Wikisource:WikiProject Early Christian Writings/Gospel of the Hebrews

Papias

These things therefore are recorded by Papias about Mark. But about Matthew he says these: Matthew therefore in the Hebrew dialect ordered together the oracles, and each one interpreted them as he was able. (Eusebius, History of the Church 3.39.116)

Irenaeus

Indeed Matthew, among the Hebrews in their own dialect, also bore forth a writing of the gospel, Peter and Paul evangelizing in Rome and founding the church. (Against Heresies 3.1.1)

[The Ebionites], however, use only that gospel which is according to Matthew, and renounce the apostle Paul, calling him an apostate from the law. (Against Heresies 1.26.2)

[The Ebionites], however, use only that gospel which is according to Matthew, and renounce the apostle Paul, calling him an apostate from the law. (Against Heresies 3.11.7)

Clement of Alexandria

Which also is written in the gospel according to the Hebrews: He who marveled shall reign, and he who reigned shall rest. (Miscellanies 2.9)

For those things can be the same as these: He who seeks shall not cease until he finds, and finding he shall marvel, and having marveled he shall reign, and having reigned he shall rest. (Miscellanies 5.14)

There is a parallel to this saying in the oracle from the cult of Simon Magus that Eusebius describes:

And the most unspoken of these [rites] of theirs, of which they say that the one hearing them for the first time will be astonished, and according to a certain written oracle among them will be made to marvel, happen of a truth to be full of marvel and ecstatic thoughts and mania... (History of the Church 2.13.7)

There is also a parallel in the Gospel of Thomas:

Jesus said: He who seeks, let him not cease seeking until he finds; and when he finds he will be troubled, and when he is troubled he will be amazed, and he will reign over the All. (Gospel of Thomas 2)

And the Traditions of Matthias:

But the begining of this is to marvel at things, as Plato says in the Theatetus and as Matthias says in the Traditions when he urges, 'Marvel at what is present,' laying this down as the first step toward the knowledge of things beyond. (Clement of Alexandria, Miscellanies 2.9.45.4)

A somewhat similar statement is found from Clement of Alexandria: "Being baptized, we are illuminated; illuminated we become sons; being made sons, we are made perfect; being made perfect, we are made immortal." (Instructor, 1.6.26.1)

Two parallel passages exist in the Book of Thomas the Contender. The first: "[Fortunate is] the wise person who has [sought truth, and] when it has been found, has rested upon it for ever, and has not been afraid of those who wish to trouble the wise person." (Book of Thomas the Contender 140,41 - 141,2) The second: "Watch and pray. . . . And when you pray, you will find rest. . . . For when you leave the pains and the passions of the body, you will receive rest from the Good One, and you will rule with the king, you united with him and he united with you, from now on, for ever and ever." (Book of Thomas the Contender 145,8-16)

Origen

As learned in tradition concerning the four gospels, which even alone are not spoken against in the church of God under heaven, that the first written that according to the one who was once a publican, but later an apostle of Jesus Christ, Matthew, who published it for those from Judaism who had believed, ordered together in Hebraic letters. (From the Commentary on Matthew, as cited in Eusebius, History of the Church 6.25.4)

But if any should admit the gospel according to the Hebrews, where the savior himself says: Just now my mother, the holy spirit, took me by one of my hairs and carried me to Tabor, the great mountain, he will be confused as to how the holy spirit can be the mother of Christ, born through the word. (Origen, On John 2.12, commenting on John 1.3)

And if any accepts the [statement]: Just now my mother, the holy spirit, took me by one of my hairs and carried me to Tabor, the great mountain, and what follows... (Origen, On Jeremiah, homily 15.4)

It is written in a certain gospel, which is called according to the Hebrews, if yet it pleases one to accept it, not as an authority, but as a manifestation of the proposed question: The second of the rich men said unto him: Master, what good thing can I do and live? He said unto him: O man, do that which is in the law and the prophets. He answered him: I have kept them. He said unto him: Go, sell all that you own and distribute it to the poor, and come, follow me.

But the rich man began to scratch his head, and it pleased him not. And the Lord said unto him: How can you say: I have kept the law and the prophets? For it is written in the law: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And behold, many of your brethren, sons of Abraham, are clad in filth, dying of hunger, and your house is full of many good things, and nothing at all goes out of it unto them.

And he turned and said unto Simon his disciple, who was sitting by him: Simon, son of Jonah, it is easier for a camel to enter in by the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. (From Origen, in the Latin version of On Matthew 15.14)

The church has four gospels, heresy many, from among which a certain one is written according to the Egyptians, another according to the twelve apostles. Even Basilides dared to write a gospel and to entitle it by his own name. (Origen or Pseudo-Origen, Homily on Luke 1.1)

Cyprian

In which book, against all the scriptures, you will find Christ even confessing his own sin, who alone failed in nothing at all, and that he was compelled by his own mother Mary almost unwillingly to accept the baptism of John, that likewise, when he was baptized, a fire was seen over the water, which is written in no gospel, and that after so much time Peter and Paul, after the bringing together of the gospel in Jerusalem and the mutual cogitation and the altercation and disposition of matters to be done, finally [were] in the city [of Rome], as if there first they recognized each other, and certain other things of this nature, absurdly and disgracefully concocted, which you will find all congested in that book. (From Cyprian or pseudo-Cyprian, On Rebaptism 100.17, writing about a book called the preaching of Paul)

Eusebius

Eusebius places a "gospel according to the Hebrews" among the "disputed" scriptures:

And some indeed catalogue also the gospel according to the Hebrews among these, in which those of the Hebrews who have accepted Christ especially rejoice. (History of the Church 3.25.5)

And makes other references:

And these reckoned that all the epistles of the apostle ought to be denied, calling him an apostate from the law, and, using only the gospel called according to the Hebrews, they make little of the word of the rest. (History of the Church 3.27.4)

And he [Papias] himself used testimonies from the first epistle of John and similarly from that of Peter, and set out also another record about a woman who was charged for many sins before the Lord, which the gospel according to the Hebrews has. And let these things also be necessarily observed by us on top of the things that have been set out. (History of the Church 3.39.17)

[Hegesippus] sets out something from the gospel according to the Hebrews and from the Syriac, and likewise from the Hebrew dialect, making apparent that he himself had come to faith out of the Hebrews. And other things also he records, as if from the unwritten Jewish tradition. And not only this man, but also Irenaeus and all the chorus of the ancients, called the proverbs the all-virtuous wisdom of Solomon. (History of the Church 4.22.8)

...of whom one also was Pantaenus, and it is said that he went to the Indians, where word has it he found that the gospel according to Matthew had preceded him among some there who had known Christ, to whom Bartholomew, one of the apostles, had preached and left them the writing of Matthew in letters of the Hebrews, which was even saved unto the time mentioned. (History of the Church 5.10.3)

But since the gospel written in Hebraic characters which has come to us levels the threat, not against the man who hid the talent, but against him who had lived unsafely (for it had three servants, the one eating up the belongings of his master with harlots and flute-girls, another multiplying it by the work of trade, and the other hiding the talent, then made the one to be accepted, another only blamed, and the other to be closed up in prison), I wonder whether in Matthew, after the end of the word against the one who did not work, the threat that follows was said, not about him, but about the first, by epanalepsis, the one who ate and drank with the drunkards. (Theophany 4.12)

I choose for myself those who please me; they please me whom my father in heaven gives me. (Theophany 4.12 in the Syriac)

Cyril of Jerusalem

A monk says: It is written in [the gospel] according to the Hebrews that, when Christ desired to come to earth to effect redemption, the good father called forth the celestial power, Michael by name, commending the care of Christ to him in this enterprise. And the power came down to the world, and it was called Mary, and he was in her womb for seven months. Afterward she brought him to light, and he grew in stature and chose the apostles, who preached him everywhere. He fulfilled the appointed time that was decreed for him. The Jews grew envious of him and came to hate him. They changed the custom of their law, and they rose up against him, and laid a trap, and caught him. They turned him over to the governor, who gave him back to them to crucify. He was crucified and assumed by the father.

Cyril says to him: In which part of the four gospels is it said that the holy virgin Mary, mother of God, is a force?

The monk responds: In the gospel of the Hebrews.

Then, says Cyril, are there five gospels? Which is the fifth?

The monk responds: It is the gospel that was written for the Hebrews. (Cyril of Jerusalem, or Pseudo-Cyril, Discourse on Mary Theotokos 12a)

Didymus the Blind

It may appear that Matthew is named Levi in the Gospel of Luke. But in fact that is not so; it is Matthias, the one who replaced Judas, who is the same as Levi, known by two names. This is found in the Gospel according to the Hebrews. (Commentary on the Psalms, 184, 9-10)

Epiphanius

And [the Nazoraeans] have the gospel according to Matthew very complete in Hebrew. For among them this is clearly still preserved, just as it was written from the beginning in Hebraic letters. But I do not know if it has taken away the genealogies from Abraham to Christ. (Panarion 29.9)

And they themselves also accept the gospel according to Matthew. For this they use alone, as also those from Cerinthus and Merinthus. But they call it according to the Hebrews, since it is true to say that Matthew alone in the New Testament made the layout and preaching of the gospel in Hebrew, and in Hebraic letters. (Panarion 30.3)

In the gospel among them named according to Matthew, but not all very complete, but illegitimized and adulterated, but they call it the Hebraic [gospel], it states: There was a certain man, Jesus by name, and he himself was about thirty years old, who elected us. And having come to Capernaum he went into the house of Simon, nicknamed Peter, and he opened his mouth and said: While passing by the lake of Tiberias I elected John and Jacob, the sons of Zebedee, and Simon, and Andrew, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, and you, Matthew, I called while you were sitting in the toll-booth, and you followed me. I wish, therefore, for you to be twelve apostles as a testimony of Israel.

And John was baptizing, and Pharisees went out to him and were baptized, and all Jerusalem. And John had clothing from the hairs of a camel, and a skin belt around his loin. And his food, it says, was wild honey whose taste was of manna, as cake in oil. So that clearly they exchange the word of truth for a falsehood, and instead of locusts they make it cakes in honey.

And the beginning of the gospel among them has: It happened in the days of Herod the king of Judea that John came baptizing a baptism of repentance in the Jordan river, who was said to be from the line of Aaron the priest, the son of Zacharias and Elizabeth, and all were going out to him.

And after it says many things it states: When the people were being baptized, Jesus came too and was baptized by John. And as he came up out of the water the heavens opened, and he saw the holy spirit of God in the image of a dove coming down and coming onto him. And there was a voice from heaven saying: You are my beloved son. With you I am pleased. And again: Today I have begotten you. And immediately a great light illuminated the place. When John saw this, it says, he said to him: Who are you, Lord? And again there was a voice from heaven to him: This is my beloved son, with whom I am pleased. And then, it says, John walked to him and said: I request you, Lord, you baptize me. But he prevented him, saying: Allow it, since thus is it proper to fulfill all things. (Panarion 30.13)

But again they deny that he was a man, apparently from the word which the savior spoke when it was announced to him: Behold, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, that is: Who is my mother and brothers? And he stretched out his hand over the disciples and said: These who my brothers and mother and sisters, those who are doing the wishes of my father. (Panarion 30.14)

And they say that he was not engendered from God the father, but created, as one of the archangels, but being greater than they are, and that he is Lord both of angels and of all things made by the creator of all, and that he came also to declare, as the gospel among them called according to the Hebrews has: I came to abolish the sacrifices, and, if you do not cease to sacrifice, the wrath will not cease from you. (Panarion 30.16, writing of the Ebionites)

And they themselves, having removed from themselves the following of the truth, changed the word, which is apparent to all from the words in context, and made the disciples to say: Where do you wish us to prepare the Passover for you to eat? And they made him to clearly say: It is not with desire that I have desired to eat meat, this Passover, with you, is it? (Panarion 30.22)

And it is said that the Diatessaron gospel, which some call according to the Hebrews, was made by him. (Panarion 46.1)

Tatian, a most erudite man and orator of that renowned time, put together one gospel from four, to which he attached the title Diapente. (preface in codex Fuldensis)

Jerome

First of all is Matthew, a publican with the cognomen of Levi, who published a gospel in Judea in the Hebrew speech, especially on account of those who had believed in Jesus from among the Jews, and with the shadow of the law in no way succeeding he served the truth of the gospel. (Prologue of the Four Gospels)

In the Hebraic gospel according to Matthew it has thus: Our bread for tomorrow give us this day, that is, the bread which you will give in your kingdom give us today. (commentary on Psalm 135)

Jerome quotes this again in commentary on Matthew 6.11.

Since indeed the apostles supposed him a spirit, or according to the gospel which the Nazoraeans read of the Hebrews an incorporeal daemon, he says to them: Why are you troubled, and cogitations ascend in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself. Handle and discern, because a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have. And, when he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. (On Isaiah, preface to book 18)

Jerome says in another place that Ignatius takes the words "incorporeal daemon" from the Hebrew gospel.

...and properly to Polycarp, commending the Antiochene church to him, in which he put testimony also of the gospel which was recently translated by me about the person of Christ, saying: I also truly saw him in the flesh after the resurrection, and believe that he is. And, when he came to Peter and to those who were with Peter, he said to them: Behold, handle me and see that I am not an incorporeal daemon. And immediately they touched him and believed. (On Famous Men 16, writing of Ignatius)

Compare the teaching of Peter:

If someone truly wishes to recite to us from that little book which is called the teaching of Peter, where the savior is seen to say to the disciples: I am not an incorporeal daemon, it must first be responded to that person that this book is not held among the ecclesiastical books, and [then] demonstrated that it was written neither by Peter nor by any other one who was inspired by the spirit of God. (Origen, On First Things 1, preface 8)

Other references:

But according to the gospel which the Nazoraeans read, written up in Hebrew speech: The whole fount of the holy spirit shall descend over him.... Further on in the gospel of which we made mention above we find these things written: But it happened that, when the Lord ascended from the water, the whole fount of the holy spirit descended, and rested over him, and said to him: My son, in all the prophets I was expecting you, that you should come, and I might rest in you. You indeed are my rest. You are my first-born son, who reigns in eternity. (On Isaiah 4, commentary on Isaiah 11.2)

And in the gospel which the Nazoraeans are accustomed to read, according to the Hebrews, it places among the maximal crimes one who has caused sorrow to the spirit of his brother. (On Ezekiel 6, commentary on Ezekiel 18.7)

But he who reads the Song of Songs and understands the spouse of the soul to be the speech of God, and believes the gospel which we recently translated, that published as according to the Hebrews, in which from the person of the savior it is said: Just now my mother, the holy spirit, bore me by one of my hairs, [such a reader] will not doubt to say that the speech of God springs from the spirit, and that the soul, which is the spouse of the speech, has the holy spirit as a mother-in-law, which among the Hebrews is said by the female gender, rua. (On Micah 2, commentary on Micah 7.6)

But also in the gospel which the Nazoraeans read, written according to the Hebrews, the Lord says: Just now my mother, the holy spirit, bore me [away]. (On Isaiah 11, commentary on Isaiah 40.9)

In the gospel of the Hebrews also, which the Nazoraeans read, the savior is introduced saying: Just now my mother, the holy spirit, snatched me [away]. (commentary on Ezekiel 16.13)

In Bethlehem of Judea: This is an error of the scribes. We suppose indeed that it was first published from the evangelist as we read in the Hebraic [gospel], of Judah, not of Judea. (On Matthew 1, commentary on Matthew 2.5)

In the gospel which is named according to the Hebrews, instead of supersubstantial bread I found mahar, which means of tomorrow, so that the sense would be: Our bread for tomorrow, that is, the future [bread] give us this day. (On Matthew 1, commentary on Matthew 6.11)

In the gospel which the Nazoraeans and Ebionites use, which we recently translated from Hebrew speech into Greek, and which is called by many the original [gospel] of Matthew, this man who has the dry hand is written to be a mason, praying for help with words of this kind: I was a mason, seeking a livelihood with my hands. I pray, Jesus, that you restore health to me, lest I disgracefully beg food. (On Matthew 2, commentary on Matthew 12.13)

In the gospel which the Nazoraeans use, instead of the son of Berechiah, we find the son of Jehoiada. (On Matthew 4, commentary on Matthew 23.35)

This man [Barabbas] is interpreted in the gospel which is written according to the Hebrews as the son of their master, who was condemned on account of sedition and homicide. (On Matthew 4, commentary on Matthew 27.16)

In the gospel of which we often make mention we read that a lintel of the temple of infinite magnitude was broken and divided. (On Matthew 4, commentary on Matthew 27.51)

As we read also in the Hebraic gospel, the Lord, speaking to the disciples, says: Never be content except when you look upon your brother in charity. (On Ephesians 3, commentary on Ephesians 5.4)

Also the gospel which is named according to the Hebrews, and which was recently translated by me into Greek and Latin, which also Origen often used, refers after the resurrection of the savior: But the Lord, when he had given the shroud to the servant of the priest, went to James and appeared to him. James indeed had sworn that he would not eat bread from that hour when he had drunk the chalice of the Lord until he saw him risen from among those who sleep.

And again after a little bit: Bear forth, said the Lord, a table and bread. And immediately is added: He bore bread and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to James the just, and said to him: My brother, eat your bread, because the son of man has resurrected from among those who sleep. (On Famous Men 2)

Matthew, who is also Levi, the ex-publican apostle, first composed in Hebraic letters the gospel of Christ in Judea on account of those who had believed from among the circumcision; who afterward translated it into Greek is not sufficiently certain. Furthermore, this Hebraic [text] is held even until today in the Caesarean library which Pamphilus the martyr studiously put together. There was an opportunity for me from the Nazoraeans to copy this volume, which is used in Beroea, a city of Syria. In which [gospel] it must be noted that, wherever the evangelist, whether from his own person or from the Lord and savior, makes use of testimonies of the old scriptures, he does not follow the authority of the seventy translators, but the Hebrew. From which things two are: From Egypt did I call my son, and: For he shall be called a Nazarene. (On Famous Men 3)

In the gospel according to the Hebrews, which indeed is written in Chaldean and Syrian speech, but with Hebraic letters, which the Nazoraeans use until this day, according to the apostles, or as most term it according to Matthew, which is also held in the Caesarean library, it narrates the story: Behold, the mother of the Lord and his brothers were saying to him: John the baptist is baptizing for the remission of sins. Let us also be baptized by him. But he said to them: How have I sinned, that I should go and be baptized by him? Unless perchance this that I have just said is ignorance.

And in the same volume he says: If your brother sins in word, and makes satisfaction to you, seven times a day receive him. Simon his disciple said to him: Seven times a day? The Lord responded and said to him: Still I say to you, until seventy times seven. For indeed in the prophets, even after they were anointed by the holy spirit, the speech of sin was found. (Against the Pelagians 3.2)

At last Matthew, who wrote the gospel in Hebrew speech, puts it thus: Hosanna barrama, that is: Hosanna in the highest. (From the epistle of Jerome to Damasus, epistle 20)

But in the gospel which is written with Hebraic letters we read, not that the veil of the temple was rent, but that the lintel of the temple, of marvelous magnitude, fell. (From the epistle of Jerome to Hedibia, epistle 120)

Philip of Side

But they completely cast out the gospel according to the Hebrews and that called of Peter and of Thomas, saying that these were the writings of heretics. (Philip Sidetes, writing of the ancients)

Theodoretus

But they accept only the gospel according to the Hebrews, and the apostle they call apostate. (Compendium of Heretical Fables 2.1-2, writing of the Nazoraeans)

But they use only the gospel according to Matthew. (Compendium of Heretical Fables 2.1-2, writing of the Nazoraeans)

But the Nazoraeans are Jews, honoring Christ as a just man, and using the gospel called according to Peter. (Compendium of Heretical Fables 2.1-2)

Sedulius Scotus

For thus the gospel which is entitled according to the Hebrews reports:

When Joseph looked out with his eyes, he saw a crowd of pilgrims who were coming in company to the cave, and he said: I will arise and go out to meet them. And, when Joseph went out, he said to Simon: It seems to me as if those coming were soothsayers, for lo, every moment they look up to heaven and confer with one another. But they seem also to be strangers, for their appearance differs from ours; for their dress is very rich and their complexion quite dark; they have caps on their heads and their garments seem to me to be silky, and they have breeches on their legs. And lo, they have halted and are looking at me, and lo, they have again set themselves in motion and are coming here.

From these words it is clear that not merely three men but a crowd of pilgrims came to the Lord, even if according to some the foremost leaders of this crowd were named with the definite names Melchus, Caspar, and Phadizarda. (Sedulius Scotus in a Commentary on Matthew quoted from Hennecke-Schneemelcher, New Testament Apocrypha, volume 1, page 151)

Haimo of Auxerre

As it has it in the gospel of the Nazoraeans, at this voice of the Lord many thousands of Jews standing around the cross came to faith. (commentary II, On Isaiah 53.12, describing the words of Jesus on the cross: "Father, forgive them")

Compare this report to one from Jerome:

But by so much did the Lord love Jerusalem that he wept for it and beat his chest, and while hanging on the cross he said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And thus he obtained what he had requested, and many thousands from the Jews came to faith, and a time of penitence was given up until the forty-second year. (to Hedibia, epistle 120)

The Historical Investigation of the Gospel According to Luke

Bethsaida, in which he healed the paralytic according to John. In these cities many miracles were done, which the gospel according to the Hebrews ennumerates as fifty-three three miracles done in them. (The Historical Investigation of the Gospel According to Luke, folio 56 recto, on Luke 10.13)

Nicephorus

The gospel according to the Hebrews, 2200 lines. (From the stichometry of the Chronology of Nicephorus)

Codex Vaticanus Reginae Latinus 49

Likewise these eight days of Passover in which Christ the son of God resurrected signify eight days after the remission of Passover in which the entire seed of Adam will be judged, as is announced in the gospel of the Hebrews, and therefore wise men suppose that the day of judgment is at the time of the Passover, since on that day Christ resurrected so that on that same day the saints might rise up again. (From the royal codex Vaticanus Latinus 49, century IX)

Marginal glosses

Some ancient manuscripts of the canonical gospel of Matthew providereadings from a text called the Judaic gospel in marginal notes.

The Judaic [gospel] does not have: ...into the holy city, but [rather]: ...in Jerusalem. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 4.5, miniscule 566)

The [word] vainly does not stand in certain copies, nor in the Judaic [gospel]. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 5.22, miniscule 1424)

Here the Judaic [gospel] has thus: If you are in my bosom, and you do not do the will of my father in the heavens, I shall throw you away from my bosom. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 7.5, miniscule 1424)

The Judaic [gospel has]: Beyond serpents. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 10.16, miniscule 1424)

The Judaic [gospel has]: Snatched as plunder. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 11.12, miniscule 1424)

The Judaic [gospel has]: I give you thanks. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 11.25, miniscule 1424)

The Judaic [gospel] does not have: Three d[ays and three nights]. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 12.40, miniscule 899)

The Judaic [gospel has]: The corban which you will be owed from us. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 15.5, miniscule 1424)

The things marked with an asterisk are not stated in the others, nor in the Judaic [gospel]. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 16.2, miniscule 1424)

[Instead of Barjona] the Judaic [gospel has]: Son of John. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 16.17, miniscules 566 and 1424)

The Judaic [gospel] has after the seventy times seven: For even in the prophets, after their anointing in the holy spirit, the word of sin in them is found. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 18.22, miniscules 566 and 899)

The Judaic [gospel has]: And he denied and swore and cursed. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 26.74, miniscules 4, 273, 566, 899, and 1424)

The Judaic [gospel has]: And he delivered to them armed men, in order to be seated right before the cave and keep it day and night. (Marginal gloss at Matthew 27.65, miniscule 1424)

Petrus de Riga

In the books of the gospels that the Nazoraeans use it is read that rays issued from his eyes, by which terrified they were put to flight. (the Aurora of Petrus de Riga, marginal note concerning the Temple incident, century XIII)

Compare Jerome:

For a certain fiery and starry [light] radiated from his eyes, and the majesty of divinity shone in his face. (commentary on Matthew 21.15)

The History of the Passion of the Lord

And, just as it is said in the gospel of the Nazaraeans, he had kissed the feet of each. (From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 25 verso, concerning the footwashing for the disciples)

But there appeared to him an angel from heaven comforting him. But the angel comforted Christ in his agony of prayer, as it is said in the gospel of the Nazoraeans. (From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 32 recto, concerning the agony in Gethsemane)

In the gospel of the Nazoraeans the reason is given for John having been known to the priest. It was because when he was the son of the poor fisherman Zebedee he often ported fishes to the curias of the priests. (From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 35 recto, concerning the Peter and John in the court of the high priest)

It is read in the gospel of the Nazoraeans that the gladiators appropriated four soldiers to scourge the Lord hard enough to [cause] an effusion of blood from his entire body. They appropriated those same soldiers still to crucify him just as it is said in Jo{hn} 19. (From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 44 recto, concerning the scourging of the Lord)

Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. And note that in the gospel of the Nazoraeans it is read that at this virtuous prayer of Christ eight thousand were afterward converted to the faith. There were to be sure three thousand on the day of Pentecost. (From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 55 recto, concerning the words of forgiveness from the cross)

Likewise in the gospel of the Nazoraeans it is read that a lintel of the temple of infinite magnitude was broken at the death of Christ. Josephus says the same thing and adds that horrible voices were heard in the air saying: Let us leave these regions. (From the History of the Passion of the Lord, folio 65 recto, concerning the signs at the death of the Lord)

See also Jerome, commentary on Matthew 27.51, and the epistle to Hedibia for this item.