Liber de transitu, auctore Pseudo-Iosepho ab Arimathea
Standard abbreviation: Dorm. Vir. Jos.
Other titles: Passing of Mary Second Latin Form, Transitus Mariae A
Other designations: L3 in van Esbroeck’s classification of Dormition traditions
Clavis numbers: ECCA 119; CANT 116
Category: Dormition Accounts
Related literature: Homily on the Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Cyril of Jerusalem; Homily on the Assumption of the Virgin, by Pseudo-Cyril of Alexandria
Compiled by Tony Burke, York University.
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Dormition of the Virgin by Joseph of Arimathea.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/dormition-of-the-virgin-by-joseph-of-arimathea/.
Created September 2024.
1. SUMMARY
Some time before the Passion, Mary asks Jesus about the time of her own death. He tells her that he has always protected her and promises that his angels will guard her until her departure when he will return and carry her soul to heaven. Two years after Jesus’ ascension, an angel comes to Mary with a palm branch and tells her that she will depart in three days. Mary calls Joseph of Arimathea and other disciples and announces to them her death. Then she dresses like a queen and readies herself for Jesus’ arrival. Her three companion virgins—Sepphora, Abigea, and Zael—wait with her.
At the third hour, there is great thunder and lightning and an earthquake, signalling the arrival of the apostles. First John arrives, and Mary expresses her disappointment at him for leaving her after Jesus had entrusted her care to him. Then the other apostles, except Thomas, and a few others (Nicodemus, Maximus, etc.) come to Mary and tell her where they have been (though few details are given). Mary tells the assembled group that she will shortly die; they promise to keep watch over her. Before long, Jesus descends with a multitude of angels and receives her soul; all Jerusalem watches as it is taken up to heaven.
Satan enters a crowd of men and incites them to attack Mary’s body. But they become blind and strike their heads against walls. While this is happening, the apostles take the body to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. As they go, a man named Reuben attacks the bier; as a result his hands dry up. He begs to be healed. The apostles pray and he becomes whole again. He is then baptized and begins to preach.
The apostles deposit the body in tomb. While they are weeping and singing, a great light comes from heaven and Mary’s body is taken to heaven by angels. Arriving late, Thomas sees the angels depart and laments missing the funeral. The girdle of Mary is thrown down to him. Thomas comes to the tomb and is scorned by Peter, who tells Thomas that it is because of his unbelief that he was not brought there earlier. Thomas asks the apostles where the body is. They point to the tomb, but Thomas says it is not there. Peter is angry again at Thomas’s apparent doubt. They open the tomb and see that it is indeed empty. The apostles ask Thomas for forgiveness and he reveals what he saw. Finally, a cloud arrives to take the apostles back to their locations.
The text finishes with a firsthand statement from Joseph of Arimathea that he witnessed these events. In one manuscript, Joseph says that he took care of Mary in his home and promises that anyone who keeps this text with them or in their home, no harm will befall them, and their entreaties to Mary will be heard.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: Abigea, Andrew (apostle), Barnabas, Bartholemew (apostle), Daniel (prophet), Habakkuk (prophet), James (the Righteous), James (son of Zebedee), John (son of Zebedee), Joseph of Arimathea, Judas (not Iscariot, apostle), Luke (evangelist), Mary (Virgin), Matthias (apostle), Matthew (apostle), Maximian, Nicodemus, Paul (apostle), Peter (apostle), Philip (apostle), Reuben (=Jephonia), Satan, Sepphora, Simon (the Canaanite/Zealot), Thomas (apostle), Zael.
Geographical locations: Antioch, Egypt, Ephesus, India, Jerusalem, Judea, Mount of Olives, Mount Tabor, Valley of Jehoshaphat/Josaphat, Zion.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Church Slavic
de Santos Otero, Aurelio. Die handschriftliche Überlieferung der altslavischen Apokryphen. 2 vols. PTS 20 and 23. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1978 and 1981 (overview of manuscripts, vol. 2, pp. 161–95; de Santos Otero and Thomson list several texts in which Thomas shows up late for Mary’s departure: nos. 1, 3, 58, 71, 94, 127, 132, 143, 145–46, 149, 160.
Thomson, Francis J. Review of Aurelio de Santos Otero, Die handscriftliche Überlieferung der altslavischen Apokryphen, vol. 2. Slavonic and East European Review 63.1 [1985]: 73–98 at 89–91 (with corrections to de Santos Otero).
3.1.2 Latin (BHL 5348–5350b)
A Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Vat. lat. 4363 (13th cent.) ~ BAV
B Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, O 35 sup., fols. 99r–103r (14th cent.)
C Florence, Biblioteca Medicea, Laurenziana, Gaddi 208 (14th cent.)
Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 19105, fols. 45r–51v (7th/8th cent.)
Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, lat. 5327, fols. 73r–80r (10th cent.)
de Santos Otero, Aurelio. Los Evangelios Apócrifos. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Christianos, 19561, 19793, 19886 (Greek text with Spanish translation, 1st ed., pp. 687–700; 2nd ed., pp. 647–59; 6th ed., pp. 641–53).
Tischendorf, Constantin. Apocalypses Apocryphae. Leipzig, 1866; Repr., Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 1966 (editio princeps based on ABC, pp. 113–23).
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
James, Montague Rhodes. The Apocryphal New Testament: Being the Apocryphal Gospels, Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypses. Oxford: Clarendon, 1924; corrected edition, 1953 (summary of Tischendorf’s edition, pp. 216–18).
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 (translation of Tischendorf’s A text, pp. 515–21).
3.2.2 Italian
Erbetta, Mario. Gli apocrifi del Nuovo Testamento. 3 vols. Italy: Marietti, 1975–1981 (pp. 529–33).
3.2.3 Spanish
de Santos Otero, Aurelio. Los Evangelios Apócrifos. Madrid: Biblioteca de Autores Christianos, 19561, 19793, 19886 (1st ed., pp. 687–700; 2nd ed., pp. 647–59; 6th ed., pp. 641–53).
3.3 General Works
3.3.1 Dormition Narratives
Esbroeck, Michel van. “Les textes litteraires sur l’Assomption avant le Xe siècle.” 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 (pp. 166–67).
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.
Wenger, Antoine. L’Assomption de la T.S. Vierge dans la tradition byzantine du VIe au Xe siècle. Études et documents. Archives de l’Orient chrétien 5. Paris: Institut français d’études byzantines, 1955.