Dá Brón Flatha Nime
Other titles: none
Standard abbreviation: Two Sorrows
Clavis numbers: ECCA 575
Category: Apocalypses
Related literature: Vision of Adamnan (Fís Adomnáin), Revelation of John about Antichrist, Testament of Abraham
Compiled by Stephen C. E. Hopkins, University of Central Florida ([email protected])
Citing this resource (using Chicago Manual of Style): Hopkins, Stephen. “Two Sorrows of the Kingdom of Heaven.” e-Clavis: Christian Apocrypha. Accessed DAY MONTH YEAR. https://www.nasscal.com/e-clavis-christian-apocrypha/two-sorrows-of-the-kingdom-of-heaven/.
Created March 2023.
1. SUMMARY
This brief text opens, as do many Irish treatises, with a rhetorical question: “Why are there two sorrows in heaven?” The answer (“not hard, that”) is that Enoch and Elijah were taken up to heaven in their physical bodies, and there they see the angels flitting about joyously around God’s throne, but, still weighted down by their bodies of clay, cannot join them in their worship. These two sorrowful men now await the coming of Antichrist, whom they will meet in battle on earth, and by whom they will be martyred, in accordance with Psalm 89:48 (quis est homo qui vivit et non videbit mortem?). Much of the text is occupied by a sermon that Elijah preaches to the birds in heaven about the coming judgment and terrors of Doomsday—all the dead will be raised, and a bad demon and good angel will accompany each human soul. The bad demon will recall that soul’s every sin and misdeed before Christ and the entire company, while the good angel will defend the soul before Christ issues his verdict. As Elijah concludes his preaching, the birds, which had been still and silent in rapt attention, begin to cry and beat their wings against their bodies so hard that they bleed, so terrified are they of the Day of Judgment.
The text is also notable for its description of Antichrist, who is a demon in human form, coming as “one who comes to spread faith.” He is to be the incestuous and illegitimate offspring of a bishop and the bishop’s daughter, born on a Friday; he is to perform every miracle Christ performed during his earthly ministry (except raising the dead); yet he will be full of lust and lies and will be thirty three and a half when he meets Enoch and Elijah in battle; he can also be recognized by the fact that he always carries his writing tablet upside down. He will persecute and slay those who refuse to worship him as son of God. After Enoch and Elijah are slain, the archangel Michael will descend from heaven and kill him.
Named historical figures and characters: Adam (patriarch), Antichrist, Elijah, Enoch, Jesus Christ, Michael (angel), Pharaoh (of Exodus), Satan.
Geographical locations: heaven, Jerusalem, Mount Zion, Red Sea.
2. RESOURCES
“Dá Brón Flatha Nime: Two Sorrows of the Kingdom of Heaven.” Codecs.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY
3.1 Manuscripts and Editions
3.1.1 Middle Irish
Redaction 1
U Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 23 E 25 (1229) (Lebor na hUidre), pp. 17r–18r (11th/12th cent.) ~ IMAGES
Redaction 2
L Dublin, Trinity College, 1339 (H.2.18) (Book of Leinster / Lebar na Núachongbála), fols. 280r–281r (12th cent.) ~ IMAGES
Y Dublin, Trinity College, 1318 (H.2.16) (Yellow Book of Lecan), cols. 771–772 (14th/15th cent.) ~ IMAGES
O Royal Irish Academy, 23 O 48 a-b (476) (Liber Flavius Fergusiorum), vol. 1, fols. 15r–15v (1437) ~ IMAGES
F Dublin, Royal Irish Academy, 23 E 29 (1134) (Book of Fermoy), pp. 114r–115v (14th–16th cent.) ~ IMAGES
Q Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Fonds celtique 1, fols. 27v–28r (15th cent.) ~ GALLICA
Best, Richard I., and Osborn J. Bergin. Lebor na hUidre. Dublin, 1929 (pp. 47–49).
Best, Richard I., Osborn J. Bergin, M. A. O’Brien, and Anne O’Sullivan. The Book of Leinster. 6 vols. Dublin, 1954-1983 (vol. 5, pp. 1227–28).
Carey, John. “Dá Brón Flatha Nime: The Two Sorrows of the Kingdom of Heaven.” Pages 173–221 in Apocrypha Hiberniae II, Apocalyptica 2. CCSA 21. Turnhout: Brepols 2019.
3.2 Modern Translations
3.3.1 English
Herbert, Máire, trans. “The Two Sorrows of the Kingdom of Heaven.” Pages 19–21 in Irish Biblical Apocrypha: Selected Texts in Translation. Edited by Máire Herbert and Martin McNamara. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1989.
Volmering, Nicole. “Dá brón flatha nime: A Semi-diplomatic Edition, Translation and Verbal Analysis of Version LL fol. 280a–281a.” M. Phil. diss., Trinity College, Dublin, 2009
3.3.2 French
Dottin, Georges, ed. and trans. “Les deux chagrins du royaume du ciel.” Revue Celtique 21 (1900): 349–87.
3.3 General Works
Bauckham, Richard. “The Martyrdom of Enoch and Elijah: Jewish or Christian?” JBL 95 (1976): 447–58.
Carey, John. “Dá Brón Flatha Nime and The Testament of Abraham.” Pages 63–71 in La littérature apocryphe chrétienne et les Écritures juives. Edited by Rémi Gounelle and Mounier Benoit. Lausanne: Editions du Zèbre, 2015.
Carey, John, ed. and trans. “The Three Cries of the World.” Pages 683–84 in vol. 2 of The End and Beyond: Medieval Irish Eschatology. Edited by John Carey, Emma Nic Cárthaigh and Caitríona Ó Dochartaigh. 2 vols. Aberystwyth: Celtic Studies Publications, 2014.
Carozzi, Claude. Visiones apocalípticas en la Edad Media: el fin del mundo y la salvación del alma. Madrid: Siglo XXI de España Editores, 2000 (pp. 13–16).
Hyde, Douglas, ed. and trans. “Mediaeval account of Anti-christ.” Pages 391–98 in Medieval Studies in Memory of Gertrude Schoepperle Loomis. Edited by Roger Sherman Loomis. Paris: Champion, 1927. Repr. Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, 1974.
Kenney, James F. “Chapter VII: Religious literature and ecclesiastical culture.” Pages 622–744 in The Sources for the Early History of Ireland: An Introduction and Guide. Vol. 1: Ecclesiastical. Rev. ed. New York: Octagon, 1966.
McGinn, Bernard. Antichrist: Two Thousand Years of Human Fascination with Evil. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000 (pp. 97–98).
__________. Visions of the End: Apocalyptic Traditions in the Middle Ages. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979.
Verhelst, Daniel. “La préhistoire des conceptions d’Adson concernant l’Antichrist.” Recherches de théologie ancienne et médiévale 40 (1973): 52–103.