Quaestiones Iohannis ad Abraham
Standard abbreviation: Quest. John Ab.
Other titles: none
Clavis numbers: ECCA 439
Category: Apocalypses
Related literature: 3 Apocryphal Apocalypse of John
Compiled by: Tony Burke, York University
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Burke, Tony. “Questions of John to Abraham.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/questions-of-john-to-abraham.
Created October 2018. Current as of January 2024.
1. SUMMARY
Quest. John Ab. is an expansion of two portions of 3 Apocr. Apoc. John, which is also a dialogue between John and Abraham set on the Mount of Olives after the resurrection and ascension of Jesus. However, in Quest. John Ab. the dialogue begins in media res, without any setting indicating where or when it occurs. The text features a response from Abraham to a single question from John: “What are the righteous fed in paradise?” (1:1). The answer (1:2–5) draws upon material from 3 Apocr. Apoc. John 9:2–5, particularly from the Slavonic version. Abraham tells John that they are fed “heavenly food” and then moves on to discuss the tollhouses that the soul visits after death, where demons and angels fight over the souls of the departed. Then Abraham expounds upon memorials for the dead, discussed in brief in 3 Apocr. Apoc. John 8:4–6. Abraham describes the Eastern Orthodox practice of holding memorial services on the third, ninth, twentieth, and fortieth days after death, each of these related to Jesus’ post-resurrection activities (2:1–7). At the end of these services, the soul is judged, and if found worthy, it is taken to paradise to “Abraham’s and Isaac’s and Jacob’s lap to eternal life” (3:1–6); if not, the soul is handed over to demons for eternal torment (3:7–11). The dialogue finishes as abruptly as it begins, without any conclusion.
Named Historical Figures and Characters: Abraham (patriarch), Adam (patriarch), devil, Eve (matriarch), Isaac (patriarch), Jacob (patriarch), Jesus Christ, John (son of Zebedee), Luke (evangelist), Cleopas, Thomas (apostle), Satan.
Geographical Locations: Hades, Mount of Olives, Paradise.
2. RESOURCES
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Church Slavic
Moscow, State Historical Museum, Cod. 166 (535), fols. 115–118v (16th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 27)
Moscow, State Historical Museum, Cod. 323 (826), fols. 823v–825v (16th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 33)
Moscow, State Historical Museum, Cod. 330 (682), fols. 385 ff. (16th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 23)
Moscow, State Historical Museum, Synodal Coll. 824, fol. 149v ff. (17th cent.) (=Petkov A10)
Moscow, State Historical Museum, A. S. Uvarov 1828 (560), fols. 444–447 (17th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 38)
Moscow, State Historical Museum, N. S. Tichonravov 6, fols. 140–142 (17th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 36)
Moscow, Russian State Library, Cod. 211, fols. 14–16 (18th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 40)
Moscow, Russian State Library, V. M. Undol’skij 659, fol. 334 (18th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 41)
Moscow, Russian State Library, N. S. Tichonravov 480, fols. 189–193 (18th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 44)
Saint Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Cod. 54 (1594), fols. 175–176 (16th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 12)
Saint Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Cod. 87 (1615), fols. 79v ff. (1632) (=Petkov A9)
Saint Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Cod. 105 (526), fols. 65v–67 (16th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 13)
Saint Petersburg, National Library of Russia, Cod. 1529, fol. 70–73 (16th cent.) (=de Santos Otero 11)
Santos Otero, Aurelio de. Die handscriftliche Überlieferung der altslavischen Apokryphen. 2 vols. PTS 20 and 23. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1977 (discussion of the Slavonic tradition, vol. 1 pp. 197–209, vol. 2 pp. 253–54).
Tichonravov, Nikolai S. Pamjatniki otrečennoj russkoj literatury. 2 vols. Moscow: Obščestv. Pol’za, 1863 (edition based on Moscow Cod. 166 with variants from 323, pp. 193–96).
Tichonravov, Nikolai S. Apockrifičeskie skazanija. Sbornik Otdelenija russkogo jazyka i slovesnosti Imperatorskij akademii nauk 58.4. Saint Petersburg: Tipografija Imperatorskoj Akademii Nauk, 1894. (Edition of Quest. John Ab. based on Moscow, Tichonravov 6, pp. 25–28.)
3.2 Modern Translations
3.2.1 English
Bonar, Chance, Tony Burke, and Slavomír Čéplö. “3 Apocryphal Apocalypse of John.” Pages 423–60 in New Testament Apocrypha: More Noncanonical Scriptures. Volume 2. Edited by Tony Burke. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020 (translation, pp. 459–60).
3.3 General Works
Bratu-Minott, Anca. “From the Bosom of Abraham to the Beatific Vision: On Some Medieval Images of the Soul’s Journey to Heaven.” Pages 189–218 in Death and Dying in the Middle Ages. Edited by Edelgard E. DuBruck and Barbara I. Gusick. New York: Peter Lang, 1999.
Constas, Nicholas. “Death and Dying in Byzantium.” Pages 125–45 in A People’s History of Christianity. Vol. 3: Byzantine Christianity. Edited by Derek Krueger. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006.
_________. “‘To Sleep, Perchance to Dream’: The Middle State of Souls in Patristic and Byzantine Literature.” DOP 55 (2001): 91–124.
Cooper, Adam. “‘In the Bosom of Abraham’: Identity and Formation of Christians as ‘Sons of Abraham’ in the Early Church.” Lutheran Theological Journal 34.3 (2000): 116–26.
Močul’skij, Vasilij N. Sledy narodnoj biblii v slavjanskoj i drevnerusskoj pis ‘mennosti. Odessa, 1893 (see pp. 216–30).
Petkov, Julian. Altslavische Eschatologie: Texte und Studien zur apokalyptischen Literatur in kirchenslavischer Überlieferung. TANZ 59. Tübingen: Narr Frankce Attempto, 2016 (see pp. 177–80).