIAF: 190144782963256229918

Category: Dormition Accounts

Compiled by Stephen Shoemaker, University of Oregon, and Sergey Kim, Université de Lausanne.

Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Shoemaker, Stephen, and Sergey Kim. “Book of Mary’s Repose.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/book-of-marys-repose/.

Created March 2025.

1. SUMMARY

The story begins as the “great angel” visits Mary in Jerusalem to announce her forthcoming death, giving her a book containing the secret mysteries of creation. Following the angel’s command, Mary ascends the Mount of Olives, instantly recognizing this angel—the “Great Cherub of Light”—as the being that took form in her son, Jesus. A lengthy revelation discourse unfolds, which centers on various themes more commonly found in gnostic and other esoteric Christian traditions and concludes with the disclosure of a secret prayer, which must be spoken at death so that the soul will be able to ascend through realms overseen by the Demiurge and his followers.

The angel departs and Mary returns home, where the apostles miraculously gather around her, arriving on clouds from distant lands. After the apostles greet one another and offer prayers, Peter begins a night-long discourse, which is abruptly interrupted by a divine voice chastising him for revealing profound teachings to unprepared listeners. Peter dutifully shifts to a more accessible lesson focused on ascetic themes. The next morning, Mary recites the secret prayer taught to her by her son, the Great Angel, and lies down on her bier. Instantly, Christ appears with Michael and a multitude of angels to receive her soul, entrusting it to Michael. The Lord then instructs the apostles to prepare Mary’s body for burial.

As they leave the city for the tomb, under the watchful eye of heavenly hosts, the Jews attempt to burn her body. Predictably, the divine powers intervene to shield Mary’s body and punish the Jews, and following their correction and conversion, the apostles place her body in the tomb. For three days, the apostles guard the tomb, waiting for the Lord to return with his angels to take her body from the world. In the meantime, Paul, at this time still a recent convert who never knew Christ in person, asks the apostles to share their knowledge of the hidden mysteries that Christ had taught them. The apostles hesitate, refusing to disclose these secrets unless the Lord commands them, and eventually they shift the conversation to a discussion on what they have been preaching to their new followers, focusing especially on ascetic practice. The others express shock when Paul proposes a program of moderate asceticism, but he is soon vindicated when Christ arrives, endorsing Paul’s teachings and promising to reveal even greater mysteries to him in heaven.

Then, accompanied by the heavenly host, Christ takes Mary’s body and the apostles on clouds to Paradise, where he reunites her soul with her body. He then leads her and the apostles on a tour of the places of punishment. In this apocalypse, the Virgin’s intercessory powers on behalf of sinners come to the fore, marking some of the earliest evidence for this central element of Marian piety. Christ then returns Mary and the apostles to Paradise, where they encounter the blessed dead from the old covenant. After Peter and Paul successfully contend with the Devil, Paul is found worthy to learn the secret mysteries that he had sought. Mary and the apostles then ascend to the seventh heaven and stand before the presence of God. The apostles finally are returned to earth, while Mary remains in heaven, seated with her son at God’s right hand.

Named historical figures and characters: Abraham (patriarch), Adam (patriarch), Adonai’el, Ananias (disciple), Andrew (apostle), Bar‘amûs (Paragmos), devil, Dôrôtheus, Gabriel (angel), Eleazar (high priest), Enoch (patriarch), Eve (matriarch), Herod (the Great), Isaac (patriarch), Jacob (patriarch), Joachim (father of Mary), John (the Baptist), John (son of Zebedee), Joseph (patriarch), Joseph (of Nazareth), Levi (patriarch), Lot, Lûhîth (Lapita), Mary (Virgin), Michael (angel), Moses (patriarch), Nero, Noah (patriarch), Patroclus, Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle), Pharaoh (of Exodus), Rachel (matriarch), Satan, Solomon (king), Zechariah (priest).

Geographical locations: Bethsaida, Egypt, Galilee, Gehenna, Iraq, Jerusalem, Kidron Valley, Mastinpanes, Mount of Olives, paradise, Philippi, Rome, Sodom, Syria, Tarsus.

2. RESOURCES

2.1 Art and Iconography

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY

3.1 Manuscripts and Editions

3.1.1 Coptic

New Haven, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, P. CtYBR inv. 1788 qua~ IMAGES

Sellew, Philip. “An Early Coptic Witness to the Dormitio Mariae at Yale: P. CtYBR inv. 1788 Revisited.” BASP 37 (2000): 37–69.

MacCoull, Leslie S. B. “More Coptic Papyri from the Beinecke Collection.” APF 35 (1989): 25–35 and pl. 4 (preliminary edition).

3.1.2 Ethiopic (CANT 154)

A London, British Library, Or. 692, fols. 56^r–84^r (15th cent.)

B Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Abbadie 158, fols. 87^r–115^v (18th cent.) ~ GALLICA

C Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. et. 268, fols. 64^r–72^v (14th cent.) ~ portion of chs. 105–31; BAV

Additional Manuscripts:

Addis Ababa, Entotto Kidāna Mehrat Church, EMML 1860, fols. 71^r–80^r (20th cent.) ~ HMML

Addis Ababa, Qaċanē Dabra Salām Madḫānē Ālam Church, EMML 543, fols. 88^r–102^v(20th cent.) ~ Beta Masaheft; HMML

ʾAnkobar, Masč̣ā Māryām, EMML 2461, fols. fols. 144^v–168^r (1842) ~ Beta Masaheft; HMML

ʾAnkobar, Masč̣ā Māryām, EMML 3873, fols. 76^r–101^r (1775–1809) ~ Beta Masaheft; HMML

Gondar Province, Māḫdara Māryām Church, EMML 8897, fols. 55^v–88^v (15th cent.) ~ Beta Masaheft; HMML

Gondar Province, Šemē Māryām Church, EMML 8979, fols. 30^v–62^v (1891–1892) ~ HMML

Tigray, Gunda Gunde Monastery, 30 (C3-IV-131), fols. 52^v–80^r, 89^r–105^v, 83^r (1787–1795) ~ IMAGES

Arras, Victor. De Transitu Mariae Aethiopice. 1. CSCO 342–43. Leuven: Secrétariat du CorpusSCO, 1973 (CSCO 342 Ethiopic text based on A and B, pp. 1–84; CSCO 343 Latin trans., pp. 1–54)

Lantschoot, A. van. “Contribution aux Actes de S. Pierre et de S. Paul.” Mus 68 (1955): 17–46 (text based on Vat. et. 268, pp. 22–35; French translation, pp. 35–46).

3.1.3 Georgian (CANT 171, 172)

Tiblisi, National Centre of Manuscripts, A-144, fols. 201^v–202^v, 204^r–205^v (10th cent.)

Esbroeck, Michel van. “Apocryphes géorgiens de la Dormition.” AnBoll 91 (1973): 55–75 (text of fragment 1, pp. 59-62, Latin trans., pp. 64–65; fragment 2, pp. 69–73, Latin trans., pp. 73–75).

3.1.4 Syriac (=Obsequies of the Virgin; CANT 120; BHO p. 142, n. 6)

London, British Library, Add. 14484, fols. 1^r–8^v (10th/11th cent.)

London, British Library, Add. 14665, fols. 21–24

London, British Library, Add. 17137, fols. 6 (top), 7 (bottom), 9 (underwriting ca. 5th/6th cent. overwriting ca. 12th cent.)

Two folios mentioned in Wright 1865 (London, British Library, Add. 14669, fol. 39 and London, British Library, Add. 17216, fol. 17) as possible witnesses actually do not contain the text. The folios have been rebound; their present shelf numbers are not known (via Christa Müller-Kessler, email correspondence, 13 March 2020)

Müller-Kessler, Christa. “Obsequies of My Lady Mary (1): Unpublished Early Syriac Palimpsest Fragments from the British Library (BL, Add 17.137, no. 2).” Hugoye 23 (2020): 31–59 (edition and English translation of all three fols., pp. 43–57).

__________. “Obsequies of My Lady Mary (II): A Fragmentary Syriac Palimpsest Manuscript from Deir al-Suryan (BL, Add 14.665, no. 2).” Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 19 (2022): 45–70.

Shoemaker, Stephen. “New Syriac Dormition Fragments from Palimpsests in the Schøyen Collection and the British Library.” Mus 124 (2011): 259–78 (Syriac and English translation of fol. 9^r from BL 17137 side-by-side, p. 267).

Wright, William. Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament. London: Williams & Norgate, 1865 (edition of BL 14484, pp. 55–65 [Syriac numbering], and English translation, pp. 42–51; readings from BL 14669 and 17216, pp. 11–16).

3.1.5 Christian Palestinian Aramaic

CP 1 Cambridge, Cambridge University Library, Taylor-Schechter Collection, T-S 16.351, fol. 1 + 16.327, fols. 1–2 + AS 78.401 + NS 258.140 (underwriting 5th/6th cent.) ~ Cambridge

CP 2 Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, Georgian NF 19, fols. 8–9 (underwriting 5th/6th cent.) ~ SINAI

CP 3 Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, Georgian NF 19, fols. 4–5 (underwriting 5th/6th cent.) SINAI

CCR 4 Mount Sinai, Monē tēs Hagias Aikaterinēs, Sin. syr. NF M38N, fols. 9 and 12 (underwriting 5th/6th cent.) (=a section of Codex Climaci Rescriptus, currently owned by the Museum of the Bible)

Lewis, Agnes Smith, ed. Codex Climaci rescriptus. Horae Semiticae 8. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1909 (edition and translation of CCR 4), pp. 190–93).

Lewis, Agnes Smith, and Margaret Dunlop Gibson, eds. Palestinian Syriac Texts from Palimpsest Fragments in the Taylor Schechter Collection. London: C. J. Clay, 1900 (excerpts from TS 16.327, fols. 1r and 2v, pp. 75-76).

Müller-Kessler, Christa. “An Overlooked Christian Palestinian Aramaic Witness of the Dormition of Mary in Codex Climaci Rescriptus (CCR IV).” Collectanea Christiana Orientalia 16 (2019): 81–98 (transliteration and English translation pp. 89–98).

__________. “Three Early Witnesses of the «Dormition of Mary» in Christian Palestinian Aramaic. Palimpsests from the Cairo Genizah (Taylor-Schechter Collection) and the New Finds in St Catherine’s Monastery.” Apocrypha 29 (2018): 69–95 (transliterations and English translations of CP 1, CP 2, and CP 3, pp. 77–95).

3.2 Modern Translations

3.2.1 English

Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 (Ethiopic with Georgian and Syriac, pp. 290–350; does not include the section paralleled in the Story of Peter and Paul in Rome).

__________, trans. The Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin Mary. Apocryphes 17. Turnhout: Brepols, 2023 (Ethiopic with readings from Georgian, Syriac, Coptic, and Christian Palestinian Aramaic, pp. 55–174; includes also the section paralleled in the Story of Peter and Paul in Rome).

Wright, William. Contributions to the Apocryphal Literature of the New Testament. London: Williams & Norgate, 1865 (edition of BL 14484, pp. 27–33 [Syriac numbering], and English translation, pp. 18–41).

3.2.2 French

Esbroeck, Michel van. “Apocryphes géorgiens de la Dormition.” AnBoll 92 (1973): 55–75 (Georgian text, pp. 69–73; trans., pp. 73–75).

Wenger, Antoine. L’Assomption de la T.S. Vierge dans la tradition byzantine du VI^e au X^e siècle. Études et documents. Archives de l’Orient chrétien 5. Paris: Institut français d’études byzantines, 1955 (partial translation of Wright’s text, pp. 63–64 and 260–61).

3.2.3 Italian

Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (translation of Arras’s Latin translation of the Ethiopc with some portions merely summarized, vol. 1.2, pp. 421–56; Syriac, vol. 1.2, pp. 457–62).

3.2.4 Modern Latin

Esbroeck, Michel van. “Apocryphes géorgiens de la Dormition.” AnBoll 91 (1973): 55–75 (Latin translation of Georgian fragments, pp. 64–65; 73–75).

3.3 General Works

3.3.1 Dormition Narratives

Esbroeck, Michel van. “Les textes litteraires sur l’Assomption avant le X^esiècle.” Pages 265–85 in Les actes apocryphes des apôtres. Edited by François Bovon. Publications de la faculte de theologie de l’Universite de Geneve 4. Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1981.

McNamara, Martin. “Transitus Mariae: General Introduction.” Pages 225–44 in Apocrypha Hiberniae II. Apocalyptica 2. Edited by Martin McNamara et al. CCSA 21. Turnhout: Brepols, 2019.

Mimouni, Simon. Dormition et assumption de Marie: Histoire des traditions anciennnes. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995.

__________. Les traditions anciennes sur la Dormition et l’Assomption de Marie: Études littéraires, historiques et doctrinales. Supplements to Vigiliae Christianae 104. Leiden: Brill, 2011.

Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford Early Christian Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

__________. Mary in Early Christian Faith and Devotion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.

3.3.2 Book of Mary’s Repose

Esbroeck, Michel-Jean van. “Les textes litteraires sur l’Assomption avant le X^esiècle.” Pages 265–85 in Les actes apocryphes des apôtres. Edited by François Bovon. Publications de la faculte de theologie de l’Universite de Geneve 4. Geneva: Labor et Fides, 1981.

Meshcherskaya, Elena. “Apocryphal Stories in Ancient Syriac Manuscripts” (in Russian). Pages 94–108 in Albo dies notanda lapillo. Edited by V. Yakubsky. Kollegi i ucheniki G. E. Lebedevoy. St. Petersburg, 2005 (includes a reordering of the Syriac Obsequies fragments).

__________. “The Seasons of the Year and the Marian Feasts in the Syriac Apocryphon ‘Dormition of Mary’” (in Russian). Pages 168–86 in Bible Studies, Slavonic Studies and Russian Studies in Honour of the 70th Birthday of Professor A. Alekseev. St. Petersburg, 2011.

__________. “Apocrypha about Moses and Mary’s Dormition” (in Russian). Pages 124–38 in Jewish Studies and Bible Studies. Materials of the Second Conference on Jewish and Oriental Studies. Edited by K. Bitner and L. Lukincova. St. Petersburg, 2013.

__________. “Solomon and the the Theotokos. Formation of the Prototype Traditions” (in Russian). Pages 174–86 in Jewish Studies and Bible Studies. Materials of the Second Conference on Jewish and Oriental Studies. Edited by K. Bitner and L. Lukincova. St. Petersburg, 2013.

Mimouni, Simon. Dormition et assumption de Marie: Histoire des traditions anciennnes. Paris: Beauchesne, 1995 (pp. 87–88).

Shoemaker, Stephen J. Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary’s Dormition and Assumption. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002 (pp. 32–33).