Joatham, and the recording angels weeping over them. Then there is a vision of angels of torment, followed by a very obscure passage in which gates of brass and a lake of fire figure. A great and monstrous spirit—the Accuser—is seen, and the seer in terror prays to be delivered, as Israel, and Susanna, and the Three Children were delivered. The chief recording angel, Eremiel, appears and shows the prophet a roll in which all his sins—failures to visit the widow and orphan, or to admonish the children of Israel—are recorded, and another in which probably were his good deeds. But here is a gap of two pages, and we next find him escorted by angels in a ship to a heavenly land. (This feature is in the Apocalypse of Paul.) He meets the righteous, and also sees various forms of torment. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob intercede (daily) for the sinners. The text ends in a speech of an angel who is describing what will happen at the last day.
The single leaf, or rather page, of the Sahidic MS. (one side is almost wholly illegible) contains only a vision of angels tormenting a soul. There is also the line: "Verily I Sophonias beheld this in the vision." On the perished verso of the leaf a few words can be read, among which is "drop of water," a hint that we have here the text (see above) in which the whole earth is seen like a single drop of water. A good deal of the Coptic book is Christian or Christianized. Unless other pieces turn up, we shall not be able to say for certain whether it is identical with the book which Clement had read; but the chances are much in favour of an affirmative answer.
Zechariah
The Apocalypse of Zacharias (Zacharias the father of John, as two of the texts call him) was 500 lines in length. The question of its character is bound up with the question whether the Minor Prophet or the father of John the Baptist was the putative author. A. Berendts, who wrote a special study on the subject
